8240 



M alius ks — Insects. 



assimilating to the viper (Pelias berus) rather than the common snake, Coluber 

 Natrix. — Edtvard Newman. 



Singular Capture of an Octopus. — The ship's company are fishing from the main- 

 deck ports, when some excitement is occasioned by one of their hooks being seized 

 apparently by a large fish. The imaginary prize is heavy and is rapidly hauled up, 

 when it appears to the amused bystanders in the form of an old iron tea-kettle without 

 a spout! Curiosity induces a sailor to peer into the interior, when he observes two 

 eyes of some strange animal undreamed of in his philosophy gazing up at him, but the 

 occupant cannot be dislodged. Here is a pretty kettle of fish ! As persuasion is of no 

 avail a bold hand is introduced, when it is immediately seized by a fleshy coil and 

 retained by a hundred suckers. The hand is forcibly withdrawn in terror, while the 

 great eyes continue to stare upwards from the profundity of the kettle. The kettle, 

 with its mysterious lodyer, are now submitted to the Doctor, who is expected to solve 

 the question of this questionable shape. While pondering on the best means of dis- 

 lodging the creature, he unexpectedly relieves us from the dilemma by suddenly making 

 his exit and shuffling rapidly along the deck in a grotesque and startling manner, 

 revealing at the same time the form and action of a great warty Octopus. Alas ! poor 

 Octopus rugosus. He very soon becomes a specimen in spirits. — Arthur Adams ; 

 Ascension, May, 1862. 



Notes on some peculiarities of Insect Life in 1861. — Never, perhaps, were insects 

 generally so scarce as in 1861 ; the effects, no doubt, of the cold wet summer of the 

 previous year. Some remarkable exceptions to this, and one or two other peculiarities, 

 I have thought worthy of record. Thus, while bees, Fossores and sawflies were so scarce 

 that they were said not to be in existence at all, yet wasps were in such abundance in 

 some places as to become a perfect pest. Everywhere in our own district more than 

 plenty of them were astir, and these were principally the ground wasps, Vespa vulgaris 

 and V. rufa. In the vicinity of Wigton, Cumberland, the wasps were abundant enough 

 to dispute possession of the cherry crops with their owners; these also were the ground 

 species. Near Brampton and eastward by Lannercost, towards our own district, one 

 of the tree wasps, Vespa norvegica, was the predominant species. By the roadsides 

 leading from the railway station to Naworth Castle their nests might be noticed in espe- 

 cial abundance. Near Lannercost and up to the village of Banks the same species 

 has colonized the gardens, using the branches of the gooseberry bushes on which to 

 suspend their nests. I was often asked to catch the hordes of " tartars " with my " fly- 

 catcher," a task, however, which I most respectfully declined. One of the ground wasps 

 would appear to have tenanted a fallow field at Walton-wood-head, and were so des- 

 perate in their attacks on horses and men that the farmer had to cease work until the 

 nests were sought out and their inmates destroyed. Also very extraordinary was the 

 occurrence of the common species of Apathus (A. campestris and A. Barbutellus), in 

 very nearly their usual numbers, while the species of Bombus of which they are para- 

 sites were in such diminished numbers that certainly not more than one-fiftieth part 

 of the usual number of individuals of our commoner species (B. Muscorum, B. Pra- 

 torum, B. Lucorum, B. lapidarius and B .Hortorum) were noticed ; of the rarer species 



