66 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Climbing Rats. — I can fully bear testimony to 

 tlie power, as well as the inclination of rats for 

 climbing, as spoken of by one of your corre- 

 spondents in Science-Gossip for last month. In my 

 father's garden we had a Ribston-pippin apple-tree, 

 and the fruit, remarkably large and fine-flavoured, 

 disappeared one year in a very remarkable manner. 

 We children having been told not to meddle with 

 that particular tree, were reproved more than once, 

 but in spite of the scolding the apples continued to 

 lessen^ and the guilty child could not be discovered. 

 One day I was walking in the garden, and hap- j 

 pened to look with more than usual attention at a 

 very bushy rose-tree growing very near the wall, 

 when I perceived a heap of something behind it 

 that I could not well make out, and on turning 

 back the branches, to my astonishment and delight, 

 there was a large quantity of Ribston-pippins, some 

 quite fresh- gathered, and others showing unmis- 

 takable marks what kind of teeth had been employed 

 on them. I need scarcely say that I ran to fetch 

 my father to look at my discovery, who was both 

 amused and surprised to find who had been the 

 apple-stealer. — H. E. Wilkinson, Penge. 



Skylarks in New Zealand.— In a letter from 

 my brother in New Zealand, he says there are 

 great quantities of skylarks about here (Blenheim) : 

 we hear them all day long. It is pleasing to find 

 that some of our favourite birds are making them- 

 selves at home in the colonies. I quite agree with 

 Mr. Spicer and Mr. Ullvett in their remarks in 

 recent numbers of Science-Gossip respecting the 

 introduction of foreign birds, insects, &c, to local- 

 ities suitable for them in this country. It would in 

 a measure compensate for the loss of some of our 

 own fauna, which, from cultivation of the land, &c, 

 are now very rare, or perhaps extinct. — H. Budge. 



The Tsetse (Glossina morsitans). — Innumerable 

 flies appeared, including the Tsetse, and in a few 

 weeks the donkeys had no hair left either on their 

 ears or legs ; they drooped and died one by one. It 

 was in vain that I erected sheds and lighted fires : 

 nothing would protect them from the flies. The 

 moment the fires were lit, the animals would rush 

 wildly into the smoke, from which nothing would 

 drive them, and in the clouds of imaginary protec- 

 tion they would remain all day, refusing food. — 

 Sir S. Baker, "Exploration of the Nile Sources." 



Bats out in Winter. — It may interest some of 

 the readers of Science-Gossip to know that I saw 

 a bat on the wing, in the middle of the day, on 

 Sunday, February 5th, of this year. The day was 

 comparatively mild. The animal seemed full of 

 vigour, and was flitting backwards and forwards 

 over the garden, as though hawking for insects. 

 The same animal or a similar one was seen the next 

 morning under like circumstances by some members 

 of my family. — W. W. Spicer, P otter ne, Wilts. 



Effects of Cultivation on the Insect 

 World. — There is nothing but dusty roads and 

 paddy-fields for miles around, producing no insects 

 or birds worth collecting. It is really astonishing, 

 and will be almost incredible to many persons at 

 home, that a tropical country when cultivated 

 should produce ten times as many species of 

 beetles as can be found here (Lombok, a mem- 

 ber of the Sunda group of islands) ; and even our 

 common English butterflies are finer and more 

 numerous than those of Ampanam in the present 

 dry season. A walk of several hours with my net 

 will produce perhaps two or three species of 

 Chnjsomela aud Coccinella and a Cicindela, and two 

 or three Hemiptera and flies ; and every day the 

 same species will occur. — Wallace, "Zoologist." 



Abundance of Insect Life in the Tropics. — 

 When we consider that an ardent and most inde- 

 fatigable entomologist after spending eleven years 

 in one region, the valley of the Amazons, devoting 

 his whole time and energy to searching after 

 butterflies, yet finds new species turning up in al- 

 most unabated profusion, and that every little 

 district visited, though but a few miles distant from 

 the last, has its own peculiar though allied kinds — 

 we may form some idea of the vast variety and 

 abundance of unknown insects which the almost 

 boundless forests of South America have yet to 

 yield to scientific enterprise ! — P. H. Gosse, 

 "Romance of Natural History." 



Great Bustard. — As this bird, once so com- 

 mon on Salisbury Plain, is never seen there now but 

 as a rare visitor, it is worthy of record that in 

 January last three were seen on Maddington Manor 

 Farm, one of which was shot, and has been pre- 

 sented to the Salisbury South Wilts Museum. It 

 is a female, weight only 7? pounds, and measures 

 3] inches from the beak to the end of the tail, and 

 62 inches from tip to tip of the wings. It is re- 

 ported that four bustards have been shot recently 

 in Cornwall, and others seen in Dorsetshire. Again, 

 in this month (February), two more were seen at 

 Berwick St. James, Wilts, one of which was shot 

 with a bullet. It is a cock bird, length 40 inches, 

 from beak to end of tail ; spread of wing from tip to 

 tip, 7 feet ; weight about 15 pounds. This account 

 is taken from The Salisbury Journal, 1871. — W. S. 



{The Zoologist for February contains some in- 

 teresting correspondence on the recent occurrence 

 of the Bustard in this country, which our reader? 

 should consult.— Ed. S.-G.] 



Pomarine Skua. — Some readers of Science- 

 Gossip would be interested to know that a Poma- 

 rine Skua was shot at Harwich last week ; it was 

 an adult bird, and had a beautiful plumage. It is 

 many years since one was killed about here.— James 

 Mash, jun. 



