HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



109 



of its cell. The dragging down of the upper portion 

 of the cell is caused by the teeth of the tentacles — 

 which are armed with fine spines (fig. 79) — overlapping 

 the sides of the cell and dragging it partially down ; 

 and not from the attachment of the cell to the neck 

 of the creature ; for if such had been the case, the 

 ovum, on being drawn into the cell, would have per- 

 formed a rotating motion, from the fact of being 

 rolled up in folds as the cell was being dragged 

 down. Such was not the case ! And to make the 

 theory more conclusive — I ought in justice to say, 

 Slack's theory, for he entertained a similar opinion, 

 but I know of no record of his having worked it 

 out — I took a very fine healthy Stephanoceros 

 Eichornii from my tank, determined to prove the 

 question at issue, " whether the cell of Stephanoceros 

 Eichornii was a solid gelatinous mass or merely 

 tubular." After paring down the leaf to which it 

 was attached, I placed it on the plate of the live-box, 

 with a small quantity of water, under a "two-inch 

 objective, B eye-piece, Swift." I had, in other 

 specimens, carefully observed the longitudinal muscles 

 that extend down the peduncle. I took a very fine 

 lancet and severed the muscles, cutting the tail through 

 close to the base, and I had the great gratification of 

 seeing her swim out of her cell at the oral orifice, 

 leaving the cell perfectly intact ; with small portion 

 of tail attached to the piece of leaf. I sent for Mr. 

 Harvey, F.C.S., the public analyst for this district, 

 and member of the E.K.N.H.S., and he too is able 

 to verify the fact of the cell being " tubular " and not 

 a "solid gelatinous mass." 



After this digression, we will now return to our 

 young Stephanoceros. The maxillary organs were 

 well formed, as will be seen in fig. 78, a, but, although 

 I watched very closely for a long time, I could see 

 nothing approaching to nutriment taken in by the 

 creature. It seemed to me as if nature was resting 

 herself after her labours, and preparing herself for 

 her future efforts of perfection. After the lapse of a 

 little more than two hours, the oral orifice of the 

 little creature began to swell, and small buds began 

 to obtrude and push themselves upwards, much in the 

 same way as one sees the tentacles begin to show 

 themselves on the buds of the hydra. These buds 

 were covered with very minute cilia, and when they 

 had pushed themselves up a short distance they began 

 to gradually unfold themselves in the same manner 

 as one sees the fronds of ferns unfold (figs. 80 and 81), 

 drooping their heads as if bowing their acknowledg- 

 ments to a divine Creator. They remained in this 

 drooping state for two days ; but on the third day 

 they took that beautiful arched form which is indica- 

 tive of the healthfulness of Stephanoceros Eichornii. 

 It was a grand sight to watch the maxillary organs 

 commence their work ; gradually they clashed to- 

 gether, the transparency of the creature rendering 

 them plainly visible ; and as monad after monad 

 entered the throat, and was received into the crop. 



the maxilla gradually snapped them up, and ground 

 them for reception into the stomach. 



T. B. ROSSETER. 

 Canterbury. 



MY FIRST VISIT TO THE HEART OF THE 

 GRAMPIANS. 



THE warmer portion of the year 18S1 was on 

 the wane, and my butterflies and moths, be- 

 numbed by the autumn air, had ceased to emerge in 

 their breeding cages, when I received an invitation 

 from kind relatives across the Tweed, to spend a 

 season boating among the rocky headlands and ruins 

 that guard about the two Cumbraes. It is needless 

 to say my attention during these aquatic e.vploits was 

 instinctively drawn to the natural history of a spot 

 already in high repute with the antiquary ; and the 

 following is a passing account of what I learnt during 

 my brief sojourn, from the first pages of the great 

 stone book — that too little read heirloom of the past. 

 The greater Cumbrae, constituting a natural and 

 solid breakwater at the stormy entry of the Clyde, 

 presents the very respectable dimensions of three and 

 a ■ half miles long by two miles broad. Like its 

 smaller satellite, it is fashioned out of a fragment of 

 those red, red sheets of sandstone, that form the edges 

 of the great coal basin of southern Scotland. That 

 tract so rich in providence, the wayfarer learns early 

 to distinguish from the mountainous districts adjoin- 

 ing, by its piles of black shale and the midnight blast 

 of its furnaces. This fragment of sandstone, as the 

 evidence goes, has been upheaved bodily from the 

 depths of the abyss, and in the throe has been covered 

 and broken through with volcanic lavas, chiefly, as 

 has been said, with those of the greenstone variety. 



Time was, when this kelpie of the wave was not, 

 when there was as yet no Clyde ; and in these days 

 this red stone lay as loose sand on the shore of an 

 inland sea that lashed the feet of the Cheviots and 

 Grampians, and stretched with its fern-clad islands 

 eastward to the north of Ireland. Now the fitful 

 fever of the earthquake and volcano supervening, has 

 broken up and raised the basin of this our great loch 

 Caledonia ; yet we may still journey round by way 

 of Stonehaven, Comrie, Rothesay, Brodick, Girvan 

 and Cairn Table, and trace its iron stained shore 

 reposing as of old on the margin of the misty high- 

 lands ; or we may stop by the way, and with a 

 hammer detach from the more shingly layers com- 

 monly called pudding-stone or conglomerate, round 

 white quartz pebbles and glittering fragments of 

 gneiss and slate, that but little comparison will prove . 

 to be the water-worn spoil torn from the surrounding 

 mountains. 



But has this island verily and indeed been raised in 

 air, and not merely eroded from the mainland as some 

 geologists have fancied ? The day is fine, let us coast 



