38 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Feb. 1, 1867 



bag was so covered that nothing could fall in ; but 

 the canopy was not closed down along the front 

 half of the bag by nearly an inch. 



A leaf was then drawn down on the canopy, and 

 woven over about half-way down the leaf; in like 

 manner five other of the surrounding leaves were 

 woven down, and made a perfect cover. The edge 

 of the canopy was then let down, and woven to the 

 other half of the bag. I suppose he had shut him- 

 self in, for I saw him no'more. He used to sit on 

 the edge of the bag, under the canopy, but if I 

 stooped or moved a hand toward the nest he darted 

 instantly to the bottom. Snails used to get under 

 the shelter of the nest ; I frequently removed them 

 by passing my arm under the busb, but it was not 

 possible to do that without breaking some of his 

 ramifications. 



After it had been closed about three weeks I cut 

 off the branch and brought it in-doors, but was 

 prevented attending to it until the surrounding 

 leaves had become dry. When I moved them the 

 spider lay dead outside the nest : on removing the 

 three small leaves at the point of the bag there was 

 a small hole through which I imagine he must have 

 come out. I cut the bag from the point upwards ; 

 it was quite empty for more than two inches. I 

 cut another inch and a half, and found a bag fully an 

 inch long, and nearly as wide, suspended by twelve 

 arms of close web to the outer bag or nest. I then 

 cut the inner bag : it was with difficulty that a 

 sharp pair of scissors went through it, it was so 

 remarkably tough. As soon as an opening was 

 made, a young one ran out, but soon returned into 

 the hole, through which you may see a bunch 

 of little black things huddled together. Perhaps 

 they have hatched before the proper time, through 

 being indoors ; at present they keep quiet in the 

 nest. 



The old one was what may be called a fierce 

 repulsive-looking creature (though I do not like to 

 call anything so), nearly black legs, strong and 

 hairy, and brilliant eyes. 



I saw a nest of the same kind in a bush four or 

 five feet from the ground about the year 1816, and 

 have wished to meet with another, but have not 

 seen one till now; therefore I conclude they are not 

 common. No meution is made of it in " Homes 

 without Hands." 



Streatham Hill. H. C. P. 



Anobium. — M. Peignot mentions an instance, 

 where, in a public libraiy that was but little fre- 

 quented, twenty-seven folio volumes were perforated 

 in a straight line by one and the same larva of a 

 small insect (Anobium periinax, or A. striatum) in 

 such a manner that on passing a cord through the 

 perfectly round hole made by the insect, these 

 twenty-seven volumes could be raised at once. 



ERESH-WATER STICKLEBACKS IN 

 SEA-WATER AQUARIUM. 



jTT is perhaps undoubted that sticklebacks 

 -*- (Gasterosteus aculeatus), born and bred in 

 fresh water, are able to live, apparently without 

 inconvenience, in sea water. It may, however, not 

 be uninteresting to some of the readers of Science 

 Gossip, to hear a short account of an endeavour to 

 establish fresh-water sticklebacks in a marine 

 aquarium. Without fish of some sort, an aquarium 

 lacks one of its greatest attractions ; but to keep 

 them, it needs not only a well-constituted balance 

 of animal and vegetable life, but also a careful 

 selection of the sorts of animals. As the aquarium 

 of which the following account is written is not 

 near the sea, difficulty is found in obtaining salt- 

 water fish ; and the innumerable fresh-water stickle- 

 backs in the mill-streams near Newport suggested 

 the plan of introducing some of them to the society 

 of their foreign brethren. My aquarium has now 

 been in existence for some fourteen months, and 

 until the 29th September last without any change of 

 water. In this respect it has been more successful 

 than any that I have previously had. I believe that 

 very much depends on obtaining thoroughly pure 

 water to begin with. 



During the last year, I have on several occasions 

 placed fresh-water sticklebacks in the aquarium. 

 Once I put in, I think, five, and the next morning 

 only one was to be seen — and that one dead in the 

 arms of an anemone. The same day I put in another 

 seven, and afterwards five or six more, and similar 

 numbers at other times, but always with the same 

 result,— none survived the second day, and most of 

 them disappeared after the first night. After the 

 new sea-water had been placed in the aquarium, I 

 obtained five sticklebacks of different sizes, one a 

 tiny fish not more than half an inch long, and the 

 other four varying from one inch to an inch and a 

 half; two of these I placed at once into a basin of 

 sea water, and the other three into a basin of fresh 

 water, to which I gradually added sea water. As 

 they seemed to be perfectly at ease in their new ele- 

 ment, I transferred them on the second day to the 

 aquarium, and I then sat myself down to watch, to 

 see if I could discover the enemy that destroyed 

 these brilliant little fish. 



Within a very few minutes one of two prawns 

 (Palcptnon serratus), which were in the aquarium, 

 came from its hiding-place, and with great eagerness 

 began searching for the new comers, whose advent 

 was, I suppose, announced to it by a strange and 

 delightfully new " fish-like smell." It soon found 

 one of my little ones, and, seizing it with its nippers, 

 was carrying it off to kill and eat, or rather, I 

 expect, eat and kill, when I came to the rescue of 

 my pets and sent the crystal dragon jerking away. 



