46 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



but more probably the Gray Wagtail [Jlf. loarula), 

 which has some bright yellow about it, though it is 

 unusual to see so many as ten together. There is 

 nothing improbable in Ray's wagtail dropping into 

 a garden near a town when on passage. In Sussex 

 Ray's wagtail is seldom seen after the middle of 

 September. — William Jeffcry. 



V. Atalanta in Dundee. — During the past 

 season, insects have been in abundance in this district ; 

 it has been one of the best, during the last four years 

 to my knowledge. As regards V. ata/anta, I may say 

 it has been scarce. I spent a good deal of time 

 searching for the larvae, and got about two dozen ; 

 three of them as late as the end of October, when 

 the last of them emerged from pupae as late as 

 December 8th. They have been very scarce here the 

 last three years. During the autumn of 1884 they 

 were in hundreds, scarcely a plot of nettles escaped 

 them. — Peter Kirk. 



Ancient Yews. — Through the courtesy of the 

 Rector, the Rev. H. Hawkins, I am enabled to give 

 P. J., Emsworth, particulars of a yew-tree, growing 

 in Crowhurst Churchyard, Battle, Sussex. It measures 

 thirty-three feet in circumference, and is supposed to 

 be about 800 years old. A seedling yew has rooted 

 itself in a crevice of the church tower. It is now a 

 small bush about 70 years old, and, apparently, 

 neither increases nor diminishes in size. If P. J., 

 Emsworth, will send me address, I shall be pleased to 

 forward for his acceptance a photo of the tree. — W. 

 E. Windus. 



A Note on Philodina citrina. — In Science- 

 Gossip for March, 1887, appeared a short note of 

 mine on a variety of this species, which I found in 

 the summer of 1886, in a stream near Cheadle, 

 Staffordshire. This variety is very abundant on the 

 moss covering some stones over which the water falls. 

 More recently — namely in the summer, autumn, and 

 winter of 1887 — I have found a few other races which 

 certainly approach the variety very closely, though, 

 perhaps, none of them differs quite so remarkably 

 from the recognised form of the species. The most 

 numerous of these lately found colonies is in a very 

 similar situation to that in which the variety flourishes, 

 the main difference being that the waterfall in this 

 case is at the foot of a large pond. There is a more 

 luxuriant growth of moss here than in the stream. 

 The particular form of the species which I found 

 here differs from the variety described last year in its 

 smaller size and in the greater conspicuousness of the 

 eyes, which, however, are still very small. The 

 brown colour also is less marked, though it seems 

 almost constant in the larger specimens. This race, 

 however, has that uniform slenderness which Mr. 

 Gosse found to be characteristic of the variety. On 

 the whole, it may be said to be considerably less 

 abnormal than the latter, but at the same time to 

 differ markedly from the type of the species which 

 must be familiar to students of the class from Mr. 

 Gosse's figure in Hudson and Gosse's " Rotifera " 

 (plate ix. fig. 6). The "strongly social manners" 

 which Mr. Gosse, in a letter to me, ascribed to my 

 variety seem equally characteristic of this race. I 

 have seen a piece of moss in the live-box completely 

 fringed with the protruded heads and necks of these 

 Philodinae. Up to the present time, unfortunately, 

 I have not been able to keep many specimens from 

 this locality alive for more than a day or two. A few 

 specimens generally maintained a lethargic existence 

 amid the corpses of their fellows. The race which 

 I propose to mention next, lives in close proximity to 



what I call the variety; that is, the form briefly 

 described in Science-Gossip for March last year. 

 The variety itself flourishes in a small waterfall ; this 

 other race I have found in water dipped from 

 immediately above the fall. It departs less widely 

 than the form last described from the ordinary type 

 of the species, for it has not the brown colour, and 

 the colour is in this form, as in the ordinary type, 

 confined to the central parts of the animal. But this 

 also has the slenderness of the variety, and there is no 

 abrupt transition from the body to the foot. There 

 is here a tinge of green in the yellow colouring of the 

 trunk. All the specimens of this race that I have 

 seen are very much smaller than the variety, which 

 indeed is one of the largest of the Rotifera with 

 which I am acquainted. I have found quite recently 

 in a small spring, the sides of which are covered with 

 moss, a number of examples of P. citrina scarcely 

 distinguishable from the variety, except by the fact 

 that the eyes are less inconspicuous. These organs 

 have here the oblong shape characteristic of the 

 species ; but they are placed very far back, almost 

 behind the masiax, even when the animal is fully 

 extended. They are exceedingly small. I have also 

 met with a race, on moss growing near the outlet of 

 a large pond, which is not easily distinguished from 

 the variety, though the brown hue seems less decided ; 

 but I have hardly seen this often enough to be able 

 to say much about it. The foregoing remarks seem 

 to show that this pretty and interesting species is 

 very variable. Mr. Gosse has stated, in Hudson and 

 Gosse's "Rotifera," that the colour varies; but it 

 will be seen that the form of the animal and the 

 distribution of the colour also vary considerably. My 

 experience also goes to show that the species is much 

 commoner than has been supposed ; but it may be 

 that it is common only in certain districts. It would 

 be interesting to know whether other observers have 

 found P. citrina in abundance on moss, especially in 

 waterfalls ; and, if so, whether they have found the 

 species to depart in any marked degree under such 

 circumstances from the normal type. I have found 

 examples agreeing well with Mr. Gosse's descriptions 

 and figures (in " Rotifera " and in "Tenby") in several 

 places near Cheadle, but never in any great abundance. 

 In conclusion, I should like to express my great 

 obligations to Mr. Gosse, who has most kindly 

 answered letters of mine from time to time, and 

 identified several species for me. — J. W. Plagg, 

 F.P.M.S. 



Rudiments and Vestiges.— I fear the authority 

 quoted a little depreciates Doctor Darwin as an 

 expounder of Divine Providence, and considers the 

 p/iusis kcrata taurois somewhat unsound. It will, 

 however, be palpable that the reasoning requires the 

 "image of God" in" man should be mental, neither 

 can the distinct theological proposition of a physical 

 "ideal form" be established in regard to the most 

 helpless of animals, without a consideration of his 

 surroundings, where we see adaptation as a portion 

 of the operation. The difficulty as regards the 

 theistical aspect of this question is the danger of 

 making over to society perhaps, what was intended 

 for philosophy. Preoccupied with such ideas, I put 

 my elbow through a well-ordered case of beetles in a 

 continental museum. Madame hastened to the scene 

 in consternation. I offered to pay the damage. 

 Madame must ask Monsieur. Madame suggested a 

 franc, the sworded concierge demanded three — three 

 were paid. A little after, Madame and a friend were 

 observed to issue from a crockery ware shop, each with 

 a basket in hand containing about a franc's worth of 

 household requisites. — A. If. Sivinton. 



