HARBWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIF. 



237 



L.VRGE SiAiG ? — A magnificent slug, beautifully 

 speckled, and looking so like a snake when fully ex- 

 tended that the first time I saw one entering one of 

 my hives I mistook it for the tail end of an adder. 

 Ground colour, greyish-brown spots, rich dark brown 

 approaching black, symmetrically disposed. Length 

 four and a half to si,\ inches. One I measured a few 

 days since exceeded six and a half inches. _ Girth less 

 than great black slug.— ^. IL A\ 



Query as to Insects. — Your correspondent 

 W. M. C. C. asks information with regard to the 

 name of an insect bred from cocoons, resembling 

 those of an eggar moth and producing a fly he takes 

 to be a bee. There is an Hymenopterous insect of 

 the family Tcnthrcdinidic, genus Trichioso»ia, figured 

 in Curtis's "British Entomology" that about suits 

 his description. Of one species of this genus, namely 

 Trichiosonia liicorum, Curtis writes : It is very 

 abundant upon the white thorn, and in the winter when 

 the leaves have fallen off the cocoons are easily 

 collected, and in April following the fly will make 

 its appearance. To this I add, that the cocoons may 

 be well mistaken for those of an eggar moth, so 

 unless his insect is one of the rare species of the 

 genus he may safely assume it to be Trichiosonia 

 iiccoriim. I have bred it myself and seen it flying 

 over the sallow blossom. — B. Piffard. 



Wasps stalking Grasshoppers. — Whilst walk- 

 ing in a field full of grasshoppers, Aug. 25th, I noticed 

 a wasp flying about in a premeditated way, and as if 

 full of some deep design. I watched it, and found it 

 was hunting grasshoppers. It failed in catching two 

 or three, but presently pounced on a small specimen 

 which was clinging to a blade of grass, and mounting 

 on its back calmly proceeded to saw off its head, 

 afterwards its legs, finally flying away with the body 

 towards the nest in the corner of the field, of the 

 existence of which I had been previously aware. I 

 brought in the head, which together with the legs 

 remained clinging to the aforesaid blade of grass. Is 

 it a common occurrence for wasps to hunt their prey in 

 this manner ? I am aware that they are carnivorous 

 insects, but I have often seen wasps on window-panes 

 with house flies and others and they never appear to 

 touch them. Perhaps some one of your numerous 

 correspondents would kindly inform me on this 

 matter. — John P. Smythe, Dn'onshire. 



Ants. — On August ist, while I was waiting for a 

 train at a certain small town in Buckinghamshire, I 

 walked down a country road to see if I could obtain 

 any insects, and found what I supposed to be at first 

 an ants' hill on a bank, but it turned out afterwards 

 to be two ants' nests close together ; one sort was 

 a large black ant, and the other a small light 

 brown ant. As I turned over the earth with my stick 

 a severe battle ensued, the black ones coming off vic- 

 torious. It seems curious that two species of ants 

 should have their nests so close to one another and 

 then fight against each other directly they were dis- 

 turbed. I should be glad to hear if any of your 

 readers have ever met with the same thing, and 

 whether it is of common occurrence. — F. IL Parrot, 

 Walton House, Aylesbury, 



Water Spiders. — Veiy many thanks to Mr. S. 

 Kent for his kind note, and when I again find any 

 more water mites, I shall make another trial to keep 

 them — I have always failed. There were plenty of 

 the large red, and another darker kind in the stagnant 

 part of the New River in White-webs, Enfield, which, 

 I believe, is well known to Mr. Kent. It is a capital 

 hunting ground in the spring, yielding many beauties 



of creation. My query refers to the Argyroncta 

 aquatica, or true water spider. They generally decline 

 flies, and I am afraid mine are now dead, for I do not 

 know what has become of them. — John Alex. Ollard, 

 F.R.M.S., Enfield. 



Water Spiders. — Your correspondent must keep 

 his water spiders in a vessel separate from fishes, 

 especially sticklebacks, or they will soon be destroyed. 

 A tolerable-sized plant of some bushy water weed, as 

 Attach aris alsinastruin, ought to be kept in the 

 vessel with them, as they have to ascend to the top 

 occasionally to renew their supply of air. If he is 

 fortunate he will, as I once did, have the pleasure of 

 seeing them construct their curious bubble-like nests 

 amongst the leaves of the plants. It is very amusing 

 to watch them fetching air from the surface and filling 

 their subaqueous homes. They live, I believe, on 

 small flies, &c., which fall on to the surface of the 

 water, but I never saw any of those I have kept eat 

 anything at all. — R. A. R. Bcniiet. 



Humble Bee's Nest in a Grease Pot. — While 

 on a visit in August 1882, near Enniscorthy, co. 

 Wexford, I was shown a nest of thesmall common buff- 

 coloured wild bees in a very strange place. In a 

 large farmyard, entirely surrounded with buildings, is 

 a stone stair to one of the lofts, and beneath the 

 steps is an opening left in the masonry where odds 

 and ends of iron and old horse shoes are thrown. In this 

 spot had been placed, some weeks before, a small pre- 

 served food tin half full of cart grease, and in the can 

 on the grease was a humble bee's nest as large as 

 they had room to build it, formed of bits of light hay 

 and straw, all of which must have been carried up 

 from the cattle litter of the yard. The bees were 

 numerous and evidently greatly displeased when their 

 novel hive was lifted out and shown to visitors. — 

 H. W. Lett, ALA. 



Large Viper. — A few days since (July 17th, 

 1882), whilst driving in this neighbourhood, my 

 wife pointed out to me a snake which, alarmed by 

 the passing vehicle, was endeavouring to wriggle its 

 way to the top of a heap of manure by the roadside. 

 Upon killing the creature I found it to be a female of 

 the common viper {Peliits beriis), which measured, 

 when headless and fully extended, no less than thirty- 

 two inches in length. Allowing about two inches 

 for length of head and neck cut off, it measured, 

 therefore, nearly a yard long. I have killed many 

 vipers in various parts of the country, but never 

 before dispatched one of so great a length. You 

 may, perhaps, consider it worthy of record in the 

 pages of Science-Gossip. Upon dissecting the 

 creature I found that it contained eighteen nearly 

 mature eggs. — Edward IL. Robertson, Sivaklifie, 

 Banbury, Oxon. 



Singular Reptiles. — Allow me to give you 

 some interesting particulars about a reptile newly 

 arrived in France. Professor Leon Vaillant, manager 

 of the Reptiles' Menagerie at the " Jardin des Plantes " 

 in Paris, has just made the acquisition of a very 

 curious animal, presenting the strangest physiognomy. 

 It is a great lizard, a native of Central America, bear- 

 ing the name of " Tuberculised Iguana." In the 

 regions where it inhabits, its flesh is considered as a 

 dainty, and^ it is hunted with activity. Though of 

 ferocious-looking appearance, it is a very inoffensive 

 animal ; its only defence is its tail, which it uses like 

 a whip. The agility which it displays for climbing 

 up the trees renders its capture diiificult, so much 

 the more that its coloration of a leaf-green does not 

 permit to perceive it easily. It feeds on plants, 



