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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



ZOOLOGY. 



ARION FLAVUS. — On September 6th, Mr. Fitz- 

 gerald sent to me two or three specimens of this 

 species from Harrogate. It may be known from 

 A. hortensis by being smaller, and having no side 

 stripes. The colour is entirely yellow, deepest on the 

 front and tail. The head and tentacles of the specimens 

 sent were jetty, shining black. Length 22 to 26 mill. 

 I have seen the same form on the canal side near 

 Wakefield. — Geo. Roberts, Loft house. 



Planorbis Nautileus, var. — Through the kind- 

 ness of Mr. J. A. Hargreaves, of Shipley, near Brad- 

 ford, I have lately had the opportunity of examining 

 some specimens of the smooth form Planorbis nautileus. 

 Some were from Scarbro', and others from South Wales. 

 This form seems to have been ignored by Jeffreys, 

 though it has been known for fifty years, and is 

 specially mentioned by Gray and Brown. I suggest 

 that it be admitted into future British lists under the 

 name of obsoleta, or some other name which is 

 descriptive of the shell. — George Roberts, Lof (house. 



LiMN/EUS GLUTINOSUS. — I am glad to report 

 another habitat (new, I think) for that beautiful shell 

 Limnnus glulinosus, viz. the Basingstoke canal, 

 which runs near this town. I took one yesterday, 

 but was unsuccessful in obtaining more, and much 

 fear the numerous ducks which frequent the canal 

 may account for my not finding it in any quantity. — 

 Windsor Hambrough. 



Development of Flea's Eggs. — Under this 

 title in Science-Gossip for 1SS5, page 252, Mr. 

 Robson gave a very interesting account of the 

 development of the human flea (Pulex irritans) illus- 

 trated by well-executed diagrams, showing its various 

 changes ; and he refers to the experiments of Mr. G. 

 Harkus in maturing this species from eggs, and the 

 difficulty experienced in getting cocoons, owing to 

 the inability of providing them with food. For 

 several years past I have repeatedly tried to obtain 

 cocoons from larvae of the cat flea, and have as 

 often been disappointed, the larvae either dying or 

 getting away. In placing the eggs I always gave 

 them a supply of the congealed blood (so wisely 

 provided for the sustenance of its offspring by the 

 instinct of the parent flea), but after consuming this, 

 and failing to obtain fresh supplies of food, I have 

 invariably lost the larvse. Having resolved to 

 make another attempt this summer, I placed a 

 quantity of eggs, and plenty of the "preserved 

 food " previously mentioned, upon a piece of flannel 

 in a pill box, and deposited it in a warm place to 

 hatch out, which occurred at the end of four days. 

 They were very active and vigorous, and after they 

 had consumed the ordinary food, my mother tried 

 them with small pieces of raw beef ; in a few hours 

 this would be covered by the young larvce greedily 



sucking the blood, and leaving the muscular tissues 

 dry, bare, and quite white. They grew very fast, 

 frequently cast their skins, and just previous to 

 spinning, an average sized larva measured full three- 

 sixteenth parts of an inch in length. Mr. Robson 

 speaks of the larvae of P. irritans as hatching out after 

 four days, spinning about eight days after hatching, 

 and the imago emerging from its cocoon in about 

 nine days. According to this, the flea would pa c s 

 through its various changes in about three weeks. 

 My flea larvae hatched out on August 8th, commenced 

 spinning September nth (several days after which 

 there were about thirty cocoons), and on September 

 2 1st the first perfect flea, a male, appeared ; two days 

 after a female also emerged from its chrysalis ; so 

 that the development in this case occupied a period 

 of from forty-eight to fifty days. I may mention that 

 the pair of fleas which have been reared in captivity, 

 have been duly mounted for the microscope, the 

 male specimen forming a very good object, showing, 

 as it does, the whole system of trachaea. — A. J. Jen- 

 kins, New Cross. 



Plumage of Birds as Trimming.— It is pleasing 

 to find that at a conference of ladies held in Bond- 

 street a short time ago on the subject of dress, it was 

 decided that the plumage of small birds should no 

 longer be considered as fashionable trimming for 

 robes or bonnets. A curious observer put on record 

 that in one tramway-car in New York he counted 

 eleven women who wore birds. The specimens thus 

 distributed were found to be the heads and wings 

 of three starlings, an entire bird of unknown species, 

 seven warblers representing four species, a large tern, 

 the head and wings of three shore larks, the wings of 

 seven shore larks and grassfinches, one half of a 

 gallinule, a small tern, a turtle-dove, a vireo, and a 

 yellow-breasted chat, and a number of ostrich plumes. 

 Altogether it has been calculated that fully five 

 millions of birds are annually destroyed in the United 

 States alone to supply the home demand, and that at 

 least as many again are exported to Europe and other 

 countries. South America sends many, Europe a 

 few, and a host come from Africa, Australia, the 

 Papuan Islands, and India. In one shop in London 

 there were sold during the four months ending April, 

 1885, no fewer than 404,464 West Indian and Bra- 

 zilian bird skins, and 356,389 East Indian ones, 

 besides thousands of Impeyan pheasants and birds of 

 paradise. One collector for the dealers prepared 

 during a three months' trip in South Carolina as 

 many as 11,018 skins, and the same person has lately 

 boasted that on an average he sells 30,000 a year to 

 be cut up for millinery purposes. A single village in 

 Long Island sent in four months 70,000 pelts to New 

 York, and a Paris firm contracted with an enter- 

 prising woman at Cobb's Island on the Virginia coast, 

 to deliver to them 40,000 or more gull and tern skins 

 during the past summer — each skin being valued at 



