i5° 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



easily known by the half-formed frond, of which the 

 top of each segment or division appears to have been 

 cut off. 



P. semclata, Linn., is common in gardens. The 

 sterile and fertile leaves are different— those of the 

 former being serrated. 



Gen. VIII. Cheilanthes, Sw. 

 In Cheilanthes we find a very lovely little fern, 

 almost as delicate as and not altogether unlike Lindsma 

 heterophylla. Its name— C. tenuifolia, Sw., thin- 

 leaved cheilanthes, well describes its nature. The 

 stalk is slender, black and hair-like. The tiny, 

 curled, much-cut segments of the leaf have son 

 running all round and just inside the edge. The 

 frond seldom exceeds 6 in. in height ; it is ovate, 

 triangular in outline, bright green, and grows in 

 banks along with Lindssea and maidenhair. In 

 some countries it is known as lip-fern, from the 

 indusium covering the seed, as the lip covers the 

 teeth, but it must be remembered the covering is 

 single, not double. The very tiny, almost round 

 pinnules— the under side rough with downy hairs, 

 and often nearly covered with the confluent sori, 

 which has the appearance of being curled inwards, 

 enable the botanist easily to identify the species. 



Gen. IX. Asplenium, Linn. 

 (Spleenworts.) 



The disposition of the sori, running along the 

 veins, constitutes in this genus the principal specific 

 distinction. 



Of this very large genus we cannot say that more 

 than two species are really common in Hong-Kong. 

 Asplenium Schkuhrii (Mett.) (Ihbg.) reminds us at 

 once of the pretty maiden-hair spleenwort of English 

 heaths and hedges, only the black stalk is missing. 

 It is usually found from S to 12 inches high, but 

 sometimes attains to a greater size. The frond is 

 simply pinnate, tapering to a point, and pinnules 

 serrated. Like most of the spleenworts it is graceful 

 and delicate-looking. Asplenium dilatatum, Hk., 

 must strike many as an old friend. It grows on the 

 Pok-fillum road and elsewhere, but in England is one 

 of the commonest objects on the hillside. The frond 

 is twice or thrice-pinnate, bright green'ahd feathery in 

 appearance. We have heard it called " parsley-fern," 

 from its likeness to the leaf of wild parsley (Anthriscus 

 sylvcstris). A. lanceum, Th., is uncommon. The frond 

 is undivided (entire), about 6 in. long and h, to 1 in. 

 broad, with a slightly irregular edge and sori in 

 streaks along the upper or both sides of the veins. 

 (To be continued) 



Vol. XIX. of the new edition of the " Encyclo 

 piedia Britannica" (pky-pro) has been published 

 It contains illustrated articles on Polyzoa and Proto 

 zoa by Prof. E. Ray Lankester. 



GOSSIP ON CURRENT TOPICS. 

 J3y W. Mattieu Williams, F.R.A.S., F.C.S. 



IN the Bulletin of the American Geographical 

 Society is an account of the mosquitoes in Alaska, 

 which to those who have not had some experience of 

 these pests in Arctic regions, appears incredible. 

 Shooting is described as impossible, because the 

 clouds formed by them were so dense as to prevent 

 aiming. Native dogs are sometimes killed by them, 

 and Lieut. Schwatka heard accounts from reliable 

 persons which, coupled with his own experience, he 

 fully believes, of the great grizzly bear falling a 

 victim. The bear having invaded the swamps where 

 the mosquitoes breed and congregate, stands up on 

 his hind legs and fights them with his fore paws, but 

 as they are neither huggable nor scratchable, he fails, 

 is blinded, and finally starved in consequence. 



The popular notion that these abominable little 

 wretches are chiefly resident in tropical and sub- 

 tropical countries is quite a mistake. The home of 

 their mightiest legions is within and about the Arctic 

 circle. This is evident even in the course of an 

 ordinary coasting trip round the North Cape. At every 

 station where a halt is made, a living cloud invades 

 the ship, and its passengers suffer accordingly, 

 especially at the wrists, where the blood-suckers hide 

 under the shirt cuff, and operate secretly. On proceed- 

 ing out again to sea, they are blown away. On the 

 occasion of my last trip, two of my fellow passengers 

 landed on Magero to ascend the North Cape cliffs. 

 We picked them up again on our return. They were 

 in sorry plight. One of them, a sturdy Uhlan officer, 

 who had ridden through France during the war 

 without mishap, was unhorsed by the mosquitoes, 

 and crippled by the fall. Both horse and rider were 

 so irritated that both were lost to rational control. 

 " I did svallo mosquitoes ; I did breeve mosquitoes ; 

 I did spit zem out of my mouf," were the terms of his 

 description. 



I find that as the limits of the swallow's summer 

 visit is reached the plague commences, and when 

 those limits are passed, its maximum is attained. I 

 believe that our comparative immunity in England 

 is due to the abundance of our swallows and martins, 

 which even the most brutal of cockney sportsmen 

 respects, or fails to hit, and whose nests are wisely 

 protected by common consent of all our rustics. The 

 swallow is as loveable as the sparrow is detestable. 



The healing power of living whale blubber is shown 

 by a fact narrated to the Royal Society of Tasmania, 

 viz., that in a whale captured in Behring's Straits in 

 Tune 1883, a harpoon was found imbedded in blubber, 

 having " Henty. L. 1838 " branded upon it. In 1838 

 a whaling establishment belonging to an old Colonial 

 family named Henty existed at Portland Bay, 

 Victoria. As Behring's Straits are a long way from 

 Victoria, an interesting question is suggested. Did 



