Page images
PDF
EPUB

SKELETON LEAVES.-The following method has been communicated to the Botanical Society of Edinburgh:-"A solution of caustic soda is made by dissolving 3 oz. of washing soda in 2 pints of boiling water, and adding 1 oz. of quick lime, previously slacked; boil for ten minutes, decant the clear solution and bring it to the boil. During ebullition add the leaves; boil briskly for some time-say an hour, occasionally adding hot water to supply the place of that lost by evaporation. Take out a leaf and put into a vessel of water, rub it between the fingers under the water. If the epidermis and parenchyma separate easily, the rest of the leaves may be removed from the solution, and treated in the same way; but if not, then the boiling must be continued for some time longer. To bleach the skeletons, mix about a drachm of chloride of lime with a pint of water, adding sufficient acetic acid to liberate the chlorine. Steep the leaves in this till they are whitened (about ten minutes), taking care not to let them stay in too long, otherwise they are apt to become brittle. Put them into clean water, and float them out on pieces of paper. Lastly, remove them from the paper before they are quite dry, and place them in a book or botanical press."-Dr. G. Dickson.

66

MOVEMENTS IN CLOSTERIUM.-On a recent occasion your paper contained a short discussion of the Closterium," in which the author refers cursorily to the circulating movement observed within those plants. The character of the movements has not, I believe, been very distinctly ascertained. The motion in the two species most common in this locality differs considerably. In Closterium rostratum the ends appear to be freely open, the small bodies within exhibit by their movements a current flowing inwards and outwards at either end, and this constant, and not in pulsations; and the bodies themselves are, I believe, foreign, and do not in any sense belong to the plants under investigation; in fact, simply monads. In C. striolatum, on the contrary, there does not seem to be any communication by the ends with the water outside; but at each end may be seen an oval body, deeply coloured, continually revolving on itself, within, as it were, a closed cage, and this not freely, but as though it were attached by a cord at the inner end of its longer axis. I do not refer to the circulation to be frequently observed along the edges which appears to be independent of that at the ends to which the foregoing remarks apply. There are few objects so curious or so beautiful as these very common desmids; but they so rapidly become

quiet," when in the collecting bottle, that sedentary Londoners seldom get a sight of them in their most lively condition.-C. F. W., St. Anne's Heath, Chertsey.

SAWS OF FLIES.-In addition to "J. J. R.'s " account of the saws of some flies, the vessel which runs along the saw of the Tenthredo deserves notice, and so does the foot. The body between the two claws in its natural condition is folded up between them, but in using becomes expanded into a beautiful kind of sucker. The whole leg is covered with hairs and spines, and is a lovely object altogether. One can see how like this sucker is to a boy's leather one in action. So unlike is it in its mechanism to the sometimes so-called sucker of a fly. A collection of the different saws and ovipositors of insects is very interesting. And besides those mentioned by "J. J. R.," I would notice the saws of

the ruby-tailed fly, which resemble a key-hole saw the dragon-fly's ovipositor; and that of a beautiful green saw-fly, which is found about the gooseberrytree. This last is particularly worthy of notice.E. J. Scott.

CONFERVOID GROWTH IN SLIDES.-Whether "J. M.S." can apply it or not, I cannot say; but in old times when objects were put into shades without balsam or other preparation, they soon became covered with a kind of mould. To prevent it, I used to wet the object and slide with a solution of corrosive sublimate. If the solution of it in spirit of wine is sufficiently diluted, it will not crystallize so as to be noticed, but used to prove a very effectual antidote.-E. J. Scott.

SANGUINARIA.-Mr. H. J. Bacon calls the attention of microscopists to sections of the root of Sanguinaria canadensis as an interesting object; but he does not state where the fresh root, which he appears to allude to, can be obtained, as it is not a plant in common cultivation.

DOUBLE EGG-SHELL.-Knowing you are curious in natural-history matters, I think it may interest you to hear that yesterday I met with a hen's egg with two shells. The outer was the supplemental one, and the thickest; the inner, the natural one, and rather thinner than usual. The two were divided by a thin, damp, false membrane, similar in appearance, but differing in structure from the true membranes. My attention was directed to the fact, by finding the shell unusually hard to fracture at each end with my penknife, before sucking it. I have cracked scores of eggs before, but never met with a like case. I should like to know whether such a thing has been observed before.—A. J. C.

CIRCULATING CASE.-It has occurred to me that those subscribers to SCIENCE GOSSIP who feel interested in marine algæ might add to their collections by forming a society for the interchange of specimens by means of a circulating case. Rather more than a year ago there was a society in existence for the exchange of botanical specimens, of which I was a member. From some cause or other it failed-at least the case ceased to come to me, and I took for granted it had gone down. Perhaps the readers of this journal would communicate their mind on the subject. Should it be started I will be happy to do all in my power to secure subscribers.James Greer, jun.

PRESERVATION OF FOSSILS.-I have a fine specimen of the tusk, teeth, and forearm bone of a large elephant, which was dug up in a railroad cutting in a bed of river gravel. The tusk has been broken, but sufficient remains to show it must have been sixteen or seventeen feet in length. It feels hard, but is rapidly diminishing from the process of exfoliation. I have well soaked it in a solution of gelatine, yet the decay continues. Should any of your correspondents be acquainted with any management to preserve the specimens it will much oblige. -Charles Bailey.

THE VIPER.-Can any of your readers say why they do not succeed, at the Zoological Gardens, in keeping the common Viper-after a few months or so they die. The last time I was in New Forest I intended to have investigated this subject, but the weather was so unfavourable that I was prevented from so doing.-G. M.

HALO OF A SHADOW.-The following singular effect, which seems to be due to diffraction, may perhaps be worthy of notice. I have observed, when in a boat on the sea, that, when the sun is shining and the shadow of the person falls upon the water, a peculiar brightness surrounds the shadow; not unlike one of those softened glories which surround some of the pictures of saints in old paintings. The same effect I have observed in strong moonlight, when the shadow was thrown upon grass covered with hoar-frost; though the effect is not so marked as it is on the sea.-J. S. Tute.

PRESERVING FOSSILS.-The following extract from Mansell's "Medals of Creation," may be of use to "L. F. R." (S. G., vol. ii., page 283) :

"The broken porous bones may be repaired by a hot weak solution of glue; and when the joinings are set, the bone should be saturated with thin glue, well brushed in, and the surface be spunged clean with very hot water before the cement is congealed." (A liquid called "Neuber's liquid glue" is an excellent cement. It is sold at 54, Oxford Street, London.)

"When the bones are tolerably perfect, but dry and friable from the loss of their animal oil, they may be made durable by saturating them with drying-oil, and exposing them to a considerable degree of heat. In this manner the magnificent skeletons of the Sloth tribe the Megatherium and Mylodon, in the Hunterian Museum-were prepared. (The drying-oil is made by boiling litharge in oil, in the proportion of one ounce of litharge to a pint of oil.)

"For the Ichythyosauri, &c., in the British Museum, Mr. Hawkins employed a strong, watery solution of gum arabic as the cement, and plaster of Paris as the ground, using shallow wooden trays of well-seasoned wood in which the specimens were permanently imbedded: the bones, scales, &c., were then varnished with a solution of mastic, and the ground coloured bluish grey to imitate the Lias."Vol. i. p. 46 et seq., Bohn's edition.-A.H., Torquay.

HARE-RABBITS.-In the October number of this Journal, "G. B. C." mentions a gamekeeper catching a supposed hybrid between a hare and a rabbit. I have not before heard of a wild one being seen; but quantities are imported from Belgium by the great rabbit-fanciers. They are called Hare-Rabbits. Many gentlemen purchase them for turning loose, to improve the wild breed. They may be obtained for 15s. each. I kept three last year, a buck and two does. I found that, like other mules, they would not breed with one another; but they breed very well with the common rabbit, having seven or eight at a time. Their habits are, in all respects, similar to the common rabits.-C. K.

["H. S." and other correspondents who write doubtfully, will learn that the question was long since decided by the experiments of M. Rouy, of Angoulême. It can no longer be said that the rabbit will not hybridize with the hare.]

DYEING GRASS, MOSSES, &c.-By using Judson's simple dyes, which can be procured at any chemist's in bottles at 6d. each with directions, "J. H." can dye grass, &c., a variety of colours without any previous preparation. I may also state that I have used the dyes to tinge animal substances (freed from grease), which otherwise were so transparent as to be almost invisible when mounted in balsam, with excellent effect.-J. M., Barnard Castle.

TENACIOUS ANEMONE.-On the 26th of October some sea anemones (Actinia Mesembryanthum) were packed in wet sea-weed in a stone jar. On the 30th I received them in good condition. In unpacking them, one was accidentally left in the sea-weed, which was thrown into a wooden bucket without any water. On the 12th of November I found the sea-weed nearly dry, except in one or two places. Whilst I was collecting it to throw it away something stuck to my fingers, which I discovered to be a small actinia nearly dried up. Wishing to try if there was any vitality left in the unfortunate animal I broke off the bit of sea-weed to which it adhered and which was perfectly dry, and put it into seawater. In a few minutes it moved almost imperceptibly, in an hour it began to put forth its tentacles, and in the course of four or five hours it was sufficiently recovered to produce ten young ones nearly white, with the tentacles formed. The following morning the little actinia was perfectly flourishing and fully expanded.-T. L. N.

INDIA-RUBBER CEMENT.-I experienced all the difficulties named by several of your correspondents, until I adopted the following plan, which answers admirably. 1. Dissolve the caoutchouc in chloroform; 2. Dissolve the asphalt in benzole; add No. 1 to No. 2 until you find, by experiment-drying a little on glass-that the brittleness is overcome. -G. S. R., Blackheath.

MARINE-GLUE VARNISH.-(In answer to "J. H. McK." and others). I have tried a mixture of marine glue and naplitha with very good results. It dissolves readily in the naphtha, and probably will answer the same result as the asphalt, forming a very useful cement.-F. J. B.

MOUNTING IN BALSAM.-Since sending my last on the difficulty experienced in getting the balsam to harden properly, I have tried baking the slides in a common Dutch oven before the fire, with perfect success. After about six hours' good baking, the balsam becomes perfectly hard and well set. The air bubbles also disappear in a miraculous way. I hope this may be of use to your correspondents.F. J. B.

MILKY APPEARANCE.-The milky appearance of objects mounted after soaking in liquor potassæ is ascribed by numerous correspondents to imperfect washing. "A. B.," "T. S.," "A. M. C.," and "V. F." recommend thorough washing, first in water, and afterwards in turpentine, and then mounting in the usual manner, as described by "F. Fletcher," in SCIENCE GOSSIP, vol. ii. p. 282.

SCARCITY OF INSECTS.-"B. C. R." and "F. R." complain of scarcity of lepidoptera. They may possibly recollect that at the close of the summer of 1865 we had some days of hot weather, swarms of butterflys came out, particularly the common cabbage butterfly; also numbers of the mischievous though beautiful little white (hawthorn) moth. There was a sudden change in the weather, rain with easterly wind prevailed for some time, and, of course, as they had an untimely birth they met with an untimely end. Having observed this, I predicted a paucity of carly butterflies in 1866, and have been highly gratified in finding my prediction verified, and, consequently, my cabbages flourishing, and two fine red hawthorn bushes luxuriant in flowers and foliage which in 1865 were eaten nearly bare by thousands of the tiny caterpillars of the "Little White Moth." -H. C. R., Streatham Hill.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

ALL communications relative to advertisements, post-office orders, and orders for the supply of this Journal should be addressed to the PUBLISHER. All contributions, books, and pamphlets for the EDITOR should be sent to 192, Piccadilly, London, W. To avoid disappointment, contributions should not be received later than the 15th of each month. No notice whatever can be taken of communications which do not contain the name and address of the writer, not necessarily for publication, if desired to be withheld. We do not undertake to answer any queries not specially connected with Natural History, in accordance with our acceptance of that term; nor can we answer queries which might be solved by the correspondent by an appeal to any elementary book on the subject. We are always prepared to accept queries of a critical nature, and to publish the replies, provided some of our readers, besides the querist, are likely to be interested in them. We cannot undertake to return rejected manuscripts unless sufficient stamps are enclosed to cover the return postage. Neither can we promise to refer to or return any manuscript after one month from the date of its receipt. microscopical drawings intended for publication should have annexed thereto the powers employed, or the extent of enlargement, indicated in diameters (thus: x 320 diameters). Communications intended for publication should be written on one side of the paper only, and all scientific names, and names of places and individuals should be as legible as possible. Wherever scientific names or technicalities are employed, it is hoped that the common names will accompany them. Lists or tables are inadmissible under any circumstances. Those of the popular names of British plants and animals are retained and registered for publication when sufficiently complete for that purpose, in whatever form may then be decided upon. ADDRESS No. 192, PICCADILLY, LONDON, W.

All

[blocks in formation]

D. R.-We much regret to learn that H. Balls, of Reedham, has failed to fulfil the engagements of his advertisements in our columns at the close of last year. The publisher exercises all the caution that he can to prevent other than bona fide advertisements being admitted to our pages, but manifestly he cannot make inquiries into the particulars of every advertisement that is sent for insertion or the character of the advertiser.

S. J. B. Of course it does.

J. G.-No prospectus received.

M. D.-We have never made solutions of corrosive sublimate in spirit by weight or measure; it should be very finely powdered, and we should think two grains to the ounce sufficient. It does not injure the specimens.

J. W. I. Your parasite is Puccinia compositarum. H. W. K.-The galls on oak-leaves were at one time regarded as fungi, were published as such in collections of fungi, and are often sent to us as "a curious fungus."

G. A. W.-We could not answer your query here, and you did not enclose full address.

E. F. W.-No one could even guess from such a description. Was it an Amœba?

A. L. Certainly no improvement on the very cheap wireclips which can now be purchased.

T. P. F. should write his queries separately, and on one side of the paper, otherwise we cannot insert them.

J. J. R. should have been quite sure that we were wrong in printing aterrimus, at p. 273, before calling us to account.

A. G.-Safe this time. We cannot say when "Groser's Beetles" will be published. It is impossible to name your foreign gasteropod from its tongue. Beetles not yet named. B. D. We have already figured a fountain, SCIENCE GOSSIP, vol. ii., p. 14; and yours is no improvement.

W. C.-" London Catalogue of British Plants," 4d., Dulau & Co., Soho-square.

J. A. (Mile End).-The fungus is Agaricus ostreatus. J. H. G.-See p. 19 in this number. Single slides may be transmitted safely in the black millboard cases sold by all opticians.

F. HORTON (Powick).

A. BADGER (Eccleshall).} Letter awaits yon. Send correct

address..

G. F. P.-The section "Mineralogy" in "Orr's Circle of Sciences," or "Weale's Mineralogy," will either of them suit your purpose: at from one to two shillings.

A. A. A.-We object to recommend any special maker of microscopes. A useful instrument may be had for £5 of more than one maker. Dr. Lankester's "Handbook of the Aquavivarium" is being revised for a new edition.

B. D.-The mycelium of some fungus, proceeding from an old stump or decayed vegetable matter.

H. G. (Bangalore).-The title of the book is "A General History of Humming Birds, or the Trochilidæ, with especial reference to the Collection of J. Gould, F.R.S.," by W. C. L. Martin. 12mo., London, H. G. Bohn, 1861.

J. A. B. is reminded that the letters which he alludes to are the initials of certain societies of which the person using them is a fellow or member. They have no relation either to academic honours or to scientific attainments, since, with scarcely an exception, money, to pay for admission and annual fees, is the only real sine qua non.

BANGALORE.-The Australian acacia is Acacia dealbata.

J. G. B.

J. B. L.-" Berkeley's Introduction," 1. 1s., Baillière. "Hooker's Jungermanniæ," out of print, and scarce.

J. H. C.-If he requires more than we insert in our exchanges, it must be paid for and inserted as an advertisement. R. B.-Bryum Atropurpureum.

S. L. B. A mistaken notion. Replace your camphor, or, if you prefer it, try benzine. More on the subject next month. T. H. H.-No. 1, Xylophasia polyodon; 2, Polia Chi; 4, Hypena proboscidalis; 3 and 5, in too bad a condition for identification.-F. M.

EXCHANGES.

OBJECTS OF INTEREST, mounted or unmounted.-Send lists to A. L., 61, Buckingham-road, N.

OAK-WOOD from St. Helena.-Send stamped envelope to J. Powell, 19, Burton-road, Brixton, S.

BRITISH MOSSES, named, for Foreign Shells or rare British species.-Jane S. Milne, Buckland, Faringdon, Berks.

PENCIL-TAIL (Polyrenus lagurus), see SCIENCE GOSSIP, vol. i., p. 230, in exchange for Barbadoes Earth or other good (unmounted) objects.-J. Webster, Hanwell, Middlesex.

MOUNTED OBJECTS, dry, in fluid, or balsam. A large variety in exchange for mounted microscopic Fungi, or other objects. For lists, send specimen slide and address to W. Hislop, 108, St. John Street-road, E.C.

CAMPYLODISCUS COSTATUS, for any other Diatoms cr Lepidoptera.-J. W. Whelan, Bank, Bury St. Edmunds.

PAULOWNIA SEEDS, unmounted, for other objects of interest.-T. Buckle, Tunbridge.

OBJECTS, sixty varieties, unmounted.-Send lists to G. W. Webb, 108, White Rock-street, Liverpool.

PELARGONIUM PETALS (mounted), for other objects of interest.-E. M., 6, Holford-square, Pentonville, W.C..

BOOKS RECEIVED.

"The Technologist." No. 5, New Series, December, 1866. Kent & Co.

"Die Entwickelung der Ideen in der Naturwissenschaft." Von Justus von Liebig. München, 1866. "Hints on Spectacles, when to wear and how to select them." By W. Ackland. London: Horne & Thornthwaite. "The European and Asiatic Races." By Dadabhai Naoroji. London: Trübner & Co.

COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED.-F. W.-M. D.-E. J. S. C.T. G. P.-D. R.-G. S. R.-J. G.-E. T.-J. P.-A. J. C.A. L.-H.B. T.-S. J. McI.-A. M.-C. P. C.-J. S. T.-E. T. S. -A. H.-J. P.-J. W. I.-S. J. B.-E. F. W.-H. H. M.Ebba (no name).—A. W.-G. A. W.-G. H. F.-G. M.-L. G. -H. B.-H. E. W.-W. J. S.-C. D.-F. S.-C. B.-H. E. A. -J. R.-J. J. R.-J. M.-W. F.-J. S. M.-F. S.-H. W.A. G.-J. W.-B. D.-W. C.-W. H.-W. N.-J. M.-J. A., Jun.-J. A. (Mile End).-T. P.-W. S. G.-A. W.-J. J. F.G. M. I.-A. A. A.-J. R.-J. W. W.-S. W. U.-G. F. P S. B.-G. W. W.-T. B.-H. C. O.-J. M.-J. O.-B. A. J.H. E. R.-T. H. H.-J. B.-H. W.-C. A.-H. S.-H. D. C.F. K.-J. H. C.-S. L. B.-W. H. B.

TRAVELLERS' TALES.

"We ought not to be too hasty in casting ridicule upon the narratives of ancient travellers. In a geographical point of view they possess great value, and if sometimes they contain statements which appear marvellous, the mystery is often explained away by a more minute and careful inquiry."-TENNANT'S "CEYLON."

[graphic]

T is an unfortunate circumstance, that the necessary isolation of explorers should render them so liable to the insinuations of the malicious and the cavils of the hypercritical.

Marco Polo, Bruce, and Du Chaillu have successively suffered, in character and in prospects, from suspicions which subsequent inquiry has proved to have been utterly groundless.

Brave men are seldom untruthful, and the high qualities of head and heart necessary to form a successful explorer are rarely, if ever, combined with that meanness and mendacity which can claim credit for actions never performed, or discoveries never made. At the same time, it cannot be denied, that too many travellers have unnecessarily exposed themselves to the attacks of hostile critics by a deficient chronological arrangement of their narratives, by exaggerated statements, and a neglect to properly discriminate between mere hearsay and actual observation.

It is against the statements of the great geographers and historians of antiquity, that modern critics have specially delighted to break a lance, and condemn as more or less fabulous and untrustworthy. Upon this subject Sir Emerson Tennant has made some just observations in his work upon "Ceylon."

In recent times many of the suspected statements No. 26.

of ancient writers have been strikingly corroborated. The gorilla of Hanno have been rediscovered, probably upon the same coast upon which the Carthaginian explorer found them; the remains of that prodigious bird, the Epyornis, have been disinterred in Madagascar-the very country in which Eastern tradition located the monstrous roc, so well known to all readers of the "Arabian Nights;" and the gold-fields of California and British Columbia are situated precisely in that portion of North America in which the traditions of the American aborigines placed the El-Dorado of the Spanish conquerors.

It is curious that after an interval of some two thousand years, a people should still exist in Southern and Central Africa, almost exactly answering to the description which Pliny, Aristotle, and Herodotus gave of the Ethiopian Troglodytes. Yet the Bosjesmen of to-day have the same croaking speech, the same cave-dwelling and reptile-eating propensities. These Bushmen have generally been considered to be a deteriorated branch of the Hottentots; but I believe that, on the contrary, it will be found that the former is the purer race, and that the Hottentots, who, thanks to the Dutch Boers, are now nearly extinct, are an improved and hybrid race formed by some slight admixture of Kaffir blood.

Aristotle and others mention four peculiarities of the dwarfish Troglodytes, who, apparently, then dwelt in Abyssinia, a country from which they have been since driven or extirpated by the Gallas, Kaffirs, Mayintu, and other Asiatic-African races. First, they left the sick and aged to die alone, oftentimes of hunger and thirst. This the Hottentots did when first discovered by Europeans. Secondly, some of them ate their parents when they attained old age. Kingsley has defended this act as dutiful and religious, and without going quite so far, it may be

C

observed that the Calanti and Pædæi of ancient India and the Battas of the interior of Sumatra did the same. Thirdly, they fought battles with cranes. This may have been merely a playful way of satirising their diminutive stature; but Winwood Reade tells us, on the authority of some old Jesuit missionaries, that enormous birds once dwelt in Abyssinia, and your correspondent "B." of Melle, has observed that the Maori traditions record an analogous fact, viz., that their ancestors had to contend with (may this phrase not bear the meaning of "to hunt ?") the moas and other gigantic birds which formerly inhabited the islands of New Zealand. Fourthly, they buried the dead under heaps of stones, and accompanied these burials with loud shouts of laughter. We nowhere read that the Bushmen retain these peculiarities; but how strongly these stone-heaps resemble the cairns, and these festivities, the wakes or funeral revels of our Celtic ancestors!

The traveller Bruce was very generally disbelieved when he described the "feasts of living animals" in which the Abyssinians indulge; but the literal truth of the statement has since been amply vindicated. Nor is the custom, barbarous as it may appear, entirely unprecedented, for a sect existed till very recently in Bengal who were "sheepeaters," and devoured those animals piecemeal while alive; a representation of one of these people in the act of devouring a sheep, faces the title-page of the third volume of the "Proceedings of the Asiatic Society."

Most of the curious and mythical animals of antiquity really exist or have some foundation in natural history. Thus the idea of the Mermaid is evidently derived from the strong resemblance which the upper part of the bodies of some of the seal tribe bear to the human, and especially the female, figure; this resemblance is stated to be most fully developed in the Cow-fish of Brazilian rivers.

Again, it is extremely doubtful whether the Unicorn, which figures so conspicuously in our royal arms, is an extinct animal, a rare animal, an ideal derived from the appearance of some antelope seen in profile, or from the rhinoceros. The inhabitants of Thibet assert that a creature of this character is known in the unexplored tracts of Mongolia, and the skull of an unknown animal of this type may be seen at the Museum of the African Missionary Society.

That the Sea-Serpent and Norwegian Kraken, or Gigantic Polyp, really exist, I am firmly convinced; and I think that any one who takes the trouble to read two very ingenious and interesting articles upon the subject, which appeared in Beeton's Boys' Monthly Magazine in the course of 1864, will become a convert to my opinion.

Even the Centaurs of ancient Greece were no myths; they were, beyond doubt, the first horse

riders. The Aztecs, it may be remembered, who had never seen a horse before the invasion of Mexico by Cortes were with difficulty persuaded that the horse and man were not one animal.

It seems also very probable that the Fairies, so frequently mentioned in our literature and folk-lore, were in reality the Druids and their votaries, who, driven into concealment by the persecutions of the Roman governors and the spread of Christianity, long performed their mystic rites under cover of night, in the depths of their sacred groves. The peasantry, seeing them thus engaged, would naturally regard them as supernaturals-a belief which the dread of Druidic enchantments might increase. A mingled affection for the old faith and dread of the powers of the Druids would procure for them the name of the "good-folk," so universally applied to the fays, and explain the origin of the curious legends which the native Irish so implicitly believe.

Thus, whilst the flippant and superficial condemn all ancient authors as mere story-tellers, and all ancient, traditions as apocryphal, the painstaking may extract from them most interesting and valuable information, thereby exemplifying the old proverb, "that what is one man's meat is another man's poison." The works of Captain Cook and Dr. Livingstone afford examples of the scrupulous truthfulness which distinguishes the highest class of travellers. Captain Cook's charts and observations are so accurate that mariners still use them on the coasts of Tasmania and New Zealand; while it has been remarked that Dr. Livingstone, the discoverer of the vast Victoria Falls on the Zambesi River, committed the rare error of under-estimating their extent. If all travellers were as cautious in their statements, there would be little point in the practice of stigmatizing improbable stories as "Travellers' Tales." F. A. ALLEN.

VORACITY OF THE STARLING.-During the snowstorm of last week, Sergeant-Major Collins, of the Dorset Militia, observed a common starling (Sturnus vulgaris) perched upon the top rail of a fence in the neighbourhood of the barracks. Suddenly it pounced upon something in the snow, and evidently swallowed it. The serjeant-major resolved to see what this was, and immediately shot the starling, when, on wringing off the head after the most approved style of doing execution on these peculiar birds, what was his surprise to find projecting from the thorax of the bird thus decapitated, the sharp head and eyes with the two fore-claws of a nimble lizard (Lacerta agilis), three or four inches in length, which the starling had swallowed entire. The serjeant-major exhibited the lizard alive in Dorchester market on Saturday; for, strange to say, after remaining dormant for 24 hours, it revived.Weymouth and Dorchester Telegram, Jan. 10.

« EelmineJätka »