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HARDWICKE'S
SCIENCE-GOSSIP
Foe 1871.
CI I ( c
HARDWICKE'S
4ip4£=<§08Mp:
AN ILLUSTRATED MEDIUM OF INTERCHANGE AND GOSSIP
FOR STUDENTS AND
LOVERS OF NATURE.
Edited by M. C. COOKE, M.A.
AUTHOR OF "HANDBOOK OP BRITISH FUNGI," "A PLAIN AND EASY ACCOUNT OP THE BRITISH
FUNGI," "MICROSCOPIC FUNGI," "A MANUAL OP BOTANICAL TERMS," AND OF
"STRUCTURAL BOTANY," THE "BRITISH REPTILES," ETC. ETC.
LONDON:
ROBERT HARDWICKE, 192, PICCADILLY.
1872.
WYMAN AND SONS, ORIENTAL, CLASSICAL, AND GENERAL 1'RTNTERS, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LONDON, "W.C.
)(>5 *1
1871.
NCE
again,
inexorable Time " brings us towards the close of another year, and another annual volume. It is well that we should sometimes be reminded of the rapidity with which the chariot wheels of this august per- sonage traverse the empyrean. Somehow, every year seems to slip by us more rapidly than its predecessor. Can it be true that more than a few weeks have passed since we congratulated ourselves, and our readers, on the completion of our Sixth Volume ? and now we are called upon to perform the same duty for the Seventh.
Seven years, and with them seven volumes of Science- Gossip, record our intercourse with some thousands of " Students and lovers of Nature." If we sit down to " take stock " of any one year, we shall, perhaps, feel disappointment that so little has been done by any of us, or that so little advance has been made in our own special subject ; but if we extend our inquiry over such a period as seven years, we are compelled to confess that " the world moves still." If we take as an example the seven years just passing away, we shall realize this truth. How many Associations of Naturalists for field work date their commencement within the past seven years ? What has been the influence of spirit upon kindred spirit in such large metropolitan associations as the Quekett Microscopical Club ? Indeed, if we only inquire what has been done in microscopic work during seven years we shall, perhaps, end in astonishment. In special subjects of Natural History how many useful volumes have appeared to meet the wants of an increased number of students. Let us instance local floras, such as those of Middlesex, Norfolk, Worcester, &c, local avi-faunas, such as those of Norfolk, Middlesex, Berks, and Bucks ; or special floras, such as lichens, fungi, and the diatoms (in progress). The title-pages of very many books will prove that something has been done since 1865,
1871.
and that the student of to-day has many advantages over the student of seven years ago, not forgetting the storehouse of facts which is contained in our own seven volumes.
In philosophical Natural History, it is only necessary to allude to the two latest of Darwin's works, whether we accept their conclusions or not, and to the controversy stirred up by them, and by the advocates of " spontaneous generation/' to convince the most sceptical that the past seven years have not been barren, but rather have been fruitful in results. No two theories have ever compelled men to observe, and read, and think so much of the " mystery of life " before. And the bulk of con- troversy is included between the commencement of 1865 and the close of 1871.
It behoveth us to return to our text. Once again we acknowledge the good offices of all our friends, collaborateurs, subscribers, and con- tributors, during the past, whilst soliciting the same good offices for the future. Our communion during seven years has been agreeable, and mutually instructive, and now the time has arrived for ns to separate, and bid each other " God speed." With the close of the present volume its Editor retires, and having accomplished his seven years of service, resigns his chair to his successor. No material change in the character of the journal is contemplated. If any effort is made, it will be inspired by the hope that improvement and increased usefulness will supervene. For the past we entertain respect, for the future hope. Extending to all the hands that are held out to us for a parting grasp, our own right hand of fellowship, not without some regrets do we perform this last act of our Editorial reign, in wishing to each and all —
"A Happy New Year ! "
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Acanihogorgia Jonsoni, 60. Air in Plant- tissues, 91. Aithurus pulytmus, 228. Alyssum, Stellate Hairs of, 83. Ammonite, 85.
Ants, Antenna and Spines of, 246. Ants, White, and their Nests, 2, 3, 4. Apparatus for Sounding, 138. Argonauta papyracea, Shell of, 84. Armed Bull-head, 173. Ascidia mentula, 181. Aspidophorus Europceus, 1/3. Avocettula recurvirostris, 228.
Banded Shrimp, the, 180. Barbel, Scale of, 188. Bat Flea, 99. Bath, Insects at, 229. Beehive, Cover for, 16. Bird Flea, 100. Blenny, the, 174. Bopyrus crangorum, 181. Bream, the Black Sea, 175.
CALAMITE, 202, 203, 204. Calosoma sycophunta, 108. Campanulariti dichotoma, 56. Campephilus vrincipalis, 227. Candle-snuff Fungus, 77, 78. Cantharus griseus, 175. Carp, Scale of common, 140.
Scale of Golden, 20.
Chigoe, 100.
Ciniflo similis. Palpi of, 37-
Clione celata, and Spicules of do. 253.
Cnethocampa processionea, 106.
Ccenonympha Davus, 133.
Coral Polypes, 61.
Corystes Cassivelaunus, 179-
Crabs, 178, 1/9.
Cuphoea platt/centra, 81.
Dab, the, 177.
Diamond. " Star of South Africa," 12.
Docimastes ensifer, 2'27-
Dog Flea, 99.
Eel-pout, Scale op, 20. Elecampane, 129. Elephant Parasite, 132. Eunicea, Spicules of, 60. Eutoxeres aquila, 228.
Fasciation in CEnotheba, 186.
Fifteen-spined Stickleback, 175.
Fish Scales, 20, 44, 140, 164, 188, 236, 260,
280. Flea, Tongue and Lancets of, 156. Fleas, 99.. 100. Flustra chartacea, 254.
truncata, 254.
Fossil Oolitic Plants, 157.
Galathea squamifera, 1/8. Gasterosteus spinuchia, 175. Gill of Swordfish, 136. Gnat, Proboscis of, 109. Goatsucker, 227. Gobius niger, 173. Gorgoniaflabellum, 54, 58, 60.
petechialis, 59.
■ pinnata, 53.
spiralis, 59.
verrucosa, 58, 60.
verticilliare, 54.
Grantia compressu, Spicules of, 280. Grayling, Scale of, 164.
Hair of Humble-bee, 140. Helianthea Eos, 227. Heliothrix auriculata, 228. Helix ovata, Shell of, 84. Hippolyte varians, 180. Hive-cover for Bees, 16. Homophyton Githago, 60. Humble-bee, Fish-tail Hair of, 140. Hydra viridis, 56.
Ice-box, Section op, 29. Jdolocoris elephantis, 132, Insectaria, Public, 231. Insects at Bath, 229. Inula Selenium, 129. Isis hippuris, 59. lulus terrestris, 38. Ivory Bill, 227.
Leptogorgi, Spicules of, 60. Lesbia Gouldii, 227. Lesser Weever, the, 171. Linyphia confusa, Palpi of, 37. Loach, Scales of, 275.
Markings op Podura Scale, 205. Marsh Ringlet Butterfly, 133. Martins, Sand, 135. Masked Crab, the, 179- Matthews' Turntable, 68. Melithcea coccinea, 60. Membranipora pilosa, 254, 255. Minnow, Scales of, 44. Mole Flea, 99-
Myrmica ruginodis, Antenna and Spines of, 246.
Nautilus pompilius, Shell of, 84. Nika edulis, 180. Nostoc commune, 260.
Onosma tauricum, Hairs of, 83. Oolitic Plants, Fossil, 157. Orange Peziza, 275.
Palpi of Spiders, 36, 37. Parasite of Elephant, 132. Perch, Scale of, 260.
Perch, Skeleton of the, 170. Peziza aurantia, 275. Phaethornis anthop/tiius, 228. Pike, Scale of, 236. Plants, Fossil, Oolitic, 157. Plant-tissue containing Air, 91. Platessa limanda, 1 77- Podura Scale, Markings of, 205. Polypes, Coral, 61. Primnoa verticulosa, 61. Proboscis of Gnat, 109. Processionary Moth, 106.
, Hairs of, 107.
Public Insectarium, 231. Pulex canis, &c, 99, 100.
Riphidogorgia flabellum, 60. Rock Goby, the, 173.
Sand Martins, 135. Scales of Barbel, 188.
Common Carp, 140.
■ Eel-pout, 20.
Golden Carp, 20.
Grayling, 164.
Loach, 280.
Minnow, 44.
Perch, 260.
Pike, 236.
Shoveller, Bill of, 229. Skeleton of the Perch, 170. Snipe, Bill of, 229. Sounding Apparatus, 138. Spicules of Clione celata, 253. Grantia compressa, 280.
Sea Fans, &c, 60, 61.
Spongilla fluviatilis, 280.
Spiders, Palpi of, 36, 37.
Spongilla fluviatilis, Spicules of, 280.
Squirrel Flea, 100.
" Star of South Africa " Diamond, 12.
Stellate Hairs, 83.
Stickleback, the Fifteen-spined, 175.
Stonechat, 136.
Strepsodus, Tooth of, 45.
Swan, Bill of, 229.
Swordfish, Gill of, 136.
Tongue and Lancets of Flea, 156.
Tooth of Strepsodun, 45.
Truchinus vipera, 171.
Trawl, the, 170.
Triton imbricata, Shell of, 84.
Turntable, Dr. J. Matthews', 68.
Watckeneara cristata, 36.
Palpi of, 36.
Whinchat, 136.
White Ants and their Nests, 2, 3, 4. Woodcock, Bill of the, 228. Wrasse, the Corkwing, 176.
Xylaria hypoxylon, and Conidia, &c, of same, 77i 78.
WHITE ANTS,
By CHABLES HOENE, EE.Z.S., late B.C.S.
HE nests of the Termites, or White Ants, are very com- mon in India; but although so com- mon, there is not one person in a thousand who has seen the internal economy of one of these wonderful abodes. I had often wished to do so, and al- though I had resided very many years in the country, during most of which I had studied natural history and collected specimens, it was not until twenty years or more had passed that I had an opportunity.
This was at Etawah, N.-W. Provinces, in 1867, and the result was so curious and in- teresting that I think it worth recording in Science-Gossip, whose pages are devoted to such topics.
I had offered a reward for a queen white ant, and at the same time I determined to dig for one myself ; not that the natives were not well aware of the locality of her abode, but that they would not take the trouble to dig her out. I had observed several mounds formed by these insects near the gate of the court-house, and one morning, taking with me three men, I dug up the hard-baked soil in their midst. There were five of these conical elevations, the highest being the central. This was about a foot and a half above the level of the plain, whilst the four smaller ones, which were placed at the corners of a square of perhaps five feet, in the midst of which stood the chief one, or citadel, were each perhaps eight inches in height.
It was on the 22nd of November, so that there had not been any rain for some months, and the No. 73.
grass was all dried up, and the earth extremely hard. I first cut off the heads of each of the mounds to ascertain the direction of the chief gal- leries, as well as to see which was the residence of royalty, and where the nurseries might be placed.
Within each eminence were large domed cham- bers supported on massive pillars composed of the finest sand, all of which had passed through the bodies of the workers ere it had been incorporated into the compact substance of which the sand pillar was constructed. There were also flying bridges, with footpaths on them trodden smooth and polished by the passage of the millions of feet of these blind insects, into whose habitations light never enters. All paths tended towards the centre, although by digging I came on several granaries and sets of nursery-cells. These granaries are very curious structures, being as slightly constructed and friable as the general structure is solid, story upon story of cells supported by frequent walls and pillars, all of which would crumble in the hand.
The former are placed in hollow spaces excavated for the purpose, each about the size of a child's head, and contain some kind of food, supposed by- many to be inspissated juices of the roots of trees, and resembling in appearance little globules of brown gum. There are perhaps three or four such granaries attached to every nest. The nurseries resemble the granaries in a great measure. In them grows a minute white fungus, much resembling a button mushroom, and about the size of a small pin's-head. This was formerly taken for food by many observers ; but I do not think that it is so. It, however, abounds to such an extent that it causes the floor of the cells to assume a grey appear- ance, the colour of the earth being of a light brown. In these nurseries, which are in general about the same size as the granaries, may be observed the working ants and nurses carrying about and feeding from their own mouths the larvae in various stages. These larvae are at first very small, but they are cared for immediately they are hatched from the
B
HAUDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
egg, and the period that they remain in the egg state must be a very short one, as it is difficult to find any unhatched, while we know the rate of production to be many thousands per diem from one queen. I should state that the external three or four inches of earth above the mounds was honey- combed like a coarse sponge, although I could perceive no openings on the exterior. It is quite
surface towards the object they wish to attack, re- maining under cover all the time, and so would not need such an exit.
We dug out some three feet of earth very cleanly and carefully from under the centre mound, and although we had met with many workers and warriors, we had seen no traces of king or queen, or royal apartments ; but the next stroke of the
Fig. 2. Fungus in White Ants' nest.
Fig. I. Galleries in White Ants' nest.
possible that these may have escaped my notice, as that required for a working termite to pass through
Fig. 3. Fart of the living rooms.
Fig. 4. Queen Ant.
is so exceedingly small ; yet I think that the habits of the insects arc against there having been any such, for they run a gallery underground or on the
spade revealed a sight I shall not scon forget. Encased by three or four inches of solidified earth, here was the royal chamber. It was between five and six inches in length, with a low domed roof of about one inch in height and three or four inches in width. Its thick walls were pierced in every direction with the smallest holes, through which a nurse carrying one egg, or a warrior, could alone proceed. There was no gallery leading to this cell that I could observe.
The floor was trodden benulifully smooth from constant use, and in the midst rested the Queen (fig. 4). She was, as shown in the plate, about three inches in length, and presumably about three years old. Utterly unable to move in any direction, here she lived. By her side walked the King (fig. G).
Both he and the queen have eyes, although all need for them would seem to have ceased when once they commenced their reign. His feet ap- peared to be all right, but the appearance of those of the queen was as if she had pawed on the ground until she had ground down her feet and claws to
HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE GOSSIP.
their present condition. Her body is said gradually to increase in size year by year, and one writer on West-Indian Termites asserts that she lays 80,000 eggs per diem! ! I, however, think that the num- ber is overstated.
In her body nothing appears through the semi- transparent skin but the ovary, of enormous length, folded together and full of eggs, which ever move forward, impelled by a peristaltic motion, until laid.
Fig. 5. Head of Queen magnified.
Fig. 6. King.
The royal pair were surrounded by a section of a compauy (I counted 30) of warriors. When the royal cell was broken into, these stood up on their hind legs to attack the intruder, and fastened on my finger without any fear, allowing me to carry them away suspended in the air by their closed mandibles. Their zeal and valour are very sur- prising.
Fig. 7. Warrior.
Fig. 8. Eggs.
Near, however, to the tail of the mother, were thirty or forty workers or nurses, for I could detect no difference in these two classes under a strong glass, and I doubt whether there is any. These waited for each egg as laid, and trotted off with it at once to the nurseries, through one of the many galleries, which were in diameter about that of an ordinary knitting-needle, or one-sixteenth of an inch. Other loyal subjects were feeding the queen from their own mouths. Her appearance was most helpless, and the king walked listlessly up and down beside her, doubtless attending, as need be, from time to time to his own functions ; although it is probable that, once impregnated, the effect, as in queen bees, lasts during life ?
I obtained a second queen the same day, but I did not see the cell or the nest.
It has been often stated that if the queen be dug out, the nest will be destroyed, and never be re- newed in the same place. I, however, doubt this, as I again dug up the nest above described, three months after I had refilled the hole, and found it in full working order, with new granaries and nur-
series, in place of those destroyed by me, although I was not able to find a new royal cell, or king or queen.
Fig. 9. Worker, nat. size and magnified.
All are aware of the fearful ravages of this insect in many parts. It was of Mainporl that it was said that, at certain seasons, were a man to lie down to sleep in a blanket on the ground, he would awake in the morning to find his blanket eaten and his bones picked ! This is of course an exaggeration, but it is very wonderful to see the length of covered gal- leries they will construct in one night, and also how they will consume the whole of the interior of a beam, leaving only a thin sheet of wood outside scarcely thicker than cartridge-paper. I have speci- mens of this, and as a proof that they can eat through almost anything, I remember in olden times having seen a sheet of thick lead in the museum of the East-India House at Leadenhail Street, which had been eaten through by them.
The following extract from an Indian paper,, dated February 23, 18G8, may be deemed of interest : — "It may be remembered by some of our readers, that in 1865 Dr. Bonavia, the Honorary Secretary of the Bengal Agri-horticultural Society at Luck- now, communicated to the Government that he had ascertained that white ants will not touch mats made from the fibre of the American aloe; and further, that the pulp separated from the fibre of the leaves of that plant may be profitably used for mixing up with the clay and cow-dung used in some buildings for plastering walls ; such plaster so im- pregnated being apparently proof against the in- sects.
Since then further attention has been given to the subject in the Mauritius. The nest and exuvia? of the White Ant are there made use of as an in- fusion or decoction for the treatment of certain nervous affections, particularly epilepsy, and it con- sequently occurred to a Mr. Bick that the matters extracted from wood attacked by the insects might be found to contain some principles similar to those which exist in chloroform or other anaesthetics. A
b2.
HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
Mr. Fleurot was accordingly solicited by the Horti- cultural Society to analyze the substances, and he proved the presence, in remarkable proportions, and in rather considerable quantities, of formic acid in combination with iron in the head and mandibles of the insect. He accordingly attributed the seda-
\ 'y<7 Fig. 10, Winged female.
tive effects of the nest to the combination of the iron and the formic acid in its composition, which produces a formate of iron ; and as he could not trace the presence of any soluble salts or common salt in the substance under analysis, he argued that the nature of the insect must be antipathetical to salt. In proof of the correctness of this opinion, lie has since ascertained that in damp cellars, where white ants once caused great destruction amongst casks of beer and, wine, they were entirely driven away by strewing a layer of common salt under the barrels. He also placed some white ants in a space, and surrounded them with a circle of salt, which the insects did not dare to cross.
"These facts were originally published in a Port Louis newspaper, and are reprinted in a book by Mr. C. J. Boyle, just published. If this theory holds good in India, buildings in which chunam (lime) made with sea-water [this evidently applies to Bombay, where fresh water is scarce— C. H.] has been surreptitiously employed, should be tolerably free from this pest, and a ready means is afforded to planters and others to protect themselves per- manently against the invasions of their uncompro- mising and insatiable enemy."
With reference to the above, I may remark that I have tried salt with the happiest results. Quick. lime in little tin or iron trays is, however, more commonly used, and the feet of large racks in record- rooms are often placed in these.
Before quitting the subject I will gossip a little about it.
The first heavy fall of rain (in the North- Western Provinces about the close of June) brings out the swarms of winged Termites. At dusk it often happens that they begin to emerge from some little hole in the corner of the room— on the floor— half way in the wall, or from outside. In half an hour I he whole air is alive with them. If in the daytime, every bird is eating them as they fly out; the
" Gekkho," or little house lizard on the wall, de- vours as many as he can, till at last he ceases with the tips of the wings and the legs of one sticking out of his mouth. The crows sail backwards and forwards catching hundreds ; the King-crow {Dicru- rus) dashes amongst them and eats as many as he will, and all who will— eat.
Meanwhile the numbers increase. Basins full of water, with a candle in the midst, are put down, and thousands flying to the light are thus drowned. Every device is adopted for destroyin?, yet some survive, bite off their own wings, and run along the ground, looking out for a place of shelter. One meets another, who, immediately holding on to his abdomen, follows him ; and thus one often sees three or four in one chain holding fast and following. But what is of more importance for maintaining the race, a male meets a female, and the two go off together, and getting under a safe clod, or into some corner or hole, start a colony.
Regarding the falling off of their wings, I found it most difficult to obtain winged specimens. I offered a reward to my collectors, and I sat ready with setting-board and pins, and then with difficulty I obtained three or four. They appear to fall off directly they are dry, and if they do not speedily come off of themselves, the insects assist nature and pull them off.
It is a very strange thing to see a nice white table-cloth, in the centre of which has stood the dinner lamp, covered all over with their wings ; with wingless insects taking shelter under knives, spoons, or any little bit of cover.
Once immured, they never again see the light ; although how they subsist until they have faithful attendants to feed them, is one of Nature's puzzles which I am quite unable to solve. One thing strikes me as very curious, viz., the manner in which the earth used passes through the body of the worker White Ant. The insect is so transparent that it is easily to be seen.
The assimilation of their food is also extremely strange, as they derive nutriment from wood ever so dry, and from grass, and other substances, which would not appear to be capable of yielding any nourishment. Although blind, these insects evince great ingenuity in getting at their food. 1 have often seeu them making a covered way over a thickly-painted door, and on reaching the bottom commence the projection of a circular gallery of several inches in length at an angle, until they reached some suitable food. On one such occasion, however, after all their labour, they arrived at a terraced floor in which they could make no impres- sion. They then abandoned their gallery, and tried in another direction.
I have watched the warriors visiting the working parties, and retiring when they found that all was well. The more one observes these marvellous
HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
colonies, the more one is at fault to find the direct- ing guiding spirit, and one has to fall back to the instinct so wonderfully implanted in them by their Great Creator.
One reads of white - ant hills in Africa and America, upon which a bison takes his stand to look out. I have never met with such in India ; alt bough occasionally there may be tbree or four together, which get broken dowD, and new mounds rise from the top, whereby a height of four or five feet is attained, and these mounds will bear any weight without fear of being crushed.
The earth of which they are composed is prized by masons for mixing in mortar, and truly it has a wonderful tenacity and fineness of texture.
In places where these insects are at all common, one cannot place a piece of stick on the ground at night without finding it in the morning covered with a layer of earth. They are very troublesome to beds of cuttings, sometimes eating off all the roots.
I used to put a small circular piece of copper plate upon a larger piece of zinc plate, and then stand the leg of the wardrobe in the centre of the copper. I never found the insects to make a gal- lery across this, which I imagine acted as a kind of galvanic battery, when damped by the moisture of their earth. The rooms of many houses in India are laid with pitch, aspbalte, and other preparations. This will keep them out if there be not the least crack in them through which the insect can come. They will also come over the edge, so that it is ex- tremely difficult to exclude them.
The large hornets are very fond of them, and I have seen them catching them one by one, and making up a ball wherewith to feed their young. Other insects also eat them.
They cannot work without moisture, and although they never cease their labour day or night, they prefer darkness for their mischievous deeds. They are found in the driest desert places, and where they then obtain the necessary liquid is very strange. Their cells, being so thickly coated with earth, are comparatively cool, and the royal cell, being at a depth of at least three feet, keeps a very even tem- perature.
Everything they touch is stained with their acid. I once had a large box of miscellaneous goods left in Calcutta for two years in a warehouse. On my return to Calcutta, 1 found the contents to be a mass of white-ant earth, in which were firmly im- bedded and well stained, six bronze wall bracket- shades. These alone they could not eat. I sent them to be rebronzed, and the native returned them paiuted black ! In their case, however, the instinct is truly blind, and the insect cannot see its nu- merous foes, and will rebuild a gallery tenor twelve times, or as often as it is destroyed.
When lying ill, I have watched the gallery getting
longer and longer with the tiny secretion of each ant, and when I have had to sweep it all away, I have next day seen the same task repeated, till at last the death perhaps of so many workers has deterred the main body from continuing the work after seven or eight calamities. The Palm or Striped Squirrel (Sciurus palmarwm) is very fond of them, as are mice and many kinds of birds ; yet their numbers steadily increase, and they were the constant plague for many years of your Indian observer.
THE STORY OP A BOULDER. By J. E. Taylor, P.G.S., &c.
EEW of my fellow story-tellers can boast of adventures equal to mine. My life has been a restless one, and to see me quietly reposing in some bed of clay, the non-geologist would little' suspect what strange romances I could tell him. I will do my best to recount them. Not many years ago this would have been totally impossible. At that time geology was chiefly made up of guesses, many of which, however, proved to be shrewdly true. The great sheets of sand, gravel, and clay which extend, more or less, over the northern, midland, and east- ern counties of England — as well as over the Con. tinent and in the United States of America, were supposed to have been the debris left by Noah's Plood, and were therefore called "Diluvium." Rut facts (stubborn things !) bave accumulated in such numbers that it is now totally impossible to hold such an idea — much as many people may wish it. It is seen that the period of time when such beds were formed was as peculiar as those of other formations, and that the physical circumstances, if not the pecu- liar life-forms, marked it off distinctly from the rest. Hence the name now given to it of " Northern Drift," or that other of the " Glacial period," which latter I hold to be the most appropriate.
The chief interest of the " Glacial epoch " is the way with which its facts connect tertiary life-forms and geography with existing species and circum- stances. The geologist is able to perceive there was no break, such as was originally supposed, but that the present epoch is intimately related to all that have gone before, and is, in fact, a continuation of many of their circumstances. It therefore links the present with the past, in a way for which know- ledge-seekers cannot be too thankful. Who would imagine the scattered, disunited beds of clay, or gravel, or sand, could have been so fruitful in geo. logical and even general interest ?
Some of my companions may boast of an origin quite the opposite to my own. Theirs deals with intense heat, mine with almost as extreme cold. Of course I am speaking of my present existence as a " boulder," for before I entered that state I formed
HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
an insignificant part of a great and continuous rocky stratum. What this rock was composed of, matters little or nothing-, for we "Glacial Boulders" have no such clannish feeling as other geological story-tellers. We are composed of all kinds— and the bed of clay in which we have been deposited may be regarded as a sort of lithological Parliament, in which the representatives of every formation are assembled. But allow me, if you please, rapidly to sketch the outlines of the events which transpired before I was ruthlessly wrenched from my original rocky home, and transposed into a boulder.
As many of my hearers are aware, the earlier part of the Tertiary period was, in England and else- where, marked by an almost tropical climate. During the Eocene epoch, the seas of our latitude were in- habited by 'shells and fish of tropical types. The dry land was clothed with tree-ferns, palms, &c, and these gorgeous forests were frequented by huge serpents, strange-looking, tapir-like quadrupeds, aud monkeys. The rivers, also, had their alligators and crocodiles. In short, all the types of land, fresh- water, and marine fauna and flora, which now distin- guish equatorial regions, existed in England. The rocks of this period are full of proofs of the truth of what I say. Then gradually succeeded the Miocene epoch, during which the climature was less torrid- Even then, the great arctic ice-cap had not been formed at the pole, for we have abundant evidence that countries situated far north, such as Greenland and Spitzbergen, were covered with vegetable forms nearly allied to those now living in South Carolina, Japan, the Cape of Good Hope, and Australia. Then succeeded the Pliocene age, whose climate is abundantly indicated by its fine " Crags," as the beds of shells are termed. The oldest of these is called the " Coralline," and there may be found in it no fewer than twenty-seven species of shells, nearly allied to or identical with those now existing in southern latitudes. The "Red Crag" comes next in ago, and this tells you by similar evidence that the climate was gradually getting colder, for the number of southern shells has dwindled to thir- teen, whilst there has appeared in English latitudes species allied to those now living iu northern seas. Einally, the third, or "Norwich Crag," supplements the teachings of its relatives by its total absence of southern shells, and its much greater proportion of arctic species. Another bed of Crag, situated some height above this, still further corroborates the remarkable fact I have been narrating, for its greater abundance of northern forms is as remark- able as that of the older Norwich Crag over the rcd- About the same age as the latter bed is a pheno- menon, known as the " Forest bed," which crops out from beneath the steep cliffs along the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts. It is the site of an old forest, now paving the bottom of the German Ocean, and the imbedded stools of trees, as well as those of land and
freshwater plants, indicate a temperate}[mildness of climate, similar to that now marking the British islands — or, if anything, a trifle colder, as the pre- sence of the Scotch fir and Norway spruce pine clearly shows.
My hearers cannot but be struck with the gradual refrigeration of climate, from tropical or subtropical conditions, to a temperate one. Meantime, the slow but sure change from a warmer to a colder physical circumstance clearly prophesied that the next period would probably be marked by the same law. Such proved to be the case. The change of climate indi- cated by the several periods I have mentioned, culminated in that "Glacial period" during which my birth as a boulder took place.
After the epoch of the " Crags," a gradual subsi- dence of England, as far south as what is now the Thames slowly took place. Little by little the whole country sunk beneath the sea, in which, with increasing depth, there came increased arctic cold. The greater part of Scotland — certainly the whole of the Highlands— were covered with glaciers, or sheets of accumulated snow, frozen into ice. The snow-line — which in England is now some thousands of feet above the ocean-level — then was gradually lowered by the greater cold until it was met with as low as it could possibly creep. The hills of North Wales, Cumberland, Lancashire, and other places also had their ice-cap. To what thick- ness this great ice- sheet accumulated, or what course, I can form no idea; but if it was anything like what now takes place in Greenland— and I have every reason for asserting that England at the time of which I am speaking, experienced Greenlandic cir- cumstances, rather than those of any other part of the world — then this sheet of snow or ice possibly grew to be hundreds, if not thousands, of feet in thickness. Such is the case in Greenland at the present time. The fine snow accumulates on the mountain-tops, and is only got rid of by its freezing into a sheet, which is always moving down to the lowest level. In temperate and tropical climates, rivers carry off the excess of moisture — in arctic countries this can only be done by the moving ice- sheets, termed " glaciers." The Greenland glaciers debouch into the sea itself. The ice-sheet forms grand sea-cliffs, hundreds of feet high, along whose bases the angry sea eats caverns, until the toppling mass falls over, and iloats away as an iceberg. Or the great ice-sheet thrusts itself right into the sea,, creeping along its bottom until it comes to water deep enough to buoy up, break off, and float away the extreme end.
You will have no difficulty in perceiving that the immense mechanical force exercised by such glaciers on the solid hard rocks over which they creep must be immense. You can easily conceive how the latter must be ground down and pounded into mud ; and also, how fragments would be broken
HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
off, frozen into the great icy mass, and slowly carried away. When that portion of the glacier into which some huge fragment has thus been frozen, reaches the sea, it would be broken off, and floated away as an iceberg, carrying the enclosed fragment of rock with it. Away drifts the iceberg, carried by oceanic currents in a southerly direction, until the warmer waters gradually melt it, and then down drops the rock to the bottom of the sea, to rest perhaps thou- sands of miles away from its parent source.
The friction of a moving glacier elicits just enough heat to melt a portion of the ice, which flows away as water, carrying with it the finer mud or sand set free by attrition. Hence all the water flowing into the sea is turbid with mud, and this mud, as it gradually settles to the sea-bottom, is there forming what will some day be a geological deposit. In this mud arctic mollusca live and die, and will also some day be found fossilized. It was in a similar bed to this that I was dropped. Down I sank amid the oozy mud, displacing the strata, and more or less causing them to assume a con- torted appearance. Well do I remember the effect produced by the largest boulders, dropped in a simi- lar way into the same strata. They sank so deeply as to cause thin beds of shells, which had previously been horizontal, to wrap over and become almost vertical. In the Norfolk cliffs, near Cromer, where what is known as the "Coast Boulder Clay," attains a great thickness, you may see masses of chalk imbedded, which cannot be less than two hundred feet in length. The soft sand and clay beds near are so contorted that you would imagine an earthquake had produced the disturbance ; but it was caused simply by the melting icebergs drop- ping their stony burdens. Por ages this process went on — the land glaciers grinding down the solid rocks, and the sea currents strewing the debris over the ocean-floor. The icebergs, also, added no little to the accumulating mass.
I am told that along the North Atlantic sea-floor there is going on a similar deposit. The thousands of icebergs which set out from the north every year gradually melt as they near the more southerly latitudes. There is a great stream of warm water called the " Gulf Stream," which sets out from the Gulf of Mexico, crosses the Atlantic, aud impinges on the southern and south-western coasts of Great Britain. When the northern icebergs come into contact with this, they rapidly melt, so that, of course, the sea-bottom in that place might be ex- pected to be heaped up with the debris they had dropped. Actual soundings prove this to be the case ; so that if the North Atlantic sea-floor could be upheaved, you would have a series of loose deposits of sand, mud, boulders, &c., not unlike those which were formed during my own lifetime.
I am not left without a natural barometer to fix the depth to which the dry land went down. In
North Wales is a hill called Moel Tryfaen, and, near its summit, at seventeen hundred feet above the sea-level, is an old sea-beach, formed when the submergence had reached its maximum. After this there came as gradual an upheaval, and this is marked in various places in Great Britain by a graduated series of raised beaches, ranging ia height from that above given to those only a fsw* feet above high- water mark. Gradually the land appeared more extensively above the water. The climate was still intensely cold and arctic. The icebergs coming from Scandinavia frequently, brought with them arctic plants growing on the~ frozen mass of gravel or sand. Whenever these icebergs stranded on the coast, these plants were able to migrate inland, and very soon they covered the new land with an arctic aud sub-arctic flora. Those soft beds of sand or mud lying along the sea-bottom which first came within the influence of. the surface-currents, wei*e very much worn away or denuded. This was especially the case with an extensive sheet known as the "Chalky Boulder Clay," from its containing so many small rounded . pebbles of chalk, as well as large boulders of other rocks.
Among farmers, this goes by the name of " Heavy lands," and the bed is usually found occupying the highest grounds, having been denuded by marine currents into what are now valleys. A good deaii of the material thus worn away was carried by the waves to form beds of later date, which sometimes go by the name of " Post-glacial," although they were really deposited during the Glacial epoch. Of course, we boulders had no means by which we could be transported, and so we were exposed to- current-action. The waves rubbed us together, toning down our sharp angles, and very frequently obliterating the scratches and groovings which we had before borne as evidence of our ice-conveyance. In this way a huge gravel or boulder bed was formed on the highest grounds, the soft matrix having been washed away.
When England was again joined to the Con- tinent, and before the Straits of Dover had been, cut out, the European land animals migrated hither. The climate, though still rigorous, was nothing like so cold as it had been during the middle of the Glacial period. Among the animals thus roaming amid semi-arctic woods and wilds, were the "Mammoth" (Elephas primigenius) and the Hairy Rhinoceros. Both these animals were covered with long woolly hair to protect them from the severe cold. Ireland was then joined to England. by way of the Isle of Man, and over this extensive prolongation of Europe in a westerly direction, another animal, the " Irish Elk," roamed in great numbers. The Reindeer, Glutton, Lemming, Musk- deer, and other animals affecting high latitudes, then abounded in England, their bones being fre-
HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
quently found in the later deposits, as well as in the cave breccias. An almost arctic flora covered the plains, and crept up the hill-sides as far as the then perpetual snow-line. Glaciers still debouched through the mountain defiles into the plains, and moraines, or heaps of angular stones, thrust forward by the advancing foot of the glacier, still remain in Scotland, Cumberland, and Wales, to indicate how far these glaciers travelled. Where the ice- sheet descended from the mountains, of course there was the greatest amount of pressure. Here great hollows were scooped out of the hard, solid rocks, and these hollows are now filled with fresh water, and form the lakes of North Wales, Lan- cashire, and Cumberland, and, on the Continent, in Switzerland. The Swiss glaciers, by the way, were then much more extensive than they now are. At present their growth is impeded by a warm wind, which accumulates over the Desert of Sahara, in North Africa. But, at the time of which I speak, the Sahara was a sea, as is indicated by the abun- dance of ordinary cockles and mussels found a few feet below its terrible drifting sands. Then, no warm wind could form, and the European glaciers grew unchecked. Again, the temperate mollusca, such as oysters, cockles, mussels, &c, had migrated from our latitudes, and taken up their abodes in seas which, although farther south, represented iu glacial times, as far as tbe temperature was con- cerned, the seas of Great Britain.
As the climate became warmer, the arctic plants left the lowlands, where they became extinct. Their places were taken by a more southerly flora, which had set out from Asia Minor, and covered the greater part of Europe. The arctic plants occu- pying the highest grounds, therefore, were the only remains of this once widely-spread arctic flora, which could find suitable and fitting circumstances amid which they could live. And here the wan- dering botauist now finds them — living proofs of the truth of what I have been saying respecting the long arctic winter of the northern hemisphere. Subsequently, Ireland was separated from the Con- tinent, England having been cut off some time before. When the climate had toned down, man appeared on the scene. His weapons are found in the most' recent of deposits, and his bones beneath the stalagmitic floor of limestone caves. The woolly-haired Elephant and Rhinoceros disappeared for ever; the Glutton, Lemming, Reindeer, &c, like the arctic plants, migrated with the decreasing cold into northern regions. Meantime, the bottom of the glacial sea had become dry land. The old, hard, and barren rocks had been thickly strewn with rich subsoils, the very elements necessary for agricultural purposes. Nature had done, by means of her glacier and other action, exactly what the scientiGc farmer sometimes docs when he adds
artificial manure to improve his soils. She had ground and pounded all the older rocks to make up a new compound that should possess all their valuable mineral ingredients. In this way only could mankind have been blessed with the necessary elements for the purposes of husbandry. Thus, in comparison with other periods, that when man was introduced was especially favoured.
URASTER RUBENS.
A S marine aquaria are now so well known and ^--*- so widely distributed, it seems a pity that people with such means at their disposal should not undertake the keeping and study of the more delicate animals of our seas and shores ; as, by such means, many disconnected facts and observations in natural history may be linked together in a manner to be understood. The difficulty of obtaining ani- mals inland is no doubt often a bar to their suc- cessful study, as they must be in a healthy condition when placed in the tank. My own observations have not been so numerous as I could wish, I not having been able to obtain many objects in a suffi- ciently healthy state to live. I refer more particu- larly to the Echiuoderms. This great class, which is entirely marine, contains some of the most beauti- ful and graceful animals that are known. But I have now to describe the more common member of this class, Uraster rttbens.
The animal of which 1 now speak belongs to the sub-family Urasterina, distinguished by having four rows of suckers in each of the ray-avenues. The body of this Echinoderm, which is a slightly elevated disk, is elongated into five stout arms or rays, which are rather rounded, and are really extensions of the body, of which they form part. It. is enclosed in a toughish skin, in which are imbedded calcareous plates of various shapes, rather closely congregated, so as to form a strong skeleton. In certain situa- tions all over the dorsal surface, these plates are raised into strong spines, which give the star-fish that prickly feel when handled. The arrangement of these large spines does not seem to be after any particular order : three sets of long spines border- ing the avenues especially characterize the genus.
The avenues on the under side of the rays are filled with the ambulacra. These are fleshy arms furnished with suckers at their extremities, by which the animal can attach itself, and are used as organs of progression. They are very contractile, and highly sensitive, as by a slight touch, when the animal is in repose and the arms are almost motion- less, we can set them all in motion.
But let us examine the animal more closely by means of the microscope, to do which we must select one that will go conveniently into a large
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zoophyte-trough filled with sea-water, and we can thus study it in its living state, which is highly im- portant with delicate structures, such as that we have in hand. The ambulacra are separated from each other by peculiar thin curved calcareous plates, but of considerable width, which are placed side by side all down the under surface of the rays, and from the bottom of the avenues. Between these plates the fleshy arms protrude themselves : now, on cutting open the ray we see that in the interior side of these plates the arms swell out into trans- parent bulbs filled with sea-water. It is by the contraction of these bodies, forcing, as they then do, the water into them, that the ambulacra are expanded, and on the retraction of the suckers the water is sent back again into the bulbs.
The spaces between the calcareous network are covered with a transparent skin, which can be protruded in the form of a short tentacle. Within these tentacles, which are very transparent, violent vortices are produced by the cilia lining the interior, and whirling round clouds of alimentary particles. It is difficult to conjecture what may be the object of these processes ; but from their protrusion and retraction, and being covered and lined with cilia, they are probably connected with respiration. They are distributed all over the upper side of the star- fish, and when protruded (which they can be to the eighth of an inch in a full-sized specimen) give to the animal a peculiar gauze-like appearance.
Interspersed amongst the tentacular bodies, and generally near the spines, are the pedicellarisc, pe- culiar pincer-like structures, which are constantly opening and shutting during the life of the animal, and of which a great deal has been written, but without any great results : the fact of their not communicating with the interior of the body of the animal has made their object in the economy of the star-fish extremely difficult to imagine. They have been thought by some to be parasites ; but there is not the least doubt now, of their belonging to and being part of the animal. These bodies are very numerous in large specimens, particularly towards the sides of the rays, and are often absent in young ones. In this state Porbes says it is the Asterias clathrata of Pennant. Around the spines princi- pally, but sometimes in isolated groups, are placed other and very remarkable structures. The investing skin of the animal rises up into mounds, which divide at the top into short tubular processes, each of which ends in a curious opening, like the mouth of a fish. The jaws are formed of hard calcareous matter, transparent like glass, and are broad and short, very unlike the pedicellariae, which are nar- row and long. These mouths are constantly opening a little, and closing again. There appears to be a passage from them down into the interior of the body. I have not seen these curious structures described before, although to me they
seem quite, if not more important, than the pedicellariae, and are much more numerous, there being generally twenty or more around each spine. They are very plentiful near the avenues, where also the pedicellariae are most abundant Might not the use of the latter be to hold substances to attract swarms of infusoria which might then be taken in with the water by the " fish-mouths," and serve as food for the star-fish in the absence of re- gular food by the mouth ? Constant observation of the living animal under the microscope seems to be the only way of solving this difficult question.
At the top of each ray, and surrounded by spines, is a red spot, consisting of a number of ruby cells in a group. This has been called their eye ; but whether it is endowed with the sense of vision is uncertain. It is the only known organ of sense in the star-fish, and seems particularly used when the animal is searching for food ; it then always keeps the tips of the rays turned up, exposing well this red spot.
The animal is moderately lively, and will often be seen walking rather faster than a snail. On the sea-coast it seems fond of clinging to the under sides of ledges. At some seasons it is not common, only one or two being seen thrown up by the tide; this more especially in winter. I have seen it in warm weather in great abundance, and this after calm seas. It appears very sensitive to change of temperature; the star-fish in my tank always seeking the deeper parts on the setting in of cold weather ; those parts being then of course warmer than the surface.
This species is very voracious, and will eat almost any animal matter. Its manner of feeding is as follows : It is perhaps walking on a piece of rock, turning up the ray-tips and exposing the red " eye " spots, as I before remarked. Should there be a piece of fish or dead worm near, it is soon discovered and drawn by means of the suckers towards the mouth; the body is now raised up to admit the substance, and the rays clasp round it. The body is now much inflated with water, and the stomach is turned out like a transparent bladder, completely enveloping the food ; if not too large, it is perhaps drawn quite into the body, there to undergo di- gestion, and is>ejected in a day or so in a finely- divided granulous condition.
In colour this species is very variable, passing from pale lemon down to dark brick-red or violet ; in this state having much in common with TJraster violacea ; and it is often difficult by this means to define the two species.
Porbes seems to question the suicidal propensi- ties of this animal ; but there is no doubt of its ability to throw off its rays. I have seen an animal break off all its rays till nothing but the disk was left. This is certain to happen if the star-fisb is placed in an ill -aerated aquarium. This habit I
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found very annoying when I first attempted to keep this animal ; but if it can be kept for a fortnight or so without thus mutilating itself, it seldom after that shows its destructive habits; and if it then dies, it generally does so in an ordinary manner.
There is another malady to which this star-fish seems liable in confinement. The animal may ap- pear healthy and vigorous, but a few white spots will be seen on the rays : these spread ; and here it will be observed that the skin is quite rotten, coming away in large flakes. I had always re- garded these signs as fatal ; but I am happy to say that my friend Mr. 0. Meltzer once cured a fine specimen of Uraster violacea that was affected in this manner, and which is still alive ; the scar is, bowever, still visible.
Whether this star-fish has any stinging propen- sities is very doubtful ; but I have noticed that whenever this animal has approached a limpet, the great discomfort of the latter was worthy of remark.
I consider from my own experience that this ani- mal is difficult to keep in aquaria. I have kept one •over a year, and have now several that I have had -for some time ; but they have the benefit of con- tinuous streams and daily tides.
Herbert Ingall.
Champion Grove, Champion Hill.
NEW INTRODUCTIONS.
I AM afraid Mr. Spicer, by his article in the last number of Science-Gossip, will by this time have roused the active wrath of at least some few naturalists whom I could name. And yet I must range myself on his side, -and with him ask why our Fauna and Flora may not be enriched, where pos- sible, with the treasures of other climes. There is Qot the slightest doubt that a very great number of -our present species have been introduced by the hand of man, more, perhaps, than is commonly sup- posed. What are we the worse for it ? and why is the naturalist to be at once severely taken to task when he purposes scattering the seeds of some fresh plant or the eggs of some new insect in his locality ? I never could understand (but that is probably owing to my limited powers, or else im- perfect knowledge) why botanists should be at such immense pains to insist on the necessity of such phrases as "not a native," "a doubtful native," "na- turalized," &c. If a plant grows and flourishes in a locality, why may it not be regarded as an inhabitant ? If an insect is bred from eggs purposely scattered by man, and the locality being suitable for it, it in- creases and multiplies, why must it still be regarded as a foreigner ? Man himself — in fact every animal — would have to be set down on these principles as "naturalized," but "not a real native," of any
locality. If any district possesses the capabilities of nourishing and preserving any species of plant or animal, then evidently the occurrence of such plant or animal, however introduced, cannot be regarded as unnatural. Nature employs certain agents to do her work in dispersion — geological changes, by which paths of dry land may be opened up in fresh places — all the marvellous aud beautiful contrivances for scattering seeds — and man is one of her agents too, albeit a conscious one, which appears to be the objection. But surely, if conscious, then a more perfect agent ; he cannot oppose Nature, and he can carry out her designs only by obeying the laws which the Creator has impressed upon her; and when he is so doing, he is performing his duty in the same way, though more perfectly, as the plume attached to the tiny seed, or as the breeze con- veying invisible germs for hundreds of miles from their birthplace.
Of course it would be of intense interest to know the birthplace and date of arrival of every species we possess ; already we can record a great many, and it will be now easy to notice fresh ones. Per- haps some "honourable gentleman opposite" may be able to afford us better reasons for his view of the matter than I have here recorded for mine, and I am sure we shall be very glad to hear them, even if convinced we are wrong. At present the rule appears to be this : if you know the date of arrival, or strongly suspect the date, call the species a " doubtful native," or " naturalized ; " if not, it may be regarded as " a true native."
Henry Ullyett.
BIRDS! BIRDS!
A WALK through the wood in winter has its -*-*i charms ; the lover of nature finds more scope for the eye ; the curtain to a degree is gone ; the trees are bare ; many birds now may be seen that keep out of view in summer, for, although a number of the best birds migrate, we have some that visit us in winter that are somewhat ornamental, such as the redwing, fieldfare, snipe, widgeon, and several others of the Bunting tribe, cir I bunting, snow bunting, &c. &c. ; besides which we have a number of beautiful birds that stay with us all the year round ; the smallest British bird we have, the golden-crested wren, braves the winter ; the robin, with his melodious song ; the family of Wagtails ; hedge-sparrows, stone-chats, whin-chats, &c. &c.
The leaves gone, we get a chance of seeing the mischievous magpie and the pretty jay, the cun- ning hawfinch that is known to visit orchards, but makes off at the sight of man, seldom leaving cover until evening or next morning, although this bird is known to haunt the vicinity of Hampstead aud
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11
Epping forest. 1 lately saw a new and popular natural history that did not mention this bird.
I one time had a tame magpie that was very sagacious ; he would amuse himself by playing with a little dog, running and tumbling round and rouud a few old trees, only just keeping in front of the dog's nose, seemingly in a half-exhausted state; but -when the dog was tired and would run no longer, maggy would look as sprightly as could be; he would throw up his tail, walk back and try to tempt the dog to another run. This took place every morning upon the appearance of the dog, who, after some time, from force of habit, enjoyed the fun as much as the bird. Maggy also had his dislikes, one of which was a red-haired child : he would alight on such a one and pick away most unmercifully. His mischief was mostly a source of amusement to me ; but some one thought otherwise, for, while he was stealing grapes— which, by-the-by, was a favourite pastime with him — a boy killed him. Although a great thief, I honoured him with a glass case. »
A tame magpie, not caged, will get a plumage equal to a wild one ; but not so with the jay ; there deems a difficulty in the moulting, the feathers not coming to perfection ; consequently the health of the bird suffers so much that, coupled with shyness, we lose the real character of the jay when tame. The magpie and jay are both mocking-birds, the former the better of the two. In a garden where either of the above-mentioned birds is kept all small birds are absent.
A crested wren mostly remains in the woods and hedges, however cold the winter may be ; yet, kept in a cage, you can scarcely keep it warm enough ; it must have a large cage lined with baize, the perch also covered with the same.
The hawfinch, avoiding man as he does when in a wild state, is quite familiar in an aviary ; indeed, after a little hard weather many birds that, as a rule, would pine away, may be kept a whole season if room is given them to fly about.
The bullfinch maybe kept alive if taken about this time ; at other times it is difficult to do so ; but it is advisable to keep a pair for a few weeks, after which the hen may be safely removed ; they should be fed upon a mixture of hemp and canary seed.
The whole family of wagtails will live in cap- tivity. Although insectivorous, they will do very well if fed upon German paste, giving them oc- casionally a little live food. Wagtails do not hop, but, like most of the larger birds, walk.
Just now we have very large flocks of siskins, which are known to fly periodically, that is, I believe, every seven years. The siskin, or abcrdu- vine, is an excellent bird to'match with the canary ; they will assist to build the nest, and help to feed the young. So fascinating is this bird, that frequently the canary will leave one of their own species and
pair with the stranger. Like the goldfinch, they are very fond of hemp-seed.
In November I procured a wren, and it seemed to do very well in the aviary, feeding very readily upon small meal-worms and German paste ; it was quite amusing and instructive to watch its move- ments ; it would scrub and roll in the gravel much after the manner of the common hen. 1 am sorry to say it made its escape, and so for a time put an end to the study of the habits of the wren.
Charles J. W. Rudd.
SOUTH AFRICAN DIAMONDS. By Prof. James Tennant.
THE history of the discovery of diamonds at the Cape of Good Hope was this : — In March, 1S67, Dr. Atherstone, of Graham's Town, received by post in an unsealed, unregistered letter, a rough diamond, which had been picked up on a farm in the Hope-town district, and forwarded by Mr. J. O'Reilly to Mr. Lorenzo Boyes, Clerk of the Peace for the district of Colesburg, who sent it to Dr. Atherstone, in order that he might give his opin- ion as to the probability of its being of any value. He had not seen a rough diamond before, but, after taking the specific gravity, testing the hardness, and examining it by polarized light, he decided that it was a genuine diamond of considerable value; and, perceiving the great importance of such a discovery to the colony, he at once wrote to the Colonial Secretary, suggesting that it should be sent to the Paris exhibition, and afterwards sold for the benefit of the finder. This fortunate person was a Dutch farmer, named Schalk van Niekerk, who, seeing the children of a neighbouring boor playing with some bright stones, was struck by the appearance of one which he offered to buy of the mother. She laughed at the idea of selling the gem, and gave it to him at once. He showed it to Mr. O'Reilly, who was returning from a distant hunting expedition, and so it finally reached Dr. Atherstone. At the close of the Paris Exhibition, the stone was purchased by Sir Philip Wodehouse, then governor of the colony, for £500. Comparing the South African with other diamond-fields, it had hitherto been unusual to receive more than one large diamond — say of 40 carats — in the course of a single year, but the new fields had yielded no less than five stones exceeding this weight within that time. There was one of 56 carats, and another weighing 83 carats, which arrived last year, and proved to be an exceedingly beautiful stone. It is now in the possession of Messrs. Hunt and Roskell, who have kindly pro- mised to allow any one who wished to see it. I anti- cipate that we shall have diamonds from this region exceeding the Koh-i-ncor in size, and equalling it in beauty when cut and polished.
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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
The diamond-bearing district of South Africa is, as far as yet known, confined to the Vaal Valley, some of its tributaries, and a part of the Orange lliver, below its junction with the Vaal. For the most part, the district of Colesberg, Albania, and Orange lliver Free State (which include most of the dia- mond-diggings) have the Karoo strata, or great Dicynodon formation, that underlies so large a part of the Cape Colony, for its basement, traversed in every direction by dykes of greenstone and other volcanic rocks. Along the Vaal River, however, the Karoo beds, if they ever extended quite so far, have been denuded off, leaving some schistose and shaly beds, traversed by basalt and other volcanic rocks ; and these may be either remnants of the Karoo beds, or some of the palaeozoic rocks beneath. Excepting occasional exposures, all these are covered
Fig. 11. Diamond "Star of South Africa," face and back as cut.
with superficial deposits of tufa, pebbles, and sand . The pebbles consist of rock crystal of various colours, agate, jaspers (black, red, and ribboned), quartzite, sandstone, iron-ore, basalt, granite, garnet, spinel, peridot, blue corundum, and dia- monds. Where the quartz is angular instead of rounded, diamonds are said to be wanting. The superficial sand and soil, generally ferruginous, and even the tufa, have also been found to contain dia- monds here and there. The diamond-bearing pebble- bed is formed, not only on the flats along the river, but also on the tops and sides of the hills (" kop- jes "), sometimes one hundred feet and more in height, within a few miles of the river. Most of the pebbles have been probably derived from the Quathlamba Mountains or Drackenberg range, which has certainly in its constitution all the materials for the common pebbles, and probably the rarer minerals also. The strata that have before now occupied the place of the Vaal Valley may have yielded some of the material, slowly let down from jevel to level, and pushed gradually forward, as the strata were worn away by water through great periods of time ; certainly the presence of the pebbly accumulations on the kopjes indicates the existence of former levels of water-worn deposits, portions only of which now remain after the erosive action of the rivers. These kopjes seem to be harder masses of protruding basalt than the rest,
and are said to have rich stores of diamonds re- maining in the old alluvium coating their tops and sides, but often hidden by sand drifted from flats. The association of agates points of course to volcanic rock, even if no basalt or greenstone had been found ; and the abundant evidence of igneous action, both in the Vaal Valley and in the water- shed whence the river comes, may probably have had to do with the origin of the diamond, in changing coal or some other carbonaceous com- pound into pure and simple crystals of carbon.
The many papers in the Colonial and other pe- riodicals, by Atherstone, Rubidge, Gilfillan, Higson, Shaw, Muskett, Grey, and others, have been the chief sources of this information concerning the diamond fields collated for me by my friend Profes- sor Rupert Jones.
As in South Africa, so in Brazil and India, dia- monds have been formed in superficial pebble-beds, whether loose or conglomerated, containing quartz and other hard rocks, derived probably from moun- tains many miles away, of palaeozoic and highly altered rocks. It is difficult, however, to make an exact comparison of the pebbly alluviums, so rich with diamonds, in these three countries. So also of South Australia the same may be said ; and doubt- less diamonds will be found under similar conditions in other parts of the world. — Lecture at Society of Arts.
DARKLING SPIDERS.
P\ID it ever occur to any naturalist that it is a -^ rather singular circumstance that spiders should spin their webs in closets or places which are entirely dark ? For what purpose is the silken snare spread by these crustaceans ? We naturally answer, that its primary object must be to entrap winged insects, yet totally dark places yield few of these. Observe that I am speaking of spots where light is not intermittent, but from which it is shut out for months together. I have recently been making some investigations relative to the habits of spiders resident in a closet which is not opened for many weeks at a time, situate on the basement of a house. Within this a spider might well despair of getting a good living, unless it had either capacities with which spiders do not appear to be gifted, or pos- sessed the art of subsisting upon other aliment than that which we assume, with good reason, is that which has been assigned them by Nature.
What insect is likely to fly about in a dark closet ? The chances of any entering at those rare intervals when the door was open would afford a meagre livelihood to any spider, even if these visitants, once shut in, were likely to blunder about until they fell into a snare ; but here were many spiders, and from their appearance they showed evidently that they
HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
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were not in a state of starvation. Could they re- plenish their larders by the capture of any flying insects actually bred within their domain, and which, being prisoners in the dark, and within a limited space, would be likely to be caught? Scarcely. The closet was almost empty— a few old' bottles and jars, some pieces of wood of a variety of sizes, and a debris of sawdust and other dust, the accumulation of years, occupied the floor. This was not likely to produce anything winged, save, perhaps, a few Tine^:, the larvae of which might feed on the wood, though the wings of no insect of this sort appeared in the webs. Other living creatures were not to be looked for, saving any of the small wood-boring beetles and wood-lice, and these would not be very likely to enter a spider's web, nor to remain long in it if they did. The webs, I per- eived, were regularly arranged in the angles on each side of the door, which occupied almost the entire width of the closet. Scarcely any webs were situated in any other part of the closet, and this seemed to suggest either that the spiders had stationed themselves there with the expectation of catching any visitants at their first entry, or else that they themselves were accustomed to make ex- cursions in search of food elsewhere, retiring to these webs, which might be called "their homes," at such times as they chose. This idea was favoured by three circumstances ; first, that a portion of the webs was occasionally unoccupied ; secondly, that a sufficient gap was left, when the door was shut, to allow the issue therefrom of a house spider of average size; and thirdly, it is, I believe, a fact that house spiders are not unfrequently to be found wandering about, especially at night. With the skill for which these creatures are so noteworthy, the habitants on each side of the door had adapted their webs to the space at their disposal. On one side, where there was a width of several inches, the webs were largish and irregular ; on the other, the quarters being narrow, they were small and almost triangular. Here also they were more numerous, and their close proximity to each other, and the few spiders to be seen on this side, as compared with the other, might indicate that two or three of these were constructed by the same spider.
The long seclusion enjoyed by these indi- viduals now experienced an interruption. I paid several visits at short intervals to observe somewhat of their economy. I found that several of those near the opening of the door (where the narrow space was) extended a portion of web across the door, so as in this way, to give them- selves a chance of catchiug any insect which might crawl through. These being severed, were speedily renewed, even in the space of a few hours. My examinations were repeated, with the view chiefly of ascertaining what captures were actually made
by the spiders in this situation, though at this season (November) it was doubtful whether they would secure much prey, and their summer victims had evidently been entirely demolished. The deposit of dust upon most of the webs was considerable, proving their antiquity— I assume that the life of a spider may be prolonged through several years — and also making it evident that any crawling creature would have very little difficulty in making its escape from them, a tolerably good foothold being thus afforded. Scarcely a web also was with- out a rejected skin of the tenant, and some con- tained two or three. Specimens of the domestic fly are not very easily picked up in November ; but, finding a plump one in lively condition, I placed it in a web. The occupant looked at it with the sort of bewildered astonishment that a person manifests when he is suddenly informed that a thumping legacy has been left him by a stranger, and, after some consideration, walked up leisurely to it, and secured it. The appearance of most of the spiders did not indicate at all that they were in a starving condition, though how they exist through the winter is doubtful, I conjecture that within doors they rarely become torpid, as appears to be the case with most of our out-door species, both "hunters" and "weavers." J. R. S. Clifford.
MY CRASS.
DO write, in Science-Gossip, about my Crass. It was precious ' cheeky ' of you to say, when you wrote in Land and Water about the Beaumaris oyster-beds, that I wanted to pocket some of the' oysters, but you may write about my Crass, Mamma."
The permission, offered in such a polite manner, I am inclined to avail myself of, as I like to see little boys take an interest in natural history ; but the kind Editor of Science-Gossip may not con- sider your Crass such wonderful members of scien- tific society as you do, and refuse to give them a place in his magazine.
The '"' My Crass " alluded to are two enormous specimens of the Bemodes crassicornis, or thick- horned sea anemone, found on the shore near here. One was brought me by a fisher lad ; the other was found by my boy and a young friend of his, close to the oyster-beds at the point, attached to a large piece of stone. The boys, very wisely, did not attempt to remove it from its moorings, but carried off between them the miniature rock and all. It now stands in my sitting-room, in the centre of a large brown pan full of sea-water, which is constantly changed ; and it affords no little amusement to its owner, I can tell you, to watch its various transformations.
I was called off from my work, yesterday morning, to " see the big crab " that had suddenly put in an
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HARD WICK E*S SCIENCE. GOSSIP.
appearance. The Crass had evidently cliued, just before his capture, on a crab quite as large in cir- cumference as half a crown ; for, at the moment I appeared, he was disgorging the empty shell, and he had not been treated to Crustacea by us. Minced beef, given "rare," as they say iu New York, and an oyster — out of the shell, of course — are the articles of diet we have given his crass-ship. I fear he will die of repletion, for my boy has an idea that he requires constant feeding. Fortunately, the creature has a first-rate digestion.
The other Crass inhabits a smaller mansion, and is a trifle less voracious. I do not like to put either of them in a new aquarium which I have just purchased of Mr. Ed wards, of Menai Bridge, the gentleman who supplied Mr. Alford Lloyd with all those— or at any rate a great many of them — nice slate tanks he used to have at his establishment in Town, a few years ago ; for Crass are rather uncertain zoophytes, and, if they die, will poison a whole aquarium. Besides this, they are almost as dangerous when living : they help themselves to any neighbour that comes within reach of their long arms {tentacula).
I have a great aversion to feed them with living animals. I do not like to see one creature prey upon another, although I know it is in accordance with the universal law of Nature ; so I will not let my boy give his pets small crabs and shrimps. This will probably be called "very silly," and I shall perhaps be asked if I never eat crabs and shrimps myself? Yes, I do; but then they are boiled, and I can but hope the process is less painful than being buried alive in the interior of a Crass ; besides, I do not superintend the boiling, aud 1 should be expected to witness the entombment, or have to listen to such remarks as the following : — " There, now his claws are gone," or, " Half of him is out of sight : how he does kick ! "
Crass are more sensitive than the other kinds of sea anemones, and therefore, when the stone on which they have fixed themselves is too large to carry away, especial care must be taken in detaching them, as an injury to the base is fatal.
Has it been really found out how long these living flowers can.live ? I once read an account of a Crass that had existed for thirty-five years. If, as it is said, much locomotion shortens life, Crasses ought to be perfectly patriarchal. They travel by a very slow train : only run at the rate of four inches in eight hours. They move a portion of their base, and then drag the other part quietly after it. Were it not for the strong expanding and also prehensile power of their tentacles, they would run great risk of fasting, since they cannot change their hunting-ground often or rapidly. " My Crass " took a pretty tight grasp of the paper-knife I touched him with to-day. I could feel it, just as one does the force of a loadstone when it attracts an object held in the hand.
" My Crasses" have names. We have called them Miss S. and Mrs. M. W. ; for, although I write of them as if they belonged to the masculine gender, they are named after two members of the feminine, whom we fancy they resemble. Strictly speaking, I imagine they are neither, as their young are pro- duced like flower-buds; only, flower-buds, when expanded, wither and fall off to die : these sea flower-buds, when their form is perfected, fall off, or out, to live, and grow, on their own base. Has it ever struck you how some animals resemble human beings? ( [ ought to have written human beings first). One of these Crasses, when in a state of sulk, sticks out two singular earlike appendages, forcibly calling to mind the way in which Miss S. used to wear her hair, drawn up iu two horns, one on each side of her head. The other Crass has a large, wide expause of face, with wouderfully long, light-hued tentacles ; and each time I look at the animal since my naughty " Puck " gave it "a local habitation and a name," I fancy I see Mrs. M. AY., her light locks streaming in the wind, as she, with crasslike celerity of motion, made her way up Cintra Hill.
The colours of some the sea anemones are very brilliant when seen in strong sunlight, and their resemblance to flowers, such as asters, daisies, aud marigolds, perfectly startling. They may well be called " the sensitive plants of the sea."
I am busy making a collection of different polypes, or zoophytes, iu readiness for the time when my aquarium will be fit to receive them. There are a great many specimens ou this coast, and I trust to find others at Llandudno during the holidays, when I trust I shall have something of greater interest to gossip about than "My Crass."
I am told that the tentacles are charged with a poisonous fluid, which kills the prey directly it is seized. Judging from the stinging, strange sensa- tion in my fingers after touching these said "feelers," I half imagine them charged with electricity.
Beaumaris. Helen E. Watney.
P.S.— Since writing the above, one of " My Crass" has devoured a good-sized purple-tipped sea-urchin, which was put by mistake into his house. I hope the species will disagree with him.
SECTIONS OE BONE, TEETH, &c.
DOUBTLESS many of the readers of Science- Gossip have tried, with more or less success or failure, the methods described in the manuals for making sections of bone, &c. ; and many have either been deterred from studying such structures through the time involved in making even respect- able slides, or felt, where they had succeeded, that their productions would not compare with the admirable sections of our professional mounters. Again, in order that the lacuna and car.aliculi
HARDWJCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
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might be clearly seen, bone sections had to be mounted dry— a fertile source of after-annoyance, as many have found in a plentiful crop of fungus- growth, which either disintegrated the section or spoilt the slide. Many slides of bone, teeth, scales, &c, prepared in the dry way by recognized mounters, in my cabinet are so affected. A similar annoyance led Dr. Ormerod, of Brighton, to try a modification of a method of mounting described by Dr. Carpenter, together with a novel method of grinding the section.
About three months since Dr. Ormerod kindly showed me his process, and gave me permission to describe and illustrate it at a microscopical meeting of the Brighton and Sussex Natural History Society. Several who saw the process have since tried, and found it a perfect success. Its chief recommendations are simplicity, rapidity, per- manence, and good results. It succeeds not only with bone, teeth, ivory, and similar structures, but also with the hard shells of some fruits, and the stones of nuts, plums, &c.
The materials required are pieces of ground glass (coarse better than fine) about G inches square, pumice-stone with a flat surface, a coarse stone or grindstone, and a fine saw. Eirst cut as thin a slice as possible with a fine saw (I use a common fret saw), then roughly rub down on the coarse stone or grindstone ; now, using the pumice-stone as a pad, rub down as thin as required, with water on the ground glass, employing a rotatory motion (the sections need not be ground so thin as for dry mounting) ; well wash with water, and the section is now ready for mounting.
On a glass slide boil some Canada balsam (old is better than new) ; do the same on a glass cover. When both are nearly cold, remove with blotting- paper the superfluous moisture from the section ; place it on the glass slide, on the nearly cool balsam ; lay on the glass cover, warm over the lamp, and press down the cover. As soon as cold, run a hot knife round the cover, and clean off the superfluous balsam with the knife under icater—a. method which, to those who have not tried it, will be a pleasant surprise. The slide may now be labelled, and placed in the cabinet.
With practice, from the time of cutting the slice till the slide is ready for the cabinet, about half an hour will have elapsed. I have completed some in twenty minutes; ivory and teeth being tougher, will take a little more time than ordinary bone sections. Compare this with the time and trouble under the ordinary methods, and when it is added the results are equally satisfactory, and the per- manence of the specimen is secured by the mount- ing in balsam, microscopists will recognize its advantages ; the moist surface prevents the thick balsam running in and filling up the lacuna and canaliculi. In practice I cut several sections ; as
time and opportunity allow, I rub down and finish ou the ground glass, and leave them in water until I can find time to mount, and then complete the process. The other evening I mounted sixteen slides in an hour and a half, of bone, teeth, and ivory, which had been rubbed down at odd moments during the week. In the case of ivory, especially hippopotamus, and teeth, a file reduces the thick- ness quicker than the coarse stone.
As mentioned before, the saving of time to the histologist is a very great point, few having the leisure to afford hours over the grinding, &c, in- separable from the other methods.
Brighton, December, 1S70. T. W. Wonfok.
ARTIFICIAL SWARMING OF BEES.
A LTHOUGII bees are mostly allowed to swarm -^"*- of their own accord, artificial swarming is very profitable. What is more common than to see thousands of bees clustering idly for a week or two together about the outside of a stock hive, in the very best honey-gathering season? It is certainly a profit if we can set those idlers to work in a new hive ; besides, by drawing them earlier than they would swarm if left to natural instinct, you have earlier swarms, save a deal of trouble in watching them swarming, and do not run any risk of hives flying away, as a great many do that come off by their own accord. I am convinced that, if this method was more generally adopted, more work- iug-men would become bee-masters. The natural swarming-time of the day being when they are away at their work, they consider they run a great risk of losing their swarms. I will now give a few simple directions for Artificial Swarming, whereby the most timid among bees may draw a swarm in a few minutes, and rarely even get a sting. I never use veil, gloves, nor bee-dress of any description ; and yet, although I work a good deal among them, it is very rarely I ever get a sting. Commence operations by blowing a little tobacco or fustian rag smoke in at the doorway of the stock. hive you in- tend to draw the swarm from ; lift it from itsst and and turu it upside down, a little distance from where it stood; then lay your empty hive on the top of it, mouth to mouth. If nearly of the same size, tie a sheet firmly round the junction to prevent bees escaping to annoy you ; or if different sizes, you should be prepared with a round board — say 24 inches in diameter, with a 14-iuch diameter round hole in the centre thereof, to lay between them during the time that you are drawing them. I mention this size because it is likely to fit drawings from any size. After you are sure that you have the hives so well closed up that they cannot escape between them, take two sticks and give your under one, that is, the stock hive, some sharp raps, say from three to five minutes ; by that time you should have
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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
plenty up into the empty one, but will know from the hum if there is plenty. The queen is among the first to run— so that you are sure that you have her — into the empty one. Set your new swarm where the old stock hive stood, setting the old one a few yards distant to either side ; contract the entrance till they get stronger, to prevent their stronger neigh- bours from plundering them. The best time for this operation is about five or six o'clock, in the month of May or June, when the bees have mostly returned from the fields. I have tried them in the morning, but I found that there was mostly a stir among them then ; but when done at night they are quietly settled and at work in the morning, the same as if nothing had happened. Do not be alarmed although there are not many working in the old stock for a few days, for it will require the most of them left to nurse the brood for about a week. Or, another way of drawing a hive : — Take a strong lying- out hive, cut a small piece of comb with eggs in it out of some other hive, where you have a healthy queen, fixing it in the top of your empty hive ; then lift your lying-out stock hive about midday, when the most of the bees are in the fields, and put the empty one down on its stand, making it as like the old one in outward appearance as you possibly can, setting your stock down in some other place of your apiary. The bees returning from the fields will ap- pear a little confused, going in and out, flying about a little, but will soon settle and rear a queen out of the eggs you put in with the comb.
At page 278 of your last number, Mr. C. H. George says that he thought it was already thoroughly proved and universally acknowledged that bees' eggs when laid were of different sexes. Now, I am of the opinion that they are all one sex when laid, and that the bees can rear queens out of eggs either laid in drone or workers' cells if taken from a healthy well-doing hive. I am surprised that such an easily tested point regarding bees remains disputed, and trust that some of your bee-keeping readers will try the simple experiment, publi shing the results during next summer. He says that in the year 1868 he saw drones unusually early at a hive, which excited his suspicions of the capabilities of his queen. I will explain the cause of his queen producing only drones. The hive that she was in would lose their queen some time in the month of September preceding, when there were still eggs ; but by the time that they reared a young queen from the workers' eggs the drones would all be killed ; therefore she would not be fertilized. Consequently, all the eggs that ever she would lay would produce drones; if laid in workers' cells they would be small ones, little larger than the working bee, and those in the drone cells would just be like common drones. He says that on the 5th of June he drove his hive and gave them a piece of worker comb con- taining eggs from a pure Ligurian stock, and his bees
only attempted to raise one queen, in which they were successful. I think that this proves that they are of one sex when laid, or how could they raise a queen from a worker's egg ? He further says, " She had the characteristic marks of the Ligurian, but was very small, and turned, muclr to his surprise, a drone-breeder, &c." The cause of this was that his young queen was not fecundated; — drones pro- duced from an unfertilized queen, and there would only be that sort in his hive. And he further says " that on the 15th of July he removed a queen from a black stock of bees, and on the 23rd of the same month he destroyed every queen cell, giving it a piece of worker comb containing eggs and brood in all stages. From this breeder the bees formed many queens' cells ; but everyl cell produced a drone, &c." Now eggs of unfertilized queens cannot be changed by the workers ; so that was not a fair experiment to test whether the eggs were all one sex or not (page 282).
Mr. "E. G. W." mentions he would like to hear more of the iron cover invented by me, which I herewith give ; they are made of sheet iron wel painted inside and out.
Fig. 12. Hive-cover. a. The cover for ventilator to draw up and down as it may be
required. A. The ventilator; small holes pierced in the sides of it to
admit of air.
c. The lid of the cover hinged at the back, with a hasp for a
padlock at front.
d. The body of the cover.
c, e. Hasps fixed to the cover, with a hole in them to admit of a bolt to go through below floor-board, so that you can lock the whole together.
HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
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Whatever size your hives are, the covers^should be about two inches in diameter larger, to admit of some dry hay between the cover and hive during winter. Since mentioning them in the November number, I have got a few made for gentlemen in different parts of the United Kingdom ; they have only to be seen to bring them into general use ; they are so much superior to any that have hitherto been tried to cover hives.
I will send any person particulars about them through the post that does not fairly understand ; but they are so simple in their construction that any tinman could make them.
Whitburn, Linlithgoicshire . John McLtjre.
ZOOLOGY.
Anchovies.— Mr. Frank Buckland, who has re- ceived a sample of fish that had been caught in large quantities on the Devonshire coasts the last two or three weeks, pronounces them to be certainly an- chovies. He adds that they are probably wanderers from the Bay of Biscay. — H. Budge.
LniNJSA glabra {Mull).— Some time ago I found a locality for this species here. It was a small pond, and was quite dry when I took some of the shells living, on the 12th of June. It was still dry when I collected some more on the 13th of August. The shells taken on the latter occasion revived on being put in the water. As evidence that water had not lain in the pond during the intervening two months, I may add that I found a living chrysalis of a Noctua, and many land beetles, with other insects, under the dead water-plants where the L. glabra had taken refuge. On the 29th of November I found a little water in the pond, and a dip of the net produced L. glabra alive and crawling. I fancy the pond was dry much longer than two months, this summer. At any rate, this drought did not kill L. glabra, which was the only shell in this pond. Another one, a short distance off, contained many Limncea peregra and Spha-riim lacustre, which were all killed by the drying-tip of their pond. — Harry C. Leslie, Erith. '
A Shark's Meal. — I copy the following from the West Briton of Nov. 17th. Some of our readers will recollect the loss of the barque Nelson on a ridge of the dangerous Seven Stones, between the Land's End and Scilly. Her stern burst as she foundered, taking down with her a cargo of lead ore and esparto grass, and the captain, his nephew, and the mate. This explosion of the after-part of the barque, and her subsequent breaking-up, must have permitted access to her cargo and stores. A few days afterwards, the Seven Stones light-ship men,
whose vessel is three miles from the spot where the Nelson went down, hooked a shark about 54 ft. long. On opening the marine pirate, there was found in him a whole rat, a large lump of beef, and a quantity of esparto grass. — H. Budge.
Leporids.— Until reading Mr. Spicer's communi- cation in the November number of Science-Gossip,
1 quite thought all naturalists were of opinion that the Leporid was not a hybrid between the rabbit and hare. I think the experiment to make them pair has been tried at the Zoological Gardens without success. It does not appear very likely that ani- mals which in some respects differ so widely from each other should breed, and still more unlikely that their young should be fertile, as is the case with the Leporids. — H. Budge.
Hair-Tail (Trichiurus Upturns) . — Allow me, through your columns, to make known the capture of a specimen of that rare fish Trichiurus Upturns, or Hair tail. It was brought to me this morning (Dec. 10) by a fisherman, who found it in his herring- net. The dimensions of the fish were :— : Length,
2 ft. 5 in. ; depth, 2 in. ; length of gill-cover, 4 in. ; of pectoral fin, Hin. My specimen corresponded with the descriptions and figures of Yarreli and Couch, and I have no doubt of its being a veritable Trichi- urus. — Julia C'olson, Swanage, Dorsetshire.
Otters.— On the 23rd November last, a keeper of the Angling Association captured a fine pair of otters on the river Bollin, a little below Ashley Mill, Cheshire. The male weighed 13f lb., and was 41 inches in length; the female weighed 14 lb., length 42 inches.— £. H. II.
Ants.— Mr. Frederick Smith, the eminent ento- mologist, of the Zoological department, British Museum, has kindly informed me, after having seen a specimen out of my formicary, that the species whose habits I described in the November number of Science-Gossip is not Formica fusca, but F. nigra.— Edward Fentone Elwin, Booton, Norwich.
Dragon-Flies in the Metropolis.— I have myself observed such occasional instances as that noted by Mr. Harry (Science -Gossip, 1S70, p. 262), but I am doubtful whether the wings of the insects have been the means of bringing them into these unlikely places. When it comes to a distance of several miles from any water where the preparatory stages would be likely to be passed, I must confess that I seek some other expla- nation. Dragon-flies are strong and rapid fliers, it is true, and eager for their prey ; yet I have rarely found them in the country at any considerable dis- tance from their native pond or ditch ; least of all, is it likely that they would fly in a direction which would promise them but little sport. Now it must
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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
be remembered that every day, especially in the summer season, a Einnber of insects are brought into London by a variety of agencies against their own will. An instance particularly well marked, is that furnished by the multitudinous trains reaching the metropolis from rural districts. The carriages, after remaining for a time in the sidings of stations, surrounded by vegetable life, become the resort of moths, flies, and other species, which subsequently perform long or short journeys without paying any fares ! But the appearance of a dragon-fly in town may, I believe, be thus explained :— Amongst the quantity of garden and field produce brought into London, reeds and rushes are occasionally to be found, being used as packing. Now attached to the stems of these there are at times various aquatic pupa. That of some dragon-fly is likely enough to occur sometimes ; and the insect thus travelling, if uninjured, would subsequently emerge in the winged state, and flit its little hour amongst the bustle of streets.-/. B. S. C.
A Likely Story. — Naturalists were a little unscrupulous formerly,! and the public too gulli- ble, or the following could not have been gravely printed in an old magazine — a type of not a few outrageous fictions which were received without question by those ignorant of the rudiments of Natural History. In the Mirror of the year 1821 it is reported : —
" Lieutenant Hebestreit has discovered the means of employing a kind of caterpillar in spinning a fine web, which is perfectly white and waterproof. "With this web he lately constructed a balloon, which he inflated by burning spirits of wine under it, and which ascended in the large hall which serves as a workshop for his caterpillars. He can make them trace ciphers and figures in their web. Por this purpose he draws the outline of his design with spirits of wine, which the caterpillars avoid and spin round it. A web, 7 feet square (!), perfectly pure, and as brilliant as taffety, was the result of three weeks' labour of about 500 caterpillars. The subject is not unworthy the attention of natural philosophers."
They must have been naturals, indeed, Scottice, if they could accept this lieutenant's narrative.
Baby Spiders. — A short time since my attention was attracted by some dark object suspended against the outer wall of the house, in a sheltered corner, which, on examination, proved to be a mass of tiny spiders. The little creatures were hanging by a few threads of web of exquisite fineness, so as not to quite touch the wall. They were congregated in a dense cluster, as large as a good-sized walnut, and must have been many hundreds in number. They were pale yellow, with a dark spot on the hinder part of the body. It was on the 22ud of May that
I first saw them, and they remained without especial alteration till the 27th ; the weather being fine and dry. On the morning of that day they were all astir, and in a few hours had formed a ladder of web reaching to the ledge of a small window about a yard above the spot where they hung. By this they all mounted, and from thence formed another, reaching up about another yard, to the projecting slates which covered a water-tank, under shelter of which they ensconced themselves in a dense cluster as before. In the afternoon of that day some slight showers fell, and the next, the 28th, was a day of heavy rain without intermission ; but the wonderful instinct of my tiny friends had led them to a place of perfect shelter. Let rain and wind drive as they would, nothing could reach them beneath the wide flat slates under which they had taken refuge. The next day it was most amusing to see the many scouts who went on exploring expeditions to the edge of their hiding-place ; but they did not seem to bring back any satisfactory tidings till the 1st of June, when again all were in action ; and, in a few hours, a third ladder was formed, reaching this time to the roof of the house, to which in the course of the day they all mounted, and were, alas! lost to my view. How did these baby spiders live and thrive ? I never saw any larger spider near them, and they made no web, properly so called ; indeed, if they had, anything which they might have entrapped larger than a midge would have been beyond their powers. Did sun and air, and the warmth supplied by their close contact, suffice for their nourishment ? Or do the young of the spider, when first hatched, possess some of that substance which is, I believe, called in full-grown specimens, the " fat-body," and which enables them to endure long fasts, on some- what the same principle as a hybernating animal ? I was sorry to lose sight of these interesting little creatures before I could ascertain how long they would remain thus associated before beginning an independent existence. I have not yet detected any webs in the garden, or near the house, which appear to be occupied by any of my much-regretted little friends.-^. T.
Plumed Gnat. — In one of our bedrooms, for the last fortnight or more, swarms of Plumed Gnats are seen upon the window panes. This is confined to the one room. Can you explain it ? "Where do these gnats propagate ? We have no water near, or a chalky soil, nearly ninety feet in the depth of well. The room faces south. There are two other windows in the same line, and none are seen there.—/. P. G.
The Robin.— Can any reader of Science-Gossip inform me who was the author of the nursery ballad called "The Death of Cock Robin," and when it was first printed ? — G. B.
HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
19
BOTANY.
Goldilocks.— It may be worth noticing that on December 12th, after some severe weather and many nights of frost, I picked a flourishing stem of Goldilocks (Ranunculus auricomus), with two full- blown bright yellow blossoms upon it, which had been growing in a hedgerow, under no peculiar shelter. — C. W. Bingham, Binghams Meleombe, Dor- chester.
Loose-strife (p. 237).— "T. R." will find what he wishes in Pliny (Hist. Nat., xxv. 35 and xxvi. 83, 93), where it is said that oxen which will not draw peacefully together in the same yoke, may be rendered submissive by putting branches of this plant on their back. It may be mentioned, however, that Pliny speaks probably of Lythrum Sa Hear ia (spiked purpled Loose-strife), the astringent pro- perties of which are said to have been discovered by a Greek physician called Lysimachos, so that there might be another origin of this name. The English Loose-strife, as well as the German Haderlos (Kittel's "Flora"), belong both to a class of new- made plant-names which appear to me altogether a failure. They are no true vernacular names, though in some cases they may acquire a certain degree of popularity. When a boy, I knew Lysimachia vulgaris as Gelber Weiderich (yellow willow-weed), Lythrum Salicaria as Bother Weiderich (red willow-weed). The two genera are not distinguished in the lan- guage of the people, and names as Battel's Haderlos would be to my Silesian countrymen as unintelligible as if they were Chinese. Is not the English Loose- strife in the same case ?— A. Ernst, Caracas, Vene- zuela.
The Myrtle.— Fable informs us that the Greeks named this tree Muproe, from Myrsine, an Athenian damsel, who, being overcome in wrestling and the race by Pallas, died of envy ; but, being a favourite of Minerva, she was metamorphosed into a myrtle- tree, which the goddess held next in esteem to her sacred olive ; but Poena says it was so named from the fragrance of the berries and plant nearly resembling the celebrated odour of myrrha, myrrh. — Sylva Florifera.
The Marygold.— The Tagetes appears to have been introduced into this country as long back as the year 1573, and we conclude that they were called Erench Marygolds from our having first received the seed from France. Gerard says the African Mary- gold was first obtained " when Charles I., Emperour of Pome, made a famous conquest of Tunis ; where- upon it was called Flos Aphricanus, or Flos Tune- tensis." But as these plants do not grow naturally in Africa, we may conclude that they were first re- ceived in Spain from South America, about the time Charles returned from the coast of Africa ; and,
in compliment to that monarch for having given liberty to twenty-two thousand Christian slaves, they were called African Marygolds.— Flora Ilistorica.
Early Gardeners.— The monastic buildings appear to have been almost the only dwellings to which orchards and vineyards were attached pre- viously to the reign of Henry YIII. But it was under that monarch and Elizabeth that the most valuable fruits were introduced into this country ; for at that time, the desire of discovery pervading England, many fruits, plants, and vegetables, hitherto unknown, were brought hither from the New World. So little does horticulture seem to have advanced prior to that period, that Queen Catherine was obliged to procure her salads from Holland ; and, according to Fuller, green peas were seldom seen, except from that country. " These," says he, " were dainties for ladies, they came so far and cost so dear." — Phillips, Fruits of Great Britain.
The Lotus. — A misprint may probably be de- tected at p. 272, where, in lines 4, 5 of this article, the word " antiquity " does duty for ambiguity. To sum the matter up, whilst waiting for more light, we have evidence of— 1. The Nelumbium speciosum, a liliaceous, bean-producing plant, which was used by the ancient Egyptians in various ways, though not now found in that country. Herodotus de- scribes it, and it has been specifically called the Egyptian bean, used, it is said, for lustration to Isis, the goddess of fecundity ; the bean fitly illus- trating vegetable growth. This is a quasi-sacred use. 2. Nympluea Lotus and N. ccerulea, the com- mon white and blue lilies of the Nile ; still abundant there, and freely represented in Egyptian interiors as a favourite adjunct of all feasts and festivals, and sacred to Nofre Atmoo. Here is evidence that the Lotus, of various kinds, did really hold a semi- sacred position, as generally supposed, although full proof the exact species may still be wanting. I now add that the lotus-flower appears in the hands of seated figures, when feasting, iu later Assyrian sculptures, just as in Egypt . {Vide Bawliuson's " Ancient Monarchies," vol. ii. tig. 117, which the reverend professor, at p. 109, styles " the lotus, or sacred flower.") Without desiring to press inde- corously upon C. V. W. or C. F. \V\ (qy.), I think that he should withdraw one expression. He says, "The 'lotus' was a 'sacred5 flower among the Egyptians, as an emblem of a certain god ; just, may be, as the 'rose' is sacred among us." This position is untenable, and the parallel altogether fails. We have no god to whom the rose is sacred, nor do we worship a " great goddess Britannia," in the same sense that Nofre Atmoo was worshipped, nor, indeed, in any sense but a jocular one, which is no worship at all. — A. H.
20
HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
MICROSCOPY.
Scale of Golden Cakp [Cyprinus auratus). — In order that our series of figures of the .scales of Carp may be rendered more complete, we give that
Fig-. 13. Scale of Golden Carp.
of the Gold-fish, or Golden Carp, too well known to need description. There are one or two others which will be furnished as soon as we obtain well- authenticated specimens.
Cells. — In last month's number of Science- Gossip there are some remarks on mounting opaque objects in cells with loose covers. At the request of our section I forward you a couple of specimens of a new slide for this purpose, invented by Mr. Aylward, one of our members. These slides are made of wood, the size of ordinary glass slips (3 x 1), and about the same thickness. The cell is sunk in the centre, and admits of a copper cap being placed on an inner ring ; the outer groove is bevelled off to allow space for the fingers and thumb to remove the cap. The way to remove the cap is to grasp the milled edge with the nails of the two first fingers and thumb, and to turn as if to unscrew it, at the same time drawing it off. The cap should be slightly turned when replaced. The advantages of these slides consist in their being so thin, and in having a loose cover. As the effects of mounting objects in permanently-closed cells were so well described by your correspondent, the utility of this cell is obvious. — W. Jackson, Eon. Sec. Manchester Nat. Hist. Society.
Eel-Pout {Lota vtdgaris).— The Burbott, Burbot, or Eel-pout, belongs to the Codfish family, and the
only one found in fresh water. It is not common in Britain, being confined to the north-east of England, and is absent from Scotland and Ireland. Avery good account of this fish will be found in
e<<F
Fig. 14. Scale of Eel-Pout.
" Couch's British Fishes," vol. iii. page" 93. AYc give a figure of the scale more than usually magni- fied, since it is very small and delicate. The Eel- pout is quite a lover of northern regions, since it is found in Sweden and other places in the north of Europe, as well as noithern Asia.
Preserving Alg^e, &c. — Eor the preservation of mosses, algaj, &c, Dean's compound is much used, and considered one of the best media. The speci- men to be mounted should be immersed in the com- pound, which must be kept fluid by the vessel con- taining it being placed in hot water. In this state the whole should be submitted to the action of the air-pump, as it is not an easy matter to get rid of the bubbles which form in and around the objects. The cell and slide must be warmed ; and heat will also be necessary to render the gelatine, &c, fluid enough to flow from the stock-bottle. The cell may then be filled with the compound, and the specimen immersed in it. A thin glass cover must then be warmed, or gently breathed upon, and gradually lowered upon the cell, taking care, as with all liquids, that no bubbles are formed by the operation. The cover may be fixed by the aid of gold-size, japan, or any of the usual varnishes ; care being taken, as before, that all the compound is removed from the parts to which the varnish is intended to adhere. — Dacics on Mounting, 8fc.
HARDWICKE'S SCIEN C E-GOSSIP.
21
NOTES AND QUEEIES.
"Eye-stones."— For the last fifteen years I Lave liad in my cabinet two small specimens of what are vulgarly called "Eye-stones." I am uncertain whether they are familiar objects to a naturalist, and should be happy to learn more about them. All the infor- mation I am able to give as to their history is, that my father obtained them, about fifty years since, in New York, and that they were found in the sand of the coast. They are about the size of half a cherry- stone, and, owing to their form— plano-convex— are used for clearing foreign substances from the eye. The eyelid being raised, the flat side is placed next to the eyeball, and the eyelid suffered to close ; it is then moved on its course, performing the circuit of the eye, clearing all before it. Eor my juvenile amusement they were placed in a shallow vessel containing a small quantity of vinegar. After a few moments, small bubbles appeared on their sur- face, and they suddenly moved about, generally across the vessel. Upon examination they appear to be shells, but yet have no aperture ; so the ques- tion of their inhabitants is curious. The action of the vinegar on the lime of the shells no doubt causrs effervescence, and therefore movements similar to camphor on water. — Theodore Charles Izo'I, Upper Clapton.
Cladodus mirabilis. — Among the many obscure problems respecting coal-measure fauna? which now wait for and are rapidly receiving solution, there is one having relation to the tooth known as Cladodus. The fishes of the Coal period were of two kinds, — Selachians and Ganoids, the former being, with the exception of their teeth and spines, cartilaginous ; the latter being characterized by opercular and a greater development of osseous structure ; but none of the coal-measure fishes were true teleosts, or bony fishes having endo-skeletons of bone re- sembling the salmon, herring, &c, of the present day. Cladodus teeth evidently belong to the Sela- chians, or cartilaginous fishes ; and hence they are always found scattered and unattached to the ori- ginal matrix. The teeth known as Cladodus have been referred to two different coal-measure Sela- chians, viz. Gyracanthus and Ctenacanthus, but to which of these two they belong is yet included in the long array of unsolved problems which await the investigation of palaeontologists. I am disposed for many reasons to think that the balance of evi- dence is in favour of Ctenacanthus ; my chief reasons for holding the opinion being, that they are not unfrequently found associated with remains of Ctenacanthus, and that, in our Northumberland coal-measures at least, they and the spines of Ctenacanthus are rare : whereas the spines of Gyracanthus are abundant ; and as the teeth con- sist of material equally as imperishable as the spines,
and were certainly more numerous than the spines in the living animal, it is improbable that the spines should be found in abundance, and the teeth very rarely be discovered. — T. P. Barkas, F.G.S.
Misprints. — Will you be good enough to correct a slight and very pardonable misprint in my note on "Miltwast," in the December number. It is, however, a misprint which causes my quotation to read nonsensically. Instead of " greenes comming or proceeding from the rate or spleene," it should be "greeues" (griefs). Your printers have also made a little mistake in Mrs. Watney's brief gossip about bees ; in fact, it is not the first time they have made the mistake of printing "W. Holland" when that lady writes— R. Holland.
Formation oe the Hen's Egg. — Are naturalists agreed as to the way in which the egg is formed in domesticated poultry ? It is asserted that the egg is formed soft within the bird, being blown out in a semifluid state, and hardened by exposure to the air. This to a certain extent must be true. Last year, however, we killed a hen with a fully-formed egg inside her ; the shell, though thin, being quite firm and fit for the table. Weight just under two ounces. This particular egg was never " blown out." Any one may become more or less familiar with the internal processes of a hen. The germs or ovaries may be seen as small as a pea, and their further progress traced in a rudimentary state. I have seen brought on table, from one hen, a suc- cession of five or six at once, graduating in size from a filbert up to a round ball an inch and three- quarters in diameter, without perceiving in them any trace of the external covering, that hard cal- careous matter which we call shell. It would ap. pear that this coating is the last process previous to intended ejection, it may be almost a momentary application. In considering the process, we have certain necessities to deal with, which must have been, so to speak, considered by a provident Creator: 1st. The convenience to the bird of keeping the egg flexible while in process of growth. 2nd. The hindrance & fixed coating would be to the ferti- lizing influence of the male bird. 3rd. The certainty that the supply of matter which forms the shelly deposit is a special desideratum to the bird itself ; and the fact that where suitable food is wanting, the shell is also wanting in consistency, would seem to show that the shell is a separate and local applica- tion. 4th. A certain mottled, uneven, curdling look, often found at one end of an egg, like ill- smoothed mortar, which appears as if it were caused by a sort of unsettled ooze, left at the final closing up of the egg. Can anatomists show if the mitre, which is well supplied with glands, has any province to perform in connection with this pro- cess ? — A. Hall.
22
HARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE -GOS SIP.
"Vulcanite Cells.—" II. II. M." (S.-G., Dec, page 2S2) inquires for practical information as to experience with Vulcanite Cells. Mine are Pumphrey's. I have tried them in two ways, and succeeded well with both. I first tried gold size as a cement. The plan was as follows : Lay the cell on a flat surface, and paint over one side with moderately thick gold size, then place the cell in the exact centre of the slide : hold over the lamp till hot, then place on the upper surface of the cell another slip of glass, and put the whole into an American clothes-peg until the cement is quite set. The latter precaution is necessary because the cells are sometimes slightly bent, especially if they have been kept in a warm place. Baking in a cool oven facilitates the hardening of the gold size. The other plan was with marine glue, as follows : Cut some marine glue into small bits, and put into a bottle with about half its bulk of methylated chloro- form. Cork the bottle loosely, and set in a warm place till the glue melts. The heat of boiling water is sufficient for this. Now cork closely and shake up till well mixed ; keep the bottle warm for a little while, occasionally shaking up. When cold, part of the chloroform will be found at the bottom of the bottle, and must be poured off by breaking up the glue. Probably benzole would do as well as the chloroform and would be cheaper. When re- quired for use, warm the bottle and take up a litlle of the glue on the end of a flat pointed splinter of wood ; warm over the lamp 'and spread over one side of the cell, as in using the gold size. Place the cell, cement side downwards, on the slide ; warm till the glue melts ; put on the top another slip of glass, and put into a clip till cold. Lastly, scrape off all superfluous cement, and clean the slide in the usual manner. Of the two methods I prefer the one with marine glue, as being less likely to be acted on by balsam or preservative fluids, also be- cause the slides are more easily cleaned, and the cells are almost immediately ready for use.—/. H.
Vulcanite Cells (p. 2S2). — In answer to " Pi. H. M.," regarding the best method of attach- ing Messrs. Pumphrey's Vulcanite Cells to the glass slide, 1 beg to say that I find they adhere well with marine glue, if roughened on a flat file on the side intended to be attached to the glass.— P. E. B.
Volition in Insects (see page 2G2). — We have no proof, undoubtedly, that insects possess a central brain. The evidence of dissection tends to show a series of brains rather; and yet I must still assert that there is a directing power somewhere ; and can we localize it in any other part save the head ? Take the instance of a caterpillar : if the parts of its body did not move in unison when it is crawling, wc might see the head pointing forward, the claspers turning to the
right, and the legs to the left. This does not occur. Look at the same creature again when eating : by smell or sight it is selecting a choice morsel of leaf. To aid the jaws in their manipulations, the body and legs are instantly obedient to the animal's will. I do not think the example of the fly given proves anything : motions of the muscles may take place after the guidiug power has ceased to direct them. Nor, again, can the possession of volition, and its situation in any particular part, furnish any proof that insects have a nervous system conveyiug sensations aualogous to the higher animals. — /. R. S. G.
In a Tank.— A short time since I put a small stone roach into a tauk containing an eel seven or eight inches long, and a male Dyticus marginalia. The next morning I found the conferva, which had been growing very luxuriantly, all torn up for a space of some six or seven inches square, and rolled up into a case about five inches long and one inch in diameter, and open at the end nearest the bottom. Considerable force must have been'used, as a tuft of Starwort, which had been there all the winter, was completely uprooted and rolled into the case. I left it iu the water for about a fortnight, watching it closely all the time, but saw no use made of it, and all the inhabitants seem quite jolly together. — J. G. Oclell.
Musical Coavs.— That pigs are not the only animals who take a delight iu musical sounds, may be proved by the following incident, of which I was a witness on more than one occasion. Opposite to our house was a large field, in which some twelve or thirteen cows were put during the summer months. One day a German band commenced to play in the road which divided the house from the field. The cows were quietly grazing at the other end of the field, but no sooner did they hear the music, than they at once advanced towards it, and stood with their heads over the wall attentively listening. This might have passed unnoticed ; but, upon the musicians going away, the animals fol- lowed them as well as they could on the other side of the wall, and, when they could get no further, stood lowing piteously after their retreating forms. So excited did the cows become, that some of them ran round and round the field to try and get out, but finding no outlet, returned to the same corner where they had lost sight of the band; and it was some time before they seemed satisfied that the sweet sounds were really gone. It seems a strange coincidence that both the pigs and cows were charmed by music produced by a German band.— L. E. Caffemta, Belmont Road, Liverpool.
Moss Labels.— Can any reader of Science-Gos- sip inform me where Lists of Mosses for herbarium labels Cim be procured ? — M. LT.
II A R I) W I C K E'S SCI E N C E-G 0 S S I P.
23
Observations on Insect Life. — Several years ago, while on the " look-out " of one of our large elevators, I noticed a plump spider fall upon the metal roof beneath me, and a wasp darting after it, immediately secured it in a sort of basket formed by its legs, and then flew off with its prize. The ques- tion now was, what use has the wasp for the spider ? The next season following gave me an opportunity of solving it. Noticing several wasps about some dingy windows in an area, I concluded to watch them, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing a few depart with their game. I traced their destination, and found it to be a number of clay structures under the eaves of a neighbouring dwelling. These forma- tions had numerous perforations, about which the wasps busied themselves. Some time after they had abandoned the neighbourhood, I gained ad- mittance to the house and removed several of these adobe nests. I opened one of them, and found a cell containing an egg or larvae ; the cell beside it was filled with spiders in a torpid state, both great and small, packed closely, with their front legs turned over their backs. The same order of ar- rangement was observed in the balance of the nest. I came to the conclusion that the spiders were placed there to keep a necessary temperature for the larvae. I was not satisfied, however, and began a search among various authors, until Darwin, in his " Researches," set me right, by describing " cer- tain wasp-like insects which construct in the coiners of verandahs, clay cells for their larvae. These cells they stuff full of half-dead spiders and caterpillars, which they seem wonderfully to know how to sting to that degree as to leave them paralyzed until their eggs are hatched, and the larva; feed on this horrid mass of powerless, half-killed victims." I might go on and relate instances of the courage and ingenuity of the garden spider, but a fear that I am encroaching on your valuable space forbids it. I will close by giving another instance of the useful- ness of observations of iusect life. A Scotch mathematician, in measuring the angles of a bee cell, discovered an error in a table of logarithms " sufficiently great to have occasioned the loss of a ship at sea, whose captain happened to use a copy of the same logarithmic tables for calculating his longitude."— 27. W. Bleyer, Buffalo, N. Y.
Curious Wood. — To such a height did the fondness of the Romans for curious wood carry them at one period of their history, that their tables were more expensive than the jewels of their ladies. — Sylva Florifera.
North London Naturalists' Club. — We are requested to state that the notice, which recently appeared in Nature, as to the closing of the North London Naturalists' Club, is entirely untrue. The Club continues its meetings on the fourth Thursday in the month, at Myddelton Hall, Islington.
Lime Deposit in Boilers (p. 2S1). — This well- known evil consists of calcium carbonate (carbonate of lime) : The formation of such a crust may be checked, if not avoided, by adding a small quantity of sal-ammoniac to the water, soluble calcium chlo- ride, and volatile ammonium, carbonate being formed. See Roscoc's "Elementary Chemistrv," p. 176— G. II. II.
Vulcanite Cells (page 282).— If "R. II. M." will rub the part of the cell to be attached to the slide on a file or a piece of sandstone to take off the glossy surface, I think he will succeed in fixing them with marine glue. The same course should also be taken with the top of cell, to make the cement which holds the cover-glass firmly adhere. — E. G., Matlock.
Tiie Fungus Theory.—" Mr. Erasmus Wilson watches with amazed curiosity the progress of the fungus theory. It began, he says, with the dermo- phytes and nosophytes of Gruby; he disbelieved it ; and disbelieves it still, although it has since in- truded itself into almost every known disease of the body ; at first there was a struggle for the dis- tinction of genera and species. Every philosopher had his pet fungus. There was the fungus of Schonlein and the fungus of Audouiu. A new order of knighthood seemed to have been created throughout Christendom, and every knight in Europe proclaimed his own parliculur fungus as the love- liest fungus of them all. Then a new school of philosophers declared that the difference amongst the various fungi was only a difference of their habitat ; and that the same fungus transplanted to different beds exhibited those differences which un- observant, or too acutely observant, philosophers mistook for other species. Then, when the outside man was exhausted, the inside mau came in with its discoveries. There were fungi for aphthae, fungi for diphtheria, fungi for cholera; aud, last and not least, we have fungi for internal cysts, fungi for syphilis, and fungi for gonorrhoea. This last ab- surdity completes the measure. ' Fungi,' says Mr. Wilson, 'are the morbid development of the natural components of the cell-structure of the economy ; and just, as pus is the product of the nuclei of the cell-tissue, just as mucus is equally a product of the normal constituents of the cells of the epithelium, and, being produced, enjoys the property of proli- feration and growth ; so these presumed and omni- present fungi are the gatherers up of waste and exhausted organic matter, and' are ready to be found wherever waste and exhaustion of organiza- tion prevail. Twenty years ago we taught the nature and relations of fungous life to all who chose to give heed ; twenty years have passed away, and modern science has not come up to the standard which we then established.' "—British Medical Journal, April 4, 1SG8.
24
HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.
All communications relative to advertisements, post-office orders, and orders for the supply of this Journal, should ba addressed to the Publisher. All contributions, books, and pamphlets for the Editor should be sent to 192, Piccadilly, London, W. To avoid disappointment, contri- butions should not be received later than the 15th of each month. No notice whatever can be taken of communica- tions which do not contain the name and address of the writer, not necessarily for publication, if desired to be with- held. We do not undertake to answer any queries not specially connected with Natural History, in accordance with our acceptance of that term ; nor can we answer queries which might be solved by the correspondent by an appeal to any elementary book on the subject. We are always prepared to accept queries of a critical nature, and to publish the replies, provided some of our readers, besides the querist, are likely to be interested in them. We do not undertake to return rejected manuscripts unless sufficient stamps are enclosed to cover the return postage. Neither can we promise to refer to or return any manuscript after one month from the date of its receipt. All microscopical drawings intended for publication should have annexed thereto the powers employed, or the extent of enlargement, indicated in diameters (thus : x 320 diameters). Communi- cations intended for publication.should be written on one side of the paper only, and all scientific names, and names of places and individuals, should be as legible as possible. Wherever scientific names or technicalities are employed, it is hoped that the common names will accompany them. Lists or tables are inadmissible under any circumstances. Those of the popular names of British plants and animals are retained and registered for publication when suffi- ciently complete for that purpose, in whatever form may then be decided upon. Address, No. 192, Piccadilly, London, W.
H. D., H. M., J. S., Jun. — We do not pretend to name more than two specimens at a time from the same individual. In two instances to send six, and the other ten specimens, is too unreasonable to cause any hesitation in putting the rule in force.
W. H. S. — It was distinctly stated that no discussion of the question " Do insects feel pain? " would be permitted to ex- tend beyond the December number.
J. S., Jun. — No. 1 is Crisia denticulata. No. 7 a sea-weed, Corallina officinalis. No. 10 a sea-weed in bad state,
E. M. H.— On palm is Graphiola phcenicis. Only by pick- ing off and destroying the leaves affected. Will you send us further specimens, with locality ?
W. C. P. — It is the " Spindle tree,'' Euonymus europaeus.
J. M. — You will not induce reptiles to eat during winter. All you can do is to let them alone, giving them the opportunity of burying themselves from the frost, under leaves, moss, &c.
A. L.— We cannot answer your question this month. If any information is obtainable, it shall be given in a future number.
A. R.— We cannot suppose that the constantly repeated notice that exchanges must be written out fairly and legibly is not read ; our only conclusion must be that it is disregarded. Of course we can only resort to the penalty, — that is, non- insertion. We cannot write out such notices afresh, adding address, and giving the generic names in full. If such notices are to be inserted gratuitously, surely it cannot be too much to require that they should be written as they are to be printed.
G. E. Q.— The Eel-pout is Lota vxtlgaris.
Constant Subscribers will know that we have always insisted upon name and address being furnished, so that no attention will be paid to their communications.
A. C. — The Diatoms are, 1. Coacinodiscus radiatus; 2. Pin- nularia nobilis. 3. Campylodiscus cribrosus. 4. Endictyi oceanica = Melosira cribrosus, Sm. 5. Aulacodisrus marguri- taceus. 6. Coscinodiscus perforatus.
Italian Bees. — "A. L." wishes to know where, and at what price he can purchase a Queen.
J. J. Exon wants to know where he can obtain Professor Goodsir's tube for studying infusoria.
S. S. desires to know the most approved method of hatch- ing chickens by artificial means.
EXCHANGES.
Notice.— Only one "Exchange'' can be inserted at a time by the same individual. The maximum length (except for correspondents not residing in Great Brita'ii) is three lines. Only objects of Natural History permitted. Norices must be legibly written, in full, as intended to be inserted.
Dicranella fallax, Houkeria Icete-virens, and other mosses, for Tayloria serrata, Timtnia megapolitana, and others. — Miss Jelly, Albion-street, New Brighton, Cheshire.
Fronds of Ferns showing fructification, unmounted, for objects of interest unmounted. — H. D., Claremont House, Waterloo, Liverpool.
Hair of Ermine, Musquash, Chinchilla, Skunk, Beaver, Jackall, Platypas, Minx, Fox, Otter, and Lion, for other material.— E. J. Wilson, 82, Southampton-road, Hampstead, N.W.
British and Foreign Land and Freshwater Shells in ex- change for foreign ditto.— G. S. T., 58, Villa-road, Handsworth, Staffordshire.
Chalk Fossils for Silurian fossils. — John Parker, St. Faith's-lane, Norwich.
Svnapta inh^erens, in spirit, for good slides of the Echi- nodermata, diatoms, or other interesting objects. — William Swanston, ", College-square East, Belfast.
Diatomaceous Deposit from North Wales. — Send stamp and object of interest. — W. H. Gomm, Waltham Abbey, Essex.
Winged Seeds. — Loplwspermum scandens and others for other objects (seeds excepted).— C. D., 18/, Oxford-street, Mile End, E.
For Membrane of Wing and Hair of English Bats, send stamped envelope to Isaac Wheatley, Mailing-street, Lewes. Any microscopic object acceptable.
Birds' Eggs for fertile eggs of Lepidoptera or pupae. — Thomas H. Hedworth, Dunston, Gateshead.
Silurian Fossils for those of the Devonian, Mountain limestone, Permian, Gault, or Green-sand formations.— E. Hendon, 1, Cleobury-terrace, Berners- street, Lozells, Bir- mingham.
BOOKS RECEIVED. " The Monthly Microscopical Journal." December, 1 S70. "The Animal World," for December, 1870. " Land and Water." Nos. 254, 255, 256, 257. "The Gardener's Magazine," for December, 1870. " Boston Journal of Chemistry." December, 1870. " Journal of Applied Science." November, December, 187C. "Proceedings at the Annual Meeting of the Natural His- tory Society of Montreal.'' 1870.
"The American Naturalist." December, 1870.
Communications Received.— C. J. W. R. — E. C. J. — K. C. L.— H. D.-C. H. W.— J. S., Jun— H. D.— H. B.— T. P. B. —A. H.— G. S. T.— A. J. M. A.— J. R. S. C.-W. H. S.-E. W.— J. J. E.-S. S.-J. P. G.— J. P.— G. E. Q.-J. E. T.— H. E. W.-E. G.-H. M.— J. C— R. H.— T. W. W.— H. B.— T. C. 1— S. A. H.— W. S.— W. H. G.— W. J.-A. E— T. H. H. —J. H — I W.-G. R.-C. D.-M. H.— G. H. H.-P. E. B.— C. W. B.— W. B.— E. F. E.— J. McL.— A. L— A. C— J. M.— W, C. P.— E. H.— E. M. H.
HARD YVICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
THE STOEY OF A PIECE OF BOCK-SALT.
By J. E. TAYLOR, E.G.S., Etc.
N many respects I differ from my geological asso- ciates, although my story, like theirs, will help to fill up the great lapse of time de- manded by the antiquity of the globe. My origin was perfectly natural, and not of that semi-miraculous nature which some people have ima- gined. But truth is stranger than fiction, as my own case well exemplifies.
As a mineral I may lay claim to be almost as well known as my neighbours the pieces of coal and chalk. Geo- logically speaking, I am not limited to any particular formation or epoch, although I am about to speak of my experiences of that period which has been called " saliferous," or " salt-bearing," on account of the larger quantities of rock-salt to be obtained from it. But in almost the same mineral form I am found in other deposits, from the Silurian up to the Tertiary. In England, however, it is in that formation known as the " New Red Sandstone," or "Trias," that I occur most considerably. Iu Cheshire my presence is indicated by natural brine-springs, by the disfigured surface of the earth near the salt-mines, and by the dark, thick clouds of smoke which stretch across the heavens.
But before I proceed to describe, as well as I am able, the agencies which were at work elaborating me into the natural condition in which I am now found, or to give you my faint recollections of the physical geography of the period, and the animals and plants which lived — let me borrow a few general remarks from books, as to the classification of those rocks to No 74.
which I here belong. Their modern name of " Trias " is derived from the tri-partite division into which they are separable. These go by the name of " Bunter," " Muschelkalk " (a German name for " shelly limestone "), and the "Keuper" beds. The former prevail largely in Lancashire, Cheshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire, &c, and are noted for their deep red colour, as well as for their thick beds of hardened gravels, or conglomerates of liver-coloured quartz. These indicate rough action in the seas where they were deposited, and the much-worn, rounded pebbles tell an equally plain story of the wear-and-tcar to which they have been subjected since they existed as angular fragments of rocks. But throughout the whole of this series, you look almost in vain for any fossils. The coarse conditions uuder which the beds were formed were antago- nistic to the preservation of any organic remains.
Towards the conclusion of this period, in Germany there existed a tolerably deep sea. The waters were pure and free from mechanical sediment ; and here the corals and encrinites found all the fitting cir- cumstances for their luxuriant growth and pro- creation. The sea-bottom was alive with the latter ; one particular form, whose elegance has given to it the name of the "Lily encrinite," being peculiar to this particular member of the rock series. The coral reefs increased in the shallower places, whilst amid all these swam great fishes, whose teeth pro- claimed their reptilian affinities, or still huger marine, reptiles. Some of the latter had their teeth especially formed for crushing the shell-fish on which they fed, and which swarmed along the sea-bottom in count- less thousands. Among these you may detect forms which belong to the Palaeozoic as well as to the Mesozoic epoch— forms which geologists not long ago imagined were limited entirely and separately to one or the other of these two great divisions of time.
It is true the bed containing this admixture of Old World forms is slightly younger than those I am more particularly dwelling upon. But I could not forbear drawing the attention of my readers to this
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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
striking fact — that the so-called " breaks " in the continuity of organic remains are fast disappearing before a more general geological investigation. The Hallstadt and St. Cassian beds, occupying the bases of the Austrian Alps, were formed along a sea- bottom during later Triassic times, where the fauna of the old and newer worlds met and commingled as on a common platform.
But it is to the third division of this interesting formation that I must specially allude. The middle member, the " Muschelkalk," is absent in England, so that the Keuper beds are seen in many places in midland and northern England reposing directly upon the Bunter. Where this occurs there is usually an " unconformability " between the two. That is to say, the dip of the two sets of strata is different. This means that the lower had been elevated before the upper had deen deposited, and therefore indi- cates a break in time between the two, and shows us plainly they were not continuously deposited.
The Keuper beds are my home. Here was I bred and born ! From the top to the bottom, you have ample evidence of the physical circumstances under which they were deposited. Every layer in- dicates shallow water; in the ripple-marks, sun- cracks, rain-drop pittings, and feet-impressions of extinct reptiles. In Cheshire this series contains beds of rock-salt and gypsum, the whole attaining a thickness of fifteen hundred feet. The beds of rock- salt of which I am a humble portion, frequently attain the thickness of a hundred feet ; and the area, in Cheshire and elsewhere, over which these extend, is calculated to be above one hundred and fifty miles across ! This represents the magnitude of the natural salt-pan where I was formed. The beds are usually split up by a layer of clay or marl, and the rock-salt masses are usually tinted with a dirty red, caused by the slight admixture of iron. But not a trace of a fossil or any other organic remain do you ever get in the neighbourhood of the salt-bearing beds ! Farther away, on what would be the flat shores of the sea where the salt was precipitated, you get evidences of fish and reptile life; as in Shropshire, Cheshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, &c. Mechanical impressions, such as ripple-marks and sun-cracks, are plentiful enough in the true salt-bearing series; but no vital evi- dences !
What does this general absence of fossils mean ? It is not that they could not be preserved, for you have seen that other impressions are well enough and accurately enough laid by. It must mean that, in such limited areas at least, life from some cause or another was excluded. Such was actually the case. The shallow sea was so salt that no animal life could exist therein. You have similar conditions now in existence. The Dead Sea, extensive though it is, has no fauna. Its waters are thoroughly desolate, and know nothing of the pleasures of life.
They are nothing but a vast menstruum, in which chemical solutions are so thick, that precipitations of the surcharges are constantly occurring. The Dead Sea level is nearly a quarter of a mile below that of the Mediterranean, and I am told that the neighbourhood is marked by Dead Sea beaches, indicating that the waters have been shrinking for generations bygone. The river Jordan continues to pour in his waters, which waters are more or less charged with mineral matter held in solution. The Jordan waters, however, are all evaporated from the Dead Sea surface, and, as the mineral matter cannot be disposed of in the same way, there is no alternative except precipitation. This is actually going on, and I am told that solid, cubic crystals of pure salt may be dredged from the Dead Sea bottom.
As well as I can remember, the physical condi- tions of the Keuper sea — at least over part of the Cheshire area — very much resembled those now in action in Palestine. The shells and thin flagstones of the Keuper elsewhere are frequently marked by the cubic pseudomorphs of salt, indicating that, far away from where the salt was most rapidly forming, the water was supersaturated. The absence of molluscan and fish life in the Dead Sea will enable you to understand the reason why the Cheshire salt- bearing beds contain no fossils, although they are so thickly crowded with evidences of ordinary atmospherical and mechanical action. When these beds were deposited, a Dead Sea existed in Che- shire and Worcestershire, and for so long a period that these thick, massive beds of rock-salt were formed along its bottom by the simple action of precipitation. We may regard these massive beds, therefore, as locally representing the excess of salt — just as iron-stone bands represent the excess of iron, and coal-seams the excess of carbon. The only difficulty which appears is the comparative purity of the rock-salt layers, and this the element of time sufficiently explains. It is very evident that the physical conditions remained unchanged for a long time, otherwise the rock-salt would have been inter- calated with layers of other material. The stratum of shell or marl which separates the two main beds indicates a temporary suspension of these circum- stances, after which the older conditions returned and lasted until an entire change had set in. These salt-masses are more or less rudely crystallized into columns, but I believe this was a subsequent process to the formation of the salt itself. Of course the lime-springs, from which so much of the salt of com- merce is now extracted, have been formed simply by the surface water percolating the beds, and dissolv- ing some of the solid salt in its course. At its exit, at a distance from the rock-salt masses, it is then charged with this culinary mineral. In many parts of Cheshire the surface is doited with " meres," or fresh-water lakes, the haunts of rare birds and plants,
HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
27
and the prettiest spots to be found in Old England. In many cases — perhaps in all — I believe these to have been formed by the slow setting of the over- lying rock-masses over the hollows left by the dis- solving of the rock-salt beneath in the way I have mentioned. I am told that in coal districts it is very common for the upper rocks to settle over the emptied seams, and to leave hollows on the surface.
I have simply given you my own idea, to the best of my recollection, of how rock-salt was formed. I have heard others repeat their own, and if you like will give it you, so that you may take them all for what they are worth ; they have supposed a portion of the sea to be separated from the rest by a bar of sand, over which the ocean-waves every now and then toppled to supply it with water. In this cut- off sea, evaporation was going on, and a correspond- ing precipitation of salt; the toppling water of course supplying the place of that which had been evaporated. It is certain that rock-salt contains many of the same minerals as those usually met with in sea-water; such as iodine, bromine, magnesia, &c. So far, therefore, the argument is in favour of a truly marine origin of salt. And the occurrence of fish, reptiles, mollusca, &c, in beds of about the same age as those of central Cheshire, indicates the extension of a sea in which the water was fitted for animal life. However, in either of these opinions, the same principle lies at the bottom ; viz., that rock-salt was precipitated from the surcharged saline sea, and that evaporation by solar heat was the immediate cause !
And now allow me to give you an idea of the animals which lived on the dry-land surface at the time when these important economical stores were being laid up. First were several species of a great frog-like reptile, or Batrachian. This type had come into existence during the Carboniferous epoch, although such primeval types seem first to have been purely marine in their habits. During the Triassic epoch, however, they certainly existed as land rep- tiles. The largest of these great frogs was about the size of a small ox ; their teeth are of a very peculiar labyrinthine structure, and this character is very persistent. Singularly enough, the feet- impressions of these reptiles were found by geolo- gists long before any of their remains had been met with. Owing to their remarkable likeness to an impression left by the human hand, the hypothetical animal leaving them was named Cheirotherium, or the "Beast with the hand." Another reptile, which combined lower with higher reptilian characters in a very extraordinary manner, was the Rhynchosaurus, or "Beaked Saurian." It had the features of a turtle, as regarded its horny bill, combined with the characters of a true lizard. It seems to have been web-footed, for in many parts of Shropshire and Cheshire the sandstone flags are marked as thickly with its webbed feet-marks, as is the margin of a
clayey pond with those of ducks ! This reptile was not nearly so large as the first I mentioned. The Lahyriirfhodou, as that is now called, seems to have haunted the shores of the Keuper Sea, for its foot- marks are found at many levels. These are gene- rally seen traversing ripple-marks, as though the creature had passed over between tides.
In America, the same geological formation is im- pressed for more than a thousand feet in thickness, with the crowded foot-prints of extinct birds. Every- where you have evidence of slow subsidence — a subsidence that was first compensated for by the amount of material deposited over the subsiding area. You may often trace for yourselves some- thing of the habits of these singular and extinct British reptiles, so well have the soft sandstones done their duty fin recording what they felt and saw ! Here the Labyrinthodons slowly lifted their feet from the soft mud, from which there dropped portions before they were next set down. Or you may trace where they sluggishly squatted down, or where their huge bellies trailed over the soft ooze!
But by far the most interesting of the in- habitants of the dry land were small warm- blooded animals, belonging to the lowest divi- sion of the class — the Marsupials, or "pouched animals." These are now inhabitants of Aus- tralia, Tasmania, and North and South America — their isolated distribution proving their vast an- tiquity. In the times intervening since they first made their appearance, species belonging to this group have lived in various parts of the world. That to which 1 am alluding is very remarkable, as being probably the first warm-blooded animal which appeared on the earth ! Its name is Microlestes, or the " little thief," so called on account of its in- sectivorous habits, as indicated by its teeth. This little creature — for it was not much bigger than a rat — preyed on the insects which then abounded in the pine-forests, or amid the thickets of fern and club-moss.
In a bed of later date, formed at the close of the Triassic epoch, and now termed the Rhsetic forma- tion, the strata are crowded with fossil insects. Erom this time forth the geologist never loses sight of the mammalia, and many deposits of later date contain a considerable number of species. In its fossil state, the Microlestes has been found both in Germany and England. However, time fails me to say what I have heard of the strange creatures which lived elsewhere, during the epoch when I was born. It is more than probable that the nu- merous gigantic birds, whose foot-prints are found in the Connecticut Valley, had reptilian affinities— just as, during the Oolitic period, the reptiles had ornithic, or bird-like affinities.
In South Africa there existed a peculiar group of reptiles termed Dicynodonis, from the peculiar walrus-like characters of their tusks or teeth. They
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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
occur there in such abundance that the strata can be identified by their remains. The dry land everywhere was covered by a flora much resembling in its general characters that of the Carboniferous epoch. This is the last we see of the familiar coal forms, for others were already in existence, destined soon to replace them, and render them extinct. Thus much, therefore, for the dim recollections of a piece of Hock-salt !
ICE IN THE TROPICS.
(With Notes on Methods of Refrigeration.)
TN the hot season of 1816, when I first visited -*- Benares, North- West Provinces, India, I was much surprised at seeing placed before me at dinner a Nesselrode pudding, and at finding that all our liquors were iced. I inquired how this was done, expecting to find that saltpetre and Glauber's salt, which I heard were often used for cooling pur- poses in India, had been employed. But judge of my astonishment when I was told that ice had been used, and that the said ice had been manufactured at Benares, where the thermometer seldom, if ever, falls so low as 42° Pahr.
I will presently give a short account of the manner in which it is obtained ; but I will first gossip a little about the various methods of cooling beverages, &c, in common use, where ice cannot be obtained in India.
1st. Tatties, or screens made of khas-khas grass, are placed in the window-frames, and by water being thrown upon them the fierce hot winds create a great coolness inside them by forcing themselves through the interstices, having become cool through the rapid evaporation of the water, which process produces intense cold.
On the lee side are placed plates of fruit, bottles of water, wine, &c., which are well cooled in this manner. The "khas-khas" consists of the roots of a sort of grass with an aromatic odour, found growing in sandy places (Aiulropogon veterina).
2. But in many places khas-khas cannot be ob- tained, and I have then seen bottles of water, wine, beer, &c., placed in loose straw in open-work wicker baskets well sprinkled with water, attached by a rope to a high bough, and swung violently to and fro in the hot, still air, whereby a very considerable degree of coolness has been imparted. This, of course, was caused by the same rapid evaporation in a hot current of air.
3. Again, frames are constructed of grass or khas-khas, to swing backwards and forwards, with places made in either side for bottles, which were kept well watered.
4. But yet, again, another way. Water is placed in a porous jar or " soraiee "—such as the GennMi jars of Egypt — wrapped round with a wet cloth
and placed in a hot place. This rapidly becomes cool, as do the bottles which stood in it.
5. Next to ice the best thing is a mixture of salt- petre and Glauber's salt — I believe about \ of the latter to f of the former. These are dissolved in water, and, whilst dissolving, the bottle to be cooled is shaken violently about in the liquid, whereby great cold, even to freezing ices, is produced ; and for many years our ices were so prepared in their moulds for table use.
But, to return from this digression, I will relate how the ice is obtained at many up-country stations in the North- West Provinces of India ; and as the railway is now bringing Wenham Lake ice, imported via the Presidency towns, into more general use, it may be worth placing on record as a thing becoming rapidly obsolete.
Prom my inquiries, there is every reason to believe that the great Akbar had his ice prepared in the same manner at Agra, and the natives now manu- facture it as well as Europeans.
The residents at a station generally club together, raise a fund, and place it in the hands of some energetic member, who proceeds as follows : —
He builds an ice-house and lays out ice-fields. This ice-house consists of a pit, some fifteen feet in diameter aud as many in depth, dug in as dry a place as can be selected, on a level spot not too exposed. This pit is liued with double planking, with chaff well rammed between the two sets of boards; whilst, to increase the non-conducting power of heat of the sides, a lining is generally put in, consisting of a thick rope of tightly-tied up straw or stalks, wound round and round interiorly.
Arrangements by 'pumping or dipping arc also made for keeping the space clear of the water which accumulates at the bottom, owing to the melting of the ice.
Over this ice-well there is erected a round house with very thick walls, sometimes single and at others double, whilst over all is a very thick conical thatch. A small door completes the building.
Into this the ice is brought as collected in large baskets as fast as possible, and men are employed to beat it down, so as to consolidate it ; and upon this ice, so stored, depends the luxury of cool be- verages in the hot weather.
But now to its manufacture.
The level ground is laid out in broad walks, and these intersect one another at right angles, forming large beds. These beds are again subdivided into smaller ones, of, perhaps, 10 feet square. At the points of intersection are placed large earthen tubs filled with water, and by them arc large heaps of small shallow saucers, of, perhaps, 5 or G inches in diameter and 14 inch deep. The level of the beds is about 4 or 5 inches lower than that of the paths.
Hard by stands a large stack of straw, and many baskets, large and small, are ranged alongside.
HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
29
This straw is spread lightly and loosely on all the beds; and upon it, as closely as possible, are placed the little saucers.
In the evening, when there is a fair promise of a clear, bright, still night, with whatever zephyr there may be from the north or north-east, men come and, with long ladles, dip out water from the tubs and pour a little into each of the saucers, of which there are sometimes 10,000 set up in a single night. Should all go well, and the thermometer fall as low as 44° Fahr., without fog or wind, a thin coating of ice may be expected on every pan. Should, however, clouds get up or wind, the little which may have heeu formed will rapidly melt.
We will, however, suppose that all goes well, when, long before daylight, there may be heard the beating of many small drums, called "Tam-tams," to summon a host of women and children from all the surrounding hamlets to gather in the harvest.
The water in the large tubs having been ex- pended in filling the little pans, large open-work wicker baskets are placed on their tops, in which the ice has to drain and be weighed, ere it is de- posited in the ice-pits.
The small baskets are spread everywhere along the paths. Each worker is provided with some tool for scratching out the ice from the pan, either a knife or a small sickle, or even a bit of iron hoop.
Men are appointed to superintend ; aud now commences a strange scene. Hundreds, nay thou- sands, are sometimes employed all at once, and every one is in a hurry. The clattering of the scnipers, the rushing hither and thither, and the constant chatter, are quite bewildering.
However, all work with a will, and in less than an hour the ice is all gathered and the empty little pans piled in heaps in the corner of each bed. Many small baskets have filled the large one, and, in the aggregate, perhaps 2,000 lb. of ice have been collected.
The thickness of a florin is considered to pro- duce a very excellent crop, whilst it is often gathered when only half that thickness.
The cause of the formation of ice at the high temperature of 42° to 44° Eahr. is doubtless the rapid evaporation of the water which percolates through the earthen pans in some degree, there also being a current of air through the loose under- lying straw, occasioned by the dryness of the atmosphere. Directly the air becomes moist with fog or otherwise, all formation of ice, as above noted, ceases.
These ice-fields often occupy several acres, so that it can easily be imagined what a number of people must be employed. Directly the work is finished, all assemble at a known spot, where stands a man with a sack of pice, or small copper money, two or three of which are given to each.
This ice is generally gathered about Christmas,
although I have known good takes in January and February, and the pits are not opened for use till April or May, when the hot weather is setting in in earnest.
One share generally costs about £5, and for this the shareholder receives at the pit's mouth, by weight, eight pounds of dirty flake ice every other morning. The distribution takes place before day- light, i.e., at what is held to be the earliest time of the twenty-four hours. The servant receives it and places it in a rough dry blanket, ties it up tightly in a bundle, and beats it well on the outside with a wooden mallet which he brings for this pur- pose, in order to drive out the water. He then places the bundle in a covered basket made of "sholah" (2Es- chjnomene Indica) the pith of a plant often used for making hats, and a great non-conductor of heat. This basket is wadded within and without with cotton, and then covered with cloth. Arrived at his mas- ter's house, he again beats it and puts it in the ice- box. Here are placed the bottles of water, wine, beer, butter, &c, which it is wished to cool, and then, with a beating once or twice a day, this ice will last for at least two days, till the next supply comes in. On an average the supply holds out for four or four and a half months ; so that the cost is. about 2d. or 24d. per pound. Of course the cost of production varies immensely. A series of bad nights after preparations have been made, or of in- efficient ice-gatherings, will enhance it much; whilst four or five good nights will often fill the pits.
The great secret of keeping the ice is to allow no moisture, and to surround it with non-conductors of heat as much as possible ; and it may, perhaps, not be out of place here to describe what appears to be the best form of ice-box which can be made up anywhere, and which may prove useful to colo- nists and others either unable to get ice-safes, or unwilling to go to the great expense of purchasing them. There are now many freezing-machines in use, and the ice made in them may be kept in a similar manner.
Fig. 15. Section of Ice-box.
30
HARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE- GOS SIP.
Take an old box or packing-case 2 feet 0 inches square (or any other size), put a strong closely-fit- ting cover or lid on hinges ; fix on legs, say 1 foot high ; then of the tin which it was lined with make a tin box, 1 foot 6 inches square, pointed at the bottom, into which fix a thin pipe with a little cot- ton in it, so that the water may only fall a drop at a time. Imbed this tin box (zinc is better) in a packing of sawdust or bran and pounded charcoal, as shown in the shaded part, so that there shall be 5 inches around it well packed on every side. Put on a cover with a lid closely fitting, so that the packing shall not get into the cooling compart- ment.
Lastly, make a padded cushion, 3 inches thick, to fit well between the two covers, and you have a first- rate yet simple ice-box. The ice put in this may be in blocks, as is the Wenham Lake ice, or in blankets as above described, and I think the sim- plicity of the above plan will commend itself to every one. I have used it many years, and made many for others, and I trust the hints above noted may prove of general use.
C. Hokne, late":B.C.S.
THE ROBIN.
" rjlHE little bird with the pious breast," as one
-*- of our poets designated the Robin, seems quite a winter subject to write on, so I send you a notice of my newest pet.
Six weeks ago I found, on going into my room one afternoon, a pretty Robin flying about; so, closing the window, I proceeded to catch it, and having caught it, wishing to keep it until my boy came home at night from school, I put it in the cage with my canary.
Madam Yellow-dues seemed much astonished at the appearance of her visitor, fluttered about him, and began to talk in bird language; but Bobby took little heed of her. After the lapse of half an hour, he suddenly brushed up, and began to pick a little raw meat which I had provided for him. He appeared so contented witli his new quarters before night, that I determined to keep him ; so I went out to purchase a cage, and began to fear that I should have to come back without one ; for such an article was not to be had in the shops where such ought to be ; but, most fortunately, 1 mentioned my difficulty in another quarter, and a cage was kindly spared to me.
Bobby was introduced to his new home at once, but the doors of both cages being left open, he had the liberty of choice given him. He preferred sleeping on his own porch, and ate a very good breakfast next morning; so I began to entertain hopes of keeping him, although every one said, —
"He'll die." "He'll beat himself to deatn against the bars."
Then others said, "He'll never sing;" and one friend told me " It is unlucky to keep a Robin."
One evening, soon after the lamp was lighted, I heard a low, sweet song; it was very faint, and the notes ceased directly I spoke. Next evening the strain was repeated, and now Bobby opens his beak wide, and gives out the entire power of his voice in song. He sings in the daytime, especially if the weather be very rough out of doors.
Bertie says, " Bobby is pleased to think he is in comfortable quarters, when so many of his poor relatives are out in the snow ;" but 1 am unable to decide whether Bobby is so unamiable and selfish as this would imply ; or if it is the sound of the howling wind that excites his vocal accomplish- ments into action.
His chief time for performing is after the lamp has been lighted, when I am at dinner — a time when all respectable Bobbies ought to have then- heads under their wings — and he looks out for sundry portions of the meat. I have discovered that he likes a chicken bone to pick, and fully approves of plum-pudding; but rejects a drop of sherry in his goblet of water, as he does a decoction of saffron ; but he enjoys a tepid bath in a big saucer exceedingly, and shakes his head, and flaps his wings in a way that would justify the sedate members of the Robin family in placing him under greater restraint than I have, when he wants me to understand he would like a dip.
He scarcely looks at the canary ; she was at first very attentive to him, following him from cage to cage ; but she has now turned spiteful, and pecks at him. He is, I am glad to say, too much of a gentleman to beat her. He hops away.
She has laid five eggs, and quite expected Bobby to help in making a nest out of some wool she suc- ceeded in drawing into her cage, but this he did not appear to know anything about.
I wish some one accustomed to birds would tell me if a caged Robin has ever been known to pair in the spring with a canary. A hybrid between the two birds would, I should fancy, exhibit strange plumage, and prove a valuable songster. If there is a chance of it, I would get a proper cage and nest-making materials, and let the canary set.
Helen E. Watney.
Beaumaris, North Wales.
Eel Pout.— It was stated in the last number of Science-Gossif that the Eel-Pout {Lota vulgaris) was confined to the north-east of Eugland. I beg to state that it has been several times caught in the Penk, a tributary of the Trent, near Penkridge, in Staffordshire— TF. A. S.
HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE GOSSIP.
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THE HUMAN EYE.
npiIE publishers of a work just issued on " The -*~ Wonders of the Human Body," * translated from the Erench, give the following reasons for doing so. " There is an increasing tendency in the present day to make common property of special knowledge. Even such information as formerly belonged to certain professions alone is, at least in its rudiments, becoming more 'generally diffused ; and on the part even of those professions the ten- dency is recognized as within reasonable bounds deserving of encouragement. To take ' the human body ' as an illustration, medical men find that the useful feature of their art is facilitated by the dis- semination of information regarding its structure and functions. On the other hand, the public daily see more and more clearly that 'prevention is better than cure,' and that to prevent derangements of the wonderful machine, with the guidance of which each individual is entrusted, more acquaintance with its mechanism and laws of normal action is indispensable. Apart from its utility, a knowledge of anatomy and physiology is gradually becoming a necessary part of a liberal education. To meet these requirements the publishers now present this translation from the French of a book which, in the original, has attained to great popularity," &c.
Without attempting to institute comparisons between this book and others on the same subject which preceded it, we will content ourselves with an extract from the chapter on "The Human Eye." "As regards the distance at which man can distin- guish objects, he is less gifted than many other animals; but in every other respect his visual powers are at least equal to that of inferior beings. We know very little of the sensations produced in ani- mals by colours ; it seems probable that they have a relative perception of them to a certain extent, as the sight of red irritates the bull, for example ; and we know that birds of prey from a great height in the air distinguish the colour as well as the form of a lark or quail hiding in the ploughed fields, although it so closely resembles that of the soil. But if we should suppose them endowed with sensitive facul- ties, useless within the limits of their instinct, could we find anything in animals more perfect than the organs to which man owes the prodigies of painting? We must, however, distinguish here between that which pertains to the visual apparatus and that which proceeds from the intellect. The eye perceives the tints which nature offers in almost infinite variety ; the mind compares them, and re- cognizes the elementary colours of which they are composed ; the eye reflects in turn the model, the
* "Wonders of the Human Body," from the French of A. le Pileur, M.D. Illustrated by forty-five engravings by Leveille. London : Blackie & Son.
palette, and the picture; the mind perceives the relation of shades, and combines them in such a manner, that by mingling or contrasting them such a result is produced as conforms to the first im- pression; but in order that an artist may judge whether red or blue predominates in a violet tint, in order to appreciate the shade, the retina must transmit it to the brain iu its purity.
"At the manufactory of the Gobelins we see the wools used in the fabrication of the tapestries arranged according to their shades. The number of these shades exceeds 23,000, and yet when we compare two approximate shades we distinguish them with facility, and perceive the interval which separates them.
"The people who live in the country, seamen, and especially men living in a savage state, generally have sharper sight than the residents of cities. May not the habit of seeking to distinguish objects at a distance give the eyes a power which is not acquired when they always act within a limited horizon? Without assimilating exactly the effects of exercise on the eye to those which result from exercise of a muscle, we are justified in thinking that an almost incessant accommodation to great distances must influence the eye in that respect, and if, as is very probable, the accommodation takes place by the con- traction of the muscular fibres, the explanation of the increased range of the eye from exercise is very simple ; but facts are wanting which verify and measure this increase in individuals. There is no doubt, however, that men from whom the horizon is habitually distant distinguish certain objects at a point where they are confused to other persons, although within the reach of their vision.
" A ship appears on the horizon, a man unac- quainted with the sea can hardly distinguish the sails of this white cloud springing from the waters ; but a sailor will tell you that it is a brig, or a three- master, a war vessel or a merchant ship, and often he will even come at its tonnage, its lading, its na- tionality, and its name. The Arab and the European in the midst of the sands of Sahara see on the hori- zon an object, which to the European is only a black point without appreciable form ; the Arab sees a camel distinctly, and declares that it is at such or such a distance, without ever being deceived.
"The inexperienced mountain traveller sees before him a chaos of slopes and abrupt walls, of elevations and windings, among which he can distinguish neither route nor practicable passage ; but the mountaineer sees at once the accessible points, and the turns which he must take to reach the summit of the apparently impassable barrier. This proves not that the sailor, the mountaineer, and the Arab have sharper sight than the strauger to their coun- try ; but that they have learned to know the signi- fication of such and such details of form, such a particularity of colour, and the like, which are for
32
HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
them distinguishing marks, which seem to trace before their eyes the description which they give to their fellow- voyager of objects that are either con- fused or imperceptible to him. It is, therefore, to acquired notions, and skill in seeing objects, rather than to extent of vision, that they owe the faculty of distinguishing objects at great distances.
"We find also in all countries, and in all climates, men who have extraordinary power of vision. Wrangel speaks, in his 'Voyage to the Polar Seas,' of a Yakoute who related having seen a great star swallow little ones, and then vomit them up again. That man, says Wrangel, had seen the eclipses of the satellites of Jupiter. Humboldt tells, in his '.Cosmos,' of a tailor in Breslau, named Schon, who also had seen the satellites of Jupiter with the naked eye. No examples of a greater range of vision are known." — Pp. 179-1S1.
HUNTING FOR INSECTS' EGGS.
XT is not so very long since, when scarcely any- body, even amongst entomologists, thought of looking after the eggs of insects. Now and then it would happen that a butterfly or moth deposited these in the collecting-box or on the setting-board ; and then, perhaps, they were taken care of, and the young progeny fed up ; and perhaps not. And yet it might naturally have suggested itself to the in- quiring mind of the collector, that by sceuring the eggs of the species desired, good specimens could be got for the cabinet, and an addition made to the individual's store of knowledge. However, an im- petus has of late been given to larva-rearing, and in consequence ofj that egg-hunting has become a distinct branch of the various pursuits to! which Lepidopterists especially have devoted themselves. There is, moreover, this advantage : eggs, unlike perfect insects or caterpillars, will neither fly away nor crawl off, but will give the collector ample time to secure them, if he goes at the right time, to the right place, and examines the right plant.
And now, too, we find microscopists putting in their claim for some of these objects, and I am sure entomologists will not complain ; for who can tell how many of those that begin by studying these eggs only on account of their colours and shapes, may, after awhile, think it as well to know some- thing about the objects which come out of them, and thus help forward insect-science ?
In jotting down some remarks on the best way of going to work (and proceeding in the work) of finding eggs of butterflies and moths, I must dis- claim almost, if not all, merit for originality, and acknowledge myself to be only "a gatherer and disposer of other men's matters." It must be so in natural history, and the sum total of the observa- tions of the many, often recorded in haste, and in
very varied styles, when digested and arranged, furnish a bulk of lore, which, rightly used, facilitates the labour of future students and investigators: the- past enriches the present, and suggests encourage- ment for the future.
The transformations of the bulk, even of our British insects, are but little known in their de- tails, the chief exception being the order Lepido- ptera, which, being mostly favoured by collectors, has had the life-histories of its species traced out in many instances, the egg being the starting-point of the narrative. Very few of the eggs of indivi- duals belonging to the other orders have been sought out, though as some of these closely simu- late those of certain moths, an occasional collector brings home what he supposes to be a choice batch of eggs, from which he sees "in vision" the young caterpillars emerging and feeding well, and lo ! the result is a party of unpleasant maggots, or else the six-legged larvae of some beetle. This, however, would be of little consequence to the microscopic observer, whose interest centres in the shell, rather than the contents. The newly-hatched larva, though be it of what family it may, will be discovered also to have its points of interest ; but its preservation, Mrere this desired, would not be so easy as that of the egg.
No apparatus is required to be taken by the egg- hunter, unless, indeed, he were to take a beating- net or umbrella, in which to beat or shake the trees and plants ; for there are some eggs so lightly at- tached to the substance on which they are laid that a jerk will bring them off; but this procedure need hardly be resorted to, not being very advantageous. And there is no day of the year when we might not go out with at least the probability of finding some eggs, though on a sharp winter's morning, when we are examining trunks of trees, boughs, and twigs, the fingers are apt to get so cold that the knife, if needed to cut the eggs off or out, can scarcely be handled. To an entomologist with a liking for the dolce far niente, in the glowing heats of summer, such a comparatively unenergetic pursuit may have its charms, the hands need not to be tasked, the eyes being called upon to take the leading part in the business. Patience certainly has to be exer- cised, both at the time of searching, and thereafter, for not all the eggs which look promising will by- and-by yield young caterpillars to the would-be breeder. Two causes, beyond the collector's con- trol, may have led to this : the eggs may have been unfertile or barren, such being occasionally depo- sited by moths in a state of nature; or they may have been punctured by some small parasitic insect. That this occurs sometimes, there is no doubt ; yet I believe the " ichneumouization " of eggs is less common than it has been conjectured to be. Eggs of insects are rarely, if ever, killed by heat, cold, or damp when left untouched. But of those which,.
HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
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in the hands of the entomologist, fail to produce the young larvae, many are destroyed because they have been placed in unfavourable circumstances, so that the germ is arrested in its progress. A word more upon this presently.
As a general rule, each mother butterfly or moth seeks out, for the reception of her eggs, either the appropriate food for the larvae about to appear, or at least a spot from whence they can very easily reach this sustenance which is so indispensable. Hence, as the food of caterpillars is so very various in its kind, the places likely to yield eggs are varied —in feet, they may turn up almost auywhere when we are out in the open country.
Dr. Knaggs remarks on the more common posi- tions, that they may be sought "on the surface and in the chinks of bark (frequently high upon the trunk and branches), on twigs, buds, leaves, flowers, and seeds of different trees and plants ; sometimes on neighbouring objects, as palings, walls, rocks, stones, and clods ; at others, among refuse animal and vegetable matters ; now and then loosely scat- tered upon the ground, or even fixed to aquatic plants beneath the surface of the water."
The propensity some species have to drop their eggs at random amongst the herbage, either while they are crawling rapidly up and down bushes, or threading their way through the grass blades, or perhaps careering through the air a few feet above the ground, is one vexatious to the entomologist, favourable though it may be to the continuance of the particular species. As examples of this, I might give the Marbled White amongst butterflies, and the Oak Egger and the beautiful Yellow Under- wing amongst moths. Thesedeposit eggs in flight, and I believe a good number of the species belonging to the Nodiia family are not at all particular as to where their eggs may chance to fall, the larva: being often promiscuous feeders on low plants when young. Instinct, too, is sometimes at fault in the parent, and I have found the eggs of the Puss-moth more than once on lilac, which the larva rejects, and those of the Drinker, a grass-eating caterpillar, adhering to a bramble stem. Hence a beginner is sometimes puzzled to find young caterpillars reject what seems to be their right food. Moths, also, under the influence of some infatuation, lay eggs in places where the larvae must starve. Gas-lamps aud other lights are attractive to moths, and about these eggs are not unfrequently deposited. I have also found eggs laid on palings far from the plant appropriate to the larvae of the species; and as they rarely travel far when very young (or if they do they come to grief), their career speedily ends— only born to die.
Some moths, why we cannot tell, seem to have a fancy for laying eggs on withered leaves, and I have noticed these sometimes curled up ; thus entombing the newly-hatched larvae.
More eggs will certainly be found on leaves during the spring and summer than on other sub- stances, or at other seasons of the year. Those thus deposited are likely to hatch speedily, when as microscopic objects they cease to be beautiful, usually. The eggs which remain longest unhatched are laid in the autumn (a few even in winter), and the locale most frequently is the bark of trees or the twigs of bushes ; sometimes the stems of low- growing perennial plants. In early spring many eggs will be detected on or close to the buds. Generally, when we are searching for the eggs of a species which deposits them on leaves, it is better to examine shrubs than trees, and those growing solitary rather than in clumps. Investigating some plants for eggs is very tedious work ; as, for in- stance, small-leaved species, like those of the genus Galium. The eye, alter a time, gets fatigued and dazzled. So frequently do we iiud that the moths select the under surface of leaves, that it has become a practice with some collectors not to examine the upper side at all. The llev. J. Greene thinks that the genus Bicrumua is almost the only exception to the rule. Some others do not, un- frequently, however, deposit eggs on the upper surface ; as, for instance, certain of the Hawk- moths (Populi, Ligustri, &c.), and several of the Prominents. A reading-glass or hand-magnifier has been recommended as helpful to the egg-hunter, especially when he has to examine leaves under a deficiency of light, as in shady parts of woods. Impatient persons may not like to be told that one glance at a leaf or any object is rarely successful, except with those of marvellous quick perceptions, of whom (no doubt) there are some amongst both microscopists and entomologists ; but it would savour of flattery to give that character to the majority. " More haste, less speed," holds good here ; a careful examination of one twig will yield more results than a cursory glance at half a dozen. Many eggs are very much the colour of the leaves or substances on which they are to be found, and they are often appressed very flatly to the surface ; as, for instance, those of the Brimstone Butterfly and the Herald Moth : on or alongside of the midrib is a favourite position ; though some female moths show a manifest preference for the margins.
The searcher must always keep in mind that eggs are occasionally very imperfectly attached by gum, and an agitation given to their resting-place may send them off, when a hunt for them will be only a loss of time, if they descend into the grass or herbage ; as bad, in fact, as " looking for a needle in a bottle of hay." The easiest eggs to find are those which are deposited by the parent insects in clusters, as those of the Cabbage and Tortoiseshell Butterflies ; or amongst the Moths, those of such species as the Lackey, the Gold-tail, the Tigers, the Yapourers, and some of the Geometers. Mr. New-
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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
man speaks highly of another mode of getting eggs, viz., by watching the females while thus engaged, and then "securing the product." I have not succeeded at this, but others may ; it has disadvan- tages, for at such times insects endeavour to avoid observation, and dodging them about is tedious and disappointing work. It is at night, too, that most moths provide for the continuance of the species, when they may easily escape our notice, even if we are armed with the latest improved lantern. So, perhaps, the best way is, if we see a butterfly or moth we think thus intent, to capture it, and give it an opportunity to lay in confinement, which, however, some are very reluctant to do.
How should we keep eggs if we wish to obtain larvae from them? We must have regard to the natural influences to which they would have been exposed, and imitate these^as nearly as we can. As a rule, they should be kept cool, and if a leaf on which any are deposited dries up, it is better to remove them from it. Some advise laying them upon a pad of moss taken from an old wall ; and this being placed in a flowerpot, the eggs may be kept slightly damp, which is conducive to their welfare. But if the contents of the eggs are not wished for, Ingpen advises that they should be punctured with a fine needle; then, says he, they will dry without shrivelling— sometimes. Boiling them has been found of no use ; nor should I imagine that baking them would prove much more advantageous. Swammerdam, we are told, after he had emptied the shells, used to inflate them with air, or fill them with some resinous solution.
The hunter after the eggs of Lepidoptera may well be stimulated by recent discoveries in that direction. Think of Mr. Merrin detecting the eggs of one of our rarest Blues {Lycana Arion) on the flowers of the wild thyme ! These were highly curious in form, being spheroid, and marked with shallow cells, the divisions between the cells bear- ing spine-like processes ; the texture and colour, we are informed, resembling white porcelain tinged with green. And through researches made in the winter months, it has now been demonstrated that the Hairstreak Butterflies place their eggs on the twigs or branches of their food-plants, to await the advent of the following spring, completely overturning the theories previously entertained about their history. So we may hope that, as egg-hunters increase, not only will new and beautiful objects be brought into view, but many misapprehensions be also removed which have obscured the annals of Entomology.
J. B. S. Clifford.
0 happy Kingfisher ! what care can he know, By the clear, pleasant streams, as he skims to aud fro, Now lost in the shadow, now bright in the sheen Of the hot summer sun, glancing scarlet and green.
Mary Howitt.
TITMICE.
f\F all the small birds that ornament our forest, ^ few are more hardy, more agile, or more or- namental than the family of Titmice.
The Long-tailed Titmouse, Blue Titmouse, and Great Titmouse, are all very beautiful little crea- tures; not only beautiful in plumage, but on the wing, creeping along a bough, or clinging to the bark of a tree, they are equally interesting, now flying with a jerk and wave-like motion from tree to tree, now at the root of a tree in quest of food, or suspended from the end of a branch; indeed, they are always doing something. They are curious little creatures, and although fond of the wood, they are in no way shy or timid at the approach of man.
The Long-tailed Titmouse (Panes caudatus) has a very long tail ; it flies with a peculiar wave-like motion ; when on the wing, the tail seems much longer than at other times: it is a very curious- looking little bird. In weight it scarcely out- weighs the Wren ; but it is when in the hand that you admire and wonder at the power of this little creature, so small it seems that you cannot hold it without hurting it ; with loose and silk-like flossy feathers that cannot be handled without getting the feathers much out of place.
Although so fragile, it builds a very pretty nest, and brings up a number of young: they remain with us all the winter; their food is small insects and larva?. The colour of this bird is a mixture of dusky olive, with dark and light brown; the bill is very small; indeed, a few disconcerted feathers will cover it. I tried to keep this bird in an aviary, but did not succeed. The Long -tailed Tit has not any song, only a plaintive twitter or call.
The Blue Titmouse (Parus cceruleus) is a merry, sprightly, active little fellow. It seems but little consequence to him whether in a cage, an aviary, or in the wood ; if well cared for, he appears quite con- tent. I should here mention, much of this depends upon the immediate care he gets. Soon after being taken, he must be fed frequently upon small meal- worms ; for a short time he should also have groats, suet, and hemp-seed. The Blue Tit requires a large close wire cage, as it mostly gets through the wires of an ordinary one. Much depends upon the first few hours' care ; if neglected when taken, you can- not keep your Blue Tit alive. In an aviary the Blue Tit is quite at home, quite cheerful ; aud in a few days will begin to twitter : after a few days you may dispense with live food altogether, but as a substitute you should give a little sop bread and milk, and occasionally the Woodlark's meat. The colours of this lively little creature are very strik- ing; the top of the head, or crest, and round the neck a beautiful blue, the sides of the head white, with a black line from the base of the bill to beyond
HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
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the eye ; the tail and long or flight-feathers of the wing blue, the breast and under-part a dingy yellow; bill and legs of a pale blue. The Blue Tit has a sprightly note, but cannot be considered a songster.
The Cole Tit (Panis ater) is about the size of the Blue Tit, but has not such a beautiful plumage ; it has a black cap; the general tone of the birds is an olive-brown, with a few white spots upon the ends of some few feathers ; it has a sharp black beak, legs and claws exceedingly strong. If this bird is put in a cage with the Blue Tit, a battle ensues, in which the latter gets beaten, and if it succeeds in getting the Blue Tit in its claws, as is often the case, it will pluck the feathers out most unmerci- fully. The Cole Tit should be fed the same as the Blue Tit, but they are not so cheerful as that bird, nor so easily kept alive.
The Great Titmouse (Parus major) is a bold- looking bird, and very pugnacious. It is not safe to place him in a cage with other birds ; he mostly kills any bird about his own size. I have seen the Great Tit seize a robin in its claws, and in a few seconds pick the poor creature's brains out. How different to the little Blue Tit, that rarely quarrels with any bird. Yet for all its cruel propensities, how pleasant to find them in small parties acrobat- ing in our suburban gardens round London, as it frequently does in hard weather, chattering merrily. This bird has a peculiar and amusing method in feeding upon hemp-seed, making a quick tap, tap, tap, much like an undertaker hammers, until a hole is made, from which it eats the seed, casting away the shell apparently unbroken. It will feed upon German paste, as prepared for a woodlark, and dis- pose of mealworms most greedily. The Great Tit has a beautiful black cap, back and wings of a greyish green, the sides of the head, breast, and underpart of a dusky yellow ; it has great strength in the feet and bill, and if handled darts upon the fingers and bites severely. The Great Tit has a sprightly wild song, which it mostly utters as soon as it alights. The Blue Tit, Cole Tit, and Great Tit, all tap with their bill when feeding upon hemp- seed, after the manner of the Woodpecker.
Chas. J. W. Rtjdd.
UNDEB A STONE.
THEBE is some consolation for those who make the micro scope their hobby, that they are very much independent of times and seasons ; come snow, come blow, there is still occupation within doors in spite of wind and weather. The angler may be disconsolate, the botanist devoured by ennui, the entomologist a victim to despair; but with the microscope poor human nature is consoled for the loss of out-door pleasures. Alas, poor human nature ! How often the weather comes in
for blame when some trip to the woods has been postponed indefinitely, because of the rain —
"When it clatters along the roofs, Like the tramp of hoofs ! When it gushes and struggles out From the throat of the overflowing spout ! Across the window pane It pours and pours ; And swift and wide, With a muddy tide, Like a river down the gutter roars The rain, unwelcome rain."
This however may be bearable, for the morrow may be bright, or, at least, there is hope of a finer day within a week ; but the summer grumbler is happy compared with a naturalist "snowed up." What a gush of unpleasurable sensations tingles down to the tips of one's fingers at the thought of a month's frost and snow. Suppose that we had been planning sundry explorations during the Christmas holidays, in the fond hope that a " green Christmas" would again, as it had done before, favour the out-door collector of Nature's uncon- sidered trifles. And then suppose such a Christ- mas as this last one to throw a snow blanket over the earth and our projects. Grumble, should we ? Well, perhaps we might, and not much to our credit either. History has narrated to us of prisoners in their cells finding contentment and companionship in a mouse, a spider, or a flower. Doubtless he who can accept all such events with resignation, with no disposition to grumble, ,but every disposition to turn the most untoward circum- stances to advantage, is the happier man.
Those who are blessed with vigorous health do not realize the pleasure which an invalid finds in a little plot of garden ground ; to him it is all the outside world. In it he will discover treasures scarce dreamt of by those who have the world before them wherein to roam. A little garden to an invalid, and what he saw and observed in it during a whole year ! What a subject for a book, and how many interesting chapters might such an invalid contribute by the help of a microscope. Some months ago, during conversation with a friend on "subjects to write about," he suggested, "insects found under a stone." At the time this was acknow- ledged a capital idea, and — not the first time such a thing has happened — no more was thought about it. Becently confined to the limits of a garden, and at no very cheerful season, — just before the snow set in — this incident was revived by the sight of a large stone, and immediately the thought " I won- der what is under it ? " came like a flash across the mind. The answer to this question is just what I am seated to write, and if there was not much found under the stone at such a season the observer is not to blame, and the stone is not to blame, and certainly not the insects that were absent. They were wise, for it was very, very cold.
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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
Turning over the stone, the first and most active creature under it was a spider, who speedily made up his mind to escape if possible. It is a curious fact that, in the majority of cases, if you will turn over a good-sized stone, the first, and often the only living creature seen there will be a spider. If there is any desire on the part of the observer to capture it, the second fact discovered will be that spiders are very active, and rather cunning. Some people are under the impression that if we have a dozen species of spiders in Britain, we have no more. There is the House Spider, and the Garden Spider, und the Money-spinner, and the Water Spider, and — perhaps they know no more. But the fact is, that some hundreds of spiders arc described in Mr. Blackwall's splendid book, and it is very pro- bable that it does not contain more than half, the different species which inhabit our islands. This little spider is not a quarter of an inch long, but it
Mi
Fig. 16. Walckenaera cri&tata.
Las a very long name— it is Walckenaera cristata. The figure is magnified (fig. Ifi), and gives some idea of the appearance of this active little gentle- man, for fortunately it was of the male sex. Some people never look upon a spider except with feelings of disgust. Ladies of delicate sensibilities have been known to faint at the sight of one. Perhaps this might be accounted for if Ovid's story were true that a very clever lady was once transformed into a spider. Arachne, excellently skilled at the loom, had the presumption to challenge Minerva, and, being defeated, hung herself in despair ; the goddess, moved by pity, transformed her into a spider.
" Her usual features vanished from tlieir place, Her body lessened all, but most her face : Her slender fingers, hanging on each side, With many joints, the use of legs supplied ; A spider's bag the rest, from which she gives A thread, and still by constant weaving lives."
In memory of this unfortunate lady the whole order of spiders are named Arachn'uhe, a graceful tribute to skill and industry. The eight eyes and absence of vocal powers are not accounted for in this story; the transformation must have been a wonderful one.
The great variety in the arrangement of these eight eyes in the different genera of spiders is worthy of observation. In Walckenaera the front part of the cephalo-thorax is usually elevated into a kind of hump, and four eyes are placed about it
in the form of a trapezoid or small square (fig. 17 a) ; then on either side is another pair, placed one above another, and close together. The eyes of each pair placed at the side, in the little specimen found under a stone, are the largest. The general colour is brownish- black, the legs reddish-brown, and the abdomen is hairy. It would be easy enough to occupy a column in describing all the parts of this interesting little creature, but, having no such in- tention, I shall at once confine myself to those organs which, in their complex development, characterize the male, and on which microscopists are invited to employ their instruments if they desire a fresh field for observation.
Fig. I", a. Profile i f cephalo-thorax of Walckenaera, with eyes ; b, front view of palpus ; c, back view of palpus.
Notice particularly in this, and all male spiders, a pair of clubbed organs, something like antenna;, which project in front, and are often curved down- wards. These are the palpi. Probably their pur-
Fig. 18. Palpus of Walckcneara displayed.
pose is allied to that of the highly-developed an- tenna; in most of the Anoplcura, and some of the Entomostraca. As seen in the living animal (we are forbidden to call spiders insects), the palpi are more or less clubs (fig. 17), but when prepared and flattened out, the parts are separated, and though no longer resembling in form what they were in their natural situation, and condition, they can be more readily studied, and their very complex cha-
HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
37
racter observed. In order that this structure may- be compared in different genera, I have given figures of three. Eig. IS is taken from Walchen- aera cristata ; fig. 19 is from a larger spider closely allied, called Linyphia confusa ; and fig. 20 from Ciniflo similis, both taken at other times, skulking in a similar manner under stones. The
Fig. ig. Palpus of Linyphia. confusa.
figures are drawn from specimens mounted in bal" earn, flattened out so as to exhibit structure by
Fig. 20. Palpus of Ciniflo similis.
uncoiling the upper portion, which naturally is coiled up compactly like a watch-spring. The pro- jecting hooks and processes are very curious. In-
dustrious microscopist, with little to do, and want- ing occupation, here is good work for you ! Study a spider well, and then write a monograph, as has already been done for the House-fly.
With an anecdote of spiders as teachers, taken from the Quarterly Review of a quarter of a century ago, I shall leave them to the better consideration of my readers. Quatremer Disjonval, a Frenchman by birth, was an adjutant-general in Holland, and took an active part on the side of the Dutch patriots when they revolted against the Stadtholder. On the arrival of the Prussian army under the command of the Duke of Brunswick, he was immediately taken, tried, and having been condemned to twenty-five years' imprisonment, was incarcerated in a dungeon at Utrecht, where he remained eight years. During this long confinement, by many curious observations upon his sole companions, spiders, he discovered that they were in the highest degree sensitive of approaching changes in the atmosphere, and that their retirement and reappearance, their weav- ing and general habits were intimately connected with the changes of the weather. In the reading of these living barometers he became wonderfully accurate, so much so, that he could prognosticate the approach of severe weather from ten to fourteen days before it set in, which is proven by the follow- ing remarkable fact which led to his release. When the troops of the French republic overran Holland in the winter of the year 1791, and kept pushing forward over the ice, a sudden and unexpected thaw in the early part of December threatened the de- struction of the whole army unless it was instantly withdrawn. The French generals were thinking seriously of accepting a sum offered by the Dutch, 'and withdrawing their troops, when Disjonval, who hoped that the success of the republican army might lead to his release, used every exertion, and at length succeeded in getting a letter conveyed to the French general in 1795, in which he pledged himself, from the peculiar actions of the spiders, of whose movements he was enabled to judge with perfect accuracy, that within fourteen days there would commence a most severe frost, which would make the French masters of all the rivers, and afford them sufficient time to complete and make sure of the conquest they had commenced before it should be followed by a thaw. The commander of the French forces believed his prognostication and persevered. The cold weather which Disjonval had predicted made its appearance in twelve days, and with such intensity that the ice over the rivers and canals became capable of bearing the heaviest artillery. On the