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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



(March 1, 1870. 



patroness of hares, which were for a long time held 

 sacred in the neighbourhood for her sake, and 

 termed St. Monacella's lambs. So runs the story. 



In the church is preserved a gigantic rib, such as 

 those which have been described by your corre- 

 spondents. No legend appears to attach to it, and 

 its history cannot be traced. It is at least four feet 

 long, and of considerable thickness, with a smooth 

 exterior, not showing any fossil character, nor any 

 trace of having been ever in the earth. " Natives " 

 sometimes say that it is a giant's rib, or even one of 

 the ribs of St. Monacella herself. If the latter be 

 true, the prince's admiration would certainly not be 

 unqualified with astonishment, for its fair owner 

 could not well have been less than twenty feet high ! 

 These|are native guesses, however, more than asser- 

 tions ; but it is possible, though scarcely probable, 

 that in time they may solidify or crystallize into 

 traditions whose origin seems remote and lost. 



The whole region may be warmly recommended 

 to the notice of pedestrians who wish to leave the 

 beaten track of the ordinary tourist and conventional 

 pleasure-seeker. 



Tunbridge Wells. W. 



As to " Ribs of the Dun Cow" I plead total igno- 

 rance ; but the following two facts may be worth 

 recording : — 



1st. There is a bone of immense size, called the 

 Giant's Pub, kept in the church of Pennant Me- 

 langell, in the adjoining county (Montgomery) ; its 

 origin and history is unknown, but there if is, but 

 lias nothing to do with the osteology of a cow. 



2nd. Another is in the church at Mallwyd, in the 

 same county ; and, I believe, some other of our 

 North "Wales churches contain similar remains. 



Llanderfel. W. P. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Affection of Insects foe theib Young. — "We 

 are indebted to De Geer for the history of a Pield 

 Bug {Acanlhosoma grisea), a species found in this 

 country, which shows marks of affection for her 

 young, such as I trust will lead you, notwithstanding 

 any repugnant association that the name may call 

 up, to search upon the birch-tree which it inhabits, 

 for so interesting an insect. The family of this 

 Eield Bug consists of thirty or forty young ones, 

 which she conducts as a hen does her chickens. She 

 never leaves them ; and as soon as she begins to 

 move, all the little ones closely follow, and whenever 

 she stops, assemble in a cluster round her. De Geer 

 having had occasion to cut a branch of birch 

 peopled with one of these families, the mother 

 showed every symptom of excessive uneasiness. In 

 other circumstances such an alarm would have 

 caused her immediate flight ; but now she never 

 stirred from her young, but kept beating her wings 



incessantly with a very rapid motion, evidently for 

 the purpose of protecting them from the 

 apprehended danger. — Kirby, Introd. 



Sounds produced by Insects. — The only kind 

 of locomotion during which these animals produce 

 sounds is flying ; for though the Hill Ants {Formica 

 rufd) make a rustling noise with their feet when 

 walking over dry leaves, I know of no other insect 

 the tread of which is accompanied by sound, except 

 indeed the Plea, whose steps, a lady assures me, she 

 always hears when it paces over her nightcap, and 

 that it clicks as if walking on pattens ! — Klrby. 



Abstinence of Insects. — Some insects have the 

 faculty of sustaining a long abstinence from all 

 kinds of food. This seems to depend upon the 

 nature of their habits. If the insect feeds upon a 

 substance, of a deficiency of which there is not much 

 probability, as on vegetables, &c, it commonly 

 requires a frequent supply ; if, on the contrary, it is 

 an insect of prey, and exposed to the danger of 

 being long deprived of its food, it is often endowed 

 with a power of fasting which would be incredible 

 but for the numerous facts by which it is authenti- 

 cated. The Antlion will exist without the smallest 

 supply of food, apparently uninjured, for six months ; 

 though when it can get it, it will devour daily an 

 insect of its own size. Vaillant, whose authority 

 may be here taken, assures us that he kept a spider 

 without food under a sealed glass for ten months, 

 at the end of which time, though shrunk in size, it 

 was as vigorous as ever. And Mr. Baker, so well 

 known for his microscopical discoveries, states that 

 he kept a darkling beetle {Slaps mortisaga) alive for 

 three years without food of any kind. Mr. Stephens 

 having in June, 1S31, put a specimen of Lepisma 

 saccharina (the common " W r ood," or " Sugar-fish" ) 

 in a pill-box containing only a few grains of mag- 

 nesia, found it to his great surprise alive and active 

 in June, 1833 ! — Kirby, Introd. 



Mollusc on Shore. — The Mollusca forwarded 

 by J. T. H., cast ashore in Pegwell Bay during the 

 late gales, are fine specimens of Pleurobranchus 

 membranaceous ; though outwardly resembling many 

 of the Nudibratichiata, they belong to the Tecti" 

 branchiate section of the order Opistho-branchiata. 

 The species has hitherto been taken principally on 

 the Devonshire and Irish coasts. — W. S. Kent. 



Mr. Cross, of Liverpool, lately received a large 

 importation of serpents and other animals. Two 

 boa constrictors, whilst in a dormant condition 

 measured eight feet and ten feet in length, and one 

 of the pythonesses, whilst on the voyage from the 

 "West Indies to Liverpool, gave " birth " to .no 

 fewer than thirty-five pythons— all of which, not- 

 withstanding they were inclosed in a box not larger 

 than an ordinary Foyle salmon-case, were in good 

 condition on being sent ashore. 



