23 
May 26, 1870] 
NATURE 
67 
give pleasure to some of your readers. 
slain, Mr. Lushington says :— 
Lay them there like soldiers— 
Men that did not blench. 
Many a sad serfmother 
Yearns for these at home ; 
Yet she thinks, ‘* My children 
Never more shall come. 
Few, alas, of many 
Come back from the wars. 
There they die, fulfilling 
God’s will and the Czar’s !” 
Oxford, May 23 
Speaking of the Russian 
-G. ROLLESTON 
Carp and Toads 
In reference to Bufo calamita attaching itself to the carp, and 
pressing its thumbs into the fish’s eyes (see NATURE, May 12th), I 
would mention that the male Batrachia in the spawning season 
often attach themselves to any object, pressing the hands, on which 
is developed, at this season, a peculiar, black, wart-like structure, 
into the object which they seize—a stick, a human finger, or a carp 
as it appears, being sometimes hugged with spasmodic violence. 
A curious illustration of the reflex nature of this movement, and 
the inhibitory function of the cerebrum in regard to reflex actions, 
was witnessed by me lately, on cutting through the neck ofa 
male toad. My finger was between the animal’s fore legs, but 
on account of fright, or some other cerebral operation, no 
hugging action took place ; but directly the connection between 
the spinal cord and cerebrum was severed, the arms joined 
closely upon my finger, the thumbs being pressed into it in the 
usual way, and the headless body held firmly to me with con- 
siderable muscular power. Just as the leg of the brainless frog 
is withdrawn more rapid!y from acidulated water, than is that 
of a perfectly sound and healthy specimen, so did the hugging 
action of the forearms fail to be brought about by contact of the 
extremities with a foreign body whilst the animal was whole, but 
took place immediately upon the severance of the cerebrum from 
connection with the rest of the cerebro-spinal axis. 
Hampstead, May 16 FE. Ray LANKESTER 
WITH reference to the disease existing amongst the carp at 
the Chateau de Montigny, and its presumed connection with “ the 
first days of spring,” and the animosity of the toad for the carp, 
permit me to take up the cudgels, not for the early spring but for 
the poor maligned toad, which like other possessors of jewelled 
heads has already but too many enemies. On two occasions I 
have noticed the curious train of symptoms detailed by M. 
Duchemin, commencing with blindness, and ending in death. 
One occurred in Norway, and the trout and grayling were the 
only fish affected ; the other in Lord Bathurst’s park in this 
town, when the pike only were attacked whilst the perch and 
tench escaped. In both these instances I instituted a series of 
experiments to ascertain the probable cause of death. No in- 
testinal worms were discoverable, nor did any of the tissues 
appear congested or otherwise diseased, with the exception of the 
eyes, in which the cornea became opaque and friable so that on 
yery slight pressure the crystalline lens escaped. The long dura- 
tion of this blindness before death supervened, rendered it pro- 
bable that starvation was at least usually the cause of death. In 
both cases spring was the time of the attack, but in neither were 
toads observed in proximity to the diseased fish ; indeed, in that 
part of Norway where the disease existed, toads are almost un- 
known. One cause only has as yet suggested itself to me, and 
that is the presence of diffused mud in the water. As both in 
Norway and Cirencester, works had been undertaken, just 
previous to the outbreak of the disease, which had had the effect of 
introducing a large amount of clay into the water, and the “early 
days of spring” were so far implicated that they were days of 
rain and melting snow, and thus the products of degradation were 
added to the mischief caused by the hand of man. 
Cirencester, May 14 W. D. Crotcu 
Meteorological Phenomenon 5 
On the afternoon of Sunday, the 22nd, a very curious appear- 
ance was noticed by many. The sky was hazy, and the sun was 
seen through the haze of a pink colour, inclining to purple. I 
see by a newspaper that the same was noticed at Dublin. A red 
or orange sun is common, but I never before saw its colour on 
the purple side of red. JosePpH JOHN MuRPHY 
Old Forge, Dunmurry, Co. Antrim, May 24 
Keen Sight of Fish 
Tue following extract from the remark book of Captain Robert 
A. Parr, of H.M.S. Zyra, may be of interest to your readers, 
bearing, as it does, such remarkable and trustworthy evidence 
of the keen sight of fish :-— 
“December 17th, 1867.—At noon, in lat. 0° 33’ S., long. 46° 
13/ I., caught an Albacore, with 28 pistol bullets in its stomach. 
The ship’s company had been exercised at pistol practice during 
the forenoon.” G. F. M‘DouGALL 
Hydrographic Dept., Admiralty, May 24 
THE MULBERRY TREE 
AN effort is being made to introduce once more into 
England the cultivation of the mulberry tree, and as 
the leaves of either the white or black variety (but especially 
those of the former) afford food for the silkworm, and both 
kinds will flourish in a tolerably mild and moist climate, 
there seems to be no reason why we should be altogether 
dependent upon foreign sources for a supply of raw mate- 
rial for the looms of Coventry and Macclesfield. Certainly 
the present is a favourable opportunity for making the 
experiment, as the price of silk has been largely enhanced 
by disease amongst the worms in the south of Europe, and 
by the destruction of the mulberry trees in China during 
the rebellion. At Yately, in Hampshire, Captain Mason 
has for the last three or four years been successfully en- 
gaged in rearing silkworms, and he calculates that if his 
mulberry plantations had been made upon a sufficiently 
extensive scale, a profit of 1o/. an acre might have been 
easily realised. King James I. preceded him in this 
speculation, and imported ship-loads of mulberry trees 
from France with the view of encouraging the production 
of silk in England. In 1629 Walter Lord Aston was ap- 
pointed “to the custody of the garden, mulberry trees, 
and silkworms near St. James’s, in the county of Middle- 
sex.” But the scheme, like many others framed by the 
same monarch, proved abortive, and within a few years 
the mulberry garden became, in the words of Evelyn, 
“the only place of refreshment about the town for per- 
sons of the best quality to be exceedingly cheated at.” 
Pursuing its history a little further we find the gardens 
converted into the site of Buckingham House, and in our 
own time Dr. King’s allusion, written a century and a half 
ago, is a good deal more true than when he penned it :— 
The fate of things lies always in the dark ; 
What cavalier would know St. James’s Park? 
A princely palace on that space does rise, 
Where Sedley’s noble muse found mulberries. 
Within our own memory a similar experiment was 
tried in the neighbourhood of Slough, but it failed, not 
from any deficiency in the supply of food, but from the 
difficulty and expense incurred in tending the worms and 
carding the silk. Mechanical processes have now, in a 
great measure, removed these drawbacks, and the whole 
process of cultivation is one which would afford suitable 
employment for women and children. 
The vicissitudes of fortune experienced by the mulberry 
tree in England belong to a curious chapter in the yet 
unwritten history of Botany. In common with the vine 
and several other trees, the mulberry has been alternately 
fostered and neglected: but in spite of royal favour and 
many intrinsic merits (for its fruit is wholesome and its 
timber valuable), it has now become a rare tree in 
Britain. The specimens at Sion House enjoy the reputa- 
tion of being the first planted in England; but the pro- 
bability is that the mulberry was introduced by the 
Romans, for the Saxon name for the tree “ mor-beam,” is 
little more than an echo of the Latin soruws, which 
again can be traced to a still more Eastern source. The 
Sion House trees were, perhaps, some of those imported 
by James I., but their interest is far inferior to that which 
attaches to the celebrated tree planted at Stratford by 
Shakespeare’s own hand, and ruthlessly destroyed by a 
Goth of modern times, C. J. ROBINSON 
