HAllDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP, 



35 



to see that many of them must be viewed from au 

 original stand-point. The descriptions of moun- 

 tain scenery are, apart from the singularity of these 

 views, very graphic, and the illustrations, both in 

 the " Mountain" and " Nature," of the most superb 

 character. The translations by Mr. Adams are 

 clear and readable, considering that he had a diffi- 

 cult task before him. As books to place on a 

 drawing-room table, to be taken up for a few 

 minutes, and admired (not studied), we know few 

 more suitable tlian those we have just mentioned. 

 To "Beautiful Birds," a good many of the 

 foregoing remarks equally apply. The style is 

 clearer, and less rhapsodical. In fact, many por- 

 tions of the book are most attractively written. 

 The illustrations (printed in oil-colours) arc of 

 the very finest we have seen. Altogether the 

 work is got up in such a tasteful style that it 

 must take a leading place among gift-books. It 

 is hardly scientific, although its subject is so ; 

 but it brackets, so to speak, the purely literary 

 with the technical, and includes, in a happy man- 

 ner, a good deal of what is known about the 

 most beautiful of foreign birds, interwoven here 

 and there with a little of the apocryphal. 



MOSSES ABOUT LONDON. 



TN accordance with a rule laid down some time 

 -*- ago, among other restrictions which space en- 

 forces, is that of foregoing the temptation to give 

 lists of plants, insects, shells, &c. The extended 

 circulation of Science-Gossip renders this injunc- 

 tion necessary, inasmuch as the plants, &c., cata- 

 logued ia any one district cannot have any great 

 interest for people at a distance. It was owing to 

 the prizes oifered to collectors, that we last month 

 gave the list of mosses in the neighbourhood of 

 London, thinking so far to aid our metropolitan 

 readers. For the same reason we have the pleasure 

 of adding the following from Dr. Capron : — 



In addition to the species mentioned in the paper 

 by Mr. T. Howes, the following mosses, not usually 

 met with, may be found in the vicinity of Dorking. 

 Gomshall, and Sheire : — 



Hypnum delicatuluni ; H. exanulatum ; H. irri- 

 guum ; H. loreum ; H. Megapolitanum ; H. pohj- 

 morphum ; U. straminetcm ; Leptoion Smithii ; 

 Neckera crispa ; N. pumila ; OrthotricJium anoma- 

 lum ; 0. Bruchli ; 0. pulchellum ; 0. stramineum ; 

 O. tenellum ; Pterogonium gracile ; Schistostega 

 pennata; Seligeria calcarea ; Splachnum ampmllu- 

 ceiim (Leith Hill) ; Torhda vinealis ; T. Hortischuc- 

 liiana ; T. cunelfolia ; T. marginata ; T. latifolia ; 

 Trichostomum crispidum ; Tetrap)lus pellucida ; 

 Leptobrpum pyrif'orme. 



Many of these are necessarily only found in small 

 quantity, and must be looked for at their proper 



season, and I only give them to show that much 

 may be done within so short a distance from 

 London. 

 Sheire. E. Capron, M.D. 



THE GLASS- ROPE SPONGE. 



Uyalonema mirabUis (Gray). 

 By p. Kitton. 



"We now proceed to speak of the nature of animals, not 

 willingly omitting any part, however mean it may appear ; 

 for though many things among them have no charms for the 

 bodily senses, yet, notwithstanding, even there creative na- 

 ture has unspeakable delights in store for those philosophic 

 muids whicli can investigate and distinguish the cause of 

 their formation. . . .- . We must enter on the investigation of 

 each individual without any feeling of disgust, inasmuch as 

 in every one some bjeautiful provision o£ nature exists." — 

 Aristotle.. 



rpHE common notion of a sponge is generally 

 -■- derived from the substance used for domestic 

 purposes. The sponge of which I am about to 

 give a brief description would, therefore, never be 

 recognized by the popular mind as related t© the 

 sponge of commerce, nevertheless such is un- 

 doubtedly the fact. The simple sarcodous substance, 

 which in one case weaves a soft leather-like reticu- 

 lated structure, in the other elaborates a siliceous 

 skeleton composed of spicula of varied size and 

 outline, some like long threads of spun glass a foot 

 or more in length, whilst others do not exceed the 

 thousandth of an inch. 



The Eyalonema, or " Glass-rope " sponge, was 

 formerly supposed to belong to a class of organisms 

 called Axiferous Zoophytes, or Barked Corals. The 

 " Glass-rope," with its " warty bark," was supposed 

 to have been distinct from the sponge-like mass 

 forming the base in which it appeared to grow. 

 Dr. Gray describes it as having a siliceous axis. 

 " The axis is formed of many twisted fibres, and 

 its lower end, instead of being expanded, is gradually 

 tapering and is parasitically imbedded in a fixed 

 sponge. " "The part above the base is in dif- 

 ferent specimens covered, to a greater or less extent 

 (and evidently in the perfect state is entirely), with 

 a kind of leathery bark, with large truncated nip- 

 ple-shaped scattered tubercles, having flat crowns 

 with radiating grooves and a central depression." 

 In general the specimens are withdrawn and cleaned 

 from the spongy base, and the lower axis is cleaned ; 

 but I think it is evident that they all are attached 

 to such a sponge in their natural state. 



Tiie bark is formed of two distinct layers; the outer 

 having the appearance of an aggregation of grains of 

 sand united together by a small quantity of animal 

 matter ; the inner having imbedded in its substance 

 numerous very fine capillary fibres, of precisely 

 similar textia-e to those which form the axis of the 

 coral, but of much smaller size ; and this portion of 



