54 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



occasionally a "five-finger," and once I have heard it 

 referred to as a " thunderbolt." The Galerites are 

 " sugar-loaves," or "shepherd-crowns," and I have 

 it on the authority of an old workman in a gravel-pit, 

 that if done over with black-lead they are capital 

 ornaments for the mantelpiece. The spines of Echi- 

 noderms are generally "rolling-pins," but sometimes 

 " graters" : Belemnites are " bolts," with " thunder" 

 as an affix occasionally thrown in free gratis. Every 

 variety of bivalve rejoices in one of two names, 

 " cockle " or " oyster," although sometimes in the case 

 of the former a distinction is drawn between the 

 smooth and the ribbed. Palatal teeth are generally 

 known as "slugs," on account of their resemblance 

 to a brown wrinkled individual who may be seen 

 wending his slimy way across the meadows after a 

 heavy shower. Turritelbe and other spiral shells are 

 known as "screws." 



At a small seaport, the name of which is usually 

 associated with oysters, the cliffs are formed of the 

 London clay, and large masses of this deposit are 

 annually brought down by the waves and carried out 

 to sea. . Many of the fossils from this formation may 

 be found upon the beach, or upon the mud-flats left 

 exposed at low tide, and conspicuous among them 

 are numbers of reptilian teeth, the fangs of which are 

 usually covered by a rounded nodule of hardened clay. 

 With the natives these pass as " cramp-stones," and 

 are said to be certain preventives of cramp, if worn 

 about the person. Unfortunately there appears to be 

 some difficulty experienced in keeping them upon the 

 person when bathing. 



On one occasion, when hunting in a chalk-pit, I 

 was accosted by a workman who had found several 

 broken nodules of iron pyrites, and who also offered 

 the original suggestion that they would look very nice 

 under a glass case with some stuffed birds. The 

 idea of stuffed birds as a background to a mass of iron 

 pyrites struck me as being particularly happy, and not 

 having been copyrighted, it is herewith offered to 

 taxidermists and others, who may make any use of it 

 that they think fit. At another time I had succeeded 

 in disinterring irom a gravel-pit lying within the 

 outworks of an old Roman fort, a tile and several 

 fragments of pottery, undoubtedly Roman, which I 

 found associated with a quantity of wood-ashes, the 

 remains apparently of an ancient camp-fire. Sceptical 

 friends, however, suggested "a Roman dust-heap," 

 (sarcasm vulgaris.) The family washer-lady having 

 once seen me cleaning and mounting a number of 

 chalk-fossils, informed a crony that I was "making 

 little ornaments with pipe-ciay." Hearing me refer 

 to several specimens as Ammonites, caused a school- 

 boy to enquire if they "were the things that fought 

 against the children of Israel in the desert." And so 

 on, ad libitum. I should only exhaust your patience 

 by multiplying examples, so with the following 

 anecdote I will close. A geologist had been absent 

 from home for several days on a fossil -hunting ex- 



pedition, and on his return exhibited his specimens 

 and narrated his adventures to a circle of friends, 

 which included a native of Bedfordshire. None of his 

 audience being acquainted with his favourite science, 

 our geologist made a point of using the simplest 

 language, and gave his account in the most lucid 

 manner possible ; but inadvertently falling into a 

 style that was to him quite as familiar, he spoke of 

 the formations he had been studying as "arenaceous 

 deposits," immediately afterwards adding that he had 

 meant "sandy beds." " Ah," exclaimed the Bedford- 

 shireman, " Sandy, Beds ; I know the place very weD, 

 I was born there." The point is obvious, but the 

 moral requires searching out, and will probably be 

 found in the paradox, that if you are not compre- 

 hended you are little likely to be misunderstood. 



But I have said enough to show that the study of 

 science may often be rendered less tedious by 

 occasional meteoric flashes of humour, and the path 

 to knowledge made pleasant and cheerful by a due 

 appreciation of their value. 



F. G. BlNG. 



NATURAL HISTORY RAMBLES ON THE 

 S.E. COAST OF ENGLAND. 



By A. H. Shepherd. 



THE following notes are' compiled with a view to 

 assist young naturalists who may not as yet 

 have visited the above locality. They are intended 

 not so much to form a list of species actually taken 

 at one time ; but more as hints concerning such 

 species as may be met with on the S.E. coast during 

 the month of August. The district worked over 

 extends from Ramsgate, by way of Sandwich, Deal, 

 Walmer, and Dover, to Folkestone, and includes 

 a considerable extent of the coast-line, with some 

 variety of soil, producing its natural effect upon the 

 botany of the district, and consequently upon the 

 entomology also. All the places mentioned can be 

 reached by rail, that is, within a reasonable walking- 

 distance ; therefore the young naturalist, whatever 

 may be his hobby, has only to proceed to that part of 

 the route which he thinks may be most remunerative 

 in his own particular branch of study, and begin 

 collecting on the spot. 



Part I. — Ramsgate to Deal. 



From Ramsgate to Pegwell Bay is a pleasant walk, 

 but there is little, if any collecting to be done until 

 the naturalist reaches the latter place, where, how- 

 ever, he may begin in earnest. If a conchologist, he 

 may obtain, by searching the banks, roadsides, and 

 broken ground, plenty of specimens of such species as 

 Helix nemoralis, H. virgata, H. ericetorum, H. 

 caperata, H. catitiana, and H. aspersa ; this latter 

 species I have met with in great numbers on the road- 



