July 1, 1867.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



161 



The Palmate Newt. — It may interest some of 

 my fellow-subscribers to your interesting periodical 

 if I inform them that I have met with the Palmate 

 Newt (Lophinus palmatus) in this neighbourhood. — 

 Win. Nettleton, Huddersfield. 



Slowworm (p. 112). — These are very interesting 

 creatures, and are by no means difficult to keep in 

 health, and in apparent comfort, even in Wardian 

 cases ; but, of course, the more space the better ; 

 let them only have a little fresh moss, and places to 

 hide in,— a broken garden-pot, with some coarse 

 dry sand or earth in it. We had one in London for 

 years ; it became tame, and would readily, wheu 

 hungry, take a small slug (they refuse the large 

 coarse black slugs) from the hand; but it might be 

 well at the first to put in with him a good number 

 of small ones, — the common small grey garden slug 

 is his favourite. I do not remember to have ever 

 seen him eat worms. Their movements are extremely 

 graceful, and I have no doubt they will climb : 

 they are very fond of basking in the sunshine. — 

 W.P. 



Crane at Sandhurst.— On the 1st of May I 

 saw that rara avis, the Crane, in the marshes near 

 Sandhurst. Have any of your readers ever seen 

 this bird at a place as far inland ?—F. W. Gibson, 

 M.D., Broadmoor, Berks. 



[Is our correspondent certain that he saw a 

 veritable " crane " ? — Ed.] 



An Ocean op Eire.— As the ship sails with a 

 strong breeze through a luminous sea on a dark 

 night, the effect produced is then seen to the 

 greatest advantage. The wake of the vessel is one 

 broad sheet of phosphoric matter, so brilliant as to 

 cast a dull pale light over the after-part of the 

 ship ; the foaming surges, as they gracefully curl on 

 each side of the vessel's prow, are similar to rolling 

 masses of liquid phosphorus ; whilst in the distance, 

 even to the horizon, it seems an ocean of fire, and 

 the distant waves breaking, give out a light of an 

 inconceivable beauty and brilliancy; in the com- 

 bination the effect produces sensations of wonder 

 and awe. — Wanderings of a Naturalist. 



Preserved Fishes.— Recently we alluded to 

 the excellently preserved fishes exhibited by Captain 

 Mitchell at the Paris Exhibition. We have since 

 had our opinion of their merits confirmed. Dr. 

 Gunther, in a recent number of the "Annals of 

 Natural History," unhesitatingly affirms that in his 

 large experience these arc the best-preserved fishes 

 he remembers to have seen. Moreover, it is 

 whispered that the International Jury has awarded 

 for them a medal. 



Malayan Birds and Insects. — Mr. A. P. 

 Wallace's very interesting collection is being exhi- 

 bited at 76|, Westboumc Grove. 



Death Adder op New South Wales. — This 

 hideous reptile is thick in proportion to its length ; 

 the eye is vivid yellow, wilh a black longitudinal 

 pupil ; the colour of the body is difficult to be 

 described, being a complication of dull colours, 

 with narrow blackish bauds, shaded off into colours 

 which compose the back ; abdomen slightly tinged 

 with red; head broad, thick, and flattened. The 

 specimen I examined measured two feet two inches 

 in length, and five inches in circumference. It is, 

 I believe, an undescribed species. A dog that was 

 bitten by one died in less than an hour. The 

 specimen I examined was found coiled up near the 

 banks of the Murrumbidgee river, and being of a 

 torpid disposition, did not move when approached, 

 but quietly reposed in the pathway, with its head 

 turned beneath the belly. — Bennett's Wanderings. 



Elying Eish — The greatest length of time that 

 I have seen these volatile fish on the fin, has been 

 thirty seconds, by the watch ; and their longest 

 flight mentioned by Captain Hall, has been two 

 hundred yards ; but he thinks that subsequent 

 observation has extended the space. The most 

 usual height of flight, as seen above the surface of 

 the water, is from two to three feet ; but I have 

 known them come on board at a height of fourteen 

 feet and upwards ; and they have been well ascer- 

 tained to come into the channels of a line-of-battle 

 ship, which is considered as high as twenty feet and 

 upwards. But it must not be supposed they have 

 the power of elevating themselves in the air, after 

 having left their native element ; for, on watching 

 them, I have often seen them fall much below the 

 elevation at which they first rose from the water, 

 but never in any one instance could I observe them 

 raise themselves from the height at which they first 

 sprang, for I regard the elevation they take to 

 depend on the power of the first spring or leap 

 they make on leaving their native element. — Wan- 

 derings in New South Wales. 



Portuguese Man-op-War. — This splendid 

 physalia is often seen floating by the ship ; the 

 inflated, or bladder portion of this molluscous 

 animal, glowing in delicate crimson tints, floats upon 

 the waves, whilst the long tentaculse, of a deep 

 purple colour, extend beneath, as snares to capture 

 its prey. It is oftentimes amusing to see persons 

 eager to secure the gaudy prize ; but they find, by 

 painful experience, that, like many other beautiful 

 objects of the creation, they possess hidden tor- 

 ments ; for no sooner have they grasped the tinted 

 and curious animal, than, encircling its long filiform 

 appendages over the hands and fingers of its cap- 

 turer, it inflicts such pungent pain, by means of an 

 acrid fluid discharged from them, as to cause him 

 to drop the prize, and attend to the smarting occa- 

 sioned by it. — Bennett's Wanderings. 



