36 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Feb. 1, 1865. 



(ond it would cost a good deal of trquljle) to com- 

 pile a volume containing the scientific names of 

 every British plant and animal, with all the local 

 sjnonynis printed under each. 

 " Some local names are exceedingly curious, and it 

 is somewhat puzzling to find out their derivations. 

 In Cumberland the bistort {Pohigoiium Ustoria) is 

 called by the strange name of Easter rnan-giants. 

 The only dcrivationlhat I can suggest for this appel- 

 klion,— and I thirds it is the right one,— is that being 

 sometim.es in that country eaten in the spring about 

 Eastcr-time, the leaves being boiled as a vegetable, 

 the word "mangiant" must be derived from the 

 Erencli mai/ger, "to cat." In Cheshire, the edible 

 cpialities of the plant arc well known, but it is tliere 

 called "patient dock," which is rather remarkable, 

 as that name is given in botanical books to a dilfercnt 

 plant, " liuiiicx patient'ui," — this latter plant being 

 unknown in Cheshire. 



In Gloucestershire, the purple orchis lias a very 

 ominous name ; it is called " bloody man's fingers " 

 — why, I do not know ; but the country people iiave 

 as much horror of it as if there were some terrible 

 foundation for the name. If children gather wild 

 flowers and bring them home, the orchises are care- 

 fully sorted out by their mothers and thrown away, 

 lest bloody man's fingers should enter the house. 



The local names of l)irds arc quite as varied as 

 those of plants. In Cheshire, the magpie is " jiian- 

 uct," a rather pretty name ; titmice are "tomtits," 

 or "tittimaws," hedge-sparrows are "duunocks." 

 The starling is called " shepstcr," the long-tailed 

 titmouse is " churn," the spotted flycatcher is " old 

 man," the peewit is a " liappiueh," the chaffinch is 

 " pif'dfinch," the missel thrush is a " sedcock," the 

 yeilow-hannncr is in Yorkshire called " yellow-yow- 

 Icy," but in Cheshire it is generally known as a 

 " goldfinch," a name which it certainly merits more 

 tlian the real goldfinch, while the latter bird is fre- 

 f|ucntly called "red linnet," and very often also 

 " knickcr-knocker." 



If any naturalist should think it worth while to 

 act upon the suggestions throvvu out in these 

 notes, and should wish to collect all the local n;imes, 

 I should be very glad to help him as regards 

 Cheshire. R.ll. 



(N.B. — We are prepared to act as custodian for 

 all local names of Jiirds and Plants, which will be 

 acknowledged and retained until in sufficient number 

 to construct a summary. — Ed. o'c. G.) 



SPIDER EATING ITS WEB. 



In the first number of " Science Gossip," under 

 the head of "Notes and Queries," I observe that 

 one of your correspondents asks the question, " Does 

 the Spider eat its own Web ? " llennie, in his work 

 on " Insect Architecture," states that the poet 

 Bloomfield affirms that it! does. But this Bennie 

 seems inclined to regard rather as a fiction of the 

 poet's brain than a well-authenticated fact. Perhaps 

 the strangeness of the fact startled the accomplished 

 naturabst, and led him to doubt the statement of 

 one who from the very nature of his profession is 

 privileged to take a "poet's licence" with the 

 materials he works witli. Still llennie ought to 

 liave known that "truth is stranger than fiction." 

 Any one who reads the "Parmer's Boy" cannot 

 help being struck with the poet's admirable ]}owers 

 for observing and describing what he saw. Bloom- 



field was without doubt a boru naturalist, whose 

 poetic temperament led him to adopt song rather 

 than prose asthe vehicle of his thoughts and obser- 

 vations. Being well acquainted with the poet's 

 productions, I have always entertained a lively faith 

 in the accuracy of his statements, and was led to 

 make the experiment I now record more for the 

 vindication of the poet's character than for the satis- 

 faction of my own mind. 



The means for doing so were simple enough, and 

 they were at hand. In a small garden, some 12 

 feet by 10, situated at the back of the house, a 

 colony of garden spiders {Epeira diadema) had 

 est.ablished themselves, and spread a perfect net- 

 work of webs amongst my choicest chrysanthemums. 

 I took great interest in watching the habits of these 

 sagacious little creatures, and would not allow them 

 to be _ disturbed although they did restrict my 

 peregrinations by weaving their nets across tlie 

 gravel path, and retarded the development of my 

 flowers by encasing their buds in silken network. 

 The instruction they afforded me more than counter- 

 balanced the inconvenience they caused, so they 

 were allowed to remain without molestation to 

 increase and multiply in accordance with their 

 natural instincts. 



]\Iy first step in the experiment was to provide 

 myself with a pair of sharp seissois, and my next to 

 select one of the largest and most perfect specimens 

 of a geometric web my garden contained. At that 

 moment the little architect, contrary to custom, 

 happened to be in the centre of his domains, looking 

 much like an Alexander Selkirk — 



" ilonarch of all he surveyed, 

 Whose riglit there was none to dispute." 



After a leisure survey, taken with the object of 

 discovering the principal lines on which the web was 

 supported, I rapidly cut them asunder with my 

 scissors. The web instantly collapsed, and would 

 have fallen to the ground but for one point of sup- 

 port which I had intentionally left untouched. Prom 

 this point, hung dangling, like tangled threads, all t hat 

 remained of this once beautiful structure. Stunned 

 by the suddenness of the catastrophe, the spider for 

 a moment remained motionless, but quickly collect- 

 ing his scattered senses, he nimbly disengaged him- 

 self from the wreck, and plying his busy feet with 

 the manipulative skill of as many hands rapidly 

 rolled up the fragments of his web into a round ball 

 the size of a small pea. This he held firmly between 

 his mandibles, and courting retirement attached 

 himself by his spinnarets to the underside of a leaf. 

 I now seated myself in a convenient position from 

 whence I could observe every movement of the 

 little creature M'ithout being observed iu turn, and I 

 had moreover provided myself with an excellent 

 Coddington lens of low magnifying power. My 

 first peep at my small friend convinced me (notwith- 

 standing what Bennie had said) that he evidently 

 contemplated the feat of eating his own web. If 

 this were not his intention, why should he be so 

 busily engaged, under the shadow of his retreat, with 

 feet and jaws endeavouring to bring the ravelled 

 threads of his net into a more compact and commo- 

 dious form ? And why, when the dry loose materials 

 resisted all his attempts cat compression, did he 

 saturate them with a glutinous fluid which I 

 observed repeatedly exude from his mouth, causing 

 them to adhere more closely to one another? 

 And why should he fake tlie trouble to knead 

 them together and fasliion them into a shape 



