HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



157 



unequal in size. Colour pale dull yellowish-brown. 

 Lives in deep burrows among rocky detritus, 

 from which it can be obtained by digging at low 

 tide. 



Gebia deltura. Animal shorter and stouter than 

 the foregoing. Cephalo-thorax spiny above. Abdo- 

 minal segments hard and rather broad. Colour 

 yellowish-red to pale brown. Inhabits deep burrows 

 beneath beds of zostera. 



Axius stiryncJnis. Animal generally slightly larger 

 than Callianassa. Segments of abdomen arched and 

 rigid. Tail plates broad. Claws massive. Colour 

 pale pink, rather dull. Frequents stony ground, in 

 which it makes long burrows from which it can be 

 dug. 



Hojnariis marinns. Common lobster. Description 

 needless. This valuable article of food is taken in 

 considerable numbers in pots in deepish water. Tiiey 

 seem to prefer living in holes under some rocky 

 ledge. 



Crangon vulgaris. Common shrimp. Description 

 needless. Occurs in all the sandy bays, where it is 

 taken in the same manner as on the English shore s. 



Crangon fasciatiis and others. There is no doubt, 

 from what we have seen, that there are two or three 

 other species of Crangon to be found in Jersey. They 

 may be searched for at low tide among the | gravelly 

 pools of La Rocque, &c., and may all readily be 

 identified by following the meaning of their specific 

 names. 



Nika edidis. This "shrimp" may be recognized 

 by being more cylindrical than Crangon, and also as 

 being apparently devoid of rostrum and antennse 

 plates. It frequents pools formed by the washing 

 away of the zostera beds, and is generally captured 

 at night. 



Athatias nitescens. Animal usually an inch in 

 length, stoutly formed, having large claws for so 

 small a "shrimp." Colour warm reddish-brown, 

 bright and shining. Frequents small gravelly pools, 

 where it hides itself under stones. 



Hippolyte sp. Several species of this interesting 

 little crustacean occur in the rock pools amongst the 

 alga; and zostera. They are about half an inch to an 

 inch in length, slender and graceful in form. The 

 third and fourth abdominal segments being vertically 

 deeper than the rest, gives them a "humped'' 

 appearance. Their colour varies from a brilliant 

 green to a bright umber, and as they Hash through 

 the pools in the sunshine they are a beautiful sight. 

 The species are not easy to separate, but " captures " 

 should be carefully labelled as to locality, &c., for 

 future identification. 



Palamon scrratits and P. squilla. The Prawns. 

 These two species may be taken together in shallow 

 shingly pools, in weedy pools, or at the margin of the 

 rising tide on gravel where they are "foraging" for 

 anything that has been left up dead by the last tide. 

 Their beautifully graceful form, together with the 



colours shown through their transparent exoskeleton,. 

 make them well-known objects. 



Scyllarus arctns. The broad lobster or Guernsey 

 lobster. Animal four to six inches in length, 

 massive, broad and corrugated. No forceps, but 

 antennse plates produced into two large flat processes 

 similar in form to that of the common shrimp. Colour 

 reddish-brown. This animal can swim backwards 

 with great rapidity by means of its broad tail and 

 powerful muscular development. Occurs in deep 

 water and is rare. 



Squilla Desmarestii. The "Mantis" shrimp. 

 Animal about three or four inches in length, reddish- 

 brown in colour, somewhat flattened in form. Tail 

 notched. Forceps long and armed with comb-like 

 processes of ivory whiteness. This remarkable 

 crustacean inhabits deep burrows under the zostera 

 beds. 



Crustacea of Jersey. — In Mr. Lovett's article 

 on this subject last month, unfortunately the names of 

 the figures of Pirimela dcnticitlata and Eiiryonomc 

 aspera, female, were transposed. Readers will 

 kindly note this correction. 



A SKETCH OF THE FLORA OF THE 

 COAL PERIOD. 



By Rev. J. Magens Mello, M.A., F.G.S., &c. 



[Continued from page 126.] 



THE Calamites have furrowed as well as 

 jointed stems, but it has been said that this 

 furrowing " may be only the result of fossilisation ; 

 that when the central pith decayed, the woody cylinder 

 retained its original form, and the interior was filled 

 with sand or mud, which hardening resisted the 

 pressure of the surrounding beds more than the soft- 

 ened cylinder could do, and thus the now characteris- 

 tic ridges would be formed on the smooth outer 

 surface of the films of coal or other material represent- 

 ing the bark ; the furrowed specimens being only the 

 casts of the medullary cavity. The stem of a Calamite 

 ended in a blunt cone, similar in internal structure to 

 the rest of the stem, and giving off numerous rootlets, 

 known as I'innularise. Two or more plants were 

 united at the base or arose from a common rhizome. 

 The leaves were produced in whorls on the radia- 

 ting branches, and the beautiful fossils named Astero- 

 phyllites, Annularia, and Sphenophyllum have been 

 thought by some writers to have been the leaves of 

 various species of Calamites, but this is denied by 

 Dawson, who says that the true Calamite leaf was 

 linear, thick and angular, and was also marked trans- 

 versely by rows of minute stomata as in the living 

 Equisetum. The above-named leaves may, however, 



