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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Oct. 1, 1S68. 



clouded yellow (Colias hyale) has also been very 

 abundant this year, while the common edusa has 

 beeu rather scarce. — H. C. Leslie. 



Kingfisher. — Wanting a couple of eggs tor a 

 correspondent, I kept a watch up the beck, and set 

 a friend to do the same. He soon brought me 

 intelligence that he had found two nests, and 1 found 

 another. One of them was built in a slight 

 depression on the bank-side, such a one as might 

 have been made by a horse's hoof. The eggs were 

 laid on the bare ground, and the only covering was 

 the overhanging herbage, which clothed the bank 

 in great abundance. Two of the nests fell a prey 

 to a " dafty," who sucked the eggs, and the third 

 was destroyed by rats I thought. I never found 

 or heard of a nest situated like the one on the Cam 

 side.— Jno. Hanson, Linton-on-Ouse, York. 



Rare Sea-anemone. — The capture of a some- 

 what rare sea-anemone is perhaps worthy of record 

 in Science-Gossip. Miss Mary Collis writes me 

 from Ilfracombe, as follows -.—" On Monday, the 

 24th instant, a lady staying here picked up a curious 

 Zoophyte in Barricane Creek, and gave it to a 

 woman who was then helping me to collect sea- 

 anemones. It is, I believe Peachia hastata, appear- 

 ing fully to agree with your description in ' Actin. 

 Brit./ p. 235." [Then follows a description, which 

 proves the identification to be correct.] " The animal 

 squeezes itself between the few stones in my tem- 

 porary aquarium, contracts, and appears dazzled at 

 the faintest ray of light. Just now, when, for better 

 examination, I took away a pebble, it seemed most 

 indignant. I am glad to find that you kept one six 

 months, and I hope that I, with care, may preserve 

 mine some time. I now intend to fetch a little sand 

 for it." A day or two later Miss Collis adds,— "The 

 Peachia, though still alive, does not seem particu- 

 larly healthy, owing possibly to my being unable to 

 find here any sand for it. The fine gravel which I 

 have scraped up from the beach it will not even 

 notice. I imagine that (being found so close to 

 Woollacombe) it came originally from a sandy 

 bottom, and was washed into the creek by Saturday's 

 gale." The species is large, handsomely coloured, 

 of abnormal form and habits, and in many respects 

 iul cresting, and therefore I trust you will give a 

 few lines' space to the above. — P. H. Gosse, F.R.S., 

 Sandhurst, Torquay. 



Red Hotjse-Ants. — In answer to " H. E. M.'s " 



inquiryin last month's number of Science-Gossip, in 

 reference to the destruction of the above-mentioned 

 troublesome species of Ant, I should advise him to 

 try Keating's insect-destroyer ; and I believe, if he 

 perseveres a short time, he will be fully satisfied with 

 the result. Not very long since I was asked by a 

 lady whose larder was overrun by these little pests if 

 I could suggest anything for their extermination, and 



patterns of them were forwarded for my inspection. 

 They were a very minute kind, the smallest I have 

 seen, and without doubt the Diploroptrum molesta. 

 (What the former term may mean I do not know, 

 but from all accounts they were very much the lat- 

 ter.) I recommended the insect-destroyer, and 

 soon after, when I had the pleasure of meeting the 

 lady again, I was informed that its application had 

 been quite successful. Another plan, too, that I 

 know answers very well, is to spread stiff paper over 

 with thick treacle or honey, and put it in the places 

 where they are mostly found. It will soon become 

 covered with them ; and if once they set foot upon 

 the treacherous paper, all hope of their return is 

 lost ; in vain is the effort to put the best foot fore- 

 most, for no progress is made, and as they keep 

 lifting one leg after another, it puts one in mind of 

 an awkward squad attempting to mark time. When 

 a sufficient number are entrapped, of course they 

 must be destroyed ; and perhaps transferring them 

 to the fire is as humane a method as any of taking 

 that life which interferes with our comfort. — F. R. 

 Ward. 



Bluebottles (Elies). — My vicarage is a new 

 house, the site of which is taken out of a large field of 

 grass which was this year cut as hay, and not used 

 as pasture. We entered the house in the beginning 

 of Eebruary last, and noticed that there were a few 

 bluebottles in one or two of the empty rooms ; and 

 as the summer came on their numbers increased. 

 About the kitchen there were large quantities of 

 common house-flies, but the bluebottles seemed to 

 congregate in the better rooms on the south and 

 west sides of the house ; and in my study, which is 

 an upstairs room with two windows looking south 

 and west, I found so many congregate that in July 

 I began to catch them in the west window, and 

 from July 26th to August 21st (omitting six days 

 when there was a high wind, or it was inconvenient 

 to catch them), in 21 days, I caught no fewer 

 than 1,856. Had I caught them all over the house, 

 that number must have trebled or quadrupled ; but 

 in that one window alone, the daily catch ranged 

 from 27 to 259. Erom August 22nd to September 

 1st there were cold winds, and the numbers were so 

 few as not to merit attention; but on the 2nd 

 instant the heat returned, and with it the blue- 

 bottles, 280 being caught in the same window on 

 that day ; 155 on the 3rd ; 50 on the 5th ; and this 

 day (7th) 121 before the sun shone upon the window. 

 I may add that, although unmistakably bluebottles, 

 their sizes are very different, varying from nearly 

 the size of the humble bee down to that of the 

 common house-fly (of which very few came to! my 

 study). My great difficulty is to account either for 

 their numbers, or their partiality for my quiet 

 study, no other houses being very near, and there 

 being no attraction of any kind for them.— H. 0. S. 



