holds that the measurement of children, as they grow, has not yet received the attention it deserves, and he points to the opportunities afforded by schools for settling this physiological matter. Mr. Soames shows how the measurement should be made.

THE Geologists' Association went for an excursion on June 13th to Selborne, under the directorship of Dr. Sclater and Mr. Wm. Whitaker, and on June 20th to Greys Thurrocks, with Mr. F. C. J. Spurrell as guide.

"PANTOBIBLION, or a Review of the World's Scientific Literature," published monthly, is among the latest of periódical announcements.

WE would strongly call the attention of our entomological readers to the papers now appearing in the 16 'Entomologist," by Mr. F. H. Perry Coste, entitled "Contributions to the Chemistry of Insect Colours." They approach this very important subject from a new direction.

THE Rev. Hilderic Friend has an important paper in the last number of the "International Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science," on the "Earthworms of Scotland."

A PIECE of genuine good work has been the result of the "Microscopical Society of Calcutta"-Mr. H. H. Andrew's "Notes on Indian Rotifers." It is accompanied by three exquisitely-drawn plates and twenty figures.

ALL who have the opportunity should pay a visit to Mr. Wm. Bull's Orchid Show in King's Road, Chelsea.

DR. A. MILNES MARSHALL'S lecture on "Animal Pedigrees" is being continued in "The Midland Naturalist."

THE next Annual General Meeting of the British Association will be held at Cardiff, commencing August 10th, under the Presidency of Dr. Wm. Huggins, F.R.S., &c.

THE Anniversary Meeting of the Linnean Society this year was noteworthy for the address of the president, Professor Stewart, on "The Secondary Sexual Characters of Animals and Plants." The society's gold medal was awarded to Dr. Bornet, of Paris, for researches in botany.

THE Council of the Geologists' Association have decided to publish the long and valuable paper by Messrs. Harris and Burrowes on the Eocene and Oligocene Beds of the Paris Basin as a separate publication, illustrated by maps, sections, etc., at 2s. to members, and 35. to non-members.

H.R.H. the Prince of Wales fixed Wednesday, the 17th of June, for the delivery by Lord Rayleigh of

the first of the two lectures at the Royal Institution, in connection with the centenary of the birth of Michael Faraday, and Friday evening, the 26th of June, for the second lecture, which was given by Professor Dewar.

It is with unfeigned regret we have to record the death of an old friend and contributor to SCIENCEGOSSIP, Professor M. Duncan, F.R.S., &c., in his sixty-seventh year.

ZOOLOGY.

"OUR LANE."-We are sorry that through inadvertence the name of E. H. Robertson, the writer of the charming articles in our columns bearing the above title, was omitted.

THE CHITINOUS PLUG IN MOLLUSCA.-In the December number of SCIENCE-GOSSIP I made reference to the first volume of Balfour's "Comparative Embryology," and gave the reference as on p. 229. I find that Mr. Webb says in the June issue that this page is not the right one. I can only add that it is the page in my copy (2nd ed. 1885), and also in seven other copies which I have taken the trouble (perhaps very needlessly) to examine. This is the only remark I think I have need to make on Mr. Webb's criticisms.-J. W. Williams.

HYDROBIA JENKINSI IN ESSEX.-I have received a letter from Mr. W. H. Smith, of Canning Town, enclosing copy of a communication addressed by him to the editor of the "Essex Naturalist,” dated 27th March, 1891, which he informs me he has sent to you for publication. Should you insert his letter, I beg you will also publish my reply, dealing with the facts connected with the discovery of Hydrobia Jenkinsi in Essex. When Mr. Allen, of Canning Town, sent me, on the 29th of January, 1889, a few hydrobia shells from Beckton for identification, I noticed at once a few with carinated whorls, a form which had never been described as British, and concluded they were either a new species or had been introduced. I took the three specimens up to Mr. Edgar A. Smith (Nat. Hist. Museum) on the 2nd of February, and we then decided to send them to Dr. Boettger, of Frankfort, who replied that they were not known on the Continent, and that the nearest ally was H. Legrandiana, of Tasmania. I then wrote to Mr. Allen (16th April, 1889), suggesting that they had been introduced in some raw material, such as flax, hemp, &c., which might have been used in some of the manufactories in the district, and proposed to visit the locality. In his reply (17th April) he offered to accompany me, and wrote: "The discovery is yours, and I am glad of it; I leave the determination in your hands." On the 19th of April Mr. Allen and I went down to the

Beckton Marshes, close by the Barking Jute Factory, and gathered some specimens from the brackish water-ditches. I subsequently made many inquiries with regard to the manufactures in the district, but was unsuccessful in obtaining any helpful information. Later in the year I again visited the locality, and collected a goodly number of specimens, some of which I forwarded to Mr. E. A. Smith. There the matter rested, so far as I was concerned, till I read Mr. E. A. Smith's description of the form as a new species in the "Journal of Conchology" for October, 1889 (published 17th January, 1890). In the same journal further notes appeared, showing that the form had already been taken at Greenwich about two years before (1887), and of which Mr. Allen was aware, having informed me in April 1889, that he had received the information from a correspondent of his in Glasgow. Later on, Mr. Jenkins' Notes on Hydrobia appeared in SCIENCE-GOSSIP for May, 1890, and on the 8th of May Mr. Allen wrote me : "I am sorry to see you are not mentioned as the one who first noticed the shell as non-British." I exhibited a series of the shells, with drawings of the animal, at a meeting of the Essex Field Club (17th May, 1890), which was duly recorded in our "Essex Naturalist," 1890, p. 128, and then associated Mr. Allen's name with the first discovery in Essex. I had certainly hoped to have had the first record in the journal of our club, of which Mr. Allen is a member, but the publication being already a fait accompli, I asked Mr. E. A. Smith to write a short notice as a record for the "Essex Naturalist," to which I added some remarks, and gave a drawing of the shell and animal (vide “Essex Naturalist," 1890, p. 212). I certainly did not again mention Mr. Allen's name therein, which was scarcely necessary, but would now express my regret for the omission. I am still of opinion, as expressed in the note referred to, that the species may have been introduced. In conclusion, I may say that the species is not, as Mr. W. H. Smith says, a freshwater mollusc; and as to the vague statement that he examined the mollusc months before my visit to Beckton, that may be true, but is certainly misleading, whether intentional or otherwise, inasmuch as that was not till after I had seen it, and called Mr. Allen's attention to the differences. Walter Crouch, Wanstead, Essex.

HYDROBIA JENKINSI.-Mr. W. H. Smith writes as follows to the "Essex Naturalist":"Referring to the Note on Hydrobia Jenkinsi' (in the Oct.Dec. 1890, issue of the Journal), by Mr. Edgar A. Smith, F.Z.S. It has given me pleasure to note that Mr. Smith has acknowledged receiving his first acquaintance with this new species of hydrobia at the hands of Mr. Walter Crouch, and that the latter gentleman obtained some specimens at Beckton in the early part of 1889. It affords me pleasure to say that the species referred to was discovered at an

earlier period than 1889 by a member of your club, who invited Mr. Walter Crouch to visit Beckton. The journey to Beckton resulted in obtaining specimens. It is due to the energy of Mr. W. Allen, of Barking Road, Canning Town, that this species became known to Mr. Crouch and other eminent conchologists. I send you this communication in the hope that you will make its contents generally known to your members, and I ask this favour because I had the pleasure of examining this remarkable fresh-water mollusc months before Mr. Crouch's visit to Beckton, and I can personally vouch for Mr. Allen's anxiety to make his discovery known. I think Hydrobia Alleni would be a more commendable name than Hydrobia Jenkinsi.-W. H. Smith.

NOTHOLCA ACUMINATA.-Referring to Mr. Clarke's note on this rotifer in your issue for June, though given in "Hudson and Gosse" as very rare, it is common in several ponds in the vicinity of Chester. In water from one of these ponds it is not unusual to see six or seven of these rotifers at once in the field of the 2-inch objective.-A. H. Hignett.

PRESERVING FISH.-Every naturalist knows the difficulty of preserving fish so as to show their natural form and colours. We are only too well acquainted with the stiff, colourless caricatures of the most graceful and often beautifully tinted of living creatures, seen in museums and elsewhere. Consequently we are pleased to call attention, after having carefully examined various specimens, to the really beautiful examples of prepared fish now being set up by Mr. J. Sinel, of Jersey. In one specimen of the bluestriped wrasse (Labrus mixtus), all the striking colours are replaced true to nature; in another (Platessa), part of the colours have been replaced; in the bass (Labrax lupus), which usually turns white in drying, all the colours have been retained. Generally speaking, however, Mr. Sinel's system enables all the natural colours to be kept unchangeably. The specimens are also secured against shrinkage, and cannot possibly be injured by damp. Naturalists and anglers can now obtain beautiful specimens of fish for wall and other ornamentation; whilst to museums, Mr. Sinel's examples commend themselves for their beauty, naturalness, and neatness.

BOTANY.

RUBUS LACINIATUS.-Years ago I found a curious cut-leaved bramble growing at Chislehurst; one bush at Prickend, and one on Chislehurst Common, apparently quite wild. I sent specimens to one or two botanists, and was informed that it was merely a form of R. discolor (rusticanus) by a good authority. In SCIENCE-GOSSIP, 1889, p. 188, I referred to the plant as R. rusticanus, form incisus. A few days ago I sent a specimen to Kew, and it is now identifi

with R. laciniatus, Willd., a cultivated species. I have seen R. laciniatus growing in Mr. Jenner Weir's garden at Beckenham, where young seedlings were very freely produced; and I presume that the cutleaved brambles of Chislehurst were simply garden escapes.-T. D. A. Cockerell.

LATERAL TUBERCULES.-I find that tubercules may be produced in the axils of leaves by artificial means. This may be done by cutting off a plant of Ranunculus ficaria, L., near the root, and placing it in a well-corked bottle; after remaining there for a week or two you will see tubercules of various sizes. They are produced by the reversion of a bud into a root, as is often seen in the potato. This proves that fasciculated roots are but modifications of the stem.-Henry E. Griset.

WHITE HEATHER.-In the June No. of SCIENCE Gossip (p. 141), Mr. D. H. S. Stewart, enquirer of the white-flowering variety of Erica tetralix has been met with elsewhere than in the Scottish Highlands. I am happy to be able to inform him that I have occasionally met with it in the heathy tracts of this part of the country, possibly half-a-dozen times in fifteen years. Last summer my little boy with me found a whole patch of it, and carried home a handful of the white-flowered stalks. I may say that I have never met with the white-flowering heather, though the ordinary purple-flowered variety covers miles of country about us. By the way, would not Mr. Stewart be more correct, if, following Sir J. D. Hooker (Student's Flora '), he assigned the ling to the genus Calluna rather than to Erica.-A. Irving, Wellington.

GEOLOGY, &c.

THE GEOLOGY OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF WINCHESTER.We have received a new edition of the neat, small, and handy description of the strata and fossils of this district, written for the geological section of the school, by a good geologist, who is evidently too modest to put his name to it. It is a model of compendious, useful, and accurate local information, giving all the thicknesses of the cretaceous zones in the neighbourhood of Winchester, the anticlinals of the Hampshire chalk, a list of pits and sections, with the names of the fossils found in each, and also a tabular list of fossils (Winchester : J. Wells).

NOTES AND QUERIES.

ARE FOSSILS EVER FOUND ALIVE?—At the close of a gossipy geological address some little time ago, I was somewhat startled by an old gentleman who rose to ask, "Are fossils ever found alive, sir? "Well, no," I replied, "they are not." And I then explained for the second time the nature of a fossil.

The old gentleman, however, was irrepressible. "As a boy," he said, "he was present when a live toad was found in a rock 150 feet below the surface,' and his story was so circumstantial that I asked him to put it in writing, which he afterwards did, as follows:-"I am a living witness to what I here state, J. Gittus. In hearing a lecture on the subject of fossils, there were several kinds of animals on the screen, and led me to ask the question whether any of them were ever found alive. Because, when I was a boy, I lived with a man who worked in a stone quarry, and I was very often with him, and in getting the stone we had to blow it up with gunpowder, and one time after blowing it up, one of the men picked up a stone that was noticeable, like two stones joined together, and broke it in two, and in it was a live toad which they afterwards destroyed. The question how did that animal get there, and how did he live pent up in that stone?-for the place where we found him was very deep, about 150 feet or more from the top of the rock, and he must have been there a length of time shut up in that stone, now this is a mystery, and cannot be fully comprehended by mortal man. But as I lay in my bed one Sunday night, I was thinking about it; the thought struck me that as there is a great deal of water running through all rocks, that one of the eggs of these animals must have been washed there from some spring or pool, and lodged in some hole of the rock, and come to life, and by the water that flowed through the rock kept alive, but in what way I cannot tell; but he who placed it there could keep it alive as well as he kept Jonah alive in the fish's belly." J. Gittus, Bridport Street, No. 5." So runs the old gentleman's story. A well authenticated account of a similar discovery has recently been sent to me by Miss Lydia M. Hawker, of Bredon, near Worcester. Miss Hawker writes: "On the evening of September 27th, 1886, I was sitting alone in the sitting-room at my home in Bredon, Worcestershire, the other members of my family having retired. On the fire was one large piece of coal the size of a man's head; this had been put on four hours previously. I attempted to break it to pieces, but, owing to its hardness, I could only chip off fragments. I then drew aside the ash-pan to make room on the hearth for the rest of the lump, set it down, still intact, and kneeling on the hearthrug, watched for a couple of minutes to assure myself that all was safe. Suddenly my ear caught a sound of crackling and sputtering in the lump. I turned sharply round to reach my little sponge-lamp, and behold! a small, long-legged, dusky creature, resembling a frog, had leapt into the ash-pan, and was hopping about between its bars. I grasped the situation-and the bars-on the instant, but the bars burnt my fingers, so I jumped up for a kettle-holder. When I returned to the rescue, poor froggy had taken shelter (?) under a projecting shoulder of his former home. I gently touched him; he was dead; stiff, and sadly shrivelled up. He is still in my possession, he keeps well, and is in good spirits-of wine."F. T. Spackman, 7, Richmond Road, Worcester.

PIN IN HEN'S EGG.-As a reader of SCIENCEGOSSIP, I wish to bring the following case before your notice, as I consider it most remarkable, and if you think it worthy of your attention, to describe the facts in your interesting paper for the purpose of consideration and enquiry. A friend of mine keeps a quantity of fowls. They are the common kind, usually called, I think Barn-door fowls.' On Thursday, April 9th, a number of eggs were collected. A few were given to the gardener. His wife boiled one for his breakfast on April 10th, and when he cracked

it a pin was found in the yolk. The yolk and white were in places of a blue-black colour. I should feel obliged if any reader would inform me whether they have ever heard of anything being found before inside an egg, and how it got there.-F. J. B.

SNAILS AS A CURE FOR CONSUMPTION.-Your correspondent, Mr. J. W. Williams, may be interested in learning that the snail cure for consumption has been continued in this locality (Truro) in one instance, at least, almost up to the present day. I well remember, some twelve years since, an individual living in an adjoining parish being pointed out to me as a "snail or slug eater," I forget which. He was a delicate-looking man, and said to be suffering from consumption. Last summer I saw this man, and asked him whether the statement that he was a "snail-eater" was true he answered, "Yes, that he was ordered small white slugs-not snails-when he was young, for decline,' and that up till recently he had daily consumed a dozen or more every morning, and he believed they had done him good. There is also another use to which the country people here put snails, and that is as an eye application. I met with an instance a few weeks since, and much good seemed to have followed the use.Edmund Rundle, F.R.C.S.I., Royal Cornwall Infirmary, Truro.

How I SAVED MY HIVE OF BEES.-Bee-keepers will long remember the disastrous year of 1888. I have kept bees for thirty years, but have never met with its parallel. Colonies were numerous, and strong enough, but so little honey was gathered, that by May 28th in the following year nearly all were dead, whole apiaries having succumbed, and even where feeding had been attempted few survived. Out of my stock of bees, numbering about twentyfive, three only remained alive, and one was considered to be very weak; under such circumstances one naturally thought more of again increasing one's stock, than of obtaining honey. My neighbours were equally or even more unfortunate than myself, in more than one instance not saving a single hive. I hoped that all three of my hives would swarm naturally, but as is usually the case, the bees would not do as you desired them; two out of the three did not swarm, and I was not disposed to make them do so artificially. The one that did swarm had survived some unusual troubles, having been blown over by the heavy gales on two occasions; the first time on February 4th, when all the hives in the kitchen garden shared the same fate; the second time on March 21st, when it was found topsy-turvey. It was a frame-hive, and swarmed naturally on June 21st. After the swarm had been shaken into the hive, the queen left the bees, and attempted to return home, but on her way I observed her, and caught her, and put her into the hive wherein the swarm had been taken, and all became quiet. This swarm, though rather late, did remarkably well, became very numerous in bees, and gave me a nice lot of super honey, still leaving it very heavy, the bees having had the advantage of ready-made combs. Now I looked on this hive as my best, and great things were expected from it the following season. April 12th, 1890, I noticed that no loaded bee entered this swarm, although pollen was carried in pretty freely by the bees of the other hives. The hive was heavy and contained plenty of sealed honey: this excited my suspicions about the state of the queen, and made me fear that what I looked on as my best hive would come to grief. On the 21st,

On

having satisfied myself that the hive was queenless, and that it contained a fair quantity of bees and abundance of sealed honey, I gave it a comb containing eggs and brood from another hive, taking away from it a comb of honey, which I gave to the hive from which I had taken the brood. On the 25th I observed the bees carry into the hive a little pollen. On the 28th, I examined the hive, and found two queen-cells, nearly perfect, but not yet sealed over. On the 3rd of May I again examined the hive, and found both queen-cells sealed over. On May 10th, about 3 P.M., as I was standing near the hive, I saw a queen come out of it, and take flight; I waited until she returned, and saw her re-enter the hive; she did not appear to have met with a drone during her outing; I was, however, satisfied that the hive had succeeded in obtaining a On the 12th of May, queen, and so might recover.

I again saw a queen return to this hive; and on the 16th I saw the same thing happen, making it appear that there was some difficulty in finding a mate. On the 21st I examined the hive, but could find neither queen nor eggs; still a few bees continued to carry in pollen. On the 26th I left home for three days; and on June 4th I made an examination, and although I did not see the queen, I found brood, some of which was sealed over; so that the presence of a queen was assured. On the 19th of June, I again examined, and saw her majesty. The hive went on very well, and though it gave me no super, it gathered sufficient honey to carry it through the winter without feeding. I think this little bit of experience is sufficient to show how greatly superior frame hives are to the old straw ones: and what a great deal of pleasure and instruction may be had by keeping a hive or two of bees. The hive has weathered safely the past unusually severe and prolonged winter, and is now hard at work. June 1st, 1891.-C. F. George, Kirton in Lindsey.

WHITE VARIETIES.-I don't know whether you you care for further notice of the white varieties of harebell and heather. Near Settle in Yorkshire I have several times found the harebell perfectly white, but never more than two or three stalks in one place. The flowers were very much smaller than the common blue one. In a wood, three miles from the same place, I found a patch of white heather about two yards square, some three or four years ago; but to my great disgust two years ago, I found some gamekeeper had rooted all up, save about as much as would cover a soup-plate, I suppose because it was interfering with several young trees. I have, however, marked down about twelve other roots in a thirty-acre moorland field.-W. S. Sykes.

A SUBSCALARID MONSTROSITY OF HELIX RUFESCENS.-On looking through my note-book I find mention of a subscalariform monstrosity of Helix rufescens, which Mr. A. Mayfield sent me from Eaton, Norwich. As I do not believe that I have yet published a description of this shell, I now do so here. Transcribed from my notes, it runs thus :-Large, brownish with white band at periphery; spire elevated with the whorls subcarinated and flattened; bodywhorl smaller than in type, depressed, subcarinated; sutures, deep, canaliculate; umbilicus wide, revealing the whorls of the spire; inner lip distinct, and reflected on to the body-whorl so as to form a wellmarked "parietal wall"; the whole shell subscalariform. Diam. 115 mill. ; alt. 8 mill. If this monstrosity has not been named before, it might be called monst subscalare.-J. W. Williams.

THE conversazione of the Royal Society took place on the 17th ult. Astronomy presented its usual fascinating aspect. Professor Norman Lockyer exhibited first a group of sun-spots, photographed in India as they were passing over the solar surface, and showing a succession of remarkable changes, suggestive of terrestrial cyclones, as they traversed the visible face of the sun. The greatest curiosity was awakened by the professor's photographs of the temples at Karnak and Edfou, in Upper Egypt. There is now a theory that these famous structures were oriented in such fashion that the rays of the 'sun at 6 A.M. and P.M. on June 21 traversed the whole central aisle of these edifices-in other words, that at least six thousand years ago there was in Egypt a people sufficiently advanced to know astronomically the true length of the year and to determine with precision such data as they needed for their daily sacrifices. The same kind of astronomical motive is supposed to have prevailed with the builders of the huge monoliths of Stonehenge. At the instance of Mr. Norman Lockyer, the Egyptian Government sent out on June 21 observers to Karnak and Edfou to make observations of the shadows which the lines of the temple will make with its principal axis, and as the motion of the sun in the heavens is known, it may be possible to argue backwards from these data to the probable age of the temples. Similar obser vations were made on Salisbury Plain, with the curious result, perhaps, of learning from the sun's motion in the ecliptic how long ago it is since the stones of that huge place of sacrifice were placed in position by a relatively advanced race of people inhabiting these islands thousands of years ago. Mr. Francis Galton explained in the Council Room his method of personal identification by means of finger prints. It is a curious fact that the small papillary ridges on the bulbs of the fingers, and on the inner surfaces of the hands and feet, persist from youth to age, and are the most unchanging, and apparently the surest means of pronouncing on any human being's identity. With exact anthropometric measurements and descriptions, science is circumventing the criminal classes, and the time will probably come when to the evil-doer Mr. Galton's pictures of the finger tips will be a means of deciding who's who that law-breakers will positively detest and dread. Among the instruments Mr. Wimshurst's improved influence machines deservedly attracted a large amount of attention; but, perhaps, the most interesting of recent electrical achievements is Mr. Crookes's volatilisation of metals. The distinguished chemist and physicist has discovered that he can evaporate gold, silver, and other metals by the electric current. This is accomplished without accumulation of heat, and what looks like the vapour of gold settles as a thin transparent film on a surface of glass. In transmitted light the hue is first ruddy, then, as it becomes denser, greenish and faint yellow, and only finally golden when the film is thick enough to prevent light passing through. A curious and instructive magnetic phenomenon was exhibited by Mr. Shelford Bidwell, in a nickel pendulum which was shown to be magnetic when cold and non-magnetic when heated to about 300° C. Mr. Francis Darwin displayed an instrument called a cup-micrometer for measuring the rate of growth of a plant, while Mr. Walter Gardiner has devised instrumental means to determine the forces concerned in the absorption and flow of water in plants. Mr. Arthur Clayden, M.A., showed by means of the electric lantern some fine meteorological pictures of clouds, taken by the camera in such style as enormously to simplify the study of cloud formation, a department in which

a good deal remains to be done. Some fine negatives of hoar-frost were thrown on the screen, the pictures bringing into strong relief the manner in which the ice crystals form on the margins of leaves, the loose fibres of a string, and the thorns of a briar, and the tendency of these crystals to arrange themselves in line with the direction in which the wind is blowing.

ATMOSPHERIC NITROGEN AND ROOT-TUBERCLES. -Two American chemists, Messrs. W. O. Atwater and C. D. Woods, have published in the American Chemical Journal the results of a large number of experiments they have been making on the important subject of the acquisition of atmospheric nitrogen by plants. They experimented with peas, oats, and corn, and they conclude that nitrogen is readily absorbed from the atmosphere by these plants, where treated with "soil-infusion," and that the gain of nitrogen is dependent on the number of root-tubercles which the application of "soil-infusion " induces. It should be remembered, however, that these roottubercles have been found to be literally nests of bacteria, so that the latter may probably produce the nitrogen by assisting in the nitrification of the soil.

ATMOSPHERIC NITROGEN AND LEGUMINOSÆ.— Experiments have been conducted by two French chemists, Messrs. Schloesling and Laurent. It has long been suspected that the natural order of plants Leguminosæ had the power somehow of absorbing atmospheric nitrogen. The leguminose plants experimented upon were grown in closed vessels, which were so arranged that the gases introduced and withdrawn could be accurately measured and analysed. They found that when the leguminose plants were watered with an infusion of nodosities from other plants of the same order, there was an absorption of nitrogen much greater than could be put down to errors of experiment. On the other hand, when the leguminose plants had not been inoculated in this way, and were therefore free from nodosities, no such absorption of nitrogen was observable. It is believed, therefore, these experiments demonstrate that under the influence of microbes leguminose plants can fix and utilise the gaseous nitrogen of the atmosphere.

ERIOPHORUM LATIFOLIUM. It is stated in Syme's "English Botany" (vol. x., p. 76), that the downy-stalked cotton-grass (Eriophorum latifolium) is "rare in the south of England." Being in the neighbourhood of Fair Mile, near Esher, Surrey, on the 18th inst., I noticed what I believe to be a very large bed of it, the mass of cotton-like heads attracting attention and admiration even at a distance. The plants were growing in a morass surrounding a pond, locally called Black Pond. Though familiar with the locality many years ago, I had not visited it for some years and was struck with the appearance. It may be mentioned that the nearest railway station is Oxshott (the name really means Oakwood, but the L. & S. W. R. has now fixed upon it one of the local spellings, suggesting the idea of bovine slaughter at the place), on the new line from Surbiton to Guildford. Although the spot gives the idea of complete sequestration, it is in fact only a few minutes' walk from the high road between Esher and Cobham, near what is called Fair Mile. If I am wrong with regard to the species, I should be glad to be corrected.-W. T. Lynn.