of the clafticity is unknown; but it is attributed by Mr. Hatchett to a porous ftructure; a circumftánce which indeed is connected, but remotely, with this propertya

X. An Account of the Jumping Moufe of Canada. Dipus Canadenfis. By Major-General Thomas Davies, F. R. -S. and L. S.'

This little animal, diftinguished by the length and elafticity of its hinder legs, inhabits very different climates. The dipus Canadenfis could leap from three to five yards in its active ftate, rifing fixteen or eighteen inches from the ground. It is torpid during winter. A coloured plate of the animal, reprefenting it in its agile and torpid ftate, illuftrates the ac

count.

XI. Obfervations on the Flowering of certain Plants. By the Rev. Thomas Martyn, B. D. F. R. S. V. P L. S. Regius Profeffor of Botany in the University of Cambridge.' The obfervations of Mr. Martyn on this fubject are not important.

XII. Remarks on fome Foreign Species of Orobanche. By James Edward Smith, M. D. F. R. S. P. L, S.

Great confufion feems to have prevailed with regard to the foreign fpecies of orobanche: but the difficulties are now cleared with accurate discrimination,

XIII. A Description of Five British Species of Orobanche. By the Rev. Charles Sutton, B. D. A. L. S. late Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge.'

Mr. Sutton defcribes thefe fpecies of orobanche with precifion, and correctly refers to the fynonyms of the beft authors, viz. the o. major of the English botanifts, differing from the Linnæan fpecies in not having the fmell of cloves; the o. elatior, usually confounded with the former species; o, minor, the major of Linnæus and other botanists; the o. cœrulea, the purpurafcens of Gmelin, the purpurea of Jacquin; and the o. ramofa. The orobanche is a parafite plant; at leaft its root is attached to that of other plants, though it rifes in a feparate unfupported stalk.

• XIV. Account, accompanied by a Figure, of a minute Ichneumon. By George Shaw, M, D. F. R. S. V. P. L. S,' This is a new fpecies, which the author calls ichneumon punctum, if it is not the i. atomos of Linnæus.

XV. Defcription of the Phafma dilatatum, By Mr. John Parkinson, F. L. S.

The animal reprefented in a coloured plate is probably a non-defcript; it is thus characterised by Dr. Shaw; P. dilata tum, thorace dilatato rhombeato pedibufque fpinofis, abdomi me lanceolato, lateribus ciliato-fpinofis. A fuller description, in English, is alfo given.

XVI. Defcription of the Blight of Wheat, Uredo Fru menti. By A. B. Lambert, Efq. F. R. S. V. P. L. S.'

The uredo tritici is a fungus, described by Perfoon in his new claffification of fungi. Its appearance, or increase, may be confidered as connected with the weakness of the parent vegetables Mr. Lambert thinks that it may arife from the poverty of the ground; but, it seems rather to be the confe quence of inclement feafons, which occafion too great an ac← cumulation of moisture in the plant.

• XVII. Ammophila, a New Genus of Infects in the Clafs Hymenoptera, including the Sphex fabulofa of Linnæus. By the Rev. William Kirby, F. L. S.'

The hymenoptera, though a lefs fplendid and lefs attractive tribe than the lepidoptera, are, in Mr. Kirby's opinion, more ufeful, as they devour the exhalations of thofe fweets from flowers, which, in profufion, might injure the falubrity of that element. Mr. Kirby propofes, to form a new genus from the tongue, and the valves which enclose it organs of the first importance to the infect, and consequently less, subject to variety...

This part, fo important to thefe infects, will furnith, I feel perfuaded, a very appropriate character to diftinguifh many of the genera in the clafs, which are now very much confufed. This perfuafion is the refult of an examination of what Fabricius terms the inftrumenta cibaria, in order to fix upon an effential character, more determinate than the prefent, for the genus apis.. I found that the tongue was of one form in fphex, of another id vespa, and of another ftill in apis. Amongst the infects which I dif fected with this view, was the fphex fabulofa of Linnæus; and I was not a little furprised to find that it was furnished with an inflexed roftrum, which concealed a long, retractile, tubular tongue, with a bind clava at its end: whereas the tongue of true fpheges, fuch at least as I have examined, is very fhort, flat, dilated, and nearly entire at the apex. It agreed with the tongue of velpa, in being divided at the end; but in this latter genus, that part is extremely fhort and broad, obcordate, very deeply bifid, having its lobes fometimes tipped with a small callous point. It had a still fronger affinity with that member in apis, efpecially in thofe fpecies that have an inflexed roftrum, but in these the tongue is entire, and ufually acute. In many other circumstances this infect differs from all thofe genera, as will appear when I give its natural character.

The poffeffion of three other British fpecies, which agree with this in the peculiar form of the roftrum and maxillæ, as well as in habit and other circumftances, makes my hesitation the less to confider them as diftinct from the genus fphex, and more particularly as Linnæus has placed an infect exhibiting the fame charac

ters amongst his apes, under the name of apis ichneumonea, This will appear, I think, evident to every one who confults De Geer's figure of that infect. Indeed that author describes the roftrum as having a different direction from that which is menti➡ oned above, and which is obfervable in all my fpecies of ammophila: yet fince he could have no opportunity of examining a recent fpecimen, (this infect being a native of South America), he might very easily have been milled in this point; for the roftrum readily affumes and retains a direction outwards although its natural pofition when at reft is inwards.

"It is fingular that fo attentive and accurate an obferver should have entirely overlooked this confpicuous part in fphex fabulofa, efpecially as it had not efcaped the notice of Linnæus.

I have given this genus the name of ammophila, because thofe fpecies with which I am acquainted frequent fandy banks, particularly fuch as are expofed to the fun.

This is nearly allied to feveral genera. The fphex fabulofa one would take at first fight for an ichneumon, and Geoffroy has ranked it under that genus. It has the antennæ, fierce port, and manners of fphex: its bifid tongue connects it with vefpa; and the inflexed direction and form of the valves of its roftrum give it an alliance with a large number of apes. On this account I would place it between the two latter genera.' P. 196.

In pursuance of thefe views, which demand our full appro bation, our author, after a natural and effential character of the genus, describes four fpecies; 1. the vulgaris (fphex fabulofa Linn.); 2. affinis, diftinguiflied from the former by the unarticulate stalk of its abdomen, the black villi fcattered over its head and trunk, the five impreffed lines vifible upon the disk of its thorax, and the greater proportional length of the wings, as well as their hue; 3. the a. hirfuta (fphex are naria Linn.); 4. the argentea, a new fpecies, diftinguished by the glitter of the villi of the trunk, and the pile of the front. Some foreign infects probably belong alfo to this genus.

1

XVIII. The Characters of Twenty New Genera of Plants. By James Edward Smith, M. D. F. R.S. P. L. S.' : These plants are chiefly from New South-Wales.

XIX. Further Obfervations on the Wheat Infect, in a Letter to the Rev. Samuel Goodenough, LL. D. F. R. S. Tr. L. S. By Thomas Marfham, Efq, Sec. L. S.

• XX. Hiftory of Tipula Tritici, and Ichneumon Tipulæ, with fome Obfervations upon other Infects that attend the Wheat, in a Letter to Thomas Marfham, Efq. Sec. L. S. By the Rev. William Kirby, F. L. S.'

We have in these papers fome account of the wheat infect, the tipula tritici. The depredations of this infect are checked by its enemy, defcribed in the twentieth article, a little

animal which burrows in the larva; of the former, and dew ftroys it. Mr. Kirby's account of the tipula and its infidious enemy, the friend however of mankind, is interesting.

• XXI. Account of a New Species of Mufcicapa, from New South Wales. By Major-General Thomas Davies, F. R. S. and L. S.'

This bird is called, in New South Wales, the caffowary bird, from the refemblance of the feathers of its tail. It is a fpecies of mufcicapa, called from its feathers malachura, foft-tailed. Its character, 'as given by Dr. Shaw, is m. fufca, fubtus ferruginea, gula cærulea, cauda longa cuneata, rectricibus decompofitis (loofe-webbed).

• XXII. Obfervations on the Genus Paufus, and Defcription of a New Species. By Adam Afzelius, M. D. Demonftrator of Botany in the University of Upfala, F. R. S. and F. M. L. S.'

One of the latest works which Linnæus offered to the world, was Bigæ Infectorum. The paufus was one of thefe, and it was fuppofed that he thus publicly declared his intention wave-to rest from his labours. M. Afzelius, in the present article, gives a history of our acquaintance with this genus, and adds the natural defcription of it, as well as of the different fpecies. A new fpecies is the p. fphærocerus, bearing on its antennæ two pellucid balls, feemingly empty. It is an African fpecies; and the hiftory of our author's obfervations reIpecting its habits we will fubjoin.

: I had been in Africa almost three years before I happened to meet with this remarkable little infect, and then it was quite acci dentally. There was a house building for the governor, on an eminence called Thornton-hill, at the fouth end of Freetown, in Sierra Leone; and in the beginning of the year 1796, feverat apartments having been got ready fo as to be habitable, one of them was allotted to me, and I removed into it in the end of the month of January.

I had not refided there many days, when one evening having juft lighted my candle and begun to write, I obferved something dropping down from the ceiling before me upon the table; which, from its fingular appearance, attracted my peculiar attention. It remained for a little while quite immoveable, as if stunned or frightened, but began foon to crawl very flowly and fteadily. I then caught it, and, from the remembrance I had of the Linnæan fpecies, I directly took it for a non-defcript of this genus.

• Some few days after, coming into my room from fupper with a light in my hand, and having put it upon the table, there instantly fell another down from the ceiling. The third I was favoured with by the then governor, Mr. Dawes, who informed me that it had dropt down before him on the table, juft when he had

entered his room and was going to write. The other three which I afterwards collected, were alfo got upon fimilar occafions; and from thence I thought I had some reason to conclude, that it is a nocturnal animal, that it becomes benumbed by candle light, that it lives in wood and prefers new built houses, &c. After the end of February I never faw any more.

The last which I caught I put into a box, and left confined there for a day or two. One evening going to look at it, and happening by chance to ftand between the light and the box, fo that my fhadow fell upon the infect, I obferved, to my great aftonishment, the globes of the antennæ, like two lanthorns, spread ing a dim phofphoric light. This fingular phenomenon roused my curiofity, and, after having examined it feveral, times that night,. I refolved to repeat my refearches the following day. But the animal, being exhaufted, died before the morning, and the light difappeared. And afterwards, not being able to find any more fpecimens, I was prevented from afeertaining the fact by reiterated experiments at different times; which I therefore must recommend to other naturalifts, who may have an opportunity of vie fiting Sierra Leone, requesting that they would particularly inquire into this curious circumstance.' P. 260.

The p. microcephalus is a fpecies defcribed by Linnæus. We may mention en paffant, that M. Afzelius, fpeaking of ater, niger, piceus, and fufcus, as being fometimes confounded, informs us, that Linnæus referred to different fhades of black, from the most intense shade (ater) to different mixtures of brown in this progreffion, the fufcus containing the largest proportion of brown. This information he derived from that naturalift himself.

• XXIII. Obfervations on the British Specics of Bromus with Introductory Remarks on the Compofition of a Flora Britannica. By James Edward Smith, M. D. F. R. S.

P. L. S..

Dr. Smith, in this article, juftly appreciates the merits of the authors of the different British Floras, and, with equal freedom, points out their errors, at the fame time announcing his projected work, in which the characters, will be drawn from obfervation, and each fynonym appropriated with the moft anxious care. As a fpecimen, he describes the different Englith fpecies of bromus, in which we remark much minute and fuccessful labour.

XXIV. Some Corrections of the general Defcription of Polytrichum rubellum, with an Account of another New Species of the fame Genus. By Mr. Archibald Menzies, F. L. S

These corrections are of little importance; and with them the volume terminates.