Oct. 1, 1S69.J 



RARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



231 



beauty and immense profusion, there scarcely being 

 the smallest corner of the earth that will not pro- 

 duce them, make them objects of extreme interest 

 to the microscopist. If any one will get my paper 

 on " Vaccination versus Nature " of the publishers, 

 475, Oxford-street, they will, on reading that, see 

 how important it is that our knowledge of the 

 micro fungi should be increased as soon as possible. 

 Every observer has it in his power to do a little, and 

 in a case like this he will have the satisfaction of 

 knowing that he is not only revelling amongst a 

 very profusion of forms of the most extraordinary 

 beauty, but that, however little original observation 

 he may produce, he is paving the way to free the 

 human race of some of the most dreadful diseases 

 to which it is subjected. If any of our micro- 

 scopists will obtain Mr. M. C. Cooke's work on the 

 micro fungi — read that, get a foundation for their 

 knowledge, and then buy a number of tumblers or 

 glass vessels or pots of any sort filled with water, 

 and commence a series of original observations by 

 dropping all sorts of animal and vegetable products 

 in the said vessels — take the common house-fly to 

 begin with — they will be surprised what a wide 

 field for discovery lies within their grasp, wonders 

 infinitely more astonishing than were ever dreamt 

 of in the brain of the most infatuated of opium- 

 eaters. Let them pencil down in sketches and notes 

 everything they see, and in a short time they will 

 be thunderstruck at the amount of original facts so 

 easily obtained; they will be surprised that the 

 mightiest problems that sway the world are close 

 under their very nose, patiently waiting to be 

 brought to light. They will then find how mistaken 

 they have been to run 300 miles after Smithii, 

 Brownii, Jonesii, and Robinsonii, when by their 

 own fireside the greatest, the most sublime wonders 

 in creation have been constantly bobbing in their 

 eyes, and buzzing in their ears. 



If only for the sake of suffering humanity, I ap- 

 peal to my fellow- workers to tender their mite to- 

 wards this great object. 



Macleod of Skye. 



INSECT VISITATION. 



"VTOREOLK has shared in the advantages derived 

 -*-* from the timely visit of immense flights of 

 ladybirds, and the plague of aphides, from which 

 vegetation was suffering severely, has rapidly disap- 

 peared before them. There has been great discus- 

 sion as to how far we are indebted to immigration 

 for these friendly visitors, and from whence they 

 came ; of course opinions differed greatly, but I am 

 inclined to believe we need not revert to that 

 shadowy land, " the Continent," to account for their 

 presence. 

 In my own garden there have been immense num- 



bers ; but the number of larvae I observed was also 

 very great. Their onward movement in search of 

 fresh supplies of food would, I think, account for 

 their congregation on the shore, which has led to 

 the impression that they had just arrived in this 

 country; but their flight, although strong and rapid, 

 is not sufficiently sustained to carry them far over 

 the sea, into which they would drop exhausted and 

 perish. 



In support of this view I will mention a circum- 

 stance which occurred off the Norfolk coast on the 

 21th July. A yacht belonging to Mr. Cresswell, of 

 Lynn, sailing off Hunstanton, passed through a 

 mass of dead ladybirds, accumulated on the surface 

 of the wafer, about ten feet broad, and extending 

 for two or three miles, bearing the appearance of a 

 black stripe on the water. 



This occurred in the Wash, about nine miles from 

 the Norfolk and thirteen from the Lincolnshire 

 shore ; the wind was very light in occasional puffs 

 from off the Norfolk shore, and the exact locality 

 the entrance to a channel called the " Bulldogs." 



Mr. Cresswell accounts for the presence of this 

 vast mass of dead ladybirds as follows : — At low 

 water there are uncovered sands, with pools and 

 channels between' them, extending from the shore 

 to the navigable channel called the Bulldogs ; he 

 presumes that the mass of dead ladybirds in the 

 Bulldogs were drowned by the rising water covering 

 the sands on which they were, and brought by the 

 current into the vast mass the Wild Buck passed 

 through, which bad accumulated on the crown of 

 the sands. 



There is very little doubt these ladybirds left the 

 Norfolk shore, and alighting on the first uncovered 

 spot they came to, were saved from dropping ex- 

 hausted into the sea, only to be drowned by the 

 rising flood which covered their island resting-place. 

 But had they possessed the strength to renew their 

 flight, and chance directed them either to the Nor- 

 folk or Lincolnshire coast, any person witnessing 

 their return would probably have been impressed 

 with the belief that they were a fresh arrival from 

 "the Continent." 



At the same time and place the Wild Buck was 

 surrounded by an immense swarm of what at the 

 time were believed to be wasps, but which from the 

 description I have no doubt were Syrphidse, of at 

 least two species, one much larger than the other. 

 These were so numerous that they were swept from 

 the sails in thousands, and whilst one man steered, 

 another had to be employed in brushing them off 

 him ; as it was, they did not escape being bitten, the 

 bite being attended with considerable pain and 

 swelling. 



These Syrphidae have probably accompanied the 

 ladybirds in their flight ; but their superior powers 

 on the wing had saved them for the time from the 

 fate which had overtaken the latter ; only for a time 



