HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



47 



and the corresponding metal, copper, of the ancient 

 planetary worship of the East. It is apparently 

 closely connected with the emblem carried by the 

 Assyrian goddess Astarte and the crux ansata of the 

 Eyptians, and the figure itself occurs abundantly 

 among the hieroglyphics of the papyri. It has 

 been thought by some to represent a looking-glass. 

 — R. A. Trijor. 



Ancient Tkees (p. 237). — "On an oak in 

 Hampton Court Park, perhaps the oldest in 

 England, see 'Jesse's Gleanings,' pp. 153-4." — 

 Flora of 31iddlesex, p, 425. 



Sucked Eggs. — A friend of mine was look- 

 ing over a recent number of Science - Gossip, 

 and saw the paragraph headed " Sucked Eggs," 

 when he informed me that he had discovered a 

 blackbird's nest in a tree in his garden, containing 

 three eggs which had been similarly treated. — 

 James J. R. Bate. 



Substitute eou a Water-net. — I have used 

 occasionally of late, instead of a net of canvas or 

 other material, a metal culinary implement (called, 

 I believe, technically, _ a small colander), which 

 answers well for securing some insects and larvae, 

 being fastened to a long handle. Its shallowness is 

 one objection ; but the water runs off more speedily 

 from the debris brought up, and the metal does not, 

 of course, wear away, while ordinary nets are soon 

 frayed or torn. — /. B. S. C. 



Edplectella. — Mr. Spicer, in last mouth's num- 

 ber of Science-Gossip, expresses his surprise at 

 some crustacean having gained admission into the 

 interior of the Euplectella speciosa-. Attached to 

 the case containing my specimens is a printed de- 

 scription, which states "that the Spaniards in 

 Manilla regard them as formed by the soldier crab, 

 which must take up its place in the tube before the 

 network in the upper end is formed." Whether 

 this is a correct explanation of the formation of 

 this beautiful sponge may be open to grave doubt, 

 but the presence of the crustacean in question 

 would seem to favour the supposition. — W. R. T. 



The CoinioN Hedgehog.— In your Notes and 

 Queries for November a coiTespoudent, who signs 

 himself " L.," gives some interesting facts respecting 

 a captive female hedgehog, a mother, with four young 

 ones. He states as follows : — " 1 fear that the 

 mother died from exhaustion, as she suckled her 

 young, and I did not know what to give her except 

 bread and milk." The writer further says, as to 

 hedgehogs, " I should like to know more about their 

 food and habits." Very much has been written as 

 to the food and habits of the hedgehog, but, never- 

 theless, no writer with whom I am acquainted has 

 at all indicated the amount of sustenance really 

 needed and taken by these comparatively small 

 mammalia; and a delusion prevails, that a very 

 small quantity of food, a few slugs and beetles, will 

 suffice to feed this animal. The Hedgehog belongs 

 to the order Insedivora, its teeth clearly indicating 

 that its food is entirely of an animal character. 

 Hedgehogs require a large amount of food. In 

 your journal, of two years ago, " L." will find, under 

 the heading Common Hedgehog, a communication 

 signed "J. H., M.D.," in which it is stated that a 

 hedgehog, after an evening meal of six drachms of 

 cooked mutton, actually contrived to capture and 

 devour a redbreast which roosted in a small fernery 

 within the reach of the thorny-backed marauder. 

 I have frequently kept hedgehogs, small and large, 



and find that they will eat all animal substances 

 freely — slugs, beetles, meat, either fresh or high (so 

 called), also skin, and the softer feathers of birds ; 

 and they will take bread or oatmeal soaked in 

 milk, as cats are taught to do. If well tamed, 

 they will come when called to be fed, in the day- 

 light, but they are nocturnal in their habits, from 

 twilight to dawn foraging about, seeking whatso- 

 ever feeble or imprudent animal may be captured, 

 or whatsoever animal substance may he. found on 

 the ground; and eating in this way they act as 

 scavengers. On account of the nocturnal habits of 

 the Hedgehog, this animal is a capital destroyer of 

 cockr9aches. A jackdaw will pick these creatures 

 up with much more activity, but, unfortunatelv, 

 Jack begins to blink and falls asleep when the sun 

 goes down, so that he is of no use when all is still 

 and dark, and the Blattidip are out seeking their 

 food. I may mention that hedgehogs die occasion- 

 ally from scrofulous glandular disease. Some years 

 ago I met with a large male hedgehog, which, from 

 some cause, could not coil itself up when alarmed. 

 It shortly died, and on examination I found that 

 the lymphatic glands of the neck were diseased, and 

 that, on account of the great thickness of the skin 

 of the animal's neck, tlie matter from the glands 

 could not reach the surface of the body, and so dis- 

 charge itself; hence the poor animal's sufierings 

 and death. In Norway the Hedgehog is named Pin 

 Swiu. — John Barker, M.D., ^c. 



A Wasp and Spideu Battle.— In last mouth's 

 Science-Gossip, Mr. Howell mentions having seen 

 a_ wasp decapitate a brother. A precisely similar 

 circumstance took place in my presence a few weeks 

 since. That spiders are most afraid of wasps I 

 infer from a circumstance I witnessed many years 

 ago. A wasp became entangled iu the web of a 

 spider, located iu the upper corner of a window 

 when the spider rushed out to secure his prey, and 

 a battle of some minutes' duration occurred, ending 

 in a dear-bought victory by the spider, the wasp 

 falling dead on the floor, and the spider dying a 

 few minutes afterwards.—^. Nicholson. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



" Animal Locomotion." By J. B. Pettigrew, F R.S., &c. 

 London : H. S. King & Co. 



"Journal of Applied Science." January. 



" Popular Science Review." January. 



" Monthly Microscopical Journal." January. 



" Grevillea." January, 



" Land and Water." 



" Les Mondes." 



" Evenings with the Microscope." By Philip Gosse. 

 London : Society for Promoting: Knowledge. 



" The Garden Oracle," for 18/4. 



" Insects of the Garden." By A. S. Packard, jun. Boston 

 Estes & Lauriat. 



"Christian Evidence Journal," No. 1. 



"The Argonaut," No. 1. 



" British Marine Algae," No. 5. By W. H. Grattann. 



COMMU.N'ICATIONS ReCEIVKD UP TO THE I2TH tJLT. FROM — 



T' B. W.— S. W. jun.— C. B.-C. P. -J. L. L.-C. C. U.— 

 F. H.— A. W. L.— S. T. P.— J. S. jun.— F. T. M.— T. R.— 

 F. B.— W. R. T.— H. M. J. U.— M. B.— H. B. T.— E. C. L.— 

 W. J. B.— R. H.— E. C— R. H. N. B.— F. W. H.-A. F. B.— 

 E. E.— J. H.— E. F. K— J. W.— D. H.— T. Q. C— A. G. W.— 

 J. S.— H. G.— J. A. jin\.— J. J. v.— J. A.— F. M.— W. L. W. E. 

 — E. F. E.— A. N.— R. H.— W. C— J. L. H.— H. E. T.-F. H. 

 —J. E. T.— E L — M. M— VI". W. S. — W. R. W.— J. R. S. C. 

 -J. G. M.-G. G.— J. H. L.— A. A.— W. L. S.— S. A. 8.— 

 J. L. C— W. O— H. G.— C. J. W. R— O. B.— E. S. B.— 

 D. T. A — T. J. E.— J. D.— R. M. G.— E. D. M.— J. F. C— 

 C. C. U.— R. H. N. B.— H. C— K. P.— A. G.— F. I. B — 

 W. G. P.— W. W— E. L.— C. P. G.— R. D.— E. B. K. W.— 

 W, A. T.-E. A, H.-R. T.— A. S., &c. 



