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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



not previously recorded as British. A description is 

 given in the " Scientific Enquirer" for March, under 

 the heading " A Blood Prodigy." The plant is 

 found only in the most rapid portions of the river 

 where it has been narrowed by bridges, or at angles 

 where the sill has been entirely washed away from 

 the pebbles on which it grows. — W. A. Gain, 

 Tuxford. 



Crocuses Flowering Underground. — In 

 digging up my crocuses on May 28, I came upon a 

 group, several of which seem to have flowered 

 underground. I enclose a specimen with two 

 capsules containing a number of pretty rose-coloured 

 seeds. Is this a common occurrence ? If not, how 

 is it accounted for ? I should add that the ground is 

 very much exposed, and the time of flowering was 

 cut short by the cold March winds. — J. W. D. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Helix nemoralis and H. hortensis. — Will 

 any reader of Science-Gossip inform me of the most 

 successful method of breeding these snails ? as it is 

 my desire to keep a number for the purpose of expe- 

 rimenting in cross-breeding for the production of 

 varieties, etc. Any information will be acceptable. 

 — IV. Harcoitrt Bath, Ladywood, Birmingham. 



Late Appearance of the Cuckoo and the 

 Swallow. — Both these birds have made their ap- 

 pearance very late this year in the Midlands — no 

 doubt owing to the cold. The first swallow was 

 seen by myself on April 23rd and the cuckoo was 

 first heard on the 30th, which are the latest dates 

 that I have known during the last ten years. The 

 grasshopper warbler was heard on April 30th for the 

 first time this year, in a wood in North Warwickshire ; 

 this too is very late. — IV. Harcourt Bath, Ladywood, 

 Birmingham. 



Horse-Chestnuts. — From my windows a noble 

 horse-chestnut tree is in full view, the admiration of 

 every passer-by. Last year it blossomed very 

 freely on its eastern side, with comparatively few 

 blossoms elsewhere. This year the bulk of the 

 blossoms are on the western half, and the owner 

 informs me that, since he has known the tree, it has 

 blossomed one year on the east, and the next year on 

 the western side. Is that a freak of nature,'or is it of 

 common occurrence ; and how explained ? — H. E. 

 Valentine, Boston, Mass. 



Cuckoo. — Whilst out botanising a little in the 

 lanes here, I have frequently heard, during the past 

 few weeks, a cuckoo whose call note contained three 

 syllables, thus, Cuck-koo-koo, Cuck-koo-koo, and 

 was fortunate enough on one occasion to see the 

 bird, which had alighted on a tree a few yards away 

 from me. This removed all doubt about the genuine- 

 ness of the treble syllable in the call, which I was at 

 first inclined to set down as an echo. Are such 

 variations in this bird's note common ? I have 

 certainly never previously heard it, or anything 

 approaching it. — F. Jas. George, Chorley, Lane. 



Singular Capture of a Kestrel.— On April 

 18th, 1887, a kestrel was captured in Kirkgate, one 



of the main streets of Wakefield. It had dashed 

 down upon a skylark and cage which hung on a wall, 

 and got its feet fast in the wires. The bird, an old 

 one, was obtained by Mr. Marson, of Wakefield, and 

 preserved. The lark was only slightly hurt. — Geo. 

 Boberts. 



Birds' Names in Suffolk. — The country people 

 of Suffolk call the Tom-tit or Blue-tit the " Billy 

 Biter," because when persons put a hand into the 

 hole where the bird is sitting on her eggs, they 

 would experience a sharp tap, and hear a hissing 

 noise which would make them believe they had been 

 bitten by an adder. Another notion is that if you 

 take a lark's egg, you will break your neck, or meet 

 with some serious accident. The same thing is said 

 about robins' eggs. The call of the yellow bunting 

 gives the name of " a little bit of bread and no 

 cheese " to this bird in Suffolk. — E. ET. Bugg. 



Double-Yelked Cuckoo's Egg. — On May 21st, 

 a boy brought me an egg, to see if I could tell him 

 what it was. It is in colour that of a blackbird, but 

 the speckled marks finer than they usually are ; in 

 size it is a little larger than a magpie's, and not so 

 pointed. The boy — whom I know well, and believe 

 to be thoroughly to be depended on — assured me that 

 he had taken it, together with three wagtail's eggs, 

 from a nest in the thatch of the hay-rick. Is it 

 possible that it is a double-yelked cuckoo's egg ? — 

 A'. D., Co/ton. 



Postal Obstructions to Scientific Research. 

 ■ — I was looking over a bound volume of Science- 

 Gossip for the year 1870, the other day, and came 

 upon a letter from a correspondent under the signa- 

 ture of G. B. C. Ringwood, in which he speaks with 

 regret of a certain decision of the then Postmaster- 

 General, as to what could be sent by "sample or 

 pattern post," and especially of "specimens of 

 natural history." Henceforward they were forbidden, 

 not being trade samples, to be allowed to pass as 

 such. In the following year, he settled the com- 

 plaint as to this little finger, by the amputation of 

 the whole set, and took away the sample post 

 altogether. While for many years, probably sixteen, 

 all the continental states have had a pattern or 

 special post, under which innumerable objects of no 

 money value have been carried to and fro, including 

 flowers, we have had for our own people nothing of 

 the sort ; as witness, the complaint of a correspon- 

 dent in the " Standard," who received for a very 

 small postage paid, flowers from the South of France, 

 but who could only return English flowers by paying 

 a heavy postage in comparison. There is no doubt 

 that the withholding from the public such facilities, 

 is a serious injury to scientific research, and really to 

 our agricultural and manufacturing interests. With 

 regard to "specimens of natural history," it is the 

 more inconsistent, as for an unknown period under 

 a tariff that levied a duty on almost every article 

 imported into this country, specimens of natural 

 history were admitted "duty free." Now we put a 

 heavy postal transit duty on them. While we let 

 the newspaper or journal travel for a halfpenny, 

 which describes the specimen, we tax the valueless 

 specimen itself, at id. and continually prevent its 

 carriage by post. This is the more inconsistent wheu 

 we compare our own post-office with the Canadian, 

 in this special matter. In that country a Canadian 

 Science-Gossip would go post free to all subscribers 

 and newsagents all over the United States and 

 Canada (by a special Act of Parliament, passed in 

 1882, whose preamble states it is for the diffusion of 

 knowledge) ; all agricultural specimens whether for 



