CORRESPONDENCE—REPORTS. 
4H 
Curious Superstition. —E have lately heard from some of the pea¬ 
santry here (Hampton-in-Arden), the following strange receipt for effect¬ 
ing the cure of whooping-cough in children, viz.: take a pinch of hair 
from the nape of the neck of the afflicted person, and, after having cut 
it into very fine pieces, lay it between two slices of bread and butter, 
and give it to a dog to eat—a strange dog is preferable to one living on 
the premises. If it is for a girl care must be taken that the animal is of 
the male sex, and if a boy, of the opposite sex, otherwise the remedy 
would be inefficacious. The Rev. Thistleton Dyer states, in “ Englisli 
Folklore,” that a very similar remedy is resorted to in Gloucestershire, 
and that measles are sometimes cured in the same way. Another 
remedy is to pass the afflicted child backwards and forwards beneath 
an arched bramble, one of peculiar growth, rooting at lioth ends. It 
would appear almost incredible in these days of medical science and 
social advancement that persons could still be found to rely so much 
upon so foolish a superstition. I have actually seen preparations made 
for applying the remedy, but have not heard of the result. Such cases 
as the above, and one may often meet with many equally curious in 
our rural districts, only tend to prove the force of long standing super¬ 
stitious, and how difficult it is to remove certain ideas, howevei- 
whimsical and fallacious, when once they have taken deep root in the 
mind. —R. Rogers, Hampton-in-Arden. 
Ifjiorts of Sotiftifs. 
BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND :\IICR()SC()PICAL SOCIETY. - 
[Microscopical, General Meeting.— January lOtli.—Mr. C. B. Plowriptht, the 
eminent fungologist, of King’s Lynn, was unanimously elected a cori-esponding 
member of the Society. Mr. ^Y. B. Gi'ove exhibited the following fungi :— 
Trametes gibhosa, Hinnenochcete riihiginosa, Corticium ochrnceuni, C. Samhnei, 
Tremella Indecorata. Helotiuin paUescens, Spluc ia nihelUi, and S. acuta, all 
from Sutton; HordaHa breviseta (new to the districti, trom Water Orton; 
Spliceria sabidetormn, from Rhyl, on stems of Ammopliil < arundinace t ; 
StegonospoHuin cellulosuni, from Sparkhill; and Torula sporeudoneaia (rare 
and new to the district), from Sutton. Mr. W. R. Hughes, F.L.S., then 
exhibited and presented to the Society six slides of Echinodermata and 
Entozoa, on behalf of IMr. F. W. Sharpus, of London, by whom they were 
mounted. He also gave a description of the sljdes and the points of 
interest which they illustrated. The first was a young individual of Echinus 
aphccra, the common egg urchin, measuring only one inch across, includ¬ 
ing the spines, mounted whole in such a manner that the student could 
examine the whole external anatomy in detail on either the upper or under 
surface. The second and third slides showed ceidain plates relating to 
the ambulacral and pore systems, and formed very beautiful objects. The 
fourth slide contained one of the arms of Ophiocotn i rosula, the rosy brittle 
star, complete to the very base. This is very difficult to obtain ; everyone, who 
has attempted to catch these brittle stars know’S the facilitj" with which they 
dismember themselves at the slightest provocation. The fifth and sixth slides 
contained perfectly mounted specimens of the liver-fluke. Fasciola h>-p itica, in 
which the whole internal anatomy of these parasites could be observed. Con¬ 
cerning this entozoon, which is the cause of the “ rot ” in sheep, Mr. Hughes gave 
several interesting particulars, which were supplemented bv the remarks of 
other members who were present. The eggs of the liver-fluke, of which one in¬ 
dividual can produce 50,000, pass with the bile into the sheep’s intestines and 
