98 
however, of opinion that it might still be preserved, and on their recom- 
mendation the work was placed by H.M. Office of Works in the hands of 
ssrs. Robinson and Dodd, contractors to H.M. Indian Government, 
the decayed base, and spliced on a new one of pitch-pine. The splice 
is held together by five iron bands. The spar was then re-erected on 
February 4 last. 
Pelican.— During the month M lenan the fine Dalmatian pelican 
 (Pelicanus crispus), w hich had any years been a popular pet in 
the Royal Gardens, met with some vended accident, and broke both 
its wings. The in as, unfortunately, not discovered till it was past 
remedy, and the td had to be killed to put it out of suffering. It was 
given to the Royal Gardens in 1888 by Lord Lilford, who had obtained 
it from the Lower be. 
e Zoological Society has, with great kindness —— the 
Sae ADR E. Sclater, Esq. F.R.S.), supplied its place with a female 
white pelicin (Pelicanus onoprotabwt), which it is hoped will mate with 
the surviving bird of the same specie 
Blackthorn fishhooks.—Amongst recent additions to the Museums is 
one illustrating a singular application of the blackthorn (Prunus 
t seems that the spines or thorns of this well-known plant 
are not S ECE used on the east coast of Essex as fishhooks. We 
. are indebted to Mr. R. T. Pritchett, a resident of Kew, for a portion of 
singular hooks are illustrated, "d are thus referred to :—* In the Thames 
estuary, on the coast of Essex, thorn hooks are stil used. The form 
of these curious contrivances, hic we should expect to find among 
aborigines rather thau in Engli ish waters, will be understood from the 
illustration. Each thorn has about an inch of lugworm twisted round it, 
enough to furnish a drawing of the hook showing the attachment to the 
line, and he further tells us that similar hooks were, a few years since, 
used on the coast of Merioneth. 
Strobilanthes callosus.— This is an acanthaceous plant confined to 
western and central India which has not hitherto had an nomic 
properties attributed to it, nor does its distinct patchouli odour seem 
to have been recorded. The following correspondence gives the 
' particulars :— 
Mr, F. C. CONSTABLE TO ROYAL GARDENS, Kew. 
Dear Sır, Rhandalla, January 3, 1896. 
.. l1 SEND you a box of the apparently unopened buds of a shrub 
or smalltree. I send them for this reason: I was walking on a steep 
mountain side EN MA mile or more of these trees chose together 
