HA RD WICKE ' .S ^ CIENCE- G O SSI P. 



"? 



outside the fleshy receptacle (the seed is seen inside 

 the fruit) ; 2, the pollen of the hazel, showing 

 development of the pollen-tubes. 



FORAMINIFERA. — In the note of mine last month 

 r^ "Gossip about Foraminifera," you printed "Frihtel 

 and Moll," which should be Fichtel and Moll, and 

 quoted my name as F. Chatman instead of F. Chap- 

 man. Perhaps the fault lay in my indistinct writing, 

 and I apologise sincerely for the errors. — F. Chaptnan. 



The April number of "The Journal of Micro- 

 scopy " contains the following papers : " Romance of 

 Geology in the North-West of Canada," by Mrs- 

 Alice Bodvngton ; " Freshwater Sponges," by Henry 

 Mills ; " How the Spider makes her Web," by H. M. 

 J. Underbill ; " On some ^Common Species of the 

 Gamasidae," by Lieut.-Colonel L. Blathwayt ; 

 " Microscopical Imagery," by Dr. Royston-Pigott ; 

 "The Development of the Tadpole," by J. W. 

 Gatehouse, &c. 



The Quekett Microscopical Society. — The 

 journal for April contains the following papers : — 

 "Further Notes on Coccids from British Guiana," 

 by S. J. Mclntire ; " On the Larval Forms of 

 Ortonia and Icerya," by R. T. Lewis ; "On Inter- 

 ference Phenomena," and " On Insect Anatomy," by 

 Prof. B. T. Lowne ; " On the Oamaru Diatom 

 Papers of Messrs. Grove and Sturt," by A. Grunow. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Gould's Finches {Porphila Gouldii). — \\. may 

 interest readers of Scienxe-Gossip to know that I 

 have succeeded in getting these brilliant birds safely 

 to England from Queensland, their tropical home. 

 They are vivacious and tame, feeding freely on 

 canary seed from the hand. Twenty degrees of frost 

 on the night of February nth, tried them, but we 

 kept the room heated, and the birds survived. The 

 finch-like bill is white tipped with crimson ; the head 

 and throat are velvet black ; the breast, a rich mauve 

 or violet ; the under parts golden-yellow ; a ring of 

 turquoise round the neck, and on the tail coverts; 

 the back, bright green, and tail quills black, the 

 female is altogether paler than the male bird. There 

 is a variety in Queensland, which I saw in Sydney, 

 with a crimson cap, and one bird developed a 

 yellow cap. Further information can be given if 

 required. — C. Parkinson. 



American Shells in the River Humber. — 

 The following interesting note is from the " Man- 

 chester City News" of March 23, 1889. "A fine 

 series of Venus mercenaria has been dredged alive 

 from the river Humber. It was observed in 1864, 

 and again in 1868, and has steadily increased till the 

 present time, and is now bidding fair to compete 

 with the familiar cockle. This fine Venus is com- 



monly known in America as the clam, and is of 

 course an edible species. A number of shells dredged 

 from the river were exhibited by Mr. J. R. Hardy at 

 the Manchester monthly conchological meeting in 

 March." — Geo. Roberts. 



Golden Oriole. — It may interest some of your 

 readers to hear that, on Saturday last, March 2nd, a 

 friend and myself saw a golden oriole in a pine wood 

 near here. This bird is a very early arrival, as I 

 believe that golden orioles, on the few occasions that 

 they do visit us, do not arrive before the beginning of 

 April. — A. G. Hudson, Ashingt07i, Pulborough, Sussex.. 



Erratum. — p. 44, 2nd col., line 25 from top, for 

 "1888 "read" 1886." 



A Rare Fish. — Mr. Arthur Patterson, of Great 

 Yarmouth (whose book on Monkeys was mentioned 

 in last month's issue), has just added a very rare fish 

 to the local fauna. He has already added about a 

 dozen species to the previous lists of fishes, his latest 

 being Midler's Scopelus, which he found amongst, 

 seaweed which had been left by some fishermen on 

 the beach from their draw (seine) net. It was found 

 on Sunday, the 31st March. 



South Devonshire Mollusca. — Looking over 

 some old papers, I came across a list of shells found 

 by Mr. E. D. Marquand in the Exeter district, which 

 I received from him in 1887. It was proposed at 

 the time to make a careful investigation of the South 

 Devonshire Mollusca, and Mr. Marquand kindly sent 

 me this list to show what he had obtained up to that 

 date (May, 1887). Shortly after, I believe Mr. 

 Marquand went abroad, and I also left England, 

 so nothing more was done. But the list is too 

 valuable to be lost, so, with the Editor's permission, 

 I will present it to the readers of Science-Gossip.. 

 " List of Mollusca found in the Exeter District ; " by 

 E. D. Marquand. '■'■ Spharium corneum, S. lacustre,. 

 Pisidium amnicum, Ancylus lacustris, A. Jluviatilis,. 

 Paludina vhnpara, , Vitrina pellucida and var. 

 depressiuscula. Helix aspersa and var. minor. Helix 

 nemo7-alis and vars. rubella, castanea, libellula, carnea,, 

 minor and bimarginata, H. hortensis, and vars. 

 incarnata, hitea, olivacea, roseolabiata, arenicola, and 

 lilacina, H. arbtistonnn, and var. major, H. cantiana^ 

 and var. alba, H. rotundata, H. virgata, and var. 

 leucozona, H. caperata, H, concinna, H. fusca, H. 

 aaileata, H. hispida, H. pygmcea, Zonites cellarius, 

 Z. alliarius, Z. draparnaldi, Z. 7iitidulus, Z. fulvus, 

 Z. purus. Z. crystallinus, Z, glaber, Limncea peregra^ 

 and vars. ovata and labiosa, L. truncatula, var. minor^ 

 and var. having purple bands, L. palusiris, Succinea 

 putris, S. elegans, Planorbis marginatus, P. vortex,. 

 P. contorttis, P. albus, Cochlicopa lubrica, Clausilia 

 rugosa, and var. tumidula. Pupa umbilicata, and var.. 

 edentula, Balea perversa, Carychium minimiun, Physa 

 fontinalis, Bythinia tentacitlata." Mr. Marquand 

 also adds the following forms found by him in South. 



