HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



159 



When the animal wishes to protrude itself, it pushes 

 its door on one side into a groove between the 

 columella and the inner plait, which is held open by 

 the pressure of the animal's body ; and when the body 

 is retracted the door closes by its own elasticity. 



In an old quarry, and an old quarry is the happy 

 hunting-ground of botanists, was growing Smith's 

 cress (Lepidium Smithii), and four varieties of 

 Hypericum ; whilst in a disused corner, growing in 

 company with Orchis maculata, was Orchis pyra- 

 midalis, an orchid rare in the Lake District. 



The roadsides and woods were gay with Geranium 

 sylvaticum and pratense, Habinaria bifolia major, 

 Tragopigon pratensis, and the beautiful greater 

 Centaurea scabiosa, which is worthy of a place in the 

 garden ; Epipactes latifolia, not then in bloom ; 

 Campanula glomerata, and latifolia, Melampyrum 

 sylvaticum, Eupatorium cannalinum, Paris quadri- 

 folia. 



The stream running through this valley seems, like 

 many other northern ones, to be the home of the 

 dipper or water-ouzel, its white breast showing as 

 he swiftly flies past with his sharp whistling notes ; 

 this bird is a very early breeder, building a large 

 compact dome-shaped nest as early as February, its 

 site often being under a bridge or beside the busy, 

 mill-wheel. 



Following the path through the fields to Hack- 

 thorpe, the only plants worth noting were the pepper 

 saxifrage, Salans pratensis; saw wort, Serratola tittctoria; 

 and the pretty climbing bittersweet. The Geranium 

 lucidum brightened up the old walls with its foliage, 

 which had turned a gorgeous hue from the effect of a 

 long period of dry weather ; the little shell Helix ru- 

 pestris was abundant on the wall tops, also a few speci- 

 mens oiBalia perversa, so called from its whorls turn- 

 ing the wrong way ; this shell is not common in this 

 neighbourhood. Helix aspera, so abundant in other 

 parts of England, is very rare in mid-Cumberland, 

 and this part of Westmoreland : I only know of one 

 locality for it. Miss J. Donald of Carlisle also reports 

 it rare, having only found a few specimens in her 

 neighbourhood. 



Going through the pretty little village of Hack- 

 thorpe, I passed the Hermitage, for many years the 

 home of the late Jacob Thompson, painter of ' ' The 

 Ferry-boat," and other pictures. He was a lover of 

 nature, depicting with such truth the heather-clad 

 hills, that a geologist might say of his pictures, " Yes, 

 that rock represents Skidaw slate," or a botanist, 

 " That plant clinging to yonder cottage wall is Linaria 

 cymbalaria, the creeping toad-flax." Then I made 

 my way to Lowther village, passing through a cutting 

 of micacious sandstone thinly laminated in places, 

 and covered over with clay and earth mixed with 

 large boulders striated by the ice-sheets, which rode 

 over a large area of this country in the glacial period ; 

 the boulders are principally of volcanic origin. 

 Lowther Park is famous for its ornamental timber, 



many of the oaks being of great age and size. A 

 decayed beech-tree was evidently the nesting-place 

 of a pair of pied fly-catchers, which fluttered to 

 and fro amongst its branches. This bird is by no 

 means rare in Cumberland and Westmoreland, being 

 found along the banks of the Lowther, Eden 

 and its tributaries. The park is bounded on the 

 north-west by the river Lowther, and here I was 

 fortunate in finding a few specimens of the pearl 

 mussel, U?iio margaritifer. Following the course of 

 the river through the park, I passed the sweet-scented 

 orchid, Conopsea, with heads three inches long ; 

 wood sanicula, yellow mimulas, Galium boreale, 

 woodruff, enchanter's nightshade, and on the roots of 

 some fine beeches that interesting parasite, Lathraa 

 squamaria, toothwort. 



The day was drawing to its close when I reached 

 " the town on the red hill " (Penrith : from the 

 Celtic, pen, a hill, rhudd, red), and in the words of a 

 Cumbrian, Varry well pleased wid my day's take. 



NOTES ON THE SPRING OF 1893. 



ON referring to my notes, I find the year 1874 

 was the earliest spring for plants and crops in 

 general we have had, till this year. But 1893 beat 

 everything that I can remember ; on the the 7th of 

 March, marsh-marigolds and Ranunculus ficaria 

 were in bloom ; these were followed in rapid suc- 

 cession by R. bulbosa, R. repens, R. acris, R. auri- 

 comus, R. arvensis, and several forms or varieties of 

 water-crowfoot were all blooming, by the 17th of 

 April, while R. Flammula was showing buds ; the 

 first cowslip was gathered 17th of March, Lotus corni- 

 culatus, vetches, and-many clovers, field-poppies, wild 

 mignonette, campions, and cromwells ; the beautiful 

 Stellaria holostea, and other stichworts. Honey- 

 suckle, wild geraniums, burnet, and wild rose, avens, 

 potentillas, hawkweeds, camomiles, eight species of 

 speedwells, plantains, and orchis, and many other 

 plants were in bloom the third week in April, which 

 is much earlier than usual. 



May or hawthorn in bloom April 17th ;] May nth 

 is the next earliest date here. In the gardens the 

 almond-tree was in bloom the last week in March ; 

 lilac and laburnum was blooming April 15th, which 

 is quite a month earlier than previous dates. The 

 first bird to arrive was the chiff-chaff, March 7th. 

 This is generally the first of the migratory birds ; the 

 15th of the month is about the time the first are seen. 

 Willow-wrens or warblers, the last week in March ; 

 redstarts, 7th of April ; wheatear and stone-chats, 

 about the 12th; first swallows, April 15th; cuckoo 

 first heard April 18 ; house-martins arrived May 2nd ; 

 swifts, May 10. I find, also, that entomology 

 specimens are not behind in this great race for life ; 

 they, like everything else, seem in a hurry to make 



