July 1, 1865.] 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



15] 



pleasant spot to work in ; for it is full of water, and 

 tliere is a ghostly reminiscence of a man having 

 drowned himself there. 



As to the age of the Petherwin beds, whether 

 they are Upper Devonian or Lower Carboniferous, 

 we leave wiser heads than ours to determine. Our 

 aim in this little sketch has merely been to while 

 away half an hour by showing them to you. 



Exeter. EKAiifK P. Peekins. 



GOSSAMER SPIDEES. 



ABOUT a week ago I happened to be wandering 

 round the garden situated at the back of the 

 house in which I reside. The sun was shining 

 brightly, and in every direction threads of gossamer 

 floated through the air, whilst other threads 

 were stretched like fairy clothes-lines from the plants 

 to the palings, and from thence to the bean-sticks in 

 the adjoining garden. Observing that the threads 

 were in much greater numbers at the lower end of the 

 garden, induced me to commence a hunt in order 

 to discover the spinners. A brief search soon dis- 

 closed their retreat. Clustered together like a swarm 

 of bees were at least 300 of the tiniest spiders I 

 ever saw. A general panic was the immediate re- 

 sult of my touching them. "One and all," they 

 scampered off over the large web on which they had 

 assembled. Some wisely endeavoured to hide under 

 the leaves, others either fell or threw themselves 

 from the web, and hung suspended by a delicate 

 thread. 



I captured a few of the flying host ; then holding 

 them on my hand, observed a filament of web rapidly 

 jerJcecl out until sufficiently long to sustain the 

 little fellow ; when away he went, ascending rapidly, 

 until ciuite lost to vision. 



Procuring a wine-glass and placing in it some 

 strong spirit, for the purpose of Idlling a few of the 

 spiders, to more carefully examine them with a lens, 

 I was not a little astonished, on taking some of them 

 out from the spirit after an immersion of several 

 minutes, to find, as they lay on my hand, the rays of 

 the sun shining on them through the pocket lens, 

 that the little victims still had life. Eirst a feeble 

 kick with one leg, then another performed with two 

 a trifle stronger ; a third and fourth ; and so on, until 

 they marched away not even tipsy, as free from 

 harm as if they had lived in spirit for a lifetime. 



The spiders were the young of the garden spider 

 (Bpeim diademd). I relate the fact, as 1 was not 

 aware the young of the TSpeira ever floated about 

 on their webs, a habit I imagined peculiar to a 

 particular species; neither did I know a young 

 spider could bear soakiug in strong spirit for several 

 minutes without causing its death. Perhaps, sir, 

 some reader can tell us more about gossamer spiders. 



J. £. Loud. 



SIX-SPOT BURNET. 

 K. speaks of this moth as being "very numerous 

 ' on a chalky spot above the undercliff," m the 

 Isle of Wight. By the way, it is the true Six-spot 

 Burnet, known to science as Anthrocera filipendida, 

 and E. M. is right iu so naming it. 



This pretty little moth was very abundant last 

 summer, not only in situations as observed by A. K., 

 but iu the fields, by the wayside, on the hedges and 

 on and around every flowering plant that bordered 

 the paths along the cliifs from Ventnor to Niton, 

 and thence along the road to Blackgang. Nor 

 were they less numerous on the heights above the 

 nndercliff; for iu addition to the multitudes that 

 fluttered across our path, every blossom was crowned 

 with one or more of these brilliant insects. 



Many specimens of these lovely moths did I take 

 off the flowers with my fingers, so tame were the;/, 

 and in every instance they proved to be the Six-spot 

 Burnet, so that I am unable to say if the other 

 burnet moths inhabit the localities I visited. 



The Marbled White butterfly, Arge Galathma, was 

 scarcely less numerous, especially along the meadows 

 between Ventnor and SteephUl Castle. Rarely 

 have we witnessed a more enchanting spectacle than 

 the expanded flowers of the thistle, or the purple 

 blooms of the teasel, upon which were seated a 

 Marbled White butterfly or two, and one or more 

 crimson-spotted moths, with occasionally a gorgeous 

 Peacock (Vanessa 16) crowning all with his lustrous 

 wings; while around the whole fluttered many others, 

 eager for their share of the coveted nectar. It is a 

 beautiful sight to see the Marbled White on the 

 wing, and I know of no other locality where 

 this species may be seen in sucli profusion and 

 perfection as in the waste spaces along the cliffs 

 between Ventnor and Niton. Some of the Blues 

 are met with now and then, but I do not think 

 they are very abundant, while the Heaths and Mea- 

 dow-brovv'us are as plentiful everywhere as flies 

 in a kitchen ; the same may be said of several species 

 of grasshopper, the noise of their stridulation being 

 at times almost deafening. The large green grass- 

 hopper {Grylkis viridissinms) is also met with in 

 some parts of the island. One day I came suddenly 

 and very unexpectedly upon a fine specimen of this 

 insect ; the creature was resting quietly upon the 

 doorstep of a jeweller's shop, in the main street of 

 Ventnor, and to my surprise he permitted me to 

 take him up by his long legs. After a brief exam.ina- 

 tion of his handsome person, I gave him his liberty, 

 although, from his sluggish flight into a garden hard 

 by, he scarcely seemed to appreciate it. There are 

 multitudes of moths in the Isle of Wight, and 

 among them many of the rare crepuscular species ; 

 but as far as ray own experience goes, I believe the 

 six-spot Burnet to be' more numerous than all the 

 others put together. W. H, Gkatia^'N. 



