HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



201 



follows that this is by far the most ancient of all 

 determined fossil butterflies. Mr. Arthur Butler, 

 of the Zoological department, British Museum, 

 determined Ihe position of this species to be in the 

 sub-family BrassoUnce, a group of exclusively 

 tropical American butterflies of the large family 

 Nymphalidte. He exhibited it at a recent meeting 

 of the Entomological Society, and has since pub- 

 lished a description of it in the January part of his 

 "Lcpidoptera Exotica" (a 4to. work devoted to 

 the illustration of exotic butterflies and moths). 

 He has named it Paltsontina oolitica. The family 

 Nymphaliche, to which this species belongs, is 

 placed by Mr. Bates at the head of the butterflies, 

 as being most remote in structure from the moths. 

 IfJ we begin with this family, an uninterrupted 

 gradation of character and habit can be traced from 

 them to the moths ; it is, therefore, a highly inter- 

 esting fact, as evidencing the very great antiquity 

 of butterflies, that P. oolitica, the oldest determined 

 fossil species, still belongs to the most highly 

 developed, and, consequently, the'most recent, of 

 all the five families into which this sub-order is 

 divided. Seven fossil butterflies have now been 

 made known to science, but as two of these 

 {Vanessa pliita and aitavina of Heer) are possibly 

 impressions of opposite surfaces of one species, the 

 number may be, perhaps, reduced to six. F. oolitica 

 is the largest of all, and, when flying, must have 

 measured 5^ inches in expanse of wings. It was 

 probably a male insect, as indicated by the form of 

 the front wing. The veins of the wing are of a 

 rusty colour, as if impregnated with iron, which 

 would account for their very perfect state of pre- 

 servation; unfortunately the colours and markings 

 have all disappeared because of its great antiquity. 

 Since the publication of Mr. Butler's description, 

 Mr. Charlesworth has discovered the twin impres- 

 sion of F . oolitica in the collection of the Jermyn- 

 street Museum. 



The Sub-Wealden Boring. — At length this 

 important boring has passed through the Wealden 

 and Purbeck beds, and is now in strata evidently 

 belonging to the Kimmeridge Clay. The experi- 

 ment is rapidly increasing in scientific interest. 



Extremes Meeting. — It is worthy of note that, 

 according to a recent traveller, extremes of animal 

 life meet together on the river Amoor, at the 

 present day : thus " the reindeer and Bengal tiger, 

 the wild-boar, the badger, the polar hare, and 

 glutton, all range the same latitude." Let us apply 

 this example to the Rhine ; remove the impedi- 

 ments to free animal transit offered by civilized 

 man, and we shall see that fossil remains of differ- 

 ing types may well co-exist in the same strata, or be 

 found in the same cave, without a necessity for 

 assuming any change of climate, or any material 

 difference of era. — A. H. 



NOTES AND aUERIES. 



Traps for Small Animals.— Being desirous of 

 examining freshly-caught specimens of the smaller 

 British mammals (mice, moles, shrews, &c.), I should 

 feel grateful if any reader of Science- Gossip would 

 inl'orm me of some simple snare or trap for capturing 

 the same. — IF. H. Warner, Kingston. 



Green Eield-Cricket {Gryllns viridissimns). — 

 This large and beautiful insect, which occurs very 

 commonly in August and September, on the hedges 

 in this neighbourhood, appears to be of a very 

 voracious disposition. On September 10th I took 

 one from a cabbage-leaf in the garden, and to ray 

 surprise found it had a full-grown but partly eaten 

 caterpillar of the large Cabbage Butterfly in its 

 mouth, and was busily engaged in sucking its juices. 

 It required some little force on my part to 

 disengage the caterpillar. — IF. H. Warner, Kingston. 



Owls. — Returning from shootingthe other evening, 

 I was astonished by hearing a loud and hissing noise 

 proceeding from a hollow elm-tree, and on approach- 

 ing it saw five white owls sitting on the branches, 

 from which they would fly into the interior of the 

 tree, that being, no doubt, their dwelling-place, as I 

 have often seen them there. — E. 31., Woodbridge. 



FoRAMiNiEERA IN Chalk. — Can any correspon- 

 dent inform me what means are generally employed 

 to obtain Poraminifcra from chalk, and how they 

 should be mounted ? — B. M. 



Signs used to denote Sex. — I have often been 

 puzzled to account for the origin of the signs in use 

 among naturalists to denote the male (c?) and the 

 female (?) sexes ; but the other day, while reading 

 an astronomical paper, T came across a fact which 

 seems to offer a solution of the difficulty. It 

 appears that the first sign {$) has been used from 

 remote antiquity to signify the planet Mars, and is 

 a rude representation of a spear behind a shield, fit 

 emblems of the God of War. Ceres, the goddess 

 of corn, was similarly symbolized by the sign used 

 in zoology to denote the female sex, with this slight 

 difference, that in the original astronomical sign, 

 the continuity of the circle is broken on the left 

 side, so that the figure appropriately represents a 

 sickle. I thought this might perhaps interest some 

 other readers, who, like myself, have been curious 

 as to the history of these odd-looking signs.— ^. C. 

 Lefroy. 



The Prating Mantis. — A correspondent, 

 " E. C," asks for a description of this insect. It is 

 a large, curious-looking thiug, presenting very 

 much the appearance of a collection of brown twigs 

 and faded green leaves. The slender limbs are 

 flattened out in some places, and so shaped and 

 tinted as to look exactly like smaller leaflets 

 surrounding the larger leaves of the body. The 

 praying mantis has one very peculiar habit, to 

 which "it owes its name. It is fond of planting 

 itself on a convenient branch of some tree, and then 

 lifting up its body and arms in the attitude of 

 prayer, in which it" is able to remain perfectly still 

 for a long time. Its object, however, is rather to 

 prey than to pray ; for it hopes to persuade other 

 credulous insects into the belief that it is only a 

 spray of foliage whicii they see; thus inducing them 

 to come within reach. Alas for the unfortunate 

 fly who approaches too near the hypocrite ! The 



