HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP 



19 



and attention necessary for becoming acquainted with 

 them. Mr. Hugh Miller, F.G.S., of H.M. Geological 

 Survey, contributes a very elaborate and highly inter- 

 esting article occupying sixty-nine pages of the Trans- 

 actions on " Tynedale Escarpments, their Pre-glacial, 

 Glacial and Post-glacial Features," which is illustrated 

 by a number of wood-cuts. "Notes on the Breeding 

 of the Stock Dove [Coliimba ceaas)," by Mr. John 

 Hancock, Newcastle. " Preliminary Note on the 

 discovery of old Sea-caves and raised Sea-beach at 

 Whitburn Lizards : and on the so-called sculptured 

 Rocks of North Northumberland," by I\Ir. Richard 

 Howse, Curator of the Newcastle Museum. Upwards 

 of half a century ago a number of curious concentric 

 circles were observed on the Sandstone rocks, near 

 old Berwick and similar ones were also found in the 

 neighbourhood of Wooler and Ford by members of 

 the Berwickshire Naturalists' Field Club. From time 

 to time the attention of scientists has been directed 

 to these markings, more especially by Dr. Johnston,, 

 in his "Nat. Hist. Eastern Borders," the late Mr. 

 'George Tate, F.G.S., and the Rev. Canon Green- 

 well, the eminent antiquary. Dr. Johnston was of 

 opinion that they were made by the Roman soldiers 

 " in relief of idleness, &c." Mr. Tate said their family 

 resemblance prove that they had a common origin 

 and indicate a symbolic meaning, representing some 

 popular thoughts, and since they are associated with 

 the last remains of Celtic heroes and sages, they tell 

 of the faith and hope of the aboriginal inhabitants of 

 Britain. Canon Greenwell thought their import is 

 religious ; their connection with burial, always a most 

 sacred rite, and closely joined to the religion of all 

 races, points most distinctly to a sacred purpose. Now, 

 Mr. Howse, who has examined the markings with 

 great care on more than one occasion, rejects the 

 opinions of the eminent gentlemen and of others who 

 have written on the subject, and does not ascribe 

 them to human agency at all, but to a more humble 

 and simple origin, that is to the growth of vegetation, 

 and his views are supported by arguments which will 

 be difficult to controvert. He says where the rock- 

 surfaces at an early period were bare, after the last 

 Glacial period they were exposed to the growth of 

 lichens. The spores of some lichens are known to 

 bore into the rock in which they select to grow, and 

 by so doing loose the particles of sand of which the 

 sandstone is composed. ]\Iany lichens grow in a 

 circular form, and radiate, or rather send out rings of 

 growth periodically, the central part dying and de- 

 composing very nearly in the same way as the 

 mycelium of some fungi forms the rings which are 

 commonly called fairy rings. The strongest argument, 

 I think, adduced by Mr. Howse, to prove that these 

 markings are not the work of human hands, is where 

 he shows that whenever the circles are traversed by a 

 narrow vein of iron-hardened sandstone, the furrows 

 are not continuous, but the vein remains permanent and 

 disfigures the symmetry of the pattern. Mr. Howse's 



paper concludes as follows : " Would any workman 

 disfigure his pattern because he had a little harder 

 material to cut through ? It is no disgrace to a crypto- 

 gamic plant, or the wind, or the rain, that they cannot 

 always cut an exact circle ; but a sun-worshipper who 

 could not outline the shape of his god perfectly ought 

 to sink in our estimation below the visible horizon, 

 and a symbol-master who could not perfect his design 

 would expose himself to contempt." — Dipton Bum. 



Kent's "Manual of the Infusoria."— We 

 have received Part ii. of this splendid work, pub- 

 lished by Mr. David Bogue, 3 St. Martin's Place, 

 Trafalgar Square. It is, if anything, superior in 

 finish and general appearance to the first part, which 

 we felt bound to praise so highly. The letterpress 

 is taken up with a most thorough and exhaustive 

 chapter on "The Nature and Classification of the 

 Sponges," which is followed by another on the 

 " Systematic Description of the Infusoria Flagellata," 

 and descriptions of all the genera and species, to 

 illustrate which there are eight 'exquisitely-engraved 

 plates crowded with objects. Microscopists should 

 lose no time in subscribing to this important work. 



BOTANY. 



Termination of Ordinal Botanic Names. — 

 These have very commonly no separate meaning 

 detached from the root-word which they end. In 

 your November number, Mr. W. Woollcombe asks 

 for the signification of the endings -acece and -e<z. 

 Acea. is the tail (implying plurality) usually tacked 

 on to the names of representative genera of plants 

 ending in a, as Nymphrea, to denote an assemblage 

 of forms all having some character in common with 

 that one made the type. Thus hcdcraceus means 

 ivy-like ; and Papaver-ace?e the whole group of 

 poppy-like plants. The termination carries with it the 

 idea of assemblage and likeness as well : a plant not 

 like a poppy in certain structural points would not be 

 one of the poppy-acete. I write from memory of Mr. 

 W^oollcombe's note, but I believe he remarked on 

 the want of uniformity to be seen in our various 

 botanical handbooks. So far as ordinal terminations 

 go, the differences may be undesirable ; but they are 

 not very numerous, and arise generally — at least in 

 the case cited by Mr. Woollcombe, viz., the writing 

 of Lentibulaceas for Lentibulariacea;— from a desire 

 to dock scientific words of superfluous syllables. 

 Lentibulacece — the butterworts — is correctly formed 

 however, from lenticula — a little lentil seed, like 

 which in shape, are the air-bladders of the principal 

 genus Utricularia. The sense is not lost by short- 

 ening the word, as it would be, were we to style 

 Campanulacere — the order whose species in their 

 blooms resemble little bells — Campanacece instead 

 The termination is not -iiiar, but -acea:, contracted to 



