HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



89 



Manchester Microscopical Society. — This 

 young and prosperous society held its first annual 

 soiree on February 26th, when the Rev. J. G. Wood, 

 M.A., F.L.S., delivered a lecture on Unappreciated 

 Insects. He said that if he were to describe all the 

 insects that were unappreciated he should have to 

 include the whole of Entomology ; he therefore 

 ■selected three of the most intensely disliked, namely, 

 •tlie cockroach, the earwig, and the gnat. Having 

 intimated that he was about to give a "sketch 

 lecture " rather than a lecture as generally under- 

 stood, he proceeded to sketch on the blackboard 

 with variously-coloured chalks, figures of the insects 

 as he described their structure and related their natural 

 history. The president of the society proposed a 

 hearty vote of thanks to the lecturer, which Professor 

 Williamson seconded, remarking that Mr. Wood's 

 was a model of what a popular scientific lecture 

 should be. There was a very extensive exhibition of 

 microscopes and microscopic objects, both living and 

 mounted. Among the live specimens of pond life 

 jnay be mentioned a fine example of the Bell-flower 

 animalcule. 



ZOOLOGY. 



"A List of British Birds."— Mr. H. W. 

 Marsden (Gloucester) has compiled a list of British 

 birds, with, as an appendix, the "Graduated List" 

 for labelling eggs. This "list"' has been put to- 

 gether with the view of giving to ornithologists and 

 oologists a trustworthy catalogue of the birds of 

 'Great Britain and Ireland, resident and migratory, 

 and occasional or accidental visitors. It offers also 

 the advantage of enabling one to determine at sight 

 to which of the great divisions, just enumerated, any 

 bird may belong ; and in addition the habitat of 

 each occasional or accidental visitant is affixed. The 

 authority for each scientific name is given, not only 

 each specific name, but for the generic name also. 

 The appendix, which is printed on specially prepared 

 gummed paper, ought to be in the possession of 

 every egg collector. 



British Newts.— I notice in Science-Gossip 

 for this month in your answers to correspondence, 

 this statement: " Only four kinds of newts are known 

 in England. See Cooke's ' British Reptiles.' " 

 Perhaps you will allow me to refer you to a note in 

 the "Zoologist," vol. iii. p. 61, wherein it is stated 

 that from an article by M. Ferrand Lataste, "it 

 appears that the supposed fourth species of British 

 newt, Gray's banded newt {Oinmatotriton vittatzts) of 

 Cooke's ' Reptiles ' may be altogether removed from 

 the British catalogue.'' " It was first introduced 

 into the British list by Jenyns, 1S35, on the faith 

 of some specimens found in a bottle in the British 

 IMuseum by the late Dr. Gray, which, being associated 



with some British newts, were supposed to liave been 

 obtained in the neighbourhood of London." "It 

 now turns out, from M. Lataste's researches .... 

 that the so-called Triton viltatus is no other than 

 the Triton ophryticiis of Berthold, an eastern species 

 of newt which is found in Syria and Asia Minor. 

 The British newts are now therefore reduced to three 

 in number : the crested newt [Triton cristatiis), the 

 smooth newt [Triton tccniatus) (both of ordinary 

 occurrence), and the rarer palmated newt [Triton 

 fal/natiis):'—" Nature," 2Sth November 1S78. Per- 

 ha^js in a future number you may inform J. E. R. of 

 \.\ns..— Oliver V. Aplin. 



Birds feigning Death. — I have never heard of 

 the water-hen feigning death, as described by Mr. 

 Lett, but I have heard of its not very distantly allied 

 relative, the landrail, doing so. I read some time ago 

 in an ornithological work, the name of which I do 

 not now remember, of a bird of this species, supposed 

 to be dead, allowing itself to be handled and examined 

 and finally placed in the pocket of its captor, from 

 which it soon afterwards escaped and flew away as if 

 nothing had happened. This was evidently a case in 

 point. Another correspondent asks which English 

 bird is " the hardest to kill." Some mowers who 

 were cutting hay sliced off the head of a landrail on 

 her nest ; the decapitated bird immediately flew 

 across the field — a distance of one hundred yards I 

 believe — and striking against a wall, or some railings, 

 fell down dead. — 'J. IP. G., jiin. 



The Wild Birds Protection Act.— On March 

 1st the Wild Birds Protection Act, iSSo, came into 

 operation, and until the ist of August it will be illegal 

 to kill or take any wild bird in Great Britain. Only 

 owners and occupiers of land or any person authorised 

 by them are allowed to kill or take wild birds on such 

 land that are not included in the Schedule of birds 

 attached to the Act. The Schedule includes, besides 

 a large number of sea birds, the following land birds 

 — cuckoo, goldfinch, kingfisher, nightjar, nightingale, 

 owls, plovers, woodpeckers, &c. The penalty for any 

 person (not an owner or occupier of land or author- 

 ised by such owner or occupier) for killing or taking 

 any wild bird not in the Schedule is 5^-. for each bird 

 and costs. Any one, whoever he may be, killing or 

 taking a bird mentioned in the Schedule is liable to a 

 penalty of i/. for each bird. The Royal Society for 

 the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals announce their 

 intention of enforcing the statute, and notice of an 

 infringement of the Act should be given to the police 

 or to the Society. We hope all genuine ornitholo- 

 gists, rich and poor, will do their best to educate the 

 people up to the morality of respecting all kinds of 

 wild birds, during their breeding season, at least. 



Note on Hyalina Draparnaldi being found 

 in England.— For some time I was perplexed over 

 a large hyalina (Zonites) that I found at Clifton and 



