HARDWICKE'S SCIBNCE-GOSSIP. 



185 



the skeletons of small animals :— Remove the skin 

 and as much of the viscera as possible, together with 

 such portions of the flesh as are easily cut away. 

 Then place the animal at a little distance from a 

 wasps' nest ; and, in the course of a day or two, the 

 wasps will have cleared away all the remaining por- 

 tions of flesh, so that with a very little further care 

 and trouble the skeleton will be ready to set up. — 

 /. S. Tate. 



" Skeletonizing."— In answer to "J. E. W.'s " 

 inquiry, I would advise him to try the following 

 plan, which 1 have proved to be most efl'ective and 

 simple :— Place two or three dozen mealworms, 

 which may be obtained in a bakehouse or other' 

 place where meal of any description is stored, in a 

 tin biscuit-box partly filled with bran ; then let him 

 adjust the specimen of which he is desirous of 

 securing the skeleton upon a suitable stand, and 

 introduce it,without skinning orany further prepara- 

 tion, into the midst of the bran, and I will answer 

 for it that in a few weeks' time he will find as per- 

 fect a skeleton as he could wish, only requiring a 

 shght finishing touch with a camel's-hair pencil. 

 —H.L. 



Eggs of Lampern or of La:mpkey. — I have 

 failed to obtain the eggs of the Fetromyzon 

 fluviutilis from our fishermen at Oxford, and have 

 thought it not unlikely that tlie readers of Science- 

 Gossip might help me to make sure of a supply 

 next year. I am prepared to go to an expense of 

 several pounds in order to secure an adequate 

 series, and shall be very sincerely grateful for infor- 

 mation which will enable me to carry out my 

 object. My purpose is to study minutely the de- 

 velopment of the eggs, and what I desire chiefly is 

 to know with certainty where, and at xchat season, 

 and precisely how, they may be obtained next year. 

 "Whilst asking for help, I may as well make another 

 similar request, viz., for information as to the eggs 

 of Limax and Arion. I have obtained them in 

 quantity in Germany, but have never met with them 

 in England. — TS. Ray Lankester, Fellow and Lecturer 

 of Exeter College, Oxford. 



The Canxerbury Tick (p. 121). — The generic 

 term Argas is derived from the Greek apyi'ic, white, 

 glistening. Certainly, being entirely eyeless, it can 

 have nothing to do with him " of the hundred eyes." 

 It is a most interesting creature, and 1 have long sus- 

 pected it would turn up in England in some ancient 

 dovecot, though little prepared to hear that it has 

 lurked at Canterbury for a quarter of a century. Is 

 the representation of the connection of the claws 

 with the foot, at fig. 86, quite correct ? — ]F. JF. 

 Spicer. 



Unsuspected Property of the Stag-beetle. 

 — "When we incautiously handle nettles, red ants, 

 and certain hairy caterpillars, an irritating sensa- 



tion is experienced, followed by more or less inflam- 

 mation. This effect is said to be due to an organic 

 acid, which, in the free state, produces that result 

 on tender skin. Formic acid, so called from its 

 being first discovered in the body of the red ant 

 {Formica rufa), may be detected by siniily holding 

 the hand over an ant-hill; a peculiar tingling sensa- 

 tion is the consequence, accompanied by the 

 pleasant aromatic odour of the acid. To examine 

 the acid qualitatively a few of the ants may be 

 digested with water ; on filtering, and adding 

 chloride of gold to one portion of the filtrate, the 

 compound is reduced to the metallic state, car- 

 bonic anhydride being evolved. Another portion 

 of the solution may be heated with concentrated 

 sulphuric acid, when carbonic oxide is given off. 

 These are the ordinary tests for formic acid. I am 

 not certain if it is known to entomologists that the 

 stag-beetle possesses properties analogous to the 

 above. The beetle should be allowed to walk over 

 the back of the hand, at the same time being gently 

 pressed; the skin should then be rubbed with a 

 piece of dry cloth. The hand soon throws out a 

 rash, strongly reminding one of the measles. The 

 question arose, which of the twenty-two movable 

 claws were urticaceous? At the lower extremity 

 of each tibia of the first pair of legs there is a 

 movable claw ; the tibise of the remaining two 

 pairs possess two each. These are the only claws 

 so disagreeably endowed. The attempt to discover 

 an organic acid proved a signal failure, for when 

 blue litmus-paper was pierced with these claws no 

 acid reaction took place, indeed no fluid appeared 

 to issue from the extremities at all. I experimented 

 with a female stag-beetle from Kew Gardens. 

 Nearly all beetles possess these movable claws; 

 they are seen to perfection in such beetles as 

 Bynastes Hercules, and certain members of the 

 genus LucANUS. The question is, are all clawed 

 beetles gifted with similar properties, and is the 

 eifect due to formic acid? — G. liaise. 



BOTANY. 



Seaside Planting.— The following observations 

 on this subject have been received from Mr. C. B. 

 Saunders, nurseryman, planter, and florist, of the 

 Csesaren Nurseries, St. Saviour's, Jersey: — "Atriplex 

 halimus is a plant of very vigorous growth, and is 

 well adapted for planting in exposed situations near 

 the sea ; it grows in great abundance in the hedge- 

 rows in the Bay of St. Brelades, island of Jersey ; 

 its pretty silver-grey foliage recommends it very 

 strongly to the admirers of variety in foliage; it 

 thrives in most descriptions of soil, growing luxu- 

 riantly in sand, and with equal vigour in the strong 

 loam of my nurseries. The propagation is most 

 easy from cuttings of ripened growth under bell- 



