HARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE - GO S S IP. 



119 



The Capture of the Cam:berwell Beauty._ 

 —No sooner does some choice butterfly show itself 

 in exceptional abundance than entomologists are at 

 work everywhere, eager to net it, and the natural 

 consequence is that for some years, at any rate,^ an 

 effectual check is put upon its multiplication. This 

 is short-sighted policy ; though the desire of adding 

 a rarity to the cabinet is too strong a temptation to 

 many. It is rather fortunate that F. Antiopa has 

 a better chance of escaping than some species, 

 being strcng-winged and wiiy ; yet, for all that, I i 

 observe that the Entomologist of October re- j 

 cords the capture of between 130 and 1-iO speci- i 

 mens throughout England and Scotland. Surely 

 the time will come when some of us " Conserva- 

 tives " will have to combine and form a " Butterfly 

 Protection Society " for the preservation of scarce 

 and local insects. — /. R. S. C. 



The Glasgow Society OF EiELD Naturalists. — 

 The annual meeting of this society was held on 

 the evening of the 18th of March, Mr. J. Allan, 

 vice-president, in the chair. During the past year 

 the branches to which the members have chiefly 

 directed their attention have been Entomology, 

 Botany, and Marine Zoology. A summary of the 

 work done showed that twelve excursions had been 

 held by the society, and that eleven different locali- 

 ties had been visited by individual members ; so that 

 the minutes contain notes on the natural history of 

 twenty-tln-ee different localities. It also showed 

 that sixteen papers had been read by the members ; 

 some of these papers being compilations from 

 authors on the subjects of which they treated, 

 aiming at bringing before the members as much 

 information as possible in a condensed form. But 

 many of the papers were written from original 

 observation ; thus tending to add to the stock of 

 knowledge of the subjects on which they treated. 



Ash-trees. — Can any of your readers inform 

 me why some old ash-trees are hollow, or decayed 

 in the middle, and others perfectly sound ? There 

 have been several fine ash-trees cut down this 

 season, two of which I took particular notice of, from 

 their great size ; No. 1 being 3 feet 6 inches in 

 diameter, perfectly sound externally, yet so decayed 

 as to be useless ; No. 2, 4 feet 6 inches in 

 diameter, hard and solid all through. — Arthur 

 Smyth. 



Gum-Damar,. — On j^our Correspondence page, 

 March, 1872, you give a receipt for making guui- 

 damar. I have tried, but cannot dissolve the gum 

 in turpentine. I have some which has now been in 

 turpentine for more than a month, and it has simply 

 formed an amorphous mass at bottom of the 

 bottle. Nor can I succeed in dissolving it in 

 benzoline. 1 shall esteem it a favour if any of your 

 readers can assist me. — Alfred Allen. 



The Oldest Tree.— In answer to " C. H. R.'s " 

 question, yew-trees are considered to be the 

 oldest of all European trees. I understand there 

 is one at Braburn, in Kent, to which De Candolle 

 assigns an antiquity of thirty centuries ; but its age 

 is conjectural on its great size. There is another 

 in Darley churchyard, Derbyshire, which is cal- 

 culated to be 2,006 years old. The "Cowthorpe 

 Oak," near Wetherby, in Yorkshire, is stated by 

 Professor Burnet to be 1,600 years old, and so 

 large is its hollow as to contain within it 70 persons 

 at one time ; while a book which I have lay me 



positively states that the " Parliament Oak," 1,500 

 years old, is the oldest tree in England. It is 

 situated in Chipstone Park, belonging to the Duke 

 of Portland, and is so called from a tradition of 

 Edward I. holding a parliament under its 

 branches.— i^. il/. S. 



Poisonous Plants. — Can any of the readers of 

 Science-Gossip tell the botanical name of the plant 

 eaten by the two children belonging to the Chester 

 Workhouse some little time ago ? Both the children 

 were poisoned by eating the root of some plant : the 

 account appeared in the papers, but the name 

 of the plant, I believe, was not stated, at least 

 not correctly so. The Wild Carrot, I heard, was 

 named, but the root of that is not poisonous. — Etiz. 

 Edwards. 



Do Pishes mote after Death ?— On the 28th 

 of January I found near the pier, in a small pool 

 left by the tide, a fine goby. I took it home in a 

 can of water and placed it in a dish by itself, feed- 

 ing it occasionally with small pieces of raw meat. 

 About four days ago I removed it to a pan-mug 

 with a dahlia wartlet [Bunodes crassicornis). Yes- 

 terday morning (about half-past seven), the 11th of 

 February, I went to look at them, and found the fish 

 on its back, apparently dead. 1 took it out of the 

 water and carried it downstairs in my hand, then 

 took it up again and laid it upon a book-shelf until 

 I could stuff it. About four hours alter I went up- 

 stairs to look at it, and was surprised to find it 

 gasping. I put it quickly in the water, and it 

 slowly opened and shut its gills and moved its tail : 

 this movement continued for about two or three 

 minutes, and at last ceased. — D. H. T, 



Old Trees.— I see in the the Science-Gossip 

 for this month a question is asked by " C. H. R." as 

 to which is the oldest tree in Great Britain. The 

 oldest one I ever heard of is a yew-tree in the 

 churchyard of Darley Dale, in Derbyshire, about 

 three miles from Matlock. Both the inhabitants 

 and the guide-books to the neighbourhood will tell 

 you it is the oldest tree in England. Its age is 

 calculated to be 2,006 years. It is of enormous 

 girth, but not very tall. The inhabitants of Darley 

 are very proud of their tree, and it is considered 

 one of the sights of the neighbourhood. — G. S. E. G. 



Dialects of Birds.— A naturalist living at 

 Lofihouse, in Yorkshire, in some rural notes con- 

 tributed to the Yorkshire Post, remarks on the 

 difference of tlie notes of birds in different districts. 

 He says : " The call-note of the Chaffinch in the 

 Swiss mountains is materially altered by locality— 

 so much so as to deceive ears well accustomed to 

 it in England. In his Gleanings of Natural History, 

 Mr. Jesse has some remarks on what he terms the 

 ' dialects of birds.' I have noticed that birds have 

 different tones in different districts. Sterne says 

 that Welsh dogs ' bark with a brogue.' A thrush, 

 which sang several weeks in a plantation near this 

 village, had a voice and a manner of singing c^uite 

 different from the voice and manner of ordinary 

 thrushes. Besides the difference in voice and tune, 

 it would often interrupt itself, and give a peculiar 

 bubble or roll in its song. At first I mistook this 

 bubbling note, being so strong and mellow, for the 

 note of a much larger bird. I find that some 

 thrushes' songs, like the Cuckoo's described by 

 Wordsworth, sound ' as loud fur off as near.' " — 

 /. E. N., Manchester. 



