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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[May ], 1S6S. 



Dog-pleas.— The lest remedy is that suggested 

 by Wood in his Natural History, viz., Persian 

 Powder, or, as it is commonly called, the Persian 

 Insect Destroyer; one packet suffices for a good- 

 sized dog. The powder should be well rubbed in 

 all over the skin ; or if the clog is small, it may be 

 put into a bag previously dusted with the powder; 

 in either case the dog should be washed soon after. 

 I have tried it, and found it an unfailing remedy.— 

 T. G.P. 



Dog-fleas (p. 92).— A solution of common soft- 

 soap, in warm water, will effectually rid a dog of 

 fleas. The soap must be rubbed well in, behind the 

 ears, between the legs, &c. ; so as to leave no vermin 

 untouched. Dog washings are usually too super- 

 ficial, and fleas are thereby left behind to restock 

 the animal. — W. 



Dog-pleas.— L. P. will find in Naldire's Tablet 

 exactly what he wants; the soap being instan- 

 taneously fatal to the fleas, without being at all 

 injurious to the dog. Can be had at Messrs. Bar- 

 clay & Sons, 95, Farringdon Street.— C. L. 



The best way I know of to rid a dog of fleas is 

 to make a strong decoctiou of tobacco in water, and 

 to wash the dog well with it ; or another way is to 

 make the dog sleep on a bed of pitch pine shavings. 

 — F. Stanley, Margate. 



Dog Pleas. — The following receipt will I think 

 be found useful in keeping dogs free from lice, &c. 

 Macerate one ounce of Shag Tobacco and one 

 drachm and a half of Socotrine Aloes in half a pint 

 of boiling water for a short time, then filter the 

 liquid, and add fifteen grains of Corrosive Sublimate 

 and one ounce of Hydrochloric Acid. The mixture 

 is to be well rubbed on the dog's coat.— F. M. 

 Holmes. 



Notaspis obscurus. — Can any one tell me how 

 to get rid of the little mite Notaspis, so destructive 

 to cucumber and melon plants in frames ? I have 

 tried almost everything, sulphur, tobacco, quick- 

 lime, laurel leaves, &c, but without success. — 

 A. G. T. 



Old Red and Devonian.— At the March meet- 

 ing of the Exeter Naturalist's Club the Rev. W. S. 

 Symonds read a paper on the " Correlation of the 

 Old Red Sandstone of Herefordshire with the 

 Devonian of Devon," during which he remarked : 

 " As far as the physical structure of the Old Reds 

 of Somerset and. Devon can be depended on, I am 

 inclined to agree with Professor Jukes, viz., that 

 those rocks which underlie the Devonian slates 

 belong rather to the Upper Old Red than the Lower. 

 I have never seen any mineralogical or lithological 

 character in them which would induce me to 

 correlate them with the Lower Old Red of the 

 Silurian country on the other side of the Channel ; 

 while on the other hand there are a series of red 

 and brown grits interbedded with'grey slaty stone, 

 which much resemble the brown stones of Brecon 

 and Carmarthen vans, beds which underlie the Old 

 Red Conglomerate, and the yellow beds, and Car- 

 boniferous shales. 1 incline to the opinion, formed 

 from the aspect of the real Old Reds of the Devonian 

 sections, that the Devonian slaty rocks are all newer 

 than the great mass of the Old Red rocks which lie 

 between the upper Silurians and the Brownstones 

 of the Brecon vans." 



Bees. — Will some correspondent learned in 

 bees, kindly give the principal specific differences 

 between 



Apis mellifica (the English Honey Bee}. 



„ ligustica (the Italian ditto ). 



„ fasciata (the Egyptian ditto ). 



All these species (if they are separate species) are 



now cultivated in Great Britain. When were the 



two last introduced ? — S. 



Errata.— In the paragraph 

 sam," in our last, "benzoin'' 

 " benzole," and 

 " permeates." 



'Resin versus Bal- 



should have been 



ferments " is a misprint for 



Parson Bird. — Your correspondent T. P. Barkas 

 is entirely misinformed as to the habits of the Parson 

 Bird. Having been a resident in New Zealand, I 

 have examined and watched the bird often, both dead 

 and alive, both confined and free; I have listened for 

 hours to its beautiful melodious natural notes running 

 in ascending scale, and have heard its wonderful 

 powers of acquired art, sweetly whistling tunes and 

 speaking words as well as a taught starling. Its 

 beak is beautifully formed, slender and delicate for 

 the size of the bird, which is usually about the size 

 of our starlings, but a little longer in the back, and 

 a much longer tail. Its tongue is capable of ex- 

 tension and is beautifully brush tipped, as if for 

 manipulating the honey and insects from the interior 

 of flowers, and at this work I have often watched 

 it. The New Zealand flax, Phormium tenax, flowers 

 every third year, except in colour something like a 

 gigantic gladiolus, the flower-stalk often ten feet 

 high, and full of bells or cups, which contain a large 

 quantity of honey, and the Parson Bird (Tin of the 

 natives), Prosthemadera nova', seeland'up (G. R.Gray), 

 may be seen feeding from them and singing the 

 while. It is a bush bird and lives among the trees, 

 and is very fond of the flowers and fruit of the 

 fuchsia, an indigenous tree there of twelve to four- 

 teen feet high. I never saw it on a beach, although 

 as the bush of New Zealand often comes down to 

 high water mark, it may occasionally descend to the 

 sands. Its coat is of a metallic black lustre, tinged 

 with dark olive green. Its white tufts, whence its 

 name originates, if I remember right, consist of two 

 white feathers on each side its beak ; they are 

 beautifully curledllike miniature ostrich-tail feathers, 

 very .delicate and about three-quarters of an inch 

 long. I find I have tufts from a bird I shot, and 

 they consist of several feathers on each side. The 

 Tin is so beautiful a bird, such a melodious warbler, 

 and feeds on such delicacies, that I feel bound to 

 rise as its apologist when accused of gross feeding 

 and artful tricks, which are anything but natural to 

 its pretty tongue and beak and entire formation. — 

 J. Thompson, Higher Broughton. 



Ants. — Our grounds are overrun with ants : 

 enormous black ones sit up on their hind legs and 

 defy you if you go near them. Small yellow ones, 

 and also other kinds almost invisible, surreptitiously 

 crawl all over you if not on your guard. Boiling 

 water, powdered lime, and insect powder, rather 

 refreshes them than otherwise, and we should be 

 very glad to know of any means to exterminate 

 them. — K. K. 



French Dictionary of Scientific Terms. — 

 Can any reader tell me whose is the best French 

 and English Dictionary of terms and names belong- 

 ing to Natural History ? — J. L. M. 



