HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



253 



fruit of some members of the genus is eaten by the 

 name of " Star-apple." The other, from the East, is 

 the leaf of a species of fig; but you must not imagine 

 that our native plants do not produce leaves fully as 

 beautiful, when skeletonized, as their foreign cousins. 



The Hedera (our Ivy), the Lady Fern, the Maiden- 

 hair, all full of beauty ; but the gem of gems in 

 the group I have is a fern from the Oregan Moun- 

 tains. Another fern, from South America, is like- 

 wise very lovely, and such peculiarly delicate fronds 

 must have required especial care in preparing. 



I also received from the same source a card of 

 dried flowers, the colours of which are so well pre- 

 served that they resemble a bright painting. I saw 

 some specimens of this kind of ornamental work at 

 a fete one day, given in the Royal Horticultural 

 Gardens; but really they were not, in my opinion, so 

 well done as the pretty little group sent to me 

 from Leicester. 



The usual way of skeletonizing leaves is to place 

 the more delicate, such as fern fronds, in a bleaching 

 solution, without first steeping them in water ; but 

 all the natural green tint must have faded away first. 



The solution is made of chloride of lime, — two 

 ounces dissolved in a pint of water. After the leaves 

 have been thoroughly dried, they should be washed, 

 dried, and carefully put away in a box, so as to 

 exclude them from the air and light until quite fit 

 for mounting. 



I believe that the maceration of the larger strong 

 leaves, such as the oak, chestnut, and others, is the 

 most difficult part of the process: perhaps "H. G.," 

 Leicester, will kindly give the readers of Science- 

 Gossip a few hints on this point. 



Helen E. Watney. 



Bryu-hy-Fryd, Beaumaris, North Wales. 



ALONG SHORE. 



STROLLING along the beach at Hastings, I 

 picked up three or four common objects which 

 had been washed up by the tide ; but common as 

 they were, there are some, perhaps, who have picked 

 them up, as I have done, and wish to know what 

 they are, and something about them, being at a loss 

 to comprehend them. 



The first object was an oyster-shell, perforated on 

 the outside with scores of round holes, as if they 

 had been bored by some enemy to its old inhabitant. 

 Glancing more closely, by the aid of a pocket lens, 

 it was easy to trace some yellowish substance coat- 

 ing these orifices, and, when the shell was broken, 

 running between the calcareous layers of the shell. 

 Surely it was a sponge,— the boring sponge so lately 

 the subject of discussion at the Quekett Micro- 

 scopical Club. 



Was the sponge capable of boring these holes 

 into the substance of the hard shell, or did it occupy 

 and surround the holes which were already per- 



forated by some other animal? This was the point 

 in dispute. As for my own opinion, 1 feel convinced 

 that, some how or other, but how I cannot say, the 

 sponge does bore its way into the shell. 



Fig. 143. Portion of Oyster-shell perforated by Ciione. 



Fig. 1-16. Section of Oyster-shell perforated by C/ione. 



But this vexed question it is not my intention to 

 revive. There was the sponge, and by boiling in 

 nitric acid it was easy to isolate the pin-shaped 



Fig. 147. Spicules of sponge {Ciione celata), magnified. 



spicules which occur so freely in the sponge, and 

 of these I have given an illustration (fig. 147). 



A little further on, and two different specimens 

 of the homes formerly occupied by polyzoa were 



