HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



223 



Another form almost invariably found in moss 

 ■wasliing i-iPinnulariu borealin: although not peculiar 

 to them, a few isolated valves may usually be found 

 in the sub-peat deposits and recent freshwater 

 gatherings. Pimmlaria borealls, Ehr., valve linear, 

 ends rounded, oostre distinct, about 13 in 'lOO'', not 

 reaching median line, length of alve from "0013" 

 to ■0025"; fig. 137, in moss washings from various 

 localities. 



Fig. 137. Pinnularia horealis. Fig. 138. Nuvicula undosa, Ehr. 



Dr. Schumann, in his "Die Diatomaceender Hohen 

 Tatra," figures this form with minute puncta on the 

 entire surface of the valve. I have not, however, 

 been able to detect any traces of them in my speci- 

 mens. 



Nuvicula undosa, Ehr. — Valve minute, oblong 

 lanceolate, margins undulate (3 on each side), ends 

 suddenly produced, striae delicate, slightly radiant. 

 {Moss washings, Norfolk:, F. Kitton ; in a deposit 

 on a damp pavement, Edinburgh Castle, communi- 

 cated by Dr. Arnott.) This elegant little species 

 seems to have escaped the notice of Smith, Gregory, 

 Greville, and other English Diatomists. 



Norwich. E. Kitton. 



THE PHILOSOPHY OE BOTANY. 



THE following report of a lecture on the above 

 sul)ject, delivered before the members of the 

 Manchester Literary Club, by Mr. J. E. Taylor, 

 F.L.S., E.G.S., is extracted from the Manchester 

 City Neics of the 16th August. We are glad to 

 draw attention to this newspaper as one which 

 gives a prominent place to scientific meetings, 

 excursions, &c., thereby furnishing the numerous 

 students of natural science in Manchester with a 

 ready knowledge of what is going on in the neigh- 

 bourhood : — 



Mr. Taylor commenced by drawing attention to 

 the fact that the materials out of wluch all plants 

 were constructed differed little in kind from the 

 similar ultimate materials which formed the basis 

 of all animal life. Whatever it might be called, pro- 

 toplasm or bioplasm, this identity was very sug- 

 gestive. Another important fact was that the 

 chemical elements entering into the composition of 

 protoplasm were those marked by their unstable 

 character. Out of the sixty or seventy elementary 

 bodies known to chemists, there were none which 

 were so speedily capable of entering into new com- 

 binations as those which formed the basis of animal 

 and vegetable life. When this was considered with 

 reference to the accumulation and exertion of force 

 which characterized living beings, and especially 



animals, it seemed very remarkable. In the lower 

 forms of animal and vegetable life, there was such 

 an identity of construction tliat the best naturalists 

 were puzzled as to which class certain species 

 should be assigned. Hence it was that Haeckel, 

 one of the best German naturalists, had established 

 a third and intermediate kingdom betwixt the 

 animal and vegetable, which should include all 

 these intercalary forms. Erom these lowly condi- 

 tions differentiation had gone on most rapidly among 

 animals, whilst plants had been less capable of 

 departing from a general type. In plants there 

 needed no special organs to pump the nutritive 

 fluids to every part, as was required in animals. 

 Plants took advantage of chemical and physical 

 laws to have distributed to their furthest extremity 

 the nutritive fluid. Osmosis, proceeding from the 

 most delicate fibrils of the root, capillary attraction 

 carrying the juices or sap higher up the plant, in 

 antagonism to the law of gravitation, diffusion and 

 dialysis proceeding by means of the leaves, &c., and 

 the mechanical swaying to and fro of branches and 

 twigs by the motion of the wind— these were the 

 chief agencies by means of which all such plants as 

 were rooted in the earth had their nutriment diffused 

 through their bulks. The conditions of growth 

 operated more largely upon plants than upon 

 animals : for, whilst animals had the power, more 

 or less, of moving about in search of nutrition, the 

 fixed condition of plants made them more dependent 

 upon physical circumstances. It was true that 

 plants contained in their structures much less 

 nitrogen than animals possessed; and there was a 

 reason for this. They had seen that plants were 

 not called upon, owing to their dependency upon 

 mechanical and chemical laws and their rooted con- 

 dition, to exert anything like the force which was 

 required by all animals, and especially by the higher 

 forms; and as the principal force-giver was nitrogen, 

 they could understand why it was that animals 

 should possess so much nitrogenous material in 

 their structures. But small though the quantity 

 was, and differently proportioned in different groups 

 of plants, it was the great reservoir whence the 

 animal kingdom obtained its supply. Passing from 

 the physiological structure of plants, Mr. Taylor 

 next traced their morpliology, or the laws which 

 affected their shapes. This was shown to be largely 

 dependent upon physical conditions. Taking the 

 leaves of plants as an example, it was not difficult 

 to prove that they were but deviations from a few 

 simple primary forms, just as in crystallography all 

 the thousands of known crystals could be referred 

 to six elementary shapes. In the lifetime of many 

 individual plants there would be found a series of 

 modifications plaj'ed on the shapes of the leaves, 

 from the radical leaves to the floral leaves. It was 

 a well-known fact that every plant could be 

 separated into stem and leaves. The leaves were 



