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HA RD IVICKE'S S CIENCE- G OSS I P. 



Male Birds Incubating. — G. Devvar may add 

 to his list of male birds that assist in incubation, the 

 blackbird, as I have frequently observed him so 

 occupied ; also the ring and stock-dove, and domestic 

 pigeons generally. On one occasion I saw both 

 male and female swift on the eggs together, and in 

 order to secure one of the eggs I removed both birds 

 with my hand. — -Thos. J. Lane. 



Query as to Cocoon.— Digging at the foot of 

 a large birch-tree in January, I came upon numbers 

 of a cocoon, an inch or less below the surface, quite 

 undistinguishable from the cases of the oak egger, 

 but perhaps rather smaller. They nearly all had 

 a hole in the side, near the end, but not quite at it, 

 through which the perfect insect may have emerged. 

 The perfect cocoons on being opened were shrivelled. 

 Can any of your correspondents identify the species ? 

 — Jos. Neale. 



Mounting Entomostraca.— I wish to make a 

 collection of the larval forms of Entomostraca and 

 other minute Crustacea ; in what medium should I 

 mount them ? In what month do Entomostraca first 

 appear in the ponds ? How are mosses in fruit best 

 mounted — dry or in glycerine ? — W. G., Glasgozo. 



British Dr.\gon-Flies. — Mr. E. B. Kemp-Welch 

 m his " Chapter on British Dragon-flies," in Science- 

 Gossip for last month, states " that some years since, 

 there appeared to be no work obtainable, treating of 

 the British species, nor, I believe, has this want been 

 supplied up to the present time." Although I know 

 of no work on the subject, it may interest your readers 

 to learn that there is an excellent " Synopsis of the 

 British Dragon-flies," by Dr. Hagen himself, in the 

 Entomologists' Annual for 1857. — y. IT. K. 



Shore Lark. — A party of five members of the 

 Rotherham Naturalists' Society, being on a specimen- 

 collecting expedition to the Earn Islands, obtained on 

 the 13th instant, a fine specimen of the shore lark 

 (Alaitda alpestris). As the bird is a very rare visitor 

 to England, perhaps you will kindly give the event 

 a notice in your columns. The bird was shot by 

 William S. Bennett, the curator of the society, and 

 was a female in good condition. We obtained many 

 other specimens, but the above was the most remark- 

 able. — F. W. Dickinson. 



Suction in the House-Fly. — If any of your 

 readers would kindly give a full explanation of the 

 process of suction in the house-fly, I should be very 

 much obliged. Whether there is any connection of the 

 tracheal system with the throat admitting of a true 

 inspiration, or if the liquids are conveyed by alternate 

 contraction and expansion of the tubes of the pro- 

 boscis ; if by the latter means, would it account for the 

 distending fibrils of the tube not completing the circle ? 



— z. s. a. 



Red Frog. — When I was in the North of Wales 

 about three years ago, I saw something hop by 

 the side of a gushing stream. After a smart chase 

 I succeeded in capturing a small frog about two 

 inches in length, and of vermilion above, but pure 

 white beneath. It could cling to a rush stem as 

 easily as a grasshopper. I kept it for several days, 

 when it escaped. — //. C. Brooke. 



Slow- WORM {^Ingiiis fragilis). — A short time 

 ago, I had two slow-worms. Instead of having dark 

 stripes, as is usual in these reptiles, one was nine inches 

 long, gray, with three blue spots on each side of the 

 shoulders ; after about a month they increased to five. 

 The otherj thirteen inches long, was pinkish-brown, 



with seven blue spots. They became very tame. 

 One died while I was away ; the other (to save its 

 life) was put into the garden ; it has not been seen 

 since. If any correspondent wishes to obtain any 

 further information, I will gladly answer any queries. 

 — II. C. Brooke, Staplehiirst. 



Rough-legged Buzzard in Yorkshire. — I 

 have in my possession a fine rough-legged buzzard 

 that was captured in Bilsdale,' North Yorkshire, la-^t 

 December. When first obtained it was very surly 

 and stupid, and refused to eat, and the meat had to 

 be forced down its throat. But it soon got tame, 

 and will now take its food readily, with two or three 

 spectators. It is very fond of live birds. It gene- 

 rally pulls two or three feathers out of the wings and 

 breast, and then either eats the entrails first, or 

 swallows the bird whole. — J. A. ]Vlieldon. 



Ornithological Notes from Bournemouth. — 

 I find the neighbourhood of Bournemouth is in exactly 

 the same state as Meyler Daniel finds Caermarthen 

 with regard to the scarcity of skylarks this season. 

 I have walked miles without being able to flush a 

 single individual. I have studied the habits of the 

 starling for some years, but have never found him 

 guilty of plundering nests, and I have known of many 

 sky and titlarks' nests in fields regularly frequented 

 by him in the breeding season. The state of the 

 feathered tribe this winter is vastly different from 

 that of the two previous ones. The starling, song 

 thrush, robin and dunnock are to be heard on all 

 sides indulging in their varied songs, not having as 

 yet experienced any lack of food. I have not ob- 

 served a single redwing nor fieldfare in my rambles, 

 in consequence, I suppose of the mildness of the 

 weather hitherto. In the last week of December I 

 witnessed a rather unusual sight, viz. an assemblage 

 of half-a-dozen sparrows busily engaged in washing 

 themselves in a pool of water in the road. Two of 

 them were so wet as to be able to fly only with con- 

 siderable difficulty. — Thos. J. Lane. 



Bats. — In reference to the bat seen by Mr. F. Hall 

 near St. Peter's church, I beg to inform you that bats 

 are seen in Cornwall every month in the year, and 

 are quite common. Couch, the author of " British 

 Fishes," states, in his " Cornish Fauna," " they fly at 

 all seasoris of the year if the thermometer be not 

 much below 50°. It awakes in a i&vf hours after the 

 weather has become mild, and is not uncommonly 

 seen abroad in the middle of a fine day." It is 

 probably the species Scotophiliis pipistrellus. — Hamil- 

 ton James, Truro. 



A Curious Mouse. — The mouth of the mouse 

 described in Science-Gossip for February certainly 

 presents a condition both unusual and interesting. 

 Instances of a like condition have, however, from 

 time to time been met with, especially, I believe, in 

 rats and rabbits, which sometimes die from its effects, 

 the great length and abnormal form of the front teeth 

 preventing their possessor from obtaining proper food. 

 The following appears to explain the occurrence of the 

 condition described. In animals of the rodent order 

 each jaw carries a pair of long, chisel-shaped front 

 teeth, or "incisors," those of one jaw working over 

 their antagonists in the other, after the manner of the 

 blades of a pair of shears. To compensate for the 

 great and incessant wear to which it is subjected, each 

 of these four teeth goes on growing throughout the 

 life of its possessor ; and in order to relieve from 

 pressure the highly sensitive pulp from which addi- 

 tions arc made to its base, each tooth is curved, so as 

 to form a segment of a circle.. Now, if a tooth be 



