SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



249 



Chaffinch and Hedge-sparrow using same 

 Nest. — When in Hertfordshire last year, it was 

 discovered that a hedge-sparrow and a chaffinch 

 were both laying eggs in a chaffinch's nest. Though 

 eager to watch the result, my curiosity was baffled 

 by a jay which plundered the nest. My host assured 

 me that the jays did more mischief in keeping down 

 the breeding of melodious birds than all the boys 

 in the neighbourhood.— James Shaiv, Tynron, Dum- 

 friesshire ; October, 1895. 



Land and Fresh-water Mollusca of Cheshire. 

 — I am compiling a list of the land and fresh- water 

 mollusca of Cheshire, and write to ask for the 

 assistance of conchologists who have collected in 

 the county. It is desirable to make such a list as 

 complete as possible, and with that end in view I 

 shall be glad to receive and acknowledge any 

 information relating to the distribution and habits 

 of even the commonest species. — Chas. Oldham, 

 Romiley, Cheshire ; September nth, 1895. 



Panchlora mader^ in London. — A specimen 

 of this magnificent Orthopteron was captured in 

 Covent Garden Market on November 8th, 1895, 

 and subsequently came into my possession with 

 some vitality left. After I received it, it deposited 

 an (unfortunately immature) egg bag. This is the 

 second specimen of the species that I have obtained 

 from Covent Garden. Most probably they were 

 imported in bunches of bananas. This cockroach 

 is seldom recorded as occurring in Britain. — C. A. 

 Briggs, 55, Lincolns Inn Fields. 



The Nesting-places of the Sedge-Warbler. 

 — In corroboration of Mr. Mead-Briggs' statement 

 in your August issue (page 156), I may say that on 

 June 5th, 1888, I found, near Winchester, a sedge- 

 warbler's nest with four eggs among a bunch of 

 Arundo phragmites, supported by four or five stems, 

 which pierced the sides, with two more undergird- 

 ing it slantwise. The eggs were carefully identified. 

 It would be interesting to know to what extent the 

 nests Mr. Mead-Briggs found were supported. — 

 John H. Teesdale, St. Margaret's, West Dulivich ; 

 September 16th, 1895. 



Unusual Sound from Lightning. — On 

 August 22nd, 1895, between 4 and 5 a.m., during 

 the severe thunderstorm, I heard the lightning 

 quite close to Clarendon Street, Cambridge. It 

 sounded like the " sh " of a scythe through thick 

 grass. Others heard it besides myself, and asked 

 me what it was. The last time I heard it was in 

 April, 1882, during a tricycle ride in the New 

 Forest near Lyndhurst, when the lightning struck 

 the telegraph wire about twenty feet from us. On 

 August 22nd, the smell of ozone was very powerful 

 at the time mentioned above. — R. Asliington Bullen, 

 Shoreham Vicarage, Sevcnoaks. 



Nest of Kingfisher. — In June, 1894, whilst 

 staying at Charlton, near Salisbury, I found two 

 nests of the Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida) in old sand- 

 pits close to a stream. In both cases the tunnel 

 was close upon two feet long, broadening out at 

 the end to a sort of chamber about six inches wide, 

 in which the nest — formed entirely of minute fish- 



bones — was placed. ,In one nest there were eggs, 

 and in the other young birds nearly fledged. Is 

 this bird getting rarer in England ? It would be 

 interesting if others of your readers would con- 

 tribute notes on its distribution, etc. — E. B. Lloyd, 

 11, Portland Road, Finsbury Park, N.; September, 1895. 



Local Land Shells in Kent. — I have just 

 visited, after an absence of two years, the colony 

 of Helix terrestris (or elegans), the Italian shell which 

 mysteriously appeared near Dover some years ago. 

 I am glad to find it abundant and breeding, and, 

 perhaps, slowly spreading, though still restricted 

 to a small area, or practically to one chalk bank. 

 Helix virgata, var. leucozona, is abundant and fine in 

 one field at Patrixbourne, together with the vars. 

 alba, radiata and other forms ; also near Canterbury, 

 in one place, H . hortensis, 00300, fairly plentiful, both 

 yellow and red. At Minster I found segmentina and 

 Limnea stagnalis, var. variegata. — Rev. J. W. Horsley, 

 St. Peter's Rectory, Walworth, S.E. ; August, 1895. 



Anatomy of Blow-fly. — We have received some 

 exceptionally beautiful microscopical objects from 

 Mr. Ernest Hinton, of 12, Vorley Road, Upper 

 Holloway, London. These include a proboscis of 

 blow-fly (Calliphora vomitoria), side view, showing 

 different parts in their natural shape, colour and 

 position. Another object illustrates the lobes of the 

 proboscis of same species, showing the pseudo- 

 trachse, Anthony's suckers, etc. These prepara- 

 tions are mounted with much success without 

 pressure, and if shown with paraboloid illumination 

 a beautiful effect is produced. We have not 

 previously had opportunity of so satisfactorily 

 examining the structural details otherwise than 

 from fresh specimens. — John T. Carrington. 



Late Clouded - Yellow Butterfly. — On 

 November gth, 1895, I took, near the Sussex 

 coast, west of Brighton, a perfectly fresh male 

 specimen of Colias edusa. It was flying strongly 

 in warm sunshine. The previous week had been 

 cold with frosty nights, and two very wet warm 

 days immediately preceded the 9th November. 

 Unfortunately, I had no box with me, so the 

 specimen was damaged during conveyance home ; 

 but I sent it alive to my friend Mr. C. A. Briggs, of 

 • Leatherhead, as, probably, one of the latest known 

 captures of Colias edusa in Britain ; but I have since 

 heard of one on the 13th, in the same locality. — 

 John T. Carrington, 1, Northumberland Avenue, London; 

 November, 1895. 



Notes on Land Molluscs. — Succinea putris. 

 At Wroxham, on August 2nd I secured about three 

 dozen deep, clear, amber-coloured specimens. They 

 had ascended the water-grasses and Scrophularia 

 aquatica to oviposit. They had nearly all laid from 

 fifteen to twenty globular transparent eggs each, 

 when unboxed at Cromer the same evening On 

 August 17th the Succinese were still upon the 

 water-grasses in the ditches, and on the banks of 

 the Bure. Helix nemoralis. — At Shoreham, Kent, 

 this species is now ascending beech-trees (as in 

 September, 1894) for oviposition. H. caperata and 

 H. lapicida are also ascending the beech-trees. I 

 cannot find nemoralis in Kingsdown Lane, except 

 during this time of egg-laying. On September 7th, 

 1895, 1 secured a fine specimen of nemoralis with five 

 horns, two large and three small. I sent it to Mr. 

 J. W. Taylor, F.L.S., of Leeds. Cleaning Shells.— 

 A correspondent asked a few months back for 

 information on this subject. There is a paper on 

 the "Process of Cleaning Shells " in the " Penny 

 Magazine," July 20th, 1S39, pp. 274-5.— A. Ashington 

 Bullen, Shoreham Vicarage, Sevcnoaks. 



