HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



65 



the skill of the engraver has in divers cases not 

 paralleled the gifts of description of the author. 



The monstrosus sus marinus, or terrible sow of 

 the sea, or more especially perhaps of Aldrovandus 

 (Fig. 3S), will surely come up fully to everyone's 

 expectation of what a marine pig should be like. 

 Catching a weasel asleep should be a comparatively 

 easy task to circumventing sus marinus : it seems such 

 a peculiarly wide-awake animal. Possibly in the 

 struggle for existence in the watery depths its tooth- 

 some flesh may place it in jeopardy, and Nature may 

 have bestowed on it these numerous eyes to enable it 

 to evade dragons and other foes having a penchant for 

 pork ; a rather unexpected addition to the various 

 better-known examples of that comfortable doctrine 

 for the well-to-do, the survival of the fittest. 



Another of the strange creatures of ocean is shown 

 in Fig. 39. It is somewhat startling to reflect that 

 our ancestors had at least the expectation that such a 

 monster might at any moment rise alongside their 

 vessel and address them in the imperious tones that 

 the figure suggests ; and it must be borne in mind 

 that these illustrations are not a tithe of the strange 

 imaginings that even thisone old book sets forth, though 

 it is needless to further multiply examples. We have 

 carefully drawn our figures in facsimile from the 

 originals, and have nought extenuated, nor set down 

 aught in malice. They are fairly typical examples of 

 the sort of thing that is encountered on page after 

 page. 



Apart from these various monsters and the hundreds 

 of others that keep them company, Aldrovandus seems 

 to have been always accessible to anyone who could 

 bring him one wonder the more ; hence he also figures 

 a bunch of grapes terminating in a long beard ; 

 representations of cloud-warriors in conflict in the 

 sky ; comets like flaming swords, and many other 

 wonderful things that set our ancestors wondering in 

 fear and amazement as to what such portents should 

 signify. 



While we may wonder at the credulity of those 

 who wrote and read such books, the love for the 

 marvellous — witness spiritualism — has by no means 

 died out amongst us. Barnum's stuffed mermaid was 

 a wonder not by any means to be missed by thousands 

 of people who were born centuries after Aldrovandus, 

 while a book on natural history in our possession, 

 that was published in London in 1786, gravely 

 describes the unicom, the several kinds of dragons, 

 the lamia, the manticora, and other fabulous creatures 

 in the same matter-of-fact way that it deals with the 

 horse or the cow. 



The whole world has now been so ransacked that 

 there is little room in these times for the imagination to 

 play ; but in mediaeval days travellers brought back 

 such wonderful stories — some of them true, and 

 others, perhaps, a little wanting in that respect — of 

 the things that they had seen, that almost anything 

 then seemed a possibility. 



SOME FAMOUS COLLECTING-GROUNDS 

 FOR DRAGON-FLIES. 



By the Author of " An Illustrated Handbook of 

 British Dragon-flies," " A Label List of British 

 Dragon-flies," etc., etc. 



II. EPPING FOREST AND THE METROPOLITAN 

 DISTRICT. 



SITUATED in the South-East of England and 

 adjacent to the Continent, this district, as may 

 be expected, constitutes one of the richest for insect 

 life in this country. More species of Dragon-flies 

 have probably been recorded within its area than in 

 any other in the British Isles. 



That delightful domain Epping Forest certainly 

 ranks second to none in England, for the richness of 

 its dragon-fly fauna, combined with sylvan scenery 

 which is of the most delightful description imagin- 

 able. Every enthusiastic London entomologist ought 

 certainly to be thankful that he has at his doors such 

 a treasure-house of insect life as this vast forest con- 

 stitutes itself to be. 



The following are the names of some of the dragon- 

 flies which have been recorded as having occurred in 

 Epping Forest : — Leptetrinn quadrimaadata and 

 variety pmnubila (plentiful), Sympetnt-m vidgatum 

 (very abundant), Gomphus vidgatlssivms, Anax 

 formosus, Brachytron pratense, j&schna mixta, /E. 

 cyanea, Calopteryx virgo, C. splendens, Lestes nympha, 

 L. sponsa and Agrion mercurlale, (the latter very local 

 species has been taken here, I believe, by Mr. W. II. 

 Nunney. It is only known to occur in one other 

 locality in the British Isles, namely in the New 

 Forest). 



The following is a complete list of the species of 

 dragon-flies which have been known to occur in the 

 metropolitan district, with the localities where they are 

 found (excluding Epping Forest) : — Platetrum 

 depressun (very common), Leptetrum quadrimaadata 

 (common, the variety pnenubila occurs at Godalming, 

 in Surrey), Libclhda fidva (marshes in the vicinity 

 of Bermondsey), Orthetrum candescens (found not 

 uncommonly in the metropolitan district, particularly 

 in the vicinity of Godalming, and used to occur plenti- 

 fully in some marshy ground at Hampstead, where, 

 however, it is probably now extinct), 0. cancellation 

 (Croydon canal and neighbourhood abundant, marshes 

 in the vicinity of Crayford and Dartford, also Peck- 

 ham and Honour Oak Wood), Lcucorrhinia pectoralis 

 (this species is included in the British list on the 

 strength of one specimen only, which was captured on 

 a boat at Sheerness in January i860, and subsequently 

 exhibited at a meeting of the Entomological Society 

 of London. It ,had most probably been conveyed, 

 over here from the opposite shores of Belgium, and I 

 may remark thafit was described by Dr. H. A. Hagen 

 in 1S57, in the " Entomologist's Annual " of that date, 

 as a species which was likely to occur in this country, 



