De« . 1, 18(17.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



279 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Dead Starlings. — A few days ago, rowing 

 upon a largo piece of water, the edges of which 

 were fringed with tall reeds, I noticed from fifteen 

 to twenty dead starlings lying upon the surface, in 

 a parallel line with the reeds and a,bout thirty yards 

 distant. All lay downwards in exactly the same 

 position, — wings slightly extended, legs stretched 

 as if perching, and head and bill pointing straight 

 down. I examined several : the wings and legs 

 were unbroken, nor was any wound or blood to be 

 seen. The plumage of all was unruffled, and on the 

 backs was quite dry. Where the birds lay there 

 was weed just reaching to the surface, which pre- 

 vented them from drifting with the wind, and, no 

 doubt, detained each bird in the exact spot where 

 it fell. Multitudes of starlings roost every night 

 in the weeds. The question is, How came these 

 birds in the water? During the previous night 

 there had been some extremely violent gusts of 

 wind, and my only surmise is that they might have 

 been blown off while in a state of sound sleep, and 

 were drowned, or that their wings became too much 

 wetted for use before sufficiently recovering from 

 their stupor, the night being also pitch dark. We 

 all know how ridiculously stupid a common fowl is 

 when taken off its perch during the night, and how 

 unable for many minutes to shake off its drowsi- 

 ness. — Delia. 



Asterina gibbosa.— On the Sth June last a 

 friend, returning from Torquay, brought me a' 

 couple of starfishes, one Asterina gibbosa, the 

 other Urasterrubens. The latter lived about seven 

 weeks, but the former is now alive and well. About 

 the first week in August I noticed a number of 

 small pentagonal dots on different parts of the 

 rockwork in my aquarium. I had not time to ex- 

 amine them microscopically, but suspected them to 

 be young Urasters. On October 1st I noticed 

 several young starfishes, presenting in a most 

 marked manner the characters of Asterina gibbosa. 

 The tips of the tentacles were of a beautiful orange 

 colour, and one specimen measured then about one- 

 eighth of an inch across. It is now (October 14th) 

 about a quarter of an inch in diameter. They 

 appear to be growing somewhat rapidly. Is it a 

 common occurrence for starfishes to breed in 

 aquaria? — Charles Adcock, M.R.C.S., Birmingham. 



Disguises of Insects (p. 261).— I have had 

 five caterpillars of the Emperor Moth this summer. 

 One of them spun its cocoon attached to some white 

 net ; one in a box liued with white paper. These 

 two cocoons are made of white silk. The other 

 three caterpillars spun on the surface of the soil 

 amongst dead, brown, grass, and these three are of a 

 dark brown colour. — Bobert Hull end. 



Corals. — Can any of your correspondents give 

 a receipt for cleaning corals which have become 

 very dirty from age and long exposure to dust ? — 

 Bobert Holla ml. 



Crickets. — Although one should not cry till 

 fairly out of the wood, I have hopes that these mis- 

 chievous intruders have received their final conp-de- 

 graee in my kitchen, not having heard the faintest 

 sound of one for about six weeks; and I would 

 recommend a similar remedy to your inquirer, 

 " Geo. B." My method of extermination was the re- 



peated syringing their haunts with boiling water. 

 The cricket can endure almost any amount of dry 

 heat, but is quickly killed with moisture, let alone 

 its being in a boiling state. The stream should be 

 strong, sudden, and in considerable quantity. The 

 instrument employed in my case was an ordinary 

 ' brass hand greenhouse syringe, with a flat finely- 

 punctured nose. If this plan be adopted whenever 

 the insect's noise directs to its place of retreat, in a 

 very short time there will not remain even the ghosf 

 of a "cricket on the hearth" to furnish material 

 for a Christmas tale. — T. S. 



Worms— to Quit.— "J. W. W." asks in the last 

 number of Sciexce-Gossip how to get rid of worms 

 which are ruining his grassplots. Somebody asked 

 the very same question, a good many years ago, at 

 a committee meeting of the Liverpool and Man- 

 chester Agricultural Society, when an old farmer 

 answered very characteristically, " Why, make the 

 ground so poor that it winuot keep 'em, to be sure.' - 

 Worms are always most plentiful in the richest soil, 

 aud if " J. W. W." can manage to impoverish his 

 land he will get rid of the worms. But this would be 

 difficult, as his lawn will only become poorer in the 

 course of years, by dint of constant mowing and 

 never manuring; and it may be •worth while to try 

 other remedies. Salt, put on in just sufficient 

 quantity as not to kill the grass, would greatly tend 

 to the destruction of the worms ; but if too great a 



Quantity were put on, and the grass were acci- 

 entally killed in patches, no great harm would be 

 done, for it would grow again next year, especially 

 if some trefoil seed were raked into the bare places 

 in the spring. It is a curious fact that when grass 

 is thus killed with salt, a fine crop of mushrooms 

 sometimes springs up on the land. I should, how- 

 ever, prefer giving the grass a good dressing with 

 lime, which the worms would strongly object to, 

 and which would make the herbage thick and very 

 green. But whatever method " J. W. W." adopts to 

 get rid of the worms, he will be greatly assisted by 

 encouraging as many birds as possible. Thrushes, 

 blackbirds, and robins all eat worms, and a few- 

 crumbs thrown out regularly in frosty weather will 

 entice numbers of birds, which in return for his 

 kindness will seize upon every worm that makes 

 its appearance. I think that the lime and the birds 

 together would soon effect what "J. W. W." de- 

 sires. — Bobert Holland. 



An awkward Mistake.— We have alluded more 

 than once to the stuffed lion and tiger of the Paris 

 Exhibition. When we left Paris in May one of the 

 jury informed us that a silver medal had been 

 awarded to Mr. Ward for this group, but that the 

 exhibition of other and inferior preserved animals 

 by him was much to his prejudice. It now appears 

 that the other animals were exhibited by another 

 Mr. Ward, and that by some blunder the medal has 

 been sent to him, and Mr. Ward of the lion and 

 tiger group— that is, Mr. Edwin Ward— has lost 

 what was undoubtedly intended for him, through 

 having a competitor of the same surname. Some 

 clerk or reporter to the jury has taken the wrong- 

 name from the catalogue, and Mr. Edwin Ward has 

 not only been cheated of his medal, but its pos- 

 sessor adds insult to injury, and declares by public 

 advertisement, that no mistake whatever has been 

 committed. Let us hope that the public will 

 endorse the award which the jury in reality made ; 

 and though another Mr. Ward may have got ths 

 medal, the honour beloncrs to Mr. Edwin Ward. 



