200 



HARD W1CKE 'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



what I am told. I am, however, firmly convinced 

 that the man himself fully believes what he reports. 



Concurrent testimony, if sought, would be obtained 

 from many independent sources, and yet I find that 

 scientific men are generally disposed to treat such 

 stories with simple incredulity. But surely the 

 phenomenon is worth investigation. No British jury 

 would believe that the quarrymen in all parts of Eng- 

 land were leagued together to impose upon the public ; 

 nor would any man of science believe that the toads 

 were really imbedded in homogeneous rock. Until 

 a better solution can be offered, I may venture to 

 suggest the following : — 



It is well-known that all limestone rocks abound in 

 fissures and joints, which may be and often are filled 

 up with angular debris. At Westleigh, in North 

 Devon, there are many thick beds of breccia alter- 

 nating with highly inclined and vertical strata, the 

 breccia being just as hard and serviceable as the 

 stratified rock. In some cases where the cementing 

 carbonate of lime has not been coloured,* the two 

 varieties of rock might not be distinguished at first 

 sight, even by a geologist, still less by an ordinary 

 observer. These breccias may be of any post-car- 

 boniferous age, and may be still in the process of 

 formation. 



We have then only to imagine our toad to have 

 accidentally or purposely got into a fissure, and to 

 have there found himself in what (from a batrachian 

 point of view), we may call comfortable quarters. 

 There, being of a phlegmatic temperament and of 

 sedentary habits, he stood (or rather squatted) his 

 ground, indifferent to the angular fragments which, 

 from time to time, fell around him. Like Horace's 

 " Vir Justus ac tenax propositi," of whom it is further 

 said, " Si fractus illabitur orbis Impavidum ferient 

 ruinre," so he also was not shaken in his sense of 

 tenant's right by the "wreck of matter" which, in 

 the form of rock-debris, threatened his cranium. 

 Dripping water bearing carbonate of lime by degrees 

 would change his home into a prison, cementing the 

 congeries into the semblance of homogeneous rock. 



How long a toad might live under such conditions, 

 I do not venture to conjecture, but the many instances 

 of modern conglomerates, and the stalactites which 

 rapidly collect under newly-built bridges, would argue 

 that the process of forming such a breccia as I have 

 described need not necessarily have occupied many 

 years. I submit, at least, that the independent testi- 

 mony of quarrymen from many places remote from 

 each other ought not to be set down as mere inven- 

 tion or exaggeration, but should be accounted for as 

 above, or upon some better hypothesis, if such can 

 be suggested. W. Downes. 



Kentispcaic, near Colhtmpton. 



* It is generally coloured red, owing to the proximity of 

 Triassic rocks. 



THE BIRTH OF A ROTIFER. 



THE water from which my Rotifer was taken had 

 been standing for some months in one of the 

 marine tanks at the Brighton Aquarium, and was 

 filled with dead mussels. The body, which was sur- 

 rounded by a single row of filaments, resembled a 

 Paramecium, but was longer and not so broad. 



The head was blunt, and was beset with strong 

 cilia, amongst which were three or four long fila- 

 ments. This part of the animalcule was sack -like, 

 and a broad sinus formed the mouth, which was 

 fringed with cilia smaller than those at the margin of 

 the head. A row of globules, about thirteen in 

 number, commencing from near the mouth, extended 

 the whole length of the body, within which could be 

 traced three distinct bulbous sacks, connected by 

 alimentary canals ; near the posterior extremity a 

 single dark spot was observed. 



Fig. 154. First appearance of Rotifer. 



Fig. 155. Rotifer in act of emitting young. 



The integument was marked with a fine series of 

 horizontal lines. The animalcule had a peculiar 

 mode of feeding. It first rubbed its gelatinous body 

 against a mass of vegetable matter with which it 

 happened to come in contact, to disintegrate it, as it 

 were, and then pushed its head amongst the debris, 

 grovelling like a pig, and using its cilia to draw the 

 particles into its mouth. On moving the stage, 

 another of the species was brought into the field. 

 The upper part of the head was shrunken and dead, 

 and was almost separated from the body ; but round 

 the lower part of the gullet the cilia were in rapid 

 motion. The other part of the body was perfectly 

 quiescent, even to the filaments, and was compressed 

 and colourless. About midway down the Rotifer, a 

 slight swelling commenced, which gradually increased. 

 It then burst, and a violent disruption took place, 

 which resembled a mimic Vesuvius. A jet of water 

 issued from the orifice, followed by six minute, pellu- 

 cid, oval creatures. Their motion was at first very 

 sluggish, but they soon gained sufficient vital energy 

 to prove beyond all doubt that they were endowed 

 with life. 



The young lingered over the body of the mother 



