HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



237 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Bait for Soles.— Can any of your readers tell 

 what bait soles will take ? I often fish where soles 

 are plentiful ; but though we take almost all other 

 kinds of fish found near the coast, we never catch 

 soles ; and yet if we trawl over the same ground 

 with a net, we catch plenty. The baits used are 

 generally sand-eels, or the worms found in the sand- 

 banks when the tide is out.— C. L. J. 



Is it the Squirrel ?— Is it not a pity to pro- 

 mulgate against one of our most beautiful little 

 animals so serious a charge, upon evidence so un- 

 substantial as that of your correspondent under 

 the signature of Barbara Wallace Pyl'e, p. 1S9, 

 No. 80, August, 1871 ? The lady herself does not 

 profess to have had personal_ proof, or even to have 

 heard before of the damaging accusation, only a 

 gentleman remarkable for susceptibility for the 

 feelings of all animal life, those of the female of his 

 own species apparently excepted, brought to her 

 feet a bleeding misshapen mass, "the exquisite 

 native of our woods," with whose activity and 

 agility she was at the very moment enraptured, ex- 

 claiming, " I am sorry you have shown it me ; the 

 squirrels have eaten so many of my pheasants' 

 eggs ;" making her the betrayer to death of the 

 object of her admiration. We hear of no ocular or 

 circumstantial evidence the gentleman had experi- 

 enced as to the fact ; and the keepers seem to be 

 in no better case. "The eggs suffered very much 

 from their depredations last spring, and the keepers 

 had great trouble with them" (the squirrels). A 

 ghost story would not go down upon such evidence 

 as this. Look at the chain. A lady writes: "A 

 ghost has been at mischief; she saw it? No; a 

 gentleman told her. Did he see it at work ? No ; 

 the gamekeepers told him. Did the_ gamekeepers 

 witness this act ? No ; but depredations were fre- 

 quent; so it must be the ghost." With all our social 

 science, anomalies will cling to the world ; commo- 

 dities are purchasable, which nobody ever thinks 

 of selling. The old hedgehog is dead, nailed to 

 a barn, years ago, among other "vermin," still 

 depredations go on, and there is nothing now left 

 but the squirrel. It may be asked, if the Thrush 

 can hold its own against the Squirrel, what were 

 Mr. and Mrs. Pheasant (one blow from whose beaks 

 could break a squirrel's back) about to permit 

 these depredations ?— George Cox. 



British Jelly Pishes.—" W. B. L." wants to 

 know of some manual containing descriptions of all 

 the British species. 



The Small Eggar (JEriogaster lanestris). — In 

 accordance with my promise in the September 

 number, I now relate the fate of my larvae of the 

 above moth, this season. The brood, forty-seven 

 in number, were found on June 22nd and taken 

 home the following day. They were nearly all full- 

 grown, and, with the exception of four, had changed 

 skins for the last time, and were in the rich brown 

 and golden substance which makes these caterpillars 

 so conspicuous when feeding gregariously on the 

 hedgerow. I dispersed them in three separate 

 breeding-cages, each on a different principle, and 

 for a few days all went well. However, on July 

 6th one died ; and on the next day three more. In 

 this manner they dropped off, a few each day, until 

 the 27th, when all that remained were two sickly 

 larvae and three cocoons. The latter I opened a 



few days ago and found they were but coffins ; for 

 the larvae inside were defunct. The disease is cer- 

 tainly not the ravages of true ichneumons, for I 

 could not find traces of them in the several larva; I 

 dissected ; even when placed under a low power of 

 a microscope and carefully examined, no parasites 

 were visible. The intestines were shrunk and dried 

 up in some instances, but not destroyed in any of 

 the larvae. I agree with Mr. Clifford in thinking 

 it must be a disease which thins down this interest- 

 ing species; but although it is a delicate larva, I 

 see no reason for its rapid destruction in captivity, 

 and the cause of [the singular mortality has yet to 

 be discovered. — /. Henderson, Reading. 



Protective R.esemblance. — Some birds are 

 screened from the pursuit of their enemies by an 

 arrangement of colours happily assimilated to the 

 places which they most frequent, and where they 

 find either food or repose. Thus the Wryneck is 

 scarcely to be distinguished from the bark of the 

 tree on which it feeds ; or the Snipe from the 

 moist and mossy ground by the springs of water 

 which it frequents ; the Great Plover finds its chief 

 security in stony places, to which its colours are 

 so nicely adapted that the most exact observer may 

 be very easily deceived. The attentive ornithologist 

 will not fail to discover numerous instances of this 

 kind, such as the Partridge, Plover, Quail, &c— Be- 

 icick, " Introd. British Birds." 



Kestrel's Egg.— On attempting to wipe off 

 some dirt from the egg of a kestrel (Falco thpmn- 

 culus) which recently came into my possession, I 

 found that the colour came off. The Rev. P. O. 

 Morris mentions a similar instance in his " Nests 

 and Eggs of British Birds," and I am also told that 

 the same thing occurs with regard to the Hobby 

 {Falco sublnteus). Is this generally the case? — 

 C. II. G. 



Goldfish. — In the beginning of June last I pur- 

 chased two small goldfish, and soon after placing 

 them in a globe, containing not more than one gal- 

 lon of water and a fine healthy plant of the Valis- 

 neria spiralis, I observed that one of the fish had 

 lost quite half the caudal or tail-fin; this has since 

 grown, and the tail is now quite perfect. The water 

 has not been changed since June. — -/. B. 



Anecdotes twice told. — As " Helen E. Wat- 

 ney " affixed her name to the " anecdotes " in 

 "Country Life," as well as to those in Science- 

 Gossip, she could scarcely have supposed that 

 " J. J." intended to accuse her of " cribbing." If 

 she will refer to the editorial note on p. 81 of 

 Science-Gossip for 1S65, she will see the editor's 

 objection to "crambe repetita." There are other 

 discrepancies in the two versions of the anecdotes 

 which it is not necessary to particularize. A re- 

 ference to Science-Gossip, 1867, p. 179, and 

 " Country Life," 186S, p. 237, will show a second, 

 though less obvious, case of "twice-cooked cabbage." 

 —J.J. 



PelopyEtjs, or Sand-wasp.— An American genus 

 (Pelopaeus) is called the Dauber, from its singular 

 habit of placing its nest of mud against the walls 

 and ceilings in the interior of houses. When finished 

 these nests look like handfuls of clay which have 

 been thrown up at random and adhered ; but in- 

 wardly they contain very smooth and regular cells, 

 each containing a grub and a dozen or more of 

 spiders. The construction of these nests, which we 



