June 1, 18G7.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



143 



The American Naturalist. — The Essex Insti- 

 tute (Salem, Mass., U.S.), the Microscopical section 

 of which is one of the most vigorous and healthy in 

 the United States, has_ just commenced the publi- 

 cation of a monthly journal called The American 

 Naturalist, of fifty-six octavo pages, at a little less 

 than eighteen-pence per single number. Such a 

 medium was wanted by our transatlantic friends, 

 and we wish it success. 



Silkworm Gut. — The silk in the reservoirs (of 

 the silkworm) is sometimes used in commerce, 

 being sold under the name of "gut." The process 

 of obtaining the gut is very simple ; it consists in 

 preparing worms ready to spin by putting them in 

 strong vinegar for eighteen hours ; a transverse 

 opening is then carefully made on the under side 

 and about the middle of the body, taking care not 

 to injure the silk reservoirs, which are very distinct. 

 The glands, or reservoirs, are then taken out and 

 stretched parallel to each other on a board, and 

 dried in the shade for several days. — The American 

 Naturalist. 



Great aquariums are numerically increasing 

 in France. One was long since established by Mr. 

 W. A. Lloyd in the Jardin d'Acclimatation, Bois de 

 Boulogne, Paris. Another has been some time 

 opened in the Boulevard Montmartre. A fresh- 

 water aquarium is already opened in the Park of 

 the Exposition of 1S67, and a marine aquarium of 

 equal size is in process of construction. There is, 

 moreover, one at Boulogne, and another at Ar- 

 cachon. 



Mice and Cockroaches.— Although I by no 

 means desire to propound any theory on the subject, 

 I have twice observed a similar occurrence to that 

 mentioned in a recent number of Science-Gossip. 

 We had plenty of mice, but a cockroach was seldom 

 to be seen. A cat was introduced into the esta- 

 blishment to reduce the numbers of the mice, which 

 she did effectually, but now that there are no mice 

 cockroaches appear in legions. The same thing has 

 been observed by me in two separate houses in 

 which I have resided during the past five years. 

 There is no reason for affirming or denying that 

 mice will eat cockroaches. We can only state facts — 

 mine in corroboration of others, and look to future 

 investigation and experience to develop the 

 cause. — A. C. 



Mice and Cockroaches. — In reply to the query 

 of your correspondent, " Whether any antagonism 

 exists between the domestic mouse ( Mus musculus) 

 aud the cockroach {Blatta motendinaria, or 

 orientalis)," my experience leads me to answer in 

 the negative ; and as one fact is worth more than a 

 thousand theories, I will furnish him with what I 

 consider a conclusive instance. A kitchen in my 

 house has been much infested with cockroaches for 

 years, in common with the crickets {Acheta or 

 Grijllus domesticus), who are also tenants, and live 

 in the utmost harmony with their more numerous 

 neighbours. They are night insects, or lucifugae. 

 The floor at dark has been literally alive with them. 

 During the same period the mice, although not in un- 

 disturbedpossession, or allowed to "reign supreme," 

 have had the range of the premises, and have certainly 

 defied all attempts to extirpate them in kitchen and 

 elsewhere. _ I am entirely unable to account for the 

 alternate disappearance and reappearance of these 



I 



pests, as recounted by your correspondent, but if it 

 be a fact in natural history that the domestic mouse 

 devours insects, I am quite unaware of it, although 

 of course every one knows that his congener of the 

 harvest-field (Mus messorius) is insectivorous as well 

 as graminivorous. In this case, however, I have 

 never heard that his ambition leads him to aspire to 

 larger or higher game than the bluebottle fly 

 (Musca carnicora). On one occasion, in order to 

 clear the place of the cockroaches, two hedgehogs 

 {Erinaceus Europecits) were introduced, but the 

 animals were the reverse of abstemious, and in the 

 height of their gluttony (in this respect apicius- 

 likej gorged themselves so much that they absolutely 

 died from indigestion, the effect of overloaded 

 stomachs ; otherwise I believe they would have 

 effectuallv done the work allotted to them.— Henry 

 IF. T. Ellis, Crowle. 



Which Bangor?— In L. Lane Clarke's "Objects 

 for the Microscope," p. IS, under the head of 

 " Diatoms of Guano," the infusorial earth of Bangor, 

 U.S., is mentioned as very fine. Now, Bangor is in 

 our State, but its diatoms are new to us here. I 

 cannot imagine where it is, or what the deposit may 

 be, unless it be intended to mean the fossil forami- 

 nifera which are to be obtained sparingly from the 

 marine clays which occur on the banks of our rivers. 

 Also where is Wreatham, U.S., given in the same 

 list ? There is a town named Wrentham in Massa- 

 chusetts, which has a good many ponds, &c., where 

 diatoms might be deposited, but I do not know of 

 any celebrity obtained by , this locality. —E. C.B., 

 Portland, Maine, U.S. 



[Can any one help our correspondent ? — Ed.] 



Baillon's Crake. — I have in my possession a 

 very beautiful specimen of Baillon's Crake, a female 

 bird, weighing only three-quarters of an ounce, 

 which was caught by a cat near St. Leonards-on- 

 Sea on the 12th of April. It does not appear to 

 have been seen in this neighbourhood before. — John 

 Bissenden. 



Meerschaum. — It may appear surprising that so 

 little is written on this extraordinary article, for its 

 use is daily becoming more apparent. Doubtless 

 many of your valuable correspondents indulge in 

 a pipe — and a meerschaum. Lord Brougham, 

 Tennyson, Thomas Miller, and a host of learned and 

 distinguished men', smoke ; and it is stated that 

 Tennyson may be seen with his large meerschaum, 

 in his walks, frequently during the summer months, 

 culling over some of his brilliant ebullitions. Dr. 

 E. D. Clarke may be accepted as a reliable authority, 

 and he states that before the capture of the Crimea 

 this substance was a considerable article of com- 

 merce with Constantinople. It was sold to German 

 merchants for the making of those beautiful pipes 

 which after long smoking were sold for forty and 

 fifty pounds of our money. In Natolia, at the 

 present day, 1,000 hands are employed in its manu- 

 facturing process, and in Vienna, meerschaum pipes, 

 from their artistic designs, realize 100 guineas. It 

 appears all authorities agree as to its being classified 

 as a mineral, but its exact nature is not precisely 

 known ; aud as considerable ignorance prevails 

 amongst the English of its nature, formation, and 

 properties, I again repeat my question for answer's 

 by your valuable contributors — " What is meer- 

 schaum, and how is it identified when manufactured 

 into smoking pipes ? " — C. M. 



