28o 



HA R D IVICKE'S S CIE NCE- G OS SI P. 



that it is still worth searching in old " Herbals " and 

 medical books for an explanation of the meaning of 

 the "deadly Hebenon " in Hamlet; the "insane 

 root" in Macbeth; Oberon's " Love-in-idlenesse ;" 

 and the " Hoemony " in Comus. The exquisite 

 descriptions which accompany these names lead one 

 to think that they are not simply flowers of poetry, 

 but represented some plants of forgotten " tempera- 

 ture and vertues."- — Thomas E. Aviyot, Diss. 



Is Fool's Parsley (^thusa Cynapium) 

 Poisonous ? — The reason for still asking this ques- 

 tion will be explained by the following report taken 

 from the " Scotsman" newspaper of September 30th. 

 " The fatal case of po'isoning at Kairnside — Report 

 by the analyst. — A report has just been received by 

 the procuiator-fiscal of the county of Inverness from 

 Dr. Littlejohn, of Edinburgh, with regard to the 

 latal case of poisoning which occurred at the house of 

 Mrs. Johnstone, Nairnside, on August 29th. In 

 consequence of having partaken of rabbit soup, in 

 which were some parsley and some curry powder, ten 

 persons were taken ill, and one of these, Mary 

 Macdonald, the cook, died. The contents of the 

 stomach of the deceased were sent to Edinburgh for 

 analysis by Dr. Littlejohn, and Dr. Littlejohn's report 

 says there can be no doubt that the symptoms point 

 to a poison possessing narcotic properties, and, there- 

 fore, not a pure irritant ; he has been struck by their 

 similarity to those caused by the Umbelliferse, to which 

 common parsley belongs. A plant of this family, 

 which possesses actively poisonous properties (fatal 

 accidents having been recorded from its having been 

 taken instead of domestic parsley) is called ' Fool's 

 parsley,' from its resemblance to ordinary parsley, of 

 which the popular name is lesser hemlock. Had 

 portions of this plant accidentally (in mistake for 

 parsley) been put into the soup and eaten. Dr. Little- 

 john is clearly of opinion that the fatal result in the 

 case of the girl Macdonald, and the symptoms of 

 poisoning in the others affected, would be satisfac- 

 torily accounted for. He thinks it, therefore, highly 

 probable that all these cases at Nairnside were due 

 to a vegetable poisoning of an accidental character." 

 After the careful and apparently conclusive experi- 

 ments of Dr. Harley with this plant, noted in 

 Science-Gossip of February (p. 46), and July (p. 164), 

 another question arises, viz., can the same species of 

 plant be poisonous in one locality and innocuous in 

 another ? This seems highly improbable, and yet 

 statements to this elTect have been made by eminent 

 authorities, with regard to other reputed poisonous 

 plants of the same family, such as the water-hemlock 

 {Cicuta z'i?-osa), the hemlock-dropwort {(Eiianthe 

 crocata), &c. — R. L., Edinburgh. 



PULEX IRRITANS.— Will you. Or any of your 

 readers, kindly inform me how to obtain specimens 

 of the larva and pupa of the human flea ? I read 

 that the female flea lays a great number of eggs, 

 sticking them together with a glutinous matter ; 

 those of fleas infesting the dog or cat are made fast 

 to the roots of the hairs ; in four days' time the eggs 

 are hatched, and a small white worm or grub is seen 

 crawling about, and feeding actively. After remain- 

 ing in this state about nine or ten days, it assumes 

 a pupa form, which it retains for four days ; and in 

 nine days more becomes a perfect flea. I have never 

 been successful in finding them in the larva or pupa 

 state, and fancy they would not be uninteresting 

 objects for the microscope. — /'. Farrant, 43, Sydjicy 

 Street, Brightoji. 



lilTING POWERS OF THE StAG BEETLE. — As 



opinions and facts rather diverse from each other 



have been published on this question, I may state that 

 I have had several living males, and one or two females 

 in my possession, and did not find them inclined to 

 be pugnacious, even when irritated. — J. R. S. C. 



Flukes in Sheep. — Sir, kindly allow me to cor- 

 rect two misprints in my little note respecting flukes- 

 which appeared in Science-Gossip for November. 

 The eggs of the fluke are produced in the Liver, not 

 the "skin " of the sheep, and they find their ^^■ay out 

 into the World, not "wool," to effect their various 

 changes. — Helen E. Wat7tey. 



Tree Frogs. — Tree frogs pass the winter in their 

 native homes at the bottom of some stagnant pool of 

 water, and they will gladly do the same in confine- 

 ment, if the means are provided by placing a shallow 

 pan half filled with wet mud in a corner of their glass 

 house. A lady I know kept three of these pretty 

 little creatures for several years in this manner. She 

 fed them in summer with flies, spiders, small earth- 

 worms, tiny white slugs, and they occasionally took 

 a little raw beef minced very fine. But in winter they 

 retired to the mud bath and rested. The pan contain- 

 ing them was kept in a warm greenhouse. All frogs 

 lose their desire for food as winter advances, and the 

 tree frog is no exception to the others of its race. 

 Fitz Gerald should put a small fern or two in the glass 

 case along with his frogs ; they thrive better it they 

 have plants to shelter vindei'. — Helen E. Watiiey. 



A TAILED Frog. — While camping out on one of 

 our beautiful lakes. Lovesick Lake — so called from 

 the untimely death by drowning in its waters of an 

 Indian maiden, whose unrequited love for a young 

 "brave" had made her life a burden — I captured 

 the other day, a frog with a tail. The reptile is two 

 and a half inches long from tip of nose to tip of tail : 

 the latter abnormal appendage, which, Irom some 

 cause or other, perhaps from failure to procure 

 sufficient or proper food, had not been eliminated or 

 become absorbed, on the development of the legs, is 

 an inch in length, and a quarter of an inch wide at the 

 butt-end. — Rev. Vincent Clemeiiti, B.A., Pcterboro', 

 Ontario, Canada. 



Do Parrots require Water ? — Most assuredly 

 they do ; like all other birds, parrots, in their wild 

 state, are water drinkers ; and I have seen thousands 

 of them, of different species, resorting night and 

 morning to the water-holes and creeks, when I lived 

 in Australia, and I have shot numbers of them while 

 they were in the act of drinking. I have also re- 

 peatedly seen them sucking the dew from the grass 

 and leaves, a custom which my own domesticated 

 parrakeets have not forgotten. The startling state- 

 ment attributed by " Figaro " (a novel authority by-the- 

 way in such matters) to Mr. Bartlett that the birds 

 under his care are deprived of water, can only be 

 accepted with a considerable amount of reservation, 

 as Mr. James Hooper may ascertain for himself any 

 day by paying a visit to the Parrot House in the 

 "Zoo," where he will find a great many of the 

 parrots with drinking-water in their cages, and the 

 remainder supplied with moist food, such as sop, and 

 soaked corn and seed. That parrots are not large 

 drinkers, I am prepared to admit ; and that they can 

 and do exist for a long time without water is certain ; 

 but that scarcely affects the question at issue. Wild 

 parrots, at least those in Australia, unquestionably 

 drink, for I have seen them do so ; and I have bred 

 numbers of different kinds of these birds in this 

 country, and have closely studied their habits, and 

 they too drink freely. I can therefore only repeat 

 what I have written before, that it is absurd to say 



