66 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Maech 1, 1865. 



ENTOMOLOGY. 



Insects Eeeding on Eerns. — H. M., in a paper 

 on "The Preservative Power of Eerns," which 

 appeared in the Eebruary number of Science- 

 Gossip, says, " I cannot now recall to my recollec- 

 tion ever having seen the larvse of any lepidopterous 

 insect feeding upon the fronds of our common ferns, 

 nor do I remember having noticed insects of any 

 orders resting upon them, unless it were for shelter 

 during rain." I beg to in{'orm_ the said writer, and 

 any who may feel an interest in the subject, that, 

 having a small garden in the heart of Cheltenham, 

 I have planted ferns along one sheltered and shady 

 side of it, and for the last two summers the larvse 

 of the great tiger-moth {Arctia caja) has been a 

 perfect pest. When I first observed my bunches of 

 lady-fern {AtJiyrimn filix fiemlna) had been attacked 

 by an insect, I examined each closely without de- 

 tecting the intruder. I then gave the plants a 

 shake, and two or three of the little hairy cater- 

 pillars fell to the ground. Having for niany years 

 reared the various species, lepidoptera, diurnal and 

 nocturnal, I was pretty sure 1 knew this_ furry little 

 gentleman ; but accustomed to prove things for the 

 satisfaction of others, as well as myself, I put two 

 of them in a box, covering it with^ green gauze, 

 and giving it a supply of food, not of my Athyrium 

 though, but of the common plantain (P. major), 

 where I regularly fed it till its change came, and 

 when from its pupa sleep it evolved into the imago. 

 Pehold, I was right, Arctia caja displayed its 

 gorgeous wings. But in the meantime, what of my 

 ferns ? A few days after having caught the first 

 spoilers, 1 went to look at my ferns again, and to 

 my consternation the Athyriums, which had been 

 looking lovely only a week before, were completely 

 eaten bare to the midrib, or rachis and secondary 

 rachids, scarcely a bit of the soft part of the fronds 

 remained, and on the little that was left, the " woolly 

 bears " were sedulously at work. I then observed 

 some fine specimens of ///.r-H2ccs had been attacked 

 and half demobshed, also some of the other Last reus, 

 especially L. (smula and dilatata, the latter the last 

 to be attacked. They also attacked my royal ferns 

 {Osnmnda regalis), and had entirely destroyed one 

 or two fronds before I observed their depradations 

 in that quarter. Morning by morning myself and 

 a servant used to go out, and take from 25 to 30 

 sometimes off one plant, which, unwilling as I am 

 to destroy life, I was obliged to suffer to be crushed, 

 their numbers were so nrodigious. "HHiat I have 

 above related took place last summer, and the 

 summer before the last, namely, in 1864 and in 1863. 

 When the Athyrhm., the Lastreas, and Osmunda fail, 

 these animals are not too dainty to put up with 

 Polystichum lobatum, but they prey upon that only 

 when they can get nothing more tender. — M. G. C. 



AnTAXEEXES BuTTERELY {Folyommatus Arta- 

 a'(?r.ws).— On the 17th August last, I obtained, seven 

 specimens of this butterfly, with other species, on 

 the drift sandhills at New Brighton, near Liverpool, 

 and have every reason to suppose that they will be 

 as plentiful this coming season. — John W. Love. 



The Hive-Bee and its Sting.— I have recently 

 met with a statement to the efTect that the use of the 

 sting is always fatal to the hive-bee. How does this 

 accord with the generally received fact that when 

 there are two rival queens, the one is killed by the 

 sting of the other, who becomes monarch of the hive? 

 On tlie above hypothesis, the contest ought to be 

 equally fatal to both.— 7^. IL. G. 



Crickets and Cockroaches. — In allusion to Mr. 

 Bauson's observations (see p. 42), the editor of 

 The JEutomologist, in No. 11, states :— " Mr. Bauson 

 is not the first to propose the patronizing of crickets 

 on account of their presumed tendency to extirpate, 

 or at least to drive away, the cockroaches ; regarded 

 as hypothetical the idea is excellent, but reduced to 

 practice it is scarcely so satisfactory _: my own expe- 

 rience is that the two creatures live together in 

 exuberant abundance, and in the most sociable 

 communion, in the kitchen oi—Edtvard Newman." 

 With this extract our own experience harmonizes. 

 A correspondent gives the following reason in favour 

 of Mr. Bauson's hypothesis :— " Often have I caught 

 a cockroach and placed it by the hole 9f a cricket, 

 and have not had to wait long before a cricket (some- 

 times half the size of the cockroach) would make his 

 appearance, 'and carry it away, and as I supposed to 

 eat it ; but to make sure of that, I caught both a 

 cricket and a cockroach, and put them together 

 under a glass, where I left them for a day. Upon 

 paying them a visit there was only the cricket and a 

 few bits of the cockroach. Erom that time I have 

 not doubted whether the former eat the latter." — 

 Charles Stanley Barnes. Another _ correspondent, 

 H. D. C, recommends the importation of a hedge- 

 hog into the kitchen as the safest cure for the plague 

 of cockroaches. 



BOTANY. 



Alpine Bose {Rosa alpina, Des.) at Perth. — 

 Dr. White recently announced that he had gathered 

 this rose in the clepths of the woods on Kinnoul 

 Hill, near Perth, where it seems to have fairly 

 established itself. This plant is not uncommon on 

 the Continent. 



A New Bbistle-mould. — A fourth species of the 

 genus Chcetomium has been found in tliis country. 

 This is G. murorwm, Corda. It is one of the small 

 fungi occurring on decaying straw, damp paper, _&c. 

 The perithecium is generally clothed with rigid 

 bristles, and each looks like a small tuft of nearly 

 black mould on the surface of the substance upon 

 which it vegetates. 



The Cobbler Botanist. — Mr. Richard Buxton, 

 who nearly twenty years ago wrote a " Botanical 

 Guide to the Elowering Plants, Eerns, Mosses, and 

 Algae found indigenous within eighteen miles of 

 ]\Ianch ester," died on the 2nd January, in the 81st 

 vear of his age. " When about twelve years of age," 

 lie says of himself, " I went to learn the trade of a 

 bat-maker— that is, a maker of children's small 

 leathern shoes. There I continued about a year 

 and a half, and then went and worked with one 

 James Hyde for several years. At this time I was 

 quite unable to read, and therefore got a spelling- 

 book to teach myself. 1 soon became master of it ; 

 and then proceeded to the New Testament, &c. I am 

 well aware," he adds, " that the narrative of the life 

 of a poor man like myself, who has had the greatest 

 difficulty in procuring the necessities of life in a 

 worn-out trade like that of a child's leather-shoe 

 maker, and in delivering a few newspapers on a 

 Saturday, is anything but interesting." In this as- 

 sertion he is mistaken ; there is great interest in the 

 history of a life devoted, under severe diflieulties, to 

 the pursuit of science, and honourably closed at 

 last. Peace to thy manes, Buxl on ! i'or what thou, 

 hast contributed to i\\c feet of children and the heads 

 of men. 



