HARDWICK&S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



161 



several Foraminifera. From these data, and from 

 the stratigraphical position of the beds, Mr. Swan- 

 ston concludes that they were not of lacustrine but of 

 marine origin, and, as they repose on a Boulder clay, 

 that they must be glacial or inter-glacial deposits. 

 We find also published the notes of a paper " On the 

 mode of Occurrence and probable Origin of the Hullite 

 and other silicious Minerals found in the Volcanic Neck 

 of Carnmoney, and elsewhere'in the County Antrim," 

 by Mr. William Gault ; and one by Mr. W. Phillips, 

 entitled, " Ferns and Fern-collecting." The "Jour- 

 nal of Proceedings of the Winchester and Hampshire 

 Scientific and Literary Society " for 1879 is also to 

 hand, containing an elaborate paper by Dr. Joseph 

 Stevens on the "Hampshire Inn Signs, and their 

 probable Origin." The Annual Report of the ' ' North 

 Staffordshire Naturalists' Field Club and Archaeo- 

 logical Society," for 1S79, is unusually rich in archae- 

 ological subjects, but still we find a paper by Mr. 

 Freeston, entitled, " Ericaceae and Coniferse," one by 

 Mr. T. S. Wilkins, "On some of the Pond life of a 

 North Staffordshire District "—where to look for, how 

 to find, how to view, Infusoria, Hydrozoa, Rotifera, 

 Polyzoa, etc., and a paper by Dr. M'Aldowie, on 

 "Design, as exhibited in the nests and eo-gs of 

 Birds." 



Parasites of the House-fly.— Under the head 

 of Zoology, in Science-Gossip for January, 1875, is 

 a description of a worm that infests the common 

 house-fly. About seven years ago my attention was 

 first called to this parasite. Being one morning more 

 than usually persecuted by the pertinacious attacks of 

 a house-fly that would settle on one particular spot 

 of my face, although frequently driven away, I was 

 at last so greatly irritated that I could stand it no 

 longer. Bent upon the destruction of the annoying 

 insect, it was soon at my mercy. My microscope 

 was at hand, and thinking that a post-mortem ex- 

 amination might reveal something interesting that 

 would account for the obstinacy of its attacks, I 

 speedily placed it between two strips of glass and 

 crushed it. The microscope at once solved the 

 mystery. Radiating from the miserable creature's 

 shattered head were about a dozen long, slender, 

 transparent worms, wriggling about, medusa-like,' 

 with great activity. The suffering of a fly under 

 such an infliction is clearly shown by its extreme 

 restlessness. Its flight is heavy, and I think the 

 peculiar irritation to the skin, when one of these 

 unhappy insects settles upon it, is caused by the un- 

 healthy state of the creature's proboscis. The question 

 is, under what circumstances do these worms become 

 the guests of the fly? I am inclined to believe that 

 the insect, being a very dirty feeder, may in taking 

 its food admit the worm, which declines to go any 

 further than its host's proboscis. I have examined 

 many of these flies, and in no instance have I found 

 the worm beyond the head. In localities where the 



scavenger does his work properly, these troubled flies 

 are comparatively scarce, but I have been in places, 

 not far from native dwelling-houses, where their 

 attacks have been positively unbearable and most 

 uncompromising. I have not found the worms in 

 flies that follow their instincts in a reasonable way, 

 so I fancy the afflicted ones suffer from a kind of 

 madness which ends only in the death of the poor 

 insect. I have counted the worms as microscopical 

 objects, but with indifferent success, owing to the 

 delicacy of their organisation.—^. Green, Cofombo. 



BOTANY. 



Notes on Sutton Park.— At a recent meeting 

 of the Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical 

 Society a paper on the above subject was read by 

 Mr. James Bagnall, one of the editors of the " Midland 

 Naturalist," and has since been separately published. It 

 gives a very complete list of flowering plants, ferns, 

 and mosses found growing in Sutton Park, and also 

 contains an important catalogue of the Rubi and Rosae 

 of Warwickshire. 



The Rose of Jericho.— If Mr. Jackson will turn 

 to my paper in your March number, he will see that 

 I was quite aware that the plant I figured was a 

 Mesembryanthemum. It is probably M. tiodiflorin/i, 

 but in its dried state it might be difficult to determine 

 this. The interest of the matter, such as it is, centres 

 in the fact that the veiy unroselike and straggling 

 Anastatica has usurped the name of "Rose of 

 Jericho " which rightfully belonged to this plant, as 

 far more roselike— probably very far more so when 

 clothed with its petals— and which expands more 

 readily under the influence of warmth and moisture, 

 thus possessing more of the attributes which would 

 connect it with the superstitions and legends with 

 which we are familiar. It is evidently this plant 

 which De Saulcy describes. Mr. Jackson refers me 

 to "Lindley and Moore's Treasury of Botany" and 

 to "Smith's History of Bible Plants." In the former 

 work there is only allusion to the well-known hygro- 

 metrical properties of some of the Mesembryaceae, 

 but in Smith's interesting book, which I have only 

 now seen for the first time, the relative claims of 

 Anastatica and Mesembryanthemum to the title of the 

 " Rose of Jericho" are considered, and decided in 

 favour of Anastatica. With the two plants before 

 me, however, I confess my utter inability to under- 

 stand the decision, and I fancy that any of your 

 reads who will examine them will share in my 

 difficulty. The " Rose-plant of Jericho " mentioned 

 in the Apocrypha does not appear to me to be that 

 alluded to in the 83rd Psalm, or in Isaiah xvii. 13.— 

 T. E. Amyot. 



A " Freak " of Nature.— In the course of my 

 rambles, a few days since, I came across a plant of 



