*3° 



FIELD AND FOREST. 



darkness closed in and prevented my 

 witnessing the end of the combat. 



This Arachnid has a deadly enemy, 

 and one that always destroys it when 

 they come in contact. These young Davids 

 are known as the Pompilns formosus or red 

 winged wasp, and slay their Goliah, if not 

 single handed, they do it by force of num- 

 bers. One remarkable feature about 

 the tarantula is its care of its young, which 

 when moving about in quest of food or 

 to take the morning air they always carry 

 on their backs. Its bite is considered 

 dangerous to man, although I have never 

 seen or heard of a latal case of poisoning 

 arising from the bite of this rata avis. 



Two Forms of Plantago Major. — 

 A year or two ago Mr. A. Commons, of 

 Centerville, Delaware, called my attention 

 to two distinct forms of Plantago major, 

 which he found growing together near his 

 residence. Since then I have been search- 

 ing for them elsewl'ere. I find them 

 growing in company all over New Eng- 

 land, in the State of New York, and even 

 in California. As I have never seen them 

 noticed in any publication, a brief discrip- 

 tion may be interesting to the readers of 

 this magazine, and set botanists elsewhere 

 on the search. 



The difference, so far as I can see, is 

 confined entirely to the fruit. The plants 

 appear precisely alike. The pods in the 

 larger form are ovate, appressedto the spike, 

 and two and a half lines in length. The 

 dehiscence, which is circumscissile, occurs 

 about one third of the length of the pod 

 from its base. The seeds, 5 — 8 in number, 

 are large, jet black, and somewhat rough 

 on the surface. 



The pods, in the smaller form are not 

 much more than half as long as the other, 

 spreading on the spike, having the dehis- 

 cence nearly half way up the pod. They 



are nearly oval, and much fuller in shape 

 than the others. The seeds are about 

 twice as many as in the other case, varying 

 from nine to sixteen, of a light brown color, 

 and covered with irregular stripes. 



The difference is so marked in the ma- 

 ture fruit that almost any one would sup- 

 pose them to be distinct species, and I am 

 not sure that they are not. At all events, 

 they are well marked varieties. In look- 

 ing over the herbarium of Dr. May, by his 

 kind permission, I found that he had only 

 the form with small pods among his spec- 

 imens ; and this appears to be the one de- 

 scribed in his manual, judging from the 

 number of seeds there attributed to the 

 species. 



I should be glad to have any botanist 

 examine his locality; and send us word if 

 he finds the same distinction. — Thomas 



MORONG. 



Mandibular Power of Insects. — Re- 

 calling the article in Field and Forest a 

 month or two ago, in reference to insects 

 being able to cut holes through hard sub- 

 stances reminds us of a case which came un- 

 der our own immediate observation some 

 years ago. We had purchased a piece of firm 

 black casimere; and some time after— during 

 the months of May or June — when we had 

 unwrapped two or three of the outer folds, 

 we found the head of a blue Hymenopterous 

 insect protruding, we then unwrapped the 

 whole piece and found another insect of 

 the same species, two or three folds farther 

 in toward the centre. Both individuals 

 were dead, and we found they had evolved 

 from a piece of half inch chestnut, or 

 chestnut-oak board, around which the 

 goods had been wrapped. We are hot 

 sure about the kind of wood, for it was 

 dry and without bark. These insects had 

 therefore cut through about four inches 

 of solid, firmly wrapped black casimere, 



