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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Birds and Arum Berries.— I have seen it 

 stated that birds eat these berries, and that pheasants 

 are partial to the roots of the water robin, but 

 although the plant was very plentiful in the sedges of 

 a field adjoining the house I was staying at last year, 

 and I watched most carefully, I never could see any 

 bird eating the berries. — H. E. Watney. 



Sudden Death of Swine. — Can any of the 

 readers of Science-Gossip explain the following 

 fact which unexpectedly occurred some days ago in 

 a farm near here ? Seven valuable swine died in less 

 than two hours after their morning meal. The latter 

 was composed in part, as usual, of uncooked lettuce, 

 cabbages, potatoes, &c. The animals had never been 

 sick with that ; the potatoes were more or less rotten. 

 I have seen many of the latter covered by fungi 

 growing on. Can the fungi cause a sudden death ? 

 "What is the species of fungi which bring forth so 

 violent effects ? — I can only state that among the 

 fungi there was a great diversity of colour, red, 

 roseate, green, blackish, &c. — Fr. M., Morbihan, 

 France. 



Query about Books. — I should feel greatly 

 obliged if some of your readers would advise me as 

 to what good reliable books there are on the following 

 subjects of both an elementary and an advanced charac- 

 ter, and, if possible, giving the authors, publishers, date 

 of publication, and the prices : — I. General Biology, 

 taking in the whole of the animal kingdom ; Huxley 

 and Martin's is too practical for my use. 2. Vegetable 

 Anatomy and Physiology. 3. Protozoans. 4. Lepi- 

 doptera ; 5. Hymenoptera ; 6. Coleoptera ; 7. Ara- 

 chnida — of the Insecta. 8. Land and Freshwater 

 shells. 9. Diatomacece ; 10. Confervaceae — of the 

 Algales. 11. Fungi. 12. Lichens. 13. Mosses. 

 14. Microscopical work. I only want the most recent 

 of them. — W. G. Woollcombe, Trinity College, Oxford. 



Collecting Vertebrates. — I am forming a 

 collection of British Vertebrates, and should be 

 glad of any information on the subject. What gun 

 is used for smaller birds, and where could I get one ? 

 What books are there on preserving and procuring 

 specimens ? — IV. G. Woollcombe. 



Notes on Ravens. — Ravens are now never seen 

 in this neighbourhood, though they are said to have 

 been quite numerous about thirty years ago. I have 

 frequently heard that they disappeared at the outbreak 

 of the Crimean war (having presumably gone to 

 assist at the obsequies of the slain in that conflict), 

 and popular tradition also assigns the date of their 

 first appearance in the country to the time of the 

 Irish rebellion ; but why they remained in Ireland 

 during the Peninsular and other wars, when they 

 might have employed themselves abroad, is a question 

 nobody attempts to solve. Have any of the readers 

 of Science-Gossip heard anything of a like nature 

 about the raven ? — James H. Henderson, Lisbellaw. 



Notes on Silk-worms. — In the July number, on 

 page 166, Mr. F. M. Habben writes about the larvae 

 of silk-worms scrambling off the leaves to white paper 

 when the former are placed on the paper, ending his 

 notice by stating that "even these humble worms 

 prefer light to darkness." It may interest that 

 gentleman and others perhaps to know that other 

 varieties of silk-worms show the same preference. 

 As manager and proprietor of the " Wild Silk 

 Agency " of this place, 1 have hundreds and thousands 

 of Tussur, Atlas, and Cricula, breeding ; and at one 

 time my assistant used to place white discs of paper 



on the mouths of jars on which artificial hedges are 

 raised for feeding. In a short time after the papers 

 were placed the worms would crawl down to the 

 paper and remain on it. I would also mention that 

 I have noticed the tussur worms when first hatched 

 turn round and insert their minute black heads into 

 the broken shell of the egg and bite at the rugged 

 edges. What do they do ? The wormlings, if I may so 

 term them, do not eat for twenty-four hours and more; 

 do they derive any nourishment from the egg shells ? 

 Another thing, does the tussur worm devour its cast- 

 off skin in the early and later stages of its existence. 

 It has been remarked by all of us that very rarely is a 

 dead skin picked up. The last batch of 250 hatched 

 have now approached the fourth stage, and yet all 

 this time we have failed to find more than three dead 

 at least cast-off skins. Perhaps some of your readers 

 will be able to throw some light on these points. In 

 continuation of my communication of the above notes 

 (despatched last mail), and with reference to the 

 inquiry in its last paragraph regarding the devouring 

 of their cast-off skins by tussur worms, I beg to 

 inclose herein two specimens of such skins which 

 have been partially devoured by worms after comple- 

 tion of moulting. Examination under a microscope 

 will show, I dare say, marks of the nibbling. The 

 worms were carefully watched, and we have found 

 that all do not eat off the skins, and then of those 

 who do so it is not always the whole that is con- 

 sumed. Some moult, looking upwards ; others 

 with their heads hanging down. The latter as a 

 rule moult very much more readily, and more fre- 

 quently turn round, hold the rejected skin with 

 their claw-like fore-feet, and nibble away at it. If 

 the skin is by accident dropped, the worm does not 

 go after it, but remains stationary for a long time, 

 after which it begins feeding on leaves. The Cricula 

 trifenestra, another cocoon-spinner, has also some 

 interesting habits of which I hope to send information 

 shortly. It would be interesting to know what pro- 

 duces the varieties of tussur ; for there are no less than 

 four or five in my collection just now — one species, 

 a dull white, small cocoon ; another a dark grey, very 

 large ; another a yellow one ; a fourth, a silky grey, 

 another a pure white. How come these varieties, and 

 are these varieties of the Atlas and other wild silk 

 spinners ? — R. A. Manuel, Rangoon. 



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, in so 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 our gratuitous insertion of 

 "exchanges" which cannot be tolerated. 



H. C. Waddell. — We should think the insects you mention 

 are not " sheep-ticks " at all, for their habits are nothing like 

 those you describe, but "harvest-bugs" ( Leptus autumnalis). 

 See Science-Gossip, vol. fur 1877, page 228, lor description and 

 illustration (magnified) of latter. 



Edward Lovett. — Accept our best thanks for slide of young 

 of pipe-fish. It is an excellent and interesting mount. 



G. T. Harris. — You will find full instructions as to the pre- 

 servation, &c, of fungi in Mr. Worthington Smith's chapter in 

 " Notes on Collecting and Preserving." 



