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 /chneumonidae 

 of Latreille, and may possibly be the /chneumon glomeratus of Linnaeus. 

 However this may be, it certainly is a true Microgaster of Latreille, and of 

 all modern authors. By referring to Linnaeus's Fauna Suedca T. H. will see 

 that the I. glomerata is produced in the same way as his insect, whereas the 

 /. ovulorum is bred from the eggs of Lepidoptera^ and must, consequently, be 

 exceedingly minute. On the 1st 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.) 



Lcistus inontdniis. (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 Bntish 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. -^ X Curtis. 4. Grove Places Lisson Grove, 

 March 23. 1830. 



The " Skate Spawn " enquired about (p. 93.) is certainly a species of 

 Medusa. — 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 tliey 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 theii* 

 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 facU^y with which they are kept alive in very small 

 vessels, place them amongst the most pleasing and desu-able of our pets. 

 — J. T. Cork, March, 1829. 



Sex of the Lamprey, Sfc. — Sir, In the Quarterly Review for November, 

 .1829, No. 82,, 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 fcetusj 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- 



