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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



away, yet I think you may very often of a mild 

 summer's evening catch live moles in the way I got 

 mine as narrated above. — James Crouch. 



Cheap Aquaria. — I am glad to hear of your 

 Chicago correspondent's "Carboy ;" because it must 

 form an excellent, cheap, serviceable, dark, non-cor- 

 rosive aquarium, for workshop, schoolroom, or places 

 where appearance is not essential ; and must serve 

 well as a supplementary reserve tank or hospital ; 

 but is not a carboy unsightly for drawing or sitting- 

 rooms ? For small, simple, movable aquaria, I know 

 nothing better than shallow glasses, commercially 

 known as " pastry pans," or "anemone pans." They 

 are made from 6 in. to 24 in. in diameter, varying 

 in depth from 4 in. to 12 in., costing about 

 6s. 6d. for one 22 in. by 10 in. I must take exception 

 to " H. G. Atwood's " " tinfoil binding " (Science- 

 GOSSIP, p. 167, July, 1878), because metals of all 

 sorts, or any corrosive material are bad for aquaria. 

 Therefore slate tanks are preferable to iron ones, and 

 vulcanite pipes are found best for circulating pipes, 

 stop-cocks, &c, because rust is thus avoided, and 

 the material strong and durable. " Obedience to 

 the laws of service " is of primary importance in 

 aquaria. — G. S. 



Ranunculus arvensis. — The carpels of Ranun- 

 culus ai-i'ensis, which are covered on both sides with 

 conical, straight, or hooked prickles, probably gave 

 rise to the appellation " Devil's claws," one of the 

 common names of this species of Ranunculus. — 

 Ada P. 



Robins' Eggs. — It may interest your correspon- 

 dent, Mr. C. A. Haden, to know that I have taken, 

 or noticed, many clutches of white eggs of robin. 

 This season, I had brought to me six eggs, white, 

 and considerably larger than the ordinary robin's 

 egg, with a query as to what they were, and at once 

 pronounced them to be robins'. I have often had 

 them brought to me by lads as cuckoo's eggs. — R. 

 Stan den, Goosnargh, Lancashire. 



Birds Singing at Midnight. — The date given 

 in the April number of Science-Gossip is a mis- 

 print. I heard the vocal concert on the night of 

 Saturday, the 1 6th of February, and two following 

 evenings. I had not observed the error until it was 

 pointed out to me by a friend, and purposed correct- 

 ing it in the next issue. — R. Standen, Goosnargh, 

 Lancashire. 



The Cuckoo At Night. — Early last June, I 

 often heard the cuckoo singing between eleven p.m. 

 and midnight, once as late as eleven fifty, but I never 

 heard his voice in the "small hours," as Mr. A. M. 

 McA. appears to have done. — J. W. Slater. 



Varieties of the Camberwell Beauty. — In 

 Central to Eastern Europe, this butterfly, which is 

 amazingly common, and always turns up when you 

 want something better, has a decidedly yellow border. 

 In old-flown specimens, the margin is sometimes 

 faded down to a white. — J. IV. Slater. 



Fasting Parasites. — A friend gave me some 

 living parasites of Capercailzie ( Tetrao iirogallus), 

 about seven months ago. I put some in a box, and 

 left them undisturbed till last week, when upon open- 

 ing the box, I was much surprised to find two were 

 still alive ! What can they have lived upon ? — 

 A. A. G. A. 



Origin of " Colias."— In answer to your corre- 

 spondent's (Haviland) query, respecting Colias edusa, 

 I transcribe from the "accentuated list of the British 



Lepidoptera," published some years back by Van 

 Voorst, the following at p. 2. " Colias, a surname 

 of Venus, from a promontory of Attica, where she 

 was worshipped." "Edusa, a Roman divinity wor- 

 shipped as the protectress of children, and supposed 

 to bless their food [edere, to eat.)" I think the above 

 derivation of Colias, a more satisfactory, and, at 

 least, a more pleasing one than the one he gives. — 

 W. LLambrough. 



"Green Hastings"! — A day or two since I 

 heard the cry, " Green Hastings" ! which I do not 

 remember having heard for some years. When a 

 boy, fifty years ago, it was the usual cry for green peas. 

 Perhaps some readers of Science-Gossip can give 

 the origin of the cry, " Green Hastings " ! — IV. S. S. 



Fleas in Country Quarters. — I wish to 

 mention what seems to me to be a somewhat unusual 

 occurrence. Two members of my family and myself 

 were walking out in the country on the 10th inst., 

 and after having travelled some miles, feeling tired, 

 we seated ourselves upon some trees, in a meadow, 

 which had evidently been cut down some time, as 

 they presented a very bleached appearance. Shortly 

 after we had reached home we made the unpleasant 

 discovery that we had become victims to the attacks 

 of the common flea (Pulex irrilans), and it was with 

 much difficulty that we were able to rid ourselves of 

 such troublesome and unwelcome pests. There is no 

 doubt in my mind that the insects were occupants of 

 the trees upon which we rested ; but the question 

 arises, how they came there. Probably some of the 

 contributors of Science-Gossip could throw some 

 light upon the circumstance, which, to say the least, 

 is a rather peculiar one. — IV. IV. Ingatt. 



Development of Frog's Spawn. — One of your 

 contributors on this subject finds a difference of results 

 with regard to the same period of time to those of 

 another observer. I think that temperature has a 

 great influence on the speed of development ; for I 

 gave some frog's spawn to a friend in order that we 

 might observe together; it was from one agglomera- 

 tion of ova that both the observed batches were taken. 

 He placed his in a warm room, exposed in a window 

 facing south, while I placed mine in a large cold 

 room, facing north-west. His had developed into 

 active tadpoles before mine had altered much, and 

 after this stage his still progressed far quicker than 

 mine, so much quicker, in fact, that I concluded that 

 the rate of development could be very materially 

 altered by temperature. 



Mustard. — In the article on mustard (p. 36) it is 

 stated that some authors derive sinapis from sino, to 

 hurt, and opis, the eyes. It would be difficult to find 

 an idea more absurd than this, even amongst the 

 wildest vagaries in which etymologists have run 

 rampant. In the first place the i in sinapis is short, 

 and the i in sino (or rather sinomai) is long ; then 

 there is no such word as opis meaning eyes (in Greek), 

 and though there is one something like it, which might 

 by a stretch bear that meaning, the s is an essential 

 part of that word, and not, like the j at the end of 

 sinapis, a mere accident. For older forms of the 

 word are sinapi, sinapu, and napu. We may not be 

 able to say how the si came to be prefixed, but it is 

 certain that the origin of all these words must be 

 sought in connection with the Celtic and Gaelic root, 

 which the author mentions in the next sentence. 

 For those on the look-out for prima facie derivations, 

 there is one suggested by Mr. Glasspoole's paper, 

 so obvious that it is strange he did not hit upon it, 

 as others have done. Why should not the name of 



