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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[June 1, 1S66. 



the power of a spicier its death is speedy and sure. — 

 B. M. 



[Will our correspondents bear in mind, both in 

 this and other controverted subjects, that opinions 

 are not proofs, aud that little facts are superior to 

 much conjecture. If R. M. will dissect out the 

 poison apparatus which he believes to exist in the 

 spider, and furnish us therewith, we will have it 

 engraved for the benefit of our readers. — Ed.] 



Wilkin or Quilkin — W.R. T. gives "Wilkin" 

 as the local name at St. Austle (E. Cornwall) for 

 the frog. Eurther west iu that county, he will find 

 it named "Quilkin," while the lizard rejoices in the 

 appellation of " Padgey-pow." — E. IF. 



The Transmission of Shells. — For the benefit 

 of young conchologists who may frequently be ex- 

 changing specimens through the medium of the post, 

 a hint or two may be useful with regard to packing 

 shells, so as to secure them from breakage. Having 

 myself exchanged many species, I have frequently 

 been disappointed on opening the boxes to find 

 several good specimens broken by the ruthless stamp 

 of the postman. Pill-boxes are often employed to 

 convey shells, &c., which, if properly packed, may 

 be safe ; but are never so unless secured by some 

 stout protection, and in doing so the weight is in- 

 creased, thus costing the sender a penny or two- 

 pence additional postage. To obviate this, the 

 following method will be found exceedingly safe and 

 very economical : — Procure a piece of light wood, iu 

 which make various small cells ; in these specimens 

 may be deposited with a little cotton wool, and a 

 gummed label placed, over each, with the name 

 written thereon. The note or letter accompanying 

 such package should be folded round the block, and 

 the whole wrapped in paper and directed in the 

 usual manner. It is very rarely that shells remitted 

 in this way sustain, damage. It is a good plan to 

 have the block of such dimensions that when weighed 

 with the letter and wrapper it will not exceed 

 the half ounce and one ounce allowed for postage. 

 Eggs of birds, too, not unfrequently sustain breakage 

 for want" of proper packing, aud they are more liable 

 to be broken from the use of too much wool or moss 

 than from too little. Bran will be found more useful 

 than wool, and cheaper. Wooden or tin boxes should 

 always be used for eggs ; cardboard boxes never. — 

 John H. Ashford. 



Marygold {vide Sc. G., p. 107). — That flower, 

 which in the language of flowers is the emblem of 

 grief, has received this sad honour only by a calem- 

 bour, or play of the word ; its name into patois, or 

 vulgar language, is often soucicle, perfectly conform- 

 ing to the etymology of " solis cyclus," circle of the 

 sun; this word was afterwards contracted into souci. 

 In German, " ringelblume " is the commonly used 

 name; "goldblume" is not much employed, but 

 "goudbloem " is the name iu Flemish.— B., Melle. 



Arrowroot. — Another play of words, I believe. 

 It is said in many books that arrowroot derives its 

 name from the use of its plant by the Indians to 

 cure wounds caused by poisoned arrows ; do any of 

 the readers of Sc. G. know an instance of this appli- 

 cation? Mr. Lad. Netto, in "Apontamcntos Sobre 

 as Plantas do Brasil, 1SGG," says the name, in the 

 Tupy language (of the Brasilian Indians) is aru-aru, 

 which means " flour of flour," aud was given to 

 that starch for the minuteness of its grains, and 

 that this name of aru-aru was changed to the 

 English word arrowroot. Would not, then, the 



whole story of the cure above mentioned be founded 

 on a play of words ?— Bernardin, Melle, near Ghent. 



Swifts and Swallows. — One single swift 

 arrived here this year, on the 11th of April, and 

 went directly to one of the nests occupied annually 

 by them, and just to the one best situated. It was 

 seen there daily flying around. The "gros de 

 l'armee " only arrived on the 20th. It is the first 

 time since ten years that the swifts arrive here 

 before the 21st of April. The swallows (//. rustica) 

 arrived on the 2nd of April ; in the last fifteen years, 

 there have been but two instauces of an earlier 

 arrival (1852 and 1860). One of these birds is 

 making its nest under the corniche of a gallery, in 

 one of the playgrounds of the College, only ten or 

 twelve feet above the ground, and seems quite un- 

 disturbed by the tumultuous hubbub of the youths, 

 even when the football rebounds on the zinc roof 

 of the gallery. — Bernardin, Melle, near Ghent. 



Sword-grass (answer to q., p. 119). — Of many 

 English words, the best way to find the etymology 

 is, to put to contribution the Elemish or the German 

 language : applying this rule, I remark that all the 

 Iris are called in German " Sword-lilies," and I con- 

 clude the common yellow-flag {Iris pseudo-acorns) 

 is the plant alluded to ; it seems to answer well to 

 all the desiderata indicated in the query. I add a 

 piece of gossip more : _ an ancient writer attributes 

 to this flower the origin of the lilies in the arms of 

 Erance. Clovis, the first Christian king of that 

 country, having beaten the Alemani, all the Erank 

 soldiers of his army took yellow-flag flowers in a 

 neighbouring marsh, and adorned their helmets with 

 them, which obliged the king to take for his arms 

 three golden lilies instead of three crowns, which he 

 had, according to P. Emile, or of three frogs, ac- 

 cording to T. Nancker; for this last shield, Nostra- 

 damus called the King of Erance, in one of his 

 centuries, "the king of the toads." [Would this 

 not be the origin of the name of Jack frog ?~\ This 

 opinion of the origin of the arms of France receives 

 another probability in the form of the flowers on the 

 shield; they are really Iris, and not Lilies. — 

 Bernardin, Melle, near Ghent. 



Nightingales near London. — Nightingales 

 have been singing freely during the past week at 

 this place. Have any of your readers heard them 

 nearer to the metropolis ? We are exactly four 

 miles from Shorcditch Church. — Charles Ashford, 

 Grove House, Tottenham. 



Limn.ea Involuta. — Mr. Tate, in his_ " British 

 Mollusks," quotes Dr. Evans's experience, he 

 having searched in vain for signs of the outward 

 expansion of the mantle of Linuuea involuta. He 

 will perhaps be interested in hearing that my atten- 

 tion was first attracted to this beautiful little 

 creature by its curiously lobed mantle, when last 

 summer, as a novice in " fresh-water animals," I 

 was searching for objects of interest by the side of 

 a canal. It strongly reminded me of the " Sunday- 

 brushed hair" of some old rustic whom one has 

 seen in a village church, with his few remaining 

 long locks of silvery grey carefully combed up over 

 his bald pate. I searched in vain for another speci- 

 men nearly the whole summer, until at last I came 

 upon a preserve of them, whence I could carry home 

 ten or twelve in a morning. I have now no greater 

 favourites in my aquarium, and I love to watch the 

 motions of these graceful animals, whether skimming 

 .along the sides of the glass, slooplike in their swift 

 steady motion, and grazing as they go with their 



