Dec. 1, 1868.] 



HARDWICKE'S SC IENCE-GO SS1P. 



283 



Telling the Bees.— Is there any foundation 

 for the country superstition of tapping at bee- 

 hives upon the death of their owner, in order to 

 prevent them forsaking the hives ? I am acquainted 

 with a case which has happened lately, where the 

 bees — some days after the death of their owner, a 

 country gentleman— have entirely deserted their 

 hives, which had not been so " tapped." Or, can it 

 be that this circumstance is attributable to a 

 natural habit of desertion at certain times, and 

 therefore merely a curious coincidence, which has 

 given rise to this popular superstition ? Perhaps 

 some of your readers will kindly enlighten me. — 

 H. T.R. 



Rats in Summer. — Can you or any of your 

 numerous readers inform me whether they have 

 observed any effect on the habits of the rat during 

 the recent dry summer ? It is well known that the 

 rat will not live long without water, and during this 

 summer, when nearly every pond and rivulet were 

 dried up, and no dews falling at night, where could 

 they get a supply ?—R. Y. 67. 



Pupa of Dragon-fly. — I believe that Mr. 

 Pollock's insect was Anax formosa, as it is the only 

 British Dragon-fly that will answer to his few 

 words of description, and moreover the time of its 

 appearance in the perfect state was too early for 

 the large true iEschnas.— B. McL. 



Horse Chestnut. — Have you ever noticed that 

 at every branch, or I should say joint in the branches, 

 of this tree there is a most perfect resemblance to a 

 horse's foot ? Fetlock, hoof, shoe, and nails, are all 

 to be traced. It is exceedingly curious, and I was 

 told a few days since that this portrayal of the 

 animal's foot is the true origin of the name. I had 

 always imagined, as I have often seen it written, 

 that the generic name, JEsculus Hippocastanum, was 

 derived from Esca food, and that Hippocastanum 

 was a compound of the Greek for a horse and 

 a chestnut, because horses eat the fruit readily. 

 Can you tell me which is the right version ? — Helen 

 E. Watney. 



Spider Suspending a Stone.— The account in 

 your last number of Science-Gossip of the spider's 

 web with the stone suspended from it, reminds me 

 of a similar case observed by my sister in Scotland. 

 She was walking through a wood, when suddenly 

 she noticed, at some distance from the ground, a 

 small stone, apparently in mid-air, but which on 

 closer examination was seen to be suspended by a 

 long thread from a spider's web built between two 

 trees. I have since often been puzzled as to the 

 object of the stone's presence, and I am much 

 interested to find that the case is not unique. — 

 J. F. B. 



Museum Curiosities. — I was lately visiting in 

 a large town in the north of England, celebrated 

 for its museum of geological and antiquarian 

 curiosities. While walking round the different 

 rooms filled with these wondurs I was accosted by 

 an elderly man, who apparently had the office of 

 keeper, and general attendant on the visitors who 

 migtit chance to go over the museum. Naturally 

 wishing to gain information, I put a question to 

 him relative to the finding of some huge Saurian 

 monster I was looking at. " You perhaps are not 

 aware, sir," he said, "how these creatures got into 

 the rocks where they are found. Now, we read in 

 Bible history that there were great convulsions of 

 the earth, that the rocks were rent, and a great flood 



covered the face of the ground. Then it was that 

 these creatures got washed into the cracks, and so we 

 dig them out now." Thinking your paper may fall 

 into the hands of those who superintend museums, 

 I venture to lay this story before the public, both 

 as a caution, and I hope a warning. To allow such 

 subordinates even to dust the cases of museums is, 

 to my mind, a connivance at flagrant desecration, 

 not only of the specimens themselves, but of their 

 scientific' history. Surely some little education is 

 needed ! — LL. B. 



Why are many animals attracted by light ? 

 Insects are especially so attracted. Witness 

 the invariable attempts of many kinds of moths 

 to commit suicide by plunging into a flame. 

 That fish are so attracted, poachers well know. 

 Birds will singe their wings against a lighted 

 candle. Winged mammals, if we may so call a bat, 

 will do the same. Why is this?— John Hopkinson. 



Spider's Maternal Affection. — In this month's 

 Science-Gossip there is an article upon " Spider's 

 Maternal Affection," for the truth of which I can 

 fully vouch, as I have repeatedly tested it, aud seen 

 it tested by others. I am not aware that there is 

 more than one species of spider that thus acts 

 towards its offspring, and that is rather large, and 

 the bag of a yellowish grey. There is one habit of 

 the spider that I do not recollect seeing mentioned 

 in Science-Gossip, and that is the habit of feigning 

 death when handled. It turns over on its back, 

 curls up its claws, and will permit itself to be 

 handled and rolled about— nay, even to be dropped 

 to the ground— without the slightest indication of 

 life, until it seems to think itself unobserved, and 

 then it suddenly starts up and away.— 6?. B. 



Ailanthus Moth (p. 263).— The Bombyx mori 

 (the moth to which the common silkworm turns) 

 hatches in this country early in May. In July the 

 caterpillar arrives at maturity, and spins its cocoon, 

 remaining in the pupa state for two or three weeks, 

 when it bursts its case and comes out as a perfect 

 insect. The female then lays its eggs, and dies 

 almost immediately. The Bombyx cynthia, or Ailan- 

 thus Moth, on the contrary, passes the winter in its 

 cocoon, from which it emerges in the summer, lays its 

 eggs, and dies. The eggs hatch in about two weeks ; 

 in four or five weeks the larva spins its cocoon, 

 remaining usually in the pupa state until the follow- 

 ing spring; but "if the caterpillars," says Mr. 

 Tegetmeier, " are produced early in the year, there 

 is time to raise two generations of moths during one 

 season," the pupa changing into the imago state, and 

 the female laying its eggs before the cold weather 

 comes on. The cocoons of this sccond_ brood are 

 said to be much smaller than those of the first. 

 Continued hot weather will no doubt favour the 

 same result as early hatching. — John Hopkinson. 



Laurel Berries. — Can any practical botanist 

 kindly inform me how it happens that a shrub, the 

 leaves of which when bruised can emit fumes 

 of prussic acid sufficiently strong to kill the largest 

 moth, and from which; also, when distilled, the 

 "laurel-water" so renowned in cases of poisoning 

 human beings has been obtained, can produce berries 

 perfectly harmless in their nature ? I can answer 

 for.their being eaten by handt'uls off some old laurel- 

 trees in our own orchard, and they are actually 

 stolen aud carried off by children as a rich feast 

 from a neighbouring demesne where they abound. — 

 F. I. Battersby, Cromlyn, BatJiowen, Co. West Meath, 

 Ireland. 



