Zoology. 295 



of the same name, extending for half-a-mile on each side along the coast, which 

 is there low and sandy, and covered with marine grasses. During the day it 

 lurks beneath stones, forming a small cavity for the reception of its body, and 

 towards the dusk of evening may be seen sallying forth from concealment in 

 numbers along the beach, apparently in search of the insects which occur among 

 the rejectamenta. They spawn gregariously in the pools of an adjacent marsh, 

 or salt marsh, and at this period (about the end of June and commencement of 

 July,) are extremely noisy, uttering in concert a continued croak. We are not 

 aware that any other Scotch locality for this species has been recorded. — W. J. 



Parasitic Larva — M. Leon Dufour has presented to the Royal Academy of 

 Sciences at Paris, an Essay on the Entozose and parasitic Larvae peculiar to the 

 Hymenoptera and Orthoptera, which contains some curious facts. The most re- 

 markable regards a parasite in the Andrena aterrima. This larva establishes 

 itself upon the large trachean vesicle, which may be observed at the base of the 

 abdominal cavity. It is there fixed by means of two similar trachean tubes, which 

 afterwards branch, or are ramified on its body, and this double trachea is evi- 

 dently furnished by the large vesicle of which it is a continuation. We have 

 thus two nutritive tubes dependent on the large air vesicle of the Andrena, which 

 go to form the whole respiratory organ of the parasite, that is, the most essen- 

 tial apparatus for the maintenance of its existence, and the life of the larva is thus 

 doubly dependent on that of the Andrena, which not only furnishes the quantity of 

 air necessary for respiration, but it provides at the expense of its own substance 

 the organs destined for the circulation of this vital fluid — Inst. 1836. p. 214. 



BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 



Dr Graham's Excursion to examine the Botany of the Shores of Galloway 

 in August 1836.- — The party met by appointment at Stranraer on the morn- 

 ing of the 1st of August, and in their first walk crossed the peninsula separating 

 Loch Ryan from the Irish channel at Lochnaw Castle. They then walked 

 along the coast for a little way to the northward, recrossed the peninsula, and 

 returned to Stranraer. They then passed by Stoneykirk to Sandhead, and along 

 the shore by Drummore, round the Mull of Galloway to the station where last 

 year Ononis reclinata was found to the northward of West Tarbet. Thence they 

 returned along the southern shore to Glenluce, and passing by Port William, 

 Glasserton, Burrowhead, Whitehorn, Whitehom Isle, and Garlieston, reached 

 Wigton, where the party broke up on the 9th of August. To this point the 

 greater part of the coast was pretty carefully examined ; also subsequently by Dr 

 Graham in the neighbourhood of Kirkcudbright and Balmaehead. 



The weather was extremely hot and dry during the whole time, with the ex- 

 ception of the 1 st August, when there were a few slight showers ; and of the 3d, 

 on which a good deal of rain fell. No new plant was added to the British Flo- 

 ra ; but Erodium maritimum, to the northward of Port William, and Jungerman- 

 nia Mackaii, near Drummore, were for the first time observed to be natives of 

 Scotland. Scirpus Savii was found in much larger quantity than last year. Bart- 

 sia viscosa, and Carum verticillatum, not observed last year, were gathered this, 

 the former between Port William and Glasserton, the latter near Wigton, and 

 between Gatehouse and Kirkcudbright. In many places along the coast, be- 

 tween Glasserton and Balmaehead, Genista tinctoria grows in great profusion ; 



