Nov. 9, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



485 



by gathering nests, and provided with a torch of native 

 gum and another of the ribs of cocoa palm leaves, Mr. 

 Steere started for the caves. After half an hour's rapid 

 tramping through the steep, rocky valleys, he came to a 

 low ledge of rock, 8 feet or 10 feet high, covered with 

 vines and bushes, at the foot of which was a black hole, 

 just large enough to crawl through, leading down into 

 the earth. After lighting the torches, the party crawled 

 on hands and knees down a steep, rocky, narrow passage, 

 the channel of a stream in the rainy season. It was 

 simply a rift in the rocks, produced, perhaps, by an 

 earthquake. Gradually all light except that from the 

 torches disappeared, and when about 100 feet below the 

 ground and several hundred from the entrance, the 

 weak, faint twittering of little birds as they flew about 

 overhead was heard. When the Indian raised his torch, 

 shallow hollows were seen in the roof of the cave, in 

 which, partly supported by the sides, were the little cup- 

 like nests. They were pure white in colour, made of 

 little fibres interwoven with each other, and were still 

 soft and damp. It was surprising how the birds ever 

 found out a place so far from the light, with a dry face of 

 rock and suitable depressions, or how they could build 

 the nests in such utter darkness. A second cave, not 

 far off, was entered by a kind of well, and the curious, 

 faint noise of the birds underground is described as 

 " more like the sounds spirits make than the notes of 

 anything earthly." Near the mouths of the caves were 

 rougher nests, built also of the same edible gum, and 

 said to be those ot birds who gave warning of danger 

 to those within. The young frequently attach their 

 nests to those of their parents, and the same nest is 

 used year after year. In these caves the nests are 

 collected and sold to the Chinese in Ho Ho. It should 

 be added that the caves here described by Mr. Steere 

 are of quite a different character from the far-famed 

 Gomanton caves in British North Borneo, which are the 

 principal source of the supply of edible birds' nests. 

 These stupendous caves are quite open, and are as lofty 

 as a cathedral aisle, so that the nest-gatherers have con- 

 structed ladders and galleries of rattans to reach the 

 nests in the roof. A curiosity of these caves also is that 

 they are inhabited by myriads of swallows by night and 

 of bats by day, the latter swarming out in clouds as the 

 former swarm in, and vice versa. 



The Great Lacewing Fly. — This beautiful insect, 

 which is known in scientific parlance as Osmylus chrysops, 

 is the largest of the British Planipennia, which includes 

 the lacewing flies, scorpion flies, and stone flies, generally 

 called true neuroptera {Neuroptera genuina). They are 

 principally distinguished from the Pseudo neuroptera (the 

 dragon flies, day flies, and the white ants, etc.) on 

 account of their metamorphoses, which are complete or 

 perfect, while in the latter they are imperfect. The 

 insect under consideration measures about an inch and 

 a half to two inches in expanse of its wings, which are 

 beautifully veined and reticulated with a few brownish 

 patches in different places. Its general appearance much 

 reminds one of a small Anthori, or Myrmelion, several 

 species of which abound on the Continent. The Osmylus 

 chrysops is generally a local insect in this country, occur- 

 ring only in the vicinity of streams, particularly in 

 woods. It usually flies during the sunshine, which is 

 not universally the case with lacewing flies. About half a 

 century ago this species was considered such a rarity 

 that the price for it in dealers' shops in London was 



half a sovereign for a pair. A very excellent illustration 

 of this interesting insect is given in Donovan's " British 

 Entomology." 



Sorting Coloured Wools when Blindfolded. — 

 Under this title a correspondent of Science writes : Your 

 reviewer considers that the experiments of Professor 

 Fontan, in which a hypnotised subject sorted coloured 

 wools with his fingers when his eyes were completely 

 covered, are simply incredible. It is true that they are 

 so hard to believe in that a single instance can produce 

 scarcely any effect at all, but they cannot be considered 

 as absolutely incredible in view of the fact (?) that 

 Professor Vitus Graber has shown that so thick-skinned 

 an animal as the cockroach reads to colours when his 

 antennas have been removed and his head has been covered 

 with a thick coating of black sealing-wax. 



The Great Skua. — Twelve eggs of the great Skua 

 (Lestris catarractes) known as the Bonxie, were recently 

 exhibited in a shop window in Kirkwall. The bird is 

 believed to be nearly extinct. The eggs are a light 

 brown, with dark chocolate spots ; length of eggs, z\ in.; 

 breadth at broadest part, 2 in. This bird is known to 

 breed nowhere in Scotland but in Foula, near the Shet- 

 land Isles, and there they are very scarce. 



Horse Protecting a Goat.— The following remark- 

 able illustration of the sagacity of the horse comes from 

 the Birmingham Mail. A man named Gilbey, a coal 

 dealer and haulier, rents a field adjoining Gillott-road, 

 Edgbaston, in which a horse and goat have been in the 

 habit of grazing. Recently a gang of young roughs from 

 the Icknield Port Road have amused themselves by throw- 

 ing stones at the goat, and some of the more cowardly of 

 the ruffians beat it with a stick. Whenever the goat has 

 been attacked in this way the horse has always raced to 

 its rescue, and a few days ago he seized one young rascal 

 by the collar and flung him over the hedge into the road. 



Tasmanian Earthworms. — Mr. Morton, at a meeting 

 of the Royal Society of Tasmania, exhibited some 

 splendid earthworms ranging from 2 to 3 feet in length. 

 They are considered to be of a new species, and probably 

 to represent a new genus. 



The Egg of the Echidna. — Mr. A. Morton (Royal 

 Society of Tasmania) gives an elaborate account of the 

 anatomy and ontology of this curious animal, confirming 

 Mr. Caldwell's description, and showing that in 1849 tne 

 aborigines were perfectly aware that the Echidna pro- 

 duced eggs. The egg is described as being three-quarters 

 of an inch in length. 



An Eighth Sternal Rib. — Dr. Lamb, of the United 

 States Army Medical Museum {Science), has observed in 

 a number of human specimens an eighth rib, the cartilage 

 found below the seventh rib being fully developed 

 into an eighth rib. This abnormal (or reversionary ?) 

 phenomenon occurs, as far as Dr. Lamb has observed, 

 among negroes. One case has been found in a Red 

 Indian. 



The Periodicity of Insect Ravages. — Mr. A. H. 

 Swinton has pointed out that the years notable for 

 swarms of locusts are identical with those when the 

 sun-spots are at a minimum. 



