HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



167 



found clad in green velvet. This strange attire 

 showed that they must be at least two hundred 

 years old, as an ancient treatise on magic and 

 demonology mentions that at the beginning of the 

 seventeenth century sorcerers dressed up toads in this 

 manner for the achievement of certain charms. The 

 same treatise tells the fate of an unlucky citizen of 

 Soissons, who baptized a toad which he had gaily 

 caparisoned for the ceremony, and was burned alive 

 for the sacrilege.— F. J. Allan. 



Field Clubs and Rare Plants. — I inclose an 

 example of a device (a botanical enigma) which we 

 have recently used at the. excursions of the Liver- 

 pool Naturalists' Field Club. The present enigma 

 is, I think, an exceptionally easy one ; but of the 

 number who gave in the right plant several failed in 

 accurately applying the descriptive terms to the 

 proper characteristics of their specimens. Botanical 

 prizes have been thought likely to promote the 

 extirpation of rare plants. I believe that botanical 

 localities are rarely injured by botanists ; but as 

 soon as any uncommon plant attains a market value, 

 as in the case of the Killarney Fern, and perhaps 

 also in that of the Lady's Slipper, its destruction is 

 imminent. Intimately acquainted as I have been 

 with the working of this club, in which prizes are 

 freely offered, I have reason to believe with con- 

 fidence that during our exeursions for the last fifteen 

 years not a solitary instance has occurred of a rare 

 plant having been collected to an injurious extent in 

 any locality by the members of the club. We form 

 indeed a large party, but those amongst us who take 

 an interest in any department of natural science, 

 including geology, entomology, and botany, are 

 comparatively few. We think that our prizes are 

 to be commended, amongst other reasons, because 

 they enable the club to distribute annually a con- 

 siderable number of standard works on natural 

 science amongst such of its members as will value 

 and use them.— Henry H. Higgins, President. 



Food of Death's-head Moth.— In" answer to 

 the query regarding the food of the larvse of the 

 Death's-head moth, I once had a fine one brought 

 me feeding on the woody nightshade, or bitter- 

 sweet (Solanum Dulcamara), which fed up into a 

 pupa, but I did not succeed in rearing the moth. — 

 Matthew Henderson. 



A Dog and a Cat.— I have just been introduced 

 to two automatons — Picini, the dog, about 6 lb. in 

 weight, milk-white, black eyes and nose, long curly 

 coat, breed Maltese. It was too beautiful not to 

 attract my attention. We became friends. While 

 this was going on, I saw a cat stretching itself on 

 an arm-chair— a very beautiful creature, tabby, with 

 rich black stripes. I got up to look at it. She was 

 rather coy of a stranger. _ Picini followed me, 

 looked up, head first on one side, then on the other. 

 There was a glance of jealousy at me, then he 

 sprung on the chair, and buried his little nose in 

 pussy's neck. The cat's fore-paws embraced his 

 neck, her hind legs embraced his body, and in that 

 attitude the white dog and the glossy cat rolled over 

 and over in play. When tired of that they stood on 

 their hind legs for a moment, then fell into each 

 other's arms, rolling about and playing, if not to 

 their hearts' delight, certainly to mine. " What a 

 lovely pair ! " I remarked to the American lady, the 

 owner. " That cat," she said, "has the most human 

 face 1 ever saw in the felines. She has never been 

 teased, uever frightened ; those two play together 

 till they are weary, they lie down to sleep together, 



and awake to eat together. Automatons is a word 

 used by those who will not comprehend those won- 

 drous links that run through all nature, adapting all 

 things to fill the place appointed for them. You see 

 these two creatures in their natural characters," 

 said the lady. The whole scene was simply 

 delicious !— H. P. Malet, Florence. 



Basalt.— In Sciexce-Gossip, No. Ill, you were 

 good enough to publish my question, " What is 

 Basalt?" 'In No. 117 M. F. W. Rudler was good 

 enough to answer some of my queries, for which I 

 am much obliged. But the main point remains 

 where it was. Will you allow me to put the ques- 

 tion before your readers in another form ? In the 

 Athenmim, No. 2,479, 1st May, 1875, in reference 

 to the phosphates in sedimentary rocks, I find, "In 

 fact, it appears that the most probable source is to 

 be found in rocks of igneous origin." After saying 

 "that phosphate of lime in the form of apatite" is 

 found in such rocks, it is said that the phosphates 

 are taken up from those rocks in decomposition by 

 the soil, thence by plants and animals, and so on to 

 sedimentary rocks. Allowing this latter progression, 

 I want to know how phosphate of lime finds a 

 source in igneous rocks. Fire makes nothing, but 

 it alters mauy things. Lava is an altered rock, 

 basalt may be ; lava maybe formed from granite, any 

 other silicious rock or basalt. I ask the categorical 

 question again, " What is Basalt ? " Mr. Rudler 

 touches on the subject of phosphates, and his letter 

 in Science-Gossip is similar to the paper alluded to 

 in the Athenaeum ; in fact, the pen seems the same. 

 "The cycle of changes is complete"; but the 

 cycle has no beginning. Will the question resolve 

 into air and water ?—H. P. Malet. 



Experiment with a Cock. — I have not read the 

 novel "Katerfeltoe" ; but with reference to the 

 description of an experiment, or trick, with a cock, 

 extracted from it by " R. S. T., Surrey," I may tell 

 him that such trick is a very old one ; one that I 

 have often performed, as a boy, more than twenty 

 years ago, and have repeated within a relatively 

 recent period for the amusement of my own boys. 

 Placing the bird upon a table or board, and holding 

 his wings close down to his sides, a second person 

 must now bend down his head until his beak touches 

 the board or table, and straight out from his beak 

 draw a line of white chalk in front of him. This 

 done, the person who has been holding the cock's 

 wings may leave him straightway; he will not make 

 the slightest effort to stir. Nay, further, you may 

 clap your hands or shout close to him, without 

 rousing him from his apparent lethargy, from which 

 though, ultimately, he will recover. It is difficult 

 to theorize on this very curious and striking effect. 

 It has occurred to me that possibly the forced 

 squinting of the bird at the chalk line may produce 

 a very slight temporary congestion of the brain, 

 and so hypnotize or mesmerize him. Upon this 

 point, however, any one of your numerous medical 

 readers would be able to give a more trustworthy 

 opinion. — William Noble, Forest Lodge, Maresfield. 



Communications Rkceivkd up to 6th ult. from: — 

 M. P. M— J. R.— G. C. P.— G. V. D — W. H. B.— J. H. P.— 

 H. P. M— J. E. S.— W\ T.— H. D.— A. E. S.— T. B. W.— 

 F. J. A.— H. M. J. U— Mrs. R.— J. A. P.— W. R. B.— F. K.— 

 C. M. M. L — H. L. J— H. H. H.-E. E. E.— Mrs. W.— J. A. 

 — L. C. S— J. H. A.— W. C. H. B.— 8. D. S.— W. J. H— J. P. 

 —J. B. B — L. T.— J. A. A.— G. G.— J. T.— A. J. R S.— A. C. H. 

 — Capt. W. N.-J. F. R.— J. C.-H. L. J.— H. E. M.— G. H — 

 Dr. G. D. B — W. E. S.— W. E. H.— H. J.— A. L — C. P. H.— 

 R. w — \V. B.— A. H.— H. P. M.— R. H. P.— J. W.— W. B.— 

 M. T.— J. D. C— G. R.— C. H. W,, &c. 



