March 1, 18G5.] 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



61 



nursery precincts, that "poor dear master could not 

 live, because the death-watch was a-ticking like mad 

 all night long in his room." I, in great sorrow, told 

 my playfellow of her papa's doom ; she repeated the 

 tale to her mamma, a nervous, credulous woman,who 

 became very desponding, and actually shook her 

 licad at the family doctor on the occasion of his next 

 visit, wdien he was trying to inspire her wdth hope of 

 his ]oatient's recovery, repeating old nurse Jones's 

 ■words. 



I think I see the expression of his face now, as 

 he quoted the following lines — 



" A kettle of scalding hot water injected, 

 Infallibly cures the timber affected ; 

 The omen is broken, the danger is over, 

 The insect will die, and the sick will recover" — 



and proceeded to tell Sara and myself all about the 

 tiny beetle that made the noise. H. Watney. 



SNAKE STONES. 



It is well know-u that many lives have been lost 

 by wounds received in anatomical research. The 

 symptoms are those of hydrophobia, &c., and other 

 modifications of blood poison. It is usual, there- 

 fore, in medical schools, to warn young students, and 

 tell them the remedy. The advice is generally this : 

 If the wound be slight, and no blood Hows, it is the 

 more dangerous ; if deeper, so tliat there is a free 

 How of blood, less so. Always suck the poison out 

 in the first ease, and wash it well afterw'ards. This 

 explains the lancet and porous stone absorption. 

 As regards the milk, has anything else in which the 

 virus is soluble been experimented on ? Perhaps 

 this latter custom jnay be well placed side by side 

 with the custom of old doctors, of administering 

 such simples as ammonia, albumen, &c., in the most 

 nauseous forms, upon the principle — ■" I): credule- 

 tatis quant, sufi'." 



"BerthoUet mentions eight kinds, chiefly phos- 

 phates, some resinous, biliary, and lignif orra . Eezoars 

 v/ere deemed efficacious, not only when taken as 

 medicine, but even when merely carried aliout the 

 person ; so that credulous people would hire them 

 for particular occasions at a ducat per diem. . . A 

 single oriental bezoar has been known to sell for 

 6,000 livres. . . They have now lost all reputation, 

 and are never used. . . Eaetitionsbezoars have been 

 made of various materials, the nearest probably made 

 from gypsum stained by some vegetable juice. It 

 is said, however, that tobacco-pipe clay tinged with 

 ox-gall is commonly employed, since it answers to 

 the genuine tests (vegetable stains do not)~lst, a 

 yellow tint to paper rubbed with chalk ; 2nd, gi'een 

 colour to paper rubbed over T,dth quicklime. 

 Bezoar orieiifale concreiion found in 4th stomach of 

 Capra agagrus of Persia (said to be), oblong, size 

 of kidney-bean, shining olive or dark green in 

 colour. Bezoar occideniale, 4th stomach of chamois 

 of Piedmont sometimes as large as a hen's 0,%^; sur- 

 face rough ; colour green, greyish, or brown." The 

 old terms Bezoar Bovinum, B. Hysfricis, B. Simi/.e, 

 B. Hontiiiis (?), will of course explain themselves to 

 your zoological readers. A. P. H. 



_TiTE MoxAKCii or THE EoBEST.— Thcmost mag- 

 nificent oak ever known to have grown in England 

 was probably that dug out of Hatfield bog; it was 120 

 feet in length, 12 in diameter at the base, 10 in the 

 middle, and G at the smaller end where broken olf ; 

 so that the butt for GO feet squared 7 feet of timber, 

 and 4 for its entire length. Twenty pounds W'Cre 

 offered for this tree. — Knapjjs Journal. 



NOTES ON SOME BRITISPI L.\ND AND 

 ERESH-WATER SHELLS. 



Helix obcoluta. — The principal locality for this 

 shell is Ditcham Wood, Hampshire, where it may 

 be found in abundance, but may be overlooked by 

 one who is not familiar with the habits of this 

 mollusk. The snail, like Bidimus moutanus, is a 

 great climber, and may be seen on the trunks of 

 Fagus sylvatlca as far up as the eye can distinguish 

 them — a peculiarity that is not noted in our manuals. 

 One, then, who would be repaid for his shell hunt 

 must take pattern from that, that he would secure 

 and ascend the trees ; for among the moss and 

 leaves at the base only dead specimens are met with. 

 Living specimens of all ages show the epidermis 

 clothed with hairs. 



Claimlia Mortilleti. — In a list of the land and 

 fresh-water shells of the neighbourhood of Hastings, 

 inserted by me in the "Magazine of Natural 

 History" and "Naturalist," 1858, p. 99, a variety 

 of C. Rolphl is alluded to, but is not referred to 

 any published form. My examples I subsequently 

 submitted for determination to Mr. W. Benson, 

 who at once recognised them as C. Mortilleti. This 

 species had only been then discovered two years, 

 and has been found in three locaUties — Charing, in 

 Kent; and Birdlip and Charlton, near Cheltenham. 

 I would now record a fourth, that of Hastings. I 

 have not seen indicated the character of the situa- 

 tions in which tlie Kentish and Gloucestershii-e 

 .shells are found, but from the different conditions 

 under wdiich I find C. BoljM and its ally in the 

 Hastings district, I am convinced that the latter is 

 but a variety of the former. The G. Mortilleti is a 

 less ventricose shell, of a paler colour, and without 

 the small plaits; but all these variations may be 

 attributed to the differences thatprevail in the habits 

 of the respective forms. Thus var. Mortilleti I found 

 only in the damp and shady recesses of Cqgliurst 

 Wood, while C. Rolphi occurred very plentifully in 

 tlic dry and open parts of the Avood at Eairlight Glen. 

 That G. Mortilleti is a mere synonym of C. Rolphi 

 I do not agree with. 



Achatina acicula. — This shell has occurred to me 

 only in two districts— one, among the stones of the 

 wails of Hastings Castle ; the other, on the Cotswokl 

 plateau, over an extensive ra-ea— in the former 

 locality at an elevation of 200 feet, and in the 

 second of 500 to 1,000 feet, above the level of the 

 sea. These situations are dry and bleak, and are not 

 habitats assigned to this species — for it is said to be 

 found at low altitudes, and only in a living state at 

 a depth of some inches beneath the surface. Are 

 these unobserved facts ? 



Planorbis cornens. — Mr. J. G. Jeffreys writes of 

 the coil-shells, that "some of the smaller species of 

 Planorbis, inhabiting marshes and very shallow 

 water, wdiich are dried up in summer, close the month 

 of their shell with an epiphragm or filmy covering 

 like that of some land-snails." I have recently ob- 

 served this peculiarity in the largest of the British 

 species of that genus, P. cornens. Some living 

 specimens of this species, v.diich I had taken from 

 the pond on liampstead Heath in September last, 

 were placed in my botanical box, where they re- 

 mained disregarded for several days ; on examining 

 them, I found that the mouths of both young and 

 old shells were closed by a pellucid ])ellicle of dried 

 mucus, and presenting a minute respiratory aperture 

 tovrards the lower corner. llALrii Tat£, E.G.S. 



