COLOMBO (Menispermum palmatum).—There are two noticeable distinctions in the granules of Colombo root, the protuberances on the sides and the position of the hilum in the largest portion of the granule. They are of considerable size and very irregular, as will be observed by our figure.

These may be accepted as types of starch granules. Many others might have been enumerated and figured, but the above will serve to indicate that the subject is one which affords variety and interest. Polarized light is a great instrument in the hands o those who study starch granules, and we heartily recommend the student to examine some of these common objects for himself.

J. BROWN.

THE CUCUMBER.-Mr. Aiton mentions the cucumber as being first cultivated here in the year 1573, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. This appears to be an error, as cucumbers were very common in this country in the reign of Edward III.; but being unattended to during the wars of York and Lancaster, they soon after became entirely unknown, until the reign of Henry VIII., when they were again introduced into this kingdom. — Gough's “British Topography."

Fig. 47. Pecopteris lonchitica (enlarged.) Sigillaria belong to families completely extinct of the last-named class.

The Annularia were small herbaceous plants which floated on the surface of fresh-water lakes and ponds; their leaves were verticillate - that is, arranged in a great number of whorls, at each articulation of the stem with the branches. The Sigillaria were, on the contrary, great trees consisting of a simple trunk, surmounted with a bunch or panicle of slender leaves, drooping at the extremity, the bark often channelled and preserving impressions or markings of the old leaves, which, from their resemblance to a seal (sigillum), gave origin to their name.

The Stigmaria, according to many paleontologists, were Cryptogamia, of subterranean fructification. We only know the long roots which carry the reproductive organs, which, in some cases, are as much as sixteen feet long. This was suspected by

* London: Chapman & Hall, 193, Piccadilly.

Brongniart, on botanical grounds, to be the roots of Sigillaria, and recent discoveries have confirmed this opinion. Sir Charles Lyell, in company with Dr. Dawson, examined several erect Sigillaria in the sea cliffs of the South Joggins, in Nova Scotia,

The Lepidodendrons, of which there are about forty species known, have a cylindrical stem or trunk, bifurcated in the branches-that is, the branches were evolved in pairs. The extremities of the branches were terminated by a fructification in the form of a cone formed of linear scales, to which the name of Lepidostrobus has been given. In many of the coal-fields fossil cones have been found, to which this name has been given by earlier paleontologists. They sometimes form a nucleus of concrete balls of clay ironstone, and are well preserved, having a conical axis, surrounded by scales compactly imbricated. The opinion of Brongniart is now generally adopted, that they are the fruit of the Lepidodendron. At Colebrookdale and elsewhere these have been found as terminal tips of a branch of a well-characterised Lepidodendron. Both Hooker and Brongniart place them with the Lycopods, having cones with similar spores and sporangia like that family. Nevertheless, many of these branches seem to have been sterile, simply terminating in fronds or elongated leaves. Most of them were large trees. One tree of S. Sternbergii, nearly fifty feet long, was found in the Jarrow Colliery, near Newcastle, lying in the shale parallel to the plane of stratification. Fragments of others found in the same shale indicated, by the size of the rhomboidal scars which covered them, a still greater size.

Fig. 50. Lonchopteris Bricii.

The ferns composed a great part of the vegetation of the carboniferous period, both in the herbaceous and arborescent form. Ferns differ chiefly in some of the details of the leaf. Pecopteris, for instance (fig. 47), has the leaves once, twice, or thrice pinnated with the leaflets adhering either by their whole base or by the centre only; the midrib running through to the point. Neuropteris (fig. 48) has leaves divided like Pecopteris, but the midrib does not reach the apex of the leaflets, but divides right and left into veins. Odontopteris (fig. 49) has pinnatifid leaves like the last, but its leaflets adhere by their whole base to the stalk. Lonchop

BOTANICAL NOTES OF THE YEAR.

DURING 1865 but few plants new to the

British Isles have been observed; at least, as regards the higher orders, though, among the lower, various novelties have been recorded. Perhaps the sole example of a new flowering plant with which 1865 has presented us, which can be regarded as an undoubted native, is the sharp-leaved Irish Ivy (Hedera Canariensis), which, first announced as an. Irish species by Dr. Seemann, is confirmed as such by Professor Babington, in the December number of the Journal of Botany, that gentleman having observed it, "on old whitethorn trees, in the western part of the Phoenix Park, near Dublin." It appears to have been subsequently recorded from county Wicklow, and more definitely from "Walls, near Merrion," but its origin here seems to be doubtful. The Professor also suggests that, “in all probability, the ivy of Killarney will be found to be H. Canariensis." Another plant, discovered in 1864, but first made public in 1865, is Erucastrum Pollichii (E. inodorum of Reichenbach), observed by

Mr. Joshua Clarke, growing in small quantity on a heap of sand near Saffron Walden, Essex, and retaining its ground during the past year. It is, however, a questionable native. A new rose (Rosa collina, Jacq.) has been discovered, near Plymouth, by that accurate observer, Mr. T. R. A. Briggs, to whom we were last year indebted for Hypericum undulatum.

In the Popular Science Review for January, those botanists who love to compare the plants of past ages with those of more recent formations will find an interesting article by Dr. Seemann, entitled "Australia and Europe formerly one Continent." The Rev. G. Henslow furnishes a paper on climbing plants, being a résumé of Mr. Darwin's admirable treatise on the same subject.

The Journal of Botany has a valuable article by Mr. Ralph Tate, on the Flora of the Shetland Isles, in which he gives as complete a list as possible of the plants of those islands, collected from other authors, and verified and augmented by his own observations. An editorial note informs us that the supposed Plantago alpina is not really that species, but merely " a broad-leaved variety of P. maritima."

Some new British Lichens receive attention in this number.

Now is the season for "Seed-Catalogues," the authors of which appear to have generally some rather loose ideas regarding the extent of the British Flora: a list of the "plants new to Britain," which are given as natives of that favoured country, would take up considerable space. Our Crowfoot tribe is increased by a new Columbine (Aquilegia glandulosa); our Candytuft receives a companion, under the name of Iberis coronaria; Dianthus punctatus is ranked with our British pinks; Impatiens noli-metangere finds a brother in I. glandulifera; and many other examples might be added. The name Lythrum Salicaria is not, we may suppose, sufficiently grand for our Purple Loosestrife, as this plant is rechristened Lythrum roseum superbum! More than one firm offer for sale a mixture of flowerseeds for woodland walks, shrubberies, railway embankments, &c. ; but as botanists we may hope that their customers in this department are few; for does not Nature herself supply an abundant and beautiful" mixture" of flowers, and grasses, and ferns, in far better taste than we can hope to emulate, or attempt to improve upon? There are those who would endeavour to "paint the lily and add perfume to the rose," but no lover of nature will wish to be ranked among them.

B.

MALFORMATION IN THE DAISY.-On the 9th ult., I gathered, near Wycombe, a specimen of the daisy (Bellis perennis), in which the involucral bracts were transformed into small, curled leaves.-B.

ZOOLOGY.

A JANUARY BUTTERFLY.-In proof of the extreme mildness of the season, I captured yesterday (Jan. 8th), at Falkington, Lincolnshire, two small tortoiseshell butterflies (Urtica Vanessa), which I have alive at this time. I may also mention that I have several carnations in full bloom in the open air-a circumstance almost unprecedented in these parts in the month of January.-J. Bennett, Vicar of Walcot.

PUSSY PREDILECTIONS.-Our "puss" has a litter of seven, occupied solely at present in search of nourishment and daylight, being but a few days old. Their mamma found them a big brother" in a young rat, who very contentedly shared their bed. On his removal to some distance, the foster-mother followed, and carefully lifting him in her mouth, returned with him to her blood relations, and when again deprived of him for the common good, parted with him with great reluctance. This, together with her having quite recently given birth to a litter strongly illustrative of the Darwinian theory-one being without a tail, another with that appendage of its ordinary proportions, whilst those of the intervening members of the family were of intermediate sizes will probably induce you to immortalize her in your pages as "the wonderful cat."-T. J. B.

DU CHAILLU'S LITTLE MEN.-M. du Chaillu has returned from his expedition to Western Equatorial Africa, and on the 8th of January gave an account of his journey at the meeting of the Geographical Society, on which occasion he stated that he had met with a singular diminutive wandering tribe-a kind of negro-gipsies, of lighter colour than the negroes, and having shorter hair on the head, and hairy bodies. The average height of the women, a few individuals of whom he measured, was only 4ft. 4in. to 4ft. 5in.

ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.-We regret to learn that the late snow-storm did considerable damage at the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, by breaking down some of the aviaries, and permitting the valuable pheasants to escape. Unfortunately some of these birds perished, and a collection, believed to be the most unique in Europe, in this particular group, has suffered greatly.

SPARROWS ROOSTING.-Two sycamore-trees in front of the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, in the Old Kent Road, are the nightly resort of an immense number of sparrows. When passing the trees at sunset, it is well worth stopping to watch the birds chattering and fighting for places, and then one by one tucking their little heads under their wings, until at length the noisy assemblage becomes quite still and quiet. At this season, as the trees are bare of leaves, the whole scene is visible to those passing below.-W. R. Tate.

WOODCOCKS IN NORTH EUROPE.-In SCIENCE

GOSSIP, vol. i., page 47, we are told that in the "dwarf birch scrub" of Lapland and Finland nests of woodcocks are to be found "in thousands." My own knowledge of those countries extends, in point of time, over a long two years, spent with gun in hand; and, in point of range, from the Naze of Norway" to North Cape, and thence eastward to the frontier districts of Russia. In the many hundred miles of "birch scrub," which I have carefully hunted for willow grouse (Tet. Saliceti), I never so much as once found a woodcock's nest. Throughout the whole of Scandinavia proper, and the regions conterminous, woodcocks are decidedly scarce; and whenever I have found them it has been in tall, boggy pine forests, but very rarely even there. I have seen perhaps two in a day, but much more frequently none. It is my belief that by very far the larger portion migrate from and to the regions to the eastward of the Bothnian Gulf. Throughout the whole of Lapland it never occurred to me to flush a common snipe. "Solitary snipe" I have found in some places abundantly. In the Morea, in 1843, in about five weeks of January and February, with very little aid, I shot 540 woodcocks, and Colonel C. Fitzhardinge Berkeley, Scots Fusilier Guards, who was travelling with me, shot over 300 in the same time. I have occasionally found woodcocks' nests in the large forests near Canterbury.N. Chichester Oxenden.

VISITATION OF SPIDERS.-I again venture to trouble you with a few notes on the visitation of spiders, referred to by W. H. H. in the January GOSSIP, and introduced by me in the December number. It may not be uninteresting to state that a colony of spiders visited Newcastle-onTyne on the 15th of October, and another colony of spiders, of apparently the same species, visited Bilston, in Staffordshire, on the same day in numbers that a correspondent describes as incalculable. Another correspondent, residing at Blackburn, states, that on a Sunday afternoon, to the best of his remembrance, the 15th of October, he saw immense numbers of a similar spider in that locality; and now we are informed by W. H. H. that on the 12th of November he saw swarms of small black aërial spiders in and near Victoria Park, London. With the exception of myself, none of the gentlemen referred to seem to have collected and preserved specimens, and this is the more unfortunate as microscopic investigations alone would enable a naturalist to determine whether or not the spiders seen in distant places were of the same species, the number of species being very great, and there being a close resemblance between them. The only notice of this particular species of spider with which I am acquainted, published prior to that in the December SCIENCE GOSSIP, is written by Mr. Blackwell in the "Annals of Natural History," vol. xii., page 266,

1863, and which is purely technical-interesting only to those devoted to the subject, or I would quote it. -T. P. Barkas, Newcastle-on-Tyne.

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WOODPECKERS STORING ACORNS.-F. G. writes in the last SCIENCE GOSSIP some interesting notes on the "great spotted woodpecker's" habit of storing acorns. The only woodpecker that I know of, said to be an acorn-storer is Melanerpes formicivorus (Swainson), "the Californian woodpecker;" perhaps F. G. alludes to this bird. First of all, let me distinctly say, I do not intend to cast the slightest doubt upon any one's statement. Travelling through the Klamath country, in Oregon, a few years ago, my attention was particularly attracted to the acorns sticking like nails in an old door, jammed, as F. G. describes, in the bark of the Pinus ponderosa. This was in June, and the acorns stored must have been those of the previous fall. The most rigid investigation failed to discover a single acorn touched or hollowed as if eaten by the birds. The winter had gone, and yet the store was untouched. This induced me to shoot the woodpeckers, that were plentiful in all directions, and examine their stomachs-not one or two, but numbers of them, but in no one instance did I discover anything but the remains of insects. Thinking the matter over, I doubted the possibility of the woodpeckers' eating hard nuts, its prehensile wonderfullybarbed tongue being ill-adapted to such diet. More than this, the winters in Oregon are very cold (at least in this part of it), and when the nipping frost sends the insects into torpidity, the rodents and bears to sleep, then the winged tribes all leave and go southward. No woodpecker would be stupid enough to remain and stand a chance of being frozen to death, for the sake of acorns. I read in Cassin's "Birds" a quotation from Kelly's "Excursion to California: "-"With the acorns in their bills, half clawing half flying, I have admired the adroitness with which they tried it at different holes, then tapped it home most artistically with the beak." Dr. Harman (Nat. Sc. Phild., vol. ii., page 270) also speaks of this singular habit. F. G. does not say he saw the birds put the acorns into the holes, "but the trees stuffed with acorns." I do not say the birds never put the acorns into the holes; they may for aught I know; but I do say it is singular that not an acorn was eaten, and not a particle of vegetable food discernible in the stomach. And, further, I disbelieve in the birds ever feeding on the seed of the oak. If they do really bore holes, and into them hammer large acorns-and as many writers bear evidence to having seen them at it, we must believe it is so that they never eat the stores in Oregon (the only place I have seen them), I am quite positive; and why they indulge in such idle industry is a mystery to my mind yet to be explained. I have sent these hasty remarks, hoping they may lead to a discussion in the pages of

SCIENCE GOSSIP on this most interesting topic.J. K. Lord, F.Z.S..

MUSCULAR FORCE OF INSECTS.-A paper has been read, at the French Academy of Sciences, by M. Plateau, on this subject. The principal results at which he arrives are these:-1. Except in flying, insects have much greater power of traction than vertebratæ. Thus, while the draught-horse can only exercise a force of traction equal to two-thirds of its weight, the cockchafer can draw 14 times its own weight. 2. In the same groups of insects the smallest and lightest have the greatest power of traction. And those results M. Plateau considers as not proceeding from muscles of a comparatively larger size, but from greater muscular activity.The Standard.

PLAGUE OF RATS.-Braemar has lately been visited by an unlooked-for invasion of a very annoying kind, as a colony, or rather an army, of rats has recently migrated into the mountain land, and are literally swarming in myriads over the length and breadth of the district, causing utter dismay to many. Every homestead, farm-yard, and barn is teeming with them, and the destruction done to property in many cases is tremendous. The shopkeepers suffer most-whole webs of cloth cut through and through, and sweets and fruit disappearing at fabulous rates. One man living in a bothy in the wilds of Glencallater has been actually under the necessity of leaving the domicile. The voracious wretches, having disposed of all the eatables, attacked the bed and cut up the blankets and bedding piecemeal. At Invercauld a number of sheepskins were eaten; while, to crown their savage ferocity, a few days ago the farm manager at Allanvoich was beaten out of the stackyard and obliged to take shelter. At Auldowrie, they have several times rung the bells at untimely hours.

CHIRPING BEETLES.-One day during last autumn, while exploring the muddy bed of a "dry pond," I met with a colony of the beetle Palobius Hermanii, which were chirping about in a very disconsolate manner. Never having before met with musical examples of this species, or, in fact, of any other species of this order, I naturally felt much astonished. The sound emitted was a good clear chirp, repeated at short regular intervals, and continued during their transfer, at the point of a stick, from the mud to the collecting bottle, into which they went chirping most lustily. Mr. Gosse, I think in the Zoologist, graphically describes the noise made by some of the tropical beetles, but I cannot recall to memory any allusions in natural history works to sounds produced by our British Coleoptera, except the ticking sound produced by the Anobium, popularly known as the "death-watch." Perhaps the experience of some of your correspondents will enable them to verify the above-recorded facts.F. N. Broderick.