HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



281 



very prone to produce a proliferation of the apex of 

 the' frond.— J. A. Whcldon. 



Mists and Mice. — I have noticed that the mist 

 forming on the river Medway (and, doubtless, the 

 same on other rivers) at night smells strongly of 

 mice. What is the cause ? — H. L. D. 



Penarth Entomological Society.— It maybe 

 interesting to your readers to hear that, at a meeting 

 ■of the Penarth Entomological Society, held on the 

 1 8th inst., Mr. J. L. Howe exhibited two specimens 

 of Colias Ednsa caught on the 16th about two miles 

 from here, he having seen no less than six specimens 

 and also one Grapta e-albicm. Allow me to report 

 that Plusia gamma has been very abundant about here 

 this summer, specimens appearing at sugar being re- 

 markably bright and well marked. P. cardui has also 

 been very plentiful. — G. A. Birkenhead, Hon. Sec. 



Mimicry in Plants. — I found numerous speci- 

 mens of Geranium molle in one clump near Penzance. 

 These were on the roadside and there were no white 

 flowers near, except a few late specimens of Capsella 

 bursa -pastor is. The central flowers of the clump 

 were completely white, but the outer ones had the 

 exterior of their petals slightly tinged with pink. 

 This may assist your correspondent in deciding 

 whether the colour arises from mimicry or poorness 

 of soil. These specimens were of quite the average 

 size, but they were certainly growing on a thin soil. — 

 IV. P. Winter. 



Pauca Verba. — On Prof. Drummond's Natural 

 Law. 1. In "Conformity to Type," he says the 

 protoplasm of plant, animal, and man cannot be 

 distinguished one from the other, and further on, 

 The mineral furnishes the material for the vegetable ; 

 the vegetable for the animal, etc. I. Then how is it 

 possible that the vegetable and animal protoplasms 

 are indistinguishable ? 2. All life is correspondence 

 with environment. 2. With what environment does 

 original thought correspond ? 3. The whole organism 

 out of correspondence with the whole environment 

 is death. Part of the organism out of correspondence 

 -with its environment is dead. 3. The whole and the 

 part are not alike dead ; in the latter case the 

 correspondence may be restored ; in the former, 

 never. Partial paralysis may throw certain organs 

 of the brain out of correspondence with their en- 

 vironment, but there is a possibility of its being 

 restored, strictly speaking, they are not dead ; 

 whereas life once departed cannot be recalled. 

 4. Prof. Drummond cites a deaf man, as being in- 

 sensible or dead as regards sound. 4. Part of the 

 body other than the brain, out of correspondence 

 with environment, scarcely implies that the organism 

 is in that relation dead ; the organ of the power in 

 the brain is not even insensible ; it is out of corre- 

 spondence, because the indirect organ or instrument 

 of communication is impaired ; this is seen in a case 

 of injury to the drum of the ear, when the substitu- 

 tion of an artificial one immediately re-establishes 

 correspondence. All conscious correspondence is 

 dependent on the brain ; thus it is suspended during 

 sound sleep or a swoon ; in insanity correspondence 

 is imperfect, because the brain is impaired. In this 

 world the spiritual correspondence is no exception to 

 this. The spiritual does not supersede the organic as 

 the organic does the inorganic, it is carried on in 

 connection with it. All correspondences appear to 

 cease at death. There is no trace of the organism 

 which is to correspond, "post-mortem," with the 

 same spiritual environment ; it must be carried on 

 under different conditions. Finally this theory of 



correspondence seems to involve conditional im- 

 mortality ; future life depending on spiritual corre- 

 spondence. — Charlotte Helbnann. 



Water-Spider. — I read the article on the water- 

 spider, in your issue for September, with much in- 

 terest. I have at present a specimen of this creature 

 which has made a good-sized nest, and I expect it 

 will soon breed. The writer of the before-mentioned 

 article says that the spider is very ferocious at this 

 time, and on the approach of a water-snail (Planorbis 

 corneus) as the animal was too large to attack, the 

 spider turned it from its course by tickling its horns. 

 This morning (Oct. 10th) I observed one of the same 

 snails on a stalk of Anacharis alsinastrum just by the 

 nest. As soon as the spider noticed the mollusc, it 

 came out of the nest and gave the snail a few "pecks " 

 with the spine-like organ in front ot the mouth. This 

 caused the planorbis to draw in its horns, and at 

 length it altered its course, when the spider returned 

 to its nest. The snail was not very large, but of 

 moderate size. — F. P. Perks. 



Teeth of Glow-worm. — Mr. Arthur Ayling is 

 incorrect in saying that the teeth of a glow-worm are 

 unable to pierce the skin. When living in Surrey, 

 where they especially abound, I kept one for some 

 months, and can attest, from my own personal ex- 

 perience, that little Anguis fragilis can draw blood, 

 though in my case it was not followed by any in- 

 flammation. — Laon. 



A Queer Place foe Shells.— On Saturday, 

 October 20th, the manager of the Gannow Weaving 

 Shed, Burnley, told me they were cleaning out the 

 engine cistern, and that if I went down I might find 

 something interesting to me, as he had noticed a 

 number of shells in it. Being curious to know what 

 they might be, I took my apparatus, and was soon on 

 the spot. We ascended to the cistern which is on the 

 top of the engine-house, and about sixty feet above 

 the canal from which the water is pumped. The 

 water had been drawn off, leaving a few inches of 

 mud, among which were Sph. corneum and Sph. 

 lacustre. The sides were covered with long silky con- 

 fervoids, among which were numbers of V. piscina/is, 

 B. tentaculata, a very pretty form of L. pe/egra, very 

 much like succinea, both in form and texture, P. albus, 

 P. corneus, P. nitidus, a few P. glaber, and the very 

 local P. dilatatus occurred in thousands, of which I 

 obtained some immense specimens. This species is 

 very small in the canal below, but here they were 

 much larger than the specimens mentioned by Mr. J. 

 Russell Wildman, in the September number, as in- 

 habiting the paper-works lodge. I attribute their 

 large size to the fact, that the water is kept at an equal 

 temperature all the year round. The vegetation in 

 the cistern consisted of the before-mentioned confervae 

 and Anacharis alsinastrum, among which were any 

 number of beetles, caddis-worms, &c. — F. C. Long, 

 Burnley. 



Battle between a Snake and Hedgehog.— 

 A friend in America has sent me a very interesting 

 account of a battle between a hedgehog and snake. 

 His account is as follows : While I was up in the 

 woods I witnessed a most remarkable fight. It was 

 nothing less than a pitched battle between a snake 

 and a hedgehog. I was sitting on a rock in the 

 shade, when I saw the hedgehog. I had my gun in 

 my hand, and was about to fire at the animal, when 

 something peculiar in his actions caused me to wait 

 and see what he was up to. He was crawling along 

 the ground cautiously. Looking ahead of him a few 

 feet, I saw a big snake coiled up, evidently asleep. 



