94 



HARD IVICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



their shining bellies gleaming by thousands in the 

 sun, and the innumerable splashes looking at a dis- 

 tance as though a heavy shower, or a sudden gust of 

 wind, were ruffling the water. Seabirds too, usually 

 follow the shoals, and if many are seen " working " 

 together, it is a pretty sure sign that small fish are at 

 hand, though they need not, of necessity, be herrings. 

 — G. IV. L., Bridlington Quay. 



" Fairy-flax." — I see in the January number of 

 Science-Gossip, " E. L. R." asks, What plant is 

 known under the name of Fairy-flax. I believe it is 

 Limtm catharticnm, so-called from its great delicacy. 

 — A. F. Gissing. 



Hare-bell. — The following is an extract from 

 Dr. Prior's " Origin and Meaning of the Names of 

 British Plants," on the derivation of Hare-bell : — 

 Hare-bell, a name to which there is no corresponding 

 one in any other language, is in all probability a 

 corruption of some other word, perhaps " Heather- 

 bell." Thomson, in his " Etymons," gives A. S. 

 hceur, blue, as its origin ; but there is no such word 

 to be found. Prior also traces the derivation of Hai-e, 

 A. S."hara." Da. "hare." Ger. "hase." Skr. 

 s'as'a, from s'as', spring. — A. F. Gissing, Wakefield. 



Harebell. — In No. 159, p. 69, Mr. Holland 

 seems wishful to know if Gerard, in his Herbal, 

 gives any reason why Scilla nutans is called Harebell. 

 I beg to say that he does not, at least in Johnston's 

 edition of 1536. He calls the plant Hyacinthus 

 anglicus, and in his index names it Haresbell ; thus 

 clearly showing that the animal is meant, and no 

 allusion to the stem. Campanula rotnndifolia he 

 calls the small Bellflower. This latter in Cumber- 

 land is almost invariably, except in books, called 

 Bluebells, and often Bluebells of Scotland — some 

 allusion, I suppose, to Blue-bonnets. Hairbell is, 

 no doubt, an appropriate name for Campanula, and 

 so is Harebell ; for as its slender peduncles are moved 

 and shaken by every passing breeze, so is the fearful 

 hare (Lepus timidus) agitated and stirred by every 

 noise and movement around her. I may also men- 

 tion to Mr. Ho'land that the Mountain Flax is in 

 Cumberland often called Mountain Flocks. This 

 shows how strange names are often introduced by 

 substituting for the right term some better-known 

 word similar in sound. The word flax is seldom 

 used here : Line is the common name. — R. W. 



White Hairbell. — With reference to Mr. Tate's 

 remark on White Hairbells, I may mention that my 

 experience of albino flowers has been almost invaria- 

 bly the same as his. I have in my herbarium albino 

 specimens of Campanula rotnndifolia, Callnna vul- 

 garis, Stachys betonica, Geianium robertiamon, and 

 others, all of which have indications of colour, which 

 they did not have when living. — Albert C. Coxhead. 



White Harebell, &c. — On September 5, I 

 gathered white flowers of Campanula rotnndifolia, 

 between Largrave and Malham, and they are per- 

 fectly white now when dry. I also found white 

 flowers of Lychius Flos-cuculi, at Hawksworth, near 

 Bradford, in July. White flowers of 'Scilla nutans 

 occur regularly about here ; also white £?ica cinerea ; 

 but I believe this latter occurrence is not very fre- 

 quent. — William West, Bradford. 



White Flowers. — A young friend found at Rhyl, 

 in the late summer ol last year, a flower of the Scabiosa 

 urbensis, perfectly white. We have also met with a 

 root of Ononis aivensis, the flowers of which were 

 entirely album. The lovely little harebell, or blue- 



bell, Campanula rotnndifolia, I have often met with 

 white, as well as blue ; indeed, we had large tufts of 

 both colours, growing in our garden. The Seilla 

 nutans is also often to be met with white and even 

 pink. We have from childhood been taught to call 

 the Seilla nutans the wild hyacinth, and the Cam- 

 panula rotnndifolia the bluebell ; this latter name is 

 in Staffordshire mostly applied by the country people 

 to both plants, without any discrimination. — F. Fd- 

 wards. 



Longevity in the Slow-worm. — A very fine 

 specimen was captured by me, near Beacontree 

 Heath, in the year 1850, and was killed by an 

 unfortunate mischance a few days ago. It had con- 

 sequently been in my possession twenty-eight years. 

 It was several years old when caught, and was in 

 sound health up to the time of the misadventure 

 which caused its death. — C. Spring/mm. 



Toad and Gold Fish. — In my garden is a tank 

 let into the ground, where it receives a regular supply 

 of fresh water, and affords room for several fish, in- 

 cluding some of the carp family, known as ' ' gold 

 fish." On 15th February last I saw one of the latter 

 lying on its side, apparently ill or dead, and a toad 

 just by its head. Reaching a stick, I touched the 

 fish, and to my surprise found it was alive, but 

 grasped firmly by the head in the front legs of the 

 toad, which I endeavoured to dislodge. But although 

 the fish struggled violently, the toad held fast, and at 

 length carried the fish down among decayed leaves 

 and vegetation in the bottom of the tank. To free 

 the fish, I had to get my gardener to empty and 

 clean out the tank. — Horace Pearse, F.L.S., The 

 Limes, Stourb; idge. 



Dredging.— " R. G. C." will find that if he 

 dredges near shore from, say a small boat, the hempen 

 tangles, invented by Captain Calver, are a good and 

 simple substitute for the costly and often unsatis- 

 factory dredge, such specimens as crustaeea and 

 echinoderms becoming easily caught, and frequently 

 fishes and mollusea; but care is required to extract 

 them from the hemp, into which they are often too 

 much entangled, and thereby spoilt. Gosse's "Marine 

 Zoology " is a useful accompaniment to a dredging 

 expedition, where the above-named orders are being 

 fished for. — F. Lovett, Croydon. 



Snakes and Birds. — May I venture to say, in 

 answer to the question in your Science-Gossip, 

 whether the English snake eats birds or not, that I 

 have known two instances in which a snake has been 

 killed with a bird in its mouth. The one case was 

 in Cornwall, when, with some gentlemen friends, I 

 going towards Penzance, when a large snake met us 

 with a bird in its mouih, evidently taking it home for 

 its dinner. One of the gentlemen gave the snake a 

 fatal blow with his stick ; so we did not see the 

 actual eating of the bird (but I think we should have 

 hanged a man on less presumptive evidence that it was 

 eaten). The second case was in our own garden, 

 where the gardener despatched a snake on the 

 manure-heap with a bird in its mouth. — B. H. A". 



Intelligence of the Fox. — One of the Cum- 

 berland newspapers last October contained an 

 account of a fox being chased for two hours by the 

 Blencathra foxhounds on Skiddawand the neighbour- 

 hood. The fox was raised from his lair at Lonscale 

 Crag, and made towards Littleton, "thence over 

 Lonscale Fell to the Skiddaw Little Man," the 

 hounds being in full cry after him. Thence he ran 

 at a terrific pace to the top of Skiddaw on to Rannel 



