262 



HARD WICKE'S S CIENCE- G O SSI P. 



Raising an Obelisk. — The Cra/Z/Zr of Sept. 29 

 gives an account of the mode adopted in raising 

 the obelisk at Paris, and this reminds me of an 

 incident that occurred during the lifting of the 

 celebrated obelisk at Rome. At the instance of 

 the chief engineer the Pope had issued an order 

 that perfect silence should be preserved among the 

 vast crowd, the severest penalties being threatened 

 for the breach thereof. Slowly but steadily the oxen 

 strained at the ropes, which passing over powerful 

 pulleys, were fastened to the upj^er part of the case 

 which enclosed the monolith — slowly but safely rises 

 the end which is to point to the heavens— the anxiety 

 is intense, but all goes well — ^^the perpendicular is 

 nearly attained, when suddenly the huge mass stops 

 — the oxen have come to the boundary wall and can 

 go no further. Destruction threatens the precious 

 obelisk. In apportioning the length of the ropes to 

 the available space, the engineer did not remember 

 that they would stretch. All is consternation and 

 despair ! — when from among the crowd a voice is 

 heard " Acqua ! acqua ! " The audacious offender is 

 seized and awaits his punishment. But why are the 

 engineer and his men hurrying with those vessels 

 filled with water ? Has he comprehended the 

 meaning of that cry Acqua ? Yes ! the water is 

 poured upon the ropes — the ropes contract — the 

 obelisk attains the perpendicular, and is saved ! 

 Shall the man whose exclamation was its salvation 

 endure his punishment ? No, the engineer has repre- 

 sented to his Holiness that reward, not punishment, 

 is due to that man : he is graciously pardoned, and 

 informed that any reasonable request he may make 

 will be granted. Who is he ? and for what will he 

 ask ? He commands a small vessel that hails from 

 Bordighera, a beautiful place on the lovely Riviera, 

 between Mentone and San Remo, and has often 

 brought palm-leaves from thence to Rome for Palm- 

 Sunday ; he claims for his native place the monopoly 

 of that supply. His boon is granted, and the palm- 

 leaves of I3ordighera make a yearly descent upon 

 Rome. — M. M, 



Massacre of Colias Edusa. — This butterfly 

 has been seen almost everywhere, even in such barren 

 localities as St. James's Park and Trafalgar Square, 

 but that does not justify the sweeping destruction 

 which it experiences. Many brethren of the net have 

 acted in a manner more like sportsmen than 

 naturalists, and have indulged in what I cannot help 

 calling wanton slaughter. The following facts need 

 no comment. I have heard, on good authority, of a 

 boy who had captured 130 specimens in a very short 

 time. In Darenth Wood, my son was told by a rather 

 rough-looking fellow that he and a party had caught 

 1,000 in one day in that neighbourhood ; and I have 

 seen an advertisement offering to supply perfect 

 specimens, set and carefully packed at is. per dozen. 

 If insects were only caught by those who wish to 

 study them, or at any rate to make permanent bona 

 fide collections, we need not fear the extirpation of 

 any British species. But unfortunately multitudes — 

 including sometimes rarities — are captured to be 

 played with, or to be arranged in circles, triangles, 

 half-moons, &c. And some who act thus pretend to 

 be entomologists. — J. W. Slater. 



Peregrine, Red Grouse, &c. — I cannot do less 

 than thank Mr. Dixon for his remarks about the 

 Peregrine (Falco Peregrimts). It is, however, about 

 the habit of Red Grouse mentioned by me in Science- 

 Gossip last August, to which I would draw his atten- 

 tion for a brief period, as, in his remarks on my 

 notice of this extraordinary habit, he brings some 

 very serious charges against me. The first which 



I refer to, is the following passage : *' If he [myselfj 

 would allow himself to remember, that we were once 

 discussing this matter, and that / informed him of 

 this peculiar habit which he )!ozu publishes as his own 

 discovery.^'' The manner in which the above state- 

 ment is worded, particularly that portion of it in 

 italics, would lead any one to infer that my communi- 

 cation of August last, viz., that my attention was 

 first drawn to this important fact, in the Nat. History 

 of the Red Grouse, in the winter of 1875, was a false 

 assertion. Does Mr. Dixon mean to say that I did 

 not see the fact above mentioned ? I cannot conceive 

 the uncharitable motives which impelled Mr. Dixon 

 to contradict me so flatly. I was somewhat surprised 

 to see him ask for information respecting the clutches 

 of Sparrow-hawks' {Accipiter nis74s) eggs ! Mr. 

 Dixon himself took clutches of four and three ; a 

 friend (Mr. J. Elvidge) and I took one ; and 

 another friend (Mr. Armitage), took two sets of two 

 and one from the same nest ; of which I have one 

 of the first set. In conclusion, I again aver, that it was 

 entirely by my own investigation that I obtained the 

 information about which Mr. Dixon remarks. — 

 T. W. Dealy, Sheffield. 



[Mr. Dealy having replied to Mr. Dixon, we must 

 now close this controversy. — Ed. S.-G.] 



Magpie, Starlings, and Swift. — When I was 

 walking near my father's house on Tuesday, May 1 5, 

 I saw a magpie and two starlings surround and attack 

 a small bird. I ran to its assistance and rescued it, 

 and found it to be a swift. I took it into the house, 

 and, having given it some brandy, put it outside the 

 window, when it, much to my satisfaction, flew away. 

 Is not it a remarkable thing for a magpie and 

 starlings to attack a swift on the wing? — S. E. A. W. 



Lapwing and Sparrow-hawk. — I beg to com- 

 municate what appears to me an interesting, if not 

 an unprecedented, fact. The other evening, at about 

 7 P.M., when about a mile from the town of Alloa, 

 on the Stirling road, I observed a lapwing, or peewit 

 ( Vanellus cristatus), pursuing a sparrow-hawk [Ac- 

 cipiter fringillarius). The pursuit lasted for the space 

 of four or five minutes, during which the struggle 

 between the birds appeared to be for position, but 

 from first to last the lapwing soared above the hawk, 

 and ever and anon descended and bufi"eted it. At 

 length, however, the birds reached a wood in which 

 the hawk took shelter, and left the lapwing to return 

 to the meadows on the Firth of Forth, where pro- 

 bably nestled its young. Had there been several 

 lapwings in pursuit, I should have thought the oc- 

 currence less worthy of note ; but this was a combat 

 between a single bird of each description. — f. C. 

 Stephens. 



Spotted Slug (Z. maxiimis). — A poor slug of 

 this species, which had been crushed in two in the 

 middle, and kept so for hours (unconsciously, of ' 

 course), was so far lively on being released as to erect 

 its horns and crawl slowly away. Thus this mollusk 

 is very tenacious of life.— IV. PI. Warner. 



Common Swift.— It is said here (Oxon. ) that 

 when the Swifts fly at a great rate in small jiarties, 

 and screaming loudly the while, it is a sign that fine 

 weather will continue. — W. H. Warner. 



Phenomenon of Water. — May I inquire, through 

 your columns, the cause of a phenomenon, no doubt 

 known to some of your readers, but of which I 

 haven't met with an explanation ? If a stream of 

 water, or spirit, be allowed to fall on a surface of 

 the same, numerous globules of liquid (not bubbles 

 of air, since they possess more apparent weight and 



