JS 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Jan. 1, 1S70. 



but at too great a cost. Whether or not the 

 berries will produce the same effect, I am not able 

 to say ; but I would certainly advise extreme cau- 

 tiou in their use, notwithstanding Mr. Bowlby 

 saying they can do no harm. If we can learn the 

 exact quantity required to destroy the thrips with- 

 out injury to the vines in a house of a given capa- 

 city, the receipt would be valuable, because of the 

 cheapness of the berries. After all, no system of 

 keeping the vinery free from insect pests can 

 equal a thorough cleansing of the vines when 

 they are at rest with soap and water, and burning 

 sulphur iu the house. It is scarcely necessary 

 to say that. the house must be cleared of every- 

 thing except the Tines.— M. Buttery, in "Gardener's 

 Magazine." 



Marsh Titmouse (Partes palustris, Linn.). — 

 This 'species is generally distributed in Turkey in 

 Asia Minor and Europe, but, although it is not 

 unfrequently met with, it is not nearly so numerous 

 as the blue or great titmouse. It is partial to old 

 woods in damp situations, where it mostly continues 

 the year round, and it makes its nest principally in 

 holes of decayed branches of trees. In the spring- 

 time it, is seen busily engaged on a trunk or branch 

 of a decayed tree, decayed fence or gate, or gate- 

 post, or decayed wood, labouring away tor hours 

 with its bill, detaching the decayed wood, and 

 making room enough in the interior to securely 

 hold its little nest. The entrance is just made large 

 enough to admit the old birds, and the interior is 

 scooped out more roomy for their habitation. 

 Their nests are found mostly in decayed branches of 

 alder, whose interior is soft and easily removed. 

 They are partial to feeding on the alder, are rarely 

 seen in the open country or on bare mountain 

 districts, except in the winter, when they scatter 

 and travel far and wide in search of insect food. 

 They are constant residents in Turkey. — The Levant 

 Times. 



Yama-mai Silk-Moth.— The editors of the 

 American Entomologist announce that their own ex- 

 perience with this Japanese silkworm during the 

 past summer was very unsatisfactory, and, they add, 

 "we learn from Dr. Wallace that experimenters met 

 with but poor success in England in 18G9, though 

 an Austrian Baron succeeded in rearing twenty 

 thousand cocoons." 



New Food for Silkworms. — The Illustrated 

 Sydney News says that " a native shrub has just been 

 discovered both on Port Philip Island, and the 

 shores of the Western Port Bay, which has proved 

 far better for feeding silkworms than the mulberry." 

 It is a great pity that the name of the plant was not 

 given, or some particulars or description of the 

 plant, so that it might be identified. Surely the 



subject is of sufficient importance to have warranted 

 a little extra trouble. 



Petrified Maoris. — The Southern Cross has 

 been furnished with the following by an occasional 

 correspondent : — " The annexed particulars I have 

 had sent to me from Raglan, and being rather a 

 wonder (though I believe there are subterranean 

 passages extending for a long distance at the Three 

 Kings) I consider you might deem it worth inser- 

 tion. About six or seven years ago Mr. Richard 

 Todd, Government surveyor at Raglan, while walk- 

 ing on the shore at the south head, and being close 

 under the mountain called Karuni, discovered, 

 amongst a large number of immense boulders, one 

 that was very beautifully carved. 1 have been in- 

 formed Mr. Todd took a drawing of it. It had the 

 appearance, said Mr. Todd, of having been executed 

 a very great number of years. Two stone chisels 

 and an axe-head were found close to it. Owing to 

 the encroachment of the sea, and action of the tide, 

 this immense boulder had been displaced from its 

 original position, and disclosed the entrance to a 

 most wonderful cavern, running a very great distance 

 under the mountain. On this discovery being made 

 known to the settlers by the natives, a party of 

 Raglan people, having provided themselves with 

 lamps and torches, penetrated the cavern for at least 

 half a mile, and were obliged to turn back, they 

 having commenced their research too late in the day. 

 The cavern has been described as a most wonderful 

 one. very lofty, apparently in places two hundred 

 feet high, with immense stalactites which seemed to 

 be forty or fifty feet in length, and which had a very 

 grand appearance, from the reflection of the lights. 

 The party were completely wet through from the 

 dripping of water from the roof. At about half the 

 distance they traversed a very large, curiously- 

 shaped rock, it having the appearance of a large 

 altar, seven steps about two feet six inches high 

 forming the approach to the table or altar. From 

 the foot of this rock a very powerful stream of water 

 wells up with great force— it apparently having a 

 subterranean passage. The cavern at this spot is 

 described as being thirty feet wide. At this spot 

 were discovered the bodies of eighty-seven Maoris, 

 all being in a perfect state of preservation, in fact, 

 petrified into stone, even their mats having under- 

 gone the same process. The parties who placed 

 these bodies there must have evidently been aware 

 of the properties of the dripping water. There is a 

 native settlement close by the spot, and some very 

 old natives live there, but they have no knowledge 

 of the existence of the cavern, but said they have 

 a tradition of a very powerful king having his head- 

 quarters at their settlement, viz., Karuni. Mr. Todd, 

 when he discovered the stone, had an idea that it 

 had reference to the burial-place of some great 

 chief. — Communicated by Dr. L. Lindsay. 



