HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



93 



specimens of both the species which are in his 

 herbarium, with the result that I found his grandi- 

 floras (eleven in number) have an average of 9, 2 , 

 flowers, whilst his Ensifolias (7 in number) give an 

 average of 6f, thus fully corroborating C. P.'s belief, at 

 least as regards English specimens of these species. 

 But it will be observed that the Italian plants of 

 Ensifolia above mentioned had an average of nearly 

 three times as many flowers as Mr. Roper's specimens, 

 and nearly double the average on his specimens of 

 grandiflora. Of course the average on the Italian 

 plants would have been reduced if I had gathered all 

 the plants I saw of it, but assuming those not 

 gathered to equal the others in number, and assuming 

 that three of them had two flowers ; three, three 

 flowers ; three, four ; and so on, up to nine flowers, 

 the average of these would be 5 J flowers per specimen ; 

 or, taking the whole 48 spikes, there would have been 

 an average of eleven flowers, an average which even 

 then exceeds that of Mr. Roper's grandifloras, and 

 which is almost twice as great as his Ensifolias give. 

 But I have no doubt that Mr. Roper's specimens 

 of both species are average, and above average, 

 specimens (some of the grandiflora are very fine), and 

 therefore, if an equal number of English specimens 

 below that average were taken into account, his 

 averages would be reduced as mine would be in the 

 way above suggested. I may add that when at 

 Bordighera, in March last, I had the pleasure of 

 inspecting Mr. Bicknell's wonderful illustrations of 

 the Flora of the Riviera between 1800 and 19CO in 

 number, all drawn and coloured by himself in the 

 most masterly manner, and that the specimen of 

 Ensifolia depicted by him — from life — had 29 

 flowers, whereas grandiflora had but nine. To be 

 candid, however, I ought to add that the notes 

 relating to the illustrations expressly state the 

 specimen of Ensifolia to be a very fine one. The 

 other specimen being, I assume — and Mr. Roper's 

 specimens back up my assumption — an average one. 

 I had the pleasure of gathering some rather rare 

 plants at Varenna, notes on which I will send you on 

 a future occasion, should you care to insert them in 

 Science-Gossip. — R. B. P., Eastbourne. 



GEOLOGY, &c. 



Working Sites and Inhabited Land Surfaces 

 of the pal/eolithic period in the thames 

 Valley is the title of a most valuable paper by 

 Mr. J. A. Brown, reprinted from the " Transactions 

 of the Middlesex Natural History Society." Not 

 the least valuable part is the excellent illustrations 

 of implements and sections. 



The Geology of Lyme Regis.— Beine the 

 Report of an Excursion of the Geologists' Association 

 in April, 1SS9, by H. B. Woodward (Reprinted from 

 Proceedings). Any book or pamphlet with Mr. 



Woodward's name on the title-page is sure to be 

 well worth reading, and this is no exception to the 

 rule, giving, as it does, a most comprehensive account 

 of the geology of this geologically interesting part. 



The Geological Society. — At the Annual 

 General Meeting of the Geological Society of London, 

 the usual medals, &c, were distributed as follows : — 

 Wollaston Medal, to Professor W. Crawford William- 

 son ; the Murchison Medal, to Professor E. Hull ; 

 the Lyell Medal, to Professor T. Rupert Jones ; the 

 balance of the Wollaston Fund to Mr. W. A. E. 

 Ussher ; the Balance of the Murchison Fund to 

 Mr. E. Wethered ; the balance of the Lyell Fund to 

 Mr. C. Davies Sherborn ; and a grant from the 

 Barlow-Jameson Fund to Mr. W. Jerome Harrison. 

 The following officers were then elected : President, 

 A. Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S.; Vice-Presidents, Professor 

 T. G. Bonney, D.Sc, LL.D., F.R.S. ; L. Fletcher, 

 Esq., M.A., F.R.S.; W. H. Hudleston, Esq., M.A., 

 F.R.S.; J. W. Hulke, Esq., F.R.S.; Secretaries, 

 H. Hicks, M.D., F.R.S. ; J. E. Marr, Esq., M.A. ; 

 Foreign Secretary, Sir Warington W. Smyth, M.A., 

 F.R.S.; Treasurer, Professor T. Wiltshire, M.A., 

 F.L.S. 



The Evolution of the Horse.— Professor 

 Flower's lectures on " The Evolution of the Horse," 

 recently delivered to the Royal Institution, were 

 an interesting contribution to the history of the 

 oldest "friend of man." The first discourse was 

 devoted to the genealogy of the beast, with a view 

 to showing that the horse is descended from the 

 Eohippus, if not from a still humbler ancestor, only 

 recently brought to light, under the name of Pheno- 

 cadus. When Professor Marsh, of Yale, first hinted 

 at this conclusion, some years ago, the world of science 

 was somewhat depressed. The horse had been 

 always so respected and respectable that it was a 

 shock to learn that it sprang from a lowly creature 

 without even the rudiment of a hoof. First we have 

 a cat-like quadruped from the Eocene rocks of 

 Wyoming, in which the fore feet have four complete 

 toes and a rudimentary thumb, while the hind ones 

 have a toe less. Then comes a series of improved 

 forms, in rocks of a later age, in which the toes begin 

 to diminish in number and size, though the owners 

 are not bigger than foxes. As time goes od, and that 

 ■evolution which seems the law of all things works its 

 way, we find the Miohippus — the " less horse " in 

 short — as large as a sheep, and the Hipparion, in 

 which the foot, though still three-toed, is beginning 

 to hint at the semblance of a hoof — the middle toe 

 alone being of any use, and the two others taking the 

 shape of big splint bones, not long enough to touch 

 the ground. By-and-by, in the Pliocene rocks — 

 geologically of yesterday, chronologically a million 

 or two years old— we light upon the Pliohippus, the 

 "more horse," in which the hoof is formed precisely 

 as that of the modern animal, the lateral toes having 



