1158 Quadrupeds. 



as in the male, on one side. — Frederick Smith ; 5, High St., Neivington Butts, Sep- 

 tember, 1845. 



Parasitism of Chalcidites. The larvae of Yponomeuta Evonymella live in society, 

 and often devour all the leaves of the trees which they infest. In the beginning of 

 July a considerable number of the moths emerged from some nests which I had re- 

 ceived, and they were accompanied by three Ichneumon flies (belonging to two species 

 of the Ichneumones genuini), and by one Ceraphron (Megaspilus, Westwood). A few 

 days sufficed for the appearance of all these insects, and about a month afterwards nu- 

 merous specimens of a Tetrastichus (Holiday) were disclosed. I will conclude this note 

 with a short description of its characters, and give the name in the December number. 



Tetrastichus . Green, with a slight brassy tinge : antennae of the male 



fulvous, slightly clavate, not hairy, hardly half the length of the body: antennae of the 

 female piceous, subclavate, not half the length of the body ; 1st joint green : thorax 

 oval, convex : mesothorax with a furrow down the disk of its scutum, and a furrow on 

 each side of its scutellum : abdomen of the male almost linear, nearly flat, rather 

 * shorter and narrower than the thorax : abdomen of the female elliptical, rather longer 

 than the thorax, depressed above, keeled beneath, pointed at the tip ; its disk cupre- 

 ous : legs of the male yellow ; coxae and base of the thighs green ; tips of the tarsi 

 fuscous : legs of the female like those of the male, except the thighs, which are nearly 

 all green, and the tibiae, which are encircled by a broad fuscous band, sometimes oc- 

 cupying nearly their whole length : wings limpid ; nervures fulvous ; ulna nearly as 

 long as the humerus ; radius extremely short ; cubitus not more than one third the 

 length of the ulna ; stigma very small. Length of the body f — \\ line ; expansion of 

 the wings 1 — H li^e. — Francis Walker. 



Long-eared Bat flying in the sunshine. I once took Plecotus auritus in a bright 

 sunshine at noon, hawking for prey, in my garden. This seems rather a common oc- 

 currence, from the various notices in the ' Zoologist,' (see Zool. 6, 35, 75, 212, 343). 

 F. W. L. Ross ; Broadway House, Topsham, Devon. 



Hearing of Animals. Mr. Wolley, in his paper entitled " Observations on the Noc- 

 tule," says, "This subject of the different capabilities of ears is a highly interesting 

 one," (Zool. 953). It is, indeed, and one which, though myself very little of a natu- 

 ralist, I have often thought on with pleasure. You shall see one man unable to dis- 

 tinguish between the " tonguing " of a dog when on scent of game, and his warning- 

 bark to strangers ; while another man will tell you, by the tone of his dog, the game 

 he is upon. One man will hear sounds spoken from a distance, but will not be able to 

 distinguish what is said ; another will hear what is said, but be quite at a loss to tell 

 from what quarter the sound proceeded: while a third will both hear the sound, and 

 know from whence it came, but will not recognize the voice, though it be that of a well 

 known friend. This I call the different kind of capabilities. May we not then rea- 

 sonably suppose, that the difference being so great in this respect, even among our- 

 selves, it is still greater, if not perfectly distinct, in different species ? I could never 

 look, with half the pleasure I do now, on a band of evening gnats, did I not suppose 

 they had some means of communicating to each other their wishes and feelings, their 

 pains and pleasures, by sounds perhaps " highly stridulous," or what not, but too sub- 

 tle for our ears. The " silent snail " has become a proverb, but who has not heard 



