HARDWICKKS SCIENCE-GOSSIF. 



115 



with. Generally, the white harebells look like 

 washed-out blue ones, with a very faint tinge of blue 

 and a somewhat sickly appearance. I have, however, 

 very rarely found a strong growing plant with opaque, 

 creamy white flower, notably last August one plant 

 on the N.E. slope of Mynydd Pen y fal, near Aber- 

 gavenny. These really white harebells almost seem 

 like a distinct variety. Is not the white harebell 

 commoner in France than in England ? Anne Pratt 

 mentions it, giving the popular name, I think, as 

 "la religieuse des champs;" but I unfortunately 

 have not her " British Flowering Plants" by me 

 now. In addition to the plants named by your 

 correspondent, Mr. H. G. Ward, we found last year 

 in a lane between Abergavenny and Crickhowell the 

 common scabious {Knaiitia arvensis) with perfectly 

 white flowers. In the parish of Henllis, near New- 

 port, columbines occur in purple, blue, rose pink and 

 white. The bugle is occasionally found white, and 

 the common wood sorrel is occasionally red. Around 

 Newport the common purple orchis (0. Mono), 

 where it grows in abundance, is always found in four 

 colours, viz. : purple, coral pink, light coffee colour, or 

 ecru and white, the lighter colours being the least 

 frequent and the green lines in the hood being a 

 striking feature in them. In the,Quantock country, in 

 Somersetshire, the bee orchis is found with three 

 white petals. — Thomas Jones, Newport, Mon. 



The Post Office and" Botanists. — Would any 

 brother botanists, who have exchanges with foreign 

 countries, join me in trying to obtain the same 

 privileges from the Post Office, as our foreign con- 

 freres have ? They are able to send their plants here 

 as " business papers " by the printed matter post, 

 costing them about 40'. per lb., whereas we have to 

 pay Parcel Post rate even for a few ounces, or else 

 letter post rate at 2\d. per \ oz. The lowest rate for 

 foreign Parcel Post is about \s. 2d., and to the 

 United States, Letter Post is the' only one we can send 

 plants by, there being no Parcel Post. From the 

 States parcels of plants can be sent here at 41/. per lb., 

 and the packets may weigh up to 41b. To make a 

 return exchange, for these we have to pay through the 

 Parcel Express Companies at about \s. and upwards 

 per lb. Could not a petition to the Postmaster- 

 General be got up about this ? I believe that among 

 the United States postal regulations, there is a special 

 one regarding the postage of dried plants. — A. E. 

 Lomax, 56 Vauxhall Road, Liverpool. 



Flora of Kent. — With reference to paragraph 

 on this subject lin April number, p. 90, there is no 

 complete Flora of the county ; but Cowell's " Floral 

 Guide to E Kent," "Wild Flowers of Dover and 

 Neighbourhood," and Jenner's "Flora of Tun- 

 bridge Wells," may be consulted with advantage. 

 Also G. Smith's collection of rare plants from S. 

 Kent, D. Cooper's "Flora Metropolitana," Irvine's 

 "London Flora," and E. de Crespigny's "New 



London Flora for W. Kent," besides the Report of 

 the Greenwich Natural History Society of the 

 District between the Rivers Cray, Ravensbourne, 

 and Thames. Milne and Gordon, N.E., and S. 

 Kent, 1792 ; and T. Johnston's " Iter," N. Kent. N. 

 and S. Kent, 1629 and 1632, would be too antiquated 

 to .be at all useful ; as also would be Petiver's 

 " Journey from London to Dover," and Blackstone's 

 " Species ; " but there are many records of later date 

 to be found in the pages of the " Phytologist," from 

 1855 to 1862 ; in those of Science-Gossip ; 

 Exchange and Locality Record Clubs' Reports and 

 other periodicals; not to mention Watson's "New 

 Botanist's Guide." Dr. de Crespigny's Handbook 

 may be procured at Messrs. Allen & Co.'s, Limited, 

 Waterloo Place. A new edition is ready for the 

 press, revised, rearranged, and with much additional 

 matter, itinerary and chart 35 to 40 miles round. — 

 Ede. 



Cuticles of Leaves. — What is the best way of 

 getting the cuticles of geranium and leaves such as 

 abutilon, and Cheirattthus incatia so as to mount 

 them as transparent objects ? Jabez Hogg, in his 

 work on the Microscope, recommends, p. 440, "im- 

 mersing the leaf in sulphuric ether," but as his book 

 was written in 1856 I thought some fresh way might 

 have been found out since that time. — G. A. Hankey. 



A variety of the male fern {Lastrea pseudo-mas) 

 has been found by Mr. Wilson, of Alford, N.B., 

 which is new to botanists. Fronds have been also 

 examined by Mr. Wollaston, of Chislehurst, who 

 calls it Lastrea pseudo-mas, var. multiformis, Wilson 

 (Wol.). The nearest previously-known form to this 

 was found by the late Mr. Barnes, of Levens, in 

 Lancashire. 



GEOLOGY, &C. 



On Phosphatic Chalk at Taplow.— The 

 following highly important paper was read at the 

 last meeting of the Geological Society, by Mr. 

 Strahan. Two beds of brown chalk in an old pit 

 near Taplow Court owe their colour to a multitude of 

 brown grains. These grains are almost entirely of 

 organic origin, foraminifera and shell-prisms forming 

 the bulk of them. Mr. Player has analysed 

 specimens of the brown chalk, and finds that it con- 

 tains from 16 to 35 per cent, of phosphate of lime. 

 The tests as well as the contents of the foraminifera 

 seem to have been phosphatized, the phosphate 

 appearing as a translucent film in the former case, 

 and as an opaque mass in the latter. In the case of 

 the prisms of molluscan shells, the whole of the 

 phosphate appears to be in the opaque form. 

 Minute coprolites also occur, together with many 

 small chips of fish-bone, in which Dr. Hinde has 

 recognized lacunae, while some have been identified 



