516 



SCIENTIFIC NEAVS. 



[June I, 1 5 



of the female, a projecting organ by means of which she 

 inserts her eggs in suitable crevices. In the grass- 

 hoppers, or Gryllidae, and the locusts, or Locustidae, the 

 wings and their covers are not laid flat over the back, 

 but placed sloping so as to cover the sides of the 

 abdomen ; the bristles at the hinder extremity of the 

 body are wanting, and in the locusts the female has no 

 projecting egg-tube. 



Of true crickets we have in Britain five species, one of 

 which, Gryllotalpa vulgaris, the mole-cricket, so called 

 from the structure of its fore legs, would be dangerous to 

 our crops if more common. The mole-cricket, with its 

 underground nest, is shown in fig. i . The field cricket 

 is shown in fig. 2. The well-known house cricket 

 (Aclieta domestica) is a fairly voracious animal, 

 and often damages woollen garments and shoes left in 

 warm kitchens. It is sometimes tolerated by house- 

 keepers under the impression that it wages war against 

 the cockroaches, a subject on which further careful 

 observation is needed. Cases, however, have come 

 under our notice where both these insects have flourished 

 in the same house in apparent peace and amity. 



The house-cricket figures to some extent in folk-lore. 

 In many districts they are deemed to bring good luck, 

 and to kill them is thought very imprudent. In others 

 they are prophets of evil. If, especially, a single cricket 

 is heard chirping in a house which they have not hitherto 

 infested, it is said to foretell the death of some member 

 of the family. 



In the first reports from Algeria, there was no exact 

 description of the species at present complained of. It 

 was said to be swifter in its movements than the grass- 

 hoppers and locusts which so often lay waste districts of 

 Northern Africa, and to be hence more difficult to en- 

 counter. But it seems that the French give the name of 

 criquet both to the true crickets such as we have 

 described above and to juvenile locusts before they have 

 acquired wings. 



Such, in fact, are the swarms now ravaging Algeria. 

 It seems that the Arab and Moorish inhabitants content 

 themselves with destroying, as far as practicable, all 

 these insects when they appear in force, and do not make 

 any attempt to discover and destroy their ova. Nor is 

 there any continuous systematic action kept up year by 

 year and throughout the country. As in regions nearer 

 home, the public on the appearance of any danger pass 

 at once from carelessness to panic. 



The Feet of Bees. — Professor Cook in a paper on the 

 morphology of the legs of the Hymmoptera {American 

 Naturalist) says that the pulvilli are situated between 

 the claws. They are large and glandular, and by 

 secreting a viscid material enable a bee to walk up glass. 

 We thus understand why a bee fails in an attempt to 

 walk up a moistened or powdered glass surface. When 

 a bee walks on wood the pulvilli are turned back, when 

 on glass the claws are retracted. 



A Pleasant Poison for Horses. — In Northern Texas 

 and some neighbouring parts horses seem to have dis- 

 covered for themselves a seductive luxury to which they 

 fall victims, as does man to narcotics. The plant in 

 question is colloquially named " loco," but Mr. R. 

 Aldridge, who gives an account of it {Field) does not 

 furnish its botanical name. It has small leaves and 

 purple flowers, and keeps green when the grass withers. 

 A horse which becomes addicted to this vice lo^es flesh ;, 



his eye becomes dull and glazed, his temper morose, and 

 he shuns the society of his kind. The most curious 

 characteristic of a loco eater is that in order to get over 

 any obstacle he raises his feet three times as high as it is 

 needful. 



The Gemsbock. — According to Mr. A. H. Godfrey 

 {Field), the gemsbock at a distance appears of a dull 

 uniform grey, but it has a black list along the spine and 

 two dark horizontal stripes on each side (? directive 

 colonratioii). An adult male in good condition weighs 

 about 700 lbs. The horns, which have a very slight 

 backward curve, are from 3 feet to 3 feet 6 inches in 

 length, marked at the base with spinal rings, but 

 smooth along the upper part. With these they 

 have been known to beat oft' and even kill a lion. 



Wild Froits of Manitoba. — According to a contem- 

 porary, in all parts of this province wild berries, small 

 fruits, and nuts are abundant and of good flavour. The 

 list comprises the plum, three sorts of cherries, the 

 saskatoon or pembina (making a fine preserve), currants, 

 gooseberries, raspberries and cranberries, grapes (along 

 the southern river-banks) and strawberries, universally 

 distributed. 



On the Gemmules of certain Marine Silici- 

 SPONGi/E. — M. E. Topsent {Comptes Reudus) finds that 

 similarly to the spongillse, multiplication by means of 

 gemmules, in addition to sexual reproduction occurs in 

 several silicispongias common on the coasts of the Channel 

 belonging to different families. These non-sexual germs 

 are composed of elements of a comparatively large size 

 deepened by a strong accumulation in their protoplasm 

 of large brilliant granules which conceal the cellular 

 nucleus, and secondly of a covering of keratoda. 



Cunning of the Red Fox. — Miss M. E. Holmes 

 {American Naturalist) gives some interesting facts show- 

 ing the intelligence of the American species, Vulpes rufus. 

 If a bit of meat remained from his dinner, he would dig 

 a hole, drop it in, and with his sharp nose press it down 

 closely, then cover it, and looking round for fear of being 

 overlooked would scatter pine-needles over the place 

 until one could scarcety detect the freshly-stirred earth. 



The Urania Riphceus. — M. Paul Cambone {Cosmos)- 

 announces that a friend of his in Madagascar has 

 succeeded in rearing this magnificent moth from the 

 caterpillar, and in noting the chief particulars of its life- 

 history. M. Cambone is about to publish a memoir on 

 the subject. 



Weeds in America. — Of eighty-eight species of weeds 

 described by Mr. L. H. Pammel {Popular Science Monthly) 

 as growing in south-western Wisconsin, and south-eastern 

 Missouri, 46 are European immigrants and only 30 are 

 native Americans. Nearly one-fourth of the whole 

 belong to the order of Compositae. 



" Directive " Colouration in Animals. — Mr. J. E. 

 Todd, discussing this subject in the American Naturalist, 

 defines directive colouration as that which is in any way 

 useful to a species, by assisting in mutual .recognition 

 between individuals, or by indicating one to another 

 their attitude of body, and probable movements. Of 

 this he gives a number of instances. 



