Dec. ], 1SG7.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



275 



amphibian. The latter would sometimes enter the 

 room whilst we were at dinner, creating a fine dis- 

 turbance with the cat and dog, who — although at 

 all other times antagonistic to eacli other — on such 

 an occasion would act in unison, one on each side 

 of the reptile, barking and swearing, and the abject 

 fear of the poor snake was laughable to behold ; it 

 would wriggle about, tie itself into all sorts of 

 loose knots, and hiss and dart about as if on a plate 

 of hot iron. The natives believe that all snakes are 

 venomous, and fear the black as much as any 

 other. 



I have often been checked in my snake-hunting 

 expeditions, by coming across the cast-off skins ; 

 and once a skeleton of a boa constrictor that when 

 alive must have been too large in circumference for 

 me to span with both hands— a sight which checked 

 my researches in ophiology a little, for 1 naturally 

 thought that somewhere in the vicinity it was not 

 improbable that I might come across some of its 

 living relatives, which was anything but desirable ; 

 and such an effect had it upon my nerves, that I 

 returned home without having caught a single 

 specimen for my collection — but with the con- 

 solatory thought that no snake had caught me. 



On killing a snake I generally found it difficult to 

 tell when the creature was really dead, as the vital 

 power remains so long after deat h, and the body — 

 still retaining its muscular action — would wriggle 

 about when placed in the bottle of rum as though 

 endowed with fresh life. I also noticed a peculiar 

 fact in the case of a very large snake which, having 

 killed, I left in the garden until not the slightest 

 movement occurred in the body, neither did it show 

 any sign of sensibility in being touched or pushed 

 about with a piece of stick ; but, to my surprise, 

 on touching it with my finger, a strong convulsive 

 motion passed through the whole body. This I 

 tried several times, and always with the same result. 



Many of the snakes I found to be swift in their 



movements — one, the whip snake, exceedingly so ; one 



moment it would be before me, perhaps not more 



than two yards off, and the next I knew not where; 



all that I could see of the movement was a sort of 



wave and like a flash of lightning the snake had 



disappeared. The rattlesnakes, however, from my 



experience of them, are rather sluggish than 



otherwise, and, fortunately for man, have not the 



love of slaughter which the correspondent of the 



Liverpool Daily Mercury would lead people unac- 



cpiainted with the habits of snakes to believe. 



Alfred Ikin. 

 Upper Kennington Lane. 



Metallic Markings of Beetles. — The metallic 

 markings on the Cassidse, which vanish when dry, 

 may be preserved for years by immersing the beetles 

 in spirits whilst fresh, and keeping them moist. — 

 W. H. Walcott, in " The Zoologist," p. 5,929. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Rats. — The black rat becomes every year more 

 scarce in Scandinavia wherever the large brown 

 rat gains a footing. Was once common through- 

 out the whole country. In the days of Linne, the 

 brown rat was unknown in Sweden ; about ninety 

 years since the first was seen in Scania. It has 

 now, however, become gradually spread over the 

 land, and is met with in every part to the North 

 Cape. Although at deadly enmity with its smaller 

 brother, it does not interfere with the little mouse. 

 Strange to say, much as this country is overrun 

 with rats, I never saw either a ferret or a rat trap 

 till I got some over from England. I know no 

 country where a good ratcatcher could make a better 

 living than in this. I once saw the rats drummed 

 out of a house here which was full of them. It was 

 a large wooden building. Two regimental drummers 

 were sent for, who began at the very top of the 

 house, and drummed in every room. The rats 

 bolted very fast, and I had some capital shooting 

 outside. It was bng before any came back. — Ten 

 Years in Sweden. 



The "Whale (Batena mysticetus) . — Nilsson re- 

 marks that the weight of the common whale is 

 100 tons, or 220,000 lb., is equal to 88 elephants, 

 or 440 bears. The whalebone in such a whale may 

 be taken at 3,360 lbs., and the blubber at 140 to 170 

 tuns. The remains of the fossil whale (Balena 

 prisca) which have been found on the coast of 

 Ystad, in the Baltic, and even far inland in Wanga- 

 panse, Westergothland, betoken a whale which, 

 although not more than between 50 and 60 feet 

 long, must at least have had a body 27 times larger 

 and heavier than the common whale. — Ten Years in 

 Sweden. 



Curious Nest of Hedge Sparrow. — The 

 notice in Science-Gossip of a Chaffinch's nest calls 

 to mind a similar instance which I witnessed a few 

 years since. While searching a hedge row for the 

 larva of the Black-veined butterfly, I discovered 

 a beautifully made nest which had somewhat the 

 appearance of a Linnet's, but as it was composed of 

 such unusual materials, and contained four newly- 

 hatched young, which I could see were not finches 

 (and that was all I could decide upon) I took two, 

 leaving the others in the nest ; these I reared, and 

 they turned out to be the Hedge Sparrow. The 

 nest was made in the usual manner, but in the place 

 of moss, &c, it was composed of woollen fibre of 

 various colours, 'red being the most prominent, 

 evidently a portion of an old carpet ; it was lined 

 with a mixture of moss and ends of cotton with a 

 few feathers ; all this gave it quite an artificial ap- 

 pearance, but containing the young as it did proved 

 it genuine. — /. B. Waters. 



