HAilDWlCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



19 



on iu the winter uuder severe exposure. I had the 

 good fortune to be out with them on a fine day in 

 October, and found that even then, with a breeze 

 from the north-east, it was cold enough for one 

 accustomed to town-life. I was, however, amply- 

 repaid by a great store of marine forms, utterly 

 inaccessible to me by other means. iVuxious to have 

 further supplies from time to time, I arranged with 

 one of the boatmen, who readily consented to take 

 cliarge of my basket of bottles and jars at any time, 

 fill it with anything he might think of interest, and 

 return it to me. Imagine my delight at finding iu 

 my first instalment a gorgeous specimen of the 

 Bird's-foot starfish, Talmipes memhrcijiaceus, Retz. 

 Those who have never seen any but dried specimens 

 of this rare and beautiful echinoderm'can form but 

 a slight conception of its bright colouring when 

 alive, as mine was when I received it. A starfish, 

 which I take to be OplnocomaBallii, Thompson, was 

 among the lot, with Comatula rosacea. Link, Cri- 

 bella, and Solaster iu abundance. I had also a 

 great rarity in the crustaceans, Inachus leptocldriis. 

 Leach, probably dropped into one of my largest jars 

 by my weather-beaten friend on account of the 

 pearl-like tubercle on its thorax. In "Bell's 

 British Crustacea" this species is said to be ex- 

 tremely rare. I would be glad to know if any 

 Gossip has obsei'ved it, as I am inclined to believe, 

 owing to its being liable to become encrusted with 

 sponges, it has been overlooked. Good specimens 

 of Hyas araneus and H. coardatus, with otlier 

 commoner species, were obtained. Two or three 

 species of Nudibraucuiata, and a number of cou- 

 chiferous molluscs, which, with the polyzoa and 

 sponges, made up a formidable list. Should any 

 readers be tempted to try for themselves, I can 

 guarantee ample work for winter evenings.— ZT, S., 

 Belfast, 



BOTANY. 



HELiciiHYStrM (Everlasting). — I grow a large 

 quantity of this useful flower for winter decoration 

 for myself and friends ; and as many inquiries have 

 been made as to the best method of treating it when 

 cut, I am able to afford your readers some assist- 

 ance. "Wishing this year not to lose even the un- 

 expanded buds, I gathered a quantity during the 

 first week of this month, some of which were 

 brought into the dining-room until otherwise dis- 

 posed of. Ou subsequently removing them, I 

 thought I perceived a partial separation of the 

 petals, and it occurred to me that this effect, if 

 really existing, must be due to the artificial tem- 

 perature of the room. I immediately tested the 

 matter by placing a number of buds before the fire, 

 and as a result obtained as many full-blown flowers. 

 Knowing, however, the tendency of the Helichry- 

 sum to close after it has been in bloom, I was not 



satisfied with the experiment until I had ascertained 

 that a night's exposure in the coldest room of the 

 house failed to counteract the artificial treatment. 

 Here, then, is a simple method by means of which 

 a large stock of these elegant winter flowers may be 

 utilized — it is now, in most situations, too late in the 

 season to gather buds ; but many of your readers 

 may be in possession of some which were gathered 

 green, and are now dry,— all that is necessary 

 being to place them upon the fender before the fire ; 

 but iu the case of those which are fresh-gathered, it 

 is a better plan to suspend them, bud downward, by 

 a worsted thread kept twirling, for by this arrange- 

 ment the flower is at liberty to expand equally, and 

 the stalk dries straight and rigid. — Wia. Ttidor 

 Mablei/, Altrincham. 



Bare Oxfordsiuue Plants. — There have re- 

 cently been comphxints in Science -Gossip that 

 compilers of local floras do not take sufiicient 

 trouble to ascertain if rare plants, limited to certain 

 localities, can still be found in those localities. A 

 similar statemeat may, to some extent, be made re- 

 specting our standard British Floras. For example, 

 I received in the spring a request from a corre- 

 spondent to gather Aruhis turrifa, which he said 

 grew plentifully at Oxford. Now in the Floras of 

 Bentham, Babington, and Hooker, this plant is 

 mentioned as growing there, without even a hint 

 that it may be extinct, or that it is more limited 

 there than Senecio squalidus, which is very abun- 

 dant. It was evidently from these standard 

 works that my correspondent had obtained his in- 

 formation. I had visited Oxford several times, but 

 had never seen the plant ; hence I determined to 

 make special inquiries. In Walker's "Flora of 

 Oxfordshire" it is stated to have been found on 

 Magdalen College walls, by Sibthorp and the Bev. 

 Mr. White, in 1S32 ; and the author informs us that 

 it formerly grew in the Old Quadrangle. I visited 

 the walls of the college this spring, but found no 

 trace of it. I saw the curator of the Botanic 

 Garden. He showed me a specimen cultivated in 

 the garden ; but he informed me that it had not been 

 seen on the college walls for a number of years, 

 having been overgrown by weeds. Last summer 

 I gathered Salvia pmtensls between Middleton 

 Stoney and Ardley, the locality given in Walker's 

 Flora; andjthis summer, after visiting several of 

 the localities mentioned in the same Flora for St achy s 

 germanica, I gathered it between Sturge's Castle 

 and Enslow Bridge. Can any of your readers inform 

 me \1 Thlaspi perfoliatum c?iXi still be found in the 

 neighbourhood of Witney and Barford, as recorded 

 by W^alker to have been met with by Sibthorp and 

 Hooker in 1818 ; or if Arabis turrita still grows at 

 Cambridge, in Kent, and at Cleish Castle, Kinross, 

 as stated in the Floras of Bentham and Babing- 

 ton ?— ^. French, Banhimj. 



