Zoology^ 149 



little fish. The beetle immediately made a dead set at the fish, which com- 

 pletely paralysed the poor little animal ; for it was soon after seized near the 

 tail by the beetle, without making any effort to escape, and never left till it 

 was a perfect skeleton similar to numbers that he had previously found. — 

 J. Elles. Feb. 1829. 



Tenacity of Life in the Weevil Tribe. — About a year ago, in the month of May, I captured, 

 near Windsor, in the young sprouts of the willows, which grow in profusion in some places on 

 the banks of the river, six weevils most resembling the CurcCilio /apathi of Marsham. Having 

 conveyed them home, I put them into spirits of wine for upwards of half an hour, a time which 

 is sufficient to kill by far the greatest portion of insects ; and afterwards having taken them out, 

 I transfixed them with pins. In about ten minutes they were all alive, and writhing on the 

 pins in a manner horrible to look at I therefore put them a second time into spirits of wine for 

 a longer time than the first. But having taken them out, very few minutes elapsed before two of 

 them were again kicking about their legs ; so, to try what they would do, I took out the pins, and 

 put them under a cocoa-nut shell, in the top of which there was a hole. The one truly died, as well 

 it might, but the other in a very short time crawled out at the hole in the top, and was soon as 

 vigorous as it was previously to its being captured, and I then gave it its liberty. The pins with which 

 they were transfixed were of a large size. I also one day observed a weevil on a stalk of grass, 

 which taking up and examining, I perceived a hole in the elytra, by which all the intestines, and 

 even the very wings, and every thing except the shell had been extracted. There was an indi- 

 vidual of the Carabus ciipreus species on the same bit of grass, by whom I suspect it had been 

 done. I found another weevil in a spider's web served in the same manner. Both were appa- 

 rently as active as they 'ever were. — C. Lambe. May 6. 1829. 



Fildria forficul<s (Jig. 32 .) — These specimens of intestinal worm were 



taken last autumn 

 ^^ from the Forficula 



auricularia, or com- 

 mon earwig. I have 

 very frequentlyfound 

 them in this insect, 

 and sometimes two or three in a single individual, each not less than 3 in, 

 long. Thus the whole H^avity of the abdomen of the earwig has been closely 

 tenanted ; and, in some instances, I have found a portion of the worm within 

 the trunk of the insect, whilst part remained in the abdomen. After being ' 

 removed from their natural habitation they will sometimes live in water two 

 or three hours ; but, exposed to the atmosphere, they die almost immediately. 

 The worms of the genus Filaria, to which the present subjects belong, are 

 known to infest animals of various denominations, beasts, birds, and insects ; 

 and even the larvae of insects : but the extreme simplicity of the structure 

 of great part of them, as far as man can make himself acquainted, defies 

 every attempt at specific distinctions, therefore they have been named after 

 the subjects in which they are found, without the addition of trivial charac- 

 ters. These I have labelled Filaria forficulae. This white, or very pale 

 yellow, opaque, threadlike inhabitant of the Forficula auricularia I have 

 usually found from 3 in. to 4 in. long. The specimens herewith sent were 

 rather more when deposited in the spirit, which was effected immediately after 

 their removal from their natural habitat. Your readers will have no difficulty 

 in procuring subjects for their own examination. As connected with this 

 pursuit it may not be amiss, in your Magazine, to recommend every one 

 who is in the least degree interested therewith to provide himself with a 

 wide-mouthed flint-glass bottle, of the size suited to the subjects generally 

 collected. If this be partly filled with rectified spirit of wine, and kept as a 

 common repository to receive specimens indiscriminately as they are col- 

 lected, it will be the means of preserving many that would otherwise be lost 

 on account of the trouble of providing separately for them at times when 

 it may be inconvenient. Another advantage offered by this method is, that 

 when specimens are taken from this stock-bottle, as it may be termed, and 

 put into fresh spirit, they never tinge it with any colour, which will some- 

 times happen with the fluid in which reptiles or insects are first deposited. 

 — £. Maund. BromsgrovCy October 24. 1829. 



The Polybrdchion (many arms) is an animal described in vol. iii. of the 

 Zoological Journal^ by the Rev. Lansdown Guilding, and on which I send 

 you a few remarks. From the vast variety and extent of nature's pro- 



L 3 



