Aug. 1, 1S70.] 



HARDflCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



189 



stored farina, leaving no cells for the queen to de- 

 posit her eggs in. There was, however, brood in 

 one of the new combs, begun since her advent ; but 

 as this was scarcely four inches long by three deep, 

 it was not much. This sight rather annoyed me, as 

 I saw no remedy at first ; but an idea struck me 

 which I immediately acted up to. I had a stock of 

 bees, a swarm of last year, which showed no signs 

 of swarming and which I was willing to sacrifice. 

 I therefore smoked out all the bees, and having 

 secured the queen, placed them all in an empty 

 Woodbury, the royal prisoner in a box with some 

 of her attendants over the hole in the top, which T 

 covered with perforated zinc. I then cut out the 

 four middle combs, containing brood in all stages, 

 tied them into bar -frames, and placed them in the 

 hive containing the artificial swarm. I procured a 

 Ligurian queen from London for the black bees 

 whose queen was prisoner, and so I hayenow two 

 Limrrianized swarms prosperous, and will in all pro- 

 bability stand well through the winter. This day 

 (1st July) I expected to see the first young Ligurian 

 from artificial No. 1, but being wet I do not think 

 they will show themselves. — G. C. G. 



Good King Harry. — Can any correspondent 

 inform me whence Chenopodinm Bonus Henricus, 

 derives its curious name of " Good King Harry" ?— 

 W. B. G. 



Eowls. — During the last ten years I have pos- 

 sessed a large number of fowls. I have at present 

 one which was hatched the middle of 1868, com- 

 menced laying at Christmas same year, and has 

 never left off, or moulted since. She is dreadfully 

 stumpy -looking, and very shabby, but shows no 

 signs yet of moulting this season. Her appearance 

 and laying prove her to be in good health. Is this 

 a common circumstance ? — C. L. J. 



Sounding Lead. — I am in want of some sort of 

 plummet, or small dra?, that will bring up specimens 

 of diatoms, foraminifera, &c, from considerable 

 depths of water. I want to dispense with the tallow 

 process, and I think there is some apparatus made 

 with this object. If some reader would kindly 

 sav where it can be got, and the price, or, better 

 still, describe it, I should be much obliged.— 



C. L. J. 



Borrago (p. 165).— In a folio volume called 

 " The Gardener's Dictionary," by Philip Miller, 

 F.B.S., published in 1768, I find— "Borrago [or 

 Borago, which signifies much the same as courage, 

 because it is a good raiser of the spirits], Borage." 

 Some of the old botanical writers considered bor- 

 ago to be quasi cor-ago, and there is an old rhyme 

 which runs, " I borage bring courage." See 

 Johnson's ".Dictionary of the English Language," 

 by Latham. The English name also is spelt with 

 the double r in the fourth edition of the " Ency- 

 clopaedia Britannica," 1810. The French bourrache^ 

 and the German borretsch, are further examples of 

 the reduplicated form.— G. H. H. 



Phacelia tenacetifolia.— In answer to Mr. 



D. D. 'Bennett's query, 1 would say that there are 

 severa varieties of the P. tenacetifolia, — I think 

 four, three of which, I believe, may be seen in 

 Jersey, near St. Aubin's. Professor Babington, of 

 Cambridge, has, if I mistake not, a fine specimen 

 of this interesting plant in his garden. — /. B., 

 Cantab. 



The Quail-call.— The following anecdote will 

 serve to show how easily birds are deceived by 

 artificial means. A few years ago, when paying a 

 visit to a friend of mine residing in the Belgian 

 Ardennes, the following occurrence took place. 

 After dinner, as the shades of evening came on, 

 having lighted our cigars, we took a stroll in a neigh- 

 bouring wood. My friend had in his hand a small 

 call-whistle with which he could imitate exactly the 

 call -note of the Quail. We, being fatigued, seated 

 ourselves on a mossy bank. Admiring the beauties 

 of the landscape, he then began with the instrument 

 to imitate the bird's note, which he continued doing 

 for the space of half an hour, a quail in the dis- 

 tance responding, when, to my surprise, the bird 

 flew into my lap.— M. J. Teil. 



Aceeas anthropophora. — Does any correspon- 

 dent know whether this orchid has been found of 

 late years in Gate-Burton Wood, near Gains- 

 borough ? Mr. Leonard Grindon, in his somewhat 

 recently published " Field Botany," states it to be 

 fine and plentiful there, on the faith of which a 

 friend and myself visited the wood towards the 

 latter end of June, expressly to ascertain if it was 

 really found so far north, Hooker in his new " Flora" 

 giving it s distribution as from Lincoln southwards 

 We had no difficulty in getting to the right place, 

 since it is definitely indicated onl the Ordnance, 

 Map, but found only a very damp barren wood — a 

 very unlikely place for Aceras, and not " on the 

 chaik " either — covered breast high with a dense 

 forest of Urtica dioica, heroically hewing down 

 which, and inspecting every foot of the ground 

 (the wood is of but small extent), we found nothing ! 

 Very disappointing to us : and had the author of 

 the statement that sent us to Gate-Burton Wood 

 been upon the spot, I fear the terrible nettle grove 

 would have proved even more unpleasant to him 

 than it did to us ! Pastures and copses adjoining 

 we likewise searched, but without result. Has the 

 orchid ever been found there, indeed ? Away from 

 the chalk stratum, in a latitude so far north, there 

 seems room for doubt. — F. Arnold Lees, Meanwood, 

 Leeds. 



"Valisneria spiralis. — In the July number of 

 Science-Gossip there are two paragraphs, one 

 entitled " Confervse in Aquaria," the other " Valis- 

 neria spiralis," pp. 165, 166, both intended to show 

 how aquatic plants may be grown well, and yet 

 tolerably free of confervse, and both adopt the 

 means commonly recommended in microscopical 

 works. To these 1 would venture to add my mite 

 on the subject. I have grown the Valisneria 

 spiralis for years in a large bell-glass fitted to a 

 mahogany base, and I find when the water used 

 for the plants in town,' or pipe-water supplied from 

 an open reservoir showing the character of being 

 above average pure, conferva? grow on the sides of 

 the vase and the leaves of the plant in great 

 abundance, and in a short time. In summer I have 

 seen the sides of the vase covered with a forest of 

 green confervse in four days, after it was cleared 

 and filled afresh, from the abundance of conferyoid 

 spores which the water contained. To keep this in 

 check, a sufficient staff of the Lymnacus siagnalis 

 themselves and their ova, most interesting objects 

 of observation and study,— and when they could be 

 got, the Planorbis corneus, as one of your cor- 

 respondents recommends, were added. I think 

 spring water, in which the Valisneria spiralis lives 

 well, would be a great hindrance to the confervoid 



