SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



67 



one's wrist and ankles ; but for frogs, beetles, 

 myriapods. worms, etc., one may search for hours 

 in vain. Then come a few days of most oppressive 

 heat, in spite of the sun being nearly hidden by 

 great banks of dark, lowering clouds ; everyone 

 seems more or less miserable and is troubled with 

 ■' prickly heat." The crows and mynah birds 

 alone are cheerful by day and all through the 

 stifling night the great house-lizards (Gecko 

 ::!latus) are heard, now chuckling sardonically 

 to themselves, or crying aloud clearly and 

 deliberately, •' to-kay, to-kay. One morning, more 

 than ever, as Longfellow expresses it : " there 

 was a feeling of suspense in nature, a mysterious 

 sense of terror in the air" — till suddenly the 

 weather breaks, first a furious wind, blowing 

 showers of dust and leaves from every tree, tearing 

 the broad banana leaves to ribbons, and carrying 

 great pieces of attap thatching from the roofs, then 

 lightning, thunder and a deluge of rain, which 

 pours steadily for hours, till before sunset it ceases 

 almost as suddenly as it began. Then the air is 

 fresh, the distant view of trees and flat fields clear, 

 the pleasant smell of rain and a moist earth again 

 tempts one out, when one finds apparently a new 

 fauna. A big, brown toad (Bu/o mclanostictus) 

 jumps somewhat ponderously from under one's 

 foot ; agile little frogs (Rana limnocliaris and 

 Murohyla ornata) are hopping about ; scores of small 

 insect-eating bats are flying in all directions ; cicadas 

 are singing in the trees : and the grass, which 

 suddenly has become green, seems alive with 

 creeping things. As it grows dark, crickets are 

 heard chirping everywhere, glowworms begin to 

 show their light, and from near the river comes 

 ihe croaking of frogs, the unceasing loud " waarr, 

 waarr, waarr" of Callula pulchra, and at intervals 

 the " opp. opp. opp " of the big bull-frog (liana 

 tigrina). On returning indoors, one realises at once 

 that there is no need now to search for insects, 

 they are coming in their thousands. If one sits 

 down to read by the lamp, they crawl over the 

 book, crush themselves between the pages, creep 

 into one's hair, down one's neck and up one's sleeves. 

 If wc try to write it is the same, with the added 

 inconvenience that they crowd into the ink-pot, 

 some to die there and clog the pen, others to spring 

 out again, scattering ink over the desk. At dinner 

 it U the worst ; one's food and drink is invaded by 

 battalion-, and brigades of winged creatures, some 

 very active, but most in various stages of dying, while 

 all the time fresh hordes arc flying in, buzzing, 

 frizzling and flaring in the lights. Most numerous 

 are the termites, which drop their four long wings 

 about most untidily and then crawl wherever they 

 arc not wanted. Then there arc winged ants— large 

 and sm-. rass- 



hoppers, beetles of many kinds, especially little 

 black water-beetles, bugs of an infinite variety of 



shape and colour, quantities of moths and now 

 and then a big praying mantis. 



Worst of all are the mosquitoes, as they are 

 above flying at the light but follow one to the 

 darkest corners of the house. This inroad is, 

 however, thoroughly appreciated by the little 

 house lizards (Gehyra mutilata, Hcmidactylus fremitus 

 and H. platyiirus), which are busily engaged on the 

 walls and ceilings till they can eat no more. In 

 the evening my Indian watchman reminds me that 

 the coming of the rains is a favourite time for 

 Chinese and Siamese " loosewallahs " to break in 

 and steal, so about midnight I take a lantern and 

 have a look all round the house and outbuildings ; 

 and here again life is apparent everywhere, mille- 

 pedes of several kinds are crawling aimlessly about 

 the walls, finding little satisfaction in damp white- 

 wash. Large spiders (Heteropoda ven'atoria ?) are also 

 abroad on the walls, but with more purpose, as 

 the lantern shows many a one enjoying itself with 

 a cockroach or other insect in its fatal grasp. 

 Quaint scorpion-like creatures (Thelyphonus) are 

 feeling their way cautiously about, using their long 

 first pair of legs as antennae, but when disturbed 

 dart away like lightning into some crevice, and 

 once the light fell on a true scorpion (Isometrus) 

 overcoming a cricket much larger than itself. To 

 the naturalist the interest of all these varied living 

 things around him far outbalances the discomforts 

 and damp-heat of " the rains " ; but for all that 

 when bedtime^comes he is not sorry, however keen 

 he may be, to put mosquito curtains between him 

 and them, and to fall asleep wondering whether the 

 Arthropoda are, or are not, a natural group. 

 llangkok ; April, 1897. 



The Virginia Colony of Helix Nemoralis. — 

 Professor T. D. A. Cockerell contributes to 

 our American contemporary, " Science," an 

 interesting article upon the Lexington colony of 

 our common-banded hedgerow snail. He has 

 received from a correspondent a number of these 

 shells gathered in 1896-97, and goes through the 

 band formulae as well as colour variation. The 

 value of these variations is to see the influence of 

 environment not only in a new locality but also on 

 a new continent. Thus to students of evolution 

 the opportunity is exceptional. The colony has 

 long been watched by Professors Cockerell, 

 Morrison, and others, so that this contribution to 

 our knowledge by Mr. Cockerell is in continuation 

 of records by himself and others. He says : " The 

 examination of the list brings out the apparent fact 

 that new split-band variations arc comparatively 

 rare in the colony, though still more frequent than 

 such forms are in Europe.' He finds there win- 

 about 100 split-bands in J.IOO shells found by 



Morrison, and aboul I pel cent, found 



by bit l;it':r corn ipondent, 



