HA RD WICKE' S S CIENCE- G OS SIP. 



215 



l>e as lively as that of Y. V. S., I will quote a few 

 lines, with your permission, in answer to the query, 

 "Do ants really kill snakes?" The common 

 European ant does not appear to be so ferocious a 

 creature as many that are found abroad. I have 

 never heard or read any account of the little creature 

 so often met with in our gardens and houses attacking 

 and killing anything more than the weaker insects. 

 When they meet with an insect which they are singly 

 incapable of mastering, they communicate with others, 

 and presently several of them will join in the attack, 

 which generally ends in a victory for the ants, unless 

 the assailed is able to move off and get clear of the 

 enemy. The Driver Ant, a species of Hymenopterous 

 insect belonging to the family of ants, is perhaps the 

 most terrible of all. Its name is Anomma arceus, 

 and is found on the west coast of Africa. Dr. Savage, 

 an American missionary on the west coast of Africa, 

 gives a very interesting account of the Driver Ant in a 

 paper published in the " Transactions " of the Ento- 

 mological Society for 1847. He says, " I know of no 

 insect more ferocious and determined upon victory. 

 They fiercely attack anything that comes in their way; 

 i conquer or die ' is their motto. . . . The dread of 

 them is upon every living thing. It may be literally 

 said that they are against everything and everything 

 against them. . . . They will soon kill the largest 

 animal, if confined. They attack lizards, guanas, 

 snakes, &c, with complete success. . . . They have 

 been known to destroy the Python natalensis, our 

 largest serpent. When gorged with prey it lies 

 powerless for days ; then, monster as it is, it easily 

 becomes their victim." The Rev. J. G. Wood says, 

 " The large iguana lizards fall victimst o the Driver 

 Ant, and so do all reptiles, not excluding snakes. It 

 seems from the personal observations of Dr. Savage, 

 that the ant commences its attack on the snake by 

 biting its eyes, and so blinding the poor reptile, which 

 only flounders and writhes helplessly on one spot, 

 instead of gliding away to a distance. . . . Fire will 

 frighten almost any creature, but it has no terrors for 

 the Driver Ant, which will dash at a glowing coal, fix 

 its jaws in the burning mass, and straightway shrivel 

 up in the heat." Darwin, in his "Voyage of a 

 Naturalist," records having witnessed one day, at 

 Bahia, a swarm of small ants on the move. " Lizards, 

 spiders, cockroaches, and other insects were flying in 

 all directions, and the efforts which the poor little 

 creatures made to extricate themselves from such a 

 death were wonderful." — Walter T. Cooper. 



Fowls at Aden. — It may not be generally known 

 that the cocks at Aden commence to crow about 

 10 P.M., which they manage to keep up the whole 

 night, much to the annoyance of new-comers to that 

 station. The fowls of Aden are of a very small size 

 and the cock has a peculiar shrill crow of its own 

 unlike any other crow that I have ever heard. — 

 J.H. 



Weaver Birds and their Nests. — Permit me, 

 in reply to your correspondent C. C. Walker, to say 

 that all the male weaver birds build nests, apparently 

 for their own amusement ; these structures are called 

 J " toy " nests, as distinguished from the nests built by 

 the females for the purpose of rearing their young 

 broods ; the toy nests are built whether females be 

 present or not. I have a "Christmas-tree" quite 

 covered by the work of two red-billed weavers. About 

 three years ago I showed at the Crystal Palace a 

 large toy nest built by a male oriole or giant weaver ; 

 it was constructed of grass, and was a wonderful 

 specimen of bird architecture. — M. T. Greene. 



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 communica- 

 tions 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.inso far as the " exchanges "offered are fair 

 exchanges. But 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 out gratuitous insertion of 

 "exchanges" which cannot be tolerated. 



B. M. Watkins. — Thanks for your note concerning carnation 

 grass and specimens. 



R. Wood (Carlisle;. — The stick-like specimens found in a 

 trough of water are the cocoons of some insect, we do not know 

 which, but will ascertain. The lists of desiderata for Botanical 

 Exchange Club remain as before. 



R. R- — Your query came too late to be answered last month. 

 (1) Sach's"Text Book of Botany," edited and translated by 

 Messrs. Bennett & Dyer, and published at the Clarendon Press 

 at £1 11s. 6d., is the best work on botany generally. (2) 

 Hooker's "Student's Flora of the British Islands," price 10s. 6rf., 

 is the cheapest and handiest work on British botany. Hay- 

 ward's '_' Botanist's Pocket Book," price 4s. 6d., is an admirable 

 companion to the English field botanist. 



J. H. H. (Lisbellaw, Enniskillen). — It is the Littorella 

 lacustris (L.), more commonly known as the shore-weed. 



J. H. B. (Durdham Down, Bristol). — The example sent was 

 the Lucerne ( Medicago sativa (Linn.). The best book treating 

 both upon garden and wild flowers is Grindon's "British and 

 Garden Botany," published by Routledge & Co. 



T. B.- (Newquay, Cornwall).— No. 1. Sea rocket (Cakile 

 maritima). No. 2. Sea purslane (Arenaria peploides), or the 

 Honkoija peploides of most books. 



A. S. T. (Beechwood). — It is the Rosa arvensis, or the 

 common field-rose, but without either flower or fruit we can 

 never say with great certainty. The roses in our June number 

 were the R. cauina of Linne, which is now believed to cover 

 many distinct forms. 



A. B. (Croydon).— It will be the broad-leaved form, Pot.i- 

 mogeton major (Fries.) : yet it has the three veined leaves of 

 P. rutitus (Wolfg.). It is worthy of further investigation. 



Salix (Emsworth). — No. 1. Salix rugosa (Leefe). No. 2. 

 i". triandra, Y. ; amygdalina (L.). No. ■>,. Salix Russeliiana, 

 the one with blackened leaves. No. 4. (Doubtful.) We only 

 give the above after careful comparison with authentic specimens ; 

 we should be glad to see perfect specimens, that we could speak 

 with more certainty. 



A. U. Erskixe. — The insects are the well-known "death- 

 watch" beetle (A nobium striatum J. The best way to arrest 

 their depredations is to inject spirits of wine (in which corrosive 

 sublimate has been dissolved) into their holes, or otherwise to 

 brush the liquor well in. 



J. C. J.— Thanks for the specimens of the blue pimpernel 

 from Loxley, Warwickshire. 



C. E. J.— The piece of sea-weed you sent us (Griffithsia) had 

 a good many objects "attached" to it, such as small sponges, 

 hydrozoans, &c, but the principal objects were the spat of some 

 bivalve mollusc, probably of Modiola. 



W. Rose. — The "bud-like processes" are adventititious 

 buds. 



Rev. Dk. McL— " Article " will appear in our next issue. 



A. M. P. — I have always found blue pimpernel as a garden- 

 weed. I have found it both in Leicestershire, and Hampshire. 

 In the latter county I saw in a cottage garden quite a bed of it, 

 and very lovely it looked. — F. L. St. A. 



H. C. Brooke. — Is not the moth described by your corre- 

 spondent, H. C. Brooke, the ghost swift (Hepialus /tumuli)? 

 Vide "Natural History of British Moths," by F. O. Morris, 

 vol. i. page 32. — J. Sinel. 



C. E. Michelson, — In answer to this correspondent's query 

 concerning the feeding of small fish, I beg to state that I have 

 kept minnows for several months, only changing their water 

 once every day. — W. M. Wilcox. 



J. WHELDON,jun.— Write to the publisher of Science-Gossip, 

 who will procure for you the volumes of Jardine's "Naturalists' 

 Library" you require. 



A. Marshall.— We are not aware that the second volume o 

 "Lives of Eminent Zoologists" ever appeared. 



J. Anderson, jun.— The " thunder-blight " insects are Thrips 

 cerealium, natural order Thysanoptera. 



F. W. Savage.— Duncan's "Exotic Butterflies and Moths" 

 (Jardine's Naturalists' Library edition) may be obtained from 

 the publisher of this journal. 



K. B. — Dr. Cooke's " Fern Book for Everybody," published 

 at is. by Warne & Co., will suit you. 



