OUR EXCHANGES. 
Report of the Kent and Surrey Committee of the Commons' Preservation 
Society . — This report shows most commendable activity with reference to 
numerous threatened rights of way and open spaces. The Committee has 
already seven local centres, but has unfortunately to complain of frequent 
apathy on the part of Parish and District Councils. 
The Irish Naturalist for May, in addition to several interesting notes, 
contains an admirable illustrated article on the fructification of ferns, by R. 
Lloyd Praeger, one of the editors. 
The Naturalist for April and May sustains its usual high level of scientific 
interest. 
The Jewish Chronicle for April 20 has, we are pleased to see, a sympathetic 
article on the Society, with special reference to the wearing of aigrettes. 
Humanity for May, and, judging from its pages, the Horning Post also, seem 
unfortunately bent upon dragging questions of religious creed into the subject of 
humane or inhumane treatment of animals. 
Knowledge for May is as variedly interesting as usual. Mr. Enock’s admirably 
illustrated articles on British Bees, the Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing’s “ Karkinokosm,” 
and Mr. Jennings’ Botanical Studies are continued, and Mr. Lydekker gives us a 
paper on “ Deserts and their Inhabitants.” 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Floral Emblems. — If A. M. will look through the Life of Mrs. Hemans, 
it will be seen that Mrs. H., when she was a girl, asked the identical question of 
Sir W. Scott, and he replied that the passage had no meaning — he only wanted a 
line to rhyme. I write from memory, but remember the question and answer. 
S. E. N. 
Caddis- worm. — I am anxious to know the average duration of the life of 
the common caddis-worm (Phryganea flavicomis), and how and where they spend 
the winter. Belma. 
Butcher’s Broom. — I have two plants of the above side by side in my 
garden, one from the hedge of a cottage garden in the parish, the other from a 
garden in Norfolk. The plant from Norfolk has larger leaves than the other, 
and of a deeper green ; the leaves of the other being narrower, more curly, and 
of a paler and duller green. I hoped, from this difference, that they were male 
and female plants, and that berries might be looked for ; but under a small 
magnifying glass the flowers seem just alike, though the leaves on which they 
grow are so different. I suppose them to be male flowers, for I notice in the 
middle of each a sort of cone of a reddish-brown colour, with a pale yellow tuft 
or brush at the top, which I take to be anthers with pollen. 
I should like to ask, Is the male blossom easily distinguishable from the 
female ? and secondly, is there any noticeable distinction in the general growth 
and appearance of the male and female plants ? 
P.S. — If any of your readers should happen to have female plants only, an 
exchange might perhaps be made to the advantage of both parties. 
Otham, Maidstone. F. M. Millard. 
[The suite of specimens in the British Museum Herbarium show the Butcher’s 
Broom to be a variable plant, and it is stated in English Botany (ed. iii.), on 
the authority of Mr. Worthington Smith, that the cladodes or flattened branches — 
which, by the way, it is a pity to speak of as “leaves” — are narrower in the 
male than in the female. There is no external difference in the flowers of the 
two sexes, the absence of the yellow anthers in the female being the most obvious 
distinction. — E d. /V.iV.] 
A “ Cinnamon ” Blackbird. — One of the most interesting creatures pre- 
sented to the Zoological Society for a long time past is a beautiful and strangely- 
coloured blackbird, just given by Mr. A. J. Lawford-Jones, of the Post Office 
