HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



2 37 



should like to know if any reader of Science-Gossip 

 ever actually saw such a thing before. Of course 

 double yolked eggs are common enough, but I never 

 thought it worth while to sit them, but looked upon 

 them as abortive monstrosities. — W. E. Harper. 



Common Celandine (Ckelidonium ma/us). — 

 Have you ever heard that the generic name of this 

 plant is derived from the Greek of "a swallow," 

 because it comes into bloom about the time that 

 these birds arrive in Europe, and that there is an old 

 tradition that swallows used the flowers to open the 

 eyes of their young, as linnets were said in folk- 

 lore to do euphrasia ? Some of the foreign doctors 

 have spoken highly of the celandine in the case of 

 eye diseases, but it is a vegetable poison and in large 

 doses will produce (when given to animals) loss of 

 sight. The euphrasia (common eye-bright) is, I know 

 from experience, a very good and safe eollyrium. 

 Milton and Shenstone both sang the virtues of 

 " Euphrasy."— Helen E. Watney. 



The Royal Feather Cloak in the Inter- 

 national Fishery Exhibition. — I dare say most 

 of your readers have, ere this, gazed with admiration 

 at the splendid scarlet and yellow cloak, made of the 

 feathers of the Do and Mamo birds which dwell in the 

 island of Hawaii. Lady Brassey has most kindly lent 

 it, and a printed description of it is given away gratis. 

 I wish, however, to call attention to the fact that this 

 cloak has an important bearing upon a most difficult 

 and interesting subject, i.e. the migrations and con- 

 nections of the aboriginal Polynesians in prehistoric 

 times. This cloak, although undoubtedly Hawaiian 

 (Sandwich Islands) in origin, came from Tahiti in the 

 Society Islands 2,200 miles away. It probably there- 

 fore reached these islands as a royal present in the 

 ages during which the islands of Polynesia were un- 

 known to Europeans. This proves that native 

 skill in navigation was very great, and that their 

 voyages were very considerable. Dr. Pickering 

 ("Physical History of Man," Bohn's ed., pp. 298, 

 &c.) has pointed out that there is a mass of evidence 

 in support of this view. He says: "One of the 

 Hawaiian headlands has been found to bear the 

 name of ' the starting-place for Tahiti,' the canoes, 

 according to the account of the natives, leaving in 

 former times ' at a certain season of the year, and 

 directing their course by a particular star.'" This 

 illustrates, I venture to think, the comparative ease 

 and facility with which a semi-civilised race or races 

 may have migrated across Polynesia from Indo-China 

 to America in prehistoric times, and accounts for the 

 innumerable resemblances observable between the 

 higher races of the American continent and those of 

 Polynesia — resemblances attested by Pickering, Sir 

 Charles Dilke, and many other writers. Thus this 

 interesting and, to native ideas, priceless cloak, forms 

 a link in a chain of evidence tending to clear up one 

 of the most insoluble difficulties in ethnology and 

 history, i.e. the origin of the civilised races of 

 Mexico, Peru, Central America, and of their Asiatic 

 affinities. I have this year communicated a paper to 

 the Americanist Congress meeting at Copenhagen 

 during the present month, entitled " Polynesian 

 Antiquities, a link between the early civilisations of 

 Asia and America." My deep interest in the subject 

 must be my excuse for troubling you in the matter. — 

 Francis A. Allen. 



Has Helix aspersa been found Fossil in 

 Britain ? — In answer to Mr. Woodward's query 

 under the above heading, in the May number of 

 Science-Gossip, I may say that, a little over seven 



years ago, whilst collecting in the neighbourhood 

 of Pontefract — Permian formation — in company with 

 other members of the "Ramblers," a club formed 

 for the practical study of conch ology, but now non- 

 existent, I took, as did several other members, and 

 have now in my collection, Helix aspersa, H. nemo- 

 ralis, H. lapicida, and H. rotundata in a sub-fossil 

 state. These quaternary fossils were mixed up with 

 bones — horse, ox, and sheep, and pieces of pottery, 

 Samian ware, of several colours. Their exposure was 

 due to the removal of material for glass-house pur- 

 poses. Some of the specimens of shells which we 

 dug out, were about one foot below the surface, in 

 an earthy deposit. — Henry Crowther, Beeston Hill, 

 Leeds. 



Butcher's-Broom near London.— I shall feel 

 obliged if you or any of your readers can inform me 

 where in the neighbourhood of London I can find 

 butcher's-broom [Ruscus acnleatns). I have searched 

 in Epping Forest and Chislehurst Common without 

 success, and guide-books mention both these localities 

 as habitats. I was much surprised at finding the 

 plant was not mentioned in my old edition of 

 Balfour's " Botany." How is this?— Henry Selby. 



Notes on the late Captain Chawner's col- 

 lection. — I was asked this spring to look through 

 and label an extensive collection of butterflies and 

 moths made by the late Captain Chawner, a gentleman 

 whose name is doubtless familiar to manyof our living 

 ornithologists and entomologists. To others it will 

 be sufficient to state that Captain Chawner was a 

 friend of the celebrated Curtis, whose beautiful en 

 gravings of insects have been the idolatry of German 

 connoisseurs ; and in the company of Curtis he made 

 many an entomological excursion to choice localities, 

 and nooks and corners frequented by rare and recluse 

 species. However, in looking through the gems of 

 the cabinet I was rather hindered in pronouncing 

 judgment on account of the loss of a memorandum 

 book, the specimens not being ticketed with date and 

 locality. As regards butterflies I noticed one of the 

 scarce swallow tails {Papilio podaliriits) reputed to 

 have been taken in England, peradventure one of 

 those alluded to in Neville Wood's " Naturalist" (vol. 

 iv. p. 227). I can only describe it as a meagre- 

 looking creature, with narrow under-wings and slender 

 tails turned a little outward, but I cannot say whether 

 this be the cut of the true British type or not. There 

 was likewise a large copper {Chrysophanus dispar) 

 of either sex from the Fen country, a thing that used 

 to be procurable ; also a Polyommatits Acis, one of 

 the old-fashioned sort, supposed to have become ex- 

 tinct till quite lately. I observed too an Argynnis 

 Euphrosync with black under-wings and with the 

 markings on the fore-wings enlarged, a hermaphroditic 

 meadow brown (Hipparchia Janira), a Cambervvell 

 beauty taken by a gardener engaged in sweeping the 

 grass, and two Bath whites. Of the larger British 

 moths most of the local and rare kinds were re- 

 presented. Dcilephila livornica, galii, a hybrid 

 Smerinthus ocellatus and populi, and so on. One 

 female ghost moth seemed of unusual dimensions. 

 Lastly, entomologists will hear with pleasure that the 

 identical Ophiodes lunaris noticed in Stainton's 

 Manual was extant and in good preservation, besides 

 which there were examples of the little orange 

 Argyrolepia ceneana, an insect I used to hunt for in 

 vain among the Willesden ragweed. In conclusion, it 

 would be interesting to discover what claims the 

 unique Ophiodes lunaris has to be considered British. 

 It is fancied that this moth was taken near Selborne, 

 where it might have bred in the woodland. Had it 



