SCIENTIFIC NE^VS. 



[June 22, l8 



envenom. There are in their regions two species of 

 euphorbia, one of which, E. Canariensis, is represented 

 in our figure. 



This is a tree of an extraordinary size, contrasting 

 strongly with specimens of the same plant growing in 

 our hothouses. It has been sketched by M. Tremeaux, 

 at Kagane, and the learned traveller relates in his 

 'Journey to the Eastern Soudan " that it inspires the 

 negroes with a superstitious dread. Still, as these trees 

 yield a cool shade by reason of their evergreen branches, 

 the natives love to come to them for shelter, taking care, 

 however, to construct a horizontal thatched roof beneath 

 the shade of those which they commonly frequent. 



M. Tremeaux relates that he had much trouble to 

 induce the native who accompanied him to sit under the 

 shade of the tree, and when he broke oft" a branch the 

 native fled, givirg signs of real terror. The juice which 

 flows down in such cases is, in fact, very irritating if it 

 touches the bare skin. 



The euphorbium of commerce comes chiefly from 

 Mogodor. To collect it incisions are made in the stems, 

 and the sap which flows down condenses in small lumps 

 which adhere to the base of the thorns. It is found in 

 small rounded tears, generally pierced by conical holes, 

 the marks of the thorns. It is a most violent irritant, 

 and is rarely used except externally and mixed with 

 other vesicants. Nevertheless the Arabs use it in a mix- 

 ture which they employ internally for the bites of ser- 

 pents and rabid animals. It is remarkable that most of 

 the popular specifics for animal poisons contain very 

 irritating principles, e.g., not merely the juices of the 

 Eupliorhiaccce, but Cantliaridcs and other insects of the 

 same family. 



Various euphorbiaceous plants are found in Europe. 

 One of them, a biennial plant, is sometimes used by 

 practical jokers. They advise any one who wishes to 

 rise early to rub his eyes with the juice of this herb. 

 This is a very original alarum, as it prevents the person 

 from sleeping by reason of the pimples which it pro- 

 duces on the eyelids, which itch frightfully. A more 

 sensible use of this juice is to destroy warts, which, if 

 rubbed with it, disappear in a few days. 



The leaves of the spurge. Euphorbia lathyris, which 

 grows wild in Europe, are used by poachers as a poison 

 for fishes. The beautiful hawk-moth, Deilephila 

 euplwrbice, rare in England, though common in some 

 parts of the Continent, feeds upon this plant and certain 

 nearly allied species. 



Sieve Tubis. — In a paper on the obliteration of sieve 

 tubes in the Laminariee, published in \Vft Annals of Botany , 

 Mr. F. W. Oliver gives it as his opinion that the callus 

 or thickening of the sieve plates in plants is formed, as 

 suggested by Wilhelm and Janczewski, by an alteration 

 of the cell wall, and not from the contents of the cell. 

 Although in the foreign genera Macrocystis and 

 Nereocystis true sieve tubes very like those of Cucurbita 

 are met with, yet in the majority of the Laminarise 

 sieve tubes are represented only by narrow tubes known 

 as trumpet-shaped hyphae, in which the callus extends 

 up the sides of the cell wall, and is not restricted to a 

 thin plate-like form. Mr. Oliver has been fortunate 

 enough, to meet with an instance in which the mode of 

 formation of the callus is shown in different stages of 

 development, the walls of the tubes presenting callous 

 degeni lation at intervals. The callus of Laminaria was 

 found to agree with that of flowering plants in its micro- 



chemical reactions, and may be regarded as chemically 

 the same substance. — Scientific American. 



Weaver Birds and their Nests. — A correspondent 

 of Nature saw some nests of the weaver bird fixed on 

 the telegraph wires. He writes : — While watching the 

 landscape of Natal, between Ladysmith and Pieter- 

 maritzburg, I saw some nests of the " golden weaver " 

 bird. There were four of them hanging in a row, close 

 together. They were the round kind, without the long 

 arm. On one of the nests sat a cock weaver bird, but I 

 saw no hens. The nests seemed to be one or two years 

 old, except one, which was greener than the others. The 

 chief peculiarity seemed to lie in the fact that the birds 

 had woven grass round the wire for some six or eight 

 inches, and two or three inches in circumference, before 

 beginning to make the nest, and had to deal with a 

 horizontal wire instead of a vertical stick or a branch. 

 The bird always twists the grass round the branch (if he 

 builds on a vertical twig) for some way up among the 

 leaves and stalks, leaving the long ends free, thus form- 

 ing his foundation. Weavers prefer to build on trees 

 where the long slender twigs droop towards the ground, 

 and so afford a nice vertical slender support. They are 

 especially fond of the weeping willow, whose slender 

 switches generally branch off into two small shoots at 

 the end ; between these the bird loves to build his nest. 

 Besides, the willow has lots of leaves very near together, 

 and so holds the straws very well. On the wire he had 

 no such support, but had to trust to his own ingenuity 

 to overcome the novel situation, which task he seems to 

 have accomplished very well. The entrance to these 

 nests was not at the bottom, as usual, but by a hole in 

 the side, and all the nests did not look the same way. 



Spread of the Starling. — According to Mr. H. Kerr 

 {Newcastle Weekly Chronicle) the starling was compara- 

 tively rare in the Northen Counties a quarter of a 

 century ago, and was unknown in the South of Scotland. 

 Now it is plentiful in the Northern Counties, and over 

 Scotland as far as Sutherland. 



Sense of Beauty in Birds. — According to W. R. O. G. 

 (Field) the gardener bird (Amblyornis, discovered by 

 Beccari, in New Guinea) surpasses its kinsman the 

 bower-bird, in the elaborate ornamentation of its gallery. 

 The roof is formed of the still living branches of an 

 orchid (Dendrobitmi). Around this dwelling they lay 

 out a tiny lawn of soft moss, carefully freed from weeds 

 and stones. On this lawn they spread out flowers, fruits, 

 brilliant insects, etc., which they constantly replace if 

 they fade. The birds are of the size of a thrush, and are 

 mostly of a brown colour, but in one species tlije male 

 has a splendid golden-orange crest. 



The Food of the Sardine. — M. A. F. Marion recently 

 stated, at a meeting of the Academy of Sciences, that on 

 the coasts of Provence and elsewhere the sardine feeds 

 on various pelagic invertebrates. Various Copepods, 

 especially species of Cyclops, Oiihona, Thalcsiris mysis 

 and Thales/ris robusta, are found in the digestive organs 

 of the fish, especially in spring. Fragments of Podon 

 and oi Radiolaria are also found. 



Anomalous Egg. — Mr. W. B. Cousins, of Constant 

 House Collegiate Schools, writes to a suburban paper 

 that he has in his possession a " double soft egg," which 



