TOOAY @ A AAA ines Alas BAAAAAAAAn An, AAA mA ASRAstaanAeit AAAS MAA Ap AAMAMAR ANN NON ante Raan | f Bay WA aAA Anant anurans . Winn ana nan eee ea AW AAA’ Wiaely gana AAR ee } | Wit AA AARAAAAA J ~ , AAR ARAA 2 AA TAA WAY Al Rin nanan A Nal Alastor SAY RARAAAAAA ota maa é A \ AA Mall Ar, ReB RAD NA NAIA S WANA PY Yala Ron Ane 2 AY) A ey ars ARNAR WS ane esntttntcy sARAAG AMA a RAR en AAA HAs AR AAR. te Anang AAn AA Agen VAAAAAAARAAAA A ay Me: AAA? ponnean AA’ \a/ “oneal ag saaeaneene AAR AR 4 th AAA an | ARAN Muy anna anf gee a acne Pan Sain » PSI, Soi) See Ria Bias : i aa BOO Ay ; : Aan A Ka ona oa ) NAA E se Rae aes ; Lae AANA ay ya VA ee Anan peer AR A ee at 2” THE ZOOLOGIST FOR 1862. Pp. 7825—8812. LONDON ¢ PRINTED BY EDWARD NEWMAN, DEVONSHIRE STREET, BISHOPSGATE, N.E. . THE ZFOOLOGIST: A POPULAR MISCELLANY OF NATURAL GES:-TORY. CONDUOTED BY EDWARD NEWMAN, F.L.S., Meme. Ine. L.-C. Acap. VOLUME TH VENTIETH. LONDON: JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW. M.DCCC.LXITI, Great God of Nature! ’Tis thy voice That bids th’ obedient world rejoice ! Tis in the depths of ocean heard, And in the forest —where the bird Joins with her mate the song to raise, And celebrate their Maker's praise. The opening buds their offerings pour, Their fragrance swells the teeming store Of incense, caught from hill and dale, And wafted on the spicy gale. And there’s the music of the breeze That's answer'd by the murm’ring trees. Afar the placid, lowing herd Advancing to the well-known word ; While, unseen, the cuckoo near Pours his note upon the ear. Soar upward to the glowing sky Gay lark, with untaught melody; And in thy early flight thou It meet Near to earth—with burden sweet, The grateful bee—and higher still The giddy moth—but pause not till Heaven’s gate thou find’st in fields of air, And sing thy morning anthem there. Amidst this joyous sound of gladness Shall man retain one tone of sadness ? Shall he, for whom all things were given, Refuse his offering to heaven ? Shall he alone discordant be Amidst creation’s harmony ! Ah no! chase discontent away: It suits not with this blithesome day: By evil fears is evil brought— Then for the morrow take no thought— Blithe as the birds aloft in air, Be now thy heart devoid of care: This passing globe their only tie, They sing their little song and die: But thou shalt seek thy Maker's shrine— A glad eternity is thine. CONTENTS. ALPHABETICAL LIST Apams, Arruour, F.L.S. A visit to Pratas Island, 8183; How they fatten ducks in China, 8196; Capture of a recent Belerophina in the Indian Ocean, 8200; Among the Ainos, 8230; Singular capture of an Octopus, 8240 ANDERSON, R. Sugar and sallows, 8023; Will 1862 pass over without an Entomological Intelligencer ? 8053 ARcHER, F. On the use of glycerine for preserving shells, 8051 Arxrnson, Rey. J. C. Note on the merlin, 7843; Note on the food of the kestrel, 7844 ; Note on the goosander, 7848 Barctay, W. L. Three ravens feeding on a dead hare at Higham, 7932; Green sandpiper at Leyton, 7939 Barnston, GEORGE Revollections of the swans and geese of Hudson’s Bay, 7831 Barrett, H. Agrotis suffusa taken at sugar in April, 8052 ‘Bartiett, Rev. J. PemBerton, M.A. Short-toed lark and other rare birds in Hampshire, 7930 Beck, Ricwarp Viscid lines in a spider’s web, 7884 ; Coccus of the rose, 7894 Bett, Atwin S. Blackthroated diver near Scarborough, 8005 Be.1, Tuomas, F.RS. Occurrence of the little auk inland, 7883 OF CONTRIBUTORS. Brircwatt, Epwin Lepidoptera captured in 1862, 8203; Zygena Minos in Ireland—the ex- termination question, 8205 Biake-Knox, H. Egyptian goose near Dublin, 7939; Notes on birds’ nests, 7997; Black redstart in the county of Dublin, 8034; Sabine’s gull in Dublin Bay, 8093; The common sandpiper a diver, 8195 j Brakiston, Captain THomas On the Ornithology of Northern Japan, 8270; Occurrence of the knot in Lancashire in August, and its eastern range, 8287 Biytu, Epwarp The iguana not an inhabitant of Tas- Mania, 8289 Botp, Tuomas Joun Curious habit of the shrew, 8192; Notes on some peculiarities of insect life in 1861, 8240 Bonp, FREDERICK The little gull, 7939 ; Note on Sabine’s snipe, Jack snipe, 8000 Bourton, W. W. Little bustard in Yorkshire, 7938 Bree, C. R., M.D., F.L.S. Golden oriole in Essex, Parrot cross- bill near Colchester, 8032; Hoopoe in Essex, 8034; Deilephila lineata at Colchester, 8052; Notes about magpies, 8162 Bree, Rey. W. T., M.A. Gathering of magpies, 7846; Note on the supposed British specimen of Argynnis Aphrodite, 7852 Brivcer, W. Hoopoe and spoonbill in Surrey, 8283 RRS BrockuHo es, JAMES FITZHERBERT Food of the wren, 7935 Brown, Epwin On the plan upon which bees and wasps construct their cells, 8009 ; The fresh-water tortoise an inhab- itant of Great Britain, 8238; On the mutability of specific or race forms, 8249 Brown, Joun A. HarvikE The sandpiper a diver, 8237 Brunton T. Shorteared owl and roughlegged buz- zard near Bishop Stortford, 7844 ; Nesting of the tree creeper, 8162 CaMmpBELL, CHARLES Eupithecia debiliata, 8209 Carrow, B Claviger foveolatus near Blandford, 8084 Cave, StepHen, M.P. The sea serpent, 7850 Crarx, THomas Toad found in digging clay for bricks, 8136 Criementi, Rev. VincENT An insect gravedigger, 8245 Cotuiewoop, Curnzert, M.B., F.L.S. Notes on the sea anemones of the Mersey and Dee, 7857 ; On the op- portunities of advancing science enjoyed by the mercantile marine, 8094, 8105 Cooker, BENJAMIN Acentropus niveus—does it belong to the Lepidoptera or Phryganeina? 8085 Cooxe, NicHoLAs Capture of Sesia Scolieformis, 8172 Corzin, G. B. The Macro-Lepidoptera of Ringwood, in Hampshire, 8065 Crewe, Rev. H. Harpur, M.A. Food-plants of Eupithecia pumilata and Boarmia repandata, 7971; De- scriptions of the larve of Scotosia vetulata, S. dubitata and S. rkam- nata, 7972; Eupithecia arceuthata and E. helveticata, are they distinct ? 8052; Descriptions of the larve of E. indigata and E. viminata, 8174 ; Larva of E. debiliata, Double-brood- edness of E. virgaureata, Larva of E. pulchellata, Is E. tripunctata double-brooded ? 8209; The cuckoo and the gooseberry grub, 8282 Crorcu, G. R. Notice of two species of Coleoptera new to Britain, 8083; Coleoptera found in company with Formica fuliginosa, 8139; Coleoptera in the New Forest, 8301 CrowLey, ALFRED Nnmber and eggs of the Dartford warbler, Blue variety of the chaf- finch’s eggs, 8193 Crow Ley, Paizip Merlin near Alton, 7880; Egyptian goose at Alton, 7883, 8005 Datrton, Rev. James, M.A. Sand martins’ nests in the walls of an old priory, 7844; Cuckoo’s egg in reed warbler’s nest, 7845 Danrorp, C. Curious variety? of the chaffinch’s egg, 8091 DanikL, Joun E. Characters of a supposed new Cyclas, 8200 Davey, H. Life-sustaining power of the toad, 8007 Dosresg, A. Singular instance of nidification of the woodpigeon, 8035 Dossor, J. H. Captures near York, 8242 Dovusiepay, Henry Food of the wren, 7881, 7999 D’Urszan, W.S. M. Dragonflies captured at sea, 7976 Dutton, JoHn Great gray shrike at Jevington, Sus- sex, 7881 Epmunpbs, ABRAHAM Occurrence of rare birds near Worces- ter, 8198 Epwarb, THomaAs Tench found in the Moray Firth, Eu- rydice pulchra at Banff, 8138 _Farren, W. Note on the great black woodpecker breeding in the New Forest, 8091 ; List of Coleoptera taken in the New Forest, Hants, 8141; Note on the breeding of the honey buzzard in the New Forest, Note on the breed- ing of the merlin in the New Forest, 8159; Note on the breeding of the Dartford Warbler in the New Forest, 8160; Cicada hematodes, 8180 FEREDAY, — Note on varieties, 8019 Forp, J. W. Nest of the nightingale, 8160 Fox, Joun James Birds killed by fiying against a clock, 8028 Vii Francis, Horace Anthribus albinus and other Coleoptera at Folkstone, 7853 GaLiierRs, THomas Larva of Orgyia fascelina, 8172 GatcomBE, JoHN Iceland gull and rednecked grebe at Plymouth, 7848; Variety of snipe, 7938; Little gull at Plymouth, 7940; Note on Sabine’s snipe, 8035; Iceland gull at Plymouth, 8036 Gaze, WILLIAM Argynnis Lathonia in Suffolk, 7971 Gisson, B. Large Scie of te Ae 7881 Gitsertr, R. H White heme ole of redthroated diver and lapwing, 8002 Goat Ley, J. Black redstart at Southampton, 8032 Gossr, Pattie Henry, F.R.S. _ A clever duck, 7883 GREEN, Rev. G.C., M.A. The sandpiper a diver, 8283 GREENE, Rev. Josepn, M.A. Pupe destroyed by a caterpillar, Pe- riodical of the nature of the late ‘Intelligencer’ wanted, 7970; Pupe are occasionally killed by floods, 8008; Supplementary note to “ The Macro-Lepidoptera of Ringwood,” 8077; Description of the larva of Melanippe procellata, 8205; De- scriptions of the larse of Angerona prunaria and Ourapteryx sambu- caria, Corrections in Mr. Newman’s description of the larva of Ennomos erosaria, 8206; Description of the larva of Abraxas ulmata, 8243 GrusB, JONATHAN The wolf-days of Ireland, 7996 Guisz, Captain W. V Parrot crossbill at Cheltenham, 7844 ; Ommastrephes todarus, 7852; Note on Hylurgus piniperda, 7854 Guyon, GEorGE Immense cephalopod near Teneriffe, 7976; Larve of the glowworm, 8180; Jumping spiders, 8202 Hapriexp, Captain Henry Crossbill in England, Gatherings of magpies, 7931; Migration of swal- lows, 7937 ; Concerning a dormouse, 8025 ; Change of plumage in the crossbills and pine grosbeak, 8033 ; Protection of small birds, 8088 ; Migration of swallows, &c., 8162 ; Remarks and observations on the red ant, 82]1; Corvus americanus —Corvus curune of Wilson, 8282; Observations and remarks on Scolo- pax gallinago and Corvus corone of Wilson, 8284 Hammonp, W. OxEnDEN Little gull in Kent, 8003; Orange- legged hobby near Hythe, 8192; Argynnis Lathonia in Britain, 8242 ; Larva of Ourapteryx sambucaria, 8243 Hancock, Joun Caprimulgus ruficollis in England, 7936 Haropine, H. J. Deilephila lineata at Deal, 8051; Larva. of Ennomos erosaria var. canaria, Ennomos alniaria near Deal, 8243; Abundance of young cuckoos at Deal, Hoopoes at Deal, 8283 Hartine, J. E. Singular variety of the chaffinch’s eggs, 8161 Hatriecp, W. P. Glea erythrocephala near Newark, 7853 Heaty, CuaRLes Capture of Athia emortualis, 8296 ; Notes on the food and economy of certain British Micro-Lepidoptera, 8297 Heutuins, Rev. J., M.A. Cidaria immanuata, 8210 HeErricu-ScuHarFreER, Dr. Notes on new or little-known Macro- Lepidoptera from England, 8291 Hewtitson, W. C., F.L.S. The nightingale’s nest, Note on the nightingale, 8099 Hitpesranp, A. H. Goosander and spotted rail in Leices- tershire, 7847 His.op, Rosert Gymnusa brevicollis in Scotland, Rare Scottish Coleoptera, 8301 Hoaan, Rev. A. R. Deposition of eg 7935 Hoxipsworra, E. W. H., F.LS., &c. Birth of Polar bears in the Zoological Gardens, 7876; A suinmary of the history of the Leporines, 7923, 7983 ; An unexpected arrival, 7941 ; Birds of Paradise at the Zoulogical Gar- dens, 8005; Incubation of the python, 8007 ; Young hadgers, 8024 ; Conclusion of the history of the incubation of the python, 8037; Great black woodpecker in the New Forest, 8136 Hous, W. Snipe’s nests in Oxfordshire, 8169 gs by the cuckoo, Vill Hore, Rev. W. S., F.L.S. Variety of partridge, 7881 Hornsy, Hucu Thrush singing in October, 8281 Horsratt, W. Curisty Great snipe near Malham, in York- shire, Black stork near Hartlepool, 8196 Horron, Rev, E., M.A. Lepidoptera of rarer kinds taken at Martinhoe, North Devon, Observa- tions on several Lepidoptera, 7969 ; Capture of Toxocampa Craece in Devonshire, 8179; Acronycta Alni at Worcester, 8244« Hueues, W. R. Notes on sea anemones, 7977, 8263 Hussey, HENRY Pochards in the Serpentine, 7939 Horton, Captain Bruce Helix rufescens of Montagu hairy in the young state, 7977; Is Succinea Pfeifferi a species ? 8138; Unnoticed character in Succinea Pfeifferi, 8171 ' InouBap, PETER Insect transformations—the dragonfly, 8086 Kent, Rosert Capture of Cherocampa Nerii at Hastings, 8172; Cherocampa Ce- lerio at St. Leonard’s-on-Sea, 8204 Kine, 8. Little auk at Sudbury, 7848 Latuaw, A. G. Scales on the wings of Lepidoptera, 7915 Leven, Robert W. Blue eggs of chaffinch, 8235; The sandpiper a diver, 8237 Marruews, Rev. A., M.A. Capture of Cryphalus Abietis and C, Picee near Market Harborough, 7918; Capture of Scydmanus Go- darti and other Coleoptera new to the British Fauna, 7970; A review of the genus Ptinella, 8053 ; Capture of Antherophagus silaceus, Aga- thidium rotundatum and other Co- leoptera, 8084 ; Description of a new species of Ptiuella, 8261 Marruews, H. S. R. Capture of Deilephila lineata at West- bourne, Sussex, 8139 Mawson, GEorGE Captures near Cockermouth, 8079 ; Woodcock breeding near Keswick, Cumberland, 8196 May, J. W. Life-histories of sawflies, translated from the Dutch of M, Snellen van Vollenhoven, 7855, 7887, 8012, 8079, 8175, 8302 M‘Lacatay, R., F.L.S. Note on the habits of Phryganide, 7976; Acronycta Alni at Taverstock, 8210; Xylophasia scolopacina near Hythe, 8211; Micro-Lepidoptera at Mickleham, 8244; Notes on Phry- ganide from South Devon, 8246 Moore, Henry Food-plant of Eupithecia virgaureata, 8208; Lobophora polycommata at Albury, Is Thyatira Batis double- brooded ? 8210; Economy of Acro- nycta Alni, 8211 Mors, A. G., F.L.S. Early arrival of the wheatear, 7998; Early arrival of migratory birds, 8026 Mosszs, D and H. M. Capture of Euthia plicata of Gyllenhal in Britain, Capture of. Stenolopbus derelictus of Dawson ou Wimbledon Common, Capture of Helophorus intermedius of Mulsant near Dover 7854 Newman, Epwarp, F.LS., Z.S., &c. Note on the possible existence of a huge bird allied to the moa, 7847 ; Hymenoptera and Diptera desired, 7854, 8024; In re Leporines, 7879; Puffins in winter, 8003; Crane at Hartlepool, 8005; Pseudogynous specimens of Liparis dispar, 8017; Description of the larva of Orgyia fascelina, 8078; Varieties versus hybrids, 8123; Description of the larva of Ennomos erosaria, 8173; of Petasia nubeculosa, 8174; The lizard snake in the Zoological Gar- dens, 8199; Descriptions of the larve of Tephrosia crepuscularia and Boarmia biundularia, 8207; De- scription of the larva of Epunda lichenea, 8211; Acentropus niveus— its characters and affinities, 8216; Has the giraffe two horns or three? 8221; Effigy of an eagle in copper, 8234; Capture of another specimen of the lizard snake—birth of young ones, 8239 ; Destructive propensities of the larva of Zeuzera Hsculi, 8259 ; Coluber levis identical with C.dum- frisiensis, 8288 ; Description of the © larva of Demas Coryli, 8295; of Lobophora sexalisata, 8296 Newmay, Colonel H. W. The song of birds, 7826, 7930; Mild- ness of the season, 7929; Bees and the art of queen-making, 7973 ; The manner in which the cuckoo de- posits its eggs, 7998; The night- ingale and its nest and song, 8089 ; Destruction of Hymenoptera, 8139 ; Song thrush singing later than usual, 8192; Further notes on the oviposition of the cuckoo, 8194 NeEwrTon, ALFRED, M.A., F.L.S. The nest and eggs of the Bohemian waxwing, 7837; Abstract of Mr. J. Wolley’s researches in Iceland re- specting the gare-fowl or great auk, 8108; Remarks on Pallas’s sand- grouse, 8236; On the geographical distribution of the European fresh- water tortoise, 8238 Newron, Freperick Collecting sea-anemones, 8264 Norman, G Caaing whales in the Humber, 8087 Parritt, Epwarp Musical powers of Agabus bipunctatus, 7974; The hare catching mice, 7983 ; Descriptions of the larve of Phyto- pomus Pollux and P. Rumicis, 8246 Parke, Grorce H. Early appearance of the swallow, 7938 ; Sclavonian grebe at Halifax, 8005 Parsons, C., F.L.S. Capture of the sword fish on the Essex coast, 8289 Parsons, W. E. Singular variety of Pamphila Comma, 8204 Pascor, F. P., F.L.S: Note on Xenocerus semiluctuosus, 8018; Note on Stenidea, Muls., and Blabinotus, Woll., 8144 Perkins, V. R. A curious habit of Agabus uliginosus, 8216; Entomological notes for the year 1861, 8241 Pickarp-Camserince, Rev. O., M.A. List of new and rare spiders captured in 1861, 7945; Descriptions of ten new species of British spiders, 7951 ; Sketch of an arachnological tour in Scotland in 1861, with a list of Scotch spiders, 8041; Note on the supposed discovery of a new British Mygale, 8202 Pottirr, T. Sphinx Convolvuli near Bury, 8204 Power, Joun A., M.D. Capture of two coleopterous insects new to Britain, 8300 Pratt, Henry Bluethroated warbler at Brighton, 8281 VOL. XX. ix Ranson, JoHNn Weasel fascinating small birds, 7879 ; Query about the robin, 7881; Nest- ing of the chimney swallow, 7937 ; First appearance of the cuckoo, 8034 ; Appearance of the swallow in 1862, 8035; Nightingale at Manchester, 8161 Reaping, J. J. , Capture of Deilephila lineata and He- liothis peltigera near Plymouth, 8051; Pentarthrum Huttoni near Plymouth, 8084 Reexs, Henry © Notes ou nests, 8098; Argynnis La- thonia at Swanage, 8204 Roserts, ALFRED Golden eagle near Driffield, 7880 RoBeERTSON, JOHN A new British Mygale, 8172 Ropp, Epwarp HEaRLE Examination of a specimen of Sabine’s snipe, 7882; Re-examination of Sa- bine’s snipe, 7938 ; Wild goose near Penzance, 8002; Squacco heron near Redruth, 8035; Dates of appearance and song of a few of our migratory birds near Penzance, 8037 ; Variety of the turbot, 8199; Common skua near the Land’s End, 8237 Rocrxs, Henry Great spotted woodpecker, little auk and crossbills in the Isle of Wight, 7847; Gray phalarope in the Isle of Wight, 8283; Pomarine skua in the Isle of Wight, 8288 ; Lepidopterous captures in the Isle of Wight, 8296 ; Portuguese men-of-war off the Isle of Wight, 8312 Rocers, WILLIAM Cherocampa Celerio at Upper Tooting, 7971 Ross, B. R: Economic uses of Canadian suckling animals among the Chipewyan In- dians, 7989 Rortrer, JouHn Hoopoe at Keynsham, 8162 Rys, E. C. Coleoptera in Coombe Wood, 8215; Bradycellus collaris, 8246 Savi.e, S. P. Peregrine falcon in Cambridgeshire, Capture of the merlin in Cambridge- shire, 7843; White variety of the blackheaded bunting, 7845 ; Greater spotted woodpecker in Cambridge- shire, 7847; Breeding habits of the petrel, 7840; Unusual number of the grosbeak occurring in Cam- b x bridgeshire, Further notes on the common wren, 7999; Notes on the great spotted woodpecker, 8000; Poisoned grain and destruction of small birds, 8087; Honey buzzard in Cambridgeshire, 8089 ; An essay upon the Dinotherium, 8153; Nor- folk plover in Cambridgeshire, with a few remarks upon its habits, 8168 ; Natural-History notes from Norway, 8170; Curious capture of a hobby, 8192; Sphinx Convolyuli at Cam- bridge, 8204 Saxsy, Henry L. Omithological notes from Edinburgh, 7880; Variety of the common gull, 7883; Notes on the spotted wood- pecker, 7932; Habits of the crested titmouse, 7998; ‘Tenacity of life in an iguana, 8006; Deposition of eggs by the cuckoo, 8164, 8235; Un- usual situation of a sandpiper’s nest, 8169; Nest of the twite, 8194; Cur- lew sandpiper at Rochester, 8237; Sphinx Convolvuli near Sheerness, 8243; Barn owl preying upon fish, Notes upon the migration and song of the skylark, 8281; Manx shear- water at Sheerness, 8287 SHEWELL, JOSEPH Nesting of martins and sparrows, 8194 Smirg, Rev. Atrrep Cuarues, M.A. The apes at Gibraltar, 7985; The nightingale’s nest, 8029 Stainton, H.T., F.LS, Note respecting the Micropteryx bred from hazel-leaves by Herr Kalten- bach, 8260 StranpisH, F. O. Capture of Boletobia fuliginaria in London, 8139 STEDMAN, GEORGE Capture of Teniocampa leucographa at Lindfield, 8008 Srevenson, H. Scops eared owl in Norfolk, 7844; Shore larks, litle auks, gray phala- rope, &c., in Norfolk, 7845; Great spotted woodpecker and little gull on the Norfolk coast, 7846; Shore lark and little owl in Norfolk, 7931 ; Lapland bunting in Norfolk, 8032; Common bittern in Norfolk, 8035 ; Another shore lark in Norfolk, 8090; Sclavonian and eared grebes in Nor- folk in full summer plumage, 8092; Note on the spotted redshank, cas- pian tern, spoonbill, &c., at Yar- mouth, 8093 Srewarp, R. M. Capture of Heliothis peltigera, 8175 Stone, 8S. Acronycta Alni bred in February, Eco- nomy of Volucella larve, 7972; Note on Anomalon Vesparum, 7974 Stowe tt, Rev. Hucu A., M.A. Chit-chat, chiefly ornithological, from the Isle of Man,7848; Additions to Forbes’ ‘Malacologia Monensis,’ 7852; Note on Pionea forficalis, 7853; Notes on the Entomology of the Isle of Man, 7895, 7918, 8024 Stusss, H. Capture of Stauropus Fagi at Henley- on-Thames, 8052 Tuompson, THomAsS Gathering of magpies, 7846; Cream- coloured mole, 7879; Dates of arrival and nesting of birds, 8160 Tyrer, R., jun. Crossbill near Eye, 7881 VARLEY, JAMES Mapx shearwater, thickknee and cross- bills in the neighbourhood of Hud- dersfield, 8005 Waites, GEORGE Note on Bembidium nigricorne, 7981 Wacker, Francis, F.L.S., &c. Note on Argynnis Cybele and A. Aphrodite, 8321 Watuace, ALEXANDER, M.D. Lasiocampa Rubi bred in January, 7917; Great abundance of wasps in 1861, 7918; Note on the ravages of the (currant) sawfly, 8182 WHEELWwrRIGHT, G. On the change of plumage in the crossbills and pine grosbeak, 8001 ; Coluber levis not rare in Sweden, 8289 WiaceLesworry, R. Cyclas pallida in Lancashire, 8172 Wio,W.J. Deilephila lineata at Herne Hill, 8204 Witson, W. Common buzzard at Rifley, near Lynn, 7930; Little gull and little auk near Lynn, 7939 Winter, Joan N. Cherocampa Celerio at Brighton, 8295 WormalLp, Percy C. Prolegs identical with thoracic or true legs, 7854; Pedisca appressana near Willesden, 8245 ; List of Phryganidx taken in 1862, 8308 xl ALPHABETICAL LIST OF SUBJECTS. Abraxas ulmata, description of the larva of, 8243 Acentropus niveus—does it belong to the Lepidoptera or the Phryganeina? 8085; its characters and affinities, 8216 Acronycta Alni bred in February, 7972; at Tavistock, 8210 ; economy of,8211; at Worcester, 8244 Actinia Mesembryanthemum, 7858 Actinoloba Dianthus, 7857 Aithia emortualis, capture of, 8296 Agabus bipunctatus, musical powers of, 7974 » _ uliginosus, curious habit of, 8216 Agathidiuw rotundatum, capture of, 8084 Agelena subfusca, 7947 Agelenide, 7947, 8049 Agrotis lucernea, 8292 » lunigera, 8291 » neglecta, 8292 » _ Suffusa taken at sugar in April, 052 Ainos, among the, 8230 Alauda arborea, 7828 » arvensis, id. Alces americanus, 7992 Anaitis plagiata, 7898 Anarta Myrtilli, 8076 Anemones, sea, of the Mersey and Dee, 7857; notes on, 7977, 8263, 8264 Angerona prunaria, description of the larva of, 8206 Animals, Canadian suckling, economic uses of among the Chipewyan Indians, 7989 Anomalon Vesparum, note on, 7974 Ant, red, remarks and observations on, 8211 Antherophagus silaceus, capture of, 8084 Anthomyia Betz, 7886 Anthomyia, mangold wurzel erops in- jured by a species of, 7885 Authribus albinus at Folkstone, 7853 Anthus pratensis, 7829 Apes at Gibraltar, 7985 Aphodius Zenkeri, 8300 Aplocerus montanus, 7996 Arachnological tour in Scotland, 8041 Argynnis Aphrodite, note on the supposed British specimen of, 7852; note on, 8021 » Cybele, note on, 8021 » Lathonia in Suffolk, 7971; at Swanage, 8204; in Britain, 8242 Arrival, an unexpected, 7941 Auk, little, in Norfolk, 7845; in the Isle of Wight, 7847; at Sudbury, 7848; occurrence of inland, 7883; near Lynn, 7939; great, abstract of Mr. J. Wol- ley’s researches in Iceland respecting, 8108 Badgers, young, 8024 Bear, barren-ground, 7990; black, id.; grizzly, id. Bears, polar, birth of, in the Zoological Gardens, 7876 Beaver, 7991 Bees, on the plan upon which they con- struct their cells, 8009 Bees and the art of queen making, 7907, 7973 Belerophina, recent, capture of in the Indian Ocean, 8200 Bembidium nigricorne, notes on, 7981 Bird, huge, allied to the mea, possible existence of, 7847 Birds, song of, 7825, 7930; small, weasel fascinating, 7879; rare, in Hampshire, 7930; nests of, 7998; migratory, early arrival of, 8026; small, protection of, 8027, 8088; killed by flying against a clock, 8028; migratory, near Pen- zance, dates of appearance and song of, 8037; small, poisoned grain and destruction of, 8087; dates of appear- ance aud vesting of, 8160; rare, near Worcester, 8198 Birds of Paradise at the Zoological Gar- dens, 8005 Bittern, common, in Norfolk, 8035 Blabinotus, note on, 8144 Blackbird, 7828 Blackcap, td. Boarmia biundularia, description of the larva of, 8027 » cinctaria, 7898 » Yepandata, food-plant of, 7971 xi Boletobia fuliginaria, capture of in Lon- don, 8139 Bombyx Rubi, 7898 Bonasia sylvestris, 8278 Bradycellus collaris, 8216 British Association for the Advancement of Science, 8253 Bucculatrix ulmella—mode of life, 8226 ; description of the larva, 8227 Buffalo, 7995 Bunting, blackheaded, white variety of, 7845; Lapland, in Norfolk, 8032 Bustard, little, in Yorkshire, 7938 Buzzard, roughlegged, near Bishop Stort- ford, 7844; common, at Rifley, near Lynn, 7930; honey, in Cambridge- shire, 8089; breeding of, in the New Forest, 8159 Caprimulgus ruficollis in England, 7936 Captures near Cockermouth, 8079; near York, 8242 ; Lepidopterous, in the Isle of Wight, 8296 Castor canadensis, 7991 Cephalopod, immense, near Teneriffe, 7976 Cepbennium intermedium, id. Chaffinch’s egg, curious variety of, 8091, 8161, 8193, 8235 Chit-chat, chiefly ornithological, from the Isle of Man, 7848 Cherocampa Celerio at Upper Tooting, 7971; at St. Leonard’s-on-Sea, 8204 ; at Brighton, 8295 35 Elpenor, 8066 5 Nerii, capture of at Hast- ings, 8172 Cicada hematodes, 8180 Cidaria immanata, 8210 Cimbex Betuleti, 8012 Ciniflonide, 7947, 7960, 8049 Claviger foveolatus near Blandford, 8084 Clubiona assimilata, 7947 ; description of, 7953 » deinognatha, 7947; description of, 7957 » diversa, 7947; description of, 7959 » Deglecta, 7947; description of, 7955 » trivialis, 7947 Coccus of the rose, 7894 Cock, storm, 7829 Cenovympha Mandane, 8124 Coleophora Ideella, 7903 Coleoptera at Folkstone, 7853; on raking for, 7921; new to the British Fauna, 7975; new to Britain, notice of two species of, 8083; capture of, 8084; found in company with Formica fuli- ginosa, 8139; list of, taken in the New Forest, 8141; in Coombe Wood, 8215; capture of two new to Britain, 8300 ; rare Scottish, 8301; in the New Forest, zd. Coluber levis identical with C. dum- frisiensis, 8288; not rare in Sweden, 8289 Coriscium sulphurellum, 8244 Corvus americanus, 8282 » corone, 8282, 8284 Cossus ligniperda, 8067 Crane at Hartlepool, 8005 Creeper, tree; nesting of, 8162 Crossbill, parrot, at Cheltenham, 7844 ; near Lye, 7881; in England, 7931; near Colchester, 8032 Crossbills, in the Isle of Wight, 7847 ; on the change of plumage in, 8001, 8033 ; in the neighbourhood of Huddersfield, 8005 Crustacea, parasitic, new group of, 8202 Cryphalus Abietis near Market Har- borough, 7918 PA Picew near Market Har- borough, id. Cuckoo, deposition of eggs by, 7935, 7998, 8000, 8164, 8194, 8235; first appearance of, 8034 Cuckoo’s egg in reed warbler’s nest, 7845 Cuckoos, young, abundance of at Deal, 8283 Cucullia Verbasci, 8076 Cyclas, characters of a supposed new, 8200 Cyclas pallida in Lancashire, 8172 Deilephila lineata at Deal, 8051; near Plymouth, id.; capture of at Colches- ter, 8052; at Westbourne, 8139; at Herne Hill, 8204 Demas Coryli, description of the larva of, 8295 Dianthecia capsophila, 8292 Didunculus strigirostris, extinction of, 7868 Dinotherium, an essay upon the, 8153 Diplodoma marginepunctella, carnivo- rous propensity and economy of the larva of, 8297 Diptera and Hymenoptera desired, 7854, 8024 Ditula semifasciana, 7969 Diver, redthroated, white specimen of, 8002; blackthroated, near Scarborough, 8005 Dormouse, 8025 Dragonfly, 8086 Dragonflies captured at sea, 7976 Drasside, 7947, 7953, 8049 Duck, clever, 7883 Ducks, how they fatten in China, 8196 Dysderide, 8051 Xi Eagle, golden, near Driffield, 7880 ; effi- gy of in copper, 8234 Egg, cuckoo’s, in reed warbler’s nest, 7845; chaffinch’s, curious variety of, 8091, 8161, 8193 Eggs of Bohemian waxwing, 7837; of cuckoo, 7935, 7998, 8000, 8164, 8194, 8235; of Dartford warbler, 8193 Ennomos alniaria near Deal, 8243 * erosaria, description of the larva of, 8173, 8206 +s >» var. canaria, 8243 Entomological Club, 7914 Entomological notes for the year 1861, 8241 Entomological Society, proceedings of, 7859, 7905, 7978, 8016, 8060, 8100, 8142, 8181, 8217, 8258 ‘ Entomologist’s Annual’ for 1862, 7870 Entomology, photography applicable to, 7901 - Entomology of the Isle of Man, 7895, 7918, 8024 Epéira bella, 7950 calva, zd. lutea, id. 3 Sericata, zd. Epéiride, 7950, 8050 Epunda lichenea, description of the larva of, 8211 Ergatis arborea, 7947; description of, 7960 Eulepia cribrum, 8067 Eupithecia arceuthata and E. helveticata —are they distinct ? 8052 assimilata, 7969 debiliata, td., 8209; larva of, ” ” »” 8209 indigata, description of the 8174 pulchellata, larva of, 8209 ” larva of, ” iS pumilata, 7898; food-plant of, 7971 F subciliata, 8295 3 tripunctata, is it double- brooded ? 8209 3 viminata, description of the larva of, 8174 x virgaureata, food-plant 8208 ; duuble-broodedness of, 8209 Eurydice pulchra at Banff, 8138 Euthia plicata, capture of, in Britain, 7854 Falcon, peregrine, in Cambridgeshire, 7843, of, Fauvette, 7829 Fidonia piniaria, 8071 Fish, spontaneous production of, 7869 ; barn owl preying upon, 8281; sword, capture of on the Essex coast, 8289 Formica fuliginosa, Coleoptera found in company with, 8139 Foxes, 7990 Frog, living, found in coal, 8007 Gare-fowl, abstract of Mr. J. Wolley’s researches in Iceland respecting, 8108 Geese and swans of Hudson’s Bay, 7831 Giraffe—has it two horns or three ? 8221 Gleza erythrocepbala near Newark, 7853 Glowworm, larvz of, 8180 Glycerine, on the use of for preserving shells, 8051 Gnophos obscurata, 7898 Goat, mountain, 7996 Goosander in Leicestershire, 78473; note on the, 7848 Goose, Egyptian, at Alton, 7883, 8005; near Dublin, 7939; wild, near Pen- zance, 8002 Gosse, Philip Henry, F.R.S., ‘The Ro- mance of Natural History,’ 7865 Grant, Robert E., M.D.,* Tabular View of the Primary Divisions of the Animal Kingdom, 7875 Grebe, rednecked, at Plymouth, 7848; Sclavonian, at Halifax, 8005; in Nor- folk, in full summer plumage, 8092; eared, in Norfolk, in full summer plumage, id. Grosbeak, unusual number of in Cam- bridgeshire, 7999 ; pine, on the change of plumage in, 8001, 8033 * Grub, gooseberry, and cuckoo, 8282 Gull, little, on the Norfolk coast, 7846 ; Iceland, at Plymouth, 7848, 8036; common, variety of, 7883 ; little, 7939 ; near Lynn, ‘¢d.; at Plymouth, 7940; in Kent, 8003; Sabine’s, in Dublin Bay, 8093 Gymnusa brevicollis in Scotland, 8301 Hare catching mice, 7983 Hare, dead, three ravens feeding on, at Higham, 7932 Heart surviving the body, and body sur- viving the heart, 7849 Heliothis marginata, 7899 peltigera near Plymouth, 8051 ; ” ? capture of, 8175 Helix rufescens of Montagu hairy in the young state, 7977 Helophorus intermedius, capture of, near Dover, 7354 Heron, squacco, near Redruth, 8035 Hobby curious capture of, 8192 ; orange- legged, near Hythe, id. Hoopoe in Essex, 8034; at Keynsham, 8162; at Deal, 8283; in Surrey, id. Hybrids versus varieties, 8123 Hylurgus piniperda, note on, 7854 Hymenoptera, destruction of, 8139 X1V Hymenoptera and Diptera desired, 7854, 8024 Iguana, tenacity of life in an, 8006; not an inhabitant of Tasmania, 8289 Insect gravedigger, 8245 . Insect transformations, 8086 Insect life in 1861, notes on some pecu- liarities of, 8240 Insects, wings of fresh from the pupa, is the growth of affected by the tempera- ture ? 7970; Coleopterous, capture of two new to Britain, 8300 ‘Intelligencer,’ late, periodical of the nature of wanted, 7970; will 1862 pass over without an? 8053 Jenyns, Rev. Leonard, M.A., F.LS., '¢Memoir of the Rev. John Stevens Henslow, M.A., F.L.S.,’ 8130 Kestrel, note on the food of, 7844 Knot in Lancashire in August, and its eastern range, 8287 Lapwing, white specimen of, 8002 Lark, shore, in Norfolk, 7845, 7931, 8090 ; short-toed, in Hampshire, 7950; sky, migration and song of, 8281 Larva of Zygena Minos, 7871, 7872 ; of Scotosia dubitata, 7972; of S. rham- nata, id.; of S. vetulata, id.; of Or- gyia fascelina, 8078, 8172, 8249; of Ennomos erosaria, 8173, 82063; of Eu- pithecia indigata, 8174; of E, vimi- nata, id:; of Petasia nubeculosa, id ; of Melanippe procellata, 8205; of An- gerona prunaria, 8206; of Ourapteryx sambucaria, 8206, 8243; of Tephrosia crepuscularia, 8207; of Boarmia bi- undularia, zd.: of Eupithecia debiliata, 8209 ; of E. pulchellata, id. ; of Epun- da lichenea, 8211 ; of Bucculatrix ul- mella, 8227; of Nepticula argentipe- della, 8229; of N. atricollis, 8230; of Ennomos alniaria, 8243; of E. ero- saria var. cauaria, id.; of Abraxas ul- mata, zd.; of Phytonomus Pollux, 8246; of P. Rumicis, td.; of Zeuzera ZEsculi, destructive propensities of, 8259; of Demas Coryli, 8295 ; of Lo- bophora sexalisata, 8296; of Diplo- doma marginepuuetella, carnivorous propensity and economy of, 8297; of Talezporia pseudo-bombycella, carnivo- rous propensity of, 8298 ; of Micropte- ryx calthella, suggestion as to the probable food of, 8299; of M. Sep- pella, suggestion as to the probable food of, id.; a scented Micropteryx, 8300 Larve, Volucella, economy of, 7972; of the glowworm, 8180; Micropte- ryx, infested by a dipterous larva, 8300 Lasiocampa Rubi bred in January, 7917 Lebia cyanocephala, 7900 Legs, thoracic or true, prolegs identical with, 7854 Lepidoptera, breeding of varieties in, 7906 ; scales on the wings of, 7915 ; rarer kinds of, taken at Martinhoe, North Devon, 7969; observations on several, id.; captured in 1862, 8203 Lepidopterous captures in the Isle of Wight, 8296 Leporines, 7879 ; a summary of the his- tory of, 7923, 7983 Lepus americanus, 7991 Linyphia circumspecta, 7948 Es flavipes, id. Sy frenata, id. a longidens, id. on obscura, zd. 5 triangularis, zd. Linyphiide, 7948, 7964, 8049 Liparis dispar, pseudogynous specimen of, 8017 Lithosia molybdeola, 8294 » pygmeola, zd. a stramiveola, id. Lobophora polycommata at Albury, 8210 oS sexalata, 8072 if sexalisata, description of the larva of, 8296 Lophyrus Pini, 7887 similis, 8302 Lycoside, 8048 Macro- Lepidoptera of Ringwood, 8065 ; from England, on some new or little- known, 8291 Magpies, gathering of, 7846, 7931 ; large flocks of, 7881 ; notes about, 8162 * Malacologia Monensis,’ Forbes’, addi- tions to, 7852 Mamestra Brassice, 8074 Marmots, 7990 Martin, sand, nests of in the walls of an old priory, 7844 Martins, nesting of, 8194 Melanippe procellata, description of the larva of, 8205 Memoir of the Rev. John Stevens Henslow, M.A., F.L.S.,’ 8130 ¢‘ Memoir of Thomas Bewick, 8145 Merlin, note on, 7843; capture of in Cambridgeshire, ¢d.; near Alton, 7880 ; breeding of in the New Forest, 8159 Miana literosa, 7899 Mice, hare catching, 7983 Micro-Lepidoptera at Mickleham, 8244 ; certain British, notes on the food and economy of, 8297 Micropteryx bred from hazel-leaves, 8260; a scented larva of, 8300; larve infested by a dipterous larva, 8300 XV Micropteryx calthella, probable food of the larva of, 8299 S Seppella, probable food of the larva of, id. Milvus melanotis, 8274 Moa, possible existence of a huge bird allied to, 7847 Mole, cream-coloured, 7879 Moose, 7992 Mygale, new British, 8172; note on the supposed discovery of a new British, 8202 Names, obsolete, proposed restoration of, 8022 Natural History notes from Norway, 8170 ’ * Natural History of the Tineina,’ 7874, 8225 : Nematus septentrionalis, 8175 os vallator, 7855 Nepticula argentipedella—mode of life, 8229; description of the larva, id. a5 atricollis—mode of life, 8230; description of the larva, zd. Neriene affinis, 7949 » bituberculata, zd. » corticea, 7948; description of, 7964 » €¢levata, 7948; description of, 7966 » flavipes, 7949 » herbigrada, zd. » higra, id. » pygmea, id. » vagans, 7948 » ventricosus, 8079 Nest of Bohemian waxwivg, 7837; of sand martin, 7844; of reed warbler, cuckoo’s egg in, 7845; -of chimney swallow, 7937; of pied wagtail, 7997 ; of blackbird, zd. ; of spotted flycatcher, ad.; of chaffinch, id.; of magpie, id.; of hedge accentor, id.; of blackcap, 7998; of nightingale, 8029, 8089, 8099, 8160; of tree creeper, 8162; of ~ snipe, 8169; of sandpiper, unusual situation of, id.; of martin, 8194; of sparrow, id.; of twite, 2d. Nestor productus, extinction of, 7868 Nests, notes on, 8098 Newton, Alfred, M.A.,‘On the Zoology of Ancient Europe, 8185 Nightingale, 7526, 8099; nest of, 8029, 8099, 8160; nest and song of, 8089; at Manchester, 8161 Nonagria concolor, 8293 Northern Entomological Society, pro- ceedings of, 7901, 8248 Octonoculina, 7951, 8048 Octopus, singular capture of an, 8240 (Estrus, note on a species of, 8023 Ommastrephes todarus, 7852 Orgyia Erice, 8017 » fascelina, description of the larva of, 8078; notes on, 8172, 8249 Oriole, golden, in Essex, 8032 Ornithological notes from Edinburgh, 7880 Ornithology of Northern Japan, 8270 Ourapteryx sambucaria, description of the larva of, 8206; larva of, 8243 Ovibos moschatus, 7995 Owl, shorteared, near Bishop Stortford, 7844; scops eared, in Norfolk, id. ; little, in Norfolk, 7931; barn, preying upon fish, 8281 Ox, musk, 7995 Pachygnata Clerckii, 7949 = Listeri, id. Pedisca oppressana near Willesden, 8245 Pamphila Comma, singular variety of, 8204 Parus rubidus, 8275 Pentarthrum Huttoni near Plymouth, 8084 Petasia nubeculosa, description of the larva of, 8174 Petrel, breeding habits of, 7940 Pettichaps, 7829 Phalarope, gray, in Norfolk, 7845; in the Isle of Wight, 8283 Philodromus elegans, 7946 - ' pallidus, zd. Philopotamus scoticus, 7871 Phytonomus Pollux, description of the larva of, 8246 x Rumicis, description of the larva of, id. Phryganidz, note on the habits of, 7976 ; list of, taken in 1862, 8308; from South Devon, notes on, 8246 Pieris, genus, plumules in the wings of, 4 Pionea forficalis, note on, 7853 Plover, Norfolk, in Cambridgeshire, 8168 Pochards in the Serpentine, 7939 Podiceps minor, 8279 Porcupines, 7991 Portuguese men-of-war off the Isle of Wight, 8312 Pratas Island, a visit to, 8183 Psyche roboricolella, economy of, 8298 Ptenidium Formicetorum, 7976 Ptinella, a review of the genus, 8053; description of a new species of, 8260 Ptinella Maria, description of, 8059 » Proteus, 8262 Puffins in winter, 8003 XVl Pupa, wings of insects fresh from the, is the growth of affected by the temper- ature ? 7970 Pupa, are they killed by floods ? 7969 ; destroyed by a caterpillar, 7970; are occasionally killed by floods, 8008 Pyrausta purpuralis, 7899 Python, incubation of the, 8007 ; conclu- sion of the history of, 8037 Pythoness, great, at the Zoological Gar- dens, 7941 Rabbit, 7991 Rail, spotted, in Leicestershire, 7847 Rangifer arcticus, 7993 Pe caribou, id. Rat, snake, notes on, 7983 Ravens, three feeding on a dead hare at Higham, 7932 Redshank, spotted, 8093 Redstart, black, at Southampton, 8032 ; in the county of Dublin, 8034 Reindeer, 7993 Robin, 7829 ; query about the, 7881 ‘Romance of Natural History, 7865 Rose, coccus of the, 7894 Sagartia miniata, 7858 A Troglodytes, id. . viduata, zd. Salticide, 7945, 8048 Salticus fasciatus, 7945, » floricola, zd. » nhidicolens, zd. » quinque-partitus, id. » Teticulatus, 7946 » tardigradus, zd. Sand-grouse, Pallas’s, remarks on, 8236 Sandpiper, green, at Leyton, 7939; un- usual situation of a nest of, 8169; common, a diver, 8195, 8237, 8283; curlew, at Rochester, 8237 Sawflies, life-histories of, 7855, 7887, 8012, 8079, 8175, 8302 Sawfly (currant), note on the ravages of, 8182 Scaritarchus Midas, 8220 Science, on the opportunities of ad- vancing, enjoyed by the mercantile marine, 8094, 8105 Scodiona belgiaria, 8071 Scolopax gallinago and Corvus corone of Wilson, uvbservations and remarks on, 8284 Scotosia dubitata, description of the larva of, 7972 53 rhamnata, description of the larva of, id. e undulata, 7969 3 vetulata, description of the larva of, 7972 Scydmenus Godarti, 7975 Scydmenus pumilio, 7975. Season, mildness of the, 7929 Selidosema plumaria, 8071 Senoculina, 8051 Serica brunnea, 7918 Serpent, sea, 7850, 7851 Sesia Scolieformis, capture of, 8172 Shearwater, manx, in the neighbourhood of Huddersfield, 8005 ; at Sheerness, 8287 Shells, on the use of glycerine for pre- serving, 8051 Shrew, curious habit of, 8192 Shrike, great gray, at Jevington, Sussex, 881 Sitta roseilia, 8276 Skua, common, near the Land’s End, 8237 ; pomarine, in the Isle of Wight, 8288 Skylark, 7828 Snails, temperature of, 8201 Snake, lizard, in the Zoological Gardens, 8199; capture of another specimen of —birth of young ones, 8239 Snipe, Sabine’s, examination of a speci- men of, 7882, 7938 ; variety of, 7938 ; note on, 8000; jack, id.; Sabine’s, note on, 8035; nests of, in Oxford- shire, 8169; great, near Malham, in Yorkshire, 8196 Sparrows, nesting of, 8194 Specific or race forms, on the mutability of, 8249 Sphinx Convolvuli at Cambridge, 8204 ; near Bury, id. ; near Sheerness, 8243 Spider’s web, viscid lines in, 7884 Spiders, list of new and rare, captured in 1861, 7945; British, descriptions of ten new species of, 7951 ; Scotch, list of, 8041 ; jumping, 8202; lecture on, 8290 Spoonbill, 8093 ; in Surrey, 8283 Stainton, H. T., &c., ‘ Natural History of the Tineina, 7874, 8225 Stauropus Fagi, capture of at Henley- on-Thames, 8052 Stenidea, note on, 8144 Stenolophus derelictus, capture of, on Wimbledon Common, 7854 Stilbia anomala, 7899 Stork, black, near Hartlepool, 8196 Succinea Pfeifferi, is it a species? 8138; unnoticed character in, 8171 Sugar and sallows, 8023 Swallow, chimney, nesting of, 7937; early appearance of, 7938 ; appear- ance of the, in 1862, 8035 Swallows, migration of, 7937, 8162 Swans and geese of Hudson’s Bay, 7831 Sylvia atricapilla, 7828 XVil Sylvia atricapilla, 7828 » _ luscinia, 7826 » rubécula, 7829 ‘Tabular View of the Primary Divisions of the Animal Kingdom,’ 7875 Tachyusa coarctata, 8300 Teniocampa leucographa at Lindfield, 8008 Talzporia pseudo-hombycella, carnivo- rous propensity of the larva of, 8298 Tapinostola Bondii, 8293 Tealia crassicornis, 7858 Tegenaria silvicola, 7947 Tench found in the Moray Firth, 8138 Tephrosia crepuscularia, description of the larva of, 8207 Tern spotted, 8093 Theridiide, 7948, 7962, 8049 ~ Theridion angulatum, 7948 3 projectum, 7948; description of, 7962 : 59 tinctum, 7948 Thicknee in the neighbourhood of Hud- dersfield, 8005 Thomiside, 7946, 7951, 8048 Thomisus Cambridgii, 7949 3a floricolens, zd. as incertus, id, a5 Lanio, id. a Morio, id. Bf simplex, 7946; description of, 7951 3 trux, 7946 9 versutus, td. Thrush, song, 7827; missel, 7829; song, singing later than usual, $192; singing in October, 8281 Thyatira Batis—is it double-broooded ? $210 Titlark, 7829 Titmouse, crested, habits of, 7998 Toad, life-sustaining power of the, 8007 ; found in digging clay for bricks, 8136 Tortoise, European fresh-water, georra- phical distribution of, 8238; fresh- Rater, an inhabitant of Great Britain, id, Toxocampa Cracee, capture of in Devon- shire, 8179; descriptions of the imago and pupa, 8180 Trichopteryx attenuata, 7975 =f Guerinii, id. Tripbena subsequa, 8075 Turbot, variety of, 8199 Turdus merula, 7828 » musicus, 7827 » Viscivorus, 7829 Tychius brevicornis, 8064 » hzematocephalus, 8062 » junceus, 8063 Tychius Kirbii, ¢d. » Meliloti, 8064 » higrirostris, id. » polylineatus, 8062 » Schneideri, 8064 » tomentosus, 8063 ‘Unity of System,’ 8265 Ursus americanus, 7990 » arctos, zd. » horribilis, zd. Varieties in Lepidoptera, breeding of, 7906 Varieties, note on, 8019 Variety breeding, notes on, 7903 Variety of blackheaded bunting, 7845; of partridges, 7881; of common gull, 7883 ; of snipe, 7938 ; of the chaffinch’s egg, 8091, 8161, 8893, 8235; of the turbot, 8199; singular, of Pamphila Comma, 8204 Varieties versus hybrids, 8123 Volucella larve, economy of, 7972 Walckeniera antica, 7949 A bicolor, id. * borealis, 7949 ; description of, 7967 : = cristata, 7949 em humilis, zd. S nemoralis, td. 5 pratensis, zd. = unicornis, @d. Warbler, reed, cuckoo’s egg in nest of, 7845; Dartford, breeding of in the New Forest, 8160; number and eggs of, 8193; bluethroated, at Brighton, 8281 Wasps, great abundance of in 1861, 7918; on the plan upon which they construct their cells, 8009 Waxwiug, Bohemian, nest and eggs of, 7837 Weasel fascinating smalls birds, 7879 Whales, caaing, in the Humber, 8087 Wheatear, early arrival of, 7998 Wolf-days of Ireland, 7996 Woodcock breeding near Keswick, Cum- berland, 8196 Woodlark, 7828 Wovdpecker, great spotted, 7846; in the Isle of Wight, 7847; in Cam- bridgeshire, id.; spotted, notes on, 7932; great spotted, notes on, 8000; great black, breeding in the New Forest, §091, 8136 Woodpigeon, singular instance of nidifi- cation of, 8035 Wren, food of, 7881, 7935, 7999; com- mon, fnrther notes on, 7999 Xenocerus semiluctuosus, 8018 note on, d XVlll Xylophasia scolopacina near Hythe, Zeuzera Msculi, destructive proporties 82) 1 of the larva of, 8259 Xysmatodoma melanella, ecouomy of, ‘ Zvology of Ancient Enrope,’ 8185 8298 Zygena Minos, var. Heringi, larve of, Zelleria hepariella, 8244 7871; In Ireland, 8205 »» insignipennella, id. PREFACE. To wriTE a preface after a volume is considered the right thing. There is no other course open. But a preface may have a multitude of phases,—the apologetic, the vainglorious, the mock modest, the trifling, the profound, the philosophical, the argumentative, the depre- catory, the retrospective, the historical, and so forth: still, to the best of my knowledge, I have never read a prospective preface, a preface that ignores the past and looks only to the future. Such a preface is simply impossible ; the future itself is built upon the past, and so must be a preface: nevertheless I incline to make an experiment,—to pro- ject the shadows of the past into the future. , How numerous are the zoological problems still unsolved! How well worthy are they of solution! How many active minds desire their solution! How many of us would have declared the existence of a feathered reptile impossible! And granting that the history of a feathered reptile has been printed on the lithographic stone of Solen- hofen, a question adhuc sub judice, where in our system shall we place such a monster? What a subject for the systematist. How can we cut this gordian knot. Shall we deny the existence of such a creature ? Shall we assert that all the pterodactyles were birds? Shall we say “let bygones be bygones,” and maintain that extinct animals form no part of our systems ; just as those who fear lest some future Darwin should deduce their descent from a gorilla, assert that man is not an animal, that he forms no part of the animal kingdom? Shall we hold with the author of Omphalos that fossil bones were created with and of the rocks? What a fertile subject for conjecture is here! what a field for enquiry ! In Ornithology how many problems yet await solution! What was the dodo? “A dove,” replies the comparative anatomist, and with great subtlety has he argued his point, with a profound knowledge has xx he argued his point; so good a case has he established that every chamber student believes the dodo to have been a gigantic dove, and that when the poet rapturously exclaims “Ob that I had pinions fleet as those that bear The dove exulting through the realms of air ”* he was wishing himself a dodo—pious aspiration !—and was in spirit forestalling the discovery that our philosophers claim as their own. Again, the familiar cuckoo ; her history is very incomplete. Some say the cuckoo feeds her own young one; some say she haunis the neighbourhood of that young onesimply as a guardian, or ratheras akind of umpire to see fair play between the cuckoo squab and its unweary- ing step-mother. And how does the cuckoo get her egg into the nest of the hedgesparrow? Does she lay it after the approved manner of birds, decently in the nest, and hide it with lichens and cover it with feathers? Or does she first deposit her treasure on some mossy bed, and then transferring it to her throat, or her beak, or her foot, so aptly fashioned for such a purpose, carry it about while she seeks a home suitable for the board, lodging and education of the juvenile cuckoo it is destined to produce? And does she “suck birds’ eggs,” whether “to make her voice clear” or for any other occult purpose? And do the hairs of the hairy caterpillars she devours, “stick in her stomach and cover it with a coating of plush?” All these statements have been made: why not inquire into their truth or falsehood ? The change of plumage in many birds, first intelligibly described by the really illustrious Waterton, that true friend of the feathered tribes, is a subject of the highest possible interest. The naturalist of Walton Hall treats of it especially in the drake, but I believe it is of very general occurrence, a great number of species, especially their males, assuming a nuptial dress of peculiar beauty, and losing it again as soon as the breeding season has past. “ About the 24th of May,” says Mr. Waterton, “ the breast and back of the drake exhibit the first appearance of a change of colour. In a few days after this the curled feathers above the tail drop out, and gray feathers begin to appear amongst the lovely green plumage which surrounds the eyes. Every succeeding day now brings marks of rapid change. By the 23rd of June scarcely one single green feather is to be seen on the head and neck of the bird. By the 6th of July every feather of the former brilliant * C. H. Townsend’s ‘ Jerusalem.’ Xxi plumage has made its disappearance, and the male has received a garb like that of the female, though of a somewhat darker tint. In the early part of August this new plumage begins to change gradually; and by the 10th of October the drake will appear again in all his rich magnificence of dress, than which scarcely anything throughout the whole wild field of nature can be seen more lovely or better arranged to charm the eye of man.”* Mr. Waterton speaks of this change of colour as a “double annual moulting,” but I have grave doubts whether each change is a moulting, in the common acceptation of the term; and in years long bygone I have made many attempts to invite the attention of naturalists to this most interesting question. In March and April the drake has the distinguishing plumage of his sex ; in June, July and August he wears the plumage of the duck; in October, November and December he is again arrayed in his own beautiful livery. Now the questions to be solved are these. First. Are the feathers worn in March and April actually different feathers from those worn in June and July? Secondly. Are the feathers worn in June and July actually different feathers from those worn in October? Ifso, then is Mr. Waterton right {in calling it a “double annual moulting.” But another suggestion has been made, and is partially supported by some observations of my own, namely, that the individual feathers, still’ remaining zn situ, undergo a change in colour. This inquiry is by no means to be confined to the drake: gulls, plovers, linnets, and very many other birds, undergo a double change somewhat similar, but the change in different species is not synchronous; thus in several species the brilliant or nuptial plumage is assumed in spring; in others, of which the drake is the familiar example, late in the autumn. I must acknowledge the service done to Science by the entomologist, in preserving a series of varieties, although not with the intention of using them for educational purposes: would that the ornithologist would do the same! would that he would condescend to show us those progressive changes in colour which have their meaning and their teaching. Let him affix to each specimen the date when it was killed: he might also indicate his own opinion as to age or sex, as SOP male,” “2? bird of the year,” “? adult.”. The date would be an incontrovertible fact, and’ therefore always of the highest value. The owner's opinion of the sex and age would often be valuable; in the instance of a Doubleday, a Gould, a Hewitson, a Bond and a few * Waterton’s ‘ Essays on Natural History,’ 1st series, p. 201 XXii others it would be particularly acceptable. How few are there at this moment who can distinguish the sexes of the nightingale, the robin, the wren, the moorhen, or twenty other most familiar birds! Is not this knowledge worth acquiring ? There is yet another subject, the facts of which are familiar and in- disputable, and the digest of facts and theories thereon have been rarely attempted by our ornithologists,* while our entomologists, who possess perfect means, attempt no explanation or investigation what- ever. I allude to the local appearance, disappearance or apparent extinction of particular species. In this island the bustard, the crane and the stork have become extinct almost without a thought, without a lament; while the kite, formerly existing round London in great abundance, and valued as a scavenger, has taken himself to the hills and is unknown near the towns. But it is to entomologists I would especially appeal. Is it not worth their while to inquire why Limenitis Sybilla has deserted Coombe Wood; why Vanessa C-album is extinct at Birch Wood; why Poly- ommatus Hippothée has disappeared from the fens; and what has become of Lycena Acis in Herefordshire, and Leucophasia Sinapis at Darenth? Again, why do Lycena beetica and Pieris Daplidice occa- . sionally visit our Kent and Sussex coasts, but never remain to breed ? Where has Noctua subrosea secreted itself? Some of these questions are answered without difficulty, such as that about the stork; but how shall we account for the disappearance of Lyczena Acis, which at Leo- minster in 1832 was certainly the most common of all the blues, and which has never been persecuted. I am not aware that a single speci- men has been seen in that locality for thirty years. Its food-plant cannot have failed; its pupe cannot have been drowned, as water never rests on the hill sides where the insect once abounded; no fens have been drained; no common land enclosed; no alteration has taken place in the temperature. Let us still pursue Entomology and investigate the connection be- tween cuckoo-bees and their hosts; wondrous associations, and for what purpose ? Where is the cuz bono of this friendly compact? Is the number of bees diminished, their increase checked, and why should it be checked? Is the increase of bees too rapid, and is the cuckoo * T cannot forbear alluding to the laborious éxertions of the late Mr. Strickland in the dodo book to which I have already alluded; and also to those of the late Mr. Wolley and Mr. Newton into the history of the northern penguin as instances. XXiil larva fed by its foster-parent, and with the same food? The same questions may be applied to Chrysis and Odynerus, Ripiphorus and Vespa, Sitaris and Anthophora. Some little, but, alas! very little, light has been thrown on the economy of Stylops, and still less on that of Melée, the food and growth of which in its active hexapodal state is yet unknown to us. What a vast field of conjecture is opened up by the discovery of isomyious pairs! What is the teaching of this phenomenon? How is it that beings beginning life with such exceeding difference, should approach so nearly in their ultimate state, that they are scarcely to be distinguished from each other? The familiar instance of the two Acronyctas, Psi and tridens, first called my attention to this. It is now made manifest by a hundred examples; the most recent are _ those of Lophyrus rufus and L. similis, worked out by Vollenhoven, and Eupithecia fraxinata and E. innotata, discovered by Mr. Crewe. Whither does this discovery tend, and in what does it differ from Mr. Darwin’s dimorphism? Are the isomyious pairs really distinct, and are the dimorphous pairs really identical as species? We know it is asserted that a cowslip may produce a primrose, and that primrose a cowslip, and so on throughout countless generations. In like manner Volucella plumata may produce Volucella bombylans, and Volucella bombylans, Volucella plumata; and so on through endless alterations. Colias Edusa produces Colias Helice, and Colias Helice produces Colias Edusa. Then among the Aphides we have alternations of generations with great regularity, of which Mr. Walker would furnish much more information than any other entomologist. Even the com- mon gooseberry grub of the spring becomes the currant grub of the autumn ; it eats other food and until lately has borne another name. How wonderful are these things! How worthy of our investigation ! The question of uniting or keeping separate the Phryganide and Lepidoptera is still unsettled. The presence of scales or hairs is perfectly valueless as distinctive, or Mormonia must be a Lepidopteron and Psyche a Phryganea: the more this subject is investigated the more difficult does it become to draw any definite line of demarcation. There is no lepidopterous or phryganidous character that possesses the important attribute of constancy; and no one, as I have lately shown, has yet attempted to fix the systematic position of Acentria by actual investigation and comparison of all its characters. The immense, the insuperable difficulty of separating these groups leads me to the XXIV conclusion that they are inseparable. So again with the Perlide. I can find no difference of importance between these and the Achetide; either in their mouth, their wings or their metamorphosis; and there- fore 1 am quite disposed to annex the former to the latter. Again let me invite attention to life-histories of our common insects, those concerning which there is no question of specific identity involved. Let me entreat my contributors to descrive the larve of our Satyride and Lycenidz from nature ; it is discreditable for us to copy copies of descriptions, and continue to apply them to insects the names of which have been repeatedly changed. Great praise is due to Mr. Stainton for his life-histories of Micro-Lepidoptera, but why stop here ? Why deny to Macroes that careful and minute attention which we are always gratified to find accorded to the Microes? Let no one listen to the cuckoo-cry that isolated histories are useless: they are the pith and marrow of Entomology, the nerves and sinews of the science. How puerile the idea that a man is never to publish until he is omni- scient, until he has exhausted the secrets of Nature! Who may expect to attain this perfection? The very best informed amongst us are but learners, and those who are the most modest and the least pretend- ing are the most likely to evolve the truth. I trust the contributors to the ‘ Zoologist’ will enter on these and other kindred subjects too numerous even to mention, and in that truth-seeking spirit which for twenty years has characterised its pages. Let every question be discussed with kind and gentlemanly feeling, and let every beginner bear in mind that here at least he will be pro- tected from that overbearing and dictatorial contradiction, that inso- lent depreciation of rising merit which has disgusted so many with a science which they had previously believed guaranteed them from such unmannerly attacks, but whether in the pages of the ‘ Zoologist’ or the meetings of a society, let every votary of our science be assured that he who flippantly depreciates, dogmatises or contradicts is sure to be in the wrong. ‘Time has already shown the truth of these remarks. ; EpWArD NEWMAN. 9, Devonshire Street, Bishopsgate, November 12, 1862. THE ZOOLOGIST 2 FOR 1862. The Song of Birds. By Colonel H. W. Newman. Tuis subject is treated of in Dr. Bechstein’s work on cage birds, and I wish to mention to the ornithological readers of the ‘ Zoologist’ a few observations made during my experience. Mr. Broderip is of opinion that love and rivalry are the main causes of their song, but in reply to this our beautiful songster the thrush sings a few days in October, and, in mild weather, often in the third week of November, and frequently most of December; but in these months the thrush is perched a great deal higher from the ground, and consequently not so well heard as in the breeding season in the spring, when he is nearer his nest. I have never heard the wild thrush sing in September, but in late summers frequently a week in the first part of August: in 1859 the summer was so early and hot that the thrushes near me ceased singing on the 24th of July, a week earlier than usual. Dr. Bechstein is of opinion that there are two species of the night- ingale, one which sings by day and another which sings by night. [ do not fall into this theory in England, as I have noticed that where one or two pairs of these birds have frequented a particular copse, hill or hedgerow, I have always found them both by day and night close to the very spot at both periods. These birds are very constant to their locality, and Dr. Bechstein may have mistaken this by the difference of their song, as they never sing nearly so loud by day as at their usual time near midnight. I never heard a nightingale sing by day in its full splendour of song : when singing he is perched generally within twenty feet from the ground. Mr. Macgillivray gives a most interesting account of the formation of throats of singing birds. The Hon. Mr. Daines Barrington gives a scale of the comparative merits of singing birds, but not in my ear a just one, as he places the VOL. XX. B 7826 Birds. thrush at No. 10, after the whole of the finches, the linnet, blackcap, titlark, skylark and woodlark. I have added another scale of my own. Mr. Daines Barrington must have had a peculiar ear for music, although I hear he was a good amateur musician. My selection contains ten of the best singing birds in England, leaving out the minor songsters in the scale. THE Comparative Merits or Ten Enatitsu Sone Birps. (The nearest to perfection is represented by 20). o a uo} = & = a ASA 1. Nightingale 15 12 20 16 20 2. Song Thrush 8 9 10 11 12° 3. Blackbird 6 2 10 6 10 4. Skylark 4 12 3 10 10 5. Blackcap : : ; 2 10 14 2, 8 9 6. Woodlark 5 Fhe aches 16 2 a 6 9 7. Titlark - . : ° 7 6 1 5 Zs 8. Robin . 5 3 ‘ 4 10 11 8 10 9. Fauvette or Pettichaps 5 7 4 6 8 10. Missel Thrush or Storm Cock . 4 6 3 4 6 Nightingale (Sylvia luscinia). The nightingale among birds is, to make a comparison, “ Luna inter minora Sidera,” and no wonder that poets and lovers of birds have written so often on this matchless “ Sweet bird, thou sing’st away the early hours Of winters past. cs “ oe What soul can be so sick which by thy song, Attired in sweetuess, sweetly is not driven Quite to forget earth’s turmoils, spites and wrongs, And lift a reverend eye and thought to heaven? Sweet artless songster, thou my mind dost raise To airs of spheres, yea, and to angel’s lays.” Drummonp. The nightingale is remarkable for the curious circuit it makes in the migration to this island, being confined to certain counties in England and Wales. It seems that mild temperature has nothing to do with it in one sense, as one was never heard singing in Cornwall and very seldom in Devonshire, and only a solitary instance in that part of Devon bordering on Somerset. They seem to be more numerous in Hampshire, Kent, and all the counties near the metropolis, than else- where. The line of demarcation taken by the nightingale has been songster. Birds. 7827 the wonder of many naturalists, and much has been written on the subject; my own opinion is that some peculiar insects, the main object of its food and search, must be the cause, and not the climate of the circumscribed district, which it inhabits during the five months of its sojourn in England. Experiments have been tried, in Scotland, to alter their range of flight by placing the eggs of these birds in the nest of the robin. The young nightingales have been hatched and flown from these nests, but have never returned to Scotland, nor have they been heard to sing there, nor in the counties of Northum- berland, Durham or Lancashire, and little proof even in Yorkshire. The greatest puzzle to me is why they are not plentiful near Exeter, as one would think, from the mildness of the climate of Devon and the dryness of some of its air, the same food would be found as in the adjoining counties of Somerset and Dorset. Song Thrush (Jurdus musicus). Dr, Bechstein says that in Ger- ° many, where he lived, the thrush is a migrating bird, but it is not so in England, as it is to be seen in our gardens in the most severe winters, and, as I mentioned before, sings in a mild winter in December and January. Ina trip I took to Ostend a bird followed the steamer for several hours after leaving Ramsgate, and about little more than half way across it became so tired that it settled on the rigging of the vessel, within four yards of the deck. I examined it and found it was a thrush. On coming near the Flemish shore it immediately took wing towards Ostend. ‘This happened in the month of July. A single bird is often known to take a flight of this sort, as observed by seafaring men. Dr. Bechstein says “The melody of birds, like the fragrance of flowers cannot be [properly] described; it must be listened to, and that by one whose senses are properly attuned to outward harmony by an indwelling and abiding love of the beautiful and the pure in Nature: to him the soaring lark will seem indeed to pour forth at ‘ heayen’s gate’ a morning hymn of praise, and the nightingale to chant, amid the leafy woodlands, a vesper song of thankfulness; the full chorus of feathered minstrelsy will be to him like an angel choir, scattering melody on all around, which sinks in the soul like summer rairi into the earth, gladdening and refreshing it;” and, as Broderip expresses it also, “ The melody of birds finds its way to the heart of every one.” I place our beautiful indigenous song thrush next to the nightingale. The thrush has at least eleven varieties of note, some of them very sweet and plaintive, and possesses great execution. I never could reckon more than fifteen or sixteen varieties of note in the unrivalled song of the nightingale. I need say but little of either of these 7828 Birds. songsters, as they have been the theme of poets and the admirers of sweet sounds in the rural districts for centuries, and they may be said really to have a “ local habitation and a name,” for they are both most constant to locality near their resting place. The nightingale, although his stay is so short, and his song still shorter, may always be found within fifty to sixty yards of the same spot in the month of May, in some favourite pollard oak or thick low underwood or hedge. Blackbird (Turdus merula). The beautiful plaintive song of this bird places him third on my list of our singing birds. It seldom com- mences its song before February, unless January be nearly the extreme of mildness. It has about six varieties of note, and has “ the soft melody of sounds, the sweeter for simplicity.” The blackbird is most brilliant in song in showery weather in May, mixed with hot gleams of sunshine. , Skylark (Alauda arvensis). The skylark, as Wordsworth says, “ Leaves to the nightingale her shady wood,” ghting y ? and becomes a “ pilgrim of the sky.” The lark is underrated in its song by many, being unheard in half its beautiful song from the height to which it soars. It mounts to 3 “ The last point of vision and beyond, A daring warbler.” “ True to the kindred points of heaven and home.” The descent to its nest is unique and picturesque. Its compass is about 12, and it possesses great variety of note. Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla). This magnificent garden warbler enlivens our shrubberies for two or three months, but his fidgetty and volatile character render his visits so short and transient, that unless his nest is very near he is off in a minute or two, or even less, to range elsewhere. Ona moonlight night I have heard this bird sing as early as twelve to one o’clock at Midsummer. It has been compared to the nightingale, but it is far inferior: the “ minor” and plaintive notes of the nightingale are quite wanting in the blackcap. It is called the “monk” on the Continent. It is very properly rated as the first of the garden warblers. Woodlark (A/auda arborea). This bird is almost unequalled in mellowness of tone, and is superior to the skylark in richness and clearness of its song. In consequence of its being a favourite it has become a scarce bird in Gloucestershire, for the birdcatchers there take them in the greatest numbers. The compass of voice of the wood- Birds. . 7829 lark is small, and his variety of notes few, but the clearness is perfect and mellifluous. Titlark (Anthus pratensis). A pretty little lively bird, which may be seen and heard in almost every parish in England,in May, June and part of July. Sprightly and lively to a degree, with no great compass of voice, the paucity of these birds seen in confinement pretty well shows how far they are favourites, and they are nearly as constant to the locality of their breeding place as the skylark. The titlark has a pleasing _ yariety of song, between the skylark and woodlark, but ‘inferior to both. — Robin (Sylvia rubecula). This bird is an exception to all the singing birds, for, unless the weather is very severe or very temperate, it sings almost every week in the year. Although a rather monotonous song it is a mixture of the serious and sublime. The robin is admired by many as a first-rate singing bird. Fauvette or Pettichaps (Sylvia ?). This little bird, often mistaken for the blackcap, visits our gardens and delights us with its song. It is nearly of the same fidgety nature as its migrating con- gener, but not so loud. Itis a deadly devourer of currants and rasp- berries, the latter particularly. If these birds want their throats moistened in the month of June they do not keep them long dry, for they are most mischievously active ; few grudge them their robbing, except the market gardeners. Missel Thrush or Storm Cock (Turdus viscivorus). This, the largest singing bird in England, is a great favourite with me. It has often been mistaken, even by persons who have resided in the country all their lives, for the blackbird, but it is of course very different and very inferior ; one or two notes of the missel thrush are like those of the blackbird. It sings in the most tempestuous weather, and I heard one last year during a perfect hurricane, in the month of January, perched on a tree about thirty feet from the ground. It had its face to the wind, and seemed to enjoy the tempest. Its pretty wild chant, although wanting in variety and compass, has something very grand in it, both during a storm and during a lull after a storm. Itis very fond of a high Italian poplar or an elm for its song. When surprised by seeing an enemy it utters a coarse scream. I hope this was the sound my old neighbour, Mr. Knapp, in his ‘ Journal of a Naturalist’ mistook for the song, which he designated a “ coarse sound.” I certainly am one of those who reckon the missel thrush a really eccentric and pleasing bird, as he sings when no other bird attempts it, but then it generally happens that the bird is not so often heard as many others, 7830... * Birds. unless very tall trees abound near our habitations; he never conde- scends to be very near the ground during his wild chant, which can be heard at a great distance. The restless little goldfinch, the sprightly linnet, the chaffinch, with his tune going prettily down a full octave, the wren and hedgesparrow, are all inferior singers, and scarcely deserve a place in the category of first-rate singing birds, although the first-named of these is often kept in confinement more for his beautiful plumage and docility than his song, like the piping bullfinch. The bullfinch is a nice bird in a room, but its note is so weak that in a shrubbery one must be very near to hear it at all. Lhave omitted to mention another bird, which some of our English poets designate a singing bird;. 1 mean the cuckoo: at all events the cuckoo is a most pleasing harbinger in April of generally the first lovely vernal days. If we are to reckon the cuckoo really a singing bird, then my old friend the missel thrush must yield the palm to the cuckoo, the delight of the schoolboy, as the largest singing bird in England. The cuckoo is also at times a flying songster. “ The same when in my schoolboy days I listened to that cry Which made me look a thousand ways, In bush and tree and sky. * * * * O blithe new comer! I have heard, I hear thee and rejoice. O cuckoo! shall I call thee bird, Or but a wandering voice?” I hope my ornithological readers will not be offended by my lesser notice of the other minor songsters of the grove, the wren, reedsparrow, redpole, hedge accentor, siskin, the pretty meck and innocent wood wren and the tomtit, each of which have their short notes and wild spring. calls. All these minor songsters add to the brilliancy of the feathered choir on a fine early spring morning, and causes those who really delight in the country to feel what Addison describes as the height of vernal enjoyment, scarcely capable of being expressed, but at the same time enthusiastically felt by the lovers of Nature. ; H. W. NEwMaN. Hillside, Cheltenham, November 8, 1861. Birds. 7831 Recollections of the Swans and Geese of Hudson’s Bay. -By Georcz Barnston, Esq., of the Hon. Hudson’s Bay Company.* Tue birds comprising the two genera Cygnus and Anser are, with slight exception, the largest of the Palmipedes, or web-footed fowls, found in North America; and, being generally difficult of approach, and at the same time highly prized as an article of food, any account of their migrations and habits becomes interesting. Of the many who may have enjoyed the relish of a well-seasoned wild goose at the sumptuous banquet, few are aware of the distance the bird may have travelled, or of the many perils, by flood and field, through which it may have passed. On the coast of Hudson’s Bay their manners may be studied to great advantage. There they repose after a long and fatiguing flight; there they enjoy a perfect surfeit on the juicy roots of the swamps, and the tender sprouting herbage of the boundless downs; and there, assembled in a mass along the sea-girt. shore, they follow the never- varying course of the points and headlands that stand out revealed as the line of march of all their ancestors who have gone before them. The swan, except in a few particular localities, is a scarce rather than a plentiful bird on the shores of Hudson’s Bay. Of somewhat ponderous flight, swans are seen at the same time as the other migra- tory tribes, winging their way to the secluded recesses of the north, resting themselves throughout the interior, and losing units of their number here and there by the Indian’s gun. In the scarcity of their favourite food, the tubers of the Sagittaria sagittifolia, they have recourse to the roots of other plants, and the tender under-ground runners of grasses in the higher latitudes. They sometimes breed in the interior before arriving at the coast. I had two eggs brought to me from the borders of a lake near Norway House, latitude nearly 55° N.; but it was impossible for me to say whether these were of the Cygnus americanus or C. Buccinator ; the probability rests with the former. Towards Kastmain James’s Fort, in James’s Bay, a considerable number of swans hatch. A few are killed by the natives there, who watch the game as it passes up and down narrow rivers commu- nicating with the sea, and flowing from lakes of some magnitude scat- tered over the interior. In the winter months all the northern regions * Read before the Montreal Natural History Society, and reprinted from the * Canadian Naturalist’ for October, 1861. 7832 Birds. are deserted by the swans, and from November to April large flocks are to be seen on the expanses of the large rivers of the Oregon ter- ritory and California, between the Cascades Range and the Pacific, where the climate is particularly mild, and their favourite food abounds in the lakes and placid waters. Collected sometimes in great numbers, their silvery strings embellish the landscape, and form part of the life and majesty of the scene. These societies break up as they advance upon their long spring journey to the north. They are then dispersed in small bands and but few together, each of a pair at last separating and betaking to the cares of the season of incubation. In the most secluded and unfrequented districts, where : there is ample water range, they rear their young. Superior to the swans as an article of food, the geese of every species are tenfold in number, and they form the favourite dish of the Indians of Hudson’s Bay. When the long and dreary winter has fully expended itself, and the willow grouse (Tetrao Salicet?) have taken their departure for more northern regions, there is frequently a period of dread starvation to many of the natives, who are generally at that time moving from their wintering grounds to the trading posts. The first note, therefore, of the large gray or Canada goose (Anser canadensis) is listened to with a rapture known only to those who have endured great privations and gnawing hunger. The melancholy visages brighten, and the tents are filled with hope, to which joy soon succeeds, as the happy father, or hopeful son and brother, returning successful from the hunt, throws down with satisfaction and pride the grateful load. The Anser canadensis here alluded to is the largest of our geese, and is almost always first’ seen in the Hudson’s Bay Company’s ter- ritories. It may be only a single straggler which has lost its mate, or at most five or six together. These are the advanced guard of the serried legions of ‘other water-fowl which nature and instinct send forth every spring from the south, to occupy, during the productive summer, the land of the north, and to partake of the plentiful and luscious repasts that Providence has, during their absence, been storing up for them, in a hidden yet nascent state. The Canada gray goose, as if aware of the general favour in which it is held, spreads itself very diffusively over the whole continent. Its disposition bas less of wildness in it than that of the snow goose. We come upon it hatching in quiet recesses and corners, surrounded by reedy waters, where “rushes and grasses do most abound.” It is at home over the whole wooded portion of the country, equally so in Birds. 7833 the extensive marshes of the sea-coast, and on the mossy barrens of the Chipewyan and Esquimaux lands. During the winter, like other species, it takes refuge in the more temperate portions of the country, courting always open water. I have seen a flock in the strong open current of the St. Lawrence, above Lachine, near Montreal, in the month of January or February ; but such an occurrence is rare. In this latitude—say 45° west of the Rocky Mountains, but especially on the coast of the Pacific—they are plentiful during the whole winter, in mild seasons. Before Oregon was settled by the Americans the Hudson’s Bay Company’s post of Fort Vancouver used to be supplied by Indian hunters with gray geese, large and small, as well as with occasional swans and white geese; and this at times so liberally that a day’s rations twice a week could be furnished to an establishment of thirty to forty men. Some of these geese had been killed by the bow and arrow. This game formed onr best rations, but it was sel- ’ dom in such condition as it is to be had in the north after it has enjoyed a week or two on the feeding-grounds. I have no doubt that the great mass of the gray geese pass their winter to the south of the Platte waters, in the swamps of Florida and the Lower Mississippi, and on the waters of the western side of the continent, towards their outlets into the Pacific. Now that the rifle and fusee have been introduced so plentifully into California and Oregon, it is to be feared that the numbers of the larger wild fowl will decrease rapidly. The bow and arrow formerly thinned them considerably ; now, with an increasing population, the gun will have more fatal effect. The lesser gray goose (Anser Hutchinsii) arrives, in subarctic regions, later than the other, and about the same time as the snow goose (A. hyperboreus). They are shot occasionally in the interior when they alight, and in considerable numbers at Albany, and else- where along the coast of James’s and Hudson’s Bays. Unlike the large gray goose, it can scarcely be said that they incubate in a scat- tered and detached manner over the whole extent of the wooded country ; they rather proceed in large and united bands, keeping a lofty flight, and making few stoppages until they reach the coast. On arrival there, about the beginning of May, they immediately com- mence feeding in the salt-marshes, on the soft white rooted grasses, continuing to do so for a fortnight or three weeks, and at last be- coming quite plump, and capital subjects for the table. When fully in good plight, they take their departure for more arctic regions, at nearly the same time as the snow geese, not to appear again until they return with their young broods in the month of September. These VOL. XX. Cc 7834 Birds. smaller gray geese are killed in fewer numbers than the larger species on their passage to Hudson’s Bay, which may be accounted for by their higher and more continuous flight ; but if once they settle upon their feeding-grounds the tables turn upon thew, and the slaughter committed in their ranks is wonderful, and would sate the greatest Nimrod that ever waded swamp. The Brent goose (A. Brenta), the calliwappemaw of the coast Crees, is but little looked after or cared for in Hudsouw’s Bay, being a small species, keeping out to sea on the shoals and towards lowest water-mark, and affording a dish not in high estimation. Their arrival in the north is later than most of the waders and Palmipedes. The snow goose, although it plays a less conspicuous part in the interior of the country, where it seldom alights except along the mar- gins of the larger lakes and streams, becomes, from its consolidated numbers, the first and greatest object of sport after the flocks alight in James’s Bay. The havoc spread throughout their ranks increases as the season advances, and their crowds thicken, and even the Indian becomes fatigued with the trade of killing. In the fall of the year, when the flocks of young “ wewais,” or “‘ wavies” as they are called, are numerous and on the wing between the low-tide mark and the marshes, or are following the line of coast southerly, it is no uncommon occurrence for a good shot, between sunrise and sunset, to send to his lodge above a hundred head of game. In such cases the hunter is stationed in what is called a stand,—a space from four to five feet square, enclosed by willow-twigs and long grass-stalks,— from which he fires, with forms of geese or “ decoys” set up a short distance in his front. The geese fly towards these, when he gives out their peculiar call, and frequently he has his wife or son, or grown-up daughter, to load the discharged gun for him, while he fires with the loaded. These wavies, or white geese, form the staple article of food as rations to the men in James’s Bay, and are the latest in leaving the coast for southern climes, an event which takes place towards the end of the month of September, although some weak broods and wounded birds linger behind until the first or second week in October. They are deliberate and judicious in their preparation for their great flight southwards, and make their arrangements in a very business-like manner. Leaving off feeding in the swamps for a day or more, they keep out with the retreating ebb tide, retiring, unwillingly as it were, by steps at its flow, continually occupied in adjusting their feathers, smoothing and dressing themselves with their fatty oil, as athletes Birds. 7835 might for the ring or race. After this necessary preparation the flocks are ready to take advantage of the first north or north-west wind that blows, and, when that sets in, in less than twenty-four hours the coast that had been covered patcli-like by their whitened squadrons, and wildly resonant with their petulant and incessant calls, is silent as the grave—a deserted, barren and frozen shore. The friendly intercourse that exists between these geese and the blue wavies (4. ce@rulescens) has induced some to suppose that they were merely varieties, which is a mistake. The young white wavies arrive from the north with their parents without mixture of other geese, and they have nearly the same white garb as the old birds, but with their heads of a dirty reddish tinge, exactly as if they had been rubbed by the hair-dresser with the red rust of iron; and the bill, as is always the case with the young of the feathered race, is tender, soft and compressible. On the other hand, the A. cerulescens comes down upon the east main coast also in perfectly distinct flocks, the young of a more diffused blue colour, as well as being of smaller size. The full-grown blue wavy is besides somewhat larger than the white, and has its flesh most decidedly of a much fairer hue. In the spring James’s Bay is frequently crossed by both species as far north as Capes ’ James and Henrietta Marie, and occasionally two or three of the blue may be observed in a large flock of the white on the Albany or west shore. White again are seen mixed up to a certain extent with the full flocks of blue on the Eastmain. This is not singular, their cry being almost the same and their habits similar, and they are, it must be allowed, closely allied species. According to Indian report, a great breeding-ground for the blue wavy is the country lying in the interior of the north-east point of Labrador, Cape Dudley Digges. Extensive swamps and impassable bogs prevail there; and the geese incubate on the more solid and the driest tufts dispersed over the morass, safe from the approach of man, or any other than a winged enemy. Neither fox nor wolverine can penetrate to them, nor pass over the deceitful quick bogs to disturb their quiet. The whitefronted goose (4. Gambelit), called by some the laughing goose, is seldom seen in the southern part of Hudson’s Bay. At York Factory they are less rare, but at Churchill frequent enough. I am disposed to believe that this goose is more an inhabitant of Central and Western America during the winter months than of the eastern board. Proceeding northwards, therefore, in the end of April and early part of May it comes upon the coast of Hudson’s Bay towards 7836 Birds. York Factory, and is scarcely seen in James’s Bay. I have not been able to ascertain whether any detachments are met with on the Atlantic coast of Labrador. Do they not feed on the productions of dry downs and barren and rocky country, in preference to the swamp grasses and Alge? On the Lower Columbia, and in Oregon or the Willamette Valley, they abound with other geese, sometimes in nearly equal pro- portions, and the snow goose still delighting to keep the sea coast, while the A. Gambelii and the gray geese take to the rivers and lakes of the interior. These are seldom frozen to the southward of lati- tude 45°, and very severe weather only requires from this kind of game in that quarter a slight removal of one or two degrees to the south- ward. Of all the geese I have enumerated the blue wavy (4. cerulescens) appears to be the least known in the settled and civilized portions of North America. In May it frequents only James’s Bay and the Eastmain of Labrador, and it is probably the case that its hatching- ground is on the north-west extremity of that peninsula, and the opposite and scareely-known coast of Hudson’s Straits. In the autumn their bands, increased six or sevenfold by the young, return by the same route, but where they winter is the query. I have not seen them on the Columbia nor on the north-west coast. Do they adopt the sea-board on a lower latitude? Are they to be found in winter retreat in Southern California and Mexico? It is very difficult to form anything like an accurate idea of the numbers of the various species of geese that have just been passed under review. Of the quantity shot at particular points where they become an article of provision we may arrive at a wide but still a better estimate. Seventeen to twenty thousand geese are sometimes killed by the Albany Indians in the autumn or fall of the year, and ten thousand or more in the spring, making a total for these coast Crees alone of at least 30,000; uot speaking so certainly of other natives, I would place the Moose Indians as killing, at all seasons, 10,000 ; Rupert’s River natives, 8,000; Eastmain and to the north, including Esquimaux, 6,000; the Severn coast I cannot compute as yielding less than 10,000; the York Factory and Churchill Indians, with Esquimaux beyond, must dispose of 10,000; making a total of geese killed on the coast of 74,000. As many geese must die wounded, and others are got hold of by the foxes and wolverines, we may safely allow the total loss to the flocks while running the fiery gauntlet as equivalent to 80,000. JT was at one time inclined to believe that two-thirds of this number was, or might Birds. 7837 be, the proportion for the autumn hunt, but it is probably nearer three- fourths, and we have thus 60,000, in round numbers, brought down from the newly-fledged flocks, as they pass southernward along the bay. I have lately been informed by an old and experienced hunter that he believes that for every goose that is killed above twenty must leave the bay without scaith, as although there is sometimes destruc- tion dire among some lots that approach the gun, and that feed in quarters frequented by hunters, yet innumerable families of them alight on remote and quiet feeding-ground, remain there unmolested, and take wing when the cold sets in, with their numbers intact. I must allow the correctness of this remark, and the deduction to be drawn from it is that 1,200,000 geese leave their breeding-grounds by the Hudson’s Bay line of march for the genial south. Of the numbers to the westward along the arctic coast that wend their way to their winter quarters straight across the continent, we can form but a very vague opinion, but computing it at two-thirds or more of the quantity supposed to leave the eastern part of the arctic coast, we cannot have less than two millions of geese composing the numerous battalions which pass over the continent between the Atlantic and the Rocky Mountains, borne aloft generally like the scud, and as swiftly hastened on by the force of the boreal blast. I ought to observe that the Brent geese (Anser Brenta) are not included in the above estimate. They are pretty numerous on the Atlantic coast, but are quite neglected by the Indians in general of Hudson’s Bay. Two small species of south-west habitat, the Dendrocygna autumn- alis and JD. fulva, never come north, so far as I know. I have never seen the first, but have shot one out of a pair of the latter on the banks of the Columbia, above Okanagan. This, I daresay, is usually its limit to the north, and I believe it has never been seen to the eastward of the great stony ridge. Neither of these elegant little geese ever visit Hudson’s Bay. The Nest and Eggs of the Bohemian Waxwing.* THE first intimation I received from Mr. Wolley that the discovery was accomplished was contained in a letter written by him on his * Extracted from a paper in the ‘Ibis’ for January, 1861, intituled “ Particulars of Mr. J. Wolley’s Discovery of the Breeding of the Waxwing (Ampelis garrulus), Linn.), by Alfred Newton, M.A., F.LS.,” and kindly communicated by the author. 7838 Birds. way up the Baltic, and dated the 2nd of September, 1856. He says, “ Let me tell you now, whilst I think of it, that I have some reason for believing that the waxwing makes its nest in good-sized fir-trees in the month of June. I give you this hint in case I should not live to give you more certain information; but you remember that I am not to return home without a waxwing’s nest in my hand.”* His next letter is dated “ Muoniovora, Sept. 14, 1856,” and after describing his own doings and those of the friends I had made the preceding year, telling me of the expected scarcity of food, and giving the general results of the nesting season, goes on to say :— “T have still to tell you of Ludwig’s expedition with Piko Heiki to Sardio, on the Kittila River. It was early in June, and he had to wade over Pallas-tunturi up to his middle in snow. Arrived at Sardio, he found the lads there all at home, deep in dirt and laziness. He soon extracted from them the information that a pair of birds had been seen about, which they took to be ‘'Tuka rastas;’ and Ludwig himself had seen such a bird, and this bird’s egg was entered in my list. * * * Ludwig immediately started off into the forest, and sure enough he saw a bird which he thought was ‘Sidensvans;’ but he was not quite sure, for the end of its tail looked white in the sun instead of yellow, as in your picture;t¢ but the next day, or in the evening, it was cloudy, and Ludwig saw the yellow; and now he had no longer any doubt. He said he would give all the lads day-money, and they must all search, even if it were for a week, till they found the nest. They sought all that night and the next day till about mid- day, [when] a lad called out that he had found the nest; and there it was, with two eggs, about nine feet high, on the branch of a spruce. * * * After five days Ludwig snared the old bird—a beautiful cock; and you may fancy with what pleasure I took it in my hand, and saw that there were no doubts remaining. Indeed, I had before been pretty confident about it: Ludwig had written that I might be quite satisfied that it was the right bird. Martin Pekka had the picture with him at Sodankyla, and as soon as he came back Ludwig com- pared the bird with it, and made certainty doubly sure. The other * The division of the paragraphs indicates the omission of portions of the original : I thought it better to leave the paragraphs somewhat unconnected than to pia the thread of the narrative by any additions of my own.— £, N. + This picture was one of several coloured sketches of different birds sent to Mr. Wolley by Mr. Hewitson and myself, to assist him in making known his wants to the natives. Birds. 7839 picture went to Gellivaraa * * * Ido not expect waxwings in that quarter. You can fancy how eagerly | waited for Ludwig to pro- duce the eggs. With a trembling hand he brought them out: but first the nest, beautifully preserved; it is made principally of black “ tree- hair’ (lichen), with dried spruce twigs outside, partially lined with a little sheep’s grass and one or two feathers,—a large deep nest. The eggs—beautiful !—magnificent ! !—just the character of the American bird. An indescribable glow of colour about them! Ludwig bad made for them such a box, that even if a horse trod upon it it would not break. * * * The next incident was the arrival of Niku, with a couple of young birds scarcely able to fly, which he had caught, as he said, out of a brood of five, by Pallas-tunturi. One of these Ludwig had stuffed, and a rare little beauty it is; the other was much knocked about, and Ludwig made nothing of it. Then a little girl, just ten days ago, brought three eggs from the other side of Nalima (about twenty-five miles from here), which she said were taken on a certain day in July, and were ‘ Kukhainen.’ They were undoubted waxwing, but are very badly blown by her, as they were just hatching. At mid- summer Sardio Michel brought in a small batch of ‘ Sidensvans,’ with the birds (four in number) to each nest. So now I have a series, “though but a very short one, of this rara avis in terris—this forerunner of famine, and of infinite value when one thinks of the uncertainty of getting it again.” In all, Mr. Wolley obtained twenty-nine eggs of the waxwing in 1856. Later on in the autumn an intelligent Lapp informed him that he remembered having seen a bird some twenty years before, and once or twice since had seen or heard another, but that was perhaps ten years previously. On the other hand, in 1856, he had seen them some half-dozen times, and found a nest, from which, however, the voung ones flew. This nest he subsequently brought very carefully, with the branch on which it was built, to Mr. Wolley, by whom it was sent the following year, by the hands of Dr. Edwin Nylander, to the museum of the University of Helsingfors. The Lapp added that in the spring he had observed of the birds that “ they flew up in the air, and came and sat in the same spot whence they had flown—he thought in play; but perhaps they were catching insects,” as Mr. Wolley himself suggested. “ In 1857 it seems that the waxwing was still more rarely distributed in Lapland than it had been the preceding year. Mr. Wolley was of course exceedingly desirous of taking a nest with his own hands, and 7840 Birds. for this purpose devoted to the search much of his time before crossing the district hitherto unexplored by him between the Muonio valley and the head-waters of the Tana. In this object he was only partially successful. He writes, “ For myself I could not, in spite of every exertion, get a living waxwing within range of my pair of eyes. I took a nest which had been deserted a day or two before, and from which something had thrown the eggs, one after another, upon the ground as fast as they were laid; of course, broken to bits. It was close to the house of Sardio. In vain I wandered through the woods, and scarcely shut my eyes at night. Many people were on the look- out; but, after the nest of three eggs I told you of from Jerisjarvi, the only arrival has been a perfect nest of five eggs found by Piko Heiki, whom I desired to give up everything else, and work all the mountain- district for waxwing.” The nest thus taken by Mr. Wolley, and which I intend to retain in my possession, as being the only one taken by him, bears date “16th June, 1857.” It was built in a spruce, and agrees in most respects with those previously seen and described by him. The eight eggs just mentioned were the only ones obtained by him that year.” The summer of 1858, when Mr. Wolley was with me in Iceland, was “a great year for waxwings.” Not far from a hundred and fifty nests were found by persons in his employment in Lapland, and some of them close to Muoniovara. It seems, as nearly as I have been able to ascertain, that no less than six hundred and sixty-six eggs were collected; and more than twenty more were obtained by Herr Keitel of Berlin, who happened, without I believe any expectation of the luck that was in store for him, to be that year on the Muonio River. A detailed account of Herr Keitel’s success appeared some months after in the ‘ Naumannia, * from the pen of its editor, and the speci- mens of the eggs figured in that magazine were obtained through him. It is unnecessary for me to go into details respecting the magnificent series of eggs which Mr. Wolley was thus enabled to add to his cabinet. The nests were built mostly in spruce and Scotch-fir trees (Pinus abies and P. sylvestris)—chiefly, I think, the former. The usual complement of eggs is certainly five; but six not uncommonly, and seven and four occasionally, were found. The second week of June seems to be the general time for the birds to have eggs; but * ‘Naumannia, 1858, p. 498, pl. 1, figs. 5—8. Birds. 7841 there are some which must have been laid in the last days of May, and others (perhaps second broods) a month later.* This same year (1858) saw an Englishman, however, accomplish what Mr. Wolley only partially succeeded in doing. The interesting account of an independent discovery of the breeding of the waxwing, with which the kindness of Mr. H. E. Dresser has furnished me, will, I am sure, be read with pleasure, and I leave that gentleman to narrate his exploit in his own language :— “Jn 1858 I was a short time in Uleaborg, while on my way from Stockholm vid Tornea to St. Petersburg, and having a little time on my hands I spent it in company with Mr. John Granberg, of Ulea- borg, collecting in the neighbourhood of the town. We intended to pass a day or two amongst the small islands near the harbour, and determined to visit one called Sandén, about four Swedish (twenty- seven English) miles from Uleaborg. “ We (that is, Granberg, a student by name Heikel, and myself) left the town on the evening of the 3rd of July, in a little boat, and sailed to Warjakka, an island outside the harbour, where we provisioned for our trip. We then started for Sandéu; but, there being but little wind, did not arrive off the island until about two o'clock in the morning. We grounded at some distance outside, and all three stripped for a swim, to find some deeper water ; but, not being able to get the boat much nearer, we made her fast and carried our traps on shore, getting almost devoured by mosquitoes in so doing. We had heard that there was a rough log-hut somewhere on the island, built by the Karlé peasants, who come annually to take away the marsh-grass, and accordingly set off in search of it. We were crossing a small open place when we started a bird, which Granberg, who was on first, said was a waxwing (dmpelis garrulus), and having my gun loaded with dust-shot, I followed it up and succeeded in shooting it. It proved to be an adult female, and had evidently been incubating. We searched all the bushes and trees near, in hopes of finding a nest, but without any success ; and as the mosquitoes were very troublesome, we determined to find the hut, take a nap, and con- tinue the search afterwards. | We soon did find it, and after smoking out the mosquitoes and stopping up the smoke-hole, turned in on some marsh-grass, and did not awake until pretty late in the day. After * The American species would seem sometimes to breed much later in the season. Dr. Brewer told me at Boston, August 31st, 1857, that on the preceding day he had seen a cedar-bird’s nest, with eggs still unbatched, VOL. KX. D 7842 Birds. breakfast we separated to explore the island; and Heikel and myself, meeting soon after on the opposite side, went on in company, but had no success, only finding a few small birds. * * * “We had quite given up all hope of finding the waxwing’s nest, when, as J was crossing a little barren to join Heikel, I saw, in a small pine tree close to where he was standing, a nest with several young ones in it sitting bolt upright, just as grebes sit. Going nearer, I in- stantly knew them to be waxwings. We threw off our game-bags, and, while he stood below, I climbed up to the nest, which was in the fork between the main stem and the first branch, and not above nine or ten feet from the ground. The moment I touched it, the young ones (five in number) flew out. I jumped down, made a cut at the largest with my cap, and secured him; but Heikel did not get one. Directly the young one which I had caught began to cry out, several waxwings flew from the neighbouring thicket, all however keeping out of gunshot except two, which came close round me, and both of which I shot. I then sat down and imitated, as well as I could, the call of the old birds. I was soon rewarded for my trouble by a young one coming out of a blueberry bush close by and calling lustily. Heikel and I gave chase and secured him. Granberg, who had heard my two shots, then coming up, we commenced a diligent search for the other three young ones, but had to give it up as hopeless, owing to the thickness of the under-scrub. I then climbed up again and took the nest away carefully, so as to preserve the shape, and to my great delight found one egg in it. We hunted for several hours in the higher part of the island for another nest; but, although we saw about nine old birds, we did not succeed in finding another nest. We did not shoot any more, hoping to find nests there at some future period. “We returned to Uleaborg the same evening, when I skinned my birds. We ought to have made an equal division of the spoil, but neither Granberg nor Heikel would hear of any division; consequently I have still two old birds and two young ones, besides the nest and egg, in my possession. I regret to say I did not look to see what the young birds had been fed upon; but when I took the nest I found one or two of last year’s dried cranberries in it.” In 1859 the waxwing bred, but in no great numbers, in the Muoni- oniska and Kittila districts. Though much sought for, not more than forty-six eggs were obtained by Mr. Wolley’s collectors. During the past summer it seems to have been rather more numerous. Birds. 7843 I am told of fifty-two eggs having been collected for me by the agents of my late friend, whom I keep in my own employment, but these specimens have not hitherto arrived. Early in the present year, Mons. C. F. Dubois described and figured the egg of the waxwing in the ‘Revue et Magasin de Zoologie,’* but without stating whether his example had been obtained from Mr. Wolley, or derived through ancther source. M. Dubois states that its egg “ressemble beaucoup a celui du Coccothraustes vulgaris et du Lanius ruficeps; il peut facile- ment étre confondu avec les ceufs de ces derniers.” In this latter assertion I do not agree with him. Out of the several hundred speci- mens which form the series I possess, there is not one, I think, which could be taken for that of either the hawfinch or woodchat shrike, though I freely admit there is a likeness to the eggs of both. + Occurrence of the Peregrine Falcon in Cambridgeshire. — I have just seen a male peregrine falcon, in its second year’s plumage, which fell to the gun of Mr. J. Johnson, of Wicken Hall, Cambridgeshire, at which place it was shot on Monday, November 11th, L861. The markings upon its breast are particularly bright for an immature bird, calling to one’s mind, at first sight, that of the hobby: the ash-gray of the adult is becoming distinctly visible upon the back and tail. The visits of the peregrine falcon to this county are at very uncertain periods, and always limited to not more than two or three in the same year. Upon reference to my note-book I find it is seven years since the last capture, so that with us this bird must be considered a rare visitant.— S. P. Saville ; Dover House, Cambridge. Capture of the Merlin in Cambridgeshire.—Like the peregrine falcon, with us the merlin cannot but be termed a rare bird. JI am indebted to Mr. T. Wells, of Foul- bourn, for the present of a pretty little male merlin, which that gentleman shot at Foulbourn, iu this county, on the 7th of November, 1861. This little fellow was, and had been, paying his respects to a number of larks,“t which it was hawking when shot. It is a bird of the year.—Id. Note on the Merlin. — Two pairs of the merlin, and no more than two, usually appear each spring to breed on our moors. What is remarkable, each successive year sees the several pairs occupying the same limited district of the moor for their several * *Revue et Magasin de Zoologie,’ Février, 1860, p. 64, pl. 2, fig. 4 (miscalled on plate ‘‘ Bombycilla cerulea”). + Since the above was in type I have seen No. 1, for 1860, of the ‘ Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou,’ which contains an interesting notice by Prof. Alex. v. Nordmann of the Birds of Finland, as observed by his son Arthur. It is there mentioned (page 21) that the Helsingfors Museum contains five nests, with eggs, of the waxwing, and that “ Studiosus Malmgren” had brought its young from Kajana. 7844 Birds. nests, and that although each of the four birds of the preceding year has been shot or otherwise destroyed. What is almost as remarkable, the spring of the present year saw no merlin on our moors at all. Both the, breeding-places were quite tenantless. —J. C. Atkinson ; Danby, Grosmont, York, December 12, 1861. Shorteared Owl and Rouyhlegged Buzzard near Bishop Stortford. — 1 beg to for- ward a note of two birds found on the estate of Mr. J. A. Houblon, and killed by one of the keepers, G. Lambert :—November 12th, a shorteared owl, in the stubble ; November 18th, a roughlegged buzzard, which had been seen at times for a fortnight, but managed to escape the vigilance of the keepers until Monday last, when it was shot in Hatfield Forest: it measured 4 feet 4 inches from tip to tip, and 18 inches from beak to tail.—T. Brunton ; Hallingbury Place, November 21, 1861. Note on the Food of the Kestrel.— My notice was drawn, a few minutes since, to Mr. Saxby’s “ Notes on the Food of Birds” (Zool. 7809), and in reference to the food of the kestrel I would willingly place on record a fact or two which have recently come to my knowledge, and which are inconsistent with all my former observations, I had held, on the presumption afforded by these observations, that the kestrel does not attack game, unless indeed a very “ weak and infirm” and “ unprotected” chick should present an utterly overpowering temptation. Stating my opinion, last spring, to a bird-loving aud observing gentleman, he told me I was mistaken, for that such and such facts—the death of nearly-grown young partridges and the like, occurring within his own knowledge—were clearly against me. Later in the year I was talking to the “ watcher” about his experience in hawk-slaughter this year, and I added my doubts as to the expediency of killing kestrels. ‘ But, sir,’ he said, “they kill a vast of game.” “Oh, no! surely not much: they are not strong enough or big enough.” “* Well, sir, I don’t know how that may be; but I shot t cock bird iv a nest i’ t’ crag, and he had t’ fore-quartevs iv a fine young moor bird in his claws; and what's more, I brought it home with me.’—J. C’. Atkinson ; Danby, Grosmont, York. Scops Eared Owl (Strix Scops) in Norfolk. — On the 27th of November an adult male of this pretty little owl was picked up dead near the lighthouse at Cromer, against which it had apparently flown with great force, attracted by the glare of the lamps. The head exhibited no marks of injury, and the plumage was perfect, but the flesh on the breast and the point of one wing showed symptoms of having sustained a severe blow. The stomach contained a mass of fur, about the size of a walnut, amongst which was discernible an almost perfect skeleton of a mouse, together with the heads and forceps of several earwigs, and three stout caterpillars nearly an inch in length. This rare species has previously occurred in this county in three or four authentic instances, but not of late years. The present specimen is now in the col- lection of J. H. Gurney, Esq., M.P., of Catton Hall.— H. Stevenson ; Norwich, December 7, 1861. Parrot Crossbill at Cheltenham. — This bird, the occurrence of which I noticed three years since in the pages of the ‘ Naturalist, has again made its appearance in the neighbourhood of Cheltenham. Nathaniel Skelton, bird-preserver of that place, writes me word that he has taken three examples this autumn. — W. V. Guise ; Elmore Court, December 2, 1861. Sand Martins’ Nests in the Walls of an Old Priory.—A circumstance which I remember in connexion with Godstow is the fact that a colony of sand martins had —and probably still have—their nests in holes of the wall of the Old Priory, many of them entering from within the building, which of course is roofless. This is the only Birds. 7845 instance in which I have seen them frequenting a building. House martins, on the other hand, I have more than once found breeding at a distance from any human habitation, e.g., on the chalk cliffs of the coast at Ramsgate and in a large stone quarry on the moor between Kirkbv-in-Cleveland and Bilsdale.—J. Dalton; Church Broughton. White Variety of the Blackheaded Bunting. — This unique albino was shot on Burwell Fen, in this county (Cambridgeshire), on the 3rd of October, 1861. It has passed from the bands of the man who shot it to those of Mr. F. Barlow, of Cam- bridge, in whose museum it forms a decided ornament. Its entire plumage is of -an uniform white, with the slight exception of a few minute dashes of black, almost im- perceptible unless closely inspected. The second quill in the tail is of the ordinary colour. Eyes light hazel; upper and lower mandibles light flesh-colour; tarsi, feet and toes whitish flesh-colour. I think I am not erring when I state that it is at least a decidedly rare occurrence to come across a variety in any form of the blackheaded species.—S. P. Saville ; Dover House, Cambridge. Occurrence of Shore Larks, Little Auks, Gray Phalarope, §c., in Norfolk, — During the last ten days three specimens of the shore lark have been killed on dif- ferent parts of the coast, whilst hitherto only three other examples are known to have visited this county — one at Sherringham, in 1830; one at Yarmouth, in 1850; and one at Holkham, in 1855. Of these recent specimens the first was killed at Yar- mouth, on the 7th of this month; the second at Sherringham, on the 9th ; and the 3rd near Yarmouth, on the 12th. All three proved on dissection to be males, aud are apparently adult birds in a state of change between the summer and winter plumage. The bands of black and yellow on the throat are very bright, more especially in the one from Sherringham, which has also a richer vinous tint on the wings, but in each the band on the crown of the head is but slightly traceable. As usual after such sudden and violent storms as have recently prevailed, many specimens of that irre- gular and probably most unwilling visitaut to our shores, the little auk, have occurred in various parts of the county, in some instances driven far inland by the force of the gales. On Monday, the 12th, after the high wind of the previous night, one was shot near Yarmouth, one at Hevingham, another at Scotton, and a fourth in the river at Eaton, about a mile from this city, and upwards of twenty miles from the sea. I have since heard of one or two others which appeared about a fortnight previous, and this morning (Nov. 20th) I received two more from Salthouse, a village on the coast, pro- bably killed yesterday, and was shown a third picked up near Norwich. All these birds exhibit more or less distinct traces of the black band on the throat peculiar to their summer plumage. A fine gray phalarope, in part change to winter plumage, was also sent me from Salthouse on the 9th, and an equally good specimen was killed in this county about the 17th. During the last two or three weeks an unusual num- Ler of great spotted woodpeckers have been killed in various parts of the county, and for the most part near the coast. One birdstuffer in Norwich has had six or seven, all young, from different localities ; another man has had four, two old and two young birds. There can be but little doubt that these are migratory specimens from the nort!), thuogh more numerous at the present time than in most seasons.—H. Stevenson. Cuckoo's Egg in Reed Warbler’s Nest.—The mention of cuckvos’ eggs having been found in reed warblers’ nests (Zool. 7818), reminds me that, in the spring of 1854, T saw two nests of the latter bird by the side of the river Isis above Godstow, each of which contained a cuckoo’s egg in addition to its own. These nests were suspended in a large bed of nettles, and were within ten yards of each other. Both the cuckoo’s 7846 Birds. eggs being unusually light-coloured, and exactly resembling each other, I conclude that they were laid by one bird. The stalks of the nettles were so slight as to render the manner in which the cuckoo’s eggs had been placed in the nests a curious subject of speculation. It would appear, however, that the process is not attended with much difficulty, for had the parent birds in question preferred the nests of the sedge warbler they would have fouud abundance of them in the same locality, and these nests being placed on or close above the ground would have been easily accessible. I may mention that the reed warbler was very plentiful in the gardens of Worcester College, Oxford, where numerous nests were to be seen every year. These were built in various situa- tions, but always resembled each other. I have seen them in the thorn hedge which divides the canal from the gardens, and lilac, Seringa, arbor-vite, box and laurel bushes were also selected.—James Dalton ; Church Broughton. Gathering of Mugpies.—I see in the ‘ Zoologist ' for December (Zool. 7817) one of your correspondents writes respecting magpies, he having seen a flock of twenty, and asks, “Is this a common occurrence?” JI should say of very rare occurrence indeed, at least in this neighbourhood, although a few years ago, one fine sunny afternoon in October, I saw fifteen on the wing together: they rose in a very scattered manner from a stubble field on Throckley Fell, which is about four miles from this place. This is the greatest number I ever saw together: they assembled on the tops of two trees near at hand.— Thomas Thompson ; Winlaton, Decem'er 7, 1861. Gathering of Magpies.—Mrs. Battersby expresses surprise (Zool. 7817) at having seen an extraordinary gathering of magpies, some twenty or more, about 5 P.M., on the 29th of October, and asks whether such gathering is a common occurrence? I believe it is the usual habit of the magpie to congregate in flocks previously to their going to roost. I speak particularly of what I see take place in this parish, where I have repeatedly observed these birds to congregate about dusk in much greater num- bers than flocks of twenty, previously to their coming into the woods to roost, on which occasions they are frequently and readily shot hy persons who secrete themselves for that purpose under the trees the birds are about to occupy. I have often heard my late old woodman quote a saying of his father, who in his day was a woodman also, that “it was time to leave off work when the magpies come into the wood,” i. e., about dusk, which, as regards the hour of day, would very well correspond with Mrs. Bat- tersby’s 5 p.M., on the 29th of October. I well recollect to have once observed a really very extraordinary gathering of magpies, not for the purpose of going to roost, for it was in the morning before 11 o’cluck. They occupied a considerable space in a high hedge and the trees therein, parallel to the turnpike road on which I was riding, and not more than fifty or sixty yards from it. Any attempt to count the birds would have been quite hopeless, but I speak well within compass when I say there must have been many hundreds. They kept hopping about and fluttering in the hedge, chattering in a very restless manner. What they might be about besides I cannot pretend to say. One might have thought it was the general assembly of all the magpies throughout the country convened on some special and important business. I speak of what I wit- nessed more than fifty years ago, but the fact is as vividly impressed on my memory as if it had happened only yesterday, and I ean still point out the exact spot where it took place. I never saw the like before or since.—W. 7. Bree; Allesley Rectory, December 11, 1861. Great Spotted Woodpecker and Little Gull on the Norfolk Coast.—Since I sent off my notice about Norfolk rarities I have heard of more arrivals on the coast of great Birds. 7847 spotted woodpeckers, These occurred about the same time as those I have named— three at Wells, six at Lynn, and three at Wisbeach. A little gull (immature) was also shot at Lynn last week, and a Temminck’s stint near Yarmouth.—H. Stevenson ; Norwich. Great Spotted Woodpecker, Little Auk and Crossbills in the Isle of Wight.—A fine male specimen of the spotted woodpecker was shot on Headon Hill, on the 8th of October: this is the second specimen that has been shot at Freshwater: the bird is only an occasional visitor with us. Two specimens of the little auk were also shot at Freshwater Bay, one by myself, the other by Mr. T. Murrow, of the Royal Albion Hotel. Several flocks of crossbills have been seen here within the last week, but I have not been fortunate enough to obtain a specimen yet.—H. Rogers ; Isle of Wight. Greater Spotted Woodpecker in Cambridgeshire.—This species has been unusually numerous this autumn, more particularly birds of the year. I should be glad to learn if this has been the case in any other neighbourhood. — §. P. Saville ; Dover House, Cambridge. Note on the possible Existence of a huge Bird allied to the Moa. — The following extract from the ‘ Nelson Examiner, of June 12, 1861, will afford ground for much speculation on the possible existence of one of those gigantic birds of the southern hemisphere which all authorities have agreed in supposing to be extinct: —“ About three weeks ago, while Mr. Brunner, chief surveyor of the province, and Mr. Maling, of the Survey Department, accompanied by a wative, were engaged in surveying on the ranges between the Riwaka and Takaka valleys, they observed, one morning, on going to their work, the footprints of what appeared to be a large bird, whose tracks they followed for a short distance, but lost them at length among rocks and scrub. The size of the footprints, which were well defined wherever the ground was soft, was fourteen inches in length, with a spread of eleven inches at the points of the three toes. The footprints were about thirty inches apart. On examining the bones of the foot of a moa in the Museum, we find the toe to measure, without integuments, eight inches and a half, and these evidently form part of a skeleton of a very large bird : the length of the impression of the toe of the bird in question was ten inches. The native who was in company with Messrs. Brunner and Maling was utterly at a loss to conjecture what bird could have made such a footprint, as he had never seen anything of the kind before. On a subsequent morning similar marks were again seen, and, as a proof that they had been made during the night, it was observed that some of them covered the footprints of those the party made the preceding evening. The size of these footprints, and the great stride of the supposed bird, has led to a belief that a solitary moa may yet be in existence. The district is full of limestone caves of the same character as those in which such a quantity of moa bones were found, about two years ago, in the neighbouring district of Aorere. We believe it is the intention of the Government to take steps to ascertain the character of this gigantic bird, whether moa or not, which keeps watch in these solitudes.” A tale has found some currency that huge apes have been seen in the interior of Australia, but this seems very apocryphal.— E'dward Newman. The Goosander and Spotted Rail in Leicestershire. — As ornithological events are unusual in Leicestershire, it may be worth while to record the goosander and the spotted rail, both of which were shot in this neighbourhood. The former, a very fine female, I shot as it was passing over my head by itself, near this place (Kibworth), on November 18th, during a hard frost. The spotted rail was killed a short distance 7848 Birds. from here, by my friend the Rey. A. Matthews, on the 9th of November.— A. H. Hildebrand ; Kibworth, Market Harborough. Note on the Goosander.—On Friday, the 6th of December, I walked along our “ Beck” for some distance, for the chance of meeting with a duck or two. Ata pvint not far distant from Viscount Downe’s ‘* shooting-box,” Danby Lodge, 1 came quietly upon the bank of the river at a point at which I could command a sight of the water in both directions, at the same instant that I became visible myself to any occupant of the surface. As it happened, immediately below the small bush on the bank, which was immediately below me, was a “ dun diver” who did not see me before I saw her. On catching sight of me, already as still as if a statue and not a man, she swam out into the stream quite deliberately, and moved on and on, down with the current, watching me as she went. Fearful she would dive if I moved hand or foot, I remained perfectly motionless until, at last, about fifteen to eighteen or twenty yards from me, she took wing; and then I shot her. On taking her from the water a good deal of coagulated blood issued from the throat, but nothing else. About an hour after, on removing her from my pocket, I felt some large substance in the gullet, and on extracting it it proved to be a trout of from 7 to 8 inches in length, which had been swallowed tail first,—at least it came up head first, and the last inch and half of the tail and body had a bend in it,—and which I believe had been taken the very instant previous to my appearance on the bank.—J. C. Atkinson. Litile Auk| at {Sudbury. — A little auk was brought to me this morning alive, having been picked up yesterday, in an exbausted state, about a mile from this town; probably it had been driven so far inland by the late severe storms. The bird has died in the course of the day, for want no doubt of its proper marine foud, but is in good plumage for preserving.—S. King ; Sudbury, November 18, 1861. Occurrence of the Iceland Gull and Rednecked Grebe at Plymouth.—On the 27th of November, when walking through Plymouth after dark, my attention was attracted to some boys swinging about something, which, on nearer inspection, proved to be a gull, and which I immediately recognised to be an immature specimen of the Iceland or lesser whitewinged gull (Zarus leucopterus). I, of course, at once secured it, and it is now in the hands of the birdstuffer. In October last a specimen of the red- necked grebe (Podiceps rubricollis) was obtained in the neighbourhood of Plymouth; of late years this species has become very rare.—John Galcombe; Wyndham Place, Plymouth, December 16, 1861. Chit-chat, chiefly Ornithological, from the Isle of Man.—The mole, the toad, the viper and the snake are unknown here, thanks to a pop visit from St. Patrick. Weasels are common, and hedgehogs abound now throughout the island, though quite a recent introduction, and, in spite of an increasing persecution waged against them by the natives, under the strange idea that poor piggie is “ veminous!” The noble peregrine still breeds on Manghold Head, and even nearer home (I know one of his nurseries full well), as he did centuries ago, when a cast of hawks “ from Ramsey Bay, in the Isle of Man,” was reckoned no mean gift; witness Sir Walter in ‘The Betrothed.’ The raven, too, is far {rom scarce, and pert “ mag” is every- where. The song thrush and blackbird are abundant indeed, but the former almost entirely deserts us in winters in company with the skylark; the blackbird remains lingering wistfully over the last of his darling blackberries, and consequently, in a severe winter like the last, endures such hunger-piins as force him, in spite of his innate misanthropy, to have recourse to the crumbs strewn for poor robin on our window- Reptiles. 7849 sills, whither his coming is presently made known throughout the house by the noisy strokes of his beak against the woodwork,—aye, and against the glass itself,—if his presence and his wants are inadvertently overlooked too long. Rock-pigeons haunt many of the caves around our coast; and the sweet “ cushat” is “at home” wherever she can find trees enough to shelter her. The grouse has but recently become extinct on our hills, where the plover and the curlew still find some security in their com- parative insignificance. The heron, here miscalled the crane, is a regular visitor. The little jack snipe is not nearly so common as is its larger brother. Woodcocks abound in a hard winter: they know full well how short and slight our frosts are, and never fail to remember “something” so much “to their advantage,” the cunning long-bills! about the shortest day of last year it was no uncommon thing for a single gun to bag from six to ten couple. But decidedly the most prominent members of the ornithological beaw monde here are the cuckoo and corn-crake, companions in arrival (they announced themselves respectively May 4th and 5th this year), they are mates both in song and in silence: “in song,” I repeat, for songsters they both are right pleasant to my ear: how merrily their calls ring over our treeless hill-sides here all day, and all night too, where the “no real night” of the almanacs is a patent reality ! -The cuckoo may perhaps snatch a couple of hours’ “snooze,” but let the midnight hours be only calm and mild, and the corn-crake never closes an eye in sleep: the cuckoo loiters longest with us, haunting the sand-hills of the north far into the autumn months. — Hugh A. Stowell; Christ Church, Manghold, Isle of Man, December 12, 1861. The Heart surviving the Body, and the Body surviving the Heart.—Dr. Harley, in lis introductory address at University College, made some observations on these extraordinary subjects which seem to have excited general interest. Having been applied to by a naturalist to explain more fully and more publicly his views, Dr. Harley has supplied the following particulars, from which it appears that both the phenomena are brought about through the agency of poisons: — “ The two poisons to which I alluded in my address at University College, which enable the pbysiologist to produce the wonderful sight of a dead body with a living heart, as well as ofa dead heart in a living body, are curiously enough the preparations of savages in the oppo- site hemispheres of our globe, and are employed by them for similar purposes, namely, the making of poisoned arrows and other weapons. One of the poisons, woorara, is prepared and employed by the natives of Guiana, and is so powerful that it requires but a very small quantity to penetrate a wound in order to produce a fatal result. At one time, indeed, it was said to be destructive not only to animal but even to vege- table life, and that if a pvisoned arrow chanced to penetrate the bark of a tree the tree soon drooped and died. Although this is a gross exaggeration of its poisonous properties, it is nevertheless true that it requires but a very small quantity of woorara to take away the life of an animal. I have myself seen a dog killed in the short space of sixty seconds, with somewhat less than a grain of the poison introduced into avein. Woorara possesses some properties entirely distinct from any poisonous agent, if we except conia, the preparation of which" is known to civilized man; for, notwithstanding its virulence, the physiologist bas it in his power to administer it so as to paralyse} the motor nerves, and render the limbs flaccid as in death without de- stroying the intelligence of the animal. Its action on the heart I have already VOL. XX. E 7850 Reptiles. alluded to, and I think that I cannot better explain the latter than by citing the fol- lowing experiment : — A healthy and full-grown frog was pricked with the point of a poisoned arrow, and in the course of a few minutes its limbs gradually became paralysed. The paralysis soon extended itself over the body, the animal ceased to breathe, and in the course of a few minutes more was dead. On examining the heart about an hour afterwards, that organ however, and that organ alone, was found still alive. Death could not be said here to have usurped its power, for the heart slowly and regularly pulsated as in life. On the following day the heart still continued to beat, although the tissues surrounding it were already assuming the appearance of death. Forty-eight hours after the animal had been poisoned its heart still continued to act regularly, and even seventy-two hours after death the action of the ventricle and auricles, though feeble, was yet distinct. On the fourth day (ninety-six hours after death) part of the heart had died, the left auricle alone continued to pulsate; but now not only was the frog dead, but its lower limbs were already shrunk and withered. I now made an attempt at resuscitation, and exactly a hundred hours after the animal died I put it into a moist warm atmosphere, and there retained it till the temperature of its body was slightly raised. This treatment had the effect of restoring the irrita- bility of the heart, and on touching the ventricle with the point of my pen it resumed its pulsations, aud during several minutes the contractions, first of the auricles and then of the ventricle, continued rythmically ; even the pulsations in the large vessels attached to the heart became distinctly visible, and continued with regularity for up- wards of a quarter of an hour. Here, then, the origin of my remark, that we can have a living heart ina dead body. I may here mention, however, that the woorara used in the above case was half a century old. It appears, therefore, that this poison retains its tunic properties fur a great length of time. For some of the specimens of woorara now in my possession I am indebted to the kindness of the celebrated travel- ler and naturalist Charles Waterton, Esq., of Walton Hall, who brought them with him from South America in 1812, and, although they are consequently half a century old, they still exert their poisonous effects in a remarkable manner. In a MS. article by Sir R. Schomburgk, kindly lent to me by the author, I find several facts related in corroboration of this point. I ought to add, however, that the pvison does lose some of its active properties by prolonged exposure to the air. Now, as regards the sub- stance with which we can produce the strange sight of a dead heart in a living body, it is the Upas antiar, a poison prepared by the natives of Borneo, for the same pur- poses as woorara; but curiously enough the physiological actions of these two poisons on the animal body are the reverse of each other; for the primary effect of the antiar is to paralyse, and consequeutly totally to suspend, the rythmical movements of the heart. The effect of the antiar is best seen on a cold-blooded animal, such as the frog. With a small piece of the poison introduced by a wound in the cuticle, it is very easy to exhibit the striking spectacle of a living animal leaping about with a perfectly dead heart; so that the story of a dead heart is not merely a stage fiction, but a scientific reality." — Field Newspaper. The Sea Serpent.—Thursday, December 10. Off Madeira, on board R.M.S. “Thames.” Made acquaintance with a Captain Christmas, of the Danish Navy, a proprietor in Santa Cruz, and holding some office abont the Danish Court. He told me he once saw asea serpent between Iceland and the Farve/Islands. He was lying to in a gale of wind, in a frigate of which he had the command, when an immense shoal of porpoises rushed by the ship, as if pursued, and lo and behold a creature with a Reptiles. 7851 neck moving like that of a swan, about the thickness of a man’s waist, with a head like a horse, raised itself slowly and gracefully from the deep, and seeing the ship it immediately disappeared again, head foremost, like a duck diving. He saw it only fora, few seconds; the part above water seemed about eighteen feet in length. He isa singularly intelligent man, and by no means one to allow his imagination to run away with him.—Stephen Cave, M.P. for Shoreham; 35, Wilton Place, April 29, 1861 ; in a letter to Mr. Gosse. The Sea Serpent.—On a Sunday afternoon, in the middle of August, above a hundred persons, at that time in and about the hotel, were called on to observe an extraordinary appearance in the sea, at no great distance from the shore. Large shoals of small fish were rushing landwards in great commotion, leaping from the water, crowding on each other, and showing all the common symptoms of flight from the pursuit of some wicked enemy. I had already more than once remarked this appearance from the rocks, but in a minor degree; and on these occasiuns I could always distinguish the shark, whose ravages among the “ manhaidens” was the cause of such alarm. But the particular case in question was far different from those. The pursuer of the fugitive shoals soon became visible; and that it was a huge marine ‘monster, stretching to a length quite beyond the dimensions of an ordinary fish, was evident to all the observers. No one, in short, had any doubt as to its being the sea serpent, or one of the species to which the animal or animals so frequently before seen belonged. The distance at which this one was, for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, visible, made it impossible to give a description of its apparent dimensions so accurate as to carry conviction to the sceptical. For us who witnessed it, it was enough to be convinced that the thing was a reality. But one of the spectators, Dr. Amos Binney, a gentleman of scientific attainments, drew up a minute account of it, which is deposited iv the archives of one of the Philosophical Societies of Boston. I was and am quite satisfied that on this occasion I had a partial and indistinct but positive view of this celebrated nondescript; but had the least doubt rested on my mind it would have been entirely removed by the event of the day following the one just recorded. On that day, a little befure noon, my wife was sitting, as was her wont, reading on the upper piazza of the hotel. She was alone. The gentlemen, including myself and my son, were, as usual, absent at Boston, and the ladies were scattered about in various directions. She was startled by a cry from the house of “The sea- serpent! the sea-serpent!” But this had been so frequent, by the way of joke, since the event of the preceding day, and was so like “The wolf! the wolf!” of the fable that it did not attract her particular attention for a moment or two, until she observed two women belonging to the family of the hotel keeper running along the piazza towards the corner nearest the sea, with wonder in their eyes, and the cry of “ The serpent! the serpent! he is turning, he is turning!” spontaneously bursting from their lips. Then my wife did fix her looks in the direction they ran; and sure enough she saw, apparently quite close beyond the line formed by the rising ground above the rocks, a huge serpent, gliding gracefully through the waves, having evidently per- formed the action of turning round. Iv an instant it was in a straight line, moving rapidly on; and after coasting for a couple of minutes the north-west front of the hotel, and (as accurately as the astonished observer cuuld calculate) looking as it stretched at full length about the length of the piazza,—that is to say, about ninety feet,—it sank quietly beneath the surface, and was seen no more. ‘The person who was thus so lucky as to get this unobstructed view is oue so little liable to be led 7852 Mollusks—Insects. astray by any imaginary impulse that I may reckon on her statement with entirely as much confidence as if my own eyes had demonstrated its truth.—Grattan’s ‘ Civilized America, p. 39. Ommastrephes todarus, Delle Chiaje. — The violent gales of wind which prevailed about the middle of last month (November) may very possibly, amongst other waifs and strays, have thrown ashore many denizens of the deep, whose presence might have been worthy of record, had there been fany one to “ make a note of it when found.” The squid whose technical name stands at the head of this notice was found, by a fisherman, thrown ashore at Stifkey, on the Norfolk coast, and, being strange to the finders, was carried about the country and exhibited as a “ queer fish.” I madea careful sketch of the animal, the occurrence of which may be worthy of notice, as it does not appear to be a common form of cephalopod. Being pressed for time, I requested a servant to measure it, forgetting to instruct him to make a separate measurement of the body and arms. The entire length was 2 feet 4 inches, of which I should judge that the body, from the beak to the tail, could not have been less than 18 inches.—W. V. Guise ; Elmore Court, December 2, 1861. Additions to Forbes’ ‘ Malacologia Monensis.—Two small species of fresh-water shells which abound bere may be worth recording in the pages of the ‘ Zoologist;’ the one, Ancylus fluviatilis, Mill., solely on account of its being an addition to the list drawn up by the lamented Edward Forbes of the Mollusca of this his native isle, a synopsis of which will be found in Dr. Gray’s edition of Turton (pp. 30 e¢ seg.). It must surely have been omitted by mistake, since its absence from our clear stony rivulets would be more remarkable than is its presence. The other species, Pisidium obtusale, Pfeiff:, is noteworthy not merely as a novelty to the Manx Fauna,—no species of the genus being included in Forbes’ list,—but also as a scarce or at least local species in the South of England, and which, so far as I am aware, has not yet been detected in any locality so far north. Clausilia bidens, Mull., alsa omitted by Forbes, occurs on beeches at Ballaglass Glen in this parish.— Hugh A. Stowell ; Christ Church, Manghold, Isle of Man, December 12, 1861. Note on the Supposed British Specimen of Argynnis Aphrodite.—The proverb says “better late than never,’ so I ain now going to point out an error into which you have inadvertently fallen so long ago as the date of your excellent ‘ Natural History of all the British Butterflies,’ which I can truly say is worth ten times the money it costs ; aud I feel the more bound to do so, inasmuch as I have been the innocent cause of misleading you. Under the head of Argynnis Apbrodite (p, 18), after stating that it was described as British by me in Mag. Nat. Hist. , you go on to say, “ I had an oppor- tunity of examining the very specimen described by Mr. Bree,” &c., and that “ the mode of setting and the pin were identical ” with other specimens in your possession, taken by the late Edward Doubleday in North Carolina. Now this is altogether erro- neous ; for I beg to assure you that you never have seen the specimen described by me, and that the mode of setting aud the pin are not foreign. The real fact is this. When the specimen came into my (?.e. my son’s) possession, being ignorant of the naiwes of foreign butterflies, and wishing to know the name of the one in question, Insects. 7853 with a view to record the capture in Mag. Nat. Hist., I resolved to apply to you for assistance, but I did not like to run the risk of sending Mr. Walhouse’s example on a journey, so I procured an avowedly foreign, and that a very miserable but unquestion~ ably identical, specimen for that purpose, and this foreign specimen was the one you saw and not Mr. Walbouse’s, the one described by me. Lam a great stickler for exact truth in all matters relating to Natural History, and should your most useful article ever be reprinted I hope you will correct the mistake or at least omit the erroneous statement. I will not quarrel with you for excluding A. Aphrodite from the British list. The recorded capture of a single specimen of a North American insect in Eng- laud is scarcely sufficient to establish its claim as British ; and as to the fact of its having been taken in Ufton Wood, that is a point which doves not rest on my shoulders, but solely on the authority of the Messrs. Walhouse.— W. T. Bree; Allesley Rectory, December 12, 1861. [From this it would certainly appear that the actual specimen of A. Aphrodite submitted to me to name, and figured in the ‘ Magazine of Natural History,’ was not taken in Great Britain at all, but was an “ undoubtedly foreign one.” I think this ought to have been specified at the time, because I now presume that no competent authority has pronounced on Mr. Walhouse’s specimen, and consequently it falls to the ground asa specimen of A. Aphrodite at all. The ‘ History of Butterflies’ has been reprinted with several valuable additions and corrections by Messrs. Doubleday and Bond.— Edward Newman.] Occurrence of Glaa erythrocephala near Newark.—I captured a very fine exam ple of Cerastis erythrocephala at sugar, on the 28th of October, in company with S. satel- litia. Although I visited the same locality several previous and subsequent evenings I was not successful in meeting with more—W. P. Hatfield ; Newark, December 21, 1861. Note on Pionea forficalis—The larve of this common garden pest answer, if I mistake not, a query of Professor Westwood’s, which appeared in the ‘ Entomologist’s Weekly Intelligencer’ (vol. i. p. 104), and ran as follows :—“ Now that green peas are coming in, it will be useful to examine the pods of any which have a suspicious appearance, as they enclose the larva of a lepidopterous insect, which guaws the pea inside. If any of your subscribers should be so fortunate (?) as to find this larva I should be very much obliged to them for a specimen, as well as for the name of the perfect insect.” To this question there appeared no reply at the time, and probably most who read it concluded at once that it referred to an Endopisa. However, two years ago last spring my peas had the good fortune (?) to yield a large supply of these interesting creatures: from them I bred a host of Pionea foificalis, but having un- fortunately forgotten the Professor's duplicate request I can now only supply the latter half of it—Hugh A. Stowell ; Christ Church, Manghold, Isle of Man, December 12, 1861. Anthribus albinus and other Coleoptera at Folkstone.—I was fortunate enough to obtain a specimen of Anthribus albinu@during my stay at Folkstone this year. It was found on some rotten stumps of trees in a field near Sugar-loaf Hill, The habits of this insect seem peculiar, and its extreme sensiliveness to touch is remarkable. From its strong resemblance to the colour of decayed wood it is difficult to find, and would be passed over by any but entumological eyes. The season just closed was certainly not favourable to insect life, and species common at Folkstune in former years were with difficulty io be met with. Among other more abundant species I obtained the 7854 Insects. following :—Pterostichus ruficollis, Stenolophus luridus, Ovypus pedator, Aphodius poreus, Apion subulatum, A. vorax, A. Walvoni, A. flavimanum, A. difforme, Plinthus ealiginosus, Orchestes pratensis, Psaridius picicornis, Rhinoncus subfasciatus, Celi- odes guttula, Chrysomela Banksii, C. varians and C. Graminis.—Horace Francis ; 38, Bedford Place, November 21, 1861. Note on Hylurgus piniperda.—When on a visit in the neighburhood of Swaffham, Norfolk, in the month of October last, I was informed that abont two years ago great injury had been dune to some young plantations of Scotch fir by the ravages of a small insect which mined the tender shvots of the plants. Upon examination evidence was not wanting that the mischief was still in progress, as bere and there it was observable that the terminal shoots were bent downwards and looked sickly, or were altogether brown and withered. Upon examination a small round hole was perceptible, which being followed up showed the interior of the shoot entirely mined, and all the soft parts of the wood eaten away. At the end of the gallery thus formed the litule exca- vators were for the most part found, which proved to be Hylurgus piniperda, Linn. Curtis gives an admirable figure of this insect, with a short account of its mode of working, accompanied by illustrations.— W. V. Guise ; Elmore Court, December 2, 1861. Capture of Euthia plicata of Gyllenhal in Britain.— During the mouth of Septem- ber last we found in our garden, beneath a decaying bone, a beetle of small size, which we al once saw was new to our Coleoptorological experience. Mr. F. Smith has kindly compared it with specimens of the Euthia plicata of Gyllenhal in the Con- tinental collection at the British Museum, and both he and we are satisfied that it is identical with that species.—D. § H. M. Moses; Stockwell. Capture of Stenolophus derelictus of Dawson on Wimbledon Common.—In August we had the good fortune to capture a specimen of this insect on Wimbledon Common, most probably on the same spot on which Messrs, Solomon found a specimen recorded in a previous number of the ‘ Zoologist.—Id. Capture of Helophorus intermedius of Mulsant near Dover—We met with this species, a late addition to the British Fauna, by the side of a pond in the vicinity of Dover, durivg a short visit to that town.—Jd. Prolegs identical with Thoracic or True Legs.—In my description of the larva of Cidaria dotata (Zool. 7822) the term “ prolegs” means the “ six thoracic legs.” I was under the impression that “ prolegs” and “ posterior legs ” were well understood terms fur the six anterior and four anal legs of the larve of the Geometrina.— Percy C. Wormald, 10, Priory Road, Kilburn, November 30, 1861. [This is doubtless the proper application of the term, although the late’ lamented Mr. Kirby applied it to the claspers, and has been followed by Mr. Westwood in this unfortunate error. The term had better be discontinued, since it can never be used without av explanation.—Z. N.] Hymenoptera and Diptera desired.— 1 am now rearranging the British Hyme- noptera and Diptera in the cabinets of the Entomological Club, with a view to ren- dering them more useful to my Thursday evening visitors; and I shall feel sincerely obliged to gentlemen who will contribute speciinens of these unfashionable and much neglected insects : almost every eutomologist takes them, but leaves them without any atlewpt at arrangement: the species ol Sirex, Cimbex, Allantus, Tabanus, Siratiomys and Anthrax will be pariicularly acceptable. — Hdward Newman; 9, Devonshire Street, Bishopsyate, London, N.E. Insects. 7855 Life-Histories of Saflies, Translated from the Dutch of M. Snellen Van Vollenhoven. By J. W. May, Esq. (Continued from p. 7724.) NeEMATUS VALLATOR, V. Voll. Larva and imago both undescribed. Nematus niger, nitidus, antennis crassioribus, pedibus rufo-flavis, tibiis posterioribus dimidiato albis nigrisque. The insect which I am now about to describe belongs undoubtedly to the genus Nematus, although possessing two peculiarities in the direction of the genus Cladius; thus the antenne, especially in tlre male, are vertically incrassated, and the terminations of the joints form somewhat hook-shaped projections, as shown at fig. 5; on the other hand, the second recurrent nervure is not exactly received by the second submarginal cell, but, in the male, by the nervure between the second and third submarginal. Nematus vallator is, however, far more remarkable by its habits and economy than on account of any structural peculiarities, its habits being so singular that I have found nothing similar in the history of any other insect. In the garden at the back of my house stands an Italian poplar which has been planted about ten years, and on one occasion, in the month of May, looking among the foliage in search of any insects which might be little known or entirely unknown to me, I was sur- prised to perceive some little white projecting points round the holes which had been eaten in the centre of some of the leaves; these pro- jections appeared erected on the surface of the leaf. I could not at that moment detect any animal to which I could attribute this struc- ture ; but my curiosity was aroused, and I resolved to watch the tree in question. It was not long before I discovered the origin of the white plantation. I found in some of the holes in the leaves a num- ber of little saw-fly larvee with the palisades surrounding the holes; I placed these larve in a glass. The following day I found new erections on fresh leaves which I had put into the glass, and on taking another look at my poplar, in the evening, I saw two larve at work making this singular fortification. When the palisade larva, if I may so call it, has selected a leaf which it intends to feed upon, it turns round so soon as it has got on to the leaf-stalk, and then, with its body on the leaf, and its head and two or three anterior segments on the leaf-stalk, it makes a sort of 7856 Insects. chevauzx de frise, consisting of ten or twelve little posts formed of dried secretion: beginning at the stalk, it emits a little of the secretion from the mouth, and raises its head to a certain height, whereupon the fluid immediately dries (see fig. 1,/). Under the microscope the palisades appear as if formed of dried bubbles or little bladders, and are highly iridescent, as I have endeavoured to represent in fig. 2. When the larva has covered the*leaf-stalk, it turns round again, creeps further on to the leaf, and raises a whole row of similar little posts, placed quite close to each other, so that it is entirely surrounded by them (fig. 1, c). In the open space inside this rampart, it bites a hole in the leaf and begins to feed, as shown in fig. 1 a. When the hole becomes very large, the larva erects its fortification on both sides of the leaf. Ihave observed that in feeding it consumes its palisades, and I have once seen a larva first eat up its old defences, and imme- diately erect new ones enclosing a larger area. With regard to the object of this singular operation, it can only, I think, be as a means of defence against the attack of apterous Hyme- noptera, such as ants, or parasites of the genus Pezomachus. I have never seen any other insect on a leaf which was occupied by a larva of Nematus vaillator. This larva is in no wise remarkable either for form or colour. Like other Nemati, it has twenty legs, of which the anterior six are longer than the rest and provided with claws. The fourth and eleventh seg- ments are apodal. The head round, but depressed anteriorly, pale green, with two brownish green stripes running obliquely across the vertex ; trophi pale brown; the eyes seated in round black spots. The general colour of the body is pale green, clothed, as it were, with brownish granules, more particularly on the sides above the legs and round the spiracles. The legs are green, somewhat darker at the joints. The caterpillar appears never to stretch itself at full length, but is usually in the position shown at fig. 3. I have also never seen it elevate the abdomen in the air, as is continually done by some others of the genus, for example N. septentrionalis. The larva attains a length of 6 lines. This species remains in the larval state about four weeks. Those larve which I had placed in glasses, for the purpose of rearing, hid themselves in the earth on the 26th and 27th of June. I had, how- ever, already missed other larve from the tree, and these I must regard as full-grown ; so that all the eggs were not laid in one week. On the 29th of June I observed another individual spin up in the folds of a withered leaf, from which it appears that they do not all Radiata. 7857 bury themselves in the ground for the purpose of passing the pupa state. The cocoon was pale yellow. The first imago appeared, with me, on the 5th of the following July, the rest following shortly after- wards. In the works on Hymenoptera to which I had access I was unable to find any description applicable to my insect ; I \was thus obliged to describe it as a new species, and the singular method of defence adopted by the larva readily supplied me with a specific name. ‘This species is most nearly allied to Nematus crassicornis, Hart., described by Hartig, at page 204, of his Blatt und Holzwes- pen, which insect also has broad, or, rather, deep antenne, similar to those of N. vallator. The ground colour of this last is black, shining ; head and thorax punctate, and thickly clothed with short brown hairs. The antennz are vertically incrassated from the third joint, more especially in the male, and the terminations of the joints on the un- der side project like the teeth of a saw, as shown, although not suffi- ‘ciently marked, at fig. 5. The antenne are black; in those of the male insect a red tinge is observable on the outside. The compound eyes are rather large, spherical, black. Tegule white ot reddish white. Legs yellowish red; femora darker; tarsi paler; the posterior legs have the tibie red for one-eighth of their length, counting from the base,—then half white and the remainder black; the posterior tarsi are pale gray. My imagos were somewhat longer than 3 lines (7 mm.), expanding to 6 lines (14 mm.) The saw of the female is represented at fig. 6. I have not as yet been able to learn anything respecting the eggs or manner of ovipositing. I have also failed in rearing any parasites from this species. Note, — Since the above was written in the original, I have received a letter from the author, in which he says, “‘ This larva has since been found on other poplars in Leyden, and also at Utrecht; with me it has appeared annually in considerable num- bers.” He also informs me that the eggs of Nematus vallator are found inserted into the under side of the midrib of a leaf, two, three aud four together ; and that on the 20th of July, 1861, he found some larve just hatched, and at the same time he observed the marks left by the eggs.—J. W. M. Notes on the Sea Anemones of the Mersey and Dee.—[Addressed by Dr. Cuthbert- Collingwood to P. H. Gosse, Esq., and communicated by the latter.] Plumose Anemone (Actinoloba Dianthus). The locality chosen by your corre- spondent is a strange one, “ Liverpool, under the pontoons of the landing-stage.” It is possible it may have been found there, but no one would think of going there to look for it; but higher up the river, on the Dingle Rocks, they occur in abundance,— XX. F 7858 Radiata. nearly all pure white,—just under the ledges of the rocks at low-water mark. On the other side of the river, at the slip or pier to which the railway ferry-steamer plies, they are numerous, but here they are vot only white, but often of a fine deep buff colour: this, moreover, is one of the dirtiest parts of the river, and they are seen sticking to the side of the slip, at and above low-water mark. The white variety is also rarely taken at New Brighton. In the Dee, however, both white and buff varieties of great size are met with on Hilbre Island, the only rucky part of the Dee Estuary,—not the ‘“* Mersey Estuary,” as at p. 23 (Act. Brit.), and again at p. 104. Sagartia miniata. Tolerably abundant at Hilbre Island, where it fringes the under ledges of the rocks, just above low-water mark, in hanging festoons. Sagartia Troglodytes. This is one of our most common species. I doubt if any are found at Birkenhead now; but lower down the river, at Egremont,—at the mouth of the river, off New Brighton, —and between the estuaries of the Mersey and Dee, at Leasowe,—they are numerous. I have never calculated how many of the a to% varieties we possess, but they are not few, 6 (Aurora) perhaps being the most frequently met with. The same may be said of the west side of Hilbre Island. Sagartia viduata. This, next to Actinia Mesembryanthemum, is our rarest anemone, but may generally be found at Hilbre Island,—not, however, in the Mersey. Actinia Mesembryanthemum. I consider it as not a little remarkable that this anemone should be so rare with us—perhaps more so than if it were altogether absent. Mr. Price once took one somewhere on our shore, and in 1854 several were taken at Hilbre; but, although a shore-hunter of some years’ standing now, I have never found it, nor am I aware of any being found since I came to Liverpool. You remark (Act. Brit. p. 181), on the authority of Mr. E. L. Williams, that the Mersey estuary is the only place on our coast in which he has not taken this species, which he attributes to the foulness of the water. Now in this I cannot agree. If it were merely the foulness of the water, why should we find Actinoloba Dianthus in profusion, both opposite the landing-stage and higher up the river? Moreover, those delicate and beautiful animals, the nudibranchiate Mollusca, are in great numbers and variety all along the shore, and one would certainly imagine that foul water sufficient to offend the “ Mes.” would altogether extinguish them. You go on to say, “ In the neigh- bouring estuary of the Dee the former (Mes.) is common, as usual.” This, however, is a mistake. As I observed before, the estuary of the Dee offers but small space for such animals to flourish, and although the little rocky island of Hilbre is amazingly rich for its size (see ‘ Annals,’ Sept. 1860), nevertheless the “ Mes.” is not among its riches, its occurrence there being a rarity. In fact, points of geographical distribution, such as this, cannot be referred to any single condition, such as the foulness of the water, but are among the most obscure questions in Natural History, like the range of the nightingale in England. Why, too, should we have in the Mersey a Dorid, Doris proxima (and also in the Dee), which seems to occur nowhere else? and why sbould Doris aspera, its close ally, be absent here? Why should a little rock-pool at Hilbre Island be the only known habitat in the wide world for Antiopa hyalina? not once taken by chance, but three times at intervals of three or four years? Tealia crassicornis. This, which, before the appearance of your book, we always called “ coriacea,” is our abundant sea-anemone. New Brighton in the Mersey, and Hilbre Island, in the Dee, are the two great colonies of it, and here it attains a size and colouring which are truly magnificent. One cannot walk upon the rocks without Entomological Society. 7859 stepping upon them, when out flies a jet of water to the distance of several feet. When considering the abundance of this species I am the more struck by the absence of Mesembryanthemum, unless indeed that law which seems to obtain in some king- doms of Nature should hold here, viz. that the stronger of two nearly allied species should prevail over the other, until it became dominant and absolutely excluded it. The only other anemone we possess is Sagartia sphyrodeta, of which I have nothing to advance, save that it inhabits Hilbre Island in numbers which place it for frequency bet een S. miniata and S. viduata. But anemones are not our strong point; indeed in species we are poor, possessing only seven out of seventy-five British species, or one-eleventh, while of Nudibranchiata we have twenty-eight out of one hundred, or more than one-fourth,—C. C. Proceedings of Societies. ENToMOLoGIcAL Society. November 4, 1861.—J. W. Douctas, Esq., President, in the chair. Donations. The following donations were announced, and thanks ordered to be presented to the donors:—‘ Proceedings of the Royal Society,’ Vol. xi.; presented by the Society. ‘The Zoologist’ for November; by the Editor. ‘Notice of Blackwall’s Spiders of Great Britain and Ireland;’ ‘On the recent Geologico-Archevlogical Researches in Denmark ;’ by John Lubbock, Esq., F.R.S.; by the Author. ‘Journal of the Pro- ceedings of the Linnean Society,’ Vol. xi. No. 21; by the Society. ‘The Journal of the Society of Arts’ for October; by the Society. ‘The Athenzum’ for September and October; by the Editor. ‘The Entomologist’s Weekly Intelligencer,’ Vol. x. ; by H. T. Stainton, Esq. ‘Catalogue Méthodique des Lépidoptéres d’Europe pouvant étre employé comme Etiquettes pour le Classement des Collections ;’ by M. Dey- rolle. Election of a Member. Sighor Antonio de Lacerda, of Bahia, Brazil, was elected a Member of the Society. Exhibitions. Mr. Kirby exhibited a large number of North American Lepidoptera, and remarked on the close resemblance between many of the species and those found in Europe. Mr. M‘Lachlan exhibited a female variety of Colias Edusa, destitute of the usual orange spots in the dark border of the wings. Mr. Stevens exhibited a box of insects collected in Japan by Mr. Fortune, and observed it was the first collection from that country he had had the pleasure of ex- hibiting ; it contained fine examples of the rare and singular Damaster Blaptoides, and numerous other interesting Coleoptera, as well as two apparently new species of Papilio. 7860 Entomological Society. Mr. Reading exhibited specimens of Leucania putrescens taken at Torquay by Mr. King, and some rare Lepiduptera from South Devon, including Diasemia lite- ralis, Heliothis peltigera, &c. Mr. Reading also exhibited varieties of Pontia Napi, Colias Edusa (var. Helice), and a singular variety of Aictia villica, having the anterior wings entirely dark brown, the posterivr pair being of the usual colour. Dr. Knaggs exhibited a case of remarkable form, from Australia, believed to be that of a species of Psyche. Mr. Miller exhibited some living iva of a species of Incurvaria found feeding on fallen leaves. Mr. Adam White exhibited some insects, of various orders, collected by F. M. Rayner, Esq., Surgeon of H.M.S. ‘ Herald, during its voyage of exploration in the South Seas. He especially noticed some from Aneiteum, New Hebrides, such as that interesting Longicorn, Psalidocoptus scaber. He showed other Longicorns from these islands, and the Pyrrha Wollastoni, from Lord Howe’s Island, close to the genus Deucalion of Wollaston; Elytruri; Phasmide, such as Eurycantha australis, with its strange thickened hind femora and somewhat mole-cricket aspect, suggested ideas of analogy, now, since W. Sharpe Macleay had ceased to write, unfortunately little heeded by naturalists. Mr. White considered these ideas, if developed by their illustrious author in a republication of his works with annotations, as likely to prevent the dan- gerous theories of Lamarck and his pupil, Charles Darwin, from ever affecting, ex- cept in a sanatory way, “ our little systems,” which “ have their day and cease to be.” He said a few words on his good friend Mr. Rayners admirable collections of Crus- tacea, and expressed a hope that the Government would grant a sufficient sum to publish the valuable ‘ Natural History of the Voyage of H.M.S. Herald,’ begun by John M‘Gillivray, and carried on so successfully by Messrs. Rayner and Dr. Mac- donald. Mr. White also exhibited a beautiful Bombyx, allied to the Bombyx Certhia, Fabr., figured by Petiver. This new species was brought from India, by General Sir Jobn Hearsey, K.C.B., and for which he proposed the name of Brahmza Hearseyi. It is smaller than the Brahmea Wallichii, Gray (Bombyx spectabilis, Hope), and has three or four irregular undulating white lines in the apex of the fore wing, instead of three longitudinal lines of angled white Vs: he pointed out the black band behind this space being curved outwardly, instead of angled and irregular as in B. Wallichii. Mr. White also exhibited a fine species of Phryganide, also brought from Northern India by Sir John Hearsay, with yellowish brown upper wings richly and thickly spotted and blotched with black; the lower wings black, with purple tinge, and a broad yellow band before the tip, widest on the fore part. He named it Holostomis M‘Lacblani, iu compliment to a gentleman who had done, and would yet, if he lived, do much to advance our knowledge of Trichoptera, and neuropterous insects in general. Mr. White also exhibited the male and female of a beautiful Lycena from New Zealand. It was allied to L. Sallustius, Fabr. (the L. Edna of Doubleday). The male of this lovely Lycena is suffused with purple-violet, and has a row of red spots on both wings, and black marks and spots; the under side is guiet brown and gray. The female is larger, and has only a line of purple behind the tip of fore wings and parallel with its margin, and a macular line of violet on lower wings. Mr. White proposed for it the name Lycena Boldenarum, after Helen and Frances Mary Bolden, Entomological Society. 7861 the former for eighteeu years his devoted wife, the latter for the last three years the wife of T. Corbet de Lacy, Esq., of Dunedin, in New Zealand. «The last three exhi- bitions are of insects to be figured and described in the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society.’ Mr. Waterhouse exhibited three species of Curculionide from Australia, and laid descriptions of them before the Meeting. The first he supposed to be the Strongylo- rhinus ochraceus of Schonherr ; and the remaining two he regarded as members of a new genus, very closely allied to Strongylorhinus, but differing chiefly in having the rostrum curved, in the antenne having the seventh joint of the funiculus confounded with the club-joints, in the second joint being short, and lastly, in the total absence of claw-joints to the tarsi. To this genus the name Atelicus was applied. The two species received the names A. inaequalis and A. ferrugineus. A. inequalis is described as being 5} lines in length, oblong, and of a pitchy black colour, but densely clothed with scales, partly of an ochraceous colour, and partly dark brown, giving a variegated appearance to the upper parts of the body. Thorax with the sides but gently rounded, the fore part constricted, the surface uneven and punctured ; elytva striato-punctate, the alternate interstices unequally raised, and having four tubercles in a transverse line towards the apex. It is from Tasmania. The second species, A. ferrugiveus, is from Adelaide. Its length is 2¢ lines. In size and form it nearly resembles the small European insect known as Lixus rufitarsis of Schénherr: in colour it is of a somewhat deeper red than the Apion frumentarium : the head, rostrum, sides and under parts of the thorax clothed with yellow scales; a small spot at the humeral angle of the elytra, and a ring at the apex of each elytron are also formed by yellow scales: head and thorax with scattered punctures; elytra striato-punctate, and with the interstices flat. Mr. Janson exhibited specimens of the following Coleoptera, brought by him before the Society on previous occasions under the names of Homalota subterranea and Haploglossa rufipennis, and made the following observations respecting them :— * Homalota subterranea, Muls. This appears to coincide, as Mr. Waterhouse states, with an insect in the European Collection at the British Museum furnished by Dr. Kraatz, under the appellation of Homalota scapularis, Sahlberg. I had, however, prior to bringing the subject under the notice of the Society, carefully compared my specimen with the descriptions both of Sahlberg and Kraatz, and found disparities which precluded me from referring it to that species: thus, Sahlberg (Insecta Feunica, 872, 50) described his Aleochara scapularis as being ‘ barely one line long,’ and as having the ‘abdomen shining, scarcely punctulate,’ and the characters attributed by Kraatz (Naturgesch. d. Ins. Deutsch]. ii. 291, 100) are not in accordance with those presented by my example; finally, my specimen appeared to me to coincide well with both Mulsant’s and Kraatz’s descriptions of H. subterranea, and furthermore its occurrence in a nest of Formica flava led me unhesitatingly to refer it to that species: if, however, an insect received at the British Museum from Dr. Kraatz as the Homa- lota subterranea of Mulsant is really the species described by that author, it is not only specifically distinct from the insect to which I had applied that name, but pertains to a different section of the genus. “ Haploglossa rufipennis is not the species so designated by Kraatz, as I have convinced myself by a comparison with examples sent by him tu the British Museum, but is perfectly distinct from an insect which I regard as the true H. pulla of Gyllenhal, being less coarsely punctate, having the antenne conspicuously stouter, their articula- 7862 Entomological Society. tions otherwise proportionate, &c., &e. The following synonymy of the two species will probably prove correct :— “1. Haploglossa pulla, Gy//. Aleochara pulla, Gyll. Ins. Suec. iv. 495, 56—57 (1827). Fairm. et Laboulb.3 Faune Ent. Irrang. Coleopt. i, 451, 27 (1856)—but not of Kraatz or Waterhouse. “2. Haploglossa nidicola, Fairmaire. Aleochara nidicola, Fairm. et Laboulb, Faune Ent. Frang, Coleopt. i. 451, 28 (1856). Haploglossa rufipennis, Janson, Proc. Ent. Soc., Feb. 6, 1860, Zool. 6357 (1860)—nee Kraatz. Haploglossa pulla, Kraatz, Naturgesch. d. Ins. Deutschl. ii. 80, 2 (1856). Waterhouse, Cat, Brit. Col.—but not of Gyllenhal. “The first is said by Gyllenhal to inhabit Fungi: the only indigenous specimen which I have seen, the one now exhibited, was given me by Mr. H. 8S. Gorham, who captured it in the Isle of Wight, he thinks, in an ant’s nest beneath a stone, and who, I believe, has other examples. “The second, M. Fairmaire informs us (J. ¢.), he found abundantly in the nests of the sand martin at St. Valery-s.-Somme, and I have myself met with it crawling upon and at the base of sand bauks inhabited by these birds, and have watched the beetles ascend*the almost perpendicular walls of sand and enter the burrows in which ' nests were situate. Mr, May found it copiously in flowers, and I have several times taken it in those of the ragwort (Senecio Jacobea).” Mr. Tegetmeier called the attention of the meeting to a theory propounded by Principal Leitch to account for the development of a tertile qneen-bee from an egg which would, under ordinary circumstances, have produced a sterile worker. It is well known that bees deprived of their queen select several workers’ eggs or very young larve for the purpose of rearing queens. The cells in which these eggs are situated are lengtheved out and the end turned downwards. “The larva undergoes its development in this perpendicular cell, which is capable of being entirely sur- rounded by the worker bees. It was found by experiment that the position of the cell was not of ‘importance, as a fertile queen was developed with equal certainty when the cell was placed horizontally or even inverted, as wben it remained in the natural pendent position. It was suggested that the more perfect developmeut of the fertile larva was due to increased temperature, and that the object of the isolation of the cell was to allow ils being entirely surrounded by a cluster of bees, whose rapid and increased respiration was productive of the warmth necessary to accomplish the growth of a queen. In remarking on this theory, Mr. Tegetmeier stated that the idea of the develop- ment of a queen being dependent on the use of a food known as “royal jelly” appeared destitute of any foundation in fact, and that the theory which attributed the change to increased temperature produced by the clustering bees appeared sup- ported by the fact that in rearing queens artificially several queen cells were usually situated closely together, and also that the production of fertile workers, which occasionally took place under these circumstances, might be regarded as dependent on the adjacent cells being subjected to a somewhat increased temperature by the clustering of the bees around the royal cells. He further stated that it had been ascertained by the use of delicate thermometers that a higher temperature existed in Entomological Society. 7863 the neighbourhood of the queens than was found in any other part of the brood- comb. Mr. M‘Lachlan exhibited a fine series of Phryganide pertaining to the genus Stenophylax of Kolenati, and read descriptions of all the known British species, amongst which were two not hitherto recorded as natives of this country. Mr. Adam White called attention to the injury caused to ginger root brought to this country from Cochin and Calicut by the larva of a small coleopterous insect, believed to be Lasioderma testaceum, Steph.; and to the damage done to macaroni by the rice weevil (Sitophylus Oryze). The depreciation of the crop of ginger root in value is computed at £3000 or £4000 annnally; and a large consignment of macaroni from Genoa, which cost 5d. per Ib., would, in its now damaged state, be gladiy disposed of by its unfortunate owner for 14d. per tb. Mr. Desvignes communicated descriptions of two new species of Ichneumonidae, pertaining to the genus Ephialtes. Part 10, completing the fifth volume of the new series of the Society’s ‘ Transac- tions’ was on the table. ~ December 2, 1861.—J. W. Doveras, Esq., President, in the chair. Donations. The following donations were announced, and thanks ordered to be presented to the donors :—‘ Notice of some North-American Species of Pieris,’ by Samuel Scudder, from the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, September, 1861; presented by the Author. ‘The Journal of the Society of Arts’ for November; by the Society. ‘The Zoologist’ for December; by the Editor. ‘Stettiner Entomolo- gische Zeitung,’ 1861, Nos. 10—12; by the Entomological Society of Stettin. Election of Subscribers. James Fenn, Esq., of Clyde Villa, Lee; Charles Fenn, Esq., Clyde Villa, Lee; and Frank O. Ruspini, Esq., 85, Oakley Street, Chelsea, were balloted for and elected Subscribers to the Society. Evhibitions. Mr. Stevens exhibited a box of splendid Lepidoptera, sent by Mr. Wallace from Mysol, near New Guinea: the species were very similar to those previously sent home by Mr. Wallace from New Guinea and other adjoining islands. Mr. Stevens an- nounced that Mr. Wallace was now at Batavia, and would probably return to England in the spring of next year. Mr. Barnaud exhibited an extensive series of Coleoptera from Smyrna. Mr. Machin exhibited specimens of a Gelechia, and also of a Tinea, which he was unable to refer to any known British species; and an example of Athia emortualis, W. V., taken near Loughton, in Essex: this species has been erroneously recorded as a native of Britain by Haworth and subsequent authors; but the only authentic indi- genous example known, with the exception of the one now exhibited, was captured by the Rev. H. Birks, of Henley-on-Thames. Mr. D’'Urban exhibited a large collection of South African Lepidoptera, including several new species of the genus Acrea, &e. Mr. Adam White exhibited drawings, by Mr. Robinson, of a species of Mantispa, bred in some numbers from a nest of Polybia scutellaris, Saussure (Myrapetra scutel- 7864 Entomological Society. laris, White), a wasp said to collect honey; this fine nest was brought from Monte Video: of the economy of the Mantispa nothing is yet known. Mr. White called attention to a remarkable beetle of the family Buprestide in the collection of Mr. Jeakes: it is near Anthraxia, having the epistome projecting and developed into two marked horns—a character quite novel in this family of Coleoptera. Length about 2} lines. For the reception of this insect, which is from Santarem, Mr. White proposed to found a new genus, and dedicate it to the gentleman in whose collection it is contained. Mr. S. Stevens exhibited a specimen of Adelops Wollastoni, Janson, found by Mr. John Stevens, under dead leaves in a market garden at Hammersmith. Professor Westwood observed that Hammersmith appeared to be a far richer ento- mological locality than the neighbourhood of Oxford; since his removal from the former tu the latter place he had captured very few insects. Mr. Waterhouse exhibited a specimen uf Ishnoglossa corticina, a species hitherto unrecorded as British, which he had detected in the collection of the late Mr. Hey- sham, of Carlisle. Mr, Waterhouse also communicated some notes on the British species of the genus Gyrophena, including two species not yet indicated as indigenous, viz. G. levipennis, Kraatz,and G. maura, Hrich.: he stated that both these species appear to be not uncommon in this country, aud Mr. Janson observed that he also had recently recognised them in his own indigenous collection. Dr. Wallace read a letter from Captain W. T. Russell, of Monk’s Sleigh, Bil- deston, Suffolk, in which the writer stated, with reference to the specimens of Papilio Podalirius in a collection in Suffolk, said to have been captured at Sevenoaks, as mentioned by Dr. Wallace at the October meeting of this Society, that the said speci- mens were certainly taken at Sevenoaks by him (Captain Russell), but in the imme- diate vicinity of the residence of a Jady who had a day or two previously set at liberty a number of specimens of this butterfly, which she had bred from pupz imported from the Continent; there could of course be no doubt that those captured by him were part of the imported brood. Captain Russell also detailed with much minuteness the circumstances attending the capture of several specimens of Callimorpha Hera and one of Eulepia grammica on a precipitous bank near Wrexham, North Wales, on the 27th of July, 1859: ove of the examples of C. Hera is now contained in the indi- genous collection at the British Museum. Mr. F. Walker communicated descriptions of Exotic Lepidoptera contained in the collections of W. W. Saunders and A. Fry, Esqrs. The Secretary called attention to a specimen copy of the iret part of Mr. Trimen’s new work on the Rhopalocera of Southern Africa, which was on the table, to which he should be happy‘to receive the names of subscribers. The Secretary also read some descriptions of South-African Lepidoptera by Mr. R. Trimen, including species pertaining to the families Satyride, Lycenide and Hesperide. The President announced that the Council had, in compliance with the almost unanimous wish of the Members of the Society, resolved to alter the hour of meeting from eight to seven o'clock; and that in future the chair of the monthly meetings would be taken at the latter hour.—£. S. Notices of New Books. 7865 Notices or New Books. ‘The Romance of Natural History” By Puttip Henry Goss, F.R.S. ‘Second Series. London: James Nisbet & Co., 21, Ber- ners Street. 1861. 390 pp. letterpress: nine plates. Ir is very curious to observe what particular articles of faith indivi- dual naturalists adopt. The British Museum believes in meteoric stones, but rejects sea serpents; the ‘ Zoologist, on the contrary, believes in sea serpents and thinks every meteoric stone a hoax; one man pooh-poohs the cow-sucking propensities of the hedgehog, but cherishes, as the apple of his eye, a belief that a toad can exist without any inconvenience for some ten thousand years in a block of granite; many a man has witnessed showers of fish, but thinks the showers of frogs altogether apocryphal ; all sailor naturalists believe in mermaids, but all landsmen naturalists consider these tales the merest rubbish. It would be most interesting to study the phrenological development of each believer; to inquire why one man should believe in ghosts, another in meteoric iron: why he should call it lunar iron I can easily conceive, for, on the principle that love tinges every object with its own rosy hue, so the mind, impregnated with lunar influence, will impart a lunar character of every object on which it reflects. But why should a man believe in Junar iron and reject a mermaid ? or believe in a mer- maid and reject a sea serpent? or believe in a sea serpent and reject the immortality of toads? or believe in the immortality of toads and “ pooh-pooh ” the abundantly proven fact that vipers swallow and dis- gorge their interesting progeny at pleasure? Some bump of general credulity must be common to all such believers, but surely there should be a peculiar development of brain for each particular belief: a man must needs have a “capacious vaulted cranium” to invest a seal with the gigantic proportions of a sea serpent. Mr. Gosse is the only naturalist who believes in everything; he seems specially retained by the marvellous, and pleads its cause wherever he finds the least scrap of legendary lore that he can convert into a brief. He makes out a triumphant case for the showers of fishes (chap. 2); he leaves the traducers of mermaids as destitute of a leg to stand on as as the mermaids themselves (chap. 3); he shows that toads can endure hunger, thirst and suffocation for a few thousand years with perfect impunity (chap. 4); and what is still more strange, when accidentally exhumed, they exactly resemble their fellows of the present generation of toads: thus giving a severe, but we trust unintentional, blow to VOL. XX. G 7866 Notices of New Books. Darwinianism. He revives and establishes the torpidity theory of swal- lows (chap. 5); defends the crested and wattled snake that crows like a cock (chap. 6); and adduces incontrovertible evidence that vipers swallow their little ones (chap. 7). Such a work may well be yclept the ‘ Romance of Natural History.’ It bears about the same relation to the every-day natural history of our fields, as the [iad of Homer to the despatches of the Duke of Wellington. One result, however, is inevitable to those who read the ‘ Romance ’’ it is impossible to rise from the perusal without finding that the author has supplied abundant food for thought. Nothing is more easy than to avow a disbelief in whatever we cannot see, or feel, or do not possess; but it is most illogical to found a disbelief on the absence of such evidence. A parity of reasoning would rob us of history with its multitude of facts, and especially of those natural phenomena which have left no trace behind them, such, for instance, as comets, eclipses and earthquakes long, long, past, and of which we can obtain no infor- mation, except from the accounts written by actual eyewitnesses: in all instances the character of such witnesses must be our main guide in the reception or rejection of their evidence : thus if six men describe a mermaid, six men describe a sea serpent, and six men a chariot wheel they have dredged from the bottom of the Red Sea, we have no right to reject the first and second events, and accept the third, on the ground that it is rendered probable by a knowledge that Pharaoh and his host were overwhelmed by the waters at the very spot where the chariot wheel was found. The only question that need be answered is this—Is the narrator worthy of credence ? And should the result be affirmative I hesitate not to say that I would as readily believe in the sea serpent as in the chariot wheel. Never will I admit the right of the scientific to dictate to the unscientific what they shall see and what they shall believe; the measuring mind of the mere technical naturalist, like the locomotive engine, must keep to the direct line of rail,—it is upset by the slightest deviation to the right hand or the left. Not so the observer of Nature out of doors; to him the land, and sea, and air, are welcome to reveal all their wonders ; he can gaze on a sea serpent or a mermaid without exclaiming, “Avaunt! stand aside because you have no place in my museum.” I do not claim unhesi- tating belief for all that is marvellous, but I do ask the truthlover to sift evidence for his own satisfaction: the very attribute of marvellous is often conferred by ignorance alone. It cannot, however, escape the notice of the cautious that many of the “ marvellous” discoveries, especially in the instance of toads, are Notices of New Boots. 7867 made by men who consider beer the natural produce of their narratives. This was the case in the celebrated Chesterfield quarries, as recorded in the ‘ Zoologist’ by Mr. Plant; when that gentleman refused to advance a single pint, the tales of toads absolutely ceased, although he offered no less than two pounds sterling for a toad zn situ. The fre- quent occurrence of cavities in nodules of flint, and the figure of those cavities, often suggest the idea that they have been occupied by an animal; and the heedless avidity of wondermongers has often induced a droughty quarry man who has cracked a hollow nodule of flint, to squeeze a toad into what he would feign have us believe its legitimate domicile; so true it is that demand creates supply. Then, again, as to meteoric iron: that there is a substance so called no one will dispute, and that this substance realises a price little inferior to gold is patent to every one; but exactly according to the fluctuation in credulity - does the value of meteoric iron fluctuate also. Of late years the depre- ciation has caused an “awful sacrifice on the article,” to use the language of dealers, the evidence of the extramundane nature of mete- oric iron having been thoroughly examined and found very faulty. Both sides of every question should be patiently heard, and any object that will not bear the test of inquiry must be abandoned by the truth- seeker, whether it be a sea serpent, a toad, or a thunderbolt. After thus generalizing on the romantic in Natural History, we turn to the ‘ Romance’ itself, and at once pronounce it the most amusing, though the least original, of all Mr. Gosse’s labours. To myself it is peculiarly pleasing to observe how extensively the ‘ Zoologist’ has been quoted, and how admirably the quotations read. The value of this Journal as a repertory of Natural-History facts has long been known, but it is to such volumes as those lately published by Mr. Atkinson and Mr. Gosse that I am indebted for showing how greatly the cause of Natural History has been served by the accumulation and preservation of narratives which would otherwise have been lost to the historian of our Science. I feel considerable difficulty in selecting from an acknowledged compilation passages which will be new to my readers, but those I have selected, if not possessed of the engaging quality of novelty, cannot fail to be found interesting. It only remains for me to say that it is impossible to place in the hands of the young, the imaginative and the adventurous, a work more likely to lead them on to discoveries for which Science may hereafter acknowledge how greatly it is indebted to them. 7868 Notices of New Books. Extinction of Didunculus strigirostris and Nestor productus.—- “Species are dying out in our own day. I have already cited the interesting case of the moho, that fine Gallinule of New Zealand, of which a specimen—probably the last of his race—was obtained by Mr. Walter Mantell, and that of the kaureke, the Dbadger-like quad- ruped of the same islands, which was formerly domesticated by the Maoris, but which now cannot be found. “The Samoa Isles, in the Pacific, recently possessed a large and handsome kind of pigeon, of richly coloured plumage, which the natives call Manu-mea, but to which modern naturalists have given the name of Didunculus strigirostris. It was, both by structure and habit, essentially a ground pigeon, but not so exclusively but that it fed, and roosted too, according to Lieutenant Walpole, among the branches of tall trees. Mr. T. Peale, the naturalist of the U.S. Ex- ploring Expedition, who first described it, informs us that, according to the tradition of the natives, it once abounded; but some years ago these persons, like more civilized folks, had a strong desire to make pets of cats, and found, by means of whale-ships, opportunities of procuring a supply; but the consequence of the introduction of ‘pussy — for under this familiar old-country title were the exotic tabbies introduced—was the rapid dimunition of the manu-mea. Pussy did not fancy yams and taro,—the vegetable diet on which the natives regaled,—and took to the woods and mountains to search for something better. There she met with the feeble-winged Didun- culus scratching the soft earth for seeds, and with a purr and a mew soon scraped acquaintance with the stranger. Pussy declared she loved him well, and so she did—too well, in fact; she felt ‘as if she could eat him up’—and did. The news soon spread among the tabbies that there were sweet birds in the woods, and the result is the almost total disappearance of poor manu-mea. Like the dodo, it has ceased to be, but at the hand of a more ignominious foe. The Samoan may truly say to his former pet, ‘ Cecidisti, 0 mann-mea, non manu mea, sed ungue felino. So rare had the bird become, that during the stay of the Expedition only three specimens could be pro- cured, and jof these, two were. lost by shipwreck. I do not know whether another has been met with since. Probably they are all gone; for that was twenty years ago. “ When Norfolk Island-—that tiny spot on the Southern Ocean, since so stained with himan crime and misery—was first discovered, iis tall and teeming forests were tenanted by a remarkable parrot with a very long and slender hooked beak, which lived upon the honey. Notices of New Books. 7869 of flowers. It was named Nestor productus. When Mr. Gould visited Australia, in his researches into the Ornithology of those anti- podeal regions, he found the Nestor parrot absolutely limited to Philip Island, a tiny satellite of Norfolk Island, whose whole circum- ference is not more than five miles in extent. The war of extermina- tion had been so successful in the larger island that, with the excep- tion of a few specimens preserved in cages, not one was believed to survive. Since then its last retreat has been harried, and Mr. J. H. Gurney has published in the ‘ Zoologist’ (Zool. 4298) the dirge of the last of the Nestors.”—P. 79. This subject of the gradual but certain extinction of species, one after another, is not only of great interest, but is of far wider extent than naturalists generally suppose; the genera Notornis, Nestor, Strigops, Apteryx, Casuarius and many others are as certainly fol- lowing in the wake of Deinornis, Palapteryx and Didus, as these have followed the pre-historic inhabitants of this earth’s surface. Spontaneous production of Fish.— It is a curious fact that the pools, reservoirs and tanks in India and Ceylon are well provided with fish of various species, though the water twice every year is perfectly evaporated, and the mud at the bottom becomes converted into dust, or takes the condition of baked clay, gaping with wide and deep clefts, in which not the slightest sign of moisture can be detected. This is the case with temporary hollows in the soil, which have no connexion with running streams or permanent waters, from which they might be supposed to receive a fresh stock of fish. Two modes of accounting for this strange phenomenon have obtained currency. The one is that received by those Europeans who are content with any solution of a difficulty without too closely testing it; viz. that the fishes fall with the rain from the air. The actual occurrence of such showers rests, as we have jusi seen, on good evidence ; but admitting the fact, it must be a rare phenomenon, whereas the presence of fish in new-made pools is universal. Again, if the rains brought them in such abundance as to stock all the pools, an equal number would fall on the dry ground, which is not pre- tended to be the case. The other accepted solution is that which has received the sanction of Mr. Yarrell, who observes, ‘The im- pregnated ova of the fish of one rainy season are left unhatched in the mud through the dry season, and from their low state of organiza- tion as ova, the vitality is preserved till the occurrence and contact of the rain, and the oxygen, of the next wet season, when vivification takes place from their joint influence. This may be fully allowed, 7870 Notices of New Books. yet it does not meet the exigencies of the case. Sir Emerson Tennant and others have shown that it is not young fishes, just escaped from the egg, which appear in the newly-formed pools, but full-grown fishes, fit for the market; a fact well known to the Cingalese fisher- men, who resort to the hollows as soon as the monsoon has brought rain; aud they invariably take, in these pools, whieh a day or. two before were as dry as dust, plenty of fishes fully grown, a foot or eighteen inches long or longer. Neither of these hypotheses, then, will account for the fact; and we must admit that the fishes of these regions have the instinct to burrow down into the solid mud at the bottom, on the approach of the dry season, and the power of retaining life, doubtless in a torpid condition, until the return of the periodic rains, as Theophrastus long ago observed.” —P. 118. And I may add that this is abundantly proved by the now thoroughly ascertained habits of that “ odd fish” the Lepidosiren. EpwAaRD NEWMAN. ‘ The Entomologist’s Annual’ for 1862. London: John Van Voorst, Paternoster Row. 160 pp., demy 12mo; 1 coloured plate. Price 2s. 6d. After the publication, in the expiring ‘ Intelligencer, of Mr. Stainton’s views on the subject of periodicals, I scarcely expected to have had the pleasure of once again beholding an ‘ Eatomologist’s Annual ;’ but here it is, and although the cover is as bilious-coloured as usual, I most heartily congratulate the editor in having wholly ex- cluded that bilious writing which has so often served to set entomo- logists together by thej ears. The volume before us contains the following papers :— A Comparative List of the Fossil Insects of England and Bavaria. By Dr. Hagen. Index to the new Coleoptera enumerated in the ‘ Entomologist’s Annuals,’ 1856—1861. By W. F. Kirby. Notes on British Trichoptera, with Descriptions of new Species, &c. By Robert M‘Lachlan. ~ Notes on Eupithecia Larve. By the Rev. H. Harpur Crewe, M.A. A Chapter on Zygena Minos. By the Editor. New British Species of Lepidoptera in 1861. By the Editor. Rare British Species of Lepidoptera captured in 1861. Observations on British and Continental Tineina. Notices of New Books. 7871 Answers to Enigmas: Enigmas still unanswered: New Enigmas for solution. Natural History of the Tineina. Notes on Hymenoptera observed during the past Season ; Some Observations on Hymenopterous Parasites, and a i geeeeiisl of the Family Chrysidide. By Frederick Smith. On Hemiptera, commonly called Bugs. By John Scott. New Works on Entomology. Mr. M‘Lachlan’s paper is one of great interest, and does infinite credit to its author: it is written throughout with the greatest care, and introduces one species apparently new to Science, the PuHILoporaMus scotTicus of M‘Lachlan. Female. Antenne brown, annulated with yellowish; head clothed with golden yellow hairs; eyes black; thorax and abdomen black ; legs pale ochreous, tibia fuscous, spurs fuscous beneath ; anterior wings rich yellow, with numerous more or less confluent, irregularly formed, fuscous streaks and blotches; the first apical cell does not reach the anastomosis; posterior wings purplish fuscous, costa and inner margin narrowly edged with yellow ; pterostigma and a spot at the margin in each apical cell also yellow. A single specimen is in the British Museum, taken at Rannoch, in Perthshire, by the late Mr. Foxcroft. Mr. Crewe’s descriptions of the larve of Eupithecie are already known to my readers, and I believe greatly valued by them: the describing of larve is a new feature in our science, or rather one that had almost become obliterated. Mr. Stainton’s chapter on Zygzna Minos is both useful and inte- resting, but he does not seem sufficiently at home with the German language, always to convey in English the exact meaning of the authors he translates. The following passages relating to the larva are very valuable :— Larve of Zygena Minos, var. Heringi of Zeller, described by Professor Hering. “The larva of the ordinary Zygena Minos, which we find here almost exclusively on Pimpinella Saxifraga, ever occurs later with us than about the middle of May. The larva of the above-mentioned variety or species, which flies in the perfect state in August, when Z. Minos is long past, I had for several years sought in vain. I find them only on Thymus Serpyl- lum, on sandy places in fir woods, never in our fortification trenches, 7372 Notices of New Books. where Z. Minos is, in many years, quite common. This year I found a larva on the 21st of June, which died for want of care. But I made the following description : — The larva is dark citron-yellow ; at the end of each ring are two black spots, which consequently form a double row of spots, between which are numerous white hairs, placed on extremely fine blackish warts. Along the legs is placed, in the middle of each segment, a small black spiracle, over and under which are white hairs, as on the back.”—P. 60. Observations on the Larva of Zygena Minos, by C. F. Freyer. — “ When I gave my figure of Zygicia Minos, on plate 86, I had always found the larve yellow and no other colour. However, on the 25th of May, 1843, I chanced by accident to find, in a meadow near a wood, a number of the white larve of Zygzena Minos, which is very like Hiibner’s figure, and, at the very same place, amongst them some yellow larve. They ate very properly only Pimpinella, but they also bit other plants, such as thyme, &c. Of these larve, which when I found them were just full-grown, I collected considerably more than a hundred, amongst them from seventeen to twenty of the yellow ones, which were also rather larger. I immediately separated them, and kept the white larvee and the yellow larve in separate cages. But unfortunately many, indeed most, of the larve were infested with Ichneumons or Gordii, so that in proportion to my stock of larve J obtained only a few perfect insects, which showed no further differ- ences except the above mentioned characters. Only I may remark this, and I consider it of some importance, that the yellow larve almost all produced females, whereas the white larve furnished mostly males and very few females. Is the difference of colour a sexual character? I may further observe that the yellow larve had a dark dorsal stripe, whereason the white or bluish white larvze no dorsal stripe was perceptible. ‘The cocoons of the yellow larve were silvery gray, some few cocoons were, however, pale yellow. The cocoons of the white larvae were also much flatter, and not so vaulted as those of the yellow larve. ** * If we reflect on the difference in the colour and markings of the larve, it is of course very probable that if the differences do not indicate the sexes, two species may have been con- founded, although it will be difficult to find out any good points of distinction in the perfect insects.”—P. 59. Mr. Stainton, with admirable fairness, leaves every writer to speak for himself, and leaves it a moot question whether in Ireland or on the Continent two species of Zygzna are confounded under the name of Minos. Notices of New Books. 7873 Mr. Smith’s paper on Hymenoptera possesses all the excellencies of that accomplished entomologist; the instances of parasitism which Mr. Smith has established from actual observation are extremely inte- resting, especially to an entomologist who thirty years ago associated these parasites under the name of cuckoo-bees.* Epeolus variegatus, parasitic on Colletes Daviesana Nomada varia, ‘i Halictus rubicundus a furva + Morio 5 Solidaginis, ,, » abdominalis ™ Jacobex, os Andrena fulvicrus a ruficornis, 5 bo nigro-zenea os lateralis, aa e longipes x baccata, it » argentata a ochrostoma, _,, 59 labialis = borealis, ia » Clarkella by armata, on Me Hattorfiana a germanica, 5 » fulvescens " sexfasciata, ,, Eucera longicornis Ceelioxys quadridentata,, Megachile argentata Vectis, a , maritima 5s simplex, a ts Willughbiella ss umbrina, Pa Saropoda bimaculata Stelis aterrima, ‘ Osmia aurulenta » pheoptera, F » fulviventris » octomaculata, ,, » leucomelana Genus Melecta, - Genus Anthophora Apathus rupestris, oe Bombus lapidarius is campestris, _,, a Hortorum sf Barbatellus, _,, 4 Pratorum 5 vestalis, a “3 terrestris * “ Apathites, cuckoo-bees. Larva hatched from an egg deposited by its parent in the nests of all the preceding Apina at the time when their own eggs are laid: when it hatches, being stronger and larger than the rightful possessor of the cell, it consumes the food provided for its companion, and starves it to death; and in those instances in which fresh supplies of food are daily provided it continues to receive and appropriate them as its own. Pupa changes in the same situation, in a silken cocoon spun by the larva. Imago has no apparatus either on the body or legs for collecting honey ; in other respects it resembles in structure each of the orders of Apina before described ; it enters their nest with perfect familiarity, and seems to be quite unsus- pected of intrusion; it collects no pollen or honey, vever builds a nest of any kind or takes any care of its young, but spends its time among flowers, or hovering about sand-banks in which other bees have fixed their habitations. Apathus, Ceelioxys, Melecta, Stelis, Epeolus, Nomada, Hyleus?”—Hnt. Mag. ii. 404. XX. H 7874 Notices of New Books. It is not a little remarkable that out of the seven genera of bees sup- posed by myself to be parasitic in 1834, Mr. Smith should have proved six to be parasitic before 1862 ; his labours seem to have won- derfully established the conclusions I had drawn many years ago: the seventh genus, Hyleus, since called Prosopis, Mr. Smith con- siders to have been proved non-parasitic both by Mr. Thwaites and Mr. Sidney Saunders, and I most cheerfully bow to authorities so deservedly esteemed. I always entertained a doubt on the subject, and expressed that doubt by a note of interrogation. In Mr. Stainton’s New British Species of Lepidoptera he makes no mention of my Ephyra decoraria, supposed by Mr. Doubleday to be a Nemoria. Whence this reticence I cannot imagine. I am glad to see Mr. Stainton quoting with approbation Mr. Doubleday’s “ truly philosophic note,’—“ Whether the Irish Zygena is anything more than a local variety of Minos time may perhaps prove.” The spirit of this “ truly philosophic note” might be advantageously extended to the whole of those minute Lepidoptera to which Mr. Stainton has paid such undivided attention. On the whole the ‘ Entomologist’s Annual’ for 1862 is superior to either of its predecessors ; and I shall regret to read any announce- ment of its discontinuance, on the ground recently advanced, in the now defunct ‘ Intelligencer, against periodical literature in matters of Science. Epwarp NEWMAN. ‘The Natural History of the Tineina’ Vol. V1., containing De- pressaria, Part I. By H. T. Srainron, assisted by Professor ZELLER and J. W. Doucras. London: John Van Voorst, Paternoster Row. 280 pp. letter-press ; eight coloured plates. This volume not merely equals, it exceeds, those which have pre- ceded it in the careful accuracy of its letter-press and the extreme beauty and fidelity of its plates. There is an exquisite delicacy of drawing in the representations both of the perfect insects and larve, and the difference exhibited between the larve of closely allied spe- cies will do more than any descriptions of the perfect insects to prove them really distinct. Of some of Mr. Stainton’s labours I am unable to see the merit, and therefore, in truthfulness, have abstained from all praise; but in his ‘Natural History of the Tincina’ he is erecting a monument which Notices of New Books. 7875 will be the admiration of all entomologists, whether of the present or future generations, whose approbation is worthy of being earned. EpWwarpD NEWMAN. * Tabular View of the Primary Divisions of the Animal Kingdom: intended to serve as an Ontline of an Elementary Course of Recent Zoology (Cainozooloygy), or the Natural History of Existing Animals’ By Ropert E. Grant, M.D. London: Walton and Maberly. 1861. The Professor of Comparative Anatomy and Zoology in University College, London, in sending a copy of this little work to the editor of the ‘ Zoologist,’ seems to challenge that fair and conscientious criti- cism which it is the custom of the said editor to mete out with impartial pen to all who invite it. Taking this view of the subject I cannot in courtesy decline the task of reading and publicly noticing this very faint outline of an elementary course of lectures delivered in Univer- sity College by a Professor of thirty-four years standing, Dr. Grant having received his appointment in 1827. In perusing these pages the first thing that attracts my notice is their inflated style; the second the substitution of new names, with Grant as the authority, for old names with Cuvier, &c., as the authority ; the third is the apparent inattention to, I scarcely presume to say igno- rance of, the discoveries and improvements of the last quarter of a century ; and the fourth is the apparently crude and unsatisfactory manner in which groups are either associated or divided. I proceed to give illustrations. First, of the inflated style. “ With one fell swoop of the wand of truth, you have now scattered to the winds the pestilential vapours accumulated by species-mongers over every step of this ever-varying, ever-charming part of Nature’s works; and your next movement will dispel the remaining clouds of mystical supernatural typical intrusions which still hang on the horizon of the sublime prospect, now opening to the view, of the natural animalization of the orbs of space by the same simple laws which govern the physical and chemical phenomena with such wondrous harmony throughout the rest of the material uni- verse.” This rhodomontade is addressed to Mr. Darwin, and doubtless has some occult reference to that great naturalist’s work on the ‘ Origin of Species,’ but its meaning is entirely obscured by the multiplicity of inappropriate words. 7876 Quadrupeds. Secondly, of the substitution of new for old names. In the bats the words Pteropodida, Grant, Noctilionida, Grant, Vespertilionida, Grant, Phyllostomida, Grant, Rhinolophida, Grant, are employed for groups long since characterised and familiarly known under prior names: the Marsupialia or Marsupiata, described by numberless authors under these names, are now the Dimetroa, Grant. Lepido- siren constitutes the order Nematopteri, Grant. Similar instances occur in almost every page, and, what seems greatly to be regretted, the new names are rarely so appropriate, and never so pronounceable, as the old, and are therefore most unlikely ever to be adopted. Thirdly, of inattention to modern discoveries aud improvements. The Carnivora follow instead of precede the less perfectly formed Insectivora, and the rodents take precedence of the pachyderms. In birds no reference whatever is made to physiological characters. Fourthly, of the unsatisfactory way in which groups are associated or divided. The genera Psophia and Gypogeranus, the raptorial Gy po- geranus! form the new order Alectorides ; the genera Grus and Chionis, the pigeon-like Chionis! are combined in order Grallatores ; Columba stands as the type of Galline; yet these are described as “ large, heavy ;” the woodpeckers stand at the head of the order Zygodactyli, characterised as “coarse or hard vegetable-feeders ;” but it is inex- pressibly painful to point out the innumerable errors or oversights of this kind. It would seem that the Professor, satisfied with the laurels earned in early life, is now standing still while a crowd of competitors are passing him in the race. He appears complacently to have placed his chair and to have said “thus far and no farther,” and to have believed that the advancing waves of human research will never venture to over- take him. This is a fatal mistake ; let no man who presumes to teach, think that he is too old to learn. Epwarp NEWMAN. Birth of Polar Bears in the Zoological Gardens. By EK. W. H. Hoxtpswortu, Esgq., F.L.S., &c. THE reproduction of polar bears in captivity, amid scenes and under circumstances so different from those to which these truly northern animals are accustomed, is perhaps of sufficient importance and general interest to deserve a notice in the ‘ Zoologist,’ especially as the case to which I am about to refer is the first which has ever been recorded. I will begin by saying something about the ursine Quadrupeds. 7377 parents. The ages of the two adult polar bears in the Zoological Gardens are not certainly known, but both animals have been for many years inhabitants of their present limited enclosure. The female —the smaller of the two—is an old friend of mine, of nearly sixteen years’ standing. The male is a good deal larger, and is a fine repre- sentative of the species; it was captured in Barrow’s Straits by some adventurous whalers in 1850, and was brought to England, secured, it is said,in a cask. The process of incarceration must have been a difficult one, and the capture of such an animal, grown up, as it had, amid the wild regions of the icy north, may be recorded as no mean triumph of man over the brute creation. On this animal’s introduction to its present domicile, it evinced the most praiseworthy desire for freedom, and climbed about the strong iron railings of its enclosure with a skill and perseverance such as only an apprenticeship on icebergs could have enabled it to exhibit. Its efforts to escape were unceasing; so that extra precautions were necessary to secure the animal in its den, and it was only when an open iron roofing had been fitted, besides the incurved spikes already terminating the top of the high railings, that the imprisoned bear could be induced to sub- mit to its fate. The difficulties usually attending the first meeting of two savage animals in a confined space were not wanting when this male bear was introduced into the den already occupied by his future companion. After being accustomed for a few days to look at one another through an iron grating they were both allowed the free run of the enclosure, and then ensued a most animated and snarling discussion about Might versus Right—physical force against priority of occupa- tion. Fortunately the dispute did not terminate in blows. Each animal soon took up its position in an opposite corner; and if one attempted to move a growl from the other cautioned it to be quiet; it was evidently “Touch me if you dare” on both sides. After a time the two bears would advance towards one another, snarl, and then retire to their corners, the stranger always moving backward, and presenting a firm front to his supposed enemy ; the female, confident in her right of place, would turn and walk away in her usnal manner, contenting herself with sidelong glances at her companion. At last, however, peace was declared (except at dinner-time), and, companions in misfortune, they now appeared as happy together as if they had never quarrelled. The retrograde movements of the male bear, originating in suspicion, have, however, been confirmed into a habit ; and, without any reference to the position of his mate, after pacing 7878 Quadrupeds. the length of his den, he very commonly backs the whole distance to his original corner. During the last few years hopes have existed of young polar bears being added to the list of novelties in the Gardens, but they were not realized until the 5th of November, 1861. On that day the keepers observed a renewal of the old family quarrel, and it was soon ascer- tained that two young bears had been added to what I may call the polar circle. Unfortunately, both: little ones were dead, probably killed by the mother, as one of them was much injured. These young animals are each about thirteen inches long, and would have stood neurly seven inches high,—miniature polar bears, well proportioned and covered with a coat of fine white silky hair, except on the ears, which are quite naked. The little things look like large white tail- less rats. They are now stuffed, and will soon take up their quarters on the shelves of the British Museum. In February, 1860, at an evening meeting of the Zoological Society, Mr. Bartlett called attention to the size of some young hybrid black and brown bears which had been produced in the Gardens on the last day of the previous year. When born they were only as large as rats, and their eyes did not open until they were about five weeks old, when the young animals had attained the size of a common rabbit. It has now been shown that the polar bear agrees with its congeners in producing its young of a disproportionately small size. It is well known that bears bring forth during the period of hyber- nation, and, at that time, are for a long interval without food. No attempt at hybernating has hitherto been observed among the bears in the Regent’s Park; yet, as winter approaches, some of these animals show failing appetites, and, if any young ones are produced, the mother ceases for a time to feed. The polar bear ate nothing for a week after her cubs were born. ‘This curious fact shows us that the absence of a desire for food is not wholly dependent on hybernation, but is especially marked under those circumstances which make other quadrapeds most ravenous. The period of gestation is seven months, and union continues about two hours. The two polar bears in the Gardens daily consume from sixteen to eighteen pounds of fish between them, and, under ordinary circum- stances, winter sees no diminution in their appetites. Both animals always appear very unwilling to enter the water, and rarely venture in further than they can help; possibly they have learnt the advantage of dry clothes, and, moreover, that little is to be gained by a wetting except at dinner time. Quadrupeds. 7879 I may add that on the 27th of December, 1861, three little rat-hke brown bears were born in the Gardens, and are still alive and doing well, the paternal honours in this case belonging to the well-known gigantic animal sent a few years ago from Norway. E. W. H. HoL_psworru. January 8, 1862. Weasel fascinating Small Birds.—Returning from church one Sunday morning, my attention was drawn to a clump of six or seven small trees planted on the village green. Five sparrows were fluttering about, near to the ground, and uttering loud cries of alarm. TI drew cautiously nearer to the place, and saw a weasel in the middle of the clump. He was facing the birds, who seemed to flutter helplessly around him. He suddenly made a spring and snatched a bird, and at the same instant I threw a stone at him, which alarmed him, and he made off into an adjoining farm-yard, retaining _his prey in his mouth. TI had often heard of the power of fascination possessed by some animals, but never saw anything approaching to it befure.—J. Ranson ; York. Cream-coloured Mole.—I have in my possession at present a beautiful cream- coloured mole, which was killed, in August last, in a hay-field near this village. A similar ove was also caught in October on the farm adjoining; it, however, made its escape, after being a few hours in captivity—Zhomas Thompson; Winlaton, December 7, 1861. {I have met with numerous instances of cream-coloured moles, but never with one perfectly white.— EH. Newman.] In re Leporines. —It is difficult to visit Leadenhall Market, or any other market where living animals are exposed for sale, or any dealer in living animals, or any spot where living animals are exhibited, though not sold,—as in our Zoological Gardens,—without seeing, in considerable abundance, an animal called a leporine; and without hearing, should any inquiry be made, that the said leporines are hybrids between the rabbit and the hare. Again, it is difficult to open the ‘Field’ newspaper—which, by the way, is an admirable repertory of sporting and field lore—without lighting on a discussion as to the value, origin and characters of the leporines in question. Now the mind of the true naturalist has not only an inquiring, but almost a doubting turn, and this I fancy more wholesome than too eager a credulity, than such a swallow, fur instance, as would gulp a meteoric stone, or such a stomach as could digest the wondrous but circumstantial narrative thereanent, when swallowed. Now this sceptical spirit or doubting turn of mind has largely fallen to my own share; and I do not take on trust that these leporines are hybrids between rabbits and hares, for two reasons ; the first and primd facie reason is that they resemble rabbits and not hares; and the second, that they are extremely fertile, which is very rarely, perhaps never, the case with hybrids between distinct species of either quadrupeds or birds; instance the mule as a hybrid between horse and ass, and the mule hybrid between canary and goldfinch. Seeing then that appearances and probabilities are equally against the assumption that leporines are hybrids, half- hare, half-rabbit, I may mention another character they possess that is purely a rabbit character. The female or doe makes a cozy nest of hay, and lines it with fleck torn from her own belly: in this nest she brings forth; and her young ones are born 7880 Birds. perfectly naked and perfectly blind. TI need scarcely mention, except for the edifica- tion of the few non-naturalists who may peruse these lines, that the female hare makes no nest; that she tears no fleck from her body; and that her young are brought into the world with an abundant covering of hair, and possessed of eyes remarkable for wide-openness, brilliancy and beauty. Before the little world of naturalists will believe in the hybridity of these leporines a number of very difficult questions must be answered clearly and definitely :— Ist. Who raised the first litter of leporines ? 2nd. Where were they raised ? 3rd. Was the male or female parent the hare? 4th. By what management did the breeder achieve so unnatural a combination ? 5th. What was the period of gestation in the first instance; and what is it now, when the leporines breed freely among themselves ? 6th. How does the breeder account for the disappearance of all hare characters, except some slight approach in size and colour, which all naturalists agree in regarding as totally unimportant? Until these questions are satisfactorily answered I shall continue to regard leporines as a breed of tame rabbits, differing no more from the common wild rabbit than do the lop-eared, the silver sprigs, &c., &c.—_ Edward Newman. Ornithological Notes from Edinburgh.—On the 13th of last month a bird-catcher showed me several hawfinches, bramblings and crossbills, which had been caught by his boys near Morningside, about two days previously: one of the hawfinches, a very fine male, having died soon after its capture, I took it away as a specimen, and on examining the stomach found that it contained nothing but a few fragments of barley and a little coarse sand. On the 15th, the same man brought me four curlew sandpipers and three dunlins, all of which be killed at a single shot on the Fife coast : he said that they were in company, with many others, feeding upon the sand, close to the water’s edge. On the 19th of the present month a friend of mine picked up the remains of a little auk upon the sands at Portobello: it was a female, and had apparently been dead for at least a week; the stomach was quite empty. A few days ago I ohserved nine snow buntings feeding among the bushes which cover the face of the steep rocks upon the south side of the Calton Hill: the ground being frozen at the time the poor birds were probably led by hunger, rather than by choice, to seek their food in this unusualj situation—Henry L. Saxby; 54, Gilmore Place, Edin- burgh, December 28, 1861. Occurrence of the Golden Eagle near Driffield.—Early in this month I received a fine adult golden eagle in the flesh, from Skerne, near Driffield, shot by J. Kemp, gamekeeper to A. Bannister, Esq., of Hull. The bird in question is a male, and measures from beak to end of tail 2 feet 9 inches, to the end of toes 2 feet 6 inches, spread of wings 6 feet 7 inches; weight 8 tbs. 5 oz. I have also had lately brought me, to be preserved, stormy petrels, little auks and the gray phalarope.— Alfred Roberts ; King Street, Scarborough, December 27, 1861. Occurrence of the Merlin near Alton.—Last week a female merlin was shot at Chawton, about a mile from here. I have never known the merlin shot in this neighbourhood before.— Philip Crowley ; Alton, January 7, 1862. Birds. 7881 Occurrence of the Great Gray Shrike at Jevington, Sussex.—A beautiful male specimen of the great gray shirike (Lanius excubitor) was ) 4 é i 11 . : 9 Malacodermi . 3 pO, - . 13 . : 11 Heteromera . - : Be Veit * : 5 : : 4 Rbynchophora ° - 104 : d 77 : : 49 Xylophagi . . - E 2 - : 0 : : 0 Longicornes . : : : 5 . ; 0 : - 0 Eupoda é ‘ : . 49 . : 33 f t 22 Pseudotrimera. : sy 28 - ~ 18 : : 13 599 406 278 On Raking for Coleoptera, §c.—Doubtless other entomologists besides myself are located in a neighbourhood where the sweeping- net can find but little employment in its own proper way. For their benefit the following note is penned. Our upland herbage is generally scanty and short; even the meadows are hardly “sweepable” much before midsummer. Hedges, moreover, are supplanted by banks, from five to eight feet high, originally compacted of sod and stone, but soon buried beneath a tangled vegetation of Aira and other grasses, foxgloves, sorrel, dog-violets, plantain, knapweed, bird’s-foot trefoil, meadow vetch- ling, wood sage, Cotyledon Umbilicus, &c., so well guarded withal by sturdy gorse bushes and many-toothed brambles, that the strongest can- vass is soon reduced to its component particles of thread if it rashly attempts to invade the repose of their weaker protégées. Now then for the way by which these tantalizing coverts may be compelled to yeild their insect treasures. A roomy sweeping-net and an ordinary garden-rake are the instruments, and a fine evening after sunset in dry weather the time of times for the sport. The net is to be thrust through the herbage till it reaches the earthen bank, and kept in posi- tion by the handle pressed against the breast or leg, according to the height selected for attack, thus leaving both hands at liberty to wield the rake. With it the herbage above the net is to be violently torn up and down, to and fro, until its iron teeth have scored the earth beneath. This to be repeated on new ground as often as desired, while daylight holds out. The immediately visible results of the process are grass, leaves, and bits of stick, earth and small stones. Do VOL. XX. O 7922 Insects. not pause to examine these at the time; only, in order to prevent the bag of the net filling up too rapidly, take out a handful or two of the larger fragments after each rake, and, shaking them well over the net, throw them aside. All that remains to be done the same night is to close the net, and secure its neck somewhat above the contents with a piece of twine. Next day, gently emptying it, you will find on opening the net sundry larve of Noctue and Geometrez, which have crawled aloft as far as might be from the dusty débris below. These duly cared for, pour out a portion of said débris upon a newspaper; shake out, run through your hand, reject all large leaves, &c., pick out the stones, and then proceed very carefully to examine the finer residuum. It is only by the most close and patient search that such insects as Orthocheetes setiger, Acalles misellus and Trachyphleus Waltoni can be detected, so closely do they resemble the surrounding débris, and so perseveringly do they sham death. By the time that all its contents have been thus treated, the knight of the net, if as fortunate as I have been, will be astonished at the number of nocturnal species thus taken, whose presence in his locality was not previously suspected. I desire, before laying down my pen, to add my testimony to the value of another mode of capturing Coleoptera, to which Mr. Douglas called attention at a meeting of the Entomological Society, some time ago, and which was also recommended by Mr. Scott in the ‘ Zoologist. Any tolerably mild day in February or March, armed with a stout Wharncliffe blade and a good sized bag, proceed to the nearest swampy pasture, where the turf is old and mossy and rushy; if little hillocky tufts, rather drier than the surrounding swamp, stud its sur- face, so much the better. Wherever the moss grows long, especially on the said tuft-hillocks, cut below its roots and those of the grass, rushes, Luzula, Carex, Pedicularis, &c., that are intermingled with it, and deposit the little turfs as you cut them in the bag to be carried home and examined at leisure, which examination must consist not in merely shaking them but in tearing them in pieces over paper. In this way may be obtained many species, especially of Pselaphide and Staphylinide, in plenty, which will only be met with occasionally and singly when once they have broken up their winter quarters. As soon as the sun begins to wax powerful, as was the case here early in April, this year, this plan ceases to be worth trying. Houeg A. STOWELL. Christchurch, Manghold, Isle of Man, December, 1861. Quadrupeds. | 7923 PS.—I find that in the remarks which commence this paper I have inadvertently omitted all mention of the bulkiest and perhaps the most important contribution to the Natural History of the island,—namely, the Rev. J. G. Cumming’s ‘ Isle of Man; its History, &c.,’ which treats very fully of its Geology, Paleontology -and Meteorology. TI ought also perhaps to have named the lists of Messrs. Doubleday and Water- house, as my authorities for the nomenclature employed for the Lepi- doptera and Coleoptera respectively. H. A.S. February 13, 1862. A Summary of the History of the Leporines. By E. W. H. Horpsworts, Esq., F.LS., F.Z.S., &c.¥ THE interest now generally felt in the question of hybridism, espe- cially in the reputed successful inter-breeding of the hare and rabbit, induces me to send you an abstract of an important paper on the sub- ject, which I have met with in the course of my inquiries about the experiments at Angouléme. This paper is one of a series of four memoirs, by M. Paul Broca, “Sur PHybridité et sur les Métis du Liévre et du Lapin,” and published in the ‘Journal de la Physiologie, whose editor is the well-known physiologist, Dr. E. Brown-Séquard. In the first two memoirs, M. Broca discusses the probable origin of the different races of dogs and men; in the third, published in July, 1859, he gives an account of the production of leporines, and his concluding paper is devoted to the results of hybridism, or inter- breeding among the various types of the human race. I shall confine myself to that embodying his observations on the hare and rabbit cross, his remarks being chiefly founded on the experiments carried out by M. Roux, at Angouléme, which had been made the special subject of his investigations. Before speaking of the leporines, M. Broca makes some remarks on other authenticated hybrids, and points out that M. Chevreuil was mistaken in disputing the Rev: John Bachman’s statement of the fertility of the cross between the goat and sheep. Every one who, under suitable cgnditions, had repeated the experiments of Buffon, had succeeded in producing such fertile hybrids; and if similar attempts in the Jardin des Plantes had failed, it was probably * Printed in the ‘ Field’ newspaper, and kindly communicated by the author. 7924 Quadrupeds. because, being kept closely confined, the animals had not enjoyed sufficient liberty ;* but whenever a he-goat had been folded with sheep alliances and fertile hybrids had been the result. The author then refers to the success which has attended this cross-breeding im Chili, where thousands of “ pellions,” or the skins prepared with the wool on, are annually exported to Peru. These animals, as well as their skins, are called “ pellions” in Chili, but are known elsewhere as “chabins,” and are the produce only of the male goat and the ewe, the best wool being procured by recrossing the first generation of “ chabins” with the sheep. After referring to the more or less fertile hybrids between the camel and dromedary, the Llama family, the wolf and dog, &c., and among several species of birds, M. Broca says the decisive experiment must be made with nearly-allied animals, living in a wild state in the same country, but with different instincts, which prevent their crossing whilst in a free condition. These requirements the author believes to be perfectly satisfied in the case of the hare (Lepus témidus) and the rabbit (Zepus cuniculus). No one, he says, can doubt these two animals being specifically distinct. They certainly differ less in their anatomical characters than many animals reputed to be of the same species; but their instincts, tastes and habits are so opposed, that it is impossible to confound them. The hare is solitary, the rabbit gregarious; the hare lives above-ground, and hides in the brakes; the rabbit burrows, forms subterranean colonies, where each family has its nest, and the young are sheltered during lactation. Gestation lasts thirty days in both species (?), but the hare has only two or three litters in the year, and from two to four young ones in a litter. The rabbit bears eight times annually, and on each occasion produces at least four young,—usually six or eight,—often more. The rabbit was early and readily domesti- cated. Young wild rabbits are constantly captured, and easily tamed. They reproduce in confinement, and become domesticated in the second generntion. All attempts, however, to domesticate the bare have entirely failed, some have been tamed, but have very rarely bred, and their descendants have been nearly barren. This sterility * In a note, the author says, “I have authentic information that many species of animals, though kept pure, become barren after three or four generations at the Jardin des Plantes. Domestication rarely diminishes the fertility of animals, and even frequently increases it; but it appears that want of exercise, or the nature of their food, may, in many cases, impede reproduction. Perhaps, also, in the experiments at tie Museum, the union of near relations has not been sufficiently avoided.” Quadrupeds. 7925 is complete in the female. Pregnant hares have been captured, and their young, born in captivity, reared artificially, but have failed to reproduce. The two species are natural enemies. The hare avoids the rabbit, and, although stronger, is generally worsted in a combat. Sportsmen well know that where rabbits are abundant there are few hares; and, if the latter are to increase, the former wust be destroyed. These distinctions with others, externa] and internal, cannot be attributed to accidental influences, and no one has even imagined that two species so distinct could have had a common origin; yet they can be crossed, although only with the greatest difficulty. - Buffon’s unsuccessful experiments are then referred to, but M. Broca points out that in those cases no union was effected between the male hare and doe rabbit; with the contrary arrangement coupling took place, but there was no produce. The first decided success in crossing the hare and rabbit appears to have been obtained in 1774, and an account of it was published at Milan in 1780. In this instance a young female hare was reared in company with a young rabbit of the opposite sex by the Abbé Domenico Gagliari, at Maro, in Northern Italy. When about seven months old, the hare produced two young—one resembling the mother, the other like a rabbit; a litter of four was afterwards born, and all the hybrids grew up. Some time after the rabbit died, but the hare continued to breed with her descendants, and they also reproduced inter se. The naturalist Carlo Amoretti investigated this case of fertile hybridism, and published an account of it at Milan, in a work devoted to science and art. M. Broca considers this experiment well authenticated, and says it is impossible to exaggerate its importance. He comes then to the experiment at Angouléme, conducted by M. Alfred Roux, President of the Agricultural Society of Charente. The first attempts by M. Roux were made in 1847, but it is only since 1850 that he has seen his way clear, and proceeded on a regular system. The results he has obtained may be considered definite: these results are known to all the inhabitants of Angouléme; they are as important from an economical as from a scientific point of view, and yet, strangely, remarks M. Broca, they have not yet been published. Chance alone, in 1857, made M. Broca acquainted with them, and soon afterwards he went to Angouléme to see for himself. In March, 1859, he writes, “ Now the establishment of M. Roux is in full pros- perity. I have just made a second journey to Angouléme to satisfy myself; the leporines are in their tenth generation. The hybrid race is by no means etiolated, and the produce, on the contrary, are finer 7926 Quadrupeds. than at first. They are superior in beauty, strength and size to the two species whence they derive their origin. Apart from all scientific consideration, M. Roux has, then, obtained one of the most important practical results: he has created a new race, which promises to be of great service, and which probably will soon become generally dis- tributed.” But if the pra¢tical experiment was concluded, there was still something to be desired by Science. M. Roux only endeavoured to produce the most profitable race, without considering the question of species, or the requirements of Physiology. These points M. Broca takes under his own consideration, after a long series of experiments have been tried. He now proceeds to describe what he saw and heard at M. Roux’s establishment, and states that he cannot question the truth of M. Roux’s information. It is found that when a full-grown male hare and doe rabbit are placed together, the two animals usually fight to the death, or, if not, they never unite. Coupling does not even take place if animals only three or four months old are brought up together: it is necessary to take male leverets three or four weeks old, when they can leave their mother, and bring them up with domesticated rabbits of the same age, and to separate them from every other animal of their own species. ‘The female rabbits, never having known their natural partners, believe the hares to be such, and vice versd. The young hares become accustomed to con- finement, and, under the influence of example, lose part of their wild instincts. When full grown the hares must be separated from one another, and one or more of the doe rabbits, reared in their company, given to them. The cross is then effected without difficulty. M. Roux had not tried the buck rabbit with the doe hare. The domesticated rabbits chosen by M. Roux for his experiments naturally produce from eight to twelve young in a litter; united with the hare they rarely have more than eight little ones, sometimes only five or six, the number being generally intermediate between those of the parents. To effect the crossing at his will, and not to exhaust the hares by too frequent unions, M. Roux separated them from the rabbits when they had once performed their duties. He also isolated, in as many separate cages, the females he intended for them. When he wished to effect the cross he placed the hare at nightfall in a cage with a rabbit in heat, and withdrew him the next morning: that invariably sufficed; union took place as certainly as between two rabbits. But it was observed that the hare—more continent or timid than the Quadrupeds. 7927 rabbit—never united by daylight, or even at night, if it saw any one near. M. Roux was therefore obliged to go behind the cage, and await with patience, and in silence, the particular moment. He was thus enabled to ascertain that—unlike the buck rabbit, or even the hare in a wild state—the tamed hare was very geutle in his advances to his strange partner. The leporines of the first nee ie resemble the rabbit much more than the hare, and, altogether, might be easily confounded with rabbits. No advantage was gained by propagating this race: they bred inter se, and also with the rabbit; and, in the latter case, the produce ap- peared almost identical with the pure species. M. Roux believed this return to the rabbit was without any practical utility. It was, how- ever, otherwise with a return to the hare. The leporines, the issue of the hare and a female of the first cross, are finer, stronger and larger ‘than the animals of the pure species. These new hybrids, although three-quarters hare and one-quarter rabbit, appear directly inter- mediate between the two species, so that it may be said, other things being equal, the rabbit impresses its characters on the leporines more strongly than the hare. M. Broca calls these hybrids “ quadroons ” (quarterons), and says they are fertile inter se, but not very prolific —in this respect approaching the hare. Their litters consist only of from two to five young, and, to obtain a more productive race, M. Roux determined to recross them with the first generation of hybrids. This union results in a breed five-eighths hare and three- eighths rabbit, and is the one to which M. Roux gives his principal attention. The “ three-eighths,” as M. Broca designates this race, are quite as fine as the quadroons, and much more prolific. Their litters contain from five to eight young, which are reared without any difficulty, and are as hardy as the pure rabbit. They grow rapidly, and are capable of reproducing when four months old. Gestation lasts thirty days, and the young are suckled about three weeks. The female again receives the male seventeen days after littering. She may thus without difficulty bear six times in the year. This breed of leporines costs the least to bring up, and produces the most flesh for a given quantity of food ; it consequently makes the best return. M. Broca takes the weight of the domesticated rabbit and that of the hare reared in confinement as being each about 6 tbs.; the “ three- eighths” leporine, he says, when a year old, or sooner, weighs from 8 Ibs. to 10 tbs., many reach 12 tbs. or 14 ibs., and one has attained even 16 tbs. Leporines, at four months, are worth two francs each—double the price of the domesticated rabbit; and as they grow older the fur 7928 Quadrupeds. becomes very valuable, since it is finer than that of the hare. The author points out one curious character in the ears of the leporine. The young of all these breeds have one ear erect, the other hanging down ; this peculiarity disappears with age in animals of the first cross, but is more decided and persistent as hare-blood increases. Albino and angora varieties are sometimes produced among lepo- rines as among rabbits, but they are not so frequent ; the albinos have not been allowed to breed, as they are considered inferior animals. The angoras have been permitted to unite, but they do not breed readily ; their litters are small, and the young are not always angoras. All leporines, of whatever breed, have the flesh like that of the wild rabbit, that is to say, hardly deeper in colour than that of the domes- ticated rabbit; and the quadroons themselves, in this respect, are nearer the rabbit than the hare. It is worthy of remark, that the influ- ence of the rabbit is even here predominant. The flesh of the lepo- rines, however, has not the taste of either the wild or tame rabbit; it has a peculiar flavour, which is not unlike, says M. Macquet, that of the wing of a tarkey. M. Roux has succeeded in producing leporines with only one-eighth rabbit in them, but only two were produced, and the experiment was not continued. M. Broca, however, expresses his intention to try some of his own experiments in this direction, with the view of ultimately obtaining a pure domesticated hare. Upon the whole, continues M. Broca, although M. Roux has not satisfied all the requirements of Physiology,—though he has not entered in a register the particular genealogy of each of his leporines, --though he has not been anxious to perpetuate especially the hybrid race of the first cross, and has preferred, with an exclusively practical purpose, to cross it with that of the second blood, to create the more productive and more lucrative race of the “ three-eighths,” everything tells us that the cross of the male hare and female rabbit constitutes an example of hybridity fertile inter se (engénérique). Never, in uniting the hybrids of different bloods, either among themselves or with the others, has M. Roux found an instance of sterility. The limits of the fecundity of the first generation of hybrids are not ascer- tained, but it is known that the fertility of the three-eighths has continued for ten generations. M. Broeca is willing to admit, if desired by the advocates of the permanence of species, that the hybrids of the first generation have not been sufficiently studied; but, he asks, “ What will they gain by the concession? Will there not always remain, between the two Birds. 7929 primitive types of the hare and the rabbit, the intermediate and lasting race of the three-eizhths ; a new race which returns to neither of the parent species, and which, fruitful with both, fertile also among themselves, will henceforth oblige zoologists either to throw into one species hares, rabbits and leporines,—a thing perfectly absurd;—or else to confess that new types may be produced by crossing animals of entirely different origins; that species consequently are not in- violable, that Nature has not raised between them insurmountable barriers, and that, in short, the classic doctrine of the permanence of Species is altogether erroneous? ” M. Broca here concludes his account of the leporines. His object is to prove that crossing has produced several new races of animals, for he considers it impossible to attribute to climatic causes and acci- dental influences the formation of the races, SO numerous and so ‘diverse, which compose the family of domestic dogs; and that of the races, quite as different and as numerous, of which the human family is constituted. These questions he discusses at length in his other papers. In the absence of direct information, I have before given my reasons for doubting the existence of the hare and rabbit cross; M. Broca’s statements, however, are, I ‘think, conclusive evidence in its favour, aud I believe I cannot act more fairly than by sending you the above abstract containing the essential details of M. Roux’s successful ex- periments at Angouléme. E. W. H. Hotpsworru. Mildness of the Season.—In consequence of the extreme mildness of the season the birds have been exceedingly tuneful. Thrushes and hedge accentors have been in full chorus around my dwelling; the only bird I have missed during the winter here is the missel thrush, which used to sing regularly within a couple of hundred yards, and also in the “ Old Well avenue of elms,” in the town of Cheltenham. The number of petty sportsmen during the preceding winter is no doubt the cause of the disappearance of these birds: with the exception of a few days, in which frost occurred, there has been little cessation of the feathered choir since the end of October. The last week the cole tomtit has been giving us warning of vernal days, and the crocus has been in full bloom for several days—symptoms of premature spring. Thermometer for six days ranging from 45° to 57° in the shade. Birds in many places have com- menced “‘ nidification.” In fact, but fur the wantof our migratory feathered friends, the poet's description is almost verified, for we have had already the “ hum of bees,” the “linnet’s lay of love,” and the “ full choir that wakes the grove ;” but bow soon it may VOL. XX. PF 7930 Birds. be all changed, when the north-east wind, arrives with its “blackthorn winter” ia April succeeding— “ Ask not the cause why sullen spring So long delays her flowers to bear, Why warbling birds forget to sing And winter storms invest the year.” I fully anticipate that the first six days of April may be ten degrees colder than those of February just expiring —H. W. Newman ; Hillside, Cheltenham, February 6, 1862. Song of Birds—The Linnean name of the garden warbler was omitted in my communication of January last (Zool. 7829): the bird is the Silvia hortensis.—Jd. Occurrence of the Common Buzzard at Rifley, near Lynn. — A fine adult male specimen of this bird was sent to me a few days back for preservation. The brown colour extended over nearly the whole body.— W. Wilson ; Lynn, January 13, 1862. Occurrence of the Short-toed Lark (Alauda brachydactyla) and other rare Birds in Hampshire.—It may be interesting to your ornithological readers to know that I have now in my possession a living specimen of the short-toed lark (Alauda brachydactyla.) It was caught by a birdeatcher in the neighbourhood of Southampton. It is now getting reconciled to its captivity; indeed, from the first, it was restless rather than wild. Not knowing anything of its domestic habits I placed it in a large cage, with perches, thus giving it the option of roosting either on a perch or at the bottom of the cage. It chose the perch, where it roosts on the same spot nightly, which makes it probable that when at liberty it roosts in trees. A tuft of grass is kept in its cage, but it does not appear to care for it. It spends the day in flitting from perch to perch, occasionally running along the bottom of the cage, from end to end. Not knowing what to feed it on, I at first supplied it with bruised hemp-seed and bread-crumbs, German paste, canary and maw seed; it appears to prefer the hemp-seed and bread, and does not eat the canary seed at all, and but little of the German paste. In order to gain its confidence, I give it daily a couple of meal-worms, of which it appears very fond. The way in which it treats the meal-worms is curious, and different from a fauvette who hangs in a neighbouring cage, and who, upon getting one of those dainties, gives it a pinch with his beak and a tap or two on the perch, and then bolts it whole; my short-toed friend, however, seizes the worm, pinches a hole in him near the head, and then sucks out the entire contents of its interior, leaving the skin perfectly empty! The only sound it has as yet favoured me with, is a clear and silvery call-note. Never having seen one before, I am unable to decide if it be male or female. In Morris's ‘ British Birds, the male is described as having “ chin, throat and breast, white.” Now my bird has no white anywhere about it, save the two outer feathers on either side of the tail. The chin, throat and breast are of a lighter tint than the back, but by no means white. It may bea female, or there may be a change of plumage in the winter. In other respects the description answers well. The attitude and expression of the portrait in that work are decidedly good; the colouring not so good. The appearances of the short-toed lark in Great Britain seem to have been few and far between. The man who caught the one I have bad once taken another ten years ago. I have looked through the nineteen volumes of the ‘ Zoologist,’ and the only notices of its appearance there recorded are one in Sussex in 1854, in the possession of Mr. Swaysland, of Brighton, and one shot at the Scilly Islands, by Mr. Augustus Pechell, in the same year. The Birds. 7931 Only other British specimen I can hear of is the one mentioned by Mr. Morris, in his ‘British Birds, as having been caught in a net near Shrewsbury, in October, 1841. In volume th of the ‘ Zoologist’ (Zool. 1958), the Rev. C. A. Bury mentions seeing it in the South of Spain, and in volume 15th (Zool. 5357), Lieutenant Irby records it as being found iu the Crimea. I may, therefore, think myself fortunate in adding so rare a bird to my collection of British songsters. I have this winter caught in my garden here a fine male mountain finch (Fringilla montifringilla) aud a male cirl bunting (Emberiza cirlus). I bave also a male and female hawfinch (Coccothraustes vulgaris). The female I had last spring, and in May she laid three eggs in the cage, which was remarkable, as she had been in captivity since the preceding autumn. [| hope this year, by turning the pair into a small aviary, they may be induced to breed. I have also three crossbills (Loxia curvirostra), which are very tame and amusing birds. Both the hawfinch and crossbill generally visit this connty every year: I sus- pect the former breeds in certain parts of the New Forest.—J. Pemberton Bartlett ; Exbury Parsonage, Hampshire, February 3, 1862. Note on the Shore Lark (Alauda alpestris) and Litiéle Owl (Suix passerina) in Nor- folk.—In the ‘ Zoologist’ (Zool. 7845), I recorded the capture of three shore larks on ‘our coast between the 9th and 12th of November last. Since then two more have been killed at Sherringham, and these, like the previous specimens, proved on dissection to be male birds. Of the two last, obtained on the 9th or 10ib of January, one was evidently older than the other, with a perfect black gorget aud bright yellow tints on the throat and neck, the horns well developed and the cheeks black. The forebead, however, was more white than yellow, with a very indistinct black band, mixed with yellow on the upper part of the head; the points of the wings vinous. The younger specimen had a'smaller gorget, each black feather being tipped with yellow, the black on the cheeks also blended in the same manner. The horns slight, but quite distin- guishable ; no perceptible band across the head ; forehead yellowish white, and several reddish longitudinal spots on the breast, immediately below the gorget. It is worthy of remark that on the 15th or 16th of November, only three days later than the last specimen wes procured in this county during the same month, three shore larks out of a flock of five were netted near Brighton, as recorded by Mr. G. D. Rowley in the last number of the ‘ Ibis.’ An adult male of the little owl was takeu alive on board a fishivg smack during the first week in February. This bird was brought into Yar- mouth for sale, and on the 7th inst. was sent up to Norwich to be stuffed. The plu- mage was ragged and dirty and the stomach quite empty, occasioned most probably by the bird having been placed in some box or cage, where it had refused all nourish- ment in its fruitless efforts to escape. The last specimen of this rare little owl that occurred in Norfolk was also taken alive, in 1846, by Mr. J. H. Gurney’s gamekeeper at Easton, near Norwich.—H. Stevenson ; Norwich ; February 19, 1862. Occurrence of the Crossbill in England.—This being anything but a rare visitor, I conclude that the particular notice of it of late in the ‘ Zoologist’ is to show how widely and generally it is spread oper the country ; I have therefore to record that [ observed one a few weeks since in my garden, feeding in the sycamore trees, up the branches and twigs of which it climbed in a somewhat parrot-like manner, the body frequently reversed or suspended. It was allowed to depart unmolested.—Henry Hadfield ; Ventnor, Isle of Wight, February 15, 1862. Gatherings of Magpies.—With regard to the flocking together of magpies, as recorded by more than one correspondent in the ‘ Zoologist, I may perhaps be permitted to point out that this habit (though observed at a different season) is referred. 7932 Birds. to by Gilbert White (‘ White’s Selborne,’ p. 175): “I observed in my garden that several magpies came determined to storm the nest of a missel thrush.” The editor observes: “In various places in Englaud and Ireland, a reward is given for their heads at Quarter Sessions.” Never having heard of an instance in this division of the county, I am inclined to believe that such a custom, if it ever prevailed, must have long fallen into disuse; this, together with the less strict, or less general preservation of game of late years, may account for the greater abundance of the magpie, as well as its gregarious habits becoming more observable.—Jd. Three Ravens feeding on a dead Hare at Higham. — On the 15th of October I shot a hare at Higham, in Suffolk, which was not picked up, and our keeper on going round, about three weeks afterwards, found three ravens devouring it, one of which he shot, and this is now in my possession.—W. L. Barelay ; Knott's Green, Ley- ton, Essex, February 22, 1862. Notes on the Spotted Woodpecker. By Henry L. Saxsy, Esq. In remarking the unusual abundance of this bird in Cambridgeshire last autumn, Mr. Saville inquires (Zool. 7847) whether it has been as numerous in any other neighbourhood. With regard to its occurrence in Shetland during the months of September and October, I beg to offer such information as may be gathered from the following particu- lars:—In a recent number of the‘ Zoologist’ (Zool. 7754) I recorded the capture of two specimens of the spotted woodpecker (Picus major) in the island of Unst. During the next few weeks many more were killed, not only in Unst but also throughout nearly the whole extent of the Shetland Isles: the wind was blowing steadily from the south- east at the time. I am also informed that at about the same time several were killed in Orkney. The sudden and almost simultaneous appearance of large numbers of this species in various localities, where it is evidently considered an uncommon visitor, is a fact well worthy of the attention of orni- thologists, inasmuch as a careful investigation might tend to throw considerable light upon the question of migration. It would be inte- resting to ascertain the proportion of the sexes among those spe- cimens which were obtained, as well as the direction of the wind at the time of their arrival. Having heard that woodpeckers only attack such trees as are unsound, I was at first unwilling to kill more than the two already mentioned, but as the leaves began to fall, observing that large por- tions of the bark had been stripped from some of the healthiest and most vigorous of the trees in Dr. Edmonston’s garden at Halligarth, I at length obtained a very reluctant permission to shoot as many of the unfortunate but mischievous birds as ventured within the forbidden Birds. 7933 enclosure. To those of my countrymen in Old England who have neyer wandered far from their own green woods, and to whom the loss of a few small trees would be a matter of little importance, the above may appear a somewhat cruel proceeding, but for all that it was a necessary one, otherwise it would not have been sanctioned by Dr. Edmondston, who is too thorough a naturalist to countenance any- thing like wanton destruction of life, and who, it should be borne in mind, has for the last twenty years and upwards been very successfully endeavouring to introduce trees and shrubs into the island, notwith- standing the ill-natured ridicule with which his early attempts were received by certain of the inhabitants who ought to have known better. Having thus so far justified myself, I will confess that no less than seven birds fell to my gun alone; besides this, many others were brought to me from various parts of the island, but, strange to say, not ‘one female was to be found among them, and with one single excep- tion all were first-year’s birds. The first two presented nothing unusual in their appearance, but on taking the third one into my hand, | at once remarked’ the worn look of the bill, tail and claws. I immediately suspected that this was caused by the scarcity of trees having driven the bird to seek its food among stones and rocks, and, upon opening the stomach, my sus- picions were confirmed by the discovery, among other insects, of several small beetles which are found only upon the hills. I may mention that these beetles are very abundant in Shetland, although I do not remember baving seen any of the kind in England: they are about the size and shape of one half of a split-pea, black, edged with scarlet. I. afterwards saw spotted woodpeckers on various parts of the hills, on walls, and even in high sea-cliffs; I also saw them on roofs of houses and upon dunghills, and although several were killed upon corn-stacks I never found any grain in the stomach. They were fre- quently to be met with upon the ground among heather, where at all times they were easily approached, but more particularly in: rainy or misty weather, when their plumage becoming saturated with moisture and rendering them too heavy for a long flight, many were stoned to death by boys. Those in the garden fed largely upon seeds of the mountain-ash, which they broke open the berries to procure, sometimes dropping a whole cluster upon the ground and descending to feed, but more fre- quently breaking the berries to pieces as they hung upon the trees. But even in the garden they did not confine themselves to the trees ; . 7934 Birds. at one time they might be seen busily searching among moss and dead leaves; at another, in the midst of a tuft of coarse weeds; and again intently examining the spider’s webs upon the walls. It was quite a common occurrence to see them in open meadows scattering aside the horse-dung with their bills, and thus procuring abundant supplies of worms and grubs. I once crept very close to one thus engaged, and was amused to observe how cleverly it used its bill, first striking off large masses, and then dashing them into frag- ments in all directions by a rapid and peculiar movement of the head from side to side. Although telescopic evidence is usually of a some- what doubtful nature, yet I spent many a happy half hour in observing these interesting birds by means of a powerful pocket-glass. In this manner I could see them climbing the face of a large rock or of a rough stone wall, curiously peering into every crevice, and occa- sionally varying the amusement by a smart tap or two upon the un- yielding surface of the stone. I once saw two upon the ground engaged in desperate combat, tearing, fluttering, and tumbling about in a most comical manner, at the same time uttering a shrill noise which was half scream and half chatter. Upon my approaching a little too near, they hastily took wing, and were immediately afterwards to be seen perched upon the top of a neighbouring rock, enjoying the warm sunshine, and appa- rently already in happy forgetfulness of their “little difference.” The longer the birds remained in the island the more worn their tails and claws became, but it was only in a very few instances that any injury to the bill could be detected. I carefully dissected several of the victims above-mentioned, but without observing anything particularly worthy of note, with the ex- ception, perhaps, of the large size of the cutaneous nerves, and the closeness with which the skin adhered to the body. should be glad to ascertain whether these peculiarities have been remarked in the green woodpecker, for possibly that bird’s well-known susceptibility to atmospheric influences may thus be in some measure accounted for, though why such a peculiarity should be so strongly developed only in certain genera is a question of a totally different nature, and one upon which I will not at present hazard my own imperfectly- matured conjectures. Henry L. SaxBy. 54, Gilmore Place, Edinburgh, February 1, 1862. SS Birds. 793 Food of the Wren —Under this title Mr. Doubleday calls a statement of mine, made in an article read before the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool and published in the ‘ Proceedings’ of that Society, an error. The majority of the patrons of the ‘ Zoologist’ will probably not have read the article, so that I may perhaps be excused for quoting the passage in question here, and making a few remarks upon it. “In winter, this bird, though so small, feeds extensively on snails, extracting them from the shells in an ingenious manner. When a snail is found, it is conveyed to a selected stone, and tapped upon it until the shell breaks, or the animal otherwise becomes detached. It is then easily taken out and devoured. The same stone will often he resorted to for a long time, so that a considerable number of shells will frequently be accumulated. These remains may often be noticed, and as often perhaps have puzzled the beholder.” I have certainly never watched the wren operate upon a snail, but I have often seen more or less of broken shells round a stone in spots where I never saw a thrush, and that in places where the thrush would not be likely to frequent. These accumulations of broken snail-shells are not in- freqnent on the Cheshire and Welsh sand-hills, sometimes oecurting near the margin of the shore at a long distance from even tree or bush. A wren generally frequented the neighbourhood of each of these localities, and was constantly seen near the broken fragments. This, of course, is not conclusive evidence, but it is presumptive. With regard to Mr. Doubleday’s remark, “ that a wren could not by any possibility break the shell of a snail, and if it could detach the animal in any other way it would not swallow it.” I fancy that the wren could break a snail’s shell by tapping it on a stone, and that it could devour the animal, not by swallowing it entire, but by eating it piecemeal. No one would suppose that the blue tit could swallow a thrown-out bone, yet this bird often feasts on these remains. The raven also gorges himself upon a sheep’s carcase, yet who would say that he takes it entire. Con- cerning Mr. Doubleday’s remark as to wrens congregating to roost, I beg to say that these birds are no rarity in Lancashire and.Cheshire, and to quote my statement on the subject. ‘In winter, also, wrens congregate in numbers in warm sheltered roosting-places. At dusk, the observer, by remaining quiet, may see them coming singly from all directions to a favourite haystack. On arrival, they locate themselves in holes previously made round the sides by their own species, or other small birds. By going after dark, the observer may sometimes take them by the dozen in a handful from one hole.” JT have caught numbers in the way described, and, in one instance, 1 remember almost filling the pockets of my then boy’s clothes out of a few holes in a stack ; I afterwards let the birds go. In support of my statement that wrens do so congregate, I uveed only refer to Yarrell on the subject ; to a note in the ‘ Zoologist ’ (Zool. 564), by S. H. Haslam; to a second note in the ‘ Zoologist’ (Zool. 4702), by Jonathan Couch; and toa third in the ‘Zoologist’ (Zool. 5516), by S. C. Tress - Beale—James Fitzherbert Brockholes ; Puddington, near Neston, Cheshire, February 19, 1862. Deposition of Eggs by the Cuckoo.—The following passage occurs in the preface to the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1861 :—‘ Ornithologists have not yet shown us how the cuckoo’s egg is introduced into nests which, from their situation, the cuckoo herself could not enter.” JI think there can be little doubt to the reflecting mind that the only method by which the cuckoo could by any possibility effect her object in the cases referred to is by taking the eggs in her beak; there never having been a nest (as far as I am aware) found with a cuckoo’s egg in it, into which the mother-bird could 7936 Birds. not have stretched her head and neck for the purpose of depositing anegg. This idea is as old as the time of Le Vaillant, and all that was needed to demonstrate its truth was the actual discovery that the cuckoo has power to carry its eggs in its beak or throat. It so happened that I was present at a meeting of the Dublin University Zoological Association some years ago, when the fact of this discovery was announced in a paper by Professor Kinahan, and established to the satisfaction of every one pre- sent. He actually squeezed the egg out of the throat of a living cuckoo, shot upon the wing. The account was published in more than one form at the time, but must T suppose, have escaped either the eye or the memory of the editor of the ‘ Zoologist ; so I doubt not that he will be glad to see it produced again for the benefit of his readers. I quote the following from the ‘ Natural History Review,’ vol. 2: Pro- ceedings of Societies, p. 25:—“ At Clondalkin, on the 17th June, 1848, I had, while in company with my friend Dr. W. Haughton, the pleasure of having the truth of Le Vaillant’s theory, concerning the mauner in which the cuckoo deposits its egg in its future niches, entirely confirmed. My friend succeeded in winging a female cuckoo as she was rising; she fell into a ditch, owing to the depth of which several minutes elapsed before we could get her out. Having obtained the bird, I proceeded to kill her, by pressing on her breast, having my thumb on the cavity formed by the os furcatum, when I felt semething slip from under my thumb, with a gurgling sound. Dr. Haughton, attracted by the sound, turned at the same moment, and we both saw an egg in the act of falling to the ground, from whence I picked it up, perfectly un- injured. This egg agrees with all descriptions I could obtain, and on being shown to Dr. Ball, he at once recognized it as a cuckoo’s. On dissection, by Professor Allman, the bird proved to be a young female, and had in her ovary two full-grown eggs, one ready to pass into the oviduct. No remains of eggs could be detected in ber stomach, even when examined with a powerful microscope. Full details may be found in the Appendix to ‘Thompson’s Birds,’ p. 442. The egg and the skin are in the collection of the Dublin Natural History Society.” I bave quoted Professor Kinahan’s own words, and I do not think anything can be more clear and satisfactory than the account he gives. I do not see how any one, however sceptical, can set aside the facts thus detailed. To say that the occurrence was accidental would be absurd ; for what accident could induce a cuckoo to have, contrary to its habits, an egg of its own, whole and uninjured, in its throat when on the wing? I hope that if any ornitholo- gist who may read this note should know of any facts, tending to confirm the above, he will not neglect to bring them forward.—A. R. Hogan ; Puddlestone, Dorchester, February, 1862 Occurrence of Caprimulgus ruficollis in England.—On the 6th October, so far back as 1856, I obtained a fresh-killed specimen of this rare European goatsucker, of Mr. Pape, game dealer, of this town. It was shot the previous day at Killingworth, near Newcastle. I could not determine the sex from dissection, but I think it is most probably a male, as the first primaries have each a spot upon their inner webs, and the first two spots are white. I have delayed until now making this announcement, for I found, on comparison, that the bird in question differed slightly from a Hungarian spe- cimen in my collection, and I was consequently anxious to see others before ding so: I have now had an opportunity of referring to a specimen in the British Museum, and find that it quite agrees with my bird. 1 have, therefore, no longer any hesitation in stating that it is the true Caprimulgus ruficollis of authors ; and I have much pleasure in adding this fine species to the British list of occasional visitors, though I am far from ee A ee Birds. 7937 believing that this is really its first occurrence in our island. It very closely resembles the C. europeus, and is almost sure to be confounded with that species by the casual observer.— John Hancock ; Newcastle-on-Tyne, in ‘ Transactions of the Tyneside Naturalists’ Field Club, Vol. v. p. 84. Nesting of the Chimney Swallow.—This pretty bird is, in my opinion, erroneously called the chimney swallow, because it is by no meaus partial to that place as a place for building in. Last year two pairs built their nests in my stable, and as they are generally locked up the only mode of entrance was through a slit (a brick in length and breadth) at one end of the building. One pair built a nest upon a rafter, in shape and size about that of a basin. To render it secure the parent-birds madea good foundation on the wood, and the clay ot composition of which the nest was built was continued down each side of the rafter, evidently with the intention of ren- dering the nest perfectly secure. This pair succeeded in getting five young ones away. The other pair built their nest at the other end of the stable, and they placed it, by the side of a large rafter, the rafter forming one side of the nest, which was open at the top. This pair laid two eggs and then deserted them. The end of the stable _where this nest was contained the firewood and coals, consequently the birds were fre- quently disturbed, which may account for their desertion. In 1854 and two following years, a pair built their nest in the bell-tower of the chapelry and school at Appletou-le- Moors, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The nest was so situated that every time the bell rang it swung within six inches of it, The bell was generally rung four times a day, and frequently oftener. In 1856 the nest was destroyed by a mechanic, who had to go up to the bell, and the nest, which was kept for some time in my study, had a very sickly smell; it smelled strong of some saline matter. During my stay in the village, there never was another nest built there. Last year a pair began to build anestina shed in our back-yard. The shed at the eaves was only four feet high, and, being in constant use, they were too frequently disturbed to finish the nest, but finally took possession of the chimney of an outhouse. On the north moors of York- shire their nests are very common in the outhouse of the farms and in field-sheds.— J. Ranson ; York, February, 1862. Migration of Swallows.—On the 2nd of November, 1861, I observed, towards sun- set, more than a duzen martins alight on a neighbour's house, and enter, one by one, a sinall hole under the eaves. On the following day, between four and five o’clock, I saw twenty-two martins hawking flies before retiring to roost. They were first seen at a considerable distance and elevation, but gradually descending and contracting their circular sweeps as they approached their roosting quarters, and, apparently aware that but few minutes of daylight remained, exerting their utmost powers of wing to snap up every stray fly. Occasionally a few, detaching themselves from the main body, dart off with a direct flight till lost in the distance ; but a little before 5 o'clock all had reassembled and began to inspect their dormitory, creeping in at the narrow aperture in an awkward, hurried manner, till satisfied that all was safe. Seeing them to roost is a trial of patience, for after watching them in one by one—it may be for the twentieth time—out they come again, as if scared by some vampyre inhabitant of their dark retreat. The whole scene has then to be reenacted, but in a still more confused and hurried manner. There was now a general scramble: some were to be seen clinging round the opening ; others were endeavouring to fly in. A few relaxing their hold or missing their footing were compelled to take another sweep to regain their lost position, The thermometer had at the above hour fallen to 47°. The martins were occasionally VOL. XX. Q 7938 Birds. observed, but in smaller numbers, up to the first week in December. I have reason to believe that they were all birds of the season.—Henry Hadfield; Ventnor, Isle of Wight. Early Appearance of the Swallow.—On the morning of the 4th of February, whilst walking out, I observed a swallow flying about quite as active as if it was July. That T am not deceived I am quite certain, as I watched it for upwards of five minutes. I may state that the weather here has been very mild and warm for the last two weeks, and the sun was shining brightly at the time.— George H. Parke ; Halifax, Yorkshire. [I think this bird could not have been a this-year’s arrival.— Z. N.] Occurrence of the Litile Bustard in Yorkshire.—A fine mature female specimen of the little bustard (Otis telrax) was shot on Friday, the 3lst of January, at Leven, in Holderness, East Riding of Yorkshire, by Mr. Hudson, gamekeeper to the Rev. Canon Wray of that place. It was feeding in a turnip field—W. W. Boulton; Beverley, February 1, 1862. Re-examination of Sabine’s Snipe—Since I communicated to you the capture of Scolopax Sabini in the central part of Cornwall, I have had an opportunity of re- examining the bird with Mr. Gould, and discussing the merits of the points at issue as to its specific value. One great character of distinction, as I before told you, is extinguished in this specimen, viz., in the number of its tail-feathers being undoubt- edly fourteen and not twelve. There can be no doubt that the striking tone of uniform dark colour pervading the whole upper and lower surface of the plumage is caleulated to startle any observer as to its identity with our common snipe, but I think Mr. Gould has quite made up his mind as to its being only a variety, and not specifically distinct. It may be urged that all the specimens hitherto obtained of S. Sabini have agreed in their general tone of colouring, without showing any intermediate plumage characters of the common snipe in the partial development of the dorsal longitudinal lines and the white under surface, but it is well known that all birds, in assuming a dark variety of plumage, exhibit a general uniformity over the entire plumage. I adduce by way of familiar examples the dark varieties of bulfinches, larks, sparrows, &c. It so happened, in corroboration of this argument, when Mr. Gould was examining this specimen in Mr. Vingoe’s laboratory, that there was at the same time before him almost a black variety of the male Montagu’s harrier, killed near Helston, and on examining the under surface of the wings of this specimen, the entire dark tone prevailed, without the slightest vestige of the rufous markings peculiar to the male of this harrier, There is, therefore, a strong probability that the specimens may all agree in colouring without thereby establishing a specific distinction.— Edward Hearle Rodd; Penzance, January 17, 1862. Correction of an Error.—In the article on Scolopax Sabini (Zool. 7882) you will observe a very palpable error in the insertion of the word “ not,” the seventh line from the bottom. I am made to say that “ T had little hesitation in noé thinking the bird a distinct species,” &c., or words to that effect, but I am writing without the book before me. It should be, “I had little hesitation in thinking,” &c.—TId. Variety of Snipe.—I have lately examined two examples of the large brown variety of snipe, so accurately described by Mr. Rodd (Zool. 4704), One of these birds, killed at Dartmoor in December last, quite equalled in size some specimens of S. major, but differed from that species in having the belly white and only fourteen feathers in the tail. The general markings weve very similar to those of the ordinary sized common snipe, but the plumage was altogether of a more ruddy cast, and the light stripes on Birds. 7939 the scapulars narrower and much less conspicuous. The bill and the tarsi especially appear very short when compared with the large size of the body. I observed that the second quill-feather of the wing was the lougest, which is not the case in the common snipe, the first primary having the advantage almost invariably. This might probably be the result of age, but the wing of the variety mentioned appears altogether short. All sportsmen who have killed the bird remark that it rises without noise. This variety has puzzled me for many years.—John Gatcombe ; Wyndham Place, Plymouth. Oceurrence of the Green Sandpiper at Leyton.—Specimens of this bird have been observed in this locality almost every autumn, and two have been killed this season. The first was in October, and the second on the 8th inst. It is an extremely good oue, and is now in my possession.—W. L. Barclay ; Knotts Green, Leyton, Essex, February 22, 1862. Occurrence of the Egyptian Goose near Dublin.—On the 8th of Jast December I shot a fine specimen of the Egyptian goose (Anser Avgyptiacus) neat Dublin. I men- tioned this to Dr. Carte, Professor of the Dublin Society, who said that it must have been a domesticated bird. When I first observed it, it was flying from the east, straight _ for the shore, but as suun as it perceived me it turned for the south-east, in direction of some rocks called the “ Muglius,” when I fired. It then turned again towards shore, and fell in. the sea, when I picked it up. Whether it ever had been domesticated I cannot say, but it appeared decidedly wild when I killed it— A. Blake Knox ; Bartragh, Dalkey, County Dublin. Pochards in the Serpentine.—Y esterday I saw two and to day eleven pochards in the middle of the Serpentiae, opposite the boat-house. Whether these were genuine wild birds, or birds bred in the Zovlogical Gardens or St. James’s Park (see Zool. 6922), I will not pretend to say, but from their number I think it is most probable they were the furmer. I have seen no pochards on the Serpentine for many years, except two wretched pinioned birds about two or three years ago, which of course disappeared in a very short time. Putting crippled birds in the Serpentine, to be harried to death by the boats, bathers, fishers and dog-swimmers, is a species of cruelty which ignorance ulone can justify.— Henry Hussey ; 7, Hyde Park Square, January 23, 1862. Occurrence of the Little Gull and Little Auk near Lynn. — A five specimen of the little gull was shot at St. Germaius, Lincelnshire, in November, 1861: it is now-in the Lynn Museum. A fine specimen of the little auk was also shot at Lynn.— W. Wilson; Lynn, January 18, 1862. The Little Gull. —1 lave been fortunate euough to obtain two specimens of this pretty bird lately; one a young male, shot off Brighton early last year (see Zool, 7387) ; the other a fine adult female, shot at Freshwater, Isle of Wight, by Mr. H. Rogers, on the 21st of January last. The plumage of this specimen differs much from the young bird; the whole of the upper parts are one uniform pearly gray ; the quill-feathers the same, except the tips, which are white; the back of the head and neck is mottled a good deal with black ; the tail and rest of the plumage pure white; while in the young bird the shoulders and some of the scapulars are black, forming a broad band ; the quill-feathers black, with the inner margin and the tips white; the back pearly gray, with a black patch on the hump; the tail white, broadly tipped with black ; the throat, breast and under parts pure white ; the feet and legs, in the adult, bright red,—beak reddish black; in the young bird the feet and legs dirty cream colour,—beak black. There is a difference in the under parts of the wings in these birds that I do not recollect to have noticed in any other gull; the quill-feathers in 7940 Birds. the adult bird are dark lead-colour, with the shaft and tips white; in the young bird the same feathers are white, with a narrow stripe of black on each side of the shaft, which is white, the ends black, with a minute speck of white at the extreme point of each feather.—Frederick Bond ; Kingsbury, February 20, 1862. Oceurrence of the Little Gull at Plymouth — A very interesting specimen of the little gull was killed in Plymouth Sound on Monday, February 3rd. ‘It was fishing in company with several common gulls, and mistaken by the person who shot it for a tern; but ultimately it fell into the hands of a person who knew better, and was thus fortunately preserved. The specimen was a female, in excellent condition, weighing 7 ounces. The contents of the stomach was not examined, but in the gullet was found a fly. Having been obtained so late in the season, the plumage, though immature, was very interesting. Notwithstanding dark markings on the wings and a broad black band on the tail, the black head of the breeding season was already partially assumed, dark feathers appearing on the cheeks and throat, forming a complete circle round the neck,—showing how far that colour would have extended, and also that the little gull attains the black head very early in the spring, and before it has arrived at per- fect maturity. The bill was black, the legs flesh-colour, and the length of wing from the carpal joint 83 inches. ‘Ihe bird is now in the collection of Mr, T. C. Hingston, of Plymouth.—John Gaicombe ; Wyndham Place, Plymouth, February 15, 1862. Breeding Habits of the Petrel.— The Rev. I. Ambrose, of Halifax, N.A., in a letter read to the Boston Society of Natural History, U.S., communicates some inte- resting particulars relative to a visit to Green Island, about ten miles out at sea, off the mouth of Chester Bay, Nova Scotia. He landed on the north side of the island. Not a puffin or any other kind of bird was to be seen, save a large number of “ steering” gulls and some “ mackerel” gulls flying overhead ; whilst the whole island under foot was perforated and undermined by the petrels. He says:—‘ I first took a tour all round the grassy edge of the cliffs to look for gulls’ eggs. I got two dozen of the steering gulls’ eggs, and the men eight dozen. Tore up the turf with my hands, following the little galleries with my fingers, and soon secured four dozen and a half of petrel’s eggs, and two of the parent birds as specimens. I could have obtained, I suppose, a thousand dozen of the eggs if I had wished, and every mother bird with them, as the poor little things crowd back into their holes, making not the slightest noise or resistance whilst they beheld the roof rudely torn from their dwelling and their eggs taken away. In no instance, except one, did I find more than one egg in a nest, and in that there were but two; and yet some of the birds were hatching, as some of the eggs contained the embryo, with its head and body so far developed as to clearly identify the species. The smell of the birds is at first very offensive; indeed we perceived it at a distance of two miles from the island. This smell is not occa- sioned by any decayed fish or other extraneous watter, as the nests and surrounding turf are invariably very clean, the nest itself being lined at the bottom with a very little dry fine grass. The odour is peculiar to the bird and its egg, and is particularly perceptible in the dark brown oily fluid which, seemingly in self-defence, these birds eject from their bills. The sun was just rising when we landed on the island ; and although we had seen several petrels flying about the boat in the night and at dawn of day on our passage, yet on-the island not-one was to be seen: all were under- ground, where at first you could hear them twittering, as if arranging about nests and accommodation ; but soon after sunrise they became almost entirely silent, at least so far as the screaming uf the gulls, which was always about the same, would enable you Reptiles. 7941 to judge. On taking a petrel out of its nest it would not, on being set down, attempt to fly at first, but would endeavour to dig its way down into some of the broken holes. Most of the nests seemed to be old ones newly fitted up, and I found several such where the bird had brought quite a sprinkling of fresh dirt to the surface. They seem to form their galleries not so much by carrying out the surplus dirt, however, as by pressing themselves through the soft turfy soil. A great many ants had made their nests amung the galleries, but did not seem to incommode the birds ; perhaps, indeed, they serve them for food at times.”—S. P. Saville ; Dover House, Cambridge, January 14, 1862. An Unexpected Arrival.—In one of the compartments of the reptile-house, in the Zoological Gardens, there bas lived for many years a fine specimen of the West African rock-snake (Python Seba). It is now at least nineteen feet long, and about twenty inches in circumference at its thickest part. Its companion, a snake of the same spe- cies, but of much smaller dimensions, has been associated with it for, I believe, the last two or three years, and the two reptiles have lived together in the utmost amity. On the morning of the 12th inst. it was discovered that the large snake had, during the previous night, deposited about a hundred eggs, of the size of those of a goose, with a solt leathery envelope, and, for the most part, of a dirty yellowish colour, two or three, however, being of a decided brown. When tirst observed the egys were piled up in a heap, but the snake soon reduced them all to the same level, and, having arranged them in a suitable manner, coiled herself up on them, and completely covered them with the thick folds of her body. During the last week the snake has once or twice ‘come uff her eggs, and two days ago she was coiled round them, and the eggs were - slightly heaped together. The temperature of the compartment is about 70°, and under the blanket which covers the python and her egys it is probably 20° higher. This snake has always been a spiteful one, and under her present circumstances she is more than ever disposed to resent any interference, so that the precise number of the eggs, and other particulars relating to the interesting event, have not yet been ascertained. The fact of the python incubating her eggs was, I believe, first noticed at these Zool- ogical Gardens many years ago, but was then generally discredited. It has since been observed at Paris, where some young snakes were produced, and the present behaviour of the python in the Regent’s Park confirms the belief that incubation is the rule with this division of the family Boide. This snake has not fed for the last twenty-one weeks. —E. W. H. Holdsworth, in the ‘ Field’ Newspaper. The Great Pythoness at the Zoological Gardens. * AMonG advertisements to seekers of amusement, one from the Zoo- logical Society has, probably, been observed by our readers. It announces that at the Society’s Gardens “the large python may be now seen incubating her eggs.” We confess that this advertisement somewhat surprised us ; for, having recently read in the Treatise on * From the ‘ Atheneum’ of February 8, 1862. 7942 Reptiles. Reptiles, published in the last edition of the ‘ Encyclopedia Britan- nica, that “ no reptile is known to hatch its eggs,” we were not prepared for an announcement from the Zoological Society so directly in oppo- sition to that of the author of this recent treatise, which is supposed to be a high authority on reptiles. True, herpetology has by no means kept pace with other sciences, many important features still remaining obscure; yet we thought that the question of reptiles hatching their eggs had been as firmly settled as that all ophidians are oviparous. But from the days of Pliny, who tells us that young boars feed on cow’s milk, and that they are indebted to this mythical connexion with the bovine family for their name, mighty serpents, worse “ Than fables yet have feigned or fear conceived,” have always been subjects of mystery, and it is not, therefore, any very great wonder that opinions should differ respecting the hatching of their eggs. The pythoness which has suddenly become a cele- brated and interesting character in the great London world, where almost daily some event or person is elevated to a prominent position only to be put aside when a new wonder appears, is one of the large varieties of the great boa family. 1t was born in West Africa, and been eleven years in the Gardens, during which period it has thriven well, waxing yearly in strength, girth and length, until now it is a very giant among the serpents in the Zoological Society’s collection. It is better off than many animals in the Gardens which live in single blessedness in their narrow prison-houses, for the great lady python has a husband. We must say, however, as will be seen pre- sently, she does not seem to derive any great comfort from his society. It may be that, because her mate is much less than herself, she regards and treats him with contempt. He is a dwarf compared to her, being a kind of reptilian Brummel, toying as it were with peas, while his wife eats scores of animals. She has gorged ten full-grown rabbits at a sitting, or coiling rather; and on the last occasion that we saw the interesting couple at their dinner (provided every Friday at the fashionable hour of seven) she stowed four rabbits in her elongated maw in an amazingly short time (how many more followed we know not), while her husband not only turned away from a rabbit, but was absolutely insensible to the attraction of a dainty duck which quacked provokingly under his very nose. Do not, however, suppose that the male serpent is puny or powerless. Waterton himself, who came forth from a cavern with a boa encircling him with its muscular coils, Reptiles. 7943 would have succumbed under the grip of such a reptile as this. We only wish it to be understood that it is small compared to the pytho- ness. The great egg-laying event occurred four weeks ago. The phletho- ric condition of the serpent occasioned uneasiness. Some supposed that she had bolted a stray blanket ; it was considered whether some- thing might not be done to relieve the great reptile, when she extruded, as well as the keeper can estimate, about one hundred eggs. These, enclosed in a white leather-like substance, are about the size of those of a goose, the majority of a dirty white appearance, con- nected by a membrane. Among them are two small red eggs, and many are indented, probably by the great pressure of the serpent’s body. It is remarkable that this prolific extrusion of eggs, which might be supposed to have exhausted the animal and consequently excited hunger, has had apparently an opposite effect. At all events, the reptile has not broken fast for twenty-three weeks, her husband having, meanwhile, indulged in occasional rabbits. Indeed, the sight of these animals, pleasantly provocative at other seasons, seemingly only irritates the pythoness: a few days since, an unsuspecting rabbit having frisked near her ladyship, she straightway seized it by the throat and cast the affrighted beast savagely from her. And on more than one occasion, when her husband, doubtless actuated by proper paternal pride and feeling, approached his wife in order to see how domestic matters were going on, she has, to use the keeper’s words, shouldered him away with one of her great coils, showing plainly that by thus giving him the cold shoulder she prefers performing her ma- ternal duties unassisted. Once, and once only, has the keeper seen her absent from her interesting incubatory operation; and then, before he could get round to the back of the cage to have a better view of the eggs, she was on them again. In fact, she much resembles an old hen with a brood, puffed up by maternal pride and conceit, and is in a highly excitable condition; spiteful too, according to the keeper, for she has struck more than once at objects outside the glass which have irritated her. Though she does not eat, she drinks freely ; but as water is near her, she is not obliged. to leave her eggs to assuage thirst. Having communicated these interesting particulars, the keeper kindly went round to the back of the cage, opened the door and re- moved the blanket cautiously. There, true enough, in direct oppo- sition to the non-hatching theory, was the mighty pythoness in great coils— , “Fold above fold, a surgy maze, her head Crested aloft,” 7944 Reptiles. not a whit attenuated by her long fast, while beneath the lowest coil were bunches of eggs, some plainly visible between the folds of the coil, others, as the keeper said, being only partially seen in conse- quence of their being overlaid by the serpent’s body. Some of the eggs were of a dirty green-white, decomposition having probably taken place,—a supposition strengthened by the odour emanating from them and also from the serpent. The removal of the blanket, though effected most quietly, immediately excited the pythoness. Her head, which was lying on the topmost coil, in the best position for observation, was suddenly raised; she became restless, darted out her long quivering tongue with great rapidity, and would have struck the keeper had he not recovered her with the blanket and put an end to her irritation. It will be interesting to watch the result. Immediately opposite the pythoness’s cage is a lively member of the viper family, which was hatched in the Gardens in 1860 from an egg; and we understand that a boa was born in Paris from an egg hatched by the female. Thus the Zoological Society may reasonably look forward to an increase of its interesting collection of reptiles; and though the Fellows are not probably particularly desirous to have an accession of one hundred pythons to their stock, yet.a few lively baby pythons would un- doubtedly be an important addition to the attraction of their unri- valled Gardens during the ensuing season, when our metropolis will be crowded by sight-seeing visitors. We trust, however, that, apart from this financial consideration, the Society will take care that the pytho- ness shall be carefully and closely observed while she is incubating. [I entertain considerable doubts as to the term “incubating,” which I find em- ployed by all our zoologists on this interesting occasion: without consulting a dictionary or lexicon as to the meaning of the word, it is quite certain that we natu- ralists have applied it to a phenomenon which cannot be exhibited by a pytho- ness ; that phenomenon is the application of heat to the egg by means of the super- imposed body of one or other of the parents. Viewing incubation in this light, we must apply some other term to the exhibition in Regent’s Park. The design of the parent may be to cool the eggs by contact with her body; it may be to protect them from any unnatural taste for juvenile pythons on the part of father python, —a taste of which we have had many instances within the range of our zoological researches: indeed it is of little use to speculate: we know that the imposition of a body colder than the surrounding atmosphere can have no tendency to vivify the eggs, and that we generally believe to be the object of incubation.—Adward Newman.] ———ll Arachnida. 7945 List of New and Rare Spiders captured in 1861; being a Supple- ment to the Lists in Zool. 6493, 6862, 7553. By the Rev. O. PickarD-CAMBRIDGE, M.A. Tue effect of the cold, wet season of 1860 was very visible in the scanty crop of spiders during the spring of 1861. Though, however, the guantily was short, the guality was good, and the result of the season’s work was nearly equal to that of the previous year (1860). By the month of September, the summer having been a tolerably genial one, spiders appeared in most places to have regained their ordinary numbers; in fact I hardly ever saw a greater abundance of some of our commoner species than during last autumn; such, for imstance, as Epéira solers, E. inclinata, and Linyphia montana, whose ' webs on a dewy September or October morning show so conspicuously among the heath and furze. The following list comprises, among other rare spiders, te species discovered or ascertained, during the past season, as new to Science; seven species recorded for the first time as inhabitants of Great Britain; three others of which only one sex had been previously discovered ; and nineteen species known to me as British, but which until this last season I had never met with myself. Family SaLTIcIDz. *Salticus floricola, Koch. 1 met with this pretty little Salticus in tolerable numbers on dry sandy patches on Bloxworth Heath, about the middle of May, 1861: both sexes were adult. Previously only two specimens had been captured in England, and those were taken on the sand-hills at Southport, Lancashire, in 1859. ‘The activity of this little spider surpassed everything I have yet observed. Although in length it does not exceed one-tenth of an inch, many of its teops were more than eight inches in extent. *S. nidicolens, Walck. Not infrequent in the same places as S. floricola. *S. quinque-partitus, Walck. Of this rare Salticus I captured two adult males in the same locality as the two last. S. fasciatus, Walck. I received an adult female of this very dis- tinct and well-marked Salticus (now recorded for the first time as British) from Mr. William Farren, of Cambridge, who captured it on a gate near Brockenhurst, in the New Forest, in June, 1861. I am also indebted to Mr. Farren for several other rare spiders captured in the same locality. VOL. XX. R 7946 Arachnida. *S. reticulatus, Blackw. Rare; at heath-roots and under pieces of wood and stone, and among moss in woods at Bloxworth, Dorset; also under stones at Portland, and on Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh, in July, 1861. *§. tardigradus, Walck. Being at Calke, near Derby, at the begin- ning of August, I searched some palings where, in April, 1860, I had captured a very young specimen, and was pleased to find adults of both sexes of this fine large Salticus in tolerable abundance.} Family THoMISID&. *Thomisus floricolens, Walck. Adult males on iron railings, Blox- worth, in May. T. morio, Koch. An adult male of this species, now recorded for the first time as British, was captured on Bloxworth Heath, by my- self, in 1857; but it was mistaken, until lately, for T. luctuosus, from which, however, it differs very remarkably, especially in the form of the palpi. *T, Cambridgil, Blackwall. The female only of this species has been as yet recorded ; but on an examination of some adult males of T. bifasciatus, I found among them an adult male of this fine species, which was captured by myself some time back, on Bloxworth Heath. T. versutus, Blackw. An adult male, captured on Bloxworth Heath, in May, 1861. T. trux, Blackw. Immature specimens swept off flowers in woods, in September, 1861, at Bloxworth. T. incertus, Blackw. Adult females at the roots of trees, Blox- worth, in May ; and adult males among dead leaves and rubbish in a plantation at Drayton-Beauchamp, Bucks, in August, 1861. T. simplex, Cambridge. 1 discovered this very distinct new spe- cies at the base of large trees on the lawn at Bloxworth Rectory ; the males were adult in May, and the females in June, 1861. *T. lanio, Koch. Adults of both sexes beaten frequently from un- derwood at Bloxworth, in May and June. *Philodromus pallidus, Walck. Adult males of this species were beaten by myself and Mr. Tuffen West, off Scotch firs near Bloxworth, in May, 1861. *P. elegans, Blackw. An immature male was sent me, among other spiders from Shirley Heath, by Dr. Knaggs, M.D. The only locality in which this species has been met with before, is that in which I dis- covered it, near Lyndhurst, New Forest, in 1858. Arachnida, 7947 Family Drassipe, Clubiona assimilata, Camb. New to Science. Among specimens of C. amarantha captured at Bloxworth and Southport I found an adult male of this species (taken, I believe, at Southport), and received another from the Rev. T. W. Huthwaite, taken at Coven, Staffordshire. Since preparing a description of it I have found adult males of this Same species, included under the name “ amarantha,” in the collection of Mr. Meade, of Bradford, Yorkshire. C. neglecta, Camb. New to Science. This species was also mis- taken for C. amarantha, to which, like the last, it bears a strong gene- ral resemblance; it (an adult male) was captured at Bloxworth. C. deinognatha, Camb. New to Science. An adult male of this very distinct Clubiona was captured at Bloxworth several years ago, . but was overlooked among a large number of specimens of C. ama- rantha, from which the large size of the falces at once distinguishes it. C. diversa, Camb. New to Science. An adult male of this minute Clubiona was received from Mr. C. H. Brown, who captured it at Southport, Lancashire, in June. C. trivialis, Koch. Adult males and females of this species (now first recorded as British) have been captured by myself at Southport, Lancashire ; Hursley and Lyndhurst, Hampshire ; and at Bloxworth, on furze-bushes and among heath. Mr. blackwall tells me he finds females of this species in his collection, that he met with in similar situations, some years ago, in North Wales. I also captured it on the Pentland Hills, Scotland, in July last. Family CINIFLONID. Ergatis arborea, Camb. New to Science. Adults of both sexes of this spider were captured by myself in May, 1860, at Hursley and Lynd- hurst, and subsequently at Bloxworth. It is closely allied to E. be- nigna, but is smaller, different in the structure of the palpi, and in its habitat. Family AGELENIDA. *Agelena subfusca, Camb. I have found, occasionally, adult males of this species on walls and posts at Bloxworth, apparently intercepted while on an aérial excursion. The female has hitherto escaped notice. Tegenaria silvicola, Walck. 1 found an adult female, and many immature specimens of both sexes, under moss and loose stones on walls, at the foot of the Pentland Hills, in June. 7948 Arachnida. Family THzRIpiiDm. Theridion tinctum, Walck. 1 met with both sexes of this species, adult and in considerable numbers, on furze-bushes at Hursley, in May, 1860. It has not before been recorded as British. T.. projectum, Cumb. New to Science. ,An adult male, and females adult and immature, of this minute but very distinct species, were found by myself at the roots of heath, Bloxworth, in April and May. *T. angulatum, Blackw. Among spiders kindly collected for me at Folkestone last summer, by Dr. Knaggs, M.D., I found an adult male of this remarkable species, which I had met with before at Hursley, and in some abundance on Bloxworth Heath, though nearly all imma- ture. Family LinypHiIDz. Linyphia triangularis, Walck. I met with adult females of this spider in corners and crevices of rocks on the banks of Loch Katrine; in July last. L. longidens, Wider. At heath-roots, Bloxworth; under stones between Loch Katrine and Inversnaid, and also received from Hurs- ley from the Rev. S. M. Scroggs. *L. frenata, Wider. Adults of both sexes in abundance among low plants im plantations at Drayton-Beauchamp, Buckinghamshire, in August. L. obscura, Blackw. The female of this species has not before been recorded. Adults of this sex, and immature males, were cap- tured by myself at Wychwood Forest, Oxfordshire, and on the Pent- land Hills, in June; and at Hursley and Bloxworth,in August and September last. Mr. Meade also met with both sexes, adult, in lre- land, in June last. L. circumspecta, Blackw. Adults of both sexes among grass at Formby, Lancashire, in June, 1859. L. flavipes, Blackw. Adults of both sexes at heath-roots, Blox- worth, in May. Neriene corticea, Camb. New to Science. Adults of both sexes among moss and rugged bark of ash and apple trees at Bloxworth, in May and October last. N. elevata, Camb. New to Science. Adults of both sexes were discovered in 1859, under sea-weed and at the roots of grass and dwarf willows, on the sand-hills, Southport. N. vagans, Bluckw. Adult males were captured at heath-roots, Arachnida. 7949 Bloxworth, in May last; and one at the foot of Ben Nevis, in Inver- ness-shire, in July. *N. affinis, Bluckw. Both sexes, adult, at heath-roots, Bloxworth, in May last. N. pygmexa, Blackw. An adult male and female were contained among other spiders kindly collected for me in Ross-shire last Sep- tember, by the Rev. J. F. Montgomery, of Edinburgh. N. flavipes, Blackw. Adult males and females on bare ground, door-steps, &c., at Bloxworth ; and at Dalswinton, in Dumfriesshire, in July. N. bituberculata, Wider. Adults of both sexes (now recorded for the first time as British) were discovered by myself at roots of heath, Bloxworth, in May. *N. nigra, Blackw. Adults of both sexes on iron railings, Blox- worth, in November. N. herbigrada, Blackw. An adult male and female were captured by myself under a rooty ledge on the banks of the Conway, N. Wales, in April, 1860. *Walckeniera unicornis, Camb. Males and females, adult, on furze- bushes, Bloxworth, in May. W. bicolor, Blackw. An adult male, under a stone on Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh, in June. ; W. borealis, Camb. New to Science. Adult males under loose stones on a wall near the Pentland Hillis, in June. *W. humilis, Blackw. Not infrequent, running in sunshine, ‘on the pavements of Edinburgh, at the end of June. W. cristata, Blackw. Adults of both sexes among lichens on apple trees, Bloxworth, in October. W. antica, Wider. Adults of both sexes at the base of trees, among roots and grass, in- April, 1861, and at heath-roots, Bloxworth, in the first week in February, 1862. W. nemoralis, Blackw. Adults of both sexes not infrequent among lichens on apple trees, Bloxworth, in October and November. W. pratensis, Blackw. Both sexes, adult (now recorded for the first time), under ledges of the banks of the Conway, North Wales, in April, 1860. *Pachygnatha Listeri, Sundevall. Adults of both sexes numerous among low herbage in woods, Bloxworth, in September, 1861. I had never met with but one solitary specimen until this last season, when it appeared so abundantly. *P. Clerckii, Sund. Adult males at Bloxworth, in company with P. Listeri. 7950 Arachnida. Family Eperrip&. Epéira lutea, Koch. I discovered adult females of this fine Epéira (now first recorded as British), among low plants in plantations at Drayton-Beauchamp, Bucks, in August last. E. sericata, Koch. In September, i858, I met with two adult males on the city wall at Chester; Mr. Blackwall has only lately ascertained them to be of this species. It is now recorded for the first time as British. *E. bella, Meade. Adult males (the male adult hitherto unknown) of this very pretty species were captured by myself, together with adult females, among low plants at Drayton-Beauchamp, in company with E. lutea. *K. calva, Blackw. Abundant among rough grass on the Downs, Hursley, in August. In giving the above simple and unscientific list, I must repeat again here that my sole object has been to draw the attentoin of the “ col- lector” to the subject of spiders. I have tried to show that, looked upon not only as objects of great interest, both in variety of form, colour and habits, but looked upon merely as an object “ to collect,” spiders offer a far more fertile field than most orders of insects. It would be difficult to name any order of insects to our indigenous lists of which upwards of sixty species might be added, as the result of a limited amount of leisure bestowed on them during eight years! One great recommendation to the study of spiders is, that but little or no time is required for mounting or preserving them, and this, to the col- lector who has but little leisure to devote to his hobby indoors, is a very great point. Another recommendation is, that all the parts on the structure of which, generic and other characters are based, are easily observed and examined, either through the spirit in the tubes or else out of them, the spirit having been allowed to evaporate, a pro- cess which a few minutes will complete. But in spite of all that has been or can be said, there seems to be-a kind of general aversion to a spider, and with numbers of persons a sort of creeping against handling them. I have found this the case even with collectors who would not scruple to dive down into a putrid mass to capture a beetle. How long this will be the case seems doubtful; certainly the converts to Arachnology are as yet few and far between, while to some other branches of Entomology recruits are numbered almost by scores. Per- haps when the Ray Society has completed the publication of Mr. Arachnida. 7951 Blackwall’s work on ‘ British Spiders, Arachnology will obtain her share of students. No doubt the want of a work on the subject in “the mother tongue” is, among others, one chief hindrance to the study. The asterisk affixed to the name of any spider in the above list denotes that some notice of such spider has been given in one of the previous lists (see Zool. 6493, &c.). O. PickKARD-CAMBRIDGE. Bloxworth, Dorset, February 15, 1862. Descriptions of Ten New Species of British Spiders. By the Rev. O. PickarD-CampBripeg, M.A. Tribe OctonocuLina. Family THomisipz. THOMISUS SIMPLEX. General colour pale murky yellowish brown. Cephalothorax mottled and marked on the sides and front with brownish black. Abdo- men marked on the upper side with several transverse dark streaks on the hinder half, and a longitudinal fusiform band, bordered with a fine blackish line, reaches nearly two-thirds of the length towards the spinners. In adult males the femoral joints of the legs and the palpi, except the humeral joint, suffused with dark sooty brown. Radial joint of the palpi has a strong projection on the outer side, ending with a long, nearly straight, fine, pointed, black spine, which runs alongside of the digital joint. Adult male. Length, 1-eighth of an inch ; length of cephalothorax, I-sixteenth. Breadth, l-sixteenth. Relative length of legs, 2,1, 4, 3. Cephalothorax compressed in front, abruptly depressed behind, thinly clothed with short hairs, and some bristles project from the frontal margin. Its colour is pale yellowish brown, in strongly marked males tinged with reddish brown, especially towards the front, and in such specimens the pointed spade-shaped mark so characteristic of the genus is distinctly visible, and contains generally two longitudinal parallel spots of dark brownish black, with which colour the sides and the region of the eyes are more more or less mottled and marked. Eyes in two almost concentric, curved rows, the front row being the shortest, the curves directed forwards. The lateral eyes of the 7952 Arachnida. front row are the largest of the eight, though but very little larger than the corresponding ones of the hinder row. Legs furnished with hairs and spines; two parallel rows of the latter extend along the under side of the tibiz and metatarsi of the first and second pairs. Colour pale yellowish brown, with the femoral joints, in most specimens of adult males, more or less suffused with brownish black. Relative length, 2, 1, 4, 3. Palpi short. Colour yellowish brown, and, excepting the humeral joint, suffused with brownish black. The radial joint has a large crescent-shaped projection on its under side, and on its outer side a strong one, ending in a long, fine, pointed, nearly straight, black spine, which projects along the side of the digital joint. This last joint is oval; the palpal organs contained in it are well developed, prominent, and with a filiform black spine, curved from their base round the inner side to their extremity, and so down the outer side. Falces in most specimens slightly darker coloured than the maxille, labium and sternum, which are ofa pale yellowish brown, the latter obscurely freckled with brown. None of these parts offer any variation from the generic type. Abdomen of a dull yellow-brown colour, thinly clothed with short dark hairs. The upper side is obscurely freckled with brown, and in some specimens the margins, especially near the cephalo- thorax, mottled with whitish. Two fine dark lines commencing near the cephalothorax join in an acute angle at rather more than halfway to the spinners, forming a longish fusiform band; in strongly marked specimens this band is rather darker coloured than the rest. On the hinder half of the abdomen are several transverse dark lines; the first interrupted by the fusiform band, the rest at regular intervals towards the spinners. These lines and the fusiform band are obsolete in some specimens, and variously defined, from a mere spot or two to perfect lines in others. The under part and sides are spotied and streaked with dark brown, in various degrees of depth and distinctness in dif- erent specimens. The branchial opercula are reddish brown. The five depressed dots on the front half of the upper side of the abdomen, so characteristic of the genus Thomisus, are also plainly marked in this species. The female is lighter coloured than the male, and almost entirely unicolorous; the characteristic markings generally visible in the male being in most females obsolete. The sexual organs, which Arachnida. 7953 are fully developed at the end of May and beginning of June, are reddish brown. I captured adult males of this species at the end of April, 1861, at the bases of large trees on the lawn of Bloxworth Rectory, Dorset. Its habitat appears to be in the crevices where the turf and the trunk of the tree meet, among bits of dead bark, leaves and grass. The male is rather more active than many species of Thomisi, but the female is very sluggish. I found in the same places females adult throughout the summer, and immature specimens of both sexes in November. This species is closely allied to Thomisus trux, but may readily be distinguished, not only by its colour and markings, but especially by the long, pointed, nearly straight, black spine issuing from the outer projection on the radial joint of the palpi. Family Drassip#. CLUBIONA ASSIMILATA. Cephalothorax dull yellow, tinged in front with red, behind with green. Abdomen red-brown, thickly freckled with minute paler spots and thinly clothed with hoary hairs. A dark red-brown fusiform band, palest down the middle, reaches a third of the length from the cephalothorax ; this band has two oblique, oval, yellowish red spots on each side, and is followed towards the spinners by some obscure, pale, transverse, curved lines. Eyes very nearly equal in size, and those of the front row equidistant from each other. Digital joint of palpi of moderate size. Palpal organs simple in structure, but well developed; they have a strong spine curving obliquely over them, from their base on the outer side over to the inner side, thence underneath and round their extremity, coming up and projecting on the outer side again. In contact with the point of this spine is some semi- transparent membrane. Adult male. Length, 1-fifth ofan inch. Length of cephalotho- rax, ]-tenth. Breadth, 1-twelfth. Relative length of legs, 4, 1, 2, 3. Cephalothorax oval, slightly compressed laterally in front; frontal margin curved, and but very slightly depressed from the centre to the eyes; it has a narrow indentation in the medial line. Colour dull yellow, with a red tinge in front and a green tinge behind. S 7954 Arachnida. Eyes very nearly equal in size, placed on black spots in two trans- verse rows on the front of the cephalothorax. The front row is immediately above the frontal margin, and the eyes composing it are equidistant from each other, while in the hinder row the two central eyes are a little wider apart than the two end ones on either side. The central eyes of the front row are the darkest of the eight. Legs furnished with hairs and brownish black sessile spines. The first and second pairs are of equal length, and their relative length is 4,1, 2,3. Their colour is dull yellow, and each tarsus ends with two curved pectinated claws, below which is a small scopula. Palpi same colour as the legs. Radial joint rather shorter than the cubital, and has a dark brown crescent-shaped projection at its extremity on the outer side. The outer limb of the crescent is very much longer, stronger and darker than the inner one. Digital joint of moderate size, oval, rather broader at the end than near the radial joint. Palpal organs highly developed, but of simple structure. ‘They have a strong corneous spine con- nected with them. This spine issues from the outer side near the radial joint, passes obliquely over to the inner side, and so underneath and round their extremity, coming up again on the outer side, and ending in a sharp prominent point, in contact with which is some semi-transparent membrane. The colour of these organs and the spine connected with them is dark red- brown. Falces long, very prominent, subcylindrical, slightly hollowed on the inner side, especially towards the ends. Labium oblong, slightly prominent at the top, where it is broader than at the bottom. This and the falces are of a dark brown colour, tinged with red, the top of the labium being slightly paler. Maxillz long, straight, convex at the base, enlarged and rounded at the ends, and of a reddish yellow colour. Sternum oval, with eminences on the sides, opposite the legs. Colour dull yellow. Abdomen oblong-oviform in shape, thinly clothed with hoary hairs, Colour red-brown, thickly freckled with minute spots of a paler hue. On the upper side a dark red-brown fusiform band, palest in the medial line, begins at the end near the cephalothorax, and runs about a third of the length towards the spinners. On each Arachnida. 7955 side of this band are two oblique yellowish red oval spots, and between it and the spinners is a series of indistinct, slightly curved, transverse, yellowish red lines. The under partis paler than the upper, and has four or five longitudinal yellowish lines converging slightly towards the spinners, which project consider- ably and are yellow tinged with brown. Branchial opercula pale yellow. This species was captured by myself at Southport, Lancashire, in 1859, but was mistaken for Clubiona amarantha until the examination of another specimen, captured by the Rev. T. W. Huthwaite at Coven, near Wolverhampton, in July, 1861, proved its distinctness from that species. Since writing the above I have received specimens of this species from Mr. Meade, of Bradford, who had also overlooked its dis- tinctness from C. amarantha, for which it may easily be mistaken, unless the palpal organs are carefully examined, when the strong spine that envelopes the palpal organs will readily distinguish it. It differs also from C. amarantha in several other points.. CLUBIONA NEGLECTA. Cephalothorax dull brownish yellow. Abdomen red-brown, thickly freckled with small yellowish spots, and thinly clothed with grayish hairs ; a narrow, dark brown, fusiform band, divided lon- gitudinally by a yellowish red line, runs about one-third of the length towards the spinners; near the point of this band, on either side, is an oblique line; between it and the spinners are two transverse angular ones and several short curved ones, all of an obscure yellowish colour. Radial joint of palpi has at its extremity on the outer side a dark brown crescent-shaped pro- _ jection, of which the upper limb is the stoutest and darkest. Digital joint large, and of an obtuse oval shape, enlarged at the extremity. A long filiform spine springs from the inner side of the palpal organs, curves round their extremity on the edge of the digital joint, and, running down the edge on the outer side, curves back over the middle, ending in a fine prominent point towards the inner side. Adult male. Length, 1-fifth of aninch. Length of cephalothorax, l-tenth. Breadth, 1-sixteenth. Relative length of legs, 4, 2,1, 3. Cephalothorax of a longish oval shape, considerably depressed in - front; frontal margin curved ; a slight narrow indentation in the medial line. Colour dull brownish yellow. 7956 Arachnida. Eyes in two transverse rows on the front of the cephalothorax, more unequal in size than in C. assimilata, the intermediate ones of the front row being the largest and darkest of the eight. All the eyes are on black spots. Legs provided with hairs and dark brown sessile spines. Relative length, 4, 2,1, 3. Each tarsus ends with two curved pectinated claws, below which is a smal] scopula. Colour similar to that of the cephalothorax. Palpi similar to the legs in colour, except the digital joint, which is brownish. Radial rather shorter than the cubital joint, and has a dark brown crescent-shaped projection at its end on the outer side; the limbs of this projection are short, but the upper one is much the stoutest and darkest. Digital joint large, and of an obtuse-ended oval shape. Palpal organs highly developed, pro- minent, and moderately complex in structure; a long filiform spine is connected with them; it issues from the inner side, curves round their extremity on the edge of the digital joint, and, running down that edge on the outer side, curves back up the middle, ending ina fine projecting point, curved towards the most prominent part of the palpal organs. These organs are of a dark reddish brown colour. Falces moderate in length, conical, and rather projecting. Colour dark red-brown. Maxille straight, convex at the base, enlarged and rounded at the top. Labium oval, notched at the top, which with the maxille are rather paler coloured than the falces. Sternum oval, with eminences on the sides opposite to the legs. Colour dull brownish yellow, slightly darker on the margin. Abdomen narrow, oval in shape. Colour red-brown, thickly freckled with small yellowish spots, somewhat regularly arranged, espe- cially on the sides, and thinly clothed with grayish hairs. The upper side has a longitudinal, dark brown, narrow, fusiform band for about a third of its length, ending in a point; an obscure yellowish red line runs down the middle of this band, which has an oblique line near its point on each side, followed towards the spinners by two transverse angular lines and several short very slightly curved ones; all these lines are pale and obscure. The extremity of the abdomen close to the base of the spinners is encircled by a deep red-brown ring, outside of which is a broader one of pale yellow. The under side is slightly paler than the Arachnida. 7957 upper, and has four fine pale-coloured longitudinal lines meeting at the spinners. Branchial opercula pale yellow. This species was taken by myself at Bloxworth, Dorset, but was for some time confounded with C. amarantha, from which it differs in many minor points, but especially in the palpal organs and the long filiform spine connected with them. It is also very nearly allied to C. assimilata (last described), but the differences in the palpi will, on a close inspection, readily distinguish it, as will also several other minor differences, such as the top of the labium, the eyes and the length of the falces. But without a close comparison these two species, and several others nearly allied in size and general appearance, may easily be mistaken for each other, and it requires a very practised eye to dis- tinguish them readily. CLUBIONA DEINOGNATHA.. Cephalothorax very broad; almost without lateral compression for- wards. Colour dull yellow, tinged with reddish brown towards the eyes. Central eyes of front row nearest together and slightly the largest; lateral eyes of hinder row slightly the smallest of the eight. Abdomen red-brown, with a broad, long, wedge- shaped band on the upper side. Palpi short, slight. Radial joint with a small crescent-shaped projection on outer side. Digital joint small, with a small slender black spine towards its extremity, issuing from its inner edge. Palpal organs simple, with a strong corneous red-brown curved spine issuing from their extremity on the inner side, curving slightly downwards and outwards, and so round just below the outer margin of the digital joint, ending near its base. Falces very powerful, long, prominent and arched, of a deep rich red-brown colour. Labium slightly notched at the top. Adult male. Length, 1-fourth of an inch. Length of cephalothorax, l-seventh. Breadth, l-eighth. Relative length of legs, 4, 1, 2, 3. Cephalothorax broad in proportion to its length, and with little or no compression on the sides forwards, and very slightly de- pressed from its highest point to the eyes. Frontal margin nearly straight. Colour dull yellow, with a red-brown tinge towards the eyes. A slight narrow indentation in the medial line. Eyes nearly equal in size. The two middle ones of the front row are the closest together and rather the largest and darkest of the eight, while the end ones of the hinder row are slightly the 7958 Arachnida. smallest, and are each rather nearer the centre one on its side than the centre ones are to each other. Legs moderately long and stout, very sparingly furnished with hairs and a few black sessile spines. Each tarsus ends with two curved pectinated claws, below which is a small scopula. Colour pale dull yellow, with a small reddish mark or two at the joints. Palpi short and slight. The cubital joint has a small red-brown projection at its end on the under side. Radial joint shorter than the cubital, and has a small crescent-shaped projection on the outer side, the upper limb of which is rather the smallest and shortest; this projection is edged and tipped with dark reddish brown. Digital joint small, oblong-oval, with a minute slender black spine towards its extremity, issuing among the hairs from its inner margin. Palpal organs neither complex nor highly developed; they have a corneous red-brown spine issuing from their extremity on the inner side, curving slightly downwards and outwards, and so round just below the outer margin of the digital joint, ending near its base. The colour of these organs is brown, tinged with red. Falces very powerful, long, prominent and convex ; when looked at in profile they describe an are of a circle. They are slightly hollowed on the inner side toward the extremity, and are of a rich deep red-brown colour. Maxille straight, enlarged and rounded at the extremity on the outer side, abruptly sloping on the inner side to the labium. Labium broad, enlarged at the top, which is slightly hollowed or notched. This and the maxille are dark brown, paler at the top. Sternum heart-shaped, with eminences on the sides opposite the legs. Colour dull yellow, with a fine broken edging of reddish. Abdowen long, oviform, but rather shorter than the cephalothorax, of a red-brown colour, paler on the under side, and sparingly clothed with short pale yellowish hairs. It has on the upper side a large wedge-shaped band; at its commencement at the upper end nearly as wide as the abdomen. This band extends about two-thirds of the length towards the spinners, and its edges are boldly but irregularly dentated; it is most visible, like all the markings of most of the allied species, when in spirits of wine. ‘The plates of the spiracles are pale dull yellow. An adult male of this very distinct Clubiona was captured by myself Arachnida. 7959 some time ago at Bloxworth, Dorset, but was mistaken for C. holose- ricea. Although in general colouring it resembles several of the allied species, yet the more massive cephalothorax and falces, with the com- paratively short and feeble palpi, give it an appearance at once striking and distinctive. CLUBIONA DIVERSA. Cephalothorax pale dull straw-colour. Abdomen brightish yellow, mottled chiefly in the medial line and towards the spinners with brownish red, and with some obscure slightly curved transverse pale lines on the hinder part, and some oblique indistinct spots on the front part. Radial joint of palpi has a longish pointed projection on the outer side, of a dark reddish brown colour. Palpal organs prominent, but not complex. A strong sharply curved corneous spine issues from their extremity on the inner side, the fine point of which projects over the end on the outer side, and has a small semitransparent protuberance in contact with it. The eyes are almost of equal size and are all dark- coloured; those of the front row, with the lateral ones of the hinder row, form an exact arc of a circle and are equidistant from each other. Adult male. Length, 1-ninth of an inch. Length of cephalothorax, 1-nineteenth. Breadth, l-twentieth. Relative length of legs, AL251; 8. Cephalothorax very slightly compressed on the sides before, abruptly depressed behind ; and from the summit depressed continuously in a curved line to the frontal margin, which is rounded. Colour pale dull straw. Eyes very nearly equal in size, seated on black spots, and all dark- coloured. Six of them describe an exact arc of a circle, and are equidistant from each other. Legs long, furnished with a few hairs and black sessile spines, and dull straw-coloured. Relative length, 4, 2, 1, 3. Palpi same colour as the legs and cephalothorax, except the digital joint, which is dark brown. Cubital joint bent inwards, and has a minute red-brown projection at its extremity on the inner side. Radial joint has a longish pointed projection at the end, on the outer side, of a deep reddish brown colour. Palpal organs highly developed and prominent, but not very complex in structure. From their extremity on the inner side a strong corneous red- brown spine curves sharply round towards the outer side, and has its sharp prominent point in contact with a small semitransparent 7960 Arachnida. protuberance. The surface of the basal half of the palpal organs is marked with a sinuous, dark, well-defined line. Falces of moderate size, straight and hollowed out on the inner sides towards the ends. Colour dull yellow, slightly tinged with light reddish brown. Maxille long, straight, much enlarged, and rounded at the top, same colour as the falces. Labium broad, slightly enlarged and rounded at the top, slightly darker coloured than the maxille. Sternum oval, and same colour as the cephalothorax. Abdomen oviform, longer than the cephalothorax, of a brightish yellow, mottled on the upper side, chiefly in the medial line and towards the spinners, with bright brownish red. On the upper half are some indistinct pale oblique spots on either side of the medial line, followed by some obscure transverse slightly curved lines, of a pale yellow edged with reddish. Spinners not very prominent, and of a dull yellow colour. I obtained the specimen above described from Mr. C. H. Brown, of Southport, Lancashire, by whom it was captured on the sand-hills near the town, in June, 1861. Tt is closely allied to Clubiona trivialis, Koch, for which I at first mistook it, but it may readily be distinguished by its smaller size, brighter colours, and the difference in the shape of the projection at the end of the radial joint. This projection in C. trivialis is spatular-shaped and concave inside, while in C. diversa it is pointed. Family CINIFLONIDE. ERGATIS ARBOREA. Cephalothorax reddish brown, very elevated towards the front, where it is clothed with coarse white hairs. Four central eyes form a square. The side pairs placed obliquely on a small tubercle. Abdomen yellow-brown, with an oblong dark brown band on the upper side, succeeded towards the spinners by several trans- verse curved bars of the same colour; these bars are generally formed of two lines, with a short oblique line or spot at each end. Palpi short. Humeral joint gouty. Radial joint with a long dark-pointed, erect spur at its base, and an obtuse, rounded pro- jection at its extremity. Falces of the male hollowed out on the inner surface, with a large prominence on their under side and a minute one at their base in front towards the outer side. An achnida. 7961 Adult male. Length, 1-tenth of aninch. Length of cephalothorax, 1-twentieth. Breadth, 1-twenty-fourth. Relative length of legs, 1, 2, 4, 3. Cephalothorax very convex and elevated in front, slightly depressed from the highest point to the eyes, much depressed behind and also on the sides, where some furrows converge towards the middle. Colour dark brown, tinged with red, darkest behind the elevated part, which, with the frontal] margin, is clothed with coarse white hairs. Eyes nearly equal in size. The four middle ones form a square, and those of each side pair are placed obliquely on a small tubercle. Legs moderately stout and furnished with hairs. Relative length, 1, 2, 4, 8. The fourth pair has a calamistrum (or combing appa- ratus) on the upper side of their metatarsi, a peculiarity on which Mr. Blackwall has founded the family Ciniflonids. Each tarsus ends with three claws; the two upper ones curved and pectin- ated and the lower one inflected near its base. The colour of the legs is a pale yellow-brown. Palpi short and strong, of the same colour as the legs. Humeral joint gouty at the end on the outer side. Cubital joint strong, convex on its upper surface and strongly curved inwards. Radial joint longer than the cubital and has two projections, one (which is a leading characteristic of the species) in the form of a long stoutish, pointed spur, tipped with dark brown, springing at right angles from the upper side of its extremity ; the other, an obtuse rounded one, is at the extremity on the outer side. The digital joint is dark brown, pointed at the end. Palpal organs highly developed, with a strong process curved from their extremity round the outer side, and ending in a kind of twisted or spiral point, which reaches to the articulation of the radial with the cubital joint. Falces yellow-brown, long, with a large prominence on the under side and a minute one at their base in front towards the outer side ; they are curved a little forwards at the ends and hollowed ‘out about the middle of their inner surface, leaving the ends very prominent. ? Maxille similar in colour to the falces, convex at the base, rounded at the ends, which are more abruptly curved on the inner than on the outer side. They are inclined towards the labium. VOL. XX, fh 7962 Arachnida. Labium yellow-brown, with the base dark brown. Its shape is tri- angular, rounded off at top. Sternum heart-shaped, thinly clothed with coarse white hairs, and of a dark brown colour. Abdomen oviform, yellowish brown, with a strong reddish tinge, clothed with short brown and hoary hairs. On the upper side a dark brown oblong band, sometimes slightly pointed at the end, occupies the upper end to rather more than a third of its length ; between this band and the spinners are several dark transverse curved bars (in most specimens composed of two fine parallel lines), with an oblique spot or short line at the ends: these bars are more or less strongly marked in different specimens, in some being almost obsolete, in others parts only are visible. The sides of the abdomen are mottled more or less with dark brown. The under side is yellow-brown, with a broad brown band along the middle. Spinners eight in number. The female is rather paier coloured than the male, but resembles it in markings. Its falces are wanting in the peculiarities described as characteristic of the male. I discovered this spider in tolerable abundance on trees and bushes in a hedge on Hursley Down, near Winchester, in May, 1860, and since then at Bloxworth, Dorset, and Lyndhurst, Hampshire, in similar situations. Except from its smaller size it might easily be mistaken, on a casual glance, for its ally Ergatis benigna, but it may readily be distinguished, not only by size, but by the band on the upper side of the abdomen not being dentated on the edges, as in Ergatis benigna, by the bars that succeed the band being curved and not angular, and by the very peculiar spur at the base of the radial joint of the palpi. This spur, though found in E. benigna, is in that species quite rudi- mentary and very dark-coloured. Moreover, as far as my observations have gone, the habitat of E. benigna is on low plants and very dwarf bushes, while all I have yet found of E. arborea have been beaten from trees and high bushes. Family THERIDIID2. E THERIDION PROJECTUM. Colour red-brown. Abdomen with a projecting ridge round the margin. T'wo central eyes of front row very minute. On each side of these is a group of three others almost contiguous, in the form of an equilateral triangle. The eyes of these two groups Arachnida. 7963 are disproportionately large compared to the size of the spider, the two middle ones of the hinder row being the largest. Palpal organs prominent and complex, with a black filiform spine curved from the outer side round their base to the inner side. Adult male, 1-sixteenth of an inch. Length of cephalothorax, 1-twenty-fourth. Breadth, 1-thirty-second. Relative length of legs, 1, 4, 2, 3. Cephalothorax small, slight, compressed laterally, but elevated in front, and with a broad shallow indentation in the medial line. Colour red-brown, which is also that of the whole spider. Eyes very unequal in size, in two transverse curved rows, the two centre ones of the hinder row the largest, and the two centre ones of the front row the smallest and darkest of the eight. They form three groups. The two side groups consist each of three almost contiguous large eyes, in the shape of an equilateral tri- angle. Between these groups are the two centre eyes of the front row, which are very minute and almost contiguous. The extreme dissimilarity in size between these two eyes and the rest, and their position, is a striking characteristic of the species, and would almost warrant its separation from the genus Theridion. Legs robust and provided with hairs. Their relative length is 1, 4, 2,3. The tarsi end with three claws. Palpi. Radial joint stronger than the cubital, and slightly produced at the extremity on the outer side. Digital joint roundish oval and hairy outside. Palpal organs highly developed and complex in structure, with a black filiform spine curved from their outer side round the base to the inner side. Falces small, conical and vertical. Maxille obliquely truncated at the ends on the outer sides, and much inclined towards the labium, which is semicircular. Sternum broad, flat and heart-shaped. Abdomen considerably elevated towards, and projecting slightly over, the base of the cephalothorax. The upper side is, however, flattish. It is broader behind than in front, and is thinly clothed with hairs. The upper half, from a litle below the highest point to the spinners, appears, when looked at from below or in profile, like a shield or case laid over the abdomen, with the edge projecting all round, like the eaves of ahouse. This is a remark- able feature in the spider, and will probably prove very character- istic of the adult male. The colour of the abdomen is slightly darker than the rest of the spider, the upper part being the 7964 Arachnida. darkest. This part, when in spirits of wine, seems to be mottled with paler depressed spots, arranged with some regularity in transverse rows. The female differs from the male only in wanting the projecting edge round the abdomen. 1 found an adult male of this very minute but most remarkable Theridion at the roots of heath, at Bloxworth, Dorset, in April, 1861, and shortly after, an adult and three immature females in a similar position on another part of the heath. By the position of the eyes this species seems to be allied to the genus Pholcus, though in general form and appearance it is much more like the true Theridia. ’ Family LINyPHIID. NERIENE CORTICEA. ‘Cephalothorax blackish brown, with an olive-green tinge; it has a deepish transverse dip or depression about the centre. Abdomen black. Legs and palpi yellowish brown. Eyes of the hind row equal in size and equidistant from each other; end ones of front row largest, and centre ones smallesi, of the eight. Radial joint of palpi has a tuft of strong bristly black hairs on its upper side, which is rather protuberant ; at its extremity in front is a sirong projection or elongation projecting obliquely outwards over the base of the digital joint, and ending in the form of a crescent, of which the limb nearest the tuft of hairs is the shortest and smallest. Adult"male. Length, 1-sixteenth of an inch. Length of cephalo- thorax, ]-thirty-fifth. Breadth, 1-fortieth. Relative length of legs, 4, 1, 2, 3. Cephalothorax of a blackish brown colour, tinged with olive-green ; margin edged with black; the hinder part slopes very abruptly in a hollowish liue, and about halfway between the top of the slope and the eyes is a strong transverse dip or depression, and an indentation in the medial line of the hinder part; a single row of a few long bristly hairs, directed forwards, occupies the medial line, and there are some shorter ones in the region of the eyes. 2 Eyes, on black spots, in two rows curved away from each other, on the front of the cephalothorax; the front row is the most curved, and rather the slortest; the eyes of the hinder row are of the same size, and at equal distances from each other; the central ones of the front row are the smallest, and the end ones Arachnida. 7965 the largest of the eight, and each of these last is further from the central one on its side than the central ones are-from each other. The side pairs of eyes are seated on a tubercle, but not placed very obliquely. Legs moderate in length, clothed with hairs, and of a pale yellowish brown colour; the margins of the joints slightly edged with dark brown, and occasionally there is a tinge of red, especially on the tarsal and metatarsal joints. Relative length, 4, 1, 2, 3. Palpi shortish ; same colour as the legs, except ihe radial joint, which has a bright reddish tinge, especially at its extremity. The cubital and radial joints are both short, the latter is the shoriest, and is slightly prominent on the inner side under- neath; it is rather protuberant on the upper side, with a tuft’ or fringe of straight bristly black hairs directed outwards, and has at its extremiiy in front a strong elongation projecting outwards over the base of the digital joint, and ending in the shape of a crescent, the upper limb of which is the longer and ‘stronger; this limb is of a curved scimitar form, aud both are of a deep red-brown colour. The palpal organs are highly developed, prominent and complicated in structure ; they have a large semitransparent membranous process at their extremity, near which, on the outer side, a long black spine curves round backwards in a double coil. Falces small, very slightly divergent at the extremities, a little in- - clined towards the sternum, and rather darker coloured than the cephalothorax. Maxille considerably enlarged at the base, obliquely truncated on the outer sides, slightly rounded at the extremity, and strongly inclined towards the labium. They are lighter coloured than the falces. Sternum broad, convex and heart-shaped, and with the labium, which is semicircular, of a brownish black colour. Abdomen black, very sparingly clothed with short hairs; it has four small depressed dots, nearly in the form of a square, on the upper side towards the cephalothorax, over which the abdomen projects considerably. The adult female resembles the male, but is rather larger, and the transverse dip on the cephalothorax is not so strong. Adults of both sexes of this spider were captured by myself in the spring and autumn of 1861, among lichens and in crevices of the 7966 Arachnida. bark of ash and apple trees, in the gardens at Bloxworth Rectory, Dorset. In the tuft of bristly hairs on the radial joint of the palpi it resembles N. bicolor, but differs from it in almost every other specific character, besides being greatly inferior in size. NERIENE ELEVATA. _ Colour yellowish brown, darkest and with a red tinge on the. cephalothorax, which is elevated towards the front, rising abruptly behind the eyes, and with a deepish indentation on each side forwards, just below the elevation; radial joint of palpi short, strong, protuberant on the upper side, the pro- tuberance squarish in profile, with a slightly curved black spine from its front corner, projecting obliquely towards the outer side, and with a stout blunt projection at the extremity of the joint underneath ; this projection forms with the spine a kind of crescent. Adult male. Length, 1-fifteenth of an inch. Length of cephalo- thorax, 1-twenty-fifth. Breadth, 1-thirtieth. Relative length of legs, 4, 1, 2, 3. Cephalothorax dark yellow-brown, with a red tinge; immediately behind the eyes a moderately high elevation rises rather abruptly, and slopes away towards the abdomen; on each side of the elevation, towards the eyes, is a sharp vertical indentation. Eyes in two transverse rows curved away from each other; the hinder row is the longest and most curved. The eyes of the front row are at about equal distances from each other ; the two middle ones of the hinder row are the widest apart, the two outer ones of the front row the largest, and the two outer ones of the hinder row the smallest of the eight; those of each of the side pairs touch each other, and are placed obliquely. Falces moderately long and strong, vertical and very slightly divergent at the extremity. Their colour is like that of the cephalothorax. Legs moderately long and robust, sparingly clothed with hairs, and of a pale yellow-brown colour; each tarsus ends with three curved claws. Relative length, 4, 1, 2, 3. Palpi moderately long; like the legs in colour. Humeral joint long and rather curved inwards towards the falces. Cubital joint longer than the radial and slightly clavate. Radial joint strong, and protuberant on the upper side; the protuberance is squarish in profile; its hinder corner is red-brown and pointed, though ad Arachnida. 7967 sometimes the point is blunted off; the foremost corner ends with a black slightly curved spine, which projects obliquely , towards the outer side; underneath the point of this spine, at the extremity of the outer side of the radial joint, is a stoutish blunt projection (which, with the spine, forms a kind of crescent), and on the inner side there is a slight dark-pointed one. The digital joint is oval, of moderate size, and slightly darker than the rest of the palpus. Palpal organs highly developed, promi- nent, and not very complicated in structure; at their extremity, just underneath the end of the digital joint, one of their pro- cesses ends with a small dark brown spiny curved rim with two prominent points. Maxille slightly enlarged at the extremity on the inner side, ob- liquely truncated on the outer side, and strongly inclined towards the labium. Labium short and semicircular. Sternum broad, convex and heart-shaped. Abdomen oviform, projecting considerably over the base of the cephalothorax. Its colour is yellow-brown, and it is sparingly clothed with yellowish hairs. On the upper side towards the spinners are several obtusely angular, pale, transverse lines. The female is larger than the male, and wants the elevation on the cephalothorax, but resembles it in other respects. I discovered adult males and females of this species under dry sea- weed on the shore at Southport, Lancashire; and at the roots of dwarf willows on the sand-hills at the same place, in the summer of 1859. Mr. Blackwall tells me that he received a male of this species from Scotland some years ago, but that the specimen was accidentally lost before he could make a description of it; and that Mr. Meade captured an adult male of it in Ireland, in June, 1861. I have since writing the above examined Mr. Meade’s specimen, which is certainly of this species, but is a much darker-coloured spider, the cephalo- thorax being dark reddish yellow-brown, and the abdomen nearly black: it was captured in the county of Kerry. WALCKENAERA BOREALIS. Cephalothorax shining brownish black. Frontal elevation large, obtuse and sloping towards the frontal margin ; central eyes of the front row largest of the eight, and not touching each other. Abdomen dark brown-black. Legs and palpi yellowish red, the 7968 Arachnida. latter lightest in colour ; cubital joint short and comparatively slight ; radial joint strong and elongated in front, curving out- wards more than half over the digital joint, and with a strong process issuing from within the curvature towards the outer side. The palpal organs have a curved black spine towards their ex- tremity. Adult male. Length, 1-twelfth of an inch. Length of the cephalo- thorax, 1- -twenty- -fourth. Breadth, 1-thirtieth. Relative length of legs, 4, 1, 2, 3. Cephalothorax shining brownish black, with a slight indentation in the medial line; it hasa large obtuse elevation on the front part, with a strong indentation behind each lateral pair of eyes, and some fine short hairs in front; the fore part of the elevation slopes off from the summit to the centre eyes of the lower row. Eyes nearly equal in size; in two transverse rows on the fore part of the frontal elevation; the upper row is very much curved away from the lower row, which is nearly straight ; they form four pairs—one pair wide apart on the upper ridge of the eleva- tion ; a pair below, but considerably above the frontal margin, closer together and rather larger than those above them; and a pair on each side, placed obliquely on a small tubercle and nearly contiguous. Legs moderately long and furnished with hairs. Colour yellowish red. Relative length, 4,1, 2,8. Each tarsus ends with’ three claws. Palpi less red in colour than the legs. Digital joint tinged with brown. Radial joint larger than the cubital, and its extremity is much lengthened, hairy, and curved outwards in front of the digital joint over more than half its length, and, curving back again, ends in a dark-coloured bluntish point near its outer edge ; a conspicuous prominent. process issues from within the first curvature, projecting towards the outer side of the digital joint. This joint is oval and hairy; the palpal organs are highly developed, prominent, not very complex in structure ; they have a curved black spine at their extremity, and are of a red-brown colour. Falces small, conical and inclined towards the sternum. Maxille short and inclined towards the labium. Labium semicircular and prominent at the top, and with the maxille and falces of a brownish colour. Sternum broad, convex and heart-shaped. Colour brownish black. Insects. 7969 Abdomen oviform, glossy, sparingly clothed with short hairs. Colour deep brownish black. Two adult males of this species were captured by myself under loose stones on a wall close to the Pentland Hills, Scotland, in June, 1861. O. PickARD-CAMBRIDGE. Bloxworth, Dorset, February 15, 1862. Lepidoptera of Rarer Kinds taken at Martinhoe, North Devon.—During a fortnight’s visit, commencing July 21, 1861, I captured the following :—Toxocampa Pastinum, Cidaria picata, Boarmia repandaria (black-banded var.), B. rhomboidaria (small dark var. taken on sea cliff), Eupithecia debiliata (eight, rather worn), Hypenodes custe- strigalis (two very good, but remarkably plain-coloured), Endotricha flammealis, Botys terrealis, Tortrix Corylana (two of the “ distinct var.” mentioned in Wilkinson’s ‘ Tor- trices, without fasciz ; one of the specimens has the upper wings pale yellow, without reticulations, the hind margin of a rich orange-brown; the other has only-a few re- ticulations towards the hind margin: they were both taken near the same spot). Olindia Ulmana, Ditula semifasciana, Argyresthia Andereggiella, Pterophorus osteo- dactylus (common, but local).—#. Horton; Lower Wick, Worcester, January 14, 1862. Observations on several Lepidoptera.—I send for insertion in the ‘ Zoologist’ a few of my entomological notes, made during the past year. 1. Eupithecia debiliata. I was rather too late for this insect, and my efforts to obtain eggs from the worn females were unsuccessful; but I am quite convinced that there is no necessary connexion between it and holly, as no holly grows anywhere near my locality, while I am strongly inclined to believe that Vaccinium Myrtillus, which is plentiful there, is the proper food of the larva, as the Rev. H. H. Crewe’s corre- spondent in the last ‘ Annual’ correctly supposes. 2. Eupithecia assimilata. The double-broodedness of this “ pug” I have known for some time to be a fact. Last year I took a fresh specimen on the 23rd of April, which was unusually early: I generally take and breed this brood about the second week in May; the second brood I begin to take the first week in August, in fine con- dition. 8. Ditula semifasciana. Bred from a pupa between sallow leaves, July 15, 1861; the pupa was brought from South Wales. I have never met with it common, but it seems to be widely distributed, as I have single specimens taken in South Wales, North Devon and Worcestershire. 4. Scotosia undulata. Larva taken on sallow, October 1, 1860; spun up between leaves, October 17; came out June 15, 1861. Shortish and thick; above light glaucous ; dorsal vessel darker, edged with whitish; subdorsal line rather wide, drab ; spiracular line whitish ; spiracles in black rings. Head light brown; second segment with brown blotches on subdorsal line. 5. Are Pupe@ killed by Floods? In searching some poplars near the Severn, the other day, I found several living pupe under the loose bark a yard from the ground, VOL, x. U 7970 Insects. and many- more pupa-cases whence the perfect insects had escaped without let or hindrance; but, lower duwn, though I now and then found a living pupa (there having been no flood in the Severn during the past year, at least during the larva season); empty pupa-cases were rare, and mouldy pupe common—the result, I con- clude, of former floods. I searched the soil at the roots in vain. With this question ove naturally connects that of the damping or not of pupe which we keep in our boxes or flower-pots. The Rev. J. Greene seems to leave it open, and experience rather tends to make one cautious of applying damp. Larve seem to resort to the roots of trees as sheltered places to form their pupe, and usually select the driest nooks the tree affords. This.seems to indicate that we should keep them from the wet as well as from the sun; and I am disposed to think that if you keep your pupa out of doors the moisture of the atmosphere is almost sufficient for them, 6. Is the growth of the Wings of Insects fresh from the Pupa affected by the Tem- perature P—On the first day of this year a male Phigalia pilosaria issued from the pupa, and I was rather surprised to see it, as the morning was rather frosty ; the wings had not begun to grow, but were otherwise perfect. The next morning I looked into the pot again ; the moth was still there by itself, and its wings in the same state. I gave up all hope of a perfect specimen, but left it for the chance of breeding. The next day, January 3, I went again to the pot, and its wings were fully grown, but not quite stiff, which, however, they became in due course of the afternoon: now the 3rd of January was about five degrees warmer than the two preceding days, and I am inclined to attribute the non-development of the wings for two whole days to the want of sufficient vital heat for that purpose. I should be glad to know whether similar observations have been made by others.— E. Horton; Lower Wick, Worcester, January 14, 1862. Pupe destroyed by a Caterpillar.—At this period of the year I usually examine the different boxes which contain my pupe. I have been doing so during the past few days, and great has been my dismay at the result. I find that they have been supplying a luxurious winter repast to an odious caterpillar, of which the following is a description :—Length about half an inch; semi-transparent. The interior, which is blackish, can easily be seen. The ground colour is grayish white, and when the reptile is crawling the segments appear white. Head brown, and on the next segment is a black patch. The sides are graced with a row of bristly hairs. If any one recognises the beast from the above description, and will, either through the pages of the ‘ Zoologist’ or by private communication, tell me what it is, I shall feel obliged. I trace the evil to my having used moss (taken off walls) for the purpose of covering the pupe. The caterpillar forms a kind of tough leathery cocoon, in which, ap- parently, it moves about. At any rate it attaches itself, with its cocoon, to the unfortunate pupa. To give some idea of the havoc caused by it among my pupa, I append the names of some which, either in whole or part, have been destroyed by it, viz. Cymatophora ocularis, Clostera reclusa, Corycia taminata, Eupithecia pimpi- nellata, E. expallidata, E. innotata, E. helveticaria, E. tripunctata, Ephyra orbi- cularia, E. Omicronaria, &c., &c.—Joseph Greene; Cubley Rectory, Doveridge, Derbyshire, February 20, 1862. Periodical of the nature of the late ‘ Intelligencer’ wanted.—I take this opportunity, on my own part, of expressing a wish (shared, I believe, by many others) that some enterprising entomologist would undertake the editing of a weekly periodical of the nature of the late ‘Intelligencer.’ Only do not let it be a medium for either editor Tnsecis. 7971 or correspondents’ to indulge in coarse vulgarisms and personalities. It is to this cause, and to this cause alone, that we are to attribute the gradual decay and final extinction of the ‘ Intelligencer.’ That such a periodical, conducted in a gentleman- like and impartial spirit, would be well supported I entertain no doubt whatever.— Joseph Greene. Argynnis Lathonia in Suffolk.—The account in the ‘ Zoologist’ (Zool. 7913) of the capture of Argynnis Lathonia, by Captain Russell, in a meadow-field near Laven- ham, Suffolk, contirms my opinion that A. Lathonia has claims to be considered a truly indigenous species. It was said in a former paper on the subject that there ought to be localities where it could be collected annually: now if such localities do not exist, there are those in which it is often to be met with; one, for instance, is the Devil's Ditch, near Newmarket, where, during my residence at Burwell, from the year 1848 to 1854, I saw three specimens which were taken there, and heard of others, and on my first going to Sudbury I called on a Mr. Barwick, a bird-stuffer (who endeavoured, but without much success, to collect insects for sale), and requested him to point out to me the most favourable localities of the neighbourhood, when he men- .tioned Assington Thickets as the one he had been the most successful in, gave me the names of many good and local species which he had found there, and stated that on one of his visits he found a caterpillar suspended by the tail from a branch of hazel, which he left undisturbed till bis next visit, when it was changed into a chrysalis; this he took home, and in a short time it produced a-fine specimen of A. Lathonia: his son, who generally accompanied him in his excursions, visited the Thickets next day, and captured two. more specimens of A. Lathonia on the wing; the three speci- mens he sold to Mansfield, a travelling dealer in insects, for five shillings, and although I did not see the specimens I am inclined to think the account correct, because I found all his other statements of the productions of that locality correct, and also because he immediately pointed out the insect on my showing him my cabinet, the specimen in which was taken by me about six miles from the Thickets and two and a half from Lavenham, as recorded in the‘ Zoologist’ (Zool. 30). I have little doubt that I saw two more on the wing the following year, one in a meadow near Lavenham Church, and the other in a pasture on the Monk’s Eleigh road. Assington Thickets being surrounded by high wood (not “ high road,” as misprinted in the ‘ Zoologist, p. 401), is a very unlikely place for specimens from the Continent to be blown into.—William Gaze; Great Thurlow, near Newmarket, Suffolk, March 3, 1862. Occurrence of Charocampa Celerio at Upper Tooting.—On Saturday last was captured a very good specimen of Cheerocampa Celerio, at Upper Tooting, and kindly sent alive to me. Is this not a very unusual time for its appearance? It is not yery lively, but I should think that might be owing to the cold weather.— William Rogers; Grove Cottage, Merton Road, Lower Tooting, S., March 19, 1862. Food-plants of Eupithecia pumilata and Boarmia repandata.—Mr. Stowell, in his interesting paper on “The Entomology of the Isle of Man” (Zool. 7898), remarks that though Eupithecia pumilata is rather common in the imago state, he cannot find the larva, and does not know the food-plant. It has never been my good fortune to meet with this larva in*the wild state, though I have reared a good many from the egg. My friends and correspondents Messrs. Hellins, D’Orville, Greene and Buckler, have taken it upon the following plants:—Spartium scoparium, Eupatorium canna- binum, Senecio Jacobza, Potentilla reptans, Clematis vitalba (growing wild), Clematis 7972 Insects. odorata, Solidago canadensis, Scabiosa atropurpurea (in gardens). It varies in colour according to the flower it feeds on, being whitish and greenish on Clematis, yellow on Senecio and Potentilla, pink on Eupatorium, and deep purplish red on Scabiosa. I believe it is polyphagous. When reared from the egg in confinement it will eat almost any flower that is given it. It has a way of most effectually concealing itself in the petals of the flower upon which it is feeding. I have seen one work itself quite down into the calyx of a flower of Centaurea nigra or Apargia hispida. Mr. Stainton is certainly right in saying that the larva of Boarmia repandata feeds upon trees, or rather underwood. Some few years since my friend Mr. Hawker and myself bred several dozen most beautifully marked specimens from larve taken by lanthorn-light in the Forest of Bril, Hampshire. The underwood upon which they were feeding was two-years growth, and consisted of blackthorn, whitethorn, crab, aspen, cherry, birch, hornbeam, hazel, sallow and ash. They preferred the three first-named bushes, and were by no means uncommon upon birch.—H. Harpur Crewe ; The Rectory, Drayton- Beauchamp, Tring, March 4, 1862. Description of the Larva of Scotosia vetulata.—Short and stout; in form much resembling Cheimatobia brumata. Back and central dorsal line black, the latter bordered with white. Sides yellow. Spiracular line black, broken and unconnected. Spiracles black. Head black; collar yellow, with a transverse blackish dotted line. Feeds between spun-up leaves of Rhamnus catharticus, Eats the outer cuticle of the leaf, leaving the membrane bare. Full fed the first week in June. Pupa inclosed in an earthen cocoon, long and slender. Abdomen tapering, bright red. Abdominal divisions dark red. Wing-cases paler and more transparent. The perfect insect appears in about three weeks.—Jd. Description of the Larva of Scotosia dubitata.—Ground colour pale yellowish green. Central dorsal lines, two in number, whitish yellow. Subdorsal lines, two in number, whitish yellow. Spiracular line bright yellow and orange. Back’and sides occasionally studded with a few black tubercles, and always with a few short whitish hairs. Belly destitute of markings. Feeds on Rhamous catharticus. Full fed the middle of June. Pupa dark reddish brown, inclosed in an earthen cocoon. Perfect insect appears in about a month.—Jd. Description of the Larva of Scotosia rhamnata.—Ground colour vivid green. Central dorsal line dark green; circulation very apparent underneath. Subdorsal lines very slender and indistinct, yellowish. Segmental divisions deep yellow. Spiracular line pale yellow. Subspiracular line pale yellow, slender. On each side of the three posterior segments below the spiracles a broad purple stripe. Anal plate, tip and prolegs deep purple. Belly traversed longitudinally by three whitish lines, the central one breader than the others, and bordered with small yellowish spots. Feeds on Rhamnus catharticus. Full fed first week in June. Pupa dark reddish brown, inclosed in an earthen cocuon. Perfect insect appears in from three weeks to a month.—Id. Acronycta Alni bred in February.—On the 22nd of last month a male specimen of this insect was produced from the larva I obtained last August, a description of which was given in the ‘ Zoologist’ (Zool. 7717). The pupa was kept during the winter in a recess near the fire-place of a warm room, which accounts for the appearance of the perfect insect at a period so unusually early.—S. Stone; Brighthaumpton, March 17, 1862. Economy of Volucella Larve.—I have a number of larve of one or more species of - Insects. 7973 Volucella, which were obtained last summer from wasps’ nests. They have been hyber- nating throughout the winter, and are now just beginning to assume the pupa state. The change is taking place inside the larva-skin, the only external evidence of the change being a decrease in the length and an increase in girth, with a slight bardening of the larva-skin: and, moreover, one larva from the above number, which was separated from the rest and kept during winter in a very cold situation, is also, I perceive, undergoing its change into a pupa. The larve have been identified as those of Volucella by Professor Westwood, by whom a specimen was exhibited at the October meeting of the Entomological Society, They have been kept through the winter in the same recess as the pupa of Acronycta Alni, but the temperature does not appear to have had much effect upon them, for, if I am not mistaken, I have seen a species of Volucella upon wing in March.—S. Stone. “ Bees and the Art of Queen making ” (Zool. 7907).—I was pleased to see that my friend Mr. Woodbury had answered Dr. Leitch’s new theory of excess of temperature having an effect on the royal cells in hives, and agree most thoroughly with what that accomplished apiarian advances. It is quite true that it is too much the fashion to find fault with the great Huber’s well-authenticated observations on the subject. What could induce Dr. Leitch to suppose that in the upper edges of the combs in a hive the temperature was higher than in the centre, I cannot conceive. In numerous observations in my unicomb hives, a few years ago, the queen was less frequently near the edges of the comb than in any other place, generally traversing near the centre, and laying her eggs there first, and, when one side was finished, passing through an aperture made by the bees to save time to go from one side to the other: this aperture, all observers know, is situated near the centre towards the top of the comb, and is another instance of the wonderful and Divine guidance of the bees in economizing time and distance. In these observations I do not allude to the time of swarming, as in that case there is an increased heat, from the number of bees collected. Although M. Huber is right in all his great discoveries, yet he is now and then careless (“ Aliquando dormitat bonus Homerus”): where he should say, “ With now and then an exception,” in his zeal he says, “ After the old queen has conducted the first swarm from the hive the remaining bees take particular care of the royal cells, and prevent the young queens successively hatched from leaving them, unless at an interval of several days between each.” In ninety-nine cases in a hundred this is the fact ; but even to this there is sometimes an exception. In the year 1836 I had a second swarm about to go off from one of my hives, and as they came out more slowly than usual I went within half a yard of the hive, and observed no less than three queens at one moment on the alighting-board. The swarm went off and divided, and settled on three different bushes and trees; the whole were united and did not form a quantity of more than a quarter of a peck: they were very unsettled all the day of swarming after being hived, but next morning I found two dead queens under the hive: the hive worked well afterwards. It is right to mention that the weather had been very showery and unsettled: it must also be mentioned that the last batch of young bees which left the hive were scarcely able to fly with their juvenile queen; they were ofa different colour, nearly a leaden colour, and upwards of two hundred of those which issued from the hive fell within three or four yards, unable to fly ; they appeared to me to have been hatched not more than an hour previously. I picked nearly.the whole of these bees up, and they entered the new hive with the rest, by creeping up the sides. It seems that for a few hours a plurality of queens will sometimes be allowed. 7974 Insects. I observed that bees never carry a dead queen any distance from the hive, as they do a worker, but allow her to drop near the entrance,—the size may be partly the cause,— yet we constantly see them carry out dead drones, but seldom at the general slaughter ; these are generally left close to the hive. In the case mentioned there is no doubt that these queens, had the weather been dry and sunny, instead of wet and un- settled, would have issued at an interval of, most likely, three days between, at least, as to two of their numbers, The great discovery of the manner of the impregnation of the queen bee, the peculiarity also, at certain times, of her laying only the eggs of drones, and other circumstances enumerated by Huber, will hand down that great and unassuming naturalist’s name to the latest posterity—H. W. Newman; Hillside, Cheltenham, March 13, 1862. Note on Anomalon Vesparum.—It is somewat singular that of two nests of Vespa vulgaris I had at work during the summer of 1859 in a window of the house I have used as a vespiary for some years, one should have produced vast numbers of a coleopterous parasite,—Ripiphorus paradoxus (see Zool. 6906),—while the other was full of an hymenopterous one, for the name of which (Anomalon Vesparum) I am in- debted to Professor Westwood. But the most remarkable thing is that, although a few of the latter have from time to time made their appearance in the winged state, the combs still contain immense numbers that have not yet showed themselves openly. On opening several of the cocoons, a few days ago, I found that each contained a living example of the insect perfectly formed, aud who, the moment the top of the cocuon was removed, marched out, stretched its legs, passed its fore feet rapidly over its head and antenne, for the purpose apparently of removing any superfluous moisture, cleaned its abdomen and smoothed out its wings by means of its hinder feet, and was then prepared for immediate flight. Now the question (and I take it to be a curious physiological one) is, How long had it been lying in that perfectly-formed state, and how much longer would it have remained cooped up and still retain its vitality, had it not been released from its prison by artificial means? On opening the cocoons a strong smell of something akin to formic acid was emitted. Each cocoon had a beautifully delicate gold-coloured lining, in which the insect was enwrapped.— S. Stone; March 15, 1862. Musical powers of Agabus bipunctatus.—We have heard of singing fish and singing beetles in the Tropies and at the Antipodes, but I have never heard of any of the latter at home, except those mentioned by Mr. Westwood, in his ‘ Introduction, or Modern Classification,’ vol. i. p. 103, where he speaks of Pelobius Hermanni, which makes a noise when held in the fingers. Mr. Westwood also quotes Frisch, who says | that Acilius sulcatus makes a noise under water; and Kirby, vol. ii. p. 393, says, “Concerning their shouts of joy and cries of sorrow I have little to record; that pleasure or pain makes a difference in the tones of vocal insects is not improbable ; but our auditory organs are not fine enough to catch all their different modulations.” Having had in an aquarium in my sitting-room, for a long time, two specimens of Agabus bipunctatus, these two beetles puzzled me for a long time, or rather, I should say, a voice proceeding from the aquarium, very much like the faint gryllous noise of a grasshopper; it begins very faint and gradually increases in intensity until it reaches that of a grasshopper. This noise is only made in the night, and is probably the sexual call, as they appear to answer each other from either end of the aquarium. I have frequently taken the light and looked into the water to see where they were; sometimes I have seen them at the bottom (about a foot deep) and sometimes at the L nseets. 7975 top, and they make equally as much noise under water as when at the top; but I have never been able to discover the modus operandi. They always appear perfectly still when making this singing nvise: several of my entomological friends have heard it, but have never before heard anything like it proceeding from beetle-musicians. The singing talent was- discovered in this way: a friend of mine was silting writing-at a table close by the aquarium, the other evening, when the scratching of the quill pen upon the paper somewhat imitated the noise or singing of the beetles, who must have heard this, for they distinctly answered the noise made by the pen. After we had discovered the beetles had an ear for music we repeated the scratching, so as to imitate them as nearly as possible, and they as distinctly answered after each scratching. I am persuaded that the noise or Singing is oral and not made by the ' rubbing of one part against another, as some of the Longicornes do when handled or held in the hand. Again, the answering the scratching imitation, I think, settles the question as to the singing noise being a sexual one, being produced by both sexes, and as one of mine appears to sing more than the other, this is most likely the male; but of this I am not certain, as I have not captured him when singing, but this I am certain of, that it is male and female I have in the tank.—Hdward Parfitt; Devon and Exeter Institution, March 5, 1862. [My correspondent has overlooked the interesting paper by Mr. Smith on the musical powers of the British species of Acalles (Zool. 7218): the genera Aromia, Necrophorus and Cychrus are the most celebrated among the beetle-musicians of Britain.— Z. N.) Capture of Scydmenus Godarti-and other Coleoptera new to the British Faunu.— A short time ago M. Aubé examined a great number of our unknown Coleoptera, and through his kindness I am enabled to add the following names to the list of our indigenous species, viz.:—Scydmenus Godarti, Latreille; 8. pumilio, Schaum; Trichopteryx attenuata, Gillm.; T. Guerinii, Fairmaire. Scydmenus Godarti is the largest of the British Scydmeni, being nearly equal in size to K. tarsatus; it also resembles that species in colour, but may be distinguished from it by the shape of the head and thorax, and by the pointed elytra. Scydmenus pumilio is allied to 8. Sparshallii, but differs from that species in its darker colour, wider form and more obtusely pointed elytra. Trichopteryx attenuata may be known from the other species of the same genus by the transverse fovee at the posterior angles of the thorax, and also by having the elytra much attenuated towards the apex, and by the-colour of the antenne, which are almost entirely black. Trichopteryx Guerinii is intermediate in size between T. sericans and T. pygmeza ; ‘ it is much depressed in shape, and the elytra are usually more or less red; in some specimens they are wholly of that colour. Of the above the three last were taken at different periods during the last two or three years, by myself, near this place; I have also received T. Guerinii from Dr. Power. Of S. Godarti I captured several specimens, last July, from Sherwood Forest. , To these I must add—not, however, on the authority of M. Aubé—Cephennium intermedium, Aubé, and Ptenidinm Formicetorum, Kraaiz. 7976 Insects—Mollusks. Cephennium intermedium may be known from C. thoracicum by its dark colour, smaller thorax, more elongate shape and rather longer antenna. I found a single specimen of this insect, among moss, near Silchester, in Hamp- shire, in July, 1859. Ptenidium Formicetorum is allied to P. apicale, but is smaller and narrower than that species, with the thorax less convex and the elytra more poiuted at the apex ; the elytra are also entirely of a bright rufo-piceous colour. It is highly probable that this species exists in many collections, confounded, as it was until very lately in my own cabinet, with P. apicale. This part of the kingdom seems to be unusually productive of Scydmeni; during the last few years we have taken the following rare species, besides the two already mentioned, viz.:—S. pusillus, S. exilis, S. angulatus, S. elongatulus, S. Sparshallii and S. nanus.—A. Matthews ; Gumley, Market Hurborough, March 20, 1862. Dragonflies captured at Sea—When my brother-in-law, Captain J. C. Tyrwhitt- Drake, Ist Battalion 2nd Queen’s Royals, was returning from China with his regi- ment, in the transport “ Alfred,” on the 22nd of January, 1861, great numbers of dragonflies came on board about 6 a.m., and remained flying about the vessel until about 8.30 p.m., when they disappeared. The vessel was then in lat. 23° 38’ South, long. 77° 3! East, wind fresh from North-West; Rodriguesbore N.W. 600 miles. I have shown the specimens captured by my brother-in-law to Mr. R. M‘Lachlan, who believes them to be Libellula mauriciana of Rambur, a species which inhabits the Mauritius —W. S. M. D’Urban ; Newport, near Exeter, February 3, 1862. Note on the Habits of Phryganide.—In a paper by Herr Nietner on “ The Natural History of the Enemies of the Coffee Tree,” published in the ‘ Edinburgh New Philo- sophical Journal’ for January, 1862, that gentleman adds some supplementary notes on insects, which, though not actually injurious, frequent the trees when covered with that peculiar insect-secretion called “ honey dew,” and mentions that, among others, several species of Phryganide are attracted thereby, especially Chimarrha auriceps, Hagen. He also takes occasion to remark that this is opposed to the once-received opinion that these insects take no nutriment in the perfect state. I fancy that this latter idea has been successfully exploded since it became fashionable to “sugar” for Noctuz. Every lepidopterist is aware that on certain nights many species of caddis- flies will frequent the sugared trees, especially Phryganea varia and several species of the genus Stenophylax. It may be interesting to remark also, in relation to this sub- ject, that the nectar of flowers possesses considerable powers of attraction. Mr. Wor- mald has several times taken a species of Limnophilus on thistle blossoms, and I myself have captured individuals at sugar, which possessed so powerful an odour of the flowers of the Echium, that I have not the slightest doubt that they had been regaling themselves on that plant, which grew in abundance close by, and only left it for the more powerful attraction of the sugar.—R. M‘Lachlan ; Forest Hill, March 17, 1862. Immense Cephalopod near Teneriffe. —In case the readers of the ‘ Zoologist’ have not observed it, I would call their attention to the account, in the ‘ Illustrated Lon- don News’ of January 18, of an immense cephalopod seen and almost captured by the crew of a French boat near Teneriffe. It was estimated at fifteen or sixteen feet Mollusks— Radiata. 7977 in length. It appears to have attracted the attention of the scientific in France, and allusion is made to a specimen in the Museum of the College of Surgeons, London, which I believe was found during Captain Cook’s first voyage, floating dead. ‘This individual was judged, from its remains, to have been four feet long in the body, or with arms seven feet; very respectable dimensions, but far inferior to the one now under consideration. Such a specimen might tempt one to believe that some foun- dation existed for the Indian accounts of enormous cuttle-fish sinking luckless vessels by clasping them in their gigantic arms. At least it is to be regretted that such a specimen could not be secured, though it is said consideration for the safety of his men induced the commander to forbid further attempts. Shell-collecting on this scale would be hazardous employment, as such a mollusk might make short work of the conchologist.— George Guyon ; Ventnor, Isle of Wight, January 23, 1862. Helix rufescens of Montagu hairy in the Young state.— Having lately become acquainted with your valuable publication as a medium of communication between those interested in Natural History, I feel that I should be hiding my light under a bushel were 1 to abstain from bringing to your notice, for the information of such of _your readers as may be conchulogists, the settlement of a doubt of long standing with regard to Helix rufescens of Montagu. I observe in Dr. Gray’s edition of 'Turton’s ‘British Shells, p. 157, that “ Montagu represented the young of this species as clothed with hairs.” ‘This fact, however, Dr. Turton and Dr. Gray doubted, and say that Montagu “ probably mistook the Helix hispida for it,” and “ both the young and old shells are iquite bald.” Mr. Kenyou also expressed the same opinion in his admirable “ Remaiks on British Land and Fresh-water Shells,’ in Loudon’s ‘ Maga- zine of Natural History, i. 425. I was induced to adopt Montagu’s view in 1860 by finding, in a walled garden near Bath, numerous specimens of a minute hairy shell, evidently young, from the unfinished state of the mouth. In this garden I have failed to discover more than three kinds of Helix, viz., H. aspersa, H. pulchella and H. rufescens, and therefore feel obliged to identify it with the latter as the species which it most resembles. It is probable that Dr. Turton and Mr. Kenyon fell into their mistake through not having examined the young shells under a magnifier. I am supported in my view by the opinion of Mr. J. G. Jeffreys, to whom I lately sent some specimens. After examining abont a hundred specimens, I find that the shell is thickly clothed with hair when from one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch in size, after which the hair seews to fall off. The maximum and minimum size of the shells in my collection is from one-fourth to one-sixteenth of an inch; all found in the same locality.—Bruce Hutton; 61st Regiment, South Camp, Aldershott. Notes on Sea- Anemones.*—As a humble disciple of that branch of Natural History which your valuable researches have tended so greatly to develope, I think it will not be uninteresting to you to receive a report of a circumstance which I do not remember to have seen recorded in your own delightful books, or in those of Mr, Kingsley or Mr. Lewis. In a tank containing about sixty anemones, &c., are eight fine specimens of the Sagartia nivea, which I obtained from Ilfracombe in August last: they have been * Addressed to P. H. Gosse, Esq., F.R.S., and kindly communicated by him for publication in the ‘ Zoologist.’ VOL. XX. x 7978 Entomological Society. fed regularly since captivity with raw meat, oysters, &c. about twice a week. Two individuals, measuring each about one inch in diameter, when expanded, were located on a piece of rock. On Saturday morning, about half-past nine o'clock, on syringing the tank, according to custom, I observed that the mouth of one of them was un- usually and very greatly distended; the fissure reaching almost across the disk of the anemone, whose circular appearance was thereby changed for an irregular loop-shaped form.* On reaching. home, about five o'clock, I found, to my astonishment, that fission had taken place, and that the object of interest had, by some wonderful meta- morphosis, become two distinct creatures, each about as large as a fourpenny-piece. They had moved apart and were partially expanded, looking none the worse for Nature’s operation. I have since fed them and they appear quite at home, though a little ragged at one side of the column where the fissure occurred. I had noticed for several weeks past that the opaque whiteness of my snowy friends had changed for a pearly hue; and I had a strong impression that one, if not two others, will eventually multiply in this manner. With the exception of A. Cerens, if my memory is correct, I do not find any other instance of this kind mentioned in your ‘ Actinologia,’ to which I immediately referred for a precedent. Have you met with any other of the S, Ich- thystome since the two described in your ‘ Actinologia ? I have what appears to me a specimen, although its colours are not so brilliant as the figure in your plate ii. It was brought from Weymouth (the correct locality), on an oyster-shell, a wee little thing, which I have once fed up (when expanded) to the size of a silver twopenny-piece : it seems very hardy. A fine A. Dianthus (of orange-buff colour), in my possession, has just moved its quarters, and left a small portion of its base, which is rapidly assuming the shape of a young individual. This is further in confirmation of your excellent description of this beautiful anemone.—W. R. Hughes; the General Hospital, Birmingham, February 20, 1862. Proceedings of Societies. ENTOMOLOGICAL Society. March 3, 1862.—F reDERIcK Situ, Esq., Presideut, in the chair. Donations. The following donations were announced, and thanks ordered to be given to the donors :—* Proceedings of the Royal Society,’ vol. xi. No. 47; presented by the Royal Society. ‘The Canadian Naturalist and Geologist, and Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Montreal, conducted by a Committee of the Natural History Society,’ vol. vi.; by the Society. ‘The Zoologist’ for March; by the Editor. ‘The Intellectual Observer, Nos. 1 and 2; by the publishers, Messrs. Groombridge and Sons. ‘The Journal of the Society of Arts’ for February; by the Society. ‘The Literary Gazette’ for February; by the Editor. ‘The Atheneum’ for February; by the Editor. ‘ List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the * My correspondent subsequently suggested a figure of 8, or two circles slightly overlapping, as conveying a clearer idea of the form.—P. H. G, Entomoloyical Society. 7979 British Museum, part xxiii. Geometrites; by the Author, Francis Walker, Esq., F.LS., &c. Certificates in favour of George Rubert Gray, Esq., the Rev. T. H. Browne and Alfred Haward, Esq., as Members of the Society, were read a first time and ordered to be suspended iv the Meeting Room. There were on the table, for distribution among the Members, copies of the Address delivered at the Anniversary Meeting on the 27th of January, 1862, by J. W. Douglas, Esq., President; also copies of an Address delivered at the ordinary Meeting on the 3rd of February, 1862, by H. T. Stainton, Esq. The Society's Collection. The President, by the desire of the Council, stated to the Meeting the steps taken by the Council in consequence of their attention having been called to the state of the Society’s Collections: the Council had held two Special Meetings, had obtained from the Curator an explanation of the manner in which his time was employed, and, after _full consideration thereof, had passed the following Resolution :— That the thanks of the Council be given to the members of the late Library aud Cabinet Committee for their very careful Report on the state of the Society’s Collections; and the Council, having requested and obtained from the Curator an explanation with respect to the employment of his time when at the Society's Rooms, considers such explanation satisfactory.” The ‘ Transactions’ of the Society. The President announced that the Council had rescinded the Resolution of Council of the 7th of February, 1859, by virtue of which all Members and Subscribers whose subscriptions were not in arrear received the ‘ Transactions’ gratis; that in future Members and Subscribers resident in or within fifteen miles of London would have to purchase the ‘ Transactions, as was the case prior to February, 1859 (and see ‘ Bye- Laws, ch. xxi.), but that the price to Members and Subscribers would be one-half the price to the public. It was also announced that with the forthcoming first part of a new volume would be commenced the “ Third Series ” of the Society’s ‘ Transactions,’ and that a general index to the five volumes of the second or ‘“* New Series” would be prepared and published as soon as possible. Exhibitions. Mr. Newman exhibited series of bred specimens of two British species of the genus Cabera. He remarked that each series had been arranged with the view of showing that the particular colouring supposed to be distinctive of Cabera rotundaria was nothing more than an intermediate state between an insect with two and one with three transverse lines or bars. In the upper specimens in each series there were but two transverse bars; in the specimens next following the first or basal bar appeared separating into two bars, yet these were almost contiguous; in the succeeding speci- mens they grew more and more distant, until at the bottom of the series, both in C. pusaria and,C. exanthemaria, the three transverse bars were equally distinct and equally equidistant. The rounded form of the wings, which was supposed to have suggested the name of “ rotuudaria,” was proved by this series to be equally instable. Mr. Newman expressed his obligations to Mr. Thomas Huckett, who had bred the whole of the insects exhibited, and had arranged them as they now stvod, affording a 7980 Entomological Society. convincing proof that C. rotundaria was a mere variation, to which both the acknow- ledged species C. pusaria and C. exanthemaria were liable. Mr. Huckett, who was present as a visitor, stated that the larve from which he had ‘bred the specimens exhibited were all taken at the same time and place, and that he had but two species of larva, viz., those usually known as the larve of C. pusaria and C. exanthemaria. Mr. Dunning referred to the exhibition of Cabera rotundaria by Captain Russell, at the February Meeting of the Society, as corroborating Mr. Newman’s conclusion, and stated that the question of the specific distinctness of that form had on several occasions been brought under the notice of the Northern Eutomological Society, the members of which, who bad had frequent opportunities of raising Cabera from the larva, had satisfied themselves that C. rotundaria was in fact but a variety. Mr. S. Stevens exhibited some butterflies’ eggs, sent to him by Mr. Nathaniel Plant, from Rio Grande. He was not able to give any further information concerning them. Mr. W. Wilson Saunders exhibited the larva and pupa of Endomychus coccineus, which had been recently taken in the neighbourhood of Reigate, under the bark of a log of elm which was lying on the ground. The larve were found fifty together, and were apparently feeding ou a white fibrous flocculent fungoid substance underneath the bark. They bore a very close resemblance to the larve of some species of Coccinella. Many of the perfect insects were found at the same time in company with the larve. It was a curious question how the pareut insect, when laying her eggs, discovered the presence of the fungoid substance which was necessary for the sustenance of the larve to be born. It could not be by sight, and Mr. Saunders thought it was most probably by smell, which seemed to be the only sense that we know insects to possess to which such a discovery could be attributed. Mr. Saunders also exhibited a piece of a branch of dead wood from South Africa, where it had been found by Mr. Cooper, tunnelled down the centre by a species of bee, Xylocopa divisa. The tunnel was round, very neatly constructed, with a circular orifice pierced through the bark, and was made for the purpose of nidification. Mr. Saunders also exhibited two portions of the stem of a greenhouse creeper (Jacsonia), to show the effect of the punctures of the common mealy bug (Coccus) upon the bark. These punctures produce warty elevations, which are covered with a whitish skin, and are internally green and somewhat succulent. When the punctures are very numerous and the bark becomes covered with warts, the functions of the bark appear to cease, aud great injury to the plant ensues. Mr. Saunders made some remarks on the desirability of a history of the insects peculiarly destructive to plants, of which so many new discoveries had of late years been made. Mr. Saunders also exhibited the female, the egg and the young larva (?) of Exta- losoma Hopei, a rare and interesting insect of the family Phasmide, from the New Hebrides. The eggs were polished, oval, of a dull mottled brown colour, and about one-tenth of an inch in length. The larva escaped from the egg at one end, throwing off from it a rounded operculum, in which was a deep circular impression. The larve forwarded as those of E. Hopei had no resemblance to the perfect insect, and, although evidently of the family Puasmidz, it seemed very doubtful whether they belonged to the insect in question. They were long and thin in the body, with very long legs, and short rather stout antevne. In the diied state they were of a dull black-brown colour. Professor Westwood agreed with Mr. Saunders in doubting whether the larve could Entomological Society. 7981 be those of Extalosoma Hopei, and thought they must be the larve of one of the long- legged species of Phasma. Mr. Stainton exhibited a specimen of a Noctna new to the British Fauna, Toxo- campa Cracce, W. V.,a species stated by Guenée to feed on Vicia multiflora, and to _be common in Austria, Germany and France, in July and August. The specimen exhibited had been taken, along with two or three others of the same species, by the Rey. E. Horton, on the north coast of Devonshire. Dr. Knaggs exhibited a box of insects collected by Mr. James A. Carrighan, at Ararat, Victoria. The President exhibited a case containing a fine collection of insect architecture, consisting of nests of bees, wasps and fossorial Hymenoptera. Amongst the more remarkable was a nest of a species of Larra, which closely resembled a piece of sponge, but which was no doubt composed of the scrapings of the stems and leaves of woolly plants. This nest was attached to the under side of a leaf, though the species of the genus to which the constructor of the nest belonged were usually burrowers in sandy banks, &c. Nests of a species of Pelopeus, composed of the dung of animals and attached to reeds, were also remarkable. The Pelopzi were the mud-daubers of North America, but the nest exhibited was from Port Natal. Many specimens of exquisite structure from Brazil were also exhibited, particularly the nests built by the wasps comprised in the genus Polybia. Altogether the case contained upwards of a hundred specimens of the architecture of insects. The President also exhibited a Coleopterous insect which he characterized as not ouly a species new to Britain, but as belonging to a genus hitherto not represented in the British Fauna. The insect in question was brought to him by Dr. Power. Two specimens had very recently been taken in the New Forest. It appeared to the Presi- dent to be identical with the species which in the British Museum: collection was labelled “ Endophlzus spinosulus, Latr.” Mr. Pascoe, Mr. Janson and Professor Westwood, however, doubted whether the specimen exhibited were the true Endophlus spinosulus of Latreille. Mr. W. F. Kirby showed some specimen sheets of Dr. Hagen’s ‘ Bibliotheca Ento- mologica,’ which it was expected would be published in July next, at the price of ten shillings or thereabouts. Dr. Wallace called the attention of the Meeting to a plan he had recently adopted of mounting Micro-Lepidoptera. He employed common wax lights, simply rolled and flattened out: they were at once soft and retentive of the small pins; portions could be cut of any length that might be requisite to hold the number of specimens which the collector placed in his cabinet, and the whole series of the insects be fixed in the cabinet by means of a strong pin passing through either end of the flat strip of wax. Dr, Wallace had found this plan very advantageous in moving large numbers of specimens, and especially so in averting accidents from letting the insects fall. The strip of wax acted as a parachute, and by its lightness averted the destruction which might otherwise befall the specimens. The Secretary read, on behalf of Mr. George Wailes, of Newcastle, the following paper :— Notes on Bembidium nigricorne, Gyll. “It may not be uniuteresting if I state the source whence the specimens of Bem- bidium nigricome, Gyll., alluded to by Mr. Waterhouse at the Meeting of the Society 7982 Entomological Society. on the 6th of February, 1860, were derived, especially as the species has bitherto only been recorded as captured in the Scandinavian district of Europe. I first took it in this vicinity (Newcastle), in May, 1827, in some numbers, and not finding it agree with any of the species described by Marsham, I waited till Mr. Stephens’ ‘ Illustrations, then just commencing, had reached the Bembidiide. Being equally unable to identify it with any of his descriptions [ named it Tachypus nigripes, and during that and the two or three following years distributed it amongst my correspondents under that name. In this way the cabinets of Mr. Dale, Mr. Waterhouse, Mr. Babington, Mr. Sparshall, Dr. Howitt, Mr. Rudd, Mr. Stephens, Mr. Curtis, and no doubt others, were supplied; and when I arranged my own cabinet of Coleoptera, on the appearance of the second edition of Stephens’ ‘ Nomenclature, in 1833, I placed it there under the above name. Here the specimens remained, and the circumstances had escaped my memory until just before Mr. Waterhouse’s notice was read before the Society, when my old friend Mr, Dale reminded me of them, saying he had forwarded a specimen to Mr. Water- house. “Tt would appear that Gyllenhal had detected the species before me, as his volume was published in 1827. His description, as well as that of Jacquelin du Val, accords very well with my specimens, though I cannot help thinking that my name was the more appropriate one, as well as distinguishing it at once from Marsham’s rufipes. “TI am sorry to trouble the Society with this tridiug communication, but as our ‘Transactions’ afford the only printed means of intercourse with our continental brethren I may perhaps be excused doing so.” Mr. Walker read a description of a new genus and species of Noctuites. The insect described was unique. It was discovered at Halifax, Nova Scotia, by B. Piffard, Esq., and by him presented to the British Museum. It belonged to the family Glottulide of Guenée, and was described by Mr. Walker under the name of Phornacisa Piffardi. Mr. W. PF. Kirby read some “ Notes and Observations on the Lepidoptera Rhopa- locera occurring im the county of Sussex,’ and exhibited some specimens in illus- tration. Captain Cox, after referring to certain letters and articles which had recently appeared in the ‘ Times’ and other papers on the subject of the ravages committed by Scolytus destructor, objected to some of the statements therein contained, and in par- ticular to the assertions that this subject seemed scarcely to have reeeived from scien- tific men the attention it deserved, and that any method of prevention or cure seemed to be unknown. Captain Cox reminded the Society of the nature, extent and successful result of the experiments made by himself during the last twenty years, and maintained that his plan of partially barking the affected trees was completely successful. He said that he had that morning been with the First Commissioner of Public Works to inspect the trees in the Parks, which were in a bad state. Captain Cox also made some remarks on the injury done to the oaks by Sesia Cynipiformis, and to the lime trees by Chrysoclysta Linneella, and suggested that the lime trees should be treated in the same way as the elms which were attacked by Sco- lytus.—J. W. D. Quadrupeds. 7983 Correction of an Error.—In the article on “ Leporines” in last month’s ‘ Zoolo- gist’ there is a misprint of sufficient importance to require correction. At p. 7928, line 10 from bottom, (engénérigue) should be (engénésique), a word constructed by M. Broca to express that class of hybrids in which the animals are perfectly fertile inter se, as well as with either parent.—Z. W. H. Holdsworth. The Hare catching Mice.—It is stated by Bishop Pontoppidan, in his ‘ Natural History of Norway,’ fol. 1755, p. 9, part 2, “ that hares are frequent in Norway, and are very cheap in winter. They are smaller than in Denmark, and change colour, in the cold season, from brown or gray to snow-white. In the woods they catch mice like cats, and pursue them under the snow; they otherwise in necessity live upon birch catkins.” Did any of our Norwegian naturalists observe or confirm this singular and abnormal habit of the hare mentioned by this old divine? Bell distinctly states “ the hare is as exclusively a vegetable feeder as perhaps any known mammiferous animal.” —Edward Parfitt. Notes on the Snake Rat (Mus Alexandrinus).—The Society will doubtless recol- lect that last year I exhibited at one of our Meetings two living rats, one of which I believed to be new to the British fauna, at least so far new as that, till then, it had been unrecognized and undescribed as distinct. The other was a specimen of the old English black rat (Mus ratius) ; and this was shown, not on its own account, but for contrast and comparison. And I selected the black rat for this comparison because it so much more closely resembles the new one than dues the brown rat (IZ. decumanus), which is quite different. If therefore the new rat is a mere variety of either of the two species which have been long known as members of the British mammalian fauna, and which have always been specifically distinct, it must be deemed a variety of M. rattus ; but I claim for it distinctive characters separating it from the rat, quite as marked as those which distinguish the brown from the old English black rat. Indeed M. decumanus more nearly resembles M, rattus than does the new rat. It was sug- gested to me, at the time I exhibited living specimens, that an appeal must be made to the cranial characters of each before the distinctness and the degree of distinctness between the two could be established. The result of this investigation 1 now give to the Society. [Mr. Salter here figures and differentiates the skulls of the two species.] P.S.—Since the foregoing was written I have had reason to conclude that the snake rat is certainly the same species, race, or variety, as was first described by Geoffroy St. Hilaire under the name Mus Alexandrinus. But at the same time my further investigations into the subject have convinced me that our knowledge of the rats of Great Britain, or of rats in general, is not so satisfactory or definite as descriptions in works on Natural History would lead us to suppose. Undoubtedly, characteristic specimens of M. rattus, M. decumanus and M. Alexandrinus may be obtained; but there are intermediate forms in endless variety, as one may satisfy himself by an inspection of the cages of a ratcatcher after his visit to the rat-homes about the docks of London. There can be no question that the typical forms enumerated above as three species are constantly being merged and reduced under favouring conditions by interbreeding. The most superficial examination of many specimens will convince any one of this fact. This circumstance was demonstrated” some years since at the Zoological Gardens, Regent’s Park. Some individuals of Mus Alexandrinus, which had been sent from Alexandria, got loose in the gardens; and for a long time afterwards the keepers frequently caught cross-bred rats, at first 7984 . Quadrupeds. half-bred, and afterwards with less and less qualities of the snake-rat, till at length all traces of it disappeared. In the language of horse-breeders, the new “strain of blood” was ‘‘ bred out” or eliminated, or, more correctly, it was overpowered by the repeated crossing always on the line of the common brown rat. Had the circum- stance been reversed, and a few of the Mus decumauus had escaped among a multitude of M. Alexandrinus, the characters of the latter would undoubtedly have prevailed in the end. The capacity for interbreeding appears to be endless and indefinite. There are sorts of rats which will not come within the category of those recognized, or as their intermediate crosses. We have in this country a black rat with a white chest; in the British Museum are two stuffed rats, chestnut coloured with white breasts, which were captured in Cambridgeshire. ‘The distinguished Irish naturalist, Mr. W. Thompson, has described a black rat with a white chest as a new species, under the name of Mus Hibernicus. On the occasion of the reading of my paper on the cranium of the snake-rat, it was suggested by Mr. Lubbock that it might be a “variety” of one of our other rats. Subsequently, in a discussion in the ‘ Field’ newspaper, by which a great deal of interesting information regarding rats was brought out, Mr. Newman put forward the idea that these cosmopolitan rodents are, in their differences, not so many spevies, but mere “ geographical races,” and I am much inclined to believe that this is the truth of the matter. Certainly, if inter- breeding and a resultant fertile offspring determine the specific identity of varying individuals, there is an end of the question. The different rats do interbreed, and their progeny are fruitful for any length of time and any number of generations. Rats hold a curious intermediate position between wild and domestic animals. They are not absolutely either, and they are both. They are wild as they are their own masters and roain at will; they approach a domestic condition, inasmuch as they are nearly always associated with man, and are indirectly dependent on him for their food. Rats are cosmopolitan—they inhabit nearly, if not quite, every region where the human race dwells. In violation, or at least not in keeping, with their dentition and organs of primary assimilation, rats are omnivorous: they can live entirely on animal food; they can even resort to the predaceous habits of Carnivora; or they may have the barest vegetable diet for their sole sustenance. Such constitutional capacities and such adaptability of habit afford wonderful conditions for the development of races. Mus Alexandrinus appears to be spreading all over the world; its extreme agility and the ready way in which it accommodates itself to sbipbuard naturally tend to such a result. Besides the eastern localities where it was first found, according to Blasius, it was observed by Savi in Italy, in 1825, and named by him Mus tectorum; it was found by Pictet near Geneva, in 1841, and described by him under the title of Mus leucogaster; Blasius states that he himself saw it at Antibes, in the South of France, and he repeatedly obtained it from the Alps in South-Eastern France. It has also been taken at Stuttgard; and Ruppell mentions that it has been sent to bim from America. In this country it has been kuown to rat-catchers in the neighbourhood of the docks both of London and Liverpool.—Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. vi. p. 66. af Quadrupeds. 7935 The Apes at Gibraltar. By the Rev. ALFRED CHarLes Situ, M.A. Dourine a recent tour through Spain I chanced to spend three days, or parts of days, in a French steamer, and as we crossed over from the African coast at Tangier, and neared Gibraltar, among other topics of conversation, the well-known monkeys of the Rock were naturally and very prominently made the subjects of inquiry, when, to our surprise, and not a little to our disgust, M. le Capitaine treated the whole stury as a myth, and declared that no monkeys had ever really existed there, but that it was a thorough English hoax, a badinage very amusing to the “subs of Gib,” but not to be credited for a moment by any man of sense or science. I own to a feeling of very consider- -able disappointment when these words fell from the lips of the captain, and, as it did not occur to me to doubt his accuracy (for I thought that, as his vocation took him to that locality every week, he must know the real state of the case), and as I did not then reflect that everything connected with the English at Gibraltar (that marvellous key to the Mediterranean, which is the envy of so many) is an object of jealousy and suspicion to the foreigner, Frenchman no less than Spaniard, and as I had totally forgotten our worthy Editor’s account of these apes (‘ Zoologist’ for 1846, p. 1292), wherein he calls atten- tion to the marvellous scepticism of Frenchmen generally, even the savans of Paris, as to the existence of apes at Gibraltar, I landed with - the weight on my mind that, after all, there were no apes, and never had been any apes, on the rock. And so, after a thorough English breakfast, in a thorough English inn, which was a pleasant change after the abominations we had endured in the fondas, posadas and ventas of the Peninsula, it was with every thought of the monkeys banished from our minds that we started forth to scale the rock, and view all the wondrous galleries and overwhelming batteries of this most impregnable fortress. And when we had satiated our unmilitary minds with an ample allowance of cannons, mortars and shells, whose respective numbers, strength and size{were duly detailed by the smart artilleryman who acted as our -cicerone, so different to the untidy, unmilitary sons of Spain, with whom we had of late become familiar, we bethought ourselves (still with minds free from the thought of monkeys, of which our once dearly-cherished visions had been so rudely put to flight) that it would be well to climb on to the flagstaff on the top of the rock, VOL. XX. 2 7986 Quadrupeds. and enjoy the view, thus acting up to the taunt so frequent in the mouth of the unenterprising foreigner, and meant to be very severe, though in reality a tribute to the energy, perseverance and pluck of our countrymen, that the travelling Englishman is never satisfied with seeing any place until he has mounted to the highest point. Slowly we sauntered up the path, for we had the whole day before us, and though in the month of November, the heat was very oppressive (in summer it is sometimes terrific, the thermometer of the signal-house on the top of the rock, exposed to the sea-breeze, in July last, having risen to 98° in the shade), and ever and anon we sat down to admire the beautiful scene. There was that wondrous rock, on which we now stood, aptly called “the sentinel watch-tower of the Mediterranean,” a veritable crumb of England, so unlike all near it, jutting out south- ward into the sea below, now smooth as glass, though yesterday lashed into frenzy by the dreaded Levanter, as we slowly and with difficulty ploughed our way across from the coast of Africa; behind us, to the North, stretched the mountains of Spain; from the West rolled the broad waters of the Atlantic; to the Hast lay the blue Mediterranean. And now we had gained the flagstaff on the top, and were lazily refreshing ourselves with that which, to be thoroughly appreciated, should be unexpectedly met with in a southern climate, after a hot walk on a sultry day, vz. a genuine bottle of “ Bass,’ imported from England, when all our languor was put to flight and our energy restored by the casual observation of the signal-man, that “the monkeys were on the move,” and had been seen several times that morning, and might probably be seen again. First, to overwhelm the man with questions, and then to rush out to the parapet at the flagstaff, and peer amongst the grass and bushes which fringe the steep face of the rock, in the attempt to behold the monkeys with our own eyes, was a moment’s work; but though we gazed long and anxiously, and for a considerable time narrowly watched the rocks and bushes all around, the fates were not propitious to us on this occasion, and we could not, as we longed to do, carry back to the captain of the steamer, when we re-embarked in the evening, the conclusive assurance that we had ourselves had ocular testimony of the veritable existence of “los monos” on the rock of Gibraltar. We did not, however, leave the spot till we had obtained all the information we could glean upon the subject from the signal-man at the flagstaff, every particular of which was amply corroborated by many who had repeatedly seen the apes. Quadrupeds. 7987 It appears that they are of the species commonly called the Barbary Ape or Magot (Macacus Inuus), which though universally so called, is not, I believe, in reality a true ape, for it has something more than the rudiments of a tail, every vestige of which the true Simians entirely want. From time immemorial these monkeys have had a footing on the rock, and must have had their origin on the opposite coast of Morocco, for they do not exist in a wild state in any other part of Europe; but at what period they came over the sea is not so easy to determine, neither is it very apparent how they came, unless we accept the somewhat romantic Moorish tradition, that they pass backwards and forwards to the coast of Morocco by a subter- ranean passage under the Straits!! but be that as it may, there they undeniably are, though sadly reduced in number, for a little band of four only has for some years constituted their whole force. They are seldom seen, unless when the wind changes, but being delicate, and very susceptible of any sudden rise or fall of temperature, the shifting of the wind from E. to W., or vice versd, is sure to put them on the move, when they may generally be seen changing their quarters to the leeward side of the rock. They are very active, and prefer the higher and steeper precipices for their abode, where they live in undisturbed possession of the many caves and hollows in the loose rocks which compose the summit. That they have no difficulty in finding a suffi- ciency of food on the rock is manifest from their apparently good condition. There are many plants growing luxuriously among the loose stones, whose leaves and fruits they eat, more especially the sweet, roots of the palmito, or dwarf palm, which is very abundant there, but they vary this diet with coleopterous and other insect food, which is always abundant in southern latitudes; and they are also said, I know not with what truth, to descend at times and rob the gardens of the town below, when darkness favours such marauding forays, and ripe fruit presents temptation enough to overcome their natural love of retirement. They are generally supposed to be ex- tremely shy, and to scamper away on the least alarm; but my informant denied this, and, in proof of his assertion, pointed out some rocks where he had seen them sitting that morning and staring at him, by no means disconcerted at the British uniform or the gaze of the ser- geant, while they remained for a considerable time within twenty-five or thirty yards below the parapet of the flagstaff on which he was leaning, and only moved away leisurely at last. At the same time the fact of their being so seldom seen, unless during their migrations to the opposite side of the rock, seems to indicate a very retiring, unfamiliar 7988 Quadrupeds, disposition, while the fact of their not being hunted, but, on the con- trary, strictly preserved from the slightest molestation, would in time give a certain degree of boldness to the most timorous animals; so that, though they have learned confidence from protection, they are undoubtedly by nature extremely timid. From what date such pro- tection has been afforded them my informant could not say, though he had understood they had always been strictly preserved during British occupation of the rock; but from the year 1855 the quarter- master has not only taken them under his special care, but has also instituted a systematic registering of their appearance and numbers, and, with this object in view, has provided the signal master with a book, which he showed me, wherein might be seen very carefully entered the details of the dates of their appearance, and their numbers during the last six years. From a careful examination of this very interesting register I found that they were seen, on an average, once in ten days, sometimes rather oftener; that they moved in summer as much as in winter, always anxious to avoid the wind, from whichever quarter it blew; and that in 1856 they numbered ten, but have gradually dwindled down to four, the sad remnant which now exists, and which bids fair to die out altogether, as it is supposed that the only individuals left all belong to one sex. Such is the present condition of the apes at Gibraltar. That they are almost an “institution,” and certainly the greatest lions of the place, is notorious; but there is a certain prospect that, unless replenished in numbers, they will in the course of a very few years become as extinct on the rock as the great bustard is on Salisbury Plain. But among the many British officers quartered at Gibraltar, keen sportsmen and probably enthusiastic naturalists as many are, is there no one patriotic enough and energetic enough to import a few apes from the opposite coast of Barbary, with which there is weekly communication at least, and whence all the beef which feeds those bold Britons is derived? Can no one be found to purchase, if but half-a-dozen, and turn them loose among their congeners on the rock ? [A subscription for an object of such general interest, set on foot among the officers of the five regiments generally in garrison would be certain to be responded to, to the full extent required.} Then we might hope they would once more flourish, and continue for genera- tions to come to pilfer and chatter and grin and grimace, as only monkeys can do. But it does seem to me a subject of sincere regret that for lack of a little timely precaution this interesting order of Quadrupeds. 7989 Mammalia, the Quadrumana, should cease to be represented in Europe. ALFRED CHARLES SMITH. Yatesbury Rectory, Calne, 4 March 11, 1862. Economic Uses of Canadian Suckling Animals among the Chipewyan Indians. ~By B. R. Ross, Esq.* WHILE collecting and arranging a series of specimens of the indus- trial arts of the natives of Mackenzie’s River District, for the Royal Industrial Museum of Edinburgh, I was struck, not only with their number, but also with their importance to the domestic comfort of these races. Though doubtless much of the skill of the Chipewyan tribes has been lost since the period of Sir Alexander Mackenzie’s visit, by the introduction of European manufactures, enough yet remains to prove interesting as exhibiting the arts and manufactures of a people still in the first stages of social existence and civilization. The manufactures are in themselves rude, and, with the exception of porcupine work, I know of none that would obtain the name of Art, or win in a Museum the meed of more than a passing glance from any one save an ethnologist. To the unreflecting, or to those who for mere pleasure visit these “ repositories of science,” they must indeed be caviare, but to the philosophic mind they would speak volumes, as showing the human intellect, though in its lowest stages, attempting, not unsuccessfully, to break through the surrounding crust of animalism, and struggling to emerge into a sphere of higher intel- ligence. In the present sketch I entirely exclude the Eskimos and Loucheux, —though recent researches almost confirm me in the opinion that the latter tribe is a branch of the Chipewyan family,—as it would swell the paper much beyond the limits to which I haye restricted myself to pass their handicrafts also in review. The Chipewyan tribes, including the Montaignais, Yellowknives, Beavers, Dog-ribs, Slaves, Sickannies, Nehaunies and Hare Indians, draw their resources from the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms; but I must at present restrict myself to the first of these great sections, * From the ‘ Canadian Naturalist’ for December, 1861. 7990 Quadrupeds. hoping, at some future period, to have the pleasure of noticing the others. In the manufactures of the Indians no articles hold a more important or more conspicuous position than those drawn from animals; but this must naturally be expected in a people who subsist almost solely on the products of the chase. The climate of these regions, moreover, in a manner prohibits agriculture, even were the natives willing to turn their attention to such pursuits, which they are not. I shall pass briefly in review all the species of animals from which they derive any material, noting with each the various purposes to which it is applied. Foxes. The various species of foxes found in this district are the red, cross, silver, white and blue. The latter is not, as some writers affirm, the young of the white, nor is it that animal in its sammer garb, though it is closely allied to it. The only article furnished by these animals is a fine sinew thread for bead-work, and is taken from the tail. Black Bear (Ursus americanus), Grizzly Bear (U. horribilis) and Barren-ground Bear (U. arctos). The black bear is found throughout the wooded portions of the districts, but is replaced on the barren grounds by a species bearing a strong resemblance to the U. arctos of Europe. The grizzly bear dwells among the Rocky Mountains. From the black, and indeed from all, the natives derive food; they also cut the summer hides into cords. The prepared fat is extensively used as a pomatum, but I cannot coincide with those who state bear’s grease to be a good hair renovator; on the contrary, it will in all like- lihood, if used pure, cause the hairs to split and fall out. Grizzly and barren-ground bears’ claws are much prized for necklaces and coro- nets by the. Indians. Marmots. There are three, if not four, species of this animal in the Mackenzie's River District, viz., Arctomys pruinosus (inhabiting the northern Rocky Mountains and Nehaunay Hills), A. Kennicottii (dwelling in the same localities, with a more northern range, and ex- tending eastward to the Anderson River), and A. monax (coming as far north, though rare, as the Liard’s River). Out of all these the mountain tribes make robes, and the flesh is counted sweet and fat. As T do not think that the marmot, which I have named A. Kennicottii (after my friend the enterprising naturalist Mr. Robert Kennicott), has been yet described, I shall here insert a brief note concerning it. It is in size as large as a smal] musk rat, and in colour a silvery gray, interspersed with orange hairs on the back, but changing on the flanks Quadrupeds. 7991 into a decided yellow, palest on the belly; the tail is short. . It has cheek pouches, and is decidedly smaller than A. monax. In habits, so far as is known, it assimilates closely to the other marmots. Itisa social animal, and digs its den on the mountain’s side, or in the banks of rivers. When these animals are outside, a sentinel is placed at a short distance from their habitations, where it sits on its hams, and will, when surprised, lower itself, uttering a peculiar cry or whistle; that, when twice repeated, causes all the party to seek for shelter in their holes. They lay up stores of winter provender. Very far north there is a variety which is perfectly black, instead of hoary and yellow. The robes made from the skins of this species smell very badly. Beaver (Castor canadensis). ‘The beaver exists some distance within the arctic circle, and the darkest coloured pelts that I have seen are from Fort Good Hope. The Slave and Dog-rib tribes make capotes and robes out of the skin, and the castoreum is extensively used in the manufacture of a medicine or perfume for enticing the lynx to enter into the snaring cabins. The flesh and tail are among the most prized dainties of Indian epicures. Porcupines. These animals are scattered all over the district, prin- cipally in the vicinity of the Rocky Mountain ranges, but I do not think that they are often found around the shores of Great Slave Lake. The flesh is considered a great treat, and the quills furnish the materials for embroidering the only really tasteful articles to be found among the natives ofthese regions. The Slave Indians, dwelling along the Mackenzie and Liard’s Rivers, are reckoned the most skilful fabri- cators of this manufacture. The things made out of them consist of belts, bands, garters, bracelets ; and they are also used for ornamenting bark-work, dresses and shoes. In manufacturing belts, &c., a frame- work of sinew-thread is first laid, through which the quilts are inter- woven in squares, something in the manner of Berlin wool work.. The articles when finished are very pretty, and some of the women are sufficiently adepts to follow any angular pattern which may be set them. The dyes used are procured principally from the vegetable kingdom, though the natives residing in the vicinity of the Forts often apply to the wives of our servants to tint the quills with imported dye- stuffs. Rabbit (Lepus americanus). This animal, so essential to the wel- fare of the Chipewyan nation, is spread all over the district, except upon the barren grounds. It is subject to pericdical failures, which _ occur with great regularity, and which cause no small amount of pri- vation and suffering to the Indians when they happen. When the 7992 Quadrupeds. animals are numerous the Tinné tribes of the Mackenzie valley subsist ‘ altogether on them, and the skins furnish almost entirely their winter clothing—robes, shirts, capotes, mittens and socks being made, which afford a sufficient protection against the most severe cold, though they do not form lasting garments, as the hair falls out very quickly. Moose (Alces americanus). Js found in greater or lesser numbers throughout the wooded portions of the district. Its food consists of the coarse grass of the swamps and the shoots of various kinds of willows. It produces from one to two ata birth. In size it is rather larger than a horse, and a buck in its grease will weigh as high as 800 tbs. without the offal. When in good condition the flesh is sweet and tender, and is highly esteemed as an article of food, but should the animal be poor, or have been subjected to violent exertion pre- viously to death, the meat is scarcely eatable. The nose or moufle is considered ‘by some the greatest delicacy of the North-west, contesting the palm with bear’s paw, beaver tail, reindeer tongue, buffalo boss and sheep ribs. The Indians sometimes snare the moose, and in the spring, when the action of the sun has formed a thick crust upon the snow, they drive them into drifts and spear them in numbers. It is not a gregarious animal, and to hunt it requires more skill than is necessary in the pursuit of either reindeer or buffalo. In the winter, for some time before the hunter comes on his chase, he removes his snow shoes, and despite the thermometer being many degrees below zero, sometimes takes off his leggins ; he then makes his approach cautiously, cutting such twigs of willows as may be in his way with his teeth, and avoiding, when possible, dry brush and fallen timber. As the slightest unusual sound is sufficient to frighten this animal,‘the chosen period for hunting it is during the continuance of a heavy gale of wind. During the rutting season, which happens in the fall, the males are rather dangerous to follow, and instances have occurred of native hunters having been severely injured and even killed by them. They fight rather with their fore feet than with their horns. The uses to which the various parts of the moose are put are many. The hide supplies parchment, leather, lines and cords; the sinews yield thread and glue; the horns serve for handles to knives and awls, as well as to make spoons of; the shank bones are employed as tools to dress leather with ; and with a parti- cular portion of the hair, when dyed, the Indian women embroider. garments. To make leather and parchment the hide is first divested of hair by scraping, and all pieces of raw flesh being cut away, if then washed, stretched and dried, it will become parchment. In converting this into leather a further process of steeping, scraping, rubbing and Quadrupeds. 7993 smearing with brains is gone through, after which it is stretched and dried, and then smoked over a fire of rotten wood, which imparts a lively yellow colour to it. The article is then ready for service. Of parchment, as such, the Chipewyans make little use, but the residents avail themselves of it in place of glass for windows, for constructing the sides of dog-carrioles, and for making glue. The leather is service- able in a variety of ways, but is principally made up into tents and articles of clothing, and in the fabrication of dog-harnesses and fine cords, wallets, &c. The capotes, gowns, firebags, mittens, moccasins and trousers made of it are often richly ornamented with quills and beads, and when new look very neat and becoming. The best dressers of leather in these parts are the Slave Lake Chipewyans and Liard’s River Slaves. The lines and cords are of various sizes, the largest being used for sled lines and pack-cords, the smaller answer for lacing snow shoes and other purposes. In order to make sled lines pliant—a very necessary quality when the temperature is 40° or 50° below the zero of _Fahr.—the cord is first soaked in fat-fish liquor; it is then dried in the frost, and afterwards rubbed by hauling it through the eye of an axe; to complete the operation it is well greased, and any hard lumps mas- ticated until they become soft, by which process a line is produced of ‘great strength and pliancy, and which is not liable to crack in the most severe cold. To obtain thread the fibres of the sinews are sepa- rated and twisted into the required sizes. The moose furnishes the best quality of this article, which is used by the natives to sew both leather and cloth, to make rabbit-snares and to weave into fishing nets. Sinews can be boiled down into an excellent glue or size. In mounting knives and awls with the horns, lead, copper and iron are used for inlaying, and rather handsome articles are sometimes produced, The making of spoons, tipping of arrows and carving of fish-hooks require little explanation, nor does the stuffing of dog-collars and embroider- ing with the hair need any particular comment, so I shall conclude this imperfect notice of a very valuable animal, which yields food, shelter and clothing to the savage inhabitants of this remote and dreary portion of the globe. Reindeer. Two species inhabit this district, the strong-wood rein- deer (Rangifer caribou) and the barren-ground reindeer (R. arcticus), which, though very nearly allied, are certainly distinct one from the other. The strong-wood reindeer inhabit the thickly wooded parts of the district, particularly among and in the vicinity of the mountain ranges, where they are of very large size. Though smaller than the moose these deer are of considerable bulk, and weigh up to 300 tbs. VOL. XX. Z 7994 Quadrupeds. In most particulars they resemble the barren-ground species, differing from it in the following points :—smaller horns, darker colour, larger size, not being so gregarious and not migrating. Both species are equally infested with the larve of a kind of gad-fly, which perforate the skins and cause the animals much pain. These larve, or others very similar to them, are also found under the mucous membrane at the root of the tongue and in the nostrils, and I have even found them in the brain. The only hides serviceable for converting into leather are those of animals killed early in the winter, which, when subjected to a process similar to that detailed under the head of Moose, and bleached in the frost instead of being smoked, furnish a most beautiful, even and white leather, which is used for shoe-tops, embroidered with quills and silk. The barren-ground reindeer during the summer and spring months frequent the barren plains lying between the wooded country and the shores of Hudson’s Bay and the Arctic Sea. Their migrations, which are performed with wonderful regularity, are as follows. They leave the shelter of the woods in the end of Marchand beginning of April, and resort to the plains, where they feed on various kinds of lichens and mosses, gradually moving northward until they reach the coast, where they bring forth their young in the beginning of June; in July they begin to retire from the sea-board, and in Octo- ber rest on the edge of the wood, where they remain during the cold of winter. In the northward movement the females lead, while the southward migration is almost invariably headed by a patriarchal male. The horns of these deer are much varied in shape, scarcely any two animals having them precisely alike. The old males shed theirs towards the end of December, the young males and barren females in April, and the gravid females in.May. Their hair falls in July, but begins to loosen in May. The new coat is darkish brown and short, but it gradually lengthens and becomes lighter in colour until it obtains the slate-gray tint of winter. A full-grown buck will weigh about a hundredweight. The flesh when in prime condition is very sweet, but bucks, when in season, have their fat strongly impreg- nated with the flavour of garlic, which indeed is always present more or less. The summer food of the reindeer is lichens, moss and coarse grass; in the winter it consists of the dried hay of the swamps and the hairy moss adhering to the pine trees. I have seen it stated that these animals in the winter, in order to procure food, shovel away the snow from the ground with their horns, but this theory, however plau- sible, is entirely negatived by the facts of the case, for from my own knowledge, and all that I can learn, both from whites and natives, these Quadrupeds. 7995 deer use their feet only for this purpose. Indeed when the horns would be necessary the males would have already lost them, and a supple- mental addition would be required to the hypothesis of the females clearing a space for the males to graze on, as the gentler sex, at that period, reversing human fashions, wear the horns instead of their lords, The barren-ground reindeer furnishes the principal support of the Yellow-knife, Dog-rib and Hare Indians, and has the same value to them the moose has to the other branches of their nation. Their clothing for winter is made out of fawn-skins, dressed with the hair on, and consists of capotes, gowns, shirts, leggins, mittens, socks and robes, which are warm and when new nice looking. Hides which are so much perforated by the larvz of the Gstrus as to be unfit for any other purpose are converted into babiche, to make which the skin is first divested of hair and all feshy matter; it is then with a knife cut into the desired thickness, the operation beginning in the centre of the skin. There are two sizes of this article, the larger being used for barring sleds and for the fuot-lacing of snow-shoes, the smaller as a species of thread for sewing leather, for the fine netting of snow-shoes, and for lacing fishing and beaver nets. Buffalo. The strong-wood variety, which comes so far north and east as about twenty miles from the mouth of Little: Buffalo River, near Fort Resolution, Great Slave Lake, is found most numerously in the vicinity of the salt plains of Salt River. It is unknown throughout the country inhabited by any of the Slave tribes, and the point men-. tioned above may be considered as its furthest limits. It is of larger size than the plain variety, of darker colour and more thickly furred. The Chipewyans eat its flesh and make robes and parchment from the hides. The horns are made into powder-flasks, and are used for mounting knives and awls; the tail mounted on a wooden shank, orna- mented with goose or porcupine quills, is used as a fly-flapper. From its scarcity this animal does not coutribute materially to the tribes under consideration. Musk Ox (Ovibos moschatus). This small but powerful animal is an inhabitant of the Barren-grounds and Arctic Coast, from 61° N. It frequents wild rocky situations, and possesses the agility of the antelope, between which and the buffalo it appears to form a connecting link. During the winter it feeds on lichens and in the summer on grass. From its remote habit it is of little service to the Chipewyan tribes, and though the Yellow-knives, Dog-ribs and Hare Indians sometimes hunt it, yet as it is very fierce, and the flesh is strongly impregnated with the favour of musk, it is not much locked after. The calf skins 7996 Quadrupeds. make excellent robes and caps, but the adult hides are almost too hairy for any purpose of that sort. The tails are made into fly-flappers similar to those obtained from the same part of the buffalo. Mountain Goat (Aplocerus montanus). Is found throughout all the mountain ranges of this district to within a short distance of the Polar Sea, if, indeed, it does not reach it. It is a larger animal than the domestic goat, which it resembles only in name and in having a beard. It is covered with long and rather brittle white hairs, beneath which a coat of very fine white curly wool lies close to the skin. The flesh, though rank, is fat and tender, and is much relished by the Mountain Indians, who also make robes, clothing and leather from the hide. Curious dog-sleds are manufactured out of the skin covering the shank bones, by sewing numbers of the pieces together with the hair outside, which slides well over the snow. B. R. Ross. [It is most cheering to observe the interest awakened among our fellow subjects in Canada on the economic uses of these animals : the present is the second paper on this topic.— HH. N.] The Wolf-Days of Treland.—My father, whose youth was spent in Ireland, and who died twenty-one years ago, at the age of seventy-four, could tell many very inter- esting anecdotes (related tu himself by uncles and aunts on his mother’s side) connected with the ravages of wolves in that country, in the days when these avimals were very formidable there. Some of these accounts are but indistinctly remembered by me; but it was a source of wonder and amusement in early childhood to hear them told by my dear father on a winter's evening. There are one or two very clearly impressed on my memory; and, as the race is now extinct in the British islands, it may possibly interest the present and coming generations to have them recorded. An ancestor of my father’s family led the humble yet pleasant life of a woodcutter, living in a little habitation at some distance from the scene of his labours. He possessed one of those noble and beautiful animals, now also nearly or quite extinct, the Irish wolf-dog,— Turnbull by name,—an almost necessary protection in that day, when a thickly-wooded country afforded abundant shelter for these ferocious masters of the forest, which, even singly, would attack men, and sometimes visit the cottages, and watch their opportu- nity to carry off young children, Malone (for that I believe was the man’s name) went out to his work one day incautiously unprotected by his faithful dog. He worked later than usual that evening, and towards the close of his day’s labour, when he had bound up many fagots of fallen wood, a large and savage wolf issued from the thicker part of the forest and made directly towards hiw, seeing, no doubt, that he was unarmed and alone. Malone immediately pulled one of the thickest stakes from a bundle of wood and prepared to make the best defence in his power, warding off the attacks of the furious brute, and walking backwards towards home, well knowing that to turn his back to the enemy would be immediately fatal. He also bethought himself that — Birds. 7997 his good friend Turnbull might be just within hearing, and had the presence of mind to call out repeatedly, at the top of his voice, “ Turnbull! Turnbull!” Now it so happened that his wife at home felt a little anxious; and the more so, seeing that the dog, instead of being with. his master, was lying comfortably asleep before the embers on the hearth. She went out, therefore, to try if she could see or hear any- thing of her husband, and stood, earnestly watching, on the top of a little hill near the house, when the distant call came upon her ear. In haste she descended, guessing well the nature of the impending danger, and taking the dog to the same spot, she made him stand beside her, gently patting him that he might be still and listen. In a few moments the faithful animal heard—as his mistress had done, aud now a little nearer—the well-known call, “ Turnbull! Turnbull!” No more was needed : the dog instantly darted off at his utmost speed, and was soon lost to the sight of the trembling wife, who gazed after him, rivetted, as it were, to the spot where she stood. It need hardly be said how thankful the poor man was to hear his bounding step, nor how quickly the cruel enemy fled on seeing his antagonist approaching. Turnbull, however, followed up the chase, and it was some time before he returned, bearing abundant evidence, in his wounded and blood-stained appearance, what a conflict had taken place between him and the wolf, and leaving little doubt that he had been the victor. Another case my dear father related, in which a wolf, taking up a little child by its clothes, was carrying it off as fast as such a heavy load would allow him. The child, just old enough to speak, and possibly having been accustomed to be played with, or even thus carried, by one of the large dogs, thought it very nice, and enjoying the ride, exclaimed in the Irish language “I’m a-going!” repeating the words in a singing tone, until rescued from its perilous situation by its parents, who were in time to follow and bring back their darling in safety. One more instance I remember, in which several wolves attacked one of the Malone family, when returning from a journey on horseback, one dark night. He put spurs to his terrified steed, but the wolves were close behind, and actually made several leaps on to the horse’s hind quarters, inflicting severe wounds with their fangs. The traveller just reached his own door, however, himself unhurt, though frightened almost out of his senses, exclaiming to his brother at home, “ Oh! James, James, let ne in—my horse is ate with the wolves!” —Jonathan Grubb ; Sudbury. Notes on Birds’ Nests.—The following curious instances of materials used by birds in building were noticed by me last year at Ealing. Pied Wagtail. I took a nest from the top thatch of a haystack. Another pair of these birds took possession of a deserted nest of the robin in an ivied wall: the young were reared. Blackbird. A nest in a bed of nettles; another composed of dried stalks and leaves of cabbage ; another with a considerable quantity of horse-hair in the lining. Spotted Flycatcher. Fastened to two branches, projecting from the trunk, by a band of coarse cord. Chaffinch. A nest covered outwardly with curled quill-shavings. Magpie. Without a dome, though containing four eggs. Hedge Accentor. A nest built and lined with hay ; another composed of sticks about a foot in length, laid crosswise and projecting all round, resembling a.chevaux de frize ; lining red and white cow-hair; in the ivy on a wall. 7998 Birds. Blackeap. Lined with the sprigs of a whalebone broom. — H. Blake-Knoz ; Bartragh, Dalkey, Dublin, March 7, 1862. The Manner in which the Cuckoo deposits its Eggs.—In corroboration of what Mr. Cogan states of the deposition of the eggs of the cuckoo (Zool. 7935), 1 may men- lion thal a few years ago a young cuckoo was discovered in the nest of a robin in an aperture of an old stone wall; there was only one cuckvo as usual, and no young robins. In about a mouth my friends where it happened were obliged to enlarge the hole or entrance to the nest, to allow the young cuckoo to escape. This bird was watched for five or six weeks by most of the members of the family, and was most attentively fed by its foster-parents, the robins, until it disappeared ; but the inhabit- ants of the house particularly stated that they were always puzzled to know how the egg of the cuckoo had been introduced, as it was quite impossible that the body of the parent bird could have entered. The nest was about fonr inches from the entrance.— H. W. Newman; Hillside, Cheltenham, March 11, 1862, Early Arrival of the Wheatear.— Yesterday, March 7th, I noticed a wheatear on the sea-shore. This is the earliest date at which the bird has been known to arrive at Bembridge. - Up to the Sth of the month we had cold easterly winds ; on the 6th and 7th it blew a gale, with much rain, from the south-west, the temperature rising more than twelve degrees. With this soft, warm wind came the wheatear. — A. G. More; Vectis Lodge, Bembridge, March 8, 1862. Habits of the Crested Titmouse-—On Tuesday last I had the pleasure of observing several crested titmice among some Scotch firs near Craig Lockhart, within about an hour’s walk of this city. Their presence was betrayed by their peculiar and inces- santly repeated notes; but even after the discovery had been made it was no easy matter to keep the birds in view, owing to their continual restlessness, in which respect, as well as in the amusing variety of their motions, they bore a striking resem- blance to the more familiar blue titmouse. They kept pretty near together, and for the first twenty minutes or so after my arrival they appeared to be making but a cur- sory examination of the trees, constantly flitting from branch to branch, and seemingly obtaining but little in the way of food. At length, without any apparent cause, they all flew off to a small clump of Scotch firs standing alone at a more sheltered part of the hill-side. Whether they had received a signal from one of their number who had been sent out to explore, or whether they preferred the comparative shelter of their new position, it is impossible to say ; but at any rate it was evident that they had now found an abundant supply of food, for not only did they confine themselves to one single tree, but they also appeared to be directing their attention almost exclusively to the extremities of the smaller branches, to which they might frequently be seen hanging back downwards, at the same time making vigorons use of their bills. In this manuer they were still continuing to employ themselves when I left the spot about half an hour later, after having repeatedly, but in vain, endeavoured to ascertain the nature of their food, by examining such of the small branches as could be obtained. Although I broke these from the same tree, by means of a long stick, the birds were so little alarmed as merely to fly to the opposite side of the tree (which, however, was one of considerable spread), and there remain curiously eyeing me until the interrup- tion ceased. Several hundred yards from this spot I saw two more birds of the same species in a thick hedge. As far as could be ascertained, both of them were females, but so constantly were they in motion that a fair view of them could with difficulty be obtained, One of them suddenly flew out of the hedge, and made several snaps at a = a ee = Birds. 7999 few midges which were enjoying a passing gleam of evening sunshine in a sheltered corner close by. I have either heard or read that the note of the crested titmouse is first heard in March; but the early period of its commencement in the present instance cau scarcely be wondered at when we consider the unusual mildness of the season.— Henry L. Saxby ; 54, Gilmore Place, Edinburgh, March 3, 1862. Unusual Number of the Grosbeak occurring in Cambridgeshire. — In many parts of this county, as also those of the adjacent counties on the eastern side, this species has been unusually numerous this winter, although almost unprecedented in mildness. Cambridgeshire hitherto has not been a locality in which this bird was by any means common. Iam aware it is to be met with annually in various parts of England, such for instance as the New Forest, Hampshire, and particularly at Albury Park, Herts: at the latter place I have known as many as four or five to be bagged at one shot. They used to frequent a row of beech and hornbeam trees, the seeds of which it is particularly fond of. Their stay used to be from the beginning of winter till early in May, after which they were never seen. The grosbeak is excessively wary and shy in its habits.—S. P. Saville ; Dover House, Cambridge, March 11, 1862. Food of the Wren. — Mr. Brockholes having replied to my remarks upon the food _ of the wren, I wish to say a few more words on the same subject. I had no other motive in penning thuse remarks than to correct what I still believe to be an erroneous statement respecting the food of this little songster. Mr. Brockholes admits that he has never actually seen the wren feeding upon snails, and only supposes that it does so from having seen this bird near the broken shells: I consider such evidence of very little value. I have seen the thrush feeding upon snails scores of times, and this morning watched a pair fetching them out from a laurel hedge in our garden, and breaking their shells on a large stone close by. Gilbert White, in his ‘ History of Selborne, mentions the fact of thrushes being very useful in gardens, in consequence of their destroying so many snaiis. As far as I am aware no other British bird feeds upon them ; the blackbird may possibly do so sometimes, but I never ‘saw one in the act, and I mnch doubt if they ever do eat snails in a wild state. I do not think the reference tu the raven and blue tit has anything to du with the question: the powerful mandibles of the tits enable them to crack bard seeds, pull flesh to pieces, &c., which the wren, with its slender, feeble beak, could not possibly do; and with regard to its eating snails “ peacemeal,” I wish to ask Mr. Brockholes if he can bring forward a single instance of a bird exclusively insectivorous, like the wren, feeding in this way ? As far as I have observed they never capture an insect too large for them to swallow entire. I am aware that birds which are partly insectivorous and partly frugivorous or granivorous, like the sparrow, &c., swallow their prey “ piecemeal ,” but I cannot remember ever seeing a truly insectivorous bird feed in this manner.—Henry Double- day ; Epping, March 5, 1862. Further Notes on the Common Wren.—Some years since I published the following notes on this species. The discussion in the pages of the ‘ Zoologist’ has induced me to send you a copy of them. “Is it a fact generally known that the common wren, in sharp frosty weather, will resort, in numbers varying from twelve to twenty, to holes in any places affording suitable shelter? I myself, during a stay in Hert- fordshire, have taken from one hole no Jess a number than twenty, and from others twelve and fifteen. The reason I attribute for so many wrens huddling together is to keep themselves warm. I think they are a very sociable species, or so many could not live in peace, taking for granted that they do. The holes from which I 8000 Birds. took the wrens were in the eaves of a thatched sheep-shed in Albury Park, Herts.”— S. P. Saville. Notes on the Great Spotted Woodpecker.—I have to thank Mr. Saxby for his interesting notes on the spotted woodpecker, in answer to my inquiry (Zool. 7847), in which I expressed a wish to learn if this species had been similarly numerous in other localities. Mr. Saxby expresses a wish to ascertain the sexes of these birds. I have much pleasure in informing him that the examples which came under my notice were, on the average, three females to one male. I am sorry I cannot furnish the direction of the wind at the time. It was particularly observable that the captures were in every case on the eastern side of the county (Cambridgeshire).—Jd. Cuckoo depositing her Egg. — At a meeting of West Riding Consolidated Natu- ralists’ Suciety, Mr. Halliday wished to bring before the meeting a subject advocated in the ‘ Zoologist, respecting the means employed by the cuckoo in conveying her egg into the nest. He read the paragraph in the ‘ Zoologist’ which appeared to sup- port the statement that the egg was first laid by the cuckoo, then taken up by the bill and swallowed, and thus conveyed to and disgorged into the nest of what were to be its foster-parents. Mr. Pickles, of Queenshead, said that as the lark’s foot was so formed that it could take its eggs in its claws and remove them from one nest to another, he thought it a deal more probable that the cuckoo might use its foot in con- veying its eggs, in preference to using the bill, which he thought was not calculated at all as a means of conveyance of such delicate material. Mr. Heaton, of Halifax, said that he had taken a young cuckoo from a wagtail’s nest in a wall, and had to pull the wall down before he could extract the intruder; and he would like to know by what means the cuckoo had placed her egg in that nest. Several theories were propounded, but no new facts were elicited, when Mr. Ellis said that it appeared none of the members present had ever seen the cuckoo deposit her egg, and, as she was a very shy bird, probably they never would: they must be satisfied for the present with the fact that the same instinct which tells her to place her egg in some other bird’s nest for incubation, &c., will also teach her the best means of conveying it there. Note on Sabine’s Snipe.— I have for a long time considered this bird to be only a variety or “ lusus” of the common snipe. I have had the opportunity of examining several specimens, among them the one noticed in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1857 (Zool. 5593), killed in Norfolk; and I think almost any one who will read Mr. Salvin’s note carefully will be satisfied that it is no species. Mr. Gateombe says (Zool. 7939), “ All sportsmen who have killed this bird remark that it rises without noise.” This is not quite correct. Mr. Thompson says, in his ‘ Birds of Ireland, vol. ii. p. 277, of two birds shot, one that rose with some common snipes did not ‘‘ squeak ;’ the other rose in company with a common snipe and uttered a similar cry, and but for its colour would have escaped, as the colour led the sportsman at first sight to believe it to be a water rail.—_F’. Bond ; Kingsbury, Middlesex, March 12, 1862. Jack Snipe.—It would appear that the jack snipe assumes the same dark plumage, as the variety of the common snipe which has received the name of Sabine’s snipe, for I was sporting near Staines, in January of last year, when we flushed a jack snipe which appeared, on the wing, to be quite black. My companion fired at it, but missed. Wecould not find it again. It was, however, shot in the same field a few days afterwards, and I am sorry to say consigned to the spit. The person who shot it told me the plumage was suffused with brown, and not black as I supposed when I saw it on the wing.—Jd. Birds. 800] On the Change of Plumage in the Crossbills and Pine Grosbeak. — Even now it appears that it is not quite clear what is the true mature plumage of these birds, and as little seems to be known with any certainty at what ages the change (in the males) from bright red to dull red and from dull red to yellow-green, takes place, and as I have lately turned my attention to this subject, and have had good opportunities of obtaining the old birds in every state of plumage, a few observations may not be un- interesting. Referring to every British authority that I can find, I am led to suppose that the mature plumage in both species is red, in extreme age tinged with yellow; and every coloured figure that I have seen, both of the old male crossbill and pine grosbeak, favours this supposition. But such is not the case: the red plumage is only an intermediate stage, and the full mature dress in the male of both species is bright yellow-green. This is contrary to the opinion of many naturalists ; but I can prove it from many specimens. I am, however, pretty confident that none of us kvow for cer- tain how long the birds wear this red livery, or at] what age they assume the mature yellow-green dress. That the red plumage in both species lasts for more than two years, gradually passing from deep carmine to brickdust-red, I feel pretty confident. We may, therefore, describe the change of plumage in the male bird thus :—First, the nest plumage ; dark brown, edged with yellow-green, especially on the head and rump, and this seems gradually to change, even befure the first autumnal moult. After the first moult, carmine-red (and in this plumage the bird can breed) ; this colour gra- dually becomes, by moult and wearing, dull brickdust-red, and eventually yellow-green. I have been lucky enough to see specimens both of the pine grosbeak and crossbill in the mature yellow plumage ; but that they are rare may be inferred from the fact that I never, among all the nests of the crossbill that I have taken, have found more than one belonging to a mature male, although I have occasionally shot the old yellow males in the winter in company with the young red birds. In April, 1860, I took a nest of the parrot crossbill with three eggs, the largest T ever saw and the finest coloured, evidently from a very old bird. The plumage of this male was bright yellow- green all over, most vivid on the rump and head, but without the slightest shade of red; the female of the usual gray-green, tinged on the rump with yellow. I can, however, hardly agree with Nilsson that they assume this mature dress at the third moult, else why should we see so few of these yellow-green males in propoition to the red birds ? I have never yet seen more than two examples of the mature green pine grosbeak: one was this last winter, in a cage, where he had been confined ten years; he was a red bird when he was caught in the winter, but in the ensuing autumn he changed to bright yellow-green, and since then has undergone little or no change in bis plumage: the other was shot in a wild state in Calmar Land, here, in February, 1855; 1 have the skin now before me, and it is precisely the same as the specimen I saw in the cage; his plumage very much resembles that of the female, but the head and rump are much brighter, and the breast and belly much yellower. ‘There appears to be a more marked difference between these old yellow males and the green females in the crossbills than in the pine grosbeak. I never yet have had the luck to fall in with the pine grosbeak in breeding dress (and this is the only season when we can come to any safe conclusion). Again, with regard to the pine grosbeak, there is, I think apother mystery wants clearing up. I never till this winter had much opportunity of studying this bird in a state of nature. It is true that every winter we have a few in our midland forests, but this winter they have been unusually numerous, and about forty specimens have passed through my hands. In the crossbills I observed that the VOL. XX. 2A 8002 Birds. proportion of red birds of different shades is pretty equal to the green birds (which I suppose are all females, admitting that the young males attain their red plumage at the first moult, for the old yellow male can never by any chance be mistaken for the female in the crossbill) ; but this is not the case with the pine grosbeaks, for out of all the specimens I have obtained this winter not more than six have been red birds ; all the rest have been dull brown-green, more or less shaded on the head, breast and rump with reddish yellow. It is not easy, at this season, to ascertain the males from the females by dissection, but I was lucky enough in one or two instances todoso. Still I can hardly suppose that so near a proportion of these yellow- green birds can be all females; nor do I think, as far as I can judge, that any of them were old males; and from this fact I draw the inference that the pive grosbeak does not attain its red plumage at the first moult, like the crossbills, or else why du we meet with so few red males? It is true that I have had but one winter’s experience to judge from, and shall be very pleased if any other practical naturalist will give his opinion. To prove that I am not wrong in what I have written, take for instance the breeding habits of the green sandpiper and the ecross- bills. In no work on Natural History, either British or foreign, have I ever seen it noticed that this bird lays its eggs in an old deserted nest. Every one, in alluding to its breeding habits, states ‘‘ that the nest of this species is either in sand or ona bank, or among grass by the side of a stream.” Yet here, in a country where this bird is comparatively common (so much so that I generally procure four or six nests every year), I have never by any chance found the eggs otherwise than in an old nest in a fir tree. And, again, in Sweden, which may be called the very hot-bed of the cross- bills, no one knew anything about their breeding habits (or if they did they kept it to themselves) till I set them right.— Mr. Wheelwright, of Sweden, in the ‘ Field” News- paper, March 22, 1862. Occurrence of the Wild Goose near Penzance. — A specimen of the gray-lag goose was shot a few days since in the marsh between this place and Marazion; and it appears that over a long series of years this is the first occurrence of this species. We have had, especially when heavy frosts from the North and East have driven birds to southern regions, repeated visits of bean, whitefronted and brent geese, and occasion- ally of bernicles ; but I never remember seeing or hearing of any wild geese making their appearance in Cornwall. The character and shape of the beak, being bulkier and more elevated than that of the bean guose, with its uniformity of colour and white nail at the tip, are very striking at first sight; and there appears to be a light blue eolour on the lesser wing-coverts and upper tail-coverts which the bean goose has not. The wild goose also has a rim of naked red skin around the outline of the eyes, not apparent in the other species. ‘The bird now under notice agrees precisely with the various figures, excepting that there is a narrow border of white round the base of the bill, not to be confounded with the character of Anser albifrons, but rather giving one an impression of an accidental variety, or of its being a bird of last summer’s hatching. —Edward Hearle Rodd ; Penzance, March 5, 1862. White Specimens of Redthroated Diver and Lapwing.— A few days since I saw a fine male redthroated diver which was perfectly white, with the exception of three or four feathers of a dark shade on the back; the legs and bill white, the former with a few dark markings on them. TI also saw an albino of the lapwing. Mr. Wood; the eminent taxidermist, of Vere Street, London, at whose shop I saw the specimens, stated that the diver was shot off the Essex coast, and the lapwing in Ireland, This last bird ee eee or Birds. 8003 is not so perfect an albino as the former, as it has many dark feathers on the wings; the crest, head and body, however, are nearly pure while. —R. H. T. Gilbert ; March. Occurrence of the Little Gull in Kent. — Two little gulls were obtained for me on the Kentish coast last month ; one was a bird of the first year; the other a very fine adult: they had far advanced towards the summer state of plumage. Four other instances of the occurrence of this gull were recently recorded (Zoo). 7939, 7940). To what cause is the simultaneous appearance, in different districts, of these and other comparatively scarce birds to be attributed? The little auk, the hoopoe, and others, seldom occur in isvlated instances; but when one is recorded, five or six others usually appear, about the same time, in various parts of the country—W. Hammond ; St. Alban’s Court, near Wingham, Kent, March 7, 1862. Puffins in Winter.— 1 have lately met with no less than eight puffins killed in December, January, February or March, and agreeing in certain peculiarities that I think worthy of notice. In the first place, the fact of their occurrence in winter is remarkable, since it is perfectly familiar to every ornithologist that the puffin arrives on our coast in May, and leaves us in August, after the duties of incubation are over - and the young are able to fly. What becomes of these curious birds in winter, I have no means of ascertaining : it is ove of those secrets ornithologists have not yet pene- trated ; and it is on this account we find them so frequently indulging in graceful platitudes, which convey no reliable information ; such for instance as the following: —* Before the approach of winter these interesting visitors shun the rigours of our boisterous clime, and retire to the balmy shores of the Mediterranean, or find a still more congenial climate farther to the South ;” or sometimes thus :— “ As soon as the young puffins are sufficiently strong on the wing to brave the inclemency of boreal skies, they wing their way to the far-distant North, where they congregate in count- less myriads, to the astonishment of the intrepid men who venture life aud limb in the service of Science.” All this is nice wriling and agreeable reading, yet regarded from a Natural-History point of view it is scarcely satisfactory. But passing over a branch of the subject on which we are profoundly ignorant, these facts remain: the normal puilin only occurs here in sumer, the abnormal puffin only in winter. Secondly, The shape of the beak is totally different in the two birds; in the winter bird it is more slender, more pointed, the upper outline much less convex and quite continuous with the outline of the forehead; the lower outline is produced into a conspicuous angle or tooth balfway between its apex and base; of this angle there is no trace in the summer bird. In the summer bird the gape opeus beyond the mandibles and almost beneath the eye, terminating in a puckered naked skin of a bright yellow colour. The winter bird is without this extended gape, and totally without the naked skin. In the sumer bird the eye is surrounded with a naked skin of bright orange colour; this orange circle or eyelid is entirely wanting in the winter bird. Some slight differences of colour are to be noticed; but these are of less importance than those in the structure of the beak, &c., already described ; the cheeks and ear-coverts of the winter bird are sinoke- coloured, while those of the summer bird are pure white. It has been suggested that the extraordinary difference in the shape of the beak is attributable to a difference of age; that the winter specimens are invariably young birds, and it is conjectured they have not been sufficiently advanced to accompany their parents on their southward journey. Thus Temminck, in his ‘ Manual of Ornithology,’ vol. ii. p. 933, observes, “ Les jeunes de année, ont le bec beaucoup plus petit, lisse sur les cotés, depourvu de sillons, d’un brun jaunatre; l’espace entre Pwil et le bee dun cendré noiratre; les joues 8004 Birds. et la gorge d’un cendré plus foncé que chez les vieux ; le large collier du cou nuancé, par devant, de cendre noiratre; les pieds d’un rouge terne.” This is certainly the bird to which I desire to invite attention, but M. Temminck does not satisfactorily state how he has ascertained it to be the young of the common puffin, and it is difficult to conceive that a bird having such a beak as that shown in fig. ] in February or March should acquire such a beak as that shown in fig. 2 before the breeding season in May, when the beaks of all the individuals breeding on our cvasts certainly appear similar both in form and colouring. In the newly-hatched young of the snipe tribe the beak is short and dumpy, but acquires its normal proportions before the breeding season. I ought to add that Brunnich, quite as familiar with these birds as Temminck, describes the winter puffin as a distinct species, under the name of Alca deleata (Orn. Boreal. p- 25). The difference ia the size and shape of the puffin’s beak has not escaped the notice of other naturalists. The late Mr. Stephens, in his continuation of Shaw’s ‘Zoology,’ figures a bird under the name of the northern puffin ; the figure is drawn from a specimen in the British Museum, obtained during Captain Ross’s expedition in search of a north-west passage, aud labelled Fratercula glacialis by the late lamented Dr. Leach. This bird has a larger beak than the common species, and Temminck, who in his Appendix adopts it fiom Stephens, thus differentiates the two. “ Le puis- sant bec coloré d’une seule teinte ; la grande rosace a langle de la bouche ; des nudités Fig. 2. Fig. 1. oblongues au dessus et derriere J’orbite, joints a des dimensions plus fortes, servent de moyen pour distinguer cette espéce de la suivante.—(Temminck, iv. 580.) Gould also, in bis magnificent work, ‘The Birds of Europe, part 21, figures it as distinct. Mr. Selby, has, however, some admirable observations, which apply equally to the northern puffin of Stephens and to the winter puffin now under consideration, two birds which seem to depart from the normal or summer puffin in different directions. ‘T have found the beaks of different individuals on our coasts differ in depth and curvature: in one, which was taken in its burrow, the bill measures one inch and a half in depth, in the other scarcely one inch. In length they are nearly equal, by which the mandi- bles of the larger-billed bird are made to appear much more convex than the other; avd in the former the keel of the lower mandible is also very strong and arched; in fact this specimen seems to possess the precise characters and relative proportions of beak of the northern puffin figured by Mr. Stephens.” With these quotations and references I must leave the matter in the hands of my friends, but not without express- ing the obligation I am under to the editor of the ‘ Field’ and to Mr. Bond for the opportunities so kindly affurded me of examining specimens.— Edward Newman. Birds 8005 Occeurrence of the Crane at Hartlepool.—Mr. Abbott, a birdstuffer, of Church Street, Hartlepool, has just received for preservation a fine and perfect specimen of the crane. It was seen in an open field near that place and was killed at a distance of eighty yards. This magnificent, ornamental and most docile bird is in all respects adapted for the climate of England, and was formerly so abundant here that Archbishop Neville, as reported in Leland’s ‘ Collectanea,’ served up two hundred and four cranes at a single feast. Without asking why an archbishop should have exceeded Heliogabalus in the extent and lavish prodigality of his banquets, we may ask why such a magnificent bird is killed whenever it sets fuot on our inhospitable shore. Why should we perpetually seek to verify the satirical remarks of our acerb but truthful poet Rogers, who has said that whenever the sun happens to shine of a morning an Englishman exclaims, ‘* See, here’s a fine morning! let us kill something.”— Edward Newman. Occurrence of the Eyyptian Goose at Alton.—Abovut a month ago, I am not sure of the exact date, as I only heard of the fact yesterday, three Egyptian geese were killed at one shot, on Frensham Pond, about nine miles from here. The one I sent you an account of before was shot at Oakhanger Pond, which is only about four or five miles from Frensham. I know of no one near here who keeps any Egyptian geese, as from four being shot so nearly together one would almost suppose they must have escaped. T have only known of two shot in this neighbourhood before these four, and that was some years ago.— P, Crowley ; Alton, March 26, 1862. Occurrence of the Sclavonian Grebe at Halifax.—A female specimen of the Scla- vonian grebe was shot on the 17th ult. by Mr. Marchant, at the Victoria Reservoir, Halifax.— George H. Parke ; Stanway Old Hall, Halifax, April 1, 1862. Occurrence of the Blackthroated Diver near Scarborough.—A young female bird of this species was found dead, washed ashore on the north beach here, a few mornings since, by a fisherman, having evidently perished from exhaustion. Several little auks and young of the great glaucous gull have been taken on the coast. A few common crossbills were noticed in a small plantation here near the sea, and one killed by a boy with a stone; another, a fine old male bird, was shot on alighting in the Castle Holmes. Birds, on the whole, though, have been scarcer here than usual this winter.—Alwin S. Bell; Scarborough, March 15, 1862. Occurrence of the Manx Shearwater, Thickknee and Crossbills in the Neighbour- hood of Huddersfield—In the month of September last a fine male specimen of the Manx shearwater (Puffinus Anglorum) was taken by a boy in a mill-dam, where it had been seen for many weeks; the dam abounded with gold fish. On January 17th a very fine specimen of the thickknee (Zidicnemus crepitans) was caught at Tovthill, in an exhausted state: it has been preseived by Mr, Williamson. In December last the gamekeeper of Mr. Taylor, Almondbury, shot fourteen crossbills (Lowia curvi- restra) on Storthes Hall Moor, all in a fine state of plumage: these have been pre- served by Mr. Mozley.—James Varley ; Almondbury Bank, Huddersfield, March 15, 1862, Birds of Paradise at the Zoological Gardens.—One of the most beautiful and inte- testing additions to the menagerie of the Zoological Society has just been made, by the safe arrival in the Regent's Park of two living birds of paradise (Paradisea papuana). The restricted habitat of these birds, and the dangers and difficulties attending an exploration of their haunts in the unhealthy climate of New Guinea, have hitherto rendered almost hopeless any attempt to procure living specimens of these lovely birds, There are but few instances known of birds of paradise having been kept in confinement, 8006 Reptiles. and it is believed that-the bird which died at Windsor about forty years ago, in the possession of the late Princess Augusta, is the only example which had been seen alive in Europe prior to the present arrival. Mr. A. R. Wallace, the indefatigable traveller and explorer of some of the rarely visited islands of the Indian Archipelago, has for some time been commissioned by the Zoological Society to fill up this gap in their collection; but all his endeavours failed to preserve alive some speciinens he obtained. By chance, however, and after he had left the neighbourhood of New Guinea, he fe!l in with two of the much-desired birds, which had been a short time in confinement, and these, under bis coutinued care and attention, were safely landed in England on Tuesday last. The birds are both males. They appear to have suffered little from their long journey, and, excepting that their plumes are apparently but half grown, their condition is as perfect as could be desired. Fortunately they are exceed- ingly tame, taking food readily from the hand, and displaying their beautiful plumage without showing any signs of fear. A dried skin of one of their brethren was immedi- ately recognised, alihough at some litue distance, and called forth loud and frequent caws, proclaiming their relationship to the Corvide, with which family ornithologists have associated them, and leading naturalists to hope that, like their congeners, they may prove hardy and long-lived in captivity. Their manners and customs will form an interesting study —Z. W. H. Holdsworth. Tenacity of Life in an Iyuana.— From a letter lately received by me from my brother Gordon, who writes from Quamby, Tasmania, I make the following extract, which I venture to hope may prove beneficial not only to generations of iguanas yet unborn, but also to such of their captors who may not be too proud to avail them- selves of a useful hint: —‘‘ I have lately procured for you a very fine specimen of an iguana, of whose precise species, however, I am somewhat in doubt. I intended to skin him for you, but was prevented by a very formidable difficulty, viz., I could not kill him! It is wonderful what an immense amount of vitality these creatures possess. He was brought to me struggling violently, with a string drawn round his neck: not dead indeed, but still a very interesting example of suspended animation. I put him into a box, when he became exceedingly savage, hissing and darting at me whenever I opened his prison. First of all I tried to kill him with chloroform, pouring what appeared to be half a dozen times more than sufficient upon a piece of wadding within the box, and then tightly closing the lid. On looking at him some time afterwards, I found that this had not taken the slightest effect, although the fumes were even then quite enough for ne. So far from being in the smallest degree stupified, he darted about as actively as before, hissing furiously, with his tongue playing about like lighting. Well! I teased the poor reptile for a while, and then, as he evidently wished to bite somebody or something, I eased his mind by giving him the feather end of a quill pen: he instantly snapped at it, and when I paid bim a visit next morning he still held it so firmly in his jaws tbat I lifted him up by it. What his jaws and his temper were made of I can’t say; nor, by the way, do I know whether the bite is harmless ; probably it is, but one does not like to try. Finding that he rather liked chloroform than otherwise, I next got a large tub of water, shut the ignana in a box with the lid partially propped open, and placed this at the bottom of the tub, with a few bricks piled upon the lid to keep all fast. And then I thought Reptiles. 8007 I'd got him: but not a bit of it! Drowning seemed to be quite a joke; so after keeping him under water for three hours and a half, and finding that it only had the effect of making him rather drowsy, I took him out again, and in two minutes after- wards he was as lively and as fierce as ever. One would suppose that these strange creatures were partially aquatic in their mode of living ; and yet it appears that they are always found in hot, dusty places. I have only seen two or three since my arri- val, and they were lying in the thick dust of the road. As to the individual in question, as a last resource I jammed him (poor fellow !) head foremost into a pickle- bottle, and filled it up with strong whiskey ; so that, however inhuman the proceeding may appear, I have nevertheless the satisfaction of knowing that he died in the best of spirits.” A somewhat similar attempt to drown an iguana is related by Mr, Darwin ; but this one, if I remember rightly, was a South American species of well- known aquatic habits. —Henry L. Saxby ; 54, Gilmore Place, Edinburgh, March 3. A Living Frog found in Coal.— The following is an extract from a letter received on Wednesday last in this city, by Mr. John Russell, from the manager of bis Tyr Nicholas Colliery, Cwm Tylery, near Newport: —“ Our men in the heading in the rock-vein coal yesterday (March 10), in a fall of coal in the face of the heading, found, in a hole in the pricking, in the top of the coal and in the nine-inch bed of coal, a live frog. The hole was not more 3} inches in diameter, and this found in the soft holing. There is a slight hollow over the coal where it was found. It began moving about as soon as it was released, but seems larger and more lively to-day. It is kept shut up in clay to exclude the air from it. Now this is two hundred yards below the surface where this little thing was found, and I do not suppose any one can form an idea how long it must have been there. I intend having it kept for you when you return.”—(Signed), L. W. Rees. [Mr. Russell is going to send to the Great Exhi- bition a block of cual between seven and eight feet long, selecting the piece in which the frog was found, the locus in quo being exactly in the centre, and the block will be so cut that the frog and its strange domicile will be clearly shown in front.]— Worcestershire Chronicle. Life-sustaining Power of the Toad.—On the 17th of this month, while engaged in superintending the delivery of a cargo of coals, on board the ‘ Vulture’ screw steamer, from Newcastle, I was surprised at witnessing in one of the baskets a large toad, to all appearance dead: this occurred when about 150 tons of the cargo had been weighed, so that the pressure upon the animal in the hold of the ship must have been immense. It was of course very much compressed ; but on placing it down by my side, my astonishment was increased, after a few minutes, when, after the gradual inflation of the lungs, the animal made a slight spring forward, and ultimately became as lively as though nothing had occurred prejudicial to its existence. I inquired of the mate of the vessel whether there was a probability of any one on beard having thrown it into the hold, and he assured me that it must have been brought with the coals out of the pit—H. Davey ; 14, Bridge Street East, Mile End, March 20, 1862. Incubation of the Python.—The eggs of the python have proved to be bad. Dr. Gunther has examined some of them, and thinks they were impregnated, but they were in such a state of decomposition inside that it is difficult to say positively. After six weeks’ incubation the snake came off her eggs to change ber skin; she was away from them the whole night. Under these circumstances the experiment is in- {complete, but as there was an increase of temperature in the snake of at least 9° 8008 Insects. during the whole time she was on the eggs (and at one time as much as 20°), I think there can be no doubt of its being developed for hatching purposes.—#. W. H. Holdsworth. Capture of Teniocampa leucographa at Lindfield —I captured two specimens of Teniocampa leucographa on the sallows, about a fortnight ago, in company with other Teniocampx, but have not been successful in meeting with more —George Stedman; Lindfield, Sussex, April 7, 1862. Pupe are occasionally killed by Floods.—In the last number of the ‘ Zoologist’ the Rev. E. Horton asks whether “ pupz are killed by foods?” There can, I think, be no question that they are so occasionally ; that they are not, however, destroyed in this way so frequently as, at first sight, might appear probable, long experience has con- vinced me: led by a wonderful and almost unerring instinct, the larve rarely descend below the water-mark. I speak now of those which form their cocoons beneath the moss or under the bark of trees bordering on streams, rivers, &c. Through my parish runs a brook, each side of which is fringed with alder, puplar, ash, &e.: one day’s heavy rain is quite sufficient to swell this brook beyond its usual bed, and conse- quently the lower part of the trunks of the trees is frequently submerged. When this is the case a elear water-mark is left on the trees. This is a very bad locality indeed for pupa-digging, but two rare insects, Cirredia Xerampelina and Eupithecia innotata, both of which are ash-feeders, occur here, and accordingly I am diligent in my search for the pupe: it is, I think, both a curious and an interesting fact that, in no single instance, have I ever fuund one below the water-mark alluded to. It appears to me evident that instinct warns them of their probable fate should they extend their journey too far. It may here be objected that this theory can scarcely apply to those insects which turn to pup# at the roots of, or under the earth about, such trees. The objection is a plausible one, but twelve years’ experience has taught me that pupe will rarely be found at the rovts of trees bordering streams which are ordinarily liable to overflow their banks: the larve, in this case, would scem to travel away from the trees, and enter the pupa state elsewhere. Perhaps some observant pupa-digger may be able to corroborate this statement. There will of course be seasons, as at present, when the floods are so unusually high as to baffle the caterpillar instinct, and a height or a place which, in ordinary years, would be quite safe, will then be sub- merged. In this case I have no doubt whatever that the pupe are destroyed. Mr. Horton considers that this question may have some bearing on the disputed point as to whether pupe in confinement should, or shuuld not, be damped. I agree with him. At least it suggests the enquiry. In former years, as Mr. Horton rightly observes, I felt doubtful on the subject, but later experience has con- vinced me that, on the whole, it is better not to damp them. On the supposition that, in their natural stale, pupe require and have moisture, some collectors have felt themselves bound to try and supply it, and, in doing so, have experienced much difficulty in applying it in such a way as, on the one hand, not to give too little, or, on the other, too much. I am, however, most decidedly of opinion that this supposi- tion is incorrect, and is not warranted by facts. In saying this I trust I shall not be thought to speak arrogantly or dogmatically. There is one fact, which every skilled pupa digger wust have observed, viz. that in the vast majority of cases pupe are found on the northern or eastern sides of trees, 7. e. the sides least exposed to rain. Insects. 8009 Moreover, so far from the larve choosing damp or moist places, the reverse is the case, as every pupa-digger knows. I am so satisfied now on these points that I rarely trouble myself to examine the moss, or dig, except on those sides or in dry places. From these well-known facts I infer, nay conclude, that pup in a state of nature do not necessarily require mvisture, or at any rate very little. I therefore do not damp them, and am relieved from the difficulties which, more or less, stand in the way of those who do. I acknowledge that some dry up. The best way, in my judgment, to obviate this aggravating result is to keep them in a cool room, and if there be a cur- rent of air passing through the room so much the better. I may just add here, that many pup dry up through having been injured when dug up, or taken from bark, moss, &c. The slightest touch, especially when recently turned, is sufficient to kill them. In reference to Mr. Horton’s second question, “ Is the growth of the wings of an insect fresh from the pupa affected by the temperature ?” I should say that there can be no manner of doubt about it, It may be proved in the simplest way. Take two perfect insects just emerged, say H. progemmaria. Leave one in a cold room, and bring the other down and place it on the chimney-piece in a room where there is -a fire. I did this the other day. The one in the warm room expanded ils wings in a quarter of an hour, while that in the cold required five hours tu complete the ope- ration.—J. Greene ; Cubley Rectory, Doveridge, Derby. On the Plan upon which Bees and Wasps construct their Cells. By Epwin Brown, Esq. * Ir has until lately been the universally received opinion’ that the hive-bee makes hexagonal cells, owing to an instinctive preference for that form above all others. Many profound calculations have been made, by Lord Brougham and others, to prove that intelligence or instinct has enabled the bee practically to solve the problem of the exact angle which ensures the greatest amount of internal space, co- existently with the smallest possible expenditure of wax. I am prepared to admit that it is the desire of the bee to produce a commodious cell by an economical outlay of wax ; but that the intent of the bee is instinctively to make a cell with exactly six sides, is an hypothesis the truth of which I cannot concede. Bees, wasps, ichneumons, spiders and all other insects which con- ‘struct nests, cocoons or cells, whether of paper, wax or silk, attempt in these structures to produce hollow cylinders having hemispherical terminations ; and it is only, I believe, when a number of apartments are placed side by side that the hexagonal shape is arrived at. It is not difficult to see the reason for this. The hexagon is the only poly- gonal form into which an area can be uniformly divided ; and it is * Read before a Meeting of the Midland Scientific Association, April 2. VOL. XX. 2B 8010 TInsecls. precisely that shape into which a series of cylinders, composed of any plastic material, would be forced on being subjected to uniform ex- ternal pressure. In the basaltic columns of the Giant’s Causeway, and of other places, we have the reverse operation of contraction ; and notwithstanding the many disturbing influences during the cooling down of the once incandescent matter, the perpendicular fissures have separated the basaltic mass into columns, whose sections are mostly hexagonal. It is a striking and an important fact that no instance has ever been brought forward of a bee of any species making a detached or isolated polygonal cell. Whenever wild bees make single cells they are invariably of the cylindrical shape. Hive-bees produce their ordinary comb-cells by the united efforts of many individuals. Owing to this circumstance, and also to their never building up cells at the margins of the combs unflanked by the foundations of other cells, they afford us, when so employed, no opportunity for observing the fundamental scheme upon which they build. Every cell during its progress is impinged upon by six other cells, and, as all progress at the same time, the united attempts of the workers to avoid interspaces, and to expend no more wax than is necessary to the making of firm walls, produce inevitably the hexagonal structure. The royal cells, or cells containing larve destined to become queens, are constructed upon the ordinary comb, and at right angles to the other cells. These cells are unconnected with each other, and it is an important fact that they are always cylindrical in shape: but the fact upon which [ mainly found my disbelief in the hexagonal type is, that under ex- ceptional circumstances, and where the hexagonal is not the shape that results from a compressed cylinder, other shapes are assumed. In the specimens which I now lay before you, examples are to be seen of pentagonal and also of heptagonal cells. This departure from the ordinary type has undoubtedly arisen either from the combs having been founded upon irregular base-lines, or, as in some cases, from the interspersing of large drone-cells among the series of the smaller cells which are destined for workers, and the consequent de- rangement of what may be called the ground-plan. These examples prove to my mind that bees, so far from aiming at producing a cer- tain number of angles, attempt merely to form cylindrical cells, com- modious as to size, and with as little expenditure of wax as possible ; and whenever any particular cell impinges upon five, six or seven other cells, the thickness of the intervening wax being kept down to a minimum, the result is a cell with just so many corresponding sides, Thiseets. 8011 and this without any controlling choice on the part of the construct- ing bees. In one of the pieces of comb submitted to you, there may be observed a large seven-sided cell founded upon the flooring of two pentagonal cells; but as in the course of construction it was found to be too large singly for one grub, and divided it would have been too small for two, it has been abandoned unfinished. Much, in ike manner, has been said and written upon the angles produced by the contact of the bottoms of the two series of cells in each comb ; but it will be seen, on examination, that these angles vary greatly according to circumstances; and the peculiar result might safely be predicated on the conjoint action of a large namber of indi- viduals working on opposite sides of the comb, and each labouring to produce a form as nearly hemispherical as possible, and with the smallest possible consumption of wax. There is really no greater ' difficulty in the way of explaining the peculiar shape of the bottoms of the cells, upon simple mechanical principles, than there is in accounting for that of the sides; and it seems to me little less than marvellous how any naturalist can carefully have examined the con- tents of a hive, cell by cell, without arriving at what I believe to be the correct conclusion, vzz., that the primary idea of the hive-bee is to produce a cylindrical cell with a hemispherical base. At the meeting of the British Association in 1858, Messrs. Lubbock, Tegetmeier and Darwin, in face of numerous opponents, advocated the cylindrical type as that used by hive-bees; but Mr. Lubbock at the same time stated it to be his belief that wasps make hexagonal cells by choice. Mr. Frederick Smith, one of the best authorities in this or any other country upon Hymenoptera, also maintains that wasps work on an hexagonal plan. Certainly either Mr. Smith has been unlucky in the examples selected for examination, or I have been so; for I have never examined a nest of either wasp or hornet without finding abundant evidence that it is only when another line of cells is in process of erection that the cells in the outer ring assume a hexa- gonal shape. I beg to direct your attention to the exterior rows in the specimens of combs now on the table. You will observe that where the lines have not been laid down for new cells, the outer ring consists of cells whose sections would represent internally three straight sides, and semicircles exteriorly. Were it not that the admitted instincts of bees and wasps are sufficiently wonderful in their various manifestations, I should feel something like compunction in attempting to disprove the suppdsed 8012 Insects. mathematical powers of these admirable little creatures ; but “ truth before all things” should be the maxim of the naturalist. Epwin Brown. Life-Histories of Sawflies. Translated from’the Dutch of M. SNELLEN VAN VOLLENHOVEN, by J. W. May, Esq. (Continued from p. 7857.) CimBex Betuteti, Klug. Imago. AHartig, Blatt-und Holzwespen, p. 70, No. 4. Larva. V. Voll. in Tijdschr. voor Nat. Gesch. en Physiol. 1848, 10th Vol. p. 97, under the name of C. Lucorum. Westwood, in Gardener's Chronicle, 1852, p. 68, b and c; also under the name of C. Lucorum. Cimbex nigra subnitida, rufo-griseoque villosa, antennis nigris, tibiarum apice, tarsisque lutcis. In the year 1843 | published a small contribution to the history of the Hymenoptera, in the journal of Professors J. van der Hoeven and W. H. de Vriese, under the title, “ On the Larva of Cimbex Lucorum,” in which the same insect was described as I am now about to treat of in this paper. It is certainly somewhat singular that Westwood should also have described this same insect under the name of Lucorum: we may conclude from this how very nearly allied the two species are. I shall refer in the sequel to the specific distinctions between the perfect insects, from which it will be seen that the difference is indeed small. This change of names appears to have arisen from the fact that neither Westwood nor I had sufficient confidence in De Geer, who, in the second volume of his ‘ Memoires’ (page 232 of the Ger- man translation), describes Cimbex Lucorum, although, it is true, under the name of C. Amerine, yet so accurately and clearly that every hymenopterist cannot fail to recognize in his description the perfect insect of C. Lucorum. — It will be shown from later investiga- tions, and especially the re-discovery of the larva of this last species, which according to DeGeer lives on willows, that this author was not mistaken in referring the larva to the perfect insect, but only in his determination after Linneus, who was not acquainted with C. Be- tuleti. The larve of the larger species of Cimbex appear to resemble each Insects. 8013 other very closely ; so that the life-history of C. variabilis given by Résel, Frisch, Hartig, Ratzeburg, Lyonet, and perhaps other authors, is far from being in a satisfactory state of clearness. It appears to me that these authors have made their observations on more than one species, and I should be much pleased if I could be enabled to rein- vestigate this matter, for which purpose I shall be happy to receive contributions of larve. As Westwood informs us, the egg is laid in a slit made by the female with her saw in the soft shoots of the haw- thorn ; this must take place in May. The larve are always of a greenish white colour; in poiut of fact the skin is green, but covered as it were with a white powdery dust (see figs. 1, 2 and 3). Until the last moult but one the crown of the head is black, generally covered with a white exudation from the body; the remainder of the head, from the top of the clypeus downwards, is white. The eyes can be clearly seen inserted in oblong black spots, and below them the little white antenne. After the last moult but one the head of the larva is bright yellow, with a pretty large brownish orange-coloured spot on the crown, and the spots in which the eyes are inserted have become more circular. The larvz are nearly four centimetres long. The six anterior legs are whitish green, very pale, with brown claws, the penultimate joint being broad and somewhat flattened. There are eight pairs of abdo- minal legs light green, without claws or hooks ; making twenty-two legs in all. A darker green stripe runs along the back. On either side of the body are nine elliptical spiracles, and above each a small round orifice (fig. 6), this latter being the mouth of a duct from which this larva, the same as that of Abia enea, discharges a colourless fluid on being touched. Westwood remarks that in the case of larve kept in confinement this discharge of fluid rapidly decreases, and at last ceases altogether. I imagine he must have fed his larve on too dry food, although I must at the same time admit that some individual swere rather apathetic as to touching and handling. If the larva is touched too roughly it immediately lets itself fall to the ground. They live until the end of July, feeding upon the leaves of the common haw- thorn or whitethorn ; during the day they keep concealed among the foliage, and it is only on the approach of evening twilight that they creep out to feed. My larve always made cocoons at the end of July or the beginning of August ; these they fastened to the twigs of _ hawthorn or between the leaves, sometimes in the corners and on the bottom of their cage. These cocoons were hard and firm, similar to those of C. variabilis, but very different from those of C. Amerina, 8014 Insects. which are reticulated. The best-fed and earliest-matured larve spin brown cocoons (fig. 7) ; those which are weaker, and later in attaining their full growth, spin yellow cocoons. If the cocoons are cut open in March of the following year, the insect is found to be stil] in the larval state, although having under- gone some change. It appears to be about half its former size, and is of a dull yellowish green colour; the head is still yellow, but the crown has become brown in place of orange. The trophi are piceous ; below the mouth are seen the six thoracic legs lying close together ; the abdominal legs, on the other hand, appear merely as wrinkles (see fig. 8). A short time afterwards, even in the course of the same month, pupe are to be found in the cocoons; these are shining, dull green, with darker, blackish wing-sheaths ; all the external parts are readily seen, and the antenne, legs and wings distinct from the body, being merely covered with a thin transparent skin ; the fluid which is beneath this skin gives a glassy appearance to all the parts; the ab- domen is somewhat darker in colour; on the under side the saw of the female can be distinguished. The imago made its appearance with me at the end of March, having been kept in a moderately warmed room; but I doubt if it is to be met with as early in the natural state. With its great jaws it bit a round piece out of the cocoon in about an hour (a gnawing sound was audible during this operation). When it emerged from its prison the wings were completely unfolded and nearly hardened. Other imagos were produced in the last days of the same month. The perfect insects are 16 to 18 mm. long, their utmost expansion being 88 mm. They are sluggish animals, requiring the warmth of the sun to induce them either to run or fly. Ido not know whether they take any food; I presume they do, as they appear to exist in the perfect state for a month or even six weeks. The general colour of these sawflies is black ; the head is broader in the male than in the female ; in both sexes it is black, and clothed with black pubescence on the crown, that on the face and neck being ferruginous. In the male the mandibles are very long and acutely dentate, the eyes large and elliptical, the ocelli disposed in the form of a right-angled triangle on the crown. The antennz are clavate and entirely black. Westwood states, in the ‘ Gardener’s Chronicle, and other English authors assert the same, that the antenpe contain eight joints, of which the first two are very short and thick, the third long and narrow, the fourth and fifth shorter and of equal length, the last three forming an ovoid club. I cannot help ep hte: ~~ Insects. 8015 thinking that the antennz are thus described in order to make this insect fit into Leach’s division of Trichiosoma, one of the six sub- genera into which this author, without any necessity, divides the genus Cimbex of Olivier. These sub-genera are founded on differ- ences in the antennz, the labrum, and the femora; but the charac- teristics are so uncertain, one form passing into the other, that it is better to abandon these divisions. A proof of this is to be found in the antennz of our insect, these organs having very distinctly but seven joints, and the fifth joint belonging in some measure to the club ; the seventh and eighth joints of Westwood are one joint, there not being even a trace of suture to be seen. The thorax is shining black, with dense ferruginous pubescence. The legs are black to the ends of the tibie, thence reddish yellow. Coxz and femora clothed with long ‘velvety hairs; in the male the femora of the intermediate and hind pair are spined. The wings have a yellowish tint, which is darker towards the costal nervure ; they are black at their insertion; the post-costal, externo-medial and anal nervures are yellow; stigma brownish black; on the outer edge are some smoke-coloured nugez, which are darker in some individuals than in others. The abdomen is black, in the male elliptical or cylindric, in the female broader and flatter, having in both sexes a ferruginous pubescence at the base and under side, and a gray pubescence on the top (fig. 10). The saw and ovipositor (represented in profile at fig. 13) have pre- cisely the same general appearance ‘as in the very nearly allied spe- cies, C. variabilis, the largest of our indigenous species, only there is a difference in the shape of the projections on the edge, which are not mushroom-shaped, but depressed leaf-shaped protuberances, re- presented very highly magnified at fig. 14. The difference between this species and C. Lucorum is but small; the latter is somewhat larger and a bolder insect; and, moreover, in C. Lucorum all the tibia are red, and only the knee or upper extremity brown. Sup- posing De Geer’s description of the larva to be correct, and not to belong to any other species, then the larva of C. Lucorum has no spot on the crown of the head. I hope to be fortunate enough to meet with this larva in our own country ; | imagine it lives on the birch. C. Betuleti is not rare in this country: the larva has been more than once sent to me in some numbers from Utrecht, by Dr. Verloren. ‘Ihave myself taken it near Leyden. Mr. Dozy met with it at Breda. 8016 Entomological Society. Proceedings of Societies. EntTomotocicat Society. April 7, 1862.—F. Sirs, Esq., President, in the chair. Donations, Sc. The following donations were announced, and thanks ordered to be given to the donors :—‘ The Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, Vol. xxiii. Part 2; presented by the Society. ‘ Kongliga Svenska Fregatten Eugenies Resa omking Jorden under befal af C. A. Virgin aren 1851—1853, Insekter, Parts 4 and 5; by the Kong). Svenska Akademien i Stockholm. ‘ Notes on the Generative Organs, and on the Formation of the Egg in the Annulosa, by John Lubbock, Esq., F.R.S.; by the Author. ‘The Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England,’ Vol. xxii. Part 2; by the Society. ‘ Exotic Butterflies, Part 42 ; by W.W. Saunders, Esq., F.R.S., &c. ‘Sitzungsberichte der Konig]. bayer. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Min- chen,’ 1861, ii. Heft 2; by the Academy. ‘ The Canadian Naturalist and Geologist, Vol. vii. No. 1; by the Natural History Society of Montreal. ‘ The Zoologist’ for April; by the Editor. ‘The Proceedings of the Royal Society, Vol. xi. No. 48; by the Society. ‘ The Intellectual Observer, No.3; by the publishers, Messrs. Groom- bridge & Sons. ‘Catalogus Coleopterorum Europe auctore H.Schaum, Editio secunda aucta et emendata ;’ by the Author. ‘The Atheneum’ for March; by the Editor. ‘ The Literary Gazette’ for March; by the Editor. ‘The London Review’ for March; by the Editor. ‘ The Journal of the Society of Arts’ fur March ; by the Society. ‘ Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung.’ 1862, Nos. 1—3; by the Society ‘A List of British He- miptera (Heteroptera), with Allied Species found in Northern and Central Europe which may be expected to occur in Britain, by J. W. Douglas and John Scott; by the Authors. ‘ List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum, by Francis Walker, F.L.S., Part XXIV., Geometrites (con- tinued) ; by the Author. ‘ Naturhistorisk Tidoskrift stiftet af Henrik Kroyer udgivet af Prof. J. C. Shiroate; by the Editor. The following addition to the Library, by purchase, was also announced :—‘ Rho- palocera Africe Australis ; a Catalogue of South African Butterflies, comprising De- scriptions of all the known Species, with Notices of their Larve, Pupx, Localities, Habits, Seasons of Appearance, and Geographical Distribution, by Roland Trimen, M.E.S.L., Part I., Papilionide, Pieride, Danaide, Acreide and Nymphalide. Certificates in favour of W. H. L. Walcott, Esq., of 11, Vyvyan Terrace, Clifton, Bristol, and David Sharp, Esq., of 14, Newcastle Street, Strand, as Members of the Society, were read a first time, and ordered to be suspended in the Meeting Room. Certificates in favour of George Robert Gray, Esq., the Rev. T. H. Browne, and Alfred Haward, Esq., were read a second time. Exhibitions. Mr. Stevens exhibited a box of Coleoptera and Lepidoptera from the Cape of Good Hope, and a specimen of Bryaxis Lefebvrei taken some years ago in the North of England, probably in Cumberland, Entomological Society. - 8017 Pseudogynous Specimen of Liparis dispar. Mr. Stainton, on behalf of Mr. Newman, exhibited a pseudogynous specimen of Liparis dispar, and read the following notes thereon by Mr. Newman :— “At page cxl. of the Appendix to the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1851 I have attempted to differentiate four classes of phenomena usually comprehended and confuunded under the word ‘ hermaphrodite :’ one of these phenomena I have called Pseudogynism, that is, falsely or imperfectly female. At that time T believed, and still believe, the pheno- menon of pseudogynism chiefly confined to endosteate animals, and especially to the ox tribe, in which they are familiarly known as free martins. I have now the plea- sure of submitting to your notice a pseudogynous specimen of Liparis dispar, being the first instance I have seen of pseudogynism among insects, or indeed among ex- esteate animals. The sexual characters are most singularly blended ; the antenne are those of a male; the outline of the wings is exactly as in a female ; the spotted cilia, so conspicuous in the fore wings, is a female character; the termination of the abdomen is female, and the sexual organs are so completely female that the specimen now exhibited has been united for three hours 'with a male of the same species ; but, although it lived for three days after the intercourse had taken place, no eggs were laid, and the abdomen is hollow, never having contained eggs. I am indebted to Mr. Parke, of Stanway Old Hall, near Halifax, for the opportunity of exhibiting this singular and at present unique illustration of aberration from the usual order of Nature.” Dr. Wallace remarked that the circumstance of a female moth, in which no eggs had ever been developed, having nevertheless united in copulation with a male, was peculiarly interesting: he had frequently found that insects, whose appearance had been artificially forced by heat or otherwise, had their ovaries undeveloped ; but in such cases he had never observed copulation to take place. Orgyia Erica, &c. Mr. Stainton exhibited a female of Orgyia Eric, a species not yet found in this country, though possibly it might be expected on heaths in the South of Evgland, being not uncommon in the North of Germany and Belgium. He called attention to the shortness of the legs, and remarked that his attention had been attracted to the insect by a brief notice in the last volume of the ‘ Annales de la Suciété Entomolo- gique Belge, that this female did not quit the cocoon. It was well known that the “female of Orgyia antiqua came out of its cocoon, and that the female of O. Erice should remain inside its cocoon seemed so extraordinary that he had been led to refer to what had been observed respecting other females of this genus, and rather to his surprise it had transpired that the non-exclusion from the cocoon of the female Orgyia was the rule. The earliest notice had appeared in the ‘ Annales de la Société Entomologique de France’ in 1832, where Rambur had described O. rupestris, and had remarked that the female never came out of the cocoon, but had intercourse with the male through a hole at one end of the cocoon, and then deposited its eggs in the interior of the cocoon. In the ‘ Annales de la Suciété Entomologique de France,’ in 1834, the Count de Saporta had made a similar observation with regard to O. trigo- tephros, and had described very graphically the result of the laying of eggs by the female, remarking that she seemed really to dissolve into eggs, for that after the eggs were all laid there was nothing of the female left, for her remains were so small as to VOL. Xx. 2C 8018 Entomological Society. be hardly perceptible. In the Stettin ‘ Entomologische Zeitung’ for 1858 a German entomologist, of the name of Schmidt, had observed that none of his females of O. Erice emerged from the cocoon, but not expecting such’ a habit, and being un- aware of any previous similar observations, he had allowed ‘them to remain and to die in their cocoons without any opportunity of pairing with the males. Herr Schmidt had, with true caution, not ventured to announce this anomalous habit as an esta- blished fact, but possibly as an accidental occurrence, which, however, rendered further observations desirable. Dr. Breyer, of Brussels, had lately made further observations respecting the female of O. Erice. But the most extraordinary observation that had yet appeared was in the last number of the Stettin ‘ Entomologische Zeitung, where there was an account of the habits of O. dubia (a species not uncommon in the South of Russia), by Herr Christoph. The female of that species never left the cocoon; but instead of the male copulating with it through a hole at the end of the cocoon, © he went into the interior of the cocoon, and copulation took place there, after which the male came out of the cocoon in a very deplorable condition, and not exactly fitted for a cabinet specimen. Of the six European species of the genus Orgyia, of which the females were known, it thus appeared that in four, the female never left the cocoon, the only two in which the female emerged from the cocoon being O. antiqua aud O. gonostigma. Mr. Stainton remarked that he had not himself had opportunities of observing. the habits of the female of O. gonostigma, but possibly some gentleman present might be able to speak as to its quitting the cocoon. Looking at the specimens exhibited of Q. Erice, O. gonostigma and O. avtiqua, it would appear that the development of the legs in O. gonostigma was intermediate between the other two species; and doubtless the habits of the species, in quitting or not quitting the cocoon, corresponded with the greater or less development of the legs. Mr. Shepherd stated that he had seen the living female of O. gonostigma, and that it did leave the cocoon. Note on Xenocerus semiluctuosus. Mr. Pascoe exhibited Xenocerus semiluctuosus, one of the Anthribid# from the Moluccas, atid read the following note thereon :— “JT have brought for exhibition specimens of Xenocerus semiluctuosus, Blanch., two males and a female. The female differs: remarkably from both, but one of the males is in the normal condition; the other is an example of ‘dimorphism ;’ it is, in fact, so very different as to be readily taken for a distinct species. The whole antenna is scarcely longer than the penultimate joint of the normal male, while that joint in the dimorphous male is the shortest, if we except the first and third; indeed, nearly all the joints vary in relative length to an extraordinary degree. The differ- ences between the two forms are generally very striking, and I need not enlarge upon them. Although I have seen specimens with the antenne shorter than in the normal, and longer than in the dimorphous male, yet, so far as I know, there is a wide interval between the two forms, which, however, it is not unlikely may be filled up. There are four other species of Xenocerus known to me, and in each of them this dimorphous form occurs. I have also noticed it in two species of the allied genus Mecocerus. That a modification in one or other of some organs occasionally takes place in- insects, I have long been convinced. When drawing up the list of Longicornia for Sir E. Tennent’s work on Ceylon, I was so satisfied that Olenecamptus serratus, Ohev., Entomological Society. 8019 Was a modified form of the common O. bilobus, Fab., that I omitted it without hesi- tation; and I think it not improbable that many mimetic forms, especially among the Lepidoptera, are but cases of dimorphism, in some instances perhaps dependant on second broods, In another direction it shows that characters relied on as of the highest generic importance are in some cases not even of specific value.” A conversation on the subject of “ dimorphism” ensued, in which Prof. Westwood, Mr. Waterhouse, Dr. Wallace, Rev. Hamlet Clark and Mr. Pascoe took part. Prof. Westwood recollected no instance of dimorphism in the antennae, though instances of dimorphism in other parts, as e.g. the mandibles, had for some time been known ; it was not uncommon in insects which possessed a remarkable development, in the male, of some particular organ (e.g. amoung the Lucanide, Onthophagi, &c.), to meet with specimens, in other respects of the male form, but which had that particular organ reduced to the female form. It had been suggested in Kirby and Spence that such specimens might be neuters; but Prof. Westwood regarded them rather as specimens whose full development had by some means or other been retarded and left incom- plete. Mr. Pascoe considered that there were many forms differing only in a single character from the characters of the male or female of well-established species, and that such were not entitled to rank as species or even sub-species, but were in fact only a third form. Mr. Waterhouse thought that, in the division of insects to which reference had been made, it was the rule that three forms existed—the normal male and female, and the third intermediate, neuter or dimorphous, whatever its proper designation might be. The President exhibited a monstrosity of Chrysomela Banksii, captured last sea- son; it had the extremity of the right hind leg cleft into three distinct members, thus giving it very much the appearance of a bird’s foot. The President also, after referring to an exhibition made by him at the previous (March) Meeting of the Society, exhibited a living specimen of Endopbleus spinosu- lus, Zatr. The insects, which had been captured by Mr. Turner in the New Forest, proved, on further examination, to be the true E. spinosulus. Mr. Smith also exhibited what had been sent to him by Mr. Turner as the larye of Endophleus, but which, in Prof. Westwood’s opinion, was the larva of a Musca. Mr. C. Fenn exhibited a specimen of Laphygma exigua, beaten from sallow- blossoms at Lewisham, on the 24th of March last. Note on Varieties. Mr. Fereday exhibited some specimens of the genus Teniocampa, and read the following observations on “* Varieties,” suggested by the exhibited specimens :— “ At the Meeting of this Society held in August last year, two specimens of Lepi- doptera were exhibited by me, which were pronounced by the more learned and expe- rienced of the gentlemen then present to be varieties of Teniocampa munda. Both specimens were taken near Croydon, the one (a male) on the 29th of March, and the other (a female) on the 6th of April last year. 1 did not feel at all satisfied of their being specimens of T. munda, and it was on that account they were exhibited. There seemed to me to be a peculiarity in their form, colour and general appearance, which I could not reconcile with any variety of T. munda known to me ; and itis rather a singular 8020 Entomological Society. circumstance, if they are truly T. munda, that I should have taken two insects of that species so much alike, and so widely differing from the ordinary type of T. munda, without meeting with one of the ordinary type or of any other description, although I visited the same locality very many nights in March and April. “‘T have, however, been able to commence an investigation, which I hope may result in a satisfactory solution, of the ever-recurring question of distinct species and varieties of Lepidoptera,—a solution which seems to me of considerable importance, and to require but little trouble and attention to obtain; and I am surprised that amongst so many lepidopterists so little has been done towards promoting it. The received opinions on the subject are, I believe, grounded upon theory only, and have not been clearly proved to be correct ; and it does appear to me that we ought not to accept as a fact anything which may be, but is not, established by direct and con- clusive evidence. “The female taken as before mentioned, on the 6th of April, 1861, produced a few eggs. The eight insects placed ina line below it I propose, for convenience, to call ‘ the specimens in question.’ They are all the insects which I have been able to obtain from those eggs, and it will be observed that they are all, without any exception, as nearly as possible alike in colour, markings and general appearance, and only differ from the female parent in being a shade lighter and less red in colour. The larve were precisely similar to the larve of T. munda, so far as Dr. Knaggs and myself were able to judge by comparison with larve of the ordinary type of T. munda reared at the same time. Of the character of the male parent I am unfortunately ignorant, —whether it was an insect of the ordinary type of T. munda, or similar to the female, or otherwise,— the female having been already impregnated at the time she was captured. “On the right of the specimens in question is a series of T. munda, the three tup specimens having been bred (as I am informed by Dr. Knaggs, who has kindly lent them to me for comparison) from the eggs of a female of the ordinary type of T. munda, and it will be observed that they vary considerably in colour and markings. “Messrs. Fenn have also lent me a long series of so-called ‘ varieties’ of T. munda, collected by them from various sources. “On the lid of the box are five specimens of T, instabilis, produced this year from the eggs of one female ; and these also vary considerably. “ But of all these so-called ‘ varieties’ there does not appear to be any evidence as to the male parents ; and a question presents itself very strongly to my mind, — How are so-called ‘ varieties’ produced, and have we any positive proof of their being the offspring of a male and female of one and the same species? _I have not carried my experiments sufficiently far to enable me to furnish any decided proofs in answer to this question, and [ am sorry that my departure to New Zealand will prevent my fol- lowing up the experiments to any definite conclusion; but my friend Dr. Knaggs has kindly undertaken, although not holding similar views to mine upon the subject, to continue them, and is now feeding a quantity of larve produced from eggs which I have been fortunate enough to obtain from one of the specimens in question, after her copulation with her own brother. If these larve produce insects all alike, and similar in colour and markings to their parents and to the other specimens in question, I think it will afford a strong argument, in the absence of positive proof to the contrary, that what are called ‘ varieties’ are in fact hybrids, the produce of the union of dis- tinct species, and for the following reasons, viz., — If the assumed fact, that from the Entomological Society. 8021 union of a female of any particular species with a male of the same species a variety of that species may be obtained, is correct, how would the absence of variety in this instance be explained ? The specimens in question are said to be a variety of T. munda, a species described as particularly variable; and yet here would be a case of two gene- rations in which no variety was produced. If it is said that the tendency of a variety of a species may be to propagate an offspring bearing its own type of colour and markings, then how is a species to be distinguished from a variety? But it may happen that the larve in question, now in the course of being reared, may produce a variety of insects. In that case the fact of the existence of varieties will be proved by the result of actual experiment, instead of resting, as I apprehend it now does, upon theory only. To prove that so-called ‘ varieties’ are varieties and not hybrids, I con- tend that it is not sufficient to prove their descent from a particular female, but there must be evidence of the male parent having been an insect of a precisely similar type to that of the female parent, because, if the male varied from the female, the very question upon which I raise an issue is again involved. “ T shall be glad to know if any one has actually obtained varieties of any species of Lepidoptera from an union, which they have been able to prove, between a male and female of one and the same species and type. _I do hope that some of the gen- tlemen here present will try the experiment. My desire is to obtain actual and posi- tive proof, the only ground upon which received facts in any science ought to stand. “T make these observations with all due deference to the opinions of those who have more experience and knowledge than myself, and shall be only too happy to be corrected by them in apy error I may have fallen into upon the snbject. “ T should observe that the specimens in question are not in such good condition as bred specimens ‘usnally are, in consequence’ of their having been kept for some time in the cage for the purpose of obtaining eggs; and I may also observe that their larve were some of them fed upon sallow and some upon apricot, and that so far Mr. Gregsou’s statement, as to creating varieties of insects by feeding the larve on differ- ent kinds of plants, is not borne out.” Note on Argynnis Cybele and A. Aphrodite. The Secretary read the following paper, by Mr. Walker, “ On Argynnis Cybele and A. Aphrodite” :— “T have received from Mr. Edwards, of Newburgh, U.S.A., a form of Argynnis allied to Cybele and Apbrodite, which throughout this communication is spoken of as No. 1. I wish to lay before the Society an extract from a letter addressed to me by Mr. Edwards, which has some reference to the geographical distribution of species or of varieties. Mr. Edwards writes as follows :— “¢T have not a doubt of there being in this region three allied species of Argynnis. I have had before me a large number of Cybele, and of the No.1, from many localities, and I have taken both myself in large numbers. The true Cybele is the common species of the Southern States and of New Jersey. In the vicinity of New- burgh, sixty miles north of New York, I find about as many of No. 1 as of Cybele. In the Catskill mountains, fifty miles north of Newburgh, I took during last summer only eight specimens of Cybele, while No. 1 was extremely abundant. From Con- necticut and Massachusetts, from central New York and Canada West, all I have received have been No. 1. Ina long series of both species the differences are con- stant and the distinctions plain. Cybele is larger, duller fulvous, and the fulvous is 8022 Entomological Society. not uniform, being lighter towards the hind margin and darker next to the base. The under side of the hind wings of No. 1 is of a rich cinnamon-brown, and the space be- tween the two outer rows of silver spots is always, so far as I have seen, encroached on by the cinnamon colour. In Cybele this space is unclouded and immaculate, and the basal colour is quite another shade of brown. The silvering of No. 1 is very de- cided on the costa and on the abdominal margin. Kirby’s description of Aphro- dite applies to No. 1. The figure in Westwood’s ‘ British Butterflies’ is that of No. 1, and so is the description. Gosse, in his ‘ Canadian Naturalist, p. 229, 261, speaks of two species as common, and which he had at first confounded. I do not think that No. 2 is common in that part of Canada; I only took thirty specimens last summer, though I looked for it carefully. This was in the Catskill mountains, and the next locality from which we have it is among the Green mountains of Vermont, and then the White mountains of New Hampshire ; so it seems to be a mountain species in this latitude.’ “A. Cybele is much more different from Aphrodite than the latter is from No. 1, and it seems to me that the three will be generally considered as forming only two species, though some entomologists will describe them as three species, and others will maintain that they are only three local varieties, and that No. 1 is the transition from Cybele to Aphrodite. All the specimens in the British Museum are Cybele and Aphrodite. I have placed No. 1 in the Museum for inspection ; it was forwarded to me by letter, and is consequently much injured.” Mr. F. Moore exhibited a collection, contained in fourteen drawers, of Asiatic silk-producing moths, illustrated with specimens and figures of their several trans- formations, and samples of the various raw and manufactured silk. Mr. Moore also read a paper on those insects, in which he enumerated the whole of the Asiatic silk- producing moths known to him, with remarks on their habits, localities, cultivation, and the quality of the silk produced. He also gave the characters of a new genus (Caligula), and described a new species of Neoris (N. Huttoni, Moore). Proposed Restoration of Obsolete Names. The Secretary read a paper by Dr. H. Schaum, “ On the Restoration of Obsolete Names in Entomology,” in which the author assigned the reasons which induced him not to adopt the names of Stephens and Marsham for many Coleoptera which conti- nental authors had not been able to identify, but which the researches of Mr. Water- house had shown to belong to species known on the Continent by names posterior in date to the English authors’. Dr. Schaum contended that the law of priority of no- menclature was applicable, or at all events that a once-current name was to be dropped and an older one restored, only when the publication of the earlier name was accompanied by such a description of the insect as would give another entomologist a reasonable probability, or at least some possibility, of recognizing the species from the description. A description which did not come up to this standard was no description at all, and names accompanied only by such nondescript descriptions were in fact mere catalogue names, not entitled to priority. Mr. Waterhouse, Prof. Westwood, Mr. Stainton, the Rev. Hamlet Clark and the President combatted the views of Dr. Schaum, and argued in favour of the law of priority of nomenclature as now received in this country. It seemed to be considered that Dr. Schaum’s views were good in theory, but bad in practice; that it was impos- Tnsects. 8023 sible to say where the line should be drawn between descriptions which did and those which did not entitle a name to priority ; that what one entomologist would consider to be a good description, by another would be considered faulty and untrustworthy ; that what in one age was a sufficient description became in a subsequent age insuffi- cient, from the discovery of new species, and other reasons; that the consequence of a strict application of Dr. Schaum’s rule would be the immediate abolition from our lists of all or most of the Linnean and Fabrician names ; and lastly, that Dr. Schaum had in some degree shown the impracticability of his rule by himself not having acted up toit. In reference to some criticisms, contained in the paper on the descriptions in Stephens’ works, and in Mr. Hope’s paper on Coccinella in the ‘ Zoological Mis- cellany,’ Prof. Westwood remarked that Dr. Schaum appeared to have forgotten that Stephens described his genera in two ways —first, a few words of description to each genus, pointing out the principal characters ; secondly, a synoptical table of the genera in each family, wherein the most minute characters were noticed. As to Mr. Hope’s descriptions, he might mention that the paper on Coccinella, as published, was a mere abstract of what Mr. Hope wrote ; he knew it to be a fact that when the paper was writlen it was, for some reason or other, inconvenient to give it at length in the ‘ Zoological Miscellany, and the elaborate descriptions of Mr. Hope were cut down to the meagre half-dozens of words which had incurred the censure of Dr. Schaum. . A new Part of the ‘ Transactions,’ Vol. i., 3rd series, Part I., was on the table, ready for distribution among the members and subscribers —J. W. D. Note on a Species of Gistrus.— At the March meeting of the Northern Entomolo- gical Society, Mr. B. Cooke described a fly (taken by Mr. James Cooper, during the summer of 1854, in Perthshire), under the name of (Estrus biangulatus. At that time Mr. Bracy Clark said that this insect was parasitic on the reindeer. He had, how- ever, lately been informed by Mr. Haliday that “ It is stated in the Transactions’ of the Zoological and Botanical Society of Vienna, 1858, pp. 385—414 and 449—470, in a paper by Brauer, giving much information on the natural history of the known European CEstride, and adding five new species to the sixteen kuown before, that the female of Cephenemyia is viviparous ; C. Trompe is the species appropriated to the reindeer ; C. pecta and C. rufibarbis to the red deer ; C. stimulator, which I believe your specimen belongs to, probably to the roebuck, and that it is the parent of the faucal botts in this animal.” Mr. Cooke said that if this is the fact the insect is indi- genous to this country, and any collectors visiting Scotland should iook out for specimens. Sugar and Sallows.— As it may not be known to many that the “ sugar-hait” can be advantageously used when the sallows are in or near their bloom, I send you the result of an experiment which quite exceeded my expectations. On the 3rd instant, finding that the sallows in my favourite locality were very backward, although others not far distant were in full flower, I adopted the expedient of “ sugaring ” the trees near at hand, which were soon crowded with hybernating Noctue and Orthoside. Whilst busy boxing Teniocampa munda I was joined by my friend Mr. Birks, who had been unprofitably examining the sallows. We remained together, and during the 8024 Quadrupeds. evening took twenty-nine T. munda, besides other things. The following evening we took twenty-two of the same species in like manner. Other evenings have been nearly as productive. I think the above is worthy of notice, as in previous years, when only the sallows have been searched, the capture here of one or two T. munda was con- sidered satisfactory for one evening. It would therefore seem to be worth while trying “sugar” for some of the rarer species of this family out at this season.—R. Anderson; York, April 17, 1862. Errata in “ Notes on the Entomology of the Isle of Man.” —P. 7896, line 20 from top, for Holiman read Holmian; line 10 from bottom, for Nortto read North; line 6 from bottom, for pretty read petty. P. 7921, line 11 from bottom, for yeild read yield. P. 7922, line 6 from top, for emptying read untying. Hymenoptera and Diptera. — 1 take the liberty of reiterating my earnest entreaty that entomologists will kindly capture and preserve what Hymenoptera and Diptera come in their way when in pursuit of the more popular and attractive Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. I have been occupied very frequently during the winter in arranging and naming my specimens, greatly assisted, as far as regards bees, &c., by Mr. Smith, of the British Museum ; and I trust before long not to have a single specimen un- named.— Edward Newman. Young Badgers. — So little is known of the breeding habits of some of our native quadrupeds that a notice of the reproduction of the badger may be acceptable to the readers of the ‘ Zoologist.. On the 14th of last month, at the Zoological Gardens, Regent’s Park, were born four little badgers. | They were produced alive, but unfor- tunately shared the fate; of so many animals born in captivity: they were all killed by the mother in the course of a day or two. Their average weight was just three ounces. The measurements of the largest of the litter were — Extreme length 7 inches; length of the head 1% inch; length of tail 17; height at shoulder 2k inches. These young animals were born blind, but well covered with short grayish white hair, the two dark facial stripes being faintly marked. The anterior limbs were very stout, larger and apparently better developed than the posterior. The head was not so much elongated proportionately as in the adult, and altogether there was a striking resemblance between these little badgers and the newly-born polar bears, except in size, the bears being nearly double the length of the badgers. The struc- tural affinity between these animals would lead one to expect a close correspondence in their breeding habits, but such does not appear to be the case. The young hadgers were not remarkably small, aud the mother showed no loss of appetite either before or after littering, as has been observed in the black, brown and polar bears. The time of year at which the badger brings forth, although early, is more in accordance, than in the bear tribe, with our ideas of the general breeding season ; but it must not be for- gotien that captivity and its attendant annoyances often materially affect the repro- ductive habits of all wild creatures. The essential differences between. the bears and badger in this respect cannot, however, be due to confinement, but must be con- sidered as characteristic distinctions. In 1852 a badger was born in the Gardens so early as the 20th of February. I have not been able to ascertain the period of gesta- tion. — LE, W. H, Holdsworth ; 18, Osnaburgh Street, April 10, 1862. Quadrupeds. 8025 Concerning a Dormouse.—On the 3rd of January, when in search of ferns, a lad who accompanied me, seeing a nest on the ground picked it up; it proved to be that of a dormouse, probably taken from a neighbouring thicket by boys, and thrown away under the impression of its being an old bird’s pest; but the mouse apparently had been undisturbed by the rough handling, though the nest was in a disordered and ragged state. When brought into the house it was placed in a common bird-cage, being still in a deep slumber, but on removal to a warm room it svon began to stir itself, springing about the cage in the most agile manner, running up the wires with the greatest ease imaginable. When handled it made no attempt to resent the liberty. After perambulating the cage for awhile with a view to escape it became reconciled to its prison-house, settling quietly down, and ere long relapsing into its usual state of torpidity. It was fat and sleek, notwithstanding its long fast. On the 4th of March I carried it to have its photographic likeness taken. Though a frosty day—shortly after removal from the box compartment of its new cage—I perceived that it had slightly uncoiled itself, though held in a cold hand, and on reaching the photographer’s T found that it had so far relaxed as to have assumed a semicircular form, not unlike the sign of the “Golden Fleece,” and as inanimate too, and, its eyes being closed, a partial observer would have pronounced it dead, but it breathed nevertheless, and might, by an attentive ear, be heard to emit a faint and plaintive note, rather than a squeak or snore. Possibly the warmth of band or room may have led the mouse to dream of verdant spring, hazel woods and absent mate. Though not weighed, I feel confident that it has fallen off in condition during the two months it has been in confinement; not that it could have fed had it been at liberty, seeing that it has been in a constant state of torpor. Shelled nuts and other food were provided for it, but nothing having been touched there is reason to doubt whether it feeds at all during the winter months, notwithstanding all that has been advanced to the contrary. For instance, Macgillivray says, “And rolling itself into a ball it falls into a state of torpidity, from which it is now and then aroused by an unusually mild day, when it partakes of its provision.” If such be its habit, why are we not informed how and where it stores its food? When and by whom observed quitting its nest for the purpose of feeding? Mr. Salmon (qnoted by the above author) states, “ that it experienced no difficulty in either ascend- ing or’ descending the polished backs of the chairs.” But unless the backs of the chairs were greatly inclined, I do not see how a footing could be obtained, but as he says that “ on being set at liberty it sprang at least two yards on toa table,” I conclude that it ascended and descended the backs of the chairs in a similar manner. Up to this time (30th of March), the mouse had been in a profound sleep, but before daylight it left its box and entered the cage, the rotatory motion of which was heard for some time. It has eaten some barley and bread crumbs during the day, and all its natural functions are restored. March 31. In the morning it was found sleeping, partly coiled up, head downwards. It has been very sluggish both yesterday and to day, but its sense of hearing is very acute, raising its head at the slightest noise or whistle, and peering up at one with its large and prominent black eyes. April 1. At 9 a.m. found that the little‘animal had worked its way into the centre of a mass of cotton wool, so as to be completely concealed. At half-past 3 o'clock it was still sleeping, but on the cotton being moved it awoke, shook itself and resumed its nap, 2nd. At half-past 8 a.m. found the mouse snugly ensconced amid the cotton, looking like a ball, except that the head protruded somewhat; it was awake, however, and appeared to be eyeing me. At10 p.m. it was sleeping on its side, partly rolled up. 3rd. At8 a.m. on VOL. XX. 2D 8026 Birds. removing the cotton covering, it appeared to be in a deep sleep, and at 2 p.m. was still sleeping; towards night it awoke, but did not stir. 4th. At 9 a.m. it was sleeping as before, and at 3 p.M., finding that it had neither moved nor touched its food, and thinking it might be ailing, I took it into my hand ; it was stiff and cold and apparently dead, but on removal to a warm room—where it was also exposed to the sun—it gra- dually revived, but on attempting to run it went spinning round, owing possibly to its having one eye closed. It seemed stupified, however, knocking itself against the wall, window, &c., rejecting nuts and other kinds of food. 5th. At half-past 7 a.m. was still alive, but in a very weakly state; on being taken to the fire it recovered a little, but took no food till it had slaked its thirst; it drank long and deeply, and in the course of an hour or two it began to feed, taking up part of a nut in its fore paws like a squirrel. 6th. At 9 a.M., as usual of a morning, it seems chilled and cramped: one eye is partially closed, and it is evidently suffering from a cold or chill, but it has fed well during the day. 7th. It is much improved, and has consumed several nuts. 8th. It is lively and well, both eyes clear and bright. Though held in the hand for some time, while being examined and measured, it did not attempt to bite. 9th. At half-past 12 a.m. found it running about the cage. I had previously observed that it was more lively and inclined to feed at night, and think it may, like the common mouse, be nocturnal in its habits. Its full and prominent eye seems formed for catching every ray of light. Though restored to health it is still sluggish, sleeping the greater part of the day. On the 29tb of March, its having been removed from an empty room to a sleeping apartment may possibly have caused it to wake up somewhat earlier than it otherwise would have done. A slight description may not be unacceptable. Sex, female. The back is yellowish brown, with a grayish tinge, it being covered with long black hairs, interspersed with white. Between the ears there isa darker shade, defining the forehead, which, as well as the cheeks and ears, is of a bright reddish brown. The mystachial bristles black. The centre line of the back and upper part of the tail are a shade or two darker than the rest; under part of tail of a yellowish gray. Chin light yellowish brown. Neck and breast of a pure white. The rest of the under parts reddish brown, but lighter towards the sides. Forehead bowed. Nose pointed, and of a flesh- colour. Ears rounded and very open. Eyes large, black, prominent, obliquely set. Legs short, flat and very muscular, of a reddish flesh-colour; paws large; toes very long, except the thumb, which is rudimentary, and nailless. Total length, 58, inches ; length of tail, hair included, 28,; width of tail, 3,; head, |; ear, 3,; mystachial bristles, 1%; longest toe, 3,; hind paw to end of claw, }!, and 3, in width; to first joint of leg, 3, and 3, in width. Its invariable position, except when in action, is a sitting one, with the back much curved, and the tail brought round the body. Though timid it never attempts to escape.—Henry Hadfield ; Ventnor, Isle of Wight, April 9, 1862. Early Arrival of Migratory Birds.—The mild weather which has prevailed during the greater part of the month of March seems to have had its influence on the move- ment of the migratory birds, if we may judge from the following dates observed at and near Bembridge. March’. Wheatear; a single bird on the shore. March 18, Chiff- chaff; numerous, Also a fresh flight of wheatears and many titlarks on the shore. 18th. Swallow; one seen at Sandown. 28th. Wryneck; several times heard. 29th. Birds 8027 Redstart; a single male seen. Wheatears and chiff-chaffs numerous. 31st. Sand- martin; one off Bembridge Harbour. Though most of these have at different times been noticed in March, I believe the occurrence, at this early date, of no less than six of the summer birds of passage in one locality is very remarkable.—A. G. More ; Bem- bridge, Isle of Wight, April, 1862. Protection of Small Birds. — In the same way that it is found necessary by law to protect, the workers in mines against their own folly and carelessness, by rendering the use of an unguarded light an indictable offence, it is no less important, at the present time, that some steps should be taken to stay the cruel and suicidal practice of many agriculturists of destroying indiscriminately our small birds, by means of poisoned wheat. Had we not the express warning before our eyes of the inevitable result of such a system, in the frightful ravages of insect life on the Continent, to abate which, at the present time, the most stringent laws are now being enforced to stay the slaughter of the “ farmers’ friends,” the slightest reflection must convince any one, capable of reasoning power, that the wholesale destruction of one class of God’s crea- tures, purposely designed by their Miker to fill an appointed place in the order of Nature, must destroy that wonderful balance observable in the auimal kingdom, by ' which the necessities of each particular class are made available to keep down the excess of others. The hawks and the owis prey on the surplus of the feathered tribe and the smaller vermin that infest our homesteads, and but for the almost total anni- hilation of the former by keepers, on account of the gawe, the large flocks of finches and other small birds would be thinned in a far more natural and legitimate way than by the arsenic and strychnine of the secret poisoner. To the small birds also, in their turn, is assigned,the task of keeping down the teeming myriads of insect life which threaten, but for such intervention, to render the land a barren waste ; and though man only too effectively can devise the means of exterminating the feathered tribes, where will he find a substitute for those little microscopic eyes that pry into every bud and plant and crevice, and pick up millions of little atoms from the soil, too small for human vision, yet terrible in their numbers. If, then, their allotted work throughout the universe is one of such immense importance, may we not consider them entitled, in return, to some portion of that grain they, and they only, have preserved to our use. We admit it is often a vexatious sight for the farmer to see the long rows of empty ears skirting the fences of his wheat and barley fields; but if the hawks are not with us to do their work, the gun, the snare, the net and the clappers will at least avail as much as they ever did before the reckless system now in vogue caused wholesale massacres in every county. The ‘Stamford Mercury’ states that at Spalding and Holbeach men have appeared on market days “‘ with hundreds of linnets, finches, sparrows, and other small birds (which they have poisoned) strung round them like beads, as trophies and an advertisement of their odious calling.” The editor of the ‘Cambridge Independent’ also says :—‘* We saw on Thursday morning a labourer in Chesterton fields throwing poisoned wheat broadcast around the hedges and trees,” and that “ one chemist alone in Cambridge prepares two bushels per week of wheat mixed with strychnine for the destruction of the harmless and beautiful feathered tribe.” Hitherto the poisoning has been apparently confined to the autumn and winter months, when old and young birds frequent the growing corn, or seek subsistence during frost and snow from the stores of grain in barns and stack-yards. Now, however, it is continued during the spring, with no doubt the stupid and short-sighted notion of destroying the old birds before breeding commences. Have these wiseacres never reflected that all our resi- 8028 Birds. dent grain-eating birds are insect-eaters too, and that a large proportion of them sub- sist on insect food alone as long as they can obtain it? and when, we would ask, is insect life so destructive as in spring and summer, when our fruit trees are blossoming and the grain is young? No sooner is the warmth of the suf felt, after months of dreary winter, than the land teems with insect forms innumerable, which threaten, unchecked, to destroy all vegetation ; but soon an all-wise Providence supplies the needed antidote, in the gaping mouths of hundreds of unfledged nestlings waiting the return of their untiring parents. The tender stomachs of these little creatures admit of no less digestible food than insects, grubs and caterpillars, and these, in numbers far beyond the powers of calculation, relieve their wants and save the farmers from inevitable ruin. We are sorry to own that this abominable practice is only too com- mon in our own county ; and whilst we feel it our duty thus to call attention to the subject, we trust that those in authority, who are capable of judging of the inevitable result, will bestir themselves to compel the ignorant and the thoughtless to desist from the perpetration of an undoubted crime.—Norfolk Chronicle, May 5, 1862. Birds killed by flying against a Clock.—I have to record a circumstance in con- pexion withithe migration of birds which, I believe, is not common in this locality. On Saturday morning, the 26th of April, a youth of the name of Rutter resorted to St. Mary’s {Church, Devizes, to ring the six o’clock bell, and on arriving at the building he discovered at the hase of the tower from twenty: to thirty small birds lying on the ground quite dead. The plumage of all of them was in fine condition, but some of the bills and heads were much damaged, apparently occasioned by a blow. Birds of passage usually travel at night, and in the present instance it may fairly be assumed that these little creatures were making their journey toward some favourite spot selected for their summer residence (for birds return every year to their former haunts), but coming in view of the illuminated clock on St. Mary’s tower, they may have dashed against it with such force that they fell to the ground and were killed by the concussion. Several instances are recorded in ornithological works of birds coming to this country having dashed themselves against light-houses and other buildings on the sea-coast, but I never remember to have seen an account of birds having done so in inland towns, and I am unable to account for their having done so in the present instance, except from the extreme darkness of the night, or probably. they hoped to escape a very heavy hail storm which occurred, which might have happened at the time of their arrival in Devizes. I have been favoured with a sight of three of the species so found, for which I am indebted to Mr. James Randle, builder: these were the reed warbler (Sylvia arundinacea), the grasshopper warbler (S. locustella) and the wryneck (Yuna torguilla); some numbers of the latter species had been seen in Wiltshire, where they are known as “ the cuckoo’s mate,” nearly a fortnight. I regret to find that the lad Rutter set no value on the birds, and that he gave about twenty of them to the cat: I am informed that several of these differed considerably from those above named, and no doubt were of different species. Mr. Grant, of this town, intends to preserve the four birds which have been saved from the jaws of the voracious cat.—John James Fox; Devizes, May 8, 1862, Birds. 8029 The Nightingale’s Nest. By the Rev. ALFRED CuartEs Situ, M.A. THERE is a tradesman living in this neighbourhood who is extremely well acquainted with the habits and notes of the whole family of warblers, and professes to have so accurate an ear as to distinguish the several species readily by their voices when they are hidden from his sight, but has devoted more attention to the nightingale than to any other of our British songsters, and has been more successful many consecutive years in rearing the young of that bird from the nest, and, by means of very carefully and judiciously prepared food (concocted of a variety of materials, which, when pounded together are meant to resemble, as nearly as possible, in all essential particulars, artificial - caterpillars), has been enabled to preserve his melodious pets in full health and song throughout the winter. I mention these particulars in order to show that he is no tyro in the art, nor a superficial observer likely to be deceived; indeed his manner in relating the following incident proved him to my satisfaction to be extremely cautious in coming to a conclusion, painstaking, accu- rate and business-like in satisfying himself on the point he was investi- gating, qualities of superlative value in the enquiring naturalist. The circumstance which he described to me, and which I consider so remarkable as to be worthy of notice in the ‘ Zoologist,’ is the dis- covery, on two occasions, of a strong thorn projecting upwards in the centre of the nightingale’s nest, than which one can scarcely imagine a more uncomfortable and inconvenient intruder, and the object of which is extremely difficult to fathom. The one nest was at the bottom of a thorn bush, not upon the ground, but within six or eight inches of it, profusely garnished with beech leaves, and from the very centre a large and sharp thorn protruded through the bottom of the nest : when discovered it contained four newly-hatched young, which my informant subsequently reared, and which he describes as lying on either side of the thorn. The other nest was placed in the middle of a thick bush, not a thorn, but of what species he did not recollect, about three feet from the ground: it was a large nest, of somewhat loose workmanship, and, in like manner, a long thorn, or rather, in this instance, pointed stake, issued through the nest, projecting upwards above the top. In both cases there could be no mistake about the matter, for each nest was easily examined, tolerably neat and tidy, and the presence of the intruding thorn clearly not a matter of accident, 8030 Birds. but design. What then can have been the motive in the builders of the nest in introducing so awkward a central pillar? Could it be (when the nest was not placed on the ground, as 1 believe is the more ordinary custom of the bird) in order to strengthen and consolidate so fragile a cradle, as a mast, to which the fibres should be tied? Yet no other bird, as far as I know, finds such support needful, or is in the habit of adopting so clumsy a device. I at once sought for an explanation of this singular fancy in the pages of Hewitson, Yarrell, Selby, Bewick, and other standard works which I have at hand on the nesting of birds, but I do not find the projecting thorn alluded to by any of them ; and yet, on farther investi- gation, the fact elicited by the observation of my informant, had been (though totally unknown to him) recorded by some of our poets from the sixteenth century. Thus I find Shakspeare, with that wonderful accuracy with which he delineates every subject he handles, and not the least so when he touches on Natural History, singing in the sonnet of the “ Passionate Pilgrim,” “ Every thing did banish moan, Save the nightingale alone; She, poor, bird, as all forlorn, Lean’d her breast up-till a thorn, And there sung the dolefull’st ditty, That to hear it was great pity.” And, again, in the “ Poem of Lucrece,” “And whiles against a thorn thon bear’st thy part To keep thy sharp woes waking.” Again, Giles Fletcher, who wrote in the early part of the seventeenth century, says:— “ Tell me, sad Philomel, that yonder sit’st, Piping thy songs unto the dancing twig, And to the water-fall thy music fist. So let the friendly prickle never dig Thy watchful breast, with wound or small or big, Whereon thou leanst.” And again, “ The bird forlorn That singeth with her breast against a thorn. And Pomfret, a. p. 1667—1708, Birds. 8031 “ The finest music of the grove we owe To mourning Philomel’s harmonious woe ; And, while her griefs in charming notes express’d, A thorny bramble pricks her tender breast. In warbling melody she spends the night, And moves at once compassion and delight.” And Hood, in the same strain, “ Come let us set our careful breasts Like Philomel, against a thorn, To aggravate the inward grief That makes her accents so forlorn.” Thus it was evidently believed by the poets, whether such an idea was founded on fact or not, that the nightingale leaned her breast on a thorn when she poured forth her mournful song. Now, I ask, what was the origin of such a supposition? Surely not a mere poetic fancy without foundation, such as the romance of the melodious accents of the dying swan. But I conceive that the finding a thom projecting from the nest after the manner described above, if it be occasionally found in the nest of the nightingale, as in the two instances I have given, would furnish ample ground for such poetic embellishment. But if this be so, still the original difficulty remains unexplained, namely, Cui bono ? the why and wherefore of the thorn; and the enigma, scarcely more easy of solution, how does the sitting bird contrive to cover her eggs or callow young, with a stout and pointed thorn occu- pying the very centre of the nursery, an insuperable bar, as one would have conjectured, to all domestic convenience and comfort? These are questions which I should much like to see answered, and on which I earnestly entreat the opinion of those versed in nightingales and nightingales’ nests. Other details respecting these birds, communicated from the same source, and those, too, very reliable, as resulting from close personal observation, are, that in Wiltshire at any rate they are considerably on the increase, and that notwithstanding the raid made on them by my informant and two friends, who in one day a few years back, and on one estate, took no less than fourteen birds, the greater part of which were tamed and kept in cages through the winter. The same observer has also satisfied himself that there are two distinct species of night- ingales, which he describes as the darker and the redder sort, and which he states vary from one another, not only in colour, in size and in note, but also in locality, the one almost invariably frequenting hedgerows, 8032 Birds. the other as generally the corners of woods. It must not, however, be inferred that either of these could by any means be the greater or true “thrush nightingale” of the Continent (Motacilla philomela, Gmel.), the “ sprosser ” of the Germans. ALFRED CHARLES SMITH. Yatesbury Rectory, Calne, May 5, 1862. Occurrence of the Golden Oriole in Essex.—A fine male specimen of the golden oriole (Oriolus galbula), in fresh breeding plumage, was shot last week at Tiptree, near this place. The specimen, which I saw in the flesh, was sent to Mr. Cator, of this town, to be preserved. There is no doubt, I think, but that this bird was after breeding. I hope the female will meet with a better fate than her mate— C. R. Bree; Colchester, May 16, 1862. Occurrence of the Black Redstart at Southampton.—A specimen of the black red- start (Sylvia tithys) was shot at Sholing Common, near Southampton, on the 20th of March last, by a young man named George Ward: he is an invalid, and was sitting by the door of the house where he and his parents live, when the bird flew round the corner of the house and settled on the ground; he went in directly and brought out a gun and shot it. It was stuffed by Mr. Taylor, of the Strand, and may now be seen, by any gentleman who is desirous of doing so, at 97, High Street, Southampton. Sholing Common is an extensive place, dotted here and there with houses and with pieces of broken-up land. The hawfinch and the crossbill haye been rather numerous tn this neighbourhood lately. One day a man bronght ten or twelve of the crossbill to Mr. Taylor; they were tied by the neck, and looked something like a bunch of carrots dangling from the man’s hand by a string: they were offered for sale, but were so much injured that no bargain could be made.—J. Goailey ; 97, High Street, Southampton, Occurrence of the Lapland Bunting in Norfolk.—A fine male of this rare and handsome bunting was netted near Norwich about two months since. The bird- catcher, unaware of its specific rarity, sold it soon afterwards, as a variety of the black- headed bunting, to the Rev. E. J. Bell, of Crostwich. In that gentleman’s aviary the bird soon began to exhibit some of the peculiar markings of its breeding plumage, and a reference to Yarrell’s plate and description identified it at once as Emberiza lapponica and not E, scheeniclus. I know of but one previous instance of the Lap- land bunting having been met with in Norfolk: a male, also netted near this city, in June, 1855, as noticed at the time in the ‘ Zoologist’ (Zool. 4631) —H. Stevenson ; Norwich, April 21, 1862. Occurrence of the Parrot Crossbill near Colchester.—Three specimens of the above so-called species of crossbill (Lowia pityopsittacus) were brought to me in the flesh on the 2Ist of February last. They were one male and two females, and were killed on the Lexden or London road, just south of this town. As there is a good deal of interest attached to the natural history of the crossbill, and more particularly as to the specific difference of the common and parrot, I will, with your permission, give a description of the birds captured at Colchester, with one or two remarks. The male bird (all the measurements were taken in the flesh) was of the following dimensions :— Birds. 8033 Length, 7} inches; carpus to tip, 4 inches; tarsus, } inch ; beak from rictus, # inch; circumference of beak at base, 2 inches. One of the females differed from this measurement only in having the beak about a line less; the other was altogether smaller:—Length, 7 inches; carpus to tip, 3, inches; tarsus, } inch; beak, ? inch; circumference of beak, 18,inch. In plumage the male bird was, on the top of the head and cheeks, middle of back, chest, abdomen and flanks, of a mottled brick-red and green, the former predominating; rump and upper tail-coverts bright vermilion- red, tinged with yellow; sides of throat-scapularies and upper wing-coverts dirty green; primaries and tail brown-black; under tail-coverts gray; feet dull brown; tarsi lighter; beak horn-colour; the lower mandible lightest. The female had those parts which were mottled with brick-red in the male, green; rump and upper tail- coverts bright yellow; throat and under tail-coverts gray ; primaries and tail black- brown. No other differences. Their crops contained the seeds of what I believe to be the Scotch fir: I enclose some for your opinion. I have heard of one other speci- men having been shot, which, from its size, I should infer was this species ; and I have seen a male of the common crossbill which was entirely dark brick-red, which was _ shot in February near Walton-on-the-Naze. There is no difficulty in distinguishing the parrot crossbill, by its greater size and by the marked difference in the thickness and breadth and general parrot-like appearance of the beak. Whether they are distinct species or not I am not prepared to say. They are, however, sufficiently distinct to be kept and described separately, whichis all we can say of many other closely-allied forms. Mr. Wheelwright has been good enough to send me a series of skins, old and young, with the nest and eggs, of the parrot crossbill from Sweden. There is no difference whatever in the plumage, but my specimens are rather larger than those from Sweden. Your ornithological readers will doubtless have seen Mr. Wheelwright’s paper upon the plumage of these birds (Zool. 8001), in which he thinks the yellow dress that of the old male. He will, I have no doubt, work out this question satisfactorily, as he is in a country where any number of specimens can be procured. Mr. Wheelwright informs me that the parrot crossbill appears only in alternate years in the neighbourhood of where he resides. In fact, he only gets the common crossbill one year and the parrot the next, and vice versd, one species replacing the other. This interesting fact looks, I think, very much like a question of maturity between the two forms. It cannot be that the stronger drives the weaker away in the struggle for existence.—C. R. Bree; Colchester, April 14, 1862. - Of the change of Plumage in the Crossbills and Pine Grosbeak.—In the May number of the ‘ Zoologist ’ (Zool. 8001), some observations are made by Mr. Wheel- wright on the change of plumage of these birds. He begins by saying, ‘‘ Even now it appears that it is not quite clear what is the true mature plumage of these birds,” &é. “Referring to every British authority that I can find, I am led to suppose that the mature plumage in both species is red; in extreme age tinged with yellow,” &c. “ But such is not the case; the red plumage is only an intermediate stage,” &c. I will not refer to British authors, but turn to Temminck, Vol. i. p. 325. “ Loxia Pityopsittacus. Livrée du male adulte et vieux: couleurs principales du plumage d’un cendré olivatre; joues, gorge et cdtés du cou cendres; sur la téte des taches brunes bordées de cendré verdatre ; croupion, d’un jaune verdatre; poitrine et ventre de cette couleur, mais nuancés de grisatre,” &c. But the young male is described as having “ Toutes les parties inférieures et supérieures du corps d’un rouge ponceau, plus ou moins pur, suivant que les individus sont plus ou moins éloignés du terme de leur VOLS 3 25 8034 Birds. seconde mue, qui a lieu en Avril ou Mai,” &c. It therefore appears that Temminck was fully aware that “the red plumage is only an intermediate stage.” Mr. Wheel- wright then remarks, “I have never yet seen more than two examples of the mature green pine grosbeak: one was this last winter in a cage, where he had been confined ten years; he was a red bird when he was caught in the winter, but in the ensuing autumn he changed to bright yellow-green, and since then has undergone little or no change in his plumage; the other was shot in a wild state,” &c. This sudden trans- formation in a caged bird is no sign of maturity. Until Mr. Wheelwright has further proof to offer in support of his views, we cannot ignore or discredit Temminck, who thus describes the old male, Pyrrhula enucleator:—“ Téte, gorge et parties supérieures du cou d’un rouge orange, qui devient plus clair sur le devant du cou,” &c. We may reasonably protest against caged birds being cited as instances, for we well know the variations of plumage they are subject to under confinement. The brown linnet loses all traces of its crimson dress. But one more to the point is that of the bullfinch, which not unfrequently is transformed from red to black by confinement. Need I cite more to prove that Mr. Wheelwright is not justified in assuming, that because a caged pine grosbeak lost under confinement its more brilliant hues, it would have done so had it remained at large. Having, I think, disposed of the first—7.e. the caged bird—I would only suggest the possibility, not to say probability, of the second, i.e. the wild bird, being a female (or a variety, as it is said to “ varie accidentelle- ment”), as Mr. Wheelwright admits that “It is not easy at this season (winter) to ascertain the males from the females by dissection.”—-Henry Hadfield ; Ventnor, Isle of Wight, May 8, 1862. Occurrence of the Black Redstart in the County of Dublin.—This bird is considered exceedingly rare in this country, yet in this neighbourhood it is not so uncommon. In the winter of 1858-9 T saw four examples, three catching insects upon a sunny wall in December ; the fourth was caught under the slates of an outhouse. They were all females or birds of the year. The next winter none were seen. In the autumn of 1860 and the winter of 1860-61 they were absolutely common. I am sure I saw from twenty to thirty, on the average of one adult male to five females or birds of the year. This year none visited us. I am inclined to think from this that they come at periods of two years. What appears very strange to me is their wintering with us, appearing about October and leaving in the middle or latter end of January. The only reason I can adduce for this is the number of flies which hybernate in the crevices of the sea- coast rocks about here, and to which locality the bird is very partial, as well as to dung- hills and sunny walls. The stomachs of birds dissected in 1860 (the ground at the time being covered with snow) were stuffed with flies, showing how plentiful the supply must be in mild winters. This bird about here is very local; I never met one beyond the limits of an imaginary circle with a diameter of about six hundred yards. The common redstart is rare, I believe, in all parts of Ireland alike—H. Blake-Knozx ; Bartragh, Dalkey, Co. Dublin ; May 17, 1862. Occurrence of the Hoopoe in Essex.—A specimen of this bird was shot by the Rev. Mr. Keen, Rector of Erwartov, Suffolk, the beginning of the month. Mr. Keen saw the bird in his garden, and when he went with his gun the bird seemed inclined to dispute possession of the ground with its owner, as it raised its crest at him in a menacing manner. I do not know the sex of this bird. Erwarton is situated on the Stour, near Harwich.—C. R. Bree; Colchester, May 16, 1862. . First Appearance of the Cuckoo.—The cuckoo was heard for the first time in the } neighbourhood of Shipton, on the 25th of April—J. Ransom; York. Birds. 8035 Appearance of the Swallow in 1862.—The first swallow seen in this neighbourhood was observed on Sunday, the 20th of April. The earliest observation on record is the 6th of April, and the average date, upon twenty years observation, is the 17th of April. The two swallows mentioned at Zou]. 7937 were inspecting their nest upon the rafter in the stable on the 24th of April.—J. Ransom. Singular Instance of Nidification of the Woodpigeon.— During a visit to Rotterdam, the following somewhat remarkable occurrence has been brought under my notice. It is well known that this town is intersected by canals, by which means vessels are enabled to lay alongside of the quays iv the heart of the city and directly in front of the dwelling-houses on the opposite side of the street, the edge of these canals being generally lined with elm trees. Thither the wild pigeons resort in spring, and, heedless of the noise and stir of the traffic and loading and landing of goods on the pavement beneath, construct their nests in the top branches of the trees. Year after year many of them are plundered by juvenile depredators, but the pigeons still continue faithful to their adopted spots. ‘This is in itself somewhat singular, considering the usually shy nature of the birds, but a more striking incident has occurred these last two years. The trees in one of the principal streets (the “ Wynhaven,” for the information of those knowing the town) were Jopped early in spring last year, and the pair of wild pigeons accustomed to resort to the trees in front of a certain house there, finding their wonted shelter gone, after apparently some search, established their nest in the mast of a vessel (the “Admiral Wyndham,” a Guernsey trader), lying alongside the quay, and two eggs were laid. Unfortunately the vessel, having completed her loading, put tv sea, and the birds remained in Rotterdam while their nest and eggs were wafted away. This year, though the shelter of the trees would now seem to be sufficient, they again selected the mainmast crosstrees of a bark (the “‘ Schuringa’’), occupying the same berth, and had completed their domestic arrangements as before, when a boy belonging to a lighter conveying goods to the vessel espied the prize, and possessed him- self of it. The young ornithologist met with deserved punishment, but the result could hardly have been otherwise than unfortunate for the venturesome pair, as the vessel put to sea a few days ago, whither, judging from the former case, the birds would hardly have followed their establishment.—A. Dobr ée; Rotterdam, May 10, 1862. Occurrence of the Squacco Heron near Redruth.—I saw a specimen of this small heron, without the dorsal or occipital plumes, just now, which I believe was obtained from the neighbourhood of Redruth. Nearly all the specimens of this small heron have come to hand in the spring of the year, and, like its congener, the bittern, at uncertain periods and at long intervals, generally, however, appearing in several instances when at all Edward Hearle Rodd ; Penzance, May 1, 1862. Note on Sabine’s Snipe. — Mr. Bond, in his note on Sabine’s snipe (Zool, 8000), makes the following statement: —‘* Mr. Gatcombe says (Zool. 7939) ‘ All sports- men who have killed this bird remark that it rises without noise.” Now that isa mistake, as I have never written a word concerning Sabine’s snipe in the ‘ Zoologist ; and if Mr. Bond will again refer to that publication he will find that the snipe alluded to by me was a large brown variety, similar to the one described by Mr. Rodd some years since, and very different in appearance from the so-called Sabine’s snipe.—John Gatcombe ; Wyndham Place, Plymouth, May 13, 1861. The Common Bittern in Norfolk.—Though the bittern has ceased altogether to breed in this county, its former haunts being everywhere narrowed by draivage and cultivation, and in many districts its deep booming notes having given place to the 8036 Birds. screech of the railway whistle, yet the few which regularly visit us during the winter months, and the large numbers thus occasionally met with, render it anything but a “rare bird,” as generally described. Persecuted to death under this delusion, like that kindred martyr, in the spring and summer, the well-known hoopoe, each unlucky specimen is slaughtered wherever met with, and the record of one particular capture in the local papers, whilst many others pass wholly unnoticed, perpetuates from year to year the “rara avis” absurdity. From some cause not easily explained, since the cold during last winter was at no time so intense as in the previous winter of 1860-61, the arrival of bitterns on our eastern coast since January last has been altogether unprecedented. I have myself handled at least a dozen specimens sent up to Norwich for preservation, and have heard, on good authority, of quite as many more sent up to Yarmouth for sale. These birds have been killed on the different broads, chiefly in the vicinity of the coast, and, with one exception, have been met with singly between the 10th of January and the first week in April. On the 6th of March a fine pair were killed right and left as they rose from a thick tussack on Hickling Broad, and these, with a third specimen killed about the same time, I had the rare chance of dissecting in one morming. Of the two Hickling birds one was evidently older than the other, as shown by the plumage and the beautiful lilac colour, which still retained much of its vividness after death, pervading the lore or naked space between the beak and the eyes. I never had this tint so bright in any other specimen, the same parts being generally of a bluish horn-colour, but this was probably owing to its adult state and the full vigour of the nuptial season. The companion bird, which, from their rising together, I expected to find a female, proved on dissection a young male, the testes being small, about five-eighths of an inch long, and dark in colour, as contrasted with the same parts in the older bird, measuring an inch and three-quarters in length, and perfectly white. The third specimen also proved a male, exhibiting the same appearance exactly as No.2. All three birds were in high condition, the breast and abdomen covered with layers of fat, and the stomachs of all were filled with half- digested food. From the first I took an eel quite entire, about six inches long; from the second, the remains of an eel and of several large water-boatmen (Notonecta), five or six at least, judging from the number of wing-cases; and from the third a roach, five inches and a half long, and the débris of black water-beetles (Dyliscus marginalis), with wing-cases complete. From a specimen killed a few weeks before, a small leach, about an inch long, was taken alive, some days after the death of the bird, and when placed in water revived and became as lively as ever. The following anecdote respecting the singular capture of a bittern, in the adjoining county of Suffolk, was communicated to Mr. J. H. Gurney by a gentleman well acquainted with the circum- stance :—“ Hither the last week in January or first week in February four bitterns were seen near the lake at Rushbrooke Hall, near Bury St. Edmunds. One was cap- tured by a turnkey at Bury Gaol, who, on going his rounds at night, saw some dark object stalking along under cover of the wall, and thinking it was one of the prisoners attempting an escape, the turnkey closed with it, and after some time captured it, a fine male bird, in full plumage.” —H. Stevenson ; Norwich, April 23, 1862. Occurrence of the Iceland Gull at Plymouth—An immature example of the Ice- land gull (Larus leucoplerus) was obtained at Plymouth on the 21st of Apvril, the plumage of which was exceedingly light in colour and much worn. ‘This is the second example recorded as having been killed in Plymoutb within the last few months.— John Gatcombe. Reptiles. 8037 Dates of Appearance and Song of a few of our Migratory Birds near Pen- zance.—Chiffchaff (in song), March 22; Wheatear (seen), March 28; Sand Martins, April 2; Blackeap (in song), April 11; Willow Wren (in song), April 12; White- throat (in. song), April 28; Sedge Warbler (in song), May 1; Cuckoo (in song), April 26; Cuckoo (reputed), April 21.—Edward Hearle Rodd. Conclusion of the History of the Incubation of the Python. By E. W. H. Hotpsworty, Esq., F.L.S., Z.S., &c.* Tue python and her doings in the Zoological Gardens have been so much commented on by the daily and weekly papers, that there appeared to me to be no occasion for sending you any further notice on the subject. Opinions published in your pages lead me, how- ‘ever to believe that all the facts of the case cannot be known to the whole of your correspondents. I will, therefore, shortly state what has been observed in this matter of the python and her eggs, and offer some reasons for believing the snake to have been really engaged in “incubation,” as that word is ordinarily understood. The eggs were deposited on the 12th of January, and the python at once devoted herself to their care, coiling herself in the most regular manner around and over them, so that it was necessary to move the snake’s head on one side in order to obtain a fair view of any of the eggs. On two occasions the python came off her eggs to alter their position, but did not leave them, and resumed her place when the rearrangement was made. The continued attention of the snake to her charge soon gave rise to a suspicion that she was incubating; and it became an interesting question whether or not, under the circum- stances, there was any unusual development of heat. No satisfactory result was obtained from the first experiments, in consequence of the difficulty of using the only available thermometers. This objection, however, was removed by Messrs. Negretti and Zambra, who kindly undertook the manufacture of a suitable instrument, and soon turned out the most sensitive thermometer they have ever constructed. The following table shows the results of the experiments made with this instrument; aud to exclude all possible error in using it, the thermo- meter was on each occasion placed and read off either by Mr. Negretti or his partner. The temperatures of both male and female snakes were observed, and, from the first, great care was taken that both reptiles should be kept as much as possible under the same external _ * Reprinted from the ‘ Field’ newspaper, but kindly communicated by the author. 8038 Reptiles. conditions. They were in the same compartment, each with moss under and a blanket over it. Date. Temperature on the surface, Temperature between coils. Air in den, Male. Female. Male. Female. Babi lt? i.e. CS Bc 5 Too 0! 1 AB assis, (LG eoeeG! eb y O3! vansciice's aS aa cneuene aed eee GAO) “sfasancssnnm nese ae 65 4 Mar, 22) sassceee Tl (Git peceesess Caso) TATE Ue My CME pe eal 60 0 Mia 'Oseccescce 22 Se. lersesvecaoneo not taken ...... 86 5 61 0 Mat WIG Ssccscens AOE Chew cetassyee oe teet Ta! epecders. OO. CU 66 0 It will be observed that every experiment showed an excess of temperature in the female python over the male, and especially between the coils. On the 2nd of March the excess was as much as 20°; but, at that time the appearance of the female showed that she was about to cast her skin, and two days after she left her eggs at 9 p.M., and remained off until seven the next morning. During the interval her skin came off in shreds—always an unhealthy symptom in snakes ; the process lasted nearly ten, instead of the usual three or four hours. She then took up her old position on the eggs, but before she did so they were found to be nearly cold, and in the course of a day or two there was a great change in their appearance. The temperature of the snake now became reduced to about the same as in the week previous to moulting, and remained so up to the last trial on the 16th of March. The python still kept closely on the eggs, but was very irritable and dangerous. By the end of the month it was thought advisable to remove the eggs, as they were evidently decom- posing. Taking them away was no easy task, but at last it was accomplished, the snake fighting desperately to preserve her long- expected progeny. She had certainly not lost heart, or given up all hopes of bringing out her young family, as I have seen stated. The annual number of moults which snakes undergo, and the particular seasons at which they occur, are found to vary with the age, size, health and appetite of the species. As a rule, small snakes eat more frequently, and cast their skins at shorter intervals, than large ones. This applies to small species as well as to the young of larger ones. With this python the moult usually takes place twice in the year,—in the spring and autumn,—and it occurred this year at about the usual time. What1 have just mentioned with regard to the moulting of snakes refers to what has been observed of these reptiles whilst in con- finement; but as the observations have been made on numerous Reptiles. . 8039 individuals which have lived many years in captivity, they may be fairly cousidered as a close approximation to the natural habits of the animals. Ifa snake is sickly, the skin, as a rule, is frequently changed, and comes off in strips or small pieces; whereas, if the reptile be healthy and vigorous, the slough is cast, even in the large snakes, in two or three pieces, and sometimes entire. Itis highly probable, indeed very likely, that moulting does not naturally take place whilst the pythons are looking after their eggs; but it is certainly unreasonable, with our very slight knowledge of the habits of the great pythons, to conclude, from this one case, that everything has been in precise accordance with their behaviour in a state of nature. I am especially disposed to this opinion, after reading the account of the incubation of the python at the Jardin des Plantes. A memoir on the subject by M. Valenciennes was published in the ‘Comptes Rendus’ for 1841, from ‘which it appears that the python in question (a species closely allied to the one at the Zoological Gardens) did not deposit her eggs until May 6, having changed her skin a month previously. When we con- sider how exceedingly variable is the nesting time in the same species among our native birds, and that the same uncertainty prevails in the period of reproduction among other classes of animals in this country, it will be hardly necessary to say that some variation may be expected in creatures subject to the unnatural conditions incident to confine- ment. It appears to me, then, that the argument against incubation, founded on the coincidence of reproduction and moulting, falls to the ground. With regard to the want of appetite in the python whilst on her eggs, and the inattention of her husband in not offering her food, I may mention that the female snake had fasted for twenty weeks previous to the appearance of the eggs, she ate nothing whilst they were with her, and, up to the 19th inst., had taken no food since their removal. On several occasions, however, she has drank water, of which a supply has been constantly within her reach. I regret to say that the male python has been always supremely indifferent to the state of his partner’s condition and appetite, and, like a good many _ other creatures, thinks only of himself. The lady, however, has been well supplied with food, but rabbits or ducks have alike been con- sidered intruders, and furiously driven away from the neighbourhood of the eggs. This snake has now fasted for thirty-four weeks; bnt, long time as that is, it has been exceeded before now by another python now alive in the collection, that snake having fasted for more than nine months. ; That the continued attention of the python to her eggs has been for 8040 Reptiles. something more than protection, is rendered likely from the fact that when other snakes at the gardens deposit any eggs (which sometimes occurs) they take not the slightest notice of them, but leave them to shift for themselves. In such cases the eggs have been taken away, and occasionally hatched by artificial means. But the strongest argu- ment in favour of incubation is the unusual development of heat in the python, and its continued application to the egys, the heat being most apparent on the lower surfuce of the body. Wow can this be accounted for except on the “incubation” hypothesis? It must be remembered that this is not the first instance of such a development of heat being observed where a snake was under similar conditions. In the case at Paris, the highest temperature noted in the python was during the first day or two, and it gradually diminished until the time when the first egg was hatched. Eight eggs out of the fifteen de- posited proved to be good, and after fifty-six days the young snakes made their appearance. The remaining eggs contained partly-deve- loped embryos. M. Valenciennes states that the incubation of snakes is well known in India, and is alluded to in popular tales. He also refers to the ‘ Arabian Nights,’ where, in the account of his “Second Voyage,” Sindbad speaks of looking into a cavern, and seeing at the bottom a large serpent asleep on her eggs. The gradual diminution of temperature in the Paris python has not been paralleled in the London snake. In the latter, for reasons before given, no very accurate experiments were made during the first month, but after- wards, except just before the moult, there was only a slight variation in the quantity of heat. There is reason to believe that several of the eggs had been in process of development. One that had become dis- placed during the first month was found to contain a living embryo; and an apparently fully-formed young python has been taken out of another egg since their removal from the reptile-house. This little snake is about nine inches long; it has all the characteristic markings of the parents, and was almost ready for hatching. The old python cast her skin after she had been fifty-three days on her eggs; now the first young snake was hatched at Paris after fifty-six days, so we - may reasonably conclude that the long absence from her eggs of our London python was the immediate cause, almost at the last moment, of their going wrong. Only a few of the eggs have yet been examined. ; We all have a great deal to learn about snakes and their habits, but we shall make little progress if we refuse to admit strong evidence simply because it bears against our long-cherished ideas. The notion Arachnida. 8041 of a snake incubating her eggs at first took most persons by surprise, but the evidence in its favour appears to be very strong. My notice of the main facts of this case has extended to a greater length than I proposed, but I shall be very glad if what I have written should enable your readers to understand the grounds for believing that incubation is not altogether unknown among serpents. E. W. H. HoipsworruH. * Sketch of an Arachnological Tour in Scotland in 1861; with a List of Scotch Spiders. By the Rev. O. Pickann-CamMBrinGE, M.A. THERE are probably few persons who have not read of the feelings with which naturalists have before now entered on the search of a district of virgin ground,—the treasures, the rarities, the new forms that have flitted before their imaginations ; the eagerness, the joy at each unknown acquisition. Some of us may have felt this even in our own now well-worked country ; and I must confess that it was with anticipations and feelings somewhat akin to these that on the 22nd of June, 1861, I set forth on foot from Edinburgh for the first day of a month’s tour, undertaken chiefly for the purpose of arachno- logising in Scotland. Scottish ground (én re spiders) was, as far as I knew, virgin ground ; no one, to my knowledge, had ever made any researches in Scotch Arachnology, except Mr. Hardy, of Penman- shiels, in Berwickshire ; his labours are recorded in different parts of Mr. Blackwall’s work on British spiders (now being published by the Ray Society); and, as far as I have understood, Mr. Hardy’s re- searches did not extend north of Berwickshire. The ground I pro- posed_to search was just such wild, heathy, rocky districts as in the South of England I had found so abundant both in number of species and individuals ; and being so far removed in latitude, I confidently looked forward to turn up many new and perhaps singular forms, and to swell considerably the list of our native spiders. My anticipations of these untold rarities were, however, destined to be in great measure disappointed, as the slight Jez] I now propose to make of my month’s doings will show. My first three days were occupied in turning over the loose stones, and searching at the roots of grass and other herbage on Arthut’s Seat. Here the ground appeared in every respect most favourable for spider- life, and, except one day, the weather was fine and warm; but while, VOL. XX. 2F 8042 Arachnida. in situations similar in general characteristics, in the South of Eng- land there would have been, at this time of the year, a host almost under every stone, here a score of stones would be turned up entirely blank ; and when any spiders did come to light, they were mostly of species common in most places and widely distributed, though here even individuals of common species were scarce. The only species I found here that had not come under my own eye before was an adult male of Walckeniera bicolor. After three hard days’ search on Arthur’s Seat, my next day was on the north side of the Pentland Hills, at the nearest point I,could reach in a straight line from the Currie Station on the Caledonian Railway. Underneath the loose stones on a wall of a fir plantation, just before ‘entering on the moor at the foot of the hills, I captured the only novelty met with in my tour, in the shape of two adult males of a very distinct species of the genus Walckeniera: to this species I have given the name of “ borealis.” At the immediate foot of the hills, in a similar situation, I found an adult female (and immature specimens of both sexes tolerably abun- dant) of Tegenaria silvicola, of which only two British examples had before been captured—one in Norfolk, by the Rev. Hamlet Clarke ; the other by Mr. Meade, in Buckinghamshire. This species would probably be found under the loose stones and lichens on all. the walls in this district; and from the condition of the palpi in the males, when I was there, I should judge their time of maturity to be about the end of the summer or beginning of autumn. Should this paper meet the eye of any entomologist in the habit of working that or any similar Scotch district, he would confer a great favour on myself by giving half an hour to the bottling of all the spiders he can find under loose moss-grown stones on the tops of the walls in his beat; and among them I should confidently reckon he would bottle many of this spe- cies, and probably among them an adult male or two, —a sex, in the adult state, that I much wish to obtain. It is a small species and very active, slipping away like a shot directly the stone under which it lies is moved; sometimes it will be found on the under side of the stone lifted up. I found that the best way to capture it was to wet the fore finger and place it lightly, but quickly, on the specimen, the moment I saw it, and then, impeded by the moisture, there was not much difficulty in securing it. Several hours’ severe work on the slopes of the hills, sweeping among the long heather or searching at its roots, produced only three or four species, and but very few spe- cimens of those. An hours beating in a fir plantation on my way Arachnida. 8043 back to the station, with about the same result, finished my day in this district. The day had been a most lovely one, and, it being the first time I had ever heard the wild cries of the curlew in its nesting- ground, or seen the golden plover alive in its summer plumage, it was a day that I shall never forget, though not marked by the success in spider-hunting that I had anticipated. Those who are as fond as I am of wild scenery, with the birds and beasts that inhabit it, and can recollect their first introduction to a Scotch moor, its screaming cur- lews and its plaintive plovers, will readily understand the pleasure of that, my first introduction to the same. The only other capture worth special notice in this neighbourhood was of adult males of Walckendera humilis, running on the pavements in Edinburgh in bright sunshine. I had only met with this curious _. but very minute black spider once before, and so, though sometimes in the most crowded thoroughfares of Edinburgh, it was not to be slighted. The passers-by would occasionally stop, probably won- dering what the tall parson could be about picking up and bottling small black specks off the pavements. If they had known I was bottling spiders I might have incurred their wrath, though I doubt whether the spider, whose success in fixing its web on its seventh trial determined Robert the Bruce to try his luck once more, was of the species Walckeniera humilis ; if it was, that would be some sort of a title to run on the pavements of Edinburgh. However that may be, it certainly was not the fear of Scotch wrath on this point that made me feel uncomfortable, for I confess that I always do feel just a little so for the moment, when a spider has to be captured under pub- lic gaze. To care absolutely nothing for what people think “(and sometimes say) on such an occasion, is a difficult lesson to learn thoroughly. Some entomologists of my acquaintance will walk through a town, net in hand, with the utmost indifference; but for my own part I much prefer secreting the implements of the craft in my pocket until far from the gaze even of an enlightened British public, and well out on my working ground. Still I must say, weakly sensi- tive though J may be, to ignorant wonder and ridicule, an unknown spider taking an airing on a pavement, however frequented, has charms for me that I cannot resist. The 31st of June found myself, my cousin (the Rev. H. A. Pickard, of Christchurch, Oxford), and another companion, toiling up the steep ascent of Ben A’an, just behind the Trosachs hotel. My cousin’s bent was Lepidoptera, that of our companion was “ only to go up some * Ben’ or other,” and, that done, his purpose and ambition in Scotch 8044 Arachnida. travel would; be accomplished. In the course of the ascent and descent I noted and bottled more species of spiders than I had yet seen in Scotland ; but yet all were of species more or less common all over England; only one, Lycosa rapax, seemed to be rather more numerous here than I had seen it elsewhere, and much more strongly marked. This species 1 found (as also Lycosa andrenivora) quite on the summit of the mountain, which is only, however, about 1800 feet high. I was disappointed here in finding the juniper- bushes so very unproductive: in England I have found both juniper and furze generally swarming with spiders. The only spider found here that I had not captured before was Epéira celata, underneath dark and damp overhanging banks and rocks at the foot of the moun- tain. The next day was devoted to a search along the banks of the lovely Loch Katrine ; but after a toilsome morning my only capture worth recording was several specimens of Linyphia triangularis, a very beautiful and distinctly marked spider that I had uever seen before ; it inhabits the angles and interstices of the rocky banks of the Loch, hanging head downwards in a rather irregular thin sheet of web. From the Trosachs, in the afternoon, we went on to the head of the Loch, and I immediately betook myself to a couple of hours’ stone-turning on one of General Wade’s abandoned military roads. These roads look now like (what in many cases they have become) the beds of winter torrents; the one I was in was then nearly dry, and covered with large boulders and water-worn stones; under these lL captured immature specimens, both male and female, of the curiously shaped Walckenidera acuminata. The probable reason for the extra- ordinary position of the eyes in the adult male of this species has always been a great puzzle to me: instead of being placed, as in most spiders, on the more or less convex surface of the cephalothorax, they are hoisted up on a kind of stem or stalk, which issues perpen- dicularly from the front of the cephalothorax to a height equal to nearly half the entire length of the spider. On the summit of this stalk are placed two of the eyes, looking upwards; two more are seated just below, lookiug forwards ; and the rest, two on each side of a slight enlargement of the stalk, a little below again, and looking out side- ways. ‘The relative situation of the eyes in the immature male is the same, but it seems that they are not forced up, as it were, to this great height until the spider is just attaining maturity, for in some that I captured, apparently with only one more moult to undergo before becoming adult, the eyes were on a sort of bluntish cone, which, though considerably elevated, yet bore no resemblance at all to the Arachnida. 8045 fully-developed eye-stalk. Whether it is necessary or not that the female should be such a far-seeing personage as the male, one can only conjecture, but it is certain she never lifts her eyes as high as her better half, being content to look out from a much less lofty watch-tower. If this spider were of a roving nature we might see a kind of advantage that it would have over its congeners by a larger range of vision from such a disposition of the eyes, but as it is, as far as I have observed it, chiefly a dweller under a damp stone, it is dif- ficult to conceive but that this long stalk on its head must, in such a situation, be rather in the way than otherwise. Perhaps such pecu- liarities of form are only analogous to the male appendages of hair, beard, &c., among animals of higher classes, and the highly-developed tails, combs, wattles, &c., among birds. All these are generally con- _ sidered to be merely ornamental, although the necessary result of the male organization, and are almost invariably put on just at the period of maturity. Like the slender eye-stalk of this Walckeniera, too, these exaggeratedj parts seem to be, as far as we can judge, often not only superfluous, but also indirectly injurious to the individual. Underneath these stones I also captured a good many of a rather rare and local spider, Lycosa piratica, mostly adult females, with egg- cocoons attached to their spinners. Linyphia longidens I also met with here for the first time, but all immature. After a substantial dinner and night’s rest at the Stronachlacher inn, at the head of the Loch, we reached Inversnaid (on Loch Lomond) in good time next morning. Here, while waiting for the steamer to In- verarnan, I occupied a couple of hours in exploring the wood at the back of the hotel, but found nothing of any rarity, and indeed scarcely a dozen specimens in the whole. At Inverarnan we found the coach wailing to convey us to Fort William through the far-famed and noble pass of Glencoe; but as my object here is not to describe the imposing scenery of that grand pass, | will only remark that those who have not seen it ought to see it. The next day was devoted to the ascent of Ben Nevis, picking up what insects and spiders we could on our way. We started on the ascent at half-past 11 a.M., and, without much loitering to entomologise, reached the summit at half-past 3, and arrived at Fort William again at 7 P.M.; the dis- tance gone over in the bare ascent and descent being about eighteen miles. The ascent is easy enough, though rather tiring, but the descent is one unbroken rush “ down the side of a house” for the Jast two hours of it. We found ourselves much shaken by the pitching from ledge to ledge of this almost semi-perpendicular descent, and 8046 Arachnida. next day were quite content to explore quietly, and perhaps more thoroughly than we should otherwise have done, the moor lying be- tween Fort William and Ben Nevis. The only capture of any value made here was an adult male of Neriéne vagans. I found here, as I had done on Ben A’an, Lycosa rapax abundant, and here as high up as 3000 feet from the level of the sea. After another day’s work in this locality, we passed up the Caledonian Canal to Inverness, stopping to visit the Falls of Foyers, on the banks of Loch Ness. Here I found Linyphia cauta, and other species fond of dark damp situations. From Inverness (where it rained in torrents the whole time we were there) our next point for entomologisiug was Loch Rannoch, already so famed for Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. Here I had two hard days’ work at spiders, during which time the only species of note discovered were Lycosa fluviatilis among the water- worn stones on the shores of the Loch, and Tegenaria silvicola in situations similar to that in which I had previously found it on the Pentlands. During the remainder of the ten days that we stayed here, my time was divided between spiders and Lepidoptera, many species of which last were in great abundance, and much wanted to fill gaps in my cabinet. Spiders were much more plentiful in some parts of the forest on the south side of the Loch than they had appeared to be anywhere since we left the Trosachs, but still nothing in number of species or individuals to what such a situation would have produced further south. I imagine the hosts of large black ants in the Rannoch district must make great havoc among the young broods of spiders: in my own neighbourhood in the South of Eng- land, where the same ant is very abundant, I find it is almost useless to search either for spiders or larve of Lepidoptera in the immediate vicinity of their nests. Loch Rannoch was the last regular working place we had ; for the next few days after leaving it, except an hour or two’s occasional search, we were constantly on the move, going first to Kenmore, thence down Loch Tay to Killin, from Killin by Loch Earnhead and Loch Lubnaig to Callander, and thence to Glas- gow, winding up our tour with a pleasant day or two at the hospitable mansion of the Laird of Dalswinton (MacAlpine Leny, Esq.), near Dumfries. On the door-steps of this mansion I made the last addi- tion to my list of Scotch spiders, by the capture of adult males of Neriéne flavipes. As I observed before, I expected to find many novelties among Scotch spiders, but from what I could observe during this tour, espe- cially among the more common species, I feel convinced now that Arachnida. 8047 there are not so many new forms to be discovered in Scotland as I had imagined. It must be acknowledged that the time of my tour was not the most likely time to meet with adult specimens of many species, particularly in the genera Thomisus and Salticus ; and from the time of our leaving Edinburgh the weather was for the most part wretchedly wet and cold, scarcely one completely fine day ; so that I could not extend my search, either as to time or distance, as I had intended. Still no doubt there are many more species to be added to the Scotch list than those I met with, and perhaps a search about the end of May and beginning of June would, in warm sheltered spots, produce many adults of species I did not come across at all. The autumn, too, if fine, is about the most prolific season in numbers, and many species are not adult till then. I had expected to meet with more examples of the genus Salticus, the rocky and heathy - ground being just such as they delight in, but, as the list subjoined will show, I only captured two species. Dr. Leach (in the Supple- ment to the fifth and sixth editions of the ‘ Encyclopedia Britannica,’ article “ Annulosa”) records that the curious ant-like spider, Salticus formicarius, is found, though rarely, in Scotland. This is a species I have never seen, and much wished to meet with, but I had no clew to its locality. 1 trust this slight sketch and list of Scotch spiders will induce some naturalists resident in Scotland to collect and study the order regu- larly, for it is only by residents working constantly and thoroughly their own localities, however circumscribed, that the species of a dis- trict will ever be known. Jn a flying tour, if weather and every other contingency fall out in one’s favour, one may do a great deal; but in nine cases out of ten these fall out the other way. And then, again, with no special locality in view to work thoroughly, the desultory mode of operations necessitated by being often on the move, though a very pleasant and enjoyable way of working, is certainly far from the best for scientific purposes. That a large area is not required in all cases to ascertain the general spider-produce of a district, may be concluded from the fact that in one day last May, on Bloxworth Heath, Dorset, in company with Mr. Tuffen West (now engaged in illustrating Mr. Blackwall’s work on British spiders), I captured up- wards of forty species in a piece of heathy ridge not more than four feet square ; and among these were one species new to Science, and another up to that time unrecorded as British. Such fertile spots are only to be found by knowing thoroughly all the ins and outs of a dis- trict, in a way that no one but a resident can ascertain them. In the 8048 Arachnida. limited space of the southern half of the county of Dorset I have as yet captured about two hnndred species, and I can hardly imagine Scotland to possess fewer than this. The Scotch list at present num- bers eighty-three ; so that on this supposition there is plenty of room for further discovery yet. I shall hope, therefore, that a sort of com- mencement, however meagre and imperfect, having been set on foot, some industrious collectors will soon add to it; and I can only repeat here again how much pleasure it will give me at any time to receive specimens from Scotland for examination, and to return them, if wished, with the names and such other observations as I may be able to make upon them. Since writing the above I have received a small bottle of spiders from Sutherlandshire and Ross-shire, kindly collected for me by the Rev. J. F. Montgomery, of Edinburgh: this box contains, among others, seven species [ did not meet with myself during my tour. List of Spiders found. Tribe OcTonocuLiInA.—F am. LycosI1pD&. Lycosa agretyca. Arthur’s Seat. L. andrenivora. Ben A’an. L. rapax. Ben A’an, Ben Nevis, Schiehallion, &c., &c. L. saccata. In dry watercourses among water-worn stones, every- where. L. lugubris. In woods at foot of Ben A’an. L. obscura. Among heath, Ben A’an, Ben Nevis, &c. L. exigua. Everywhere. L. fluviatilis. Among stones on shores of Loch Rannoch. L. piratica. Under stones near head of Loch Katrine, and among wet moss at Loch Rannoch. Dolomedes mirabilis. Foot of Ben A’an. D. fimbriatus. Not met with by wyself, but the late Mr. Foxcroft showed me several adult females captured at Loch Rannoch in 1858. Fam. SALTICIDz. Salticus scenicus. Arthur’s Seat, &c., on posts and palings. S. reticulatus. Under stones, Arthur’s Seat. Fam. THOMISID. Thomisus cristatus. Everywhere. T. erraticus. Arthur’s Seat. Arachnida. 8049 Thomisus bifasciatus. Arthur’s Seat. T. pallidus. Arthur’s Seat, and on Pentlands. T. Trux. Arthur’s Seat. Philodromus cespiticolis. On firs, &c., Loch Rannoch. Fam. DRASSID&. Drassus pusillus. Under stones, Arthur’s Seat. . D. sericeus. Under stones, Arthur’s Seat. D. cupreus. Under stones, Arthur’s Seat. D. nitens. Under stones, Arthur’s Seat. D. propinquus. Under stones, Arthur’s Seat, frequent. Clubiona amarantha. Among heath, Pentland Hills. C. epimelas. In wood at Inversnaid (Loch Lomond). C. brevipes. Among heath, Pentland Hills. C. trivialis. One specimen, Pentland Hills. C. erratica. Among heath, &c., Loch Rannoch. Fam. CINIFLONIDA. Ciniflo atrox. Loch Katrine, Loch Rannoch, &c. C. similis. Everywhere. Ergatis benigna. Among heather, foot of Ben Nevis.’ Fam. AGELENID#. Agelena montana. At roots of heath, Pentland Hills. Tegenaria civilis.. Edinburgh, Trosachs, &c. T. silvicola. Under stones on walls, Pentlands and Loch Rannoch. Textrix lycosina. In crevices of rocks and walls, Ben A’an, Ben Nevis, Loch Rannoch, &c. Fam. THERIDIIDZ. Theridion lineatum. Trosachs. T. tepidariorum. In greenhouses, Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh. T. nervosum. Trosachs; Loch Rannoch; Edinburgh; and Dals- winton, Dumfries. T. varians. Dalswinton. T. filipes. Under stones, Loch Rannoch. Fam. LINYPHIID2. Linyphia montana. Trosachs and Loch Rannoch. L. triangularis. Banks of Loch Katrine. L. fuliginea. Black Forest, Loch Rannoch. VOL. XX. 2G 8050 Arachnida. Linyphia rudea. Received from Ross-shire and Sutherlandshire. minuta. Trosachs, &c. . cauta. Falls of Foyers. socialis. On trunks of trees, foot of Ben A’an. .alticeps. Received from Ross-shire. .longidens. Under stones, near head of Loch Katrine. . tenuis. Received from Ross-shire. . terricola. In wood at Inversnaid, and received from Ross-shire. . Claytoniz. Loch Rannoch. . obscura. On firs near Pentland Hills. Neriene marginata. Trosachs. © N. bicolor. Received from Ross-shire. N. livida. Under stones, Arthur’s Seat. N.vagans. One on footway near Edinburgh, and one at foot of Ben Nevis. .pygmea. Received from Ross-shire. . flavipes. On door-steps at Dalswinton, Dumfries. . longipalpis. Everywhere. . trilineata. Trosachs. 4 .tubens. Received from Ross-shire. . variegata. Received from Ross-shire, and on Arthur’s Seat. . rubripes. Under stones, head of Loch Katrine. Walckeniera acuminata. Under stones, head of Loch Katrine. W. borealis. Under stones, on wall near Pentland Hills. W. bicolor. One under a stone, Arthur’s Seat. ‘W. depressa. Under stones, Arthur’s Seat. _ W. humilis. On pavements, Edinburgh. Pachygnatha Degeerii. Arthur’s Seat.: Sal lol al oll oll oil a AZAAAAY™LpNmNYDN” Fam. EPEIRID. Epeira quadrata. Loch Rannoch. . apoclisa. Foot of Ben Nevis. . similis. Everywhere. . calophylla. Received from Ross-shire. . cucurbitina. Loch Rannoch. . fusca. Foot of Ben A’an. .autriada. Foot of Ben A’an. .celata. Foot of Ben A’an. . inclinata. Everywhere. . Diadema. Everywhere. Tetragnatha extensa, Trosachs. HEAR eee eS Mollusks—Insects. 8051 Tribe SENocULINA.—Fam. DysDERIDz. Dysdera Hombergii. Trosachs. Segestria senoculata. Trosachs, Pentlands, and Loch Rannoch. O. PickARD-CAMBRIDGE. Bloxworth, Blandford, Dorset, March 31, 1862. On the use of Glycerine for preserving Shells.—I wish to call attention to the use of glycerine in preserving shells. My father having some fine specimens of Crenatula which betrayed a tendency to crack, we applied a few drops of purified glycerine to _ them, rubbing it in with the finger. This effectually cured them without giving the unnatural lustre of oil. We have also used the same substance with Unios and other bivalves with success,and to many univalves having a scaly epidermis. We also tried to get rid of the unsightly film of salt which a dry atmosphere brings out on so many univalves, but failed at first. We have now, however, found out the proper treatment. The shells should first be soaked in spring water for about a fortnight, the water being changed several times. When they are dried they appear as bad as ever, but are very rough to the touch. Ifa little glycerine be now rubbed in, the proper colour comes out perfectly. In this way we have restored Phasianelle and others to a fine state. The method will not be found to succeed with shells that have a highly polished surface, as Cypree. Aun additional recommendation is that the glycerine may always be washed off.—F’.. Archer. Occurrence of Deilephila lineata at Deal.—A specimen of this rare insect was brought in by a boy, who took it at rest on a stack. It was very little wasted, and far from a bad specimen. This must have lived through the winter—H. J. Harding ; 171, Lower Street, Deal, May 6, 1862. Capture of Deilephila lineata and Heliothis peltigera near Plymouth. — On Monday, the Sth instant, I was called to inspect some recent lepidopterous captures, and amongst them found two specimens, male and female, of Deilephila lineata. The particulars of their capture are as follows :—During the evening of the 29th of April, Mr. Bolitbo, of Laira, observed a large moth feeding on the wing, humming- bird fashion, and he, thinking it some rarity, was quickly on the spot, net in hand, but the moth would not allow a close approach, and was ifistantly out of sight. This insect was not observed again till the evening of the 2nd instant, when a female speci- Men came to the flowers in the garden, and whilst engaged absorbing the sweets therefrom was dexterously swept into a bag-net by Mr. Bolitho. A second specimen, a male, was captured, on the 4th instant, by the same hand, at the same place, and in the same manner as the first-mentioned specimen. A third specimen was also seen, The above-named gentleman also took a female of Heliothis peltigera: this species 8052 Insects. was likewise visiting flowers in the evening; it was taken very early in the season, namely, on the 28th of April.—J. J. Reading ; Plymouth, May 17, 1862. Capture of Deilephila lineata at Colchester—A specimen of this rare Sphinx was found by a boy on St. John’s Green, in this town, on Wednesday, the 14th instant. It was carried to Mr. Laner, of St. John’s Place, to whose collection it has been added. It is the only British specimen I ever saw on the setting-board.— C. R. Bree ; Colchester, May 16, 1862. Eupithecia arceuthata, Frey., and E. helveticata, Bdv.: are they distinct ? — Towards the end of September, 1860, Mr. Wilson, of Edinburgh, kindly sent me a few full-fed larve of Eupithecia helveticata. These spun up immediately. Shortly afterwards I turned out upon our Buckinghamshire hills, armed with a stout stick and large umbrella, and thrashed the wild junipers, which in certain spots gtow there pretty plentifully. I beat a few quite small larve, much resembling those which I had received from Scotland. These in process of time became full fed, and from the beginning of October to the end of November I beat a good many more from the juniper bushes. They were decidedly larger and stouter than the Scotch larve, and I fancied I could detect other slight differences, but, having none of the latter by me for comparison, I could not be sure. It also struck me as singular that the larve here in Buckinghamshire should be full fed from one to two months later than in Scot- land. On the whole, however, I voted them E. helveticata. In May and the begin- ning of June the perfect insect appeared, avd I was much surprised to breed a rather large leaden-gray pug, in markings certainly resembling E. helveticata, but very dif- ferent in colour and much larger in size. A short time since I had an opportunity, through the kindness of Mr. Stainton, of sending a pair of these insects to Professor Zeller, at Mesnitz. He at once pronounced them to be E. arceuthata, Frey. (Gn. vol. ii. p. 321), an insect which occurs freely in his neighbourhood. He very obligingly sent me some bred specimens which precisely corresponded with my Buckinghamshire insects. Professor Zeller, in the course of his letter, however, remarked that this species and E. helveticata, Bdv, (Gn. vol. ii. p. 320), were identical, He had not, however, himself either taken or bred the latter insect. Mr. Doubleday and Mr. Bond are inclined also to think that E. arceuthata is merely a local variety of E. helveticata. I think myself they are very possibly right; but still I am of opinion that we can come to no decision till both insects have been bred from the egg, and a minute and careful examination and comparison of the larve made. This I believe has never been done by any entomologist at home or abroad, and the amal- gamation of the species is therefore at present, to say the least, premature. In October and November, 1861, I again met with the larva of E. arceuthata on the Buckinghamshire hills. 1 have now a few pupz, and I hope to obtain impregnated eggs the end of this month or beginning of June. If any Scotch entomologist can procure me a few eggs of E. helveticata, I will do my best to breed the two sets of larve side by side, and to set the matter at rest.—H. Harpur Crewe ; The Rectory, Drayton-Beauchamp, Tring, May 10, 1862. Capture of Stauropus Fagi at Henley-on-Thames.— On Wednesday, the 14th instant, I captured a very fine specimen of Stauropus Fagi, at rest on beech.— H. Stubbs ; Henley-on-Thames, May 16, 1862. Agrotis suffusa taken at Sugar in April.—On the 28th March I captured Agrotis suffusa at the sallows near here, and, as the ‘ Manual’ gives September as the date of its appearance, and does not mention the fact of its hybernating, I think this will be Insects. 8053 of general interest. It was a female, and during that night and the next day she laid about twenty-five eggs, which hatched on the 5th of April, and are now feeding on dock, seeming to prefer that to grass.— H. Bartlett; 33, Old Steine, Brighton, April 19, 1862. Will 1862 pass over without an Entomological Intelligencer ?—I yead with mueh gratification the Rev. J. Greene’s remarks (Zoo]. 7970) on the great want which all working entomologists cannot but feel, occasiuned by the demise of the late ‘ Intelli- gencer, and should like to know if this year is to pass without an effort being made to fill its place. If so, I fear the brightest days of Entomology are gone, which must be evident to most who remember that when the ‘ Intelligencer, on the conclusion of its first volume, was to be discontinued for only six months, the ardour of entomologists led to the publication of the ‘ Substitute’ for the brief intervening period, although it was well known that the former journal would reappear the following spring. If such was then required during the winter, still more do we now require a “ substitute ” during the summer. Will not some of our leading entomologists exert themselves and give their support for this purpose? Most would be contented to have a weekly journal from March to October, although more satisfied could it be had all the year round ; and if it is thought that its circulation would not support it at previous prices, few would object to a moderate increase of charge, rather than be deprived of so pleasant acompanion. I am sanguine that entomologists would unite to increase its circulation, and do their best to prevent its discontinuance for want of support. Cannot the now popular expedient of a guarantee fund be resorted to, or is it possible to conduct such a journal on the “ limited liability ” pinciple, which might make many of the share- holders so anxious for their protegé’s well doing that they would not fail to supply it with proper sustenance, and with an experienced editor as its doctor, who would guard against any of the improper ingredients referred to by the Rev. J. Greene being intro- duced to affect its healthy action—R. Anderson ; Coney Street, York, May 5, 1862. {I think this matter is in a nutshell: if any entomologist will find the money and the contributions, another ‘ Intelligencer’ might be started to-morrow.—£dward Newman.) A Review of ihe Genus Ptinella. By the Rev. A. Matraews, M.A. THE summer of 1861 amply realized the expectations I had formed of the probable abundance of the species as well as the individuals of the genus Ptinella. Assisted by Mrs. Matthews and our friend Mr. Arthur Hildebrand, a zealous and successful entomologist, I collected and examined above seven hundred specimens during the months of June, July and August, although the scene of our operations was con- fined to the midland counties of Leicester, Nottingham and Derby. The examination of this immense number has brought to light many very interesting facts relating to the specific distinctions of these curious little animals, and has added at least one species to the list of those 8054 Insects. already known. J am perhaps wrong in using the term “ facts” for. matters not yet positively proved, but I think the general evidence so strong in favour of the conclusion I have formed as to leave little doubt of its being correct. Any entomologist who has looked, even in the most casual manner, at Gillmeister’s valuable monograph on the Trichopterygide, can hardly fail to have noticed the great analogy between the three winged Ptinelle figured on one side of p]. 824 (Sturm’s ‘ Deutschland’s Fauna’), and the three apterous species on the opposite side of the same plate, and this resemblance is rendered more remarkable by the circumstance that at the time the ‘ Monograph’ was published no other species of Ptinella had been discovered. For my own part I always had an idea that there were in reality but three species, of which the corresponding winged and apterous individuals were respectively the sexes. And although my subsequent observations have not to its full extent verified this idea, yet quite enough has been discovered to prove that the wings form a sexual mark rather than a specific distinction. Of one species alone, P. ratisbonensis, I have before me more than five hundred examples. Of this multitude about one-fifth exhibit black wings con- spicuously developed, although varying in size ; in above two hundred others the wings may still be seen through the transparent elytra, but much diminished in bulk, and of a pale colour; the remainder on a superficial examination present no appearance at all of wings, but when dissected are found to possess those limbs in a rudimentary state. The variation in the size and colour of the wings is not occasioned by the more or less matured condition of the individual, since specimens recently hatched and in a soft state are found both with and without coloured wings. It is therefore evident in this case that no specific distinction can be formed on the apparent absence or presence of the wings. Again, the colour of the eyes and the depressions on the disk of the thorax are equally uncertain as marks of difference. In the immense series now before me the colour of the eyes varies in different individuals from a deep black to an orange of the same shade as the other parts of the head, so that it becomes difficult to tell whether there are any eyes at all. The depressions on the thorax are even more variable.