202 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



been able to discover any sign of an inmate. But 

 when the protuberance has grown larger, I am just 

 able to detect a large dark brown speck inside the 

 protoplasmic layer (fig. 2). Later on the swelling 

 increases in size, and one or two beaks appear, 

 while the inmate also increases in size and in 

 vigour. The alga is still green and flourishing. 

 The next stage is the appearance of oval eggs ; and 

 now the Vaucheria begins to grow discoloured. The 

 nest has enlarged, the beaks are more pronounced, 

 and there is a mark as of an incipient fissure across 

 the upper part of the "nest "(figs. 3,4). Ultimately 

 a dozen or more eggs are laid, and some of these 

 begin to show signs of life. The parent, who up to 

 this time has been in incessant movement, at length 

 dies, its bod}' decays, the nest becomes flaccid and 

 empty, except for the debris (fig. 5), the young 

 work their way up the tube of the alga, seeking 

 fresh fields and pastures new (fig. 7). 



Owing to the chlorophyll masking it, it was not 

 possible to make out definitely the shape of the 

 inmate. After many failures I succeeded in opening 

 one of the excrescences and inducing the little 

 creature to come out uninjured. Its rapid and 

 incessant contortions rendered it difficult to sketch. 

 Also, I am unlearned in rotifers and the like, and 

 not skilful in art. Roughly speaking, it is of the 

 shape shown in figure ; one or more eggs were near 

 the point of extrusion (fig. 6). 



My own opinion is that the " nest " is a distorted 

 modification of the sexual organs, and the beaks 

 represent the openings of the oogonia and antheri- 

 dium. The young do not appear, as I anticipated, 

 to escape through the beaks. I could see no sign 

 of the eyes, and the little animal seemed to wobble 

 about aimlessly and helplessly when set free. The 

 " w^heels " were small, and hard to make out with 

 my quarter-inch. 



Swanton Morley, East Dereham. 



THE VALLEY OF THE WYE. 

 By G. H. Bryan. 



TT has been a matter of surprise to me that 

 among the many who are in doubt where to 

 go for their summer holiday so few fix upon 

 Monmouthshire. The richly-wooded valley of the 

 Wye is unsurpassed in beauty ; the archaeologist, 

 after exhausting Tintern Abbey and the well-known 

 castles of Raglan, Chepstow and Goodrich, will 

 still find many a quaint old village church or 

 market-cross to interest him. The botanist will 

 make several good additions to his herbarium, and 

 the entomologist will find the neighbourhood rich 

 in butterflies and moths. Of those who visit this 

 little-frequented corner of England, the majority 

 go either to Tintern or to Symond's Yat. Tintern 

 is favoured on account of its abbey and its easy 

 accessibility from Bristol, whence come frequent 

 excursions ; and a service of coaches to and from 

 Chepstow affords a pleasant circular tour enabling 

 excursionists to visit the Wyndcliff on the way. 

 The view from that eminence is not, however, 

 nearly so fine as the view either from Symond's 

 Yat or from the Buckstone above Monmouth. 



Between the Wyndcliff and Tintern, the rare 

 Euphorbia stricta is found, seme years in large 

 patches in the clearings, which are rendered con- 

 spicuous by its yellow colour, but in certain 

 seasons it is rare. Paris quadrifolia with, as usual, 

 many specimens that might appropriately be styled 

 " quinquefolia," mixed among them, occurs close by 

 the Euphorbia. Patches of the wild madder (Ritbia 

 peregrina) abound on the Wyndcliff, at whose foot 

 are several very fine yew-trees. The ringlet butter- 

 flies (Epinephele hyperanthus) swarm by the roadside, 



with here and there a silver-washed fritillary 

 (Argynnis paphia) or wood argus (Pararge egeria). 



The ten miles between Tintern and Monmouth 

 is well worth walking, that is if we do not take a 

 boat. At Bigsweir Euphorbia stricta again crops up 

 here and there ; there is no danger of mistaking it 

 for E. amygdaloides which is more generally dis- 

 tributed through the woods. A few solitary plants 

 of the rare Campanula patula may be found by the 

 roadside, while the entomologist will have plenty to 

 occupy him in catching the silver-washed fritillaries, 

 or making furtive swoops at the commas (Vanessa 

 c-album) which spring up just when he is about to 

 strike with the net and then settle defiantly on a 

 branch a few feet beyond his reach. Many pretty 

 dragonflies (Calopteryx, etc.,) are more easily caught, 

 and are of course most abundant by the river. 

 Above Bigsweir, on the top of a bleak hill, is the 

 castle of St. Briavel's, a thirteenth-century building 

 surrounded by a moat, and well worth a visit from 

 the antiquarian, who will also find a Roman 

 encampment not far off. From St. Briavel's to 

 Xewlands (on the Monmouth and Coleford railway) 

 the road is at first uninteresting, but the picturesque 

 market cross and old house at Clearwell are well 

 worth sketching or photographing, and the church 

 at Xewlands is also very picturesque. Of ferns, "the 

 rustyback " (Ceterach officinarum) abounds in the 

 walls, together with Asplenium ruta-muraria and 

 A. trichomanes as well as Geranium lucidum. 



Monmouth is about the best centre for excursions, 

 as it is the converging point of several railway lines, 

 and the train service is fairly convenient. 



