62 



HABDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[March 1, 1S67. 



When the conjugation is complete, the combined 

 contents of the two cells become an oval spore 

 (figs. 8, 12), from which a new plant eventually 

 springs. 



Eig. 7 represents a curious instance of a filament, 

 which has conjugated with two others. 



In ordinary cases the conjugation takes place as 

 has been just described, but in some cases it takes 

 place in two contiguous cells of the same filament 

 (fig. 9), and the contents of one cell pass over into 

 the next and form a spore. 



When the plants have been kept a considerable 

 time in the same vessel, the contents of the cells 

 are sometimes changed into brown moving bodies 

 (fig. 11), but whether these are zoospores or not, 

 seems a little uncertain. The contents of the cells 

 are also changed into green zoospores, which escape 

 from the ruptured cell. J. S. Tute. 



The Blood-Beetle.— That the scarlet fluid said 

 by Westwood to be emitted from the joints of the 

 limbs of this beetle is a fact, I can assure Mr. 

 Ullyett from personal observation. The beetle is 

 rather common on our " down," and often, on taking 

 it between my fingers, it has emitted this scarlet fluid 

 from the leg-joints next the body, as well as from 

 the mouth. — Eliza C. Jellie, Bedland, Bristol. 



Fig. 52. Triple Jargonelle Pear (greatly reduced). 



Triple Bear.— In September, 1856, 1 picked in 

 my garden, from a jargonelle pear-tree, a curiously 

 formed triple pear. In looking over an old folio a 

 day or two since, I found a drawing of it I made at 

 the time, and thinking it may have some interest 

 for the readers of Science-Gossip, I enclose you a 

 copy. It would seem as though three blossoms had 

 formed their fruit oue within the other.— /. B. 

 Keene, teh February, 1867. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Barr or Salmon. — As thus buoyant, elated, 

 and self-confident, I proceeded onwards, I observed 

 a boat, with a young man in it, anchored in strange 

 fashion a little on one side of the main stream down 

 which I was passing. The anchor consisted, in 

 fact, of another individual, older than the occupant 

 of the boat, who, standing in the water as deep as 

 his somewhat long legs would allow, leaned his 

 weight upon the stern of the boat, and so held it 

 fast in its position. I passed them carelessly, and 

 when but a few yards in advance, my attention was 

 attracted to a small, struggling, brown fly, which 

 had apparently just dropped into the water. Bush- 

 ing towards it, and rising suddenly to the surface, 

 I greedily seized, and was preparing to swallow, the 

 delicate morsel ; .but scarcely did it touch my lips 

 when a slight but smart sensation, as of a thorn 

 pricking my mouth, was felt by me, and I found 

 myself dragged by some invisible but irresistible 

 force against the stream, until, half choked, I ap- 

 proached the boat, into which, by the aid of a light 

 net, I was instantly lifted. I found myself clasped 

 by a dreadfully warm hand, and held, in spite of 

 my struggles, firmly until the hook, attached to the 

 treacherous fly I had seized, was extracted, not 

 untenderly, from my .wounded jaw. I was already 

 more than half dead, limp, faint, and bleeding. 

 " It's just a wee parr beastie," said the elder of the 

 two, preparing to slip me into the water. " It's of 

 no use putting it back," said the other ; " parr or 

 not, it's dead." "It may dee and be dom'd; I 

 wash my hands of it," was the reply with which my 

 profane friend placed me in the water, carefully 

 enough. I felt sick and helpless; without power 

 to sustain my proper position, I floated, with my 

 back downwards, until I rested against some long 

 floating grass, a few yards from the boat, to which 

 the eddy of the stream had carried me. Although 

 too weak to move, I retained my senses, and heard 

 the younger man say to his companion — "Why, John, 

 what made you throw that poor little dead beast 

 into the water again?" "Deed," was the reply, 

 "yon beastie's just a smolt, an' there's a fine for 

 killing sich like." "But you killed a parr just 

 now?" "Ay." "But yon call this a parr?" 

 "'Deed, an' it's the fau't of those who gie the same 

 name to twa different fishes." "What do you 

 mean?" "A' mean that there's a wee fish ye 

 killed justnoo ca'ed'the parr,' an' it's a fish of 

 itself,* an' has melt an' roe as every ither fish has, 



* I have opened hundreds of the Burn Parr, Salmo Salmu- 

 lus, male and female. I have seen them on their spawning- 

 beds, and taken them out of burns where salmon never yet 

 ascended, nor could by possibility ascend. I have baited 

 hooks with the tough little beggars, and released them alive 

 after they had towed a trimmer for six hours about a loch ; 

 the salmon parr being as soft as a pat of butter, and endowed 



