HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



255 



neck, breast, wings, tail, feet and feathers of the 

 barnacle goose." 



So the myth lived on, and I am informed lives now 

 in the extreme west of Ireland, and also in the High- 

 lands of Scotland. Professor RoUeston, of Oxford, did 

 his share towards eradicating this superstition from 

 the vulgar mind by shedding the light of science upon 

 those darkened by ignorance. He prepared specimens 

 of LepadidK in such a way as to show to the best 

 advantage the manner in which the external 

 appearance of Anatifera upheld the theory which 

 derived hcniaca, a goose, from bcniacula, a shell. 



Now a man who had been struck with the similarity 

 of names would only require some slight ocular proof 

 to be convinced of the truth of the hypothesis. The 

 wish being father of the thought, this evidence was 

 soon forthcoming. Away goes our friend and beholds 

 a mass of these barnacles fastened to the keel of a 

 ship or a piece of floating timber, and we all know 

 that " Distance lends enchantment to the view," so he 

 at once pronounces the foot of the crustacean to be 

 the neck of the bird, and the shell its head, and goes 

 home quite contented, and helps to spread the fable. 

 As for the body of the creature, history gives us no 

 account of it. Non est hie. 



John Eyre. 



VEGETABLE TERATOLOGY. 



AS you seem to be working up the subject of 

 Vegetable Teratology, the following notes may 

 perhaps be of use to you. 



In the Chronicle of the Agricultural Society of New 

 South Wales, Dr, Woolls records a number of cases, 

 chiefly dealing, however, with double flowers in the 

 Australian native flora. Some of the plants mentioned 

 were originally recorded by Baron Sir F. von ]M idler. 

 Double flowers occur in Ruhus rosif alius, Sm. ; 

 Efacris piirpiirascms, R. Br. ; E. iiiicropliylla, R. 

 Br. ; E. ii/ipressa, Latreille ; Sprengdia incar7iata, 

 Sm. ; Astroloina huinifusjim, R. Br. ; Raminaihis 

 lappaceus, Sm. ; Eriostemon olwvalis, A. Cunn. ; 

 Borojiia pinnata, Sm. ; Convolvulus erubescois, Sims ; 

 Wahlejibergia gracilis, A. D'C. With regard to this 

 latter species, naturally of a pretty blue colour, I saw 

 near Alpha, central Queensland, during October 1S87, 

 that for miles along the railway line the flowers were 

 abnormally white, not odd ones, but every example 

 out of countless thousands. 



Fasciation of branches occurs in Goodenia hctero- 

 phylla, Sm. 



I have myself seen fasciation in young leading 

 shoots of Casuarina (Australian oaks). 



During a recent excursion with some members of 

 the Linnean Society of N.S.W., near Sydney, Mr. 

 J. J. Fletcher, ]NLA., found two fine examples of our 

 native flannel flower, Actinolus hdianthi, Labill 



(Umbelliferce), with prolific heads ; in growth re- 

 sembling the old-fashioned hen and chickens daisy. 



During April last, I had brought to me, by a 

 student of the college, a head of maize illustratin,:,' 

 heterogamy. Normally the male inflorescence is a 

 compound spike on upper part of plant, whilst the 

 female flowers are in simple spikes on the stem below. 

 In the example seen, numerous female flowers 

 (seeding) were produced on the male inflorescence. 



Charles. T. Musson. 

 Hawkeslncry Agricultural College, Richmond, New 



South IValcs. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



No provincial society is doing better or steadier 

 work than the Bristol Naturalists'. We have just 

 received vol. vi., part 3, of their "Proceedings," 

 containing papers by Professor C. Lloyd Morgan, 

 C. Bucknall, Dr. Burder, Mr. C. Richardson, H. P. 

 Leonard, Dr. Edgeworth, H. W. Pearson, and 

 others. 



A MOST useful "Key to the Genera and Species of 

 British Mosses" has just been issued by the Rev. 

 H. G. Jameson, and published by Messrs. W^est,. 

 Newman & Co., 54 Hatton Garden, at eighteen 

 pence. 



The second annual report of the Missouri Botani- 

 cal Garden, founded by'Mr. Shaw, is to hand. The 

 institution is safe to do good work under the superin- 

 tendence of Professor W. Trelease. These volumes- 

 will be appreciated by botanists all over the world. 

 They are nicely got up, and the plates are admirably- 

 drawn and finished. 



To botanists, there is no more interesting or 

 welcome brochure than the report of the Botanical 

 Exchange Club. The Report for last year is fully up 

 to its predecessors in this respect (Manchester, Jas. 

 Collins & Co., King St.). 



It is humanly and scientifically interesting to 

 come into contact with what our friends and relatives 

 are doing fourteen thousand miles away. We have 

 before us the "Annual Report of the Stawell 

 School of Mines" &c., for 1S91, and a capital bit 

 of work it records. Science means business, not 

 hobbyism, at the Antipodes ! 



Le Diatomiste. The September part of this 

 series (No. 6) contains two exquisitely finished 

 plates. The capital paper by the editor, M. 

 Tempere, is continued, on " Recherche et Recolte 

 des Diatomees." 



An old contributor to our columns, Mr. D. McAl- 

 pine, some years ago emigrated to Australia, where 

 he has done some good original work, particu- 



