HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



65 



and April." The fixed belief among a large number 

 of Norfolk Broadsnien is, that eels breed upon the 

 land, and subsequently take to the water. Others, 

 more intelligent, believe that the young ones are 

 produced in the rivers during the spring months. — 

 y. Ford, Wolverhampton. 



Local Names.— (Kent), Song Thrush {Tardus 

 miisiciis), " Gray-bird " ; Long-tailed tit {Pants 

 caudatus), "Bottle-tit"; White-throat (^'/zvrt cinercd), 

 "Jolly White-throat"; Hedge Sparrow {Accentor 

 modnlaris), "Hedge-poker"; Spotted Flycatcher 

 {Miiscicapa grisola), " Post-bird " ; Pied Wagtail 

 {Motacilla YarrcUi), "Peggy-dishwasher"; Green 

 Woodpecker {Picus viridis), "Galley-bird"; Wry- 

 neck {Yunx forqiiilla), "Snake-bird"; Swift (Q'/- 

 seliis apis), " Screech-owl " ; " Squeaker " ; Jay 

 {Garruhis glandarius), "Joy " ; Red-throated Diver 

 {Colymbiis septentrionalis). Yarrell says this last bird is 

 called " Sprat-loon " about the estuary of the Thames 

 on the Kentish and Essex sides, in consequence of 

 these birds following the numerous shoals of sprats. — 

 Henry Lamb, Alaidstonc. 



Mounting Shells.— A correspondent asks for 

 information about mounting shells, and I offer him 

 the following advice : — Do not employ card, which 

 •warps, but use wooden tablets. Three inches by 

 two and a half is a convenient size for a large number 

 of shells, if it is not wished to exhibit more than two 

 specimens. Let the wood be well seasoned, and 

 cover it with paper. Dull greyish-blue is a nice 

 colour. Use paste or gum for applying the paper, 

 and let the tablets dry under pressure, or blisters will 

 arise. A collection looks pretty if the specimens are 

 gummed upon plate glass. Both sides of the 

 specimens can then be seen. The glass should be 

 laid on coloured paper. Large shells are best not 

 mounted, but laid on cottonwool in cardboard trays ; 

 and all minute and very delicate species should be 

 exhibited in glass-topped boxes. The former should 

 be first mounted on slips of cardboard, and then 

 raised on cotton wool. — W. C. Hey, Curator of 

 Conchology, York Aluseuni. 



Pests of the Bee-hive.— I may inform Mr. J. 

 A. Smith, my experience as a bee-keeper, extending 

 over nearly twenty years, is somewhat similar to his 

 own. I once found the nest of a mouse, containing 

 four blind young mice, in the corner of the straw 

 skep ; and when I examine the straw hives of my 

 farm friends, early in the winter, I seldom fail in 

 finding two or more queen wasps, near the crown of 

 the hive, under the cover, amongst the straw. The 

 fact of finding a humble-bee's nest in contact with 

 the hive is, however, a new experience, though I 

 have ejected a large colony of wasps from beneath 

 the bee-bench. I felt grateful in reading your corre- 

 spondent's notes, for anything having reference to 

 bee-keeping has an especial interest to the author of 

 — " British Bee-Farming^^ 



" Symiuosis." — This is a term recently coined to- 

 express the mutual relation between certain vegetables 

 and animals. The green colour of the sea anemone 

 {Anthca viridis) is largely, if not wholly, due to the 

 presence of green unicellular algrc enclosed in the 

 cellular structure of the outer tissues. A large 

 number of animals — Radiolarians, sea anemones,, 

 corals, jelly-fish, &c., have been found to have green 

 or yellow alg?e thus imprisoned in their tissues. Mr. 

 P. Geddes has shown that all these algse have a dis- 

 tinct life and death and method of reproduction of 

 their own ; that they secrete starch, and give out 

 oxygen, at the same time removing the carbonic acid 

 of the animals. By giving out oxygen, they are of 

 much service to the animals they affect. 



BOTANY. 



The Glastonbury Thorn is a variety of the 

 Cratiegiis oxyacantha, or white thorn. This variety is 

 remarkable, as alleged, for flowering on Christmas 

 Day, and as some say — in the county of Somerset — 

 old Christmas Day. There are a number of curious 

 legends connected with the appearance of this thorn, 

 the principal of which is that it was derived from the 

 walking-stick of Joseph of Arimathea, who is said to- 

 have planted his staff on the site of the old abbey at 

 Glastonbury. Now as I have a tree said to have been 

 derived from this thorn, it may be a matter of interest 

 to note that in a period of eighteen years this thorn 

 has flowered three times in winter, and that this year 

 I had the pleasure of examining some fine flowering^ 

 specimens of the plant on Christmas Day, and again 

 on old Christmas Day were gathered some fresh 

 flowers, while that of the earlier date was well set in. 

 fruit. The truth is, that this tree in my shrubbery 

 usually flowers and fruits twice in each year, but it is 

 very irregular as to date. Indeed, it may be concluded 

 that the white thorn is subject to considerable varia- 

 tions. I have gathered samples from a hedge at 

 Alfrick in full leaf on Christmas Day, and I have 

 seen that in rows of thorns some one or two will be- 

 in early flower when the rest have remained weeks 

 behind. — J anus Buckinan, Bradford Abbas. 



Preserving Flowers. — For preserving the colours- 

 of parts of flowers which it is desired to mount for the 

 microscope, I find a saturated solution of the ordinary 

 potash alum (crystallized, i.e., AL 3SO4, Kj SO^, 

 24 H„0) most excellent. I allow whatever I require 

 to manipulate with to remain in the liquid for ten 

 minutes or so, and then dry it between bibulous- 

 paper, place it in turpentine to render it transparent, 

 and mount with balsam. I have a portion of the 

 vexillum of Uiex Enropaus mounted without the 

 slightest appearance of that reddishness which ac- 

 companies specimens mounted in the ordinary way ;. 

 and also I have the stigma of Crocus sativus as full of 



