HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



7i 



distinct, I have seen the woodcocks rising from the 

 dense part of the wood, and after sailing about for a 

 short time, they would again settle among the trees. 

 At other times they would come on steadily until the 

 birch-wood was reached, when they would turn, fly 

 back and alight in the wood. I have seen from forty 

 to fifty birds in one evening. I shot two on the wing, 

 so that I am certain as to their identity. Kingsley 

 accurately describes their movement when he says, 

 "they hawked to and fro," but their flight is slower 

 and heavier, than that of the swallow. When dis- 

 turbed in flying, they turn hurriedly, making a 

 fluttering motion as if wounded, and then make for 

 the depths of the forest with increased speed. Their 

 cry when heard from a distance, has a croaking sound 

 but when near at hand, a distinct chuckling sound is 

 heard. Surely your correspondent has been thinking 

 of the black-cock when he read Kingsley's evening 

 scene "under the hunter's moon." — Tom W. Ogilvie. 



Mortality of Shrewmice. — Though I cannot 

 lay claim to the title of a "learned correspondent," 

 I am able to quote from the works of one who can — 

 the Rev. J. S. Wood. On page 433 of his volume 

 on Mammalia, I find, after a notice of the fact 

 mentioned by your correspondent, A. Malan, he 

 says: "The presence of the animals is the more 

 remarkable, because there are so many predatory 

 animals and birds, such as cats, weasels, stoats, 

 owls and hawks, which would be very likely to kill 

 such small prey, but having slain them would be 

 almost sure to eat them." Well-bred cats or terriers 

 are very averse to eating a rat or mouse killed by 

 other than themselves, which may account for their 

 unmangled condition. A possible cause of death 

 noticeable in autumn, is that they have delayed 

 retiring to their long winter sleep, and have bem 

 taken by a sudden frost and chill to one still longer. 

 -C. J. IK 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now 

 publish Science-Gossip a week earlier than heretofore, we 

 cannot possibly insert in the following number any communi- 

 cations which reach us later than the gth of the previous 

 month. 



To Anonymous Querists. — We receive so many queries 

 which do not bear the writers' names that we are forced to 

 adhere to our rule of not noticing them. 



To Dealers and others. — We are always glad to treat 

 dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general 

 ground as amateurs, in so far as the " exchanges " offered are fair 

 exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are simply 

 disguised advertisements, for the purpose of evading the cost of 

 advertising, an advantage is taken of our gratuitous insertion of 

 "exchanges" which cannot be tolerated. 



The .Curator of the Cambridge Botanic Garden (R. Irwin 

 Lynch) will feel extremely obliged to gentlemen who will have 

 the kindness to forward him seeds or plants of rare and choice 

 British species. All will be carefully recorded and cultivated. 



W. D. E. — The contents of the paper marked A, were not 

 the excrement of insects, but small pupa-cases. 



J. W. Harvey (Selhurst). — The specimen which you sent us, 

 together with a photograph, is a sponge, a species of Hali- 

 chondria. 



T. G. H. — The specks on the Seville oranges you spoke of, 

 are the empty pupa cases of Cetraria citripc}-da. 



W. Gault. — We are much obliged to you for the interesting 

 ■specimens of Waldheima Hibcrnica (Tate), from the Upper 

 Greensand beds of the Zone, Ostrca columba (glauconitic sand- 

 stone), Collin Glen, near Belfast. 



J. S. (Leigh). — The ferns enclosed were, No. 1, a variety of 

 Athyrium FUix-famina; No. 2, probably a New Zealand 

 species of Poly •podium [Phymatodes) pusiulatuw. 



J. A. C. — Hydra fusca may be known by the usually brown 

 colour of its body, although the best means to distinguish" it 

 from Hydra vulgaris is to note its tentacles, which are several 



times longer than the body, whilst those of //. vulgaris are 

 usually only the length of the body. " Swarm spores " is the 

 name given to certain reproductive cells found only in cellular 

 cryptogams, and which are endowed with remarkable spon- 

 taneous power of motion, usually in water. You will find an 

 account "of them in Thome's " Structural "and Physiological 

 Botany," edited by Dr. Bennett, chapter vi. p. 250. 



A. E. Hunt. — The food of the Kentish plover is very much 

 like that of the ring plover, consisting of worms and insects, 

 as well as small shrimps, shore-hoppers, &c. 



W. B. Scott. — You had better inquire in our Exchange 

 column for specimens of the natterjack toad, and we have no 

 doubt you will be able to obtain them. 



J. Arthur Floyd. — Dixon's "Geology of Sussex," a new 

 edition of which is now appearing, gives illustrations of the most 

 characteristic of chalk ■ fossils, whilst those of the greensand 

 are figured in the volumes of Palaeontographical Society. You 

 will find good and ample descriptions of the commoner fossils of 

 the chalk and greensand, in Dr. Mantell's " Medals of Creation." 



J. M. V.— Get the " Saturday Half-Holiday Guide," which 

 will give you all the information you want as to clubs, and 

 places for natural history and geological exploration around 

 London. 



J. J. — The subject is to a very large extent still open to doubt. 



J. S. (Ledaig). — We are sorry to say that we received your 

 tin box full of small fragments of glass and a vile smell. The 

 nudibranchs had disappeared that way. Can you send us others, 

 more safely packed ? 



J. W. Bentley. — The best work on " Mineralogy," is by 

 J. D. Dana. On Geology, consult Professor Greene's " Physical 

 Geology," Ramsay's " Physical Geology of the British Isles," 

 fifth edition, and Lyell's " Student's Manual of Geology." 

 Nicholson's " Manual of Palaeontology " is an excellent book. 

 Penning's " Field Geology," and Woodward's " Geology of 

 England and Wales " deal quite sufficiently with the practical 

 part of this science. 



H. M. — We cannot tell from this sketch the species of the 

 insect you sent us, but it is, as far as we can judge, one of the 

 Mantids, or leaf insects. 



J. S. (Rotherham). — You will find a capital sketch of the 

 Geology of New Zealand, by Dr. Hector, in Silver's " Handbook 

 for Australia and New Zealand," published in London at about 

 2S. 6d. A paper on the Geology of New Zealand, with special 

 reference to the drift of that country, is published in the " Pro- 

 ceedings of the Geologists' Association," vol. iv. No. 7. 



Rev. H. H. S-, and others. — Any reader of Science-Gossip 

 can join the Botanical Exchange Club, by sending a fee of $s. 

 to defray the expenses of carriage, assortment, &c. We may 

 add, for the benefit of intending and actual members, that it is 

 now time this year's names and subscriptions were sent in to 

 Mr. D. Bogue, 3 St. Martin's Place, Trafalgar Square, London, 

 W.C. 



M. L. D. — You had better forward your question to the 

 Editor of the " English Mechanic," who will, we doubt not, 

 give you a full and complete answer. 



J. E. Westby. — The specimen of a boulder (as far as we can 

 judge from so small a fragment), indicates that the rock is one 

 of the highly metamorphosed sandstones, possibly from the 

 altered Silurian rocks of the Highlands. 



R. R. (Newcastle-on-Tyne). — It is a micro-fungus, one of the 

 cluster-cups f.-EcidiumJ. See Cooke's " Microscopic Fungi." 



J. P. (Norwich) — The spots on leaf sent to us were the 

 result of a fungus — Lccvthca Rosa'. 



H. H. (Salford). — Unfortunately the lichens were much 

 broken, hence undistinguishable ; the larger one, much branched, 

 is the common reindeer moss (Lichen rangiferinus). 



C. E. S. (Channel Islands). — Thanks for excellent specimen, 

 now we have no doubt we were correct ; it is a good form of 

 A. lanccolatum-crispatum, the colour of the frond is charac- 

 teristic of lanceolatum. 



J. S. (Bagot, Jersey). — The little red spots on the lichen are, 

 as you jud^e, the fruit. 



J. A. — No. 1, is Melandrya caraboidcs, one of heteromerous 

 beetles, common in old wood ; it flies in the hot sunshine ; No. 2, 

 Otiorhynchus picipes, a very common and destructive weevil ; 

 No. 3, Pha-don tumidulum, a very common chrysomelid ; 

 No. 4, Phyllobins argentatus, a very abundant^ weevil. As an 

 introduction, get Rye's " British Beetles," published by Lovell 

 Reeve & Co. ; as a descriptive manual, Cox's " British Beetles," 

 published by Janson. 



E. E. Edwards. — The leech you sent us is the Hwrnocharis 

 pisciuiu, which is semi-parasitic upon such fishes as the pike 

 and carp, &c. The best way to preserve it would be in glycerine. 

 Get "Davis on Mounting," price is. 6d., from D. Bogue, 

 3 St. Martin's Place, Trafalgar Square. This book will afford 

 all the assistance a beginner needs in mounting microscopic 

 objects. 



Learner. — Get " Notes on Collecting Natural History 

 Objects," price 3J. 6d., from 3 St. Martin's Place, _ Trafalgar 

 Square, London, where you will find full details concerning the col- 

 lection and preservation of beetles and other insects. You may get 

 a microscope from two guineas, upwards, suitable to your purpose 

 from nearly all the makers who advertise in Science-Gossip. 



Filius.— It is a form of Parmelia ambigua (Wulf) ; there are 

 two species on same tree, we only state our opinion on the one. 



