SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



127 



Notes p . 



A Hybrid Violet. At, Piestwood, in the vi- 

 cinity of Greal Rlissenden, Bucks, is a small 

 remnant of common-land, where prows, among the 

 ordinary heath-land plants, the dog violet (Viola 



1 .,/nrinii) and the common wood violet ( r. 

 ririiiimui). There is nothing unusual in this cir- 

 cumstance, nor in the further fad that here these 

 two violets hybridise with each other. What. 

 however, is worthy of note, is the plentifulness of 

 the hybrid form, arid the unusual luxuriance it 

 here attains, forming great patches many feet in 

 diameter. These large patches present a singular 

 appearance, as the apetalons flowers, by means of 

 which violets are chiefly propagated by seed, are 

 invariably sterile, and in their brown shrivelled 

 state contrast greatly with the dark-green foliage. 

 — ('. 11. Britton, :>•"> Dugdale Street, Camberwell, S.E. 



Vagaries of Lightning. — An oak-tree, about 

 40 feet high and with a stem of 32 inches dia- 

 meter, was struck by lightning near here on 

 July 27th last between ."> and 4 p.m. The bark of 

 the stem was almost completely stripped off below T 

 the branches, and scattered in fragments round 

 the tree. The largest fragment, (i feet x 1 foot, 

 lay near the tree, but some pieces were hurled to a 

 distance. I weighed three portions, and paced the 

 distances. No. 1 weighed t>A ounces, and was 

 thrown thirty-five steps ; No. 2 weighed 1^ ounce, 

 and went forty paces; and No. 3, which weighed 

 2\ ounces, reached twenty-six paces. The trunk 

 shows a split completely through, and the lightning- 

 entered the ground between two roots, its passage 

 being evidenced by the split. On August 15th, 

 1899^ at Little Stukeley, Hunts, on the Manor 

 Farm, during a heavy thunderstorm, the electric 

 fluid struck a tree (an elm, I think) and killed a 

 fine young horse which was sheltering underneath. 

 The tree was split down to the point where the 

 lightning entered. Below that point it was unin- 

 jured. My mother used to relate two curious facts 

 that happened in the " fifties," in Bermuda. One 

 was the lightning entering her kitchen and passing 

 along the dresser-hooks, leaving only the handles 

 of the jugs hanging on the hooks. The other was 

 more serious, and resulted in the death of the 

 David Island ferryman. The electric fluid passed 

 down one leg and tore the iron nails out of his 

 boot. His little son, or grandson, though also in 

 the boat, was uninjured. — {Rev.) B. Ashington 

 Bullen, F.L.S., F.Q.S., Axeland, Surrey. 



Small Duckweed in Flower.— As the pro- 

 duction of flowers by the duckweeds is reputedly 

 rare, I venture to mention that I was out last 

 month in the neighbourhood of Norton Heath, 

 Essex, with a friend, who was so fortunate as to 

 End Lemna minor in flower. A small quantity of 

 duckweed, brought from the roadside pond where 

 we found it flowering, and placed on the surface 

 of water in an earthenware basin, developed flowers 

 for several days afterwards. If no flowers were 

 visible, it sufficed to place the duckweed in the 



Bunlighl for a few hours, when the minute flowers 

 would appear as whitish -peek- at the edges of 

 the fronds. I suspect that the flowers of duck- 

 weeds are bj no means so rare as they are generally 

 considered. C. E. Britton, 35 Dugdale Street, 

 Camberwell, London. 



Abnorm \i. Eqi iseta. Referring to Mr. Flatters' 

 inquiry last month (ante p. 96), I spent seme time 

 this spring in collecting fertile lead- of Eqiiisetum 

 maximum for a friend. Amongst them were a few 

 with divided spikes; but, as far as I remember, 

 not more than two spikelets. — (Col.} JI. .1. 0. 

 Wallter, Lee Ford, Bndleigli Salterton. 



Abnormal Germination of Lemon.— A lew- 

 weeks back there was brought under my notice an 

 instance of a lemon, perfectly sound and healthy 

 in appearance, which, on being cut open, was found 

 to contain numerous vigorously-growing seedlii 

 Germination had evidently taken p>lace some - 

 siderable time previous, as the root was well de- 

 veloped, and the same was the case with the young 

 stem. The growing organs had forced their way 

 into the hollow axis of the lemon, and along this 

 the roots were growing. I have never seen before 

 nor read of an occurrence of this kind affecting- 

 lemons, and do not know whether this is very 

 unusual or not. These seedlings are now growing 

 in a large pot protected by a bell-glas-. — ( '. K. 

 Britton, 35 Dugdale Street, Camberwell. 



Deilephila LIVORNICA. —A specimen of this rare 

 hawk-moth was captured at rest upon a garden 

 wall in the village of Offenham, near Evesham, 

 on Sunday, April 29th, 1900, by L. S. Smith, 

 Esq., who brought it to me alive two days after- 

 wards. When first taken it appeared to be quite 

 freshly emerged from the pupa, and although two 

 days' struggling with a pin through it has rubbed 

 off some of the beauty, it is still a very fair cabinet 

 specimen. I made inquiry of Mr Smith as to 

 whether any plant-roots had been imported from 

 abroad amongst which the pupa might have been 

 concealed ; but he says nothing of this sort has 

 been introduced into the garden, so that I think 

 this must be a genuine British example. — T. K. 

 Doeg, Evesham, May 4, 1900. 



Unusual Site for Swallows' Nest.— Reply- 

 ing to the note by your correspondent. Lady 

 Farrent, in Science-Gossip of August (ante p. 95), 

 with regard to the building of swallows in occupied 

 rooms, I have pleasure in stating that many years 

 ago my wife, when at school in France at Ste. Foy 

 la Grande, Gironde, occupied, along with quite a 

 number of other young ladies, a large dormitory, 

 the windows of which were always left open, thus 

 giving the swallows fine opportunity of ingress and 

 egress. The roof not being underdrawn, besides 

 making a picturesque display of rafters, yielded 

 many a tempting angle dear to the graceful little 

 migrants; whose return each spring was looked for 

 with greatest interest. The young ones of 

 previous year that had been decorated with the 

 blue ribbon were recognised among the welcome 

 guests, and who now. with much fussy twittering. 

 at once took their part in building or repairing the 

 habitations for the generation soon to be. There 

 was probably less fear manifested by the swallows 

 than by several of the young ladies when they 

 bethought them Of the sad fate of Tobias as 



recorded in the Apocrypha. — Samuel Homarth, 

 26 Change Crescent, Sheffield. 



