HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



167 



season endeavoured to bring out a brood at Portland. 

 A single clutch of these eggs would have supplied the 

 wants of as many collectors under the old system as 

 the whole four would under the new. Verily they 

 are more rapacious than the ravens themselves. I 

 have ever associated the black cloth of the clergy 

 with a warm and kind heart underneath, but to my 

 dismay I find that the Rev. Canon Raine has intro- 

 duced the new method into the York Museum, where 

 may be seen clutch upon ciutch of the eggs of our 

 more uncommon warblers, etc., some of them, 

 exhibiting no variation, being probably taken for the 

 locality's sake. Surely a single egg would well 

 answer this purpose. This collection, I am told, 

 was last week enriched by the addition of a clutch of 

 seven green woodpecker's eggs from near Helmsley. 

 Why take seven eggs from a rare bird, when there is 

 absolutely no variation amongst them ? To what can 

 you apply the epithet Vandalism, if not to this ? The 

 teal sometimes lays twelve or more eags, varying 

 from pale yellow to pale green. Would it be neces- 

 sary to load one's cabinet with two dozen eggs, to 

 show these two slight variations ? And to prove the 

 range of distribution, would it be necessary to have 

 such clutches from half-a-dozen localities ? Because 

 I hold that all unnecessary destruction of nature's 

 products is Vandalism, I sincerely trust that all true 

 naturalists will humanely endeavour to withstand this 

 perilous innovation, as it is likely to cause the exter- 

 mination of many of our rarest birds. — J. A. 

 IVheldoti, York. 



NoTHOLCA SCAPiiA.— Your correspondent, Mr. 

 R. P. Grace, refers to "Hudson's N. scapha." I 

 suppose he means the species described by Gosse at 

 p. 127 of vol. ii. of "The Rotifera," and figured by 

 Gosse in plate 29 of the same work. It is true that 

 the species is there described as marine only ; but 

 if Mr. Grace will refer to Science-Gossip for 

 1887, he will find an article by Mr. Lord on "A 

 Prolific Pond," containing a long list of Rotifera 

 found in a pond near Rawtenstall, among which is 

 Notholca scapha. A itw months later Mr. Lord 

 contributed an illustrated article on the species ; and 

 in 18S8 I stated in Science-Gossip that I had 

 found it inhabiting fresh water near Cheadle, Stafford- 

 shire. I have now found it in four or five places in 

 that neighbourhood. Both Mr. Lord and I sent 

 specimens to Mr. Gosse.— y. IV. Blagg. 



Nests in strange Places.— On the 27th of 

 April last the men employed on Messrs. Stratton, 

 ■Gentry and Co.'s Coal Wharf at Clapham Junction 

 found on the top of a loaded truck, between two 

 iarge lumps of coal — one of which slightly overlapped 

 the other — a nest containing five eggs of the pied 

 wagtail {Motacilla alba) ; while on the 3rd of May, 

 in another loaded truck but at the bottom of the 

 coals, they found a starling's {.Stenius vulgaris) nest 

 rather roughly built with straw, etc., and containing 

 two eggs. Curiously enough in the latter instance 

 the birds had begun to build at one end of the 

 bottom of the truck, but evidently finding their 

 situation rather precarious, they abandoned the half- 

 built nest and constructed another at the opposite 

 end, towards one side where the coals were more 

 firmly stacked, and here it was traced by the men, 

 from the exuviae around the top of the passage con- 

 necting the nest with the surface of the loaded truck. 

 Both trucks came from the neighbourhood of Burton- 

 on-Trent, and though there but a comparatively short 

 time, had evidently been left loaded long enough for 

 the birds to build in tliem and lay their eggs. I may 

 add that such an occurrence has not been known at 



that wharf for twenty years. Both nests are in mv 

 possession, and on Thursday the 14th idem excited 

 much interest at the usual monthly meeting of the 

 Practical Naturalists' Society.^^. G. Ilaimnond, .Si. 

 John's Hill. 



An Astrologer's Idea of Fossils. — In looking 

 through the works of John Heydon, the astrologer*^ 

 I have been much struck with one or two passages 

 in which that author reveals the clearness of his 

 vision in observing the curious and occult in Nature. 

 Heydon styles himself "a servant of God, and a 

 secretary of Nature ;" and whatever may have been 

 his claim to the first part of the epithet, most im- 

 partial judges will probably be willing to admit the 

 justice of his claim to the latter. Heydon's " Holy 

 Guide : Leading the Way to the Wonder of the 

 World," published in 1662, contains a vast fund of 

 deep and interesting information which reads quaintly 

 in the light of modern science. The following is an 

 extract from the book (lib. iii. pp. 88-9) : — " And it 

 is observable, that if Nature shape anything near this 

 geometrical accuracy, that we take notice of it with 

 much content and pleasure, as if it be but exactly 

 round, as there be abundance of such stones upon 

 Mesque, a hill in Arabia ; I have seen them 

 there, ordinarily quadrangular, and have the sides 

 parallels, though the angels (angles) be unequal, as 

 is seen in some little stones, and in a kind of alabaster 

 found here in England, and other pretty stones found 

 upon Bulverton-hill, near Sidmouth, in Devonshire, 

 and near Stratford-upon-Avon ; and in Tyms Grove 

 at Colton, and at Tardebick, Stony-hill, the Shawes 

 and Quarry Pit, Hazle-hill, and Ash-hill in Warwick- 

 shire, are found such stones that grow naturally 

 carved with various works, some with roses, others 

 with lions, eagles, and all manner of delightful 

 works. These stones, I say, gratifie our sight, as 

 having a nearer cognation with the soul of man that 

 is rational and intellectual, and therefore is well- 

 pleased when it meets with any outward object that 

 fits and agrees with those congenite ideas her own 

 nature is furnished with." — George Clinch. 



Anodonta cygnea and anatina.— As i\Ir. 

 Webb evidently believes that A. anatina is not a 

 species, inasmuch as he brings forward the "prin- 

 cipal authorities " (see Science-Gossip for October, 

 p. 235) to prove that it is not, and he is not inclined 

 to consider it a variety, I should like to ask what it 

 really is, and whether it is worthy of having a special 

 name, and what position it should occupy in our 

 handbooks ? I suppose he will say it is a variation ; 

 but if so he might equally as well call cygnea a 

 variation, for both are variable, and both have been 

 known as different forms from the time of Linnoeus. 

 I imagine that it would be very difficult to say 

 whether the two have arisen from two pre-existing 

 forms, or one is an oftset from the other. But 

 allowing Mr. Webb to call anatina or any other well- 

 marked form a variation, I should further like to ask 

 him to define what is the difference between such 

 variation and what is usually called a variety. In 

 other words, I wish to know clearly what in his 

 opinion is a species, what is a variety, and what 

 is a variation. In one of his notes Mr. Webb 

 mentions "worthless varietal names." Would he 

 kindly enumerate a few of the worthless varietal 

 names that have been lately introduced, and say 

 whether he has personally examined any of the forms 

 which bear those worthless names, and compared the 

 value of their distinguishing characters with the 

 characters of those varietie-. which are generally 

 acknowledged ? — Geo. Roberts. 



