140 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Lycopodium inundatum and Narthecium ossifragum), 

 on swampy ground, near the Ringwood rifle-butts, 

 in the New Forest. In some other specimens of 

 this variety I noticed very dark, almost black 

 anthers, so that looking into the flower, it appeared 

 singularly beautiful by the contrast of its eight 

 black dots (anthers) with the semi-transparent 

 spotless corolla. — Geo. Browner,. 



Ancient Trees.— In the February number of 

 Science-Gossip, page 46, there appeared a note, 

 in which G. 0. Howell states the. Cypress of 

 Somma, in Lombardy, to be the oldest tree on 

 record, dating from the year 42 B.C. But at Anura- 

 dhapura, in Ceylon (noted for its ancient palaces), 

 there is a Bo-tree— a very famous object in con- 

 nection with Buddhism— which was planted 288 

 years B.C., and is by far the oldest tree in the 

 world. It would have been blown down long ago 

 but for a thick wall built round the trunk, and all 

 its main branches are supported by pillars. The 

 leaves that fall off are collected by the Buddhist 

 priests every day, and are kept in a holy part of 

 the temple. They are offered to their deity on 

 festival occasions, also sold to the poor ignorant 

 natives, who believe the money paid for these holy 

 leaves will buy them the righteousness of saints. 

 This tree is held in such reverence that it is often 

 visited by numbers of pilgrims.— if. F. Maingay. 



Birds and Severe Cold.— Several times during 

 the late severe weather, I disturbed the sparrows 

 sheltering for warmth close to the fireplace of our 

 greenhouse. The other morning the gardener put 

 out of its misery a poor little wretch all singed and 

 burnt, with shrivelled claws, which he found flutter- 

 ing under the fireplace on the hot cinders. The 

 birds never sought the warmth of the fire in the 

 hard weather before Christmas, nor at any other 

 time to my knowledge. Is it that the cold weather 

 coming so late, and after spring-like, open days, 

 found the birds unfitted to withstand the unusual 

 cold ?— H., Northampton. 



Moles.— The principal traps used in this neigh- 

 bourhood for catching moles are made of iron with 

 a steel spring, and cost, 1 believe, sixpence. It is 

 a very simple contrivance, is easily set, and can 

 scarcely be seen. A young fellow caught a great 

 many on my uncle's estates last winter, and among 

 them was a brown one with a light yellow breast- 

 quite a curiosity. I always thought moles were 

 shy, timid animals until last winter. I was out 

 with a couple of young spaniels, when they caught 

 something, and kept tossing it in the air and yelling. 

 Wondering what the deuce was up, I went to them, 

 and found they had caught a mole, but the vicious 

 little animal, instead of yielding quietly, turned on 

 the dogs, and bit them severely about, the lips, just 

 like a rat. On examination, I found the mole had 

 a set of splendid teeth, finer than a ferret's— in 

 fact, as small and sharp a3 needles. — Arthur Smyth, 

 Parracombe. 



Hen and Snake —A few days since, at Park 

 Homer, near Wimborne, the attention of the 

 poultrj -woman was called to the fact that a hen 

 turkey, which had been sitting, was off her nest. 

 On closer examination, it was found that she was 

 engaged in a struggle with a snake, which had 

 coiled itself round her neck, but whose body she 

 held tight in her bill, not far from its head, which 

 she beat against the ground till she had destroyed 

 it. I saw the reptile afterwards hanging on a tree, 



and though I did not examine it very closely, I a:« 

 inclined to think, from its colour, that it was a 

 viper, and not an innocuous snake. — C. W. 

 Bingham. 



The Upas-tree. — The tales about the Upas of 

 Java are said to have arisen from the reports cir- 

 culated by a Dutch surgeon of the name of Foersch, 

 who gave out the most exaggerated accounts of 

 the virulence of this tree ; but modern botanists and 

 travellers have ascertained that it is comparatively 

 harmless. It is grown in botanical gardens along 

 with other plants, and known to thrive in woods 

 where there are various kinds of trees. Birds and 

 lizards too are occasionally seen on its branches, so 

 the Dutchman's yarns are proved to have been 

 untrue; but as it grows on certain low ground in 

 the valleys in Java, — valleys fatal to animal life 

 from the amount of carbonic acid gas which escapes 

 from crevices in the ground, — this tree has had to 

 bear the blame of the evil really done by the sul- 

 phurous vapour ; still there is no doubt but what 

 the juice of the Upas does contain an acrid poison 

 called antiarin, which the natives dry and mix with 

 other ingredients for the purpose of poisoning their 

 arrows with. — H. E. W. 



Goldfish-Breeding. — I should be glad of any 

 information respecting goldfish - culture. What 

 temperature should the water be for hatching the 

 spawn ? Also, should the spawn be scattered 

 about, or left all together after it is taken from the 

 fish ? Is there any book published on this subject ? 

 If so, where could I obtain it ?— W. Elliott. 



Proliferous Daisy. — In Science-Gossip for 

 1S65 there is an engraving of a proliferous form of 

 the common daisy found by a correspondent at 

 Bute. A few days ago I met with a similar spe- 

 cimen to that figured, but with twenty '_ miniature 

 daisies instead of ten. The peduncles in my spe- 

 cimen are much shorter than shown in your engrav- 

 ing. It was found near this place, with other- 

 common daisies from same root. — W. Macmillan, 

 Castle Cary. 



Ivy-berries and Birds. — For some weeks past 

 w r e have observed, scattered over the grass, a num- 

 ber of small, half convex, half angular bodies about 

 one-fifth of an inch long, some white, some bright 

 pink, the nature of which has puzzled the learned. 

 We observed them last spring also. One naturalist 

 to whom they were shown pronounced them to be 

 the eggs of a blatta. At last a very youthful 

 observer, playing with some ivy-berries, noticed that 

 the aforesaid bodies seemed identical with the seeds 

 inside these berries. So it proved. The seeds are 

 often found cemented four or five together in the 

 droppings of birds, who, in this case, have perhaps 

 taken more than was good for them. He also found 

 a great many in a blackbird's nest. One can hardly 

 believe they would be suitable food for the young 

 birds ; and yet it is difficult to see for what other 

 purpose they could have been brought there. — T. 



White Flow'ers. — Having been much interested 

 in " W.'s" paper "On White and other Varieties 

 of Flowers," 1 venture to send a list of those which, 

 owing probably to the chalky nature of much of 

 the soil, I find pure white in this locality. In our 

 own meadows and lanes, Agraphis nutans, Carda- 

 mine pratensis, Orchis Morio, Ajuga reptans, 

 Prunella vulgaris, Bartsia Odontites, Viola odorata, 

 and rarely Primula vulgaris. The latter also occurs 



