neri and tessellata?-26th. Simaèthis punctòsa? G. lineària, Leptùra scutellata, by Mr. Matthews, and Spilomyia cimòsa by Mr. Rudd. — 27th. Ctenophora nigricórnis and sp.? Melándrya canaliculàta, by Mr. Matthews; Cicada ánglica, by Mr. Matthews; Microdon apifórmis. — 28th. Cicada ánglica; larvæ of Bombyx monàcha; larvæ of N. spónsa, promissa, &c.- 30th. Lithòsia rubricóllis, Geómetra chærophyllata, E'mpis pennipes, Scaphídium 4-maculatum, Leptùra nìgra, læ`vis, and abdominalis; Dásytes nìgra? ♂ and o̟ ; Thýmalus limbàtus, Tórtrix arenària, and permixtàna, Criorhìna berbérine, by Mr. Curtis. — 31st. Malàchius bituberculatus.

June 1st. Near Decoy Pond: Phrygànea Dàlei, Curtis's MSS.; Donàcia fúsca, Córixa n.s.? Ctenophora pectinicórnis, Melita a Selène, A`phis quércus? Bùpalus favillaceàrius, Phytómetra ænea, Donàcia typhæ, &c. ; Platynus angusticóllis, &c.—2d. Argynnis, larva pupised; Pieris cratæ gi, H. Lucina, Cordùlia ænea, Bupréstis nitídula, Cryptocéphalus bipustulatus, Lamia núbila, taken; Loxócera hantoniénsis “Dale's MSS.; Ctenophora nigricórnis, Xylophagus compéditus? by Mr. Curtis. — 4th. Uleiòta flàvipes, Mélasis buprestoides, Lýctus fuscus and Bítoma crenàta. -8th. Ramsdown, Hants: Cicindela sylvática, Cordùlia compréssa, by Mr. Curtis. 9th. Bourne Mouth, Hants: Tephritis syngenèsia, Cicindèla marítima, by Mr. Curtis.-10th. Wareham Harbour, Dorset: Cárabus nitens, Elaphrus uliginosus, and Gyrirus villòsus by Mr. Curtis ; Ochthebius marítimus, Acanthia zostèra, marginàlis, &c.; Dolichopus pénnipes, Xylòta bifasciata, Donàcia fasciata, símplex, &c. - 13th. Glanvilles Wootton: Curculio abìetis. — 14th. Polyómmatus A'cis.-20th. Rhàphium, white; Oxýcera anàlis, Pachygáster Leáchi, Thróscus dermestöides, Phrygànea dorsetténsis. — 21st. Anòbium ptinoides, on alder; Laphria nigra, Middlemarsh Wood; Mícrodon apiformis, Mr. Curtis ; Geómetra syringària, prunària, and fléxula. — 22d. Tabànus vittàtus ♂ and o̟. -24th. Portland: Hárpalus melampus, and thoràcicus and vernalis; Otiorhynchus rùgifrons? Mazòreus by Mr. Curtis; and a pug, Acidàlia degenerària Curt. Br. Ent., pl. 384.; Carabus n. s.? Proctótrupes campanulator, Ocyptera brassicària by Mr. Curtis; Phycita cryptélla? and another; Andrèna sp.? n. g. strigòsa, Còlias Edusa, Hipparchia Galathæa, Edémera lùrida, Macroglossa stellatàrum. — 26th. Bred, Argynnis Pàphia. 27th. Bred, Bombyx ziczac.-28th. Sárgus nítidus, Tórtrix hastiàna, Peronea sp. ?-29th. Thècla quércus, bred; Oxycera pulchella.

July 1st. and Bombus Burrellànus, Chérmes? striped body; Oxýcera formosa.- 2d. Clòeon bioculàta? Gracillària (▲ mark) sp. ?, Cryptocéphalus pusillus var. N. B. They never vary in Portland, but they do here. A plant, Epipactis palustris. 3d. Bombyx monàcha bred (the last ditto, bred Aug. 3d.). - 4th. Papilio Machàon bred; larva of Bombyx córyli, bred 28th; Cimex albo-marginata.- 6th. Phytómetra lusoria, Bombyx domínula. - 9th. Saw Anax imperator in our pond!!! saw Tinea punctaurélla? Geómetra thymiària and Tínea sequélla? 10th. Geómetra volutària and procellàta, N. trapetzina bred.-11th. Portland: Bánchus monilineàtus and, Ichneumon, allied to Bánchus ; Noctua conígera, Cleodòbia angustàlis, Phycìta cárnea and sanguínea, n. g. silacélla, Tephrìtis pállida, on thistles. 12th. Portland: Ocýptera brassicària, Pterophorus lunædáctylus ?, Hippárchia Galatha'a, Tortrix Zoegana and Orthotæ`nia n. s. —13th. Isthmus of Portland: Hárpa!us n.s.? allied to stygius, but much larger and flatter; Cistèla sulphurea, Therèva sp.? Helophilus æneus .- 14th. At Charmouth: Cicindela and Panórpa germanica, Tínea cinctélla and Damóphila trifolii Curtis's Brit. Ent., pl. 391.; Pterophorus similidáctylus, Asiràca pulchella and Platycéphala umbraculata, and O'rtalis omíssa.- 15th. Pinny Devon, near Lyme Regis, Dorset: Eudorea lineola, Phycìta sanguínea, Tinea præangústa, Pachygáster 2 sorts, Oxýcera pardalìna ?? and 2 n. s.— 21st. Appledore, Devon:

Oxýbelus uniglùmis (insects remarkably scarce there).- 22d. Near Oakhampton, Dartmoor, &c.: Argynnis Pàphia, in great plenty.—26th. At Torquay Cistèla sulphurea, in plenty; Ophònus angustatus, Lycæ'na Argiolus, seen; Medéterus n. s. ? on rocks nearly covered at high water.— 27th. At Dawlish: Músca meridiana. 28th. At Glanvilles Wootton: Noctua prómissa, bred. — 29th. At Glanvilles Wootton: Noctua spónsa, bred; and B. córyli.

Aug. 11th. Acilius, in our pond; the first I have taken for thirteen or fourteen years; Noctua punícea. - 14th. At B. Caundle: Saw L. Argiolus. 16th. Lophyrus rùfus, bred; they all pupised on the 2d of June, and they continued to breed till the 16th of September.— 17th. Vanéssa cárdui, Tórtrix populàna. — 31st. Cássida ánglica.

ma.

Sept. 2d. Vanessa Atalanta; saw two of Colias Edùsa. - 6th. Two larvæ in a case (Penthóphera ?). At Stafford, Dorset: Saw some Mymars (Bombus Burrellanus). — 8th. At Dorchester: Hemerodromia monostíg12th. Cássida ánglica and Chrysomèla quinquéjugis, Galerùca vibúrni, Phrygànea echinata, Simaèthis lutosa, Tórtrix trapetzàna, Curculio sp.? Dròmius 4-guttatus, Bombyx cæruleocéphalus, bred. — 16th. Bred, Noctua lambda.- 17th. Plutélla asperélla and dentélla? Peronea striàna, Tínea sp.?—19th. Sárgus flavipes, Coríxa dorsàlis ? — 23d. Acheróntia A'tropos, brought here by Mrs. Williams's gardener.- 25th. The Penthóphera larva appears to be spun up. - 30th. Ichneumon, bred from

B. cæruleocéphalus; larva of Geómetra lichenària? spun up.

Oct. 12th. Geómetra pennària ♂ and , bred.

Nov. 4th and 14th. Tórtrix caudàna, worn; Lampyris noctiluca brought by John Bolt.-24th. Tínea like anastomosis, in our window. 30th. Saw Scatophaga sp. ?

Dec. 1st. Sarróthripus punc., window.

2d. Bombyx pópuli, bred.

ART. VII. An Account of the parasitic Músca larvàrum preyed on by parasitic Pterómali, while both were in the Body of Phala`na Bombyx Caja. By EDWARD NEWMAN, Esq.

Sir,

DURING last June, I collected a number of the pupa of that splendid moth commonly known as the garden tiger (Phala na Bombyx Caja Linn.); my object being to obtain varieties for my cabinet. I preserved them in damp moss, in a common breeding-cage covered with gauze, after the customary plan. On opening the cage-door one morning, three or four flies [Músca] made their escape; and, flying to the window, soon became so mingled with other flies (previously there), that securing them would have been useless, as I had no means of ascertaining their identity. I concluded they were parasites; and on examining the pupæ of P. Bombyx Càja, found two of them perforated, from which the flies had evidently made their escape. This circumstance was too ordinary to attract notice; but a few mornings after, I found the whole of the gauze in the interior of the cage covered with minute hymenopterous insects, which were

running and jumping about in all directions, but were collected in the greatest number on that side of the cage nearest to the light. Not having leisure to attend at the moment to the securing, killing, and setting them, I closed the door of the cage, and left the house for some hours: judge of my astonishment and mortification, on returning, at not being able to discover a single individual. I shook out the whole of the moss, fragment by fragment, but in vain, nor have I since been able to guess what became of them. I however observed that many of the pupa had very small and perfectly circular holes, through which the little hymenopterous insects must have made their egress; the holes made in the pupæ by the flies being much larger, and jagged at the edges. The following morning I was gratified by finding a new, but much less abundant, supply of the Hymenoptera; I instantly secured some of them, and they appear to belong to the genus Pterómalus Dal. 627. Curtis's Guide. I now proceeded to open with the point of a penknife the remaining pupæ of the Bombyx; the perforated ones contained nothing but the exuviæ or pupa cases of the Pterómali; but among the others, which were hard and stiff, and apparently dead, I found one quite filled with the coarctate pupæ of a Músca. On applying the point of my knife to these, I found some contained flies [Múscæ], which, thus prematurely liberated, never came to perfection; but by far the majority of these flies or Múscæ were filled with Pterómali in the various stages of larva, pupa, and imago. The Múscæ, although imperfect, I ascertained on comparison to be the Músca larvàrum of Linné; a specific name, however, to which I suspect more than one true species is referable.

Here then was a parasite on a parasite, the Músca being evidently the original parasite of the Bombyx, and the Pterómalus as evidently parasitical on the Músca. A very interesting question arises from this discovery. How could the parent Pterómalus introduce its eggs into the larva of the Músca; that larva being completely immersed in the interior of one of our most hairy caterpillars, a situation apparently so secure? I fear we shall long want a practical solution of the problem; in the mean time, we must content ourselves with a theoretical one.

It is well known to all those who have paid much attention to the rearing of lepidopterous insects from the larva, that they are subject to two distinct tribes of parasites, Ichneùmones and Múscæ. The females of the Ichneumones are furnished with a long sharply pointed oviduct, for the express purpose of piercing the skin of the destined victim of their

larvæ, and of depositing their eggs beneath the surface: the females of the Músca, on the contrary, have no such apparatus, but merely place their egg on the surface of the skin, to which it adheres by means of a glutinous matter exuded with it. I must here, however, mention that the learned authors of the Introduction to Entomology have (vol. i. p. 345.) the fol lowing sentence:- "Some ichneumons, instead of burying their eggs in the body of the larvæ that are to serve their young for food, content themselves with glueing them to the skin of their prey, which the young grubs pierce as soon as hatched." Now, I by no means imagine that such a sentence would have found its way into so correct a work without the best authority; yet, as in no instance in which I have found the egg thus attached has the larva produced any other than a dipterous parasite, I think we may fairly conclude that piercing and glueing are the general and distinctive rule or habit of each particular tribe; and the fact asserted by Messrs. Kirby and Spence an exception to the rule.

The egg of the Músca, which, I may remark, I have always observed to be placed on the neck of the larva, the only part from which the annoyed insect could not remove it, is very conspicuous to an observer; and experienced collectors of Lepidoptera, when they find the larva of a rare species with this egg attached, make a practice of removing it, and the larva will then thrive and come to perfection. With the egg in this situation, thus easily visible to the human eye, we cannot wonder that the active and instinct-guided Pterómalus should discover it; nor does it appear an improbable supposition that the little creature seizes this opportunity of piercing the shell with her oviduct, and depositing her egg amidst its contents. So that the larva of the Músca, as soon as hatched, in burying itself in the fleshy larva of the Bombyx, is compelled to carry with it a horde of insidious parasites, which, although they interfere not with the due performance of its appointed work of destruction, yet in the end so weaken it that it never arrives at perfection. Thus the Bombyx and Músca, both excessively voracious tribes, perform the task allotted them by Providence; yet are by this minute creature prevented from reproducing their species, whose increase, unchecked, would speedily depopulate the earth. The question as to the difficulty which so small an insect would experience in piercing a substance so hard as the egg-shell of the Músca, may be at once answered by the fact that many species of the same tribe [Platygáster ovulòrum is one instance, see Vol. III. p. 452.] are known to be parasitical on the eggs of butterflies, in which they have been deposited by a

similar operation. In the case of the pupae of the Bombyx Càja, which contained nothing but the exuvia of Pterómali, it may be fairly concluded that the larvae of these (the Pterómali) were too numerous, or became too powerful, to permit the larvæ of the Músca undergoing their usual metamorphosis: a circumstance much less to be wondered at, than that they should ever accomplish the change when in so debilitated a state. I am, Sir, yours, &c.

Deptford, Nov. 26. 1831.

EDWARD NEWMAN.

ART. VIII. An Account of the Sandal Wood Tree (Sántalum), with Observations on some of the_Botanical Productions of the Sandwich Islands. By GEORGE BENNETT, F.L.S., Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, &c.

THE sandal wood tree (Sántalum) is placed in the natural order Santalaceae, class Tetrandria, order Monogynia. There are several species, but all have not wood possessed of fragrance. Of those from which the scented wood is procured I am acquainted with three species: two have been described, one the Sántalum myrtifolium, found on the coast of Coromandel; and S. Freycinetianum, found at the Sandwich Islands; the other, an undescribed species, at the New Hebrides group; the latter appearing to have an affinity to that found on the Coromandel shores.

The native names of the sandal wood, among some of the countries where it is found indigenous, are as follows:

Among the Malays, Jeendana. New Hebrides: Island of Erromanga, Nassau; Island of Tanna, Nebissi; Island of Annatom, Narti niat. The Marquesa group, Bua ahi. The Island of Oparo, Turi turi. At the Island of Tahiti (where it has been found on the mountains, but is very scarce) and Eimeo, Ahi. On the Malabar coast, Chandana cotte. In the Island of Timor, Aikamenil. In the Island of Amboyna, Ayasru. At the Fidji group, Iarsé. At the Sandwich Islands, Iliahi.

This fragrant wood, valuable as an article of commerce to China, is found in India, Eastern Archipelago (more particularly in the islands to the eastward), the Marquesas, Fidji and New Hebrides groups, &c. ; the Island of Juan Fernandez, and has been occasionally found on the high mountains of Tahiti, Eimeo, and Raivavae, or High Island. Mr. Crawford observes (Indian Archipelago, vol. i. p. 419, 420.), respecting sandal wood, that it is "a native of the Indian islands, and is found of three varieties, white, yellow, and red; the first two