HAFiDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



230 



a near neighbour of mine, this summer took Machaon 

 in a clover field. I believe the chrysalis of Macliaon 

 was put down in some numbers experimentally a 

 few years back. These marshes are some eight 

 miles off. Is it possible this was one ? A single 

 specimen was taken thirty years ago by my brother." 

 — /. S. Wesley. 



Woodlice. — I would inform " Querist," that the 

 best mode of exterminating woodlice is to sprinkle 

 chloride of lime over the parts infested with them. 

 —B. N. IF. 



Skeletonizing of Starfish.— Can any of your 

 readers give me some definite rules as to the mode 

 to be adopted to skeletonize the common Five-finger, 

 or the Solaster or Sun-star ? I have repeatedly 

 tried, and only once have I been successful ; yet I 

 could never discover the reason of my success in the 

 one case or my failure in the others. The method 

 I used was to soak the starfish in a solution of liq. 

 potassse and water, and then wash away in clear 

 water the parts which bad been destroyed by the 

 potassa ; but sometimes the starfish crumbled to 

 pieces after a very short immersion, and at another 

 it would lesist for a much longer period the action 

 of the solution of potassa. Sometimes all would 

 seem to be going on quite nicely, and then the 

 washing away of the last piece of destroyed skin 

 would reduce the whole to a mass of fragments. 

 What I want to know is the strength of the solu- 

 tion of potassa and water I ought to use, the time 

 of immersion, and the means I ought to adopt to 

 cleanse the specimen. Perhaps Mr. Sharpe, who 

 used to be a contributor, and who, I know, has had 

 experience in the matter, would kindly give me the 

 result of his experience. — Frederick Stanley, Mar- 

 gate. 



Fuchsias. — "While selecting plants for an annual 

 flower-show in the district of St. Barnabas, I met 

 with a magnificent fuchsia over 5 feet high and 3 

 wide, with some of tbe leaves 3 and 2>\ inches 

 across. The owner is a most respectable man, and 

 known to me for years. I can therefore vouch for 

 his truthfulness. He tells me that his fuchsia has 

 never been watered since he had it as a cutting 

 with anything but cold tea, and that now it has 

 half a pint of good cold tea regularly every day. 

 Inquiring in other rooms, I found that several 

 people had taken the bint, and watered their plants 

 also with cold tea, and all said to be so watered 

 were extremely good. Our judges were two gar- 

 deners, and they awarded the first prize to the 

 fuchsia described above. Will you allow this to 

 be inserted in Science-Gossip, with the inquiry 

 among your scientific readers as to what are the 

 properties of tea that make it suit fuchsias and 

 geraniums so well, and also if its use is generally 

 known ?— -Emily W. Hutch. 



Sparrowhawk and Crow. — One morning, on 

 coming down-stairs, I noticed that the pigeons which 

 live in a hole in the spire of the church were flying 

 about in a very frightened manner. On going up to 

 the churchyard gate, I found the cause of the com- 

 motion to be a large sparrowhawk, which was 

 clinging to the spire. It hung for some time, until 

 at last an unwary pigeon came near, at which it 

 dashed, but which by some accident it missed ; it 

 retired to the spire again, where it stayed for some 

 time, but as the pigeons would not come near, it 

 made several long and unsuccessful dashes at them. 

 During one of these dashes a crow (Corvus corone) 

 appeared on the scene, which, in its turn, dashed at 



the sparrowhawk, pulled some feathers out of its 

 back, and drove it off to a large tree, upon which 

 they both sat for some moments. Suddenly the 

 sparrowhawk made a dash at one of the pigeons, 

 which was sitting on the church roof, but missed it, 

 and then flew away at a great pace, followed by the 

 crow, which did not leave it as long as they were in 

 sight. A few days after, the same hawk again 

 visited the church in the middle of the day, but 

 as the pigeons were out in the fields feeding, it 

 sailed round three or four times and departed. The 

 only thing noticeable about the sparrowhawk was 

 its small size. I told our gardener what I had seen, 

 and he told me the following anecdote about a 

 sparrowhawk and weasel (Mustela vulgaris). One. 

 day, as he was walking through a field just cleared 

 of stacks of corn, he saw a sparrowhawk fighting 

 with some creature ; he ran towards the spot, upon 

 which the hawk rose high up into the air, carrying: 

 a weasel with it, which it let fall when a great height 

 up. On picking up the weasel, he found it was quite 

 dead, with its back broken, and the sparrowhawk, 

 which had been slowly flying away, suddenly reeled, 

 and fell "stone" dead. The sparrowhawk must 

 have pounced upon the weasel by mistake, which 

 must, in its turn, have bitten and sucked it. The 

 man did not notice if the bird was much injured by 

 the conflict, but it must have been, or it would not 

 have fallen. What do the readers of Science- 

 Gossip think of these facts ? — A. P. 



Spiders uttering Sound. — lean inform "H. F." 

 Jun. that I have heard spiders emit the peculiar 

 sounds which he describes. Some years ago I kept 

 a number of garden spiders in a large bottle for 

 several days, feeding them on house-flies. Whilst in 

 confinement, I repeatedly heard them make a kind of 

 ticking sound, very similar to that of a watch, but 

 at irregular and much longer intervals. Though I 

 examined them very minutely whilst uttering this 

 sound, I observed nothing which could indicate how 

 they produced it.— 67. At. Doe, Torrington. 



BOOKS, &c, received. 



"Field Geology." By W. H. Penning. London. Bail- 

 liere & Co. 



" Sound in its Relation to Music." By Prof. Blaserna. 

 London : H. S. King: & Co. 



" Resources : a Treatise on Water and Springs." Written 

 by Bernard Palissy. Brighton : W. J. Smith. 



" The Sanitary Record." September. 



"Monthly MicroscopicalJournal." September. 



" Land and Water." September. 



" Ben Brierley's Journal." September. 



"American Naturalist." August. 



"Canadian Entomologist." August. 



" Botanische Zeitung." August. 



" Les Mondes." August. 



&c. &c. &c. 



Communications Rbceivkd up to 12th inst. prom: — 

 C. B. P.-J. F. J.— F. C— M. M.— J. B.~ T. S. R.— W. K. M. 

 — G. T. C.-F. J. R.— C D. W.— Mrs. G.— W. E.— W. H. G. 



— R. N. W.— W. J.— C W. B— J. B. P.— D. B.— M. G.— 

 H. E. W.— C H.— G. L.-R. B.— H. L.— W. L.— R. J. S — 

 J. S. L.— J. R. S. C— G. 0. D.— J. S. W.— J. G. H.— G. E. L. 

 — H. E. W.— E. E.— R. D.- J. H. G.— W. H.— R. T.— Dr. T. 

 — E. F. G.— E. W. W.-S. A. B.— F. J. R.— T. W.— A. P.— 

 H. G. G.— G. P.— Dr. P. Q. K.— J. H. B.— J. T.— E. M. M.— 

 W. H. G.— W. W. S.— G. W.— F. R.— E. L.— R. R.— B. R.— 

 G. D.-G. R. V.— R. H. M.— W. R. W.-E. G. H.-I. C T.— 

 M. F.-H. B.-C. W. C— Dr. T.-T. B. L.— T. E. W.— H. L. 



— H. J Mc G.— W. T.— Prof. L.— G. R. V.— J. O.— S. B. jun. 

 — R. E. L.— W. H. D.— J. H. L.— E. L— W. L— F. H. A.— 

 G. W. C.-G. H. P.— C. W. C— J. L. C— J. W. P.— H.C.C. 

 — W. F.-H. W.— C. V. G.— Prof. G. S. B.— A. G.— J. B.— 

 G. N.-T. D. R.— J. B. B.— W. J. H.-W. K— W. M. R.— 

 E. B. T.— J. R.— Dr. W. J. D.— A. H— C. H. S.— Dr. H. W.L. 



— P/of. B.— Y. Z.— F. L. C. R.— W. A. H.— R. N. jun.— J. L. 

 — C. V. S.— W. A.— T. Mc G— J. W.— A. B.— &c, &c. 



