Feb. 1, 1870.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



45 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Christmas Primroses.— While shooting in the 

 Pickwell woods near this place to-day, several 

 primroses were gathered, in places which had been 

 cleared of underwood, and brought under the in- 

 fluence of air ;and light.— C. H. B., Hurstpierpoint, 

 Christmas Eve, 1869. 



Crystals in Wasp.— In Science-Gossip for 

 1S68, p. 150, Mr. Lewis, speaking of the poison- 

 bag of the wasp's sting, says there appeared in the 

 internal knot of the bag the crystals of which he 

 gives an illustration. I cannot lind them with the 

 polariscope, and I can only perceive a faint outline 

 of the bag. I should feel obliged for information on 

 this point. — H. W. 



[Mr. Lewis states that he saw them ; it does not 

 follow that they will always be found under any 

 conditions. — Ed. S.G.] 



Burgeoning. — On reading a book called 

 " Cometh up as Flower," p. 1S5, I came across the 

 following passage :— " When next, the hedges bur- 

 geoning now, are putting forth their sprouting 

 green." Will any of your readers kindly enlighten 

 me as to the meaning of the word burgeoning ? It 

 is not North country. — R. Y. G. 



Potatoes. — In answer to your correspondent, 

 E. T., M.A., Notes and Queries, January, 1870, 

 p. 21, I beg to send an extract from Gerarde's 

 Herbal, 1597, p. 920: — "The Potato roots are 

 among the Spaniards, Italians, Indians, and many 

 other nations, ordinary food and common meat ; 

 which no doubt are of mighty and nourishing parts, 

 and do strengthen and comfort nature; whose 

 nourishment is as it were a mean between flesh and 

 fruit, but somewhat windie ; yet being rosted in the 

 embers, they lose much of their windinesse, espe- 

 cially being eaten sopped in wine. Of these roots 

 may be made conserves no lesse toothsome, whole- 

 some, and dainty, than of the flesh of Quinces, and 

 likewise those comfortable and delicate meats called 

 in shops Morselli, Placentulae, and divers other such 

 like. There roots serve as a ground or foundation 

 whereon the cunning confectioner or sugar-baker 

 may work and frame many comfortable delicate 

 conserves and restorative sweet meats. They are 

 used to be eaten rosted in the ashes. Some when 

 they be so rosted infuse and sop them in wine : 

 others, to give them the greater grace in eating, do 

 boil them with prunes, and so eat them ; likewise 

 others dress them (first being rosted) with oil, vine- 

 gar, and salt, every man according to his owne taste 

 and liking. Notwithstanding, howsoever they be 

 dressed, they comfort, nourish, and strengthen the 

 body, vehemently procuring bodily lust." — /. T. B. 



" Studies erom the Antique." — To persons 

 who have a natural respect for their forefathers, 

 there can be no satisfaction in casting ridicule upon 

 bygone generations. Mr. Clifford's paper in the 

 January Science- Gossip can only be repulsive to 

 such persons. If the professed naturalists of the 

 present day were not more advanced than those of 

 the last century, it would indeed be f/wcreditable to 

 them ; but there is no credit due. to them for their 

 advancement. Natural history, like other sciences, 

 has progressed gradually. Our fathers laid the 

 foundations, and we are slowly building the super- 

 structure. To suppose that the naturalists of the 



last century should have been as proficient as those 

 of our own times, is to suppose that, like Swift's 

 schemer of "The Flying Island," they should have 

 invented a method of building houses by commenc- 

 ing with the roof. Far from boasting of the spread 

 of exact knowledge among scientific naturalists, I 

 think we might justly feel humbled at the crass 

 ignorance of natural history subjects among people 

 in general. Let any one who doubts this spend a 

 day at the Zoological Gardens, and note the com- 

 ments made by the visitors on the animals. He will 

 hear Cranes called Vultures ; the pair of black 

 American Turkey-Buzzards called Crows ; the 

 tongues of the snakes almost invariably called 

 their " stings "; the most ordinary British birds and 

 animals supposed to be of some foreign species; and 

 so ad infinitum. So many districts which, until the 

 introduction of railways, were rural, are now thickly 

 populated, so vast a proportion of our population is 

 now engaged in trade and manufactures, that people 

 are gradually becoming utterly unacquainted with 

 the very commonest rural sights and rural sounds. 

 Instead therefore of indulging a vulgar ridicule of 

 the mistakes of the old naturalists, let botanists 

 gratefully acknowledge how much they owe to Kay; 

 ornithologists and zoologists to Willughby and 

 Pennant ; and naturalists generally to good old 

 White of Selborne. By all means let modern writers 

 avoid the mistakes of such authors, but let them 

 also aim at emulating the ardent yet unaffected 

 piety and love of the Creator, as well as of His 

 works, so conspicuous in the writings of Izaak 

 Walton, Bay, and many other old English authors, 

 and, alas ! so conspicuous by its absence in those of 

 most authors of the present day. — W. B. Tate, 4, 

 Grove Place, Denmark Hill. 



Orchis hircina. — Has any reader of Science- 

 Gossir found this plant during the last two seasons ? 

 A botanical friend and myself have made several 

 searches in the old localities to no purpose. — R. T., 

 M.J. 



The Colour op Flowers. — The colours which 

 the Creator has given to flowers are as rich as they 

 are varied : nor are they distributed at random, but 

 are always in harmony with the temperature of the 

 region in which they are produced, and with the 

 season of the year in which they unfold. " Of all 

 the colours," says Bemardin de S. Pierre, "white is 

 the one best adapted to reflect the heat, and it is 

 that which, speaking generally, Nature has be- 

 stowed on flowers opening in cold seasons or cold 

 situations ; such as the Snowdrop, the Lily of the 

 Valley, &c. We must add to the white those which 

 have a pink or light blue tinge, as some hyacinths, 

 arrd those that areyellow— the Buttercup, Dandebon, 

 and Wallflower. But flowers which open in warm 

 spots and seasons— the Corn-flower, the Poppy, &c, 

 which appear in harvest time— enjoy very pronounced 

 colours, such as purple, red, and blue, which absorb 

 the heat, radiation being reduced to a minimum. I 

 do not know of a single purely black flower ; for 

 petals without the quality of reflexion would be 

 useless." Tire same writer remarks also, with much 

 reason, that the form of the corolla is equally 

 adapted to reflect the heat ; that it is, in fact, like a 

 mirror placed in front of a fire.— Jules Mace, La 

 Vie cVune Brin d'Herbe. 1869. 



Snake Skin.— Would you inform me how to 

 soften the skin of a boa constrictor that has been 

 dried in the sun, preparatory to stuffing ?— Robert 

 Murray. 



