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HA RD IV I C KE 'S S CIE NCE- G SSI P. 



the idea of going for a walk with the word " walk." 

 And a dog can not only understand proper names, 

 as is said farther on, but even adjectives. When my 

 dog's dinner, of freshly cooked meat, is brought in ; 

 if I say to her, "It is too hot," she waits till it 

 gets cooler. And even a tame thrush of mine, who 

 is fond of warm boiled potato, is restrained from a 

 too impatient assault on it by the words " Too hot." 

 The learned Doctor says, " You might thunder the 

 word 'fish ' a, thousand times into a cat's ear, but she 

 would not understand." Now a cat of my acquaint- 

 ance is instantly on the alert at the word " fish ; " 

 and if mice or rats are the subjects of conversation, she 

 becomes extremely excited, as does my dog at the word 

 " cats." Again, as to the remarks quoted from Bowen, 

 as to dogs not knowing a pond as a pond, if they are 

 not used to it ; a large retriever which has frequently 

 accompanied me in country walks will, on being told 

 to go for a swim or go to a river, though in a new 

 part of the country, run about looking for the 

 means to take the said swim. Now as to the dog 

 and well of water (p. 75): "If the dog had to 

 explain by language that he wanted water, his powers 

 would fail him." Why? He cannot speak our 

 language, nor can we speak his. If we mention 

 water, he will (I speak of ordinary pet dogs) show 

 by his signs that that is what he wants. Are we 

 *nuch better ? Should we not be in very much the 

 same position if we wanted an "untutored savage" 

 to give us water ? And if he mentioned water in 

 his tongue, should we know that he spoke of water ? 

 It may be argued, that the dog is not possessed of 

 much intelligence because he fails to perfectly under- 

 stand our language. To this I reply, "Might not 

 the dog dub us unintelligent because we fail to 

 perfectly understand his ? " And that dogs have a 

 language of their own, who will deny ? or how is 

 that, to bring up a well-known instance, a small 

 dog who was maltreated by a big one, returned and 

 arranged a plan by which a big dog of a friendly 

 disposition accompanied the little dog to the residence 

 of the savage dog, and punished him severely ? For 

 want of space I must leave the other points un- 

 touched ; but, if it were permissible, I could fill 

 the whole magazine with instances and arguments. 

 I sincerely hope that the Editor will give me space 

 for this paper, long as it is. — H. C. Brooke. 



Plant on Lundy Island. — A letter appeared in 

 the Standard of April 4th, on Lundy Island. It is 

 there stated that a plant grows there in abundance 

 early in the summer, with bright pink blossoms, 

 said by the inhabitants to be the woad used by the 

 ancient Britons. This description does not suit 

 what we now call woad, or /satis tinctoria. What 

 is the plant spoken of? Will any one direct me to 

 an account of Lundy Island, giving ample information 

 about the natural history of the place, especially 

 botany?—//. E. Wilkinson. 



"Cocoa" or " Coco."— Is not the spelling of 

 the word " cocoa " incorrect, and does not the error 

 probably arise from confounding the coco palm with 

 a totally different vegetable called the cacao ? — 

 Ada P. 



Shell Collectors, take Notice. — Just after 

 the heavy snowstorm which visited us during March, 

 and whilst the snow lay on the ground, I walked along 

 the sea-banks at Redcar, where H. nemoralis abounds ; 

 but although dead shells were in plenty in sheltered 

 hollows, no living animals came to hand. Strangely 

 enough, however, I found three large stones whose 

 heads peeped through the snow surrounded by broken 

 shells of nemoralis and virgata, principally the first 



named. The shells lay on the snow, and had evidently 

 been in many instances only opened that day. As I 

 have not before observed this, I mention it as exhibit- 

 ing, on the part of the birds, whose slaughter-blocks 

 the stones evidently were, a considerable amount of 

 dexterity and acuteness in discovering the hybernating 

 mollusks. There were in all, I should say, some 

 seventy or eighty shells round the three stones ; and 

 curiously enough the five-banded variety, which is 

 most prevalent on these banks, was almost absent ; the 

 rarer varieties, with one, two, and four bands, being 

 the chief victims among the nemoralis. — B. Hudson, 

 jMiddlesbrd '. 



Query as to a Fungus. — Could you kindly 

 inform me of the name of a fungus I found in January 

 1883? Several very small white fungi, scarcely 

 larger than a mustard seed, on some small twigs on 

 sandbanks near some firs. I put them under a 

 microscope and saw they were white cups, like Peziza 

 communis, only their edge was feathery. The cup 

 did not spring directly from the twig, but was raised 

 on a stalk. I found them near Salisbury, Wilts. — 

 C. L. Fort. 



Vespa Norvegica. — On the 23rd of January, 1883, 

 a nest of Vespa Norvegica was found in the " super " 

 of a straw hive which was inhabited by bees. The 

 wasps were found in the adjoining hive in a torpid 

 state, but unfortunately they were crushed by the 

 gardener. I have this nest now with me. This took 

 place at "The Grange," Hoddesdon, Herts. — N. P. 

 Wilkinson, St. PauFs Priory, St. Lconards-on-Sea. 



The Guillemot. — Your correspondent "P." (in 

 the number for January last) is perhaps right in his 

 objection that my notes on one of these birds might 

 "lead anyone unacquainted with its habits to imagine 

 it was unable to fly." I might have expressed myself 

 with greater care. Guillemots certainly can fly 

 "with great swiftness," notwithstanding their com- 

 paratively short wings. They can rise also from the 

 surface of the water (they do so generally, I think, 

 against the wind) because it gives under the strokes 

 of their wings, but they cannot, I think, rise from a 

 hard level surface. To get under wing from off a 

 hard surface, I think, they have to drop from a con- 

 siderable height ; relying on this, I allowed the one 

 spoken of perfect liberty. I have done the same with 

 cormorants and gannets, but a gannet once did rise 

 (against a stiff breeze) from a field where I was 

 feeding it. It flew around me and settled again. In 

 general, no doubt, the ledge of rock on which one of 

 these birds settled is reached by flight, not by climbing. 

 I have never seen one in its wild state attempt to climb; 

 but from observation of the one in question, it would 

 seem not to be a difficulty to them. My bird was 

 not wounded when I got it ; it was "unhurt," as your 

 correspondent says it "must have been." — P. HI. C. 

 A'ermode. 



Pond Life in Midwinter. — It is Easter Sunday, 

 and I have just read Mr. Lake's remarks on the above. 

 I have seen Melicerta ringens that were captured in 

 a December month. Mr. Lake wishes to correct an 

 " erroneous " notion that I have given expression to, 

 and that seemingly on the ground that he has captured 

 caddis worms "in cases which have lost all their 

 greenness ; " but query had they any greenness when 

 first built ? This is omitted. I found, as hundreds 

 I suppose have found before me, that caddis worms 

 build their houses according to their surroundings. 

 In a piece of the old New River in White Webbs, 

 where the vegetation was plentiful, the cases were 

 green ; where the surroundings were dark, the cases 



