42 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



appeared to have actually eaten the bone, for its 

 outer surface was gone, and the internal cellular 

 structure exposed where they occurred. Thinking 

 the parent insect had chosen rather an odd place 

 in which to deposit its eggs, I sent the larvae to 

 Professor Westwood, of Oxford, who pronounced 

 them to be those of a "two-winged fly, possibly of 

 some Tacldnia, or allied Muscida>" and added," The 

 eggs were probably laid in such situation soon after 

 the death of the animal." — Robert Morton Middle- 

 ton, Jan., The Bank, West Hartlepool, Jan. 7, 1871. 



The Pood of the Weasel. — The Weasel 

 (Mustela vulgaris) is popularly supposed to possess 

 a somewhat fastidious palate, preferring game and 

 poultry for his ordinary repasts, and only condescend- 

 ing to notice rats and mice and other small animals 

 when pressed by hunger ; so that incessant warfare 

 is waged against him by gamekeepers and others on 

 account of his presumed destructiveness. One day 

 last autumn I, however, had an opportunity of dis- 

 turbing one while enjoying his meal, which consisted, 

 not of the brains of a pheasant or partridge, but of 

 the carcase of a poor batrachian — a frog ! He more- 

 over evidently enjoyed his "game," for he returned 

 to his repast on my standing quietly by. — J. B., 

 Dolgelly. 



Crass. — I have no doubt Mrs. Watney is right in 

 stating that the powers of locomotion of her new 

 pet are very limited ; but some ten years ago, when 

 walking over the sands between Ramsgate and 

 Broadstairs I saw a crass about the size of a small 

 plate basking in the rays of an autumnal setting sun. 

 Anxious to take possession of him, I proceeded to 

 dig him up with the blunt blade of a knife five 

 inches in length ; but the more I dug the deeper he 

 went, till at last I found that I had made a great 

 hole two-thirds full of sea-water. I therefore gave 

 up the chase and returned home deeply humiliated 

 at having been conquered by a " Crass." — E. J. T. 



Great Bustard (Otis tarda).— At the meeting 

 of the Zoological Society on the 3rd of January 

 Mr. Tegetmeier exhibited and made remarks on a 

 specimen, in the flesh, of a female of the Great 

 Bustard which had been killed on the 29th December 

 near Peltham, in Middlesex. 



Pedicellarle of Echinodermata. — If your 

 readers will turn to my " Tenby " (pp. 232—251), 

 and to my " Evenings at the Microscope " (pp. 339 

 — 34G), they will sec that Mr. H. Ingall's observa- 

 tions on Pedicellarise (Science-Gossip, p. 9), and 

 a great deal more, have been long ago anticipated. 

 His suggestion of the use of these curious organs 

 is also mine, — "that they are intended to seize 

 minute animals, and to hold them till they die and 

 decompose, as baits to attract clouds of Infusoria, 

 which, multiplying in the vicinity of the Urchin, 

 may afford it an abundant supply of food." 



(" Evenings at the Microscope," p. 34G.) Not the 

 slightest acknowledgment, however, is made of my 

 observations or of my conjecture. — P. H. Gosse, 

 F.R.S., Torquay. 



Natural Selection. — At a millpond near the 

 farm-steading of Manbean, Elginshire, there has 

 been for years a colony of the Water-hen {Falica 

 chloropus, Linn.), protected, as far as possible, 

 from the catapult of the schoolboy and the fowling- 

 piece of idlers. These birds are now so tame that 

 they daily feed with the poultry, and are not much 

 disturbed by the approach of a stranger. One day, 

 during the late continued severe weather, when a 

 little dog was running about the edge of the poud, 

 which was then, and had been for days, completely 

 frozen over, four of these birds, aware that their 

 wonted refuge was closed against them, seemingly 

 without any unwonted effort, took to wing and 

 perched some thirty or forty feet high on the sur- 

 rounding trees. Oue of them walked stately and 

 steadily for a few yards up a drooping branch of a 

 larch. All the four showed, by their skill and com- 

 posure, that they were not altogether from home in 

 the airy retreat which, water-birds though they 

 were, they had thus naturally selected under dif- 

 ficulties.— G. G. 



Cyclostoma elegans.— Reeve and Tate both 

 agree that this mollusk extends, in England, as far 

 north as Yorkshire. I have found it at Boston Spa 

 on the magnesian limestone ; and it is given as a 

 Scarbro' shell in Beau's list in " Theakston's Scar- 

 bro' Guide, 1843." I wish to work out the dis- 

 tribution of this shell in Yorkshire, and shall be 

 glad of localities for it in that county. I should 

 also like to know if it has ever occurred north of 

 Yorkshire, or has ever been fouud on coast sand- 

 hills in that or any other county. — Francis G. Bin- 

 vie, 8, Low Ousegate, York. 



Cormorants in the Bosphorus. — Southerly 

 winds have prevailed in the neighbourhood of Con- 

 stantinople longer than usual at this season 

 (Dec. 21) of the year, and have detained large 

 numbers of vessels at their anchorage-grounds in 

 the Bosphorus and other localities. Large shoals 

 of fish have appeared near the Seraglio point, 

 forced up the Marmora's swollen waters by storms, 

 and have attracted a multitude of cormorants. The 

 water for a large distance is literally covered with 

 them; they are in thousands, fishing in compact 

 masses, their black heads and necks dotting the 

 waters over a great area near the Seraglio point, 

 and then suddenly disappearing below the surface, 

 as if all of them had vanished entirely, so con- 

 sentaneous is the whole mass in diving after their 

 prey. The fishermen are also taking large quan- 

 tities of fish in the Bosphorus with hooks and 

 nets. —Robson, Ortaheny. 



