Sept. 1, 1869.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



213 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Oranges were known in this country in the time 

 of Henry the Eighth, but I find no account of the 

 orange-tree being cultivated in England prior to 

 Queen Elizabeth's reign. The Seville orange-tree 

 appears to have been first planted the year before 

 the East India Company was incorporated, and two 

 years previous to the return of Sir Francis Drake, 

 our first circumnavigator. It is said to have been 

 introduced by Sir Francis Carew, and first planted 

 at his seat at Beddington, in Surrey. — Phillips, 

 "Fruits of Great Britain." 



Leaf Transformation.— As some of the readers 

 of Science-Gossip are interested in the curious 

 transformations we find in plants, I venture to send 

 another specimen of an Indian Pink, where the 

 principal stalk, instead of growing as it should do, 

 has thrown out at the end a leaf on a long stalk, 

 with the edges so united as to form a kind of 

 tubular vessel, with a small opening at the upper 

 end.— E. T. S. 



Precocious Infants. — Along with the Cocoa- 

 nut palm are great numbers of the Areca or Betel- 

 nut palm, the nuts of which are sliced, dried, and 

 ground into a paste, which is much used by the 

 betel-chewing Malays and Papuans. All the little 

 children (at Matabello), even such as can just run 

 alone, carried between their lips a mass of the nasty- 

 looking red paste, which is even more disgusting 

 than to see them at the same age smoking cigars, 

 which is very common even before they are weaned. 

 — Wallace's "Malay Archipelago." 



The Holly. — This tree appears to have been 

 formerly called Hulver, by which name it is still 

 known in Norfolk, and Holme in the southern 

 counties, as appears by the name it has given to 

 many places where it grows naturally, as the Holm- 

 wood, oetween Horsham and Dorking. Mr. Evelyn 

 says that the vale near his house in Surrey was 

 anciently called Holmesdale. — Sylva Florifera. 



Mochras, or Phul supyari. — This kind of 

 Mochras, which looks not imlike Sembal gum, is in 

 reality not a gum at all, but a brown astringent gall- 

 blister, that is found on the Areca catechu palm, called 

 " saigata gond " in Gurgaon. In my own collection 

 is a sample of this gum which I got at Sealkote, 

 called "Mochras, or phul supyari" (flower of the 

 areca), which last name, though "flower" is incor- 

 rect for a gall, yet indicates the origin. This is 

 imported from Hindustan and Bengal, &c. ; so that 

 " Mochras " has three meanings : — 1st, Sohajna 

 gum; 2nd, Sembal gum; 3rd, Areca galls. — B. 

 Powell, " Handbook of Economic Products." 



[This has long been a disputed point in Europe. 

 Will some one of our Indian correspondents collect 

 themselves, and send us, a small sample of gum 

 direct from the Bed Sembal tree (Salmalia Mala- 

 baricci) ? It has been affirmed that this tree does 

 not produce any gum: surely this could be proved. 

 Further, we have examined pounds of the so-called 

 "galls of areca" or Mochras, without a trace of 

 insect remains being found. Are they galls at all ? 

 -Ed. S.-G.] 



Sea-Bottom Chalk. — There can be no doubt 

 whatever — indeed it is admitted by all microsco- 

 pists— that chalk is now being formed in the depths 

 of the Atlantic ; but an idea which suggested itself 



to us before we proposed our cruise has now 

 ripened into a conviction, that it is not only chalk 

 which is being formed, but the chalk — the chalk of 

 the cretaceous period. — Prof. Wyville Thomson. 



Bleaching Zoophytes.— I have seen the skele- 

 tons of sertularian zoophytes mounted for the 

 microscope, which are beautifully white and clean. 

 Can any one inform me how it is done ? I have 

 tried the chloride of lime of the shops in solution, 

 without satisfactory results. — M. 0. P. 



Crabs changing Colour. — The change of 

 colour which takes place in many of the Crustacea 

 during the process of boiling has long been a sub- 

 ject of remark. The common and edible crabs of 

 this country have their tints far less affected than 

 the lobster, the peculiarly rich blue shade of whose 

 shell when in a living state is too well known to 

 need any lengthened description : this, as is well 

 known, changes to a bright red in the cooking-pot, 

 and the uniform of the police is exchanged for that 

 of the line regiments. This strange metamorphosis 

 researches have shown to be entirely dependent on 

 chemical laws. The pigment on which the blue 

 shading and tint depend is a peculiar fat-like sub- 

 stance, which possesses the singular property of 

 becoming scarlet when subjected to seventy degrees 

 of heat, as shown in the centigrade thermometer. A 

 colouring matter of very similar properties was 

 some time since discovered in the beaks and legs of 

 certain birds. The lobster pigment is soluble in 

 spirits of wine, by which agent it can be extracted 

 from the shell ; but the colour changes at once 

 from blue to red ; and on adding either nitric of 

 sulphuric acid, the charged spirit is changed to a 

 green of a remarkably fast or permanent character. 

 — W. B. Lord. 



Samlets. — Is it a fact that anglers are prohibited 

 from taking "samlets;" and has it been proved, 

 without doubt, that " samlets " are young salmon ? 

 I have my doubts on the subject, but of course, if 

 proved, I must give in. — W. J. Hill. 



Bees. — As a practical apiarian, I have much 

 pleasure in answering the queries of your corre- 

 spondents. J. L. Phelps need not be at all alarmed 

 at the want .of sticks in his hive ; in my opinion 

 they are much better dispensed with ; the combs 

 do not want the support, and if at any time the 

 bees are " driven " for the purpose of removing the 

 combs, they are difficult to be cut out. A swarm 

 of mine lately took possession of an old hive fur- 

 nished with combs, and having sticks pushed 

 through ; as I routed them out of it to transfer 

 them to a "Woodbury Bar and Frame Hive," I had 

 to remove the comb piece by piece to get at the 

 queen, and found the sticks very seriously incon- 

 venience me. Perhaps " J. L. P." is not aware that 

 bees fill their honey-bags before swarming, and con- 

 sequently require to De almost provoked) before 

 they will sting. Now for "F. S." The swarming 

 into the small cape (cap ?) must be apparent, not 

 real ; two queens never exist in the same hive. I 

 would advise "F. S." to remove it in the same way 

 that he takes his supers. Brood comb is not in- 

 frequently made in " supers," and _ some apiarians 

 use gradings three-sixteenths of an inch wide to ex- 

 clude the queen and drones from the supers ; this 

 width will allow the workers to pass freely. Now 

 let me put a query before your readers. I keep 

 the Ligurian, or Italian Alp Bee {A. ligustica) ; 

 one of my queens, this year, has been impregnated 



