NOTES AND QUERIES. 447 



Cmar, L.) from amongst the Diptera. This feebleness, and the 

 want of some place of rest, probably explain why they were so 

 numerous in this particular case. 



On the edge of Polquick Pond, Truro, Mr. J. H. James and 

 myself found, in 1889, the Striate Geranium, Geranium striatum, 

 L. ; Major Parkyn and myself found the same species at Helford, 

 on our annual excursion it was seen by several members, Mr. 

 Thomas Clark has seen it in several places, and Mr. Davey, 

 of Ponsanooth, gives Perranwharf. Although in Hooker's 

 Student's Flora, 3rd edition, it is put among the excluded species 

 of British plants, I think in face of the above distribution, such 

 an exclusion ought not to obtain, but that the plant should now 

 be considered indigenous. 



"When on a walk last March, near Merther, I saw a female 

 humble bee, Bombus terre&tris, 111., hovering over a small hole in 

 a hedge-bank, which was overgrown with primroses. Whilst in 

 this position a hive bee Apis mellifica, L., came behind it, hover- 

 ing unnoticed for some seconds, at a distance of about one inch, 

 and then very suddenly alighted on the back of the Bombus. By 

 the action of the abdomen of the Apis it was apparent it was 

 attempting to sting ; whether successful or not I cannot judge, 

 as the Bombus went off as if unhurt, and the Apis alighted on a 

 primrose. I have not read anywhere of attacks of this kind. 



One evening in August last I saw a specimen of the Field 

 Slug, Limax agrestes, L., descending by means of a thread, from 

 the lower part of the trunk of one of the elm trees, which over- 

 hang Comprigney Lane, Truro. The height from which it had 

 started to reach the road was about twelve feet and seven feet of 

 this it had already accomplished when I came across it. I thought 

 at first it was the caterpillar of some insect, but closer examin- 

 ation showed, that it was a slug descending head first by means 

 of a mucus thread. The mucus thread is secreted by a gland 

 near the tail end, in many of the naked pulmonif erous molluscs ; 

 but this use of the secretion is new to me. 



HENEY CEOWTHEE. 



