Natural History Notes and Extracts 405 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND EXTRACTS. 



Museum of Forestry in the Forest of Dean. 



In the Report of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests 

 in the Forest of Dean, 1905-1906, it is stated that during the 

 past year a museum has been built at Parkend. It contains 

 a large series of specimens of various timbers, and others 

 showing damage caused by animals, insects, fungi, &c. The 

 specimens are being arranged and labelled, and when this is 

 done they should prove of the greatest value and interest to 

 the forest student. 



Fleas and Plague. 



It has been definitely established by the Indian Govern- 

 ment Plague Commission that the plague is usually carried 

 from rat to rat, and from rat to man, by the rat flea (Pulex 

 cheopsis). By a series of experiments it was shown that plague- 

 infected rats known to be without fleas did not convey the 

 disease to healthy ones ; but if fleas were admitted to the 

 colony, the rate of progress of the epidemic, once started, was 

 in direct proportion to their numbers. 



Guinea-pigs isolated in gauze-covered cages to keep out the 

 fleas were placed in a plague-house, but they did not contract 

 plague. In several cases, however, guinea-pigs placed in 

 a plague-house in cages where the fleas could reach them, 

 contracted plague ; microscopic examination of some of these 

 fleas revealed the presence of the plague bacillus in the 

 intestines. 



A Nest of White Blackbirds. 



The following note is taken from Science Gossip, 1902, p. 191 : 

 " Ornithologists will be interested in. the fact that Mr. Charles 

 Wood, chemist, Harleston, Suffolk, has in his possession a 

 nest of white blackbirds (two cocks and one hen bird), which 

 he purchased from a labourer. The nest was in a lane not 

 half a mile from Mr. Wood's premises. The trio have now 



