2IO 



HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



The plant is well known to many of the natives under 

 the name of the French Heath. — Philip B. Rlason, 

 F.L.S. 



The "Edelweiss." — I notice what I must in- 

 terpret as a small "scare" in your last number, to 

 the effect that Edelweiss is becoming all but extinct 

 in the Swiss Alps. Two years ago I found it in 

 plenty, and in several of the ranges of Alps, and that 

 being my eighteenth or nineteenth visit to Switzer- 

 land, I found no perceptible falling off in the fre- 

 quency of its occurrence. Although Edelweiss is 

 not found only at such awful altitudes as Cockneys 

 are wished to believe, it does grow at such heights 

 that Italian boys and herdsmen are not in the least 

 likely to exterminate the plant ! Still, as there is 

 seldom smoke without fire, it would be interesting to 

 be informed by some Alpine man who is on the 

 ^.cramble this year what foundation may exist for the 

 stoiy copied by the Times from the Echo. — Marshall 

 Hall. 



British and Foreign Ferns. — All true bota- 

 nists ■will hail with pleasure a new and enlarged 

 edition of John Smith's well-known work, "Ferns: 

 British and Foreign," (London : Hardwicke & 

 Ijogue.) For amount as well as excellency of matter 

 and illustrations, we have no equal to it. Mr. Smith 

 lias brought this edition to the front of all the 

 liotanical knowledge of the day. 



Shining Moss. — In reply to your correspondent 

 Mr. T. Watson, I beg to state that I have found the 

 Shining Moss {Schistostega pejinaia) in an old quarry- 

 hole near here ; and its luminous appearance, accu- 

 I'ately described by him, led me to believe it was some 

 mineral substance, until I proved the contrary by 

 closer examination. The hole in which it grew was 

 very wet, from water constantly dripping from the 

 roof; and the fact that it was a sandstone quarry led 

 me to suppose that it was a growth peculiar to this 

 stone, and I was not aware it was found in coal- 

 measures. — P. A. Gaily, Bradfidd Rectory, near 

 Sheffield. 



Shining Moss. — Last year, when staying near 

 the Land's End, I was told by the fishermen of a cave 

 not believed to be known to tourists, the sides of 

 which, they said, were covered with gilded moss. I 

 visited it, and found it to be a large cave, with a 

 small and narrow entrance, very much blocked up by 

 fallen rocks, so that the light came in through the 

 upper part only, and fell in a sloping direction ; the 

 sides were very damp with constant dripping, and 

 the Aspleniuin marinum hung in quantities from the 

 roof J the sides of the cave, in many places where the 

 light struck, shone really with as great brilliancy as 

 if they had actually been gilded, and the same effect 

 was seen in the small pools below. It was only seen 

 when standing near the mouth of the cave, with one's 

 back to the light. The lustre was decidedly greenish. 

 I should think the sea only entered the cave at very 



high spring tides. On approaching the places where 

 the gilded effect was seen, it vanished, and only a 

 thin shiny layer was seen. I gathered some of this both 

 from the sides and from the pools, and examined it 

 on my return, and in each instance found it to consist 

 almost entirely of diatomacere of various kinds. — 

 Albert D. Michael. 



Shining INIoss. — In answer to Mr. Watson's no- 

 tice of a Shining Moss, I would inform him that in 

 London's Magazine, vol. ii. p. 406, there is a long 

 notice of the same plant in Derbyshire, in the shady 

 recesses of some of the rocks. In case Mr. Watson 

 has not the volume, I would mention one or two 

 things Mr. Bowman, a well-known naturalist, says of 

 it. He mentions the golden-green light, of a phos- 

 phorescent appearance, which showed best at a little 

 distance, and was lost on close inspection. When 

 brought into the light, there was a network of green, 

 with cylindrical jointed stems and branches. It ap- 

 peared to be a kind of conferva, nearly approaching 

 Conferva velntina ; and Mr. Bowman seemed to 

 think that the light must have been concentrated and 

 reflected by the convex form of the reticulations of 

 the plant. In vol. iii. p. 152, a correspondent men- 

 tions a similar thing which he saw in a cavern by the 

 roadside, near Penryn. It there seemed a small 

 moss, apparently Dicraniim taxifolinm. In De Luc's 

 "Geological Travels" the same thing was seen in 

 the granite mountains about Beyreuth. When seen 

 from a particular point, the part covered with the 

 moss showed a fine emerald-green light. — E. T. 

 Scott. 



Botany of Cader Idris. — I have read with con. 

 siderable interest "Botanical Notes in the Neigh- 

 bourhood of Cader Idris," published in your issue for 

 August ; but I was rather astonished at finding no 

 mention made of the beautiful Gentiana acaiilis, or 

 Gentiauella, which I certainly noticed as growing on 

 the Cader in July, 1862. There were several plants 

 of it. I hope and trust it has not been exterminated. 

 One seldom sees it even in gardens, and the only 

 garden where I noticed it in great perfection belonged 

 to a friend of mine at Guestling, Sussex. It formed 

 a sort of edging for the flower-borders, and attained 

 the greatest degree of beauty and perfection. In 

 Babington's "Manual of Botany" it is stated that the 

 Cotoneaster is found on Great Orme Head. I tra- 

 versed its length and breadth in July, 1862, but was 

 unable to find a single plant ; and Llandudno within 

 the last twenty years having become a large town, I 

 suppose its numerous visitors to Orme Head have 

 sealed the fate of Cotoneaster. — John Colebrooh. 



Phormium tenax (New Zealand flax), &c. — This 

 plant is now in full flower at the Cliftonville Nursery, 

 Brighton. Is not this an unusual circumstance ? The 

 same florist has had many plants for several years, but 

 none have flowered before : the flower-stem is about 

 eight feet high, and the fllowers very abundant. The 



