lU 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE- GOSSIP. ' 



" In addition to the nucleus and ramifying threads, 

 many Diatoms exhibit a germinal dot, with reference 

 to which the endochrome is arranged rather than to 

 the 'nucleus ; particularly this is the case with 

 Surirella. We may add that the coloured figures in 

 Smith's British Diatomaceaa are caricatures ; indeed, 

 the late Tuffen West * admitted to us that some of 

 those representing conjugations were manufactured 

 to order. 



" With regard to marine forms, which are far more 

 numerous than those in fresh water, we might ask 

 where did the}/ originate, or, rather, how became 

 terminals of a series, with Pediastrese and Desmids 

 for middle terms ? since, if we mistake not, these 

 middle terms are seldom if ever found, except in 

 fresh water ! Perhaps this might not appear much 

 of an objection, inasmuch as some species affect 

 equally well fresh and salt water. But if we get 

 the gist of Dr. Bastian's argument, he would not 

 only have us believe that Bacteria, &c., originate de 

 novo — which at present we grant — but that somehow 

 (the way not yet proved) say fungus-spores, Euglense. 

 Astasias, Actinophrys, or something else, came from 

 these 'first beginnings,' and next, that somehow, 

 not yet shown how, Pediastreae and Desmids, and 

 finally Diatoms, came from the previous existing 

 organisms, all a series of transformations not affected 

 once for all, but continually going on, so that all 

 these things are being manufactured, as it were, 

 every day. 



" Doubtless bacteria were developed at a very early 

 period of the earth's history (Dr. Bastian informs 

 us that they soon make their appearance after a 

 prolonged boiling of the infusion) ; but somehow 

 these primaeval ' beginnings ' appear to have been 

 very chary of evolution, as neither Diatoms nor 

 Desmids appear earlier than the Cretaceous, or 

 what is far more probable, ' the Tertiary.' " 



[Dr. Bastian seems to have fallen into the error 

 that many other superficial observers have done ; viz. 

 in supposing that there is a similarity of structure 

 between Desmids and Diatoms. They resemble 

 each other in propagation by self-division, but the 

 Diatom frustule divides longitudinally, the Desmid 

 divides transversely. The new half of the Desmid 

 is usually quite rudimentary, even after division has 

 taken place ; in the Diatom the new valve is perfect. 

 —F. K.^ 



Norwich. P. Kitton. 



" The hypothesis of evolution is not simply le- 

 gitimate instead of illegitimate, because repre- 

 sentable in thought instead of unrepresentable; 

 but it has the support of some evidence, instead 

 of being absolutely unsupported by evidence." — 

 Spencer's "Principles of Biology." 



* Professor Smith has been misinformed : Tuffen West is 

 still living.— F. K. 



J 



A PROBABLY NEW SPECIES OP 

 ORTHOCERAS. 



{Orthoceras pennatum.) 



THE accompanying drawings are of specimens 

 of an Orthoceras which occurs in a bed 

 of shale in the Millstone Grit, about seven miles 

 S. W. of Ripon, and which seems ^to possess 

 many interesting peculiari- 

 ties. I have never found s^ ^i,~.^ 

 a perfect specimen ; but 

 from the parts preserved, 

 it seems possible to restore 

 the form of the whole shell. 

 The lower portion consists 

 of a considerable number of 

 concave casts of the air- 

 chambers, separated by very 

 delicate partitions (figs. 87, 

 91, 94), which are connect- 

 ed by a central siphuncle 

 (though ; the presence of 

 this is with difficulty dis- 

 cerned). The partitions 

 {septa) of the air-chambers 



'jg 



'/ 



Fig. 87. Fig:. 90. Fig. 91. 



Fig. 87. Lower part of Orthoceras, bent to one side. 



Fig. 88. Outside of lower part. 



Fig. 89. Extreme end of Orthoceras. 



Fig. 90. Section of end, showing partitions and air- 

 chamber. 



Fig. 91. Upper expanded and lower portion of Or<Aoc«ras 

 pennalu7n. 



are joined to a thin wall of shell, which is smooth, 

 or nearly so, externally (figs. 91, 92), showing very 

 slightly the places of the septa, and expanding in 

 the upper portion of the shell into a very large 

 open chamber (fig. 91), which is strongly marked 

 with a number of parallel rings (fig. 93), approxi- 

 mating closer to one another as they approach the 

 upper portion of the shell. This seems to me to 



