go* S. IX. Mar 10. '6).] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



181 



usual declensions are by increase, lias some in- 

 stances of the other kind : e. g. gos, ges ; mus, 

 mys ; toth, teth ; hoc, bee. The change by in- 

 flexion, in all these instances, is from a broad to a 

 slender vowel. H. C. C. 



Hospitals for Lepers (2 urt S. ix. 124.) — 



Eudo de Rye, the Dapifer or steward of William 

 I., William II., and Henry I., at the command of 

 the latter founded a hospital for infirm people and 

 lepers at Colchester, and dedicated it to St. Mary 

 Magdalen. 



Can anyone inform me whether the same Eudo 

 had any issue besides Margaret, who married 

 William de Mandevillc, father of Geoffrey, the 

 celebrated first Earl of Essex ? Ckelsega. 



tiiuttizi hn'tf) SUitffofrtf. 



Cleaning Aquaria. — What is the best mode 

 of removing confervoid growth from the sides of 

 an aquarium, so as to keep the glass quite clean ? 



M. R. D. 



[We are indebted to Mr. Lloyd, who has done so 

 much for lovers of natural history by his exertions in 

 bringing tc perfection the management of aquaria, for the 

 following remarks : — 



" Cleaning the Sides of Aquaria. — M. R. D. is informed, 

 in answer to a question respecting the 'mode of removing 

 confervoid growths from the sides of aquaria, so as to 

 keep the glass quite clean,' that, as these growths are 

 caused by the action of the certain amount of light re- 

 quired (even if it be not in excess), and to which aquaria 

 are of necessity exposed in order to preserve the health of 

 the inhabitants, it is not possible to maintain the glass in 

 a state free from the growths in question, except by a 

 course of vigilant, constant, and tiresome scrubbing, es- 

 pecially in warm, bright weather, when vegetation of 

 these kinds proceeds apace, these observations having ap- 

 plication to tanks possessing two, four, or nine sides of 

 glass, when their figure is rectangular or multangular, 

 and when their height is equal to or exceeding their 

 breadth; and they apply also to the whole tribe of vase 

 and cylindrical glasses which are converted into aquaria. 

 It has been proposed to remedy the evil by the use of 

 blinds or curtains of variously-coloured substances, but 

 this is found to be ineffectual, as it excludes the light, 

 and so in a great measure stops the evolution of oxygen. 

 The employment of certain plant-eating snails, both ma- 

 rine and freshwater, to consume the conferva, has also 

 been recommended, but the creatures are too wayward in 

 their habits to be of any practical service. These con- 

 siderations have, during the last two years, led to the 

 very general abandonment of the tanks and vases of the 

 kind described, and have brought into use other and 

 better forms of tanks, in which (without any impediment 

 to a distinct view of the interior) three sides are of slate, 

 covered with rock-work, which slopes backward and up- 

 ward from the front ; and this front is alone of glass, and 

 is reduced to such dimensions that the preservation of it 

 in a perfectly clean and bright state is a matter of no dif- 

 ficulty. The conferva may thus be encouraged to grow 

 upon the interior of the opaque sides to an extent which 

 to quite under control ; and so far from the growth being 

 nnsightly in such a situation, it is converted into a direct 

 St, both as regards its appearance to the eye, in 



covering the rock-work with verdure, and as respects its 

 presence as necessary to decompose the carbonic acid gas 

 given oft' from the animals, for it is certain that no vege- 

 tation evolves oxygen so copiously as conferva aud the 

 other plants which come spontaneously in tanks. Of 

 conferva, indeed, it ma}- be said, as it is said of fire, that 

 it is 'a very good servant, but a very bad master.' Let 

 such a vessel, therefore, be chosen'for aquarian purposes 

 as will permit the conferva to grow without being an an- 

 noyance (as it is) on transparent surfaces. It need not 

 even then be permitted to grow too freely, as a newspaper 

 or a handkerchief thrown over the glass cover of the 

 tank, or over a portion of the cover, during the sunniest 

 portion of the day, will effectually keep it under com- 

 mand. There need be no fear that any such moderate 

 checking of growth as this will have an ill effect on the 

 animals, if the vessel is also so shallow as to expose a 

 comparatively large surface of water to the atmosphere, 

 and so to be enabled to absorb oxygen from that source 

 as well as from vegetation. This regulation of growth is 

 farther to" be carried out by choice of aspect. Thus, in 

 summer, windows facing the south, south-west, south- 

 east, and west should be avoided, as being unfit for the 

 reception of aquaria, and those having a northern, north- 

 western, or north-eastern exposure should be adopted. 



" M. R. D. is further informed that an excessive growth 

 of conferva does not stop by merely covering the glass of 

 the objectionable tanks first mentioned, but it also con- 

 verts the whole of the once clear water into a brownish- 

 green opaque mass, much resembling pea-soup, and this 

 very often in a short time, if the light be strong and the 

 weather hot. The cure for this has been found to consist 

 not only in the employment of vessels having their trans- 

 parency and height much diminished, but in the forma- 

 tion in them of a little chamber to which a part of the 

 water has access, and which being thus kept constantly 

 in a state of entire darkness, is also in a condition of com- 

 plete q/earness, and yet, by its being ever in active com- 

 munication with the other part of the water, not in the 

 dark, it, by a compensating action, maintains the whole 

 of the fluid in a perfectly limpid condition. 



"These various improvements have been gradually 

 effected since the autumn uf 1857, and they have given 

 to aquarian science a systematic certainty of action never 

 before realised. W. Alkop.d Lloi - i>. 



" 19. Portland Road. 



Regent's Park, London, W. 



March 2, 1860." 



Earl Nugent' s Lines. — In The New Found- 

 ling Hospital for Wit, 1784, are the following lines 

 by Earl Nugent : — 



"She's better, sure, than Scudamore, 

 Who, while a Duchess, play'd the wh — re, 



As all the world has heard ; 

 Wiser than Lady Harriet, too, 

 Whose foolish match made such ado, 

 And ruin'd her and Beard." 



I want the history of the above two ladies. The 

 first was Duchess of Norfolk, and the latter mar- 

 ried a player. That is all I know about them. I 

 wish to have full particulars of both their cases. 



W. D. 



[The first frail lady noticed by the Earl was Frances 

 Scudamore of Holme Lacy, co. Hereford, born in 1711, 

 and married, first, Henry Somerset, third Duke of Beau- 

 fort, on 28th June, 1729, who obtained a divorce from his 

 consort for adultery with Lord Talbot, on 2nd March, 

 1743 4. Horace Walpole, writing to Sir Horace Mann, 



