HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



165 



Winter Habit of Fleas.—" J. R. S. C." will 

 perhaps feel interested in knowing: that on one 

 occasion the writer came upon a colony of fleas in 

 their winter quarters on a piece of dimity that 

 formed the sides of a sofa-bed not in use. Each 

 insect had a cell to itself shaped liked a cocoon, 

 about one-eisrhth of an inch long, and a sixteenth in 

 the middle width. The insects were not torpid, but 

 showed their usual activity by escaping through a 

 longitudinal crevice in the cocoon one after the 

 other, as if they were all simultaneously alarmed at 

 the moment of discovery, thougli each cell was 

 separate from its neighbour ! How the insects 

 continued to work up sufficient fluff off so hard a 

 cotton fabric as dimity, and mould it into fclose- 

 fitting cocoons, is a puzzling question. — W. B. 

 Fowey. 



Ants' Eggs. — Would any one kindly inform me 

 how to prepare the pupae of ants for storing for 

 winter? After collecting them, are they dried in 

 the sun or in an oven ? Also are tliey given to birds 

 simply in the dried state ? — H. S. JF. 



Wild Tulip. — It may perhaps interest the 

 readers of Science-Gossip to learn that the wild 

 tulin {Tvlipa sylvestris), said to be rare, or at least 

 local in England, and hardly ever seen in Somer- 

 set, was found the other day near Combe Hay, a 

 small village near-Bath. One afternoon in the 

 Easter week I received five specimens of different 

 sizes. I have only to add that, on its becoming 

 known that they had been found, there was so much 

 inquiry about the locality and such a run after 

 them, that now there is not a single specimen to be 

 found.— Zf. Macco. 



Gum Dammar. — Your correspondent Alfred 

 Allen can easily dissolve the above resin by melting 

 it first in a sand-bath, and gradually adding the 

 turpentine he requires: the solution is made at once. 

 Benzole, not Benzoline, is used as another solvent. 

 Mere powdering and well shaking up in the gold 

 "ill effect a solution in this case. — /. Wiggin, 

 Ipswich. 



Poisonous Plants.— In reply to the case of the 

 two children belonging to the Chester Workhouse 

 who were poisoned some time ago by partaking of the 

 root of some plant, the name of which "Eliz. Ed- 

 wards," in your last issue, desires to know, I can only 

 say, on the information of an unbotanical friend of 

 '.nine, residing in Chester, that the plant in question 

 was stated in the papers to have been the wild 

 celery {Apium graveolens) ; and that this plant 

 does grow there, alongside the river, I can testify : 

 so if uprooted about such a part, it becomes ex- 

 ceedingly probable that injurious, if not fatal, effects 

 would follow from the eating of it ; and these again 

 varying very much of course upon the time 

 at which the plant may have happened to be got. 

 I may as well add here, for the information of such 

 as may not know it, that it is only through cultiva- 

 tion and blanching that the celery we use is ren- 

 dered edible, of which the wild is the origin. — 

 John Harrison, Newcastle-on-Tyne. 



Ipswich Amber. — I presume your correspondent 

 " C. D.," in referring to " Ipswich amber," really 

 spraks of that manufactured at Trimley, a village 

 within two miles of the coast, and distant 10 miles 

 frnin Ipswich. I know that a considerable number 

 of crosses, bracelets, and other personal ornaments, 

 are, and have been, made there lor the last 30 years 

 by one family, who procure the amber from poor 



persons picking it up after wintry storms on the 

 coast between Landguard fort and Aldborough. I 

 n)yself possess a piece 4oz. in weight procured from 

 the same source, and have purchased many pounds 

 of it at various times. If I am not mistaken, the 

 late Mr. R. D. Alexander's famous piece, said to be 

 the largest in England, was picked up in the same 

 locality. — /. Wiggin, Ipswich. 



Microscopic Postal Cabinets.— I think that 

 Mr. Alfred Atkinson's proposal, at page 111, is a 

 very good one ; and, in default of a better man, 

 should be most happy to become a member of suck 

 a society. — /. R. Davies. 



Field Clubs in London. — Will you kindly 

 inform me if there are any "Naturalists' Field 

 Clubs " or societies of that description in the soutii 

 or west of London, and how I could obtain full 

 particulars about them ? — /. G. 



Curious Nesting-place.— The fingers of the 

 southern dial of the clock of St. John's Church, 

 Heaton Mersey, were stopped for three or four 

 days, a week or two ago. On an examination into 

 the cause, it was found that a sparrow had built its 

 nest in the spurr-wheel connecting the fingers with 

 the dial. 



Poisonous Plants.— In reply to Miss Edwards 

 in Science- Gossip, p. 119, I believe the root eaten 

 by the cliildren at Chester, was the root of Water 

 Dropwort ((Enanthe crocata), a very poisonous plant, 

 and far too common in boggy places in Cheshire. 

 Why it was called wild carrot I cannot conceive, 

 unless it is because all umbelliferous plants are 

 named in country districts either parsley, carrot, 

 or celery. — /. R. 



The Camberwell Beauty.— I write to inform 

 you that I have just added to my collection a very 

 characteristic specimen of Antiopa, caught hy a 

 lady friend, close to my house at Malvern. The 

 outer border is plain white, after the common de- 

 scription of the English specimens; the other 



-Charles Grindiod. 



markings are rich and natural. 



Nightingales and Tortoises. — 1. It has been 

 asserted that nightingales will neither sing nor 

 remain in a deer-park. Is this statement correct ? 

 2. Tortoises are supposed to be useful in gardens 

 in destroying snails and slugs; but ours has been 

 caught in the act of devouring the young shoots of 

 sweet peas, green peas, &c. Are they known to be 

 so destructive to vegetation ? — E. M, P. 



Testacella JNIaugei.— In March last I had 

 three specimens of Testacella Maugei, Eer., brought 

 me by a friend ; and being desirous of seeing them 

 crawl about, I placed them upon a damp savoy- 

 leaf, and bathed them with cold water, using a 

 camel-hair brush. Shortly afterwards they began to 

 expand and move about, but they did not distend 

 themselves, as represented in drawings of them. 

 One of them, after beinu: so bathed, gave out air 

 from under the front edge of the shell with a 

 fizzing noise, forming a number of air-bubbles 

 oa the back of the slug, similar to what is termed 

 cuckoo spittle, only larger. Presently the same 

 slug began to pass from its mouth one of its own 

 species over half an inch long; after a short 

 interval a piece of worm ; again another piece of 

 worm, and then another piece of worm. Each 

 piece of worm was over half an inch in length, and 

 a quarter of an inch in diameter. It was something- 



