158 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



with three, four, five and six wedges in the section. 

 The dimensions of this fossil plant seem also to be 

 another peculiarity which is striking in a plant of 

 exogenous growth. A full-grown plant scarcely 

 exceeds one-eighth of an inch in diameter, and the 

 section I have photographed to illustrate these 

 notes does not measure more than one-sixteenth of 

 an inch in diameter, and yet it is only one among 

 a great many other strange and little-known plants 

 that we meet with in the particular seam of coal 

 referred to above, but which I may attempt to 

 describe at some future time. 



120, Rochdale Road, Shaw, near Oldham. 



Indian Tortoise Beetle. — The accompanying 

 photograph of the Indian tortoise beetle was taken 

 with camera and half-plate wide-angle lens. Can 

 any of your readers give some information about 

 this beetle ? I made enquiries about it at the 

 Natural History Museum, South Kensington, but 

 could not get any information with regard to its 

 habits, etc. — Edward Barnes (late Captain 2jth 

 Inniskillings) Edgeworlh House, Clewer, Windsor; 

 July 18th, 1894. 



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The first edition of " The Junior Photographer," 

 a magazine recently published by Messrs. Percy 

 Lund and Company, was exhausted immediately 

 after publication, and a second edition has since 

 been printed. This firm have several interesting 

 books in the press, among which may be mentioned 

 a manual on half-tone engraving, and an elegant 

 brochure entitled " Snap Shot Photography, or the 

 Pleasures of Hand Camera Work," by the well- 

 known amateur, Mr. Martin J. Harding, who will 

 illustrate the book with reproductions from his 

 own photographs. 



Unusual Nesting of Redstart. — I recently 

 found a redstart's nest containing seven eggs, which 

 had been built on a bare field, but concealed from 

 view by being placed in a hole formed by two 

 large clods of earth falling against each other 

 when the field was ploughed. I think this is a very 

 unusual situation for a redstart to select, and worth 

 recording. It seems strange that these birds 

 should have chosen such a position, as there were 

 plenty of more suitable nesting-places quite near. — 

 Edward Ransom, Sudbury, Suffolk ; July 2jth, 1894. 



Demoiselle Dragon-flies in Ireland. — Mr. 

 W. H. Nunney, in his article on dragon-fly larvae in 

 Science-Gossip, speaks of Agrion virgo (p. 130) as 

 "scarce in Ireland." Doubtless Mr. Nunney has 

 authority for the statement, but it must be based on 

 very local information. The insect is common in 

 all suitable localities known to me, though it may 

 very well be reported as scarce from districts where 

 woods are wanting, and rivers not shaded by trees, 

 in accordance with its tastes. By our Wexford 

 rivers, the Urrin, the Boro, and many minor 

 brooks, Agrion virgo is a conspicuous ornament 

 during summer. The allied A. splendens, in some 

 parts of this country common enough, I believe, is 

 here extremely scarce with us. I had never seen a 

 specimen of it until the summer of 1889, nor have 

 I seen one since. It is therefore worth mentioning 

 that on July 1st, 1889, I came on this insect in 

 profusion in the valley of the Urrin, whose banks 

 were enlivened during the whole of the July of that 

 year with swarms of demoiselle dragon-flies of 

 both the allied species. I have seen it stated that 

 they are rarely found together, and I note 

 Mr. Nunney's observation that the larva? are never 

 taken in the same stream. From whatever cause, 

 the 1889 swarm of Agrion splendens left no progeny 

 to brighten succeeding summers in this locality. 

 Its sudden appearance during that season is difficult 

 to explain. — C. B. Moffat, Ballyhyland, Enniscorthy ; 

 August, 1894. 



White Vipers. — In 1892 I captured a particu- 

 larly fine adder in Epping Forest, and noticing it 

 appeared sluggish, I did not bottle it for five or six 

 days, hoping the reptile would cast its skin, an 

 event which duly occurred as I expected. This 

 adder immediately after sloughing presented exactly 

 the appearance your correspondent describes ; the 

 black markings were conspicuously dark against a 

 dirty white or more properly cream-coloured 

 ground colour. The belly, however, is of a dark 

 slaty-blue colour. This reptile, which I have now in 

 fine preservation in spirits, has not changed colour 

 in the least since it was bottled, for I make a point 

 of keeping all specimens so preserved in a dark 

 cupboard, only exposing to the light now and then 

 during the examination. There has been no 

 bleaching therefore, which would affect the darker 

 markings first. Is it possible that the so-called 

 " white vipers " are simply light-coloured specimens 

 that have freshly cast their skins ? I have noticed 

 where the soil is light and sandy, these reptiles 



