HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



2S1 



Scarcity of Bee Orchis, &c. — Like your corre- 

 spondent J. S. in Science-Gossip for November, 

 I have noticed the scarcity of Ophrys apifera this 

 season, not having once seen it in three of the chalk 

 districts of Surrey. On the 30th of June last year I 

 found it on one of the slopes of Box Hill facing the 

 Brighton Railway, and, at the same time, Aceras 

 anthropophora, but neither was in abundance. The 

 former had then only just commenced to flower ; 

 concluding therefore that I was too early in the 

 season to see it in perfection, I this year visited the 

 same locality on the 31st of July, but was surprised 

 and disappointed at not being able to discover a 

 trace of either plant. I also searched other parts of 

 the hill without success, but in several places saw 

 Chlora perfoliata in profusion. During the last two 

 years I have taken occasional botanical excursions to 

 Box Hill, and when I have seen Ophrys apifera it 

 was not associated with Chlora perfoliata as referred 

 to by a former correspondent. My opportunities for 

 observation are too few to enable me to form an opinion 

 as to the cause of the scarcity of the Orchidacese 

 mentioned above, but I hope some of your corres- 

 pondents may be able to answer the inquiry of J. S. 

 on this point. We all know that there are good 

 years, and unfortunately bad ones also, for the more 

 necessary fruits of the earth, and the same seems to 

 be the case with wild flowers. In the neighbourhood 

 from which I write, I remark each year that some of 

 even the commonest plants do not appear in their usual 

 abundance ; for example, in 1879, Lamium album, 

 though by no means scarce, yet had to be sought for 

 if wanted in flower, whereas this year it thrusts itself 

 upon one's observation along every roadside all 

 through the season. — S. Tail. 



Wasps and Silk-worms. — In answer to S. B., 

 I write to say that I once had a tray full of silk- 

 worms, attacked by a number of wasps. They were 

 all stung to death, and many of them partially 

 devoured. The silk-worms were full grown, and 

 just about to spin. It struck me as a very extra- 

 ordinary event. — L. If. 



Mounting Mosses. — I have found the following 

 method of mounting the capsules of mosses for the 

 microscope to answer very well for low powers. I 

 take a small pill-box (the sizes known by chemists 

 as one drachm and half drachm are the best) and cut 

 it down to the required depth. It is then to be 

 blackened thoroughly inside, and fastened securely 

 to a glass slide with diamond cement. Thin wood 

 slides would answer as well. In the bottom of the 

 box I fasten a capsule in an upright position, to show 

 the peristome in situ; and around it I arrange the 

 calyptra, operculum, and a portion of the seta. The 

 name may be written on the lid, with the locality and 

 date.— J. A. Wheldon. 



Blotched Ferns. — When moisture remains on 

 the fronds of ferns in a strong light they readily 

 become blotched with white. I find, however, that 

 in a well-shaded house with the moisture sponged off 

 some such as Lomaria chilensis and Lastrea hispida 

 become so. Can any of your correspondents satis- 

 factorily account for this? — C. H G. 



Sections of Fossils. — Can you, or any of your 

 correspondents, give me any information as to the 

 best way of making sections of fossils ? In the case 

 of an ammonite for instance it is a wasteful proceed- 

 ing to "rub down" one half in order to get a 

 good section showing internal structure. Lapidary's 

 charges are too high to be frequently incurred by 

 — Fossil- hunter. 



Anagallis oerulea. — I found the blue 

 pimpernel in my garden at Pembroke Dockyard in 

 1876-7, and also in 1879 at Blackheath in a garden, 

 but I have never seen it elsewhere. — R. Hamilton, 

 Rear Admiral, Queenstown. 



Average Duration of Lepidoptera, tea- 

 Will some one kindly inform me of the average 

 duration of life of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera ? Do 

 nocturnal fliers (Lepidoptera) in general live longer 

 than the diurnal ? — Henry C. Wilkie. 



Age of Cockatoo. — Can any of your readers 

 inform me of a certain method of telling the age of a 

 cockatoo 1—H. C. Wilkie. 



Borage (Borago) — Has been cultivated for ages 

 in this country. It has become naturalised and it 

 maybe found now and for the last "forty years " 

 growing wild on waste ground. It came originally 

 from the Levant. — H. E. Watney. 



The St. Mary, Lambeth, Field Club in- 

 tend holding their annual soiree at St. Philip's 

 Schools, Kennington Road, on Monday the 3rd of 

 January next, when we have no doubt the members 

 of other London clubs would be welcome. 



Sea Anemones, &c. — The pair of shrimp-like 

 animals described by " Minnie " (p. 236) inside an 

 anemone were probably some of the sessile-eyed 

 Crustacea (such as Idotea tricuspidata, Sec), which are 

 frequently found clasped together among tufts of 

 seaweed between tide-levels. The fact of their being 

 found alive in the position described would strongly 

 tend to prove (what has been denied) that anemones 

 do not or cannot in any degree paralyse other animals. 

 Anemones have a certain stinging power ; but many 

 naturalists deny that they possess poison vesicles, or 

 that the little elliptical capsules wherewith their skin 

 or tentacle is furnished are endowed with any func- 

 tion of urtication or prehension. — P. Q. K. 



Lapwing {Vanellus cristatus). — The eggs are of a 

 deep oil-green colour, blotched and irregularly marked 

 with brownish-black. When repeatedly robbed of its 

 eggs the bird continues laying until exhausted nature 

 can no longer produce the strong eggs in natural 

 colours. Your correspondent's description of the 

 e gg s is g° 0( L an d proves the weakness of the bird ; 

 he says the eggs are of a pale milky-blue tint, not 

 exactly white and but one degree removed from soft 

 e gg s > **■ e gg s laid before a membrane is strength- 

 ened by a shell ; in short they are an abortion, and 

 this is the true cause of the peculiar colours described. 

 For twenty years I have had lapwing eggs in my 

 cabinet bearing the description given by R. Standen, 

 and got them in the same way as he did ; my dealer 

 became bankrupt, he disappeared ; and I was glad 

 when he was out of sight. Last year I sent on a 

 few such eggs to one of your correspondents ; he 

 wrote back saying that I must have made a mistake 

 and sent rare valuable eggs, and he honestly wanted 

 to return them. — James G. Coutts, Glasgow. 



ClRL Bunting, &c. — I believe the cirl bunting 

 is considered as only an accidental summer visitor to 

 this country. I have seen several in winter in this 

 locality (N. Hants) and one in the summer 1877, 

 drinking at a pond. Another bird which orni- 

 thologists consider as only a summer visitor is the 

 yellow- wagtail, but in the severe winter of 1878, I 

 saw one searching for insects along the bank of a 

 frozen stream. — G. Deivar. 



