SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



123 



Slv:.s. — Can aay reader of Scienxe-Gossip 

 inform me through its columns: (1) Where I can 

 find descriptions of the known species of Besouicilla 

 and Baginula. (2) Are these twogenera synonymous ? 

 (3) Who is the principal authority on slugs in this 

 country? — A. T. Taylor, Hcaton; August i6.'/i, 1S97. 



Abnormal Cucumber. — I send you a very 

 neatly-coiled cucumber, grown in a frame in our 

 garden. It was in the middle of the frame, with 

 plenty of room to grow straight, but has apparently 

 suffered from disease, or the attacks of insects. 

 Perhaps you can tell me the cause of its eccen- 

 tricity — Fiank Sich, junr., Corney House, Clus;iicli ; 

 . . . yd. The specimen sent has grown into 

 a perfect coil of three turns. It is difficult to 

 suggest the cause of these abnormal growths, 

 especially in this instance. — Ed. Science-Gossip.] 



Derivation of Microlestes. — In Science- 

 Gossip, vol. iv., page 3, I see Mr. Nunney, writing 

 on nomenclature, in speaking of derivatives, im- 

 plies that the mammal Microlestes is a derivative 

 of the dragonfly Lestes, than which, of course, it is 

 much larger. He calls this " undesirable usage," 

 but I think it much more natural and simple to 

 take Microlcstts as "a small robber" I do not 

 know what author originated the name, but have 

 no doubt that it was in this sense that he wished 

 it to be interpreted, and not as " a small Lestes," 

 otherwise a " small dragonfly." — Malcolm Burr, 

 instead; August 14///, 1S97. 



Cinnamon Variety of Blackbird. — I recently 

 obtained from Holmwood, near Dorking, an un- 

 usual variety of a male common blackbird (Turdus 

 :.ich is of uniform cinnamon colour, 

 excepting the breast, which is nearer cream colour, 

 1 with brown. The bird was taken soon 

 after it left the nest, as it was entangled in some 

 nets spread to protect cherries. It moulted whilst 

 in my possession, and reproduced its variation in 

 even more accentuated form. I have placed this 

 interesting variety in the Zoological Gardens, 

 Regent's Park, where it may be seen in the western 

 — // J La- ford Joins, 6, Fitzroy Square, 

 'n, W.; July, 1897. 



He: tRRYING I i" it —With reference 



ir correspondent's query as to hedghogs 



Carrying fruit on their spines (ante p 85), 1 may 



mention thai several yen: hen I was 



quart?- d th>- Neilgherry Mills, 



the porcupines played havoc with my potatoes, 



routing them up and cither eating them or con- 



.• them away. An old staff quartermaster- 



r.o had been many years in the place, 



told me that the natives declared thai the pori u 



ted the ; tether and then 



',n them, impaling them on their quills, and 



thut carried them av. . 



<:nt a» one of irie " Plain tali from the 

 but if hedgehog* employ thl 



'iipines 

 ■ 

 St*t ■■<:. Si I'll" 



Preservation of Rare British Animals. — I 

 cannot refrain from congratulating you upon the 

 very proper reply you give in the August number 

 of Science-Gossip (page 63) to the maudlin, 

 sentimental rubbish that lately appeared in the 

 " Saturday Review." With you I quite dislike 

 the destruction of our fauna, and do all in my 

 power to stop it about here. Nevertheless, to put 

 the extinction of species down to naturalists is 

 absurd, as you so well point out in your very able 

 reply. I think your article will be satisfactory to 

 those who study natural science, and personally I 

 thank you. — Linnteus Greening, F.L.S., M.R.I. A., 5, 

 Wilson Patten Street, Warrington; July 28th, 1S97. 



Phoenology in Aberdeenshire. — Broom has 

 scarcely managed to bloom this year, and what has 

 done so has been at least a month later than 

 usual. There is an astonishing quantity of pease, 

 compared with the flowers, but the growth of the 

 shrubs is fair. Both the fine- and the cross-leaved 

 heaths were later in flowering than usual, as was 

 ling. Then, in gardens, we find the flowering of 

 plants which require much heat is this season 

 weaker ; but in cases of deep-rooting plants the 

 blossom is generally superior. Fruit, in many 

 cases, is a failure, being completely frosted away in 

 spring, and some shaken by exceptional winds 

 later on. On agricultural fields we find the hay 

 crop below the average, red clover, especially, 

 having been destroyed. On pasture-fields many 

 more than usual of the sown plants have succumbed 

 and made an opening for the weeds. — William 

 Wilson, Alford, Aberdeen, N.B.; August, 1897. 



Sirex juvencus. — A fine female specimen of 

 this insect, which is not common in London, was 

 cap'ured near Westminster Bridge, on the 7th inst. 

 by Mr. Ernest Ray, and sent to me for identifica- 

 tion. It is of a dark purple colour, and measures 

 slightly over one and a-half inches from its head 

 to the tip of the ovipositor, and two inches across 

 the wings when expanded. It has long jointed 

 antennae and formidable mandibles, and when 

 flying produces a loud buzzing noise like that of 

 a'humble-bee. Figuier, in his " Insect World," 

 makes an interesting allusion to this insect, the 

 larvae of which he says possess such powerful 

 mandibles as to enable them to pierce lead, and in 

 corroboration of this statement, he mentions that 

 in 1857, Marshal Vaillant presented to the 

 Academie des Sciences, France, some packages 

 of cartridges containing balls which had been 

 pierced through by these creatures during the 

 sojourn of the French troops in the Crimea, and in 

 which some were found concealed in the galleries 

 they had hollowed out. — /. C. Webb, F.E.S., 

 Henslowi Road, Dulwic/i ; 16th August, 1897. 



Travelling Illustrated Lectures. — I take 

 the liberty of approaching you with a suggestion 

 that I have often thought over, and which I think 

 would be best worked out by you as Editor of the 

 only real natural history paper in this country. I 

 know that many secretaries of societies have great 

 difficulty in obtaining papers for their programmes 

 of winter evening meetings, and if some good 

 papers could be compiled and sets of slides got 

 together, they could be circulated and read at 

 1 - . among the societies, with great advan- 

 In order to do something myself to assist, I 

 am willing to make a set of lantern-slides for the 

 e, from any drawings 01 pictures that 

 may be required for illustrating such apap>'i, Baj 

 from twenl to thirl tides, bicb is as many as 

 would, I think, be useful, and do them free of any 



