26 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Notes &i£< 



Animal Hairs. — " The people of one race, whose 

 name I forget, pluck out the hairs from the face, 

 leaving them only on the tip of the chin.' Does 

 this extract from Mr. Lord's paper 1 Science-Gossip, 

 X S. . vol. i. 1 . refer to the men of British New Guinea ? 

 In the Imperial Institute Journal (Xo. 1. page '-- 

 there is a short report of Mr. Bellyse Baildon's 

 lecture describing a journey in New Guinea. 

 From this report I have copied the following : '• One 

 seldom sees hair on the face of a man. except 

 among old men who cease to take interest in their 

 personal appearance, the younger men making a 

 practice of picking out the hairs as they appear." 

 — Thos. Winder, Bloomfield Villa, Sheffield. 



Names Wanted. — In reply to your corres- 

 pondent who asks (page 284, vol. i., N.S.) for the 

 scientific names of certain insects, I am sorry I 

 cannot give them with an} - certainty without a 

 detailed description, or, better still, seeing the 

 insects themselves, but thus far I can answer. 

 (1) The "Soldier Beetles" belong to the genera 

 Telephorus and Rhagonycha, of which we have about 

 twenty-two species in Britain, and among the 

 commonest, T. rusticus (black, thorax red with a 

 black spot), T. lividus (entirely testaceous), T. 

 pettutidus, T. nigricornis, and R./ulva (elytra reddish, 

 testaceous, with the apex black), this last being the 

 commonest of all. (2) The spider alluded to is 

 one of the Lycosides, of which there are many 

 species, perhaps Lycosa herbigrada, L. nigriceps, or 

 L. sac; at a. (31 The larger of the two flies is 

 probably the female of Bibio marci, so-called 

 because it first appears about St. Mark's Day. The 

 smaller one with the yellow body may possibly be 

 B. hortulanus, the " Bibion de St. Marc rouge " of 

 the French. — Linley Blathuayt, Lt.-Col. Baiheaston ; 

 Feb. 4th, 1895. 



Symbiosis of Plants and Animals. — Kerner 

 and Oliver, in their "Natural History of Plants," 

 under the heading of Animal and Plants considered 

 as a great symbiotic community (vol. 1. page 254) 

 say that there is no need for surprise when cases 

 come under observation wherein a quite unmistak- 

 ably animal organism enters ins*ead of a fungus, 

 as one of the partners in a symbiotic community. 

 Certain Radiolariae have small yellowish spots upon 

 them, which were formerly held to be pigment cells. 

 but have proved to be little algae, with cells 

 furnished with true chlorophyll. Similar properties 

 are exhibited by the fresh-water polyp. Hydra, and 

 by the sea-anemones. Small alga? occur in social 

 union with these also in the shape of cells with 

 membranes made of cellulose and containing 

 chloropby 11 and starch grains in their protoplasmic 

 bodies These algae are in no wise injurious to the 

 animals with which they are associated ; on the 

 contrary, their presence is beneficial, their partners 

 reaping an advantage from the fact that the green 

 constituents split up carbonic acid under the 

 influence of the sun's rays. In so doing they 

 liberate oxygen which may be again taken in by the 

 animals direct, and serve a useful purpose in their 

 respiration and all the processes connected there- 



with. Conversely, the alga, in association with the 

 animal's body, will derive a further advantage from 

 the latter, inasmuch as it receives at first hand the 

 carbonic acid exhaled by the animal in breathing. 

 The small algae, living socially with animals, 

 cannot be reckoned as parasites in any case, nor 

 can the animals be looked upon as parasites of the 

 algae, but we have here the phenomenon of mutual 

 assistance and of a bond serving for the benefit of 

 both parties, precisely similar to that noticed in the 

 case of lichens and in the others which have been 

 described before. A friend of mine, five or six 

 weeks ago, cut two hydras in two : -within twenty- 

 four hours the tail half of one had grown two 

 tentacles, and the bod}- of the other half had rounded 

 off. Two days after no perceptible change had 

 taken place, but a week after they had broken up 

 entirely, and the algae was floating about in the 

 water. I think this verifies Kerner and Oliver's 

 statement. — /. Stephenson, 23. Avenue Parade, 

 Accrington ; February 14th, 1895. 



The Ginger-beer Plant. — In response to Mr. 

 Fielding's wish expressed (Science-Gossip, N.S.. 

 vol. i., page 284), for information respecting this 

 obscure organism, having at one time a plant in 

 my possession, I can give the following particulars. 

 All that was necessary for the production of 

 fairly good ginger-beer was to add to the plant in 

 a large bottle a quantity of water, some sugar, and 

 a little ginger, and leave it for a short while. 

 Soon a vigorous fermentation and ebullition of 

 gas commenced, and in a short space of time the 

 ginger-beer was ready for drinking, but if left too long 

 it rapidly passed into the acetous stage, not at all 

 agreeable to the palate. One had only to repeat 

 this process to obtain an indefinite quantity of 

 ginger-beer, The plant increases by this use, and 

 soon needs dividing. I have frequently read of its 

 exhibition at the meetings of scientific societies, but 

 no one seems to know much about it. "When look- 

 ing through some back volumes of the " Journal of 

 Botany, 1 ' I noticed that at a meeting of the Linnean 

 Society, a few- years ago. Professor Bayley Balfour 

 exhibited specimens, and showed its microscopic 

 structure. The following is quoted from the report 

 given in the journal : " He (Professor Balfour) 

 pointed out that, although well known to, and used 

 by, many people as a means of manufacturing an 

 acid drink out of sugar solution and ginger, yet no 

 scientific account of the organism had appeared, 

 except a short note by Mr. Worthington Smith, in 

 the ' Gardener's Chronicle.' It had the appearance 

 of a white nostoc, and is composed of a bacterium 

 passing through all forms of rods, coils, and fila- 

 ments, which apparently constitutes its greater 

 part, and associated with this is a sprouting fungus. 

 Judging from descriptions and figures by Kern, of 

 the ' Kephir,' used in the Caucasus to induce 

 fermentation in milk, the ginger-beer plant closely 

 resembles this; but there are many points of 

 difference. As one tradition of the introduction of 

 the ginger-beer plant to Britain is that it was 

 brought by soldiers from the Crimea, the resem- 

 blance is interesting." When walking in the 

 country some months ago, I went into a cottage 

 that had the familiar legend, " Ginger-Beer sold 

 here," in the window, and found the occupiers 

 possessed t%vo or three vigorous plants in full work, 

 and quite a wholesale brewing of the refreshing 

 beverage in progress. I have no doubt a specimen 

 could be secured for Mr. Fielding at this place, and 

 when more genial weather returns, I will try and 

 procure one. — E. J. Elliott, High Street, Stroud, Glos. 



