IS 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE. GOSSIP. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Parasite on tee Common House-fly. — Pro- 

 fessor Leidy recently stated that in examining vari- 

 ous common animals of our household, he found a 

 thread-worm infesting the house-fly. The worm is 

 from a line to the tenth of an inch in length, and 

 lives in the proboscis of the fly. It was found in 

 numbers from one to three in about one fly in five. 

 This parasite was first discovered by Mr. H. J. 

 Carter, the well-known naturalist, in the house-fly of 

 India. Mr. Carter described it under the name of 

 Filaria muscte, and suggested that it might he the 

 source of the Guinea-worm (Filaria medinensis) in 

 man. Mr. Carter states that he found from two to 

 twenty of the worms in one fly of three. Dr. Diesiug 

 has referred the parasite to a new genus with the 

 name of Habronema nmscce. The singular position 

 in which the worm lives suggests that there are 

 many unsuspected places we may have to search in 

 to find the parents or offspring of our own parasites. 



Mimicry. — At a recent meeting of the Entomo- 

 logical Society of London, Mr. Darwin made a com- 

 munication respecting the larvae of Papilio nineus, 

 and especially on the colour of the pupa? in connec- 

 tion with that of the surroundings of its place of 

 attachment, according to the observations of Mr. 

 Barber in South Africa, who hinted that there 

 might be photographic influences at work. Mr. 

 Meldola stated that no known substance perma- 

 nently retained the colour reflected on it by adjacent 

 objects ; and in reply to remarks made by Mr. 

 McLachlan on the fact that flower-feeding larva? 

 often assume, in the same species, the colour of 

 their food, said that this might, perhaps, be caused 

 by the colouring matter of the flower being assimi- 

 lated in an unaltered condition by the larva?. 



Red Blood-Corpuscles of the Hippopota- 

 mus, Walrus, and Eared Seal. — Measurements 

 of these corpuscles were given by Professor 

 Gulliver at a late meeting of the Zoological Society. 

 They are smaller in the Hippopotamus than in man, 

 and larger in the Eared Seal {Otaria), and in the 

 Walrus (Trichecus), than in the human subject. The 

 largest apyrenasmatous or mammalian corpuscles 

 hitherto known belong to the Elephants, the Great 

 Anteater, and the Aardvak; and now it appears that 

 the Walrus has corpuscles of similar magnitude. 

 No British mammal has the corpuscles so large as 

 those of man. 



The late British Association Meetixg. — A 

 meeting of the local committee in connection with 

 the recent meeting of the British Association was 

 held at Belfast, on Saturday, the 5th of December. 

 The expense incurred had been about £1,800, leav- 

 ing a surplus of more than £500, which the execu- 

 tive committee recommended should be divided 

 among various local institutions. 



So-called Golden Eagle at Dare. — As I 

 was in the neighbourhood of Dare on the 2nd of 

 November, I wrote to ask Mr. Snow if he would 

 allow me to see his Eagle, which has been so often 

 mentioned in Science-Gossip. Although he was 

 not at home, he very kindly allowed me to see the 

 eagle. It is a magnificent bird, but I am sorry to 

 say undoubtedly a young white-tailed eagle — Sea 

 Eagle of Bewick. If Mr. Smyth, who has a note on 

 this bird in the September number of Science- 

 Gossip, will only examine the bird (he does not 

 appear to have seen it himself), he will find the 

 tarsus bare of feathers. This alone is sufficient to 

 distinguish it from the Golden Eagle, in which bird 

 the tarsus is feathered to the junction of the toes. 

 This, which is very like one of the distinctions be- 

 tween the common and rough-legged Bazzard, is a 

 good distinction, though not the only one between 

 the Golden and White-tailed Eagle at all ages. I 

 am very sorry Mr. Snow's eagle does not turn out 

 to be a golden eagle, as I do not believe there is 

 an authentic instance of the occurrence of the Golden 

 Eagle in any of the four western counties, and had 

 this bird proved to be one, it would have been o 1 

 great interest. — Cecil Smith. 



Fishes of the Algerian Sahara. — M Gervais 

 has recently made a communication respecting the 

 above subject, in which he states that the genus of 

 fishes known as Coptodon, which has been united 

 with marine species, is known to live in Senegal, 

 Mozambique, as well as in the river Nile. There- 

 fore Dr. Tristram's opinion that the above fish may 

 be regarded as a last living vestige of the fauna 

 which peopled the Saharian sea during the Tertiary 

 epoch, is not correct. M. Gervais thinks that the 

 essentially fluviatile character of Coptodon Bolti 

 is opposed to this opinion, and indicates that this 

 is also the case with the Cyprinodon, which is like- 

 wise ejected by the artesian waters of the Sahara 

 under the same conditions. The Cypri/iodons, like 

 the Bolti, are strangers to the sea, and peculiar to 

 fresh water. This is what is ascertained, whether 

 we observe these fishes in Algeria, Portugal, Spain, 

 Syria, Egypt, or even in America. All the fossil 

 cyprinodonts known have been found buried in 

 lacustrine formations, at whatever epoch of the 

 Tertiary period they may have lived. In M. Gervais' 

 opinion, this universal fact negatives Dr. Tristram's 

 theory that the above fishes are derived from a sea 

 stretching beneath the Algerian Sahara. 



BOTANY. 



Bare Plants at Castle Eden. — Having read 

 in Science-Gossip various articles about the rare 

 plants, particularly of the Cypripedium Calceolus, 

 growing in the above place, the writer with three of 

 his friends paid a visit to the place. Having made 



