14.80 



AlfBOllIi'IUAJ AND I'U I' IJCL;'1 UM. 



I'AUr III. 



pei'liiips, brushing them over at that perioil with soiiic coal tar " may, by its 

 smt'll, vvliicli is known to be offensive to all insects, deter any I'rom settling on 

 the trees for some days or weeks. In/Zi,'. l-.^«y.,y shows the larva; of Nitidula 



1 '289 



grisea ; g, one of the same larvas magnified ; //, the pupa of the Nitidula grisca ; 

 i, the pupa magnified ; X-, the perfect insects ; and /, the perfect insect magnified. 

 (Lin. Trans., vol. i. p. 89.) 



Cryptorhynchus lapathi is exceedingly abundant in tiie osier beds near 

 Barnes and Mortlake. In the perfect state, it is very sluggish, remaining 

 nearly stationary upon the leaves and slender twigs, to which it attaches 

 itself very firmly, by means of its broad cushioned tarsi, and probably, also, by 

 the bent hook at the extremity of the tibias. Several interesting particulars 

 are recorded relative to this species in Howitt's Book of the Seasons. In 

 the late Mr. Ilaworth's Rcviciv of Enfomolo<rij, published in the first part 

 of the old Enlomolon'ical Soeieft/s Transaetions, is given an extract from the 

 Ashmolcan Appendix to Kay's Hisloria Inseetoruni, relative to the " C'urculio 

 lapathi of Limixuis, the ancient spelling of which appears to have been 

 Ourgulio ; which species was selected for two reasons ; " the one, because it is 

 a well-known insect; and the other, because, according to this ingenious author, 

 it possesses, though feebly, the faculty of voice ; which is a piece of informa- 

 tion for which I am altogether indebted to this tract." " Lacessitus vocem 

 quncrulam dedit." The sound here alluded to is produced by the friction 

 of the hollowed base of the thorax against the elevated front of the elytra. 



This insect, which is the C'urculio lajiathi of Linna-us {Si/sl. Nat.,\\. 608. 

 20. ; Rhyncha^^nus lapathi of Fabricius,<Sy.s/. Eleut/i., ii. 466., and (iyllenhall 

 and the Cryptorhynchus lapathi of Illigerand Stephens), varies in length from 

 i in. to i in. It is of an opaque dirty black colour, with the sides of the thorax, 

 and the base and apical portion of the elytra clothed with white scales ; the 

 thorax and elytra being also ornamented with minute tufts of black scales. 

 It feeds, also, upon the alders and sharp dock (7^umex acutus), according 

 to (iyllenhall. Kirby and Spence, however, appear to doubt the correctness 

 of this last habitat, considering the name lapathi to have been given to tiie 

 insect by mistake ; observing that, as " docks often grow under willows, the 

 mistake in question might easily have happened." (Introd. to Ent., i. p. 196. 

 note.) 



In the salictiun in the Botanic Garden at Oxford, we are informed by Mr. 



