EXTRICATION OF THE IMAGO IN A CRANE-FLY. 101 



<;ircumstances connected with soil, situation, &c. ; and Mr. 

 Newman is inclined to place Asp. Lonchiiis in this group, aS 

 a variety also. But although he has adduced many plausible 

 reasons in support of his opinion, we believe that few botanists 

 will feel inclined to class the sharp and rigid Asp. Lonchiiis 

 of the Scotch and Irish mountains, with the remarkable vari- 

 ety of Asp. lohatum termed Lonchitioides, which is not un- 

 frequently found in the southern counties. We have met 

 with Lonchiiis growing in abundance by the side of the 

 source of the White-w^ater, terminating the Glen of Dole in 

 the Clova mountains, and scattered in patches over the whole 

 glen, as far as the terrific cascade of Bach-na-gairn ; but we 

 never saw the slightest variation fiom its normal type : it pre- 

 served its rigid and even spinous fronds under every variety 

 of aspect in the glen of Dole. The most perfect specimens of 

 Aspidiu7n lobatum var. lonchitioides we have met with, were 

 found in fructijication, in hedges by the side of Buckhurst 

 Park, at Withyham, Sussex, close to a farm called Florence ; 

 and these, although observed annually during eight years, 

 never acquired anything approaching to the rigidity of the al- 

 pine plant. This question remains, however, sub judice, and 

 is an interesting one for the practical botanist to determine. 



To every lover of British Botany we cordially recommend 

 Mr. Newman's volume, and we assure him that to us it is not 

 the less welcome as being the production of a professed ento- 

 mologist. 



SHORT COMMUNICATIONS. 



Singular mode of extrication of the Imago from the Pupa- 

 case in a species of Crane-fly. —My attention was drawn, 

 during the autumn, to some dipterous larvod of a dirty black- 

 ish colour, among the roots of some moss which grew upon 

 the plastering of the back wall of the house. From one piece, 

 about the size of a small marble, which I pulled off, I shook 

 out no less than seven of them ; some three quarters of an 

 inch in length : when stretched out to their full extent, as 

 they were creeping about, their length was nearly an inch. I 

 had often noticed them previously, in their peregrinations on 

 the glass of the window, a thing not very usual with the larv(B 

 of dipterous insects. I tried to rear several during their pwpa 

 state, but could not succeed. One fine morninji^, about the 



