HABDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



263 



" noble savages " as jealous of intrusioa as in 1873, 

 and cannot their antipathy to strange faces and 

 cloth coats be overcome, either by law, stratagem, 

 or civility ? Perhaps some brother of the net and 

 pin can throw light on the present condition of 

 this queer " preserve." — W. H. G. 



F< - Eossils near Watford. — In the very useful 

 "Saturday Half- Holiday Guide" for 1873,mention is 

 made of a chalk-pit in Berry Wood, near Aldenham, 

 one mile and a half from Watford, abounding in 

 well-preserved fossils of various kinds. May I ask 

 if this pit is still available to the geological ex- 

 cursionist r — W. H. G, 



White Bees, &c. — A. subscriber would be glad 

 if any of your correspondents can inform her what 

 are the " White Bees," which bees occasionally turn 

 out of their hives, and why they put them out. The 

 only mention she finds made of them in Pettigrew's 

 "Handy-book of Bees" is, that the bees turn 

 them out when " on the border-land of starvation." 

 She has only be?un to keep bees this year, and 

 during the wet weather had four white bees put 

 out, and later, two, very small ones. She has fed 

 the bees constantly during wet weather, and on 



rainy days. Also, can any contributor to the 



Science-Gossip explain the formation of stones 

 called " Mocoes," found at Aberystwyth, and 

 probably other places on the Welsh coast ? When 

 cut and polished, they are like pieces of sea-weed 

 floating in the stone, which is transparent, as if 

 water and weed had both been suddenly changed to 

 stone. The weed in many cases is very perfect, and 

 there are several different kinds. Are they petri- 

 factions, or fossils ? And are they of modern or 

 ancient formation ? I have been unable to find any 

 description or account of them in the books I have 

 been able to refer to. — E. A. K. 



Poplar Hawk Caterpillars. — I have reared a 

 considerable number of these caterpillars from the 

 egg upwards, but have never experienced what 

 your correspondent states in the September number 

 of this magazine. When first hatched they were 

 very delicate indeed, geueially half their number 

 dying; but after they once got over their first moult 

 they were as voracious and healthy as could be 

 wished. The young caterpillars should be kept in 

 a small box, until they are large enough to be 

 removed into the breeding-cage, as this prevents 

 their wandering too far away from their food, which 

 is an important point when they are very young. 

 Many people seem to think that young caterpillars 

 require young and tender leaves; this is true enough, 

 and holds well with many species, but certainly not 

 those feeding on poplar, as the young leaves and 

 shoots are always more or less covered with a 

 gummy substance, which seems to answer the same 

 purpose as birdlime, for no sooner do the young 

 caterpillars attempt to walk over them than they 

 stick fast, and soon die. I have lost numbers in 

 this way. I need hardly say that they should be 

 handled as little as possible, and not kept in a very 

 warm room.— C. P. Hail, Woolwich. 



Oxen and Music— I have often noticed the 

 power music has over oxen. The other day we had 

 a brass band playing in our garden. In a field 

 adjoining were four Scotch oxen; when the band 

 struck up — they were at the far end of this, a nine- 

 acre field, quite out of sight, the field being very 

 uneven— they set off full trot to the garden wall, 

 put their necks over, and remained so till the tune 



was finished, when they went back to graze ; but as 

 soon as it struck up again, they put their heads over 

 the wall again. This went on till the band left, 

 after which they ate little all day, and were 

 continually lowing. — L. W. 



Progs and Goldfish.— A friend of mine had a 

 small pond, in which he kept goldfish. These began 

 to die very fast. He could not account for it at all : 

 till at last one night he went very quietly up to the 

 pond, and to his surprise saw four frogs, each 

 swimming on the back of a goldfish, holding on by 

 their webbed feet; the fish were swimming with 

 their backs out of the water, and seemed as if they 

 could not descend with their riders. In time all 

 the fish died. Can it be accounted for by the frogs 

 on them ?—L. W. 



Sparrows and Peas.— Sparrows {Passer domes- 

 ticus and P. montanus) do an unknown amount of 

 harm in the kitchen garden, by eating the young 

 shoots of beet, peas, and beans. My peas were 

 kept back a fortnight, and the beet is quite ruined 

 this year. I was told soot would stop them ; so I 

 got some, and after I had sown my peas, I covered 

 them over with it, and they have not been touched. 

 What can there be in soot that keeps them off ? — 

 L. W. 



Death of Bobins.— There is a saying in North 

 Lincolnshire that all the two-year-old robins 

 {Erythaca rubeculd) kill all the three-year-old birds 

 in autumn. Is there any truth in this or not? I 

 have watched them for some years, and certainly 

 they are a quarrelsome set, but I have not found 

 that they kill each other. There is also a belief 

 that it is unlucky to take robins ; so, when all other 

 birds' nests are taken, it is watched with reverent 

 care. — L. W. 



Crabs out of Water.— On Tuesday, Septem- 

 ber 7, the gardener, in procuring a can of seawater 

 for the aquarium, captured a few small shore crabs, 

 known here as "king crabs" {Carcinus m<mas), one 

 or two of which escaped from the cau after it was 

 brought into the garden. On the 9th one of the 

 crabs was found walking about on the stone steps, 

 apparently none the worse for forty-eight hours' 

 absence from the ocean. A trifling shower on the 

 morning of the Sth might have supplied it with a 

 little moisture which would probably be beneficial, 

 though immersion in fresh water is fatal to marine 

 Crustacea. — G. Guyon. 



Fish-cans.— " A self-air-acting fish-can" is re- 

 ferred to by A. G. B. Sclater, in his notes on 

 "Goldfish Breeding,"in September Science-Gossip. 

 What sort of can is this,— can he describe the 

 arrangement ?— G. S. 



Communications Rbceivrd up to 9th ult. prom: — 

 A. P.-E. T. E— W. P.— W. K. M— Dr. R. M. B.— J. E. L.— 

 T. G. P. Y.— G. G.— W. H— F. K. — E. L.— A. B.— R. C. B.— 

 J. C— T. J. B.— S. A. S.— J. B.-J. F. R.— H. W. L.— C. P. H. 

 — E. A. K.-W. H. G— J. H. M.-L. W— C. O. G. N.— 

 G. S.— J. A. jun— Dr. G. B.— S. J. B.— W. H. H.— W. T. B.— 

 F. J. A.— E. W. A.— Dr. C. R. A— B. B.— E. A. B.— W. G. P. 

 — W. J. H.— J. P. W.— W. K. G.— W. H. G.— B. B. W.— 

 W. R. J.— E. T. S.— F. E. F.— W. T.— C. D.— W. H. H.— 

 W. T. S.— W. E.— F. H. A.— C. H. M. - F. M.— J. C — W. J. L. 

 — F E. F.— H. E. W— P. S. S.-H. G G.-C. L.— J. G.— 

 T. R.— J. G. R. P.— S. A. B— G C. D —J. B. -J. R.— 

 W. H. C—H. S. F.-C. D.— F. H. W.— C. D W.— F. W. M.— 

 R. D— W A. L.— E. J. L— D M— T. H.-R. H. P.— E. C— 

 T. B. W.— J. I.-C. T. F. N— W. F.- C A. O.-E. E — C. A. 

 — G. H. K.— J. R. 8. C.-T. C. O.-W. R. H.— M. P. E.— 

 E. M.— E. L.— J . S. H.— E. D. B. M— W. W.— C. L. J.— W. C. 

 &c. &c. 



