140 



HARDWICK&S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



GEOLOGY. 



Gelatinous Silica. — Dr. H. Leffmann states in 

 the "American Naturalist," he has found that at the 

 bottom of bottles containing certain siliceous geyser 

 waters from the Yellowstone National Park, there is 

 deposited a quantity of gelatinous matter looking 

 like the white of egg, which, on analysis, proved to 

 be nearly pure silica. It was entirely structureless, 

 and by heat dried to a white opaque mass. After 

 having been enclosed for several weeks in a closed 

 vessel with strong sulphuric acid, it shrank to about 

 one-tenth its volume. 



Another Factor in the Evolution of Spe- 

 cies. — The new American weekly journal, " Science " 

 (whose great' success is well deserved), has a short 

 paper by Professor Verrill, in which he calls attention 

 to the lack of maternal care as one of the probable 

 causes of the extinction of many of the large and 

 powerful reptiles of the Mesozoic periods. The more 

 intelligent forms, by the development of parental 

 instinct for the active protection of their young against 

 their enemies, would survive longest, and therefore 

 would transmit this instinct, with other cerebral 

 developments, to their descendants. Professor Verrill 

 thinks this mode of natural selection must always 

 have been an active one. 



The Fossil Men of Nevada.* 



The wondrous story that I now relate 

 Of what was found in great Nevada's State 

 Will dash all human aspirations high, 

 But make the saddest of collectors spry. 

 Within the precincts of the prison wall 

 Of Carson city, the State Capitol, 

 Alternate layers of sandstone and of clay, 

 When dug, disclosed impressions — so they say — 

 Of human footsteps of gigantic size 

 Which made no less impression on the wise. 

 Great beetle-crushers, twenty inches long, 

 In thirteen prints a separate track prolong ; 

 Though these big men, 'twould seem, had little go- 

 Scarce forty inches 'twixt the toe and toe. 

 A mincing gait was this for giant race — 

 Three feet and odd the step, six feet the pace. 



So men before us made their lives sublime, 

 And left great footprints on the sands of time. 

 We follow, sailing o'er life's solemn main, 

 And seeing, tremble, losing heart again. 

 For being taught in Darwin's unique plan, 

 , We thought perfection grew from man to man. 

 Such dreams, we see, are idle — time misspent — 

 When " understandings " narrow with descent. 



A. Conifer. 



* See the Duke of Argyll's letter to "Nature," April 19th. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



The Rose. — The rose is a plant which has been 

 famous from all ages, and its history is largely 

 interwoven with legends. Concerning the origin of 

 the red rose, the three following versions are the 

 most beautiful which I have come across : — " It 

 was holiday in Olympia, and the gods and goddesses 

 were drinking ambrosial nectar. Venus, for this 

 occasion, had decked herself in garlands of white 

 roses. Her son Cupid, while sporting with the 

 nymphs, struck with the tip of one of his wings the 

 goblet which his mother held, thus spilling a few 

 drops of the celestial liquid, which, falling on the 

 roses, suddenly changed them into a lovely scarlet." 

 Another is : " Venus, during the heat of the day, 

 was reposing in her bower, the floor of which was 

 strewn with white roses. On learning the death of 

 her beloved Adonis, who had been killed by a wild 

 boar, she left her couch, crying bitterly ; and while 

 her eyes filled with tears which ever and anon fell 

 to the ground, the blood shot forth from her foot, 

 which had struck against a thorn : thus the roses 

 became red and from her tears sprang the anemones." 

 The last and, to my mind, the most beautiful : " A 

 rose-tree, growing by a river-bank and seeing her 

 lovely white corolla reflected in the stream, blushed 

 with pride on seeing how beautiful she was." — W. H. 

 Newberry, Ghent, Belgium. 



Appearance of the Swallow. — It will perhaps 

 interest your readers to know that on Tuesday last 

 (the 3rd of April) I noticed here (Leeds) a common 

 swallow (H. rustica) on the wing. There was no 

 doubt about the bird, its peculiar head, tail, breast, 

 &c, being distinctly observed. Tuesday was a 

 beautiful day, and I have no doubt this had induced 

 the bird to come out of its winter-quarters ; for as there 

 were no others present 'and I have not seen it since, I 

 concluded that it had hybernated. This is another 

 proof that the swallow does not always leave us, and 

 corroborates Dr. Abbott's statement.— "Plutarch." 



Wood- pigeons and Owl. — On the 7th of April 

 my brother disturbed a pair of wood-pigeons 

 (Columba palumbus) and a white owl, out of a tree 

 covered with ivy. Upon climbing up he found the 

 wood- pigeons' nest with an almost fully-fledged 

 young pigeon in it, and separated from this by only 

 a small partition of ivy was the'roosting-place of the 

 owl, which had evidently been long in use, judging 

 from the amount of excrement which lay there. It 

 seems almost incredible that the owl should not have 

 frightened away the pigeons whilst building, or de- 

 voured the young one when it was hatched. — F. 

 Hayward Parrott, Walton House, Aylesbury. 



Curious Phenomenon seen at Burnham, 

 Somerset. — My attention and that of many others 

 directed to it, April 6th, before and after sunset. All 

 at once there shot up from the sun a column of fire 

 towards the zenith. There were not other rays of 

 light. It was like a huge pine trunk slightly knobbed 

 at the top. This rose and fell, waxed and waned 

 like an Aurora streamer ; sometimes looking 300 feet 

 high, and anon 3000. A gentleman who has lived 

 here over forty years never saw anything like it before, 

 and I, having watched the skies for over forty years, 

 cannot remember such an appearance. It lasted 

 about three-quarters of an hour. — A. H. B. 



Lundy Island. — I have great pleasure in referring 

 Mr. Wilkinson to a little book by Mr. J. R. Chanter 

 of Barnstaple, in which he will find particulars of 



