HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



225 



The nearest relative of the Echidna is an animal 

 very little like it in outward aspect, but even more 

 remarkable in habit aud appearance. This is the 

 Water-mole of the colonists, and the Mallangong 

 of the natives of Australia, but dubbed by Blumen- 

 bach with the lengthy title of Ornithorhynchus 

 paradoxus ; aud a veritable paradox it is, with its 

 webbed feet and duck's bill. It is a shy, harmless 

 creature, living on the banks of ponds and rivers 

 (in South-eastern Australia), in which it excavates 

 long galleries ramifying widely. Its food consists 

 mainly, though not exclusively, of aquatic insects, 

 very small shellfish, &c. As in the case of Echidna, 

 the contents of the stomach are always mingled 

 with foreign matter, such as mud and gravel, 

 " which latter may be required to aid digestion." 

 (Proc. of Zuol. Soc, i. 229.) Like the ducks, whose 

 beak they bear, the Ornithorhynchi obtain the 

 greater part of their food by routing in the mud. 



Itcheu Abbas. 



W. W. Spicer. 



THE GOAT-MOTH. 



TN the autumn of the year 1827 the larvae of the 

 -■- Goat-moth abounded beyond any customary 

 proportion, aud we could commonly see the traces 

 made by these creatures in the dust. They had 

 apparently fed during the summer in the earth, and 

 were now proceeding in search of a retreat during 

 winter to some old hedgerow-tree, a part to repose, 

 and those which approached maturity to abrade the 

 softer wood, and form their cases preparatory to 

 changing to a final perfect state in the spring. At 

 times we observed them coursing along our paths 

 with great strength and activity; and when not 

 seen, that peculiar subtle smell which proceeds 

 from them, and has been thought to resemble that 

 of the Goat, was perceptible in all our walks. The 

 object and seat of this odour seems not well under- 

 stood. Some have conjectured it to proceed from 

 a fluid evacuated from the mouth, and discharged to 

 soften the wood in which they burrow. But it 

 seems inconsistent with any probability that this 

 creature, which is furnished with such very powerful 

 mandibles, should be gifted with an auxiliary aid to 

 accomplish its object, while of the many insects 

 which perforate timber, most of them with inferior 

 means, no other possesses an equivalent agent to 

 facilitate its labours ; for not one of them, so far as 

 we know, is so supplied. Besides, if such were the 

 purpose, the discharge would be made only when 

 required, and thus this unpleasant odour would not 

 be always perceptible. The strength of their jaws 

 is so great that they will very soon destroy any 

 common chip-box in which the animal may be placed, 

 by abrading the edges to effect its escape. With 

 us they chiefly inhabit the ash ; and we very com- 

 monly see, at the roots of our aged trees, the frag- 



ments removed by them in forming their passages. 

 In breaking up the decayed pollards, we not un- 

 usually And the grub in all the stages of its growth > 

 but more generally observe them without inhabitants 

 yet perforated with paths large enough to admit the 

 finger. I suspect that these," auger worms" are 

 the primary cause of the decay of the tree ; having 

 often observed their perforations, aud found them 

 both large and small in the solid spur or root of the 

 tree, when the upper portion, having been bored and 

 in a state of decline, is abandoned by them. Those 

 that are full-fed appear to form their cases in that 

 part which has lost coherency, while the younger 

 and imperfect creatures mine their way and obtain 

 nutriment in the solid timber ; thus killing the tree 

 by inches, when rain and moisture find lodgment and 

 complete the dissolution. One year's preparation 

 is the period usually assigned to the larva? of most 

 insects before they arrive at their perfect state ; but 

 by the Goat-moth three years are required before it 

 attains its winged state from the egg. Consequently, 

 for the larger portion of its life it is occupied in 

 these destructive operations; and thus this creature 

 becomes a very powerful agent in reducing these 

 Titans of the vegetable world, crumbling them away 

 to their original dust. 



All the larva? which I have observed in the colder 

 portions of the year were hard, stiff, and torpid, 

 but soon became relaxed and animated by the 

 warmth of the hand. Thus they probably remain 

 quiet during the winter months, but revive in spring, 

 and recommence their ravages in the tree. 



The caterpillar of this moth I believe to be the 

 largest of any of the British Lepidoptera, and 

 when full-fed exceeds in size that of the Death's- 

 head Sphinx. To those who dislike the appearance 

 of things of this nature it is particularly disgusting, 

 not only from its magnitude and smell, but from its 

 colour, which is a lurid red, so compounded with a 

 dingy yellow as to give it a lividness of look, con- 

 veying the idea of something raw. Common as the 

 grub is in some years, I have seldom been able to 

 obtain the moth without the often tedious process 

 of feeding the larvae and waiting for its change. — 

 Journal of a Naturalist. 



NEW BOOKS. 



Modern Scepticism.*— Scepticism is one of the 

 decided tendencies of the age, not theological 

 scepticism merely, for that is only one phase of the 

 same spirit, but universal scepticism. It pervades 

 all ranks of life, more or less ; and the evidence is 

 very strong that it is at work as much amongst 

 theologians themselves as outside their circle. 



* " Modern Scepticism : a Course of Lectures delivered at 

 the request of the Christian Evidence Society." London : 

 Hodder & Stoughton. 



