HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



165 



NOTES AND QUE E IBS. 



The Smalt, Eggar (TSriogaster lanestris). — 

 Several solutions to the question put by Mr. 

 Binnie in the April number of Science-Gossip 

 (viz., " Are not, instances of such great retardation 

 unusual ? ") [i.e. of the emergence of imagos of the 

 above moth] appear in your last issue. I may, 

 from my own experience, reiterate the words of 

 Mr. Livett, on p. 116, viz., "Certainly not. in this 

 peculiar species." I have had numbers of the larva? 

 of this moth, and have frequently had to keep the 

 pupa? a second, and even a third, winter before 

 obtaining the nerfeet insect. Two other entomo- 

 logists, whom T could name, inform me that they 

 have met with the same disappointment ; one of 

 them — an old and experienced entomologist — tells 

 me that he has always found that when the larvae 

 are taken when very youmr, they do not attain the 

 imago state so soon. It is, T think, a well-known 

 fact, that larvse (of any kind) never thrive so well 

 in confinement as when under natural circum- 

 stances; but this delay in the development seems 

 more freonent in this particular species than in any 

 other. Why, remains still to be solved. Mr. 

 Livett's theorv seems very feasible, viz., — "That 

 as the caterpillars are produced very early in the 

 spring, a late and inclement season may destroy 

 their food-plant and themselves, in which case the 

 reserve of pupa? would prevent the total destruction 

 of the species." I must again quote the words of my 

 friend. He also savs that he has often found that 

 the larvse of the Mullein moth (C. verbasci). when 

 taken youns: and placed in confinement, do not 

 attain the perfect state the followin? year, and he 

 has often (as in the case of E. lanestris) had to keep 

 them through a second winter before obtaining 

 imagos; he consequently abstains from taking the 

 larvae (of both these soecies) until almost full-fed, 

 in which case he obtains from pupae imagos the 

 following spring. I should like also to state thatl 

 have always experienced a great "mortality" in 

 the larva; of E. lanestris ; I have always found that 

 they die off in creat numbers when almost full-fed, 

 although provided with plenty of food and abun- 

 dance of room. In 1867 I had 400 larva;, but only 

 a few reached the chrysalis state; I also had, in 

 1868, several hundred, only about half a dozen of 

 which changed to pupa?, and one of them emerged 

 in February, I860, but none have emerged since. 

 In 1S09 and 1870 I was equally unfortunate. I have 

 never found that the pupae from the double cocoons, 

 mentioned by Mr. Livett, came to perfection. I have 

 frequently found them in my breeding-cage, and a 

 friend informs me that he once had a large cocoon, 

 containing three pupae, none of which reached the 

 perfect state. I should be glad to hear the ex- 

 perience of other entomologists in the pages of this 

 work.— it. Laddiman, Norwich. 



Pansey (p. 43). — I have the following analysis of 

 fol. xli. of Bullein's " Buhvarke of Defence asrninst 

 all Sicknes, Sorues, and Woundes," &c. (1562). 

 " What is the goodnesse of paunsis, or three faces 

 in on hodde ? Some call it hartesease ; " then a 

 monkish legend as to its being called herba Trini- 

 tatis. At the end of the article it is written 

 "paunses." I may here mention that on fol. vii. 

 he says, "sorrell" is called in the north "sour 

 dockens;" on fol. xlv. he calls geranium " shep- 

 herdes nedell," and of herb Robert he says, " but 

 rather I take it to be called Rubertam a rubro 

 colore, to an herb of a red colour." On fol. xxxix. 



an amusing passage (if my memory serves me) 

 on Beeis.—R. T., M.A. 



Cleaning Skeletons.— T have been told that 

 the best way to get a small skeleton well cleaned is 

 to bury the animal, after taking off the skin, in an 

 ant-hill. I have tried this in a large hill of very 

 powerful ants, and find the thin bones eaten awav 

 so as to spoil the skeleton. Then I put a mole's 

 head into a nest of small reddish ants, and they 

 pay no attention to it. Can any one tell me 

 whether one kind of ant is better than another for 

 this purpose, and also what time of year is the 

 best ? — L. Gillson. 



Water-Snake (p. 142).— Surely the animal in- 

 tended must be a species of Gordius, otherwise 

 called a Hair-worm, some account of which will be 

 found in Science-Gossip, 1865, p. 107. The usual 

 length of the only species I know (Aquations) is 

 much less than that given; still I should imairine it 

 may vary, or these other species may exceed this in 

 size. The superstition regardins the transformation 

 of hairs into worms is very old, and has credence 

 yet in English counties as well as in Welsh ; and is 

 easily explained through the similarity of the 

 objects of it. A curious reference to an individual 

 of this kind occurs in a letter of the poet Cowper's, 

 written to his friend Hurdis, where he savs: — 

 " After a very rainy day, I saw on one of the flower 

 borders what seemed to be a lorn? hair, but it had a 

 waving, twining motion. Considering more nearly, 

 I found it alive, and endued with spontaneity, but 

 could not discover at the ends of it either head or 

 tail, or any distinction of parts. I carried it into the 

 house, when the air of a warm room dried and 

 killed it presently."—/. R. S. Clifford, 



Shower oe Insects. — A paragraph went the 

 "round of the papers" a few weeks back, to the 

 effect that a storm of insects fell in the Midland 

 Railway-station at Bath, and that a large number 

 remained on the platform, and were examined by 

 scientific men during the day. The insects are de- 

 scribed as descending in the form of a glutinous 

 drop, about the size of a large pea, and many of 

 them soon developed into a worm-like chrysalis, 

 about an inch long. The Dorset Count)/ Chronicle 

 contained this information on April 27, and the 

 following week its readers were apprised of a most 

 violent storm on the previous Saturday. "The 

 storm was accompanied by a similar phenomenon 

 to that of the previous Sunday; myriads of small 

 annelidcp, enclosed in patches of gelatinous sub- 

 stance, falling with the rain and covering the ground. 

 These have been microscopically examined, and 

 show, under a powerful lens, animals with barrel- 

 formed bodies, the motion of the viscera in which is 

 perfectly visible, with locust-shaped heads bearing 

 long antenna?, and with pectoral and caudal fin-like 

 feet. They are each an inch and a half long. 

 Scientific men pronounce them to be marine insects, 

 probably caught up into the clouds by a waterspout 

 in the Bristol Channel." A correspondent of the 

 Shepton Mallet Journal (May 5) writes : " Having 

 had my attention called to the specimens of insects 

 that fell on Saturday, I have carefully examined 

 them, and find that they are the larva? of the gnat, 

 which, by the high wind prevailing on Saturday, 

 musthave been lifted from the surface of the adjoin- 

 ing river and deposited on the platform." Can any 

 reader inform me which account is correct, as each 

 appears to me to contradict the other? — W.Mac- 

 millan, Castle Cary, Somerset. 



