628 General Notes. [ September, 
According to Reaumur, Xylocopa violacea so constructs its tunnel 
that the terminal cell ends very near the surface of the wood. 
This makes escape easy; but no such provision exists in any 
specimens of nests of Xylocopa virginica that I have examined, 
and I have never seen but a single opening in nests from which the 
bees had escaped. rom the preceding facts it would appear 
probable that the insects escape from the original and only open- 
ing of the nest, and in order of position. I notice that there is a 
gradation in the length of the cells—the terminal or bottom cell 
being the shortest. The greatest number of bees I ever found in 
a nest was eleven. Woodpeckers seem to prey to some extent 
on the larva, or pup, as would appear from certain conical- 
jagged holes opening into successive cells. A specimen of such 
a nest may be seen in the Entomological Laboratory of Cornell 
University.—fenry Turner. 
Tue Skunk EATEN BY THE Lynx.—Observing in a late number 
of the NATURALIST, the note “Food of the Skunk,” reminds me 
that I have lately seen that the skunk is itself food for at least one 
animal. Dissecting a wild cat (Lyx rufus) two days since, I found 
bunches of woolly hair in the intestine. These had no perceptible 
odor. Upon opening the gullet, however, near the stomach I found 
aroll of skin and hair which at once announced its proper belong- 
ings by a stifling wave of the peculiar mephitic stench of the 
skunk. I did not. look further, but contented myself with the 
reflection de gustibus, etc. 
The lynx is said to feed upon rabbits, rats, squirrels and upon 
such birds as roost or breed on the ground, varying its diet from 
time to time with fish and frogs. The unusually mild winter - 
through which we have passed and the absence of snow forbids 
the idea that hunger drove it to partake of skunk—besides which 
the lynx was very fat. The bunches of hair in the intestine may 
have been the remnants of some previous meal, or they may have 
been of the skunk but deodorized by bile. Perhaps- strong alkal- 
ies may be found to destroy the odor of this stinking beast’s secre- 
tion—B. W. Barton, M.D., 117 W. Madison Street, Baltimore, Ma. 
__ has been recently revived in some of the English scientific jour- 
nals, and still more lately Miss S. P. Monks has made the same 
the structure of the intestines indicates, vegetable feeders, but 
priate any organic matter in a state of maceration. 
servation at Cold Spring, New York. Tadpoles are primarily, — 4 
