HA R D WICKE ' S S CIE NCE-GO SSIP. 



23 



months of the year, in the following manner : — The 

 sap having begun to flow, a sharp wind or frost 

 comes, causing at once a cessation of the flow. 

 Owing to tli is withdrawal of nourishment, the im- 

 mature germ begins to languish, and if the supply be 

 suspended for any length of time, it perishes com- 

 pletely from want of food. The effect, too, of the 

 suspended circulation at this early period of the year, 

 when the fruit is naturally in such a tender and 

 delicate condition, is of course much more injurious 

 than it would be when the young acorn is more 

 developed. — J. A. Tooner. 



WASPS and Flies. — It may interest J. P. Smythe 

 and others who have written on this matter, to read 

 the following details, gathered from my own experi- 

 ence, and what I have read : — Often whilst out walk- 

 ing, my attention has been attracted by hearing a 

 peculiar buzzing, as if of some entangled insect ; and 

 on searching, I have found it to proceed from a 

 common blue-bottle fly which had fallen into the 

 clutches of a wasp. For my own part, however, I 

 cannot say that I have literally even seen a wasp in the 

 act of feeding on a fly, and in the opinion of some 

 naturalists, this seizure of the house-fly by the wasp, 

 is a mere display of wanton power, and not done for 

 the sake of food. In contradiction, however, to the 

 experience of W. T. Andrews, I believe that the 

 hornet often seizes and devours the wasp, when that 

 insect frequents our orchards to feed on the rich 

 juices of the plum, &c. They have also been seen to 

 hawk after them when on the wing, capture them 

 with facility and bear them to some neighbouring 

 plant where they proceeded to devour them. This 

 operation is accomplished by first snipping off the 

 head ; then cutting away the lower part of the waist, 

 and crushing the outer coat of the body in their strong 

 mandibles ; and afterwards either devouring it or, more 

 often, only sucking the juices it contained. — J. A. 

 Tooner. 



Rooks and Starlings. — The partiality which 

 the starling exhibits, for feeding with other birds, is 

 owing to its extreme sociability, and is one of its pre- 

 dominant characters. This sociability extends not 

 only to rooks, but also to pigeons and jackdaws, 

 and sometimes, but not cordially, to the fieldfare. — 

 y. A. Tooner. 



How Anemones eject their Food. — I have 

 often read about, and seen, the strange contraction's 

 which the plumose anemone {Actinoloba dianthus) 

 makes in the long column of its body, but not until 

 the other night, when showing one of them (a strange 

 variety with thick coarse tentacles) in my aquarium 

 to a friend, did I know that it was done for a purpose, 

 that of ejecting its food. When we first looked at it, 

 the contraction was just above the base, but after 

 inspecting some other jars we came back to this one, 

 again the contraction had ascended to the middle. 

 We continued to watch its varying from likening it 

 to different articles, a vase, then a bell, and lastly, 

 when the contraction was close to the top, to a flower 

 stand, for a conservatory or garden. To our surprise 

 it now slowly opened its mouth, and the hermit crab 

 I had given it the day before dropped out. We now 

 understood that the contraction in ascending had 

 gradually forced the food upwards, until at last it 

 reached the mouth and was thrown out. The time 

 occupied in this performance could not have been 

 more than twenty minutes, or less than fifteen. 

 Perhaps some of your numerous readers may have 

 noticed the same thing, but I have never seen it 

 mentioned in any book. — R. McAlddwie, Aberdeen. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now 

 publish Science-Gossip earlier than heretofore, we cannot 

 possibly insert in the following number any communications 

 which reach us later than the 8th 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. 



W. S. (Gourdas Fynie). — You are quite right, it is a very 

 pretty species as a microscopic object, it is the Milium punc- 

 tatum. 



A. Johnson. — Your specimen is a species of Plumularia, allied 

 to our British P. falcata, and the " little bladders " you speak 

 of are the gonidial capsules, or empty egg-cases. 



O. P. (Cambridge). — The fungus enclosed is the " Candle- 

 snuff " fungus, Xylaria hypoxylon. 



J. O. K. and others. — We cannot undertake to return 

 specimens sent us to be named. 



Urmstorniax. — The sun does not put out the fire in 

 summer-time directly. Its heat rarities the atmosphere locally, 

 and the fire gets a decreased supply of oxygen. 



K. O. M. — The white stork (Ciconia alba) is an occasional 

 visitor. It may be easily known by its red legs. See descrip- 

 tion in Yarrell's or Morris's " British Birds." 



J. H. Wilson. — See articles on Hairs, etc., of Plants, in the 

 " Micrographic Dictionary," also paper by Mr. Tuffen West in 

 the "Quarterly Microscopical Journal," vol. vii. p. 22. But 

 perhaps the best and most thorough exposition of this subject 

 is contained in Sachs' " Botany," sec. 15, on " Epidermal 

 Tissue," and sec. 22 in " Hairs" or " Trichomes." 



William Martin. — We have no doubt you would obtain a 

 copy of Mr. Robert Anslow's "Study of Mosses" from Mr. 

 W. Wesley, bookseller, 28 Essex Street, Strand, or of Mr. W. 

 P. Collins, Scientific Bookseller, 157 Great Portland Street, 

 London. 



J. H. M. — You will find full and complete information as to 

 how to obtain and mount Raphides and other plant-crystals in 

 Science-Gossip, vol. x., pp. 141, 162 and 183, and concerning 

 Sphaeraphides in Science-Gossip, vol. vi. p. 92. 



A. Waller. — The Science-Gossip Botanical Exchange 

 Club is not now in existence. It increased so rapidly that its 

 management and correspondence became quite an occupation, 

 and we found it impossible to continue it, owing to its great 

 demand upon our time. 



EXCHANGES. 



Offered, L. C, 7th ed., 2, 97, 131, 133, 176, 192, 201, 203, 

 218, 235, 258, 259, 310b, 326, 361, 398, 452, 453, 476, 495, 521, 

 539, 541, 609, 626, 634, 681, 750, 824, 825, 831, 832, 841b, 862, 

 865, 910, 911, 912, 940, 1036, 1040, 1056, 1109, 1193, 1197, 1198, 

 1263, 1274, 1285, 1288, 1294, 1301, 1310, 1318, 1323, 1349, i 35 i, 

 1358, 1359. ^i, 1430. 1436, 1441. 1446, 145S, 1496, 1497, 1501, 

 I 5°3>' I S I 6, Tor other plants. Send lists. — J. E. Sunderland, 

 Bank House, Hatherlow, near Stockport. 



Offered, L. C, 7th ed., 40, 60, 79, 167, 180, 196, 202, 273b, 

 374> 4°4» 49°. SS6, 557. 584. 594. 611, 626, 715, 723, 810, 878, 

 !337, I35 1 . J375. ^S. I 4 22 » I 47°» 1636, and many others. 

 Wanted, .32, 65, 309, 580, 720, 721, 762, 819, 828, 845, 979, 990, 

 1035, 1042, 1103, 1212, 1245, 1266, 1267, 1417, 1621, 1622, 1659, 

 and many others. — Send lists to A. W. Preston, 20 Queen's 

 Road, Norwich. 



Offered, L. C, 7th ed., 14c, 25, 26, 60b, 70, 79, 89, 99, 146, 

 159. 288 purple, 375, 693, 1340, and many other rare plants, in 

 exchange for good specimens of British ferns. — A. E. Lomax, 

 56 Vauxhall Road, Liverpool. 



Wanted, foreign frogs, toads, and other amphibia in spirit 

 or skin, also skeletons of same, in exchange for rare natural 

 history objects. — G. E. Mason, 6 Park Lane, Piccadilly, 

 London, England. 



The following books are offered in exchange for books on 

 natural history: "Ancient Stone Crosses of England," by 

 Rimmer; "The Modern Playmate," by Rev. 'J. G. Wood; 

 "The Three Commanders," and "The Three Admirals," both 

 by Kingston. All are in excellent condition. — F. H. Parrott, 

 Walton House, Aylesbury, Bucks. 



Wanted, Science-Gossip, unbound, for 1877 and all pre- 

 vious years, 1869, 1871, and 1872. Will give British and foreign 

 shells. Correspondence invited. — C. T. Musson, Burton Road, 

 Carlton, near Nottingham. 



Duplicates : Planorbis lacustris, Helix carthusiana, Helix 

 caperata (var. ornata and major), Helix ericctorum (var. minor), 

 Pupa secale, and Clausilia Rolphii, in exchange for other British 

 land and freshwater shells. — C. H. Morris, School Hill, Ldves, 

 Sussex. 



