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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[July ], 1S68. 



Hybernation of the Natterjack.— Is not 

 this a singular instance of what was certainly not 

 hybernation ? — though I am not Latin scholar 

 enough to know what name to give to the winter 

 sleep taken in summer. One of my little daughters 

 has a pet Natterjack. It was brought to her about 

 a year ago, when very young and small, by Mr. King, 

 and was placed in a fern case in my bedroom. She 

 giew so fond of it that she took it about with her 

 in a small case during three months' summer travel- 

 ling. At the end of October it was replaced in the 

 fern-case, and lived there most merrily all the winter, 

 fed on earthworms, as we could not get flies, and 

 grew very large. At the end of March it disap- 

 peared. Yesterday (June 2) thinking it must be 

 dead, we searched for and found it very deep down 

 under the roots of a fern. It woke up, was very 

 lively, took a good bath in a basin of water, and on 

 being replaced in the fern-case, amongst numerous 

 other reptiles, and at least thirty flies, instantly, 

 without honouring any of them with the slightest 

 attention, eagerly scratched itself a hole, and went 

 down, without touching one of the flies buzzing 

 round its nose. Does their nature so require the 

 sleep that if not taken in cold weather it must be 

 in heat like the present ? — L. II. P. 



Dreissena polymorpha. — I am anxious to collect 

 particulars respecting the localities in Great Britain 

 for this bivalve, and would be much obliged if any 

 of your numerous readers would favour me with 

 information on the subject.— T. G. P., Institution, 

 Parle Street, Bristol. 



Query on Mounting.— In reply to J. B., I have 

 not found anything do better to cleanse lenses and 

 slides than soft blotting-paper made into a roll, and 

 enclosed in a case, so as not to be touched by the 

 hand. The glass should be breathed on, and then 

 rubbed with the end of the roll, which should be 

 scraped with a knife after using to renew the face. 

 Any cloth used by hand almost directly contracts a 

 greasiness which it communicates to the glass ; but 

 if the paper be not used, a small quantity of chalk 

 is preferable to benzole or liquor potassse. — E. T. S. 



Parasites. —Towards the end of last month, 

 whilst collecting larvee, I took some from sallow ; 

 they were geometers about three-quarters of an 

 inch in length, but I was unable to identify them. 

 1 noticed that they were unusually stout, and was 

 surprised in a day or two by the appearance of one 

 or two objects very like the Gordiacece in their forms 

 and movements, but of a light greenish-yellow 

 colour. They are not bifid at one extremity. One 

 larva that had died— apparently more from want of 

 food than disease— and had become quite hard, I 

 opened at one extremity, and perceiving one of 

 these worms (I cannot say intestinal, as it occupied 

 the whole of the skin), 1 placed it in some water, 

 and in less than two minutes it bad emerged from 

 its covering. Being quite dead, I imagine this 

 movement was caused by the filling out of the 

 tissues by the absorption of the water, and thus 

 pressing upon the sides of the case formed by the 

 skin of the larva obliged its expulsion. The length 

 of this was six inches and a half. Prom one larva 

 two of these parasites came, one two inches and 

 three-quarters, and the other four inches in length, 

 Whilst alive, the larvae seemed sluggish in their 

 movements; it is indeed strange that they lived at 

 all haying such tenants. One would imagine thai 

 the pieces of food swallowed by the caterpillars 



were two small to contain the ova that produced 

 these worms, and yet I suppose this is the only 

 feasible mode in which to explain their manner of 

 ingress. Perhaps some of your correspondents can 

 throw some light upon the habits of these parasites. 

 — A. B. F. 



Scarecrows.— Those who complain of the de- 

 vastations committed by birds on their crops, and 

 who do not wish to kill many of them, have fre- 

 quently recourse to boys whom they employ to drive 

 them from the field or plantation. While the boys 

 are present they are much more effectual for this 

 than any inanimate scarecrow, but their great ex- 

 pense renders this method objectionable to many 

 persons, who are thus at a loss for some other plan. 

 Eor a small garden a bladder containing a small 

 quantity of gravel suspended by string between two 

 upright posts, or from a cross bar on a post, may by 

 the rattling sound which the least breath of wind 

 occasions be effectual in some cases. A human 

 figure cut out of tinned iron and painted black, may 

 be_ hung from this suspended bladder as a valuable 

 adjunct. A small clattering windmill with a rattle 

 attached on a post, answers with some people. 

 Others suspend from a line old clothes stuffed with 

 straw, to represent a human figure. A bladder or 

 circular gourd containing gravel forms the best head 

 in this case, so that the rattle is again combined 

 with the human figure. The clothes "if coated with 

 coal tar will last a considerable time. By some 

 persons a whistle ingeniously fixed in a tin funnel 

 on a little revolving windmill is so contrived as to 

 veer and whistle with the wind. A line stretched 

 across the beds from which rags depend is a common 

 scarecrow in use in gardens, and is certainly some- 

 times successful at least for a time. All inanimate 

 scarecrows lose their effect — familiarity breeding 

 contempt on the part of the birds. Those who use 

 them should not be discouraged by any not answering 

 for long, for at best they require to be frequently 

 varied. Others endeavour to scare birds by means 

 of the repeated discharge of blank cartridge, which 

 is the most effectual but the most expensive process 

 in use. But except under exceptional circumstances 

 we should not attempt to drive aw r ay the birds, we 

 want them much oftcner than we do not want them; 

 they are our best insect gatherers, having sight and 

 prehensile powers in this respect superior to that of 

 the expensive and inefficient human agent. We 

 feed men to gather caterpillars or slugs from our 

 fields and gardens, why not the birds, if "the 

 labourer is worthy of hire"?— "Food, §-c, of British 

 Birds," by C. 0. Groom Napier. 



Dentalium. — I found in a milldam here a species 

 of, I believe, Dentalium. As in Catlow's " Popular 

 Conchology " this genus is stated to be " marine," 

 and no " fresh water " species mamed, I should be 

 much obliged if any of your readers would inform 

 me what species of the genus inhabits fresh water. — 

 T.R. 



Moth Courtship.— A few days ago, I had a buff 

 Ermine moth {Arctia lubricipeda) come out among 

 some other moths in my breeding cage, from last 

 year's stock of chrysalids. Not wanting it, I left 

 it in. Next morning 1 found four males of the same 

 species in the immediate neighbourhood of the.cage. 

 The second morning there were nine more males — 

 some on the cage, all within the space of a yard from 

 the moth inside. I opened the door to examine the 

 moth, and found it was a female. On the third 

 morning there were live others there, making in all 



