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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



red, disappeared very fast. Going out at night, I 

 found many rats were busy with my property ; and, 

 on being disturbed, most of them descended by one 

 particular vine-stem, and dived into a hole, which 

 was near. On the following night, 1 armed myself 

 with a dark lantern and walking-stick, and stood 

 by the above-named stem, the lantern throwing a 

 strong light upon it, I being in the shade. An 

 assistant drove them for me, when they tried the 

 favourite means of descent. 1 killed five with my 

 stick ; others managing, after being struck, to reach 

 the hole, probably to die. Several men beiug em- 

 ployed in gathering grapes, one of them found a 

 deserted blackbird's nest full of small rats, which 

 had probably taken up a temporary abode there, to 

 be near their feeding-ground. The rats scampered 

 off, springing from vines to trees, and from branch 

 to branch, with such celerity, that the men de- 

 scribed it as flying ; and though, at least, four men 

 joined in the chase, not one rat was killed out of 

 six or seven. Hearing a sparrow scream one night, 

 I saw, by the help of my lantern, that a rat had 

 seized a cock-sparrow in a tree, and was holding 

 him in his mouth. He jumped from branch to 

 branch, attempting to gain the trunk of the tree, 

 to make off; but being unable to effect this, as I 

 was too near, and being alarmed for his own safety, 

 he let the bird go, which, probably injured by the 

 rat's teeth, fluttered to a very short distance to 

 where a cat sat and watched proceedings, having 

 no doubt been attracted, like myself, by his screams. 

 Tabby immediately picked up her bird, and disap- 

 peared down the garden. — G. S. 



"Cyrena fltjminalis." — As this is the most 

 plentiful fossil shell in the deposits at Erith, con- 

 taining land and freshwater shells, mostly of species 

 now inhabiting the neighbourhood, it seems 

 curious, out of all the numbers met with in several 

 visits to the brick-pits, that I never found a specimen 

 having both valves united. Examples of Cyclas, 

 Piscilium, Unto, and Auodou, with the valves joined, 

 are pretty frequent in the sand strata. I should 

 like to have a recent specimen of Cyrena to examine 

 and compare with the fossils. I have plenty of the 

 latter to spare, and would send some for a recent 

 shell of the species, or to any one who wished for 

 them. — Harry Leslie, 6, Lower Moira Place, 

 Southampton. 



Gnats.—" S. S.," in his communication on page 

 109, on " Gnats " {Culex pipiens), throws doubt on 

 lleaumer's statement that the lower lip or sheath is 

 bent like a bow, when the proboscis pierces the 

 skin. Having had eight years' acquaintance with 

 mosquitoes in their Paradise in the Hudson's Bay 

 territory, and having often watched the process on 

 my own hand, let me describe it. Their attention 

 need not be courted. On the " Barren Grounds " 

 of the Arctic Sea, they sweep down upon the frantic 



traveller in clouds like smoke. No particular spot 

 is chosen : he is covered and pierced at all points. 

 Blacks are, I think, the most poisonous. There are 

 "large browns," " small browns," "greys," "grey 

 and brown striped" and others, as we say, too 

 numerous to mention. But under more favourable 

 circumstances than this, let us sit quietly and hold 

 the back of the left hand up to the level of the face, 

 keeping the right for its accustomed duty of sweep- 

 ing the face and neck, and wrapping any other part 

 of the body. A "lady" soon alights and com- 

 mences immediately to probe the ground. A tender 

 part being found, the proboscis is rested upon it, 

 while the legs are planted firmly and wide apart. 

 Then the insertion is made by an oscillating motion 

 of the head, gradually at first ; but when half the 

 length of the proboscis has entered, the rest soon 

 disappears, and when on a fleshy part rigid up to the 

 base. This is only for a moment; it is immediately 

 withdrawn about the third of its length; and the 

 creature is then seen to be tilling with blood. 

 During this time the sheath is bent bade under the 

 head and breast like an elbow, so that at the momen- 

 tary insertion of the whole length of the proboscis, 

 the two ends do almost meet. The insect may 

 at this time be quietly picked off the hand by the 

 wings, as it canuot extricate itself in a moment. 

 This is the cause, I think, of the extreme irrita- 

 tion of the puncture on new-comers into the 

 country. They rub and slap the insect off 

 hastily, causing it to leave the proboscis in the 

 wound. Ear more formidable except in point of 

 numbers are the Tabauidse : their bite is like the 

 plunge of a lancet, producing immediately a drop of 

 blood, and the appearance as if a piece of flesh had 

 been taken out. I have not seen Reaumer's de- 

 scription of the above process, so as independent 

 testimony it may be interesting to your correspon- 

 dent— T. T. S., Thruxton, Hereford. 



Tomtit's Nest. — One afternoon last April, 

 whilst sitting in the window of a room in the hotel 

 near the Sunningdale railway station, which over- 

 looked the garden, my attention was directed to a 

 vase, about 3 ft. high, with a long narrow neck, at 

 the side of one of the paths, in which a pair of tom- 

 tits were building their nest. I was told that 

 the birds hud built and reared their family in it 

 two years following. Last year the position of the 

 vase was altered, but evidently the change is not 

 disapproved of by the birds. Near the bottom of the 

 vase, in the side, is a small hole just large enough 

 for tkel)irds to enter and leave by, when the top of 

 it is covered over, as it is sometimes during rainy 

 weather by the daughters of the landlord, with whom 

 the birds are great favourites. — H. Budge. 



Cats. — A correspondent of the Echo estimates 

 the number of cats in the British isles at four 

 millions. 



