P OP ULAR MIS CELL ANY. 



285 



apart varying according to the size which it 

 is intended to give the bed. Rooted plants 

 are gathered from the lake and interwoven 

 with the stakes. They continue to grow and 

 form the floor of the bed, upon which more 

 plants brought up from the lake are piled, 

 until a kind of hill is formed half a yard in 

 diameter and about two feet high. These 

 hills are placed at distances apart which 

 vary according to the nature of the vegeta- 

 bles that are to be raised upon them ; the 

 weeds of which they are formed soon dry 

 up and decay, and the plants which are to 

 be cultivated, consisting mostly of melons 

 and allied species, are taken from the seed- 

 beds in which they have been started, and 

 planted upon them. At first, the plants 

 are watered regularly, but their roots soon 

 reach the water beneath the floor, and they 

 then take care of themselves. The prod- 

 ucts of the gardens are gathered during the 

 summer as they mature, by means of little 

 boats which circulate among the floats, and 

 are taken to the city and sold to a popula- 

 tion which willingly pays a good price for 

 them. The floating gardens will last for a 

 great many years, or until the stakes which 

 support them are rotted away, and may be 

 perpetuated for an indefinite period by sim- 

 ply renewing the stakes at the proper time. 

 They can be moved, but are generally fixed 

 at the spot which the cultivator selects as 

 most convenient for himself. Floating on 

 the surface of the water, they rise and fall 

 with the rise and fall of the lake, without 

 any interruption to the development of the 

 crops growing upon them. A very large 

 amount of produce is raised upon the lake. 

 Besides those plants which are cultivated 

 directly, it furnishes several other useful 

 productions spontaneously, such as the lotus, 

 whose roots look like giant asparagus, with- 

 out having its taste or flavor, but the seeds 

 of which remind one of fresh nuts ; water- 

 chestnuts (Trappa nutans), which are abun- 

 dant ; and quantities of water-lilies, the seeds 

 and roots of which are often eaten. The 

 fish also are excellent, varied, and abundant. 

 The government derives a considerable rev- 

 enue from the rent of fishing and garden- 

 ing privileges. 



Characteristics and Diversities of Deep- 

 Sea Fauna. M. A. Milne-Edwards has de- 



rived some novel and interesting if not 

 startling conclusions from the study of the 

 deep-sea fauna which were discovered by 

 the dredging expeditions in the Caribbean 

 Sea. He has been especially struck by the 

 dtrerences that exist between the animals 

 of the bottom of the ocean and those of the 

 surface and littoral. When, he says, wc 

 compare the specimens, we seem to have 

 under our eyes two distinct fauna, which be- 

 long neither to the same period nor the same 

 climate. The importance of this fact ought 

 not to escape any one, and geologists should 

 take it into account in determining the age 

 of any formation. In reality, there are 

 being formed to-day in the same seas de- 

 posits of which the contemporaneousness 

 can not be put in doubt, but which contain 

 the remains of beings entirely dissimilar. 

 The animals in the deposits near the shores 

 are related to the highest types of organiza- 

 tion ; those of the deep-sea-beds are of a 

 more ancient character. Some among them 

 exhibit incontestable affinities with fossils 

 of the secondary epoch ; others resemble the 

 larval state of certain existing species. 

 The infinite variety of zoological forms ex- 

 cites astonishment, and makes the appli- 

 cation of existing classifications almost 

 impossible. Transition types abound, with 

 numerous intermediaries between groups, 

 which we have hitherto been in the habit of 

 considering as distinct. " Researches," con- 

 tinues M. Milne-Edwards, " on the animals 

 of great depths have only been begun ; 

 and when we compare the limited extent 

 over which dredgings have been made with 

 the immense spaces that have never been 

 penetrated, when we reflect on the many 

 causes which still make the retreats of 

 certain animals inaccessible to any means 

 of investigation that we have, we become 

 convinced that the results which have been 

 obtained are only a small part of what the 

 future has in reserve for us. We can not, 

 then, insist too much on directing the atten- 

 tion of men of science of .all countries to 

 the usefulness of making their efforts co- 

 ordinate, and of undertaking methodical ex- 

 plorations in the seas to which they have 

 the most easy access. Our zoological tables 

 still present so many gaps that it is impos- 

 sible to comprehend the wholeness of the 

 plan which has presided over the grouping 



