HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



45 



inconsistent with being in such close community. 

 And yet if a pair offer to build in a single tree, the 

 nest is plundered, and demolished at once. Some 

 rooks roost on their nest trees. A few unhappy 

 pairs are not permitted to finish any nest till the rest 

 have completed their building. As soon as they get 

 a few sticks together, a party comes and demolishes 

 the whole. As soon as the rooks have finished their 

 nests, and before they lay, the cocks begin to feed 

 the hens, who receive their bounty with a fondling, 

 tremulous voice, and fluttering wings, together with 

 all the little blandishments that are expressed by 

 the young while in a helpless state. This gallant 

 deportment of the males is continued, through the 

 whole season of incubation." We should be glad to 

 hear what, as a rule, leads these interesting birds to 

 make choice of the trees in which they build, and 

 should be grateful for further information on the 

 subject. — E. Edwards. 



Gordius Aquaticus. — If your correspondent, 

 Mr. T. Q. Couch, page 281, will refer to an article 

 of mine in last year's (1878) vol. pp. 222-3, ne w ^ nn d 

 reference made to the Gordius. — Vincent Clementi. 



The " Long-purples" of Shakspeare. — It does 

 not seem to be satisfactorily settled which of two 

 plants Shakspeare alluded to as "long-purples," 

 whether Orchis mascula (the early purple orchid), 

 or Lythrum Salicaria (the purple loose-strife). Dr. 

 Taylor, in " Green Lanes," mentions Lythrum 

 Salicaria as probably the one. Professor Balfour 

 in his manual gives Orchis mascula as the plant 

 in question. In an edition of Shakspeare, published 

 by Routledge in 1854, it is given in a footnote as 

 Orchis morio-mas. It is very likely, as suggested 

 in Dr. Taylor's work "Green Lanes," that Shak- 

 speare may have seen the purple loose-strife growing 

 on the banks of the Avon. I have seen, however, 

 very large dense spikes of Orchis mascnla growing ' 

 on the banks of the river. This plant when | 

 luxuriantly grown, has, to the casual observer, j 

 somewhat the habit of Lythrum Salicaria. Can j 

 any of our readers give information on this subject ? 

 — G. T. Harris. 



Urticating Moths. — I was pleased to notice 

 some remarks under this heading by your corre- 

 spondent, Mr. J. Anderson (No. 179, Nov. 1), 

 but 1 cannot persuade myself satisfactorily as to the 

 cause of the irritant. I have found that the hairs 

 surrounding the ova deposits can offend as well as 

 the hairs of the larvse, and the feathers of the perfect 

 insect's wings. We have here three conditions for 

 the same results. Again, I have found in experi- 

 menting, that cocoons laid aside for twelve months 

 produce when played with, a tickling sensation 

 about the face (the nose being perhaps most 

 sensitive). If this urticating property were produced 

 by existent poisonous liquid, then we must surmise 

 that when dried up, (as it would most likely be after 

 twelve months' duration) the irritant still produces 

 power of affection. May not the tickling or poisoned 

 sensation be brought about by an exhalation at once 

 pungent and affecting, proceeding from the body of 

 the larva and imago, and introduced into the hairs 

 surrounding the cocoon, for the sake of protecting 

 the eggs when the parent is no more? Auriflua 

 and Chrysorrhoea are intensely careless in exposing 

 their cocoons to the inclemencies of weather, and 

 the attempts of marauders. The covering protects 

 them from the first, urtication from the latter. 

 But this theory is clouded in practical falsity, as 

 Auriflua is exceedingly subject to victimisation 

 by a parasitic microgaster. The whole matter is 



covered with obscurity, and requires proven investi- 

 gation. In the case of the poisoned part itself, the 

 little " bumps " do not appear to ripen or " come to 

 a head," so that the poison, if introduced, must 

 disperse itself in some method or other. — Ess Dec 

 Bee, Huddersfield. 



A Spider. — Trofessor Allman is reported by 

 the " Times " of the 21st of August to have said in his 

 presidential address to the British Association at 

 Sheffield, that " the simplest physical law is abso- 

 lutely inconceivable by the highest of the brutes." A 

 few minutes after reading this startling dogma from 

 such an authority, I was in a position to watch a 

 small spider, commonly called a money spinner, for 

 an hour and a half. If a spider comes under the 

 brute denomination, it would seem as if two complex 

 physical actions were comprehended and performed 

 by this individual brute. A lady sat close before me 

 with a straw hat on ; there was a rather straggling 

 ostrich feather on it, a plaited satin ribbon, and a 

 broad brim. The spider was spinning its web over 

 the gaps in the feather, between that and the plaits, 

 and from these to the outer edge of the brim. In doing 

 this it had occasion to form lines from feather to the 

 ribbon and to the brim. As the lady frequently 

 moved her head, the relative positions of the three 

 points were constantly changing. The first attempt 

 to run a line from feather to brim was apparently a 

 failure, it dropped beyond the point, till it was 

 within a few inches of a neck frill ; it stopped there 

 suddenly, as if aware that if its web was fastened to 

 two separate articles, it would be useless. After 

 hanging there for a few moments, it climbed up 

 its stay to the feather again, there it rested. In a 

 short time the head moved ; the brim came under it ; 

 down dropped the spider, and fastened its stay. 

 Now the journey from the brim to a plait was short 

 and easy, but that would not satisfy the architect ; it 

 climbed up again to the feather, passed an to another 

 point, and dropped a radius of its circle on to a 

 plait. These actions were repeated several times ; 

 but after the first overshot, the distance was never 

 overdone. If the plait on the brim were not in the 

 right place, the builder hung suspended till they 

 came there, as a very slight incline of the head 

 forward, or a lifting of it back, altered the position 

 of the points ; these proceedings were frequent ; the 

 spider constantly changed this feather point, while 

 always working to one centre on the plaits, and 

 from there to its circumference on the brim. I read 

 this sermon, that the spider was gifted not only with 

 a conception of relative distances, and with a know- 

 ledge of motion, but with the faculty of forming the 

 web on a complicated body, the points of which 

 were frequently changing their relative positions, 

 while the patience of the brute enabled it to spin its 

 net over the gaps in the feather, from the feather end 

 to the satin ribbon, with one set of radii from the 

 ribbon to the hat brim, and the main rigging from 

 the feather to the brim. My conclusion was that the 

 brute reasoned on the physical conditions of its 

 situation, and acted on its convictions ; that this 

 spider was gifted by its Creator with a reasoning 

 capacity fitted to its grade in the world, and that it 

 carried out its object by a practical application of 

 complex physical laws. — IT. P. M. 



Can New Species Originate by Crossing?— 

 In Mr. H. D. Barclay's letter of October he says, "there 

 are some 20,000 species of animals, and not one 

 instance is known of different species being crossed 

 without sterility ensuing in the animal thus begotten." 

 In reply to this I would state that a new species of 



