156 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



following notes, however, 1 extract from my diary 

 of a few years back. 



On the 9th of June, while resting on a bank in 

 the vicinity of several bramble-bushes, I caught 

 sight of a number of small black larvse feeding. 

 They were not then half an inch long, but were 

 wrinkled and hairy ; of course I cannot tell how 

 many times they had then moulted. They shed 

 their coats, however, once or twice more, still 

 appearing black, and then appeared in a black suit. 



Fig. 98. Emperor Moth {^Saturnia carpini). 



with dull orange rings, each ring with black, hairy 

 tubercles. All along each side just above the feet 

 was an orange line. 



At the next moult there was the same general 

 arrangement, but the rings were bright sulphur- 

 yellow, and the lower line had a greenish tinge ; 

 tubercles black. 



Fig. 99. Caterpillar of Emperor Moth. 



Next change : The yellow much brighter, with a 

 greenish streak behind each ring; both the yellow 

 and greeu markings interrupted in the dorsal line. 



Fig. 100. Cocoon of ditto. 



Next : All ground colour ffree/i, with uo connected 

 rings ; but the rows of tubercles still existing, black 

 in colour, and a thin black line between the seg- 

 ments. 



Next : Ground colour lighter green ; tubercles 

 orange, with the black line behind each row. 



Next : Ground colour darker green ; rings black 

 and broader than before ; tubercles light orange. 



Just before spinning, some individuals had the 

 black rings strongly marked, others were without 

 them. The changes are exceedingly interesting to 

 watch ; I wish I had examined and noted them with 

 greater care. We find them in this neighbourhood 

 every year by careful searching in the beginning of 

 June, so perhaps I may have another opportunity 

 this season. I find them on bramble, which they 

 eat very readily. Let me recommend my young 

 entomological friends to hunt for them, and never 

 pass over anything because of its homely appear- 

 ance. I was amply rewarded by finding my black 

 captures gradually assuming the garb of the hand- 

 some larva of S. carpini. 



Henry Ullyett, Folkestone. 



P. S.— There is a great mortality among them at 

 moulting times, the cause of which 1 cannot tell ; 

 but I never succeed in rearing more than half of 

 them. 



THE SEA-TJRCHIN. 

 {Echinus sphaera.) 



THERE are few commoner sea-side objects than 

 the common Sea-Urchin {Echinus sphcera), 

 whose external resemblance to the hedgehog, which, 

 in many districts, goes by the name of " urchin," 

 has earned for it both its popular and scientific 

 name. The rough, unkempt, and bristly hair of the 

 young of the highest of all known animals has not 

 unfrequently caused the word " urchin " to be 

 applied for a similar cause. Some of our readers 

 may be acquainted with the comical heading to the 

 chapter on Sea-Urchins, sketched by the jubilant 

 professor in Eorbes's "History of British Star-fishes," 

 in which two urchins (human) are represented set- 

 ting a hedgehog at a living Echinus. The surprise 

 of the hedgehog at the spiny-skinned inhabitant of 

 the deep is capitally represented in the vigorous 

 style of fun for. whicli poor Forbes was celebrated. 

 When the Sea-Urchins are dead, and the epidermis 

 has peeled ofi", carrying with it its thick coat of 

 spines, the test is naked, or roughened only by the 

 tubercles to which the spines were attached in the 

 living state. These tesis, or shells, are then popu- 

 larly called " sea-eggs." At very low water, hiding 

 underneath stones, or in the fissures of rock, you 

 may often gather Sea-Urchins of all sizes and ages. 

 We know of few animals wliich can be turned to 

 better use by the young zoological student. The 

 mode of attachment of the numerous spines to the 

 test— the " universal joint " now so much used by 

 mechanics, but which has an antiquity far tran- 

 scending the human period— may here be seen to 

 advantage. Those curious and, until recently, un- 



