HARDWICKE'S S C IE N C E- GOS S IP. 



147 



food, they have to be repeatedly washed in water ; 

 that which has been used for this purpose being 

 almost as black as ink when thrown away. After 

 this washing they are beaten with woodeu mallets 

 for some time, and are then ready for cooking. 

 When cooked (usually fried), they are excellent 

 food, eating somewhat like veal cutlets ; they are 

 also like veal in another respect, namely, their 

 solidity. I cau attest to their excellence from 

 personal experience : three of them would form a 

 very good meal. The shells of those which have 

 been sold in the market are collected and used for a 

 variety of purposes. The mother-of-pearl which is 

 so extensively used in ornamenting papier rnctche 

 works is obtained from this, as also the substance 

 nut of which our common pearl buttons are made. 

 la conclusion, let me say a few words on the 

 general aspects of the islands which these, the most 

 beautiful of our English shells, inhabit. Such au 

 interesting field for the naturalist, in ray opinion, 

 nowhere exists so near home as Guernsey. Small 

 as this island is, containing a circuit of only thirty 

 miles, including all the sinuosities and windings of 

 the coast, which are very numerous, I verily believe 

 that in no spot within reasonable distance is such 

 a perfect elysiura for the naturalist to be found. 

 Algologist, botanist, conchologist, entomologist, 

 and ichthyologist will find plenty of work to put 

 their hands and heads to in this favoured spot- 

 Jersey, although a larger island, is scarcely at all 

 superior to Guernsey. Perhaps in the matter of 

 Lepidoptera it is a little so, but for an enumeration 

 of them, I would refer my reader to the Mai'ch 

 number of this periodical for 1S72 (page 65). 



I take this opportunity of conveying my regret to 

 "J. R. S. C." that I am unable to give any account 

 of the larval and pupal state of P. dapUdice or 

 A. lathonia. I havea few specimens of IT. tuberculata 

 on hand, which I shall be happy to send to any one 

 sending me a suitable box for the specimen and the 

 requisite amount of postage-stamps. My address 

 "will be found in the exchange list for April, 1873. 



SALLOW-BEATING. 



TN last month's Science-Gossip (page 134) I 

 -*- notice that Mr. Auld, in thel course of some 

 notes upon collecting moths at sallow-bloom, says, 

 " Many of the autumnal species which have been 

 hibernating will be among the captures, the com- 

 monest of which is perhaps Anthocelis pistacina, and 

 a few other species of the Chestnuts." This sentence 

 is rather obscure, but Mr. Auld evidently intends 

 it to be understood that Anthocelis pistacina hyber- 

 nates and comes to the sallows in the spring. Now 

 this is (if true) a novel and somewhat remarkable 

 fact, and entomologists generally will, I am sure, 

 feel obliged if Mr. Auld will state whether he has 



/«'ffl.?(?//' met with the species under these circum- 

 stances, and, if not, upon what authority he makes 

 the statement. In saying that some of the " Chest- 

 , nuts " hybernate and visit the sallows in the 

 spring, he is undoubtedly correct, but it is well 

 known that all the species of the genus Anthocelis 

 lay their eggs in the autumn and die at, or before, 

 the commencement of winter, as also do many other 

 of the late autumn Noctua;, including (notwith- 

 standing its name) Charipfera AprUina. 



As far as I remember, the only species of our 

 native Noctuaj which hybernate in the perfect 

 state are Cerastis vaccinii and spadicea, Scopelo- 

 soma satellitia, Dasycampa rubiginea, Uoporina 

 croceago, DasypoUa templi, Gonoptera libatrix, and 

 the genera Xglinu and Calocampa, and of these 

 only a portion are known to have been taken at 

 sallows ; and if Mr. Auld speaks from personal 

 experience when he says that Dasycampa rubiginea 

 raaylbe often thus found, I can only say that he has 

 been exceptionally fortunate. 



There are many useful suggestions in his paper, 

 but it is advisable to be gentle in beating the 

 bushes, since such a plan is very apt to bring down 

 catkins as well as moths (thus killing the goose 

 which lays the golden eggs). Very gentle tapping 

 or hand-shaking is sufficient on a calm night to bring 

 down all the insects ; but by far the best plan, when 

 the bushes are small enough, is to examine them 

 carefully with the lantern and take off the moths 

 as they sit on the catkins ; otherwise many good 

 things fall wide and get lost. This cannot be done 

 with high trees, but these are generally less pro- 

 ductive than bushes, and the cumbrous and tedious 

 plan of spreading large sheets under them is apt 

 to entail disappointment as well as trouble. I 

 must also suggest that those who follow the advice 

 to disregard the female sallows will probably miss 

 many of the best moths, although the common ones 

 will not frequent them in such numbers as they do 

 the male. 



I can fully confirm Mr. Auld's statement of the 

 abundance of moths that may be obtained on 

 favourable evenings by this mode of collecting. I 

 once saw a hundred and fifty Tceniocampa munda 

 in one evening, with T. cruda in thousands ; and it 

 used to be a matter of course to meet with many 

 hundreds of T. stabilis and gothica in the the same 

 locality. These species are common everywhere, but 

 cruda is scarce in the North, while in some districts 

 instabilis is excessively abundant. 



Norwich. Chakles G. Bakkett. 



" The study of geology warrants us in believing 

 that if the human species has to become extinct, as 

 the lower inhabitants of the earth did before its in- 

 troduction, a special law would have to be called 

 into eSQct,"— Taylor's " Geology of Manchester T 



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