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H A It D W I C K E'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[June 1, IS67 



fairly taken in : rushing on the hook, and grasping 

 it, great was her astonishment. Finding that she 

 should not believe her eyes, she precipitately lied ; 

 and no subsequent temptation, though renewed 

 weeks afterwards, enabled us rgain to boast that 

 we excelled Professor Bennie in angling for spiders. 

 — Contributions to Natural History by a Rural D.D. 



Catching a Diver. — On the 8th of April last, 

 a Speckled Diver (I believe it to be a young 

 Colymbus septentrionalis) was caught in Bridlington 

 Bay, on a line shot for cod and haddock, at a depth 

 of four or five fathoms. It had not swallowed the 

 hook, but was caught by a bight (or a twist) of the 

 snood. I forward this note to show at what distance 

 these birds dive in search of food, in case it may 

 interest any of your ornithological readers.— H. II. 

 Knocker. 



House-dogs. — Several articles on rural natural 

 history having appeared lately, it may perhaps more 

 amuse than instruct some of your juvenile readers 

 to be informed that within a month or two a lady 

 friend residing in Corfu asked a countryman to 

 procure a small dog for the children. This he did, 

 but the animal's ears were cropped close off, and on 

 being asked why, he replied that it was to make 

 it a good house-dog. The lady, astonished, wished 

 to be informed in what manner such effect was 

 produced, when the peasant said, " It is a known 

 fact that if a puppy's ears are cut off, then cut up 

 and mixed with oil, and made to eat it, that it makes 

 them the best house-dogs." I leave your readers 

 to judge of the merits of the case, and mention it 

 simply to show superstition in the nineteenth 

 century. — H. H. Knocker. 



Striped Hawk Moth. — I see by c: the books " 

 that the Striped Hawk Moth (Deilephila Livornica) 

 is so great a rarity that is has been a question 

 whether it is really a native of these islands. On 

 the 8th of May I was fortunate enough to 

 capture an undoubtedly genuine and beautiful 

 specimen of this moth in a garden in Eunis. It 

 was resting on a piece of lily of the valley when I 

 found it, in the middle of the day. Thinking it 

 likely there might be more " where it came from," 

 I have searched diligently all round, and burned 

 decoy-lamps at night ; but have failed to find any 

 more. — S. Leslie Brakey, Funis. 



A Baseless Sea Anemone. — In cleaning out 

 one of my tanks, I accidentally tore in two a fine 

 specimen of Sagartia sp/iyrodeta, leaving the base 

 on the slate of the tank ; the Anemone was rather 

 out of sorts, having no base, and his inside tumbling 

 out. I put it in a spare tank, and in a few weeks 

 the rupture healed, with a puckered appearance. 

 The Anemone has no sticking base, and keeps its 

 mooring by attaching the warts of its body to large 

 pebbles. — Alfred Ilawes. 



BOTANY. 



May Mushrooms. — Will Professor Buckman 

 allow me to correct a slight inaccuracy in his article 

 on " May Mushrooms," iu last number of Science- 

 Gossip? The agaric to which he refers is not 

 A. prunulus, which is an autumn species, but 

 A. gambosus, which belongs to the sub-genus " Tri- 

 choloma," and is one of the white-spored Agarics. 

 A. prunulus is one of the " Hyporhodii," or those 

 Agarics in which the spores are pale-rose, or salmon- 

 coloured, and belongs to the sub-genus " Clitopilus." 

 No doubt Professor Buckman's mistake arises from 

 a perusal of Dr. Badham's " Esculent Eungi of 

 Great Britain," in which A. gambosus is called 

 A. prunulus, and the latter species is described 

 under the name of A. Orcella. The true A. Orcella 

 has not, as far as I am aware, been found in this 

 country; but A. prunulus is not uncommon in grassy 

 woods, in the months of August and September, 

 and is also a very good fungus for the table. Its 

 gills are at first quite white, but afterwards become 

 decidedly rose-coloured. — Arc/id. Jerdon. 



Tiian-hmo. — Your correspondent " W. T. H." 

 (whom I regret to say I cannot bring to my recollec- 

 tion by the slender aid of initials), has referred to me 

 (Science-Gossip, November ,;1S66) as a likely person 

 to give you information on the subject of our native 

 anthelmintic, the fungus called by the Burmese 

 Thau-gya-hmo or Wa-hmo, i.e., Worm-passing-fungus, 

 or Bamboo-fungus. I am sorry to say I have nothing 

 to add to what appears to be already known of this 

 plant. In the Gardeners' Chronicle for August 11, 

 1SGG, it is described by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, 

 our highest authority in mycology, under the name 

 of Polyporus anthelminticus, and some account of it 

 is also given. Its virtue as a vermifuge appears to 

 be thought great by the Burmese. But (as the 

 article in the Gardeners' Chronicle says) since we 

 possess so excellent a remedy in Santonins (which 

 has found its way out here, and is eagerly sought 

 after by the natives as soon as they become ac- 

 quainted with it), there is no advantage in intro- 

 ducing what in all likelihood is, at least, an inferior 

 remedy. I believe it is tolerably abundant in the 

 rainy season, though, I am told, only on one kind of 

 bamboo. The Burmese have a superstition that 

 if one who has taken this medicine touch iron, its 

 eifect will be neutralized. — C. S. P. Parish, 

 Moulmein, 



The Primrose.— In answer to " B.'s " inquiry as 

 to the varieties of Primula in which the calyx is so 

 strangely altered, I do not remember to have seen 

 any other than the three kinds mentioned by him, 

 but I think I have seen the one in which the calyx 

 is partly green and partly red, varying to green 

 and white. This particular variety (with the red 



