Ai-ril 1, ]SG7.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



80 



Spawning of the Erog.— It may interest Mr. 

 Dansey and others to know that the earliest date 

 on which I noticed frogs spawning last year in the 

 vicinity of London was March 17th — in 1S65, 

 April 4th. About the best place to which micro- 

 scopists can repair for finding frogs in spring is the 

 market-garden ground by the Thames, between 

 Chelsea and Eulham. The gardens are intersected 

 by numerous ditches cut from the river for the 

 purpose of affording a ready supply of water for the 

 ground, and in these ditches the frogs spawn. The 

 walk: through these gardens is a very pleasant one; 

 as the orchards afford shelter for numerous yellow- 

 hammers, greenfinches, and other interesting birds. 

 — W. 11. Tate. 



Testacella Maugei is a snail not often found 

 in England. It is said to be a native of the Canary 

 Islands, and more than fifty years ago was trans- 

 ported into the nursery grounds' of an eminent firm 

 in business at Clifton, near Bristol, and is naturalized 

 in several localities in the West of England, pro- 

 bably sent out from the said nursery in the earth 

 with plants, in the same way in which it is supposed 

 to have been imported. It differs very much in 

 appearance, habits, and character, from our common 

 garden snail {Helix aspersa), or, indeed, from any of 

 the other varieties of land or water snails. It is a 

 ground snail of strictly carnivorous habits, pene- 

 trating the soil to the depth of two or three feet or 

 more, and preying voraciously upon earthworms ; 

 they are sometimes dug up in the act of devouring 

 a worm of large size, and admirably adapted is their 

 grinding apparatus (the palate) for this purpose. 

 When once the teeth are fixed in the worm, there is 

 no chance for its escape ; the teeth are long and 

 sharply pointed, and so numerous and strong, that 

 its victim is certain to meet with its death. The 

 palate differs from those of all other species, which, 

 by the bye, are all beautiful as microscopic objects, 

 but none are so peculiar, so extraordinary as this, 

 except perhaps that of the Doris tuberculata. It 

 polarizes verynicely when wellmounted, which should 

 not be done in balsam. Deane's gelatine is not an 

 unfit medium in which to mount it, and Remington's 

 (of Bradford) glycerine jelly answers well ; some- 

 times it is mounted dry, but I prefer the jelly_ 

 They are sometimes found in Devizes, but not in 

 large numbers, and only when the gardeners are 

 preparing their ground for crops, or digging up 

 their crops, the demand here for them, for the sake 

 only of their palates is great, and the price high, 

 comparatively. I have bought them at a penny each, 

 but siuce the demand has increased, so has the 

 price ; I have paid lately sixpence each for them. 

 Four or five years ago I turned a few into my walled- 

 iu garden, with an expectation and hope that there 

 they would colonize, but I have not since seen one ; 

 nor is this remarkable, as they are seldom seen 



above ground, and they arc so much the colour of 

 the ground that gardeners would not be likely to 

 notice them in digging unless they were looking 

 especially for them. They have no house on their 

 back as others have, but are provided with a small 

 shell near the posterior extremity, about one-fourth 

 of their length — a mere apology for a covering for 

 its body. When gliding along, the Testacella looks 

 more like a slug; but on close inspection it will be 

 seen that it has an appendage as above described. 

 Their interior structure appears to differ considerably 

 from others ; but I have not made a comparative 

 examination of their anatomical structure generally, 

 but of their palate only, which really is very remark- 

 able, and very large. I have no objection to exchange 

 one for a palate of either of the varieties of Testa- 

 cella. — /. J. Fox, Devizes. 



Winter Butterflies. — The Brimstone Butter- 

 fly {Gonepteri/x rhamni) made its first appearance 

 here on Wednesday, the 2Sth of February ; when I 

 saw it fly past my drawing-room windows. I hear, 

 however, that it was seen at Uckfield, our post-town, 

 four miles off, some days previously. On Saturday, 

 the 2nd of March, one of my female servants caught 

 a fine specimen of the peacock butterfly {Vanessa 16) 

 behind some newspapers in a storeroom, where it 

 had probably been hibernating. It was very lively 

 when first captured, and flew about in the sun; but, 

 as the day declined, it became very sluggish, and 

 finally died in the afternoon. The mean thermo- 

 meter on the day in question only reached 33'9", 

 while that on the grass descended to 24°. — IF. N. 



Water Boatman. — As a microscopist, of course 

 I possess an aquarium, need I say aquaria, if a 2oz. 

 bottle to a two-pailful glass tank are either of them 

 worthy of the name. At present I will treat only 

 of one in which I grow Vallisneria, Anacharis, &c, 

 &c. ; but independently of my vegetable life, I must 

 bring under notice one of the most interesting little 

 chaps in the animal line that I know of. I allude 

 to the water boatman, Notonecta glauca. The one in 

 my tank, however, does not appear to always swim 

 on his back, but uses his paddles in the truly legiti- 

 mate way ; he seems to find plenty to live on, and 

 the way in which he apparently rubs his nose and 

 then cleans his back, finally patting his own stomach, 

 would really do good to any of our city function- 

 aries. Altogether, let me recommend Notonecta to 

 possessors of aquaria.— John Bochett. 



Stag Beetle {Lucanus cervus). — A popular 

 belief in Germany is ttiat the Stag Beetle carries 

 burning coals into houses, by means of its jaws, and 

 that it has thus occasioned many fearful fires.— The 

 Mirror, xix., p. ISO. 



Origin of Crickets.— The Mormons say that 

 crickets are the produce of a cross between the 

 Spider and the Buffalo.— 7&w# and Brenchleij. 



