In England glow-worms are of fairly common occurrence in country places and may be seen on any warm summer's night in the right localities. They are the winglets females of a species of beetle of the firefly family, Lampy-Tide, and it is believed by many observers that they' emit their strange phosphorescent heatless light in order to attract the males, which are much less luminescent, though possessing the Power of fight. But up to a few nights ago, although having been a "naturalist on the prow!" in China most of my life, I had not come across a glow-worm in this country. Fireflies—yes, in plenty, but never a glow-worm in all my wanderings. Imagine, then, my delight the other night, when, walking in my garden, T was attracted by a pale greenish light down in the grass by the goldfish pond, and, on investiga tion, found a genuine glow-worm—a small whitish segmented maggotlike creature, from the posterior end of which emanated the light which had caught my eye! I left it there, deeming it much too valuable an asset to the garden to collect and preserve as a specimen, even in the interests of science.
In the fireflies, it may be mentioned, though they belong to the same family as the British slow-worm, the roles are reversed. The males. Bre more luminescent than the females, presumably to attract the latter, which, by 4he we: are able to fly, and so are able to pursue the Tight of the males. In Both the firefly and the slow-worm. the light occurs in the penultimate Segment or two of the abdomen, waxing and waning, and, apparently, is under the control fof the insect, just how is not known, Looking up the literature on the subject later in the evening, I learned that the members of the family Lampyridae vary considerably in the matter of luminescence. In some species the Wingless females give out the greater amount of ight, in others the males. In most cases the larvae also give out light, This raises the question as to the real function of the light these strange little insects emit. Ts it to attract the opposite sex? If so, why should the immature larval phase be so endowed? If it is not. then what other function could it possibly Serve? The question apparently has not been fenswered to the satisfaction of the scientists, But one likes to believe that that beautiful pale green spot of light in the blackness of the foliage at night, or dancing over the bush-tops, is the love-beacon of some tiny insect signalling is whereabouts {o its lightless mate—Just one more example of the passion that flows through Sil animate Nature, and without which life, as We know it, could not continue to exist—a. or I am constrained to refer once more to the beautiful wild Mower known to science as Houttuynta cordate, discussed in "A Country Diary" of May 21, which appeared in this paper on. May 23, for' it is now blooming in' my garden, By'a strange coincidence the author "A Country Diary" visited my garden on the Nery morning that he gathered the blossom of this interesting plant. T proudly showed him a white bud nestling amongst the ferns where my plants grow. whereupon he turned back the lapel of his coat and showed me in his Buttonshole the fully open bloom that he had secured in the country that morning.
The first lower opened in my garden on May 25. On the same day Mr. W. J. Kerr, Super intendent of Parks here in Shanghai, came to see. my stonecrops. and I showed him Houltuynla blossom. He informed me that igs a whole bed of this plant, now in full Bloom, in the Kiaochow Road Park. He also remarked upon the high medicinal' value of this genus of plants, for which it is famous, This, of course. only adds to the interest of the Houituynia, which grows so freely in the cour try round Shanghai, but appears to be s0 tit Known to the general public. To the Chinese who have long been aware of its medicinal pro" arties, it is known as Chi, tte the Japanese as Do-kot-domi. It contains an essential oil in heart-shaped leaves called methyl-n-mony!~ Ketone. The leaves of the plant are used by the Chinese as a cure for all kinds of skin diseases.
'This brings us to the subject of the medicinal properties of plants generally, which is far too Big' to discuss here, except to note that the Chinese know a great deal more about the value of herbs in this respect than they are Usually given credit for. Indeed Western Medicine has in the last few years waked up to the fact that it has much to learn from the ancient Chinese Materiea Medicas, the most important of which is the Pen Tsao Kang Mu containing no fewer than 868 vegetable drugs. How much this adds to the interest of the study of the wild flowers that grow in Chinal it gives them a new significance, adding, as it does, a utilitarian aspect to that of their beauty. A large proportion of the so-called weeds that grow in the fields and along the country paths round this city are gathered by the Chinese herbalist to be included in one or other of his many decoctions; and it Is surprising how often hhis remedies are eM™lcacious—a. orc.
'A week ago I received a four-foot snake with 'a request for information as to whether or not it was a poisonous variety. Every summer I receive a dozen or so specimens and questions fof this nature, and almost invariably the answers are in the negative. In this particular instance, the snake had caused a furore in a residence on Connaught Road by entering the house from the garden and taking up a strategic position on the telephone, thus severing communications with the outside world, But someone heard cries of distress emanating from the Indy of the house and came to her rescue, despatching the intruder with a few well direct. ed blows on the head, There need have been alarm, however, for the snake belonged to a perfectly' harmless species, namely, Elaphe taenturus, Cope, which Mr, E. G. 'Boulenger, curator of Repiiles in the' London Zoological Gardens, in his recent delightful book "World Natural' History" calls the Striped Snake, remarking that it is found nearly all over Southeastern Asia, He might have included Eastern Asia as well, for the range of this serpent extends as far'north as Manchuria, where J once secured a specimen on the north bank of th: Yalu River. Of a pale olive-greeny-yellow colour, this handsome snake is chiefly distinguishable by a sort of black Ladder-shaped pattern down the lower part of its back and" dark bands across the eyes. It has a long gracefully shaped head and a slender neck, It reaches a length of 5 to 6 feet, and frequents paddy-fields and the banks of creeks. A good swimmer, It may often be seen in mid-stream with its head a few inches above the surface of the water as Wt crosses from one side of the creek to other in search of food. It is very common in Shanghai gardens. especially in the Western District. Diurnal in its habits, it is more often seen than the Red-banded Snake (Lucodon. rufozonatum, Cantor) which is the commonest of our Shanghai snakes, but, being nocturnal, less frequently noticed. This. species, while It looks and acts like a poisonous snake, is also harmless. So far only one species of poisonous snake has been recorded from the Shanghai area. This is the short-talled Pit-viper CAgkistroon blomhofi brevicandus, Stejneger), which may easily be recognized by its short' thick body, sharply up-turned snout and heart-shaped head, It is usually beautifully marked on the body with an irregular pattern, Tt Is by no means common. The deadly. little Bamboo Snake, the Chinese Cobra and the Chinese Krait do not, apparently, range further north than Hangchow in Northern Chekiang—a, te. 8
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.