SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
581 
sioners add : “ A plentiful supply of herrings in any year nourishes an 
increased army of enemies ; and if these latter multiply too fast, the 
herrings become diminished in number, whereupon the fish that destroy 
them are starved down, and in a weakened state more easily fall a prey to 
their own enemies. The herring, then, relieved from their oppressors, 
in a year or two appear again in immense numbers, and so the alternations 
of prosperity and panic in the trade which they originate will occur with 
as much regularity as if the herrings were manufacturers.” 
Frogs v. Fishes. — The Imperial Court of Montpellier have just decided 
on an appeal in which the point in dispute was whether a frog is a fish. 
The judgment was affirmative ; and those persons who have hitherto 
thought that they might catch frogs at all seasons in private or public 
waters now find that they were mistaken. 
Sun-Birds and Humming-Birds . — Mr. Wallace, who has had ample 
opportunities of observing these birds in a state of nature, and has care- 
fully examined into their relationship, declares that no true affinity exists 
between the sun-birds {Nectar inidce) and the humming-birds ( Trocliilidoe ). 
The sun-birds are a specialized form of an extensive group of typical 
perchers ( Passeres ). The latter are essentially of the character of swifts, 
profoundly modified for an aerial and flower-frequenting existence, but 
still bearing in many important peculiarities of structure unmistakeable 
evidence of a common ancestry. Hitherto these families of birds have 
been considered as bound together by the closest family relationship, the 
sun-birds sucking the nectar of flowers by means of a tubular retractile 
tongue. 
New Insect Pest in London. — Mr. E. Newman calls attention to a new 
insect infesting the Friends’ Institute in Bishopsgate-street. He observes 
that there are two well known to every one — viz., the cockroach and the 
cricket ; but this is a novelty, to which he has given the name of Lepis- 
modes inquilinus. It is half an inch long in the body, and the antenna 
and tail are also each half an inch in length, so that the whole length of 
the insect is an inch and a half. It is nocturnal in its habits, and chiefly 
infests the dining-room, but is frequently caught, from the fact that its feet 
being non-prehensile it slides down the smooth sides of saucers and basins, 
&c., and is unable to escape again. 
Neuter Ants. — M. Charles Lespes has obtained some singular results 
from an investigation into the rudimentary reproductive system of neuter 
ants. He finds that ants do not seek aphides indiscriminately, but that 
each species seems to have its particular favourites ; and in the same 
manner, those which bring up the larvce of coleopterous insects, for example, 
Claviger, select certain species for their attentions. He also finds that all 
neuters have the rudiments of ovaries, developed in a very different manner 
in different species ; and that many have two forms of neuters which 
sometimes pass insensibly into each other, and are sometimes divided by 
sharp lines of distinction, forming data for classification. 
Aquatic Hymenopterous Insects. — A second species of these remarkable 
insects has been found by Mr. Lubbock, and named WalJceria aquatica. 
It swims, not by means of its wings, as Polynema natans, but holds its 
wings motionless under water, and uses its legs only, though these are 
