HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



45 



skull of triceratops possesses many remarkable fea- 

 tures. It is possibly the largest that any terrestrial 

 animal, extinct or recent, ever possessed, and is only 

 surpassed in size by that of the great whale. The 

 specimen Professor Marsh describes is the skull of a 

 young animal, and he thinks that an adult specimen 

 would have been almost eight feet long. The arma- 

 ture of the skull consisted of a sharp-cutting beak in 

 front, a strong horn on the nose like that of a 

 rhinoceros, a pair of very large pointed horns on the 

 top of the head, and a row of sharp projections along 

 the posterior margin of the crest of the skull. Pro- 

 fessor Marsh says that for offence or defence these 

 form together an armature for the head as complete 

 as any known. Such a high specialisation of the 

 head resulting in its enormous development, pro- 

 foundly affects the rest of the skeleton. Precisely as 

 the heavy armature dominated the skull, so the huge 

 head gradually overbalanced the body, and must 

 have led to its destruction. As the head increased 

 in size to bear its armour, the neck, first of all, then 

 the fore-limbs, and later the whole skeleton, was 

 specially modified to support it. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Pin-feathers of Woodcock. — These small 

 feathers with a lance-like plume and a rib-like wire 

 are sought after for some purpose. Can any reader tell 

 •me what? I believe there is some special work for 

 which they are preferred to camel-hair pencils. The 

 ladies can perhaps explain. — IV. A. Gain, Tuxford, 

 Neivark. 



Arion Ater. — On breeding between one of the 

 black variety and a creamy white or light buff 

 specimen, I found all those hatched from eggs laid by 

 the black slug were of the same light colour as the 

 other parent. — IV. A. Gain. 



Young Arion Ater. — The light-coloured varie- 

 ties of this species have, I find, darker stripes at the 

 sides and round the shields, similar to those of A. 

 subfuscus. These show themselves a week or two after 

 the slug leaves the egg. When less than half-grown 

 the difference in colour gradually becomes less as the 

 other parts become darker, and finally disappears. 

 Next year I hope to watch the development of the 

 black and red varieties. — W. A. Gain, Tuxford, 

 Newark. 



Helix Caperata. — Has any reader of Science- 

 Gossip noticed the existence of a second lip, or 

 what resembles one, in any of their specimens of the 

 above snail ? It is situated about T ' g of an inch from 

 the mouth or real lip, and has the singular appear- 

 ance of the animal having completed its shell and 

 then started growing again. Is this owing to 

 premature development, from food or climatic 

 agencies, or a case of " mistaken instinct " ? It is not 

 uncommon here, about one in ten being the propor- 

 tion. — W. Biddiscombe, Plumstead. 



The Cuckoo.— Mr. J. A. Smith will find the 

 information he asks for by looking in any good 

 descriptive book on birds. The following are some 

 of the cuckoo's hosts recorded, viz.: — blackbird, 



hedge-sparrows, larks, meadow-pipits, tree-pipits- 

 chaffinches and pied-wagtail. He will here see that 

 the cuckoo does not deposit its eggs solely in the 

 hedge-sparrow's nest. I do not see any connection in 

 his note between cuckoo and magpie, only cuckoo 

 and pied-wagtail being mentioned. I have received 

 an egg of the cuckoo from Mr. Ellison, of Steeton, 

 who has kindly furnished me with the following 

 notes : Nest of tree-pipit on ground in small wood, 

 found June 1st, 1S89, containing six eggs, three of 

 which were removed by cuckoo, and its egg deposited 

 between June 1st and 4th ; the three eggs of tree-pipit 

 and one egg of cuckoo are now in my possession. — 

 F. IV. Paplc, 62, Waterloo Street, Bolton. 



Cuckoo and Magpie.— In answer to Mr. J. A. 

 Smith's note under this head, I beg to quote the two 

 following extracts. " They (cuckoos) lay their eggs 

 in the nests of other birds, generally in those of little 

 insectviorous passerines, such as the lark, robin, 

 hedge-sparrow, redthroat, nightingale, thrush, black- 

 bird, and sometimes also in those of the magpie, 

 turtle-dove, and wood-pigeon." — Figuier, "Reptiles 

 and Birds," p. 444. 



" A blackbird's nest is sometimes selected to 

 receive the deposit (i.e. the cuckoo's egg), but very 

 rarely compared with the hedge-sparrow's, the lark's, 

 meadow-pipit's, water-wagtail's or the chaffinch's." — 

 Rev. J. C. Atkinson, " British Birds' Eggs and Nests." 



Spotted Dead-Nettle. — In answer to Mr. B. C. 

 Robinson's inquiry respecting this plant, I should 

 like to mention that it grows, apparently wild, 

 in a lane at Earlham, near Norwich. I have also seen 

 it cultivated as a garden plant. — Arthur May field. 



Great Yarmouth Naturalists' Society. — The 

 November meeting was held on Nov. 27, when four 

 persons were proposed for membership. Mr. W. 

 Fulcher read a short paper on the various organs of 

 different insects and beetles, illustrating it by several 

 interesting slides shown under the microscope. A 

 very interesting paper on " Mollusca of the Great 

 Yarmouth District " was given by the secretary, 

 Mr. J. B. Beckett, who, in describing the local forms 

 and their habitat, enumerated as many as seventy- 

 eight species found by him up to the present. This 

 list will shortly appear in print, and will form a 

 valuable addition to the fauna of Great Yarmouth, no 

 previous list having been published. The secretary 

 exhibited his collection of local shells, also his 

 collection of British shells, numbering 200. Votes of 

 thanks to the readers brought the meeting to a close. 



Colouring of Eggs. — I was much interested with 

 Mr. Nunn's suggestion as to the probable cause of 

 the occasional coloration of eggs at the narrow end 

 instead of the broad one, and the idea he advances 

 seems to me a very likley one by which to account 

 for this variation, in at least some of the instances 

 given. In the Falconidse it is sometimes difficult to 

 say which is the smaller end of the egg, though 

 frequently the difference is tolerably well marked, but 

 I have noticed the variation to be very frequent in 

 this family. I can also corroborate Mr. Nunn's 

 statement as to the great number of these abnormally 

 marked eggs occurring amongst the Corvidse, and 

 have also frequently noticed them amongst those of 

 the blackbird, songthrush and misselthrush, where 

 perhaps the egg is relatively larger in proportion to 

 the size of the bird. I don't know if Mr. Nunn has 

 had opportunities of examining large numbers of sea- 

 birds' eggs, but it is certain that this phenomenon 

 does appear amongst them, and that not very unfre- 

 quently, although I admit they are much rarer than 



