44 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



I picked up a shell of this species at Shellness, but 

 they are not so common as might be expected. Of 

 estuarine species I have lately met with Melampiis 

 bidcntatus in the rejectamenta of the Stour, and for 

 Assiminca Grayana, I have a new locality to record, 

 namely Sandwich, where it occurs alive and in 

 abundance, on the banks of the dykes. These dykes 

 are slightly brackish, but they cannot be much so, as 

 I noticed a freshwater beetle in them. I shall be 

 happy to send specimens to anyone inteiested in this 

 little mollusc. — Sydney C. Cocker ell. Glen Druid, 

 Chislehurst. 



BOTANY. 



New Facts concerning the Flow of Proto- 

 plasm. — ^A thorough revolution will shortly take 

 place in the views hitherto held as to the manner in 

 which fluids passed from cell to cell in plants^ The 

 phenomenon has hitherto been ascribed to Osmosis, 

 but W. Gardiner in a paper just read before the 

 Royal Society shows that the protoplasm in many 

 cases actually passes from cell to cell through minute 

 openings which exist. for the purpose. Mr. Gardiner, 

 however, was antedated by Mr. Thomas Hick, B.Sc, 

 who read a paper at the Southport Meeting of the 

 British Association (an abstract of which appeared 

 in our December number) on " Protoplasmic Con- 

 tinuity in the Floridse." 



Lathr^a squamaria. — I read Mr. Haydon's 

 note on this parasitical species with much interest. 

 Several years since I studied its habit, &c., very 

 closely in Shropshire, and I came to the conclusion 

 that it differed considerably when found on the 

 poplar roots, to the one I collected from the hazel- 

 root. Smith's figure is evidently taken from an old 

 plant bearing seed, whilst Mr. Haydon's photograph 

 is a very young plant. — James F. Robinson. 



Watson's "Topographical Botany." — I lately 

 purchased the new edition, of H. C. Watson's " Topo- 

 graphical Botany," and am greatly astonished at 

 finding such cosmopolitan plants as the nettle, dan- 

 delion, buttercup, daisy, and primrose, recorded as 

 not indigenous to the county of Wigton, as given 

 under the authority of Mr. Balfour, I expressed my 

 surprise to a friend from over the border, who was 

 equally astonished with myself, and in order to test the 

 statement he wrote to one of his clan in Wigton, 

 who replies that such plants as buttercups and daisies 

 are exceedingly common in that county. If such is 

 the case, is it to be considered that these plants have 

 taken possession of that county since the publishing 

 of the first edition of the above-named valuable 

 work ? An authority such as that of Watson or 

 Balfour cannot for one moment be doubted. Would 

 botanists actually resident in the county of Wigton 

 . kindly communicate ? — T, IT. 



Christmas Flowers, 1SS3. — Between Christmas 

 Day and New Year's Day I have seen the following 

 wild-flowers : Ranunculus hederaceus, R. ficaria, 

 R. repots, Fumaria officinalis, Cardamine sylvatica, 

 Sinapis ai-vensis, Lepidium Smithii, Viola arvensis, 

 Polygala vulgaris (both blue and white), Stellai-ia 

 media, Cerastium vulgatuvi, Spergula arvensis, 

 Hypericum humifitsum. Geranium fnolle, . Ulex Euro- 

 piVUSy U. Gallii, Rubus discolor, Potentilla fragari- 

 asti-um, Daucus carota, Sherardia arvensis. Valerian- 

 ella olitoria, Knaittia arvensis, Petasiies frag7-ans, 

 Bellis perennis. Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, C. 

 segctum, Senecio vulgaris, S. jacobcca, Lapsana covi- 

 munis, Hypochccris radicata, Leoniodon taraxacum, 

 Sonchus oleraceus, Crepis vire?is, yasione montana. 

 Erica cinerea, Scrophularia nodosa. Primula vulgaris, 

 Veronica agrestis, V. polita, V. serpyllifolia, V. 

 arvensis, Galeopsis tetrahit, St achy s att'ensis, Teu- 

 crium sccrodonium. Euphorbia peplus. If the Christ- 

 mas of 1 88 1 deserved to be called mild, when I sent 

 you from this district a list of twenty-two wild- 

 flowers found in the week succeeding Christmas Day, 

 what is to be said of the corresponding list this 

 winter, including forty-five species ? I doubt, how- 

 ever, whether many parts of the United Kingdom 

 can boast as many flowers in mid-winter as we have 

 now in Wexford. In the garden and shrubberies 

 during the same period were violets, primroses, 

 pansies, wall-flowers, stocks, blue gentians, yellow 

 calceolarias, a fuchsia, a veronica, an early rhodo- 

 dendron, snap-dragons, mignonette, monthly roses, 

 ^Michaelmas daisies, common double daisies, Japa- 

 nese primroses, hydrangeas, laurustinus, arbutus, 

 and lemon-scented thyme. Both song-thrush and 

 missel-thrush were in full chorus through the week. 

 Yesterday (January 2nd), I saw in flower, Ranun- 

 cuius acris, R. Jlammula, and Potentilla tormentilla, 

 and to-day, Veronica Chamcedrys and Senecio aqua- 

 ticus. Most of these had evidently been some days 

 in flower ; but of all my instances of the " niildness 

 of the season," the flowering of Veronica Chamccdrys 

 seems to me the most astonishing. My list now 

 amounts to fifty species, found within a few 

 days on either side of New Year's Day. As a 

 correspondent of the " Standard " wrote a while 

 ago from Naples stating that the planet Venus, 

 during one of the recent sunsets shone like an 

 emerald in the rosy sky. I may say that the same 

 phenomenon was witnessed here, by me and at least 

 four others, on the evening of December 30th, 1SS3. 

 — C. B. Moffat, Ballyhyland, Enniscorthy. 



Late Occurrence of the House-Martin. — 

 A solitary specimen of the house-martin (Hirunda 

 urbica) was seen flying at i p.m. (November 30tli) 

 on Earlham Road, Norwich. — E. IV. Gunn, jun., 

 St. Giles Street, Norwich, 



