Page:Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - Volume 1.pdf/230
Anoplotherium.—Has Anoplotherium commune (Eocene) a short and thick, or a long and thin tail, as Beeton's Dictionary and Hugh Miller also appear to differ on this point.—James Arrow, Jun.
The Anoplotherium commune was eight feet long long, including the tail, which was three feet and a half. "The long and powerful tail must have formed the chief peculiarity in the living animal's outward form, and been of the same service to it in swimming as the tail of the Otter."—Owen: Brit. Foss. Mammals, p. 438. Cuvier gives 22 as the manber of caudal vertebræ.—R. T.
Exudation of Cedar-wood.—About seven years ago, I had a cabinet made of walnut-wood, to contain my collection of birds' eggs. The inside of the drawers was made of the cedar-wood such as is used for pencils. The drawers were divided into partitions, and the eggs laid on cotton wool. In the course of a month or two I found several of the eggs sticking together, and covered with some kind of exudation, as if they had just been varnished. I could not wash it off with water, and I did not try spirit for fear of taking some of the colouring off the eggs. The Kestrel's, Peregrine's, Coot's, and Lapwing's were first infected, some were less so, and the greater number not at all. They have remained the same ever since. Can you er any of your readers tell me the reason of this, and remedy (if any) for it? A lady told me that she had a work-box lined with the cedar-wood, and the cotton reels, &c., got stuck together in just the same way.—C. W. W.
[By painful experience we have learnt that the wood of West Indian Cedar (as it is called) exudes a semi-fluid resin in large quantities. It can be removed from objects by the free use of turpentine. This wood is not the pencil cedar.—E. Sc. G.]
The Battle of the Bees.—A friend of mine has a hive of bees. They are in a wooden hive with two compartments and glass windows to each, so that one can observe their movements. One compartment is pretty well filled with honey, the other empty. In this empty one they have been fighting from morning till night for the last two months. The floor of this compartment (the field of battle) a drawer about eight inches square, and one inch deep, has been twice filled with dead bees. We first thought that the drones only were being killed, but we find that there are as many workers dead as drones. It is not a natural death they die, or from any disease, as far as we can see, but they chase one another around the hive, and one or more lay hold of their victim, and sting him to death.—C. W. W.
The Pinguicula.—Will you allow me to ask your correspondent who writes on "The Pinguicula," whether he is quite sure that the species found by him in Wales was P. grandiflora? My reason for asking this is, that that species has not been previously recorded as a native of Great Britain, and its discovery as such would be of great importance. The commoner species, P. vulgaris, which somewhat resembles P. grandiflora, is not mentioned by your correspondent; and this also leads me to think it just possible that some confusion of names may nave occurred. P. vulgaris is recorded from England, Scotland, and Ireland, and, though by no means a common plant, appears from the Cybele Britannica to be found in all of the eighteen provinces into which Great Britain is divided, and in seventy counties; while P. grandiflora is stated to he confined to Ireland.—B.
Hart's-tongue Fern.—I cannot agree with W. R. Tate in considering "Seaweed fern" an appropriate name for Scolopendrium vulgare, commonly known as "Hart's-tongue fern." In the first place, I naturally inquire, "What species of seaweed?" for out of the three hundred and eighty or more species of British seaweeds, there is only one to which it can properly be compared, and this is essentally a northern species, consequently not likely to be seen by the Surrey folk. The seaweed I refer to is Alaria esculenta, one of the Laminariæ, and the only species of that genus having, like the fern in question, a distinct midrib; and certainly—before the alæ, or leaflets which spring from the base of the stem, are produced—its resemblance to the Hart's-tongue fern is very striking; hence, indeed, the common name, in some localities, of this seaweed, that of Hart's-tongue Laminaria. In its mature state it is called by the Scotch, "Badderlocks," in allusion to the basal leaflets in which the spores of the plant are produced. I suppose it is too much to expect people to say "Laminaria fern," but it certainly appears to me that "Seaweed fern" is not sufficiently definite. Only yesterday I found a frond of Alaria, in a rock pool near Tynemouth, and its resemblance to the Hart's-tongue fern was very striking indeed.—W. H. Grattann.
Worms' Diet.—Soon after a heavy shower of rain, I have often seen a number of withered leaves half buried in the soil, generally the stalks protruded, but sometimes the point of the leaf. By carefully digging around these, I came to what I concluded to be the cause of their being thus buried, viz., large earth-worms either cnveloped in the leaves, or very near them. I have since watched them at work, dragging down into their holes—by the help of the stiff prickles and slime with which their bodies are covered—not only withered leaves, but also small twigs, grass, &c. I supposed it was for food, but it is stated by Mr. Lankester, in the last number of Science Gossip, that they live entirely upon earth what then is done with the leaves, &c.? Do they form dwelling-places of them; or is it instinct that teaches the worms to draw under the leaves, so that by their decomposition the soil may be enriched, and thus indirectly furnish them with food?—W. Bowen Davies.
Names of Sea Birds.—Can you tell me the scientific designation of the following sea-birds, which are, I believe, principally inhabitants of the Southern ocean. I do not remember having seen them elsewhere:—Parson-birds, stinkpots, whale-birds, ice-birds. I cannot give correct descriptions, as I lave never seen these birds sufficiently close for anything of the kind. The above are the names by which sailors distinguish them. The stinkpot resembles very much in appearance the "Cape-hen" Procellaria æquinoctialis. The "ice-birds" are beautiful little creatures, about the size of the storm-petrel, Thalassidroma pelagica, with a silvery-grey plumage. The "whale-birds" are rather larger, with white bodies, and, apparently, black wings.—H. G., Bangalore, India.
Edible Fungi.—Dr. Blount, of Bagshot, informs us that having found a specimen of Fistulina hepatica near Ascott, which weighed two pounds, it was cooked and partaken of by every member of the family. He considers the descriptions given by both Dr. Badham and M. C. Cooke scarcely equal, both in vividness of its outward appearance and the tender delicacy of its flesh, to the subject of this experiment.