262 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



about li inch of hroken pottery and coarse 

 gravel, the rest with light soil and sand mixed, say 

 two of the former to one of the latter. On the top 

 of the earth place a layer of moss which has been 

 carefully looked over and cleansed of all insects 

 (this may be done by boiling water). The larva) 

 should be put in this receptacle when full fed ; a 

 sprig of the food plant can be put in with them, in- 

 serted in a small bottle of water; they will then 

 bury in the earth or spin up amongst the moss. 

 Chrysalids obtained by " digging " may be put in, 

 aud lightly covered up with enrth and moss. The 

 box may be kept indoors or out, or, what is best, 

 in a greenhouse; but it must uot be exposed to 

 much sun, and should be sheltered from an excess 

 of snow and I'ain, if out of doors. Now comes an 

 important question : some people object to damping 

 their pupa?, but my experience is the other way, 

 and I recommend watering the top of the moss 

 with a fine-rosed watering-pot about once a week ; 

 the moss will hold the water and create sufficient 

 moisture to dampen the earth, and the coarse 

 material at the bottom will insure any excess of 

 moisture draining off. If any mould be observed, 

 it will be due to flies, dead pupaj, or larvae, which 

 should be carefully removed. Of course, great 

 judgment must be used in damping. It is well to 

 examine the earth before watering; it should never 

 be allowed to become dry and caked, or, on the 

 other hand, to be wet. It is a good plan to rear all 

 larvae in a cage of this description, using small 

 bottles for the food plants; the cover may then be 

 made arched, or gabled, by means of splints covered 

 with strong gauze. (The jam-pots can still be used 

 for very young larvse.) It will, however, be neces- 

 sary to remove carefully from time to time anything 

 likely to engender mould. I can recommend the 

 above as a simple, economical, and successful 

 " breeding-cage." Of course, various improve- 

 ments may suggest themselves, in the shape of side 

 openings or doors, but they all entail expense, and 

 are conveniences rather than necessaries. I should 

 be glad to know the experience of other entomolo- 

 gists on this subject. — H. Miller, Ipstcich. 



Chrysalids. — In answer to your correspondent 

 Mabel Green, I beg leave to inform her that for 

 three years 1 have used a mixture of cocoa-nut 

 fibre and silver sand iu which to keep my chry- 

 salides. I find it vastly superior to mould, moss, 

 &c., as it retains its moisture longer. When the 

 caterpillar is about to change, I place it in a covered 

 box containing some fibre and sand, sliglitly mois- 

 tened. It will almost immediately retire below the 

 surface, and there change.— T, W. Harris, Junr. 



Keeping CATERriLLA.Ks. — In reply to query on 

 this subject (p. 237), I strongly advise Miss Mabel 

 Green to procure the Rev. J. Greene's " Insect 

 Hunters' Companion" (Van Voorst), second editiou,_ 

 which is an exhaustive manual on the subject of 

 collecting and rearing from the egg to the imago. 

 It would be impossible to give, in one short para- 

 graph, advice applicable to the rearing of all larvae, 

 as different species require different treatment. — 

 E. B. Kemp Welch, Bour?iemouth. 



Caterpillars. — The following might be of 

 nterest to your readers. I put a caterpillar into a 

 tin coleoptcra box lined with cork. On opening the 

 box a day or so afterwards, instead of the cater- 

 pillar there was on one side a little heap of cork 

 thrown up. I let it remain thus for some time, and 

 the other day cut round the edge of the oval mound 



with a penknife. The cork had been completely 

 eaten out by the caterpillar, and over the hole it 

 formed a perfect shell or cocoon, to protect the 

 chrysalis; which at present lies in the dormant 

 state.— /F. S. Palmer. 



DocKt\NETTLE.— Inreplyto "G.H.H." (p. 238), 

 I shall probably form one of a numerous batch 

 of respondents ; hut I can certainly testify from long 

 experience to the fact that the juice of the dock, 

 if applied while the sting is recent, immediately 

 allays the irritation. In fact, when nettle-stung, I 

 invariably look for a dock, as I suffer more from 

 irritation thereafter than most people, and have 

 never failed to find relief from the application. I 

 imagine the r/ioclus operandi to be chemical ; the 

 result of the oxalate of potass in the dock reacting 

 on the poison in the nettle hairs. In connection 

 with this subject, it may be worth mentioning to 

 any of your readers who suffer from the hairs of 

 urticaling caterpillars, that sweet oil rubbed in 

 affords immediate relief.— B. B. Kemp Welch, 

 Bournemouth. 



Dock v. Nettle.— In reply to "G. H. H.," I 

 think there is little doubt as to the efficacy of the 

 juice of the dock in soothing pain caused by the 

 sting of a nettle, the poison of the sting being 

 alkaline, and the juice an acid. It is a singular fact 

 in nature, that the property of the poison of the 

 sting of a bee or wasp is antidotal to that of the 

 nettle, and vice verm, the poison of the sting of the 

 former being an acid. — Jas. Pearson. 



h Nest in a Chignon. — The other day I ob- 

 served a curious object in a hedge, and on close in- 

 spection found it to be the nest of a field-mouse, 

 comfortably inclosed in the remains of what had 

 once been a very fair head of hair, with the flax 

 stuffing to denote its former use. I thought the 

 ladies might be interested to learn that even a dis- 

 carded chignon does uot cease to be of use. — W. 

 H. Crawley. 



Phosphorescence. — On Priday evening, August 

 30t.h, we witnessed a very curious phenomenon. 

 Between 9 and 10 o'clock we started for a walk 

 along the sands between Towyn and Aberdovey, on 

 the coast of Merionethshire. The two places are 

 distant about fourmiles, and along the whole space 

 between them is a broad expanse of beautifully 

 smooth and hard sand. The night was dark, and 

 there was a good breeze blowing from the sea (the 

 west). Soon after starting, one of our number 

 noticed what were for the moment considered to be 

 sparks of fire in the sand ; but a closer examination 

 showed that at every step we took, the sand 

 around the foot became suddenly illuminated with 

 a phosphorescent light just at the moment the foot 

 was planted on the sand, but in almost every in- 

 stance the light faded away immediately the pres- 

 sure was removed. The tide had turned about two 

 hours and a half, but we noticed the phosphores- 

 cence for the whole distance from high-water mark 

 down to the edge of the sea. On bending down to 

 look closely at the sand, the light appeared to be 

 produced by innumerable little luminous specks. 

 Where the sand was covered with a layer of water, 

 we noticed this luminosity, as well as where it 

 was comparatively dry. In some places, the light 

 appeared to a distance of twelve or fourteen inches 

 around the foot, while in others it was very slight. 

 The sand was quite dark until trodden upon or 

 disturbed in some other way ; and we observed no 



