16 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Jan. 1, 1870. 



orders, we have a singular mixture of Latin and 

 English names. His "brass-beetle" appears to be 

 the well-known Rose-beetle, or Rose-chafer. The 

 children's favourite, the Ladybird, figures as the 

 Lady-cow, and three species are described. Of 

 Crysomelas he describes thirty-two kinds, distinguish- 

 ing one from another mostly by size and colouring. 

 Of weevils he records thirty-three. The economy 

 of the Cockchafer he illustrates at some length, call- 

 ing it the May-bug or Dorr. "It is thought that 

 the females make holes in the earth with their tails, 

 but it is uncertain whether they lay eggs or small 

 worms." Dr. Brookes describes the larva very 

 particularly. He also knew that they passed three 

 years in that state. In Ireland, he observes, they 

 have sometimes done much damage, and in one case 

 the inhabitants set fire to a wood some miles in 

 extent, to prevent their proceeding to others at a 

 distance. A thoroughly Irish remedy ! The doctor, 

 in treating of the other species of beetles, alludes to 

 some kinds which he calls " bum-cows," or " burst- 

 cows." It would appear that he has in this part of 

 the chapter a reference to the rapacious Carabi, 

 which he believes to be very venomous to cattle. 

 After the Staphylini he links on to the beetles the 

 cockroach, the mole-cricket, and other species of this 

 family, closing with grasshoppers and locusts. 

 Perhaps the most amusing part of this chapter is a 

 description and accompanying figure, obviously re- 

 ferring to the larva of a dragon-fly ; this the author 

 calls a " water-cricket." The wings, he safely re- 

 marks, seem to be useless for flying, still " they 

 help to raise the insect up. It is commonly seen 

 sitting upon water-plants, and is said to sing like 

 the land-crickets." 



Cicadas, bugs, aphides, and cocci have a chapter 

 to themselves. 



The NotonecUe are water-bugs. Of what he calls 

 the true Cimices he enumerates forty. Much of this 

 is devoted to the consideration of the insects pro- 

 ducing kernes and cochineal. 



Getting amongst theLepidoptera,this well-meaning 

 naturalist is thoroughly beclouded. Mealy-winged 

 insects, under which he classes what he calls the 

 diurnal and nocturnal butterflies, have a chapter to 

 themselves, at the commencement of which it is 

 stated that some of them proceed from worms, some 

 from caterpillars ; yet further on we find a heading, 

 "Of caterpillars," where certain species of Lepido- 

 ptera are arranged, the transformations being noted 

 as chiefly important, and the perfect insects appear 

 quite subordinated to them. It would naturally 

 occur to us that this isolation was most unjustifiable, 

 but Dr. Brookes seems to have acted on the principle 

 that if the caterpillar was known then the species 

 was to be treated under that heading. Other but- 

 terflies and moths, whose changes had not been 

 noticed, take rank by themselves. Here we find the 

 doctor again gives utterances to some rather sin- 



gular notions. "Butterflies," says he, " when they 

 design to fly a considerable distance ascend and de- 

 scend alternately, but their flying is not very grace- 

 ful." Subsequent generations of butterflies have 

 improved in this respect if this statement be true, 

 for we consider now that many species are graceful 

 fliers. The antenna; puzzle him much. "Some 

 butterflies carry their feelers like the ears of hares ; 

 some of them lie down on the body ; others bear them 

 sometimes upright and at other times lie them down." 

 The use of them he is doubtful about ; reverting to a 

 former idea, he; thinks perhaps they may serve to 

 clean the eyes or to guard them ; but some think 

 that, " like the staffs of blind people, they give notice 

 when they are going to strike their heads against 

 any object ! " lu dividing the butterflies and moths, 

 he breaks them up first of all into sections, accord- 

 ing as they are large, middle size, or small ; then a 

 few species are described under each, by the markings 

 and colours principally, no name being given, but a 

 number attached. 



In the part devoted to caterpillars the writer 

 brings out clearly the distinction between a cater- 

 pillar and a palmer-worm, still somewhat obscure 

 to many. " Caterpillars," says Brookes, " are of two 

 principal kinds, shelly and membraneous," these he 

 again subdivides into classes, according to their 

 show of legs ; the fourteen-legged individuals are 

 he believes, particularly industrious ! With smooth 

 caterpillars he associates the thorny or spiny ; but 

 the hairy Dr. Brookes ranks apart : these he deno- 

 minates palmer-worms — a name not yet obsolete in 

 some parts of the country, and applied loosely to 

 any destructive insect. " They wander (the latter) 

 from place to place, like palmers or pilgrims : some 

 call them bear-worms (woolly bears iu modern 

 phrase), because they are all over hair, and others 

 millers, for what reason is uncertain." The state- 

 ment is probably correct, that hairy catepillars, with 

 some exceptions, move about more fearlessly than 

 smooth-bodied ones. 



Prom chapter 12, which treats of scorpions, jelly- 

 worms, hog-lice, and Centepus, we find that modem 

 usage has altered slightly the name of the last 

 species— by "jelly-worm " a millepede is intended. 

 Other singularities might be quoted, but I forbear ; 

 enough has been written to show that it may be 

 profitable, and it is not very tedious, to examine, in 

 the light of the nineteenth century, the would-be 

 scientific work of an old naturalist. 



J. R. S. Clifford. 



Cat and Pigs. — In some of the back numbers 

 of Science-Gossip instances are given of the 

 peculiar tastes of some cats. We had one some 

 ten years ago which had a strong penchant for figs, 

 the presence of which she would detect even if 

 wrapped up iu paper in a person's pocket. She ate 

 them with evident gusto.— A'. T. M. A. 



