IGi 



HAIIDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



the Brighton Natural History Society on the 14th 

 of February last. 



Geology of Indiana. — An attractive volume, 

 containing the third and fourth annual reports of 

 the Geological Survey of Indiana, made durius: the 

 years 1871 and 1872, has just been published by the 

 United States Government. It has been carefully 

 compiled by Mr. E. T. Cox, the State geologist, 

 who has been assisted in his difficult task, by 

 Professor John Collett, Professor B. C. Hobbs, 

 Professor R. B. Warder, and Dr. G. M. Levette. 

 The Report deals chiefly with the extent and 

 stratigraphical formation of the coal-measures in 

 Indiana. The characteristic fossils of the different 

 beds are given, and we are surprised to find so many 

 of them identical with those of our own carboniferous 

 rocks, such as Productus pundatus, P. semireticu- 

 latiis, &c., associated with Lepldodendra and otiier 

 land plants, which make these Indianan strata look 

 like the Scotch coal-measures. The economic 

 geology is well worked out, in valuable detail, and 

 this information, supplemented by the excellent 

 sections and maps, published on a large scale, must 

 render this volume exceedingly valuable to the 

 inhabitants of Indiana. The upper and lower 

 Silurian rocks are also detailed, and their fossils 

 catalogued. We congratulate Mr. E. T. Cox and 

 his colleagues on their exhaustive and useful pro- 

 duction. 



The Boiling Springs of New Zealand.-— Mr. 

 C. M. OUivier Jias written an interesting account 

 of a visit paid to these springs, which are situated 

 at the head of Rotarua and Rotamahana lakes. The 

 hot water and mud are greatly charged with sulphur, 

 and the area where the boiling springs are situated 

 is in a constant state of commotion, resembling the 

 " mud volcanoes " described by Humboldt. Some of 

 the springs throw up boiling water to the height of 

 several feet. The largest of the springs rises out 

 of a conical mound fifty feet in height, the sides of 

 which are covered with siliceous incrustations. 

 Here an intermittent rise and fall of hot water is 

 constantly going on, rising to the height of thirty 

 or forty feet. Mr. Ollivier has also given a graphic 

 description of the terraces of the Tarata spring, 

 formed chiefly by stalactitic matter. 



NOTES AND aUERIES. 



The Wild Artichoke. — Can any reader of 

 Science-Gossip give information as to the origin 

 of the garden artichoke {Cyiiara scolymus) ? I 

 once heard the question asked by one of the first 

 botanists of Geneva (Mous. Renter), but no one 

 could throw any light upon it. In Loudon's " En- 

 cyclopsedia of Plants" it is said to be a native of the 

 south of Europe, and of Barbary and the south of 

 Europe in the "Treasury of Botany;" but I have 

 never met with it in any local Eiora. The Cynara 



horrida is abundant at Malta, where the nat ives eat 

 the fleshy receptacle, as we do with the garden arti- 

 choke. May it not have been the origin of tlie 

 garden plant altered by cultivation? The localities for 

 C. horrida given in Wood's " Tourists' Flora" are 

 Civita Yecchia and Sicily, but he probably refers to 

 Citta Vechia in Malta, as I never met with C. 

 horrida in Italy.— T. B. IF. 



The Oldest Tree in Britain (p. 91). — This 

 can only be a matter of conjecture, as history does 

 not furnish us with unmistakable references to 

 certain trees, which would secure their identification ; 

 and size or appearance gives no conclusive evidence. 

 And supposing a tree to have been felled, a calcu- 

 lation based upon the number of concentric rings in 

 the wood gives uncertain data. It is probable that 

 some oaks in Britain are more venerable than even 

 the oldest of our yews. One in Selcey Forest, which 

 is now, I believe standing, has been referred to as 

 being the most ancient tree in Britain; but the 

 statement is ex parte. Several oaks, which might 

 have rivalled this tree, perished in various places 

 during the first half of this century. In spite of 

 assertions to the contrary, very few of those compe- 

 tent to judge believe that there are British trees 

 existent whose age exceeds a thousand years. — 

 /. R. <S'. C. 



Poisonous Plants. — The Chester children were 

 poisoned by (Enanthe crocata (" Hemlock, Water 

 Drop wort"), and in the Gardener's Chronicle for 

 July 13th, 1872, there is a full account of the case, 

 with a wood engraving of the poisonous tuberiform 

 roots, taken from a plant sent by Mr. Brittain, the 

 medical man under whose care the unfortunate lads 

 were.— F". G. S. 



Black Smut. — Will you oblige me by mentioning 

 in your next number the name of the black " smut" 

 that is so apt to cover the leaves of orange and some 

 other greenhouse plants ? 1 find it difficult to 

 examine under the microscope. — F. G, M. 



Pearls. — Can any of your readers tell me the 

 real reason why pearls so often turn black? A 

 friend of mine has a ring, supposed to be valuable, 

 some of the pearls in which have become almost 

 quite black. Is it because they are not good ? — 

 R.M. 



The Hydra (p. 115). — May not the paralyziiig 

 properties of tlie hydra be due to a narcotic fluid 

 which it ejects when anything comes in contact 

 with its thread-cells, thus causing the ejection of 

 the contained filament ? Animals would recover 

 from this in due time, but a sting might prove fatal. 

 It seems unlikely that any of the inferior animals 

 could feigu death. — John Hopkinson. 



The Cuckoo (p. 117).— "Our feathered friends" 

 have doubtless an antipathy to the cuckoo because 

 it is parasitic, robs other birds of their food, and 

 uses their nests. — John Hopkinson. 



Do Fishes move after Death ? (p. 119).— In 

 the account of the genus Gobius in the " English 

 Cyclopsedia" the following passage occurs ; — " The 

 species of Gobius are very tenacious of life, and are 

 capable, like their neighbours the blennies, of living 

 some time out of water." The fact of the goby 

 being on its back, though not quite dead, may be 

 owing to the Acanthopteri, to wnich sub-order the 

 Gobiidce belong, having a swimming-bladder without 

 a duct. —John Hopkinson. 



