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either side about half-way down. The elytra or wing-cases are marked on the surface by ten punctated lines, which commence at the upper edge and unite before reaching the opposite extremity.

Shukhur-ool-ashur, or Shukhur teeghal, is a very similar substance, and consists of the nests of just such another little beetle. In this instance the country of production is India, where the cases are known by the Arabic names already given; they are far from common, but are collected by the natives and employed as a kind of manna. The plant on which they are found is the Mudar or Ashur (Calotropis gigantea, and probably allied species), whence the name "Sugar of the Ashur" is derived.

Dr. Royle, in his "Himalayan Botany," says of it: "This is a sweetish exudation formed on the plant, in consequence of the puncture of an insect called Gultigal." With but little modification this paragraph has been repeated by subsequent authors, and is almost the whole knowledge we have possessed of this substance or its fabricator. Having obtained specimens of the Shukkur from India, I succeeded in discovering out of the beetles still enclosed in its case, all the other cases being empty. This insect, with its nidus, I submitted to Mr. Smith, of the British Museum, for identification, and he has declared it to be the species known as Larinus ursus of Fabricius. It may now, therefore, be affirmed with confidence that the sweetish cases, or "sugar," of the Calotropis is the nidus of a small beetle known in Arabic as Gultigal (which, being interpreted, appears to mean "flower-nest"), and to entomologists as Larinus ursus. It is very much like the insect which produces the Trehala, as also is its nidus (see fig. 2); although I am not prepared to affirm that both are in reality the same species, under different names, but should rather be disposed to regard them as distinct.

Poonyet.—Whilst upon this subject of "Insect-homes," I cannot resist adverting to another singular substance, which is found in Burmah, and called Pwai-ngyet or Poonyet. It is a blackish resin, channelled with little chambers or cells, by some species of Dammar-bee, and is found in holes in the ground, and in hollow trees. This resin, or wax, is employed by the Burmese for caulking boats, and is constantly on sale in the bazaars. The resin which I have seen under this name is slightly fragrant, and apparently identical with that of Canarium strictum, the honey-combed structure alone excepted. The latter resin is common in Travancore, in Southern India, and Mr. J. Brown, of Trevandrum, says that it exudes from cuts in the trunk of

the tree, and seems to be a great favorite of several species of insect, especially of one resembling a bee, called by the Hillmen Kulliada, which live in pairs in holes in the ground. It is singular that the same free is common in Malacca, where it yields a black resin, and there also is found a honey-combed resin, which the natives call "Dammar Klotee," and which is said to resemble the Pwai-ngyet, although the cells are larger, and the resin blacker and harder. This substance I do not remember to have seen. Dr. Mason, of Rangoon, states that he forwarded some specimens of the insect which produces the Burmese Pwai-ngyet to Mr. F. Smith, and that he identified them with Trigona læviceps, which had been first received from Singapore. The conclusion, therefore, at which I have arrived, is to the effect that the "honey-combed resin" of Pegu and Burmah is the natural resin which exudes from the bark of the Black Dammar tree (Canarium strictum), channelled and perforated by the insect known in Southern India as Kulliada, and which is also found at Singapore, as well as in Pegu and Burmah, and recognized by entomologists as Trigona lariceps, but whether the resin is perforated in its soft state, soon after it issues from the tree, or, if after it becomes hard, how the feat is accomplished, is more than I am at present able to affirm. Perhaps some correspondent who resides near one of the localities indicated will institute enquiries, and render our information more complete respecting the economy of the Dammar Bee.M. C. Cooke.

A single female house-fly produces 20,080,320 eggs in one season.