Page:Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - Volume 1.pdf/224

coast, at Caistor, near Yarmouth, in the year 1825, It is figured in Yarrell's British Fishes, p. 223, Part 49.—G. P. O. Richardson, Ilfracombe.

[N.B.—One was taken at Newlyn, in Cornwall, in 1834, and one at Tenby, in Wales, so that the present is the fourth recorded capture of this fish in the British Seas.—Ed. Sc. G.]

Glengariff for Ichthyology.—The Rev. J. Kingston thus commends this spot to our readers:—"Numerous as are the charms that Glengariff possesses for all, it offers special attractions to the ichthyologist. His days can be spent most delightfully. He has only to get on board one of the trawling boats that abound on this coast. After a day's sailing about a harbour that will furnish the lover of grand scenery with intense and pure delight, he will, when the trawling net is drawn up, indeed find that it has been worth his while to journey hither. Fish of every kind (mixed up with splendid specimens of Algæ) of which he has read, but which, perhaps, he has never seen, are spread on the deck for his inspection. Sure I am that every one who visits this highly-favoured spot will return to his home with renewed vigour of mind and body, and an increased love for the pleasant study of ichthyology."

The Basse.—The basse, called also the "sea perch," "sea-dace," "dace," and "salmon-dace," is a large salt-water fish, of very curious habits, and having externally many of the peculiarities and attributes of the salmon, perhaps more closely resembles the river-barbel in its ways than it does any other fish. Like the barbel it is fond of running outlets, and as the barbel delights in old wooden piles, or mill-boards (or anywhere, in fact, where there is wood-work), so does the basse frequent sea-piers and jetties, constructed rather of wood than of stone or granite. In such places, when the water is clear and the bottom rough and shingly, large basse may be seen poking their noses in the ground precisely after the fashion of the barbel; indeed a pig itself could not well be a more consistent groper than is the basse.—Once a Week.

Humming-bird Hawk-moth.—This insect is everywhere common this season, even venturing into the heart of London, and sporting in Temple Gardens and the courtyard of the British Museum.

Increase of bulk in Larvæ.—According to Rédi, the larva of a meat-fly (Musca carnaria) becomes, in the short space of twenty-four hours, from a hundred and forty to two hundred times heavier than it was before. Lyonnet has shown, by direct observation, and by calculation, that the caterpillar of the goat moth (Cossus ligniperda) is seventy-two thousand times heavier in the chrysalis condition than when it emerged from the egg.—Quatrefages' Metamorphoses.

Larva and Imago.—If you open a caterpillar's skin two or three days before it is converted into a chrysalis, you will perceive the wings, antennæ, and proboscis of the butterfly; and if you cut off one of this caterpillar's scaly feet, the butterfly will be lame.—Swammerdam.

Death's-head Moth (Acherontia atropos).—From numerous communications on the subject, we infer that this insect is more than usually common this year.

Death's-head Moth (Acherontia atropos).—Last week, in a garden in this neighbourhood, several specimens of the larvæ of the Death's-head Moth, altogether nine in number, were found feeding on the leaves of some potatoes. Amongst these was one individual of the rare and extraordinary variety mentioned by Stainton in his Manual, the ground colour of which, instead of being lemon-yellow, with the anterior segments green, and the lateral stripes violet, is of a brownish-olive, the fore part whitish, and the lateral stripes darker, with a peculiar form of the anal horn. This seems to prove that such varieties are produced from the same moth, and at the same time, as the common forms; and are therefore merely acccidental or depending on causes which the naturalist has yet to seek. The present unusully warm summer seems to have been productive in some localities of various insects not formerly there observed. I have noticed several specimens of the Painted Lady (Cynthia cardui), a butterfly I have never before seen here; and some Foresters (Procris statices) have also been noticed. As to the common whites, they are swarming. A friend who has paid a visit to the Isle of Man compares them, in some of the fields there, to a snow shower. The cultivation of any of the cabbage tribe for winter use, it seems, will be a vain attempt.—W. Robert, Wigton.

Wasp (Vespa sylvestris).—This wasp has made its appearance in unusually large numbers, in the neighbourhood during the present season. I lately found two extremely beautiful specimens of their nest, in a small plantation of spruce fir. In both cases they were suspended from the lower portion of a spruce bough, not far from the extremity, and at the height of about four feet from the ground. One of these nests was as large as a man's head, the other twice the size of a cricket-ball. The twigs of the branches from which these nests were suspended had been curiously built in and interwoven with the substance of the nest, the dense close boughs of the young spruce completely shielding the fabric from wind and rain. The entrance was on the south side, and nearly underneath. V. sylvestris is not a common species in the neighbourhood, and it is very seldom that I have had an opportunity of inspecting their nest.—J. C., Great Colne, Ulcely, Lincolnshire.