190 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Aug. 1, 1S67. 



become covered with a hard, horny substance, 

 which enabled' it to get about in some way or 

 other. Now, surely, if such as your correspondent 

 states be correct, these poor cripples would be fit 

 subjects for nature's handiwork. But even in such 

 cases where birds are sometimes hatched with four 

 legs,_ they only make use of two, and were they 

 deprived of these, the remaining ones would prove 

 useless.—/. B. Waters. 



Snake Charming. — The remarks relative to 

 snake charming in Science-Gossip for February, 

 remind me of a commonism that I used to hear long 

 years ago, at least half a century, in a country- 

 place, bearing upon the same subject, it was this : 

 "Get an your own side, speckle-back," and the origin 

 of the saying was given as this — a little girl used to 

 sit upon the doorstep to eat her bread and milk, a 

 snake used to come every morning for his share, 

 and if by chance he got on the wrong side, she 

 would give him a rap on the head with her spoon, 

 exclaiming, " Get on your own side, speckle-back." 

 Eventually the snake was destroyed by the child's 

 friends fearing it might injure her, but, unfortu- 

 nately, she took her loss so to heart, that she pined 

 away and died broken-hearted. — G. B. 



Dog in Trouble. — An acquaintance of mine 

 had a rather valuable breed of poodles : amongst the 

 number was one that was the most active, lively, 

 and the finest; suddenly he seemed to lose the 

 power of leaping up, and when stroked on the back 

 shrunk from the hand. It went on thus for about 

 six months, growing gradually weaker as if from 

 consumption, and then died. A post mortem showed 

 a skewer partially embedded in the lungs, thus 

 causing a painful, lingering death. I have no 

 doubt that these (see p. 63) are by no means soli- 

 tary cases, and it seems a great pity they cannot be 

 generally known, as a means of inducing care to be 

 taken to prevent like occurences. — 67. B. 



Cats at the Eire. — In country places you 

 will hear this commonism — ■ 



When the cat sleeps on her brain, 

 'lis a sure sign ofrai*. 



And I have repeatedly noticed that when the 

 weather is heavy the cat lies with the back of her 

 head on the ground. There is one thing relative 

 to the cat that I cannot at all understand, I have 

 hundreds of times produced electric sparks from 

 the cat's back by rubbing the hair the wrong way; 

 that was in the country some years ago ; but here in 

 London all my efforts to do so have proved abor- 

 tive, although the weather has been cold enough 

 for such purpose one would imagine, neither do I 

 find any one but my wife who ever witnessed it. 

 Can you tell me why F — G. B. 



Gold Eisii. — We have a pond of circular form, 

 some eighteen or twenty feet in diameter, having 

 water-lilies, two kinds of pondweed, water crow- 

 foot, &c. ; and had in the dry summer of 1865, not 

 less than eighteen inches of water in it. Into this 

 were placed, two years ago, when it was dug (early 

 in 1865), a few gold fish, which, in consequence of 

 the supply of food which the pond contains, through 

 having so many plants in it, have increased to an 

 enormous extent, and some of the young ones of 

 1865 are already assuming the beautiful metallic 

 colours which make these fish such an ornament to 

 a piece of water, and which does not generally take 



place, out of doors, in water of the same tem- 

 perature as the atmosphere, until the third year. If 

 " G. A. W." prepared a pond with a natural bottom 

 and without a jet of water, he would most likely 

 succeed better, as gold fish are said, in common 

 with others of the carp family, not to breed in run- 

 ning water. — Y. D. 



Tail of Locust. — The female Locusta viridissima 

 has a straight sword-shaped ovipositor, which may 

 possibly be the tail, like that of a scorpion," I. M. P." 

 speaks of. This is not the species which does so 

 much mischief in the East ; that being scientifically 

 known as Acri/dium migratorium, or as it was named 

 by Linnaeus Gnjllus migratorius, but possibly the 

 one may have been mistaken for the other. — Y. B. 



Are Anemones Oviparous. — On the 14th of 

 July, I observed what I had not before seen, during 

 my eight years' experience as a keeper of marine 

 aquaria. I have frequently seen anemones of 

 various kinds multiply by fission, by budding, and 

 viviparously, but until to-day, I had not seen 

 anemones give off ova. I observed a mass of 

 greyish-looking matter near the orifice of a very fine 

 strawberry mesembryanthemum which I have had 

 in my aquarium for four years, and on attempting to 

 remove it by means of a brush, which I generally 

 use for brushing the anemones, and for removing 

 impurities, I discovered that the mass was feebly 

 gelatinous, and that every attempt to remove it, 

 only removed a portion, the mass being broken by 

 the brush passing through it. While engaged in 

 the removal, I observed another and a larger mass 

 of similar substance, being ejected from the mouth 

 of the anemone, and on this occasion, I removed it 

 by means of a glass dipping-tube. On examining 

 the contents of the tube, I discovered it consisted 

 of a mass of ova about ^th part of an inch in 

 diameter, and entirely covered with radii or ciliary 

 processes. When examined under a microscope, 

 the globules did not present any appearance of 

 motion, were very uniform in size, were very 

 symmetrical, and perfectly spherical. The quantity 

 of ovarian matter emitted on the two occasions 

 above referred to would have filled a small thimble, 

 and correctly to estimate the number of the ova, 

 exceeds my powers of calculation : I roughly esti- 

 mate them upwards of a million. Can any of the 

 readers of Science- Gossir inform me if ova so 

 voided ever become anemones, or are they merely 

 unprolific germs ? — T. P. Barkas. 



Hair-worms. — A large quantity of these worms 

 were found after the thunder-storm of June the 3rd, 

 at Epsom and its vicinity, but all disappeared in 

 the afternoon. They were at first supposed to be 

 Gordius aquaticus, but turned out to be Mermis 

 nigrescens. During the dahlia season they are 

 here parasitic, in the bodies of the earwigs, in the 

 proportion of five to ten per cent. — W. T. II iff, 

 Epsom. 



Death's-head Moth.— In "British Moths," by 

 Edward Newman, authority is brought forward to 

 verify his statement that the chrysalis and cater- 

 pillar of the death's-head moth {Acherontia atropos) 

 have power to emit sounds. I have kept a great 

 many of the former, and have three now, but I have 

 failed to hear the slightest noise made by them. I 

 know that the moth can (when touched) make a 

 noise similar to a mouse, but more plaintive. — 

 Frederick Stanley. 



