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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Natural History Exhibition. — The City of 

 London Entomological and Natural History Society 

 hold an exhibition of subjects within the scope of 

 the Society, on Tuesday, February 5th, at the 

 London Institution, Finsbury Circus. The ad- 

 mission is free by ticket, to be obtained from 

 Mr. C. Nicholson, 202, Evering Road, N. ; or Mr. 

 J. A. Clarke, The Broadway, London Fields, N.E. 



Late Appearance of Peacock Butterfly. — 

 I saw a fine specimen of the peacock butterfly 

 (Vanessa io) on the wing, when shooting at Billing- 

 boro', in Lincolnshire, on Saturday, November 17th. 

 Although I did not capture it, I had abundant 

 opportunity for examination, as it fluttered round 

 some old willow stumps, evidently seeking a winter 

 residence for hibernation. The insect was in 

 splendid condition, and the specimen would not 

 have disgraced any cabinet, notwithstanding the 

 late time of year. — Herbert A . Hole, Harbury, Harcourt 

 Road, Neivark-on-Trent ; November 28th, 1894. 



Names Wanted. — Will some reader of Science- 

 Gossip kindly furnish me with scientific names of 

 undermentioned, viz. : 1. The so-called "soldier 

 beetle." 2. The active black spider which abounds 

 in the gardens and cultivated fields during the 

 summer months, and which may be seen darting 

 about over clods of dirt, carrying its greenish-blue 

 bag of eggs. 3. The two dipterous flies which ap- 

 pear in such myriads in the first warm days of 

 spring, one a very hairy, sooty-black fly, about 

 three-quarters of an inch long ; the other smaller, 

 but with a smooth yellowbody. — Edward]. Robertson, 

 Woodville, Greenhouse Lane, Painstvick, Gloucester. 



New Micro-Studies. — We have received from 

 Mr. James Hornel, Director of the Jersey Biologi- 

 cal Station, specimens of the subscription series of 

 micro-studies, which, for their beauty, are worthy 

 of a place in any cabinet ; but to the biological 

 student they will have a much greater value, on 

 account of their being such carefully selected and 

 skilfully prepared type specimens. The two 

 botanical sections are exquisite examples of section 

 cutting and double staining. There are four 

 marine subjects which are fully equal to the best 

 studies issued from the Jersey laboratory, one 

 being a particularly successful mount of Obelia 

 geniculata with the polypes extended. 



Egg with Three Yolks. — A white Leghorn 

 hen laid an egg on November 23rd, which weighed 

 5§ oz., length 3J inches, width 2^ inches ; this is 

 probably not so abnormal to be much noticed, 

 except as coming from a small breed of fowls. 

 There were in it three yolks, and I can hear of no 

 such other instance. May I ask you if you ever 

 knew of two chickens being hatched from a 

 double-yolk egg? I know a large poultry fancier 

 who has for years set all double-yolk eggs and has 

 never succeeded in getting two chickens. A few 

 days ago a gentleman told me he once set five 

 duck-winged game eggs under a buff Cochin hen 

 in a locked-up place, and had six chickens.— Henry 

 Ward, 12, Norham Gardens, Oxford; Dec. 13th, 1894. 



Preserving Fungi. — Could any of your readers 

 tell me, through the columns of Science-Gossip, the 

 best way to preserve fungi ? — B. Jackson, Newbury. 



Ginger-beer Plant. — Can any of your readers 

 inform me anything about the so-called ginger- 

 beer plant, and where I could obtain a specimen ? — 

 Clement Fielding, Halifax ; November, 1894. 



Pond Life. — Can anyone recommend me a good 

 and fairly cheap book (illustrated preferred) on 

 Pond Life ? I want one, if possible, in the same 

 style as Slack's " Marvels of Pond Life," but more 

 comprehensive, and not so brief as Cooke's 

 "Thousand Objects for the Microscope," with 

 regard to the descriptions. In short, what I want 

 is a sort of combination of the two. — C. Nicholson, 

 Clapton, London, N.E. 



Protection of Wild Birds. — Some little time 

 since, the Home Secretary, by letter, called the 

 attention of certain County Councils to the new 

 Act of 1894 (57 and 58 Vict. cap. 24) which throws 

 upon the County Councils the responsibility of 

 putting the law into force. It is, however, optional 

 on the part of the County Council whether the 

 Act shall apply in the county, or any part of it 

 under its jurisdiction. This Act makes it penal to 

 take the nests and eggs of ordinary wild birds, or 

 to incite others to do so, the fine not exceeding one 

 pound for every egg taken or destroyed. The 

 Council, on adopting the Act for any district, is 

 bound to give three weeks' notice by advertisement 

 and public announcement before conviction can 

 take place. 



The Weather and Butterfly Life. — A 

 butterfly vivarium I kept out in the open air in the 

 late cold and wet season, which should have been 

 summer by the almanac, has enabled me to make 

 some interesting observations upon the effect of the 

 weather on butterfly and moth life. Papilio sinon 

 and P. machaon seemed on the whole indifferent 

 to the low temperature and damp atmosphere, but 

 a violent thunderstorm we had on the 10th of 

 August killed them off wholesale. In the case of 

 P. machaon, the cold weather retarded the emerg- 

 ence of many of the imagos from the pupa state, 

 and some, even, did not come out till late in August, 

 and I have two living pupae now from which the 

 butterflies have not come out yet (December 12th). 

 They will certainly remain in the chrysalis state 

 until next summer. Aporia cratagi emerged at 

 about its usual time, but the butterflies seemed 

 susceptible of cold and all died off when the tem- 

 perature fell ; thus disappointing my hopes of 

 obtaining ova from the females. A batch of pupae 

 of Melitaa aurinia were so retarded by the chilly 

 weather that the butterflies never came out at all. 

 I am rather surprised at this, as the variety merope 

 occurs in Switzerland very near to the snow line. 

 Excepting that they were perhaps more sluggish 

 than usual the common English butterflies were 

 not much affected by the low temperature. My 

 specimens of Vanessa urtica, which emerged in the 

 autumn, were rather backward in emerging and 

 were somewhat dwarfed. I think if entomologists 

 knew the pleasure to be derived from an insect 

 vivarium there would be more keep one. Lepi- 

 dopterists who have learned all there is to know 

 about the dead and pinned-out specimens of British 

 butterflies will find a new field of research open to 

 them in observing the habits of living ones, about 

 which there is still much to investigate. — Albert H. 

 Waters, B. A., Devonshire Road, Cambridge; December 

 12th, 1894. 



