HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



167 



only visit our shores now and then, the chance of 

 settlings here, and those which are inhabitants here, 

 but at the same time rare, the opportunity of be- 

 coming more abundant; but I am afraid it would be 

 too great an appeal to tiie self-denial of collectors. 

 Although I catch numbers of insects every year, I 

 don't kill one half of them, for I can generally deter- 

 mine what they are while in the net, and unless they 

 are the sort required, I let them loose. I try to get 

 six of each species in my collection, three of each 

 sex, where there is any difference in the markings, 

 and generally have two or three surplus ones in case 

 of accidents, or for exchange. Perhaps some other 

 of your readers can devise some means for preserv- 

 ing the favourite little insect "the Brisish butterfly." 

 — /. A. Allchin, Docer. 



CuKiOTJs Places pou Robins' Nests. — Several 

 instances have been recorded this spring of robins 

 building their nests in remarkable places. The 

 following notes from the West of England may 

 prove interesting. At a cottage near Charlton 

 Park, occupied by a shepherd to the Earl of Suffolk, 

 a pair of robins took possession of a hat which was 

 suspended on a ram's horn, fixed in the cottage for 

 such purposes. Here the eggs were laid, and young 

 ones hatched and cared for. Near Dauutsey station, 

 at the house of Mr. Potter, an unused tea-kettle 

 was taken posession of by another pair of robins. 

 These birds also brought up their young ones, and 

 are so tame as to allow Miss Potter to handle and 

 show them. A third pair chose part of the harness 

 left in the stable of Mr. Thomas Hussey, the Manor, 

 Ilchester. The carter found Mrs. Robin deter- 

 mined not to be frightened away, and would allow 

 him to carry her and her home about the stable. 

 The master subsequently gave orders not to have 

 the birds disturbed, and the latest bulletin reported 

 mother and family doing well. — W. Macmillcai, 

 Castle Carjj. 



Scinptis LACusTKis &c. (p. 141). — It is not 

 improbable that Scirpus maritmus was the plant 

 observed by " T. W." about Hammersmith and 

 Putney. It still lingers in very small quantities on 

 the Middlesex shore, where it was seen last year 

 near Eulham {Journal of i?o«'«;;?/, xi. 342),_ and is 

 found in greater abundance on the Surrey side. \ 

 gathered it myself at Putney a few years back, in 

 company with S. caiiiiatus, and have also noticed 

 it by a small pond in the grounds at Putney Hill, 

 at a considerable distance from the river. "T. W.'s" 

 other plant would appear to be S. carinatus, which 

 occurs in that neighbourhood in considerable plenty 

 on both banks of the Thames. It is generally 

 reckoned to be rather an unsatisfactory species, and 

 is arranged by Hooker, in the "Student's Plora," 

 as a subspecies under S. lactistris. S. iriqueter 

 (" stems acutely triquetrous throughout,"— Babing- 

 ton's Manual) seems distinct enough, and was a 

 Liuuean species. — B. A. Pryor. 



The Tortoise. — Having expressed a wish for 

 some time to possess a tortoise, a relation at the 

 time residing at Loudon procured me one at Covent 

 Garden, May 1st, 1S72, and on Thursday, May 2nd, 

 1872, it arrived, packed in a tin case, something 

 resembling a painter's pot, only with a corner per- 

 forated with holes. One reason why I wished for a 

 tortoise was to rid the kitchen of blackbeetles, and 

 the garden of slugs, &c., which it most effectually 

 did. Some time after the tortoise had been with 

 me, I discovered one morning a small egg, perfectly 

 white and rather rough. I was at a loss for a short 



time to make out from what source the ^g^ came, 

 but I at last had it suggested that it was the tor- 

 toise's egg. Many ridiculed the idea. I scarcely 

 thought it could be the tortoise tliat had been 

 exposed for sale at Covent Garden, and also for 

 some time with me, that had laid it. A short time 

 after the first, a second egg was laid, which I broke, 

 and had a great deal of trouble to do so, it [i. e. the 

 shell) was so hard. The inside, as far as I can 

 remember, looked much the same as a very small 

 hen's &^g. I gave the first to a friend, who I believe 

 still has it. I now became almost conyinced that 

 the tortoise must have laid it. Some time after it 

 was found dead. Of what it died I was, and am 

 now, to a certain extent at a loss to comprehend. I 

 buried it in the garden about the lith April, 1873, 

 and to-day (the 2nd of April, 187-1) I dug iUip, in 

 order to see if I could not keep the scales, which are 

 very easily removed from the carapace when the 

 tortoise has been dead for some time. Having dug 

 it up and removed the said_ scales, I found it had 

 been greatly damaged by rain, &c., so that I deter- 

 mined once more to consign it to mother earth ; but 

 putting a brick, or rather letting it fall on the 

 remaining carapace, I broke it up, i. e. the carapace. 

 I at once removed it from the earth, and examined 

 the decayed matter in the inside, when to my great 

 surprise I found an egg which, after it had been 

 removed and washed, I found to be exactly like the 

 other two before-mentioned. Now the question 

 arises. Is it usual or a common occurrence for tor- 

 toises, away from their natural habitat, to deposit 

 their eggs ? I am not certain whether my tortoise 

 was Testudo Grceca or Cliersina marginata, though 

 from what E. Halse says in his paper on " The Tor- 

 toise and its Skeleton" (Science-Gossip, 1873, 

 p. 129), I should think it was the latter. Perhaps 

 he would throw some light on the egg subject. Of 

 course, there is now no doubt that it was the tor- 

 toise that laid the eggs, as I have now found the 

 last in the decaying body of the animal. I shall 

 forward it to the Editor with these notes. — Charles 

 F. JF. T. Williams, C.E., Redlancl, Bristol. 



Half-aqtjatic Aphides. — I have observed with 

 much interest the proceedings of some of these 

 insects in the aqua-vivarium, resident on the floating 

 leaves of the VVater Crowfoot, where they enjoy a 

 happy immunity from those insatiable enemies which 

 delight to gorge themselves with aphis flesh, nor 

 are they the petted slaves of their self-interested 

 visitants, the ants. A couple of females founded 

 the colony, and two or three generations soon fol- 

 lowed. In one or two instances they must have 

 passed from one leaf of the plant to another across 

 the surface of the water, but I could not ascertain 

 how this was managed. A "wet jacket" the little 

 creatures do not appear to mind in the least, being 

 often on the edges of the leaves close to the water ; 

 still, when totally submerged, they soon perish. 

 The act of parturition is, seemingly, usually preceded 

 or followed by a casting of the skin. 



Mould in Eerx-cases.— I think if " E. J. S." 

 would daily wipe the inside of his fern-glasses " dry 

 and bright," he would not be much troubled with 

 mould. I have found this suggestion, for which I 

 am indebted to Shirley Hibberd's " Eern Garden," 

 very beneficial. Should mould still appear-, "E, J. S." 

 must arrange for greater ventilation.— /T. B. H. 



Ebonite Cells. — Would any reader who is in 

 the habit of using these tell me the best way of 

 affixing them to the glass slips ?— 7^. B. H. 



