NOTICES OF SERIALS. 
( 
ardsonii, at Lynn; (J. J. Briggs) Occurrence of the Pomarine Skua in Derby¬ 
shire, and of the appearance of a Fish, supposed to be the Fox Shark, off Scar¬ 
borough. Proceedings of Societies—Entomological Society, October 2, 1854. 
No. 146, DecemberThis part contains the Index and Title-page for the 
Twelfth Volume. Proceedings of Societies—Society of British Naturalists, October 
3, 1854. Notices of New Works—The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 
Nos. 80, 81, and 82; Shells and their Inhabitants, parts 15 and 16; The Trans¬ 
actions of the Entomological Society of London, vol. iii., part 2; (T. Catchpool) 
Anecdote of a Terrier ; (J. Dutton) Occurrence of Hoopoes in the Isle of Wight; 
(E. H. Rodd) Red-necked Phalarope, near Penzance; (J. Thorne) Capture of 
Deilephila Galii; (A. R. Hogan) Elachista triseriatella, near Dublin ; (G. Norman) 
Note onSirex Juvencus; (J. J. Reading) Capture of Carabus intricatus in Devon¬ 
shire; (T. J. Bold) Description of Lathrobium carinatum—an apparently un¬ 
described British Coleopterous insect. (0. Pickard-Cambridge) On the Trans¬ 
formation of Heliothis dipsacea; (Rev. H. Clark) Notes on the Capture of some 
of the rarer British Hydrocantharidse. This is a most interesting paper, and we 
would wish to call our readers’ attention (especially those who study the Coleoptera) 
to it. Several new species are enumerated. 
Hooker’s Journal of Botany, and Kew Garden Miscellany. No. 69, 
October; No. 70, November ; No. 71, December, 1854. 8vo. London : Lovell 
Reeve. Price 2s. each. With a plate. 
No. 69, October:—(Dr. J. D. Hooker) On some African species of Amomum; 
(G. H. K. Thwaites) Descriptions of some new genera of Ceylon plants. Jumping 
or moving seeds—three of these seeds were forwarded to Sir W. Hooker, from 
Mexico, by the English Minister at that place, and appear to belong to the Colli- 
guaya odorifera, Hook. When placed on the convex back, they shortly began to 
stir ; the motion was continued for some minutes, and always in jerks. On one 
of the seeds being opened, the cause of all this strange jumping was found to be the 
presence of a fine fat and white larva; in all the three seeds the seed or kernel had 
been completly. devoured—leading to the idea that the larva had first taken up its 
habitation in the shape of an egg, and, compelled by the double necessity of satisfy¬ 
ing the cravings of hunger and enlarging its domicile, had, by degrees, eaten the 
entire inside of the hard shell, and, in all probability, had ideas of entering the pupa 
state when introduced to the broad daylight by the scalpel of Sir W. Hooker. The 
query now is, of what insect is this the larva ? It would appear that a perfect insect 
has escaped from one of the seeds; and by the description (which is not long enough 
for an accurate opinion) it would strike us to be an Ichneumon; but whether it repre¬ 
sents the larva, or is only its parasite, still remains to be told. Mr. Westwood, to 
whom we must look to clear up this matter, inclines to this view, and has lately 
asserted that he is satisfied that the larva is Lepidopterous. Might it not be 
an Ichneumon larva ? A perusal of Reaumur’s case, and that mentioned by Messrs. 
Kirby and Spence, militate more for, than against this opinion, we think. Botanical 
Obituary; Botanical Information; Extract of a Letter from Professor Harvey, 
dated fromFreemantle, West Australia, May 19, 1854. Dr. Harvey writes in good 
Spirits. On the Discovery of Epipogium Gmelini, Rich., as a British Plant, by 
Mrs. A. Smith, on the 9th September. Notices of Books. 
