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HAP.DWICKE'S SCIENCE. GOSSIP. 



triangular stem, and which seems to me scarcely dis- 

 tinguishable from .V. lacustris. This latter is not 

 down in Brewer's " Flora of Surrey" as growing in 

 that part at all, but S. triqueter is. I find, too, so 

 many different descriptions in different books, that 

 I am quite puzzled to know which is right. Thus 

 Eentham gives the stem of S. triqueter as sharply 

 triangular, while Withering, quoting Eotli, says it 

 has blunt edges. Again, Bentliam says the name of 

 S. carinatus is given sometimes to a variety of S. 

 triqueter and sometimes to a variety of S. lacus- 

 tris. Can the three be really distinct ? I find a plant 

 wonderfully like S. maritimus plentiful about Ham- 

 mersmith and Putney. — T. W. 



Cat and Eat. — The gentleman whose house I 

 am staying at told me a singular story yesterday of 

 a large brown rat and a black torn cat that had 

 seemingly struck up a friendship in his house a 

 couple of years ago. The rat would come and feed 

 in the same dish with puss, and they were often seen 

 playing about in the hall of an evening together, but, 

 alas ! the servants became timid, and broke so many 

 articles because, "the nasty rat frightened them," 

 that his doom was pronounced, and my host, gun in 

 hand, sat on one of the chairs to watch. The rat 

 appeared at last, followed by puss, who, called by 

 his master, came towards him, and then the gun was 

 pointed and fired, but, strange (for my friend is a 

 crack shot), it missed, when puss sprang forward on 

 his old playmate, and soon killed him. It seemed 

 as if the cat, on seeing W. B. fire, had suddenly 

 become aware that the rat was an enemy ; or at any 

 rate considered objectionable. — Heleit E. Watney. 



Local Names. — Perliaps the following local ! 

 names with which I have met in the given counties, 

 may interest some of your readers. In North Devon j 

 tlie Wren is known as the Crackle ; the Yellow- i 

 hammer, as the Gladdie ; the Blue Tit, as the BHis- | 

 picker ; the Chafiinch, as the Daffinch; the Bullfinch, 

 as tlie Hoops, pronounced like Hiipps. In South 

 Pembrokeshire the Wheatear is called the Cooper ; 

 the Missel- thrush, the Greybird ; the Wren, the 

 Cutty Wren ; the Corncrake, the Bean-cracker ; 

 the Heron, the Longie-crane ; the Guillemot, the 

 Eligny.— Z. 



A Pkotest. — I quite concur with your corre- 

 spondent " C " in his protest against the gradual 

 extermination of the rarer species of our birds, 

 insects, and plants by persons calling themselves 

 naturalists. Several cases have come under my 

 personal notice, where large quantities of one 

 species of lepidoptera have been taken in a single 

 day by one individual. One fine April day 1 

 inquired of an entomologist what sport he was 

 having, when he told me he had taken over a gross 

 of Myrtilli ; on another occasion I was shown 

 four dozen P. conjdon impaled in one large 

 collecting-box. If this sort of thing goes on much 

 longer, I am afraid many of our comparatively rare 

 and local species of lepidoptera will share the same 

 fate as the large copper butterfly, C. dispar, 

 and many others, which have been actually extermi- 

 nated by the continual raids of persons who style 

 themselves naturalists and entomologists, but who 

 are nothing more than dealers. — E. Lovell. 



LAUViE TKOM Paris. — I feel confident, from the 

 description, that reference is made to Bomhyx 

 eipithia, the Ailanthus Silkworm. This was 

 originally introduced from Japan, and has become 

 acclimatized in Prance, and is often found at large. 

 It is now one of the species of silkworm to which 



attention is given by amateurs in this country. The 

 natural food are the leaves of the Ailanthus glan- 

 duloHi; called by the Japanese " the Tree of 

 Heaven." This has been largely introduced here of 

 late years, not only as furnishing food for worms of 

 B. cyntliia, but also for its beautiful foliage. I have 

 at times given moths their liberty, but have never 

 found worms in a wild state on my own trees, or on 

 others in the locality. 1 do not think tiiey ai'e so 

 freely planted here as in Prance. — S. H. Gas/cell, 

 Stockport. 



Bleaching Skeleton Leaves. — In reply to 

 your correspondent '"' J. L. B.," page 6S, in March 

 No. of Science-Gossip, I find it very useful when 

 I experience any difficulty in bleaching the leaves 

 prepared by the caustic process, to expose them, of 

 course beneath a glass shade, or other screen, to 

 prevent them becoming dusty, to the sun, for several 

 days. I find, even after preparing the leaves very 

 neatly, so as to exhibit all the smaller veins, I have 

 ruined the specimen by bleaching them in chloride 

 of lime : it is apt to render them exceedingly brittle, 

 so that the slightest touch breaks them. Would it 

 not be better to bleach all the specimens by the 

 agency of the sun? It mayioerhaps tax the patience 

 of most naturalists, but the reward will be gained in 

 the end.—/. F. B. 



Mouse eaten in the Teap. — tThe house of 

 your correspondent Mr. Warry (see page 71), March 

 No. of Science-Gossip, is evidently infested with 

 either blackbeetles or cockroaches, — perhaps the 

 latter : these will in a few hours eat a mouse, 

 excepting only the skin and bones. I have seen it 

 done repeatedly, and for a time I was puzzled equally 

 as much as your correspondent to account for this 

 strange thing, until I caught them in the very act. — 

 J.F.B. 



Squirrels.— I extract the following from a 

 weekly paper, dated February 15th. — " On Satur- 

 day, some men felling timber in a wood near Cudham, 

 Kent, cut down an old hollow oak-tree, when 

 upwards of 30 squirrels rolled out, most of which 

 were dormant, or in a state of semi-sleep; but upon 

 being roused they dispersed to various parts of the 

 copse. A large stock of nuts and acorns was found 

 stowed away in the hollow of the tree, which had 

 been collected by these industrious little animals a& 

 a provision for the winter. It is common to find 

 squirrels laid up for shelter during winter, but it is- 

 seldom such a swarm is found together." The 

 above, if true, was a very remarkable occurrence. 

 Unfortunately, however, the newspaper paragraphs 

 on natural history are seldom to berelied upon, as 

 every naturalist knows. Putting aside the correct- 

 ness or incorrectness of the above, I should like to 

 ask the readers of Science-Gossip whether they 

 have ever met with a similar instance of the hyber- 

 nation of the Squirrel, and whether it is a recognized 

 fact among naturalists that the Squirrel lays by a 

 store of food for winter use ? A few years back, I 

 was sadly taken to task by a celebrated naturalist 

 for presuming to affirm that tlie Squirrel is both a 

 partial hybernator, and also a storer of winter 

 provisions. If the above account is correct, the 

 dignified " shutting-up " I received on that occasion 

 was, to say the least, undeserved. The Squirrel 

 bears a very indifferent character in this neighbour- 

 hood. I am told that it robs rooks'fand pheasants' 

 nests, nibbles off larch shoots, and stores away large 

 quantities of nuts in holes and chinks of trees. 

 Early in the year it pays occasional visits to a row 



