HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIF. 



235 



"Manual" (7th edit.) with the remark " not a native." 

 In our island the Gentian is a garden or rockery 

 plant only, and has its headquarters in the Pyrenees, 

 Alps, and Apennines. I have received from Mr. 

 Pearce, who had it from the lame guide, Pugh, of 

 Dolgelly, a specimen of Asplcninm septentrionale. 

 That record, therefore, I now no longer see any 

 reason for doubting. In July last, Mr. James Back- 

 house, of York, found Woodsia ilvcnsis on the Cader, 

 — another rare fern, and one hitherto unrecorded. 

 The grand precipices under "the saddle" of this 

 mountain would, from these notable discoveries, seem 

 to be as yet imperfectly explored, notwithstanding 

 the Rev. Mr. Ley's assiduous investigations in past 

 years. I also note that Hypericum montamim was 

 amongst the eighty species of wild flowers observed 

 by Mr. Robert Holland in "a Welsh Meadow" 

 near Dolgelly in June. — F. Arnold Lees, M.R.C.S., 

 L.R.C.P., Land. 



Cornish Plants. — In the course of my walks 

 round Newquay I have found the following plants, 

 many rare, I believe : — On Pentire Head, a barren 

 tract, carpeted with Erodhim inaritimiiin and tiny 

 Glechoma hedcracea, another space with Radiola 

 viillegrana. Cochlear ia Grce7ilandica, and Anagallis 

 arvensis (with unusually large flowers of every shade 

 of salmon-pink). An equally large space was covered 

 with pink and white Erica ciiierea, Scilla vcrna in 

 seed, and white Geranium moHe, whilst the stone 

 boundary-walls were hung with Arenaria rubra and 

 Eivdium moschatum, pink and white, with bright 

 blue Alkanet and Borage. But the spot most attrac- 

 tive to botanists was a bog formed by a clear little 

 trout-stream running through land red with iron-ore. 

 In this charming spot I gathered Drosera rotundifolia 

 with its lovely blossoms wide open, like alabaster 

 cups mingling with the dainty lilac-tinted Pinguicula 

 Lnsitanica and rosy Sphagnum to form cushions fit 

 for fairies, whilst by searching could be found Drosera 

 longifolia, also in bloom, amidst quantities of the 

 sweet-scented Anagallis tenella. The numerous seed- 

 spikes of Bog-orchis, Buckbean, and Asphodel showed 

 that it was not wanting in the earliest spring flowers. 

 Hidden under the flowering sprays of the waxy Erica 

 tetralix were masses of seedling Osmunda regalis. On 

 my way down the stream I gathered Bai-tsia viscosa 

 and Neotfia spiralis. Under a hedge we gathered 

 very fine Scilla autumnalis ; on one spike I counted 

 no less than 45 flowers over and coming out, every 

 plant bearing on an average three such spikes of the 

 rosy-purple flowers on slender pink-tinted scapes. I 

 am still keeping the Droseras in a saucer of water, 

 and feeding them every few days with tiny scraps of 

 meat, over which they close greedily, and seem to 

 thrive on it. In fact, I have seldom been in a spot 

 more interesting to the botanist, and at the same time 

 to the geologist, than this new and rather primitive 

 bathing-place of Newquay, which is witliin reach of 

 both Plymouth and Tintagel. — M. Conybcare. 



GEOLOGY. 



Post-Tertiary Arctic Fossils. — At the British 

 Association Meeting a paper was read by Dr. J. Gwyn 

 Jeffreys, on "The Post-Tertiary Fossils procured in 

 the late Arctic Expedition, with Notes on some of 

 the Recent or Living MoUusca from the same Expe- 

 dition." The author remarked that the fossils were 

 collected by Captain Fielden and Mr. Hart, the 

 naturalists of the expedition, and by Lieutenant 

 Egerton and Dr. Moss, two of the officers of Her 

 Majesty's ship Alert, in very higli latitudes, namely, 

 between 82° and ^Ty" N. The highest point realched 

 by the expedition was 83° 20' 26". These fossils were 

 found in mud-banks or raised sea-beds, at heights 

 varying from the level of the sea to 400 feet above it. 

 They consisted of eighteen species of mollusca, one 

 of hydrozoa, one of foraminifera, and one of marine 

 plants ; being altogether twenty-one species, all of 

 which now live in the Arctic seas. The author then 

 gave a list of the species, and showed their distribu- 

 tion in a recent or living as well as a fossil state ; and 

 he added some remarks as to the recent mollusca 

 procured in the expedition, and as to the apparent 

 abundance of marine animals in the ' ' Palseocrystic 

 Sea " of Sir George Nares. Professor T. R. Jones 

 remarked on the single species of foraminifera found 

 in the expedition, and i-eferred to the importance of 

 these lowly-organized fossils in throwing light upon 

 the physical condition in which they lived. Dr. 

 Moss, of the Arctic Expedition, described the shells 

 and driftwood found on a bank at the margin of the 

 Palssocrystic Sea, and regarded them as strictly 

 recent ; the shells, indeed, living almost on the spot 

 where they were found. Foraminifera were fre- 

 quently found in bottom-soundings. Mr. De Ranee 

 gave an account of the sketches and specimens brought 

 by Captain Fielden from the Arctic regions. The 

 valleys had been partly filled up by a deposit closely 

 resembling the boulder clay of Lancashire. Shells 

 were exceedingly rare in the Arctic clay. Sands and 

 gravels resembling the middle drifts of Lancashire 

 were not observed by the expedition. Major Woodall 

 mentioned that on the shores of Norway and Shet- 

 land anchorage could only be found where deposits 

 of clay occurred near the mouth of the valley. These 

 clays were generally unfossiliferous. Dr. Jeffreys, 

 in reply, stated that the single species of foraminifera 

 mentioned by him ranged throughout the North At- 

 lantic, and also occurred in the Mediterranean. He 

 believed there was no necessary difference in appear- 

 ance between the recent and fossil shells. If on a 

 raised beach they found shells not now living in the 



neighbouring seas, they ranked them as fossils. 



Interesting Discovery of a Moa Skeleton. 

 — The discovery of the skeleton of a moa is reported 

 to have taken place on Mr. M 'Tier's fann in the 

 Awitu district. New Zealand. Mr. M'Tier had some 



