n6 



HARD WICKE'S S CIENCE - G OSS I P. 



Perhaps we have never before had so trustworthy — 

 certainly we have never had one so cheap and well 

 got up — a book on Bible Flants. It will make an 

 excellent gift-book for young and old alike. 



Report of Science-Gossip Botanical Ex- 

 change Club. — Your remark (p. 74) on my note 

 regarding CallitricJic autumnalis — that it will very 

 probably be found in the Till and the lower reaches 

 of the Tweed — in which you say, "We believed this 

 was recorded by Dr. Johnston several years since," is 

 founded on a mistake in the "Flora of Berwick-upon- 

 Tweed" (1829). C. autumnalis is there recorded from 

 "Pools of Water in the Vale below Langleyford " 

 (Fl. Ber., i. p. 3). In the " Botany of the Eastern 

 Borders " (1853), by the same author, C. autumnalis 

 is left out, which shows that Dr. Johnston had dis- 

 covered the mistake, although he makes no remark 

 concerning its record in his earlier work, or what 

 species was there mistaken for it. From seeing a 

 specimen of C. pcdunculata, which was gathered in 

 the above locality, and labelled by Dr. Johnston 

 C. autumnalis, and also its frequency in the district, 

 I have no doubt that it was that variety. I enclose 

 an example of a similar form of C. Jiamulata, 

 with all the leaves linear, which is apt to be mis- 

 taken, when not in fruit, for C. autumnalis, by those 

 unacquainted with that species ; but when once 

 known, they are easily distinguished. — A. B., Kelso. 



GEOLOGY, 



The Fossil Fungus. — In answer to that part of 

 W. G. Smith's letter on p. 67 of March number, 

 referring to mine on p. 41 of February number, he 

 states that "such a genus as Pcronosporitcs was not 

 known till last year," and yet he tells us just previously 

 that it had been known to Mr. Carruthers for many 

 years ; and Mr. Carruthers stated in a late presiden- 

 tial address delivered in London, that he only knew 

 of the existence of two Palaeozoic fungi, one of which 

 he had himself described. My friend Mr. Young 

 being present, at once rose and said that he had a 

 very fine section, showing fungoid growth, in his own 

 cabinet. This is the section that Mr. Smith has in 

 his possession now, and it is the same section that I 

 cut from a specimen of Lepidodendron I found on my 

 first visit to Halifax in 1869. The fungus Mr. Car- 

 ruthers alluded to in his address above mentioned, 

 was found in an Eocene fern-stem from Heme Bay, 

 and is described as probably belonging to the genus 

 Peronospora. The Manchester gentleman alluded to 

 by Mr. Smith instantly recognized my fungus as 

 Peronospora in a fossil state, but it required more 

 learning to give it the name of Pcronosporitcs, a dis- 

 tinction without a difference. If Mr. Carruthers is 

 the discoverer of this fungus (as Mr. Smith says he is), 

 how comes it that my friend Mr. Young should write 



to me as soon as Mr. Smith's paper appeared, and 

 say that my name was to have been mentioned in 

 connection with the discovery, but by some mistake 

 it had been "forgotten"? Mr. Smith tells us what 

 drudgery he has been put to while labouring to find a 

 new name for this fungus, I may tell him that I have 

 also been a ' ' slave ' ' to the study of fossil botany 

 for very nearly twenty years, and that I have pored 

 over my sections too many hours to let either fungus, 

 or any other, new or old, object escape my notice. 

 — JOHN Butterworth, Goats Shaw, Oldham. 



Government Research Fund. — Among the 

 names of those who have received grants from the 

 Government fund of ^4,000 recommended by the 

 Royal Society, we find the names of the following : — 

 Prof. H. A. Nicholson and R. Etheridge, jun., "For 

 aid in examining the fauna of the Silurian deposits of 

 the Girvan district, Ayrshire, and in publishing a 

 descriptive list of the same," ,£73 : Mr. C. Callaway, 

 Wellington, Shropshire, " For aid in working out the 

 so-called Eruptive Rocks of Shropshire, and in verifying 

 certain points in local geology," ^25 : to Dr. J. W. 

 Dawson, Montreal, "For aid in excavating erect trees 

 in the Coral Formation of Nova Scotia, in beds where 

 they are known to contain reptilian and other re- 

 mains," ^50 : to Dr. R. A. Traquair, Edinburgh, 

 " For aid in preparing and publishing a monograph 

 on the Carboniferous ganoid fishes of Great Britain," 

 £"]$ : to Dr. Henry Woodward, " For continuation 

 of work on the Fossil Crustacea, especially with re- 

 ference to the trilobites and other extinct forms, and 

 their publication in the volumes of the Palaeonto- 

 graphical Society," ^75 : to Prof. H. G.Seeley, "For 

 an examination of the structure, affinities, and classi- 

 fication of the Extinct Reptilia and allied forms,"^75 : 

 to Rev. J. F. Blake, " For aid in continuing the pub- 

 lication of a Synopsis of British fossil Cephalopoda," 

 .£100. Besides the above, we find the names of 

 W. Saville Kent, Jersey, " To pay for microscopical 

 apparatus for the further prosecution of investigations 

 into the structure and life-history of certain lower 

 Protozoa," ,£50 : to R. M'Lachlan, " For aid towards 

 the publication of a revision and synopsis of European 

 Trichoptcra, £$0 : to Frof. A. H. Garrod, "For aid 

 towards publication of the second fasciculus of an 

 exhaustive Treatise on the Anatomy of Birds," .£100 : 

 to Frof. W. K. Parker, " For assistance in continuation 

 of researches on the Morphology of the Vertebrate 

 Skeleton ; and the relations of the Nerves to the ske- 

 leton structures, chiefly hi the head," ,£300. 



Fossil Walruses. — The Ipswich Museum now 

 contains a splendid series of tusks of the fossil walrus 

 ( Trichccodon Huxlcyi) found in the Red Crag. These 

 were recently sent up to the Linnnean Society by 

 J. E. Taylor, and described by Prof. Ray Lankester. 

 It was discovered that the two supposed species were 

 in reality tusks of male and female animals. 



