SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



167 



Marine Aquarium. — I am anxious to start a 

 small aquarium. I should be much obliged if one 

 of the many readers of Science-Gossip would tell 

 me the name of any naturalist on the Coast who 

 would forward seaweeds, etc., at small cost. — 

 Joseph Blundell, 39, Westmoreland Road.'B ay swater, II'. 



Rapid Growth of Spruce Fir. — Some months 

 ago, I was taking a few pieces of the spruce fir 

 Picca cxcclsa for microscopic work, when I noticed 

 that the growth made in 1894 appeared to be 

 greatly in excess of that made in 1893. After the 

 great gale on March 24th last, I examined several 

 of the terminal shoots of fallen trees and found 

 some twenty inches in length compared with ten 

 inches made in 1S93. The leaves, also, were as 

 long again as those of the previous year, and much 

 thicker. In some cases the larch and Austrian 

 pine appeared to have grown abnormally fast in 

 1894, Dut trie difference was not so marked. I 

 should be glad to know whether any of your 

 readers have observed the same fact. — J. Lewton 

 Brain, Swanton Morley, E. Dereham. 



Animal Intelligence. — An interesting instance 

 of animal intelligence recently came to my notice. 

 A ferret, Putorius fitro, belonging to Mr. Jenner, of 

 Colickmoor Farm, had the unusually large litter of 

 eleven young ones, and evidently finding difficulty 

 in feeding so large a family the mother made a 

 second nest into which she removed three of the 

 young ones. By this means she was enabled to 

 give the proper attention that her offspring 

 demanded. A somewhat similar case was that of 

 a great titmouse, Pants major, which built a nest at 

 the bottom of a large flowerpot used for forcing 

 rhubarb. The nest was made of moss, worsted, 

 and the various other things that this bird seems to 

 especially delight in using, and fitted the pot, 

 forming a kind of mat. A cup-shaped indentation 

 was made and two eggs were laid. Then came a 

 wet day, and the bird, finding no doubt that the 

 rain had caused that portion of its nest to become 

 uncomfortable, moved to a more sheltered part of 

 the pot, and some six inches away shaped another 

 hole and there in the dry laid another ten eggs. — 

 David J. Rice, Squire's Farm, Westcott, Surrey ; July 

 10th, 1S95. 



Luminosity in Animals. — Having for some 

 years watched with great interest the luminous 

 bodies taken from the sea, such as Noctiluca, and 

 noticing the effect of sunlight upon these soft- 

 bodied swimming creatures, I have come to the 

 conclusion, after comparing the two lights, that 

 that produced by sulphide of calcium, which is 

 the basis of luminous paint, is identical with the 

 Noctiluca light. Those who have worked with 

 the microscope in studying living objects must have 

 observed the great power which light has in attract- 

 ing the swimming Rotifers and Infusoria. The same 

 observation applies to the effect of the electric 

 light in dredging and tow-netting on a dark night. 

 This well-known attraction of light will, I think, 

 account for the luminosity of some inhabitants of 

 the sea being more vivid after a bright sunny day 

 than after cloud and rain. It will also be found by 

 observation that these soft-bodied living objects 

 have the power of absorbing light during the day 

 and emitting it at night. This power again has 

 led me to the conclusion that sulphide of calcium, 

 formed by the decomposing matter in the sea com- 

 bining with the lime in the water, is the product 

 which produces luminosity in some animals as well 

 as in luminous paint. It is generally known that 



luminous paint must be exposed to daylight before 

 the light is reproduced in the dark, and I have 

 found that glow-worms and Noctiluca kept shut up 

 entirely from daylight emit little or no light at 

 night. I advance this theory to induce others 

 abler than myself to put it to the test, and also to 

 correct a generally believed idea that phosphorus 

 causes this luminosity. — Thomas She pheurd, Kingsley, 

 Bournemouth. 



Winter Exhibitions — Secretaries of natural 

 history societies will soon be making arrangements 

 for their winter programmes. In the hope of 

 suggesting an idea that may be useful to them I 

 send some details of a scheme that is now being 

 carried out by the curator of the Tunbridge Wells 

 Natural History Society. His object is to obtain 

 a good series of slides for a lantern evening next 

 winter, and by means of co-operation with neighbour- 

 ing societies to obtain the maximum of result with 

 the minimum of trouble. He has chosen geology for 

 this series, but the plan would apply just as well to 

 microscopical, botanical and other lantern slides. 

 Early in the winter a letter was sent to the secre- 

 taries of the ten nearest natural history societies 

 asking the assistance of their committees in 

 carrying out the following proposals; — (1) That 

 each natural history society in Kent, Sussex, and 

 Surrey should prepare some geological lantern 

 slides, (five or more), of the most interesting parts 

 of their own district, with written description. 



(2) That before next winter arrangements be made 

 to show the whole collection before each society. 



(3) That the slides be made in duplicate, so that 

 if broken they can be replaced at a small charge. 

 They all consented, and in May a few more detailed 

 rules were sent round. Each society contributes 

 one shilling towards the cost of a travelling-box to 

 contain the slides. All slides are to be clearly 

 marked with the name of contributing society, and 

 numbered to correspond with description. They 

 are to be sent in before August 1st to our curator, 

 with an intimation from each society as to when 

 the whole set will be required for exhibition. He 

 will then arrange the rota, and each society will 

 receive them in turn and keep them about a week, 

 paying the carriage forwards to the next society 

 on the list. Each society will receive their own 

 contribution back at the end of the winter session, 

 1895-6. The slides are already coming in, and 

 promise to provide material for a most interesting 

 evening.— G. Abbott, 57, Ye Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells ; 

 June 25th, 1895. 



Coloured Plates. — Some of my friends have 

 noticed my objection to coloured plates for 

 illustrating natural history books. It is not to 

 coloured plates as a whole, but to the highly 

 decorative specimens. That clever artist, Mr. 1'. 

 J. Smit, has protested against my remarks on his 

 plate of hoopoes, when noticing the "Royal 

 Natural History " (ante page 102). He says in his 

 letter " I may say that my figure of the hoopoe 

 was carefully painted from life. There was a good 

 specimen of the bird living in the Zoological 

 Gardens, and there can be no doubt that the bird 

 seen in a bright light is very striking in colour. 

 To say that my drawing is more brilliant than 

 accurate is quite a mistake. Dr. Sharp thought my 

 figure a good one. Possibly the reviewer doesn't 

 know the bird alive, and is only familiar with skins 

 ■ or stuffed specimens." I have frequently seen the 

 bird alive in Southern Spain and North Africa, but 

 still think the plate too bright. What is the opinion 

 of others familiar with these birds ? J. T. C. 



