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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



diatoms. I may say that I can with mine show very 

 fairly the three readings of P. angulation and the 

 lines in P. quadratum. — Edwd. Howell. 



ZOOLOGY. 



The Colouring Matter of Birds' Eggs. — 

 At a recent meeting of the Zoological Society, Mr. 

 II. C. Sorby, F.R.S., read a paper on the colouring 

 matter of the shells of birds' eggs as studied by the 

 spectrum method, in which he showed that all their 

 different tints are due to a variable mixture of seven 

 well • marked colouring matters. Hitherto the 

 greater part of these had not been found elsewhere. 

 The principal red colouring matter was connected 

 with the hamoglobin of blood, and the two blue 

 colouring matters were probably related to bile 

 pigments ; but in both cases it was only a chemical 

 and physical relationship, and the individual sub- 

 stances were quite distinct, and it seemed as though 

 they were special secretions. There appeared to 

 be no simple connection between the production of 

 these various egg-pigments and the general organi- 

 zation of the birds, unless it were in the case of the 

 Tinamous, in the shells of the eggs of many species 

 of which occurs an orange-red substance not met 

 with in any other eggs, unless it were in those of 

 some species of Cassowary. 



Anodonta cygnea.— In answer to A. W. Lang- 

 don, Hastings (Science-Gossip, May), the Ano- 

 donta cygnea he speaks of is a very fine shell. I 

 have seen only two larger in size ; one 8t inches, 

 and one upwards of 9 inches,— taken from the river 

 Hart. I get them sent to me from different counties 

 in England. As a shell-dealer and collector for 

 forty-five years, I think I may say the river Dart 

 produces the finest of this class I have yet seen. 

 There are also very fine A. cygnea to be found in 

 the river Exe and in the Teign. — A. J. R. Sclater, 

 Teignmouth. 



BOTANY. 



Giant Trees.— Great trees have been found in 

 Australia which exceed the giants of California in 

 height, though not in circumference. One fallen 

 tree in Victoria measured 420 ft. in length, and 

 another ISO, while the highest yet discovered in 

 California reaches only 450 ft. 



Birds and Flowers.— The ravages of birds 

 among the crocuses and other spring flowers were 

 the subject of some remark in all the scientific 

 journals last year, and keener observation has 

 been directed to it this spring. It now appears, 

 from further observations, that the birds rarely if 

 ever touch the white flowers. In the London 



Parks the yellow crocuses have been cut to pieces by 

 them. 



Ornitiiogalum pyrenaicum. — Syme says of 

 this plant, some authors divide it into two species — 

 0. pyrenaicum and 0. sulphureum ; and he thus men- 

 tions an attempt he made to discriminate them : — 

 " By the kindness of M. Lenormand I received from 

 Professor Boreau living roots of his 0. pyrenaicum 

 and 0. sulphureum ; the former throve and flowered 

 in London, and was precisely similar to the Bath 

 plant sent me alive by Mr. T. B. Flower. 0. sul- 

 p/iureum never flowered, and died after the second 

 year : it had leaves much less glaucous than the 

 other." As this interesting Star of Bethlehem is 

 now coming into flower near me, I should much like 

 to know the specific differences of thn two above 

 mentioned, that the Sussex plant may be correctly 

 designated, and for any help on this matter througli 

 the medium of the pages of Science-Gossip shall 

 be greatly obliged. The leaves of the Omithogalum 

 pyrenaicum (?) growing here are decidedly glaucous. 

 — F. H. Arnold, LL.B., Fishbone. 



Botanical Experiments.— It may interest some 

 of your readers besides " Agnes Lury," whose 

 Botanical Experiment is recorded in fhe May 

 number of Gossip, to hear the result of a somewhat 

 similar experiment made by me so long ago as the 

 year 1S41,— an experiment which has often been 

 made, no doubt, but which is worth repeating, as it 

 affords so excellent an opportunity of watching the 

 early stages of germination and growth. The sub- 

 ject of my experiment was not an acorn, but a 

 horse-chestnut, which offers some advantages in the 

 way of rapid development; and instead of putting 

 it into a bottle of water, as your lady correspondent 

 apparently did, I suspended if, by means of copper 

 wire, in one of the old-fashioned tall hyacinth-glasses 

 just a little above the surface of the water. The wire 

 for this purpose may even be passed through the 

 nut, so it interfere not with the germ. The mouth 

 of the glass vessel was then carefully covered over 

 with tinfoil, gummed on, so as to be air-tight, or as 

 nearly so as possible. The changes of temperature 

 of the room in which the vessel was kept caused a 

 continual rise and precipitation of dew, sufficient to 

 keep the horse-chestnut thoroughly damp, and soon 

 to cause germination, the radicle descending to, 

 and presently entering the water ; the plumule 

 ascending towards the tinfoil, which presently had 

 to be pierced to allow of the upward growth of the 

 young tree. From the time that the tinfoil was 

 thus pierced there was, of course, waste of the 

 water, which needed renewing from time to time ; 

 but with careful watching my young tree throve 

 apace through the winter. As spring came on, it 

 was gradually inured to the outward air: it con- 

 tinued so to thrive that it had to be removed to a 

 garden pot of earth, in which I left it. After many 



