HARDWICKE'S S C IE N CE-GOS S IP. 



93 



Several weeks since 1 got a pair of snakes— young 

 ones about eight inches long— sent to me from 

 England. They were put in the fern-case beside 

 the natterjack, and for a time they all seemed to 

 live happily together. About a fortnight ago, 

 however, the natterjack was seen to swallow one of 

 the snakes. He was first seen with about half of it 

 stickinsr out of his mouth, and after some consider- 

 able difficulty— the snake vigorously protesting— 

 he managed to get it all over. Six days afterwards 

 I found the body of the snake in the fernery, entire, 

 but shrivelled to less than half its former thiekness. 

 The natterjack had been fed with raw meat the day 

 previous, so that he could not be impelled to the 

 act by any great hunger. — John Harvie. 



Forcing Pup^. — Having in my possession some 

 Sphingidfe pupae, elpenor, porce.llm, &c., I deter- 

 mined to try my hand at " forcing." Before doing 

 so I obtained the advice of several entomological 

 friends, and well studied the directions given by 

 Dr.Knaggs in his admirable "Guide." Accordingly, 

 I procured a flower-pot saucer, in which I strewed 

 sand, placing over it some moss, in which I care- 

 fully deposited the pupse, covering these over 

 with moss, and over all this a hollow moss- 

 covered framework of cane, "in which the insect 

 might crawl to a place suitable for drying its 

 wings ; " then having well damped the whole with 

 tepid water, I placed the contrivance before a good 

 fire, and because the pupa3 should not be chilled at 

 night, put tlie cage into the oven. Of course, the 

 fire had been previously extinguished. This was 

 about three or four days before Christmas. "In 

 from ten days to a fortnight the ninths will bearin 

 to make their appearance," says Dr. Knaggs. With 

 great anxiety I watched and waited. Ten days, a 

 fortnight, slipped by and not a sign of any emer- 

 gence. A month, and not a ghost of a moth. 

 Then I began to have my doubts and thought I 

 would just take a peep, '^hepopuli being of the least 

 value, I took up one; the pliability characteristic 

 of vitality was gone, it was hard and stiff. Gently, 

 I broke it in half, and was rewarded with a shower 

 of thickish fluid in my eyes and mouth. Very much 

 disgusted, with caution I tried other poplars : they 

 were all dead ; the pupa-case in each instance filled 

 with the fluid before mentioned, which resembles 

 that ejected by some imagos — especially the Vanes- 

 sidse— when recently emerged from the chrysalis. 

 The iigustri and elephants were jerking their tails. 

 Carefully damping as before, I waited another 

 week, but in vain. Nothing rewarded my patience. 

 I broke open the privet-hawks : they were all 

 defunct, nothing but hollow shells, even the fluid 

 matter was dried up; but one elephant, when I 

 touched it, moved its tail feebly. With some mis- 

 givings I pulled it apart ; the upper portion was 

 filled with fluid, but the tail had not yet passed into 

 that state. It is strange there should be no 

 unpleasant odour attendant upon this decay, the 

 dissolving of the fleshy substance into liquid. 

 Sometimes one may learn as much from failure as 

 success ; but 1 am at a loss to understand why my 

 care and patience were not rewarded. Perhaps 

 some kind friends will give me their experience, 

 that ere I try forcing again I may be put right 

 where I did wrong. — Joseph Anderson, juit. 



(Enanthe crocata.— a short time ago a sad 

 case of death by poison appeared in the papers. I 

 refer to the three little children at Falmouth, two 

 of whom were found lying dead on the beach, and 



the other in strong convulsions, from which he 

 ultimately recovered. The children were not (as re- 

 ported in the evidence) poisoned by eating mussels, 

 but by the Water-hemlock {CEiiun.the crocata), 

 some roots of which were found on the beach near 

 them. The country people call this plant the mock 

 parsnip, from its sweetness. Can any of your 

 readers give me any information respecting the 

 CEiianthe crocata, and toll me if there is any antidote 

 to this deadly poison? It is frequently washed 

 up on this coast, and two cases of similarly painful 

 deaths have occurred from it within the memory of 

 an inhabitant of Budock. An Austrian sailor ate of 

 it, and was dead before he could reach his ship ; 

 and a little girl was poisoned suddenly. The symp- 

 toms resulting from the eating of this root are quite 

 different from those produced by poisonous mussels. 

 — IE. L. Cornish. 



Stings of Wasps. — I must venture a few re- 

 marks on the articles relating to the sting of the 

 wasp. The sheatii of the sting of a wasp is flat and 

 thin, and so, if put on a slide the wrong way it will 

 appear sharp-pointed, instead of which, when placed 

 flat, it ends round, with a slight depression in the 

 middle. The two barbs lie witli their backs 

 together ; and I am sorry to differ from Mr. Mills ; 

 but unless they liave been forced out, when not 

 used, they are entirely withdrawn into the sheath. 

 This in all the stings 1 have prepared I never foimd 

 otherwise, and I think it seems most natural that a 

 sheath should act as a sheath, when the instrument 

 is not employed. 1 cannot help thinking that Mr. 

 Malet was somehow deceived in what he saw, espe- 

 cially as he used a single globular lens. The lancets 

 have, I should say, a vessel down them ; but I see. 

 with Mr. Mills, no aperture o nor about the point of 

 the sting ; and if, as he says, the duct passes into the 

 sheath behind the lancet, I don't see how the poison 

 is to get inside them. As to the branches which 

 appear like tubes, I fancy that their use may be to 

 strengthen the barbs. Perhaps Mr. Malet will be 

 able some day to get some of the scarlet-coloured 

 poison out ofthe bag and view it with plain light. 

 If I can, I will try ; at any rate the colour is so 

 niarked that there should be no difficulty in seeing 

 it ; but with strong sunlight deception is easy. 

 Does Mr. Mills obtain the crystals separate from 

 the bag, or merely see them througli it, and can 

 he tell me what description they are ?— ^. T. Scott. 



Hybernation of Bats.— While walking recently 

 near Addington (1 p.m.), the sun shining brightly, 

 I saw two bats flying over a small pool, and evi- 

 dently in pursuit of insects ; I watched them for 

 five or ten minutes. Never having seen anything 

 of the kind before, I should like to know whether it 

 is a common occurrence for bats to fly at mid-day at 

 this time of year. — H. B. E. Fox. 



The Note op the Cushat.— When I was in 

 Wales a year or two ago, I heard the legend about 

 which your correspondents have been writing, from 

 a VVelsh squire. This account differs from any 

 which I have seen in your journal, and any one who 

 will listen to the Ringdove's " song," will at once 

 discover that neither "Jemmy" nor "Tafl'y" is 

 admissible. " Taffy " was going to steal a cow, and 

 in a lone place he heard the words, " Tuk too Coo — 

 Sam," and consequently "Taffy" or Sam, as his 

 name happened to be, was frightened out of his wits, 

 and ran home again as fast as his legs would carry 

 him. The warning "spirit" still repeats from her 

 resting-place the memorable words which struck 



