78 



HARDWiCKE'S SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



ing clergyman (Rev. J. D. La Touche), I observed 

 the Astrantia in three several spots within the wood 

 upon the hill-side. 



It must be noted, however, that some seasons 

 are more favourable to plants than others, so that 

 in particular years certain species may not appear 

 at all, or in very diminished numbers. This is 

 especially the case with certain of the Orchidke. I 

 have been in Wyre Eorest, near Bewdley, when its 

 glades were adorned with the elegant white flowers 

 of hundreds of the Ceplialanthera ensifolia ; yet 

 last "year, when searching over the same forest 

 ground, I could not meet with a single specimen. I 

 liave noticed the same thing in other places with 

 regard to Spiranthes autumiialis, which, seen plenti- 

 fully in one particular season, could not be observed 

 the next. Epipogium Gmelini (or aphijlliim), though 

 gathered a few years since at Tedstone, Hereford- 

 shire, has not been seen since, though it may possibly 

 reappear uuder favourable circumstances. In woody 

 ground the fallage of trees and shrubs often deter- 

 mines the appearance of plants for a time, till the 

 ground is shadowed over again by a dense growth 

 of thickets and brambles. So where local plants 

 grow about quarries, the displacement of the 

 ground removes them, as I have noticed with re- 

 gard to Carex humilis on Worle Hill, Somerset, 

 where extensive quarries have been developed. 

 Commons and waste ground, too, get inclosed, 

 broken up, and built upon, and so local plants are 

 extinguished, unless they can take shelter in an 

 undisturbed corner. I noticed the uncommon 

 Bupleurum tenuissimum on Ealing Common, Middle- 

 sex, some years ago, and Myosurus minimus at the 

 then rural hamlet of Perivale, in the same vicinity ; 

 but such changes have since taken place there, and 

 numerous villas erected, that probably the plants 

 mentioned may never be seen there again. 



Thus it is that advancing civilization acts upon 

 the plants of a country ; old localities are blotted 

 out and new ones have to be observed and noted. 

 Mr. Newman remarks, with regard to the local fern 

 Asplenium luticeolaticm, that " the vicinity of Bar- 

 mouth (Merionethshire) seems a very favourite 

 locality for this fern ; " and it used to be quite 

 abundant on, the rocks and walls by the road- 

 side there. But Barmouth has increased as a water- 

 ing-place, and a railroad brings numerous summer 

 visitors, among whom have been unscrupulous 

 marauders, who have carried otf the rare Asplenium, 

 so that when I was at Barmouth last summer not 

 a single plant could I see anywhere about. Never- 

 theless I discovered the fern on stone walls at 

 Pant Einon, a few miles south of Barmouth, on the 

 opposite side of the river Mawddach. I need not 

 give further instances illustrative of the subject 

 touched upon, as I have said enough to show the 

 advantage of reporting recent observations on the 

 changes of locality in the rarer plants, or their per- 



manence at particular spots ; and where changes 

 have occurred they should be noticed in the new 

 editions of general floras, 



Edwin Lees, E.L.S. 

 Green Rill, Worcester, March 8, 1872. 



THE NEW RHINOCEROS AT THE 

 ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 



f\^ all the recent additions to the magnificent 

 ^-^- collection of the Zoological Society, few will 

 be of more interest to the intelligent sight-seer 

 than the Sumatran Rhinoceros. We paid a visit, 

 a few days ago, to this animal, under the able 

 guidance of Mr. Bartlett, and saw his surly brute- 

 ship rolled up in all the unapproachable^ dignity of 

 one who has just dined, and does not care to be 

 disturbed. 



After a few probes, assisted by bribes in the 

 shape of biscuits, we managed to get it on its legs. 

 Its appearance, thus seen, is very remarkable. It 

 is not so large as the Indian or African species, and 

 seems longer in proportion to its height. Its hide 

 resembles that of its African brother, rather than 

 its Indian, in being freer Irom the huge folds into 

 which the thick skin of the Indian species is thrown, 

 and which adds so much to the repulsive appear- 

 ance of the latter. Its head is'"more elongated and 

 pig-like than either, and its lower jaw is dis- 

 tinguished by being squarely cut ; whereas in the 

 two former it is more tapering, and so far is con- 

 formable to the upper part. Like the African 

 species, the new arrival is marked by having its 

 ears fringed with a long reddish hair, which gives 

 it a very fierce look. This hair, however, is much 

 longer and thicker than that on the ears of the 

 African Rhinoceros, so that the ears themselves 

 look longer and larger in consequence. It resem- 

 bles the African species more than the Indian, also, 

 in being two-horned. 



Singular as it may seem, that a rhinoceros from 

 the Indiau region (Sumatra) should in so many re- 

 spects resemble the African species more than that 

 which is so well known to us as the " Indian " 

 Rhinoceros, yet we think that even this pecu- 

 liarity is secondary to the still more striking simi- 

 larity between the animal of which we are speaking 

 and a species which has been extinct probably since 

 the appearance of man on the earth. We allude to 

 that known as Rhinoceros tichorhinus, whose re- 

 mains are usually found in the same post-glacial 

 deposits as the Mammoth {Elephas primigenius). 

 The long hair on the ears of our Sumatran species 

 has already been mentioned, and so far this feature 

 is partly shared by the African type. There, how- 

 ever, the resemblance stops, for the Sumatran 

 Rhinoceros has the whole of its body more or less 

 covered with short, brown, woolly hair ; the hair 

 on the back is longer, and like the " hog mane " of a 



