Dec. 1, 1868.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



271 



stem and leaves was most distinct, one having a 

 round stem and no stout prickles, but numerous 

 weak ones, intermixed with glandular hairs; the 

 leaves were soft, thin, and rather downy on both 

 sides, very large with the venation weak, and 

 scarcely prominent ; the leaflets mostly in threes, 

 rarely live. The other variety had the stem angular, 

 with numerous stout prickles, though not crowded 

 with them, not intermixed with hairs, but the stem 

 smooth and shining ; the leaves of this were stout 

 and coriaceous, the leaflets in fives, strongly and 

 prominently veined, and cuspidate at the apex, while 

 the former was merely acuminate. These two 

 varieties appear to be a mixture of Rubus suberectus, 

 of Anderson, with Rubies corylifolia, and Rubus dis- 

 color. It is only fair, perhaps, to state that Rubus 

 corylifolia is not a very common plant in this neigh- 

 bourhood. 



Occasionally typical forms of Rubus corylifolia 

 were met with, but this was generally associated 

 with another which presented a slight divergence. 

 A description of the two forms will perhaps enable 

 your readers to distinguish them from each other. 

 To begin with the fruit, there is no difference for 

 the eye to distinguish ; they are both large, with the 

 drupels not perfectly round, owing to compression 

 through crowding ; there is also a want of lustre in 

 them, compared with Rubus discolor and its varieties ; 

 they are both very juicy compared with any other 

 kind, but in flavour the resemblance ceases, the 

 one which I shall describe as the typical form being 

 by far the richest. Those who know the broad 

 hazel-like leaflets of Rubus corylifolia, also know 

 that they have a silvery looking under-surface, dis- 

 tinguished as hoary; another character, perhaps not 

 so well known, is that the receptacle of the fluid is 

 in the form of a truncated cone. The variety of 

 this form differs from its type, in the under-surface 

 of the leaves being silky instead of hoary, and in 

 the receptacle of the fruit being more depressed, 

 representing a broad ring or band, more than a cone. 

 In conclusion, I think it would add to the value of 

 descriptions of this intricate group of plants, if 

 descriptions of the receptacle were embodied among 

 the many other points relied on. This presents itself 

 with greater force when we consider the two extreme 

 conditions of that organ, as represented in the rasp- 

 berry Rubus idatus, where it is a long spongy cone, 

 and Rubus discolor where it is reduced to a small 

 narrow ring. 



Those who are fond of this fruit, should gather 

 them at midday, when the sun has been full on them 

 for some hours, and eat them hot. 



Alfked Geugeon. 



Osmunda hegalis is called Bog Onion in West 

 Cumberland, aud considered a specific for rickets in 

 children. — /. Bowman. 



EURZE MITES. 



HAVE a few observations to add to the natural 

 -*- history of " Eurze Mites." The eggs are laid 

 between a thorn or prickle', and the main stem ; they 

 are thus in a fork, and not easily blown or rubbed 

 away. They are either slightly attached to the web, 

 or gummed to a hair of gorse. They are soft, like 

 slug's eggs, and at first almost colourless, then lilac, 

 pink, blotchy red, and finally deep ruddy brown. 

 Their diameter is, as nearly as possible, -nnnr of an 

 inch. On the seventh or tenth day after being laid, 

 they hatch ; and I will now give the particulars of a 

 few which I watched for some time. They hatched ou 

 the 13th of August, and crept without much 

 deliberation on to a bit of fresh gorse to which the 

 dry prickle had been pinned. They were six-legged, 

 and of a light pink colour. On the 15th they were 

 all green, and had made a very fair little web ; a 

 necessary preliminary to the grand business soon 

 coming off. On the morning of the 17th they had all 

 changed their skins, and were seen to be eight- 

 legged and pink again ; their colour, however, soon 

 changed to a dark dull green, a sign of a rapid 

 change of skin, which, indeed, took place on the 

 20th. 



Reddish at first, they were green by the 23rd, 

 and on the 29th changed again, assuming the 

 orthodox dark red colour, which they retain now 

 till death. On the 30th, however, careful scrutiny 

 revealed a few individuals, who had not grown as 

 rapidly as the rest, and were paler, almost green. 

 On the 30th also a few eggs were noticed ; their 

 number soon increased, and by the second of 

 September a great many were laid. At this time 

 there were five or six mites with the real bright 

 green abdomen, slightly turned up at the end ; so I 

 consider my colony to have accomplished one full 

 generation, and here its history ends. About the 

 green specimens : they are not young ones, for 

 these have a different sort of green, and accompanied 

 by a fat abdomen and shorter legs ; and it will have 

 been seen that the eggs appeared at the same time 

 as the green specimens, so I think they must be 

 males. 



When the adult females are kept on dry gorse for 

 a clay or so, as when the water in a bottle runs short, 

 they become more brightly crimson-scarlet, and 

 congregate in layers six to ten deep on the ends of 

 the prickles, evidently wishing to be blown or 

 knocked on to (imaginary) adjacent bushes. When 

 a fresh meal is supplied they become much darker, 

 almost brown. The spinnerets I could never see 

 properly; there is certainly a decided knob on the 

 under-side of the extremity of the abdomen, but I 

 never saw silk issuing from it. On the bodies were 

 sinuous lines, like those on the human finger-tip ; 

 but these I never saw on the legs. When their skin is 

 ready to come off it appears slightly iridescent, and, 



