n8 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Notes % 



Toad Disgorging. — Can you, or any of your 

 readers, tell me how to induce a toad to disgorge 

 the contents of its stomach, without injury to 

 itself? — G. M. Levick, 5, St. Paul's Studios, West 

 Kensington. 



Mr. Punch's Natural History. — Mr. Punch 

 (June 16th, 1894), has a cartoon with the following 

 inscription : Bob (who's alimentative) — "What's the 

 gun for?" Jack (who's asthetic) — "To shoot the 

 sparrows, confound them ! " Bob — "Why ? Sparrows 

 eat the caterpillars off your gooseberry bushes, and 

 save your gooseberries ; and gooseberries turn into 

 gooseberry tart, and gooseberry tart's very good to 

 eat!" Jack — "I don't care a fig for gooseberry 

 tart ; and caterpillars turn into butterflies, and 

 butterflies are very nice to look at. So I like my 

 caterpillars to have a good time ! ' ' Shame on you, 

 Mr. Punch .' Did you ever know a sparrow which 

 ate a caterpillar off a gooseberry bush, or a cater- 

 pillar of a butterfly, which fed upon gooseberries or 

 their leaves ? 



Abundance of Clausilias. — On Bank Holiday, 

 August, 1893, we found what I take to be almost a 

 record find of Clausilias. Mr. Harry Sticks and I 

 spent this holiday at Stocksfield-on-Tyne, and 

 during the whole of the day had wretched luck. 

 At night, just when we were hurrying to the train, 

 upon the bend of a wall overhung with trees, we 

 came upon Pupa ringens, Clausilia laminata and 

 C. vugosa in hundreds ; the proportion of ringens to 

 laminata was quite four to one. All the specimens 

 of C. rugosa appeared to be fully matured, but 

 among the C. laminata were large numbers of half- 

 grown individuals. I should like to know if this is 

 not a very unusual occurrence. — Harry S. Wallace, 

 Art Gallery, Newcastle-on-Tyne. 



"The Clausilias usually occur abundantly where 

 they are found, but remain hidden during the day 

 at the roots of trees. In the evening they become 

 active and ascend the tree-trunks, and on moist 

 warm nights they are exceptionally abundant. — 

 Eds. s.-g: 



Flies Preying upon Gnats. — Standing over a 

 small pond in Epping Forest on Sunday last, the 

 3rd June, I noticed a number of very black-looking 

 flies swiftly flying close to the surface of the water. 

 Every now and again one of these flies would dart 

 suddenly down upon some object, and then began 

 a terrific struggle ; the fly whirled round and round, 

 and jerked to right and left some inches on the 

 surface, and occasionally another would come to its 

 assistance and join in the conflict. When the flies 

 resumed their flight after a battle of about a 

 minute's duration, I observed what appeared to be 

 the lifeless body of a gnat floating away. Am I 

 right in assuming that these flies are the natural 

 enemies of the gnats, and destroy them when they 

 appear on the surface to undergo the change from 

 pupa to imago ? I witnessed several encounters in 

 the space of a few minutes. Can any of your 

 readers enlighten me in this matter ?— Sidney J. 

 Tindall, Woodford. 



Midland Railway Natural History Society. — 

 The second monthly meeting of this newly 

 established society was held at Derby on June 4th, 

 Mr. T. Hey, President, in the chair. After the 

 ordinary business of the meeting, Mr. F. W. G. 

 Payne exhibited numerous entomological specimens. 

 The president showed Carychium minimum. Helix 

 hispida, H. concinna, H. pulchella, Pupa umbilicata, 

 Cochlicopa lubrica, Zonites fulvus, Z . nitidus, and 

 several Lepidoptera and Diptera. 



Wolverhampton Naturalists' Field Club. — 

 On Saturday afternoon, June 2nd, the members 

 made their second excursion, the place selected 

 being Sutton Park, near Birmingham, a happy 

 hunting ground for the botanist, where there are 

 to be found half the genera, and two-thirds of the 

 natural orders of the flowering plants of Great 

 Britain. The Secretary read a Paper on "The 

 History of Sutton Coldfield," and Mr. W. Stevens 

 one on "Entomology." — Jno. Darby, Secretary. 



Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society. 

 — A meeting was held at the Museum, Norwich, on 

 29th May, 1894, Mr. T. Southwell, F.Z.S., in the 

 chair. Mr. Patterson read some notes for April 

 and May, in which he mentioned the capture, by 

 rod and line, of young pollacks, at Yarmouth. 

 These pretty fish do not occur every year, but, 

 perhaps, once in three or four years. For the first 

 time on record, the bergylt, or Norway haddock, 

 was caught off the Norfolk coast on 29th April. It 

 appears to be an inhabitant of the Arctic seas, 

 extending its range a little more to the south. 

 Mr. Patterson thinks the dogfish is not so common 

 in our seas as formerly. On 23rd May six common 

 sandpipers were seen flying in a flock on the Bure. 

 The President (Dr. Plowright) sent a note, with 

 photographs, illustrating the May-day customs at 

 King's Lynn. These, he thinks, are survivals from 

 pagan times, having a much deeper significance 

 than is generally supposed. An interesting dis- 

 cussion on the subject followed. The President also 

 sent a short account of a solar halo observed at Lynn 

 on Friday, 25th May. It was first noticed at 1 1 

 a.m., and remained distinctly visible till five p.m. 



North Staffordshire Naturalists' Field 

 Club. — The second excursion of the season took 

 place on the 19th of May, when forty-two members, 

 under the leadership of Mr. Wells Bladen, visited 

 Burton-on-Trent. The party proceeded to Trent 

 House, the residence of Dr. Mason, when they 

 were joined by about twenty members of the 

 Burton Field Club, with Mr. Jas. G. Wells as 

 leader. Dr. Mason received them, and they were 

 conducted to his museum, where an hour was but 

 too short a time to get even a glimpse of his 

 treasures. The extent of Dr. Mason's collections 

 include British mammals, birds, birds' eggs, 

 reptiles, mollusca, insects, Rye's collection of 

 Coleoptera, F. Smith's Aculeate Hymenoptera. 

 J. Scott's Hemiptera, Crustacea, Echinodermata, 

 Polyzoa (recent and fossil), Hydrozoa f recent and 

 fossil), Phanerogamia, Filices, Musci, Hepaticae, 



