Oct. 1, 1S66.] 



HAEDWICKE'S SCIENCE-G OSSIP. 



229 



bearing " button galls " (fig. 217 I). The insect 

 which causes the former of these is Cynips longi- 

 pennis, of which we give a magnified figure (fig. 218) ; 

 and the " button galls " are caused by Neurobius 

 Eeaumuri. Dr. Kirchner enumerates twelve species 

 of insects which produce galls on the leaves of 

 various kinds of oaks. 



Fig. 2 IS. Insect of Button Gall [Cynips longipennis). 



Fig 219. Section of Oak spangle, enlarged. 



Fig. 220. Tufts of hair from 

 the same, more magnified. 



Fig. 221. Section of Button 

 Gall, enlarged. 



POISON-GLANDS OF SPIDERS. 



rilHE paper by Mr. Eichard Beck is very satis- 

 ■*- factory as respects the aperture in the fang of 

 the spider, but it yet remains that a few facts should 

 be given in relation to the poison-glands. These I 

 desire to give as briefly as possible. Having killed 

 a large spider with chloroform, I left it in water for 

 seveu or eight days. This treatment usually softens 

 the outer skin of insects and causes the viscera to 

 swell, so as to burst through the outer integument, 

 aud it is in this state (perhaps) that the poison-glands 

 are most easily discovered aud traced to their points 

 of attachment. 



We have recently been in communication with a 

 gentleman who is pursuing the study of galls, and 

 hopes soon to publish an illustrated work on the 

 subject. This will supply a desideratum which has 

 long been felt, and we cordially wish him success in 

 his undertaking. If any of our correspondents 

 should meet with galls, except of the commonest 

 kinds, or possess specimens of foreigu galls (except 

 those met with in commerce), and will forward them 

 to Wilson Armistead, Esq., Virginia House, Leeds, 

 they may assist him in prosecuting his very desirable 

 work. 



The Grasshopper, — I lately kept alive for a few 

 days a large green " horsehead " grasshopper, which 

 I brought from West Wycombe, Bucks. When 

 climbing up a smooth surface, it used frequently to 

 put its fore pair of feet to its mouth, apparently to 

 facilitate the ascent by rendering them sticky. — W. 

 R. Tate, Grove Place, Denmark Rill. 



Fig. 222. Poison gland of Spider. 



I then drew the mandibles from the body, and 

 having placed them with a little water on a slide and 

 covered them with a piece of thin glass, I found that 

 upon the application of pressure, the two glands 

 shot out, and protruded from the bases of the 

 mandibles. I tore open one of the mandibles with 

 needles, so as to disturb the gland as little as pos- 

 sible. The gland then appeared as a closed sac, 

 attached by a hollow cord, about the length of the 

 gland itself, to the base of the fang, where also was 

 a large bundle of muscular fibre. The above can be 

 readily repeated by any careful operator, and the 

 result will completely verify the facts I have given. 

 —Lewis G. Mills, LL.B. 



The Pink.— Madame de Genlis tells us that it 

 was the good king Bene, of Anjou, the Henry the 

 Eourth of Provence, who first enriched the gardens 

 of Erance with the Pink, and to this day it remains 

 a favourite flower in the neighbourhood of Toulouse, 

 although it is much less frequent in the vicinity of 

 Paris than formerly.— Flora Historica. 



