160 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[July 1, 1870. 



Rooks and Ahum maculatum. — In con- 

 sequence of the long drought, the rooks in this 

 neighbourhood are in a state of starvation, and 

 have been driven to every kind of shift to find food. 

 Among other things they have hunted every bank, 

 even by the roadsides, for the roots of Arum macu- 

 latum, which they have devoured in large quantities. 

 I should like to know if this very unusual circum- 

 stance has occurred elsewhere. — /. G. N., Aid- 

 borough. 



Valisneria spiralis. — Some few years ago I 

 was troubled with exactly the same growth that 

 "C. L. C." complains of, and only got rid of it by 

 strongly reinforcing my squad of snails (Planorbis 

 corneus). I fancy that its appearance shows the 

 plants are not in a properly healthy condition, for 

 at the present time, although (except upon the front 

 glass) 1 allow confervas full scope in my aquarium, 

 the Valisnerias are perfectly free from anything of 

 the kind, being luxuriant to a bisk degree, and 

 flowering every summer. — Edward Banks. 



Eoxglove (Z>. purpurea).— Errata, pages 135-6, 

 Science-Gossip. Instead of "cups," read "caps;" 

 instead of "cattle-loosing," read cattle-loving; 

 instead of " frill-bodied," read /«//-bodied ; instead 

 of "foxglove heel," read foxglove hell. The 

 references of "R. T., M.A.," p. 115, show a very 

 ancient use of the name foxglove, especially Fion 

 camglata, and I think we have still to learn that 

 there is a connection between this plant and the 

 fox, as well as between it and the " good people." 

 In the true Celtic portions of Ireland the fox, 

 tliousli equally detested with the fairies, is almost 

 equally held in fear and reverence. In West Mayo 

 and Donegal, where the Celtic element is still pretty 

 pure, great dread and reverence is paid the fox. He 

 is never called by name, but always as the " red 

 fellow," the " gentleman," &c. ; and for this reason, 

 that, like the fairies, if called by name, lie would 

 spitefully kill every duck and fowl of the hardy 

 individual who dared to invoke him ; so the fox, 

 like the fairy, is believed always to be lurking within 

 earshot, though concealed from view. Most 

 nations have a sobriquet for the fox, and whether 

 they originated in superstitions or otherwise, it 

 would be hard to tell. In ancient Celtic mythology 

 due respect is paid the fox. Perhaps some one better 

 read on this subject than myself will favour us with 

 the connection between the fox and the fairies, for a 

 strong connection I have no doubt once existed. 

 The deciphering of the name foxglove, if not a cor- 

 ruption of "folks," or "fuchs" gloves, must be 

 sought in fairy or mythological lore. Fion camglata 

 reminds me of a practice of my Celtic country- 

 women, of laying wool on the bushes for the fox, 

 and even going so far as to make mittens out of 

 lambs-wool for his feet — laying them at the den. 

 This— ridicule not, English reader, for you are not 

 much ahead of us — is to propitiate the fox, and act 

 as an offering of good-will; for being imbued with 

 a certain amount of honour he will not kill the fowl 

 of the foolish Dorcas, but will encase his feet in her 

 mittens on his cold night tramps. This certainly 

 shows that in the Celtic portion of ~Eux ope foxes did 

 ■/rear gloves.— H. B. K., Co. Dublin. 



Flora Hautoniensis.— In the "Annual Hamp- 

 shire Repository" (1798), vol. i., pp. 114-122, is an 

 article headed " A Hampshire Flora, or List of rare 

 Plants, arranged according to the Linnean System, 

 with their Habitations, and References to Modern 

 Plates." The introduction closes with the words: 



" The following commencement only of a Hampshire 

 Flora, confined at present to some of the rarer 

 plants, hereafter to be continued and to be finally 

 extended to a complete Flora Hautonieusis." Then 

 follows a long list of plants, extending to the Isle of 

 Wight district, and the whole is given out as the 

 work of "L. S. S." ( ? Linneana; Societatis Socius.) 

 Can any reader inform me who the author was, and 

 if the list was ever continued ?— R. T., M.A. 



Arbutus Unedo — Of this, Parkinson, in his 

 " Theatrum Botanicum " (1640), pp. 1489, 90, says : 

 " It hath beene of late dayes found in the west part of 

 Irelaud of a reasonable bigge sise for a tree ; but 

 with smaller fruite." In the " Cybele Hibernica," 

 p. 81, the quotation closes at "Ireland," and there 

 is an error of 1680 for 1640 in the date — 

 R. T., M.A. 



Cowslip (p. 141).— I can only state this month 

 that the word occurs in the "Nominale" (see Plant 

 Names, p. 127), hoc ligustrum = a primerose and a 

 cowslowpe. In the "Pictorial Vocabulary," hoc 

 ligustrum (Anglice), a prymrose ; hoc ligustrum 

 a cowyslepc. In the " English Vocabulary," base 

 pimpinella, hoc ligustrum, hoc pringrius primerolla, 

 hoc vaccinium cowsokulle, on which Mr. T. Wright 

 observes, apparently another name for Cowslip.— 

 R. T., M.A. 



A Snake-killing Iguana. — A few days since 

 (says the Wagga Wagga Express) as Mr. B. Best 

 was riding through the bush in the neighbourhood 

 of Sandy Creek, he observed a monster iguana 

 blundering in alarm somewhat slowly up a tree. 

 Remembering that one of the men upon the station 

 wished to procure a supply of the noted bush 

 remedy for rheumatism — iguana oil — he dismounted 

 from his horse, and by a well-directed shot with a 

 stone, succeeded in bringing the reptile to the earth, 

 and then put an end to its existence with a stick. 

 Throwing it over the saddle, he remounted and set 

 out for home; but after riding a short distance ob- 

 served with no little alarm that the long form of a 

 snake was gradually dropping from the mouth of 

 the iguana. He lost no time in casting off both 

 from the saddle, and upon after examination dis- 

 covered that the snake was quite dead, aud indeed 

 had most probably been killed before the process of 

 swallowing had been commenced. The iguana 

 measured from nose to tail five feet, and the snake, 

 which was one of the black species, three feet one 

 inch in length. As a natural and useful enemy of 

 the snake, the iguana should be preserved from des- 

 truction. — From the Kiama Independent. 



Bees and Wasps.— Do Toads eat them ?— I am 

 glad to see in the Science-Gossip, a paragraph now 

 and then on the honey-bee. In the winter of 1S6S, 

 mice found their way into our Apiary here, and 

 proved very destructive; and I tried to fix the hives 

 so as to render it impossible for the mouse to get 

 access to them. This I succeeded in, by placing 

 each hive separately and singly (not upon a common 

 floor or shelf, but) upon a tripod or triangle sup- 

 porter of three common glass bottles; this effectu- 

 ally prever ted those enemies ; but 1 observed that 

 the nearness of the hives to the earth exposed the 

 bees to an enemy nearly as bad, viz., the Toad. Go 

 when I would, towards night, and even after dark 

 (someamesat a very late hour), I found toads stand- 

 ing before and below the entrance, and catching and 

 swallowing the bees by wholesale ; this has been 

 repeatedly noticed. I have sometimes taken one of 



