HA RD WICKE ' 5 S CIENCE- G OS SIP. 



141 



such phenomenal positions can only at present be 

 surmised, as the subject is at present rather vague ; 

 but the theory has been adduced, that they have been 

 carried down by masses of floating vegetation in a 

 manner similar to that recorded by travellers on the 

 Amazon, where in the swamps and shallows such 

 masses are seen floating, carrying foreign matter 

 along with them. A leading London newspaper in 

 recently reporting a similar specimen gravely alleged 

 it to be a meteorite. This singular idea would, 

 however, be instantly rejected by the most credulous 

 novice as being utterly untenable. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Oak Timber. — It is generally allowed that oak 

 timber was formerly much stronger than it is at 

 present. This is attributed to the fact that our an- 

 cestors, being ignorant of the value of bark, cut down 

 their oaks in the winter. Could not the strength of 

 our timber be retained unimpaired, and the bark be 

 equally saved, by barking the trees standing in the 

 spring and cutting them down in the following winter ? 

 — Briton. 



"Jack-hangman." — There is a bird in Natal 

 called "Jack-hangman;" it is a little larger than a 

 thrush, and something like a magpie, in colour black 

 and white, that catches the grass-snakes and hangs 

 them up by the back of the jaws on to the thorns of 

 a tree. These thorns are about two inches in length, 

 and one frequently sees a number of these grass-snakes 

 fastened in this manner to these certain trees. — A. P. 



Distribution of the Lepidoptera in the 

 British Isles. — As I am compiling notes for a work 

 on this subject, I shall be very glad of local lists of 

 Lepidoptera, which, however incomplete, will be very 

 useful to me. Any information whatever bearing 

 on the subject will be acceptable. — IV. Harcourt Bath, 

 Ladywood, Birmingham. 



Development of Frog Spawn.— In reference 

 to the paper contributed by Nina F : Layard, and to 

 show the difference in the rate of development, I 

 append the dates of the corresponding stages observed 

 in some tadpoles taken from a running stream near 

 here: — Fig. II (page 32), March 23rd, 1887; fig. 12, 

 March 27th ; fig. 13, March 27th ; fig. 14, March 

 27th ; fig. 15, March 28th ; fig. 16, March 30th ; 

 fig. 17, April 2nd ; fig. 18, May 2nd. May 3rd, mine 

 are extremely large, and have both hind legs fully 

 developed. The left hind leg appeared April 14th. 

 — John Eyre, A. A. 



Early appearance of Pieris Rjums. — On 

 Friday, March nth, a newly-emerged specimen of 

 Pieris Rapcz was brought to me which had been 

 caught the day before on the wall of a house. Is 

 not this very early for it to appear ? I cannot find 

 an authenticated instance of so early an appearance, 

 except in the case of a hibernated specimen. — J. A. 

 Jenkinson. 



Caged Birds and Freedom. — With regard to 

 the question, whether English birds having been kept 

 in cages are ever fit to live in freedom again, I 

 should like to tell you of a female thrush I had. 

 I was then living in Bamsbury Tark, London, and 



brought home with me from the country a young 

 thrush which had been taken from the nest. I fed it 

 with a stick every two hours, and it became very 

 tame, following me about the room and perching on 

 my shoulder. When it grew older I placed its cage 

 on a little balcony outside my bedroom window. A 

 large tree was close to the window, and when the 

 spring came a male thrush used to sit in this tree 

 singing to my bird, until at last I determined to let 

 her free. It was some time after the door of the cage 

 was open before she could make up her mind to fly 

 right away, but at last she did, and in a short time 

 the pair built in a large pear-tree in our garden and 

 brought up young ones, the mother still remaining 

 very tame, and answering when we spoke to her. The 

 pair returned to the same place the following year, 

 after that we saw no more of them. — M. R. 



A remarkable Shot. — A gentleman living near 

 Leek was recently shooting in a wood near his house, 

 and fired at a pheasant at about 150 yards and missed. 

 The bird flew in the direction of the house, and 

 seeing the sun and trees reflected in the drawing-room 

 window, it flew through the plate glass, which is 

 three-eighths of an inch thick, and was found in the 

 room without a feather out of place. — J. Lea. 



Albino Thyme. — Last summer I found a quantity 

 of thyme {Thymus serpy Hum), with pure white flowers, 

 growing among sand on the banks of the Dulnain, in 

 Inverness-shire. — T. W. Ogilvie. 



Migration of Birds. — Cutting a theory to pieces 

 is not such easy work as F. C. D. B. says, judging 

 by the result of his own attempt ; but he very clearly 

 illustrates the difficulty of building one. Birds having 

 excellent memories, why should it be improbable 

 that, while remembering the salient features of a 

 country sufficiently to direct them in their flight, they 

 should also remember the details of the district in 

 which they were hatched and bred ? F. C. D. B. 

 thinks, in one sentence, that the birds' resting-places 

 will suggest "what will guide them" to their next 

 station ; and in the following sentence grants there is 

 nothing to direct them between these points. Rather 

 a self-contradictory theory ; and it is hardly saved by 

 the " comprehensive impression " which would enable 

 the young birds to find their way over vast tracts with 

 nothing to direct them. — T. W. Ogilvie. 



The Shanklin Butterfly. — The butterfly 

 mentioned by Mr. J. A. Billings in Science-Gossif 

 for March, as captured at Shanklin, is undoubtedly 

 Anosia plexippus, indigenous to N. America; his 

 description tallies exactly with that species, and he 

 certainly has a prize, rendered the more valuable 

 from the probability of its not being imported, as it has 

 been seen before on the S.W. coast of this country. 

 In the autumn of 1885, two were captured and a 

 third seen at the Lizard, by Mr. Jenkin, of Redruth, 

 a memo of which I have written at the time as 

 follows, " September, 1885, two specimens Anosia 

 plexippus of Linnaeus, tour and a half inches across 

 the extended wings which are edged with black, 

 enclosing a double series of white spots, centre rich 

 brown ;" and others have been seen and mentioned in 

 the " Entomologist," I believe. These occasional 

 captures prove that this butterfly has obtained a 

 footing in this country, and that its caterpillar would 

 find its food in the periwinkle or allied species, which 

 would be similar to the butterfly weed, its principal 

 food in America. — Hamilton James. 



A Strange Butterfly. — From Mr. Billings's 

 description I would suggest that this insect may be 

 Danaus Erippus (Cramer), variety Arehippus (Fabr.), 



