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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE- GO S SIP. 



to the cause of this, but no one here seems able to 

 arrive at any definite conclusion. I herewith for- 

 ward you a piece of bark taken from one of these 

 trees : you will see that it is perfectly honey- 

 comhed by some insect. Do you think this has 

 anything to do with the death of the tree ? Can 

 you tell me the name of the insect causing this ? 

 In the small box is a shell found in one of the holes : 

 I thought it might better enable you to determine 

 the species. How are the ova first deposited,— as 

 the insect appears to eat its way directly from the 

 centre of the tree? — W. A. 



Do Fishes utter Sounds ? — A great many 

 fish do utter sounds. The conger will snap, and 

 make a loud noise at the same time. The dory 

 will give out a low moan and quick snort, particu- 

 larly if it gets in rather shallow water, when it can 

 be heard ten paces off. I have captured scores of 

 blennies by hearing a clucking noise at the mouth 

 of holes, where they generally spawn in the summer 

 season. I should like your inquirers on the subject 

 to judge for themselves by taking a few days' trip 

 in a trawler, and seeing the variety of fish that is 

 caught, and hearing the many different sounds that 

 come from them ; also from the crabs and other 

 Crustacea that the trawl-net brings up. I have just 

 come ashore from such a trip, and have been greatly 

 delighted with it.— A. J. R. Sclater, Tetgnmouth, 

 Devon. 



Cats and Music— If " Musicus, Padiham," will 

 turn back to p. 282 of Vol. V. of Science-Gossip, 

 he will find an account (by my friend Mr. George 

 Guyon) of a favourite cat of mine — now alas ! no 

 more ; where he will see that his own cat is by no 

 means unique in being affected in a particular way 

 by music. By the bye, I do not know whether 

 " Rode's Air " is a iively or plaintive tune, but 

 only oce of the latter kind affected my poor old 

 "Brownie." I used, as a rule, to whistle " The 

 Last Rose of Summer" when I wished her to 

 perform. I never could satisfy myself as to her 

 motive in putting her mouth to mine. The most 

 feasible conjecture that I was able to make seemed 

 to be that she imagined me to be in pain, and in 

 some way tried either to soothe me or to stop my 

 whistling. — William Noble, Forest Lodge, Maresfield. 



Preserving Reptiles. — Can any reader kindly 

 inform me of the proportion of water and spirits 

 (methylated) suitable for preserving reptiles, or 

 other specimens, and give hints for bottling, and 

 rendering the bottles air-tight? Eull particulars 

 would oblige. — A, C. Haddon. 



Query. — Can anyone inform me where to obtain 

 Nicholson's aniline dyes, alluded to in Dr. Beatty's 

 paper on Staining Vegetable Tissues ? — W.R. B. 



Winter Quarters of Coccinellje. — One day 

 early in November, whilst taking a stroll, and stop- 

 ping to admire the beauty and variety of the au- 

 tumnal foliage, my eyes were attracted by a large 

 and brilliant spot of red on some palings inclosing 

 a wood in front of me. 1 at first imagined it was 

 a fungus ; but ou closer scrutiny discovered it to be 

 a number of ladybirds, Coccinella septem-punctata, 

 congregated together. I could not see that they 

 were doing anything but the dolcefar nietite, — in fact, 

 they appeared to be in a semi- torpid state. I ex- 

 amined the palings for some distance, and wherever 

 covered by lichen found the coccinellce in more or 

 less abundance, but could not detect a single speci- 



men on any that were quite bare of it. It seemed 

 to me that the lichen was to be their hibemacula. 

 Although the larva is so voracious, destroying im- 

 mense numbers of those pests, the aphides, the per- 

 fect insect seldom eats ; indeed, I am not aware that 

 its food is even known. It was a pretty contrast be- 

 tween the light green lichen and their showy scarlet 

 coats. — /. Anderson, Jun., Alresford, Hants. 



Viper-Eat. — Referring to a communication in 

 your June number, I may stale that viper-fat is 

 a common remedy in this part. Only last week it is 

 within my own knowledge that wounds on a child's 

 neck caused by a cat's claws, and very severe ones, 

 were healed in a few days by viper's fat which a 

 neighbour gave from her store. — South Devon Sub- 

 scriber. 



Natural History in Novels.— Your correspon- 

 dent " fl. S. T. " quotes from a novel, " Katefelte," 

 and asks, is the passage "in accordance with the 

 observations of any of your readers ?" The effect 

 mentioned can easily be produced in exactly the 

 manner described. I have seen a row of fowls ren- 

 dered quite senseless by drawing a chalk line (begin- 

 ning at the top of the beak), slowly across a table. 

 I have myself successfully performed the experi- 

 ment. The birds are simply mesmerized. Men can 

 be influenced in the same way by a similar process. 

 I have by intently watching the receding light on 

 the back of a railway carriage moving in a perfectly 

 straight line, in a few seconds become so drowsy as 

 to require a vigorous effort to shake off a sleep simi- 

 lar to that produced under the hands of a mesmerist. 

 Erom the name of the work quoted I conclude the 

 hero must be " Doctor" Katerfelto, an advertising 

 quack who practised in London about 1782, men- 

 tioned by the poet Cowper in the "Task," and who 

 travelled round the country exhibiting tricks of 

 legerdemain, the marvels of the microscope, electri- 

 cal experiments, &c, and, no doubt, included the 

 mesmerism of fowls among his performances. — 

 — W. C. H. B. Ives, Dalston. 



Death of Hedgehogs.— On April 23rd I pur- 

 chased a hedgehog of a bird-fancier. On bringing it 

 home and giving it some earthworms and milk it 

 went to sleep in a rabbit-hutch plentifully supplied 

 with fresh hay; each day its temperature became 

 lower, and on the 29th it died. On May 28th an- 

 other was purchased; after eating one worm soon 

 went to sleep, and in seventeen hours died. Can 

 any of your readers explain these early deaths? It 

 could not be from starvation, for the first hedgehog 

 refused to eat more. Do the vendors injure them 

 when they deliver them to you ? — T. H. A. 



Herbarium. — Having read the article in Science- 

 Gossip entitled " On Preserving Plants," I would 

 suggest one improvement — that of securing the 

 specimens to the paper by means of court-plaster, 

 fastened to the under side of the specimen. I have 

 quite a large herbarium, and have found this very 

 satisfactory. By this arrangement all messing or 

 tearing of specimens is avoided. — Ida F. Pearson, 

 Plainfield, N.J., U.S.A. 



Longevity of Toads. — Perhaps you noticed a 

 short paragraph on the "Longevity of Tcads," 

 which appeared in a late number of the Graphic, to 

 the effect that in digging up a garden near Orsay, 

 some workmen unearthed two terra-cotta vases, 

 which they at first supposed to contain treasure. 

 On breaking them, however, two live toads were 



