31^3 VARIETIES. 



forwards with the motion of the wind, but still was heavy 

 enough to keep her web distended and steady. I placed a 

 sheet of paper underneath, to catch the stone when it fell, and 

 have it now in my possession. 



E. T. Foster. 



Dated August 11— received December 4, 1832. 



28. Inquiry respecting the jjreservation of Cnistacea. — 

 Sir, Will you have the goodness of informing me, through 

 your magazine, what is the best mode of preserving shell-fish, 

 as crabs, &c. I have excellent opportunities of collecting 

 them, but they invariably become moist, and decay at the 

 joints. Your obedient servant. 



December, 1832. DevONIENSIS. 



[We believe that the most effectual mode of pi'eserving 

 Crustacea is to clean the shells thoroughly, and then keep 

 them steeped in fresh water, until the salt is completely ex- 

 tracted from them. Mr. Yarrell or Mr. Stephens could furnish 

 much better information than ourselves on this subject. We 

 should feel obliged by. any communication from them on the 

 subject. — Ed.] 



29. Coccus of the Vine. — I have found on the shoots of 

 the vine an insect which adhered to them, in form and colour 

 something like a flat insect I have frequently met with 

 on the head of prawns. When I saw them first, they were 

 very flat, and close to the branch, but they increased in bulk 

 much more upwards than in circumference ; and, after some 

 time, I have picked them off, and found that they contained a 

 white cottony substance, and a great many young red spiders. 

 I never saw them in any other state than this. I have de- 

 stroyed great numbers, considering them prejudicial to the 

 vine, by injuring the sap. I never remember seeing any of 

 the old ones, nor indeed any others than what w^ere in the 

 cottony substance, which I considered the nest. Any informa- 

 tion on the subject will oblige G. N. 



[The insect is the female of the Coccus ritis ; the red 

 spider-like insects are the young, which hatch from eggs, 

 deposited on the stem of the vine, and thus protected from 



