Page:Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - Volume 1.pdf/109

1, 1865.]

—Eels are particularly of the offal of either mackerel, herrings, or pilchards, and, by the aid of the oil as a clue, will follow up-stream for a considerable distance, even to the very hand of the person cleaning the fish. I recollect one instance in particular, where the offal was actually dragged from the hands of an individual cleaning mackerel one evening in a Devonshire brook; and on another occasion, in Looe harbour, in Cornwall, I was much amused in watching the actions of the eels, flounders, and crabs, contending for the possession of pilchard heads, &c., I had thrown overboard. The eels and flounders would dispute for the prize, but the crabs had it nearly all their own way, and it was evident that both eels and flounders eels their pincers in great respect, and were quite aware that the crabs were fully clad in their suits of armour, without which they do not venture far from some secure hiding-place, for flounders and eels in tide-rivers prefer them to all other food when they have cast their shell. On the occasion above-mentioned, by placing some pilchard offal in a shrimp-net, I took an eel rather over a pound weight.—J. C., in the "Field."

—In the river Avon, at Guy's Cliffe, near Warwick, there are two distinct sorts, so far as appearance goes: the black-skinned with white belly, and the olive-green with white belly. Both are about the same size, varying from 1 to 4 lbs. The best bait to catch them with, during the summer-months, is the large red worm, known by the name of the maiden dew-worm, which is plentiful on turf-land. They only come out of the turf after dark of a summer-night, when the dew is on it. Then, as to the question, "Do eels come out on to the turf-land to feed on the dew-worm?" I should say—and so would many other eels-fishers that I have spoken to on the subject—"Yes, I think so, though I have never seen one out." But I can say for a certainty that, if an eel is caught on a night-line and taken out of the water at day-break, when the dew is on the grass, and set at liberty, it is perfectly capable of getting about the grass, quite as fast as a duck can walk, and always makes towards the water. I have frequently noticed that the best place to set an eel-line at night, in summer-time, is in shallow water, and about a yard from the bank-side, which shows that the eel comes to the edge of the water to feed, if it does not go out of it. During the winter-months, the eel is supposed to bury itself in mud in deep water. To catch them in winter, the deepest and muddiest places are the best; the bait a small live roach.—Stephen Long.

—A lady, living near here, who kept bees, found one day this month that all the bees of one hive had flown away leaving the honey of their winter store, and only two dead bees could be found. Can any of your readers tell me the cause of this?—E. W., Rugby.

—Your correspondent may insure success by adopting a very simple plan, viz., dipping the specimens, during life, into fresh water. Of course care must be taken that the tentacula are exposed at the moment of immersion (this can be easily ascertained under the microscope), and that the immersion be quite sudden. I have specimens mounted last July, in which the tentacula are in every stage of expansion. They are mounted in "Brunswick black" cells, in a medium of distilled water, in which a few drops of creosote have been placed, and then filtered. Nothing can exceed the beauty of the expanded tentacula, each separate thread retaining its original form and position. This is particularly interesting in the case of the Ctenostomatous polyzoa, in which the "invertile" nature of the crown, from which the tentacula spring, is well shown. The Avicularia are also fixed by the fresh water in the position in which the "beak" chances to be at the moment of death, whether entirely or partially raised. The vibracula, on the contrary, are, I think, always pressed close to the stem of the polyzoon. I have never succeeded well with the less highly developed polypi. Their tentacula appear to be of a more perishable nature, and soon fall into an undistinguishable mass.—W. W. Spicer.

—Several correspondents write to inform us of the skylark singing in January, so that it must be said of it that it sings "all the year round."

—An anatomist pursuing his researches on the structure of British birds, requires a specimen of the woodlark, dead, but fresh enough to dissect. Any correspondent able and willing to aid him should apply to us for the address. He will be repaid any incidental expenses.

—In answer to, I should think it very probably that the baggy protuberances he refers to were the parasite, so common to the dung beetle, and also found on humble bees, as some time ago I caught a fly covered with them.—

—I have tried several examples obtained at the chemists', but can make nothing of it. I should be glad of a little genuine, and also the modus operandi of preparing for the microscope.—

—I am interested and practically engaged in the propagation of ferns by spores, but have had the mortification of seeing hundreds of my young plants die before the first frond had budded out. The cause of death appears to have been a fungus growth, which makes its appearance first on the edges of the pots in small round spots, and gradually becomes deposited also on the ferns in very minute spots resembling the mealy matter formed on the under surface of the gold and silver ferns. Can you, or any of your correspondents, inform me the best mode of preventing the appearance of these, and of treating the plants which have been attacked?—W. Ormerod.