2S2 



HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Clouded Saffron Butterfly (Colias edusa). 

 — This butterfly, usually so rare in this neighbour- 

 hood, that I have only seen one during the last ten 

 years, has been very plentiful this year, and quite a 

 common object on the road sides. It is singular, 

 however, that all, or nearly all, of them are males. 

 I have not seen a single female during the whole 

 season. Can any one. explain why this is? — George 

 Avery, Tenterden, Kent. 



Dog baying at the Moon. — I had read of this 

 in poetry and folk-lore, but it was not until early in 

 September, while walking in a street in Dunoon, that 

 I actually witnessed it. The street was in shade, and 

 a shepherd's dog was trotting. before me. Suddenly, at 

 a turn, the full-orbed moon, rather low in the horizon, 

 was visible. The dog immediately stood, gazed at 

 it, barked for two or three seconds, and then uttered 

 a long whine. — J. Shaw, Tynvon, N.B. 



A Flock of Goldfinches.— I have been 

 bird's-nesting in the shires, but a living specimen of 

 the Fringilla carduelis has never come to twit me. Of 

 a spring morning in the south of France, I opened 

 my eyes, and beheld mother goldfinch sitting upon a 

 tree ; and now, in chill October, when walking over a 

 piece of waste ground on the outskirts of Geneva, I 

 have had the delight of seeing a flock of some thirty 

 youngsters. The thistle-eaters were gathered like 

 chicks around a scrubby clump of Centatirea calci- 

 trapa, and on being aroused, they flew over a wall, 

 and returned to social feelings true. — A. H. Swinton. 



Abnormal Cyclamen. — I send you herewith a 

 specimen of the Cyclamen, in which the flower-stalk 

 lias developed leaves, become fasciated, and having 

 two flowers on it, the one underneath the small 

 curled leaf at top has withered, the other will, I 

 think, open out. — A. F. Steed. 



Disturbing the Balance of Nature. — Sable 

 Island, near Nova Scotia, was overrun with rats, 

 and the lonely islanders, whose chief duty is the 

 relief of shipwrecked mariners, imported a cargo of 

 cats from the Canadian mainland. The cats did 

 their work of slaughter so well that they soon had to 

 fall upon the rabbits for food, and themselves became 

 so plentiful that an importation] of foxes had to be 

 made to keep them in check. The foxes, like the 

 cats, did their work too well. They not only de- 

 stroyed the cats, but killed all the^ young birds and 

 destroyed thousands of eggs. Tired of the warfare, 

 the islanders are now appealing to the Government to 

 exterminate the foxes. Montreal has a famous hunt, 

 and they are being urged to come to the relief. 



Collecting and Mounting 'Spiders. — Will 

 some obliging reader of Science-Gossip help a 

 young student, by giving him some hints, as to 

 collecting and mounting spiders ; the best time, 

 most likely localities, etc. ? A few hints on mounting 

 the smaller species for the microscope would also be 

 acceptable. I am anxious to preserve the natural 

 colours. — Jas. Murray. Whitehaven. 



Cat and Peacock.— Writing with reference to 

 the sense of humour in animals, a correspondent tells 

 an amusing story of a cat, The cat had conceived a 

 great aversion for a peacock, which used to be fed on 

 the lawn from the drawing-room windows, and found 

 the following a pleasant method of expressing his 



feelings : — " When the peacock was anxious to dis- 

 play its charms, and had spread its tail, and was 

 moving slowly backwards andiforwards, the cat used to 

 rush out on the lawn, and jump through the peacock's 

 tail. The effect of this was to entirely disconcert 

 the peacock's swagger, and leave the cat a moral 

 victory." 



Curious Food of the Hedgehog. — Correspon- 

 dents of a Newcastle paper state that all kinds of 

 game fall occasionally victims to the hedgehog's 

 appetite, and the partridge, the hare, and the 

 pheasant seem to suffer equally from the voracity of 

 this strange animal. M. Lenz announced in iS3t 

 that one of the most interesting facts in the natural 

 history of the hedgehog is that the most violent 

 poisons have no effect upon them. This has since 

 been confirmed by Professor Buckland and other 

 physiologists. A German physician, who made the 

 hedgehog a peculiar object of study, administered 

 strong doses of prussic acid, of arsenic, of opium, of 

 tobacco, of corrosive sublimate, none of which had 

 any effect, or did Mr. Hedgehog any harm. 



Cocoa-nut Butter. — This butter is now being 

 made at Mannheim, and the demand for it is steadily 

 increasing. The method of manufacture was dis- 

 covered by Dr. Schlunk, a practical chemist. Liebig 

 and Fresenius knew the value of cocoa-nut oil or fat, 

 but did not succeed in producing it as a substitute for 

 butter. The new butter is of a clear whitish colour, 

 melts from 26° to 28° C, and contains 99'99 per 

 cent. fat. 



Mites in the Nests of Ants. — Ants harbour a 

 variety of other insects in their nests, particularly 

 Gamaside mites, and Mr. A. D. Michael, from a 

 study of ants in Corsica and at Innsbruck, has come 

 to the conclusion that jthe ants willingly tolerate the 

 presence of the Gamasids, and even protect them. 

 The mites are found to ride away on the backs of the 

 ants when the nest is disturbed ; and sometimes the 

 ants carry off the mites and their young just as they 

 do their own. Mr. Michael thinks the mites repay 

 the ants for their hospitality by removing the bodies 

 of their dead, which they devour. 



Colias edusa. — I was very glad to find, on opening 

 the November number of Science-Gossip, that an 

 entomologist had contributed some notes on the 

 above butterfly. I may say that, so far as I have 

 been able to judge, the male Clouded Yellow has, as 

 Mr. Rees says, been much more abundant than the 

 female. I was, however, able to secure more females 

 than I actually wanted for my own cabinet, and so 

 supplied several friends with spare female insects. I 

 could have caught more, but having sufficient for 

 my own and friends' requirements, I let the rest 

 alone. Near Eastbourne, a Leicester entomologist 

 informs me, that of a dozen or so specimens netted, 

 almost all were females, which is quite contrary to 

 the notes I have had from other places. I am sorry 

 to find that Mr. Rees does not agree with either 

 of my theories, as to the irregular appearance of 

 Edusa. I must ask him to bear in mind that I only 

 gave those theories for what they were worth, and 

 that I did not pin my faith to either of them. In 

 support of the second, I may venture to remark that 

 many specimens of the butterfly were reported in the 

 entomological journals early in the season ; also that 

 in 1877, I took several Edusce so early in the year, 

 that they could only have been hybernated specimens. 

 These were all captured at Felixstowe, in which 

 neighbourhood the butterfly was very common later 



