22 



HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



Toads in Rocks.— I should have thought that any 

 one with any knowledge of natural history would 

 have known that the old story about 'he live toad in 

 the solid rock is exploded, but I an-, astonished that 

 so well informed a writer should treat the matter as 

 Dr. Keegan has done. It has been proved to demon- 

 stration that the thing is an impossibility, " dear old 

 Gilbert White," and Dr. Keegan, notwithstanding. 

 It is, as the Rev. J. G. Wood says, however slowly 

 the flame of life may burn, combustion must cease 

 and life fail some time, and this some time he proved 

 by experiment in the case of imprisoned frogs to be at 

 most twelve to thirteen months. I should like to 

 know where the emphatic "abundant and irrefutable 

 evidence " is to be obtained, or of any single case 

 where the imprisoned live frog has been found by one 

 whose testimony would be accepted as unimpeachable 

 on such a point, by one of the leading scientists of 

 the day, say, for instance, Sir John Lubbock. How is 

 it that the stone or coal which is invariably reported 

 to retain "the exact impression of the little creature " 

 can never be produced when the matter comes to be 

 investigated ? That the frog has been found in the 

 coal pit is probable enough, but it does not follow 

 that he came out of the coal, any more than it does 

 that the mice and beetles seen there do. I saw a 

 butterfly in a coal pit at Ashton some years ago. 

 What would Dr. Keegan have thought of me if I had 

 declared it came out of the solid coal? These things 

 are carried down in the pit cages, generally in the 

 hay and straw which is taken down for the ponies 

 employed below. To compare a three months' 

 fasting "flat pattern live timekeeper," as O. W. 

 Holmes calls him, to a 400 century fasting coal- 

 imprisoned frog is absurd ; one might just as well 

 compare a thimble with the pyramid of Cheops. 

 Let us have light on every subject, but leave the silly 

 old toad story alone. — Mark L. Sykes, Winton, 

 Manchester. 



Query as to Moss.— In reply to G. C. Goody's 

 query, the moss described is probably Fissidens 

 adiantoides. If he sends me a bit of it, I shall be 

 glad to name it for him. — Rev. C. H. Waddel, Kendal. 



Plague of Flies. — Doubtless most persons ob- 

 served what a nuisance the flies were during the last 

 two months of summer, and how very scarce wasps 

 have been last season. No doubt thejibsence of the 

 latter accounts for the unusual number of the former. 

 The same thing occurred in 181 1 (see Kirby and 

 Spence, p. 157). — J. Bohnso, Tonbridge. 



The Development of the Tadpole. — Dr. J. W. 

 Williams, in his note (p. 259) on my observation of 

 Ciliated Cells in the Epidermis of the Young Tadpole, 

 remarks that it ought to receive confirmation with a 

 higher power of the microscope. One difficulty will 

 be to bring a higher power than \ in. to bear on the 

 sides of a living tadpole. The presence of cilia, 

 however, at the stage of growth mentioned, is un- 

 doubted. I have seen them repeatedly, and shown 

 them to others ; and they are further evidenced by 

 the very strong currents in the water close to the 

 body. I have no doubt that any one will be able to 

 see them distinctly, if looked for at the proper time 

 and in the proper way. According to my experience, 

 minute cilia in general, on algre, infusoria, planarian 

 worms, etc., can be seen much more distinctly with a 

 § or \ in. objective and good dark ground illumina- 

 tion, than with J or J in. objective and transmitted 

 light. I will, however, endeavour to make stained 

 sections of the tadpole's skin next spring, and see 

 if the cilia can be demonstrated in this way in a 

 permanent slide. — Charles Ronsselet. 



A New Reader of Science-Gossip. — In the- 

 October number of Science-Gossip received to-day, 

 I found the silken web of a small (book) worm, with 

 the tenant quite well advanced in pupation. My 

 paper-knife rather rudely disturbed — indeed, inde- 

 finitely postponed the operation. How did he get 

 there ? — H. E. Valentine, Boston, Mass., U.S.A. 



Adders and their Young. — The question of the 

 adder swallowing its young, to shelter them from 

 danger, is one which has troubled the minds of many 

 generations of naturalists ; but no one appears to 

 have been able to bring forward such evidence, either 

 for or against, as would suffice to convince the 

 scientific world one way or the other. For instance, 

 if we take up a work on Natural History, we find' 

 that the authors are, as a rule, unable to write 

 definitely on the subject. Even such close observers 

 of the ins and outs of nature as Gilbert White, Jesse, 

 and the Rev. J. G. Wood of our own day, are only 

 able to write from what they have been told by casual 

 observers in favour of the swallowing doctrine, and 

 therefore they leave it an open question. I know of 

 several people — three being personal friends of mine, 

 but entire strangers to one another — not naturalists,, 

 but just casual observers, who either write, or tell me 

 they have seen the occurrence, and, in two cases after 

 killing the older reptile, have extracted the young ; 

 but then, on the other hand, one is met by the 

 assertion that such a thing cannot be, owing to the 

 structure of the reptile. If any of our scientists are- 

 so circumstanced as to be able to take the matter up, 

 and investigate it so thoroughly as to enable them to 

 bring forward convincing proof on either side, they 

 would remove a bone of contention, and earn the 

 thanks of their brother students in the by-ways of 

 Nature. If time and other matters will allow, I hope 

 to study the subject myself next year, if I can get a 

 supply of the reptiles to breed from, and watch 

 closely. — y. Herbert Allchin, Sutton Valence, Kent. 



Instinct (?) of Spider. — A few days ago, I 

 witnessed an act on the part of a spider which 

 evidenced so strongly the possession of a mechanical 

 instinct, or reasoning — it is impossible to say which — 

 that I think our readers will be glad to have an account 

 of it. I was sitting by a window, working, when I 

 saw that a common house-fly had become entangled 

 in two or three loose threads which hung from what 

 had apparently been a perfect web, but which was then, 

 very much dilapidated ; the fly, when I first observed, 

 it, was hanging almost to the bottom of a pane of 

 glass, the web being in the upper left-hand corner.. 

 I did not take particular notice of it at first, but on 

 looking again, after a lapse of five or ten minutes, I saw 

 that the fly was not only dead, but that it appeared to 

 have been raised higher. So I watched more carefully, 

 and then saw that a small spider was busily at work, 

 trying to raise its victim up to the remains of its web ; 

 it left the fly, went a short distance up the thread of 

 web, and then tried to haul the fly up ; but finding that, 

 owing to some reason or other, it could not do so, it 

 ran up to the woodwork at the top of the glass, fixed, 

 to it a new thread, which it brought down, wrapped! 

 it round the fly, ran up again a little way, and then, 

 succeeded in hauling the fly up about an inch, when 

 it repeated the whole performance again, and several 

 times afterwards, until it had drawn the fly almost to 

 the top, when it seemed to be satisfied, and settled 

 down to its well-earned feast. During the operation, 

 and when it had raised the fly about one-third of the 

 distance, it found its work hindered by a thread 

 which was attached to the side framework of the 

 glass, and so kept the fly down ; but the spider just 



