HARDWICKE'S S;C IE N CE-GO S SIP. 



167 



six days. This fact shows how little dependence 

 can be placed in the efficacy of the remedy. — Henry 

 J. Bacon. 



Stove for Conservatory. — Can any of your 

 readers recommend me to a very small "portable" 

 stove ? Some years since I read in one of the scien- 

 tific journals, that if a "stone jar painted black" 

 and filled with hot water at night, were placed in a 

 room with tender exotics, sufficient heat would be 

 radiated to obviate the effects of frost for twelve 

 hours. It failed in my hands, the jar becoming- 

 cold in a little more than an hour. — S. //. 



Age of Geese. — As to the age geese may live, 

 raised by one of your correspondents, a tradition 

 exists in the north that they may live to be a hun- 

 dred years of age. The following, written thirty 

 years ago, refers to the prevalent idea. 



" Good Mrs. Nixon had been told, 



That geese a hundred years might live, 

 The fact appeared so strange and bold, 

 She scarcely could the thing believe. 



" But, exclaimed this wife of sense, 

 ' I'll soon the information try, 

 I'll buy one, 'twont be much expense, 

 And then I'll see if it's a lie.' " 



—J. Brittain. 



Cockchafers. — Can any of your correspondents 

 inform me how long the common Cockchafer 

 {Melolontha vulgaris) remains in the larva state ? 

 Early last April I turned out of an old vegetable- 

 marrow bed a considerable number of what I 

 imagined to be the larva; of this or some other lamel- 

 licorn coleoptera. They were thick, fleshy, cream- 

 coloured grubs, about an inch in length, possessing 

 six short-jointed feet, and having the hinder part of 

 the body bent down so as nearly to approach a dis- 

 tinct head, in which position they remained, though 

 exposed some time to a hot sun. All these larva; 

 were full-fed, and apparently ready to undergo their 

 metamorphosis, and were found at various depths in 

 the soil ; but I could not discover the rude cocoons 

 in which they enclose themselves prior to their last 

 transformation. Last year my garden was visited by 

 great numbers of the Rosechafer {Cetonia aurata), 

 but I know not how to distinguish the larva of this 

 beetle, or that of the Summer "Dor" (Risotrogus 

 solstitialis) from the larva of the large Cockchafer. 

 The time of the appearance of rhese chafers I know 

 is very uncertain, but the sun-loving Cetonia was 

 on the wing early in May, 1870, when it ruthlessly 

 destroyed the blossoms of theWeigalia, the Syringa, 

 and white peony weeks before their favourite food, 

 the roses, came into bloom. I have seen but one 

 Cetonia this year, which I took on the 9th of this 

 mouth (June). This beetle I -find is particularly fond 

 of the "early white pink, tearing its petals to atoms 

 with its curved mandibles and hooked feet. Do 

 any of the above beetles afford that irritant and still 

 imperfectly-known substance which has the effect 

 of raising blisters upon the human skin, like the 

 Lytta vesicatoria of Spain, 'the Meloe triantherna of 

 India, or the Mylabris variabilis of China; or is it 

 known whether the larvae of these insects supply in 

 any remarkable degree vesicating properties? Some 

 of the British Meloe do possess the blistering prin- 

 ciple. A relative who has just returned from Zurich 

 tells me that "this town has a periodical visitation 

 of cockchafers, or, as the people call them, moi- 

 caefers. These insects return in such quantities 

 every four years that there is a special law made to 

 destroy them. Every gardener is expected to bring 



his peck of those he has destroyed, and they who 

 bring above a certain quantity receive a reward. 

 You cannot walk under the chestnut-trees without 

 treading upon many of these beetles, or seeing the 

 effect of their ravages overhead. The people say 

 in Zurich that the insect in its two previous stages 

 occupies nearly three years, and then takes wings and 

 its destructive shape. It used to be a pleasant 

 thing for boys to hunt cockchafers, but I never 

 dreamt of their becoming like the plague of locusts. 

 In the cemetery where our late lamented relative is 

 buried, I saw a tomb, on which at the foot was re- 

 presented a caterpillar, above it was the same insect 

 in the larva state, and finally it was assuming the 

 win^s of a butterfly and taking flight upwards, an 

 allegory as full of meaning as that on a Roman tomb, 

 where a ship is represented furling her sails and 

 entering her haven."— Hen ry Moses, Reading. 



Primroses changing Colour (pp. 133 and 

 134). — I have heard of both primroses and cowslips 

 turning pink or crimson, when manured with cow- 

 dung ; and am told of a case in which the same 

 thing occurred on transplanting yellow specimens 

 from the fields to a garden ; where the soil would 

 doubtless be richer.— G.H.H. 



To Destroy Worms.— Take a large tub, say 



half a hogshead. Put into it the third of a bushel of 



fre?h-burnt lime. Slake the lime by pouring on it 



a small quantity of water. When the lime is slaked, 



fill up the tub with water; stir up the lime well two 



i or three times a day, for two or three days ; then 



j let it stand perfectly still : the lime will subside to 



the bottom of the tub, and the water will become 



quite clear, of a bluish colour. In the middle of the 



day, when the sun is shining bright, take this clear 



water in a watering-can with arose on it, water the 



part on which you wish to destroy the worms. In a 



, few minutes they will come to the surface and the 



! sun will destroy them.—/. B. Gainford. 



Water- Snakes. — In the June number of 

 Science-Gossip, your correspondent, " W. C. P." 

 writes thus from Whitebrook, near Monmouth : — 

 "Water-Snakes. — There is a sort oifsh (1 suppose) 

 found in springs here ; it is about a foot or fifteen 

 inches long, and about as thick as a stout horse-hair, 

 called here a water-snake." This is the hair-worm, 

 a curious creature, of which the exact place in sys- 

 tematic zoology has hardly yet been determined, the 

 Gordius aquations of Linnaeus. By systematists it 

 is usually put near to, or with, the round intestinal 

 worms of man and lower vertebrates. The early 

 period of its life is passed parasitically in insects, 

 from which it escapes, and becomes free in streams 

 and pools of fresh water. Unlike intestinal worms, 

 it has no posterior or anal opening. The sexes of 

 Gordius are distinct; the tail of the male forked or 

 bifid, that of the female only rounded. Any observa- 

 tions of the structure and development of this 

 curious creature would be interesting to zoologists. 

 — G. G. 



A Budget of Queries in your June number 

 is not without interest. Query 4, " On the change 

 of colour in certain animals in winter," your cor- 

 respondent will find answered very scientifically in 

 the late Dr. Davy's "Physiological Researches," 

 8vo. 1863, wherein is a chapter, xxxix., treating 

 of the question of the sudden change of colour in the 

 hair, and the whitening of the clothing of mammals 

 and birds in winter. — G. G. 



