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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



fact they presented a similar appearance in this 

 respect to the implements from our drift and river 

 gravels ; and I therefore consider them to have been 

 obtained from similar deposits in Arabia, or perhaps, 

 instead of being water-worn, they are sand-worn ; for 

 I believe the general effect on siliceous material is 

 pretty much the same. 



Some are of a dark opaque jasper, others are of a 

 brilliant red carnelian ; others, again, are striped, or 

 of a dull white. In form they somewhat vary, though 

 I believe this to be due simply to the amount of 

 wearing undergone, for whilst some are long, pointed, 

 and well formed, others are short and truncated, 

 whilst others again show but little of their original 

 shape. 



They are small, though not smaller than many 

 arrow-heads I have seen from many parts of Europe. 

 I should consider they were originally about an inch 

 in length, and about half an inch in their greatest 

 width. The shoulder is at right-angles to the shank, 

 and not curved into a barb, as in the Irish type. 



Upon inquiries as to how these objects became 

 bored and strung as beads, I found that the natives 

 regarded them with some awe, and wore them as 

 charms ; and this is no doubt so, for we find that 

 arrow-heads and celts have been so regarded in 

 almost all times, and by almost all peoples, however 

 civilized. Even in this country and in the present 

 day, I have found basalt polished celts kept by 

 cottagers as an antidote for many an ill that flesh is 

 heir to, and known to them as "thunderbolts." In 

 some parts, too, arrow-heads or "elf arrows" are 

 superstitiously regarded ; and we read that the old 

 Etruscans actually mounted arrow-heads in gold and 

 wore them as charms. 



I consider, therefore, that these beautiful carnelian 

 arrow-points belong to a pre-historic period, and that 

 they are found in old gravels, or perhaps in the desert 

 sands, by the Arabs of to-day, who, naturally regarding 

 them with superstition, bore them and wear them as 

 charms. 



Edward Lovett. 



Croydon. 



OUR SCIENTIFIC DIRECTORY. 



[It is our desire to bring out a Scientific Directory in the 

 monthly pages of Science-Gossip, feeling certain that it would 

 be very useful for our readers to know what scientific societies 

 had been formed in their own neighbourhoods. We shall there- 

 fore fee! very much obliged if Secretaries of any kind of 

 Scientific Society, in any town or part of the country, will send 

 us the full name and title of each Society, together with the 

 names of the President and Hon. Secretary.] 



T^ELFAST Naturalists' Field Club. Hon. Sec- 

 / ) retaries, W. Swanston, F.G.S., King Street, 

 Belfast ; F. W. Lockwood, Royal Avenue, Belfast. 

 Meets at the Museum, College Square, Belfast. 



Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and 

 Antiquarian Society. President, Dr. T. B. Grierson. 

 Hon. Secretary, J. Wilson, 3, Norfolk Terrace, 



Dumfries. Meetings : first Friday in the month 

 during the winter, and excursions on the first Satur- 

 day in the month during summer. 



Elland-cum-Greetland Naturalist Society. Presi- 

 dent, Rev. A. Buckley, Langdale Street, Elland ; 

 Secretary, Oliver Sutcliffe, Elm Street, Stamland, 

 near Halifax. Meets at Mechanics' Institute, West 



Vale. 



Folkestone Natural History Society. President, C. 

 E. FitzGerald, Esq., M.D. ; Hon. Secretary, H. 

 Ullyett, B.Sc, F.R.G.S., Lyell House, Folkestone. 



Fulliam Naturalists' Society. President, G. W. 

 Thomas, Esq. ; Hon. Secretary, P. F. Skinner. 

 Communications to be addressed to the society's 

 rooms, 1 Trewern Villas, Fulham Road, Fulham. 



Glasgow Yout/is' Christian Association Natural 

 History Society meets at 272 George Street. Hon. 

 President, Duncan M. West, Esq. ; President, John 

 M. Campbell, Esq., Kelvingrove Museum ; Secretary 

 and Treasurer, A. J. McRobbie, 23 Rosehall Street, 

 Glasgow. 



North Staffordshire Naturalists' Field Club and 

 Archceological Society. President for J.8S6-7, J. T. 

 Arlidge, M.D. ; Hon. Secretary, Rev. T. W. Daltry, 

 F.L.S., Madeley Vicarage, Newcastle, Staffordshire; 

 Hon. Treasurer, W. D. Spanton, F.R.C.S.E. 

 Sections : Archeology, C. Lynam, F.R.I. B. A. ; 

 Botany, J. Blaikie, F.G.S, F.L.S. ; Entomology, Rev. 

 T. W. Daltry, F.L.S. ; Geology, J. Ward, F.G.S. ; 

 Microscopy, T. S. Wilkins ; Zoology, J. R. B. Mase- 

 field, M.A. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Botanists will be pleased to learn that the 

 " Flora of the West Riding of Yorkshire," which Dr. 

 F. Arnold Lees has been engaged on for some years, 

 will shortly be ready for the press. It will be a 

 complete and comprehensive enumeration of species 

 in all the groups, phanerogamic and cryptogamic, 

 together with chapters on lithology, climatology, 

 bibliography, etc. The account of each plant will 

 include its range, horizontal and vertical, and its 

 history as a West Riding species. It is to be issued 

 by subscription under the auspices of the Yorkshire 

 Naturalists' Union, and will constitute an important 

 volume of their series of memoirs dealing with the 

 flora and fauna of Yorkshire. Further information 

 may be obtained from the secretaries of the Union, 

 Messrs. W. Denison Roebuck, F.L.S., Sunny Bank, 

 Leeds, and W. Eagle Clarke, F.L.S., the Museum, 

 Leeds. 



Under the title of "Our Island-Continent: a 

 Naturalist's Holiday in Australia," Dr. J. E. Taylor's 

 new book, giving a popular description of the geology, 



