HARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE- GO S SIT. 



213 



Mounting Eung[. — Would auy readers of 

 Science-Gossip kindly give a little pjeneral infor- 

 mation on the mounting of microscopic fungi ? — £". 

 L. Hull. 



Singing Mice. — Your correspondent J. Sim 

 seems to have been rather surprised by the voice 

 of the singing mouse in his own house. I suppose 

 it is not so very rare a thing ; for I frequently hear 

 them of an evening, and that while the family are 

 sitting up, and in the same room. The song, as he 

 says, generally continues for four or five minutes, 

 and then "gradually gets sweeter and lower until it 

 dies away." — Tf. S. Palmer. 



The Botanical Locality Record Club. — As 

 a botanist I am heartily glad to see what protectors 

 of our plant rarities we possess in the persons of 

 Mr. Atkinson and Mr. Gulliver, and with what 

 jealousy and care those gentlemen seem to view 

 everything which they think may tend to their 

 invasion and possible extermination. But in the 

 Botanical Locality Record Club, as far as I am 

 acquainted with its objects to understand them, 1 

 can scarcely see the reason for such a fear ; especi- 

 ally if the precautions, as indicated by Mr. T. B. 

 Blow in Science-Gossip, July 1, 1873, p. 167, be 

 ludieiously carried out. The only cause for fear 

 which I entertain in connection with it is as regards 

 the mode of admission to membership. This I 

 think is scarcely guarded enough to be safe, and 

 needs, on that account, being made more condi- 

 tional, &c., so as to prevent within its pale the 

 possible admission of any but the bond fide botanist. 

 As it is, Mr. Blow speaks with too much of un- 

 certainty of its at present members in that of say- 

 ing he thinks they are all of that belonging. And 

 if, as I take it, the work of recording is to be carried 

 on through their medium, then how obvious the 

 necessity for some such precaution becomes, and 

 that not only on account of insuring the trustworthi- 

 ness of their records, but as being also a better 

 guarantee and surety of freeing the plants from the 

 danger so much apprehended by Mr. Atkinson and 

 Mr. Gulliver. Whereas, under a system less heeded 

 in the latter respect, the opposite result might 

 follow. Though in either case 1 don't think the 

 Club would prove near such an evil in that particular 

 as would a system, like that alluded to by Mr. 

 Gulliver in the Gossip for July, which encourages 

 a spirit of competition iu its'members by holding out 

 prizes to those who can obtain the largest and best 

 collection. Besides, the object of the Botanical 

 Record Club is a good one, which, I think, cannot 

 be well gainsaid ; therefore if the means by which 

 it seeks to attain it is not considered equally so, 

 then let us, in such a case, rather try to improve 

 the means than lose the end. I have thought that 

 perhaps a better plan of achieving the object of the 

 Club would be for the different Eield Naturalists' 

 Societies, local and provincial, to co-operate together 

 towards its accomplishment. By this means I con- 

 sider the work could be more efficiently done, besides 

 being, when done, more reliable as a reference and 

 scientific as a book. In saying so I would not be 

 understood to speak disparagingly of the Club or 

 its promoters. — John Harrison. 



Water Animalcule. — A few weeks ago, as I 

 was examining under the microscope (A-inch 

 objective) some water from the gutter running along 

 the top of the house, I was much interested in 

 the motions of some small animalcule. They were 

 of a circular form and had a bright crimson spot in 



the middle, with an outer ring of orange. Can any 

 of your readers tell me if they have ever observed 

 the same thing ? These animalculas had a rapid 

 revolving motion. In a few days it rained again, 

 and these creatures had gone.— iff. C. M. 



Epilobium angustifolium. — In the Science- 

 Gossip for May, p. 113, Mr. R. A. Pryor there 

 writes, inquiring from me information as to which 

 of the two forms the plant in question belongs — 

 whether brachycarpiim or macrocarpum. I have 

 now much pleasure in statin? to him that it is the 

 latter variety of plant, viz. Epilobium macrocarpum. 

 — John Harrison. 



Swans and Cygnets.— Permit me to add a 

 supplement to my letter to you of the 26th ult. 

 Mr. Hartiug, in his excellent work on the orni- 

 thology of Shakespeare, gives extracts from Yarrell's 

 "History of British Birds" and Jesse's "Gleanings 

 in Natural History," which show that cygnets are 

 frequently carried on the back of the female swan. 

 The author also quotes a passage from Shakespeare 

 in King Henry VI. 



" So doth the swan her downy cygnets save, 

 Keeping them prisoners underneath her wings." 

 Henry VI., Part I., Act v., Scenes. 



Mr. Harting writes, " By the expression underneath 

 her wings, we may understand under shelter of her 

 wings, which she arches over her back, whereon the 

 young are seated. This habit," he also remarks, '" has 

 been observed in many other water-birds, especially 

 in the Grebes." — John Colebrooke. 



Songs of Birds (p. 166),— In Mudie's " British 

 Birds, " P." will find the following :— " There is no 

 mistaking the nightingale, as no bird sings at the time 

 when its song has the greatest effect ; and, though 

 the bird often sings when there is light enough to 

 see it, it is just as much concealed as during the 

 night. * * * * They do not sing from the very 

 depths of close forest, but from the tall and thick 

 trees that are near open places, abounding: in under- 

 wood or other cover upon the ground." Of the 

 blackcap Mudie says : — " Its song is generally given 

 from a high perch, or an elevated branch, or the top 

 twig, if the tree be not very lofty. * * * * it has 

 the wildest and most witching notes of all our 

 warblers ; it has not, certainly, the volume and 

 variety of the nightingale, neither has it the inef- 

 fably sweet chant of the garden warbler ; but its 

 notes take one by surprise ; and the changes, and 

 especially the trills, are finer than those of any 

 other bird. The song, when the bird is at rest, 

 appears to be, by turns, like those of several birds ; 

 but it transposes them into a lower or rather a 

 minor key, and finishes off with variations of its 

 own ; and, as is the case of some of the more im- 

 passioned musical composers, the very genius (so to 

 speak) of the bird interferes with the melody, and 

 a sort of indescribable wildness is the character of 

 the whole." "P." will find iu this work of two 

 volumes aid to distinguishing the songs of birds 

 similar to those quoted above, jointly, iu some 

 instances, with their notes.— C. Robson, Newcastle 

 upon-Ty7ie. 



Wild Artichoke ("T. B. W.")— Artichoke 

 (6|y«r/ms(7o/yCT7«) cultivated in Italy and first brought 

 from thence to England in the reign of Henry VIII. 

 Evelyn tells us " that for some time it was so rare in 

 England as to be sold for crowns apiece." The 

 Italians stewed it till its tough leaves were tender, 

 and the French eat it as a salad." The Jerusalem 



