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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



species of Cionus found in this country inhabit 

 plants chiefly of the genera Scrophularia and 

 Verbascum ; that they construct cocoons thereon, 

 and that the larvae are yellow and gelatinous. It 

 was thus tolerably clear that the latter were the 

 devourers of the betony-leaves ; and thus an out. 

 line of this little insect's life-history appeared to 

 be afforded. I could not fail to be struck with the 

 curious mode of opening which characterized the 

 cocoon, — an arrangement similar to that found in 

 one of the Hemiptera (a field-bug), and figured in 

 Rennie's now almost-forgotten volume on "Insect 

 Transformations." Nor was it less remarkable to 

 note the close resemblance of the cocoons to the 

 brown seed-vessels of the Betony, whether closed 

 or open, rendering it easy to mistake the former 

 for the latter. Possibly these brief jottings may 

 possess some little interest for the entomological 

 readers of Science-Gossip. At least I hope so. — 

 IF. H. G. 



Sparrows and Peas. — When I resided in the 

 town of Cirencester, I experienced great difficulty 

 in growing peas, for as soon as the leaves began to 

 expand, they were eaten away down to the petiole, 

 as the gardener said, " by they mischievous 

 sparrows." Well, we adopted all sorts of expe- 

 dients to keep the birds away, but I was surprised 

 to find that the more successful our efforts in this 

 direction, the faster and surer was the destruction 

 of the young pea-planfs, and this led me to look 

 carefully at the peas, when it was found that the 

 leaves were notched in a peculiar manner, as though 

 by the gnawing of an iusect, and not like the pecking 

 and tearing of a bird, and upon closer inspection I 

 soon found the creatures at their work in the shape 

 of a small beetle, Sitonia (Curculio) lineata, — 

 Striped Pea Weevil,— and we believe that the 

 whole of the mischief to our peas was done by these 

 creatures, and that the sparrow, so far from being 

 the delinquent, was, indeed, aiding, us to get rid 

 of the pest, which we let him do unmolested for 

 the future, save the little disturbance we gave 

 him in drawing an insect-net over the ranks of peas 

 in bright, sunshiny weather, by which means we 

 caught the insects, and ever after saved our crop. 

 Since that time we have seen whole fields of peas 

 all but destroyed by this creature, and even in our 

 crop of this year, which was tolerably successful, 

 the insects were so abundant as to enable us to take 

 up hundreds at a time from the rim of the carter's 

 hat, who was pitching them on the waggon. We 

 find lime, soot, or finely-powdered road-dirt, or all 

 mixed together, dusted over the crop in early morn- 

 ing, while the dew is upon it, discourages the iusect, 

 probably by rendering its food unpalatable ; but, be 

 that as it may, they usually fly off to some other 

 pea, or it may be clover crop, after the first dress- 

 ing.—/. Buclcman, Bradford Abbas. 



On Collecting and Preserving Htmeno- 

 ptera.— In answer to Mr. Hallett, I have no doubt 

 his plan is good, but still it has so many disadvan- 

 tages that I would not advise a tyro to try it. In his 

 criticisms of my paper, he complains of the com- 

 plications of cyanide, boxing, chloroforming, and 

 then sulphuring. I have found stupefying with the 

 cyanide-bottle is the quickest and safest method of 

 getting these insects into the box, which should 

 never contain more than a single insect ; indeed, 

 Mr. Smith says, when he has captured a rarity, he 

 incloses that box again in a larger one. Some 

 caution is needful in boxing such insects as the 

 humble bees, wasps, and hornets, whose stings in 

 the female and neuter are really formidable. Mr. 

 Hallett does not tell your readers how he gets them 

 into his box. He hints at killing them with chloro- 

 form ; this should never be attempted, as it renders 

 them so rigid that it is extremely difficult to set 

 them. The store bottle he recommends, I think, 

 should never be used, because many of the bees 

 differ in one sex, whilst the other greatly resembles 

 the same sex of another species, which may be taken 

 at another time of the year ; this is particularly the 

 case with the males of some species of Andrena, and 

 by being mixed thus higgledy-piggledy in a bottle of 

 laurel-leaves, all evidence of time and locality is 

 lost ; another reason is that all insects killed with 

 cyanide or laurel-leaves, or allowed to remain in 

 either any time, are apt to mould on the slightest 

 provocation ; it is far better, if there is not sufficient 

 time to set all, to pin them, with a label bearing all 

 particulars, and afterwards, if required, damp them, 

 and then set them. With regard to his observa- 

 tions on killing them with sulphur, I can only say 

 it is the method recommended by Messrs. Ered. 

 Smith, Shuckard, and E.Newman, all old hymenop- 

 terists of note, as the best for preserving the colours, 

 and leaving the insect perfectly lax for setting. As 

 to the drawing of the insect set with the table 

 braces, I should have thought it was unnecessary to 

 observe that that is a vagary of the artist, who is 

 evidently not an entomologist, as it would be very 

 troublesome to set the insect with the legs as repre- 

 sented in the woodcut. The string plan may be 

 good, but in that one has to arrange two pins 

 instead of one in the table. Erom the observations 

 of Mr. Hallett, if he had not stated he has collected 

 these insects, I should have thought that beetles or 

 bi'gs had occupied his leisure, and not bees and 

 wasps. — John B. Bridgman. 



BOTANY. 



An Operative Botanist. — There has just died 

 one of those remarkable men who, we are thankful 

 to say, abound in Lancashire and Yorkshire, and 

 who devote their leisure to the practical study of 



