HAEDWICKE'S SCIENCJE-GO SSIP. 



2S1 



that be noticed the festoons clinging to the 

 telegraph wires of the Great Western Railway until 

 close to London. — Martha Cape. 



New Zealand Porests. — When I went to 

 Canterbury, New Zealand, in 1852, the settlers were 

 very desirous of rearing about their homesteads some 

 of the beautiful trees and shrubs that composed the 

 native forest. But all attempts at making plant- 

 ations of those indigenous trees, with the exception 

 of a few small shrubs, either by transplanting or by 

 sowing the seed, were unsuccessful, so much so, 

 that if people were seen carrying home young trees 

 out of the forest, with the view of planting them 

 about their land or the open plains, they were 

 immediately recognized as having recently arrived. 

 When the timber was cleared, the ground used to 

 get covered with a kind of thicket, the least common 

 of the multitudinous flora of the forest. Now the 

 eucalyptus, the oak, elm, and pretty well all English 

 fruit and forest trees, gave promise when I left in 

 1862, of paying for cultivation. I wish to ascertain 

 from any of your readers who may have recently 

 arrived from the province, whether, as seemed to be 

 foreshadowed then, the New Zealand forest trees 

 are approaching the end of the period allotted to 

 their existence ? — Kaiapoi. 



Anatomy of a Caterpillar. — Permit me to 

 call your attention to the parallelisms contained in 

 W. Tylar's account of the " A natomy of a Cater- 

 pillar," as compared with the description at page 74 

 of Wood's " Common Objects of the Country." It 

 will not be necessary I think for me to quote the 

 passages or to point out the similarity of the 

 annexed drawing ; a reference will suilice to show 

 the truth of my remarks. The only statement for 

 which I cannot (ind a foundation in the little volume 

 quoted, is that which asserts that the eyes of 

 caterpillars are compound ; with reference to which 

 I will only observe that all those I have had an 

 opportunity of examining are simple {ocelli). — A. 

 Hammond. 



The Bridgeman Triple Lantern. — This 

 interesting instrument is, as its name denotes, three 

 lanterns in one body. By an ingenious arrangement 

 it can be converted into a double lantern, which the 

 operator can use while his assistant is preparing 

 the one already removed for phantasmagoria effects. 

 What is more to the purpose, he can be fitting to this 

 either the Oxy-hydrogen Microscope, Polariscope, 

 or the Spectrum Analysis apparatus, which, requir- 

 ing some little time to adjust, can be done without 

 any tedious delay on the part of the exhibitor ; the 

 single lantern is not required to be placed upon 

 the other lanterns tor this purpose, but is equally 

 well adapted to work quite distinct from the bi- 

 unial part of the arrangement. One great advan- 

 tage is that this lantern has a very wide margin of 

 focal power. The exhibitor can show within 10 ft. 

 of the screen, or at any other distance he chooses 

 up to 70 ft., the several sets of lenses being fitted 

 into telescopic fronts. The supply of the gases to 

 the lanterns is regulated to a very fine degree, by 

 an ingenious arrangement called the "Universal 

 Dissolver," which answers its purpose most admir- 

 ably, for it is no slight task to regulate the gas- 

 supply of three lanterns, all working at the same 

 time : but by this dissolver, after once starting, all 

 anxiety may be removed, as by tlie movement of two 

 single levers the whole of the lighting arrangement 

 of the three lanterns is entirely under command. 



Ancient Trees. — So many notices of the old 

 trees of different parts of England have already 

 appeared in the recent numbers of Science-Gossip, 

 that 1 feel it invests those in my own immediate 

 neighbourhood with a greater amount of interest 

 than I have before felt in them. Of these the 

 examples I shall select are most worthy of notice 

 to a general public. The upper waters of the 

 Itchin beautify and fertilize a portion of Hampshire, 

 which (without any of the more striking features 

 of the many popular resorts of the south of Eng- 

 land) is well worth visiting for the general and 

 almost universal beauty it presents. The soil is 

 principally chalk, and nourishes almost every kind 

 of tree known to England, and this, too, without 

 undue favour to any one species. The only tree 

 that is uncommon is the Poplar, while to make up 

 for its scarcity, the Aspen, with its beautiful bough- 

 forms, lends an attraction to the scenery. Of old 

 trees the most noticeable is the Gospel Oak (I should 

 like to know how many gospel oaks there are in 

 England) in the parish of Cheriton. In the north- 

 western portion of this parish, and near the boun- 

 dary of the parish of Oviugtou, stand the remains 

 of a venerable tree, which is mentioned as a known 

 and ancient boundary in an old manuscript without 

 date in the muniments of the bishopric of Win- 

 chester. And again, in a survey taken about the 

 year 1560, and is stated to be so called because " a 

 gospel was wont to be said there in the perambula- 

 tion week between the lordships of Cheriton and 

 Ovington." Of course the rustics say it is th^ 

 place where the Gospel was first preached in the 

 neighbourhood, before any church existed. It is 

 computed to be at least five centuries old. At 

 Chilton Condover is a fine avenue of old yews, 

 perhaps not old enough for the antiquary, but cer- 

 tainly of great age. This avenue stretches from 

 the open downs to a small park-like inclosure, with 

 a few old yews in it, and some obscure foundations 

 to mark the site of Chilton Old House. Placed on 

 the northern slope of a bleak hill, and with a sheer 

 chalk soil, no tree but the Yew would thrive, and 

 perhaps we should hardly look for so large a size 

 in such a position as the richer ground of a church- 

 yard or cultivated field would produce. In the 

 churchyard at Itchin Abbas is, or was, an old yew- 

 tree of great age and enormous size. To conclude, 

 at the mouth of the Itchin is a church called Jesus 

 Chapel, but more often known as Pear-tree Church, 

 from an old pear-tree near it. The age of this tree 

 is not known, but two hundred years ago it gave its 

 name, as now, to the green on which it stood. — 

 T. IF. G., Alresfonl. 



Green Caterpillars. — If "P. E." will watch 

 his currant and gooseberry-bushes very closely next 

 spring, while the leaves are still very young, he will 

 see some of them pierced all over with tiny holes. 

 This is done by the young caterpillars just hatched, 

 and beginning their ravages on the under side of 

 the leaf. I first observed this many years ago. I 

 then destroyed every leaf so pierced, and till about 

 three years ago, when I suppose a fresh importation 

 came in, we have never seen a caterpillar on either 

 currant or gooseberry-tree since. — M.J. Livett. 



Green Caterpillars.— In answer to F. R.'s in- 

 quiry (SciENCE-GossiP,p.lS9) as to the best method 

 of exterminating the green caterpillar, which for the 

 last few years has so grievously mfesied the goose- 

 berry-trees, from personal experience and obser- 

 vation, may I be allowed to say that, in the first 



