290 Queries and Answers* 



Mole Cricket {Gr^llus gryllotdlpa) {^g. 77.)» (in answer to Mr. Robert 

 Jones). — These cu- 

 rious hemipterous "77 

 insects are oftener 

 heard than seen; 

 as they only come 

 abroad in the night, 

 and then, as raay be 

 seen by their paths, 

 but a little way from 

 their dwelling place. 

 They live, breed, and 

 constantly inhabit 

 the sides of ditches and drains, in boggy grounds. Here they form numerous 

 tunnels about 6 or 8 in. under the surface, for which their two foremost feet 

 are well adapted, being remarkably strong, and shaped like the large claws 

 of a lobster. They are an ugly and hostile-looking insect, though perfectly 

 harmless; 1^ in. in length, of a dirty brown colour, and entirely covered 

 with close short down, which serves to form an envelope of hair, and defend 

 them from the contact of water while immersed. Their chirp or call, 

 which appears to be produced by the vibration of their shells, is a deep- 

 toned jar, performed in their recesses, and has caused them to be called 

 the Churr-worm ; a name very significant of their call. — J. M, Chelsea, 



Harvest Bug (A'cariis autumnalis Shaw). — Passing some days in Glouces- 

 tershire, with my family, in the early part of September last, we were daily 

 annoyed by the appearance of small vesicles, chiefly on the neck, arms, and 

 legs. These vesicles seemed to be filled with a semi-transparent fluid, 

 were surrounded with more or less of redness, and attended by very 

 troublesome itching, especially if irritated by rubbing. Our friend (a 

 medical man) assured us it was caused by the harvest bug, which he de- 

 scribed as an insect of very minute size, and of a bright red colour. It may be 

 remarked, that we invariably found fresh vesicles making their appearance 

 after walking in a neighbouring plantation. If you or any of your readers 

 could throw any light upon the natural history of this troublesome little in- 

 sect, it would oblige yours, &c. — G. B. K. Birmingham^ Nov. 14. 1828. 



The Sea Spider filluded to in p. 21 1., and which, by being exhibited under 

 the title of a tarantula sea spider, has no doubt extracted some money 

 from the pockets of John Bull, cannot be regarded in any other light than 

 as one of those gross impositions upon the public, which are occasionally 

 offered to the credulous and ignorant in all countries, but more particularly 

 our own. Your Magazine, and the increasing taste for natural history, 

 will gradually diminish the number of such experiments, by causing them 

 to be detected and exposed in the first instance. Enough of the descrip* 

 tion of this new cheat is given by M. C. G., to enable a zoologist to deter- 

 mine it to be no other than a species of cuttle fish, probably ^Sepia offici- 

 nalis, disguised by the removal of its suckers, by the addition of a " spiral 

 tongue half a yard in length, armed with a pair of forceps at the end ! and 

 that of a very large spinner out of which the exhibiter had taken a web 1" 

 The bone in the species above indicated terminates posteriorly, but within 

 the exterior tunic, in a short spinous point, so that it would appear that this 

 also had been exaggerated by some addition. It will readily occur to those 

 acquainted with these animals, that the possessor of this treasure has either 

 wilfully or ignorantly mistaken the position of the mouth, which, as de- 

 scribed by M. C. G., is the opening of the sub-abdominal pouch, the place 

 of the real mouth being within the centre of the arms which crown the 

 head of the animal. — T. J. May 21. 1829. 



Remarkable Spider. — Sir, I beg leave to send you the following account 

 of a remarkable spider, which I took some time ago, I believe about the end 



