146 
NATURE NOTES. 
therefore, if not purely a pleasure excursion, I could only suppose it to have 
originated in some accidental loss of hold upon the branch having offered no 
alternative between this method of descent and an uncomfortable fall upon the 
rocks below. 
Mount Park Crescent, Ealing. R. T. Lewis. 
[Mr. Lewis’s letter bears upon the following query by Mr. Stanley Morris, 
which appears in the current number of The Field Club : — “Is it a fact generally 
known that the common garden slug can descend from a height by means of a fine 
thread, which is given out by the animal as it lets itself down ? I have watched 
a slug thus descend from a height of nearly five feet, the time occupied in the 
descent being about thirteen minutes. There was a strong breeze blowing at the 
time, which swayed it to and fro in such a manner that it seemed as though the 
thread must give way beneath its burden, but it was very elastic, and the slug 
was borne in safety to the ground, when the thread was snapped in an instant.” 
Just as we are going to press Mr. Lewis kindly sends the following additional 
references to slug threads — Science Gossip, vol. xi. (1875), pp. 190 and 206 : “ In 
the former, R. S. Terry describes the descent of a small white slug, and in the 
latter, J. E. Daniel specifies two kinds of slugs — out of eleven native species — 
which are known to be able to perform similar feats, viz., Umax Arborum and 
Umax Cinereus (the L. Maximus of Linnaeus). The one I saw was certainly 
neither of these.”] 
The Cheddar Pink. — Mr. Wheatcroft will be pleased to'know that the 
Cheddar Pink grows freely on garden walls at Corston, and at the Rectory here, 
where it forms wide-spreading patches. Many years ago I planted several slips 
on the walls of my garden, and these have flourished exceedingly, but I have 
never known a single plant grown from seed. I do not think that a single seed 
of the many thousands that are annually ripened on my walls ever germinates. I 
cannot explain this, as I understand the plant grows from seed in other places. I 
have observed the same with regard to common broom ( Cytisus scoparius), which 
when rooted here becomes unusually large, but, though its seeds ripen freely, 
never produce a single seedling. I am almost certain that I saw the Cheddar 
Pink growing on the walls at the southern side of Fountains Abbey, about the 
beginning of Tuly last. I could not make a close examination, as it was more 
than twenty feet above me, but from the appearance of the leaves, and the size 
and colour of the flowers, I had little doubt but that it was Dianthus ctcsius. If 
so, it must have been planted there. 
Stanton Prior Rectory, Bath. W. S. Browne. 
The Cheddar Pink grows readily on any rough wall amongst mortar and lime- 
stone. It sows itself, and spreads year by year on my garden wall, and so does 
Unaria alpina, with various other weeds, including a lilac and a cherry tree, 
sown by birds, and blossoming freely every year. I should be glad to send a few 
seeds, or seedlings, of the Cheddar pink to any member of the Selborne Society, 
if the supply is equal to the demand. 
Winscombe, Somerset. THEODORE COMPTON. 
Birds and Bonnets. —Perhaps a woman may be allowed to say that it 
seems that men do not grasp the fact that when May comes artificial flowers come 
in with a rush, and that when October comes, feathers come in with a rush ; so 
these men think in summer, “ How many women are wearing flowers, and how 
few are wearing birds. What a good thing the fashion has changed.” Mean- 
while, I suppose, the slayers of birds are doing their work, and then before the 
winter season sets in the spoil is brought out. 
Now comes the difficult part of the subject. First : what feathers may we 
wear? Secondly: if we do not wear feathers in winter, what are we to wear 
instead ? Suppose an ardent Selbornian wishes to discourage the wearing of 
feathers of many kinds, is it not incumbent on him to propose some good sub- 
stitute? If the strong temperance folk prohibit such and such pleasant drinks, we 
might say that they ought to provide substitutes for what they have taken away. 
Again, many ladies, I suppose, do not know to what bird a wing or plume belongs, 
nor do the girls in the milliners’ shops, nor, perhaps, the men ; and if ladies do 
