716 Marvels of the Universe 
es The other day I 
was showing a friend 
some “specimens ”’ 
of fungi, and he 
came across some dry 
and shrivelled Jew’s 
Ears. On _ telling 
him what they were, 
he was manifestly 
disappointed. ‘“‘ Not 
much in the name ! 
That’s nothing like 
anear.’ I placed a 
specimen in water eres 
: THE WIT. 
THE CROSSBILL and told him he PEEWIT 
Uses its beak for wrenching open pine-cones. 9 Its beak serves as a pair of forceps to pick 
should see it later. an wore nnd inscntsl 
After about half an hour’s soaking I removed it, and dried it on a towel. When I placed it on his 
hand he let it fall to the ground at once, and showed repugnance to the thing. He admitted it 
was far too like the real thing to be pleasant. 
The Jew’s Ear is not restricted in its growth to elder-trees. It is said to grow also on the elm, 
but I do not remember ever to have met with it save on elder, and then only on dead trees that had 
lost their bark. I have several times attempted to inoculate a healthy elder with the fungus, but 
have not succeeded in doing so. 
Respecting the name, the reader may be tempted to ask why Jew’s Ear? I believe the name has 
some connection with the traditionary belief that Judas hanged himself on an elder-tree. Judas’ 
Ear in later days would get shortened into Jew’s Ear. I have not consulted the philologists on the 
point, or made independent research, but on the face of it, that looks like the probable evolution of 
the name. 
SOME MARVELS OF BEAK TRANSFORMATION 
BY W. P. PYCRAFT, F.Z.S. 
Tuat the lower animals, at any rate, live to eat, rather than eat to live, is made manifest by 
the often elaborate 
mechanism which 
has been devised 
to secure this all- 
important end. The 
birds demonstrate 
this fact better than 
most animals, and 
the evidence they 
present is seen by 
their beaks. Take 
that of the Raven, 
for example. This 
pS uth can be used with 
THE MACAW equal facility as a THE NIGHT-JAR 
RSG Sree oe aa Me HOO dagger, a hammer, a Is provided with a bag under the beak 
Paina ale ; : i to hold the prey, which is gulped down as 
Se oe naan pair of pincers, an it flies. 
