SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



327 



Woodpeckers near London.— Both the large 

 pied and small pied woodpeckers occur all the year 

 round in Wanstead Park, about six miles only, from 

 the Bank of England, which may be termed the 

 centre of London. In the winter of 1894-5, I 

 frequently saw a pair of the larger species, and 

 small pied woodpeckers were often to be seen. 

 During the following summer both species nested 

 in one tree in the Park. It is an old and decayed 

 birch. The nest of Picas major was in the trunk of 

 the tree, but was cut out by some boys. The 

 pair of Picus minor which had selected a rotten 

 branch, successfully brought off their young. — J. 

 A . Cooper, Sussex Villas, Harrow Road, Leytonstone, 

 Essex. ■ 



Abnormal Goldfish. — Some time ago, when 

 obtaining a supply of Cyprinus auratus for the 

 aquarium, I noticed one had a peculiar form of 

 tail. There seemed to be three distinct divisions, 

 which were joined about half way down, and gave 

 the tail a distinctly oval form. The end of the 

 vertebra, instead of being flat, as is the case of fish 

 in general, was circular, and the caudal fin was 

 growing round this, so that if the fish were stood 

 on its head there would be a perfectly flat surface 

 almost surrounded by the caudal fin. The specimen 

 was of the delicate pink variety, and seemed very 

 weakly, only living a few months after I had it. I 

 have it still preserved in spirits, as it is the only 

 specimen I have seen of the kind. — H. W. Ford- 

 Lindsay, The Shrubbery, Clive Vale, Hastings. 



The Splash of a Drop. — The striking illustra- 

 tions reproduced on pp. 297-8-9 of the last number 

 of Science-Gossip, are most interesting, and will 

 at once cause all who are not astronomers to ask : 

 " Are all the volcanoes and craters of the moon, 

 after all, correctly described as such ? " There 

 seems to be a remarkable resemblance in these 

 reproductions of a process which, on a much 

 larger scale, must have taken place on the moon's 

 surface. I throw it out merely as a suggestion, 

 but may it not have been likely that some of our 

 palaeozoic volcanoes subjected our satellite, when 

 she was beginning to cool, to a tremendous bom- 

 bardment, resulting in some cases, by rapid 

 cooling, in the so-called craters (figs. 1 to 14), and 

 volcanic vents within craters (figs. 15 to iS) ? — 

 E. A. Martin, 62, Bensham Manor Road, Thornton 

 Heath . 



Booth Museum of Birds. — The fine collection 

 of British birds in the Booth Museum, Dyke 

 Boad, Brighton, has, during the past few- 

 months, been thoroughly overhauled and cleaned 

 by the curator, Mr. Frank Murray. In all 

 there are 318 cases and about 1,500 specimens, 

 which are much improved, the whole being now 

 bright and clean looking. We wonder this museum 

 is not more visited by naturalists, even if they be 

 little interested in ornithology. It is, probably, one 

 of the finest collections of birds in the world, and 

 celebrated for the life-like manner in which the 

 late Mr. Booth directed the arrangement of 'he 



groups represented. The admission to the museum 

 is free, and it is hardly more than quarter of an 

 hour's walk from Brighton station. Mr. Murray, 

 having been associated with this collection in 

 Mr. Booth's time and for the past nine years, is 

 most willing to tell visitors the graphic stories 

 attached to various cases. Every bird in the 

 Booth collection was shot by their late owner, who 

 travelled far and wide to obtain specimens in our 

 islands. Since it became the property of the 

 Brighton Corporation there have been some few 

 additions to the Booth Museum. 



Lunar Phenomenon. — On the night of February 

 28th, 1S90, at about 8 o'clock, I witnessed what I 

 believe to be a rather unusual phenomenon, at any 

 rate in this country. There was a hazy ring round 

 the moon, as is often seen, but in addition to this 

 there was another larger ring, with its centre 

 entirely outside of the smaller ring and with its 

 circumference cutting the moon in the manner 

 shown in the accompanying diagram. It continued 



%J 



to be visible for about half an hour, and I was 

 enabled therefore to carefully examine it, and take 

 notes on the spot. Am I right in supposing the 

 occurrence to be uncommon? — F. G. Provis, 

 Coleford, Gloucester; September jth, 1895. 



Colonising " British " Insects. — Some interest- 

 ing notes have recently been passing through the 

 pages of the " Entomologists' Record " relative to 

 the introduction of Sphinx pinastri as a " British" 

 insect. Whether insects which are very rare or 

 naturally absent from our fauna are to be artificially 

 introduced without proper announcement is a 

 question about which there cannot be two opinions. 

 From whatever aspect such action is considered, 

 whether joke, experiment or fraud, it is repre- 

 hensible, unless the fact is publicly announced. I 

 fear there is an increasing tendency to colonise 

 rarities in Britain. --John T. Carrington. 



Preservation of Fungus Spores. — Last autumn 

 I started the study of fungi and found it exceedingly 

 fascinating. There was one difficulty, however, that 

 I experienced while trying to preserve the specimens, 

 and that was, that I could not get the spores to stick 

 to the mounting paper. When the pileus is cut off 

 from the stem and left to rest, gills downward, on 

 the paper all night, next morning quantities of the 

 spores are found to have fallen from the gills and 

 formed on the paper a beautiful figure of radiating 

 lines. How to keep these lovely forms from 

 being destroyed by the slightest touch is quite 

 a puzzle to me. Could any of your readers help 

 me in my difficulty?— IF. Royal, 10, Bank Street, 

 Arbroath, N.B. 



