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HARDWiCKE'S SCI EN C E-GO S S IP. 



skeleton bouquets. I do not know if the Eryngium 

 alpinum, a smaller plant, would succeed near the 

 sea; it is very hardy in the Swiss Alps, with a fine 

 blue tint not only in the flowers but on the upper 

 part of the stem also, as in the Eryngium Bourgati 

 of the Pyrenees and the Eryngium cmethysfemim of 

 Eastern Europe, so named on account of its brilliant 

 blue colour, for which it is not unfrequently culti- 

 vated in gardens. I have no doubt there are other 

 evergreen herbaceous seaside plants if the readers 

 of Science-Gossip would draw attention to them. — 

 T. B. W., Brighton. 



NosTOC COMMUNE. — Every autumn and winter 

 for many years past I had looked in vain for the 

 curious plant I am about to describe, when suddenly, 

 one afternoon in November last, on my returning 

 home after a storm of rain, I was surprised and 

 delighted to see a number of specimens of various 

 sizes and forms on the gravel paths of my garden. 

 I had seen nothing of them previously, and I am 

 quite sure they were not there when I walked down 

 the garden path only an hour or two before. Perhaps 

 I should say apparently they were not there, for of 

 course their germs or dried skins must have been 

 on the gravel unobserved by me, awaiting only the 

 revivifying power of rain to cause them to swell 

 into visible life, and so suddenly, as to justify the 

 name of " fallen-stars," by which they are known 

 in some country places, where certain of the species 

 occur rather plentifully. The name of " fallen- 

 star" has reference rather to their sudden appear- 

 ance than to their lustre, although with dew or rain- 

 drops upon them, especially in the sunshine imme- 

 diately after a shower, they have a pretty glittering 

 appearance, being semi-transparent and of a jelly- 

 like consistency. The only way to preserve these 

 soft gelatinous plants, is to wash them until they 

 are free from dirt or grit, and to mount them on 

 paper-like the softer species of marine aigse. In this 

 manner their colour and appearance are preserved, 

 although they must necessarily be pressed flat. The 

 name of the order to which these curious plants be- 

 long is NostocJiaceie. I can find no explanation of 

 the word, but it was first used by Paracelsus, and 

 afterwards by Vaucher and other botanists. The 

 plants in this Order are described as green, chiefly 

 fresh-water, rarely marine, alg??,, composed of moni- 

 liform filaments, lying in a gelatinous matrix. The 

 filaments are formed of globose cells, here and there 

 interrupted by a single cell of a different character, 

 hence called " heterocyst." The propagation is by 

 zoospores or active granules. There are no less 

 than eight genera in this Order. These plants are 

 sometimes furnished with firmly gelatinous, but 

 never truly membranaceous, fronds of definite out- 

 line, variously lobed, or sometimes extending into 

 irregular branches. , Some of the species are mere 

 masses of jelly or slime, through which filiform 



strings of closely-packed cells are dispersed. The 

 endochrome, or colouring matter of the cells, is 

 either a bright green or a dark olive-green; the 

 fructification takes place in some privileged cells of 

 the internal filaments (the heterocysts already re- 

 ferred to), which are sometimes in the centre of 

 some, and occasionally at the ends of others. One 

 division is terrestrial, all the species being found on 

 gravelly soils, in garden walks, on rocks, and in 

 pastures, in autumn and winter. In dry weather 

 they shrivel up and appear like crimped bits of 

 goldbeater skin, but expand after showers into the 

 jelly-like masses already described. The type of 

 this division is Nostoc commu7ie. The frond is ex- 

 panded and softly membranaceous ; it is sometimes 

 plaited, and waved or curled ; it is irregular in size 

 and form, and of a deep olive-green. Since I first 

 met with this plant last autumn, I have watched 

 its curious alternating appearance and disappearance 

 with great interest, and I have been surprised at 

 the length of time it has been present in my garden ; 

 numbers of the "little bits of green jelly" as the 

 gardener called them, being dotted about in all 

 directions, but always on t!ie gravel. However, 

 they have vanished for this season I believe, for th'e 

 summer "tidying-up" has taken place, the paths 

 have all been scraped, and my cherished " bits of 

 jelly " have been ruthlessly swept from my sight. — 

 W. H. Grattann. 



NiTOPHTLLUM VEBsicoLOR.— Among the curious 

 facts connected with algology that have come under 

 my notice during my residence in Torquay, nothing 

 has interested me more than the discovery of the 

 very rare species Nilophyllum versicolor, which 1 

 took on the beach in Torbay, about the end of 

 March, and again on the 2nd of April. In each 

 instance the plants were fully grown, of the normal 

 form, very prettily lobed, and with the characteristic 

 stem and root. They were not in fruit ; but as the 

 specimens I found were fully grown, I am in hopes 

 of finding others ere long, which may prove to be 

 fertile. The winter here has been unusually mild, 

 warm weather being favourable for the growth of 

 the finer kinds of algae ; and as this rare species of 

 Nitophyllum has thus suddenly made its appearance 

 here, it has doubtless arisen from a spore, and thus I 

 am in expectation of finding spore-producing speci- 

 mens, similar to one which was found in fruit some 

 years ago at Ilfracombe. Hitherto I believe this 

 rare Rhodosperm has been taken only on the north 

 coast of Devon and at Minehead in Somerset ; its 

 occurrence, therefore, on the south coast of Devon 

 is extremely interesting, audi take this opportunity 

 of recording the fact for the benefit of those readers 

 of SciENCE-GossiP who may be interested in the 

 study of Marine Botany.— /T. H. Grattaiin. 



The " London Catalogue."— In answer to Mr. 

 J. A. Stewart, the numbers in the " London Cata- 



