Queries mid Answers. 211^ 



Larvice of Lepidoptera. — Late in the autumn (October), after two or 

 three severe frosty nights, I observed hundreds of the larvas of a species of 

 Papilio or Phalae-'na affixed to the stalks of grass, frozen to death (al- 

 though in some of them life was not quite extinct). They were smooth 

 and of a dark brown, nearly black, something the colour of Cologne earth j 

 the head was of a shining black colour. Can any of your numerous cor- 

 respondents, from this incomplete description, tell me what species of ca- 

 terpillar it is ? Does the larva of the meadow butterfly put on this colour 

 before it changes into the pupa state ? — Id. 



A Sea Spider. — Sir, One day last month, as a fisherman on this coast was 

 dragging up his net, he found an intntder had entangled itself in the meshes 

 of it ; which said intruder has since been exhibited under the denomination 

 of a '* Tarantula Sea Spider." It certainly, in many respects, resembles 

 the spider, but in others materially differs from it. It has eight legs, which 

 are not jointed; and appear to be similar, both in form and situation, to 

 the rays of the 5epia officinalis. (Vol. 1. p. 278. fig. 147.) It has but two 

 eyes, which, when alive, were green, and are placed on the back of the 

 thorax. It has no head, and is destitute of palpi. The mouth is beneath 

 the abdomen, and inside of it is a spiral tongue nearly half a yard long, the 

 extremity of which is armed with a pair of forceps. The spinner is very 

 large, out of which the exhibiter took a web, but unluckily had thrown it 

 away. The abdomen is oval, in form a little resembling the ^ranea mar- 

 ginata. The colour of the insect is that of a pickled tongue, which, pro- 

 bably, may -be accounted for by the pickle that had been used to preserve it; 

 namely, of bark, alum, and salt. You may form some idea of its size when I 

 add, it weighed 5^ lbs. Many wonderful stories are told of it when alive ; 

 such as that it run with the velocity of a race horse, and changed colour 

 every instant. The form of it is oval, and the abdomen terminates with a 

 horny spike, nearly 5 in. in length ; which, when alive, was invisible, Mr. 

 Murray, the owner of it, intends to exhibit it in London, in about a 

 month, and he may he heard of at the Bazaar in Portman Street North. 

 Pray what is it ? I am, Sir, &c. — M. C. G. Margate, Oct. 22. 



The Wo7'm found among Herbage by W. W. (p. 103.) — Sir, I have fre- 

 quently found worms of the same description in puddles after autumnal 

 showers, and once saw a smaller one twisting round some plants. My opi- 

 nion has been, that they fall down with the rain; and their appearance 

 may be accounted for precisely as that of the small frogs mentioned in 

 the same page of your Magazine, said to have occurred at Rouen. The 

 largest I have seen measured less than 4 in. when unrolled, and much 

 resembled a piece of dull-coloured copper wire ; one end of the worm had 

 a small bristle-like appendage, with a small knob at the end, projecting from 

 a convex abrupt end, about the twelfth part of an inch long. When cut- 

 ting they feel hard under the knife ; the inside appears like a white pithy 

 substance. During motion it was frequently, for half the length, rolled into 

 small circular rings : while the other half of the length was thrust out into 

 a very obtuse angle, at about one fourth of its length. Some of the 

 country people assert them to be animated horse-hairs, which fall from the 

 tails of horses when drinking, and afterwards become eels ; and it is not an 

 easy matter to persuade them otherwise. Perhaps some of your corre- 

 spondents could better describe them, and their species and habits. I have 

 observed the smaller ones much whiter in colour than the larger. 1 do not 

 recollect to have seen them in ponds, and can scarce think them intestinal 

 worms. — H. D. Eichinond, March 25. 1829. 



A cio'ions Worm. (p. 103.) — The Gordius aquaticus is as often met with 

 on the surface of garden or other ground, in wet weather, as it is in water 

 or clay, its common habitat. — J. M. 



The Gordius aquaticus is not unfrequently found to inhabit the intestines 

 of insects. De Geer mentions these worms being found in grasshoppers. 



