HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



Primula vulgaris — peduncle flat, double ; calyx of 

 ten segments, containing two corollas, one of which 

 had ten divisions and ten stamens. Saxifraga 

 granulata — having eleven petals. Ranuncultcs repens 

 . — with eight petals. Ranunculus repens — fasciated 

 peduncle with numerous heads. Rubus fruticosus (?) 

 ■ — -ten petals. Plantago media — a giant inflorescence 

 with twenty-four heads, shaped like a crown, one- 

 and-a-half inches in diameter. Taraxacum officinale 

 — fasciated peduncle with two heads. Garden 

 Cabbage — six petals. Turnip in Seed — fasciated stem, 

 two-and-a-half feet in length. — -Edwin E. Turner, 

 Coggeshall, Essex. 



OrobanCHE ELATIOR.— CVwfoz/ws scabiosa cer- 

 tainly is not the constant host-plant of this somewhat 

 . rare parasite. Looking up my note-book and her- 

 barium, I find that in two years I found four speci- 

 mens of elatior growing on the roots of Trifolium 

 prateuse. The specimen in my collection measures 

 exactly fourteen inches. It is worthy of note that, 

 while the flora of this valley is one of the richest in 

 the county, it is sadly deficient in Orobanchacere. 

 Several years ago my father found a specimen or two 

 of O. major on the roots of the furze, and these, with 

 the specimens of O. elatior, which I gathered in 1891 

 and 1892, represent all the recorded instances of 

 specimens of this interesting order of plants found in 

 this neighbourhood. Of course other parts of Corn- 

 wall, particularly the Lizard district, are more 

 favoured. — Fred. H. Davey, Eousanoot/i, Perranwell 

 Station, Cornwall. 



Micro-fungi. — I had somehow overlooked the 

 reprint of Dr. Cooke's "Rust, Smut, Mildew," in 

 1886, but, on enquiry, find it is only an exact reprint 

 of the Joicrth edition, and "revised and enlarged" 

 refer to alterations in 187 8. — y. A. Walker. 



Sillgreen. — In reply to J. Halsey's query, 

 "sillgreen" is the name by which the common 

 houseleek {Sempervivum tectorum) is generally known 

 in Oxfordshire. The word is probably a corruption 

 of " sengreen," which name is also applied to the 

 same plant. The word appears to mean a plant 

 which remains green throughout the winter, and is 

 the same as "sinngriin," the German name for 

 Vinca minor.— y. Rose, M.A., Oxford. 



GEOLOGY. 



The "Celestium." — Our young people are 

 "hose-piped" with science. They catch it unex- 

 pectedly at every corner ; but they can no more take 

 up sixteen sciences at a time than the late John 

 Bright's omnibuses could go four abreast through the 

 late Temple Bar ! Nevertheless (largely on the 

 generous and thoughtfully worked out Froebel system 

 of teaching great subjects to students), we do not 



hesitate to say that the best means of vividly present- 

 ing the phenomena of our solar system is the 

 "Celestium," or patent astronomical calendar, for 



Fig. 58.— The Celestium. 



recording (in miniature) the daily and even hourly 

 positions of the heavenly bodies as they pass through 

 the signs of the zodiac. No good school can afford 

 to be without this ingenious and simple apparatus. 



Pressure-Metamorphism. — This was the subject 

 of an important paper recently read at the Geological 

 Society, by Professor T. G. Bonney. The author 

 described the results of study in the field and with 

 the microscope, of some thin dykes in the calc-schist 

 group, much modified by pressure ; and some larger 

 masses of green schist which appear to be closely 

 associated with the dykes ; also some other pressure- 

 modified greenstone dykes of greater thickness than 

 the first. The specimens were obtained, for the most 

 part, either near Saas Fee or in the Binnenthal. 

 These results, in his opinion, justified the following 

 conclusions: — (1) That basic intrusive • rocks, pre- 

 sumably once dolerites or basalts, can be converted 

 into foliated, possibly even slightly banded, schists, 

 in which no recognisable trace of the original structure 

 remains. (2) That in an early (possibly the first) 

 stage of the process the primary constituents of the 

 rock-mass are crushed or sheared, and thus their 

 fragments frequently assume a somewhat "streaky" 

 order ; that is to say, the rock passes more or less 

 into the " mylonitic " condition. (3) That next (pro- 

 bably owing to the action of water under great pres- 

 sure) certain of the constituents are decomposed or 

 dissolved. (4) That, in consequence of this, when 

 the pressure is sufficiently diminished, a new group 

 of minerals is formed (though in some cases original 



