Dec. 1, 1870.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



277 



ZOOLOGY. 



An Entomologist's Paradise.— About nine 

 miles from Kinloch Rannoch (Perthshire) , on the 

 south side] of the loch, is a thick dark piue forest 

 kuown as the Black Wood, a relic of the great 

 Caledonian forest ; many of its trees being of great 

 age and so large as to require the outstretched arms 

 of two men to span them. In the damp air of this 

 forest, where there is an abundant supply of vege- 

 table food fin all stages of [decay, favoured by 

 the intense heat of summer and the long period of 

 winter torpor, an astonishingly large number of 

 subalpine insects occur which are unknown else- 

 where. It is in fact the paradise of the ento- 

 mologist, for though the species are rare, the 

 number of individuals is unusually large. Many of 

 them are of considerable size and possess very 

 attractive colouring, while others exhibit curious 

 habits and modes of development. The Formica 

 congerens builds its huge ant-hills of pine needles 

 here as in Norway. One of the most abundant 

 insects in the place is the Longicorn beetle, 

 Astynomus (cdilis, which is known in Sweden, and, 

 strange to say, in Rannoch also, as the Timberman, 

 on account of [its] frequenting the timber-cutting 

 yards and even the door-posts of the houses. Its 

 horns [are prodigiously long, abour four times the 

 length of its body, and remind one more of tropical 

 insects than any similar development that occurs in 

 this country. Trichius fasciatus, known to the 

 villagers as the Bee beetle, from the resemblance of 

 the velvety black bands on its yellow downy body 

 to those of the common humble bee, is also frequent 

 in the neighbourhood. — Rev. H. Macmillan, Holi- 

 days on High Lands. 



A Rash Kingfisher. — It is not uncommon for 

 birds to dash themselves against plate glass win- 

 dows, to them invisible. An unusual instance, 

 however, occurred on the 10th October. I was in' 

 the dining-room of my house in Priory-row, nearly 

 the centre of Coventry, when I heard a blow 

 against the window next the garden. On looking 

 for the cause, I saw a kingfisher lying apparently 

 dead on the turf beneath the window. On taking 

 him up I found that although stunned with the 

 blow he was still alive. I placed him in a basket 

 until I went out for my afternoon walk, when I 

 took him into the country and released him near a 

 stream. He flew away apparently none the worse 

 for his adventure. I never before heard of one of 

 these beautiful little birds wandering into a city. 

 I expect he must have come up the stream of 

 the Sherbourne to the Pool Meadow, where it is 

 culverted, and then becoming confused lost his 

 way and wandered into my town garden.— John 

 Gulson. 



Starlings. — Those who are in the habit of 

 taking country walks must have noticed the unusual 

 number of starlings to be seen this autumn. In 

 the space of a few miles I have several times 

 observed four or five large flocks of these birds. 

 The quantity of worms, grubs, and insects devoured 

 by them must be [something incredible. It is 

 curious, when . a flock is feeding, to observe the 

 careful way in which they beat over the ground — 

 the birds from the rear continually flying over to 

 the front, and each bird carefully clearing every 

 inch of the ground where it has settled before it 

 again takes wing for the front. — John Gulson. 



" Helix Cartusiana."— In reply to Mr. Halley's 

 communication in last month's Science-Gossip, 

 where he seems to doubt the existence of Helix 

 Cartusiana on the Deal sandhills, I feel bound to 

 state that I am quite certain as to the identity of 

 those collected there as lately as the spring of 1869 

 by myself. I sent .a portion of them to an experi- 

 enced collector of British shells, and have his note 

 on the subject by me at present ; I have also com- 

 pared them with the H. Cartusianus in the British 

 Museum. The snails bury in the sand during cold 

 or wintry weather ; and, as far as my experience 

 goes, are very hard to find then. I remember seeing 

 them plentifully on a warm damp June day crawling 

 on rushes, etc. The dead shells were always very 

 abundant on the hills about half a mile from San- 

 down Castle ruins. If Mr. Halley still be doubtful 

 about their identity, I could send him my specimens 

 for inspection. — Harry C. Leslie, Erilh, Kent. 



Helix Cartusiana. — Dr. Halley remarks in 

 your last number that he has failed to find this shell 

 near Deal. I have taken it myself on the hills 

 behind Polkestone, and have received numerous 

 specimens from Lewes. I think he will find it in 

 both these localities, and in many others along the 

 coast between those towns. While speaking of this 

 shell I might add, that specimens I have collected 

 in Italy are much larger and thinner than our 

 English specimens. — C. A. 



Zonites glaber {Helix glabra of Studer). — 

 This land-shell, lately added to our fauna by Mr. 

 Thomas Rogers, of Manchester, appears to be 

 widely distributed. During this summer I found a 

 very fine specimen in Saltram Wood, near Ply- 

 mouth, and I have one in my collection which I 

 found near Doncaster as far back as 1853, but 

 which I then mistook for a large specimen of 

 Z. alliarius. The latter specimen was submitted 

 to Mr. Jeffreys, who pronounced it decidedly to be 

 Z. glaber. If it turns up in other localities, I hope 

 its capture will be recorded in your pages. At pre- 

 sent the only places where it has occurred (so far 

 as 1 know) are Manchester, Grasmere, Barmouth, 

 Doncaster, and Plymouth. — C. A. 



