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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



The Lotus. — Is there any plant in India to 

 which this name can be applied ? In one of Mil- 

 man's translations of Sanscrit poetry a beautiful 

 lake is described as " fragrant with the lotus- 

 flowers."— A. H. A. 



Cleaning Shells. — In the number for October, 

 ]S69, a correspondent asks for some method of 

 removing the outer coating of shells. By using 

 muriatic acid, the outer coating can easily be got rid 

 of, and then the shell may be polished. In this way, 

 I believe, the beautiful Cingalese Haliotides are 

 polished, and by employing this method, the com- 

 mon black mussels become handsome purple shells. 

 —A. H. A. 



Curious Friends.— On the farm where I am at 

 present visiting there is a curious alliance existing 

 between a gander and an old mare pony. If not shut 

 up they are invariably together in the fields, and 

 their heads may be often seen in close proximity, 

 the gander rubbing his beak against the pony's 

 head in the fondest manner. — E. P. B. 



Singular Freak oe Nature.— Under this 

 heading the Bowdon Guardian states that in March 

 a Dorking hen, belonging to a Mr. Perkin, of 

 Sharston, Cheshire, laid an egg weighing nearly six 

 ounces. When broken open a perfectly shelled egg 

 of the ordinary size was found inside. — G. H. H. 



Luminous Fungi.— Two years ago I had some 

 specimens of luminous fungi sent to me from the 

 Cardiff coal-mines ; they were parasitic ou the 

 shoring timbers, and both fungi and mycelium were 

 phosphorescent. The colliers in the coal-mines of 

 the western boundary of Glamorganshire and 

 adjoining Caermarthenshire are well acquainted with 

 these phosphorescent fungi, and the men state that 

 it gives sufficient light to " see their hands by." In 

 another coal-mine seven miles north of Cardiff 

 some colliers told Mr. William Adams that_ they 

 had seen lights on the timber when travelling in the 

 dark, and one of them said he was much frightened 

 the first time he saw it. The luminous fungi sent 

 to me from these mines were specimens of Poly- 

 porus annosus, Fr., and they could be seen in the 

 dark at a distance of twenty yards. I have also 

 seen Polyporus sulfureus, Fr., phosphorescent, and 

 Mr. Broome has met with a luminous Corticium. I 

 have heard that C. cmrulemn, Fr., is sometimes 

 luminous. Berkeley says that Agaricus [Crepi- 

 dotus) olearius, Fr., a parasite of olive trees, is 

 sometimes so luminous in the South of France that 

 letters may be distinguished by its light. A short 

 time since I had a dried agaric (probably a Collybia) 

 given me through Professor Church, of Cirencester, 

 which was phosphorescent when gathered ; it came 

 from a cellar in Oxford-street. The luminous fungus 

 referred to in the March number of Science-Gossip 

 seems to be the same with Agaricus Gardneri, Berk., 

 an interesting account of which was laid before the 

 Linnean Society in 1869, in a letter from Mr. Collin- 

 wood. The writer stated that this species in Borneo 

 could be distinctly seen in the dark, shining with a 

 soft pale-greenish light ; the older specimens were 

 describedas possessing a greenish luminous glow, like 

 the glow of the electric discharge. The mycelium of 

 this species, like the mycelium of Polyporus annosus, 

 Fr., mentioned above, was lumiuous. It was stated 

 that Mr. Hugh Low had once seen the jungle all 

 in a blaze of light, by which he could see to 

 read as he was riding across the island by the 



jungle road. Several other species are mentioned 

 as phosphorescent in Berkeley's " Introduction to 

 Cryptogamic Botany," p. 265. I have several 

 times observed flowers to be luminous, especially 

 during certain atmospheric conditions in mid- 

 summer ; such instances as the luminosity of stale 

 fish, potatoes, &c, are of course known to every 

 one. A year or two ago, when returning home 

 through Epping Forest at night, after a long day's 

 excursion, I saw a very luminous object on the 

 grouud in the distance ; on nearing it I found it 

 to be a dead rat, which I brought home in my 

 vasculum, and laid on the garden bed, where it 

 preserved its luminosity for several nights. — Wor- 

 thington G. Smith. 



Earthworms. — My garden, which, like all subur- 

 ban little plots, is a great pleasure to me, consists of 

 light soil, and is by no means of that damp and 

 clayey nature that is usual in this neighbourhood. 

 I have always understood worms are never found in 

 any number, except where there is much damp, 

 and that puzzles me extremely, for the whole of my 

 garden is one mass of what the gardener calls 

 " worm casts." Even the gravel-walks are full, and 

 as to the lawn, it seems impossible even to fit it for 

 croquet. A great part of the ground has been 

 deeply trenched, and yet, in a few days after that 

 operation, the soil is again disfigured with these 

 unsightly prominences. The roots of my flowers 

 are disturbed, my newly springing-up patches of 

 flower-seeds scattered about ; in fact, I am an- 

 noyed beyond description. I am told that these 

 " casts " are the " rejectamenta " of worms, and 

 that the earth is quite deprived of its nutritive 

 powers. It is a hard mass, quite unlike the fine 

 earth that a mole turns up. I have looked early 

 and late, but can scarcely ever see a worm above 

 ground ; and what is more puzzling, in digging they 

 do not seem numerous, for I have carefully watched 

 the man whilst so occupied. Now, I should like 

 some of your kind correspondents to enlighten me 

 on some points. Does the abundance of these 

 creatures denote a very damp subsoil ? Will it be 

 wise to try to destroy them by some means ; and if 

 so, by what ? In such numbers as they are, on 

 what do they live ? Will not my garden become 

 quite barren if these increase much more ? In fact, 

 any useful information, either as to what I am or 

 am not to do, to prevent this sad disfigurement of 

 my flower borders and kitchen garden, I shall be 

 most grateful to receive. It will not be the first 

 time that I have learned very practical wisdom 

 from Science-Gossip. — //. E. Wilkinson, Penge. 



The Periwinkle and its Shell. — Iu your 

 last number appears a paragraph uuder the above 

 heading, signed "A. E. Murray," describing how the 

 Periwinkle repaired an accidental injury to its shell, 

 and suggesting that perhaps other mollusks have 

 the same power. I beg to say that such power is 

 possessed by all mollusks, aud I have in my collec- 

 tion many specimens of both land and marine shells, 

 showiug most distinctly the new shell, or rather the 

 old shell repaired, by the reproduction from the 

 margin of the outer layer ; but if the apex of the 

 shell be injured, or destroyed, or a hole perforated 

 by worms or other parasites, the aperture will 

 merely be closed with the material secreted by the 

 mantle of the animal. There is in the British 

 Museum a special case, showing many interesting 

 specimens of this power of the mollusk. — E. S. 

 Biden, Kensington. 



