HARD WICKE 'S S CIE NCR- G OSSIF. 



131 



Rymbolises sadness and purity. Superstition holds 

 that if a rose falls to i^ieces in the hand, some misfor- 

 tune is near, and among the many divinations used by 

 curious maidens to gain an insight into the future, 

 was the practice of walking backwards into the 

 garden at midnight, on Midsummer Eve, plucking a 

 rose and carefully placing it in paper, to be left un- 

 disturbed till Christmas Day. Then it was to be 

 worn, and the future husband would, of course, put 

 in an appearance and beg for it. 



It was a sad time in English history, when roses 

 became the body badges of fierce factions, and, torn 

 from the garden, were carried into all the horrors 

 of the battle-field. To a Yorkist, the white rose was 

 not only symbolical of " the truth and plainness of 

 his case " but of the apprehensions of his enemy, 

 "whose cheeks did counterfeit" his flower "for pale 

 they looked with fear," and probably Richard Planta- 

 genet was not alone in his savage longing to " dye his 

 rose in the lukewarm blood of Henry's heart." Not 

 less ready was the Lancastrian with the retort, that 

 the paleness of his antagonist's flower " bewrayed the 

 fainting of his heart," whilst he boasted that the red 

 rose's thorn was " sharp and piercing to maintain his 

 truths." Henry VI. might well bewail the "fatal 

 colours of our striving houses." In later days the 

 white rose again became a jDarty badge, and June 

 loth being the birthday of James III.," was a 

 favourite day for its display by Jacobites. In Tudor 

 architecture the rose was frequently introduced, and 

 a rose-bud, with the stem broken, is often seen sculp- 

 tured on the tombs of the young. From all times 

 these flowers have been strewed over graves, and a 

 merchant of London, Edward Rose, left 20/. per 

 annum to the parish of Barnes, Surrey, on condition 

 that his grave in that churchyard should be kept 

 planted with rose-trees. 



R. M. 



A WEEK AMONG THE MARINE 

 ZOOPHYTES. 



ISLE OF WIGHT. 



By C. Parkinson, F.G.S. 



THE southern coasts of England have long been 

 famous for zoophytes, and it would be im- 

 possible to pitch upon a better locality than the 

 back of the Isle of Wight from Ventnor to Shanklin. 

 Experience teaches us that there are two seasons of 

 the year especially favourable for the collector, early 

 spring, and after the equinoctial gales of September ; 

 at other times nothing but the commoner forms are 

 likely to be met with, and very few in a living state. 

 Under the general term .zoophyte we include all 

 hydroids and polyzoa ; certain Actinidae may always 

 be found in the shelter of rocky pools left by the 

 ebbing tide, but the minute polyzoa and microscopic 



hydroids can only be found in perfection at the two 

 periods indicated. After the force of the September 

 gales has abated, the rocky coast off Ventnor is 

 certain to be thickly covered with half the sea-weeds 

 known to inhabit the British seas ; year after year 

 the shore receives its covering, sometimes piled up 

 a couple of feet at the base of the cliffs. Among 

 this chaos of weed, a great variety of the zoophyte 

 class is generally included, either attached to the 

 algce, or parasitical on each other ; from the common 

 Flustra to the most delicate; Campanularia scores of 

 beautiful forms may be gathered — if you can find 

 them. The Sertulariadre are, for the most part, easy 

 to detect, but for many of the smaller genera it 

 requires a trained eye to discover the slightest 

 indication of life. Frequently as we have scrutinised 

 a clear pool, with pickle-bottle hard by, and heads 

 bent close down, have we been accosted by in- 

 quisitive strangers 'with the question " What are you 

 looking for ? " The answer has invariably been, 

 "For what you cannot see." But in time the eye 

 becomes accustomed to the work, and learns to detect 

 very minute structures. 



Every species named in this paper has been found 

 by the writer in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 Ventnor; in a week, about the beginning of October, 

 with diligent search, all the seventy odd species can 

 be collected, for the most part in a living condition. 

 Any naturalist interested in the practical study of 

 this deeply interesting class, will never regret spend- 

 ing a few days at Ventnor ; if October or November 

 cannot be the time chosen, March and April are 

 equally good. 



In order to have a clear understanding as to the 

 essential differences between hydrozoa and polyzoa, 

 which are often similar in external' form, the fol- 

 lowing definitions are extracted from Johnston's 

 "History of British Zoophytes," a work which is 

 within the reach of many who cannot afford to buy 

 the splendid books on the same subject by the 

 Rev. J. Hincks, 



Hydroids have no nervous system, and no organ 

 of sense that can be identified as such ; no organ ex- 

 clusively appropriated to the functions of respiration, 

 no circulatory system, nor vessels for carrying 

 digested food through the body ; the water simply 

 flows over the external surface and through the 

 general cavity, whence the polyp derives oxygen 

 sufficient for life. They may be said to be simply 

 developments of a common central, fleshy mass, 

 identical with it in structure and texture. Polyzoa 

 exist, each individual, as a separate organism, 

 although connected one with the other. Johnston 

 has aptly expressed it, hydrozoa are like a cliain, 

 each link of which is welded together, while the 

 polyzoa may be compared to beads strung together 

 by a percurrent thread. In organisation the polyzoa 

 are nearly allied to the mollusca, although the latter 

 never protrude from the cells in the same mamier 



