HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



47 



birds. Last winter birds of all kinds were slaughtered 

 in the most ruthless manner. Thousands of such 

 birds as fieldfares, thrushes, starlings and finches 

 were to be seen exposed for sale in the game-shops. 

 During the whole of the summer bird-catchers may- 

 be seen to set their lime-twigs and nets to catch the 

 various small birds, and the game-keepers have im- 

 proved the hawks and other "vermin" off the greater 

 part of the British Isles. No sooner does a rare bird 

 appear than several enthusiastic collectors go in 

 pursuit, and usually the unfortunate wanderer is added 

 to some collection, and a paragraph appears in one of 

 the papers recording the appearance and death of the 

 vara avis. It is time some movement was made, as 

 the Wild Birds Protection Act is a perfect dead letter. 

 Even the present close time does not meet with the 

 approval of the gunners along the coast. A petition 

 for the extension of the open season was signed 

 during the past summer by a large number of the in- 

 habitants of Holy Isle. The close time is little pro- 

 tection to the birds at the Farn Isles, as the eggs are 

 taken twice and the birds hatched from the third 

 laying are not fit to fly when the open season com- 

 mences. Large numbers of gunners from Newcastle, 

 Shields, and Sunderland go in steamers to the Farn 

 Isles and shoot the birds in thousands, not five per 

 cent, being picked out of the water. At the Bass the 

 close time is no protection to the young gannets. It 

 is to be hoped that ornithologists will unite and en- 

 deavour to protect the birds which in many places 

 are in danger of extermination. — J. T. T. Reed, Ryhope, 

 Sunder/and. 



Parasites (?) of Fly. — While examining a blue- 

 bottle fly in a live box it excreted a drop of clear 

 fluid in which under J obj., I. saw something 

 moving. I then put on an g, and found them to be 

 minute oblong bodies, slightly larger in the centre 

 than the ends. At each end there were two or more 

 cilia with which they moved with great rapidity ; they 

 had a nucleus. Could they be spermatozoa, or were 

 they parasites ? Any information would oblige. — 

 R. IV. Watson. 



Painting on W t hite Satin. — In answer to 

 your inquiry respecting this subject, you will find 

 that by using a little white of egg with the colour, it 

 will serve both to prepare the surface and also to give 

 the painting a soft-glazy appearance. — G. E. IV. 



Woodcocks or Goat-suckers?— In "Westward 

 Ho ! " p. 89, chap. v. Charles Kingsley, describing an 

 evening scene " under the hunter's moon," speaks 

 of "woodcocks, which chuckling to each other, 

 hawked to and fro like swallows between the tree- 

 tops and the sky." How could a naturalist, as he was, 

 make such a blunder as it seems to be ? Is it not 

 the fern-owl or goat-sucker here described ? — 

 T. A. B. 



Late appearance of Swallows. — On Dec. 17, 

 while at Exeter, I saw two swallows flying about. 

 Their flight was not so rapid as during warm weather, 

 and every now and then they would perch on some 

 tree, as though wearied with their exertions in making 

 way against the strong east wind that was blowing at 

 the time. — IV. H. Newbery. 



Nesting of the Wren at Christmas. — On 

 Christmas Day of last year I was at Daventry, about 

 twelve miles from here, where I was shown a nest of 

 the wren (T. vulgaris), containing two eggs, and 

 which had been taken that morning from a field close 

 to the town by a man in the employ of Mr. 

 Alderman Wilcox. — F. F. R., Northampton. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now 

 publish Science-Gossip a week earlier than heretofore, we 

 cannot possibly insert in the following number any communi- 

 cations which reach us later than the gth of the previous 

 month. 



To Anonymous Querists. — We receive so many queries 

 which do not bear the writers' names that we are forced to 

 adhere to our rule of not noticing them. 



To Dealers and others. — We are always glad to treat 

 dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general 

 ground as amateurs, in so far as the " exchanges " offered are fair 

 exchanges. Bnt it is evident that, when their offers are simply 

 disguised advertisements, for the purpose of evading the cost of 

 advertising, an advantage is taken of our gratuitous insertion of 

 "exchanges" which cannot be tolerated. 



J. W. Carr. — In answer to your query as to the floras of 

 Northumberland and Durham, we refer you to the article on 

 " Local Floras," in the last number of Science-Gossip. 



A. G. W. — We are always glad to aid correspondents in 

 naming specimens ; but we do not undertake anything which a 

 little trouble would enable a correspondent to do for himself. 



F. H. A. (Fishbourne). — As we told you, we were quite 

 puzzled with the carex ; now however, we can without doubt 

 state that the larger one is Carex axillaris, and the other 



C. divulsa. 



P. and others. — We cannot reopen the discussion on " In- 

 telligence in Man and Animals"; the continuance thereof 

 would be endless. We allowed both evolutionists and anti- 

 evolutionists to express their relative views, and of the two the 

 latter occupied by far the greater space. As the discussion had 

 run nearly the whole year, and there seemed no more likelihood 

 of the opponents satisfying each other, than of two parallel 

 lines meeting, we thought the December number of Science- 

 Gossip was a fitting one in which to close it. 



R. G. S. — We have found that by carefully throwing the 

 sand containing foraminifera into a still glass of water, we 

 could separate the foraminifera, which float for a time on the 

 surface, whilst the grains of sand fall immediately to the bottom. 

 The foraminifera can then be picked out by a bristle. 



J. H. — We have received, per Indian parcel post, a package 

 signed with these initials, containing a thin slab of arenaceous 

 limestone, marked on both sides with very pretty fern-like 

 markings, often mistaken by young geologists for iossil plants 

 in a fine state of preservation, but which are merely the den- 

 dritic crystallisations of oxide of manganese, and not of organic 

 origin at all. 



W. H. Shrubsole. — Many thanks for your specimen of 

 London clay. There can be no doubt of diatoms occurring in 

 it. We ourselves detected numerous specimens of Coscinodiscus 

 in situ. 



T. C. Ryley. — The'supposed AZcidiicm on the thallu-s of 

 Marchantia is merely one of the usual cup-like receptacles con- 

 taining gemmae or bulbils. 



S. B. A. — If your sea-anemones are placed in a saucer of sea- 

 water until their tentacles are fully expanded, and then a 

 solution added slowly and quietly, composed of bay salt, 4 oz., 

 alum, 2 oz., corr. sublimate, 2 grains, dissolved in one quart of 

 rain-water, the anemones will be killed in their expanded state. 

 The price you mention [is. 6d.) is too small for any good book 

 on British mammals, birds, or fishes. Some excellent and cheap 

 books on fishes, &c, are published at the Bazaar office, 

 170 Strand. 



W. L. Sothern. — No properly constructed telescope should 

 admit of moisture being formed within the tube on the side of 

 the object glass nearest the eye. Occasionally moisture will be 

 found between the lenses, in which case the lenses must be 

 taken from the cell and carefully cleaned, taking care that they 

 are replaced precisely as at first. Moisture on the outside of 

 the object glass can always be prevented by the use of a dew 

 cap of sufficient length, which you can easily supply of card- 

 board if the instrument maker has not affixed a metallic one. 



J. R. N. (Kingston). — We have little doubt it is Orobanclie 

 minor, though they are difficult to name in a dried state. 



G. S. W. (Ventnor). — You are quite correct ; it is a specimen 

 from the Lace bark tree [Daphne Lagetta), but it is not the 

 Chinese rice paper ; you can probably procure good sheets of 

 the latter from Messrs. Horniman, tea merchants, London. 



J. O. (Ovenden). — There can be no doubt, it is the rhizome 

 of the common bracken [Pteris aquilind) which has been 

 formerly growing from some crevice in the quarry ; it will keep 

 fresh, in its present state, for many years. 



A. A. (London). — It is one of the Deutzias, most likely the 



D. scabra ; the hairs are most beautiful microscopic objects. 

 W. B. (Plumstead).— You will find Hooker's "Student's 



Flora " the most reliable work on British flowering plants ; the 

 other work you name is almost valueless to an amateur. The 

 examples sent are, No. 1. Ornithopus perfusillus, L. ; No. 2. 

 Polygala vulgaris, you have been confused in this by mistaking 

 the floral organs ; No. 3- Scabiosa succisa, L. 



