Feb. 1, 1868.] 



HAEDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



31 



short, that the animal appears to be naked, and as 

 its Indian species is confined to Sumatra, its 

 omission can scarcely be of much importance. 



Of the known genera and species which have not 

 been submitted to examination, there is not one 

 which could be suspected of yielding the hairs with 

 " trumpet-shaped scales." If these hairs are really 

 the produce of a species of Indian Bat, of which 

 there seems no just ground for scepticism, and if 

 they are not obtained from one of the species of 

 Taphozous or Bhinopoma, the only conclusion which 

 can be hazarded, is that the species is one not yet 

 recognized by zoologists. 



■ 



Fig. 33. Hairs of Kerivoula 

 pictax 300. 



Fig. 34. Hairs of Vespertilio 

 imbricatns x 300. 



In the examination of these hairs a quarter inch 

 and one-eighth, objectives were employed. All the 

 hairs were examined dry, in water, and in balsam, 

 and many were mounted in spirit. The true charac- 

 ter and arrangement of the scales is best seen when 

 the hairs are examined dry, many appearances which 

 they present when seen in balsam being deceptive, 

 occasioned by the great transparency which it 

 communicates to the delicate scales. However 

 much the use of polarized light may be deprecated 

 as a pretty toy, it is a valuable adjunct in such 

 examinations as the foregoing, and often aids in 

 correcting the deceptions caused by mounting in 

 balsam. 



Although forty-five species, and varieties which 

 have been regarded as species, have been examined, 

 it is advisable that the investigation should not 

 close here, and, in order to assist any one desirous 

 of pursuing the subject to a more completely 

 successful termination, the reader of this paper, at 

 its close, presented to the Club a complete series of 

 the hairs examined, mounted dry and in balsam, to 

 the number of one hundred slides,* as well as the 

 forty-five large diagrams employed on the occasion. 



* N.B. The figures illustrating this paper were drawn on 

 wood from the slides by Mr. H. F. Hailes, and confirm, 

 independently, the views of the writer. 



CONCERNING BUGS. 



T SHALL be glad to add a little to the remarks 

 J- of Mr. Smith on Bugs, which appeared in 

 a late number of Science-Gossip. I am sorry to 

 say that upon several occasions my experience has 

 been very bitter, on account of the liberal allowance 

 of these little pests in apartments which I have 

 temporarily occupied. 



Many people, perhaps, are unaware of the ety- 

 mology^of the word bug, or imagine it has never been 

 used except as indicating some of the members of 

 the insect tribe. This is a great mistake. It is an 

 old Celtic word, not pronounced with the short u as 

 at present, but like the Welsh bwg ; and this, again, 

 is identical with what you hear among the lower 

 orders, in the greater part of Yorkshire, for they 

 sound it as if spelt boog. Hearing what is commonly 

 called the vulgar, though very frequently the more 

 correct, pronunciation of a word, will often give 

 some clue as to its origin or meaning ; and it is so 

 in the present instance. Formerly, our ancestors 

 called a ghost, a goblin, a spirit, or spectre — anything 

 which they dreaded but could not understand, a 

 bug {boog). The word doubtless has its origin from 

 the close approximation in sound to the moaning of 

 the wind, which in remoter and more superstitious 

 times was put down to the spirits of the departed. 

 Under these circumstances, one can readily under- 

 stand that persons feeling thus terrified would coin 

 some word indicating, and imitating also, the sound 

 which caused their fears ; thus, to boo would be to 

 frighten ; bug (boog), that which frightens ; booby, 

 one easily frightened, &c. \Tho does not remember, 

 when a child, and groping through some dark pas- 

 sage, the momentary fear caused by the terrible boo 

 of some concealed companion? And this suggests 

 another idea : a word often retains its hold in the 

 nursery, and] lives there after it has been disclaimed 

 by man generally, and would otherwise become 

 obsolete. It is so now with the word bogey, which 

 is nothing more nor less than bug in another form ; 

 modified for nursery purposes, and used to startle 

 children into that propriety which they might other- 

 wise lack. 



1 am strongly disposed to suspect that the 

 American word bogus, too, has really its origin from 

 the same source ; at any rate, the meaning would 

 suggest it, as it is applied to anything unreal, un- 

 substantial, or partaking of the nature of a sham ; 

 so that from one end of the States to the other, you 

 may hear of bogus jewelry, bogus houses, and bogus 

 statesmen. I, know it] has been traced to another 

 origin, but I very much doubt its correctness. 



In the writings of Locke, Pope, Shakspeare, and 

 others, the word bug may be met with in its original 

 sense. The last-named poet makes \ Hamlet say, 

 in the 5th act of that play : 



" With, ho! such bugs and goblins in my life." 



