232 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



NOTES OF A HOME NATURALIST. 

 By Mrs. Emily J. Climexsox. 



CINCE my return, at the end of August, from 

 *^ South Devon, I have set a few aquaria going 

 again, and, in the first week in September, I caught 

 one day, in one ditch, three most curious water- 

 boatmen. They were not quite as large as Notonecta 

 glauca ; about half an inch long, their bodies more 

 convex, they had curiously marked brick -red eye- 

 places, the upper part of the back had a sort of 

 exquisite mother-of-pearl appearance, with a sea- 

 green under- colour, the end of the back had distinct 

 stripes (foundation colour) of a sort of chocolate- 

 coloured brown on sea-green. 



That they were Notonecta, and not of the 

 family Corixce, was proved by their swimming on 

 their backs with the same long-feathered oar legs 

 as ordinary boatmen. Now, not in any of my 

 books can I find a description of these insects. I 

 fed them with ants'-eggs and a little meat. In 

 changing them into a fresh- water jar one day I 

 received from one a sharp sting from its rostrum, 

 or beak, on the palm cf my hand ; the pain lasted 

 for some seconds, when it ceased, but left a slight 

 mark and redness. They lived for some weeks and 

 then died. Since that I caught one other, but that 

 soon died. They seem more difficult to keep alive 

 than the ordinary Notonecta glauca which I find easy 

 enough. At the same time I caught two water- 

 scorpions Nepa cinerea, in adult condition. These 

 lived in a glass jam-jar. One morning, on uncovering 

 the jar, I perceived what I thought was a dead 

 scorpion, but which proved to be its cast skin, which 

 was so extraordinarily perfect — legs, tail, antennae — 

 all neatly skinned like a cast-off glove and no split 

 visible to the naked eye. The scorpion which had 

 shed his skin was easily recognized, looking much 

 larger for his moult. I foolishly left off covering 

 the jar with net, and the scorpions escaped, though 

 the jar was not full of water. 



On September 27th, I perceived, in a deep glass 

 jar in which I keep water- spiders, a creature 

 entirely new to me, and a rough sketch of which I 

 enclose. It was a yellow leather-colour sort of 

 tube, with a literal hump or knob sticking out of its 

 side. At the top of the tube were seven tentacles 

 which seemed to be placed at equal distances, and 

 were slightly bent at the ends. This was all I 

 could find out with a powerful pocket-lens. The 

 body, with tentacles, was not half an inch long. 

 With some of the tentacles it clung to the side of the 

 glass, whilst with the others it seemed to feel about 

 for prey. Unluckily, I could not remain long to 

 watch it, and on my return I could not find it again. 

 Since then, in a jar containing duck-weed, water - 

 fieas, a few small leeches, etc., I have again 



perceived the strange creatures I first saw on 

 April 7th this year, — the shape and colour of a 

 screwed-up tea-leaf, or what is familiarly called 

 "a stranger," not above five lines long, a blackish 

 brown, and, as far as I could see, with four tentacles. 

 They move in the water in a vertical manner, 

 slightly working upwards, and in this position 

 move fairly rapidly ; when not moving they 

 hook themselves on to the duck-weed under- 

 neath the leaves and then they resemble 

 tiny sticks. Yesterday, October 15th, I saw one 

 out of the three that I have perceived in the 

 bottle, clinging to the side of the glass, obviously 

 with two of the tentacles and feeling about with 

 the other two at the same time. For the last week 

 one has been increasing in size, and the top of the 

 tube, or what is the head, I suppose, presents a 

 whitish, swelled, sucker-like appearance. It is 

 anchored against the glass, and I suspect it must be 

 a female and that probably this increase in size 

 and width may mean cellular division. From their 

 minuteness they would be difficult to pack for 

 recognition, but if any reader of Sciexce-Gossip 

 would tell me what they are I should be glad. 



This season is certainly different from ordinary 

 ones. The white Scotch roses, Persian-yellow 

 briars, both single and double, the large white and 

 mauve briars, have been in bloom ever since the 

 end of August for the second time. We have had 

 green peas which ought to have been ready in June, 

 but which the drought checked. Apples, pears, 

 plums and nuts are in great abundance here. 

 Several instances of raspberries and strawberries 

 being gathered ripe in the last month in the 

 neighbourhood have come to my knowledge, and 

 my " hen and chicken " daisies have been in bloom, 

 evidently puzzled at what time of year they had 

 arrived at. 



On October 16th we found a perfectly ripe 

 strawberry, two inches across, and a ripe rasp- 

 berry in a garden belonging to us, also some 

 apple-blossom, but more curious still, the same 

 day a linnet's nest was spied in a plum-tree; on 

 investigation three eggs were found in it. On the 

 18th these three eggs were hatched out, and the 

 young birds continued to flourish till the cold 

 weather set in on October 26th, when after a 

 short struggle for existence the little birds died, 

 despite of the mother's attention and care, and 

 though alive on the 28th were found dead a day 

 or so after. The cold was so great on October 

 26th, with twelve degrees of frost the preceding 

 night, that though in a solid brick summer- 

 house, my aquaria were all frozen over, and 



