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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



published a catalogue of Tasmanian Land Shells 

 containing a list of all discovered up to date of 

 publication, 1871. He, however, omits to say that 

 this catalogue, as he terms it, contains over forty 

 descriptions of species nowhere else to be found. In 

 my humble opinion this is something more than a 

 catalogue. I regret that the book lias been long out 

 of print, so am unable to send you a copy. Mr. P. 

 is in error when he states that If. vitrinaformis was 

 described from a specimen found by him on Mount 

 Wellington. That shell came from a place forty or 

 fifty miles further south, and the type shell is in my 

 possession. It was found by a Mr. Longley. — IV. 

 Lcgrand. 



The Birds and the Weather. — We have been 

 diligently feeding the poor little birds here as usual, 

 as in duty bound, during this most trying winter, and 

 a very constant and amusing clientele we have had, 

 furnishing us with a few incidents which may interest 

 your readers. Amongst other provisions for them, 

 we have been in the habit of tying up lumps of fat 

 on a neighbouring bough. At first the tom-tits were 

 left in sole and undisputed possession of this appetising 

 morsel. The robins, however, soon began to cast a 

 longing eye upon it ; and, for some time, could not 

 succeed in reaching it, save by a rapid series of hops 

 and flying bites, which must have been very tedious, 

 and anything but satisfying. At last, by astounding 

 perseverance, they mastered the difficulty, and became 

 almost as expert as the tits themselves in perching 

 upon or near their prey and making a meal from it. 

 We did not observe any other birds that arrived so 

 completely at this result ; though certain blackbirds 

 and sparrows made many attempts in that direction. 

 On one occasion the lump of fat was disengaged and 

 fell to the ground, but an astute tit managed to 

 restore it to its place, and to impale it upon a 

 thorn, by way of larder. The visitors to our ban- 

 quet were not altogether confined to bipeds. For a 

 few days a wretched, scrubby-looking half-starved rat 

 made his appearance on the scene, from which we 

 had not the heart to banish him. Blackbirds, thrushes, 

 house and hedge-sparrows, chaffinches, tits in abund- 

 ance, robins, etc. ; one starling and one wagtail were 

 our ordinary company. — C. IV. Bingham, Bingham' s 

 Melcombe. 



The Water Shrew a Destroyer of the 

 Spawn OF Fish. — It may not be generally known 

 that the water shrew is a great enemy to the 

 preservers of fish. My cousin, Mr. Masefield, of 

 Ellerton Hall, Salop, annually rears a large number 

 of trout by artificial hatching. For some time it was 

 observed that depredations were committed by some : 

 unknown visitor on the troughs containing the j 

 spawn ; traps were set, and while I was visiting my i 

 cousin the culprit was discovered by the capture of 

 Sorex fodiens. If this fact has not been observed 

 before, it adds one more to the numerous obstacles 

 which the spawn of fish has to contend against in 

 arriving at maturity in its natural state. — W. B. 

 Masefield, Tittenson Parsonage, Stoke-npon-Trent. 



Holes in Oolitic Rocks. — The explanation 

 given by your correspondent H. P. M., in Science- 

 Gossip for January, to F. N. D.'s question, asked in 

 Science-Gossip for November, 1878, "Why holes 

 are found in oolite beneath sand," I think cannot be 

 the correct one, because "water percolating through a 

 superstructure of sand " could not, from the super- 

 incumbent mass, move these sand particles about, and 

 if there is no motion there can be no friction, conse- 

 quently no wearing away. May not these holes have 

 been made by the Lithodomi, or boring mollusca, 



previous to, or about the time of, the upheaval of,, 

 (or receding of the sea from) the formation in which 

 these holes are found? for it is well known these 

 delicate little creatures have the power of perforating 

 this and similar kinds of rocks. — J. W., Rotherham. 



Folk Lore. — Have we a saying in England, 

 similar to the one frequently made use of in Rome, 

 viz.: "St. Catherine's (November 25) weather is 

 Christmas weather." There the peasants look for the 

 same weather on Christmas Day as on November 25. 

 — C. F. 



Interesting Plants in the Royal Gardens, 

 Kew. — On the shelf devoted to Asiatic plants in the 

 Palm House we notice Carica papaya, the Papaw, 

 introduced into this country from India in 1690. 

 Linnreus supposed it to be a native of Caria, but 

 although now cultivated generally through the tropics, 

 it is considered as originally a native of South 

 America. It has been lately assigned to the natural 

 order Passiflorere, tribe Papayacea?. A dioecious 

 tree with a soft unbranched stem about twenty feet 

 high, slightly swollen at the base, the palmatifid 

 leaves with long petioles being clustered at the sum- 

 mit. The fruit, when ripe, is yellow, and somewhat 

 resembles a melon, it contains an acrid, milky juice, 

 in which Vauquelin found by analysis the albuminoid 

 fibrine, a substance until then believed to be peculiar 

 to the animal kingdom. The whole plant has the 

 remarkable quality of rendering fresh or tough meat 

 tender, by causing a separation of the muscular fibres, 

 and the same effect is said to be produced by merely 

 suspending it among the leaves. At the corner of 

 the central path we find Strychnos potatorum, the 

 " clearing nut," which abounds in the forests of 

 India. Natural order Loganiaceae. It forms a small 

 tree bearing opposite ovate leaves, with two in- 

 teraxillary spines. The hard wood is applied to a 

 variety of domestic uses. The fruit is black, about 

 the size of a cherry, and contains one seed. The 

 natives of India employ the dried seeds to clarify 

 muddy or impure water, and as they will never drink 

 spring water if they can obtain any from ponds or 

 rivers, the "clearing nut" must be simply invaluable.. 

 The inside of the vessel is rubbed round with a seed, 

 for a short time, the water to be cleared is poured in 

 and all its impurities quickly sink to the bottom.. 

 Dr. Pereira states that this result is due to the fining 

 action of the albumen and casein, and that many 

 other seeds might be used for the same purpose. On 

 the African shelf is Tang/iinia vene?iiflua, the 

 tanghin or ordeal-tree. This is an apocynaceous- 

 tree, with alternate elliptical leaves, and long ter- 

 minal cymes of pale pink flowers. There is a double 

 ovary, but only one usually comes to perfection, 

 forming an ellipsoid fruit about the size of a plum 

 containing a hard stone which incloses the seed. It 

 is this seed which once had so great a reputation 

 among the natives of Madagascar as a detector of 

 guilt ; but whatever doubt we might feel concerning 

 its efficacy in that respect, it certainly possesses such 

 extremely virulent qualities that it has been described 

 as " the most poisonous of plants." A kernel no 

 larger than an almond would be, if equally divided, 

 sufficient to destroy twenty persons in less than half 

 an hour. In the year 1830 the Queen of Madagascar 

 determined to rid the country of sorcerers and decided 

 upon a trial by ordeal as the most effectual means of 

 doing so. Great numbers of persons were tried, and 

 it is recorded that while the "unknown plebeians" 

 succumbed to its deadly influence all the "nobility" 

 recovered. Happily such trials are now things of the 

 past. A short distance from the last plant on the 



