950 Insects. 



Glow-ivoiin in Scotland. Mr. Duncan (Zool. 612) gives some localities of the 

 glow-worm in Scotland, which are not mentioned in * Coleoptera Edinensis,' page 202 ; 

 the authors of which state, that it is now (1834) a very rare insect in the neighbour- 

 hood of our metropolis ; and the only other habitats which they enumerate are situated 

 in the county of Mid Lothian. Three years ago I tried to introduce this " earth- 

 born star" into our borders, and with that view I obtained five or six females from 

 Thornbury, Gloucestershire, in the month of September, which were turned adrift on 

 a mossy bank in the garden, but I have ever watched in vain for their beautiful light, 

 which is only known to me from the descriptions of authors, and the smooth flowing 

 verses of Wordsworth. Perhaps you could inform me of the probable cause of the 

 failure of this experiment. When does the glow-worm cease to give her light? When 

 does she deposit her eggs ? I did not expect that my specimens would survive the 

 winter, but was in hopes that their progeny would. Was the mossy bank unsuitable 

 for their residence ? I ask these questions, because I purpose renewing the experi- 

 ment next summer, for I think their light would have a fine effect on our braes and 

 hill-sides. — Archibald Hepburn ; Jan. 29, 1845. 



Destructive power of the Coccus, or Scale Insect of the Orange. This little pest 

 had been regarded as the Coccus hesperidum, but our friend Mr. Spence recognized 

 it at once as the mussel-shell Coccus, described by Geoffroy. On this single fact 

 of recognition, the result of extensive experiments, and a vast outlay of capital might 

 have depended. So complete have been the ravages of this insect, that one of the 

 Azores, the island of Fayal, lost its entire produce from this cause alone. The usual 

 exportation of fruit from Fayal has been 12,000 chests annually, but in 1843, not a 

 single chest was exported. This injury has already extended to St. Michael's, and is 

 still continuing ; and the inhabitants of the whole of that group of volcanic islands, 

 depending almost entirely on the produce of their orange-groves, and despairing of 

 retrieving their prospects, are fast turning their attention to the cultivation of other 

 objects of commerce. This amount of injury to a whole population, by a diminutive 

 and apparently contemptible insect has been the result of but three years. The effects 

 of this insect on a single article of luxury may fairly be adduced to show that ento- 

 mological inquiries are deserving of full attention. The orange trade between this 

 country and the Azores gives employment to upwards of two hundred sail of vessels ; 

 and, as I am credibly informed, the orange trade alone returns to the revenue of this 

 country an import duty of more than £50,000 per year. M'Culloch, in his • Dic- 

 tionary of Commerce' (1844), has shown that the amount of duty paid by the orange 

 and lemon trade, on an average of three years, ending with and including the year 

 1842, was £70,833 per year. The number of boxes of fruit imported for home con- 

 sumption, on which this duty was levied, amounted to 334,070, and the estimated 

 number of fruit at 217,172,363 ! The support of the numerous families, the fortunes 

 of the merchants engaged in this commerce, and even the revenue of this country, and 

 the wealth, ay, and even the very existence of a whole population, are thus directly 

 affected by the operation of a diminutive insect. — Mr. Newport's Address to the 

 Entomological Society, 1845. 



Occurrence of a Dragon Fly six hundred miles at sea. Mr. Saunders exhibited, at 

 our December meeting, a specimen of jEshna, that was taken at sea by our correspond- 

 ing member, Mr. Stephenson, in his voyage from this country to New Zealand, last 

 year. This insect is a recognized African species, and was captured on the Atlantic, 

 more than six hundred miles in a direct line from land. In all probability it had 



