HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



93 



I have endeavoured to give my readers a glance at 

 the laws of their lives. Therefore, whilst not be- 

 seeching criticism (seeing I have not written so much 

 for learned botanists as for those who take an intel- 

 ligent interest in plants), I do not deprecate it. 

 Nobody is more conscious than the author that he 

 has only lightly touched upon the fringe of a great 

 subject ; but if this little book is the means of render- 

 ing plants and flowers more interesting to people 

 after they have read it than they were before, it will 

 not have been written in vain." 



On the Continuity of Protoplasm.— Will you 

 kindly allow me to draw attention to an error which 

 appeared in your February number of the present 

 year ? In the article entitled, " New Facts concern- 

 ing the Flow of Protoplasm," it is stated, " J\Ir. 

 Gardiner, however, was antedated by Mr. Thomas 

 Hick," &c. The following is the actual state of the 

 case. My first paper on " Open Communication 

 between the Cells of the Pulvinus of Mimosa 

 fudica " was publislied in the October number of the 

 "Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science" for 

 1882. Then followed a communication to the Royal 

 Society, Nov. nth, 18S2, "On the Continuity of 

 the Protoplasm in the Motile Organs of Leaves," in 

 which I first make use of the term " continuity of the 

 protoplasm." On April loth, 1SS3, I communicated to 

 the same society a paper " On the Continuity of the 

 Protoplasm through the Walls of Vegetable Cells," 

 which is being published in the Philosophical Trans- 

 actions for that year. Finally, at Southport, Sept. 

 23rd, 18S3, I read a paper which, since it was the 

 first on the list, was also prior to that of Mr. Hick. 

 To my other papers which I have published I need 

 not refer here. As regards the subject of the 

 continuity of the protoplasm in the Floridea^ I 

 might mention that its occurrence has been known 

 for some time. Besides the two papers by Professor 

 Wright in the Transactions of the Royal Irish 

 Academy, 1878, to which Hick refers, Thuret, in the 

 classic work of Bornet and himself (" Etudes Phyco- 

 logiques," 1878, p. 100), mentions that in many of 

 these algse open communication between the contents 

 of adjacent cells exists. The most satisfactory work 

 upon the subject was, however, carried out by 

 Schmitz (•' Sitzber. Akad. Wiss." Berlin, 1883, 

 Feb. 22nd), who in his paper " On the Structure and 

 Fertilisation of the Floridese," describes the develop- 

 ment of the thallus and the connection existing 

 between the individual cells. He finds that usually 

 the pits are not open, but that a delicate closing 

 membrane is present, which is perforated in a sieve- 

 like manner in the same way as in the cells described 

 by myself. In certain of the corallines he is disposed 

 to believe that open pits do occur, so that the 

 protoplasmic thiends of adjacent cells join directly 

 with one another, although this observation certainly 

 requires confirmation. I believe that the mode of con- 



nection of the cells of the FlorideK is also dealt with by 

 Professor Agardh in his " Morphology of the Flori- 

 deae (" Sv. Vetenskaps akad. Handl." xv. 1S79), but 

 at the time of writing I have not the book. With 

 regard to Mr. Hick's results as recorded in the 

 "Journal of Botany " for February and March, there 

 can be little doubt that the continuity of the proto- 

 plasm in the Floridese is not maintained by means of 

 open pits as he has stated. By appropriate treatment 

 it is easy to see that except in the very youngest cells 

 a distinct pit-closing membrane is present, and I can 

 only make the same remark concerning his research 

 as I did in a communication to the Royal Society of 

 December 13th, 1883, with special reference to Mr. 

 Hillhouse's results (" Bot. Centralblatt,"Nos. 16, 17, 

 1883), that "I am unable to agree with observers 

 whose statements necessitate the existence of open 

 pits." — Walter Gardi7ier. 



GEOLOGY, &r. 



Discoveries of Vertebrate Remains in the 

 Triassic Strata of Devonshire. — Mr. A. T. 

 Metcalfe, F.G.S., has described before the Geo- 

 logical Society, some vertebrate remains consisting 

 chiefly of portions of jaw-bones with teeth in line, 

 probably of Labyrinthodonts, found in the Upper 

 Sandstones (Ussher's classification), at High Peake 

 Hill, near Sidmouth, by II. J. Carter, Esq., F.R.S. 

 At numerous places between Budleigh Salterton and 

 Sidmouth, Mr. Carter and Mr. Metcalfe had found a 

 large number of isolated bone fragments. Such 

 fragments had been submitted to a microscopical 

 examination by Mr. Carter. In some specimens the 

 bone structure was visible throughout ; in some the 

 bony portion had been partially removed and replaced 

 by an infiltration of mineral matter ; in others the 

 removal of the bony portion was complete. From 

 these facts Mr. Metcalfe drew the conclusion that a 

 comparative abundance of vertebrate life was 'main- 

 tained during the Triassic period ; and that the 

 rareness of Triassic fossils was due not so much to 

 the paucity of animal life during that period as to the 

 fact that Triassic strata afforded no suitable conditions 

 for the preservation of organic remains. The Presi= 

 dent said that the author, in this interesting 

 communication, had proved that there was an 

 abundant vertebrate fauna in the Triassic strata of 

 Devonshire, and we could only regret that the 

 specimens found up to the present time were all so 

 fragmentary and imperfect. 



Post-Glacial Ravines in the Chalk-Wolds 

 of Lincolnshire.- — Some time ago, Mr. Jukes- 

 Browne, F.G.S., stated that of the valleys intersecting 

 the Chalk- Wolds some were older and some were 

 newer than the formation of the boulder-clays (Hessle 



