Jan. 1, 1863.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



21 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



New Zealand Laurel.— Can you inform me 

 the botanical name of a New Zealand laurel, the 

 berries of which are said to contain peculiar pro- 

 perties ? They are eaten by the natives after being 

 soaked in water for forty-eight hours, and unless 

 that precaution is taken, if eaten, they will cause a 

 contraction of the muscles of the fingers, rendering 

 them useless for a time. If you can also inform me 

 whether any plants or berries are obtainable in this 

 country, I shall feel much obliged.— S. W. U., 

 Norwich. 



Eon Cleaning Corals. — For this purpose a 

 solution of chloride of lime was recommended to me 

 some years since, and Mr. R. Holland will find 

 that it will effect, his object admirably. Exposure 

 of the coral for a short time to the atmosphere after 

 its bath will remove the disagreeable odour con- 

 tracted from the solution. — C. H. 



Noctiluca. — If " W. P.," when he can obtain 

 Noctilucsc in abundance, would put a quantity of 

 them into a basin of salt-water, let it stand for a 

 quarter or half an hour, and then gently pour it off 

 until about a quarter of a pint is left in the basiu, he 

 will generally find that this portion will contain large 

 quantities of Diatomaceae, and very frequently some 

 very rare kinds. The portion poured off may be 

 again treated in the same manner with success, only 

 left to stand longer. The Noctilucae generally 

 abound at all seasons of the year when the weather 

 has been calm for three days, and the wind in the 

 south-west. — P. R. 



Wasps. — In November Science- Gossip, p. 251, 

 it is stated that the colour of the nests of wasps is 

 one mark by which we may judge of the species. 

 Last summer I was often in the bird-market at 

 Leeds, and the bird-dealers showed me several 

 "wasps' cakes" of different colouis. One was "oak 

 cake," that is, made of oak leaves ; another, if I re- 

 member rightly, was "heather cake." They differed 

 greatly in colour. The men said they could always 

 distinguish one sort of cake from another by colour 

 and tenacity. 1 fancy the colour of a nest will depend 

 on the materials used in its fabrication. I did not 

 see any outer shells of nests, only the internal parts 

 with the grubs, which might have been the products 

 of different species. The birdcatchcrs bring 

 hampers of cakes with the larvae to sell. They get 

 them north and east of Leeds. I am situated three 

 miles north of Wakefield, that is, in the neighbour- 

 hood where Mr. Smith found Vespaarborea. If either 

 Mr. Smith or Mr. Ormerod will send me a descrip- 

 tion of Yespaa rborea and nest, I will do my best next 

 season, if all be well, to procure them. 1 saw large 

 quantities of grub-cakes in the market ; some were 

 fawn-colour, some bluish-grey. — G. Roberts, Loft- 

 house, near Wakefield. 



Born and Died in a Box. — Sometime during 

 the summer of 1S66 a friend brought me a pill-box 

 in which were three " antibilious " pills. One of the 

 pills was only a shell ; it had, like the mountain in 

 the fable, been "hi labour," and brought forth, not 

 a mouse, but a maggot, the larva form of some of 

 our moths. After showing the phenomenon to 

 several parties, as a certain proof that such pills, if 

 not beneficial, were at any rate not poisonous, I 

 laid the box with its contents aside, and thought no 

 more of it. A few weeks ago the same box came 



in my way again, and looking in, behold another act 

 of the drama of life had been performed ; the im- 

 prisoned larva had been transformed into the 

 image, and had fretted away its short existence 

 within the narrow and fragile walls of a pill-box. 1 

 am not an entomologist, and can't pronounce as to the 

 species ; but it is one of the ordinary moths that 

 frequent drawers and such-like places, and which 

 good housewives indignantly charge with perforating 

 the wearables under their care. — S. A. S., Belfast. 



Centenarianism. — The Warrington Advertiser 

 of November 30 records the decease of no less than 

 three persons who have passed their hundredth 

 year ; one by twelve days, one by two years, aud a 

 third by twelve years, which last, a lady, died from 

 injuries received in falling down stairs. — A. G. T. 



Garden Vermin. — Can any of your corre- 

 spondents inform me how the abundance of snails, 

 slugs, &c, is to be accounted for ? I do not know 

 whether all parts of England have similarly been 

 infested with them. In my own garden (a small 

 one) I destroyed nearly a thousand in a very short 

 time during last summer. Surely such a sharp 

 w r inter ought to have killed them. — S. E. E., St. 

 Leonards-on-Sea. 



Hornet's Nest. — In a woodshed attached to a 

 house that is occupied by a man named Hook, at 

 Fair- oak, near Petersfield,_ may be seen a huge 

 hornet's nest, the circumference of which is 39 

 inches. It is most curiously worked in the apex of 

 the roof and formed in a perfect globular maimer. 

 Like all other nests of the Vespidse or Wasp family, 

 it is constructed with the mouth of its cells down- 

 wards, and the outside appears to be composed of 

 films much resembling those of birch-bark. When 

 this place was first chosen by these unwelcome 

 intruders, they commenced working with wonderful 

 assiduity in the forming of their nest, and with this 

 industrious movement, their task was completed 

 with seeming magical power. This part of Sussex 

 appears to be a favourite district for hornets, which 

 I cannot account for ; unless they have, like the 

 beetles, a peculiar fondness for sandy localities. 

 Several other nests have been discovered in the 

 neighbourhood during the past season, but the one 

 mentioned above is affirmed by all who have seen it 

 to be the largest and the most beautiful formed 

 one they ever witnessed. Fortunately, the family 

 (proper) has received but little or no annoyance from 

 these pugnacious and often malignant creatures — 

 no one has suffered by their formidable sting, which 

 to me is singularly mysterious. The secret, how T - 

 ever, would be easily explained, if we could be 

 persuaded to believe the fanciful notion asserted by 

 some, that they are under the dominion of the Dog- 

 star. It is a wise plan to avoid them as much as 

 possible, for I am convinced that they grow more 

 angry aud fierce when disturbed or pursued. — George 

 Newhjn. 



Preserving Spiders. — After many trials, I 

 found the best way to preserve spiders was to sus- 

 pend them, by a loop round their waist, in a solution 

 of glycerine i, water h The solution may want 

 changing once or twice at first ; after that, it_ will 

 keep unchanged for years. 1 have some spiders 

 which have been preserved thus for more than ten 

 years. The little bottles in which chemists put 

 pills, make excellent preparation jars for this pur- 

 pose. Oil, perhaps, might answer equally well. I 

 never tried any but house -spiders. — 0. 



