132 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



checked, mar the fruits of man's labour to an in- 

 credible extent. That this is no exaggeration we 

 know from the anxiety displayed by owners of hop- 

 grounds, lest all their care should be thrown away 

 and their hopes disappointed by the soft little 

 atoms, which sometimes crowd upon the tender 

 " bine," extracting its juices and wasting its vigour. 

 Then it is that "Our Lady's bird" shows itself to 

 be a friend in need. Urged by a sense, of the 

 nature of which we have not the smallest concep- 

 tion, but which we call instinct for want of a better 

 title— myriads of red-coated beetles assemble on 

 the infected ground. Here they wage unceasing 

 war against the soft-bodied aphids, killing and de- 

 vouring like wolves in a sheepfold, and then dis- 

 appearing as mysteriously as they came. 



No doubt in days when every event which eluded 

 the immediate researches of mankind, was ascribed 

 to the direct agency either of the Deity or of Satan, 

 according to its apparent tendency to good or evil, 

 the frequent recurrence of such natural phenomena 

 led the peasantry to give their peculiar titles to the 

 Ladybird, as though it acted on an impulse derived 

 immediately from Heaven. And this is the more 

 probable, as the influence of the aphides would be 

 acutely felt by the thirsty natives, involving, as it 

 did, the possible loss of their beer, in the case of 

 the hops ; though in all probability the names were 

 given long before the hop-flower was used in the 

 manufacture of beer. 



lichen Ahhas. W. W. SpiCER. 



GASTRIC TEETH VERSUS ELTTRA- 

 CLASPERS OE EARWIG 



(Forfwula \auricnlaria) . 



HAVING recently exchanged several slides 

 with the readers of Science-Gossip of what 

 myself and others at that time considered to be 



section of this insect (at the suggestion of a 

 microscopical friend) — made out these miscalled 

 teeth to be the wing and elytra-claspers for re- 

 taining these organs when in repose. Tliese pre- 

 hensile organs are situated in two parallel rows 



Fig. 89. Wing and Elytra-clasps of Earwig (Forficula 

 aurirulaiia). 



the gastric teeth of the common earwig, I have 

 since— after a more careful examination and dis- 



Fig. 90. Six of the Claspers highly magnified. 



under the elytra, as shown in the diagram, studded 

 with numerous minute sharp spines, resembling in 

 form those of the upper jaw of the pike {Esox 

 luetics) tei'med "denies setiformes." There is also 

 a similar row of claspers situated on the under sur- 

 face of each elytron, near the inner margin. 



I am anxious that this error of misnomer should 

 be rectified in the pages of your journal, considering 

 a mistake of this nature passed unnoticed might 

 have a tendency to mislead others interested in 

 insect anatomy, trusting those to whom the slides 

 were sent will pardon the blunder, remembering 

 that " Humanum est errare." 



J. 0. Habpek. 



Dere/ia m -roa d, Noncich. 



THE AMERICAN OTTER. 

 (Lutra canadensis, Sab.) 



By Charles C, Abbott, M.D. 



SLOPING, muddy banks ; dark, deep water, thai> 

 looks the gloomier for the dense shade cast by 

 the giant elms and maples overhanging it ; tangled 

 stems of snow-white water-lilies, and broad patches 

 of feathery river-weed, scarcely relieving the sombre 

 tints of their surroundings ; weird, ghost-like slimy 

 trunks of fallen trees, slippery with the green scum 

 of a score of summers, or glassed by the clear jelly 

 of the Pectinatella, floating in the tideless stream 

 like spirits of unrest ; solemn-visaged, quiet-loving 

 owls, that seem to live only that they may dream, 

 haunting the dense foliage of the lofty cedars ; and 

 now and then " the chatter of a jay, that echo mur- 

 murs after" — what a cliarm has such a place 

 for him who loves not mankind less, but nature 

 more ! Happy to escape the din and dust, the clash 

 and clamour of the smoky town, and to seek out just 

 such nooks asthis, that, thanks to whomsoever thanks 

 are due, has not succumbed to the ingenuity of the 

 engineer, or been stripped to prosy nakedness by 

 the greedy agriculturist. On such a spot 1 chanced 

 during the past summer, and while marking the 

 faint ripples on the quiet waters, was startled by a 

 loud splash near by, that started glassy circles out 



