Nov. 1, 1SGS.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



261 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



House Asts. — In reply to the letter from "One 

 tormented with Ants," which appeared in the 

 Times of Saturday, we have received communications 

 from various parts of the country, showing how 

 generally these insects have this summer caused 

 annoyance in dwelling-houses. Our correspondents 

 recommend various remedies. "S. A. K." ad- 

 vises that the cupboards and other places invaded 

 by the insects should be sprinkled with the liquid 

 ammonia used by chemists, and known as "liquor 

 ammonia? fortiss., 'SSO," "a substance most effica- 

 cious in killing black-beetles." " A Past Sufferer " 

 has found that if the places frequented by the 

 insects are washed with a solution of alum, they 

 will soon disappear. " One who has been tormented 

 with Ants " has found that they disappeared from 

 his pantry after the spots frequented hy them had 

 been sprinkled with creosote. "Antidote," who 

 writes from Liverpool, states that his house was 

 overrun with ants during the past summer. He 

 tried various remedies, but in vain, until a few days 

 ago, when he put camphor in small bags, and 

 placed them near the places most infested, and 

 he finds that the insects are fast disappearing. " S. 

 M. 0." found that "soft soap, mixed with a large 

 quantity of water," smeared in all their haunts, 

 had the effect of expelling them. — Times, Sept. 16. 

 — Acorrespondent in the Morning Star recommends 

 placing a vessel of rum thickened with brown sugar 

 in their way. In this manner he states that he 

 has caught hundreds. 



Devon Mosses.— Will any correspondent who 

 has collected mosses, lichens, or scale mosses, in 

 Devon or Cornwall, communicate the names and 

 localities, especially of the rarer species to E. M. 

 Holmes, 2, Arundel Crescent, Plymouth ? 



Spiders.— May I request any of your readers 

 who don't believe in spiders' bites to do as follows ? 

 Let a large hungry garden spider run down the 

 back of a ^ finger, and suddenly arrest him by 

 dropping a finger on his hind pair of legs. He will 

 not turn round, but plunge his falces in and work 

 them about well, soon convincing " the patient " 

 that spiders' fangs have some venom in them. No 

 evil results beyond a slight white blister follow. 

 As for the viscid globule— dotted threads of Epeira — 

 I think the spinnerets are pressed inwards, so that 

 a thick solid thread of liquid silk escapes. This 

 naturally runs into globules : its counterpart may be 

 produced by a very rude process : simply moisten 

 thumb and finger in the mouth, press them together 

 and carefully separate them, when a clotted thread 

 will connect them. In the Epeira thread the 

 globules remain viscid, the connecting thread 

 solidifies- W. F. H. 



Pern Insects. — The insect so injurious to 

 "A. A.'s" ferns is the Black Thrip (T/rrips Adoni- 

 dum), one of the most troublesome pests the cul- 

 tivator of ferns, azaleas, gloxinias, and many other 

 plants has to contend against. The most effectual 

 method I have found is frequent fumigation with 

 strong tobacco, and a free use of the syringe.— 

 C. Ward. 



Cuckoo, Cuckoo!— A friend, while out bird- 

 nesting during the season of the present year, found 

 at the same time four nests with eggs — viz., two 

 Reed Wrens (Silvia anmdinacea), a Whitethroat's 



(S. cinerea), and a Sedse Warbler's (S. phragmitis), 

 all within an area of fifteen yards. In each of the 

 three first-mentioned nests was found a Cuckoo's 

 egg. Perhaps some of your readers may be able to 

 say whether it is probable these eggs were laid by 

 the same cuckoo or by three different ones, and also 

 how the cuckoo deposits her egg in the nests of 

 such small birds, where it appears in some instances 

 impossible for a bird of her size to lay one. I 

 should think in the nests of the above-mentioned 

 birds it would be a difficult matter for a Cuckoo to 

 lay an egg. I found a Pied Wagtail's nest a few 

 years ago, witha Cuckoo's egg in it : this occurred 

 for two following years ; the nest was each year 

 in exactly the same place, at the foot of a tree over- 

 hanging a running stream, and about three feet 

 from the water, and in such a position as would be 

 almost impossible for the Cuckoo to lay its egg. I 

 should think they must first lay their egg on the 

 ground, and then deposit it in the nest of the small 

 bird with their beak ; but perhaps some of your 

 readers who may have studied the habits of this 

 curious bird can enlighten us further about it. — 

 S. W. U., Norwich. 



Growth in a Lemon.— A few days ago I had 

 occasion to use a lemon, and on cutting it up I 

 found to my surprise that some of the seeds in the 

 interior were not in the usual condition, two of them 

 having sprouted, and a third being about to sprout, 

 the shoots arising from two being nearly an inch 

 long and perfectly green. I have not had any 

 experience of a similar kind, and a fruiterer to 

 whom I mentioned the matter informed me that, 

 although he had cut up hundreds of lemons, he had 

 never found any seeds sprouting in their interior; it 

 is further singular that the sprouted seeds were in 

 the interior of a distinct cavity, in the centre of the 

 lemon. I forward the seeds for inspection. — Alfred 

 Hume. 



The Starling.— Referring to the note in your 

 last number of a curious habit of the Starling, I 

 would add that at one p.m. on the 19th August, 

 1866, I observed birds seemingly hawking for 

 insects. Par, however, from making clumsy 

 attempts, their evolutions were so correct, as for a 

 moment to deceive me. The swifts had left the 

 spot, migrating but two days before, and until I 

 came under the place where the birds were hawking, 

 I mistook them for swifts. The apparent marvel of 

 the return of the swifts, awoke an interest in 

 making certain of the kind of bird. On nearer 

 view, instead of swifts, the birds proved to be star- 

 liugs. I watched for some time, and left them hawk- 

 ing. _ The sustained power of flight exhibited by 

 the birds seemed, at first glance, extraordinary ; 

 but on calling to mind the wonderful evolutions of 

 flocks of starlings, so often seen for hours on 

 autumn evenings, the power of flight ceased to seem 

 anything out of the common way. These starlings 

 bred in the roof of a house close to where they were 

 flying. It is also a breeding-place of swifts, and 

 the hawking appeared to me to be a singular mani- 

 festation of imitativeness. No other instance of a 

 similar occurrence has fallen under my notice. More 

 recently, however, either in Science- Gossip or in 

 some kindred periodical, the note of a naturalist 

 appeared, recording the observance of a similar 

 whim of the Starling. — /. H. Bozward, Worcester. 



Venomous Bite.— The other night I felt some- 

 thing just inside my ear. I laid hold of it, and 

 pulled it out, and I suppose the sudden assault 



