7 6 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



seen no others like them. The eggs of the tree 

 sparrow are too erratic in shape, size, and colour, 

 to be curious ; but it is curious that I have met 

 with but one genuine pygmean egg of the house 

 sparrow. 



Double and abnormal eggs in our domestic poultry 

 are too frequently met with to be worthy of notice, 

 but double eggs of wild birds are exceedingly rare. 

 I have seen but two specimens, i.e., an egg of a 

 blackbird, from which I removed two almost fully- 

 developed chicks, the other being that of a robin. It 

 is a large handsome shell, and contained two yolks. 

 These eggs I consider to be the greatest curiosities I 

 have. 



The pheasant occasionally produces some curious 

 zoological specimens, some being about the size and 

 shape of acorns, others almost round, varying in size 

 from moderate-sized grapes to fairly large ones. 

 These are generally of a rich colour. The red-legged 

 partridge occasionally lays a small rough egg with a 

 collection of small spots on one end. The common 

 partridge has given me but one pygmean specimen ; 

 it is the most perfect miniature egg I have ever seen ; 

 it contained nothing but albumen. Pygmean eggs of 

 this bird must be very rare, or I should most cer- 

 tainly have met with more of them. Nevertheless, 

 those who have had the same opportunity of ob- 

 serving may have met with them more frequently. 



Mr. Wright mentions that small globular spotless 

 ■eggs of the song thrush are not infrequently met 

 with, also eggs having the spots and markings 

 agglomerated into blotches on the large end. In 

 this case my experience goes exactly in the opposite 

 direction, for I have never met with a pygmean egg 

 of the thrush, neither have I ever been able to 

 obtain any of the eggs with the spots and markings 

 agglomerated into large blotches, although I have 

 every season been on the look-out for them since 

 Mr. Hancock showed me some specimens, and that 

 is now more than twenty years ago. If it is not 

 xmusual to meet with them in Mr. Wright's collecting 

 area, it tends' to prove that certain departures are 

 restricted to certain localities. The only sport I 

 have met with in the eggs of the thrush is an egg in 

 a clutch of five, which in the place of black spots 

 has a number of rough patches of pale rust colour 

 dispersed over the shell. I have two good specimens 

 of blackbird eggs with the colouring matter forming 

 a cap to the large end ; these are the only specimens 

 I have ever seen. It is difficult to know when to 

 stop writing on this interesting subject, as many 

 more departures may be added to the foregoing, and 

 I may, perhaps, be considered a pessimist when in 

 bringing this paper to a close, to express a fear that 

 but few collectors will take the trouble to record 

 the curious facts and irregularities they have met 

 with. 



Joseph P. Nunn. 



Royslon. 



TWO NEW SPECIES OF ROTIFERA. 



By David Bryce. 



i. — Metopidia rhomboidula. 



DURING the months of November and December 

 last, I found a series of specimens of a very 

 beautiful species of Metopidia, which I believe to be 

 undescribed, and to which I venture to assign the 

 above specific name, together with the following 

 characters : 



Lorica rhomboidal in dorsal view, the lateral 

 angles slightly rounded, and the posterior nearly a 

 light angle; anteriorly slightly notched, and rising 

 into an acute medio-dorsal ridge, extending to 

 posterior angle and arched longitudinally ; ventral 

 surface nearly flat. 



The species might easily be passed over as 

 M. triptcra, if imperfectly seen, as, although it is 

 slightly broader in proportion and a shade larger, 



Fig. 41. — Dorsal aspect of Metopidia rhomboidula. 



it possesses the same extreme delicacy of structure 

 and the same glassy transparency of lorica, and 

 further, when swimming it constantly revolves slowly 

 on its long axis, and so presents in succession the 

 same bewildering variety of aspects. But when 

 quietly gliding over the floccose sediment, it is 

 sometimes possible to get a direct vertical view, and it 

 is at once seen that in place of the lorica being in 

 that aspect almost of the same outline as that of 

 M. h'padclla, it is nearly of the same shape as the 

 familiar ace of diamonds, having four sides practically 

 straight for the greater part of their respective 

 lengths. The lateral angles are rounded off, and in 



