190 



HAIIDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Aug. 1, 1S70. 



growth. The following may be regarded as a proof, 

 so far as it goes. Some years ago, wishing to exhibit 

 the Cyclosis in plants at a conversazione, on the 

 22nd December, I pinched off a few leaves of Valis- 

 neria, the plant selected, that I might show the 

 grass-like form of the specimen under the micro- 

 scope. These leaves were put into a wide-mouthed 

 glass bottle, of about thirty ounces capacity, filled 

 nearly full of spring water, and covered with its 

 accurately-fitted glass stopper. Having served its 

 purpose at the conversazione, it was brought home 

 and set aside on a shelf in a north room, and back 

 from light and heat. Now and again it was taken 

 down, and small portions of the leaf sliced and ex- 

 amined, to see if the Cyclosis went on in the long 

 detached leaf, as it did when recently pinched off 

 from the growing plant. The leaves continued green 

 for about four months, when they gradually became 

 rusty in colour, and not till the middle of June was 

 the change so great as to put an end to the rotatory 

 motion in the cells called Cyclosis. During all this 

 time the water was transparent, and the sides of 

 the bottle free from confervoid growths. The leaves 

 simply, to appearance, underwent the changes of 

 slow decay. Might not the use, then, of spring 

 water and covering the plant vase with glass greatly 

 hinder, if not prevent, the development of con- 

 fervas? Since I have mentioned the long con- 

 tinuance of life in the leaf of the Valisneria, I may 

 add that I have had a small bit of the Nitella flaxilis 

 in a zoophyte trough for upwards of three months 

 at a lime, and during all the period the Cyclosis 

 going on actively. Besides, from the axillee of the 

 buds or joints it pushed out a great many radicles 

 of a fine thread-like form, in which the motion of 

 the granules, &c, was seen to perfection. And as 

 these rootlets went in straight lines downwards in 

 the trough, the motion of the fluid upwards when 

 seen through the microscope wilh a two-thirds object- 

 glass, and in a good light, looked like a miniature 

 fountain playing, each filament being a splendid jet 

 d'eau. Mr. Banks mentions that his Valisneria 

 flowers every summer. Has he had both male and 

 female flowers ? I have had abundance of female, 

 but never male flowers. — J. M. A. 



Tunnelling Bees.— For the last two years my 

 rain-gauge (one of Glaisher's), which is sunk in the 

 ground, has been forced up three or four inches by 

 the Mason Bee. Early in spring they begin, and 

 it lasts for about two months ; the soil, when 

 cleared out, is quite pulverized and soft like fine 

 sand. I do not disturb them till they seem to have 

 left, when I restore the gauge to its proper level. 

 It weighs 5y lb., and is made of copper, witli glass 

 graduated measure, to pour from a cup inside to. — 

 George Macrae. 



Cowslip. — There can be little doubt that paigles 

 is a proper native word for Primula verts. The 

 A.-Saxon form for "cowslip" is given by Dr. Bos- 

 worth as cttslippe; "paigles," called also pagil, pagle, 

 peagle, must be taken as a form of paralysis or 

 palsy. Ainsworth renders cowslip as equivalent to 

 paralysis, in Latin. Culpeper's "Herbal" says : " the 

 Greeks gave them [the cowslip] the name of para- 

 lysis." Our word palsy, or paralysis, is derived 

 from the Greek Trapa, " to pass beside," and Xvw, 

 "to loosen." The compound means "to set free, 

 to undo or loosen ;" in this sense it is equal to the 

 Greek kXj \q } Latin clavis, English " key :" in 

 A.-S. cccg, from caggian, " to shut up." This may 

 explain the German word for "cowslip," viz. 



sehlusselblume, literally "key-flower," from schli.es- 

 sen, "to shut;" the Dutch word is similar, viz. 

 sleuielblamen, literally " key-flower," from sluilen, 

 "to shut." Paigles is very like the Latin word 

 pagella, "little leaf;" but the analogy is in favour 

 of "loosening, or opening," from the fact that pri- 

 rnula^ ranks as the first opening flower; it unlocks 

 the icy bonds of winter, and sets free the blossom- 

 ing of spring. — A. Hall. 



Animated Oats. — The very singular account 

 given in Science-Gossip for July, page 164, of " a 

 field of Barley grown from Oats," reminds me of a 

 question I have long wanted to ask— What are 

 " animated oats " ? A young lady showed me some 

 ripe oat seeds, which, when held in the hand, cer- 

 tainly did "hop and skip about," as she said, "like 

 living things." Her idea was, that the oats were 

 full of electricity, and that they became more or less 

 animated according to the amount of electric power 

 or fluid possessed by the person in whose hands 

 they were placed. She declared she felt a tingling 

 sensation in her fingers directly she took the seeds 

 in her hand ; but my " imagination" would not carry 

 me so far. _ I certainly saw the oats "hop;" but I 

 fancied this movement proceeded from some pecu- 

 liar formation in the awns. The seeds really looked 

 to me like spiders, or insects of some description ; 

 but I must stop, or I shall be told I am " fanciful," 

 whereas I only seek for a little information as to 

 where these '"'animated oats " grow, and why they 

 are so very lively ? The ears of barley on oat stalk 

 fairly puzzles me— two different genus of grasses.— 

 Helen E. Watney, Upper Norwood. 



Molly-hawk.— Can any of your readers inform 

 me to what genus the bird found in the southern 

 hemisphere, and commonly called by sailors the 

 "Molly-hawk," belongs? And what is its true 

 name ? — A. Aldridge. 



Cleaning Shells.— J. C H. requests informa- 

 tion as to the best mode of cleaning the dirt out of 

 small shells _ which are found dead and full of muck, 

 &c, as boiling them in water alone has signally 

 failed. 



Etymology oe Cowslip.— I send the following 

 extract in reference to the paragraph signed " Helen 

 E.'Watney." " Cowslip, sub. (Cuyl/ppe, Sax.), so 

 ■called, according to some, because its smell re- 

 sembles the breath of cows ; but, according to 

 others, because its growing in pasture grounds 

 makes it often meet a cow's lips."— Rider's Diction- 

 ary. — B. A. Wellington. 



The Berberry (Berberis vulgaris, L.). — When 

 we see the brilliant branches of scarlet berries 

 hanging in rich profusion on the boughs of this 

 shrub, wc give little heed to the fact that, in all 

 probability, we owe the beautiful sight to the agency 

 of some passing fly or vagrant bee, which has chanced 

 to visit the flowers in the course of the previous 

 summer. I say, "in all probability," advisedly, 

 because I am well aware what an important part 

 the wind plays in the dissemination of the pollen ; 

 as any one may prove for himself by simply shaking 

 the bough of a Scotch fir or a yew tree at the pro- 

 per season, when he will find himself surrounded 

 by a cloud of yellow dust, which is quickly borne 

 away on the breeze. Still we know that the fer- 

 tilization of the ovary is to a great extent due to 

 the intervention of insects ; and had it not been for 



