126 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Euglena abounds in many of the ditches, and is 

 always a popular subject with the microscopist, but 

 just here on this slimy bank we have a greater treasure 

 still. When exploring this region last summer, we 

 discovered a patch of something which seemed to 

 present an unusual appearance, and found it to be a 

 fruiting mass of Cylindrosperimnn macrospcrmiim, 

 Ktz. If we examine it now, however, we shall find 

 it is not in fruit, and it will be interesting to observe 

 the process of cell division, and search for the cilia 

 on the heterocysts. In Bennett & Murray's new and 

 valuable work on " Cryptogamic Botany," we find 

 the plant arranged under the Nostocaceae, and an 

 illustration given after Cooke. This is the best 

 indigenous "find" we have yet made at Silloth. 

 Of the other algae (including Ulothrix, Conferva, 

 and other large forms) I will not speak at present, 

 as some of the forms, as well as the diatoms, need a 

 little more attention under the microscope before they 

 can be arranged and named. The desmids are of 

 special interest, and even at this early date are 

 becoming plentiful. The conchologist will be sorely 

 disappointed if he hopes to make a collection of shells 

 during his stay here — either of land or marine species. 

 I have seen an occasional dead shell of Helix 

 nemoralis, with H. caperata, and even now a slug or 

 two may be seen on the move, while the pools a little 

 inland will yield some species of Planorbis and a few 

 other common forms, but on the coast the work is 

 very unattractive. The little rissoas, hydrobias, and 

 other molluscs found so plentifully at Cleethorpes, 

 Cardross, or elsewhere, are apparently unknown, as 

 are also the larger forms of venus, mya, scrobicularia, 

 nassa, natica, aporrhais, solen, and others. When 

 you have written mussel, cockle, tellina, periwinkle 

 (both flat and pointed species), and added an 

 occasional pecten and top-shell (Zl zizyphinus), your 

 list is well-nigh exhausted. Anemones and their 

 allies are not to be found on the shores ; but if you 

 turn over the heaps of seaweed, thousands of sand- 

 hoppers ( Talitrics loaista) will bound in all directions, 

 and a peculiar fly of a dirty hue, covered with hairs, 

 will allow itself to be entrapped and preserved in 

 spirits till you can examine it. The diptera, by the 

 way, are interesting just now, and I have about half- 

 a-dozen species awaiting identification. The larva of 

 a beetle (Cilkniun laleralc) is busy at present, and 

 later on the imago will be slaughtering the sand- 

 hoppers. 



The most profitable of all work, however, is that 

 of the bryologist. I am not aware that the mosses 

 of the Solway have yet been worked systematically, 

 but I am sure from my own casual gleanings on three 

 or four days in April that the list is a fairly good one. 

 Many of the forms are of course exceedingly common, 

 and the rarer species would take a little time to 

 discover, but then the common things of life are not 

 •without their interest, and we perhaps ought to be 

 more grateful than we are for those humble creatures 



which have no fads or fancies of their own, but will 

 grow wherever they can find a home, and do their 

 best to brighten the world and make it attractive and 

 gay. Thanks then to the common Polytrichum, 

 whose pretty capsules and prettier male flowers help 

 to make our dunes look gladsome, and thanks again 

 to the tufts of Ceratodon whose purple stems tend so 

 much to relieve large tracks of sandy waste. The 

 hypnums and bryums too are in fairly goodi force ; 

 ubiquitous Funaria, though not very abundant, is here. 

 Ba7'kda szibulata mixes with Bryum cccspiticiiun and 

 the feathery fronds of Hypmini. velutimim and allied 

 forms. Some mosses which are common a few miles 

 away, appear to be rare here — hence we have not yet 

 seen the beautiful Dicraniim scoparmm ; and while a 

 few tufts of Toriula muralis have been observed, 

 Grlmmia pnchinata has so far eluded our search. 

 Bartramia and Atrichum grow with other pretty 

 plants around Skinburness. 



These few jottings may serve to show what is the 

 character of the minuter fauna and flora of the Solway 

 during April, and it is perhaps by such records as 

 these that we shall be able in the course of time 

 to gather where we can best find the special kind of 

 objects for which we may be seeking, as well as get 

 together an exact account of the natural products of 

 various localities for the use of future workers. I 

 present these few notes to the Johnstone who shall in 

 future write " The Natural History of the Western 

 Border." 



A VENERABLE NATURALIST : Mr. JOHN 

 RALFS. 



By William Roberts, 



Author of " The Earlier History of Boohsellittg.'" 



THE lowest forms of vegetable and animal life, 

 the links, in fact, between the two great king- 

 doms, afford beauties of a very striking and multi- ' 

 farious character. There is scarcely any form or 

 colour which we do not here find. Living in seas, 

 rivers and pools, on rocks, trees and herbs, these 

 minute organisms are endowed with a vitality as 

 perfect and potent as their more conspicuous con- 

 f^eners. They are essentially a class that appeals 

 only to the painstaking naturalist who has worked 

 his way into the field of microscopic wonderland. 



The two distinct, but in many respects analogous, 

 divisions, desmidiae and diatomacea;, are peculiarly 

 rich in diversity of form and variety of colouring. 

 These two primary sections now include several 

 hundred distinct species, regularly classified into 

 divisions, and again arranged into genera. Less 

 than fifty years ago, there were only about eight 

 distinct species of desmidias known to science ; and 

 probably there is no more remarkable incident in the 

 annals of botany than the rapidity with which this 



