HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSS IP. 



2 35 



Spergula pentandra, L.— As I was walking by 

 the river Eden, outside the city of Carlisle, on Septem- 

 ber 2nd, I came across a spurrey in fruit which 

 attracted my attention. As I always gather the seed 

 for examination, I asked my little daughter for the 

 use of her handkerchief, and on reaching home was 

 delighted to find the fruit differed widely from that 

 of the two forms of S. arvensis, with which we are 

 familiar. The seeds were perfectly smooth, with a 

 broad membranous margin, and I have reason to 

 believe it is genuine pentandra. Having only just 

 arrived here from Notts, I have had no time to look 

 up the records, so cannot tell whether it has been 

 noted behre.—JIildmc Friend, F.L.S., 19, Burling- 

 ton Place, Carlisle. • 



Jean Louis Thomas, who died at Devens last 

 December, was well known and appreciated, as was 

 also his father, as a collector of botanical specimens. 

 This appreciation several authors of the scientific 

 world have proved, by dedicating various species to 

 them under the name of Thomasii. The son did 

 not devote himself to the same speciality as his father 

 and grandfather. He only collects seeds of Alpine 

 plants for sale. The typical herbarium of M. Thomas 

 and his son comprises specimens of the entire flora 

 of Switzerland, which Mrs. Thomas is willing to 

 dispose of, together with a number of duplicates in 

 reserve, also collected by them. Thus an excellent 

 opportunity is afforded to amateurs and scientists of 

 acquiring an interesting collection, and at the same 

 time of helping a family whose income is somewhat 

 limited. It may be applied for treat to Madame 

 Veuve Jean Louis Thomas, a Devens pres Bex, canton 

 de Vaud (Suisse).— C. C. 



Azolla pinnata.— This floating water plant, a 

 native of Carolina, has for several seasons been grow- 

 ing on ponds in the parish of Eastcote, Middlesex. This 

 season it has formed a scum on the ornamental water 

 of Eastcote House, and just at this time (September) 

 it is very attractive, owing to the red tinge on the 

 plants, a colour not at all common with our water 

 plants ; here and there may be seen amongst the 

 Azolla small patches of our common duck-weed, its 

 bright green contrasting very strongly with the red of 

 the American plants. The appearance of this plant 

 on English water was first noted in Science-Gossip 

 for November, 1SS3, when I recorded it as occurring 

 on a small pond at Eastcote ; since that date it has 

 been found growing on several ponds in the vicinity. 

 From inquiries I made, it transpired that a gentle- 

 man living close by had thrown a handful on the pond 

 mentioned ; he had previously cultivated it in his 

 garden, where it had grown well in a sheltered bog 

 bed. It has successfully withstood several severe 

 winters, and is rapidly becoming acclimatised, to the 

 no small bewilderment of rambling botanists.— John 

 W. Odell, Pinner. 



ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGY. 



The Affection of the Common Widgeon. 

 — For some years a neighbour of mine kept a couple 

 of the common widgeon, male and female. Recently, 

 the little duck died of old age, and it was really dis- 

 tressing to see the apparent agony of the drake at the 

 loss of his mate. After fretting after her until the 

 next morning, he deliberately laid himself down and 

 died on the very spot where the duck was buried.— 

 //. Higrinson, Nczvferry. 



GEOLOGY, &c. 



Munchausen Science.— We take the following 

 from a weekly contemporary devoted to individua 

 science. Speaking of the extinct animals which he 

 believes must have wandered amid the thickets of 

 a hypothetical forest, which formerly occupied the 

 Mississippi valley, such as the " huge momnuth {sic), 

 mastodon, myledon," the writer says : — "These ex- 

 tensive primeval forests, must have been utterly 

 destroyed by fire. They must have extended to the 

 north beyond the present Lake Superior, and south 

 of the Iron Mountain in Missouri. The intense heat 

 produced by this great conflagration liberated all the 

 metals contained in the minerals in all that vast 

 extent of country, and thus we find the lead found in 

 almost a pure metallic state in Missouri, Wisconsin, 

 and the adjacent states, in horizontal plates of great 

 extent, which were then the depressions of the 

 surface of the country, in a perfectly liquid state, at 

 varied distances, having no connection with each 

 other. This is proved by there being no mineral 

 lodes yet discovered in all that large tract of country. 

 Also in Lake Superior district, we find that the 

 native copper there has been fused. The silver 

 deposit, in a liquid state, has been run into the 

 fissures of the rocks that had been split by the intense 

 super heat, where it became chilled by the flood that 

 evidently followed this grand conflagration. The iron 

 now found in the Ontinergan district in the north, 

 and the Iron Mountain in the south, have been sub- 

 jected to the same extensive heating." We commend 

 this method of explaining the occurrence of metals to 

 the author of" She." 



Fossil Insects.— Dr. Scudder is a man who has 

 devoted many years to the unremunerative and 

 difficult study of fossil insects. His labours have 

 just been given to the world in one of the Bulletins 

 of the United States Geological Survey. No fewer 

 than 2600 true species of fossil insects have been 

 found up to the present time. Of these, the greater 

 part are from the mid-Tertiary formation. There 

 are 31 species of fossil spiders described from the 

 primary formations ; as yet, only one species has 



