70 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



passed through, and the new red sandstone and 

 marl reached. No strata of the Lower Oolite were 

 known before to exist in the London ■ Basin, nor 

 had the Trias been previously found, although some 

 geologists believe the beds reached at Kentish Town 

 and Crossness belonged to the latter formation. 

 Fragments of anthracite coal, and coal-measure 

 sandstone have been detected in several deposits, 

 showing that portions of the old Palaeozoic ridge 

 consisted of carboniferous strata. Thus, as Professor 

 Judd remarks, "the predictions of geologists have 

 been verified, and coal has been found under London, 

 though as yet unfortunately not in sitiiP The scent, 

 however, is gradually getting stronger. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



House-Martin. — Observers of the habits of birds 

 may be interested in the following fact which has 

 come under my notice this autumn. Numbers of 

 house-martins had built under the eaves of our house, 

 and after their flight early in October, we found that 

 they had left behind many young birds to die of cold 

 and hunger. These young ones were fully fledged, 

 but apparently not strong enough for a long flight. 

 They came into the house seeking warmth and shelter 

 — one morning there were as many as ten in one room 

 — and they were so torpid that they made no resist- 

 ance when we took them in our hands. Many were 

 found dead in the garden ; none lived more than 

 three or four days after their desertion. The weather 

 when the parent birds left was cold and stormy, in 

 fact the gales had set in. Our gardener is of opinion 

 that had the warm weather lasted a few days longer, 

 these young birds would have been strong enough for 

 flight. — C. E. Tritton, Sevenoaks, Kent. 



Hedgehogs. —In reply to R. T. V. S. W., the 

 following may be of some use. Hedgehogs, like many 

 other Insectivora, are by no means limited to insect 

 food, but prey on larger animals, as reptiles, small 

 quadrupeds, and birds ; they are fond of eggs and of 

 milk, and in confinement will readily eat soaked 

 bread, cooked vegetables, or porridge. It readily 

 kills snakes, and even vipers, which it eats, begin- 

 ning always at the tail. It is said to be capable 

 of resisting in an extraordinary degree, not only the 

 venom of serpents, but other kinds of poison, how- 

 ever administered. In winter the hedgehog becomes 

 torpid, retiring to some hole at the base of a tree, 

 beneath roots, or in some such situation. It is 

 satisfied with a small quantity of food, and provides 

 no winter stores ; nor does any other British animal 

 hybernatc so completely. It spends the greater part 

 of the day in sleep, and forages for worms, insects, 

 and other petty spoil, principally in the night. It 

 prefers small thickets, hedges, and bushy ditches, for 

 its retreat, where it makes a hole about six or eight 

 inches deep, and lines it with moss, grass, or leaves. 

 — Lennox Moore. 



Hedgehogs. — Hedgehogs eat snails, as I know 

 from watching them. Once, indeed, my attention 

 was directed to a hedgehog half-concealed among 

 brambles, by the noise it. made crunching a great 

 snail shell. But I think they are still more fond of 

 beetles. As a rule, they surely must sleep in the day ; 



or else what can become of all the hedgepigs that go 

 roaming through the woods in j\Iay and June as soon 

 as it begins to darken? I have often stood and 

 watched them about that time when the grass on 

 every side of me was rustling, and the air was filled 

 with snorts of all descriptions, merely from the 

 vigour of these little animals hunting after their prey. 

 Oftener than I can tell they have come poking their 

 snouts even under the instep of my boot, in expecta- 

 tion, I suppose, of finding something valuable in the 

 crevice ; and I am sure they would not be in the least 

 averse to making similar scientific explorations into 

 rabbit-burrows, or, for that matter, badger-holes. 

 But tackling the rabbits is a different business. I 

 cannot answer R. T. V. S. W.'s other questions. 

 Among themselves hedgepigs fight desperately, and 

 when two get into a battle they grow so excited that 

 they puff like steam-engines. They can also screech 

 in the most piercing manner, and when one begins 

 it has no objection to go on for hours, with short 

 rests.— C B. Moffat. 



Preserving Cartilage.— Can you, or any of 

 your readers, inform me of a way of preserving car- 

 tilage in its natural shape, without permanent im- 

 mersion in fluid ? — Frederick Rutt. 



Plant Names. — Is it the latest botanical fashion, 

 or a printer's error, to call Barbarea vulgaris water- 

 cress, and Tanacetnm vnlgare, aromatic pansy ? What 

 are we to understand from the following passage : — 

 "Along the road to this house we found several 

 mints : Ncpcla cataria, Stacltys sylvatica, Torilis 

 anthriscits and others ; " but that the writer classes 

 Torilis a?ithriscus (order Umbelliferre) among the 

 mints? See SciENCE-Gossir, p. 267, December 

 number. — G. W. Biilman. 



The Sundews. — I think your correspondent 

 Mr. J. P. Smythe is rather too sanguine about 

 growing drosera in confinement. His experience 

 comprises, according to his note, about six'weeks' time. 

 No doubt he will be able to keep it alive, and 

 growing, to some extent, for considerably longer than 

 this, but I doubt very much whether next year he 

 will be able to say the same. I have grown it here 

 in a cold frame for three years, but the second year's 

 flowers were not so large as the first, neither were 

 there so many leaves. The brilliant red colour of 

 the glands also deteriorated very much. The third 

 year it had dwindled down to almost nothing, it did 

 not flower at all, and the leaves were exceedingly 

 small, so I am afraid I have seen the last of it. — 

 A. N'. Ur?nsto>!, Manchester. 



Cucumber TREES. — In " Harper's Magazine" for 

 last August, there is an article entitled " The Heart of 

 the Alleghanies," in which mention is made of forests 

 of hemlock, oak, chestnut, tulip-trees, cucumber- 

 trees, wild-cherry, and forked pine. Can any of your 

 readers, American or otherwise, give descriptive par- 

 ticulars of the cucumber-trees referred to ? I have 

 seen it stated that a leather strap buckled about the 

 height of a man around a young tree in a few years 

 will be away beyond your reach, but if nailed at , the 

 same distance will never get any higher, as only the 

 outer shell or bark runs up. Is there any truth in 

 this?— y. /^. C, Leeds. 



The Science of our Guide-Books. — Mr. G. H. 

 Bryan at the end of his article " September at the 

 English Lakes," in the September number of 

 .SciENCE-Gossrr gave a fine specimen of scientific 

 spelling from an old Murray's " Guide-book." A few 



