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HARDWICKE'S SC I E NCE- GO SSIP. 



LMay 1, 1S70. 



to the introduction of the British bee, which is said 

 to sting the birds' tongues when they are seeking 

 food in the flowers. It seems to me somewhat 

 doubtful whether the insect would often succeed in 

 striking so slender a mark as a small bird's tongue, 

 and whether, if struck, much harm would be done 

 to so horny a structure. If, as is suggested further 

 on, the birds prey on the bees, it is easier to con- 

 ceive that the swallowed stings might inflict fatal 

 injury on the softer tissues of the bird's interior— 

 though even then it would require many trustworthy 

 observations to prove that a general mortality could 

 be due to such a cause. This subject reminded me 

 of the oft-repeated charge against Toads, that they 

 frequent the neighbourhood of bee-hives to prey 

 on the insects as they go in and out. I should 

 like to know if any reader of Science-Gossip has 

 seen them actually swallowing the Bees, and if it is 

 known that they do the same without injury. A 

 small bird would no doubt peck a bee to pieces 

 before eating it, and in so doing might separate the 

 sting-darts from the poison-gland, or possibly reject 

 them, but the Toad swallows _ an insect whole and 

 alive, and quite capable of using the weapons that 

 nature has bestowed on it. Though I have long 

 been in the habit of keeping Toads and Frogs of dif- 

 ferent species, 1 have never given them any Bees or 

 other stinging Hymenoptera, fearing injury to the 

 reptiles. One would imagine that the appropriated 

 Bee would be certain to protrude its sting, and 

 doing so could hardly fail to inflict a wound on the 

 Toad, and I have no doubt that Bufo would, without 

 hesitation, gulp down either Bee or Wasp, as he is 

 always ready to snap at any living thing that will 

 go into his mouth, and many that will not. There 

 is no question but the reptile would survive an 

 injury which would be fatal to the bird, as Toads 

 possess an enviable strength of constitution ; still, 

 it would be interesting to know whether his Toad- 

 ship enjoys perfect immunity from the effects of 

 insect poison, or whether he suffers from taking 

 sauce piquante with his meal.— George Guyon, Vent- 

 nor, Isle of Wight. 



Pennyroyal. — "In case a woman suddenly turn 

 dumb, take pennyroyal, and rub to dust, wind it up 

 in wool, lay under the woman; it will soon be well 

 with her." — Cockayne's Leechdoms, ^r.,vol. iii. p. 59. 



" Habergeon " (p. 91). — My view as to this 

 being the diminutive of hawberh is, I see, held in 

 the exhaustive note to " Promptorium Parvulorum," 

 torn. i. p. 220, which commences : " Habergeon 

 appears properly to be a diminutive of hawberk, 

 although here (in the text of Prompt. Parv.) given 

 as synonymous," &c. — JR. T., M.A. 



"Podder" (p. 91). — Mr. Halliwell quotes 

 Hollyband quite correctly. His words are " Agoure 

 de lin, m, a weed called Podder, winding about 

 hempe or other like" (ed. 1593). The next work 

 I quote is Cotgrave's French-English Dictionary 

 (ed. 1650) : — " Agoure de lin (the weed), Dodder ;" 

 "Dodder, Dodder-grasse, agoure de lin, pialet, 

 goutte de lin, Podagre de lin." Bailey (1736) 

 gives: "Podagra lini (Botany), the herb Dodder." 

 Bescherelle's Dictionnaire National has — ■ 

 " Agourre ) 



Angoure \ de lin = Angina lini, 



Engoure ) 

 Nom ancicn donne suivant Dalechamp a la grande 

 cuscute, parce qu'elle fait peril- la tige de lin quand 

 elle s'y attache — on la nomme aussi goutte de lin." 

 Under Tigue (see Gerard) = Teigne, he has " nom 



vulgaire, de la cuscute ;" and lastly, Littre, French 

 Dictionary (in course of publication), makes 

 " Goutte de lin = cuscute = CuscutaEuropsea, plante 

 parasite- dontlla tige s' attache aux herbes voisines, y 

 prend sa nourriture au rnoyen de sucons et etouffe 

 les vegetaux envahis." Dodder is the old equiva- 

 lent of Cuscuta Europaea, as may be seen in Cock- 

 ayne's " Leechdoms," &c., vol. iii. p. 322, and 

 Wright's Vocabularies, p. 140 (euscute = doder ; 

 there is an error in the text, as printed by Mr. 

 Wright, for a reference to the original MS. shows 

 that the word is Cuscute, not 'Euscute'). I have no- 

 where met with Podder, though it might easily have 

 come from Podagra. — R.T., M.A. 



Harebelle. — In a Nominale of the fifteenth 

 century, this is given as the equivalent of Bursa 

 pastaris (sic). — li. T., M.A. 



Reunion of Severed Insects. — In Burton's 

 " Lectures on Entomology," p. 30, 1 find the follow- 

 ing statement : " It may not be out of place to relate 

 a curious instance of the hardihood (if, I may so call 

 it) of the Wasp. One of these insects was crawling 

 up a window, when a lady seized it with a pair of 

 scissors, with the intention of killing it, but by 

 accident cut it in two; the Wasp was no longer 

 thought of for some time, but the lady, happening by 

 chance to look at it, thought the two parts had ap- 

 proached nearer each other ; it was then watched- 

 and after being separated for three or four hours 

 they gradually joined ; it then rested for a few 

 minutes, and the parts appeared to be as firmly fixed 

 as before the accident had happened ; it then crawled 

 up the window and flew away. This may be relied 

 on as a fact." And again, on p. 11, speaking of 

 ants, he says, " A very curious circumstance then 

 occurred, which if I had not seen with my own eyes, 

 I certainly should not have believed. One of the 

 ants had been accidentally cut in two, and I saw the 

 legs and head running about the mould evidently in 

 search of its body, In about two hours it had been 

 successful, for I saw it joining its body_ to its head 

 and legs, and it then walked about with as much 

 activity as the rest." I should like to hear the ex- 

 perience of other entomologists on this subject, as I 

 can hardly imagine such a miracle possible. — Jr. Luff. 



Rue in Nosegays. — As Mr. Britten, page 67 of 

 the March number of Science-Gossip, seems to 

 doubt my statement that the Rue was ever placed in 

 nosegays, I give him mv authority. Shakspeare, in 

 " All's Well that Ends Well," makes the clown say of 

 the countess, " She was the sweet-marjoram of the 

 salad, or, rather the herb of grace?' Now the Rue 

 was known as the herb of grace, and Lafeu 

 answers, "They are not salad herbs, you knave, 

 they are nose-herbs." — //. E. Watney. 



Foxglove (p. 91). — This name must have been 

 applied on the lucus a non principle, that foxes don't 

 wear gloves ; " a cat in mittens," says the proverb, 

 " catches no mice ;" and a farmer would think foxes 

 nicely handcuffed in gloves. But perhaps it may 

 have been supposed that the fairy folk lent 

 digitalis flowers to the Fox, to soften his velvety 

 tread when on a marauding expedition, as burglars, 

 wear list slippers. — A. II. Gent. 



Bee Book. — A new edition of Dr. Bevan's Book 

 on the Honey Bee, its natural history, physiology, 

 and management, revised and enlarged, with illus- 

 trations by W. A. Mann, is announced as in pre- 

 paration. Without doubt it, is just the sort of book 

 that some of our readers want. 



