18 



HARDWICKE'S S C IE N C E-GO SSI P. 



num had nearly choked the grass. Here in a tri- 

 angular space, not four yards long, Epipadis palus- 

 tris was growing in some plenty, accompanied by 

 Gymnadenia conopsea ; and although the latter 

 plant was to be found in many parts of the 

 meadows, not a single plant of the Epipadis oc- 

 curred anywhere else. I prefer not to give the 

 exact locality. Here, in Norfolk, where it abounds 

 in the fens, such reticence would be unnecessary. — 

 C. G. Barrett. 



The Ophrys apipera in Herts. — This rare 

 plant grows in considerable quantity in certain 

 localities in Herts ; but from my own observations, 

 it is more plentiful on banks of the Great Northern 

 Railway than in any natural locality. I suppose 

 that the seeds of the plant were either sown with 

 the grass with which the banks are covered, or 

 that it was brought with the earth that composes 

 the banks. I am sorry to say that some of the 

 localities have become known to some persons who 

 gather it, roots and all, most unmercifully. In 

 spite of this the plant came up this year with ten- 

 fold abundance, almost covering the ground in 

 some places. — Thomas Bates Blow, Welwyn, Herts. 



Mistletoe ojst the Oak.— At the meeting of 

 the Worcestershire Naturalists' Club, in October 

 last, Mr. J. Twinberrow announced the discovery 

 of a second mistletoe oak in the county, at Lind- 

 ridge, near the Shropshire boundary. This, says 

 the Journal of Botany, makes the fourteenth known 

 example in England. 



Potentilla fruticosa. — In answer to your 

 correspondent "A. J." 28, Upper Manor Street, 

 Chelsea (S.-G., Dec. 1872, p. 278), I can affirm 

 Potentilla fruticosa does grow on the north bank of 

 the Tees in this neighbourhood. It is, perhaps, 

 thirty years since it came under my notice, but I 

 have seen it at intervals down to the present time. 

 Keeping no note-book, I cannot say at how many 

 stations I have gathered it ; at one only could I be 

 certain of finding it, where the plants are stunted, 

 being rooted in the fissures of the mountain lime- 

 stone. I am pretty confident more stations could 

 be found if a search were instituted. Eggleston 

 Abbey is about one mile below here, and Thorp 

 three miles further, both on the south side of the 

 river, at neither of which places have I noticed it. 

 The only thing worthy of a passing notice at the 

 latter place is a station for that handsome member 

 of the Geranium family (Geranium Pyrenaicum), the 

 only one I ever met with. Winch Bridge, High 

 Force, and Widdy Bank are the head quarters for 

 the above-named Potentilla. Had your correspon- 

 dent visited the last-named locality about the end 

 of April, he would have been introduced to as 

 great a rarity in Oentiana verna. As I have not a 

 London catalogue, I cannot say which is the greater 

 rarity of the two.—/. Maughan, Barnard Castle. 



GEOLOGY. 



A New Trilobite erom the Cape of Good 

 Hope.— At a recent meeting of the Geological 

 Society of London, Mr. Henry Woodward, E.G.S., 

 described a new species of Trilobite from the 

 Cock's Comb Mountains at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, which had been preserved in a nodule, the 

 impression retained in which, when broken, fur- 

 nished the most instructive details as to its struc- 

 ture. Each of the eleven thoracic segments was 

 furnished with a long median dorsal spine, giving 

 to the profile of the animal a crested appearance. 

 On each side of this the axis of the segment bears 

 two or three tubercles, and the ridge of the pleura 

 four or five tubercles. The tail is terminated by a 

 spine more than half an inch in length, and all the 

 spines are annulated. Eor this Trilobite the author 

 proposed the name of Encrinurus crista-galli, al- 

 though with some doubt as to the genus, the head 

 being only imperfectly preserved. 



New Tertiary and Post-Tertiary Birds.— 

 Some new species of birds were found by the Yale 

 party during their explorations of last year in the 

 lower tertiary strata of Wyoming. We give the 

 following descriptions, and add an account of a few 

 species of interest from the post-Pliocene of the 

 Atlantic coast. The Aletornis nohilis, new both in 

 species and genus, was a large wading bird, nearly 

 equal to the flamingo in size. It is indicated in the 

 collections by the distal end of a tarso-metatarsal 

 bone and by a few other fragmentary remains. The 

 Aletornis pernix is a smaller species of the same 

 genus, represented by portions evidently belonging 

 to one skeleton. It was about as large as a scarlet 

 ibis. Another species of wading birds apparently 

 belonging to the genus Aletornis is indicated by the 

 distal part of a tibia in perfect preservation, show- 

 ing the bird to have been of about the size of a 

 curlew. The Aletornis gracilis was another small 

 aquatic bird, not larger than a woodcock. It is 

 represented in the Wyoming collection by the 

 proximal end of a humerus in excellent jsreserva- 

 tion, and by some less important remains. A 

 diminutive species of about half the size of that 

 just mentioned is the Aletornis hellus. The remains 

 found somewhat resemble similar bones in the kill- 

 deer plover. A small bird belonging to the Scansores, 

 and evidently related to the woodpeckers, is termed 

 the Unitornis lucaris, and is represented by the 

 distal end of a tarso-metatarsal in perfect condition. 

 Tiie specimens indicate a bird about as large as the 

 Golden-winged Woodpecker {Colaptes auratus,^\x.). 

 A new species of Catarrades, termed the Catarractes 

 affinis, may be based upon a right humerus, which is 

 entire, and in an excellent state of preservation. 

 The Meleagris alius is determined on portions of 

 four skeletons, and resembles most nearly, in size 



