i August 18 . 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
389 
3. M. virescens (Greenish;.—A beautiful but not un¬ 
common plant, growing on rocks or on other Alga. Colour 
a pale yellow-green ; frond tender, slippery, and much 
branched. Dr. Landsborougli speaks of it as being very 
common in the West of Scotland, and says that a branch of 
it under the microscope is very interesting. The plant 
from which the accompanying plate is taken is from the 
Ayrshire coast. 
3. LEATITESIA.— Gray. 
“Frond globose; fructification oval spores. Name in 
honour of the Rev. G. R. Leatlies.” 
1. Leathesia tuberiformis (Tuber-form). — “Fronds 
olive-coloured and tuberous, when young, filled with cottony 
fibres.”— Harvey. 
“After a breeze in summer it may he seen in heaps in 
the little bays, not unlike bunches of hops.”— Dr. Lands¬ 
borougli. 
2. L. Berkeeyi (Berkley’s).—A small and curious plant, 
but not a pretty one. Found by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, 
at Torquay'. On rocks. 
4. RALFSIA. 
“Frond coriaceo-crustaceous, fixed by its interior surface, 
concentrically zoiled; fructification depressed warts, scat¬ 
tered over the surface.” Name in honour of John Ralfs, 
Esq., of Penzance, the well-known author of a work on 
British Desmidiese, &c. 
1. Ralfsia verrucosa (Warted).—Growing on rocks, in 
liclien-like patches ; covered with w'arts. The fruit is rare, 
and not easily discovered. Colour dark brown, and the 
substance leathery. 
5. ELACHTSTEA. 
“ Fronds parasitical, consisting of a dense tuft of free, 
simple articulated, olivaceous filaments, rising from a 
common tubercular base: fructification pear-like spores.” 
“Name from a word signifying the least, from the small 
size of the plants.”— Harvey. 
1. Elachistea fuciola. —Very common on Fiicus vesicu- 
losus and Fucus nodosus; the tufts are about an inch long, 
and of a brownish-olive colour. 
2. E. flaccida (Flaccid).—Common. 
3. E. ourta (Cut short).—Parasitic on fuci. Not a well- 
known plant. 
4. E. ruLYiNATA (Powdered).—Very small round tufts. 
Parasitical on Cytoseira ericoides. A beautiful object for the 
microscope. 
5. E. stellutata (Small starred).—A rare parasite, grow¬ 
ing on Dictyota dichotoma. A ery small star-like tufts. 
Found in great abundance by Professor Balfour and the 
Rev. Dr. Landsborougli when dredging in Lamlash Bay, 
Arran. 
fi. E. scutulata (Sliield-bearing).—On Himanthalia lorca. 
7. E. velutina (Velvety).—“It often accompanies the 
last species, to which it is closely allied.”— Harvey. 
0. MYRIONEMA.— Grev. 
“ Mass gelatinous (exceedingly minute), effused; com¬ 
posed of very short, clavate, erect, mostly simple filaments. 
Fruit, capsules at the base among the filaments. Name 
from two Greek words, signifying ten thousand filaments.” 
— Grevillc. 
1. Myrionema strangulans. —This minute parasite grows 
on TJlva and Entcromorpha; on the former it has the ap¬ 
pearance of a small brown patch, and on the latter forming 
a ring round it. 
2. M. Leclauciierii. —Round patches on decaying fronds 
of Rhodymcnia palmala and Ulva latissima. 
3. M. puxctlforjie (Puncture-shaped). — On Ceranhtm 
rubrum and Chylocladia clavcllosa. A fine object for the 
microscope. 
4. M. clavatuii (Clubbed).—“On a thin purplish crust, 
[ which covers the pebbles at the half-tide level. The para¬ 
site is so much of the colour of the crust that it requires 
a microscope to detect it.” —Go pi. Carmichael. 
Before proceeding to the next order of Melanosperms, or 
olive-coloured ‘ plants, it has occurred to me that at this 
season of the year, when so many of the Alga are in full 
beauty, it might not be unacceptable to some of my readers 
to be told an excellent method of floating these plants, and 
preparing them for the herbarium. So much of their 
beauty depends upon the manner in which they are spread 
out, &c., that it seems better to describe it. 
Place on the table a basin of fresh water to cleanse the 
weeds from sand or other impurities. Put only a small 
portion of specimens into the basin at once, as some of the 
more delicate kinds soon decompose and are spoiled. Have 
ready a good-sized white dish or plate. Take a plant out 
of the basin and let it float in the dish of water; with a 
silver fruit-knife, or camels’ hair pencil, spread the Sea 
Weed in the way in which it most naturally falls, cutting olf 
old or ugly branches with a knife or small scissors. Then, 
having different sized pieces of good paper ready cut (and 
this is the best done at the stationer’s, as the edges are 
better cut with his sharp knife), place the paper under 
the specimen, and hold it with the left hand while you 
arrange the plant with your fruit-knife in the right. With¬ 
draw it gradually from the water, and place it in a slanting 
position, to allow the escape of the fluid ; during this part 
of the process other specimens may be prepared in the 
same way. Before any part of the paper is quite dry, lay it 
upon a sheet of blotting-paper, doubled up into four; put 
as many pieces as will lie flat upon it, and then cover it 
with old muslin or calico, and then more folds of blotting- 
paper ; repeat this, laying sheet upon sheet until you have 
finished all you have to do. Lay the heap upon a piece of 
millboard, and place another upon the top, tying a string 
round to keep them in their places ; leave them thus for a 
few hours, then carefully remove them, and put them into 
dry blotting-paper and muslin. Now you may subject them 
to a gentle pressure until the next day, when the papers 
and muslin must again be renewed, and heavier pressure 
applied. This must be repeated until the plants are per¬ 
fectly dry, when the more delicate ones will look like beau¬ 
tiful paintings. Let me again remind my readers of the 
importance of having good paper; that which is most like 
card-board, he., not porous, is the best. The name, date, 
and locality, should be written on the papers with the speci¬ 
mens. All this sounds rather troublesome, but there is 
nothing done well without, and the beauty of the specimens 
will be an ample recompense. It is useful, too, to have our 
patience kept in exercise, even by little things. Like the 
muscles in the arm of a blacksmith, patience becomes 
stronger by exercise, and perseverance in the pursuit of 
what is useful is sure to have its reward. Things which 
seem difficult, or almost impossible, at first, become easy 
after repeated attempts, and there is great pleasure in over¬ 
coming a difficulty.—S. B. 
(7b be continued.) 
HEN COCKS, AND CROWING HENS. 
It has long been known to naturalists, that hen birds, of 
various species, occasionally change their plumage and 
voice, becoming in both these particulars more or less like 
the males. This occurrence frequently takes place in the 
case of the common Pheasant. Some years ago, Mr. 
Yarrell made a series of dissections, and found, in every 
instance in which a hen Pheasant had assumed the male 
plumage, that there was disease of the ovary, which some¬ 
times extended to the egg passage. The report of these 
cases was published by him in the Transactions of the 
Royal Society. 
Not unfrequently, common hens, after laying well for one, 
two, or three years, suddenly cease laying, and at the same 
time their habits and carriage change, and their voice alters j 
to a distinct crow, which closely resembles that of the cock. : 
In these cases of crowing hens, there will always be found, 
on examination, a disease of the ovary. 
The peculiarity which constitutes what is termed a hen 
cock, 1 regard as totally distinct from that above described, j 
The phenomenon occurs not in old hens, but in young birds 
which have never laid : the most striking peculiarity being 
that the head, comb, wattles, and general habits of the cock 
are associated with the plumage of a hen. 
By the kindness of one of your subscribers, I am in 
possession of a specimen of these remarkable birds, and, as j 
