280 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



GEOLOGY, &C. 



The Locomotive Organs of Trilobites. 

 —Many years ago, Dr. Henry Woodward, of 

 the British Museum, argued that the Trilobites, 

 found so abundantly in the Cambrian, Silurian, and 

 Devonian formations, possessed legs. He even 

 figured what he believed were the calcic arches which 

 supported these useful appendages. But geologists 

 entertained the belief that these fossil crustaceans 

 were legless. Now comes from Cincinnati news of 

 the discovery of one well-known genus of Trilobites 

 called Asaphus, a specimen of which shows the 

 fossil legs. It had previously been declared that 

 another genus (Calymene) had been found with 

 similar ambulatory appendages. 



Gold in Limestone. — Professor Schaeffer states 

 that gold occurs in a ferruginous cretaceous lime- 

 stone, in Williamson County, Texas. He thinks it 

 must have originally existed in the limestone in 

 Pyrites, and that the latter was subsequently removed 

 and the gold locally concentrated. 



Ireland and its Geology. — It was the late 

 Lord Beaconsfield, we believe, who connected the 

 peculiarity of the Irish temperament with the con- 

 tiguity of their country to " the melancholy ocean " ? 

 A German geologist, Professor Von Lasaulx, has 

 gone further, and in a lecture recently delivered at 

 Heidelberg, he drew an ingenious parallel between 

 Ireland and Sicily, and explained the backward state 

 of the inhabitants of the two islands, and the dis- 

 orders of which they have been the theatre, by the 

 nature of their geological strata, and the conse- 

 quent physical formation of their coasts and their 

 positions. 



The Geologists' Association. — No. 2 of 

 vol. viii. of the Proceedings of this Society, besides 

 reports of the ordinary meetings, contains papers on 

 "The Diamond Rock of South Africa," by W. H. 

 Hudleston, F.G.S. ; and an abstract of the paper, 

 "A Theory of possible causes of the elevation and 

 subsidence of parts of the Earth's Surface," by 

 W. F. Stanley. In addition there are two pleasantly 

 written accounts of excursions, one to the Mineralogist 

 Department of the British Museum, and the other 

 to Hythe. 



Scientific Instruments. — We have much 

 pleasure in calling attention to Mr. Charles Coppock's 

 "Illustrated Catalogue of Scientific Instruments." 

 The illustrations are numerous, and all are good. 

 The mere turning over of the pages, 128 in number, 

 shows us at a glance what a multitude of auxiliary 

 instruments are now placed at the service of every 

 department of scientific research. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Disease of Puss Larvae. — In reply to Mr. 

 Waters's query — as to whether my larvae were kept in 

 too confined a space, I assure that gentleman that 

 such was not the case. I have lost larvae through the 

 above cause, but in this instance there were but a 

 dozen larvae in all, and they were kept in a large 

 roomy cage, well ventilated. — IV. Finch, jun., 

 Nottingham. 



Descriptions of Caterfillars. — The following 

 descriptions are from "The Larvae of the British 

 Lepidoptera and their Food-plants," by Owen S. 

 Wilson. Lyacna arion. — At eleven days old Mr. 

 Porrit thus describes the caterpillar : " Length about 

 i of an inch, stout, but tapering towards the head, 

 which is much smaller than the second segment ; 

 general colour dirty pink, the head brown and 

 shining ; behind the head is a large, almost plate- 

 like dull black mark, from which extends the rather 

 broad, conspicuous rust-coloured dorsal line ; the 

 body is sparingly clothed with light brown hairs." — 

 "Entomologist." Food plant — Wild thyme. Time 

 of appearance for larva May and June. Localities : 

 Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Devonshire, Dorset- 

 shire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, 

 Huntingdonshire, Northamptonshire, Somersetshire 

 and Wiltshire. Nolo, centonalis. — No description of 

 the caterpillar. Time of appearance. — Imago, July, 

 and August. Locality : Freshwater, Is>le of Wight. 

 Ennomos alniaria. About I inch, 7 lines long, pale 

 brown, rough, and wrinkled. Rather slender, and 

 tapering from the thirteenth segment to the head. 

 The fourth segment is enlarged ventrally, the sixth 

 has a dorsal enlargement in the form of a transverse 

 rounded ridge ; the ninth has a somewhat similar 

 ridge tipped with ochreous ; the seventh and eighth 

 have each two small warts on the back, and the 

 seventh a series of four warts placed transversely on 

 the ventral surface ; there are also two small black 

 warts on the twelfth ; the anal flap terminates in two 

 points directed backwards. Head flat and broad in 

 front. Food plants are, alder, beech, birch, lime, 

 oak, poplar, and sallow. The pupa is spun-up 

 amongst grass, &c, near trees. Time of appearance 

 for larva is June and July. Common in Great Britain 

 and Ireland. No description of larva of Leucania 

 lord. Only two imagines have been taken in England 

 —both in Sussex.— j?. A. R. Bennett, Walton Manor 

 Lodge, Oxford. 



Water Insects. — Can any one tell me through 

 your " Notices to Correspondents," or otherwise, the 

 names of two water-insects found lately in the tank 

 in our green-house ? They have eight legs, and are 

 shaped like spiders, very small, about \ of an inch, 

 of a bright crimson or cochineal colour, one with 

 black spots, like a lady-bird, the other plain. _ I 

 never saw any insects like them before, and my idea 

 is that they may have been hatched from eggs 

 contained in a bunch of pectora or New Zealand 

 duckweed growing in the tank. I have the insects 

 alive in a globe of water. — W. R. Tate. 



Early Emergence of Insects.— During the 

 past season I have reared a number of exotic 

 lepidoptera from the egg, amongst others, Attacus 

 Pernyi and Attacus Cynthia (silk-producing bom- 

 byces). These having " laid up," or more properly 

 speaking, spun their cocoons, I was much surprised 

 about three weeks afterwards, at seeing a fine imago 

 (male) of A. Pernyi emerge from its cocoon, not having 



