22 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 9, 1860. 
be of importance to be able to give abundance of air. I have 
been the more particular, so that the answer may suit many 
more besides our correspondent, some dozens to my knowledge 
having similar plans of heating in view. R. Fish. 
PLANTS FOR EARLY SPRING BLOOMING IN 
A GREENHOUSE. 
“An Irish Subscriber” wishes for directions how to treat 
Myrtles, Jasmine, Berberis Darwinii, and Deutzia gracilis (which 
are all in pots, plunged out of doors in coal ashes), so as to 
have them large specimens and in flower in early spring in the 
greenhouse; whether they should be now repotted, in what soil, 
and taken in-doors. He has fine plants of Dielytra spectabilis 
in the open ground, the leaves just turning yellow. When 
should they be potted to have them flower in the greenhouse in 
spring P What soil ? and will they answer best to keep in a 
pit, greenhouse, or vinery ? He has no hothouse. They succeeded 
badly the last three seasons, but the plants look very fine now. 
[If you had studied our pages carefully, you would have seen 
that, as a principle, we disapprove fresh potting late in autumn 
all such plants as are expected to bloom early in spring. All 
the shrubs you name can be kept in a cold pit in winter, or in 
the greenhouse, unless the Jasmines are tender, and placed in 
the greenhouse, they may be expected to bloom about March or 
April. If wanted earlier, placing them in a higher temperature, 
beginning at 45°, and rising gradually in a fortnight to 55° and 
60°, will bring them earlier into bloom. Raise the Dielytra care¬ 
fully as soon as may be, and pot in light, rich loam, and do not 
use a pot much larger than you can put the roots in nicely, and 
leave the buds well exposed. If after potting you could plunge 
the pot in a mild hotbed out of doors, with nothing over the 
buds, so as to keep them cool, the pot would be sooner filled 
with fresh roots, and the flower-stalks would come stronger, 
whether such pot was allowed to come on in the greenhouse or 
forced in a forcing-house.] 
WHAT TO LOOK FOR ON THE SEASHORE. 
(Continued from page 9 ) 
Echinodermata ( Continued ). 
The Echinidse, or, as they are popularly called, Sea Hedgehogs 
Sea Urchins, and Sea Eggs, are cirrho-spinigrade Echinoderms ; 
so called in consequenceof their locomotion beingeffected by means 
of suckers and spines jointly, thus combining the powers of the 
true.Star Fishes and the Serpent’s-tails. Of all the Radiata the 
Echinidse are the most perfectly preserved, owing to their hard 
calcareous covering and the wonderfully compact manner in 
which its parts are fitted together, so that fossil specimens of 
extinct species are found almost as perfect as those of a recent 
species prepared yesterday. The Sea Urchins may be chiefly 
distinguished from other Echinoderms by these peculiarities:— 
their form is invariably more or less rounded; they are destitute 
of arms; and their shell, or rather integument, is composed of 
calcareous matter, so as to form a series of regular plates studded 
with tubercles, jointed on to which are spines of various forms 
and. sizes; the ambulacra, or orifices in the shell for the ex¬ 
tension of the suckers, are variously arranged on the surface; 
the digestive canal has two openings—a mouth, which is always 
below, and sometimes armed with an internal dental apparatus, 
and a vent which varies considerably in its position ; the intestine 
is winding, and attached to the inner surface of the shell by a 
membrane, the surface of which, as well as of the membrane 
lining the shell, is covered with vibratile cilia, and is supposed 
to answer the purposes of respiration ; a nervous system is said 
to have been traced in these creatures, but the theory wants 
confirmation ; they are free throughout the whole of their 
existence, although they adhere in some instances so firmly (by 
means of their suckers) to rocky places, as to render the tearing 
them away an operation dangerous to their existence. 
The British species of Sea Urchins are divided by Professor 
Forbes into three families, and we can certainly do no better 
than follow his division, which is into Cydarites, Clypeasterice 
and Spatangacece. 
Cidarites, the first family. 
The Piper ( Cydaris papillata). —This is one of the most 
elegant of our native Sea Urchins, and at the same time one of 
the rarest, being confined to the Zetland seas. It derives its 
name from a fancied resemblance the Zetlanders find in its 
sinnes to the drones of a bagpipe. It is also called “ the king 
of the Sea Eggs,” and is always found in the deepest fishing 
water, chiefly affecting a rocky bottom. The Piper is of a 
flattened globular form, and measures about an inch and three- 
quarters across. Its surface is covered with spines, which differ 
in character: one kind, few in number, being very long—about 
an inch and a half in length or sometimes more, slightly club- 
shaped, and deeply furrowed ; the other kind very short, 
flattened, and finely streaked. This species is not likely to be 
met with by ordinary tourists. 
The Common Sea Urchin (Echinus splicer a ).—This creature 
is often called the Sea Egg, and varies considerably in shape. 
ECHINUS SPHA33A WITH ITS SPINY COVERING. 
It is sometimes almost globular, and occasionally much depressed 
Its size, also, is by no means constant, but seems to depend on 
the localities in which it is found ; it averages, however, a cir¬ 
cumference of ten or twelve inches, and a height of two to three. 
It is covered with numerous plates, all dovetailed one into the 
other with the most perfect nicety, and bearing on their surface 
upwards of four thousand spines, each spine of a highly com¬ 
plicated structure and moving freely on its socket. 
When the creature is alive the whole of the external surface is 
coated with a delicate membrane, as are also the spines, the 
joints of which are rendered much more flexible by means of 
this covering. The mouth is situated in the midst of a circular 
web of muscular skin, which occupies the concave and central 
part of the base, and which is studded with calcareous tubercles. 
From this mouth are seen projecting the five points of the teeth, 
which dental apparatus is known as “Aristotle’s Lantern.’ 1 
The common Sea Urchin is usually of a reddish or purplish 
colour with white spines, sometimes tipped with purple also. 
It lives in various depths of water, extending its range from the 
shallows of the shore to the deep sea residences of the Corals. 
It usually congregates in greater numbers on a clear sea-bottom. 
It is found on all the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, and 
is equally common in all localities. It is a general article of 
food abroad, and is said to be very frequently eaten by the poor 
at home. It is supposed to be bi-sexual. 
The Purple-tipped Sea Urchin (Echinus miliaris ).—This 
is one of the smallest of our native Sea Urchins. It is found on 
ECHINUS MILIARIS DIVESTED OF ITS SPINES. 
oyster-beds mixed with the common Sea Urchin; and from its 
similarity to it and its diminutive size is frequently passed over 
as the young of that creature. On examination, however, it 
will be seen to be quite a different species, having characteristics 
peculiar to itself—amongst others, its long purple spines, which 
can never be confounded with the white ones of the Echinus 
spheera. This little creature measures commonly about three- 
fourths of an inch across, and about three-tenths of an inch hi 
height. Its body is rose colour, with white tubercles studded 
on it. The primary spines are purple with yellow bases, and 
nearly three times as long as the secondaries, which are yellow : j 
