HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE- GOSS IP. 



257 



being specially noticed by the white streaks down 

 its tail-feathers, when it was in flight. I should be 

 glad to know if any other specimens have been shot 

 lately in that county or the neighbouring ones. — 



a w. e. 



Return of our Summer Migrants.— A cor- 

 respondent at Port Said, in Egypt, writing on the 

 9th of last month, reports the arrival in Africa of 

 many birds that have beeu spending the summer in 

 this country. "Ever since the commencement of 

 September," he says, " quail have begun to arrive 

 from Europe, and have been followed by the cuckoo, 

 nightjar, hoopoe, turtle dove, wheatear, teal, and 

 duck, while each day brings flocks of smaller birds 

 whose names it is not in my power to give. Even 

 a few swallows have already put in an appearance'; 

 but one swallow does not make a winter, as a still 

 warm sun reminds one." 



The HousE-FLY'(iV2«<?a domestica).— The familiar 

 house-fly is apt to be considered an unmitigated 

 pest. It is therefore time to call attention to some 

 recent investigations of a chemist, which go to bear 

 out the pious axiom that everything has its use. 

 This observer, noticing the movements of flies after 

 alighting, rubbing their hind feet together, their hind 

 feet and wings, and their fore feet, was led to explore 

 into the cause, and he found that the fly's wings and 

 legs, during his gyrations in the air, become coated 

 with extremely minute animalculse, which he subse- 

 quently devours. These microscopic creatures are 

 poisonous, aud abound in impure air, so that flies 

 perform a useful work in removing the seeds of 

 disease. Leanness in a fly is prima facie evidence of 

 pure air in the house, while corpulency indicates 

 foulness and bad ventilation. If these observations 

 are well founded, the housekeeper instead of killing 

 off the flies with poisonous preparations, should 

 make her premises as sweet and clean as possible, 

 and then, having protected food with wire or 

 other covers, leave the busy flies to act as airy 

 scavengers. 



Gilbert White of Selborne.— A very in- 

 teresting series of unpublished letters (ten in 

 number), from the Rev. Gilbert "White, author of 

 the "Natural History of Selborne," to Robert 

 Marsham, E.R.S., Stratton Strawless, were read by 

 the secretary of the Norfolk and Norwich Society, 

 at their last monthly meeting. The letters were 

 written between Aug. 13, 1770, and June 15, 1773. 

 The contents consist of remarks on arboriculture ; 

 remarks on the rainfall ; gossip about birds and 

 insects ; and the conformation of Mr. Marsham's 

 supposed discovery of a bird new to Britain, the 

 Wall-creeper or Spider-catcher (Certhia musaria, 

 Tichodrovia musaria) ; extracts from his brother's 

 — the Rev. Johu White, of Gibraltar, who resided 



there in 1 1756— unpublished " Natural History of 

 the Rock," in which he describes the difference 

 between the Crag Swallow and the Sand Marten ; 

 the former he names " Hirundo hyemalis," from the 

 great numbers that frequent Gibraltar in the winter 

 season. The last letter of the series is dated June 

 15, 1773, and is probably the. last he ever wrote, as 

 he survived only eleven days. It is the intention of 

 the Society to publish these interesting letters in 

 the next part of their Transactions. 



Crimson-speckled Eootman.— I am pleased 

 to be able to record the occurrence here of a 

 specimen of the Crimson-speckled Footman 

 {Deiope'ia pulchella). It was brought to me on the 

 17th of this month by a little boy who had taken 

 it in a field near here. It was still alive when I 

 received it, notwithstanding some very rough usage 

 it had received in being captured. Sphinx Con- 

 volvuli, too, seems to be rather common this 

 season. — E. A. Butler, Hastings. 



BOTANY. 



Autumnal Flowering of Spring Wild 

 Plants. — Gentian, primrose, auricula, or other 

 garden spring plants, as your readers are aware, 

 frequently flower again in autumn ; and it is not 

 unusual, as some of them may also have remarked, 

 for certain spring wild plants to do the same. Al- 

 though the daisy, as the poet says, "never dies," 

 yet often at this season it shows a tendency to re- 

 cover from its late summer deterioration by putting 

 forth " in many a greene mede " a fair sprinkling of 

 starry blossoms. The White aud Red Archangels 

 (Lamium album and purpureuni), ^though they bloom 

 more or less throughout summer, also appear to 

 receive a fresh impulse and " breathe a second 

 spring." The Crosswort {Galium cruciatum) not 

 only starts life anew, but flowers until frost puts an 

 end to its career. The Rough Chervil (Chatrophyl- 

 lum temulentum) and other early umbelliferse make 

 an effort in the same direction ; but in some speci- 

 mens it seems rather involuntary, as the blossoms 

 issue from plants that flowered in spring, and now 

 bear umbels of fruit. The Rough Chervil is singu- 

 larly interesting in this condition, from the colour of 

 its foliage, which, the first flowering hardly over, 

 turns bronzy-red, crimson, or dark brown, making, 

 especially at that time, while it is as yet early sum- 

 mer, a strange contrast to the bright green in which 

 all other surrounding plants are clad. But the 

 autumnal flowering of the earliest member of the 

 order, the Cow-weed Chervil {Anthriscus sylvestris) 

 is the most noteworthy instance of the kind that we 

 have seen, as we believe it uncommon for this plant 

 to flower a second time in the year, as we saw it 

 flowering, in September. — Packard Dickinson. 



