133 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



black conical spot projecting from the costal margin 

 to near the inner angle of the discal cell. I hope 

 to see this remarkable variety figured in Strecker's 

 admirable work now in course of publication. I 

 shall be glad to send Huntera to auy of your readers 

 who may wish to verify that species. — W. V. An- 

 drews, Brooklyn, New York. 



NORTHAMPTONSHIRE NATURALISTS' SOCIETY AND 



Eield Club. — A long-felt want has at length been 

 remedied by the formation of the above society, 

 under the presidency of Lord Lilford, Mr. C. Jecks 

 secretary, and a committee consisting of the Rev. 

 S. J. W. Sanders, Rev. G. Nicholson, Rev. R. S. 

 Holmes, and Messrs. S. Dadford, G. C. Druce, E. 

 Durham, — Storey, and G. Osborne. During the 

 four summer months as many field excursions will be 

 made, and a monthly meeting during the remainder 

 of the year will be devoted to the reading of papers 

 and exhibition of objects and specimens. Already 

 the society has about seventy members, and the 

 opening meeting, when Lord Lilford delivered the 

 inaugural address, was held on April 21, 1S76. It 

 is trusted that the natural history of Northampton- 

 shire, which has for a long time been neglected, 

 will by the help of this society be thoroughly ex- 

 plored. 



"Collecting and Preserving." — Our position 

 with reference to this attractive-looking little 

 volume prevents us doing other than drawing atten- 

 tion to the fact that it has just been published by 

 Hardwicke & Bogue, 192, Piccadilly. It consists of 

 a collection of articles by experts on the collecting 

 and preserving of all kinds of natural-history objects, 

 and we hope it will prove of that value to young 

 students it was originally intended the articles 

 should have. 



A Rare Eoreigner. — At a recent meeting of 

 the Zoological Society of London, Mr. G. Dawson 

 Rowley exhibited and made remarks on a specimen 

 of Machcerirhynchus nigripectus, a New Guinea bird, 

 which is believed to be the first specimen that has 

 yet reached this country. At the same meeting 

 Mr. Osbert Salvin exhibited and made some remarks 

 on a piece of a trunk of a pine, from Guatemala, 

 which had been perforated by a woodpecker {Melon- 

 erpes formicivorus), for the purpose of storing 

 acorns. 



Lankester's " Practical Physiology."— This 

 most useful and trustworthy little book, published 

 at 192, Piccadilly, has now reached the sixth edition. 

 We should be glad to see it reach the sixtieth, in 

 order that the knowledge of the human frame and 

 functions therein so simply described might be in 

 the. possession of every man and woman in Great 

 Britain. 



BOTANY. 



Veronica Buxbatjmii, Ten., has been so pro- 

 minent before me during the whole of the incle- 

 ment winter that I cannot resist sending you a few 

 notes upon it. My whole farm is full of it, and its 

 grand bright blue flowers have shone forth with the 

 sunshine on every bright day all through the winter. 

 It principally affects our arable fields, in which the 

 V. agrestis is a comparatively rare form ; but it seldom 

 occurs in the gardens, where, however, the V. agres- 

 tis is much more frequent. There is also met with 

 here what I might term a modified form- of V. Bux- 

 baumii with larger flowers and foliage than the 

 agrestis, and yet not so large as the Buxbaum's 

 Speedwell, as figured so well in the new edition of 

 "English Botany." It is possible that this is a 

 hybrid between the two. It seems clear to me that 

 the introduction of the newer agrarian weed is 

 gradually driving out the older one. The V. Bux- 

 baumii is not mentioned in Sir J. E. Smith's second 

 edition of the "English Mora," and now it is found 

 tracking artificial pasturage everywhere, being 

 doubtless introduced in foreign agricultural seeds. — 

 /. Buckman, Bradford Abbas. 



Oldham Microscopical Society and Eield 

 Club. — Mr. J. Nield brought to a close the winter 

 series of the papers of this vigorous society by 

 reading his " Notes of a Highland Tour in Quest 

 of Alpine Plants." A number of Alpine plants 

 — cryptogamic and phsenogamic — were laid on the 

 table. These plants are of great interest for 

 their bearing on the geologic history of the country, 

 being the remains of a flora which, in the remote 

 past, was more generelly diffused over the land. 

 They are, more strictly speaking, the outliers of the 

 flora of Scandinavia than that of the British isles. 

 Mr. Nield and his companions left home on Satur- 

 day, July 12th. Eor the first few days they made 

 their home at the head of Loch Tay, afterwards 

 removing to the foot of Ben Lawers, and about 

 eight miles from Killin, on the Kenmore road. 

 From these'points the principal mountains of the 

 Breadalbaue group — Maei Ghyrdie, Craig Challiach, 

 the Tarmichan, Craig na Gower, and Ben Lawers — 

 were climbed in succession, and some of the rarest 

 plants in Great Britain were gathered. The follow- 

 ing is a list of the plants collected on the Ben 

 Lawers group of mountains: — Flowering Plants: 

 Myrica gale, Viola amoena, Habenaria bifolia, H. 

 chlorautha, H. albida, Gymnadenia conopsea, 

 Veronica scutellata, V. saxatilis, V. humifusa, 

 Gentiana nivalis, G. campestris, Saussuria alpina, 

 Epilobium alpinum, E. alsinifolium, . Potentilla 

 alpestris, Saxifraga nivalis, S. stellaris, S. opposi- 

 tifolia, S. cernua, S. azoides, Gnaphalium supinum, 

 Tofieldia palustris, Thalictrum alpinum, Draba 

 incana, D. rupestris, Csrastium alpinum, Vicia 



