Aug. 1, 1868.] 



HARDWICKE'S SC IENCE - GOSSI P. 



185 



ZOOLOGY. 



Death's-head. — Having reared more than a 

 dozen specimens of the Death's-head moth {Ache- 

 rontia atropos) from chrysalides during one season 

 a few years ago, and one specimen last month, I 

 beg to offer a few remarks on this very peculiar 

 insect. All my specimens emerged from the 

 chrysalides in the evening, generally after 9 p.m. 

 One of them, a fine female, kept her wings " hanging 

 down to dry" during the whole of one night, 

 although in a room. The squeaking noise made by 

 this moth is said to be occasionally produced by it 

 while still within the pupa case, but this is con- 

 trary to my experience ; the chrysalis being large 

 and active, with a horny covering or shell, a 

 scraping noise is certainly produced when it twists 

 its abdomen about and rubs it on the earth or on 

 the sides of the box in which it is placed, but this 

 is quite of a different nature from the squeak of the 

 moth. The caterpillar, also, has been stated to 

 make a cracking noise on being disturbed ; but all 

 I have ever seen or possessed have been perfectly 

 quiet. Two or three of my entomological friends 

 have had the same experience with this insect. 

 The black band nearest the end of the abdomen in 

 the male is absent in the female ; and I also noticed 

 that the skull-like mark on the thorax is more 

 distinct in the female than in the male. — T. W. 

 Wood. 



Helix pomatia was introduced by Linnseus into 

 his garden at Upsal. It existed there a few years 

 since, and probably is there now. It occurs no- 

 where else in Sweden. — L. 



Spidebs. — I rather imagine from the description 

 given by your correspondent " S. B., Parson's 

 Green," of his spiders, that they belong to a little 

 species usually called " jumping spiders," for these 

 hibernate in a sort of silken-valved tube, and this 

 would account for " S. B.'s " guests having lived in 

 their cases without food during the voyage home- 

 ward. They were probably asleep when packed 

 up. They, the jumpers, belong to the genus Attus, 

 and eat flies. I also fancy from what I hear from 

 friends of mine now out in Ceylon that the spiders 

 there are very like our own, — I mean the real web- 

 making spiders, not those horrid monsters called 

 Tarantula— though, in fact, they have no right 

 to the name Tarantula any more than they have to 

 that of Epiera. A young lady writing to me lately 

 of this repulsive creature, the Mygale, declares that 

 it is more like a large dirty-looking crab— a "hairy 

 crab "—than a spider, and says she has several 

 times been made fearfully ill by seeing it devour 

 good-sized crickets. She is, I need scarcely add, no 

 naturalist in her tastes, and consequently does not 

 find sufficient interest in the study of animals to aid 



her in overcoming her feminine terror or disgust at 

 the sight of one creature preying en another. — Mrs. 

 Alfred Watney. 



Spider Poison. — P. R. M., in the last number of 

 Science-Gossip, observes that a spider drew blood 

 from her or his hand, and thereby impugns the 

 truth, not of my assertion, but of my observations 

 on the same point. All I can say is that I have 

 frequently submitted to being bitten on the hand 

 by Tegenaria domestica, which is one of the largest 

 and fiercest of our native spiders, and although a 

 rather sharp nip ensued from Tegenaria' s fangs, they 

 invariably failed to penetrate the skin. Moreover 

 several friends of mine tried the experiment of 

 being bitten with the same result as myself. Now, 

 whatever may be the case with my friends, my skin 

 is certainly not of more than the average density ; in 

 fact, it is rather below it. Without therefore doubt- 

 ing for a moment your correspondent's veracity, I 

 cannot help thinking that hers or his is an ex- 

 ceptional case, either caused by a peculiarly thin 

 epidermis, or perchance by the exceptionably large- 

 size and ferocity of the spider. After all, que 

 Vemporte, there is no rule without exceptions. — 

 T. Graham Ponton. 



Dentalium.— Is your correspondent sure that 

 his shell was a Dentalium, and, if so, was the animal 

 alive in it ? My reason for asking is, that all species 

 of this genus are marine. — T. G. P. 



Another correspondent suggests that it may be a 

 caddis-case, and recommends that it be submitted to 

 a competent authority. 



Bird Destruction. — In this neighbourhood 

 great numbers of our "feathered friends" have 

 been, for some time past, shot by persons who get 

 their living by preparing their feathers for sale. 

 The feathers, after undergoing some kind of pre- 

 paration, are disposed of to the milliners, who use 

 them for " trimmings " for the head-dresses of the 

 fair sex. Among the birds killed for the purpose 

 above-mentioned are rooks, starlings, blackbirds, 

 thrushes, and gulls— their gratuitous services in 

 freeing the ground from grubs and other insects not 

 exempting them from slaughter, which is carried on 

 without any regard to the breeding season. I 

 imagine that the practice of shooting birds for their 

 feathers is not confined to this locality, as I have 

 been informed that feathers are in considerable 

 demand— some being exported. It has, I believe, 

 been found necessary on the Continent to pass 

 laws for the protection of the birds, as their 

 services could not be dispensed with, and I think 

 they ought to be similarly protected in this 

 country. I have taken the liberty of bringing 

 the matter before the readers of Science-Gossip, 

 who I think will regret that our British birds should 

 be thus wantonly destroyed. — W. II. 



