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HARDWICKE'S SCI EN C E-GOSSI P. 



[.April T, 1SG9. 



Butcher's Broom. — I Lave observed the 

 Butcher's Broom (R/iscus aculeatus) in bloom, and 

 forming berries all this winter. Can any of your 

 readers inform me whether this is unusual, or if it is 

 due to the mild season? A friend of mine put a 

 piece of this plant into water last Christmas, being 

 then in flower : it has since formed and ripened 

 several berries, though not so large as usual. As 

 this appears to me unusual, I thought it might 

 interest some of your readers. — W. 0. 



Fisn-MoTH. — Could you cause me to be informed, 

 through the pages of your valuable journal, the 

 scientific name of a small insect called the fish-moth 

 about here ? It is wingless, rather like a shrimp in 

 form, and is found in old houses, being very destruc- 

 tive to silk and woollen fabrics. — JF. 0. 



Use of Stones by Spiders. — Upon this 

 curious circumstance, referred to in February, page 

 47, I offer another anecdote, corroborative of the 

 fact, which few may have seen, as it appeared in 

 the New York Gardeners' Magazine of the year 

 1841. A gentleman states thus: — "On passing 

 along one of my garden walks in Brooklyn the other 

 day, I discovered a spider's web constructed rather 

 singularly : it was suspended from a cherry-tree, 

 being attached to the trunk, and running out, with 

 numerous fastenings, at different distances, on a 

 large limb, which rose at an angle of perhaps thirty 

 degrees from the earth. This you may suppose 

 would make the web of rather a narrow triangle, 

 and one not likely to bring its proprietor much 

 custom. To enlarge its sweep, however, the spider 

 had, by some means or other, formed a comer 

 downwards, and suspended from it a little stone— say 

 half an inch in length, three-eighths in width, and 

 one-eighth in thickness — well secured in parachute 

 style, and hanging some eight or ten inches below. 

 This weight kept the web taut, and swung slightly 

 as the wind affected it, and there it remained for 

 several days. I had some curiosity to kuow more 

 of the projector of this contrivance, and on casting 

 my eye near the tree, where the thickening fabric 

 indicated his nest, I discovered a spider with a body 

 nearly spherical, of the size of a small cherry, with 

 crab-legs, and in all respects appearing ready for 

 business. 1 touched him slightly with a little stick, 

 upon which he made a motion towards it so sudden 

 and so impassioned as wellnigh made me jump, at 

 the same time striking the stick iu such a manner 

 as inclines me to think that had it been animated it 

 would have felt its venom." The latter part given 

 seems to savour of the romantic, since English 

 spiders usually feign death or run away when thus 

 attacked, but the idiosyncrasies of Transatlantic 

 individuals may lead them to act differently. There 

 is no doubt that stones or other weighty substances 

 are sometimes used by spiders in order to get the 

 equipoise they need. — J. II. S. Clifford. 



Spider and Stone.— With regard to the stone 

 suspended from the spider's web, as observed in 

 Scotland, and of which 1 gave an account in the last 

 December number, 1 have since been told by the per- 

 son who noticed it that, besides the long thread to 

 which the stone was attached, there were several 

 cross threads connecting it with one of the trees, 

 and ranged at about equal distances one above the 

 other. This wonderful arrangement was no doubt, 

 as one of your correspondents has suggested, a 

 means of keeping the web steady and distending 

 it.-/. F. D. 



Christmas Berries.— The writer of the article 

 pp. 13 and 14 of this year's volume must excuse my 

 saying that mistletoe has no right to a place among 

 Christmas berries. In Herefordshire, where it is 

 most abundant, and where the customs connected 

 with it are tenaciously adhered to, it is associated 

 exclusively with the new year. The reason for this, 

 and a very full and clear account of the mistletoe 

 and every thing connected with it, are to be found 

 in the " Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' 

 Field Club " for 1861. In that paper will be found 

 a complete list of all the oak-trees on which 

 mistletoe is at present known to grow, and of all the 

 kinds of tree on which it has been found. It is less 

 frequent on the oak than on most other trees. — 

 T. IF. 



Moth Courtship. — One day last July, whilst 

 watering our garden, I noticed a couple of the 

 common vapourer moths (Orgyia antiqua) whirling 

 round and round my head. Thinking this peculiar, 

 I stopped, and, moving to one side from the engine 

 which I was using, found that it, or something on it, 

 was the centre of attraction. After fluttering about 

 for some time, they reached the nave of one of the 

 wheels, and there alighted, when, upon stooping 

 down, I saw on the under side of the nave, in the 

 angle formed by it and a couple of spokes, a female 

 of the same species, in the act of emerging from the 

 pupa-case : so I pill-boxed the two males already 

 there, and by that time two or three more had 

 arrived. These I also pill- boxed, and then, having 

 removed the female, who had now quite freed 

 herself from her shroud, to another pill-box, which 

 I placed on the ground at a short distance from the 

 engine, I waited to see if any more males would 

 make their appearance, and, if so, whether they 

 were attracted by scent or sight, and I think that I 

 have pretty clearly proved that it was by the former, 

 and that from the case, and not the moth ; for, though 

 she was in an open box not more than a couple of 

 yards from the pupa-case, no more males took any 

 notice of her, while nine or ten hovered about the 

 empty case, and seemed to be looking in all directions 

 for her to whom they wished to pay their addresses. 

 With the vapourer, scent given off from the pupa- 

 case would be quite sufficient as a guide to the 

 whereabouts of the female, since her wings are so 

 small that they must be completely useless to her as 

 a means of locomotion. This is a parallel to the 

 instance of "moth courtship" mentioned by 

 "T. E. F." at p. ICG, Vol. IV. of Science-Gossip, 

 though not quite identical, for "T. E. F.'s" ob- 

 servations were on the buff ermine moth (Arcf'ui 

 lubricipedct), and the moth, and not the case, was the 

 attraction. Possibly this property of scent possessed 

 by female pupas and imagos (?) may be turned to 

 account by using them as "bait" for males. — 



J. w. a. 



Case Insect.—" R. G.'s " aquatic larva, living 

 within a case of pieces of the leaves of Potamogeton, 

 is probably that of llydrocampa nympheales, which 

 lives between two pieces of leaf united at the edges. 

 The eggs on water-plants are those of Stalls lutaria. 

 —11. McL. 



Cat-Haw t s, &c. — As your correspondent seems 

 to think that the local name Cat-haw is peculiar to 

 the East Riding, it may not be uninteresting to him 

 to know that it is generally used iu the North Rid- 

 ing also. The scarlet point of the hedge rose in the 

 same locality is called "cat-jugs." — IF. Wheldon. 



