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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



If I take the kitten away and hide it, it is the young 

 one who comes after it. Last night I placed it under 

 a soft hat in the passage. When it cried they both 

 came to seek it, the old one at a loss what to do. The 

 young one, after walking round the hat two or three 

 times, lifted it up and carried it into their cupboard, 

 the mother most complacently following and quite 

 contented with the self-imposed nurse. — IV. A. 

 Tippet, Didsbury. 



Fertilisation of Orchis mascula. — Mr. Malan, 

 in his excellent article, is evidently at home on the 

 subject generally. His new idea, however, that the 

 pollen masses without the usual depression would 

 strike on the stigma cannot be accepted as wholly 

 correct, simply because it is averse to actual experi- 

 ments. That the position of the pollinium when 

 newly removed is more nearly at right, angles than in 

 an upright position, as stated by Mr. Malan, also 

 requires modification by the contraction and down- 

 ward movement not due to hygrometric action. 

 Would Mr. Malan kindly let us know if he has ever 

 noticed any evil effects produced on insects by 

 removing the pollen masses ? — A. D. IV. 



Late Foliage and Nesting.— The foliage has 

 been so late in appearing in this part of the country, 

 that many birds which usually build in hedges have 

 actually made their nests on the ground. I have 

 found two blackbirds (Turdus meruld), a song-thrush 

 or throstle (T?irdus musicus), and a hedge-sparrow 

 {Accentor modularis) in this position. — Geo. IF. 

 Brocklehurst, B.Sc, Roundhay, near Leeds. 



Pied Flycatcher — Kite — Unrecognised 

 Birds. — I have been informed by a friend that he 

 saw a male pied flycatcher near Abergwessin, 

 Breconshire, on May 1st. This bird is not recorded 

 in Yarrell as having been observed in South Wales. 

 My friend also observed in April, within a few- 

 miles of the same place, a pair of red kites [Milvus 

 Ictimcs) and nest. The unrecognised birds, p. 69, 

 may have been rollers or bee-eaters. — R. Egerton. 



The Pied Fly-Catcher. — Last week, one pied 

 fly-catcher was observed in the village of Pantperthog, 

 Merionethshire, and last spring, one was seen at 

 Llwyngwern, in the same neighbourhood. — M. E. 

 Thomson. 



Curious Sports in a Wall-flower — There is 

 now growing at St. Albans a wall-flower of average 

 size and growth, and well bloomed, but every flower 

 is malformed. The sepals remain unchanged, but 

 the petals are mere narrow strips, resembling the 

 sepals in colour, and only about one-fourth the size. 

 All the stamens are transformed into capillary 

 leaves, adhering at their edges and enclosing the 

 ordinary pistil. Instead of an anther, each stamen 

 is tipped with a well-developed stigma. The ovary 

 thus contains six or eight cells consisting of the 

 ordinary double celled ovary, and four or six others 

 surrounding it. The ovules are well-formed in all 

 the compartments, but are not yet sufficiently matured 

 to show if they are fertilised. This is the second 

 year the plant has bloomed, and it remains true to its 

 variations. — G. Bird, Sydenham. 



The Colour of the Red Sea. — Immediately 

 upon reading Dr. Stonham's paper on the "Colour 

 of the Red Sea," I communicated with my cousin, the 

 senior naval engineer at Souakin concerning it, 

 forwarding at the same time Dr. Stonham's remarks. 

 This is what he says : " I kept a look out for the red 

 .streaks described by Dr. Stonham but without any 



results ; nothing was observed but the ordinary blue, 

 and I asked our navigator, who had been out here 

 before, if he had ever observed anything of the kind, 

 but he had not. Perhaps it is more noticeable in the 

 Gulf of Aden. Dr. Stonham's statement that it in 

 very seldom rough in the Red Sea I take the liberty 

 of doubting entirely. From the experience of all our 

 fellows on board, the normal condition of affairs in 

 that part of the Red Sea between Suakin and Suez 

 is from half a gale to a gale, and as it generally blows 

 from the N.N.W. it raises a very nasty sea." I have 

 heard friends who have voyaged to New Zealand, &c, 

 describe these "bands" in the Southern Seas. 

 Perhaps they are common to Oceans, and like the 

 confervoid alga; of our ponds and ditches appearing 

 only in their proper seasons, plentiful one week, gone 

 the next. — Harry Moore. 



The Cross-fertilisation of Grasses. — On a 

 summer's eve as the swift-moths {Hepialidce) dart 

 hither and thither among the tops of the grass at a 

 time when it is in full flower, they must brush a large 

 quantity of pollen off with their wings, and abundantly 

 scatter and distribute it, and as they are very common 

 it is easy to conceive the possibility of a whole 

 meadow being fertilised, even though a dead calm 

 might last for days, and not a breath of air come to 

 disperse the pollen dust. We may thus see how- 

 insects may have a part in the fertilisation of even 

 anemophilous plants. Moths also dart about among 

 the ears of wheat and other corn. — Albert Waters. 



Missel Thrush's Nest. — There is, in an apple- 

 tree of a much frequented garden of this neighbour- 

 hood the nest of a missel thrush {Tardus viscivorus), 

 the peculiarity about it being that it is almost totally 

 composed of odds and ends of thick string, which 

 remained over from some which had been used for 

 tying up flowers. Owing to many of the strings 

 being nearly a yard long, a curious and untidy 

 appearance was given to the nest. — J. C. S., Edenhall. 



Fungoid Disease in Fishes, &c. — Having given 

 some attention to aquarian pursuits, my success has 

 been somewhat marred by the appearance of this 

 malady amongst my specimens — although kept in 

 several distinct tanks. Sooner or later it always 

 ends in death. Even the Siren pisciformis (Axolotl) 

 does not escape its ravages. The water employed is 

 from the Cotswold Hills and is rather hard, contain- 

 ing considerable lime. Can this fact be the cause of 

 the trouble? Will any of your experienced readers 

 be kind enough to give me some hints as to the origin 

 of the disease, and the best way of avoiding or curing 

 it.— Hal. 



Paulownia imperialis. — I enclose some flowers 

 of the Paulownia imperialis, a tree said by 

 authorities never to flower in England, the buds 

 of which are naked on the tree all the winter, 

 developing early in the spring, and then being 

 withered before the maturity of the flower, by 

 the east winds. The tree in question is growing 

 here in a garden, and is about twenty feet high. I 

 have watched it carefully for some years in hope of 

 flowers, but, till now, it has never fulfilled my 

 wishes. I attribute the rare occurrence of flowers 

 this year to the fact, that the buds have been kept 

 back by the continuous cold weather we have had 

 this spring, and that when the burst of heat came on 

 the last of May, and which has lasted since, the 

 buds suddenly arrived at perfection without any 

 cause to wither them, and yesterday the flowers 

 began to open, and to-day the tree is a mass of lilac 

 bloom. — Ditnley Owen. 



