HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



277 



Large specimens will require to have the glycerine 

 again changed before fastening up the preparation, 

 which may be clone in a month." !Mr. Davics 

 speaks of this as an experimental plan, not as a 

 certain method.—^. B. K. IF. 



Ants and Aphides. — A singular fact connected 

 with the Ant and the Aphis has lately been brought 

 to my notice, which, if it has not been already ob- 

 served, may be worth recording. My informant 

 (a Brighton florist) assures me that he has fre- 

 quently observed the ants carrying down the aphis 

 from the upper part of the plants to the bottom 

 near the roots, and that a great number of them may 

 be seen at times on the mould around the root, and 

 even in the entrance to the ant-holes iu the flower- 

 pot, the lower part of which, being sunk in the 

 mould, the ants find their way through the hole at 

 the bottom to the top of the pot ;— can it be to give 

 the ant more ready access to the aphis in order to 

 collect the honey when ejected by the latter ?— 

 T.B. W. 



Hydras benumbing oe, killing their Prey. 

 — At the meeting of the East Kent Natural History 

 Society I showed under the microscope the effects 

 of the stinging properties of the Hydra viridis, by 

 X^laciug several of this species in a glass cell a 

 quarter of an inch deep and one inch and a quarter 

 in diameter, and then putting with them some lively 

 specimens of Cjjdops quadricoruis and water-fleas. 

 They were instantly seized by the hydras with their 

 tentacles, and in the space of half an hour not a 

 single Cyclops or water-flea was left living. The 

 hydras not only killed the prey they swallowed, but 

 every one that came in contact with, and was held 

 for a short" time by the tentacles, also died, even 

 though released from it ; and the victim never re- 

 covered from the sting of the hydra. As the sting- 

 ing power of the hydra has been hitherto a vexed 

 question, I have had recourse to various experi- 

 ments to prove this, and the plan adopted, as before 

 mentioned, has fully confirmed the fact that they 

 have the power to kill not only that which they 

 appropriate to themselves as food, but all and every 

 one that comes in contact with their tentacles. The 

 hydras in question were placed in the cell with per- 

 fectly clean water, in a short time they extended 

 themselves and their tentacles to their full length ; 

 soon as the cyclops and daplmias were put into the 

 cell with them, they were immediately entangled in 

 the extended tentacles. Some of the hydras laid 

 hold of four and five at a time, and retained theni 

 while the process of absorbing one only went on, 

 and by the time this was accomplished all the others 

 were dead. This was witnessed by the whole of the 

 members present at the meeting. I had tried this 

 experiment several times before, and with the same 

 results. — James Fiillagar, Canterbunj. 



BOTANY. 



Calla palustris.— During a temporary sojourn, 

 this autumn, in the neighbourhood of Cobham, 

 Surrey, my attention was one day attracted by a 

 somewhat remarkable leaf, growing out of the 

 water, on the edge of a peaty swamp, among the 

 uninclosed fir woods, which extend for some 

 miles in that district. Later, I observed flowers 

 of so peculiar a character that I was induced to 

 return another day, with the means of reaching the 

 plant. It proved to be Calla palustris, a Euro- 

 pean, but not a British native. Probably it must 

 have been planted or sown there, some time or 

 other ; but, to all appearance, it is growing perfectly 

 wild, and is now spread over a space of some 25 

 yards along one side of the swamp. I made many 

 inquiries to ascertain whether it had ever been seen 

 there by any botanist, but could hear of nobody 

 who was aware of its existence. Being assured 

 that some record of the fact would be acceptable to 

 your readers, I have sent this notice. — Francis B. 

 L. Gardiner. 



Hertfordshire 'PhA.'NTS.—Saffina maritima, var. 

 densa, is given by Dr. Hooker in his " Student's 

 Flora " (p. Gl) for " Cheshunt and Wisbech." This, 

 however, looks very much like a clerical error for 

 " Christchurch, Hants, and Wisbech, Cambridge- 

 shire," of Syme ("Eng. Bot.," ed. 3, ii. 117), and the 

 locality is iu itself improbable. Can any of your 

 correspondents help me to the reference ? Ramin- 

 cuius /ieterop/i!/llus,'Fnes, and Jmarant/ius retroflexHS, 

 L., are also given for the same county in the " Elora 

 of Middlesex" (pp. 2i9, 353). This latter is also 

 recorded as a Herts plant by Mr. Watson in the 

 "Compendium of the Cybele Britanuica," appa- 

 rently on the authority of the Rev. R. li. Webb's 

 "Flora Hertfordiensis," where, however, it is 

 unmentioned ; and I am not aware that it has been 

 collected there previously to the present year, when 

 I gathered it myself on the North-western Railway, 

 near the Watford station. Where are the other 

 localities ?— i?. A. Pri/or. 



Fungus Neav to Britain. — At a meeting of the 

 Eastbourne Natural History Society, Mr. C. J. 

 Muller brought before the notice of the members 

 a fungus said to have made its appearance in Eng- 

 land for the first time during the present year. It 

 is named Puccinea niahacearum., and was found on 

 the under side of the leaves of the common mallow. 



On the Botany of Brighton.— There are pro- 

 bably few places that present at first sight a more 

 unpromising appearance to the botanist than the im- 

 mediate neighbourhood of Brighton. Nevertheless, 

 even in the town itself. Nature has contrived to retain 

 a lingering hold upon the soil, and her traces will still 

 be found amidst the most unpropitious surroundings. 



