‘4 = ' = sil » uv = i ‘ i AA 7 7 1.3 us ia ne . 1 } i i ; Lees ' f [ ae ; ' | ? fh i oy ui wat Ie 4i! : TU > : ro ves Buri nytt tL ipa rf : = @) } ’ 7 hh ae d 5 i eortilh ty ra yi ! ie i . /s (i. 7, bagentey min st 4. “hae ey 4! is 7 a - ial Wi Meine ty ee : é i” Apri yt oF ry ji ere nn, ater H ten tee ah eT ( 4 ‘ of ‘ ‘ fs 7 whiff a ni 4 Wy "i o i; ae : i ; : im -2 oD it 7 Ig ‘ “ we hy ni Mt at ty ’ ‘ | &e' "> higtnet ' Fi bity pe Bes _ 4 ' ’ hi ia 40h, ; We $ F if : vo i i ' 1 i _ a, a iF) pee an ' , = ¥} We ado fs at 4 aft : 4 4 : i 1 : ' on vie, 2 I d 7 H ' ci if - on 7 } ! 1," ie.” 14 @ {,¢ ' a DE ay py # phe ‘ 7 ' ; wt wt i ’ : Ree | i ‘ P a oe < J j 1 . " ; ; : io ’ i] we a ; a i o - ; 7 7 Fs ’ 2 x i 5 . : : - : i ae a> Ere ©) % rn r i j ' 7 : ao, ' j - i . + : eof iu * | hy Peat y a On Wat 1h “4 J ‘ pa i ae te ey : : ’ ; 4 an re ; a : ‘ ‘ 4 Na ar i ‘ ai 4 J i . ne ee “ : "y dd _— a) , wet ‘ : babe’ da 7 iy ” iy yo : : a -4 er ee ere ve She . ole is gh ' yt 7! in ah cn 1 que yo igs, By ee em | pad ft oe, . cd dy aye) Ahn? Hl 7 ' fre ¥ ‘ I oe fd id ptip? : us - ee eel if a oo H « Viiy ‘ yy a ey a Te. er : Voce ah a nals — os < cot ¥ = 7 a SIS) HOR. Yt SSS ee en BY )) Is | Gf No.1) gees Ny, ) \ THE | QUARTERLY JOURNAL a} oF THE ij { Sf olkestone f * it ‘D) \ . H 7 t NATURAL H [STORY 4 SOCIETY. { | CONTENTS : oe Address ween 97 t* os? 1 it Geology of the Warren a 5S Freshwater Mollusks nat 4 i The Microscope .. 12 ‘5 Fertilisation of Orchida ie 17 1h, Experiences of “ae Life 18 Bi Notes and Queries .. .. .. 23 a | : | EERE SR es OR ee : { DECEMBER, 1868. - ai 05 FOLKESTONE: wv "1 PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY BY J. ENGLISH, “EXPRESS” , | . OFFICE, HIGH STREET. =: : And Sold by all Booksellers. ei le % eS aGit “AE Qa f sad ; ; % THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY. _ PRESIDENT : CO. E. FITZ GERALD, M.D. OOMMITTEE ; H. B. Mackeson, F.G.S. | G M. Scholey, Esq. OC. H. Dashwood, F.Z.8. | A.M. Leith, Esq. Rev. C. L. Acland, M.A. W. G. 8. Harrison, Esq. Rev. ©. J. Taylor, M.A. W. Bateman, Esq: — - Rev.E. Langdon, M.A.,F.G.8. | J. Clarke, Esq. 8. Hastes, Esq. R. W. Boarer, Esy. Honorary Scoretary, Hy. ULLYETT. Subscribers are respectfully informed that, it would .save much trouble, and ensure punctuality in the delivery of the Magazine, if they would forward their names and the year’s subscription to the Secretary at their earliest convenience. QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE FOLKESTONE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, DECEMBER, 1868. ADDRESS. In the present glut of the literary market as regards periodi- cal literature, an apology will be expected in bringing before the world another scientific quarterly. It will then, perhaps, be well to state the grounds on which such a course of action may best be defended. The days are happily long gone by, when scientific theories were constantly being propounded regardless, or nearly so, of experimental observation, and when each philosopher thought it his duty to outbid all others by the wildness and extravagance of his speculations. And with the expiration of what may be called the theoretical period of science, and the substitution for it of a more solid method of reasoning, the a> B ) ADDRESS. professors.of each particular branch of natural science have endeavoured to obtain in all parts of the world, and in as many localities as possible, in our own island, persons who should become accurate observers of all classes of natural phenomena. It is with this great object steadily kept in view, that the Folkestone Natural History Society has been formed, and, by keeping it in view as its main object alone can it hope to flourish, or this paper to succeed. We must not expect all of us to become great naturalists, so as to introduce important changes in classification, or by propounding deep theories, but we should all of us endeavour to be good and accurate observers. This journal will contain such papers from among those that have been read before the society as shall seem suited for publication ; and we shall be glad to receive original papers, records of scientific discoveries, and other communications that may seem likely to promote the great object that we have set before us. We shall also devote a portion of our pages to notes and queries. It will be our endeavour to exclude as much as possible irrelevant matter, and we shall do the utmost that lies in our power to further the prosperity of the Folkestone Natural History Society, and to furnish a satis- factory record of our local scientific phenomena to its members and to the stranger naturalists who may from time to time visit our town. PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 3 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. A meeting of gentlemen interested in the study of Natural History was held in the Town Hall, by kind permission of the Mayor, April 4th, C. E. Fitz Gerald, M.D., in the chair. After a few remarks on the desirability of forming a society for the above study, and on the natural facilities for it which abounded in our neighbourhood, the Chairman called upon Mr. Ullyett, formerly secretary to the High Wycombe Society, to explain the mode of formation and working. After this had been done, it was resolved that a society should be formed in Folkestone, all those present, about five-and-twenty, giving in their names. O. HE. Fitz Gerald, M.D., was elected presi- dent, and a committee was appointed with power to add to its number. The subscription to be half-a-crown per annum, for ladies or gentlemen. Mr. Ullyett was elected secretary. It was resolved that a field day should be held on the first Saturday in each month during the summer; but the first ramble should be on the Wednesday in Easter week, as a day when the majority of the members would be at liberty. FIELD DAY, APRIL 15th. The members met at Tower No. 2, for a geological ramble over Kast Wear Bay; about five-and-twenty were present. On arriving on the sands, the secretary read the following paper on the GHOLOGY OF THE WARREN. We are standing on ground full of historical interest. Before us stretch the white chalk cliffs of Albion that tempted the Roman con. queror across from Gaul. Far away inland runs the line of hills of which they are the termination, until the Plain of Salisbury is reached, fraught with no less interest as the spot where the ancient inhabitants B 2 4 GEOLOGY OF THE WARREN. of our land reared one of their largest temples. All the chalk ranges of England commence at Salisbury Plain, radiating from it to the north-east, east, south-east, and south-west. What we see here is the termination of the east range, known generally as the North Downs, forming the Northern boundary of the Weald of Kent. The precipitous and abrupt appearance of the cliffs will cause any thoughtful mind to ask the question—Did the range ever extend farther seaward than it does now? As the cliffs appear to be continually undergoing degrada- tion, there are certainly grounds for supposing that it did. Cast your eyes across towards France, and when the atmosphere is in a favour- able condition you will behold a similar termination of chalk hills on the opposite coast, just as abrupt, just as steep. The geologist will tell you that in ages gone by the cliffs of Albion were united with those of Gaul, that our country was not then an island, but a portion of some large continent ; and that the separation has been effected by a gradual sinking of the land, and the incessant dashing of the ocean waves on a barrier too feeble to resist their mighty influence. The increased shallowness of the water in the line between these cliffs, compared with that of the sea on either side of it, supports this view, as does also the fact that the other formations found here beneath the chalk occur there in the same order. This hypothesis accounts at once for the mode in which our present island became populated with its various wild inhabitants, as well as with the lions, elephants, mon- keys, hyenas, &c., the remains of which are disinterred by the geologist. They crossed over, not by water, but by the land that is now submerged. The Chalk is the uppermost of the secondary series of rocks, and is avery extensive deposit, being found not only in England but in various parts of Europe between us and the Black Sea. It is formed chiefly of the remains of shell fish and microscopic animals, being found to consist of carbonate of lime ; and was evidently deposited in a tranquil deep sea, far from land, as the nature of the animal remains testifies. The climate, too, was a much more equable one then than it is at pre- sent, and much warmer; very few vegetable remains of any kind are found in it. The fossils found in it in this locality are abundant, but I have not as yet worked them much; here we may get, however, numerous Terebratule, Sea Eggs of several kinds, Ananchytes, Mi- craster, and Cidaris, with their detached spines, and any quantity of shells and fragments of Inoceranw; the last-named, together with Rhynchonelle, are very abundant in the detached blocks at the foot of the cliffs near the Coast-guard Houses. Besides the Chalk, we have here the Upper Greensand, Gault, and Lower Greensand. The strata, as you would observe better in going along the Lower Sandgate Road, are not horizontal, but inclined at a small angle and dip to the east, cropping up, you will notice, from beneath the superincumbent formations as you go westward. Very little, indeed, of the Upper Greensand is to be seen; there are a few Os GEOLOGY OF THE WARREN. blocks scattered here and there, and some small remnants in situ far out on the beach. I have not yet succeeded in extracting any fossils from it except a few specimens of wood, though there are plentiful traces of apparent organic remains in some portions of it. Next below it comes the Gault, or Blue Clay, as it is locally called, and here it is that the fossil remains appear so exceedingly abundant and beautiful. If we wished to place a young geologist where he would be likely to meet with the least disappointment, we ought to set him down either in a Lias quarry or on a bed of Gault. They are scattered about on the beach here in the utmost profusion, though they are more easily attainable at some particular times: the tide overflows the clay twice a day and washes them out, but it sometimes covers them up with sand instead. It is difficult to preserve them, as they are apt to drop to pieces as soon as dug out; it is very disap- pointing sometimes, just as you fancy you have got a good large Ammonite out, resplendent with all the hues of the rainbow, to see it separate into four or five parts. It is best to dig out the lump of clay in which the specimen lies, carry it carefully home, and soak it a short time in a thin solution of gum. The most abundant fossils here are Ammonites, several species, Belemnites by hundreds, Baculites, Hamites &c., the pretty Nucula vectinata, and one or two other bivalves. I have come across one tooth belonging to a species of shark, and some bits of fossil wood. From the frequent occurrence of the latter substance in the Gault and Greensand it would appear that they were formed in the vicinity of land; in fact many geologists re- gard these formations as a littoral deposit going on in some places simultaneously with the deposit of Chalk in the deepsea. Fragments of Inocerami may be found in every block; I. sulcatus is one of the most common and curious. It is of little use working in the dry blocks above high water mark, as everything there is so friable. The thickness of the Gault is best seen by observing the high promontory to the left, beyond Tower No. 3, which is wholly composed of the Blue Clay. Between this Gault and the Lower Greensand is a very narrow bed of unique formation, known as the Folkestone Junction Bed, it is seen only near the aforesaid promontory; it is very ferruginous, and con- tains sulphur, with small portions of selenite; it produces a few fossils, particularly wood. Next below the Gault we find the Lower Greensand, well known to us all, forming the cliffs near the harbour and those all along the Lower Sandgate Road. I have worked in it scarcely at all; one of its characteristic fossils isa large oyster, Ostrea sinuata, to be seen in most of the loose blocks scattered about below East and West Cliff. The formation consists, at Folkestone, of layers of tolerably hard stone, with intervals of loose sand between them, on which the Gorse and other wild plants flourish luxuriantly. The beds of Sandgate are less sandy, and mixed with Fuller’s earth, while at Hythe they become much more compact and are known as Kentish Rag. To geologists 6 GEOLOGY OF THE WARREN. these three are known as the Folkestone, Sandgate, and Hythe Beds respectively. Below West Cliff, at a considerable distance from the surface of the Lower Greensand, is a large black deposit of sand and clay, quite friable in some spots and in others drying like the Gault. The surface appears to be uniformly level, and the deposit itself is probably a very sandy mixture of Fuller’s earth. I extracted a long piece of wood from it this morning. One more formation remains—a conglomerate, blocks of which are lying in the clay and sand some distance to our left, and a long stratum immediately beneath the Chalk past the Coast-guard Houses. Nodules of Iron Pyrites are exceedingly abundant on the beach, and blocks of Iron Sandstone as well, also up higher on the Warren. It is hardly necessary toremind you that before the use of coal in smelting there was an immense quantity of iron dug from the Weald of Kent. In the time of James I. there were 400 furnaces at work in this and the adjoining counties, smelting the iron ore with the wood then so abundant in this part of the country. The whole of the coast immediately before us is being rapidly destroyed; even in a week or two we should look in vain for the identical spots we may notice now at highwater mark. This destruction is, of course, owing partly to the action of the waves, but mnch more to the loosening effects of the land springs, which wash out subterranean channels for themselves, and by so doing cause the mass of earth immediately above them to sink down more or less suddenly. A large slip occurred on the 10th March just beyond the Coast-guard Houses ; the mass of earth went down at all once, but preserved its own level so well that any one standing on it would have received no injury, probably not even a fall. From this very imperfect sketch of local formations, we may see that a rich harvest awaits any who intend collecting and studying; and there is also the interesting opportunity of watching a coast visibly wearing away, and of thus being able to form some little idea of the power of one of the grand agents in nature in altering the surface of the earth. The members then worked for themselves in the Gault; the high water prevented their going to the most productive spots, but many good specimens were found. Among them were—Ammonites lautus, A. tuberculatus, A. splendens, Nucula pectinata, N. ovata, Inoceramus sulcatus, 1. concentricus, Belemnites Listert, « Natica, Shark’s Tooth, &e. Much assistance in identifying these and others was afforded by the Rev. EK. Langdon, F.G.S., who had drawn sketches of the commoner ones for the occasion. FRESHWATER MOLLUSKS. FIELD DAY, MAY and. The members met on the Lees, and proceeded to the canal at Seabrooke. The Rev. E. Langdon read the following paper on FRESHWATER MOLLUSKS: The mollusca, or mollusks, form one of the most numerous specifically and individually, and the most widely distributed, both in time and space, of all the great divisions of the animal kingdom. Most widely distributed in time, for geologically we find their remains embedded in all rocks of sedimentary origin, from the very oldest to the most recent ; the most widely distributed in space, for in every quarter of the globe where life can be supported the mollusca in some form are met with. Called mollusks from the softness of their bodies, they have no articulated skeleton nor vetebral canal. Their nervous system is not united as in the vertebrata by a spinal cord, but scattered about in nervous masses, disposed in various parts of the body; the principal one, or brain, if we may so call it, forming a nervous collar or ring round the gullet. A large number of them have no head or brain, as having no need of nerves for the transmission of the impressions received by organs of special sense. In them, the inlet for food is simply an opening or beginning of the alimentary canal, without jaws, tongue, or mouth, properly so called, All the remaining mollusks are provided with a head, which generally support feelers, or tentacles as they are called, eyes, and a mouth armed with jaws. So that we at once get a good division of them into two classes, both of which I hope I shall be able to shew you to-day: ACEPHALA, or mollusks without heads. ENNcePpuas, or mollusks with heads. The headless mollusks all live in the water, and are divided intu three further classes : Tunicata, Brachiopoda, and Lamellibranchiata, . Of these, the first two I will pass over, as we shall be unable to obtain any practical knowledge of them to-day, merely pausing to make one remark about the Brachiopoda. They are among the most abundant of the molluscous remains that the geologist finds in the early deposits, and very abundant in all up to the time of the chalk, after which they become less frequent; but the point to which I wish to call especial attention is that the geologist knows somewhere about 3,000 species, whereas in our own times only 13 species are known, and those very difficult to be procured, fo) FRESHWATER MOLLUSKS. But to leave them for the Lamellibranchiata, of which I hope the canal will furnish us some specimens. Bearing in mind that all mollusks with a double shell are set down as “ oysters,” ‘“ cockles,” or “mussels,” by the uninitiated, I beg youall to keep a good look out to-day for “ mussels” and “ cockles.” Now just a word or two about the way in which these Lamellibran- chiata are grouped. When they are in their ordinary condition you will see them in the water with one or more tubes projecting from the partly open shell for inhaling and exhaling the surrounding fluid; but if they are disturbed or alarmed in any way the two shells are drawn close together. Now you will ask, how do they close their shells? In a very simple manner, by having a muscle attached to each shell, which they have the power of expanding or contracting at their will, very much like those India rubber springs with which doors are sometimes kept closed. Now some of these Lamellibranchiata have one of these muscles attached to each shell, and form a class called the Monomyaria, or one- muscled Lamellibranchiates. Of these the oyster is a common example, and the next time you have an oyster shell in your hand, you will see on it'a scar where the muscle was attached. Of this group we find only one in freshwater in our country; and I fear we must not expect to find it to-day, although it is far from improbable that there are some to be met with in this canal. Others of the Lamellibranchiata have two of these muscles attached to each shell, and are called Dimyaria, or two-muscled Lamellibran- chiates ; these are the “cockies” and “mussels.” In them you will see two scars on each shell. 1st. The Anodonta cygnea, or Swan Mussel, of which we may, I hope, be fortunate enough to obtain specimens three or four inches in length, and which have been known to attain as great a measurement as nine inches. 2nd. Unio, a smaller and rounder mussel than the preceding, of which there are three species, that I shall be happy to name if any gentleman finds specimens. 3rd. Cyclas, a kind of freshwater cockle, of which there are five species, all small, the largest barely an inch across. Ath. Pisidiwm, another cockle, of which there are seven species, the largest no bigger than a pea. These are all the Lamellibranchiates to be found in English fresh water. We must now turn to the Encephala, or mollusks with heads. These are divided into (a) Pteropoda, creatures that swim by two wing-like muscular expansions extended outwards from the sides of the head, There are only three or four modern genera, all found in salt water. (bo) The Cephalopoda, creatures having their feet_or organs of motion attached to their head, so that literally it is a question whether they stand on their head or their heels, as the expression is. These we FRESHWATER MOLLUSKS. 9 shall not find in freshwater; but you are most of you familiar with some of them, such as the Ammonite, Belemnite, Squid, and Cuttlefish. And lastly (c), the Gastropoda, creatures that creep by means of a muscular disc attached to their belly, such as the slug and snail. It is with this class, and with those members of it called the freshwater snails, that we have the most to do to-day. We shall, however, find a shell named Swuecinea, which although an air-breathing and not a water-breathing mollusk, is never found except in wet places. I shall hope to point it out to you presently. The genus Succinea contains three species. Next we come to four families of shells, the inhabitants of which breath both air and water, and can, consequently, live on mud and on the banks of rivers a short time, although water is their more congenial element. Ist. Pla~orbis, shaped somewhat like an Ammonite, of which there are eleven British species, and of which we may hope to find some specimens, at any rate Planorbis complanatus, which is flat one side and has a sharp keel; and, perhaps, Planorbis crista, a small, delicate, ribbed shell, with which I made my first practical acquaintance in this canal about five weeks ago. ‘ 2nd. Physa, of which there are two species: always coiled to the left, as you will see if you find a specimen by holding it with the aper- ture facing you and the apex or spire upwards: the aperture then will appear on the left hand side. The common snails are coiled to the right, and a left-handed garden snail would be a rich prize as there are not a dozen in the British Museum. Physa may be easily recognised by its body being much too large for its shell. Its shell, too, is very bright, its occupant continually polishing and cleaning it by portions of its body folded up over its shell like little fingers; we may take it home as a model for housewives, if we can succeed in finding a specimen. Physa has the property of letting itself down from the top of the water, or from the leaf of a water plant, by a thread of mucus. This has been doubted by several able authorites, among them the late Lovell Reeve ; but I have had the good fortune to witness it my- self, and experimented on it in the presence of some friends with such conclusive results that the above-mentioned eminent conchologist ex- pressed himself perfectly satisfied when I gave him an account of my investigations. 3rd. Lymnea, the commoner family of water snails, of which wo have eight in Great Britain, of which ono is confined to Ireland and two others are very rarely met with. We shall find, [ hope, to-day, at any rate two species, L. limosa, also known as L. peregra; and L. palustris, a shell easily recogised by the malleated appearance of its surface as if it had been hammered all over. Nor do I see any reason, except in the fact that 1 have not yet 10 FRESHWATER MOLLUSKS. met with them in this canal, why we may not expect to find *L. awvi- cularia, a pretty shell in the shape of an ear, L. stagnalis, the largest British species, and L. truncatula, making, in all, five out of the eight. If not in this canal, we must not, I think, at any rate rest satisfied until we have found them somewhere in the neighbourhood. 4th. Ancylus, or freshwater Limpet, of which there are two species. They are usually found adhering to stones or water weeds, more com- monly the former, unless found in situations with a very muddy bottom. O: the two, they rather prefer clear to stagaant water, although they will live for years in a healthy aquarium. They are both small; the larger, Ancylus fluviatilis, never exceeding half an inch in diameter. This completes my list of those that respire both air and water, and they are all, like the common snail, without an operculum or trap- door with which some mollusks shut themselves in when they retire within their shell. We now come to those that are provided with an operculum, such as you must have noticed in the common periwinkle. Of these we have in England two genera, which, like the common snail, breathe air only ; but these I pass over as foreign to our purpose to-day. The re- mainder (there are but five families) respire water only. 1st. Of these I pass over one, Dr. Gray’s Assiminea, as it has been only as yet found in the River Thames. 2nd. Bythinia, a genus of pretty mollusks of which there are three species, and of which we must make up our minds to find one at least. The animal when crawling puts forth two white, elegantly-curved ten- tacles, and is, altogether, a genteel looking creature and exeeedingly dainty in an aquarium, choosing out for itself all the youngest and most tender bits of water weed. 3rd. Paludina: Of this there are two species, not particularly easy to distinguish. These are certainly by far the handsomest of our fresh-water shells. The colour of the shellis a dark olive green with three purple bands running round it; the animal which is shy and unlike the peacock, not fond of exhibiting itself, is of a rich dark umber tint, covered with minute yellow dots, suggesting the idea of gold dust. It has the peculiar characteristic of hatching its young in the ovary, and ejecting them when alive three or four at a time when they are about two months old. Whenever I have found in the breeding season shells of these creatures with the operculum perfect, in which the animal had perished, 1 have invariably found two or three of the young fry also, about # of an inch in diameter. 4th. Valvata, of which there are two species. This is a small animal generally found adhering to stones and sticks in still and gently running waters. The animal is pretty, being almost *This shell was found on the day in which this paper was read. FRESHWATER MOLLUSKS. 11 milk white, its blue-black eyes showing conspicuously at the base of each tentacle. It has two characteristics almost peculiar to itself ; one is, two almost crescent-shaped projections on either side of the front of the foot, reminding one somewhat of the feet of birds in Noah’s Arks. The other is its branchia, or breathing apparatus, which is somewhat like a feather, and is sometimes protruded outside the shell above the head, protected by a third tentacle, which curls about as a sentry to see that the coast is clear. Both the species are small. 5th and last. Neritina of which we have but one British species. It is not unlike in shape to Nerita, the little yellow shell that is so common on our coasts on rocks at low tide. It may be found on stones or on the gravelly bottom of rivers and streams, but not, I fear in the still waters of the canal. Before closing my paper, I must make a few remarks on the order generally. Some of them are hermaphrodites ; i.e. contain the male and female organs in one individual ; others have the sexes distinct. Some bring forth their young alive, without any distinct eggs ; others like Paludina hatch their eggs within their body. They have no distinct organ of smelling as yet discovered, although they undoubtedly, for the most -part, possess that sense. The organs of hearing in some of them are very curious. They consist of two round cells containing fluid and crystalline particles, called otolites or ear stones, which, by means of minute hairs or ciliz, spin round and round at a tremendous pace, and will continue to do so for some hours after they have been removed from the animal, when the ciliz stiffen and drop off and all motion ceases. The best creature for obtainiug these otolites from is Paludina, the handsome purple-banded shell I have spoken of. The organs of respiration vary; some have branchia, or gills, some have lungs, and some both. The tongue is, in all the Gastropoda, an organ for the attrition of its food. It could not, one would think, con- vey any sense of taste to the so-called brain, as it is of a silicious or flinty nature. 1t forms a beautiful object for the microscope. There are many other objects of exceeding interest connected with these animals; their microscopic appearance in the early stages of de- velopment, their distribution throughout the globe, theories connected with origin and range of species, which I hope, with the leave of the president and committee, to discuss on a future occasion in a paper on the land mollusks. I can only conclude by recommending any who desire to become further acquainted with these interesting creatures to search for them- selves, and to set up an aquarium, by which alone any real knowledge of their habits and other points of interest connected with them can be acquired; and I shall be most happy to render any assistance in the way of instruction or advice to those desirous of doing so, and also to lend and recommend books on the subject. 12 THE MICROSCOPE. I should be glad to be shewn any new specimens that any member may find now or hereafter, as I am forming a catalogue of the local species. Nets and bottles then made their appearance, and a good collection of shells, &c., was procured among the members. Among them were—Lymnea limosa, L. palustris, Succinea gracilis, Bythinia tentaculata, B. Leachit, Planorbis complanatus, Cyclas ovalis, with fragments of Anodonta cygnea, and var. anatina. Several new members were added. SOIREE, MAY 33th. A microscopical soirée was held at the President’s residence, at which about forty members were present. Fifteen micro- scopes were provided for the occasion, all well supplied with objects. The President read the following paper on THE MICROSCOPE: The microscope is an instrument of great antiquity; indeed, there is no doubt that it was in use in its simplest form—namely, a globe of glass filled with water, at a period long antecedent to the birth of Christ. Seneca and Pliny, both of whom were born at the commence- ment of the Christian era, mention lenses made with glass or water ; and Ptolemy speaks of magnifying glasses and refraction in his work on Optics. This, however, was the microscope in its most primitive and simple form—a single lens of glass or water. It was not until the middle of the 17th century that the compound microscope, consisting of a combination of lenses, came into limited use; these microscopes were large, unwieldy tubes, with the objects fixed in them. Very un- familiar instruments they must have been, for we read about this time of a travelling philosopher who fell ill with fever and died in a certain town. The municipal authorities examined his effects, and found an immense brass tube, some six feet long, which on peeping into they found to contain his familiar demon, an immense monster of a very “uncanny” appearance. Of course, the philosopher was refused Christian burial; and it was not until some time had elapsed that an adventurous burgess, who had succeeded in unscrewing the end of the THE MICROSCOPE. 13 apparatus, was astonished to find that the philosopher’s familiar demon was nothing more formidable than the familiar flea, Although the microscope was known so many centuries ago, it is really only within the last 30 years that it has been brought to its present state of per- fection. During that time it has made giant strides, and has advanced from being a scientific toy, giving a confused and coloured image, to its position of pioneer in the investigation of every mystery of nature. I myself can remember when a lens witha quarter-inch focal distance, magnifying 200 diameters, was the highest power known; and when, about ten years since, a 1-26th of an inch lens was manufactured by one of our enterprising opticians, it was considered, and indeed is, a mar- vel of delicate workmanship. Since then, however, they have suc- ceeded in making lenses with a focal distance of 1-50th, and within the last few weeks 1-70th of an inch, and magnifying between 4,000 and 5,000 diameters. I should perhaps mention, that the power of a lens is known by the distance at which it is held from the object mag- nified. This is the instrument with which we now penetrate deeper and deeper into the secrets of nature, and solve doubts and problems which only a few years ago seemed hopeless mysteries. It was by the aid of the microscope M. Trembley first discovered that wonderful creature the hydra, or fresh water polype. I suppose there is no other creature on earth which could undergo and flourish on such treatment as this can. It is nothing that it propagates itself by buds like a plant, and that any part cut off is reproduced ; but you may cut off or slit up its heads, and each piece will produce a new one; you may cut it in halves or quarters, and produce two or four new creatures ; you may turn it inside out, so that what is now stomach becomes outer skin, and vice versa. You may splice two or three individuals together, head to head, tail to tail, or head of one to the tail of the other, and they will become one animal, not only without injury, but with every sign of placid enjoyment. In observations made with the microscope, errors will, of course, sometimes arise, not from any fault of the instrument, but from want of care in observation. Thus there was great dispute some years since as to the real form of the blood corpuscles. The blood consists, as most of you know, of a colourless fluid, in which float numerous red and white discs called blood corpuscles. Well, some observers de- scribed them as globular, others as flattened discs, a third as slightly convex, a fourth as highly convex, a fifth as concave, &c. ; whereas the form of a corpuscle in freshly drawn blood is a circular disc, with slightly concave surfaces, the differences of form being produced by maceration, or soaking in water or other fluids, during or before the time of observation. One of the most curious results of microscopic research is the much greater certainty with which it enables us to give to various creatures and plants their right places in creation. Great obscurity prevailed among the older microscopists as to what they termed animalcules. There are sometimes not less than 27 varietios of 14 THE MICROSCOPE. animalcules ina single drop of water, bearing, as we now know, no further resemblance one to the other than their microscopic size; some are plants, some are animals, though which is which, is, or was, difficult to devide. Many a fierce debate has been held, many a fiery word spoken on this subject; for even natural philosophers are not devoid of angry feelings. The borderline separating the animal and vegetable kingdom has long been debateable ground, and the tribes in close contiguity on either side have constantly, though unconsciously, shifted sides, now being claimed by the animal philosophers, now by the vegetarians. Now, some unmistakeable spontaneous motion being discovered, they are given up to the animal world; then their outer coverings yield un-doubted evidence of starch, and they are claimed as true vegetables. There is one specimen in particular, the Volvow Globatov which has changed sides so often, that could it be supposed to posesss our finer feelings, it must be quite ashamed of itself. Fora long time it was considered an unmistakeable animal, as it whirled round in the water by the aid of its ciliz or hair-like appendages, and was described as possessing an eye, a mouth, and several stomachs. There is now, how-ever, no donbt as to its vegetable character. Perhaps you will say, what is the difference between a plant and a lower animal? Well, the boundary line is faint, and somewhat uncertain, and there is no one characteristic mark by which to distinguish one from the other. Certainly spontaneous motion is not one; for so frequent is it among vegetables, that I really think the safest plan for the young microscopist is, when he sees anything he is quite con- vinced is an animal, to at once put it down as belonging to the vegetable kingdom. Perhaps the most practical test is that given by Carpenter— the dependence of the animal for nutriment on organic compounds taken into the interior of its body; of the vegetable, its power of obtaining its own alimentary matter from inorganic material on its exterior. At any rate these are the characteristics of the animal and vegetable world asa whole. For while we find the simplest animals, the Protozoa, nothing more in fact than a mass of jelly, deriving their nourishment as much from other animals and plants as we do from beef or potatoes, so we find the Protophyta, the humblest class of plants, drawing their support from water, carbonic acid, and ammonia (inorganic compounds), and liberating oxygen and absorbing carbonic acid, in the same manner as the most highly organised plants. The microscope has been most invaluable in investigating many diseases, or blights, as they were called. Thus it was discovered that the silkworm disease (muscardine),which annually carried off immense numbers of silkworms, was a fungous vegetation; that that most troublesome malady to which our country men north of the Tweed are more particularly liable, and which James I. said no one but a king should be allowed to have, is caused by the burrowing of a small insect (Acarus scabei) beneath the skin: and what is stil the more important, we have within the last few years discovered the THE MICROSCOPE. 15 Trichina spiralis, a little spiral worm, which is generated in the muscles of unwholesome pork, and is the cause of a frightful disease if taken into the human body. It is for this reason, I should perhaps mention, that it is so very necessary pork should be always thoroughly cooked, or this animalcule is very tena- cious of life, and will live through any but the fiercest heat. That troublesome disease called ringworm is now known to be of vegetable origin, consisting of a fungoid growth; and the same may, to a certain extent, be said of the thrush to which infants are so liable, and even of diptheria. By the aid of the microscope it was discovered that all things, animal and vegetable alike, are but a conglomeration of cells. In the lower forms of life, each individual cell may be considered perfect in itself, forming sometimes the entire individual, and capable of independent life; in man and the higher animals the whole complex organisation is gradually developed from the multiplication and secre- tion of a single cell; this, however, is far too vast and abstruse to be more than alluded to in a fugitive paper like the present. Another very interesting result of microscopic discoveries is the curious meta- morphosis or transformation that goes on in the lower animals during the different stages of life. We are all familiar with the change which takes place from the tadpole into the frog; but this, which we are accustomed to consider an exception, appears rather to be the rule in the lower organisations. I shall show you presently the larva of the Mayfly, swimming and diving through the water like some ugly little fish, and as unlike the light aerial fly which it ultimately becomes as any two objects can be. Again, there is not much similarity between ‘a crab and a barnacle, yet in their earlier stages they are like Pompey and Czesar, very much alike, both very much like the little water flea. Indeed the very youthful crab was at one time considered and described as a perfect adult animal of the water-flea class; it must therefore be quite impossible for a parent to know its own offspring. The wonders which reward evena superficial knowledge of the micro- scope are far too numerous to be alluded to in the limits of this paper; for what can be more interesting than to watch the circulation of the blood corpuscles in the living animal, and then to compare it with the analogous process which goes on in plants, and is so well seen in the Valisneria, &c.? What more wonderful object in nature than the com- pound eyes of many of our common insects, which are made up of hun- dreds and thousands of separate eyes placed side by side, each eye provided with iris, retina, and optic nerve? The common fly is pro- vided with no less than 4,000 eyes; while the cabbage butterfly has 17,000, the dragon-fly 24,000, and the Mordella beetle no less than 25,000. To the zoologist the assistance of the microscope is invalu- able. By its aid he can determine from the minutest portion of bone or tooth, not only the natural family, but the genus and species to which its animal possessor belonged. The geologist again is not less indebted to this wonderful instrument, for by its aid he is able to 16 THE MICROSCOPE. determine the nature of various deposits which would be quite inscrut- able to the naked eye. By this means it has been discovered that the calcareous shelled foraminifera constitute a large proportion of the chalk deposits, and that the silicious or flinty coverings of the diatoms form extensive flinty deposits; and this is the way in which some geologists account for the layers of flint in chalk formations, the pre- sence of which was at one time a source of great speculation. The whole city of Richmond is built upon a layer of infusorial earth 18 feet thick, and extending to unknown limits; while the remains of foraminifera form a band often 1,800 miles in breadth and of enormous thickness, that may be traced from the Atlantic shores of Europe and Africa through Western Asia to India and China, as well as over large areas of North America. The material of which the pyramids are built consists of remains of a species of foraminifera known as nummu- lites. Indeed, miuute fossil remains, often too small to be recognised without the aid of the microscope, constitute no small portion of the crust of the earth. The Greensand, for example, which underlies the chalk, is composed chiefly of silicious casts of the interior of forami- nifera and minute molluscs. And lastly, in the discovery of crime the microscope plays no unimportant part. By its means many of the vegetable poisons are detected ; and especially is it of use in deciding whether stains are produced by blood or other fluids, for although the blood discs bear a general family resemblance, there are marked differences between the blood of man and some other animals. This was well exemplified recently, where there was a train of circum- stantial evidence pointing to the guilty man, and where, although there was no moral doubt of his having committed the murder (he had cut the throat of a young girl), there was just one legal link wanted to complete the chain, which was supplied thus: the man had carefully washed his clothes; no stain could be identifted as blood; even the knife found in his pocket had evidently been carefully wiped, but on removing the blade a small dark-coloured mark was discovered in the hinge, which being scraped off and placed under the microscope dis- played unequivocal evidence of being blood; nay, more, a few epithe- lial cells peculiar to the lining of the air passages were also found mingled with it; and from this evidence the microscopist was not only able to pronounce with certainty that the stain was blood, but that the blood had flowed from the windpipe of a human being. And if you seek, reader, rather for pleasure than for wisdom, you can find it in Nature, pure and undefiled. Happy, truly, is the Natu- ralist. He hath no time for melancholy dreams. The earth becomes to him transparent; everywhere he sees significancies, harmonies, laws, chains of cause and effect endlessly interlinked, which draw him out of the narrow sphere of self-interest and self-pleasing, into a pure and wholesome region of solemn joy and wonder.—C. Kinesey. FERTILIZATION OF ORCHIDS. 17 FIELD DAY, JUNE 6th. About forty members assembled at Tower, No. 2, and pro- ceeded to the Warren, where the Rev. C. L. Acland, read a paper on THE FERTILIZATION OF ORCHIDS. I have been asked, on the occasion of this, the third of our pleasant rambles, to read a paper on Orchidaceous plants, or more shortly Orchids. Considering that Sowerby enumerates 44 orchids as natives of the British Islands, and distributes them among 14 genera, it is obvious that an exhaustive account even of our own orchids, would require a treatise rather than a paper. Considering moreover that this family of plants is perhaps without exception the most extraordinary of the whole vegetable world; that it presents wonders of form, diversities of colour, strange- ness of smell far beyond that shown by any other class of plants that we know, it becomes again evident that I can do my subject but scant justice in the short time I can now ask you to devote to listening to me, I have therefore thought it best to confine my attention to one apparently mi- nute, but really most interesting point connected with the subject of orchidaceous plants, the story namely of their birth, and I will beg your attention while I point out to you the principles on which, from the tiny Dwarf Orchis of our chalk hills to the gigantic Angrecum sesquipedale of the Madagascar Forests, the agency of insects is absolutely essential to the fertilization of the plants, and so to the continuance of the different species. I may mention, in passing, a peculiarity about the roots of most, if not all, of our perennial orchids. Although perennial, that is, coming up year after year, the plant does not come up from the same root two years in succession. Notice the double bulb of this root. One of these bulbs has given rise to the plant now in my hand, the other is ready to give rise to the plant of next year, last year’s bulb has rotted off in the ground. Each successive year the plant, the same plant observe, springs from a new root, and as these new roots are always developed in the same direction from the old one, always to the right or always to the left, the plant actually moves from year to year, and at the end of several years is some inches from its original position. Any amount of this kind of work however, so long as one bulb of this year gives but one bulb for next year, could lead to no increase in the number of individual plants. The orchids do not, like the lilies, throw out fresh bulbs in all directions, so that a single plant becomes in turn a patch; each bulb produces its one successor and no more, and the chance destruction of an individual plant would at once and for ever lessen by one, the number of individuals in existence but for the propagation by seed, of which I must now speak. C 18 THE PLANORBIS COMPLANATUS. Let me ask you to call to mind the flower of the White Lily. All of you know it with its beautiful white petals, bright yellow stamens, and Jong green pistils, or rather three pistils joined in one—confiuent pistils they are called—standing in the middle of the yellow stamens. At a certain period of the year, the stamens become covered with a yellow easily-removed dust ; the noses of most of us, no doubt, have been discoloured by it before now. At precisely the same period, the top of the green pistils, called the stigma, becomes sticky, and as a breath of air, an insect, a nose, it may be, removes the yellow powder or pollen from the anthers, some of it gets on to the sticky pistil, each particle which does so begins to grow, throws out a long thin thread, which runs down one or other of the hundreds of tubes of which the stalk of the pistil is formed, like a bundle of straws on a small scale, and makes its way into the ovary, there to fertilise some one of the many seeds it finds waiting for it. This process must take place with all seed-bearing plants, properly so called. Cut away the sta. mens from the flower, and unless pollen is brought from a neigbouring flower, the pistil is of no use, for the seeds cannot be fertilized ; remove the pistil and the pollen is wasted. In most plants this fertilization is very easily effected, as the pollen dust “sits lightly on its throne,” and is removed by any slight shaking, or chance crawling of an insect. (To be continued.) THE PLANORBIS COMPLANATUS, Or Haxperiences of Aquarium Life. AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. I was born, at least as far as I can ascertain, in the River Cherwell, a tributary of the Isis, and must have lived there about three months, when 2 revolution took place in my fortunes, to which I may trace the origin of the following eventful history. Phew! how hot that summer was. I thought I should have been boiled, at least I felt a very curious sensation, although at the time I did not know it was boiliug. Well, one day I was fioating lazily on the surface of the water, when the whole of the liquid element was rocked fearfully, and seemed to rise and fall in hollows and eminences, up and down which I was borne in great consternation. ‘Dear me” thought I, “I had better go down,” and was just drawing in my head for that purpose when I felt a blow that shook my whole house, and quite unsettled my stomach. This had scarcely passed before I felt myself lifted up into the air upon something which reminded me of the palings THE PLANORBIS COMPLANATUS. _ 19 at the side of the river, on the corners and crevices of waich I was accustomed to hide myself in stormy weather, only much whiter and smoother. This I afterwards learnt was what they call in the upper world an Oar. ‘Oh it is only a Planorbis Complanatus”’ exclaimed some gigantic being near me, ‘‘ throw it in again;” to which another human monster replied ‘“‘you may as well keep it, you have not too many.” This conversation I listened to as you may believe with mingled feelings. In the first place my mother poor thing, she died before I came, though my egg shell had given no information about my origin and family, and consequently this was the first time I had heard my name. My family I knew was very ancient as I had heard from some conversation with an elder brother, and I have since heard that a great authority on genealogies, a Mr. Darwin has declared that we are descended from the distinguished family Pleurosigma, a noble branch of the famous raee of Diatoms. Again I was indignant at the small estimation in which the first speaker regarded me, so I drew in my head and determined not to look at him; and indeed for what seemed to me a very long period, I was subject to such fearful concussions, that had I been enabled to stifle my feelings fear would have prevented me from stirring. Consequently what elapsed during these to me trying hours is better imagined than described. My next recollection is a cessation of these direful jars to which I had been subject, and a sensation of coolness owing to my being once more in an atmosphere of water. Having remained quiet for some litile time, I ven- tured to put my head out and rise to the top. I had scarcely done so when a horrible monster with dingy red scales, a vulgar brute I can assure you, mistaking me in his blindness for a caddis worm no doubt, or some other low thing upon which he feeds, opened his mouth and swallowed me house andall. This was not to be tolerated by apersonage of so good family as myself, so I made a hard bite at his inside and forced him to let me go again all up his red mouth, and I flatter myself that I cured him of suchrude inconsiderate behaviour. Ifancy alsothe style of architecture in which our family have always been accustomed to build their house must have rather teased him, we always have a sharp angular moulding all round it, which I think must have scratched his throat in an unpleasant way. As soon as I had recovered my usually quiet demeanour, for I am not accustomed to such rudeness, I began to crawl over the stones at the bottom of the water, but I had not gone far before I came to a sort of barrier which puzzled me exceedingly, for I did not see it until close to it, and then knocked my head against it. I conclude it was a sort of stone, but quite smooth, and I could see through it, and what should I see but the monster who slighted me so in the river; however, I determined not to appear disconcerted, especially as there was a barrier between us, and I began crawling up it. I soon to my delight met one of my family, but on looking closer saw that he had not got the sharp moulding round his house which we always pride ourselves on, and thought of passing by, but began to entertain a feeling of reverence towards him when I saw how wrinkled he was and what a long green beard he had, nearly three 20 THE PLANORBIS COMPLANATUS. times his own length; so I determined to speak to him, so I bade him ‘‘ good morning ” and asked him “how he fared.” ‘ Very well as things go” said he, ‘‘only this weed incommodes me so much I can hardly crawl.” Iyvremarked that I had been admiring his beard, and thought it his only redeeming point, as he lived in such an ugly house. ‘ Ah!” said he, shaking his feelers indignantly, ‘‘ 1 see how it is, you are evidently a yonng upstart, and when I come to look at you I see that you are not a Planorbis corneus, only a distant branch of our family, a Planorbis com- planatus, called so because your house is plain. Plain you always were and plain you always will be. Phew! how hot it is, no room to move or breathe.’ The old gentleman seemed in a talkative mood, so I thought I would just swallow his taunts and listen. ‘‘It is all because of this American weed. My great-great-great-great grandmother was alive when it was first introduced, and a fine fuss there was about it, and many were the long names they called it. My great grandmother would have nothing to do with the vulgar stuff, although some of the youngsters used to go and poke their noses into it (they were as ignorant as you). She always said that these new-fangled notions (reform forsooth!) would never do; she never lived to see her words come true, but I have, and here it is like all reforms, sweeping away everything that is good, and forcing itself upon us. Where are all the pretty Starworts, and other delightful institu- tions gone? they must make way for master Yankee. Where is the sweet little water Crowfoot? It must make way for master Yankee; why even the duckweed which I used to eat floating on my back at the top of the water has no room to live in, and all because master Yankee wants more room, and so master Yankee has choked us np (I wish he would choke himself) till the water can’t sparkle, and we can’t crawl, but get covered with this nasty green weed, which you, young green-horn mistook for a beard. But I must not stop talking to you any longer, I want something to eat.’”’ So we parted, and I started forth determined to see the world. I could not help thinking of what Planorbis corneus had told me; though sometimes when he used hard words I did not understand him, but I held down my head, and inclined my feelers downwards, as people do when they want to look wise or are in profound thought, and although at times the opinions he seemed to hold were jarring to my feelings, especially when he made personal remarks, yet I could not help entertaining a sort of respect for his profound knowledge and sagacity. However, I must tell you about my travels. I had not gone far before I heard a fairy voice above me singing— ‘See me toil and see me spin, None but those who strive can win.”’ T looked up and saw the most delicate little house with a pretty little lady in it, sailing gracefnlly down. ‘‘Take care you dirty thing,” she said, ‘‘ Why don’t you get out of the way,” and, before I could reply, dropped down at my feet. ‘‘ Oh, you pretty creature,” I said. ‘ None of your nonsense,’’ she replied, ‘‘may be I’m pretty, may be I'm not; at THE PLANORBIS COMPLANATUS. : 21 any rate I'm clean, which is more than can be said of you. Why you never clean your house ; I met a relative of yours as I came down, he had three inches of nasty green weed dangling about, and nearly broke my ladder rolling about; I can’t think why the waywardens don’t tell such people not to stop the thoroughfares.” She was indeed very pretty, and I was so lost in admiration that I scarcely knew what to say, but I made bold to ask her how she kept her house so clean and shining. ‘‘ Oh, because I have been educated properly,’’ said she, ‘‘ My mother always said that all her daughters should know how to look after their own establishment, and quite right too, so I’m never idle; I don’t mind a chat, but you must excuse my rubbing up my ceiling a bit.” I could not see the necessity, it shone like a bead of gold, but I noticed that she kept five or six busy fingers at work, reaching out from the door of her house, and carefully polishing the roof and walls; and one thing I saw, which seemed to me strange in so dexterous a lady,—she was left-handed. Her complexion was as fair as a lily, and all her motions showed me that she must be descended from distinguished parentage. Shecame down by a pretty rope of the most delicate silk with an ease that would have puzzled all the female Blondins that ever existed. I ventured to ask her name. ‘* Physa,’”’ she said, ‘‘ but it is a great liberty to take with a strange lady ; however, one does not expect much from boys like you. Now I would lay a wager,” says she, ‘“ that you are lounging about doing nothing, talking of seeing the world or something of the kind. Well I don’t mind giving you a hint or two. Perhaps you would like to know something about my family. Once upon a time, years ago, there was a great quarrel between us. A very distant ancestor of mine was one day going abroad for his morning constitutional—we always take exercise soon after sunrise—when he saw one of the family with his house very much out of shape, longer and not so elegant ; besides the rascal had the audacity to build it blacker andless transparent. He re- monstrated with him but to no purpose, the renegade said that he and his wife were not going to be dictated to, they had determined to build their house in this shape, and they wern’t going to alter it for all the world; why should they always go on in the conventional way, they would strike out a new line for themselves and form a noble family. Such a thing as this was not to be passed over, my ancestor called a council of the oldest and most experienced in our tribe, and it was unanimously deter- mined that they should be banished from the clear water, so they went away and lived in moss, and people called them Physa hypnoruwm. They are, I believe, a large family, but they live a secluded life and are seldom to be seen, and we think ourselves well rid of them. But whatI am going to tell you now is not creditable to us; a part of our family have determined to give up their cleanly habits, and you may sce them some- times about in black muddy places; however, like all vicious people, they suffer for it, and instead of being like I am (here she looked down over her white neck and shoulders) their bodies are almost black. ‘‘ What can you expect from a pig but a grunt?” said I ‘‘Very true,” she said, you have 22 CORRESPONDENCE. more sense now than I gave you credit for. However I must go, and take one word of advice before I go. As you are going about to see the world remember one thing; it is no disgrace to draw in one’s horns, and so I advise you to be never ashamed of doing so; if you will be bumptious you will meet with some hard blows in this world and wont find every one as considerate as I am.’ I was going to make some pretty speech to the effect. that the advice of so sweet a lady could not fail to be excellent, but while I was thinking of a proper phrase to express it in, she had disappeared up her ladder and I heard her voice above me ‘Toil and spin, toil and spin, None but those who strive can win.” (To be continued.) CORRESPONDENCE. All communications should be addressed to Mr. H. ULLyeEtt, ‘olkestone. We shall be glad to receive notes concerning any of our local plants and animals, times of appearance, abnormal forms and colours, popular names and traditions, ce. These must be authenticated by the writer's name and address, but not necessarily for publication. To the Editor of the Quarterly Journal of the Folkestone Natural History Society. Sir,—I shall esteem it a favour if any of your readers can assist me in discovering the origin of the following names of British plants : Pagle: This name variously spelt Paigle, Pagle, Pagel, Peagle, Peg- yll, Peggle, and Pygil, is now applied to the Cowslip (Primula veris). The Bulbous Crowfoot (Ranunculus bulbosus) has, how- ever, been so called; and Gerarde assigns the name ‘“ Pagle,” and a somewhat similar one, ‘‘ Pygie,”’ to the Great Stitchwort (Stellaria Holostea). Kingfingers : Applied to the Early Purple Orchis (Orchis mascula), a plant called also ‘‘ Bloody-man’s fingers,’ ‘‘ Kingfisher,” and “ Gid- dygander.” John Georges: A Buckingham- shire name for the Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris). Church-brooms: A name given in Essex to the Teasel (Dipsacus sylvestris ). What is the origin cf the name ‘“« Charlock,” applied to the Wild Mustard (Sinapis arvensis and S. alba)? Other forms of this word are—Chedlock, Chadlock, Curlick, Curlock, Ketlock, and Kadlock. In Cheshire another yellow-flowered weed, the Ragwort, is called ‘‘Kadle-dock.”’ Have ‘‘Kadle-dock”’ and ‘‘ Kadlock”’ the same origin ? JAMES BRITTEN. High Wycombe. [By the kindness of a corre- spondent, we are able to insert an answer to Mr. Britten’s question in this number.] —Ep. NOTES AND QUERIES. 23 When Anglo-Saxon words are transferred into modern English the labials B and P are often inter- changed. The word “ Pagle’’ or ‘‘ Peagle,”’ applied to the Cowslip, is compounded of two Anglo-Saxon words—‘ Beag,”’ ‘‘ Beah,”’ ‘‘ Beh,” or ‘‘ Beeh,”’ a garland or crown, and **Gylden,”’ ‘‘Gelden,’’ ‘* Gealde,” or ‘* Gelde,” golden or yellow ; thus “‘ Beah-Gelde,’”’ Golden-Garland. Michael Drayton, in describing the wedding garlands of his day, says i— To sort these flowers of show with others that were sweet, The Cowslip then they couch, or Oxlip for her meet. It is just possible that the term ** John Georges,” as applied to the Marsh Marigold, may be a corrup- tion of the Anglo-Saxon words **Geond,” over or through, and ‘“‘Geres,”’ a fen or marsh, in allu- sion to its habital. No doubt the Common Teazel _ was called ‘‘ Church-brooms”’ from its resemblance to the long-handled ‘‘ Turk’s-head ” brooms with which they sweep the cobwebs from church ceilings, &c. The modern word ‘‘ Charlock’’ or “ Garlock,” is derived from the Anglo-Saxon ‘ Cawel,” ‘‘ Cawl,” or “ Cael,” cale or cabbage, and “Teac,” a herb, thus we have ‘‘Gear-leac,” Spear-leak, or Gar- lic, ‘‘ Cerse-leac,” ‘ Cress-leak,’’ or Nasturtion. Many herbs whose seed vessels or flowers bore a fancied resemblance to a purse were called in Anglo-Saxon ‘‘ Codd- leac,” from ‘‘Ceod” or ‘‘ Codd,” a purse or small bag, and ‘‘ Leac,” whence the English word ‘“ Kadle- dock” or ‘‘ Kadlock” is no doubt derived.—C. E. Firz Grab. NOTES AND QUERIES. Tur two Clouded Yellows, Colias Edusa and C. Hyale, have been tolerably plentiful along the Lower Sandgate Road this season.—Q. A sLow-worm of unusual length was brought to us from the War- ren, a short time ago. The body measured eight and a half-inches, and the tail eleven, making a, total of nineteen inches and a half. We were also told that one was taken out of the stomach of a viper that had been killed; this is not a usual meal for him, we believe. Waits VARIETIES OF PLANTS.—- I have obtained white varieties of the following plants from the Warren, viz.—Geranium pratense, Echium Vulgare, Ophrys Apifera, and Campanula Tracheliwm.—C. H. DasHwoop. AnaGauuis TENELLA.—Last sum- mer I found one plant of this pretty and somewhat rare Pimpernel, growing in a damp piece of ground on the Warren. I have not met with any other specimens.—C. H. DasHwoop. 24 NOTES AND QUERIES. Paris QuaprRiroLiaA.—In April, 1867, variety of this plant growing in considerable abundance, in a small wood near Paddlesworth Church.— C. H. Dasuwoop. THe Wasp (Vespa Vulgaris ).— The common wasp may frequently been seen flying in numbers round the flowers of the Water Figwort (Scrophularia Aquatica). For what purpose these insects frequent this particular plant, I am unable to say.—C. H. DasHwoop. Tur Virpgr.—Can any of our readers inform us of any well au- thenticated cases of death resulting from the bite of the viper? We have never been able to trace any re- port to its foundation, and as the question excites some attention among naturalists, we shall be glad of any information on the subject. Meuitea CrnxtA, one of our more uncommon Fritillaries, has been said to occur along the Lower Sandgate Road. We have looked for it in vain, although the situation is favourable, and the food-plant of the caterpillar, Plantago lanceolata, is very plentiful. Have any of our readers met with the butterfly in the neighbourhood at all? I found the five leaved | Five-spotteD Burnet Moty.— I took several of these (Zygena trifolii I believe), in company with | the common six-spotted species, this summer, on the hills west of Cherry Gardens. I captured one good variety, too, having all the spots running into each other.—Q. QuEEN oF Spain FRITILLARY— Argynnis Lathonia.—Hearing that this rare butterfly had been cap- tured at one or two places along the Kentish coast, I paid one or two special visits to the Warren in search of it, but in vain. Mr. W. Purdey, of Grove Terrace, was however, more fortunate, as he took a tolerably good specimen there on September 7th. Henry ULuyerr. Loca Names.—We are particu- larly anxious to obtain as many as possible of the local names of plants and animals (especially birds). The assistance of all who take an interest in the subject is requested. Lists will be gladly acknowledged by the editors, or by James Britten, Esq., High Wy- combe. Want of space compels us to postpone the publication of two or three papers until the next number. es 2 RED eo THE . QUARTERLY JOURNAL 2 OF THE | rc ee Steel ee . |ATURAL | HISTOR Sane aay pee er CONTENTS: Be oe rest , PAGE. & Buttercups aie Spirent) Maus. We tae hace vast d seve eau ae _. Fertilization of Orchids pe ao AS ieavibe lave aire pas fs 2836 Epenbaseumises i ee a Rides th Vase tees The Folkestone Museum ... ... Pi eS Pee i Aes: bet _ Proceedings of the Ponety Uo ES ase Fee Meee: gaan AS a <4 Prizes | a SER sO OATES erg ee oR neem = Winter DM ier Ger ss ta Asea8 tes 8 Conk To Sees WE Pe AD Notes and Oaeries-