HARD WICKE ' S S CIENCE -GOSS IP. 



2I 5 



imitation, but the case in point cannot be thus ex- 

 plained. This dog, having discovered that a recti- 

 lineal career was impossible, must have, somehow, 

 hit upon the idea that he could run round the circum- 

 ference of a circle to any desired distance, and this 

 principle he has applied to the solution of the diffi- 

 culty in a truly ingenious way. — C. W. Carringlon. 



Clams. — I have noticed for two seasons past 

 " Preserved Clams " in tins, on a Liverpool Trade 

 Circular. I think they are new candidates to gastro- 

 nomic favour in this country. I take them to be the 

 " Otter" shell {Lutraria maxima), found so plentifully 

 on the coasts of Vancouver's Island and British 

 Colombia. Tridacna gigas is also known as the 

 "clam," and is, I believe, eaten, but its habits 

 render it difficult to procure in large quantities. The 

 " Otter" shell on the other hand is known to be one 

 of the staple foods of the Indians of the North-West 

 Coast, and J. K. Lord tells us that it is, in fact, a 

 "molluscous cereal," which the squaws dig in 

 summer from the sand and mud-banks of the coast, 

 and dry and smoke in the interior of their dusky 

 wigwams for winter use. I have not tasted the 

 "preserved" clam, and cannot therefore speak of 

 their edible qualities, but Mr. Lord's experience of 

 "smoked" clam does not appear to have been a 

 pleasant one, as he compares it to chewing " good 

 old tarry rope yarn." Are any of your readers able 

 to speak of its worth as an addition to our food 

 stuffs? — IV. A. Cairns, Leominster. 



Preserving Animals. — I, like "W. G.," have 

 met with an article mentioning the method of pre- 

 serving animals, practised by Mr. Waterton. This 

 article occurs in the Cornhill Magazine, January, 1863. 

 It tells what has to be done, but not how to do it. 

 " The tools required hardly deserve the name, for all 

 these wonderful effects are produced with a penknife, 

 a lump of wax, half-a-dozen needles, and three or four 

 wooden skewers. In simple fact, the modus agendi 

 is pure modelling, the skin being used as the material, 

 and reduced by art to the plastic state of sculptor's 

 clay, a temporary stuffing being placed within it 

 to keep the skin moderately distended during the pro- 

 gress of its drying." I should be very glad if some 

 one among the many readers of Science-Gossip 

 would give better the directions, or name some work 

 where they may be found. — JV. L. Beaumont. 



Rose-coloured Pastor is not the shelah, a 

 thrush, nor ever will be. It is a starling, and closely 

 allied to our well-known birds. It is a visitor to all 

 parts of the United Kingdom. There is a most 

 interesting account of its visiting and breeding in Italy, 

 in the "Zoologist" for last January. See also 

 Harting's "Handbook of British Birds."— C. H. 

 Bree, M.D. 



The Opercula of Shells. — Among those who 

 take an interest in the science of Conchology there 

 are many who almost leave out of sight the opercula 

 or lids by which the mouths of many shells are 

 closed. They ought, however, to be noticed, 

 because, according to Gray, the typical form of a 

 shell-fish is the bivalve ; and he considers the oper- 

 culum but as a variation of the other valve. There 

 seems to be some reason for this, because, as we all 

 know, in many bivalves, as in the Oyster, the smaller 

 valve takes very much the place of it ; and in that 

 curious shell, the Anomia, it seems hardly needed, 

 and — one step further — in the Limpet it is altogether 

 wanting. There is a curious provision of nature in 

 those cases of Univalves in which this lid is wanting ; 

 they secrete in very dry weather, and in the winter, 



what is called an epiphragm, or thin membrane, which 

 covers the opening as a substitute for the operculum. 

 An example of this is to be seen in the common 

 garden snail {Helix aspersa). The variety of form 

 among the opercula is very remarkable. In the case 

 of Cyclostoma elegans, our only land-shell having this 

 lid, it is nearly circular ; that of Turbo Sarmatictis 

 has a coralline appearance on the upper side, or, as 

 Woodward calls it, like some of the tufaceous 

 deposits of petrifying wells. Some again are very 

 thin and brittle, as in the Whelk {Buecinum undatum), 

 and not at all the same shape as the former, but 

 brown and horny, and in shape an ellipse. — S. 



Cream - coloured Blackbird. — A cream- 

 coloured Blackbird was shot in Easingwold church- 

 yard some time in March. It is a very fine specimen, 

 and in very good condition. I may also mention 

 that a cream-coloured mouse was trapped in a house in 

 this city on the 7th. They are both in the possession 

 of Mr. Ripley, Bird-skiffer, Feasegate, York. — Percy 

 Thompson, York. 



Poisonous Properties of the Fluid of the 

 "Solanum Dulcamara." — To my certain know- 

 ledge, the berries of this plant are injurious to chil- 

 dren. I have seen more than one instance of very 

 serious effects having followed the eating of "dead 

 men's cherries," as the fruit of the bitter-sweet or 

 woody nightshade is often called, — effects which 

 would probably have ended sadly had not prompt 

 measures been taken. The children had fortunately 

 in each case eaten sufficient to produce sickness, and 

 this was aided by emetics until all the berries were 

 dislodged. One little fellow had slight convulsions 

 for days, therefore, I have not the slightest doubt on 

 the subject, though Majendie and others state that 

 they would not hesitate to take them, because they 

 are innocuous to animals. "Seeing is believing." 

 The twigs and leaves of the Solanum Dulcamara 

 possess medicinal properties. — H. G. Watney. 



" Sorrel, from the Low German snur, sour." 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now 

 publish Science-Gossip a week earlier than heretofore, wo 

 cannot possibly insert in the following number any communi- 

 cations which reach us later than the gth of the previous 

 month. 



R. G. — Thanks for the slide. The mounted arachniae taken 

 from the legs of the House-fly appears to be a species of 

 Ganiasns, allied to the Beetle-mite (G. Coleopti-atorum, L.), 

 but another species. 



W. H. N. — Your bald-headed sparrow had, perhaps, been 

 in the " wars," a not uncommon occurrence ; or it had been 

 affected too considerably by mites. 



M. H. Robson (Newcastle-on-Tyne). — The box containing 

 glass tube in which you enclosed a variety of Hydra, reached 

 us with the glass smashed to pieces. It should have been 

 posted with a luggage-label attached, on which the address and 

 stamp should have been placed. The blow given when stamps 

 ing had shattered the glass. 



M. J. Wilde. — Your specimens are : — (1) a piece of Trap, 

 with calcite crystals on joint-face ; (2) fragment of Copper ore 

 (Cupric sulphite) ; (3) piece of Milk-quartz ; and (4) portion of 

 water-worn nodule of Flint. 



F. Norris. — The plant you sent us is a fine specimen of the 

 Blue Fleabane (Etigervn acris). 



Anonymous. — We are obliged to call attention to an old 

 rule of ours, which declares that anonymous communications 

 cannot be attended to. 



R. G. C. — The insect found on the dog is a well-developed 

 specimen of the Dog-tick {Ixodes ricinus). We cannot under- 

 take to answer your latter question without fuller information. 



Newquay. — The grass you inclose is the Annual Meadow 

 Grass (Poa annua), and the other species intermingled with It 

 is the common Spurrey (Spergula arvensis, L.J. 



