222 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



pond as those of May 14th, had the lobes on sides 

 of upper lip, although waning, extending almost to 

 lower margin of under jaw, whilst these same 

 appendages were altogether obliterated from lip of 

 principal male of this year's notes, and almost from 

 that of females, as early as the 24th June. In the 

 case of the Smooth Newt I have had similar 

 evidence in a larger number of individuals, both 

 male and female. 



The male newt above mentioned, obtained in 

 mid May, being at that time apparently at full 

 seasonal development, and having upper parts of 

 body with crests and fin of a dark olive-green 

 colour, was, on the 24th June, in those same parts, 

 of a dark brown spotted with black. The margins 

 of lips, sides of head, body, and basal fifth of tail, 

 with upper and under sides of legs, were all speckled 

 plentifully with white ; silvery streak on tail-column 

 as when got, — very obscure ; throat dusky, closely 

 speckled with orange and white ; orange of breast, 

 belly, anus, and first i in. of under side of tail, 

 bright and deep. In its female companion the 

 orange of same parts was lighter, — yellower. 



In another female of which I took a particular 

 description, the speckling was precisely similar in 

 colour and as liberally laid on as in the last-men- 

 tioned males, but, like the female described at com- 

 mencement of this paper, the tail-column throughout 

 was as liberally speckled. The depression along 

 centre of back from head was very marked in this 

 specimen, and the low ridge commencing at some 

 distance from head occupying it, and at loins 

 gradually rising into fin, was also pretty evident. 



Length : — From tip of nose to extremity of vent, 

 3| in. ; from vent to tail-tip, 2f in. : total, 6f in. 



One marked difference between the male and 

 female Warty Newt is that the orange of under 

 parts extends only along a very small portion of 

 under side of tail in the former, whilst in the latter 

 it extends to tail-tip, and from its brightness, 

 especially on first two-thirds of tail, forms a 

 striking feature during the reptile's aquatic career. 



Chakles Robson. 



Elswick, Neiccaitle-iipon'Tyne. 



HOLIDAY RAMBLES. 



No VII.— The Isles of Scilly. 



" TT'S all very well to go over to Scilly for a day, 



-*- but to talk of staying there for a week ! 



Why, sir you hav'n't seen Land's End, nor Buryan 



Church, nor the Lizard, nor Ah well ! we 



shall see you back, sir, to-morrow; you'll think 

 better of it when you get there ! " Such were the 

 last words of my host at Penzance. Very similar 

 had been the prognostics of London friends. One 

 said—" The living is wretched ; in the small islands 



nothing but bread and cheese." Another's report 

 was—" The weather is of three kinds — one all wind> 

 the second all rain, and the third a mixture of wind 

 and rain." Nevertheless I went, stayed my week, 

 and left with a hearty wish that my available time 

 had been two or three weeks instead of one. 



A stranger arriving at St. Mary's will scarcely 

 have landed, when he will find great masses of 

 Mesembryanthemums growing on the walls as freely 

 as stonecrop grows about London. In the gardens 

 he will find the Euchsia, the Scarlet Geranium, the 

 Calla, and many other "greenhouse" plants, estab- 

 lished as hardy out-door residents ; and he will hear 

 of more surprising things to be seen in Tresco. In 

 his first stroll— probably to Peninnis Head— he will 

 find that he has lighted upon an island offering him 

 abundant matter for thought, in its vegetation, and 

 in the strange sculpturing of its magnificent granite 

 rocks. And if he be an admirer of scenery, he will 

 look out with delight on the varied and beautiful 

 groupings of the many islands in sight. But if he 

 have had any experience of a sea-life, he will, as he 

 looks at these same islets, comprehend the dread 

 with which a mariner would regard an approach to 

 Scilly during the storms and fogs of winter. He will 

 feel that the beauty under a summer's sun is like 

 the beauty of the sleeping tiger. 



Although the visitor will find in St. Mary's abun- 

 dant evidence of the mild climate into which he has 

 come, yet he will not realize all that this island- 

 climate has rendered possible, un + il he visits the 

 gardens at Tresco Abbey, — gardens generously 

 thrown open to visitors by the Lord Proprietor 

 of the islands, T. A. Darrieu Smith, Esq. Here, 

 protected from the winds, which at times sweep 

 with terrible fury over the islands, flourish semi- 

 tropical trees and plants from nearly every hot 

 country in the world; not as ornaments, to be 

 taken into shelter in winter, but as hardy, robust 

 fellows, not afraid to look Christmas in the face — 

 in Scilly. I should fail in any attempt to enumerate 

 all that I saw, and therefore I gladly quote from 

 a letter written by Mr. W. E. Gardiner, who has 

 charge of this fair domain. 



" Very striking among the groups of tropical and 

 other plants are the Dracaenas, which grow in the 

 open air with great vigour, some being already 20 ft. 

 high. Pittosporums, or Mock-oranges, are in pro- 

 fuse and fragrant beauty. Escallonias form hedges 

 10 ft. high. Pruza Chiliensis forms an immense 

 mass. Camphor Laurel grows from 10 to 15 ft. 

 high. Fourcroya longceva grows well, and there are 

 now (July, 1875) two specimens in blossom with 

 stems 20 ft. high. The Aralias form masses 20 yards 

 in circumference; while among other rarities (as 

 open-air residents) are the Golden Acacia, Austra- 

 lian Pepper and Musk plants, Cinnamon Laurel, 

 Fan and Date Palms, the Banana of Abyssinia, 

 Dammaras, Bambusas, the Dicksonia squarrosa 



