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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Jan. 1, 1869. 



again are more minutely reticulated with faint hexa- 

 gonal veins, more distinct in the grey than in the 

 white variety (fig. 6). 



Fig. 6. Seed of Opium Poppy, x 40. 



The Laege-flowered Argemone {Argemone 

 grandiflora) is a cultivated plant. The seeds are 

 larger than in the Poppy, of a brownish-black colour, 

 nearly egg-shaped, pointed at one end, and reticu- 

 lated in a similar mariner, but the pits are deeper, 

 and more distinctly concave. The secondary reti- 

 culations are almost obsolete (fig. 7). 



Fig. 7' Seed of Argemone grandiflora, x 40. 



Californian Platystemon {Platystemon Call- 

 fornicuni) is another cultivated plant. The seeds 

 are very distinct from those of the Poppies, being 

 brownish-black and shining, elliptical, with a longi- 

 tudinal furrow on one side. The reticulations are 

 very faint, irregular, and elongated (fig. 8). 



Fig. 8. Seed of Platystemon Cali/ornicum, x 40. 



Common Eschscholtzia (Eschscholtzia Calif or- 

 nica), found in nearly every garden, has rather large 

 ovate seeds, bluntly pointed at each extremity. 

 They are of a dull grey colour, deeply and coarsely 

 reticulated. A distinct furrow usually traverses 

 the seed longitudinally. The depressions are irre- 

 gularly hexagonal, the ridges irregular at the 

 margin, and striate from the base upwards. Se- 

 condary, small, faint, hexagonal reticulations are just 

 visible at the bottom of the pits (fig. 9). 



Slender-leaved Eschscholtzia {Eschscholtzia 



tenuifolia). — The figure of this seed, furnished by 

 Mr. E. Marks, is so distinct in its character from 



Fig. 9. Seed of Eschscholtzia Califurnica, x 40. 



the foregoing that one feels almost disposed to 

 doubt its identity. The form is irregular, almost 

 spheroidal, and the surface, instead of being reticu- 

 lated, is covered with large, prominent, conical 



Fig. 10. Seed of Eschscholtzia tenuifolia, x 40. 



projections (fig. 10). If truly an Eschscholtzia, and 

 we have no other reason to doubt, it serves as a 

 caution, not only against hasty generalizations, but 

 also against the supposition that the seeds of all 

 allied plants are very much alike. 



THE RUDD AND ITS SCALES. 



rpHE Rudd, or " Roud," as it is locally called, is 

 -*- a common fish in the Norfolk Broads, and in 

 the rivers which run through them. Zoologists 

 recognize it as a distinct species under the name of 

 Cyprinus erythr ophthalmitis. Anglers know it well 

 in those waters, not only when they see it, but before 

 they see it, by the manner in which it takes their 

 bait. No angler who has been accustomed to this 

 fish would ever dream of regarding it as only a 

 local variety of some other fish, as the roach, or as 

 a hybrid. Yet some persons have of late given ex- 

 pression to a doubt whether the Rudd is not a 

 hybrid between the Roach and the Bream. The 

 supposition is ingenious, but, as I believe, utterly 

 groundless. The habits and personal appearance of 

 the fish condemn such a hypothesis. When 

 cooked, its flesh is much firmer than either of the 

 others of which it is supposed to be the offspring. 

 At any rate, it is a truly fertile hybrid, and in the 

 brightness of its colouring, and its edible qualities, is 

 far superior to either of its supposed progenitors. 

 The forms of scales in the three species are here 

 figured for comparison, and we doubt whether they 



