Dec. 23, 1881.] 



KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



166 



ou Light," pnblislicd by Longmans, for an orplanation of tlio rain- 

 bow. It is too long to give here. Unless the same conespondent 

 (quor)' 68) knows something of the theory and action of tlie spec- 

 trosi'ope, I am afraid that he will not be much wiser when I tell 

 him that the velocity of solar storms is measured by the displace- 

 ment of certain lines in the spectrum of the sun's surroundings. 



I am not familiar with Rawliiison's researches in E^ryptiau liis- 

 tory, but "Actinolite" (query 72, p. 122) will find an exhaustive 

 argument in Buneeu's " Kgypt's Place in History," tending to fix 

 the date 3620 B.C. as that of the P\Tamids. 



" S. S. S. S." (qnery 79. p. 122) cannot possibly do better than 

 L'lt Carpenter's most interesting and amnsiiig " Mental Phj'siology." 



The researches of Mr. Homer, concerning which "Clio" puts 



lory 81 (p. 123), were undertaken between the years 1851 and 



I ^iH, partly at the cost of the Royal Society, but mainly at that of 



111' Viceroy, Abbas Pacha. No less than ninety-five shafts were 



' ired through the alluvium of the Nile Valley, through sediment 



V. hich the French engineers calculate is formed at an average rate 



f 5 inches in a century. At depths varj-ing from 16 to 21 feet, 



jars, vases, pots, and a small human figure in burned clay, a copper 



kiiifi>, and other entire articles were dug up." "Pieces of burnt 



iirick and pottery. Sir Charles Lyell moreover tells us, were 



I xtracted almost evei-ywhcre, and from all depths, even where they 



-ank 6i) feet below the surface." If then we divide 60 feet, »."., 



720 inches, by 5, we get 114, and as the estimation of the French 



< iigineers appears entirely trustworthy, that 5 inches of Nile 



■Ihivium are deposited in a century, this shows that pottery and 



ricfcmaking were practised by the Egj-ptians at least 14, -100 years 



In connection wnth query 87 (p. 123), I should like to put one my- 

 ■ If. 7)(i toads ever exist "for many years, enclosed in blocks of 

 •lid matter?" 1 fear that "Arachnida" is the victim of the 

 CIreat Gooseberry" column of some local newspaper. 



A Fellow of the Koyal Astronomical Society. 



"THE COMMON STAR -FISH, CROSS-FISH, OR FIVE 

 FINGERS iVHASTER RUBEXS, LIN., AG.), OCCASIONALLY 

 THE FOOD OF THE SUN-STAR {SOLASTER PAPPOSA, 

 LIN., FORBES)." 



[139] — Sir John G. Dalyell, in his excellent work, " The Powers 

 of the Creator displayed in the Creation" (Vol. i., p. 3), in 

 speaking of the common suu-star, states that " the fishermen 

 believe that this animal devom's the Asleiias glacialis" (I'rasfer 

 glacialis, Ag., Lin., Spiny Cross-fish). I am able to confii-ni this 

 assertion, so far, at least, as it relates to the closely-allied, but far 

 more common species, the Uras'er rubens, or common five-fingers. 

 Whilst on a visit for some weeks at Colvvyn Bay, North Wales, 

 during the mouths of September, October, and November last, 1 

 had ample opportunities of observing some of the habits of tlie sun- 

 star, great numbers of which I found amongst the sea-tangle 

 [Laminnria) beds, which, forest-like, waived their fronds in the 

 tidal waters close to the fishery weir at Rhos, in the [wssesfeiou of 

 Mr. Parry Evans. At the time of the low equinoctial tides, this 

 locality abounded iu specimens of fiolaster papposa ; it was the 

 commonest species present. I conld have collected wheel-barrows 

 full. Of course, the common star-fish, or five-fingers, was there 

 also — it has " a finger in every pie " ; but it did not abound to the 

 same extent as the sun-star. Here and there I met with Crihellce, 

 both Oculata and Rosea, as well as other members the Asteroidean 

 and Ophiiu'idcan order of the Echinodermata. It was a veiy com- 

 mon thing to notice within the stomachs of the larger individuals 

 of Solasler, rays of the five-fingers ; sometimes there were two, but 

 more generally one ray in a stomach. Now the ray was fresh, 

 having been recently swallowed, and miaffected by any digestive 

 process, now in a state more or less pulpy from the results of that 

 process. 



It has been long kno^vn that the food of star-fish consists, in a 

 great measure, of the succulent portions of different kinds of mol- 

 Inscs, such as mussels, oysters, scallops, &c., small Crustacea, and 

 other animals, which they kill and devour ; but so voracious are 

 they, that they will sometimes make a meal of one of their own 

 kind. It is ditficult to keep sun-stars alive for any length of time 

 m an artificial state ; they soon die, so that I was unable to discover 

 by experiment in what form of diet their propensities might be 

 snpposed to lie. Neither was I able to ascertain whether the sun- 

 star attacks the whole living five-fingers, by fir.st of all seizing the 

 pointed part of the r.iy and gradually sucking in its whole portion, 

 thus causing it to break o£E from the disc, or whether the remains 

 found in the stomach consisted of rays which had been, either 

 voluntarily or otherwise, detached from the body. Tlio destruction 

 which the five-fingers cau.9e to mussel and oyster-beds is wellknown, 

 and statements to this effect are corroborated by ample testimony. 

 Fishermen and others pi-actically interested in oyster fisheries, 



when examined before appointed Commissioners on this subject, 

 bear testimony, one and all, to the havoc occasioned by these star- 

 fish. Captain G. Austin, some timo ago engaged in the oyster 

 business at Whitstable, giive evidence before the Commissioners iu 

 the follomng words : — " They (the five-fingers) come like a flock of 

 gulls, and, unless the beds were well dredged, they would soon 

 destroy the spat. There is one kind that will cat an oyster itself, 

 yet it is a singular thing with regard to them that after they have 

 been dredged for a time, they roll themselves up and float away. 

 So much is that the case, that in jilaces where the fishermen have 

 caught ten bushels of five-fingers one day, they will go out the 

 next day and not catch one." (See Report of the Commissioners 

 appointed to Inquire into the Sea Fisheries of tho United Kingdom. 

 Vol. II., 1865, p. 1,.'?63.) There is every reason to believe that the 

 siua-star is also destructive to 03'sters ; if these asteroids are found, 

 which is often the case, on oyster beds, it is presumable that they 

 are there for some ]nirpose, and when we know that other closely- 

 allied members of this order possess in an eminent degree, and 

 when opportunity offers gratify, oyster-eating proclivities, it is 

 almost certain that their presence on the oyster or mussel beds 

 has a gastronomical explanation. Sir J. G. Dalyell has recorded 

 instances of sun-stars exhibiting cannibalism, and has been an eye- 

 witness of larger specimens devouring their smaller brothers. The 

 destructive agency of the sun-stars with respect to oysters must 

 be small compared with that wrought by the ubiquitous five-fingers, 

 for though the former are widely distributed round our coasts, they 

 are not so generally abmudaut as the latter. That the suu-star fre- 

 quently feeds upon the five-fingers I have lately had proof, but 

 whether the good they do in this respect is outbalanced joj' the evil 

 they cause to oj-sters, or whetlicr the good has any appreciable 

 effect on the natural increase of the five-fingers— these are ques- 

 tions I cannot answer. — Yours, W. Houghton, M.A., F.L.S. 



WORD-CHOICE. 



[1-10] — I hold that au Editor who amply lends his pages for the 

 actual use of the public at large, as well as for delight and teaching, 

 has a right to look for every aid that public can give him. Each 

 writer offering matter for insertion should be asked to consider the 

 length of every word he sets down. While thus sparing the printer's 

 costly time, and leaving blank the space otherwise needlessly filled, 

 he will at the same time be serving his own ends, since more space, 

 more letters. Not only so, but in another way he will be a gainer. 

 He will soon find that he is getting to write better Saxon English. 

 Rather write enough than sufficient, for instance ; hegin than com- 

 mence ; as well as letting us have using instead of employing whea 

 the sense permits. You can use your time, though you must employ 

 a workman. In the above few linos I had myself tripped. I was 

 about to write "entertainment and instruction." Besides being 

 shorter, " delight and teaching," arc, I think, better. 



WORD-LOVEB. 



ARE WOMEN INFERIOR TO MEN? 



[Ill] — I have just seen Knowledge for December 2, and have 

 read with much regret a letter (numbered 61), signed " Susan G.," 

 relating to your interesting article " Ai-e women inferior to men? " 

 If the writer is to be considei-ed a representative of her sex, I fear 

 she has injured the cause she wished to advance. In the first place, 

 some of her statements are not accurate. She says " in a gii-l's 

 education the brain is but slightly exercised." Now in point of 

 fact, in the jiresent day, girls' education is quite as comprehensive 

 as boys', with less relaxation in the way of cricket, football, &c., to 

 counterbalance the study. " Music and needlework," your corre- 

 spondent thinks, " scarcely exercise it (the brain) at all." I 

 wonder what Haydn, Handel, and Bach would say on that point ? 

 If music is music, and not mere mechanical "strumming," it cannot 

 be called a brainless study. And yet it has to be worked at in the 

 hours that boys devote to football. 



As to " Susan G.'s" theory that whipping would develope brain, it 

 appears to me that people with brain do not want whipping. The 

 two great incentives to study are " interest in the work" and "love 

 of the master," and if those who have tlie training of boys and girls 

 can inspire these, as every good teacher can, the brain results will 

 be much better than those shown by a girl of eighteen taken from 

 her natural pursuit (?) — "husband-catching," and whipped into a 

 course of study for which she has no inclination. 

 ; Having entered a protest against the whipping theory, may I ask 

 you, for my own information and that of others, whether a compari- 

 son, to be quite fair, should not bo between those whose surround- 

 ings are similar ? Do you not think that as the mind of a man 

 having the care of motherless children or of a sick "wife, becomes 

 insensibly domesticated, and almost womanly (as distinct from 

 effeminate), so the mind of a woman called upon to enter a profes- 

 sion or manage a business becomes widened and strengthened by 



