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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



go out by night after larvae, few perhaps examine 

 the Convolvulus. Beside a market-garden, near 

 Putney, some years ago, I saw evident tokens of 

 the presence of one or more S. convolvuli in bitten 

 leaves and large grass, where there was a bank of 

 wild convolvulus. A search, however, proved fruit- 

 less, and I could not visit the spot after dusk. — 



/. r. s. a. 



Nests of the Brown-tail Moth {Liparis chry- 

 sorrhcea). — I have already chronicled in this journal 

 some particulars regarding the habits of this moth 

 while in the larval state. On further examination 

 of a host of nests, I feel fully convinced that a nest 

 seldom or never represents an entire family de- 

 scended from one parent, the number varying 

 greatly, though from fifty to seventy individuals 

 may represent the average. Here and there a small 

 colony of not more than a dozen or so may be 

 found. After the larvse have ceased eating, and 

 " made up " their nests as winter quarters with a 

 thicker coating of silk, they will still emerge to sun 

 themselves outside on a fine day ; and as I have 

 detected nests with their quondam occupants dead 

 and stiff on the exterior, they are sometimes sur- 

 prised by a sudden change of temperature. Soon 

 after their emergence from the eggs, the larva? of 

 L. chrysorrhcea use the furry padding which had 

 encircled them previously to form a part of the 

 nest, and so diminish the outlay of silk required 

 then.—/. R. S. C. 



The Octopus. — A capital little monograph, 

 written by Mr. Henry Lee, E.L.S., on this interest- 

 ing cephalopod, has recently been published by 

 Messrs. Chapman & Hall. Mr. Lee is one of the 

 most attractive of popular writers on natural his- 

 tory, and here we find him comparing the " Devil- 

 fish " of fiction with that of fact. Naturalists will 

 be glad of the full information as to the breeding, 

 spawning, and general habits of the Octopus, which 

 Mr. Lee's position as naturalist to the Brighton 

 Aquarium has enabled him to note. Observations 

 on all our British cuttle-fishes are included in this 

 volume. 



Variety of the House-sparrow.— Those who 

 take interest in noticing the appearance of varieties 

 of zoological 'specimens will probably be glad to 

 add another instance to their stock, viz., an un- 

 common variety of that common bird Passer domes- 

 ticus, the common house-sparrow, as during the 

 past cold weather I had the pleasure of observing, 

 at the distance of about four yards only, a perfectly 

 black sparrow. It was amongst numerous other 

 sparrows, and was not by any means one of those 

 "dingy brown" specimens which assume that hue 

 (as Wood says) from living in the neighbourhood 

 of towns, but a bird of a deep ebony-black uni- 

 formly all over its body. On my nearing it, it flew 

 on to the ledge of a chapel close by, but not before 



I had had ample time to observe it. On going 

 home I referred to Morris's " British Birds," to 

 see if he mentioned a black variety of the sparrow, 

 but he does not do so ; the nearest colour to black 

 that he mentions amongst the varieties is a blackish- 

 brown. — C. H. 



The "Demoiselle Crane" {Jathropoides 

 virgo). — A bird of this species was recently picked 

 up dead on the banks of the river Cale in this 

 neighbourhood. — Wm. Herridge, Wincanton. 



The Butcher-bird.— In the January number 

 of Science-Gossip, E. Lovett seems to have a 

 doubt about butcher-birds impaling their victims 

 on thorns ; but it is quite true that they do so, as I 

 have witnessed. When going down a lane one 

 summer, I was attracted to a bush by the sound 

 of a very noisy bird, which then flew to a tree close 

 by. It proved to be some species of butcher-bird, 

 for on examining the bush I found a field mouse 

 stuck on a stout thorn, and on returning some hours 

 afterwards, I saw that half of it had been devoured. 

 — Wm. Herridge, Wincanton. 



Parasitic Worms in Fish.— As the article 

 contributed to Science-Gossip for January, by 

 Mr. W. W. Wilson, is calculated to produce un- 

 necessary alarm in those who are fond of fish, I 

 must crave space for a few remarks. The nematode 

 worms (not hsematoid), which are so called from 

 their k thread-like form, abound in fish, and Van 

 Beneden states that there are few, either from fresh 

 or salt water, which do not contain in the folds of 

 the peritoneum, especially about the liver, cysts 

 full of these worms. Young rays as well as turbots, 

 as soon as they are hatched, have their digestive 

 organs literally stuffed with parasitical worms. 

 This Jis not, however, necessarily a symptom of 

 disease; and as almost every animal has one or 

 more parasites, to which it stands in the relation 

 of a natural host, it is more than probable that 

 they play a useful part in the vital economy. It 

 has even been suggested that as leeches, another 

 order of parasites, have been advantageously used, 

 practitioners may, hereafter, be induced to prescribe, 

 in certain diseases, doses of intestinal worms ! Few, 

 if any of these parasites, pass their whole life in the 

 body of a single individual. The worms described 

 by Mr. Hughes were apparently in their perfect 

 state. They would produce eggs, which would 

 have been discharged with the excreta into the 

 sea, if the fish had been free, where they would 

 " bide their time," till they found a lodging in some 

 othersmaller fish,'in which they would pass into the 

 encysted form'similar to the chrysalis of an insect. 

 These in turn would be "swallowed, together with 

 their host, by a larger fish, which iu this case was 

 the " Goldswing," or (the cysts may have found 

 their way into the salt water supplied to the 



