HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



117 



detail, and shows that the shell-bearing gravels rest 

 on materials that appear to be formed by glacial 

 action and are covered by the Red Clay, which he 

 regards as having been formed during the period of 

 great submergence. The few entire shells are filled 

 with a calcareous matrix, and fragments of the same 

 material are found scattered in the gravel and sand. 

 This lends support to the conclusion adopted by the 

 author, that the sand and gravel have been accumu- 

 lated by a glacier moving over pre-existent Crag 

 deposits. Among the shells found, 21 could be 

 specifically determined, and of these 67 per cent, occur 

 in the Coralline Crag, 95 per cent, in the Red Crag, 

 and 57 per cent, are living species. Only one 

 species, Tellina balthica, occurring in the Aberdeen- 

 shire deposits, is not found in the English Crags. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Saturnia Carpini. — I have two specimens of 

 this moth out of chrysalis, one on February 27th, 

 ihe other on March ist. Is not this unusually early ? 

 They were bred from caterpillars collected by myself 

 in August last in Perthshire, N.B., where they were by 

 no means uncommon. I presume that the cause of 

 their early emergence is the unusual mildness of the 

 weather, and that they have been kept in a well- 

 warmed room. — C. S. G. 



Earth Worms, &c. — My garden, consisting of a 

 fair-sized lawn and several flower beds, is completely 

 overrun with worms and slugs. After heavy rain in 

 the summer the ground is completely covered with 

 worms of all sizes stretching from their holes in all 

 directions, and the roots and leaves of such plants as 

 violets and primroses more especially, also bulbs of 

 all sorts are totally destroyed, while the effect of these 

 creatures darting back into their holes is of a very 

 creepy nature. If any of your readers could help me 

 in remedying this nuisance I should be greatly 

 obliged. I may say that I have, frequently found on 

 taking up violets and crocuses that the root was 

 riddled and a worm curled up and twisted round it. 

 IK H. Brachett. 



Caddis Worms' Cases. — On resuming my natural 

 history rambles, I find caddis worms once more in 

 season. Can any readers tell me how it is that the 

 bits of weeds, grass, &c. they use, keep in their 

 natural state, so long as the insects need them ? I 

 observe the same with the rest of nature. — John 

 Alexander Ollard, Enfield. 



Slowworms and Snake. — I obtained two slow- 

 worms from the New Forest, they had none of the 

 ordinary markings, one was pinkish-brown, the 

 other grey. But the most remarkable thing, as I 

 thought, was that on each side of the neck were, in 

 the grey, three, in the other five, rosette-shaped blue 

 spots. In about a month, though the reptiles' bodies 

 did not grow, the spots on each side increased respec- 

 tively to five and eight. I afterwards found in Kent 

 a crushed, grey, blue spotted one. Is this a common 

 variety ? Can any correspondent give me informa- 

 tion about the North-American seven-banded snake 

 ( Tropidonotiis leberis) beyond its markings, its size, 

 the fact that it feeds on frogs and is of a savage 

 disposition, and though not poisonous, can inflict a 



tolerably painful wound ? Having one alive, I should 

 like to know its habits ; what part of North America 

 it inhabits ; whether it is common, and whether it 

 prefers marshy, hilly, or heathy country. ^Any 

 information will oblige. — H. C. Brooke. 



Herons.— In reference to F. T. B.'s communication 

 about herons, in the January issue of SciexXCE- 

 Gossip, I beg to state that a lady ac(iuaintance of 

 mine can fully endorse his informant's statements 

 respecting these birds, their sitting upon their nests 

 with a leg hanging down at each side, having herself 

 seen, either at Ullswater or Rydal Mount, these birds 

 in exactly the same posture. — A. M. P. 



House Sparrows.— I note C. Kingsford's query 

 about sparrows. The house sparrow had been 

 introduced into many of our American cities and 

 has multiplied greatly. In my yard a pair have 

 nested for two years past, the male bird having white 

 wings, the effect of which is very pretty. I have 

 watched the pair with interest, to note if the variation 

 would repeat itself in their offspring, but that has 

 not been the case. The whole of the wing feathers 

 appear to be white. — William Kite, Germantown, 

 Philadelphia. 



Hair-bell and Hare-bell. — In reference to this 

 interesting question, I offer the following few remarks. 

 The name hairbell is, I think, much more applicable to 

 the fragile Campanula rotundifolia than that of hare- 

 bell, which in my opinion refers rather to A. nutans, 

 the common hyacinth. It is without doubt, as Mr. 

 Ellacombe in his " Plant Lore " remarks, the hyacinth 

 that Shakespeare mentions as the " azur'd harebell,'' 

 and Shenstone, I find, uses the same orthography 

 when speaking of the same flower. 



" I seldom have met with a loss. 



Such health do my fountains bestow ; 

 My fountains are border'd with moss. 

 Where the harebells and violets grow." 



In Wilke's "Encyclopaedia Londinensis," vol, x. 

 published in 181 1, the Hyacinthus non-scriptus is 

 mentioned under the name of common hyacinth, or 

 harebells. In vol. iii. of the same work, the Cam- 

 panula rotundifolia is called the round-leaved bell- 

 flower, and no mention is made of it by the name of 

 "harebell." I, therefore, conclude that the name 

 harebell (which seems to be the older of the two) 

 was originally given to the wild hyacinth ; and that it 

 has in more recent times been erroneously applied to 

 C. rotundifolia, the proper name of which should, 

 I have no doubt, be spelt hairbell.— Z P. Dotchon. 



White Heather and Harebells. — Seeing, 

 for the last few months, several interesting paragraphs 

 in Science-Gossip relating to white heather and 

 the harebell, perhaps the following may be of interest 

 to your readers. Some few years since, when search- 

 ing for plants in Lochar Moss, about five miles 

 from the town of Dumfries, I came across a goodly- 

 sized patch of white heather in full bloom ; the plants 

 were very luxuriant, even healthier-looking than 

 the common purple were, the foliage being of a more 

 vivid green. I saw two or three more plants, but 

 they were of a more stunted growth. I have also 

 gathered white specimens in the neighbourhood of 

 Thornhill, more especially on the western side of the 

 Closeburn Hills, which run south to north in 

 Dumfriesshire, and I remember when out for a long 

 walk one Sabbath afternoon, while climbing the 

 southern flank of Carrick Fell, coming across a 

 large patch of pure white ling {Erica cinerea) grow- 

 ing on the face of a steep declivity, with here and 

 there the red soil api^earing. We gathered some 



