i66 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



tain the microscopic structure of a consecutive series 

 of coal-beds. Certain coals were undoubtedly made 

 up of macro- and microspores. He remarked that 

 there are three principal kinds of layers in coal- 

 bright, dull, and intermediate. Professor T. Rupert 

 Jones thought that the spores would themselves 

 supply the resinous or hydrocarbonaceous matter. 

 Mr. Bauerman said that as plants are made up of 

 materials varying very considerably in their resistance 

 to decomposition, and as only the more stable ones 

 were likely to retain their structure, the fact of such 

 structures as those of spores being recognised in 

 microscopic sections seems to be no proof that whole 

 seams were made up of them. The author said there 

 was no reason why an Isoetoid plant should not have 

 Stigmaria roots, and Isoetes is the only existing plant 

 of the group in which themacrospores show triradiate 

 structure. His conclusions were entirely based on 

 the evidence of the microscope. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



White Starling. — On the afternoon of the 7th 

 of June, I was walking across some fields between 

 the villages of Kentisbeare and Uffcuhne in East 

 Devonshire, when I noticed a flock of starlings feed- 

 ing on the ground with a white bird amongst them. 

 "When, on my nearer approach, they flew away it be- 

 came evident that the white bird was a starling also. 

 The size, mode of flight, &c., differed in no way from 

 that of the rest of the flock. They settled (dark 

 birds and the white one) all together in an adjoining 

 field, and the white bird, in spite of its contrasted ap- 

 pearance, seemed to be on the best of terms with its 

 more sombre comrades. I have never seen a white 

 starling before, nor do I remember having heard of 

 one. — W. Doiviies, Kentisbeare, Collinnpton. 



Author's Name Wanted. — Will some reader 

 kindly inform me who the author of the following 

 curious lines was, and also date of same : 



The Foxe in crafty witte exceedith moste men,' 

 A Dogge in smelling hath no man his peere, 

 To foresight of weather if you looke then 

 Many beastes excell men, this is clere. 

 The witinesse of Elephantes doth letters attayne. 

 But what cunning duth there in the. Bee remayne? 

 The Emmet foreseeing the hardness of winter, 

 Prouideth vitailes in tyme of summer. 

 The Nightingale, the Linet, the thrushe, the larke. 

 In musicall harmony passe many a Gierke. 

 The Hedg hogge of Astronomy seemith to know 

 And stoppeth his caue wher the wind doth blow. 

 The Spider in weauing such arte doth showe 

 No man can him mende, nor follow I trowe 

 When a hou'^e will fall, the Myse right quick 

 Flee thence before, can man do the like 'C 



— F. A. A. Skttse, 143 Stepiey Green, Londo7i, E. 



The Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris).— Does this 

 bird ever breed in England or not ? None of the 

 standard works on Ornithology allow that it does. 

 The fourth edition of Yarrell, now so slowly emerging 

 from the publisher's hands, says that no recorded in- 

 stance " seems to be free from reasonable doubt." 

 Yet in most country districts it is asserted that nests 

 are to be found. I have lately had a nest and two 

 eggs brought, which I cannot attribute to any other 



bird. The eggs are much elongated, one is an inch 

 and three-eighths in length ; of a blue ground colour 

 and speckled and blotched with red brown, almost 

 wholly at the larger end. The nest was built in an 

 ash-tree in a wood, and is rather loose in structure ; 

 the outer part is of dried fir twigs, inside this a quan- 

 tity of coarse grass, and this in its turn is loosely lined 

 with a few feathers. I should be glad of the_ opinion 

 of any of your readers more skilled in ornithology 

 than I am myself. — H. Ullyett, Folkestone. 



Note on HoPLornoRA. — If Mr. J. K. Lord will 

 carefully examine his specimen of Hoplophora, he 

 will find that the supposed eyes are in reality the 

 stigmates or breathing openings of the mits. None 

 of the Oribatidpe, so far as I know, are possessed of 

 eyes. When I wrote in 1877, I had not met with 

 Nicolet's classical monograph. Since that time the 

 Oribatidce have been attentively studied in England, 

 and most of the already described species have been 

 found to be indigenous ; and some very curious new 

 ones have been discovered. Several papers have 

 been published in " The Journal of the Royal Micro- 

 scopical Society" (1879, 1880, and 1881), and my 

 friend Mr. A. D. Michael, who has succeeded in 

 tracing a great number of them from the egg to the 

 perfect state is, I believe, preparing a monograph on 

 these most interesting mites, for the Ray Society ; 

 which will be a most complete and valuable work. 

 The transformations which occur in the passage from 

 the egg to the imago, in some of them, are most 

 marvellous, and would be incredible if they had not 

 been repeatedly confirmed. — C. F. Gcoi-ge. 



Geology of Tenby.— M. L. C. would be glad 

 if any reader would answer the following questions 

 in April Science-Gossip. i. Whether Tenby is 

 a good centre for a collector of fossils to stay at^ 

 2. Whether there is an inexpensive book on the 

 geology of Tenby and its neighbourhood. 



Skeleton Leaves. — Can any of your readers tell 

 me of some simple method of obtaining skeleton 

 leaves? My interest in the venation has recently 

 been quickened by finding some good impressions of 

 fossil leaves in a compact quartzitic deposit of 

 Oligocene age a few miles off. The primary veins 

 are beautifully marked, but veiy rarely the secondary 

 ones. Any information will oblige — C. A, Barber, 

 Bontt, Germany. 



Do Swallows Reason ?— As I watched a pair of 

 swallows feeding their young last summer, I could 

 not help propounding to myself the above question, 

 for mere instinct seemed altogether incompetent to 

 account for the phenomenon observed. The nest was 

 fixed at the apex of an angle formed by the junction of 

 two beams in a barn, and in such a position that it 

 was necessary for extraordinary sanitary arrange- 

 ments to be made to preserve the cleanliness of the 

 nest and its surroundings. As one or other of the 

 young birds was almost constantly excreting, a com- 

 paratively large dung heap would quickly have 

 arisen around the nest, owing to its peculiar position, 

 had not the sagacity or thoughtfulness of the parent 

 birds come to the rescue ; and it was the method 

 adopted by them that specially attracted my attention. 

 I noticed that at about every third visit to the nest 

 each of the old birds carried away something which 

 I at first thought was a remnant of the food brought 

 to the young ones. On closer observation such 

 proved to be erroneous, and revealed the fact that it 

 was the faces of the young birds ; and thus, notwith- 

 standing their incessant excretions, the immediate 

 surroundings of the nest were kept perfectly clean. 



