Insects. 9137 
can, for no other animals in my aquaria died during the winter. 
Several, however, seemed much pinched with the cold, but the warmth 
of a sunny day or two soon brought them round again. Once Peachia 
hastata came out of his burrow, but returned after a few hours. 
My friend Mr. Bracey, our house surgeon, and I dissected one of 
the sucking fishes, and the following are the notes made on the 
occasion. 
The most remarkable part of its anatomy was the sucker. This 
formed a disk, composed of the union of the pectoral and ventral fins, 
situated on the under surface of the body near the gills. The disk 
was composed of two cartilaginous plates, nearly circular in form, 
placed one in front of the other and a little inclined towards each 
other. The anterior one was rather the larger, and had connected 
with its sides a kind of fringe, formed of a similar material, folded into 
a series of rays. The posterior plate had a smaller fringe, so placed 
as to form a continuation of the first; thus the edges of the disk were 
capable of adaptation to any irregular surface, and would remain in 
contact with it when the plates were elevated, as the disk became con- 
cave. . This movement of the disk, upon which its action as a sucker 
depended, was effected by muscles attached to the edges of the plates 
where they were in contact with one another, and springing from part 
of the vertebral chain. These muscles were very distinct, and appeared 
to be largely developed. The two spots on the surface next attracted 
attention, and here a large deposit of pigment was found in the tegu- 
mentary structure. The alimentary organs could not well be made 
out, owing to the decomposition, but the intestinal canal appeared to 
be very simple. The mouth was large, and furnished with teeth. 
W. R. HueuEs. 
The General Hospital, Birmingham, 
May 16, 1864. 
On the Abundance of Spring Wasps.—From various parts of the country I have 
received accounts of the unusual abundance of wasps this spring. Appended to this 
information are various opinions: one correspondent congratulates me with the 
assurance that I shall have no reason to complain of the scarcity of wasps this year; 
another friend tells me that fruit-growers and others have paid boys a penny, and, in 
some cases, twopence, a dozen fr collecting these spring wasps. On turning back to 
the seventh volume of this great magazine of zoological facts (Zool. 2614), I finda 
very excellent communication upon the “ Seasonable Abundance or Scarcity of the 
Common Wasp,” by ihe Rev. W. T. Bree, whose experience on the numbers of spring 
wasps is summed up in these words:—‘“ An abundant flight of spring wasps is no sure 
VOL. XXII. 2N 
