Dec. 1, 1S69.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



2S3 



at this particular time that they strewed the beach 

 and sands in hundreds. One afternoon I observed a 

 man and a boy who were busily employed in picking 

 up starfish, and filling a truck with them, and not 

 knowing any way in which they could be utilized, I 

 had the curiosity to inquire, and was assured that 

 pigs not only ate them with relish, but that starfish 

 were "good" for pigs. I was previously aware of the 

 omnivorous habits of a pig ; but, as I say, starfish as 

 a diet seemed not only unpleasant but improbable, 

 and in spite of the repeated assertions of my infor- 

 mant that he used them for that purpose, I found 

 great difficulty in swallowing the story. Perhaps, 

 however, some of your readers may be able to corro- 

 borate— G. T. N. 



Diatom Markings. — I have not yet had an op- 

 portunity of trying Mr. Reade's Prism, but there 

 are a good many persons who only have instruments 

 of moderate power, and cannot afford to buy expen- 

 sive apparatus. Now I find that if the microscope 

 is tilted, and the light of the sun reflected from a 

 white deal table, or black leather with a polished 

 surface is used, the lines of the Pleurosigma are 

 both brought out at once through the whole extent 

 of the shell, and this with a lens which otherwise 

 would require some management to show both sets 

 of lines distinctly. — E. T. S. 



Ladybirds.— I have read with interest an article 

 on "Ladybirds," in No. 58, Oct., '69, and I beg to 

 state that on more than one occasion I have seen 

 several ladybirds alight on board ship on the At- 

 lantic, out of sight of land, and very frequently be- 

 tween the coasts of Spain and Africa. — E. A. Feilden, 

 Bonchurch, Isle of Wight. 



Ligurian Bees. — In all reports of the merits of 

 these bees over the Biack Bee, I find it mentioned 

 that they are more prolific, swarm ofteuer, more in- 

 dustrious, and pi-ovide themselves better, but no one 

 has, as yet, mentioned that they make more honey 

 for their masters. I should be glad to know, from 

 those who have had experience of them, whether 

 they fill glasses and supers as well or better than 

 the Black Bees, or whether, like them, by giving 

 plenty of room, they cau be prevented swarming? 

 I bought a good swarm of Ligurian Bees on the 

 2nd of last June, and hived in a Neighbour's Cottage 

 Hive. They increased most rapidly. I put five 

 glasses on, which were filled directly with bees, as 

 full as they could hold. They worked more or less in 

 all, but filled only two thoroughly. They still in- 

 creased so much that I added a box, which filled 

 immediately with bees, but they built no comb in it. 

 I took about five pounds of honey from the glasses, 

 and the weight of the bees and honey left (without the 

 hive) is tw enty-eight pounds, so that they are wed 



frovided for their own use, but so many bees might, 

 think, have made more honey in the glasses. — 

 W. A. E. 



Cockroach Eggs. — In the last number of 

 Science-Gossip, p. 238, Mr. Andrews describes the 

 egg of the Cockroach which he saw laid by the in- 

 sect. I certainly never saw the act of deposition, 

 but as it is said to occupy many days it is not un- 

 likely that specimens might be captured during the 

 operation. I would remark, however, that the 

 object he terms "the egg" is not really so, but is 

 the case in which the eggs are inclosed, each in a 

 separate partition, and the longitudinal ridge he 

 mentions is the slit through which the hatched 

 larvae issue. Sixteen is said to be the number of 

 eggs in the egg-case of the common Cockroach. I 



was not aware that the ridge of the case was per- 

 pendicular to body of the insect in the act of extru- 

 sion, and can give no explanation on that point. — 

 G. Guyon, Fentnor, Isle of Wight. 



Sheep. — Is there any ground of truth in a state- 

 ment made to me a few days ago by a man acquainted 

 to some extent with such matters, viz., that if a 

 sheep or goat bite the tender shoots of hedges, 

 especially of holly or hawthorn, that the trees will 

 not grow at that place again, and, besides, that oft- 

 times the whole plant will eventually die ? If so, 

 how may it be accounted for ? — H. N. 



Chelifer and Fly.— In an article upon Pseudo- 

 scorpions, mention is made of a Chelifer Latreillei 

 attached to a fly. Permit me to say that one evening 

 a few weeks back, I also captured one, a male, ex- 

 actly in the same manner. Whether it had fastened 

 itself on in order to change its lodgings, or to make 

 a meal of the fly, was precisely what I wish to find 

 out. The fly was very small and weakly ; the 

 Chelifer strong and active. I saw the fly on the 

 window at lunch, and noticed something attached 

 to it, but missed taking it. Strange to tell, it 

 dropped in my wine-glass at dinner, so that I 

 secured both. — George Macrae. 



"Cement Wanted."— Has G. C. Gowan tried 

 the following : Place some balsam in a pot, and sub- 

 ject to a moderate heat : when cold it must be quite 

 brittle ; dissolve a portion in chloroform, and place 

 some with the object on a glass slide ; in a short 

 time the chloroform will evaporate, leaving the ob- 

 ject fixed. — H. R. Warrington. 



Holly. — Thanks to the gentlemen who have cor- 

 rected my Welsh. W. Williams is right ; I am 

 ignorant of my native language, but I was in South 

 Wales when I wrote that little notice of the Holly. 

 I had nearly forgotten the language, when one day, 

 as I was decorating the grate in our seaside lodg- 

 ings with ferns and ivy-leaves, the landlady's 

 daughter remarked that it was a pity the " Hellig " 

 had no berries on it now. I asked her what plant 

 she alluded to; her reply was "the Holly," and 

 then I remembered our Welsh servants in former 

 days speaking of " Gren Hellig and Grawn Hellig " 

 at Christmas-time, when they decorated the house 

 with Holly. Science-Gossip arrived; the question 

 with regard to the origin of the name Holly caught 

 my eye, and with "Hellig" still in my ear, I offered 

 a "fanciful" solution. I never then doubted 

 " Hellig " being the Welsh for " Holly," and I feel 

 sure now that many of the country people make the 

 same mistake in South Wales, as most decidedly 

 np " Willow " was ever brought into our house for 

 decorative purposes but once, and that was when 

 some young ladies (guests of my mother's) made a 

 garland, and deputed me to hang it round a certain 

 old gentleman's neck. There was not a Welsh dic- 

 tionary at our lodgings, so 1 had to retreat to Miss 

 E.'s mode of spelling Hellig. Now, on referring to 

 my own I find "Holly" Celynen, and "Willow," 

 Helygen. I fear we must go back to the old idea, 

 that Holly comes from Holy-tree in allusion to its 

 use in churches at Christmas. — Helen E. Watney. 



Holly. — In Skinner's Etymologicon Lingua 

 Anglicance, I find the word Holly given as from the 

 Anglo-Saxon ftolesn. Mr. Holland, I see, states that 

 it is still called hollin "in manv country places." 

 The word he derives thus : "ab*A.-S. ftal vel ftol, 

 Totus, et Ccge Acies, q. d. Tota Acies, Tota Aculeata, 

 seu Acuminata."— G. Stringer Rome, Southport. 



