20 



HARDWICKKS SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



they were ejected. Another point about which there 

 can be no doubt is that the position of the nest made 

 it quite impossible for the cuckoo to lay the egg. 

 The probability is that it was placed there by the 

 mouth. The construction of the foot with the 

 opposed toes similar to the woodpecker's, are very 

 applicable for grasping, but perhaps it is hardly 

 likely the foot would be used for the removal of the 

 egg, the mouth is much more possible. — E. Wheeler, 

 Bristol. 



The Rudimentary Intelligence of the 

 Infusoria. — A correspondent, signing himself 

 " H." takes exception to some of the arguments 

 contained in the article of mine on the above subject 

 which appeared in the November number. "Mr. 

 Deane," he writes, "appears to contend that 

 instinct is an outcome of intelligence. Is not rather 

 intelligence a higher development of instinct? " My 

 contention was simply this, instinct in an individual 

 must imply a power of reasoning ; it matters not 

 whether that reasoning was performed by the 

 individual or by an ancestor. It must have been 

 performed at some time, and its performance 

 involved the possession of intelligence. " H." 

 contends that the reasoning was done by an ancestor, 

 and transmitted to all his descendants, so that their 

 actions have become purely mechanical. The 

 supposition that each successive individual has a 

 small intelligence of his own, is to my mind more 

 satisfactory than the theory that there was once 

 a preternaturally wise ancestor who did all the 

 thinking for himself and all succeeding generations. 

 But in either case, the main contention of my article 

 is unaltered ; namely, that the Infusoria show far 

 more intelligence than is compatible with their place 

 in the structural scale of creation, if we are still to 

 regard the mental development as necessarily 

 corresponding with the physical. " H." concludes 

 thus : " It does not seem to be necessarily a question 

 of intelligence or instinct at all ; a mere mechanical 

 advantage would have the same result if transmitted." 

 What precisely is a mechanical advantage ? And 

 wherein does it differ from instinct ?— A. C. Deane, 

 Clare College, Cambridge. 



Eggs Coloured at Smaller End.— Mr. 

 Nunn, in his interesting paper, " The Colouring of 

 the Eggs of Wild Birds at the Smaller End," states 

 that amongst IOOO specimens of the eggs of the 

 house-sparrow, there is not one coloured at the wrong 

 end. I have seen two so marked, one, which I still 

 possess, I found rather late in the summer of 1887. 

 The next was beneath a tile in an out-house. — 

 P. Tracy, Ipswich. 



The Hearing of Ants. — Both Mr. Bowman 

 and Mr. J. W. Williams are rather hard on me for 

 my remarks anent the hearing power of ants. The 

 former would like to know what the ants themselves 



thought of " my attempt to rob them of their organs 

 of hearing?" The latter (Mr. Williams) says that I 

 think ants do not hear. In reply to Mr. Bowman's 

 strictures, I may say that I never have attempted to 

 rob them of their sense of hearing. It is a well- 

 known fact that Sir John Lubbock has experimented 

 with ants, and has come to the conclusion that they 

 do not hear. I read Mr. Bowman's article on the 

 Wood-ant, and he says that ants do hear. Very 

 good, then ; the question is an open one, and I for 

 one, side with Sir John Lubbock in that it is probable 

 that ants do not hear, and I put forward the theory 

 that the vibrations of a sonorous body might be 

 conveyed to their organs of touch, and thus give an 

 observer the idea that the insects had really heard the 

 sound, when such, perhaps, was not the case. In my 

 short article I was careful also to say that we must 

 not infer from these experiments that ants are deaf to 

 all sounds. Their range of hearing may be different 

 to ours ; they may hear sounds that are caused by 

 perhaps less than a vibration frequency of 28 per 

 second, or by one of more than 3,800, sounds that 

 would be inaudible to us human beings. Now Mr. 

 Williams thinks there is no doubt at all about the 

 question, and he gives as his reason that auditory 

 organs have been demonstrated in all the Insecta 

 except the Thysanoptera. It is all very well to tell 

 us this, but I ask " How do you know these 

 ' chordotonal ' organs are really ' auditory ' organs ? " 

 There may be 200 or 2000 of these so-called auditory 

 organs, and I then still doubt whether ants really do 

 hear. However, what I have said is open to 

 criticism, and if any one can overthrow my theory in 

 an argument that is patent to me, I will no longer 

 defend it. — Chas. A. JVhatmore, B.Sc. {Int). 



A List of the British Diptera, by G. H. 

 Verrall, F.E.S. (London : Pratt & Co.). A list like 

 the above has long been wanted by the collector. 

 Mr. Verrall is very careful in accepting doubtful 

 British species, and sets his face steadfastly against 

 the unnecessary manufacture of species and varieties. 

 We heartily recommend this list to those of our 

 readers who are interested in the study of Diptera. 



BOTANY. 



Linum perenne, L. — In the summer of 1888 I was 

 staying near Godshill, in the Isle of Wight, and in a 

 field near the house I found a species of Linum which 

 I am tolerably certain was L. perenne. The exact 

 place was at Blake Down, about a mile or more from 

 Godshill. The hill is for the most part covered with 

 a large common, but at the south end the ground 

 sloped down to the road in a large grassy field, and 

 in one corner of this the linum was plentiful. A few 

 scattered plants grew elsewhere. I do not pretend 

 to have any great knowledge of the British Flora, 

 and it is possible the plant in question was L. 



