155 



HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIF. 



any of the puprc of its own species. This cannot be 

 irom mere want of appetite and indifference to food, 

 since I have seen the mature specimens preying upon 

 plant-lice quite as eagerly as do the larvae. 



J. W. Slater, 



SILLOTH IN JUNE. 



FOLLOWING my article on "Solway Dunes in 

 April " (Science-Gossip, p. 125), it may be 

 interesting to note how great a change had come 

 over the flora and fauna when I next visited Silloth 

 on June ist. The weather had been hot and showery 

 for a fortnight, and everything had made rapid 

 progress. I was able to secure the following among 

 other prizes — some of them introduced with foreign 

 corn, others now well established, if not actual natives 

 of the place : Vicia Bobartii^ Viola Curlisii, Viola 

 Jlavicornis, Carex areiiaria, Xanthium spinosum (not 

 yet in flower, but found in bloom later in the season 

 of last year at the same spot), Lepidinm Stnithii, Brome 

 grass with Usliloi^o bromivora in its inflorescence, 

 Cerastiuin scmidccandncui, Liniim zisitatissiinum, 

 Erysinmm oriettlale, Sisymbrium Panti0)iiai7u, Am- 

 sinckia lycopsioidcs, Trifolimn arvense, A 71 thy His vul- 

 iicraria, Geraniut)i saiigitiueiim (very abundant near 

 Skinburness, where the little burnet-rose will also 

 shortly be profuse), Cakilc niaritiina, Plaiitago coronopiis 

 and P. tnaritima, Armeria maritima, and sea-holly, 

 the latter not yet in flower ; Scandix Pccten, not so 

 common in the north as in many other localities, 

 gold of pleasure, corn gromwell, gilia, and many 

 other desirable plants. 



Turning to the parasites, I found in addition to 

 the smut on bromus, the while rust (Cystopus) on 

 shepherd's purse, the cluster cup on violet and 

 coltsfoot, the latter being followed here by rust on 

 the grass that grows near, the sweet rust on thistles, 

 &c. Weevils were abundant on flowers of Brassica 

 and Sinapis, and another on the purple sea-rocket, 

 while the dead carcase of an old crow was a splendid 

 hunting-ground for beetles and their curious larvix;. 

 The beautiful Nostoc called Cylitidrospermum had 

 spread amazingly, and was in fine form, while the 

 tidal pools yielded such an abundance of life as to 

 astonish me. 



Here I must correct one statement made in my 

 former paper, which, though accurate at the time, 

 might easily prove misleading. When I got home 

 from my brief visit, I was delighted to find that the 

 little bottle of sea-water which I had brought with 

 me contained some minute shells of the kinds whose 

 absence I had regretted, and I am therefore able now 

 to state, that as the season advances, these shells may 

 be successfully sought among the seaweed of the pools 

 after a receding tide. In these pools I also found 

 .small crabs, plenty of periwinkles, and hosts of 

 microscopic Crustacea in various stages of develop- 

 ment. 



I may here be permitted to refer to one or two 

 matters of critical interest. During my visit to Silloth 

 in April, I was surprised to find the apical cell of 

 CylindrosperDUim possessed of numerous hyaline and 

 very minute cilia. Finding no reference to the fact 

 in the text-books, I informed Mr. Bennett of my 

 observation. He stated that a similar remark had 

 been made respecting an American species, that he 

 put it down to error of observation or a minute 

 parasite, and that he would be glad of further light. 

 I have now found the plant coming into fruit, and in 

 every instance I observe that the apical cell, which 

 in this genus furms the heterocyst, is ciliated, whether 

 followed by a spore or not. The reader is referred to 

 the illustration given in Bennett and Murray's 

 " Cryptogamic Botany," p. 432, the hyaline terminal 

 cells in my gatherings of which are clothed with cilia. 



Many diatoms grow intermingled with this plant, 

 chief among which I observe Piinnilat-ia viridis^ 

 often with iis characteristic green colour, pace Cooke, 

 " Ponds and Ditches," p. 94. Their number, how- 

 ever, is nothing compared with that of the diversified 

 forms found in situ on all the little sprigs and sprays 

 of fine filamentous algae attached to stones about the 

 breakwaters, which one might spend many pleasant 

 hours in examining, especially the different species of 

 Schizonema in their hyaline capsules. 



Tipula maculosa occurs close to the water, wherever 

 a plant is within reach, along with its more prosaic 

 cousin, the common daddy-long-legs. 



HiLDERic Friend. 



NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. 



'^IIE PRIMITIVE FAMILY IN ITS 

 1 ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT, by C. 

 N. Starclce (London : Kegan Paul). Scientific 

 bibliophilists always look with pleasure to the issue 

 of a new volume of the now celebrated International 

 Scientific Series. Nor is this to be wondered at, 

 considering that each volume has been written by the 

 man who knows most about each subject. The con- 

 sequence is that the above library collectively repre- 

 sents the most authoritative scientific opinion of our 

 time. The last issue of the series, by Professor 

 Starcke of Copenhagen, is not less interesting than 

 its predecessors. We have here stated in plain and 

 even attractive language the nature of the primitive 

 family, the ideas on which it is based, and the germ 

 of moral growth it contains. The work is based both 

 upon philosophical and ethnological lines. The habits 

 of the Aboriginal natives of Australia, Ameiica, 

 Africa, Asia, Polynesia, &:c., are gone into, and the 

 opinions of ethnological writers on these peoples are 

 discussed. Some of the most interesting chapters are 

 on the relation of father and child, polyandry, nomen- 

 clatures, exogamy and endogamy, or marriage within 

 or without the tribe. Then we have a lengthy and 



