Insects. 5627 



species of Arachnida collected in that country on several former 

 occasions, both from Mr. Wright and the Rev. A. R. Hogan. 



2. Ophilio histrix, Samouelle, Ent. Comp. p. 120; Meade, 

 Ann. % Mag. of Nat. Hist. ser. 2, vol. xv. p. 407, pi. XI. f. 6. 

 Phalangium histrix, Laireille, Hist. Nat. des Fourmis, p. 876. 



I included this fine harvest-man in my paper on the British Pha- 

 langiidae (published two years ago) upon the authority of Samouelle, 

 though I had not then seen an English example. In November, 

 1856, however, I received a fine adult female specimen from the Rev. 

 A. M. Norman, of Kibworth, in Leicestershire, who said, " I was this 

 morning (Nov. 4) moving a mat which lay before a window opening 

 down to the ground into the garden, when under it I saw a Phalan- 

 gium-like spider, which at once struck me as differing from any I had 

 ever before seen." Mr. Norman at once identified the species from 

 my description, and was so obliging as to present me with the speci- 

 men. 



R. H. Meade. 



Note on the Centipede. — I send an extract from a letter just received by me from 

 my friend Lieut, and Adjutant Rainier (St. Helena Regiment), regarding the centi- 

 pedes and scorpions found on that island : — " Concerning the centipede that I caught, 

 I observed a fact that I have heard of, but never seen before : I and my wife saw it 

 distinctly, when put into gin, turn its head and seize its own body with its nippers, 

 and sting itself to death, which happened in two or three seconds. Many people 

 here say that they have seen this before, both in the case of the scorpion and 

 centipede."— t/o/m M. Jones; April 11, 1857. 



On introducing Foreign Specimens into British Collections. — At p. 5535 of the 

 'Zoologist' Mr. Bree proposes to introduce Continental specimens into collections of 

 British insects: I sincerely hope this proposal will not be adopted; it would destroy a 

 great part of the interest now attached to our collections, and would not represent a 

 British Fauna, if every species introduced was really a native of Britain. Mr. Bree 

 seems to have forgotten that the same species varies greatly in different parts of its 

 geographical distribution, the variations produced by climate and locality being often 

 greater than that between really distinct species: in proof of my assertion, let any one 

 compare specimens of C. Xerampelina from the South of France with our British 

 specimens : most persons, at first sight, would consider them distinct species. It 

 would not do to trust to labels: when a collection changed hands they might be lost, 

 misplaced, or purposely removed by unscrupulous persons. The main cause of the 

 evil which Mr. Bree proposes to remedy is the absurd eagerness of many collectors to 



