Queries and Answers. 495 



From this lady I learn the following facts: — There are two species of 

 lizard of very frequent occurrence in the north of Ireland : one is very 

 active, and is completel}' covered with scales, which must be our common 

 scaly lizard (Lacerta agilis L.) ; and the other is the eft. A very singular 

 superstition is attached by the common people to the latter : they suppose 

 it has a propensity to jump down their throats, in order to make a lodging in 

 their stomachs ; and that, when there, it will increase and multiply to a most 

 frightful extent. For every disease there is a supposed cure ; and the Irish 

 have theirs for this most novel ailment : the remedy is to seek for a stream 

 running directly southwards, and, having found it, to lean over it with open 

 mouth, when, strange to say, after a due time has elapsed, the lizards come 

 forth from their warm habitation, one by one, and plunge into the water j 

 after which the patient recovers. The eft is commonly known in the north 

 of Ireland by the name of man-keeper, probably with some allusion to this 

 supposed propensity. I am, Sir, yours, &c. — Edward Newman. Dept- 

 ford, March 20. 1832. 



Is the Anchovy {Clupea 'Rncrasicolus) found in any freshwater lakes or 

 rivers in Britain ? — O. February, 1832. 



This query is here inserted for the sake of pointing attention to it ; the 

 question is incidentally asked, and the circumstances which excited it will 

 be found detailed ii;i the Number for next month. — J. D. 



Preservation of Insects without eviscerating them. — Sir, I should feel 

 much obliged to any of your readers for a good receipt for the preservation 

 of insects ; Mr. Waterton's corrosive sublimate in spirits of wine, which I 

 have hitherto used, being infallible against the ravages of insects ; but it 

 does not preserve many specimens, especially those of the order Coleop- 

 tera, from decay, unless their inside be taken out : a tedious process, by 

 which many a rare insect is destroyed. I am. Sir, yours, &c. — M. P, 

 Jan. 12. 1832. 



Mici'ogdster glomerdtus feeds on, and nidifies in, the Bodies of various 

 Species of Insects. — Sir, I am able to reply negatively to Mr. Bree's enquiry 

 (p. 106. note), whether " each species of /chneumon invariably keeps to one 

 and the same species of moth or butterfly." During last summer, I hap- 

 pened, among a variety of other caterpillars, to put about from twenty to 

 thirty individuals of the common cabbage butterfly caterpillar (P6nti« 

 brassicae), and about an equal number of the currant moth caterpillar 

 (Phalae'na grossulariata), into the same breeding-box. More than two thirds 

 of both, at the time when I expected them to be converted into chrysalides, 

 became covered with a number of little cocoons, about the size of cres& 

 seeds ; and each of these, in the course of three weeks or a month, gave 

 birth to the Microgaster-glomeratus in its imago state: thus proving that, 

 in this instance at least, the /chneumon does not " confine itself to one 

 individual species of moth or butterfly." I am. Sir, yours, &c. — E. H, 

 Greenhow. North Shields, Jan. 8. 1832. 



A Ball containing Individuals of a Species of Ichneumon. (Vol. IV. p. 93.) 

 — In August, 1831, I found several balls, similar to that figured and 

 described in the communication from " H., Great Missenden." (Vol. IV. 

 p. 93.) I conveyed two of them home, and placed them in a box, expect- 

 mg to find the perfect insect in the spring ; but, happening to open the box 

 a few days since, I was surprised to find a great number of small black 

 flies, most of which were dead. Upon referring to Berkenhout's Synopsis 

 (the only book I possess on the subject), I made them out to be the ich- 

 neumon globatus. It is even stated that " it breeds in white silky balls, an 

 inch long, which are found frequently on different plants in meadows." 

 I now am anxious to learn, from some contributor, on what substance the 

 caterpillars feed and subsist, and why they congregate to form their family 

 cocoon. — J. C. Farmer. November, 1831. 



