HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



129 



potatoes. How long it has been thus appropriated 

 I cannot say, but the footsteps of the Taflies have 

 brought with them a mass of ahnost every kind of 

 noxious or ugly weed, that is sure to encumber 

 cultivated laud and its borders. Nettles (both 

 Uftica dioica and 'urens) of course abounded; 

 thistles in masses difficult to get through ; trailing 

 brambles, forming a thorny labyrinth vexatious to 

 pierce ; enormous quantities of the Black Horehound, 

 and other weeds of detestable aspect it is not worth 

 while to enumerate. One thing was perhaps worthy 

 of notice, that the sides of the obstructed path up 

 the hill were bordered at intervals with numerous 

 seedling plants of the Milk - thistle {Silybum 

 Mariamim), which 1 never before saw in such 

 abundance. There was little else worth notice on 

 Craig Diganwy at this time, except an extraordinary 

 growth of Sea Barley {Uordeum maritlmum), on the 

 very top of the hill, and on a rock by the side of 

 the potato-garden, a tuft of the Orpine {Sedum 

 telephiiim), which I only mention to remark that 

 the Welsh in their common name for it have com- 

 memorated the famous magician and bard Taliesin, 

 calling it Lhjsiau Taliesin. I was glad to recover 

 the pretty Biantlms deltoides on the hill adjacent to 

 Craig Diganwy, and then, as the sun descended over 

 the sea, I passed on to Conway. 



Edwin Lees, F.L.S. 

 Green Hill Summit, Worcester. 



NOTES FROM NEW ZEALAND. 



ON looking over some back numbers of 

 Science-Gossip, 1872, my attention was 

 attracted by a drawing of Plumatella, and I deter- 

 mined to search our lakes for some of the family. 

 I was the more induced to do so, by a statement 

 in the Popular Science Review for 1863, to the effect 

 that not till 1860 had any representative of the 

 family been discovered in the southern hemisphere. 

 Not having been in the habit of looking for such 

 things, it was perhaps a month before my search 

 was rewarded with success, I had turned up 

 stones, dragged up roots, but could find only a 

 small specimen, with a circular disc of tentacles, 

 which I will notice presently. At last, sitting on 

 the edge of the lake, I saw in the shallow water at 

 my feet a small black mass, apparently covered with 

 vphite pearly-looking dots. My curiosity being 

 excited, the unknown was soon transferred to a 

 bottle, supplied with water, and allowed to rest 

 quietly for a few minutes, to get ready for my 

 pocket-lens. It was not long before some hundreds 

 of little Polypides pushed forth their horseshoe- 

 shaped lophophores and commenced to feed away 

 as if they had never been disturbed. I brought 

 them home and kept them for some weeks, in order 



to be able to examine their statoblasts, which are 

 very like those of fruticosa. 



These were plentiful, but no ova could I find, 

 and, strange to relate, the reverse was the case 

 with the circular-crowned specimens. The latter 

 were kept for more thau three months, but no 

 statoblasts ever appeared. Ova were often ejected, 

 which after spinning about merrily for twenty-four 

 hours would settle down quietly on tLe side of the 

 glass and begin to found a new colony. Their 

 settling on the side of the glass gave me a fine 

 opportunity for observing them closely. Placing 

 it on a stand before the lamp, I was able to direct 

 the microscope horizontally at them, and as the 

 young ones were almost transparent, the whole 

 internal economy was distinctly visible. The 

 minute cilia wilh their alternate vibration, the 

 diagonal retractor muscle, and the continuous 

 movement of the food in the alimentary canal were 

 to me, who saw them for the first time, objects of 

 great interest. 



An amusing circumstance occurred with 

 these circular-crowned Polypides. Sometimes 

 a little water-flea would thoughtlessly venture 

 within range of the tentacles, which instantly 

 closed in on it, forming a kind of spherical cage, 

 out of wliich the poor little flea frantically endea-^ 

 voured to escape, but in vain. At length tlie little 

 prisoner rested from his futile attempts to gain his 

 freedom, and, all being still, the tentacles once more 

 spread out as usual. 



No sooner did the little prisoner see this than he 

 darted for the opening, only to find himself stopped 

 again by the suddenly closed tentacles of his more 

 active captor. Seven or eight times did this take 

 place ere he regained his liberty. It was a good 

 picture on a small scale of a cat playing with a 

 mouse ; with this difference, pussy when tired 

 generally feasts on her plaything, while the little 

 Daphnia is in no danger of being injured by the 

 polyped. 



From its being so admirably adapted to supply 

 the wants of amateurs, Science-Gossip no doubt 

 finds its way into many an English household, 

 some members of which may perhaps be thinking 

 of coming to these far-off lands. I would earnestly 

 advise such, if already lovers of nature, to bring 

 with them a microscope and one of the numerous 

 excellent works that are published about it. 

 Not only is there no other instrument from which 

 so much amusement and instruction can be derived, 

 but there is nothing like the study of nature for 

 imparting to both young and old the habit of 

 correct observation and clear thinking. My advice 

 to them is : do not give up any hobby you may 

 have in the old country, but look forward to pro- 

 secuting it more vigorously in the new ; for our 

 woods and lakes are teeming with life, much of 

 which probably differs from that at home. Still, 



