i8 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



'"having done so, they are to propagate an infection 

 that will wholly or partially exterminate them. "A 

 consummation most devoutly to be wished for ! " 



So far the project is most promising, but the 

 danger to the poultry and game of the country is 

 rather serious. Pasteur answers for the sheep. He 

 has tried, and finds that they are not liable to this 

 particular infection. 



Among the birds of New Zealand is one vile luxurious 

 beast whose extirpation is most earnestly demanded. 

 It is that epicurean parrot, that feathered gourmet, 

 which has discovered in the kidney suet of the living 

 sheep a food more dainty than the vegetable oil of its 

 natural seed-food. The hateful bird accordingly fixes 

 its claws in the wool of its victim, and tears away its 

 i-kin with cruel beak ; then dives amidst the warm 

 blood and quivering flesh into the fat surrounding 

 the kidneys, while the tortured sheep struggles in 

 vain to shake off its tormentor, and dies after 

 suffering the most dreadful agonies that are possible 

 to such an animal. 



If Pasteur's remedy fails, there is anolh :r direction 

 open for research. May we not find some herb that 

 will poison rabbits ? If so, it could easily be planted 

 in small patches, carefully enclosed with wooden 

 stakes at about six inches apart, too close for sheep 

 or lambs to pass, but free to rabbits. In dry weather 

 they will eagerly devour almost anything that is 

 succulent, and these little plantations might be 

 watered, if necessary, during Australian droughts. 



Wolves in France. — It is a curious fact that, 

 ■while Pasteur is coming forward to rescue the 

 Austrabans from their four-footed pest, the ancient 

 and classical quadruped scourge of France is in- 

 creasing so seriously that, only five years ago, the 

 French Government found it necessary to raise the 

 head-money on wolves. They now offer 200 francs 

 for killing a wolf that has attacked human beings, 

 350 francs for one in young, 100 francs for a male 

 wolf, and 40 francs for a cub. 



In 18S2, 423 wolves were killed; in 1883, 1316; 

 in 1884, 1035 ; in 1885, 900; and in 1886, 760. 



When living in Flintshire, I paid a rate of two- 

 pence per acre as mole-catchers' tax, the result being 

 ■that at certain times a mysterious personage groped 

 mysteriously in the fields ; and on the following 

 •morning two or three black objects were seen hanging 

 to wires. These were moles, and the wires were 

 parts of traps which were supposed to have caught 

 the moles. Libellous persons asserted that the same 

 moles were exhibited again and again in different 

 fields, and that the mole-catcher was a mole-preserver, 

 as extermination of the moles would ruin his trade. 

 With such high awards for the killing of French 

 wolves, the like may occur in France, if wolf-catching 

 is a profession. A pair of wolves and family might 

 be carefully fed until the cubs reached the 100 francs 

 or 200 francs stage of life, and the enterprise would 



probably yield a good profit to the peasant on whose 

 land they were reared, and who, knowing their 

 habits, would gather his wolf harvest at the proper 

 season. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



A capital new illustrated monthly has been 

 brought out in the United States, under the editorship 

 of Dr. Manton and others, entitled " The Micro- 

 scope." The London agent for it is Mr. W. P. 

 Collins, 157 Great Portland Street, W. 



We have received a copy of Mr. J. G. Goodchild's 

 elaborate paper on " Ice-work in Edenside, and some 

 of the adjoining parts of North-Western England," 

 reprinted from the Transactions of the Cumberland 

 and Westmoreland Association. 



In last month's number of " The Welcome " is a 

 lengthy, well-written, and elaborately-illustrated 

 article, by Mr. II. M. J. Underhill on " The Beautiful 

 Floscule." 



The account of the Microscopical and Natural 

 History Soiree of the Croydon Club, on Nov. 19th, 

 reached us too late for notice in our last. It appears 

 to have been highly successful, in spite of a foggy 

 night. The list of objects of science was enormous. 



The Ipswich Scientific Society held their three 

 years' Conversazione in the Public Hall, on Nov. 29th ; 

 about 800 people were present. The hall was lit by 

 electricity conveyed by wires over the house-tops from 

 the office of the "East Anglian Daily Times," more 

 than a quarter of a mile away, and the same electric 

 energy was also utilised to work the machinery. 



A new book by Dr. J. E. Taylor, editor of 

 Science-Gossip, is announced under the title of 

 " The Playtime Naturalist." It is to be copiously 

 illustrated. 



The Swiss "Journal of Ornithology " announces 

 the extinction of the last Alpine Vulture or Lammer- 

 geyer. The last specimen believed to be remaining 

 is now in the Museum at Lausanne. 



Mr. Norman Lockver's articles on Meteorites, 

 now weekly appearing in "Nature," have attracted 

 much attention, asbeing original contributions to the 

 theories of Cosmogony. 



A KEEN controversy has been going on in the 

 same journal between the Duke of Argyll and 

 Professor Bonney, relative to Darwin's theory of the 

 " Origin of Coral Reefs." 



The district Calabria was again visited by a 

 terrible earthquake on December 1st. 



The National Association for the Promotion of 

 Technical Education, recently held a most successful 

 meeting in Manchester, at which Sir Henry Roscoe, 



