36 » 
Sept. 
Museum of Matural Histori/, 
feet below the surface of the ground, and 
nearer to the bedof the river. The stratum 
had been permeated in the lapse of ages 
by the waters, and the specimen left ex- 
posed, although it was disengaged with 
some difficulty. It is itself nearly .chang- 
ed into the same sand-stone, very heavy 
and of a gray colour. It is nearly cubical, 
about five inches long, two or three broad, 
irregular on the sides, truncated at both 
ends. The tubes are all compactly con- 
nected, through the whole length instead 
of being only connected by transverse di- 
aphragms, as in the majority of other 
species ; these tubes diverge a little from 
their base, by growing gradually thicker 
towards the top, where their broadest 
diameter reaches two lines sometinies : 
they are slightly flexuous and rather un- 
equal in breadth and length, although 
their majority forms at the top a trunca- 
ted plane, not quite even however. The 
gre;vtest number are hexagonal, with the 
sides nearly equal, hut many have un- 
equal sides, some are pentagonal, and a 
few heptagonal, cither with equal or un- 
ecjual sides. The little furrows are slight- 
ly flexuous and visible inside as well as 
outside. They are articulated by inter- 
nal cells, very visible where the inside is 
brokesi and not petrified ; it is even some- 
times visi ble outside by slight transverse fur- 
rows, and lower cells are shorter vertically 
than horizontally ; the upper ones are gene- 
rally eqiud in height anddiameter,but some 
of the uppermost arc longer than broad. 
This production, as well as the other 
fossil tubipores, are vulgarly known in 
the United States under the appellation 
of petrified Wasp-nests, a faint similarity 
with some nests of wasps being perceiv- 
ed in many; wfliich has led the ignorant to 
believe that they are petrifications of such 
bodies, of which their stratum and their 
geological position preclude the possibili- 
ty- 
All the species of Tubipores now liv- 
ing are found in the sea ; but the local po- 
sition of my specimen of Tutnpora stria- 
tula, is not demonstrative of the geological 
fact that the place where it was found, 
was once the bed of the sea: from many 
circumstances, I conclude that it rather 
was the bed of the large lake of the Hud- 
son, and the species might (with some 
others) have inhabited lakes instead of 
the ocean, or have til l'd in such lakes at a 
period when it had a communication with 
the ocean. 
2. Specimens of several new American 
species of the genus Aphis. 
This genus has ahvays appeared to me 
highly interesting. It is one of the first 
winch cannot fail to attract the notice of 
the Botanist; all its species being parasiti- 
cal on plants, and often highly injurious, 
deserve to be studied even by those who 
do not cultivate Entomology. It appears 
that this genus is one of the most exten- 
sive in nature, and if it is supposed that one 
third of all plants nourish them, and that 
every such plant breeds a peculiar species, 
we could hardly conceive such a prodi- 
gious multiplication of species: it is how- 
ever highly probable, that many species 
can live on different plants, and that a less 
number of plants atfords them. As yet 
scarcely less than 100 species have been 
enumerated, and vei-y few of them de- 
scribed, the authors having followed Lin- 
naeus in the practice of conceiving that 
the specific name derived from the plant 
on which they feed, was sufficient to cha- 
racterize them, which implied the erro- 
neous belief of their being found thereon 
exclusively. These little insects have also 
attracted the attention of philosophers, 
and the experiments made upon them by 
Bonnet and Hubert, have revealed two 
v. onderful secrets of nature ; Bonnet dis- 
covered that the females separated from 
the males could breed, and that their fe- 
male posterity to the seventh generation, 
could likewise breed without intercourse 
with the other sex ! and Hubert has lately 
ascertained that the ants use them as their 
cattle, carrying their eggs and young on 
the plants suiting each species, in order 
to feed on the honied liquor they exude. 
These facts fill us vrith admiration, and 
account for the rapid propagation of 
those insects, and their sudden appear- 
ance on many jilants. 
I shall endeavour to study all the spe- 
cies of this genus foundv in the United 
States, and invite the attention of the 
Botanists and Entomologists to this inter- 
esting subject, begging them to distinguish 
particularly those which feed on differ- 
ent species of plants, those which breed on 
a single exclusive species, and the few 
species which may feed on a common 
species of plants. Meantime, I shall 
enurperate and describe concisely about 
12 species, which I observed in the state 
of New York, last year, (many on rare 
plants), the whole of which are probably 
new or yet undescribed. 
1 . Aphis Diervilla-lvtea. Body nearly 
rounded, annulated, whitish rufous, lengtli 
1 line ; antens very short bent, one thhd 
the length of the body, apjrendages long 
truncated two thirds the length of the 
body. 
2. Aphis Araiia-liispidc. Body pale 
