Sept. 1, 1S67.] 



HAEDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



213 



Woodlice. — Ijliavc discovered that these pests 

 are fond of oatmeal. Therefore, in order to trap 

 them, I got some glass bottles, and, after breaking 

 the necks off them, I let them down into my 

 cucumber-bed, pressed the soil firmly round them, 

 and then sprinkled a little meal round the edge of 

 the necks of the bottles, which must be made level 

 with the surface of the bed. I also put a little in 

 the bottom of the bottles, the result of which has 

 been that next morning I had trapped some 

 hundreds, and I continue to do so every night. — 

 /. B. S. S., in Gard. Chron. 



Hedgehog Eccentricities, &c— In the August 

 number of Science-Gossip you mention the fact of 

 a hedgehog transfixing pears on its spines aud 

 carrying them off. A friend of mine, and upon 

 whose veracity I can rely, told me some few years 

 since, that he had witnessed, when a boy, a hedge- 

 hog rolling itself amongst the apples fallen from a 

 crab-tree, and when its coat was well covered by 

 the fruit, quietly retreating to eat them at its 

 leisure. You have also an article upon the bite of 

 the adder (Pelias Berus). I may mention that a 

 relative of mine had a very valuable pointer which 

 had been bitten by an adder, and after being some 

 time ill it recovered its health, but with the loss of 

 nearly the whole of its hair,— looking as if it was a 

 victim of chronic mange. There can be very little 

 doubt but that the bite has proved fatal to the 

 human ' being. I think it is Taylor, in his Medical 

 Jurisprudence, who relates more than one fatal 

 case. I have several times had both larva and pupa 

 of Acherontia atropos, but have never heard them 

 emit the noise mentioned by Mr. Newman, although 

 there can be but one opinion as to the moth having 

 the power to do so. — A. B. F. 



Great American Spider (Aranea avicularis, 

 Linn.). — This spider is indigenous to almost all 

 South America, where it is called Abamdui, or 

 Nbamdu-guazu,— that is, " the great spider." These 

 spiders are two inches and one-fifth in length, 

 and the thorax is an inch in diameter. They have 

 eight hairy legs, terminating in fleshy pads. I do 

 not know whether this spider belongs to the hunting 

 or to the working spiders, that is, whether or not it 

 makes its web in order to take insects, since I always 

 observed it wandering over the ground or upon the 

 trunks of trees, or concealed in the earth. If it 

 does not fiud insects enough for its food, it boldly 

 attacks humming-birds, small birds a little larger 

 than itself, while they are upon the eggs or upon 

 the young birds in the nests, and if it cannot have 

 the parent birds, it feeds upon the young aud upon 

 the eggs. This great spider produces cocoons pro- 

 portioned to its size, containing thousands of eggs, 

 and places them in the fissures on the trunks of trees. 

 The cocoon is three inches long and one inch and a 

 quarter of a line broad. This extraordinary size of 

 the cocoon has made the inhabitants, who do not 

 observe carefully, imagine that this spider would 

 take the cocoon of the bombice moth del Guyavo 

 (Jantts, Linn.), and having destroyed or eaten the 

 chrysalis, would place her own eggs there, and then 

 artificially close the hole by which she had penetrated 

 it. — Termeyer, in Proc. Essex Institute, U.S. 



The Prog Season. — The frog season is now at 

 its height. The thousands of frogs born early in 

 the spring now swarm the marshy ground. The 

 quantity disposed of in Buffalo is surprisingly large. 

 The principal dealers sell easily 1,200 per day, and 

 the consumption of four [hotels which have the 



delicacy in their bills of fare will probably add 500 

 to that amount. As there are several smaller 

 grocery stores which sell daily from 25 to 50 pairs, 

 it will be safe to say that not less than 2,000 are 

 being eaten in Buffalo every day. Already over 

 100,000 have been sold, and the remaining two 

 months of the season will increase that amount to 

 nearly 300,000, which is but a moderate quantity, 

 considering the already large and yearly increasing 

 numbers which inhabit the river islands and all 

 along the shore of Canada. The article retails at 

 from 1 dol. to 1 dol. 50c. per 100. — Buffalo Express. 



Grasshoppers in America. — The ravages of 

 these little pests seem to have begun in earnest. 

 The hemp crop 'of the county has been almost 

 entirely destroyed. A few crops may escape them. 

 Oue day suffices for them to clean off a hemp-field 

 as bare as before the sowing. The blue grass is hi 

 many places destroyed, and has suffered much 

 wherever they have gone. Timothy and clover have 

 also been very greatly damaged. The oat crop, it 

 is thought, will be utterly ruined, as they prefer 

 that to wheat, which they have so far only slightly 

 damaged. The corn is not exempt, but has been 

 injured less than any other crop except wheat. The 

 gardens have suffered terribly; nearly all early 

 vegetables have been eaten by them. They 

 swept a garden bare in a few hours. A lady 

 informs us that in the morning she had as fine 

 a garden as she ever saw, and in the evening 

 scarcely a vestige of it was left. It is consoling 

 to know that the weeds also suffered. — Minnesota 

 Paper. 



Bangor and TYrentham. — In reference to 

 queries in Science - Gossip concerning these 

 localities, I always supposed that the Bangor men- 

 tioned by dealers was Bangor, Maine, although I 

 do not know of any earth from near there ; but as 

 such deposits (sub-peat deposits I have been in the 

 habit of calling them) are common all over our 

 country this side of the Alleghanies, no doubt one 

 was once found there. Such deposits being but 

 small, as a general rule, soon get obliterated. The 

 " Wreatham, U.S." is "Wrentham, Mass., a locality 

 from which Ehrenberg had specimens.— J. M. Ed- 

 wards, New York. 



Bearing Gold Pish.— Your correspondent in- 

 forms us (p. 165) that his small pond or fountain 

 basin is 9 feet by 5 feet, and lined with Portland 

 cement. Presuming from that information, the 

 pond contains nothing more than water, beside the 

 debris he mentions. Now, one thing is certain (I 

 write from some years' experience): your correspon- 

 dent, G. A. W., will not succeed in keeping his fish 

 (much less rearing them) unless he adopts some 

 method of keeping up vegetable growth in the 

 water, whereby there may be kept up a constant 

 interchange of gases between the two kingdoms ; 

 and that may be attained by the following simple 

 method : — Cover the bottom of the pond with gravel 

 (washed, if he prefers, but I think not so good) two or 

 three inches thick, in which insert a quantity of plants 

 of common fresh- water weeds, and when they be- 

 come established, and make a little growth, then 

 G. A. W. may hope to keep his gold fish alive and 

 healthy. The losing of two or three fish may 

 arise from one of two causes : first, they may 

 have been purchased of a dealer who had had them 

 some time on hand ; secondly, they may have been 

 what are commonly called Warm-water Fish."— 

 B.H. 



