An Account of a Gall-Bee, and the Death-Watch. By Mr. Benj Allen

VIII. An Account of a Gall-Bee, and the Death-Watch. By Mr. Benj. Allen. The Gall-Bee. In those Galls which came to me by the Name of Aleppo-Galls, which the Insects had not eat their Way out of, I found one sort of Bee, resembling the small sort of our wild Bees which Earth; they have long Wings, a deep Belly, and on the Back near the Comit-ure to the Body, it is of a greenish black, the rest red-ish, near a Cinnamon Colour, the Belly thick and deep. These Galls were very gummy, and the Cavity round them was so extremly gummy, that not the least room or entrance of it appeared, though the Bee was beginning to make its way out. Some of the Galls had a Stem to them, and may give some Light to the reason of Life, that the Atmospheric Air is not necessary to the Essence, before the Organs of the Body are employ'd; but that that is maintain'd by a subtiller Air, that pervades more minute Pores, as it is conveyed to Fish through the Water, &c. Vide Figure 1. But this is not the only Insect that I have found in Galls, for the greyer sort, not so rich in Gum: I have found a small Ichneumon of a bright Green. An Account of the Scarabæus Galeatus Pulsator, or the Death-Watch; taken August, 1695. by Mr. Benjamin Allen. The Second Animal I observ'd (Vid. Fig. 2, 3, 4.) is a Death-Watch; I have taken some before this, it is that which makes a Noise resembling exactly that of a Watch; it is faithfully the very same, and liv'd Four Days with me, beating exactly, for I took two, I suppose one was the Female, that is only Conjecture. I took one some Years since, which I then trac'd by the Noise, as I did this, and were both the same; I shew'd it to Mr. Ray while it was alive and did beat. This small Beetle, which makes a Ticking or distinct Beating, resembling the Noise of a Watch, being rarely heard, and not known, has obtain'd the Name of a Death-Watch, which yet I have known to be heard by many, where no mortality follow'd; and particularly by myself, who have taken Two of the same, Seven Years since, without any Death following that Year. This Beetle I found in a Copper Body, it resembled dry Dirt in Colour. I found another, some Years before, on a rotten Post; and made the Noise like a Watch, by beating its Head on the Subject that it finds fit for Sound, this found in August, 1695. had another answer'd it in the same Room, and after a Minute's distinct Beating, would forbear for the other to answer; which the other single one would not; though that would make some Breaks now and then. The Part it beats with is, the extreme Edge of the Face, which I may call the Upper-Lip, the Mouth being protected by this Bony Part, and lying underneath, out of view. It was Two Lines and a half long (calling a Line the eighth part of an Inch) the Colour a dark brown, with Spots, some lighter, irregularly plac'd, which would not rub off readily. They seem'd to lye rather athwart the Back, and direct on the Head; as in the small Figure, which is much of the same Size with it, and the Maculae are design'd for the greyish Spots. Under the Vaginae are the pellucid Wings, and the Body is of a Pullous Colour. The Head appear'd large, by reason of a large Cap or Helmet which cover'd it round, only at the Ear turn'd up a little; from under this appeared the Head, which was flat and thin; The Eyes forwards; the Lip hard and shining; the Ears of the Helmet greyish. Two Antennae proceeded from under the Eyes, which, by their meeting on the Breast, I conjectured to assist their Feeding, and to be rather Proboscis; and the Helmet to be turn'd up for Hearing-sake, and the Belly plicated as other Beetles. The other Beetle that answered it was less, and the Marks on the Back not so distinct. By the Microscope I discovered the Marks to be thick-set Spots of Hair, of a Castor Colour; the Head all hairy, and Face thick of curl'd Hair. On the Belly was a little but thin set Hair. The Eyes appeared large, as in the Figure, The Superficies consisting of many small Squares furrowed deep between, and these lay in Lines transversely descending toward the Nose: These Eyes were not movable but contiguous to the Face without any Cavity to receive them; and they were very opake. The Antennae proceeded from under the Eyes; the first large Joyn't having a Cavity, out of which it proceeds at the sides of the Lip. Between the Eyes the Face rises in a little Ridge, which is the Nose, and is signified by the light part of the Face under this crooked Line which is made by the Shade of the Nose that protuberates under it. And just below the Nostrils are cover'd by strait pendu- pendulous Hair, proceeding from the lower Ridge of the Nose: Under this Hair the Cavity is dark: Below the Nose the Lip-shades shew the more deprest places: Under this Lip are visible four Forcipes to lay hold on its Food, two of each side, as in the Figure. See the Figures, the largest of which is drawn with the help of a Microscope. IX. An extract of a Letter from Dr. Robert St. Clair, to Dr. Rob. Hook, F. R. S., giving an Account of a very odd Eruption of Fire out of a Spot in the Earth near Fierenzola in Italy, with an easy Contrivance of a Lamp to be kept always full whilst it burns. SIR, Having lately had an Observation communicated to me by my Brother, which he made when he travelled through Italy last, differing from any I have hitherto met with in Natural Histories, I presume you may think it not unfit to be communicated to the Publick, and so give it a Place in the next Philosophical Transactions. It is this: On a side of one of the Appenine Mountains half way betwixt Bologna and Florence, near a Place called Petra Mala, about Five Miles from Fierenzola, there is a Spot of Ground about three or four Miles diameter, which incessantly sends up a Flame rising very high, without Noise, Smoke or Smell; yet it gives a very great Heat, and it has been observed to be thus in all times, except of great Rains, which put it out for a time; but when that is over it burns with greater Vigour and Heat than before: the Sand about it, when turn'd