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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



a similar location ; the nest he found was built on the 

 top of an old blackbird's in a large thorn bush, some 

 ten feet above a pool of water. I should be interested 

 to know if any of the readers of Science-Gossip have 

 noticed similar locations for water-hen's nests. — W. T. 

 Hart, London Road, Lynn. 



The Star of Bethlehem. — There is a point in 

 your correspondent's very interesting communication 

 on this subject that I experience a difficulty in under- 

 standing. I refer to the allegation of St. Chrysostom 

 that this was a miraculous appearance in the form 

 of a star, the words in "the.likeness of " not being em- 

 ployed as elsewhere in the context of the narrative. — 

 A. H. Swinton, Guildford. 



Becaficos. — Perhaps the following quotation from 

 "Our Old Country Towns," by A. Rimmer, pp. 181-2, 

 may interest your readers : — " I heard that the Beca- 

 ficos" (he is writing about the Cinque Ports) "had com- 

 menced to pay their annual visits to Reculver, which 

 yet contains some fig gardens. Of course there are not 

 many persons in England who ever heard that such 

 birds came here at all, and perhaps not a few never 

 even knew there were such creatures ; but shortly 

 after the Conquest there was an influx of monks 

 from Normandy and Brittany, who introduced many 

 seeds and articles of value. Among others, the fig 

 was a novelty, and the plains of Fecamp were 

 renowned for this delicacy. English figs ripened 

 rather later than on the Continent, and hence the 

 flocks of Becaficos, that had probably travelled from 

 Spain and Italy, found their favourite food. They 

 used also to be seen many years ago in Cheshire, 

 near Combermere Abbey." — A. II. B. 



The Egyptian Gerbille. — I would advise H. C. 

 Brooke to keep his animal from one of the opposite 

 sex to prevent their introduction into this country, as 

 if their habits should be the same here as in their 

 native places, he would gain little credit from our 

 farmers. They are very destructive to grain crops 

 when living in cultivated districts, and at the same 

 time are exceedingly prolific, the females producing 

 large families several times in the year. They are con- 

 fined to the east, south of Asia, as far as India, the 

 African continent and the south-east of Europe. 

 During the day they live in shallow burrows, and at 

 night come forth to feed, their food consisting 

 chiefly of grain and roots. They live both in dry 

 deserts and in cultivated districts, and often assemble 

 in large numbers, doing considerable damage to the 

 crops when in the latter places. They store up large 

 quantities of the ears of corn in their burrows, and in 

 some districts the poor inhabitants procure a good 

 supply of grain by digging up that which they have 

 stored. The gerbilles belong to the family Muridae, 

 and are therefore a species of mouse. — Dipton Burn. 



Can a Pig swim ? — One day last summer I was 

 standing on the pier at Morecambe, watching' the 

 disembarkation of a number of cattle and pigs from the 

 Londonderry boat moored alongside. A pig of 

 moderate size, after making a successful ascent of the 

 gangway, was pushed by its comrades over the edge 

 of the pier, and dropped about 20 feet into the sea. On 

 rising to the surface, the animal appeared to take 

 things very coolly, and, instead of making for the pier 

 wall, struck out for the opposite side of the harbour ; 

 and finally steered for the open sea, probably with 

 the hazy klea of returning to the " ould country." 

 This laudable intention was, however, frustrated by 

 the Irish drover and another man pushing off in a 

 small boat in pursuit of the porcine swimmer ; and 

 piggy was soon sitting at the bottom of the boat 



looking none the worse for the swim. With regard 

 to very fat pigs, I believe they run a much greater 

 risk of lacerating their throats with their own claws 

 when swimming. — E. A. Kirk, Leeds. 



Cocoa or Coco. — Cacao or Cocoa is equally 

 correct when applied to the produce of the T/ieo- 

 broma Cacao, a small tree the seeds of whose fruits 

 furnish the chocolate and cocoatina of commerce. 

 I remember seeing some of the fruit many years 

 ago, at the time that Schweitzer of Brighton was 

 preparing his since-famed cocoatina. A friend of 

 his brought me some, and a sample of the cocoatina 

 as well ; so I believe I was one of the first to taste 

 this especial make before it had been introduced to 

 the general public, and I have taken it ever since. This 

 cacao-tree is largely cultivated. It grows about 

 eighteen feet in height, and the name Theobroma is 

 said to signify " food for the gods." " Ada P." will 

 find that the words "cocoa" and "cacao" are 

 both used, in the "Treasury of Botany," for the pre- 

 paration made from the cacao fruit. — Helen E. 

 IValney. 



Coco AND Cocoa. — In reply to a query in your 

 May issue : The word Coco is, I believe, the 

 Portuguese " Coco," signifying an ugly mask, or a 

 monkey's face. It was applied to the fruit of the 

 coco-nut palm because of the imagined resemblance 

 to a face, which is formed by the three cavities at the 

 base of the nut corresponding to the three original 

 carpels. Cacao is said to be derived from the 

 Central American word Cacauatl, the native name of 

 the plant. It has been corrupted into cocoa, by a 

 curious substitution and transposition of letters. It 

 is needless to say the two words Coco and Cacao have 

 no relation to each other. The coco-nut palm grows 

 freely on the whole of the coast of the island of 

 Ceylon. The Sinhalese vernacular word for coco-nut 

 is Pol, which comes from the more reputable 

 Sinhalese word Pala, a fruit (or the fruit of all the 

 fruits, to the low country Sinhalese this is the most 

 important) which is itself derived from the Sanskrit 

 word Phala. The Sanskrit word for the coco-nut 

 palm is Narikera, which comes from the roots Narika, 

 a watery place, and Ir, to grow (literally the tree 

 which grows by the water), and the old Sinhalese 

 word derived from this Sanskrit root is Neli. Al- 

 though the coco-nut is not a native of India, its 

 introduction is of undoubted antiquity, as it is men- 

 tioned in many old Indian medicine works ; for 

 example, Charaka Samhita, Susruta, Vagbhata 

 Tantra, and Raghuvansa, many of which date back 

 long before the time of Buddha (nearly 2500 years 

 ago). The Maldivian word for the coco-nut is Karhi, 

 which is almost the Sanskrit word Kera. The cacao 

 plant now flourishes in Ceylon, the failures of the 

 coffee crop having induced planters to turn their 

 attention to it along with other new products, and 

 some very creditable sales of the produce have been 

 made in the London market.— ^. Knight James, 

 F.R.G.S., Colombo, Ceylon. 



Climbing Power in Mice. — I remember, some 

 years ago, seeing a common mouse let himself down, 

 in true sailor fashion, by a piece of twine about a 

 yard long, which was hanging from a beam over the 

 boiler of a large steam-engine. — G. M. Doe, Great 

 Torrington, N. Devon. 



White Crane's-Bills. — On Whit Monday I 

 walked from Yarmouth to Lowestoft along the cliffs, 

 which at Gunton had been washed away to such an 

 extent by the high spring tides, that I had to make 

 a detour round by the village. Here, on a bank, 



