HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



in 



vulgaris — already noticed in my "Jottings," gaining 

 considerable additional insight into their ways and 

 means ; and, moreover, made, or rather renewed 

 (after an interval of seventeen years), an acquaintance 

 with the Vespa Britannica, of whose nests I saw five, 

 three of these being original nests, and two secondary 

 nests, as Ormerod* styles them ; that is, nests built on 

 or near to the site of the first or original nests which 

 had been destroyed. Of the three original nests, 

 one, taken on July 27th, was a large and mature 

 nest, containing four tiers or platforms of comb, 

 being very strong in active and aggressive workers, 

 and containing many virgin queens (as well as the 

 mother-queen or foundress), and males or drones in 

 abundance. Of the queens I secured twenty-five, 

 and of the drones no fewer than no, whilst many 

 others of both sexes made good their escape. This 

 nest was built amongst some dead thorns and a dead 

 gooseberry bush, put into a gap in the hedge at a 

 neglected corner of a fruit-garden ; and was built 

 around the stems and branches of two of the dead 

 bushes, at an elevation of little more than a foot from 

 the ground. It was densely surrounded by a rank 

 undergrowth of stinging nettles, tall grasses, and 

 young bines of the raspberry, which had to be cut 

 down to get at the nest, whose entrance was in the 

 bottom a little to one side, small (about one-half inch 

 diameter) and circular. Owing to its position and 

 attachment, the nest was an irregular one ; and the 

 three uppermost tiers of comb were far from being 

 circular, but the fourth, lowest and smallest one was 

 nearly circular ; the ^uppermost tier was 4 inches 

 diameter ; the second and third tiers were each about 

 Si inches diameter ; whilst the fourth and last was 

 3J inches diameter. In the lowest tier, the central 

 cells were sealed for the first time, the circumferential 

 ones containing larvse and ova. In many instances 

 two or even more ova occupied vacated cells in all 

 the three uppermost tiers of comb ; and two larva; 

 not infrequently occupied the same cell, and were 

 sometimes of considerable size. The ova are oblong, 

 a little curving, and milk-white in colour ; and they 

 are affixed by the more remote, pointed end in an 

 angle of the hexagonal cell, standing out therefrom 

 at an acute angle into the cell, which is vertical with 

 the mouth downwards. The larva; are soiled-white 

 in colour, and their mandibles are mostly directed 

 towards the centre of the tier of comb. The paper 

 of the shell or case, as in the species Vespa sylvestris 

 and V. rufa, is laid on in numerous large continuous 

 sheets ; but is here more variegated with drabs, 

 slate-greys, grey-greens, and olive-greens. 



Charles Robson. 



Elswicky Newcastle-upon- Tyne. 



(To be continued.') 



* "British Social Wasps," 1868. s 



NOTES ON THE FLORA OF THE NORTH 

 DOWNS. 



ABOUT three miles from Maidstone, and stretch- 

 ing round from east and north to west, are 

 these beautiful hills ; a long line of brown and dark 

 blue and green hillside, rising in some places to more 

 than 700 feet, and reaching out to the misty distance 

 ten or twelve miles on either side of the town. 



At intervals along the steep southern slope facing 

 Maidstone, there are chalk pits, some old and disused, 

 and others which are worked now ; and in springtime 

 with the sun shining on them, amidst the delicate 

 pale green larches and the dark, almost black masses 

 of yews, they are very beautiful, standing out bright 

 and white. From a little distance, the general tone 

 in the colour of the hills is a soft brown and some- 

 times misty blue, and the outline delicately rounded. 

 In clear weather, with an east wind blowing, the 

 great waste spaces are bare and distinct ; the trees 

 on the summit with hard clear outlines, and the 

 clumps of yews dark and solemn. 



But to thoroughly appreciate the beauties of the 

 North Downs, one must go up to the hillside, climb 

 the steep chalky banks, and wander about the open 

 wastes and the great chalk pits, where there are hosts 

 of plants and many other objects of natural history to 

 be found. 



The following is a list of the more important of the 

 chalk plants in this district. 



Helleboms faetidus, Aquilegia vulgaris. (The 

 columbine grows in several localities on the hills ; 

 those I have found were large and handsome flowers, 

 white and blue.) 



Papaver somniferum. (In the flinty cornfields at 

 the foot of the downs, plentiful.) 



Reseda lutea, R. luleola, Helianthemum vulgare, 

 Malva moschata, Rhamnus catharticus, Anihyllis 

 vulneraria, Hippocrepis comosa, Ononis arvensis, 

 Spiriea Jilipendula, Poterium sanguisorba, Rosa rubigi- 

 nosa, R. spinosissima. (The last two grow on the 

 open hillside.) 



Pyrus aria. (The beautiful white beam is a very 

 striking object on the North Downs here, with its 

 dark green leaves, showing their silvery white under- 

 side when the wind blows up the hills.) 



Silaus prateusis, Viburnum lantana (the wayfaring 

 tree grows in all the hedges and copses of the 

 hillside). Asperula cynanchica, Carlina vulgaris^ 

 Carduus tenuifolius, Cnicus aeaulis, Centaurea scabiosa, 

 Senecio crucifolius. (The latter is more common on 

 the chalk than S. Jacobcea, in some localities.) 



Cichorium Intybus, Inula conyza, Campanula 

 glomerata, Chlora perfoliata (the yellow-wort, the 

 two mignonettes, the rock-rose, viper's bugloss, 

 yellow toadflax, and marjoram, are abundant in the 

 old chalk pits, and on the banks by the rough chalky 

 footpaths.) 



Geniiana amarella, G. campestris, Lithospermum 



