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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



hooking strips of cotton rags or paper to the dress 

 of any unwary person who can be got at, the 

 " April fools " who thus unconsciously " drag their 

 tails behind them " causing much merriment. In 

 the country parishes, however, 67. aparine being 

 abundantly provided with hooklets, affords a ready 

 substitute for "tails" of manufactured material. 

 Immediately a sprig of the plant is thrown on and 

 attached to a person's clothes, the cry of La quoue, 

 la quoue / (a tail, a tail ! ) is raised, and continued 

 till the victim of the harmless joke discovers the 

 cause of the sudden outcry. As in some instances 

 in this country, the plant takes its name from the 

 use to which it is applied. It is also known by 

 another local name, which is derived from a word 

 signifying to scratch.— E. D. 3Iarquand, Brocken- 

 hurst. 



Nectaries op Hellebortjs.— Dr. Masters has 

 discovered that the small cup-shaped petals which 

 form the nectaries of Helleborus are gifted with 

 the same power of absorbing and digesting nitro- 

 genous substances as the leaves of the Venus's Ply- 

 trap and the Sundew. 



A Botanical Trip to the Scilly Islands.— 

 Being one of a party who lately paid a visit to 

 these islands, so famed for their botanical treasures, 

 I thought a slight notice thereon might be accept- 

 able to the readers of Science- Gossip. Of course, 

 our foremost object was to procure the rare Orni- 

 thopus ebracteatus: this we first gathered at Tresco 

 Island, on slopes facing and near the coast. We 

 afterwards found it on both the islands of St. 

 Agnes and Bryer. We obtained— near the mill— 

 Trifolium suffocatum and Viola Curtisii — the latter 

 in fruit, coming on it rather late in the season. 

 These both grow on sandy banks near the shore. 

 On St. Mary's, we fell in with Trifolium glomera- 

 turn on hedge-banks, Reseda svffruticulosa in plenty, 

 Inula Helenium, Scrophularia scorodonia on road- 

 side hedges, and on walls in Hugh Town, the 

 beautiful Alyssum maritimum. Thousands of Tri- 

 folium subterraneum and Trigonella ornithopodioides 

 may be seen almost everywhere. Lotus angustissi- 

 mus and hispidus in many places. A broad form of 

 Zostera marina occurs here. This appears rare in 

 fruit,— a few specimens only in that state being 

 washed up. Had the tides permitted, I might have 

 got a supply from its marine bed : I found the 

 narrow form last season at the same spot rather 

 plentiful. The Water Ranunculi are represented 

 here by some two or three species, and exceedingly 

 fine and beautiful specimens may be gathered. We 

 collected many, nearly two feet long, and in great 

 perfection, but cannot give their names, but would 

 be glad to send samples to any one interested in 

 this tribe of plants to identify. Potamogeton pec- 

 t mains— probably a variety— was very fine, pro- 



ducing its flowers in rich abundance. Scirpus pan- 

 ciflorus and S. multicaulis were both plentiful at 

 Higher Bog. I cannot conclude without saying a 

 word respecting that beautiful lichen Sticta aurata 

 occurring on the islands of Bryer and St. Agnes. 

 The richness of its appearance is beyond descrip- 

 tion, clinging to the stunted heath for protection 

 against the high wind, like rich gems of gold, the 

 sight of which producing a sensation not easy to 

 describe.— W. Curnow, Penzance. 



Ornithopus ebracteatus. — I visited the Scilly 

 Isles at the end of May last, in company with 

 Messrs. Ralfs and Curnow, to search for the above- 

 named rare plant. We were fortunate in finding it 

 in some quantity in the islands of Tresco and St. 

 Agnes. The specimens were mostly small, owing 

 to the dry season. We consider it to be decidedly 

 native. — James Cunnack, Helslon, Cornwall. 



The Northen Holy-grass. — As several notes 

 have appeared in your pages during the past year 

 on Hierochloe borealis, " I am rather surprised that 

 no one has quoted Dr. Parnell's " Grasses of Great 

 Britain." He says of it : " It grows from twelve to 

 eighteen inches high. The root is perennial, creep- 

 ing ... a prominent, broad, obtuse ligule. Leaves 

 short, broad, lanceolate. Although this is one of 

 the earliest of our flowering grasses, it cannot be 

 recommended with advantage to the notice of 

 agriculturists, as its powerful creeping root, and 

 its great deficiency of spring foliage, are disadvan- 

 tages which are not compensated by any merits the 

 grass possesses. It is a native of Lapland, Norway, 

 Sweden, Germany, Prance, Italy, Kamtchatka, and 

 Alaska. Plowers early in May, and ripens its seed 

 in June. In Prussia, this grass is strewed before the 

 doors of churches on festival days, and in Sweden 

 it is sold^to be suspended over beds to induce sleep." 

 Dr. Hooker says much the same in his " Students 

 Plora." We have it growing here in the grass-garden, 

 and it had sent up its flower-stalks on April 22ud, 

 even in this by no means early season, and in a 

 bleak situation. Its stigmas were mature by the 

 27th, and I cannot but think Mrs. Edwards wrong- 

 in saying that stamens and stigmas are mature 

 simultaneously. The plant is truly hermaphrodite, 

 but not, I think synacmic, but protogynous. Its 

 foliage is scanty, but the stalk has a strong, sweet 

 taste. — 67. S. Boulger, Professor of Natural History, 

 Ag. Col., Cirencester. 



Sudden Appearance of Plants.— On this 

 subject I see Mr. Edwin Lees, of Worcester, has 

 written to you at some length, in page ]99 in the 

 year 1S74, and he accounts for the appearance 

 of plants by " the ground having been disturbed." 

 I would ask Mr. Lees through the means of 

 your paper, whether he could assign any cause 

 for the appearance of plants when the ground has 



