BARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



95 



shoulder of an empty medicine bottle as it stood on a 

 shelf in the tool-house. The larvre, as will be seen, 

 have eaten the spiders, and reached the cocoon stage. 

 In each cell were found portions of the legs and head 

 of the spider, but every other particle had been 

 devoured by the grub for whose sustenance he had 

 been placed there. If spiders are capable of thought, 

 what must be the state of mind of these unfortunate 

 victims, paralysed and shut up in a dark room, 

 awaiting the birth of their devourers, and what their 

 sensations when the greedy larva starts feeding on 

 their still living bodies? — T. IV. Kirk, Museum, 

 Wellington, X.Z. 



Tailed Men. — A correspondent alludes to the 

 os coccyx in man, which recalls to recollection that 

 our ancestors have had a constant predilection for 

 men with tails. His Satanic majesty in pictorial 

 exposition used to take the disguise of hoofs and 

 tail ; and certain fanatics in the days of Thomas 

 a Becket had grim jokes about the tailed men of 

 Stroud ; but this appears as of yesterday, for I have 

 before me a sketch of a Culdee tombstone, from " an 

 auld kirkyard," at Keills, in Argyleshire, where the 

 " Noroway lion" has a twin supporter in a tailed 

 potentate, of ample brow, sitting on his buttocks, 

 and sleeking with his left hand a tail that curls 

 beneath his legs. This tomb of jarl or king is not 

 so ancient, but one of its associates is very archaic, 

 having concentric rings and scores ; and considered 

 as a group, in addition to defaced inscriptions, they 

 all present picture-writing identical with that on the 

 tomb-boards of North American chieftains, leading 

 one insensibly back to the infancy of the human race 

 when picture-writing was the fashion, and all the 

 world was kith and kin. One might indeed on these 

 grounds surmise these tailed men to be identical with 

 some of those old Assyrian gods, who in the Cunei- 

 form Inscription descriptive of the Deluge, as trans- 

 lated by Mr. George Smith, are thus graphically 

 described as seeking refuge from such a calamity : 

 " They ascended to the heaven of Ami. The gods 

 with tails hidden, crouched down ; " while the 

 presence of sphinx-like creatures and elements of the 

 Asiatic-European mythology in conjunction on the 

 tombs would colour the conjecture. The cuneiform 

 description of the Deluge is held to be more ancient 

 than the days of Abraham, and consequently of 

 Moses, to whom are accredited the opening chapters 

 of Genesis, the first of which written with a certain 

 cadence and in some sort of rhythm, would I suppose 

 be correctly termed a psalm. Provided these state- 

 ments be accurate, for I am no adept at the cuneiform, 

 it would seem as if there has always existed a hazy 

 idea concerning tailed men, among our fellow 

 creatures ; and we might easily imagine such to have 

 had its origin among the picture-writers of remote 

 antiquity in some actual tradition, although we are 

 only able to reason from affinity and analogy. On 

 the Culdee monuments, hunting the elephant is also 

 now and again depicted, but I question if the said 

 elephants could be proved mammoths or mastodons, 

 as I do not think that they are "hairy" beasts; 

 though at the same time they certainly harmonise 

 well with the tailed men, and their huntsmen have 

 Celtic targets, and the character of the monuments 

 themselves is very evidently not Christian, but in 

 harmony with those previously noticed ; and the 

 whole is vividly suggestive of the age of Saturn, 

 "Pan's blameless reign, and patriarchal days." — ■ 

 A. H. Swinton. 



Depraved ArrETTTES. — No doubt the cat men- 

 tioned by A. Verinder (p. 45) is suffering from 



worms ; when such is the case these animals (and 

 dogs also) acquire a depraved appetite, seemingly 

 to assuage the constant sense of gnawing at the 

 stomach caused by the presence of the parasites. I 

 have seen dogs eat chrysanthemum leaves, cinders, 

 and other equally absurd delicacies {'!). A few doses 

 of areca nut would soon solve the question, however, 

 as much as will lie on a sixpence would be the dose 

 for a full-grown cat. I would advise A. Verinder to 

 give it a trial. — W. Finch, jun., Nottingham. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now- 

 publish Science-Gossip earlier than formerly, we cannot un- 

 dertake to insert in the following number any communications 

 which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month. 



To Anonymous Querists. — We must adhere to our rule of 

 not noticing queries which do not bear the writers' names. 



To Dealers and Others. — We are always glad to treat 

 dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general 

 ground as amateurs, in so far as the "exchanges" offered are fair 

 exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are simply- 

 disguised advertisements, for the purpose of evading the cost of 

 advertising, an advantage is taken of out gratuitous insertion of 

 " exchanges " which cannot be tolerated. 



We request that all exchanges may be signed with name (or 

 initials) and full address at the end. 



T. H. B. — Any of Murby's excellent series of cheap scientific 

 manuals would meet your req»iremenls. Longmans' have pub- 

 lished a still better set of works at 4s. del. each. W. Collins & 

 Sons, Glasgow, have also issued a capital and cheap library of 

 books on the subjects you name. 



Miss S. Smith. — The so-called Australian "opossum" 

 belongs to the same order (Marsupialia) as the American 

 animals bearing ihe same popular name. The zoological name 

 of the common Australian kind is Phalangista vulpina. Eggs 

 both of the echidna and platypus are not common, and the 

 Editor of Science-Gossip would be glad to be supplied with 

 one. 



A. R. Bankarte.— Apply to Mr. Geo. Morton, F.G.S., 

 Geological Society, Liverpool, who a few years ago published 

 a handy little manual of the carboniferous limestone of North 

 Wales, with maps, photographs, lists and localities for fossils, &c. 



G. W. — You might apply to any of the dealers in microscopic 

 materials who advertite in the pages of Science-Gossip. 



C. G. — You had better make Havre your head-quarters. If 

 you can, get Quatrefages' "Rambles of a Naturalist" on the 

 coasts of Normandy (2 vols.) translated. 



C. C. — See McAlpine's "Zoological Atlas." 



E. A. Hutton. — A General Index to the first twelve vols, 

 of Science-Gossip was published at the close of 1876, price 8</- 

 Apply to our publishers, Messrs. Chatto & Windus. Perhaps 

 another Index will be published at the end of the second twelve 

 y ears. 



F. Stanley. — Mantell's " Geology of Sussex " has some 

 excellent figures of the chalk fossils of that region, with de- 

 scriptions, &c. 



Geo. Alant. — Huxley's "Physiology" (price 4.?. 6d., Mar- 

 miilan & Co.) is the best elementary work you can get. 

 Flower's "Osteology" (price 6s. , Macmillan & Co.) on bone^. 

 You could order a student's microscope (from £2 10s. to £7) 

 from any of the microscope makers who advertise in our 

 columns. 



C. T. W. N. (Sheffield). — We shall be very pleased to receive 

 short notices of the meetings of your society. 



EXCHANGES. 



Wanted, plants for herbarium from all parts of the world. 

 Correspondence and exchange invited. — Rev. Hilderic Friend, 

 F.L.S., 19 Burlington Place, Carlisle. 



Duplicates, Planorbis glabcr, Helix hispida, Helix (trims- 

 tonim, Valvata piscinalis, &c. Desiderata, Planorbis uitidus, 

 Spharium ovale, Pisidium rosetim, Succinea oblonga, or any 

 slugs' shells.— John Clegg, 5 Derby Street, Millwood, Tod- 

 morden. . . 



I should be glad to correspond with a collector in the north 

 of Scotland with a view to exchanging the eggs of our midland 

 birds for those of the birds of his neighbourhood.— K. D., 

 Cofton Parsonage, Redditch. 



Wanted, good 5 X 4 or i-plate portable camera, swing back, 

 changing slide; lens must be good. Exchange, S. Kent's 

 "Infusoria" (cost £3 3J.), or other works. — H., 73 Clarence 

 Road, Clapton, N.E. 



