1G0 



HAKDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



delineation. His large collection of drawings of 

 Agarics, and their allies, is one of which any one 

 might well be proud, and in these twenty-four plates 

 he has reproduced some of these drawings, illus- 

 trating thirty species. 



What a splendid addition it would be to the third 

 edition of " Sowerby's English Botany," just draw- 

 ing to a close, if all the British fungi, or at least all 

 that do not require the use of the microscope for 

 their discrimination, could be added, in the style of 

 this part. "We venture to think that no one would 

 regret paying double the present rate of publication 

 for the parts constituting such a supplement. If 

 twenty-four plates of flowering plants are cheap 

 at five shillings, twelve plates of fungi would be 

 equally appreciated at the same price, because there 

 is nothing else to compete with them. We congra- 

 tulate all parties concerned in the production of this 

 part, which we welcome as a valuable contribution 

 to British Cryptogamic Botany. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Blixd-woioi (Anguisfragilis). — Yesterday (May 

 Gth), while butterfly-catching in a wood iu the 

 middle of the day, I was suddenly rather startled 

 by hearing a scuffling noise among the dead leaves 

 a few feet from the path. Peering through the 

 hazel-bushes, 1 descried a snake, as I imagined, 

 having a quiet dance to himself — twisting, whirling, 

 aud thrashing the ground in the wildest waltz or 

 the maddest polka. Now I have a most un-natural- 

 istic dislike to snakes and other reptiles, and have, 

 moreover, a strong belief that adders are waiting on 

 each side of the path when I take a walk, for the 

 sole purpose of burying their poison-laden fangs in 

 my hapless flesh ; therefore it required some little 

 energy and pluck to approach the scene of not the 

 butterflies' ball, but the snakes' polka. However^ 

 I at length summoned up sufficient courage to make 

 the attempt : so detaching the butterfly-net from my 

 stout walking-stick, 1 approached the spot, holding 

 the stick before me as a kind of going-before hint 

 to his snake-ship that if he imagined I was afraid of 

 him he had made a slight mistake. But all my 

 bloodthirsty preparations might as well have been 

 left behind, as on pushing through the underwood 

 and keeping at a most respectful distance, I saw 

 not a snake or a viper, but only a harmless blind- 

 worm,' and not only one, but two, joined together in 

 the most inexplicable manner. I saw, on looking 

 more closely, a sight which upset a choice little 

 belief of mine, and made me for the time a sceptic 

 on some other points. Well, one of my beliefs pre- 

 viously to this woodland scene, was that the blind- 

 worm, though often suffering in character from the 

 malignant reports spread about concerning him, 

 was in reality a very pattern of herpetological 



morality. How vain are even a naturalist's conclu- 

 sions when unsupported by fact. Here was my 

 even-tempered, never-getting-out-of-temper member 

 of the family Scincidce struggling desperately with 

 a relation, and, alas for my beautiful little theory ! 

 had got the neck of the other in its mouth, who of 

 course objected to be treated in this disrespectful 

 way, and the consequence was— a struggle. The 

 reptiles paid not the least attention to my presence, 

 and continued struggling and shaking each other 

 with great pertinacity. Knowing that the creatures 

 were harmless in a poison-fang-inserting point of 

 view, I approached nearer and endeavoured to 

 separate them with my stick; but not till I had 

 made more than a dozen attempts could I succeed, 

 and then they showed no disposition to fly, stowing 

 themselves under the dead leaves close by. A per- 

 son who came up just as I had succeeded in separa- 

 ting them, upset another part of my theory by main- 

 taining that they had not only the power, but also 

 took delight in burying their fangs in the meddle- 

 some legs of naturalists and other inquisitive beings, 

 and that they were deadly poisonous into the bar- 

 gain. Thinking that the sooner I was out of such 

 bad company the better, I marched off aud employed 

 myself in the peaceful occupation of netting azure- 

 blue butterflies, aud returning with unmitigated 

 scorn and contempt the ferocious glances of a 

 gamekeeper dodging behind a tree and eyeing my 

 proceedings with a "take notice" magisterial air- 

 Again, alas for theories ! When I came to hunt up 

 for facts, theories vanished away, for not even the 

 ghost of a gamekeeper could be seen. I may here 

 remark confidentially to the readers of Science- 

 Gossip, that my friend's theory as to the " deadly- 

 poisonous" nature of the blind- worm, merely existed 

 in his imagination, aud was entirely unsupported by 

 fact. That it bites when provoked I had ocular 

 demonstration, but that its bites are poisonous is 

 merely a theory. There are many people knocking 

 about on British soil who imagine that everything 

 — that is, every living thing— that bears a resem- 

 blance to a snake must as a matter of course be 

 poisonous; but such an absurd notion may be quickly 

 dismissed as worse than foolish. Not only snakes 

 and blind-worms are thus condemned, but the frogs, 

 toads, lizards, and newts are iu most country places 

 set down as poisonous in the highest degree. I 

 have often been gravely assured that the toad spits 

 fire, and all my beautiful theories have been pooh- 

 poohed most unmercifully, when I have attempted in 

 very able logic to show that such a thing could not 

 be, for very many excellent reasons, which it would 

 be needless to particularize here. I wonder (if toads 

 are thus gifted) that they were not used as fire- 

 kindlcrs before the days of flint and steel or brim- 

 stone matches. Why, if toads had been domesticated 

 on our mantelpieces, we should probably never have 

 heard of Bryant & May's safety match, or even 



