Queries and Answeis^ 479 



experiments on the subject as may enable us to draw from them any very 

 satisfactory conclusions. — I have to apologise for the length to which my 

 remarks have extended ; and I fear they will occupy more space in your 

 Magazine than the importance of the matter in question may be thought to 

 justify. The subject, however, relates to what appears to be a singular 

 fact in natural history, and as such is interesting to me, and may prove so 

 to some of your readers. Yours, &c. — W. T. Bree. Allesley Rectory, 

 MayVl. 1831. 



Lobster-like Insect attacking the Leg of a House-fly. (p. 94.) — Sir, From 

 your correspondent's description of this insect, I should take it to be the 

 Pediculus pubis Liw., as 1 remember some years ago finding one in a 

 similar situation. These animals are frequently found on uncleanly per- 

 sons ; and the way in which I accounted for this insect being found on 

 the fly was, by supposing that the fly had alighted on some one so 

 infested, and that one of the insects had seized on the fly. I preserved 

 this specimen for some time, and gave it to a friend for microscopical 

 observation, but, as well as I remember, it was a flattened insect with six 

 Tegs, the two former having the claws like a crab. The description given in 

 Turton's English edition of Linnaeus's Systema Naturce is " abdomen emar- 

 ginate, and hairy behind : legs cheliform : antennae of five articulations." — > 

 C. Jan. 1831. 



The House fl,y' s Duration^ Bate of Increase ^ and Deposition of its Eggs. — Is 

 it annual ? as of the myriads which prevail in summer very few individuals 

 are perceptible in winter. If annual, the rate of increase must be pro- 

 digious. What is the rate ? Are there several generations in one summer ? 

 If yes, how many ? Does each or every female produce more than one 

 brood ? If yes, how many ? When does she produce it or them ? Where 

 are the eggs or larvae usually deposited ? — for though those of the flesh- 

 fly (ilfusca carnaria) are familiar to me, those of the house-fly (Musca 

 domestica) I have never knowingly seen. — JohnDenson. July 30. 1831. 



Corollas perforated by Bees ; in reply to R. A. Tudor (p. 93.). — I have^ 

 seen the conical hoods (galeae) of ^iconitum lycoctonum and the species 

 nearest to this, when perforated, and under perforation, by bees; almost half 

 the flowers on a plant : this five or six years ago ; and a few flowers this 

 week also in the Comte de Vandes's garden, close by. The specific name 

 of the bee or bees I know not. In ^conitum lycoctonum and its near allies, 

 the structure of the hood so effectually covers and guards the nectaries, 

 that to touch the latter without perforating or removing the hood is per- 

 fectly impossible. In A. Napeilus and its near allies, a more lax structure 

 of the hood renders perforation less necessary, and in these I have nevef 

 observed it. Is not the Aconite genus a suspicious one for the bee family 

 to collect from ? Nevertheless, two, three, or more species of bee do col- 

 lect from it, and amongst them, I believe, the hive-bee; and hereby, I 

 suppose, illustrate the couplet of Pope : — 



" In the nice bee, what sense, so subtly true, 

 From poisonous herbs extracts the healing dew !" J. D. 



Campanula hederdcea at High Beech. — A. J. (at p. 182.) asks some one 

 to verify this habitat. In the summer of last year I observed the plant 

 growing there, sparingly, together with ^nagallis tenella, Drosera rotundi- 

 folia, &c. — J. G. May 19. 1831. 



Mr. Dale observed Campanula ^ederacea, .July 14. 1830, " on the Dart, . 

 near Ashburton." (See p. 266.) —J^. I). 



Lace Bark. — Sir, I possess a small portion of a substance composed of 

 fine white fibres of wood, having in their arrangement the appearance of 

 lace. It was given me for part of a tree growing in Falmouth, north of 

 Jamaica, called the lace tree. A description of such tree would be a favour 

 to — A.Z. LondoHy June 30. 1831. 



