13° 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



larva of Diptera. In no case have I been able to trace 

 a nerve penetrating the long seta of the pygidium ; 

 and evidently the hairs themselves are non-sensory. 

 Though not an auditory organ, it is most probably 

 its equivalent, and may represent more than one 

 sense insufficiently developed to be differentiated, 

 but enabling the animal to perceive movements in the 

 immediately surrounding atmosphere, and thereby 

 escape danger. Such an organ is rendered the more 

 necessary by the flea having only one pair of rigidly 

 fixed simple eyes, which can have but a very small 

 range of vision, and also by their habit of living and 

 feeding where there is but little light. The pygidium 

 is confined to this family of insects, but the cerci of 

 the cockroach may be its analogue. 



W. Ienkinson. 



Sheffield. 



GOSSIP ON CURRENT TOPICS. 

 By W. Mattieu Williams, F.R.A.S., F.C.S. 



MAGNETISED WATCHES.— So long as steel 

 continues to be used in the balance-wheel and 

 otherpartsofwatches, their reliability as time-keepers is 

 imperilled by the development of electrical appliances. 

 Nobody who has any respect for his watch should 

 approach within three or four feet of a working 

 dynamo. The "Electrical World" tells a curious 

 story of a lady who was about to visit the station of 

 an electric light company, and who being forewarned 

 of the danger left her watch at home. Nevertheless 

 she found that after this visit her watch lost time 

 whenever she wore it, although it ran correctly when 

 left in her room. Strange ideas concerning personal 

 polarity and animal magnetism naturally entered her 

 mind. These, however, were removed by a gentle- 

 man who ventured to suggest that she should try 

 another pair of stays. She did so, the watch behaved 

 properly, and a full explanation of its previous irre- 

 gularities was supplied. The' steel corset supports of 

 the first pair had become magnetised by induction, 

 and they retarded the watch. The oblong shape and 

 position of the elements of the metallic scaffolding 

 that so many women regard as necessary for bodily 

 support are peculiarly favourable to polarisation by 

 induction. The retardation of a watch is, however, 

 but a trivial evil compared with the interference with 

 still more delicate and important machinery, with 

 the retardation of the movements of respiration, and 

 the weakening of all the muscles of the trunk, which 

 are bandaged and deprived of natural freedom of 

 exercise by such artificial "supports." I speak now 

 only of the rigidity of corsets that are worn by 

 reasonable women, quite irrespective of the victims 

 of tight-lacing. These are all under sentence of 

 death, and past praying for. 



English Sparrows in America. — The news- 

 paper naturalists who imagined that sparrows feed 

 on caterpillars, and some years ago agitated very 

 sentimentally for their preservation, were sufficiently 

 successful to induce the Americans to import a supply 

 of feathered vermin. These have now become such a 

 nuisance in the United States that expensive attempts 

 are made to effect their extirpation. They devour 

 cherries, currants, and other small fruit as here ; 

 they shell and eat the growing peas ; they drive 

 away the singing birds, and those which are really 

 insectivorous, and have slender bills unable to cope 

 with thieves. These and other evils are now fully 

 established ; but lately they have appeared in a new 

 character — that of incendiaries. The "Scientific 

 American " tells us that a bar-mill has been on fire 

 three or four times, and in every case the fire was 

 caused by English sparrows picking; up old pieces of 

 cotton waste, with which they build their nests in the 

 timbers of the roof. These nests were fired by 

 sparks from the hot iron, or as supposed, though 

 very improbably, by spontaneous combustion. It is 

 true that accumulations of old greasy cotton waste are 

 very liable to such combustion, but the quantity 

 demanded for this far exceeds that in a bird's-nest. 



English Soles in America. — Very different 

 from the above are the results of another importation 

 to America of British species. One of the best of all 

 our fishes — the sole — has been successfully trans- 

 planted. I say " transplanted," as the habits of this 

 fish render its naturalisation in a new region very 

 much like transplanting. If placed on a suitable 

 soil it remains there with but little locomotion, and 

 ultimately covers the ground pretty closely. This 

 being the case, nothing is easier than to destroy such 

 a colony by sweeping the ground with a steam or 

 even sailing trawl. I remember when soles of the 

 finest quality were retailed in London at the rate of 

 about threepence per pound, and even at half this 

 price. It was when "the Silver Bank" was dis- 

 covered. At first the soles were mostly of very large 

 size, gradually they became smaller, finally only 

 slips, and ultimately the fishery was ruined. I have 

 advocated in vain the necessity of penal legislation 

 against the selling or landing of slips, that is, soles 

 lees than six inches long. If this were enforced, 

 these delicious fish might still be as abundant and 

 cheap as plaice. Let us hope the Americans will be 

 wiser than our legislators. 



The Whitefish in England. — In just and 

 most desirable retaliation for our export of soles, the 

 Americans have sent us their whitefish, of which 

 most of us read so much and know so little. Some 

 of those turned into the waters of Burghley Park, a 

 year ago, were lately caught and found to have 

 attained a length of seven inches. The National 

 Fish Culture Association is actively engaged in the 



