July 1, 1869.] 



HAEDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



167 



Trifolium minus is most generally used at present 

 this is, however, no conclusive argument in its 

 favour, for it is highly improbable that a tradition 

 which had only for its basis the minute peculiarities 

 which distinguish one trefoil from another, should 

 have remained unchanged during a space of fifteen 

 centuries. It must be allowed that the Trifolium 

 repens more nearly resembles the Oxalis than does 

 the Minus. Is it then too much to suppose that 

 when the Oxalis became more scarce, the Repens 

 was chosen ; and that at a still later period the 

 Minus became the favourite on account of its being 

 perhaps the commoner, if not from its superior 

 beauty ? Your correspondent of the June number, 

 in supporting the Trifolium minus, confined himself 

 entirely to the usage of the present day ; but, as I 

 take it, the point in dispute has reference, to the 

 identical trefoil used by St. Patrick, and not to the 

 plant now in use. I should be glad to know if any 

 of your readers could give any instances of the 

 Oxalis ever having been worn in honour of St. Pat- 

 rick. I should also like to know if there are any 

 ancient records of "wearing the shamrock " in past 

 ages, or whether it has simply been a traditionary 

 usage. — R. F. 



Notes of the Seasons foe, Ctjshendtjn, Co. 

 Antrim— Swallows seen April ISth, 1867; April 

 25th, 1868 ; April 12th, 1869. Cuckoo, April 27th, 

 1867 ; April 25th, 186S ; April 23rd, 1869. Corn- 

 crake, May 3rd,'lS67 ; May 2nd, 1868 ; April 24th, 

 1869. Willow Wren, May 4th, 1867; April 26th, 

 1868 ; April 18th, 1869— Rev. S. A. Brenan, M.R. 

 D.S. 



The Shamrock, Mistletoe, and Palm 

 Branch.— The identification of real objects that 

 have served as sacred or national emblems will 

 always be of interest. 1. With regard to the 

 Shamrock, I may mention, that when in the West 

 of Ireland some few years since, 1 visited a bazaar, 

 or fancy fair, held for some charitable purpose by 

 the upper class in their county town. Some of the 

 presiding ladies very courteously tendered me a 

 sprig of the true Shamrock ; this was in some sort 

 official, and most certainly it was the large-leaved 

 trefoil, having a beautiful purple spot in each 

 leaflet, which your correspondent "H. IN.," writing 

 from Oscott, identifies as Trifolium repens. Such 

 also have I seen in London greenhouses under the 

 same character. 2. The mistletoe has been much 

 discussed of late in France and Switzerland, as well 

 as in England. I see no reason to doubt the con- 

 clusion of our old antiquaries, that our Mistletoe is 

 the viscum of Pliny and Ovid, who both connect it 

 with Druidical worship. Its traditional reputation 

 has come down to us with such unvarying certainty 

 that nothing short of a physical impossibility should 

 nullify the report. The Mistletoe is found upon the 

 oak. The question of its scarcity or its abundance 

 is quite of secondary importance. 3. The Palm- 

 branch. Thousands of unsophisticated individuals 

 descend to the grave under the full impression that 

 they have assisted at our national church festival 

 with a branch of real palm in their hands, which, 

 however, is no more than willow or ash ; waggon- 

 loads of these saplings reach the metropolis every 

 year at Easter, cut, as I am informed, chiefly on the 

 marshy banks _ of the Lower Thames. Such 

 branches, in their green state, with little tufts of 

 blossom spread at intervals towards the gracefully 

 curving apex, figure in processions along the aisles 

 of our churches, as real palm. The effect is pretty ; 



they are suitable, and may be obtained at a cheap 

 rate _ in this country, where the true palm is an 

 exotic. It appears that in England during the 

 period of Roman Catholic ascendancy, the Salix 

 caprea and S. cinerea, called Sallows, were generally 

 used for this purpose ; though box and yew were 

 sometimes substituted. The date-palm {Phcenix 

 dactylifera), once very common in Palestine, is now 

 very rare, but is largely cultivated in Spain, South 

 of France, Italy, and Sicily, for this purpose. 

 Travellers report that Palma Christi (Ricinus com- 

 munis) is cultivated in Palestine chiefly as a garden 

 shrub— P. N. R. 



The American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science has announced its eighteenth 

 meeting to be held at Salem, commencing on the 

 18th of August. A special circular has been 

 addressed to persons interested in the microscope, 

 announcing that, in order to give encouragement to 

 the general and increasing interest in the use of the 

 microscope, rooms will be provided for the display 

 of microscopes and microscopical apparatus. It is 

 intended to have as complete a collection as possible 

 of instruments of both American and foreign manu- 

 facture. The objects of this exhibition will be to 

 assist the progress of scientific research, by social 

 intercourse and a full comparison and discussion of 

 whatever is new and important in microscopical in- 

 vestigation, and to encourage the manufacture and 

 use of this valuable instrument. 



Small Lapwing's Eggs— The egg described by 

 " J. H. A." is, in my experience, unprecedentedly 

 small. I have one a quarter of an inch larger, which 

 I thought a wonder for a wader's egg. The com- 

 panion egg is the full size : they were taken from a 

 nest of four, very near the Devil's Dyke, Brighton, 

 June 1863. They were found by a farmer of that 

 locality. The small egg is extremely richly marked, 

 all the colouring matter of a large egg being con- 

 centrated upon it. In size and shape it is exactly 

 that of a Pratincole or Black Tern's egg, whereas 

 your correspondent's, so far as I can gather from 

 his description, is of the usual form. I instanced 

 my egg, and exhibited it before the British Associa- 

 tion at Birmingham, as an example of remarkable 

 aberration in form in an egg. — C. 0. G. Napier. 



Cat Barometers.— The only folk-lore that I can 

 recollect connected with cats and their supposed 

 knowledge of the weather, is, that when a certain 

 black cat of ours used to appear more than usually 

 lazy, and a fixture on the hearthrug by the nursery 

 fire, our old nurse used to say, " We are going to 

 have windy weather ! " And it really is true that 

 often and often there were severe gales within less 

 than six hours of the sage prediction, but I never 

 noticed that cats exhibited any erratic propensities 

 on such occasions. I have heard that pigs run 

 about in windy weather, and the reason given me 

 as a child was that pigs could see the wind. I know 

 a brown cat of mine always exhibited a strong pro- 

 pensity for sharpening her claws in the leather- 

 covered cushions of my dining-room chairs, but it 

 never struck me that any atmospherical disturbance 

 followed this most destructive proceeding of poor 

 brownie's. — Helen E. Watney. 



^ Serin Finch. — Land and, Water, p. 392, records 

 the appearance of another Serin (Serhms meridio- 

 nalis) m Britain. It was shot in the neighbour- 

 hood of Worthing. 



