460 



NATURE 



\Scpt. 16, 1 8 So 



hsr lofty breed from destruction, just as the top of a parsley 

 sprig does for tlie swallows. Tliis stone worn by a woman 

 round her neck during pregnancy will procure her a living 

 child." 



This use of parsley is mentioned by /EUanus de Nattira 

 Animal, lib. i. chap. 37, as follows : — 



Ai (riK^ai KoX TovTwv ra oja aZiKoTi<Tiv ovkovv oX fjLYiTepes <Te\£vov 

 Ku^njv -Trpo^dWofTaL rtjov ^petpuf Kal ^«6iVois t^ efrevd^i/ S^arci 

 iffriv, 



" As the beetles injure their eggs 'the mothers throw tops of 

 parsley sprigs in front of their young, which become inaccessible 

 to the beetles." 



But this parsley must not be confounded with the miraculous 

 herb giving sight to the young swallows. (/Elianus, lib. iii. 

 chap. 25). 



BpaSe'ws Se eKjSAeTret Kal ra ravTrjs ^pt(pt\ wy Kal Tci twv kuvoiv 

 ffKv\a.Kia' TToav Se Kon'i^eL Kal Trpoffdytt ra 5e uTro^'ojSAeVet ^Ira 

 aTp€HTj(rayTa oKiyhi' ^n-mriffifxa ovra. TTp6eim rT)S KaXias eVi 7-)}v 

 voixT}v. TauTTjs rrjs 7r6as &v9pwTV0i y^Pitrdai iyKpare^s Sit//aJ(ri' Kal 

 ouSeTTO) yvf r?]S irnovhris KareTvxop. 



" Like whelps, the young swallows are late endowed with sight, 

 but on the application of a certain herb by their mother they 

 begin to see ; and after some rest leave the nest to seek their 

 food. Men, tliough longing for this herb, could never get it." 



Dionysius gives in his " Ornithology " some information about 

 this eagle's stone (lib. i. ch. 3). 



''Hp Se aTToTeKcr^ 5e7] KC/j-iixavTes Tiua \tdoy TOts icoi\ais iprideaiTL 

 Ka\ta7^ 'iva eV Kaipu tIktci)(71, koL jur; rh tikto^^vov irph t7;s iapas 

 areXeffTov u)9o7tq utt' lax^os' oh IXT]V cVtI tj ffatp'ks Trepi rov hidou 

 TOvTou yivuKTic^iv^ d\A' 01 jxiv aurhy aTTu ruv KavKatxltnv optjiv 01 5e 

 dirh rrjs rod wK^avov ox^y}^ (paaX KO/xi^etrSai \evKhv vnep(pvccs uvTa 

 Koi ^^crrhv iv^oQ^u -KVidp-aros ws Kai ^)xov d-jroTiX^'ip ci Ktvolro. 

 TLKTQua-ri 3* €1 T(S avrhy yvyaml Trepiai^eie, oXtadaly^lf SiaKwKuffei 

 rh ^p^<pos, K^v iv\i^y}Ti ■na<p\a^ovros D'Saros iTTi^avar} t^v tov 

 TTuphs fiK-fitret iraPTw Itrxoy, 



" Tliey bring this stone in their nests to avoid a premature and 

 forcible delivery. Nothing positive is known about this stone, 

 •whicli some suppose brought from the Caucasus, and others 

 from the sea-shore. It is exceedingly white, full of air, so as to 

 resound when moved. It prevents miscarriage in those who 

 wear it. And if it does but touch the surface of a caldron of 

 boiling water, it overpowers entirely the might of fire." 



The confusion made by some writers between swallows and 

 eagles is evident by the fact of their faulty quotation from 

 Pliny. 



For Pliny, chap. iv. lib. x. says — 



"Tribus prirais et quinto aquilarum generi in^dificatur nido 

 lapis ah'Us quern aliqui dixere gangitem ad multa remedia utilis 

 nihil igne deperdens. Est autem lapis iste pra;gnans intus, cum 

 quatias alio velut in utero sonante. Sed vis ilia medica non 

 nisi nido direptis." 



And in chap, xxxix. vol. 36, he gives further particulars on 

 these very stones, which he divides into males and females, and 

 into four kinds, according to their origin. 



Whilst in lib. viii. chap. 41, he says — 



"Chelidoniam visui saluberrimam hirundines monstravere 

 vexatis pullorum oculis ilia medentes," and lib. xxv. ch. 50, 

 " Animalia quoque invenere herbas, in primis que chelidoniam. 

 Hac enim hirundines oculis pullorum in nido restituunt visum 

 ut (|uidam voluut [see Aristotle de A/iimaL Cm. 1. iv. ch. 6] 

 etiam erntis oculis" ; clearly tracing the distinction followed by 

 Phile between the respective proficiency of eagles in geology and 

 swallows in botany. 



Jersey Chatel 



A Peat Bed in the Drift of Oldham 



We have here lately discovered abed of peat intercalated with 

 beds of undisturbed " glacial drift." I believe this phenomenon, 

 if not unique, is very rare in England, and may, therefore, be 

 interesting to your readers. In the depth of a section of 14 feet 

 there are two thick beds of drift witli washings of fine clay, and, 

 midway in the section, a well defined bed of peat with a 

 maximum thickness of 18 inches. Another bed of peat, some- 

 what less clearly defined, and not so true as the former, is 

 likewise present, the two beds having beneath them a thin band 

 of exceedingly fine clay of a bluish grey colour, which evidently 

 is the equivalent of the "seatings" or "floor clays," which so 

 invariably accompany our seams of coal. The beds of drift 

 that inclose the peat are alike in some of their main features, but 

 unlike in others. In both boulders are in great abundance. 



In the bed beneath the peat there are bands of fine clay, coarse 

 sand, or grit, pebbles, and boulders ; the upper, with very little 

 variation, is uniformly made up of arenaceous clay and a great 

 number of boulders. It is almost certain that at the close of the 

 pleistocene period the upper deposit, that is, the one above the 

 peat, could not have had a thickness of less than 75 feet. 

 These deposits are the "upper drift "of the geologist. The 

 beds beneath the peat, judging from their composition — b lulders, 

 pebbles, gravel, and fine sand — and the presence in the latter of 

 "current bedding," probably represent the "middle drift." 

 The "lower drift" beds are absent here. May I add that some 

 of the mosses, which seem to make up the bulk of the peat, are 

 in an excellent state of preservation, and are now under exami- 

 nation for identification. A considerable number of fragments 

 of beetles, of undetermined species, are likewise amongst the 

 finds. _ JAS. NiELD 



29, Radclyffe'Street, Oldham, September 13 



On the Asiatic Alliances of the Fauna of the Congenian 

 Deposits of South-Eastern Europe 



Herr Theodor Fuchs of Vienna has pointed out some 

 important mistakes in the abstracts of his memoir in Nature, 

 vol. xxi. p. 52S. In view of remedying these regrettable errors 

 some revised extracts are here given. At p. 52S, line 32, the pas- 

 sage should read thus : — " The genus AWitiita at present shows a 

 predilection for islands. Thus from Tahiti alone Reeve gives S 

 species, and n from the Sandwich Islands; from the Philip- 

 pines there are 39, and 40 from New Caledonia alone, according 

 to Gassies. Further, according to Kobelt there are 1 1 in the 

 Mediterranean ; and, according to Reeve, 7 in the West Indies, 

 and 10 in Central America. The gi'eat continental areas are 

 strangely poor in Neriiina:. In North America the genus seems 

 to be wanting, since the two or three known species are found 

 only in the borderlands on the south. The genus Mclanopsis 

 has a very peculiar distribution. Twenty species, nearly all 

 strongly ornamented, belong to the Mediterranean. This genus 

 is wanting in Africa, East India, the Malay Islands, Australia, 

 and the whole of America; but it occurs quite locally, with 19 

 species, in New Caledonia ; and 2 species are found in New 

 Zealand." 



Again, at line 60, read: — "A very peculiar characteristic, 

 hitherto overlooked, in the inland-water faunas of the later 

 tertiaries in South Europe, is the absence of the African element 

 (such as the Achatina, Etheria, AmpuUaria, Iridina, Galatea, 

 &c.); and tliis is the more remarkable because the mammalian 

 fauna of the period, on the contrary, has a strongly-pronounced 

 African character. The same may be said of the flora and for the 

 whole tertiary period, since the tertiary flora of Europe had, in 

 succession, an Australian, Indian, Japanese, and Mediterranean 

 character, but never an African character. The tertiary land 

 and freshwater shells of Europe show analogies to New Cale- 

 donia, India, China, and Japan, but not to Africa ; although 

 the last not only lies so very much nearer to our continent, but 

 in its mammalian fauna, until the Diluvial period, kept so close 

 a connection with Southern Europe." T. R. J. 



Prosopistoma punctifrons 



My colleagues, Messrs. Joly and Vayssiere, in announcing with 

 justifiable pride (in the Comptes Rcndus of the French Academy 

 and elsewhere) the discovery of the perfect insect of Prosopistoma, 

 attribute to me the former possession of an opinion that the insect 

 might be an Ephemerid suited for a continuous aquatic life. I 

 am not sensible of having published such an opinion, nor of 

 having held it. In remarks on Oniscigastcr, in the yournal of 

 the Linnean Society of London, vol. xii. (Zoology) p. 145, foot- 

 note (1S73), I ask, "Can there be apterous Ep/iemeridid?" and 

 "Can the imago of Prosopistoma he in that condition?" It 

 did not occur to me that these words could be so translated as to 

 bear the interpretation put upon them by Messrs. Joly and 

 Vayssiere. In congratulating my colleagues upon their discovery, 

 I remark that I make this explanation solely because certain of 

 my correspondents ask where I have published the opinion 

 attributed to me. R. McLachlan 



Lewisham, September 9 



Mosquitoes 

 In Nature, vol. xxii. p. 33S, an inquiry is made as to the 

 best means of preventing the attacks of mosquitoes. I am 



