AND OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 



131 



A Cuckoo seen m Morayshire in December. — Mr John Barclay of Calcots, 

 near Eli^in, has transmitted to us the following very interesting account of the ap- 

 pearance of a Cuckoo in his neighbourhood :— " The winter, so far as it is gone, has 

 been remarkably mild in Morayshire, and I suppose all over the kingdom. The last 

 ten days have been like April -^r May. On Friday last (29th December) my neigh- 

 bour Mr James Geddes, at Meft, cold me he had seen a Cuckoo on the paling about 

 his garden, and not only seen it, but heard it utter its well-known cry. I see Bew- 

 ick mentions that they have been found in this country in a torpid state in winter ; 

 and I remember an old man in the parish of Auchterless, Aberdeenshire, who said he 

 had found one among whins which he was cutting, and that on being brought into 

 his house, after some time it uttered the peculiar note, cuckoo, and escaped. Bat 

 the fact I have mentioned is something new, so far as I know. I enclose a note from 

 Mr Geddes, whose word may be relied on. He also mentions the Black Snal'. being 

 out as another proof of the mildness of the season. I have not seen any ; but a shoot 

 of a rose on the outside of my window, looking to the Lossie, has grown upwards of 

 five inches since the beginning of November." Mr Geddes's note to Mr Barclay is 

 as follows : — '* Meft, January 2, 1838. — My dear Sir, — I was not at home when 

 your note came yesterday. The Cuckoo perched upon the railing of ray garden on 

 Wednesday last. One of my boys, taking it for the common hawk that flies about at 

 this season, fired at it, when it flew down to the nearest wood, about a hundred yards, 

 and perched on a tree, and immediately began its call '* cuckoo," which it continued 

 for five minutes, leaving it no longer doubtful what kind of bird it was. I find the 

 large Black Snail has been seen out lately by others as well as myself. I only saw 

 one about the beginning of last week. I have never before observed them out till 

 Mav, and even then at the beginning of a course of fine weather only. — I remain, 

 yours truly, J. Geddes. 



The Pied Wagtail. — Mr Gould has recently offered some observations, in 

 Loudon's Magazine, respecting our Pied Wagtail, which he considers to differ from 

 the Motacilla alba of Linnteus. " While engaged upon this tribe of birds during the 

 course of my work on the Birds of Europe, I was surprised to find that the sprightly 

 and Pied Wagtail, so abundant in our islands at all seasons, could not be referred to 

 any described species, and that it was equally as hmited in its habitat (as M.fiava) ; 

 for, besides the British Islands, Norway and Sweden are the only parts of Europe 

 whence 1 have been able to procure examples identical with our bird, whose place in 

 the temperate portions of Europe is suppHed by a nearly allied, but distinct, species, 

 the true M. alba of Linnaeus ; which, although abundant in France, particularly in 

 the neighbourhood of Calais, has never yet been discovered on the opposite shore of 

 Kent, or in any part of England. As, therefore, our bird, which has always been 

 considered as identical with the M. alba, proves to be a distinct species, I have 

 named it after my friend W. Yarrell, Esq., as a just tribute to his varied talents as a 

 naturalist. 



" The characters by which these two species may be readily distinguished are as fol- 

 lows: — The Pied Wagtail of England (M. Varrellii) is somewhat more robust in 

 form, and, in its full summer dress, has the whole of the head, chest, and back, of a 

 full deep jet black; while in the M. albay at the same period, the throat and head 

 alone are of this colour, the back and the rest of the upper surface bcmg of a light 

 ash-grey. In winter, the two species more nearly assimilate In their colouring ; and 

 this circumstance has, doubtless, been the cause of their hitherto being considered as 

 identical : the black back of M. Varrellii being gr^y at this season, although never so 

 light as in M. alba. An additional evidence of their being distinct (but which has, 

 doubtless, contributed to the confusion) is, that the female of M. Varrellii never has 

 the back black, as in the male ; this part, even in summer, being dark-grey, in which 

 respect it closely resembles the other species.' 



Cosscs LiGNiFERDA. — The larva of this insect is capable of living to a surprising 

 length of time without sustenanee or food, and also without preventing its coming to 

 maturity or the perfect imago, as the following circumstances will corroborate. — On 

 the I3th of June 1836, I took an excursion for the purpose of procuring a few speci- 

 mens of the Cossus, in company with an intelligent naturalist, in the neighbourhood 

 of Nottingham, where they so greatly abound among the willow trees. I was fortun- 

 ate in procuring a dozen chrysalids. I also found abundance of the larva, in all its 

 stages, one of which was in its second year, and this I put into a tin box, the lid 

 being perforated by small holes to admit air. On my return home, 1 placed the box 

 in a situation which for six months afterwards escaped ray recollection, when I again 

 laid my hand upon it, and, on opening it, to my surprise the Caterpillar was not only 

 alive and healthy, but to all appearance larger than when 1 first saw it. I afterwards 

 removed it into a large box, which could not be perforated, and watched its progress 

 very closely for a considerable length of time, when I put in a small quantity of saw- 

 dust, for the purpose of allowing it to spin itself a cocoon or nest, respecting which, 

 at the time, it appeared careless. But about the beginning of May 1837, it com- 

 menced operations, which it completed in a few days, since which time it remained 

 until the 17th of July, when it emerged into the perfect moth (which I placed in my 

 cabinet), thus remaining without food or support in the larva state ten months, and 

 two in the chrysaUs. The bos was placed in a very warm situation, in a cupboard 

 near the fire. — R. H. Cowlishaw. — The Naturalist. 



Species OF THE Gends Mustela. — The Prince of Musignano, Charles L. Bona- 

 parte, has recently communicated to the Magazine of Natural History, a notice re- 

 specting the genus Mustela of authors, which he has divided into four genera : Zor- 

 illa, Martes, Putorius, arid Mustela, the latter including the small slender-tailed 

 species, such as the Ermine and "Weasel. The following are the species of this genus, 

 as he has restricted it. 



1. Mustela Erminea. Linn. Europe. 



2. Af. Cicognanii. Bonap. North America. 



3. M. Bnccamela. Bonap. Sardinia. 



4. M. vulgaris. Linn. Europe. 



5. M. Richardsonii. Bonap. (iV/. Erminea, Richardson, Fauna, Bor. Araer.) 

 North America. 



6. M. longicaada. Bonap. (iW. Erminea^ Richardson, Fauna, Bor. Amer.) 

 North America. 



"• M. frenata. Licht. Mexico. 



Skull of the Guadaloupe Human Skeleton. — In the number for July 1837 

 of Silliman's Journal, is a description of the skull of the fossil skeleton found in 

 Guadaloupe, and deposited in the British Museum, It was procured on th'^ spot by 

 M. L'Herminiere, and has been placed in the collection of the Literary and Philosc- 

 phical Society of South Carolina. Dr Moultrie, Professor of Physiology in the 

 Medical College of that State, having examined the fragments with the view of as- 

 certaining whether it belonged, as was supposed, to an individual of the Carib race, 

 is decidedly of opinion that they do not, but finds ii. them all the marks of the Ameri- 

 can variety, in so much that were it possible to detach them from their incrustation, 

 the vacancies might be filled with the conesponding parts taken from the head of the 

 Peruvian. 



BOTANY. 



THE MISSELTOE. VISCUM ALBUM. 



This singular and celebrated plant, which belongs to Tetrandria monog^nia of the 

 Linncean system, and to the natural family of Loranthece, is parasitical, growing mostly 

 on Apple trees, but also on the Pear, Hawthorn, Service, Oak, Hazel, Maple, Ash, 

 Elm, and many others. In Worcestershire and Herefordshire it is very common in 

 orchards, but in the northern counties it is seldom raet with. It is an evergreen 

 shrub, insinuating its radical fibres into the wood of the trees on which it grows. Its 

 branches are numerous, regularly dichotomous, smooth and yellowish green ; its leaves 

 oblon», entire, striated, opposite, on short stalks ; the flowers small, axillar, in close 

 spikes ; the calyx of the male flower divided into four ovate equal segments ; the anthers 

 four, attached to the calyx, which in the female flower is divided into four small ovate 

 leaves, and plact-d upon the oblong, three-edged germen, which is surmounted by a blunt 

 and somewhat notched stigma; the fruit, a globular, white, smooth one-celled berry, 

 containing a fleshy, heart-shaped seed. It is supposed to be propagated by the JLssel 

 Thrush and Fieldfare, which are said to eat the berries, of which the seed passes through 



them unchanged, and adheres to the branches of trees where it germinates. There is 

 no proof of this, however, and it has been observed that the roots are always inserted 

 on the under side of the branches, but this again is accounted for by the action of rain. 

 Withering states that sheep eat it very greedily, and that it is frequently cut off" the 

 trees for them in hard weather. Birdlime is sometimes made from the berries, whence 

 the saying, Turdus suum malum cacat. Their pulp is so slimy and tenacious, that if 

 they are rubbed on the smooth bark of almost any tree, they will adhere and produce 

 plants the following winter. It was formerly in great repute as a remedy in epilepsy, 

 but is now entirely disregarded. Boyle mentions a case of this disease in which it was 

 employed with remarkable success. Colbach strongly recommends it in various con- 

 vulsive disorders, and other authors consider it as tonic and astringent. If we add to 

 this that the Druids attributed to it the most astonishing virtues, we have all that can 

 be said in its favour. At the present day, it is not employed in medicine, and attracts 

 attention merely on account of its peculiar habit and aspect; for even its use as bird- 

 lime has been superseded by that of the bark of the holly. 



Hybrid Feens — A triumph has been obtained by M. Martens, the professor of 

 chemistry at the university of Louvain, and Dr L'Herminier, over those who assert that 

 no hybrid plant can be produced where no stamina exist. The former shook the fronds 

 of Gymnogram.ma calomelanos and G. chrysophylla, reciprocally over each other, 

 at the time when the fructification was fully developed, and thus produced a new plant 

 which is to be called G. MartensH. It is worthy of remark, that the hybrid plant 

 bids fair to be easily propagated in our greenhouses, while the parents constantly lan- 

 guish and die. While i\I. Martens was making his experiment at Louvain in Belgium, 

 Dr L'Herrainier watched the same process taking place naturally in the woods and 

 savannahs of Guadaloupe, and sent some dried fronds, in excellent preservation, of the 

 hybrid to M. Bory St Vincent, — Athenaum 



