ii6 



HARD WICKE \S S CIENCE ■ G OSSIF. 



able, and has been described by Mr. Darwin ; but of 

 this no more. Last year I noticed that a great num- 

 ber of the flowers remained closed and unfertilized, 

 and upon examination I found that all such flowers 

 contained each a little lively grub, spinning a web, 

 which fastened the lower petals together ; and by the 

 spinning of the same thread it was also able to sus- 

 pend itself when thrown down. It appeared to feed 

 on the stamens, and turned to a little moth — I think 

 a species of Depressarias. — R. G. 



Researches in the Structure of the Com- 

 mon Teasel. — At a meeting of the Royal Society, a 

 paper by Mr. Francis Darwin has been read, of 

 which the following is a summary :— Certain observa- 

 tions have been made on the protrusion of protoplas- 

 mic filaments from leaf-glands on the Teasel, and 

 the only theory -which Mr. Darwin thinks capable of 

 accounting for all the facts is that these glands were, 

 in the ancestors of the Dipsaccir, mere resin-excreting 

 organs ; that the protoplasm which comes forth was 

 originally a necessary concomitant of the secreted 

 matters, but that from coming into contact M'ith 

 nitrogenous fluids it became gradually adapted to 

 retain its vitality, and to take on itself an absorptive 

 function. This power, he thinks, was further deve- 

 loped in relation to the decaying fluid accumulating 

 within the connate leaves of the Teasel. 



An Electric Plant. — A jDlant possessing 

 natural electrical powers is said to have been dis- 

 covered in Nicaragua, and a short description of it is 

 given in a Belgian horticultural journal. It is a 

 species of Phytollacca, and has been christened 

 P. electrica, in consequence of its curious properties, 

 which are so strong as to cause a sensible shock, as 

 from a galvanic battery, to the hands of any person 

 attempting to gather a branch. I should be glad if 

 any correspondent can give more information about 

 the plant. — D. Douglas. 



GEOLOGY, 



A New Area of Upper Cambrian Rocks in 

 South Shropshire, -with the Description of 

 a new Fauna. — This was the title of an important 

 paper lately read before the Geological Society by 

 Mr. C. Callaway, M.A., F.G.S. The purpose of 

 the author was to prove that certain olive, micaceous, 

 thin-bedded shales exposed at Shineton, near Cres- 

 sage, and covering an area of eight miles in length 

 by two in the greatest breadth, which had been mapped 

 as Caradoc in the survey, were of Tremadoc age. 

 They were seen clearly to underlie the Hoar Edge 

 Grit, the lowest beds in the district, with Caradoc 

 fossils ; and no rock distinctly underlying the shales 

 could be detected. Tlie evidence .for their age 

 was chiefly palreontological. With the exception of 

 Asaphw; Ilomfrayi, a Tremadoc form, the species are 



new. Genera such as Olcniis, Conocoryphc, Oboldla, 

 and Lingulella suggested a very low horizon, but t-wo 

 asaphoid forms (though not typical AsapJii) pointed 

 in an opposite direction. Corroborative evidence 

 was found in a correlation of the shales at Shineton 

 with the Z>/c/jw;i?w«-shales at Pedwardine and Mal- 

 vern. It was shown from lithological characters and 

 from fossils, that the shales at the three localities were 

 of the same age ; and as the beds at Pedwardine and 

 Malvern were, on their own testimony, admitted to 

 be of L/ng/i/a-{{a.g or Tremadoc age, the Shineton 

 shales were inferred to be on the same horizon, the 

 Asaphids leading the author to adopt the younger of 

 the two formations. He was of opinion that the 

 Black Shales of Malvern (Dolgelly beds) were not 

 represented in the Shineton area. He announced the 

 discovery of the Hollybush Sandstone, forming a 

 continuous band between the Shineton Shales and 

 the Wrekin axis, recognized by the occurrence of 

 Kutorgiiia cingiilata, and probably separated from 

 the shales by a fault. This also afforded corrobora- 

 tive evidence of the identity of the Dictyiiomcna- 

 shales with the shales at Shineton. 



■ Origin of the Flora of Southern France. 

 — M. Martins has read a paper before the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, on the Palxontological Origin 

 of the trees, shrubs, and bushes indigenous to the 

 South of France, and which are most sensitive to 

 cold during extreme winters. He considers them to 

 be the s!n~>ivors of the flora which covered the same 

 area during the mid-Tertiary period. They are, he 

 thinks, exotic as to tinw, just as other plants are to 

 space. 



The Late Dr. Bowerbank. — Many naturalists 

 at home and abroad will be sorry to hear of the 

 death of this veteran zoologist and palteontologist. 

 He was best known" for his researches in ih.Q Spoil - 

 gidir, especially as regards their geological relations. 

 He was also one of the founders of the Paljeonto- 

 logical Society, in which he took great interest. He 

 died at the ripe age of eighty years. 



Radiolarians from the Carboniferous Lime- 

 stone. — A discovery of some importance has been 

 announced to the Chester Natural History by Mr. J. 

 D. Siddall. This is the finding of Radiolaria in various 

 localities in the carboniferous limestone, as in the 

 Halkin, and also in the Mineva limestones. Two 

 polished blocks beautifully showed the Radiolarians 

 in situ. Mr. Siddall has thus thrown back our kno\\-- 

 ledge of the distribution of the Radiolaria, in time, 

 to the Palaeozoic period. 



Upper Devonian Fossils at Torbay. — In the 

 Geological Magazine, Mr. J. E. Lee, F.G.S., has 

 called attention to the occurrence of Upper Devonian 

 fossils in the shales of Torbay, similar to fossils from 

 Biidesheim, in the Eifel. These fossiliferous shales 

 occur at Salleni Core, and have yielded several species 

 of Goiiiatiks and other fossils, believed to be identical 



