HARDWICKE'S SCI ENCE-GOSSIF. 



283 



the poor wounded creatures would not live long, for 

 I had one which had quite three parts of its tail 

 bitten off (but not by a tadpole) ; it grew slightly and 

 formed a pei-fect tail again — much shorter than the 

 original — but it was at the expense of its body, for as 

 the tail enlarged and perfected, the body shrank, and 

 at the end of a fortnight it died. I have had tadpoles 

 two seasons, and have had some hundreds of them, and 

 have kept separate lots of them in different vessels to 

 try the effects of different treatment, &c. A piece of 

 cork should be put on the top of the water for the 

 young batrachians to rest upon. — Clara Kingsford, 

 Cauterbiiry. 



Cormorants. — It may be interesting to note that 

 the older naturalists were aware that cormorants are 

 occasionally found some distance from the sea. 

 Buffon says : — " Le cormoran est d'une telle adresse 

 a pecher et d'une si grande voracite, que quand il se 

 jette sur un etang, il y fait seul plus de degat qu'une 

 troupe entiere d'autres oiseaux pecheurs ; heureuse- 

 ment il se 'Cxtrvt presque toiijours au fond de la mer, et 

 il est rare de le trouver dans les contrees qui en sont 

 eloignees." (The italics are mine.) He also gives 

 in a foot-note the following cjuotation from a letter of 

 M. Hebert"s : — " Le 27 Janvier (1779), on m'apporta 

 un cormoran que Ton venoit de voir au bord de la 

 riviere d'Ouche, il etoit perche sur un saule " (willow). 

 (See Buff. Hist. Nat. ed. 1784-91, t. 38, p. 33.) 

 But the French naturalist does not refer to the fact 

 of cormorants building nests on or near freshwater 

 lakes. It is well known that sea-gulls often take 

 long inland excursions. I live near a village about 

 fourteen miles from the sea as the crow flies, and sea- 

 gulls are not uncommon visitors here, although very 

 unwelcome ones, being looked upon by us as the 

 pretty sure harbingers of a storm. Are not cor- 

 morants driven inland in like manner by stress of 

 weather ? * If so it will account for them being some- 

 times seen on the borders of lakes and rivers, but it 

 will not account for some broods making lakes their 

 general habitat. "Struggle for existence" is the 

 more probable cause of their breeding in such 

 localities, — E. Halse. 



* See SciENCE-Gossip, p. 234, above. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now 

 publish bciENCE-GossiP earlier than heretofore, we cannot 

 possibly insert in the following number any communications 

 which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month. 



To Anonymous Querists. — We receive so many queries 

 which do not bear the writers' names that we are forced to 

 adhere to our rule of not noticing them. 



To Dealers and others. — We are always glad to treat 

 dealers in natural history objects on the same lair and general 

 ground as amateurs, in so far as the " exchanges " offered are fair 

 exchanges. But it is evident that, when their oflers are simply 

 disguised advertisements, for the purpose of evading the cost of 

 advertising, an advantage is taken oi qmt gratuitojis insertion of 

 "exchanges" which cannot be tolerated. 



A. B. S. W.— Obtain Dr. Lankester's " Half Hours by the 

 Microscope," edition by F. Kitton, price ■zs. 6d., published by 

 D. Bogue. 



E. Halse. — Your MS. is to hand, and shall appear shortly. 



J. W. G. (Glasgow) — We judge from your written descrip- 

 tion that your shell is a species of nucula. It is very abund- 

 ant off the coast of Bute, where we have dredged it, Nncnla 

 intcleiis being especially common there. 



M. N. N. S. C— Get " Practical Taxidermy," by Montagu 

 Brown, published at the "Bazaar" office, price 3J. dd. It 

 will give you all the information you seek. 



W. Jacobs.— Get "Weather Charts and Storm Warning," 

 by R. H. Scott, F.R.S., published by H. S. King & Co., 

 (now Messrs. C. Kegan Paul & Co.) 



J. W. Williams. — Your paper is in hand; please send us the 

 rest as soon as you have completed them. 



"Nei'TUnk."— Voii may purchase "British Shells" of R. 

 Damon, F.G.S., Weymouth. Sowerby's book is of great use to 

 students iu enabling them to identify species from the illustra- 

 tions, but Dr. Gwyn Jeffrey's work (in 4 vols.) is the most 

 scientific in its treatment. 



CorTON. — Nearly all the shark family of fishes (including 

 dog-fish, skates, &c.) possess a vertical eyelid, or nictitating 

 membrane, as it is called. 



W. J. S. (Calcutta). — We shall be very glad to have your 

 papers, &c., on the centipede. 



J. R. (" Muckross'). — We shall be pleased to have yournote 

 on the flora of your neighbourhood, and especially the folk-lore. 

 The club-moss is L. selago. You are right. The reindeer 

 " moss " (CenoDiyce raitgiferina) is not a moss at all, but a. 

 lichen. Yours are very fine specimens. 



A. E. GiBiis. — Get Stark's " History of British Mosses, ' with 

 coloured plates, published by Routlcdge, Warne, & Co. 



A.Jenkins. — The first discoverer of gold in Australia was 

 the Kev. W. B. Clark, b'.G.S., whose memoir appears in this 

 year's proceedings of the Geological Society. Mr. Clark was 

 led to its discovery quite through geological reasoning. 



H. R. A. (Upper Norwood). — The neatly dried plants you 

 forwarded are as follows : a. Cardamine jitatcnsis, L. ; b. 

 Kpihbium iiwntanicvi, L. ; c. Galcopsis Tetrakit, L. ; the 

 latter is var. i. Been. We always use the names in the " Student's 

 Flora." 



W. G. W. (Brighton). — It is an American aster, and not the 

 erigeron. Several species were found some few years since on 

 the banks of the Tay ; now your discovery in Cornwall is very 

 interesting. 



A.. W. U. (Windsor). — The indehiscent sporangium is a well- 

 marked character of the /"//rtia/m; your species are, Phase inn 

 bryoidi's and I^lypnnin vclutiintm, another species is mixed 

 with the first, D kruniiin kttcroinalhiin. 



C. J. (Birkenhead). — No distinguishing number or mark was 

 attached to your specimens, we trust you will detect them ; 

 Raphatius Rapha7iist7-nin : L.piiik Ladies Bedstraw ('Grt//?c;;o 

 vcrinii : L.yellctw) Bitter Cress (Cardatnine hirsiiia : L. 

 white) Coronilla varia, the latter is not a British species, it is 

 often found on ballast heaps. 



W. Martin. — No. 29: Melica iiniflora : L. No. 30: 

 Brachypodhini jylvaticnin : R. and S. No. 33 : Lnzula nivea : 

 Desv. (a garden escape) No. 37: Carex stelhilaia: L. 

 No. 41 : Molinia ccerulea. No. 36 : a form of Carex reinota- 

 We merely use the words in " Student's Flora," respecting 33. 

 Would you send a short note for Science-Gossip about the 

 discovery? 



EXCHANGES. 



British land, freshwater, and marine shells offered for 

 others, or foreign shells. — Send list of duplicates to William 

 Jordan, Cockfield, Sudbury, Suffolk. 



Diatoms. Remarkably pure gathering of Goiiiphoneina 

 geminatniii, highly commended by best mounters in England. 

 Sample tube for three microscope slides or i-oz. bottle for twelve 

 good slides. Exchanged for first-class cleaned micro materials. 

 —John L. Mitchell, 6 IMansfield Place, Edinburgh. 



Wanted, micro-fungi in exchange for other material, in- 

 cluding parasiies, parts of insects, or well-mounled slides. — 

 Thomas S. Morten, 42 Haverstock Hiil, London, N.W. 



Named foreign fossils, tertiary and Jurassic, comprising:, 

 foraminifera, sponges, molluscs, &c. Large specimen^ of 

 Spcngilla Jlnvuitilis offered in exchange for microscopical 

 slides (foraminifera or diatoms preferred) or British lossils. — 

 Dr. Rudolf Haeusler, Dedham, Essex. 



Offered, L. C, 7th ed., 25, 61, 79, 99, 115 b, 135, 140, 159,, 

 217, 2oia,b, 438c, 448 c. 440, 737, 875, 914, 1351, 1014,^ &c., 

 for other rare plants. — A. E. Lomax, 41 Church Road, Tran- 

 more, Birkenhead. 



The Secretary of the Sea-Shell Mission having a quantity of 

 fragile and other shells unsuitable for the mission work, will 

 be happy to exchange for others of a stronger kind, or for 

 works on concholugy. — Address, 24, Richmond Terrace, 

 Clapham Road, S.W. 



W.\ntei) Tesiacella Maugei and T. haliotidea ; will return 

 a mounted slide of the odontophore for living specimens. Also- 

 a few American land and freshwater shells to ex change for good 

 British species. —J. D. Butterell, 2 St. John Street, Beverley. 



Wanted to borrow or receive in exchange for other books. 

 Annals and Magazine of Natural History for the year. — J. D. 

 Butterell, 2 St. John Street, Beverley. 



Wanted, SciENCE-Gossipfrom i868, 1876, 1879: cleannum- 

 bers not bound. — J. R. Murdoch, 24 Blenheim Place, Leeds. 



Jessie's " Gleanings in Natural History," 2 vols, full calf, 

 "Rambles in search of Flowerless Plants," M. Hues. Hugh 

 Miller's " Crui~e of the Betsy," " Edinburgh and its Neighbour- 

 hood," and "Old Red Sandstone," all equal to new. What 

 offers— in micro slide, or Natural History objects? — W. R. 

 Murdoch, 24 Blenheim Place. Leeds. 



A FEW slides of selected Diatoms, including Biddnlphia 

 pulchella, Tricercitinm favus, Navicula didyma, Stanroneis 

 pukhelUi, &c. for exchange for other selected Diatoms or 



