lO 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP, 



ably, presenting the appearance shown in fig. lO. If 

 pieces of irregular size and outline be cut out of a 

 sheet of paper, at short distances from each other, the 

 removed pieces would correspond to the amoeboid 

 cells, and the remaining part of the paper to the 

 capillitium. 



In Fiiligo varians, Sommf {—^■JLthaliiim septicuin, 

 Fr.), the spores on germination send out threads, on 

 which the branches are arranged in irregular whorls 

 or tufts, and from the tip of each branchlet a nucleated 

 cell is abstricted, which probably changed into a 

 resting-spore, but that it does so has not been ob- 

 served. Threads have also been noted as the first 

 product of germination in other species, but in not a 

 single instance out of a considerable number of species 

 experimented upon have motile cells been observed 

 to originate directly from a spore, yet, according to 

 the best authorities, such is the rule j nevertheless, 

 we would suggest the possibility of mistaking that 

 stage at which the plasmodium first shows itself, 

 which in Spumaria is the motile period, as the im- 

 mediate result of the germinating spores. The spores 

 of both species mentioned above, when taken im- 

 mediately after their formation, germinate readily on 

 a glass slide in a damp atmosphere, but if they have 

 been allowed to dry germination is much retarded, or 

 altogether checked. 



[Concluded.) 



NATURAL HISTORY IN A CLAY -FIELD. 

 By Charles Francis Young. 



THE following notes were made during a short 

 walk in a Manchester clay-field, and may be of 

 interest as showing what may be done in the study 

 of nature under the most unpromising circumstances. 

 For, although a hard clayey soil, such as that which 

 existed at our place of observation, may justly be 

 considered most unfavourable for the production of 

 animal and vegetable life ; it will be found on exami- 

 nation to abound in many of Nature's treasures, 

 however barren it may seem. 



We were not long on the scene of our evening 

 stroll, when we might have been seen poking among 

 some stones lying at the margin of a large pool of 

 water, or rather small pond. Of course we found 

 under them beetles ; for example, that little black 

 fellow .with light yellow legs, AncJiomenus pallipes, 

 scuttled about in considerable numbers. It is to be 

 met with in nearly all wet places, fulfilling some 

 good purpose, or it would not be there. Multitudes 

 frequently congregate among the stones and debris 

 of dried-up ditches, &c. j indeed this situation will 

 generally be found — as we can aver from experience 

 — very fruitful in insect life, especially in spring. 

 And here, it may be mentioned, we have often 

 taken the beautiful sparkling-green A. marginalis, 

 which is a characteristic inhabitant of clay-fields. 



Another yet smaller insect, belonging to a large 

 genus of fierce little beetles, called Bcmhidiiim lit- 

 torale, dashed about, after the manner of its kind, at 

 a marvellous speed on being discovered. Several 

 species of what are popularly known as "ground 

 beetles" were somewhat numerous. These, like 

 littorale, do good service in keeping within due 

 bounds the multiplication of certain insects. Coming 

 forth at night they find wherewith to appease their 

 appetite in the various nocturnal visitors to the water's 

 edge. They comprise chiefly the genera Pterostrichus 

 and Carabus, although the latter was not represented 

 in our field. Of the former that were present may 

 be named the species niger, madidus, and diligens. 

 Large numbers of perhaps the most common of 

 ground beetles, Neh-ia hrezicollis, were met with ; 

 almost every stone we lifted exposed at least one 

 specimen. In early spring it appears with the first 

 Geodephaga, when white and soft individuals — those 

 that have just emerged from the pupa case — are 

 frequent. 



Turning our attention to a few of the inhabitants of 

 the pond itself on the banks of which we have hitherto 

 been standing, the most conspicuous animals are the 

 Entomostraca. First comes the curious-shelled Cypris, 

 which swarmed in countless millions and coloured 

 submerged objects rust-red. The body in this genus 

 is enveloped in two shells or valves hinged together, 

 and into the shelter thus formed the animal suddenly 

 retreats on the slightest possible alarm or imagination 

 of alarm. We should advise our readers to keep some 

 of these queer creatures in a glass of water, to watch 

 their funny ways. Thus if one be touched or even 

 approached with a stick when merrily spinning 

 through the water, instantly its legs disappear, and 

 something like a minute mussel sinks to the bottom ! 

 This resemblance is owing to the two valves being 

 exactly similar to those of a young mussel, only 

 smaller, and tightly closed in the same manner. The 

 female deposits some twenty or more tiny round 

 eggs on water plants, fastening them by means of a 

 glutinous secretion. In twelve hours she completes 

 her arduous task. After four and a half days the 

 eggs hatch, and the young issue forth to seek their 

 fortunes in the happy world of waters. 



The pond contained immense numbers of water- 

 snails, and it may not be out of place here to inquire 

 into their uses in Nature's realm, for assuredly they 

 exist not so plentifully in every pond without fulfilling 

 some definite object. In the first place they are the 

 great scavengers of ponds, ditches, and other collec- 

 tions of fresh water, devouring all manner of 

 putrescent vegetable matter. Secondly, their enor- 

 mous quantities of spawn serve as food for fish as 

 well as for aquatic beetles, larvre, &c., also when dead 

 they are eaten by the former. Again — they secrete 

 lime from the water, convert it into the material 

 of shell (carbonate of lime) which after the death 

 of the mollusc falls to the bottom, decomposes, and 



