Queries and Answers. 477 



trudging on with their loads seemed but little inconvenienced 

 by the size of them. A few years since, I measured a piece 

 of birch twig carried by one of this species of ant. The piece 

 of twig was nearly 6 in. long, and as thick as a moderate-sized 

 knitting-needle : this the ant held by its smaller end, and so 

 bestrode that its legs were on the opposite sides of the piece 

 of twig, the larger portion of which trailed behind the legs of 

 the ant. In this manner the ant worked the stick up a con- 

 siderable ascent : it seemed a task of much labour ; but he 

 scorned assistance, though many of his tribe offered it. — 

 Walter Henry Hill. Southminster Vicarage, Essex, May 6. 1833, 



Sphex sabulosa. — Just in the manner in which the wood 

 ant carried its six-inch length of birchen twig does &phex 

 sabulosa, or an insect for which this name has been told me, 

 carry a large caterpillar ; that is, it slings the body of the 

 caterpillar lengthwise under its own body, and plies its legs 

 and feet on the opposite sides of the caterpillar. As the 

 S. sabulosa is an insect of strength, and with rather long legs, 

 it can proceed with its prize at great speed. When the cater- 

 pillar happens to be one of the kind which is wholly green, it 

 renders the dark-coloured Sphex and its movements the more 

 conspicuous : of these, a jerking of its wings, and vibrating of 

 its graceful antennae, both motions as if in exultation, are 

 notable. The soil on which I have seen #phex sabulosa is 

 not very sabulose (gravelly), but is dry from elevation, and 

 friable from tillage. S. sabulosa delights to forage in the 

 scorching sunshine of the hottest days of summer ; its ener- 

 gies seem then excited to their full vigour. On the habits of 

 this insect some very interesting facts are published in Gill's 

 Technological Repository for October, 1828. — J. D. 



A Query on an interesting Fact on the Videx arborescens. — 

 While I was amusing myself by examining some animalcula 

 in my microscope, in June, 1832, I observed, among the rest, 

 one of the Pulex arborescens having three young ones con- 

 tained within its transparent shell. They were perfectly dis- 

 tinct, and very lively. I should be glad if any of your 

 correspondents will inform me whether they are the young 

 insect then unproduced, or whether the insect has the power 

 of receiving its progeny again within its shell as a place of 

 refuge, in the manner of the female kangaroo. — L. E. Reed, 

 Tiverton, March 15. 1833. 



The Colour of the Flowers of the Species of Primula, and of 

 some other species in the order Primulaceae. — By what method 

 of drying, or by what means, can it be preserved in dried 

 specimens? — Wm. Gardiner, jun. Dundee, April 6. 1833. 



Remarks on some Statements respecting the Inland Seas of 

 Southern Europe. — In the second section of Ferussac's Bui- 



