HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



45 



present, with scales of mica and minute chlorite and 

 epidote. Chemical analyses of some varieties were 

 also given. The author then considered the effect of 

 flowing water upon transported particles of sand or 

 gravel. It results from his investigations that frag- 

 ments of quartz or schorl less than Jg" in diameter 

 retain their angularity for a very long period indeed, 

 remaining, under ordinary circumstances, unrounded, 

 but they are much more rapidly rounded by the 

 action of wind. It is thus probable that rounded 

 grains of this kind in some of the older rocks, as, for 

 example, certain of the Triassic sandstones, may be 

 the result of /Eolian action. 



The Naina Tal Landslip.— Mr. R. D. Oldham, 

 of the Geological Survey of India, has just reported 

 on the geological causes of the above fatal occurrence. 

 Naina Tal stands on imperfectly cleaved clay slates, 

 which are liable to a decomposition penetrating deep 

 into their mass, and it appears to have been the cover 

 of loose decomposed detritus which slid down the hill, 

 after being thoroughly saturated with water from the 

 heavy rains. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Bats. — As I was passing down Great Windmill 

 Street, on my way to the Haymarket, last Saturday, 

 the 13th December, I saw one of our small Englisli 

 bats hunting up and down the street near St. Peter's 

 Church, no doubt seeking food. The morning was 

 mild, sky overcast, temperature 59° in the shade. 

 Was not this an unusual thing so late in the season ? — 

 y. Hall. 



Broad STorPERED Bottle. — Some few years 

 ago I bought some useful bottles, about \\ inch high, 

 and of the same width, with glass stoppers and 

 straight sides — no shoulders to them. I have found 

 them very useful for soaking objects in turpentine 

 for mounting, but can get no more. Can anyone tell 

 me where I could get them ? They would be more 

 useful a little broader and not so high. — Rev. W. 

 Locock. 



Ophrys apifera, &c. — In the November number 

 of Science-Gossip, p. 258, J. S., Luton, inquires, 

 " Have any of your numerous correspondents ob- 

 served a scarcity of Ophrys apifera this season ? " 

 The bee orchis occurs on landslips from the New 

 Red Sandstone cliffs near the mouth of the river Exe. 

 It is not" associated there with yellow wort [Chlora 

 perfoliata). It flowered in abundance in 1879, but 

 this year not above half-a-dozen plants came into 

 flower. The locality was frequently examined. Some 

 other plants have flowered but sparingly this season. 

 In the only station in England (the Warren, a narrow 

 strip of sandy pasture between the mouth of the Exe 

 and Dawlish) where the Trichonema cohiinnie occurs, 

 although many specimens might have been gathered 

 in 1879, not one was found in flower in the present 

 year, although frequent and careful search was made. 

 Probably the great want of sunlight and heat in 

 1879 influenced the maturing of the bulbs. — D. S., 

 Exinoiith, 



Scarcity of Bee orchis {Ophrys apifera).— 

 With regard to the bee orchis {Ophrys apifera), I 

 can corroborate what your correspondent, J. S., 

 Luton, has recorded as to the non-appearance of this 

 plant in localities where it had been previously 

 found, both on the downs and on flat wastes. I have 

 failed entirely in finding it where it was plentiful the 

 year before. In one case on the downs it was 

 absent for several years in a spot where I had pre- 

 viously found it plentiful, but since then I have 

 found it sparingly in the same place, and have been 

 much puzzled to account for the irregularity. — 

 JVilliani yeff'ery. 



White Pedicularis. — In the same number of 

 Science-Gossip, p. 246, B. B. Le Tall mentions 

 having gathered a white louse-wort {Pedicularis 

 sylvatica). I may mention having also found one on 

 the 23rd of June, 1879, on a marshy common near 

 Belstone, and another this autumn in the valley of 

 the Taw to the south of Belstone. Along that valley 

 the overhanging banks of the river (there a mere 

 streamlet) are in many places fringed with the Cavi- 

 pa)iula hederacea, and in one spot where sand had 

 accumulated its flowers were pure white. — D. S., Ex- 

 month. 



Stormy Petrel {Procellaria pelagica). — A very 

 fine specimen of .this bird was shot in the suburbs 

 of Carlisle on Saturday, October 30, two days after 

 the great storm on the east coast, thus adding 

 another instance to the many that have occurred of 

 the petrel being taken so far inland. — W. D., 

 Stanwix. 



Birds and Fruit.— My brother informs me that 

 on October 20 last, he saw a blackbird busy picking 

 at the berries of Arum maailatiini. Whether it 

 swallowed them or not he cannot say, but on going 

 to the plant he found several of the berries gone, and 

 others lying loose on the ground. — W. D., Staiiivix. 



Tenacity of Life among Birds.— Can any of 

 your readers tell me which English bird they think 

 the hardest to kill ? Of Ceylon birds, I take the 

 liberty of giving my experience, in hope that it may 

 interest somebody. A kestrel which I managed to 

 wing, bolted off with a pin through his head, and 

 in half an hour after, a friend of mine brought him 

 back still alive ; but as he had shown fight, my friend 

 destroyed the bird by breaking its head with the 

 ramrod of his gun. A kingfisher that I fired at, at 

 about twenty yards was blown completely under 

 water (as I had heavy shot in my gun at the time), 

 and flew away on coming to the surface. An owl 

 that I managed to wound in the shoulder lived for 

 three days without food, which it refused even when 

 put in its mouth, and to the last it showed signs 

 of fighting. Two woodpeckers showed a greater 

 tenacity of life than any of the foregoing. One that I 

 wounded in the wing absolutely devoured corrosive 

 sublimate, and lived for more than an hour on this 

 strange diet, till in mercy I put its torment to an 

 end. The second I hit with a No. 4 shot in the 

 head. When struck it clung to the tree, and remained 

 there for nearly five hours when it fell, and was 

 brought to me alive five hours later by one of my 

 servants when I had it destroyed. On removing the 

 skin from the head, I found the shot had gone into 

 the brain, and had further split a considerable portion 

 of the skull. Parrots I have found hard to kill, and 

 also hawks, and "Jungle Crows" (ground cuckoos), 

 but I have never met any bird to " top " a red wood- 

 pecker. — F. L., Ballaiigoda, Ceylon. 



