SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



219 



Twisted Trees. — Many trees, as they grow to 

 maturity and enlarge their roots, become more or 

 less ribbed and cracked about the base of the 

 trunk, such ribs and cracks often extending as 

 much as three or even six feet upwards. It is a 

 curious fact, and one which seems to have been 

 hitherto unnoticed, that this ribbing and cracking 

 often shows a spiral twist, the ascending lines 

 sloping sometimes from left to right, and some- 

 times from right to left ; but always in the same 

 direction in the same species of tree. The tree in 

 which this twisting is most clearly marked and 

 most frequently seen is the horse-chestnut. In 

 any half-dozen of these trees the twist is pretty 

 sure to be observable in at least one of them, and, 

 tracing it from the base upwards, the lines will 

 always run from left to right. A twist in the 

 same direction has been observed in the sycamore, 

 the yew, the pear, and the apple ; and in the 

 contrary direction in the holly, the hawthorn, the 

 birch, the beech, the plum, and the willow. The 

 oak, the ash, and the elm seem not to exhibit the 

 twist at all, or very rarely. I have not seen, nor 

 have I been able to discover, any explanation of 

 the cause of this curious phenomenon. The law 

 of the " genetic spiral," according to which the 

 growing points of all plants build themselves up in 

 a spiral manner, may have something to do with 

 it ; but the fact that the twist in the stem is not 

 shown by any young trees makes it difficult to 

 understand the connection with this law. The 

 uniform direction of the twist, whenever it occurs, 

 in the same species of tree, entirely negatives the 

 suggestion that it is due to wind or any other 

 accidental cause. It appears to be as clearly a 

 specific character as the form of the leaf or the 

 flower ; but if this is the case, why is it not 

 exhibited by every individual 1 I am not sure 

 whether soil or situation has anything to do with 

 it ? I have found it more common in some 

 districts than in others. Here is one of Nature's 

 puzzles that will, no doubt, be explained some day. 

 When the attention of botanists has been fixed on 

 any practical question it is never left until a satis- 

 factory solution has been found. All persons who 

 take country walks, and who care to use their eyes, 

 will find much interest in looking out for the twist 

 in the trunks of the trees and in making a record 

 of the species in which they observe it, and of the 

 direction of the spiral. Can any readers of 

 Science-Gossip give records through its columns 1 

 — F. T. Mbtt, Bvrstal Hill, near Leicester. 



Green Variety of Elder Fruit. — I have had 

 sent to me by a lady in North Derbyshire the 

 leaves and berries of a curious variety of the 

 common elder-tree which occurs there. The leaf, 

 and in fact every other part of the tree except the 

 berry, is exactly as in the ordinary form ; but the 

 berries are green instead of black, and continue 

 that colour till they fall off or are eaten by the 

 birds. I understand that there are six or seven 

 full-grown trees in a row by a mill near Stoney 

 Middleton, about three miles from Hassop Station 

 on the Midland Railway. There is one tree in the 

 middle of the row which bears the ordinary black 

 fruit, as do all the others in the neighbourhood. 

 I should be glad to know whether this is an 

 unusual occurrence. — (Rev.} Chas. F. Thornewill, 

 Calberhall Vicarage, Whitchurch, Salop. 



Fasciated Violet. — I enclose a flower of the 

 cultivated variety, " The Czar," of violet, the like 



of which I have not met with previously. You 

 will observe that the stem is fasciated, and that 

 the two blooms are, intermixed. — (Rev.) W. II'. 

 Flemyng, Coolfiu, co. Watcrford. 



A Cunning Spider. — Whilst recently searching 

 for orthoptera under the bark of old elm-tree- ai 

 Lonesome, near Mitcham, in Surrey, I was much 

 interested to notice the antics of a spider, Segestria 

 senoculata Linn. This creature, with the charac- 

 teristic cunning of the Araneidea, had taken ad- 

 vantage of the peculiarities of the earwigs with 

 which the tree was infested in order to obtain its 

 sustenance. In the tubular burrows under the 

 bark, the work of wood-boring larvae, the spider 

 had spun narrow silken tubes in the direction of 

 the burrows. As soon as an earwig on its pere- 

 grinations entered the tube the spider menaced the 

 creature from the opposite end. According to its 

 usual custom the earwig retreated, at the same time 

 elevating its pincers, with the result that further 

 retreat was summarily stopped by the forceps 

 penetrating the side of the tube, thus rendering 

 the victim helpless. — John E. S. Dallas, 19 Ulvcrs- 

 croft Road, Fast Dulwich, S.E. 



Abnormal Pears. — I thought that the enclosed 

 pears might be of interest to some of your readers 

 if described in Science-Gossip, as they are de- 

 cidedly curious, having almost the exact form of 



ABNORMAL PEAES. 



small " cottage " loaves of bread. They were 

 grown upon a tree trained against the wall in Mr. 

 A. Allcock's garden at Knowle Hill, Evesham. 

 There being two similar ones upon the same bunch 

 looks as if their form was due to a sport rather 

 than to any injury in the early stage. — T. E. Doeg, 

 Evesham: September 29th, 1900. 



Abnormal Sparrow. — Is it not rare to meet 

 with a sparrow possessed of individuality ? Here 

 in Lucerne I have seen one for the last two months. 

 He is entirely white, and has only a very moderate 

 appetite for crumbs, seldom coming to the balconies 

 where his brown relations feast, and to all appear- 

 ance they do not drive him away— .If. Dmnvmond, 

 Neu Schweizerhaus, Lucerne : October 13th, 1900. 



