60 BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES, [February, 



of tlie plant or its nature, etc.? In Cogan's 'Haven of Health' (1612), 

 he says : — " The best Mustard that I know in all England, is made 

 at Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire, and at Wakefield, in Yorkshire." 



S. B. 



To the Editor of the ' Phytolorjist: 



Sir, — Happening to observe an inquiry in one of the later numbers of 

 your magazine, as to whether Ferns are liable to be attacked by insects, 

 etc., I beg to tell you that in the course of this summer I have had two 

 plants of Gymnogramma leptophylla completely destroyed by the Green 

 or Rose Aphides. A plant of NotJiocJdcena nivea and N. ieiiera were much 

 disfigured by the same pests. I also lost a plant of Botrychium Lunaria, 

 which was just appearing aboveground, and several young fronds of 

 Baria Odontites, A. diver si folium, and A. vlvipara, as well as of other 

 Perns, by the attacks of mice, in the early part of the spring. I at 

 first was utterly incredulous as to the cause of this disfigurement of 

 some of my best specimens, but having watched, I detected the in- 

 truders in manifesto facinore, and have no doubt but that the succulent 

 stems attracted them, in the absence of other food. I remain. Sir, yours 

 truly, W. B. F. 



P.S. I have just ascertained a fact, new to me at least, respecting a 

 xise of our Pteris aquilina, viz. that the ashes of it are largely used, in 

 conjunction with bone-dust and ashes, for the purpose of filling crucibles 

 in which the cupellation of lead is carried on, i.e. the separation of lead 

 from the silver which is nearly always found in it. 



Berries of the Mountain-Ash. 



Many communications have been sent to the ' Phytologist ' on this 

 subject. Two appeared in our number for October, 1858, pp. 599 and 

 600. The following is a newspaper account of this occurrence : — 



"A Child Poisoned by the Berries of the Mountain-Ash. — 

 On Monday afternoon an inquest was held at the Travellers' Inn, 

 Armley, by Mr. Blackburn, borough coroner, upon the body of Joseph 

 Murgatroyd, a child five years old, whose father is a clothier at Armley. 

 The deceased had been ailing for the last fortnight, but on Friday after- 

 noon he commenced vomiting dark matter, and continued to do so for 

 some time. On the following morning, Mr. Alfred Hickards, surgeon, 

 was called in, and prescribed for the child, whom he supposed to be 

 suflPering from pleurisy and disease of the kidneys. The deceased, how- 

 ever, continued to suffer, and died at half-past eleven o'clock in the 

 evening. On a post-mortem examination being made, the remains of 

 Mountain-Ash berries were discovered in the stomach of the deceased, 

 who had no doubt eaten them when in the field. Mr. Rickards was 

 clearly of opinion that the deceased had been poisoned by these Mountain- 

 Ash berries, and the jury returned a verdict accordingly." 



Our readers will see from what paper our second account is derived : — 



"Poisoning by Eed Berries. — (To the Editor of the 'Manchester 

 Guardian.') — Sir, — I observe a paragraph in your paper stating that a 

 child has been poisoned, near Leeds, by eating the berries of the 

 Mountain-Ash. Without wishing: to lessen the wholesome terror of red 



