HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIF. 



67 



be seen directly by those who " understand why and 

 wherefore the term variety was instituted," that, 

 even had I the impudence, in my wildest dreams, to 

 think of dogmatizing to the slightest degree, there 

 would not be many grounds to go upon, though, 

 according to the "modern" shell-collector, that 

 would be of little consequence. The anatomical 

 differences described by Mr. Lloyd * resolve them- 

 selves on reference to the following assertion: "In 

 Anodonta anatina the branchial cavity is not only 

 comparatively, but actually much larger and fringed 

 with much more delicate and numerous tentacles 

 than in Anodonta cygnea." No details are given, no 

 statement of how many specimens of each form were 

 exaniined, and no measurements are recorded. 

 Perhaps the words "had you been a little more 

 modern," mean had you taken the trouble to look up 

 trivial references, very recently ? If, however, Mr. 

 Williams should be able to dissect the two forms, and 

 to find out any real anatomical differences between 

 them, "then" — returning the compliment — "when 

 he has gained a scientific knowledge of what he is 

 talking about we shall be pleased to hear from him 

 again. "— IVil/red Mark IVebbl 



Perforating Birds'-Eggs. — Your correspondent 

 signing K, D. will find that by stopping the holes in 

 his birds'-eggs, he will prevent the moth and other 

 insects getting into the shells. If the eggs are not 

 stopped, and there is the least moisture left in them, 

 the moth will very probably find its way in and spoil 

 the shell by eating away all the inside membrane. 

 I have a large number of species all stopped, and I 

 have never but once found a moth in any of them, 

 and, in that case, I must have stopped the moth in. 

 The egg was sent to me from a distance. I now 

 examine all blown eggs which come in, and in one 

 egg I found a moth had established itself during the 

 short journey from Nottingham. If K. D. intends 

 being a large collector, I recommend him to use a pair 

 of common bellows for blowing eggs, as they save so 

 much lung power. The rough apparatus which I 

 made two seasons ago, consists of a pair of bellows, 

 with about eighteen inches of elastic tube, one end 

 being bound to the nosel and at the other end a glass 

 blow-pipe. With this simple machine I have often 

 blown from fifty to one hundred eggs, with no other 

 exertion to myself beyond holding one egg in 

 one hand, and the blow-pipe in the other. It will 

 blow eggs cleaner and much more quickly than they 

 can be blown in the old way, by the mouth. — Joseph 

 P. Nimn, Roys ton. 



The Activity of the Moth Kind. — In the 

 summer of 1865, I was a young and ardent entomo- 

 logist, and my curiosity was drawn to marvellous 

 restlessness of the moth kind, whose occupation lay 



* " Annals and Magazine of Natural History," vol. v. (1870) 

 pp. 65-6. 



amongst the flowers of a Hampshire garden. On 

 the nincteentli and twentieth of July, I entered a 

 memorandum. Byopliila perla, Triphana intcrjecta 

 and the humming-bird moth have lately connected 

 the flight of the day and night vagrants. Inteijccla 

 commences its nimble motion a little before sunset 

 glows in the trees, and when twilight falls the 

 Bacchanalian Gamma moth comes swarming to the 

 blooms, having spent the morning with me on the 

 commons and meadows where it usually sleeps at 

 noon. I watched them pilfering the petunias until 

 the lights went out at midnight, and descending into 

 the garden at the chilly hour that precedes the dawn, 

 I came on one that loitered at the revels, leading me 

 to suppose it had drunk both long and deep. As its 

 friends were absent I conclude that they were over- 

 come with the morning drowse. I eschewed the 

 company of Gamma until this season, when, observing 

 a noonday sleeper on a wheat stalk, half way between 

 Ramsgate and Margate, I was tempted to snip his 

 perch and bear him away in order to show his pretty 

 ruff and silvery. I had carried him a good mile by 

 the milestones, when awakening to suspicion he be- 

 thought him to play truant and skipped away. — • 

 A, PL Sii'inton. 



Balia Perversa, var. Irridula, Jeff. — On 

 November 23rd last, I took four specimens of this 

 variety from under the bark of old holly bushes in 

 this parish. Has it been previously recorded from 

 Great Britain ? The only locality I find mentioned 

 for it in Jeffreys' " British Conchology," and Rimmer's 

 " Land and Freshwater Shells," is the neighbourhood 

 of Cork. — yohn Hawell, 31. A., Inglcby Greenhoio 

 Vicarage, N'ortliallerton, Yorks. 



BOTANY. 



Notes on the Flora of the Wye. — It was my 

 good fortune to spend my holidays this year in the 

 beautiful Wye valley, when, in spite of the dull, rainy 

 weather which characterised the summer months, I 

 obtained a very fair list of the West of England 

 plants. Making the pretty market town of Ross my 

 centre of operations, I made frequent excursions to 

 the outlying districts. A list of some of the charac- 

 teristic plants of the neighbourhood will show more 

 clearly than I can hope to describe, the wealth of 

 vegetation to be met with here. Symonds Yat is a 

 rocky gorge of precipitous limestone cliffs, richly and 

 densely wooded from the rugged ivy-grown summits 

 down to the base, where the Wye alternately glides 

 deep and silent between steep banks, and tears itself 

 into foam over the sharp stones that form its bed, with 

 a noise like that of a cataract, as it spreads itself out 

 over the shallows. It is difficult to imagine a more 

 beautiful and verdant spot. The banks and dells are 

 carpeted with mosses in infinite variety. There are 



