200 



IHARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE-GOSSIP. 



believe, ripening its fruit, not in early summer, like 

 Hypnum commutatum, but late in'autumn ; and its 

 specific character was recognized by De Notaris, who 

 attached to it a very appropriate name. 1 have nei- 

 ther seen fruit, nor a description of fruit ; but, even 

 in a barren state, Thuidium decipiens is abun- 

 dantly distinct from Hypmm commutatum, as the 

 following description shows :— Stems villous, rigid, 

 suberect or ascending, 2 to 4 inches long, with 2 to 4 

 slightly arcuate innovations which are irregularly pin- 

 nate ; branches short, attenuate, also villous ; stem- 

 leaves distant, widely spreading or subsquarrose, dis- 

 tinctly revealing.the luxuriant foliose villi, tortuous 

 when dry, concave, broadly deltoid-ovate, suddenly 

 acuminate, auricled at the base, serrate, strongly 

 plicate, 2 )cl pitt° se on both sides, sometimes secund 

 towards the top of the stem, but never circulate"; 

 branch-leaves much smaller, more crowded, less pli- 

 cate, spreading every way or secuud, ovate or ovate, 

 lanceolate ; nerve single, generally dissolving near 

 the apex, sometimes ceasing halfway ; areolae rather 

 large, oval-elongate, somewhat coufused in the upper 

 part, suddenly much enlarged, elongate-hexagonal and 

 pellucid at the base ; villi very luxuriant, life-like, 

 reticulate, denticulate, lanceolate ; inflorescence 

 dioicous ; colour dull green. On the Clova moun- 

 tains Thuidium decipiens occurs at an elevation of 

 about 2,800 feet, and is associated with Webera 

 Breidleri, another new British moss, with Oncopho- 

 rus virens, and a large brownish-yellow form of 

 Hypnum callichroum, exceedingly like Hypnum 

 Bambergeri. Within five minutes' walk of this we 

 have gathered such rare and interesting plants as 

 Hypnum subsulcatum, Hypnum Muhlenbeckii, Bux- 

 baumia aphylla, Barbula Drummondii, Grimmia 

 robusta, Ciuclidium stygium, Dissodon splachnoides, 

 Dicranum longifolium, Distichum inclinatum, In- 

 nium cinclidioides, Splachnum vasculosum, Catasco- 

 pium amblyodon, Bartramia seriata, and Bryum 

 Duvalii. A second station for this moss was discov- 

 ered by Mr. Sim and myself near Auchiublae, Kin- 

 cardineshire, at an altitude of about 800 feet. There 

 its associates were Iunium cinclidioides, Innium 

 affine, var. rugicum, Ciuclidium stygium, Brachythe- 

 cum Mildeanum, Hypnum vernicosum. It probably 

 occurs in many parts of the country. 



Hev. J. Eergusson. 



BATS. 



TTAVING for years past been greatly annoyed 

 - LJ - with the ravages of rats, I have had great 

 opportunity of noticing some (as it appears to me) 

 emarkable signs of sagacity in them, many of 

 which seem rather perplexing. It is truly sur- 

 prising to see how, in a single night, they have 

 eaten large holes through doors and partitions of a 

 very substantial character. Of course, when we 

 consider the formation of their teeth, all cause for 



wonder disappears. But what perplexes me is this, 

 in each instance where the doors are well repaired 

 and lined with sheet iron, the wood was never 

 touched, although the iron was on the outer or op- 

 posite side of the door to the rats, and certainly 

 could not even be seen by them. Still they would 

 make their way through brick-work, making sad 

 havoc with the drains. To put a stop to this, we 

 had pipe drains put down, which are proof to the 

 assaults of their teeth ; but they would manage to 

 travel about the place, making their runs through 

 these pipes ; and if there was a run of 100 yards, 

 a broken pipe cemented (so as to keep the water 

 out), or in fact any plaee only protected by cement, 

 they found it out, and if the aperture could be made 

 large enough, were soon through, making us aware 

 of the fact by the water pouring out. Iu one run 

 which troubled us a good deal, we tried all sorts of 

 manoeuvres,— broken glass put iu with the mortar, 

 and sharp stones, but all to no purpose. At length, 

 by filling the hole well with tow and tar well 

 rammed in, we kept them out entirely. The 

 manner in which they committed their depredations 

 was often rather puzzling. For instance they used 

 to make havoc with our flasks of oil ; and supposing 

 that they managed this by throwing the flasks over, 

 we (on getting a fresh supply) packed them tightly 

 on a shelf, so that it was impossible for them to be 

 upset ; we found, however, one morning that our old 

 enemies had been at work again. They had eaten 

 away the skin which covers the top of the flask, 

 drawn out the cotton wool, with which the neck is 

 always filled, and abstracted some of the oil ; not an 

 easy task one would think, when the size and forma- 

 tion of the animal, and the long neck and compara- 

 tively small aperture of the flask, are considered. 

 We somtimes trapped them, but we had the utmost 

 of our ingenuity often taxed to effect this. At times 

 they would nibble away the bait most dexterously 

 without the spring being touched ; at other times, 

 put which bait we would, we could not get them 

 near it. We found the large square wire traps best 

 as a rule ; we also tried a trap made of tolerably 

 large pieces of stone, the entrance to which was by 

 an opening at the top, and a tolerably heavy piece of 

 stone or a brick propped over it by means of a piece 

 of stick, at the base of which was the bait, which, if 

 touched, brought the brick or stone down, quite 

 closiug the aperture, and if the depredator was in- 

 side, placing him in durance vile. But they man- 

 aged to thwart and vex us, for we found the stone 

 down, but the bait and thief both gone. This oc- 

 curred repeatedly, aud could only have been effected 

 by the animal holding up the stone by its back, 

 drawing out the bait with its fore-feet, letting the 

 stone gradually fall, and quickly slipping backwards 

 to escape it. A friend of mine missed some eggs 

 out of the heu-house, and as this was repeated rather 

 frequently, he placed himself on watch, when he 



