02 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



which they grow must be more calcareous than 

 the rest of the London clay : the beeches having, 

 as it were, made a rough analysis of the soil and 

 found therein a proper amount of calcic carbonate, 

 have elected to settle. We know that there is always 

 a certain amount of calcic carbonate in the London 

 clay, though not enough to tempt beeches to grow, 

 but it is usually collected together for the most part 

 into nodular masses of earthy limestone, known as 

 septaria. Perhaps in the beds in question this 

 segregation of calcic carbonate has not taken place, 

 the material being more diffused through the loam, 

 and so being more available for beech-use. A little 

 south of Ampfield Wood, by the high road through 

 South Holmes Copse, some two miles as the crow 

 flies (but rather more as the Field Club goes) from 

 Romsey Station, is another group of fine beeches, 

 in this case near the base of the clayey Bracklesham 

 Beds. (2.) Varying Fall of Leaf in Oaks. — Down 

 the south-easterly slope on the road just eastward 

 of Woodley (E. of Romsey) are some rather fine 

 oaks. Having occasion to pass by these a few times 

 in the autumn of 1889, I was struck by the difference 

 in the relative state of some of them. Three of the 

 finest trees were selected for observation, all being of 

 much the same size. One of these is close to the top 

 of the slope and on the northern side of the road ; the 

 second is just eastward and slightly lower ; whilst 

 the third is to the S.E., on the other side of the road, 

 and still lower. On October 31st, the first had 

 its foliage green, in general effect at all events ; the 

 leaves of the second had turned yellow ; the third 

 was bare of leaves. On November nth, the leaves 

 of the first were turning yellow. This difference 

 in the state of the foliage was very striking, and 

 there seemed to be nothing in the trees themselves 

 to account for it ; all were strong and healthy. All 

 too are on the same geologic formation, clayey 

 Bracklesham Beds ; but it occurred to me that the 

 first being a little below the edge of the gravel that 

 caps the hill, may perhaps be more plentifully 

 watered, and so may have the power of holding 

 its leaves longer. This, however, does not seem to 

 account for the difference between the second and 

 third, and one is led to think that the difference of 

 level, though not great, is the cause (or the chief 

 cause) of the difference in the state of the trees ; 

 those in the lower, more sheltered sites being more 

 affected by the frost or chill of night, which acts 

 more strongly where the leaves are more covered 

 with moisture than when they are cleared by evapora- 

 tion in a more open spot. It is to be hoped that 

 some local observer will watch these trees and see 

 if the above-noted appearance is recurrent. (3.) 

 Double Trees. — Something having been said of beech 

 and of oak separately, attention is now drawn to a 

 strange combination of the two, of which beech-oaks, 

 however, I have seen only two examples. The first 

 seen is on the high ground in the eastern part of 



Cranbury Park, at the edge of the wood that clothes 

 the escarpment of the London clay above Otter- 

 bourne, and near the junction of that formation with 

 the Bagshot Pebble Beds. The other is but a little 

 way in Ampfield Wood, by the side of the road to 

 Hursley Park, a little northward of Knap Hill ; it is 

 on Bagshot sand, near the outcrop of the London 

 clay, and is a remarkably fine tree, which ought to 

 be seen by the Hampshire Field Club and photo- 

 graphed. The peculiarity of these trees is that they 

 consist of a beech and of an oak, the stems of which 

 grow up together closely, so as practically to form 

 one tree. In both cases beech and oak are equally fine, 

 and in the second each would separately form a notable 

 tree. The effect in each case is strange (when the 

 trees are in leaf), and at first perhaps unexpected. 

 One might think that the branches of oak and of 

 beech would intermix, but they do not in the least ; 

 or that beech would grow on one side and oak 

 on the other, but neither is this the case. Then 

 perhaps the national weakness of an Englishman for 

 the oak would lead him to expect that tree to conquer 

 and to suppress the beech. Not so has it happened, 

 however : the oak is nowhere in the contest, the 

 beech takes the whole space at first, so that an 

 observer underneath the tree and standing on the 

 side of the beech-stem, would have no suspicion of 

 the existence of the oak, not a leaf, not a branch of 

 which is to be seen ; but let him walk away from 

 the tree and he will see that, when the beech has 

 grown upward and outward to its full content, 

 then the oak branches out above and has the top 

 part to itself, so that no one seeing the top alone 

 would expect to find a beech-tree underneath. 

 Probably the fact is that the beech is the strongest 

 of trees, as surely it is the most beautiful. 



The Correct Identification of Deep Sea 

 Soundings. — In the ordinary way it would appear 

 that a rough description of the nature of a bottom 

 from the specimen brought up in the sounding- 

 tube or snapper, would be an easy matter. But 

 this I have found to be extremely erroneous in the 

 hands of the majority of observers. To take for 

 instance such simple cases as one constantly sees 

 marked on the charts where the bottom is recorded 

 as crl. (coral) ; the uninitiated would at once 

 associate this sounding with the ccelenteratse, and 

 would, in the majority of cases, be wrong; for the 

 crl. noted is more frequently either fragments of 

 calcareous seaweeds or of polyzoa, which in places 

 cover the bottom of the sea over large areas and to 

 great depths. Another case is that caused by con- 

 stantly mistaking the larger foraminiferre for sand- 

 grains, the rubbing of a small piece of the sounding 

 between the lingers making it appear sandy, though 

 an ordinary pocket lens would at once show the 

 difference. Cases such as the above might be 

 multiplied considerably. It is almost unnecessary 



