5830 Insects. 



be useful to some of our coleopterists. The note, extracted verbatim from my papers, 

 is as follows: — "Apart from the elongated and conspicuous pale dash on the disk of 

 each of its elytra (which is rarely absent), D. fenestratus may be known from agilis by 

 being altogether a little larger and broader (this being especially observable in its head 

 and prothorax, the latter of which is considerable wider and more transverse than in 

 agilis), and by its having only a single series of punctures, and that almost (if not en- 

 tirely) obsolete, down each of its elytra ; whereas in agilis there are two rows, regular 

 and well-defined. D. testaceus is nearly of the same form and size as agilis, but is 

 perhaps a little slenderer and more straight in its outline ; its prothorax is a trifle 

 smaller, and less expanded at the sides ; its colour is altogether paler and more testa- 

 ceous, and the inner row of its elytral impressions is obsolete." I may add, moreover, 

 that Dr. Schaum, of Berlin, writes me word that he is perfectly satisfied that fenestra- 

 tus is a true species, and no variety or state of agilis ; and although I had no occasion 

 to interrogate him concerning testaceus also, it likewise, judging from his volume in 

 the ' Deutschlands Fauna' just published, appears to be still recognized, in Germany, 

 as specifically distinct. I should state, however, that amongst my own British Dromii 

 of this peculiar type, and which were principally collected near Cambridge, I am not 

 able to detect anything but the common agilis. — T. Vernon Wollaston ; 10, Hereford 

 Street, Park Lane. 



Destructive Powers of Galeruca Caprece. — I have been consulted by no less than 

 eight applicants on the subject of a small beetle which has this year caused immense 

 loss to the osier-growers at and near Hitchin, in Hertfordshire. On carefully exa- 

 mining the insect and its food, I find it to be Galeruca Capreae, and the main injury 

 to be occasioned by the perfect insect denuding of bark the tips of all the new shoots. 

 The eggs are laid in masses on the young leaf, which the larvae voraciously devour and 

 skeletonize ; the pupae are attached by the tail, and the imago feeds indiscriminately 

 on the leaves and bark, in the latter case inflicting the greater injury. In one osier- 

 bed the damage occasioned exceeds a hundred pounds. — Edward Newman. 



Earwigs and Cayenne. — The compounds to which we apply the general epithet 

 Cayenne pepper are so various, both in the nature and proportion of ingredients, that 

 we must not found any theory on the fact of an insect having been once found devour- 

 ing a compound bearing this name. Still the following fact may be worth recording. 

 My friend Mr. Hart, of Bath, observed one day, in a small stoppered cruet, the usual 

 receptacle of so-called " Cayenne," two earwigs, of normal size and form, apparently 

 enjoying themselves to the top of their bent. The fact was communicated to me by 

 letter, and, probably influenced by that doubting disposition which has been the means 

 of reducing British Lathonias to a mere drug, of banishing at least a thousand Virgau- 

 reees, and Chryseis innumerable, from our collections, I requested to be indulged with 

 ocular demonstration of the phenomenon. My wish was politely complied with, and 

 the long-imprisoned earwigs arrived in safety. I sacrificed one of them in the cause 

 of Science, and found its abdomen distended with the substance contained in the 

 cruet. I also found that a great portion of this substance, converted into pellets of 

 more uniform size and paler colour than the rest, had actually been converted into 

 earwig fiaas. No information can be obtained as to the time or mode of the earwigs 

 entering the cruet ; it is certain, however, that they remained there several weeks, ap- 

 parently in the enjoyment of excellent health, despite the occurrence of an occasional 

 shaking up by the savans of the renowned city in which the phenomenon was disco- 

 vered. — Id. 





