THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
21 
covered with vegetation ; although an 
undue continuance of a high wind in one 
direction is very apt to reverse the order 
of things, and to cover the vegetation 
with hills of sand. At Dawlish Warren, 
at the mouth of the Exe, there is a con- 
siderable extent of these sand-hills; the 
Cerastium patronized by these larvae 
grows all over the Warren, not in large 
round plants, but in liLtle flower heads, 
with one or two leaves just sticking above 
the sand, much of the plant, owing to 
the shifting nature of the soil, being sub- 
terranean ; wherever these larvae are at 
work they cause the leaves to wither and 
turn whitish yellow, but the larva itself 
is rarely visible ; it forms a loose petticoat 
of grains of sand fastened together with 
silk, and is thus protected from the fric- 
tion of the loose grains of sand blowing 
over it: where the larva has been at work, 
one of these sand-tubes is sure to be seen, 
and when full fed the larvae construct 
their cocoon inside their last sand domi- 
cile, and in such firmly closed sand-co- 
coons the pupa of this insect may be 
readily collected. 
The easiest way of obtaining larvae of 
Marmorea in plenty may be gleaned from 
the following notice we received from the 
discoverer : — 
“ Accompanied by a friend, I pro- 
ceeded to Dawlish Warren, and we had 
a glorious day, as regards weather, but 
there was nothing on the wing, so we 
looked for larvae; I soon found the little 
white flowers I noticed last year, and 
soon after one or two little larvae made 
their appearance, — some in, some out of 
their sand cases ; we then lay along the 
sand and looked for them with indifferent 
success, but on our rising again we found 
the sand on which we had been iying 
swarming with them ; no doubt our move- 
ments had frightened them out of their 
cases, and there they were crawling and 
wriggling two or three in every square 
inch ! ” 
As these larvae are excessively abun- 
dant, and as each larva does a good deal 
in the spinning line, and thus fastens 
many grains of sand together, they are 
evidently co-operating with the vegeta- 
tion of the place to render the sand more 
stationary, and no doubt this small insect 
has assisted for ages to keep Holland 
from being overwhelmed by the sea. 
The co-operation of millions has been 
going on for centuries, but hitherto un- 
recognised! — H. T. Stainton ; April 9, 
1859. 
NOTES AND QUERIES RESPECTING 
APHIDES. 
Having a prospect of resuming and pub- 
lishing agaiu my observations on the 
Aphides , I take the liberty of sending to 
the ‘ Iutelligencer’ some of the defi- 
ciencies in their history, and shall be much 
obliged for any of the information re- 
quired. These deficiencies are indicated 
by queries; the names of the food-plants 
are mentioned ; the number after each 
species refers to the page in the fourth 
part of the British Museum ‘ Cata- 
logue of Homoptera,’ and when the 
number is preceded by S. it refers to 
the Supplemental Part of the same 
Catalogue. 
Aphis comes , 937. Birch. The male 
and the oviparous wingless female ? 
A. oblonya, 937. Birch. The male and 
the oviparous wingless female ? 
A. antennata , 938. Birch. The ovi- 
parous wingless female? 
A. Juglandina, 942. Walnut. The 
male, the viviparous wingless female, and 
the oviparous wingless female? 
A. bif rons, 947. Alder? The male 
and the oviparous wingless female ? 
