212 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Sept. 



1863. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Gold Fish.— When I kept gold fish I found 

 several of them affected in the way described by 

 " E. Y." and was told the water in their pond was 

 impregnated with iron. I removed some of them 

 into a glass aquarium filled with pure water, which 

 I constantly changed, and the fish so treated re- 

 covered. If there is any chalk in the water the fish 

 become liable to a sort of fungoid disease ; they 

 get white patches all over them, and lose their 

 sight. But the presence of other minerals besides 

 iron will, I believe, turn them black. Some of the 

 finest, most brilliantly-hued gold fish I ever saw in 

 my life, I saw at Leigh Park a few weeks ago. 

 Probably the temperature of the house, and the 

 aquatic plants in their large aquarium had con- 

 duced to their well-doing. I doubt much if the 

 inhabitants of the royal fish-ponds on the shores of 

 Lake See-Hoo are in better condition Their water 

 is the best. Of course " E. Y." is aware that all 

 gold fish when young are dark coloured. They put 

 on their burnished armour when they attain fish 

 estate. They are vegetarians. — Mrs. Alfred Watney. 



Viper Poison Fatal.— Those who read the 

 article at p. 175 of last year's Science-Gossip, will, 

 I trust, have given me credit for a search after truth, 

 and not have censured me for taking up one side of 

 a question and being determined to stick to it at all 

 hazards. I therein made a certain statement which 

 I believed to be true, and though two or three cor- 

 respondents opposed it, they failed to adduce any 

 facts on their own side. I am now in a position to 

 aid them, and can give them a well-authenticated 

 instance of death from the bite of a viper. At the 

 same time, the opinion I held has not been at all 

 altered by the circumstance. A gentleman met me 

 a short time ago, and gave me the following parti- 

 culars :— A labouring man on a farm close by here 

 was in the habit of picking up snakes, &c. with his 

 hand, and flinging them to a distance from him ; he 

 often did this when mowing, much to the annoy- 

 ance of those working with him. One day he picked 

 up a viper which at once turned round and bit him 

 in the thumb : shortly after, he turned very faint, 

 and they laid him under a tree. A medical man 

 (my informant's brother) attended him, but he died 

 before evening. My friend knew the man personally, 

 so that I have no doubt of the truth of the story. 

 But the victim was a hard-drinking man, and his 

 blood must have been in an exceedingly unhealthy 

 state ; otherwise I hardly believe death would have 

 ensued. The gentleman told me of several other 

 cases— indeed he had been bitten himself— but this 

 was the only one he knew of that had proved fatal, 

 He also told me of two vipers he had lately killed, 

 from one of which he took nine mice, and from the 

 other a good-sized slow-worm. Is the latter gene- 

 rally known to form part of the viper's diet?— 

 Henry Ullyett. 



Was it a Mosquito ?— Four nights ago I was 

 suddenly roused by what I fancied was a loud 

 scream. On getting really awake 1 found it was 

 what 1 thought at the time was a gnat. It was, 

 however, the loudest buzzer I ever heard. On 

 going to sleep again, I unfortunately left my arm 

 uncovered, and received two bites, which seem to 

 me quiteidifferent to gnat-bites. They were, and 

 are yet, very painful, much inflamed and swollen, 

 and show symptoms of gathering. As gnat-bites 

 never give me pain for many hours, I think it might 



have been a Mosquito, as I have heard of their 

 appearance in England this year. — H. M. H., Ken- 

 sington, July 29. 



Mosquitoes.—" J. H. Crossman " published to- 

 day a piece of information worth knowing. He 

 says that the Mosquitoes at Mentone, where he 

 passed last October, were remarkably vigilant and 

 bloodthirsty, and that neither curtain nor lotion had 

 any perceptible effects in damping their appetites. 

 But one clay, by accident, Mrs. Crossman gathered 

 in the course of her morning's walk, a branch of 

 wild rosemary, and placed it in her bedroom. From 

 that time forward no single Mosquito ventured into 

 the room, and during the remainder of their stay at 

 Mentone Mr. and Mrs. Crossman slumbered un- 

 bitten and undisturbed under the protecting shade 

 of the wild rosemary branch. — Fall Mall Gazette, 

 July 27. 



Ostriches. — The writer of the article in " All 

 the Year Round," which your correspondent, " W. 

 W. Spicer " draws attention to, had doubtless given 

 credit to the native version of the reason why a few 

 scattered eggs are always found in the vicinity of a 

 nest. The ostrich is Mormonitic in his tastes, has 

 sometimes as many as seven wives. They generally 

 make one nest, and naturalists say the outsiders are 

 laid by the ladies in waiting. — H. E. W. 



Blechnum Spicant.— With reference to a para- 

 graph on page 187 of the August number, allow me 

 to state that I have several times found the fertile 

 fronds of this fern bifurcated, but do not recollect 

 having seen the barren fronds in that condition. 

 The locality in which my specimens were obtained 

 is a clamp plantation about half a mile from Os- 

 westry. The division does not in auy case extend 

 to four inches, the length cited by your corre- 

 spondent. — W. W. 



Dreissena Polymorpha.— I have collected this 

 species in the Thames at Teddington and Wey- 

 bridge, and believe it to be common throughout the 

 river. Dentalium. I think " T. R." will find his 

 fresh-water Dentalium to be a caddis-worm case of 

 the genus Limnopldhis sericastorix or Stelodis. 

 Fusus Berniciensis, King (p. 165), for Bell-fish, 

 Dawson, read Bell fide, Dawson. — W. W. W. 



Food of London.— And now let us consider the 

 vast machinery which is in operation for the supply 

 of food to this metropolis. At the present time 

 over three millions of people have to be fed daily ; 

 and yet so regular is the supply, thai no one con- 

 siders even the possibility of its failing. On the 

 other hand, there is no redundancy ; and not only 

 does this supply regularly reach the metropolis, but. 

 it is distributed to our very doors. About 4,200 

 tons of fish • over 4,000 sheep ; nearly 700 oxen ; 

 about 90 calves ; 4,000 pigs, including bacon and 

 hams ; not less than 5,000 fowls and other kinds of 

 poultry; besides a million or so of oysters, and 

 eggs innumerable, with flour enough to make nearly 

 a million] quartern loaves ; and vegetables, butter, 

 and beer in proportion, are daily brought to this 

 city. "Imagine," as Archbishop Whately says, 

 "a Head Commissioner intrusted with the office of 

 furnishing all these things regularly to the people. 

 How would he succeed?" And yet_ all this goes 

 on with the regularity and precision of a machine — 

 without Government or even municipal interference, 

 but simply through the magical power and un- 

 fettered action of free trade.— Dr. Letheby, Lecture 

 on Food.] 



