August 5, 1880] 



NA TUBE 



319 



The British Association and Provincial Scientific 

 Societies 



The list of^delegates of provincial scientific societies prefixed 

 to the list of members attending the annual meeting of the 

 British Association having appeared to me to be practically 

 useless, being in reality merely a list of "temporary members" 

 of the general committee — with the object of making it of some 

 value to the societies represented, and also eventually to the 

 Association, I suggested, at the meeting at Bradford last year, 

 an alteration in the rale of the Association which affects this list 

 of delegates. My suggestion being favourably received by the 

 CouncU, the alteration proposed was adopted at a meeting of the 

 General Committee. 



The effect of this alteration is to admit as a temporary member 

 of the Committee the secretary of any scientific society publishing 

 Transactions as well as the president, or in his absence a delegate 

 representing him. My object in proposing it was, as I then 

 stated, to admit of a meeting or conference of the presidents 

 and secretaries of societies thus represented being convened 

 under the auspices of the Association, at which matters 

 concerning such societies (their management more especially) 

 might be talked over and arranged, &c., a thing which could 

 not be attempted in the absence of the secretaries, they, as a 

 rule, having almost the entire management of their societies. 



As the revised rule first comes into operation at the approach- 

 ing meeting of the Association at Swansea, I should be glad if 

 you w-ill draw attention to it, either by the insertion of this 

 letter or in any other way. John Hopkinso.v 



Hon. Sec. Herts. Nat. Hist. Soc. 



Waiisford House, Watford, July 24 



Intellect in Brutes 



The following story was told me by the mistress of the dog 

 herself. The event occurred in a small village in Essex, some 

 years ago. 



"A Uttle black [and white King Charles, beloved by its 

 mistress, but not by its master, was one day lying on a rug in 

 tiie drawling-room w-hen the master came in, having just paid its 

 tax. He said : ' I have just paid that dog's lax ' ; and looking at 

 it with a severe expressicu added : 'and he's not woi'th his tax." 

 The little dog immediately got up, and with a crestfallen appear- 

 ance put its tail between its legs and left the room. It was 

 never seen after« ards, nor was it ever heard of again, although 

 inquiries were made at the time in every direction." 



George He.nslow 



Chipped Flints 



A FEW days ago a mai who had been cutting turf in this neigh- 

 bourhood came to tell me that he found a quantity of small flints 

 at the bottom of the "bog-hole," and he brought some of them 

 for my inspection. Seeing that they all bore very obvious marks 

 of handicraft, while a few were more or less rudely shaped like 

 arrow-heads, I immediately went to the place, accompanied by 

 the man, and succeeded in getting a number of specimens, of 

 which some fifty or sixty show pretty plainly the design of the 

 workman. Among them are a few white flints, evidently from 

 the Chalk, and indeed with some chalk attached to them. This 

 is worthy of remark, as there is no chalk nearer than the North 

 of Ireland, nor are there any chalk flints among the boulders 

 here, where the drift was unmistakably derived from the lime- 

 stone, Silurian, mica slate, and syenite rocks of the west and 

 south-west. The other flints are black, like the chert, which 

 occurs plentifully enough in the carboniferous lower limestone 

 formation of the district. Several pieces of charcoal were mixed 

 w ith the flints, showing probably that fire was used in breaking 

 them up in the first instance. The final operation of chipping 

 seems to have been done with a very delicately-pointed instru- 

 ment, not thicker than a large sewing-needle. Its marks, both 

 where it struck off the chip and where it failed to do so, are as 

 plain and fresh-looking as if they were made quite recently. It 

 must have been used as a punch and worked with a hammer, 

 and there must have been some contrivance like a vice to hold the 

 flint during the operation. It is really hard to think that the 

 instrument w ith a point at once so minute and powerful could 

 be other than metallic ; but then, if there wa; metal available, 

 why have recourse to flint ? Perhaps these flints might be re- 

 fen-ed to a time late in the neolithic period, during the 



transition from stone to metal, when the latter, being scarce, 

 was used only for tools. At one time I fancied that I made a 

 capital discovery of metallic particles struck oft' and lodged in 

 the stone, but with a pocket lens they were found to be only 

 specks of pyrites. A small sandstone slab, quite smooth on one 

 side, lay among the flints, but it was either taken away or thrown 

 into one of the turf holes filled with water before I came to the 

 place, and I failed to find it. By its impression in the turf 

 which remained untouched it appeared that one surface was 

 quite polished. The other was described as rough. Whether it 

 was used in the manufacture of the arrow-heads or not I cannot 

 surmise. The shape of a large sandstone pebble that I found 

 might suggest its use as a hammer, but it showed no signs of 

 abrasion. At one time there must have been at least twelve feet 

 of turf over the flints. They lay immediately above the roots of 

 a pine close to a short piece of the stem that remained. The 

 tree was most probably growing when the flints were worked, 

 and it may be of some interest to note that the craftsman 

 selected the shade or solitude of a wood for his atelier. 



In this bog is found the striking phenomenon of two growths 

 of trees, one overlying the other. The lower was chiefly pine, 

 identical with, or nearly allied to, the P. sylvestris, and rooted in 

 the drift clay or gravel. The upper trees were principally oak, 

 and grew in the turf formed from the prostrate wood that 

 preceded them. This is remarkable, showing a wide difference 

 in the habitats of both kinds and those of their representatives 

 of the present day, when we find the oak growing in clayey soils, 

 while in general the moor agrees well with the firs and pines. 



J. BiRJIINGHAM 



Milbrook, Tuam, July 12 ~ 



Lunar Rainbows 



The foUouing communication has been forwarded to me by 

 a lady of considerable ability, and can be relied upon. As a 

 lunar rainbow is a rare phenomenon, perhaps you may deem the 

 notice worthy of a place in Nature. J. King Watts 



St. Ives, Hunts., July 30 



" On July 19 a most brilliant lunar rainbow w-as visible in 

 this village of Over, Cambridgeshire, and was observed by other 

 persons as well as by myself. For several days previously there 

 had been a succession of violent storms, with much thunder and 

 lightning, and the falling of vast quantities of rain. The whole 

 atmosphere was evidently in a very perturbed condition, with 

 considerable electrical disturbance. The wind had for several 

 days previously been exceedingly variable, veering from point to 

 point with rapidity, and on the day in question it had veered 

 much from one point to another. At 10 p.m. the wind blew 

 strong and steadily from the south-west, thereby driving the 

 great masses of cloud to the north-east. To the front of the 

 position I was in, the clouds had been pushtd or rolled up into 

 a dark mass extending from the north, north-east, east, and 

 nearly to the south-east, up to the zenith, so that one portion of 

 the horizon was cloudless and the other portion black and 

 sombre. The moon was very clear and nearly to the full. The 

 sky had a singular appearance, one part being most brilliant and 

 clear, and the moon riding in it free from every particle of 

 cloud, and the other part to the north-east was most intensely 

 dark. At 10.35 ^ beautiful and brilliant silvery white arch was 

 formed (north-east), extending nearly from the zenith down to 

 the horizon. The arch was most perfect in aU respects. The 

 force of the wind had abated. There were no prismatic colours 

 visible, but the whole arch, standing out, as it were, in bold 

 relief on the black cloud, had a most awe-like but beautiful 

 appearance, and the sight can never be forgotten. The singular 

 phenomenon was brilliantly visible for a considerable length of 

 time, thereby clearly indicating the slow progress at which the 

 shower was then moving onward. Such a phenomenon is very 

 seldom to be seen. The sky continued clear during the remainder 

 of the night. "AnneGifford 



"Over, Camb." 



W. E. WiLLiNK. — The "substance" you send us is a well- 

 known alga, A'ostoc commune. See the "Treasury of Botany," 

 siib voce Nostoc. 



Brickm,\king. — A "Brickmaker" asks if any of our readers 

 can tell him of a book on Brickmaking which gives good and trust- 

 worthy information about the operations, machines, &c. He 

 has a book by E. Dobson, but it is thirty years old, and therefore 

 of very little use. 



