i8 



BARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



met "with in these rocks." We in Oldham are situate 

 within an easy walk of a long and well-developed 

 outcrop of these gannister beds, and I have been 

 intimately acquainted with them for upwards of 

 twenty years, yet, in a palasontological sense, it has 

 never occurred to me that this series, with some 

 limitations, could have had any other origin than a 

 marine one. From the time of my first acquaintance 

 with these beds I have believed that such fossils as 

 Goniatites, Orthoceratites, and Nautili, were the re- 

 mains of marine mollusca. — Jas. Nield, Oldham. 



What are Conodonts ?— It will interest our geolo- 

 gical readers to know that at another recent meeting of 

 the Glasgow Natural History Society, Mr. John Young 

 stated that he has been enabled to compare Mr. Smith's 

 carboniferous limestone conodonts with the series of 

 Silurian forms so beautifully figured in the plates of 

 Dr. Pander, and that he finds in these plates that at 

 least five of the Silurian genera are represented 

 amongst the carboniferous specimens. These genera 

 are Cardylodus, Gnathodus, Ctenognathus, Prionodus, 

 and Lanchodus. Of some of these genera there are 

 one or two species that are so closely related to the 

 Silurian forms that it is difficult to point out any 

 characteristic distinctions between them. Mr. Young 

 stated that Professor Owen in his " Palaeontology," 

 first edition, p. 96, says, " The writer, after the closest 

 comparison and consideration of the evidence, is 

 disposed to regard only those referred by Pander to 

 the genera Ctenognathus, Cardylodus, and Gnathodus, 

 as having any probable claim to vertebrate rank." It 

 is therefore interesting to find, as already noted, that 

 these three genera are represented amongst the car- 

 boniferous forms, and it becomes highly probable that 

 the other genera may yet rank amongst the vertebrates 

 likewise. In the deposits yielding these remains are 

 found beautifully preserved vertebral bones, appa- 

 rently of small fishes, while another tooth somewhat 

 closely related to Aulocodus (Pander) and scales like 

 Ccelolepis (Pander) are also found. Mr. Young also 

 stated that amongst Mr. Smith's specimens were one 

 or two slides of stout, minute, conical teeth, about a 

 line in length, of a round form, slightly curved, hollow 

 at their base, and tipped at their points with trans- 

 parent dentine or enamel. These teeth differ from 

 the conodonts figured in Pander's plates, in being 

 nearly circular in section, while the Silurian forms in 

 most instances have sharp opposite margins. The 

 carboniferous specimens may therefore belong to 

 true fishes, of which there is plenty of other evidence 

 in the same beds. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Do Blackbirds migrate?— In the spring of 1876 

 a brood of blackbirds was hatched in the nursery of 

 Messrs. Lott & Hart, of Faversham, one of which, 

 a cock-bird, was mottled, one wing being entirely 

 white, which made it very conspicuous, and on that 

 account it was spared from being shot when it helped 



itself to the cherries. In the early autumn it was lost 

 sight of with regret, being often looked for during the 

 winter, but was never seen ; and it was thought that it 

 had fallen a prey to some one who had the propensity 

 for putting into a glass case every bird that had the 

 misfortune to differ from its fellows. But in the 

 spring of 1877 it reappeared, and either found or 

 brought a mate with it, and built a nest in the garden, 

 where it remained all the summer, being the only bird 

 that held the royal prerogative of helping itself to the 

 fruit with impunity. In autumn the bird was again 

 missing, and it was thought that it had come to an 

 untimely end ; but on the evening of March 4 it 

 again made its appearance, and, perching on a fruit 

 tree quite close to the house, it made the inmates 

 aware of its presence by singing its evening chorus 

 with all its might. It would thus appear that the 

 blackbird does not stay in the same neighbourhood 

 all the year. Do they pass south for their winter 

 quarters like the ring-ousel, which we see passing 

 southwards in the early autumn ? these stay with us 

 for one clay, helping themselves to the mulberries, of 

 which they seem very fond, and then are seen no 

 more. — James Pink. 



Preserving Reptiles. — I should be much obliged 

 if you could give me any good way of preserving 

 reptiles, more especially frogs and newts. I have 

 read that, if put in a bottle of corrosive sublimate and 

 spirits of wine, it takes them a long time to die, and 

 they are in great agony all the time. By stating, 

 first, how to kill, and, secondly, how to preserve, 

 you will oblige — Alfred Wheldon. 



Stung or Scalded by Parsnips. — I was sur- 

 prised a few weeks ago to receive a note from the 

 Island of Guernsey, from which I quote : — " I have 

 been poisoned round my wrists, so that I could not 

 write. You must know that parsnips collect quantities 

 of dew, and if we touch, or are touched by, the most 

 minute point of a leaf while the dew is on it, a red 

 spot comes, which brings intolerable itching, espe- 

 cially when warm in bed ; then each spot turns into 

 a nasty yellowish blister full of very hot water. When 

 that bursts, it leaves an open sore, as painful as a 

 boil, which takes a long time to heal, and which 

 continues itching till quite dried up." And in answer 

 to an inquiry from me : " Only when wet with dew 

 will they sting or blister ; rain does not do it. Every 

 farmer or agricultural labourer in the island has 

 suffered from it." I may just add immense quantities 

 of parsnips are grown on the island for the cattle, the 

 soil being peculiarly suited to them. As I have not 

 seen this stinging or " scalding," as it is called by the 

 workmen, I should like to ask your readers if it be 

 commonly met with in England, or is it peculiar to 

 the island ? — Spes non Fracta. 



Position of Yews in Churchyards. — Has it 

 been noticed that, as a rule, yew-trees in churchyards 

 are on the south of the church ? In twenty church- 

 yards in East Surrey I find there are only two or three 

 yews out of about forty that are north of the centre 

 line of the church. I should be much obliged if any 

 of the readers of Science-Gossip living in Surrey 

 would inform me which churches in their neighbour- 

 hood have yews and which have not, especially to be 

 informed certainly that the South London parish 

 churches have none, as this would save me much 

 unnecessary trouble ; also of any traditions or 

 reasons why they should be planted in churchyards. — 

 E. Straker. 



Development of Frogs' Spawn.— On March 

 20, at 9 a.m., I collected some fresh spawn (there 



