FIELD AND FOREST. 63 



soil, successful result from such experiments as M. Hoffman, has tried 

 must be considered essential to })lace the matter beyond doubt. 



Even wild animals or insects which burrow, may produce phenomena 

 apparently very singular, for B. S. (Gardeners' Chronicle 1756,) re- 

 cords finding flax seeds and seeds of other plants, in nests of the "earth 

 worm" which were from 10 to 12 feet below the surface of the ground. 



Such deposits might easily become the cause of error in observa- 

 tions on this subject. — [71? be contimied.'\ 



Wm. H. Seaman, 



"Missing Links" among the Lepidoptera. 



M. Kunckel has described in the Comptcs Rendus several Australian 

 Lepidoptera which possess terebrant trunks, instead of the usual suck- 

 ing probosces we have always regarded as characteristic of the order. 

 Having read in a newspaper the depredations of a moth ( Ophideres 

 fullonica) on oranges, he carefully examined the trunks of these in- 

 sects. Lepidoptera are specially constructed to suck up the nectar of 

 open flowers, and to imbibe sweet fluids. M. Kunckel goes on to 

 say : — "Bya strange exception, the moths of the genus Ophideres, Boisd., 

 possess a rigid trunk — a true borer of ideal perfection — capable of 

 piercing the skins of fruits, and of boring through the thickest and 

 most resistant envelopes. This trunk is a perfect instrument, and 

 would be an excellent model for the making of new tools to be em- 

 ployed in boring holes in various materials. Partaking at once of the 

 barbed lance, the gimlet, and the rasp, it can pierce, bore, and tear, 

 at the same time, allowing liquids to pass without impediment by the 

 internal canal. The two applied maxillae terminate in a strong, sharp, 

 triangular point, furnished with two barbs; they then become enlarged, 

 and present on the lower surface three portions of the thread of a 

 screw, while their sides and their upper surface are covered with short, 

 strong spines, projecting from the centre of a depression with hard 

 • and abrupt margins. The purpose of these spines is to tear the cells 

 of the orange-pulp as the rasp serves to open the cells of the beet-root, 

 in order to extract the sugar from them. The upper region of the 

 trunk is covered below and on the sides with fine close-set striae, ar- 



