20 



HARD WICKE ' S S CIE NCE- G SSI P. 



when I saw what, for the moment, I imagined was a 

 little nest of spiders' eggs being blown along the 

 ledge ; but I perceived on closer inspection that the 

 object was not the usual dainty little spider's nest, 

 but a rather untidy, fluffy ball, about the size of a large 

 pea, and that the object was steadily and rapidly 

 moving along of its own accord, stopping now and 

 then for a second and then resuming its journey. To 

 my amazement, I then saw that the ball of fluff was 

 borne on the back of a little insect, greyish-white, 

 somewhat resembling the larva of the dermestes, and 

 that the untidy but spherical mass was surely com- 

 posed of cobweb, held on the creature's back by 

 being twisted about in and out among the long project- 

 ing hairs which were on the upper surface of the body. 

 The insect was about a quarter of an inch in length, 

 and bore on its head a pair of forceps about the size 

 of those borne by the common earwig, but for a 

 totally different purpose ; for, to my amusement, I 

 noticed that each time the creature paused it was to 

 pick up with these forceps some dead ant, or portion 

 of a dead insect ; legs, wings, scales of the common 

 wood-louse, or crumb of a thorax dropped from some 

 web after the meal of a spider ; and these fragments 

 were picked up so deftly, and in so droll a way did 

 the creature turn its head round, and carefully arrange 

 his treasure on his pack so as neither to lose it nor 

 his balance ; the movement was so cunning and so 

 curious, that I was forcibly reminded of the chiffoniers 

 in France and Italy, with their hook and their basket, 

 and of the "ole clo' " and his pack in England. 

 And, quoting Mr. Squeers, I involuntarily exclaimed, 

 " Well, Nature's a rum-un !" and called my friend to 

 watch the creature with me. For more than two days 

 I kept it in a small glass-lidded box, supplied it with 

 "ole clo'," and watched it constantly collecting and 

 packing ; but I never saw it feed, and one morning I 

 found that a large ant I had supposed to be dead had 

 attacked and eaten the creature, scattering the fluffy 

 pack and its contents all over the box. Some weeks 

 after this I received a note from a young friend at 

 Vevey, who from my description recognises the 

 " chiffonier," two of which, she says, "came towards 

 me, on the table in the garden where I was seated 

 reading, collecting and packing as you described." 

 From my friend at Bellosguardo I also, on my return 

 to England, received an account of one she had found, 

 and of which she thus writes : "I had half a mind to 

 send you one of those scavenger, or ' ole clo' ' insects 

 which Mr. P. found ; but could not arrange anything 

 that would insure its arriving alive. The pack on his 

 back is much less choice than the others, consisting of 

 parts of the bodies of dead flies, spiders' cobwebs, &c, 

 while he himself is much smaller. I feel quite sure it 

 is his food he collects, because the first night I put 

 him under a tumbler he ate the wings of his fly, the 

 only ornamental article in his collection. He is 

 exceedingly fond of sugar, has eaten, I am sure, twice 

 his weight, and has just added two small dead ants to 

 his load, under which he staggers visibly. His pack 

 is held on by long projecting hairs, and likewise 

 secured and strengthened by cobwebs." Whether we 

 have any "representative" insect chiffonier in Eng- 

 land I do not know, but thought this little sketch of 

 the insect might interest some of your readers. — 

 S. M. 



Peregrine Falcon. — It may interest some of the 

 readers of Science-Gossip to know that a young 

 male peregrine (Falco peregrimts) was shot at Moor 

 Street, in this neighbourhood, on the nth November, 

 1878. — Roland Green, Rainham, Ke7it. 



Superstitious Dislike of the Wren. — In 

 July's Science-Gossip a correspondent admits he 



has occasionally met with instances of this supersti- 

 tion, but has always been unable to trace the reason 

 for such an aversion. I may mention an old Irish 

 tradition or legend, viz., that the Saviour, as alleged, 

 withdrew Himself, and took refuge under a tree, de- 

 sirous to be concealed, and the Robin carried moss 

 and laid it over the tree, making the covering more 

 dense, which so pleased the Lord that He blessed the 

 bird, and putting forth His hand left the red mark on 

 its breast ; but the Wren came and carried away the 

 moss, and so exposed His retreat, hence it is the 

 "Devil's Bird."— Wm. Lipsett. 



Spiders' W t ebs. — Though I have often examined 

 spiders' webs in all sorts of odd corners, I have never 

 found any in cupboards where there was nothing for 

 them to catch. In fact, in most instances the webs 

 have had remains of flies, and especially moths, hanging 

 about them. I, therefore, though agreeing with the 

 opinion of your correspondent in the September num- 

 ber (the last clause excepted, which requires proof), 

 think that the webs are also intended for the purpose 

 of catching the semi-dormant moths and flies which 

 retire into these dark corners. Moreover, the webs, 

 though thicker and more closely woven, have always 

 appeared to me quite as well adapted to their purpose 

 as those anywhere else. — An Observer of Spiders. 



The Earth-worm.— Two or three days after 

 reading the interesting article by Professor Paley, 

 in Science-Gossip for June, on the habits, &c, of 

 the earth-worm, my attention was attracted by the 

 singular movement of the lower leaf of a geranium. 

 Moving closer to it I found this was caused by a 

 common lob worm, its hole being some distance 

 from the leaf, it had to reach almost the whole extent 

 of its body, catching hold of the leaf, it contracted its 

 elastic body, until it had it almost within the mouth 

 of the hole, but the leaf being still on the plant, it, of 

 course, sprang back to its original position. This the 

 worm attempted with great patience a number of 

 times, but eventually finding its exertions of no use, 

 it contented itself with a few pebbles, filling up the 

 entrance with them, in the same manner as explained 

 by Professor Paley.— C. B. 



Tenacity of Life in a Wasp.— Some time ago I 

 made an experiment on the insect above-named in 

 order to know something of sensation in the insecta. 

 Securing a wasp, I severed the head from the thorax, 

 and the thorax from the abdomen. In the thorax all 

 motion seemed to cease in a few moments, but in the 

 head vitality was maintained for several hours, and 

 the motion of the tongue out and in alternately was 

 performed with as much vigour as is usual to the 

 creature, then it gradually ceased. The abdomen 

 retained vitality for fully four days, and when touched 

 would contract and the sting be protruded. This 

 seems to me rather strange, as the abdomen is farthest 

 removed from the cerebral ganglion. — J. D. 0. 



Kestrels' Nests. — Thinking it may interest some 

 of the readers of Science-Gossip, I append a few 

 notes of four kestrels' nests which lately came under 

 my observation, showing a strange diversity in nesting 

 habits for birds of the same species. The nests were 

 — three of them placed in a fissure of a limestone 

 cliff, some thirty feet from the ground — and the fourth 

 among the stems of the thick ivy, which covered part 

 of the rock. In two instances, however, no nest at 

 all (in the usually-understood sense of the word) was 

 made, the eggs, five in number, being laid on the 

 scanty soil, which scarcely covered the rock. The 

 third nest, though in an exactly similar position, was 

 elaborately constructed of twigs and small roots, and 



