HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



115 



give Ophiophagus a live common English snake. 

 Him Ophiophagus instantly seized and devoured 

 head foremost. English snakes are not common at 

 this time of year. Erogs, therefore, have been put 

 into the cage with Ophiophagus, and it is curious to 

 remaL'k how the old frog sits at the water's edge, 

 looking most suspiciously at his enemy, coiled up 

 like an innocent babe in his blanket. How won- 

 derful it is that the Creator has implanted in the 

 poor brain of a common Hampstead Heath frog a 

 fear of the poison-fangs of an Indian snake, of 

 which he could never have heard, much less read; 

 yet it is so." 



BOTANY. 



Evergreens and the Frost. — The extreme 

 severity of the late frosts has given the oppor- 

 tunity of ascertaining the degree of frost the ever- 

 greens will bear in this climate, especially near the 

 sea. In the nursery at Cliltonville may be seen 

 the Gum-cistus, the Magnolia, and the Cytisus tri- 

 Aorus, which have not suffered at all; the latter 

 indeed is just now (5th April) begiuning to show 

 flower-spikes : it is a hardy shrub, naturalized in 

 and about Poole harbour ; it was wrongly named 

 Genista pilosa in a former number of Science- 

 Gossip. In another nursery in Brighton may be 

 seen a small shrub of the Bupleurum fruticosum, 

 which has its leaves almost as perfect as before the 

 frost : it is a native of the Pyrenees, and grows to 

 five or six feet high ; it is but little known as yet 

 in our gardens. A number of young plants have 

 lately been received at the Cliftonville Nursery. 

 The Medicago arborea, described in a former number 

 of Science-Gossip, was in flower in the same nur- 

 sery during the early part of the frosts, the flowers 

 only less expanded and the leaves were not at all 

 affected; having been just cut back, it will be in 

 full flower very shortly, and remain in flower very 

 probably till next winter. The young plants of the 

 Atriplex halymus, also noticed in a former number of 

 Science-Gossip, have lost none of their leaves. 

 The Rhododendron, where it has not been exposed 

 to winds from the sea, has stood well, though, as a 

 flowering plant, it does not succeed at Brighton after 

 the first year. The common Laurel [Cerasus Luuro- 

 cerasus) never thrives near the sea, while I am told 

 the Euonymus (which, with some exceptions, has 

 not been affected at Brighton) does not thrive 

 inland, apparently requiring sea-air. The leaves 

 of the Aucula appear in many situations to have 

 suffered, but they will recover in the spring. Of 

 the four plants of Eucalyptus noticed in the March 

 number of Science-Gossip, one is dead, but the 

 other three, there is every reason to expect, will 

 recover. Young plants of Garrya elliptica, with its 

 beautiful necklace-like, early sulphur-coloured cat- 



f kins five or six inches long, in pots in the nursery of 

 J Mr. Smythe in the Dyke-road, have not suffered : it 

 j has been some time in flower. In the same nursery 

 the pretty Berberis Daricinii and Escallonia are as 

 perfect as in the autumn. The Ruscus aculeatus 

 (Box-holly) in large masses is perfectly fresh in 

 Adeleide-crescent, except where cut by wind from 

 the sea, as appears to be the case indeed with many 

 evergreens so exposed ; even some of the Euonymi, 

 particularly the silver-variegated species (which 

 appear to be less hardy than the dark-green ones), 

 and some others, have suffered from the sea-winds, 

 but scarcely at all from the frost, except many of 

 the very young plants which have not had time to 

 harden their wood. — J. B. W., Brighton. 



Insects and Elowers.— A capital and well- 

 illustrated article on this subject appears in the last 

 number of the Popular Science Review, from the pen 

 of Mr. A. W. Bennett, E.L.S. The writer shows 

 that the form of pollen-grain varies in wind-fertilized 

 and insect-fertilized plants. In the former the pollen 

 is always dry and dusty, the grains are not very 

 large, they are usually nearly or quite spherical, and 

 are never spiny or marked with conspicuous furrows 

 or protuberances. In the pollen of insect-fertilized 

 flowers, on the contrary, we find several distinct 

 contrivances for the purpose of facilitating their 

 attachment to the legs or bodies of insects. These 

 are longitudinal furrows, varying in number to as 

 many as nine ; the existence on the outside of each 

 grain of spines or other prominent projections; and 

 the connecting pollen-grains together by means of 

 viscid threads. Their shape also is different, the 

 most common form being ellipsoidal. We strongly 

 recommend our readers carefully to peruse this most 

 interesting article. 



On the Mounting of Mosses tor the 

 Microscope. — Sundry queries and notices occur in 

 your volume for 1874 relative to this subject, in 

 which the writers appear not to have beeu always 

 successful. Having during the past winter devoted 

 much time to mounting mosses, I thought some of 

 your readers might be interested in the details of the 

 process, by which I have been able to mount a con- 

 siderable number of British mosses, including 

 all the species I have been able to procure 

 in this neighbourhood during the last few months. 

 Where the size of the moss would allow, the entire 

 plant has been used ; in other cases, a portion of the 

 foliage with the fruit. In all instances, the speci- 

 men has been, if possible, mounted with the cap- 

 sule fully ripe. The material used has been Canada 

 balsam, which had become almost solid with age. 

 If the specimen of the moss was not fully matured, 

 it was placed in a saucer, and watered from time to 

 time, till the capsule opened^ A small piece was 

 broken from the tuft of the smaller mosses, and 

 divided into individual plants, which were well 



