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HARDWICKE'S science-gossip. 



Traces of an American Authochthon.— A 

 capital article on this subject appeared in the 

 American Naturalist for June last, by an old sub- 

 scriber of Science- Gossip, Dr. C. C. Abbott, of 

 Trenton, New Jersey. Dr. Abbott writes pleasantly 

 and earnestly of his hunts after the relics of the 

 American stone ages, and particularly describes 

 some he found in strata of river-drift, which he 

 believes to be the forerunners of the later series. 

 The ancient American people, he believes, were dis- 

 placed by the race of new comers who fabricated 

 the more modern relics, the former living as long 

 ago as the close of the Glacial epoch, when the river 

 in whose strata their remains are found flowed at 

 an elevation of at least fifty feet higher than it does 

 now. It is singular to find that even the savage 

 Red Indians are related to a stone-implement people 

 j ust as we are. 



A Bone-bed in the Lower Coal-measures. — 

 Mr. J. W. Davis, E.L.S., has just laid before the 

 Geological Society of London an important dis- 

 covery of the remains of a large number of car- 

 boniferous fishes. They occur in a thin bed, which 

 is composed almost entirely of the remains of fishes, 

 and rests immediately upon the "Better-bed Coal " 

 of the Lower Coal-measures in Yorkshire. The 

 bed varies from a quarter to five-eighths of an inch 

 in thickness, and is overlaid by a thick bed of blue 

 argillaceous shale, containing remains of plants. 

 The author described the order of the deposits both 

 above and below the " Bone-bed," and gave a list of 

 the organisms of which remains are found in the 

 latter, including species of Gyracanthus, Ctenacan- 

 thus, Lepr acanthus, AcaMhodes, Pleur acanthus, 

 Orthacanthus, Piplodus, Pteurodus, Helodus, Cla- 

 dodus, Pcecilodus, Petalodus, Harpacodus, Cteno- 

 ptychius, Megalichthys, Iloloptychius, Strepsodus, 

 Acrolepis, Plalysomus, AcantJiodopsis, Amphicen- 

 trum, Rhizodopsis, Cycloptychius, Gyrolepis, Palceo- 

 niscus, Ccelacanthus, and Ctenodus. The author 

 also described spines which he regarded as indica- 

 ting two new genera of Elasmobranchs, one pro- 

 bably allied to Pleuracanthus, and the other {Hop- 

 lonchus) allied to Onchus and Tlomacanthus. Bones 

 belonging to the Labyrinthodont genus Loxomma 

 are met with, rarely, in the deposit. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Woodlice.— I should be obliged if any of the 

 readers of Science-Gossip would inform me of the 

 best means of getting rid of woodlice. Our 

 garden is swarming with them.— Querist. 



Crocus. — In early spring I had a basket of 

 crocuses sent me in flower. Some were a deep 

 purple, some paler, but none yellow. 1 planted 

 them in pots, and placed them in my office, under 

 a skylight, where the sun does not shine at all. 

 The first flowers kept fresh for more than a fort- 



night, and fresh ones sprang up beside them ; but 

 the fresh ones were all yellow ! Even before the 

 first flowers had drooped, the yellow ones sprang 

 from the same root. I attribute the change to the 

 absence of sunshine. It would appear that yellow 

 is the original colour. — A. E., Worcester. 



How to Test Fungi. — The following extract is 

 from the " Peoples Friend " :— " The following is 

 said to be an infallible test for knowing the qualities 

 of mushrooms : Before peeling the mushrooms, pass 

 a gold ring backwards and forwards over the skin. 

 Should the bruise thus caused turn yellow or orange- 

 colour, it is poisonous ; but otherwise it is quite 

 safe. Every married woman has a gold ring to test 

 the mushroom thus; or a sovereign rubbed on it 

 will have the desired effect." Would some of our 

 experienced fungiologists say if there be any truth 

 in the above test, and, if so, whether any other 

 metal will answer as well as gold ? If an accurate 

 test, it cannot be too widely known ; and if erro- 

 neous, the sooner it is confuted the better. — J. P. 

 Soulter. 



Growth of the Willow, &c. — At the conclusion 

 of his paper " On the Growth of the Willow," in 

 Science-Gossip for May, Mr. Edwin Lees refers 

 to the fact of elms being occasionally resuscitated 

 in the peculiar way that he had already mentioned 

 in the ense of willows. Some of your readers may 

 be glad to be introduced to a good example of this 

 within easy reach of many of them. In St. James's 

 Park, about sixty yards or so to the S.E. of the Sus- 

 pension Bridge, and close to the pathway, stand the 

 wrecks of two fine elms, broken down some twelve 

 feet from the ground. Near the top of one of these 

 trunks a branch has thrown down roots along the 

 old stem to the ground precisely in the manner 

 mentioned by Mr. Lees. _ I have often pointed this 

 out to friends, in walking from the St. James's 

 Park Station of the District Railway. — G. J. P. 



Brown Toad. — With regard to the colour of < 

 toad or frog, all depeuds on the weather. In 

 Herefordshire, some forty years ago, they were 

 called the "Poor Man's Weather-glass." I have 

 myself, when a child, often heard it said, on seeing 

 a yellow frog hop across the path, " We shall have 

 fine weather," or some such remark ; or, on seeing 

 a dark-coloured one, "There will be rain." I have 

 seen some toads nearly black in a very wet season, 

 as also a bright yellow in a dry and warm summer 

 day. In my garden, fifteen years ago, a toad 

 appeared to make its home in a hole under the 

 root of a large pear-tree, and was not at all timid, 

 but used to sit at its door while my children were 

 playing on the lawn close by. I have often noticed 

 this one changed colour, but whether before or 

 after a change in the weather I never observed, and 

 have now no garden, and no opportunity of watching 

 these interesting creatures. — A. E., Worcester. 



Toads.— J. H. B. Brooke will find that these 

 reptiles, like our newta and frogs, are much darker 

 just before, and much lighter directly after, changing 

 their skins than at any other time. At least, 1 have 

 found this to be the case with all those I have ever 

 kept. — B. B. Woodward. 



The Cuckoo. — In Mr. Taylor's interesting 

 volume, " Half-hours in the Green Lanes," he makes 

 a statement respecting the Cuckoo which my expe- 

 rience does not confirm. It is this: " We know 

 it builds no nest of its own, but drops its eggs 

 in that of other birds, nature appearing to have 



