Oct. 1, 1865.] 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



231 



They may be mounted dry in cells, and are very 

 pretty, though a mounted slide cannot compare with 

 the sight I have described. 



The binocular microscope "wUl show both these 

 objects to peculiar advantage. 



The greatest care is needed to prevent damage to 

 the specimens when collecting. A clean pill-box, 

 with plenty of the native bark, is the best means to 

 arrive at this end. The bark will keep them alive 

 for some time, and the smallest specimens will not 

 be so likely to escape by the interstices of the box 

 as they would if the box were empty. 



GEEEN DEAKE-ELY. 



CAN you inform me where to find a full and 

 accurate account of the metamorphoses of the 

 Uphemera vulgata, or common Green Drake-fly, so 

 well known to anglers ? I have consulted several 

 works, and not yet met with a satisfactory descrip- 

 tion of it. In one by Mrs. E. Cox, entitled " Our 

 Common Insects," it is stated that the life of 

 the Common May-fly {Ephemera vulgata) does not 

 extend in its perfect state beyond five or six hours, 

 being generally hatched about six o'clock in the 

 evening, and dying before twelve at night. Now 

 this is certainly not true with respect to the Green 

 Drake-fly of the Irish lakes. I have seen it emerg- 

 ing from the water at all times of the day, and 

 it Hves for several days. The Green Drake-fly 

 changes its skin, wings, legs, tails, and all, certainly 

 once, and I believe two or three times during its 

 short life, becoming at each change of a darker hue 

 than before. As it comes to the surface of the 

 water, it is of a beautiful yellow-green colour, and 

 its wings in this state are not in the least injured 

 by the water, as I have frequently seen it totally 

 overwhelmed by the waves on a lake, and appear 

 again sailing along as merrily as before. After 

 changing its skin, however, the texture of the wing 

 is much more gauzy, and cannot resist the water. 

 On reaching the shore of the lake where it was 

 born, it hides among the stones or bushes on the 

 shore, and not until it has changed its coat does it 

 become the active inhabitant of the air, whose grace- 

 ful evolutions are so beautiful. Accompanied by 

 swarms of its fellows, it then certainly enjoys life, 

 now soaring aloft, anon dropping suddenly down, 

 while often two or three together will come tumbling 

 to the ground entangled by the long hairs of the 

 tail. Presently some bird will make a dash through 

 the crowd, and carry off a miserable captive, while 

 the rest, heedless of danger, carry on their sport as 

 before.— 1?. G. E. 



Picket's work on the EpTiemeridcB gives the 

 most complete account of the metamorphoses 

 of E. vulgata, together with figures of larva, 

 &c. See also Westwood's "Introduction to the 

 Modem Classification of Insects." The story of the 



su3g]e-day existence of insects of the family, as 

 applied to the bulk of this species, is a pretty little 

 romance, but by no means true, as some of them 

 will live for at least a week. Nevertheless, in one 

 or two instances their existence in the perfect 

 state is certainly limited to a few hours. You 

 are in error in supposing that E. vulgata, or any 

 species of the family, changes its skin two or three 

 times after they assume the winged form. Wlicu 

 they first emerge, the whole creature is covered with 

 a membrane, and, in this state, is termed a pseud- 

 imago. It then throws off this membrane, and is 

 in every respect perfect, not moulting a second 

 time. Some individuals (generally females) never 

 even perform this operation at all. — U. McL. 



COLOUE OE BIEDS' EGGS. 



IT is my opinion that the eggs of birds are not 

 necessarily lighter from being laid later. I remem- 

 ber myself and two school-fellows wished to see how 

 many eggs a bird would lay. The example we took 

 was the Eobin Eedbreast {Sylvia ruhecula, Lath.). 

 We found the nest with two eggs, in a wall in the 

 muster-yard, Peterborough. We abstracted one, 

 and for fourteen days successively did we take one 

 egg out of the nest. The bird altogether laid six- 

 teen eggs, all of which we preserved, and I remem- 

 ber we remarked that the last were equally as fully 

 coloured as the first. The Eobin's egg is often found 

 quite white. W. D. S. does not mention whether 

 the last egg in his nest was white, and I gather 

 from his communication that it was only found 

 lighter than the earliest laid ones. But what I want 

 to show is that sometimes those earliest laid are 

 the lightest. On referring to my egg-collecting 

 book, I find that on May 2nd, 1864, I found a nest 

 built in a large box hedge, iu Little Gidding church- 

 yard, Hunts, containing one pure white egg. I did 

 not know what bird it was ; but on May 9th I took 

 the nest, containing five eggs. Three were white, 

 and the other two were smaller, and of a faint blue, 

 spotted like a linnet's. A sight of the bird showed 

 me they were the eggs of the Mealy Eedpole. 

 Here, then, is a case of the lightest egg being laid 

 first. I do not know for certain whether the other 

 two white ones were laid next in order ; they were 

 slightly larger than the two ordinary coloured ones. 

 Of these five, one of the albino specimens fell 

 to the share of my bird's-nesting companion, 

 while of the other two, one is in ray own col- 

 lection, and the other is in the collection of 

 !Mr. S. L. 'Mozley. Another instance of a white 

 egg being laid first, came under my notice at Peter- 

 borough, when a school-fellow found a solitary white 

 egg in a nest, and gave it to me, saying it was a 

 linnet's. I remember the circumstance well, as tliat 

 same day I received a linnet's egg no bigger than a 

 pea. E. B. Shakpe. 



