HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



263 



A buried Floor. — Some time since, while cutting 

 away a bog in the neighbourhood of Pomeroy, the 

 workmen came upon a level floor covered with saw- 

 dust ; this was at the depth of twelve feet eight turf, 

 in depth twenty-two feet of earth. This being strange, 

 I think it worth recording. — S. B. 



Curious Place for a Swallow's Nest.— On the 

 top of some potato onions, hung from the rafters of a 

 loft. They were placed there the first week in August, 

 and the old birds must have commenced to build at 

 once, as the young brood are able to fly now. 

 September 18th. — S. B. 



Climbing Powers of the Toad. — If Helen 

 Watney would kindly give some idea of how the 

 rough surface of a toad, andthe surface of a " roughly 

 built " garden wall, or of a stone step, are going to 

 adhere simply in virtue of the toad's rough surface, 

 she would greatly enlighten both myself and, I doubt 

 not, many others. Now I think that if the toad I 

 observed climbing a flight of stone steps in the 

 manner described at p. 213, was able to attain his 

 desired end, the "venerable fat toad " would also by 

 the same means have been able to climb the steps, 

 which I presume were at the entrance of the house, 

 and so gain admittance. Also if the flower-pot were 

 as rough as a garden wall, the toad would have found 

 some hold for his hands and so have escaped. — 

 Edward B. Parfitt. 



Bullfinch Incubation. — It may interest some of 

 your pet-keeping readers in the bird line, if 1 send 

 you a sequel to the account published in your last 

 number. I have since (last week) visited the country 

 house therein mentioned, and saw, as the result of the 

 hen-bullfinch's incubation inside the stag's skull, four 

 very fine young birds. She is again sitting in the same 

 peculiar situation, with the cock bird in attendance. — 

 W. Hambrough. 



Wasps devouring Flies. — In answer to S. B.'s 

 query in the October number of Science-Gossip, it 

 may interest him to know that I have frequently seen 

 wasps devouring flies, and once saw a wasp attack a 

 spider and defeat it. — A. M. 



Wasp preying on Larva. — In answer to your 

 correspondent S. B., I beg to say, that the incident 

 he mentions in the October number is by no means 

 of rare occurrence. Wasps, it is well known, are of 

 a cannibal and carnivorous nature, and I have 

 frequently amused myself with giving them small 

 pieces of raw meat, which they would sometimes eat 

 on the spot, but more frequently carry away. A few 

 weeks ago, I observed a very much worn specimen 

 of J anessa] Urtica: crawling on the ground. It was 

 utterly unable to fly. Presently a wasp came hover- 

 ing over it, and finally settled near it. Crawling 

 over its body, it stung it in several places, and then 

 endeavoured to drag it away. Failing in this, it 

 commenced to gnaw off the wings, and actually 

 separated three from the body whilst I was watching. 

 Time did not allow of my witnessing the final results 

 of the unequal conflict, but I have no doubt the 

 wasp either ate or carried away the dead body of its 

 victim. There is a highly interesting account of 

 spider-killing wasps in the September number of 

 this periodical. — J. A. Wheldon. 



Sheet Lightning. — Can any of your correspon- 

 dents explain to me the cause of sheet lightning ? 

 The common explanation is that it is the reflection of 

 fork lightning. If so, how is it that their shapes are 

 so utterly different 1—C. B. 



Blackcap's Eggs. — I have this season taken some 

 blackcap's eggs, in which the ground-colour is a 

 yellowish-brown, and the spots dark brown. Will 

 any of your readers tell me if this variety is unusual ? 

 — //. J. S. H. 



Dragon-flies. — The specimen seen by A. J. 

 Wheldon must surely be a foreign species the larva 

 of which has been brought over to England. I have 

 read of a Chinese dragon-fly with scarlet on the 

 wings, but never of a red-bodied English one. Some 

 of our native species vary in colour at different ages, 

 Calopteryx splendens and Calopteryx virgo, for instance ; 

 one kind, Libellula maeulata, has a lemon-coloured 

 body with blotches at the bottom of the wings. The 

 male and female dragon-flies also differ in hue ; one, 

 Mrs. Dragon-fly, having a green bodice whilst her 

 lord sports a blue coat. — Helen E. Watney. 



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 communica- 

 tions which reach us later than the 9th 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 owe gratuitous insertion of 

 "exchanges" which cannot be tolerated. 



M. B. H. — Feed your glow-worm larvse on grey or yellow 

 slugs and snails. They will remain in the larval state till April 

 or May, and then change to the pupal condition, in which they 

 will remain a fortnight longer before attaining their adult or 

 fully developed state. 



R. Blight. — The fungus was in a "high" state when we 

 opened the box (owing to the delay caused by a holiday), and 

 it was difficult to make out. It appeared to be a species of 

 Morel, probably Morchclla semilibera. _ 



C. H. G. (Wimbledon). — The specimen with large ovate 

 leaves is Daphne laureola; the other with smaller leaves is 

 Negundofraxinifolium. 



J. H. (Kendal). — It is Alonsoa inciscrfolia, of the N. O. 

 Scrophulariaceae. 



F. A. D. (Winchester). —Atriplex hastata, yes, and Cteo- 

 podium album, /3. virtde (L.), by some authors known as 

 C. viride (Linn.), {vide Babington's "Manual"). 



R. W. (Wigton). — We should have no hesitation whatever in 

 naming your No. 4, Jnncus conglovieratus (L.) ; it certainly 

 looks unlike it in its early stage of growth, and we do not 

 wonder that you are puzzled. 



J. Braby. — Your slide reached us in a smashed condition, 

 but sufficient was made out to indicate the parasite to be Cheh- 

 fer cancroides. 



H. Bangham. — The enormous development of the "sucker" 

 is undoubtedly due to the richness of the soil, in which the 

 nutriment must be in excess. 



R. A. B. — Your specimen is the eye-bright (Euphrasia 

 officinalis). 



J. P.— The red seeds are those of Abrus precatoria. The 

 shells are a species of Neritina. 



H. L. E.— The objects on the oak leaves are not fungi, but 

 galls, popularly known as "oak-spangles." They are formed 

 by an insect. See Taylor's " Half Hours in the Green Lanes," 

 page 197. 



T. D. R. — A notice shall appear in next month. 



J. Colson. — Kindly put your query to the editor of the 

 '".Gardeners' Chronicle," as your query is purely a horticultural 

 one. 



G. T. Harris. — Mr. Edwin Waugh's books are published 

 by Abel Heywood, Manchester. 



Dr. C. Stuart.— Thanks for your notes, which shall appear 

 in an early number. 



Col. F. A. D.— The specimen is Saussurea alpina. 



H. Rich ardson— The price of new books is not always known 

 when we announce them as "received." Mr. Rimmer's 

 " Land and Freshwater Shells " acknowledged in our last num- 

 ber you will see advertised in the columns of the same number 

 at ios. 6d. 



