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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Several papers have already been read, chiefly on 

 the Botany and Geology of Hertfordshire. Space 

 does not permit us to further dwell on this subject, 

 and we accordingly dismiss it with a word of con- 

 gratulation to each society on its evidently healthy 

 condition. 



Hare Birds.— Under this heading your corre- 

 spondent " E. V." asks whether Snow Buntings and 

 Shore Larks are not rare so far south as Devon. 

 As to the first, the Snow Bunting, 1 can assure him 

 it is a regular and by no means uncommon winter 

 visitant to both North and South Devon ; it appears 

 to arrive late iu October or early in November, as I 

 have found it on both Northern and Braunton Bur- 

 rows, and up the river towards Barnstaple, about 

 the 5th of November. At that time the Scow 

 Bunting feeds eagerly on the seeds of the Sea Elite 

 (Suceda maritima), both crop and stomach being 

 crammed with the seeds ; it then becomes very fat. 

 It appears to depart again about the end of March, 

 though sometimes it stays later ; for some time ago 

 I shot a pair on the Warren at Exmouth as late as 

 the 10th of April: both these birds were then as- 

 suming summer plumage, most of the crownish 

 margins of the feathers being worn off, the birds 

 consequently appearing nearly black and white. 

 There were several others about the warren at the 

 same time, as far as I could see, all in the same 

 plumage ; the sailors about called them white 

 linnets. Tire Slrore L°.rk is by no means so common, 

 although it has been obtained both in North and 

 South Devon. One was recorded in the Field and 

 Zoologist as having been obtained on Northam 

 Burrows this winter. It has also been obtained at 

 other places in Devon, as Torbay and Exmouth, on 

 the Warren, at which latter place it is said to have 

 nested ; but this I should think very doubtful. — 

 Cecil Smith. 



Bee-keeping.— We are pleased to inform those 

 of our readers who are interested in bees, that a 

 "Manual of Bee-keeping," by John Hunter, hon. 

 sec. of the British Bee-keepers' Association, is in 

 the press, and will shortly be published by Hard- 

 wicke, 192, Piccadilly. The price (half a crown) 

 will place it easily within the reach of the poorest ; 

 and we refer those interested in the matter to the 

 large table of contents already published in out- 

 advertising columns, for an idea of the contents of 

 the volume. The volume will be well illustrated. 



Preserving Spiders.— In reply to " S. II.," in 

 Science-Gossip for March, as to the best mode for 

 preserving spiders, I find the following in an old 

 work on "collecting and preserving insects": — 

 "After the spider is killed by means of 

 hot water, the entrails should be immediately 

 extracted ; then inflate them by means of a blow- 

 pipe, and cleanse the inside no more than 



is sufficient to prevent mouldiness, for fear of in- 

 juring the colours ; the abdomen may then be filled 

 with fine sand." Another plan is mentioned. 

 "Pierce the spider through the thorax with a pin, 

 stick it in a deal box, and hold it near the fire for a 

 few minutes, when the insect will be found dead ; 

 the contents of the abdomen dried, and the form 

 and colours preserved. It will require a little prac- 

 tice to determine the exact time it should remain; 

 for if left too long, the heat being too great, it will 

 burst." Spiders may also be preserved in turpen- 

 tiue or spirit of wine. — F. C. C. 



A Snake-eating Snake. — Regarding this sin- 

 gular reptile, recently placed in the Zoological 

 Society's meragerie, Mr. Frank Buckland writes in 

 Land and Water : — " It is rarely that we find among 

 animals that Nature has ordained that a creature of 

 a certain species should habitually eat and devour 

 one of its own kind. The saying that ' Dog will not 

 eat dog,' is proverbial amongst us. Nevertheless, 

 there is now at the Zoological Gardens a recent 

 arrival, a true ' Snake-eating snake,' most properly 

 therefore, called Ophiophagus elaps. This is a most 

 formidable fellow. In the first place he is very big 

 — some seven feet odd inches in length, and about 

 the thickness of a man's wrist in circumference. 

 He is tremendously poisonous— as bad, if not worse, 

 than the cobra, and is, moreover, a regular athlete 

 among snakes. His head is very lizard-like and harm- 

 less-looking — not flat and triangular as is the head 

 of the puff adder, the rattlesnake, or our own familiar 

 viper. He has a most intelligent eye, and can move 

 his head— keeping his neck steady — quickly, like a 

 mongoose. He has, moreover, like the cobra, a 

 hood, which he can expand when angry, and his 

 body is ornamented with very pretty stripes. When 

 I first saw this handsome, but treacherous and most 

 poisonous of reptiles, I exclaimed, 'That's the 

 fellow that tempted Eve ! ' This Indian gentleman 

 does not condescend to such mean manoeuvres : he 

 simply glides after you with the swiftness of a hawk 

 after a bird, and when he gets up to his enemy bites 

 him and retires. He is therefore more to be feared 

 than the lion, the elephant, or the boa constrictor. 

 A man has some chance with any one of the former 

 of these ; with the Ophiophagus he has little or no 

 chance, for one slight prick, quick as an arrow, of 

 the poison-fang, and the life of the man ebbs out of 

 a minute hole in the skin that would barely admit a 

 needle's point. Dr. Fayrer, in his magnificent 

 monograph of the Thanatophidia, or poisonous 

 snakes of India, has given, from life-size drawings 

 by Indian artists, two excellent portraits of this, 

 the king of all the Thanatophidia. The learned 

 Doctor gives the only correct account of this 

 creature's habits, especially that of his eating other 

 snakes. On his first arrival at Mr. Bartlett's, he 

 ordered HolLmd (the keeper of the snake-house), to 



