260 



HARDWICKE'S SC 1EN CE - GO SS IP. 



[.Nov. ], 1S67. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Enemy to Bugs. — The Reduvias personates is a 

 valued friend to man, as in Europe it destroys the 

 bed-bug. Its specific name is derived from its habit, 

 while immature, of concealing itself in a case of 

 dust, the better to approach its prey. Besides the 

 Reduvius, the cockroach is the natural enemy of the 

 bed-bug, and destroys large numbers. Houses have 

 been cleared of them after being thoroughly fumi- 

 gated with brimstone.— American Naturalist'. 



Eish Increase.— A rough calculation shows that 

 were one per cent, of the eggs of the salmon to 

 result in full-grown fish, and were they and their 

 p rogeny to continue to increase in the same ratio, 

 they would, in about sixty years amount in bulk 

 to many times the size of the earth. Nor is the 

 salmon among the most prolific species. I have 

 counted in a perch {Percafavescens), weighing three 

 ounces and a half, 9,943 eggs; and in a smelt 

 (Qsmerus viridescens), ten inches in length, 25,141. 

 Some of the larger fishes produce millions at each 

 spawning. An interesting experiment was made 

 m Sweden, in 1761, by Charles Frederick Lund. He 

 obtained from fifty female breams 3,100,000 young ; 

 from one hundred female perch 3,215,000 young ; 

 and from one hundred female mullets 4,000,000 

 young. These are certainly wonderful results. — 

 C. G. Atkins, in American Naturalist. 



The Blind Worm.— I have kept many of these 

 at different times, and fed them on the small grey 

 slug, as mentioned in the August number. I should 

 think they would prove a valuable assistance to 

 gardeners whose premises were infested with these 

 little pests. I once told a gardener this, but he 

 evidently had the usual horror of the blind worm, 

 for he said he would sooner have the slugs. Some- 

 times when I fed them the slugs had mould attached 

 to their bodies, and then the blind worm, seizing its 

 prey by the middle, would take it to a stone, and by 

 gently moving its head from side to side, gradually 

 detach all unnecessary particles. This showed no 

 inconsiderable amount of reasoning power, for it did 

 not treat all its food so. " F. T.," in his article, 

 did not refer to the faculty it possesses of parting 

 with its tail, and reproducing it, perhaps because 

 the fact is now pretty well known to naturalists. 

 One that I picked up by the caudal member left 

 about two inches of it in my hand, and this com- 

 menced a series of twistings and jumpings such as 

 those Mr. Wood has somewhere described; mean- 

 while the animal glided away. I took the tail home 

 with me, and it would twitch about when I touched 

 it a couple of hours after. The part where the 

 separation takes place is red, but no blood flows. 

 I have found several specimens of Anguis fragilis 

 without a tail, but it has grown again in a short 

 time. I have never seen the creature climb, but 

 there is no doubt it can, for a friend of mine kept 

 some m his garden, whence one escaped to the 

 premises of his neighbour. The garden was sur- 

 rounded by a high wall, and there was no wav of 

 escape except through the house into the street — 

 Henry Ullyett, Folkestone. 



Fishhooks cut out of Shells.— These curious 

 fishhooks are employed in New Zealand, especially 

 for taking a fish called Kawai ; they are cut so that 

 the pearly part has the shape of a small fish, and 

 simulates a bait. Would any one have the kindness 

 to tell me the scientific name of the Kawai ?— B. M. 



Rat -tail Venom. — In the Notes and Queries in 

 the June number I find a statement by one R, J. J." 

 that Norfolk people possess a notion that rats' tails 

 are venomous. Now it is possible that this absurd 

 . notion may be entertained by some poor ignorant 

 rustics in a particular locality ; but although I have 

 lived in Norfolk sinee my infancy, I have never 

 I heard of such a thing before. It can hardly be 

 |. expected that visitors are able to arrive at correct 

 conclusions respecting the popular notions of a 

 whole county after a short stay in it, further than 

 : with regard to a few of the ideas of the rural po- 

 ! pulation in some very small place. Even in the 

 latter case, their observations must of necessity be 

 extremely desultory in their nature, and cannot con- 

 sequently be relied upon.—/. H. F. 



Odd Fishes. — The Sudas gigas. — The scales and 

 the bony palate of the Sudas gigas, or Pirarucu, of 

 the Amazonas, are employed in Brazil for grating 

 the Guarana, a paste made of the seeds of Paullinia 

 sorbilis ; — a few grains of the powder are added to 

 water, and drunk as a substitute for tea. Scales of 

 Pirarucu, and palates or tongues, as they were called, 

 were exhibited in the Brazilian Court at the Great 

 Exhibition.— B. M. 



Larv.e in Mushrooms. — These must be re- 

 markably quick growing creatures, and I should say 

 are evidently bred in the mushroom, as you may 

 trace them from the largest size down to such 

 small ones, that they almost require a magnifying 

 glass to see them. I should suppose the eggs must 

 be laid in the stem of the mushroom ere it rises 

 much above the surface of the ground, to give them 

 a little longer time to grow. I should be glad to 

 know wjiat the perfect insect is. Butterfly ?—E. T. 

 Scott. 



Planaria.— The paper by Mr. Ray Lankester in 

 the Popular Science Review, leads me to send to 

 Science-Gossip a few observations I have at one 

 time or other made, on what I suppose to be some 

 species of planaria. I have particularly noticed two 

 species. One has apparently two eyes placed thus 

 •• the other four \\ The body of the two-eyed 

 one is not above half an inch long. It is opaque, 

 and of a black colour. The other is, when young, 

 quite transparent, and almost colourless, though as 

 it grows older it has a greenish hue. The largest I 

 have seen of these was rather more than an inch 

 long when stretched out. When touched they 

 contract themselves into a hard lump, as a healthy 

 leech does ; and they fix themselves and move some- 

 thing in the same way. They produce their young 

 alive. They are contained in the lower part of their 

 bodies, and are quite lively in the body of their 

 parent ; and may often be seen stretching out their 

 heads on each side, which gives the animal a very 

 curious look. I have not particularly noticed how 

 many they produce at a time, but I have counted 

 between two and three dozen in one animal. They 

 feed on other animalcules, but seem barely to suck 

 them. I have seen them feeding on the round 

 Lynceus.— E. T. Scott. 



Gnat Bites.— On my return from Switzerland a 

 few weeks ago, I read in Science- Gossip some 

 inquiries for a good remedy for gnat bites. I 

 suffered very much from gnat bites this summer, 

 until told to apply salad oil to them. This relieved 

 them in a few hours when at the worst, or if applied 

 at once, prevented all inflammation. — H. Richardson. 



