portion of the body is, to use "B. C.'s" own words, capable of indefinite extension), that then the extreme portion of the tail is practically never-dying." Of course the fact could only be proved mathematically by observations carried on through countless generations. "B. C." holds a different opinion, and he is perfectly welcome to it; but I cannot help once more asking, wherein lies the difference between my statement, "If so and so happens," &c., or his "Very likely we shall find both of them undergoing new segmentation, or quite as likely both may have perished?" Surely these latter words imply as much doubt, and are as well fitted to "stultify" any prior reasoning as my poor little "if "! I must own to two verbal errors in my account, due to hurried writing. The first is an Hibernicism, as I speak of "exceptions to a universal law." The other is mentioning Nais as if it was an exclusively "marine" genus. The objections made to my somewhat sensational title by Mr. Stewart in the February number of SCIENCE-GOSSIP, are founded on the supposed fact that artificial slips and cuttings invariably die out altogether within a limited, though unknown, period; ergo, the divisions of Nais must do the same. For my own part, I must confess myself to be of the number of those who do not believe in the wearing out of varieties propagated by cuttings. At any rate, I am confident that the subject needs closer and more accurate observation than has yet been aecorded to it, before it can be used as evidence in respect to what takes place in the domains of Nature. Clifton. W. W. SPICER. THE HOLLY TREE. A FEW words in defence of this beautiful old English tree, for such it may, I think, without much error be termed, since, if not actually indigenous, it has been naturalized from days unrecorded, and is now considered by most writers to be a native of Great Britain. I observe that one of the contributors to SCIENCEGOSSIP says the poisonous properties of the berries are not so widely noticed as they should be in different works, but I cannot at this moment call to mind any botanical book of my acquaintance which does not mention them as possessing powerfully emetic and other dangerous qualities. We all know that strong emetics taken unadvisedly are often fatal; still, like most poisonous plants, it has its virtues, and in skilful hands can be made of great use. There is a bitter substance in the leaves of the Holly, known to medical men as Ilicine, which possesses a most valuable febrifuge action. It is as efficacious as quinine, and far less expensive; indeed many persons consider, as it is slightly sedative, that it is a safer remedy in some cases than cin chona, for it mitigates the sensibility of varions organs, where quinine would be likely to increase it. To Dr. Roussea belongs the merit of discovering this medical principle in the Holly leaves, but Ray, Gerard, and other older writers, allude to the remedial virtues of the berries, and prescribe ten or twelve of them as being "good against the colic." If Holly berries are hurtful to children, they decidedly are not so to monkeys: my little pet delights in them. I took him out on the lawn yesterday, and he sprang up into the branches of a splendid Holly tree, and eat considerably over the prescribed dozen before I could entice him down again. Holly wood is used by turners in the making of "Tonbridge ware." It is a very hard, fine wood, and polishes beautifully. A gentleman, a friend of mine, rather devoted to his lathe, made some very charming ornaments of it, and afterwards stained them black: they looked exactly like ebony. Birdlime too is made from the Holly bark. What boy does not know this fact?—that is, unless boys are altered in their habits since I was a little girl; I, in those days, often assisted in making it. I never see a Holly tree in full winter array without thinking of old Evelyn's description of the hedge he planted by Peter the Great's advice at Say's Court: "Glittering with armed and varnished leaves, blushing with natural coral." By the way, writing of "armed " leaves reminds one of Southey's lines to the Holly, Below a circling fence its leaves are seen Wrinkled and keen. No grazing cattle through their prickly round Can reach to wound; But as they grow where nothing is to fear, Smooth and unarmed the pointless leaves appear. The idea is very poetic, but plain matter of fact tells a different tale. The young leaves of the Holly are unspined, because the spine comes with the age of the leaf; hence as the topmost leaves are the most juvenile, they are unarmed, while the lower ones are armed. Poets often run off with a popular fallacy, and clothe it in exquisite language. I was amused last week by some lines in which our yellow garden crocus is, because of its "golden hue," gifted by the author with the saffron-producing qualities of the Crocus sativus. It would be well if others would follow Mr. Newlyn's example in drawing attention to different poisonous plants. The deadly Aconite, for instance, how general it is in cottage gardens, and almost every cottager I have ever spoken to on the subject has been ignorant of its dangerous properties. Then there is the Thorn-apple. I actually found some leaves of this most virulent plant amongst a basket of spinach which my gardener had picked, and my cook was going to dress for dinner one day. HELEN E. WATNEY. THE STAG BEETLE. (Lucanus cervus.) UR illustration of the metamorphoses of the OUR Stag Beetle is 'from Professor Blanchard's recent work on the "Metamorphoses of Insects," already noticed in this journal. This large and formidable-looking beetle is well known to residents in the southern counties. Mr. E. C. Rye writes of it: "This species is not peculiar to the oak, but is found sometimes on willow-the specimens reared from the latter tree being smaller than the oak-fed examples. It is, however, a well-known fact that great differences in size are always found in species of which the larvæ feed on wood; owing to the many variations to which they are subject, from the good or bad quality, or too great or too little moisture, of their food, and the long period during which they remain in the larval state. Mr. G. R. Waterhouse has recorded the fact of his having kept a stag beetle alive for some time, which became comparatively tame, and nipped raspberries, &c., with its mandibles, sucking the juice afterwards with its tongue. In Germany there is (or used to be) a superstition that this beetle carries hot coals in its jaws from place to place. The larva of the stag beetle takes about four years before it assumes the pupa state. It is very large and fleshy, of a semi-transparent yellowish-white colour, with a large reddish head. It is peculiar on account of the anterior part of its body exhibiting certain slight transverse folds-a character at variance with its allies. When mature, it forms a cocoon of chips, in which it undergoes its final metamorphosis. The larva feeds in the solid wood, usually near the bark, and reduces it to a sort of tan. It has been considered to be the 'Cossus' of the Romans." For further information on this and other of our British Coleoptera, we confidently recommend our readers to consult Mr. E. C. Rye's book on "British Beetles, an Introduction to the Study of our Indigenous Coleoptera," published by Reeve & Co., the cover of which glitters with the golden image of the "stag beetle." QUEKETT MICROSCOPICAL CLUB. - The first soirée of this club suffered considerably from the inclemency of the evening; but the second, which was held at University College on March 13th, amply compensated for the misfortunes of the first. This was emphatically a "bumper," and although our space forbids us entering upon the details of what was exhibited, this receives compensation in the second number of the Quekett Miscroscopical Journal, which contains the official report. But one opinion and one feeling prevailed throughout the evening, which may be represented by the one word "SUCCESS." Formerly the Hawfinch was looked upon as quite an uncommon bird in this country, but of late years has been met with more frequently, and, according to Mr. A. G. More,† is "reported as now breeding regularly in Wilts, Kent, Surrey, Essex, Middlesex, and Bucks. The nest has also been found in Dorset, Hants, Sussex, Herts, Berks, Oxford, Suffolk, Norfolk, Warwick, Rutland, Derby, and at Cusworth, near Doncaster." I must except from Mr. More's list the county of Berks from among the latter list of names, and place it among *I do not think the Hawfinch of Japan, by some considered to be a good species, can be separated from C. vulgaris. + Ibis, 1865, p. 128. those in which the Hawfinch breeds regularly. My ornithological observations, taken near Cookham, Berks, have proved that the Hawfinch is a regular breeder in the Duchess of Sutherland's woods at Cliefden, and I have little doubt that it will be found to build in most of the large woods in the south-eastern counties of England; but owing to the extremely wary nature of the bird, it has doubtless been overlooked. * notice. In warm days in March I have heard them, when a number have been sitting together on a tree, uttering a few notes in a soft tone, bearing some resemblance to those of the Bullfinch." I am able to confirm Mr. Doubleday's observations as regards the Hawfinch's partiality for green peas. Mr. Briggs, the head-gardener at Formosa, near Cookham, has shown me Hawfinches which he has shot in the act of pilfering the peas, and which have had their crops distended with them. These are always young birds, as the old ones are far too wary to approach the neighbourhood of habitations in the daytime. Their hour of depredation is in the early morning, when they descend with vigour upon the plum and other fruit trees; and when the gardener rises and comes for his fruit, he finds the ripest gone, and nothing left but the "flesh" of the plums, and the chips of stones, lying strewn under the tree in all directions, while all that can be seen of the marauder is a small bird, conspicuous from the white on the tail, shoulders, and wings, scudding away, like light and is seen no more. Mr. Briggs has often watched the Hawfinches at work, and he tells me the dexterity with which they strip off the fruit to get at the kernels is marvellous. One turn of the head in either direction and the stone is laid bare; then comes a sharp "crack," and the chips fall to the ground, while the bird immediately proceeds to another plum. For procuring this kind of food its hard strong beak is admirably adapted. It may be said that by thus exposing his depredations I am stirring up the enmity of the gardeners against the Hawfinch, but of this I have not much fear. He is able to take care of himself, and where he is not yet known he is likely to remain long so, for of all our English birds there is not one shyer, or more difficult to see. In Epping Forest the Hawfinch used to breed plentifully, and Mr. Henry Doubleday has written. a very interesting account of its habits and nidification. Unfortunately, space will not allow me to quote all his observations entire, but I have ventured to extract the pith, and for the entire essay must refer my readers either to his original article, or to Mr. Gould's magnificent work on the "Birds of Great Britain," where an excellent figure of the old and young birds is given. Mr. Doubleday says, "Their principal food here seems to be the seed of the hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), which is the prevailing species of tree in Epping Forest; they also feed on the kernels of the haws, plum-ning, to the nearest thicket, into which it plunges, stones, laurel-berries, &c., and in summer make great havoc amongst green peas in gardens in the vicinity of the forest. About the middle of April they pair, and in a week or two commence, nidification. The situation of the nest is various, but it is most commonly placed in an old scrubby whitethorn bush, often in a very exposed situation; they also frequently build on the horizontal arms of old oaks, the heads of pollard hornbeams, in hollies, and occasionally in fir-trees in plantations; the elevation at which the nest is placed varying from five to twenty-five or thirty feet. The most correct description of the nest I have seen is in Latham's "Synopsis." It is there said to be composed of the dead twigs of oak, honeysuckle, &c., intermixed with pieces of grey lichen. The quantity of this last material varies much in different nests, but it is never absent; in some it is only very sparingly placed among the twigs, in others the greater part of the nest is composed of it; the lining consists of fine roots and a little hair. The whole fabric is very loosely put together, and it requires considerable care to remove it from its situation uninjured. The young are hatched about the third week in May, and as soon as they are able to provide for themselves, they unite with the old birds in flocks, varying in numbers from fifteen or twenty to one hundred or even to two hundred individuals. In this manner they remain through the winter, feeding on the hornbeam seeds which have fallen to the ground, the newly-cracked shells of which are to be seen in abundance at their haunts; the birds only separate at the approach of the breeding season. I believe the male has no song worth * Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. i. But the Hawfinch, wary as he may be, has a far more subtle and dangerous foe in the bird-catcher. Last year several bred near Hampstead, where the bird has been common for the last few years. In this neighbourhood dozens of Haw finches are captured annually, while I know one bird-fancier alone who had eighteen eggs of this species brought to him one morning last summer. There are many more interesting details connected with the Hawfinch, if space would allow me to consider them. I must, however, say one word in conclusion with regard to its geographical distribution. It is found all over the continent of Europe, and Mr. Gould has specimens from Asia Minor. Mr. Salvin met with it in the Eastern Atlas, and it is a winter visitant to Algeria, according to Loche, who says that it occasionally breeds in this latter country. It was observed by the Rev. H. B. Tristram once near Gilead, in Palestine; and, according to Lord Lilford, is common in Epirus in winter. We learn from Demidoff that "it is | pale-coloured chlorophyll, in which there occur spread over all the gardens in South Russia, generally disappearing in the middle of winter for a few months. Its favourite food is the nut of Eleagnus angustifolia. In autumn it sometimes makes its appearance along with Bombycilla garrula.” grains of a denser colour. The green contents seem at first to adhere to the outer cell-wall; but in the growth of the plant they become detached, and each obtains its own cell-wall (fig. h). Fig. a shows a young filament in which the cells are clearly seen to increase by cell division (á). In mature plants the chlorophyll granules appear to increase in numbers (b), and the contents of the cell fall to one side, and divide at first into four (c), then into eight portions (d, e), which are at length converted into ciliated zoospores (g), and escape from the cell by the rupture of its wall. In another species (i) the contents are converted only into four zoospores. These, after moving rapidly about in the water for a time, become slightly elongated sideways, having two nuclei (j). They then attach themselves to some other body, lose their cilia, and begin to grow. The stages of one day's growth are shown at (k), and of two days' growth at (1). J. S. TUTE. |