AtJG. 1, 1865.1 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



171 



their name "Legion," and wlieu one batcli is no 

 TnorCj do no more come on ? 



And pray (asks somebody) what does onr " Euto." 

 under these, it must be admitted, somewhat ruffling 

 circumstances ? — Do rash thoughts of trying " a 

 dance upon nothing at all," after the approved 

 fashion of the late Mr. Miiller, but unassisted by 

 the professioual talent employed in his case, occur 

 to him ? — Does he seek oblivion in the bowl, com- 

 forting himself at the bar of the " Wooden Nutmeg " 

 with slings, smiles, cock-tails, and tangle-legs? — 

 Does he exhaust himself in forcible, though unavail- 

 ing language ? — Has his landlord instant notice to 

 quit?— Is entomology henceforth to be renounced ? — 

 To file an injunction ? It would hardly do. But hah ! 

 How about writing to the Times ? Or do ideas of 

 trotting down to Eatcliii Highway, to see if Mr. 

 Jamrach has a MyrmecopJiaga jicbata upon hand, ever 



eater his head ? My dear sir, nothing of the sort ; 



he has become inured to such oceui-rences, and merely 

 smiles (faintly, perhaps) as he mutters "tek, tck, 

 tck, well this is a go, but there — it can't be helped," 

 for he's a philosopher is your flycatcher. 



Eor some time afterwards, however, he wears a 

 taciturn expression, if I may use the phrase, his 

 lips being more or less compressed, and his eye 

 evidently in search of " something " — the hawk- 

 like precision, too, with which he spies and pounces 

 on any object bearing the remotest resemblance to 

 Biplorhoptrum is truly marvellous. He hums tunes, 

 and retains much of his cheerful placidness of 

 countenance, but he occupies himself more than is 

 his wont in pouring benzine into all sorts of sus- 

 picious-looking holes and cracks, very much to the 

 discomfiture of his aged housekeeper (that is if he 

 happen to have one), who can't a-bear the smell of 

 it ; and what with turpentine, creosote, and various 

 essential oils, he certainly succeeds, upon the whole, 

 in making the ants and everybody else exceedingly 

 uncomfortable ; he even, peradventure, brings a 

 light to see how matters progress, to the infinite 

 risk of being arraigned on a charge of arson, and 

 then, perhaps, alarmed at the unexpected inflam- 

 matory efi'ects of his too readily combustible agents, 

 confines hiniself for the future to the free use of 

 boiling water, tries the virtues of some lauded 

 vermin powder or other, or contents himself by 

 dabbing bits of liver in various parts of the pre- 

 mises to the intense gratification and delectation of 

 bottle-flies, but to the infinite disgust of any individual 

 on the feed, and, after all, finds most relief in the 

 conversion of his tables and cabinets into islands by 

 means of rotting the legs thereof in gallipots of vv-ater. 



You see it comes to this : what's the good of my 

 waging a war of extirpation against antdom when 

 my neighbours don't do likewise, and while a stray 

 female or two are amply capable of populating 

 (excuse the word) a mansion with, their abundant 



offspring? Indeed, there does not appear much 

 chance of immunity from their attacks until London 

 shall have been laid under water (boiling water best 

 for the purpose) for a few weeks at their most 

 ticklish time of life, which is, of course, the " swarm- 

 ing season." And so — having arrived at this con- 

 viction—small wonder that I take things as they 

 come, and that it is my fixed intention so to do until 

 som.e benefitter of his species shall hit upon an 

 antidote for my disorder, and to console myself with 

 the fact that, though my troubles are undeniably 

 great, I have, at any rate, learned the truth, the 

 wisdom, and the force of the old adage, " What 

 can't be cured must be endured.'^ H. G. K. 



WOODEN COWS. 



T)EESONS who reside in our large towns, 

 -^ especially the largest, are very apt to slander 

 the milkman, and ascribe the semi-lactescent ap- 

 -pearance of his commodity to a free use of "the 

 cow with an iron tail." It is not our intention to 

 join in any such scandal, for the milk of our history 

 is genuine and unadulterated, although not derived 

 from a quadrupedal cow, goat, or any animal what- 

 ever. Some, perhaps most, of our readers will have 

 heard something of the existence of vegetable cows, 

 or plants yielding milk ; it is of these " wooden 

 cows " we purpose to refresh their memories. 



The caoutchouc, or india-rubber of commerce, as 

 it exudes from the tree, very much resembles milk 

 in colour and density. Many other plants yield a 

 similar fluid, and in some instances this is so sweet 

 and palatable as to be employed by the natives for 

 almost all the purposes of animal milk. 



The " Cow-tree of Demerara " was first observed 

 by a traveller of the ubiquitous family of Smith iu 

 an excursion up that river. It is described as a 

 tree from thirty to forty feet in height, with a 

 diameter at the base of nearly eighteen inches. 

 This tree is known to botanists by the name of 

 Tabevnamontana utilis, and to the natives as the 

 Hya-hya. It belongs to the same natural order as 

 the Penang India-rubber tree, and the Poison-tree 

 of Madagascar {Ajoocpiaceo'). It occurs plentifully 

 in the forests of British Guiana, and its bark and 

 pith are so rich iu milk, that a moderately-sized 

 stem, which was felled on the bank of a forest 

 stream, in the course of an hour coloured the water 

 quite white and milky. The milk is said to be 

 thicker and richer than cow's milk, mixes freely 

 with water, and is perfectly innocuous, and of a 

 pleasant flavour ; the natives employing it as a re- 

 freshing drink, and in all respects as animal milk. 



The Cynghalese have also a tree which they call 

 " Kiriaghuma," but which belongs to a different 

 order of plants {Asclepiadacece). It is the Gymnena 

 lactifenmi, and yields a very pleasant milk, which is 

 employed for domestic purposes iu Ceylon, 



