HARDWICKE'S SC IEN CE-GOS S IP. 



23 



is not only very similar in native pronunciation, 

 but is still of common application in German- 

 speaking lands, expressive as it is of the noblest 

 characteristic of "the friend of man." Literally 

 then it is " Old dog Tray ever faithful."— B. T. L. 



A Feline Oddity. — Underthisheading " W.R.L." 

 states having seen a cat with "eyes of different 

 colours," and asks whether the peculiarity referred 

 to often occurs. Several instances of a precisely 

 similar nature have come under my own observa- 

 tion, and 1 have heard of many others. Last year 

 a stray cat found its way into our house, and its 

 eyes were of exactly the same colour that " W. R. L." 

 mentions, the right eye being yellowish grey, and 

 the left a bright blue. A gentleman to whom 

 I mentioned the fact said that he had seen one with 

 the same peculiarity some years before. And a 

 lady of my acquaintance tells me that she once had 

 a Persian cat, one of its eyes being light blue, 

 almost approaching to grey, while the other was a 

 very dark brown. This " oddity " is not confined 

 to the feline race, but is sometimes seen in our 

 canine friends. A lady's pet spaniel may daily be 

 seen in our neighbourhood with eyes of different 

 colours. — G. 0. Howell. 



Sea-Anemones.— Some years ago, when residing 

 at Tenby, I kept a small aquarium, but I never 

 experienced the difficulty which your correspondent 

 " Querist " mentions in getting anemones to thrive 

 well. Of course it requires great care to remove 

 them from the rocks. It is a good plan, if possible, 

 to break off the piece of rock to which they are 

 attached. This can generally be accomplished by a 

 sharp blow of the chisel and hammer, but where 

 this fails, an endeavour should be made to insinuate 

 the finger-nail carefully under the base, and thus 

 remove it uninjured.— G. 0. Howell. 



Feline Oddity. — In answer to the inquiry raised 

 in the last number of this journal by " W. R. L." 

 respecting a feline oddity, I would state that I had 

 for some time in my possession a perfectly white 

 female cat having one of its eyes a bright pink and 

 the other a very dark blue. This cat was quite 

 deaf, a characteristic which I have noticed often 

 marks white cats with pink eyes. She took up her 

 residence in my house when about a year old, and 

 deserted it after two years, during which period she 

 seemed to bear a total disregard for everything and 

 everybody. Owing to the unsettled kind of life she 

 seemed to prefer, I have no knowledge of her ante- 

 cedents ; but I am in hopes that, the question now 

 having been raised, some light will be thrown upon 

 the origin of such a beautiful freak of nature. — 



a. j. a 



Feline Oddity. — I have seen a similar case to 

 that mentioned by " TV. R. L.," and I fancy it is of 

 regular, though rare, occurrence. The cat to which 

 I allude was, like his, pure white, her right eye 

 green or yellowish grey, her left a pale bright blue. 

 i also have seen a white kitten whose eyes are 

 bright blue. The kitten was blind, or nearly so, 

 with both eyes, and the cat blind with the left, and 

 what is more, blind from birth. I should be pleased 

 if " W . R. L." would ascertain if this is the case with 

 the kitten referred to by him. — T. W. G., Alresford. 



Feline Oddity. — I see in your August number 

 a notice of a cat with two differently coloured eyes. 

 This is a phenomenon that I have observed and 

 heard of more than once. Have your readers ever 

 noticed a human being exhibiting the same peculi- 



arity ? I knew a boy with two such eyes, one 

 a lovely violet and the other a rich chestnut. His 

 vision was perfect. — /. IF. Horsley. 



A Canine Oddity. — In last month's number of 

 Science -Gossip, "W. R. L." gives an account of a 

 cat with differently coloured eyes, and wishes to 

 know if any one else has noticed the same thing. In 

 reply I can state that about ten or twelve years ago 

 I saw a dog with one of its eyes brown and the other 

 blue, but have never seen a cat with that peculiarity. 

 I have heard that it is not a very rare occurrence 

 with dogs, but I have only met with it once.— 



b. n. r. 



Gooseberry Caterpillar. — This grub is the 

 larva of the magpie-moth, and the only plan I found 

 effectual in preventing a recurrence of the plague — 

 for my garden was at one time infested with them — 

 was to remove the top soil from under the trees 

 twice a year, in March and September. I used to 

 burn it in another part of the grounds, and put a 

 layer of quicklime down under the bushes, together 

 with a little fresh earth. The eggs of this moth 

 hatch in September, and the larva? take shelter 

 during winter among the dead leaves, or just under 

 the soil beneath the trees ; so my routing effectually 

 put them to flight. The quicklime was allowed to 

 remain for a week or so on the surface before it was 

 forked in. — Helen E. JFatney, Berry Grove, Liss. 



Green Caterpillars.— If " F.K." will only place 

 some soot about a foot round each tree, and a 

 quarter of an inch deep, when they are in full leaf. 

 Be careful not to let any of the boughs touch the 

 ground ; for if you do, it will be of no use, for it will 

 give them the means of getting up again into the 

 tree. I should also give the bushes a little shake 

 one evening during the week. By following thesu 

 directions, he will find they will all disperse. — 

 TF. H. G., Somerton, Taunton. 



A Carnivorous Hedgehog. — A man, near 

 Groton, Suffolk, was rearing some young fowls, and 

 night after night he found them killed ; only their 

 breasts eaten, and there left. It puzzled me con- 

 siderably; I knew it was neither a rat's nor weasel's 

 work. 1 hunted all the hedges round^with a ter- 

 rier ; still no sign of the depredator. Two or three 

 nights after I set a trap (a common iron one, baited 

 with a chicken) in the hen-coop, and in the morn, 

 ing I found I had caught a very large male hedge- 

 hog. I have not been able to hear of any parallel 

 cases amongst poultry-keepers in this neighbour- 

 hood, although I see there have been cases men- 

 tioned in the Field newspaper. Have any of your 

 readers met with similar instances ? — F. C. S. 



The Umbilicus in Univalve Shells. — I 

 should be much obliged if any of your correspon- 

 dents could tell me what purpose is served by the 

 umbilicus present in certain univalve shells. I 

 imagine that in the simpler kind of shells it may 

 possibly take the place of the columella, and that 

 all shells, as a rule, would, in their embryonial state, 

 be found to have an umbilicus, which in those of 

 more complex structure disappears when the colu- 

 mella is formed, but is generally retained perma- 

 nently by shells of simpler structure as a kind of 

 rudimentary columella. As the above, however, is 

 only my own idea of the matter, I should be glad to 

 know what is believed to be the real purpose of the 

 above-named structure. I think I am right in the 

 supposition that, as a rule, only the simpler shells — 

 those in which the columella is imperfectly deve- 

 loped—retain the umbilicus permanently. — C. Jecks. 



