HAKDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



G5 



metrica, Paddingtou goods - station ; Fissidens 

 bryoides, Hampstead, near Pincliley Road ; ¥. taxi- 

 folius,Co[ney Street ; Hi/pmm confertum, St. Albans ; 

 H. ndahuhm, Kensal Green and Higligate; U, 

 prcelovgim, Hampstead ; U. striatum, H. tamarisci- 

 mm, H. splendens, Sbenley ; E. . cuspidafum, Roe- 

 bampton; H.fluitans, KensalGreen and Hampstead; 

 H. compressiforme, St. Albans ; //. denticulatum, 

 Highgate ; Scapania imdidata, Hampstead ; Junger- 

 mannia inflata, "Wimbledon ; Lophocolea bidentata, 

 Sbenley. — //. Franklin Parsons, M.J). 



ZOOLOGY. 



The Crystal Palace Aquarium.— A capital 

 guide-book to tlic Crystal Palace Aquarium has 

 just appeared, written by Mr. W. A. Lloyd, the 

 superintendent of the aquarium. The great in- 

 terest in natural history which this beautifully- 

 fitted-up aquarium has already elicited will be in- 

 telligently ministered to by this little handbook. 

 It contains a brief history of aquarium-building, 

 and a detailed explanation of the principles upon 

 which that at the Crystal Palace is constructed. 

 Then follows the natural history of the various 

 animals living in the several tanks, with such 

 original notes of their habits, &c., as have been 

 studied since they were placed in their new house. 



The Great Auk.— Dr. Hayes, in his work on 

 Arctic travel, just published, records a visit to 

 Greenland, and, speaking of Mr. Hansen, a natu- 

 ralist there, says :—" To the study of the birds of 

 the region and their habits he has devoted much 

 attention. The Great Auk, long since supposed to 

 be extinct, he told us had recently been seen on one 

 of the Whale-fish islands. Two years before one 

 liad actually been captured by a native, who, being 

 hungry, and wholly ignorant of the great value of 

 the prize he had secured, proceeded at once to eat 

 it, much to the disgust of Mr. Hansen, who did 

 not learn of it until too late to ccme to the rescue. 

 Mr. Hansen was at this time Governor of Godhavn, 

 Disco Island, and had previously been Governor of 

 Proven and Upernavik." 



Musical Mice. — As this subject has been dis- 

 cussed in our columns lately, it will not be out of 

 place to draw attention to an article in the American 

 Natt(ralist, in which Dr. Lockwood gives a descrip- 

 tion of a singing vesper-mouse {Hesperomys). The 

 mouse in question was brought from Florida, and, 

 at first, the twitterings were ascribed to swallows. 

 One day the mouse came on the hearth, sat up, and 

 sung for a minute or so, and then retired. Eventually 

 it fell into Dr. Lockweod's hands, so that he could 

 minutely study its habits. It was at night that its 

 song usually began, and so distinct were its notes 

 that Dr. Lockwood had them written down, and 

 they are given in the article to which we are now 



referring. The notation in some parts much re- 

 sembles that of the nightingale, only that it is in a 

 different key. The scope of the notes was remark- 

 able, falling an octave with all the precision possible. 

 The mouse would burst into song, like a bird, all on 

 a sudden. One song, named and written down by 

 Dr. Lockwood as the " Grand Role," was singular 

 for its strange diversity of changes. So soft and 

 silvery were the notes, that the author remarks that 

 if they had been uttered by a canary the bird would 

 have been worth a hundred dollars ! This singing 

 would sometimes last as long as nine minutes. The 

 doctor is utterly opposed to the idea that this singing 

 was due to bronchial disease, and gives undoubted 

 reasons for his belief ; amongst others, that most of 

 the notes uttered were those it would have been 

 most impossible to have sounded under any form 

 of bronchial alfectiou. 



PiKE-EisiiiNG IX Norfolk. — Norfolk is the 

 Paradise of the Pike. We may read in the news- 

 papers of his growing to an enormous size in some 

 solitary fishpond, where, for aught we know, he may 

 have reigned supreme since the days when the pre- 

 Elizabethan monks placed him there as a young 

 pikerel. But nowhere does the average size of 

 pike equal their condition in the Norfolk rivers 

 and broads. There you find them in all ages and 

 sizes— from the three-inch jack just trying his 

 "prentis ban' " on equally juvenile roach and dace, 

 to the still growing, elderly individuals over three 

 feet long. Their number is legion; and Norfolk 

 pike-fishing, in my estimation, beats both trout- and 

 salmon fishing for right-down good sport. If you 

 are inclined to be sentimental, and to subscribe to 

 Mr. Preeman's views about hunting, you have the 

 satisfaction of knowing, when pike-fishing, that you 

 have not lured poor herbivorous creatures to their 

 destruction, but simply caught the carnivorous can- 

 nibal that intended to do unto others what you intend 

 to do to him !— /. F. Taylor, in " Belgravia." 



The Butterflies of the Channel Isles. — As 

 these islands are a very favourite resort of tourists 

 and naturalists during the summer months, it may 

 not be uninteresting to the readers of Science- 

 Gossip to hear what my experience has been, and I 

 am the more induced to send these notes for insertion 

 in your excellent Magazine because it was not until 

 the end of a long stay in Jersey that I caught any- 

 thing worth mentioning. In this island it is only 

 the south-cast district which contains rare Lepi- 

 doptera. Between the hills and the sea I found 

 C. edusa in profusion ; C. hyale came flitting by 

 now and then, and the rare P. daplidice was not 

 uncommon at midday. In the luceru-fields I found 

 A. lathonia; but this latter insect was very hard to 

 catch. The specimens of C. edusa which I caught 

 showed a decided richness and depth of colour which 

 the English specimens do not possess. In fact, on 



