46 



HAllDWICKE'5 SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



to him with several yellow-hammers, caught within 

 a short distance of the city. I had tlie pleasure of 

 seeing it, and noting its characteristic markings. 

 The yellow head, elongated feathers, and black 

 patches on top of head, side of beak, and breast 

 being specially prominent.—^. Wheeler. 



Pine-apples. — At a meeting of the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society, held at South Kensington, very 

 recently, I was much interested at some re- 

 remarks made by Mr. Liggins, F.R.H.S., upon the 

 great size wiiich the pine-apple attains in the cele- 

 brated Pitch Lake of Trinidad. Tliis gentleman's 

 observations are reported in the Gardener's Chronicle 

 of December 6tli, which also, in a foot-note, quotes 

 Canon Kingsley, from vol, i. of his work " At Last ; 

 a Christmas in the West Indies," which corroborates 

 Mr. Liggins' statements. The lake appears to con- 

 sist of soft powdered pitch and reddish-brown sand. 

 Could not the attention of gardeners be drawn to 

 this (to rae) novel culture of pine-apples in this 

 country ? I seek advice of some practical geologist 

 or chemist on this matter, who, perhaps, would be 

 good enough to recommend some artificial suId- 

 stauce, consisting of bitumen and brown ,sand in 

 certain defined proportions, but which should an- 

 swer all practical purposes of horticulture. It woiild 

 be an immense boon conferred upon English garden- 

 ers, if, by a happy combination of pitch and sand, they 

 should be able hereafter to grow the most luscious of 

 fruits to a much greater size than it has liitherto 

 attained here. I may also remark, that, at the same 

 meeting of the society, the Rev. M. J. Berkeley 

 alluded to some splendid Cayenne pine-apples as 

 having been grown in the Royal Gardens at Prog- 

 niore, under the influence of heat obtained from 

 cak -leaves (decayed) ; the plants standing on about 

 six feet of this material— Jo/i;i Colehrooke, F.R.H.S 



The Queen Eee.— Major Munn was the first to 

 put bar-frames into (not with) a box or case in 1S34, 

 the same as the modern bar-frame hive, whicli has 

 raised bee-keeping to (not in) such perfection, &c. 

 The fructification of the queen bee is always the 

 death of the drone. (This is what your correspon- 

 dent on p. 2G2 (1873) wants to kmw.)—Wm. Curr. 



A Youacious Perch.— Fishing a short time since 

 in a mill-pool, I hooked a perch weighing three- 

 quarters of a pound. Just as I was on the point of 

 landing him, my hook snapped in the middle of the 

 bend, and the fish escaped. An hour or two after, 

 a friend, who was with me, landed, on the opposite 

 ydc of the pool, a perch, which on examination 

 proved to be the one J had lost, as we found the 

 broken hook securely fastened in his mouth. — The 

 perch was plump, and evidently a well-fed fish ; and 

 the pool, I have no doubt, abounds in food, from the 

 fact that twenty roach taken in one afternoon from 

 the same spot, with the rod and line, weighed, to- 

 gether, over thirty pounds.—/. Henry Vauglmn. 



MuscA rorxMiciFOMiis.— This is, I believe, the 

 name of a small fly resembling a winged ant, which 

 I have, now and then, seen in great numbers in hot, 

 dry, summer weather, but at no other times. They 

 crowd as close together as they can find room on 

 the branches of low bushes, and on blades of grass, 

 ■within the space of a few feet square. They move 

 a good deal among themselves, but do not seem to 

 take wing. They remain in the same spot for many 

 successive days. I have noticed a peculiar odour 

 from them. The plants, on which they stay do not 



seem at all injured. I should wish to learn more 

 of their nature and habits. — S.T.P. 



The Snake and the Toad.— One hot summer's 

 afternoon — it was a Sunday in August, — I remember, 

 and a good many years ago— my'father called us all 

 out into his melon-garden. "There was something 

 for us to see," he said. In a corner of a pit, coiled 

 up and fast asleep, lay a full-grown snake, evidently 

 digesting a large meal, for his stomach was enor- 

 mously distended. A toad, which was kept in the 

 pit to destroy the vermin, was nowhere to be seen. — 

 The snake had eaten him up ! — M. A. Livelt. 



The Postal Microscopical Cabinet Club.— 

 In the first box of the Northern circuit of the 

 "P.M.C.C." (Postal Micro. Cabinet Club), Mr. R. 

 Harris Philip, of Hull, inclosed a slide of " Sting of 

 Scorpion," to which he appended the following 

 note :— " The ' beastie ' from which I prepared this 

 slide was cauglit by a friend amongst some cotton 

 seed imported from Tahiti. I kept it for about two 

 months, at the end of which time it died— for want 

 of food, I suppose ; for, thou<?h I tried it with all 

 kinds of insects (which books say are its usual 

 diet), yet I could never induce it to eat anything. 

 Indeed, one small larva I put in, finding the 

 scorpion's back easier for walking on than the sand 

 at the bottom of the jar, used to make a regular 

 promenade of it, without molestation, so long as it 

 kept off the head ; but Scorpio evidently considered 

 touching his head too great! a liberty, and used to 

 project the trespasser to the other end of the jar 

 with a fillip of the tail, apparently, however, not 

 using the 'sting." Mr. P. would he obliged to any 

 one who can tell him what they would eat, in case 

 he should have the luck to find another. Since 

 sending you copy of rules, which appeared in the 

 December part of Science-Gossip, I have received 

 letters from several gentlemen wishing to join the 

 club : these, as we have now our jfuU complement of 

 members, I have been obliged to refuse ; but have 

 since determined that, after the 1st of January, the 

 president and myself will be pleased to conduct a 

 second club (if agreeable) under the same rules as 

 our present club. 1 shall be glad to receive all 

 applications for membership as early as possible. — 

 Alfred Allen. 



Eara Avis. — During December, 1873, three 

 Hoopoes were observed in the parish of Freshwater, 

 Isle of Wight. One of them was seen by the Rev. 

 C. Poweu, of Heatherwood, Freshwater, to alight 

 under the verandah of his house. Several years 

 ago a pair of these birds were shot in this neigli- 

 bourliood ; but they have not again made their 

 appearance until the present time. — A. 0. Weld. 



Markings on Lepidoptera. — In reply to J. W. 

 Russell, I cannot find, on reference to Stainton's, 

 Ivewman's, Wood's, or Morris's works, that there 

 is any difference in the markings between the male 

 and female of F. Urticce or C.^Phla-as. But in C. 

 Famphilus, according to Morris, the brownish mark- 

 ings at the edge of the wings are darker and more 

 decided in the 3 than the ? specimens,— /iT. L. 

 Sarjeant. 



Signs used ro Denote Sex (p. 201).— The sign ? 

 has no connection with the goddess Ceres, or her 

 sickle either. Your correspondent will find the whole 

 matter treated of in Mr. RodweJl's " Lectures on 

 the Birth of Chemistry." Suffice it here to say 

 that the sigu ? is the symbol of the planet Venus, 



