HARDWICKE'S S C IE M GB- GOS SIP. 



281 



in tlic following quotation from Emerson's works 

 (Bell & Daldy), vol. i., " Nature," pngc ;235 : "All 

 over the wide fields of enrtli grows the prunella, or 

 Self-heal " 'i— Albert C. Keen. 



SrosGE Sand. — Some of your readers who, like 

 myself, arc beginners in microscopy, may be glad 

 to" know that the sand from the bottoms of spcnge- 

 jurs is sometimes full of foraminifera. The sand 

 "can be obtained from any oilman, and it is very 

 good practice in delicacy of touch to lake them out 

 on a damp needle-point under the compound micro- 

 scope without an erector. I got the hint from 

 Davies's " Pre])aring and Mounting," but he only 

 mentions spicules as being found iu it. — /. R. Daries. 



Keeping Curysalids.— 1 quite concur with_ 

 your correspondent H. Miller as to his mode of 

 ''keeping chrysalids." I have for some years past 

 kept a large number of pupai through the winter 

 in the same manner. I prefer the sides of my cages 

 being gauze rather than wood, as the lepidoptera 

 can obtain a better hold of it when they emerge, 

 and are Ihus less liable to fall and injure them- 

 selves before their wings are fully developed. My 

 cages are constructed in a somewhat similar way to 

 those of your correspondent. 1 obtain a box, such 

 as chocolate is generally sold in, upon which I build 

 up a framework with a door, and over the wliole of 

 this I glue coarse gauze. The construction of these 

 cages is very simple, and they are of much more 

 use than elaborate glass larvaria, as they possess 

 the advantage of allowing a free current of 

 fresh air to pass through tiiem, which glass cases 

 do not. If " hawk-moths," or other burrowing 

 larva? are to be fed within them, then the earth 

 should be employed; but if the larvae are such as 

 do not burrow before assuming the pupal state, the 

 earth may be advantageously omitted. I feed my 

 larva> in dilTerent cages, and remove them when in 

 the pupal state, to separate ones in which 1 keep 

 pupa?. I find it best to keep the burrowing pupa?. 

 in a separate cage to the other.«, witli the earth 

 slightly n)oist, and placed indoors where there is no 

 ike— II. A. Aidd. 



What are Whitebait? — Tn answer to a ques- 

 tion put by Mr. Lathbury, "Woreestei', respecting 

 whitebait, allow me to send you the following 

 extract from a ix'sumc of the researches of Dr. A. 

 Gilnther, of the British Museum, given at one of the 

 meetings of the Zoological Society, concerning the 

 distinctions between the diifercnt fish of the Herring 

 family. The British species of this impoitant group 

 are the_ Herring, the Sprat, the Pilchard (which 

 is identical with the sardines of the French coast), 

 and the two spcciesof Shad. These species are readily 

 distinguished from one another by the numbers of 

 their vcrtebme and that of their scales, the relative 

 position of the fins and that of the teeth. One of the 

 most important results arrived at by this eminent 

 ichthyologist is the absolute identityof the whitebait 

 and herring. In tlie last volume of the "Catalogue 

 of Fishes in the British Museum," Dr. Gilnther 

 describes the whitebait as a purely nominal species 

 introduced into science in defeienee to the opinion 

 of fishermen_ and gourmands, and states that all the 

 examples of whitebait examined by himself were 

 young_ herrings. The late Mr. Yarrell, who has 

 been followed by most naturalists, regarded white- 

 bait as a distinct/ fish; but the circumstances that it 

 has the same number of vei tebric (5G) as the mature 

 herrin?, the same number of lateral scales, and an 

 identical arrangement of fins and teeth— a combina- 



tion of characters found iu no other fish— prove 

 conclusively.that it is the young or fry of the herring ; 

 moreover, an adult whitebait in roe has never been 

 discovered. AYith regard to the eU'ect on the supply 

 of herrings occasioned by the destruction of the 

 young fry, it is probable that the number of eggs 

 deposited by the mature herring is so large and dis- 

 proportionate to the number of fish that attain 

 matuiity, that a capture of a portion of the fry could 

 have no appreciable result in diminishing the 

 multitude of nuiture fish. — JoJi<i, Rejjiiohh Salter. 



Queen of Spain Pritillary. — It may interest 

 some of your readers to learn 1ha^ I have taken 

 three specimens of the Queen of Spain Fritillary in 

 the neighbourhood of Deal, in the beginning of 

 October, two at Kingsdown near \V aimer, and one 

 among the Sandhills. — II. B. G. 



South London Entomological Society. — The 

 mend^ers of the Soutli London Entomological 

 Socinty intend to hold their first annual Exhibition 

 on Thursday, Doe. 13, 1S72, at Dunn's Institute, 

 Newington Causeway. Open from 7 till 10 p.m. 

 Admission by tickets only, which entomologists can 

 obtain free fiom any of the members or from the 

 Secretary, /. P. Barreit, 33, Radnor Street, 

 Pechham, by forwarding stamped envelope. 



CoMPASS-FLOWEK. — Longfellow, iu his beautiful 

 poem "Evangeline" makes mention of the "com,- 

 pass-tiower" as a plant to be found growing in the 

 prairies of North America : — 



"'Patience!' ttie priest would say; ' liavc faith, and 



thy prayer will be answered ; 

 Look" at this delicate plant that lifts its head from 



the meadow, 

 Sec how its leaves all point to the north as true as 



the mag;net ; 

 It is the c.impass-flower, that the finger of God has 



suspended 

 Here on its fragile stalk, to direct the trave'Iers' Journey 

 Over the sea-like, pathless, limitless waste of the 



desert.' " 



It would be interesting to me, and I think to others 

 also of the readers of Science- Gossip," if, out of 

 your many correspondents, some one could say 

 whether such a plant is known, and if so, to give 

 its botanical name, and also the claims it has to the 

 useful properties attributed to it by "Father 

 Pelician ;" or, docs the flower exist only as a crea- 

 ture of the poet's brain ? — James Pearson, 2IU>irow. 



Hedgehogs aud Chickens.— In reply to the 

 inquiry of Mr. W. II. McLachlan, "If the hedge- 

 hog was the autlior of their death ? " I beg to 

 inform him he doubtless was. Old hedgehogs are 

 destructive to small game or chickens. Wheo 

 staying at Catton (Norfolk) last year, my attention 

 Avas called one night to the very excited state of 

 one of the hens and the plaintive cry of her 

 chickens. ]\Iy brother went down, but failed to 

 discover anything, as he did not^ lift the coop. About 

 an hour afterwards I was awakened by the same 

 sounds. On going down myself I lifted tlie coop 

 and freed the hen, and then discovered, in one 

 corner, a large old hedgehog and under him two 

 young chickens partially eaten. Of course I killed 

 liim, and the hen reared the remainder of her brood 

 in peace.— i^. G. Cahltt. 



Paste Eels.— I have some Paste Eels, and 

 should like to know if there is any way of drying 

 the paste, so that the eels could afterwards be gene- 

 rated from \i.—A.P.S. 



