HARDWICKE'S SCI E N CE- GOSSIP. 



201 



Africa. As yet they are too shy to sing much, but 

 the hen has a sweet little whistle ; their chirp is 

 very harsh. They are a little larger than tree- 

 creepers, with a beak like that of a finch. I can 

 find nothing about them in Wood's " Birds," and 

 should be much obliged by any information about 

 their habits, &c.—EdiU cle B. Meyrick, Blessington, 

 Co. Wicklow. 



The Swallow-tailed Butterfly (P. machaoh). 

 —J. S. Wesley says of this butterfly that it "need not 

 be looked for in Kent." I have a specimen in our 

 museum, caught at Folkestone this summer. It 

 is damaged in the hind wings. — Henri/ Ulhjett, 

 Folkestone. 



Microscopic Query.— Dissecting one of those 

 large, black, hairy spiders that are met with in 

 cellars, stables, and such places, and seeing some- 

 thing on the slide I could not clearly make out, 

 I put on a higher power, and found it to be what I 

 should call a feather, a fir-shaped hair, and on further 

 examination, found the legs to be covered with them. 

 Can any of the many readers of Science-Gossip say 

 that they have found such feathers on spiders of a 

 light colour? I have not, this being the first time 

 I noticed them. — H. Macco. 



Water-vole. — Your correspondent who met 

 with the water-rat (Arthur H. Borrer) whilst fish- 

 ing, nibbling or eating the leaves of some shrub, 

 was doubtless very much astonished, as I should 

 have been a few years since. Let this fact guide 

 all sportsmen,— rats, including the water-rat, are 

 too shy to be caught eating in open daylight, it any 

 observer is in sight. On the contrary, the water- 

 vole, which is not related to the rat at all, but is a 

 near relative to the extinct British beaver, is a very 

 tame and harmless animal; it may be watched with 

 deep interest on any pond without fear of its per- 

 ceiving your presence; and it is exclusively a 

 vegetable-feeder. — B. 



Birds laying away from the Nest.— -When 

 a boy at school, 1 have found many eggs laid m the 

 open field, without the semblance of any nest. No 

 doubt your correspondent " E. B. T." has picked 

 up the e^g of the Starling. If eggs are exposed to 

 the sun for a few hours, they gradually lose much 

 of their colour. This I can prove to be the case 

 with eggs of the Thrush : a bird of this species 

 built her nest on the bank of an open meadow, ex- 

 posed to the sun's rays all the afternoon ; the parent 

 birds forsook their home, containing I think three 

 e"-gs. I watched the nest for about a fortnight; 

 then, when I collected the eggs, they were almost 

 white. — R. 



Longevity among the Mountains.— During 

 a recent visit to Dolgellau (old Welsh form), alter 

 ramblinsr among the mountains, I came upon the 

 little ancient village of Llanfachreth, beneath Rho- 

 bell if'awr, and walked about the churchyard, being 

 struck with the remarkable number of very old 

 people whose earthly remains lie entombed therein. 

 Some of the oldest I give as copied, being then 

 careful in walking round the enclosure not to repeat 

 any. Three slate stones side by side record ages of 

 89. 76, 85. Three more, side by side, 89, 70, 82. Two, 

 side bv side, S9, 88. One stone has ages ot 81 and 

 7 ( J ; another, 78 and 89 ; another, 81 and 90. Three 

 stones stand thus in ages, S3, 76, 84, one slab only 

 between first and second. Then, again, one stone 

 has recorded an age of 89, and two stones un the 



south of it, another giving the great age of 92. 

 Besides these, and carefully excluded from them, [ 

 copied into mv note-book, these ages, 89, 86, 84, 85, 

 81, 82, 82, 85,' 81, 88, 81, 83, and 90, given in the 

 order read off, excluding here those under eighty, 

 many being nigh thereon. This I thought very 

 remarkable :— " Elizabeth, wife of William Davies, 

 aired 89. Also of the above William Davies, aged 

 89." There were graves of childreu here and there ; 

 but such are the healthy conditions of life, that few 

 deaths are recorded of persons in middle life. Any 

 one can verify the above by visiting this ancient 

 village of Meirioneddshire (old form).— Horace 

 Pearce, F.G.S. 



History of the Microscope.— Science-Gossip, 

 No. 138, has a charming paper on the Microscope. 

 No. VI., by F. Kitton, Fig. 61, at page 121 gives " a 

 remarkable instance of evolution " of an "infusorial 

 animalcule as described in 1751." At page 122, " If 

 Darwin had only come across a similar instance, he 

 would have traced man to this animalcule." Will 

 you allow me to read the description in another 

 light, suggesting no evolution, but a very old and 

 weil-known principle ? An infusion of anemone was 

 kept lor eight days, when a creature was produced 

 in it " representing a human face." Is not this a 

 curious illustration of the peeled wands placed 

 before Laban's flocks by the sagacious Jacob ? The 

 person who made the infusion looked into it con- 

 stantly, to watch progress. May not his face have 

 been magnitied by the aid of the water, and the 

 glass on the eye of the animalcule, and copied by it 

 direct, as the wands were copied indirect by the coming 

 progeny of the goats, and as a passing impression on 

 the eye of a mother is often copied on her human 

 progeny ? There is no change of kind, therefore no 

 evolution.— H. P. Malet. 



Cormorants.— In thepassage from Milton, quoted 

 in the article "Alter Cormorants," in Science- 

 Gossip recently, the words "like a cormorant" 

 are an imitation of a Greek form of expression so 

 habitual with Milton. The word "like" means 

 "after the manner of," "resembling," and refers to 

 the general nature and appearance of the bird, and 

 does not mean simply sitting as a cormorant sits; tor 

 why of all birds a cormorant ? Yarrell says, " lhey 

 are frequently seen sitting on posts, rails, or leafless 

 trees by the water-side," &c. Again, further on, 

 "That cormorants possess considerable intelligence 

 is shown by several circumstances." Milton's 

 learning was most extensive, and every word was 

 weighed and full of meaning. That excellent 

 observer, Mr. Charles St. John, in his book on 

 Morayshire, says, amongst much other matter, ' The 

 cormorants sit in rows on some favourite rock, with 

 their wings spread open like the figure of a spread 

 eagle." "The eyes are placed very forward; they are 

 of a pale green, small, and have a peculiarly cruel 

 and fierce exnression. The plumage is of a glossy 

 black."—./. S. Wesley. 



British Clearwings— The two insects which 

 used to be named Sesia fuciformis and Sesia bom- 

 bilifbrmis are now included with the Humming- 

 bird Moth under the generic term Macroglossa, 

 the genus Sesia consisting only of those of which 

 the larva; "Jive unseen," as the author of the 

 article alluded to correctly states. Doubleday's, 

 or Knaggs and iStaunt on's, arrangement should be 

 followed. Sesiidse should, 1 think, too, have two 

 i's. Kaaggs so spells it.— J. S. Wesley. \ 



