262 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



manoeuvres of our tame sea-gull "Jack." What 

 first attracted my attention was the steady way he 

 stood beside an old barrel placed on its end in an 

 outhouse. At first I cnild not think what he was 

 at, until I reiueiiibered that the bens were in the 

 habit of laying there, and I knew Jack's well-known 

 weakness for eggs ! Presently I heard a cackling, 

 and out came a hen ; upon wliicb. Jack dived into 

 the barrel and reappeared with an egg stuck on his 

 long bill ; but instead of at once boUliuj it, as I have 

 seen him do with tivo at a time, he placed it on the 

 ground and began to execute an Indian war-dance 

 round it. Pionnd aud round he went, until I tliought 

 a case of "death of a sea-gull from blood to the 

 head" would be the result, and he seemed so 

 C9nfident, I thought a "sell" would be good for 

 him ; so I called to my cook to take the egg, and 

 continued to watch master Jack. No sooner was 

 the egg removed than rage got the better of him. 

 He screamed at his very loudest, aud ruslied about 

 the yard as if he had but just escaped from an 

 asylum for lunatic sea-gulls, until he suddenly 

 espied another hen enter the barrel, upon which he 

 took up his old station, this time watching the hen 

 through a slit in the side, and pecking viciously 

 at every live thing that came within reach. I 

 could not wait to see if this time his patience was 

 rewarded ; but even though I should be the loser, I 

 almost hope it was. — L. A. Brenan, Vomeroij. 



Swallow - tail Buttekflies on the Lion 

 Mound at Waterloo. — Being advised by a non- 

 entomological friend (who liad some years ago seen 

 some curious black and yellow butterflies on the 

 Lion Mound at Waterloo), to take my net there, I 

 was successful in taking tliree Machaon on Sep- 

 tember 1st. The day was fine but breezy, and the 

 three I captured on the leeward side of the mound 

 were all 1 saw in the loc;ility. Is it not curious to 

 find them in such a situation, miles away from any 

 fens "i—E. A. K., Hayes, Kent. 



The Goosebekry - leaf Caterpillae. — 

 There are few gaiden pests more easily got rid of 

 than these caterpillars if taken in time. If 

 " F. B. " will adopt the following plan, he will 

 neither lose a gooseberry or leaf. As the leaves un- 

 fold in April, the parent fly will deposit her eggs in 

 the densest of the foliage, and the young cater- 

 pillars will give notice of their presence by eating 

 away the underside of the leaf in little patches, 

 giving it the appearance of being pierced with pin- 

 holes. _ Each of such leaves will produce 50 or 60 

 caterpillars or unhatcbed eggs, which may thus be 

 destroyed in a moment. The search must be 

 repeated during the montli for fresh broods. The 

 leaves are so easily detected that a couple of minutes 

 for each bush is quite enough.—^. 1F. 



BuTOMUs umbellatus.— At the 147th meeting 

 of the Leeds Naturalists' Fluid Club and Scientific 

 Association, held Sept. 15, Mr. James Abbot men- 

 tioned that he had gathered this plant in flower at 

 Kirkstall on the 12lh Sept. The plant formerly 

 grew in the small stream at the foot of Batty Wood, 

 Woodhouse llidge, but has not been known tiiere, 

 or in any part of the Leeds district, for upwards of 

 twenty years. — JFm. Denison Roebuck, 



Larva OF Privet Hawkmoth.— About this time 

 last year 1 obtained the larva of a privet hawk- 

 moth, which, alter a few days, changed into pupa. 

 I placed some dry earth in an empty cigar-box, 

 and put the pupa into it, covering it 'lightly with 



I mould and dry leaves, giving, however, access to 

 ' the air. The whole was placed in a dry cupboard 

 in hope to see this year the imago ; but there it is 

 in the pupa state and still alive, for, when exposed 

 to the sun or breathed upon, it will move. Can 

 you or auy of the readers of Science-Ggssip 

 suggest why it does not perform its metamorphosis 

 into imago ; and is this a common event ? 



Feiine Oddities.— It may interest your corre- 

 spondent to hear that we had for some time in the 

 early part of this year, a pure wliite kitten with one 

 eye a bright blue, and the other quite yellow. Her 

 mother is a dark tabby cat, with one yellow and one 

 black eye. The white kitten came to an untimely 

 end in May last, being run over by a van in the road. 

 She would never, under auy circumstances, drink 

 milk, nor, if she could help it, clean water; but 

 would greedily lap soapy water in w-hich one's hands 

 had been washed, seeming to prefer this to any 

 other drink. — H. 



Aquaria. — I have not much more practical know- 

 ledge of these and their inmates than "Querist," 

 but I have been a pretty diligent student of " Half- 

 hours at the Seaside " during the past month or 

 two, and would recommend him to procure that 

 volume from the publisher of Science-Gossip for 

 information about anemones aud anemone collect- 

 ing, and about other " things " whose habits cau be 

 watched in an aquarium. As to its management, 

 " Querist " will find some hiuts in the number for 

 May, p. 118 ; and he might also refer to the previous 

 number, p. 95. One word of warning. Anemones 

 do not like being torn from their beds (tiiough 

 these be of stone), any more than human beings 

 do. " Querist " will therefore be wise to substi- 

 tute the plan of knocking off the piece of rocic to 

 which the creature is attached, for the " pulliug-oif " 

 process ; by a little extra search he will often find 

 some specimens located on fragments of rock small 

 enough to carry home to his aquarium. — W. R. E. 



A Feline Oddity.— I have seen a black and 

 white cat, whose eyes were precisely similar to 

 those described by " W. R. L. " in Science- 

 Gossip for August— one a yellowish grey, and the 

 other a bright blue. Its tail, instead of being long, 

 like an ordinary cat's, was stunted like a rabbit's. 

 A kitten born in the same litter had eight legs, two 

 tails, and four ears. It died at birth, and its owner 

 has it preserved in spirits, and I have seen it. — 

 E.JF. 



Trees SPRINGING out of inclosed ^Tombs. — 

 I am inclined to think that the story mentioned by 

 your correspondent " J. B. S. C." (Science-Gossip, 

 No. 114, p. 143), with respect to the seven ash-trees 

 springing from the inclosed grave in Tewin church- 

 yard, was made to fit the cn-cumstance of the ap- 

 pearance of the seven ashes. If the trees that 

 appeared had been fewer than seven, probably no 

 tale would have been invented respecting tliem. 

 The story, if really worthy of consideration, should 

 be traced to its originator, and the date of inter- 

 ment given, when perhaps some light could liave 

 been thrown upon the lady's history which might 

 give colouring to the tale, or render it improbable. 

 As to the appearance of ash or other trees within 

 the space of inclosed graves in neglected church- 

 yards, where families have died out or removed far 

 away, it is not an uncommon circumstance. To go 

 no farther than Perivaie, Middlesex, when I was 

 last in the churchyard there, I made a sketch of an 



