Go 



HA RD WICKE S S CIENCE- G OS SIP. 



of the fungus often being two or three times as great 

 as that of the epidermis. 



Dr. Frank states that all our native oaks, beeches, 

 hornbeams, chestnuts and hazels are covered with a 

 dense cortex of this Mycorhiza, organically associated 

 in growth with the root, completely enveloping it, 

 even to the growing-point. He found it present on 

 every root he examined of trees belonging to the 

 Cupuliferre, occasionally on Salicacefe and Coniferse, 

 but not on woody plants belonging to other natural 

 orders, nor on any herbaceous plant. 



Here is a good subject for observation by our 

 amateur naturalists during the coming season, who 

 may be able to communicate some interesting results 

 to this magazine. 



Do Snakes swallow their Young?— A very 

 positive confirmatory contribution to this question is 

 supplied in a letter from " A Creole " to " Nature " of 

 January 21. The usual evidence is that of seeing 

 the snake open its mouth and the young enter it, 

 which, considering the rapidity of movement, the 

 smallness of the objects, and the distance at which 

 they are observed (in the case of venomous snakes), is 

 by no means satisfactory, the alternative of taking 

 shelter under the mother being an open one. The 

 writer in " Nature," however, states a case which 

 leaves no possibility of mistake. A snake of the species 

 locally known as the labaria, was killed at Demerara 

 by a coolie ; its head cut off and buried, and its 

 body interred in a separate grave, according to the 

 prevailing coolie custom, thereby securing two objects 

 considered very desirable : the first, that no bare- 

 footed bushman shall tread upon the head, and thus 

 be wounded by the poison fangs ; and, second, that the 

 head shall not reunite with the body and thereby 

 effect a resurrection ! The writer of the letter had 

 the buried body dug up for examination by the coolie 

 that killed and buried it. When disinterred thus, the 

 coolie slashed his old enemy with his cutlass or long 

 knife, when, to the astonishment of the writer, " out 

 through the wound came seven young ones, varying 

 from five to ten inches in length," as roughly 

 estimated. " They were all quite lively, though 

 covered with a sort of thin film of saliva." Several 

 were killed. The body of the parent snake had been 

 buried at a depth of eight or ten inches from sixteen 

 to eighteen hours. A few more observations of this 

 kind would settle the question. 



A Domestic Thermometer. — Most of the readers 

 of these Notes are doubtless observers of familiar 

 natural phenomena, and therefore I may venture to 

 direct their attention to a very simple fact that I 

 have long been in the habit of observing as a readily 

 obtainable demonstration of sudden and desirable 

 change of wintry weather. As we all know, the 

 condensation of moisture on the inside of our window- 

 panes is an indication of colder weather outside than 



inside, and the freezing of this condensed water in 

 feathery crystals is a proof that it is colder still. The 

 converse of this is not so common, though more so 

 than many suppose. I am now writing on Feb- 

 ruary 12, just as a severe frost is going. Early this 

 morning the windows of every room in the house 

 excepting the kitchen were obscured with a dense 

 outside deposit. I was thus able to learn immediately 

 on rising in the morning that the weather had greatly 

 and rapidly changed during the night, by simply 

 looking at my bed-room window. 



THE LOWER GREENSANDS, ATHERFIELD, 

 ISLE OF WIGHT. 



By C. Parkinson, F.G.S. 



THE development of the Lower Greensands at 

 Atherfield, as compared with the same forma- 

 tion in Kent and Surrey, is remarkable. Sir Charles 

 Lyell says that the Lower Greensands of Kent measure 

 but three hundred feet in thickness, whereas in the 



Fig. 44. — Scafhites aqualis. 



Island they suddenly acquire dimensions of more than 

 eight hundred feet, the intervening distance being 

 barely one hundred miles.* A great deal has been 

 written on this series of rocks by writers of wide 

 reputation, such as Mantell, Fitton, E. Forbes, and 

 others, from which it might be gathered that the 

 characteristic fossils are to be found merely for the 

 trouble of a day's hunting along the beach. The 

 locality has become famous, sections of the cliff have 

 been drawn, and catalogues of mollusca repeatedly 

 published ; in spite of this, there is something dis- 

 appointing to geologists who visit Atherfield ; and I 

 have known many cases in which the enthusiastic 

 collector has returned empty-handed, or nearly so, 

 either from inability to find the fossiliferous rocks, or, 

 worse still, having found himself unable to extract 

 specimens from the hard material. The truth is, one 

 single day is insufficient to obtain accurate knowledge 

 of the formation ; one requires a week or two in 

 order to get accustomed to the stratification of the 

 district. It may be of service to geologists to give 

 the experiences of an occasional worker among the 

 Atherfield clays. In the first place, it is necessary to 

 indicate the precise locality for studying the best 



* " Elements of Geulogy," p. 293- 



