162 



HARDWICKE'S SCIBNCE-GOSSIP. 



scarcely able to move about, or grasp leaves and 

 twigs for some days. Indeed, in the case of some 

 species, this -will prove actually fatal, as I found 

 last spring with a brood of the Emperor (S. car- 

 pint), and the Pale Tussoch (0. pudibimda). Pos- 

 sibly, some contrivance might be resorted to which 

 "would obviate this ; such as lining the pot with 

 paper, or some other material which caterpillars 

 could easily fis themselves upon, and which would 

 not chill them, yet still keep the leaves sufficiently 

 cool. I hai^e known some young larva3 to be fed 

 successfully for weeks shut up in glass tubes 

 corked at both ends, or in" bottles with widish 

 mouths. The plants will need to be renewed 

 occasionally — more frequently, of course, than if 

 placed with their stems in water, according to 

 another plan sometimes pursued. I3ut, by this 

 " bottling-up " method, the tendency of many 

 small larvae to wander from their food may be 

 overcome : as they grow larger, an atmosphere thus 

 confined seems prejudicial to them. — J, B. S. C. 



BOTANY. 



' Collection Catalogues.— I have experienced 

 the difficulties pointed out by Mr. P. T. Mott, in a 

 collection catalogue, and perhaps the plan that I 

 now pursue may suggest one still better. It is not 

 long since I commenced an herbarium, and I have 

 only used Mr. Harting's catalogue since the 

 summer of 1868. Pirst, I thought of confining my 

 collection to British plants, and in order to number 

 and arrange these, I took Hooker and Arnott's 

 "British Plora," and numbered consecutively every 

 species in the book. In my catalogue I put this 

 number opposite the specimen collected. As, how- 

 ever, I afterwards concluded to preserve plants 

 from any part of the world, and also, where speci- 

 mens were not attainable, to introduce pictures — 

 which inmany cases, especially with orchids, convey a 

 better idea of the plants than dried specimens — it 

 became necessary to alter the plan of my catalogue ; 

 but I retained the same principle, simply putting 

 Hooker and Arnott on one side, and using Lindley's 

 "Vegetable Kingdom" inits place. The only number 

 I use at present is the number of the natural 

 order in that work. I allow a cover to each genus. 

 On the cover I write the number, and the name of 

 the order, and under that the sub-order, tribe, &c., 

 with the name of the genus at the left-hand corner. 

 The name of every genus only is indexed, and all 

 the pages of the catalogue in which it is to be found 

 are annexed. As to the pictures, I write them in 

 red ink, and if several of one order come in at once, 

 they may for present convenience be arranged alpha- 

 betically ; as, LII. Batcmannia, Calasctum, &c. ; 

 Dendrobium, &c. ; Eucyclia, &c. Everything is 

 entered in the catalogue when it enters the herba- 



rium, and not before, and as each addition is made 

 the index is entered up. I can lay my hand on any 

 specimen that is put by, in two or three minutes ; 

 the others will not be of much practical use until 

 they are arranged. I have about 2,000 of the for- 

 mer, and a few hundreds (three or four) of the latter. 

 When the catalogue is full, there will be some 

 difficulty in the second volume. I shall then have 

 a separate index, and arrange the first one in it 

 alphabetically, as far as it goes with the reference 

 (Vol. I.), and go on with further-additions as before. 

 My catalogue has 300 pages, and is a convenient 

 size. I thmk the index (with 112 lines under each 

 letter) will prove to be rather small under some 

 letters, for I have already only ten lines left under C, 

 though the only genus I have under Y is Yucca : 

 but so far, Mr. Harting's catalogue has answered 

 my purpose very well. — R. H. A. 



Bkitish GEKTiANACEiE. — lu the Journal of 

 Botany for June, Mr. James Britten, F.L.S., has 

 an interesting paper on the various species of the 

 above group, in which he has collected and arranged 

 a good deal of valuable material from fugitive and 

 other sources. He expresses his opinion that 

 Gentiana Amarella is not specifically distinct from 

 G. Germanica, a chain of intermediate varieties 

 connecting them. Gentiana Pneumonanthe is de- 

 scribed as still growing in the locality where it was 

 long ago discovered, — Nettleton Moor, near Caistor, 

 Lincolnshire. This rare plant is tolerably common 

 on St. Paith's Bogs, near Norwich. 



GEOLOGY. 



GlACIEKS in THE RoCKY MOUNTAINS. — Mr. R. 

 Bliss writes that last summer he and another 

 American geologist obtained ample evidence of the 

 former existence of glaciers in the Pocky Mountains, 

 and of some of the valleys having been filled with 

 ice. The rocks were polished, striated, and fur- 

 rowed. Their glaciation was traced to a height of 

 more than eight hundred feet. It was previously 

 thought that these mountains did not include any 

 evidence of glaciation. 



A PossiL Bird of Prey. — The remains of an 

 extinct and gigantic bird of prey have been dis- 

 covered in South Island, New Zealand, associated 

 with those of Dinornis. It most nearly resembles 

 the New Zealand Harrier (Circus assimilis). Dr. 

 Haast states it to have been twice the size of the 

 Great Wedge-tailed Eagle of Australia {Aquilu 

 audax), and belonged to the genus Ilurpagornis. 

 This huge raptorial is supposed to have preyed upon 

 the young or feeble individuals of the extinct 

 Dinornis. 



The Stone Age in New Jersey. — The two 

 profusely illustrated articles which appeared in the 



