478 Queries and Answers. 
related, has the wings altogether destitute of cells. It is therefore evident 
that T. H.’s insect belongs to another family, namely, to the Jchneuménidee 
of Latreille, and may possibly be the Zchnetimon glomeratus of Linneus. 
However this may be, it certainly is a true Microgaster of Latreille, and of 
all modern authors. By referring to Linneeus’s Yaina Suécica T. FH. will see 
that the 7. glomerata is produced in the same way as his insect, whereas the 
7. ovuldrum is bred from the eggs of Lepidoptera, and must, consequently, be 
exceedingly minute. On the Ist of May I hope to illustrate the genus 
Platygaster, and thereby enable students to recognise the species belonging 
to this imperfectly known group. (p. 51.) 
Leistus montanus. (p. 171.) — This insect was unknown before Mr. Dale 
and myself visited Skiddaw: we each took a specimen near the summit of 
that mountain, in July, 1827, and Mr. Dale proposed the specific name that 
it bears. It was first recorded on the wrapper of the forty-fifth Number 
of Curtis’s British Entomology. It has since been taken by Mr. Marshall, 
and last September on the side of Cader Idris, Merionethshire, by Mr. 
Francis Walker of Southgate. — J. Curtis. 4. Grove Place, Lisson Grove, 
March 23. 1830. 
The “ Skate Spawn” enquired about (p. 93.) is certainly a species of 
Medtsa.— W.C.T. January 28. 1830. 
Silver Fish. — In reply to the query on the silver fish (Vol. II. p. 102.), 
it may be stated, that the fish so called is merely an accidental variety of 
the gold fish (Cyprinus auratus Linn.), which varies in colour from age, 
food, the kind of water in which they are bred, &c.; the greater number 
being of a golden orange colour, many white, or silvery, and others of one 
or other of those colours, mixed with large patches of black ; they also vary 
in the shape and size of the fins and tail, which last in some is dispropor- 
tionately large, and divided into three long lobes. These beautiful fish, 
originally natives of China and Japan, were probably introduced into Por- 
tugal at an early period, after the people of that country had discovered 
the route to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope, as they appear to 
be now completely naturalised, and abound in many of their streams, 
whence they are brought to us by trading vessels from Lisbon, St. Ubes, 
&c., in large earthen jars, and may be had a very easy rate before they 
get into other hands. They have also been introduced and naturalised 
in the Mauritius by the French, where they now abound in fish-ponds and 
streams, and are served up at table with the other fresh-water fishes, to the 
brood of which they are thought to be very inimical, by destroying their 
spawn and young fry. The extreme elegance of the form of the golden 
carp, the splendour of their scaly covering, the ease and agility of their 
movements, and the facility with which they are kept alive in very small 
vessels, place them amongst the most pleasing and desirable of our pets. 
—J.T. Cork, March, 1829. 
Sex of the Lamprey, §c. — Sir, In the Quarterly Review for November, 
1829, No. $2., in the Art. Systems and Methods in Natural History, by J. E. 
Bicheno, Esq., the following passage occurs in p, 325.:—“ In the lamprey 
the male and female organs of generation appear, from the observations of 
Sir Everard Home, to be united in the same individuals, so as to render 
conjunction unnecessary ; the eggs, when expelled, are naked, and each 
contains a single foetus; in the leech, the hermaphroditism requires the 
union of two individuals; the eggs, when expelled, are covered with a 
spongy matter, and each contains several young.” As in this extract, there 
is a comparison between the leech and the lamprey, it would seem to refer 
to the lesser lamprey, both abounding in the rivers of this country. I re- 
collect having read (some years ago) part of a memoir, said to have been 
read at the Royal Society, reported to be by Sir. E. Home, wherein the 
lamprey was represented as having the peculiarity of one sex, or rather 
the sexes united; in short, that all were spawners, and emitted eggs. Hav- 
