. My garden, its plan and culture together with a general description of its geology, botany, and natural history. Gardening. THE DIA TOMES. 351 in my streams would afford occupation for a long lifetime. At present the microscopists are only upon the fringe of the subject. They have not discovered the accurate and complete natural history of a single diatome. These silicious plants have been so common in some part of the world's history that thick fossil beds of great extent have been discovered which are one mass of them. At Richmond in America there is a bed of these fossils twenty miles lon
. My garden, its plan and culture together with a general description of its geology, botany, and natural history. Gardening. THE DIA TOMES. 351 in my streams would afford occupation for a long lifetime. At present the microscopists are only upon the fringe of the subject. They have not discovered the accurate and complete natural history of a single diatome. These silicious plants have been so common in some part of the world's history that thick fossil beds of great extent have been discovered which are one mass of them. At Richmond in America there is a bed of these fossils twenty miles long and several feet in depth. Polishing powders usually contain these silicious particles, and guano is said to contain a large proportion. As there is reason to suppose that some fish use them for food, I have caused the intes- tines of young trout to be examined for them, but without success. In the natural state they are more beautiful than in the dead skeleton form which is so attractive to many members of the Microscopical Societies. The Melosira varians looks like a number of hat-boxes placed end to end. The Meridian circulare resembles a wheel with its spokes. The Diatome vulgare resembles a flight of stairs. The examination of the growing species in our little streams is replete with interest. MOSSES. There are not many species of Moss in my garden, although between four and five hundred species are found in Great Britain. We have, however, in the river, growing abundantly in some situa- tions, the Fontinalis antipyretica (fig. 815), which contains so much silex that it is used by the Laplanders to prevent their wooden houses from burning. The Funaria hygrometrica (fig. 816) grows freely in my garden, and is an interesting object. To observe this class of the lower plants F-^-S^ antipyretica. more attentively, a mossery has been planted in the Fern-glen; but an unforeseen difficulty occurred which never could have been anticipated :. Please note that these i
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