242 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



spore begins to grow, projecting from the cell wall 

 a delicate tubular prolongation, increasing by subdi- 

 visions, forming a minute flattened expansion, of a 

 rather bright green colour, the " prothallus." For 

 microscopical investigation this minute structure may- 

 be carefully raised and placed under-side uppermost, 

 on a glass slip, in water, dilute glycerine, or (for con- 

 tinuous observation) in a solution of chloride of 

 calcium, covered with the usual thin glass. Amongst 

 irregular cells may be seen a few with peculiarly dis- 

 tinctive features ; some, the " antheridia," containing 

 a number of free granules, each enclosing a motile 

 filament; others, the " archegonia," containing a 

 germ cell. By the fracture of an " antheridium " 

 contact is effected with contents of the " archegonia," 

 through an intercellular passage, the primordial cell 

 of the young fern then sends forth rudimentary rolled 

 up leaves and roots. The expanded pro-embryo or 

 prothallus, from which this result emanated, fades 

 and the future plant becomes established ; in various 

 species the prothallus somewhat differs in appearance 

 and character, but its essential functions are similar. 

 This development has been graphically described in 

 detail in the higher botanical books (Henfrey, Sachs, 

 and others), and its bare outline is only repeated 

 here, as suggesting to young microscopists a practical 

 "observation" of the deepest interest, likely to 

 encourage future research in the inexhaustible 

 field of structural and morphological botany, a study 

 greatly facilitated in having the object itself under 

 inspection, either as a "preparation" or "living 

 condition." 

 CroJtcli End. 



A CHAPTER ON THEASANTS. 



THIS beautiful and well-known bird of our woods 

 and plains belongs to the same class in natural 

 history as our barn-door fowl (Gallinse), but differs 

 from them in many points. The head is destitute 

 of a comb, the tail long, more or less drooping, com- 

 posed of long, gently arching feathers, of which the 

 middle exceeds the rest ; the legs of the male are 

 armed with spurs. The pheasant has nothing in his 

 port of the upright, gallant bearing of the game cock, 

 his attitude is more crouching, and the whole figure 

 lower and more elongated. Their wings being short, 

 they are ill-adapted for long flights, and therefore do 

 not often wander from the preserves wlicre they have 

 been brought up. From this circumstance, it is most 

 probable that in every country in Europe and America, 

 where they are found, they have been introduced by 

 the agency of man and not by chance. In Blain's 

 Encyclopedia of Rural Sports, we are told that the 

 pheasant is completely imprisoned on the island of 

 Madie in Lake Maggiorc, Italy ; for should they ever 

 attempt to escape by flight, they arc sure to fall into 



the lake and be drowned, unless picked up by the 

 boatmen. The male pheasant is not at all given to 

 domestic affection, but passes an independent exis- 

 tence during part of the year, associating with others 

 of its own sex during the rest of the season. The 

 pheasant breeds in April, the young being hatched at 

 the end of INIay or the beginning of June. The nest 

 is a very rude attempt at building, being merely a 

 heap of leaves and grasses collected together upon 

 the ground, with a slight depression, caused apparently 

 quite as much by the weight of the eggs, as by the 

 art of the bird. The eggs are generally about eleven 

 or twelve in number ; the colour is of an uniform olive 

 brown, and their surface perfectly smooth. 



It is now generally admitted, says Sir William 

 Jardine, that the pheasant was originally introduced 

 into Europe from the banks of the river Phasis, now 

 known as the Rion, in the country between the 

 Black and Caspian Seas, where, it is said, this 

 splendid bird is still to be found wild and unequalled 

 in beauty. 



That these magnificent birds were held in high 

 estimation by the ancients for the beauty of their 

 plumage, and the delicacy of their flesh, the following 

 notes from the Greek and Latin authors abundantly 

 testify. 



According to the traditions sung by Aristophanes, 

 a celebrated comic poet of Athens, B.C. 434, it 

 was Jason, the leader of the Argonauts, when sailing 

 up the river Phasis to Colchis, B.C. 1263, who 

 discovered, and subsequently introduced this bird into 

 Greece, where [it soon became highly appreciated. 

 It is related that when Crcesus, King of Lydia, 

 seated on his throne in all the pomp of eastern 

 splendour, asked Solon (the great Athenian lawgiver), 

 then his guest, whether he had ever seen such 

 magnificence before, the philosopher replied that he 

 had seen the beautiful plumage of the pheasant, which 

 he thought far superior. Athenreus, one of the early 

 Greek authors, says that these birds were carried in 

 cages, composed of precious woods, to adorn the 

 triumphant march of Ptolemy II. King of Egypt 

 into Alexandria. The same author tells us, that when 

 the rich and luxurious inhabitants of Athens gave 

 their magnificent feasts, such was their foolish pro- 

 digality and love of ostentation, that they caused a 

 whole pheasant to be served to each guest, and live 

 ones, placed in cages, ornamented the tables. The 

 great naturalist, Pliny (a. D. 29), is the first Roman 

 author who mentions the pheasant ; he calls them 

 "Phasianre aves," birds of the Phasis, to the banks 

 of which river the Romans in his day went in quest 

 of them, which proves they were not common in Italy 

 at that period. A few years later they must have 

 become more plentiful, as Suetonius states in his 

 "Lives of the Ciicsars,"' that Vitellius, that imperial 

 glutton, used to enjoy, among other viands, pheasants' 

 brains mixed with many unheard-of delicacies in an 

 immense dish, called by him the Shield of Minerva. 



