1 1 s 
NATURE NOTES. 
clouds, he found a perfect Mediterranean climate at [6,coo feet, a region of clear 
blue sky and brilliant sunshine, which it occurs to me may be also appreciated by 
the swifts when they have finished their evening meal below.” 
Selborne Leaflets. — Mr. Arthur B. Harrison, of whose leaflets we spoke 
in last months’ Nature Notes writes to say that his only address now is 17, Lea 
Terrace, Chelmsford. He is bringing out some further publications of the same 
nature, of which we shall give particulars as soon as they appear. The bills dis- 
tributed by Mr. R. Marshman Wattson, mentioned in the same article, have the 
following notice printed on the reverse side : — “ Should any friend of the Selborne 
Society be willing to assist in procuring the exhibition of this notice in the neigh- 
bourhood of Epping Forest, or its approaches, the Hon. Secretary of the Clapton 
Branch will be pleased to forward copies, neatly mounted, suitable for hanging on 
wall of public rooms, schools, shops, &c.” 
This idea might be taken note of for imitation by other hon. secretaries. We 
learn from Epping newspapers that the distribution of these handbills by Mr. 
Wattson has already produced good effects, both in making known the work of 
the Selborne Society and in causing more respect to be paid to birds and flowers 
in the Forest. 
We have received a very interesting series of “ Bird Letters ” intended for 
children, from Miss Annie M. L. Jarvis, Elm Cottage, Kirkliston, near Edinburgh. 
We hope to give a more detailed notice of these another time, and meanwhile 
may inform our readers that there are fifty letters describing the habits of fifty 
birds and written in language adapted to the understanding of little children. 
These leaflets are sold at a very cheap rate, 1/3 per 100. 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
A Poisonous Sumach, (the Rev. Malcolm C. Baynes, Crondall Rectory). 
— You are quite right in imputing the illness in the case you mention to the in- 
cautious handlingRrf A’ /ms Toxicodendron ; and the official at a certain Botanical 
Gardens, whom you mention as doubting such a possibility, must have spoken 
from very narrow experience. Mr. Nicholson, Curator of the Royal Gardens, 
Kew, tells us that he has known of cases in which the plant has caused a kind of 
erysipelas in those who handled it, but he fancies that in those instances the juice 
must have exuded through pruning, &c. The specific name of the plant is plainly 
derived from its poisonous properties. See Nicholson's Dictionary of Gardening, 
sub. noc. , Rhus Toxicodendron , vol. iii. , p. 300. 
The Glastonbury Thorn (the Rev. E. A. Downman, The Elms, Castle 
Hill). — The belief you mention is borne out by the following extract from Loudon, 
Arb. et Frut. Brit., vol. ii. , p. 833 : — “A correspondent (Mr. Callow) sent us, 
on December 1st, 1833, a specimen gathered on that day from the tree at Glaston- 
bury in full blossom, having on it also ripe fruit ; observing that the tree blossoms 
again in the month of May following, and that it is from these latter that the fruit 
is produced. Mr. Baxter, Curator of the Botanical Gardens at Oxford, also sent 
11s specimens of the Glastonbury thorn, gathered in that garden on Christmas 
Day, 1834, with fully expanded flowers and ripe fruit on same branch.” 
We learn by enquiry at Kew that plants of Craicegus Oxyacantha, var. prercox , 
do not behave differently from hedgerow thorns. Karl Koch says he never 
found C. O. proscox flowering at other period than that at which the common 
thorn flowers. 
Lichens Named. — C.F.R., Blackheath, has made the mistake of sending 
his specimens to the Secretary of the Selborne Society instead of to the Editor of 
Nature Notes. This course, which some of our correspondents adopt, in spite 
of the distinct directions printed in every number of the Magazine, causes much 
trouble and delay. Although these lichens arrived very late, they have been 
kindly named by Mr. Antony Gepp of the British Museum as follows: — (1) 
Ramalina calycaris Ach. ; (2) Physcia cilians, L. ; (3) Ramalina fraxinea (L. ) ; 
(4) Physcia pulverulenta, Schreb. ; (5) Usnea barbata ( L. ) ; (6) Ramalina 
fraxinea var. ; (7) Lccanora, Lecidea, &c. ; (8) A variolarioid state of Pertusaria : 
