SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



53 



their normal conditions, when food has to be 

 sought and fought for. The birds varied consider- 

 ably in their plumage, perhaps through differences 

 of age, but, so far as I could judge, were only of 

 the two species mentioned. At a later date, when 

 the weather was milder, I saw only the smaller 

 kind, the others having all disappeared. — Jas. 

 Burton, 90, Theobalds Road, London, W.C. 



The Courting of Animals. — This subject 

 seems to prove attractive to many naturalists. In 

 vol. x. of the "Transactions of the Wisconsin 

 Academy of Sciences," there is a highly interesting 

 paper by Mr. and Mrs. Peckham on the " Courtship 

 of Certain Spiders." It seems to be the case that 

 the sharpness of vision in spiders is accentuated by 

 love. A male of Satis pttlex was put into a box in 

 which was a female of the same species twelve 

 inches away, and the male "perceived her at once, 

 lifting his head with an alert and excited 

 expression, and went bounding towards her." By 

 experiments it was proved that this recognition was 

 really due to sight. These results are interesting 

 because some have affirmed that spiders cannot see 

 nearly as far as twelve inches. Further experiments 

 seem to show that spiders can differentiate colour. 

 M. Racovitra, a Roumanian naturalist, has been 

 studying the courting and marriage customs of the 

 octopus, and in a recent number of the " Archives 

 de Zoologie Experimentale," he gives us some of 

 his observations. It is satisfactory to know that 

 the octopus does not, as some have thought, behave 

 brutally in its love affairs. M. Racovitza assures 

 us that " there is nothing more than a courteous 

 flirtation," and " that the male behaves with a 

 certain delicacy towards his companion." 



Locusts in London. — Two locusts have been 

 discovered in cauliflowers imported from Italy, 

 on the premises of Messrs. Mash and Sons, at 

 Brixton, on March 9th. The insects are precisely 

 similar to that found under identical circumstances 

 in February last year, of which a paragraph notice 

 was printed in the March number of Science- 

 Gossip, 1894. They are fine-looking, strong 

 insects, the wings opening to five inches across, 

 and the body being as thick as a lead pencil, the 

 vigour of their jump is only comparable with the 

 force of a stone from a catapult. One specimen, 

 still alive, was exhibited at the South London 

 Entomological Society's meeting on Thursday, 

 March 14th, but although leaves of cauliflower have 

 been placed in their boxes, they do not appear to 

 nibble at them. The species was identified last 

 year to be CEdipoda tartarica. There is a keel 

 along the centre of the thorax and sundry longi- 

 tudinal ridges on each compound eye, the under 

 edge of the tibid is a lively red and the extended 

 wing shows a large, smoky lunar shading. Each 

 was found on turning back the enveloping green 

 leaves of the vegetable, closely wrapped in and 

 thus thoroughly protected from the weather, which 

 has been exceptionally wintry, even on the shores 

 of the Mediterranean. Those who know La 

 Fontaine's fable of the Ant and the Grasshopper, 

 on which the pretty opera, "La Cigale" was 

 founded, and the sad fate of the grasshopper, 

 which had spent the summer hours with music 

 and frolic and provided no shelter against the 

 snows of winter, unlike the laborious and provident 

 ant, will appreciate the manner in which three 

 individuals of the grasshopper family have impro- 

 vised a winter harbour, which their instincts do 

 not teach them to provide. — H. A. Sauce, 4, Mount 

 Villas, Sydenham Hill Road. 



Coleoptera of Gloucestershire. — Can any 

 of your readers help me in the study of the 

 Coleoptera of Gloucestershire ? I should be glad to 

 get specimens of beetles found in the county, and 

 to know if a county list has appeared. For any 

 help or advice I should be most grateful. — 

 C. Percival Wiseman, Painsivich, Gloucestershire. 



Exchanging Birds in Flesh. — Allow me to 

 protest against an exchange which has appeared in 

 this month's Science-Gossip. I refer to the 

 exchange, headed "Birds in Flesh — wanted terns, 

 gulls, etc." It is now the close season for the 

 birds by Act of Parliament. This is encouraging 

 an offence against the law, and also causing the 

 destruction of some of our most valued birds, which 

 have suffered quite enough diminution in numbers 

 from the late frost, without a further premium being 

 put upon their dead bodies by such an advertisement 

 as this. I trust such an " Exchange " will never 

 appear again in Science-Gossip, which has hereto- 

 fore done much for the protection of our bird life. 

 — John R. B. Marefield, Rosehill, Cheadlc, Stafford- 

 shire; March 8th, 1895. 



Pseudo-Albino Sparrows. — Is it possible that 

 great terror and suffering may sometimes have 

 caused the loss of colour in the feathers of 

 sparrows and other birds ? I can relate a fact 

 which may, perhaps, be thought to bear on this 

 subject. Many years ago a clergyman, well- 

 known to me, had in his poultry-yard a cock 

 entirely black. This cock one day invaded the 

 trough of a pig, with thievish intentions. The pig 

 seized the thief and nearly killed him. Their 

 owner noticed, some months afterwards, that this 

 black cock had become black and white. The 

 following year the bird was entirely white. He 

 moulted again : and the new feathers grew up, 

 some black, some white. It was hoped that the 

 fourth year might show the black plumage quite 

 restored ; but, unfortunately, before the moulting 

 season came round again, the cock was dead. — 

 Mrs. Dickson, The College, Ely ; March jth, 1S95. 



Pseudo-Albino Sparrows. — Mr. K. Hurlstone 

 Jones, under this heading, asks (ante page 9) the 

 question, " If pseudo-albino varieties have changed 

 at some time in their existence later than their 

 fledging, how did they get rid of the melanin gran- 

 ules from their feathers?" This last question is 

 complicated by the fact that there is no circulation 

 in the plumules of the feather or in the shaft. 

 But is this so ? I am inclined to a different opinion, 

 for the following reason. Many years ago, at the 

 Cape of Good Hope, a hunter, wishing to discharge 

 his muzzle-loading "Roer," charged with buck- 

 shot, fired wantonly at a " Calhr-fink " (Loxia 

 capensis) in his full breeding livery of velvety black, 

 with yellow satin rump and shoulders. One shot 

 alone struck the unlucky bird, entirely cutting off 

 the half of the wing. Finding the bird otherwise 

 uninjured, we called it "Nelson" from its one-armed 

 condition, and placed it in my "table-aviary," a 

 large cage built on a table, and kept in my dining- 



