Tl8 



HARD WI CKE 'S S CIE NCE-GOS SIP. 



or beech marten, with a white breast, and the yellow- 

 breasted, or pine marten. It is now supposed that 

 the yellow-breasted sort is a younger animal than 

 those which have a white breast ; at all events, speci- 

 mens have been obtained from the same covert, hav- 

 ing an intermediate tone of colour. Foxhounds hunt 

 this animal with great eagerness, and seem to like 

 their scent. It has been remarked that the viscid 

 effluvia belonging to the other members of the Mus- 

 telidce does not exist in the Marten, which has the 

 usual glands for the secretion of humour ; but, instead 

 of a fetid smell, it emits a musky and rather agreeable 

 odour." 



Worms in Sticklebacks.— I have been waiting 

 patiently for some answer in the pages of Science- 

 Gossip to a letter of mine asking the nature and 

 reason of the occurrence of large flat worms in every 

 stickleback taken from a certain pond. These worms, 

 in number as many sometimes as six, seemed almost 

 to fill the fish, and to cause their death in our 

 aquarium. The matter seems to me both curious 

 and interesting, and I should be glad if some corre- 

 spondent would give an account of them. — IV. E. 

 Thompson. 



Tree-creeper. — Leaning against a tree in 

 Hyde Park, London, I saw a Tree-creeper, Certhia 

 familiaris, alight on a tree close to me and begin 

 searching for insects. I watched it for some time, 

 till it flew away to another tree, whither I followed 

 and again watched it. Are they often seen in Lon- 

 don ?— Arthur S. Blachett. 



The Botany of the Channel Islands. — Can 

 any of your readers give me any information as to the 

 best method of conducting a botanical tour in the 

 Channel Islands ? Is the living there expensive or 

 not ? Is it best to put up at hotels, or at farm- 

 houses ? Any such information will be most accept- 

 able. — J. Comber. 



Frog-spawn. — I send a few notes on some frog- 

 spawn collected on March 14th of the present year, 

 and exposed only to the natural atmosphere. March 

 15th, at 7 p.m., — a few tadpoles free from the albu- 

 men. March 20th, all out of the embryo state, and, 

 by the 22nd, the gills clearly visible. During the 

 cold weather at the latter end of the month, the tad- 

 poles lay at the top of the water, apparently stupefied. 

 — R. E. S., Richmond. 



Midnight Songsters. — In reference to the 

 thrushes and blackbirds, together with other of our 

 sweet songsters, singing at midnight during the early 

 spring and summer months (Science-Gossip, page 

 93)> we have often noticed this fact with surprise, 

 especially on a fine bright night, when the chorus of 

 song seemed to be carried on through the night, with 

 very little cessation, increasing in liveliness as the 

 early morning dawned, causing one to remark that 

 the birds sang all night as well as all day long. 

 Some four years since, about the months of May or 

 June, many people visited our neighbourhood (New- 

 castle, Staffordshire), to listen to the sweet music of 

 the various birds singing far on in the night ; among 

 which was one of the warblers, whose note was so 

 sweet that it was mistaken for a nightingale. The 

 latter bird has rarely been known to come so far 

 north. — E. Edwards. 



Cucumber and Black Beetles. — In reply to 

 Mr. Smyth's question, as to whether the peel of the 

 cucumber destroys as well as alluies the beetle, I 

 venture to remark that it does both. Some members 

 of my own household have tried the experiment ; the 



smell of the cucumber peel allures the beetles, and 

 after eating it they die almost directly, some close to 

 the peel, others as they are moving away from it, to 

 retire in their holes.— E. Edwards. 



What is the Whipultre (Science-Gossip, 

 No. 160, p. 95). — I do not think Chaucer's "Whip- 

 ultre " has ever been satisfactorily identified, and I 

 can only make a very diffident suggestion as to the 

 species meant. In some dialects the cross-bar from 

 which horses pull a plough is called a " whippletree," 

 and these are generally, if not always, made of ash. 

 It is possible, therefore, that the whipultre is the ash ; 

 and it might be so called because whipple-trees were 

 made from the wood, or the instruments might be 

 named from the tree of which they were made. This 

 view receives confirmation — very slight, it is true — 

 from the fact that whilst most of the more common 

 trees are mentioned by Chaucer in the passage indi- 

 cated, the ash is omitted from the list. The Cornel- 

 tree (Cornus sangninea) has been suggested, but I do 

 not know on what grounds. — Robert Holland, Norton 

 Hall, Runcorn. 



Fluid for Strengthening Bones, <S:c. — Will 

 some of your readers inform me whether dilute sili- 

 cate of potash, recommended some time back by one 

 of your correspondents for strengthening fragile shells, 

 is suitable for fragile small bones and teeth, say, of 

 Arvicola, &c. ? — Jolin Fuller. 



Preserving Skins. — Sir, I should feel greatly 

 obliged if any one could tell me of any means of pre- 

 serving the skins of birds and other animals without 

 the use of arsenic and corrosive sublimate, or any 

 other poison. If you will be good enough to answer 

 this query in the pages of Science-Gossip, kindly 

 do so under the initials "J. Y." — y. Young. 



The Colorado Potato-beetle. — Without affect- 

 ing to undervalue Mr. Rye as an antagonist, I certainly 

 should not have asked you for any portion of your 

 space to reply to him had he not chosen to indulge 

 in insinuations, as I think, totally uncalled for. 

 Notwithstanding Mr. Rye's strictures, I adhere 

 unflinchingly to the positions taken in my first paper. 

 1st. That the potato-beetle is not of such great import 

 as to justify Mr. Rye in dubbing him an "oppressor," 

 nor in saying that "earnest and energetic steps should 

 be taken at the present unprecedented juncture" to 

 prevent the access of the foe to the shore of Great 

 Britain. 2nd. That although it is well to exercise 

 vigilance in this matter, I do condemn the use of 

 Paris gieen as a curative agent, because dangerous 

 and totally unnecessary ; and I say again, without 

 intending any reflection against anybody in particular, 

 that the notoriety given to Paris green in America 

 is very probably due to the cause mentioned in my 

 first paper. As to the "fouling of the nest," then, 

 the charge would appear to be groundless ; but 

 whether or not, I contend that this is one of the cases 

 in which truth should prevail. Mr. Rye appears to 

 think that 1 have unjustly classed him among the 

 alarmists. I never so classed him, except by impli- 

 cation. Will any one read over the first part of Mr. 

 Rye's article in your September number, and say 

 whether such a c'assification would not have been 

 correct ? To be sure he does, in your March number, 

 inform us that the article "was written sarkastic," 

 and as I did not appear to see the " sarkasm," he 

 impeaches my knowledge of the English language. 

 I fear that I shall have to plead guilty ; but the 

 language used by Mr. Rye is in general anything 

 but funny. Still he ought best to know whether or 



