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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Torquay some three years since. My friend, Dr. O. 

 Boettgen of Frankfort has kindly examined specimens 

 for me, and pronounces them beyond doubt to be 

 Hyalina Draparnaldi of Beck. I find that Albers 

 gives England as a locality for this shell (which is 

 usually found more to the south of Europe), but I am 

 not sure that any English author has admitted it into 

 the list of British shells, although it is larger and far 

 handsomer than any of the other British species. I 

 can now give three localities for this beautiful shell, 

 Clifton, Torquay, and Guernsey. I heard from a 

 gentleman at Berlin, a short time since, that it has 

 been found in the Palm Gardens there, brought, 

 it is supposed, with shrubs and plants from the 

 south, and so colonised. He sent me specimens, 

 but they are not equal in beauty to those of Britain. 

 Mr. G. Jeffrey does not separate hyalina from zonites; 

 there is a difference in the animals, although not in 

 the shell. Zonites possess a porous membrane in the 

 foot that hyaline has not. — J. FitzGerald, Folkestone. 



A New Leaf-cutting Ant. — In the February 

 number of the "American Naturalist" Mr. K. G. 

 Morris has a short article describing a new species of 

 leaf-cutting ant, obtained last July at Island Heights, 

 on the New Jersey Coast. The worker is a fraction 

 over an eighth of an inch in length. The male and 

 female are nearly of a size, and but little larger than 

 the workers. The head is rugose and dark, and a 

 dark band runs down to the point of the abdomen. 

 The entire body surface is rough and hard. 



Rare Visitants. — Many of our ornithological 

 collections may have been enriched by the memorable 

 snow-storm of the i8th January. In the neighbour- 

 hood of Tralee a beautiful species of the North 

 American red-headed pochard [Fuligula ritjiiia) was 

 procured the day following. The bird appears to 

 have been only the second of the kind found in this 

 country. There were also a few other rarities pro- 

 cured, among which were a few crested widgeon and 

 a blue-winged spoonbill. — W. Beiiner, 



A NEW society, called " Scarborough Scientific 

 Society and Field Naturalists' Club," has been 

 organised at Scarborough ; President, John Woodall, 

 Esq., M.A. The first of a course of lectures by the 

 secretary, Mr. G. Massee, was delivered on Saturday 

 the 26th of February. 



The Laughing G\:\A.[Lanis atncina).—K speci- 

 men of this somewhat rare bird recently made its 

 appearance in the neighbourhood of Newmarket, 

 and of course got shot. 



The Scotch Primrose. — I regret that I have 

 been unable to comply with all the applications I 

 have received for specimens of P. Scotica. Will 

 those who have been disappointed remind me in May ? 

 — James Gi-aii/, JVick. 



BOTANY. 



Swiss Plants. — Dr. B. has forwarded to us speci- 

 mens of the dried and pressed Swiss Alpine plants 

 he offers in our exchange column. We can con- 

 scientiously say they are the most beautifully pre- 

 served specimens we have ever seen, and strongly 

 recommend those who wish to make up sets of Swiss 

 Alpine plants to take advantage of the offer. 



BoRAGO officinalis. — Referring to the discussion 

 lately taking place as to the above plant being 

 indigenous or not, the balance of opinion is certainly 

 on Mr. Dillen's side. In addition to the authorities 

 he quotes in your January number. Sir J. D. Hooker 

 speaks of it as being found "near habitations " and as 

 " rare," while in Sowerby's " English Botany " we 

 find it is " rather rare, but widely distributed, though 

 not native," St. Aubin's Bay, Jersey, and Hunstanton 

 being the only places where it has been thoroughly 

 naturalised. Miss Colson's statement in your 

 November number (that she has seen it at Corfe 

 Castle for forty years), proves nothing, as that ruin 

 is hard by a populous village with many gardens, 

 whence it probably escaped. On the other hand, I 

 found the plant not only at Corfe Castle, but 

 also at Lulworth, St. Alban's Head, and other 

 places in Dorsetshire in 1879, far away from any 

 dwellings, and I have also taken it in similar situations 

 in the counties of Berks, Bucks, Monmouth, Glou- 

 cester and Derbyshire. In 1880 I found it in the 

 pass of Llanberis at a considerable distance from 

 habitations of any kind. The specimens found in 

 Monmouthshire were in full flower on the 27th of 

 March. The strong probability is that it is very 

 rapidly becoming a naturalised specimen, and that 

 it will in course of time be found abundantly as one 

 of our common wild flowers. — // IF. S. JFors/ej'- 

 Benison. 



Poisonous Herbs. — When I was a boy I remem- 

 ber reading an article in the "Penny Cyclopaedia," 

 written, I think, by Professor Lindley, on the fool's 

 parsley, yEthiisa Cyna^ium, which was described as 

 dangerously poisonous, and the characters in which 

 it differs from true parsley indicated, with so much 

 precision that it could not afterwards be readily mis- 

 taken for the well-known culinary herb. Since then 

 I have never felt any appetite for it, nor any such 

 doubt about its properties as would induce me to 

 experiment on it. My want of curiosity was perhaps 

 intensified by the result of an experiment on another 

 poisonous herb, which I tasted once when I was a 

 very young man. Recovering from an attack of fever 

 I was walking in a garden, where I pulled up a plant 

 of sun spurge (EiiJ>Jiorbia HcUoscopia), speaking of it 

 as poisonous, but the person I addressed would not 

 admit the fact, and said that it was hot to the taste, 

 at the same time suggesting that I might taste it. 



