Queries and A?js'wers. 



293 



which is very common here. Lymnae'a frAgiiis Mag, Nat. Hist. (vol. i. 

 p. 425. a) corresponds with mine ; but, as I found them at Malmaison, near 

 Paris, could Lamarck have been ignorant of its habitat, and refer his speci- 

 men to Dr. Leach's ? Turbo wmscorum (Pupa 7»usc6rum) is much con- 

 fused, as justly remarked by Mr. Kenyon. I have several specimens marked 

 by different conchologists, and not two alike ; it would be desirable to re- 

 present all the varieties for the sake of comparison. P. wzuscorum, 

 P. chrysalis, and P. sexdentatus of Turton, are however found in 

 the same locality in this island, if I understand them as described in his 

 Gonchological Dictionary. Is not Voluta ringens of Turton the young of 

 Voluta refl^xa ? These are both found here together in inlets of the sea. 

 Turbo j'unlperi {fig. 80. h\ mentioned by authors as rare, is found in great 

 abundance on the oolitic hills of Gloucestershire, under dry tufts of grass ; 

 and, like most toothed shells, have the back of the outer lip visibly marked 

 by white opaque lines. — F. C. L. Guernsey^ April 20, 1829. 



The curious Worm. — In answer to your correspondent W. W. (p. 105.), 

 I beg to say that his curious worm is a species of i^ilaria, which inhabits the 

 intestines of the larger beetles, but is occasionally to be found in ditches ^ 

 or in moist earth. See Kirby and Spence's Entomology, vol. iv. p. 229. 

 I have taken this worm, from 3 to 4 in. in length, from the bowels of the 

 Carabus hortdnsis and C. madidus of Marsham ; and I have found the same 

 in wells, and once, like your correspondent, on the ground. — G. I. 



Dr. Martins' s Discoveries. — I am anxious for a detail of the discoveries 

 of Dr. Martins. I have no doubt but there are discoveries yet to be made 

 on the structure of plants, that will some day make the knowledge of the 

 present day appear like child's play. — E. K. Feb. 7. 1829. 



A Cedar and a Species of Wild Basil. — In Ashantee {Bowdich^s Mission, 

 p. 175.) there is a cedar, the leaves of which exude a considerable quantity 

 of liquid salt, which crystallises during the day. There is, also, in Chile, a 

 species of wild basil, which is every morning covered with saline globules, 

 resembling dew, which the natives use as salt. {Bticke's Beauties of 

 Nature.) Can any of your readers inform me of the systematic names of 

 these trees? — P. S. March 1829. 



Starwort. — The plant described by Graham, in his British Georgics, 

 under the name of Starwort, which your Berwick 81 

 correspondent (Vol.1, p. 299.) cannot identify, is ma- 

 nifestly the Pingufcula vulgaris (/^. 81.), very com- 

 mon in upland marshes and in peat soil. — J. B. 



The ancient Mallow. — Sir, in answer to the cour- 

 teous objections of your correspondent G. M. (p. 118.), 

 permit me to observe that one is already refuted by 

 himself, since he admits that we cannot positively 

 identify the ancient mallow, which was expressly my 

 own assertion; observing, at the time, that many 

 other plants were in the same predicament. He says, 

 " there is at least as much reason to believe that the 

 Malva, of Horace, is the same as the mallow with us, 

 as there is that it should be any other plant." I will 

 allow that there is much more reason to believe it our 

 mallow; but supposing that no doubt remained, not 

 only of the mallow of Horace being a malvaceous plant, but of its actual 

 inclusion in the genus ilfalva, still the plant would not be identified, the 

 species being so numerous. 



It would be more difficult, perhaps, to determine whether the mallow^of 

 Horace be the same with that of the Old Testament, than whether it be 

 ours. If mallow be derived from the Latin, it expresses those emollient 

 qualities for which the Roman mallow was noted; if we trace it to 

 the Hebrew, the name expresses saltness, for which neither the Roman nor 



