126 



HARDWICKE'S SCIEKCE-GOSSIP. 



have accepted t'ne companionsiiip of a wretched- 

 looking stray cur, who was ouly too glad to avail 

 himself of the shelter afforded him, and of the 

 morsel of food he thus obtained. By-and-by this 

 dog (" Jack," I think, it was called) became attached 

 to the place, and regularly went the rounds with 

 the watchman, sniffing at every corner and diving 

 into all manner of crevices where dangerous mate- 

 rial was at all likely to accumulate, and, its work 

 finished, lying at the feet of its self-chosen master. 

 This nightly routine continued for some time, 

 " Jack " being as regularly at his post as the watch- 

 man—perhaps even more punctual. At length a 

 new arrangement of night-watching was made. The 

 services of the watchman were dispensed with' 

 Mr. Tozer undertaking to provide one of his 

 brigade for the purpose. Everybody thought the 

 last had been seen of " Jack ;" but not so. " Jack " 

 persisted in continuing his self-imposed duties. He 

 did not, however, become so attached to the fireman 

 as he had been to his friend the watchman, but he 

 never missed going the rounds, generally alone. The 

 one during the performance he did not miss for 

 years, as he could obtain admission so easily at the 

 time the building was, as it were, open to the 

 public. And it was no uncommon thing to meet 

 " Jack " either crossing the back of the stage on 

 the way to the dressing-rooms, in the "flies," or in 

 the carpenter's shop, tail between legs and nose 

 close to the floor, regardless of all efforts to distract 

 his attention. As soon as his business was done 

 away he would go. But one luckless night " Jack,'' 

 in endeavouring to cross the stage, took the wrong 

 "opening," and, to the astonishment of possibly 

 none more that himself, made " his first appearance 

 before the public." Nothing could well have been 

 more mal apropos to " Jack," for, as ill-luck would 

 have it, the manager himself was playing that night, 

 and, still worse, was on the scene at the time. A 

 crowded audience were listening with '"bated 

 breath " to the play, when ugly " Jack " suddenly 

 became the "observed of all observers," and 

 changed entirely the humour of the house, which 

 broke out into an outburst of laughter, in which 

 the heroine, who was supposed to be overawed by 

 the declamation of the hero, joined most heartily. 

 The manager-actor having his back turned, did not 

 see the cause of the absurd turn the simulated 

 tragedy had taken, and waxed wroth. His vengeance 

 had to be wreaked, and upou " Jack " was visited 

 the summary punishment of total and final expul- 

 sion from within the walls of the theatie. But 

 notwithstanding the edict, and the faithfulness 

 with which the hall-keeper endeavoured to carry it 

 out, " Jack " now and again managed to elude the 

 guard and made his round. Gradually, however, 

 finding himself so unwelcome, he ceased his visits 

 entirely, B. Peacock. 



SUBTERRANEAN ENTOMOLOGY. 



T HAVE lately made an excursion in the depart- 

 ■^ ment of the Ariege ; my principal object being 

 the collection of the eyeless beetles which inhabit 

 the numerous grottos in this part of the Pyrenees, 

 already well known for its underground fauna, and 

 I have thought a short notice of the excursion may 

 be of interest. I must premise that my visit was 

 made in autumn, a season but little favourable to 

 the purpose. 



In the latter days of August and the first fort- 

 night of September I was staying at Aulus-les- 

 Bains, near which is a solitary grotto, close to a 

 spring known as the Neuf-Fonts. There I dis- 

 covered, after a two hours' search, some specimens 

 of a new Adelops, which I named in reference to the 

 locality. Ad. novem-fordhtm. It lives near the end 

 of the cave, under small rolled pebbles, which form 

 here a thick bed. 



In the same spot I deposited morsels of raw 

 meat by way of bait, and very soon succeeded in 

 capturing numerous individuals of this species, 

 which I should probably have failed in securing 

 had I contented myself with tlie ordinary method of 

 collecting. The meat also attracted several Pris- 

 tonyclius Fijreiucus ; and on one of my last visits I 

 found at the extreme end of the cave an eyed 

 Macharites (sub-genus Linderia) buried in the half- 

 liquid mud. 



From the 15tli to the 19th September I remained 

 at Saint Girous, from whence I made several visits 

 to the grottos of Aubert and De Moulis, which 

 afforded me Anophthalmus Tlido and cerbenis (the 

 former common enough in the De Moulis grotto) 

 and Orpheus, which lives on the summit of the 

 slope by which the descent is made into the grotto 

 of Aubert, by a path not only light, but exposed to 

 the direct rays of the sun. All the specimens I 

 found of this species were buried deep in the soil, 

 which at tliat season was scarcely damp. 1 searched 

 in vain for An. Bucephalus, of which a single ex- 

 ample had been captured in the Aubert cave by 

 M. Dieck. 



Of Adelops I took clacatus in abundance in both 

 caves, and also, in lesser numbers, the large and 

 handsome Dleckii, which appears to be confined to 

 the Aubert cave, where it lives by preference in the 

 Great Hall, at the opening of one of the two gal- 

 leries by which the visitor enters. 



In the cave of Olot, about a quarter of an hour's 

 walk from St. Girons, I found eight examples of an 

 Adelops crawling over the walls, which, strange to 

 say, were not Aheillei, so common in that locality 

 but the Stijglus of Dieck. Near the entrance, on 

 the heaps of bats' dung, were numbers of the 

 cyanescens variety of Tristonychus terricola. This 

 beetle was my sole capture in the cave of Miguet. 



From the 20th to the 26th September, I trans- 



