Miscellaneous. 399 



their burrows. Wishing to ascertain the prey with which these care- 

 ful females furnished their larvae, I captured a considerable number 

 of them, and found that they nourish their progeny with beetles 

 belonging to the family CurcuHonidce and to the genus Otiorhynchus. 

 I also ascertained that the Cerceris varied in the selection of species, 

 for I counted four belonging to this generic group, namely Otiorhyn- 

 chus scabrosuSy sulcatus, raucusy and nubilus ; they also furnished 

 me with a Phytonomus punctatus and several individuals of Bromius 

 vitis. Is it because the species of this latter genus resemble Otio- 

 rhynchi in their form that this Curculionicidal Cerceris furnishes its 

 larvse with them ? 



It is only the females that are charged with the care of provision- 

 ing the larvee, and it is only the females that devote themselves to 

 the construction of the burrows destined to protect their progeny. 

 As to the males, I fancy they are vagrants, and that their principal 

 functions consist in the propagation of their species. 



All day, and as long as the sun is above the horizon, the females 

 are busy in bringing nourishment to their larvae, and nothing is more 

 curious than to see how great is their activity, and with what earnest- 

 ness they perform these operations. Their burrows, which are always 

 cylindrical, are not straight, but usually form a more or less distinct 

 curve : this is easily proved ; for if a straw be introduced into these 

 burrows, the aperture of which is about 5 millimetres in diameter, it 

 is very dificult to pass it to the bottom, and then it is felt that the 

 straw changes its originally straight direction in a well-marked 

 curve. 



If it be curious to observe the maternal zeal with which these 

 females provision their larvae, it is no less interesting to witness the 

 activity which they display in the construction, and especially in the 

 repair of their habitations. 



Into these holes the provident female carries successively from 

 fifteen to twenty Otiorhynchi ; and when we observe these beetles, 

 they are found to be in a very decidedly lethargic state. The sting 

 applied to these Otiorhynchi by the female Cerceris no doubt be- 

 numbs the vital principle ; and although, at the first glance, they do 

 not seem to have more than a few moments to live, they probably 

 remain alive for several months, that is to say, until the larvae, for 

 whose nourishment they are destined, have devoured their principal 

 organs. What seems to support the opinion which I here put for- 

 ward is, that on the 22nd of September I had still some living speci- 

 mens of Otiorhynchus scabrosus, the species most sought for by this 

 Fossorial Hymenopterous insect. — Comptes Rendus, 22nd February, 

 1858, p. 414. 



On a new species of Hcematozoon of the genus Filaria, observed in 

 the Heart of a Seal (Phoca vitulina, Linn.). By M. Joly. 



In dissecting the heart of a Seal (Phoca vitulina) the author found 

 several female Nematoid worms, 15 to 20 centimetres in length, and 

 0*80 to 1 millimetre in diameter. Four of them were fixed in the 



