HARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE-GOSSIP. 



163 



in the latest report of such a respectable body as 

 the " West Kent Natural History, Microscopical, 

 and Photographic Society," the "Council's Re- 

 port " (p. 19) offers prizes which may lead to still 

 further destruction ; and, under such temptations, 

 cases have occurred (and may be still further en- 

 couraged) in which collectors, in their anxiety to 

 defeat their competitors, have destroyed such pre- 

 cious plants as could not be conveniently taken 

 away. And we have been too long familiar with 

 the rapacity of mere tralEckers. I have already in- 

 voked the aid of Nature, May 22, 1873, to arrest 

 the evil, and hope that the good offices of Science- 

 Gossip will not be wanting. — G. Gulliver, Canter- 

 hmj. 



Quill-Worts.— I have received two specimens 

 of the Guernsey Isoetes, which is generally sup- 

 posed to be the I. histrix ; they are very much 

 smaller than the smallest I met with in Algiers, 

 and are totally wanting in the peculiarly character- 

 istic spines noticed in Science-Gossip for March 

 last. They have not even the teeth of the /. 

 Durioel. If all are equally minute and spineless, 

 they would appear to be, not merely a variety of 

 the Isoetes histrix, as suggested by Mr. Berkeley 

 in the "Treasury of Botany," but a distinct species. 

 The base of the fallen leaves has the same shining 

 black horny character as the Algiers plant, the 

 essential difference consisting in the total absence 

 of spines.— T. B. JF. 



Alpine Plants. — The year before last I brought 

 home from Switzerland a plant of Guaphaliiun 

 leontopodimn, better known to tourists by its 

 German name, "Edelweiss," and by its English 

 name, "Guides' plant." It took one year to 

 recover from the shock of leaving its mountain 

 home, and it is now in full vigour, showing six 

 corymbs of flowers. Many persons who try to 

 grow Alpine plants think they sufficiently imitate 

 the natural condition of their pets if they plant 

 them in a rockery, and expose them to the frost 

 and cold winds of an English winter. Consequently 

 they fail. The natural condition of Alpine plants 

 in winter is to be snugly protected from excessive 

 cold by a blanket of thick snow. When this is 

 removed, they find themselves suddenly exposed.to 

 the direct rays of a scorching sun, being at the 

 same time plentifully supplied with moisture, de- 

 rived either from the melting snow or from rain 

 and mists. My treatment was to plant my spe- 

 cimen in a pot ; containing a compost of leaf-mould, 

 peat, and sand, to keep it in a sheltered cool frame 

 until it began to show signs of growth ; and then to 

 place it, fully exposed to the rays of the sun, in a 

 warm greenhouse. A similar treatment suits most 

 Alpine plants; but when thoroughly established, 

 they may be planted out in a south aspect, when 



they will flourish for years, provided that they are 

 well watered in summer and artificially protected 

 in winter. — C. A. Johns. 



GEOLOGY. 



" The Glaciation op the Northern par.t op 

 THE Lake-district." — A paper on this subject 

 was recently read before the Geological Society of 

 Loudon by J. C. Ward, Esq., E.G.S. The author 

 stated the leading questions to be settled by his in- 

 vestigation of the northern part of the Lake-district 

 as follows : — The fact of the glaciation of the district 

 being granted, — and of this he adduced abundant 

 evidence, the questions that arose were whether the 

 glaciating agent worked from north to south, whether 

 it came from within or from without the district, 

 and finally, whether the agent was floating ice, a 

 system of local glaciers, or an unbroken ice-cap. As 

 the result of his investigation, he maintained that 

 there is no evidence that a great ice-cap from the 

 north ever swept over this district. The ice-scratches 

 trending along the principal valleys, but sometimes 

 crossing watersheds, indicate a great confluent 

 glacier-sheet, at one time almost covering a great 

 part of the district, the movement of which was 

 determined by the principal watershed of the Lake- 

 district. In the pait of the Lake-district under 

 consideration the ic3, during its increase, carried 

 forward, from south to north, a great quantity of 

 rocky material. There are no signs in the district 

 of the occurrence of mild periods during the epoch 

 of primary glaciation, but the author thought that 

 the climate had probably become moderate before 

 the great submergence of the land commenced. 

 The author noticed the effect of the submergence 

 upon the results of previous glacial action, and 

 maintained that when the land had sunk 800 or 900 

 feet there was a recurrence of cold, and boulders 

 were transported by floating ice. Until the submer- 

 gence reached 1,500 feet there was no direct com- 

 munication between the northern and southern 

 halves of the Lake-district except by the Straits of 

 Dunmail liaise. Erom the directions which would 

 be taken by the currents in the sea at this period, it 

 would appear that boulders may then have been 

 transported by floating ice in some of the same 

 directions as they had previously been carried by 

 glacier-ice. The extreme of submergence appeared 

 to have been about 2,000 feet. The author further 

 maintained that on the re-elevation of the district 

 there was a second land-glaciation, affecting the 

 higher valleys and clearing them of marine drift. 



^; Scenery of the Lake-District.— It should 

 have been stated that Mr. Ward's paper, published 

 in our last issue, on the " Scenery of the Lake- 

 district geologically considered," was read before 



