HA R D WICKE 'S S CIENCE - G O SSI P. 



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some would lead one to think that a few might have 

 only recently emerged. I much doubt whether 

 Edusa could have anywhere been seen in greater 

 numbers than in this neighbourhood. North, south, 

 east, or west, whichever way one might wall< there 

 they were flying about. They seemed to have a 

 peculiar penchant for fields of Trifolin/n incarnafinn ; 

 neither 7-epciis nor pi-ate)isc possessed anything like 

 the attraction. My brother was fortunate in taking 

 two of the rare white varieties to which the name of 

 Helice has been given. I myself secured a female of 

 an intermediate tint between the white and the 

 ordinary orange. But my especial object in writing 

 these few notes is to elicit some information as to a 

 very beautiful form of the male insect which fell into 

 my net. In this case the hind wings are suffused 

 with a rosy-purple lustre, which, except that it is 

 redder, much resembles that of Apatura Ilia, or the 

 shining purple tips on the fore wings of several 

 African species of Picris or Aiit/wcaris. May 

 not this alteration of the orange into violet in 

 each instance be due to the effects of heat? I 

 have one other similar to it in my cabinet, 

 though not so brilliant, taken last season. I am 

 anxious to ascertain the opinions and observations of 

 entomologists concerning it. I have captured and 

 set numbers of Edusa, but have never seen this par- 

 ticular colour on any other specimen ; judging then 

 from my own experience, I am led to believe that it 

 is decidedly uncommon. Is not the butterfly itself, 

 however, becoming far more generally distributed ? 

 It used to be considered a prize, and for years I col- 

 lected without seeing a specimen, and then it sud- 

 denly swarmed, and lately not a season has passed 

 without its occurrence in greater or less abundance. — 

 yoscph Anderson, yun., Chichester. 



Mistletoe on Pink Hawthorn.— Some time 

 ago several letters appeared in Science-Gossip 

 respecting the trees on which mistletoe was known 

 to grow, and one of your correspondents asked if it 

 was ever known upon the Pink Hawthorn. It may 

 interest some of your readers to know that it does 

 grow upon the Pinlc Hawthorn, and that I have some 

 now growing upon one in my garden at Bewdley, 

 Worcestershire. I have never seen it upon pear-trees, 

 although I have some old ones in my orchard quite 

 close to apple-trees upon which a large quantity of 

 mistletoe is and has been growing for years. — Charles 

 H. Westley. 



Ruscius ACULEATUS {Cneou<holcn). — It may in- 

 terest some readers to know that the ancient name of 

 this plant, as mentioned by Mr. Kitton in his notice 

 of "An Anglo-Saxon Herbal" (page 50), still sur- 

 vives. I have known it for many years as Nehoine or 

 Nehone (I could not profess to spell it properly, as 

 the name has only come to me orally), and have 

 often wondered whence the word was derived. A 

 bundle tied as a brush is used by tanners to sprinkle 

 hides in some process of manufacture when it is 

 found necessary to moisten them but a little. A regu- 

 lar brash would hold and transmit too much water, 

 whilst a single drop only is shaken off the sharp 

 point of each leaf; it is also used by tobacco manu- 

 facturers for the same reason. It is an instance of the 

 superiority of Nature to Art in some manufactures, 

 similar to the use of teasels in dressing cloth. — 

 Alph. Smith. 



Moonlight Phenomena. — Any one who has 

 visited the promontory of Lleyn, in South Car- 

 narvonshire, will doubtless remember the pictu- 

 resque little village of Llanbedrag, the church and 

 few surrounding houses being snugly nestled at the 



foot of the fine projecting headland of Mynydd- 

 Cwmmwd, on the shore of Cardigan Bay. Upon a 

 bright moonlight night, some time ago, a phenome- 

 non was observed by a resident there, which I venture 

 to bring before your readers, wondering whether any 

 of them may have seen a parallel case, and can 

 explain the cause. The moon was shining in its full 

 brilliancy about nine o'clock p.m., its rays being 

 condensed, as it were, into a path of light across the 

 bay in the direction of Barmouth, giving the appear- 

 ance of a line of water, raised considerably higher 

 than the shadowed portion on each side ; along this 

 luminous pathway the water seemed full of life, as it 

 might be shoals of fish sporting themselves ; or else 

 bounding silvery waves playing across each other, 

 full of motion, whilst the sea on both sides of this 

 strange line of light remained perfectly smooth. 

 This has been observed more than once. — M. L. W. 



Egg Collecting. — In reference to Mr. W. T. 

 Van Dyck's unwarranted wholesale attack upon 

 Oologists as he somewhat sneeringly terms them, in a 

 recent number of Science-Gossip, I should like to 

 make a few remarks as to the utility and scientific 

 worth of making a collection of eggs alone ; not as 

 he would have it done, together with specimens of the 

 birds as well. Being a collector, and I flatter myself 

 an enthusiastic one, he has rather touched me in a 

 tender place. Firstly, looking at his theory of having 

 both birds, nest, and eggs, from a pecuniary point of 

 view. There are a good many collectors of eggs, and 

 real earnest collectors, not robbers of nests, with 

 whom it would be an utter impossibility to procure 

 the old birds as well as the eggs ; for it is not every 

 one who is able to walk about with a gun in his 

 hand, ready at any moment to bring down some luck- 

 less bird whose egg he may have in his collection, 

 besides taking into account its preserving when he 

 has got it. It requires no small share of this world's 

 riches, as perhaps Mr. Van Dyck will know, before 

 a man can carry a gun and use it, and it is not 

 only the mere carrying it, but also being able to 

 stand upon and walk over ground upon which he 

 may with safety discharge it ; I should say that it is 

 altogether a different thing carrying firearms in Syria 

 and doing the same in England (it means IDs. for 

 carrying it alone, without taking into account its use). 

 Again, many of the birds which breed with us, whose 

 eggs we could procure with safety, are no longer here 

 when we might do the same with them ; for I must 

 remind him that there is such a thing in England as 

 a law for the " Protection of Wild Birds," which 

 restricts their being either captured or killed within 

 a certain time, and before that time is passed many of 

 them have flown to warmer regions, or at least have 

 left their breeding places. There are also many 

 persons who could without feeling any pain or com- 

 punction take one or two eggs from a nest, who could 

 not slaughter a poor unoffending bird in the same 

 even-minded manner. Looking at his argument from 

 any point of view I am inclined to think that his 

 method of getting a truly scientific knowledge of 

 birds and their habits is by far the cruellest ; for he 

 would have a collection in which should be both 

 bird, eggs, and nest ; to procure which wanton 

 robbery must be committed. He would also wish 

 us to believe that scientific knowledge could not be 

 obtained without a stuffed specimen. I think dif- 

 ferently, for there is far more real knowledge to be 

 gained by a contemplation of birds and their manners 

 in their wild, unfettered and unstuffed state ; as I 

 think every earnest collector of eggs is in the habit of 

 doing, than any number of cotton-padded skins could 

 give. Does not many a collector when he is looking 



