226 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



asci are produced in succession ; the later, pressing 

 themselves upwards between those previously de- 

 veloped, cause the rupture of the mature asci at the 

 apex and the ejection of the sporidia with consider- 

 able force. When a large Peziza is observed for a 

 time a whitish cloud will be seen to rise suddenly 

 from the surface of the disc. Theories have been 

 devised to account for this sudden extrusion of the 

 sporidia ; in Ascobolus, and a few species of Peziza 

 of the asci also, the most feasible one being the 

 successive growth of the asci ; contraction of the 

 cup may also assist as well as some other less potent 

 causes." This idea does not show how the asci 

 that are last developed would dehisce, but neverthe- 

 less there is some truth in it, and it is on the whole 

 more reasonable than a theory built up on assump- 

 tions and requiring the intervention of forces whose 

 presence it is impossible to prove. In addition to 

 the asci, certain other appendages, respecting whose 

 functions nothing at all is known, are usually present, 

 growing side by side with the former, and termed 

 paraphyses, they are long, slender tubes, simple or 

 branched, their free ends are usually more or less 

 thickened and contain granules to which the colour 

 of the hymenium is due, they are usually considered 

 as being abortive asci. The species of Peziza are 

 numerous, above one hundred and seventy have been 

 recorded as British. P. coccinea, one of the largest 

 and most striking forms, has the cup not unfrequently 

 two inches in diameter, the inside bright scarlet, out- 

 side whitish. In the woods near Scarborough this 

 species is not uncommon, and the rotten sticks, each 

 with two or three specimens, sell readily at two 

 shillings per dozen for decorative purposes, and when 

 mixed with damp moss in a dish, the effect is very 

 pretty. 



P. virginea, a minute form, is common on decayed 

 twigs in damp places, it is pure white, the outside of 

 the cup is covered with long hairs, and the stem is 

 long and slender. P. nivca, equally common in 

 similar localities, is recognised by the short stem 

 passing gradually into the cup, so that altogether the 

 plant is like an inverted cone. P. cinerea, another 

 minute plant, is very common on dead branches ; the 

 substance is fleshy and watery-looking, smooth and 

 ash-coloured, it is frequently much crowded and then 

 the outline of the plant is irregular. 



In studying the species, the most important points 

 to observe are, the presence or absence of stem, the 

 structure of the outside of the cup, whether smooth, 

 hairy, pruinose, &c, the form of the asci and para- 

 physes, and the size and form of the sporidia, and 

 their order of arrangement in the ascus, whether in 

 one or two rows. The structure can be studied in 

 P. stercorea, a small gregarious species about one- 

 eighth of an inch in diameter, and of a bright reddish- 

 brown colour ; the margin and upper part of the out- 

 side is furnished with straight dark hairs, and the 

 paraphyses are not thickened at the ends. P. granu* 



lata is somewhat similar in appearance and size, but 

 is known by the paraphyses having the free ends 

 clavate : both species occur on cow dung. 



( To be continued.) 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION MEETING. 



OUR annual peripatetic scientific Congress, held 

 this year at Swansea, although not so success- 

 ful in point of numbers attending it, seems to have 

 been marked by the delivery of first-class addresses, 

 and not a few telling papers. The American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science was held on 

 the same day, whilst the French Association com- 

 menced its meeting on the nth of August. The two 

 latter are framed on the model of the British, and 

 it is evident both are doing similar useful work in 

 extending and deepening the interest felt in science. 

 One of the most interesting objects exhibited at 

 Swansea was the now famous Neanderthal skull, 

 which was shown by Professor Schaffhausen, of 

 Bonn, 



In his presidential address, before the British 

 Association meeting on August 25, 1S80, Professor 

 Ramsay stated that in the middle of last July he 

 received a letter from Professor Geikie, in which he 

 informed him that he had discovered mammillated 

 moutonnie surfaces of Laurentian rocks, passing 

 underneath the Cambrian sandstones of the north- 

 west of Scotland at intervals, all the way from Cape 

 Wrath to Loch Torridon, for a distance of about 

 ninety miles. The mammillated rocks are, said Pro- 

 fessor Geikie, "as well rounded off as any recent roche 

 moutonnie" and "in one place these bosses are 

 covered by a huge angular breccia of this old gneiss 

 (Laurentian) with blocks sometimes five or six feet 

 long." This breccia, where it occurs, forms the base 

 of the Cambrian strata of Sutherland, Ross, and 

 Cromarty, and while the higher strata are always 

 well stratified, where they approach the underlying 

 Laurentian gneiss " they become pebbly, passing 

 into coarse, unstratified agglomerates, or boulder- 

 beds." In the Gairlock district "it is utterly un- 

 stratified, the angular fragments standing on end 

 and at all angles," just as they do in many modern 

 moraine mounds wherever large glaciers are found. 

 The general subject of Palaeozoic glaciers has long 

 been familiar, and this account of more ancient 

 glaciers of Cambrian age is peculiarly acceptable. 



One of the lecturers was Professor Boyd Dawkins, 

 who took for his subject " Primeval Man." Professor 

 F. W. Rudler delivered a striking address as presi- 

 dent of the department of anthropology, and Mr. 

 F. M. Balfour, F.R.S., a most telling speech in the 

 department of anatomy and physiology, when he 

 reviewed the evidences in favour of evolution from 

 the facts of embryology, in which subject Mr. Balfour 



