SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



343 



of short hairs or fur. This in B. spartii was light 

 red-brown, while in the B. quercus it was white. 

 The larv32 of the English B. quercus differed 

 markedly from both the South of France forms 

 in the fourth or fifth skins. They seemed to be 

 quite a moult behind the French races in getting 

 their adult skins. The head was dark-blue or 

 blue-black, while in the French examples it was 

 usually reddish-brown with a white marking on 

 the face that was generally absent in the English 

 form, although a few of these larvae had a dirty 

 white marking on the face, which, however, differed 

 in shape from that on the French larvae. The 

 hairs were also much more scanty in the English 

 form, and the long hairs, which in the French 

 races were white, were brown in the English larvae. 

 The white sub-dorsal line and the remnants of the 

 oblique stripes were also stronger in the English 

 forms, and there were traces in some larvae, strongly 

 developed, of a blue line or band just above the sub- 

 dorsal line ; probably a remnant of the blue stripes 

 that are well developed in B. trifolii and B. neustria 

 and slightly less so in B. castrensis. The English 

 R. quercus Mr. Bacot took to be the older form, the 

 French B. quercus, occasionally having faint traces 

 of the blue, coming between it and B. spartii, which 

 was more constant and tended to approach B. rubi 

 in the loss of these markings. Mr. Warburg had 

 also very kindly given Mr. Bacot a few larvae, the 

 result of a pairing between a male B. quercus 

 (French) and a female B. spartii. These larvae 

 were now in about the fourth stage ; four of them 

 had the white B. quercus coat, six the red-coloured 

 fur of B. spartii. Mr. Bacot also said that he had 

 placed some larvae of Orgyia gonostigma, which had 

 passed the usual hibernating stage, before the food- 

 supply failed, in a cold room, to see if they would 

 hibernate. They attempted to do, fastening them- 

 selves in one position, which they occupied through 

 October, November and most of December. But 

 they subsequently died, being unable, apparently, 

 to stand the winter's cold, which had had no ill 

 effects on larvae hibernating in their normal stage. 

 Mr. Dadd exhibited Catocalafraxini from Germany, 

 C. 7iupta from Wood Green, C. sponsa and C.promissa 

 from the New Forest, and C. pacta, C. luciana and 

 C. concumbens from Dakota, U.S.A. Mr. Riches 

 exhibited a specimen of Phrytisoma cornutus, on 

 which he read the following notes : "This creature 

 is a native of California, and is known as the horned 

 toad ; it is quite harmless, and when captured does 

 not attempt to kill or bite ; and not having a pro- 

 trusive tongue, like the chameleon, and being slow, 

 it is only able to catch slow insects, such as the 

 sand-beetles, upon which it feeds during the 

 evening. In the daytime it lies passive on the 

 sand. A reputed peculiarity of this lizard is its 

 habit of ejecting jets of blood from its eyes, 

 apparently as a means of defence." — Lawrence J. 

 Tremayne, Hon. Sec. 



Hull Scientific and Field Naturalists' 

 Club. — The usual fortnightly meeting was held on 

 March 17th, Mr. Paul Davis in the chair. Mr. 

 Knight referred to a recent botanical excursion he 

 had made, and exhibited some of the specimens he 

 had collected. He also handed round some fresh 

 examples of that peculiar Alpine plant, Sedum 

 monstrosum. It was reported that a badger had 

 recently been caught at Brandsburton — a very 

 rare occurrence in the Hull district. Mr. F. W. 

 Fierke, M.C.S., then proceeded to give his paper 

 on "A Tour in Switzerland." Mr. Fierke graphically 

 described a journey taken by himself and another 

 member of the Club, Mr. J. Burns, to the " Lower 



Alps," last summer. Extensive collections were 

 made, principally of plants and entomological 

 specimens; the "large black salamander," and 

 a quantity of land-shells were also obtained. 

 Mr. Fierke illustrated his remarks by a series of 

 lantern-slides showing views of his collecting- 

 grounds in Switzerland, and also of other places 

 visited, A selection from the collection of plants, 

 and also some butterflies, were handed round. 

 The paper was followed by a lengthy discussion, in 

 which several members took part. — The concluding 

 meeting for the winter session was held on March 

 31st. The President, Dr. J. Hollingworth, 

 M.R.C.S., occupied the chair. Several reports 

 were given of excursions made in the neighbourhood 

 during the previous fortnight. The secretary 

 exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Mosey, a small earthen- 

 ware flask, or water-bottle, which had been 

 dredged up from the bed of the Baltic Sea by a 

 fishing-smack. The specimen was encrusted with 

 barnacles, surpulae, and other marine organisms. 

 A fine collection of butterflies, beetles, etc., sent 

 over from South Africa by Mr. Russell, was 

 handed round. Mr. F. W. Fierke, M.C.S., read 

 an interesting report of an excursion he had made 

 to Filey Brig on March 20th. On this date, the 

 tides being unusually low, exceptional opportunities 

 were given for investigation of the various interest- 

 ing examples of marine life which abound on that 

 part of our coast. The outing proved in every 

 way satisfactory, and several specimens were found 

 which had not previously been recorded for that 

 locality. Mr. Fierke handed round his most 

 important captures. The Rev. C. A. Hall read a 

 paper on " The Origin of Language." The 

 lecturer explained that all conclusions as to the 

 origin of language must necessarily be inferences 

 from known facts as to the nature of man and 

 those conditions of life which call his faculties into 

 play. Writing is of comparatively recent inven- 

 tion, and we can therefore only go back with 

 precision in our analysis of words a few thousand 

 years, and judge of many ages of slow progress 

 by inference from such records as we have. The 

 lecturer showed how the origin of writing started 

 with rude depictions of objects from nature, and 

 how these gradually evolved into alphabetic 

 characters such as we see now used. Numerous 

 examples of Chinese and Hebrew characters were 

 given in explanation of this. The reverend gentle- 

 man concluded by stating that the origin of language 

 was due to a desire on the part of the primitive 

 races to communicate with each other. In course 

 of time it was found that the simplest and most 

 effectual way of exchanging ideas was by uttering 

 sounds and exclamations, and though these 

 necessarily would be of a very primitive character, 

 they only required time to evolve into the various 

 languages that we find to-day, though in the 

 lecturer's opinion not one out of the 750 languages 

 now existing is anything like perfect yet. It is 

 difficult to say whether a really perfect language 

 will ever exist. A lengthy discussion followed the 

 lecture. At the close of the meeting, ]Mr. J. F. 

 Robinson, a Vice-President of the Club, called 

 attention to the fact that the past session had been 

 the most successful in the history of the society. 

 The lectures had been of a first-class character, 

 most of the principal persons of the town interested 

 in science being amongst the lecturers. The 

 attendances had also been far better than those of 

 previous years, and there is every prospect of 

 future sessions being still more attractive. — T. 

 Shcppard, Hon. Sec, 78, Shciburn Street, Hull. 



