uS 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Large Unios and Anodons. — In Ossington 

 Lake both unios and anodons were extremely abun- 

 dant as well as of large size, good food supply, being, I 

 suppose, one reason of this profusion. The water is 

 very rich in lime, containing i6"2 grains of CaO 

 per gallon. This is equal to nearly 29 grains of 

 carbonate of lime. Probably a considerable portion 

 is in the form of sulphate, as veins of gypsum are 

 plentiful in the district ; but I had not a sufficient 

 quantity of water to determine this point. I made a 

 note of the distribution of the shells, which the 

 ■ '.raining of the entire lake rendered easy of observa- 

 tion. In the upper part I found no shells ; from the 

 middle they were abundant. A few were close to the 

 edge, about four feet out, a band of from six to ten 

 feet wide was closely packed with unios and anodons 

 of all sizes. For another couple of yards a few might 

 be found. The whole of the middle of the lake was 

 bare of shells, except a few empty ones, which had 

 probably been carried out by the receding water. The 

 only other species observed in this part were one 

 .S". lacitstre, and a few L. percgra. — IV. Gain, Tnxford, 

 Newark. 



HOLLY-LEAVES. — Professor Henslow, writing to 

 " Nature," says that it is not at all usual for hollies 

 to lose the spines of their leaves when the latter are 

 above the reach of cattle. He had several, from six 

 to nearly twenty feet high, and not one had borne an 

 unarmed leaf. Sir John Lubbock, in reply, points 

 out that Hooker, in the " Student's Flora," says of 

 the leaves of holly, "those on the upper branches 

 often entire." 



Holly Leaves. — Southey in his beautiful lines on 

 the holly tree, published more than half-a-century 

 ago, makes the fact the central idea of the poem. 

 The second stanza runs thus, 



Below, a circling fence its leaves are seen, 



Wrinkled and keen ; 

 No grazing cattle through their prickly round 



Can reach to wound ; 

 But, as they grow where nothing is to fear, 

 Smooth and unarmed the pointless leaves appear. 



— D. S., Exmonth. 



Holly Leaves. — T have frequently noticed that 

 old holly-trees tend to lose the spines on their leaves 

 when above the reach of browsing cattle, as Sir Tohn 

 Lubbock points out. I have noticed it also in old ivy 

 bushes, and enclose you three leaves taken from one 

 such bush ; the leaves were picked within six inches 

 of one another. — M. B. Windiis. 



[Other correspondents have written to similar effect 

 as regards holly leaves.] 



Unrecognised Birds.— I am obliged by the 

 notice taken of my question by Mr. Kelsall, but I 

 am still in the dark, as to my two birds (p. 69). Of 

 the waxwing I have a stuffed specimen, and the 

 stonechat or wheatear I know very well. Perhaps 

 after all my original supposition was correct, viz. 

 that they were two foreign birds escaped from 

 confinement. The colours were bright and vivid as 

 those of the king-fisher. The most noticeable item 

 of colour was a distinct and sharply defined purple 

 band from the 'base of the beak over the head as far 

 as the shoulders. I shall be glad if some one can 

 help me in fixing my birds. — //. M., Birkdale. 



Paradise Tree.— I have seen the account of this 

 wonderful vegetable curiosity, and though I do not 

 know exactly where or when it was published, I 



think I can add a few more "facts '" about it from 

 memory : There is only one group of paradise-trees 

 in existence, and they form a large perfect circle 

 The flowers are exactly like a dove, " every feather 

 perfectly represented." For some reason which I 

 forget, the flower is never fertilised, and in no other 

 manner can any new specimens of the tree be pro- 

 duced, so that the circular groove always has consisted 

 of the same individuals, and will do till the end ! I 

 think the foregoing will show that the ardent botanist 

 who wishes to fully and scientifically describe the 

 paradise-tree cannot get far wrong so long as he 

 makes every item sufficiently miraculous. — //". 

 Snowden Ward. 



Paradise Tree.— The dove plant {Pcristeria 

 data) mentioned by " M. L. S," is not a deciduous 

 orchid, therefore I fail to see how it can be identified 

 with the tree described by " F. S." who writes of the 

 tree " fading away to ashes." This I take to mean 

 simply the leaves dropping off. Even if this were so, 

 there would still remain the large pseudo-bulbs, 

 which would not correspond with the idea of a plant's 

 disappearance. Can your correspondent ' M. L. S.' 

 tell us whether the dove plant is epiphytal or 

 terrestrial ? I am at present growing it as an 

 epiphytal orchid, and have succeeded in flowering it 

 under these conditions, but I am unable to say 

 myself whether it is a true epiphyte or not. Its very 

 large pseudo-bulbs would lead one to consider it an 

 epiphytal plant. If this be so, there seems to be more 

 reason to identify it with the reputed paradise tree. — 

 J. IV. Odell. 



Vegetable Ivory.— M. S. W., Hereford, would 

 be glad of information about the perforation by insects 

 of vegetable ivory, the nuts of Phytelcphas macrocarpa, 

 and whether there are any known means of guarding 

 against these ravages. A specimen of the nut, and 

 some of the insects, were sent us, the nut being 

 bored in all directions, and rendered useless for 

 manufacturing purposes. 



Food for Tortoise. — In answer to a query in 

 Science-Gossip as to proper food for land tortoise. 

 The reason the tortoise mentioned by K. H. I. would 

 not eat lettuce was probably because it had left off 

 eating for the winter. This they generally do as 

 soon as the cold weather sets in, when they make 

 preparations for hybernation. I had one two or 

 three years, and, although he never hybernated, he 

 would not touch a morsel of food throughout the 

 winter, from about the middle of September until 

 the latter end of April, when his appetite returned, 

 and in proportion as the weather got warmer, the 

 more ravenously he ate. Roaming at will in the 

 garden he would eat of just the choicest plants- 

 tiger lilies, pinks, pansies, &c. The proper food ti 1 

 give them is any succulent or milky vegetable or 

 plant, as lettuce, cabbage, dandelion, milk thistle, 

 &c — IV. Finch, jun., Nottingham. 



Food of Tortoises.— Had "W. Maltieu Williams 

 been as slovenly a gardener as myself, he would 

 doubtless have learned a fact or two in natural history 

 of which his prim and well-kept lawn has evidently 

 held him in ignorance. It appears from his accoun! 

 of the tortoise which fed upon his fine grasses and 

 clover, that these alone fail to impart the robustness 

 requisite for withstanding the severity of our wintei. 

 Perhaps, also, he has not in the middle of his lawn, as 

 I have, a number of the old-fashioned fuchsia bushes, 

 surrounding a rockery, and offering a tempting retreat 

 where a tortoise can burrow, and find a comfortable 

 winter's bed. It is seven years next summer, since, 



