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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Luminous Insects. — Dr. J. L. Leconte's paper on 

 " Lightning Bugs," read before the recent meeting of 

 the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, is reprinted in the September number of the 

 " Canadian Entomologist." We commend it to our 

 entomological readers as the clearest and most 

 suggestive contribution we know on this interesting 

 subject. 



Leptodera hvalina. — In the November number 

 of the "Midland Naturalist," Mr. John Boyd gives 

 Lake Derwentwater as a new locality for this rare and 

 beautiful entomostracan. 



Eastbourne Natural History Society. — 

 Under the title of "Additions to the Fauna and 

 Flora of the Cuckmere District during the past 

 year," Mr. F. C. S. Roper, F.L.S., gives a review of 

 the work done by this society. The additions to 

 the Fauna are as follows : Coleoptera, 47 species ; 

 Aphides, 27 species ; to the Flora : Dicotyledons, 

 10 species ; Monocotyledons, 2 species ; Filices, 1 

 species ; besides a list of varieties. 



The Smithsonian Institution.— The Annual 

 Report of this useful American Society for 1878 has 

 recently appeared. In addition to the usual formal 

 reports, it contains a " Biographical Memory of 

 Joseph Henry," biographies of Condorcet, Louis 

 Agassiz, papers on " Henry and the Telegraph," 

 "The Effects of Irritation of a Polarised Nerve," 

 "Ornithological Explorations of the Caribbee 

 Islands," "Researches in Sound," &c. 



BOTANY. 



" Developed Primulas."— I suspect Mr. W. K. 

 McGhie must refer to Primula scotica (Hook.) when 

 he speaks of having collected " Primula /arinosa" 

 at " Holborn Head, near Thurso." So far as I am 

 aware the latter species has never been found North 

 of the Firth of Forth, its place being occupied by 

 P. scotica, which my friend Dr. Johnstone informs 

 me he saw in large quantity near Thurso a short time 

 ago. As regards P. f arinosa the sessile umbel seems 

 to be very rare ; in many hundreds of plants seen by 

 me in Yorkshire this season I did not see one 

 example. It seems to be rare also in our Scotch 

 specimens. — A. Craig Christie, Ediiiburgh. 



Flora of Deal, &c. — There is a very full and good 

 list of the coast plants for Dover to Sandwich in 

 Cowel's " Flora of Faversham." — My own experience 

 is that Deal is very rich in rare plants. On the 

 Sandhills I have gathered Hippophae r/iamnoides, 

 Silene conica, Jnncus aciitus, Mcdicago minima. On 

 the shore from Deal to Walmer and Kingsdown, 

 Trifolium suffocatum, Trigonella ornithopodioides, 

 Lathyrus maritimus, Crepis fatida. On the undercliff 



and shore beyond Kingsdown, Orobanche amethystca, 

 O. Picridis, Ophrys aranifera, Crambe maritima, &c. 

 I should be very much obliged to Mr. Habben for a 

 specimen of Astragalus hypoglottis from the sandhills. 

 — A. Bennett. 



A new British Carex. — At first/ sparingly in 

 July, later more abundantly in August, I observed a 

 species of sedge exceedingly graceful in appearance, 

 growing in tufts in deep shade, out of crannies of 

 the old moss-grown sandstones at Plumpton Rocks 

 near Knaresborough. At first, from its narrow deep 

 green leaves as long as its flowering stem, from its 

 interrupted spike with oval spikelets, its pointed dark 

 glumes and its remarkably developed leafy bract, I 

 thought it the variety nemorosa (Lumnitz) of Carex 

 muricata. Not feeling satisfied, however, I sent 

 examples to Mr. H. C. Watson. He pronounced them 

 at first C. polyrhiza (Hoppe), but expressed doubt. 

 Specimens went from him to Kew Herbarium, where 

 Mr. Bailer (I believe) detected their affinity rather 

 with C. pilulifera, but diverging so distinctly from that 

 type, having such long bracts, a straight not arcuate 

 rachis, and not a couple of round pill-like female 

 spikelets, that Mr. Watson wrote me the plant was 

 new, and quite sufficiently distinct to merit a varietal 

 if not a specific name. I have therefore bestowed upon 

 my sedge of shady rocks the name of C. Saxumbra. 

 I hope soon to describe and figure it. — F. A. L. 



A Dictionary of Plant Names. — We have 

 received the second part of this highly useful and 

 important work, compiled by Messrs. James Britten, 

 F.L.S., and Robert Holland, and published by 

 Trubner & Co., for the Early English Text Society. 

 As we remarked when called upon to notice the first 

 part, the authors are the only men we know of (who 

 are good botanists) capable of carrying out such a 

 difficult and pains-requiring work as the present. 

 They are doing their work well, as the abundant 

 references to every common plant-name sufficiently 

 indicates. And they are doing the work just in time, 

 for in the course of a few years most, if not all, of our 

 ancient plant-names and their folk-lore will have 

 become extinct. The present part extends from 

 "Fuzz" to " Ozier." No botanical library should 

 be without this work. 



Hawthorn Bloom. — R. W. , in August'number of 

 Science-Gossip, asks if any of your readers have 

 observed the scarcity of the hawthorn bloom of which 

 he speaks. I am sorry to say that in this, the central 

 part of the county Fermanagh, our experience has 

 been exactly similar to his. The entire absence of 

 bloom on the hawthorn hedges and trees, usually well 

 covered, has this year been the subject of general 

 remark, and many inferences as to the expected mild- 

 ness of the coming winter have been drawn in 

 consequence. — J. IT. IP. 



