HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



257 



preserving the skins, I use a glass tube bent as 

 shown, and drawn to a fine point, the upper side of 

 the point being straight. The skins are held upon the 

 tube by means of a fine steel spring, tied to the tube ; 

 they are then blown out with the breath and dried 

 over the flame of a common paraffin lamp, care being 

 taken to keep them distended with the breath whilst 

 drying. The bend in the tube is to prevent any 

 moisture from the mouth entering the skin ; when 



T 



Fig. 195. — Tube for preserving Larva:, length about 18 inches. 



quite dry they are easily detached from the tube and 

 mounted with gum upon stems of grass, or twigs. 

 The hairy larvce are soaked previous to drying in alum 

 and water to keep the hair from falling off. To test 

 when properly dried, the air has only to be exha-usted 

 from the tube, and the part of the skin not dry 

 immediately doubles up. This is a simple method, and 

 necessitates the use only of the one tube. — T. W. 

 Harris. 



Urticating Moths. — It may not be generally 

 known that the imagines of Liparis auriflua and 

 chrysorrhcea possess the same urticating properties as 

 the larvre. One day last August I was conveying a 

 gold-tail, which had just emerged in my breeding- 

 cage, to the poison-bottle, and in doing so let it fall 

 up my arm — between the flesh and my shirt-sleeve. 

 It remained there but a second, as I immediately 

 gave a shake and got it down again without any 

 damage to the moth ; but in less than ten minutes my 

 arm looked as if stung with nettles, and the irritation, 

 which was almost unbearable, continued for nearly 

 two hours. About this time my brother, Mr. Arthur 

 Anderson, of Salisbury, captured a gold-tail, which 

 he carried home in his hat. Like myself, being un- 

 acquainted with the poisonous nature of the perfect 

 insect, he was surprised to see his forehead covered 

 with little bumps, causing an intolerable itching. So 

 bad was it that he went to a medical man for advice, 

 who told him he must have checked the perspiration, 

 and accordingly gave him some medicine. Mention- 

 ing the circumstance one day to him of the moth 

 falling up my sleeve, and the effects, he exclaimed, 

 "Then that accounts for my forehead." In the 

 summer of 1876 the hedges by the side of our canal 

 •were absolutely swarming with the larvae of Liparis 

 ehrysorrhosa, and, strange to say, I experienced far 

 greater discomfort after the moths had left the 

 cocoons, as I could scarcely walk by the hedges with- 

 out face, neck, and hands suffering severely, and I 

 dared not beat them for moths for months afterwards. 

 The reason of this may possibly be, that as the moths 

 emerge the hairs which are so plentifully used in the 

 construction of the cocoons are set free. Surely there 

 must be some poisonous property in the hairs, the 



simple penetration of the skin could not cause such 

 discomfort ; and again, many hairy caterpillars, such 

 as A crony eta Aceris, the Arctia lubricipeda and Men- 

 t/iastri, shed all their hairs, and with them line their 

 cocoons, and yet may be handled with impunity. In 

 the case of the imago I am inclined to believe that the 

 irritation is caused by the white hairs which fringe the 

 inner margins of the wings and not the golden tail- 

 tufts, as I have rubbed the latter over my hands with 

 no unpleasant results. I have bred specimens this 

 year of Liparis chrysorrhcea with spots on the fore- 

 wings much blacker than auriflua, more like Arctia 

 Mentkastri, the insects in each case being males. 

 Newman says of chrysorrhcea, "all the wings white," 

 and Stainton " satiny white, spotless, F. W., rarely 

 with a black spot near the anal angle," so that I 

 imagine the presence of spots is somewhat uncommon. 

 The beautiful larva of auriflua is well known, that 

 of chrysorrhcea, though very abundant where it 

 does occur, is far more local ; singular it is that 

 caterpillars so dissimilar should produce imagines of 

 such close resemblance. — Joseph Anderson, jun., 

 Chichester. 



A Superior Mode of Killing Insects. — Dr. 

 J. M. Eder has communicated to the Zool. Botan. 

 Verein at Vienna (Verhandl. 1S78, Sitzungsb. p. 19), 

 a mode of killing insects, especially Coleoptera, which 

 he has used for many years, and finds superior to others, 

 inasmuch as its action is more rapid, and the colour, 

 hair, or scales of the insects are not affected by other 

 agencies. All that is required is a wide-mouthed 

 glass bottle, having a cork fitted tightly : into the 

 bottle are put some pieces of stout blotting paper, 

 and on these three or four drops of bisulphide of 

 carbon (Schwefelkohlenstoff ) ; of this supply sufficient 

 for the service of a day or two may easily be carried 

 in a small bottle in the waistcoat pocket. When an 

 insect is put into the bottle and the cork quickly 

 replaced, death ensues instantly, or in the case of the 

 largest beetles, within a few seconds, and the bisul- 

 phide, by reason of its volatile nature, being immedi- 

 ately vaporised, the insect is dry, and its condition 

 in no way injured. Occasionally, if the bottle be often 

 opened, a drop or two of the bisulphide must be 

 added, in any case it is essential that the cork be 

 replaced directly and firmly. The bisulphide is also 

 very effective in exterminating Ptinits fur and An- 

 threnus, and it is further recommended on account of 

 its being cheap and easily obtained. 



Red Sea-weeds and Animalcula. — In the 

 October number of the " Zoologist" (now one of the 

 liveliest and best edited of our scientific journals), there 

 is a capital abstracted translation of a remarkable 

 paper by Dr. Dodel-Port, entitled " The Fertilisation 

 of Red Sea-weeds by Animalcula." This paper is an 

 ingenious endeavour to show that the non-locomotive 

 spores of such red sea-weeds as the Floridere are 



