June 1, 1869.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCI EN C E-GOSSI P. 



ML 



called the dog off, and we passed into the next 

 field, but as long as we continued in sight the 

 cow guarded her porcine friend jealously. — /. B. 



Keciic. 



Age or Eish.— Can any correspondent inform 

 me if there is any guide for telling the age of fish, 

 say a 3Slb. or 401b. salmon, or a large turbot?— B. 



Rhamnus frangula — Can any of your corre- 

 spondents tell me what is the vulgar German name 

 given by the foresters to Rhamnus frangula, which 

 grows in some of the forests in Germany, and is 

 thence exported to (England, peeled, for the manu- 

 facture of the best sporting and small-arm gun- 

 powder t— George E. Frere. 



[The names applied to_ this plant are very 

 numerous, as the following will show : — Der 

 Faulbaum, Die Schwarze Faulbeere, Schwarze 

 Schiessbeerc, Stink baum, Schwarze Erie, Schwarz- 

 holz, Beerenholz, Knitschelbeere, Aimer, Amsel- 

 kirsche, Drosselkirsche, Vogelkirsche, Fluhrbirlein, 

 Gilbholz, Grindbaum, Lausbaum, Mausbaum, 

 Zweckenbaum, Wiedebaum, Elsebaum, Spillbaum, 

 Sporgelbanm, Deutscher Rhabarberbaum, Purgier- 

 baum, Hiihneraugenbaum, Drachenbaum, Pulver- 

 holz, Pinnholz, Sporkenholz, Spackerholz, Sprotzer- 

 holz, Spreckenholz, Sprazern, Zapfenholz, Butter- 

 stielholz, Hinholz, Becheer, Spicker, Hohlkirsche, 

 Ahlkirsche.-Eu. S.-G.] 



New Food for Silkworms. — In the Illustrated 

 Sydney News pi the 28th November, 1868, page 863, 

 is the following : — "A native shrub has just been 

 discovered, both on Phillip Island and the shores of 

 the 'western port bay, which is far better than 

 mulberry for feeding silkworms. Silkworms raised 

 upon it produce far more silk than those bred in 

 any other manner." — F. 31. 



Swiney Lectures (Royal School of Mines). — 

 The public are admitted, free of expense, to Dr. 

 Cobbold's Lectures on Saturday and Monday 

 evenings, at eight o'clock, commencing the 1st of 



May. 



Green Drake.— On Sunday last (April 25th) a 

 May fly was brought into my house, having settled 

 on the coat of a friend who called upon me ; he, 

 with two others, being fishermen, pronounced it a 

 " Green Drake," and they stated it to be unnaturally 

 early. — J. S. Whittem, Walsgrave. 



Fungi. — Please tell me what plant is intended by 

 this note which I copy from a botanist's manuscript 

 notebook : — " Fungus ramosus maximus, Brassicas, 

 cauliflorx facie et magnitudine ; observed in 

 meadows nigh my own house, on September 27th, 

 1703." And this, No. 44 of Ray's " Synopsis " 

 (1696), at p. 19: — "Fungus spongiosus maximus,etc. 

 I have observed membranes of this five or six inches 

 over, of the colour and softness of shamy [chamois] 

 leather, amongst half decayed oake wood ; and is 

 much used in this country (Yorkshire) by the cloth 

 makers to dy broun, and called by them 'rotten- 

 wood.' I tooke alsoe large pieces of the like mern- 

 braneouse substance out of the decayed wood of an 

 old yew-tree at Botley Hall, 1698."— W. P. 



Cats.— ;I think "J. H." is under a mistaken im- 

 pression if he continues to believe that eats only 

 on such occasions as he describes exhibit the mani- 

 festations referred to. Five years' experience of 

 the manners of these animals enables me to speak 

 pretty confidently concerning them, and I can state 



with assurance that they scratch chairs, wood, &c, 

 for the sake of sharpening their claws; and this 

 being borne in mind, it is obvious the advent of a 

 storm cannot in any way interfere with these actions, 

 which are manifested at no fixed occasions. It is 

 well known that the cat is a great nuisance in a 

 garden on account of this very propensity. As re- 

 gards their prophetic ability, I have never seen any 

 of those symptoms usually exhibited by cats when 

 labouring under apprehension or illness, as depres- 

 sion of one or both ears, restlessness, &c. — W. IF. 

 S. Beaufort. 



Red Grouse {Lagopus Scoticus) . — H. C. Sargent 

 wishes to know if Red Grouse pair or are poly- 

 gamous. Being plentiful in this locality (West 

 Riding of Yorkshire), we have ample means of study- 

 ing their habits, and that they pair is beyond ques- 

 tion. In spring I have often observed them in 

 pairs, and never more than one female with the 

 male. While the hen is sitting, the cock may often 

 be seen upon some rock or stone near, ready to warn 

 her upon the approach of danger. The young 

 chicks are also accompanied by both parents, the 

 male leading off the brood during the shooting sea- 

 son, which could not be if he had more than one 

 family to attend. In confirmation of the above 

 facts I quote from the Rev. F. O. Morris's "British 

 Birds," vol. iii., p. 345: "The Moorcock pairs 

 early in spring, commonly in January, but some- 

 times even earlier." Page 346 : "The Heath-Poults 

 leave the nests shortly after they are hatched, and 

 are soon able to fly. They keep together till the 

 autumn, unless dispersed by shooters. They are 

 attended by both the parents." And in "Gold- 

 smith's Animated Nature," by Fullarton & Co., 

 vol. ii., p. 72, in the supplementary note on Red 

 Grouse (Lagopus Scoticus), " The male is not poly- 

 gamous, nor does he at any time desert his mate. 

 When incubation is over, and the young run about, 

 they are tended by both parents." — E. Seville. 



A Recipe for Jaundice. — The other day a 

 person called at our house, seeing that we kept 

 geese, and asked permission to gather some of their 

 excrement. We inquired for what purpose it was 

 wanted. _ His reply was, to make pills for the 

 yellow jaundice; and, says he, it is a very old 

 recipe, a certain cure, and the patient was going to 

 take some as a last resource, having had several 

 doctors, but they could do him no good. Doubt- 

 less the faith of the patient in the efficacy of the 

 compound goes a great way. It appears the excre- 

 ment is melted down with beeswax before made 

 into pills.—/. B. IF. H., Wolverhampton. 



Reduced Scientific Postage. — If the free 

 postal circulation of scientific journals contributed 

 to supply either a luxury or a meaus of pecuniary 

 emolument to those who work at science, we should 

 be the last in the world to advocate such a measure. 

 But manifestly it is not so. It may be true of two 

 or three general and popular serials ; but in regard 

 to the technical scientific periodicals it certainly is 

 not the case. None but the scientific man pur et 

 simple reads these publications; and not even the 

 most enterprising scientific speculator could derive 

 pecuniarily profitable results Irom their perusal. 

 Under these circumstances, then, we would urge 

 on the serious attention of the postal authorities 

 the propriety of going into this question of reduced 

 scientific postage, with a view to removing what we 

 certainly regard as a trammel to the development of 

 our national resources. — Scientific Opinion. 



