56 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[March 1, 1865, 



correspondence between the distribution of 

 the branches on the tree and the veins in the 

 leaf. The veins are ckistered orwhorled with 

 a nearly parallel venation at the point where 



Pia. 9, Lime. 



ihey begin to come off; the lateral veins 

 making, with the midrib, an angle of 42°, and 

 the veins proceeding from them an angle of 



EiG, lOj Poplar. 



50° — these last, corres]K)iiding with the angle 

 of the peduncle, form the branch. A curious 



observer will in like manner discover that the 

 horse-chesnnt, which sends off at the top of 

 its bare trunk seven branches, has its leaf 

 commonly divided into seven leaflets ; whilst 

 the sycamore, sending off at eight or ten feet 

 from the ground four or five large branches, 

 has a long leaf-stalk dividing into five midribs. 

 In like mannei", laburnum and broom, with 

 their triplet leaves, divide into thi^ee main 

 branches ; and rhododendrons, barberries, and 

 azaleas, whose leaves issue from the stem in 

 whorls, bi'anch in a kindred manner. Not 

 only these, but the triplet leaf and stalk of 

 the marsh trefoil, the wood sorrel, the clover, 

 adopt the law in question ; as do likewise the 

 lady's-mantle, geranium, mallow, and lupin, 

 with their clustered leaves or midribs. 



THE NEW FISH. 



IT was announced in our last that a new 

 fish had been introduced into our waters 

 from Wallachia. The Acclimatisation Society 

 has received fourteen living specimens from 

 Sir Stephen Lakeman's estate at Kapochein, 

 or rather from the river Argich which flows 

 past that nobleman's Wallachian domain. 

 A brief notice of these visitors may prove 

 acceptable as an adjunct to the portrait 

 which stands above it. It should be pre- 

 mised that this species is noticed in Yarrell's 

 British Fishes ; not that this author believed 

 it a native, but because it had the reputation 

 of having been found here, on the faith of a 

 paragraph in Sibbald's " Scotia Ilhiatrata." 

 There is no doubt, that the conclusion ar- 

 rived at was a wrong one, not admitted by 

 Cuvier and Valenciennes in their great work 

 on the " Natural History of Fishes," who 

 state that its distribution in Europe does not 

 extend to the British Isles. 



The S'ilurus was originally classed by 

 Cuvier between the pike and salmon families. 

 To the former of these it may be supposed to 

 claim kindred by its voracious habits, and to 

 the latter, if all accounts be true, by the 

 excellence of its flesh as an article of food. 

 Not\yithstanding these somewhat poetical afli- 

 nities,it hasanotherposifcion assigned to it nov,^. 

 One evident characteristic in this fish is the 

 absence of true scales, a feature which cha- 

 racterizes the group to which it belongs. 

 Another important difference will be noticed 

 in the great length of the anal fin, which 

 extends to the tail; but, above all, the 

 bai'bules will attract attention. Whether or 

 not these ai'e to be considered as substitutes 

 for beard and moustaches, probably the 



