SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



93 



experience. My glass stands outside on a window- 

 sill, which is shaded by a verandah. The thermo- 

 meter in summer frequently registers above ioo° 

 Fahr. in the shade, but the winters are very mild. 

 A plant of Valisneria, kept for microscopic purposes, 

 is growing vigorously ; but in about ten days after 

 the two small fish have been added, the water 

 becomes green and clouded, and the fish soon die. 

 The choice of aquatic plants in this colony, where 

 the summer is long and dry, is limited. Where 

 the ponds are not kept full by artificial means they 

 soon become dry ; and such plants as are to be found 

 are coarse and unsuitable for a small aquarium. 

 In the few ornamental pools that are accessible 

 Chara can be obtained, and one or two other plants 

 with small leaves, the names of which I am unable 

 to give.— Will. Lathlean, St. Peter's, South Australia. 

 Albinism in Flowers. — Among other cases of 

 albinism which have come under my notice are : 

 Ballota nigra, Calluna vulgaris, Ccntaurea scabiosa, 

 Centrantlius ruber, Carduus acaulis, C. arvensis, C. 

 palustris, Campanula rotundifolia, Dianthus deltoides, 



D. plumarius, Epilobium ayigusti folium, E. montanum, 



E. hirsutum. Erica tetralix, E. vagans, Erythraea 

 centaurium,- Fritillaria meleagris, Gentiana campestris, 

 Geranium pusillum, G. robertianum, Jasione Montana, 

 Lamium purpureum, Lathyruslatifolius, Linaria cymba- 

 laria, Malva moschata. Orchis mascula, O. morio, O. 

 maculata, Ophrys apifera, Origanum vulgare. Prunella 

 vulgaris (pink), Primula vulgaris, Pedicularis sylvatica, 

 P. palustris, Papaver rhaeas. Salvia verbenaca, Scilla 

 nutans, Scabiosa succisa, Trifoltum fratense, Thymus 

 serpyllum, Veronica agrestis, and Vicia sativa. — E. 

 Armitage, Ross, Herefordshire. 



White Skylark in Ireland. — A white sky- 

 lark was shot in this district on December 27th, 

 1897. There were only one or two grey feathers 

 upon the bird. — John H. Barbour, Bangor, co. Down. 



The Cheese-ripening Bacteria. — The produc- 

 tion of any desired variety of cheese by the 

 introduction of the appropriate microbes is 

 gradually becoming understood. The microbes 

 flavouring the various cheeses have been isolated 

 and cultivated by Dr. Olav Johan Olsen, of 

 Norway, and by adding these cultures to cheese in 

 a storeroom carefully guarded against foreign 

 microbes, he has been able to produce the varieties 

 from which he started. There are but few kinds of 

 the microbes, but they may be combined indifferent 

 proportions. The art has been sufficiently developed 

 to be carried on commercially. — J. H. Cooke. 



Double Flowers of Cardamine pratensis. — 

 A friend of mine, the Rev. W. S. H. Samler, 

 remembers seeing, when a boy, a field full of 

 Cardamine pratensis in the water meadow at Swallow 

 Cliff, Wilts, in which double flowers were as 

 numerous as single; and last season, while in 

 Devonshire, fishing, he saw at Hemyock, near 

 Tiverton, a similar instance of double-flowered 

 specimens in the same plant. The double flowers 

 were numerous over the field. He gathered some 

 of them and showed me in a dried state. As 

 instances of wild plants producing double flowers 

 are rare and usually solitary, this wholesale occur- 

 rence of them is well worthy of investigation, as also 

 the tendency to produce them in that particular 

 plant, of which a third instance was found by 

 another gentleman this season in Yorkshire, near 

 Darlington. — A . E. Burr, Bath. 



[The same form is frequent by the side of burns 

 running into Loch Ericht on its north side. I 

 have seen many double flowers of Cardamine pratensis 

 in that district. — John T. Carrington.] 



CONDUCTED BY EDWARD A. MARTIN, F.G.S. 



To whom all Notes, Articles ami material relating to Geology, 

 and intended for Sciknce-Gossip, are, in the first instance, 

 to be addressed at 69, Bensham Manor Road, Thornton Heath. 



Croydon Water. — The long-protracted drought 

 of the last nine months is having an unexpected 

 effect upon the water supply of Croydon. This is 

 partly drawn from the springs in Surrey Street, 

 and partly from the chalk of the Addington Hills. 

 Owing to the deficient rainfall, it has been deemed 

 advisable to turn off the water between 10.30 p.m. 

 and 5 a.m. The works which were carried on at 

 Waddon by Messrs. Isler and Co. found water at 

 42 - 8 feet from the surface, with a supply of ten to 

 twenty million gallons per hour, but are in 

 abeyance owing to local opposition. The bore- 

 hole was situated near a farm at Coldharbour 

 Lane, north of Waddon Station. Grey chalk was 

 bored into at 227 feet. 



Geology of Eastbourne. -^ Having spent 

 Whitsuntide at Eastbourne, a few notes on the 

 locality may be useful to others, as I worked the 

 different formations. The chalk, which is the first to 

 claim our attention, forms the bold cliffs of Beachy 

 Head. There are not many fossils to be seen, 

 though they are more plentiful in the Lower Beds, 

 where I found Inoceramus concentricus, Polyblastidium 

 racemosum, Plocoscyphia mcandrina, Holaster sub- 

 globosus, Glyphocyphosoma, Rhynchonella mantelliana. 

 From the Upper Beds came Terebratula camea. 

 Ventriculites radiatus. The Upper Greensand dips 

 down near the Wish Tower, with the Gault under- 

 neath, and rises again near Beachy Head. Fossils 

 found are Rhynchonella latissima, Terebratula ovata. 

 Ammonites auritus, Hemiaster, Pleurotomaria, Plocos- 

 cyphia fenestriata, P. reticulata, Cucullaea cyprinia. 

 The Wealden is exposed inland at Berwick and 

 Polegate, where it is chiefly Weald Clay, the 

 characteristic fossils being Cyrena media and 

 Paludina elongala. — G. Fletcher Brown, 3, Topsfield 

 Parade, Crouch End, N. 



South African Geology. — In vol. liv. part 1, of 

 the "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" 

 there is an important paper by Dr. F. H. Hatch 

 on the "Geology of the Southern Transvaal," 

 accompanied by a geological map of the district. 

 The outcrops of the various formations north of 

 the Vaal River are shown ; to which the following 

 designations are given. Karoo System : (i.) Transvaal 

 Coal-measures (sandstones, grits, shales, fire-clay, 

 and coal-seams). Cape System : (i.) Magaliesberg 

 and Gatstrand Series (quartzites, flagstones and 

 shales with igneous sheets) ; (ii.) Dolomite and 

 Chert Series; (iii.) Black Reef Formation (quart- 

 zite and conglomerate) ; (iv.) Banket Formation or 

 Witwatersrand Series ; (v.) Hospital Hill Series. 

 Archaean System (igneous complex of granite rocks). 

 The outcrop of the auriferous conglomerate (Ban- 

 ket) beds distinctly shown on the map, and the 

 paper is likely to prove of great use to prospectors 

 and others whose pursuit is not entirely that of 

 geological study. 



