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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



been taken on the coast there would have been, I 

 think, little doubt but that it had been imported. 

 Some thirty years ago when I was in the habit of 

 driving across Bursledon Bridge that spans the river 

 Hamble in Hampshire, the toll-keeper produced a 

 large box 1 of exotic moths for sale, which sailors had 

 captured in the Southampton Docks. On my com- 

 plaining that they were not Britishers he found me a 

 little starved Deilcfhila Euphorbia, that, according to 

 his account, he captured on the wing in the neigh- 

 bouring wood one Sunday afternoon. The specimen 

 is now in my cabinet, and though I half think it must 

 have come from France, there is still a secret pleasure 

 in fancying it may have bred in the charming seclusion 

 of that little Hamble river. — A. H. Swinton. 



Strange Situation of a Yew-tree. — In the 

 quiet old-fashioned Devonshire village of Culmstock 

 may be seen a curious phenomenon. Growing out 

 from the side of the tower, on a ledge immediately 

 beneath the battlements, ioo ft. from the ground, is a 

 yew-tree. The main stem may be 12 or 13 inches in 

 circumference. Its roots are insinuated between the 

 leads and the wooden ceiling of the belfry. I have 

 no means of ascertaining its age ; but an old in- 

 habitant on the shady side of sixty informed me last 

 week his grandfather had told him he remembered it 

 as a boy. The generally received opinion of its 

 origin in so curious a situation is, that a seed from the 

 yew-tree in the churchyard had been swallowed by a 

 bird and deposited in its excreta on the ledge. The 

 tower is a lodging house for colonies of jack-daws and 

 starlings ; but these are not berry-eating^birds, so far 

 as I know. To the no small regret of the village 

 worthies, this venerable parishioner is showing un- 

 mistakable signs of decay, certainly not from old age, 

 as what is evidently its parent, is far from patriarchal. 

 It has undoubtedly suffered much from the visits of 

 the adventurous, the curious, and the profane, who, 

 mounting the tower, regard it a sacred duty to tear off 

 mementos of their excursion. — W. Jacobs, Aden Vale. 



Nature Printing. — I and I dare say many of your 

 readers have looked anxiously for a detailed descrip- 

 tion of Mr. Thomas Honywood's method of printing 

 from nature, of which a mere notice was given in 

 No. 223, page 159, of the present volume of SciENCE- 

 GossiP. If the process bears out all that is claimed 

 for it, it will prove of inestimable advantage to 

 botanists and students of nature in general, and the 

 earlier we have it the better, as the season during 

 which it can be applied and found most valuable is 

 drawing rapidly to a close. — J. T. 



Disease of Puss Larwe. — Were Mr. Finch's larvce 

 kept in too confined a space ? I used to lose a great 

 many caterpillars by premature death, until I became 

 careful to give them plenty of air and not crowd 

 them too much. — Albert Waters. 



Helix Pomatia.— Will some reader inform me if 

 Helix pomalia, L., has been found in the Isle of 

 Wight '! Also in what counties Mounces and 

 Shaftocrag are ? — A. Loydell. 



Ranunculus Ficaria. — I would say in answer 

 to Mr. E. T. Scott's note on Ranunculus Ficaria, 

 p. 187, that Mr. J. R. Neve is only following popular 

 usage in calling this plant the Common celandine. 

 There would be no confusion, if Ckelidonium majus 

 were always called the greater celandine, and Ra- 

 nunculus Ficaria the lesser ; but I think that most 

 people, and the poets universally, are thinking of the 

 latter when they speak of the celandine ; nor is it 

 surprising that a beautiful spring flower, studding 



every hedge, should have acquired a name, part of 

 which belongs to a rather rare and comparatively 

 unknown plant. ' ' Pilewort," I imagine, is preserved 

 as a synonym, in remote country districts only. I 

 think that Mr. Scott has confused the fruit of 

 ranunculus with the seed, which latter he would 

 find on opening one of the numerous " achenes." 



White Cranesmlls, p. 1S8.— I find that Sowerby 

 says distinctly that most of the species of geranium 

 are occasionally found of a white colour, so that Mr. 

 Walter Cordwell can only claim a rarish variation 

 of colour in his specimen of G. molle. I have seen 

 G. rotuiitlifolium myself with pure white flowers. — 

 C. Stickland, 



Another Garden Pest, &c— Is not the larva 

 described by Mr. W. H. Harris as attacking the onion 

 plant that of Tabanus boninus ? His description and 

 plates correspond exactly with a specimen of that 

 larva in my cabinet. Could you, or any of your 

 readers, recommend me any book on British insects, 

 which would give a description of the various species 

 of Diptera, Hymenoptera, and Arachnida? — J. H.. 

 Moorhead. 



Query as to Plants.— Would some one kindly 

 inform me, through Science-Gossip, the botanical 

 names of the following plants, mentioned in Robin- 

 son's "Herbal" as medicinal, viz. dog's or goat's 

 arrach ; St. Peter's-wort ; one blade bishop's-weed, 

 or cumen royal, or Herb William, or Bull-wort ; 

 Elites, red and white ; Walter Calthrops, or water- 

 chestnuts ; cock's-head, or red fitchling ; Saracen's 

 woundwort. I cannot discover them. — S. A. Brenan. 



Land and Freshwater Shells.— Can any 

 reader say which recently published Manual or hand- 

 book gives the fullest descriptions of all the varieties 

 of British land and freshwater shells 1—Geo. Roberts, 

 Loflhouse. 



The Sundew.— The charming article by E. T. D. 

 in last month's Science-Gossip conveyed much in- 

 formation on these curious little plants, and, to one, 

 who, like myself, is well acquainted with the district 

 mentioned, and has botanised there in bygone times, 

 it brought to the memory thoughts of sunny days and 

 happy hours spent in investigating the flora of this 

 delightful Hampshire hunting-ground. It struck me, 

 however, as rather curious that E. T. D. should have 

 experienced any difficulty in spotting the sundew, for 

 in most New Forest districts, and I am acquainted 

 with the greater part of the neighbourhood, at least 

 two species of drosera are extremely common ; the 

 best known form, D. rotitndifolia, the only one by-the- 

 way that E. T. D. mentions, is so abundant as to give a 

 red tinge to the surface of the ground, while the little 

 drops of fluid which have exuded from the glands of 

 the tentacles sparkle in the morning sun, and have all 

 the appearance of dew-drops — have, of course, the 

 popular name. D. intermedia, a species having 

 spathulate leaves, is also very common in New Forest 

 bogs ; but while D. rotitndifolia seems to luxuriate in 

 beds of sphagnum, this plant revels in the black 

 mud of the ditches. The only other English species, 

 D. Anglica, a larger and rather more handsome plant, 

 is also to be found in this prolific neighbourhood. 

 Within a quarter of a mile of the little station called 

 Holmsley all three plants may be found growing. 

 When ascending Ben Nevis a few weeks ago, I found 

 a plant of D. rotundifolia which had captured a large 

 fly, nearly as big as a " blue-bottle," so big, indeed, 

 was it that little more than the head was enclosed in 

 the leaf. An insect as large as this must have been 



