182 



HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



only had a head and the thorax from which its legs 

 spring, all its body being gone. 



My ants at once set to work to set their houses in 

 order ; first of all, carrying any stray larvoe safely 

 inside the nests, and then making various tunnels 

 and entrances, bringing large quantities of soil from 

 the inside. 



They soon find out any food I place on the nests, 

 preferring meat to anything else ; and, when possible, 

 they generally make a special entrance immediately 

 beneath the food, so as to convey it unseen into the 

 nest, or, if not, they soon form two busy lines from 

 the entrance to and from it. They are busier at night 

 than in the day, and any great noise soon sends all 

 inside for safety. 



In their natural state red ants often conquer the 

 black, and make them their slaves, to wait on and 

 feed them and the red larva;, which they do so 

 thoroughly that their masters sometimes forget how 

 to look after themselves, and would die if their black 

 servants were taken away. 



After a week or two I connected the two nests with 

 a slanting piece of cardboard four inches long, and 

 the next day the red ants were busy running up and 

 down the bridge carrying little pieces of soil, and at 

 first I could not see what for, until by degrees a 

 tuunel was formed on the cardboard, under which 

 they travelled nearly all its length unseen. 



A few days after, I found a good many dead red 

 and black ants, and the black ones were crowding to 

 one part of their nest with their larvae. 



Whenever the different colours meet there is a 

 fight, though both seem equally anxious to avoid it if 

 possible ; but when no escape, the red seizes the 

 black by one of its legs with its mouth and simply 

 holds fast, being dragged about by the black one, 

 which is the stronger, and which alternately struggles 

 furiously to free itself, sets to and has a good fight with 

 the red one, or strokes it gently with its antenna;, as if 

 treating the whole thing as a joke, and begging it to 

 let go, which, so far as I saw, the red ant never 

 does until its enemy is killed, or both die locked 

 tightly together, the struggle sometimes going on for 

 hours. 



A few days later, I found the black ants evidently 

 in great distress, and all their larvae packed in one 

 corner of the tin, and for the next day or two, they 

 constantly moved their larva; to different parts of 

 their tin, while the red ones were crowding over the 

 bridge, and evidently driving the black ones from 

 their nest, though never apparently following them 

 outside it. 



I now placed a third tin of soil, and connected it, 

 with a similar bridge, to the black ants' nest ; and in 

 a few hours the black ants had removed all their 

 larvas to and had taken possession of it ; and so far 

 they have not been molested by the red ones, who 

 have taken entire possession of their old nest. 



L'AlGLE. 



GOSSIP ON CURRENT TOPICS. 

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



SANITARY Action of Rain.— We commonly 

 abuse our climate on account of its humidity. 

 This is a great mistake. Frequent and moderate 

 rain, such as constitutes the characteristic of British 

 climate, is the most effective of all sanitary agencies. 

 It cleanses the ground, and, what is far more impor- 

 tant, it cleanses the air. The ammoniacal and other 

 exhalations, continually rising from decomposing 

 animal and vegetable matter, are all more or less 

 soluble in water and are largely removed by gentle 

 rain. Besides these it absorbs and carries down into 

 rivers and thence to the sea the excess of carbonic 

 acid exhaled from our lungs, and produced by our 

 fires and lights. 



De Saussure found that a shower of rain removed 

 about 25 per cent, of the carbonic acid from the air 

 over the Lake of Geneva. Also that there was less 

 over the lake than over the neighbouring meadows 

 and the great elevations of the Alps where there was 

 no water. The atmosphere over the sea contains 

 less than one-fourth of the quantity in that over the 

 land. Far away at sea the quantity is inappreciable, 

 and at a given place on the coast it varies with the 

 wind, increasing as it blows from the land and vice 

 versa. All these facts show that water in contact 

 with the air absorbs its carbonic acid in a decidedly 

 practical degree. In densely-populated districts this 

 is of considerable importance. The difference is 

 perceptible to the senses after a long drought, as 

 the common expression ' ' refreshing showers " in- 

 dicates. 



Antifat. — Turning over some back numbers of the 

 " Gazetta Chimica Italiana," published in Palermo, 

 I come- upon the following, headed "The Cure of 

 Obesity, by Dr. Gibb. According to this author 

 bromide of ammonium in small doses determines in 

 fat people an absorption of fat and a diminution of 

 weight with greater certainty than any other known 

 remedy." A succession of advertisers profess to cure 

 this trouble, and it is to be hoped that their nostrums 

 do no more harm than small doses (I mean very 

 small) of bromide of ammonium. Even this must 

 be a disturbing agent if really effective. The only 

 successful cures of obesity that I have witnessed 

 have been achieved by veterinary surgeons, who have 

 cured over-fed lazy lapdogs by simple starvation and 

 daily stimulation to exercise by the administration of 

 whipthong. I do not advocate the application of 

 this system to human patients for personal reasons. 



Photographs of the Retina. — Among the 

 absurdities perpetrated by novelists and other yarn 

 spinners when they "do the scientific," is that of 

 affirming that the last object on which is fixed 



