190 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[August 1, 1866. 



Birds Poisoning their Young.— (See p. 167.) 

 In connection with this, I might notice that I reared 

 several young greenfinches two years ago, one of 

 which I put in a cage before it could feed itself, 

 with some others about two months old. They fed 

 it regularly : but in a few days it died, the head 

 being greatly swollen. It struck me that it was 

 poisoned. If placed on the floor of the cage, it 

 could not resist a tendency to run forwards till it 

 came to a corner, or some place where it could bury 

 its head.— Hy. Ullyett, High Wycombe. 



Where does the Kingfisher roost? — This 

 question is asked at page 166 by Mr. Ransom A 

 friend of mine, a naturalist, who lived near Ports- 

 mouth, once wrote me that he had had a kingfisher 

 brought by some men that had netted it in a shrub- 

 bery at night. It was evidently roosting there. — 

 Hy. Ullyett 



Rhubarb Wine. — This is frequently made in 

 Leicestershire, and is one of the best of home-made 

 wines, being what wine-merchants call "clean," 

 that is, free from any coarse or objectionable flavour. 

 It forms an excellent " foundation" wine, to which 

 any desired flavour can be added.— F. T. 31., Lough- 

 borough. 



"Clear-Wings." — Have any of your readers 

 noticed Trochilium tipvliforme in great numbers this 

 year? I took no less than six dozen in three days 

 last month. They were feeding on the blossoms of 

 the raspberry, and allowed me to box them with 

 tolerable ease, and I was thus enabled to obtain 

 them in a much better condition than if they had 

 been captured in a net. I should be happy to ex- 

 change some for British Lepidoptera. — A. B. F., 64, 

 North Fnd, Croydon. 



Nightingales and Glowworms. — I suppose it 

 is generally acknowledged that the song of the 

 nightingale is heard no more after the business of 

 feeding the newly-hatched young has once com- 

 menced ; and also that the glowworm is one of the 

 delicacies indulged in by the songster in question. 

 How long does the nightingale remain here in its 

 songless condition ? Is the education of its young 

 left to the concert of birds whose notes it is said to 

 combine ? and what does it feed on before the ap- 

 pearance of the glowworm ? I believe about July. 

 Are damp or dry situations the better suited to this 

 little night-light ? and can any of your correspondents 

 say anything to the following, extracted from a work 

 on " The Natural History and Economy of the In- 

 sects injurious to the Field Crops of Great Britain," 

 by J. Curtis, E.L.S., published in 1S60, by Blackie 

 & Son : " It is also a singular fact that glowworms 

 (Lampyris noctilucd), and the female of an allied 

 genus, named Drilus flavescens, feed on snails " ? — 

 F. H. 3L, Chelmsford. 



Smooth Newt. — I have observed that every 

 specimen of the common smooth newt which has 

 been placed in my aquarium, has cast its skin within 

 a few hours after being in its new abode. I have 

 attentively watched several in order to ascertain, if 



Eossible, the manner in which they effect this, but 

 ave been unable to perceive even the smallest 

 portion of skin detached. I conjecture that they 

 must shed them in exquisitely small flakes. Pro- 

 bably the change may be owing to the difference 

 existing between the water in the aquarium and that 

 of their native ponds with respect to hardness. — 

 J. H. F. 



Stinging Power oe Sea-Anemones. — [S. G., 

 June, 1S66.] — M. D. P. is much mistaken in think- 

 ing that Anthea cereus, or any other Actinia, stings 

 only when out of health. Let M. D. P. take an 

 Anthea in full health and vigour, and draw a few of 

 its tentacles across his (or her) tongue, and then 

 tell me the result. I try, habitually, every sea- 

 anemone I can get in this manner. The tongue is 

 the only test.— W. Alford Lloyd, Zoological Gardens, 

 Hamburg. 



Beetle Mortality. — Can you account for a great 

 mortality among the destructive little beetle Phyl- 

 lopertha horticola, which I found dead in quantities 

 this morning on top of a cistern of rain-water only ? 

 — A. S. Carrey. 



Dry Fog, or Peat Eog.— This phenomenon is 

 generally observed in Belgium, during several days at 

 the end of May, ordinarily from the 21st to the 24th, 

 and is accompanied by an eastern or a south-eastern 

 wind : in Germany it is called Landrauch, Moor- 

 rauch, Heiderauch, i. e. landsmoke, bogsmoke, 

 heathsmoke. According to Ksemtz, different authors 

 attribute this fog to the combustion of the peat- 

 grounds in Holland, Westphalia, &c. ; at least these 

 fogs take place at the same time with that combus- 

 tion of which the products amount to more than 

 nine millions of kilogrammes. I observed the dry 

 fog here, this year, from the 21st of May till the 

 23rd, and I remarked that the shadows of small 

 objects, ex. gr. of a pin, were of a very intense blue. 

 I am curious to kuow if that fog is also observed in 

 England. — Bemardin, Melle, near Ghent. 



Ice. — As the season of ices has begun, a word on 

 the commerce of ice may prove interesting to 

 several readers of Science Gossip. This trade began 

 in Boston (U.S.) in 1805 ; 74,000 tons of ice were 

 shipped there in 1847, in 353 vessels, for Havan- 

 nah, Calcutta, England, &c. In 1854, the capital 

 engaged in that industry, in North America, 

 amounted to seven millions of dollars; 10,000 

 persons were employed in it. An American news- 

 paper of this month (May, 1866) says, " The various 

 ice companies in the neighbourhood of New York 

 have on hand now and ready for sale, one million or 

 a million and a half tons of ice. Ice is also ex- 

 ported sometimes from Norway. In Paris the use 

 of ice is universal in the summer months ; the quan- 

 tity consumed is said to amount to 12,000 or 15,000 

 tons a year : in 1822 it was sold there as high as 

 300fr. per 50 kilogrammes ; but generally it is much 

 cheaper. A new supply of ice has been afforded 

 for some years to Paris from a glacier in Switzer- 

 land. The landlord at the "Eagle Hotel," atGrin- 

 delwald, in the Bernese Oberland, exploits the 

 lower glacier near his estates; from Grindelwald it 

 is transported to the lake of Thun, and thence on 

 the Central Railway, which conveys it to Mayence, 

 to Paris, &c. ; a great quantity of that ice is con- 

 sumed in Paris. At the lake of Thun it costs about 

 28s. per ton. — Bemardin, Melle, near Ghent. 



Prussian Vandalism. — We much regret to hear 

 that the Zoological Garden of Dresden has been 

 destroyed. The smaller animals were given away 

 or turned loose ; the large carnivores, &c, were 

 killed ; and the ground has been levelled for a forti- 

 fication. It is apprehended that the fine Zoological 

 Garden of Cologne will suffer the same fate. Alas ! 

 for the much-boasted European civilization of the 

 latter half of the nineteenth century. — Land and 

 Water. 



