22 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Jan. 1, 1869. 



being entirely restored to health, I examined the 

 excrements with a microscope, and found no 

 infusoria. It was therefore to the cholera that their 

 presence was due.— Scientific Opinion. 



" Why ? "—Mr. Holland writes :— There is_ a 

 mispriut in your paragraph about Utricularia : 

 instead of "after germination of the seed," it should 

 have been " after the formation or fertilization." 

 In case other readers of Gossip should credit me 

 with this error, mav I state that it is ouoted from a 

 little book called "Old English Wild Flowers "?—B. 



Half and Half. — Why do the fishermen of 

 Norfolk, and probably of other places, call certain 

 peculiar fish half one kind and half another ? The 

 subject was brought again under my notice by 

 hearing one described as half Sole, half Butt ; upon 

 considering the question, I arrive at the conclusion 

 that there is no such thiug as a hybrid amongst 

 fishes, and the reason that induces me to form that 

 opinion is the particular mode nature has provided 

 for their reproduction — viz., by the deposition of 

 ova which the female does in such enormous 

 numbers. It seems to me, if they were impregnated 

 by a male of another species, the so-called hybrids 

 would, instead of being the exception, if not t the 

 rule, be much more common. — U. A., Norwich. 



Diseased Mouse. — The very peculiar looking 

 mouse which we have received from our correspon- 

 dent, Mr. T. H. 0. W. Edmunds, we have examined 

 carefully. The remarkable frontal development is 

 due to disease of the skin, and not to an increased 

 growth of the cerebral vault, which rfc_ much re- 

 sembles. There is no apparent variation in the 

 specific characters of the creature as occasionally 

 happens in mice when the entire tegument is affected, 

 and the body becomes hairless and thickened. An 

 example of this kind was exhibited at the Zoological 

 Society some years ago. Our correspondent's surmise 

 that the " Cauliflower " excrescence is a " fungus 

 growth" is justified. — I. Marie. 



House Martins in November. — I observed to- 

 day (November 18th), in Exmouth, about a dozen 

 House Martins busily hawking for insects round 

 the shrubbery on the Beacon there. I think this is 

 the latest date I ever noticed Hirundines. — W. 0. 



Albino Birds. — I do not know whether many of 

 the correspondents of Science-Gossip have re- 

 marked the unusual number of albino varieties in 

 birds this year. I have seen two piebald partridges 

 which were shot September 2nd, and which would 

 probably,' when their moulting was over, have been 

 quite white. I shot a yellow, or rather cream- 

 coloured, sparrow with all its markings in bright 

 brown and light grey, and I saw a piebald sparrow 

 flying about. I have also seen and heard of other 

 instances : amongst others, a white goldfinch, which 

 1 saw in a flock early in September, and I have read 

 in the Zoologist of a white sparrow-hawk. What is 

 the reason of this ? Scarcity of any particular food 

 would hardly have the same effect on sparrows, 

 hawks, and goldfinches. Is it the heat which has 

 had an unusual effect upon their constitution ? I 

 should be very glad if any one can tell me. — E. G. 

 Wheler. 



House Ants. — My notice has lately been called 

 by a friend to a curious fact concerning the likes and 

 dislikes of those troublesome little house ants by 

 which we have been visited this year. It has been 



noticed that although they will on every 

 opportunity swarm over and devour beef or game 

 or fish, yet they will never touch mutton. I should 

 be glad to know if this circumstance has been pre- 

 viously noticed ; if so, what conclusions have been 

 drawn from it. I can also confirm the statement 

 that soft soda, mixed with water, is efficacious in 

 expelling them, for I find that after one or two 

 applications of it to their haunts, they cease to 

 appear. — W. Murrell. 



Hawthorn. — I enclose you a leaf of Crataegus 

 gathered in a lane near here many years back, and 

 which plant, with a little searching, I could again find. 

 It appears to me to be entirely different from those 

 figured in this month's Science-Gossip. Please 

 to say which you say it is. — Robert T. Andrews, 

 Hertford. 



[The leaf was forwarded to Mr. Hepworth, and 

 the following is his reply.— "The Hawthorn-leaf 

 received from Mr. Andrews, though differing con- 

 siderably from my figure of C. oxyacanthoides, is un- 

 doubtedly referable to that variety. It agrees with 

 it in the most essential point, venation, aud, though 

 remarkably round, is three-lobed. The petiole, 

 base, lobes, and principal veins are also, as in that 

 variety, slightly ciliate. I have found leaves almost 

 equally round, but smaller, on plants whose leaves, 

 generally, agreed most nearly with those figured in 

 Science-Gossip. A comparison of the leaf with 

 the written description (which is evidently more 

 comprehensive than the figure) will, I think, put 

 the question beyond doubt. If Mr. Andrews will 

 find out the tree in spring, he will, I have no doubt, 

 find corroborative testimony in the flower and 

 ovary." — /. Hepworth.'] 



Dendritic Spots on Paper are unquestionably 

 fungoid growths. The plant usually penetrates 

 the paper, and developes itself on both surfaces. 

 I very recently made a careful examination of one, 

 scraping it off the paper and mounting in balsam. 

 The fragments so obtained are easily distinguish- 

 able from the fibres of the paper, and sufficiently 

 transparent to allow a quarter -inch objective to be 

 be used.—/. T. Y. 



[Although our correspondent is very positive, we 

 are not. We have studied Eungi a little for many 

 years, and should not feel confidence to make such 

 an assertion where there is really no satisfactory 

 evidence. — M. C. Cooke.'] 



Eumart. — Will you kindly furnish me with some 

 information respecting theEumart ? I found thename 

 accidentally in a dictionary several years ago, and, 

 although 1 have consulted a great many friends on 

 the subject, aud referred to several works on 

 Natural History, Encyclopaedias, &c, I have not 

 been able to find anything farther than the diction- 

 ary definition, " The offspring of a bull aud a mare." 

 I feel curious to know if such an animal really 

 exists, and if so for what purpose it is used, as well 

 as its appearance and habits. — W. Gain. 



Navicula hippocampus {A. A., jan.)— In reply to 

 your correspondent's query, "Is Navicula hippo- 

 campus indicative of a fossil deposit ? " I beg to say 

 Plcurosigma {Navicula) hippocampus is a recent 

 species, and may be found living in any pond or 

 small stream. Smith, in the Synopsis, does not give 

 other than recent localities for it, but it may be 

 found in some of the so-called fossil earths (British), 

 but it is very doubtful if any of them are fossil in the 

 geological sense of the word.— -F. Kitton. 



