HARDWICKE'S SCIBN CE-GOSSIP. 



209 



Eversley — a very long time ago. But Coronella 

 Icevis has crossed the chalk hills. The first speci- 

 men found round here is due to a Sandhurst cadet ; 

 and I have had three or four more out of my 

 parish. I believe that the snake nmst have been 

 not uncommon in old times, but that it has been 

 killed by turf-cutters, who mistook it for the little 

 red variety of the adder. I did so once myself. It 

 is, let your correspondent bear in mind, perfectly 

 harmless. It should be looked for now to the 

 south-east of me ; in the moors of Aldershot, the 

 Hurd Head, Blackdown, Leith Hill, and all the 

 greensand moors of Surrey. It may have spread 

 thither from tlie south and south-west before the 

 parting of England and France. Meanwhile, I 

 want instances of its occurrence in the New Forest, 

 which — or the Boui-nemouth heaths — ought to have 

 been its first remaiuiug station in England. — 

 Charles Kingsley. 



New Additions to Zoology. — In the Annul- 

 and Magazine of Natural History for August, Dr. 

 C. Liitken describes a new species of black coral 

 {Antipathes arctica) from the Polar seas. This 

 family had hitherto only beeu known from warm 

 seas. It belongs to deep water, and Dr. Liitken 

 conjectures that it may exteud to all the deeper 

 valleys of the ocean. The " Black Corals " are 

 among the less known animal forms, and belong to 

 the horny corals {Gorgouirhe). In the same maga- 

 zine, Mr. H. J. Carter, F.U.S., describes a new 

 species of Aplysina, from the north-west coast of 

 Spain, under the name of Aplysina corneostellata. 

 This is a genus of horny sponges, devoid of foreign 

 objects in the core of the horny fibre. The same 

 well-known naturalist further gives a description of 

 two new sponges from the Philippine Islands, now 

 in the British Museum, named respectively Meyerina 

 claviformis and Crateromorpha Meyeri, Both were 

 discovered by Dr. Meyer. The total length of the 

 former is eighteen inches. Mr. Carter's summary 

 remarks concerning it are as follows: — " This is the 

 most exquisite sponge that I have yet examined as 

 a whole, and in its parts. Individually, its spicules 

 equal any in beauty of form, and collectively surpass 

 all." The August number of the journal in question 

 is rich in the record of new forms. Mr. John 

 Gould, F.Il.S., describes two new species of birds 

 from ]\Ianilla, under the names of Dicmtni retro- 

 cindum and Colluricincla parvissima. There is also 

 an account of a new genus and species of hydroid 

 zoophyte, named Staurocoryne Wortleyi ; whilst 

 Dr. J. E. Gray announces a new genus of unicellu- 

 lar green algae, from Port Natal, which he has 

 named Codiophylkm, 



Venus's Flower-basket.— Dr. A. B. Meyer has 

 brought home, and placed in the British Museum, 

 two specimens of this sponge in spirits, from the 

 Piiilippiues, which are entirely covered with a thick 



coat of sai'code like the bark on a Gorgonia, but 

 softer, so that the siliceous fibres are entirely hidden 

 from view. No one would suspect that this sponge 

 had such a beautiful lace-like structure, but simply 

 a netted or pierced tube, with irregular, circular, 

 thick hoops. The sarcode is of a brown colour, 

 most likely caused by the action of the spirit. 



Popular Natural History.— The address of 

 the Bev. H. H. Huggins, President of the Liver- 

 pool Naturalists' Field Club, just published, is 

 chiefly devoted to the above subject;. It is a capital 

 argument in favour of the elevating nature of 

 zoological and botanical pursuits, and contends 

 that the truthful study of nature is homage paid 

 to its Creator. 



The Wyandotte Cave and its Fauna. — Pro- 

 fessor Cope has contributed an elaborate article to 

 the American Naturalist for July on the above 

 interesting subject. He states that the Blind 

 Fish {Amblyopsis spePMus) is the same in the Wyan- 

 dotte Cave, which traverses the carboniferous 

 limestones in Crawford county in South-western 

 Indiana, as in the Kentucky Mammoth cavern. 

 Blind crawfish abound, but they are specifically 

 distinct from those of the Mammoth cave, though 

 nearly related to them. An isopod, specifically 

 related to a similar one in the latter place, was 

 also found blind. Four species of beetles were 

 obtained, all new to science, and two of them 

 belonging to the blind carnivorous genus Anopli- 

 thalmus. One of the others has rather small eyes. 

 Centipedes were more abundant than in the Mam- 

 moth cave, the species being also distinct, and 

 identical with tliat found in the caverns of Virginia 

 and Tennessee. It is eyeless, as is also Acantho- 

 cheir, a peculiar kind of spider. Professor Cope ia 

 in favour of the view which ascribes the origin of 

 these blind creatures to the modification of outdoor 

 species having eyes. 



Plant Lice. — The plant lice affecting the vines 

 to such a severe extent in France is still attracting 

 much attention. The French Academy has offered 

 a prize of twenty thousand francs to encourage 

 studies that will find a remedy to protect the vine 

 against the disease without destroying it. The 

 best remedy against the Fhylloxera, as it is called, 

 is the use of phenic acid, a substance nearly allied 

 to and resembling carbolic acid. 



New Chinese Animals. — The Abbe David, 

 who has recently made some very interesting dis- 

 coveries in China, has added to them a new species 

 of Ibis (J. sinensis), a new Falcon {F. tacroides), a 

 new Elanus {E. sinensis), and a new Salamander of 

 the genus Cynops {C. orientalis). He also men- 

 tions the discovery of a great fresh-water Tortoise, 

 attaining a weight of two and three hundred pounds, 

 supposed to be Chiria indica. 



