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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



found it to be apparently an oblong chamber, 

 divided into two equal parts by a black line — the 

 whole probably less than one-eighth of an inch long. 

 I have observed similar phosphorescence, perhaps 

 lasting a little longer, at home, while turning over 

 the soil in my garden with a trowel, under a faint 

 moonlight. — J. Geo. T. Lee. 



Can Birds' Eggs be prevented from be- 

 coming Mouldy ? — I shall be much obliged if any 

 of your correspondents will inform me how to 

 prevent eggs from getting mouldy and mildewed. 

 A great many eggs in my collection are more or 

 less covered on the outside of the shell with a kind 

 of mould. The cabinet in which they are is between 

 a fireplace and an outside, but dry wall. — E. P. 



Late migratory Birds. — Notwithstanding the 

 inclement weather which we have experienced this 

 year, some of our migratory birds seem rather loth to 

 leave us. I heard the chiffchaff singing during the 

 first week in October, and noticed a housemartin 

 busily hawking for flies on November 1st. — Jo/in 

 Hawkins, fun., Reading. 



What was the Fagus of the Latins.— 

 Caesar asserts that the fagus was not found in Britain, 

 and there can be little doubt that the tree was not 

 the beech. What then was it ? — Pliny calls the acorn 

 of the fagus " dulcissima omnium," alluding to the 

 trees, natives of Italy, therefore excluding the Spanish 

 chestnut which came originally from Lydia. The 

 peasants of Catalonia and Valencia live the greater 

 part of the year on acorns of the evergreen oaks, viz. 

 Quercus Ilex and Quercus Ballota. The acorns 

 are most abundant and nutritive. This then is most 

 probably Ceesar's Fagus. See art. in Nat. Hist. Mag. 

 vol. iv. p. 3, and Lib. Entertaining Knowledge, vol. ii. 

 p. 4. — S. A. Brenan, LL.B. 



Mr. Lloyd's Cat. — "Died suddenly on June 28th, 

 1879, MlM, the dearly-beloved black Angora cat 

 belonging to Mr. W. A. Lloyd, of the Crystal Palace 

 Armarium. She was in her twentieth year, and she 

 spent the greater part of her long and blameless life 

 in London, Paris, Hamburg, and Sydenham, re- 

 clining on her master's study table, watching him 

 writing about Aquaria, and experimenting on water, 

 and plants, and animals, until at length she became 

 as well acquainted with such matters as he is. Only, 

 she could not write about them, and so she went to 

 sleep on the table instead. She was the only known 

 pussy who ever had an account of her own in a Post- 

 Office Saving Bank, where she accumulated the sum 

 of five guineas, which she earned in prizes for her 

 beauty and other good qualities at various cat shows, 

 and this money she spent in a full-sized photograph 

 of herself, taken by Norris, and framed and glazed." 

 — "Animal World? 



A Suggestion to Ornithologists.— Can nothing 

 be done to prevent the meaningless slaughter and 

 spoliation of our rare birds ? At this time of the 

 year, when many migrants are passing through, or 

 casually visiting our land, scarcely a week passes 

 without the daily papers recording some rarity as 

 having been " procured." Would it not be" possible 

 to form a " Protective Society" in the interest of our 

 feathered tribes ? Such a society, backed up by a 

 few gentlemen of influence, would form a nucleus 

 around which many true bird-lovers would gather, 

 and might be the means of averting the extermina- 

 tion now threatening many of the scarcer species of 

 English birds. When we consider the strength and 

 influence of unity and co-operation, the least sanguine 



might reasonably expect good practical results from 

 such an association. The ruling object of the society 

 should be "To discountenance on any occasion the 

 superfluous killing and robbing of our British birds." 

 Of course this rule would have to be modified, as in 

 the case of game, &c. What I contend for is the 

 restraint of the mere collector and exchanger, not of 

 the true ornithologist, who is always desirous of 

 promoting the welfare of our native birds. It is 

 useless to repeat here the many arguments in favour 

 of this course. None can be better than those 

 of L. W. G., p. 43, Science-Gossip for 1878. 

 Besides, we all know that the man who can tell us 

 most of birds and their habits is he who diligently 

 studies them in their native haunts, and not the 

 closet maunderer over skin and egg-shells. Since 

 the praiseworthy articles written in 1877 by Mr. 

 J. T. Reed (p. 191), and Mr. Van Dyck (p. 213), con- 

 tributors to Science-Ggssip seem to have ignored 

 the claims of our feathered favourites. I see Mr. 

 Reed advocated at that time some kind of an organisa- 

 tion for protective purposes. Why should not the 

 Union of Ornithologists he then recommends be 

 started at once ? If any gentlemen who are interested 

 in the subject would send their suggestions, they 

 would put the undertaking in a fair way to succeed. 

 — Major Lawson, Bridlington. 



Larv.b on Caterpillars.— Could any of your 

 readers give the name of a certain hard black parasite (?) 

 which I found in small numbers on a caterpillar of the 

 puss moth this summer? I removed them with a pair 

 of scissors, and the caterpillar lived and made his 

 cocoon. It is perhaps worth mentioning that it was 

 on a hickory tree that I found the larva, with many 

 others of the same species, and some pupae of the 

 white satin moth, &c. — J. E. K. 



Cuckoos denuded of Feathers. — In the 

 "Zoologist" of April, 1866, I find an article by Mr. 

 Peake, of Chepstow, bearing the above title. He 

 says that Bewick in the Introduction to his " British 

 Birds," mentions the circumstance of a " cuckoo 

 having been discovered denuded of feathers, kept 

 alive during winter and escaping in the spring." This 

 would be about 100 years ago, in Northumberland. 

 Mr. Peake tells us of two or three cases, said to have 

 occurred some fifty years since in Monmouthshire. 

 Shortly after reading this, I discovered by accident 

 that there is, in the Isle of Man, a tradition that the 

 cuckoo passes the winter in hollow trunks of trees 

 (especially of the "Tramnan," or elder-tree), and thatit 

 becomes torpid and loses all its feathers ! I am told 

 of one instance that occurred about thirty years ago, 

 which I give as follows. " A cottager going in the 

 early spring to his peat stack, discovered in its 

 midst a cuckoo without feathers — lying, however, in 

 a bed of its cast-off feathers — torpid, and scarcely 

 breathing." The bird was recognised by its beak. 

 What became of it I could not discover. My 

 informant, an intelligent farmer, himself believed the 

 story, which he and others had frequently heard from 

 the cottager's own lips. 1 have not met with anybody 

 who tells the story as having occurred to himself, 

 but, as I said, we have the tradition (now dying out, 

 perhaps) that the cuckoos do so pass the winter with 

 us. It is certain that stray cuckoos are sometimes 

 found in the Isle of Man in the winter, and in the 

 instances of which I have heard, they have been 

 found in a torpid state, but have revived with a little 

 warmth. What I am anxious to discover is, the origin 

 and the extent of this tradition, and the amount of 

 truth contained in it. There were some interesting 

 articles in your magazine upon the cuckoo a year or 



