HARD WICKE '5 S CIENCE -GOSS IP. 



95 



Crag-, through Southwaite Dale, over Ling Howe's 

 Nook, to the Sandbeds at Bassenthwaite. About 

 two hours had now elapsed, and the pace was begin- 

 ning to tell on the poor fox when his intelligence 

 began to be displayed in a remarkable manner. 

 After crossing and recrossing a road he made towards 

 a stackyard, but, failing to find there the shelter he 

 sought, he took another direction for some distance ; 

 but again returned by almost the same route, until he 

 reached a road on which a flock of sheep was being 

 driven. Knowing that he had nothing to fear from 

 these animals, and placing confidence in the driver, 

 he deliberately took his place in the middle of the 

 flock ; and, measuring his pace with the sheep, in 

 this manner he travelled with them for some dis- 

 tance. The means he had adopted to save his life 

 might well have excited a feeling of pity and admira- 

 tion at this remarkable act of intelligence, but the 

 gratification of witnessing the poor animal mangled 

 to death by a pack of ravenous dogs possessed greater 

 attraction, and he was ruthlessly driven from the 

 midst of the sheep, and compelled to devise other 

 means for the preservation of his life. He made to 

 a cottage hard by, and attempted to enter it, but was 

 driven from the door by one of the female inmates. 

 He then passed to the rear of the cottage, and threw 

 his wearied and exhausted frame down on the sward 

 instead. But his rest was brief; he was again 

 aroused by his relentless pursuers, and, making a 

 final effort for his life, he was shortly caught and 

 worried to death. Has the Society for the Preven- 

 tion of Cruelty to Animals no power to take cog- 

 nizance of such inhuman acts as this ? Here is an 

 animal endowed with little short of human intelli- 

 gence for the protection of his life, tortured for up- 

 wards of two hours, and then torn in pieces for the 

 gratification of his persecutors. Cases twenty times 

 less revolting than this are almost daily brought up 

 by the Humane Society and punished. Burns, when 

 he had turned up the nest of a mouse with his plough, 

 and saw one of his labourers chasing it, indignantly 

 exclaimed, in that beautiful poem to a mouse, — 



" I'm truly sorry man's dominion, 

 Has broken Nature's social union." 



It is no argument, that because the fox, to sustain 

 his life may make free with pheasants, rabbits, and 

 even barn-door fowl, he should be tortured for 

 hours, and ultimately torn to pieces. It is his nature, 

 and his life is as sweet to him as to us. There are 

 other means for his destruction with comparatively 

 little pain without this prolonged torture. — Dipt on 

 Burn. 



Aquaria. — I have kept a great number of Aquaria, 

 both salt and fresh- water ones. I have often watched 

 the sticklebacks, both salt and fresh-water, and both 

 sorts are very fond of attacking other fish, particu- 

 larly the fresh-water species. The latter attacked 

 goldfish, roach, sace, minnows, and other kinds of 

 fish, as well as newts and tritons. They nibble the 

 tails and fins off the fish, particularly the goldfish, 

 and the fish get diseased through it and pine away 

 and die. I have lost a great many goldfish by their 

 depredations. They nibble or bite the toes and tail 

 off the newts : I have seen their tails bitten so fre- 

 quently by them that there has been very little left of 

 them. I should never advise any one to place them 

 in a nice-stocked aquarium, and they should be kept 

 out of small ornamental' ponds where there are gold- 

 fish. If you wish to see how destructive they are, 

 place some of those fish or animals in an aquarium 

 that I have mentioned by themselves ; you will then 

 see that the sticklebacks will not let them rest a 



minute ; they will worry the poor fish to death. — A. 

 J. R. Si later, Teignmouth. 



Black Beetles. — On looking over my old Sci- 

 ence-Gossips, I find cucumber peelings are recom- 

 mended as a bait for black beetles. It is the custom 

 in these parts to throw the peelings near their haunts, 

 under the impression that it kills them ; but this 

 paragraph leads me to believe the cucumber merely 

 allures but does not destroy the beetles. Can any of 

 your readers inform me whether it destroys as well as 

 allures them ? — Arthur Smyth, Parracombe. 



Early Birds. — Our local papers contain notices 

 of a robin's nest containing five eggs, on which the 

 hen bird was sitting on the last day of the year. 

 This was between Watchet and Williton, Somerset. 

 It is also stated that a thrush's nest with four eggs 

 might be seen in a droveway at Ilminster, in the 

 same county, the first week in the year. — IV. Mac- 

 milla.1t, Castle Cary, Somerset. 



What is the Whipultre ? — Can any of your 

 readers say what tree Chaucer meant by the 

 " Whipultre ?" The word occurs in an enumeration 

 of trees. All those otherwise mentioned are there- 

 fore precluded. Vide 2,925 of the " Knighte's 

 Tale."— G. L. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS, 



To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now 

 publish Science-Gossip a week earlier than heretofore, we 

 cannot possibly insert in the following number any communi- 

 cations which reach us later than the gth of the previous 

 month. 



A. L. (Nottingham). — It is a variety of common water-mint 

 {Mentha aquatica). 



W. K. (Leeds). — The light, or whitish seeds, are the product 

 of Ccrsalpiiiia cariaria, often named " Libi-dibi," probably 

 now corrupted commercially into Divi-divi. We could only 

 detect about two of the darker seeds : they must have trickled 

 from the envelope. 



D. S. (Ealing). — The brown spots on the under side of leaf of 

 oak are generally called by village children "Oak-stars" and 

 "Oak-spangles." They are not fungi, but galls produced by 

 Diplolepis lenticularis. On the long (lanceolate) leaves you 

 enclose, evidently a sallow, is a perfect fungus, now named 

 Melampsora salicina. Early in the season it assumes a straw 

 colour at this stage ; it was formerly named Lecytliea sp., 

 because it was supposed to be a distinct species. It is very 

 common on poplars and willows the year through. The best 

 work on British Botany is Hooker's " Student's Flora." You 

 should get Davies on " Microscopic Mounting." 



E. Clark. — We are sorry you are not pleased with the 

 return parcel of plants. With the exception of another botanical 

 exchanger (a lady), all have expressed their high sense of satis- 

 faction with their parcels, the labour and expense cf arranging 

 which have been very great. 



A. H. H. — You will find full directions "how to preserve 

 spiders,'' in an article by Dr. Dyce, under the above heading, 

 in Science-Gossip, for January, 1868. In Science-Gossip 

 volume for 1875 there is an article by our best spider authority, 

 the Rev. Mr. Cambridge, on the same subject, together with 

 several notes and queries relating to collecting and preserving 

 spiders. 



E. C. J.— There is no work as yet published on Australian 

 Tertiary Polyzoa that we are aware of. Inquire of Mr. Robert 

 Etheridge, jun., Geological Survey Office, India-buildings, 

 Yictoria-street, Edinburgh, who has worked on the subject. 

 Your best plan would be to offer to exchange Polyzoa with 

 C. Harris. 



T. Shipton. — We should think you would be able to obtain 

 the collapsible nozzled tubes by ordering them through any 

 first-class chemist. 



J. S., Jun. (Warrington). — Your sea-weeds are — 1. a faded 

 red plant, probably Rhodymenia falmata ; 2. Fragment of 

 some dried plant, species undistinguishable, covered with tufts 

 of Calothrix confe-rvicoia and faded masses of jfauia rubensi 

 3. Portion of Hatidrys sitiguosa, with tufts of Sphacclaria 

 cirrhosa; 4. Probably Gracilaria confervoides ; 5. Faded and 

 stunted specimens of Ceramium ru'rum. 



