S^^Js^: 
THE GAKDENEES AND NATURALISTS CALENDAR FOE MARCH. 
WMte Bait is peculiar to the Thames, and the peciiliar 
property of the London citizens. This, however, is not 
the ease. Dr. Pamell found them, in 1837, in great 
quantities in the Firth of Forth, especially in the neigh- 
hourhood of Queensferry. 
The Venbace (Goregonus Wittughhii) was long sup- 
posed to be peculiar to one of the Scotch lakes ; but 
the progress of science has given to it, like its congener 
the AVhite Bait, a more extended geographical dista-i- 
bution. However, it has nowhere been found in Scot- 
land, except in the beautiful castle lake of Lochmaben, 
near D^^mfrics. Besides Lochmaben, it is found, ac- 
cording to Linnseus, in Germany and Silesia ; it is 
known in the Lake of Geneva, in some lakes in "Wales, 
and in Bassenthwaite Lake in Cumberland. It was 
probably introduced into Lochmaben from the Con- 
tinent, popular report says by Queen Mary ; but more 
likely it owes its habitat to the luxurious monks, 
who once inhabited the neighbourhood. The Vendaee 
is a far more delicate fish than the "White Bait ; and 
like it, cannot be transported from one water to an- 
other. It is a most delicious morsel, and a club of Dum- 
frieshire gentlemen meet every spiing at Lochmaben to 
feast upon it. It would be well worth the trouble and 
expense, to any one having a lake or large pond, to 
attempt its inti-oduction, of coiu'se by transporting its 
spawn, which is cast about the beginning of November, 
when the fish congi-egate in large shoals, frequently 
rising to the surface of the water, as the Common 
Herring does. They are very productive. The Vendaee, 
according to Dr. Knox, feed upon microscopic ento- 
mostraca, or small Shell-fish, generally about 7-l2ths of 
a line in length. Hence its extreme locaKty is under- 
stood, since, where the food upon which it feeds is not, 
the Vendaee cannot be. Dr, Knox says that the food 
of the Vendaee " consists excliimrchf of entomostraca ; 
this, however, we are very much inclined to doubt, since 
we have examined many specimens, the contents of whose 
stomachs were certainly uniformly aUke, viz., Mono- 
culi, belonging to the genus Cyclops ; specimens of the 
genus Daphnia were not uncommon ; hut we have also 
foimd wings of dipterous insects, and very small coleop- 
terous insects entire. 
Should any of our' friends wish to locate the Vendaee 
in their lakes and ponds, we will readily put them in 
the way of making the attempt, and assist them to dis- 
cover — presuming Dr. Knox's ideas to be correct — if the 
waters, in which it is proposed to natm-alize them, 
abound with the necessary microscopic insects. 
Shkimps and Loesteks. — At the approach of Spring, 
our readers resident on the coast may have an oppor- 
timity of observing the circumstances under which 
exuviation in the long-tailed, stalk-eyed crustaceans 
takes place, and the methods by which it is accom- 
plished. Eeaumur is om' only authority upon the 
subject, and his observations Avere made on the 
Biver Cray fish ( Potamohins Jluviatilis ) ; while Milne- 
Edwards has derived all his knowledge of this interest- 
ing process from the reports of others. So, then, here 
is scope for original observation ; and, in these fertile 
days of discovery, it is no little matter to be able to 
point out a field unoccupied and unexplored. The 
Herring (Clupea harenyiis) comes in this month, 
or rather towards the end of February. "We wish 
our space allowed us to say a few words upon the 
natirral history of this fish, which, found in the highest 
northern latitudes, and as low as the south coasts of 
France, is a grateful and substantial meal to the poor 
and needy, and finds a place upon the elaborate tables 
of the rich — alike acceptable in the palace and in the 
pauper's cabin. 
Now also Tkouts {Salmo fario of Linnaeus) begin 
to rise in the stream, and the Saxmon {Salmo salar) to 
ascend the rivers. The Smelt, too, ( Osmerus eperlamis, ) 
a British fish, almost confined to the east and west 
coasts, prepare to spawn in the fresh waters before re- 
turning to the sea. Garfish (Belone vulgaris) leave 
the deep water and approach the shore. Roach (Leii- 
cisons rutilus), and Dace fi. vulgaris) float near the 
surface, and afford much sport to the lover of the angle. 
Both species are gregarious, and swim in shoals. 
But we must leave this subject, and tui-n to the land ; 
here we find many animals waking from their winter sleep. 
Of the Cheiropteka, or ISats, seven species are found in 
Britain. Formerly these animals were supposed to migrate, 
hut the opinion is now altogether exploded, and no doubts 
remain of their hybemating. Early inautumn they betake 
themselves, in large companies, to retii-ed places, caves, 
and caverns, the hollows of ti'ees, the roofs of houses 
and of churches, where they crowd together, suspended 
by their hinder claws, head downwards, cUnging not 
only to the walls of their retreat but to each other, till 
the voice of spring bids them forth to play their part in 
the great scheme of creation. 
'The Hedgehog (Erinacms europatts), whose hyber- 
nation is perhaps the most perfect of any British /era, 
now unrolls itself, and leaves its soft nest of moss and 
leaves, at the triuik of some hoUow ti'ee, some exposed 
root, or excavated rock, to seek its insect food — 
some "Worm, Slug, or Snail, or even a Frog, Toad, 
or Mouse. 
Moles {Tapa europma^. — It is in this month that 
we perceive the recent little hillocks of earth which 
the Mole throws up in constnicting its under-ground 
galleries. It is the fashion to consider these animals 
as injurious to the crop, as their proceedings are dis- 
figuring to the field or lawn they inhabit. "We do not 
think, in this case, the popular opinion is the correct 
one ; but that we shall not now stop to consider. "We have 
not space, neither can we find time, to say more than a 
few words about its habits, which seem to have attracted 
but little attention, excepting by its professed destroyers ; 
and it is to a Mole catcher. Monsieur Hem'ie le Court, 
and his work, Be la talpe, de ses mmurs, cle ses habitudes, 
ct des moyens de la detniirc, edited and published in 
Palis, by Cadet-de-Vaux, we are indebted for most of 
om- knowledge upon a very interesting subject. 
The Mole pair's in March, and during that month brings 
into operation the most remarkable of its habits. Dormant 
during the winter in its habitation of the preceding year, 
the Mole arises with the sun of spring, and prepares for 
the great pm'pose of its being. The cycle of its yearly 
habits run thi-ough the course of bun-owing, pairing, 
breeding; and again the Mole imm erses itself in its 
winter dwelling. "Beautiful example of a mechanical 
series of actions, excited by stimuli, which are imper- 
ceptible to any eye but that of Him who ordained all 
things ; but which, depending not upon the volition of 
the animal, requires no education, and is as perfectly 
perfonned in the first year of pairing, as at any after 
period of its life." 
The Dormouse (Myoxus avellanarius ) now comes 
forth, not, however, in the fat state in which it retii'ed 
to its winter quarters, but lean and spare. The Har- 
vest Mouse (Mus messorius) commences to buUd its 
beautiful little nest — a roundish ball suspended on the 
stalks of plants, some four or five inches above the 
ground. 'There is stiU some uncertainty as to the hyber- 
nation of this pleasing little thing — the smallest of our 
British mammals — some asserting it becomes torpid only 
when it passes the winter under ground, and not so 
when it takes some corn-rick as its winter domicile. 
Among the Reptiles, the Lizaed {Laccrta agilis) 
awakes from its torpidity this month ; its eggs may be 
found at the bottom of some southern wall. 'The Blind- 
worm {Anguis fragilis), with its greyish body, and two 
dark-brown stripes along its back, aroused to animation, 
now meets us in our path. The Snake (Natrix torqiMtd) 
is found in marshy places ; and the Viper ( Vipera com- 
mtmis) uncoUa itself from its winter sleep. The Efts 
