HARDWJCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



have purposely introduced the Box and the com- 

 mon Elm. 



I see nothing to invalidate the claim of the 

 Astrantia to be a true native of Britain in the wood 

 on the craggy Weo Edge. I have often gathered 

 the Astrantia major in Switzerland ; and it is just 

 in such woody places, at no very great height, that 

 it grows. But then it may be said, that it is 

 curious the Astrantia should only be found in 

 Britain upon a single wooded hill in Shropshire. 

 It is so, and this isolation of rare plants in favoured 

 localities is a problem not easy to be accounted for, 

 though it is doubtless a natural phenomenon. 

 Without seeking for examples in foreign countries, 

 though easily adduced, we have in this country 

 various plants that are confined to a very narrow 

 space, and yet their true nativity is admitted with- 

 out scruple. There is Poteiitilla rupestris, only 

 found on Craig Breidden, Montgomeryshire ; 

 Cotoneaster vulgaris, on the Great Orme's Head ; 

 Arahis strida, on St.Yincent's and Cheddar rocks ; 

 Braha uizoides, on the Worm's Head and walls of 

 Pennard Castle, Glamorganshire ; Diantlms caslus, 

 on Cheddar Cliffs; Ceplialanthera rubra, on Hamp- 

 ton Common, Gloucestershire ; Isolepis kolo- 

 schosHKS, on Brauuton Burrows, Devonshire ; and 

 others that might be mentioned. These plants are 

 all very restricted in their range in this island ; and 

 I can see no reason or necessity for calling in a 

 Honiau mason to plant the Astrantia upon a Shrop- 

 shire hill. It is admitted by Mr. La Touche himself 

 that the location of the Astrantia on the Weo 

 Edge "points to the time of its introduction as 

 very remote ; " that is, nobody knows how long the 

 Astrantia has been fixed in its present position. I 

 prefer going back to a time anterior to that of " the 

 Boman mason," and with confidence ascribe the 

 location of the Astrantia major on the Weo Edge 

 to natural causes. 



Mr. La Touche brings in the evidence of Mr. 

 Bentham as to the Astrantia being an inmate of old 

 cottage gardens ; but it is not so in this part of the 

 country, and I never heard of an instance of its 

 straying from them. 



I ought to say that the locality tliat appears in 

 Babington's, Hooker's, and Bentham's Floras, of 

 " between Whitbourne and Malvern," for the 

 Astrantia, is an error, the origin of which I have in 

 vain tried to trace. Mr. Babington did not him- 

 self, as he wrote to me, know the spot, and no 

 Worcestershire or Herefordsliire local botanist 

 has confirmed it. Only the Shropshire locality is 

 correct. Edwin Lees, E.L.S. 



Polishing Stones, &c. — Will any of your 

 readers be so obliging as to give me some informa- 

 tion as to the polishing of stones, ammonites, &c. ? 

 —S. W. 



boseleae-cuttee bee. 



{MegacMle cenftincularis.) 



DURING the summer we noticed bees continu. 

 ally under our outside window-blinds, with 

 pieces of leaves in their mouths. They would always 

 ascend the line which drew up the shades, and then 

 pass through the hole where the pulleys were placed. 

 Having disappeared, they would remain for some 

 moments out of sight, descending to the garden iu 

 the same manner. If sometimes a bee considered it 

 knew its way well enough without the cord, and 

 ventured to find the entrance, it soon came down 

 from the top of the window and began the good 

 orthodox ascent up the line and through the pulley- 

 holes. The wood-work of the blinds was too closely 

 fitted for us ever to get a peep at what was going on. 

 But to-day, the summer being over, we had our 

 shades down, and in the groove along where the 

 cords ran at the top part of the window we saw the 

 Boseleaf-eutter Bees' summer occupation. Just 

 fitting and rolled up like cigars, we found severa 

 inches of these ingenious nests, about half an inch 

 square. I enclose you a specimen. I have with a 

 penknife gently opened one, and soaked another in 

 water. Then I found, as Reaumur describes, that 

 the bees had taken advantage of the natural 

 curling of the leaf on drying, and had not needed 

 any gluten to fix the cut pieces. Each separate 

 nest had one rounded end, which fitted into the 

 convexity of the other ; so that on first seeing the 

 strange green roll I thought each join denoted a 

 day's work. Having broken off one compartmentj 

 I proceeded to lift off the outer coverings, — there 

 were nineteen pieces ; then I lifted off the rounded 

 end which closed up the mouth, — there were twenty 

 of these exact, neat rounds, beautifully moulded 

 into shape. Within this warm nest was a quantity 

 of soft pollen and honey ; then a hard case, in one 

 instance, with burnished inner walls, in which lay a 

 white soft maggot or grub ; in another this hard cell 

 was wanting. There were in allltwenty-four nests, 

 the leaves still retaining their green. I have read that 

 this bee generally digs in the ground to build its 

 nest; here, just above the rose-bed over the window, 

 we found our summer lost leaves. Have your 

 readers met witli buildings in similar localities ? 

 Can you also tell me if one bee would make more 

 than one nest ; and if the worker is the parent 

 of this concealed white plump grub ? 

 Chatham. A. Young. 



Galls used as Eood. — Tournefort states that at 

 Scio the galls of Salvia pomifera, L., are collected 

 for the purpose of making a kind of sweetmeat of 

 them. According to Lesson, the same might be 

 done with those of the Ground Ivy (Glechoma hede- 

 racea, L.). — Moquin-Tandon, " Medical Zoology." 



