HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



287 



Sucked Eggs.— Wbile looking for birds' nests 

 one day last month, I came across a blackbird's 

 nest, containing? five egg:s all sucked clean, through 

 a medium-sized hole in the side. I was told that, this 

 was done by a cuckoo. Do cuckoos suck eggs ? if 

 not, what could have done this ? — Echo. II. Wigzell. 



British Shkews.— A correspondent asks in the 

 present number of Science-Gossip how many 

 species of shrews are placed on the British list. I 

 presume Bell's" British Quadrupeds" is the standard 

 text-book on such a point, and I there find three 

 species described ; viz. the Common Shrew, the 

 Water Shrew, and the Oared Shrew. The first, the 

 Common Shrew {Sore.v araneiis, Linn.), is described 

 as follows : — " Specific character : Reddish mouse- 

 colour above, paler beneath; tad somewhat, quad- 

 rangular, rather shorter than the body, not ciliated 

 beneath. 2nd. Sorex fodiens. Water Sln-ew. Specific 

 character -. Nearly black above, white beneath, tlie 

 colours distinctly separated; tail two-thirds the 

 length of the body; feet and tail ciliated with strong 

 white hairs. 3rd. Sorex remifer. Oared Shrew. 

 Specific character : Tail quadrangular, compressed 

 towards the apex, ciliated on the under surface ; 

 feet strongly ciliated ; body black above, greyish- 

 black beneath; throat yellowish ash-colour." — t. W. 



Mounting Crystals.— I shall feel much obliged 

 if you will put a line in your column of " Notices," 

 to inform me what is the best material for preserving 

 crystals when required to be mounted on slides. I 

 have tried castor-oil and balsam and varnishes in 

 vain. — A Constant Reader. 



London Botany.— What is the best book for a 

 Londoner to buy on Brir.ish Botany, — one who 

 has not much chance of getting out for more than 

 a day or two at a time on a botanical search ? Also 

 the price and publisher. — IFm. Somerton. 



Plusia chrysitis taken at Sugar.— Having 

 been told that this noctua never comes to sugar, it 

 may be interesting to know that I took a specimen 

 on Wednesda}% the 6th July, at sugar in my garden 

 at Kensington. I shall be glad of any information 

 on this subject. — W. H. Keimell. 



Rare Birds and Grouse.— Having been up 

 Teesdale on a geological tour, — on tlie Weel we 

 flushed a mallard and saw one dipper; at Falcon 

 Clints, a little below Caldron Snout, a fine old 

 raven, and a little lower down the river a pair of 

 peregrine falcons and many plovers and ring-ousels. 

 The next day, in Langdon Beck, a tributary 

 of the Tees, although not half a mile up the rocky 

 burn, we saw five dippers and three sandpipers, and 

 in descending the Tees near to Winch Bridge saw 

 seven sandpipers and another dipper; but although 

 we went up on the Durham side by Widdy Bank, 

 and came down by the Yorkshire side, from near 

 Maise Beck, by Cronkly Scar and Holwicli, to 

 Winch Bridge, we only saw three live grouse, but 

 many dead ones. Is it not possible that the Red 

 Grouse is shortly to be one of the things of the past ? 

 — Josh. Duff. 



Ancient Trees : the Yew {Taxiis baccatd). — 

 The yews at Fountain Abbey are celebrated for 

 their size and age, having been trees of no mean 

 dimensions when the abbey was founded in 1132, 

 as we gather from the traditions handed down ; viz. 

 — that the monks wiio built the monastery resided 

 beneath the shelter of these very yews during the 



time of its erection. One of them is beautifully 

 illustrated in Strutt's "Sylva," and of their dimen- 

 sions some idea may be formed from the fact that 

 the trunk of one of them is nearly 27 ft. in circum- 

 ference. The Ankerwyke yew, supposed to be 

 upwards of 1.000 years old, within sight of which 

 the M:igna Cliarta was signed, and under whose 

 shade Henry VIII. is said to have made his appoint- 

 ments with Anne Boleyn while she resided at 

 Staines. — H. G. G. 



Bitten by a Viper.— The following paragraph 

 from the Dorset County Ch'-onicle of July 31st 

 will be interesting to those correspondents who 

 have taken part in the discussion on the bite of tlie 

 viper. "Mr. DuutzeCarew was going to Babicombe, 

 in company with his wife, wlien a snake, 22| inches 

 long, crossed their path and was captured by 

 Mr. Carew, who thought it was of the harmless 

 kind, one of which he had previously tamed. The 

 snake was taken home and freely handled next day. 

 On Mr. Carew, however, going to take it out of its 

 box in the evenins:, the reptile, which proved to be 

 a viper, bit him in one of his fingers. Mr. Carew 

 immediately sucked the wound and applied ammonia, 

 but the arm became swollen to an alarming degree, 

 and he ran to a doctor, and three medical men were 

 soon in attendance. The lips, however, soon 

 became indurated and the poison spread rauidly. 

 For an hour there was no relief, the tongue became 

 swollen, Mr. Carew could not swallow, and he be- 

 came speechless. The surgeons continued to apply 

 remedies, and at last had tlie satisfaction of staying 

 the elFects of the poison, and Mr, Carew is now in a 

 fair way of complete recovery." — W. Macmitlan, 

 Castle Gary, Somerset. 



How TO Preserve Fisti.— I cannot find any- 

 thing that will direct me how to preserve fisii. 

 Having taken some fine specimens of perch, I 

 should take an interest in stufiing them myself, if it 

 be possible for an amateur to do so. Could any of 

 your correspondents advise me ? — Jas. Massmgham , 

 jun. 



Male and Female Butterflies. — Would some 

 reader kindly inform me of the distinguishing m.arks 

 between male and female {V. urtica, C. pamphilus, 

 C. phlceas) through the pages of Sciexce-Gossip, 

 as the books I have do not mention the female at 

 all ?— /. jr. Russell. 



Strange Problems in Natural History.— 

 I do not know how it is possible to answer your 

 correspondent " S. A. B.," as he gives no account 

 of the composition of the " stone." Concretions of 

 lime are not uncommon in the salivary and neigh- 

 bouring glands in animals, and the probability is, 

 this was one. — W. T. Iliff. 



Barley grown from Oats. — In Science Gos- 

 sip, vol. vi. page 164, Notes and Queries, is a 

 paragraph entitled " A Field of Barley grown from 

 Oats." The oats are sown in July, and after remain- 

 ing until nearly ripe they are cut down, within an 

 inch and a halt' of the ground, this process being 

 repeated a second time ; they are allowed to remain 

 through the winter, and in the following season the 

 produce is barley, the leaf and stalk being oats. 

 Can any correspondent explain the " why and the 

 wherefore" of this wonderful transmuraiion ? thus 

 discovering, if true, a law and principle hitherto 

 unknown. — Thomas C. Oborn. 



