rarely found in other calcareous organised deposits; a series of tubuli will be seen permeating through cancellated walls. This tubular development obviously affords strength against external pressures, and although mere conjecture is rarely reconcileable with scientific accuracy, it seems at least an instance of the application of the method of obtaining the greatest strength in the least compass, an idea supported by deeper investigation, as under a power of 70 diameters, the tubular streaks running through the "supports" to the edge of the inner surface, represented in the illustration by waved white lines are ound to be not solid or homogeneous, but so beautifully interlocked, that the whole may possibly possess a certain amount of "play" conducing to power of resistance and expansion; in a thin section, each piece, with its aperture, may with care be accurately separated.

Although space is somewhat limited, a word may be said of the "cirri" of the barnacle, the long slender incurved fringes of filaments, a living meshed net, a combination of barbed tentacles, a perfection of arrangement, and, according to the dictum of a great authority, composed of "about five hundred distinct articulations." The sensibility of these tendril-like organs must be most exalted, and thus, the barnacle traps and sifts its food, as the vessel sweeps through the waters.

The parent cirriped is a fixture, but its progeny are free swimming atoms, not unlike Cypris, one of the minute entomostracans of the ponds, except that in this early larval locomotive stage they keep together in shoals. Under magnification they are most comely and quaint objects. In one of Mr. Gosse's sea-side books is a plate of a pair of these creatures drawn and tinted with extreme elegance. No one who has seen a young cirriped, swirling about, with its compact form and apparently completed organisation, would conceive that it emanated from a parent so dissimilar in form and habits, or that it would eventually subdue its incessant activity and become an acorn shell" fixed once for all, and wedged in by the pressure of surrounding neighbours.

66

Barnacles do not thrive in aquaria, they require the incessant rush and motion of water added to an abundance of microscopic forms of food. Small rock specimens will endure a few days' captivity, when the movements of the cirri may be watched, and attractive microscopical preparations afterwards made of the various parts.

Crouch End.

CHARA V. NITELLA.-Last year a chara (probably foetida) was found within five miles of Tunbridge, in a pond by the roadside at Hadlow. If C. J. Bohnso sends his address to me, I would point out the locality.-F. W. E. Shrivell, Hope Cottage, Hadlow, Tunbridge.

THE

NOTES ON LEPIDOPTEROUS PUPÆ. By ALBERT H. WATERS, B.A. Cantab. HE situations in which the pupa of lepidoptera occur are many and varied. The common Pieridæ and Vanessidæ are very partial to the underside of the coping stones of walls, and some mothsas the vapourer (Orgyia antiqua)-have the same preference also.

The pupa of the swallow-tailed butterfly (Papilio Machaon) is attached to the sedge; that of the speckled wood (Satyrus Egeria) to the lower parts of grass stems, the pupa of Satyrus Semele is buried in the earth, and that of Satyrus Hyperanthus is also contained in a little cavity on the surface of the ground. Canonympha Pamphilus too pupates close to the ground on the lowermost part of the grass stems, and Thecla quercus chooses similar situations. The pupa of Thecla betula is attached to the under side of blackthorn leaves, and those of the blue butterflies to the stems of the plants on which the larvæ feed. The reed tussock-moth (Orgyia canosa), spins its cocoon on the stems of Arundo phragmites, the drinker (Odonestis potatoria) attaches itself to the grass stems; the rare Aspilates citraria encloses its variegated chrysalis in a slight cocoon among the leaves of Daucus Carota and Lotus corniculatus. Emmelesia albulata pupates in the domicile it lived in throughout its caterpillar life, and which it formed by spinning together the leaves of Rhinanthus cristagalli. The prettily coloured eupithecia pup are mostly buried in the earth, and the green chrysalis of Thera juniperata is suspended to the twigs of the juniper bushes.

By digging at the foot of willow-trees in October and the four following months, we are pretty sure to turn up the pupæ of Taniocampa instabilis in large numbers among the loose sods, and just beneath them we may possibly find the slightly-spun cocoon of Ptilodontis palpina, and deeper down in the ground the red brown glossy chrysalis of the eyed hawk-moth (Smerinthus ocellatus).

Among the fallen leaves at the foot of oak-trees we may come across the pupa of Selenia illustraria, and we may also find it at the foot of birch-trees; the cocoon in which it is enclosed is a very slight one. If we pull the loose sods to pieces when we commence digging at the foot of the oak-trees, we are pretty sure to find abundance of chrysalides of Taniocampa stabilis, and may expect to meet with those of Taniocampa munda. It is also at the foot of oak-trees that entomologists living in its localities may dig for the rare Nyssia hispidaria on the chance of turning it up. Among other pupa to be dug for under oaks, mention may be made of Notodonta trepida, N. chaonia, and N. dodonea. When the roots of the oak-trees are covered by an interlacing growth of brambles it is advisable to look out for the cocoon of Cymatophora ridens among the dried leaves and fragments of wood.

The pupa of Cymatophora fluctuosa is enclosed in a slight cocoon among the fallen leaves at the foot of birch-trees. Notodonta dictaoides and Notodonta dromedarius are other species we may look out for in the same locality. They both attach their slightly made cocoons to the under side of leaves; of the two last named, dictæoides is somewhat the largest. Notodonta Camelina and Amphydasis betularia are also pupa we may expect to turn up under birchtrees. Camelina also occurs at the foot of maple and oak, and betularia beneath lime and oak trees; I have also dug it up under willow.

Other pupa the trowel may be expected to turn up in October are the following: :

Smerinthus Populi. Rough; muddy brown. Near poplar-trees, also sometimes in gardens under laurel bushes.

Smerinthus Tilia. Rough; dull red. At foot of lime and elm.

Sphinx Convolvuli. Smooth, with beak in front. Sphinx Ligustri. Smooth dark brown, with curved beak-like proboscis in front. Under lilac-trees and privet hedges.

Deilephila Euphorbia.-Pale brown, delicately reticulated with black lines and dots. In loose sand on the sea coast.

D. Galii.-Brown. In sand on sea coast near Deal.

Biston hirtaria.-Blackish; somewhat dumpy. At roots of lime-trees; also pear and plum.

The following are among the non-subterranean species:

Arctia mendica.-Brown, smooth. In a darkcoloured cocoon among rubbish where dock abounds. A. lubricipeda and A. menthastri.-Dark brown. 'In cocoons under rubbish.

A. urticæ.-Dark coloured. In a slight cocoon among water mint and other plants by the side of wet ditches.

In a very slight

Ephyra omicronaria.-Green. cocoon in moss on maple-trees. Platypteryx falcula.-In a slight web inside a doubled up birch leaf.

P. unguicula.-Brown, with greenish wing cases. Among beech leaves in a slight web.

Dicranura bicuspis.-In a compact gummy cocoon on the bark of alder-trees, generally in the crevices half-way down the tree on the north side.

D. furcula.-In a glutinous cocoon on the bark of sallow; generally very low down.

D. bifida.—In a very tough and strong cocoon on aspen bark. It gnaws a cavity in the bark, and fills the depression up with the cocoon, so that it is very difficult to find it.

Clostera curtula.-Dark brown, rounded at end. Between united aspen leaves.

Clostera reclusa.-In a slight cocoon uniting sallow leaves.

Gonophora derasa.-Conical, terminating in a hornlike point. Within united bramble leaves.

Thyatira batis.-Blackish; with stout thorax and sharp pointed extremity. In a slight cocoon among bramble leaves.

Cymatophora fluctuosa. --In a slight cocoon among birch leaves.

oak.

Odontopera bidentata.-Under moss on oak and other trees. End of October,

EVERAL excursions and wanderings over the hills about these lakes will well repay the labour. The strata are very much broken up by faults in the immediate neighbourhood, which is well displayed on the survey map. At Llyniau Gamalt is to be seen a volcanic conglomerate, forming precipitous cliffs on the eastern side. These lakes from the boggy nature of the surrounding ground are not easily got at. The rock is full of large boulders of felstone; some of them in shape like kidney potatoes. Thin bedded ashes are interbedded with the conglomerate, and a true plane surface I noticed of these showed such regular jointing as to look like masonry. Following the outlet stream we came upon a very pretty series of falls which quite enchanted my boys. The remainder of the distance was mostly bog-trotting before we reached the main road.

Waterfalls.-These are very numerous and beautiful in the neighbourhood. The falls of the Cynfael within a half-mile walk are lovely in their variety. For a

mile the stream may be followed through a series of glens, gullies and gorges, overhung and festooned with trees. The geological interest as an example of denudation is also great. I sketched a view of Hugh Lloyd's pulpit, a pillar of rock left standing in the middle of the stream. Further up are some very large boulders wedged in the walls of the stream in quite a remarkable manner. These I have described

in a paper to the Geological Society, so I will not repeat it here.

About three miles from Ffestiniog, on the road to Bala, we get fine views of the Rhaidr Cwm, a series of splendid falls on the same stream but quite different in character to those just described. It is a mountain torrent springing from rock to rock and cutting deep gorges in the hillside. It is above the level at which trees flourish.

A good walker may cross the moors at a point further on the road and get to Bettws-y-Coed by Penmachno. Nothing is more delightful than the air of these moors some thousand feet above sea level, and the gradual change in the long descent to the vale of Conway, from bare mountain sides to the luxuriant foliage of the vale is very agreeable. The falls of the Conway may be visited, and the return to Ffestiniog made by train to Blaenau.

Other Excursions.-I fear I have exhausted my reader's patience in these descriptions in which it is difficult to reproduce the feelings which take possession of the mind open to the influences and ever-changing moods of nature. It is impossible to walk anywhere about Ffestiniog without being gratified with the scenery. Many a walk did we take to Blaenau Ffestiniog, yet one may safely say that such is the variety of effect produced by the atmosphere and cloud, that the picture was never the same. The mountains at times seem to be pervaded with an impenetrable and mysterious gloom which excites the curiosity and we strive vainly to picture what is behind, while, at others, every detail lighted up is so distinct, and yet so tender, that one feels the depths of despair in trying to reproduce the effects on paper. I have said little about the vale. It is very beautiful but its beauty is not of that mysterious nature which constantly keeps the imagination on the stretch as the mountains do. At the same time some prefer the soothing effect of a combination of trees rocks and water making up such a landscape; so I leave it to them.

Excursions that will repay the geologist may be made down the valley of Dolwyddelan, past the Castle, and across the mountains to Capel Curig, and thence back to Bettws-y-Coed. We pass the foot of the grand cone of Moel Siabod, a landmark among the mountains. Again, a trip to Harlech may be made, noting the remarkable anticlinal hills on the left (at the bottom of map LXXV., north-east), the surface contours of which are formed by the curved bedding planes which, wrapping over the hills,

terminate successively to the southward in welldefined scarps. This is perhaps as curious and instructive an example of denudation as may be seen. At Harlech Castle we note how remarkably the Cambrian grits, of which the walls are built, have stood the weather, while the sandstone dressings of the openings have crumbled away. The architecture of the front to the interior quadrangle is massive and grand. Beyond Harlech we saw quarries in which the grit and interlaminations of slate may be studied; and still further on, a great bank of drift, lying on the mountain side, and skirted by the Cambrian railway, may be investigated; that is, if the explorer is not afraid of thorns and torn clothes.

A trip down the narrow gauge railway to Port Madoc, and a visit to Borth, is both pleasant and instructive. At the latter place geology may be combined with sea bathing. It is a very pretty little bay, hewn by the sea out of the Lingula beds. Nor must we omit a visit to the grand volcanic mass of the Arenigs, or fail to notice the enormous blocks and boulders in the railway cutting near Arenig station here, 1200 feet above the sea level. It were impossible to do justice to all the details of interest, geologic and artistic, within reach of the sojourner at Ffestiniog; in the space at my command I can do little more than outline them. Nor is the district devoid of interest to the antiquary. A good pair of legs and lungs, guided by scientific ardour, will do wonders. I have avoided all references to fossil collections. My object was, firstly, to gain health; secondly, to find a pleasing occupation for the mind. Without the latter Ffestiniog would be voted slow; with it, and the great inducement presented for rambles and long walks, I found it health-giving, exhilarating, and ennobling to the mind. What is beauty? has been a question debated by artists, philosophers, and poets. We know by feeling what it means, but the metaphysical analysis which attempts an explanation of the conditions of mind under which it is perceived is usually unsatisfactory in its answers. Of this, however, I am sure: given the constitutional temperament which rejoices in the harmonies of nature, the wider the knowledge the keener will be the perception of natural beauty.

But I must not forget my geological readers. In describing my trip to the Bwlch Drws Ardudwy, I was so taken up with the outward show and semblance of things that I quite forgot to explain that we were passing over what may be considered the central dome of the Welsh system, forming originally the highest part of the mountain system of North Wales, but now stripped bare of its former covering of Silurian rocks both upper and lower, with its much altered Cambrian rocks deeply eaten into by denuding agencies, yet still presenting mountains rising 2400 feet above the sea level. These great mountains, the Rhinogs, Diphwys, &c., are entirely carved out of the Cambrian strata from base to summit after the

removal of many thousands of feet of Silurian rocks. What a vista of time does not this present to the imagination! But to read about these denudations is insufficient; it is necessary to walk about, map in hand, to thoroughly realise their meaning. It is then that geology becomes a living fact, a sublime thought before which historical ideas of time and action are mere fugitive shadows. Being brought face to face with such facts cannot fail to profoundly influence our ideas of the relation in which we stand to Nature. There are many aspects in which these relations may be viewed, they have been dwelt upon by the great minds of all ages; but not the least awe-inspiring, if bewildering, is the panorama of creation which geology only within the last fifty years has unfolded, and vaguely in broad outlines pictured to the human eye.

specially transformed. In some there is a thin inner membrane turned up to meet the proper indusium. This forms a connecting link with Lindsæa.

P. aquilina, Linn., or common brake, is the only species with the double indusium found in the island. Surely no description of the fern is necessary for English people, living as they do, and bearing with them to foreign lands the recollection of the homes of their childhood? Brake is found all over the hills and in every part of the island.

P. nemoralis, Willd. (or quadriaurita, Retz.), is still more abundant, especially in the town of Victoria. This species is twice or bi-pinnate, and easily distinguished, as the lowest pinnæ on each side of the rachis are in twos, and hang down, a habit common to the order, and no doubt suggesting the name from the likeness to a bird's wing (pteron-a wing).

A

Linn.

SOME FERNS OF HONG KONG.

By MRS. E. L. O'MALLEY.

[Continued from p. 134.]

Gen. VII. PTERIS, Linn.

(Brake.)

LL the species of this large genus by no means resemble Pteris aquilina, or eagle fern, so called in some counties from the supposed likeness, as every boy knows, to a spread eagle, in the vessels of the stalk cut traversely; but in all, the covering of the sori is marginal and continuous. It runs along the entire length of the leaf, and consists of the margin

P. longifolia, Linn., or long-leaved pteris, is a large fern, fond of heat and dry dusty places, simply pinnate, except the two lowest pinnæ, but all the pinnæ narrow straggling and long. An untidylooking fern, and one which might at first sight be mistaken for Blechnum orientale, but the sori placed at the edge, instead of down the centre of the leafsegment, at once mark a different genus. In pteris, the extreme point of the segment is always destitute of sori, a peculiarity we do not observe in ferns of other genera. Two more species are common, both smaller and more delicate in texture.

P. semi-pinnata, Linn., or half-pinnate pteris, is one of the commonest plants in the island, and very

easily known by the half-formed frond, of which the top of each segment or division appears to have been cut off.

P. serrulata, Linn., is common in gardens. The sterile and fertile leaves are different-those of the former being serrated.

Gen. VIII. CHEILANTHES, Sw.

The

In Cheilanthes we find a very lovely little fern, almost as delicate as and not altogether unlike Lindsæa heterophylla. Its name-C. tenuifolia, Sw., thinleaved cheilanthes, well describes its nature. stalk is slender, black and hair-like. The tiny, curled, much-cut segments of the leaf have sori running all round and just inside the edge. The frond seldom exceeds 6 in. in height; it is ovate, triangular in outline, bright green, and grows in banks along with Lindsæa and maidenhair. In some countries it is known as lip-fern, from the indusium covering the seed, as the lip covers the teeth, but it must be remembered the covering is single, not double. The very tiny, almost round pinnules-the under side rough with downy hairs, and often nearly covered with the confluent sori, which has the appearance of being curled inwards, enable the botanist easily to identify the species.

Gen. IX. ASPLENIUM, Linn.
(Spleenworts.)

The disposition of the sori, running along the veins, constitutes in this genus the principal specific distinction.

Of this very large genus we cannot say that more than two species are really common in Hong-Kong. Asplenium Schkuhrii (Mett.) (Ihbg.) reminds us at once of the pretty maiden-hair spleenwort of English heaths and hedges, only the black stalk is missing. It is usually found from 8 to 12 inches high, but sometimes attains to a greater size. The frond is simply pinnate, tapering to a point, and pinnules serrated. Like most of the spleenworts it is graceful and delicate-looking. Asplenium dilatatum, Hk., must strike many as an old friend. It grows on the Pok-fillum road and elsewhere, but in England is one of the commonest objects on the hillside. The frond is twice or thrice-pinnate, bright green and feathery in appearance. We have heard it called "parsley-fern," from its likeness to the leaf of wild parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris). A. lanceum, Th., is uncommon. The frond is undivided (entire), about 6 in. long and to I in. broad, with a slightly irregular edge and sori in streaks along the upper or both sides of the veins. (To be continued.)

VOL. XIX. of the new edition of the " Encyclopædia Britannica" (PEY-PRO) has been published. It contains illustrated articles on Polyzoa and Protozoa by Prof. E. Ray Lankester.

IN

GOSSIP ON CURRENT TOPICS.

By W. MATTIEU WILLIAMS, F.R.A.S., F.C.S. IN the Bulletin of the American Geographical Society is an account of the mosquitoes in Alaska, which to those who have not had some experience of these pests in Arctic regions, appears incredible. Shooting is described as impossible, because the clouds formed by them were so dense as to prevent aiming. Native dogs are sometimes killed by them, and Lieut. Schwatka heard accounts from reliable persons which, coupled with his own experience, he fully believes, of the great grizzly bear falling a victim. The bear having invaded the swamps where the mosquitoes breed and congregate, stands up on his hind legs and fights them with his fore paws, but as they are neither huggable nor scratchable, he fails, is blinded, and finally starved in consequence.

The popular notion that these abominable little wretches are chiefly resident in tropical and subtropical countries is quite a mistake. The home of their mightiest legions is within and about the Arctic circle. This is evident even in the course of an ordinary coasting trip round the North Cape. At every station where a halt is made, a living cloud invades the ship, and its passengers suffer accordingly, especially at the wrists, where the blood-suckers hide under the shirt cuff, and operate secretly. On proceeding out again to sea, they are blown away. On the occasion of my last trip, two of my fellow passengers landed on Magerö to ascend the North Cape cliffs. We picked them up again on our return. They were in sorry plight. One of them, a sturdy Uhlan officer, who had ridden through France during the war without mishap, was unhorsed by the mosquitoes, and crippled by the fall. Both horse and rider were so irritated that both were lost to rational control. "I did svallo mosquitoes; I did breeve mosquitoes ; I did spit zem out of my mouf," were the terms of his description.

I find that as the limits of the swallow's summer visit is reached the plague commences, and when those limits are passed, its maximum is attained. I believe that our comparative immunity in England is due to the abundance of our swallows and martins, which even the most brutal of cockney sportsmen respects, or fails to hit, and whose nests are wisely protected by common consent of all our rustics. The swallow is as loveable as the sparrow is detestable.

The healing power of living whale blubber is shown by a fact narrated to the Royal Society of Tasmania, viz., that in a whale captured in Behring's Straits in June 1883, a harpoon was found imbedded in blubber, having “Henty. L. 1838" branded upon it. In 1838 a whaling establishment belonging to an old Colonial family named Henty existed at Portland Bay, Victoria. As Behring's Straits are a long way from Victoria, an interesting question is suggested. Did