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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Yellow (or Ray's Wagtail). — S. M. T. in 

 Science-Gossip for January does not give the date 

 when he observed Ray's wagtails on his lawn. If 

 by "last month" he means November, it is possible 

 they may have been grey wagtails (Motacilla flavd) 

 and not the yellow species {M. rail). The latter is a 

 migratory bird, and generally leaves us in autumn, 

 whilst the former remains with us all the winter. I 

 generally see a pair of grey wagtails at Christmas in 

 Somersetshire (about thirty miles from Weymouth), 

 beside the little stream running through my brother's 

 farmyard. They are usually to be seen in the yard, 

 or at the drinking place for cattle in the adjoining 

 field. In the winter plumage the breast and under- 

 pays are a beautiful lemon-yellow merging into white 

 at the throat. In the summer plumage the male has 

 a conspicuous black throat, which it entirely loses in 

 winter. On the other hand, I must say that the 

 yellow wagtail is also a common bird in the same 

 district. This last summer one of my friends saved 

 me two nests which his men cut out of a vetch field, 

 and in the autumn they are exceedingly numerous 

 and tame, running about quite unconcernedly among 

 the sheep whilst the shepherd is pitching out the fold. 

 The yellow wagtail too has been observed by Dixon 

 to remain with us occasionally all through the winter, 

 and the fact of its being seen on a lawn is more in 

 accordance with its habits than with those of the 

 grey wagtail. There is a striking difference in the 

 species in the length of tail, that of the latter being 

 from three-quarters of an inch to an inch longer than 

 the former. As the lawn would probably not be 

 "newly mown " after the month of October, I think 

 it most likely that the ten birds observed by S. M. T. 

 were a party consisting of two broods from the same 

 parents making their way down to the sea preparatory 

 to migration. — Robert H. Read. 



BOTANY. 



Carex FRIGIDA, All. — Dr. Macfarlane has kindly 

 sent me for examination, the original specimens 

 gathered by Mr. Sadler in Glen Callater, and along 

 with them a sheet from Wight's collection, with two 

 specimens of undoubted C. frigida on it — from 

 " Clova Mountains ex herb. W. H. Campbell " — 

 doubtfully named C. binervis, Sm., but either Dr. 

 Greville or Professor Graham has written "I doubt 

 this." Both Mr. C. B. Clarke and Mr. N. E. 

 Browne consider these specimens C. frigida of 

 Allioni.— A. Bennett. 



A Green Rose. — Last summer I came across a 

 curious rose, a brief description of which may interest 

 some of the many readers of your magazine. My 

 attention was drawn to this flower, owing to its petals, 

 as it then appeared, being unusually green, but it 

 soon turned out that these seemingly green petals 



were the sepals of another and internal flower, which 

 stood after its pedicel had fully developed, about one 

 inch and a half above the lower flower. This lower 

 flower seemed to be quite sterile, for its stamens bore 

 no anthers, and they were unusually long and slender, 

 and they very soon withered away, but the higher 

 flower proved to be a good and healthy one, and 

 seems to have made good the failures of its lower 

 mate. — G. Rees. 



GEOLOGY, &c. 



A Relic of the Ages. — Discovery of Fossils. 

 — An extraordinary discovery of fossils has just been 

 made at Ilford. Some workmen who were at work 

 extracting clay in the Cauliflower Brickfields came 

 upon the bones of some large animal. When found, 

 the bones of the head were almost perfect, and 

 measured about seven feet round. The fossils were 

 firmly imbedded in the clay, resting on a bed of 

 sand, and from their appearance would lead one to 

 suppose that the animal — presumably an elephant — 

 had fallen head foremost to the earth and never again 

 moved. The property has been used as a brickfield 

 for about seven years, it having during that time been 

 excavated to a great extent. Bones of animals have fre- 

 quently been found, but a find of such an enormous 

 relic of bygone ages is an unprecedented event. 



A New British Fossil Carnivore. — A curious 

 little object, a small fragment of jaw with three molar 

 teeth, was the subject of much interest at the last 

 meeting of the Geological Society. It was found in 

 the Red Crag of Suffolk, and Professor Boyd Dawkins 

 has christened it Ailurus Anglicus. The singular 

 thing is that the family of raccoons is Indian, and 

 previously the remains of a fossil Asiatic gazelle had 

 been found in the same deposit, showing a former 

 terrestrial connection with India. Did the raccoons 

 get to India from England, or did they come from the 

 former country to these latitudes ? 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Yews. — Of ancient yews many authentic cases 

 can be named. At Ankerwyke House, near Staines, 

 there is, or was, a yew older than the Magna Carta 

 itself, i.e. over 670 years old. This tree is stated to 

 measure at three fiet from the ground 9 ft. 3 in. in 

 diameter, and its branches overshadow a circle of 

 207 ft. in circumference. At Fountains Abbey, in 

 Yorkshire, there are some yews probably more than 

 1200 years old, and to others an age from 2500 to 3000 

 years has been assigned. The baobab tree of Africa 

 is estimated by Adanson at 5000 years, and the 

 deciduous cypresses of Chapultepec, in Mexico, are 

 considered to be even older. But it must be borne in 

 mind that, although in temperate climates trees shed 

 their leaves and renew them once a year, and 

 therefore one layer only is formed, whereas in 



