Oct. 1, 1SG7.J 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



239 



Double Honeysuckle {Lonicera Periclyme- 

 nium)—(G. R. R.)— The double-flowered honey- 

 suckle is not of very frequent occurrence, nor is it, 

 so far as we know, in cultivation. In your specimen 

 the blossoms are more than ordinarily numerous, 

 and very closely packed. Each flower is " doubled " 

 by the formation of two or even three additional 

 corollas within the first ; the stamens and ovary are 

 wholly wanting, but the calyx is present in the 

 form of five small leafy teeth. It would be very 

 desirable to introduce this variety into gardens, for 

 which purpose cuttings should be at once taken. 

 There is a similar variety occasionally met with hi 

 hedges, which is equally curious, but decidedly less 

 generally attractive, inasmuch as its blossoms, 

 though double, are all green and scentless. — 

 M. T. M. 



Plantain — (J. G.) — Your specimens belong to 

 the panicled variety of Plantago major, P. major 

 var. pauiculata. Our common plantains seem very 

 liable to changes of this kind in their flower-spikes, 

 but what is curious is that to a great extent each 

 species has its own special form of variation ; thus 

 in Plantago major we have the inflorescence (as in 

 your specimen) forming a much-branched pyramidal 

 panicle, covered with small bracts, but rarely pro- 

 ducing perfect flowers. A corresponding variation, 

 so far as we have observed, does not occur in the_ 

 other species. In other cases the lower bracts of 

 P. major become large and leaf-like, the flower-spike 

 remaining simple, or sometimes dividing irregularly 

 into two or three divisions. The " Rose" plantain, 

 sometimes found in old-fashioned gardens, is a form 

 of P. media in which the bracts form flat leafy tufts 

 at the top of the flower-spike, the flowers themselves 

 being generally deficient, though when they are 

 produced the tuft gradually lengthens out so as to 

 assume more or less of its normal spike-like aspect. 

 This modification does not occur in the other 

 species. P. lanceolata and P. niaritima are some- 

 times found with much-branched or compound 

 spikes, with perfect flowers. P. lanceolata, too, 

 may be sometimes met with a rosette or tuft on 

 the top of the flower-stalk, the rosette being com- 

 posed of leaves and secondary flower-stalks, so that 

 the whole looks like a miniature plant raised on the 

 top of the flower-stalk. As there are numerous 

 intermediate forms, the above must be taken as a 

 general statement only. — 31. T. M. 



The Elk. — Your correspondent F. A. Allen, in 

 Science-Gossip for September, page 199, states 

 that " the bones and antlers of the elk are found in 

 the peat-bogs of Ireland and the Isle of Man, in 

 excellent preservation ; but we have no records of 

 their existence in our land, even in the time of the 

 Romans." Allow me to inform him and your 

 readers generally that the bones and antlers of the 

 elk have been found here in Kent's Cavern, in the 

 Brischam Bone Cavern, and I believe they have also 

 been dredged up from Torbay. Those found in 

 Kent's Cavern are supposed to belong to a period 

 greatly anterior to the time of the Romans. — 

 A.J.I)., Torquay. 



The Ash. — Lightfoot says that in many parts of 

 the Highlands of Scotland, at the birth of a child, 

 the nurse or midwife puts one end of a great stick 

 of this tree into the fire, and while it is burning 

 receives into a spoon the sap or juice which oozes 

 out at the other end, and administers this as the 

 first spoonful of liquor to the new-born babe. — Sylva 

 Fhrifera. 



Novel Situation fob. a Chrysalis. — A few days 

 since I was scrambling over the rocks at the back of 

 the north fortifications, in search of anemones and 

 other marine treasures, when my thoughts were 

 turned from zoology to geology by seeing a large 

 piece of rock — which had been thrown by the 

 sappers from the works above — lying at my feet, 

 and which contained three or four tolerably perfect 

 specimens of Cerithium portlandicum and an Ostrea. 

 AVishing to obtain at least one of the fossils, and 

 having no tools, I resorted to the primitive method 

 of dashing the stone against a rock, in order to split 

 it into pieces small enough to carry home. After 

 several trials, it broke into three pieces; but as a 

 matter of course the finest Cerithium was shattered 

 by the concussion. As I was mournfully gazing_ af- 

 file fragments, my eye was attracted by something 

 in the last whorl of another shell. I looked closer, 

 and there, snugly laid, was a little chrysalis. What 

 renders this remarkable is the fact that this portion 

 of the shell is quite an inch from the surface, and 

 that the aperture in the centre of the volutions 

 seems far too small for the larva to have crawled 

 through. I cannot, neither can those friends to 

 whom I have shown the stone, detect a crack which 

 might have served for a passage-way. Can any one 

 elucidate the mystery, or must it, like the presence 

 of a toad in au almost similar predicament, remain 

 a questionable point ?— questionable only as to how 

 it got there, not to the fact of its being there, for 

 I have it now lying as first found within the whorl ; 

 indeed I could not remove it without destroying it. 

 Should it ever cast off its pupa dress, I will send a 

 description of the perfect insect ; but I much fear 

 the severe concussions it has received have quite 

 destroyed its dormant life. — M. Pope, Weymouth. $ 



Yellow Violets. — A few years since, whilst 

 travelling in Norway, I spent a day or two on the 

 Eille Ejeld, and, searching for microscopic objects 

 in a small copse a few hundred yards from the 

 station at Maristuen, I was surprised to discover, 

 amongst other wild flowers, a large number of 

 yellow violets, the sweet odour of violets being as 

 powerful in them as in the English violet. Upon 

 mentioning the fact to several botanical friends, 

 upon my return to England, they expressed some 

 doubts about the flowers being violets at all, hinting 

 that I had probably mistaken the wild pausy for a 

 violet. However, although no botanist in the 

 scientific sense of the term, I am sufficiently well 

 acquainted with the external characters of the 

 commoner plants not to be so easily deceived by a 

 mere general resemblance ; and, in addition, the 

 wild heartsease, which is so wonderfully abundant 

 in some parts of Norway, was ready to my hand for 

 comparison. Will some botanical correspondent 

 kindly inform me if yellow violets are known to 

 botanists, or whether those observed by me were au 

 accidental departure from the normal colour of the 

 flower ? — Ed/card H. Robertson. 



Hint about Labels.— During a recent visit to 

 Neufchatel, I noticed in the Natural History 

 Museum there a plan of labelling specimens which 

 may be worth recording. Different parts of the 

 world, Europe, Asia, Africa, America, North aud 

 South Australasia, &c, are distinguished by different 

 colours, and the labels surrounded by a border of 

 the colour or colours indicating the district to which 

 the specimen belongs. Iu the case of insects, the 

 pin is stuck into a small paper disc of the proper 

 colour. The geographical distribution of animals is 

 thus brought very plainly before the eye.— -2?. IF. S. 



