HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



189 



apparently of recent formation I found several plants 

 of the crane's-bill tribe, and, so far as a cursory 

 examination would allow me to judge, in all essential 

 features similar to the dove's-foot crane's-bill 

 (Geranium molle), except that the flowers were 

 perfectly white. I have never before observed a 

 crane's-bill with white flowers, nor do my botanical 

 books mention such a deviation from the normal 

 features of the Geraniacese. — Walter Cord-well, 

 Harleston. 



Albinos, etc. — Referring to the note of Mr. E. J. 

 Gibbins in your May number, I may mention that 

 about two years ago I had brought to me a young 

 but perfectly fledged specimen of the Indian crow 

 (Corvus splendens) which was quite white, with pink 

 eyes, and that I have frequently seen in Ceylon 

 specimens of the same birds with white feathers in 

 the wing, and occasionally with white heads ; but I 

 have had no means of knowing whether these were 

 original feathers, or whether they had been replaced 

 after injury to the first ones. The other day I had 

 brought to me a perfect albino of the palm squirrel 

 (Sciurus tristriatus, Waterhouse), the only one I 

 have ever seen. A curious example of change from 

 coloured to white plumage is to be found in the 

 paradise fly-catcher (Terpsiphone paradisi, Sharpe), 

 which is a partial immigrant to Ceylon. The young 

 males are of a chestnut-red colour, with greyish breast 

 and glossy black crest, and at a certain age, probably 

 at the second year, the central feathers of the tail 

 elongate, until they reach from nine to twelve inches 

 below the rest. Sometimes previous to, and some- 

 times after this, the male commences to change from 

 chestnut-red to white. The scapulars and primaries 

 change first, then the tail feathers, and Captain Legge 

 remarks that, of the body feathers, the upper tail 

 coverts are first to fade. I have seen many speci- 

 mens in the process of transition, and I have in my 

 possession one with about half its feathers of each 

 colour ; two of the centre tail feathers are elongated, 

 one of which is perfectly white and the other perfectly 

 red. It is difficult, I think, on any theory of mimicry 

 or natural selection to account for this change of 

 plumage, which takes place only in adult male birds. 

 I shall be glad to have the opinion of any of your 

 readers. — W. Knight y<zmes, F.R.G.S., Colombo, 

 Ceylon. 



Starling's Eggs white. — In reply to your 

 correspondent who asks for information on this point, 

 I may say that I have taken a good many eggs in my 

 time, and have several times taken starlings' eggs 

 white, though it is always a different white from the 

 white of a hen's egg. My experience is that all eggs 

 are liable to be found varying much in colour, more 

 especially those with any shade of blue for the ground 

 colour. The delicate colour of the starling's egg is, 

 like that of the thrush, much affected by the process 

 of incubation, so that as the eggs are longer sat upon 

 they nearly always become considerably lighter in 

 colour. While on the subject of eggs, I may mention 

 that I have found a blackbird's egg which was 

 white, but then it was evidently due to the fact of the 

 egg having been laid rather too soon, as the shell 

 was of a chalky consistency and would not allow of 

 handling, but broke immediately. The eggs of the 

 chaffinch often vary considerably, and have the 

 ground-work almost entirely of blue, so that, except 

 for the shape, some of them might almost be taken for 

 those of a hedge-sparrow, especially as when this is 

 the case, the markings are generally nearly absent. I 

 have also found robins' eggs vary much in colour, from 

 white to cream colour. — J. T. Green. 



Markings on V. Atalanta. — The following 

 incident may perhaps interest some of your readers, 

 as it contains a fact not known, I believe, to the 

 generality of entomologists : — Two years ago, when 

 " The world to an end should have come in 1SS1," 

 I was informed by a superstitious old lady that she 

 was certified of the truth of the above prophecy, 

 because one of her grandchildren had caught a butter- 

 fly with the figures 1881 distinctly marked upon it. 

 I ridiculed the idea at first, but on reaching my 

 collection I found that underneath the under-wings of 

 a butterfly ( Vanessa atalanta) there was plainly 

 enough this peculiar marking, 18 on one wing and 

 81 on the other. — Montague S. IV. Gunning. 



Ranunculus Ficaria. — J. R. Neve would have 

 done well if, before writing notes on Ranunculus 

 ficaria, he had looked at Professor Henslow's 

 " Botany for Children." In the first and second 

 pages of that book the organs of that particular plant 

 are described with more detail than is given by Dr. 

 Hooker, who did not write for children, but for 

 readers whom he credited with more elementary 

 knowledge than, it may be, some of them possess. 

 If it be erroneous to describe as roots the tuberous 

 knobs at the base of the stem, they are organs of a 

 complex nature, an appropriate name for which has 

 yet to be devised. In the meantime, they may be 

 called roots in the same sense as carrots, radishes, and 

 mangel-wurzel are so called. In the case of these 

 plants, the real root is blended with the base of the 

 stem below the cotyledons. The difference between 

 them and the lesser celandine is, that the latter being 

 perennial, new roots are annually formed in connection 

 with subterranean buds from which next year's 

 plants will grow. If these tuberous knobs were 

 true tubers, the bud would be at the end furthest from 

 the stem, at whose base they grow, which does not 

 seem to be the case. The buds that are sometimes 

 found in the axils of leaves are more like real tubers, 

 except in not being subterranean. That such buds 

 should bear resemblance to the roots is not more 

 wonderful than that the sepals of a coloured calyx 

 should resemble petals, and be therefore called 

 petaloid. In a similar sense the roots of Ranunculus 

 ficaria are called tuberous. — John Gibbs. 



Notes on Ash. — Mr. J. A. Dymes, in your June 

 number, seems to think it unusual for the ash to come 

 out before the oak. To show him that this is not at 

 all an unusual fact, and also that these trees come into 

 leaf at very varying times relatively, it may be useful 

 to quote an old saying that is very familiar to me — 



If the oak comes out before the ash, 

 There will only be a splash ; 

 But if the ash comes out before the oak, 

 Then there will be a soak. 



This shows that country people have long noticed this 

 fact, and have very sensibly attributed it to its right 

 cause — the amount of dampness in the soil and 

 atmosphere, the relative length of the roots of the two 

 trees being affected in different degrees by the state 

 of the surface of the ground. — J. T. Green, Wallasey. 



"The Spider and the Fly." — While taking a 

 walking tour in Perthshire last spring, I kept a 

 constant outlook for specimens of one kind or another, 

 as in fact I generally do, to add to my small collection. 

 On one occasion, when walking along a road, my 

 attention was attracted by a curious mass moving 

 across the path. Stopping to look at it, I found on 

 examination that the object referred to was nothing 

 less than an ichneumon fly dragging a large spider 

 after it. The battle had been a tough one, but it had 



