SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



213 





Hermaphrodite form of Gonopteryx Rhamni. 

 ■ — I was fortunate enough to capture an almost 

 perfect hermaphrodite specimen of Gonopteryx 

 rhamni, at Salisbury, on September 2nd. The 

 wings on the left side have the male colouration, 

 and those on the right the female. My attention 

 was called to the insect by a friend with whom I 

 was walking, who watched it for me whilst I ran 

 into the house for my net. — Alfred G. Scorer, Upper 

 Hamilton Terrace, N.W. 



Scarcity of Butterflies. — The scarcity of 

 butterflies in Sussex appears to have been more 

 marked even than in Suffolk. I am inclined to 

 attribute this scarcity, as Mr. Ransom does, more 

 to the bad weather we have experienced this 

 summer than to the heat of last year. The 

 absence of "whites" has been most noticeable, 

 especially Pieris brassica and P. napi, whilst even 

 P. rapes has not been found in any abundance. I 

 did not find Hipparchia janira nearly so abundant 

 as usual, but H. tit homes was in great profusion, 

 and seemed in a measure to take its place. Another 

 very noticeable case was the rarity of Polyommatus 

 alexis. This is usually so exceedingly common all 

 over the South Downs, that the paucity of the 

 specimens this year was very marked. Thymele 

 alveolus and Thaumus tages were fairly plentiful in 

 May, but I saw none of the second brood in 

 localities where they are usually abundant. I 

 found Argynnis euphrosyne as abundant as usual, but 

 saw fewer specimens of A. aglaia than usual on 

 the Brighton Downs. To make up for these, 

 Polyommatus corydon and P. adonis were in the 

 greatest profusion on them. I only noted one 

 specimen of P. agestis among our captures. 

 Chrysophanus phlaas was fairly plentiful. The 

 Vanessidae seemed fairly abundant, though Vanessa 

 urtiea was certainly not so common as sometimes. 

 V. atalanta was of frequent occurrence at the end of 

 the season, and we procured some good specimens 

 of Vanessa cardui, which is very uncertain in its 

 appearance here, though sometimes tolerably 

 abundant in the latter part of the season. In the 

 neighbourhood of Horsham, I caught two 

 specimens of Vanessa polychloros, and saw several 

 others. They were mostly flying high among oak 

 trees, on which they frequently settled. Not far 

 from Brighton I saw nearly a dozen specimens of 

 Colias edusa one morning ; of those I caught one 

 only was a female. I have not seen any specimens 

 of this butterfly in this locality since 1892, when 

 they were so abundant everywhere. Altogether, 

 in Sussex, the scarcity seems to have especially 

 affected only the very common species. It would 

 be interesting to hear how the northern counties 

 have been affected by it. — Catherine A. Winckworth, 

 11, Old Steine, Brighton, Sussex; October, 1894. 



White Vipers. — Since writing my last note on 

 white varieties of Pelias bents, I have, through the 

 kindness of Mr. J. M. Campbell, of Kelvi'ngrove 

 Museum, had an opportunity of comparing one of 

 those described by Mr. J. T. Pym, with my own 

 specimen of a freshly-sloughed adder, and find they 



are identical in every respect as to arrangement of 

 markings, whilst my specimen is of a lighter colour 

 than Mr. J'ym's. It is quite true these vipers 

 might be taken by persons who had only seen the 

 normal coloured ones, as " white varities," but it 

 never struck me that they would be so taken, as I 

 have seen almost every tone of colour from these 

 " white " specimens, up to nearly black all over. 

 Mr. Pym kindly forwarded an immature specimen 

 of P. bents of a brick-red colour ; this colour is most 

 marked on the underside, but appears to extend 

 over the whole surface of the body, and even the 

 eyes seem to have been of this colour, instead of 

 black, with the usual vertical red slit. I have 

 never seen specimens of this colour before, and 

 cannot think it is an immature form of colouration, 

 as Mr. Campbell informs me he has killed a full- 

 grown female of this brick-red colour, and I have 

 seen many young vipers from six to ten inches long 

 of the ordinary brownish colour. My conclusion 

 therefore is, that whilst Mr. Pym's white variety is 

 simply a freshly-sloughed viper, his brick-red 

 specimen is a well-marked variety deserving a 

 distinguishing name of its own in scientific nomen- 

 clature. — F. W . Halfpenny, Forest Gate. 



The Sparrow-Hawk. — The interesting paper by 

 Mr. H. F. Witherby (ante page 127), on the 

 sparrow-hawk, induces me to send a note on the 

 same birds. I am favoured every year by a pair of 

 them, and a pair of kestrels, nesting in my trees, 

 and I never molest them. There are numbers of 

 trees up to seventy feet high scattered over my 

 forty acres ; they are oak, beech, ash, sycamore, 

 plane, larch, and Scotch fir, in several of which 

 the hawks have often nested at fifty feet from the 

 ground. But this year a pair of sparrow-hawks 

 built their nest in an unusual situation. They 

 selected a small spruce-fir, only eighty yards from 

 my hall door, one of the smallest trees in the grove, 

 about thirty-five feet high, and with a stem still 

 furnished nearly to the base with partially dead 

 branches, and at exactly twenty-two feet from the 

 ground the nest was built and the brood hatched. 

 I had noticed the nest frequently, but never happened 

 to see the birds near it, and I thought it was that a 

 wood-pigeon had been thinking of building, and had 

 abandoned the site in consequence of its nearness to 

 the ground and being without any concealment. 

 My man was constantly passing it, and observing 

 some marks about it one day, he thought he 

 would get what he was sure were pigeons. 

 He easily climbed the tree, and to his astonish- 

 ment, found four full-grown sparrow-hawks, which 

 flew out, but were caught and brought to me. 

 They were fed for a few days in a hen coop 

 of wire netting, where the old birds also visited 

 them, and then we released them. Thev and 

 the old birds haunted my grounds for six weeks, 

 and, between them and a brood of kestrels, I 

 was well repaid in the diminution that was effected 

 amongst the blackbirds in my fruit garden ; and 

 not a chicken or duckling — of which we had 

 several families running about — was touched by 

 them. One other circumstance is worth mentioning 

 about these young sparrow-hawks. A lady of my 

 family who had paid much attention to them 

 during their short captivity, was recognized by 

 them for some time after their release, and when- 

 ever she approached where they happened to be 

 for the purpose of laying down bits of food for 

 them, they flew about and screamed to her just as 

 they did to their parents, but any other person was 

 received in silence. — Rev. H. W. Lett, Loughbrichland, 

 co. Doivn. 



