456 Miscellaneous. 



Double Eggs. 

 To the Editors of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 



Gentlemen, — Capt. Mitchell's notice of *' a double eg^ of a fowl," 

 in the * Annals ' for last month, has brought to my recollection the 

 following account of a double egg I heard at the small village of 

 Bantham, near the Bolt-Tail, on the south coast of Devon, this 

 summer. Several farmers met in the common room of a small inn, 

 when one of them asked " if any on 'em there could tell the weight 

 of a guse's egg ?" Several statements were made, but eight or nine 

 ounces appeared to meet with the most approval ; but one man said, 

 *' Now I reckon you had one wi' a double yolk, so I do say eighteen 

 ounces." *' Thee beest nigh the mark, for 't were nineteen ounces ; 

 but 'twarn't a double yolk, at least not a double yolk like most double 

 yolks be ; for when I broke the shell, there comed out, oh ! a lot o* 

 stinking trade sure 'nough ; but when all that beastliness were 

 out, why I'm blessed if there warn't a proper egg inside, quite gude. 

 'Twere the largest egg I ever see'd in my hfe, and he 'most killed 

 the ould guse for to lay en ; her never laid no eggs afterwards, her 

 didn't." 



I give the story in the farmer's own words, because, although I 

 believe the account, I have it only on hearsay. 



I am. Gentlemen, 



Yours obediently, 

 Plymouth, Nov. 18, 1868. C. Spence Bate. 



Occurrence of Gigartina pistillata on the Welsh Coast. 



Mrs. Gatty, in the month of September, 1865, picked up a speci- 

 men of Gigartina pistillata in fruit, in Blackpool Bay, not far from 

 Linney Head, on the south-western coast of Pembrokeshire. It 

 was seen by Dr. Harvey, at New Milford, on his way to Ireland ; 

 and he had a written account of its discovery made out for the 

 Trinity College herbarium (Dublin). 



Palu. 



Some time ago a very small quantity of a fine silky substance was 

 brought to England from California under the above name ; and it 

 was used as an object for the microscope, on account of its beautiful 

 structure. Mr. Bingham, in his very interesting paper on the 

 " Volcanic Phenomena of the Hawaiian Islands," says — ^'Palu is the 

 silky covering of the opening fronds of several species of tree ferns, 

 and is exported in large quantities to CaHfornia, for beds (kc." 

 (p. 426). The trade is so extensive that " corduroy roads" are made 

 to the station where it is collected, and whole districts are leased for 

 the ^^Palu business," and there is a large number of "PaZ^t-pickers." 

 The Palu is collected at Kelauea, which is the most tropical region 

 in Hawaii ; the tree ferns have stems 15 feet high to the base of the 

 frond, and 8 or 12 inches in diameter. 



