92, CORRESPONDENCE. 
and net in the other. I got close enough to see through the lens the trunk 
thrust first into one flower, then drawn out with the pair of anthers glued 
to the trunk with the natural glue of the orchis anther ; then thrust into 
another flower, thus fertilising it with the anthers of the first flower, and 
then drawn out, now with two pairs of anthers glued on. After three 
pairs of anthers had been attached he became frightened, I suppose at 
my lens, and flew off. I immediately netted him.—F rep. F. GRENSTED, 
Maidstone. 
Tue Rua@ric StarrisH.—(See Mid. Nat., Vol. I., p. 230.).—After 
lecturing to the Cardiff Naturalists’ Society on Dec. 5th, on ‘‘ The Origin 
of Scenery,” I went the next day, under the guidance of Mr. Storrie, the 
indefatigable Curator of the Cardiff Museum, to examine the unrivalled 
Rhetic section, which stretches along the coast from Penarth to 
Lavernock. We obtained many beautiful specimens from the bone bed, 
&c., but I especially wish to note a fine slab, nearly 2ft. square, on which 
were many specimens of Cardium Rheticum, Avicula contorta, and Pecten 
valoniensis, the three characteristic Rhetic shells thus occurring all in 
alump as it were. Between the shells I was delighted to recognise 
several specimens of that lovely star-fish Ophiolepis Damesii ; the bodies 
were crushed, but the arms more finely preserved than I have hitherto 
seen them. This is the first instance on record of the o¢currence of this 
star-fish at Penarth. The slab is now in the Cardiff Museum. In the 
December Number of ‘Science Gossip,” p. 271, I notice “a star-fish ” 
has been found by Mr. T. Stock, at Aust Cliff, another well-known 
Rheetic section. It is remarkable that this fossil, of which I found the 
first specimen near Leicester, in February, 1873, should now turn up at 
almost every section.—W. JERomE Harrison. 
Frost Poenomena.—During the past week the frost and fog together 
have produced some interesting effects. Hoar-frost is always deposited 
on that side of an object which faces the wind, so that the direction of 
the ice-fringes upon the twigs and rails is an accurate register of the air- 
current. This current must be a very light one, or the rime is 
shaken off as fast as it accumulates ; but, however still the air may seem, 
there is generally a slight movement in some one direction, and this may 
readily be ascertained by the direction of the spicules of hoar-frost. On 
Wednesday morning the ice-fringes all pointed towards the north, and 
there was a distinct difference in the whiteness of the landscape as seen 
from the northern and the southern sides. But there was a slight thaw 
on Wednesday afternoon. The air-current (it was scarcely so much as a 
breeze) veered round to the south, and on Thursday morning the white 
side of the landscape was reversed. It continued so till Friday night, 
when the current again got round to the north without any intermediate 
thaw, and on Saturday morning all boughs and rails which had not been 
shaken had a double fringe, one on each side; the northern fringe pointing 
straight to the breeze, the southern one actually curling round from 
south to north in a curious and very remarkable manner, not of course 
from any bending of the individual spicules, but from the unilateral 
deposition of each fresh spicule, producing the form known to botanists as 
a ‘‘scorpioid cyme,” very plainly seen in the flower of the Forget-me-not. 
So great was the deposit of rime on Saturday morning that many of the 
spicules were 1}in. in length, and the leafiess elms were as thick with 
winter foliage as if Midsummer had come back again without its chloro- 
phyll—a ghostly, and yet a wonderful and lovely sight.—F. T. Mort, 
Birstal Hill, Leicester, Dec. 14th. 
OrnitHoLogy.—I have the pleasure of recording the occurrence of two 
-now comparatively rare birds, namely, the Honey Buzzard, (Pernis 
apivorus,) and the Crested Grebe, (Podiceps cristatus ) the former captured 
: 
ee ——— ee ee 
