HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



*25 



suck the root bulbs. In favour of this view it may be 

 noted that no wound or blood is ever observed where 

 these flies have congregated. Perhaps some of the 

 readers of this may be able to throw light on the 

 subject. By the way, these flies are exceedingly 

 difficult to catch, and cannot be killed by a blow. 

 I have seen a man's fist brought down on one with 

 a force almost sufficient to crush a stagbeetle ; the 

 fly gave a little buzz of contempt, and flew to the 

 window. In flying their hum is scarcely audible, 

 and they alight on the face or hands without being 

 felt. They walk sideways, like crabs. Much hand- 



Fig. 106. — Scarce Merveil-du-Jour (Diphthcra 

 orion). 



Fig. 107. — Variety of Merveil-du-JoiirfZ>/>/*- 

 thera orion). See Newman's "British 

 Moths," page 248. 



Fig. 108. — The Cream-spot Tiger-moth (Chelonia villica). 



Fie. log. — The Clouded Buff-moth 

 (Eutliemonia russula). Female. 



somer insects, though certainly more ferocious and 

 formidable, are the Tabatii, of which we have several 

 species. Collectors are well aware of their blood- 

 thirsty propensities ; the bite of the little grey Hicma- 

 topota pluvialis is sharp enough, but woe betide any 

 one who gets a nip from that sanguinary monster, 

 Tabanus bovinns. His loud, booming hum is not 

 to be mistaken, but his bite is something to be re- 

 membered. I captured a couple while they were 



busy driving their lancets into the nether garments 

 (fortunately thick ones) of a companion. 



During last summer I took on the flowers of a 

 water-mint a very curious insect —apparently a bee or 

 ichneumon-fly — but it was remarkable by the entire 

 absence of even the rudiments of wings. A brief 

 description, abridged from my journal, may enable 

 some one to identify it, in which case I shall be 

 thankful for the name and any information about it, 

 as I have never heard of apterous bees. Length, 

 half an inch ; head, antennae, and legs, black ; eyes, 

 small ; ocelli, none ; thorax, bright chestnut-brown, 

 with parallel sides, sloping beneath, xvithout traces of 

 wings ; abdomen wasp-like, black, with three narrow 

 bands of pale golden silky hairs : apex of abdomen 

 acute and incurved. 



Before passing on to the botany of this district I 

 wish to say just a few words on two sections to which 

 I have not been able to give much attention, though 

 I have collected and noted a good number of species. 

 First, the arachnida — or rather, I should say, the 

 araneidte. Atypus Sulzeri, our British Mygale, is 

 probably a rare spider in the Forest, at least in those 

 parts with which I am familiar, for only one speci- 

 men, a male, has come under my notice. Lycosa 

 andrenivora is very common on our heaths, and so 

 is Tetragnatha extensa, with its long legs stretched 

 out in a straight line in the centre of its web above 

 a little stream or pool. Epeira umbratica, "a spider 

 of most villanous aspect," I have found in old posts, 

 and a pretty variety of Thomisns abbreviatus, of a pale 

 rose-pink colour, without a shade of yellow ; this 

 took on heath blossom, the hue of which it closely 

 approached — another instance of insect mimicry. 



Among the mollusca I have to record Clausilia 

 dubia — at least, such I take it to be. It measures 

 eight lines, while our C. rugosa only averages five ; 

 besides which, it is very much larger in every respect. 

 Helicella excavata is generally distributed, and, in some 

 woods, as Wilverley, very common. H. fidva, also, 

 I have found, and Planorbis contortus in some places 

 abundantly. The minute bivalve (Pisidium pusillum) 

 is very numerous, often in company with the delicate 

 little Carychium minimum — a shell so tiny that one 

 almost requires a lens to see it at all. 



(To be continued.) 



THE LOVES OF THE FISHES. 



COLD-BLOODED creatures are commonly not 

 credited with any great degree of moral ex- 

 cellence. The affections of parent and lover are 

 usually supposed to be wanting, and the emotion of 

 gratitude is probably never dreamed of in connection 

 with creatures so low in the scale of creation. Nor 

 probably is it right to invest them with any great 

 degree of eminence in this particular. Nevertheless, 

 however, it is a real fact that some fishes not only exhibit 



