2S2 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Dec. 1, 1SGS. 



The Tui or Parson-bird. — During the three 

 years I was travelling in New Zealand, I had many 

 opportunities of carefully watching the habits of 

 this peculiar bird. I shot mauy of them, and in 

 preparing th e skins, I generally found the food con- 

 sisted of berries, particularly the Poro-poro berry. 

 Your correspondent, "T. P. Barkas," April number 

 of Science-Gossip, is in error in stating this bird 

 feeds upon moilusca. I have walked many miles 

 along the coast, and I never remember to have seen 

 this bird feeding on the sea shore ; the bird whose 

 peculiarities are described by " T. P. B.," is the 

 Kororo, a species of the small green Penguin. 1 

 have often watched these birds in search of food : 

 as the tide recedes, numbers of Bivalves, called 

 Pipis, are left upon the beach. They are very 

 similar to our cockles, and for reasons I am unable 

 to explain, the shells are frequently wide open ; the 

 crafty Kororo drops in a small stone, which effect- 

 ually prevents the Pipi from entirely closing the 

 shell, and the poor moilusca falls an easy prey to 

 this expert fisher. — Win. Johnston. 



Clouded Yellow. — Having observed in the No- 

 vember number of Science-Gossip H. H. O'Earrell's 

 inquiry relative to the Clouded Yellows, I beg to 

 inform him that during the last week in August, 

 1867, I caught fourteen (male and female) Clouded 

 Yellows and a pale Clouded Yellow (Colias hyale) 

 on the Tottenham and Hampstead Byes, aud fields 

 adjoining near Dalston. — 0. H. Conquest. 



Clouded Yellows. — A friend of mine at Henley 

 on Thames, has found the clouded yellow scarce 

 this summer. But the pale coloured yellow very 

 plentiful ; also, white letter hair streaks, and chalk 

 blues. He has also taken a few silver-spotted 

 blues. Last summer the clouded yellow was very 

 common in Oxford and Henley-on-Thames, and pale 

 clouded, yellow very scarce. — B. B. Scott. 



Acorns as Food for Fowls.— Do acorns dis- 

 colour the yolks of eggs ? I heard it asserted that 

 they turn them black. _ I never gave my fowls any 

 acorns, but I was staying last month at a house in 

 Hants where a large number of poultry were kept, 

 and seeing some bags full of acorns in the farm yard 

 I said " Collecting for your pigs?" "No! for the 

 fowls," was the reply ; " we crack the acorns and 

 mix them with meal ; the hens are very fond of them." 

 On asking if this mixture did not affect the eggs in 

 colour and taste, I was well laughed at, but 1 have 

 since been informed, and I have also read it in a 

 poultry chronicle, that acorns will discolour eggs. — 

 Helen E. Watney. 



Luminous Worm.— On 20th of September and 

 the 18th of October, at night, I saw on the ground 

 a luminous spot, similar in size and appearance to 

 the light of a glowworm, the cause of which at first I 

 could not discover. On dividing it with the edge 

 of my boot, a part ran about giving a brighter light. 

 The next time I saw the phenomenon, I picked it 

 up and carried it to the light, when I found an 

 insect much like what is commonly called the "wire 

 worm," and which I enclose for your inspection. 

 Its luminousness, which was confined to a fractured 

 part of the insect, disappeared after being in my 

 hand about five minutes. Was the luminousness 

 caused by the fracture, or does the insect naturally 

 emit a light? Whatever it was, it adhered to my 

 fingers like any other phosphorous matter. — 67. /. 

 Dew, Loioer Heyford. 



[The enclosure was a centipede. — Ed.] 



Ants, Ants. — At page 213 of your September 

 number is a query from " H. E. M." about the 

 destruction of ants. Having been frequently 

 aunoyed with them during my residence in India, I 

 am happy to say I can suggest a remedy for the 

 total destruction of all the ants that may venture 

 into the house or larder of " H. E. M.," and that is, 

 to tell the cook to take the fresh and fine heated 

 ashes from the kitchen grate, and to sprinkle some 

 over the ants whenever they appear. They will be 

 destroyed by the heat of the ashes. I have seen 

 this frequently and successfully tried during my 

 stay m India. The ashes must not be red hot,_ 

 otherwise mischief may be caused to the flooring of 

 the room. Our houses in India are infested with 

 white, red, and black ants. The white ants eat large 

 holes through books. I now possess a book which 

 has been nearly drilled through by them. The red 

 aud black ants eat up any cold meat on the table 

 so that it becomes more necessary to destroy them 

 than it would be in this country. — A. Wyndham, 

 Lie at. -Colonel, late Madras Army. 



October Lilac. — Erequent observation has 

 been made of unusual phenomena resulting from the 

 protracted summer which has marked the present 

 year. Permit me to add one instance more. On the 

 11th of October I saw, at Ovingdean, near Brighton, 

 a white lilac tree, whose terminal shoots were 

 crowned with fresh blossoms, while the stems, 

 already leafless, told only of the waning year. — 

 Alfred Haward, Shirley Villus, Croydon. 



Colias hyale. — I can mention a still more un- 

 usual occurrence "in the suburbs of London" than 

 does your correspondent H. H. O'Earrel, being that 

 of C. hyale in Battersea Park, on the 12th of this 

 month. It was apparently in capital condition as 

 to plumage, but weak on the wing. I had no net 

 with me, and could not capture it, though I startled 

 the passers by with frantic attempts with a wide- 

 awake. — W. E. Hambrough. 



I possess a specimen of the variety of V. urticce 

 with confluent markings, exactly as figured in 

 Westwood and Humphreys' work, and taken in 

 Northamptonshire. May I be informed whether 

 there are many such existing in cabinets ? 



Dendritic Spots on Paper. — The following 

 remarks on these curious spots appeared in a 

 recent number of the Gardener 's Chronicle : — "The 

 spot on paper is a doubtful plant, named by Agardh 

 and Lyngbye Conferva dendritica. It is perhaps 

 some chemical production, but, if not, a fungus, 

 and not an alga. Schumacher called it Bematium 

 olivaceum, making it a fungus. — 31. J. B., in 

 Gardener's Chronicle, Oct. 17, 186S. — Eragments of 

 paper containing these bodies have been sent us 

 several times for identification. An experienced 

 analytic chemist on one occasion when we submitted 

 examples to him, ventured the suggestion that they 

 might be crystals of iron pyrites, but he did not 

 verify the supposition by chemical test." 



Swallows in November. — The late stay and 

 appearance of migratory birds is, I believe, a 

 subject of interest to ornithologists. I therefore 

 acquaint you with the fact that four swallows were 

 seen by me actively hawking about for insects last 

 Sunday up and down a terrace facing the sea. Where 

 had they been all the cold weather till brought out 

 by the warm sunshine of that day ? Supposing a 

 continued hard season had set in, Avhat would have 

 become of these late-staving birds ? — W. Hambrough, 

 Worthing, Nov. 11th, 1868. 



