HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



261 



bottom. Bit should therefore rather be bite (but of 

 course the two words are originally the same). The 

 French equivalent is "Mors du Diable," and the 

 German "Teufelsabbiss." One would like to know 

 whether another German term for the plant, " St. 

 Peter's Cabbage" (St. Peterskraut), is in use in any 

 part of England. Can any of your readers inform 

 me?— /K T. Lynn, B.A., Blackheath. 



Squirrels in Ireland. — Having recently read 

 the contents of Science-Gossip for March (No. 207), 

 I beg to point out an error in the paper by Mr. George 

 Dewar, in which it is stated that the squirrel does not 

 exist in Ireland. It is generally admitted that the 

 squirrel is not indigenous to this country. It seems 

 to have been introduced into the county of Wicklow 

 about the year 1S15, where it has multiplied very 

 much. More recently it has been introduced into 

 other parts of the country. See Mr. Barrington's 

 paper on this subject in the Scientific Proceedings of 

 the Royal Dublin Society, Part vii. Nov. 1880. — 

 y. G. Robertson, Kilkenny, 



Scarcity of Acorns. — During the summer 

 holidays, I have had the opportunity to observe some 

 thousands of oak-trees in a part of Surrey, and I have 

 found but one single acorn. Will any one kindly 

 explain this, and also tell me whether there is the 

 same scarcity throughout the country ? — A, H. Fisher. 



Land and Freshwater Shells. — In reply to 

 A. Loydall, who asks for the verification of certain 

 species claimed to be British, I can give him the 

 following information : — Helix apcrta has been 

 introduced into British lists on the strength of a dead 

 specimen found at Guernsey in 1839. As a great 

 deal of French produce is brought to Guernsey for 

 sale, its introduction seems clear. Claiisilia solida 

 i{one specimen) was stated to have been found at 

 Stapleton, near Bristol, in 1870, but its reputed 

 discoverer admitted to me that he had made an 

 error, and that it was a foreign specimen. There are 

 a few specimens in old British collections, which 

 ^re all traceable, however, to the cabinet of Mr. 

 Humphreys ; but the evidence of their native origin 

 is more than doubtful. There have been many 

 supposed discoveries of Claiisilia parviila, but they 

 have always turned out to be dwarfed specimens 

 of another species, and I do not know of an authentic 

 specimen. Mr. Grant Allen, however, is said to have 

 found several specimens at Kinver, near Stourbridge, 

 some years ago, and there would be nothing surprising 

 in its occurring in this country. Helix villosa is the 

 latest addition to British land shells, three specimens 

 having been found in 1S73, and there is no doubt as 

 to their identity. It is the only species of the four 

 above-named that I think has any present claim to 

 be inserted in British lists. — J. T. i\Iars/iall, Chelten- 

 ham. 



Recent Captures. — (Science-Gossip, Sept. 

 1882, p. 209.) Not myself being an entomologist, but 

 only a lover of nature, I cannot share in the gladness 

 which you attribute to all entomologists at Mr. 

 Enoch's captures of a rare bee. (Science-Gossip, p. 

 209.) Instead of merely identifying Macropis labiata, 

 he impounded, as I understand you, every specimen 

 he could see. I ask what possible end is served by 

 this wholesale extermination of our rare visitors ? 

 Would not the simple identification of the bee, with 

 a record of its observation, have answered every 

 purpose? It is quite refreshing to read the notice 

 from G. T. B. of terns being seen at Oxford, and to 

 find no record of their being shot at (see p. 213). 



I might tell G. T. B. that one was shot about thirty 

 years ago on the banks of the Ouse, about a mile 

 from Stony Stratford, i.e. quite as far inland as those 

 he saw. — Arthur R. Graham. 



Slugs. — A friend tells me he lately saw in a wood 

 at Saalburg, near Homburg, several slugs fully six 

 inches in length of a brilliant red colour. The head 

 and tail were smooth, the central portion of the body 

 being corrugated. Is it likely to be merely a va- 

 riety oi Avion aler, or is it a species peculiar to the 

 Continent ? — A'. .1/. R'. 



Plantago major.— On the 9th inst., whilst walk- 

 ing on the Sibbertoft road, near the church, I found 

 growing near the ditch on the side of the road a 

 Flantago major, bearing three stalks of the following 

 dimensions : — 14 in. to flower, 17J in. flowering spike 

 = 315 in. ; 14 in. to flower, 18 in. flowering spike = 

 32 in. ; 16 in. to flower, 19 in. flowering spike = 35 in. 

 The leaves were very large, and marked with nine 

 strongly prominent ribs. As I have never seen nor 

 read of a plantago bearing such very high spikes, I 

 consider it a subject worthy of record. — J. Hobson, 

 iM.D., Tollbridge. 



Wasp and Flies.— I write to state in reply 'to 

 Mr. J. P. Smythe's question that I last week saw a 

 wasp attack a large house-fly on the window pane in 

 a house I was calling at. My attention was drawn to 

 it by the lady of the house, who exclaimed, " Do look 

 at that wasp, he is killing the flies," and I saw the 

 creature seize a big specimen, cut off its head, 

 and then proceed to eat its body. I killed the wasp, in 

 order to see more closely what he had been doing, 

 and found just the shell of the fly remaining. He 

 had sucked out the contents, had made a hole in the 

 under part of the insect's body, and extracted aU the 

 meat, leaving a fly case only. I have lately seen 

 many fly heads on the window sills, and have no 

 longer any doubt but that wasps have been acting 

 the part of executioners and practical scavengers. I 

 wonder why they leave the heads ? It is generally 

 said that a rat's head will poison a cat, and that the 

 " lady " in a lobster's head is hurtful to man ; perhaps 

 a fly's head contains some injurious properties, and 

 house wasps reject it. — Helen E. ]Vatney. 



Budgerigars changing Colour. — The origin 

 of the domesticated canary having been lost in 

 obscurity, it will doubtless be of interest to lovers of 

 cage-pets to be enabled to trace the home breed 

 budgerigars of the future back to their original stock 

 in the boundless forests of Southern Australia ; for 

 few persons beholding for the first time a pale yellow 

 specimen of the undulated grass parrakeet, would be 

 able to identify it with the bright green bird so 

 familiar to fanciers, and now generally known by the 

 native Australian name of budgerigar, and to 

 naturalists by that oi Melopsittaciis nnditlatus. Some 

 eight years ago, a Belgian breeder of these birds had 

 a pair (of aviary-bred descent for several generations) 

 that produced a brood of young in which pale yellow 

 was the predominant colour, and the characteristic 

 undulations of the species were replaced by the 

 faintest pencillings of grey. A couple of years 

 afterwards, some of the descendants of these little 

 birds were exhibited at the Alexandra Palace, where 

 they attracted considerable notice, receiving an 

 "extra first prize," and were readily sold for 

 ;^6 a pair, about their weight in gold. The "sport" 

 appears then to have passed into the hands of a well- 

 known London dealer, who, by judicious manage- 

 ment, has succeeded in obtaining a uniformly 

 yellow bird, without a trace of its origin about it, 



