86 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



■by some mysterious impulse, and may completely 

 wheel round the pond. The food of the Daph- 

 niadre, as well as of the Cyclopidre, probably consists 

 chiefly of animalcules, although the former doubtless 

 eat vegetable matter also. Cypris is another genus 

 of interesting Entomostraca. Dr. Baird describes 

 fifteen British species. Nothing can be more curious 

 than the characteristic way in which they spin through 

 the water, and then suddenly sink motionless to the 

 bottom, when they can hardly l^e distinguished from 

 minute mussels. Chydonis sfJmriciis is hardly visi- 

 ble to the unaided eye, just appearing as a white 

 speck moving or rolling about in the water. In 

 winter it is very common in some ponds, and of 

 ■course during summer more so. Pritchard asserts 

 that the young swim to the mother when danger is 

 near ; she permits them to enter her shell, and then 

 closes it. 



The water bog-louse [Asclhis aqiiaticiis) is another 

 Crustacean found in stagnant ponds in winter. 

 Leisurely does it crawl along the bottom, but if 

 alarmed it runs with considerable speed, sometimes 

 tumbling over objects in its haste. The freshwater 

 shrimp or freshwater screw {Gam/iianis piilcx) hyber- 

 nates whenever cold deprives it of food. 



All the freshwater Molluscs may be obtained 

 ■during winter. The pond snail {Li/inuca sfagiialis) 

 for instance in some ditches almost completely covers 

 Ihe bottom. Planorbis cornciis and its smaller rela- 

 tion, P. vortex^ are also found. Omitting the nume- 

 rous tribes of small worms, I shall only mention one 

 ■other example of the animals any person may study 

 during the cold weather by hunting for them in any 

 pond or ditch. The common leech {Aiilostonia giilo) 

 generally chooses for \\'inter quarters either the mud 

 at the bottom or under the stones near at hand. As 

 it lives chiefly upon the earth-worm {Linul>riais tcr- 

 .rcsfris) which burrows deep in the earth beyond the 

 reach of the frost when it comes, it is content to fast 

 .as long as the weather remains cold. 



C. Fraxcis Young. 



BOTANICAL NOTES FROM THE SWISS 

 HIGHLANDS. 



III. Zones of Vegetation : The Rroi. 



By Dr. De Crespigny. 



\C out inncd from piigc 51.] 



IDDLE and lower forest belts. Anthc- 

 riciim ramosnm, a straggling plant, with 

 grass-like leaves and white stellate flowers; rocks 

 and banks. Amelanchicr vulgaris, a pomaccous shrub, 

 rocks and banks. Asperiila taurbia. Adciiostyles glabra, 

 a coarse-looking plant, with burdock-like leaves, and 

 inflorescence, especially in bud, like Eupatorium. 

 Andromeda polifoUa, N.W. ascent, on the Seeboden 

 pasturage in swampy places. Acoiiitinn iiapclhis and 



2. 



M 



lycoctoniim, former on pasturage ; latter, bushy places. 

 This has yellow flowers smaller than those of the ordi- 

 nary species. Allium alpimim, Arahis ciliata, above 

 Gersau. BdHdiaslnim Michclii, like a very large 

 BlIUs, wet places ; flowers sometimes of a purple 

 tinge. Carcx tenuis, Klosterli. Carexfiiha, dioica, 

 paitcijlora, Seeboden pasturage. Carex huniilis and 

 ornithopodiodes, on rocks. Cyperits longiis and 

 Jlavescens, Kussnacht. Crepis blattaroides, Seeboden 

 pasturage. Corydalis cava, near Kussnacht. Cycla- 

 men Enropiritm, ascent from Kussnacht (plentiful 

 j on the Axenstrasse near Fluelen, among barberry 

 and other bushes ; here, also, on dry, grassy places. 

 Salvia pratensis). Cochlcaria saxatiUs, rocks. Cam- 

 panula piisilla {=ccEspitosa), rocks. Campanula urtidt- 

 folia. Cypripedium calceolaria, above Vitznau. Colonc- 

 asler vulgaris and tomentosa, rocks and banks. The 

 latter has larger leaves, white beneath. Coroiiilla 

 emerus, a straggling shrub, with yellow flowers ; pods 

 curious ; long, narrow-jointed. Digitalis lutea, dry 

 banks ; flowers yellow, half the size of our species, 

 and the representative of it in habit of growth and 

 in frequency. Digitalis grandiflora { = ambigua), 

 bushy places ; flowers not larger than those of 

 purpurea; yellowish corollas, faintly spotted. Dian- 

 thus superbus, flowers large, petals pale pink, deeply 

 fringed ; dry banks. DcJttaria digitata, flowers rose- 

 coloured, but smaller than in our species ; ascent 

 from Arth. Epipogium Gmelini, beechwood above 

 Weggis. Epipactis pallens, cnsifolia, and rubra, here 

 and there on the south slope ; flowers small, of a 

 dingy red colour in the last-named species. Seems 

 to correspond with E. oz'alis of the London Catalogue. 

 Euonymus latifolius, ascent from Kussnacht. Erio- 

 phoron alpinum, marshy places, Seeboden. Festuca 

 sylvatica. Geranium sylvestrc. Galium sylvaticum. 

 Gentiana lutea, pastures, i^lentiful on the ascent from 

 Vitznau. A tall plant of widely different habit to 

 its congeners ; three feet high or more, with large 

 opposite ovate connate five-nerved leaves, which are 

 translucent and beautifully reticulated. Flowers 

 yellow, subfascicled, verticillate, terminal and axil- 

 lary, corollas deeply 5-9-fid ; segments narrow, 

 spreading ; of great repute as a bitter tonic. Gen- 

 tiana asclepiadiacea, somewhat like G. pneumonanthe 

 in habit ; leaves ovate, acuminate. Gentiana ciliata, 

 this has a four-cleft corolla. Plepatica triloba, plen- 

 tiful in damp places among the boulders ; ascent 

 from Weggis. Hicracium rigidum, here and there. 

 Ilordeum sylvaticum. Impatiens noli-mc-tangere, damp 

 places, frequent. Lonicera nigra ^.wAxylosteum, both 

 frequent. Laserpitiiun latifolium ( =glabrum). Luzula 

 nivea. Mentha sylvestris, frequent in wet places, 

 mentioned merely to introduce the remark that 

 the species is more often met with than any other 

 on the Alps. Melainpyrum sylvaticum, up to the 

 beech limits. Orobaiuhe, species uncertain, on rocks, 

 ascent from Vitznau. Polygala chanucbuxus, a some- 

 what suffruticose plant, occurs also high up,in company 



