28 8 Mr.Foggo on an Insect found in the wood of a Tablt. 



Art. X. — Account of an Insect of the Genus Urocerus, 

 7vhich came Out of the Wood of a Table. By Mr. John 

 FoGGo, Leith.* 



The insect I am about to describe is a species of Urocerus^ 

 and is quite distinct front) the JJ. giga.s, the only British spe- 

 cies which has any resemblance to it. It protruded from a 

 folding table of fir, veneered with mahogany. When the in- 

 sect was discovered, the table had been folded for some 

 days ; and what first excited observation, was a large quan- 

 tity of very fine dust which covered the whole of the under 

 leaf. On examination, it was found to have proceeded from 

 a hole in the upper leaf, and to have been occasioned by the 

 insect, in attempting to escape from its confinement. It had 

 penetrated the under leaf to the depth of | of an inch. For- 

 tunately, the table was in the possession of Mr. Robert' 

 Strong, junior, a gentleman who could well appreciate the 

 value of the incident. Mr. Strong carefully removed the 

 insect from its cell, and found it dead, no doubt suffocated, 

 the circulation of air in the room recoiling upon it the dust 

 which its own exertions had made. Having taken proper 

 precautions, he has so far succeeded, as now to have it in a 

 tolerable state of preservation, with the exception of the 

 antennae and palpi, which gave way in the process. See 

 Plate IV. Fig. 9. It is in length rather more than an inch^ 

 exclusive of the horn-like process which gives the generic 

 name, and is two lines long. When the animal was dis- 

 covered, the antennae were reflected, lying close to the back, 

 and reached to the anterior of the last segment of the abdo- 

 men. One of the palpi is still attached to the head ; it is of 

 a yellow colour, increasing in thickness towards the tip. 

 The head is rather compressed than globular, with a large 

 yellovi? protuberance behind each eye. The throat, trunk, 

 and part of the head are covered with short stiff brown hairs. 

 The scutellum is ovato-acuminated, of a dark brown colour,; 

 the thighs and anterior segments of the abdomen are also of a 

 brown colour, the rest yellow. The vagina extends about 

 three lines beyond the extremity of the horn. 



Within these few years, several instances exactly similar 

 to the above have been published, but as yet no satisfactory 

 explanation has been given. By some naturalists, they have 



*^ From Dr. Brewster's Edinburgh Journal of Science, No. III. p. 85. 



