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invidious comparisons between organs specially adapted to differing purposes. Nevertheless, the evolution theory has so accustomed us to the use of such terms as higher and lower forms," " progression and retrogression," that in order to answer the evolutionist, he must be met on his own ground. It might be more correct to deny the existence of a "typical standard" by which the organs of animals, whose environment differs, could be measured, but since such standards are claimed to exist, it is most reasonable to look for them in man. But your correspondent Mr. Tansley has out-Darwined Darwin, in asserting that "the muscles of our arms and chest have fallen away from the typical standard exemplified in the lower animals,' while I am quite ready, as he supposes, to admit that they are more perfect" in man than in the gorilla, I cannot do better than quote Mr. Darwin himself in support of my belief.

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He says, "Although the intellectual powers and social habits of man are of paramount importance to him, we must not underrate the importance of his bodily structure To throw a stone with as true an aim as a Fuegian in defending himself, or in killing birds, requires the most consummate perfection in the correlated action of the muscles of the hand, arm and shoulder, and further, a fine sense of touch."

When any quality surpassing this consummate perfection" is to be found in the structure of the gorilla, then only need we look upon it as the typical standard from which we have fallen.-Nina F. Layard.

GROUND IVY.-While searching for orchids the other day (June 23rd) my interest was aroused by observing a curious appearance in the above plant. A large quantity of ground ivy I noticed as having a remarkable growth in the leaves, one at least on each stalk having a substance about the size of a small cherry, apparently growing out of the leaf. On examining and dissecting one, I found the growth to be a kind of gall, consisting of an outer case of a substance resembling the rind of an apple, then a kind of spongy or woolly material, and finally a cell containing a minute maggot. Some of the galls had two or three cells, containing the insects, and appeared as if double. Can any one tell me if this is common to the plant, also the name of the parasite ? I may add, every plant I noticed in the immediate vicinity of those first examined were afflicted in the same manner, while those in other places were free from the insect.-F. H. W.

=

YEW-TREES, THEIR SIZE AND AGE.-Since the correspondence on the above subject has come forward, I thought I would measure a fine old yew in the churchyard at Much Marcle, Herefordshire. I find the circumference at a distance of about 6 ft. from the ground, to be 25 ft. 5 ins. This gives a diameter of 8 ft. 1 ins. (taking П 22) or 1164 lines, indicating an age of 1164 years. I must not forget to say that the tree is hollow, and there are seats inside. Now should the width of this opening be taken into consideration in measuring the circumference? In other words, has the fissure been caused by a rent or by the removal of a portion of the tree? I think most probably the former. This supposition will, of course, considerably reduce the age of the tree.-Chas. A. Whatmore, M.C.S.

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES.-The following notes might be interesting to your readers. On the 3rd of June I took a freshly emerged specimen of Colias edusa. Isn't this very early for the appearance of this butterfly? On the 8th July I passed a garden with a

DISSOLVING GUM TRAGACANTH.-In your book "Notes on Collecting and Preserving Natural History Objects," at page 133, you mention the Gum Tragacanth being dissolved in gum arabic. I find some difficulty in getting the former to assimilate thoroughly. Can any reader please state what I can add to cause it to do so? I may say that it proves satisfactory, excepting occasionally, when a rather large piece comes up, and that generally when one wants it to be the opposite, for mounting such a plant as one enclosed.-7. F. H.

THE WHITE ROCKS OF CASTILLE AND RED ROCK OF THE MOSELLE.-"The way to Heaven is as near, if not nearer, from Syria as from England, or my native Spain," remarked the Queen of Charing, piqued with our proverbial climate; and if ever creation dawned in a transparent, dry and elastic air, you may breathe its enchantment when the constellation Virgo sheds its influence on the corn-land of Castille. Wildly magical and full of light is then the silent night; the Milky Way glitters around like a diamond cincture, and angels appear to descend with burning torches and jewelled crowns to gather in the golden ears. When the sun arise, flowers the most urbane gleam like tinsel over this tree-less waste of limestone and sand, white and sparkling as wedding cake paste; and heated by the glow, they exhale delicate aromas that the same species seem quite to want in our damp, northern air. Roots out of dry ground, they one and all are adapted to the parched soil, in being woolly or wiry, or soft, fleshy and glandular, and thus they live on and soak in from the dews the nourishment denied to their rootlets. You may notice this in the mealy composite, Chondrilla juncea, in the flesh-coloured Jerusalem sage (Phlomis), in the purple sandworts full of colour, in the yellow thistle (Scolymus hispanicus), in the wiry stalks of the annual tansey, dwarfed pinks, and stonecrops, or even in the downy and inconspicuous Holosteum umbellicum too easily mistaken for a plantain. The very stalks of the buck's horn plantain appear here a trifle more woody and tough. But among the loveliest of Castillian wild flowers, the frail blue pimpernel shuns the drought and bathes its beauty in the perpetual freshness of the river bank ;. strange too, for with us these are also flowers of the corn-field though impatient of the shower. The gutta-percha hills and steppes that arise out of these shining plains resemble so many icebergs; and when the dust drives along their summery vines in smoky puffs, they present the dreary appearance of eternal frost. Everything on their slopes is then crisp and candied as if encrusted by a petrifying spring; the scorched grass, flowers, flies, and grasshoppers, are alike liveried in silvery white. The Chalk Hill blue butterflies (Polyommatus corydon) are indeed so large and white as they come dashing along the road as to be perfectly unrecognisable; and Polyommatus dorylus, only to be distinguished in the shadows from the common blue by a cerulean flash, and only differing in the absence of two spots at the base of its forewings, trust we Professor Leller, is often to be seen abroad in similar disguise. Here, however, the change is structural, for the wing scales are newly adorned with yellowish white. True it is that on chalk and limestone most of the butterfly and moth

kind are naturally paler, and here garden flowers often turn suddenly white, and so should it be in Castille. I have tracked these tranformation Chalk Hill blues from Valladolid to Valencia, but on entering on the damp mountains of the Asturias, that act like a sponge in sucking in the Atlantic clouds and clarifying the Castilian air, I noticed that they there wore their usual blue dress. Hence it is evident that dry calcium is a bleaching powder; and there is a reason why the pale hills should be populated by forms so wan. Let us now turn to the iron tonic. Is any moon-struck lover desirous to taste the love philter of the Syrian damsels, let him take a railway-ticket to Treves previous to a July thunderplump. The Moselle is creeping along, low in its channel, brick-red and lurid. The purple clouds are mirrowed red, and the strip of intense blue between reflects laky purple. Beneath the red rocks he will start to see its maternal bosom curdle as with clotted gore. The blood-drops of Adonis are dripping on the purple floss of the Geranium sanguineum and trickling down the sticky stems of the Silene armeria: and from the bosky ravine Cupid in giddy chase leads forth the queen of loveliness riding the sly-eyed boar. No, the slant sunbeam fades, and it is the all indelible blood of the Theban cohort that mantles there, and the little Christian maiden leaps and screams-erschrecklich. Slow echoing up the valley growls the thunder, beneath the red rocks the current turns blue and pure, but on the opposite bank it swerves among the lean bluish barley, red and more turbid: and now the deluge is sweeping down in its strength, no longer red, but yellow and sparkling as Moselle mousseux. Let us walk up this acacia-scented shade and observe how Nature paints her colours on rocks so red and soluble. There is a glow around, and the white and zigzag clovers have a rosy hue; but brown, and black are evidently here in fashion. The bramble stems have a look of porphyry, and a company of escargots (Helix pomatia) crawling on the wet bank carry shells as brown as chestnuts. The black and brown butterflies are all most unusually black, and something akin to ink blots and inks in their wing patterns. Our manufacturing towns change the white moths in their vicinity into blackamoors, and iron oxide and vegetable acid make ink; and could we bottle an extract of native soil we might create varieties at pleasure. Stay, my friend, in practice I have never produced much effect on living things by a use of inorganic chemicals; Nature is wiser than I, and her love philters are more potent.-A. H. Swinton.

THRUSHES' NEST ON THE GROUND.-Whilst rambling in the neighbourhood of Dromore, co. Down, lately, I discovered a fine thrushes' nest with four eggs, situated in long grass on the ground. It was near a river, and close to a shrubbery. I should like to know if it is unusual for thrushes to build on the ground.-F. J. Bigger, Belfast.

BEFORE DARWINISTS WERE METAMORPHOSISTS. -It is pleasant to think that in the middle ages Rochester Priory possessed its Book of Flowers and its description of Noah's Ark, and to learn that monasteries equipped their divines and metamor phosists as well as their knights of the sword, for to them was entrusted the formation of language and ideas which mould themselves with difficulty to the age. The maiden of sweet seventeen who has watched the alkanet drop its sad bells one by one in the shadows, and who has striven to think that flower of blue was once the athlete Hyacinthus killed by a quoit, will readily pardon the helpful monk who be thought him to supplement the grand fiats with some

small compliancy on the part of the nature herself drawn from so dreamy a source; for poor man, great in Genesis and the Classics, museums and microscopes, had never conjured up a phantom of Darwinism to expound that a dull order was Heaven's first law. Thus the writer of the Natural History, 1270, alphabetically arranged, after prefacing an arbitrary idea of the creation of man borrowed from the Latin, proceeds to describe the animals, birds, sea and river animals, reptiles, fish and insects, in groups as the Biblical idea directed; beginning otherwise methodically with A is the ass, and including among his freight of two hundred and eighty, or thereabouts, Pegasus and the Phenix. Yet the transaction is not wholly incurious, since the social ways of the beavers in the forests of Poland, according to Jacob, appears drawn from life, while the proclivities of the boar and bear in Germany are detailed with a gush and gastronomic relish. For the same reason, an enquiry as to the origin of Perpetual Motion in a Prime Mover of Infinite Power, inspired the logician of those days with an uncomfortable notion of stupendous violence since none had pushed generation to its limits and observed the working of the great in the infinitely little. Who will not allow that Darwinism is an advance on the score of integrity?— A. H. Swinton.

NOTES ON HYBRID ZEBRAS.-Mr. Tegetmeier has communicated to the "Field" the following account of a very interesting experiment on the breeding of hybrid zebras, and their fertility or sterility, which is in progress at Theobalds, the estate of Sir Henry Meux. "Some few years since, a very fine female specimen of Burchell's zebra (Equus Burchelli) was obtained from the Zoological Society, and turned into the park in company with a herd of ponies. Burchell's zebra, I may state, is the species most frequently captured, and by far the most in Zoological collections. It is an inhabitant of the plains, the other species dwelling in the mountainous districts of South Africa. Contrary to general belief, the zebras are tamed without difficulty, if proper treatment is adopted towards them. On going into the park at Theobalds, I was cautioned against approaching the zebra; but, having confidence in my power of making friends with animals, I quietly walked up to her when grazing, took care not to alarm her, and was leaning on her withers and patting her off side in a couple of minutes. In fact this zebra is much more docile than the two fillies of which she is a parent. The eldest of these, rising three years old, was sired by one of the ponies in the park, and shows the stripes of the zebra only to a moderate degree. The other, and by far the finer filly, a yearling, the produce of a half-bred trotting pony, imported, I believe, from the United States of America. This yearling is beautifully striped, not only on the legs and neck but also on the haunches. As they have not been handled they are rather skittish, having a good allowance of corn along with the working ponies, all of which are in admirable condition. There should be no difficulty in breaking in these two fillies to harness. Many of my readers must remember two hybrid zebras belonging to the Zoological Society, that were formerly driven about town tandem, in a light cart. They were as docile as any ordinary horses; and with judicious treatment, there is no doubt these two fillies would be equally amenable to gentle and judicious discipline. Ordinary mules are characterised by great nervous excitability, and my friend, Mr. C. L. Sutherland, is always insisting on the necessity of accosting mules with gentleness, so as to avoid startling them. He main

tains that what is generally regarded as obstinacy and perversity, arises in most instances from nervous excitement. I can testify that, in the numerous mules I have seen for about a score of years in his stables, I have never seen one vicious or obstinate. Doubtless these hybrid fillies would partake of the mule character, and require gentle handling and careful treatment to break them in satisfactorily. It is essential that an animal should acquire confidence in man. Another point of some considerable interest may possibly be determined at Theobalds-namely the fertility of the hybrids. These two fillies are now running about almost in a state of nature with a troup of ponies, they are well fed, and are under such conditions that their fertility, if it exists, may be demonstrated. The experiment of trying to breed from them from an entire pony is one of considerable interest, and whether it prove successful or otherwise will add a definite amount to our knowledge of the constitution of these hybirds."

BEES AND JUBILEES.-Some of your readers may recollect the bees which White, in his Natural History of Selborne, mentions as having their home in his time (now probably a hundred years ago, as he died in 1793), on the summit of Mount Carburn, near Lewes, in this county (Sussex). I visited the spot a few days ago, but I could not see a single bee or any appearance of bees, work there. Seeing a shepherd at a short distance, I went to him and inquired whether he knew anything about the bees I was looking for. He said, "Oh, yes! I have often been driven away from the top of Carburn by them, but the Jubilee fire did for them, for I have not seen one since then." So that it would appear that this colony of Anthophora acervorum is now extinct. The site of this colony covered a very small space of ground, and no doubt the fire which was of huge dimensions consumed all the mature bees then and there and baked all the eggs, larvæ and pupae that were underground. would appear, therefore, that even Jubilees have their drawbacks, for that of last year was the occasion of the destruction of a colony of insects that may be said to be historical, and which though now destroyed, will certainly live for ages yet to come in White's delightful "History of Selborne."-R. B. P., Eastbourne.

It

MR. RUSKIN'S MUSEUM AT Sheffield.-Half a dozen years have passed since Mr. Ruskin offered to Sheffield all his art-treasures, providing the town would find a suitable building for their preservation. He even went further in his spirit of munificent liberality by undertaking to personally superintend the arrangement of the objects in the Museum, and be responsible for its management during his life-time. It was proposed that the new building should be built at Endcliffe, one of the most beautiful spots within the boundaries of the old town. Money was not wanting; £10,000 were subscribed; plans were prepared, and the design was admitted by Sheffield experts to excel anything they had thought possible. Then an irritating obstacle occurred. Matter-of-fact municipal magnates intervened. They did not understand the nature and purposes of the St. George's Guild, and distrusting its continuance, made it a condition of subscription that the Museum should be satisfactorily guaranteed to Sheffield for Technical difficulties arose as to the title and the nature of the guarantee that the Museum should remain the inviolable and permanent possession of the town. Mr. Ruskin has a scornful contempt for superficialities, and he cannot bring his mind down to legal hair-splitting. He declined to read any further lawyers' quibbles, and his indisposition left the matter in abeyance. It is satisfactory, however,

ever.

to know that the settlement of the whole question will no longer be delayed, and that soon the new building will arise in all its fair proportions. Mr. Ruskin has deputed the trustees to cut the Gordian knot by telling the lawyers to draw up a conveyance between the Mayor and Corporation of Sheffield and the St. George's Guild. The pictures and objects, as well as the building, are to remain the property of the public for ever. The new Museum will be a splendid memorial to its founder, and a permanent embodiment of his ideas. May he long be spared to advise in all its counsels and to direct its resources.Edward Bradbury, in "The Magazine of Art" for August.

The

THE SPECTRE OF THE BROCKEN" ON SNOWDON. -During an ascent of Snowdon on July 5th two friends and myself witnessed the strange phenomenon known as the "Spectre of the Brocken." We left our tents near Lake Ogwen in heavy rain and crossed Tryfaen and Glyder Fach in thick mist, dropping down on Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel for refreshments. mist still hung heavily on Snowdon, but we determined to try the ascent by the Crib Goch Ridge. About 7.30 P.M. the mist lifted to the west, revealing a magnificent view seawards, while the Crib Goch glowed red in the sun's level rays. Our shadows, enormously magnified, suddenly appeared on the dense bank of fog to our left, encircled by two concentric rainbow rings. The shadows would be about 50 feet high and the outer ring fully 300 feet diameter. Every movement we made was faithfully represented, and by standing together the three shadows were produced in one circle. This curious sight occurred four times in forty-five minutes, disappearing only when the mist obscured the sun.

IPOMOEA, &c.-In his "Tour Round My Garden," quoted by Julie Hodgson (SCIENce-Gossip, p. 166), A. Karr means evidently Ipomea pupurea, L. It is frequently sown round houses and windows, and its flowers close early in the morning. Their popular names are volubilis and sometimes liseron, though this is rather Convolvulus sepium. The original text says "volubilus "in the first passage, and "liseron " in the second.-C. C. Doullens, Somme.

PRESERVING BATS.-Could any reader of SCIENCEGOSSIP give me instructions how to kill and preserve a blind bat?-John J. Holstead.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

To CORRESPONDENTS AND EXCHANGERS.-As we now publish SCIENCE-GOSSIP earlier than formerly, we cannot undertake to insert in the following number any communications. which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month.

To ANONYMOUS QUERISTS.-We must adhere to our rule of not noticing queries which do not bear the writers' names. TO DEALERS AND OTHERS.-We are always glad to treat. dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general ground as amateurs, in so far as the "exchanges" offered are fair exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are simply disguised advertisements, for the purpose of evading the cost of advertising, an advantage is taken of our gratuitous insertion of exchanges" which cannot be tolerated.

"

WE request that all exchanges may be signed with name (or initials) and full address at the end.

H. E. JONES.-The best and cheapest polish that would bring out the structure of an already worn pebble would be common coach varnish.

G. A. G.-Thanks for the specimen of white Geranium Robertianum. It is, however, of not uncommon occurrence. A. HOWES.-The "Selborne Society" publish through Elliot. Stock, from whom you may get the address.

A. PITTIS.-The caterpillars reached us in such a shrivelledup condition that it was quite impossible to identify them.

T. G.-Get "Notes on Collecting and Preserving Natural History Specimens," edited by J. E. Taylor, published by Messrs. W. H. Allen, price 38. 6d.

C. H.-You will find Adams' "British Birds and Their Eggs" useful. The coloured plates are well done, and will help you. Montague Brown's "Manual of Taxidermy" will give you all the assistance you require.

Dr. FORBES (Leith).-Many thanks for the coloured photograph of the dodo, and your kind and generous remarks.

A. W. HARRISON.-Consult Sir Robert Balls' "Story of the Heavens," also Skertchley's "Physical History of the Universe."

EXCHANGES.

Ancylus fluviatilis, Planorbis glaber, P. albus, P. spirobis, P. dilatatus, Physa hypnorum, Helix nemoralis, H. hortensii, H. arbustorum, H. aspersa, Pupa umbilicata, and Anodon cygnea, in exchange for land, freshwater and marine shells, or fossils.-Albert Walton, 44 Canning Street, Burnley.

CAN any conchologist oblige me with a couple of specimens of Helix obvoluta? I will send in return twenty species of shells from neighbourhood of Burnley.-Francis C. Long, 8 Cog Lane, Burnley, Lancashire.

WANTED, foreign shells (not British) in exchange for land, freshwater, and marine shells from the vicinities of Port Elizabeth and Algoa Bay. Lists exchanged.-John Farquhar, 33 Upper Hill Street, Port Elizabeth, Cape Colony.

WILL exchange eggs of rook, hooded crow, crow, pheasant, moor hen, partridge, sand martin, landrail, common sandpiper, jay, magpie, redpole, tree sparrow, yellow ammer, garden warbler, chaffinch, greenfinch, wry neck and red-backed shrike, for natural history specimens, star-fish or echini preferred-not necessarily British.-Hugh B. Preston, 54 Lexham Gardens, Kensington, W.

WILL exchange 140 Ceylon bird skins, prepared for mounting, and quantity of ant live larvæ, for other natural history objects. -Dr. Clements, 3 Prospect Road, Chatham.

DUPLICATES.-P. albus, P. carinatus, P. spirobis, Physa hypnorum, Lim. truncatula, Z. glaber, Z. nitidus, Pupa umbilicata, C. tridens, C. lubrica, &c.-Wanted, Pis. nitidum, Z. excavatus, H. aculeata, H. concinna, Balia perversa.F. C. Long, 8 Cog Lane, Burnley, Lancashire.

OFFERED. Leeuwenhoek's Works on the Microscope, 2 vols. in 1, date 1800; "Baker on the Microscope Made Easy," 1769; and parts 1 to 20 inclusive of Dr. M. C. Cooke's "Grevillea," in exchange for vols. of SCIENCE-GOSSIP for the years 1872 to 1877 inclusive.-Dr. Webb, 2 Brougham Terrace, West Derby Road, Liverpool.

WANTED, supplement only to "Wood's Index Testaceologicus."-C. L. Smout, 8 Trinity Street, Hastings.

SHELLS from the north London district in exchange for S. ovale, S. lacustre, P. fontinale, P. pusillum, P. nitidum, P. roseum, U. margaritifer, U. pictorum, B. Leachii, V. cristata, P. lineatus, P. nitidus, P. nautileus, P. glaber, P. dilatatus, P. hypnorum, L. glutinosa, L. glabra, A. lacustris, V. pellucida, various species of zonites. H. arbustorum, H. concinna, H. hispida, H. sericea, H. revelata, H. fusca, H. pisana, H. rupestris, H. pulchella, H. obvoluta, B. montanus, P. ringens, P. umbilicata, P. marginata, various species of vertico, C. Rolphii, C. biplicata, C. tridens, C. lubrica, A. acicula, C. minimum, and A. lineata.-J. W. Williams, M.A., D.Sc., 51 Park Village East, London, N.W.

WANTED, larva of Ocellatus caga and Quercus ligustri; will give in exchange various lepidoptera, preserved larva, dispar, coleoptera, or No. 1 of Lang's Butterflies of Europe." List sent.-Walter Copley, 17 Clough Terrace, Sowerby Bridge. WANTED, to exchange plants for herbarium; correspondence invited.-E. C. Angel, 4 Saville Row, Bath.

OFFERED, -plate camera and lens, two double slides, stand and two vulcanite developing dishes. Wanted, micrographic dictionary.-R. Williamson, 137 Ardgowan Street, Glasgow. ANIMAL hairs for micro mounting. About twenty different and interesting kinds used in the textile manufactures, in exchange for rare British or foreign birds' eggs or skins.H. B. Booth, 25 Northfield Place, Manningham, Bradford, Yorkshire.

WILL exchange, in sets or separate, eggs of merlin, ruff, cuckoo, kingfisher, nightjar, &c., for warblers, jays, hawks, landrails, tits, finches, buntings, owls, plovers, crows, and many others.-Jas. Ellison, Steeton, Leeds.

OFFERED.-Clutches of kestrel, S. hawk, dipper, stonechat, grasshopper, warbler, chiffchaff, goldcrest, and tomtit, corn and reed buntings, lesser redpoll, bullfinch, rock dove, common sandpiper, oyster-catcher, heron, mute swan, cormorant, kittiwake, great black-backed and herring gulls (nests with several), eggs of guillemot, razor-bill, puffin, gannet, manx, sherwater, storm petrel. Please describe clutches offered in exchange for above.-R. J. Ussher, Cappagh, Lismore.

H. cantiana in exchange for other land and freshwater shells or fossils.-W. Crossley, 15 Barker Street, Cornholme, near Todmorden.

ABOUT fifty species of marine algæ, in exchange for rare marine, land and freshwater shells. Also stamp album (back rather dainaged), containing about 400, many rare varieties, in

exchange for marine, land and freshwater shells.-John Jos. Holstead, 19 Millholme Terrace, Upperby Road, Carlisle. OFFERED.-"British Moths (Duncan), with 30 coloured plates; English Folk Lore" (Dyer). Wanted.-Bentham's Illustrations of British Flora."-I. Smith, Monkredding, Kilwinning.

P. glaber and P. dilatatus in exchange for other British or foreign land, freshwater or marine shells.-W. Dean, M.C.S., 50 Canning Street, Stoneyholme, Burnley, Lancashire.

SHELLS, Coins and fossils in exchange for British or foreign butterflies or moths, named and set.-F. Stanley, M.C.S., 6 Clifton Gardens, Margate.

WANTED, larvæ or pupæ of any of the larger British or foreign lepidoptera, in exchange for British marine, land or freshwater shells, or English coins.-F. Stanley, 6 Clifton Gardens, Margate.

FINE specimens of H. nemoralis and H. ericetorum from Portrush, co. Antrim, Ireland, in exchange for good varieties of the same from other localities, or H. pisana, Cantiana cartusiana, Fusca lapicida, C. Rolphi, L. aricularia, &c.— T. H. Hedworth, Dunston, Gateshead.

FIFTY-FOUR species of British butterflies, including iris, artaxerxes, swallow-tails, frittilaries, vanessas, hairstreaks, blues, and many others-some very rare and valuable, in exchange for British birds' eggs. Send lists with desiderata to -A. Hollis, St. Johns, Antony, Cornwall.

OVER 100 Species of well-preserved shells from the Paris basin chalk, in exchange for shells and fossils from the British Isles. Lists exchanged.-Monsieur Bonnet, 9 rue Mazagran, Paris.

WANTED, June gatherings of Pleurosigma angulatum, estuarii, fasciola, formosum, elongatum, lacustris, Spencerii, Parkeri, curvulum, &c., in good quantities. Will give in exchange fine deposits, either prepared_or raw, Oamaru, Simbirk, Springfield, and others.-J. Tempère, 168 rue d'Antoine, Paris.

Helix hæmastoma from India, and H. cantiana. What offers ? Also some old curios. List sent.-Archibald Hy. McKean, S. Denys, Southampton.

WANTED, a good gathering of Volvox globator; a good exchange will be given in micro slides.-S. L., 15 Horton Lane, Bradford.

DUPLICATES, L. C., 8th ed.-5a, 39, 40, 41, 81, 82, 176, 291, 317, 3666, 372, 479, 491, 505, 543, 5766, 639, 680, 835, 859, 865, 873, çor, 910, 940, 944, 954, 966, 973, 1043, 1270, 1344, 1346, 1475, 1545, 1550, 1563, 1756.-J. A. Wheldon, High Ousegate, York.

BRITISH and foreign birds' skins in exchange for others, or eggs.-S. L. Mosley, Beaumont Park, Huddersfield.

DUPLICATES. Pterostichus picimanus, Auch. oblongus, Scistus ferrugineus, Hydrana nigrita, Cistila murina, Leptura livida, Saprinus maritimas, &c. Desiderata.-Numerous species for types.-W. H. Bennett, 11 George Street, Hastings.

WANTED, student's microscope. Offered, Matthew Henry's "Commentary," complete, 6 vols. (folio), and other books.S. E., 4 Padua Road, Penge.

WANTED, many species of birds' eggs, particularly clutches with data. Offered, British lepidoptera.-W. K. Mann, Wellington Terrace, Clifton, Bristol.

WANTED, books of travels, especially scientific; also general natural history books. Lepidoptera, eggs, shells, &c., offered in exchange.-W. K. Mann, Wellington Terrace, Clifton, Bristol.

BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED.

"Smithsonian Report" (1885).-The Cathic Gallery" (Washington).-"The Bacon-Shakspere Question," by C. Hopes (London: T. G. Johnson).-"Proceedings Liverpool Geol. Soc."-" Journal Royal Microscopical Soc."-" The Microscope."-"Scientific News."-" Book Chat."-"The Amateur Photographer."-"The Garner."-"The Naturalist."—"The Botanical Gazette."-" Journal of the New York Microscopical Society."-" Belgravia."-"The Gentleman's Magazine.""American Monthly Microscopical Journal."-"The Essex Naturalist."-"The Midland Naturalist."-"Feuilles des Jeunes Naturalistes."-"The American Naturalist."-" Journal of Microscopy and Nat. Science."-"Scientific News""Wesley Naturalist."-"Victorian Naturalist."-"Journal of Conchology."-"Cassell's Technical Educator."-" Life-Lore." -"Research," &c. &c.

COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED UP TO THE 12TH ULT. FROM: R. C.-A. P.-L. C.-J. W. W.-T. B.-H. B. P.-J. B.W. S.-J. R. W. C.-L. S.-W. C.-E. C. A.-F. C. L.G. H. W.-J. F.-I. F. H.-P. F. G.-R. B. P.-W. G. C.J. S.-I. Ď. A. C.-A. H.-A. W.-C. C.-J. J. H.I. F. H.-W. M.-R. J. U.-W. D.-J. E.-W. C.-W. B. B. -F. N.-R. W.-A. B. G.-A. H.-G. R.-T. H. H.H. E. J.-F. S.-D. W. B.-S. T.-F. H. W.-E. W.S. L. M.-W. H. B.-E. E.-D. A. W.-G. G.-J. I. R.. A. S.-A. H. M. R.-W. W.-J. T. M.-W. K. M.-W. H. B. -J. B. B.-A. P.-G. D.-C. H.-C. L. N.-E. O. R.— W. J. S.-K. P.-D. J.-A. W. H., &c. &c.

T was in the Blue Mountains that I first saw parrots in their wild and natural condition. It was after a severe thunderstorm at Katoomba ; all bird-life seemed exceptionally restless. A flock of parrots came up from the fastnesses of the forest-1000 feet below in the valley. They were chiefly Rosellas and Lories, brilliant enough in plumage, but foolish and discordant birds. They rested

on the telegraph wires or among the branches of gum-tree, utterly regardless of our presence; sitting to be stared at with field-glasses, with all the sang-froid of a dowager in her opera-box. But, for my part, I would rather see a parrot in a cage --and hear him swear-than have them in native wildness, there is an incongruity in such garish colour and clatter. On board the "Oceana," returning home to England, we had a splendid collection of living parrots and cockatoos, the property of various passengers. I had ample opportunity of comparing the various Australian species. Besides the yellow crested cockatoo (C. galerita) there was the attractive Leadbeater's species (C. leadbeateri), white with tinges of red in the breast, and at the base of the crest. But, perhaps, the finest of all was a nearly black fellow of great size. I think he is known as the [Funereal cockatoo. Besides these we had the pearl-grey little parakeet cockatoo, rosellas, love-birds, grey parrots with rose-coloured No. 286.-OCTOBER 1888.

heads, white parrots with blue eyes and breast dashed with crimson, with numerous green and yellow and blue species.

Mr. Etheridge showed me at the Museum in Sydney a tame dingo, a somewhat uncommon specimen; their nature is treacherous, and even with this young dog nobody but his master could safely touch him. In appearance it reminded me of lean Colley with the startled ferocity of the wolf; the colour being tawny yellow, shading to brown on the back. Of course this animal is one of the few non

marsupials of Australia. There is now ample evidence of its existence back into prehistoric ages; bones occur in caves of Pleistocene period.

There is a fine series of kangaroos in the Melbourne Zoological Gardens, ranging from the smaller Wallabys to the giant "old men" species, the specific distinctions appeared to me terribly puzzling; in fact, the chief variation appears in size, colour and habit, rather than structural change; the intermediate gradations are wonderfully close.

I saw an echidna burrowing in the ground, the porcupine-like bristles of the back only visible above ground; the platypus I saw only in a pickle-tub, and the eggs preserved in spirits-perhaps half the size of pigeons'-eggs. In the Melbourne gardens a couple of the so-called bears reposed peacefully in a gum-tree. I do not suppose they would attack a flea. No protection is needed, so they have liberty sufficient to clamber from tree to tree; as a matter of fact they never seem to move, they are very small, with greybrown fur.

The most attractive spot I traversed in the Blue Mountains was Nellie's Glen, a stupendous ravine hardly less than a thousand feet in depth. Here noble tree-ferns afforded a welcome shelter, Hymenophyllum and various small ferns covered the face of the moist rock. Large yellow-breasted robins flitted overhead and the irresistible laughter of the jackass, hidden away in the tall gums or wattles, compelled us to join in his merriment.

L