Petasites vulgaris, &c.—Can any of your readers explain why Petasites vulgaris and other wild flowers, which blossomed during January and February, near Oswestry, Birmingham, and elsewhere, should not blossom until a month later in this neighbourhood, so much farther south.—Observer, Stroud.
Rats.—A rat being closely pursued by a cat, jumped from a garden wall into the road and saved itself by jumping between the spokes of one of the wheels of a cart that at the time was passing at good speed. The cat being baulked for a moment till the cart passed gave the rat time to escape. This was told me by a man living near Nottingham, who saw the circumstance.—C., Nottingham.
Pheasant and Pike.—I heard the following anecdote told by an experienced fisherman, who pronounced it authentic. A party of gentlemen were shooting over an estate, near Nottingham, close to the River Trent. A pleasant was wounded and fell in the river. A pike, which must have been on the look out for some sort of prey, immediately struck it, its teeth becoming so entangled in the feathers that it was easily captured, with the pheasant held fast in its teeth.—C., Nottingham.
Mosses.—It may be interesting to those readers of the "Midland Naturalist" who study the mosses to know that I have recently found near Kingswood, Warwickshire, a moss new to the county, Orthotrichum leiocarpum, Br. and Sch. In this station it occurs on the lower part of the trunks of the Ontario poplar. In other parts of Great Britain this moss is somewhat plentiful, but in Warwickshire it is apparently very rare, I may also state that I have also found, in abundance, Sphagnum auriculatum, a very rare sphagnum, near Solihull; hitherto I have only seen it in Sutton Park. In this new Warwickshire station it occurs on the borders of drains in a small wood, in company with S. contortum—J. E. Bagnall.
Early Swallows,—Passing over Baginton Bridge on Sunday, April 7th, I saw about half a dozen swallows flying about over the water and adjoining meadows. I watched them for a few minutes, but in the course of a short time they disappeared, I recrossed the bridge later in the day, but none were to be seen, and have not seen one since, The swallow usually returns to us about the 20th April, sometimes one or two are seen earlier, but I never before saw so large a party at this early period. On the same day I heard the Chiffchaff and the Wryneck. The former is generally the earliest arrival of our summer birds, and is later than usual this season.—John Grison, Coventry, l0th April, 1378.
Prunella Vulgaris, White Variety.—I do not know whether this very pretty variety of the common Self-heal is anywhere abundant. It is but slightly mentioned by Syme, Hooker, or Babington. In this neighbourhood it occurs in one locality only, an old pasture field on the slope of a low ridge of boulder clay. But the large creamy-white flowers, closely aggregated in short, blunt beads, and of which six or eight in a head are often open at the same time, are much more elegant and showy than the purple ones of the common form. I think it deserves to be introduced into gardens, and I mean to try what cultivation will do for it. The leaves are all narrower than those of the common form; the lower leaves oblong-lanceolate and toothed at the base, the upper ones narrow and linear, some pinnatifid with linear segments, others merely toothed, the teeth projecting at right angles from the lade. I should be glad to hear of any other localities in which the white variety occurs, and whether it corresponds with the above description.—F. T. Mott, Birstal Hill, Leicester.
