HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



7i 



structure is forthcoming, many mosses may be readily 

 grown in a cold frame, or among other plants in a 

 cool, shady fern-house. Several (many of the hypnums, 

 for instance) grow thoroughly well on a piece of rock 

 or brickwork, moved from the natural locality in a 

 piece. In building an indoor fernery it is as well to 

 use a few moss-covered stones here and there. In a 

 short time the other pieces of rock will become 

 clothed with a covering of moss plants, amongst 

 which the rhizomes of creeping rooted ferns will 

 luxuriate. Any moss, which, in the woods or other 

 spots where mosses abound, may strike the finder's 

 fancy should be lifted with a good portion of the soil, 

 and planted in a thoroughly drained medium-sized 

 pot. The base of the tuft should, in case it has not 

 been removed with soil sufficient, be placed in 

 immediate contact with such material as most nearly 

 resembles that on which it naturally grows. This is 

 somewhat important, as although some grow in 

 almost any soil, others affect more or less a particular 

 one. The smaller-growing rock species simply 

 require to be taken with the stone on which they 

 grow ; the larger ones should be fastened on similar 

 stones, with wire or some other contrivance, until 

 they have attached themselves. The moisture-loving 

 ones, such as some of the Bartramias, the water- 

 loving Hypnums, and Dicranums, should have the 

 pots kept in saucers filled constantly with water, by 

 which means their roots are regularly supplied with 

 water. All are better with pretty frequent syringings 

 of rain-water. Most of the kinds are in a state of 

 rest, more or less definite, during the summer 

 months ; these can then be placed on ashes behind a 

 north wall, and left to themselves without further 

 care than an occasional watering. In order, how- 

 ever, to prevent birds from rooting up the tufts in 

 search of insects and worms, and thus interfering 

 materially with the welfare and appearance of the 

 plants, it is well to have netting fixed over them in 

 such a way as to prevent the incursion of such unwel- 

 come visitors. Hypnum tamariscinum and its allies 

 make beautiful objects if kept in a moist, shaded 

 spot, and not a few hypnums thrive on turves of 

 fibrous peat. The hookerias, too, grow freely either 

 on moist stones or in prepared pots of small pieces of 

 almost any porous stone. In a well-shaded case in 

 which ferns succeed, pieces of wood or moss-covered 

 branches may be placed, and the wonderful variations 

 in colour, in length, direction, and form of their 

 stems and branches — notto speak of the differences in 

 the capsules — cannot fail to appeal to the admiration 

 of all who love plant life. Hypnum splendens, well 

 established, makes a specimen which for grace and 

 delicacy can hardly be surpassed. Climacium den- 

 droides, with its erect stems and feathery dark green 

 foliage, is quite as charming as any miniature fern. 

 It requires a well-drained fibrous peat, and abundance 

 of moisture. — From " CasselFs Popular Gardening." 



Fox and Lapwing.— That the lapwing, or 

 "peewit " as it is more generally called, is a bird of 

 very quarrelsome proclivities is well known to all 

 country dwellers. When out for a ramble one 

 afternoon in May, 18S7, I saw a fair of lapwings 

 attacking in their usual boisterous fashion some 

 arrival making its way across a piece of waste land. 

 This proved to be a large fox skulking along among 

 the heather and ragwort, and cowering in the most 

 abject fashion as the birds swooped round him. 

 Quickening his pace, he jumped a wall and cantered 

 through a furze- brake on the heath, scattering the 

 bunnies in all directions. The birds seemed to 

 actually strike him with their wings. — W. H. Warner, 

 Fy field, Abingdon. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now 

 publish Science-Gossip earlier than formerly, we cannot un- 

 dertake to insert in the following number any communications 

 which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month. 



To Anonymous Querists. — We rrust adhere to our rule of 

 not noticing queries which do not bear th : writers' names. 



To Dealers and Others. — We are always glad to treat 

 dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general 

 ground as amateurs, in so far as the "exchanges " offered are fair 

 exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are simply 

 Disguised Advertisements, for the purpose of evading the cost 

 of advertising, an advantage is taken of out gratuitous insertion 

 of " exchange?," which cannot be tolerated. 



We request that all exchanges may be signed with name (or 

 initials) and full address at the end. 



Special Note. — There is a tendency on the part of some 

 exchangers to send more than one per month. We only allow 

 this in the case of writers of papers. 



W. M. — The address of Reichert, the objective maker, is — 

 Ch. Reichert, viii. Bennogasse 26, Vienna, Austria. — IV. Child. 



C. Ledger. — Many thanks, also, for Reichert's address. It 

 is given above. , 



W. L. — The best thing you can do is to advertise in one of 

 the most widely circulated scientific journals. 



R. Coupar. — The address of "Nature "is Macmillan & Co., 

 29 Bedford Street, Covent Garden. 



J. Halsey. — We are much obliged to you for forwarding the 

 sketch of the zoophyte, but it is impossible, without the speci- 

 men, either to identify you or to set you on the right road to 

 do so. 



W. Webster. — The publishers of the "Microscope," 145 

 N. Greene Street, Trenton, New Jersey, U.S.A., agent for 

 England, W. P. Collins, 157 Great Portland Street, London ; 

 " Journal of Microscopy," Bailliere, Tyndall & Cox, 20 King 

 William Street, Strand. 



Ed. Mosley. — Double hazel nuts are not at all uncommon; 

 indeed, they have led to a bit of innocent fun at parties, the 

 possessor of one being deemed lucky. If you get a specimen 

 of any hazel nut or acorn in its earliest stage, you will find a 

 two-celled ovary with a seed or kernel in each. The tule is for 

 one of them to become developed and the other aborted, but 

 occasionally they are both equally developed, as in your 

 specimen. 



EXCHANGES. 



Int. Science, London. Very complete set of chemical 

 reagents and apparatus. Breechloader wanted, or offers. — 

 E. J. Batty, 37 Blomfield Road, W. 



Linunt perenne. — Will the gentleman in the Isle of Wight 

 who wrote to me early in January respecting this, kindly send 

 his name and address, as his card was unfortunately mislaid? — 

 H. J. Perrett, Farnham, Surrey. 



Sach's "Text Book of Botany," in good condition, half 

 morocco. What offers? — E. C. Robinson, 46 Fishergate, 

 Preston. 



Wanted, a set of dissecting instruments, also the following 

 books in good condition : Davis's " Biology," Lloyd Morgan's 

 "Animal Biology," and Marshall and Hurst's "Practical 

 Zoology," for which good exchange will be given. — H. W. 

 Parrit, 103 Camden Street, London, N.W. 



Wanted, Hogg's " Microscope," and other microscopical 

 works, in exchange for choice micro-slides and British marine 

 shells. — R. Suter, 5 Highweek Road. Tottenham, London. 



Wanted, small living seaweeds in exchange for good micro- 

 scopic slides. — A. Draper, 179 Cemetery Road, Sheffield. 



Copper pyrites and a number of stamps (used and unused), 

 also the following eggs: robin, ring-dove, yellow bunting, 

 meadow pipit, hedge accentor, song thrush, blackbird, skylark, 

 in exchange for iron pyrites, fluor spar, asbestos and calc-spar, 

 named and localized, or a small selection of greensand fossils, 

 named, &c— H. Durrant, 4 Boulton Road, West Bromwich. 



Science-Gossip, twelve years, 1878-89, unbound, complete ; 

 vol. i. bound. Offers to— Alfred Dymes, 1 Colville Houses, 

 Notting Hill. 



Genuine "Challenger," and other choice foraminifera, 

 neatly mounted, in exchange for foraminifera from the London 

 clay, red chalk, or good deep sea soundings. — J. Ford, Wick- 

 ham L >dge, Kew. 



Ants of every species, British and foreign, with all particu- 

 lars where obtained, wanted for exchange. — Mark L. Sykes, 

 F.R.M.S., Winton, near Manchester. 



Wanted, No. i (March, 1887), "Wesley Naturalist," in 

 exchange tor two good mounted, or twelve named, selected, 



