HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-G OS ST P. 



203 



THE GOAT-MOTH. 



IT is not surprising that the name of this most 

 interesting insect should have figured rather 

 frequently of late in the pages of Science-Gossip, 

 for it stands out very prominently from the ranks 

 of British lepidoptera. Not only peculiar in its 

 own habits aud physical characteristics, it has, or is 

 generally supposed to have, a well-authenticated 

 antiquity, of which no other moth can boast. It is 

 not, therefore, without something very like a pang 

 that a classical entomologist can read articles like 

 that by Mr. Spicer on page 130, tending to throw 

 discredit on the generally received reports. It is so 

 completely in accordance with the spirit of the age 

 to question assumptions which rest on no strictly 

 logical grounds, that we must always be prepared 

 either to do battle for them or to cast them ruth- 

 lessly to the winds. With every desire to regulate 

 my entomological creed according to the dictates of 

 reason, I cannot help doubling whether in the 

 present instance Mr. Spicer has made out any case. 

 We have all learnt within the last few weeks that 

 the surest way of showing that a claimant is not 

 the individual he pretends to be, is to try and prove 

 his identity with some one else. Mr. Spicer has 

 made strenuous attempts to show that the Goat- 

 moth has no right to the nauie Cossus, but he has 

 failed to show what insect ought to be so called. 

 His supposition that C. ligniperda does not feed 

 upon the oak would be, if w-ell founded, a weighty 

 piece of evidence ; but as a correspondent (p. 166) 

 with charming naivete remarks, — " Mr. Spicer says 

 ',Pliny's cossus was also an oak-borer, which the 

 goat-moth is not.' Certainly the moth may not be an 

 oak-borer, but its larva most decidedly is." This 

 statement is confirmed by Mr. Newman. I have 

 not a copy of Pliny's works by me at the present 

 moment, so that I cannot say whether he attributes 

 the " parvulus stridor " to the larva or perfect 

 insect. If he alludes to the former, his words are 

 easily explained. It is only a few weeks ago that I 

 noticed the squeaking sound produced by one of 

 these larvae in rubbing its horn-plated head against 

 some hard substance. Mr. Spicer goes on to say 

 that no civilized people, ancient or modern, would 

 eat, as a delicacy, such a repulsive-looking creature 

 as a cossus larva. This is rather a bold assertion, 

 considering that oysters and other shell-fish, not to 

 mention snails {Helix pomatia) , rank among modern 

 civilized delicacies, and are not always eaten in the 

 in the mobt refined manner. 



With respect to the Roman standard of taste, it 

 would perhaps be not uninteresting to name some 

 of the dishes which were held in the highest esti- 

 mation. Peacocks, pheasants, guinea-fowl, nightin- 

 gales, thi'ushes, ducks aud geese, are in the list of 

 birds ; the Romans were also very fond of fish, and 



we are not much impressed with their civilized 

 culture, when we learn that they were in the habit 

 of weighing fish alive at table, and reckoned it a 

 a piece of entertainment to see them expire. Oysters, 

 snails, and many fruits, together with confectionery 

 and made dishes, formed the less substantial portion 

 of the meal. Larvae of cossus properly cooked 

 aud prepared might well take place with the above- 

 mentioned articles of food. No doubt the cossi 

 eaten by the Romans were of the finest description; 

 perhaps they may have been specially bred up for 

 the table. At all events it is easy to understand 

 that a larva taken from a willow- tree might have a 

 pleasanter flavour than one which had been feeding 

 in the trunk of an elm, or vice versa. The curious 

 thing is, that no English lepidopterist seems willing 

 to test the matter for himself by eating a catei'pillar 

 prepared in the Roman fashion. I once made au 

 arrangement with a brother naturalist by which he 

 was to cook, and I to eat a cossus ; but at the last 

 moment his courage apparently failed him, and 

 when I arrived, screwed up to the necessary pitch 

 of valour, I found the cossus uncooked. 



Edward C. Lefeoy. 



PECULIARITIES IN SITE AND STRUG- 

 TUREIOE BIRDS' NESTS. 



"PECULIARITIES in the site or structure of a 

 -*- bird's nest, or in the habits of the birds them- 

 selves, generally excite an interest in the minds of 

 those who delight in natural-history studies ; and, 

 judging from the numbers of instances yearly re- 

 corded in newspapers and periodicals, do so in 

 most minds, Eond of natural history from boy- 

 hood, and especially of that of birds, I have made 

 not a few notes on their habits and homes ; and 

 thinking that a few instances, chiefly relevant to the 

 heading of this short paper, might interest others^ 

 and possibly elicit instances of a like nature from 

 some, I record them. 



Redstart {Phoenicura ruticilla). — I have found 

 a nest of this species built on a shelf formed by a 

 piece of deal nailed across the beams supporting 

 the second floor of au outbuilding. The first floor 

 was a cartshed, in one corner of which stood a 

 grindstone, and immediately above that was the 

 nest, which contained young ones, fledgelings. It 

 was constructed of dead leaves, matting, shavings, 

 dry grass, weeds, moss, hair, and feathers, being 

 lined with the three last-named substances,' — a 

 miscellaneous accumulation, loosely put together. 



Blue Tit {Par us aeruleus). — Observing one day 

 a pair of blue titmice repeatedly disappear over the 

 top of an inclosure for poultry, induced me to 

 watch them ; aud having obtained a good position, 

 I soon saw the object of these oft-repeated visits, — 



