284 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



Page 50. 'The Spotted Redshank {Totaniis fusciis) is also a 

 resident species' Marked as a bird known to breed in the British 

 Islands at page 75. 



Page 51. 'The Dunhn {Tringa alpind) is also a winter visitor, 

 and so?neti?ues stays to breed.' 



Page 52. ' Bartailed Godwit {Limosa lapponica) is a regular 

 winter visitor, ivhich so?neti?nes remains to breed' 



Page 53. ' The Whimbrel {Nianenius phceopus) is a winter visitor' 

 As a specimen of Mr. W. Harcourt Bath's accuracy in descriptions 

 of plumage, we note— The Nuthatch (p. 30): 'The plumage of 

 this bird is dusky brown, and the breast greyish.' 



It is, we are sorry to say, a thoroughly harmful little book ; the 

 result of the author's gross ignorance of his subject, and of an unpar- 

 donable neglect on his part to consult the many and easily accessible 

 books on British Birds for information. Mr. Sharpe's portion of the 

 book is in every way a satisfactory production, but we believe we have 

 seen it issued in another form by the same publishers. — W. E. C. 



NOTES—BOTANY. 



Dichroism in Viola odorata. — Mr. Gain, on p. 193, records a very interesting 

 variety of Viola odoTata, in which the normal bkie colour is replaced by pinkish- 

 red. It appears that this blue colouring-matter, both in Viola and in other 

 plants, is dimorphic, and presents two phases: — blue and pink. In this locality 

 a pink-flowered Oxytropis occurs, which always goes blue in drying, and on the 

 other hand, the violet- blue flowered Clematis douglasii presents a somewhat rare 

 variety rosea, in which the blue is replaced by pink, and similar varieties occur of 

 Anemone patens var. 7aittalliana (var. rosea) and Aster paucijloriis rosaceiis), 

 in both of which pink takes the place of violet. These varieties occur in Colorado, 

 and others like them are recorded from other countries, fully bearing out the close 

 relation between pink and blue in flowers. — T. D. A. CocKERELL, West Cliff", 

 Colorado, July 19th. 



Carduus acaulis in North Lincolnshire. — On Bank Holiday, the 6th inst., 

 Mr. Joseph B. Davy found this thistle on the Chalk Wolds at South Ormsby, and 

 brought me a specimen, which I sent to Mr. F. A. Lees for confirmation. — 

 Jas. Eardley Mason, Alford, loth August, 1888. 



NOTE— MOLL USCA. 



Arion ater var. nov. cinerea at Notting-ham. — Mr. G. W. Mellors, of 

 Nottingham, has lately forwarded me a number of slugs from that neighbourhood. 

 His last consignment was of specimens from the Corporation Gardens, Wells 

 Road, Nottingham, 25th June, including a juvenile specimen of Limax jnaxinnis 

 yz.x. fasciata, a few of L. agrestis, type and var. sylvatica, ono. Arion boiirgiiignati 

 and a few typical A. hortensis, several full-grown typical A. ater, and one fine 

 adult of that species which is of a colour that I have never before seen in A. ater, 

 viz., dark cinereous, uniform in colour, and having the foot-fringe dull brown with 

 the usual dark cross-streaks. The cinereous colour is exactly that so prevalent in 

 L. maximus. — W. De.mson Roebuck, Leeds, 26th June, 1888. 



1 8F:^ 1888 N^ii^, 



