268 
Notes and Comments. 
facets, spiracles, etc., of the perfect insect. One of the most 
interesting of the photographs is that of a posterior spiracle. 
The spiracles or breathing-pores of Dytiscus occur as oval 
apertures on the sides of each abdominal segment. Projecting 
across the opening are a series of structures covered with fine 
hairs, which serve as dust-catchers, and allow only clean air 
to enter the breathing tubes or tracheae. The last pair of 
•spiracles, situated near the tail-end of the abdomen, are un- 
usually large. 
METHODS OF BREATHING. 
When the Water-Beetle rises to the surface for air it projects 
the tip of its abdomen above the surface film and at the same 
time opens its wing-cases very slightly. Air is taken by the 
abdominal spiracles, especially by the last pair, and a supply 
is also gathered under the wing-cases, where it is held by the 
hairs on the back of the abdomen, and forms a large air-bubble. 
The insect then plunges beneath the surface, the air under the 
wing-cases being passed forward to the front spiracles, and thus 
the beetle, in a state of enforced submergence, can remain 
under water for a considerable period. 
: o : 
The Report and Proceedings of the Manchester Field Naturalists and 
Archaeological Society has just appeared and contains a detailed account 
of the Society’s excursions, from different pens, and a number of illus- 
trations, including one of the President, Sir William H. Bailey, who died 
recently. 
The Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian 
and Archaeological Society, Volume XIV., recently issued, contain 
among many other papers the following items of particular interest to- 
our readers : — On ‘ The Discovery of a Bloomery at Lindale Church near 
Grange-over-Sands,’ by J. W. Jackson ; ‘ Neolithic Implements in Furness* 
by J. Dobson ; ‘ A Submerged Church in the River Eden,’ by the Rev. 
C. J. Gordon ; ‘ The Caves known as Isis Parlis,’ by the Rev. A. J. Heelis ; 
‘ Report on the Exploration of the Roman Fort at Ambleside,’ by Profs. 
Haverfield and R. G. Collingwood ; and ‘ Some Birkrigg Barrows,’ by the 
Rev. Charles .Gelderd, J. Randall and J. Dobson. 
The Annual Report of the Scarborough Philosophical and Archaeo- 
logical Society includes that of the Naturalists’ Society. During the 
year £160 was paid on improving the Museum, towards which £63 in 
subscriptions are acknowledged. As a frontispiece to the report is a 
photograph of the society’s specimen of the Giant Tortoise from the 
Galapagos Islands which was lent to the Hon. Walter Rothschild for the 
purpose of making a plaster cast. He reports that it is the only existing 
specimen of the long extinct Barrington Island Tortoise. We notice that 
on the frontispiece the specimen was presented to the Society in 1840 
by John Wharton, whereas, on page 11 of the report a precisely similar 
specimen appears as the gift of the Hon. Walter Rothschild, presumably 
the Society now has two giant tortoises, one an extinct species, and one 
not extinct, but it is not very clear. 
Naturalist,. 
