i66 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



apices of the lungs. General Characters. — Digestive 

 tract seen through body wall appeared dark red, and 

 was found on examination to contain blood. The 

 larger forms appeared to be all females, and contained 

 many ova. Can any of your readers inform me 

 whether this parasite is Rhabdonema nigrovenosum, 

 and whether it is described in any standard work ? — 

 IV. H. Seyfatig, St. Peter's College, Cambridge. 



BOTANY. 



Mr. F. H. Arnold, in the June number of this 

 paper (Science-Gossip), records Geum intermedium 

 and G. rivale as having been found in an unusual 

 situation. I can record a similar instance, for when 

 once out with some friends botanizing on the chalk 

 downs near Mere, Wilts, in a small thicket on high 

 and dry ground we found the two species growing 

 together. On the same hills we were also fortunate 

 in finding several plants of that rare thistle, Carduus 

 tuberosus, which was new to that locality ; in the far 

 distance, however, we could see the dark outline of 

 Great Ridge Wood, near Boyton, in the same county, 

 where it was first found by Mr. A. B. Lambert in the 

 early part of this century, but I am now told that it 

 cannot be found there. — Wm. Herridge, Brattoti S. 

 Maur, Somerset. 



Flower of Foxglove showing central proliferation, 

 gathered on Baddesly Common, near Romsey, June 

 ioth, 1893. The blossom in question was the lowest 

 on the spike, which must have been of great length, 

 but the rest, with the exception of one apparently 

 normal unripe seed-vessel, had been cut off before the 

 writer discovered the plant. The corolla was about 

 double the usual size, but was enlarged laterally more 

 than vertically, giving a peculiar appearance to the 

 flower. The calyx possesses six sepals, the extra one, 

 which is very small, being inserted by the side of the 

 small upper sepal, itself unusually narrow. On the 

 other side is a large sepal cleft half-way down. 

 Excepting the central proliferation, the most remark- 

 able peculiarity of the flower is the possession of five 

 stamens. Two of them have their anthers united, 

 whilst the other three are entirely separate from one 

 another. The base of the additional stamen, which 

 like the rest partially coalesces (as in the normal 

 flower) with the corolla, is in front of the blossoms, 

 i.e., the side remote from the ordinary unpaired 

 sepal. The stamens with the conjoined anthers 

 belong to one and the same half of the flower, being 

 in fact adjacent long and short stamens. The length 

 of all the stamens is, however, approximately equal. 

 The only peculiarity remaining to be noted is 'the 

 existence of a spike of flower-buds about I§ inches 

 long in place of the pistil. It closely resembles the 

 normal undeveloped flower-spike, and would not call 

 for notice except on account of its unusual position. — 

 John T. Kemp, Romsey. 



GEOLOGY. 



The " Geological Magazine " for June, contains 

 the following articles : " Eminent Living Geolo- 

 gists," Prof. J. Prestwich, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., 

 F.G.S., (with portrait) ; " On Fossils applied as 

 Charms and Ornaments," by the Editor (with wood- 

 cut) ; " Woodwardian Museum Notes: Abnormal 

 Forms of Spirifera Lineata," by F. R. Cowper Reed, 

 B.A., F.G.S., (illustrated); " On a New Species of 

 Discites," by A. H. Foord, F.G.S., and G. C. Crick, 

 A.R.S.M., F.G.S., (illustrated) ; " On the Thickness 

 and Expansion of Marine Deposits," by the Rev. O. 

 Fisher, M.A., F.G.S., (illustrated); "Notes on the 

 Devonian Fishes of Campbelton," by R. H. 

 Traquair, M.D., F.R.S., F.G.S. ; "The Shell-beds 

 of Moel Trypen," by Prof. J. F. Blake, M.A., 

 F.G.S. ; " Foraminiferoe Limestone from the Grena- 

 dine Islands," by A. J. Jukes-Brown, B.A., F.G.S. ; 

 "Notes on the Tuscan Archipelago," by C. S. Du 

 Riche Preller, M.A., Ph.D., (illustrated) ; "Was the 

 Deposit of Chalk Contemporaneous ? " by G. Abbott, 

 M.R.C.S. ; and "Glacial Submergence, by James 

 D. Hardy, Esq. 



Polypodium calcareum. — Under the heading of 

 " Geology " on page 141 of Science-Gossip for 

 June appears a notice by Thomas Jones of Newport, 

 in which he expresses surprise at finding Polypodium 

 calcareum on the Old Red Sandstone. A reference 

 to " The Herefordshire Flora," gives as one of its 

 habitats " among loose stones at the Red Daren, 

 Longtown." The geological map gives this district 

 as Old Red Sandstone, not notifying any concretions 

 of cornstones. It must be borne in mind that corn- 

 stone contains a certain amount of calcareous matter 

 in its formation, so much so that there are several 

 isolated localities in Herefordshire, where calcareous 

 deposit has formed on grasses, mosses, &c, from 

 water passing over cornstones. This is conspicuous 

 on a very large scale at Moccas. The body of the 

 church at Moccas is built of calcareous tufa, with the 

 sole exception of the doors and window-joints, sills, 

 and arches. It is a matter of surprise to me, there- 

 fore, that P. calcareum is not more common in 

 Herefordshire on the Old Red, especially where 

 cornstones are interspersed in it. — H. C. Moore, 

 Hereford. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



The Insect House at the Zoo. — There is no 

 part of the Zoo which at this particular time of the 

 year more demands a visit than the glass house in 

 which the moths and butterflies of the tropics arc 

 entering upon a London existence. Like everything 

 else this year, they are a little before their time, the 

 hot sun of the last few weeks having drawn them 

 from their cocoons and shortened the period of their 

 dormant state. A bulletin of their births and deaths 



