NOTES AND QUERIES. PLASTER CASTS.-Can you tell me where I can find any remarks on the making of plaster casts? I want to take some casts of skulls, teeth, and other bones.-J. G.

TO KILL SLUGS.-Can any of your readers inform me what chemical preparation it is which, when dropped upon a living slug, destroys its vitality, but preserves it with tentacles extended and colours true as if it were alive?-E. C. Y.

CONVOCATION OF SPARROWS.-Passing up St. Dunstan's Hill to-day, at 4 P.M., I descried a flock of sparrows on two trees, about 500 or 600 in nunber. They made a great noise for about ten minutes, and then all flew off, creating quite a sensation among the people. Is such a thing very common (especially at this season of the year)? And why do they all flock, and then fly off if it is not common-J. 1., jun. Dec. 12, 1865.

BEES AND WASPs.-In several places in Belgium the same has been observed as in England-that wasps were not to be seen, and that bees attacked the fruit.-B.

GOOD CEMENT.-H. J. B. asks if any one can recommend a good cement for aquaria ?

FIBRE OF THE COTTON PLANT.-Would it not be possible to extract the fibre of the stem of the cotton plaut (Gossypium herbaceum, &c.)? I believe this is worth an investigation, and I recommend it to all who are acquainted with cotton growers. I tried a small delicate stem, put here in open ground, and got some fibres by beating it.-Bernardin, Melle, near Ghent

[It has been done. Specimens from India were shown at the Exhibition of 1862.--ED. S.-G.]

VISITATION OF SPIDERS.-It may interest your northern correspondent and others to learn that the spiders alluded to at page 282 of your December number have visited the south. On returning from chapel after the morning service on the 12th November last, I observed the railings from St. Thomas's Street to one of the entrances to Victoria Park swarming with almost any quantity of them; but, strange to say, I could not find a single specimen on the leafless twigs of the trees in the park, and the railings beneath them had only here and there one. They were very tame, running about the hand freely, and leaving it by attaching a thread to its margin, and so dropping down five or six inches, pausing thus for a moment, and then, with almost the speed of a winged insect, mounting high in the air, where their intensely black bodies could be seen in the bright sunlight some yards away. Accepting the belief that the aerial spiders make their flights by the lightness of the silk they throw off, it would be interesting to learn-first, how our little visitors contrived to detach the thread from the hand, or whether they merely held on by it while they spun another thread that was free? Secondly, why the thread from the same creature at one time is a mere rope of suspension, and at another acts the part of a balloon? Is it possible that the spiders capable of making these atmospheric ascents have some means, hitherto unknown, of inflating the air sacks

or other part so as to reduce their specific gravity? I spent some time the following morning in examining the railings, ground, and crevices in the locality where the previous day they had been so plentiful, and yet with the help of ten years' experience in such hunting I could not find a single individual. Their threads were there, stretching from point to point like fairy telegraph wires, that might have been put up by some joint-stock enterprise from the realms of Queen Mab; but of the workmen I saw none, alive or dead. Their task completed here, on what other fields has their great Maker employed them? -W. H. Hall.

ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENON--While travelling from Oxford, on the London and North-Western Railway, on the 20th July, I witnessed what, to me at least, was a novel phenomenon. The sun was 4 or 5 degrees above the horizon, the time being 7.40 P.M. In the east a dull haze extended some 9 or 7 degrees above the horizon, and terminated in light flocky clouds; above these the sky was clear. Exactly opposite the place of the sun a beam of light shot up from the horizon, extending across the haze and clouds as far as the clear sky above. In the course of about a minute three or four more beams became visible, apparently radiating from a point, situated as far below the castern horizon as the sun was at the time above the western. The most southerly of the beams appeared faintly tinged with prismatic colours. I turned towards the west, thinking the sight I had witnessed must be a reflection of the "Moses' Horns," so often seen when the sun is on the point of setting, but could not see anything of the kind. The appearance lasted, with varying intensity, for about ten minutes, fading away gradually, and quite disappearing before the sun had set. After the sun was below the horizon, a broad streak of rosy light filled the space before cccupied by the beams, as though Aurora, having mistaken the hour, was about again to open the gates of day before Apollo had had time to repose.-W. S., Buckingham.

THE SPAWN OF DORIS.-Would the spawn of the Doris (Doris phluta), deposited in my tank, ever hatch? If so, would the young ones grow in an aquarium? The Doris spawned on the 1st of November. Could any of your correspondents answer the above questions?-W. B,

PRESERVING BIRDS WITH WOOD ACID.-Mr. Newton, of Cambridge, says in his Hints on making Collections of Eggs": "Birds may be preserved entire by pouring a few drops of pyroligneous acid down their throats." I presume this would only keep them for a time, until they can conveniently be skinned. Or would it entirely preserve them without any other process? Perhaps some of your correspondents have tried the plan, and could speak as to its results.-W. F. Saunders.

CHINA GRASS.-I believe different nettles are known under that name. According to Dr. Blume, the name of tchoum is given by the Chinese to Behmeria spicata, Thunb.; and to B. longispica, Steud.; the RHEA of Assam is B. nivea and B. tenacissima, Gaudich.; the TAMEH, RAMI, &c., of the Malay is B. tenacissima. Dr. Blume says (in Mus. Ludg. Bat.) that B. tenacissima is produced by cultivation from B. nivea.-B.

[All these names do not represent distinct species. Behmeria nivea includes B. tenacissima.-ED. S.-G.]

SPHINX CONVOLVULI.-Surely, the Hawk-moth generally known as the Convolvulus Hawk-moth, has not a double trunk, or proboscis. For my own part, I cannot see why it should be called the Unicorn Hawk-moth, if it had a double trunk; for it is probably the remarkable length of the proboscis, which is quite as long as its body, that suggested the name of unicorn.-Helen Watney.

BLACK BEETLES.-I think that A. H. will find that cucumber peelings form a better bait for black beetles than even beer, as these insects are quite incapable of resisting the smell of the cucumber, and will eagerly climb the sticks to reach the delicacy.-H. J. B. H.

PILCHARDS.-How is it that pilchards are not now to be had in London? Some years back plenty were sold. The little dried sticks called capelins," seem to be the only substitutes.-R. II. I.

REMOVING THE CUTICLE OF LEAVES.--Can any one tell me how to separate the cuticle of leaves for mounting? The leaves of some plants offer great difliculty, and cannot be stripped off in the slovenly manner recommended in some treatises.-W. W. R.

PROBOSCIS OF BLOW-FLY.-In reply to "T. S.," I would say, that of the twelve slides usually mounted to illustrate the anatomy of the blow-fly, that containing the proboscis is the most difficult to manage. To succeed, the microscopists must exercise some ingenuity, as he is left altogether without hint or guide by the handbooks as to the method of manipulation to be pursued. I have mounted several, and as the method I have pursued may be useful to some, until a better be given I freely supply it. But first I should say, that for various purposes connected with mounting, I find that pieces of strong glass, less than an inch square, with their edges very slightly ground to take of their cutting sharpness, to be very useful. I cut off the head, and lay it on a glass slide with a little water, antennæ upwards. I then lay one of the small squares of glass upon the head, so that its edge may lie along the front edge of the head. I then find that, by pressing down the upper glass, the proboscis will shoot out, and the lobes of the ligula will expand beautifully, and, in most cases, just as I require. If the pressure be removed the tongue will relapse to its former condition. I therefore take advantage of the moment of expansion and, with another piece of glass, fix it in the expanded position, and maintain the pressure until the water has evaporated, when I supply turpentine, which gives it a permanent set. If the tongue does not expand properly, or I fail to fix it when expanded, I try another head, as it is utterly useless to work with needles, for they only tear, and mess, and lacerate the structure. I might have extended the above, so as to be more minute in giving the details, but enough has been given to guide the operator, who in other respects may improve by experience beyond any further hints I could give. I would only say, that I believe by no other method will he succeed with this object without more than usual trouble and care. -Lewis G. Mills, LL.B., Secretary Nat. His. Soc., Armagh.

ACTION OF FUNGI-SPORES.-Some recent investigations by French medical men serve to prove that the spores of Fungi introduced into the blood of the human subject are capable of inducing discase and causing death.

AN ANCIENT SEA-ANEMONE.- In the year 1820 the late Sir John Graham Dalzell took from the sea an Anemone (Actinia mesembryanthemum), which he supposed to be then about seven years old. He placed it in a glass, and kept it till he died at about the year 1852, when the specimen was transferred to Professor Fleming, and on his death it passed into the hands of the gentleman in whose keeping it, I believe, still remains. Some time ago a friend of mine told me that its then possessor was a little oppressed with the responsibility of properly keeping alive such an historically valuable animal, and that if I wrote to him, offering to take great care of it, and to provide it with a luxurious home, it might probably pass into my charge; but the answer I got was that there was no intention of parting with it. I quite forgot the gentleman's name, but if he should read this he will perhaps kindly accept it as an apology for what I did not intend as a piece of intrusiveness: I was simply misinformed. Up to the year 1850 this specimen gave birth to about 700 young ones. I have often thought whether it is possible that Sea-Anemones and some few other animals never die of old age, but only of accident, or neglect, cold, heat, hunger, and so forth. I have kept anemones and madrepores for many years-the same specimens,-and I have never been able to detect any signs which may be interpreted as 'getting old."-W. Alford Lloyd, Zool.` Gardens, Hamburg, Nov. 1865.

EVAPORATION AND CONDENSATION.-Over the vast arca, consisting of nearly three-fourths of the whole surface of the earth, now covered by the ocean, an area of 145,000,000 of square miles,there is ever present an atmosphere of aqueous vapour, which, with the other air, is constantly being carried along by the winds, and at length reaches land. In passing over the land the air becomes changed in temperature and in its electrical state, and ceases to retain the aqueous vapour mixed with it. From vapour the water passes into cloud, and from cloud to rain. Water or rain falls on the fifty millions of square miles of land, this water having previously been sucked up from thrice that area of sea; and the rain that falls in the course of a single year on the land would, if accumulated, cover its whole surfcae to a depth of nearly three feet.-Ansted's Practical Geology.

POZZUOLANO is the name given to a natural volcanic earth or trass, of a reddish colour, originally found in the vicinity of Pozzuoli, not far from Naples. Similar material has since been obtained in large quantities from extinct volcanic districts, especially at Vivarais, inCentral France, at Brühl, near Andernach, on the Rhine, and even near Edinburgh. In the latter case it is also a volcanic material, but of very ancient date. It varies in colour, but retains its mineral characteristics. Ansted's Practical Geology.

NEW SPECIES OF CHARR.-At the meeting of the Zoological Society, on the 28th November last, Dr. Günther pointed out the characters of a new British species of charr, from Loch Killen, in Inverness-shire, for which he proposed the name Salmo killenensis.

CRESTED BLACKBIRD.-A specimen of a crested blackbird was exhibited at the last congress of the British Association, which it is supposed may eventually prove to be a distinct species.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

ALL communications for the Editor should be addressed to No. 192, Piccadilly, W. To avoid disappointment, contributions should be received on or before the 15th of each month. No notice can be taken of anonymous communications. All notes, queries, or articles for insertion, must be guaranteed by the name and address of the writer, which may be withheld from publication if so desired.

QUERIES. Having been inundated with questions, we are compelled to announce that we cannot undertake to answer those of which the querist might satisfy himself 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, beside the querist, are likely to take an interest in them.

WE cannot undertake to return "rejected addresses."

A. G. R.-Your red fungus on Judas tree is Tubercularia vulgaris.

J. S.-Scarcely so thin as it should have been.

W. A. L. is thanked for his offer, but we receive "Hedwigia" egularly.

K. D.-Your shells are those of Littorina obtusata, the Turbo obtusatus of Linnæus, and Littorina littoralis of Forbes and Hanley. R. T.

R. A.--Your black Staghorn fungus from decayed timber is Xylaria hypoxylon, very common.

W. B. MAXFIELD would exchange thin, unmounted sections of turtle bone for human or ostrich bone, or any kind of sponge spicules.- Address, Stone, Staffordshire.

APHIDES.-Mounted specimens of Aphides will be sent to such applicants as will pay postage for them, by addressing to Discipulus, School-house, Mulbarton, Norwich.

E. C. and C. B. C.-We do not comprehend your queries. E. G. (Grasmere) sends us an abnormal form of inflorescence of Geum rivale (Water avens), in which a "flower is disposed in a whorl about the stem, two inches below the terminal one." It has been forwarded to the herbarium of the Society of Amateur Botanists.

M. W.-The Micrographic Dictionary is published by Van Voorst (London), at 45s.

G. T. P.-We cannot insert such a list as you send, and can only announce that you wish to exchange Lepidoptera.Address, 8, Clare Hill, Huddersfield.

VALLISNERIA SPIRALIS.-H. J. B. offers fragments of this plant, as well as Desmids from an aquarium, to correspondents. 44, Camberwell Road, London.

TESTACELLA MANGEL.-A few shells of this mollusk are offered in exchange for those of Testacella Haliotidea, var. Scutulum; or any of the foreign Parmacella.-Address, E. C., 7, Eldon Villa, Redland, Bristol.

H. J. B.-Mosses may be found almost anywhere. What species do you want locality for?

O. I. T. corrects an error at page 286 (1865). For Althea cerea read Anthea cereus.

K. D.-What is "Crap," of which you inquire?

E. G.-The yellow fungus on bramble leaf is Lecythea ruborum, which generally precedes or accompanies the brand. W. Ross.-Not a vegetable production at all.

H. B.-Cuthill's treatise on the mushroom will give you the information you solicit. A dark cellar is not essential. The soil moist, not wet.

H. H.-Tetraphis pellucida is not considered rare.

R. H. wishes to exchange land and fresh water shells for marine or others.-36, Swine Market, Halifax.

BOTANICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY.-"Pritzel's Thesaurus," published on the Continent, may doubtless be obtained through some foreign bookseller-Williams & Norgate, Asher & Co., or Bailliere. It is the most complete Bibliography of the Science published. A list of many of the works published since was continued until lately in the "Natural History Review."

W. W.-We are not supposed to know anything of those who advertise in our "Gossip" beyond their advertisements. 1.K.-Long lists of desiderata and exchanges must be inserted as advertisements.

M. A.-We expect that "British Reptiles" will really come in with the new year, and that you will be able to obtain it on application to the Publisher, at 192, Piccadilly.

R. O.-The dried specimens of fungi to which you allude may be had at the office of this journal. There are examples of 100 species, and the price is one guinea.

L. L.-We regret that your specimens were not named for you; but that either they were too many, or in an suppose imperfect state. It is possible that they may have been mislaid; but we have no recollection of the circumstance.

J. S. The only work, of which we have any knowledge, on the parasites of birds and animals (Anopleura) is "Denny's Monograph," published by H. G. Bohn, of Covent Garden.

A. T.-We purpose devoting some space during the current year to fresh-water fish, with illustrations which will probably answer your purpose.

S. J. P. We cannot attempt to answer queries on any other subject than Natural History.

R. A. C.-If you wish to make any progress in the study of plants, you had better do what you purpose thoroughly. There is no science without technicalities.

COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED.-A. H.-L. S.-E. T. S.L. L. C.-W. W. S.--O. I. T.-J. R. E.-E. C. Y.-W. A. L. R. H.-L. G. M.-J. A.-J. S.-A. G. R.-H. W. N.-T. S.W. W.-W. F. S.-R. A.-D. P. A.-J. S.-W. Ross.-K. D.E. A.-W. S.-H. B.-E. C.-T. P.-H. W. (Oxford).G. T. P.-H. H.-M. W.-B. H.-J. E. Y.-J. A., jun.C. B. C.-G. S.-H. J. B.-H. U.-Prof. BERNARDIN.J. W.-E. G.-A. N.--R. H.-M. A.-I. K.-S. W.-R. O.W. A. S.-Annie.-L. L.-M. A. F.-G. O.-R. A. C.-W. B.S. S. T.-W. W.-J. S.-S. J. P.

CORRESPONDENTS will please to append their own names, or initials, to their communications, which may be withheld from publication if desired; but no notice whatever can be taken of anonymous contributions.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

"The World before the Deluge." By Louis Figuier. (Translated from the Fourth French Edition; pp. 448, 8vo., illustrated.) London, Chapman and Hall, 1865.

"The Book of the Pike." By H. Cholmondeley-Pennell. ondon, Robert Hardwicke, 1865.

pile

HE Snowflake, arrested in its descent and transferred to the microscope, is an object of beauty, and teeming with matter for reflection. The landscape which the frost traces during the night with delicate crystals on the window-pane is a mystery to the child and a marvel to the man. Here is exhibited beauty in combination with power. Great agents have been "frost and fire" in the physical revolutions of the world. How they began, and where they will end, let us leave for speculators to dream, and confine our business to the world as it is.

den After a night's downfall, as far as the eye can scan, everywhere lies the snow. It makes the leafless trees look elegant, hides the smoke-dried city garden, and buries all evidence of the scavenger's neglect. The town is as trim and clean as a chimney-sweep in his Sunday shirt, and the country one vast tablecloth to which birds are the only guests. But under the snow lies, fearful to contemplate, all the unpleasant experiences of mud and slop. So "frost and fire" conduce alternately to our pleasure and pain.

The small experiences of snow which fall to our lot are sufficient to remind us of the glaciers and avalanches of mountainous districts. "The snow which during the whole year falls upon the mountains does not melt, but maintains its solid state, No. 14.

where their elevations exceed the height of 9,000 feet or thereabouts. Where these snows accumulate to great thickness, in the valleys, or in the deep mazy fractures of the soil, they harden under the influence of pressure resulting from their incumbent weight. But it always happens that a certain quantity of water, the result of momentary fusion of the superficial beds, traverses its substance, and this forms a crystalline mass of ice, granulated in structure, which the Swiss naturalists designate névé. From the successive melting and freezing, provoked by the heat by day and the cold by night, the infiltration of air and water in its interstices, the névé is slowly transformed into a homogeneous and skycoloured block of ice, filled with an infinity of air bubbles; this is what is called glace bulleuse, bubbled ice. Finally, these masses are completely frozen; the water replaces the air bubbles; then the transformation is complete; the ice is homogeneous, and presents those fine azure tints so much admired by the tourist who traverses the magnificent glaciers of Switzerland and Savoy."

Such are the glaciers which fill the gorges of the Alps, and by a gradual progress move onwards to the valleys, where they continually melt, whilst at their sources they are being as continually replenished. Such the means by which great and important changes have been wrought on the surface of the globe, and such the material for many a castle in the air more fragile and evanescent than snow. The parallel roads of Glen Roy indicate the action of the glaciers of Scotland in ancient times, and other evidences may be traced amongst the mountains of Wales.

At one time a notion prevailed in the vicinity of snow-capped mountains that an avalanche might be brought down by the firing of a gun or the tinkling of a bell; that a trifling sound might cause a small fragment of snow to move, and in its motion down

C

wards to accumulate until it became an avalanche, which, like that of Val Calanca in 1806, might transport a forest from one side of the valley to the other, or bring destruction like that of the valley of Tawich in 1794, which buried the whole village of Bueras "under the snow."

Ice has recently been made the subject of a very interesting communication to a contemporary, in which the process of crystallization during liquefaction has been thus graphically described :-" Here is a block of clear ice, such as any fishmonger can supply. Rows of air-bubbles can be seen running parallel to each other throughout the mass, and in some irregular places there is a fine gauze-like appearance produced by a web of minute bubbles. This is but the poetical way in which ice expresses a split; for this beautiful netting is the result of nothing more than some accidental blow. Cutting a slice from the block across the bubbles, let us hold it close to a naked gas-flame, and now let us observe it. The lamp of Aladdin could not have wrought a more wondrous change. The part before clear and unmarked is now studded all over with lustrous stars, whose centres shine like burnished silver. A fairy seems to have breathed upon the ice, and caused transparent flowers of exquisite beauty suddenly to blossom in myriads within the ice, and all with a charming regularity of position. It is the intangible fairy-heat that has worked this spell. The ice was laid down according to the same laws that shape the snow into those beautiful and wellknown crystalline forms so often to be seen in snowstorms here and elsewhere. Ice is indeed only an aggregate of crystals similar to those of snow, which, lying together in perfect contact, render each other invisible and the block transparent. When the heat of the gas-flame entered the slab, it set to work to pick the ice to pieces, by giving it, in certain places; a rapid molecular shaking, and the fairy flowers which appear in the warmed ice are the result of this agitation. On à priori grounds, we should therefore infer that the shape of these liquid crystals-for they are merely water-would be the same as the solid crystals which originally built up the ice. This is found to be the case. The two are seen to be identical, each has six rays, and the serrations in both follow the common angle of 60°; just as the ice freezes, so, under suitable conditions, it liquefies; the ice-flowers, or negative crystals, appearing in the same plane as that in which they were formed. The air-bubbles in ice show this direction. The bubbles collect in widely distant layers, marking the successive stages of freezing; between the layers there is either a clear intervening space, or those perpendicular rows of bubbles already noticed. Accordingly the ice freezes parallel with the former and at right angles with the direction of the latter bubbles."

Beneath the snow and the ice we all direct our hopes

for the young year. There lie buried the germs which shall make our fields green, feed our cattle, make our gardens gay, replenish our granaries, fill our tables, store our cellars, and indeed supply all the substantial materials for our daily wants. It cannot cause much surprise therefore that, at this season of the year, all should feel an interest, though but few express it, of what lies hidden "under the snow."

THE BELTED KINGFISHER.
(Ceryle Alcyon.)

LA
AKE, river, streamlet, and sea-side, are alike
enlivened in the Far North-West by the
presence of Kingfishers. Wherever fish are to be
caught, there, attired in a quiet livery of pale-blue,
one is certain to meet with a goodly sprinkling of
these most greedy fish-eaters. In size, and strength
of beak, it far outstrips the brilliant gem-like little
bird, the Kingfisher of our own pleasant streams.
Even staid old Romans looked upon Kingfishers
with a superstitious love. Halcyon, the Greek name
of the Kingfisher, has given rise to the everyday
saying "Halcyon-days." It was believed, the bird
hatched its young in a nest that floated on the
surface of the water; and, being specially under the
protection of the gods, could at will hush the
roughest sea, during the period of incubation:
hence the usually calm days near the summer solstice
(corresponding to our latter half of May and first
part of June) were called by sailors "Halcyon-
days."

The dead body of the bird, kept as a relic, enabled its possessor to shut up a thunder-storm or quell a household riot. In Tartary, the feathers of the Kingfisher, worn as an amulet, are supposed to ensure the wearer the love of any lady he sets his mind on. Had the skin of this little bird so recently sought after to adorn the hats and bonnets of the fair a like magic power?

There are many who believe even now that the body of a Kingfisher, suspended by a thread, will invariably turn its breast to the North. The savages in North-Western America have wonderful myths relative to the Belted Kingfisher, and use its crest, attached to bows, as a charm to make the arrow go true to its mark.

It is always a pity to destroy poetic fancies, and demolish in five minutes the myths-very pretty, if only true that have existed for centuries. The Belted Kingfisher never has a nest, neither has its British relative, but digs an ugly hole into a mudbank, or, taking forcible possession of one already excavated, lays its eggs on the bare earth at the end of the burrow. I have dug out a great many nests from the sand-banks near the Columbia river, and can safely say, the only impression not likely to be readily forgotten is entirely nasal-a potent, pun