SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



307 



Pike and Perch Living in Harmony. — It 



may be interesting to note that for a period of 

 over twelve montlis I had two — one of each, of 

 these fish living in perfect harmony together in a 

 glass globe containing only about four gallons of 

 water. They both, however, unfortunately died 

 during the hot weather of last summer. The 

 master fish, to my surprise, was the perch, although 

 it was smaller than its companion. It is possible 

 some fellow-naturalist may have had a similar 

 experience, and would state the circumstances, as 

 many naturalists have written doubting it being- 

 possible to keep other species of fish for any length 

 of time with a pike. — C. M. Hall, 33 Goring Road, 

 .Bowes Parli, London, N. 



T.^DPOLE OP Nbavt.— On December 1st, 1900, I 

 caught a newt tadpole in a pond, in which both 

 the common newt and the palmated newt are to 

 be found. The tadpole was about an inch long, 

 dark grey in colour, with rosy tint on part of the 

 abdomen. The legs w^ere well developed, there 

 were good-sized external gills, and the tail was 

 large in proportion to the rest of the body. I kept 

 it in a jar of water containing some decaying grass 

 and swarming with Paramuecia and Vorticellae, 

 where it lived for about five months without grow- 

 ing much bigger or any further developing. I 

 never saw it eating the scraps of meat which were 

 occasionally thrown into its jar. On two separate 

 occasions I found it floating on the surface of the 

 water, back downwards, with its abdomen much 

 inflated with air^ It remained in this condition 

 for several days. — Edward S. Russell, 3 Ociavia 

 Street, Port Glasgow, N.B. 



Eare Diptera.— Whilst collecting at Plymouth 

 last summer I had the good luck to take four 

 specimens of a rare Muscid, Idia limata F. {fasoiata 

 Mg.), a species bearing a general resemblance at 

 first sight to the common Musca corvina F. Three 

 were males, taken on August 20th and Septem- 

 ber 11th at Oreston, on ragwort, and on Septem- 

 ber 30th at Plymstock, where I also took a $ ; the 

 latter on elder. This is the first time I have ever 

 met with the species, which appears also to be rare 

 on the Continent. Another welcome addition to 

 my captures w^as Chrysonotus hipimctatm Scop., 

 a rather rare, and certainly our most beautiful 

 Stratiomyid. Four niales were taken from Septem- 

 ber 2nd to September 11th, and one ? on Septem- 

 ber 8th, all on willow at Plymstock except one (a $ ), 

 on ragwort, at Oreston. I have also received a ? 

 (undated), taken at Azuga, in the Valachian 

 Carpathians, in which the basal yellow of the 

 abdomen is almost absent. The districts of Plym- 

 stock and Oreston are the nearest country places 

 to Plymouth, and immediately adjoin the town. 

 During my stay there, from August 1st to the end 

 of November, I found Empidfe, Dolichopidae, and 

 the Acalypterata strikingly absent. Syrphidae, 

 Tachinidae, true Muscinae, and Anthomyidae were 

 the best represented groups, especially the sub- 



family Muscinae, of which I took no less that 20 

 species out of the total of 31 recorded as certainly 

 British in the new edition of Mr. Kerrall's 

 admirable list. In all I took just over 200 species 

 of Diptera. Amongst other orders I found Hy- 

 menoptera rather plentiful, especially Bombi. 

 Coleoptera less so, but perhaps this was due to my 

 doing no ground-searching work. I might add 

 that during the whole period the weather was, 

 generally speaking, unfavourable. — E. Brunetti, 

 Braxton, Jannai'y 1902. 



A Naturalist's Lamp. — We have had sub- 

 mitted to us by the British Mutoscope and 

 Biograph Company, Limited, a small electrical 

 lamp which would admirably suit the require- 

 ments of entomologists or other naturalists for 

 night work. The size is 4 in. x 4| in. x 4^ in. 

 It gives, we understand, a powerful light for about 



A Natur.\ust's Electric Lamp. 



twelve hours, if consecutively burning, with one 

 charge. The case is neatly fitted in walnut, and 

 in best quality costs one guinea. The lamp may 

 also be used for a bicycle or carriage. The same 

 Company have various other types that are much 

 less expensive. The firm will supply a copy of 

 their illustrated catalogue on application to 

 18 and 19 Great Windmill Street, London, W. We 

 ■give a drawing illustrating the lamp. 



Lunar Kainbow. — On the evening of Feb- 

 ruary 22nd my brother called our attention at 

 about 8.55 o'clock to a brilliant lunar rainbow, 

 which, when first seen by him a few minutes 

 earlier, showed bright prismatic colours. Although 

 only a short interval elapsed in calling us, much 

 of its beauty had faded, but enough remained to 

 show the prismatic tints. Soon afterwards the 

 moon was obscured by clouds, and it disappeared. 

 From our house the phenomenon was to the north- 

 west over the sea. This is our first observation 

 of a rainbow of this type, and consequently gave 

 us much pleasure. — C. A. Briggs, Rocli House, 

 Lynmouth, North Devon. 



Phenology. — Mr. E. Mawley, F.R.H.S., recently 

 submitted his annual report on the Phenological 

 Observations for the year 1901 to the Royal 

 Meteorological Society. He showed that as affect- 

 ing vegetation the weather was chiefly remarkable 

 for the scanty rainfall during the growing period 

 of the year. The deficiency was not confined to 

 any part of the British Isles, but was more keenly 

 felt in the English counties than in either Scotland 

 or Ireland. Wild plants came into flower very 

 late, but not quite so much so as in the previous 

 phenological year, which was an exceptionally 

 backward one. 



