HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



119 



the loose pieces of moss had become twisted into a 

 stringlike form. It was quite dead when I found it. 

 The two other cases, which might have proved fatal 

 had the birds not been extricated, were those of a 

 robin having hooked the fleshy part of its foot on the 

 thorn of a rose tree. The other, that of a sparrow 

 which had got its leg fixed in the small fork of a 

 fir branch. Both of the birds when rescued were 

 fluttering in a suspended position. — J. C. Stnith, 

 Penrith. 



Notes on Fruit Trees. — May I add to Mrs. 

 Mary B. Morris's interesting notes or. fruit trees {vide 

 p. 80, first column) that as an Oxford, though not a 

 New College man, I have long understood that the 

 timber in the roofing of the beautiful cloisters of New 

 College, Oxford, commonly supposed to be oak, is 

 really chestnut. If I am wrong here, perhaps some 

 Fellow of the college will kindly set us right on the 

 point. Or are oak and chestnut both used there ? 

 The two woods, especially when aged, are often 

 confused, as sometimes are English and American 

 oak, though of course the latter, growing more rapidly, 

 has a coarser grain. — W. H. Hollings. 



Pugnacity of the Greenfinch. — I have a 

 greenfinch in my aviary of a very bold and audacious 

 disposition. A thrush in the same aviary is a great 

 tyrant over the same birds, and persecutes them a 

 good deal. Generally they act on the principle that 

 discretion is the better part of valour, and get out of 

 his way ; but the greenfinch boldly faces the bigger 

 bird with his beak menacingly open, and the bully is 

 soon cowed into beating a retreat. — Albert H. 

 Waters. 



Notes on Fruit Trees. — I, beg to be allowed 

 to point out a mistake in the paper about the chestnut 

 tree, by Mary B. Morris, in the last number of 

 Science-Gossip. The marronnier of the Jardin des 

 Tuileries is not Castanea vesca, but sEsculus hippo- 

 castanum, in French Marronnier d'Inde, and its date 

 of foliation is usually known in Paris, not first but 

 twentieth of March. Even the tree-givirjg marrons 

 are called in French Chdtaigniers. — C. C, Doullens, 

 Saumtir. 



Early Flowers. — The plants were found, except 

 where otherwise notified, in the neighbourhood of 

 Reigate, Surrey. Jan. 8, buttercup (R. bulbostis), 

 Edenbridge, Kent ; Jan. 10, hazel, male and female 

 flowers, Edenbridge, Kent ; Jan. n, primrose, Eden- 

 bridge, Kent; Jan. 12, violet (V. odorata) — barren 

 strawberry ; Jan. 13, creeping crowfoot (J?, repens), 

 Edenbridge, Kent ; Jan. 19, coltsfoot — dog's mer- 

 cury ; Jan. 21, spurge laurel; Jan. 27, common elm; 

 Feb. 1, ivy-leaved speedwell ; Feb. 6, lesser celandine, 

 Edenbridge, Kent ; Feb. 8, alder ; Feb. 10, white 

 poplar; Feb. 16, whitlow-grass; Feb. 17, cuckoo 

 flower, Edenbridge, Kent ; Feb. 18, golden saxifrage 

 (Chry. oppositifolinni), Edenbridge, Kent ; Feb. 22, 

 sallow, Sussex ; Feb. 23, snowdrop (naturalised by 

 the river) ; Feb. 25, ground ivy, Edenbridge, Kent ; 

 March 8, winter-cress (Barbarea vulgaris), Eden- 

 bridge, Kent; March 9, yew; March 15, violet 

 {V. hirta); March 21, wood rush (Ltizula pilosa), 

 Edenbridge, Kent ; March 23, anemone ; March 27, 

 moschatell ; March 28, marigold — thale-cress ; March 

 29, goldilocks (R. auricomus), wood spurge, and 

 daffodil, Edenbridge, Kent ; April 2, hyacinth, 

 Edenbridge, Kent ; April 4, bitter-vetch {Lathyrus 

 tuberosus), Sussex; April 5, wood-sorrel — germander 

 speedwell — water crowfoot (R. Lenormandi), Sussex. 

 — E. S. Salmon, 



Seasonable Notes. — Feb. 3, Ckrysosplenium 

 oppositifolium in flower ; Feb. 8, ribes in flower — 

 skylarks singing ; Feb. 10, daffodil in flower ; 

 Feb. 18, jackdaws building ; Feb. 25, wren building ; 

 March 5, Hicracium pilosella in flower; March 11, 

 willow in flower ; March 13, sycamore bursting into 

 leaf — bumble-bee seen ; March 14, Oxalis acetosella 

 in flower — horse-chestnut and laurel bursting into 

 leaf; March 15, may-flower (Caltha palustris) in 

 flower ; March 23, small white butterfly seen ; 

 March 25, Viola canina in flower ; March 26, 

 blackthorn in flower ; March 27, wild anemone in 

 flower ; March 27, gooseberry in flower ; March 31, 

 willow wren seen. — Rev. S. A. Brenan, Cushendun, 

 eo. Antrim. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



To Correspondents and Exchangers.— As we now 

 publish Science-Gossip earlier than formerly, we cannot un- 

 dertake to insert in the following number any communications 

 which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month. 



To Anonymous Querists. — We must adhere to our rule of 

 not noticing queries which do not bear the writers' names. 



To Dealers and Others. — We are always glad to treat 

 dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general 

 ground as amateurs, in so far as the "exchanges" offered are fair 

 exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are simply 

 Disguised Advertisements, for the purpose of evading the cost 

 of advertising, an advantage is taken of out gratuitous insertion 

 of " exchanges," which cannot be tolerated. 



We request that all exchanges may be signed with name (or 

 initials) and full address at the end. 



Special Note. — There is a tendency on the part of some 

 exchangers to send more than one per month. We only allow 

 this in the case of writers of papers. 



W. D. R. — It is not uncommon to find the butterflies you 

 mention out on warm days towards the end of March. They 

 are generally individuals which have been hybernating. 



R. M. P.— The sons of the late Mr. Thomas Bolton are still 

 carrying on their father's business, and are supplying living 

 microscopical material. We are not aware if the " Portfolio " 

 of microscopical drawings of animals and plants is still issued. 



M. C. — The green primroses you sent are very interesting, 

 although not uncommon. It is due to the petals secreting 

 chlorophyll, after the manner of ordinary leaves. 



Hulwidgeon. — Kindly send us your name and address. 



Insecta. — To be a Fellow of the Entomological Society you 

 must be proposed by at least one Fellow who knows you 

 personally and two others from general knowledge of you as 

 an entomologist. 



T. S. — Are you sure you are right in the spelling of the 

 words? Some of your terms are new to me. Ypresien consists 

 of a great series of clays and sands answering generally to the 

 London clav, but not represented in France. Bartonien cor- 

 responds with the Barton clay, the highest division of the 

 eocene strata of England. In what manual did you find the 

 other terms ? 



S. S. F. B.— Get Cooke's " Ponds and Ditches," price 2s. 6d., 

 published by S.P.C.K. A little fishing on your own account 

 will soon make you familiar with likely pools. You will find 

 "The Playtime Naturalist" handy (Chatto, price 5s.), on 

 account of its illustrations. 



EXCHANGES. 



Wanted, to exchange European plants for N. American, 

 S. American or Australian plants. — A. E. Lomax, 56 Vauxhall 

 Road, Liverpool. 



Specimen of cardboard tray for birds' eggs, shells, minerals, 

 fossils, &c, sold by the Naturalists' Publishing Company, 112 

 Rann Street, Birmingham. 



Wanted, magic-lantern slides — plain preferred — of Scripture 

 views, " Holy War," also Science-Gossip, 1869 and 1879. 

 Offered, micro-slides of insects and parts of insects, mosses, 

 hepatica, &c, &c. — W. E. Green, 24 Triangle, Bristol. 



Wanted, journals (parts or otherwise) of the Royal His- 

 torical and Archaeological Society of Ireland, in exchange for 

 Science-Gossip, several years unbound, or Irish antiquarian 

 photos. — R. Welch, 49 Londale Sweet, Belfast. 



Wanted, the following books in good condition : Davis's 

 "Biology," Lloyd Morgan's "Animal Biology," and Bower 

 and Vine's "Practical Botany."— H. W. Parritt, 103 Camden 

 Street, London, N.W. 



