July 1, 1865.] 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



161 



produce but little this year, thanks to the cater- 

 Ijillars. This is attributed to the fact that the 

 peasants suffer their children to destroy the nests of 

 the small birds, which are tlie only instruments that 

 can effectually protect trees from caterpillars. It is 

 calculated that there were formerly 10,000 birds' 

 nests in every square league of cultivated land in 

 Erauce. Each nest is supposed to contain on an 

 average four young ones, which the old birds fed 

 with 60 caterpillars a day. The old birds were sup- 

 posed to eat GO ; making 120 caterpillars a day alto- 

 gether. This multiplied by 10,000 nests will give 

 1,200,000 caterpillars destroyed every day in a 

 square league of a well-planted country. The 

 peasants one would suppose would have sufBcieut 

 common sense to protect the birds which render 

 them such valuable service, but they appear utterly 

 ignorant on the subject. The only bird respected by 

 the peasants, and especially the Norman peasant, is 

 the wren, and that from a superstitious motive. — 

 Gardiner's Chronicle. 



ENTOMOLOGY. 



Pugnacity of Larvae. — It is a fact not altoge- 

 ther unworthy of notice that several species of 

 larvse are possessed (apparently) of a very spiteful 

 and aggressive nature, while others, as far as one 

 may judge from appearance, are equally good-tem- 

 pered and amiable in disposition. The larvaj of 

 several of the Sphiugidae are very remarkable in this 

 respect. If kept together, they soon lose the horns, 

 which become disabled in a very short space of time. 

 Then the larva of the puss-moth is also distinguished 

 for its cannibal propensities, and its fondness for 

 using the horns, supposed to be a whip to drive 

 away ichneumons. I have had larvse of a noctua 

 that have devoured each other, and I was a long 

 time much puzzled by their disappearance, which 

 thus lessened numbers amazingly. Whether this 

 propensity is induced by confinement, which necessi- 

 tates their close proximity to each other, is not 

 certain ; but I am inclined to think so, as it does not 

 seem to be the case when at liberty on their native 



trees.— -E". C. \ 



I 



Lime Hawk-moth. — Having a brood of Lime 

 Hawk-moths {Smerinthns Tiliee) in the larva stage of ; 

 existence, which emerged from the eggs on the 22nd | 

 and 23rd of May last, I have noticed them pretty | 

 closely. They cast their skins for the first time on the I 

 28th and 29th of the same month, and they have just 

 (June 3rd) completed that operation for the second 

 time ; but I observed that as they each got clear of 

 their old garment they turned round and ate it up. j 

 Thinking this might be one of the "things not i 

 generally known," I communicate with you. — 

 A. B. F. \ 



Insects in Akmoue. — It is well known that in 

 some of the Swedish lakes particles of pure iron are 

 found. Dr. Sjogreen explains this remarkable phe- 

 nomenon to be due to the larvae of certain insects, 

 which, like the caddis-worm, cover themselves with a 

 protective coating. The coating is in this case oxide 

 of iron, from which the insects absorb oxygen, and 

 their bodies thus become invested with a complete 

 suit of iron armour. — Dcnj of Best. 



Early Wasp.— I take it for granted that your 

 correspondent E. K. (page 137) is describing a 

 queen wasp. Its appearance on March 17th is not 

 very surprising. Leonard Jenjms, in his " Calendar 

 of Periodic Phenomena," whilst giving April 19th 

 as the average date of its appearance, records one 

 being seen as early as March 3rd. In 1S58 I myself 

 saw one on March 23rd, and in 1859 on March 27th, 

 in North Lincolnshire. — /. B. Htmher. 



Wasps. — "Vespecidc" writes that he has de- 

 stroyed 72 wasps, which he presumes were males as 

 well as females. Now under the impression that all 

 wasps which appear during the months of April 

 and early part of May were queens, on the 22nd of 

 April I offered a premium of \d. to the garden 

 labourers for every wasp they might bring me up to 

 May 1st, and the result was the destruction of 1,020 

 wasps, for which I paid £1 5^. I will feel rather 

 vexed to be informed that probably one half were 

 males. Can you, therefore, kindly satisfy me on 

 that point ? I may add that I never saw so many 

 large wasps as now exist, even though we destroyed 

 about 200 nests last autumn. — J. M., Addington. 

 [You may make your mind easy respecting the 

 wasps, as males (or kings, as " Vespecide " miscalls 

 them) are only produced in the autumn, and aU die 

 before winter sets in. The past and present have 

 been remarkable seasons with reference to the eco- 

 nomy of the vespiary. The hot dry summer of 1861 

 allowed vast numbers of wasps' nests to be formed, 

 and in August the workers swarmed everywhere to 

 an extraordinary extent ; but an insidious disease, 

 very similar to that known in the apiary under the 

 name of foul brood, set in at the beginning of the 

 autumn and entirely destroyed the brood of many 

 nests, so that in September we were nearly freed 

 from the winged insects. Many females must, 

 however, have been produced since, as, soon as the 

 warm weather set in in April last, great numbers 

 were seen ; but May on the whole was cool, and they 

 then appeared in fewer numbers. A considerable 

 number of the small egg-shaped paper-like nests 

 have, however, already been brought to me ; so that if 

 we do not have heavy rains to swamp the underground 

 nests, we shall most probably be as much infested in 

 July and August as we were last year.] — /. 0. IF. — 

 The Gardener's Chronicle. 



M 



