HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSS IP. 



233 



the slightest interest in the proceedings of others in the 

 vicinity." In order to more clearly identify this spe- 

 cimen from our Wheatear {Saxicola cenantke), I have 

 had a male specimen of the latter mounted along with 

 it, from which it will be seen there is a very wide 

 difference ; the colours of S. stapazina are, on the 

 head, nape, and back, white, slightly tinged with 

 rust yellow ; on the belly and breast dulled white ; the 

 throat and cheeks, from above the eyelids, including 

 the ear-coverts, are jet black, quite as much or more 

 than the Pied Wagtail (Motacilla Yarellii) ; the upper 

 and under tail-coverts are white ; the two outer tail 

 feathers on each side are white, slightly edged and 

 tipped with black ; while the three next on each side 

 are white, slightly edged (but not tipped) with black, 

 the middle tail feathers are entirely black, the wings 

 are a beautiful glossy black, as are also the legs and 

 toes. I did not take the dimensions of the bird when 

 dead, but it is a trifle smaller than S. iinanthe, as 

 will be seen on comparison. I have shown the 

 specimen to several very able naturalists, and not 

 one remembers having seen the species before. — 

 R. Davenport, Bury, Lane. 



Animal Stupidity. — In studying the intellects 

 of the lower animals it is no less important to note 

 their mental shortcomings than the cases in which 

 they reason correctly. Early this year I observed 

 a singular piece of irrationality on the part of a large 

 black retriever. The animal lived in the last house 

 of a "terrace," in one of the northern suburbs of 

 London, separated from the next terrace by a walled 

 alley. Finding itself one day locked out, and being 

 unable to effect an entrance either by the front door 

 or by a side door leading into the alley, it made its 

 way into the front garden of the end house of the 

 next terrace, and made most persevering but fruitless 

 attempts to leap over the wall. Had it succeeded it 

 would, of course, only have landed in the alley 

 which it could enter from the street. After a short 

 time it left the garden, and ran round into the street 

 and the alley, but still returned again and again to its 

 endeavours to jump the wall until its master came 

 home.— J. IV. Slater. 



Cannibalism among Caterpillars. — Receiving 

 two half-grown larvae of the Goat Moth, I put them 

 into a tin box and left them for a short time. On re- 

 opening the box I found that one caterpillar had en- 

 tirely devoured the other except the hard case of the 

 head and a portion of the skin and prolegs. At first 

 sight I thought that the larva; had assumed the chrysalis 

 state, or had thrown off its skin, but a careful exami- 

 nation failed to discover the chrysalis, and the box was 

 too securely fastened to allow of the caterpillar's 

 escape ; so the conclusion that one larva had devoured 

 the other was the only one I could satisfactorily come 

 at.— C. C. 



Parasite of the Linnet.— I am induced to 

 write the few following remarks to Science-Gossip 



under the belief that this parasite is not well known. 

 I shall be glad to hear if any subscriber has a similar 

 specimen. Figure 199 shows this parasite magnified 

 50 diameters, and figure 200 shows one foot magnified 

 280 diameters. It is evidently a P/iysostomnm and 

 not unlike Physostomum mystax, said by Mr. Denny 



.mm. 



' ' 



Fig. 199. Parasite of 

 Linnet x 50. 



Fig. 200. Foot of Parasite 

 of Linnet x 280. 



to infest the chaffinch. The head is large and 

 devoid of antennce and trabecular The legs are long, 

 the femora thick, the first joint of the tarsus has a 

 pulvellus. The mesothorax is wanting and the 

 metathorax is continuous with the abdomen, which 

 consists of 9 segments. The colour of this parasite 

 is brownish yellow with a dark band down each 

 side. It can move with great rapidity among the 

 feathers of its host. — IV. A. Hyslop. 



The Colorado Potato-Beetle. — The appear- 

 ance of the Colorado Beetle at Jaratschervo, in the 

 district of Schrimm, in the Prussian province of 

 Posen, has been officially reported. 



The Habits of the Field Vole. — At the 

 British Association Meeting, Sir Walter Elliott 

 made a few observations on the annual increase 

 of the common vole {Arz'ieola agrestis) of late years. 

 In the spring of 1876 they appeared in such numbers 

 in the hill pasture farms of the Border districts 

 between England and Scotland, and parts of York- 

 shire and Wensleydale, as to destroy the grazing 

 ground on which the sheep depended in spring, 

 causing serious loss to the fanners by impoverishment 

 and death of stock. The shepherds destroyed as many 

 as they could without sensibly diminishing their 

 numbers, although assisted by birds and beasts of 

 prey — hawks, buzzards, owls, weasels, foxes, &c. At 

 the same time that the vole was doing such mischief, 

 another species {Arvieola arvah's), not known in 



