HA RD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



7i 



fragments may serve as nuclei). (5) That of the more 

 important constituents hornblende is the first to form, 

 closely followed, if not accompanied, by epidote ; 

 next comes biotite (the growth of which often suggests 

 that by this time the pressure is ceasing to be de- 

 finite in direction), and lastly, a water-clear mineral, 

 probably a felspar, perhaps sometimes quartz. (6) 

 That in all these cases the hornblende occurs either 

 in very elongated prisms or in actual needles. Pro- 

 fessor Bonney brought forward a number of other 

 instances to show that this form of hornblende may 

 be regarded as indicative of dynamo-metamorphism ! 

 so that rocks where that mineral is more granular in 

 shape (cases where actinolite or tremolite appears as 

 a mere fringe being excepted) have not been subjected 

 to this process. 



Will you kindly correct rather an important 

 printer's error in my note in January Science- 

 Gossip? I was made to say that what seemed to be 

 "first remains " had been found at Streatham. This 

 is nonsense, and should, of course, be fish remains. 

 Probably my writing was at fault/ — Edwd. A. 

 Martin. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



A Bottle Journey. — The Director of the Sydney 

 Observatory has called attention to a remarkable 

 journey made by a corked bottle, sealed with pitch, 

 in which was contained a paper with the following 

 words: — "Ship Saida, on voyage from Sydney to 

 Auckland. All well on board. Fresh. N.E. Lat. 

 40 18' S. Long. 157° 39' E." The date is almost 

 washed out, but appears to be March 1 1 , and this is 

 confirmed by the fact that the Saida left Sydney 

 March 7. The interesting part of it is that the bottle 

 found its way, against a strong current, through 

 twelve degrees of latitude and four degrees of 

 longitude, on the coast of Australia in Lat. 28° 4' S., 

 two miles north of Tweed River, where it was found, 

 February 10, 1892, just eleven months after it was 

 thrown into the sea. From what we know of the 

 currents, which set strongly to the south along the 

 coast of Australia, it seems impossible that it could 

 have travelled direct. Probably, therefore, it was 

 carried eastward by the current, which in that 

 latitude sets in the direction of the coast of New 

 Zealand ; the current then turns northward, and 

 probably carried the bottle on to the neighbourhood 

 of Norfolk Island, and thence still northward on to 

 New Caledonia, until it got into the current setting 

 thence on to the coast of Australia. A journey, 

 without deviation, of at least 2500 miles in 355 days, 

 or upwards of seven miles a day, and doubtless the 

 bottle, subject to all weathers, made many deviations, 

 which made its course very much longer, therefore 

 all the more surprising. 



The Minah Bird. — I have a Minah bird who 

 has not been very well, and I am desirous of learning 

 if there is any special food he should get. — Harry 

 Plenderleath, Jim. 



Sillgreen (p. 46) = Houseleek. See Science- 

 Gossip, 1882, p. 165 ; " Diet. Engl. Plant Names," 

 P- 431- 



South American Insects. — In no country irt 

 the world is there more variety and beauty ; nowhere 

 are there species of insects of larger size and of more 

 brilliant colours than in Brazil. The great mass of 

 the beetles are indeed inferior to those of tropical 

 Africa, India, and Australia ; but it is in the lovely 

 butterflies that the Amazonian forests are unrivalled, 

 whethepwe consider the endless variety of the species,, 

 their large size, or their gorgeous colours. South 

 America is the richest part of the world in this group 

 of insects. — Dr. Hartwig. 



The Land-Rail (Crex pratensis). — The oc- 

 currence of the corn-crake in the winter months, as 

 reported in Science-Gossip for February, has, I 

 think, been noted by several naturalists in different 

 parts of the country on previous occasions. I have 

 in my possession the two following authenticated 

 accounts of the capture of this bird late in the year. 

 One was shot by my father on the meadows at Bram- 

 ford many years ago (about thirty), either on Decem- 

 ber 24th or 26th, and the second was secured at 

 Leiston on December 16th, 1872, but I have not the 

 name of the person who killed it. In Babington's 

 "Birds of Suffolk" no mention is made of the 

 whooper (Cygnus musicus) in "district four," in 

 which district Bramford is included. I should there- 

 fore like to chronicle the occurrence of two old birds 

 and four cygnets on the flooded meadows at Bramford 

 and Blakenham. I succeeded in creeping within 

 forty yards of the birds, and I observed them from 

 that distance through field-glasses. If I had had 

 any further doubt as to their identity, their loud 

 "whooping " call would have satisfied me as to the 

 species to which they belonged. They lit on the 

 water near Messrs. Packard's works at Bramford 

 early on the morning of January 27th, and remained 

 till two o'clock on the 28th, when they flew off in a 

 north-westerly direction. They were again heard in 

 the neighbourhood during the night of the 28th, but 

 had disappeared on the following morning. There 

 are several pairs of tame swans on the Gipping, and 

 these birds strongly resented the intrusion of the 

 whoopers, driving them away whenever they drew 

 near the main stream. A gentleman who has known 

 this river for fifty or sixty years, and who is well- 

 known in the eastern counties as a naturalist, informs 

 me that he has never known wild swans on this river 

 before. Several pairs of Bohemian waxwings have 

 been shot this winter in Suffolk, one of those large 

 flights which sometimes visit East Anglia having 

 probably come over this winter. — Laurence Creaghe- 

 Haward, Bramford, Ipswich. 



" Sillgreen." — In answer to Mr. J. Halsey's 

 query, the name should be Salvegreen, in Somerset- 

 shire corrupted into Silogreen, hence Sillgreen. The 

 common house-leek is the plant intended. The juice 

 of the leaves bruised and mixed with an equal 

 quantity of cream, was used as an application to 

 eruptions on the face, etc. My mother, a native of 

 Wiltshire, knew well, and put to practical use, the 

 healing properties of the house-leek. — Oscar A. 

 Steeds. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now 

 publish Science-Gossip earlier than formerly, we cannot un- 

 dertake to insert in the following number any communications 

 which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month. 



To Anonymous Querists. — We must adhere to our rule of 

 not noticing queries which do not bear the writers' names. 



