July 1, 1870.] 



HARDfflCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



are always sharp, and always in good working 

 order. 



The urchins live upon sea-weeds, worms, mol- 

 luscs, and even fishes. Professor Rymer Jones saw 

 one of these creatures seize a live crab, which ap- 

 peared perfectly paralyzed, and attempted no resist- 

 ance. At another time aii urchin caught a Galatea 

 by its buccal appendages, but the Galatea, happily 

 for itself, opened its pincers, cut off the part held 

 by the urchin, and so escaped. 



Many of these urchins, though defended by a 

 calcareous shell, and by sharp-pointed spines, do 

 not consider themselves sufficiently secure ; for they 

 hollow out holes in the hardest rocks, in which they 

 ensconce themselves. To effect this really difficult 

 task, they fix themselves by their tentacles to the 

 surface of the rock ; they then make an incision by 

 means of their powerful teeth, and remove the de- 

 bris as it is formed by their spines. MM. Caillaud, 

 Robert, and Lory have published some most inter- 

 esting information upon this boring power of the 

 Echinus. It seems that even the young urchins, 

 almost as soon as they are developed, commence the 

 ■work, and form for themselves a hole fitted to their 

 size. Poor little quarrymen, who pass a great 

 part of their lives in working 'granite with their 

 teeth ! 



"When an urchin is cast up upon the shore and 

 left by the water, it buries itself in the sand, which 

 it excavates with its spiny appendages. The place 

 where it is hid is easily recognized by the hole 

 which it has left in its entombment. The fishermen 

 pretend to foretell storms according to the deptli to 

 which the sea-hedgehogs bury themselves. 



Limueus has enumerated only seventeen species 

 of Echini; Gruelin one hundred and seven; — but 

 how many hundreds are known ! — and this group of 

 animals has become the type of an entire class — the 

 Eckinodermata. 



In many countries the sea-urchins are eaten raw ; 

 their flesh is yellow, and of a very agreeable taste. 

 Those which are esteemed in Provence are the 

 edible, the gratuitous {Toxopncustes granulans), and 

 the livid {Toxopncustes lividus). A member of this 

 last species is also in request at Naples, where the 

 "Melon urchin" {Echinus meld) is served at table 

 as a regular dish. 



THE ATTRACTIVE POWER OF FEMALE 

 MOTHS. 



A T a recent meeting of the Brighton and Sussex 

 ■*-*- Natural History Society a paper was read 

 by Mr. Wonfor on this subject. 



After minutely describing the " Emperor " moth 

 (Saturnia carpini), in the perfect, the larval, and the 

 pupal state, Mr. Wonfor proceeds to say : — 



It belongs to a group, the females of many of 



which are noted for the peculiar property they pos- 

 sess of collecting, or, as the old entomologists named 

 it, "sembling" the males from long distances. 

 Some consider the females emit an odour perceptible 

 to the sense of smell in the opposite sex, though the 

 existence of such an organ has not yet been satis- 

 factorily localized by naturalists. Be that as it 

 may, they certainly have the power of drawing from 

 long distances and in great numbers, the males of 

 the same species, who, as it were, intoxicated, rush 

 wildly after the females, heedless of danger, and 

 allow themselves to be captured with the greatest 

 ease. Nay, what is more strange, few persons walk- 

 ing over districts where these creatures abound ever 

 see them, unless they are provided with a virgin 

 female, and then under favourable circumstances, 

 and always against the wind, the males come flying 

 up singly, or in twos and threes. Last autumn we 

 gave an account of our success with the Oak Eggar 

 Moth. 



I will now (proceeded Mr. Wonfor) detail what 

 happened with females of the Emperor. Friday, 

 April 22nd, I obtained two females of S. carpini, 

 which had emerged that morning ; but, as a male 

 had come out in the same box, I was uncertain 

 whether both or only one was a virgin, and therefore 

 I determined to take both on the folloAving day to 

 Tilgate Forest. I arranged with a friend who had 

 a virgin female to start by the 8.55 train; but cir- 

 cumstances prevented our going. On the Monday, 

 April 25th, having occasion to go to Eastbourne, I 

 took the two females with me, and, on the return 

 journey, got out at Polegate and walked in the 

 direction of Hailsham. About three, while crossing 

 a style at the end of a wooded lane, a male fluttered 

 round me for a few seconds and then made off. A 

 few minutes later, and about a quarter of a mile 

 distant, another came up and was secured. A few 

 minutes later, while talking to a woodcutter in a 

 lately cleared coppice, another came up and was 

 taken. While explaining to the woodman the cause 

 of. attraction, two males came up, and at intervals 

 seven others. Of these latter I caught six, making 

 in all nine out of the 11 I saw. I found on inquiry 

 that there was no heather within a mile, but that 

 sallows and willows were in the neighbourhood. 

 One male not simply flew at, but got into a leather 

 bag containing the females, which were in a muslin- 

 covered box. The woodcutter was very much as- 

 tonished, and expressed it in such words as these : 

 " 1 have been man and boy about the woods and 

 fields all my life, and never heerd tell of sich a thing 

 afore ; if any one had telled me I wouldn't have be- 

 left it, but now I have seed it I will. Can't ye tell 

 me of summut as 'ull draw the fish same way?" 

 Nothing came up after four o'clock, though I walked 

 about the lanes till nearly seven o'clock. 



The same day that I was so successful, my friend 

 went to Balcombe with a female, and walked Til- 



