116 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[May 1,1860. 



Dipper Walking under. Water. — Greater sur- 

 prise could not be felt by Geo. P. Smith, Durham, 

 at seeing that Mr. J. K. Lord believed in what he 

 (Mr. Smith) thought was an exploded doctrine, than 

 I did at learning from a paragraph in the " Notes and 

 Queries" of Science Gossip that Mr. Smith thought 

 the doctrine exploded. It never occurred to me that 

 there could be any doubt about a fact with which I 

 have been familiar for years, and which must have 

 come under the frequent observation of anglers in 

 this neighbourhood. I have seen the " Dipper " 

 disappear under water at one place, and, after 

 several seconds had elapsed, reappear at another. I 

 have seen them fly into broken rippling water, and, 

 with the water streaming over them, walk against 

 the current to a projecting stone. A friend and I 

 were once rambling along the banks of the river 

 Irvine, Ayrshire, and we saw a " water-pipet " in the 

 stream, dipping, as its manner is, in search of 

 food. It disappeared under water frequently. 

 My friend shot it, and it floated lightly on the sur- 

 face of the water. With the branch of a tree I 

 intercepted the dead bird as it floated down stream, 

 and on inspection 1 found its plumage quite dry. 

 In my opinion its strong, sharp-nailed feet are the 

 not " inherent," but adherent power by means of 

 which it is enabled to walk at the bottom of the 

 water. The bird to which I refer in these remarks 

 is the water-ousel ( Cinclus aquations). — Will. 

 Mcllvraith, Dumfries, N.B. 



Nest of the Mason Wasp. — The article in the 

 April number on the "Progress of a Wasp's Nest," 

 reminded me of the nest of the mason wasp, which in 

 India is a very familiar object at one season of the 

 year, and some account of which may not be unin- 

 teresting to some of the readers of this magazine. 

 I do not know much of the insect itself, and shall 

 therefore content myself with a description of its nest. 

 Though I was but young when I left India, some 

 years ago, I can well remember the interest with 

 which I used to M'atch one of these elegantly-shaped 

 insects while busily employed in building its nest. 

 It usually selected some corner for this purpose, 

 not necessarily secluded, as I have frequently seen 

 these nests in the corner of a window-pane. The 

 nest was composed of moistened earth, which the 

 wasp brought to the spot in balls of about -g-tli of 

 an inch in diameter. I am sorry that I never 

 watched closely enough to' find out how the material 

 was prepared and built up. I only know that the 

 wasp was very careful, going over its work again 

 and again, making both the inner and outer surfaces 

 quite smooth and regular. In a few hours the nest was 

 completed, and presented the appearance of a ball of 

 clay rather smaller than a walnut — with a hole left in 

 the middle — perfectly round, and just large enough 

 to admit the body of the insect. The next care of 

 the mother-wasp was to provide for the wants of 



the future grub, and for this purpose it used to 

 store up in the nest three or four caterpillars, each 

 about three-quarters of an inch in length, which, in 

 all the nests I have examined, were of one species : 

 this may have been owing to the fact that there was 

 in my father's garden a large creeper on which this 

 particular caterpillar abounded. These caterpillars 

 were not killed, for they moved if touched, yet if 

 released they made no attempt to escape, but lay as 

 if benumbed. Can any of the readers of Science 

 Gossip explain this ? May it have been the result 

 of a sting in a non-vital part ? As soon as the egg 

 was deposited, the wasp closed the entrance to the 

 nest and proceeded to build another ; and where 

 she has not been disturbed I have seen three and 

 four of these nests in a row. I can say as little 

 about the young wasp as about the old one, since 

 every nest found in the house was destroyed 

 as soon as discovered ; and it never occurred to me 

 then to try if the grub could not be reared without 

 a nest— M. T. 



Look to your Corks.— Mr. J. J. Weir exhibited 

 some larvae at a recent meeting of the Entomological 

 Society, which he believed to be only the common 

 meal-worm {Tenebrio), but which had been found in 

 the corks of port wine. Considerable damage had 

 been done, since they ate quite through the cork 

 and allowed the wine to escape. He suggested the 

 use of bran instead of sawdust, as the probable 

 cause of their incursion into the cellar. Mr. W. W. 

 Saunders related an instance of a number of larva 

 of Dermestes tarda rius, which were brought into the 

 docks with a cargo of skins, effecting an entry into 

 an adjoining warehouse, where they perforated and 

 rendered entirely useless a quantity of manufactured 

 corks. — The Athaeneum. 



Summer Migrants. — Two Sand-Martins were 

 seen flying about just below Caversham Bridge, near 

 Reading, on April 1st— (C. W. W.) The Chimney- 

 Swallow was first seen at Linton-on-Ouse, ten miles 

 north of York, on the 12th ; two more on the 13th aud 

 14th ; aud a flock of twenty were flying about the vil- 

 lage on the 15th. — (/. R.) Sand-Martins were nu- 

 merous at Devizes on the 14th, and Swallows on the 

 16th— (/. /. F.) In Merionethshire, North Wales, 

 j Swallows were first seen on the 14h.— (W. P.) The 

 Cuckoo was heard at High Wycombe on the 7th of 

 April (B.) ; at Lavington, near Devizes, on the 8th 

 (J. ./. F.) ; Itchen Abbas, Hants, on the 12th 

 (W. W.S) Enfield Chase, on the 13th (J. B.) ; and 

 Hampstead Heath, Middlesex, on the 14th (C). The 

 Redstart was observed at Linton-on-Ouse, near York, 

 on the 14th, whereas it was not noticed there last 

 year until the 4th of May {J. R.) ; and at Llander- 

 fel, in Merionethshire, also on the 14th. — (W. P.) 

 The Stonechat was noted at the latter locality on 

 the 9th of April {W. P.) ; and the Chiff-chaff, near 

 Devizes, on the 15th. — (.7. J. F.) 



