GS 



HAEDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[March ], 1857. 



NOTES AND UUERIES. 



Pollen in Honey. — Pig. 15 of your Illustrations 

 in Science-Gossip is evidently the Pollen of " Passi- 

 flora," and 25 that of " (Eiiothera ; " the rest I can- 

 not make out. Your paper is very interesting. — 

 W. T., Iliff. 



Woodpeckers' Eggs.— In my cabinet I have two 

 woodpeckers' eggs which, during the last few 

 months, have become thickly speckled with ash- 

 coloured spots. Can any reader inform me of the 

 cause, and how I can remove them ? The eggs have 

 been in my cabinet more than two years. — H. Tasker. 



Eifteen - Spine Stickleback. — I _ have made 

 several attempts to keep the fifteen-spined stickle- 

 back {Gasterosteus spinachia) in my aquarium, but 

 have always failed to keep it alive for more than a 

 month or so at the most, and even for this short 

 time only in the latter part of spring and beginning 

 of summer. I have never managed to keep it over 

 the winter. I attribute my failure solely to my not 

 knowing the proper food to give them. In the 

 spring and earlier part of summer I used to get a 

 small fly about the windows which they swallowed 

 quite easily, and upon which they seemed to thrive; 

 but as the season advanced these became scarce and 

 latterly disappeared altogether. I then tried them 

 with the common house-fly, which, almost without 

 an exception, they were unable to swallow, although 

 they made great efforts to do so, and gradually they 

 pined away and died. The other fish (Blennius 

 pholis, Coitus bubalis, Gobius, &c.) I fed upon 

 beef which the sticklebacks never attempted to 

 touch ; the reason of which I take to be the want of 

 any signs of life in the beef as it fell to the bottom 

 of the tank ; so they would not even bite at a fly 

 unless it happened to be making some motion on 

 the surface of the] water. Perhaps some reader 

 who has been more successful in keeping them than 

 the subscriber, may be able to say something on the 

 subject. — J". C. H., Glasgow. 



Unknown Object.— I should be greatly obliged 

 to any of your readers who would give me informa- 

 tion respecting the following beautiful and interest- 

 ing object, which I had an opportunity of observing 

 in my microscope the summer before last. It was, 

 If. suppose, the larva of a fly or beetle ; and the 

 breathing organ was probably the part I noticed. 

 The creature was but a small speck on the leaf of 

 Anacharis, on which it quietly rested, looking like a 

 minute slug. Under the microscope it showed a 

 very ugly head. At the tail was a wonderful appa- 

 ratus, consisting of a number of loops. These were 

 alternately drawn up or down, producing the effect 

 of an ordinary paint brush, at one moment wetted 

 and drawn together, the next showered out and each 

 hair curling back at the tip. It is not easy to de- 

 scribe, but most beautiful to behold. I should be 

 glad to learn what this larva becomes in its perfect 

 state, in the hope of obtaining specimens.— L. S. M., 

 Ryde. 



Black on White.— A friend of mine has a hen 

 of the Polish breed, which, six months ago, was of a 

 glossy black colour, but which has undergone a 

 complete change, and is now of a snowy white. This 

 transformation was not done by moulting, but by a 

 gradual change of colour.—//. L., Rose Hill, Old 

 T raff or d. 



Watebton's Peocess. — Do you know if the pro- 

 cess by which Mr. Waterton preserved his natural 

 history collection, is known ? Prom a paper written 

 by Rev. J. G. Wood, in the Intellectual Observer 

 for July, 1863, it seems it was not at that time. If 

 it has since been discovered, and you can give it to 

 the readers of Science-Gossip, you wili be con- 

 ferring a great favour on many, who are disgusted 

 with the old mode of wire and stuffing. — H. M. G. 



Queen Apple. — The correspondent, E.|W., Man- 

 chester, in the December number, wishes to know 

 about this fruit. In Disraeli's " Curiosities of Lite- 

 rature " (article " Introducers of Exotic Flowers 

 Fruits, &c") is a quotation from Peacham's " Em- 

 blems," 1812— 



And red queen apple, so envidej 



Of school boles, passing by the pole ; 



and in a note it is stated to have been probably named 

 after Queen Elizabeth ; and it is added that apples 

 had become red by being grafted on a mulberry 

 stock, known to Pliny. Mr. Disraeli says further 

 that the race is not extinct. The only apple I can 

 hear of approaching the above is a red-fleshed fruit, 

 called hereabouts "red ripe," no doubt well known 

 in the London markets. — W. I)., Brenchley. 



The Papuans.— Has any reader of S. G. ever 

 noticed the following passage in Captain Cook's 

 account of his first voyage? It seems extraordi- 

 nary, but from his remarkable truthfulness is pro- 

 bably quite reliable. After saying that Messrs. 

 Banks, De Solander, and others, landed on the 

 coast of New Guinea, near the Cape de la Coltade 

 San Bonaventura, he proceeds : — " After they had 

 advanced about a quarter of a mile from the boat, 

 three Indians rushed out of the wood with a hideous 

 shout, and as they ran towards the English, the 

 foremost threw something out of his hand, which 

 flew on one side of him and burned exactly like 

 gunpowder, though without making any report. 

 * * * * 



"While the English gentlemen were viewingthem, 

 they were shouting defiance, and letting off their 

 fires by four or five at a time. Our people could 

 not imagine what these fires were, or what purpose 

 they were intended to answer. Those who dis- 

 charged them had in their hands a short piece of 

 stick, which they swung sideways from them, and 

 immediately there issued fire and smoke, exactly 

 resembling those of a musket, and of as short a 

 duration. The men on board the ships who observed 

 this surprising phenomenon were so far deceived 

 by it, as to believe that the Indians had fire-arms. 

 To the persons in the boat it had the appearance of 

 the firing of volleys without a report." Can this 

 be some unknown engine of war of a pyrotechnic 

 character ? Have the Dutch, who have a settle- 

 ment in Papua, or any subsequent navigators, 

 observed the same phenomenon? These are in- 

 teresting questions, which some one may possibly 

 be able to solve. — F. A. A. 



Mabmalade. — There is a tree in India known 

 to botanists as JEgle marmelos. It belongs to the 

 orange family, and yields a fruit about the size and 

 appearance of an orange, which makes a delicious 

 preserve. The Dutch for many years imported this 

 preserved fruit into Europe under the name of 

 " marmelos," a name by which it is known in 

 Ceylon. In imitation of this preserve, and in cor- 

 ruption of its name, originated " marmalade." — 

 E. Waring, M.D. 



