HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



233 



by H. B. Small ; "On the Contractility of the Spores 

 of Palmella hyalina," by Dr. A. F. Kemp ; "Design 

 in Nature," by Mr. W. D. Le Sueur; "Land and 

 Freshwater Shells of the Ottawa Valley," by Mr. 

 G. C. Heron; and an ably compiled "Flora 

 Ottawaensis," by Mr. James Fletcher, containing the 

 list of the flowering plants, juncacea:, grasses, filices, 

 lycopodiacea?, &c. 



The " Midland Naturalist.'' — The September 

 number of the above magazine contains, amongst 

 other matter, articles on "The Structure and Life- 

 History of Volvox globator" (illustrated), by A. W. 

 Wills, F.G.S. ; "On the Origin of the Rocks and 

 Scenery of North Wales," by J. J. Harris Teall, M. A., 

 F.G.S. ; "On the Occurrence of Foraminifera in the 

 Carboniferous Limestone of Derbyshire," by E. 

 Wilson, F.G.S. ; "Meteorology of the Midlands," 

 by Mr. W. J. Harrison, F.G.S., &c. 



Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society. 

 — Our notice of the Transactions of the above society, 

 in the September number, was for the session of 

 1878-79. 



"The Land and Freshwater Shells of the 

 British Islands," by R. Rimmer, F.L.S. This 

 handsomely got up little volume supplies a long-felt 

 want in a very ingenious and trustworthy manner. 

 The author is an enthusiastic conchologist, and writes 

 both attractively and well, and in a manner so simple 

 and natural that we have no fear that any ordinarily 

 educated man will easily understand every phrase. 

 But the feature of the book which strikes us most is 

 that every species of British land and freshwater 

 shell has been photographed, and here we have all 

 the photographs, natural size, in the albertype process, 

 so that the merest tyro will find no difficulty in 

 identifying any shell he may find. The work is 

 published by Mr. David Bogue, 3 St. Martin's 

 Place, Trafalgar Square, W.C. 



Moths that fly to Light of an Evening, or 

 rarely appear during Autumn Weather.— A 

 relative of mine in North India has been in the habit, 

 during the present year, of sending me examples of 

 the moths that come to their garden lamp of an 

 evening, and as some of them are identical with 

 the typical British species in my cabinet, they 

 have furnished me with a striking illustration of 

 the greater number of broods, or, at least, of the 

 diverse time of appearance in the perfect state of 

 our flickerers at the midnight oil within the 

 warmer temperate regions. Regarding Sterrha 

 sacraria, a geometer first noticed by collectors on 

 our south coast in the year 1858, Newman says, 

 "The eggs are laid in August, on several kinds of 

 dock and camomile, on the leaves of which the 

 caterpillar feeds in a state of nature, but in confine- 

 ment it has been successfully fed upon the common 

 knot grass. The moths fly by day, and appear on 

 the wing in July, August, and October ; those of 



October are certainly a second brood. It occurs 

 very sparingly in the south of England, and Mr. 

 Birchall records the occurrence of one specimen in 

 Ireland in 1S64. I ought to add, that from the 

 singular varieties of this moth, bred from the egg by 

 the Rev. John Hellins, I am inclined to think it 

 comprises many of the so-called species described by 

 continental entomologists as distinct, such, for instance, 

 as Saiigitinaria of Esper, Labdaria of Cramer. 

 (British Moths, pp. 96-7). I well remember my 

 first seeing this moth on a lamp-pane hid in the 

 umbrage of a secluded walk near the Shanklin Cliffs 

 one still October evening, and the delight afforded 

 me at that dead season by its chaste canary-yellow 

 wings, with their oblique pink stripe. The next time I 

 met with it was with far different feelings, beneath 

 the pure purple skies of a Neapolitan May, among 

 the myrtle scrub of the Island of Capri ; and now I 

 have it sent me from Bareilly in the hot Ganges 

 valley, the 17th of last June. The Indian specimen 

 is the smallest I possess, measuring under 10'" in 

 wing expanse." "At one time," says Dr. Knaggs, 

 "it is an embarras de Sterrha sacraria, which takes 

 us by surprise, at another an abundance of some 

 ordinarily rare Deilephila astonishes our weak nerves, 

 and so on . Now pukhella is all the fashion ; floreat 

 Deiopeia" This was in the year 1871, and this pink 

 spotted exotic was then turned up here and there on 

 the south coast during the sporting month of Sep- 

 tember, although in 1874 and 1876 it was not noticed 

 until October ; facts not a little difficult to harmonise 

 with Newman's injunction to be on the look out for 

 it during July. In the south of France it is found 

 during May and October ("Entomologist," vol. xi. 

 p. 186), and lastly I have a spring example sent me 

 from the Ganges valley on the 17th of June ; all of 

 which goes to show that exclusion of broods must 

 vary with locality, although there is a probability that 

 like the former moth it is, at least, double brooded 

 within the warmer temperate zone. On Mr. Stainton's 

 scale, my specimen from the land of Indra is again 

 small, measuring only 10'" in wing expanse. (" British 

 Butterflies and Moths," p. 150). Lastly I have a 

 Sphinx sent me at the same time, that I utterly fail to 

 discriminate in any respect but size from our autumnal 

 convolvulus hawk, of uncertain appearance at the 

 petunia beds of a September evening. It only attains 

 3" 2'" in wing expanse. Other tenants of my con- 

 signee's papers appear to me — shall I say ? — Noctua 

 flammatra, and the cosmopolitan of the LeucaiiiJic, 

 L. Lorcyi, windfalls rarely taken on the south coast ; 

 or, if not, they at least come closer than my diagnosis. 

 However, doubtless I have said enough to induce any 

 young student who wishes for rare English moths to 

 apply to friends abroad, and if he desires to benefit 

 science, he has a fair chance of doing so by suggesting 

 the affixing of the date of capture to the papers they 

 are wrapped up in. The dimensions of the specimens 

 are likewise of some little interest. — A. II. Swinton. 



