HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



41 



ZOOLOGY. 



Bats.— On the afternoon of the 20th November 

 I saw a pair of common bats (/'". Pipistrellus) fly- 

 ing about and catching gnats with great alertness. 

 Is not this very late for them. to be on the wing? 

 Query : Is there any truth in the statement that, 

 on holding a white handkerchief up, they will fly 

 against it ? I have several times tried, but always 

 found it to fail— W. II. Swlby, Bingley, York- 

 shire. 



Monkey and Dog.— A terrier and a monkey, 

 belonging to 11. W. Eox, of Penjerrick, have | 

 formed a strong mutual attachment, and are sel- | 

 dom separated by day or by night. The monkey 

 mounted on Pincher's back often accompanies him ] 

 in his rambles, not erect, as a lifeguardsman, but, 

 more like one of Catlin's Indians (avoiding the | 

 arrows of a foe), lies at full length on his steed's 

 back, holding tight with all fours. Jenny's tail, 

 which, although not prehensile, serves somewhat 

 like a crupper to steady herself, by bending against j 

 that of Pincher. If they meet a strange dog in 

 their excursions, and Jenny has reason to fear that 

 a duel is imminent, she jumps off, runs up a bank, 

 or climbs a tree, until the coast is clear, and then 

 remounts without help. Roberts, the gamekeeper 

 on a neighbouring estate (Penwarne), informs me 

 that while recently going on his rounds he saw a 

 rabbit bolt from a hole followed by a strange animal, 

 which he was about to shoot, when he observed its 

 long tail, and that it ran towards Pincher (who was 

 at a short distance), and was quickly on dog-back. 

 Both were retreating from the dangerous neighbour- 

 hood, but lloberts sent his setter dog to bring them 

 back, and soon made peace with both the little 

 fellows sporting without a license. Roberts is 

 persuaded that Jenny could be taught to turn 

 out rabbits better than a ferret could do. He 

 thinks that Pincher's scratching at the entrance of 

 a hole is a signal for Jenny to inquire withiu. If 

 Pincher enters a brake where he is invisible, 

 Jenny gets into a tree where she is more likely to 

 have a sight of his movements.— C. Fox. 



Badgers from Penwarne destroyed last autumn 

 many beehives at Tregedna (where the birds find a 

 loving protector). These representatives of Bruin 

 in England have torn in pieces thick deal planks 

 on which some of the hives rested, and appear 

 to have attempted to throw down strong posts 

 on which others were raised out of their reach. 

 Badgers are probably as eager to eat the brood of 

 bees as their honey, as even the stings of wasps do 

 not prevent their tearing out their nests in my 

 orchard, to devour the larva? and pupa?.— C. Fox, 

 Trebah, Mar Falmouth, Dec. 23, 1870. 



U raster rubens. — Are not the " fish mouths " 

 described by Mr. 11. Ingall, in his interesting paper 

 on this species, one variety of the pediciilaria ? 

 There are two distinct forms of these bodies on U. 

 miens. The larger somewhat resemble, when seen 

 in profile, a pair of spring shears, and are scattered 

 rather sparingly over the spaces between the spines. 

 Besides these there is a smaller and very different 

 form, much more numerous and clustered in groups 

 round the spines, and which, I would suggest, are 

 the "mouths" your correspondent observed open- 

 ing and shutting. They are composed of two cal- 

 careous pieces, showing the characteristic reticu- 

 lated structure of the Echinodermata, and each of 

 which is prolonged backwards into a short taug, 

 which crosses the tang of the corresponding piece, 

 so that the two jaws play on each other like the 

 blades of a pair of scissors. As far as my observa- 

 tion goes, they are only found in close proximity to 

 the spines, and are most plentiful in the neighbour, 

 hood of the ambulacral avenues. Seen in front when 

 in a state of activity they bear no very distant resem- 

 blance to the jaws of a fish ; but whether they have 

 any communication with the digestive organs, is, I 

 should think, extremely doubtful. Both kinds of 

 pediciilaria are enveloped by an extension of the 

 general investing membrane, and unlike those of the 

 Echinida?, which possess a calcareous footstalk. 

 Their use in the economy of the animal is, I believe, 

 yet to be discovered. A prepared specimen of the 

 integuments of Uraster rubens exhibits the spines, 

 the pediciilaria, and the arrangemeut of the dermal 

 plates to great advantage. It should be macera- 

 ted in very dilute liquor potassa? for two or three 

 days to remove the animal matter, then thoroughly 

 washed, and dried under gentle pressure. The cen- 

 tral disc containing the madreporiform tubercle, 

 forms, when mounted opaque, a very beautiful and 

 attractiveobject for very lowpowers, 3-inch or 4-inch. 

 The integuments of other starfishes, as for instance 

 the Sunstar (Sotaster papposa), the Eyed Cribella 

 (Cribella oculata), and the Bird's-foot {Palmipes 

 membranaceus), may be treuted in the same manner, 

 and are all well worthy of a place in the cabinet. 

 The arrangement aud form of the spines vary 

 greatly in the species named. The fasciculi of 

 spines in the Sunstar and the small palmate spines 

 of Palmipes are very curious.— Edward Horsnail 7, 

 Docer, Jan. 9, 1871. 



Dipterous Lary.e under the Shell of a 

 Tortoise.— On the 9th of November last, when 

 engaged in removing the shell -plates from the 

 carapace of a Greek Tortoise {Testudo Grceca), in 

 order to examine the sutures, I was surprised to find 

 a number of small dead and dried larva? between 

 the plates and the bone. The tortoise had been 

 dead for some years, aud the plates had become 

 loose from the drying of the shell. The larva? 



