HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE -GOSSIP. 



259 



penetrated the Lias and Keuper Marls, and struck 

 in the Lower Keuper Sandstone a feeder of water, 

 which rose to the surface and yielded eleven gallons. 

 Below this feeder, which occurred at 790 feet, 

 another was struck at 950, which yielded a much 

 larger supply. Second, as regards qualify. The 

 various analyses obtained place the New Red and 

 Permian waters in an intermediate position between 

 the hard waters of the mountain limestone and chalk 

 and the soft waters of the Palaeozoic rocks. In the 

 water obtained from a well at Whitmore, near 

 Crewe, only 6"10 grains of solid matter occur, and in 

 another of the London and North-western Railway 

 wells, that of Parkside, near Warrington, only 11*12 

 grains of solid matter per gallon occur, the degree 

 of harduess being 4*1 after boiling. The water is 

 stated to be the best for engine-boilers of all the 

 waters obtained on the Company's system. The 

 Permian water of Leicestershire is soft, the water 

 from the Bunter New Bed beds nearly soft, and 

 those from the Keuper Sandstone as hard, contain- 

 ing carbonate and sulphate of lime. It is the pre- 

 sence of the last ingredient in the water used in 

 brewing at Burton-on-Trent which is believed to 

 give the Burton water its special pre-eminence in 

 the manufacture of beer. Mr. Molyneux believes 

 the large amount of calcareous ingredients here met 

 with (70 grains in an imperial gallon) to be due 

 to the water dissolving all the gypsum of the 

 Keuper Marls of Needwood Forest, from whence it 

 flows down the dip planes of the strata to the 

 Burton-valley fault, up which it rises, and is tapped 

 by the artesian borings of the breweries. Some of 

 the wells close to the Mersey, at Liverpool, show 

 examples of very hard water, and are daily be- 

 coming more so, through the percolation of salt 

 water, induced by pumping inland, but this in no 

 way affects the large wells used by the Corporation 

 for water-supply further from the river. Next year 

 the Committee hope to report— 1. On the water- 

 bearing properties of the whole of the English New 

 Bed and Permian formations ; 2. The nature and 

 chemical character of the waters obtained ; and 3. 

 The effect of these waters on the sanitary condition 

 of the people using them. And they cannot but 

 hope that, looking to the almost absolute freedom 

 from organic impurity in water from wells, properly 

 constructed in these formations, they may, by point- 

 ing out suitable sites for wells in areas at present 

 without them, be the means in many districts of 

 improving the health and lessening the death-rate 

 of the population. 



NOTES AND QUERIES- 



Local Plant Names, &c— The name " Bazier " 

 is commonly used in Devonshire for the Auricula, 

 but 1 have been always under the impression it was 

 a corruption of " bear's ear." 



Malva. — 1 am no botanist, but seeing several 

 varieties of Mallows mentioned as having been 

 found on the Sussex shore, I cnay mention that some 

 seed picked last year from a plant on the cliff at 

 Eastbourne and sown in a garden this year, has 

 attained the great height of over six feet without as 

 yet any sign of blossom— the stems and leaves are 

 likewise gigantic. I fear the winter will kill it, but 

 should there be a means of preserving it, I should 

 be glad to do so, in order to see how large it will 

 grow. — H. 



Colour of Blowers. — I am obliged to Mr. G. 

 Nicholson ; but I did not make an assertion — I men- 

 tioned a fact, for which I could not account, and 

 which rather annoyed me. At the end of 1873 

 I planted crocus bulbs, yellow and purple, in alter- 

 nate bunches. In the spring of 1874 they came up 

 and flowered properly; they were not disturbed or 

 taken up, but in the spring of 1875 the purple ones 

 all came yellow, with hardly a single purple flower 

 among them. The seeds of the crocus do not, I 

 think, flower in the open ground in one year ; and 

 what of the old bulbs ? According to Mr. Nichol- 

 son, they should have flowered mixed, which they 

 did not— E. T. Scott. 



Crickets. — In some works crickets are said to 

 produce the noise they make, not with their thighs, 

 nor yet with their wings, but by the friction of their 

 elytra against each other. Could not " W. E." get 

 a pair, and try if he can produce anything like the 

 soug of the cricket, or could he not keep one 

 confined, so that he could watch it and see what 

 movement it made ? We have no crickets, and I have 

 not seen one for years, or I would try, but I always 

 think it a very cheerful noise. — E. T. Scott. 



Plant Names. — With reference to Mr. John E. 

 Daniel's inquiry for the botanical name of " Gram," 

 I would beg to mention that it is Acer arietinum. 

 This pulse is most extensively cultivated in India, 

 and, when boiled, is excellent food for horses and 

 bullocks; and, when roasted or parched, it forms a 

 good diet for man for long journeys. The leaves 

 are covered with glandular hairs, which secrete a 

 strong acid, much used by the natives of India for 

 dyspepsia. This acid is so pungent, that, if persons 

 were to walk through a gram-held with good boots, 

 the boots would probably be destroyed ; but, full par- 

 ticulars are given by J. Jackson in the Food Journal 

 for March, 1872.— John Colebrooke. 



Convolvulus Hawk-moth. — It may interest 

 entomologists to hear that I have taken two speci- 

 mens of the Convolvulus Hawk-moth {Sphinx con- 

 volvuli). 1 caught them both soon after sunset 

 hovering over a bed of geraniums on the 22nd and 

 26th of September. Another fine specimen was 

 brought to me by a friend. The largest is 4J inches 

 in width. — Frank Morey, Newport, I. W. 



How to Remove Lichens. — Where I live, in 

 the churchyard there are two or three tomb- 

 stones covered with lichens and mosses. Will some 

 chemist tell me what proportion of muriatic acid I 

 ought to put to a given quantity of water so as to 

 get rid of the lichens, &c, unless any one will 

 kindly suggest a better plan? — Vagans. 



Wasp Nest. — On September 25th, after I had 

 killed between 40 and 50 wasps at and around a 

 hole in a bank, I succeeded in digging out the nest. 

 To my surprise, it was an old one, and inhabited 

 by numbers of wood-lice as well as the natural 



