HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



141 



appear grey with black bands. This slime-coloured 

 variety of A . hortensis is far from rare ; I have seen 

 specimens from Clonmel, Ireland (A. H. Delap) ; 

 Louth, Lines. (H. Wallis, Kew) ; Truro, Cornwall 

 (J. H. James) ; and Headley Lane, near Boxhill, 

 Surrey. I may mention here that Mr. Delap has 

 sent me, from near Clonmel, two examples of Limax 

 arborum var. metadata, of which only one example 

 was hitherto known (from Mayo). The form is so 

 distinct from typical arborum that I doubt whethe 

 they ought not to be specifically separated. — T. D. A. 

 Cockerell, Bedford Park, Chisivick. 



BOTANY. 



Peloric Orchids. — In reply to the remark of 

 M. John Rasor in Science-Gossip, 1885, p. 184, I 

 may state that the peloric form of Orchis is not so 

 uncommon a teratological example as he seems to 

 think. In his " Flore Francaise," published in 1836, 

 Mutel enumerates the peloric form of O. bifolia, 

 O. laxiflora, 0. morio, 0. latifolia (t. iii. pp. 232-242). 

 In his recent " Flore de la Cote d'Or," 1883, p. 498, 

 Royer notes a curious sort of peloria with diminution 

 of the number of the organs. He describes an 

 O. maculata, the perianth of which had but four pieces, 

 viz. two internal and two external, and two stamens 

 with bilobate anthers, and which bore neither lip nor 

 spur. Is anything of that sort mentioned in the 

 "Vegetable Teratology" by Maxwell T. Masters, 

 London, 1869 ? I have not that work at my dis- 

 posal. — C. Copineau, Doullcns (Sommc). 



The Watson Botanical Exchange Club. — We 

 have received the Second Annual Report of this Club, 

 of which Mr. A. R. Waller, Low Ousegate, York, is 

 the Hon. Sec. The number of plants received for 

 distribution by means of its exchanges was 4,754, from 

 28 members. The report gives many new records of 

 plants from various localities in the kingdom. 



Abnormal moncecious condition of Empe- 

 trum nigrum, OR Crowberry. — In my botanical 

 rambles one morning last month among the heather, 

 I picked up specimens of Etiipetrum nigrum in fine 

 flower, and on examining them at home I found on 

 a branch of one of the stemmate plants a good-sized 

 berry of last year just immediately below a good 

 cluster of flowers in full bloom. Has this ever been 

 observed before ''.—Thomas Fisher. 



Iceland is a favourite country with naturalists. 

 Mr. Arthur Bennett, F.L.S., has published a paper 

 entitled " Recent Additions to the Flora of Iceland" 

 in the " Journal of Botany." 



Swans. — A flock of twenty-one passed here on the 

 1 8th of April, probably migrating to their breeding 

 haunts in the far north ; such a flight is rarely seen 

 in this inland district. — IV. Sim, Fyvie. 



GEOLOGY, &C. 



" British Petrography."— The fourth part of 

 this work, by Mr. J. J. Harris Teall, F.G.S., is 

 published, continuing the microscopic structures of the 

 igneous rocks. Mr. Teall groups the porphyritic 

 rock into seven groups, according to the modifications 

 of the ground mass. The coloured plates are very 

 beautiful and of high artistic and careful finish. They 

 portray the microscopic structure and appearance of 

 hornblendic diabase, junction of troktolite and ser- 

 pentine, augite-picrite (four figs.), and hornblende- 

 picrite. 



The Sedgwick Prize (in honour of the late Pro- 

 fessor Sedgwick), which is given triennially for the 

 best essay by a graduate of the University of Cam- 

 bridge, on a selected subject connected with geology, 

 has this year been awarded to Mr. Thomas Roberts, 

 B.A., F.G.S., of St. John's College and the Wood- 

 wardian Museum. The value of the prize is about 

 £70. The essay is on " The Jurassic Rocks of the 

 Neighbourhood of Cambridge," and will shortly be 

 published, forming no doubt a valuable contribution 

 to local geology. 



At a recent meeting of the Ipswich Scientific 

 Society, Dr. J. E. Taylor gave an account of a large 

 collection of animal remains he had obtained since 

 Christmas from the low-level valley gravels close to 

 the town, which have been lately opened for road 

 materials. They included bones of rhinoceros, ele- 

 phant, ox, deer, etc., together with numerous teeth 

 of horse, ox, etc., nine molars of rhinoceros, and 

 seven ditto of the mammoth. 



MR. T. M. Reade, F.G.S., has a work in the 

 press which will be of great interest to geologists, 

 entitled " The Origin of Mountain Ranges, con- 

 sidered Experimentally, Structurally, Dynamically, 

 and in relation to their Geological History." 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Aurora Borealis. — On March 30 the northern 

 lights were very vivid ; they are called " streamers " 

 in this part of the country. It was remarked by 

 several persons how close they were to the earth, 

 seemingly not more than 100 to 150 yards distant. 

 It is stated that the first time they appeared in Britain 

 was about the time Sir W. Raleigh was beheaded. — 

 S. A. B., Cushendun. 



" Query for Teetotallers."— I think the expla- 

 nation of the phenomena alluded to by "W. H." in 

 " A Query for Teetotallers " is to be found in the dif- 

 ference of composition between the spirits in question. 

 Whisky is a spirit containing no sugar, while genuine 

 brandy contains it in an appreciable quantity, and 

 " doctored " brandies to a much larger extent. It is 

 owing to the presence of this substance in brandy 

 that The frothiness, when mixed with seltzer or soda- 



