1G0 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[July 1, 1870. 



somewhat handsome iu feather, being altogether 

 brighter than at other seasons of the year— the top 

 of the head and breast a beautiful, bright red, and 

 the beak blue ; but, taken so late in the season, is 

 useless aud cruel, for few live, as they all, or nearly 

 so, have eggs or young. Those taken at Michaelmas 

 soon become tame, and sing the season through. 

 An educated Linnet is a bird any one would make 

 a pet. Last year I procured a nest of birds 

 about ten days old, and brought them up under a 

 Woodlark, one of which imitates the Woodlark to 

 perfection : indeed the only note he has of the 

 parent bird is the call. The Hon. Daines Barring- 

 ton, in a letter -to the Royal Society, mentions a 

 Linnet taken from the nest when only two days 

 old, that had not even the natural call. It was in 

 the possession of a Mr. Matthews, of Kensington, 

 who had taught it to articulate a few words, some 

 of which the hon. gentleman heard. 



There are other birds very worthy of notice for 

 the Aviary, such as the Bullfinch, Brambleiinch, 

 Heed-sparrow, Snow-bunting, Chaffinch, Yellow- 

 hammer, Twite, Greenfinch, &c. All these birds 

 should be purchased at the fall of the year ; there 

 is less trouble iu getting them to live. Granivorous 

 birds can be kept in the Aviary with insectivorous 

 birds : many feed on the same food, and do well. 



Ciias. J. W. Rudd. 



THE MALVERNS. 



npHE Malvern Naturalist's Field Club have just 

 -*- issued the third part of their Transactions, 

 and, for all who are interested in this locality, the 

 two hundred and sixteen pages will prove a wel- 

 come volume. Eirst of all we have a sketch of the 

 proceedings of the club from its commencement by 

 its President, the well-known " rector of Pendock," 

 the Rev. W. S. Symonds. Then follows a sketch 

 of the geology of the Malvern Hills, by Dr. Harvey 

 B. Holl ; this is succeeded by a notice of the forest 

 and chace of Malvern, its ancient and present state, 

 by the Vice-President, Edwin Lees, Esq., F.L.S., 

 Dr. H. B. Holl also contributes some additions and 

 corrections to the list of Lichens of the Malvenis, 

 and there is also a catalogue of the birds by Mr. 

 Edwin Lees ; of the land and fresh-water molluscs 

 by Dr. Griffiths ; of the bisects, by the Rev. E. 

 Ilorton, and meteorological observations, by W. 

 and J. Burrow ; with a paper on the forms and 

 persistency of arboreal fungi, by Edwin Lees, 

 E.L.S., &c. The general character of all these com- 

 munications is excellent, in fact it would be a great 

 blessing if every locality had chroniclers of equal 

 ability, and equal spirit to publish their observa- 

 tions. There are several illustrations, but for the 

 artistic merits of one at least of the plates of fungi 

 we can say very little. The paper, chiefly occupied 



by the Polyporei, is notable for two things, the one 

 the declaration made iu the descriptive character of 

 Polyporus, that the " sporidia are contained in 

 slender asci, and very small," and the other, the 

 large number of new species described. Perhaps 

 the suggestion that the alburnum of trees has " the 

 metamorphic power of producing simulated forms 

 of fungi, and that these sap-balls are not really au- 

 tonymous plants, producing real spores from which 

 similar plants can arise," might be added as a third 

 notability. Prom rather rough descriptions, 

 without the least indication of the colour of the 

 spores, it would be presumptuous to offer an opinion 

 of the new species. The discovery of asci in 

 Polyporus is, however, a very extraordinary one, and, 

 if established, must immortalize the author. And the 

 suggestion that, like galls, these species of Poly- 

 porus are metamorphosed conditions of the tissues 

 of the plants on which they grow has at least the 

 merit of being novel, in whatever else it may be de- 

 ficient. 



So long as these local Natural History Societies 

 confine themselves to local questions, and investi- 

 gate local natural history, they will accomplish good 

 work, and we cau forgive them for a few mistakes. 

 The Malvern Club has rigidly adhered to this prin- 

 ciple in the volume before us, and the result is, on 

 the whole, eminently satisfactory. 



ANTHER SMUT. 

 ( Ustilago antherarum.) 



riMIE Smut which attacks the anthers of Lychnis 

 -*- diurna has been extremely prevalent this year, 

 and inconsequence we have been enabled to study it 

 more effectually than has been possible to us hitherto. 

 Amongst myriads of plants, we have found a single 

 plant only of the male and female form respectively, 

 in which, while some blossoms were attacked a few 

 escaped. In most cases every flower was equally 

 ail'ected. In the male plant, and this only in the 

 white-flowered variety, which is quite distinct from 

 Lychnis vespert'uia, the unaffected flowers were in 

 their normal condition, with scarcely a trace of pis- 

 til. In the female plant, though the pistil was 

 partially developed, but in no case, as far as we 

 could find, fertile, the stamens were uniformly 

 developed in the affected flowers, and the anthers 

 filled with the spores of the Ustilago: in the un- 

 affected flowers there was just the same rudiment 

 of stamens as are always visible in unaffected plants, 

 and no further development. 



It seems perfectly clear, therefore, that when the 

 female plant is traversed by the mycelium of the 

 fungus, there is a tendency to cause the develop- 

 ment of the stamens, which takes place at the ex- 

 pense of the pistil, which is much reduced in size. 

 There is not the slightest ground for considering it 



