other words, whether the lowest rocks were deposited before the appearance of animal life. If 

 not, the rock should exhibit traces of phosphoric acid under chemical analysis ; but chemistry 

 not having resolved the question, the doctor has made an indirect attempt to arrive at a 

 conclusion by sowing barley in tubs filled with comminuted fragments of the various rocks, 

 watching the growth, and testing the crop when ripe. The results hitherto are negative ; and 

 so far as they go, both series of experiments lead to the inference that animals did not exist at 

 the time when the rocks iu question were deposited. 



New Silk AVobm. — Mr. Westwood has reported to the Entomological Society, that he has 

 received several pupae of Bombyx Cynthia from Malta, and finds them to be very hardy. The 

 silk from the carded cocoons 's said to be of "incredible durability." It appears too, that in 

 'ndia there are not fewer than one hundred and fifty species of moths, the larvas of which pro- 

 duce cocoons available for manufacturing purposes, and improvable by "education," to use the 

 term of the French sericulturists. 



Generous Plea for Old-Maidism. — Your Pink of Perfection is always considered by judges 

 the best single. — Punch. 



An Odd Coincidence. — The Gardeners'' Chronicle tells us that the war with Russia has 

 already increased the price of garden mats; adding "the great consumers of Russian mats 

 must find a substitute, for BAST is necessary to the business." We now clearly see the 

 importance of the war to the interests of gardening ; for is not BAST at least one-fourth of 

 Se-bast-o-pol." — Ibid. 



Succession of Flowers. — The Blue-bell opens its violet blue spikes of blossoms, and all the 

 fi jwers that have preceded it recognise the signal and disappear ; their part is played — they 

 will come on again next year for a fresh representation. Look at them well, admire their 

 various forms, their fresh or brilliant colors, inhale their various- perfumes, you will perhaps 

 never see them again ; if fortunate, you have at most twenty or thirty similar representations 

 to behold. 



But you see them depart without regret — they are replaced by so many others. In fact 

 flowers will soon be so numerous it will be impossible to count them ; every thing blossoms, or 

 seems to blossom — trees, herbs, butterflies; but each has its day, each has its hour — none 

 come before, none exceed the prescribed moment. — From the French of Alphonse Kars. 



The Crystal Palace Plants. — The watering of the plants is a task of great nicety, 

 ensconced as they are among miscellaneous articles, and articles ill fitted to bear wet or soil, 

 while that of watering the 324 swinging flower baskets is a task of some peril. The upright 

 fire-escape-like ladders, self sustained, are nervous tottering things for a man to find himself 

 projected upon at fifty feet from the ground, with the additional weight of a heavy vessel of 

 water. Strong heads, therefore, prefer climbing along the girders themselves. Indeed the 

 ladder has more than once threatened to raise a rebellion, and ought not to be insisted on. In 

 order to case-harden the statues liberal coatings of paint are bestowed on them, and any 

 accidental share in the syringe-bath is immediately removed by a tender system of shampoou- 

 ing." — Quarterly Revieio. 



