492 
MISCELLANY. 
Stylops SpEncii, Pick.-— This insect is figured on plate 17 of the Transac¬ 
tions of the Entomological Society. The specimen was bred on Christmas-Day ! 
I long suspected that there were numerous species which bred under ground 
early in the season, from finding some with exuviae very early in the Spring. 
Mr. Westwood has made some remarks on the genus which have a tendency 
to confirm Mr. Curtis’s statement.—-J. C. Dale, Glanville's- Wootton, Dorsetshire , 
July 9, 1837. 
Figures of British Efts. —We this month publish three beautiful figures of 
British Efts, engraved by Branston from drawings by Mr. Blyth. We regret 
that the latter gentleman has been unable to find time to write the paper in¬ 
tended to accompany them, in time to appear simultaneously with the illustrations. 
Descriptions of these creatures will be found in Jenyns’s Manual of British 
Vertebrated Miimals, and other works.— Ed. 
Song of the Common Crossbill. —If your British Song Birds were now going to 
press, instead of being in print, bound, gilt, and lettered, I could give you a Mare 
as to the song of this curious bird. Sinc% January I have had in my possession a 
pair of Crossbills ( Crucirostra vulgaris , Steph.), which I purchased from a bird- 
preserver, who received them from the vicinity of Bristol, where I understand 
they were very numerous last Autumn, as well as in the Fir-plantations near 
Gloucester. I have fed them exclusively on Hemp- and Canary-seed, and Fir¬ 
cones, of the latter of which my shrubbery furnishes them with a famous 
daily supply. It is a most pleasing sight to behold them manipulating on a cone, 
holding it firmly by the claws on their perch, while their cross bills snap up the 
scales with greater rapidity and facility than a pair of scissors would do. The 
male is a fine, bold, fearless fellow, but the female still remains shy. To-day for 
the first time, having hung them out in the garden, I was surprised to catch them 
in a sprightly duet; the female loudly iterating hip, hip , hip — hip, hip, hip, 
continuously, while the male in a far shriller key responded peep, peep, peep — 
peep, peep, peep, both opening their bills very wide, which gave them rather a 
grotesque aspect.— Edwin Lees, Forthampton, Gloucestershire, Aprils, 1839. 
The last surviving Daughter of the great Swedish Naturalist.—Louisa, 
the last surviving daughter of Linnjeus, died at Upsala on the 21st of March, 
1839, at the advanced age of ninety. She has left some fortune, which goes to the 
two great-grand-children of Linn^us, Widow Martin and Mrs. Ridderbjelke. 
Estimated Number of Sheep in Britain. —The estimated number of Sheep 
in Great Britain and Ireland is 32,000,000. 
Description of Natural Scenery. —The following sketch appears to be penned 
in the true spirit of a lover of Nature, and is extracted from'the Life and Adven¬ 
tures of John Rumshaw — 
