HECUEATIVE SCIENCE. 



77 



falcata, Pteris serrulata, Polystichium coria- 

 ceum, and Cyrtomiumfalcatum. Tlie last four 

 are in front and are drawn in detail. The 

 centre is occupied with, tlie Athyriumf.f., 

 the true Lady Fern. There are at least a hun- 

 dred fern species and varieties which might 

 be used in the same way, and which, when 

 so used, could be preserved in a cold frame or 

 greenhouse, and require but the most ordi- 

 nary care in cultivation. If we admitted 

 flowering plants, as we certainly ought, the 

 names of those suitable are legion. The 

 pretty blue -flowered Sisyrinchiuin anceps is 

 a first-rate thing for plunging in the pockets, 

 and with a set of these all round and a fine 

 Calla in the centre, you would have a glo- 

 rious garden of water-flowers without get- 

 ting involved in a single one of the many 

 meshes that beset ill-advised experiments 

 with the aquarium. True aquatics, such as 

 water-lilies, water-milfoil, starwort, potamo- 

 geton, sweet-rush, water-plantain, marsh-ma- 

 rigold, water- cress, and others, which it would 



be ruin to a tank to plant in it, might be 

 grown in pots ready cased in blocks of rock- 

 work and plunged in a stone trough, cistern, 

 or fish-pond, and during their flowering sea- 

 son lifted out and lowered into the aquarium, 

 to adorn it for a time, and then be removed 

 back to their original quarters. Those who 

 have my "Rustic Adornments" will find, at 

 pages 131 and 401, lists of plants in varie- 

 ties sufficient to keep almost any number of 

 tanks gay the whole year round, and the mode 

 of using them here recommended ofi'ers the 

 additional advantage that you have not to 

 plant and wait for the result, and then per- 

 haps be disappointed, but the result is ascer- 

 tained at once ; if one of a set of plants is 

 too dwarf, too coarse, or otherwise unfit to 

 range with the rest, another can be substi- 

 tuted, and thus you secure ferns and flowers 

 apparently growing in situ, with the simpli- 

 city of arranging a few specimens on an 

 ordinary flower-stand. 



Shielet Hibbeed. 



HAEMONIES OE l^ATUEE EEFLECTED IN AET. 



THE KETTLE AND THE WASP. 



The Nettles [XTrtica, Linn.) are so called 

 from the burning sensation which their 

 stings produce. We have three native 

 species, which are arranged under the 

 Linnsean class Moncecia, from the stamens 

 and pistils being usually produced in se- 

 parate flowers, though growing upon the 

 same plant; sometimes, however, flowers with 

 stamens only are found on one plant, and 

 those with pistils only on another ; but ac- 

 cording to the natural system, they belong 

 to the order Ueticace^, Jussieu. Under the 

 order are associated with it numerous impor- 

 tant plants, arranged under sub-orders in the 

 following manner : — 1, UrticecB, containing 

 the nettles ; 2, CannahinecB, the hemp and 

 hop; 3, Morece, mulberry, the leaves of 



which are so valuable as food for the silk- 

 worm ; 4, Artocai'pece, the famous bread-fruit, 

 which forms so important an article of food 

 in the Pacific Islands, the poison-tree or upas 

 of Java, the remarkable cow-tree of South 

 America, from which flows a nutritive beve- 

 rage like mQk, the highly- esteemed and 

 valuable friiit the fig, and some plants from 

 which the useful Indian-rubber is procured. 

 The nettle is one of the most common of 

 our wayside plants, and there are few per- 

 sons who have rambled in the country lanes 

 and waste places that have not become more 

 or less acquainted with it, from its being 

 furnished with those remarkable organs of 

 defence the stings, which so readily perforate 

 the obtrusive hand, and cause a smarting, 



