HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



165 



in a very peculiar form of flat-sided bottle without 

 neck. Where can such bottles be obtained ?— 



w. a 



Silkworms (Science-Gossip [1876], pp. 119, 

 137).— I should like to inform "Inquirer" that it 

 is not a sine qua non, as Mr. J. G. Henderson inti- 

 mates, that silkworms must at any time " be fed 

 entirely on mulberry leaves." Some years ago I 

 kept silkworms for two or three seasons following 

 entirely without mulberry leaves, feeding them on 

 lettuces only, and have at the present time some 

 good skeins of silk which I wound off them. It is 

 important that this should be known, as mulberry 

 leaves may not be always obtainable, and the suppo- 

 sition that they are necessary might deter some from 

 keeping the worms. I have been told also that 

 silkworms have been successfully reared on dande- 

 lion and other leaves, but cannot vouch for the fact 

 from my own experience. Instead of boxes, as 

 suggested by Mr. Henderson, I kept my caterpillars 

 in paper trays (newspaper doubled and having the 

 edges turned up and pinned at the corners), and 

 did not find them wandering beyond the precincts of 

 their " home." These frays can be renewed as soon 

 as dirty, and it is best that this should be done once 

 a day, when the fresh leaves are given. The chief 

 requisite, in addition to sufficient food, is cleanli- 

 ness. If the stale leaves and excrements of the 

 worms are allowed to remain, the silkworms will 

 become diseased and die. They should not be 

 meddled with too much, especially when changing 

 their skin, which they do five or six times, nor 

 taken up with the fingers when small. The best 

 means of moving the small larva? is a small camel- 

 hair brush. They should, of course, be kept in a 

 dry and moderately warm place. — F. A. Edwards. 



Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly {Vanessa 

 urticee). — Can any of your correspoudenfs tell me 

 the difference of the markings between the males 

 and females of the Vrticce ?—E. A. Edwards. 



British Clearwings. — In a catalogue of the 

 zoology of the neighbourhood of Bath appended to 

 the Rev. G. N. Wright's " Historic Guide to Bath " 

 (Bath, 1S64) two species of Sesia are enumerated, 

 which are not mentioned in the article " Amongst 

 the Clearwings" (Science-Gossip, p. 133), namely, 

 Sesia fusiformis (the Broad-bordered Bee Hawk 

 Moth), and S. bombyliformis (the Narrow-bordered 

 Bee Hawk Moth). Both are said to be rare. This 

 would raise the number of English Clearwings to 

 sixteen. The list referred to contains only three 

 species of the Sesiida (the spelling of this word 

 with only one i on p. 133 is, I think, incorrect), the 

 remaining one being Macroglossa slellatarum (the 

 Humming Bird Moth). — F. A. Edwards. 



Nettle Beer (p. 118). — If Mr. Piper had been 

 amative of Lancashire or Cheshire, he would scarcely 

 have regarded the infusion of the nettle for the 

 purpose of making the above (or a similar) bever- 

 age as a curious {i.e., uncommon) use of the plant. 

 In the counties named, and probably elsewhere, 

 Nettle Beer is almost as extensively sold as Ginger 

 Beer, except in the large towns, where the difficulty 

 of obtaining nettles somewhat restricts the produc- 

 tion. Such notices as "Prime Pop and Nettle 

 Beer, plenty of it sold here," are very frequently to 

 be seen over cottage-doors in the country districts. 

 — George H. Hankinson. 



Anodon Cygneus.— In the April number (p. 96) 

 Correspondent asks why "Gwyn Jeffreys, and 



other conchological authorities say nothing about 

 the existence of any structural differences in the 

 sexes of the Anodonta." The following short ex- 

 tract from Turton's " Land and Fresh Water Shells 

 of the British Islands," by Dr. Gray, 1857, p. 273, 

 affords a complete answer to the question : — " Some 

 authors have believed them [the Anodons] to be 

 unisexual ; but their anatomy proves that they are 

 hermaphrodite and sufficient for themselves." — 

 George H. Hankinson. 



Ornithological Visitors near Shrewsbury. 

 — It may interest some of the readers of Science- 

 Gossip to hear that on the evening of May the 

 31st I saw eighteen seagulls flying over Shrewsbury, 

 in the same direction as the wind which was then 

 blowing from the west so that they must have 

 travelled over forty miles, since leaving the sea. 

 They flew so near and low that I could distinctly 

 see that they were specimens of the common 

 gull {Larus canus). I have frequently beard of 

 solitary gulls being seen and sometimes shot, near 

 here, but never such a large number as eighteen, 

 and cannot imagine what could have induced them 

 to fly so far inland. I may also mention that at 

 the beginning of the present year a specimen of 

 the very rare little gull {Larus minutus) was shot 

 near Atcham bridge, Shrewsbury, while hovering 

 over the river Tern, which joins the Severn at that 

 point. And that a pair of common terns {Sterna 

 hirundd) were shot some time ago by a farmer, as 

 they were fishing in Berrington pool, Shrewsbury. 

 About the same time a pair of grey phalaropes 

 {Phalaropus lobatus) were shot on a farm near 

 Hadnall, Salop, where they had been observed for 

 several days running about among the puddles, 

 seeking for worms and slugs. I do not think they 

 were ever seen swimming, although there was a 

 duck-pond close by. — H. E. Forrest. 



Birds' Eggs. — Early in May this year I found, 

 lying upon the bare ground, at the foot of a tree, 

 near the entrance of a small wood, in the western 

 part of Sussex, a solitary egg, of a uniform greenish 

 blue colour, somewhat resembling that of a starling's 

 egg, only much paler. In shape it is nearly round, 

 being about one inch in length by seven - 

 eighths of an inch in breadth. The shell is rather 

 rough and very hard for its size. I have referred 

 to Morris's " British Birds' Eggs," and the only 

 representation that at all resembles mine is that 

 of the American or yellow-billed Cuckoo : in shape 

 and colour they exactly correspond, but in size, 

 I should think that mine is rather the smaller. 

 But they differ essentially in two respects, viz., that 

 this rare bird builds a nest, and that it lays from 

 three to five eggs. It may be that the female 

 of some bird had been driven from the nest whilst 

 in the act of laying, and had deposited its egg where 

 I found it, and by a curious coincidence it was 

 deformed. The latter opinion I am rather inclined 

 to adopt. I should be very glad if any of the readers 

 of Science-Gossip would kindly aid me in ascer- 

 taining the name of the egg, and in solving the 

 problem of which I am now in utter ignorance. — 

 E. B. T. 



Parasitic Vorticell^e. — Your correspondent, 

 " H. E. P.," of Long Eaton, in his article on " Para- 

 sitic Vorticellse ou Cyclops" asks for further in- 

 formation on this subject. I think he is quite right 

 in naming the object mentioned, Epistylis parasitica, 

 but regret (knowing what a pleasant thing it is to 

 make a discovery) that I cannot agree with him as 



