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HARDWICK&S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



is a fossil reptile, named by Professor Marsh, Bron- 

 tosaurus. The professor has published a " restora- 

 tion " of this huge creature, in which the chief 

 points of interest are the smallness of its head, the 

 strength of its back, and the hugeness of its hind 

 limbs. A single individual was fifty feet long. The 

 feet were plantigrade, and each foot-print must have 

 been about a square yard in extent. The tail was 

 remarkably large. So small was the skull that it 

 weighs and measures less than the fourth or fifth 

 cervical vertebra. The animal is calculated to have 

 weighed more than twenty tons. It was more or 

 less amphibious in its habits, and probably fed on 

 aquatic plants. It was a slow moving creature, 

 possessed of neither offensive nor defensive natural 

 weapons. 



Fossil Cryptogamia. — Two eminent fossil 

 botanists, MM. Saporta and Marion, are of opinion 

 that Siphonaceous algEe were in existence during the 

 Silurian period, but that the higher kinds of sea- 

 weeds, &c, did not appear until the Oolitic period, 

 and such groups as Fucacea;, Florida?, and Characece, 

 not until the Tertiary. Similarly with terrestrial 

 cryptogamous plants. The Primary and Secondary 

 strata furnish no remains of mosses. The Cyathacere 

 date from the commencement of the Carboniferous 

 period, whilst the true Polypodiaceoe commence with 

 the Rhsetian. The Lycopodiacese began in the 

 Devonian, and reached their climax during the 

 Carboniferous epoch, afterwards degenerating into 

 Selaginella, &c. The most highly developed Crypto- 

 gams now are Rhizocarpse. The highest types of 

 the Cryptogams were defeated in the struggle for 

 existence by Gymnosperms and Angiosperms. 



Remarkable Pebbles in the Boulder Clay. 

 — Dr. Charles Ricketts, F.G.S., has published a very 

 interesting paper on this subject, but bearing refer- 

 ence to the Boulder Clays of Cheshire, and Lanca- 

 shire. He shows that, in addition to the ice- worn 

 pebbles so abundant in these beds, there are also 

 large blocks of granite, trap, &c, occasionally met 

 with, having their surfaces entirely free from ice- 

 marks. These are weathered all over, except at a 

 neck-like portion where they were broken off. 

 Dr. Ricketts thinks that in such examples the dis- 

 integration may have occurred whilst in their original 

 position. 



Rare Birds.— It is probable that the rare bird 

 your correspondent speaks of as the " Pigeon pilfrey " 

 may be a crossbill. They are handsome birds, and 

 occasional visitors. They are fond of pine-woods 

 and apple orchards, eating the seeds of the fir cones, 

 and the pips, or, as some old writers term them, 

 kernels of the fruit. They make their appearance in 

 autumn, when the apple crop is ripe. — Helen E. 

 Walney. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Mind in Animals. — The dog to which I espe- 

 cially refer does " make towards the kitchen or the 

 hall door, or the resort of the cats," and, what is 

 more, she does not when I say "cats" run to the 

 kitchen, nor when I say "meat" or "dinner" 

 does she run to the garden. The dog, if I say 

 " meat " does beg, and lick her lips, and utters little 

 short barks of expectation, quite different from her 

 behaviour on hearing the word "cats." Again, 

 the thrush certainly does understand that "too 

 hot" means too hot ; for when I say " too cold " in 

 the same tone of voice, the bird takes no notice, 

 and, if the potato is really too hot, soon finds his 

 mistake. While, if I say "too hot" without any 

 gesture at all, even of a perfectly cold potato, the 

 bird will not touch it. As to dogs not being able 

 to communicate ideas to each other, I still opine 

 that they can speak to each other as much as they 

 need in ordinary circumstances. I have tried the 

 experiment of introducing the words "sugar," 

 "meat," or cats" into a sentence, quite separate 

 from any qualifying words, and in a perfectly 

 different voice, laying no stress on the words ; but 

 the dog shows by its signs that it perfectly under- 

 stands the meaning of the words, though it does not 

 get nearly so excited as if I say, even in the same 

 tone, " Do you want some meat ? " I have performed 

 the crucial experient mentioned by Dr. Keegan ; if I 

 say " sugar," and at the same time seize a stick and 

 go to the garden, the dog is puzzled ; looking first at 

 the cupboard, then at the garden, she follows 

 doubtingly, knowing that the words and actions bore 

 reference to quite different things. — //. C. Brooke. 



Mind in the Lower Animals. — I am glad to 

 see so many correspondents writing to say they 

 cannot agree with Dr. Keegan's proposition that 

 mind does not exist among the lower animals ; cer- 

 tainly it is in all cases far inferior to what exists in 

 man, but in my opinion it is merely a question of 

 degree. I am afraid there are many people who 

 cannot even bear the thought of their minds being 

 compared with those of animals, they themselves 

 being only a little lower than the angels, and so they 

 try to get over the difficulty by saying that animals 

 have no minds, only instinct ; but when we ourselves 

 do anything " instinctively " it is put down as being 

 only " natural." I am not a dog-fancier myself, but 

 what little I have seen of them convinces me that 

 they vary in mind as much amongst themselves as we 

 do ; thus there are dogs more intelligent than others ; 

 some are sly and some are proud ; some will never 

 forget a slight, and will stand upon their dignity, besides 

 many other kinds of dogs. And what is true of dogs is 

 also true of other animals in various degrees ; but as 

 we descend the scale we may come so low that mind 

 may practically be said not to exist, the animal 

 merely having life with no more intelligence than a 

 turnip. — H. M. 



Two Birds from one Egg. — A canary belonging 

 to a friend having laid an extraordinarily large egg, it 

 was decided to remove the others and let her sit on 

 this one to see what would come of it ; this she did 

 for the full time, or nearly so, when she left it for 

 some hours, and my friend thought she had given it 

 up as a bad job, and, alas, with true feminine curiosity 

 broke the shell, when lo ! there were the two perfectly 

 formed birds alive, but the yolk not quite absorbed. 

 They are both of fair size, and I have no doubt 

 would have hatched all right if left to themselves. I 



