214 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Sept. 1, 1865. 



Anoplotheetum.— Has Anoplothermm commune 

 (Eocene) a short and thick, or a long and tliin tail, 

 as Beeton's Dictionary and Hugh Miller also appear 

 to dilFer on this point.— /«»ze5 Arrotp, Jim. 



The Anoph^hermm commune "was eight feet long 

 long, including the tail, which was three feet 

 and a half. " The long and powerful tail must have 

 formed the chief peculiarity in the living animal's 

 outward form, and been of the same service to it in 

 swimming as the tail of the Otter." — Owen : Brit. 

 Foss. Mammals, p. 438. Cuvier gives 23 as the num- 

 ber of caudal vertebrae. — R. T. 



Exudation or Cedak-tvood.— About seven years 

 ago, 1 had a cabinet made of v*'alnut-wood, to con- 

 tain my collection of birds' eggs. The inside of the 

 drawers was made of the cedar-vi^ood such as is used 

 for pencils. The drawers were divided into parti- 

 tions, and the eggs laid on cotton wool. In the 

 course of a month or two 1 found several of the 

 eggs sticking together, and covered with some kind 

 of exudation, as if they had just been varnished. I 

 could not wash it off with water, and I did not try 

 spirit for fear of taking some of the colouring oif 

 the eggs. The Kestrel's, Peregrine's, Coot's, and 

 Lapwing's were first infected, some vrerelcssso, and 

 the greater number not at all. They have remained 

 the same ever since. Can you or any of your readers 

 tell me the reason of this, and remedy (if any) for 

 it? A lady told me that she had a work-box lined 

 with the cedar-wood, and the cotton reels, &c., got 

 stuck together in just the same w^ay.— C. W. TF. " 



[By painful experience we have learnt that the 

 wood of West Indian Cedar (as it is called) exudes 

 a semi-iluid resin in large quantities. It can be 

 I'emoved from objects by tlie free use of turpentine. 

 This wood is not the pencil cedar.— Ed. Sc. 'G.] 



The Battle or the Bees.— A friend of mine 

 has a hive of bees. They are in a wooden hive Vv^itli 

 two compartments and glass windows to each, so 

 that one can observe their movements. One com- 

 partment is pretty well filled with honey, the other 

 empty. In this empty one they have been fighting 

 from morning till night for the last two months. The 

 floor of this compartment (the field of battle) a 

 drawer about eight inches square, and one inch deep, 

 lias been twice filled with dead bees. We first 

 thought that the drones only were being killed, but 

 we find that there arc as many workers dead as 

 drones. It is not a natural death they die, or from 

 any disease, as far as we can see, but they chase one 

 another around the hive, and one or more lay hold 

 of their victim, and sting him to death.— C. W. W. 



The Pinguicula.— Will you allow me to ask 

 your correspondent who writes on " The Piuguieula," 

 whether he is quite sure that the species found by him 

 in Wales was P. gntudiflora ? My reason for asking 

 this is, that that species has not been previously re- 

 corded as a native of Great Britain, and its discovery 

 as such would be of great importance. The com- 

 moner species, P. vulgaris, which somewhat re- 

 sembles P. rjraudiflora, is not mentioned by your 

 correspondent; and this also leads me to think it 

 just possible that some confusion of names may 

 nave occurred. P. vulgaris is recorded from England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland, and, though bv no means a 

 common plant, appears from the Cyhele Britannica 

 to .'^e found m all of the eighteen provinces into 

 which Great Britain is divided, and in seventy 

 counties ; while P. grandiflora is stated to be con- 

 nned to Ireland.— i?. 



HAnT's-TONGUE Eeun. — I cannot agree with W. 

 Pv,. Tate in considering " Seaweed fern" an appro- 

 priate name for Scolopendrium viilgare, commonly 

 known as " liart's-tongue fern." In the first place, 

 I naturally inquire, " What species of seaweed ? " 

 for out of the three hundred and eighty or more 

 species of British seaweeds, there is only one to 

 v/hich it can properly be compared, and this is 

 essentally a northern species, consequently not likely 

 to be seen by the Surrey folk. The seaweed I refer 

 to is Alaria esculenta, one of the Laminarise, and the 

 only species of that genus having, like the fern in 

 question, a distinct midrib ; and certainly — before 

 the al(P, or leaflets which spring from the base of the 

 stem, are produced — its resemblance to the Hart's- 

 tongue fern is very striking ;_ hence, indeed, the 

 common name, in some localities, of this seaweed, 

 that of Hart's-tongue Laminaria. In its mature 

 state it is called by the Scotch, " Baddeiioeks," in 

 allusion-to the basal leaflets in which the spores of 

 the plant are produced. I suppose it is too much to 

 expect people to say " Laminaria fern," but it cer- 

 tainlj; appears to me that " Seaweed fern" is not 

 sufficiently definite. Only yesterday I found a 

 frond of Alaria, in a rock pool near Tynemouth, and 

 its reseinblance to the Hart's-tongue fern was very 

 striking indeed.- — W. H. Grattann. 



Worths' Diet.— Soon after a heavy shower of 

 rain, 1 have often seen a number of withered leaves 

 half buried in the soil, generally the stalks pro- 

 truded, but sometimes the point of the leaf. By 

 carefully digging a.round tliese, I came to what I 

 concluded to be the cause of their being thus buried, 

 viz., large earth-worms either enveloped in the leaves, 

 or very near them. I have since watched them at 

 work, dragging down into their holes — by the help 

 of the stiff prickles and slime with which their 

 bodies are covered — not only withered leaves, but 

 also small twigs, grass, &c. I supposed it was 

 for food, but it is stated by Mr. Lankester, in the 

 last number of Science Gossip, that they live entirely 

 upon earth ; what tlsen is done with the leaves, &c. ? 

 Do they form dwelling-places of them ; or is it in- 

 stinct that teach.es the worms to draw under the 

 leaves, so that by their decomposition the soil may be 

 enriched, and thus indirectly furnish them with 

 food ? — W. Bowen Bavics. 



Names of Sea Birds. — Can you tell me the 

 scientific designation of the follovving sea-birds, 

 wliich are, I believe, principally inhabitants of the 

 Southern ocean. I do not remember having seen 

 them elsewhere : — Parson-birds, stinkpots, vvhale- 

 birds, ice-birds. I cannot give correct descriptions, 

 as I have never seen these birds sufficiently close for 

 anything of the kind. The above are the names by 

 wliich sailors distinguish them. The "stinkpot" 

 resembles very much in appearance the " Cape-her\" 

 Procellaria (squinoctialis. The " ice-birds " are 

 beautiful little creatures, about the size of the storm- 

 petrel, Tlialassidroma pelagica, with a silvery-grey 

 plumage. The " w'hale-birds " are rather larger, with 

 white bodies, and, apparently, black wings. — R. G., 

 Bangalore, India. 



Edible Fungi. — Dr. Blount, of Bagshot, informs 

 us that having found a specimen of Fistnlina liepatlca 

 near Ascott, which weighed two pounds, it was 

 cooked and partaken of by every member of the 

 family. He considers the descriptions given by both 

 Dr. Badham and_ M. C. Cooke scarcely equal, both 

 in vividness of its outward appearance and the 

 tender delicacy of its flesh, to the subject of this 

 experiment. 



