HARD WICKE ' S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 191 



As soon as he tastes it he will suck, and will recognise 

 the syrup in future ; I have never found it necessary 

 to repeat the lesson. — J. R. Holt. 



Animals during Thunder. — In May there was 

 a severe thunderstorm here, but little rain, and what 

 fell was warm. Peal succeeded peal, and yet, during 

 the while, the birds never ceased singing. Indeed I 

 heard a blackbird whistling during a peal. On the 

 other hand, horses exhibited great uneasiness. I had 

 a smooth collie-dog which, whenever it heard thunder 

 turned, if by my foot, and ran home, pushing itself 

 under the bed. But the most remarkable instance I 

 have to relate was that of a cow which was the first 

 to leave the field during thunder, and low piteously to 

 be admitted into the byre. It was a delicate animal, 

 and therefore required to be milked thrice a day. It 

 had a great love of its mistress, and put its head over 

 her shoulder with a view to be stroked and petted. 

 It would never drink muddy water. — J. Shaw, 

 Tynron, Dumfriesshire. 



"The Golden Oriole. — In the July number of 

 Science-Gossip it is stated that the golden oriole 

 was observed in Dorsetshire at the end of May, and 

 of course the usual fate of being shot befel this beauti- 

 ful bird. All lovers of Nature must feel deeply 

 grieved to find that, in consequence of such van- 

 dalism, the race of beautiful birds is fast dying out, 

 and this, in spite of the Wild Birds' Protection Act, 

 which is supposed to protect such birds as the golden 

 oriole absolutely from March to August. The slayer 

 of this bird is perhaps unaware that he was offending 

 against the law of the land, and that he ought to 

 have been fined twenty shillings and costs. — Wm. O. 



The Humming-Bird Hawk-Moth {Macroglossa 

 stellatarum). — This moth is of common occurrence 

 in our village this year ; its favourite haunt is a stone 

 quarry ; it also frequents the jessamine. I should 

 like to know if other readers of SCIENCE-GOSSIP 

 have observed it in some numbers this year. — E. W. 

 Swanton, Brattou St. Maur, Somerset. 



The Cuckoo. — Some years ago I found a nest of 

 the grasshopper warbler containing four eggs and a 

 cuckoo's egg. So far as I have read, I believe this 

 species has not been recorded as one in whose nest 

 the cuckoo lays. The nest was placed in a thick 

 bush some two feet from the ground, in a farm-road 

 two miles below Nuffield, Surrey. — Hy. J . Turner, 

 13 Drakefell Road, Hatcham, S.E. 



Notes from West Cumberland. — On July 1st 

 I took a fine specimen of the Grayling butterfly 

 {Hipparchia scmele) on St. Bees Head. Is not this 

 an early occurrence ? The only other locality in the 

 county, that I know of, is the sandhills at Silloth. 

 On the Head I also saw many common blues, 

 meadow browns, small heaths, burnet, and many 

 other small moths. Helix aspersa is very abundant in 

 the neighbourhood of Whitehaven, but near Carlisle 

 I never saw it, although I searched diligently. Helix 

 nemoralis and rotundata are also very numerous. — 

 Jas. Alarray, IVJiitehaven. 



Polypodium calcareum. — I have to thank Mr. 

 H. C. Moore for his remarks on my note in 

 " Science-Gossip " for May. The locality he cites 

 from the "Herefordshire Flora" is identical with 

 mine, but is wrongly described as the Red Daren. It 

 should be the Black Daren. I am pretty sure that 



there is no P. calcareum in the Red Daren, which is 

 a short distance to the north. Since writing my 

 note, I have, in company with a scientific friend, 

 carefully examined the Black Daren Rocks, and can 

 find no calcareous deposit in any of the springs, and 

 no trace of cornstones. The rocks are typical old 

 red sandstone, which of course does not imply that 

 they are absolutely free from lime. The Hereford- 

 shire side I do not profess to know well, but I have 

 lately been several times across the "mountain-country 

 lying between the Black Daren and Crickhowell in 

 various directions, and think, HP. calcareum occurred 

 in that district, I should have found it. The nearest 

 habitat of that fern, which I know, is on the moun- 

 tain limestone above Llangattock (Crickhowell). In 

 June we searched the Cwm Yoy Daren, where the 

 conditions are similar to the Black Daren, but found 

 neither P. calcareum nor Polystichum lobatum there. 

 The growth of P. calcareum in the locality in question 

 is not to be explained by the presence of calcareous- 

 tufa or cornstones, and it seemed to me sufficiently 

 curious to induce me to. ask whether any of your 

 readers had found it elsewhere growing freely on 

 non-calcareous rocks. — Thomas "Jones, Newport. 



The Chameleon. — M. A. H. maybe interested in 

 my observations of a chameleon which was brought to 

 me from Spain in June of last year. Sometimes it 

 was almost black, and when on cold nights I kept it 

 in a basket lined with yellowish flannel the creature 

 was found to assume the same hue. It was mostly of 

 some shade of green or brown, or a mixture of those 

 colours ; but occasionally it was black with orange or 

 other coloured spots. One side of the brain seems to 

 act independently of the other, and the chameleon caD 

 literally sleep with one eye open. The separate 

 action of riyht and left nerves may explain the fact 

 that one side of the reptile is often of different colour 

 from the other. The tongue is as long as the body, 

 and has a sticky fluid at the tip. It was amusing to- 

 hold the chameleon within sight of a fly, and see it dart 

 out its wonderful tongue with unerring aim and great 

 rapidity. At first the creature avoided me, but soon 

 learned that I was a friend. One day the chameleon 

 would eat one sort of insect, and another day refuse 

 the same and prefer a new diet. On cold days it 

 would not eat, so I feared to keep it during the 

 winter, and sent it to the Zoo, where it died in April, 

 surviving its fellow-prisoners. As it can live a long 

 time without food, a popular fallacy has arisen that it 

 subsists on air ; so people often keep a chameleon and 

 do not provide it any nourishment. My chameleon 

 changed its skin in October. This, as well as all its 

 habits, was most interesting. Its attitudes are so 

 varied from the extraordinary way in which its limbs 

 seem to tend any way. I have many sketches of these 

 queer positions. On hot days I left my chameleon 

 free in the garden, but my task of watching it and 

 endeavouring to go on with some other pursuit wanted 

 the peculiar faculty of divided visuality so comical ins 

 the creature itself. I give my address in case 

 M. A. H. may like to write and ask further par- 

 ticulars. — R. E. Higgins, 93 Wellington Street, 

 Luton. 



Saccharine. — Immense results were, a few years- 

 ago, anticipated from the remarkable discovery of a 

 substance very much sweeter than sugar. This was 

 saccharine, one of the derivatives from coal-tar. 

 That the vast expectations then indulged in have 

 not been realised may be inferred from the fact 

 that there is now, in all the world, only one factory 

 wherein saccharine is made, and that on a very 

 limited scale. For a few years after the announce- 



