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HA RDWI CKE 'S S CIENCE -GOSSIP. 



green colour. It is stated that when caterpillars of 

 this butterfly feed on the cultivated carrot, the 

 chrysalides are usually browTi. On August 6th a 

 very fine female emerged. The question naturally 

 arises, how came the caterpillars in a garden near 

 Brighton ? Has some entomologist been trying an 

 experiment ? Did a female escape from captivity and 

 lay her eggs ? Or has an impregnated female flown 

 across the Channel ? Any way, we may possibly hear 

 of the perfect insect being seen or caught in the 

 neighbourhood of Brighton during the present month. 

 The emergence of this female confirms the opinion of 

 continental entomologists that P. Mackaon is double- 

 brooded. — T. IF. Wojtfor. 



The Aquarium and Winter Garden at 

 Tynemouth, near Newcastle, is rapidly approaching 

 completion. The building occupies a commanding 

 position on the Long Sands between the town of Tyne- 

 mouth and the little fishing village of Cullercoats. 

 The entire basement is devoted to the Aquarium, 

 with its reservoirs and pumping-machinery, and the 

 show-tanks, of which there will be both a sea and a 

 fresh-water series, will contain upwards of 140,000 

 gallons of water. The plan adopted is the circulation 

 system, which has proved so successful in the main- 

 tenance of aquatic life at the Crystal Palace, Naples, 

 and elsewhere. Special arrangements are being 

 made for the culture of salmon and trout, and in con- 

 junction with the Aquarium, but out of doors, there 

 will be an enormous seal-pond, into which a supply 

 of sea-water will be pumped direct from the sea when 

 required. Mr. E. Howard Birchall has been ap- 

 pointed curator. 



The Sharp-winged Hawk-moth. — On the 

 29th of August I caught a specimen of the Sharp- 

 winged Hawk-moth {Charocampa Celerio) in one of 

 the rooms of our house. It is in splendid condition. 

 Is not this early for it to make its appearance ? — 

 //. Molony, Scaton, South Devon. 



" Potato Pests." — Under this head a cheap but 

 well got-up brochure has been published by Orange, 

 Judd, & Co., New York, the author being Dr. C. V. 

 Riley, the State entomologist of Missouri. It was 

 Dr. Riley who, three or four years ago, worked out 

 the life-history of the Colorado Beetle {Doryphora 

 \o-liueata, Say). In this little work we find the 

 entire story as to its progress and migrations re-told. 

 Nobody is better able to tell the story than Dr. Riley, 

 and from his publications anent this pest most of the 

 matter published in England has been obtained. 

 Dr. Riley has also just written another work, entitled 

 *' The Locust Plague in the United States," wherein 

 he has worked out the popular life-history of the 

 insect causing it, as he had done that of the Colorado 

 Beetle. 



Rorquals off Filey? — A Mr. Haxby, smack 

 owner, of Filey, told [me, about a week ago, that 



some days previously, when fishing for herrings oft' the 

 Yorkshire coast, between Scarborough and Whitby, 

 he saw three large whales, but was rather vague as 

 to their size ; they were as large or larger than his 

 smack, and might be perhaps nearly 100 feet long. 

 Might they not be Rorquals ? — R. M. Gordon. 



Close Time for Sea • Fowl. — The "close 

 time " for sea-fowl has been extended to the 1st of 

 September for the county of Northumberland and 

 the Fern Islands ; and to the 15th of August for the 

 East Coast of Yorkshire. Is there any reason why 

 the sea-fowl on other parts of our coast should not 

 share in this amnesty ? It is a grave reflection on 

 the ornithologists of Great Britain that we cannot 

 preserve our native birds from destruction ! 



BOTANY. 



Shining Moss. — A correspondent, in a recent 

 number of SciENCE-GossiP, asks for instances of the 

 growth of Schisiostega pemiata. There is, near this 

 place, a group of gritstone rocks, through which there 

 is a natural passage, on the sides of which this beau- 

 tiful moss grows in profusion. I have noticed that 

 the bright green metallic lustre is much increased in 

 damp weather. — Rev. H. Milncs, Winster Vicarage. 



" Pollen." — By this name an attractive-looking 

 book has just been published by Messrs. Hardwicke 

 & Bogue, 192, Piccadilly. It is written by M. P. 

 Edgeworth, F.L.S., and embellished by twenty-four 

 lithographed plates of pollen-grains, giving no fewer 

 than 440 objects. Since the division has been made 

 of all flowers into insect- and wind-fertilized, and the 

 fact made known that even the pollen-grains of 

 these two groups are strikingly different, the shapes 

 and ornamentations of pollen-grains have assumed a 

 new interest. We have long thought that in the 

 delineation and description of pollen-grains there lay 

 an unworked field for the microscope, and we are 

 glad to see that Mr. Edgeworth has taken up the 

 subject. All botanists will welcome this book. 



Popular British Fungi. — This is the title of a 

 well-got-up little work, by James Britten, F.L.S., 

 published at the Bazaar office. It contains descrip- 

 tions and histories of the principal fungi, both edible 

 and poisonous, found in Great Britain. Mr. Britten 

 is a well-known botanical author, and therefore such 

 a work as this, which ought not to be intnisted to 

 any other than experienced hands, may be thoroughly 

 depended upon. The illustrations are excellent, and 

 the style in which the book is written is clear and 

 attractive. 



"Veronica spicata," var. " hybrida," is 

 now in full bloom on the St. Vincent's Rocks, near 

 Bristol. We saw it recently, on a very dangerous 

 part of the rocks, where we hope it will remain un- 



