HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



239 



possessed of sufficient muscular power to have made its 

 escape during the gradual inflection of the tentacles, 

 for its hind legs and wings were entirely free from the 

 gummy exudations of the plant. The question oc- 

 curred to me whether the fluid sought_ after by the fly 

 contained any intoxicating or amesthetical qualities, by 

 which the insect was rendered inactive until killed by 

 immersion in the acid exudations by means of which 

 the sundew kills its prey. While writing of New 

 Forest sundews, it may be of interest to some of the 

 readers of Science-Gossip who think of visiting the 

 locality, to know that other insectivorous plants beside 

 Drosera are to be met with. One or two species of 

 bladderwort (Utricularia) may be found in the 

 ditches, and on the heaths the butter wort (Pingue- 

 cula Lusitanica) is abundant. I should be. glad to 

 know if any botanist has found D. vulgaris, the plant 

 that is so common on the Scotch mountains, in the 

 forest, and if so I should be glad to know the locality. 

 — A. E. Gibbs, St. Albans. 



Mistletoe on the Apple-tree.— Some years 

 ago, when living at Upper Norwood, a plant of 

 mistletoe appeared on one of the dwarf apple-trees in 

 my garden, and grew to a considerable size. Is it 

 usual to find mistletoe so near London, or, indeed, 

 near any large or populous town ? I have since tried 

 to grow the plant on my apple-trees here, by very 

 carefully inserting seeds in cracks of the bark, but 

 always unsuccessfully.—//. E. Wilkinson, Anerley, 

 S.E. 



White Starling's Eggs. — I can also bear wit- 

 ness to the occurrence of white starling's eggs, having 

 myself met with at least one or two. Like Plutarch, 

 I have also taken white thrush's eggs, though very 

 rarely. — Albert IVutcrs. 



Descriptions of Caterpillars. — Will some 

 reader kindly oblige by giving me full descriptions, 

 with length, food, plants, &c, of the following cater- 

 pillars : Lycccna A/ion, Nola centonalis, Enno/nos 

 alniaria, and Lcucania lorcyi. — F. A. A. Sknsc. 



A Silicified Plant and a Blood Prodigy.— 

 There are ever those to whom a piece of silicified 

 wood is a marvel of marvels, who see in the fossilised 

 tree trunks that strew the sea margin in the Isle of 

 W r ight, or the petrified forest lying in the valley of 

 dry water-courses, a glimpse of the Pre- Adamite that 

 do drawer of fossils could ever evoke. The Egyptian 

 silicified wood, however, is simply sun-baked wood 

 turned to flint on the desert sands ; the tender 

 plant before me is coated caddisfly-like with sand and 

 iron, a veritable casting in forest stone done by dame 

 Nature out on the Wolds. It was found upon the 

 sandy eminence of St. Martha's that represents (as far 

 as I am enabled to judge), the upper ferruginous 

 beds of the Shanklin Sand hereabouts (Mantell, 

 " Geology of the South-East of England, "p. 171). One 

 day when ascending this specular elevation, I passed 

 through a cutting where the veins of silicious iron had 

 wound their snaky contortions through a bed of 

 brightly variegated sand, and here I whiled some 

 sunny moments in detaching from the bank an object 

 that first resembled a stick of macaroni and eventually 

 presented the appearance of a bird's shin bone and 

 claws. This curiosity I now unquestionably pro- 

 nounce to be the stem of some plant, since interiorly 

 to its coat of slag there is a distinct ring of vege- 

 table fibre peeling vertically, if you may skin a flint. 

 I think I may further pronounce it to be the stem of 

 an herbaceous plant, since the root is a knob with a 

 vertical and lateral sucker, and many smaller rootlets, 

 and the stem, about three-quarters of an inch in 



diameter, is bent towards the lateral hold-fast and 

 flattened on that side like a crushed hemlock stalk. 

 I am still doubtful, however, whether this plant grew 

 upon the Shanklin Sand, or whether it was washed 

 into it. I fancy it to be somewhat unique. Inside 

 its hollow root are some minute spongy globules like 

 miniature puff balls, and those who have examined 

 the productions of chalybeate springs might not con- 

 sider a fossil fungus an impossibility. When on this 

 subject I may allude to a recent blood prodigy. As I 

 was picking hurts on the neighbouring Leith Hill at the 

 commencement of August I came upon a blackberry 

 bush all bedabbled with blood. The cause of this 

 was not far to seek. At the reverse of each blood 

 spot, beneath the leaf, there grew a minute fungus, 

 black or yellow, and in some remote relation to spots 

 and powdery fungi, I discovered an almost inscrutable 

 red worm on the leaves, and what appeared to be an 

 imperceptible red Dipterous pupa. — A. H. Swinton. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now 

 publish Science-Gossip earlier than heretofore, we cannot 

 possibly insert in the following number any communications 

 which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month. 



To Anonymous Querists. — We receive so many queries 

 which do not bear the writers' names that we are forced to 

 adhere to our rule of not noticing them. 



To Dealers and others. — We are always glad to treat 

 dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general 

 ground as amateurs, in so far as the " exchanges " offered are fair 

 exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are simply 

 disguised advertisements, for the purpose of evading the cost of 

 advertising, an advantage is taken of our gratuitous insertion of 

 "exchanges" which cannot be tolerated. 



We request that all exchanges may be signed with name (or 

 initials) and full address at the end. 



F. H. A. (Orchis).— You are quite correct ; it is E. violacea. 

 of the L. C. 



W. M. P. — We are sorry to defer your Exchange on account 

 of its length. We limit Exchanges to three lines of print 

 (unless paid for as advertisements), so as to enable as many of 

 our readers to avail themselves of the column as possible. 



S. E. Hill. — The specimen of Nasturtium you sent us is a 

 good illustration of fasciated stems. 



F. C— Your plant is the large St. John's Wort [Hypericum 

 A ndros&mum) . 



C. F. W.-We have just seen Donn's " Hortus Cantabn- 

 giensis" offered in a secondhand catalogue for 5.?. 



O. P. C. — Your fungus is Scleroderma vulgare. 



J. A. (Preston). — As you rightly judge, it is a fungus ; you 

 will readily find it in Cooke's " Micro-Fungi." 



A. L. (I'hornhill). — No. 1 is Potamogeton hcterophyllusl 

 Being only an imperfect specimen and devoid of floating leaves, 

 we mark it doubtful. No. 2 is P. perfoliatus ; 3, Carex cederi. 



E. G. (Felstead). — We believe it to be soma exotic Sison, but 

 very unlike any we have seen. In November No. of Science- 

 Gossip it will be reported fully. 



R. H. A. (Swanshurst). — Thanks for the hint about drying 

 specimens, it 'is well worth trying. The species are, No. 1 

 Hypnum splendens, C. Campanula patula, very distinct from 

 C. rotundifolia, D. milkwort {Polygala vulgaris), used for- 

 merly in Rogation week ; 3, Hypnum rutabuhtm ; 4, Bar- 

 tramia ; 5, Ceratodon purpureus ; 6, some Bryum, intermixed 

 with several Hypna. 



W. B. M. — The leaf of Aristolochia sipho was furrowed by 

 the burrows of some species of leaf-mining caterpillar. 



F. H. Wood. — Professor Nicholson's " Manual of Palaeon- 

 tology," 2 vols, would meet your wishes, also Dr. Andrew 

 Wilson's "Chapters in Evolution," published by Chatto & 

 Windus, price 7-r. 6d. 



T. J. W. (Mile End Road). — We should advise you to secure 

 Hooker's " Student's Flora," as th* most serviceable. The 

 plants are, No. 1. Skullcap (Scutellaria galericulata, L.); 2. 

 Burdock (Arctium Lappa, L.) ; 3. Comfrey (Symphytum offici- 

 nale); 4. Gypsy-wort (Lycopus E uropjzus). 



W. H. (Stoke Newington).— No, it is evidently a stunted 

 form of Tri/olium fdiforme. 



A. J. S. (Kentish Town).— Stock's is a very useful work. 

 No. 1. is Poly 'trie hum commune ; 2. Spluignum acutifolium ; 3. 

 the same as last ; 4. Dicranum lieteromallum ; 5. Common 

 Whortleberry. 



J. Rasok. — An exotic species ; will be reported next month. 



