HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



65 



ZOOLOGY. 



Sea Urchins.— The common Echinus sphara is 

 eaten in France, Spain, and Italy. I do not know 

 in what part or portions of this kingdom it is 

 made an article of food ; but if " W. S., Belfast," 

 will put the question to Mr. Frank Buckland 

 through the medium of Land and Water, should 

 he not obtain a reply to his question in Science- 

 Gossip, I have little doubt but what that gentle- 

 man will be able to inform him.— I was toldlby a 

 friend who tasted sea urchins abroad, that they 

 were boiled in sea-water, picked out of the shell 

 when cold, and eaten with oil and vinegar ; also 

 stewed like oysters, and plain boiled and eaten like 

 eggs.— H. E. Watney. 



The Locomotion of Crass.— Neither do I 

 doubt " E. J. T." on this point, when he says he 

 was " conquered by a crass," who disappeared in the 

 sand ; for I took several specimens on the shore at 

 Llandudno a week ago, just below the lesser 

 Ormes-head in a similar way ; but I was alluding, in 

 the little article "E. J. T." notices, to the very slow 

 manner in which crass change their quarters from 

 one stone to another in an aquarium. I have one 

 now which I carefully watched effecting his removal, 

 and I feel sure I was quite correct in saying 

 crass do move most slowly under such circum- 

 stances. Several crass which my boy succeeded in 

 digging up out of the sand were firmly attached 

 to a small stoue, and the way he proceeded was to 

 dig round the crass, at a little distance off, and sud- 

 denly fish the stone up, crass and all, out of the 

 sand, by inserting the point of a stick under it. 

 Now if the crass that disappeared were fixed to 

 stones, how did they escape ? Could they push the 

 stone down ? This seems almost impossible, as does 

 the idea that if their base were attached to a stone 

 at any very great depth below the surface of the 

 sand, they could so elongate themselves as to come 

 up to the top when they wanted to bask in the rays 

 of the sun. I have never seen this power which 

 crass possess of disappearing in the sand on being 

 disturbed noticed in any work, but, as I before 

 observed, "E. J. T." is quite right in what he has 

 stated, and so am I in asserting they move very 

 slowly from one stone to another. — H. E. Watney. 



The Blue Tit.— The writer of the interesting 

 article on Titmice, last month, tells us that the 

 Blue Tit "rarely [quarrels with] any bird." In 

 Mudie's "British Birds" we are informed that 

 " when opportunity favours, it kills other birds by 

 punching them on the head." Which of these 

 assertions is the right one ? My observation gives 

 a decided verdict for the former.— II. (J. Sargent. 



Natural Instinct.— A year or two ago some 

 partridges were hatched under a bantam hen at 



Mobberley Hall, Cheshire. After following the hen 

 for some time, an old partridge made its appear- 

 ance, and enticed the young ones away from the 

 hen. They followed her readily, understanding her 

 call. The old partridge was probably one that had 

 been reared by the gamekeeper the year before, 

 and had become partially tame; for after thus 

 asserting her maternal rights, and taking possession 

 of the young ones, she remained about the hall 

 and gardens with her brood.— Robert Holland. 



The Prawn. — How crabs and other crustaceans 

 manage to cast their shells is another of the wonder- 

 ful occurrences of nature. It is all very easy to talk 

 of the " softening of the muscles," and so forth ; 

 but how can all the softening of the muscles enable 

 the creature to'withdraw the substantial flesh at the 

 thick end of its forcep claws through the narrow 

 openings at the different joints ? However, it is 

 done, but how is the question. With the crab it 

 must be a work of time, but with the prawn it is 

 a matter of a moment, and which I lately had the 

 satisfaction of witnessing. When the prawn is 

 about to cast its shell, the creature is then less 

 active or lively ; it is constantly fidgeting with its 

 iegs, bending its body, and evidently altogether 

 feeling very uneasy. Probably, during these opera- 

 tions it contrives to make the opening at the back 

 of the shell through which it afterwards escapes. 

 At all events, its exit is only the work of a moment, 

 for, bending its body till its head and tail meet, it 

 gives one sudden spring, and emerges clean and 

 clear out of its old shell, leaving it, even to the 

 extreme end of its delicate antennae, as sound and 

 perfect as if it were still occupied by the living animal. 

 Though my prawns have often cast their shells, all 

 of which have been most wonderfully perfect, even 

 to the minutest point, yet I have never met with 

 one but what has been deficient of its eye-coverings. 

 —A. E. Murray. 



Transformation of a Hairy Caterpillar.— 

 A hairy caterpillar, which had been kept in a box 

 and fed upon leaves, began to spin its web on the 

 12th June. In spinning it managed, either inten- 

 tionally or by accident, to introduce a considerable 

 quantity of the hairs from its body into the web, so 

 that the web and hairs appeared pretty much iu 

 equal proportions. On the morning of the 19th 

 the chrysalis began to make its appearance, and in 

 the course of half an hour it contrived to free itself 

 from the now useless hairy skin by gradually working 

 the skin off towards the tail end. When the chrysalis 

 first freed itself it was of a light yellow colour, but 

 by the evening of the same day it had assumed a 

 dark, reddish-brown, glossy appearance, and by next 

 morning it was perfectly black. On the 16th July 

 the moth broke the chrysalis, so that the transfor- 

 mation only occupied twenty-seven days.— A. E. 

 Murray. 



