1835. Scientific Intelligence. #M 



ing the locality where the plant grows on the banks of a small stream 

 issuing from the fountain of Cyane, near Syracuse. It is now 

 manufactured merely as a curiosity. 



Some discussion took place on the supposed identity of the papyrus 

 with the lotus. 



Mr. Twiss exhibited to the Society a series, almost complete, of 

 the silver and bronze coins of the Roman republic, and read a disser- 

 tation upon them. 



In this paper the author commences with observing the gradual 

 decline in weight of the As from the time of the kings through the 

 successive ages of the republic. The value of the copper is compared 

 with that of the silver coinage ; and the author is of opinion that the 

 rise in the value of copper is chiefly accounted for from the diminu- 

 tion of the supply, both from the exhaustion of the mines, and the 

 interruption of the commerce with the Carthaginians, as well as from 

 the circumstance of copper being re-exported to Sicily ; these causes 

 acting more powerfully about the time of the second Punic war, when 

 the As was diminished to an ounce, from its original weight of ten or 

 twelve. The last diminution, to half an ounce, took place in the 

 time of Sylla. Silver was introduced into the currency after the 

 conquest of Campania and Lower Italy. Observations are made on 

 the silver coinage, and particularly on the devices appearing on 

 them : and the author then gives a general sketch of the financial 

 arrangements, and state of the currency, at successive periods of the 

 Roman history. 



February 2*Jth. — A paper was read by the Rev. E. T. Bigge of 

 Merton College on the natural history of the wasp. 



The object of this paper was to correct the mistakes into which 

 several writers have fallen, and to state the results of the author's 

 own observations on two species, the Vespa Vulgaris and Vespa 

 Britannica. 



The former is common in all parts of the kingdom ; the latter, 

 though occasionally met with in the southern counties of England, 

 is abundant in the northern districts, and in Scotland, as well as in 

 the northern parts of Europe. The V Vulgaris of Linneus is the 

 V Britannica, the French having called that species vulgaris, which 

 was most common, and which formed its nest in the ground. 

 The V Vulgaris of the present entomologists is the V Gallica of 

 Linneus. 



Leach gave the name Vespa Britannica to the tree wasp. The 

 points of difference between the two species are as follows: — 



1. The tree wasp (V Britannica) has a reddish-brown spot near 

 the point of insertion of the wings, which is seldom visible in dried 

 specimens. 



2. In the males and neuters the base of the antennae is yellow on 

 the outer side, instead of being entirely black, as on the ground wasp, 

 but the females often present exceptions to this distinction. 



3. The tree wasp has two yellow spots on the back part of the 

 corslet, while the ground wasp has from four to six. 



4. The spots on the abdomen of the tree wasp are not so much 

 detached from the black bands as in the other species, and less so in 



