COEKESPONDENCE. 79 



our members, fi'ee from the cliarge of desultoriness. I feel sure this 

 suggestion deserves thoughtful cousiLleratiou, and I hope the Editors will 

 invite communications, offering suggestions, from their many readers. — ■ 

 F. T. L. [We do in\dte such communications, and think F. T. L.'b 

 remarks most valuable. — Eds. M. N.] 



Fbeshwater Life. — Allow me as a subscriber to your journal to ask 

 S. B. R., of Eedditch, and other natLrralists privileged to live near Midland 

 ponds with such inhabitants as he describes, to help me to specimens. 

 I will send bottles and pay all expenses with pleasure. But I live here in 

 a district covered with glacial clay, which seems inimical to rotifer life. 

 A paper of mine on Me I i cert a 7-in;/ens, piablished in the " Monthly 

 Microscopical Journal " for December last, brought me one of Mr. 

 Bolton's (of Stoiirbridge) delightfid little bottles. He still assists me, but 

 I should be glad of extended help. To any gentleman who takes an 

 interest in the subject, I shall be happy to send a copy of my paper on 

 M. riiigens. It may serve as lines to work on. — F. A. Bedwell, Fort Hall, 

 Bridlington Quay, Yorks. 



The Meaning op Knowledge. — I think jNIr. Mott has undulj^ limited 

 the meaning of the word knowledge. The verb " to know " is used to 

 express two classes of cognition for which in many other languages two 

 distinct verbs are used. Thus, we have in French connaitre and sm-oir, in 

 German kenncn and icissen, in Latin novi and scio. The first words of 

 each of these pairs are used for knowledge acquired by means of the 

 senses, and thus correspond nearly to the Enghsh "to be acquainted 

 with" or " aware of;" whilst the others are used for knowledge obtained 

 by the reasoning faculties, and signifies to comprehend or to know 

 thoroughly. — C. J. Watson. 



Accuracy in the Use of Scientific Teems. — It is necessary to say a 

 few words in reply to your correspondent, although it is hardly possible 

 to imagine that any student in Botany would, for one moment, suppose 

 there could be anything animal-like (except in the one respect) iu the 

 two distinct existences of the same plant being likened to the two 

 existences of an insect, (the caterpillar or butterfly.) Care was also taken 

 to explain the exact meaning of the terms used. Animals and plants 

 copy each other — some in one particular and some in another. The sea- 

 anemone is an animal, and only takes its name from its resemblance (in 

 one respect) to a plant. No one would think of confusing the Bee 

 Orchis or the Butterfly Orchid with a Bee or a Butterfly ; the Sun- 

 flower, Moonwort, or Windflower, with the Sun, Moon, or Wind ; the 

 Hare's-foot fern or Stag's-horn fern, with a Hare or a Stag ; the Cats- 

 tail, Dog-rose, Bull-rush, or Horseradish, with a Cat, Dog, Bull, or Horse. 

 The Oak-fern does not bear acorns, nor the Holly-fern berries, nor the 

 Beech-fern nuts. We might, also, enumerate Lady's-slipper, Harebell, 

 Buttercup, Cowslip, Snowdrop, Icex^lant, and many others. Perhaps it 

 would have been better to have described these two distinct generations 

 of fern life as — 1st, the prothalliuni-state, and 2nd, the perfect-fern — the 

 first as sexual and the second as asexual. With regard to the remaining 

 passages, " the spiral filaments swarmed about the pistillidium iu 

 numbers," " these filaments being tossed into the air, and by landing in 

 certain cups are said to fertiUse the plant," and " these, from their 

 activity, ai-e called Animalcules;" they are the expressions used by 

 Count Suminski and Mercklin, and have been copied and used by such 

 authorities as Henfrey, Moore, &c., and therefore may again be used 

 with impunity. — E. J. Lowe. 



Peeseevation of Fungi foe the Heebaeium. — Would some of yoiu' 

 readers kindly describe the best methods of preserving fungi ? — C.T.M. 



