Mature Motes: The Selborne Society's Magazine. No. 8. AUGUST 15, 1890. VOL. I. THE SEQUEL TO "A SEA-BIRDS' ROCK AND ITS BRUTAL VISITORS." UR readers will remember that articles with the above title appeared in the June and July numbers of NATURE NOTES dealing with the disgraceful conduct of certain officers of Her Majesty's Army and Navy at the Island of Grassholm, and giving some account of the efforts made by the Selborne Society to bring the culprits to justice. Until quite recently this appeared to be hopeless; the Admiralty, the War Office, and the representatives of the Government all returned evasive answers; and all the resources of the circumlocution office seemed to have been called into requisition for the purpose of screening from their due punishment these aristocratic offenders against the law. state that through the Colam, the well-known Prevention of Cruelty We are now happy in being able to energy and persistence of Mr. John Secretary of the Royal Society for the to Animals, justice has been vindicated and the criminals not only exposed but punished. The trial took place on last Saturday at Haverford West. The offences were classified into four divisions, (1) for using a boat to take birds, (2) for using guns to take birds, (3) for taking wild birds, and (4) for shooting wild birds. The offenders were Colonel Henry Saurin, J.P., Captain H. D. Haig Haig, Captain Harvey, Lieutenants Dickson, Caulfield, Molesworth and Shakersley; and the name of the boat, commissioned in Her Majesty's Navy and used by them was the "Sir Richard Fletcher." The worst offender appears to have been Colonel Saurin, who confessed to having used a thick stick to slaughter the birds with as they came from their nests, which he said he considered better fun than shooting them. The evidence showed that scores of birds were maimed, shot and killed, and their bodies were left lying about the island. The accused were defended by advocates who pleaded guilty, in the hope of preventing the full facts from coming before the bench, in which, however, they did not succeed, as Mr. Colam, junior, counsel for the prosecution, made a statement showing the nature and extent of the proceedings of the defendants. The magistrates fined them in the maximum penalty of £22 175., including costs, or £3 5s. 4d. each. All Selbornians will heartily rejoice at this vindication of the cause of nature and humanity, against senseless and unsportsmanlike brutality, and will congratulate Mr. Colam and the Society whose work he so vigorously conducts, on their triumph over the inaction and evasion on the part of the authorities, which threatened at one time to secure entire impunity for the perpetrators of the outrage. We have had an opportunity of seeing the various steps taken by the R.S.P.C.A. in this matter, and it has increased our admiration for the wisdom and energy with which it conducts its never-ceasing crusade against cruelty. At a meeting of the Council on Monday last, hearty votes of thanks were passed to Mr. Colam for his action in the matter, and to Mr. Thomas, the local correspondent of the Daily Graphic, who was the first to call attention to the occurrence. More than one member present expressed the intention of sending an increased subscription to the R.S.P.C.A., as a practical mode of showing appreciation of its work. Those who desire a fuller account of the trial will find it in the forthcoming issue of the Animal World, to which, doubtless, a large number of our readers subscribe. It is probable that we may also recur to the subject in our own columns. One hardly likes to dwell upon the abominable behaviour of the offenders in this case. In addition to the money fine, they have suffered the ignominy of public exposure and conviction, and if they have any sense of decency at all, they will have very great difficulty in reconciling their conduct with that which one would expect from "officers and gentlemen." In this connection we believe that we owe some apology to our correspondent, "Justitia," for our remarks in the last number of NATURE NOTES. He pointed out that the magistrates who on the English and Irish bench so severely treat the offences of peasants, especially with regard to poaching, are taken from the very class, some members of which were guilty of these outrages. He was, unfortunately, more than right. Incredible as it seems, we believe that some of the offenders in this case were actually magistrates themselves. One of these, a County Councillor and County Magistrate, has, unhappily, escaped conviction owing to a conspiracy of silence on the part of his fellow criminals; another was the very worst of the whole gang, inclined apparently to glory in his shame, and having no idea of the brutal and unmanly nature of the offence. We have been told that Colonel Henry MUMMY WHEAT. 119 Saurin, J.P., is a member of a well-known Dublin family, and an Irish magistrate. If this statement is correct, we trust that members of both political parties will make efforts for his removal from the bench. It would be utterly impossible for any person to have the slightest respect for sentences delivered by one who had himself been convicted of such a disgraceful action. But we are still of opinion that such conduct as this is of extremely rare occurrence, not only among magistrates, or gentlemen bearing Her Majesty's Commission, but among respectable men of any class whatever. The outrage was just as unsportsmanlike as it was cruel and cowardly; and it must be one of the severest punishments of the culprits in this case that they will feel they are exposed to the contempt of every humane and honourable man, even among their own associates. "MUMMY WHEAT." ¡HE popular error of confounding "Mummy wheat" with "Egyptian wheat" has lasted for at least half a century, and is not extinct yet! Perhaps, therefore, a brief resumé of the subject may not be uninteresting to our readers. In 1840, Mr. M. Farquhar Tupper received twelve grains from Sir G. Wilkinson, who, it was said, took them with his own hands out of a vase in an Egyptian tomb. Of these twelve Mr. Tupper asserted that he raised one plant, which bore two poor ears, one of which was figured in The Gardeners' Chronicle, (1843, p. 787). Mr. Tupper's account was reported in the Times (Sept., 1840). In the second and third years the wheat was described as having recovered its vigour, so that it bore ears seven and a-half inches long, and was so like a good sample of Col. Le Couteur's variety called "Bellevue Talavera," that even the experienced eye of that gentleman was unable to detect any difference. The eminent botanist, Dr. Lindley, then editor of the Gardeners' Chronicle, in a leading article expressed his belief in the truth of the survival of the wheat after some 3,000 years. Suspicions, however, were raised; and a writer, signing himself, "Este," suggested that there had probably been some tampering by the Arabs (Gardener's Chronicle, p. 805). In 1846, Sir W. Colebroke is said to have raised several plants from "two grains of mummy wheat, received in 1842;" but it is not stated whether they were of the original sample, or of the produce of those raised by Mr. Tupper. After cultivating them, Sir W. Colebroke remarks:-"I cannot resist the impression that this is a winter wheat; and if so, it cannot be a production of the soil of Egypt; for whence could the ancient Egyptians draw their supply of this grain?" In 1846 the late Professor J. S. Henslow received six grains from Mr. Tupper, from the plant raised by him. He grew them with several other varieties of wheat in an experimental border in his garden; the following are his observations:-"This variety was specially remarkable for its exceeding length of straw and for flowering much earlier than any of the other varieties in my garden. In this and in all other particulars I could not observe the slightest difference between an ear of the Bellevue Talavera, and that of the supposed mummy wheat. Both were also attacked more vigorously than others by rust and mildew." Suspecting some flaw in the testimony, application was made to Sir G. Wilkinson himself for a genuine sample, that it might be tried among a series of experiments on the vitality of seeds, which were at that time in progress under the superintendence of a committee of the British Association. On receipt of the sample, great surprise was felt at the discovery of fragments of grains of maize (of American origin) intermixed with the grains of mummy wheat! This, of course, led to further inquiry; and the conclusion arrived at was that the sample had most certainly been vitiated by the wheat having been placed in the common corn jars of Cairo ! It may be added that whenever on other occasions the actual grains of true mummy wheat have been carefully sown, they have never germinated. Thus, M. Denon, who accompanied Buonaparte's expedition to Egypt, tried to raise them in many ways, but he never succeeded. A Dr. Steele also utterly failed in 1857. In fact a microscopic examination proves that the embryo is always destroyed, a section crumbling to powder under the microscope, though the starch grains are not decomposed, and still colour violet as usual with iodine. The popular confusion between "Mummy" wheat and "Egyptian" wheat is easily explained. There is a not very rare variety of "Revets'" wheat, which is " proliferous," that is to say, it bears two or more additional smaller ears at the base, in consequence of the lower "spikelets" growing out and becoming supplementary ears. This is supposed to resemble the ears described in Genesis (xli. 5), and has consequently received the popular name of "Egyptian" wheat. The reports of "mummy wheat from Egypt having been grown in this country has thus given rise to the idea that this variety of Revets' was actually raised from the old grains brought from the tombs of Egypt. But as Prof. Henslow remarked, if Mr. Tupper's experiments were trustworthy, the old Egyptian wheat must have been identical with the Bellevue Talavera, and not at all like our modern "Egyptian" or the proliferous variety of Revets'. Finally, it may be noticed that wheat, in this country at least, is well-known to agriculturalists to be particularly short lived. "An old farmer" writing to the Gardeners' Chronicle FEATHER PAINTING. 121 (1848, p. 787), remarks that-" We all know that the seed of the year is always preferred for sowing; that the seed of the year before would never be equally productive, and that if seed five or six years old were sown, not half of it would come up." And I can add, that of apparently sound grains seventeen years old, not one germinated. GEORGE HENSLOW. FEATHER PAINTING. VER and over again I have been asked: "why, instead of using the skins and wings of birds on screens and fans, a painting of them in decorative combination should not be acceptable to the public?" In Japan, careful studies of birds in flight are constantly found on screens, and as far as artistic effect goes, leave nothing to be desired. Here in England the hand-painting for the trade is, as Miss Beale has pointed out, so utterly execrable that it can only find a market amongst persons unable to distinguish between a coloured map and one of Vicat Cole's views in Surrey. That work can be specially produced in this country, quite comparable with the best Japanese, is not so well known as it should be. Not long ago a professional artist, a Miss Emily Murray, of 80, Eaton Terrace, London, S. W. (one of the "Atholl" Murrays) showed me some drawings of birds' wings, which struck me as admirable examples of perfect workmanship, and peculiarly adapted to the purpose indicated by me. Thinking that some of the subscribers to the Selborne Society might like to know a few more details concerning Miss Murray's speciality, I prevailed upon her to allow me to publish two or three extracts from letters received by her from persons whose opinions are in every way valuable. To give the first place to our revered art critic, John Ruskin writes thus:-"Your work is quite the best I have ever seen in its kind-just what I have always wanted to get done, and never could! Quite beyond price to me just now, when I am trying finally to organise a school of natural history. The prime and rare gift is your love of the truth and the insight that comes of it—and the patience. Your lovely book must not be broken up the drawings will eventually be worth much more than they are at present to a dealer-if you keep them till you have name as a bird painter. I am certain your eyes will recover all the strength needful for the noblest bird drawing." Miss Marianne North, herself an admirable transcriber of Nature says "I think the bird wings are exquisite. Such accurate drawing is not often met with; if I do not mistake it, the colouring of those dull bronze and greys is most beautifully rendered." The Secretary of the Ray Society writes:-"Yesterday I placed your very beautiful paintings before the Council of the |