i8 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



piece of cork, for the positive lobes of the mould were 

 positive to the corresponding ones of other pieces, 

 but negative to the parts not corresponding, in others, 

 to that property. Perhaps some reader could explain 

 this phenomenon. May be it pertains to the dominion 

 of Hydrostatics, or embodies some principle foreign to 

 it. — George Stacker. 



Notes on the Arbutus. — All who have visited 

 the lovely Lakes of Killarney will not fail to have 

 noticed this beautiful shrub, beautiful at all times 

 with its dark glossy green leaves, forming a charming 

 contrast with the rock on which it loves to dwell, 

 but especially so at this season of the year, when 

 it is all aglow with blushing and ripe fruit peep- 

 ing out here and there amid the foliage. As to 

 the quality of the fruit it is altogether a libel to 

 call it " Unedo " " one I eat," as if no " one would 

 choose to try a second." Those who have eaten the 

 fruit of the strawberry-tree, ripened under the sunny 

 skies of southern France, will I think agree with 

 me that it is excellent eating, indeed it is not 

 uncommon to have it for dessert at the tables d'hote 

 of some of the hotels in the Riviera : we propose to 

 dub it " Multedo." The other day I came across an 

 old work which must be at least 150 years old, 

 from which I propose to cull a few notes that may 

 prove interesting. It seems that the arbutus does 

 not grow wild in any other part of Europe nearer to 

 Killarney than the Alps. M. Tournefort observes in 

 his travels that it also grows wild in the island of 

 Candia. The arbutus, saith Sir Thomas Molyneux, 

 is not to be found anywhere of spontaneous growth 

 nearer to Ireland than the most southern parts of 

 France, Italy and .Sicily, and there too it is never 

 known but as a frutex or shrub, whereas in the i-ocky 

 parts of the county of Kerry, where the people of the 

 country call it the cane apple, it flourishes naturally to 

 that degree, as to become a large tall tree. It also does 

 so in Mount Athos and Macedonia, and Pliny quotes 

 it as a thing extraordinary that the arbutus grows to 

 a high tree in Arabia. Doctor Molyneux adds that the 

 trunks of the trees in Ireland have been frequently 

 4 J feet in circumference or 18 inches in diameter, 

 and that the trees grow to about 9 or 10 yards in 

 height and iu such plenty that many of them have 

 been cut down to melt and refine the ore of the silver 

 and lead mines discovered near Ross Castle. The 

 writer continues : " The arbutus which clothes these 

 islands gives even haggard winter the beautiful ap- 

 pearance of spring, for in that melancholy season this 

 tree puts on its highest bloom, which rarely growing 

 in other places, is the more likely to be admired by 

 strangers in this. The preparation of charcoal for the 

 iron works hath been the occasion of a great destruc- 

 tion of this beautiful tree in other parts of the country, 

 and it is said that even here, it suffered much by an 

 accidental fire that laid waste a great part of a forest. 

 Its growth upon rocks of marble where no earth 



appears and so high above the surface of the water,, 

 renders it a matter of both surprise and pleasure. 

 This tree is extremely agreeable in every different 

 circumstance of vegetation, for it hath at one and the 

 same time ripe and green fruit upon its branches, 

 which as they approach to ripeness, from green 

 become yellow, and at length terminate in a fine 

 scarlet colour resembling in form a field strawberry, 

 tliough in size that of the best garden kind. The 

 blossoms grow in clusters of small white bells, not 

 unlike those of the lily of the valley, and in such 

 great abundance, as in that respect alone to be equal 

 in beauty to the laurustinus and in other respects much 

 superior to it ; for the agreeable verdure of the leaves,, 

 not much unlike the bay, the scarlet hue of the tender 

 part of the stalk, and all the different stages of vegeta- 

 tion at one and the same time, from the knitting fruit to 

 perfect ripeness, cannot but be exceedingly agreeable 

 to the common observer. Upwards of forty islands 

 in the lakes are covered with an intermixture of these 

 trees and other shrubs, besides at least a fourth part 

 of the ascent of the mountains, the verges of whose 

 bases, like that of Mangerton and others, are washed 

 by the waters of the Lakes." Many interesting 

 inquiries are suggested by this tree. Dr. Cooke 

 writes to me to say that the plants of the arbutus in 

 Kew Gardens have no fruit. Why should it ripen at 

 Killarney so readily and not at Kew, and again why 

 is it found so common in Kerry and nowhere else in 

 the British islands ? Let me add one word of caution 

 to those of my readers who may be intending to visit 

 Killarney next year, and who may wish to buy any of 

 the ornaments said to be made from the wood of the 

 arbutus. This wood is very rarely indeed used for 

 that purpose, as it is very difficult to work on account 

 of its extrenie hardness. — Jolin Rasor. 



GEOLOGY. 



The Land Plants from the Silurian Slate- 

 quarry, NEAR Corwen. — A paper on this important 

 question has recently been read before the Geological 

 Society by Dr. Henry Hicks. The author stated that 

 since the date of his former paper (Quart. Journ. Geol. 

 Soc, August 1 881) he had ascertained that plant- 

 remains occurred in the slaty beds down to the base 

 of the quarry, though much obscured by cleavage. 

 The larger specimens are in the form of anthracite. 

 Mr. Carruthers states that there is sufficient evidence 

 to show that they are the remains of vascular plants, 

 with some resemblance to the Lycopodiacese. Some 

 of the fragments are from 4 to 5 inches wide, and the 

 author had traced trunks some feet in length. He 

 thought they had drifted to the position where they 

 were now found. Leaf-markings generally are not 

 preserved ; but from the wrinklings still remaining 

 on some specimens, he thought it probable they had 



