238 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



have observed with great minuteness, is performed ' 

 by the Dauber bringing little pellets of clay in her 

 mouth, about as large as peas, one after another, 

 which she spreads and arranges with her jaws. Pre- 

 viously to closing up, she lays an eg? in the bottom, 

 and places over it from twelve to eighteen spiders, 

 not killed, but rendered helpless. The grub spends 

 its life in this dark and solitary prison, and when 

 full-grown, having eaten the abdomens of all, or 

 nearly all, the spiders, forms an oval cocoon of a 

 brittle substance, and goes into pupa. The perfect 

 fly, when evolved, gnaws its way through the mud- 

 walls with its strong jaws, and for the first time 

 beholds the light. — P. H. Gosse, "Introduction to 

 Zoology." 



Cells in Coleus. — I have been examining the 

 variegated leaves of Coleus. Having removed the 

 cuticle by boiling them in potash, I found very 

 curious coloured cells in the tissue of the leaf. 

 These cells have all the appearance of unicellular 

 alga;, such as Protococcus. There is a hyaline 

 margin, and the protoplasis within is divided into 

 several, generally four, parts. They are very inter- 

 esting under a high power, and vary in shade from 

 yellow to red. Is anything known about them ? 

 Are they algse, or merely cells in a diseased state? 

 And is the variegated cuticle produced by them, or 

 are they coloured by the cuticle ?—T. Hotcse. 



Tiie Woodruff. — I was much surprised, as may 

 also be the readers of Science-Gossip, to find the 

 Woodruff {Asperula) described as a bird, thus : — 



" Hig-h soars the lark to greet the morn, 

 The woodrvff softly calls its mate." 



This couplet occurs in a piece of verse entitled 

 "The Wishing Gate," printed in London- Society, 

 p. 216. It might pass for a printer's error ; but I 

 think the author means the "ring-dove" {Colic, aha 

 palumbus), and that, missing the right name, he 

 stumbled on its synonym, "wood-pigeon," which 

 would have made his line a foot too long. He then 

 mentally substitutes "wood-dove," and conscious 

 of its not sounding quite right, he effaces the wrong 

 half of the name by substituting ruff for ring.— 

 A. II. 



A Plague of Plies. — I have omitted hitherto 

 to make more than passing allusion to the annoying 

 plague of flies which still exists in Egypt to a most 

 unp.'easant extent; but I fee! it is utterly impos- 

 sible to convey to my readers any idea of the serious 

 inconvenience which the perpetual attack of count- 

 less legions of flies can cause. It must be endured 

 to be appreciated at its real value ; and even with 

 the very vivid recollections I have of the positive 

 misery occasioned thereby, it seems to me — sitting 

 here in peace and undisturbed, as I reflect upon it— 

 almost incredible how much we were sometimes 

 worried by these most tormentiug insects. During 

 the hotter portions of our tour they abounded to 

 t hat extent, and were so persevering in their attacks, 

 as to drive us almost frantic at the irritation. Oc- 

 casionally we would start up maddened with the 

 annoyance, and make a furious onslaught with our 

 respective fly-whisks, and try to clear the cabin of 

 our tormentors; but no sooner did we sit down ex- 

 hausted and hot, than our diminutive foes appeared 

 in undiminished numbers, and returned to the charge 

 in vengeance for their slaughtered brethren. I 

 believe the Nile mud, prolific of animal as of vege- 

 table life, is the fertile bed from whence these count- 

 less mvriads spring into being. — Rev. A. C. Smith, 

 " The 'Nile and its Banks." . 



Hawks and Glass Windows.— I have known 

 one instance of a hawk following a small bird 

 through a glass window into a dwelling-house. The 

 bird (a finch) fell dead outside the window, but the 

 hawk, a larger creature, came with greater force 

 against the glass, and dashed through one of the 

 panes, was badly cut, secured, but died. I believe 

 it is by no means an uncommon thing for hawks 

 and other birds to be deceived by glass and fly vio- 

 lently against it.— II. E. W. 



Names of the Borage in Foreign Lan- 

 guages. — I am informed that this plant is quite as 

 often called borrana as borragine in Italy; and 

 again in Spain it is known as horrada as well as 

 borraja ; borretsch in German; bemagie and ber- 

 nasie by the Dutch ; whereas, if you go to Poland, 

 you will find it by the title of borate. — Helen K 

 Watney. 



OakEggar {Bombyx Querciis). — Perhaps the fol- 

 lowing notes relative to the time of appearance of 

 B. Quercus may interest, or be of use to your corre- 

 spondent Mr. Warner, and also Mr. J. Henderson. 

 I extract from my Diary the earliest dates that I 

 have taken the larva; of this moth for the last few 

 years : — This year I took from a whitethorn three 

 fine larva; on April 24th ; last year my first were 

 taken on May 15th, when I took eight almost full-fed ; 

 in 1869 I took three on April 21st ; in 1868 four on 

 April 23rd; and in 1867 two on May 16th — 

 R. L. N. 



Ragwort (p. 215). — Many thanks for calling my 

 attention to the stupid mistake I made last month 

 about this plant. Por Tussilago Farfarave&d Senecio 

 JacobcPct. — G. II. II. 



Squirrel versus Missel-Thrush, (p. 214).— The 

 Rev. J. G. Wood, in one of his interesting works 

 on natural history, says that numerous cases have 

 established the fact that the Squirrel at times takes 

 a fancy for animal food ; and that it has been 

 known to eat both eggs and young birds, and even 

 mice, killing its live game in weasel style by a bite 

 at the back of the neck — G. H. H. 



Peculiarity of a Hen Canary. — I have a two- 

 year-old hen canary, kept in solitary confinement, 

 which has, during the present summer, laid nine 

 eggs in succession, with about ten days' interval be- 

 tween each, about half of them being shell-less. 

 Instances have been recorded of hen-birds, in such 

 circumstances, dropping one or two; but I fancy 

 such a number is unusual. Perhaps some of your 

 readers may have noted a similar circumstance. — 

 J. R. S. C. 



The Orange-tip Butterfly (p. 208). — I have 

 also observed that a small proportion only of the 

 females of this species are seen on the wing; I do 

 not know whether my own estimate would be quite 

 the same as that of Mr. Henderson. I fancy, in 

 my experience, the capture of females has been in a 

 slightly larger proportion than he puts it. How- 

 ever, it suffices as to the fact ; and it has happened 

 in cases where the entomologist has netted all the 

 Whites which came within reach, to make sure that 

 none were passed by. In many instances where 

 females are taken, they are roused from the herbage 

 by the tread of the entomologist, and I suspect they 

 fly very little, unless compelled. Another thing I 

 may note,— that 1 have never seen these butterflies 

 paired ou the wing, which is a circumstance so usual 

 in other species. I have a very diminutive female 



