334 Mr. T. Vernon Wollaston on a 



umbilicatus on the outer reef of Observatory Island. The 

 creature had most probably been thrown up by the waves, and 

 remained withni a ledge of coral rock when the spring tide 

 receded. The natives frequently find Nautili entrapped in this 

 way ; but we could not prevail upon them to bring us the 

 recent animals, although a liberal remuneration was offered. 

 The specimen was alive when brought on board, but it was 

 too much exhausted to exhibit any active movements when 

 placed in a vessel containing sea-water. On touching the 

 tentacula they curled up, or moved about irregularly, and the 

 muscular fibres of the funnel-tube contracted slowly, without, 

 however, producing respiratory currents." Prof. Owen says, 

 alluding to my Nautilus, " The dissection of this unique 

 specimen established the claims of the Nautilus pompiUus to 

 rank in the highest class of Mollusca, and at the same time 

 brought to light so many important modifications in the Ce- 

 phalopoda type of structure as to necessitate the establishment 

 of a new order for its reception." 



The number of tentacles with which the Pearly Nautilus is 

 provided amounts to not less than nipety, of which thirty- 

 eight may be termed' digital, four ophthalmic, and forty-eight 

 labial. In specimens there is a slight difference in the number 

 of the tentacula. 



XLIII. — On a neio Insect Pest at Madeira. 

 By T. Vernon Wollaston, M.A., F.L.S. 



Considering how terribly the island of Madeira has suffered 

 from the depredations of the Phylloxera, whole tracts on which 

 the vine until lately flourished having been completely laid 

 waste, it seems a thankless task to have to place on record 

 yet another scourge Avhich has lately made its appearance in 

 that otherwise hig-hly favoured land, and which, although for- 

 tunately of a much less alarming nature, threatens at any rate 

 to make itself felt. I would by no means wish to compare it 

 with either of the calamities (as represented by the Oidium 

 and the Phylloxera) which have overtaken the vine ; but the 

 history of the Colorado Beetle will suffice to convince us that 

 other plants, which administer more or less to our comfort, 

 and which constitute an appreciable item of commerce, may so 

 far become the prey of insect parasites that their cultivation 

 is ascertained at last to be a matter of such difficulty that it 

 hns practically to be abandoned. 



