March 1, 1869.] 



IIAPDWICKE'S SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



71 



"Piece op Coal." — Had my "piece of coal" 

 known it would have fallen into such severely 

 critical hands as those of Mr. Dalton, it would, I 

 am sure, have refrained from sacrificing any tech- 

 nicality to picturesque description. Mr. Dalton 

 might have credited the "piece of coal" with know- 

 ing something about its own history, although, per- 

 haps, it was not so fresh from the "manuals" as 

 himself. His two "gross mistakes" sink into 

 nothing when examined. "With regard to the 

 "hilly barrier" of which the coal spoke, let him 

 refer to Mr. Godwin- Austin's paper "On the Pos- 

 sible Extension of the Coal Measures beneath the 

 South-Eastern part of England." He will there 

 find the " hilly barriers " mapped out for him, and 

 not only so, but the statement made that "the 

 Rhenish aud Belgian coal-beds are the remains of a 

 succession of fringing bands of dense vegetation, 

 occupying a continuous tract of coast-line." He 

 speaks of the Midland and Northern coal-measures 

 of England in a similar manner. "What does this 

 mean but that in the "deeper water" other deposits, 

 notably limestone (always a deep-sea deposit), must 

 have been going on ? Mr. Geikie, in his " Story of 

 a Boulder " (1858), gives almost a similar statement 

 to that of my unfortunate piece of coal. After 

 describing the various forms of vegetable life in 

 morass and on land, he says, " But the lifelessness 

 of the Carboniferous forests was amply compensated 

 for by the activity that reigned in river, lagoon, and 

 sea. Coral groves gleamed white beneath the 

 waves," &c. If the latter was the case, then 

 "coral" limestones must have been forming. Is 

 Mr. Dalton aware that in the Mid-Lothian coal- 

 field the coal-seams actually intercalate among the 

 mountain limestones ? He had best study Professor 

 Huxley's doctrine of " synchronism" Every natu- 

 ralist must know that similar geographical con- 

 ditions existed in Carboniferous times to those that 

 now prevail. In shallow seas, shingle, sandstone, 

 &c, were deposited; in the deeper parts, limestones. 

 The Carboniferous period was no exception to the 

 rule, as my "piece of coal" well knew. Let Mr. 

 Dalton leave the rigidity of his manual classifica- 

 tion, and he will see that because the "piece of 

 coal " spoke of limestones being deposited synchro- 

 nously with the coal-beds, it did not therefore 

 declare that the mountain limestone as we have it 

 does not stand in the relations to the millstone grit, 

 &c, otherwise than as he himself puts it. This, 

 however, should be a lesson of how easy it is to 

 twist a general description into a series of technical 

 errors. — J. E. Taylor, Norwich. 



Lamperns ("L. S.," p. 45).— Jenyns' "British 

 Vert," edition 1835 ; Garrett's " British Eishes," 

 1836 ; Couch's " British Eishes," 1S65, all (and, 

 as 1 believe, continental authorities do) make the 

 lamprey {Petromyzon marinus) and the lampern 

 {Petromyzon fluviatilis) distinct fishes, the latter 

 rarely exceeding 15 inches, the former sometimes 

 more than twice that length, besides other im- 

 portant distinctions. Both fishes are caught in 

 the Severn. General accounts give the lamprey as 

 the fish which caused the death of Henry I. — 

 8. M. P. 



Pipits. — Could any of your readers inform me if 

 they have seen pipits, commonly called titlarks, in 

 flocks ? I have myself seen ten or twelve together, 

 which could not have been the family bred last 

 summer, for I believe four or five eggs are the ordi- 

 nary number. — Forbes Jenkins. 



The Lamprey. — The lampern and the lamprey 

 are to be seen in different baskets in Worcester 

 Market. The lamprey is the smaller and more 

 delicate animal, with its leech-like mouth and row 

 of breathing (?) holes on each side of the head, 

 living by suction in the mud. It is the veritable 

 fish immortalized in English history as the cause of 

 Henry I.'s death, still, as then, called the " royal 

 fish ; " and I was told at "Worcester that the first 

 dish caught for the season is still sent to the Queen 

 as her prerogative. And oh, gentle reader, tell it 

 not above a whisper ! but were you to taste of this 

 dish, cooked in its orthodox manner, with rich 

 gravies and port wine, you would look for evermore 

 with lenient indulgence on poor King Henry's last 

 weakness, only wondering that all the monarchs of 

 England ever since have not followed his example. 

 — E.H. J!'. 



Laurel-leaves (pp. 21 and 15). — "Don" observes 

 of the laurel (Ceras/is lauro-cerasus), "leaves . . . 

 furnished with two or four glands beneath ; " of C. 

 Lusitanica (the Portugal laurel) he notes, "leaves 

 . . . glandless." 1 notice that " H. W. W. " says 

 that the marks are mostly two in number; while 

 "S. M." says there are four, "rarely only two." 

 On the many leaves I have examined two is the 

 prevailing number, but on one or two I observed 

 three. Curiously enough, I have never, as far as I 

 can recollect, seen the bees on the leaves, although 

 we have plenty of laurel in our garden. — James 

 Britten. 



Glowworm. — Your correspondent " E.J.D."asks, 

 upon p. 45, how far north the glowworm has been 

 found. Some time ago, when I was at the Trosachs, 

 in Perthshire, my cousin and I went out for a stroll 

 at night along the shores of Loch Achray, and, 

 although it was getting rather late in the season, 

 being the end of September, we saw several of the 

 brilliant lights which betoken the presence of this 

 curious little beetle. Having captured one or two 

 of the creatures, we carried them up to our hotel, 

 and displayed them in the coffee-room, to the asto- 

 nishment, I remember, of the whole array of 

 visitor-tourists, who crowded round to gaze upon 

 the novelty. — Edward Banks. 



Luminous Centipede. — In November, 1866, I 

 found several specimens of the luminous centipede. 

 Its name is Geophilus phosphor ea. Prom the descrip- 

 tions, I believe it to be exactly the same as those 

 mentioned by your correspondents last month, but 

 the phosphorescent quality is common to the genus. 

 It is therefore, of course, natual, and does not pro- 

 ceed from a wound. — M. G. F. 



Dendritic Spots on Paper.— Some observa- 

 tions and correspondence on this subject will be 

 given, if possible, in our next. — Ed. S.-G. 



Bees a Pemedy. — In a curious work, by Samuel 

 Purchas, M.A., in 1657, called a "Theatre of Poli- 

 ticall Flying Insects," amongst other curious pre- 

 scriptions are the following:—" Bees powdered cure 

 the wind collick. Take twelve or fourteen bees 

 powdered in anything every morning, &c, &c. 

 Honey mixed with powdered bees, and so taken, is 

 healthful for the crudities of the stomach."— 7/". T. 

 II iff, Epsom. 



Young Starlings in January.— A gamekeepei 

 on the Apley estate found a starling's nest with 

 young ones in it on the 9th of January last.— Ed- 

 icard Bunlcs. 



