HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



213 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



The Rev. H. W. Lett sends us his "Report on 

 the Mosses, Hepatics, and Lichens of the Mourne 

 Mountain District," a paper read before the Royal 

 Irish Academy. 



Dr. G.J. Hinde's paper, "Notes on Radiolaria 

 from the Lower Patasozoic Rocks (Llandeilo-Carader) 

 of the South of Scotland," which appeared in the 

 " Annals and Magazine of Natural History " for July, 

 has been reprinted. 



The May number of the " Proceedings of the 

 Geologists' Association " contains an article by 

 Mr. T. V. Holmes, entitled " Notes on the Nature of 

 the Geological Record." 



Mr. E. Wilson sends us his well-written "Guide 

 to the Bristol Museum," of which he is the able 

 Curator. 



In the last number of the "Annals and Magazine 

 of Natural History," Mr. J. Wood-Mason, Super- 

 intendent of the Indian Museum, describes a vivi- 

 parous caddis-fly. 



The same number contains a "List of Land and 

 Freshwater Shells collected by Dr. Emin Pasha in 

 Central Africa, with Description of New Species," 

 by Edgar A. Smith. 



We have received No. 4 of Mr. Wallace's useful 

 text-book of " British Cage Birds," published by 

 L. Upcott-GilL 



Good work in the protection of plants has been 

 done by L' Association pour la Protection des 

 Plantes, founded at Geneva, in 1883, No. 8 of whose 

 Bulletins is before us. It is well printed and 

 illustrated, and is full of interesting matter. 



Dr. J. C. Brown, LL.D., sends us his brochures 

 on "The Pine Trees of Europe," "Modern Forest 

 Science," and "African Fever and Culture of the 

 Blue Gum-tree to counteract Malaria in Italy." 

 They are all well worth reading. 



ZOOLOGY. 



The Food of the Birds. — In his paper in the 

 July number under this title, Mr. C. Parkinson 

 invites the experiences of others. My observations 

 — also made in Worcestershire — lead me, in one or 

 two cases, to very different conclusions. To take 

 the cases I refer to according to the numbers given 

 in his paper. V. The black-cap and garden warblers, 

 .also the greater white-throat, levy very heavy toll on 

 the currants and raspberries, vn. The hawfinch 

 makes terrible havoc among the green peas. A 

 labourer brought me one of a whole family which he 



shot last year on his row of peas, that I might 

 tell him what it was, and asking if it was not " one 

 of the parrot tribe," and saying that it was a shame 

 to bring such foreign birds and turn them up in 

 England. XIII. I have known the rook to show a 

 great partiality for green walnuts, and he is a good 

 hand at digging up potatoes. XV. What Mr. 

 Parkinson says of greenfinches and radish beds, 

 according to my experience, applies with ten-fold 

 force to the chaffinch. xvi. The jay is most 

 destructive to raspberries, cherries, and peas. Of 

 course I do not mean to imply that these birds do no 

 good. On the contrary, with the exception of the 

 hawfinch (a bird that I grieve to see destroyed), I 

 believe that the good they do very much outweighs 

 the harm. At the same time I think that it is quite 

 possible to have just a few too many blackbirds in 

 one's garden in the fruit season. I cannot say that 

 I should like to see a law for the protection of birds' 

 eggs generally, but I think that the sooner a close 

 time for plovers' eggs is established, the better it will 

 be. If none were allowed to be taken after the 

 15th of April, it would go a long way towards 

 remedying the diminution of these useful birds of 

 which the farmers so justly complain. — K. A. Deakin. 



Preserving Spiders. — Will any of your corre- 

 spondents kindly inform me, or would you please 

 refer me to any published works or papers on the 

 subjects of (1), the best way to preserve spiders for 

 exhibition or reference, and (2), to prepare for pre- 

 servation the larvae of lepidoptera ? — W. G. Clements. 



BOTANY. 



Death of Mr. John Ralfs. — We regret to 

 announce the death at Penzance on the 14th of July, 

 of Mr. John Ralfs, the eminent botanist, at the 

 advanced age of 83 years. Forty years ago he was 

 one of our leading algologists, and his researches 

 among the lower forms of vegetable life led to the 

 publication of his beautiful monograph of the British 

 Desmids, a work which, of its kind, has never been 

 surpassed. Ralfs also wrote the diatom portion of 

 Pritchard's Infusoria (last edition), and contributed 

 from time to time papers to several of the learned 

 societies. He was by profession a surgeon, but 

 early in his career was compelled to relinquish his 

 practice owing to ill-health. 



The Flora of Guernsey.— Notes upon the 

 Flora of Guernsey appeared in your May number, 

 contributed by Mr. E. D. Marquand, who enumerates, 

 first, the rare British plants which are indigenous to 

 Guernsey ; and then such plants as are peculiar to 

 the Channel Islands. I find no mention made in 

 either group of a very pretty yellow mimulus which 

 was growing abundantly in a moist locality in 1885. 

 I looked through the Botanical works in the public 



