HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



187 



Hayle. But, what is more to the purpose, several 

 of the willows and sallows grow well on the shore, 

 the former becoming large trees. The Austrian 

 Pine and Pinaster will form a fine grove. The Larch 

 lives, bnt, instead of rising nobly aloft, becomes 

 twisted in a very remarkable manner ; and so with 

 the Ash, for we noticed one at a farm-house near the 

 Worm's-head, so horizontally bent that it covered 

 over the farm-yard with its umbrageous branches, 

 just above the heads of the hinds and cattle. — R. G. 



Teeatological Notes. — As an addendum to the 

 very interesting paper on Teratology in your last 

 number, I may mention that I found the other day 

 a remarkable bead of clover {Ti-ifoJiu))i prateme). 

 The calyx was normal; the standard petal of the 

 corolla was much enlarged, and green and leaf-like. 

 The other petals were reduced to scales, and within 

 them, on a slight prolongation of the axis, was a 

 whorl of tiny though perfect flowers about nine in 

 number, apparently replacing the stamens. There 

 was but a simple abnormal head on the plant. — 

 G.P. 



HiERACiUM MACULATTTjr. — In company with that 

 detestable weed Laduca virosa, this fine hieracium 

 is still to be found in Chichester, where it was 

 observed by 'Bonev—floraii, floreat. I believe that 

 this is its only station in Sussex; but should like 

 to know to the contrary. There are points of 

 interest about this hawkweed, as will be seen by 

 reference to Smith and Sowerby ; and I shall be 

 glad if any one, through the medium of Sciexce- 

 GossiP, will state other localities in which it 7iow 

 abounds.— F. H. Arnold, LL.B., Fishbotirne. 



A WiND-EEKTiLizED CuuciFErx.— At a recent 

 meetiiig of the Linnean Society, Mr. A. W. Bennett 

 exhibited drawings of the style, stigma, and pollen- 

 grain of Pringlea antiscorhutica , Hook, f., describ- 

 ing the remarkable manner in which tlie pollen of 

 Pringlea differs from that of other nearly allied 

 Crucifers, being much smaller and perfectly spheri- 

 cal, instead of elliptical with three furrows. This 

 he considered a striking confirmation of Dr. 

 Hooker's suggestion that we have here a wind- 

 fertilized species of a family ordinarily fertilized by 

 insects, an hypothesis which is again confirmed by 

 the total absence of hairs on the style of Pringlea. 



GEOLOGY. 



The Diamond-beaking Rocks of South 

 Africa.— Prof. Maskelyne and Dr. Flight have 

 recently read a paper on this subject at the Geo- 

 logical Society of London. The authors confirmed 

 certain statements made by one of them from a 

 superficial examination of specimens brought to 

 this country by Mr. Dunn. The specimens ex- 



amined and analyzed by Dr. Plight were obtained 

 from various diggings and from different depths, 

 down to 180 feet in the case of one mass from 

 Colesberg Kopje. Their characters throughout are 

 essentially the same. The rock consists of a soft 

 and somewhat pulverulent ground-mass, composed 

 of a mineral (soapy to the touch) of a light yellowish 

 colour in the upper, and of an olive-green to bluish- 

 grey colour in tlie lower parts of the excavations. 

 Interspersed in the mass are fragments of more or 

 less altered shale, and a micaceous-looking mineral 

 of the vermiculitc group, which sometimes becomes 

 an important constituent of the rock, which also 

 contains bright green crystals of a ferruginous ensta- 

 tite (bronzite), and sometimes a hornblendic mineral 

 closely resembling smaragdite. A pale buff bron- 

 zite occurs in larger fragments than the green form 

 of the mineral ; and in the rock of Du Toit's pan an 

 altered diallage is present. Opaline silica, in the 

 form of hyalite or of hornstoue, is disseminated 

 through the greater part of the rock-masses, and 

 they are everywhere penetrated by calcite. The 

 analyses of the component minerals (given in detail 

 in the paper) show that this once igneous rock is a 

 bronzite rock converted into a hydrated magnesium 

 silicate, having the chemical characters of a hydrated 

 bronzite, except where the remains of crystals have 

 resisted metamorphism. Except in the absence of 

 olivine and the small amount of augitic mineral, it 

 might be compared with the well-known Lherzolite 

 rock. The diamonds are said to occur most plenti- 

 fully, or almost exclusively, in the neighbourhood 

 of dykes of diorite which intersect the hydrated 

 rock, or occur between it and the horizontal strata 

 through which the igneous rocks have been pro- 

 jected. The authors compare the characters of the 

 diamonds found in different positions, and come to 

 the conclusion that their source is not very remote 

 from that in which they are now found. The 

 mineral above mentioned as resembling vermiculite 

 is described by the authors as a new species uudef 

 the name of Vaalite. 



Geology of Baknet. — The geology of Barnet is 

 on the whole ratlier uninteresting to the collector, 

 but the deposits in its neighbourhood possess much 

 interest to the student of physical geology. In 

 reply to your correspondent K. Brierlj', I may 

 mention that he will meet with the following 

 deposits in the neighbourhood of Barnet: — 1. 

 London clay ; 2. Gravel and sand ; 3. Boulder-clay. 



1. The London clay forms the substratum of the 

 entire country in the vicinity of Barnet, and al- 

 though it is exposed here and there in brick and 

 tile-yards and in the railway- cuttings (Great 

 Northern main-line), it rarely yields many fossils. 

 It is a stiff bluish-grey and brown clay, containing 

 here and there bands of septaria or cement-stones. 



2. The gravel and sand cap most of the hills at 



