HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP, 



215 



Larva op a kind of Gnat. — There is a very 

 transparent larva of a gnat which sometimes 

 abounds in clear ponds, a description of which is 

 given in various books; but I have not seen its 

 food particularly mentioned. It feeds on other 

 animals, and I have found the common blood-worm 

 in its stomach. This is a curious object for the 

 microscope, as by pressing the creature between 

 two glasses the stomach is inverted, and forced 

 out of the mouth,'-! when it is seen" to be covered 

 with rows of spines' pointed backwards, I suppose 

 to retain its food-— ii". T. S. 



Stakch in Gekanitjms. — I see that the pith in 

 geraniums has its cells pretty well filled with'starch. 

 Can anyone inform me if many other of our English 

 herbaceous plants resemble geraniums in this re- 

 spect, as I have not noticed the same thing in any 

 I have tried? Of course I do not refer to arums 

 or bulbous plants. The grains of starch are small 

 and irregular, but thev show the cross well with 

 polarized light.— 5". T. S. 



Honey. — On what plants do the bees which 

 gather the honey sent from Narbonne feed, and will 

 they grow in this country ? There are three kinds 

 of pollen in the honey : one resembles a ball with 

 the equatorsfset at right angles to one another ; the 

 second and commonest is of an oval shape; and the 

 other round, and set with spines, — I expect from a 

 syngenesious plant.— .£'. T. S. 



Thtnnus vulgaris (the Tunny of the Mediter- 

 ranean). — A fine specimen of this fish was taken in 

 the Laira, at the mouth of the Plym, near Ply- 

 mouth, on the 22nd of July last. It measured 

 9 feet long, was 5 feet 10 inches round the body, 

 and its tail was 3 feet wide. A photograph was 

 taken by Mr. Hamsey. I have several of the scales 

 left, and shall be happy to send them to any one in 

 exchange for Lepidoptera. — John Purdue, Bidge- 

 icay, Plympton, Devon. 



Irritating Effkcts of Caterpillars' Hairs. 

 — I have found the short hairs on the outside of 

 the cocoon of Oak Eggar {Lasiocampa Quercils) very 

 annoying. The hairs of A. Cajci, the common Gar- 

 den Tiger, are also possessed of urticating proper- 

 tieswhen in cocoons ; the living larvfe of both have 

 no irritating effects whatever on my hands when 

 handled, however carelessly. — John Henderson, Juu. 



Charas. — Will any correspondent kindly tell me 

 the best method of drying these plants ? They are 

 so extremely brittle that I have much dilSculty in 

 preserving them. — S. M. P. 



RocKWORK FOR Aquariums. — Very beautiful 

 specimens of rockwork, suitable for small aquariums, 

 may be obtained by melting broken glass bottles in 

 a furnace. When intense heat is applied and the 

 glass kept in for a great length of time, it will 

 come out almost purely white, and often in the most 

 beautiful forms. — Jos. Laing. 



"E,URAL Natural History."— On looking over 

 SciENCE-Gossip for the year 1867, at page 86 I 

 came on the above heading ; and on reading it dis- 

 covered three cures for whooping-cough, as stated 

 by Mr. R. Holland to be used by the inhabitants of 

 Chesire as infallible for the chink-cough, which is 

 identically the same name used in this locality for 

 ■whooping-cough, with nearly the same remedies 

 used. — Recipe No. 1 : A lock of hair off a person 

 who has never seen his father, to be tied round 

 the child's neck. No. 2: Hairy caterpillar, or 



granny,''if met with accidentally, to be wrapped up 

 in a cloth and tied round the child's neck. No. 3 : 

 If the parents of the child see any one riding on a 

 piebald horse, they are to follow him, and ask what 

 cure can he give for " chink " cough, and whatever 

 he says is a certain cure, no matter what. No. 4 : 

 A miller of the third generation of millers is to take 

 the child, and hold him in the mill-hopper while 

 the mill is going : a certain cure is efi'ected. No. 5 : 

 Take the child, and pass him three times nnder- 

 iieath an ass and over his back. I agree with Mr. 

 Holland that it would be most interesting if a col- 

 lection of curious and superstitious remedies about 

 plants and animals, which prevail amongst the 

 people, were collected from time to .time, and re- 

 corded in SciENCE-GossiP. 



Net for Geometers. — The dusk of summer 

 evenings is one of the most favourable seasons for 

 netting moths of the Geometer family ; but even 

 when they are fairly inside one of the ordinary nets, 

 it is a difficult matter to see them. If, however, a 

 net made of thin white calico be used, the moths 

 are easily seen, and as they always settle down 

 when caught, they are easily boxed. — E. C. Lefroy. 



Saffron {Colchicum autmnnale) grows very 

 plentifully about here (Much Wenlock) in the pas- 

 tures, and is a great nuisance to the farmers, as 

 they are obliged to have it pulled to prevent their 

 stock being poisoned by it. Erom personal observa- 

 tion, I am able to state that it flowers in September, 

 bearing only one purple flower ou each stem ; but no 

 vestige of a leaf. The leaves appear the following 

 April and May. The seed-bearing stem springs up 

 in the midst of the leaves. — /. S. 



Heracleum giganteum. — Can any reader of 

 Science-Gossip tell me the real name of a plant, 

 the seed of which is sold in various shops as that of 

 Heracleum giganteum ? This, of course, is given ou 

 account of the size to which it grows, but gives no 

 clue to what the plant really is. It is umbelliferous, 

 and the stem is maculated as that of the hemlock ; 

 but, unlike that plant, is rough and hairy, and the 

 leaves much thicker and coarser,— some four feet 

 across. Indeed, it appears to be a sort of water- 

 hemlock, or Cicuta virosa ;_ but it grows in my 

 garden to the astonishing height of fifteen feet, and 

 has a head of bloom from a foot and a half to two 

 feet across. I was told it was a biennial, but I 

 have had it flowering for two successive years. Last 

 year it was not more than half its present height. 

 Will it grow any higher next ? Shade and plenty 

 of wet seem congenial to it. It would make a noble 

 ornament for the wilderness part of a garden. — 

 J. H. G. 



Curious Turbot. — Dr. Norman, of Collin gwood 

 House, writes to Land and Water: — Mr. Samuel 

 Amis, fish-merchant, of King-street, in this town, 

 has. kindly forwarded me a very extraordinary 

 turbot, weighing about 12 lb. The dorsal fin of 

 this fish terminated near the head in a thick curved 

 projection resembling the vignette of a malformed 

 brill, in "Yarrell's British Fisheries," vol. ii. p. 242. 

 The head and gills were perfectly smooth, and of 

 a light flesh-colour; the belly, instead of being 

 white and flat, was exactly like the upper side, and 

 studded with the usual tubercles ; moreover, it was 

 remarkably convex, or plump, as Mr. Amis rightly 

 called it. I have seen several turbots with the 

 same skin on both sides, but perfectly flat, and our 

 oldest fishermen do not recollect one with the belly 

 resembling this. 



