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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Great Skua in Sussex. — We hear from Messrs. 

 Pratt and Son, taxidermists, of Brighton, that a 

 fine example of the great skua (Stercorairus catarrh - 

 actes) was shot last winter near Havant. It is the 

 only one this firm has seen in the flesh since 1880, 

 when they then also had a Sussex bird. 



An Object in Flint. — Some years ago, my 

 friend, Dr. Gooch, 

 of Windsor, was 

 examining some 

 fragments of flint 

 at Diss, in Norfolk, 

 forXanthidiae.etc, 

 and he came unex- 

 pectedly upon an 

 object, a photo- 

 graph of which I 

 enclose, which was 

 quite new to him. 

 He has submitted 

 it to many of the 

 savants of the day, 

 but they have been 

 puzzled with it and 

 cannot say what it 

 is. I asked the 

 Doctor to let me 

 try to photograph 

 this, as it seems, 

 unique object, and 

 after many at- 

 tempts got a fairly 

 good photograph 

 of it. I made a 

 rough measure- 

 ment and found it 

 to be about xJtStt 

 of an inch in length. 

 It being embedded 

 in flint and not 

 quite level, it is 

 difficult to get 

 every part in focus. 

 However, I hope I 

 have got the gene- 

 ral appearance of 

 the object suffici- 

 ently well to give 

 your readers an 

 idea of it. The Doctor would be greatly pleased 

 if any of your readers could solve the mystery of 

 "What is it?" — (Captain) Edward Barnes, Edge- 

 worth House, Cleiver, Windsor. 



Destruction of Bird-life in Tasmania. — 

 The terrible bush fires which have been raging in 

 many parts of Australia and Tasmania have caused 

 great mortality among the fauna, especially the 

 birds. It was the breeding time of many species. 

 When the fire was raging through the thick 

 undergrowth, the birds, instead of flying from the 

 flames to a place of safety, would just flutter 

 out a little way and then go back and become 

 overpowered by the flames and smoke. This 



Unknown Object in Flint 



applies more especially to the smaller birds, the 

 larger ones generally escaped. In some districts 

 in Tasmania where birds used to swarm un- 

 molested round the farms, there is not one to be 

 seen. Naturally the fires have caused a great 

 scarcity of food for the birds ; so they are forced 

 to come into the towns in search of it. Conse- 

 quently parrots and paraquets have done a great 

 deal of damage to orchards, for they are nearly 

 starving, being little more than feathers and 

 bones. — F. M. Littler, Launceston, Tasmania. 



Spring Arrivals. — On April 6th we saw three 

 swallows here, and next day many more. On the 

 8th of the same month we heard the chiff-chaff. 

 On the 7th I saw a male orange-tip butterfly 

 (Euchloe cardamines) flying in the garden, and 

 another on the following day. We have also seen 



Pieris rapae. I 

 think the date of 

 the appearance of 

 both swallows and 

 the " orange-tips " 

 rather early, espe- 

 cially after the 

 severe and wintry 

 weather at the end 

 of March.— T. H. 

 Mead-Briggs, Rock 

 House, Lynmouth, 

 North Devon. 



Claytonia per- 

 foliata Don. — 

 This curious little 

 plant, originally a 

 native of North- 

 west America, but 

 rapidly becoming 

 naturalized as a 

 garden outcast in 

 this country, was 

 obtained in flower 

 during an ex- 

 cursion of the 

 Lambeth Field 

 Club, on April 

 nth, to Cobham. 

 It occurred close 

 to a bush in the 

 neighbourhood of 

 a farmyard. The 

 large connate, 

 leafy bracts, with 

 the little group of 

 flowers nestling in 

 the centre, the 

 inner still in bud, 

 the outer with their 

 fine white petals 

 expanded, attracted our attention. The whole 

 plant is tender and succulent, and, it is said, may 

 be eaten like spinach. The leaf stalks are pale 

 and glabrous, arising in a bunch from the ground 

 in a manner suggestive of the caespitose clusters 

 of the Hypholomata among the fungi, and terminate 

 each in a broad spatulate leaf. The usual period 

 of flowering is from May to July. — F. P. Perks, 

 41, St. Martin's Lane, Charing Cross, W.C. 



Great Auk Egg. — A specimen, purchased for 

 £60 by the late Lord Garvagh, but thought to 

 have been destroyed in 1871, has been discovered, 

 in an attic with some other objects placed there 

 after his death. 



