90 



HAKDWICKE'S SCIfiN CE-GO S S IP. 



half a mile of Blaudford, a small town in Dorset- 

 shire. 1 had never before seen either of the water- 

 docks, and was uncertain which of them I had found. 

 There being only tliis one plant— a very fine one, I 

 was careful to gather only a small piece, and made a 

 drawing of it : it was then in full bloom ; the anthers, 

 covered with pollen, were protruding beyond the 

 petals, which were totally devoid of tubercles. I 

 visited tlie same plant again about three weeks 

 later, and not a tubercle was to be seen, but here 

 and there, on a very few of the petals, was soinethiug 

 like a brown skin. I took this piece to a friend 

 who had a powerful microscope. He submitted these 

 brown-skinned petals to a close investigation, but 

 could only describe them as an irritation on some 

 of the petals. Whatever they might be, they were 

 very rare ou the plant. After a careful examination, 

 we decided that there were no tubercles, and agreed 

 that the plant must be Htimex aquaticiis, the Grain- 

 less Water-dock. I thought this point settled 

 when, about three or four weeks later I again visited 

 my dock, what was my surprise to find each petal 

 bearing a large tubercle, very much raised in ap- 

 pearance, like white beads tinged with pink, the 

 whole appearance of the plant being totally altered. 

 I made a drawing of my dock in its tubercled state 

 and named it Uumex hydrolapathum, there being now 

 not the least doubt as to its proper nomenclature. 

 The point I wish to make evident is the length of 

 time that had elapsed from tlic first flowering of the 

 plant to the development of the tubercles, at least 

 six weeks, which is a difficulty an unexperienced 

 botanist like myself is totally unprepared for. I 

 also observed closely R. crispus and R. ohlusifolius, 

 and found that in both plants the tubercles M'cre 

 not developed till after the flowering of the plant. 

 As far as my observations went, I came to the con- 

 clusion that no tubercles are developed till after the 

 anthers and pollen have disappeared. I think also 

 that in many of the species the teeth are not de- 

 veloped till a late stage of the flowering of the 

 plant. I shall be glad if any botanists will furnish 

 me with their experience on this point. Another 

 difiiculty arises from the discrepancy in the descrip- 

 tions given by various botanists. Sowerbj', in 

 "British Wild Flowers," describes R. crispus as 

 having only one tubercle ; Withering, whose de- 

 scriptions 1 have generally found the most accurate, 

 says of the same plant, "petals all bearing a 

 tubercle." Lindley says, all bearing very large 

 tubercles. Withering has no R. pratensis at all. — 

 F. M. K. 



New ruNGL— Mr. T. Britton, of Manchester, 

 who is well known as a botanist, has recently added 

 two new species to our British flora. One is a 

 fungus found on the Butter-bur {Petasites vulgaris), 

 and named Badhamia capsuUferu, B., whicli Mr, 

 M, C. Cooke has declared to be new to our flora. 



The other was,found at Chelford, in Cheshire, during 

 Christmas week, and is also new. Mr. Phillips, of 

 Shrewsbury, has identified it as Ferichcena qtcer- 

 cina, F. 



G E LO G Y. 



Fossil Horses.— At a recent meeting of the 

 Californian Academy of Sciences, it was stated by 

 Professor Marsh, of Yale College, that in the 

 Miocene and Pliocene deposits of East Oregon a 

 large number of species of fossil horses had been 

 discovered. Among them was one only two feet 

 in height. Others of the two-toed type had also 

 been collected. 



Fossil Fish in Palesiike.— Ou reading a paper 

 in the January number of ScIenceGossip on 

 " Sciencs in the Tenth and Twelfth Centuries," 1 

 was reminded of a passage iu Joinvilie's " Histoire 

 de Saint Louis " which may prove interesting to 

 geological readers, as showing the simple childlike 

 wonder with which fossils were regarded in the 

 tliirteenth century. While recounting the events 

 of the Seventh Crusade, which took place in 1248, 

 the good knight pauses to remark, in his quaint way, 

 how, "tandis que le roy estoit a Sayette, li apporta 

 Ten une pierre qui se levoit par escalcs, la plus 

 merveilleuse du monde ; car quant Ten levoit une 

 escale, I'en trouvoit entre les deux pierres la forme 

 d'un poissou dc mer. La pierre estoit le poissou ; 

 mais il ne failloit riens en sa fourme, ne yex, ne 

 ariste, ne couleur ne autre chose que il ne feust 

 autre tel comme s'il feust vif. Le roi mauda une 

 pierre, et trouva une tanche dedans, de brune 

 coleur et de tel fagon comme tanche doit estre."— 

 ",\Vhile the king was at Sayette [Sidon] a stone was 

 brought to him which was formed in layers, the 

 most wonderful stone in the M^orld, for when a 

 layer was raised, there was found between the two 

 stones the form of a sea-fish. The fish was of stone; 

 but nothing Was M'anting in its form, neither e^es, 

 nor bones, nor colour, nor any other thing, which 

 was not just as it would be if it were alive. The 

 king sent for a sloue, and found a tench wilhiu, of 

 a brown colour, and of such fashion as a tench 

 ought to be." I presume that there can be no doubt 

 that some kind of fossil fish is here alluded to ; 

 and 1 am curious to know whether there is modern 

 testimony to prove that fossils of a similar kind are 

 still to be found in the neighbourhood. — -G. F. 

 IFarner. 



Fossil Hydrozoa (p. G7). — The comparative 

 rarity of fossil Hydrozoa may be partly due to the 

 perishable nature of many of the organisms consti- 

 tuting this class. None of the oceanic Hydrozoa 

 seem capable of preservation in a fossil state ; but 

 the Hydroida are well represented in Paheozoic 



