HARDWICKE'S SCI E NCE-GOSSIT. 



i37 



Rising, Southing, and Setting of the Principal Planets 

 at inte;~vals of Seven Days in June. 



and highest 30.30111. on Friday morning. The mean 

 temperature of the air was 52*3 deg., and 1*4 deg. 

 above the average. The general direction of the wind 

 was variable. No rain was measured during the week. 

 The duration of registered bright sunshine in the 

 week was 51.0 hours, against 56.4 hours at Glynde 

 Place, Lewes. 



The average mean temperature in June is at the 

 Land's End and the Bristol Channel 59 , and it is the 

 same all along the South and South-East Coast. On 

 a line drawn through Beaumaris, Lancaster, York, 

 Hull and Norwich it is 58 . In the Irish Sea, 

 Solway Firth, Berwick, South Shields, Middles- 

 borough and Flamborough Head, it is only 57 , 

 while inland throughout the southern part of Eng- 

 land it is 6o°. This of course arises from the cooling 

 effect of the sea round our coasts. 



The mean average rainfall in June is one inch on 

 the East Coast and two inches over nearly all the 

 rest of England, but in some parts of North Waies 

 and in Cumberland, Westmoreland and Lancashire it 

 is three inches. 



NATURAL HISTORY JOTTINGS. 

 The Green Tortoise Beetle [Cassida viridis). 



[Continued from p. 107.] 



August 14th. — A full-grown larva that has thrown 

 off its fecal canopy as soon as enclosed in a box, has 

 straightened out the heretofore elevated posterior 

 portion of the body, the projecting ventral tube now 

 lying back horizontally in a line with the body, and 

 the two rigid, waved, whip-like anal appendages 



standing erect at right angles to both body and tube : 

 these appendages spring from the extremity of the 

 body, just in advance inwardly of the ventral tube at 

 its base, do not coalesce, and only move with the 

 body. Shortly, however, and the extremity of the 

 body is again elevated at about right angles, and the 

 rigid anal appendages again projected forwards over 

 the back nearly horizontally, and the larva recom- 

 mences to feed, the freces now passed lying on the 

 tip or extremity of the ventral tube for a time, but 

 ultimately dropping off. 



The flattened larva is woodlouse-like in form, or 

 elliptical, and has a close array of sixteen pairs of 

 nearly horizontally-set well-branched cylindrical spines 

 springing from the margin of the much and equally 

 depressed thorax and abdomen all around. The 

 thorax and abdomen occupy about equal halves of the 

 entire length of larva, and eaclt section carries eight 

 pairs of the setose spines. The head is black, and is 

 concealed beneath the thorax when the creature is at 

 rest, but, when walking, is in part projected beyond 

 the anterior margin, coming then into view. The 

 colour of the body above is a dull green, variegated 

 with a mottling of pale greenish yellow, which gives 

 to the entire upper surface a greyish green cast or hue : 

 the under surface of the body is of a dull uniform 

 light green colour. The spiracles (of which there are 

 eight pairs, one pair thoracic and seven pairs abdo- 

 minal) are situated dorsally near the margin of the 

 flattened body, are black with lighter apices, and are 

 elevated ; they are cylindrical, lie at an outward angle, 

 and gradually decrease in calibre backwardly towards 

 the apex of the abdomen, the first pair being situated 

 near the hinder margin of the prothoracic segment, 

 and the seven succeeding pairs in the seven anterior 

 abdominal segments. The lateral branched spines 

 are black in the basal one-half, and dusky in the 

 apical one-half: the anal or caudal appendages, which 

 are in reality the two spines appertaining to the 

 lateral margins of the ninth and last abdominal 

 segment, enlarged, modified in form, and changed in 

 direction, for a special function, are also black basally 

 and dusky apically : they are^thick at the base, where 

 they are furnished with minute secondary spines, but 

 taper rapidly to a very fine point, and are rigid and 

 waved apically, the waviness or warping being obvi- 

 ously caused by the constriction to which they have 

 been subjected by the several exuvioe retained there- 

 on from infancy to maturity. The legs are six in 

 number, and are short and stout : they are sparsely 

 clothed with short black spines, as indeed is the 

 entire body both above and below. The larva walks 

 slowly ; is diurnal in its habits, feeding on the leaves 

 of the thistle during the day from both the upper 

 and under surface, and generally leaving the epidermis 

 intact on the opposite side of the leaf from which it 

 feeds, though not infrequently making a minute 

 hole or holes therein which will account for the holes 

 found amongst the blotches on the leaves, the heat 



