HAUDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



23 



Steange Companions! — That a spider and a 

 slap; should choose a restin?-place wilhin an inch 

 of eacli other seemed somewhat singular. Indeed, 

 when I noted that the sluj?, which was about an 

 inch in lens:th, was reposinfj under the angle of a 

 wall, close to the spider and its abode, I thought at 

 first that, though the arachnid was much less in 

 size, it had made a victim of the slimy individual. 

 I believe instances have been frequently noticed 

 where snails have returned again and again to the 

 same spot after taking their excursions. So it was 

 with this particular mollusk ; for he was sometimes 

 to be found "at home," at other times absent, 

 during the few days I observed him. The close 

 was tragical; the spider quitted her web, having 

 attached thereto her bag of eggs, and a h\iman 

 enemy of slugs watched the return homewards of 

 the spider's companion, and by the application of a 

 well-adjusted pinch of salt, brought him to his 

 mother earth — a slimy mass ! — /. R. S. C. 



Caged Birds and Cats.— It is noticeable that 

 caged birds of the Finch tribe are very variously 

 affected by the approach of a cat. Canaries are not, 

 in most cases, particularly alarmed, unless a cat 

 makes some demonstrations of attack ; and I have 

 known some canaries that will chirp, in a sort of 

 friendly recognition, as a cat passes that tkey have 

 been accustomed to. The goldfinch and the siskin, 

 naturally timid birds, are more fearful of the feline 

 race than are the linnet and chaffinch. But the 

 bullfinch exhibits the most excessive and ludicrous 

 alarm ; the sight of a distant cat throws him into 

 an asitation, and should one appear near at hand, 

 tlie bird will continue peering about for a long time 

 (^ven after it has gone ; still suspicious that its foe 

 is lurking somewhere. It is probable this strong 

 instinctive dread of a cat is connected with the 

 natural habits of the bullfinch ; the bird being par- 

 tial to fruit, and frequently found in gardens and 

 orchards, wliere its life is in dancrer from cats 

 IDrowling about these places. — /. B. S. C. 



EuPLECTELLA. — A friend of mine has a specimen 

 of Etipledella speciosa, within which is some crus- 

 tacean, what, 1 know not, but it measures quite 2 inches 

 long, and has somewhat the appearance of a cray- 

 fish, minus the antennae. How could the animal 

 have found its way into the interior of the Euplec- 

 tella, in which there is no opening or fracture of any 

 kind ? The prisoner (of course long since dead) is 

 detached, and rolls about in its cage, when the latter 

 is moved. Altogether the matter has puzzled me as 

 much as did the apple and the dumpling in the case 

 of " good King George," and I shall be thankful 

 for an explanation. — W. W. Spicer, Itchen Abbas. 



Praying Mantis.— A correspondent ia your 

 September number asks for a description of the 

 Mantis oratoria, ov Praying Mantis. I have fre- 

 quently seen it. Some years since a mantis nest 

 was brought, amongst other curiosities, by one of 

 our family, from the south of France. It was 

 attached to a piece of quartz. For several weeks 

 it remained forgotten in a drawer. It was early in 

 the summer and the weather was unusually cold, 

 and one day, when it was shown me, I remarked 

 that if there were life in it, it would have little 

 chance of developing without heat of sun or fire, 

 and I forthwit.li placed it on the mantelpiece. It 

 had not been there two hours, before we were 

 startled to see a number of little creatures, about 

 the size of the common gnat, but wingless, emerging 

 from the folds of the uest, and for the next twenty- 



four hours they continued to hatch at intervals, until 

 about fifty in all were born. On first gaining their 

 liberty they were exceedingly active, and their antics 

 were most curious, wliilst they always preserved the 

 praying attitude, as they fought or ran over one 

 another, seeking no doubt for the food they could 

 not find. We tried them with everything we could 

 think of likely to attract their baby appetites ; but 

 sugar, flowers, meat, insects, alike remained un- 

 tasted, and we now saw that our vision of bringing 

 up a young brood of praying mantises was doomed 

 to disappointment, as one after another grew weak, 

 shrivelled, and died. The nest, which is soft and 

 covered with a thin horny substance, shows a series 

 of scales or folds, and it is now little changed, except- 

 ing that it has shrunk a little in &\ze,.— Falmouth. 



White Sparrows. — I observed in a recent 

 impression remarks from " W. F. D." on the 

 appearance of a sparrow " whose plumage is very 

 nearly entirely white," &c. Although a sparrow 

 with white feathers is doubtless a rara avis, yet 

 they occur more frequently than is supposed. A 

 few years ago, when living in Hampshire, there was 

 a white sparrow that bred in the thatch of a barn 

 close to my house. I shot it, and found it was of 

 pure sparrow breed, but perfectly white ; and there 

 were afterwards in the same locality several others 

 which were piebald ; doubtlessly part of the pro- 

 geny of the white one.— :Z'. V. C. 



Strange Freak of a Sparrow-hawk. — I 

 was out with my rod towards the fall of the year, 

 whipping for trout on the higher part of one of the 

 rivers that take their rise in the centre of Dartmoor. 

 There was plenty of flood tumbling over the grey 

 rocks in foamy "cascades, and eddying swiftly past 

 the sharp turns in its course ; but the sun shone 

 brightly ; the water was clear, and the wind from 

 the east, and whip as I would I could not do much 

 with the fish. They sported to the surface but 

 would not take home, jumping over the red palmer, 

 and fiicking the blue dun with their tails ; at last, 

 after sundry changes of my fly without satisfactory 

 result, I reluctantly resorted to a worm, and had 

 better luck, in spite of the clearness of the water. 

 I had fished up to where a high bridge crossed the 

 stream, and had struck my rod into the ground 

 while I sat down for a short time against the 

 buttress of the bridge. A worm was on the hook, 

 and dangling by a short line in the air, when 

 suddenly there was a rush from the other side of 

 the bridge, and a hawk swiftly emerging from under 

 the arch seized the worm and flew off to the full 

 tether of the line, the jerk pulhng the rod to the 

 ground, and at the same time pulling the bait: out 

 of the mouth of the bird, which flew off in affright. 

 I regretted he had not been hooked, as it would 

 have been satisfactory to know . whether he could 

 have been held.-^. f. C. 



How to Destroy Ants. — In answer to your 

 correspondent "E. B. F.," I have found that 

 boiling water will invariably destroy a whole nest 

 of ants. Of course hot water cannot be used if the 

 ants have taken up their quarters in grass ; but in 

 any other locality, I have generally disturbed their 

 nest and then placed a flowerpot downwards, on or 

 in close vicinity to the nest. In a short time they 

 will have reconstructed their home, and large 

 numbers will have collected under the pot, when 

 boiling water will soon put an end to their existence. 

 Half a pint of petroleum and water in equal 

 quantities will also completely extirpate them.— 

 A. P. Howes. 



