THE VIVARIUM. (Haslemere Museum.)
During June and July the botany of a district may be very fully illustrated in the Museum-vivarium. Mr. Douglas Taylor, who has charge of that department in our Museum, experiences no difficulty in exhibiting one hundred species simultaneously. No very rare species are exhibited. At the present time the only plants in our collection to which the term “uncommon” may be applied are herb Paris, bird’s nest orchis, Solomon’s seal, and climbing corydalis. The flowers are arranged, in zinc cylinders, on an ordinary florist’s stand. For the printed labels now in use we are indebted to the generosity of E. E. Lowe, Esq., F.L.S., of the Plymouth Museum.
Vipers and grass snakes are not difficult to obtain (see page 53). The former, when discovered, should be carefully pinned with a stick, whilst a vasculum (or large bottle) containing leaves and heather is placed before it. Upon release the viper, judiciously guided by the stick, will take refuge in the receptacle prepared for it. Grass-snakes thrive well in captivity, their chief food being frogs and mice. On the other hand, the English viper nearly always refuses food under such conditions.
Our vivarium contains, in addition to the above, two of the three British newts, viz., Lophinus punctatus and L. palmatus. The former, though usually spoken of as the “common newt” is in many districts (as at Haslemere) not so common as the palmate newt. The latter is smaller, and the tail terminates abruptly in a threadlike filament, instead of gradually tapering to a point.
An ants’ nest contained between sheets of glass, on the plan devised by Sir John Lubbock (Lord Avebury) and described in his “Ants, Bees, and Wasps” (p. 2), always proves a source of attraction to visitors in the winter, as well as summer months. We have had for two seasons past a nest of the amber-coloured meadow ant (Formica flava) displayed under these conditions. It is probably the most intelligent of European species, forming the grassy hillocks from 9 to 18 inches high, so commonly seen in some districts. The queen, which is much larger than either workers or males, requires very careful searching for upon opening a nest; but the peculiar little white woodlice (which delights in the long name of Platyarthous hoffmanseggii, they are a sort of guest of the ants) may be always easily discerned.
Every spring we take out of the Museum and arrange in this department a series of our summer migrants, accompanied with general notes on bird migration. The following may be seen now: Swallow, martin, swift, sand martin, cuckoo, corncrake, nightingale, wryneck, nightjar, redstart, yellow wagtail, garden warbler, wheatear, chiffchaff and whinchat.
Kept under a bell glass and fed with lettuce and cabbage leaves are some half a dozen examples of the large edible or vine snail (Helix pomatia), the largest of our native land molluscs. This species occurs chiefly on the chalk in the southern counties. At one time it was supposed to have been introduced by the Romans, but of late years the opinion has gained ground that it was indigenous. In the same quarters is an example of a shell-slug, the Testacella haliotidea, sent from Torquay. The shell-slugs differ from ordinary slugs in having a shell on the tail. They are carnivorous and feed upon earth-worms, which they pursue in their burrows; hence may be considered as gardeners’ friends.