310 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



not go to the Isle of Man to hear such exclamations. 

 Included in this report is an interesting list of 

 the sea anemones of Port Erin, which number 

 twenty-one species. The Committee had a nice 

 windfall last year by the vote of ;;f950, the unspent 

 balance of the local fund collected at Liverpool for 

 the entertainment of the British Association. Both 

 the Local Committee of the British Association 

 and the Marine Biology Comm'...ce are to be 

 congratulated on the happy event. 



Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society Trans- 

 actions. 6i pp. 8vo. (Leicester : Geo. Gibbons 

 and Co., 1897.) Price 6d. 



The part of the Leicester Transactions before us 

 is No. 7 of volume iv. of the new quarterly series. 

 The meetings reported extend from October 5th to 

 December 14th, i8g6. The first was occupied by the 

 ' ' President's Address," which was evidently prepared 

 with much care, though there is nothing to indicate 

 the name to whom praise is due. Its subject was 

 " The Cultivation of the Powers of Observation." 

 There are several papers of interest among the 

 others. One by Mr. Frank Bouskell, F.E.S., upon 

 " The Disappearance of Certain Species of Insects, 

 with Notes on their Slaughter and Protection," 

 Some of the statements contained in the paper are 

 doubtless true, but others need confirmation, 

 especially one about the late Dr. Power and 

 the brown paper. That over-collecting may, 

 in some instances, do damage, there is no 

 reason to discuss ; but that it is the cause 

 of the disappearance of various insects from 

 our fauna, is simply impossible. There are 

 literally thousands of square acres oi splendid 

 collecting-ground in the British Islands, where 

 the net of a collector has never yet been seen. 

 Still the "disappeared" butterflies are not there 

 now, though doubtless common at one time. We 

 must look for other cause than the " collector " for 

 the partial extermination of the black-veined white 

 butterfly in Britain. What is there visibly different 

 in our islands from other countries where the Cam- 

 berwell-beauty butterfly {Vanessa antiopa) breeds 

 commonly every year ? Most seasons it is recorded 

 as occurring in Britain, but is there any authentic 

 record of the larvae having ever been found here ? 

 If ever an insect was over-collected and that for 

 the past fifty years, it was Epione paralellaria 

 (vespertaria) in its most restricted area, near York. 

 If the collecting theory was correct, that species 

 ought to have disappeared years ago. The 

 Leicester Society has passed certain regulations 

 for the protection of rare and local insects in the 

 neighbourhood. To these rules a schedule is 

 attached giving the limit of number to be taken 

 by any one member, apparently in any season. 

 We doubt, however, the practicability of the 

 scheme, though planned with such good intention. 



Termeszetrajzi Fuzetck. Vol. xx., 1897. Parts 

 1-2. 308 pp. 4to. Illustrated by 6 plates and 

 frontispiece. (Budapest National Museum, 1897.) 



This handsome publication is edited by the staff 

 of the National Museum at Budapest, being 

 beautifully illustrated and well produced. It is a 

 journal devoted to the natural sciences, and is 

 conducted under the auspices of the Hungarian 

 Academy of Sciences, from which the management 

 receives a subvention. The subscription is only 

 10 francs per annum. The number before us 

 commences with an appreciative article by Dr. 

 Harvath Geza upon Trivaldszky Janos, illustrated 

 by a portrait of this celebrated naturalist, whose 

 work was in entomology and other branches of the 

 invertebratae. 





erSv^ 



Abnormal Hazel-Flower. — I have found a 

 remarkable deviation from the ordinary form of 

 female flower of Conylus avellana, in which it 

 appears as a complete whorl or coronet round the 

 bud, instead of the usual tuft. This is the only 

 instance I have met with, though I must have 

 examined many hundreds of these flowers from 

 time to time. The appearance of the flower is 

 unusually striking and abnormal. — H. M. Dixon, 

 Wickham House, East Park Parade, Northampton ; 

 February 2yd, 1897. 



British Grasses.— We understand that the 

 Rev. E. Adrian Woodruffe-Peacock, of Cadney, 

 Brigg, has undertaken to edit a new edition of Mr. 

 Lowe's " British Grasses." It would greatly assist 

 him if botanists, who have specimens of the 

 following grasses in their collections, would lend, 

 or present them to him for comparison. It would 

 be well to first communicate with Mr. Peacock, 

 who undertakes to carefully return all specimens 

 lent. The species required are: — Setaria glauca, 

 Beauv. ; Apera interrupta ,Bea.uv. ; Spartinatoivnsendi, 

 H. and J. Groves ; Homalocenchus oryzoides, Mieg. ; 

 Phalaris paradoxa,!^. ; Anthoxanthum picelii, Lecoq. ; 

 Deyeuxia strigosa, Kunth. ; Ammophila baltica. Link. ; 

 Deschampsia discolor, Roem.et Schultz.; Brizamaxima, 

 L, ; Poa stricta, Lindb. ; Poa laxa, Hoenke ; Poa 

 glanca, L. ; Poa balfouri, Parnell ; Poa chaixii, Vill. ; 

 Poa palustris, L. ; Festuca ambigua, Le Gall ; Festuca 

 myuros, L. ; Festuca dumetorinu, L. ; F. hetevophylla. 

 Lam.; Broiuius tectonim, L. ; B. Racemosus, L. ; 

 Lolium linicola, Souder ; Agropyron putigens, Roem 

 et Schultz; A. Acutiim, Roem.et Schultz. It is 

 fortunate so good a botanist has been selected to 

 re-edit this book. 



Economic Use for Heracleum. — -If your 

 correspondent, Mr. W. E. Nicholson, will refer to 

 Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Plants, edition edited 

 by Mrs. Loudon, footnote, pp. 222 and 223, he 

 will find some information about the drying of the 

 leaves, etc., of the Heracleum gigantiiim, which he 

 mentions (ante p. 266), which may be sufficient 

 to afford a basis for further inquiry if he desires 

 it. — ■/. W. Jeans, M.R.C.S.Lond., Grantham. [The 

 note refers to H. sphondylium, the common 

 "cow-parsnip," and is as follows: " Gmelin informs 

 us that the inhabitants of Kamtchatka, about the 

 beginning of July, collect the footstalks of the 

 radical leaves, and after pulling off the rind, which 

 is very acrid, dry them separately in the sun, and 

 then, tying them in bundles, lay them up carefully 

 in the shade in bags ; in this state they are covered 

 with yellow saccharine efflorescence tasting like 

 liquorice ; this, being shaken off, is eaten as a great 

 delicacy. From the stalks thus prepared and 

 fermented with bilberries, the Rus'sians distil an 

 ardent spirit which, Gmelin says, is more agreeable 

 to the taste than spirits made from corn. A kind 

 of ale is brewed from the leaves and seeds in 

 Poland and Lithuania. Rabbits and swine are 

 fond of the leaves, but not horses."] 



