HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



215 



there being thrice the regular number of stamens and 

 the pistil was very much enlarged. The cup was 

 perfect in symmetry, and measured nearly three 

 inches across ; the other parts of the plant were 

 normal. It was gathered by J. W. Crompton very 

 near his house in Rivington a few weeks ago. — 

 F. y. George, Chorley, Lancashire. 



"The British Moss-Flora," by R. Braithwaite, ' 

 M.D., F.L.S., &c. (London, published by the 

 Author.) All mycologists will be delighted to hail 

 the appearance of the tenth part of this important 

 work. It deals with the families Tortulacea and 

 Weberaceoe, and is illustrated by nine plates and about 

 eighty figures. 



GEOLOGY, &c. 



Crystals of Meteoric Carbon.— In " Nature " 

 Mr. L. Fletcher, keeper of minerals at the British 

 Museum, gives a description of some remarkable 

 cubic crystals which he has found in a meteoric iron 

 from Western Australia. The crystals were about a 

 hundred in number, and weighed altogether only 

 one-twentieth of a grain. Notwithstanding their 

 minuteness, it was possible to determine the hard- 

 ness, streak, density, crystalline form, and chemical 

 behaviour. The substance proves to be very similar 

 in its general characters to the terrestrial mineral 

 graphite or blacklead, but its crystalline form is quite 

 distinct, and is one which is not uncommon in the 

 diamond, the other allotropic condition of terrestrial 

 crystallised carbon. To this new mineral species the 

 name Cliftonite has been assigned, after Professor 

 Clifton, of Oxford. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



British Dragon-flies.— As I am compiling 

 notes for a monograph of these insects, I shall be 

 very glad of any information relating to economy, 

 habits and distribution. The loan of specimens for 

 figuring will also be very acceptable.— IV. Harcourt 

 Bath, Ladywood, Birmingham. 



The Note of the Cuckoo. — I can corroborate 

 the statement made with reference to the note of the 

 cuckoo by your correspondent, Mr. W. E. Windus 

 (P- I 73)- It is of very frequent occurrence, and may 

 be heard regularly every season throughout June. I 

 believe it is made by the male bird only. I noticed 

 it many years ago and I inserted a note respecting 

 it in the "Young Naturalist" for 1SS1. I believe 

 I attributed it then to an ordinary call note. — 

 IV. Harcourt Bath, Ladywood, Birmingham. 



Cuckoo's Note.— In my note on the cuckoo in 

 the July number of Science-Gossip, I described the 

 peculiar sound I have heard emitted by the bird as 

 " a hoarse chuckling laugh," not "cough" as inserted. 

 — W. E. Windus. 



Wasp-Paper under the Microscope. — In 

 Gilbert White's " Observations in Various Branches 

 of Natural History," with Notes by William Mark- 

 wick, there is the following which may interest Mr. 

 T. Moore (vide p. 116) :— " Wasps make their nests 

 with the raspings of sound timber ; hornets, with 

 what they gnaw from decayed ; these particles of wood 

 are kneaded up with a mixture of saliva from their 

 bodies and moulded into combs." The italics are 

 mine. — J. JV. Williams. 



Bee Orchis.— In No. 270, p. 140, of Science- 

 Gossip, W. Jeffery refers to the bee orchis, and 

 seems surprised that the leaves should re-appear 

 when the mowing of the lawn prevents the plant 

 from flowering. The fact is the bee orchids are bulb- 

 as well as seed-producing plants, and will doubtless 

 continue for years to struggle for existence, as does 

 the potato. I have for years removed these plants 

 in spring from their natural ground into my own 

 garden, but never succeeded in getting them to 

 flower the following year. On one occasion, I had a 

 plant in a pot which was laid by, this plant did not 

 make its appearance the following year, but did so 

 and flowered the next following, taking, as it seems, a 

 year's rest. I have rarely missed finding the plant 

 year after year, if I have left any on the ground to 

 reappear. The flower-buds are usually four in 

 number. In 1885 I had a magnificent plant, which 

 produced eleven blossoms. This plant I placed in a 

 large flower-pot, and in the spring of 1S86 it came 

 up strong and healthy-looking, but soon showed dark 

 spots on its leaves (this I had experienced scores of 

 times before) which soon withered away. Removing 

 the earth, I found the bulb had been eaten away by 

 a large white grub with a dark-brown head (wire 

 worm?) In this spring (1887), I had another plant 

 served in the same way, and found a similar grub but 

 smaller and darker in colour. Can any one suggest 

 a remedy ? — Worledge. 



Black Crabs. — The Jamaica papers state that 

 the district between Bath and Port Morant is 

 infested with black crabs in enormous numbers. 

 They cover the main roads and fields in such 

 quantities that the wheels of passing vehicles and 

 the horses' feet crush them in numbers as they pass 

 along. The oldest inhabitants in the district cannot 

 remember such an extraordinary occurrence. It is 

 said that even the roofs of the houses are covered 

 with the wandering crustaceans. In piany books 

 upon travel in the West Indies it is stated that the 

 land crab, once every year, leaves his inland home in 

 multitudes and in regular order marches down to the 

 sea, passing over and not around any and every 

 obstacle that may come in the way. 



Cuckoo's Notes. — I have seen the letters in 

 Hardwicke's Science-Gossip which appeared lately 

 on the sort of third note made by cuckoos this 

 summer. I heard that, too, in Ireland, in the be- 

 ginning of June, in co. Louth and co. Antrim, some 

 people remarked that it sounded as if the cuckoos 

 had a cough ; but a more remarkable thing about 

 them is that in co. Dublin, about three and a half 

 miles from the city, they were heard cuckooing in- 

 cessantly between 11 p.m. and 12.30 at midnight — 

 they were not making the third note, but repeating 

 " cuckoos " rapidly and clearly without a pause as long 

 as we could listen. This was in the last week of 

 May. I have not met any one who ever heard night- 

 cuckooing before, and I should be glad to hear if 

 any of your readers remarked it this, or any other, 

 summer. — A. C. Ward. 



