258 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



collection, and allows of varieties, where any variation 

 exists, but surely this may be attained without 

 clutching — the very word has an unpleasant sound. 

 The vandals argue thus : " If I take the whole of the 

 eggs, the birds will immediately build another nest, 

 bring forth a full brood, and are none the worse off ; 

 I am so much the better, inasmuch as I have five 

 eggs instead of one or two." This, I take it is the 

 argument. Now for the other side. Imprimis, the 

 clutcher purposely overlooks the fact that, if he took 

 say, two, from a nest of five, the parent -birds would 

 not hatch the three only, but would make up the 

 original number, five, and thus hatch a full brood. 

 Secondly, if he takes the whole of the eggs, and the 

 birds lay a second lot, he has been the means of 

 subjecting them to a severe physical strain, and 

 increases the probability of unfertile eggs ; and if there 

 is any truth in the light shell theory, is it any wonder 

 that two of the three eggs of the raven taken at 

 Portland were light-coloured, when we remember 

 that it was the fourth nest ? Thirdly, when the first 

 nest has been taken, and the second built, and duly 

 furnished with its full complement of eggs, what of 

 the second vandal ? he of course must have his clutch, 

 remarking under his breath, " Of course, the bird will 

 lay another lot." Exactly ; but what I fail to see is 

 just this : when does the bird's chance begin to come 

 in? This part of the subject, the most important 

 part, seems to hang fire, and I shall be glad if some 

 vandal will enlighten me. If this cannot be explained, 

 it only shows the rottenness of their arguments. — 

 Arthur Hollis, Grantham. 



Birds' Eggs. — Is it known that the colour of 

 birds' eggs can be removed with soap and water ? A 

 lady friend of mine, a short time back, was cleaning 

 some small eggs, and, to her dismay, found she was 

 removing the colour. — W. JV. Reeves. 



Occurrence of the Spotted Crake [Porzana 

 marnetta. Leach), near Glasgow. — A fine young 

 male of this species was found dead at Fossil, about 

 two miles north-west of Glasgow, on Sunday, Sep- 

 tember 1st. When found it was still warm, and was 

 supposed to have killed itself by flying against a 

 wire fence near which it was lying. This species, so 

 far as I am aware, has not been recorded for the 

 west of Scotland north of the Clyde. — J. Macnaught 

 Campbell^ Glasgow. 



Tadpoles of Frog.— In Science-Gossip for a 

 recent month, page ,197, Mr. Ullyett asks whether 

 the tadpoles of the common frog ever go through two 

 seasons before their metamorphosis. I do not think 

 that in a natural condition they ever do remain in the 

 tadpole state for a second year, but if you confine 

 them in an aquarium with glass sides, so that they 

 cannot emerge from the water to breathe air, they 

 will remain for a long time beyond the usual period 

 as tadpoles. I made an experiment with tadpoles in 



1887 ; the bulk of them changed to frogs in the month 

 of June, but one that I confined in an inverted bell- 

 glass remained a tadpole till November, when I 

 unfortunately lost it. I was led to make this 

 experiment because there were some tadpoles of the 

 American bull-frog confined in the Brighton 

 Aquarium, one of which remained a tadpole for more 

 than two years and showed no signs of changing to a 

 frog. On inquiring about it during the summer of the 

 third year, I found, much to my regret, that it had 

 been heedlessly lost when the water was changed. — 

 y. yenner Weir. 



Deferred Metamorphosis of the Tadpole. — 

 In reference to Mrs. Ullyett's paragraph last season 

 (1888), I had some tadpoles still undeveloped right 

 into the middle of the winter. They lived under 

 fairly natural conditions, in a small pond formed by a 

 shallow tub sunk in the ground, and containing 

 alisma, lobelia, and other aquatic plants. They grew 

 to a large size, and I hoped to find them in the spring, 

 but they had vanished. — W. P. HamiUoriy Shrewsbury. 



The " Crystalline Stylet " in Slugs. — It is 

 a matter for regret that a clerical error of mine 

 respecting the occurrence of the " crystalline stylet" 

 in the stomach of a gasteropod should, owing to 

 various circumstances, have remained uncorrected 

 from the proper quarter until it had given rise to 

 some controversy. When writing the paragraph 

 containing this statement, in " Life-Lore " for March 

 last, I had parmacella in mind, but ought, properly, 

 to have written " bivalves " instead of " slugs " in 

 connection with the occurrence of the " stylet " in the 

 stomach. With the "stylet" in the stomach of 

 pholas and anodonta, I am quite familiar, also with 

 the " stylet " in parmacella ; but in parmacella the 

 "stylet " is an accessory to the reproductive organs, 

 not the stomach. It is, perhaps, unfortunate that 

 the name *' stylet " should have been applied to these 

 differing organs in the anodons, &c., and parmacella, 

 since it is hable to cause confusion. I am not aware 

 that any of our British slugs possess an organ similar 

 to the "stylet" of parmacella, which is very curious, 

 has long been known, and is well figured by Webb 

 ("Mag. de Zool.," 1836, pi. 76, fig. ii. and 6g. v.), 

 also by Sinroth (loc. at.). — P. Standen. 



Var. of H. aspersa. — Mr. Deny's variety of 

 Helix aspersa referred to on p. 215 ante, is probably 

 Picard's var. conoidea, which was described in 1840. 

 The description in my "Handbook" is "shell an 

 elongated cone, thin, fragile ; mouth small." They 

 are not very common. If Mr. Deny is willing, I 

 should like to see it ; I could then positively refer it 

 for him to its right variety-name. — y. }V. Williams^ 

 Middlesex Hospital, W, . 



Shells from the North- West London Dis- 

 trict. — In the September number of Science- 

 Gossip, Mr. Cockerel! alludes to Paludina vivipara. 



