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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



LMarch 1, 1S69. 



Hybernation of : Bees. — Much interested in 

 Mr. Mill's paper on "The Winter Home of the 

 Humble Bee" (Science-Gossip, p. 41), 1 wish to 

 ask, 1, If August is not too early for the 

 hybernation of bees ? 2, If no passage to the cell in 

 question ever existed, how did the bee reach its 

 Some underneath a large ilat stone that had 

 evidently been a fixture for a long time, including 

 of course the heat of July ? 3, May not this bee 

 have been involuntarily confined ? This raises 

 question L How long could a bee endure this torpid 

 state : air and food excluded ? — A. Hall. 



Flowers dried in Sand. — Will any reader 

 kindly inform me how to preserve the green colour 

 of the leaves and calyces of llowers dried as above ? 

 I have seen many specimens tried, but though 

 looking well when they came out of the sand, the 

 green hue has faded out in a few days or weeks. — 

 C, Barnshury. 



Museum Curiosities. — Seeing an article headed 

 as above in the last number of Science-Gossip by 

 " LL. B.," I also not long since visited probably the 

 same northern museum, and made acquaintance with 

 possibly the same "elderly man," and under very 

 similar circumstances. On my asking where the 

 fish were kept, he took me to where the fossil sau- 

 rians were. " There," said he, " what do you think 

 of these? " "These, my friend, are not fish, and I 

 want to see them." He replied, "I says they be 

 fish." Then came the similar questions as to 

 " LL. B." Seeing there was fun to be had out of 

 him, I said I should be glad to know about them. 

 "What, sir! Do you never read your Bible?" 

 " Yes," said I, " at times." Then came the account 

 of their getting into the rocks at the deluge. Pass- 

 ing on, he asked me if I had ever seen a fossil 

 salmon in coal. " No, but should very much like 

 to, if such a thing exists." " Well, sir, some of these 

 here philosophers says it is not a salmon, but calls it 

 some long name ; they do give things such names." 

 I asked him if his supposed salmon and thesaurians 

 and all the other fossil animals got into the rocks 

 at the same time. " Yes, most certainly, I tell you 

 the Bible says so." I then told him something 

 about the different formations in remote periods, 

 when he came to the conclusion that fas he said) 

 "I was one of them philosophers. But you see, 

 sir," said he, " we must have something to tell the 

 many people who come here and ask questions." If 

 the elderly man is not profound in scientific acquire- 

 ments, yet his civility to visitors should not be over- 

 looked. For " LL. B.'s " note might tend to deprive 

 him of his place, and alter all surely no great 

 knowledge is required if his duties arc, as " LL. B." 

 says, solely to dust the cases. — //. //. Knocker, 

 Bridlington, 9th Dec. 



Laurel Berries. — The reason why the berries 

 of this evergreen can be eaten with impunity is, 

 that the pulp of the fruit does not contain any 

 poisonous properties ; the kernel or seed found in 

 the berry possesses the same principle as the 

 leaves ; but most probably persons who eat the 

 pulp do not swallow, or, if they swallow, do not 

 crush, the seed. How very rarely one swallows the 

 stones in a raison, or seeds of a'grape ! Besides, I 

 much doubt whether the essential oil or virulent 

 principle, which contains hydrocyanic acid, and is 

 extracted from the leaves of the laurel by distilla- 

 tion, exists in % ready-formed state in the kernels. 

 I fancy it would only become developed by contact 

 with water, and I am not sufficiently a chemist to 



tell your correspondent how the juices of the 

 human stomach would act on the seeds ; but I do 

 know enough of the powerfully poisonous nature of 

 the oil to deter me from trying any experiments 

 with the seeds, either on myself or any dumb 

 animal ; for I entertain an intense horror of in- 

 flicting needless pain on one of God's creatures :— 



Sharers in the woe, the evil, 



Adam's sin brought on us all, 

 Must man add, by needless torture, 



To the curse wrought by his fall? 



I know the seeds, when bruised, will flavour 

 different liqueurs, and that when sparingly 

 administered they do no harm — rather promote 

 digestion: hence it is that hydrocyanic acid is 

 often prescribed by medical men in different 

 diseases. — Helen E. Watney. 



Fruit of the Hawthorn.— One of your cor- 

 respondents draws attention to the local names 

 given to the fruit of the Hawthorn. In the East 

 Riding of York, about Hull, they are popularly 

 called "Cat-haws" — a name I never heard any- 

 where else, and the origin of which I could never 

 ascertain. An old rhyme says : — 



" Hips and haws, 

 Frosts and snows." 



If there be any truth in this popular distich, we are 

 likely to have a severe winter, for they are both 

 plentiful. — John Hanson, York. 



Mushrooms.— The great abundance of mushrooms 

 this season has enabled all classes to partake of this 

 savoury and nutritious condiment. Have any of 

 your correspondents observed iustances this autumn 

 of their producing much disturbance even in vigorous 

 systems, and that quite independently of the tough- 

 ness of parts of their texture ? The gamekeeper at 

 this place, who has freely eaten them through the 

 summer, and cannot have gathered other fungi in 

 mistake, was, as well as a groom, excessively sick 

 last week after eating some. At the same time 

 some of this household, as well as others in the 

 neighbouring vicarage, were effected in much the 

 same way. The mushrooms were gathered by differ- 

 ent persons and in various fields. An opinion exists 

 here that mushrooms are affected by the first frost. 

 Whether this is the case or not, their young and white 

 caps and rosy gills gave no indication of a change. — 

 C. F. 



Fbog Parasites. — Walking by a small stream in 

 North Wales, in which was a quantity of the lank 

 ribbon-like water grass that floats on the surface, a 

 frog attracted my notice, squatting high and dry in 

 a position of apparent motionless contentment. Not 

 disturbing it, I passed on, and saw another, and 

 another, all in the same state of inert stupidity ! 

 Wondering at their inactivity, I stooped down close, 

 to look at them, and lo, the lid of the head, if I may 

 so call it, was off, and the brain-pan, full to the 

 brim, alive with a wriggling mass of maggots, each 

 about three-eighths of an inch long! How did the 

 enemy get, into head-quarters ? From some fly the 

 poor Frog had eaten, or by an external attack and 

 deposition ? — W. Broicne. 



NewNudibkanchiate Mollusc. — This addition 

 to our fauna, discovered in the Victoria Docks at 

 one of the excursions of the Quekctf Microscopical 

 ( Jlnb, was exhibited at the meeting of the Zoological 

 Society of London on the 28th January, by Mr. 

 W. S. Kent, and named Emhletonia Grai/ii. 



