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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Sept. 1, 1S69. 



Sturgeon in the Wye.— I understand from 

 Mr. Alexander Miller, lessee of the Duke of Beau- 

 fort's salmon fisheries in the Wye, that a Sturgeon 

 was caught on Tuesday last at Tintern abbey, a 

 few miles above Chepstow. The fish was seven 

 feet long and weighed 128 pounds. — F. Buckland, in 

 "Land and Water." 



The Common Pea Crab {Pinnotheres pisum) 

 is an inhabitant of our own coasts, and frequently 

 found residing within the shell of the common 

 edible mussel ; but it is very remarkable that the 

 female crabs are very much more numerous than the 

 males, and that, although the male crab may be at 

 times captured at a distance from his strange 

 lodging, we know of no instance of a female being 

 taken in any situation but within the shell of some 

 mollusc. — Crab, Shrimp, and Lobster Lore. 



Defence of Colias.— I must say a word in 

 defence of my friends the Colias butterflies. The 

 writer of a paragraph in the Dec, 1SGS, number of 

 Science-Gossip mentions having caught fourteen 

 specimens of the Edusa in one week. Now, 

 although they may occasionally be comparatively 

 common in the south of England, it is not always 

 the case, and in some parts, including the locality 

 from which I write, the Edusa is scarce, and the 

 Hyale or Europome much more so. I have never 

 seen one of the latter on the wing. Considering 

 how many enemies they already have in birds and 

 cold winters, not to include the wanton destruction 

 by boys, it does seem a pity to kill so many, when 

 probably a much smaller number would suffice the 

 collector, if carefully caught ; and I think your cor- 

 respondent must have done his best to exterminate 

 the Edusa for the present from the neighbourhood 

 he mentions. As the pursuit of natural history 

 becomes increasingly popular, it behoves all true 

 lovers of nature to set the example of preserving, 

 rather than destroying, the rarer kinds of both 

 plants and animals. — Falmouth, Aug. 9th, 1SG9. 



Sand Worm {Pectinaria Belgica). — "On the 

 outside sands," says Professor Kingsley, "between 

 the end of the Marina and the Martello tower (at 

 Hastings), you may find at very low tides great 

 numbers of a sand tube, about three inches long, 

 standing up out of the sand. I do not mean the 

 tubes of the Terebella, so common in all sands, 

 which are somewhat flexible, and have their upper 

 end fringed with a ragged ring of sandy arms; 

 those I speak of are straight and stiff, and ending in 

 a point upward. Draw them out of the sand— they 

 wdl offer some resistance— and put them into a vase 

 of water ; you will see the worm inside expand two 

 delicate golden combs, just like old-fashioned back- 

 hair combs, of a metallic lustre, which will astonish 

 you. With these combs the worm seems to burrow 

 head downward into the sand ; but whether he 



always remains in that attitude I cannot say. His 

 name is Pectinaria Belgica. He is an annelid, or 

 true worm, connected with the serpulse and the 

 sabellse, and holds himself in his case like them, by 

 hooks and bristles set on each ring of his body. In 

 confinement he will probably come out of his case 

 and die, when you may dissect him at your leisure, 

 and learn a great deal more about him thereby than 

 (I am sorry to say) I know." 



Brighton Anemones.— Of tbe Actiniadte severa 

 species are found on our coast, or are procured by 

 dredging. Anthea cereus is here obtained of a green 

 colour ; its numerous tentacles, which are not re- 

 tractile, are tipped with purple. It is, for an 

 actinia, active in its habits, and very voracious. Of 

 Sagartia we have six species, namely S. troglodytes, 

 which is found on rocks between tide marks, fre- 

 quently in the deserted holes bored by the pholas, 

 S. aurora and S. Candida ; also S. parasitica, whose 

 favourite place of abode is on the shell inhabited by 

 the hermit crab, or on Pecten maximus ; S. bellis 

 and Actinoloba dianthus, formerly called Sagartia 

 dianthus, which is generally considered the hand- 

 somest of the British species. A. dianthus is 

 gregarious, being frequently found in considerable 

 numbers in the coralline zone, or on scallop or 

 oyster beds. It also frequents pools between tide 

 marks. Sagartia bellis is also gregarious. Of this 

 species there are six varieties. The genus Bunodes 

 derives its name from its rough and warty skin. 

 We have three species— namely, B. Gemmacea, 

 B. clavata, and B. crassicornis, the largest of our 

 sea anemones, and the most common of the genus. 



It is generally found near low-water mark 



The species of Actinia most common on our coast is 

 A. mesembryanthemum, which is abundant between 

 tide marks. Six varieties, distinguished, as in the 

 case of the other Actiniadce, by their colour, have 

 been found along our coast by Mr. Pike. A. mar- 

 garitifera has also been found here, but is less 

 common. — Merrifield's Nat. Hist, of Brighton. 



Badger in Cornwall. — One day last month a 

 fine badger was captured [in Burnewhall cliffs, St. 

 Buryan, Cornwall. I fear before very long they will 

 become extinct in many parts of the country. I 

 have not heard of one being met with in Cornwall 

 till now for some years. — LL. Budge. 



Collas edusa in Reading.— On the morning 

 of the 24th of last month I had the pleasure of 

 seeing close to our town a dozen of the above 

 insect, and of capturing one of them, a male. As 

 Mr. Stainton in his "Manual of British Butterflies 

 and Moths " does not give us Berkshire in his list 

 of places where it has been met with, this new 

 locality for the " clouded yellow " may be of 

 interest to some of your many subscribers. — Henry 

 Moses, M.D., Bainton House, Reading. 



