240 



NA TURE 



\_July 10, 1884 



felt, and, besides, his mathematical tastes would naturally incline 

 him, of the two, to take up electricity rather than geology. 



It is lamentable to think that this radical change, by which 

 science is virtually shelved, is solely due, as the Duke of Cam- 

 bridge -aid. to a desire on the part of the authorities to eliminate 

 the " crammers," and get boys passed into Sandhurst and Wool- 

 wich direct from the public schools. 



Now, however desirable the approximation to such an ideal 

 may lie to the authorities, or even the public schools, it is very 

 questionable whether it will prove equally desirable for the service, 

 unless indeed means are taken to insure that the schools will do 

 their work more efficiently than heretofore. This is scarcely 

 likely lu be accomplished by cutting science or even English 

 literature out of the scheme, under the pretence that such sub- 

 jects admit of being "crammed." The truth is that in these 

 points the authorities have simply pandered to the present 

 inability of the schools to teach these subjects successfully. Nor 

 is it likely that the schools will be any more successful in the 

 teaching of French and German up to the new standard, than 

 they have been up to the old. In this, as in everything else, the 

 tutors by the new scheme are really left masters of the situation. 



Why do not the authorities accept what the Marquess of Salis- 

 bury maintained was inevitable so long as competitive examina- 

 tions existed, and instead of attempting the impossible task of 

 uprooting the tutor, place him on a recognised official footing, 

 give him in place of the prestige which efficiently insures the 

 maintenance of discipline at the large public schools, the pro- 

 tecting regis of a few simple rules which every tutor would be 

 obliged to enforce, and the breach of which would render the 

 offender liable to be denied entrance into the service ? This 

 would correct the evils which are prevalent at some of our larger 

 army "coaching" establishments, and then there need be no reason 

 fir the pretence under which a candidate is supposed to be 

 better fitted for life by a total ignorance of science and the litera- 

 ture of his own country, in lieu of which, like a parrot, he lias 

 been taught to chatter one or two foreign languages. 



Tunbridge Wells, July 1 E. Douglas Archibald 



Animal Intelligence 



Having noticed some time ago a number of letters in 

 Nature on the above subject, I venture to publish an instance, 

 which came under my own observation last month, of extra- 

 ordinary intelligence in a rat. I was standing in the doorway of 

 a large shed, the further end of which had been partitioned off 

 with bars to form a fowl-house, when I was attracted by a 

 gnawing and scraping noise ; turning round I saw a rat run from 

 a large dog-biscuit which was lying on the floor, and pass 

 through the bars. Being curious to watch if he would return, I 

 kept quiet, and presently saw a well-grown specimen of the 

 "common brown rat" (A/us decumanus) come cautiously for- 

 ward, and after nibbling for a short time at the biscuit, drag it 

 towa d the bars, which are only two inches apart, and would not 

 allow the biscuit to pass. After several unsuccessful attempts he 

 left it, and in about five minutes returned with another rat, rather 

 smaller than himself. He then came through the bars, and, 

 pushing his nose under the biscuit, gradually tipped it on edge, 

 rat number two pulling vigorously from the other side ; by this 

 means they finally succeeded in getting a four-inch biscuit 

 through a two-inch aperture. Not feeling pleased that my 

 dog's biscuits should be used as food for rats, I threw a hammer 

 at them and picked up the biscuit. 



I think the conduct of these animals showed a wonderful 

 amount of intelligence ; it was evident that the first rat saw that 

 to get the biscuit through the bars it was necessary that it should 

 be 011 its edge, and, not being able to tip it and pull at the same 

 time, he gained the assistance of a friend. 



The short space of time during which he was absent, and the 

 concerted ac ion, show also that they must have some wonder- 

 fully facile means of communicating idea,. T. W. Kirk 



Colonial Museum. Wellington, New Zealand, Mav 



About twenty miles from this, in the town of Larne, there 

 resides a gentleman in the- possession of a cat, which is so great 

 a favourite that every day a plate and chair are placed for her 

 beside her master, whose repast she shares with supreme 

 content. 



One day for some reason the dinner was postponed, but the 

 cat came in at the usual hour. She was evidently much discon- 



certed at seeing nothing going on, walked once or twice discon- 

 solately round the table, then disappeared. Shortly afterwards 

 she returned with a mouse, which she laid on her master's plate, 

 then going away, she came back a second time with a mouse, 

 which she put on her own plate. She postponed further pro- 

 ceedings until her master returned, when she immediately began 

 to purr and nib herself against his legs, as much as to say, 

 " See how nicely I have provided for you." 



Between this town and the village of Holywood there is a 

 country house which happened to take fire last week. The cat 

 of the house, which had access to the servant-maid's apartments, 

 ran up and pawed the young woman's face. Being very drowsy, 

 the girl turned to sleep afresh. The cat, however, after some 

 interval returned, and proceeded to scratch the girl's face to 

 such purpose that she rose, and, smelling the fire, wakened the 

 other members of the household, and the flames were extin- 

 guished. 



A nephew of mine who is fond of cats generally keeps three 

 or four, and by dint of pains and kindness teaches them a variety 

 of tricks. I saw one of them sipping cream from a teaspoon, 

 which it held between its two forepaws. I might relate quite a 

 number of other particulars about cats, but do not like to tres- 

 pass further on your space. The foregoing, along with the 

 other details which I have already furnished, are perhaps not 

 unworthy to be placed beside the interesting particulars narrated 

 by the younger Cuvier and Mr. Romanes in reference to the 

 intelligence of animals. Henry MacCormac 



Belfast 



Butterflies as Botanists 



The caterpillars of Mechanitis, Dircenna, Ceratinia, and 

 Ithonia feed on different species of Solanaceae (Solanum, Cypho- 

 mandra, Bassovia, Cestrum), tho e of the allied genus Thyridia 

 on Brunfelsia. Now this latter genus of plants had been placed 

 unanimously among the Scrophularinese, till quite recently it 

 was transferred by Bentham and Hooker to the Solanaceae. 

 Thus it appears that butterflies had recognised the true affinity 

 of Brunfelsia long before botanists did so. 



There is yet another and more curious instance of our butter- 

 flies confirming the arrangement of plants in Bentham and 

 Hooker's "Genera Plantarum." Ageronia and Didonis were 

 formerly widely separated by lepidopterists, being even con- 

 sidered as constituting distinct families, but now they are to be 

 found beside one another among the Nymphalina% and the 

 structure of their caterpillars leaves no doubt about their close 

 affinity. The caterpillars of Ageronia feed on Dalechampia, 

 those of Didonis on Tragia. Now these two Euphorbiaceous 

 genera were widely separated by Endlicher, who placed the 

 former among the Euphorbiese, the latter among the Acalyphese ; 

 Bentham and Hooker, on the contrary, place them close together 

 in the same sub-tribe of Plukenetieae, and thus their close 

 affinity, which had been duly appreciated by butterflies, has 

 finally been recognised by botanists also. Fritz Muller 



Blumenau, Santa Catharina, Brazil, June I 



Christian Conrad Sprengel 



Will you allow me a short reply to Prof. Hagen's letter pub- 

 lished in Nature (vol. xxix. p. 572) ? It is evident that Prof. 

 Hagen's statements are very far from proving what he asserted 

 in his former letter, viz. that between 1830 and 1840 Sprengel's 

 discoveries were known to every student in Pru sia, and I think 

 it would be easy to any one resident in Germany to prove the 

 contrary by simply c nfronting what the manuals of botany pub- 

 lished at that time >ay about the fertilisation of flowers. Thus, 

 as I learn from Delpino's " Ulteriori Osservazioni " (p. 88), 

 Link ("Elem. Philos. Bot.," ii. 1837, p. 222) and Trevir.inus 

 (" Physiol, der Gew.," ii. 1838, p. 343), both of whom, accord- 

 ing to Hagen, were entirely acquainted with Sprengel's dis- 

 coveries, adopt Cassini's erroneous view of the fertilisation of 

 Campanula being effected through the collecting-hairs of the 

 style instead of through the stigmatic papillae ; and this must 

 have been almost impossible for any one acquainted with 

 Sprengel's excellent account of Campanula rotnndifolia (" Ent- 

 deckte Geheimniss," p. 109). What Prof. Kunth, in his lectures 

 ai the Berlin University, taught about the fertilisation of flowers 

 may be seen in his " Lehrbuch d-r Botanik" (1847, d. 422). 

 Almost every line contains errors splendidly and convincingly 

 refuted by Sprengel. Thus he considers as contrivances serving 



