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HARDWICKKS SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



-situated in ? I suppose the first is in Wales and the 

 second in Scotland. — W. D. R. 



The Wood-Ant {Formica rufa). — I should like to 

 offer a remark or two on Mr. Bowman's paper en the 

 above subject, appearing in the recent number of 

 Science-Gossip. Mr. Bowman says: "I have 

 noticed too that their sense of hearing was ver\ acute, 

 and on the occasion of any uncommon noise in my 

 room, they would, to an ant, rise on their two hind 

 legs in a menacing attitude, as though awaiting the 

 ^approach of an enemy." In a subsequent part of his 

 paper, he again says the same thing, and he seems 

 convinced the sense of hearing in ants is very acute. 

 Now Sir John Lubbock, whom one must recognise 

 as an authority on this subject, says, " I have never 

 succeeded in satisfying myself that my ants, bees, or 

 wasps heard any of the sounds with which I tried 

 them;" but he very prudently adds, "I carefully 

 avoided inferring from this that they are really deaf, 

 though it certainly seems that their range of hearing 

 is very different from ours." How tlien, are the 

 statements of Sir John Lubbock and Mr. Bowman to 

 be reconciled ? For my own part, I think that their 

 sense of touch must be very acute, and that they 

 receive the impressions through the medium of the 

 ground. The tremors of the earth would make the 

 ant aware of any danger in close proximity. The 

 human ear is only able to hear sounds that are caused 

 by a number of vibrations per second between i6 and 

 38,000. It is quite possible not less than 16 or more 

 than 38,000 may be required to excite hearing in the 

 ant — most probably the latter. — Chas. A. Whatmore. 



A Remarkable Egg. — A hen's e.g^, French, and 

 a little over medium size, on' being put into a sauce- 

 pan of boiling water cracked, with a slight report, 

 and some of the albumen appeared in the water — the 

 egg itself floating. When the egg was removed from 

 tire water, a considerable quantity of the "white" 

 was left, and a small yolk, perfectly whole. The egg 

 itself showed no sign of being cracked at all ; no one 

 who had not witnessed the occurrence could have 

 believed that the yolk and white had been expelled 

 from that egg. Besides, the egg, on being opened, 

 was found to contain another yolk, and sufficient 

 white to half fill the shell. When the shell was 

 quite empty, careful search disclosed a very small 

 crack in it. This must have closed up perfectly as 

 soon as half the contents had been expelled. Veiy 

 little water had entered the egg. I suppose the air in 

 the egg, which was quite fresh, expanding suddenly, 

 caused the explosion, but why should it expel just 

 half the egg ? There was a thin membrane over the 

 remaining egg-substance. I know that "double- 

 yolked " eggs are not uncommon, but never knew 

 one behave thus. — AT. E. Pope. 



The Tweezers of Ear-wigs. — Some while back, 

 I think I remember reading that the use of the 

 "tweezers," borne by the ear-wig at the end of the 

 abdomen, was considered somewhat obscure. Last 

 evening, however, I had an opportunity of witnessing 

 the fact that, if these appendages are hardly strong 

 enough for defence, they can be certainly employed 

 for defiance and attack. I was reading by lamp-light, 

 and, looking off my book for a moment, I detected a fine 

 ear-wig advancing over the cover of a book on the 

 table towards some fragments of what I knew to be 

 cheese. When within two inches of these a house-fly 

 alighted on its left and somewhat to its rear. In- 

 stantly round went the ear-wig's abdomen in the fly's 

 direction, open flew the tweezers to an extent I never 

 saw before, and with a half-sideway, half-retrograde 

 movement the ear-wig "went for" that fly. The 



latter awaited not the attack, but on his adversary 

 reaching the cheese morsels coveted by both, again 

 descended, strangely enough, in the rear of the ear- 

 wig ; the next thing I saw was the fly held up aloft in 

 the tweezers of the latter, a helpless prisoner. Its 

 detention, however, was short, the tweezers soon re- 

 opening, and it flew away, apparently none the worse ; 

 but it came not again, and the ear-wig had an 

 undisturbed banquet. — JViiidsor Hambroiigh. 



Sucking Eggs. — I see in your March number a 

 method of keeping moths out of eggs by plastering 

 the holes up. A better method — that of late Charles 

 Waterton — consists in sucking up into the egg a 

 solution of corrosive sublimate which will keep it 

 longer than anything else, and from all other animal 

 life. — P. H. Marsden. 



Wood's Irish Half-pence. — Would some reader 

 of Science-Gossip, interested in Numismatics, give 

 me all information he can about " Wood's Irish Half- 

 pence," as I have recently been presented with a good 

 specimen for my collection. On the obverse is the 

 dexter bust of George I. with the inscription Georgius 

 Dei Gratia Rex. On the reverse, Britannia to the 

 left, seated, and holding a branch in the uplifted right 

 hand, and with the left arm leaning on a harp ; the 

 inscription being Hibernia, 1723, — Hairy George 

 Iiikes, Kirton-in-Lindsey. 



The Poisonous Nature of Yew-Trees. — Mr. 

 Letts' notes (Science-Gossip, page 309) call to 

 memory a similar case, illustrating the poisonous 

 nature of yew-tree leaves. In Leicestershire, in the 

 year 1882, during the night, eighteen head of cattle, 

 out of a herd of forty, somehow managed to get into 

 a spinney of yew-trees, and when a farm hand's 

 attention was drawn by their agonised bellowing, nine 

 were found to be already dead. The remainder, all, 

 with the exception of two, died within the following 

 fortnight. I believe the leaves act as a narcotic acrid, 

 affecting the spinal cord more than the blood, and it 

 is very evident that the nature of the case greatly 

 depends on the quantity swallowed, for, if taken with, 

 say, three times the quantity of their natural food, the 

 leaves of the yew-trees are innoxious. — C. E. Stott^ 

 Lostock, Bolton. 



Deilephila galli. — I have a specimen of this 

 moth in my collection, which was caught in 1888, on 

 the honeysuckle, with 6". Hgustri and C. elpenor. — 

 Fi'ederick Glenny, Wisbech, Catnhs. 



Life-History of Mosquitoes. — I would like to 

 ask through your Notes and Queries, if the length of 

 life of the mosquito {Culex pipiens) in the winged state 

 is known, also if the males and females differ in this 

 respect ? I can find no statement as to their length of 

 life, and individual opinions vary from five days to five 

 months. A friend living on the Gulf coast of Florida, 

 tells me that when fishing off that coast at night, if 

 the wind is off shore, one can fish undisturbed by 

 mosquitoes, at a distance of half a mile from shore ; 

 but if the wind is on shore, one must keep about a 

 mile away to avoid them. He thinks this shows that 

 their sense of smell is more acute than that of sight ? 

 Another query is, if bee-honey is ;chemically changed 

 during its passage from the flower to the comb, while 

 in the honey-bag of the bee? — A, P. Case, Vernon, N. Y. 



Sagacity of a Cat. — One evening I placed before 

 my Persian cat some hot milk, and was very much 

 surprised to observe her behaviour towards the same. 

 She walked round and round the dish, and occasion- 

 ally put her mouth to the milk to see if it was the 



