HARDWICKE'5 SCIEN CE-GOSSIP. 



61 



which the children of Israel were fed, there is really 

 little inconsistent with the Scriptural account ; 

 allowing that the mauna was miraculously supplied, 

 it might still be brought about by natural agency, 

 for Mr. Berkeley further mentions that, lying loose 

 on the ground, without any attachment, it is easily 

 rolled along by the wind, and sometimes piled 

 together in strata several inches in thickness. Nay, 

 more, it is still, occasionally rained from heaven, 

 being carrid up by whirlwinds, and after traversing 

 the air for many miles, falls precisely as the 

 showers of fish, frogs, and gnats' larvaj, which 

 afford sensational pira-jraphs for our own news- 

 papers. Such a shower of these lichens fell about 

 twenty years ago at Erzeroum, during a time of 

 great scarcity; this bread from heaven affording 

 opportune relief to the inhabitants. Probably, as 

 Mr. Munby suggests, when gathered alive and 

 placed in a heap, it would in such a climate soon 

 ferment, and then " breed worms and stink ;" the 

 injunction to gather it daily might therefore liave 

 a sanitary import, and as a double quantity was 

 collected on the day preceding the sabbath, little 

 would be found on that day ; but the Biblical narra- 

 tive tells us, that which remained over on the 

 sabbath "did not stink." Tlie characters also of 

 the manna do not accord in all points, — " as small as 

 lioar frost on the ground— it was like coriander 

 seed, white, and the taste like wafers made with 

 honey." 



Whether the manna of the wilderness was or 

 was not a natural product is fully discussed in the 

 Dictionary of the Bible (published by Murray in 

 1863, and the work of sixty-seven of the most 

 eminent divines) ; from which it would appear to 

 have been always considered an open question ; the 

 Lichen esculentus, Pallas, does not, however, seem 

 to have been known to them, or it would no doubt 

 have been noticed, and also the peculiarity that it 

 may be gathered all the year round. 



K. Braituwaite. 



VARIOUS PORMS OP POLLEN-GRAINS. 



"PVURING a walk last summer through my fields, 

 -*-^ when getting over a wall, 1 was surprised 

 to see my boots changed from black to a golden 

 tinge ; naturally I felt inquisitive to learn what 

 this proceeded from. On examining them closer 

 with my Coddington lens, I found that the beau- 

 tiful yellow colour proceeded from an accumu- 

 lation of the pollen of the various M-ild flowers 

 which vv'cre then in bloom. I gathered about a 

 , dozen flowers of the different wild plants that 

 grew around where I was standing. When even- 

 ing came I amused myself by subjecting the 

 pollen of them to an investigation under my micro- 

 scope ; it was amazing to see the numerous forms 



each tiny grain presented, and the beauteous sym - 

 metry of their varied markings. I was so pleased 

 at the end of my research that I determined next 

 day to get a fresh supply of the same flowers and 

 sketch their uncommon pollen-grains. This I ac- 

 cordingly did, and now enclose sketches of the same, 

 giving them their common as well as botanical names. 



Fig. 44. Pollen of Bladder Campion, Broad-leaved Helleborine, 



and Scabuisa arvensis. 



The objects were principally magnified with a half- 

 inch objective, and some few of the larger ones with 

 an inch power and A eyepiece. I feel sure these 

 curiously-shaped pollen will be interesting to many 



Fig. 45. Pollen of Potamogetnn densum, SanguUorba offici- 

 nalis, and Eye-bright. 



of your botanical readers. I think, however, as I 

 am writing on this subject, it will not be out of place 

 if I give a brief sketch of the function of the pollen 

 of a flower, and the part it takes in the economy 



Fig. 46. Pollen of Cnicus lanceolfity.i, Jucundus conglomeratus, 

 and Orobus luberustcs, 



of the plant creation. The pollen has the peculiar 

 power of fructifying each seed which is growing in 

 the ovary of the plant ; the anthers contain the 

 pollen-grains, and as soon as the flower comes into 



Fig. 47. Pollen of Hiemcium submidwn, Erica ciliaris, and 

 Mentha viridis. 



full bloom, the pistil, then fully developed, has on 

 the surface of its stigma a viscid fluid, which makes 

 the pollen adhere to it. When the anther has reach e d 

 its zenith, the pollen falls off into a channel, which 

 conveys it into the ovary underneath. There are 



