HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



67 



lava, now much disturbed by faults, which constitute 

 all that remains of the ancient Brent-Tor Volcano, 

 and endeavoured, from the evidence which can be 

 thus obtained, to give a probable reconstruction of 

 the former cone. 



Geologists' Association. — We have received 

 No. 4, vol. vi. of the proceedings of this association, 

 containing, amongst other matter, the following 

 articles. " On the Insect Fauna of the Palaeozoic 

 Period, and the British and Foreign Formations of 

 that Period in which Insect Remains have been 

 Detected," by Herbert Goss, F.L.S.. &c. ; " On the 

 Fossil Corals obtained from the Oolite of the Railway 

 Cuttings near Hook Norton, Oxfordshire," by Robert 

 F. Tomes, F.G.S. ; " Note on the Rev. J. F. Blake's 

 paper on the Chalk of Yorkshire," by Dr. Charles 

 Barrois ; " Reply to note on the Rev. J. F. Blake's 

 paper on the Chalk of Yorkshire," by the Rev. J. F. 

 Blake, M.A., F.G.S. ; "On the Dinosauria," by 

 Professor H. G. Seeley, F.R.S., F.G.S. 



Fossil Fungi from the Lower Coal Mea- 

 sures. — Two papers have been read on this subject 

 before the Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic 

 Society by William Cash, F.G.S., and Thomas 

 Hick, B.Sc. (Lond.) In a previous communication 

 made to the society by these gentlemen, a list of 

 plants which had been discovered in the Lower Coal 

 Measures near Halifax was given. At that time only 

 one species of fossil fungus had been discovered, since 

 then, however, Mr. Binn has brought to light addi- 

 tional examples of fungoid growth. The specimens, 

 taken from some nodules, were exhibited in three 

 microscopic slides. The first is a transverse section 

 of the petiole of a fern, and a similar section of a 

 branchlet or rootlet of some other plant. The fern 

 {Zygoplcris Lacatii) evidently lay exposed for some 

 time to the atmosphere before fossilisation set in 

 and during that period it was attacked by the fungi. 

 The vegetative part of the fungus consists of a large 

 number of very delicate hyphae, not more than ^ W) inch 

 in diameter, which are frequently branched. In one 

 respect the hyphae differ from those of most fungi in 

 exhibiting at different points what appear to be a 

 number of closely approximated constructions, which 

 give the filaments at these points a moniliform char- 

 acter, possibly the constructions may be transverse 

 septa. The reproductive organs are unfortunately 

 neither abundant nor well-defined, indeed the only 

 structures to which reproductive functions can be 

 assigned are minute spherical bodies, apparently 

 produced at the extremities of the hyphae, or their 

 branches. They are probably oospores. The fungi, 

 from various characteristics, probably belong to the 

 suborder Peronosporae. The second slide exhibits a 

 section cut parallel to the first, from the same species 

 of material, and is nearly identical with it. The 

 slide is confirmatory of the results obtained from the 



first, but it does not contain a greater number of 

 the supposed oospores. The third slide is entirely 

 different, having been cut from material obtained from 

 a different pit. It consists of small and disconnected 

 fragments of vegetable tissue, most probably the 

 broken debris of several plants. In and between 

 these fragments are immense numbers of small round 

 bodies, the spores of some fungus ; but no trace of 

 mycelium or any filamentous structure has been dis- 

 ; covered. In this peculiarity they very much resemble 

 the Myxomycetes. It is just possible that the fossil 

 spores may be of a myxomycetous nature, seeing that 

 they occur in and among tissues that are partially 

 decayed, and in so far resemble the conditions that 

 favour the development of existing forms. The size 

 and appearance of the fossil forms also agrees almost 

 exactly with that of existing specimens. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Climbing-irons. — Can any of the readers of 

 Science-Gossip give their experience about the use 

 of climbing-irons 1 Where are the best irons to be 

 had, and are they really of service in ascending trees '! 

 —Beta. 



Acclimatised Parakeets.— Some years ago, I 

 recollect reading that a pair of the Australian undulated 

 grass parakeets, commonly called budgerigars, had 

 bred in a tree in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and reared 

 young ones, which, together with their parents, were, 

 the writer asserted, to be seen daily disputing with 

 the sparrows for the crumbs thrown to them by the 

 residents, and the oats that fell about the cab-stand. 

 What became of these birds I have never heard ; but 

 having kept budgerigars for some years and bred 

 them, in a cold room, at all seasons of the year, I 

 think there would not be the least difficulty in accli- 

 matising them. If some gentleman in the country 

 would turn a couple of hundred of them into a wood 

 in the spring of the year, I have no doubt they would 

 soon make themselves at home, and as they are very 

 harmless pretty little birds, would soon become 

 general favourites. — W. T. Greene. 



Acclimatised Canaries. — It maybe interesting 

 to some of your readers to know that canaries are not 

 such delicate birds as it is often supposed. True, 

 many die from catching cold ; cages are hung up in 

 a room, and when the little songsters are exposed to 

 draughts from the door or window they die, and 

 are thought to be very tender. Well, mine have 

 been out of doors all this winter, exposed as they 

 were to a frost which on two or three occasions has 

 registered from 12 to 20 decrees below zero. The 

 aviary is about 9 feet high, 12 feet long, and 6 feet 

 wide, covered with a zinc roof, and has a wall on the 

 north, east, and west sides ; the front facing the 

 south has no protection whatever during the most 

 intense frost, except a quarter inch wire netting. 

 Night and day, sunshine and shade, some have been 

 there year after year, and never yet have I found that 

 cold or frost has been the destruction of one. Some 

 young and some old, it makes no difference as far as 

 the thermometer is concerned, they roost on the dried 

 stumps or branches inside, and never sing more 

 sweetly than during the winter snowstorms. Like 

 children, they seem to derive amusement from the 



