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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



The Booth Museum. — The whole of the cases 

 in the Booth collection of British birds, Dyke 

 Road, Brighton, have been thoroughly cleaned 

 during the past winter. The specimens have been 

 examined and dusted ; the museum, therefore, has a 

 bright and fresh appearance, creditable to the 

 curator. As we have before remarked, since this 

 museum came under the control of the Borough 

 Corporation of Brighton, additions are still made. 

 Among the more recent are a pair of Ortolan 

 buntings, obtained near Brighton ; a beautiful 

 dark variety of barn owl, said to be the Danish 

 form, which was taken a year or two ago, near 

 Shoreham, Sussex, and recently acquired by the 

 Corporation. Among others to be shortly placed 

 on view and at present under preparation by 

 Messrs. Pratt and Sons, of Brighton, are a fine 

 pair of hobbies taken in Sussex, though not very 

 recently, and an interesting case of shorteared owls, 

 old and young, the latter being the late Mr. Booth's 

 own taking, but the adult example is recently from 

 Scotland. There is also a Kentish example of the 

 great grey shrike, which has been presented by its 

 captor. The illustrated catalogue of the Museum 

 was issued a short time ago as a new edition, and 

 contains reference to most of the latest additions to 

 the collections. — John T. Carrington. 



Norfolk Plover in Sussex. — Mr. Pratt, of 

 Brighton, recently showed me a particularly hand- 

 some specimen of this bird, which was obtained 

 from near Shoreham. It has latterly become 

 scarce in Sussex, although a comparatively few 

 years ago it was somewhat abundant on the South 

 downs, from which, however, it seems to have 

 disappeared. Mr. Pratt tells me that the past 

 mild season has not produced many ornithological 

 rarities in the Brighton district. — John T. Carrington. 



Snails in Roadside Hedges. — I think the 

 suggestion made by the Rev. J. W. Horsley about 

 Helix nemoralis thriving in hedgerows by the road- 

 side because of the lime found there from the road- 

 dust, is correct. My experience goes to show that 

 the roadside is the best hunting-ground for not only 

 H. nemoralis, but H. hortensis and H. arhistorum 

 also. At least this is so in Northants, where, until 

 quite recently, the roads were repaired with lime- 

 stone quarried in the neighbourhood. Some of the 

 roads now are repaired with slag from the iron 

 furnaces, and are not nearly so productive as 

 formerly. I do not think that the abundance of 

 Nemoralis is to be attributed to the fewer birds in 

 roadside hedges ; as many lovers of birds will bear 

 me out in stating that the birds are as fond of the 

 roadside as the snails, and, strange to say, are found 

 near towns also, for nesting purposes. The nests 

 of partridges and pheasants are always carefully 

 searched for in the spring by the gamekeepers and 

 others, as it is well known they prefer the roadside 

 for their nests. The reasons are not far to seek. 

 The first is because they can obtain the dust bath 

 so necessary whilst incubating, without leaving eggs 

 long enough to cool A second is for the sake of 

 food contained in horse droppings. — C. E. Wright, 

 Kettering. 



Royal Meteorological Society. — At the 

 meeting of this Society held on Wednesday evening, 

 March 16th, at the Institution of Civil Engineers, 

 Mr. F. C. Bayard, LL.M., President, in the chair, a 

 lecture on " Photographing Meteorological Pheno- 

 mena" was delivered by Mr. A. W. Clayden, 

 M.A., Principal of the New College at Exeter, who 

 gave details of his experiences as Secretary of a 

 Committee of the British Association. After 

 referring to the extreme value of photographic 

 methods of recording the movements of instruments, 

 the lecturer spoke of the real importance of 

 preserving photographic records of all sorts of 

 unusual meteorological phenomena, and emphasized 

 the necessity of companion photographs showing 

 the same scene under normal conditions. It was 

 suggested that meteorologists throughout the 

 country should co-operate with the Royal Meteoro- 

 logical Society in securing such records. The 

 phenomena of the lightning discharge, as dis- 

 tinguished from those of a single flash, were next 

 described and illustrated by a number of lantern 

 slides. Some of the puzzles offered by lightning 

 photographs were next alluded to, and the lecturer 

 stated that he had repeatedly found that a single 

 discharge lasted several seconds. Mr. Clayden 

 then spoke of the " black " flashes shown in 

 photographs, and described the steps by which, 

 some years ago, he was led to the proof that they 

 were merely a photographic phenomenon, but one 

 which still remains unexplained. Passing on to a 

 consideration of cloud photography, the various 

 methods in use were explained, and a large number 

 of lantern slides were exhibited, in some of which 

 the clouds were shown on a background of blue 

 sky in nearly their natural colours, a result 

 obtained by the employment of suitable developers 

 on a specially prepared plate. The method 

 employed at Exeter by the lecturer for the measure- 

 ment of cloud altitudes was fully described. This 

 differs from all the others in using the sun as a 

 reference point. Mr. Clayden then spoke of the 

 difficulty in getting good pictures of cirrus clouds, 

 and described the methods dependent on the 

 polarization of the blue light of the sky, but 

 expressed a conviction that polarization had nothing 

 to do with their efficiency, which was really due to 

 a general lessening of brightness which enabled the 

 exposure to be properly judged. 



North London Natural History Society. — 

 Thursday, March 3rd, 1898, Mr. R. W. Robbins, 

 President, in the chair. Mr. L. J. Tremayne 

 opened a debate, entitled, "Are Man and his 

 Works a proper subject of study for a Natural 

 History Society ? " arguing that man was merely 

 an animal, that civilization did not make him 

 otherwise, and that the works of every other 

 animal were studied by naturalists. He said that 

 everything connected with man was technically 

 within our scope, though it was no doubt convenient 

 to reject many things as a general rule. Mr. 

 C. Nicholson opposed, arguing that man, as soon 

 as he becomes civilized, is beyond our scope. The 

 apparent civilization of certain of the lower animals 



