92 
XATURE NOTES 
years. During the spring and autumn “ clean ” if spiders are discovered I am 
always called to the rescue, and always carry them out in my hands, I have also 
handled all kinds of spiders, Ocionoi utiua and Senoculina, and may safely say with 
Mr. A. F. Staveley, that there is no English species capable of inflicting on man 
a poisoned wound of any severity. I went into my cellar a short time ago at 
9 p.m., and felt a sharp bite or sting on the forehead, which soon began to swell 
up badly, and was swollen for some days : it was not the bite of a spider, but one 
of the thousands of gnats which hibernate there. I am of opinion that the 
gentleman noticed a spider on his hand, but not the gnat which escaped. 
Barmby Aloor, York, W. D. Wood Rees. 
Apn! 4, 1908. 
621. Plant Movements. — I am obliged to Mr. C. Nicholson for his kind 
remarks and questions in Nature Notes for March. In reply I can only say my 
observations were almost entirely confined to the violet ( Viola odorata) and its 
many seed varieties, as “ Czar,” &c., the notes being in almost all cases made on 
cultivated specimens. 
That no reference was made to this in the conclusion of my article was an 
omission, for I find I have the necessary notes, couched in almost the same words 
as Mr. Nicholson’s critique. These should have followed the account of the 
dispersal of seed in the furze {Ulex) and the vetches. bhea 
This peculiarity of the genus ( Viola) has to be taken account of in saving seed 
of the pansy and violas, or tufted pansies, for if the bo.K or pan containing the 
gathered capsules be not covered over by a piece of glass or cardboard, the 
chances are very little seed will be found in it when required. 
St. Peter’s Road, South Croydon, Thomas Bunyard. 
April II, 1908. 
NATURAL HISTORY QUERIES. 
143. Weasels or Stoats, — which? — I am informed on reliable authority 
that last autumn some workmen came across about thirty weasels coming across 
a field, of which they killed several. A day or two later, near the same spot, they 
saw about eighteen on the road. Is this not an unusual sight ? Were they 
weasels or stoats ? 
Barmby Aloor, Yorks, W. D. W. Rees. 
April 4, 1908. 
ASTRONOMICAL NOTES FOR MAY, 1908. 
Merctny will be visible as an evening star, setting about two hours after the 
sun at the close of the month ; near the new moon on evening of 31st. 
Venus sets shortly before midnight, and will be a brilliant object in the western 
sky after sunset. She will attain her greatest lustre on the 29th. The moon 
will be in the same quarter of the sky on 3rd and 4th. 
Alars sets about 10.30 p.m., but will only be faintly visible in the evening 
twilight. 
Jitpiter will be splendidly visible in the south-west sky before midnight. 
He is placed amongst the small stars of Cancer. In same region as the moon 
on the 6th and 7th. 
Uranus is well visible in telescopes, but rises late, and is at a very high altitude 
in Sagittarius. 
Saturn will be presented as a morning star, rising on the ist at 3.42 a.m., and 
on the 31st at 1.50 a.m. 
