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HARDWICKE'S SCI E N C E-GO S S IP. 



to the great interest which Darwin's treatise ou 

 their fertilization has awakened amongst all 

 students of nature. Seeing that very few people 

 are fortunate enough to be able to procure speci- 

 mens, I am sure it would be a very great boon to 

 your readers, if some of your correspondents will 

 give us some plain hints how to cultivate them. That 

 it can be done successfully, the experience of 

 Mr! Needle, gardener to the Comte de Paris at 

 Twickenham, has abundantly proved. What I 

 and, no doubt, many of my brother readers, long 

 to know, is, how to do it. — F. M. S. 



New British Eiccia. — In the March number of 

 Grevillea, Dr. Braithwaite doscribes Riccia soro- 

 carpa, BischofF, as having been found by Mr. B. M. 

 Watkins last spring, growing in tolerable abund- 

 ance on a projecting limestone rock overhanging 

 the Wye, between Boss and Monmouth, 



Drying Orchids. — It would be a great assist- 

 ance to collectors of orchids if those who have 

 taken pains to preserve them would give to others 

 the benefit of their experience, and in order to set 

 the example, and in the hope that it may lead to 

 further information, I will state the results of my 

 endeavours. I have almost invariably observed 

 that orchids, when dried in the ordinary way, turn 

 either black or dark brown; in fact, retain 

 nothing but the form, and even that in many cases 

 indistinctly. My plan has been to immerse them 

 in boiling water nearly up to the flower-head, so as 

 to cover all the leaves, for about a minute, — long 

 enough, in short, to kill the plant, — which is then 

 dried on a cloth, and put on paper, and, carefully 

 spreading out the flaccid leaves with a small paper- 

 knife, pressing and drying it in the ordinary 

 way. By this means I have always preserved the 

 colour of the leaves and stem, and generally of the 

 flower also. If an incision be made in the tubers, 

 it will greatly assist in killing the plant, — a plan I 

 have often adopted in preserving many of the 

 Liliacece. My orchids are nearly all foreign, — from 

 Switzerland, South of France, Italy, Sicily, 

 Algeria, and the Pyrenees. The late Joseph 

 Woods, author of the " Tourist's Plora," wlien he 

 saw them, thought the climate must have had 

 something to do with the preservation of the 

 colours, but was assured it was not so. I need 

 hardly add, a dry warm temperature is necessary 

 for the better preservation of orchids, as it is with 

 all plants.— r. B. JF. 



Sheffield Naturalists' Club. — The first 

 meeting of this society was held in the Cutlers' 

 Hall on the 6th of February. The members have 

 been fortunate in having Mr. H. C. Sorby, P.R.S., 

 who is so well known for his researches in micro- 

 scopic geology, for president. On the above occa- 

 sion, he delivered an elaborate address, in which 



he pointed out his views with reference to the 

 formation of such a society, and the influence of 

 the cultivation of natural science on the human 

 intellect. Mr. Edward Birks afterwards followed 

 with a capital paper on the botany of the district. 

 Such a society was much needed in Shefiield, and 

 we have little doubt as to its future success. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Small Birds' Protection Act. — We feel 

 confident all true lovers of natural history will 

 rejoice that this piece of tardy justice has at length 

 been conceded to our Feathered Friends. The fol- 

 lowing paragraph relating to it is from Latid a?td 

 TFater of Saturday, March 15th : — " From and after 

 Saturday, any vagabond lurking behind the garden 

 fence with a stufi"ed chatfinch, a call-pipe, and a clap- 

 net, may be at once taken before a magistrate, and 

 fined 5s., with an additional sum for each miserable 

 captive in his possession. Any game-dealer who 

 sells, or exposes for sale, the lean, broody birds 

 which have long been a disgrace to the market, may 

 be fined 5s. for every bird of the duck or plover tribe 

 on his counter. The matter is now in the hands of 

 the public, and we confidently promise them that if 

 they will individually exert themselves to carry out 

 the provisions of the Act, the result in two years 

 will be, to the owners of surburban residences, an 

 accession of feathered songsters, whose notes from 

 long disuse arc forgotten, but which will add a 

 charm to their country residences that can hardly 

 be over-estimated ; to the agriculturist and market 

 gardener a costless riddance of mischievous insects ; 

 and to the housekeeper a reduction of 50 per cent, 

 in the price of one of the greatest delicacies which 

 come to table— wild fowl." 



New British Ichneumons. — The Rev. T. A. 

 Marshall has described, in the March number of the 

 Entomolo(/ists' Monthly Magazine, X^o new species of 

 Ichneumon, under the relative names oi Anomalon 

 fusciuliim and Mesostenus maurus. The latter was 

 taken in the neighbourhood of Carlisle. The 

 former is not only new to Britain, but hitherto 

 unknown elsewhere. 



Cleaning Feathers and Skins. — I am obliged 

 to "South Australian "for the recipe for cleaning 

 feathers and skins, which will prove very acceptable 

 to some of the readers of Science-Gossip, as well as 

 myself; but 'tis not what I wished to know in answer 

 to my question, which was, how to clean birds when 

 stuffed, which had got dusty and dirty by being ex- 

 posed in unglazed cases. I think the steeping process 

 would have the tendency to alter the shape of the 

 birds. Perhaps " South Australian " will say if the 

 process will answer in the case of birds that are 

 stuffed.- jr./iT. 



