HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



263 



(E.)j Trapa natans (L.) ; water chestnut (E.), T. 

 bispinosa (Rox.), Scirpus tuberosus (Rox.) ; cock's- 

 head (Scotch), Stachys palustris (L.), (O.E.), Hedys- 

 anim Onobrychis (L.) ; red fitchling (E.), H. Onobry- 

 chis (L.) ; herb William (O.E.), Faniculum vulgare 

 (Gaertn.); St. Peter's wort (E.), Hypericum Au- 

 drosamum (L.), H. Ascyron (L.), Dicrvillea lutea 

 (Pursh), Symphoria racemosa (Pursh), (N. U. States) 

 Ascyrum ^a«j (Mich.) ; Saracen's woundwort (O.E.), 

 Stachys palustris (L.), Saracen's woundwort or con- 

 found? (O.E.), S. palustris (L.). 



Query as to Plants. — I can give Mr. Brenan the 

 Linnean names of some of his plants : St. Peter's wort 

 {Loniccra symphoricarpos) : floating water calthrops 

 {Trapa natans); Cockead [Hedysarum capiit-galli). 

 I find two kinds of Bishop's weed : greater bishop's 

 weed {Ammi maj'us) : prickly-seeded bishop's weed 

 {Ammi copticttm). — C. F. Worters, Grafton House, 

 Forest Hill. 



Query as to Plants. — In reply to S. A. Brenan, 

 the following are the botanical names of the plants 

 mentioned : Dogs orach or arach {Ckenopodium 

 olidum ; St. Peter's-wort {Primula vert's) ; Bishop's- 

 weed or herb William {Ammi ntajus) ; Bull-wort, 

 {Scrophularia nodosa): Blite {Ckenopodium bonus- 

 henricus) ; Calthrops {Centaurea ca la ■trapa) ; cocks- 

 head {Onobrychis sativa) : Saracen's confound or 

 woundwort (Senecio Saracenicus). — A. Pearson, 

 Milnrow. 



Breeding Snails.— I should like to hear the 

 experiences of other experimenters as to their success 

 in keeping and breeding snails in confinement. I 

 have kept several couples of H. uemoralis and 

 hortensis, hoping to get a cross between the two 

 species or varieties, whichever they may be ; but 

 without success, never having succeeded in getting 

 them to pair, though they all appeared in perfect 

 health, as far as one could judge by their feeding 

 powers. I have found no difficulty in getting either 

 nemoralis or arbustorum to complete their shells, 

 however young when taken, and I have kept numbers 

 of them through the winter. I have a H. aspersa 

 hatched in confinement during the summer of last 

 year ; it had attained the diameter of three- eighths of 

 an inch by the time its growth was stopped by the 

 advent of winter (the direct action of cold could not 

 have affected it, as it was kept in a room where the 

 temperature never sank below 45°) ; now, the 5th of 

 October, it is just one inch in diameter. In measur- 

 ing the height of a helix, what are the points taken ? 

 Of" course the tip of the spire is one, but I do not 

 know whether the other point is the edge of the lip 

 or the base of the shells at the opposite side ; it cannot 

 be the centre of the base, as that part is occupied 

 either by a depression or an umbilicus. I find 

 coltsfoot the plant most generally relished by the 

 helices, next come nettles and the cabbage tribe. 

 Any hints as to feeding, the preferences of various 

 species, and the influence of different foods, will be 

 useful. — IV. Gain. 



A Strange Little Dog. — Perhaps some of your 

 readers may remember my account of poor old Kit. 

 Through the kindness of a most amiable lady, we 

 received this queer little dog, and called him Snap. 

 He came down from London per G. W. R., and the 

 guard delivered him to our maid at Highbridge. We 

 were looking out of the window, and saw her coming, 

 with a little dog in front of her. All at once he left 

 her, and ran up our steps and began to whine to be 

 let in. He had never seen us, or been in the place 

 before, and our house is one of a terrace, with many 



houses exactly alike, it seemed as if he had some- 

 inward knowledge that this house was his future 

 home. How do you account for this? Poor little 

 chap, he did not want water, thanks to the guard's 

 kindness, but food. Now this strange little animal, 

 after recuperation, played with an indiarubber ball 

 just like a kitten with a cork ; even now, staid and 

 respectable as he ought to be, as a young man, and 

 with all his responsibilities and Mrs. Grundy, he 

 amuses our visitors with this ball. He and our old 

 cat had amiable " passages at arms," but on the whole 

 were good friends. We suppose he caught the trick 

 from old Kit, for a more ludicrous thing was never 

 seen in the last bitter winter than Snap and the cat, 

 necks by jowl before the fire, sitting up, and warming 

 their poor little half-frozen paws. — A. H. B. 



Gold-fish. — Will some reader inform me how it 

 is that gold fishes in a glass aquarium die so soon ? 

 I have been told they can be kept for fifteen years, 

 which I very much doubt. I have tried both rain 

 and town water, fresh every three days, still they die 

 in a week. — Edward IV. Easton, Woodlesford. 



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 Jglad 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 cf 

 advertising, an advantage is taken of our gratuitous insertion of 

 "exchanges" which cannot be tolerated. 



We request that all exchanges may be signed with name (or 

 initials) and full address at the end. 



B. Baily. — Rimmer's "Land and Freshwater Shells " is by 

 far the best of the list you enclose. 



C. H. Winter. — It is healthy to keep plants in a room 

 during the daytime, as the leaves then give off oxygen gas ; 

 but during the night this function is suspended, and a little 

 carbonic acid is given off instead from the growing parts and 

 the flowers. Therefore we should say it is preferable not to 

 keep plants in a room during the night. 



J. W. D., G. B., C. P. H., &c. — Both words and music of 

 the song you name were, we believe, composed by a scientific 

 lunatic for scientific lunatics. Apply to the Superintendent, 

 Hanwell. 



F. R. Tennant. — You may obtain named sections of various 

 rocks from E. Wheeler, 48 Tollington Road, Holloway; of 

 T. D. Russell, 48 Essex Street, Strand ; or of James How, 

 73 Farringdon Street, London. 



F. H. P. wants to know the best books or pamphlets on 

 British Mvrina. 



H. Searle.— We should be pleased to have the specimen of 

 new Naias, &c, you mention. 



Rita wants to know if white dormice are rare, and where 

 they can be obtained. 



E. G. (Felstead).— The umbelliferous plant you sent to us 

 was too immature to decide with certainty. It is, however, a 

 species of Ammi. 



J. Rasor. — It is the Siegesbeclda oricntalis. 



A. G. (Bridge of Allen).— The bracts on the Viburnum are 

 very "common in the autumn, and are not, as you suppose, 

 peculiar to North Britain. 



S. A. B. (Cushenden). — Fasciated stems have been frequent 

 this season, though we cannot say we have seen any of the 

 garden pea ; thanks for the information you so kindly send 

 respecting it. 



S. S.— The best work on the subject is Balfour s Plants of 

 the Bible." The fern with scaly frond is Ceterach officinarum ; 

 it is also found in England ; the other is the maidenhair fern 

 {Adinntum cnpillus-vcneris, L.). 



M. T. (Dudley).— No. 1, Lastrea dilatata ; 2, Polysticluim 

 aculeatum; 3, Lady-fern. The rest are too yoi'ng to tell 

 correctly. 



