68 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



in two woods near Buriton only six miles apart. I 

 should be glad to hear from any of your correspon- 

 dents, whether they have discovered localities other 

 than those to be found in the principal woods. En 

 passant, I may be allowed to mention that at Tenby 

 — a very favourite watering-place of mine — I last 

 year found Helix pisana as plentiful as ever, simply 

 swarming on the grassy slopes by the town. This 

 note may interest your readers. I must apologise for 

 so much intrusion on your space. — B. Tomlin, 

 Winchester College. 



Black Stork.— Your correspondent H. W. Lett 

 will, I am sure, be glad to hear that the black stork 

 recorded by him, although the first Irish specimen, 

 is by no means the fifth British killed individual ; 

 there are thirteen recorded instances of the occurrence 

 of the black stork in England, in addition to which 

 three were seen for some days in the county of Norfolk 

 in the year 1823, all of which escaped the usual fate 

 of rare visitors to our inhospitable shores. Mr. Lett's 

 bird will therefore be the seventeenth British black 

 stork.— T. S. 



The Yorkshire List of Lepidoptera. — For 

 some years past Mr. Geo. T. Porritt, F.L.S., of 

 Huddersfield, whose fitness for the task is well 

 known, has been engaged upon a List of the Lepid- 

 optera known to occur in Yorkshire, for the 

 "Transactions of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union." 

 He has been aided by the leading naturalists of the 

 county, and has also paid attention to the literature 

 of the subject, and has now finished the task. 

 The result of his labours, which many besides 

 Yorkshire naturalists will be pleased to see, has been 

 the preparation of a catalogue which need not fear 

 comparison with that of any other county in these 

 kingdoms, including 1344 out of the 2031 on the 

 British list, or a proportion of about two-thirds. The 

 list will occupy about 130 pages of the Transactions. 



BOTANY. 



New British Species of Mucorini. — During 

 the past four months, I have succeeded in finding 

 the following six species of the Mucorini, concerning 

 which I can discover no previous record of their 

 occurrence in Britain : Pilobolus cedipus, Montagne. 

 Stem short and thickish ; swelling turbinate ; colum- 

 ella very obtuse, piercing the sporangium nearly to 

 the summit. Spores spherical, granular, unequal in 

 the same sporange, 10-5-1-48 /u, with a distinct 

 epispore, germinating easily in water. On cow or pig's 

 dung. Pilobolus Kleinii, Van Tieghem. Stem slender 

 and elongated ; swelling ovoid ; superior hemisphere 

 of the sporangium not reticulated ; columella conical, 

 spores oval-oblong, variable, orange, averaging 15 /t 

 X 8 fj., not germinating in pure water. On horse 



and cow dung. These two species have hitherto 

 been confounded by observers with P. crystallinus r 

 Tode. Pilaira Cesalii, Van Tieghem. This species, 

 which is the Pilobolus anomalus of Cesati, has the 

 sporange nearly the same in structure as Pilobolus, 

 but differs in not projecting its sporange explosively 

 as the latter does. It is a much taller plant, reaching 

 above one inch in height, while the two Piloboli 

 mentioned above do not exceed one-tenth of an inch. 

 Columella hemispherical, the lower half forming an 

 apophysis below the sporange ; stem cylindrical, not 

 septate at the base. Among Mucor on horse dung. 

 I have also found Chatocladium Brefeldii, parasitic 

 on Thamnidium elegans ; Piptocephalis Freseniana, 

 De B. & \V., parasitic on Mucor ; and a species allied 

 to Morticrella tuberosa, Van Tieghem, which may 

 possibly prove to be distinct. — W. B. Grove, B.A. 



Curious structure of an Orange. — While 

 pulling an orange in half, a small cavity was disclosed 

 at the stalk end, which contained another small 

 orange covered with pulp and attached towards the 

 stalk end by the same substance. I do not know 

 whether such deformities in oranges are common, and 

 should be glad to hear if any of your correspondents 

 have observed any. — F. H. Parrott, Aylesbury. 



Autumn Primroses. — Observations similar to 

 those of your correspondent, Mr. J. S. (Luton) reveal- 

 ing the open character of the last three winters in 

 their influence on the South Bedfordshire woods, 

 should interest solar physicists, who will recall that 

 in 1876 Professor Balfour Stewart asserted that the 

 winter temperature range at Kew was greatest at the 

 time of sun-spots. But what should likewise interest 

 North countrymen, I have at the present moment 

 lying before me a slim and slender primrose, picked 

 on the estate of the Marquis of Bute, at Mountstuart, 

 in the island of Bute, on the 9th of September last. 

 It has scarcely half the dimensions of an English 

 March blossom, and retains much of the sepulchral 

 beauty of its native pine shade. Although it be 

 rumoured Mountstuart is a paradise of mildness, 

 there was an impression on my mind that the stray 

 late-blooming primroses met with in the Western 

 Highlands had been retarded by the excessive spring 

 rainfall. Perhaps some one knows ? — A. H. Swinton % 

 Guildford. 



Early Flowers.— While making for home this 

 afternoon, I found some of the common avens, or 

 herb Bennett (Geum urbamem) out in all its glory. Is 

 it not very early for it to be so I—Alex. Ogilby. 



Early Flowers. — During the week January 8-15 

 I found several plants of the lesser celandine or pile- 

 wort {R.ficarid) in blossom. They grew on a lawn, 

 under a leafless but spreading Spanish chestnut tree,, 

 whose branches ran along the ground for 15 to 20 

 feet. Locality — border of Sussex and Surrey ; 



