May 1, 1865.] 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Ill 



HEEBAlllUM INSECT. 

 (Airopos pulsatorius.) 

 T HAVE long had in my possession a box of dried 

 -^ ferns mounted on sheets of paper, in which little 

 insects, like paper-mites in size, live and breed, as may 

 be seen from the portrait below. The creature has 

 nothing to recommend him on the score of beauty, 

 for he is incorrigibly ugly, and at first sight through 

 the microscope quite startling to a novice in the 

 science of microscopy. On further examination, 

 however, this wears off, and many beauties may be 

 discovered. The antennae or feelers are very marvels 

 of constructive beauty, being formed of a great number 

 of joints, by means of which they can be turned in 

 any direction with the greatest care and dexterity ; 

 the forceps are formed in the same way, all in joints ; 

 so are the legs — that portion of them begins at the 

 termination of the thigh, and are in four or five 

 sections ; besides this, there are scattered all over 

 the insect short bristles, some round the mouth. 



v\hich give the 



creature a very lerocious aspect ; 



Fig. 82. 



the back, as may be seen above, is striped across, and 

 these stripes or rings are indented. I have not at 

 present been able to discover any organs of vision, 

 and rather think he has none ; they certainly would 

 not be of any use, because he always lives in the 

 dark. One thing, however, is certain that, seeing or 

 not, he continues to collect the spores of the ferns, 

 and builds with them a very pretty dome-shaped nest, 

 lined throughout with a white down, underneath 

 which he first deposits the Qgg. I found in one 

 of them a young one partly formed ; the legs were 

 just cropping out from the sides. There appears 

 only to be one young bird in a nest, so that 

 the insect is not a very prolific breeder. I have 

 tried various means to rid the ferns of these little 

 creatures, but at present without having succeeded ; 

 and as it gives me an opportunity of sending you his 

 portrait, I feel rather, glad that I had not suc- 

 ceeded, and also that I have discovered some hidden 

 beauties of secret nature, which I must have re- 

 mained ignorant of; and I am sure that no one can 

 be otherwise than better for a knowledge of .such 

 things, seeing that their contemplation must raise 

 our admiration and cause us to wonder more at the 

 majesty and power of the Great Creator, who should 

 have thought it well to bestow such infinite pains 

 on these tiny objects of His creation. G. Bailey. 



ZOOLOGY. 

 The Natteejack Toad {Biifo Calcmita).—Ks 

 many readers of Science-Gossip have written to 

 me for specimens of this reptile, perhaps the follow- 

 ing short notice of my chase after them may not be 

 unacceptable :— On Thursday, April 6th, I was 

 looking about Wisley Heath all day for them, but 

 did not tmd one. After dark, or, at least, after ilic 

 rising of the moon, I was returning home across the 

 heath, and when near a pond something ran qiiickly 

 across the path. I took it up, and saw by its bright 

 vertebral stripe, showing clearly in the moonlight, 

 that it was a natterjack. I therefore commenced 

 looking round the pond, and caught no less than 

 fifty-seven of them. The noise they were making 

 was very great ; their croak being hoarse, and one 

 continued note, instead of, as in the common toad 

 and frog, a succession of short notes. The natter- 

 jacks showed more sense than the toads by leaving 

 off croaking, and squatting close to the ground to 

 escape observation whenever I approached one of 

 their haunts, while the toads kept croaking and 

 hopping. I found them always in shallow water 

 (in which they can sit with their heads out), and, as 

 their name implies, among reeds very often. On 

 Eriday night I caught a still larger number. I see 

 now W'hy their eyes are so much brighter by night 

 than by day, as they are evidently nocturnal in their 

 habits; but until this time I have always caught 

 them on hot sunny days going about the heath in 

 pairs. — W. B. Tate, 4, Grove-place, Denmarlc-IdU, 

 Canibenoell. 



Local name ron the Toad. — About Wisley, in 

 Surrey, the common toad is called always the 

 " ground toad," in contradistinction to the natter- 

 jack or " goldenback."— /T. R. T. 



Child Poisoned by a Toad. — A young lad, 



ten years of age, named Louis P , whose parents 



are small tradespeople in the Eaubourg Saint- 

 Antoine, was playing with some of his companions 

 near Percy, not far from a buildmg in the course of 

 demolition. This boy, who was of a delicate con- 

 stitution, had a slight abrasion of the skin of the 

 right hand. Having seen a lizard crawl into a hole 

 in an old wall, he put in his hand, but instead of tlie 

 lizard he drew out an enormous toad, which he im- 

 mediately threw on the ground. The skin of the 

 toad is covered with large tubercles formed by an 

 aggregation of small pustules open at their summit. 

 A milky liquid, of a yellowish white colour, very 

 thick, and of a fetid odour, escapes from these 

 tubercles when the animal is irritated. Whilst the 

 lad had the animal in his hand, this liquid, which is 

 a violent poison, was introduced through the wound 

 in his hand into the blood. He was soon after 

 seized with vertigo, vomitings, and faintings, and 

 was carried to the house of his parents, who called 



■P' 



