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Sclcctc^ IMotcs from tbc Soctct^'a 

 IRote^Booke. 



Spatangus. — I find in Maunders' Treasury of Nat. History that 

 this species of Echitioitermata is ahiiost always found buried in the 

 sand. They feed on minute animals abounding therein, their ali- 

 mentary canal beiny filled with sand cont;iining them. As their 

 power of locomotion and prehension is very small, it is difficult to 

 imagine how such an animal can obtain sufficient nutriment for 

 its subsistence. E. Lovett. 



Dermestes lardarius.— I can attest as to the nuisance these 

 fellows are to a cabinet, and find a good plan to adopt is to exa- 

 mine the drawers carejully occasionally, and remove any specimens 

 under which a little dust is to be seen, as, whenever any of this 

 dust appears under a beetle or moth, it is certain an intruder is 

 commencing operations. 



Several of these beetles, together with some of their larvae, were 

 found dead in some Egyptian mummies in the inside of the bodies, 

 and It was thought they got there before the final embalming took 

 place. E. Lovett. 



Hairs of Larva of Lepidoptera form interesting objects, those 

 of Ardia caja (the one under consideration) being the general 

 type ; the cocoons of moths being the best to illustrate them, as 

 the larva intermingles its hair with the silk of the cocoon, and the 

 two may be seen well together. The tuft hair from the larva of 

 Orygia antiqua are very curious indeed, and it has just occurred 

 to me that, just as the nails and horns of animals represent hairs 

 solidly bound together, so probably the spines at the tail of the 

 larva of the Sphingidce may (if cut into longitudinal*' sections) 

 exhibit all or a part of the characteristics of consolidated hairs. 

 The spines of the larva of Vanessa urtica are curiously formed, 

 and represent a short, branched hair, though literally a spine ; and 

 the skins of smooth larvte, of which there are, of course, an 

 immense variety, exhibit, when viewed microscopically, a number 

 of very short, stumpy spines, frequently double, which are the 



"" Would nol transverse sections show this better? — Ed. 



