Fish Otoliths and Folklore: A Survey

Duffin, Christopher J.. “Fish Otoliths and Folklore: A Survey.” Folklore 118 (2007): 78 – 90. The folklore associated with fish otoliths is traced from classical times to the present day…

A Survey of Birds and Fabulous Stones

Christopher J. Duffin (2012): A Survey of Birds and Fabulous Stones, Folklore, 123:2, 179-197 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0015587X.2012.682477 Summary: The records of fabulous stones associated with birds are here examined systematically for the…

Clach an Tiompain (the “Sounding Stone” or the Eagle Stone)

Clach an Tiompain (in English, the “Sounding Stone”) or The Eagle Stone is a small Class I Pictish stone located on a hill on the northern outskirts of Strathpeffer in Easter Ross, Scotland. Description The stone is made of blue gneiss and…

Nickernuts also known as sea pearls and eaglestones

Nickernuts or nickar nuts are smooth, shiny seeds from tropical leguminous shrubs, particularly Guilandina bonduc and Guilandina major, both known by the common name warri tree. C. bonduc produces gray nickernuts, and C. major produces yellow. Accordingly, these species are locally known in the Caribbean as “grey…

Eagle stones

For the mushroom, see Mycena aetites. In the magico-medical tradition of Europe and the Near East, the aetites (singular in Latin) or aetite (anglicized) is a stone used to promote childbirth. It is also called an eagle-stone, aquiline, or aquilaeus. The stone is said…

1911 EncyclopĂŠdia Britannica/Limonite

LIMONITE, or Brown Iron Ore, a natural ferric hydrate named from the Gr. λΔÎčΌώΜ (meadow), in allusion to its occurrence as “bog-ore” in meadows and marshes. It is never crystallized, but may have a…

Supergene (geology) and something called gossan cap

In ore deposit geology, supergene processes or enrichment are those that occur relatively near the surface as opposed to deep hypogene processes. Supergene processes include the predominance of meteoric water circulation (i.e. water derived from precipitation) with concomitant oxidation and chemical weathering. The…

Supergene

A supergene is a chromosomal region encompassing multiple neighboring genes that are inherited together because of close genetic linkage, i.e. much less recombination than would normally be expected. This mode of inheritance can be due to genomic rearrangements…

Divergence and functional degradation of a sex chromosome-like supergene (the sparrow with four sexes)

In January 2016, when the paper was published in Current Biology, it showed unequivocally that chromosome 2 was evolving like a sex chromosome. White–white and tan–tan matings were exceedingly rare. Using…