HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



239 



feelers extended, along the bottom of the almirall. 

 On arriving within an inch or two of the cluster of 

 bees, he waved his feelers slowly, and appeared to 

 be clearing away the bees from a space on the comb 

 from which to extract honey. Suddenly a bee, whom 

 I suppose he had touched with his feelers, bounced 

 down on the floor in front of him with a buzz, and 

 advanced buzzing and in a threatening manner. Mr. 

 Cockroach promptly fled to the opposite corner of 

 the almirall. This action was repeated several times. 

 Eventually the cockroach had to content himself 

 with any crumbs which had fallen from the comb, 

 and I noticed that he crept right underneath the 

 comb with his feelers carefully lowered, and almost 

 touching the ground. The bees allowed him to pass 

 unmolested. Next morning I took leave of L. and 

 his bees, and proceeded on my way. — John W. 

 Hensley. 



Monstrous Foxglove. — A white foxglove in my 

 garden developed a terminal flower similar to that 

 described by Mr. George, although not of abnormal 

 size. I regret that I made no examination of it, but 

 I can state that it set no seed, and remained on the 

 plant until withered. — A. C. Coxhead, Chaldon. 



Stone Curlew. — Arthur Hollis, St. John's, 

 Antony, Cornwall, will feel obliged to Ornithologists 

 for any notes they may have made during the season 

 on the above bird. 



Nest of Australian Fly. — Can any reader tell 

 me the name of the insect described by a friend of 

 mine who has been in South Australia during the 

 present year? Rewrites: "The gentleman named 

 here has just shown me a peculiar nest of a fly 

 which (like the many other antipodes in this wonder- 

 ful land, where the north wind is hot, the south cold, 

 trees shed their bark and retain their leaves ; quad- 

 rupeds have duck-bills and web-feet ; fish walk 

 (ceratodus) ; the face of the moon is upside down, 

 and moves from right to left instead of the reverse ; 

 the birds talk but don't sing), contrary to the usual 

 practice, preys upon spiders. The fly makes a nest 

 of mud, in which it bores cells, and, having laid an 

 egg in each cell, provides the chrysalis with a number 

 of large spiders on which to feed ; the cells are then 

 closed up with mud, and the fly dies. The chrysalis 

 lives upon the bodies of the spiders (he has found the 

 latter alive, on opening the cells, weeks after being 

 entombed), and when mature, makes an opening for 

 itself in the mud, and becomes a fly like its progeni- 

 tor, to repeat the operation and die as its parent did 

 before. The fly inhabits mountainous country, near 

 water. One nest he showed me was made by a fly 

 on a book. The fly is somewhat like a wasp, with a 

 waist which would be the envy and despair of a 

 Belgravian belle. My friend assures me he has 

 watched it for weeks, and his observations may be 

 taken as, I think, accurate." — Geo. Browne. 



The Frobel Society. — (17 Buckingham Street, 

 Strand, London.) On Saturday mornings, between 

 eleven and one o'clock, a " Common Object " Loan 

 Collection is open to all teachers who require speci- 

 mens for their lessons to little ones. Fir-cones, 

 chestnuts, acorns, wheat, oats, butterflies, moths, and 

 seaweed are available at the present moment. But the 

 secretary would feel deeply grateful for any addition to 

 the small stock. A cabbage butterfly was the subject 

 of great wonder to a city-born boy who was sent by his 

 schoolmaster to fetch the "objects" for the week's 

 lesson. " Ain't they peculiar ? " was his'exclamation, 

 and the acorns were only a shade less marvellous to 



him and his friend. Though they knew that acorns 

 grew on oaks, they did not know the acorn when 

 they saw it. Any objects will be gladly received by 

 the secretary. 



A Jubilee Boulder.— A report was presented by 

 Dr. II. Crosskey on the " Erratic Blocks of England, 

 Wales, and Ireland." Dr. Crosskey, after giving an 

 account of the various boulders to be found in this 

 country, said there were a large number of legends 

 connected with the stones. With regard to a boulder 

 found in a village near Leeds, there would, he said, in 

 the future be a happy legend connected with it. The 

 rock was found some time before the Jubilee day, and 

 the inhabitants appeared to have been so astonished by 

 the discovery of this large mass of rock that they 

 connected it with their Jubilee celebration in the 

 following curious fashion. The rock was about six 

 feet long and about four tons in weight. The in- 

 habitants of the village determined to have a grand 

 celebration in connection with the Jubilee. They 

 had service in the parish church, and then formed a 

 procession, attended by the yeomanry and all the 

 notabilities of the district. The stone was removed 

 and placed in a suitable position, and a feu de joie 

 fired over it by the hussars. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now 

 publish Science-Gossip earlier than formerly, we cannot un- 

 dertake to insert in the following number any communications 

 which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month. 



To Anonymous Querists. — We must adhere to our rule of 

 not noticing queries which do not bear the writers' names. 



To Dealers and Others. — We are always glad to treat 

 dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general 

 ground as amateurs, in so far as the " exchanges " offered are fair 

 exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are simply 

 disguised advertisements, for the purpose of evading the cost of 

 advertising, an advantage is taken of owr gratuitous insertion of 

 " exchanges " which cannot be tolerated. 



We request that all exchanges may be signed with name (or 

 initials) and full address at the end. 



J. Hunter. — Get Bagnall's " Study of Mosses," in the series 

 of "Young Collectors' Guides," published by Swan, Sonnen- 

 schein & Co., at is. each. You had best apply to the Director 

 of Kevv Gardens for an answer to your second query. 



C. E. Gubbins. — The shells are certainly the young of Pecten 

 operculum. The others are Tellina solidula, and the uni- 

 valve is Lacuna crassior. 



C. O. — (i) See Denny's *' Anopluridae," for full information 

 on parasites. Chapters on " Mites " appeared in this journal 

 four or five years ago, by C. F. George. (2) Cooke's " British 

 Reptiles," and Bell's ditto, are the best on the subject. (3) The 

 insects you found on the gills of the swan mussel are a species 

 of freshwater mite in an early stage of development. 



E. Parkin. — The galls on the stems of the poplar leaves are 

 made by an aphidious insect called Pemphigus bursarius, 

 Hartig. 



G. Clifford (Paris). — The specimen is a siliceous nodule 

 which has formed around organic matter. Similar round hollow 

 flint nodules are very common in the chalk formation, where 

 the silica has collected around spongy material. 



D. B. C. — " The Story of a Gravel Pit " is in Science-Gossip 

 for 1872. The paper on "Jersey Flint Implements" is in the 

 vol. for 1882, p. 36. There are various references to the subject 

 in the vol. for 1885. 



A. Pittis. — The moth whose caterpillar was figured in the 

 Rev. J. Croft's paper last month is the puss moth [Dicramira 

 vinula). 



E. L. Becker (India). — The story of horse-hairs turning to 

 eels when immersed in water is an old tradition among school- 

 boys. It refers to the hair worm [Gordius aquations). We are 

 ratMer surprised to hear there are people still living who declare 

 they have seen barnacles turn to geese. The story, as you are 

 aware, is a very old one, and Gesner figured the transformation 

 in his natural history more than two centuries ago. 



