236 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Oct. ], 1863. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Second Broods. — Your correspondent " A. 

 Mathews" will find that in all hot summers more 

 abundantly, and every summer more sparingly, a 

 second brood of Smerinthus Pqpuli and oeellatm 

 appear. This also applies to very many species of 

 lepidoptera. — Fee/id Duer. 



"Was it a Mosquito ? "—I experienced a 

 short time back the same incidents as your corre- 

 spondent " H. M. H.," and, after repeated attempts, 

 succeeded in capturing an antagonist who had 

 alighted on my neck. On examination, it proved 

 to be Culex pipiens, and 1 have not the slightest 

 doubt that your correspondent's insects were of the 

 same species. This insect has decidedly been more 

 severe in its bites during the past summer, which 

 leads to the inference that the long-continued 

 drought may have something to do with it.— E. J. 

 Layton. 



Royal Pern. — This magnificent fern is found in 

 great abundance at Lound, in Suffolk, growing 54 

 feet tall. I do not know of its being found else- 

 where near the Norfolk or Suffolk coast. — F. R. 31. 



Molluscs in Aquaria. — I have often put bivalve 

 molluscs — such as large mussels, pholases, and 

 cockles — into my aquarium, but they invariably, 

 after a short existence, die, most probably from 

 starvation. What food ought I to supply them 

 with, and how give it to them ?—J. B. G. 



Privet Hawk {Sphinx ligustri). — My own ex- 

 perience quite agrees with Mr. O'Parrell regarding 

 the unusual early transformation of the caterpillar 

 of this moth. I took a dozen fine larvse on the 

 31st July ; on the 4th August I had seven chry- 

 salides, and the remainder changed by the 10th. 

 This is much earlier than I have ever found them to 

 change before, I may mention that I found one of 

 them feeding on dogwood. Is not this an unusual 

 food-plant ? None of my larvae were afflicted with 

 the peculiar disease mentioned by Mr. O'Parrell, 

 and 1 have never observed it m any that I have had. 

 A larva of the eyed hawk-moth also changed about 

 the same time : this is much earlier than usual. — 

 W. Bradford. 



The Large Green Grasshopper {Acrida viri- 

 dissima). — I had a fine female of this insect brought 

 me near Watford ou the 18th of July last. It was 

 caught on an apple-tree by a farm labourer, and 

 measured two and a half inches in length, and the 

 antenna; were a little over two inches long. Thinking 

 I should like to keep it alive for a short time, 1 

 placed it under a large glass. Not knowing what it 

 fed on, I supplied it with some apple-leaves, the 

 greater portion of which it consumed, rejecting the 

 veins and ribs of the leaves. 1 kept it three days, 

 but had little opportunity of observing it . It seemed 

 to be an uncommon insect in that part, and was 

 regarded as a great curiosity. — W. Bradford. 



Hawk-Moths.— About a fortnight ago I had a 

 Poplar Hawk-Moth {Smerinthus Fopu/i) out of chry- 

 salis, and was wondering whether the same tiling 

 had occurred to any one else. Your correspondent 

 "A. Mathews" asks whether his friend's poplar 

 hawk could have been from last year's larva. I 

 know mine to have been from this year's, so 1 should 

 think the same was probably the case with his. I 

 am inclined to think that the emergence of ihc 



poplar and other hawk-moths at this time of year 

 from the pupa, instead of remaining in that state 

 during the winter, is not a very unusual occurrence, 

 as a friend of mine told me yesterday that he had 

 just had four privet hawk-moths {Sphinx ligustri) 

 out of chrysalides, the larva; of which had been bred 

 from eggs laid last May. I also remember having 

 myself seen the poplar hawk-moth at the gas-lamps 

 in September. — IF. J. Smith, Worcester. 



Lime-tree Mites. — Last Wednesday, Aug. 5th, 

 we found one of the lime-trees in the garden 

 swarming with myriads of minute yellow insects, 

 which were running about the trunk and branches, 

 and were, in fact, all over the tree. At the bottom 

 the ground was perfectly yellow with them, and 

 they seemed to have dug in the earth just as ants 

 do. In some places, where twigs were hanging 

 down, they had swarmed at the end like bees. But 

 the most curious thing was that they had woven an 

 extremely fine web all over the trunk and larger 

 branches, so closely that it made a perfect covering; 

 and this web gave the tree the appearance of having 

 been glazed. We took some of these creatures, 

 with a piece of their web, into the house, and 

 examined them under the microscope with Ross's 

 quarter-inch (the inch power, however, showed them 

 better). They are covered all over with great 

 hairs, and appear to have a pair of pincers for jaws. 

 We could not distinguish any eyes. Their web was 

 a smooth entire membrane, with faint parallel lines ; 

 and between the membrane and the bark of the 

 tree were a large number of minute oval cells, 

 which we presume were eggs. By referring to 

 Wood's " Natural History," we conclude that they 

 belong to the family Gamasidce, of the class Arach- 

 7/ i da. The genus is, probably, Leptus ; and in some 

 respects they are like Leptus autumnalis, but not in 

 all. In the first place, it is not red, but yellow (the 

 illustration in "' Natural History " gives the harvest- 

 bug but six legs, — we presume that is a mistake) ; 

 it is also rather like Acarus farina (flour-mite), but 

 its head is more decidedly set on its shoulders, and 

 the shoulders do not slant off into the head, as in 

 the flour-mite. We discovered them in sunshine. 

 The next morning, at- about half-past seven, we 

 went to look for them in the rain, but they were all 

 gone, except a few on the ground at the bottom of 

 the tree ; but they made their appearance again with 

 the sunshine. They came at first quite suddenly, as 

 they were not on the tree a few days before. They 

 confined themselves to lime-trees, one or two other 

 lime-trees in the garden being visited by them. 

 How can their sudden appearance be accounted for ? 

 — A. B. G, Croydon, August 11. 



[For an account of these sociable mites, see 

 Science-Gossip for 1S07, p. 125. The species is, 

 perhaps, Tetranychus tiliarius. — Ed.] 



The Privet Hawk-Moth— In reply to "E. S.," 

 the larva of the privet hawk-moth is not unfre- 

 quently found on the holly, a fact known to most 

 entomologists. Its food may be arranged thus : — 

 the privet, the lilac, the ash, the holly. — George 

 Gascoyne, Newark. 



Plague of Plies. — On Monday, August 21th, 

 an unusually large shower of flics took place at 

 Saltburn - by - the - Sea, Yorkshire. _ The swarm 

 amounted to several thousands, and dispersed itself 

 over the masses of decayed seaweed which were on 

 the shore at the time. I should like to know if 

 this was anything unusual. — //. G. Woodford, 

 Gravesend. 



