HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



281 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Foreign Names of Borage.— Allow me to cor- 

 rect a printer's error in your October number. The 

 Spanish should have been Borraa, not Borrada. 

 —H.E.JF. 



White Varieties. — I find a beautiful albino 

 variety of the wild Fritillaria {Fritillaria Mdea- 

 gris) prows plentifully in some fields at Burglifield, 

 near Reading. As 1 have often heard of people 

 inquiring for the spot, I believe this is not a common 

 flower, but I am no botanist. — John Henderson. 



Aquaria. — The following error occurs at paore 

 256:— for "Bathelev,"read "Sir Richard Bulkeley." 

 — H.E.JF. 



Saffron. — In a work called "A Tour round 

 England/' by Walter Thornbury, at page 290, vol. i., 

 describing why the towu of Saffron-Walden is so 

 called, namely, from the great quantities of saffron 

 formerly grown in that part of Essex, the author 

 goes on to say :—" The first seeds or root of this 

 valuable plant were brought from the East by a 

 shrewd pilgrim ; tradition says, concealed in the 

 hollow top of the staff which supported his weary 

 feet, and on which he hung his calabash of water. 

 The orange-juiced saffron is a plant resembling a 

 thistle, yet without down, and the rich dye is extracted 

 from the full-blown flower when dried." As it is well 

 known that saffron is obtained from the stigmas of 

 the saffron Crocus {Crocus sativas), I cannot imagine 

 to what wonderful plant the above description refers. 

 Can any of the readers of Science-Gossip throw 

 any light on the subject ? The author further goes 

 on to say, "When we think of this useful and daring 

 pilgrim, of Peel's parsley-leaf, and of the strange 

 romantic history of that daring renegade Turk 

 who first introduced madder into Avignon, we see 

 that commerce also has its romance." To what 

 does Peel's parsley-leaf refer, and what is the history 

 of this daring Turk 't—J.F.C. 



Bush-Fires in Algeria. — Eromtimeimmemorial 

 it has been the custom of the Arab herdsmen to 

 burn all underwood from beneath the trees, topro- 

 duce the tenderjshoots of which cattle are so fond. 

 To give some notion of the enormous spread of 

 these conflagrations, I have but to quote from the 

 newspaper reports of 1865. In 1S63, 110,000 acres 

 were burnt in the province of Constantine alone ; 

 whilst in 1865 the damage done amounted to 258,755 

 acres. In the arrondissement of Guelma 35,600 

 acres were destroyed. The forest of Tefeschoon 

 was burnt straight down to the sea {Moniteur 

 d Algerie): — Hon. L. Wingfield [finder the Palms). 



The Squirrel.— I would refer those readers of 

 Science-Gossip who do not believe that squirrels 

 are in the habit of destroying youug birds, to a work 

 written by a very old, much-valued friend of mine, 

 entitled " My Life and Recollections. By the Hon. 

 Grantley F. Berkeley." There, in a chapter devoted 

 to Natural History, vol. iv. page 197, they will 

 find described by Mr. G. F. Berkeley what he has 

 himself seen — not what his keepers have reported 

 to him— of the destructiveuess of this beautiful little 

 animal. He gives a most graphic account of his 

 discovering two old squirrels frisking about with 

 three of his young tufted ducklings, which they had 

 carried off from a shallow piece of water within 

 sight of the old foster-mother hen, who, confined 



j within the coop, could not come to the rescue. 

 The three little ducks were alive when found by 

 Mr. Berkeley in captivity, but one soon died of the 

 wound inflicted by the squirrel, who, when Mr. 

 Berkeley first appeared on the scene, had the help- 



: less duckling in its mouth : the other two had not 

 been hurt. Mr. Berkeley likewise mentions their 



| affection for pheasants' eggs. He shot one in the 

 act of sucking an egg in Bedfordshire, and he adds, 

 that it was impossible to_ preserve either cushat, 

 turtle-dove, or blue rock, in his grounds or woods 

 at Alderney Manor, in consequence of the raids 

 made by the squirrels on both eggs and young birds. 

 1 certainly never saw so many squirrels in my life 

 as I did in that neighbourhood, and in the vicinity 

 of Bournemouth, which is within a short drive of 



i Alderney; but 1 never happened to see one shot. 

 However, I do know that it was found requisite to 

 wage war against them, and that I once had a dear 

 little pet in an " Alderney " squirrel, given me by 

 its kind master, whose "Life and Recollections" 1 

 strongly recommend to the notice of your readers. 

 — Helen E. IFatuey, Bryn Hyfryd. 



Albinism in Plants and Animals.— Seeing in 

 Science-Gossip several notices of white varieties 

 of plants, the following may not be uninteresting. 

 A short time since 1 found a specimen of Campa- 

 nula hederacea with one flower only an albino ; all 

 the others on the same plant were of the normal 

 colour. I may mention that the albiuq was not, a 

 pure white, but a very near approach to it. In the 

 same locality I found three other specimens of the 

 same plant having all the flowers of a beautifully 

 delicate white, and the plants partaking more or 

 less of the albino characters. The typical forms 

 were very abundant all round. They were growing 

 oil a loose sandy soil. I think with J. H. A. Jen- 

 ner, in the October number of Science-Gossip, 

 that albinism is to a certain extent connected with 

 calcareous soils ; fori have noticed that on moun- 

 tain limestone yellow flowers predominate, and 

 white varieties are common, whilst on clays and 

 sandy soils blue and white prevail. But, in addition 

 to the effect of certain soils, may not meteorological 

 influences have helped to produce t\\& extra, number 

 of white varieties which have been noticed this 

 year ? The early spring and summer being wet and 

 cold would exert a prejudicial influence upon the 

 growth of both plants and animals ; for I have also 

 found several white varieties of shells,— one of Helix 

 rufescens and another of Zua lubrica, whilst many 

 nearly white varieties of H. ericetorum and H. vir- 

 gata have been found. — Hugh Perkins, Sibford, near 

 Banbury, Oxon. 



The Hysteriacet.— The last number of the 

 American Naturalist contains a paper by Dr. Bil- 

 lings upon this group of fungi illustrated by a plate 

 which does not reflect much credit upon American 

 art. The paper itself is open to more grave ob- 

 jections than the plate, since it ignores all value in 

 the external features of the penthecia, and follows 

 the fatal but unfortunately too common plan _ of 

 accepting the fruit as all-sufficient for specific 

 characters. Dr. Billings is new to the field, but we 

 trust that this maiden effort is not to be accepted 

 as a type of what we are to expect in mycology 

 from beyond the Atlantic. There is evidence of 

 good work in the communication, but unfortunately 

 turned to bad account ; let us hope that a little 

 more experience, and a little more reflection, will, 

 with time, work wonders. 



