HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



159 



found on the thistles which grow in the sugar-cane 

 fields in May. Is not V. callirhoe the same as V. 

 nidica, and V. vulcana? — T. D. A. Cockerell. 



Helix tersonata in Ireland.— It was I who 

 found the specimen of Helix pcrsonata in Ireland, 

 and as I have never yet made any public statement of 

 the circumstance, perhaps I may be permitted to do so 

 now. Mr. Christy is right in saying that the claim 

 of this species to be regarded as British rests on a 

 single dead shell. Some years ago I was searching 

 for mosses over the sandhills at Newcastle, county 

 Down, Ireland, and filled my vasculum with tufts of 

 the various forms that I met with. On my return to 

 Belfast the same evening, I proceeded to examine my 

 plants, and at the roots of a tuft of a hypnum I 

 found a snail shell which I did not know, but which 

 was subsequently identified by Dr. J. G. Jeffreys as 

 Helix personata. At first I thought of a fossil bed, 

 but the shell is not a fossil ; though dead, and filled 

 with sand it is quite fresh, and I can find no trace of 

 a fossil deposit in the locality. Nevertheless, I do 

 not regard H. personata as a British shell. Subse- 

 quent searches in the same sandhills have all been 

 unsuccessful, and unless there should be better reason 

 than I have stated, it is better to leave this species 

 out of our list. The shell in question was not 

 introduced with ballast, it was found a long way off 

 the quay, and there are no ballast heaps about the 

 little port. Newcastle is one of the most popular 

 watering places in the north of Ireland, and it is no 

 unusual occurrence for people to stop there for a time 

 who have also been at watering places on the 

 continent. Shell collecting is one of the amusements 

 of such resorts, and it is quite likely that some 

 person, having foreign shells, dropped the specimen 

 about which I write. This is my theory, but there 

 are many ways by which the presence of this shell 

 may be accounted for, without supposing it to have 

 lived on the spot. — S. A. Stewart, Belfast. 



Nature-Printing. — We have to notice a novel 

 style of printing from natural objects which has just 

 been perfected by Mr. Thos. Stonywood. In this 

 process the impressions are taken directly from the 

 objects themselves, thereby possessing a vigour and a 

 freshness, to which mere copying, however artistic- 

 ally done, could never attain. Articles as diverse as 

 a spider's web and a mutton chop are reproduced 

 with almost photographic exactitude, round objects 

 and flat being copied with equal facility. Thus 

 leaves are copied with exquisite effects. As im- 

 pressions of both large and small specimens can be 

 transferred and on any substance, many channels are 

 opened for the employment of this ingenious method 

 of printing. 



Insect Life on the Mountains. — During a 

 walk in May last, in North Wales, over that shoulder 

 of Carnedd Llewelyn that stretches away below the 



bold peak of Yr Elen, I was struck by the abundance 

 of insect life among the grass and moss of the 

 mountain ; for over a space of at least two miles of 

 my route, the singular creature commonly called the 

 "Harry long-legs " was so abundant as almost to 

 cover the surface, rising up at my steps ; and when I 

 looked again and again to observe them, they were 

 seen in swarms. Small beetles also of two or three 

 kinds were very numerous, high up among rocks and 

 short grass, at elevations varying from 1000 to 2500 

 feet ; so that I was led to reflect how varied and 

 widespread, how profuse and generously scattered, 

 are the forms of life in such wild and remote spots, 

 generally looked upon as barren and desolate. Prob- 

 ably such lavish multiplication of insect life thus, is 

 to provide plenty of food for birds up there ; at least 

 one reason among others. I may remark that I had 

 gone there specially, selecting a good vantage ground, 

 to see the magnificent precipices of Cefn Ysgolion 

 Duon, plunging sheer down from the summit ridge 

 of Carnedd Dafydd almost to his base, and forming 

 a grand mural section of the rocks, said to be about 

 2000 feet nearly perpendicular : an estimate I should 

 suppose not far from the reality. It needs braving a 

 little unpleasant very boggy ground, which, even by 

 keeping close to the streams, can scarcely be avoided 

 altogether ; but the sight of this great wall of rock is 

 worth considerable trouble to obtain, and when 

 gazed upon from a good position will not soon be 

 forgotten. From Bangor, as a resting-place, the 

 base of the cliffs, or perhaps, better still, the grassy 

 shoulder of Yr Elen, may easily be reached by 

 leaving the main road a little beyond the village of 

 Bethesda. I can recommend following up the Caseg 

 stream, on its far side from the main road, and 

 crossing it high up so as to strike over the shoulder 

 of Yr Elen as before mentioned : the tourist then 

 will soon find himself in a glorious solitude, sur- 

 rounded by scenery of much beauty and grandeur. — 

 Horace Pearce, F.L.S., Stourbridge. 



Swallows Hibernating. — Will the old contro- 

 versy of swallows hibernating never be buried in 

 oblivion ? I cannot imagine what proof of hiberna- 

 tion is afforded by "Plutarch's" note in your last 

 number. The swallow invariably arrives here (North- 

 allerton) in April, and we are about 40 miles north 

 of Leeds, where "Plutarch" saw his swallow on 

 April 3rd. The following extracts from my diary 

 show the times of appearance of swallows for several 

 years back : 1863, April 16th ; 1868, April 14 ; 

 1869, April 13th ; 1872, April 29th (some had been 

 seen by a friend before) ; 1873, April 16th ; 1879, 

 April 28th (sandmartin seen on the 7th) ; 1SS1, 

 April 23rd ; 18S2, April 27th (martin on the 16th 

 and sandmartin on 23rd). I cannot believe that the 

 bird was a hibernated specimen, because it was seen 

 a week or two earlier than usual. — J. A. Wheldon. 



