254 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



have been several theories of the origin of these 

 "kettle holes," but it seems to me the most 

 plausible is that they are where the water appeared 

 upon the ice, and rushed down to the bottom at 

 the edge where the ice was most porous. This 

 will account for their appearance on the edge of 

 ice — for at that point it was most porous — and not 

 in the glacier itself. It will also account for the 

 depressions occurring occasionally, though rarely, 

 as they do in New Jersey, without clay at the 

 bottom. In this case, as at the famous Ship Hole 

 in Union county, the ice which then existed must 

 have been very .thick, and the stream of icy water 

 which formed the Ship Hole must have rushed 

 down with extreme velocity so as to wash out the 

 clay which forms the infusorial earth of other 

 " kettle holes." When the ice ordinarily melted 

 there was a layer of clay settled on the top of the 

 glacial moraine. Then came a sinking of the coast, 

 and the sea water and consequent mud flowed in 

 with marine bacillaria which covered the fresh- 

 water forms that had accumulated in the Champlain 

 age. This subsidence took place more than once, 

 as is shown by the marine bacillaria in the 

 meadows of Newark being in at least two layers. 

 Newark, New Jersey, U.S.A. 



COLORATION AND VARIETIES 

 OF MOLLUSCA. 



TN Mr. A. E. Boycott's paper on the "Coloration 

 and Variation of British Extra-marine Mol- 

 lusca " (which I hope will be published in pamphlet 

 form), he writes : " I suppose the preference which 

 Tachea (nemoralis) shows for road banks over those 

 in fields is because of the greater abundance of 

 varied and coarser herbage on the former, while the 

 latter are very grassy and, which may also have its 

 effect, moreeaten over by cattle.'' But does nemor- 

 alis need or desire a very varied or luxuriant diet ? 

 If so, why is it so common on sandhills ? Another 

 explanation was suggested by me in a paper in the 

 ■" Malacologist " last July: "One might have 

 thought that the less amount of cover and the 

 greater amount of enemies to be found close to the 

 roads, in comparison with field hedges, would have 

 reversed the position of affairs. But it seems to 

 me that the dust of the high road provides lime, 

 so conveniently comminuted for the building up of 

 their shells, that they have been drawn, so to 

 speak, into public life by its advantages." 



(Rev.) J. W. Horsley. 

 St. Piter's Rectory, Walworth, S.E. 



[Is it not probable the reason for this habit is that 

 because of the frequent human passers along the 

 roads there are fewer thrushes and blackbirds than 

 in the field hedge-rows, so the Tachea have less 

 chance of being eaten by them ? May not the cre- 

 puscular habit of feeding at dusk, when these birds 

 are least active, have a similar origin ? — Ed. S.-G.] 



THE MILD WINTER. 



■npHIS winter of 1897-9S appears to be one of the 

 mildest that has occurred in Britain for some 

 years past. It may be well, therefore, to place this 

 fact on record for future reference. 



In the South of England especially, the absence 

 of frost has been remarkable, and from many 

 places we have received observations of a late 

 autumnal second flowering of ornamental and fruit 

 trees in sheltered gardens. Laburnum trees have, 

 in isolated cases, produced flowers all through this 

 winter, and to-day (January 21st) I saw a bunch of 

 freshly-gathered laburnum flowers which came from 

 a London suburban garden. In the columns of 

 this and other magazines, and frequently in the 

 newspapers, have been noted instances of winter 

 inflorescence of quite a number of plants. In 

 many gardens wallflowers, marigolds, polyanthus, 

 auricula and such like spring flowers have been in 

 bloom during January in company with Christmas 

 roses (Hellebore nigra) and hepaticas. A good 

 many stragglers from autumn flowering species of 

 familiar garden plants have bloomed uninter- 

 ruptedly since July last, one notable case being 

 the snapdragons. In the woodlands of Kent and 

 Surrey it is by no means difficult to gather a 

 bunch of primroses. These winter primroses are 

 not nearly so large as those of the spring months. 

 They, nevertheless, are of good colour and fragrant 

 perfume. 



Birds' nests containing eggs have been recorded 

 both in December and January. I strongly suspect 

 that there are already eggs in some rookeries, also 

 in starlings' and sparrows' nests. Herons in one 

 heronry I have observed appear to be preparing 

 their nests, if they have not already eggs. 



Hibernation of some of our land shells has been 

 more than usually incomplete. This applies to 

 such as Helix virgata, H. caperata, an&^H.cantiana. 

 The first of these, as we have recently been 

 reminded in these pages by Mr. Arthur E. Boycott, 

 in his admirable article on " Coloration and 

 Variation of British Extra-Marine Mollusca," 

 appears to be more or less active most winters, 

 but this year they are exceptionally so. The 

 season has in fact been an excellent one for study- 

 ing nature. 



The entomologists, however, may look depressed 

 in view of a scarcity of insects next summer. This 

 open weather favours the predatory natural enemies 

 of insects. Among these may be counted earwigs, 

 mice, insect-eating birds, and others. As these 

 enemies are more or less active, and therefore 

 in search of food during an open winter such 

 as this, they destroy an enormous number of 

 ova, larvae and pupae which if frost-bound for a 

 like period would be safe from their ravages. 



J. T. Carrington. 





