138 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



the iun, or by the fire. When dry (but uot warm), 

 place them iu the same order as before ; put all 

 under the heavier pressure for a few days, when (if 

 not succulent) they will be dry. Flowers of different 

 colours require different treatment to preserve 

 their colours. Blue flowers must be dried with 

 heat, either under a case of hot sand before a fire, 

 with a hot iron, or in a cool oven. Red flowers are 

 injured by heat: they require to be washed with 

 muriatic acid, diluted in spirits of wine, to fix their 

 colour. One part of acid to three parts of spirit is 

 about the proportion. The best brush with which 

 to apply this mixture is the head of a thistle when 

 in seed, as the acid destroys a hair-pencil, and in- 

 jures whatever it touches (except glass or china) : 

 therefore it should be used with great care. Many 

 yellow flowers turn green eveu after they have re- 

 mained yellow some weeks ; they must therefore be 

 dried repeatedly before the fire, and again after they 

 arc mounted on paper, and kept in a dry place. 

 Purple flowers require as much care, or they soon 

 turn a light brown. White flowers will turn brown 

 if handled or bruised before they are dried. Daisies, 

 Pansies, and some other flowers, must not be 

 removed from under pressure for two or three 

 days, or the petals will curl up. As all dried 

 plants (ferns excepted) are liable to be infested by 

 minute insects, a small quantity of the poison, cor- 

 rosive sublimate, dissolved in spirits of wine, should 

 be added to the paste, which it will also preserve 

 from mould. The best cement for fixing the speci- 

 mens on to the paper or cardboard is gum-paste. It 

 is composed of thick gum- water, and flour raixedjn 

 warm v.-ater, by adding the two together, warm, 

 and of a consistency that will run off the hair- 

 pencil. — O. H. 



Erkattjm in Mr. Britten's Paper. — The 

 lettering to fig. 05 (page 99) should read as 

 follows : — Maple {Acer campestre), showing coty- 

 ledons and first and second pair of leaves. Drawn 

 (as well as the two preceding figures) by Miss 

 Giles, from specimens lent by Mr. 0. A. Eerris. 



The Shamrock of Ireland. — The Dutch clover, 

 Trifolittm repens, is, according to the authors of 

 "Cybele Hibernica," "the plant still worn as ' sham- 

 rock' on St. Patrick's day (March 17), though 

 Medicago lupuliua, also one of the Leguminosaa, is 

 likewise sold in Dublin as the Shamrock." Edward 

 Llhwyd, the celebrated antiquary, writing iu Dec, 

 1699, to Tancred Robinson, says, after a recent visit 

 to Ireland, "their shamrug is our common clover." 

 ("Phil. Trans.," No. 335.) Thrclkeld, the earliest 

 writer on the wild plants of Ireland, gives " Seamar- 

 ogc " (young trefoil) as the Gaelic name for Trifo- 

 Hum pratense album, and says expressly that this 

 is the plant worn by the people in their hats on 

 St. Patrick's day. Wade also gives Scamrog as 



equivalent io'T/repens. The Wood Soirel, 0.z'«//s 

 acetosella (the Gaelic name for which is Scalgan), a 

 perennial plant, frequent on shady moist banks, aud 

 in damp^places ni woods and thickets, is also stated 

 by other^writerslto; be^theltrue Shamrock, "Sham 

 niar-oge " or " Shamrug." The delicate bright 

 green trefoil leaves of this plant have a sensitive 

 property, and close towards evening ; they also 

 possess an agreeable acid taste, and on that account 

 are frequently used in salads on the Continent. It 

 is, however, only the small trefoils, or clover, 

 particularly the T. repens mentioned above, which 

 are now generally used as an emblem on St. Patrick's 

 day in Ireland ; aud more especially as at this 

 period of the year the leaves of the Wood Sorrelhave 

 not usually appeared above ground ; and even if it 

 could be obtained, the clover which is pulled np 

 with the root is a much more durable plant for the 

 purjiose, as it retains its freshness for some time. — 

 W.II.B. 



Plants in Hertfordsuire.— It may be in- 

 teresting to some botanists to know that a list of 

 localities of plants growing in Herts has just been 

 published by the Rev. R. H. W^ebb. It shows a 

 considerable increase in discoveries of localities of 

 new plants. — T. B. Blow. 



GEOLOaY. 



Graftolites. — Professor Allman has a splendid 

 paper on the natural history position of these 

 peculiar zoophytes, in the " Annals aud Magazine of 

 Natural History " for May. He regards the serrated 

 and other projections which characterize them, as 

 representing the " nematophores " iu such living 

 genera of Hydroida as Antenmdaria. 



A HiTGE Pterodactyle. — A new species of this 

 extinct flying reptile has been found in the 

 cretaceous deposits of America, which must have 

 measured across the tips of the wings at least 

 twenty-five feet. 



Eye-stones. — The bound volume of Science- 

 Gossip for 1871 has just come to hand; and in look- 

 ing over the "Notes and Queries" columns, I ob- 

 serve quite a number of communications on " Eye- 

 stones." I must confess I was surprised not to find in 

 the entire volume' a correct account of what they 

 really are. These " eyestones " arc found in the head 

 of several species oiAstacus Bartoiiii,OY "crawfish," 

 as they are familiarly called here. When a mere 

 lad, myself and playmates invariably carried several 

 of these stones in our vest pockets for the purpose 

 of removing particles of dirt or other small sub- 

 stances which might get into our eyes. "V\'c 

 obtained fresh ones by catching the crawfish, 

 opening the head, and removing the " stones " from 



