HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



107 



rectangulated, hexradiate, and (rare) tlic multi- 

 hamate birotulate spicules. 



The occurrence of long anchoring spicula in 

 Pharonema Grayii and F. Carpenteri is, I should 

 imagine, very conclusive evidence that the rope in 

 Uyalonetna is a portion of the head. 



Dr. Gray says he supposes I am not aware that 

 specimens of Hyalonema occur more frequently 

 without than with its parasitic sponge. This is 

 very probably correct ; but they had no doubt lost 

 the sponge, either from the decay of the sarcode or 

 been pulled off by the dredger or diver ; in the 

 former case, the rope, when divested of its spongy 

 head, would in all probability soon be invested by 

 the parasitic Palythoa. Dr. Perceval Wright, who 

 has had the opportunity of exanuning specimens 

 in a living state, is quite satisfied as to the para- 

 sitic nature of the Palythoa. 



Norwich. Fued. Kitton. 



LAND-SLIP NEAR NORTHVVICH, 

 CHESHIRE. 



A FEW weeks ago the writer went in search of 

 a reported land-slip in the salt district of 

 Cheshire. An occurrence of this sort is not unfre- 

 quent in the neighbourhood of tlie Salt-works, as 

 those who happen to live near them know to their 

 cost ; and any one traversing the nai'row, tortuous, 

 and unpicturesque streets of Northwich may see 

 the results of minor sinkings of the land, in houses 

 whose walls bear mayks of " faults," one part having 

 slipped, leaving rents from basement to roof; others, 

 whose windows are all awry, presenting a some- 

 what grotesque appearance. This sinking and 

 disturbance of the land are caused by the salt- 

 mining operations carried on beneath. 



The salt-beds occur in what geologists denom- 

 inate the Triassic formation, from its tripartite 

 character, and it is in the red clays of the upper 

 group of rocks in which salt is found, either in a 

 state of solution as brine, or in masses of pure rock 

 salt 90 to 100 feet thick. Beneath these lie the 

 well-known " water-stones," bearing the ripple- 

 marks and reptilian impressions. 



Arriving at Northwich, I learned that the place of 

 which I was in quest lay about six miles away, and 

 close to the Whitegate station, on the line from 

 Northwich to Winsford. Proceeding thither, I found 

 the object of my search in among the fields, which 

 are all used for agricultural purposes, and belong 

 to the adjacent farm of Marton Hall. One of the 

 peculiarities of this land-slip is its distance from 

 any salt-works, the nearest being at Winsford, 

 about two miles off. 



The chasm, which is almost of a circular shape, is 

 upwards of 300 y^rds in circumference, and about 

 60 or 70 feet deep ; the sides are'remarkably steep, 



and expose the reddish clay of which the whole of 

 the land-slip is composed. At the bottom lies a 

 lake of water of a greenish hue, which is brine, and 

 as the declivity was so steep and the clay wet from 

 recent rain, I refrained from descending, having in 

 my mind the "facilis descensus Averni" and the 

 fear of a sudden and undesirable pickling in the 

 briny water below. The shape of the interior of 

 the chasm is that of an inverted cone, or the empty 

 crater of a volcano, and the first question that 

 naturally rises to one's lips is^ Where has the land 

 gone ? for here you have not, as in many land-slips 

 I have seen, the earth or rock lying in confused and 

 broken masses around, but there is not the remotest 

 trace of anything that once stood there ; hedges and 

 trees all have disappeared into the bowels of the 

 earth, and lie beneath the water that covers the 

 bottom. 



Before offering an explanation of these curious 

 phenomena, I must premise that most of the salt 

 used for culinary purposes in England is made 

 from the brine, which is pumped up from the 

 brine-holding strata beneath ; and we may fairly 

 presume that the district for miles round the 

 actual workings is thus being gradually drained. 

 Supposing then that water percolating through the 

 overlying beds, or some system of underground 

 drainage, has come into contact with the deposit of 

 rock salt, this would in course of time be dissolved, 

 and, as the district becomes drained of the brine, 

 leave hollows or caverns ; and presuming some weak 

 spot in the superincumbent beds of clay overlying 

 one of these hollows or caverns, one can easily 

 imagine the clay gradually falling away and taking 

 the place of the original salt-deposit, until at last 

 the surface laud, not having sufficient support from 

 beneath, has fallen bodily into those presumable 

 subterraneous caverns, which originally were filled 

 with salt. M. S. 



THE SAFERON {Crocus sativus). 



A SHORT note drawing attention to this Eastern 

 plant having appeared in Science-Gossip 

 for December, will you grant me space for a few 

 details ? 



Although this crocus is found in a wild state on 

 the sunny plains of Italy, it most decidedly has been 

 traced to the East originally. 



It is one of the plants mentioned in the garden 

 of the Wise King (Cant. iv. verse 14), and the 

 Arabs of the present day value highly the virtues 

 of their Zafran. 



The flowers are lilac-coloured, the stigmas a deep 

 orange ; and tiiese stigmas, with a portion of the 

 styles, afford the saffron of the shops. 



The saffron crocus was first cultivated at Walden 

 in the time of Edward III. by a Sir Thomas Smith, 



