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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

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FLESH-FLY, 33.

Foraminifera in Chert, 188.
Forms of Diatom Frustules, 197.
Fortingal Yew, the, 56.

Fossil Carboniferous Fish, 253, 254.
Fossil Teeth, Sections of, 75, 76, 77.
Fossils from the Oolite, 244, 245.
Froghopper, Anatomy of, 53, 54.
Fungus of the Potato Disease, 99.

GADFLY, MOUTH OF, 108.

Glow-worms, Male and Female, 85.
Golden Minnow, 9.
Goniatites sphæricus, 28.
Goose-tree, the, 36.
Great Northern Diver, 252.
Gryphea virgula, 245.

Guernsey, Lepidoptera of, 204, 205.

HOLMAN'S SYPHON OR "LIFE"-SLIDE, 173.

Housefly, Proboscis of, 109.
Hybognathus osmerinus, 9.
Hydrozoan Zoöphytes, 152.
Hypoderma, Grub of, 33.

ICHNEUMON OF APHIS, 180. Illustrations of Medieval Natural History, 35, 36, 37,38, 39.

Insects, Mouths of, 108, 109, 156, 157,

158.

Jaculus Hudsonius, 84. Jumping Mouse, 84.

LEPIDOPTERA, ANTENNE OF, 60, 61.
Lepidoptera of Guernsey, 204, 205.
"Life"-slide, Holman's, 173.
Lizard, Head of, 225.

Ciniflo atrox, Web and Spinnerets of, Lobster, Anatomy of, 228, 229.

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Lophopus crystallina, 269. Lucila hominivoraz, 33. Lutra Canadensis, 133.

Macroglossa fuciformis, 60.
Malvern, resuscitated Yew-tree at, 101.
Marine Aquarium, Simple Form of, 224.
Mediæval Cultivation of Fruit, 35.
Fishing, 36, 37.
Horse-baiting, 39.

Mode of Trapping Bears, 37.
Birds, 38.

Metallurgy, 39.

Melitaa Cinzia, 204.

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Möller's Diatomaceen Typen Platte, 176. Venus' Flytrap, 273.

Monkeys, 11, 12, 13, 14.

Moor Monkey, 14.

Moth, Prehensile Organs and Pygidium

of a, 64.

the Cinnabar, 204.

Convolvulus Hawk-, 205.

Drinker, 205.

Spurge Hawk-, 205.

Mouse, the Jumping, 84.

WEBS AND SPINNERETS OF SPIDERS, 181, 200, 201.

Wild Carrot, the, 242.

Worm-holes in Hides of Oxen, 32.

Xanthoptera semi-crocea, 273.

Diver, the Great Northern, 252.

Mouths of Insects, 108, 109, 156, 157, 158. YEW, THE FORTINGAL, 56.

EARWIG, WING AND ELYTRA-CLASPS OF, NATURAL HISTORY, ILLUSTRATIONS OF

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Yew-tree, resuscitated, 101.

ZOOPHYTE, RARE, 125. Zoophytes, Hydrozoan, 152. Zootoca vivipara, 225,

NOTES ON THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SEASON OF 1873.

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mentioned.

HE season of 1873 has been declared to have been one of the worst for many years, owing, probably, to the fact that the heavy rains in the preceding autumn destroyed multitudes of pupa, and late frosts in the spring as many larvæ. But even in this season, which has earned for itself such a bad name, there are several records of the capture of very rare insects, and other notices of insects less rare having been taken in localities where they had not previously been known to occur; such, for instance, as northern insects having extended their southward range, and other cases which will presently be

First and foremost amongst the captures recorded in this journal, and in the Entomologist, we find twenty-five notices of the occurrence of V. Antiopa (Camberwell Beauty), distributed over several of our English counties, and including two captures in Scotland.

In point of numbers the neighbourhood of London stands highest, recording four specimens; viz., one at Hampstead, one at Stamford-hill, one at Clapham, and one in London itself, at Finsbury.

The northern counties furnish us with five captures: one in Cumberland, one in Lincolnshire, one in Yorkshire, and two in Lancashire. In the eastern counties we have four specimens recorded; viz., Norfolk one, Suffolk one, and Essex two; while ten are reported (exclusive of the four captures near London) from the southern and midland counties; viz., Berks two, Worcestershire one, Surrey three, Sussex two, and Kent two.

No. 109.

The Scotch specimens were taken in Aberdeenshire, on the banks of the Dee.

As was also the case in 1872, there are no records of any captures of V. Antiopa in Ireland during the past season. Besides the number of recorded captures, it is probable that some have been taken of which no notice has been sent to the entomological magazines, so that I think we may conclude that at least thirty have been seen and captured last year, several of which were hybernated specimens of the previous season.

This number is considerably less than the "take" of 1872; but the disparity is probably owing to the fact that almost all the individuals seen in that year were netted, so that few were left to perpetuate the species.

The only other very rare butterflies caught in 1873, whose capture is recorded, are one specimen A. niobe (by some regarded as a variety of adippe), and one M. dia, an insect so rare that hitherto it has only obtained a place in our list of "reputed " British species.

Turning to the Nocturni, we find recorded two captures of that very rare sphinx C. celerio, one at Southport and the other at Bolton.

H. velleda (Northern Swift) has been extending its southward range; it has been reported from the Quantock Hills, Somerset, from Folkestore, and 1 have heard of its capture in Norfolk.

Amongst the Noctua there are several rarities that have been taken during the past season, of which the following may be noticed.

P. leucophæa-several specimens captured near Canterbury.

X. conspicillaris, of which one specimen was taken at Danbury.

L. albipuncta-two captured at Folkestone, where it has previously been taken.

P.alpina-a pupa found by Mr. Allin near Braemar, at a great elevation, produced this rare species. C. gnaphalii, both in the larva and imago state, has again been taken at Darenth Wood.

C. absynthii-one capture is recorded from Ireland, where it had previously been unknown; the larvæ have also been taken near Sevenoaks.

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A. ophiogramma-one taken in Ireland, where it a Gomphonema, under the name of Vorticella pyraria, and a Fragilaria as Conferva pectinalis,

is exceedingly rare.

O. lunaris-a specimen of this insect was taken and a Melosira as C. armillaris. A much greater near Lewes.

The Pyrales furnish us with one very rare species, A. nemoralis, which has turned up in two or three localities; viz., at Willesden, Lewes, and in Surrey.

"Sugaring" has been condemned as an utter failure during the season of 1873, and yet almost all the rare Noctua mentioned above were taken at 'sugar."

The uncertain appearance of such species as C. edusa and hyale, and of C. cardui, &c., has been repeatedly noticed, but the subject of the occurrence of rarities when common insects are scarce, is one which, in spite of the attention paid to it, has not yet met with a satisfactory explanation. M. H.

HISTORY OF THE DIATOMACEÆ.

sensation was produced by the discovery of the staff animalcules (Vibrio paxillifer) by Müller, and which the discoverer did not know where to classify, but later embodied in the genus Vibrio.

Gmelin, in the 13th edit. of Linné's Systema Naturæ," corrected this error, and founded a special genus upon this form, and to which he gave the name Bacillaria, and from this the whole group received the name Bacillariæ, or staff animalcules.

The lower Algæ had, at the end of the last century, very zealous friends (sehr eifrige Freunde) in Germany, in Mertens Trentpohl, Roth, Weber, and Mohr; in England, Dillwyn; and in France in Girod-Chantrans and Draparnaud; and several forms now distributed among the genera Fragilaria, Melosira, Diatoma, Tabellaria, and Schizonema, were described by these naturalists as Conferve.

In the beginning of the present century some good figures of Conferva stipitata (=Achnanthes

PROFESSOR H. L. SMITH, in the August longipes); C. obliquata (Isthmia enervis); C.

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(1873) part of the Lens, commences a translation of Kützing's "Historical Preface" (Geschichtliche Einleitung) to his "Bacillarien "; and as this preface is of considerable interest to the student of the Diatomaceæ, we propose to give a short résumé of Professor Smith's translation. The translator remarks in a note, that the introduction of Kützing's "Bacillaria" (Bacillarien) presents so many points of interest for the student, and is so valuable as an historical summary, that I propose, in the intervals between the appearance of the different parts of my own synopsis, to give a somewhat free, though accurate, translation of it:Already, for four thousand years [Jahrtausend, lit. 'thousands of years.'-F. K.] has the mind of man searched the wonder works (Wunderwerken) of creation, yet (still) a vast field remained unexplored, closely connected with the numerous forms of that endless nature which the unaided eye had recognized, and the higher probing mind had arranged, 'when in the commencement of the 17th century, a compound microscope was invented by Zacharias Janson and his son, in Middelburg; and with that man ventured upon the unknown, and till then invisible, field of smallest organisms, the discovery of which opened an entirely new world in miniature.

Although it is uncertain what particular forms of the Diatom group the first observers found and endeavoured to represent by description and picture, yet it may be taken for granted, with great certainty, that they must have met with isolated specimens, since they are so widely distributed. For the first discovery of forms which we are able to identify with any certainty we have to thank O. F. Müller, who, in 1773, described and figured

Biddulphia (=Biddulphia yulchella), were given.

Although De Candolle, so far as is known, made no special study of these organisms, he was the first to separate the form previously known as Conferva flocculosa, as a special genus, which he called Diatoma. Agardh adopted this genus in his "Synopsis Algarum," 1817, but combined with it other species-D. Swartzii, D. pectinalis, D. fasciolatum, which are now distributed among as many different genera.

We are indebted to Nitzsch for the most im. portant investigations made by him in the same year. He furnished in his little work, long since out of print, "Contributions to the Knowledge of Infusoria, or a Natural History of the Zerkariæ and the Bacillaria," with six coloured copperplates, the first really good pictorial representations. He also first recognized the prismatic shape of these forms; he correctly observed and explained the separation into zig-zag chains and the production of ribbon-like forms from an imperfect separation (incomplete self-division). In 1819 appeared Lyngbye's Tentamen Hydrophytologia Danice; this work contained more Bacillarian forms than any previous publication. Twenty-five different forms were distributed among the genera Diatoma, Fragilaria, and Echinella. The name of this last genus had been previously given by Acharius, and incorporated for several years in the systematic handbooks, and had even been given by me in my "Decades of Fresh-water Algæ," to a form which, in the following year (1835), was recognized as insect eggs.

In 1820, Link described two new genera, Lisigonium (not Lisogorium) = Melosira and Hydrolinum =Schizonema.

In 1822, Bory de St. Vincent treated on some of the Bacillariæ, and described and figured Echinella stipitata as Achnanthes stipitata, but placed in this genus forms not belonging to it. The genus Fragilaria, Lyngbye, he described as Nematoplata. In the article Bacillariées (in the "Dictionnaire Classique d'Histoire Nat."), he constituted the genus Navicula, and in the article Confervées, which appeared in 1823, he described the genus Gallionclla.

In 1821, C. A. Agardh published his "Systema Algarum," and describes the Bacillariæ as a special order of Algæ, under the name of Diatomeæ, and arranged them in a better and more thorough manner than his predecessors; he placed them in the genera-1. Achnanthes; 2. Frustulia; 3. Meridion; 4. Diatoma; 5. Fragilaria; 6. Melosira (=Gallionella, Bory); 7. Desmidium (now excluded); 8. Schizonema; 9. Gomphonema.

Having thus brought down our résumé to this date, we hope in future numbers to glance at the history of these forms up to the time of the publication of Kützing's work (in 1844). Those who wish to read the entire translation will find it in the Lens, Nos. 2 and 4, vol. ii. F. K.

ONE

THE STORY OF MY ROBIN.

NE morning about the end of May, I saw my little dog in a great state of excitement in the garden. She was tossing what looked like a small ball up into the air, then pouncing on it as it came down. I went out to see what it was, and found a poor little frightened Robin at that moment actually in her mouth. I took it from her, and carried it into the house, expecting to find it torn and bitten; but not even a feather was ruffled, and the poor little fellow only appeared faint with fright, opening and shutting his eyes alternately, and trembling violently. He soon revived, and began to kick and scream; so seeing there was not anything really the matter, I made him eat some bread and milk, the only food at hand fit for him. He rebelled against being fed for about a day; and then, apparently thinking it was not so bad after all, he submitted patiently, and in a week began to peck about and feed himself, and even attempted to sing, in his small way, early in the morning. After keeping him in a cage for about a month, I turned him loose in a room. He was at this time rather a gawky, speckled little fellow, with long yellow legs. About the beginning of July he began to moult, and by the end of August he was a beautiful Cock Robin, with a lovely red waistcoat and pretty black legs and feet.

Very soon after his transformation, he began to sing, partly his own natural Robin's song mixed with some notes of a canary, and some whistling learned from his mistress. At last, I heard, one

morning, a very gentle, shy, "Pitchee (pretty) Bobby." He very soon gained courage, and called it out loudly, adding, by degrees, "Sweet Bobbee,” and "Pretty little fellow." The latter, being his last accomplishment, is not quite so distinct, as yet.

He sings and dances on the floor, and appears most amiable and charming; but if any one (even his own mistress) puts her hand within his reach, he perches on it, pecking, and biting and pinching, like a spiteful child. He has, I believe, caused the death of several canaries kept in his room. He has been seen spitefully to twitch out a feather from a tail, when he could reach it through the wires of a cage; and one morning I found nearly all the tailfeathers of a goldfinch, mixed with sundry pins, nails, and buttons, collected in a small heap. Since this discovery, he has had his wing clipped, and so is kept on the floor beneath the cages.

His temper is peculiar, and he is easily offended. If I presume to keep him in a cage for a longer time than he approves, when I again let him out he will run away and hide himself, and refuse to sing or speak for some hours. On one occasion, I took him to another house, intending him to show off his accomplishments. He behaved like a wild bird, refused to be caught, and remained at the top of the room, on a curtain-pole. He was only at last driven into his cage by hunger, when the door was rapidly shut upon him. On his return to his home, though at once set at liberty in his own room, he refused to speak, sing, or take any notice of his mistress for nearly a fortnight.-K. H.

The above statement is communicated to me by "K. H." I have witnessed the gambols, and heard the words mentioned most distinctly pronounced by the Robin, in a whistle rather than in the manner that parrots talk. I have also noticed another matter which seems to indicate that birds can communicate by language. The Robin was left in another room, which contained a window looking out into the garden, and, whilst there, was visited by two or three Robins, who flew violently against the glass, as if trying to liberate him from his confinement. On each occasion after these interviews, the little prisoner refused to be petted, remained silent and frightened, as if ideas had been communicated to him by his outside friends which rendered him unhappy and disconsolate. Whatever communication took place was through the glass, and would indicate the possession by birds of an audible language. ALFRED CARPEnter.

Croydon.

"A knowledge of science attained by mere reading, though infinitely better than ignorance, is knowledge of a very different kind from that which arises from contact with fact."-Huxley's Physiology.

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