196 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Sept. 1, 1865. 



again seen amongst horses and mules. One mule 

 we had to abandon on the prairie (a disabled foot 

 preventing its travelling any further) was, when we 

 returned for it, so stung by the Breeze-flies as to be 

 one mass of small ichorous ulcers from head to 

 hoofs ; so pitiable was the poor beast's plight, its 

 injured limb having precluded all chance of escape 

 from the flies, that, as a mere matter of humanity, 

 it was at once shot. I have also frequently seen 

 tethered horses so injured by the punctures of the 

 Breeze-fly as to be rendered useless for many 

 months. Their favourite places for puncturing are 

 on the front of the chest — where the saddle goes, — 

 and inside the thighs. If a man were tied, or 

 otherwise disabled, so that all chance of beating off 

 or escaping from the Breeze-fly was out of bis 

 power, I have no hesitation in asserting my firm 

 conviction that they would rapidly kill him. 



The illustration (fig. 1) will give a good idea of 

 the Belted Breeze-fly — a lady charmingly dressed in 

 orange flounced with black, very attractive when 

 you see her sunning herself amid the petals of some 

 prairie flower, but a closer acquaintance destroys 

 the charm, as ^.he soon lets you feel her power of 

 wounding. 



Eig. 2 exhibits the proboscis and its armature of 

 six lancets terminated by two large fleshy lip-like 

 lobes, further protected at the sides by the maxillary 

 palpi. 



TraveUing in Oregon one constantly finds himself 

 on the banks of a wide glassy lake ; gaziug over i^ 

 unrippled surface, the eye suddenly rests on what, 

 to the inexperienced in hunter's craft, appears to be 

 small clumps of twisted branches, dead and leafless 

 tree-tops, the trunks of which are hidden in the 

 water; but the Indian or "trapper" discerns in a 

 second that the apparent branches are the antlers of 

 a herd of Wappiti that have been driven into the 

 water by Breeze-flies. Wild cattle seek a like 

 means of protecting themselves against such terrible 

 foes : a perfect forest of horns may frequently be 

 witnessed in a pool, but not a vestige of the 

 bullocks, save their noses, kept above water for the 

 purpose of breathing. Virgil clearly alluded to the 

 Breeze-flies, and not to the CEstrida, when writing 

 about the Asilus :— 



Through waving groves, where Selos' torrent flows, 



And where, Albemo, thy green Ilex grows, 



Myriads of insects flutter in the gloom 



((Estms in Greece, Asilns in Rome), 



Fierce and of cruel hum. By the dire sound 



Driven from the woods and shady glens around 



The universal herd in terror fly. 



The same thing goes on now as of old : Breeze- 

 flies puncture the toughest hides for blood, and as 

 in the days of Greece and Home, and, it may be, 

 ages and ^om before that, the "universal herd in 

 terror flew" on hearing the shrill blast of the 

 Breeze-fly's trumpet. j. k. Lord, E.Z.S. 



SEA ANEMONES. 



(Sar/ariia parasitica and Adamsia palliata.) 



T AM not aware whether any one has published an 

 -^ account of the mode by which so slow an animal 

 as the Parasitic Anemone contrives to mount on the 

 shell, whicli forms the house of so active a creature 

 as the Hermit Crab, but I have seen repeatedly how 

 it is done, in the Hamburg Aquarium. So long as 

 ■the Anemone is associated with the Crab, and is 

 carried about by it, and gets its siiare of food, it is 

 happy ; but when the Hermit changes its shell, and 

 leaves the Anemone behind on the old shell, the 

 Anemone wiU (unless it is again taken up by another 

 or the same crab) usually loosen its hold from the 

 shell, and lie down on its side on the floor of the 

 tank. Then when a crab — particularly if it be a 

 Hermit Crab— passes within reach of the Anemone's 

 tentacles (which are unusually quick and strong in 

 their action), they grasp any part of the shell, and 

 then the base of the Anemone is quickly turned 

 round and securely fixed, the body being strongly 

 curved so that the hold of the tentacles is not re- 

 laxed before the base, or a part of it, is secure. In 

 this way I have seen as many as three Parasitic 

 Anemones attaching themselves in the course of an 

 hour, to the shell of one unsually large and very 

 active Hermit ; and I have noticed not less than five 

 fasten themselves by the same manoeuvre to the 

 carapace and legs of a Spider Crab — a large Hyasar- 

 anea, — and he carried them about for many weeks, 

 and when at last he changed his shell, and left the 

 Anemones behind, sticking to the old left-off and 

 motionless shell, the Anemones, after a time, found 

 Jiim out again and re-attached themselves as before. 

 If there had been any Hermit Crabs in the same 

 tank, they would, doubtless, have fastened to them, 

 in preference to the Spider Crab. To be carried 

 about by some other animal seems to be an enjoyment 

 to them, and yet I have known them to remain 

 attached to motionless objects tranquilly for five or 

 six months at a stretch, in a tank where Hermit 

 Crabs and Spider Crabs were also contained. A 

 capability of detaching and attaching themselves 

 quickly by the base, seems to be one of the special 

 peculiarities of both the Parasitic Anemone and of 

 the Cloak Anemone {Adamsia palliata'), and I once 

 saw the latter become free from the shell inhabited 

 by another Hermit Crab (Pagurus Prideauxii), and 

 then become quite and securely fixed to another shell, 

 not less than twelve times in two consecutive hours, as 

 the crab was fidgetty, and changed his shell that 

 number of times, and each time he took his com- 

 panion Anemone with him, giving it material assist- 

 ance at every transfer. This has also been observed 

 by Mr. Gosse and by Mr. Holdsworth. In this case 

 (of Adamsia and Prideauxii) the Crab and the 

 Anemone certainly seem to recognize each other ; but 



