HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



191 



pating them. For a time the efforts of the members 

 of the association were instrumental in killing many 

 birds, and destroying eggs, premiums for such work 

 being given. But still the " coo o' the cushat " is 

 heard at every step in our woodlands, and their 

 number is not much reduced, even under the influence 

 of the last wet summer and cold winter. A farmer 

 informs me that he shot a number of wood pigeons 

 and rooks lately, and in the crop of one of the former 

 he found 378 grains of barley, besides small stones, 

 and a quantity of vegetable matter, and in that of the 

 latter an enormous number of grubs and the larvae of 

 insects. Not one word can be spoken in favour of 

 wood pigeons, which are destructive in devouring 

 cereal grains, turnip seeds, turnip tops and bulbs, 

 young clover plants, &c, but the rook — the often 

 badly used rook — has much claim on our sympathies. 

 He preserves our crops by devouring such pests as 

 feed upon them, and certainly he ought to be allowed 

 a trifling reward for his good services by our bearing 

 with him a little when he compels us to pay tithes in 

 the shape of potatoes and corn at certain seasons. — 

 A. F. 



Rook or Raven. — During the severe weather of 

 last February, I found upon a snow drift what I took 

 to be a fine specimen of the common rook {Corvus 

 friigilegus), apparently recently killed by hunger and 

 cold. It was not above twenty yards from a large 

 rookery. On taking it to a bird preserver to be 

 stuffed, he immediately pronounced it to be a raven 

 (C. Corax). As I wish to be quite certain, I should 

 be much obliged if any of your readers could furnish 

 me with the distinguishing characteristics of the two 

 birds. The stuffed specimen measures twenty inches 

 from the tip of the tail to the beak. The beak itself 

 is 2\ inches long. The plumage is a beautiful glossy 

 blue-black colour. — y. A. Whddon. 



Instinct or Reason ? — At the menagerie in the 

 public gardens here, is a young orang-outang ; it was 

 born three months ago in Calcutta, and until yester- 

 day morning it certainly never climbed into a tree. 

 It had not been in the tree a quarter of an hour 

 before it began to construct, and has completed, a 

 nest for itself, a sort of platform of broken branches 

 laid one upon another. On this platform it sits, and 

 seems perfectly happy. — Arthur Hough, Bombay. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now 

 publish Science-Gossip a week earlier than heretofore, we 

 cannot possibly insert in the following number any communica- 

 tions which reach us later than the 9th of the previous month. 



To Anonymous Querists. — We receive so many queries 

 which do not bear the writers' names that we are forced to 

 adhere to our rule of not noticing them. 



To Dealers and others. — We are always glad to treat 

 dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general 

 ground as amateurs, in so far as the " exchanges " offered are fair 

 exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are simply 

 disguised advertisements, for the purpose of evading the cost of 

 advertising, an advantage is taken of owe gratuitous insertion of 

 "exchanges" which cannot be tolerated. 



Asplenium Sinelii. — Unfortunately the specimen of this 

 fern intended for illustration was mislaid ; we purpose giving a 

 woodcut shortly, with other explanatory matter. 



Dr. Green. — The leaf of the cabbage is very interesting, 

 vide, page 22, "Vegetable Teratology." It is formed by the co- 

 hesion of margin, and is found in many species. There are 

 several lime-trees with leaves thus cohering in the cemetery of 

 a Cistercian monastery near Seidlitz, on which it is stated certain 

 monks were once hanged, hence the legend has arisen that the 

 peculiar form of the leaf was given in order to perpetuate the 



memory of the martyred monks ; however, we have never before 

 seen the cabbage leaf thus pitcher-shaped. 



Salix. — The specimens are 1, Avcna pubescens ; 2, Fumaria 

 officinalis (L.) ; 3, Salix lauccolata (Sm. ?) The latter is doubt- 

 ful, but judging from the leaves, there is but little doubt about 

 the species. 



F. A. D. (Winchester). — 1, Carex sylvatica ; 2, Luz7tla 

 congest a (Sm.) ; 3, Carex CEderi. We did not find any specimen 

 of C. binervis, as suggested in your letter ; would you kindly 

 send on another example? 



M. K. (Edinburgh). — Thanks for the abnormal pelargonium 

 you sent us some little while ago, with leaves arising from the 

 umbels; a very similar instance is given in Masters's ' ' Vegetable 

 Teratology," and is very frequent in large gardens, especially 

 with the bicoloured group. 



. J. K. (London). — We believe it to be C. tcirandrum, although 

 it is difficult to tell with certainty in its present form. 



T. H. Buffham. — Your specimens of shells are as follows : 

 No. 1, Littorina rudis ; No. 2, young of Liltorina littorea ; 

 No. 3, Trochus cinerarius. 



R. Egerton. — To obtain full information as to cleaning shells, 

 &c, see chapter in " Collecting and Preserving Natural History 

 Objects," by Professor R. Tate, on "Mollusca." Price 3J. 6d. 



G. W. Bell.— Get Dr. De Crespigny's "New London Flora," 

 price 5.5-. London : D. Bogue. 



J K. — There is no doubt that one of your specimens is Ulva 

 bulbosa ; we sent the other to one of the most celebrated algolo- 

 gists, who declined to pass an opinion about its being Ch&to- 

 phora elegans. 



H. C. Chadwick. — We have sent your drawing and letter to 

 one of our best microscopists, who replies as follows : " The 

 foram. (?) I think may be an imperfect or abnormal form of a 

 Nodosaria, but I do not remember seeing it figured or described 

 in any work to which I have access." 



W. Duckworth. — The galls you sent us are the barnacle 

 galls [Cynips corticalis), so called on account of their resemblance 

 to the senile barnacles of our coasts. 



Rev. S. Brennan. — The insect whose name you inquired 

 about arrived in such a " smashed-up " condition that it was 

 impossible to recognise anything, except that it might be an 

 insect. 



F. W. Challis. —White sparrows are by no means uncommon, 

 but owing to their conspicuousness they are soon shot down. 



C. E. Waddington.— Your fish parasite is Argnlus foliaceus. 

 See Taylor's " Half-hours in the Green Lanes," page 15, for 

 portrait of the same. 



E. F. B. — We are sorry to hear that our Exchange Column 

 has been taken advantage of. If this is repeated we will publish 

 the name and address of the defaulter. 



W. Locock. — The malformation in your plantain is due to 

 prolification of the inflorescence. See Masters's " Teratology," 

 page in, et seq. It is not uncommon. 



W. Jacobs. — You may procure abundance of Pliocene (Red 

 Crag) fossils at Walton-on-Naze. London clay fossils (Nautilus, 

 &c), are found at Clacton. 



A. D. P. (Sunderland).— The insects appear to be a species of 

 spring-tail (Podura), but they were too dried up and shrivelled 

 to make out. 



T. G. Lane — We found nothing but a flocculency due to the 

 precipitation of organic matter. 



H. H.— Dr. M. C. Cooke's "Ponds and Ditches" (recently 

 published at is. 6d.), would answer your purpose as to your first 

 query ; and Dr. Duncan's " Transformations of Insects " would 

 serve for your second query. Price of latter, 18s. 



T. B. Linley. — The late J. Clifton Ward's " Geology of the 

 Northern Part of the Lake District," price gs. London : 

 Edward Stanford, from whom also maps of the districts may be 

 obtained. 



EXCHANGES. 



Botanical Exchange Club. — Members of the above club 

 are requested to send their parcels for exchange to No. 3 St. 

 Martin's Place, Trafalgar Square, London, W.C., not later 

 than the end of October. 



Wanted, a clean complete copy of Lambard's " Perambula- 

 tion of Kent ; " micro slides or cash in exchange. — Geo. Clinch, 

 Hayes, Kent. 



Wanted, "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation," 

 " Ramsay's Ancient Glaciers of Wales." Apply to Harry Muller, 

 Rawdon, near Leeds. 



Wanted, an old razor (for section cutting) ; must be of the 

 very finest possible quality of steel. Offer a rubber stamp, 

 value s s - or 6-f. in exchange. Write before sending. — Walter 

 White, Litcham, Swaffham. 



Eggs of golden crested regulus, lesser redpole, red grouse, 

 curlew, guillemot and razorbill for others. — R. Baxter, Prince 

 of Wales Terrace, Glasgow. 



Eggs of stock-dove, ring-dove, nightjar, kestrel, sparrow- 

 hawk, wild duck, flycatchers, wagtails, warblers, ring-ousel, 

 field-fare, redwing and others, for eggs of other good birds. — 

 R. Darling, Eyke Rectory, near Woodbridge, Suffolk. 



Plant hairs, 12, 24, or 36 varieties, many very beautiful 

 and rare, in exchange for microscopic slides. — M. Medhurst, 

 2A Dell Street, Hall Road, Liverpool. 



