5S 



HARDWICXE'S SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



[March 1, 1S69. 



one another like the crowd assembled at the entrance 

 to some popular entertainment. Owls and bats 

 living in dark recesses, such as hollow trees and caves, 

 are probably guided to the entrance by such light 

 as the dusky eve affords, and which is doubtless 

 much more luminous to their visual organs than to 

 ours ; but if they also rush to a flame with the 

 intent to escape, probably their senses are dazzled 

 and confused by a light stronger than they are 

 accustomed to, as an ordinary flame scarcely repre- 

 sents an opening large enough for their passage. 

 With regard to bats, however, I have not observed 

 in them any great predilection for singeing their 

 wings ; at least, the Pipestrelle and Long-eared 

 Bat, which occasionally enter our apartments on 

 summer evenings, appear to fly as near as they can 

 to the ceiling, especially hovering in the corners. 

 A Serotine Bat, too, which I had some years ago, 

 and used to let loose in the house in the evening, 

 flew backwards and forwards in a passage without 

 interfering with the light. When scared from 

 sleep, however, by the entrance of torches into 

 their dark cave or other hiding-place, they are said 

 to dash wildly at the light, possibly in making for 

 the entrance. 



If, however, winged creatures may in alarm mis- 

 take a light for an exit, I do not imagine such can 

 be the case with fish, which throng to a torch : im- 

 prisoned moths and free and independent salmon 

 are very differently circumstanced. Curiosity, or 

 some such motive, would seem to draw fish towards 

 a luminous object, which must be a rare pheno- 

 menon in their eyes. 



It should not, however, be forgotten that it is 

 not all the animal creation that are attracted by a 

 flame. Passing by those animals which appear to be 

 indifferent to the matter, many — as, for instance, the 

 large carnivora — regard it as an object of dread. It is 

 not with a view of attracting lions or tigers that tra- 

 vellers kindle fires round their bivouac ; these 

 powerful and daring animals slinking from the 

 flames into which the wretched insects cast them- 

 selves as if in a frenzy of delight — somewhat as I 

 read to-day of the burning of a lunatic asylum in 

 America, where the poor insane creatures that were 

 saved danced in ecstasy at the roaring flames and 

 crackling timbers. 



A few years ago a graphic account was published 

 in some periodical of a visit to the Zoological 

 Gardens by night, with a vivid description of the 

 terror exhibited by the large carnivorous animals 

 when a light was brought in front of their dens ;— 

 they were rendered almost frantic, and their roarings 

 and bowlings continued long after the source of 

 alarm was withdrawn. 



Other animals besides the beast of prey seem to be 

 affected with the same dread ; as in ancient times, 

 when elephants were employed in war, it is said 

 that the Romans discovered fire to be the best 



means of repelling these attacks: possibly about 

 this time they invented the Boman candles. 



In connection with this subject, I would remark 

 that the influence of certain colours on particular 

 animals would be an interesting matter for investi- 

 gation, and one that does not appear tojiave been 

 much followed up. As far as I am aware, red is the 

 only colour that is reputed to be held in antipathy 

 by some animals, and its resemblance to the colour 

 of fire is worthy of notice. If this resemblance has 

 anything to do with the matter, the Eelidse might 

 be expected to show an abhorrence of the colour - r 

 but the constant succession of various coloured 

 dresses before their dens would probably extinguish 

 such a feeling in caged specimens, if it ever existed. 

 Bulls, turkeys, and geese are commonly believed to 

 exhibit a strong antipathy to anything red. In 

 dealing with a savage bull, some caution is de- 

 sirable ; but if any of your correspondents like to 

 try experiments on that animal, I should be happy 

 to read the results. Any one who has turkeys or 

 getse in their poultry-yard might test them with 

 different colours, and if they show fear or dislike, 

 might ascertain what tint produced the greatest 

 effect — whether a flame colour, for example, has 

 more influence than scarlet. This is rather a 

 digression from the original epiestion; but I am 

 not at all certain that the two subjects are wholly 

 unconnected. George Guyon. 



Yentuor, Isle of Wight. 



BUTTERFLIES TO THE RESCUE ! 



~\X7"E all know that enthusiasm is a good thing if 

 » » exerted in a good cause, and, indeed, to a 

 naturalist some proportion of it is absolutely neces- 

 sary to secure success. Like some other good 

 things, however, it is possible to have too much of 

 it ; or rather, to be more exact, it is very possible to 

 be led by it unconsciously into the committal of 

 errors which seem to arise almost naturally from the 

 onflow of commendable earnestness, but which, 

 being really divarications, we should guard against. 

 A collector of natural objects who has no enthusiasm 

 had better lay aside his implements and look out for 

 some other pursuit ; but if he has enthusiasm, he 

 needs to be cautious lest he should defeat his own 

 ends, and furnish an apt and modern illustration of 

 the truth set forth by the old fable about a certain 

 goose which laid golden eggs. 



This time of the year is a dull season with the 

 butterfly-collector. Now he sits and ruminates 

 over the captures of the past, aud calls up imagin- 

 ings of captures yet to come. His pins, " once a shin- 

 ing store," stick useless in the cushion, dust ac- 

 cumulates on his setting-boards, and his nets hang 

 melancholy against the wall, or are dragged down 

 and brandished about by a party of juveniles who 

 have invaded his sanctum. Let him bethink him- 



