HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSS I P. 



139 



cephalo-thorax and abdomen. This instructive 

 slide is rendered all the more useful to the student 

 by the illustrated sketch which accompanies it, and 

 which gives referential details of all the organs 

 shown. 



ZOOLOGY. 



MUREX ERINACEUS, M. ELONGATUS.— Mr. W. 

 Bendall has sent me for examination a very curious 

 form of Murex crinaceus, which I will call elongatus ; 

 it has the spire much produced, its length being 

 31 mill., while the greatest diameter of the shell is 

 only 19J mill., the spiral ribs are well marked, but 

 all the transverse or longitudinal ones are obsolete. 

 It is especially noteworthy that this specimen came 

 from Shellness, Pegwell Bay, which is the same 

 locality as that of a precisely similar aberration of 

 Purpura lapillus, of which there is a specimen in the 

 British Museum. This adds another to the many 

 known instances of this nature (see p. 67). — T. D. A. 

 Cockerel!, Bedford Park, Chiswick. 



MOLLUSCA AT LlMPSFIELD, SURREY, APRIL 

 1S87. — The soil of Limpsfield is chiefly of a sandy 

 nature, but there is a ridge of chalk-marl at no great 

 distance from the village, and to this I made my 

 way. I had heard that Helix pomatia was to be 

 found there, but owing to the cold they were still 

 hybernating (as indeed were also most other snails), 

 and I failed to find any during my first two visits. 

 However I collected Helix nemoralis, H. aspersa, 

 H. caperata and cricetorum — the two latter only as 

 dead shells — H. lapicida, H. rotundata, Bulimus 

 obscurus, Clausilia laminata, CI. rugosa, Hyalina 

 pura, Vitrina pellucida and Cyclostoma elegans. On 

 my third expedition, I carefully examined a spot 

 where there were several dead shells of Helix pomatia, 

 and at last I found four specimens with their winter 

 opercula buried mouth upwards at the roots of some 

 shrubs. I next turned my attention to the valley, 

 and added to my list Helix hortensis, H. arbustorum, 

 H. rufescens, H concinna, Jeff., 77. sericea (one 

 specimen), Zua lubrica, Clausilia Kolphii — I have not 

 seen this locality mentioned for the latter shell — 

 Hyalina cellaria, Hyal. nitidula, Hyal. crystallina, 

 and the Hyalina that has been called "glabra." 

 Of slugs, Limax agrestis, L. ftavus, and Arion 

 hortensis. There was no water to speak of in the 

 neighbourhood, but in a small stream I found 

 Ancy Hits fiuviatilis and Limncea peregra. The only 

 species now left to mention is Anodon cyneus, which, 

 owing to favourable circumstances, attained to great 

 size and beauty of colouring, for as the pond in which 

 this mollusc was to be found was on sandy soil the 

 shells were not at all eroded, and as it was fed by a 

 stream from the chalk hills lime was there in abun- 

 dance.— Wilfred Mark Webb. 



Physa fontinalis. — Among some Physa fon- 

 tinalis, collected last year in a ditch at Heme Bay by 

 Mr. S. C. Cockerelland myself, were several in which 

 the animal [instead of being grey was bright yellow, 

 and this showing through the transparent shell made 

 them — even when some distance below the surface of 

 the water— very conspicuous objects. The only case 

 I know where any similar coloration has occurred, 

 is that Pascal, [in An. Soc. Linn, du Nord, described 

 a var. fiava of Lim. palustris in which the animal was 

 yellow with the buccal mass bright rose-colour 

 showing through. I may mention the var. albina is 

 also found here. — F. G. Fenn, Syon Lodge, Islcivorth. 



Hyalina Draparnaldi. — There is in my garden 

 here a flourishing colony of what is undoubtedly this 

 species. Besides the differences in the shell between 

 it and Hy. cellaria, a well-marked distinction is the 

 blue-black colouring of the soft parts. The locality 

 is interesting as being the most eastern that has 

 hitherto been recorded for the living animal, though 

 from its position amongst decayed bast matting in 

 the vicinity of market-gardens there can be no doubt 

 that it has been introduced. — F. G. Fenn, Syon 

 Lodge, Lsleworth. 



ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGY. 



A Monkey's Memory. — My cousin has told me 

 about a pet monkey he once had, and of which he 

 was very fond. When he was married this monkey 

 took such a great dislike to his wife that he was 

 obliged to get rid of it, so gave it to a friend living 

 some distance away. For three years my cousin saw 

 nothing of his former pet ; at the end of that time he 

 paid a visit to the friend to whom he had given it. 

 This gentleman advised my cousin not to go near the 

 monkey, as it was most vicious with strangers. How- 

 ever, he thought he would like to see if his old 

 favourite would remember him, so he went up close 

 to where the monkey was and sat down ; the latter 

 looked at him for a moment, then sprang down to 

 him, took both his hands in its own and smelt them, 

 then immediately caressed and fondled his late master 

 in an ecstasy of delight. After another eighteen 

 months had elapsed, my cousin again paid a visit to 

 his friend, when the monkey did exactly the same 

 thing again. — A. Pittis. 



Episode in Bird Life. — As I was strolling 

 through my garden one evening last summer, a female 

 blackbird fluttered out from beneath the leaves of 

 rhubarb in a quiet corner of the garden and alighted 

 on the garden wall. This occurred on two or three 

 successive evenings. The bird evidently had some 

 connection with the rhubarb, and care was taken not 

 to give it needless disturbance. About eight or ten 

 days after I first saw it, two blackbirds, a male and 



