HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



"5 



species, many of which I captured in order to remove 

 all doubt about their identity. Boinbiis virginalis and 

 Iticoriim, Anthopltora accrvoriini, and of course Apis 

 mellifica were out in abundance during the last week in 

 February. Andrena G-wynana appeared on March 3rd, 

 A. thoracica on the 13th, and A. nigro-iciieaz.ndiparvHla 

 on the 17th. Bombits miiscorum andi lapidariiis caxne 

 out on the i6th. Some of the small Halicti were 

 remarkably early. I took Ilalictns Icucozonius on 

 March 13th, H. arattis on the following day; H. 

 nitiJiiisciilns and morio on the i6th, H. cyli?!di-icHs on 

 the 17th, and ff. villosuliis on the i8th; on which 

 date I had brought to me tlie fine var. tisiphonc of 

 Mclecla armata. During the entire month I saw but 

 two wasps ( Vcspa vulgaris) and not a single individual 

 of the fossorial Hymenoptera. — E. D. Marqziand, 

 Penzance. 



Markings on Euglena. — Allow me to ask in 

 Science-Gossip if it is usual to find Euglena deses 

 marked all over with dots like a diatom. Some 

 I have recently had in considerable numbers, when 

 examined with a one-sixteenth were marked just like 

 P. augulatiim, excepting that the dots were much 

 smaller and closer, but they exhibited the same 

 hyaline hue that the diatom elevations show with 

 sufficient power. — E. Holmes. 



Arcella. — I wish to ask the same question about 

 the round brown shell of Arcella. This I see covered 

 with black dots all over. I scarcely think these 

 markings can have escaped notice, but I am not able 

 to find any reference to them in Hogg or Gosse or a 

 number of other books. The drawings of Euglena 

 published by Mr. Bolton are of another species ; 

 they do not indicate anything of this kind of marking, 

 but of course they may not be present in viridis, 

 which species I have not at present to examine. I 

 think the filament at the head of Euglena is certainly 

 not an instrument of progression. Euglena deses is a 

 very sluggish creature, yet its flagellum is in constant 

 motion, curling in all directions and apparently feeling 

 about for something. I have noticed the same thing 

 with Euglena triquetra, but on this species I fail to 

 see any diatom-like marks. — Edwin Holmes. 



Squirrels in Ireland. — Mr. Dewar (vide p. 62) 

 may like to know that the squirrel is found in Ireland. 

 They are plentiful in certain woods between Dundalk 

 and Newry, in the counties Louth and Armagh, where 

 I have frequently seen them. While I lived at 

 Bessbrode I often saw young squirrels that had been 

 caught by the boys in Killeary wood, — now alas ! cut 

 down. And last year I was told and saw that 

 squirrels abounded in co. Tyrone near Cookstown. 

 In Thompson's " Natural History of Ireland," vol. 

 v. p. 14, is a quotatien from Maria Edgeworth 

 regarding squirrels in this county : she wrote, " They 

 not only are to be found, but abound in many places 

 in Ireland, too numerous here to mention." — //. W. 

 Lett, ALA., Ardmore Glebe, Liirgan. 



BOTANY. 



Mushrooms. — I have just picked (March 13) a 

 nice little dish of mushrooms (Agariciis campestris) 

 from an old worn-out hotbed. This bed supplied us 

 with a quantity during last summer and autumn, and 

 the few foggy nights in this " County of the Mist " has 

 now brought them forward at a very unusual season, 

 ^Ve would advise any friends making hotbeds in the 

 garden to purchase a few bricks of mushroom spawn 

 from the seedsman ; these, broken into little bits and 

 inserted around the edges of the manure, will be 

 almost certain to yield a supply of fungi in the 

 summer and autumn. — James Buckman, Bradford 

 Abbas. 



" Flowers : their Origin, Shapes, Perfumes, 

 and Colours." By J .E. Taylor ; London, D. Bogue. 

 We beg to announce the third edition of this book as 

 now ready in time for the opening summer, and to 

 express our gratitude that the reading public have 

 taken the work under their patronage. 



An Ancient Herbarium. — Garlands of dried 

 flowers have been found on the breasts of mummies at 

 Deir el Bahari, which must be three thousand five 

 hundred years old. The flowers were so well pre- 

 served that the colours of the petals and the green of 

 the leaves were almost perfect, and every species 

 could be easily identified. Chief among them were 

 the Egyptian willow, acacias, the blue water-lily of 

 the Nile, larkspurs, water-melons, palm-leaves, &c. 

 Dr. Schweinfurth preserved the leaves and flowers by 

 moistening them in alcohol, and he afterwards dried 

 them in his herbarium. Two of the garlands were 

 found on the breast of King Aames I. 



Conferva. — In Mackay's "Flora Hibernica," 

 part ii., p. 224, the name Conferva is derived " from 

 conferruminare, to consolidate ; " while Webster's 

 Dictionary says it is " from confervere, to boil, heal, 

 or grow together, so called from its healing power." 

 I have always understood the latter ,to be the correct 

 definition, excepting its supposed healing qualities. 

 Does any authority mention them ? The appearance 

 of a " green mantled pool " in summer, when the gas 

 is being evolved, is not a bad likeness to something 

 boiling.—//, IV. Lett, M.A., Ardmore Glebe, Lnrgan. 



The Bohemian Waxwing.— A splendid specimen 

 oiA7?ipelis garrHlah.a.siuz\. been placed in my hands 

 for preservation. The bird was killed, with the aid 

 of a catapult, by a little boy, at Rednall near Broms- 

 grove Lickey, on January 30 ; together with its mate 

 it had made its appearance, a few days previously, 

 in a hawthorn tree (upon the berries of which they 

 fed) in front of the house, and close to the main road. 

 Frederick Coburn, Exeter-row, Birmingham. 



