1 64 



HARD WICKE 'S S CIENCE - G O SSI P. 



animals. The distribution of the remains found in the 

 Church Hole Cave agreed generally with that above 

 described : traces of human occupation and remains of 

 the Hycena occurred both in the cave-earth and in the 

 red sand and clay. The bones found indicated the 

 following animals : — Lion, Polecat, Hyrena, Fox, 

 Wolf, Bear, Reindeer, Irish Elk, Bison, Horse, 

 Woolly Rhinoceros, Mammoth, and Hare — all 

 common to both the cave-deposits, excej^t the Lion, 

 which was found only in the cave-earth, and the 

 Polecat, of which a single jaw occurred in the red 

 sand. The latter contained a larger proportion of 

 the remains than in the Robin Hood Cave, but, as in 

 the latter, the quartzite implements were more abun- 

 dant in the lower strata of the deposits. Among the 

 articles of human workmanship was a perfect and 

 well-shaped bone needle. The superficial soil of the 

 Church Hole Cave also contained articles of the 

 historic and prehistoric age, including a bronze fibula, 

 fragments of pottery (one mediaeval), and bones of 

 man and animals. From the presence of these objects 

 in the surface-soil the author inferred that the caves 

 of Cresswell Crags, like those of Yorkshire and else- 

 where, were used as jDlaces of refuge by the Brit- 

 welsh during the conquest of the country by the 

 English. After noticing the conditions of the fossil 

 bones found in the caves, the author proceeded to 

 remark upon the general results of the explorations 

 with regard to their Pleistocene fauna, and concluded 

 that there is no evidence from these or other caves in 

 this country to prove that their faunas are either 

 pre- or interglacial, and that we have no proof of the 

 existence of pre- or interglacial man in Britain. 



■ NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Density of Sea-water. — In the February num- 

 ber of Science-Gossip, H. Macco says, "It is 

 a known fact that all water, fresh or salt, when 

 agitated, requires a lower temperature to freeze than 

 when perfectly still.'' But is he quite sure of this? 

 The following statement occurs in the article " Ice," 

 in "Chambers's Encyclopaedia": — "Water in 

 ordinary cases freezes at the degree of heat marked 

 32 deg. on Fahrenheit's thermometer, and o deg. on 

 Centigrade and Reaumur's, but if it is kept perfectly 

 still, it may be cooled to nearly 22 deg. Fahr. below 

 freezing and still remain liquid. The least shake, 

 however, or the throwing in a solid body, makes a 

 portion of it freeze instantly, and its temperature rises 

 immediately to 32 deg." As this is just the reverse 

 of what Mr. Macco says, it would be interesting to 

 know which is right. — D. Douglas. 



Pronunciation of Names.— Mr. G. S. Boulger 

 says that he thinks that the "ch" in Lachcnalia, 

 Glcichenia, &c., should be hard, i.e. like k. There 

 is a genus of ]5lants named Richardsoriia, after Mr. 

 Richardson. Is this then to be pronounced Rikard- 

 sonia? If it is not, and the English sound of the 

 "ch " is to be retained in this word, why should not 

 the soft sound of the French " ch " be used in 

 Lachcnalia, — a genus named after M. de la Chenal? 

 —E. C. 



Albinism in Birds. — I send you the following, 

 hoping it may be of some interest to your readers- 

 Feb. 24. When walking near the edge of the reced- 

 ing floods in this place (Weston, near Bridgwater), I 

 saw a number of starlings, and amongst them a 

 white one. I saw it fly from the ground several 

 times with the others. I was only about sixty yards 

 distant when I first noticed it, so had a good view. — 

 E. y. King. 



Vitality in Seeds. — The mines of Laurium, 

 which gave rise recently to such lively diplomatic dis- 

 cussion, are generally known to be largely encumbered 

 with scoriae, proceeding from the working of the 

 ancient Greeks, but still containing enough of silon 

 to repay extraction by the improved modern methods. 

 Professor Hendrich relates, that under these scoriie 

 for at least 1500 years, has slept the seed of a poppy 

 of the genus Glaiiciitm. After the refuse had been 

 removed to the furnace, from the whole space which 

 they had covered have sprung up and flowered the 

 pretty yellow corollas of this flower, which was un- 

 known to modern science, but described by Pliny and 

 Dioscorides. This flower has disappeared for fifteen 

 to twenty centuries, and its reproduction at this 

 interval is a fact parallel to the fertility of the famous 

 "mummy wheat." — London Medical Record. 



Lining Butterfly-boxes. — Some years ago I 

 used some linoleum as a lining for butterfly-boxes, 

 and experience has shown me how good a material 

 it is for this purpose. Cork and oil entering into its 

 composition render it both tenacious of the pin and 

 insect-proof. I lined my box with brown linoleum in 

 March, 1873, and now every specimen is intact, no 

 mites having ever appeared since. The insects show 

 up well on the dark ground, and, as I said before, 

 the pin holds better than in anything I have ever 

 tried. The only objection I have to it, is the increase 

 of weight in travelling. Of course those who object 

 to the colour could cover it with paper. — A. 

 Hamilton. 



Ivy. — The Ivy is always described as having the 

 leaves of the climbing stems angular and lobed, while 

 those of the flowering stems are ovate or lanceolate 

 and entire. I have just gathered a variety from the 

 trunk of a large elm in which the leaves of the flower- 

 ing stems are not entire. On each side of the 

 acuminate point is a sharp lobe pointing forwards, 

 the base of the leaf being sometimes a little rounded, 

 sometimes cuneate. In this variety the leaves of the 

 climbing stems are ve:y deeply divided, very dark in 

 colour, and with whitish veins. On another elm, 

 about twenty yards distant, grew the more common 

 variety with leaves of a paler green, the lobes shorter, 

 broader, and blunter, and those of the flowering 

 branches all entire. I do not remember any British 

 plant in M'hich the leaves vary so much in the same 

 species, and even on the same individual, as the Ivy, 

 unless it be the Hawthorn ; but in this case the lobed 

 leaf of the flowering branch is not accidental but 

 quite characteristic. It was so striking that it at- 

 tracted my attention at once as I walked along by the 

 hedgerow, although the flowering branches were 

 some feet above me, and I had to climb to get one. 

 There are two very small entire leaves just below the 

 umbel of fruit ; eveiy other leaf on the branch is lobed. 

 This form may possibly be the origin of the garden 

 variety digitata. The tendency to division of the leaf 

 is evidently stronger in this than in the common form, 

 so that its force is not quite exhausted even in the 

 flowering branches. — F. T. Mott, Leicester. 



The Un-common Nettle.— There grows in the 

 Australian bush a nettle-tree which attains the size of 



