SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



243 



Polje, through which the Narenta runs. As we 

 went down the sides of the hill I took Poecilimon 

 elegans Br. and immature Pachytrachelus striolatus 

 Fieb., and further down we heard the first large 

 Cicada chirping. At the bottom Lycaena icarus, 

 Satyrus briseis and Pieris ergane were numerous. 

 We walked on to a village called Vojno, where we 

 waited for a train to run us into Mostar. As we 

 waited, Mr. Witty and myself had a glorious dip 

 in the Narenta, and we found the clear and swift- 

 running stream put new life into us after the 

 tiring walk of the day. The train brought us into 

 Mostar about seven o'clock in the evening. 



Early next morning Mr. Witty left us for home, 

 and so Mrs. Nicholl and I made an excursion 

 to Blagaj to collect. This is a small village 

 situated at the foot of a hill called Velez, practically 

 surrounded by mountains, all stony and grey. 

 The heat was oppressive, as the glare reflected 

 from the rocky hillsides, and reflection made the 

 natural heat of the district something like tropical. 

 Among some pomegranate bushes there were 

 numbers of Phaneroptera quadn punctata Br. and 

 Macronemurus appendiculahts Latr. Further on we 

 found insect life most abundant. Collecting was 

 extremely difficult owing to the thorns. I have 

 never seen such a prickly place, the vegetation 

 consisting chiefly of tough pomegranates, which 

 tear one's clothes and nets to shreds. In Orthop- 

 tera I took Truxalis nasuta L., Acridium aegyptium L. 

 (larva), Platycleis tnodesta, P. septum Yers, Decticus 

 albifrons Fabr., Oedaleus nigrofasciatus De Geer., 

 P achy tracheitis striolatus Fieb. and Gryllomorpha 

 dalmatinus, in addition to the usual species, such 

 as Stenobothrus nigromaculatus, S. dorsatvs and others. 

 In Lepidoptera we captured Melanargia larissa 

 Pieris ergane, Melitaea didyma, Leucophasia sin apis 

 Satynts statilinvs and 5. dryas. In Neuroptera I 

 took the great ant-lion Palpares libelluloides L., 

 and among dragonflies Ortheirum cancellation L., 

 Sympetmm sanguineum and Anax formosus. The 

 natives were very interested in watching us, but 

 could not understand our object in catching grass- 

 hoppers. The Serbian name for grasshopper 

 is apparently onomatopoeic, being " skakavats," 

 while cricket is " tsvrchak." Decticus albifrons was 

 numerous in a Turkish churchyard. It stridulated 

 loudly in the middle of a thorn bush, and the only 

 way to get it out was to fire the bush, which was 

 dangerous, as the grass was altogether dried up 

 and withered. However, by this means we took 

 some, and succeeded in keeping the fire within our 

 control. On the hill Velez, above Blagaj, is a 

 ruined castle. It was originally the stronghold 

 of Stepan Grad, one of the last of the heretic 

 Bogomiles to hold out against the Turk, but was 

 subdued in the year 1483. 



On August 5th, in the hope of catching some 

 aquatic insects, I walked to the swampy Mostarsko 



Blato and the Lake of Mostar. Here I took a single 

 Gerris, but no other aquatic insects. Frogs were 

 extremely numerous, and I saw many dragonflies 

 that I was unable to take, also Pachytylus sp. that 

 were too active for me. Among the thorny bushes 

 at the foot of the hills the huge hymenopteron 

 Scolia quadrimaculata was extremely numerous, and 

 Decticus albifrons was chirping all along the hedge. 

 No other Orthoptera were observed except the 

 common Oedipoda caerulescens and 0. miniata. I 

 walked back in the evening through the village of 

 Radobolje, putting up on the way a brace and a- 

 half of partridges from among the rocks, and left 

 Mostar the following morning for Dalmatia. 

 (To be continued.) 



EDWIN DUNKIN, F.R.S. 



A \ 7E regret to note the death of Edwin Dunkin, 

 the third son of William Dunkin, of "The 

 Nautical Almanac" office. He was born at Truro, 

 August 19th, 1821. His education was conducted 

 partly in England and partly in France. In 1838, at 

 the age of seventeen, he entered Greenwich Obser- 

 vatory, three years after Airy became Astronomer 

 Royal, as a computer, engaged in the systematic 

 reduction of the lunar observations since the time 

 of Bradley. After helping in its formation, he 

 became assistant in the Magnetic and Meteoro- 

 logical Department. He was later transferred as 

 assistant in the Astronomical Department. Mr. 

 Dunkin was sent to Christiana, in Norway, to 

 observe the total solar eclipse of July 28th, 1851. 

 He had charge of the expeditions to determine the 

 longitude of Brussels, in 1853 ; Paris, in 1854; and 

 Valentia, in Ireland, in 1862. In the autumn of 

 1854 he had sole charge of the pendulum experi- 

 ments arranged by the Astronomer Royal, at a 

 depth of 1,260 feet, in the Harton coal mine, near 

 South Shields, to determine the mean density of 

 the earth. At this depth the force of gravity was 

 found to be increased TT nHnj- In l8 45 ^ r - Dunkin 

 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society, and served as its Hon. Secretary from 

 1871 to 1877, and was its President from 1884 to 

 1886. He contributed numerous papers to its 

 " Transactions," besides the obituary notices of 

 many of its Fellows, including that of Sir John 

 Herschel. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal 

 Society in 1876, and from 1879 to 1881 was a 

 member of its Council. In 1889 he was elected 

 President of the Royal Institution of Cornwall. 

 On the resignation of Sir George B. Airy from the 

 post of Astronomer Royal, in 1881, Mr. Dunkin 

 became Chief Assistant at Greenwich Observatory,, 

 where he remained until 1884. Amongst his 

 published works none is better known than " The 

 Midnight Sky," which gives pictures of the 

 heavens for all times of the year. He passed 

 away, after a few months' illness, at Blackheath, 

 on November 26th, leaving a widow and one son. 



