Eeb. 1, 1866.] 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



45 



Gnat, and by the technical name of Psychoda phalae- 

 noides ; order Diptera; family Phlebotomidee ; and 

 although common, it is, nevertheless, like many 

 common objects, well worthy of careful scrutiny. — 

 T. P. Barkas. 



AQUARIA. 



Sticklebacks. — Some three years ago I deter- 

 mined to keep " sticklebacks" for the purpose of 

 watching their habits. Accordingly I procured five 

 or six — two males, the rest females. My aquarium 

 soon assumed a very lively appearance ; its inhabit- 

 ants seemed to form anything but a " happy 

 family." After awhile I removed all save one male 

 and one female, the latter about to spawn ; and 

 looking (as sticklebacks would say, if they could 

 speak) very interesting ; but still there was no 

 peace, the gentleman never ceased chasing the lady 

 about from one place to another ; for a few moments, 

 at times, she would manage to hide beneath a piece of 

 rock-work, but the moment the savage green-eyed 

 monster of a husband saw her, he resumed the chase; 

 perhaps it was caused by incompatibility of temper. 

 However, I found her one morning floating on the 

 top of the aquarium, all but dead ; she expired 

 shortly afterwards. I then gently pressed out the 

 " ova?," and let it fall into the aquarium ; the male 

 followed it till it reached the bottom, and then and 

 there he began to form a nest ; for days he worked 

 at it. I often assisted him by giving him little 

 pieces of broken twigs, saturated with water and 

 then pressed firmly, so that they would not float 

 again so readily to the surface ; he was unremitting 

 in his attentions, opened his mouth in the most 

 frightful way at me if I dared to look at him, and 

 seized my finger most viciously if I put it near the 

 top of the water. After a time the young fish ap- 

 peared, and proud indeed he looked as he sailed 

 about the aquarium in the midst of his yeuthful 

 progeny. Just then I had to leave my aquarium, 

 and my landlord emptied it out, thinking he was 

 doing me a great favour. However, when I re- 

 turned, I found only three small fish with their 

 father, and these three he devoured as I looked at 

 them. I suppose, during my absence they had had 

 nothing given them to eat, and this dreadful act of 

 the once tender parent was perhaps the last resource 

 to satisfy the cravings of the inner fish ; or, perhaps, 

 seeing there was nothing before the little fishes but 

 hunger and a wretched death, he compassionately 

 relieved them of all anxiety about the future by re- 

 ceiving them into the paternal mouth and digesting 

 them in the parental stomach. — W. E. T. 



Sticklebacks' Nests. — In an article on this 

 subject, in the last number of Science Gossip, it is 

 stated, as the result of some experiments, that after 

 the eggs were hatched and the young fish had be- 

 come large enough to look after themselves, the 



parent, in each case, "himself died." I have for 

 years been in the habit of taking the 15-spined 

 stickleback " Gasterosteus Spinachia," and am of 

 opinion that the utmost duration of its life is only 

 twelve months, as I never, under any circumstance, 

 found an old fish in the usual haunts after the ap- 

 pearance of the young, about the beginning of July. 

 — K E. (.¥. B.) 



Scully Axemoxes. — I must somewhat qualify my 

 statement in your last number. Two of the four 

 anemones there mentioned have turned out to be 

 specimens not of JEgeon Alfordi, but of Bunodes 

 Ballii, variety Funesta. Mr. Gosse.has settled this for 

 me in reference to one which I sent him, and another 

 of the four must be classed with it as being like it in 

 all respects. However, the remaining two I still 

 hold to be iEgeons, for in one the tentacles, though 

 grey, were very long, and flexuous like those of 

 Anthea Cere us; and in the other the tentacles were 

 green throughout, as in the first specimen of iEgeon 

 which I found here last March, and which was de- 

 scribed by Mr. Gosse in " The Annals of Natural 

 History," July 1865. I am sorry to say both the 

 green and the grey perished on their journey to the 

 wonderful tanks at Hamburg. I found another 

 jEgeon at Porth Crassa, on January 3rd. Its 

 tentacles were of a bright, satiny green. Besides 

 the more common species, the following Anemones 

 are abundant in these islands between tide-marks : — 

 Sagartia miniata, both varieties ; S. rosea ; S. 

 venusta ; S. nivea; S. sphyrodeta'; besides endless 

 varieties of Corynactis viridis. — D. P. Alfokd, 

 St. Mary's Parsonage, Isles of Scilly. 



Effects of Freezing Animals. — M. Pouchet 

 has sent a paper to the Erench Academy on the 

 effects of freezing animals. He finds that no animal 

 really frozen is susceptible of revivification, as 

 freezing disorganizes the blood. The temperature 

 at which the death of insects, grubs, and snails 

 becomes inevitable is far below the freezing point 

 (from 7° E. to — 2° F.). Animals may be sur- 

 rounded by ice without themselves being frozen, 

 unless the temperature is very low. M. Pouchet 

 states that when an animal is frozen, the capilla- 

 ries contract, so as to prevent the passage of the 

 blood, and the nuclei of the blood corpuscles escape 

 from the envelopes, and become more opaque than 

 in a normal state. — Intellectual Observer. 



Bugong. — At a recent meeting of the Entomo- 

 logical Society of London, Mr. E. Smith exhibited 

 specimens of a moth used for food by the aborigines 

 of New South "Wales, received from Dr. Bennett. 

 These moths, which are termed " Bugong " by the 

 natives, are found in large numbers, in November 

 and December, congregated on the face of granite 

 rocks, and their bodies contain a large quantity of 

 oil. They were considered to be the Agrotis spini of 

 Guenee. — Entomol. Mon. Magazine. 



