214 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Sept. 1, 1SG9. 



by a black drone, consequently the stock she is at 

 the head of is hybridized. Other apiarians have 

 met with the same difficulty, and several plans have 

 been suggested for keeping the Ligurians pure. Now 

 is it not a remarkable circumstance that two dis- 

 tinct species should thus be liable to cross ? Why 

 should not the different species of wasps cross in 

 like manner? Is it probable the hybrid drones 

 would be able to fertilize a queen?— D. I). B., 

 Cantab. 



At Hastings. — In the spriug, Doris bilineata 

 comes to the rocks in thousands, to lay its strange 

 white furbelows of spawn upon their overhanging 

 edges. Eolides of extraordinary beauty haunt the 

 same spots : — the great Eolis papillosa, of a delicate 

 French grey ; E. pelluc/da (?), in which each papilla 

 on the back is beautifully coloured with a streak of 

 pink, and tipped with iron blue ; and a most fantas- 

 tical yellow little creature, so covered with plumes 

 and tentacles that the body is invisible, which I 

 believe to be the Idalia aspersa of Alder and Han- 

 cock. At the bottom of the rock-pools behind St. 

 Leonard's Baths may be found hundreds of the 

 Snipe's Eeather Anemone (Sagartia troglodytes) of 

 every hue, from the common brown and grey snipe's 

 feather kind to the white-horned Hesperus, the 

 orange -homed Aurora, and a rich lilac and crimson 

 variety, which does not seem to agree with either 

 the Lilacina or Bubecunda of Gosse. A more beau- 

 tiful living bouquet could hardly be seen than 

 might be made of the varieties of this single 

 species from this one place. — Bev. C. Kingslcijs 

 " Glaucus." 



Blood Corpuscles. — That the colourless and 

 red corpuscles of human blood are in some way, and 

 that intimately, connected, as conjectured by your 

 correspondent Mr. E. T, Scott, there is very little 

 cause to doubt. In making this assertion I am 

 supported by one of the highest physiological 

 authorities. It is believed that the process is in 

 some way as follows : — viz., the red corpuscles, 

 which are supposed to be only the liberated nucleus 

 of the colourless, are so acted on by a red fluid 

 which they contain as to change their hue; at 

 maturity the sac, or outer envelope, of the colour- 

 less corpuscles bursts, allowing their egress. If I 

 may be pardoned for expressing my opinion, it is 

 that the red corpuscles exist in greater abundance 

 in the warmest system, if healthy. A warm and 

 healthy constitution is one in which the superin- 

 cumbent heat of the body is given off in the shape 

 of perspiration from the skin. The complexion of a 

 person who is capable of enduring much warmth, 

 without the system relieving itself in this way, is 

 seldom of so ruddy a hue as that of one in a different 

 condition. This must be attributed to the effect of 

 carbonic acid. Without going further into the sub- 

 ject, I shall end with the query — If the presence of 

 this ingredient can cause a diminution of the red 

 tint in the skin, which below the epidemical tissue 

 we know to depend on the smaller blood capillaries 

 for its colouring matter, why not attribute to it the 

 preponderance of colourless corpuscles in the blood 

 of a body most charged with it ? — W. W. S. Beaufort, 

 Clifton Bead, South Norwood. 



Flora of Bucks. — We are happy to learn that 

 our worthy correspondent Mr. James Britten has 

 secured an appointment, so congenial to his tastes, 

 at the National Herbarium, Kew Gardens. All 

 communications relative to the Elora of Bucks, or 

 local names, should be addressed to him there. 



Age of Eish.— There does not seem to be any 

 guide for ascertaining the age of a large fish; but in 

 Mr. Rooper's "Autobiography of Salmo Salar in 

 Elood, Eield, audEorest," we find, speaking of a large 

 salmon, " I consider him to have been fully seven 

 years old, reckoning ab ovo ; " thus, e^s; deposited 

 December 1861 ; hatched Febmary or March 1862 ; 

 went to sea as a smolt, May 1861; returned a six- 

 pound grilse, June 1865 ; went to sea in April IS 66; 

 returned a twelve-pound salmon, September same 

 year ; went to sea in April 1867 ; returned a twenty- 

 pound salmon September 1867 ; went to sea in May 

 1868, and was captured as a thirty-pound salmon in 

 October of the same year. 



Scales of Holm Oak. — The stellate scales from 

 the leaves of the common Evergreen, or Holm Oak 

 (Quercus ilex), are beautiful microscopic objects, 

 and especially so when viewed by polarized light on 

 a green and purple selenite stage. The tree itself 

 is common in parks and gardens, and is a native of 

 South Europe. It was introduced into England in 

 15S1. I shall be pleased to forward a specimen 

 leaf to any reader of Science-Gossip on receipt of 

 stamped envelope. — B. H. Moore, IS, Albert Build- 

 ings, Bath. 



Elight of Birds. — I should feel greatly obliged 

 to any of your readers who would kindly supply me 

 with reliable information as to the velocity of flight 

 in birds, or point out whence such information is to 

 be obi ained. — T. Southwell, Bark Lane, Noncich. 



Science-Gossip Society. — Under this title a 

 society has been started in Ipswich "for the pur- 

 pose of exciting more interest in the study of 

 Geology, Botany, Chemistry, Natural Science in 

 General, and Archaeology." Rules are drawn up 

 and printed, a committee of officers appointed, aud 

 all promises well. The venture has our best 

 wishes. 



Cats in the Water. — I have seen a cat eat a 

 frog that it had just caught ; it pulled off a limb at 

 a time, after killing the animal with all the usual 

 barbarities. That cats will take the water is also 

 on record ; there was a cat, or rather a family of cats, 

 if I remember aright, at the " Complete Anglers," 

 Marlow, that used to swim after the dead fish thrown 

 out of the punt wells by the fishermen. This could 

 no doubt be corroborated. — C. C. C. 



Cats and Starfish. — Is there any violent an- 

 tipathy between cats and starfishes ? It is a com- 

 mon belief about here that a " five-finger " laid out 

 in the garden will effectually scare away all stray 

 cats, and I have known them often to be procured 

 for that purpose. Opinions are divided as to the 

 w r ay in which it acts, some saying that the cats eat 

 the starfish, and are poisoned by it ; others, that 

 they are frightened away by its mere presence. I 

 tried it myself, and found the bait carried away, but 

 am not aware that the required effect was produced. 

 — Wm. Field. 



Dr. Thudichum's Rabbit. — In the August 

 number of SciENCE-Gossir, wherein appeared my 

 article on this subject, I discovered that I had 

 stated that 58,000 Trichini were computed in the 

 fifth part of a grain, which should have been 58 

 only, as the next sentence would lead the reader to 

 conclude; but, worse still, the length of the vcrmicule 

 is stated in figures as the T-nnr hundred thousandths 

 of a line, whereas it should be the 1,166 hundred 

 thousandths of a line.—/. Crowther. 



