3 2 



SCIEXCE-GOSSIP. 



species. Here, 145 miles south of Dieppe, we saw 

 for the first time Colias edusa, a pair, but flying too 

 wildly to raise any hopes of capture. 



A peculiar feeling creeps over the entomologist 

 upon seeing for the first time a novelty. The 

 majority of stay-at-home Englishmen can never 

 expect to take Argynnis lathonia — here they were 

 in their glory. We found it rather plentiful after- 

 wards at various places. Lyccena corydon, Poda, 

 was in prime condition and numerous. Polyommatus 

 phlaas — only one specimen seen. Epinephele iithonus, 

 Linn, one, and Satyrus maera, Linn, one. This 

 species is closely allied to S. megzra, Linn ; the 

 black ocellus at the tip of the forewings contains 

 one or two white pupils, says Kirby, sometimes 

 only one, while megzra has only one pupil. Near 

 Malesherbes we found another good spot ; Saiyrus 



briseis, Linn, and 5 . Linn, flying up in 



dozens at our approach. I was unsuccessful with 

 the latter, but managed to bag two briseis and one 

 S. areihiisa, Denis; the latter, though common in 

 South Europe, is local elsewhere. Several Pieris 

 daplidice, Linn, were about, of which I only secured 

 one. It was here I took my first CEdipoda fascialum. 

 Fisch. Between Malesherbes and Beaumon: 

 orthopteron was very plentiful, but only one red- 

 winged specimen was seen. Just before reaching 

 Malesherbes we came across a swarm of Pyrrhocoris 

 apterus, a bug peculiar from the fact of its being 

 nearly always found round the foot of a lime-.rer 

 when the ground appears covered with drops of 

 blood, paint or sealing wax, as ones fancy may 

 suggest. They are gregarious in their habits. 

 7: ' : : .' '. : 



FUNGI AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



T AST year the Trustees of the British Museum 

 did a very commendable thing. They issued, 

 at the popular price of fourpence, an admirable 

 "Guide to Sowerby's Models of British Fungi in 

 the Department of Botany," by Worthington G. 

 Smith, F.L.S. This work is very much more than 

 a guide to the models ; it is a handy introduction 

 to a large number of typical species in many orders, 

 genera and sub-genera of the larger fungi, and, 

 being illustrated by ninety-three of the remarkably 

 clear and accurate drawings for which Mr. Smith 

 is famed among mycologists, is useful for field- 

 work. Remembering the former dilapidated con- 

 dition of Sowerby's models — made at the beginning 

 of the century — we were delighted to read in Mr. 

 Carruthers' preface to the " Guide " that the 

 ■' injuries having been carefully repaired by a skilful 

 formatore, Mr. Worthington G. Smith undertook 

 to restore the natural colours, and to remount the 

 models. By his deft manipulation the models 

 have become once more faithful representations of 

 the living plants." 



On the strength of that statement, we recently 

 paid a visit to South Kensington, but regret that 

 our anticipations were by no means borne out by 

 what we saw. The models have been mended and 

 re-coloured it is true, and they may be "more 

 faithful representations of the living plants" than 

 hitherto, but we think, for the credit of the 

 Museum, they should be carefully put away into 

 some cupboard inaccessible to the public. In the 

 majority of cases the " models " are not good in 

 form, some — especially among those in the small 

 case under the window — are really bad ; and but for 

 Mr. Carruthers' certificate we should have hesitated 

 in attributing the colouration to Mr. Smith. Take, 

 for examples, the " models " of Boletus edulis and 



5 scabet . which are each in duplicate. In the case 

 under the window there is an entire absence of the 

 distinctive stem markings, and in the cupboard- 

 cases these are very inadequately rendered by the 

 splashing of white and black respectively. In 

 some the colouring seems to have been put on in 

 much the same fashion as is adopted in painting 

 cheap wooden toys. Sometimes — as in the effigy 

 of Agarkus rubescens — where the pileus is flecked in 

 the original with raised scales, the surface is 

 smooth but the scales are ineffectual! 5- represented 

 by specks of lighter colour. Xylaria : morplta, a 

 club-shaped, woody fungus with a dead-black 

 exterior and rounded top, is represented with a 

 pointed top and a highly-polished surface sugges- 

 tive of Brunswick-black or Japan. We would 

 rather have a copy of the capital fourpenny 

 " Guide" than the whole collection of effigies in 

 pipeclay. 



There is, however, in the same gallery a repre- 

 sentation of some hundreds of Agarics that is of 

 verv great value to the student seeking a knowledge 

 of the forms and colours of our native species, and 

 that reflects the highest credit upon the Museum 

 authorities and the artist. We refer to the careful 

 water-colour sketches by Mr. Worthington Smith, 

 which are glazed and swung from a pillar- stand in the 

 middle of the floor. With these it is possible — in 

 most cases easy — for the student to identify the 

 specimens he has come across in the woods and 

 fields. There is truth in even- line, and in very 

 few cases indeed can one find fault with the 

 colouration. But these sketches are a standing 

 protest against their untruthful neighbours, the 

 effigies. Possibly, Mr. Carruthers has had them so 

 placed as a kind of antidote to the libels in pipe- 

 clav known as Sowerbv's Models. 



