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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



nevertheless resulted, contrary to the old nursery 

 rhyme, in a complete victory for the fly. The spider 

 had torn off every foot from the ichneumon, and in 

 all cases except one it had dismembered several 

 joints, as well as one of its antenna;. The victorious 

 fly had also used its mandibles, and to greater 

 advantage, as the spider's body was literally squashed 

 out of all shape, So infuriated was the ichneumon, 

 and so determined on keeping a firm hold of its enemy, 

 that I actually lifted it up, put it in a chip-box, where 

 it remained for a short time, and then after killing it, to 

 my astonishment on again looking some time after, 

 found the spider still held firmly in the jaws of its 

 antagonist. When I reached home I set them just as 

 I had found them, but unfortunately the drying up of 

 the spider had loosened the hold of the ichneumon's 

 mandibles, and the two came asunder. The pin, 

 however, judiciously put through the spider's head, 

 nearly restored them to their previous position. — 

 James Edward Cree. 



Mistaken Identity. — The other day, while in 

 my garden, I heard some young sparrows chirping in 

 a beech hedge. Walking quietly up, and imitating an 

 old one, I was more than surprised when one flew 

 out and sat on my arm, where it remained chirping 

 and fluttering its wings, evidently expecting to be fed, 

 for fully a minute before finding out its mistake. — 

 James Edward Cree. 



The Sidmouth Coast. — In answer to the question 

 in Science-Gossip, I write to say the Sidmouth 

 coast affords a rich field for marine collectors. The 

 Chit rocks are close to the town, and of easy access ; as 

 are also the rocks in Ladrum Bay, \\ mile westward. 

 We often have visitors here on the same errand as 

 M. C. W. — Florence Cottage, Sidmouth. 



Habits of Goat-suckers. — I am informed by a 

 friend of mine, that one evening about this time last 

 year, he was walking across Batcombe Down, in this 

 county, when a bird swooped at him, and continued 

 to do so for some distance along the road. I assume 

 the bird was a goat-sucker, but although I have found 

 the nest, I never noticed it act thus. Perhaps some 

 of your readers will say if I am correct as to the bird, 

 and if they have seen it behave so. — Darell Stephens, 

 F.L.S., Mapperton, Dorset. 



Greenfinch Nesting. — On the evening of 

 Friday, the 18th of May, I observed a greenfinch on 

 her nest ; she would not leave it until I had shaken 

 the bush several times, and even then she sat on the 

 bough within half a foot of her nest. I then com- 

 menced to climb the bush, and when half-way up, to 

 my astonishment, the bird returned to her nest. I 

 record these facts as a similar case has not come 

 under my observation. — Darell Stephens, F.L.S., 

 Mapperton, Bcaminster, Dorset. 



Eccentricities in Nest-building. — I have 

 never known a case precisely similar to that de- 

 scribed by Mr. Rawson, of rooks usurping the function 

 of jackdaws, by building in a turret ; but I have seen 

 jackdaws' nests in trees,' in the heart of a rookery, 

 and that quite close to a convenient church, with a 

 tower inhabited by many jackdaws. I also knew a 

 a pair of waterhens which for several years had their 

 nest in the top of a hawthorn-tree, by the side of the 

 river Boro. I have seen a sand-martin's nest not 

 built in a hole, but placed against the bank, after the 

 fashion of a blackbird's ; a golden-crested wren's, 

 which was not pendent, but supported by the twigs 

 of a small shrub of box ; and a skylark's not on the 

 ground, but up in a hedge of furze-bushes, barely 



within reach of the human hand. Among less re- 

 markable eccentricities, I knew a wood-pigeon's 

 nest which was occupied for at least two successive 

 seasons, built scarcely a foot above the ground, on 

 some recumbent laurels in the churchyard ; also a 

 greenfinch's in the thatch of an outhouse, and a 

 thrush's humbly placed beneath the sheltering foliage 

 of a cabbage-plant. — Charles B. Moffat. 



Dynamite. — It is stated that in the manufacture 

 of this explosive, " Infusorial " or " Siliceous " earth 

 is used, which formerly was procured from abroad, 

 but which is now obtained from several parts of 

 England. I should be very much obliged to any one 

 who would send me small specimens of these earths, 

 either foreign or British, stating their locality. I 

 would gladly pay postal charges.- — J. Deans, Frant- 

 hurst, Bascombe, Bournemouth, Hants. [These earths 

 are the ordinary Diatomaceous earths. — Ed. S.-G.] 



Disease of Puss Larvae. — Since writing to you 

 on the above subject some time ago I have, as I 

 think, discovered the reason of the disease in my 

 larvae. One gentleman in answer to my query, as to 

 the cause of disease, gives it as his opinion that the 

 food I gave them was ivet, but it was not so. I 

 always carefully dry the food before offering it to any 

 larvae. But this idea set me thinking, and having some 

 larvae of C.fraxini diseased in exactly the same way, 

 I have come to the conclusion that wet, indirectly, 

 was the cause of disease. These Fraxini, when first 

 hatched from the egg, were fed on well-matured dry 

 leaves of black poplar, and throve remarkably well ; 

 but as they grew larger the popular threw out new 

 leaves, and thinking to give them a treat, I gave 

 them the young new leaves, and ever since they have 

 sickened and died. The puss larvae were fed on 

 young shoots or suckers of willow, growing directly 

 out of the ground. Now, it is my firm belief that 

 these young shoots were not good for them, as they 

 contained a great amount of wet and sap, and I 

 believe it acted on them just the same as if they had 

 taken the wet from the exterior surface of the leaves. 

 I shall be glad to hear the opinion of others on the 

 subject. — IV. Finch, jun., Nottingham. 



Tenacity of Life. — Having some larvae of the 

 large tortoiseshell butterfly ( V. polychloros), which 

 were turning to chrysalids, and wishing to preserve 

 one for the cabinet, before they were all pupated, 

 I put one in my cyanide bottle to kill it, on Saturday, 

 June 30th, intending to preserve it on the following 

 Monday, but I entirely forgot it until to-day — July 

 4th — when, on looking in my cyanide bottle, what 

 was my surprise to see that the larva had pupated ;. 

 and, on turning it out to throw away, I found it was 

 alive, and it is alive now, apparently uninjured by its 

 long sojourn in the poison bottle. The bottle is well 

 charged with poison, and usually kills a larva in about 

 half an hour. Can any of your readers explain this, 

 and oblige — W. Finch, jun., Nottingham. 



White Egg of Starling. — It may interest Mr. 

 Foster to know that I have in my collection a perfectly 

 white egg of the starling. It was taken, with three 

 eggs of the normal type, from a nest in a barn near 

 here. I have also take perfectly white specimens of 

 the linnet's, robin's, and thrush's eggs. The country 

 people about here say that in many cases the last 

 egg laid is white, because the bird's colouring matter 

 is exhausted. This statement, though, must be taken 

 cum grano salis. — "Plutarch." 



Natural History Notes : Local Names, &c. — 

 In this part of Kent the moorhen is called the 



