Insects. 3359 



to pass, always turning their heads towards her on her near approach, and never by 

 any chance attempting to walk over her, as they do the workers or drones. When she 

 comes to an empty cell, she goes into it head foremost, examines it for about a couple 

 of seconds, comes out, and then returning backwards into the cell, deposits the egg in 

 about two seconds more : and so she proceeds from cell to cell, with this exception, 

 that when a cell seems defective, she comes out much sooner, and passes by it without 

 depositing the egg. I am indebted to a medical friend for a pattern of my show hive 

 in Bristol, from which I had mine made about fifteen years ago, and at whose house I 

 first saw the queen bee lay some eggs, and observed also the workers ridding them- 

 selves of their wax. Mr. Huish's theory of the impregnation of the eggs by the drones 

 without connexion with the queen, is very ingenious, but very improbable. I believe 

 the queen is impregnated, as Huber says, probably at the swarming-time ; and she is 

 so surrounded by bees, and the time of connexion of so short a duration, that it has 

 never yet been distinctly discovered by mortal eye. Mr. Nutt, a very good bee-mas- 

 ter, says in one of his papers, that the queen never goes into the side boxes of hives ; 

 this is another mistake : wherever there are combs she will traverse. But in many 

 seasons the bees commence works in the side boxes, and never finish them ; this hap- 

 pens in the showery cold summers we have so many of in England : a good year for 

 bees seldom occurs above once in three years on the average. — H. W. Newman ; New 

 House, Stroud, January 8, 1852. 



Capture of Calosoma Sycophanta in the Isle of Wight. — A living specimen of 

 Calosoma Sycophanta was brought to me on the 16th, by a man who found it beneath 

 a stone at Bonchurch, when at work, within a mile of this house. It is a female, and 

 quite perfect ; in size it equals the largest dimensions given in Stephens' Manual, and 

 the play of colour on the elytra is very splendid, varying from blue, through every 

 shade of green and brass, to a fiery red. The place where it was found is a quarter 

 of a mile inland, with high cliffs between it and the sea. This, as far as I am aware, 

 is the first instance of its capture in this island. I kept the insect alive from the 16th 

 until yesterday the 20th, supplying it with meat and an earth-worm, neither of which 

 it appeared to touch. Having heard it asserted that this species possesses extraordi- 

 nary swimming powers, being sometimes picked up many miles from land, and that in 

 this way it visits our coasts ; I determined, before ordering it out for execution, to 

 put its capabilities to the test on a small scale. Accordingly, it was set afloat in a 

 basin half full of water, and to judge from its helpless appearance in this small arena, 

 I should think its term of existence would have expired before it had swam half way 

 across the channel. That it might cross the water by other means than its natatorial 

 powers there can be no doubt ; the Carabidae are not much famed, however, for tak- 

 ing long flights, nor are they a class, like the longicorns, liable to be introduced in 

 timber or other produce. It is, notwithstanding, somewhat strange that an insect 

 which is stated to frequent trees to feed on lepidopterous larva?, should occur with us 

 almost universally on or near the shore. I am not aware of any recorded instance of 

 its capture on a tree in this country, though it is a species not easily overlooked, and 

 from its beauty almost sure to be secured. Although not an active insect, it moved 

 over a rough surface at a good pace, advancing more than half an inch at each 

 stride. The fore and hinder leg on the right side moved in unison with the middle 

 left leg, and vice versa. I do not know if other large Carabidae always move in this 

 way, but its gait struck me as very measured and peculiar ; the fore legs, moreover, 

 were lifted high at every step, and its movements gave it quite a dignified appearance. 



