44 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



themselves descended from entomophilous ones. — • 

 A. G. Tamley, 167, Adelaide Road, N. IV. 



Ranunculus Lingua. — (Science-Gossip, Jan., 

 P a ge 3.) Mr. Biddiscombe is wrong in supposing that 

 the plant he has found is R. lingua, L., or even a 

 variety of that elegant and well-marked plant. It is 

 a well-known variety of the lesser spearwort (R. 

 flammula, L.), which I have found in a very fine 

 condition in Sussex. This plant is one of the most 

 protean of the ranunculi, and a good series should be 

 procured, ranging from what might be called pseudo- 

 lingua to pseudo-reptans, and thence to eu-reptans. It 

 is a little curious that the large variety referred to 

 above should have been allowed by modern botanists 

 to drop out of the list of varieties, seeing that in 

 Gerarde's day it was well-known, figured, and 

 described as the serrate-leaved or jagged spear- 

 wort {Ranunculus flammeus serratus, Gerarde, Emac. 

 p. 962). It is certainly more deserving of a varietal 

 name than many other modern creations. — Hilderic 

 Friend, F.R.S. 



Linum Perenne, L.— In answer to Mr. H. J. 

 Perrett's query with respect to this as a plant of the 

 Isle of Wight, it is most likely that the species he 

 saw was L. angustifolium, which is "frequent in all 

 the sub-districts both inland and near the sea " 

 (Townsend's " Flora of Hampshire"). The only report 

 of Linum pere?ine for Hants known to me is in 

 "The Annual Hampshire Repository," for 1779, 

 where it is given for Wickham, by Dean Gamier and 

 the Rev. Mr. Poulter, but this is held a mistake by 

 Mr. Townsend. The mention of this Linum calls to 

 mind a paper by Dr. P. Q. Keegan in the September 

 number of last year's Science-Gossip, where, among 

 some interesting notes on the county of Sutherland, 

 he names four species that are quite unknown to 

 botanists as going so far north, i.e., Ranunculus 

 lingua, north to Ross and Elgin ; Lcpidium Smithii, 

 north to Ross; Geranium pusillum, north to Inver- 

 ness and the Inner Hebrides ; Linum angustifolium, 

 not known as a Scotch species, and Lusitatissum, 

 suggested as the plant seen. It is much to be desired 

 that specimens of such species as the above should be 

 gathered by the recorders of them. There is just 

 that amount of probability that the Linum might 

 have been found, that makes it difficult to neglect the 

 record, as Poly gala calcarea (!) has been found on 

 the limestone in Sutherland. Still, it might more 

 reasonably have been predicted that such counties as 

 Wigtown, Dumfries, or Kirkcudbright were much 

 more likely habitats, as species that fail in the north 

 of England do in several cases reappear in the south- 

 east of Scotland. To those who study the distribu- 

 tion of our flora, it is not only the fact that certain 

 species are to be found, but the connection with other 

 floras that makes all the northerly records of such 

 value when they are verified by specimens. There 

 are others in Dr. Keegan's paper that need to be 



verified by specimens before acceptance for Suther- 

 land, i.e., Galium Mollugo, Orchis Morio, Valerian 

 dioica ; Riuguicula Scotica is doubtless a slip for 

 Primula Scotica, but what is intended by " Salsola 

 marilima? '' — 6". Kali, or Suceda maritima? Mr. 

 H. C. Watson's works are now so accessible that 

 recorders ought to take the trouble to see if their 

 plants are new or not to a county, and it so greatly 

 adds to the interest of their papers, anyhow in the 

 eyes of botanists. — Arthur Bennett. 



GEOLOGY, &c. 



Glasgow Geological Society. — At a recent 

 meeting of the above society, there were elected — 

 Mr. J. Collins, general secretary ; Mr. White, 

 secretary of committee, and Mr. Madison, curator. 

 The other officers were re-elected. The election 

 of committee and vote of thanks to retiring 

 officers brought the meeting to a close. — On 

 November nth, Mr. H. Hawkes exhibited specimens 

 of Osmunda regalis; Ophioglossum vulgatum and 

 Botrichium lunaria, our only native examples of 

 exannulate ferns. Mr. P. T. Deakin then read a 

 paper on " Notes on the Country Around Christ- 

 church, Hants." The writer described the situation 

 of the town, and referred to its history and antiquities. 

 It was once a seaport, but the harbour has become 

 silted up until no large vessel can enter it. The 

 great charm of this district to the scientist is its 

 geology, for it gives us an almost complete section 

 from the Lower to the Upper Eocene in the space of 

 a few miles. In the Bournemouth beds we find im- 

 pressions of leaves and the remains of tree trunks, the 

 latter bored through and through by marine mollusca 

 of which, however, we could find no trace. Although 

 some organic remains are to be found nearly all 

 along the coast line, yet it is only when we come to 

 Barton Cliff that they really abound. The writer 

 gave lists of those commonly found and also of 

 those less frequently met with. One part of the coast 

 was particularly interesting, from the fact that the 

 change from marine to fresh-water species was well 

 seen. A description of the land, fresh-water and 

 marine shells was also given. The paper was 

 illustrated by collections of fossil and other shells. 



Enormous Reptile from the Cretaceous 

 Deposits of America. — In the last number of the 

 "Geological Magazine" Professor Marsh, the dis- 

 tinguished American palaeontologist, figures and de- 

 scribes the skull of the gigantic fossil horned lizards, 

 found in the cretaceous deposits of North America. 

 The species figured is Triceratops flabellatus, whose 

 skull is six feet long. The strata in which these re- 

 markable fossils occur extend for about eight hundred 

 miles along the eastern flank of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, and are of freshwater or brackish origin. The 



