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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[June 1, 1870. 



Golden Oriole : Oriolus galbula. — 1 saw a full- 

 coloured male of this species, April 21st, in the 

 fields near Folkestone. I am happy in the belief 

 that it has escaped the snare of the fowler as yet, 

 though 1 saw the birdcatchers after it. — Henry 

 Ullyett. 



Early Moths.— Amongst my captures last 

 month were Ligdia adustata, taken plentifully at 

 Wargrave-on-Thames, on the 23rd and 25th of April, 

 and Chesias ohliquarea, taken here on the 19th 

 and 20th of April, also one found in the house on 

 10th of the same month. Stainton's " Manual," and 

 Newman's " Moths," give June and July for the time 

 of appearance of L. adustata, and the middle of 

 May to August for C. ohliquarea, so it is possible 

 that these may belong to earlier broods, overlooked 

 hitherto, especially as this is by no means an 

 early season. — Harry C. Leslie, Erith. 



New Shells.— It will doubtless be interesting 

 to the conchological readers of Science-Gossip 

 to know that two new British species of shells may 

 be added to our present number. One is a fresh- 

 water species, which I found in the canals near Man- 

 chester, about twelve months ago ; and after being 

 examined by Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys, he found it to 

 be identical with the Planorbis dilatatus (Gould), 

 a North American species. The query to solve is, 

 how it has been introduced into this country ? Mr. 

 Jeffreys and myself think it is by means of American 

 cotton, as both its habitats in the canals are close 

 to the cleaning or blowing-room of the cotton-mills. 

 This view of the matter is however questioned by 

 Mr. J. G. Anthony, one of the best American 

 authorities, who informs Mr. Jeffreys that it is not 

 a shell that is found in the cotton-growing States. 

 I still, however, think that the incidents and vicissi- 

 tudes which " King Cotton" met with, and was put 

 through during the late American war, may have 

 something to do with the matter. For description of 

 shell and its inhabitant, I cannot do better than give 

 you the article which was written by Mr. Jeffreys in 

 the "Annals of Natural History " for November last 

 The other new shell is a land shell, belonging to the 

 genus Zonites, which for general appearance may 

 be said to be intermediate between Z. cellarius, and 

 Z. alliarius, but sufficiently distinct to be easily 

 told from either species, especially so when collected 

 of mature growth. Its ideutity with the Zonites 

 gldber (Studer), a continental species, is entirely due 

 to the extensive knowledge of Mr. Jeffreys. I also 

 send you Mr. Jeffreys' description of the shell. 

 I should also be glad to exchange the Planorbis and 

 Zonites, as far as 1 can, for other rarer shells British 

 or foreign. — Thos. Rogers. 



Spring Visitors.— The 1st of May brought 

 us the Cuckoo and the Landrail, and the 3rd of the 

 same month favoured us with the Chimney Swallow, 



although several days before this I was fortunate to 

 meet, with the Blackcap and White-throat, which 

 leave us in the winter months the same as the ones 

 mentioned_above. My gooseberry bushes have been 

 literally swarming with the caterpillar of the Mag- 

 pie Moth. Although I was grieved to see them, yet 

 they gave me a good deal of amusement, as they 

 would drop from the branches as soon as they per- 

 ceived their danger, and swing in the air with a fine 

 thread ".ready spun for the purpose," and then try 

 to regain their home. As I have not seen the 

 moth as yet, will these eggs have been subject to 

 the winter months "i—Johi Sim, West Cramlington. 



Otters.— On the 27th of April a large dog otter* 

 weighing twenty pounds, was killed in a wood on 

 the banks of a stream near Peover Hall, Cheshire, 

 by the Hon. G. Hill and his otter hounds. A friend 

 mentions in a letter that the same hounds hunted at 

 Chebsey, Staffordshire, on the 30th of April, where 

 they found two otters and killed one. — G. H. H. 



Sea-gulls. — On the afternoon of May the 5th, 

 whilst walking along the Malvern Hills, just after 

 leaving the summit of the Worcestershire Beacon, 

 1,396 feet above the sea, and the highest of the 

 whole range, I observed three sea-gulls flying at a 

 considerable height overhead. They hovered about 

 for several minutes, and then flew off in a northerly 

 direction. The appearance of this bird so far inland 

 is not of common occurrence, and when it is seen at 

 a distance from the sea it is a sign of stormy 

 weather. I may mention that the 5th was a 

 splendidly fine day, and it continued so till the 11th, 

 when wind and rain at last commenced, after an 

 unusually dry season.— A. E. B., West Malvern. J 



Cuckoo. — I have perused with much interest 

 the paper on the Cuckoo in your last issue, written 

 by Mr. J. E. Harting, especially that portion bear- 

 ing on the colour of the eggs laid by that erratic 

 bird. All the examples which have fallen under 

 my personal notice were pretty nearly of the same 

 colour, and I have found them in the nests of several 

 birds. The first egg 1 ever saw was in the nest Of 

 a blackbird ; but .the majority I found in the nests 

 of the Titlark and the Htdge Sparrow. There is at 

 present in the possession of the coachman at Bray- 

 ton Hall, the seat of Sir Wilfrid Lawson, Bart., 

 M.l'., a nest of young throstles of the present 

 season, containing four young birds, one of which 

 is of a pure snowy-white colour, and, like most 

 other albinos, has pink eyes. How is this fact re- 

 concilable with some of the views set forth in Mr. 

 Harting's paper; and why should cne bird alone 

 be marked by such a peculiar deficiency of colouring 

 in its plumage, when its brethren all wear the 

 mottled breasts and brown backs of their con- 

 geners? — W. H. 



