June 1, 1SG7.J 



IIARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



135 



curiously looking at them, the ensconced fleas 

 proved they were on the alert, for first one and then 

 another of these single tenements opened like a 

 mussel-shell, and away went the startled occupants 

 in quick succession, the whole making their escape 

 in magical celerity. The piece of dimity looked as 

 if it was nibbled. How do the fleas work up these 

 snuggeries — the little abodes with only room for 

 one, and a close fit too ? And does each occupier 

 know his own house? I once saw thousands of 

 these insects, bound on some expedition, crossing a 

 road closely adjacent to a beach, skipping, jumping, 

 and scrambling, in such close order that the space 

 of road, about a yard in diameter, was darkened by 

 their migration, their direction being inland. — IF. B. 



A Canary's Antipathy. — It may interest some 

 of your readers to note the extraordinary antipathy 

 for certain colours of a pet canary-bird of ours. Any 

 shade of violet or blue appears to drive him nearly 

 mad. He not only flutters, but beats himself against 

 the cage wires or the bottom of the cage, and I 

 really believe would kill himself if the objection- 

 able colour was not removed. The least bit of 

 either of these colours is detected by him in a 

 moment. One day, while my wife was feed ing her 

 pets, the cook came to speak to her, and had som e 

 ribbon of a violet shade to her cap . Poor little 

 Dickey was off in a moment, violently beating and 

 fluttering till the cap-strings disappeared. We 

 have tried him with almost every other colour, arid 

 he takes no notice. I may add that he was brought 

 up by hand, and is so tame that he is constantly 

 hopping about us as we get up in the morning ; any 

 stranger can take him on their finger. In a moment, 

 however, at sight of a dress or ribbon of the colours 

 named he immediately commences trying to knock 

 his brains out, or to do himself some other " grievous 

 bodily harm." Can any one account for the strange 

 fear of these particular colours ? — /. N. W. 



A "New River" Horse. — At the brickfields 

 close to the E'mchley-road, where the Midland 

 Extension Railway crosses, are some very sim pie 

 siphons for supplying the works with water. Th cy 

 are merely bent pipes, with a lever tap inserted below 

 the bend. One of these is close to a field fence. 

 My daughter, who pays considerable attention to 

 animals, saw a common cart-horse walk up to the 

 spot, put his head over the fence, and, with his 

 teeth, turn the lever tap full on. He then craned 

 his neck further over, so as to get his mouth below 

 the stream, and caught the water as it fell. A 

 gentleman standing near saw the ingenious creature 

 refreshing himself, and to try whether it were 

 accident or design, drove him away and turned off 

 the tap. On his retreating, the horse renewed the 

 experiment, and obtained a fresh supply. And it 

 is worth note that to do this the animal had to push 



the tap from him a quarter of a circle, the mouth of 

 the spout being turned away from the fence. We 

 have all seen the elephant at the Zoological Gardens 

 fill his pail at the driver's bidding, but I conceive 

 this is rather a new branch of industry for horses. 

 No doubt they make progress in the useful arts as 

 well as their masters. But though my Welsh pony 

 used to open gates for me, by lifting the wooden 

 latch with his nose and then thrusting with his 

 shoulder, I could never get him to turn round and 

 close the gate for me. Nor in this experiment did 

 the horse turn off the tap when he had drank: 

 euough. I believe his masters sometimes exhibit a 

 like forgetfulness at the neighbouring tavern, so 

 both horses and men have something to learn. As 

 an instance of observation, reflection, and experi- 

 ment, followed by deduction, I think the action of 

 our four-footed philosopher worth notice. — /. IF. 

 Salte?\ 



Lepidoptera wanted. — Eor many years I have 

 paid a sort of desultory attention to subjects con- 

 nected with those branches of natural history, the 

 study of which it is the special business of your 

 excellent little work to promote, and the attention 

 has been only desultory because my every-day avoca- 

 cations have rendered a close study impossible. I 

 should, however, much like to exchange specimens 

 with any one who would like to open a correspon- 

 dence with me for that purpose, premising that I 

 am more likely to possess spare specimens of the 

 Lepidoptera than those of other orders. If it be 

 not too late, I should be obliged to any one who 

 would send me a few eggs of any new silk moth, par- 

 ticularly those of the Ailanthus (Bornbyx Cynthia). 

 We have here, somewhat common, a moth which 

 seems very closely allied to the above, judging from 

 drawings I have seen of the Ailanthus, and which 

 feeds on the apple and pear trees, but I should like 

 to rear a few of the Ailanthus for the purpose of 

 making a comparison. I hope the person favouring 

 me with any eggs will accompany them with such 

 instructions as may be necessary to the proper 

 treatment of the caterpillar. Please make such 

 use of this note as may most efficiently conduce to 

 bringing about the object to be attained.— /?''. V. 

 Andrews, Post Office, Box 2905, New York City, 

 U.S. 



Cheating a Spider. — Professor Rennie writes : 

 "We have tried numerous experiments by moving 

 and vibrating the lines of many species, so as to 

 imitate as nearly as possible the entrapment of a fly; 

 but in no case have we succeeded in bringing the 

 spider to the spot, because, as we inferred, her eyes 

 always detected our attempted deception." We 

 once were so clever as to cheat a spider. Gently 

 shaking a very small hook, called the midge-fly, in 

 the lowest line of her web, our barometrical friend 

 — whose pre-sensation gave warning of wet — was 



