HA RD WICKE 'S S CIENCE - G OSS IF. 



117 



with those from Biklesheim, and recognized there as 

 of Upper Devonian age. 



Facts for Darwin. — During the recent two 

 days' excursion of the Geologists' Association into the 

 Crag district of Suffolk, under the direction of Mr. 

 W. Whitaker, F.G.S., of the Geological Survey, Dr. 

 J. E. Taylor, F.G.S., and Edward Charlesworth, 

 F.G.S., the latter gentleman, who is well acquainted 

 with the palceontology of the Crag deposits, in the 

 course of a short address to the members, showed 

 that the Red Whelk {Fiisiis antiquus) and the Dog- 

 whelk {Purpura lapillus) lived together in the Red 

 Crag seas as they do now in our own. But, whereas 

 a child could tell the difference between these two 

 genera of shells now, in the Crag period these two 

 forms were so alike that he often found it difficult to 

 discriminate between them. The same thing occurred 

 with the Trochi. It was the easiest thing in the 

 world for a conchologist to tell the difference between 

 the existing British species ; but it was often a very 

 difficult task to determine the Crag forms, owing to 

 the way in which the species of "frocJii seemed there 

 to run into each other. Mr. Charlesworth expressed 

 it as his opinion that these were strong facts for 

 Darwin. 



The Lias of Fenny Compton, Warwick- 

 shire. — We have received a very able paper on the 

 above subject, by Mr. Thomas Beesley, F.G.S. It 

 was originally read at the annual meeting of the 

 Warwickshire Naturalists and Archaeologists' Field 

 Club, held in the Warwick Museum last February. 



The Insect Fauna of the Tertiary Period. 

 — One of the most interesting and exhaustive papers 

 on this most suggestive topic has just been read be- 

 fore the Brighton and Sussex Natural History Society, 

 by Mr. Herbert Goss, F. L.S. The paper is fully 

 reported, in five columns of small printed matter, in 

 the Sussex Daily News of March 9th. We can only 

 express our admiration of the ability and fulness of 

 Mr. Goss's paper, and expi-ess a hope that it will be 

 given in full to the scientific world. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Microscopical.— In looking over the back volumes 

 of Science-Gossip, I recently came upon the expres- 

 sion "a microscopic gentleman," used seriously to 

 designate a gentleman devoted to the microscope or 

 microscopy. I have noticed a similar use of the 

 word in other places, and I should like to suggest the 

 propriety of confining the word microscopic to the 

 sense of requiring the microscope for observation, and 

 the word microscopical to the sense of pertaining to 

 the microscope or microscopy. 



How Foreign Plants are Introduced. — 

 I have just entered a cloth manufacturing business, 

 and, of course, we use a large quantity of raw wool, 

 from our colonies chiefly, but sometimes German. I 

 have found various kinds of beetles in the wool, and 



though not very good specimens, they are interesting 

 on account of the peculiar manner of importation : 

 we recently found a most curious one, gold and green, 

 with a long proboscis just like a rhinoceros." If I 

 have the good fortune to find another, as I daresay I 

 shall, you shall have it ; but wool-sorters are doing 

 sixty bales of Buenos Ayres, and that is where I 

 found it. We get most curious things in the wool : 

 frogs, crushed quite flat, with their bones showing to 

 perfection ; leaves, seed-vessels, and seeds, some of 

 which we have grown. One especially, called the 

 "Devil's Horns" by the natives, we sent to Dr. 

 Hooker, of Kew, and he said the name of it was 

 Martiiiia l\Ioutcvidcnsis ; but had never been grown 

 in England l^efore. It is covered with short, sharp, 

 and strong prickles, and it will sometimes kill the 

 sheep when it gets into the wool. The last two 

 things on the " Australian " are seed-vessels, or rather 

 seeds, which grow easily, and are very abundant in 

 our mill-yard, where the seeds get often thrown to, 

 but I have never seen one in bloom. Bird of 

 Paradise feathers, ticks, nutmegs, and even knives 

 and money, are among the curiosities which we find. 

 Two snakes I have obtained I cannot quite deter- 

 mine. No. I : Back dark, with black markings, 

 and a V on its head ; belly slate-colour. No. 2 : 

 Back dark green, shading into light green towards 

 the belly, which is dark slate, and green patches ; 

 yellow mark round the back of head, followed by 

 black. It has dark spots on its back. Which is 

 best for preserving — gin, or spirits of wine ? — E. E. 

 Evans. 



Mermaid's Purses. — Most people who pay their 

 annual visit to the sea-side must have noticed in their 

 rambles certain curious-looking objects of a brownish- 

 black colour and horny consistence, shaped some- 

 what like a stretcher, or a pillow-case, with four 

 handles, called provincially, "Mermaid's Purses," 

 " Skate Barrows," &c., and known to naturalists as 

 " Skate's Eggs." Their average length is about four 

 inches, but one in my possession measures sei'en, and 

 not unfrequently they are invested with a miniature 

 forest of algx and zoophytes. Now, I have a great 

 desire to know the approximate number of eggs 

 dropped by any one skate during the spawning season. 

 I have searched through " YaiTell " and other 

 " eminent authorities" without success : the "purses" 

 are described and figured, but no allusion is made 

 (so far as I can see) to the numerical proportion 

 between these and the eggs of other fishes. We are 

 gravely informed that in the roe of a single " cod," 

 nine millions of eggs have been counted (calculated 

 would be the more correct term) ; other fish are, I 

 presume, equally prolific ; the herring, for instance. 

 Now an ordinary-sized herring's roe might be placed 

 inside one of these "purses," yet the skate is not 

 uncommon, and there are some dozen species. The 

 Dog-fish, again, is plentiful enough (there are some 

 seven or eight species, exclusive of the two sharks), as 

 any fisherman can tell you, as they injure his nets and 

 devour his " catch " ; they produce the same kind of 

 egg slightly modified, being somewhat narrower, of a 

 lighter colour, and with an elongated tendril at each 

 of the four corners, by which they become attached 

 to sea-weeds or other fixed bodies. Now, it does 

 appear to me rather singular that such pains should 

 be taken to ascertain the millions of eggs contained 

 in a cod's roe, or the still more startling announce- 

 ment that a cubic inch of the Polierschiefer orpolishing- 

 slate of Bilin contains forty-one thousand millions of 

 the silicious shells of GalioncUa:, and yet that we 

 should be ignorant of the approximate number of 

 "cases" or "purses," varying from three or four to 



