MISCELLANEA. 335 



occurred within our district — at Tynemouth and Whitley, and 

 these were taken thirteen years ago. — Ibid. — Oct. 22, 1860. 



Note on the use of the Forceps of the Earwig. — Has any one 

 noticed the common earwig seize insects with its forceps ? A 

 few days ago I saw one clasp an active beetle, Quedius fuliginosus, 

 round the middle with them, raise it from the ground, and 

 run off with it in spite of its most energetic struggles. — Ibid. — 

 Oct. 20, 1860. 



Note on Anisolabia maritima. — In a former communication 

 (Trans., vol. iv., 56) I told the Club that this fine earwig was 

 in a fair way of becoming extinct amongst us. This opinion, I 

 am glad to find, is erroneous. In August and September of the 

 present year (1860) Mr. Perkins and myself found it tolerably 

 abundant, and of all sizes, in its old locality — to wit, the large 

 ballast heap on the sea-shore, near South Shields.' — Ibid. — Oct. 

 20, 1860. 



Cynthia vestita, an undescribed Ascidian. — I lately obtained from 

 the fishing lines at Craster, Northumberland, specimens of an 

 ascidian, which Mr. Alder considers not only new to Britain, 

 but wholly undescribed, and he has accordingly named it 

 Cynthia vestita. This species is densely covered with fragments 

 of shell, in which respect it resembles the concholega of Muller, 

 from which, however, it is, in other respects, generically distinct. 

 The specimens described were taken in about twelve fathoms 

 water. — John Stanger, 12, Ellison Place, Newcastle, December 29, 

 1860. 



Botanical Notes. — On the 1st of February, I found, about 

 three miles west of this place, in the same pasture in which 

 I had seen it in September, 1830, nearly thirty years ago, 

 specimens of Hypericum humifusmn, a rare plant, which I had 

 not observed for many years. The only habitats given by 

 Winch are " near Neville's Cross," in Durham, and " Heaton 

 Dene," in Northumberland. — i^e5. 16, 1860. On a ballast 

 hill, north of Hartlepool, a friend gathered, during the sum- 

 mer, Glaucium luteum, and Scolymus maculatus, a plant common 

 in the Levant, recorded by Winch as occurring on a ballast hill 

 on the Tyne. I have also noticed Thalictrum flavum m a new 



