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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



colossal dimensions that the largest form hitherto 

 known sinks in comparison with it into utter insig- 

 nificance. In one specimen the Hydranth was 9 in. 

 across. Whilst the Hydrocaulus was 7 ft. 4 in. 

 high. A short time afterwards, during another 

 dredging at a depth of 2,900 fathoms, another spe- 

 cimen was brought, of equal proportions. The 

 length of the tentacles was about 4 in., and they 

 were of a transparent pink colour. 



Sphinx convolvuli. — I have captured several 

 fine specimens of Sphinx convolvuli this season at 

 Ore, near Hastings. They were all taken at one 

 bush of honeysuckle. The greatest numbers I 

 captured in one evening were seven and five; at 

 another time I took two at one stroke of my net. 

 Having more than I require, I shall have some to 

 offer in exchange as soon as they are off my setting- 

 boards. — William Low Sarjeant. 



Astinomus .edilis in Carpiff. — On the 29th 

 of November I had the good fortune to take a fine 

 male of this beetle upon a lady's dress in a tram- 

 car. — T. L. Howe, Cardiff. 



BOTANY. 



Raphides of Asparagus. — Mr. Glasspoole's 

 histories of our cultivated vegetables are so valu- 

 able as to make us wish that he. would increase 

 their interest by some account of their internal 

 structure. Thus, in his last paper, he- might have 

 told us that the asparagus abounds in raphides ; 

 and that they form beautiful microscopic objects, 

 whether examined in the fresh plant or in cooked 

 fragments of it from the table. The raphides are so 

 beautiful and easily examined as to afford a pleasant 

 microscopic amusement after dinner. And full 

 instructions, with many illustrative engravings, are 

 given about Raphides, Spliseraphides, and Crystal 

 Prisms, in Science-Gossip for May, 1873. 



Cladium Martscus. — One of the finest of our 

 Cyperacea is the Fen Sedge. It is in several re- 

 spects a remarkable plant, and one not easily over- 

 looked. Can any correspondent kindly inform me 

 as to its distribution in the southern counties ? — 

 F. H. Arnold. 



Euonymus (Spindle-tree) in Flower. — To 

 the surprise of nurserymen and others in Brighton, 

 this shrub (both the narrow and the broad varieties) 

 was in two or three situations in flower, one in great 

 profusion, at the beginning of August. As an orna- 

 mental shrub it has been cultivated here for many 

 years, and thousands upon thousands may at all 

 times be seen. On the 11th of October I found it 

 in fruit ; the capsule, the size of a small pea, was 

 perfectly green, but hard ; the arillus, lapping the 

 seed, was orange-coloured : the season was, no 

 doubt, too far advanced for the seeds to ripen, as 



they might have done in other parts of England 

 where the climate is warmer and milder. I hope 

 cultivators and others will give any information in 

 their power, both as to the flowering and the ripen- 

 ing of the fruit ; and whether the fruit has the 

 ornamental appearance of our common spindle-tree, 

 Euonymus Europaus. — T. B. W., Brighton. 



Malva rorealis.— In last month's number of 

 Science-Gossip is a notice of the discovery of 

 Malva boreilis on the Sussex coast, and I hear it 

 was found between Boxhill and St. Leonard's. As 

 I am particularly interested in the flora of the 

 district which includes that portion of the coast, I 

 should be very much obliged if you could ascertain 

 from your correspondent C. H. 0., the exact locality 

 in which it was found ; and still more so if you 

 could procure for me even a small specimen to add to 

 my herbarium of East Sussex plants.—/. W. Roper. 



Coco, Cocoa, or Cacao: Which is which?— 

 I had occasion lately to have some dealings with a 

 firm of English manufacturers of coir (fibre) mat- 

 ting. They described it, however, in all their 

 invoices and other printed documents as "Cocoa 

 matting." In correspondence I took the oppor- 

 tunity of suggesting that "Coir matting" would be a 

 better designation— less objectionable in every way — 

 than " Cocoa." Their defence was well founded, so 

 long as the same confusion of terms— which should 

 properly be restricted to very different substances, 

 from very different sources— is used in our most im- 

 portant works of reference. " Coir" is the fibre of 

 the husk of the " Coco-nut," the fruit of the Cocos 

 nucifera, a palm-tree of the natural order Palmacece. 

 The term " Cocoa" has no proper meaning or appli- 

 cation to this tree or any of its products. On the 

 other hand, " Cocoa" is obviously a popular English 

 corruption of the South American word " Cacao," 

 than which it is certainly softer or more euphonious. 

 The name " Cacao " is applied by the South Amer- 

 ican Indians both to the bean and to the produce 

 of the bean, of the Theohroma cacao, a tree of the 

 natural order Byttriaceee. To this tree, or its pro- 

 duce, the words "coir" and "coco" have no 

 proper reference. But, in " Chambers's Encyclo- 

 paedia" (1st edition, vol. iii. 1862), Theobroma cacao 

 and its products are described under the heading 

 " Cocoa, Cacao, or Coco " ; Cocos nucifera and its 

 products under that of the " Cocaa-nut or Coco- 

 nut"; and the husk-fibre of the latter as "Coir, or 

 Cocoa-nut fibre." Now it seems hopeless to prevail 

 on Englishmen to give up the use of the term 

 " Cocoa" in favour of " Cacao." But the absurdity 

 of using the word " Cocoa " in reference to matting 

 made of the fibre of the nut of Cocos nucifera might 

 easily be avoided if only manufacturers would stick 

 to the synonymous and appropriate term " Coir." — 

 W. Lauder Lindsay. 



