JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. xlv 



plained by the cleanliness of insects, and their constant habit of 

 divesting themselves of extraneous particles. Having, however, 

 during the months of July and August, captured many specimens of 

 the Pontic Brassicof, Rapee, Napi, &c., he discovered that each had 

 several appendages, from one to ten in number, attached to its tarsi, 

 often in pairs, and which he subsequently ascertained from their 

 structure to be the pollinific masses of the Asclepiadeee, most pro- 

 bably of ^. Unifolia, Lagasca, of which he had many specimens in 

 flower, and which he immediately examined, and was surprised to 

 find the majority deprived of their pollinific masses. He then enters 

 into a minute description of the curious flowers of the Asclepias, and 

 proves that by means of the tarsi of the butterflies passing through 

 the crevices of the nectaries and hooking upon the notched base of 

 the pollen-masses, the latter are forced off" and carried away by the 

 butterflies. From these circumstances the author advises horticul- 

 turists who would wish to see their Asdepiadea covered with seed, 

 to protect the plants whilst in flower fi'om the approach of the 

 butterflies. 



" Descriptions of some new Exotic Dipterous Insects." By.T. O. 

 Westwood, F.L.S., &c. (These descriptions have subsequently been 

 pubhshed by the author in the Philosophical Magazine.) 



" A Description of the Superior Wing of the Hymenoptera." By 

 W. E. Shuckard, Esq., M.E.S. (See p. 208.) 



" Observations upon the Natural History of various Species of 

 West India Insects." By W. Sells, Esq. 



1 . Land Crabs. — The author states that the land crabs of Jamaica 

 are of two species, the white and the black, although regarded by 

 some writers as varieties of Cancer ruricola. The black crab is com- 

 mon in the east and north of the island during a great portion of the 

 year, principally in the vicinity of the coast. It is very active in its 

 motions, and is esteemed a very great delicacy, being kept by some 

 of the inhabitants in inclosures, where it is regularly fed with boiled 

 Indian com, or Guinea corn, (Holcus Sorghum,) upon which the crabs 

 thrive well, and are thus ready at the shortest notice for the table*. 

 The white land crab is common in the lowland districts on the south of 

 the island; it is rather largerthanthe black crab, not so active, the body 

 larger, and the legs shorter. After long-continued droughts succeeded 

 by heavy rains, the crabs come out of their holes in the rocky soil in 



* Lewis, in his Journal of a Residence in Jamaica in 181C, after complaining of 

 the eatables of the island, states, " For my own part I have for the last few weeks 

 eaten nothing except black crabs, than which I never met with a more delicious, 

 article for the table." They are usually boiled, then picked and mixed with 

 crumbs of bread and spices, and afterwards baked in the shell. 



VOL, I. PART III. T 



