OBSERVATIONS EXCHANGE. 



239 



the other, with a long styliform telson or 

 tail-spine. A fine specimen of this molucca 

 or king crab, ten or twelve inches in dia- 

 meter, may be seen in the collection of 

 Crustacea, lately arranged by Dr. Scouler 

 in the Andersonian University Museum. 



DISCOVERY OF FOSSIL TEEES. 



The Kev. H. W. Crosskey, having taken 

 the chair, 



Mr. Wtinsch exhibited numerous speci- 

 mens, diagrams, and sections illustrating 

 his " discovery of fossil trees buried in 

 volcanic ash in Arran, " and read a paper 

 on the subject, the joint production of 

 himself and of Mr. John Young, of the 

 Hunterian Museum. 



Mr. John Young supplemented the paper 

 with some more detailed remarks on the min- 

 eralogical character of the beds containing 

 the fossils, and reiterated his conviction 

 that the stems were the remains of true 

 fossil forests, and undoubtedly found in 

 position as they had grown. 



Dr. Bryce, F.G.S., author of the " Geo- 

 logy of Arran," expressed his gratification 

 at seeing a new field of geological research 

 opened upon that island, and described as of 

 the highest interest the fact of fossil stems 

 of carboniferous wood being found enclosed 

 in a matrix, which any uninitiated observer 

 would undoubtedly pronounce to be true 

 volcanic rock. 



Sucking Hedgehogs. — My kind friend 

 Mrs. Smith of the Semaphore, near Wisley, 

 Surrey ^ lately kept for me a female hedgehog, 

 with three young ones. The little things 

 had the soft fur on their bellies of a pure 

 white colour, instead of brown, as in the 

 adult animcal. The fur on this part of the 

 hedgehog is far softer than that of the cat, 

 as it has to serve for a pillow when the 

 creature is rolled up. To return to the 

 little ones. — When in any wa}- annoyed 

 they " puffed" like kittens but with a 

 more prolonged and continuous noise. Mrs. 

 Smith kept them in a cellar out of doors, 

 and one day I took two into the cottage to 



examine them without their mother ; on 

 my returning them to her in about twenty 

 minutes , one little thing made several loud 

 and shrill cries, evidently for joy at seeing 

 her agairu At length the mother escaped, 

 but must have returned each night when 

 all was quiet to suckle them, as the young 

 ones lingered on for more than a week, but 

 at length sunk and died. I may add that 

 there were four in the litter, but one was 

 killed by the person who caught them. — 

 W. K. Tate, 4, Grove Place, Denmark 

 Hill, London. 



Notes made in the Autumn of 1865. — On 

 the last day of ISTovember, I noticed several 

 house martins, H. urhica, flying round 

 some buildings and stacks in this parish. 

 Bats have also made their appearance seve- 

 ral times during the last few weeks. The 

 Missel Thrush, 2\ viscivorus, is singing 

 almost every morning, and on the 5th of 

 this month I heard the Stock Dove, C. 

 cenas, barking ; on the 7th of October, I 

 gathered a plate of Easpberries. This year 

 I believe^ has been considered a very fa- 

 vourable one for the entomologist, but, 

 though I have not taken so many varieties 

 as I did some few seasons ago, I still, among 

 others, captured on the 13th of September, 

 at sugar, in my garden, a fine specimen of 

 Catocala fraxini, Clifden Nonpariel. Pre- 

 vious to this also at sugar, in the same loca- 

 lity, X. scolopacina, C. qjtherea, A. suffusa, 

 T. munda, X. hepatica, <hc. c&c. The 

 humming bird Hawkmoth , M. stellato/rum, 

 has of course been extremely abundant, 

 and as I have generally found it tolerably 

 plentiful, so much space I hardly think, 

 need have been taken up about it in the 

 Times and other papers. With regard to 

 Quails, of which mention is made in the 

 last number but one of the Naturalist, 

 they are seldom seen in this neighbourhood 

 except singly, but this year they have 

 been unusually plentiful, and I one day 

 sprung a bevy of seven. — Eiohard Pye 

 Alington, The Rectory, Swinhope, Lin- 

 I colnshire. December 5tli, 1S65. 



