68 



HARD JVI CKE ' S S CI EN CE-GO SSI P. 



Query respecting Sea-Anemones. — Sea- 

 Anemones, like other animals, require to " be 

 fed." But, unlike most other domestic animals, 

 this need not be done daily. Once a week will 

 do in most cases, though some like it oftener ; 

 but if it fouls the water more harm than good will 

 accrue to the animals by over-feeding. No doubt 

 they derive some nourishment from organisms in the 

 water, but these should be microscopical, and not 

 perceptible, i. e., the water should even be sparMingly 

 clear and colourless ; if not, there is something wrong. 

 Find out the cause of this, and set it right without 

 changing it : time and patience alone will often 

 effect this. Or it may be aerated or circulated with- 

 out changing. In no case change it, unless it has 

 become chemically poisonous. Organic impurities 

 can always be got rid of by oxygenation, or a process 

 known as cremacausis, or burning up. Thus, living 

 animals give out carbonic acid gas, and certain effects 

 of food, which, if allowed to accumulate, generate 

 carburetted or sulphuretted hydrogen. But living 

 plants take up these poisonous gases (assimilate the 

 carbon to build up their tissues), thereby rendering 

 them harmless, and liberate the free oxygen again for 

 the animals to breathe. This goes on ceaselessly 

 under the action of light, and this balance of animal 

 and vegetable life is the grand governing principle of 

 all aquaria, great or small. If W. T. If. C. Trome 

 wishes to keep a scientific aquarium, he will remember 

 this, and never change the -water. He will thus be 

 able to keep his animals more happily, healthily, and 

 easily. But the anemones must be fed. Mussel or 

 oyster flesh is best, handed to each individual by a 

 pair of wooden forceps, in pieces varying in size from 

 a pin's head upwards, say, to a quarter of a mussel, 

 according to the size of the anemone ; experience 

 will soon show how much. Under proper conditions 

 this is nearly all assimilated. If it is rejected, perhaps 

 the pieces are too large, or the water too hot or too 

 cold, or the animals too crowded, — most probably 

 the latter with beginners. The thing is to find out 

 how many animals will live and flourish in a given 

 space : keep these and no more. If oysters or mussels 

 or fish cannot be easily procured for food, butcher's 

 meat will do, but not so well. Much depends upon 

 the distribution of the water. The smaller the 

 depth in proportion to the size of the animals the 

 better; because the greater the surface aeration, 

 and, as oxygen is perpetually wanted for the animals 

 to breathe, and to purify the water, the more regular 

 the supply the better. This may be accelerated by 

 stirring in air, say, with the stick of a camel's 

 hair pencil, this may be done daily, especially so 

 the day after feeding, to prevent or dissipate any 

 cloudiness in the water. The brush at the other end 

 will be useful to pick up any refuse bits, and skim off 

 the mucus which otherwise collects round the base of 

 most anemones, and would in a state of nature be 

 washed away and dissipated by the waves. We 

 collect them into a cup of water, and throw them 

 away, and thus prevent the accumulation of untidi- 

 ness, in small domestic aquaria of still water. In 

 large aquaria, as at the Crystal Palace, impurities are 

 dissipated by a ceaseless flow of water from tank to 

 tank, down to the underground reservoir, to be 

 pumped up again fresh and clear for ever ; and I 

 know of no cheaper or better guide than the sixpenny 

 and twopenny handbook to this successful institution ; 

 but if \V. T. H. C. Trome will state his aquarium 

 dimensions and difficulties, we may be able to tell 

 him more in Science Gossip. Hardy anemones 

 are about the easiest animals to begin with. Ours 

 live and flourish, year after year, in shallow tanks, or 

 glasses, commercially known as "anemone pans," 



or pastry pans. In all cases growing plants cannot 

 be dispensed with, and spontaneous vegetation is found 

 best, because best suited to each separate situation. 

 To prevent this growing to excess, and causing the 

 water to become green, avoid too much direct day- 

 light, by using blinds or screens. Blue paper will 

 sometimes serve sufficiently. — G. S. 



Botanical Localities. — The following is a fairly 

 accurate description of the localities inquired for by 

 Mr. H. Morton, in the January number of Science 

 Gossip : — Shotover Hill is z\ miles E. of Oxford ; 

 Cowley is a village not far from the latter place, 

 2 miles S.E. of Oxford ; Bagley Wood lies 2.\ miles 

 to the S. of Oxford and 3 N. of Abingdon; Wych- 

 wood Forest (Winch wood being apparently a mis- 

 print) lies 14 or 15 miles to the N.W. of Oxford 

 (nearest station, Charlbury, on the Oxford and 

 Worcester line) ; Cornbury Park is situated at the 

 N.E. corner of Wychwood Forest, and half a mile S. 

 of Charlbury station. I have been unable to discover 

 the exact situation of Cornbury Quarry, but presume 

 it must be in the immediate neighbourhood of the 

 Park. Sunninghill Wells is in the extreme S.E. 

 corner of Berks., 6 miles S.S.W. of Windsor, 6W. of 

 Egham, *j\ E. of Wokingham, and nearly a mile from 

 Ascot station. Most of these places are, as Mr. 

 Morton says, good localities for plants (I knownothing 

 about insects), and he may perhaps be interested to 

 know what plants may be found there. The fol- 

 lowing are the names of a few, which I give partly 

 from my own observation, partly from " Walker's 

 Oxfordshire Flora." Shotover Hill, Polcmonium 

 cceruleum, Droscra rotundifolia, Gentiana Amarella, 

 G. campestris, Trifolium subterraneu?n, Haboiaria 

 bi folia, H. viridis, Epipactis palustris, Cephalanthera 

 grandijlora ; Cowley, Geranium rotundifolia, Pin- 

 guicula vulgaris, Anagallis cczrulca, A. tenella, Fri- 

 tillaria mcleagris, Orchis conopsea ; Cowley Bog is 

 also very rich in Scirpi, Carices, &c. ; Bagley Wood, 

 Irisfastidissima, Convallaria viajalis, Luzula congesta, 

 Neottia nidus-avis ; Wychwood Forest, Asperula cy- 

 nanchica, Atropa Belladonna, Orchis pyramidalis. 

 If Mr. Morton wishes to learn more about the good 

 botanical localities in this neighbourhood, I shall be 

 very happy to correspond with him. — H. IV. Trott, 

 24, Walton-street, Oxford. 



Entomological and Botanical Localities. 

 — (Reply to H. Morton.) (Winchwood should be 

 Wychwood ; Sunninghill Wells should be Sunning- 

 well Hill. ) Four of the places inquired for are within 

 a short distance of Oxford — say two to four miles 

 Shotover and Cowley are on the Oxfordshire side of 

 the Thames valley ; Sunningwell and Bagley Wood 

 on the Berkshire side. Shotover may be reached by 

 rail to Wheatley, whence a pleasant walk of five 

 miles over the hill to Oxford. Sunningwell and 

 Bagley form part of an ironsand range of hills bound- 

 ing the Thames valley, between Abingdon and 

 Oxford, and are easily accessible from Radley sta- 

 tion. Cornbury Park and Wychwood Forest adjoin 

 Charlbury station on the West Midland line, about 

 twenty minutes' ride per rail from Oxford. — E. C. 

 Davey, JVantage. 



FAIRY Flax (No. 15S, p. 44), and Fairy Lint, 

 are names which, according to Johnston, in his 

 " Botany of the Eastern Borders," are given in the 

 border-land to Linum ca/harticum, L. The district 

 comprehends "Berwickshire, the Liberties of Ber- 

 wick, N. Durham, and the immediately adjacent 

 parts of Northumberland and Roxburghshire." I 

 should think the name, " Fairy Flax," is given to this 



