HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



263 



escape the detection of his prying. Both the lady 

 and myself well knew the larvae from description 

 and drawings. I may add we became well ac- 

 quainted with it in Ceylon subsequently ; also that 

 it is found at the Cape of Good Hope. — E. L. 

 Layard, 



Small Eggar.— It may interest Mr. Henderson, 

 of Reading, to know that the experiences of a 

 brother lepidopterist this year, in the rearing of the 

 Small Eggar, have resembled his own. I took a 

 large colony of the larvae from a thorn in the early 

 summer. They were quite young, and fed and pros- 

 pered in the most hopeful manner up to the last 

 moult ; then, one by one, they became flaccid and 

 thin, anddied, generally collapsing in the middle, 

 and hanging across a twig of the food-plant. I can- 

 not tell whether any passed into the pupa state, 

 unobserved by me, as my breeding-cage is a large 

 one, and, in the season, occupied by a great number 

 of larvae, and large branches of various foliage; but 

 my fear is that I am not destined to be the happy 

 possessor of Eriogaster lanestris from this gathering. 

 I left at least a third of the colony in their natural 

 habitat, so I have the satisfaction of feeling that I 

 have not exterminated a whole brood. — H. G. W. 

 Aubrey. 



Fox-moth LakVjE {Bombyx rubi). — Erom infor- 

 mation received, I visited Mablethorpe, on the East 

 Lincolnshire coast, to see (as my friend said) the 

 caterpillars. I must say I never saw such a sight ; 

 although I have been a collector and breeder for a 

 long time, I have never found one of the Fox larvae 

 in thispart of Lincolnshire before. I found them feed- 

 ing in thousands on the sea-buckthorn or common 

 sallow-thorn (Hippophde rhamnoides), a shrub grow- 

 ing in patches very plentifully on the sea-hills. I also 

 find this (to me) extraordinary circumstance is not 

 confined to Mablethorpe. I found them very plenti- 

 fully at Sutton, Huttoft, and Chapel, two, four, and 

 seven miles distant. I have made every inquiry of 

 the natives, but cannot find any one who ever saw 

 them before. The food -plant seems (to me) worthy 

 of consideration. I have never heard of this species 

 feeding on the sea-buckthorn : bramble is generally 

 described as its food-plant. This also grows very 

 plentifully on the sea-hills, but not one larva could 

 I find on the bramble. I collected about 600, and 

 have them now (Oct. 3), feeding. After? allowing 

 the sea-buckthorn to get stale, I gave them fresh 

 bramble and sallow: a few took to the sallow, but 

 less to the bramble. Again giving them the sea- 

 buckthorn, they at once left the other food. This 

 being a hibernating species, I shall be very glad 

 to hear|from any collector on the best manner of 

 treatment. — R. Garfit, Market Square, Alford, Lin- 

 colnshire. 



Woodlark (p. 233). — With reference to an 

 article, by Mr. Drew, on this bird, I am pleased to 

 say that it is by no means uncommon in this part 

 of Hampshire. — /. A., Jim., Alresford. 



The Clifden Nonpareil (Catocala fraxini) . — 

 This beautiful moth being a rare British species, I 

 thought it would not be uninteresting to many 

 readers of the Science-Gossip to know that a very 

 fine specimen of it had been captured in this part of 

 Lincolnshire. A friend of mine, who had the plea- 

 sure of capturing this gem (being no entomologist), 

 sent it to me on September 17 (at the same time 

 asking if it was any use), with the following remarks: 



" I was standing yesterday in the Gas-house yard, 

 Hodgethorpe (7 miles from here), when this moth 

 dropped from a building; it was very weak, and could 

 not fly. I took it up by its legs ; it appeared to gather 

 strength quickly : I conclude it had just come out 

 of its shell." — 72. Garfit, Market Square, Alford, 

 Lincolnshire. 



Bath WniTE. — It may interest some of your 

 entomological readers to hear that a very fair speci- 

 men of the Bath White (Pieris daplidice) was 

 caught on Eriday last in a field at the end of the 

 " Lias " at Folkestone. The lucky captor was, as 

 usual, a young and inexperienced collector, who 

 mistook it at first for an ordinary small garden- 

 white. The specimen is now in my brother's col- 

 lection. — Jacob John Jonas, Sept. 5, 1871. 



British Tortoises.— In the autumn of 1862 the 

 female of a pair of tortoises, kept in the garden of 

 Wm. Williams, Esq., of Tregullow, Cornwall, was 

 observed by the gardener laying some eggs in the 

 border'of one of the paths ; he removed them in 

 a^fiowerpot to the hothouse, where, in time, two 

 minute tortoises were hatched. About the same 

 time the following year one more was reared, the 

 previous two at that time being active and healthy. 

 — U. Budge. 



Squirrels. — As a lover of squirrels, there is a 

 point I should very much like to see cleared up, 

 but which has not been alluded to by any of your 

 correspondents who have recently written about 

 these interesting rodents. Is it a fact that the 

 squirrel nibbles off the young shoots of pines and firs 

 to such an extent as to strew the ground ? This is 

 the reason I have frequently heard given for the order 

 for their extermination ; and if the charge is correct, 

 it appears to me to be a much more serious one 

 than the occasional taking of eggs, or even slaughter 

 of small birds.— W. E. L. 



Canine Predilection tor Fruit. — We have a 

 little terrier which is remarkable for a very bad 

 temper and a great liking for all kinds of fruit, 

 but especially gooseberries and nuts. She will go 

 to a gooseberry-bush, pick the ripe fruit, suck 

 them, and reject the skins ; she will also search 

 under the nut-trees for any fallen clusters, free the 

 nuts from their husks, crack them with her teeth, 

 and extract and eat the kernels. — W. M. A. W. 



NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUBS. 



Belfast Naturalists ' Field Club.— William 

 Gray, 6, Mount Charles, Belfast ; Hugh Robinson, 

 3, Donegall Street, Belfast, Honorary Secretaries. 



Peterborough Natueal History Society. — 

 Secretary, Mr. H. English, Palmerston Road, Wood- 

 stone, Peterborough. 



Birmingham Naturalists' Field Club. — 

 Alfred Shrive, 66, New Summer-street, Birming- 

 ham, Honorary Secretary. 



Liverpool Naturalists' Field Club. — Rev. 

 W. Banister, B.A., Royal Institution, Liverpool, 

 Honorary Secretary. 



Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club— Arthur 

 Thompson, St. Nicholas Street, Hereford, Assistant 

 Secretary. 



