HARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE ■ G S SIP. 



180 



this circumstance, that the seed is not carried by 

 birds, but as the berry becomes dead ripe 1 he seed 

 is blown away by tlie wind, until it settles in the 

 congenial bark of a tree suited for its parasitic 

 habits, and there it germinates, and in time, beinpc 

 left alone, becomes a fine bushy plant. As this fact 

 is not generally known, I send it, thinking possibly 

 it might interest some of your readers, who would 

 like to watch the growth of a young mistletoe.— 

 W. T. Bell. 



■ The Contents of a Fisu's Stomach.— A fesv 

 days ago I was curiously induced to make_ an ex- 

 amination of the contents of the stomach of a fish. 

 The fish was caught in the river ]*]den, running 

 from Eunerdale Lake, in Cumberland, and is known 

 by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood as the 

 ""bull" trout, differing in appearance, though possi- 

 bly not in character, from the " lake " trout. The 

 weight of the fish was rather less than half an ounce, 

 measuring in length about seven inches. The 

 stomach was necessarily small, and its contents 

 only weighed 3'5 grains. Owing to the smallness 

 of the numbers, I have calculated the results of my 

 analysis into per-centages. Of course, as niight be 

 expected, and as may seem from the following table, 

 the food of the fish' was principally animal matter 

 (flies). Owing to the flies having undergone the 

 process of mastication, it was impossible to form any 

 correct idea of the species or genus, even though 

 viewed carefully by the aid of the microscope. I 

 found the contents of the stomach to consist 

 of,— 57'4' animal matter (flies); 23'2 water; 13"5 

 silica (sand); 31 peroxide of iron; 3-1 undeter- 

 mined ; total 100. Persons unfamiliar with the 

 river Eden and neighbourhood would be unableto 

 account for the presence of oxide of iron and silica 

 in the contents of the stomach of the fish. _ This, 

 however, I can account for, because, after rain, the 

 water invariably contains matter in suspension : 

 this matter I have found to consist of oxide of iron, 

 silica, and organic matter, the former, and perhaps 

 a portion of the silica, being acquired from the iron- 

 ore workings at and near Cleator, on the banks of 

 the river. This idea may be of some use to the 

 angler, as it sliows that fish, at all events of the 

 kind in question, not only feed upon flies and other 

 animal matter, but upon siliceous earth. _ Whether 

 the presence of oxide of iron and silica in the 

 stomach of a fish is injurious, or whether the 

 former acts as a tonic, 1 shall not venture to say. 

 I may here remark that I have found the water of 

 the Eden to contain 7"1 grains solid matter, in 

 solution, per gallon, consisting of chloride of sodium 

 (common salt), carbonate of lime, sulphate of liine, 

 a little sulphate of soda, and a trace of chloride 

 of magnesium. As the river Eden runs, not 

 through a very populous, but amcultural district, 

 it seems probable that this solid matter may, in a 

 great measure, be acquired from the washings ofl" 

 highly-manured fields, which are always liable to 

 drain into the river. The sample of water from the 

 river Eden was collected near its outlet into the 

 sea, where it had probably acquired all the solid 

 matter which was at its command. The "bull 

 trout" mentioned is the Salmo eriox of Linnaius. 

 As the fish in question was not large, it may pro- 

 bablv have been the young of the !Sahiio eriox.— 

 IF. H. Watson. 



Nightingales and Tortoises.— In reply to 

 "E. M. P."— 1. Nightingales will sing in deer 

 parks. I have frequently lieard them in Riclimond 

 Park, Surrey. 2. The common tortoise {Testudo 



Gr^ca) is destructive to vegetation, feeding very 

 fi-eely on dandelion, lettuce, &c. It is not of 

 much use in a garden, exce]it as an interesting 

 ornament, being almost vegetarian in its diet, 

 and not having any partiality to snails or slugs. 

 —A.B. 



Queen Bee and Drones.— Will any of your 

 correspondents inform me whether the queen bee 

 is ever impregnated in the hive, or is she obliged to 

 leave the hive in company with the drones for that 

 purpose ? And what is the cause of the drones being 

 found dead outside the hive, with their wings 

 extended as though set out for the cabinet? — A.B. 



Vipers swallowing _ their Young. — There 

 are several mysteries in natural history which 

 require clearing up — so says Mr. Couch in last 

 month's Science-Gossip. Had Mr. Couch been, 

 as he says, a " curious man," I think he would have 

 said whether the young found in the stomach 

 of the viper he dissected were alive, and if not, 

 whether they had any appearance of decomposition ; 

 for I am afraid we shall have to lay to the viper 

 another charge, — that is, cannibalism. I took out of 

 a viper I caught a short time ago, a full-grown 

 lizard ; so I am rather inclined to think that it they 

 will devour lizards, they will do so with their own 

 species. I had the good fortune to capture a large 

 female viper, which produced nine young ones after 

 1 caught her. In this case she did not take any 

 notice of her young family ; on the contrary, she 

 showed all the symptoms of rage when they came 

 near her. If they (the female vipers) do swallow 

 young ones, how are we to know whether the young 

 ones they swallow are their own progeny or those of 

 another reptile ? I think these are some of the 

 mysteries which, as Mr. Couch says, require clearing 

 up. I caught, on the 2nd of June, a viper about 

 18 in. long, with a black stripe down its back ; the 

 stripe was about quarter of an inch broad ; this was 

 bordered on each side with a light yellowish stripe. 

 Is this colour of a common occurrence among viper- 

 catchers? I took from its fangs sufficient poison 

 to make two or three slides for the microscope. — 

 Jas. Kirhy. 



Additions to Irish I'LOK^.—Hieracitaii trideii- 

 tatuiii, discovered by me in county Eermanagh, July, 

 1872. — Rev. S. A. Brenan, Altedesert, Fomeroy. 



Oldest Tree in Great Britain.— I would 

 refer your correspondent to a work called " Sylva 

 Britannica; or. Portraits of Forest Trees distin- 

 guished for tlieir Antiquity, Magnitude, or Beauty, 

 brawn from Nature by Jacob Geo. Strutt." The 

 bull oak in "Wedgnock Park, seat of the Earl of 

 Warwick, one of the most ancient parks in England, 

 according to Dugdale, who informs us that Henry 

 de Newburgli, the first earl after the Conquest, in 

 imitation of Kiug Henry I., who made the park at 

 Woodstock, didenipark it. This tree, if still living, 

 the "Magazine of Natural History," vol. iii., 1830, 

 states, in their opinion, to be one of the oldest trees 

 of tlie kind remaining in the country. Mr. Soutli, 

 in a letter addressed to the Bath Society, describes 

 this ancient lord of the forest.— aS'. A. B. 



The Eood ofTortoises.— Inreplyto "E.M.P.," 

 I beg leave to state that the food of land-tortoises 

 is essentially and almost exclusively of a vegetable 

 nature. Possessing no teeth, tlie jaw is much better 

 adapted for tearing and cutting plants than for 

 crushing and masticating certain of the lower 



