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156 NATURE NOTES 
but was more luxuriant in growth and size of flowers than in the district where I 
have found it most abundant, viz., on the Cambrian formation in South Shropshire. 
Walton-on- the- Hill, M. J. Teesdale. 
June 25, 1906. 
390. Geotropic Hyacinth. The instance described by Mr. Dowell in 
the July number of Nature Notes is not, I find, unique, and suggests the 
desirability of further and more precise experiment. Most seeds and bulbs 
exhibit considerable geotropic force in righting themselves when planted upside 
down. A series of hyacinth bulbs planted with their shoots inclined downwards 
at varying angles, and those of some other species for comparison, might afford 
interesting results as to specific geotropic force. — Ed. N.N. 
391. The Chislehurst “Caves.” — Will the recorder of the Selbornian 
outing to Chislehurst (p. 139) kindly pardon a correction or two? I have visited 
the “ Caves” — a question-begging name, indeed — many times. At first they were 
three miles in extent ; they gradually extended to seven miles, now I see that the 
enthusiastic guide makes it fifteen miles. Making allowance for galleries, whose 
ends are not to be reached because of puddles of water, your readers may be sure 
that the passages do not extend a mile in any direction. Two or three years 
ago Mr. W. T. Maxton, of Richmond, and myself, hired a guide and spent a 
whole day in making a rough plan of the excavations. Since then, Messrs. R. H. 
and T. E. Forster have accurately surveyed the galleries, and their labours were 
recorded before the British Archeological Association in 1904. (See Journal of 
Br. Arch. Assoc., 1904, new series X., pp. 64-74; 87-102). The subject is too 
technical, perhaps, for Nature Notes, but both sides of the matter may be 
read at the reference given. 
The fossil Ichthyosaurus is simply an abnormally long flint — alas, that guides 
will take advantage of one’s casual glimpse and the poor light in the galleries. I 
have ransacked all the papers obtainable on this subject, and am bound to say 
that I think the passages were originally excavations for chalk simply, though 
they doubtless had several secondary uses. I trust the writer will excuse this 
note. 
Battersea, July 14. Walter Johnson, F.G.S. 
NATURAL HISTORY QUERIES. 
S 3 . Frogs and Toads.- Do these animals eat strawberries? Many 
persons, including gardeners, maintain they do. As a rule they prey on animate 
and not on inanimate objects. No experiments of mine have proved them guilty. 
July, 1906. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
84 . Caterpillars and Music. — Mr. Avery’s query in Nature Notes 
for July suggests another question besides that of the caterpillar’s appreciation of 
music. The Vanessas mentioned feed generally upon nettles — true nettles 
( Urtica ) that is — but Mr. Avery speaks of using “ white nettle,” presumably the 
“ dead nettle ” ( Lamium album). Did the insects thrive on this, or were they 
misled by the resemblance between the two leaves? Ignoramus. 
85 . A Genius. — It is said that early associations have much to do with our 
love and preference for certain flowers. While this is undoubtedly true, there 
are many instances where — like love ’twixt ourselves — closer acquaintance and 
better knowledge have their effect. I cannot recall, for instance, ever having, in 
my youth, taken particular interest in the “ Nasturtium,” and yet I welcome this 
— perhaps the commonest of our garden flowers — more and more every year. 
The Tropceolum is surely a very genius amongst plants, and in its evolution 
appears to have departed from the beaten track. Note how by some peculiar 
knack of arrangement, aided by the web-like veinings, the comparatively shape- 
less leaves become the perfection of grace and artistic effect ; observe the charm 
in the pose and outline of the flowers, and also their sun-light colouring, pro- 
duced, I think, partly by the marvellous splashes and pencillings on the petals ! 
Then turn to the climbing variety ; nature has endowed it with none of the usual 
climbing attributes — tendrils, hooks, thorns, spirals, are all absent, yet it is no 
