Insects, 7111 



left but little picliing on the fly, he turned on his back, and, enfolding the abdominal 

 section with his legs, proceeded to mandibulale (if such a word may be allowed) every 

 crevice where moisture might possibly lurk with the utmost care. No elderly gentle- 

 man could more diligently turn and refold, and turn again his newspaper to secure every 

 particle of news, before resigning it to some restless youngster, than did the Telephorus 

 twist round and round his evidently much-valued prey to see if anything further could 

 be extracted from its well-stripped segments, till at length, being convinced there was 

 not a morsel more to be had, he suddenly flung it aside, and sprang once more upon 

 his feet. The occurrence may not be as uncommon as I take it to be, but still it seems 

 a pity not to notice it. — A. R. Hogan ; Pilton, near Salisbury/, June 9, 1860. 



Note on Hydroptila pulchricornis and H. tineoides. — Yesterday being the finest 

 we have had for some time I took advantage of it to hunt up the Phryganidse, and on 

 a wall near the river Tone were immense numbers of Hydioptila pulchricornis and 

 H. tineoides running about with the swiftness of racers. I took out my pocket lens 

 to examine them more closely, and iudeed to be sure which species they were. I have 

 been in doubt for some lime as to whether these so-called species were really such, or 

 only the sex of one species whicn now prove to be, for I had the good fortune to take 

 a pair in cop. Dr. Hagen says, speaking of H. tineoides, perhaps only the female of 

 the preceding species, meaning H. pulchricornis: but it is the reverse of this; H. 

 pulchricornis is the female, and H. tineoides the male; his then settles this question. 

 While busy looking at these Hydroplilas with my glass the sun was shining brightly 

 on the wall, and in the chink of a stone were two large Epeiras ; I do not know which 

 species, as I am not versed in Arachnology. I had the curiosity of trying the burning 

 power of a lens on a cold-blooded animal, so I just got the glass into focus upon the 

 abdomen of the poor unfortunate spider. The moment the focal power was brought 

 to bear the creature gave a start, precisely as if electrified. This I repeated two or 

 three times ; I did not keep the glass in focus so as to kill or injure the spider, only to 

 try the efi"ect. On the second application of the lens it was curious to see the action 

 of the creature, for it put back its hind legs, and distinctly rubbed the part ; it shows 

 a degree of intelligence in directing its legs to the injured part, and we ourselves 

 could do no more. I was much interested to see the efiect of a burning point upon 

 the nervous system of this cold blooded creature. The efiect produced was equally as 

 rapid or quick from the moment of contact as that on one of warm blood. — Edward 

 Parjill ; Museum, Taunton, June 16, 1860. 



Situation of Pyrgoma anglicum. — There is a slight variation in the position of 

 this barnacle on difl'erent specimens of our British Caryophyllaces, but, so far as I 

 have seen, it has always been upon, or just below, the outer margin of the calyx of the 

 coral. I have now before me five large living specimens of Pyrgoma, which appa- 

 rently spring from the level of the base of the supporting corals, but in each case the 

 coral is very low, and a close examination shows that the barnacle is attached in its 

 usual position close to the margin of the calyx, although at first sight it appears like 

 a stout buttress springing from the rock, and extending some way above the corallum. 

 Is not this the case with Mr. Guyon's specinriens ? There are several foreign species 

 of Pyrgoma which afi'ect difl'erent parts of the corals to which they adhere, but I think 

 our single British species is pretty constant in its position at the lip of the coral. I 



