26o 



HARDWICKKS SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



ing-glass and a dish of rather larger diameter than 

 the glass, and having tied a small weight to the stem 

 or frond of the flower to keep it in position, I plunged 

 the flower, glass, and dish, into a large tub of water, 

 and while in the water placed the flower on the dish 

 and inverted the propagating-glass over it, carefully 

 excluding air bubbles, then lifted all out of the water 

 together. During all this time I have only changed 

 the water once. This was at the end of the second 

 week, when the dissolved yellow colouring-matter 

 obscured the \\&v;.—£dzuard Shackletoji, Whitzvorth. 



Mr. Styan's Rose. — The rose referred to by 

 K. E. Styan, in Science-Gossip of this month, 

 (page 236), appears to be Rosa spmosissbna, the 

 Scotch or Burnet rose (syn. R. pimpmellifolia). It 

 differs materially from the commoner forms of R. 

 catiina, in being much more crowded with prickles, 

 the leaves ^having nine leaflets, and the remarkable 

 development of the hips. The sketch given by your 

 correspondent is correct as regards si-^e and shape, 

 but the position should be reversed, for by the curva- 

 ture of the petiole the hip does not grow erect, but 

 pendent with the persistent sepals downwards. I 

 have a fine garden specimen of this rose, which is 

 sold by the dealers under the name of Rosa rtigosa 

 alba, with white flowers, and a variety with purplish 

 red flowers distinguished as R. rtigosa Jttbra. — y. IV. 

 Fisher. 



Extraordinary Growth of "Wild Rose 

 Hips." — The figure and description of an abnormal 

 wild rose hip in your last number agrees exactly 

 with the fruit of the Japanese rose : Rosa rugosa. 

 From the description of the flower and the fact that 

 the plant was growing in a garden, I strongly suspect 

 that the plant belonged to this species, and was not a 

 wild rose at all. If Mr. K. E. Styan will send me 

 his address, I will gladly forward him fruits and 

 leaves of R. rugosa for comparison ; it is fruiting very 

 freely this year. — R. Scott. 



Rose-Hips. — Surely the Rose-hips mentioned by 

 your correspondent K. E. Styan in SciENCE- 

 GOSSIP for last month are nothing more than the 

 hips of Rosa rugosa, which is remarkable for the 

 clusters of large round hips which it bears. I have 

 not seen the fruit of this rose for some years, but as 

 far as I can remember the figure given with this letter 

 is exactly like them. The description of the flower, 

 " a very large, single, and either white or very pale 

 pink," correspondswith the blossoms of .ff. rugosa. The 

 foliage is not mentioned : that of the R. rugosa is very 

 different to that of our wild roses, the veins being 

 much indented below the surface of the leaf. The 

 bunches of hips when ripe are very beautiful objects ; 

 it is a pity this rose is not oftener cultivated than it 

 is.— G. .5-. S. 



Notes on the Flora of Braunton Burrov^ts. — 

 I have found Matthiola sinuata growing in conjunction 



with Statice, not on the Burrows themselves, but on a 

 piece of rocky coast north of the Burrows. Erodmm 

 maritinmm, as well as E. acutarium, grows in the 

 neighbourhood. — G. II. Bryan. 



Holly Fern in Herefordshire. — It is over 

 twenty years since my mother found plants of the 

 holly shield-fern in a lane in Herefordshire. This- 

 autumn, being in the same neighbourhood, we re- 

 visited the locality, and again found one or two plants,, 

 which Professor Hillhouse and another botanicaf 

 friend affirm to be genuine lonchitis. They were 

 growing in a grassy and ferny bank by the side of a 

 country lane — a place quite out of character with the 

 usual habitats of the fern. I enclose a couple of 

 small fronds of the fern, which, I think, will be found 

 to possess all the characteristics of Aspidium lonchitis. 

 The plants appeared to be less plentiful than formerly.. 

 — G. II. Bryan. 



GEOLOGY. 



The Geology of the Lake District.— The 

 undermentioned process may prove interesting tO' 

 some of your readers, and may be confidently recom- 

 mended in similar cases to all young students of 

 geology just before they are about to embark on an 

 "original theory." Being in the Lake District, in 

 that part where, according to the savants, what they 

 call the eruptive rocks of lower Silurian age, alias, 

 the green slates and porphyries of Borrowdale, are 

 exposed, I determined to form a really scientific 

 acquaintance with the ultimate principles, so to speak,, 

 of the stuff whereof all the highest mountains in 

 England are composed. Repairing to a fresh 

 wrought quarry I selected as clean, unaltered, and 

 decent-looking a piece of rock as I could see, and 

 with the aid of a workman's big sledger I smashed 

 the rock into as fine a powder as could well be undei- 

 the circumstances, and wrapping it in paper I put it 

 in my pocket. Happening to have with me a small 

 box of chemical reagents, etc., and purchasing a 

 bottle of strong hydrochloric acid from a local 

 apothecary, the process was begun. The particles, 

 of the rock were first reduced to a very fine powder 

 in an agate mortar and no great exertion was required 

 to effect this. In fact, it was rather surprising how 

 easily this was done, and how very different the 

 stuff appeared thereafter ; in the original bed it was 

 a rather dark bluish grey, but now it seemed almost 

 quite white. Some of the acid was poured upon the 

 powder, and after gently heating for some time, the 

 whole mess was evaporated to dryness ; a few drops 

 of acid poured on the residue and then some hot 

 water, the mixture stirred up, and filtered. The 

 quantity of solid matter left on the filter gave a rough 

 idea of the amount of silica in the original rock, in 

 this case say about sixty per cent. The filtrate con- 

 tained the bases, and in order to separate and detect 



