Miscellaneous. 323 



substance becomes brittle by coagulating in sea-water. It commu- 

 nicates by a narrow neck with the circumambient medium. 



When we have once witnessed the formation of these singular 

 cocoons it is not difficult to find them on the lower surface of stones, 

 where they are generally sheltered in the hollows, and often hidden 

 in the midst of the tubes of Spirorhes, Vermilice, &c. 



On opening a cocoon with fine needles we find within it the 

 parasite surrounded by its eggs. The latter are rose-coloured, 

 held together by a gelatinous substance, and lining the inner surface 

 of the posterior part of the cocoon. The Fecampia has lost a con- 

 siderable part of its bulk ; the slender anterior part has become 

 much longer and thinner ; the body is more rounded and of a 

 reddish colour ; the snowy whiteness has vanished, no doubt in 

 consequence of the expulsion of the male products. It is towards 

 the end of August that the Fecampioi begin to undergo this trans- 

 formation ; it is also at this period that the females of Carcinus 

 nwenas begin to carry their eggs. The young larvae of Fecampia 

 must therefore be developed in parallelism to the Zoeae and Mega- 

 lopi, and infest one or other of them„ The eggs have a thin trans- 

 parent wall and the characters of summer eggs. The segmentation 

 is holoblastic and regular. 



I hope soon to complete these observations by the description of 

 the larva. It remains to be seen what becomes of the parasite when 

 oviposition is terminated and it has completed the incubation of the 

 eggs. But it seems to me that the facts indicated in this note 

 deserved being brought without delay under the notice of natu- 

 ralists. 



From the preceding it will be seen that Fecampia differs con- 

 siderably from Graffilla and the various genera of parasitic Ehab- 

 doccela previously described. It appears to approach a parasite 

 discovered by Lang in the foot of Tetliys Jimhriata, and I am per- 

 suaded that a more complete investigation of that Mediterranean 

 type will show that it also secretes a cocoon. 



In conclusion, I will recall the fact that an American naturalist, 

 Charles Girard, many years ago noted in a Planarian (Planocera 

 elliptica) a motionless and opaque form which he called a chrysalis, 

 and which, perhaps, is not without analogy with the state observed 

 by us in Fecampia. In Planocera, however, the encystation takes 

 place during the larval period and has nothing to do with the incu- 

 bation of the eggs. — Comptes Rendas, September 13, 1886, p. 499. 



Observations on the PoUinization of the Indigenous Orchidece. 

 By M. Paul Mattet. 

 Referring to a recent paper by M. Leon Guignard on the poUini- 

 zation of some exotic Orchids, the author states that he has made 

 observations upon the following native species: — Neottia ovata, 

 nidus-avis ; Orchis fusca, simia, morio, mascula, maculata, lati- 

 folia, laxiflora ; Loroglossum hircinum ; Ophrys arachnites, myodes, 

 apifera ; Platanthera bifolia ; Cephalanthera grandijlora ; and Epi- 

 pactis atrorubens. 



