98 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



banks by rippling brooklets, damp thickets, shadowed 

 over with excess of growth, highways, hot, and 

 dusty, 'neath the summer sun — all and each will 

 furnish you something for your trouble. Beware of 

 going over too much ground ; a small space, well 

 examined, will reward you better than a walk of 

 many miles. One of the greatest secrets of fortu- 

 nate " finds " is a quick eye, which comes by practice 

 alone. Always be on the look-out for specimens, 

 even when you are not out for that purpose alone. 

 It is useless to examine sickly leaves only, or the 

 lowest ; many specimens grow on perfectly healthy 

 leaves. Examine therefore all. 



Collecting may begin from early spring, and 

 continue till October, or even later. 



The ^cidium will be the first forms you will 

 probably meet with, and you will first find AL. 

 ranunculaceariiin, on that pretty harbinger of spring, 

 R. ficaria. Some forms of Puccinia will appear in 

 April, and after that you will find your hands full ; 

 no golden rule as to time, however, can be laid down, 

 much depending on the weather. 



As regards naming your specimens, and knowing 

 ■where to look for them, you must have a book of 

 some kind to guide you, and the best book on the 

 subject is, as I remarked in a former paper. Dr. 

 Cooke's " Rust, Smut, Mildew, and Mould," pub- 

 lished by Mr. David Bogue. Those who are working 

 at this subject, of course, have the book, and those 

 vyho are about to begin, should purchase it at once. 



Lastly, let me urge on all, the importance of 

 getting an accurate knowledge of the micro-fungi of 

 their own district, with a view to adding their in- 

 formation to the general supply, and thereby helping 

 on, it may be, the study of an important and deeply 

 interesting order of plants. 



SCIENCE IN THE PROVINCES. 



AT a recent meeting of the Natural History 

 Society of Glasgow Mr. John Young, F.G.S., 

 read an important paper on the fossil genus Syno- 

 cladia, a beautiful group of fenestrated Polyzoa, 

 found in the limestone strata of the Glasgow district, 

 with a description of a new species from the Blantyre 

 limestone shales. Mr. Young stated that the genus 

 Synocladia was a genus established by Professor 

 King for a form of Polyzoa first found in the Permian 

 formation of England. Two species from the carbon- 

 iferous strata of West Scotland had been doubtfully 

 referred to it, and the new species now before the 

 society which Mr. Young has provisionally named 

 Synocladia fenestelUformis, forms a third. On care- 

 fully comparing the carboniferous forms with Professor 

 King's description of the Permian species, Mr. Young 

 is inclined to think that the former could not be 

 identified with it, as they differ in the possession of 

 minute pores, or foramina, occurring amongst the 



ordinary cells of the poriferous face of the polyzoon. 

 In these characters the carboniferous Synocladia 

 agrees more with the Permian genus named Tham- 

 nisciis by Professor King. Mr. Young is also of 

 opinion that with the help of better preserved 

 specimens, and more extended knowledge, the genus 

 Synocladia ought to be revised and the carboniferous 

 forms separated from those of the Permian. The new 

 species Synocladia fenestelUformis is distinguished by 

 its larger size, more uniform thickness of the in- 

 terstices and regular form of the fenestrules, as well 

 as the presence of numerous cells of the normal type 

 placed somewhat irregularly on the lower edges of 

 the interstices, and bordering the fenestrules. Mr. 

 Thos. King also read a paper " On the Structure of 

 an Orange," in which he stated his opinion that the 

 "litlis " of which an orange is composed, and which 

 can be separated from one another without injury, 

 are evidently carpels enclosing the seeds, and that 

 the outer rind does not belong to the carpels, but is 

 an axial, formation, a prolongation upwards of the 

 receptacle, forming as in the case of the rose hip, a 

 large cavity filled with carpels. A paper " On the 

 Natural History of the Cetacea " communicated by 

 the chairman, was contributed by Mr. Thomas 

 Southwell of Norwich, who, it will be remembered, 

 formerly published some valuable articles on the 

 above subject in Science-Gossip. Mr. Southwell 

 has made the Cetacea a special study, and is well- 

 known as a hard-working naturalist. The chairman, 

 Mr. John A. Harvie-Brown, F.Z.S., communicated 

 some "Ornithological Notes," dated from 2nd 

 October last, in which he mentions the importance 

 of the facts collected by the lighthouse-keepers and 

 others concerning the appearance of birds, as bearing 

 on their times of migration, &c. This has been 

 recognised by the British Association at their last 

 meeting in appointing a committee to collect and 

 supervise these facts. 



We have received from the author, the Rev. W. 

 Howchin, F.G.S., a pamphlet reprinted from the 

 Natural History Transactions of Northumberland, 

 Durham, and Newcastle-on-Tyne, entitled "Notes 

 on a Find of Pre-historic Implements in Allendale, 

 with notices of similar Finds in the surrounding 

 District." 



The county of Northumberland is not so rich in 

 objects of pre-historic archseology as some of the 

 southern and eastern counties of England, and has 

 yielded only a few small flint implements or an 

 occasional hatchet ; but we have here the record of 

 a true surface-find of a very rich and interesting 

 character. 



The " find " is located in the south-western portion 

 of Northumberland, on the 'tops of a ridge of lell 

 land lying between East and ^Vest Allen and about 

 two-and-a-half miles distant from Allendale Town. 

 The site is marked by two smelting chimneys, the 

 sulphureous gases from which have totally bared the 



