154 



HA RE>1 VIC RE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



deep-sea fishes and crustaceans also emit a pale 

 phosphorescent light, and, illumined in the darkness, 

 are enabled to prey on each other, a marvellous in- 

 stance of adaptation to natural surroundings. 



The John Dorey [Zeus faber), like the Angler, is 

 also somewhat of a rarity in captivity, hut the speci- 

 mens exhibited in this Aquarium continue to thrive 

 admirably, feeding on the shoals of live sprats and 

 sand smelts sharing their abode. All the tanks, well 

 stocked with healthy inmates, are in excellent order, 

 testifying conclusively to the efficient care and atten- 

 tion of Mr. Lawler, resident curator and naturalist. 

 The sea-lions {Otaria Stelleri) are again on view, the 

 lioness having completely recovered from her late 

 serious indisposition. Two young female seals {Plwca 

 vitulina) now share the new seal-pond in the con- 

 servatory with the two males of the same species, old 

 inhabitants of the Aquarium. A fine specimen of 

 the curious Japanese Salamander {Triton Sieboldi), 

 measuring nearly 3 feet, has recently been added 

 to the collections. It is thoroughly acclimatized, 

 existing in fresh water at a normal temperature, and 

 feeding principally on raw beef and liver, which it 

 seems to prefer to the species of fresh-water fishes 

 offered alike for its acceptance. It is a sluggish, 

 weak-limbed reptile, covered with a dark-brown skin, 

 the head and throat being thickly dotted with the 

 glands so characteristic of the "warty newts," and 

 the large pores serving to distribute the viscous matter 

 shed over its exterior are distinctly visible. The 

 mouth is remarkably capacious, and the eyes so 

 minute and dull as to be hardly perceptible. Repre- 

 sentatives of the genus were first brought to Europe 

 by Dr. Von Siebold, who discovered them inhabiting 

 a lake on the top of a basaltic mountain in Japan. 

 It is the Sieboldtia gigantea, Bonap., and the Sala- 

 mandra maxima, Schelegel, but is now classed with 

 the Tritons, and bears a close resemblance to the 

 gigantic American newt (Mcnopoma) of the Alleghany 

 mountains, the generic difference consisting chiefly 

 in the permanence of the gill-slits in the one form, 

 and their disappearance in the adult Japanese species. 

 It is also interesting as being nearly allied to the huge 

 fossil salamander (Andrias Scheuchzeri), from the 

 fresh-water Miocene beds of CEningen, in Switzer- 

 land, so famous as the "Homo diluvii testis" of 

 Scheuchzer, who long maintained it to be a fossil 

 man, and therefore an indisputable relic of the 

 Noachian deluge. His views were put forth with 

 such persistence as to be accepted by many naturalists, 

 until the illustrious Clavier finally settled the contro- 

 versy. He obtained permission to remove the matrix, 

 and having previously made a rough sketch of the 

 animal he expected to find, proceeded to lay bare 

 some hidden portions of the specimen, and thus irre- 

 futably proved, in the presence of a group of asto- 

 nished spectators, that the much-vaunted fossil-man 

 was merely a gigantic salamander. 



A. Crane. 



THE HABITS, FOOD, AND USES OF THE 



EARTHWORM.— No. II. 



By Professor Paley, M.A. 



1. TN the first place, they bring up fresh under- 

 -L earth to the roots of the grass : this useful office 

 is done on a much larger scale by moles, which live 

 on worms, and throw up those heaps of well-crumbled 

 mould which are intended to relieve at intervals their 

 tunnels, made a few inches below the sod. We 

 know that farmers, who generally dislike what they 

 regard as superfluous trouble, and rarely possess much 

 scientific information, will pay a mole-catcher con- 

 siderable sums for the destruction of this harmless 

 and even useful creature, which they seem to regard 

 as a kind of rat ! If they would pay a tenth part of 

 the money to send into a meadow a small boy with a 

 small rake, and get the mole-heaps spread over the 

 grass, they would get a third more in their crop of 

 hay. 



2. All grazing animals eat a great quantity of 

 earth. They cannot avoid swallowing the worm- 

 casts, and they like to do so. Earth seems comfortable 

 to their insides, and it is certain that they enjoy it. 

 I used to ride a horse which, being regularly fed on 

 hay and corn, and not turned out to grass, pined for 

 a little dirt. Finding out this, I sometimes let him 

 go to a hedge-bank, slackened the rein, and watched 

 him scoop out with his tongue earth enough to fill a 

 pint-pot. This, I think, is the reason why a horse so 

 often stirs up the mud in a pond with his hoof be- 

 fore drinking. Many horses will paw the water even 

 when passing a clear stream, giving their riders the 

 fear that they want to lie down in it. Some races of 

 American Red Indians eat earth. The fact is attested 

 by Humboldt and others. It is said that the Jamaica 

 negroes will do this when other food is deficient or 

 not procurable.* 



3. Seeds of trees are dragged by worms into their 

 holes, and there germinate. This is most commonly 

 the case with the seeds of the ash and the sycamore, 

 both of which have their winged appendages set 

 slightly on one side, like the sails of a windmill, or 

 the screw-propeller of a ship, so that they are carried 

 by the wind and fall aslant at some distance from the 

 trees. I have repeatedly drawn both of these seeds 

 out of worm-holes, after they had begun to germinate. 

 The fact is established by the carrying down of seeds, 

 strewed on the surface, by worms kept in a pot. 

 There can be no doubt, therefore, that it is one of 

 the provisions of nature for the propagation of 

 vegetable life. 



If you examine a worm-cast, you will find that it is 

 composed partly of the earth ejected from the hole, 

 in small clods, slightly coherent (probably from some 

 admixture of the slime), and partly of excrementitious 

 matter. The latter is easily distinguished by its 



• See '• Races of Mankind," by Robert Brown, vol. i. p. 290. 



