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HA RD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OSSIF. 



sand grouse have been recently seen in this locality. 

 Alfred Alexander, a fisherman of Thorpe, near 

 Aldborough, a person well acquainted with these 

 birds (as he is also with sea birds especially), 

 observed about the 15th May last, when off in his 

 boat a short distance from the shore, a flock of 

 fourteen ; they were flying in a southerly direction. 

 He also informed me that a pair had been seen at 

 "Scott's Hall" farm, about the same date. As 

 many persons have the impression that these 

 interesting birds have left this country, I think it 

 would be well to publish these facts in Science- 

 Gossip.— Edward JVeave, West End, Leiston, 

 Suffolk. 



Anthocharis cardamines.— This pretty butter- 

 fly, although reputed " common everywhere," is in 

 some seasons scarcely seen at all, but it has been very 

 abundant during the present spring and summer. 

 Can anyone however explain how it is that the males 

 apparently so greatly outnumber the females ? Are 

 the latter more sluggish in their movements and fly 

 about less, or how is it they are so seldom seen. 

 They may sometimes of course be mistaken for 

 common whites such as Rapa? or Napi but this cannot 

 always be the case with practised entomologists. — 

 Albert H. Waters. 



Shells from Roxburghshire.— Mr. J. Roseburgh 

 has kindly sent me a batch of shells which he lately 

 collected at Galashiels. The batch includes Helix 

 nemoralis var. libellula 12345 and 123(45), Vitrina 

 pellucida, Cochlicopa lubrica, Hyalina eel/aria, Helix 

 hortensis var. lutea 12345, Helix rotundata, H. 

 hispida, H. granulata {=sericea, partim), H. 

 arbustoriim, Bulimus obscurus, Pupa umbilieala, and 

 Clausilia rugosa. The last eight of these species are, 

 I believe, recorded for the first time from this 

 shire.— J. Williams, 57 Corinne Road, Ttifnell 

 Park, N. W. 



BOTANY. 



A New British Plant.— Sir,— In your para- 

 graph in the May issue of SciENCE-Gossir, referring 

 to Mr. Bailey's paper " On Arenaria Gothica as a 

 Plant new to Britain," there occurs an error to which 

 I wish to draw your attention. In it you assert that 

 the specimens were found by Mr. Bailey at Ribble- 

 head, Yorkshire. Mr. Bailey lays no claim to having 

 either found or discovered it, as he owns therein that 

 the plant was first discovered there by a Skipton 

 botanist — viz. myself, and that the specimens he has 

 were given to him by Mr. J. G. Baker, F.L.S., of 

 Kew Herbarium, who visited the locality in 

 September of last year and gathered them from 

 directions supplied to him by me. — Lister Rotheray, 

 48 Otley Street, Skipton. 



Gagea Lutea. — In my note last month on this 

 plant, for Sitton (Dorset) read Silton (Dorset). — Rev. 

 Charles F. W. T. Williams, Zeals, Bath. 



The Flora of Guernsey. — On E. D. Marquand's 

 article on the " Flora of Guernsey " I should like to 

 note that the cowslip {Primula veris) only grows in 

 one, not generally known, spot in Jersey, and that the 

 primrose is apparently rapidly vanishing before the 

 potato — and the tourist. I recollect Asparagus 

 officinalis on the sandy sea-shores, and marvelled why 

 its culture was not more general in the island, most 

 of that which is sold being imported from France. 

 Anthyllis vulneraria I have found in Jersey (two 

 localities), but have noted the absence of Mercurialis 

 perennis, Erica telralix, Caltha palustris, and 

 Anetnone nemorosa. Roses, with the exception 

 of the little sand roses, are rare ; honeysuckle ex- 

 tremely abundant both in Jersey and Sark ; the stems 

 are used to make fishermen's baskets, being peeled, 

 and very closely woven. If the rage for greenhouses 

 is exterminating the Guernsey rarities, the rage for the 

 potato is having an equally sad effect in Jersey ; I am 

 glad to hear there is talk in the island of a return to 

 the once famous orchards. — M. E. Pope, 



GEOLOGY, &c. 



New Mammals from the Red and Norwich 

 Crags. — A paper on this subject was recently read 

 before the Geological Society by Mr. E. T. Newton, 

 F.G.S. This paper contains descriptions of mam- 

 malian remains from the English Pliocene belonging 

 to eight species, nearly all being new to the Crags, 

 and four of them new to science. A remarkable low- 

 crowned, but broad, lower carnassial tooth from the 

 Norwich Crag of Bramerton is referred to the genus 

 Lutra, and named specifically L. Reevei. All the 

 other specimens noticed below are from the nodules 

 bed at the base of the Suffolk Red Crag, and the 

 first four of them are in the possession of Mr. E. C. 

 Moor, of Great Bealings. A right ramus of a lutrine 

 lower jaw, differing from the common otter in having 

 the hinder fangs of the premolars much larger than 

 the front ones, and agreeing in this particular with 

 the Lutra dubia of De Blainville, is referred to the 

 latter species. A humerus of a seal, most nearly 

 resembling that of Phoca vitulina, but of smaller size 

 and more slender proportions, is called Phoca Moori. 

 Another seal's humerus, having a peculiarly tri- 

 angular shaft, is thought to belong to the Phocanella 

 minor of Van Beneden. A maxilla with three teeth, 

 evidently belonging to the genus Trogontherium, but 

 of smaller size than the Trogontherium Cuvieri, is 

 believed to represent another species, and is named 

 T. minor. The ziphioid rostrum in the Ipswich 

 Museum, which received from the Rev. H. Canham 

 the MS. name of Mesoplodon Floweri, is for the first 



