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HARDWICKE'5 SCIEN CE -GO SSIP. 



its head just appearing at oue end and its tail at ' 

 the other. The tip of the tail is then turned up 

 and tied to the bamboo." Tiie murderous weapon 

 is now complete and ready for use. Armed with 

 his cobra-stick, the murderer creeps softly to his 

 enemy's tent in the dead of night, cuts a hole in the 

 ■wall and pokes in the deadly weapon. The tortured 

 reptile, careless upon whom it wreaks its animosity, 

 strikes its fangs into the sleeper, then is withdrawn, 

 and the murderer steals away as softly and 

 silently as he came. My authority for the foregoing 

 account is unimpeachable.— Jo/wi Lamlels, Kirkcaldy, 

 Scotland. c^-. 



The Manchester AQUAUiuii. — L new aqua- 

 rium, well stocked with marine and fresh-water fish, 

 has recently been opened at Manchester. The sea- 

 water is brought by train in barrels from Blackpool, 

 a distance of about forty miles, and a constant 

 supply is maintained. 



Cuckoos and theik, Young. — A letter in 

 SciENCE-Gossir either last year or the preceding 

 one, mentioned the writer's surprise, on searching 

 for a newly-laid cuckoo's &%'x, in a nest she 

 had just left, to find one on the point of hatching. 

 He expressed his belief that further observations 

 might prove the cuckoo not such a careless parent as 

 she seemed. I was in a market-gai-den lately and 

 remarked to. the owner that cuckoos seemed very 

 plentiful this year. He told me that he frequently 

 saw the old cuckoos perching on his espaliers with 

 their young broods ; that they would sit so still as 

 to be more like stuffed birds than live ones, and 

 then they would drop down suddenly, pick up a 

 dew-worm and feed a young oue, and again repeat 

 the process. This he spoke of as a common event. 

 I told him that it was not a generally well-known 

 one, and asked if he would object to its being named 

 on his authority, as it might bring questions upon 

 him. He does not object ; therefore I mention his 

 name and address, — Mr. Jerome Delicate, Redworth, 

 Heigh ington, Darlington . 



Arkivals of Migratory Birds.— Nightingale, 

 Apvil 9th; Cuckoo, April 19th; Swallow, April 25th; 

 Corncrake, April 30th. — T. P. B., Wrotham, 

 Kent. 



BOTANY. 



Geu3I rivale (p. 137) is given by Mr. Watson 

 ("Topographical Botany," p. 139) as a plant of 

 West Sussex, on the authority of Mr. Borrer. — 

 James Britten. 



English Plant-names. — May I draw the atten- 

 tion of the readers of Science-Gossip to the fact 

 that lilr. Holland and myself hope to publish 



Part I. of our " Dictionary of English Plant-names " 

 during the present year? Any names will be thank- 

 fully received by James Britten, British 'Musemn, 

 JF.C. 



Saxifraga GJiA-^VLkTA..— Apropos to the discus- 

 sion raised in your columns upon the root of Sa.vi- 

 fraga granulata, I may mention that I found the 

 other day, near Vi inchester College, a specimen 

 with a string of the so-called bulbs attached to the 

 stem by a small rootlet, reminding me somewhat of 

 the root of Lathyrus monorhizus (Orohis tuberosus). 



Singular Growth of Willow-trees. — I am 

 not aware that any one has noticed in print a curious 

 way in which young willow-trees aie sometimes 

 produced. In marshes near Northfleet, where 

 there are a number of these trees that have been 

 scooped out by the labours of the Goat caterpillar,, 

 and the diligent jaw-work of smaller insects that 

 have followed, the empty space in the interior by 

 degrees in several of these has been partly filled by 

 a stratum of mould, formed of dead leaves, &c. ; 

 and into this some of the ripe seed-pods falling, 

 have produced sapling willows, which have sprung 

 up to a good height within the parent tree, the 

 outer shell of which still retains its vitality, and 

 puts forth leaves, if not blossoms, as when in its 

 healthy condition. 



FtAPniDEs AND Cuticles. — Use of Potass in 

 Phytotojiy. — No wonder your correspondent 

 "G. H. J.," in Science-Gossip (No. Ill, p. Ill), 

 has to ask questions on such simple and useful 

 matters as the separation and display of plant- 

 crystals and cuticles, for, as regards the subject of 

 histological phytotomy, especially on these very 

 points, our late treatises are by no means up to the 

 present state of knowledge. The old works of 

 Raspail, Lindley, and Hutton Balfour have more 

 accurate information on such subjects than is to be 

 found in our most recent and loudly-praised 

 botanical works. As to the severance of the cuticles 

 from their connections, and exposure of raphides, 

 short crystal prisms, and sphseraphides, the best 

 plan is to boil the leaf or other part for a few 

 minutes in a solution of caustic potass ; then 

 transfer the vegetable texture to a pan of pure 

 water, and separate or teaze out the cells, mem- 

 branes, fibres, and other parts by means of needles. 

 Delicate manipulation, which a phytotomist so 

 earnest as " G. H. J." will soon learn, may then be 

 very effectually employed, and with surprisinglysatis- 

 factory results. The liquor potassse of the Pharma- 

 copoeia will answer well, either pure or diluted. 

 Professor Gulliver showed experimentally, at a 

 scientific meeting of the East Kent Natural History 

 Society, Oct. 2, 1S73, how admirably this procedure 

 answers with the short prismatic crystals in Legumi- 

 nosse, and with the sphaeraphides and cuticle of the 



