NOTES ON RASPBERRY PLANTS. 153 



this Tryphon; I think nigriceps a bad name for it, as all Entomologists are 

 aware that numbers of the Ichneumons belonging to different genera have 

 black heads; black, generally speaking, is the prevailing colour in most of 

 the species belonging to the great family of Ichneumonidae. It is true there are 

 several exceptions to this, such, for instance, as Ophion lacteum, and several 

 others; but still there are several genera, as well as species, bordering so near 

 upon each other in external appearance, that it is a matter of the greatest 

 difficulty to give a good grapic description : indeed, without the aid of figures, 

 it is almost impossible to avoid confusion. I think, myself, it would be the 

 best way for authors, in naming such species as Tryphon nigriceps, to give 

 them a name indicating the~^^cies of insect on which the Ichneumon is parasitic, 

 for, so far as my observation goes, it is a very rare thing to find more than 

 one species of Ichneumon attack the same species of caterpillar, larvjie, or eggs; 

 therefore, I think, that would be the best course to pursue, though I can see 

 a great many difficulties looming in the distance, but still, the subject might 

 be made something of in abler hands than mine. 



Exeter, March I3th., 1854. 



NOTES ON THE RASPBERRY PLANTS P'ROM SEED FOUND 

 IN THE STOMACH OF AN ANCIENT BRITON. 



BY J. MC' INTOSH, ESQ. 



At page 45, volume iv. of ^'The Naturalist," for the current year, your 

 correspondent, Mr. J. E. Smith, writing on the Vitality of Seeds, is in error 

 when he says that ^^'Professor Lindley was present at the opening of the 

 Ancient 'Saxon Tomb,' from which the raspberries were raised, which are 

 now said to be growing in the Horticultural Society's garden." The facts are 

 as follows: — 



A dentist living at Dorchester, Dorset, of the name of Maclean, anxious 

 to prosecute some scientific inquiries bearing upon his profession as a dentist, 

 obtained permission to open a barrow in the neighbourhood of that ancient 

 town, near to Maiden Castle, in which he found, at the depth of thirty feet 

 below the surface, not only the teeth of Ancient Britons, the chief object of 

 his search, but he also discovered, laying in what seemed the cavity of the 

 abdomen of a skeleton, a quantity of a substance, which turned out, upon 

 investigation, to be the seeds of raspberries, some of these seeds were planted 

 in a pot, and placed under the care of Mr. Hartwig, then employed in the 

 gardens at Chiswick. Four of these seeds germinated, and the plants were 

 preserved and grown therefrom, and which, we are told, are still in those 

 gardens. Wishing to collect all the matter possible on this interesting subject, 

 I wrote to ray friend the Rev. W. Barnes, of Doi'chester, a gentleman whose 

 knowledge and abilities require no mention at my hands. His statements in 

 the following letter will, I think place the truth of this question beyond all 

 doubt. 



