Page:Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - Volume 1.pdf/134

Cape Pigeons.—(W. B. D.)—The birds thus named by sailors are a species of Petrel (Daption capensis), and the Cape hens are probably of the same characer belonging to a different species, or perhaps a kind of gull. Something more than a merely common name is necessary to determine them with certainty.

Jerusalem Artichoke.—Why so strange a name is given to Helianthus tuberosus, I cannot guess. I know that its original name, "Topinambour," was given from the American people Topinamboun, from whom we had this alimentary root. That its first English name, "Jerusalem," is a corruption of the Italian Girasole, French Tournesol, Latin Helianthus (derived from the Greek), or the English "Sunflower," I have no doubt. But why is it styled "Artichoke?" The proper artichoke (Cynara scolymus) has an Arabic origin, Kharchiof (whence the Italian Carcioffo), and means a dog, or spiny-cole; but this has nothing to do with the commonly called "Jerusalem Artichoke." By the bye, does the latter ever flower in England?—J. G.

Manx Cats.—A. L. D. desires to be informed of the origin of Manx cats, and whether any other race of cats without tails exists?

Reed Pens.—The Semitic nations are guiltless of such an innovation as steel pens. in the Indian archipelago pens are made of the petioles of the Gomuti palm (Arenga saccharifera), and in Continental India two or three species of reed are employed for the same purpose as the shur (Saccharum Sara) and khuree (Saccharum fuscum and S. procerum). Reed pens are still employed in Egypt, Arabia, Persia, &c. The style of pointed iron or steel is also used for writing upon the leaves of the tailpot (Corypha umbraculifera), tara (Corypha taliera), and palmyra (Borassus flabelliformis) in India, Ceylon, Burmah, and elsewhere.

Palm Tinder.—A correspondent having taken exception to the remark at p. 78 on the tinder of the Gomuti-palm, we would be glad to know wherefore? It is well known that several species of palm yield a substance of a similar nature, such as the sago-palm (Raphia Rumphii), the date-palm (Phœnix dactylifera), and many others; that this palm-tinder is largely consumed by the Chinese, Malays, and inhabitants of the Indian archipelago, and is a regular article of trade in those countries. We must not conclude that, because we employ percussion-caps and lucifer-matches, all the Oriental nations follow our example.

Reproduction of the Eel.—A friend who has much to do with fishes, tells me that he never found anything like a "row" in the eel. How, then, is it reproduced?—E. B.—[Whether the eel be oviparous or viviparous has been much discussed. The general opinion is in favour of the former.]

What is it?—Lately a very fine specimen of the badger tribe was captured by the gamekeeper on Lord Digby's estate at Mintern. The animal was of a pure white colour, a very rare species, and weighed over 27 lb.—The Standard. Query: What animal is this? Can anyone residing at or near Mintern tell something more about it?

Natterjack.—A. L. inquires the origin and meaning of this word as applied to a spcies of toad?

Machine for Producing Streams in Aquaria.—Mr. Edwards, of Anglesey, announces in a circular that he has an apparatus which is much wanted, and which is cheap, single, and not liable to get out of order, and which being placed below a marine aquarium, and worked at for less than five minutes, will produce a stream (of water, I presume) in the tank above. Can anyone explain how it is done, or, more to the purpose, can evidence be given as to the contrivance having done its work as stated for a satisfactory period, without any repairs being needed, or any hitch having occurred? How much water does it deliver, and with what force during the six hours, and is there nothing corrosive about the thing?—H.

Parlour Science.—The boiling of lobsters is a process which, however, speedy, one does not much like to associate with salad, or supper. The first thrill in the pot must be horrible, but it is soon over. Whereas, a slow death in an aquarium, with great eyes looking at you and offering quantities of unsuitable food, together with the puzzling resistance of the glass, like the mysterious detention of a dream, must altogether make the last hours of a "specimen" hideous. It must be as bad as dying of nightmare. "Oh! my lovely star-fish are all dead!" says charming Angelina, as she joins the breakfast-table, after nine hours of the soundest, rosiest sleep. "They are only just dead, I think," says she, with her mouth full of toast and butter. "I saw one of them move a little"—very likely. But what a night for the star-fish!—Jones' Holiday Papers.

Mansucker and Sea-Cucumber.—"J. B." says, "The author does not mention that the Indians eat the octopus raw." I certainly did not, having but seldom seen them eat it in other than a semi-cooked condition, imagine that it is only from extreme hunger, or the inability from want of time to cook, or the absence of dry wood to build a fire, that indices the "noble savage" to eat his "ugly native" raw. The long sea-monster "J. B." speaks of is one of the Holothuriæ, common in the seas about Vancouver Island, where it grows to an enormous size, and, as he says, is much esteemed as a great dainty, not only by the Indians, but by the Hudson's Bay traders. There is a species closely allied (Holothuriæ edulis), caught in vast quantities by the Malays, dried for the Chinese market, and sold as trepang. Another species is very common on the coast of Cornwall, bitterly hated by the fishermen, who call it the "cotton-spinner,"—cotton being the slimy threads that stretch out from the creature if one touches it and then slowly draws away the finger; not a crab or lobster—so say the fishermen—will enter a "crab-pot" if a cotton-spinner finds its way in first. The "sea-cucumber"—for such it is often called—is very abundant on the Australian coasts. I have frequently tasted it as prepared for the China markets, and boiled like a lobster at Vacouver Island, and I think it very good eating. "J. B.," I imagine, must be slightly mistaken, or must allude to other Indians than those native to Vancouver Islands, or the Oregon and British Columbia coasts, when he speaks "of seeing the sea-water running down their beards." With one or two solitary exceptions, I never remember seeing a savage with a beard; the hair in invariably tweezered out by the squaws as it grows.—J. K. Lord, F.Z.S.