( ISO 



ARBORETUM AND I'liUTICKTUM. 



PART li 



perhaps, brushing them over at that period with sonic coal tar," may, by its 

 smell, which is known to be offensive to all insects, deter any from settling on 

 the trees tor some days or weeks. In Jig. 1289. /shows the larvae of Nitidula 



1289 



grfsea ; g, one of the same larvae magnified ; h, the pupa of the Nitidula grfsea; 

 /', the pupa magnified; k y the perfect insects; and /, the perfect insect magnified. 

 (Lin. Trans., vol. i. p. 89.) 



Cryptorhynchus lapathi is exceedingly abundant in the osier beds near 

 Barnes and Mortlake. In the perfect state, it is very sluggish, remaining 

 nearly stationary upon the leaves and slender twigs, to which it attaches itself 

 very firmly, by means of its broad cushioned tarsi, and probably, also, by 

 the bent hook at the extremity of the tibiae. Several interesting particulars 

 are recorded relative to this species in Howitt's Book of the Seasons. In 

 the late Mr. Haworth's Review of Entomology, published in the first part of 

 tin; old Entomological Society's Transactions, is given an extract from the 

 Ashmolean Appendix to Ray's Historia Insectorum, relative to the " C'urciilio 

 lapathi of Linnaeus, the ancient spelling of which appears to have been 

 Gurgulio; which species was selected for two reasons; "the one, because it is 

 a well-known insect; and the other, because, according to this ingenious author, 

 it possesses, though feebly, the faculty of voice; which is a piece of informa- 

 tion for which 1 am altogether indebted to this tract." " Lacessitus vocem 

 qnaerulam dedit." The sound here alluded to is produced by the friction of 

 th hollowed base of* the thorax against the elevated front of the elytra. 



This insect, which is the Curculio lapathi of Linnaeus (Syst. Nat., ii. 608. 

 2Q.j Rhynchae*nus lapathi of Fabricius, Syst. Eleuth., ii. 466., and Gyllenhall; 

 and the Cryptorhynchua lapathi of Illiger and Stephens), varies iii length from 

 1 ; in. to | in. It is of an opaque dirty black colour, with the sides of the thorax, 

 and tin- base and apical portion of the elytra clothed with white scales ; the 

 thorax and elytra being also ornamented with minute tufts of black scales. 

 Is, also, upon the alders and sharp dock (/«"umex acutus), according 



• . (. llenhall. Kirbyand Spence, however, appear to doubt the correctness 



of this last habitat, considering tin; name lapathi to have been given to the 

 by mistake] <>\> erring that, as "docks often grow under willows, the 



mistal ion might easily hare happened." (introd. to Ent. t i. p> 196. 



In the Sanctum in the Botanic Garden at Oxford, we are informed by Mr. 



