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HA RDWICKE'S S CIENCE- GOS SIP. 



became known, unfortunately, a boy destroyed the 

 nest and four of the eggs, the farmer having the other 

 in his possession. On examining it, though much 

 broken, I find it has been hard set, and would have 

 been hatched in a few days. It would have been 

 very interesting to have known whether the young 

 could have been brought up at this early season. 

 A blackbird's nest with young has also been got in a 

 plantation on Culzean estate, about the beginning of 

 February, these instances showing the remarkable 

 mildness of the season. — W. R. N. 



Munchausen still Alive ! A weekly and 

 much-read paper has the following bit of veracity : 

 The Human Blood. — " Professor Bronson (an 

 American) states, that if a drop of human blood be 

 subjected to examination by the hydrogen microscope, 

 and magnified some 20,000,000 of times, all the 

 species of animals now existing on the earth, or that 

 have existed during the different stages of creation 

 for thousands of years past will be then discovered. 

 In the blood of a healthy person all the animalcula 

 are quiet and peaceable ; but in the blood of a 

 diseased person they are furious, raging, and preying 

 upon each other. That man contains within himself 

 all the principles of the universe ; also, that, if a dead 

 cat be thrown into a pool of stagnant water, and 

 allowed to dissolve there, a drop of water taken from 

 any part of the pool, will show as above, every species 

 of animal of the cat kind that has ever existed on the 

 earth, raging and destroying one another, the bodies 

 of all the lower animals being thus made animalcula 

 similar to themselves, and the body of man being 

 compounded of all that is below in the scale of 

 creation." 



Localities for Butterflies. — Will any of the 

 readers of Science-Gossip kindly inform me of any 

 good localities, easily accessible from the north of 

 London (when one has only half a day to spare), for 

 any such species as the following : — Argynnis paphia, 

 A. euphrosyne, Melit&a artemis, Thccla quercus, 

 T. W-album and T. Betulce, Leucophasia sinapis, 

 etc. I should be very glad of information respecting 

 such localities of any of the more uncommon 

 butterflies ; I only mention the above as instances. 

 — A. G. T. 



Rudiments. — It appears tome that Miss Layard is 

 perfectly justified in objecting to Mr. Darwin's use of 

 the word "rudimentary" on the ground that it is 

 not used by him in the generally accepted sense, 

 viz., an early state of a structure to be developed at 

 some future time. "Reduced," or "degenerated," 

 would seem a more appropriate word to apply to an 

 organ, which, undoubtedly in a lower state of 

 development than it once was, has fallen away from 

 that typical form. " Rudimentary " might possibly 

 be correctly used for a structure in a low state of 

 development compared with a higher standard, but 

 at any rate the words suggested would be less mis- 

 leading. But Miss Layard not only objects to Mr. 

 Darwin's use of the word ; she would apparently 

 object just as much if " reduced," or " degenerated," 

 were substituted for it, when applied to any of man's 

 organs. She is "inclined to doubt " Mr. Darwin's 

 statement that our senses are inherited " in an enfeebled 

 and rudimentary (or reduced) condition." Her reason 

 appears to be that in losing keenness our senses have 

 gained refinement and appreciation of variety, that it 

 is "quantity versus quality." This is indisputable, 

 but does not the mere fact that they have lost 

 keenness, justify the statement that they are "en- 

 feebled"? Again, why is it "strange" that we 

 should seek " for the perfection of our so-called 



rudimentary organs in the lower animals"? Does- 

 not evolution include retrogression as well as pro- 

 gression in development, and has not man retro- 

 gressed so far as his "so-called rudimentary organs" 

 go? Miss Layard says: — "If we are driven to 

 defend the down on the human body, and even the 

 os coccyx, we shall find the same argument to hold 

 good" (viz., "quantity versus quality"). And 

 again, "the tail is the rudimentary condition of the 

 more perfect shortened formation." What "quality" 

 does Miss Layard find in the os coccyx to compensate 

 for the "quantity" in the tail? And how can a 

 structure, such as the os coccyx, which is so de- 

 generated as to have no function at all, be "more 

 perfect " than one which in many cases has 

 distinct functions ? I suppose Miss Layard would 

 assert that the muscles of our arms and chest, for 

 instance, are "more perfect" than those of a 

 gorilla's. Have not these organs fallen away from 

 the typical standard exemplified in the lower animals ? 

 It seems to me that Miss Layard regards the organs 

 of man, in all cases, as perfect types, and judges the 

 rest of the animal world by the standard she has set 

 up ; whereas, in reality, we do not find, and cannot 

 expect to find, all the typical forms of organs con- 

 centrated in one being. Because man is, taken 

 as a whole, the most perfect animal known, surely 

 he cannot maintain that each organ he possesses is, 

 per se, more perfect than any corresponding one 

 through the whole range of the animal kingdom. 

 — A. G. Tansley. 



Yew Tree Poisoning Cattle. — Mr. Lett's note 

 (Science-Gossip, p. 49) calls to memory a similar 

 case, illustrating the poisonous nature of yew-tree 

 leaves, in Leicestershire in the year 1882. During 

 the night eighteen head of cattle, out of a herd of 

 forty, managed somehow to partake of them ; but, 

 if taken with three or four times the, ; quantity of 

 their usual food, the leaves of the yew-tree are 

 innoxious. — C. E. Stott, Lostock. 



V. Atalanta in 1887. — My experience does not 

 coincide with your correspondents' from Dundee, 

 Malvern, and Eastbourne in reference to this butter- 

 fly. It seemed very plentiful in this neighbourhood. 

 I noticed large numbers in a garden here settling on 

 some sunflowers. A very large proportion of the 

 specimens seemed much below the average size. 

 Would the very dry summer affect them in this way?' 

 — C. S., Fenarth, near Cardiff. 



Feeding Frogs and Newts. — In giving my 

 experience of the food habits of the above, I did not 

 intend it to be understood that I habitually feed my 

 green-tree frogs on earthworms, although I can safely 

 state that I have had them seize and swallow small 

 specimens with avidity. Mr. Finch has no doubt 

 mistaken my meaning, owing to an oversight in 

 leaving out the words " common frogs," in connection 

 with " newts, salamanders, and green-tree frogs." I 

 had the idea that the heading, "Feeding frogs and 

 newts" would sufficiently convey my meaning. I was . 

 endeavouring to answer the query of a previous cor- 

 respondent, and no doubt he would understand that 

 I was referring to our common British species, which 

 is so totally unlike the beautiful little Hyla arborea 

 of the continent as to render it a matter of impossi- 

 bility to confound the two. My salamanders are also 

 very partial to slugs, as well as earth worms, which 

 certainly do not "invariably make their escape while 

 their enemy is making up his mind which to take ; " 

 I have known them to swallow three or four earth- 

 worms in a very short space of time when hungry ; 

 as a matter of fact, I think the latter would come off 



