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become acclimatized to Irish ways, is shown by the fact that his food for some time back had consisted of whisky punch and live eels. The report somewhat naïvely adds that "the spirit was taken with avidity."

MICROSCOPY.

MOUNTING EXTRAORDINARY.-As an illustration of what may be done in the way of mounting, we beg to notice a slide which has been sent to us by Mr. H. Dalton, of Dieppe, intended for a three-inch objective, on which is arranged a vase of flowers, of various species, in the most elegant and artistic manner. The flowers are formed of naturally coloured scales of butterflies' wings, and some hundreds have been curiously utilized for this purpose.

CRYSTALS IN SKIN OF PRAWN.-On the subject of crystals in the skin of the Prawn, I do not think that the observation of Mr. Kyngdon, that "in a cast skin no crystals seem to be ever found," is quite correct, as in my Micro-cabinet are two homemounted slides of prawn's skin, both, I feel certain, from those shed in the Aquarium, and one is labelled "Exuvia of Prawn." Either of them shows numerous crystals when examined by polarized light.George Guyon.

ASPHALTUM AND RUBBER VARNISH.-The difficulty I have experienced in making this varnish with mineral naphtha (as per the receipt given in Davis's book) has led me to try some other solvent. For some time I have been using "rectified spirits of tar" in lieu of alcohol, in all cases where the colour (sherry) is not objectionable, and on placing a piece of rubber in a small quantity of that spirit, I dissolved it in six hours, and the asphaltum in about the same time. "Spirits of tar" can be purchased at the oil and colour shops. I do not know the retail price, but 1 pay 45s. per cwt. for it wholesale. To test its purity, shake well in a bottle with an equal quantity of water, and note if separation takes place in a few seconds.-Thomas Lisle.

THE OPTIC NERVE, &c.-By a microscopic examination of the retina and optic nerve and the brain, M. Bauer found them to consist of globules of both to both of an inch diameter, united by a transparent viscid and coagulable gelatinous fluid. -E. Lovett.

MOUNTING. Having found considerable difficulty n keeping the objects in the right position when pressing down the cover on the balsam, it being so apt to slip out at one side, I tried fixing it first with gum-tragacanth, and I find it answer very well the balsam seems to dissolve the gum, and removes all traces of it from the object. Perhaps this

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BOTANICAL EXTRACTS.-The following extracts from Childrey's "Britannia Baconica" (1660) may be of interest. In Cornwall grows greater store of samphire and sea-holly (whose roots, commonly called Eringo-roots, are a great restaurative and corroborative, being preserved in syrup) then in any other part of England. Some of the gaully grounds do also yield plenty of Rosa Solis (more properly called Ros Solis, a plant that grows indeed on boggy and quagmiry grounds). Upon the sea-cliffs in Cornwall grow wilde Hysope, Sage, Pela-mountain,

Majoram, Rosmary, and other fragrant herbs." "For fruits they have a sort called Whurts." Again: "In the forest of Savernac (i.e. Savernake) grows a kind of sweet Ferne: ""in the Fenns of Cambridgeshire grows Scordium or Water Germander: " “in the Isle of Axholme grows a sweet kind of shrub called Gales, as also Pets in the Moores [I know not what that is], and dead roots of Firre-wood which in burning give a rank sweet smell." Again: "At Stratton in Cornwall grows the best Garlick in all the Countrey. It may be old Mr. Chamond, (uncle and great-uncle to, at least, 300 persons) owed part of the cause of his great age, to his living so near the best Garlick, the countreyman's Treacle." He states elsewhere that the countrymen in Cornwall are great eaters of garlic for health's sake; whence they call it there, the Countryman's Treacle.R. T., M.A.

MEDICAGO ARBOREA.-I wish to correct an error in the paragraph under this head in last month's SCIENCE-GOSSIP. It was stated that the plant forms beautiful hedges at Florence, close by the sea, instead of Leghorn. The shrub is now (February) in full flower in Mr. Balchin's Nursery at Hove, and is a perfect picture, at least ten feet high.-T. B. W., Brighton.

THE POTATO DISEASE. - Our readers will remember that in an article on this subject which appeared in our columns in the autumn of 1872, Prof. Dyer recommended the culture of an early potato, one that would be fully grown before the period when the potato disease set in. The Royal Agricultural Society of England have now offered two prizes for disease-proof potatoes, one of £100 for early tubers which shall be disease-proof for three years, and another of the same sum for a late potato, to be tested for the same period. A policy like this is worth any number of prize essays.

SEASIDE SHRUBS.-It is most desirable that in selecting shrubs, &c. for the most exposed spots on the seashore, it should first be ascertained which are most appropriate and best calculated to stand the strong winds and salt spray from the sea. Elms, sycamores, and chestnuts have been planted on the new Undercliff-road at Brighton, and have, of course, all died; there are, however, British shrubs which not only thrive by the seaside, but (one at least) never found at a distance from it; in fact, the sea-air, saturated as it is with saline matter, is its natural element. The Stalwort or Sea-blight (Salsola fruticosa, L.; Swada fruticosa, Forsk) is a shrub that is only indigenous on the seashore, or in saline plains and other places where the soil is impreg. nated with salt: it is one of the rarer British species, found only on some parts of the eastern and southern coasts; it is a shrubby, erect, branch. ing, evergreen perennial, from three to four feet

high, with thick, succulent, and bluntish green leaves and small stalkless flowers (see Hooker's "British Flora" and the "Treasury of Botany "). Several strong clumps of the shrub may be seen in Mr. Spary's Nursery at Brighton. There is an. other shrub which, though not confined to the scaside, is found to thrive on the most exposed parts of the coast, viz., the Hippophae rhamnoides, or seabuckthorn; it is indigenous on exposed sandy cliffs in the town of Folkestone, at the back of and above the Coast Guard Station. It is described by H. G. G., in the last December number of SCIENCE-GOSSIP, as growing on the coast of Norfolk in abundance for about half a mile in extent, in spots clumped together in dense masses and covered with orange. coloured berries; it is indigenous on the sandhills and cliffs on the coast of Kent, Essex, Norfolk, Lincoln, and Yorkshire, also on the Firth, the Clyde, in Islay, and Kintore in Scotland; it is dicecious, the male and female flowers being on different plants; the pretty orange-coloured berries will therefore not be produced unless the two sexes are near to each other. For a fuller description of it the reader is referred to the December number of SCIENCE-GOSSIP. It appears that seaside plants have generally small leaves, which are but little affected by the strong cutting winds. It is hoped that this notice will induce a reference by the readers of SCIENCE-GOSSIP to other shrubs found applicable to exposed seaside spots.—T. B. W.

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ACCLIMATIZATION OF EUCALYPTI. In a letter in the Times, 17th January, 1874, it was stated that some Eucalypti (blue gum-trees) had been grown in the open air at East Grinstead, Sussex, and that they had survived two winters without any protec. tion. The leaves of the Eucalyptus manufactured into cigars, were shown at the Great Exhibition at Paris, 1867, and recommended as being very efficacious in aiding digestion. And in the Gardeners' Chronicle it is stated that a species of this plant had been recently used on the Continent in the place of lint, the leaves being merely laid on the wounds. Their balsamic nature not only cures, but after a few hours all unpleasant odour ceases.-H. G. G.

GEOLOGY.

THE ANCIENT VOLCANOES OF THE HIGHLANDS. This was the subject of a paper recently read before the Geological Society by J. W. Judd, F.G.S. That the rocks forming the great plateaus of the Hebrides and the north of Ireland are really the vestiges of innumerable lava-streams, is a fact which has long been recognized by geologists. That these lavas were of subaërial and not subaqueous origin is proved by the absence of all contemporaneous interbedded sedimentary rocks, by the evidently terrestrial origin of the surfaces on which

they lie, and by the intercalation among them of old soils, forests, mud-streams, river-gravels, lake deposits, and masses of unstratified tuffs and ashes. From the analogy of existing volcanic districts, we can scarcely doubt that these great accumulations of igneous products, which must originally have covered many thousands of square miles, and which still often exhibit a thickness of 2,000 feet, were ejected from great volcanic mountains; and a careful study of the district fully confirms this conclusion, enabling us, indeed, to determine the sites of these old volcanoes, to estimate their dimensions, to investigate their internal structure, and to trace the history of their formation. The following is Mr. Judd's conclusion on his paper:-It appears that during the Newer Palæozoic and the Tertiary periods, the north-western parts of the British Archipelago were the scene of displays of volcanic activity upon the grandest scale. During either of these, the eruption of felspathic lavas, &c., preceded, as a whole, that of the basaltic; and in both the volcanic action was brought to a close by the formation of "puys." The range of Newer Palæozoic volcanoes arose along a line striking N.E. and S.W.; that of the Tertiary volcanoes along one striking from N. to S.; and each appears to have been connected with a great system of subterranean disturbance. It is an interesting circumstance that the epochs of maximum volcanic activity, the Old Red sandstone and the Miocene, appear to have been coincident with those which, as shown by Prof. Ramsay, were characterized by the greatest extent of continental land in the area. The Secondary strata were deposited in the interval between the two epochs of volcanic activity, and the features which they present have been largely influenced by this circumstance. Apart from this consideration, however, the volcanic rocks of the Highlands are of the highest interest to the geologist, both from their enabling him to decipher to so great an extent the "geological records" of the district, and from the light which they throw upon some of the obscurest problems of physical geology.

THE GEOLOGY OF THE "FAR WEST."-Prof. Marsh has just communicated the results of his recent expedition to the Far West in search of fossil remains of extinct vertebrates. The richest field for exploration was found in the great basin of the pre-historic lake which is now drained by the Colorado river. This body of water was originally as large as all the present lakes of the North-West combined, and had existed so long that the sand washed down from the surrounding hills had accumulated to the depth of a mile. In the different strata of this bed at least ten distinct groups of extinct animals could be detected, among them some extremely remark. able forms. One of these was a rhinoceros with two horns; but these were placed, not like those

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of the modern rhinoceros, in the axis of the body but transversely. In a space of 10 feet square he had sometimes found the bones of 30 different animals. The number of species of extinct mammals in these remains he estimates to be three times as great as that at present inhabiting the same locality.

PALEOTHERIUM MAGNUM.-In Nature of the 12th February is an account of the discovery of a complete skeleton of this early eocene mammal. The woodcut shows its outline to more nearly resemble that of the Llama than any other known creature; thus completely disabusing the old Cuvierian idea that it was bulky, and more or less resembled the Tapirs. The height was just below that of a middlesized horse. This important specimen, which is now in the Museum of Natural History at Paris, was obtained from a gypsum quarry at Vitry-surSeine. All its bones, including those of the toes, are in their natural position.

THE ORIGIN OF PRECIOUS STONES. — Mr. Greville Williams has recently contributed his researches on this interesting subject to the Proceedings of the Royal Society. The colouring matter of the emerald has been attributed to iron, chromium, and organic matter. With regard to the latter, Mr. Williams thinks that both emeralds and beryls contain carbon; but that it is probably in the form of diamond, and has nothing to do with the colour of the emerald, as colourless beryls may contain as much carbon as the richest tinted emerald. The colour is really due to the presence of chromic oxide. Mr. Williams then gives the results of his experiments on the effects of fusion on opaque beryls, emeralds, and an artificial mixture of beryl ingredients. The author expresses his opinion that whatever may have been the temperature at which beryls and emeralds were formed, rubies must have originated at a very high temperature, since the peculiar reaction between alumina and chromic oxide, to which the red colour of the ruby is due, takes place only at a heat as high as that of the oxyhydrogen flame.

A NEW SPECIES OF FISH IN THE MILLSTONE GRIT OF YORKSHIRE.-At the monthly meeting of the Manchester Geological Society, held on the 27th of January last, Mr. John Aitkin, F.G.S., of Bacup, exhibited and described a number of very fine spcimens of fish of the genus Acrolepis, new to science, which he had obtained from the débris brought out in excavating a tunnel through Wadsworth Moor, in the neighbourhood of Hebden Bridge, near Halifax, in a bed of fine black shale separating the third from the fourth or Kinder Scout Grit; the principal specimens having been obtained from nodular concretions which abound in the shales at this horizon. The specimens comprise two nearly perfect heads (in the jaw of one a

tooth is exhibited in situ) and several parts of the body illustrating the form and structure of the fish; amongst which are remains of two or three finrays. The scales and head-plates are beautifully ornamented and covered with a fine enamel, the former being rhomboidal in form and profusely sculptured, having a number of distinct waving ridges and furrows traversing them in the direction of their longest axis, varying in number according to the position they occupied on the body of the fish, the ridges having a strong tendency to bifurcate, and not unfrequently to further subdivide into two or three branches; these often again converging and becoming again reunited. The genus Acrolepis has been figured by Professors Agassiz, M. Coy, and King, the specimens having been obtained from the magnesian limestone of this country and Germany. The specimens, however, under consideration have much larger scales, and differ in the style of ornamentation, as well as in many other essential particulars, from any of the figures referred to, leaving no doubt as to their constituting a new species of this rare fish. The discovery also carries this genus into a new horizon, which has previously been considered as almost barren ground. It is now known to be co-extensive with the carboniferous system, ranging from the mountain limestone through the millstone grit and coal-measures into the Permian formation, where it appears to have attained its maximum development, its remains having been found there more plentifully both in our own country and on the Continent than in any of the older members of the system. It is intended shortly to have the specimens described and figured, so that paleontologists may have an opportunity of judging of the value of the discovery. In addition to the specimens above referred to, Mr. Aitkin also exhibited remains of four or five other genera of fish, viz., Acanthodes, Cladodus, Rhizodus (?) Ctenocanthus, and Palæoniscus, together with a considerable variety of other fossils, all from the same locality.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

THE BARBASTELLE BAT.-On the 15th of December last, a specimen of the Bat tribe was brought to me by some children, having been found behind a tradesman's sign-board in this village. Handling the queer little creature rather cautiously, I placed it on the window-seat, and then proceeded to "take stock" of its appearance. It seemed almost torpid, but after a time it revived a little, and on being touched raised itself half-upright, and opening its mouth to its fullest extent, uttered a spitting hiss like an angry cat. While watching these evidences of "bat temper," it occurred to me that I had never seen such a queer little specimen of the Cheiroptera before, so, after taking as minute a description of his tiny person as his ill-temper and my fears would allow, I popped a wire meat

cover over him, and then fell to consulting my books, &c. The result of these inquiries satisfactorily proved my bat to be a specimen of the Barbastelle (Barbastellus communis), a decidedly uncommon species. With additional respect I approached the captive once more and raised the cover, when, behold! after turning up his queer little nose as if in derision, he took to flight with the greatest ease, and was flying in smooth circles round the room before I could say "Jack Robinson;" thus negativing the general opinion that bats cannot rise into the air from a flat surface. Adroitness and tact, however, soon consigned him to the cover again, and when in it, he ascended to the top, and began to traverse the roof with great rapidity, putting himself into all sorts of queer positions, and proving himself to be a decidedly impatient and illtempered little fellow. I have reason to believe that this bat was not hybernating where it was found, but had merely chosen the sign-board as a temporary resting-place.-W. H. Warner, Kingston, Abingdon.

LOCAL NAMES (p. 22). The name "Featherpoke" signifies the Chiff-chaff (Sylvia hippolaïs). The word "poke" means a sack, and therefore the name is, literally, a sack of feathers. The nest of the Chiff-chaff is found completely lined with feathers, and hence the local name has arisen. "Groundlark" is a name which has been applied both to the Pipit (Anthus), and the Bunting (Emberiza).— Edward Fentone Elwin, Caius Coll., Camb.

Notes

H. VELLEDA (NORTHERN SWIFT).-In on the Entomological Season of 1873," p. 1, No. 109, there is the following paragraph:-"H. velleda (Northern Swift) has been extending its southward range: it has been reported from Somerset, Folkestone, and Norfolk." It may be interesting to the writer and other entomologists to know that, in June last, I took the insect in this neighbourhood, which is almost to the extreme south. The markings closely resemble the northern specimens, but are of a much fainter colour.-Joseph Anderson, jun., Alresford, Hants.

THE POSTAL MICRO-CABINET CLUB.-The above club, of which a notice appeared in SCIENCE-GOSSIP for December last, together with a copy of rules, is now working well, and is likely to prove quite a success. The "Notes and Queries" department, to which every member is invited (and mostly accepts the invitation) to contribute, being by no means the least attractive part of the scheme. We shall be glad to increase our number of members, now numbering thirty-six, divided into three circuits of twelve members each. Any microscopist who would like to join us, will please write to Alfred Allen, Hon. Sec., Felstead, Essex.

LOCAL NAMES OF BIRDS.-In answer to Arthur Smyth's inquiry as to the local names of birds, I beg to say that "Feather-poke" is that by which the Longtailed Titmouse (Parus caudatus) is ordinarily known to the rural population of Nottinghamshire and the adjacent Midland counties; as a boy, I knew it only by that designation. The name originates from the interior of its beautiful globular nest being a mass of feathers of the softest kind. The term" ground-lark" is also commonly used in Notts for the Meadow Pipit (Alauda pratensis). The egg of the Feather-poke is not nearly the size of the house-sparrow, nor at all resembles it in appearance, so that Mr. Smyth's friend has misin

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formed him it is about the size of a pea, white, with obscure markings. The number deposited varies from twelve to eighteen. The old and young birds keep together during the autumn and winter months, and at the present season may be occasionally seen actively engaged in company searching the branches and twigs of shrubs for insect food, running up and down, turning and twisting, head or tail uppermost, in true "Tit" fashion.-George Gascoyne.

RARE INSECT. In "Notes on the Entomological Season of 1873" (SCIENCE-GOSSIP, No. 109, p. 1), "M. H." says, "H. velleda has been extending its southward range; it has been reported from the Quantock Hills, Somerset, from Folkestone," &c. As far as Kent is concerned, H. velleda is quite an old inhabitant, as, on referring to Westwood and Humphrey's "British Moths," I find "the species has been found plentifully in Darenth Wood, Kent;" I have not heard, however, of its having been taken there of late years. In a wood in the neighbourhood of Chatham, I have been in the habit of taking this species for the last twenty years, my first record bearing date May 23rd, 1854, since which time scarcely a year has passed without an entry of its capture, my last date being June 23rd, 1873. It must, therefore, have been many years ago since it extended its southward range into Kent, as Westwood's statement must have been written quite thirty years ago. In some years I have seen this insect in great profusion; it seems to prefer underwood of about two years' growth, through and between which it flies very rapidly between sunset and dark. From the above facts, both as to the time it has been observed, and the moth not being at all a weak insect on the wing, we need not be surprised at its occurrence at Folkestone, nor, indeed, at any other part of Kent, and may expect to hear of its turning up both in Sussex and Surrey. I may also add that, in addition to the two L. albipuncta taken at Folkestone, which I have seen, several others were taken there by another collector; two were also taken in the Isle of Sheppey.-W. Chaney.

SNAKES AND TOADS.-One day, while hunting for specimens in the early summer with a friend, we came across a fine snake, measuring a little more than a yard. While measuring it we remarked a sort of protuberance or lump midway between its head and tail. We took no further notice of this, carrying the snake with its head downwards, till it appeared that the lump moved gradually toward the head. Fastening a piece of grass to the end of its tail, and hanging it to a tree, we anxiously awaited the result. At last its mouth began slowly to open, and a large toad made its appearance. The toad was covered with a greenish slime, and after some minutes recovered, and was, seemingly, little the worse for its imprisonment. My friend still has both the snake and toad preserved in spirits of wine. The snake was the common grey, and not by any means the largest of that kind that I have seen.-Brynfynnon.

MICROSCOPIC FUNGI.-I have lately been searching among some large beds of Iris fetida for its Puccinia, and have discovered one plant only with sori; but on bringing it home found that the spores were only in the uredo state. Will some of your "Puccineous" correspondents be so good as to tell me something of the history of P. truncata-do the brand-spores succeed, or precede, the uredo form? It is inconvenient to me to watch this infected plant

of Iris, so that I should like to know at what season to find the characteristic spore.-J. G. M.

HOW TO PREPARE SKELETON LEAVES.-Skeleton leaves obtained by boiling in caustic soda (see vol. viii. p. 30) are of a light brown colour, and require so long an immersion in chloride solution to whiten them, that they are quite destroyed unless the fibres are unusually stout, and even then the stems seldom become white. Would Mr. J. F. Robinson, or any of your readers, oblige me by stating how the specimens may be properly bleached and attain the whiteness of such as are prepared in the old way ?— J. L. B.

A PROTEST.-As the collecting season is approaching, pray allow me to enter an emphatic protest against the gradual extermination of the rarer species of our birds, insects, and plants, carried on from year to year by a number of persons calling themselves naturalists, who can, however, have little of that true love for nature which can admire the beautiful and interesting without their hands itching to take possession. There can be little doubt that if something is not done to check this injurious propensity, in a very few years nothing but the more common varieties will be left. How many beautiful kinds of birds might have become naturalized amongst us, had not the first-comers invariably fallen before the guns of brainless fellows whom it would be absurd to call sportsmen? Then with regard to the destruction of the rarer kinds of butterflies, &c., I need only refer to the January number of SCIENCE-GOSSIP for the present year, page 1, where the writer says, amongst other things, that the "take" of V. antiopa last year is considerably less than in 1872, and that the disparity is probably owing to the fact that almost all the individuals seen in that year were netted, so that few were left to perpetuate the species! Then as to the exterminating collection of botanical specimens, a case in point appears at page 91 of SCIENCEGossip for 1870. In reply to an inquiry as to whether the rare Pyrola media is still to be found at Stock Ghyll, Ambleside, the writer states that on a certain date, after a long search, he obtained five specimens, and apparently not content with this large number, three weeks later went over the ground again with a friend, but without finding a single plant. Is it any wonder, after reading the above, that the habitats of many of our choice wild flowers are yearly becoming fewer in number? It ought to be an invariable rule with all true naturalists-to lake nothing that is rare. When a species becomes plentiful then specimens in moderation may be taken; till then the motto should be "Eyes on and hands off."-C.

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GRAFTING: STRANGE FREAK. A moss rose grafted onthe common cabbage rose produced a shoot on the top of graft same as the parent stock, the flowers on which were cabbage roses and those on the centre of same shoot moss roses.-S. A. B.

WINTER STORES.-Five or six weeks ago, in a walk with one of my neighbours, we found several patches of a brightish substance which, at first, we thought was a sort of fungus. On procuring a portion, we were somewhat surprised to find that the supposed fungus was a collection formed of fragments of hips and haws. These fragments were found in detached cemented masses of irregular form, from four to seven or eight inches across. I send you a piece: it may, perhaps, be not

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