Notes and Observations 243 



wife. He has a heavy aspect not unsuited to the hesitancy 

 of character and lack of ambition which he manifested. 

 Their family, brought up as they were in the school of 

 adversity, showed much ability. It included not only Sophia, 

 the Electress, but Prince Rupert who was not alone a dash- 

 ing soldier but a man of some scientific attainments, and 

 Elizabeth, " the most learned lady in Europe." 



There are several portraits of the Queen of Scots in the 

 galleries and in the Sculpture Room. This latter room is, we 

 fear, often missed by visitors. There are busts of both herself 

 and her boy-husband, Darnley. That of the Queen is very 

 pleasing, a short oval face with well-modelled features ; that 

 of Darnley is heavy and coarse. It is the only representation 

 of Darnley in the Gallery. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS ON NATURAL 

 HISTORY. 



The Ichthyosaurus originally a Land Animal. — The ichthyo- 

 saurus was a four-footed reptile which had taken to the water 

 and received modifications (loss of feet, &c), just as the whale 

 is a four-footed mammal which has taken to the water and 

 lost its legs. It brought forth its young alive. 



The Fungus an Above-ground Plant, not a mere Flower. — The 

 fungus — mushroom or toadstool — is to be regarded as an 

 above-ground plant rather than merely a flower or spore-bearer. 

 It differs from an ordinary plant chiefly in the shortness of 

 its life. Many flowering plants are annual, and some live 

 much less than a year. The fungus, however, has usually a 

 life of only a few weeks. In proof that it represents the plant, 

 however, we have the following facts. Other fungi sometimes 

 bud out from the stem. The broken and apparently dead 

 stem-stump of one year may bud again the next and produce 



