Nov. 1, 1SCS.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



251 



lushing ironmongery." I bad never seen alive 

 anything nearer to a shark than a little spotted 

 dog-fish, and, remembering something I had read in 

 Rymer Jones's book, I asked for some information 

 about the intestines of these voracious monsters. 



" Intestines," said the skipper, " they have none ; 

 at least, none to speak of; only a few strings." 



Another example I can give of this kind of 

 popular science is yet more astonishing, as it was 

 afforded me by a well-educated and clever man, 

 a great traveller, and a thorough sportsman, who 

 had shot the bison and tracked the moose in 

 America, and who had lately been, I believe, in 

 Africa, on lion-hunting deeds intent. This gentle- 

 man, after a course of gold-digging at the Eraser 

 River, had spent a season on the coast, collecting 

 the trepang (Ilolothunda) for the Chinese market. 

 To him I put the fatal question, " What is the tre- 



pang ? Is it an animal or a vegetable ? 



r WelL" 



he answered, " you cannot rightly call it either ; it 

 is a fungus." " What do you mean by a fungus ? " 

 said I. " A fungus," was the reply, " is anything 

 fleshy and slimy-like." 



Professor Eorbes, in his charming little work 

 on the British starfishes, gives an amusing 

 account of the state of natural science among the 

 fishermen of the Shetland Islands. Speaking of 

 the great sea-cucumber (Cucumaria frondosa), he 

 says it is "arranged by them in an extensive though 

 most unphilosophically constituted class of marine 

 animals, to which they apply the term 'Pushen,' 

 which being translated signifies poison. In this 

 Thulean arrangement numbers of the rarest of 

 British animals are unfortunately included. I say 

 unfortunately, for all members of the class Pushen 

 are unceremoniously and speedily thrust overboard, 

 almost as soon as seen in the fishing-boats, being 

 considered unlucky and dangerous in their nature. 

 The class is not an ultimate division. The Shetland 

 fishermen arrange all marine animals not used as 

 food under the general head of 'Combustibles,' 

 certainly a most extraordinary application of that 

 excellent English word. ' Combustibles ' they 

 divide into Harmless Combustibles and Pushen, 

 under which last division I fear all the animals 

 which it has been my fortune to describe in this 

 volume must take their places." 



Here, then, we become acquainted with the kind 

 of knowledge recommended to us by the writers 

 who insist on individual and practical experience 

 as the only ground of truth. We must throw up all 

 pedantic science, and learn of those who really 

 know something about the matter. Above all, we 

 must discard all the "crack-jaw" names invented 

 by the scientific to hide their " learned ignorance," 

 and " call a spade a spade." We must not mention 

 ike " Crustaceonidunculte" (whatever that may 

 mean), but turn back to common sense and common 

 English. 



An examination of the common or vulgar terms 

 applied to plants and animals will at once introduce 

 us to a complete language of meaningless nonsense, 

 almost impossible to retain, and certainly worse 

 than useless when remembered, — a vast vocabularj 

 of names, many of which signify that which is 

 false, and most of which mean nothing at all. 



The false or erroneous names comprise such 

 terms as the sea-mouse, the Tasmanian wolf, the 

 civet cat, and the fern owl, or, in other words, a 

 mouse belonging to the annelida, a marsupial wolf, 

 a cat allied to the weasels, and an owl among the 

 Caprimulghla. 



These false names, although very numerous, are, 

 however, altogether transcended in number by the 

 astonishing mass of those which are quite without 

 meaning of any kind. However, " we must learn," 

 and, to commence, we should at least be acquainted 

 with the names of some of our common English 

 birds. 



A few specimens of these, taken at random, will 

 suffice to shame us into knowing what birds are 

 described by the names of fiushers, pianets, stone- 

 galls, swinepipes, and gowks. Surely when we see a 

 high-hoe, a shell- apple, an alp, or a yellow yowley, 

 we should be aware of that interesting fact. A 

 skelly, shilfa, or scoby, a goldspink, an aberdevine, 

 and a coldfinch should not be unknown to us ; 

 and after learning to distinguish a puttok from a 

 ruddock, and these two from a dunnock, we should 

 make ourselves familiar with the personal appear- 

 ance of a deviling, an ox-eye, a gorccck, and a 

 muggy. 



Having commenced our ornithological studies by 

 mastering this first lesson, and shown thereby our 

 respect for Mr. Charles Reade's opinion on natural 

 science, perhaps he will, as the admirer and 

 exponent of what may be called the " smock-frock " 

 or " leather-legging " school of natural philosophy, 

 kindly inform us what sort of feeling it is to be 

 " puckeridge struck by a night-jar." 



Kensington. H. C. Riciitee. 



THE KITE. 



(Milvus regedis.) 



rf^HIS bird is very rarely met with now in England, 

 -"- owing partly to the destruction dealt out to 

 all birds of prey, and partly to the felling of timber 

 in different parts of the country, which has deprived 

 the Kites of their favourite localities for breeding. 

 In the Zoological Gardens at the present time is a 

 specimen presented by Howard Saunders, Esq., 

 which was, I believe, taken in England ; but we very 

 seldom hear of a capture of a bird of this species 

 now. The Kite used to be common in this 

 country, and was useful as a scavenger, this being, 

 apparently, a distinguishing characteristic of this 



