548 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST, 
[Feb,  i,  1893. 
About  five  Hours  after  Handling  one  of  these  insects 
I accidentally  touched  luy  tongue  with  my  finger. 
Immediately  an  extraordinarily  pungent,  galvanic 
sensation  or  taste  commenced  rapidly  to  spread  over 
my  month,  quickly  reaching  my  throat.  Rinsing 
my  mouth  and  gargling  with  hot  water  failed  to 
arrest  the  progress  of  the  sensation,  which  was  ac- 
companied with  excessive  salvation.  The  unpleasant- 
ness lasted  for  several  hours,  and  then  died  away 
without  any  further  consequences.  I also  unconsci- 
ously rubbed  my  face  at  the  angle  of  the  eye,  with 
the  same  finger ; after  which  a rather  pleasant 
warmth  spread  over  that  part  of  my  face,  and  was 
distinctly  perceptible  the  following  morning. 
I could  not  for  some  time  trace  the  cause  of  this 
effect.  I at  first  put  it  down  to  the  agency  of  a 
fungus  that  I had  been  carrying,  but  a further  ex- 
periment negatived  this  idea.  I afterwards  tested 
the  insect,  and  found  it  to  be  the  real  agent.  The 
experiment  was  repeated  at  my  suggestion,  by  a 
medical  friend— Dr.  R.  J.  Drummond— who  can 
testify  to  the  result.  Re  described  the  sensation 
as  somewhat  like  that  produced  by  the  strongest 
menthol.  We  both  noticed  that  it  had  a numbing 
effect  upon  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  mouth. 
It  is  evident  that  this  property  must  be  a very 
efficient  protection  to  the  insect.  The  rapidity  with 
which  the  secretion  acts  would  cause  it  to  be  very 
quickly  ejected  if  picked  up  by  either  a bird  or 
a lizard — the  only  enemies  that  would  be  likely  to 
attack  it.  E.  Ernest  Green. 
Eton,  Pmidulorja,*  November. 
^—Nature,  Dec.  29. 
— » 
FEEDING  FOR  EGGS. 
The  profit  of  a poultry  yard  demands  to  a great  ex- 
tent as  to  how  it  is  managed,  says  the  American  Stock- 
man-  This  true  of  any  business.  The  idea  should 
be  to  make  every  fowl  pay  as  large  a profit  as  possible. 
There  is  a great  difference  in  markets,  and  one  should 
be  governed  by  them : for  instance,  in  one  market 
there  is  more  demand  for  eggs  than  fowls.  Then  it 
should  be  the  business  of  the  breeder  to  cater  to  the 
trade.  As  a ruie,  I think  there  is  more  profit  in  eggs 
than  fowls. 
With  proper  care  and  feed,  one  can  increase  the 
number  of  eggs  to  a great  extent.  Hens  cannot  lay  or 
produce  eggs  unless  their  feed  contains  the  elements  of 
which  the  egg  is  composed.  That  is,  a large  shate  of 
albnmiuouB  or  egg  producing  elements.  In  addition 
to  the  quantity  of  albumen  required  in  the  organism 
of  the  fowl,  the  laying  hen  requires  an  extra  amount 
of  ovarian  organization,  the  white  of  a hen’s  egg  being 
about  twelve  per  oent.  of  Blbumen,  and  this  must  be 
furnished  in  her  feed. 
By  making  a chemical  analysis  of  the  different  grains, 
yon  will  find  that  wheat  contains  a larger  amount  of 
albumen  than  any  other  grain.  Therefore  it  is  the 
grain  to  make  the  base  for  egg-producing  food.  The 
other  important  items  are  when  the  fowls  do  not  have 
a large  field  to  range  in,  to  give  once  a day,  if  possi- 
ble, a feed  of  chopped  meat  and  more  or  less  green  food. 
Chiokens  are  like  the  human  family  in  one  respect- 
in  that  they  like  a change  of  food.  As  a proof,  take 
fowls  that  have  been  fed  on  one  kind  of  grain  for  some 
lime  and  do  not  seem  to  have  the  appetite  that  you 
would  seem  to  think  they  should  have,  give  them  a 
little  cooked  food,  such  as  cake  made  from  coarse  corn- 
meal  aDd  scraps  together,  cr  some  other  grain  than 
you  have  been  feeding,  and  you  will  see  that  they  will 
jump  at  it  and  eat  it  in  a style  that  will  be  satisfactory 
to  the  most  exacting. 
While  wheat  is  one  of  the  be3t  feeds  for  producing 
eggs,  it  is  one  of  little  valne  for  fattening  purpose?, 
compared  with  corn,  as  corn  contains  a great  deal  of 
fatty  or  oily  substance,  which  puts  the  flesh  on  fowls 
in  a very  thort  time.  Pure  water  is  also  a very  essen- 
tial item  to  the  health  of  tho  fowls ; or  if  you  have 
milk  to  spare,  that  is  better  stil',  an  it  not  only  moist- 
ens the  food,  but  also  contributes  albumen,  which  goes 
to  the  formation  of  the  egg. — Southern  Planter. 
* The  late-t  form  of  Pundaluoya  !— Ed.  T.A, 
GOLD  AND  FRESH  GOLD  FIELDS. 
In  Utah  gold  is  stated  to  have  been  11  struck  big" 
on  tbe  Colorado  River,  aDd  in  distant  Tierra  de 
Fuego,  hitherto  the  most  unproductive  of  semi-An 
tarctic  wastes,  the  discovery  is  even  more  astonrding 
if  the  tales  told  are  only  approximately  true.  Indeed 
the  ugh  the  information  comes  backed  by  the 
imvrimatur  of  Her  Majesty’s  Charge  d’Affaires  in 
Chili,  it  is  so  trying  to  the  faith  of  simple  folks  that 
one  prefers  to  reserve  complete  belief  in  the  statement 
until  it  is  confirmed  by  the  production  of  the  actual 
metal.  For  even  with  the  precedent  before  us  of  the 
miners  in  Cariboo,  who,  after  working  for  months 
without  seeing  “ the  colour,”  actually  shovelled  the 
gold  off  tbe  “ bed-rock”  when  they  reached  that 
loDg-looked-for  obstacle,  it  verges  on  the  fabulous  to 
be  told  that  on  Lennox  Island  “ two  and  a half  tons  ’ 
of  nuggets  were  secured  iu  the  course  of  two  months. 
The  Charge  d’AfRires  admits  that  tbe  rumour  needs 
corroboration,  though  it  is  clear,  from  tbe  fict  0 bis 
sending  tbe  tale  told  him  to  the  Foreign  Office,  that 
he  does  not  quito  rrjpot  it.  If  further  inquiry  lends 
any  countenance  to  the  story,  it  is  certBio  ttat,  though 
Tierra  del  Fuego  is  hard  to  get  at,  aDd  the  half-bred 
Indians  who  are  its  present  moncpo’isis  are  extremely 
handy  with  tbe  knife,  it  will  not  be  long  before  Len- 
nox I-land  will  be  ns  11  live  ” a camp  as  if  it  was  in 
the  latitude  of  Ballarat  or  Grass  Valley.  There  is, 
however,  less  reason  to  doubt  the  intelligence  from 
tbe  Colorado.  For  the  spot  where  the  new  El  Dorado 
is  situated  is  within  easy  toneh  of  tbe  telegraph,  and 
no  great  distance  from  Denver  City.  Gold  isoDeof 
the  most  widely  scattered  of  metalB.  There  is  scarcely 
a land  in  which  some  is  not  to  be  found  ; but  it  is  spora- 
dically distributed,  one  piece  of  ground  being  often 
rich  in  it,  while  another  at  a short  distance  does  not 
yield  enough  to  render  worth  undertaking  tbe  toil  of 
washing  the  earth  through  which  it  is  sprinkled.  Again 
as  the  experience  of  Cariboo  shows,  the  richest  de- 
posits are  frequently  very  deeply  seated.  All  the  drift 
gold  was  originally  embedded  in  quartz  veins,  having 
in  the  course  of  ages  been  separated  from  its  matrix 
by  the  action  of  the  weather  crumbling  down  the  rock. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  add  that  even  in  California  only  a 
trifling  proportion  of  these  hidden  hoards  has  been  got 
at,  while  in  Australia,  British  Columbia,  and  Alaska( 
which  is  now  known  to  be  extremely  auriferous,  even 
tbe  surface  deposits  bave  in  many  inetanoes  been  left 
undisturbed. 
But  the  regions  mentioned  are  only  a few  of  the 
recognised  gold-producing  countries.  How  much  is 
annually  turned  out  by  the  rich  mines  of  Siberia  and 
tbe  Ourals  only  the  private  cabinet  of  the  Czir,  to 
whom  most  of  them  belong,  can  tell.  It  is  certain 
that,  were  a horde  of  old  Californian  or  Australian 
prospectors  let  loose  in  these  preserves,  the  figure 
would,  in  a few  months,  be  quadrupled.  West  Africa 
so  ancient  a Rold-yielding  country  that  the  old 
“guineas”  took  their  name  from  the  region — is  still 
scarcely  more  than  scratched,  and  while  South  Africa 
is  every  day  becoming  more  and  more  rich  in  gold 
yield,  East  Africa,  which,  as  Mr.  Bent  has  shown,  was 
one  of  the  Old  World’s  sources  of  wealth,  is  still  among 
the  speculative  auriferous  lands,  so  farasthe  modern 
prospector  is  concerned,  it  may  yet  be  as  rich  as  tbe 
Opbir  which  many  consider  it  to  be — if,  indeed,  tbe 
old  Arab  miners  did  not  skin  the  surface  deposits 
before  they  left  for  good.  But  none  of  these  countries 
seems  so  promising  as  the  Atlantic  elope  of  the  Andes, 
The  border  lands  between  Guyana  and  Venezuela  are 
said  at  this  moment  to  be  yielding  an  amazing  amount  of 
dost  to  tbe  rudest  appliance  s ; and  from  time  to  time 
strange  tales  come  from  the  bead  waters  of  the  Amazon 
of  the  still  untouched  wealth  of  that  laud,  rumoured 
to  be  so  full  of.  the  metal  that  in  Raleigh’s  day  it 
was  the  fabled  site  of  tbe  Golden  City  of  Manoa. 
Daring  tbe  times  of  the  Incas,  gold  we  know  was 
prodigiously  abundant.  It  covered  the  walls  of  the 
temples,  and,  as  the  implements  found  in  the  trmbs 
prove,  was  employed  in  the  fabrication  of  all  manner 
of  semi-saored  objects.  A room  is  still  shown  in  the 
Faiaoe  at  Ouzoo  which  Atahutllapa  offered  to  fill  with 
