NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
175 
282 . Golden Oriole at Selborne. — It may interest the members of the 
Selborne Society to learn that recently the Golden Oriole has been seen on the 
lawn of “ The Wakes,” Selborne. 
Au^tst 12, 1905. J. II. M. 
283 . Snake-hunting in Wales. — An account having appeared in the 
Standard of the slaughter of a numlrer of snakes near Llangollen, the following 
sensible letter was sent to that paper by the Rev. II. S. Kullagar, Rector of 
Ilunworth, Melton Constable : — 
“Vour issue of May 22 giv’es account of the brutal slaughter of snakes in 
Wales. These snakes, as they were nearly 3 feet long, must have been of the 
common or ringed kind, called also water snakes, because often found in streams 
and ditches. This kind is harmless, and are of use in thinning the toads, frogs, 
mice, &C-, upon which it feeds. It presents a formidable appearance by erecting 
its head and hissing, but its only means of offence is a malodorous liquid which 
it exudes at the tail ; this it ceases to do when tame, and may be freely handled 
without offence. 
“ And so may another pretty animal, often called a snake, and ignorantly 
slaughtered — the blind-worm or slow-worm. Its extreme length is 15 inches. 
It may be known by its almost cylindrical body covered with grey or light 
brown scales, its blunt tail and crescent end to its tongue. It feeds upon slugs, 
and is of great value in a garden, being perfectly harmless. 
“ The viper or adder, which alone of the three is poisonous, is of about the 
same length as the slowworm, but flatter in body, darker in colour, with a pointed 
tail and forked tongue.” 
284. Honey-dew. — The writer of No. 275 says he has noticed on hot days 
“the upper surface of the leaves of Japanese anemone to be glistening with 
honey-dew where no aphides were visible after minute search.” Some weeks 
ago I examined this plant in which the “glistening” of some of the leaves, 
especially when young and in vigorous growth, was very noticeable, and drew my 
attention to it. The leaf had no deposit on it. It was not sticky, and the 
“glistening” was not caused by aphis, but seemed to be the natural polish of 
the leaf itself. In the lime, however, a tree much affected by aphis, the leaf, if 
covered with a glistening varnish is very sticky and sweet to the taste, and after 
a time dust and other matter often adhere to it. 
If a copious discharge of honey-dew can be discovered on any of Mr. Hastie’s 
paving-stones in the open, and away from the influence of trees, the origin of the 
discharge must be assigned to other reasons than the excreta of aphis stationed on 
trees, but that paving-stone has still to be found. 
If honey-dew be merely an exudation from the leaves in “ too rapid trans- 
piration,” it would assume different characters in different plants. But why is it 
the same in character and taste, whether it comes from a lime-tree, an oak, a fir- 
tree, a laurel, or a cabbage ? The answer is, because it has passed through the 
digestive organs of the aphis in all these cases. 
Aphis and honey-dew seem to me to be cause and effect. 
Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
285 . I observe in your issue for August a confirmation of my contention that 
honey-dew is not the product of aphides, in fact, that as a rule, no aphides are 
visible on the tree when the honey-dew appears on it. 
It would be interesting to know why the honey-dew exudes through the upper 
surface of the leaves and never through the under surface. I cannot help thinking 
that the rays of the sun, which strike the upper surface of the leaves, must be the 
cause of this. 
There has as yet been no copious discharge of honey-dew in this neighbour- 
hood during this summer. Although the heat has been very oppressive, the rays 
of the sun have been more or less tempered by cloud and a dull atmosphere. Is 
the honey-dew drawn through the upper surface of the leaves of some trees and 
plants, when the sun strikes them through an abnormally clear atmosphere ? 
I think that the rays of the sun cause a fermentation among the saccharine 
matter in the plant. The roughness of the surface of the leaves and the change 
