27S 



HABDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Dec. 1, 1868. 



Convolvuli (Convolvulus Hawk -moth) caught at 

 sea. This circumstance might raise the question as 

 to how far any of the swift-flying and powerful 

 moths above enumerated were of English origin, 

 and whether they had not flown from the French 

 coast. Examples of the Small Elephant Hawk- 

 moth {Charocampa porcellus) have been taken in 

 the streets of Brighton, and the larvae have been 

 most abundant in favourable localities. Not only 

 were the Humming-bird Hawk-moths QLacroglossa 

 stellatarum) very abundant in May and June, but 

 they are at the present time to be seen everywhere 

 in the gardens. The larva? were so plentiful that 

 thousands might have been obtained wherever their 

 favourite food, in this locality— the Yellow Bedstraw 

 {Galium verum) — was to be found. Another larva 

 literally abounded on the poplars in and around the 

 town, viz., that of the Puss Moth {Centra vinula), a 

 caterpillar which, from its peculiar form and threaten- 

 ing aspect, has at times inspired the vulgar with 

 notions of its power of working ill, a country news- 

 paper once describing it as " a monster, with head 

 like a lion, jaws like a shark, a horn like a unicorn, 

 and two tremendous stings in its tail." Eeeding on 

 the same tree with some Puss Moth larvae, was 

 obtained a solitary specimen of the Cerura bifida. 

 This, as might be expected, has passed through all 

 its changes, and has come out a female. On a lamp 

 near the tree from which this larva was taken, some 

 years since a female of Cerura bifida was caught. 



Turning to the " Blues," not only have the 

 Bedford Blue {Lyc&na Alsus) and Chalk-hill Blue 

 {L. Corydon) been plentiful, but L. Adonis (Clifden 

 Blue) and L. Alexis (the Common Blue) have 

 swarmed in favourable localities. Several very 

 curious varieties of Blues have been'taken/which 

 appear to make for Darwin's theory. Never, 

 perhaps, before have there been such swarms of 

 the Clouded Yellow {Colias Edusa), while the 

 Pale Clouded Yellow {Colias Ilyale) has been 

 almost as abundant as the former is in ordinary 

 years ; in fact, one hears of thirty, forty, sixty, and 

 even as many as two hundred specimens being 

 taken by different individuals, while many examples 

 of Colias Helice have also been obtained. 



I said the unusual weather had produced a 

 strange state of things among some insects. Thus 

 the Poplar Hawk-moths {Smerinthus Populi) and 

 Privet Hawk-moths {Sphinx Ligustri) have come 

 out from this year's pupa;. In one case five of the 

 first-named, which had only gone to pupa ten days 

 before, came out; in several other cases solitary 

 examples, fed along with others, which have as yet 

 shown no signs of change, after being about ten 

 days in the pupa, have emerged, and, in the case of 

 females, laid eggs. The common silkworms' eggs 

 have also, in some cases, hatched about fourteen 

 days after being laid. 



A. circumstance mentioned by one of your cor- 



respondents, respecting the prevalence of Whites, 

 has had its counterpart ; for I was so startled by a 

 peculiar appearance in a market-garden as to walk a 

 quarter of a mile to find out what was the cause, and 

 found it was thousands of Whites hovering over a 

 large bed of lavender. But while the Whites and their 

 larva; have swarmed, to the destruction of almost 

 every green thing, their enemies, the Ichneumons, 

 have also been abundant, as evidenced by the 

 cocoons found alongside larva; which have not 

 turned to pupae. The last Clifden Nonpareil taken 

 here was caught about five years back, by a boy, on 

 a scaffolding-pole. 

 Brighton. T. W. Wonfok. 



P.S. — Since writing the above, several specimens 

 of Sphinx convohuli (Unicorn Hawk -moth) and 

 Metopsilus celerio (Sharp-winged Hawk-moth) have 

 been taken here, four of the latter in a garden about 

 200 yards from my house, and over a bed of ver- 

 benas. T. W. Wonfob.. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Euthemonia ktjssula. — Last June I was 

 fortunate enough to find a female of the beautiful 

 clouded buff moth {Euthemonia russuki), the male 

 of which being tolerably plentiful at one place on 

 the moor near this place, but the female being 

 rarely seen, I brought it home with me, and it de- 

 posited a few eggs, which hatched in ten days, and 

 the little caterpillars all grew very rapidly (except- 

 ing three). They attained their full size about the 

 beginning of August, and spun their cocoons, and 

 the moths came off about the middle of the month, 

 thus being two broods in one season. The three 

 caterpillars which did not spin up remain only about 

 half grown. — A. 31., JFolsingham. 



Nest of Crossbill {Loxia curiirostrd) . — A nest 

 of this species is now in my possession, taken begin- 

 ning of last June in this county, four miles from 

 Bedford. As I have not met with any authentic 

 account of its breeding in this country, I will give 

 the particulars. The nest was situated in the fork 

 of a lime-tree, about nine feet from the ground. 

 It is very rudely constructed, and as it lays before 

 me it has not much the appearance of a nest. On 

 inspection it is composed of grass, moss, roots, 

 twigs, and leaves. The eggs were three in number, 

 of a purplish tinge, streaked and blotched at the 

 large end with dark purple-red, showing a strong 

 resemblance to those of the greenfinch. The old 

 bird was distinctly seen; in fact it was her flying off 

 the nest that attracted our attention to it.— J. 

 Shelton, Bedford. 



Gold-fish Eins.— While watching, a short time 

 ago, the movements of the occupants of a large 

 aquarium belonging to a friend, I noticed something 



