132 MR. J. WATSON ON THE PLUMULES OR 



Great Britain ; and I may add to the list Australia, the 

 insect from which fig. No. 40 was taken having been 

 captured by Mr. Diggles at Moreton Bay. Figs. 38 and 

 39 are also from Moreton Bay, and mere varieties of the 

 same insect. 



Collectors are now receiving from Australia insects 

 previously known as appertaining only to the Indian 

 archipelago; and it is remarkable that while this island 

 has an insect fauna of its own, it should also possess the 

 insects of neighbouring though distant lands, and yet 

 that its peculiar fauna, animal and vegetable, should be 

 distinct. 



The insect whose scale is shown by No. 41 has been 

 lately named by Felder Dipsas lyccenoides ; it is question- 

 able whether it should be placed in the genus Dipsas. It 

 is also from Moreton Bay, and evidently allied to bcetica. 

 The beaded or articulated appearance at the upper end is 

 very singular. The insect has an evident affinity ynihbatica, 

 but in no other instance have I found any scale approach- 

 ing these. 



The points desired to be insisted upon as useful in this 

 investigation are — 



1. That these plumules are always identical in different 

 individuals of the same species ; and therefore mere geo- 

 graphical or other varieties may be detected by this test ; 

 and that 



2. In species nearly allied, so closely as to make them 

 difficult of distinction, these scales will be often found very 

 different, forming very certain and unquestionable divi- 

 sions ; while, on the other hand, species of easy separation 

 in other physiological peculiarities have sometimes almost 

 identical plumules. 



Microscopists have seen in some of the Foraminifera 

 exquisite forms of flasks and decanters ; and in these plu- 

 mules no one can fail to observe their elegance, beauty. 



