April 1, 1865.J 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



87 



{Totanns hypoleucus) fly away from my feet. I began 

 to look for its nest, tliiuking it might have built a 

 second time ; but to my astouishmeut, I saw a young 

 sandpiper with one leg entangled in some wool, 

 which had stuck to a small nut-tree. I went some 

 distance off, for the purpose of seeing it try to 

 liberate itself. As soon as I had gone away, the 

 old bird came back again, and fed it. Having 

 watched it for some time, I at last walked up, and 

 set it free, but not without some difficulty ; for the 

 wool had got so tight round its legs that it had cut 

 it in several places, and was covered with blood ; so 

 I was obhged to use my knife to get it off. "When 

 the bird was set free, it did not fly far ; but hid 

 itself under the river's bank. I never saw my Kttle 

 prisoner again. — G. JR. B. 



Habits op the Toad. — Neither " E. D." nor 

 "R. H." notice the comical habit which the toad 

 has of twitching his hind-toes with excitement when 

 watching an insect he intends to eat. The frog 

 does not do so, being much quicker in catching its 

 prey at a distance. It leaps toward it, and throws 

 out its tongue at the same time. I have at present 

 four tame toads and a frog, which I shoidd always 

 be glad to show to any one calling. One of the 

 toads croaks loudly whenever handled, but never 

 dribbles now. I have also some natterjacks {Bufo 

 calamifa), from Wisley, Surrey. I shall be glad to 

 catch and send specimens of tliis really handsome 

 species to all who will write and ask. — IF. B. Tate, 

 4, Grove-place, Denmark-hill, Camherwell. 



Egg or the Stormy Petrel. — The stormy petrel 

 {Porcellariapelagica, L.) is the smallest of the web- 

 footed birds, is very light, and but little larger than 

 a wren ; but the egg she lays is the largest, for the 

 size of the bird, of any of the feathered race, being 

 1^ of an inch long, ^ of an inch in diameter. She 

 lays two eggs, which are pure white, and full as 

 large as a pigeon's egg, in the fissures of the rocks 

 on the rocky isles, near the coast, in almost inaccess- 

 ible places. — W. W.K.,St.Ives, Cornwall. 



EcoifOMic Entomology.— In a circular just is- 

 sued, the Entomological Society of London an- 

 nounces its anxiety especially to devote attention to 

 economic entomology, and requests the support of 

 agriculturists and horticulturists, and of all who are 

 interested in the habits and economy of insects, and 

 the best modes of cultivating the usefid and de- 

 stroying the noxious species. The council has offered 

 two prizes, of the value of five guineas each, to be 

 awarded, at the end of the present year, to the 

 authors of essays or memoirs of sufficient merit on 

 subjects belonging to the economic department of 

 the science. 



The Badger.— On the 19th of March, last year, 

 a man brought a live badger to Wycombe, which he 



had dug out the previous night. It was a very One 

 one ; he sold it for ten shillings to a gentleman, v,-!io 

 has it now. I have a fine badger's skull that was 

 dug up three years ago in our cemetery with several 

 other bones. — Henry Vllyett. 



Cuckoo's Egg in a Linnet's Nest.— On the Oih 

 of July last I found a linnet's nest with a cuckoo's 

 egg in it. Is not this urmsual, the linnet being a 

 hard-billed bird ? The spots on the t^^ were very 

 light, corroborating the opinion of a friend of mine, 

 who believes the cuckoo's eggs to be light or dark in 

 shade, according to the nest in which they are laid. 

 — Henry Ullyett. 



Colour op Birds' Eggs.— I have had several 

 eggs brought me, said to be those of yellow bunting, 

 totally destitute of colour. These were always laid 

 very late in the season, and this may serve to bear 

 out the remark of Mr. Gregson, quoted in the Ee- 

 bruary number. Two white eggs were once brought 

 in the nest, which I believe to be those of wheatear. 

 This was late in the year, too. — Henry Ullyett. 



New Silk-producing Insect. — M. Guerin- 

 Meneville presented a note to the Academy of 

 Sciences, Paris, recently, on a new sub-genus of Bom- 

 bycides producing silk — the Saturnia Bauliiida?, 

 Guer., an inhabitant of Senegal, for which M. Guerin 

 proposes to found a new sub-genus under the name 

 of Faidherbia, in honour of General Eaidherbe, 

 the commander of the French military expeditions 

 in the district of the Senegal, through whose instru- 

 mentality the silk-producing qualities of the insect 

 have been made knovoi. Each cocoon contains 633 

 milligrammes of sdk, those of the common silk- 

 worm containing only 290, and those of the silk- 

 worms of the ailauthus and ricinus only 255 and 

 175 respectively. It is proposed to introduce the 

 cultivation of this new silkworm into Algeria. — The 

 Beader, 



The Man-sucker, or Octopus.— In the article 

 about the man-sucker {Octoptcs), I find the author 

 does not mention (which I have often seen) that the 

 Indians, after catching the creature, will eat it raw 

 with great gusto ; and when I have been out all day 

 shooting with them it has been brought with them 

 raw as their luncheon. There is also another sea (I 

 do not know whether to call it animal or fish — at any 

 rate) creature, about as long and as thick as my arm, 

 which has no power of volition, but sticks to the 

 rocks by suckers; these I have seen the Indians 

 spear, and eat raw, with the sea-water, with which 

 they ai'e filled, running down their beards. — /. B. 



To the attentive eye, each moment of the year 

 has its own beauty, and in the same field it beholds 

 every hour, a picture which was never seen before, 

 and which shall never be seen again,— ^werww. 



