HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



P. nitens most certainly has floating leaves on the 

 Continent, although they have as yet not been 

 observed in Britain. The most typical British nitens 

 is undoubtedly that found by Dr. Moore, in a lake 

 near Castle Gregory, Ireland." We may observe 

 that specimens, when collected in running streams, 

 or rivers, can never be mistaken for P. hetcrophyllus. 

 — James F. Robinson. 



Local Floras.-^Li the list of local Floras given 

 in the January number of Science-Gossip, I find 

 for Aberdeenshire "Flora Aberdonensis " (183S), by 

 G. Dickie. I beg to state that there is a fuller and 

 later edition of this work, viz., " The Botanist's Guide 

 to the Flora of Aberdeen, Banff, and Kincardine," 

 with map (i860), 5^., by Professor Dickie. Published 

 by A. Brown & Co., Aberdeen, and Longman & Co., 

 London. — Tom W. Ogilvie. 



Localities for Rare Plants. — As I have been 

 unable to send a parcel of plants to the Exchange 

 Club, having sent a lot abroad, I thought the follow- 

 ing localities for some rarities I came across may be 

 of service to my confreres. About Kingston : Caltha 

 Guerangerii, Geranium rotundifolium, Trifoliiim 

 subterraneum, T. striatum, Cardials pratensis, Inula 

 pulicaria, Campanula Rapuneulus. This, Dr. De 

 Crespigny, in his little book, thinks, has disappeared ; 

 it is still to be found, sparingly. Hottonia palustris 

 and Scilla auinmua/is, Crepis taraxacifolia, and at 

 the foot of Box Hill, on nettles by the Mole, Cuscuta 

 Europxa. This also Dr. De C. thinks has disappeared ; 

 it grows in one spot. Leonurus Cardiaca was found 

 by the Itchcn, near Winchester. In the Isle of 

 Purbeck I found, Trifoliiim scabrum, Lathyrus 

 Aphaca, Rosa systyla, QF.nanthe pimpinelloides, 

 Carduus eriophorus, Cyperus longus, Sclerochloa 

 loliacea, Epipactis palustris, Spergularia marginata, 

 and many other rarities. — Julius R. Neve, Kingston- 

 on-Thames. 



The Flora of Warwickshire. — The moss 

 flora of this county, by James E. Bagnall, is in course 

 of publication in the " Midland Naturalist " (London, 

 D. Bogue, monthly, 6d.), the first part of which ap- 

 peared in the September number last year. Directly 

 this is finished, a complete flora, for the same county, 

 of phanerogamia will be printed in the same magazine, 

 also from the pen of Mr. Bagnall, who has all the 

 materials for the work already collected The flora 

 will subsequently be issued as an independent work 

 by the Birmingham Natural History and Micro- 

 scopical Society. 



The " Tourist's Flora." — I am very glad to see 

 the article "Tourist's Flora," by T. B. W., as it gives 

 me the opportunity to say a word or two upon the 

 subject. I was afraid to do so before, lest I should be 

 taken as an ignoramus. I have recently, and in time 

 gone past, done a little botanising, having used as 

 my guide Hooker's " British Flora," in which was a 



clavis analytica of the Linnoean system, by which I 

 have been very much assisted in determining the 

 specimens gathered ; but in the more recent edition of 

 the " Student's Flora" no such assistance is given, 

 and although a student may determine class, divi- 

 sion, &c, yet I cannot understand how he is to 

 remember the characteristics of orders. The remarks 

 of T. B. W. suggest the publication of genera accord- 

 ing to the Linnsean system.— J. A., Coventry. 



GEOLOGY. 



Prehistoric Cannibalism in Japan. — An 

 ancient mound resembling the Aztec mounds of the 

 Mississippi Valley has been discovered in Japan. A 

 scientific examination of the remains that have been 

 dug up from it furnishes reason for believing that 

 cannibalism was practised by the Japanese in pre- 

 historic times. The human bones that were found 

 among the bones of beasts gave evidence that the 

 flesh upon them had been cooked, and the marks still 

 left upon the joints are such as could have been made 

 only by human teeth. It is from just such evidence as 

 is furnished by the Japanese remains that archaeologists 

 came to the conclusion that cannibalism had been 

 practised by some of the ancient inhabitants of North 

 America. 



Stone Arrow-heads. — A young man in the 

 Smithsonian Institution has just made public the 

 discovery of the method employed in making the 

 stone and volcanic glass arrow-heads, daggers, knives, 

 axes and razors of the prehistoric races. He started 

 to solve the difficulty by putting himself in the identical 

 position of the Aztecs or mound builders — without 

 anything to work with except sticks, various-shaped 

 stones such as he could find on the banks of any 

 stream, and his hands. After making some rude 

 implements by chipping one flint with another, he 

 discovered that no amount of chipping would produce 

 surfaces like the best of these which he was trying to 

 imitate. He therefore came to the conclusion that 

 there was another way of doing it, and, by chance, 

 tried pressure with the point of a stick instead of 

 chipping by blows of a stone, when he found that he 

 could break the stone, flint, or obsidian in any shape 

 he chose. Soon he made spear heads and daggers 

 that would cut like a razor, as good as any he had 

 before him, which had been picked up from all over 

 the world. By a little more observation he found 

 that the "flaking," which he calls his process, on the 

 old arrow-head left grooves that all turned one way. 

 He produced a like result by turning his stick the 

 easiest way, from right to left. He, therefore, 

 concludes that the prehistorics were right handed 

 people like ourselves. This conclusion is reinforced 

 by the fact that occasionally an arrow-head is found 

 that has flakes running from left to right, showing a 

 left-handed person. 



