44 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



hen (previously mentioned) had chickens, and as soon 

 as she returned at night with her young brood (four), the 

 blind hen was called by the sister, and shared the pro- 

 tection with the little chicks, i.e. under the wing of 

 their mother. This continued for two or three weeks, 

 or until some ten days ago, when a carrion crow, 

 while making a predatory visit to the precincts of the 

 farm, observed the helpless condition of our blind 

 pet, and made an attack upon her, and before any 

 assistance could be rendered, killed and devoured 

 nearly the whole of the body. We, as you may 

 imagine, were full of sorrow for our loss. — P. 

 Donaldson, Goytrey, Monmouthshire. 



"Fairy-flax." — In the September number of 

 Science-Gossip, No. 153, p. 194, Mr. Robert Hol- 

 land speaks of the amazing undergrowth of fairy-flax. 

 What plant is known under this name ? — E. L. R. 



Predatory Slug.— This may have been Testacella 

 haliotoidea, a species known to live on earthworms ; 

 but usually subterranean in its habits. It may easily 

 be distinguished from the common slugs by the 

 following characters : the body increases in size like 

 that of a leech, from the head to the posterior end, 

 which terminates abruptly ; and bears a small external 

 shell ; it is very tough, and of a yellow-grey colour, 

 with grooved lines along the side of the body. The 

 common slugs, Limax and Avion, are, however, not 

 only carnivorous, but cannibals. After slaughtering 

 one of these garden pests, I have often found in the 

 evening two or three more feasting on the body of 

 their late comrade. Slugs and snails, as Mr. Slater 

 remarks, seem to be unaffected by vegetable poisons ; 

 indeed, the poisonous Solanacece, as Atropa Bella- 

 donna, seem specially attractive to them. This, 

 however, is less remarkable when we remember that 

 the rabbit, an animal much higher in the scale of life 

 than the snail, can eat any quantity of Belladonna 

 with impunity. — H. F. Parsons. 



Is THE LEMMING rOUNI) IN ENGLAND ? — Is it not 



very likely that the holes referred to, under this 

 heading in Science-Gossip, No. 152, p. 189, were 

 made by the common Shrew (Sorex araneus, Bell), 

 which it is well known makes large superficial 

 burrows in the earth ? The fact of its being on such 

 high ground is probably accounted for by the increase 

 of its great enemy, man, in the valleys below. The 

 size of their burrows would be about an inch in 

 diameter. — S. T. 



Fructification of Sycamore (No. 155, p. 257). 

 — Mr. W. E. Green has, I think, scarcely appreciated 

 my difficulty in accounting for the increased number 

 of winged seeds in so many sycamore fruits. With us 

 in the north, although sycamores, hollies, nuts, and 

 some few other trees and shrubs have produced large 

 quantities of fruit, it has decidedly been an unfruitful 

 year. We have had no apples, pears, or plums, and 

 very few cherries ; no acorns, very few ash-keys, and 

 scarcely any haws ; therefore, I do not think the 

 phenomenon can be accounted for by supposing that 

 the season has been a particularly fruitful one, which 

 really means that the weather was suitable, or the 

 insects numerous enough during flower-time for the 

 fertilization of existing germs, or sunny enough for 

 the full and perfect development of fertilized germs. 

 If sycamore flowers usually contained several pistils, 

 one only, as in the Nut, coming to maturity, or even 

 the rudiments of several pistils, one could readily 

 understand that congenial weather might cause those 

 already existing, though rudimentary organs, to be 

 developed and to reach maturity ; but this is not the 

 case. The flower of the sycamore does not contain, 



under ordinary circumstances, even the rudiments of 

 several pistils. No doubt, as Mr. Green suggests, an 

 unusually mild winter might cause great changes in 

 the growth of plants, but the tendency of a mild win- 

 ter is to produce rather a scanty crop, partly by the 

 blossom opening too soon, and partly by the time of 

 rest for the tree not being sufficiently prolonged ; and 

 I suspect the cause is more remote. The weather of 

 the present year could hardly have caused the forma- 

 tion of new organs ; the mildness of last winter may 

 have had some peculiar effect, but it is perhaps more 

 probable, if weather has had anything to do with it, 

 that there was some specially congenial weather dur- 



i ing the summer or autumn of 1876 which induced 

 such a complete ripening of the wood that it caused 

 the sycamore-trees to start with unusual vigour in the 

 spring of this year, and that organs were thereby pro- 



I duced which, had the trees been somewhat less 

 vigorous, would have been entirely suppressed. — 

 Robert Holland, Norton Hill, Runcorn. 



The Tyrian Dye. — Your correspondent " B." 

 (see No. 155, p. 260) is evidently unaware that this 

 celebrated dye was of a crimson hue, or he would not 



1 have imagined that it might have been extracted from 

 Leptoclinium punctatum, "because when put into 



I water, it (Z. pnncta/itm) stained the water of a blue 

 colour." The word purpureas, whence the English 

 purple, signifies "bright red," as Digitalis purpurea, 



j the Foxglove. The present corrupt use of the word 



; purple to signify a shade of blue is quite recent. Has 

 " B." never read Izaak Walton's lines on fishing, in 



. which he mentions the common perch, with its " fins 

 of Tyrian dye"?— W. R. Tate, Blandford, Dorset. 



A Curiosity .—I have in my possession a Hindoo 

 or Burmese sword-handle made from an elephant's 

 tusk, on which, after the Eastern fashion, many quaint 

 and curious figures are carved: men with grotesque 

 and hideous faces disfigured with elephants' trunks, 

 crocodiles' mouths, monkeys' heads, and the like. 

 Among these forms, but separated from the rest, is 

 carved a tiger or bear, I am not sure which, but 

 think the latter : in its mouth it holds a fish. Now, 

 I should very much like to ascertain if this has been 

 carved among its fellow-anomalies as a prodigy that 

 has been said to have existed, but which the executor, 

 desiring to ridicule, placed among his monstrosities. 

 South American travellers of good repute tell tales 

 of the common jaguar (Leopardus Onca) hanging over 

 the banks of streams, and catching the unwary fish 

 that chance to pass by. Is it on record that any 

 member of the Felidre or Isabella; of the old world 

 ever performed the same feat ? — Daccart Aikone. 



Sudden Change in Colour of the Human 

 Hair. — " Is it possible for a person's hair to turn 

 white in a short time ? " There are so many instances 

 now on record, that there ought to be no longer any 

 doubt upon the subject. In the late Arctic expedition 

 nearly every man's hair became greyer, and in some 

 cases white, but assumed its natural colour when the 

 men returned to lower latitudes. In many cases the 

 human hair is said to have turned grey from grief, 

 extreme care, or sudden fright. My experience is 

 very small, but nevertheless may be interesting to 

 some of the readers of Science-Gossip. During an 

 outward passage to Australia, the ship I was in 

 suffered greatly in the British Channel ; twice we 

 were nearly wrecked, having lost three anchors and 

 two cables. The pilot who had charge was con- 

 stantly on watch, only snatching a few minutes' sleep 

 here and there, as opportunity afforded. On the 

 whole, he had a very anxious time indeed, and when 

 he eventually left the ship off the Isle of Wight he 



