44 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



(hence its specific name) ; the small greenish flowers 

 are unisexual, the staminate flowers being borne on 

 toothed bracts in axillary spikes, and the pistillate in 

 a similar manner or in cymes. The first plants that 

 arrived here were sent by Allan Cunningham, in 1829, 

 and were all females. After a time some of these 

 flowered, and, without the application of pollen, 

 ripened seed which germinated and produced plants 

 resembling the parent form. A communication of 

 these facts to the Linnean Society by Mr. Smith 

 ("Transactions of Society," vol. xviii.) drew consi- 

 derable attention to the plant. Klotzsch examined 

 the seed and stated that it contained a bud and not 

 an embryo, but Braun, Radlkofer and others consi- 

 dered it as a true embryonic formation. Henslow 

 states that it is possibly an analogous phenomenon to 

 what takes place in some aphides, where one im- 

 pregnation is sufficient for several generations. If 

 that be the case, the definite settlement of any doubt 

 resting upon the subject is merely a question of time, 

 as it is almost impossible for true fertilisation to take 

 place, there not being a single male plant in Europe. 

 On the same side as the above we notice Laportea 

 stimulans, an urticaceous plant with large crenulate 

 ovate leaves, having numerous stinging hairs on both 

 surfaces. This plant was found by Leschenault in 

 Java, and he states that its sting produces inflamma- 

 tion and tetanic symptoms, similar to Laportea crenu- 

 lata, but less severe. On the same authority we learn 

 that the natives of Java rub buffaloes with the fresh 

 leaves to excite them to fight with tigers. At the 

 south end of the house is a magnificent specimen of 

 Grias canliflora, the anchovy pear of Jamaica, a 

 native of the West Indies, included in the Order 

 Myrtaceae, tribe Barringtoniese. Its generic name is 

 derived from grao— to eat, alluding to the fruit ; the 

 specific name refers to the appearance of the flowers 

 on the old wood. It is a slender, unbranched tree, 

 having at the summit a crown of drooping lanceolate 

 glossy green leaves, which are larger than those of any 

 other dicotyledonous tree (3 feet long by l\ to 2 feet 

 broad). The large white flowers spring in clusters 

 from the stem, but they are rarely seen, and this plant 

 has never flowered. The fruits are pickled and eaten 

 like mangos, which they are said to resemble in 

 flavour. We find on the shelf at the east side of the 

 house a small plant of Hura crepitans, the sandbox- 

 tree or Monkey's "Dinner Bell," considered as a 

 native of tropical America, but now cultivated for 

 shade through the tropics generally. It is a Euphor- 

 biaceous tree of extremely quick growth ; the wood 

 is so soft that a clap of thunder or gust of wind will 

 break the largest boughs. The fruit is a woody cap- 

 sule of many cocci, which in drying burst open down 

 the back into two valves, at the same time separating 

 from the axis with the noise of a pistol shot. The 

 juice of the tree contains an extremely poisonous 

 principle. Boussingault relates that when he and 

 M. Rivero analysed some of the milky juice, they 

 were both attacked with erysipelas. It forms a large 

 branching tree, 30 to 40 feet high, bearing unisexual, 

 inconspicuous, reddish flowers. The female flowers 

 have a very remarkable trumpet-shaped style, with a 

 reflexed, many-toothed, terminal portion. The seeds 

 are occasionally administered as a purgative to ne- 

 groes, but are extremely dangerous, for two seeds 

 have produced death. — Lezuis Castle, West Kensington 

 Park. 



The Cultivation of Mistletoe. — Seeing in 

 the June number of Science-Gossip a botanical note 

 by Mr. J. M. Higgins about growing mistletoe in 

 Devonshire, where it is seldom seen, I thought it 

 might interest some of your readers to hear about 



attempts to grow it in Edinburgh, where it is never 

 found in a state of nature. In the first week of 

 February I planted about twenty seeds of mistletoe, 

 in the same way as Mr. Higgins, on hawthorn, ser- 

 vice, plane, poplar, pear and apple trees, and I may 

 add that in no cases were they pecked at by birds. 

 On April 24, when passing one of the apple-trees, 

 I noticed that one of the seeds had begun to ger- 

 minate, and on examining the others I found them 

 beginning to smell and turn green ; and by May 1, 

 other seven seeds had burst and had protruded small 

 green suckers, which have since taken hold on the 

 bark. By the beginning of June the rest of the seeds, 

 with a few exceptions, had sprouted, those .on the 

 apple and hawthorn trees being furthest on and 

 healthiest looking. I have therefore great hopes of 

 growing the parasite, and I may mention that several 

 gentlemen in the neighbourhood have been very suc- 

 cessful in its cultivation ; one plant in particular which 

 I have seen several times in a garden near is remark- 

 ably handsome and strong, being, I believe, about 

 seven years old. There is one very good specimen of 

 mistletoe in the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens, and I 

 believe several smaller plants in Warriston Cemetery. 

 Can any of your readers explain to me why four of 

 my seeds have sent out two suckers apiece, while 

 the rest of them have only sent out one each ? — 

 Horace N. Bonar, Edinburgh. 



The Nightingale in Yorkshire. — Last May 

 a man found a nest in a wood near Ripon. He 

 thought it was a tree-pipit's nest, with curious 

 coloured eggs in it. He took them to Mr. Pratt of 

 Ripon, who told him they were nightingales' eggs and 

 not tree-pipits. This is the first nest I have heard of 

 being found in Yorkshire. — James Ingleby. 



Cuckoo's Visits. — Mr. Bennett asks if the cuckoo 

 revisits the same place yearly. I believe it does. A 

 neighbour told me last May he heard a cuckoo with 

 a very peculiar note for the last four years near his 

 house ; he was almost sure it was the same bird. In 

 answer to the inquiry for a description of the cuckoo's 

 eggs : They vary very much in colour, and very much 

 resemble the birds' eggs of the nests they are placed 

 in. Some are like meadow-pipits, others pied wag- 

 tails, some lighter in colour and others darker, and 

 small for the size of the bird. — James Ingleby. 



The Cuckoo and her Eggs. — " The Universe," 

 by F. A. Pouchet (Blackie & Son, 1877), speaking of 

 the cuckoo laying her eggs in the nests of other birds, 

 has the following, page 198 : — " It is the nest of the 

 golden crested, or common, wren that this bird selects 

 for the accomplishment of its designs." Can any 

 reader of Science-Gossip verify this statement from 

 personal observation ? Has any one ever seen a young 

 cuckoo in a wren's nest ? In matters of this nature 

 statements not made from personal observation are of 

 no value. After careful search and observation of 

 many years, I havejnever myself found a cuckoo's egg 

 or young except in the nest of a gronnd-bnilding bird, 

 never, indeed, except in the nest of the meadow- 

 pipit and the grey wagtail. The writer also "states 

 that the cuckoo has "never more than two eggs." 

 Has this been certainly ascertained, and how ? Have 

 any considerable number of birds been examined 

 before the eggs come to maturity, to justify this state- 

 ment?—?. A. Kerr, Whiteabbey. 



Malformed Egg. — I have recently seen in this 

 neighbourhood an egg from a Brahmapootra hen 

 which contained within it another smaller egg. The 

 inner egg was imbedded in the albumen of the outer 

 one, and had pushed the yolk out of its normal 



