SCIEXCE-GOSSIP. 



35 



Flounders in Fresh Water. — I am told that 

 the ordinary flounder is found in our rivers a long 

 way beyond the influence of the tide, and also that 

 it may easily ba kept in freshwater ponds, where it 

 will live and thrive on the snails and small 

 crustaceans inhabiting the water, How far this 

 may be correct I do no know, and I should like to 

 hear the experience of such as have a special 

 knowledge of the subject. I want, if I can. to 

 cultivate the flounder in my large freshwater 

 aquarium, situate in my fernery, and having a 

 window looking into my dining-room. I hope 

 some of your numerous readers may be able to give 

 me the desired information. — Henry J. Barber, 

 Brighouse, Yorks. : J:i'y gth, 1S97. 



Abnormal Walnut - Leaf. — The elongated 

 elliptical leaves of the walnut tree (Juglans rcgia) 

 are in normal cases arranged in an opposite, or 

 nearly opposite, manner, with a terminal solitary 

 leaf on gracefully drooping branches. In a speci- 

 men I recently obtained from a garden near 

 Maiienh-ad, however, this terminal leaf is replaced 

 leaves united half-way down by their inner 

 margins. One of these is very nearly half as broad 

 as its companion at the point of conjunction. The 

 midribs diverge from the end of the twig without 

 any distinct petiole, the blade of the larger leaf 

 running about half an inch further down the twig 

 than that of the other. — F. P. Perks, 41, St. Martin's 

 Lane, London, 11". C. 



Hedgehogs Carrying Frcit. — Have naturalists 

 ever decided the question whether hedgehogs do in 

 reality carry fruit impaled on their spines, or 

 whether the assertion that they do so is a mere 

 folk-tale ? I was told only a few weeks since by 

 an intelligent working-man that when he lived at a 

 situation in North-east Lincolnshire he saw one 

 of these animals carrying apples in this manner, 

 several times, in his employer's orchard. A pair 

 of hedgehogs inhabited the place with their young, 

 and not only he himself but other people used to 

 watch the old ones transporting apples on their 

 prickles In Lincolnshire, when a man is ruffled 

 in temper, it is sometimes said. " he has gotten his 

 back up like a hedgehog going crabbing " ; for 

 hedge: ipposed to be very fond of the 



frost -mellowed fruit of the crab-tree and to carry it 

 to their nests, hunching up their backs in a peculiar 

 manner as they do so. — Mabel Peacock, Kirton-in- 

 Liuiiey. 



"Sen Natukai .—We are 



indebted to our correspondent, Mr Wheeler, for 

 the following cutting from a leading Bristol paper 

 in July. It appeared i in the pro ■ 



of tome fishermen for taking fish in the close-time : 

 . highly amuvjl and ■ ing to 



tee in the" i 



of several [ ing during the 



season in tot 



Mrictly speaking a fish, bill belong! to t he 

 anguilliform. thai ike, and yet 



men were and lined for 



■ 



these serpents in such a quagmire as the Froom at 

 Eastville. (Signed) Oscar S. Sage, Naturalist." 

 Surely the editor of an important newspaper could 

 not have seen this effusion before it appeared, or 

 he must have known better than to pass it. Another 

 contemporary actually quotes the following string 

 of inaccuracies as an example of the work of a true 

 naturalist. It occurs in a review of " On English 

 Lagoons," recently published in cheap form by 

 Mr. David Nutt : " The weather continued so bad 

 that I brought my cruise to a close, and as I 

 stepped out of my ship, on the last day of August 

 in the drizzling rain, my little sedge-warbler jumped 

 upon a reed and began to sing joyfully, for his 

 family was now strong on the wing. I stopped, 

 took off my hat, saluting the plucky little bird, 

 wished himself and family a safe voyage across the 

 seas. As I walked up the wall, masses of thistle- 

 down were blowing across the marshes, an 

 unfailing sign of autumn, and the last marsh-note 

 I heard as I rode off was the farewell song of the 

 brave little warbler." It is hardly necessary to 

 remind our readers that reed-warblers, like others 

 of their class, cease singing after the incubation of 

 the eggs is over, or that thistle-down does not float 

 in the air in drizzling rain or during bad weather, 

 such as the author describes in his first line quoted. 

 It is well to remember facts when trying to blend 

 Art and Nature. —John T. Carrington. 



Marine Mollusca of North Devon. — A few 

 notes may be of use to anyone interested in shells 

 who purposes to spend a holiday in North Devon. 

 At Lynmouth, Purpura lapillus axe small and thick, 

 and Trochuslineatus very massive on account of the 

 lack of shelter and the force of the waves. As 

 there is practically no sand between Lynmouth and 

 Morte Point, the marine shells are few. I only 

 found eleven species, and of these three did not 

 occur out of one cove at Watermouth. South-west 

 of Morte Point are several sandy bays. Of these 

 the first, Morte Bay, is locally well known, on 

 account of the Barricane Beach. This is an 

 accumulation of shells, mostly broken, and is no 

 doubt due to the set of the currents, which wash 

 up all the shells into a space of about two hundred 

 yards. Beyond this small area there are few or 

 hardly any shells on the shore of this bay. My 

 list of species for this spot was thirty-seven, but it 

 is probably far from being complete. Nation catena 

 seemed to be the most abundant shell. About six 

 feet above high-water-mark of spring tides I 

 noticed what seemed to be a " raised beach." It 

 contained nearly all the species to be found lower 

 down on the shore, and also seven others, which I 

 did not see elsewhere, Area tetragona being note- 

 worthy ; besides these there were eight species of 

 landshells mixed with the marine. A few miles 

 south-west of Barricane is Saunton, where there 

 i, a fine stretch of sand running in front of 

 Braunton Barrows, Quantities of shells are to be 

 found on the shore here, but not so many species 

 as at Barricane; I noted thirty-one in all. Cera- 



■■ was ibundant, andActaion toma tilts, 



pecimens of Philint aperta, Natica alderi and 



Mactra .lull, num. var. cinerea, were also to be had. 



aunton Sands and IJarricane would be well 



worth visiting after stormy weathei A list of the 



! I lira I I in 1 ;lil I I s is 



published I. v Mr | R B. Tomlin, in " Journal ol 

 Conchology," vol v.,pagi 1 1 ["he only additions 

 I can make are llrtn asptrsa, var. minor, al Hele 

 Bay, var conoldia, al al Hele Bay, and var. 

 ixalbidaaX vVoolacombi Ba; / / ( >oper, South- 



■ >. • . 



