HARDWICKE'S

CIENCE-GOSSI P

1887,

HARDWICKE'S

tftate-(§08Mtt:

AN ILLUSTRATED MEDIUM OF INTERCHANGE AND GOSSIP

FOR STUDENTS AND

LOVERS OF NATURE.

EDITED BY

Dr. J. E. TAYLOR, F.L.S., F.G.S., F.R.G.S.I.,

HON. MEMBER OF THE MANCHESTER LITERARY CLUB, OF THE NORWICH GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, OF THE

MARYPORT SCIENTIFIC SOCIETV, OF THE ROTHERHAM LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY,

OF THE NORWICH SCIENCE-GOSSIP CLUB, OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF

AUSTRALASIA, OF THE VICTORIAN FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB,

ETC. ETC.

VOLUME XXIII

ILontion :
CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY.

1887.

(All rights reserved.)

LONDON :
PKINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,

STAMFOKD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

/ (a 6 $

PREFACE.

THE necessity for saying something by way of Preface for the
Twenty-Third time renders the formality increasingly difficult
with every added year. Fortunately, we do not regard the ceremony
as a " formal " one, but as a sort of annual hand-shaking between the
Editor and his wide-spread staff of contributors, and still wider and
immenser crowd of readers. Twenty-three years is a fair period in
which to test the right of such a magazine as SCIENCE-GOSSIP to a
literary existence. A good many able competitors and co-adjutors
have come and gone ; others are still coming and going. There is
ample room and verge enough, for a " Struggle for Existence," and
a " Survdval of the Fittest " among popular scientific journals as well
as among other and lower organisms.

This has been a Year of Reviews. The history of almost every
notable undertaking — scientific, artistic, and literary — has been retro-
spectively surveyed for fifty years past. The Queen's Jubilee has
been the opportunity of casting up our national intellectual accounts.
In no department of progress has faster running been made than in
Natural Science, not only in discovery, but in the revelations of new
laws, and the growth of a new philosophy. Still more important is
the fact, that scientific study and research have now become the
recreation and " hobby " of thousands of men engaged in monotonous
businesses and hard manual labour, to whom they come to add
blessed sweetness to their lives, and make them worth living for.
It is with no small satisfaction we find that SCIENCE-GOSSIP has
been the means for nearly a quarter of a century of inter-
communication between such men. Their number is increasing, and
consequently the function of this journal is more necessary at the
close of the present year than heretofore.

PREFACE.

Entertaining this idea, we have endeavoured to widen the boundaries
of the subjects under discussion. Natural Science has a very extensive
cast-net, and we want to get as many fishes under as it can hold. If
there is any particular group of new fishes it is desirable to catch,
we shall always be glad if our readers would put us on their track.

Our clientele is large, and our desire to please and profit every
student is larger. Our magazine is small and monthly. What can it
do among so many ? But it is delightful to find that SCIENCE-GOSSIP
is spoken of, generously and even thankfully, all over the world ;
and we venture to think there is no Encyclopaedia of Popular
Natural Science extant which comes up to our Twenty-Three Annual
Volumes ! That they are valued may be seen in any number of
the " Publishers' Circular," where back volumes of SCIENCE-GOSSIP
in the " original blue cloth," are constantly sought after among the
"Books Wanted."

The New Year opens well, and promises brightly for our magazine.
Hitherto we have been generously helped by every reader. The
moment an Englishman likes anything, he wants somebody else to
like the same thing too, and he acts as a missionary to induce him
to like it. We want a few thousands of such ardent missionary
readers to go forth and compel other readers to come in. Then our
hands will be strengthened to do all that Editor and Publisher would
delight to do.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Aphrosylus raptor, Teeth of, 108
Axolo'tl, the, 269

Baboon, Manus of a, 80

Belemnites, 132

Bifurcation of the Third Digit of a Horse,

125
Book-mite, A, 224

Ccratinostoma oceanum, 153
Cha-tofiterus Valencinii, 201
Chelidonium majus, 148
Chickweed Winter Green, 77
Club-shaped Canal, 105
Converging Beams of Light, 13
Cordylura pubera, 28
Cordylura pubera, Teeth of, 29
Crest Tit, The, 36

Dentaria pinnata, 156
Dentaria bulbifera, 157
Dentaria digitata, 157
Development of Frog-Spawn, 32
Diagram of Vitreous foraminif era, 84

Diverging Beams of Light, 12
Double Hollyhock, 172

End of Poison-Bag of Wasp, 62
Eyes of Water Flea, 128

Frog-Spawn, Development of, 32
Front View of Two Teeth of Lancet of
Wasp, 62

Gagea arvensis, 272

Gagea minima, 273
Gagea Liottardi, 273
Gagea lutea, 272

Half Plan of Quern, 152
Half Vertebrata from the Spine of a Man,
81

KlNNI-KlNNIC, AND INDIAN PlPES, 252

Lancet with Duct running through

Tube, 62
Lancet of Sting of Humble Bee, 61
Lancet of Wasp Sting, 61
Leaf and Fruit of Mangifera Indica, 8

Mangi/era Indica, Leaf and Fruit of, 8
Manus of a Baboon, 80
Manus of a Horse, 101
Manus of Hipparion, 101
Manus of the Modern Horse, 101
Marine Hemipterous Insect, 4
Mastigocerca bicristata, 173

Nest of the Processionary Moth, 37
Notholca spini/era, 249
Notholca scaplia, 267

Odd Page in Nature's Book, 198

Parallel Beams of Light, 12

Plant, Pressing and Drying Apparatus,

245
Polish Fowl, Head of a, 124
Proposed Tropical Insect Vivarium, 109
Pygidium of the Flea, 129

Rhus toxicodendron, 9

Schcenomyza litorella, Teeth of, 246

Section at Cote St. Pierre, 84

Section of an Ovary of a HuTian Fcetus at

the Ninth Month, 100
Section of Nummulina la'vigata, 84
Section of Part of Calcarina, 84
Shell-money, American, 177
Side View of Two Teeth of Lancet of

Wa^ps, 62
Specimen from Grenville after King and

Rowney, 104
Sting, Lancets, and Poison-Bag of Wasps,

61
Sting, Poison-Bag, and Poison-Gland of

Humble Bee, 60
Storm Clouds, Some Types of, 204, 221
Supposed Stolen Passage from Grenville,

104
Syncha'ta gyrina, 149
Synchteta longipes, 220
System of Canals in Calcite, 105

Teeth of Cordylura pubera, 29
Transverse Section of Canals, 105
Two Mirrors, 52, 76

Under Surface of A. Bonnairei, 5

Visit to the Red Crag and Chalk
Pits of Suffolk, 180

Wasp, End of Poison-bag of, 62

THE MINERALS AND FLOWERS OF THE ENGLISH

LAKE DISTRICT.

By Dr. P. Q. KEEGAN.

N area some fifty
miles in length
and breadth, al-
most every inch
of which is either
wildly grand, or
richly beautiful.
Where on earth
can be found such
varied scenic
beauty compres-
sed in so limited
a compass?
Where can be
found such a
practical com-
pendium, as it
were, of all that
is poetically im-
pressive, entranc-

ing,

affecting ?

Where can be seen such an infinite assortment of
rock, fell, hill, dale, moorland, lake, cascade, and
waterfall ?

On the eastern portion of the district, huge mounds
and hills appear, .grass-green, and with smooth, sloping
sides, rarely studded with rock or stone, or flanked
by craggy precipice. Prolonged banks of elevated
land, marshalled in parallel tiers, with intervening
valleys watered by streams, that dash here and there
in chequered cascades down the stony declivities.
But the mountain tops here are comparatively smooth
and rounded, level and plateau-like. Even the
valley- walls, the escarpments of the adjacent hills
are, for the most part, smooth and grassy, and
descend in gentle slopes terraced with earth. Here
and there a huge tumulus, emerald-green to the
summit, and sometimes zoned with wood, rises sheer
from the plain, or appears as a shoulder to some
narrow ridge of hills. At some places a valley,
No. 265.— January 1887.

encompassed by groups of hills hewn into infinite
shapes, slopes away into serrated edges, guarding
narrow ravines lost in the long-drawn vista of
obscurity. There are few tarns here, and these are
generally low-lying, without much beauty of form, or
impressiveness of situation. Charming lakes, mostly
long and river-like, and guarded by wooded hills,
and knolls, rich-clad in verdure, nestle in the deep-
scooped hollow of the vales, with open freshness of
the air, and sweet breathing on the surface aspect of
the scene. Amid scenery such as this the atmosphere
is usually bright, cheery, and serene, and the moun-
tain tops are clear and unswathed by cloud, and free
of vapour-depositing winds. The forms are soft, and
harmoniously blended ; the colouring is magnificently
green, or of a dull brown, but occasionally a pale
blue, and more rarely deep or shadowy purple and
grey. Here is there no predominance or obtrusive-
ness of beetling cliffs, wild riven rocks, rugged ravines,
or hollow combes, rents and fissures in the walls ;
nor any lavish effusion of strange chaotic blocks and
boulders of stone, indicative of convulsion or dis-
ruption. Here Nature deals kindly with her visitant.
Through long lonely valleys, by way of ascents
gentle and gradual, over by-paths, smooth, soft, and
sometimes marshy, she leads the wooer of her charms
to scenes toned down from savage sublimity to
exquisite soul-entrancing beauty and loveliness.?

In the western portion of the district, a rugged, irre-
claimable wildness and barrenness, a more chastened
and stronger beauty, an unequivocal stamp of the
weird power of nature are the characteristics. A
wild chaos of huge hill-tops, radiating as it were from
a fixed centre, spreads out into rugged ridges. Wild,
stony hills, cleft by deep, steep ravines are thrown
into an infinity of fantastic shapes, as if rough-
fashioned by potent subterranean forces, and lavishly
strewn and sifted over, as it were, with countless
blocks of bare unhewn stone. The gorges and
ravines are more profound, the valley-walls pre-

B

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

seating a rugged /acing, fluted and gashed by wind
and weather. Here, among the high recesses, in
situations impressively lonely and romantic, the
mountain tarn nestles amid the grim wilds, rarely
trodden by man. Here, too, the lakes are stern and
desolate, encompassed by grisly rocks, wild and
savage, that impress a solemn reflection upon the
steel-like livery of their waters. The convulsed
character of Nature's forces here may be gleaned from
the general aspect of the mountain ridges. Hurled
into infinite shapes of rugged grandeur and irregular,
save where some fair-shaped cone cleaves the air,
their forms are exceedingly picturesque and im-
pressive. Peaks, points, pillars, rocks, ridges, edges,
and niches are presented in infinite assortment, and
of potent picturesqueness.

These external characteristics are related to a
physiognomy. They are especially and peculiarly
facile, plastic, and, as it were, capricious : here they are
eminently potent as vehicles of expression, i.e., they
afford abundant scope to a spirit that aspires to, as it
were, humanise material nature. The mountain-sides
have broken surfaces, whence arises a play of colour
ever mixed, and ever changing. Processions of
yellow, vapoury clouds, filing off in volumes down
the vales, or scudding athwart the hills, vary at times
the' shapes of the rocks on the summit of the ridges.
Turbidness of the air, and turbulence of the elements
are succeeded by clearness, calmness, and peace.
Then, ascending to a table-land, we greet the com-
pany of mountains with a sympathy and a pleasure
unalloyed ; for therein we recognise nature subjected
to tremendous force, internal or external, tossed and
hurled, wrought and fashioned into shapes beauteous,
sublime, and picturesque, which the light and air
decorate and embellish with exquisite sprinklings of
trees and flowers, ferns and grasses. At times there
is a heart-touching peace — "a sleep among the lonely
hills ; " and the valley, contemplated from a ridge on
a quiet summer's evening, bodies forth tokens of
complete rest and contentment. Occasionally we
encounter a grisly screen of rock, rent and gashed,
black and dismal ; or a colossal pyramid of green
bank projects singly from the plain, how or why we
know not. In the higher valleys that branch away
precipitously from the region of the loftier emi-
nences, the streams tumble down from tier to tier of
stone, singing now with merry music, now with
hollow harmony, or whispering sweetly the secret of
their blithe and merry turmoil. Afar off we hearken
to its voice murmuring from out the heart of the
mountain, a bleating sylph-like sweetness of sound,
congenial to a quiet, pensive mood. Then, ad-
vancing upwards, we come upon the tarn, silent and
calm, engirt with savage precipices — the mirror of
grim shadow, the haunt of austere sound, the cir-
cumvented image of peace and rest eternal.

The deep-embosomed lake, clear and calm, resting
in shadow, imparts a fairy charm to rocks, trees, and

clouds reflected in its clear depths ; the transparent
lustre of the flood, imparting to them a soul-like
nonentity, an unsubstantiality akin to mind, a pene-
trability into the heart of nature. The lonely valley
unenlivened by man, free and wild, without a trace
of homestead or of cultivation, allows of nature to
speak unreservedly, unbiassedly to us. Here nature
is serious, and pregnant with meaning ; here wildlings
flourish, straggling and careless, but replete with life
potency ; here the more beautiful wild animals (the
falcon, the heron, the hawk) scared from the haunts
of men, resort, and fling their attractions unheeded
to the air ; here the waters sing and murmur in a
free, unartificial way, consonant to the well-tuned
soul ; here, in short, Nature's panoply of heart-
touching influences is most potent and unstinted.
Yet pray do not despise the tract of wild heathery
moorland, the deep dark waste, with its terribly
brooding desolation. It is Nature herself that im-
presses us here. We observe, we contemplate, and
absorb ; and afterwards, when it has passed into the
region of memory, we love its chastened image ; for
it is pregnant with a serious sobered spirit.

We shall now furnish a catalogue, with brief
remarks, of the principal minerals that are found in
this fascinating region : —

The Minerals of the Lake District.— There
are some eighty-six varieties of minerals found in
Cumberland and Westmoreland. Of these, fluorspar
is one of the most beautiful and^abundant, exquisite
forms of a deep blue, lilac, green, and amber colour
being found in the Alston Moor district. Calcite
occurs beautifully crystallised at Greenside Mine,
Dulton Fell Bowder Stone, etc. in hexagonal prisms,
projecting clearly to some inches at various angles
from the surface of the specimen. Barytocalcitc
and alstonite, formerly common, are now scarce.
Dolomite appears in white, curved rhombs at Green-
side, etc. Barytes is very common in every mine,
especially at Force Crag, where I have seen it well
crystallised in flat tables ; the cock's-comb variety is
also very interesting. Gypsum occurs as clear colour-
less crystals at Alston Moor, etc. Apatite is found
in the granite of Threlkeld Quarry. Quartz is
extremely abundant in the rocks, and as the matrix
of galena, haematite and blende ; eight varieties of
it are found in the fells at various places. Garnet is
found in many of the rocks round Keswick, St. John's
Vale, etc. ; also Epidote, fibrous and crystallised.
Fine large crystals of Felspar, of a red tint, occur in
the granite of Shap, and Carrock Fells. There is not
very much Mica about ; Chiastolite is embedded in
rectangular spots in the slates about Skiddaw.
Hypersthene occurs massive in the rocks of Carrock
Fells, etc. Chlorite glistens in the green slates, with
Nacrite and Talc. Tourmaline and Corundum are
around Skiddaw Forest. The metallic minerals are
well represented, some of them, such as Galena,
Chalcopyrite, Haematite, and Blende being abundant

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP.

and of exquisite form and colour. The other iron
ores, such as siderite, marcasite, ilmenite, are pretty
common. Manganite is beautifully crystallised at
Force Crag mine. Wad occurs in the recesses of
Skiddaw. Erythrine and Smaltine are rather rare.
Splendid specimens of Malachite and Chrysocolla
have been found at Dale Head. Molybdenum ore,
massive and disseminated in granite, appears at
Coldbeck Fells, etc. Wolfram and Scheelite occur
in the same locality, along with Bismuthine, and
Tetradymite. Cerussite and Anglesite, crystallised
and acicular, occur at Greenside, etc. Pyromorphite,
of a rich golden yellow colour, is found at Brundholme
mine. Johnstonite has been lately found at Green-
side. Calamine, in reniform and botryoidal form,
appears at Alston Moor. Smithsonite occurs in
crystalline mammillary crusts, of a magnificent sky-
blue colour, at Roughtengill.

As Patterdale and the adjacent glens are about the
most prolific wild flower gardens in the Lake District,
a description of Ullswater Lake may fitly precede our
catalogue of their contents.

Round Ullswater Lake. — In a hollow betwixt
wild craggy precipices, and stretching away to
meander through gently undulated meads and
pasture lands, Ullswater, the nonpareil of English
lakes, appears. Viewed from various standpoints —
from the water's edge, from the adjacent fells, from
the more remote peaks of the lofty mountains,
a series of pictures and vistas can be commanded,
which are unsurpassed in rich lavish beauty, and
diversified grace. The steel-like mirror of the water
is at times unruffled, and faithfully reflects the
innumerable tints and hues, outlines and physiognomic
expression of cloudland, and of the adjacent banks
and precipices. How severe, dark, and stern is its
aspect, when the bold front of Place Fell is buried
deep in shadow ! Then, deep and serene, calm as
death, shrouded in gloom, mark what an infinite
profundity and volume of expression — or shall we say
feeling? — seems bodied forth from the liquid expanse.
Or again, the sun streams out, the air flashes with
light ; then the lake seems aglow, with all her little
islets bosomed soft, and all her rocks brightened
round her.

Mount the craggy fell, and view the lake from the
uplands at a moderate altitude. Then you observe
the lavish effluence of greenery which its soft, moist
exhalations serve to engender. A forest-crowned
promontory, studded with a vigorous evolution of
vegetable life, juts into the lake, the trees exquisitely
embowered in a soft green flowing drapery, each tree-
growth developed to the full, and prominent every
zone, with shoots and branches decorated with green
pendent tresses, shaken out in the dewy air. What
an area of massy verdurous bloom richly clothing all
the rugged hillside, and imparting such admirable
beauty to the lakeland scene ! Then, too, at other
points, behold the profuse dottings, and scatterings,

and sprinklings of tree and shrub ! Some are tiny
and slender, others large, shadowy, and vigorously
expanded — here in clumps and knolls, there dotted
sparsely o'er the fell-side, even to the yellow margin
of the water.

Then come round, and stand where the steep and
shaggy fell-side reaches downward to the lake, to the
point where its extreme height and craggy majesty of
outline may be fully appreciated. Here the attractions
of form, sublime and huge, are superadded — mighty
curves, gigantic outlines traced by the towering hills,
with sloping breasts and abrupt acclivities, perched
as it were upon, and culminating in, the calm
horizontal bosom of the water. Advance yet further
now, and contemplate a fairy vista of the lake, with a
background of huge, abrupt, diversified, towering
mountains, softened away beneath the light and shade,
and in the midst of that enchantment, and embossed
on the calm floor of the water, an islet most pictu-
resquely perched, and decked with an outgrowth of a
few green trees. How exquisite the sense of beauty
here ! What a sweet and telling combination !
Here, indeed, are the elements of an impressive
picture. A sweet calm silvery lake of everlasting
beauty, fair emblem of a lowly serenity : a tiny islet
charmingly set, fit seat of the palm-crowned glories of
an Indian isle, and withal, a background framing of
hills rugged and severe, the fierce arena of cloudland
gloom, and of terrific aerial effects and impressions.

Ascend some of the lofty mountains that encompass
the southern reach of the lake, and scan it from their
lofty altitudes. Ha ! how the distance lends enchant-
ment to the view ! Sometimes only a narrow strip,
or an oval patch peeps from among the thronging
vista of hills. Sometimes the upper reach, or the
middle reach, or both conjoined, are visible, stretched
meanderingly through a low-lying tract. But the
lower reach is the most beauteous one. Here, from
this hill-top point of vantage, how bright and gleaming
it seems amid ,the]dark hill-screens that frown upon its
shore. Clear and lustrous, as 'twere a mirror, the
silvery mirror of Nature, what a contrast it is to the
rugged diversity of sombre-shadowed hill and dale I
How the islets seem to float as 'twere on the calm
bosom of the water, like things of light in a fairy
realm ! It is, forsooth, an impressive centre of
attraction. A physical aspect deliciously soft and
soothing to the retina and ocular organs ; an aspect
pre-eminently calculated to render the mind cognizant
of a mental quality perceived as existing in the object,
cognizant of it as the very image of rest and placidity,
and of clear, unsubstantial lustrousness amid a
rugged, disrupted, unequivocally solid, and passion-
less environment.

Wild Flowers of the Ullswater District. —
In addition to the more common and familiarly known
spring flowers, there may be seen here, in the meadows
and woodland pastures, profuse forests of the yellow
and red rattle, eyebright, clog's mercury, milkwort,

B 2

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

heath bedstraw {Galium saxatile), ragged robin
{Lychnis fos-cuculi), together with any amount of
"soft beds of thyme-besprinkled turf." On[the moun-
tains, are observed conspicuous and vigorous tufts of
lady's-mantle {Alchemilla alpina), bilberry ( Vaccinium
myrtillus), juniper {Juniperus communis), club moss
(Lycopodium selago) ; and occasionally we find butter-
wort {Piiigaicula vulgaris), sheep's bit {Jasione
montana), harebell {Campanula rotundifolia), saxi-
frage {Saxifraga stellar is and aizoidcs), heath {Erica
tetralix), crowberry {Empetrum nigrum), sundew
{Drosera rotundifolia), bog pimpernel {Anagallis
tcnella), cotton grass {Eriophoi-um vagina turn), scurvy-
grass ( Cochlcaria alpina) , madder {Sherardia
arvensis), purging flax {Linum catharticum),
grass of Parnassus {Parnassia palustris),
marsh pennywort {Hydrocotyle vulgaris),
cranberry ( Vaccinium oxycoccus), bogbean
{Mcnyanthes trifoliata), speedwell ( Veronica
montana), moss campion {Silene acaulis),
willow herb {Epilobium alsinifolium) ; more
rarely and inconspicuously, may be found
roseroot {Sedum rhodiola), meadow rue
(Thalictrum alpinum), mountain saxifrage
{Saxifraga oppositifolia), sheep's sorrel {Ru-
mex acetosella), sedge {Carcx rigida) ; Chry-
sosplenium oppositifolium, etc. Rather more
rarely may be seen, in the valleys and low-
lying tracts, beautiful specimens of the
purple and the yellow loosestrife (Lysi-
inachia vulgaris), water ranunculus {R. he-
deraccus and aquatilis), figwort {Scropularia
vernalis), mint {Mentha hirsuta), meadow-
sweet {Spircea ulmaria), water avens {Geum
rivale), brooklime ; marsh cinquefoil (Poten-
tilla comarum), whitlow grass {Draba ver-
na), mossy saxifrage {S. hypnoides), wound-
wort {Stachys sylvatica and ambigua), water-
lily {Nymphaa alba), lady's-smock {Carda-
minepratensis), meadow and shining crane's-
bill {Geranium pratense and lucidum),
milfoil [Myriophyllum verticillatum), orpine {Sedum
telephium), valerian {Valeriana officinalis), nipplewort
{Lapsana communis), ox-eye daisy {Chrysanthemum
leucanthemutn), foxglove {Digitalis purpurea), yellow
and ivy-leaved toadflax (Linaria vulgaris and hede-
racca), bugle {Ajuga reptans), white and red dead-
nettles {Lamium album and picrpureum), hemp-nettle
{Galeopsis ladanum). snakeweed {Polygonium bistorta)
water-iris {Iris pseudacorus), ramsons {Allium ursi-
num), bog asphodel {Narthechtm ossifragum), hearts-
ease {Viola odorata and lutea) enchanter's night-
shade, bittersweet, burnet, butterfly orchis, etc.,
woodsage, betony,'cowheat, 'vetches, allgood, agrimony
{A. eupaloria), bartsia, red and white campion, etc.

AEPOPHILUS BONNAIREI,
MARINE INSECT.

A SUB-

By E. D. Marquard.
|N Science-Gossip for March last Mr. Joseph
J- Sinel announced the discovery of this remark-
able submarine hemipteron on the coast of Jersey,
and gave a figure of the insect, together with some
interesting notes respecting it. As I have recently
had the good fortune to capture specimens on the
coast of West Cornwall, a few additional remarks
on the subject may be of interest to entomological
readers.

We have receive J. No. i of "The Economic
Naturalist," edited by Mr. S. L. Mosley. Pr.'ce 2d.

Fig. i.— Marine Hemipterous Insect [sEpophilus Boitnairei). X 16.

From the opening paragraph of the paper referred
to, it is clear the author was not aware that Aepo-
philus Bonnairei had already been recorded as
British. ;In the " Entomological Monthly Maga-
zine," vol. xviii. p. 145, it will be seen that the
late Mr. Frederick Smith had in his collection
specimens from Polperro, in East Cornwall, though
they appear to have been identified only after his
death, so that it is uncertain whether they were
captured by him or not. From that date (1SS1) to
the present time, I am ^not aware that any one has
recorded the species from any part of the United
Kingdom : for I presume that zoologically the
Island of Jersey belongs to France.

About two years ago, on the rocks at Mousehole,
near Penzance, I found two specimens of a curious
hemipteron which interested me greatly, as I was at
the time working specially at that order of insects j

HARD WICKE' S S CIENCE- G SSIP.

but, unfortunately, I lost them before they were
identified ; and repeated search in the same locality
failed to produce any more specimens until last
November. Being again at Mousehole, hunting
chiefly for polyzoa, at the verge of low-water mark,
I happened to turn over a remarkably fine specimen
of the large starfish {Uraster glacialis), and on the
under side found a small family of these bugs, of
which I secured three mature examples and a small
larva. There were more larvae, but they escaped.
Immediately on my return home, I forwarded a
living specimen to Mr. Edward Saunders, who at once
pronounced it A. Bonnairci. Why this little colony
should have selected this particular uraster to locate
themselves upon is a puzzle, because I have ex-
amined dozens at various seasons of the year in the

Fig. a. — Under surface of A. Bonnairei. X 16.

same' spot, without even seeing an insect upon any.
Those I found two years ago were under a small
stone among seaweeds.

It is worthy of note that the original specimens
discovered by Signoret in the He de Re, as well as
the Jersey ones, occurred under stones deeply im-
bedded in mud or loose gravel, whereas mine were
found where there is neither one nor the other, but
simply rocks and stones at the extreme point of low-
water mark. At this moment of writing I have two
specimens, an imago and a larva, which, with a
fragment of ulva, have been confined in a closely-
corked homoeopathic tube of the diameter of an
ordinary lead pencil, for eighteen days, and they are
still lively.

The figure in Science-Gossip will serve to give a
general idea of the insect, but it is inaccurate in one
or two details : the abdomen is proportionally too
wide, the thorax should be more square in front, the
elytra should join the thorax and be attenuated
posteriorly at the sides ; the eyes are much more

prominent, and the claws double, not single, as
represented.

I ought perhaps to mention, that the Mousehole
rocks are situated about a couple of miles from
Penzance, and quite fifty miles west of Polperro.

Alphington, Exeter.

GOSSIP ON CURRENT TOPICS.

By W. Mattieu Williams, F.R.A.S., F.C.S.

TCEBERG WARNINGS.— On turning back for
-L reference to " Nature " of last year, I find
(August 13) a valuable suggestion made by Mr.
Lawton, of Hull, that appears to have been neglected.
As everybody knows, many tall ships annually dis-
appear very mysteriously, and there is little doubt
that one of the most frequent causes of such calami
ties is collision with icebergs. The evidence of this
is supplied by the narrow escapes which almost
every sailor of much transoceanic experience has en-
countered. In many cases a sudden cooling of the
air on a dark and misty night has given warning, but
such warning only comes when the danger is much
too close, when escape is only possible if the course
of the ship is not directly head-on to the berg.

Mr. Lawton's suggestion is that the echoes pro-
duced by icebergs should be specially studied, in
order that on dark nights in iceberg regions the
steam whistle, ship's bell, guns, etc., should be used
for feeling the approach of such danger. I have had
some curious experiences of night echoes, and have
observed the phenomena with some curiosity.
Applying them to this case, my belief is that a steam
whistle sounded in short sudden screams, as ex-
plosively as possible, will, with a little practice,
enable the mariner to estimate roughly, not only the
direction, but the distance of any such object as an
iceberg ; the distance being of course determined by
the interval between the call and the answer. In
steamships, which are the most subject to this danger
the whistle is always available.

A Carnivorous Pitcher Plant. — The experi-
ments made a few years ago by Mrs. Mary Treat, an
American naturalist, on the Sarracenia variolarh are
very interesting. At sunrise the cup is filled with a
sweetish liquid, about half of which evaporates in the
course of the day while the lid is open. Ants, flies,
and insects generally, take the liquid with avidity,
become stupid, unsteady on their feet, and tumble
over when they attempt to clear their wings by
brushing them with their legs. In plain English,
they get very drunk. If removed from the bottle
they return to it immediately they are released, and
walk down its mouth never to return. Even large
insects are guilty of similar disreputable proceedings.
Mrs. Treat describes as follows the fate of a large

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

cockroach which was liquoring up on the threshold
of a fresh cup that had caught but little or no prey.
" After feeding a short time the insect went down
the tube so tight (the expression is Mrs. Treat's, the
italics are mine) that I could not dislodge it, even
when turning the leaf upside down and knocking it
quite hard. It was late in the evening when I ob-
served it enter. The next morning I cut the tube open,
the cockroach was still alive, but it was covered with
a secretion produced from the inner surface of the
tube, and its legs fell off as I extracted it. From all
appearance the terrible Sarracenia was eating its
victim alive. And yet perhaps I should not say
terrible, for the plant seems to supply its victims with
a Lethe-like draught before devouring them." When
a large number of insects have been thus enticed and
devoured a most offensive odour is perceptible, but
the putrid matter does not appear to injure the plant,
it absorbs it all and is nourished thereby. Pieces of
fresh raw beef and mutton are similarly covered with
the digestive secretion and the blood extracted from
them, but they must be fresh, and are not so com-
pletely absorbed as the live game. At the end of
three or four days all the remains of flies, beetles,
cockroaches, &c, are absorbed, excepting their wings
and other hard parts.

Triumphant Simplicity. — That most powerful
engine of modern research, the spectroscope, depends
upon dispersion, i.e. the varying refrangibility of the
different rays of light and their consequent outspread
when passed through a prism of refracting material.
Glass is generally used, but the dispersive power of
glass is far exceeded by that dense, though volatile
liquid, bisulphide of carbon. One prism-shaped glass
trough filled with this liquid, will do the dispersion
work of a train of five solid glass prisms, and allows
much more light to pass through. Then why make
any more spectroscopes of solid glass? is a natural
question. The reason is that inequality of temperature
produces convection currents in the liquid, and these
currents produce strise that spoil the delicate defini-
tion of the spectral lines.

The "American Journal of Science," vol. 29,
p. 269, tells us that the defect has been overcome
by H. Draper, by two of the simplest devices con-
ceivable. As the convection currents are caused by
inequality of temperature, he regulates the tempera-
ture, and further prevents inequalities of density of
the liquid by keeping it stirred by means of a small
propellor wheel, driven by a nominal amount of
power obtainable by watchwork or a small electro-
motor.

Impermeability of Glass to Gases.— Many of
my readers will remember the celebrated Florentine
experiment, which was formerly supposed to demon-
strate the general porosity of matter. A hollow
sphere of gold was filled with water and then squeezed

in a screw press, so as to diminish its internal
capacity. As the experiment proceeded, the water
was seen to ooze through the solid metal, and bedew
the outer surface of the flattened ball. Gases pass
through metals upon much smaller provocation, as
may be very unpleasantly proved by using a small
unlined iron stove for heating a room, and allowing
the sides of the stove to become red-hot. Carbonic
oxide passes through the iron of its own accord, and
makes its presence known by poisoning the atmo-
sphere. This carbonic oxide, resulting from the
semi-combustion of the coal, is an active acrid poison.
It must not be confounded with carbonic acid,
which results from complete combustion, and is only
unbreatheable, but not actively poisonous.

A. Bartoli has made a number of experiments of
excessive severity for testing the possibility of forcing
mechanically, or coaxing chemically, various gases
through glass, and finds it absolutely impermeable. At
a pressure of 126 atmospheres (1890 lbs. on the
square inch) not even infinitesimal quantities passed
through. Electrical devices were equally ineffectual.

Blind Fishes in Artesian Wells. — In last
year's "Journal of Science," page 567, I find it
stated on the authority of" The American Naturalist,"
that J. D. Caton has discovered a species of blind
fishes in an Artesian well in California, the depth of
which is 170 feet, and that Artesian wells in the
Eastern States have already yielded eighteen species
of sightless fishes.

Can this be true ? If so, it is very wonderful
indeed. How did the fishes get there ? How long
have the wells existed ? The United States are not
palaeozoic, nor does the date of the invention of
Artesian wells carry us far back in geological time.
If so great an organic change can be so extensively
evolved during the short life of these artificial
sinkings, Darwin and his disciples must be wrong in
demanding such long periods of time for other
evolutions, and we may hope to demonstrate the
origin of species in zoological stations and physio-
logical laboratories sufficiently endowed to be in-
herited by our grandchildren. That is " if."

Charring Timber. — It appears that the practice
of chairing the lower part of posts that are to be
driven into the ground has not the preservative
effect generally attributed to it. "Iron" tells us
that, "numerous trials have shown that charring
leads to premature decay ; " that if two posts are splic
from the same log, and one be charred and the other
not, the charred post will perish before the other. It
is quite true that the charring does protect the surface
so far as it goes, and if the post could be charred
throughout, without weakening it, the protection
would be perfect ; but the superficial charring only
weakens the material in proportion to the depth to
which it extends — the charcoal, being porous, admits

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

moisture to the substance of the wood, which com-
mences its course of decay so much below the original
surface, instead of at the surface. Had it commenced
at the surface, all the time occupied in decaying down
to the depth of the charring would be gained, sup-
posing that the decay commences at the surface, and
proceeds gradually inwards. The subject is one of
considerable practical interest, and worthy of careful
investigation.

Another Source of Alcohol. — During 1884,
1826 pipes of alcohol, having a value of ,£40,518, was
made from the sweet potato in the Azores, and ex-
ported to Lisbon for fortifying wine. Subsequently,
the production has increased, and is still increasing.
The West India Islands being specially suitable for
the cultivation of the sweet potato, the development
of a new industry is anticipated there. A French
chemist connected with Martinique has taken up the
subject, but finds that the storage of alcohol in hot
climates, and its carriage in large quantities through
the tropics, is very dangerous. At 95 Fahr. it gives
off vapour so rapidly, as to be practically an ex-
plosive.

He therefore proposes to desiccate the flour of this
potato, and export it in that state to Europe. He
says, referring to what has been already done at the
Azores, " The alcohol, of which we have specimens,
is superior in quality to the best marks of France.
The distillery obtains 12 per cent., i.e. 12 litres of
alcohol per ioo° kilog. of sweet potato." Also that
he has experimented on the sweet potato of Algeria,
which gives 13*4 per cent. ; that of Martinique and
Brazil, 15 per cent., while ordinary potatoes only
yield 3 per cent. Barley of 20 francs' value produces
25 litres, while an equal value of sweet-potato flour
yields 39. 714 lbs. of maize are required to produce
22 gallons, while this quantity is obtainable from
519 lbs. of sweet-potato flour. Alcohol made from
maize costs 10 francs per hectolitre (22 gallons)
more, and sells for 8 to 10 francs less than the same
quantity of sweet-potato spirit. It is anticipated
that the sugar planters of Jamaica will take up the
enterprise, the sugar bounties of our Continental
neighbours having severely depressed their original
industry. If so, a curious retaliation will fall upon
France by the extinction of its cognac, and other so-
called brandy trade. Once upon a time, eau-de-vie
and cognac were synonymous. Now, it is very dif-
ferent. Fortunately for us, our beverage interest in
alcohol is steadily diminishing ; but, concurrent with
this, is a continually increasing demand for alcohol in
chemical manufactures.

Prehistoric Art. — The paper read on 22 Nov.,
by M. Albert Gaudry, before the Academy of Sciences
of Paris, on the Montgaudier Cave (in the Charente
district), is interesting on account of the artistic
fragments it has brought to light. Pieces of ivory,

embellished with carvings of aurochs and other
animals, are described as having been thus orna-
mented at a period when the cave-dwellers were still
stru gglmg for existence with the mammoth, the cave-
bear, cave-lion, large hyena, and rhinoceros. Patriotic
Frenchmen may claim that this is evidence of the
artistic superiority of their prehistoric ancestors, and
also of the dominant force of heredity. It also
indicates a certain amount of progress already made
by these people, sufficient to carry them far beyond
" the missing link." Brit we must not forget that
savages generally are artists — (please to understand,
gentle reader, that I do not predicate the converse) —
that clubs, paddles, and other weapons and imple-
ments are carved even by the rudest of existing
human beings — some of them very elegantly.

When buying some spoons made of reindeer-horn
from the Lapps of the Tromsdal, I found on the bowl
of one of them a well-executed drawing of a reindeer,
all the peculiarities of ,the animal more correctly
delineated than in some of our book illustrations.
On inquiry, I learned that it was the work of a lad of
twelve or thirteen years of age, who was the proprietor
of a lead pencil, and had consequently become an
artist.

THE ECONOMICAL PRODUCTS
PLANTS.

OF

THE Poison Oak, Poison Ivy, or Poison
Sumach.— These are the various aliases
applied to Rhus toxicodendron, Linn. (Fig. 4) which
is a native of North America, having, according to
some authorities, been introduced into this country as
early as 1640, and it was well known to the older
botanists ; while other authorities state that it was
first brought into notice in this country in 1793 by
Dr. Alderson, of Hull, when he was following up the
experiments of Du Fresnoi, made at Valenciennes ;
but I should say it was introduced much earlier than
the latter date, although at present I have found no
well-authenticated account of its introduction, and
there is a large amount of difficulty experienced in
tracing the history of introduced plants, owing to the
scantiness of reliable records.

It is a small shrub, only a few feet in height.
Leaves on long petioles, trifoliate ; leaflets broadly
ovate or rhomboidal, acute, slightly pubescent,
entire or irregularly toothed or lobed (the illustration
shows the entire form of leaflet) ; it is one of the
most variable species in this respect. Flowers very
small, produced in axillary racemes, greenish-white,
dioecious ; male flowers with fine stamens, and a
rudimentary style ; female flowers with fine abortive
stamens, and a globose ovary ; fruit roundish, pale
green, of no value commercially. The tree through-
out possesses excessively varied and narcotic proper-
ties ; even its gaseous emanations produces very

8

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

deleterious effects upon some persons. It was
formerly officinal, and admitted in the London
Pharmacopoeia, but has recently been excluded owing
to its dangerous character under manipulation. It is
still employed in America, the leaves being princi-
pally used in the form of a tincture or extract in cases
of paralysis, chronic rheumatism, cutaneous dis-
orders, &c. They possess a peculiar acrid principle,
similar in its action upon the nervous system to
strychnia.

The effect upon some persons caused by contact
with the plant, is very remarkable ; and the same
effects are produced in such persons by its exhala-
tions, if they are in contiguity to the plant. The
same results are noticed in the case of the poison ash
(Rhus venenata) . A well-authenticated example of the
injurious disposition of the latter is recorded by Dr.
Bromfiel. He says : " The Rev. Dr. Bachman, of
Charlestown, being once on a botanical excursion
with some friends in the neighbourhood of the city,
they came upon a specimen of the poison ash (Rhus
venenata), and felt desirous of gathering specimens
for examination. This they proceeded to do, though
warned of the consequences likely to accrue from
handling it. The doctor stood aloof from a danger
which he knew to be inevitable in his own person,
on near approach or contact. The result was some of
the party suffered severely, the inflammatory action
reaching up the arm to the trunk in one ; in another,
only as high as the elbow ; while, in a third, the
effects were confined to the hands, which, as is usual
in these cases, became swollen, inflamed, and finally
ulcerated ; the rest mostly escaped the poison.
On his return home, Dr. B. found a branch of the
shrub in the vasculum, which had been put there by
some sceptical joker amongst the company, who
affected disbelief in poisonous properties of the plant.
This he requested his daughter, who was not
susceptible of the poison, to take out of the box and
destroy, but, at her suggestion, permitted it to be
dried for his herbarium. The next day symptoms of
poisoning came on, intumescence of the entire body
and lower extremities, attended with intolerable pain
and irritation, confined him to bed for several days ;
nor was it till after many weeks that he was able to
resume his duties. For several years after, he was
subject to a periodical recurrence of the erysipelatous
inflammation, which marks this particular poison."
("Lond. Journ. Bot." 7, 160.) On the other hand,
many persons handle the shrub with impunity.

The Mango-Fruit (Fig. 3). — This most valuable
tropical fruit is produced by Mangifera Indica, Linn.,
the generic name being taken from " Manglio," the
native name of the fruit. It was originally a native
of India, but is now widely distributed and cultivated
throughout that country, into the Malay Archipelago,
Mauritius, and other parts of the eastern hemisphere ;
also occurring in many of the tropical parts of the
western, being especially abundant in the West

Indian Islands. It forms a large tree ; leaves
alternate, oblong-lanceolate, stalked, entire ; sub-
coriaceous in texture ; flowers in freely-branched
erect panicles, white, with spreading petals and fine
stamens, four of which are abortive ; fruit drupa-
ceous, smooth, when ripe, of a deep yellow colour,
very variable in size, form, and flavour ; usually oval,
or half pear-shaped, four inches or more long, and
nearly as wide.

There is in the mango, like all cultivated plants,
a great amount of variation, which is the inevitable
result of such an extended period of cultivation, by
the selection of the finer varieties and inter-breeding,
which has evidently been done and effected. Some
kinds are much superior in every way to others, and

Fig. 3. — Leaf and Fruit of Jlangifcra Indica, Linn, (reduced).

this is a desideratum, as some of the inferior varieties
are unappreciated by European?. Certain travellers
have described their flavour as comparable to a mixture
of tow and turpentine, while others are regarded as
among the most delicious and grateful of tropical
fruits, the consumption of which is enormous in a
ripe state. But if eaten to excess they are strongly
purgative, and in those unaccustomed to their use,
boils are produced, the effect of which is beneficial.
The fruit of the finest varieties possesses a strong and
agreeable perfume, with a sugary-acid flavour. They
contain a limited quantity of gallic acid, as is
evidenced by the blue stain which is produced on the
blade of a knife when cut ; citric acid and gum are also
present. The unripe fruits are largely employed in
India as conserves for making tarts and pickles ; and

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

in the latter form they are often imported into this
country. The bitter aromatic root of the tree is used
medicinally, as well as the bark, in the treatment of
fevers, &c. A reddish-brown green resin exudes
from the bark in very limited quantities naturally,
"but freely if the tree is wounded, which is also used
medicinally in India, externally for certain cutaneous
disorders, and internally for the cure of diarrhoea
and dysentery. The young leaves possess pectoral
properties, and the old leaves and stalks are used for
cleansing the teeth and hardening the gums. The
wood is held in great veneration by the Hindoo
population, as it is burned together with sandal-wood
in their obsequies. It is soft and porous in a young
state, but that from old trees is very hard and
durable.

for feeding pigs. S. dulcis is cultivated in the
Friendly and Society Islands for its very refreshing
and wholesome fruit, which is said to resemble pine-
apple in flavour. S. birrea, a native of Senegambia,
produces a fleshy edible kernel, anil the pulp of the
fruit is employed by the negroes in the manufacture
of an alcoholic liquor. The gum which exudes from
the trunk of Odina Odier, a true native of India, is
used as a plaster for sprains and bruises. The
celebrated black varnish of Burmah and Martaban is
yielded by a large Indian tree known as Melanorrhaa
iisitatissima ; it occurs in the forests from Tenasserim
and Pagu, quite to Manipur in Sylnet, and is called
"Theat-see" in the former, and "Khan" in the
latter country. The varnish is obtained by tapping ;
short joints of bamboo closed at the bottom are

Fig. 4.— Rhus toxicodendron.

The seed of the mango is particularly interesting
in deviating from the normal type of development, as
they frequently produce more than one embryo ; and
such seeds, when in a germinating state, exhibit
curious differentiations from the usual type of ger-
minating seeds. A good paper on these subjects was
published in the "Journal" of the Linnean Society
for 1861.

Amongst other plants of economical interest in the
Anacardiacere, but which are of insufficient im-
portance to describe in detail, are the hog plums,
produced by various species of the genus Spondias.
In the West Indian Islands the fruit of S. purpurea
is known as the Spanish plum, and has a sub-acid,
agreeable flavour, and is largely consumed. Also in
the same islands and Brazil, S. lutca, S. Mombia,
S. tuberosa, and other species of the fruit are consumed
in limited quantities by the natives, but chiefly used

thrust into the holes made in the trunk, and left for
about two days, when they are filled with a whitish
juice, which turns black upon exposure to the air,
and requires to be kept under water in order to
preserve it. It is employed for lacquering all kinds
of domestic utensils and furniture. The wood of this
tree is very hard, and so heavy that anchors are made
of it for the native boats. Another large Indian tree,
which is named Holigarna longifolia, yields from the
root and stem a similar black varnish, and in the
Malaccas it is collected and employed for the same
purposes. Durua dependens is a small Chilian tree,
yielding drupaceous fruits, from which an intoxicating
drink is prepared. Schinus molle, a tropical American
tree, known commonly as false pepper, produces
agreeable, edible, drupes ; it also yields a kind of
gum-mastic, with a peppery flavour, with purgative
properties, which is also employed to harden the

IO

HA RD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OS SIP.

gums. The root is also used medicinally ; there is
another species named S. areira, which is said to
cause swellings to those who sleep under its shade.
The leaves of this and other species are filled with a
resinous fluid, so that the least degree of unusual reple-
tion of the tissues causes it to be discharged. Thus
some of them fill the air with fragrance after rain ;
and 5". mollc expels the resin of its leaves with such
violence when immersed in water, that they move in
jerks, so as to have the appearance of spontaneous
movement. (" Botanical Register " t. 1580.) This I
have observed in 6". molle, S. areira, and one other

species.

J. T. Riches.

OUR BRITISH SLUGS.

IN answer to Mr. Cockerell's strictures, I must say,
firstly, that he gave me the list of British species ;
secondly, that he read over the manuscript previous
to its publication during a lecture, and pronounced it
"good;" and thirdly, that the additions he gives to
our fauna were described as such since the writing of
the article, and as such exempt my article from the
criticism in that respect.

Mr. Brockton Tomlin I must thank for giving the
original description of T. haliotidea var. Campanyonii,
Drap. I could not lay hold of Campanyo's "Hist.
Nat. des Pyrenees Orientales," and consequently my
description was taken from the work of Moquin-
Tandon.

To my paper, I wish, however, to supplement
several additions. They are as follows :—

Limax arbomm, B.Ch. : (1) v. rosea, Boeck. 1870;
rosea, dorso brunneo-rufescente, carina pallide rosea,
fasciis nigris, clypeo sub lente maculis ovalibus dense
ornato. Belgian ; (2) v. colorata, Boeck. 1S70 ; aquosa,
subpellucida, carina alba subnigro-marginata, clypeo
ut in a fasciate abdomine utrinque brunneo-fasciato.
Also Belgian ; (3) v. tigrina, Weinl. ; pallide vire-
scenti-flavida, clypeo maculis nigris in seriebus 5
ornatis, corpore utrinque fasciis duobus abruptis.
"Wurtembergian ; (4) v. jlava, Weinl. ; viridiflava,
unicolor. Also Wurtembergian ; (5) v. heynemanni,
Beliz. ; alba, clypeo picto, dorso maculis parvis nigris,
rugis majoribus et carina alta notato.

Limax cinereo-niger : (1) v. nigripes ; stabile, sole
black-edged; (2) v. oruata, Less.; "mero carena e
zona dorsale e 2 serie dei macchie bianche ; " (3) v.
strobeli ; "autcinerea, nigro-maculata."

Limax /avis v. nmcronata, West. : luteo-brunneus,
lateribus pallidis solea alba, clypeo processu conico ;
long. 10 mm. Ronneby in Sweden.

Limax maximns, v. calosoma, Eis and Stuxb. ; ob-
scure olivaceus, maculis pallidioribus clypeo atro,
marginibus pallidis.

Limax tenellus : (1) v. xanlkia, Bourg. ; animal
uniformiter luteolo- vel subviridulo-aurantiacum, rugis

dorsalibus argutis, elongatis, dorso convexo, ad cau-
dam acute carinato, clypeo valde, anteriori, maximo,.
eleganter striatulo ; long. 45 mm. German ; (2) v.
squammatina, Morel; aureo-virescens, lateribus caeru-
lescentibus, tentaculis nigris, quadro-fasciatus, lineis
lateralibus parallelis dorsalibus in unum convergenti-
bus. Lusitanian.

Arioti ater: (1) v. melanocephala, F. Big. (Z.
Jlavus, Mull. (?), Nilss. ; A. flavus, Fer., Lehm.) ;
albido-virescens v. pallide thalassinus, capite et ten-
taculis atris ; (2) v. gatidefroyi, Mab. 1S70; dorso
griseo-rufescens v. flavidus, solea medio pallida, limbo
griseo atro-lineato ; (3) v. brunnea, Lehm. 1862 ;.
caffeatus v. ferrugineus, dorso obscuriore. German ;
(4) v. olivacea, Sehm. 1856 ; olivaceo-brunneus, ob-
scurius fasciatus, subtus cinereus sudore luteo. Ger-
man ; (5) v. sulcata, Morel, 1845; omnino niger,.
margine radiato, castaneo ; long. 15-16 cm. Lusi-
tanian ; (6) v. servainiana, Mab. 1870 ; corpus rufum,
postice attenuatum obtusum, squamis vix elevatis,
corpore ccntracto rectangularibus apud exempl. iru
spiritu conservata omnino deplanatis. French.

I may just mention here that Seibert (Malak. Blatt.
1873, P- x 98 et sea.), from a long study, says that
A. jlavns is but a variety of Arion ater, and that the
v. melanocephala of the latter is but its young of a
greenish-white colour. This, however, in passing.

Arion horte?isis : (1) v. pectophila, Mab. 1870; ater,,
fasciis lateribus obscurioribus, limbo rufo. French ;.
(2) v. anthracia, Bourg. 1866; gracilis, minor (long.
c. 30 mm.) uniformiter aterrimus, limbo paullo pal-
lidiori. Meridional France ; (3) v. distincta, Mab..
1868 ; minor, griseo-flavidus. French ; (4) v. oresiceca y
Mab. 1870; flavescens, tentaculis nigris. French.

Geomalcus maculosus, Allm. : (1) v. allemanni,
Heyn. ; ater vel obscure brunneus, albo-maculatus ;
(2) v. typica, Heyn. ; ater maculis flavidis ; (3) v. ver-
kriizeni, Heyn. (not verkrareni, as printed on p. 202
of last volume of Science-Gossip) ; griseus, albo-
maculatus. There is a good figure of this species in
Mai. Bl. xxi. t. 1, f. 1-6, to which the reader may
advantageously refer. I stated at the top of the first
column of p. 203 in this journal, last year, that Forbes
and Hanley surmised this slug would eventually prove
to be Asturian ; I find that Westerlund, in his now
publishing " Fauna Europsea" — a work of which by-
the-way I advise every Science-Gossiper who can
afford it to avail himself — that it is so.

I have said nothing of the varieties that Mr.
Cockerell speaks of in his note in the November
number, as he alone must be responsible for his own
amendments. I give simply those he has left out.

J. W. Williams, D.Sc.

From Mr. Fred Enock we have received No. r>
of the "Entomological Sketches," which accompany
his well-known slides, and give full details of structure,
of the object mounted.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

IT

ON COLLECTING DIPTERA.
By E. Brunetti.

IN recommending all collectors of insects, especially
beginners, to take up the study of Diptera, I
am aware that I am endeavouring to persuade them
to attack one of the least known orders of the whole
•class, and it is for this very reason that I so strongly
urge on all the necessity of rescuing the Diptera from
the chaotic state into which it has gradually fallen,
owing first to the small number of entomologists
actively working at this order, and secondly, to the
want of union between them.

Union is one of the first and most important rules
to be observed in studying an obsolete group. If
each worker took up one or two families, or part of a
family, according to the number of species comprised,
and assiduously confined himself to his special group,
the task would be considerably facilitated, more
■especially so if the life histories were also investi-
gated.

It is much to be feared that less is known of this
order than any other, I mean, of course respecting
■the British species. All the other orders are at least
fairly well known, it being almost unnecessary to
remark how much has been done in the Lepidoptera
by Messrs. Stainton, Morris, and Newman ; in the
Coleoptera by Dr. Sharp, Messrs. Waterhouse and
Cox ; in the Hymenoptera by Sir J. Lubbock and
Dr. Fitch ; in the Hemiptera by Mrs. Douglas,
Scott and Edwards ; in the Neuroptera by. Messrs.
McLachlan and Dale, and also in the Orthoptera.

But when we come to the Diptera we find a most
lamentable absence of hard-working entomologists.
I believe the number is actually limited to four,
Messrs. Newall, Meade, Dale, and Cooke, of whom
at least one has restricted his observations almost to
a single family.

Though beginners may do little beyond the mere
capture and netting of specimens, they may, in this
manner, become of invaluable assistance to those
possessing fairly representative collections and more
advanced knowledge of the order.

I will mention an imaginary instance, to illustrate
more fully my meaning.

Suppose the possessor of a good collection of these
insects is in correspondence with ten beginners ;
suppose also that none of these beginners care any-
thing about Diptera, but, to oblige their friend, they
■capture a few flies when on each country excursion.
Considering the comparative abundance of individuals
•of this order, and the ease with which they may be
obtained everywhere on any warm day, it is not
unreasonable to assume each to catch ten specimens
•during each day's outing, which, on returning home,
I suppose them to set (this being a rather important
consideration).

Most collectors manage to obtain at least ten days'
insect-hunting during the whole season, so that during

that time each would obtain one hundred specimens
of Diptera in fair condition, which the young
entomologist would forward to his friend, who, on
receiving an equal number (approximately) from
each of his ten correspondents, would find himself
possessed of a thousand fresh specimens at the
termination of each season.

This amount of material placed at his disposal
would undoubtedly be of very great value, it being
not at all improbable that some species new to the
British fauna would by these means be added every
year.

I think this imaginary example should be sufficient
to show how much beginners may do by combining
to assist those more advanced than themselves ; they
also would gain by the transactions by having their
specimens named, besides the many advantages of a
more experienced correspondent. Should a series of
one species be sent, it would be advisable to return
some of the flies, but the owner of the larger collec-
tion should be allowed the unconditional pick of the
specimens ; in return, naming all those he does not
require, and returning them to the sender.

And now, in mentioning the return, which I, at
least, am willing to make to those who will furnish me
with specimens, I am aware of expressing an opinion
that will meet with some disfavour from many
entomologists.

I consider it would be a perfectly fair equivalent to
pay in money for the specimens forwarded, taking
them all round at so much a dozen, limiting, of
course, the number of specimens of each species sent.

It appears to me easy to refute the imputation of
degenerating the science to a pecuniary consideration
by the following argument.

Exchange is by all admitted one of the fairest and
most generally approved methods of increasing one's
collection.

Now, if in return for, say, one hundred specimens
of Diptera forwarded me by a lepidopterist, I offered
him two or three dozen moths, he would undoubtedly
accept them, and each would probably be satisfied
with his bargain.

Suppose, then, he gave me a list of his desiderata,
and, after sending me the Diptera, I bought several of
the species he required and forwarded them to him,
that also would be a fair transaction, I presume.

What matters it then, whether he is, or I am, the
actual purchaser of the insects ? that is to say, there is
no difference between buying the insects myself and
then posting them to him, or sending him so much in
money to enable him to purchase them himself.

So far as I am concerned, I shall be most happy to
pay a fair value for any consignments of Diptera
forwarded to me, should they be of species of which
I have not a sufficiently large series.

I know that there are many collectors who would
forward me Diptera without asking for any retur
(I could mention several amongst my own corre-

12

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

spondents who are continually doing so), but I am
appealing now to the large majority of collectors, to
all collectors ; and it is certain that to most it is more
inducement to collect species of an order in which
one takes no interest, if, by so doing, the means is
obtained of enlarging one's collection of the favoured
group.

I have also great hopes that, by inducing collectors
to take Diptera, they may eventually gain some
partiality for the order on its own merits.

By collecting all orders, a rule I have observed
ever since embracing the study of entomology, the
total number of species in my cabinets has nearly
doubled, which would never have been the case had
I confined myself to one single order.

Not to be mistaken as to my meaning in these last
remarks, I may repeat that I do not advise the
beginner to study all orders, but only to collect them ;
so that, by the exchange of specimens, those studying
the various orders may reap mutual benefit.

Considering the comparative abundance of in-
dividuals of Diptera during the whole of spring,
summer and autumn, and the ease with which the
majority of them may be captured, I should count
threepence a dozen a fair price to pay for Diptera, if
set, and the number of specimens of each species to
be sent I am inclined to limit to twenty.

My object in writing the present paper is merely
to draw the attention of entomologists, especially
beginners, to the Diptera, and to induce them to
collect this order, if not for its own sake, out of
friendship for those who would make good use of the
specimens thus collected for them.

{To be continued.)

THE MAGIC MIRROR OF JAPAN.

THE mirror in Japan is a most important feature
everywhere. In the temples it takes the place
of the cross of Roman Catholic countries ; it is found
among the regalia in the Imperial Palace ; at a
wedding it is a portion' of the bride's trousseau. It
constitutes, in short, a part of the national religion,
and the " Great Divine Palaces " at Tsehave attained
much renown from being the depository of the first
mirror, and are to the Japanese much as the Holy
Sepulchre is to the Greeks and the Armenians, as
Mecca is to the Mahometans.

A Japanese myth tells how the Sun-queen once,
being very angry, shut herself up in a cave, and thus,
by her withdrawal, there came darkness over the
earth. The gods tried by various artifices to entice
her forth, but in vain. At length the first magical
mirror was made, and the Sun-queen, seeing her face
reflected in it, excited by curiosity and jealousy,
came forth.
At the creation of the Japanese empire, the Sun-

queen presented it (along with two other treasures —
presents of the gods) to her grandson, telling him to
look upon the mirror as her spirit, and to keep it in
the same house, and on the same floor, as himself,
and to worship it as if he were worshipping her actual
presence.

Ever since, this mirror, and the two other presents-
before-mentioned, have been a part of the regalia of
the emperor, the mirror ranking even before the
emperor himself.

Thus mirror-worship came into practice, and soon

Fig. 5.— Parallel beams of Light.

Fig. 6. — Diverging beams of Light.

spread among high and low in Japan. However poor
and simple the furniture may be, the mirror is an
indispensable portion of it — a sort of household god.
Professor Ayrton, when in Japan, tried to purchase
a magic mirror ; but he could not meet with one in
the shops, though Europeans supposed them to be
some standard Japanese trick : and he found the
Japanese themselves unable to explain how they
acquired their magic property ; but this was readily
interpreted to be by reason of the workman keeping
it a secret, as people paid ten or twenty times the
price for a magic mirror.

HA RD IVICKE' S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

13

The Chinese, at a very early age, knew of magic
mirrors, and Chin-Kouo, a Chinese writer of the
eleventh century, speaks admiringly of them.

They were introduced from China and Japan into
Calcutta, and interested the inhabitants much ;

POIHT

that the witches of the Middle Ages had mirrors of
Eastern manufacture, with imps and secret signs on
the back. Probably also Chinese priestcraft, Greek
and Etruscan oracles, made use of them. In the
temple Kenchoji, situated in the ancient capital of
the Shogun, there is a wonderful
old mirror, which if looked at a
little obliquely reveals the face
of a Buddhist god. Various
faces of saints have thus been
depicted in mirrors, but this is
done by altogether another pro-
cess than that of the magic
mirror at present under dis-
cussion.

The mirror is circular in form,
and is generally from three to
twelve inches in diameter. The
metal of which it is usually made
is a composition of copper and
tin, something like the specula
of reflecting telescopes.

Round it is a rim of about

to \ of an inch in breadth ;

Fig. 7.— Converging beams of Light.

Fig. 8.

philosophers conjecturing how their magic property
(which is only possessed by a few of those which
come from the east) could arise.

From their great antiquity it has been suggested

mercury amalgam.

this rim is thicker than the
inner part of the mirror which
contains the figures or designs.
The reflecting surface is more
or less convex and polished with
On the back are raised designs,

birds, flowers, dragons, geometrical patterns or
Japanese scenes and myths. Occasionally mottoes
or Chinese characters expressive of good wishes,
long life, happiness, hope, are seen. The accom-
panying sketch gives some idea of the back of a
Japanese mirror.

The handle is made of the same metal as the rest
of the mirror, but usually covered with bamboo.
Its magic property consists in this ; when the rays
of the sun are reflected from its polished face, on the
wall or screen, the figures and the design on the
back of the mirror are distinctly seen in bright lines
on a dark ground, though the back of the mirror is
quite hidden from the light. Various explanations
of this magic power have been given :

(1) The Chinese designated them " mirrors that
let the light pass through them."

(2) Ou-tseu-ling (1260-1341) explains their magic
property to arise from the employment of two kinds
of copper of unequal density, the brighter reflexions
being produced by the purer copper.

(3) Sir Charles Wheatstone and Sir David
Brewster, both thought that the magic power was
produced by some clever trick on the part of the
maker, who drew on the face exactly similar figures
as those on the back and carefully concealed them
by polish, so that in an ordinary light they were not
visible.

(4) Messrs. Arago and Biot accounted for it by

14

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP.

stating that " the curvature of the surface is altered
by the greater or less rigidity of the figures, and thus
the foci of these parts are thrown at a greater or less
-distance from the mirror."

(5) Professors Ayrton and Perry also account for it
as arising from inequality of curvature, and at the
Royal Society, and Royal Institution, gave admirable
•explanations of it.

Struck by the fact (discovered by Professor
Atkinson) that a small scratch made by a nail on
the back (of one of these mirrors) was reflected as
a bright patch on the screen, Professor Ayrton
examined several mirrors to ascertain, if possible, the
cause. He found that all those possessing the magic
property were thin, and slightly convex. He next
inspected their manufacture, and found that the
surface of each half of the mould in which they were
cast was flat. How did they become convex ? He
found that this arose partly from the tool with which
the makers worked, and partly from the process of
polishing.

The rough mirror was first made smooth with a hand-
scraping tool ; then the metal was worked with the
megebo (" distorting-rod"), which makes the mirror
jreally concave at the surface ; but it receives a kind
■of "buckle," and springs back again, the surface be-
coming convex on the removal of the pressure of the
distorting-rod. The thinner parts under the operation
have a tendency to become more convex than the
thicker. Hence it occurred to Professors Ayrton and
Perry that the employment of different beams of
.light (convergent, divergent, parallel) would give the
solution to the mystery. For if the magic power
was caused by the molecular differences of the
surface, the varied beams of light would make no
practical difference ; but, if it resulted from inequality
of the curvature of the surface, then a converging
beam of light would invert the phenomenon. This
.experiment proved to be the case.

The following summary will give some notion
of the methods of Professors Ayrton and Perry's
reasoning.

Let HH (Fig. 5) = Japanese convex mirrors.

Let xa, XB, xc = rays of a parallel beam of light.

Let AD, AE, CF = reflected rays on the screen.

Let DF = screen.

Let AB, BC = each other, then the amount of light
falling on each will be equal.

If a portion (bc) of the mirror be flatter than the
remainder, then the reflected light will only illu-
minate a smaller area, GK ; but, as this smaller area
has received the same amount of light as the larger,
de, therefore it will be brighter than the larger, but
the intervening spaces (GE, KF) will be relatively
dark.

The same reasoning applies to Fig. 6 = diverging
beam of light.

Fig. 7 shows us the result of a converging beam of
•light.

Let xxx = rays of a beam of light converging to a
point behind the convex surface of the mirror (nearer
to the surface than half the radius of the mirror) ;
after being reflected, the light converges to a point o
in front of the mirror, its rays crossing, spread them-
selves out in an inverted position on the screen DF.

If ab is flatter than the rest of the surface of the
mirror (say bc), it casts a paler and a larger reflection
of light on the screen (placed at a distance) than EC
does (see Fig. 7). If the screen be moved nearer the
mirror, as P (see Fig. 7), the reflection from ab is not
larger, etc., than the reflection from BC.

When the screen is placed very near the mirror,
the reflections of the figures will be invisible, from
the fact that " rays of light making very small angles
with each other do not separate perceptibly until
they have gone some distance."

Professors Ayrton and Perry tested magic mirrors
by these rules, and found their phenomena in every
way to agree with these laws, and by the application
of lenses to intensify the results, fully established their
views on the subject.

A. Tomlinson.

TAMENESS OF A ROBIN.

AMONGST the many instances of tameness in
wild birds coming within the ken of almost
every country resident, none recorded, have, I
imagine, surpassed the following.

One day, during the past summer, I entered my
dining room to find, perched upon a book-shelf, a
friendly redbreast, who, now and again, favoured me
with a visit. Undisturbed by my entrance, from his
standpoint upon the Book of books, he contem-
plated, with great apparent interest, my proceedings.
Reflecting that books were not the most suitable
perches for birds, I opened wide the door, and in-
timated that, at that moment, his room was preferable
to his company. The hint was taken — instead, how-
ever, of making his exit through the open garden
door — as I expected — flitting gaily across the hall,
he entered the drawing-room. Here making himself
quite at home, upon a chiffonniere, my friendly visitor
disported himself, perkily, meanwhile, surveying his
host, and making minute examination of my knick-
knacks.

But, lo ! suddenly all is changed, for, in the plate-
glass back he discovers, reflected, his robinship's
image, and in a very frenzy of rage precipitates
himself upon it, wildly beating the glass with his
wings, in his futile efforts to reach his supposed adver-
sary. A greater regard for my treasures even than
for his pugnacious birdship led me to interpose, and
chase him from the room. He was not, however, to
be thus summarily dismissed, for, alighting upon the
top of the open garden door, he eyed me knowingly,
utterly regardless of my ssh-ssh-sshs.

HARD WICKE ' S S CIENCE- G SSI P.

i5

" Obstinate little fellow ! " I mentally exclaim, as,
taking from its stand my walking stick, I approach
it close to his small person. "All right, I'm not
a bit afraid — you won't hurt me, I know," one could
well imagine was his soliloquy, as he cocked his
head jauntily on one side, to catch a better view of
the stick point. "No, thanks," one could further
imagine his saying, "I'm right enough, and don't
require a walking stick." Fearless bird ! he allowed
me to touch his wings with my stick — then to smooth
his ruffled feathers — simply closing his bright little
eyes, and remaining motionless, as if the operation
were grateful to him. I presently summoned my
wife and son from the garden, to witness the trust of
my small feathered friend, and, in their presence, I
again and again, repeated the operation, each time
with the same result. Suddenly he darted into the
garden, where from a shrub hard by the door, he
poured forth his cheerful song, as if to thank his
friends for kindness oft received, and then set forth
in search of new adventure.

Edward II. Robertson.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

At a recent meeting of the Philadelphia Academy
of Sciences, Dr. Benjamin Sharp reported that he had
discovered, that in poisonous snakes the pupils of
the eyes are elliptical, whilst in the harmless species
they are circular.

The beautiful little fresh-water crustacean, Lepto-
dora hyalina, has been found in Chatangua Lake,
and also in a lake near Chicago, America.

The annual exhibition of the South London Nat.
Hist. Society was held on the 25th November, at
the Bridge House Hotel, London Bridge. The
exhibits consisted of entomological, ornithological
and botanical specimens. The exhibition was the
most successful ever held by this^society, and, during
the two hours in which it was open, it was visited by
twelve hundred visitors.

The Howietoun Fishery records the successful
exportation of two hundred thousand salmon ova to
New Zealand in the ss. "Ionic," and one hundred
thousand Loch Leven trout ova to Newfoundland in
the ss. "• Siberian," during the last season.

A CORRESPONDENT (B. B.) writes : — In illustration
of the allusion to the transference of print to plain
paper, at p. 272 of the December Science-Gossip, I
may mention that I possess a water-colour copy of an
Italian picture which hangs behind a green silk
curtain. Some little time after it was given me I had
occasion to take the picture out of the frame, when
I found on the glass which covered it the apparent
semblance of a faint photographic negative. This
was readily wiped off.

I should like just to correct a statement with regard
to Dr. Johnson, on p. 271, last vol. It was the foot-
man at Madame Du Bocage's who took the sugar in
his fingers and threw it into Dr. Johnson's coffee. He
adds, " I was going to put it aside ; but hearing it
was made on purpose for me, I e'en tasted Tom's
fingers." It is an instance of the consideration for
others which lay under a rugged exterior in that great
and good man. See Croker's " Boswell," vol. vi. p. 22,
ed. 1S35.

We note the death, at Settle,of Mr. Joseph Jackson,
the original discoverer of the famous Victoria Cave
near that town.

During December, Dr. J. E. Taylor, F.G.S.,
lectured on "A Lump of Coal," before the Sutton
Coldfield Institute; on "The Great Ice Age," at
Beccles ; " Earthquakes and Volcanoes," at Man-
ningtree; "Fruits," at Hadleigh ; "Australia," at
Harleston ; and gave five lectures on "Mountain
Scenery and Mountain Sculpture," in connection
with the Ipswich Museum.

MICROSCOPY.

Cole's " Studies in Microscopical Science."
— Sections I, 2, 3, and 4, of No. 4 vol. are to hand,
dealing with the following subjects: — "Vegetable
Physiology," as illustrated by a fragment of one
of the submerged leaves of Salvinia ; "Animal
Histologyj" (the generative organs) ; " Pathological
Histology" (the normal kidney); and "Popular
Studies" (illustrated by a marine alga). The plate
of the latter is simply charming. Each "study" is
accompanied by one of Mr. Cole's excellent slides,
showing the object treated upon.

Astigmatism in Microscopical Observers. —
At one of the meetings of the Richmond Microscopical
Society, Virginia, Mr. Christian exhibited an interest-
ing slide (his own preparation), ingeniously mounted,
with a view to discover any astigmatism of the eye.
If the observer can see simultaneously all the lines
of objects in the field well-defined and resolved,
then his eye is practically without astigmatic defect.
The object of the important test-slide is very
obvious, as incomplete perceptions are often erro-
neously attributed to the inferiority of the objective
used, when in fact they are the result of an astigmatic
defect in the observer's eye. Results of observations
among microscopists often differ because the operators
of instruments are frequently not aware of the astig-
matic condition of their eyes.

New Slides. — We have received an admirably
mounted and most interesting slide from Mr. Ernest
Hinton, 12, Vorley Road, Upper Holloway, of a.

i6

HA RD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OS SIP.

desmid [Botiyoeoeeus Braunii), in conjugation. Mr.
Fred. Enock, n, Parolles Road, Upper Holloway,
lias forwarded the latest of his instructive entomo-
logical slides, containing the " Scissor Bug"
(Heterotopia merioptcra) mounted complete, with
extended wings, feet, and antenna?. From Mr. \V. S.
Anderson, Granby Street, Ilkeston, we have received
a box of neatly mounted, and highly interesting
slides of the following objects : Dung beetle (Philo-
nothus marginatus), active pupa of Water Boatman
(N. glauea), larva of Puss moth (Dieranura vinula),
Frog-bopper (Aphrophora spumarid), Honey-bee
(Apis mellifera), and ground spider (Agelea elegans).
It can hardly be said there is no " Royal road to
knowledge," when students are catered for in this
instructive manner.

The Royal Microscopical Society. — The
December "Journal" contains the following papers,
besides the usual useful and thoroughly exhaustive
" Summary of Research " — " Flagellated Protozoa in
the Blood of Diseased and Apparently Healthy
Animals," by Dr. Edgar M. Crookshank ; and " On
Trichodina as an Endoparasite," by T. B. Rosseter.
Both papers are illustrated by plates. Dr. Crookshank's
paper is highly important and not a little suggestive.

ZOOLOGY.

Slug Variation.— The notes I sent you on Mr.
"Williams's papers having been written before the
appearance of the last of these in the September
number, I now subjoin such few further corrections
as seem desirable in relation to this. Page 202 :
(1) add vars. nigripes, Stabile, and malaeologorum,
Colb., as well as several very peculiar varieties
described and figured by Pini in 1S76; (2) var.
luetuosa has been found in Yorkshire, at Shipley
Glen ; (3) to Z. arborum add vars. heynemanni, Biz.,
albomaculata, Krege., carpatiea, Hazay (a marbled or
obscurely mottled form, with dark side-bands and a
pale keel), tigrina, Weinl., flava, Weinl. (1876),
obscura, Esmark, and diaiue, Heyn., and to the
British forms add rupicola (found by Mr. Delap in
Waterford, at 2,300 feet above sea level), nemorosa
(recorded from Ireland and Hampshire), maeulata,
and decipiens (both Irish) ; (4) three forms of L. l&vis,
mucronata, maeulata, and (monst.) intcntaculata have
been described, as also three, xanthina, squammatina,
and grisea, of Z. tenellus ; (5) Testacella maugei, var.
viridans, Morelet, is bronzy-green, with an orange
sole ; it has been found in South Ireland and in
Portugal ; (6) Heynemann has described three
colour- varieties of Geomalaeus maculosus from
Ireland, which he calls typiea, allmani, and
verkruzeni, and gives a very excellent coloured
figure of allmani. Mabille has called the white
form with black spots var. andrewsi. It seems

probable that some changes in nomenclature will be
necessary before our British slug-list is brought into
harmony with the ideas of Continental conchologists
and the laws of priority. Limax jlavus, of Linne,
will have to be called by Draparnaud's name, varie-
galus, and Z. maximus, Linne, will be called
Z. einereus of Muller, the description given by
Linne being in either case insufficient for identifica-
tion, some authors (as, for instance, Miss Esmark, in
the "Journal of Conchology") identifying Linne's
maximus with what we know as einereo-niger.
Limax tenellus must be credited to Nilsson, Midler's
description being too vague, and apparently of some
other species. Arion bourguignati, Mabille (mis-
printed " Bouginalli") is recorded by Mr. Hudson,
on p. 259, from Middlesborough district, and is also
reported in the " Naturalist " .from another York-
shire locality, and in the "Journal of Conchology"
from Sussex, so it will be as well, for the information
of conchologists, to give some account of its pe-
culiarities. According to Mabille (Rev. Zool. 1868),
it is whitish-grey, blackish on the back, with lateral
bands ; there is a dorsal keel, which is prominent in
young individuals, but scarcely observable in adults,
appearing only as a pale line ; the foot is whitish ;
length about 40 mil. This species is more nearly
allied to A. kortensis than any other of our British
forms, but it is now generally regarded on the
Continent as distinct. — T. D. A. Coekerell, Bedford
Park, Chiswick.

Planorbis lineatus, Walker. — I have lately
collected some half-dozen specimens of this shell, of
an abnormal size. Their breadth is exactly jh mm.
while Moquin gives 6 mm. as maximum and Jeffreys
5 mm. They occurred in a small pond near Cam-
bridge, about 6 yds. square, associated with Pal.
contecta, Bythinia Leaehii, Planorbis nitidus, corneus,
vortex, complanatus, carinatus, Valvata cristata and
oihexs.-^-Broeklon Tomlin.

Limax agrestis, var. alba — I have recently
taken a pure white example of this species at Bedford
Park, Chiswick, living amongst Carduus arvensis,
together with the usual form of the species. This
variety is an albino, whereas^the var. albida, Picard, as
described by Moquin-Tandon, seems only to have
been a very pale form of the type, or allied thereto. —
T. D. A. Coekerell, Bedford Park.

Pisidium ROSEUM IN Surrey. — Mr. Taylor has
identified as Pisidium roseum some Pisidia which I
have lately found in a ditch on the banks of the
Thames at Putney. This is the first locality in
Surrey that has been recorded for the species, though
it has been found in considerable numbers on the
opposite side of the river, in the moat surrounding
Fulham Palace. — F. G. Fenn, Bedford Park.

"The Rotifera." By C. F. Hudson, LL.D.,
and P. H. Gosse, F.R.S. (London : Longmans). —

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

i7

The sixth and last part of this magnificent work is
now published ; and we shall not be surprised now to
see it going up in price. The plates of the present
part are of equal artistic merit to the rest of the series.
We heartily congratulate the authors upon the high
success of their work, and the way in which it has
been received by the scientific public.

Entomology and Geology. — At the last meeting
of the Entomological Society of London, Mr. Howard
Vaughan exhibited a long series of Gnofhos abscurata,
comprising specimens from various parts of Ireland,
North Wales, Yorkshire, Berwick- on - Tweed, the
New Forest, Folkestone, Lewes, and the Surrey
Hills. The object of the exhibition was to show
the variation of the species in connection with the
geological formations of the various localities from
which the specimens were obtained.

The Hessian Fly. — To xhe same meeting, Miss
E. A. Ormerod communicated a paper " On the
occurrence of the Hessian Fly {Cccidomyia dcstntctor)
in Great Britain." It appears that there could be no
longer any doubt as to the occurrence of the insect in
this country, specimens obtained in Hertfordshire
having been submitted to, and identified by, Pro-
fessor Westwood, and by Mr. W. Saunders, of
London, Ontario. Professor Westwood , said the
specimens agreed exactly with Austrian specimens
in his possession, sent to him some years ago by
Mons. Lefebre, who had received them from the
late Dr. Hammerschmidt, of Vienna.

ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGY.

About Crows. — Two years last August, when
passing through the meadows here to my work
about a quarter to six in the morning, I observed a
crow pecking in a small pool formed in the walk by
the previous night's rain. Being curious to know
what he was so vigorously engaged with, I came
cautiously forward, and saw it was a crust of bread
which he was apparently softening in the water. On
my approach, he flew away, and lighted on the grass
some twenty yards off, and then commenced to peck
away with seeming pertinacity. I passed on for a
short distance, still keeping my eyes on him, when
he started again for the pool, tossed in the crust, and
turned it over two or three times in the water, at the
same time testing, as I think, the softness of the
crust. While thus engaged, another man coming up
disturbed the crow at his breakfast, whereupon he
lifted the crust, flew to some distance on the grass,
laid down the crust, opened up a tuft of grass with
his bill, put in the crust, and carefully drew the grass
over it again, and when concealed to his satisfaction,
immediately flew away. Now his purpose in steeping
the crust and hiding it in the tuft of grass I can

understand, as I have no doubt he intended coming
back for his meal, when it would be in a condition
better suited for mastication ; but the question
comes, how was he to find out this particular tuft of
grass among thousands around it ? He took no note
of the locality, so far as I could observe. — J. IV.,
Edinburgh.

BOTANY.

Albino Varieties. — Mr. J. Taylor's remarks on
this subject are so interesting that I venture to add
a little thereto, in the hope that others may be pro -
voked to give the benefit of their learning or ex-
perience. I noticed last year, not far from Simmons'
Yat, in the Severn Valley, a large patch of Ajuga
reptans. The whole of the plants bore white flower?.
There was no trace of the blue flower whatever. I
have observed Polygala vulgaris within four miles of
this city (Bath) bearing red, blue, and white flowers.
The plants bearing blue flowers, and those bearing
pink flowers, were growing on the same bank within
a few yards of each other. I found last year speci-
mens of Orchis morio presenting almost every shade
of colour, from the normal one to white. There
seems to have been so little written by English
authors on the subject of colour in flowers that I am
induced to quote verbatim two or three paragraphs
on the subject from the excellent new edition of Dr.
Goodall's " Physiological Botany " (Gray's Botanical
Text Book, vol. ii. New York and Chicago, 1885).
" The colours of petals and other coloured parts of
the flower," observes Dr. Goodall, "are dependent
either on the presence of corpuscles (the coloured
plastids) or of matters dissolved in the cell-sap. The
following account of the colouring matters in the very
common Viola tricolor is condensed from Strasburger.
A vertical section through a petal exhibits the epi-
dermis of the upper side as consisting of elongated
papillae, while that of the lower side has only slightly
rounded ones. Just below the epidermis of the upper
side there is a layer of compact cells, under which
are several rows of smaller cells with conspicuous
intercellular spaces. The cells of the epidermis of
both sides contain violet sap and yellow granules ;
the layer of compact cells under the epidermis of the
upper side contains only yellow granules. The
striking diversities in colour presented by different
parts of a given petal depend wholly upon combina-
tions of those two elements of colour : namely, violet
sap and yellow granules. In some places, which are
devoid of either of these elements, there are white
spots : at these places the light is refracted and
reflected by the intercellular spaces which contain air.
If the air is removed by pressure, the spots will
become transparent. The cell-sap in the parts of the
flower may have almost any colour, especially shades

i8

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

of red and blue ; from this sap the colouring matter
sometimes crystallises in the form of short and slender
needles, for instance, in the Delphinium consolida.
Dr. Goodall in another part of his admirable book
adds, " Of all colours of flowers, white, pale yellow,
and yellow are the most common." — W. J. IVIieat-
xrajt.

The Synthesis op Lichens.— Mr. Bonnier has
read a paper before the French Academy, on "Ex-
perimental Researches on the Synthesis of the Lichens,
in a medium destitute of germs." The researches,
carried out by the author since 18S2, have resulted
in the complete reproduction by synthesis of a certain
number of species of lichens under conditions fully
confirming the views generally held regarding the
•complex nature of these vegetable organisms. The
results clearly show, that a lichen is formed by the
association of an alga and a fungus.

Seasonal Variation in the occurrence of
Orchids. — I see by reference to Science-Gossip of
1881, that in the year 1879, the spikes of Ophrys
qpifera (bee orchis) were very plentiful, and that in
the following year, in the same place, there were
none, or at least so few as to be hardly noticed. I
do not know whether this question has been threshed
out. From what I have read in Science-Gossip, a
very lucid explanation does not seem to have been
arrived at. In the year 1884, spikes of this plant
were abundant in Fairford Park. Many of the
blooms were very fine, several spikes having as many
as six. During 1885, "Apifera" was even more
abundant, especially in a meadow which gradually
slopes to the river Coin. On the opposite side of the
water to where I first observed the plant in the
autumn of the same year, there were numbers of
young plants showing their glaucous green leaves, and
which I watched from time to time, until March of
the following year (1886). When time for flowering
drew nigh, I looked for my plants, but not one was
to be seen, and I have not found one this year at all
in this place. What seemed most strange was the
disappearance of the plants, so that no traces were
left behind. Do cattle in any way interfere with
this plant, as the field was stocked with oxen for
several months in the year ? — John Taylor.

" A Dictionary of Plant Names." By James
Britten, F.L.S., and Robert Holland (London:
Triibner & Co.). Part III. of this excellent book
has been published, concluding the volume. It is by
far the completest and most exhaustive work we
have on the subject. It has doubtless been a labour
of love to its authors ; but it has been a labour for
all that, and, from a commercial point of view, by
no means a remunerated one. The work has been
brought out under the auspices of the Early English
Text Society, in three parts, at ten shillings each.
The last part ranges from " Paddie Stool" to

"Yellow-Cups," and, besides a very copious and
useful index, it also contains a Bibliography, or list
of works, more or less treating on the subject of
Plant-names. There is also an " Introduction," or
preliminary Essay on the subject, by the authors.
We heartily congratulate Messrs. Britten and Holland
upon the successful completion of their most useful
and valuable work.

Sisyrinchium Bermudianum. — In Bentham's
"British Flora" this plant is said to be found
" near Woodford, co. Galway, Ireland," and he
mentions it as being very common thoughout North
America. He says nothing about its being found on.
the Continent of Europe, and indeed speaks of the
genus as " almost exclusively American." I don't
find the plant mentioned in Withering at all. Ben-
tham speaks of two varieties, auceps, with broad
stem wings and the outer bract longer than the
flowers, and mucronatum, with narrow stem-wings,
and outer bract shorter than the flowers. I found
the former of these two forms at Baveno, in 1882,
growing in the grassplot, in the garden of the
Hotel Beau Rivage. To all appearance it was wild ;
at any rate, I gathered and pressed three specimens,
believing them to be wild. The flower is so small and
inconspicuous that it does not seem at all likely it
would ever be cultivated as an ornamental plant in
gardens, though it might have been an escape from,
the flower border.—" P."

GEOLOGY, &c.

The Descent of Man. — The distinguished
American naturalist, Professor Cope, has been engaged
in working out the meaning of certain structures in
the teeth of mankind. The structures occur generally
in the second and third upper molars, where there are
only three tubercles. In the anthropoid apes the
same teeth have four tubercles ; whereas in the lemur
the number is the same as in man. He therefore
regards this dental structure as a case of "Lemurine
reversion " ; and he finds it most abundantly repre-
sented among the Esquimaux (the lowest race of
mankind) ; next among the Slavs, French, and
European-Americans ; and least marked of all among
the Greeks, Italians, and Germans. So that the
evidence is accumulating which points to a Lemurine
ancestry of the human race, instead of the monkey,
which has hitherto done duty in the mind of scoffers.

The Geological Association. — The last
number of the "Proceedings" of this society,
contains the following papers : — " On some Trilobites
from the Skiddaw Slates," by J. Postlethwaite, F.G.S.,
and J. G. Goodchild, H.M. Geological Survey,
F.G.S., F.Z.S. (with plates). "Observations upon
the Stratigraphical Relations of the Skiddaw Slates,"

HARD WICKE ' S S CIE NCE - G SSIP.

19

by J. G. Goodchild, H.M. Geological Survey, F.G.S.,
F.Z.S. " On the connection in time of changes in
Fossil Floras with those of Faunas," by Professor G.S.
Boulger, F.L.S., F.G.S., &c. "A list of Genera
and Species of Bivalved Entomostraca found in the
Carboniferous Formations of Great Britain and
Ireland, with Notes on the Genera and their distribu-
tion," by Professor T. Rupert Jones, F.R.S., F.G.S.,
and James W. Kirkby, Esq. (Illustrated).

".British.Petrography." By J. J. Harris Teall,
M.A., F.G.S. (Birmingham : Messrs. Watson Bros,
and Douglas). Part 10 of this splendid work has
been issued. The Igneous rocks are continuously
•described as to their microscopical mineral characters.
The Pyroxene and Pyroxene-Hornblende rocks are
•dealt with, and the exquisite coloured plates help
the student amazingly. We wish Mr. Teall would
reconstruct the horrible terminology of British
Petrography.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

The Red-Backed Shrike {Lanius collurio) in
Northumberland. — In June, last year (1885), at
Harnham, near Belsay, Northumberland, I had the
pleasure of seeing and making a few notes on the
appearance and habits of this rare visitant to this
country. According to Mr. John Hancock, in his
" Catalogue of the Birds of Northumberland and
Durham" (1874), this species is "a rare casual
visitant. Two specimens were killed, near Kenton,
on the Newcastle Town Moor, in the summer of
1829. These are mentioned in Mr. Selby's Cata-
logue, and are now in my collection. Another ex-
ample, also in my collection, was shot at Horsley,
Northumberland, May, 1834." These are all the
instances of its occurrence mentioned. The indi-
vidual bird seen by me was a male, and was first
observed on the evening of June 10th, in a thick
hedge along the bottom of a moist meadow. On the
following day I again saw it, when it again admitted
of a near approach without exhibiting any signs of
alarm. Perched first on a bare projecting branch in
the hedge, and afterwards on a young ash, the shrike
sang softly and very sweetly. I thought the bird
imitated the song of the skylark and the sedge
warbler, as well as having other sweet notes of its
own. On this latter occasion I was directed to the
point in the hedge at which the shrike was located,
by the continuous chicling notes of a sedge warbler,
which obviously looked upon the large strange bird
as an intruder upon its domains, and possibly knew
it to be an enemy. On the former occasion, too, a
sedge warbler, or a common white-throat, kept up an
incessant stream of harsh chiding notes so long as the
.shrike was in its neighbourhood. Almost every day,
for some weeks subsequently, I rambled along by this
hedge, and others near by, but never again saw the
shrike, which I was at first in hopes might be accom-
panied by a mate, and that their nest would be built
in the neighbourhood. — Charles Robson, Elswich,
Nciucastle-011- Tyne.

Dytiscus marginalis in a Draper's Shop. —
Many are the disappointments of the most careful

collectors, and many are their "finds" under the
most unpromising conditions. For some years, whilst
collecting in the neighbourhood of Hull, it has been
my custom to try every pond that lies in my path for
Dytiscus marginalis, and with singularly disappointing
results. Some eight or ten years ago two specimens
fell to my net, and since then I have captured two
or three larvae, otherwise my search has been
unavailing. Two specimens have, however, come
into my possession in a rather curious manner. A
few years ago my little daughter noticed a beetle
near the water-tap in the yard, and of course brought
me the news with the usual childish excitement.
The stranger was a fine male specimen of Dytiscus
marginalis. Last night (Sept. 1st) I heard some little
stir in the shop. "It is a bat — a bee — a bee — a
moth ! " All the guesses were, however, incorrect,
for when I was called in to capture the intruder, I
found it to be a very fine male specimen of Dytiscus
marginalis. It had flown through the doorway with
considerable noise, and settled on a lady's apron.
On being removed, it gnawed viciously at my fingers
with its strong mandibles, and I deposited it in a
large bell-glass, the quarters of five sticklebacks,
vainly imagining that they would elude its attacks
during the night, and intending to remove it in the
morning. When morning dawned, however, I found
that my hungry visitor had devoured three of the
sticklebacks, the only remains of the defunct being
the clean-picked spines of the individuals. The
beetle must have travelled some distance, as I am
not aware of any habitation in the immediate neigh-
bourhood of my residence. — E. Lamplough, Hull.

Hornet and Wasp. — In some ivy on a wall
to-day (Sept. 20th) I heard a loud buzzing, and, on
looking to see the cause, I found a wasp in the grip
of a hornet. I could not see that either used their
stings ; but the hornet held the wasp in such a
position that probably he could not sting him. Two
pairs of the hornet's legs were wound firmly round
the wasp's body : the back of the wasp's body and
head being held tightly against the hornet's body,
the tail of the wasp being in the air. Having got
his victim thus "in chancery," the hornet sawed
away with his mandibles at the thin part of the
wasp, where the tail is united with the body. After
about one minute of this sawing the tail of the wasp
dropped off, and in about another minute the hornet
had devoured the head and body of the wasp, and
flew away. — IV. Dotcncs, Combe Raleigh Rectory,
Honiton.

Rat's Teeth. — What Mr. Lee notes in last
Science-Gossip (p. 214), relative to the curving
inwards of the upper incisors of the rat, is not an
uncommon occurrence. I have noticed this in
several animals, but notably in the case of one
rabbit, where the animal succumbed an emaciated
victim to the curving upwards of its two anterior
upper incisors in the bony substance of the maxilla.
Perhaps it would not be an uninteresting matter to
say here that Mr. Sutton, in his recent lectures to
the Royal College of Surgeons on " Pathology and
its Relation to Evolution," promulgated, as in his
opinion, that the singular curving in the vertical
direction, and then backwards and downwards of
the canine teeth existing normally in Porcus as a
distinctive specific character, and from which it has
received its native name, which signifies "deer-hog,"
in reality started as a pathological occurrence, as in
the case of Mr. Lee's rat, and became slowly and
gradually developed during the long lapse of the
ages first as a singularity, then as a common spec-

20

HARD WI CKE'S S CIE NCE-GOSS IP.

tacle, but still abnormal ; and, lastly, as a generality,
a normality, as a categorical and specific distinction.
What Mr. Sutton's theory is worth integrally I know
not, but it is worth hearing, if even only for its
ingenuity. — J. W. Williams, D.Sc.

Dancing Bears.— I wish to call attention to the
spectacle generally known — but known, I had thought,
only as a remembrance of the degraded past — by the
name of " dancing bears," a feature again becoming
revived as a money-mongering pursuit among some
brutish, travelling— shall we call them human? —
men, who exhibit in our country towns. The other
week I rode through Kidderminster on my way to a
hamlet, in its environs, called Churchill. There in
Worcester Street 1 saw two of these bears, each
dragged by a rope attached to an iron ring of quite a
couple of inches in diameter, and which ran through
the upper lip on the right side. Is this torture to be
permitted in humane England? I hope not. There
was an inhuman, a cruel meaning attached to those
iron rings ; there was enough in them to make the
heartstrings of any fond lover of the creation shiver
in pitying sadness. What a cruel torture, too, must
these poor brutes have suffered in order to bring
them to teaching ; and what they do suffer now from
the hands of their savage tamers ! Dumb they are,
else their voices would be re-echoed against Chris-
tendom from the very stones. There is no piece of
visionary badinerie here. My nature cannot, and I
do not know what human nature could, stand such
cruelties as these. " Hinc ilia: lachrymcz." — J. W.
Williams, D.Sc.

Tussilago Petasites. — At Buxton, in the month
of June, I noticed the flower stems of what I took to
be this plant quite two to three feet high, and
appearing well above the foliage, whilst in this
county (Cumberland) I have never seen it more than
a foot high. Can this be the same plant, or is the
difference due to the climates ? Mimulus luteus is
found on the banks of many of our mountain streams
and rivers. I have found it growing by the roadside
on Hartside Fell in the Pennine Range, nearly 2000
feet above the sea level. — J. C. S., Penrith.

Mole's Eyes.— I think Miss Layard ought to give
special allowance to such men as Carlyle and Mat-
thew Arnold, who no doubt had hardly handled a
scalpel in their lifetime ; at any rate, for a scientific
purpose. As for Aristotle, we must think, excuse, and
say little of the scientific imperfections of his day ;
but, as again for Drummond, we must remember that
his "Natural Law" is a popular treatise, and, as such,
worthy its place on our bookshelves and our study
table. But Talpa Europcca has a little jet black eye,
and a pretty dear organ it is, set into a miniature
orbit. Cuvier knew this, and he mentions it in his
' ' Regne Animal, " and all naturalists know it. Talpa
cceca, Sav., which Mr. Layard mentions, in effect as
blind, Cuvier says is not blind, "for the eyelids
have an opening, though smaller than in the common
mole," and the illustrious Baron also mentions, that
he can demonstrate its optic nerve throughout its
course ("Regne Animal"). But it may be noted
that in the mole-rat (Spalax) the eyes are covered by
a skin (Bell, " Comp. Anat." p. 456). There is one
thing certain, Mr. Layard, and that is, that we must
take and taste the scientific wanderings of literary men,
as a whole, cum grano sails. — J. W. Williams, D.Sc.

Bitter-sweet.— It may interest the several cor-
respondents who have written to Science-Gossip
concerning the poisonous character of Solatium dul-

camara to know, that Duval gave 1S0 berries and four
ounces of the extract to dogs without any ensuing
effect, and that he also records a case in the human
subject where four ounces of the extract were taken
in two doses without any bad consequences. On the
other hand, Chevallier tells us of a case where sleep
was produced in a man who carried a bundle of it on
his head (Diet, des Drog. t. ii. p. 228). Frank
has given the decoction (Handb. d. Toxicol. S. 61,
1S03), and Fages the extract and fruit in large doses
(Orfila, Toxicol. En.) to human beings without
any effects. Most evidently, then, these conflicting
facts must be explicable on the ground of the
varying activities of the plant, in its production of the
solanine and picroglycion at varying seasons of the
year.— J. IF. Williams, D.Sc.

Dumeledores. — With reference to my note on
" Dumbledores " in the issue for July, I saw, a few
days after writing, a humble-bee, a little larger and
stouter than a honey-bee, force its way into the
mouth of an Antirrhinum corolla, which, entirely
closing after it, effectually resisted all efforts of the
insect to regain its liberty. It was curious to watch
the continuous opening and closing of the lower
division of the flower, consequent on the struggle
going on within, now a mere working of the 'Tips,
now an opening and snapping together again of the
jaws, just affording a glimpse of the labouring insect
within. After endeavouring in vain to escape until
its strength was well-nigh exhausted, I set the little
captive free. After this I observed other humble-
bees similarly enter, and quit without difficulty
certain of these flowers ; but into some the insects
were unable to gain admittance, the mouth being too
firmly closed. No disposition to attack the corolla
base was observed at this time. Watching, soon
after this, by some broad beans, I noted the mode of
procedure of several honey-bees, which was to go at
once to the base of the bean-flower and pierce both
calyx and corolla to reach the underlying sweets.
Examining the flowers, I saw that, in many, large
orifices existed on their bases as though eaten or
worn away ; in others, smaller and more recent
punctures were discernible. A smaller dumble-
dore presenting itself, I directed my attention to
it, and found that, unlike the honey-bee, it invariably
addressed itself to the mouth of the flower ; even
unopened blossoms did not escape, for skilfully and
quickly separating the wedge-like junction of the
upper petal edges, this workmanlike dumbledore
entered, trod down the lower petals, and reached,
the coveted prize. I offer my observations with
much diffidence, for, being but a mere tyro in the
science of natural history, albeit an ardent lover
of nature, I fear my remarks may appear but crude
beside the more enlightened notes ot others. — G. A.
Newman, M.S.C.

Bees and Flowers. — Flowers bitten through by

bees were by no means uncommon last summer.

The earliest examples were the common yellow

crocus and the Arctic poppy (Papaver nudicaulf),

whose flowers have been frequently found bitten

through early in the day. In the case of the poppy

there seems to have been a lack of patience exhibited,

as the corolla so soon expands after the sepals have

fallen off. The pollen was evidently the object of

the bees' visits, as both plants are destitute of honey.

The columbines (Aquilegia) received a large share of

attention from humble-bees. In this genus, which is

melliferous, the honey is secreted in spurs, differing in

shape and length in the different species ; in the

varieties of A. vulgaris the spur is rather short,

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

21

•consequently the honey is easily obtainable. In such
species as Chrysantha caruka, Sibirica and Olym-
pica, the sputs are longer and more difficult for the
bees to get at. To get over this difficulty, the bees
have torn open the spurs low down enough to extract
the honey, a process interesting to the lover of bees,
but rather annoying to a gardener. One species,
A. Califomica, having short thick red spurs, was left
untouched, due, I believe, to the thickness of the
spur.— J. W. Odell, Pinner.

Query as to Plant. — There is a plant the name
of which I would like to know. Perhaps one of our
Gossips will help me. It is largely grown in some
Indian gardens for its red fleshy calyx, which is
.acidulous and much esteemed for puddings, jams, etc.
As near as I can recollect, the plant is an annual, and
grows about three feet in height ; flowers, malvaceous,
and, I think, yellow, with dark centre ; stems, red.
The popular name for it in India is " Rozelle." I
have thought that it may be a species of Hibiscus ;
and have been wondering whether, if cultivated
somewhat as the tomato is, it would be practicable
to introduce the plant into English gardens for
culinary purposes. No doubt, if the experiment
proved successful, the beautiful crimson fruit (peccavi,
O ye botanists !) would be a welcome addition to our
tables. — G. A. Newman, M.S.C.

Sycamore. — If Mr. William Jeffrey will cut open
the seed of the morning glory {Ipomcea purpurea), he
will find a coincidence to what he has spoken of the
samarus of the sycamore in the September number.
— J. W. Williams, D.Sc.

Abraxas grossulariata and its Food Plants.
— The original food of this insect appears to have
been the hazel (C. avellana), for it is found abun-
dantly in lanes feeding on this tree in the Highlands
as well as in other parts of England. The imagines
of the caterpillars which have fed on hazel are, on
the average, much smaller and darker than those
found in gardens which have fed on currant and
gooseberry. — I V. Harconrt Bath, Birmingham.

Sirex gigas and S. juvencus. — I possess a
female of each of these species, taken at Elswick,
Newcastle-on-Tyne ; the former on July 27th, 1872,
and the latter on Sept. 4th, 1869. Both insects are
(or rather were) very fine and perfect specimens.
S. gigas was knocked down with a book by myself as
it flew heavily about in our backyard, in which were
a window-sill fernery, and another small detached
fernery, the greenery in which had possibly attracted
it. It measures from the forehead to the tip of the
ovipositor fully 19 lines, the ovipositor projecting
beyond the tip of the caudal appendage a little over
2 lines only. S. juvencus was caught in the Ordnance
Department of the Elswick Works, and was sent to
me by a gentleman who knew I was interested in
natural history. It measures 12 J lines to the tip of
the ovipositor, which projects beyond the tip of the
■caudal appendage \\ line. — Charles Robson, Elswick,
Newcastle-on- Tyne.

Scarcity of Wasps. — Very few wasps were
seen in this neighbourhood during the past season.
Can this be accounted for by the severity of the
weather in the early part of the season, which was so
destructive to the swallows? In the first week in
May, I killed fourteen queen wasps in three days. The
next week the weather was very cold, and perhaps it
may have destroyed the queen wasps, who had
■ventured in such large numbers out of their winter
hiding places. — C. H. Waddell, Kendal.

PoisoNors Nature of the Yew. — I must apolo-
gise for once more troubling you on this subject.
Can any of your readers tell me whether there is any
foundation for the belief, common to both upper and
lower classes in these parts, that the leaf of the yew
is poisonous only when cut from the tree arid
withered ? As an example of this, farmer." have no
fear of letting horses feed in yew-fenced parks, except
just after clipping them. — Gresham F. Gillett.

A Swarm of Aphodii. — When a great swarm
of these insects appears, it is not always a sign of
nuisances or sanitary neglect. Passing some years
ago over Skircoat Moor, near Halifax, which was then
free frcm houses, sewers, manure-heaps, etc., I noticed
that the ground itself, the heather and the rocks were,
so to speak, all alive with Aphodius sphacelatius, so
that it was scarcely possible to step without crushing
some of them. There was certainly nowhere about
any excrementitious matter by which they could have
been attracted. — y. W. Slater, 36 Wray Crescent,
London.

Norwegian Superstition concerning Eels.
— Certain rivers in Norway swarm with eels, to such
an extent, that the water-wheels of the saw-mills are
occasionally clogged up and brought to a stand.
The country people as a rule, however, neglect to
catch these fishes, either for home consumption, or
even for exportation. A superstitious notion still
prevails, that eels are too intimate with the Trolls,
and their fat is said to be employed by witches and
sorcerers in the preparation of magic salves. What
is the reason that in some parts of Scotland eels are
unpopular as food ? — y. IV. Slater.

An Adder swallowing her Young. — A fine
specimen of the above reptile was seen to do so on
the morning of the 10th of September last, a little
way off the roadside between the village of St.
Arvans and Midcliff, near Chepstow. After the
act she was struck with a large stone, and when dead
was opened, and thirteen young ones was found
inside, nine of which were alive and four dead, but
the latter with the mother were so much mutilated as
to be useless for preservation ; the nine are preserved
in spirits, and in my possession. — y. H. M.

Grey Wagtails. — Since the middle of October one
grey wagtail, sometimes with a companion, has made
it a practice to tap, tap, at a south landing window of
my house, taking short flights from the roof to the
window pane and back again. The tapping commences
with great regularity about 7 o'clock every morning,
and continues till 9 or 9.30 A.M., then the tapping
ceases, but occasionally may be again heard at
intervals during the day. Johns, in his " History of
British Birds," notices this peculiarity of the grey
wagtail, and suggests that it might be well called
" window-bird." Can any reader offer an explanation
of this curious behaviour ? There is no appearance of
insects, which by the transparency of the glass might
easily be detected as the object of search. During
many years this curious behaviour has not been noticed
till the present autumn and now. (Nov. 4.) The
little bird is still continuing to pay us his morning
visits. — Swarraton Rectory, Hants.

Gossamer in Spring. — Gossamer is not an ex-
clusively autumnal phenomenon. One fine morning
in March, 1879, a large tract of country to the west
and north-west of Aylesbury, was covered with the
well-known threads, which garnished every fence,
bush and tuft and grass. There was a dead calm,
and the barometer was high. — J. W. Slater.

22

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP.

Toads in Rocks.— I should have thought that any
one with any knowledge of natural history would
have known that the old story about 'he live toad in
the solid rock is exploded, but I an-, astonished that
so well informed a writer should treat the matter as
Dr. Keegan has done. It has been proved to demon-
stration that the thing is an impossibility, " dear old
Gilbert White," and Dr. Keegan, notwithstanding.
It is, as the Rev. J. G. Wood says, however slowly
the flame of life may burn, combustion must cease
and life fail some time, and this some time he proved
by experiment in the case of imprisoned frogs to be at
most twelve to thirteen months. I should like to
know where the emphatic "abundant and irrefutable
evidence " is to be obtained, or of any single case
where the imprisoned live frog has been found by one
whose testimony would be accepted as unimpeachable
on such a point, by one of the leading scientists of
the day, say, for instance, Sir John Lubbock. How is
it that the stone or coal which is invariably reported
to retain "the exact impression of the little creature "
can never be produced when the matter comes to be
investigated ? That the frog has been found in the
coal pit is probable enough, but it does not follow
that he came out of the coal, any more than it does
that the mice and beetles seen there do. I saw a
butterfly in a coal pit at Ashton some years ago.
What would Dr. Keegan have thought of me if I had
declared it came out of the solid coal? These things
are carried down in the pit cages, generally in the
hay and straw which is taken down for the ponies
employed below. To compare a three months'
fasting "flat pattern live timekeeper," as O. W.
Holmes calls him, to a 400 century fasting coal-
imprisoned frog is absurd ; one might just as well
compare a thimble with the pyramid of Cheops.
Let us have light on every subject, but leave the silly
old toad story alone. — Mark L. Sykes, Winton,
Manchester.

Query as to Moss.— In reply to G. C. Goody's
query, the moss described is probably Fissidens
adiantoides. If he sends me a bit of it, I shall be
glad to name it for him. — Rev. C. H. Waddel, Kendal.

Plague of Flies. — Doubtless most persons ob-
served what a nuisance the flies were during the last
two months of summer, and how very scarce wasps
have been last season. No doubt thejibsence of the
latter accounts for the unusual number of the former.
The same thing occurred in 181 1 (see Kirby and
Spence, p. 157). — J. Bohnso, Tonbridge.

The Development of the Tadpole. — Dr. J. W.
Williams, in his note (p. 259) on my observation of
Ciliated Cells in the Epidermis of the Young Tadpole,
remarks that it ought to receive confirmation with a
higher power of the microscope. One difficulty will
be to bring a higher power than \ in. to bear on the
sides of a living tadpole. The presence of cilia,
however, at the stage of growth mentioned, is un-
doubted. I have seen them repeatedly, and shown
them to others ; and they are further evidenced by
the very strong currents in the water close to the
body. I have no doubt that any one will be able to
see them distinctly, if looked for at the proper time
and in the proper way. According to my experience,
minute cilia in general, on algre, infusoria, planarian
worms, etc., can be seen much more distinctly with a
§ or \ in. objective and good dark ground illumina-
tion, than with J or J in. objective and transmitted
light. I will, however, endeavour to make stained
sections of the tadpole's skin next spring, and see
if the cilia can be demonstrated in this way in a
permanent slide. — Charles Ronsselet.

A New Reader of Science-Gossip. — In the-
October number of Science-Gossip received to-day,
I found the silken web of a small (book) worm, with
the tenant quite well advanced in pupation. My
paper-knife rather rudely disturbed — indeed, inde-
finitely postponed the operation. How did he get
there ? — H. E. Valentine, Boston, Mass., U.S.A.

Adders and their Young. — The question of the
adder swallowing its young, to shelter them from
danger, is one which has troubled the minds of many
generations of naturalists ; but no one appears to
have been able to bring forward such evidence, either
for or against, as would suffice to convince the
scientific world one way or the other. For instance,
if we take up a work on Natural History, we find'
that the authors are, as a rule, unable to write
definitely on the subject. Even such close observers
of the ins and outs of nature as Gilbert White, Jesse,
and the Rev. J. G. Wood of our own day, are only
able to write from what they have been told by casual
observers in favour of the swallowing doctrine, and
therefore they leave it an open question. I know of
several people — three being personal friends of mine,
but entire strangers to one another — not naturalists,,
but just casual observers, who either write, or tell me
they have seen the occurrence, and, in two cases after
killing the older reptile, have extracted the young ;
but then, on the other hand, one is met by the
assertion that such a thing cannot be, owing to the
structure of the reptile. If any of our scientists are-
so circumstanced as to be able to take the matter up,
and investigate it so thoroughly as to enable them to
bring forward convincing proof on either side, they
would remove a bone of contention, and earn the
thanks of their brother students in the by-ways of
Nature. If time and other matters will allow, I hope
to study the subject myself next year, if I can get a
supply of the reptiles to breed from, and watch
closely. — y. Herbert Allchin, Sutton Valence, Kent.

Instinct (?) of Spider. — A few days ago, I
witnessed an act on the part of a spider which
evidenced so strongly the possession of a mechanical
instinct, or reasoning — it is impossible to say which —
that I think our readers will be glad to have an account
of it. I was sitting by a window, working, when I
saw that a common house-fly had become entangled
in two or three loose threads which hung from what
had apparently been a perfect web, but which was then,
very much dilapidated ; the fly, when I first observed,
it, was hanging almost to the bottom of a pane of
glass, the web being in the upper left-hand corner..
I did not take particular notice of it at first, but on
looking again, after a lapse of five or ten minutes, I saw
that the fly was not only dead, but that it appeared to
have been raised higher. So I watched more carefully,
and then saw that a small spider was busily at work,
trying to raise its victim up to the remains of its web ;
it left the fly, went a short distance up the thread of
web, and then tried to haul the fly up ; but finding that,
owing to some reason or other, it could not do so, it
ran up to the woodwork at the top of the glass, fixed,
to it a new thread, which it brought down, wrapped!
it round the fly, ran up again a little way, and then,
succeeded in hauling the fly up about an inch, when
it repeated the whole performance again, and several
times afterwards, until it had drawn the fly almost to
the top, when it seemed to be satisfied, and settled
down to its well-earned feast. During the operation,
and when it had raised the fly about one-third of the
distance, it found its work hindered by a thread
which was attached to the side framework of the
glass, and so kept the fly down ; but the spider just

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSS IP.

23

ran round its prey, and appeared to sever the thread,
for the fly was at once loosed, and swung freely. I
looked a day or two afterwards, hoping to renew our
acquaintance, but the housemaid's brush had rudely
swept spider, fly, and web away. — J. Herbert Allchin ,
.Sutton Valence, Kent.

Note of the Cuckoo. — The cuckoo commonly
utters the three notes " cuck-coo-coo " mentioned
by Mrs. Taylor. I believe it is generally when
flying. Possibly the movement through the air with
the beak open causes this. — H. Lamb, Beaver Street,
Maidstone.

Lunar Rainbow. — At Staplehurst, Kent, on
November 13th, at 7 P.M., I noticed a rainbow
(which, I believe, is rarely to be_ seen_ at night)
arising from the refraction and dispersion of the
coloured rays of the moon in the drops of rain — for it
was raining lightly at the time. Although faint, a
little more than half the bow was distinctly visible
for about three minutes, and then gradually dis-
appeared. — R. F., Dover.

" Electrical Absurdities." — I was rather
surprised to see a paragraph under this side-heading
in your paper. There is nothing newjin the fact of
electricity being employed to propagate plants,
shrubs, or flowers. An interesting account of such
-experiments are given in Dr. Priestley's " History of
Electricity," published 1794, in which it states that
a Mr. Mainsbury, of Edinburgh, in 1746, made con-
tinuous experiments, applying electricity to develop
vegetation. From this account it appears that
myrtles so treated showed an earlier growth than
those which were out ; also, that flowers bloomed
earlier. It might be curious, however, to know why
these experiments were discontinued if they were
successful. Was it found that the application of
electricity exhausted prematurely the natural pro-
ductive resources of the plant ? This very pertinent
question was asked at our recent " Science-Gossip
Club," where we had a paper read on the " History
of the Early Researches in Electricity " ; but no
information could be afforded at the time. A biblio-
graphical and technical history of this new science
would, no doubt, find numerous readers, — W. Alex.
JSothem, Norwich.

White Sparrows in London. — It may interest
some of your ornithological readers to know, that
yesterday I saw a white sparrow in London. It was
feeding in the road with several others of the ordinary
•colour, and, so far as I could judge, seemed to be
rather over the average size. It was not perfectly
white ; in fact, it is extremly doubtful whether any
London bird could attain more than a dirty cream
colour ; but it possessed very few feathers of the normal
hue. There was a dark patch at the top of the head,
near the beak, and a ring of brown passed almost round
the throat. The lower portion of the abdomen near
the tail was, perhaps, the darkest part of the body,
with the exception of a few brown feathers in each
wing, which were most conspicuous when the bird was
flying. The tip of the tail was also brown. — W. C.
Flood.

The Extirpation of Lepidoptera. — I decidedly
concur with Mr. Slater's averment, that fearful and
unwarrantable destruction of insect-life is perpetrated
annually by "mere collectors"; but the "mere
collectors " do not by any means consist solely of
boys ; I believe that quite as many of these un-
thinking people are members of natural history and
■entomological societies. I am acquainted with not

a few, and do not forget, when an opportunity
presents itself, to express my mind to these so-called
entomologists. They are not justified in taking the
lives of beautiful butterflies and moths for the sake
of belonging to an entomological society. I am
convinced that this is the sole ambition of many.
They imagine themselves clever in being able to
rattle-off, parrot-like, a number of scientific names ;
they know nothing of the principles on which classi-
fication is founded, nothing more of the insects than
their names ; they collect butterflies and moths as a
school-boy does postage stamps. It is a great pity ;
but, if their own conscience does not condemn them,
I am afraid any censure from me or any one else will
not meet with aught but contempt. — F. A. A. Skuse,
Beech Cottage, Bow, E.

Another Use of Bee Stings. — Under this
heading, Mr. T. Winder, writing in your issue for
December last, seems to have fallen into a consider-
able mistake with regard to the sting of bees and
wasps, when he describes the wasp's sting as barbed,
and the bees like a fine cambric needle. It seems
pretty evident that Mr. W. has lived in a very happy
state, never to have found out by experience another
use for bees' stings, for, if he had, he would most
surely have discovered that the sting of the bee is
barbed, and therefore is torn from the insect and left
in the wound, while that of the wasp, being like the
needle, is withdrawn at once ; his remarks regarding
the sting tearing the cap of the honey cell are there-
fore so erroneous, that I feel compelled to correct them,
in the interest of the many young readers of your
most interesting paper. — IV. E. Harper, Maidenhead.

Rock Sections. — If any reader of Science-
Gossip has any of the following rock sections in his
possession, I shall be obliged if he will send them
to me to photograph. I will, in return, give him
a photograph of each section, gratis. Muscovite
granite, Hornblende granite, Granitite, Biotite granite,
Graphic granite, Gneissen, Luxullianite, Quartz fel-
site, Rhyolite, Pitchstone, Perlitic Pitchstone, Sye-
nite, Trachyte, Diorite, Quartz Diorite, Quartz
andesite, Hornblende andesite, Augite andesite,
Enstatite andesite, Porphyrite, Nepheline phonolite,
Lucite phonolite, Noseau and Haiiyne phonolite,
Gabbro, Leucite Basalt, Augite Basalt, Chiastolite
slate, Mica schist, Hornblende schist, Chlorite schist,
Red Gneiss, Grey Gneiss, Quartzite, Coals, etc ;
also other rare or interesting rocks. The slides will
be returned as soon as possible, in good condition. —
R. St. Stephens, A.R.SM.

The Australian Fringed Lizard. — I should
be obliged if some reader of Science-Gossip would
kindly give me some information of this lizard
(recently discovered, I believe), also where could I
get a drawing of the same 1 Any information will be
specially welcome. — Fred Challis.

Can Freed Cage-Birds Survive? — Isitreason-
ble to suppose that British birds that have been
reared by hand and kept in cages would, if turned at
liberty in a proper locality and season, be likely to
survive it ? I put this question before two of your con-
temporaries, recently, and got for reply "Yes" and
" No" respectively. I think Bechstein supports the
latter theory, adding (if I remember rightly) "if they
manage to live through the summer, they are almost
sure to die the following winter ! " Other authors I
have perused do not touch the subject at all. I should
be very glad of information, on this very (to me)
interesting point, from a practical source. — J. JVdds-
worth.

24

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now
publish Science-Gossip earlier than formerly, we cannot un-
dertake to insert in the following number any communications
which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month.

To Anonymous Querists. — We must adhere to our rule of
not noticing queries which do not bear the writers' names.

To Dealers and others. — We are always glad to treat
dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general
ground as amateurs, in so far as the " exchanges " offered are fair
exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are simply
disguised advertisements, for the purpose of evading the cost of
advertising, an advantage is taken of out gratuitous insertion of
" exchanges " which cannot be tolerated.

We request that all exchanges may be signed with name (or
initials) and full address at the end.

W. A. Clarke. — The occurrence of the two distinct colours
and varieties of chrysanthemum on the same .stalk is very
curious and uncommon.

B. Prosser. — We suspect that the reference to the "scales "
on the wings of insects other than butterflies and moths is
erroneous. It may refer to the scales on the bodies of such
insects as the Thysanuridas.

P. H. R. — See article in Science-Gossip, vol. xii. p. 263, on
" How to Manage a Formicary."

W. J. Horn. — From your sketch, we judge the creature to
be a species of Pianola.

D. W. — The "nuts" are the seed of the Chilian pine [Arau-
caria imbricata).

M. T. Denne. — Your specimens are : No. 1, Plumu'aria
pinnata ; 2, Flustra cJiartacea ; 3, Dij>hasici rosacea; and
4, Sertularia filiculata.

J. B. — In purchasing a microscope for thefir-t time, we think
it would be better to get one with rack and pinion, and get used
to working it. The objectives could be purchased as you
needed them.

W. Duncan. — The specimen appearsto.be a variety of Alcyo-
nidium parasiticum. No. 1 is not a Lepraha, but perhaps a
species of Cellaria or Hippothoa — too indistinct to identify.
No. 2 is a species of Microporella encrusting Flustra foliacea.
No. 3, Lepralia coccinea.

EXCHANGES.

Duplicates: Urania, Fulgens, Sloanus, Papilios, Glaucus,
Thyodamus, Diphihis, Eucharis, Salmacis, Volina, Lassinassa,
Philodice, Mariamne, Dananidoes, etc. Desiderata: Urania,
Rhypheus, Morphos, etc. Send lists to — W. H. Scott, 14 Pros-
pect Hill, Leicester.

Wanted, any illustrated books on British grasses and mosses.
— T. J. Porter, Perranarworthal, Cornwall.

Fossil land and freshwater shells wanted, also recent forms
of fos-il genera, British and foreign. — Chas. iVlusson, 23 Map-
perley Hill, Nottingham.

"Knowledge" for 1S83-4, Science-Gossip 1884-5 r ° ex-
change ; also a few weli-blown eggs for others. Wanted,
Morriss.'s "Nests and Eggs of British Birds." — H. F. Medley,
Romsey, Hampshire.

Kirby's "European Butterflies and Moths," fine volume,
quite new, 61 coloured plates, cost 37.?. 6d., to exchange for
telescope, album, Crustacea, or >other objects. — James Ellison,
Steeton, Leeds.

Wanted, Nos. 160, 161, 167, 168 of "Quarterly Journal Geo.
Society," also any odd 'number of "Geological Magazine."—
George E. East, jun., 10 Basinghall Street, London, E.C.

What offers for Captain Brown's " Fossil Conchology,"
10 parts, complete, with 37 coloured plates, also 20 additional
plates in cloth; Mantell's "Geology of the Isle of Wight;"
also "Wonders of Geology," and Buckland's "Geology and
Mineralogy " t — George E. East, jun., 241 Evering Road, Upper
Clapton, E.

Duplicates: P. liueatus, A. Jluviatilis, H. Cartusiana,
H. caperata var. major and ornata, P. secale, B. perversa,
C. Kolphii, and A. acicula. Desiderata : British land and
freshwater shells. — C. H. Morris, School Hill, Lewes, Sussex.

Wing-cases and foot pads of male Dytiscus for good un-
mounted material. — C. F. Cross, 56 Werneth Hall Road, Old-
ham.

Forty species of British marine shells (over 100 shells), named
and localised, good specimens, many rare. — C. S., Maplewell,
Loughborough.

Wanted, British ferns, mosses, horse-tails, and grasses, in
exchange for fossils of the Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous
ages. — J. W. Baylis, 56 Vine Street, Liverpool.

Wanted, Plumularia setacea, Sert. gracilis, Bugula tur-
binata, Nota)nia bursaria, etc. Good exchange in north-
eastern species will be given. — W. Duncan, 1 India Street,
Montrose.

Will exchange Cassell's "Technical Educator" (unused)
and Woodfall's " Letters of Junius" (Bonn's edition) for good
fossils or shells. — R. Cairns, The Grove, Currier Lane, Ashton-
under-Lyne.

Bikds'-skins; owner has several Zululand birds'-skins, of
various sorts and sizes, which he shot in South Africa ; also an
iguana-skin and a fruit-bat. Will exchange some for a micro-
scope suitable for histological work ; or open to offers.— Staff-
Sergeant Fred. Smith, Medical Staff Corps, Royal Infirmary,
Dublin.

To Irish botanists : Would be glad to exchange botanical
specimens.— W. S. Harrison, 15 Park Place East, Sunderland.

Collection of Ceylonese shells, including several rare
species of Helix, Bulimus, Cyclophorus, Cataulus, etc. Offers
solicited in good shells or fossils from various localities. — Miss
Linier, Arragon Close, Twickenham.

Wanted : Science-Gossip for 1871-2-3, complete, bound or
unbound. — F. R. Brokenshire, 24 Oxford Terrace, Exeter.

Vols. ii. and v. of the "Intellectual Observer," and vol. i.
and 22 parts unbound of the "Popular Science Review," all in-
good condition. What offers?— F. R. Brokenshire, 24 Oxford
Terrace, Exeter.

Wanted, Morris's "British Moths," and will exchange a
number of well-set V. urticce for a larva collecting-box. —
A. E. Large, 122 Sunny Hill Road, Streatham.

Would any one assist in stocking a museum at the new
pupil teachers' school about to be opened in W'illiam Street,
Hammersmith ? Physiological, natural history, or geological
specimens would be very thankfully received and acknowledged
by W. Jacobs, 12 Selwyn Villas, Munster Road, Fulham, S.W.
To conchologists : British Unionidae (freshwater mussels).
Collectors having in their possession peculiar forms or varieties
— especially if they be local or rare — would greatly oblige by
lending them for examination ; the writer undertaking to pay
expenses of transit both ways, and to take great care of all
shells entrusted to him. Duplicates will be gladly exchanged.
— G. Sherriff Tye, 10 Richmond Road, Soho Park, Handsworth,
Birmingham.

To conchologists : continental Unionidae (freshwater mussels).
The writer desires to exchange British or foreign land and fresh-
water shells for the above Unzo batavus not required. — G. S.
Tye, 10 Richmond Road, Soho Park, Handsworth, Birmingham.
Wood sections, many single and double stained, for exchange.
— W. Stott, Lostock, Bolton.

Historical and other slides for exchange; hand and foot of
Egyptian mummy from Thebes, 2000 years old ; what offer in
micro mounts or requisites? Robe of Soudanese dervish for
exchange.— R. St. Stephens, A.R.S.M., 25 Fordingley Road,
West Hampstead, London, N.W.

Offered, about 100 British wild plants, well pressed and
neatly mounted on good paper, about 16 in. X 10 in., in exchange
for any correctly-named microscopical slides. — T. J. Porter,
Perranarworthal, Cornwall.

Wanted, a secondhand copy either of Lang's or Kirby's
" European Butterflies." — R. Postans, Midhurst, Springfield
Road, St. Leonards-on-Sea.

British wild plants: offered, well-dried specimens in ex-
change for well-dried specimens. Desiderata numerous; lists-
exchanged. Nos. 166, 2i2, 303, 376, 550, 551, 566, 608, 641,
646, 705, 726, 808, 1024, 1066, 1131, and many others. — Mr.
Taylor, Certificated Botanist, Free Museum, Paisley, N.B.

BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED.
"Animal Anecdotes," by H. A. Page (London: Chatto &
Wind-us). — " Lunar Science," by the Rev. T. Harley (London :
Swan Sonnenschein & Co.). — "The Young Collector — Crus-
tacea -and Spiders," by F. A. A. Skuse (London: Swan Son-
nenschein & Co.). — "The Animal World" (vol. for 1S86). —
"The Band of Mercy" for 1886.— "The Rotifera," by P. H.
Gosse and Dr. Hudson, part 6 (London : Longmans). — " British
Petrography," by J. H. Teal!, part 10. — "Proceedings of the
Camera Club." — Cole's " Studies in Microscopical .Science." —
"Journal of Royal Microscopical Society." — "Proceedings of
American Academy." — " The Amateur Photographer." — " The
Camera." — "The Scientific Enquirer." — "The Garner." —
"The Naturalist." — "The Botanical Gazette." — "Journal of
the New York Microscopical Society." — " Belgravia." — " The
Gentleman's Magazine." — " Le Monde de la Science." —
"American Monthly Microscopical Journal." — "The Mid-
land Naturalist." — " Feuille des Jeunes Naturalistes." — "The
American Naturalist." — "Proceedings of Geologists' Associa-
tion." — " Proceedings Folkestone Nat. Hist. Soc." — " Proceed-
ings Davenport Acad. Nat. Sciences," vol. iv. — " L'Ingenieur
Electricien." — "Bulletins U. S. Geol. Survey," Nos. 2S and 29.
— &.C. &c.

Communications received up to the 13TH ult. from:
T. J. P.-R. F. D.— P. H. R.— R. G.-G. S. D.— W. H. S.—
W. P. H.— G. E. E.— W. H. H.— E. D. M.— J. W.— C. H. M.
— C. S.— B. T.— T. W— B. T.— G. E. E., iun.— B. P.— J. E.—
H. F. M.— F. C— F.W. E.— R. St. S— W. E. H.-C. F. C—
H. A. C— J. W. B.— R. D. P.— M. A.— R. B. C— A. B. S.—
F. A. A. S.— A. B. G— C. M— W. D— W. A. C— J. T.—
W. G. W.— F. R. B.-E. H.— J. E. L.— S. W.— R. J. W.—
R. E. L.— F. G. F.— T. D. A. C-M. T. D.— R. C— W. J.—
F. S.— W. S. H.— N. F. L.— J. W. G.— J. W. W.— J. B.—
W. A. C— H. W. B.— W. W. W.— F. E.-C. B.— W. E. L.—
R. St. S.— T. J. P.— R. P. M.— J. M. B. T.— &c &c.

IIARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

2 5

THE TWO MIRRORS.

By W. J. N.
No. IV.

O complete the
solution of the
problem proposed
in the last article,
we have still to
determine the
position of the
bull's-eye conden-
ser, with which
we are to form the
pencil of parallel
rays. Accuracy
in this particular
is an important
condition of suc-
cess. If the rays
of the lamp be
not rendered truly
parallel, the focal
distance already
assigned to the mirror will be incorrect.

The two " principal " foci of the bull's-eye, that is,
its foci for parallel rays falling either upon its convex
or its plane surface, must first be ascertained.

Place the lamp at some distance from a wall of the
room. Near the wall-paper set the bull's-eye, on a
level with the lamp-flame, and having its plane side
turned towards the wall. Move it from and towards
the wall, until a small spot of light is seen in sharpest
focus on the wall paper, surrounded by a broad
margin of weak light. Measure the distance between
the plane side and the wall, and note it down as the
principal focal distance of the lens when the parallel
rays fall upon its convex surface.

Next, turn the plane surface towards the lamp,
and repeat the experiment. The focal distance is
now increased, and the bull's-eye has to be set a little
further from the wall than before. The spot of light
formed at the focus is not so bright, but the margin
of diffused light has almost disappeared. Measure
the distance between convex surface and wall, and
No. 266. — February 1S87.

note it down in the "principal focus," when the
parallel rays are received upon its plane surface.

Now let us suppose the conditions of these ex-
periments to be reversed ; a luminous body, of the
same size as the focal spot of light, being placed at
the same distance from the same surface of the
bull's-eye as that measured in each of the two cases.
The divergent rays emanating from that body will be
rendered parallel by the bull's-eye. It appears,
therefore, that when we employ the bull's-eye to
reduce divergent rays to parallelism, either of its
two surfaces maybe turned towards the light; but
that there is a difference of focal distance in the two
cases, which must be remembered and attended to.

When brilliancy of illumination is the first con-
sideration — as when using the spot lens — there will
be an advantage gained by placing the bull's-eye in
the nearer of the two positions, that is, with its plane
surface turned towards the light. In all other cases,
it is better to use the reversed position, the light
obtained being somewhat more pure, although a
little less powerful.

In connection with this use of the bull's-eye, there
are two difficulties to be overcome. Firstly, the lens
has a natural infirmity, called spherical aberration.
Parallel rays passing near the margin are refracted
differently from those passing near the centre, and
come to a focus at a different distance. This caused
the border of weak light surrounding the image on
the wall-paper, above referred to. Marginal rays
had come to a focus between the wall and bull's-eye,
and then, crossing, had spread out so as to form the
illuminated border. This effect of spherical aberra-
tion, it will be remembered, was much less noticeable
when the convex side of the bull's-eye was turned
towards the wall. Conversely, when diverging rays
from a spot of light fall on the bull's-eye at the
distance of its principal focus, the marginal rays
instead of being rendered parallel, like the rest, are
rendered convergent.

The second difficulty arises from the fact, that a

c

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

lamp-flame is not a small spot of light like the focal
image formed on the wall, but a group of spots massed
together. Only one small portion of the flame,
therefore, can at one time represent the focal image,
and emit rays which will all (apart from the effects of
aberration) be rendered parallel by the bull's-eye.

We may, to a great extent, overcome these
difficulties thus : — Turn down the lamp-wick, until
the whole flame is very small indeed, and let one
end of this small flame face the mirror. This will
do much towards obtaining the small spot of
brilliant white light desired. Then, to get rid of
such admixture of convergent and divergent rays
with the parallel pencil, as is still unavoidable from
both the causes named, move the lamp, if possible,
to a con siderable distance from the mirror without
altering its angular position. Many of the non-
parallel rays will then pass outside the mirror, and
the intensity of the others will be so reduced as to
render them comparatively harmless.

But it may be objected, that it would not be
possible to get sufficient light from so small a flame,
placed at a distance from the microscope. I reply,
that for most purposes (always excluding dark
ground) the illumination lamp-wick may be turned
down until the top of the flame is only just level with
the top of the brass burner, and the lamp may, in
addition, be placed at a distance of (say) two feet
from the mirror — and yet the light will be ample for
the one-eighth inch object-glass, plus the B eye-piece
(say for a power of 600 diameters), and will be of the
coolest, purest, kind — very agreeable to the eyes, and
admirably fitted to secure the perfect working of the
object-glass. I have found it possible to get a
middling view of diatoms under the f-inch, by
the light of a composite candle ; and since writing
the above paragraph I have examined many diatoms
under the one-eighth, with the light of a lamp that
was turned down as described above ; so that, in
fact, it appeared to be almost " out."

Let the bull's-eye then be placed at the distance of
one of its principal foci from the nearest part of the
lamp-flame, the_said distance depending, as we have
seen, on which of its two surfaces faces the lamp.
Adjust its height carefully to that of the flame, so
that the rays may be received from the brightest
portion of the same, and that the centre of the pencil
may be thrown on to the centre of the mirror. If a
line be supposed to pass from the edge of the flame
to the centre of the mirror, that line should pass
through the centre of the bull's-eye at right angles to
its plane surface. (A piece of paper laid on the
mirror may assist the novice to direct the rays thereto.)
In getting the microscope and its accessories ready
for work, it is well to follow some regular method.
To the beginner, I will venture to suggest the
following :

1. Decide what kind of illumination will best suit
the objects you propose to examine.

2. Set the mirror at the proper distance from the
stage for the kind of illumination which you have
selected.

3. Place the microscope on its platform, and by
means of the thread and buttons, set the tube nt the
proper angle of slope.

4. If eye-piece or object-glass be present, remove it.

5. Place the mirror in the axis of the microscope.
To do this, first glance down the outside of the tube,
and see that the movable stem on which the mirror
slides is in line with the tube itself. Then look down
the empty tube, and, without moving the stem, turn
up the brass hoop which holds the mirrors, edgeways
towards the eye, so that the mirrors face right and
left and are hidden from view. If the hoop is not
seen exactly in the centre of the field, turn the clip
round upon the stem till the centering is accurate.

6. Slide the instrument, forward or backward,
until the centre of the mirror is directly over the spot
marked on the tray.

7- Place the lamp alongside the mirror, and raise
it on its pillar (if necessary) until the top of the wick
is just below the centre of the mirror ; then remove
it to its proper place on the tray, which place must
correspond with the focal distance already assigned
to the mirror.

8. Place the bull's-eye in position.

9. Look down the empty tube of the microscope,
and, without altering any adjustment already made,
turn up the plane mirror till you can see in it the
illuminated bull's-eye. If the latter be in correct
position, the centre and an elliptical space around it,
but not the margin, will be brilliantly illuminated by
a whitish-yellow (not red) light, without any appear-
ance of dark spots. If the light be dim, or red, the
bull's-eye is wrongly adjusted in height. If the shape
of the illuminated surface be not symmetrical, the
bull's-eye is not truly facing the mirror. If the
illuminated surface have dark spots on it, or extend
to the margin of the lens, the incident rays are not
all parallel, the lens being too near the lamp. If
the illuminated surface be small, the distance from
the lamp is too great. No pains must be spared to
get the correct pencil. Failing here, you fail en-
tirely.

10. If the diaphragm is to be made use of, now
slip its holder into position.

11. Gently turn over the mirrors in their Y -holder,
that the concave mirror may be substituted for the
plane one. (For low powers the plane mirror is
better.)

12. Place a trial-slip on the stage, and see whether
the light thrown upon it from the mirror is well-
focused and good. If not, some mistake has been
made, and must be corrected.

13. Attach object-glass and eye-piece.

14. Replace the trial-slip by the object, and rotate
the diaphragm till the pleasantest amount of light is
obtained.

HARDWICKKS SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

27

That which has taken thus long to describe, is in
practice very quickly accomplished : a few minutes
sufficing to put everything in readiness for work.

To some microscopists it may seem unnecessary to

be so exact in the details of illumination ; but if the

reader will give a fair trial to the system I am

endeavouring to describe, I have full confidence,

founded on my own success, that he will find himself

a great gainer every way ; obtaining better results,

with more certainty, increased pleasure, relief to the

eyesight, and great economy in the consumption of

lamp-oil.

(To be continued.)

MY DRAWING-ROOM PETS.

By Clara Kingsford.

Part II.

I HAVE read that the lizard has a most rapacious
appetite ; mine I considered rather small and
slow feeders, sometimes waiting quite half-an-hour
between each capture, if the insect or spider was
unusually large. They only fed quickly when very
small flies or gnats were provided, which were caught
at once in the mouth and swallowed instantaneously,
and in quick succession.

It is popularly supposed that the lizard's bifid and
very extensile tongue is used in catching its prey. I
have never seen it so used ; but how far it is used to
assist in holding its prey when once caught I am not
prepared to say. However, this poor, little, harmless
tongue, source of so much fear to the uninitiated, and
simply because it is bifid, is very useful for the purpose
of drinking. Soon after noon my pet Tommy refused
food, even if he had previously been very hungry and
unsatisfied, for I was not always able to procure in
the morning that which he required. For the rest of
the'day he would lie coiled up on the highest part
of the grass, and always nearest the light, and watch
my movements. When the shades of evening were
closing o'er us, he would retire for the night. His
habits were so regular that he was a perfect chrono-
meter ; and his being very sensitive to cold (as all
lizards are), made him an exact indicator of the state
of the temperature ; even during the summer-time, if
the weather was cold or only dull, his motions were
slow and drowsy, and he would not eat — would remain
with his eyes closed, only opening them partially to
look at me when I spoke to him. But on a bright,
warm day he was all activity — his bright eye was on
the alert, his ear quickly turned at the slightest noise,
and his agile figure was constantly to be seen gliding
about, which at every turn fell into graceful curves ;
he would raise his head every now and then, and put
out his tongue, and by dumb motions make his wants
known, but he never uttered a sound, neither did
any of his confreres in captivity. But I have at this

present time a French lizard (Lacerta Zurich's), which
does emit a sound, something like "chup " or " chip,"
sharply and quickly pronounced. This lizard measures
eleven inches, and is of a beautiful metallic green-
and-black, and is a most docile and tractable indi-
vidual, loving to be nursed and petted, and most
patient under suffering.

When I first received Chups, for that is its pet name,
its right eye was injured, which caused it much pain,
and myself much anxiety. Upon one occasion whilst
I was holding my newly-acquired pet in my hand, it
rubbed its injured eye on it. I took the hint, and
rubbed and bathed with hot water the injured organ,
but without any favourable result — the sealed lids
would not part. At last, by advice of my medical
man, I applied oil ; it was most touching to see the
poor creature when I took it up turn its eye round to
me in anticipation of having it dressed, and I could
tell by the quivering of its body, that I sometimes
pained it, yet it never attempted to bite or leave my
hand. In a short time the oil softened the lids, and
they came nearly off; and when my medical man
severed the piece of flesh by which they hung, our
patient gave a start, but never attempted to bite
either of us. Most cruelly maligned are these reptilei
when they are accused of stinging and biting.

Our two true British lizards, Z. vivipara and Lacerta
agilis, hybernate, and when the autumn has far ad-
vanced, they betake themselves to their burrows, not
to reappear until the early spring. I believe it is not yet
ascertained whether their torpidity is very profound,
and one must not judge by the actions of a creature
kept in captivity, as my little pet was, in a warm
room, where I had not the convenience to give him
sufficient depth of sand to burrow in. However, like
a contented and clever little fellow as he was, he made
the best of his position by retiring early in October
under the grass or saucer of water, to reappear at
intervals of about three weeks' duration. About the
middle of February, he was again to be seen all life
and activity on bright, sunny days, and even at this
abnormally early date he would have taken food,
had I had any to offer him ; and when March had
fairly set in his appetite became very alarming, as
was fully demonstrated by his actions. On one
particularly hot day my poor pet was nearly wild,
and I believe that he tried his hardest to express his
wants verbally. I had not any insect food to offer
him : I was in despair ; when a kind young friend
came in, who hunted up a dead and dried-up fly,
which she threw to him ; he caught it in his mouth,
and swallowed it instantaneously. Nothing more
could be found ; we were at our wits' end ; when I
happily thought of offering him a small piece of raw
beef, which he ate greedily, and a second and a third
piece was accepted, and so on, until his appetite was
appeased. A r ecessitas non habet leges.

Tommy would eat either raw beef, mutton, or
lamb ; small pieces of any one of these I presented

C 2

2S

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

to him between the points of a pair of scissors. He
evidently esteemed the first named as a veritable
bonne bouche, and showed his preference and thorough
appreciation of it by vulgarly, but very demonstra-
tively, licking his wide mouth (furnished with two
rows of teeth) well after each piece.

Feeding him in the above-mentioned manner tried
my patience sorely, for, as I have before stated, he was
a slow feeder ; but I was stimulated into perseverance
by the hope that providing living insect food for him
would not again be necessary. But my pet was a
knowing little fellow, always on the alert, and the
instant he heard the buzz of a fly and saw it on the
wing, he persistently refused the proffered meat, and
there was nothing for it but to box flies and other
small insects alive, and tumble the box, which opened
as it fell, near him, and let free the poor victims. At
first Tommy was startled, and would run and hide
when a box rolled near him ; but he soon learned
to know what it contained, and would eye quite ex-
pectantly any person approaching him, box in hand,
and would be ready to seize his prey the instant it
escaped.

Tommy never took much water during the summer,
or when he was in good condition. It was only on
the occasion of his reappearing in the winter, as I have
previously mentioned, when his body was attenuated,
and his skin dry and hanging in folds around him, that
water appeared useful and grateful to him. Weak, and
scarcely able to drag himself along, yet he would
immediately make for it ; at first stand with his
anterior limbs in it, and drink by slow but continued
lapping for quite half-an-hour, after which he would
wade into it, and remain for some time with the
posterior portion of his body resting in it. This
appeared a strange proceeding, considering how
sensitive the lizard is to cold ; but after mature con-
sideration, I judged it must have been for the purpose
of cleansing the pores, a row of which runs down the
inside of each thigh of the Z. vivipara.

(To be continued.)

TEETH OF FLIES.

By W. H. Harris.

No. 12.—CORDYLURA PUB ERA.

THE fly whose dental organs are represented in
the present illustration belongs to the Acalypte-
ratse division of the Muscidse ; it is by no means rare
if sought for in its usual habitat ; it frequents marshy
places, banks of rivers, and sluggish streams.

In size and shape it approaches very nearly the
common dung-fly, but there are points of difference
which distinguish it very clearly from Scatophaga
stercoraria.

The following description is taken from Walker's
* Insecta Britannica.' "Head and thorax with

white tomentum ; palpi tawny, with darker tips ;
antennae not near reaching the epistoma ; third joint
longer than the second. Thorax with two broad
black stripes. Wings grey, tinged with yellow in
front, tips brown, a slight incision at the tip of the
prasbrachial vein ; discal transverse vein parted by
much more than its length from the praebrachial
transverse vein, and by much less than its length
from the border, haltiers, tibiae, and tarsi tawny ;
abdomen slightly tinged with grey. Male : front
very broad, frontalia deep black. Female : front
moderately broad, frontalia red, abdomen compressed
at tip."

The proboscis of this fly is of the ordinary type
possessed by the Muscidae, each lobe contains seven
teeth of universal form, they are simple stiletto-
shaped organs, long, and moderately stout, hard and

Fig. 9. — Cordylura pulcra.

brittle, breaking with a clean fracture if unduly
pressed, they are deep amber in colour, and collec-
tively occupy a large portion of the oral aperture.

This appears to be the most primitive form of
tooth, they are met with in many species of the Mus-
cidae, in varying size and number, rarely, however, do
they attain any great size, but range from hair-like
processes to short blunted rods ; it is in this fly the
greatest development has been found, and hence it is
made the type. The various forms of teeth appear to
be produced by a simple process of evolution. At-
tention has been directed from time to time to the
folding of the membrane which forms the foundation
for the chitinous deposit, sometimes this folding
commences at the base and terminates before reaching
the free end, at others this order is reversed ; oc-
casionally the membrane is considerably more con-
voluted ; it is to the modification of this process wc
must look for the origin of form, by the diminution or

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

29

entire suppression of one or more parts and by the
multiplication or enlargement of others it is easy to
produce the most divergent forms met with.

This fact, however, only establishes itself in the
mind after much investigation, but I venture to think
that a well-selected set of slides of the "teeth of
flies " would form as good an illustration of the
development of an organ as it is possible to find
within the scope of animal economy.

Although not immediately connected with the
main subject of these notes, there are one or two
ideas which have been suggested during the investi-
gation which I venture to add.

At first sight the Diptera would appear to offer
little opportunity for studying traits of character, yet
I dare affirm if anyone will give the requisite atten-
tion to the matter he will not be long before he dis-

Scctlc of 1000'" of tin t/irh
Fig. 10. — Teeth of Cordylura ptibera.

covers peculiarities of which he had little prior
conception. There are social flies, and solitary flies ;
flies which show an innate smartness in their move-
ments, and others sluggish and indolent in their
avocations ; timid flies, persistent flies, pugnacious
flies, cunning flies, patient flies ; in brief, whether
these habits are ascribed to instinct or reason, taking
into account the services they perform they are as
well provided for their proper discharge as any other
class of animals occupying a higher position in the
scale of the great scheme of nature, and their recog-
nition adds another point of interest for those who
take up the study of the Diptera.

Among the Syrphidse, which are truly flower-loving
flies, no trace of dental organs can be discovered, the
development of pseudo-trachece, however, reaches its
maximum proportions in both size and number, so
large, indeed, are the canals formed by them that

pollen of plants can be conveyed in an unbroken
condition to the stomach ; I have a slide before me
as I write, showing the stomach of one of these flies
quite distended with grains in all stages of decom-
position. The bulk of these flies are doubtless
nectar-loving creatures in their perfect state, and in
all their stages may be looked upon as friends to the
gardener, the larvae feeding upon aphides, while the
fly aids the fertilization of the plant.

The phenomenon of sleep may be frequently
witnessed in this family of flies. I have often seen a
fly alight upon a leaf, and in the space of a few
seconds become perfectly motionless, and in a few
more seconds lose all consciousness of external
objects; the hand could then be approached, or a
feather, or any other object, could be waved about
within a tenth of an inch of its large eyes, but it
would remain perfectly oblivious of any
danger. Repose of this kind rarely
exceeds a few minutes at a time during
the day-time. In the higher animals
sleep is supposed to be the result of a
torpid condition of the brain, during
which its volume is somewhat di-
minished in consequence of a less active
state of the blood passing through the
vessels of the brain ; exercise or mental
occupation produces sleep, provided
they are judiciously indulged in ; as
these flies are almost constantly on the
wing, hovering hawk-like over plants,
their attention apparently riveted upon
the object they are seeking, there must
be a large expenditure of muscular
force and (if they think) the mental
energy which requires frequent recruit-
ing by short periods of repose.

Occasionally accounts appear in the

newspapers of deaths having occurred

from the bite of a fly. At first sight

one is almost tempted to be increduloui

as to this being the true cause of such fatal results.

During the investigations necessary for compiling
the series of notes on the teeth of flies, I have made
some thousands of dissections of the mouth organs of
various creatures of this large order. It is not at all
an unusual occurrence to find the oral aperture
literally teeming with Bacteria. Is it possible that in
certain conditions of the blood, the bite of a fly, so
infected, may be followed by a fatal result ? If so,
surely it is not too much to inquire if medical science
cannot speedily find an antidote.

There may be nothing novel in this information,
but at any rate, so long as death may be attributed
to such an apparently simple cause, nothing bearing
on the question ought to be considered unworthy of
investigation, and it is with this object I am placing on
record the experience gained over a number of years
of close attention bestowed upon these insects.

3°

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

ON COLLECTING DIPTERA.
By E. Brunetti. — No. II.

[Continued from p. 12.]

SO far as the actual collecting of specimens goes,
to which I wish to confine myself here, the
rules to be observed are few and easily fulfilled.

Diptera may be caught with the ordinary gauze
butterfly net — one that is rather shorter than usual
will be found most useful, as many flies persistently
hover above bushes and the small recesses in the
lower branches of overhanging trees, and a long net
is liable to get entangled in the brambles or other
prickly vegetable growths, that is often met with in
such situations.

Most of the Diptera inhabiting these situations are
partial to a sho t flight, or to running about the
sunny foliage, and when disturbed often return to
the spot again, or retreat to the interior of the wood.
Such are many of the Syrphidae, the Dexiidae,
Tachinidae, Asilidae, and many of the Tipulidae.

I must here diverge for a moment to remark, that
many families or groups have a special manner of
taking flight, and the sooner the collector becomes
acquainted with the peculiarity of each, the more
successful will he be, for a second stroke of the net
is rarely afforded one in the case of flies, owing to
their swift flight.

Bushy banks, especially those on which various
wild flowers grow, are good hunting grounds for
Diptera, and the species in these situations will all
be found to take rapid flight, seldom returning to
their resting place, unless they belong to the Syrphidae,
a family noted for hovering over flowers, especially
during sunshine.

As a rule, the species preferring hot and sunshiny
days for flight are more richly coloured and are more
rapid on the wing than those which are to be found
at all times in greater or less abundance.

The Syrphidae, a few genera of the Stratiomyiidse,
are the groups principally affected by the heat, and
most likely to disappear with the sunshine.

Some species irequent fields where cattle graze,
and the neighbouring woods, such as the Tabanidae,
Oestridae, any many genera of blood-sucking Muscidae ;
for these groups it is almost useless to search beyond
the favoured localities.

One family, the Tipulidae proper, is most plentiful
on the borders of pools, marshy banks, and bushes
growing, so to speak, in detached patches on large open
spaces, though these latter should be sheltered in some
manner, either by isolated groups of trees, the borders
of a wood, or by being situated in a natural depression
of the ground. After an evening shower this family
is often abundant in such localities ; I have often
taken dozens on such occasions, where during the
daytime it was difficult to beat a specimen from the
bushes.

Many species are only to be found on dung,
though in comparative abundance there ; most of
these thus taken will prove to be acalypterate Muscidae,
the chief genera being Drosophila, Pula, Limosura,
Borbores, Tetanocera and Scatophaga (two species of
the last genus are abundant everywhere).

One brilliantly coloured genus of the higher
Muscidae, Lucilia, is often attracted by the odour of
excrementitious matter, and I have occasionally taken
Asilidae on it.

The Limnobne and some other genera of Tipulidae,
the Culicidae and Chironomidae, chiefly frequent the
banks of ditches or ponds, owing to the larva being
aquatic, many species of these families are abundant
on summer evenings, often unpleasantly so, usually
collecting in small swarms and hovering over the
waterside or beneath the lower branches of trees.
Such are Culex, Limnobia, Trichocera, Chironomus,
&c.

On reeds and the plants on the banks of ditches
may be taken the pretty genus of Tipulidae, Pty-
chopteryx.

Human habitations form the habit of no incon-
siderable number of species, chiefly belonging to the
Anthomyiidae, a large sub-family of Muscidae, over
two hundred species of which are known to be
British.

The Phoridae, a small family following the acalyp-
terate Muscidae, are, I believe, more often taken in
houses than elsewhere.

I could probably compile a list of over fifty species
taken myself in London houses, and Mr. Verrall, I
believe, can increase this number to over seventy, but,
in his case, though living in a country town, a more
extensive range of species might naturally be ex-
pected.

Sweeping is a most excellent means of obtaining
the smaller species of Diptera, and should be ex-
tensively employed, whilst beating is equally pro-
ductive ; both these methods should be practised at
every opportunity.

I think I have now given a sufficient number of
hints respecting the nature of localities likely to
produce Diptera, and will conclude this part of the
subject, by saying that, as a general, universal rule,
Diptera are to be found everywhere and at all times.

Respecting setting, I must now make a few remarks,
though the rules observed in the other orders of
insects are applicable to the Diptera also.

It is better to pin all the specimens, but should
any be carded, it is advisable to invert one or more
of them, after subjecting them to a close examination,
even to the minutest detail, so that no doubt can
possibly exist of being the same species.

My experience teaches me, however, that in all
cases, carding is better avoided, and the delicate pins
now manufactured abolish the necessity of this
questionable method of preserving Diptera.

When these extremely fine pins are employed, they

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

3i

should be stuck into a small cube of white pith
which is then gummed upon the end of a card, a
stronger pin passing through the other end of the
card, and the card raised up the pin to a convenient
height. One of my objections to carding is the lack
of uniformity of appearance noticeable in collections,
owing to some entomologists pinning and others
carding the same species.

(To be co nii lined.)

NATURAL HISTORY RAMBLES.

By H. Wallis Kew, F.E.S.

No. IT— In the Woods.

MANY afternoons have I spent in rambling
about in Burwell Wood, which lies along
the eastern foot of the Lincolnshire chalk wolds,
not far from the little market town of Louth ; on
each occasion, however, some new point of interest
presents itself — very often an insect, a shell, or a
flower, not before taken there, is brought home.

Burwell Wood is mentioned by the celebrated
Dr. Martin Lister in his " Historian Animalium
Anglian," dated 1678, where he records the taking of
the pretty land-shell Cyclostoma elegans, which is still
to be found in the locality. On page 123 of the old
work mentioned above, the author, speaking of
Zonitcs fitlvits, says : — "I have found it more than
once in moss at the roots of large trees in Burwell
Woods, in Lincolnshire, yet the creature is very
scarce." I have searched for this little shell, but am
unable to find it now.

On the afternoon of the 4th of September, 1886,
I had taken train to Authorpe Station for the
purpose of walking home via Burwell Wood, and
while going down the road, soon after leaving
the railway station, a large wheel-shaped spider's
web, such as are constructed by members of the
family Epeirides, was observed hung from the
foliage over the ditch by the hedge side. By beating
the herbage and holding the net beneath the web,
a fine female example of the extremely beautiful
Epcira scalaris was obtained. As the prejudice
against spiders, which have been much neglected by
the general run of natural history observers, is so
strong, it may be well to give a brief description of
the colours of the species mentioned above, which is
a large spider, females sometimes measuring eight
lines. The abdomen of the female is very large, of
a beautiful yellow colour, with a broad, clearly
defined, rich brown band, with undulating edges, on
the hind half of the upper side, which becomes
narrower as it runs backwards. Along the same
hedge another orbicular snare was noticed, this
time with a garden spider (Epcira diadcmata) at rest
in the centre.

Leaving the road and crossing over some fields,
a pond was passed in which Bythinia tentacittata
appeared to be the most plentiful fresh-water shell ;
shortly after this Burwell Wood was reached, one or
two notes being made on the way, viz. : —

A common blue butterfly (Lyccetta icants) seen on
the yellow flowers of fleabane.

A sting-fly (Ilcematopota pluvialis, L.) seen, but
fortunately not felt !

The celadine (Chclidonium majtts) in flower by the
hedge side in the village of Muckton. It was
probably an escape from the cottage gardens.

Zilla atrica ( = Epcira calophylla, Blackwall)
abundant on holly and furze-bushes.

As soon as I had entered Burwell Wood a fine
plant of the musk-mallow (Malva moschatd) in full
flower was found. My object was to cross the entire
wood so as to arrive at Grisel Bottom, a very beauti-
ful valley on the opposite side, one bank of which is
wooded and the other grassy. While crossing the
wood two specimens of the spider, Epcira quadrat a,
which is said to be the handsomest as well as one of
the largest of British spiders, were obtained, to-
gether with another specimen of Epcira scalaris.
The red berries of the woodbine were very con-
spicuous in the wood.

I now arrived at Grisel Bottom, and while going
down its steep wooded side found dead shells of
Cyclostoma elegans ; the banks of this valley may
have been the very place in which Dr. Lister found
the shell in 1678. On flowers of Agrimony (Agri-
monia eupatoria) here a ruby tail (C/irysis ignita) was
observed, and curiously it was being preyed upon by
a crab-spider (Xysticus cristalns).

On a thistle near, numbers of the peculiar larva?
of a tortoise beetle (Cassida viridis I believe) were
noticed. In a moist place in the bottom ofj this
valley, large brownish slugs (the variety rufa of
Arion ater) were very plentiful amongst lesser spear-
wort (Ranunculus fiamviula), Mentha aquatica, and
prostrate rushes. The money- wort (Lysimachia
nummularia) was in flower here.

After leaving Grisel Bottom and while walking
homewards round the border of the wood, a number
of the common mouse-moths (Amphipyra tragopo-
gonis), perhaps fifteen or twenty specimens, were
found under the loose and partly decayed bark of
an ash-tree. A specimen of the slug Li/nax niaximus,
var. fasciata, was also obtained under the same bark.

Louth, Lincolnshire.

We are deeply grieved to have to record the death
of an old friend, and an eminently able man, at a
comparatively early age, Mr. H. M.Jenkins, F.G.S.,
the Secretary of the Royal Agricultural Society. In
the earlier part of his life he was Secretary to the
Geological Society.

32

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

DEVELOPMENT OF FROG-SPAWN.

IN reference to an article which appeared in the
June number of Science-Gossip on the de-
velopment of the tadpoles of the common frog (Rnna
temporaria), I forward the following notes from my
pocket-book, which may be interesting as comparing
dates of development.

I took frog-spawn from a pond at Ashleigh, in

bottle was as lively as ever, though the water was
perfectly warm.

In my pocket-book is a memorial inscription, " To
the memory of ten tadpoles who died at the age of
one month and a day. They lived a short and merry
life, and died honourably, martyrs to the cause of
science."

Not to be daunted, however, in my pursuit of tad-
pole-lore, I obtained some new specimens in exactly

Fig. ii. — Tuesday, March 23, 1886.
Frog-spawn.

Fig. 12.— Saturday, March 26. First
change noticed.

Fig. 13.— Sunday morning, March 27.
Very occasional movement.

Fig. 14. — Sunday evening, March 27.
Heads and tails brought together,
terrific struggle after freedom.

1 I c

Fig. 15-— Monday, March 28.
Several free, but quiet and
stupid. Entirely black.

Fig. 16.— Friday, April 23. Very lively. Black, spotted with gold.

Fig. 17. — Monday, May 3. Eyes visible from
under side of tadpole.

Fig. 18. — Thursday, June 3. Beautifully splashed with gold, eyes not
visible from under side. 1. Upper side. 2. Under side. 2a. Blood-red
band. 3. Side view.

Wiltshire, on March 23rd of last year. The follow-
ing sketches, life-size, denote the changes as I
observed them, the spawn being placed in a large
glass preserve-bottle.

There occurs a break in my notes, occasioned by
the untimely death of my tadpoles. Thinking that
they would enjoy the sun, I placed the bottle on a
sunny window-sill with the deplorable result, that the
tadpoles were cooked.

A Lymnaa vtimtta which had occupied the same

the same stage of development as my late lamented
proteges. They were much wilder and more active
than the others (alas ! perhaps in better health) and
I had great difficulty in drawing them with any
accuracy.

Since the accident I kept the tadpoles out of doors
in the shade, only feeding them by changing the
water every other day. As their development was
slow, I did not again sketch them for a month.

They were then in size as drawn at Fig. 18.

HARD WICKE ' S S CIE NCE- G O SSI P.

33

On Friday, June 4th, for the first time, I gave
them a meat diet, consisting of raw liver of fowl,
which they appeared to relish, and clung to in the
way described by your correspondent. This was in
the evening. Some raw mutton given them next
morning (the 5th) they almost left alone.

I awaited with impatience the wonderful transforma-
tion into the full-blown frog.

Did those gigantic Batrachians of old, such as
Cheirotherium labyrinthodon, go through similar pro-
gressive stages ! If so, one trembles to think of their

tadpoles !

Nina F. Layard.

ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY.
By John Browning, F.R.A.S.

AT the meeting of the Royal Astronomical
Society, held on November 12, Mr. Knobel
drew attention to a photograph of the ring nebula in
Lyra, in which it appears as elliptical in outline,
with a marked decrease in intensity at the extremity
at the major axis. A paper was read by Father
Perry, written by Mr. A. Cortis, of Stonyhurst, on
bands observed at the red end of the spectrum of sun
spots.

Mr. J. Roberts read a paper on stellar photography
which he illustrated by a number of photographs
enlarged from the original negatives. Amongst them
were some of a portion of Cygnus. The negatives
were taken with a reflecting telescope twenty inches
aperture. The enlargements contain an average of
ninety-one stars to the square inch. Mr. Roberts
photographed the Pleiades group, giving an exposure
of three hours, and found the stars, Maia, Alcyone,
Electra, and Merope, all surrounded with a nebulous
haze, and that the space between these stars and
others of the group is rilled with nebulous light in
streamers or fleecy masses.

Mr. Maunder gave some account of his observations
of the recent solar eclipse in the West Indies. Dr.
Schuster obtained two spectroscopic photographs,
one with the slit radial, and one tangential, and he
also obtained five photographs of the corona. Mr.
Maunder obtained seven photographs of the corona.
It becomes increasingly evident that the future of
astronomy lies with photography. In this connec-
tion a most important proposal has been made by
Dr. Gill to Admiral Mouchez, that an International
Congress of Astronomers shall be held in the spring of
1887, in order to arrange a scheme for making a
photographic survey of the whole heavens. This
proposal has met with general adherence, and a date
for the meeting of the congress will shortly be named.
The scheme is of the most extensive character, as it is
proposed to photograph all the stars visible in telescopes
of very large aperture. These will probably form an
atlas of fifteen hundred to sixteen hundred maps.

Mr. J. E. Gore has been making further observa-
tions of a reddish star of about the sixth magnitude
near x* (54) Orionis, and finds from an examination
of its spectrum that it is probably a remarkable
variable star. Later observations have clearly
established that it is a regular variable star with a
period of about a year. In July the magnitude had
diminished below the twelfth, while on the 14th o
September, it had considerably increased in bright-
ness again. The magnitude was then nearly the
ninth, and by the end of October, it had become
about 8J. It was still increasing, and probably at-
tained its maximum in December. This star should
be carefully watched during the winter months, to
establish its exact period.

In February, Mercury will be an evening star in the
latter half of the month.

Venus will be an evening star throughout the
month.

Mars will be an evening star, and will be near
and Venus.

Jupiter will be nearly stationary between Virgo
and Libra.

There will be no occultations or other celestial
phenomenon of interest visible at Greenwich during
the month.

Rising, Southing, and Setting of the Principal
Planets at internals of Seven Days.

Rises.

Souths.

Sets.

D.

h. ra.

h. m.

h. m.

(

5

7 46M

O I3A

4 40A

Mercury 2

•

12
19

7 43^
7 34^

35A
55A

5 27A

6 i6a

I

26

7 20M

1 ha

7 2A

/

5

8 15M

1 i6a

6 17A

Venus ? .

J

12

19

8 3M
7 5 2 ^

1 21A
1 26A

6 39A

7 OA

1

26

7 36m

1 30A

7 2 4A

1

5

8 17M

1 24A

6 31A

Mars d

•

12
19

7 58m

7 41 M

1 17A

I IOA

6 36A
6 39A

1

26

7 22M

I 2A

6 42A

I

5

O I4M

5 ISM

10 1 6m

Jupiter ^.

t

]
(

12
19

II 43A

11 i6a

4 48M
4 21.M

9 49M

9 22M

26

IO 48 A

3 53M

8 54M

5

2 IA

IO IOA

6 24M

Saturn T?.

12
19

I 32A

1 3A

9 4iA

9 I2A

5 54M
5 2 5M

26

O 33A

8 43A

4 57M

Meteorology. — Serious illness prevented me from
writing my usual paper on Astronomy and Meteoro-
logy for the December number of this journal. In
the present I have given all of interest or importance
that has been done in the astronomical world, but the
meteorology of November would now possess but
little interest. The meteorology of December was,

34

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

however, so exceptional that I must refer to that as
briefly as I can, and then give an abstract of the
meteorology of 1886.

At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
reading of the barometer for the week ending Decem-
ber 4, was 29.74 in. The mean temperature of the
air was 37.3 deg., and 4.3 deg. below the average in
the corresponding weeks of the 20 years ending 1S6S.
The general direction of the wind was south-west, and
the horizontal movement of the air averaged 13. 1
miles per hour, which was 0.6 above the average in
the corresponding weeks of 16 years. Rain fell on
two days of the week to the aggregate amount of
0.30 of an inch.

The mean reading of the barometer for the week
ending December 11, was 29.13 in. The mean
temperature of the air was ifi.d deg., and o. 1 deg.
below the average in the corresponding weeks of the
20 years ending 1868. The general direction of the
wind was south-west, and the horizontal movement
of the air averaged 23.6 miles per hour, which was
10.9 above the average in the corresponding weeks
of 16 years. Rain fell on six days of the week, to
the aggregate amount of 0.84 of an inch.

The mean reading of the barometer for the week
ending December 18, was 29.32 in. The mean
temperature of the air was 3S.3 deg., and 2.8 deg.
below the average in the corresponding weeks of the
20 years ending 1868. The direction of the wind was
variable, and the horizontal movement of the air
averaged 14.5 miles per hour, which was 1.6 above
the average in the corresponding weeks of 16 years.
Rain fell on five days of the week, to the aggregate
amount of 0.67 of an inch.

The mean reading of the barometer for the week _
ending December 25, was 29.72 in. The mean
temperature of the air was 32.2 deg., and 7.3 deg.
below the average in the corresponding weeks of the
20 years ending 1S68. The general direction of the
wind was south-west, and the horizontal movement
of the air averaged 11.5 miles 'per hour, which was
1.2 below the average in the corresponding weeks of
16 years. Rain fell on two days of the week, to the
aggregate amount oi 0.34 ot an inch.

For the week ending January 1, 1887, the mean
reading of the barometer was 29.89 in. The mean
temperature of the air was 32.7 deg., and 5.9 deg.
below the average in the corresponding weeks of the
20 years ending 1S68. The direction of the wind
was variable, and the horizontal movement of the air
averaged 1 1.6 miles per hour, which was 1.1 below
the average in the corresponding weeks of 16 years.
Rain or melted snow was measured on four days of
the week, to the aggregate amount of 1.47 of an inch.

The weather of last year possessed little interest in
the first few months. We had a long dreary winter
and a cold cheerless spring. Summer also was cold and
backward, but as it advanced there were short fitful
bursts of intense heat until the be^inninc: of October.

The early part of autumn was mild, but December
brought us most exceptional weather. Storms, frosts,
and floods showed us something of the good old-
fashioned winter which unthinking people often sigh
for. On the 26th of December we had a snowstorm
of almost unexampled severity, more general and
destructive than any we have experienced since the
1 8th of January, 1881.

The following Table is compiled from the observa-
tions published in the Daily Weather Report of the
Meteorological Office.

Temperature.

Rainfall.

V >

Kg

^-3
" i!

«
O

OJ

tag

4)

Difference
from the
Average.

Rainy
Days.

Total
Fall.

Months.

>.

Difference
from the
Average.

Total Fall.

Difference
from the
Average.

January. .
February.
March . . .

July

August. . .

October...
November
December

Deg.
S3
49
64

70
76
78
86
87
85
80
60
54

Deg.
18
22
21

34
29

42
45
46
40

39
28

19

Deg.
3 6-6

34'5
40*6
48-1

53"5
58-9
63' 1
63-4
60-3
54"2
44*3
37"3

Deg.
-1*9
-6-7
-2-3
-i-6
-0 6

— 2 -
-0- 9

+ o-i
+ i-6
+ 3'i
+ i-8

— 2'2

22
9
13
14
J 9
9
12
12
10

!7

IS

20

+ 6

-7
+ 1
+ i
+ 7
-4

— 2

— 1

-5
+ 1

— 2
+ 6

In.
3"5 2
°"54
1-14

1*37

4-42
0-82
2-50
0-79
1- 74
1-85
2-96
4-72

p.ct.
+ 60
-71
— 20
-26

+ 155
-61

+ 15

-64

-33
-32

+ 38
+ 22

Values for
the En-
tire Year.

|*

18

49-6

-9

172

+ 1 26*37

+ 5

From this table it will be seen that the ther-
mometer reached a maximum of 87 in August, and
a minimum of 1 8° in January. This is the lowest
minimum recorded since 1881. The aggregate
rainfall for the year was 5 per cent, above the
average. The number of very cool days was much
larger than any year since 1879. This caused
a considerable increase in the number of deaths
due to diseases of the respiratory organs, which
were more numerous than in either of the three pre-
vious years. The winter, instead of commencing
in December and ending in February, commenced
in September and continued till March. The
observations of bright sunshine made at Green-
wich show that the winter season was more cloudy
than any since 1879. The mean temperature of the
spring was below the average in all parts of the
kingdom. During the week ending the 10th of
July there was a short spell of tropical heat. The
amount of bright sunshine registered at Greenwich
during the summer was, with the exception of 1885,
greater than in any year since 1877. Thunderstorms
were very frequent ; those of the 19th of July and the
13th of August being the most severe. The mean
temperature of the autumn months was much above
the average ; a maximum of 8o° was registered in
London on the 4th of October. The rainfall in the

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

35

autumn was below the average, while the duration
of bright sunshine was considerably above the
average. The winter season which we are now
experiencing is exceptionally tempestuous and was
due to a deep barometrical depression, which in the
centre reached 27.4 inches. In London the minimum
reaching 28.3 is the lowest recorded since 1843.

RECENT ARTICLES AND TAPERS WORTH
READING.

DR. CROOKSHANK'S "Flagellated Protozoa
in the Blood of Diseased and Apparently
Healthy Animals" (December No. "Journal Royal
Microscop. Society). — "Fresh-water Invertebrates of
the North American Jurassic," by Charles A. White
("Bulletin U.S. Geological Survey," No. 29).—
" De l'Histoire des Lampes a. Incandescence"
(" LTngenieur Electricien," December 9th). —
"Ancient Pottery of the Mississippi Valley," by
W. H. Holme ("Proceed. Davenport Acad. Nat.
Sciences"). — "On Hydrophobia," by Dr. Tyson
("Proceed. Folkestone Nat. Hist. Soc.").— " The
Connection in Time of Changes of Fossil Floras with
those of Faunas," by Professor Boulger (" Proceed.
Geologists' Assoc," vol. ix. no. 7). — "Report on
the Necessity of Preserving and Planting Forests,"
by R. W. Phipps (Pub. by Government of Ontario).
— " On the Structure and Organisms in Carboni-
ferous Limestone," by Ed. Wethered (" Geo. Mag."
December). — " Strasburger on Foreign Pollina-
tion," by Thos. Hick ("The Naturalist," Dec.).—
"On some Further Evidence of Glaciation in the
Australian Alps," by Jas. Stirling (" Nature,"
December 23). — " The Sympathetic Nervous
System," Lecture by Dr. W. H. Gastall (" Nature,"
December 23). — "Siliceous Pig Iron" ("Engineer-
ing," December 24).—" The Ruby Mines of
Bunnah " (" Times," December 31). — "The Future
of Photographic Printing," by George Mansfield
(" Amateur Photographer," January 7). — " De la
Conservation des Vertebres," by M. Gaston Buchet
("Feuille des Jeunes Naturalistes," January 1). — ■
"On Noctiluca Miliaris," by Alfred W. Griffin
,("Journal of Microscopy," January). — -"On Some
Spined Myriapods from the Carboniferous Series of
England," by Dr. Henry Woodland ("Geological
Magazine," Jan.). — "The River Tees, its Marshes and
their Fauna," by R. Lofthouse ("The Naturalist,"
January). — "A B C, an Alphabetical Research,"
by J. Eyre, M.A. ("The Garner," December). —
" Sun-Spot Observations in Hungary," by A. M.
Clarke ("Nature," January 6). — "Progress of Elec-
tric Motors" ("English Mechanic," January 7). —
" Notes on the Genus Lyctena," with coloured plate,
by Richard South ("The Entomologist," January). —
"On Some Darwinistic Pleresies," by Professor Carl
Vogt ("Annals of Natural History," January).

T

A WINTER'S DAY RAMBLE.

MONTREUX, CANTON VAUD.

HE following notes from the lake-basin oi
Geneva may interest some readers of Science
Gossip, made chiefly in the sheltered woods at the
more mountainous end of the lake, and in the depth
of winter.

The magnificent peaks of the Valais and Vaudois
Alps have long since received their covering of pur
snow. Deep drifts have accumulated in the ac-
customed places — under the abrupt precipices of the
Tour D'ai, for example — there, in a gully partially
exposed to driving winds, enormous masses of snow
remain through winter. All the winds of heaven
contend furiously round the peaks above, but in the
sheltered woods, ravines, and silent gorges of the
lower mountain barriers the air is perfectly still.
Sharp frosts seal the ground, while overhead the sky
is intensely blue and the mid-day sun shines with
uninterrupted power. The dead leaves, twigs and
branches are dry as bone (the elevation is 1200-
1500 feet above the sea), affording a marked contrast
to English woods at the same season, reeking with
moisture and damp mould.

Here, in the bright, clear sunshine, it is worth
while, standing in perfect stillness for a quarter-of-
an-hour to observe the variety of birds actively
flitting from tree to tree, busily in search of food
and wellnigh careless of the approach of man : the
most remarkable of the merry songsters is, perhaps,
the crested tit {Panes cristatus), commonly dis-
tributed over Central Europe, but a rare visitor, I
believe, in England. A dozen may here be seen
hopping about in the thick brambles, for all the
world like miniature owls with wise little faces ; the
feathers of the crest turn backwards over the head,
and are black tinged with white — the back and wings
are brown, the throat and chest pale brown or
fawn, rings of dark and light feathers surround the
eyes, which, with the speckled head, give a very
singular appearance to the bird. Besides this species,
the coletit {Parus ate?-), the titmouse (P. caruleus\
the great tit {P. major), and the long-tailed tit (P.
caudatus), all frequent these same woods. P. ater
runs round the trunks and branches silently and
actively ; like the tree-creeper, he habitually con-
trives to place the thickness of the trees between
himself and inquisitive gazers.

Fairly common also is the nut-hatch (Sitta
Europica), which by the uninitiated may easily be
mistaken for a small woodpecker. The slate-blue
of the back and wings, with dull red breast, and
whitish throat and patches of black behind each eye,
however, render the plumage quite distinct. The
shape of the bird is peculiar, well adapted to tree-
climbing in search of insects — apparently an in-
cessant occupation and chief vocation in life.

36

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

In times of exceptional cold certain finches hunt
in droves, rendered daring by scarcity of food. I
have thus met with a score of rich coloured bull-
finches, gold-finches, and the mountain-finches, in
separate flocks restlessly flitting across open spaces.
The great green woodpecker (Gecinus viridis) is a
regular denizen of the woods, to be recognised by
his peculiar cry even when invisible to the eye. The
black woodpecker and small spotted (liens minor)
are more rarely seen. "Tap, tap," one hears on
the bark often enough, but the birds hide themselves.

I have a passing acquaintance with a most
audacious magpie in this neighbourhood. Each
spring during the last four years the same pair have
re-occupied the same nest, built at the extreme top
of a cypress tree. The one bird I do not know

beeches. I am not acquainted with the specific
name of the insect, which doubtless belongs to the
Cynipidse or gall-making tribe. Opening a perfect
specimen of gall I found in it a single white maggot —
the cherished morsel of the cole-tit. A microscopic
section of the shell appears to show that the growth
on the leaf retains the cell-structure of the plant.

Infesting the Austrian pines, and frequently stunt-
ing the branches, are found the curiously constructed
webs of the processional moth (Cnethocampa pro-
cessioned). The oval structure, perhaps five inches
across the longest diameter, is cunningly made from
a tangled mass of spun glass-like threads, secreted by
the caterpillar. It is artistically fitted on at the axil
of branch and stem, interwoven with the leaf-spines.
A circular opening is left for the egress of the lame

Fig. 19. — The Crested Tit (Pants cristatus),

much about ; he always flies off when disturbed.
The other is far more sociable, blinks its eyes, talks
volubly and hops about at a circumspect distance. In
an imperfect manner I have learned its jargon and
often keep up a running conversation across the wall.
Magpies and jays are very common ; there are no
destroying keepers on the watch. The water-ouzel,
or dipper, may always be encountered on the shore of
the lake below. He dodges among the loose stones,
takes freely to the water, diving instantaneously at
the approach of giants or uncouth monsters such as
men.

The Pants ater attracted my attention by its
diligent search among the beech-trees. Some hard
substance was detached to be at once split in half by
the sharp bill. Beneath the trees lay the empty
cases, the remains of a conical gall growing on the

in their own peculiar manner, in the forthcoming
spring or summer. Great numbers inhabit a single
web. At the appointed season they wish to view the
world. By means of a suspended thread the whole
family reach the ground, at once starting in solemn
procession, which nothing short of extermination will
arrest. You may meet a regular line on the march
and fail in every attempt to interrupt their progress.
Sever the thread and a repair is at once effected.
Place them on your hat, and the steady course is
pursued in an endless circle, apparently in all content.
The hairy glands secrete an irritant poison, causing
inflammation to human flesh, almost dangerous with
regard to children, and to be avoided by all. Al-
though the caterpillars are common in Switzerland,
it is a mystery what becomes of them all. They
meander off and vanish ; few of the pupa;' seem to

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

37

attain full development, and the moth is exceedingly
rare. A noted Swiss collector has informed me he
could never himself catch a specimen, and had only
obtained them for his great collection by exchange.
Considering the quantity of eggs which must be
deposited, this is singular. There are two species of
the genus. The caterpillars of the one {vide figure)

finding this reptile in the torpid condition. I live in
hopes of digging him out some day, to study his
surroundings and degree of insensibility.

The common little brown lizard (Z. mitralis) is also
now asleep. One warm day in late autumn I caught
a baby specimen, barely two inches long. At home,
on severing the spinal cord, the blood corpuscles,

Fig. 20. — Nest of the Processionary Moth [Cnethocavipa procession ea).

march in single, double, or triple line ; the other
species march in pyramid form.

I know a spot where the handsome green lizard
(Lacerta viridis) has arranged his winter quarters, to
hybernate until the return of the warm spring. Under
a heap of stones and burrowed beneath the very
foundations of a solid wall he lies snugly hidden
away, tolerably secure from invasion. As far as I
am aware, naturalists have not yet succeeded in

oval and large in comparison with my own, afforded
a fine object for the microscope. Sections of the
spinal-column, the nerves in the forked tongue, and
the brilliant plates covering the skull all form attrac-
tive slides ; the plates or scales appear five or six-
sided, dovetailing one into the other very beautifully.
The opaMike iris, under a low power properly illumin-
ated, is a magnificent object, and the crystalline lens
very perfect. If violently agitated through fear, the

38

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE-G OS SIP.

little fellow quickly sheds his tail, which retains
muscular action for an hour or more. The full-
grown ones I do not believe can develope a fresh
appendage, but the very young specimens I am not
so sure about ; in fact I think they may grow again.
In support of this view, scores of full-grown lizards
are seen minus the tail ; a young one — never. Yet
they must often cast them.

The small brown lizard is susceptible to sound and
influenced by a fixed stare. To prove this : — On one
occasion I forced one to remain fully a quarter-of-an-
hour, lying on a wall, to be sketched. This was
simply by whistling in a low key and steadily rivet-
ting his eye. Directly I removed the fixed gaze and
stopped whistling, the lizard disappeared over the
wall. It would have been perfectly easy to hold him
stationary for another equal period.

I cannot leave the woods without a reference to the
beauty of autumn berries hanging well on into the
winter. The clusters belonging to the guelder rose
( Viburnum opulus) retain the cymes of transparent
crimson fruit. The orange-scarlet calyces of the winter
cherry (Physalis alkekenji) are still creeping on the
ground, some decayed to a network showing the
orange berry within. The spindle (Euonymus
Europccus) capsules of coral-pink have expanded, to
show the contrast in colour with the berry inside.
(In gardens below, the E. Japo7iica is in fruit, nearly
like that of the common spindle.) Bryony, tamus,
privet, with splendid branches of butcher's broom
{Ruscus aculeatus), covered with large crimson berries,
still remain. Higher up in the woods, where lime-
stone crags form a sheltering, perpendicular barrier,
the crevices are clothed with numberless fronds of the
lacy fern (Asplenia m fontanum), now extinct, I fear,
in Britain. A. viride is also found, a remarkable
intermediate variety ; also appears, A. fontanum
minus ; this, I think, is a hybrid between the other
two species.

A tiny spring trickles forth from the rocks. In the
midst of this, clinging in thick tufts to the face of the
cliff, great masses of moss luxuriate. The species
(Hyp)ium commutatum) is of large growth, and other-
wise worth inspection. Instead of being soft and
yielding to the touch, the framework of each frond
and branchlet is gritty and rigid ; the cryptogam has
absorbed the calcareous particles from the water.
The Marchantia polymorplia also grows in great
perfection, coating the moist stones. But one
observer cannot describe the hundredth part of the
organic life revealed so lavishly on every side. Fungi,
.land mollusca, coleoptera, larva:, representatives of
classes and orders seem abundant.

Christmas, 1S86. F. G. S.

P.S. — Since writing the above, a full-grown brown
lizard has been shown to me, having a knotted joint
in the middle of the tail. It is evidently a new
growth from the joint ; whether re-developed when
the animal was young or not, I cannot say.

GOSSIP ON CURRENT TOPICS.
By W. Mattieu Williams, F.R.A.S., F.C.S.

PRESERVATION OF TIMBER BY WATER.
— Builders and all others who are interested in
the preservation of timber should understand the
particulars of a discovery recently made by Professor
Poleck, viz., that timber which has been long
immersed in water is thereby rendered free from
ordinary liability to dry not. The water slowly dis-
solves out the nutritious albumen and salts of the
wood, and thus deprives the fungus of its necessary
food. In most of the mountainous timber-growing
countries this immersion is obtained by the ordinary
mode of transport which is that of felling the trees,
then sliding them down the mountain slope into a
torrent below, which tumbles them forward to a wider
tributary, and this again carries them to a main river
where they are collected and made into rafts, which
slowly float with the aid of a little steering until they
reach the estuary or depots on the river side, where
they are collected and shipped, or otherwise carried,
to their final destination.

In the greatest timber district of Norway the mode
of transport is simpler even than this. Trees and
deals and planks, the latter sawn by water power
near their place of growth, are pitched into torrents,
lakes and tributaries, and thence float into the broad
Drams Elv down which they slowly drift to the
timber metropolis, Drammen ; a longer town than
the "lang town o' Kirkaldy," as it consists of little
more than one street, a double row of houses three or
four miles long with the broad river running down the
middle. Each j^iece of wood is marked with the
owner's brand, travels "on its own hook," independent
of rafter, till it reaches this long street where it is
shipped. I have seen parts of the river above Dram-
men about as wide as the Thames at Woolwich, so
completely paved with floating timber that one
might walk across it. Men are employed all along
the banks to push stranded erratics back into the
river. The result of this slow floating, especially to
sawn deals, is a complete washing out of the fungus
food above named.

Those who doubt the preservative action of water
may try a simple experiment. Take two portions of
sawdust from freshly cut timber, bury one in damp
earth at once, but let the other be soaked for a week
or two in an abundant quantity of fresh water ; then
bury this. The first example will rot away in a few
years, the second will suffer no other change than a
darkening of colour.

New Uses for Solid Carbonic Acid.— The
discovery of the possibility of solidifying carbonic
acid is sufficiently recent to come within the reach of
my recollection. I well remember the famous popular
lecturer, Mr. Addams ("double d Addams," as he
was called by way of distinction), promising to show

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

us, his audience, the snow-like solid at his next lecture,
and how he fulfilled his promise by appearing in
miserable plight with bandaged head and face, due
to the explosion of a Thilorier cylinder he had used.
He narrated the accident, attributing it to insufficient
thickness of the cylinder, but he had now another
stouter cylinder similarly charged in front of the
lecture table which he hoped would resist the pressure.
The front benches of the theatre were cleared forth-
with, in spite of his hope.

It has remained merely a scientific curiosity nearly
ever since, but now promises to become very useful.
Messrs. Rayclt and Kunheim produce it in Germany
commercially, and hope to profit by its applica-
tions to the charging of beer in the cask, to
the manufacture of aerated waters of all kinds, by
simply introducing the necessary quantity of the snow
which expands, and at once produces the required
aeration. It is a most efficient fire extinguisher.
A suitable vessel containing it and flung into the fire
explodes when heated, and diffuses all around an
atmosphere of carbonic acid gas in which no com-
bustion can occur. For various purposes, where great
compression is demanded, it may be used with very
simple appliances. The Krupps find that a heat of
360 applied to it gives the enormous pressure of 1200
atmospheres. It may be used instead of compressed
air for the raising of sunken ships.

Condensation of Gases. — Until nine years ago
the old descriptive distinction between permanent
gases and condensible vapours still remained, but on
the 24th December, 1877 its lingering existence was
finally extinguished by the announcement to the
French Academy of Science that oxygen gas had
been liquefied by two independent experimenters, M.
Cailletet a French ironmaster, and Raoul Pictet a
Swiss manufacturer of icemachines. The other gases,
which up to this date had resisted all attempts to
condense them, were speedily overcome, and now we
may say every element may be a solid, a liquid, or a
gas, according to the temperature and pressure to
which it is subjected. The chief agent in obtaining
these successes is ethylene, a liquid that boils at a
temperature of — 238 F., i.e. 270 degrees below
freezing. In the act of boiling it absorbs much heat,
robs all its surroundings and cools them down as
water cools the surface of our bodies by its eva-
poration. When thus cooled down to 184 below
freezing, chlorine forms orange coloured crystals;
at 23 2 below freezing, ether solidifies ; at 234
absolute alcohol is a solid ; at 331 ° liquid oxygen
boils ; at 344 air is liquid, and it boils in vacuo at
369 degrees below freezing. The lowest temperature
yet obtained is —373 F., or 395 below freezing. The
absolute zero is supposed to be — 459 F. I say " is
supposed," not that I suppose, my own supposition
being that we know nothing about absolute tempera-
ture, or absolute anything else.

Sea Air. — Professor F. S. Dennis, of New York,
states that in the course of a trip across the Atlantic
he made some experiments on the air about 1000
miles distant from land. He exposed capsules of
sterilized gelatine for 15 minutes. No. 1 in the State
Room upon the main deck of the steamer ; No. 2
and 3 in a cabin on the promenade deck where the
circulation was free ; and No. 4 over the bow of the
ship. Within 18 hours 500 points of infection had
developed in No. 1 ; only five and six in Nos. 2
and 3 after ten'days ; and none at all in No. 4. By
"points of infection" he means of course, bacteria ;
bacilli, or some kind of microbia, that may or may not
be poisonous. The absence of such possibly mis-
chievous forms of life over the sea, and as Tyndall
has shown over the higher ground of the Alps, is
very interesting, but we should not overrate its
importance. The simple fact that an hour or two
after most vigorous tooth brushing anybody may
scrape myriads of microbia from his teeth, and
tongue and palate — and most of these "comma-
shaped "—should teach us not to be panic-stricken by
the rapid generation of large numbers in experi-
mental gelatine. A single whiff of the breath of the
experimenter himself is sufficient for the establish-
ment of a flourishing colony. If Professor Dennis
had stood for 15 minutes at the bow of the ship with
one capsule 2 or 3 feet forward of his face, and
another behind his head he would probably have
found a great difference between them, due to his-
own exhalations.

Successful Oyster Culture. — The report of
Mr. Saville Kent, Superintendent and Inspector of
Fisheries to the Tasmanian Government, is very
satisfactory. The success of the oyster beds is com-
plete, and this success appears to be due to the fact,
that the Tasmanian Government has put the right
man in the right place. Everybody who knew Mr.
Kent when in England knows that he is a devoted
student of the subject in which he is now officially
engaged. His report shows that oysters may be
sown and reaped as reliably as potatoes, i.e. with
only rare occasional failure. But to obtain such-
success the sower must understand his business, must
select suitable places for the beds, where there is
moving water containing sufficient food, and where
proper arrangements are made for catching' the spat
in such wise that it shall not be smothered with
sedimentary mud. The spat collectors used by Mr.
Kent are cheap wooden frames that may be rocked
or lifted to shake away the sediment. They are
fully described in the report.

The present oyster famine in the British Isles is a
national disaster and disgrace. The ancient Romans-
sent to Britain for their oysters and now we cannot
supply ourselves, but are dependent on Portugal,
Holland, and the United States. In a few years,
hence we shall probably import tinned oysters from

40

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SI P.

Tasmania. I remember when the retail price in
London was sixpence per dozen for the best natives,
and fourpence for large common oysters. Large
profits were made at these prices. The present price
of natives is y. 6d. per dozen. We have tens of
thousands of acres of fine oyster ground on the
coasts of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland,
where millions of bushels might be annually raised,
if proper means were adopted. All this would be
newly created wealth for the nation, in the production
of which many thousands would be most healthily
employed. Nothing but ignorance and lack of
enterprise stands in the way of the development of
this most desirable industry.

The Canals of Mars. — No astronomer has yet
succeeded in supplying a satisfactory, or even a
plausible explanation of these curious features of this
planet. They appear as nearly straight lines,
apparently cuttings with perfectly parallel borders
stretching across the continents of the planet and
reaching from sea to sea. They are about 15 miles
wide. We have nothing like them on the earth, nor
does the moon present any such phenomena They
were first observed by Schiaparelli, whose obser-
vations have since been confirmed by M. Perrotin
with the great equatorial of the Nice observatory,
and further verified by MM. Trepied and Thillon.

Clean and Dirty Pigs. — The American Consul
at Copenhagen has been studying pigs, and has
reported some of the results of his investigations
One of these is that their powers of mastication are
small, so small that if fed with whole corn not more
than half of it is available as food, the other half
passing away in an undigested form. Therefore all
such food for pigs should be boiled or steamed ; or
ground or bruised, and well soaked. Roots should
be sliced. Peas should be allowed to sprout and be
then bruised. A number of other instructions are
given which the reader who is practically interested
in the subject may find specified in the Journal of
the Society of Arts of August 27th, 1866. The
following is very interesting. Six pigs of equal
weight were fed for seven weeks on an uniform diet.
Three of them were daily cleaned with a comb and
brush, the other three left in an unclean state. The
three clean pigs gained 3olbs more weight than their
dirty brethren. In another farm in Denmark, where
the pigs were washed daily, there was not a single case
of hog disease during three years, although it was
very prevalent in the neighbourhood. The Danes
are doing well in the pig business. When Jesse
Collings's millennium is attained in this country, when
every rustic shall have a minimum freehold of three
acres and a cow, we shall be independent of Chicago
and all other foreign sources of pork and bacon
supply, for it is the cottager's pig that enjoys in the
highest degree those blessings of civilisation which

adds 20 per cent, to his final result in bacon-value.
I have seen and smelled wholesale pig farms in the
suburbs of London that are spectacles of filthy
horror, have admired the pigsties of Welsh and
Irish cottagers, and have caressed their sleek in-
habitants, after witnessing the tubbing and scrubbing
so diligently administered to them by the mother of
all the family, biped and quadruped. I can now
purchase in London, Chicago hams at 6d. to 7d. per lb.
retail, but must pay cjd. to iod. for Irish hams, or
about one shilling for York hams. All these dearer
hams (and they are fully worth the difference of price),
are derived from cottagers' pigs, pigs that dwell in
clean comfortable homes and live in a condition of
personal cleanliness.

OUR SCIENTIFIC DIRECTORY.

Alton Microscopical Society: President, Rev. F.
Howlett ; Hon. Sec. and Treasurer, Rev. J. Vaughan.

Chorlcy Microscopical and Natural History Society :
President, J. A. Harris, Esq., M.D., Chorley ; Hon.
Sec, Richard Gill.

Harrogate and District Naturalist and Scientific
Society: Patron, The Right Hon. Lord Walsingham,
M.A., F.L.S., F.E.S., F.Z.S., M.B.O.U., etc. (Ex.
Pres. Yorkshire Nat. Union) ; President, Mr. Wm.
Storer ; Hon. Sec. and Treasurer, Mr. F. R. Fitz-
gerald, F.S.Sc, etc., Clifford House, Harrogate.

Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological Society.
[Meets last Monday in each month in the class-room
of the Free Public Library, Liverpool.] President,
S. J. Capper, F.L.S. ; Hon. Secretary, John W.
Ellis, L.R.C.P., F.E.S., 3 Brougham Terrace,
Liverpool.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

We understand that Mr. S. H. Yines is entirely
recasting and almost entirely rewriting his edition of
Professor Prantl's "Elementary Text Book of
Botany," and that his new work may be expected
from Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein & Co. in the course
of this year. In the meantime the publishers are
reissuing the existing book without alteration.

The churches are rousing themselves to the value
of scientific knowledge. A Society has been formed
for the purpose of promoting intercourse among
Wesleyan students of science. The basis and objects
of the Society are not denominational, its intention
being purely to bring into association with one
another those members of the Wesleyan Church who
are interested in scientific studies ; hence it will be
worked mainly by those who are attached to that
church. The chief objects of the Society will be

HARD WICKE ' S S CIE NCE - G SSI P.

4i

the encouragement of practical scientific work among
amateurs, the guidance of beginners in the study of
natural history, the interchange of opinions upon
scientific questions, and the collection and circulation
of useful facts and observations bearing upon the
sciences in general. It would be shown, too, that
scientific tastes are not the exclusive possession of
the religiously indifferent or the agnostic. The
Journal is to be under the joint editorship of the
Rev. Dr. Dallinger and Rev. Hilderic Friend.

We are pleased to notice that a Microscopical
Society has been formed at Alton, Hamphire, the
Rev. F. Howlett being president.

Mr. J. W. Chambers, of the Board Schools,
Ponton Road, Nine Elms, asks our readers to send
him for his School Museum any natural history
duplicates. We should be glad to see a Natural
History Museum in every Board School in the country,
and we are sure our readers will be only too glad
to help to stock them.

We are sorry to have to record the death of Mr.
J. A. Phillips, F.R.S., the well-known chemical
geologist, at the age of 64.

An Australasian Association for the Advancement
of Science has just been founded in Sydney. It will
hold its first meeting next September — the 100th
anniversary of the founding of the colony of New
South Wales.

We have received No. 79 of Mr. Wesley's useful
"Natural History Scientific Book Circular."

The " Sheffield Daily Telegraph" of January 4th
has a paragraph about a man being killed at Little
Lever, by the fall of an immense stone on the roof of
a colliery, supposed to be a meteorite. This is too
important a matter to be allowed to die the ordinary
natural death of a " fill-up par." Can any of our
correspondents about Little Lever send us a bit of
this "immense stone " for diagnosis ?

We are very pleased to observe that Lord Salisbury
has placed Mr. Thos. Bolton, the well-known and
laborious caterer in microscopic natural history, on
the Civil List Pension of ,£50 a year.

During January, Dr. J. E. Taylor, editor of
Science-Gossip, lectured on behalf of the Chelms-
ford Museum, on " Australian Animals and Plants ; "
at Saxmundham, on " The Story of a Flint Pebble ; "
at the Windsor Institute, on "The World before
Man ; " and at Manningtree, on " The Deep Sea and
its Inhabitants."

A ' ' Meteorological Society of Australasia "
has been successfully founded at Adelaide.

Our American brethren have started a "Journal
of Morphology," and Mr. W. P. Collins, 157 Great
Portland Street, is agent for England.

Mr. Thomas Moore, the well-known botanist
and horticulturalist, whose books on ferns have de-
lighted more than one generation, has just died, aged
sixty-seven.

We are pleased to notice that Mr. Clement Wragge,
who did such splendid work at the Ben Nevis Obser-
vatory, has been appointed Government Meteorolo-
gist for Queensland.

Mr. L. Utcott Gill has completed the issue of his
useful sevenpenny numbers on "Fancy Pigeons"
and " British Cage Birds."

MICROSCOPY.

A Phenomenon in Aniline Staining. — In the
summer of 1884 I mounted several slides of desmids,
Spirogyra, and other Algre from our Sutton Park
and other places, the mounting substance being the
article commonly known as " French Polish," being
coloured with the addition of a little aniline-green
and well mixed together. The said slides were spun
in the usual manner on the turn-table, the cells being
finally finished off with a last touching-up with the
aforesaid " French Polish." About six months after,
I thought I would look at them to see how this
" French Polish" stood, and whether there were any
signs of running in. When I came to look at them
through my microscope, I was as much astonished as
delighted, for the specimens one and all had become
stained a beautiful and vivid green, of course rather
too vivid, but nevertheless quite a surprise to me. I
mentioned it to my friend Dr. Anthony, at whose
advice I have made this public, as he said he thought
it was quite new. The specimens stained were
Spirogyra iitflata, S. Weberii, S. qninina, Staurasper-
mum gracile and St. viride. The Desmids so treated
were the Closterium rostratum in conjugation, and
Clos. Leiblorii, &C.—B. ff. Wagstaff, Edgbaston, Bir-
mingham.

Extract of Logwood. — Will some one kindly
give me instructions in Science-Gossip how to
prepare stain for microscopical purposes from extract
of Logwood, and oblige M. Hafen, Pitville Terrace,
Ditton- Widness, Lancashire.

Cole's " Studies." — These admirably written and
succinct " Studies in Microscopical Science " issue
with marvellous punctuality, "slides" as well as
"studies." Indeed, of the two, we generally get the
illustrative slides first. The last four parts to hand
are as follows : I. " Studies in Vegetable Physiology,
Storage Cells, and Reserve Food Material" (illus-
trated by a section of the cotyledonary leaf of a pea).
2. "Animal Histology: the Uterus " (illustrated by
section of uterus of rabbit). 3. " Pathological His-
tology : Congestion of Kidney." 4. "The Sec

42

HARD WICKE ' 5 S CIE NCE- G OSSIP.

Fans." In the January issue, the 1st Study is in
Vegetable Physiology, " The Protoplasmic Con-
tinuity ;" the 2nd in Animal Histology, " Mammary
Glands ;" the 3rd in Pathology, a continuation of
the paper on " Congestion of Kidney ;" and the 4th
in Marine Algae. All the parts are illustrated by
exquisitely drawn and coloured plates.

New Slides. — We have received from Mr. Fred
Enock an exquisitely beautiful and well-mounted
object — the " Fairy Fly "( Litus cynipsens), forming
No. 7 of his capital "Entomological Sketches."
Mr. W. S. Anderson, Ilkeston, has sent us a box
containing the following interesting subjects, all well
mounted : water scorpion, cardinal beetle, brown
ant, sun beetle, larva of dragon-fly, and the nymph-
stage of the water-bug.

Sections of Sponge. — Will some of your readers
give me advice as to cutting sections of freshwater-
sponge ? I mean, so as to preserve them whole as
they come from the microtome (the one I use is made
after the directions given by a medical gentleman in
your issue, Jan. 83, 1 think it was). Directly I dissolve
out the paraffine and wax, the section goes to frag-
ments. What I want to find is some transparent
medium by which I can fasten the section in the
slide — keep it so, while the imbedding mixture is
dissolved and cleared away. The microtome has
answered admirably for other things. I have some
slides of sea-sponges, cut in this microtome which are
very thin and well done. — "Joseph Clark.

Preserving Polyzoa.— A new method of pre-
serving polyzoa and other low forms of life has been
discovered by Dr. A. Fottinger. Crystals of chloral
hydrate are dropped into the vessel of water in which
polypes have been placed, and in a short time the
creatures become insensible, when they can be placed
in alcohol. The advantage claimed for this method
is that the polypes will remain expanded, and can
therefore be preserved when exhibiting all their
beauty of structure. The chloral acts, it would seem,
in much the same manner as it affects higher
organisms — that is, as a narcotic.

ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGY.

Anecdote of a Spider. — Some time since, when
in Torquay, I saw an interesting sight which I here
record. A friend was requested to water some ferns
in a house during the absence, for a few weeks, of
the occupier. The ferns were in a box in a window
of one of the rooms of the house. A lead pipe,
pierced with small holes, was so arranged that on
turning a tap small jets of water were thrown up so
as to fall over the box of plants. A very large spider
had taken up its position at one end of the box in the
window, and had constructed a web of about four

inches in diameter. Two of the jets of water rose
near the web and wetted it. When the tap was
turned, and the water flowing, the spider ran to one
of the jets and began to work vigorously with its legs
as if trying to climb up the rising stream of water ; it
would go back to its den and come out again, and
repeat the performance two or three times, now at
one jet, then at the other. This was done on each
morning for some time. The question I wish to ask
is this : Why did the spider do this ? My friend
who called my attention to it thought it came to
drink, as it returned each time to its den with a drop
of water on its body. My own impression was, that
as the jet of water ran through a part of the web, the
spider came to resist the interference, and was
trying to oppose the flow of the stream. — Ignore

The Crow. — Two possible explanations occur to
me with respect to J. W.'s query, (i.) That the crow
only flew to a short distance, and therefore never
once took his eye off the tuft of grass, (ii.) That the
general locality was well known to the crow, who
only had to use his sense of smell to discover under
which tuft he had previously concealed the crust of
bread.— F. C. D. B.

Migration of Birds. — How do the British birds
which migrate annually to far-off countries find their
way back ? Some people say that we must remember
that a bird en route flies sufficiently high in the
air to take what is commonly known as a "bird's-
eye" view of the country over which, on their journey
south, they traverse ; and that consequently it is only
the salient features that impress their memory. Well,
no doubt, like Darwin's theory, this is a very
plausible explanation, but it is not quite convincing.
I believe I am not misinformed when I say that
there exist records of birds returning to the same tree,
nest, or thatched roof, year after year. Now, our
said friends can scarcely maintain that such an
insignificant thing as a thatched roof or a microscopic
(comparatively speaking) nest is sufficiently pro-
minent to impress a bird with a retentive knowledge
of its locality. It is a well-known thing that if we
vibrate a certain string in our memories, the result is
a thoroughly connected train of thought. And
further I believe it is agreed that migratory birds rest
at certain points of their journc^y ; and therefore, why
should not each of these resting-points, when arrived
at, bring a connective idea to the bird of what will
guide him to his next resting-place ? Here, I suppose,
it will be objected that there is nothing to direct the
birds between the intervening spaces. Granted ; but
it should be remembered that the young birds
generally keep company with their seniors during their
first migrations, thereby obtaining their knowledge of
the course by a certain sort of apprenticeship— quite
sufficient (in my opinion) to give them a comprehen-
sive impression for these, to them, comparatively

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

43

short intervening spaces. I await criticisms with
explanations annexed to them ; it is so easy to cut a
theory to pieces, but so difficult to build one. —
F. C. D. B.

ZOOLOGY.

MOLLUSCA IN the Ealing District. — This
neighbourhood is certainly one of the richest near
London in land and freshwater shells, and will well
repay a visit. As a proof of this, I append a list of
forty species taken in the course of a single walk on
April 26. — Sphccrium corneum, Planorbis corneus,
P. contortus, Physa fontinalis, Limtuea peregra,
v. ova/a and L. palustris : in the pond, "To be let
for building purposes " on the main road between
Acton and Ealing. All the molluscan inhabitants of
this pond, owing to favourable circumstances, reach
an unusual size. In the canal, on the contrary,
everything is more or less dwarfed and depauperated.
L. percgra v. acuminata ; in a pond near Ealing
Common. — Sj>/i. corneum, Anodonta anatina, Unio
pictorum, Paludina vivipara, Bythinia tentaculata,
B. Lcachii, Plancrbis alius, P. vortex, P. car hiatus,
P. corneus, Physa fontinalis, Lint, percgra, L. stagna-
lis, and L. palustris : in the Paddington Canal at
Twyford— Drcissena polymorplia and Sph. vivicola :
single valves in the Brent — Pisidium fontinale,
Planorbis nitidus, P. nautileus, P. vortex, P. corneus,
Limnma stagualis, L. peregra v. ovata, Ancylus lacus-
tris : associated in a large pond near the canal at
Twyford — Arion ater, A. hortensis, Limax lavis,
L. agrestis, Succinea clegans, Zonites cellar ius, Z. niti-
dulus, Z. nitidus, Z. crystallinus, PL aspcrsa, H.
nemoralis, H. hortensis, IP. Cantiana, H. hispida,
PL. concinna, LP. rufescens, H. rotundata, Cochlicopa
lubrica, Clausilia rugosa, and Carychium minimum.
Twyford and Ealing — One specimen of Physa
fontinalis had the lip tinged with pink, and two others
exhibited well-marked spinal bands, the first having
a single band near the periphery on the greater part
of the body whorl, and the second a similar, but
broader band at the periphery, and four distinct
lines close together in the place of the fourth band in
LL. nemoralis. — Sydney G. Cockerell, 51 Woodstock
Road, Bedford Park, W.

Rotifer infested with Trichodina. — Mr.
F. B. Rosseter's paper in the December number of
the Royal Microscopical Society's Journal on Tricho-
dina induces me to record having found the same
Infusoria on two occasions on a rotifer Synclncta
pectinata. On the last occasion I carefully watched
for some time a Synchrcta infested with two Tricho-
dina; which were running in all directions over the
body and cilia of the Rotifer, and were not shaken
off by the sudden and violent contractions charac-
teristic of this species. The Trichodina on close

examination could not be distinguished from T.
pediculus, parasitic on Hydra, as figured by Saville
Kent. The Rotifer seemed not to suffer in any way,
and as vigorous as the others free from Trichodina.
Synchreta's size is 7 ' n th inch, and Trichodina is j^th
inch in diameter, or about one-sixth the size of the
former, so that they were rather large parasites for
the little Rotifer to carry about with him. — Charles
Roussclct.

Great Black-backed Gull. — On January 4th
one of these birds, probably driven inland by stress
of weather, settled on the vane at the top of the
spire of St. Marie's Church in the centre of this
town, and remained therefrom 10.30 A.M. until noon.
It was identified with the aid of a powerful telescope
by Mr. J. T. Webster, of the Museum Hotel. As
this spire is about 200 feet high, and the church
stands over 250 feet above sea level, the gull could
not have had a very warm perch. This is supposed to
be the first appearance of the great black-backed gull
in Sheffield. — Phomas I Finder, Sheffield.

Occurrence of Limax cinereo-niger in
Sussex. — Last August I obtained three specimens
of this slug at Up Park, near Harting, in the extreme
north-west corner of the county. Two were sent for
identification to the Conchological Society, Leeds,
and one of these turned out to be the variety Ornati.
I have also lately met with the following slugs in
West Sussex, which have not hitherto been mentioned
in the local lists, viz. Arion subfuscus, Arion bour-
guiguati, and Limax Levis. — William Jeffery.

The Little Bustard in West Sussex. — I have
just seen a specimen of this bird which was killed
by Mr. Coote, of Clymping (Arundel district), towards
the end of last year. A little bustard was killed
some years ago at Bosham (Chichester district), by
Mr. A. Cheesman. This was just prior to the
publication of Knox's " Ornithological Rambles "
in 1855, and is there noted. — William Jeffery.

Axinus Croulinensis.— At the last meeting of
the Glasgow Natural History Society, Mr. A. Somer-
ville, B.Sc, F.L.S., exhibited specimens of Axinus
Croulinensis, one of the smallest and most interesting
of British marine bivalve shells. This mollusc was
discovered forty years ago by Dr. Jeffreys off the
island of Croulin, and has been taken by Canon
Norman in Shetland waters, and in various of the
Norwegian fiords. But since its discovery by Jeffreys,
it is not known to have been taken in what may
properly be termed British waters, until dredged by
Mr. Somerville last August in about thirty fathoms
water in Gairloch, Ross-shire, and alsD in Loch Broom.
Specimens of the other two British species of the
genus Axinus were shown for comparison, also an
enlarged diagram illustrating the minute characteris-
tics by which the species are distinguished.

44

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

The Development of the Tadpole. — Having
seen Mr. C. Rousselet's note in the last number of
Science-Gossip, I am happy to be able to confirm
his observations on the existence of the ciliated
epidermal cells of the young tadpole. I have been
aware of the existence of the cilia in question for
three or four years, and had no idea that the fact was
unknown to biologists. I first noticed the currents
produced by the cilia while watching the circulation
of the blood with a |-in. objective. With this glass
the cilia are not easily seen, but the currents produced
by them are very distinct. In order to see the cilia
well, the tail should be gently scraped and the free
cells examined in a little water, with a |-in. objective ;
the cilia are then plainly visible. A very weak
solution of osmic acid brings them still better into
view, but quickly destroys the vitality of the cell ;
the cilia become stationary, and after a short time
seem to be attracted to the body of the cell and are
lost to view. I fear Mr. Rousselet will meet with no
success in his attempt to preserve stained sections,
owing to this capillarity between the cilia and the
cell, which comes into play as soon as the protoplasm
of the cell ceases to live. — P. E. IVallis, East
Grinstead.

Our British Slugs. — Will the readers of my
communication with this heading in the January
number kindly make the few following emendations?
Line 28, "Beliz" should be "Bielz"; and "stabile,"
" Stabile " on line 30. There is a very good figure of
Limax arborum, B. Ch., in Goteb. Handl. 1868, to
which reference can be made. It is interesting to note
that of Geomalcus there have been six new species
described by several French authors, Normand,
Baudon, Letourneaux, and Mabille, as G. inter-
medins, N. ; G. bourguignati, M. ; G. paladilhicuius,
M. ; G. moitessierianus, M. ; G. mabilli, B. ; G. ven-
dca7ius, L. ; all of which Heynemann in Malac. Bliitt.
xxi. has clearly shown to have been created from the
examination of young Arions. In this lies an evident
moral to all those who would name slugs, but from
an extensive and close acquaintanceship with slug-
lore and with slug- life. — J. IF. Williams, D.Sc.

BOTANY.

TOLYPELLA INTRICATA, IRREGULAR APPEARANCE
OF. — This rare species of the British Characere has
been remarkable, in that it " does not appear to
have been found for two successive years in any
locality," vide a review of British Characese, by
Messrs. Groves, p. 16. In the year 1883, when
botanising on a bleak day in March, and feeling
depressed with the barrenness of the day's search, this
plant was detected in a small pool between two woods
in S. Beds where it flourished luxuriantly during that
spring. The pool is only about nine feet long and
six feet wide, but the plant was developed in such

perfection, that, in May, Mr. H. Groves came down
to gather some, in company with the writer. During
the ensuing summer the water all evaporated, and
the chara disappeared. During the following year,
18S4, when the pool was pretty well filled with water,
no trace of the plant could be detected, although it
was carefully examined at intervals of a few weeks,,
during the whole of the spring and summer. The
next year, 1885, it re-appeared in fair quantity, but
not so luxuriantly as in 1883, and it was left almost
untouched, so that its fruits might be matured.
Again, in the spring of 1886, the pool was carefully
examined, when the plant was found in small
quantities, this being, it is believed, the first instance
in which it has been detected in the same station for
two successive seasons, that is, in 1885 and 1886.
This irregularity of appearance seems equally well
marked in the Characese, as in some of the orchids.
As examples may be mentioned, Chara hispida, has
grown for several years in a pool at Totternhol,
whereas, at Simbury, it has only grown in one season ;
Chara vulgaris almost filled a pond at Brummugham
one season, and was entirely absent the next ; Nitella
mucronata, abundant in a pool near Bedford in 1882,
but has not re-appeared there, although it has been
detected in the adjoining river. Nitella opaca, in one
pool at Snodan ; it grew in 1882, but has been absent
since, whereas, at another station about a mile distant,
the same species has appeared several years in suc-
cession. The year 1886 was remarkable for the
scarcity of Characeaa in this district, which have been
less abundant . than in any year since 1S82. The
foregoing remarks are given in the hope, that they
may stimulate observation on the hitherto unex-
plained causes of the irregularity in appearance of
some of our native plants, a true solution of which
would probably only be obtained by a series of data
extending over a succession of years. — J. Saunders,
Luton.

Amphipleura pellucida.— On p. 258, Mr. W. E.
Simmonds asks how this diatom is to be resolved
by Seibert's j'gth water immersion, and confesses to
having wasted many hours in attempting to see the
stria? ; now Siebert's glass having, or professing to
have, a numerical aperture of a little over 0*99, it
would be possible theoretically to resolve stria; of
104'OwO to the inch with the aid of monochromatic
light, the ordinary amphipleura has striae about as
fine as 93 - ooo to 96 - ooo to the inch. I do not think
the margin is sufficient, as in practice these cheap
glasses never work up to theory. If Mr. Simmonds
is anxious to see amphipleura, I would advise him
either to get an easy frustule of the Peruvian variety,
with stria? about 6o - ooo to the inch, or to possess
himself of a Homogeneous oil immersion objective.
He will then be able to gratify himself with a sight of
the " bars " on amphipleura. — P. E. JVallis, East
Grinstead.

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

45

Bees and Flowers.— On Saturday morning,
August 14th, 1SS6, while watching the bees in the
garden, I saw a bee fly from a flower of the tea-tree
{Lyrium barbatum), to a bed of flowers consisting
mostly of Antirrhinum majus. The most remark-
able fact was that, after opening the flower, the bee
at once turned over upon its back, so that the abdo-
men came in contact with the anthers. This insect
was evidently collecting pollen, having called at the
tea-tree for a sip on the way. This was an admirable
method for collecting pollen, the only drawback
being the difficulty experienced when] the bee wished
to come out. However, this did not prevent the bee
carrying out its plan. It visited a number of flowers
in this way until a friend, whose curiosity was so
greatly excited, made the bee aware that it was being
narrowly watched. Although I have spent many
mornings watching the bees, it was only on this
occasion that I saw the flowers visited in this way. —
R. Paulson.

Mimulus LUTEUS. — In preparing some tran-
sections of Mimulus for microscopic examination, I
observed a difference in structure from the ordinary
form of annular plant-stems. Usually they have the
fibro-vascular bundles separated by the intervening
cellular tissue of the plant-stem ; but in the Mimulus
stem the fibro-vascular bundles give place to a com-
plete ring of wood. The plants were in bloom, and
in fine condition. Could any reader say if this is an
uncommon form of stem ? — P. Kilgour.

Albino Varieties.— In response to Mr. Wheat-
craft's appeal in Science-Gossip for January (p. 17),
I beg to say that in June, 1S80, I saw large patches
of Gentiana vcrna, the flowers of which were white.
Many were quite pure, others, however, were slightly
tinged with blue. To the best of my recollection,
there were no plants with flowers of the usual colour
near. The white-flowered variety occurred on the
grassy border of the road which leads from Nanders
to Finstermunz, but only, if my memory serves me, on
the right-hand side. There were a great many plants,
and I found them in patches along an extent of
probably two hundred yards or more. I once found
on the Axenstrasse, above Brunnen, a plant of that
very elegant little campanula, so common on the Alps
(I forget the name of the species) which had pure
white flowers. This plant grew in the midst of a
number of others whose flowers were of the usual
colour. I am not sure, but I think that whenever
Crocus vermis occurs on the Continent, the flowers
will always be found to vary in colour between white
and purple. I have seen this state of things in three
localities at least. One was on the heights above
Castellamare in February. Another was on a mountain
at the back of Cadenabbia in May, and a third was
-on an alp near the Dreizuinen in the Dolomite country,
this was early in July. It may be worth mentioning

that within ten days of seeing those last I gathered
blossoms of Colchicum autumnale at Berchtesgaden,
so that these two plants, one of which in England
flowers in March and the other in September, must
have been in flower in the two last-mentioned
localities at the same time, spring and autumn, so
shaking hands. — P.

Bee Orchis, irregular appearance of.— In
reference to note by J. T., in current number of
Science-Gossip, the writer's opinion is that the
subject is far from being exhausted, and appears to
remain one of the unsolved problems of plant history.
The erratic appearance of Ophrys apifera referred to
in 1879, still characterises the species in this district,
but with one remarkable exception. There is a
station for it about half a mile south of Luton, on a
hillside, through which has been made a deep cutting
for the Midland. In this place a few plants have
been found in blossom every year from 1882 inclusive.
In the search for them, assistance has been rendered
by my friend Mr. Catt, so that between us, we have
been enabled to investigate the matter at the proper
flowering season. It certainly is curious, and sug-
gestive of great caution in scientific deduction, that
just as one was being confirmed in belief from
numerous observations, that bee orchis might never
be expected to re-appear in the same station for two
or three consecutive seasons, a small group of plants
should persist in blossoming for five seasons in
succession, that is from 18S2 to 18S6. There is
nothing remarkable in the station, which is green-
sward on a hillside, with a north-west aspect, or
calcareous soil, just such as finds its repetition in many
neighbouring localities where this plant is essentially
erratic in its appearance. The remark with reference
to the interference of cattle with them, is suggestive
of a valid reason, as the writer has often seen flowerine
spikes, on the basis of which were leaves that had
been cropped by animals. So that it is quite possible
the energies of the plant might be temporarily crippled
to the destruction of its " starch "-producing foliage,
without which it could not of course produce a supply
of reserve material to nourish the flower-spike of the
following season. Another orchid, noteworthy for its
irregular appearance, is Spiranthes autumnalis, which
in one station did not blossom between 1S79 and
1SS3. — J. Saunders, Luton.

Thunderstorms and Frosts. — I have noticed
for the last three years that the frequency of thunder-
storms has been on the decrease in summer months,
whilst frosts have increased in severity. Perhaps
some other reader of Science-Gossip has noticed
the same and would be able to offer an explanation.
Does the electrical condition of the atmosphere have
anything to do with this phenomenon ? — If. J.
Frederick.

46

HA R D WICKE ' S S CIE NCE- G O SSI P.

GEOLOGY, &c.

A Paleolithic Workshop. — Mr. J. Allen
Brown, F.G.S., F.R.G.S., recently read a paper
before the Antiquarian Society, on his discovery of a
Palaeolithic workshop floor of the Drift period, near
Ealing. In West Middlesex such old floors or former
land surfaces are often discernible, and such habitable
spots have been preserved in different parts of the
Thames Valley, though they have frequently been
disturbed, removed, and re-deposited in other places
by the changing course, and curves of the wider river
of the past, and by floods and other conditions of the
severer climate which then prevailed. The palaeo-
lithic workshop floor is about one hundred feet above
the present bed of the Thames, and about two miles
distant from it, is situated near the junction between
the Creffield Road and Mason's Green Road, Acton.
The floor is here about six feet from the surface, with
a steeper slope to the river than the present surface,
it is covered to this extent with sand, brickearth,
and trail deposits. At this site, on an area of about
forty feet square, were found nearly 600 unabraded
worked flints, including long spear or javelin heads,
from five to six inches long, neatly trimmed to a
point, and of the same form as those of obsidian, fix.,
now employed by the natives of New Caledonia, the
Admiralty Islands, and Australia, for insertion into
the shafts of their spears, to which they were fixed
by lashings, &c. There were also shorter ones, not
only wrought along the sides to the point where the
flake required trimming, but also neatly chipped at
the butts into rough rudimentary tangs. Such spear-
heads have not only been described by Messrs. Lartet
and Christy from the cave of Le Moustier, in the
Dordogne, but have been met with in the alluvial
deposits of the Somme at Abbeville, the Seine, and
other French rivers, as well as by Dr. J. Evans, from
Mildenhall, &c. Roughly wrought hatchets, axes,
or choppers formed from flakes chipped on one or
both faces to a cutting edge were also found rather
abundantly on the floor. They are probably some of
the earliest rude celt forms. Large numbers of
knives formed from flakes, often neatly worked on
the edge with fine secondary work and also saws
chipped with a distinctly serrated edge, were exhibited
from this site, with other tools apparently intended
to be used as chisels, &c. Large numbers of waste
flakes as well as blocks of flint which had been worked
upon, were also found at this spot ; and in Ealing,
about two miles distant, in a deposit of about the
same age, a large boulder of metamorphic rock,
concave on both faces and roughened and scored in
the hollow from use, was met with ; it is 7^ inches
long ; and a quartzite boulder which fits the hollow,
was found near it, in fine gravel. They are the first
pounding-stones discovered in the drift deposits.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

A Wasp's Nest. — I have read this article by
L'Aigle in a recent number of Science-Gossip, with
considerable interest, but would suggest that some
further particulars would greatly enhance its value.
I am endeavouring to collect authentic information
concerning our social wasps. Can your corre-
spondent name this species ? In what part of the
country does he live ? What was the length of life
of his wasps, (1) as eggs, (2) as larvae, (3) as pupce ?
About what date was the nest abandoned ? for, I
suppose, if a British nest, it is deserted now. L'Aigle
says the paper was made from decayed wood. Did
he actually see this particular wasp gathering decayed
wood ? and did he see it gathering materials from any
other source ? He also says that the wasp worked
day and night ; does this mean that it worked all
through the night, as hornets are said to do, or only,
as is usually the case with Vcspa Germanica and V.
vulgaris, until about an hour after sunset? I
presume that the illustrations accompanying the
article were taken from the particular nest alluded to.
I may take this opportunity of pointing out the im-
portance in many cases of affixing the name of the
place where the observations were made. And
again, remarks upon the earliness and lateness of
flowering, etc., are of little value when they are
evidently inserted long after they have been written,
and when the printer omits the date. — F. W. Elliot.

Bees' Stings. — If bees' stings are smooth, and
wasps' so barbed, how is it that hive bees leave the
sting behind so much oftener than wasps do ? — F. IV.
Elliot.

Male Wasps. — I should be glad to be informed
where and when the males of the common wasps are
to be found, and how they may be outwardly dis-
tinguished from the queens ? — Reginald IV. Christy.

Bees and Wasps' Stings. — I am amused at your
correspondent, W. E. Harper, correcting T. Winder
about the barbs on sting of wasp, and advise him to
look again more carefully. Years ago I dissected
and mounted dozens, but never found one without
the barbs. Their visibility may perhaps depend on
the position the sting is in. All I can say is that,
unless the stings of bees and wasps are different to
what they used to be, both are barbed. — E. C,
Mat loci.

Curious Phenomenon on Ice. — I should feel
obliged if some of your correspondents could give a
satisfactory solution of the following occurrence. A
friend of mine, Mr. John Stirling, of Fairburn, in
Ross-shire, on the border of Inverness-shire, made a
new curling-pond last summer about 150 yards X 80
yards, and 3 feet deep, in a place where there was
a good deal of peat, and an artificial bank was made
at the low end puddled with peat. On the other
sides there are natural banks,"mostly peat, and a lead
was made from the River Orrin to supply the pond.
On the 13th of December the ice was strong enough
to skate on, when a number of white spots were
observed on it as though there was air underneath,
and the ice was weak on these spots. They were
mostly on the south or river side of the pond. On
the 14th we curled on the pond (our rink), but only
where there were no white spots, as where they were
the ice would not stand curling — therefore a large
portion of the pond was useless for curling. One of
the party thought it would be a good thing to let out

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

47

this air and made a hole in one of these white spots
when there was a rush of " gas," then the water came
up, and the ice looked the same as the rest of the
pond. Another of the party said, " Let us put a
lighted match to it and see if it will burn." A large
spot was selected, a hole made and a lighted match
applied. At once there was a jet of bluish fiame about
three feet high, which burnt about two or three
minutes and which singed our friend's beard. It
was just getting dark. We all got to work with a box
of matches and a sharp pointed stick, or anything
that would make a hole in the ice, which was about
three inches thick, and in a short time there were a
dozen or more of these jets of gas in full blaze
coming from the ice ; the effect was most curious and
weird. What was this, gas? Was it sulphuretted
hydrogen, or petroleum fumes from the peat ? I
noticed when the pond was being made that many
of the puddles had an oily kind of stuff like paraffin
floating on them ; but I did not observe any smell
from the gas escaping from the ice. — W. C. P.

The Effects of the late severe Weather
upon Mice. — On the evening of the 6th ult., while
walking on the main road between two neighbouring
towns, I was surprised to see five or six small
creatures start up from the fresh horse-droppings and
make for the adjacent hedgebanks — what could they
be ? not frogs, as they did not jump but ran nimbly
in a zigzag direction. But while walking and
wondering what they could be, the same thing
occurred again, and this time I was quick enough to
observe that they were mice, and during the passage
of the next two miles, some twenty or thirty were
sent scampering into cover at the sound of my
approach. For the next mile none appeared, and it
occurred to me, that, as there were three stacks near
the roadside in that distance, that the mice there,
were better provided for than their brethren. I tried
to catch one to discover its species, but was not
successful. Several people that have been asked if
they had seen the like in other directions, have
replied in the affirmative. — Edwin E. Turner,
Coggeshall, Essex.

Explosion of Eggs. — Enclosed is a cutting from
the "New York Tribune "for November 21st, re-
specting the explosion of an ostrich egg. I have
known the eggs of a domestic fowl explode with a
report as loud as a toy cannon. — C. F. Cross.

Frightful Explosion of an Ostrich Egg. —
Dr. George Blair, of Yale College, was knocked
insensible and nearly killed by the explosion of an
ostrich egg in Peabody Museum on November 20th.
Such an occurrence was never heard of before, accord-
ing to the scientists of the city. The egg came from
South Africa, and weighed 3J pounds.

Aquarium Notes. — A correspondent in Science-
Gossip of December last, writes under this heading,
concerning the destruction of water-plants by
minnows. I have kept specimens of this fish for a
long time in an aquarium supplied with the common
anacharis (which if H. D. O. F. has not tried, I
should certainly reccommend him to do, as it is very
easily obtainable, and grows luxuriantly) and I have
never found them eat or destroy it. If care be taken
to feed them with a moderate quantity of animal and
vegetable food, their destructive habits will probably
disappear. With regard to the Dytisci, they should
on no account be placed in an aquarium with fish, as
I have often known them to kill fish some three or
four inches long ; but the great hydrophilus (one of

the largest of our British aquatic Coleoptera) may
safely be kept with fish and other inhabitants of the
aquarium. — H. A. Crossfield, South Hackney.

Roselle, of which the scientific name was asked
in our January number, is the Hibiscus sabdariffa,
Linn. It is grown in all the gardens of India, par-
ticularly in the Bombay provinces, and the calyces are
made into tarts or jelly, the latter not inferior to that
of the red currant. The " Cyclopaedia of India " says
there are five varieties cultivated, that its leaves are
used as greens, and that in the French West Indian
Islands a kind of cider is prepared from it. It is
often grown in flower beds. The stem, if cut when
in flower, and the bark scraped off, steeped im-
mediately, displays a mass of fibres of a fine silky
nature.

Rozelle. — The plant so called and cultivated in
India is Hibiscus sabdariffa, DC. Prod. It is not
indigenous, but a native, to the best of my recollection,
of the West Indies. It makes a capital jelly — a
good substitute for that obtained from red currants
and very like it in appearance.

Cuckoo with false Notes. — I have more than
once observed in Science-Gossip notices of
cuckoos uttering false notes. We had one here some
years ago, for several consecutive years, singing in
Torachilty, Ross-shire, which always sang cuck-coo-
coo, cuck-coo-coo, from the very first of its arrival
about the 1st May. I have not heard it now for
these last two seasons. I notice eagles (golden) are
getting more plentiful here. I saw no less than four
large ones a few days ago from my dining-room
window while at jj breakfast, soaring over the hill.
While on the subject of Ross-shire, let me recommend
to your readers a very interesting and instructive
book which has just come out : " Gairloch, in North-
West Ross-shire : Its Records, Traditions, Inhabi-
tants and Natural History," by John H. Dixon,
F.S.A. Scot. (Co-operative Printing Co. Ld., Edin-
burgh).—^. C.P.

Are growing Leaves of the Yew-tree
poisonous? — I was conversing with a farmer on the
above subject a short time ago, and he assured me
that two of his cows had died from the bad effects
produced by eating the leaves of the yew-tree.
There cannot possibly be any truth in the assertion
that the leaves are poisonous only when dried. —
7. Lea.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now
publish Science-Gossip earlier than formerly, we cannot un-
dertake to insert in the following number any communications
which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month.

To Anonymous Querists. — We must adhere to our rule of
not noticing queries which do not bear the writers' names.

To Dealers and others. — We are always glad to treat
dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general
ground as amateurs, in so far as the " exchanges " offered are fair
exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are simply
disguised advertisements, for the purpose of evading the cost of
advertising, an advantage is taken ol out gratuitous insertion of
" exchanges " which cannot be tolerated.

We request that all exchanges may be signed with name (or
initials) and full address at the end.

J. S. Galizia. — You may get any or all of the scientific
magazines referred to in our list, of Mr. W. P. Collins, 157 Great
Portland Street, London.

48

HA RD WICKE'S S CIENCE- G SSI P.

M. Johnston. — The books on British spiders, bees, beetles,
etc., by Stavely, Shuckard, Rye, and others, are fairly exhaustive
for students. You could hardly procure better general text-
books to work by.

J. M. — Mr. R. St. Stephens', A. R.S.M., address is as follows:
25 Fondwych Road, West Ha'iipstead, London, N.W.

EXCHANGES.

Offered, thirty-six varieties of downs from British birds,
correct and clean, for two good slides or prepared anatomical
sections, or other material. — \V. Sim, Gourdas, Fyvie, N.B.

Vol. V. of " Records of Buckinghamshire," unbound and
perfectly clean, published at igs., by Bucks. " Archaeological
Society," in exchange for books on natural history, or offers.
Rejected offers not answered. — F. H. Parrott, 35 Doughty
Street, London, W.C.

Legal. — A collection of statutes now in use, with notes in
the margin, together with an abridgment of the residue which
are expired, altered and worn out of use. With statutes made
in the reigns of Charles I. and II., by Thomas Manby, a.d.
1670. Quite perfect. What offers'/— B. M. O., 7 Cavendish
Terrace, Ellacombe, Torquay.

Offered, Science-Gossip for 18S3, clean, unbound ; also
newly bound, in one volume, 1865-1867. Wanted, books or
magazines on botany.— E. Hogben, 2 Royal Terrace, Bexhill,
near Hastings.

Ten years' Science-Gossip and other scientific papers offered
in exchange for the figured volume of "British Marine Shells,"
by G. Jeffreys, or for tropical shells. — Miss F. Hele, Fairlight,
Elmgrove Road, Cotham, Bristol.

Wanted, Carpenter's " Revelations of the Microscope" and
works on Infusoria and pond-l.fe, or micro slides or apparatus.
A few fossils and books in exchange. — C. L. Lord, 34 Burlington
Crescent, Goole.

Wanted, Science-Gossip, Nos. 1-52, 59, 60, 68-70, 89, 94-
120, 122, 126-129, and 131. Can offer Science-Gossip, 1876-
1882. — F. C. King, 2 Clarendon Street, Preston, Lancashire.

Wanted, Pisidinm roseuni, Zotrites nitidus, Z. glaber, Test,
haliotidea, Succinea oblonga, Helix fitsca, H. pygiuea. Pupa
ringens, and Acme lineata. Send desiderata. British land
and freshwater shells offered in exchange. — John R. B. Mase-
field, Ro-ehill, Cheadle, Staffordshire.

Named rocks wanted from Cheviots and south of Scotland.
Rocks, fossils, shells, etc., offered in exchange. — J. Hawell,
Ingleby Greenhow Vicarage, Northallerton.

Wanted, accessories, reagents, etc., for histological works.
Apply, stating requirements, to — F. R. Rowley, 60 Lower
Hastings Street, Southfields, Leicester.

Wanted, collections of rare foreign stamps, coins, and medals.
Offered, natural history specimens. — W. K. Mann, Wellington
Terrace, Clifton, Bristol.

Offered, many continental dried plants; send list for ex-
change to — C. Copineau, Juge au Tribunal civil de Doullens
(Somme), France.

A Swift's microtome, in good condition, cost ,£5. Will ex-
change for standard books. — C. Morley, 21 Eccleston Road,
Ealing, W.

Wanted, complete volumes of Science-Gossip; thirty-si <
different micro slides, neatly mounted, for exchange. — Fred.
Beddow, Derby.

" Nature," from 1st January, 1885, till now, or the end of
current volume. What offers'/ Wanted, Braithwaite's " Mosses,"
in parts, or natural history books. — J. W., 3 Norfolk Terrace,
Dumfries.

Clean copies of Science-Gossip, complete for the year 1884,
and 1886, omitting Jan. and four numbers of 1885 (Jan., Oct.,
Nov., Dec), all good, clean copies ; also vol. v. of the Postal
Microscopical Society ("Journal of Microscopy and Natural
Science"), and Oct. part of vol. iv., in first-class condition; also
microscopic lamp and turntable for mounting, the latter nearly
new. Particulars on application. — W. W. Ranson, The Cottage,
Priory Road, Anfield, Liverpool.

Wanted, a specimen of Rubus suberectus ; midland plants
or a book in exchange. — R. Garner, Stoke-upon-Trent, Staf-
fordshire.

Wanted, eocene fossils, named and localised, in exchange
for others ; also, what offers for first ten parts of Brown's
" Fossil Conchology," with 37 plates, some coloured, containing
about 1200 figures, published at 30^. — George E. East, jun.,
241 Evering Road, Upper Clapton, E.

Cassell's "The Sea," "Countries of the World," "Familiar
Wild Flowers," "Illustrated Readings," and "Technical Edu-
cator;" also Science-Gossip for 1884-86, with coloured plates
complete; all unbound and in the very best condition. What
offers in micro apparatus, lirst-class slides, or slide cabinets? —
W. Mathie, 42 McKinlay Street, Glasgow.

Wanted, nests with eggs of British and foreign birds ; rare-
eggs offered in exchange. — J. T. T. Reed, Ryhope, Durham.

Micro slides. — What offers in first-class slides only, for
Louis' series of 12 slides selected diatoms in groups, also for
Watson's type ^lide of 50 diatoms from Campeachy Bay? A
large number of miscellaneous slides for exchange. Offers not
entertained not answered. — W. Mathie, 42 McKinlay Street,
Glasgow.

Botanical preparation, offered for loan of "Microscope in
Botany." — W. White, Litcham, Swaffham.

Herbarium, Briti-h and foreign, what offers?— J. Harbord
Lewis, F.L.S., 145 Windsor Street, Liverpool.

Exotic butterflies: many fresh duplicates, including Om.
Brookiana, arruanus ; Morpho cypris, Adonis; Urania rhy-
pheus, etc. Also wings of brilliant species for microscopic pur-
poses. — Hudson, Railway Terrace, Cross Lane, nr Manchester.

Wanted, "Conchologia Iconica," vols, xviii.-xx. ; also
" Monographs 011 Mollusca " (Palasontographical Society). State
requirements. — .1 iss Linter, Arragon Close, Twickenham.

Wanted, Kirby & Spence's "Entomology" and Science-
Gossip for 1885 and 18 56, bound or unbound : will give in ex-
change "The Amateur Photographer" for 1886 or 1885, un-
bound or otherwise. — C. Gregory, c.o. Mrs. Sharp, 4 Bateman
Terrace, West Kensington Park, W.

Wanted, "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society,"
N is. 132 (November 1877), 134 (May 1878), and 143 (August
1880), any or all. — W. G. Spencer, Stanton House, The Fosse,
Leicester.

What offers for the "A^ri Igment of the Gardener's Dic-
tionary," by Philip Miller?— H. M., Townfield Street, Chelms-
ford.

The " Stamp Collector's Handbook," by E. L. Pemberton ;
"Violin-Making," by E. H.Allen: some good fishing-tackle
and a rod, never used. Wanted in exchange, back volumes of
Science-Gossip before 18S6 (bound or unbound), micro appa-
ratus of any kind, zoological or physiological slides. — Miles
Johnston, Oban House, Balham Park Road, Balham.

Well-mounted Polyzoons for exchange : also Batracho-
spermum ntoniliforme and other algae. — W. Stott, Lostock,
Bolton.

"Nature," vol. i. ; " Intellectual Observer," vols. ii. and v. ;
"English Mechanic," vols, xxx.-xxxiii. ; all well bound; ex-
change. — Linden, New Brompton, Kent.

Wanted, supplements to Wood's "Index Testaceologicus,"
also back numbers (i8?2 and previous years) of the "Journal of
Conchology." — C. L. S., 8 Trinity Street, Hastings.

P. vivipara, H. arbustoritm, H. ericetorum, D. polymorpha,
C. laminata, C. tridens, A. anatina, and good micro slides in
exchange for other land and freshwater shells. —J. C. Black-
shaw, 4 Ranelagh Ro-»d, Wolverhampton.

BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED.

" Mountains and Mountain-Making," by T. M.Reade, F.G.S.
(London: Taylor and Francis). — " The Greyhound," by Hugh
Dalzell (London : L.Upcott Gill). — " Handbook of Practical Bo-
tany," by E. Strasburger( London: Swan Sonnenschein& Co.). —
"Text-book of British Fungi," by W. Delisle Hay (London:
Swan Sonnenschein &Co.). — " Sonnets on Nature and Science,"
by S. Jeffreson (London: T. Fisher Unwin). — "British Pe-
trography," by J. H. Teall, part 10. — "Proceedings of the
Camera Club." — Cole's " Studies in Microscopical Science." —
"The Amateur Photographer." — "The Camera." — "The
Scientific Enquirer." — "The Garner" (vol. for 1S86). — "The
Naturalist." — "The Botanical Gazette." — " Journal of the
New York Microscopical Society." — " Belgravia." — " The
Gentleman's Magazine." — " Le Monde de la Science." —
"American Monthly Microscopical Journal." — "The Mid-
land Naturalist." — " Feuille des Jeunes Naturalistes." — "The
American Naturalist." — "Journal of Microscopy." — "Journal
of Quekett Microscopical Club." — &c. &c.

Communications received up to the 13TH ult. from:
R. G.-C. P.-G. F. H.— M. G.-C C— W. C. P.-C. M.—
C. W.— W. K. M.— H— T. M. R.— G O. H.— C. I.— S. S. L.
— T. R. F. G.— E. P. P.-E. H. W.— F. B.— H. I. F.— A. T.—
F. R. W.— I. G.— J. R. B. M.— J. W. B.— W. I. N.— F. C. K.
— M. H.— C. W. D. -R. H. N. B.— F. H.— C. L. L.-R. W. C
—J. M.— C. W. H.— E. H.— J. H.-E. G.-M. J.— C. R.—
W. S.— F. H. P.— I. F. H.— E. C— A. H B.— F. L.— W. J. N.
— T. W.— W. M.-G. H.— G. E. E.-J. T. T. R.-J. W. C.—
I. B.— J. L.— W. M. R.— J. S. W.— I. W.— W. E C. N.— E. A.
— T. D. A. C— H. C. B.— R. G.— J. C. B.— J. W. W.— F. L.
_F. B. W.— F. D. B.— F. E.— H.— M. R.— W. W.— W. G. S.
— E. E. T.— M. J.— H. M.-G. S. P.— R. B. P.— C. G.— S. S.
—J. C— J. H.— L.— P. E.W.— H. N. W.-J. J. B.— A. O.—
W. J.— H. H. R. C.-J. L.— C. L. S.— Dr. M.— J. B.— W. S.
—J. S. G.-H. U. J.—]. G. G.— R. D. P.— F. G.— H. M.—
C. P.— H. W. L.— H. F. H.— J. R. C— &c. &c

HA RD WICKE' S S CIENCE- G OS SIP.

49

CHAPTERS ON FOSSIL INSECTS

By ROBERT B. COOK.

No. II.

N our last article
we very briefly
traced the geo-
logical history of
the orders Neu-
roptera, Orthop-
tera, Hemiptera,
and Coleoptera,
representatives of
all which orders
have been found
in the Palaeozoic
rocks ; it now
remains for us in
like manner to
notice those orders
which apparently
appeared later in
geological time.

I. Euplexoptera.
— T his small
order, composed of the earwigs, which insects have
been ranked by some naturalists as Coleoptera, and
by others as Orthoptera, but are now generally placed
in a small separate order — is first represented in the
Lower Lias marls of Schambelen, Switzerland, by
one species very different from any living form, being,
according to Professor Ileer, more transitionary be-
tween Orthoptera and Coleoptera ; this insect itself
affording as much difficulty to correctly name, as the
earwigs generally have afforded in their classification.
Fossil earwigs have also been found in the Solenhofen
slate of Bavaria, the Eocene formations of Monte
Bolca near Verona, and of Aix in Provence, and the
Miocene deposits of Oeningen in Switzerland.

2. Diptera. — Some very fragmentary specimens,
thought by Professor Westwood to belong to this
order, have been discovered in the Lower Lias for-
mations of the west of England ; but the oldest
undoubted remains come from the Purbecks of
England and the Solenhofen slate of Bavaria (both
No. 267.— M ARCH 1887.

formations of Upper Oolitic age), and include the
genera Bibio, Tipula, Cecidomya, Musca, and Culex.
In all the Tertiary insect-bearing strata the Diptera
occur in great abundance, most of the existing genera
being represented by species more or less allied to
the present forms.

3. Trichcptera. — This order, which comprises the
caddis flies, and which, according to Westwood,
"forms the connecting link between the Neuroptera
and Lepidoptera," appears for the first time in the
Purbeck beds of Dorsetshire, and occurs subsequently
in the Eocene beds of the Isle of Wight and of Aix
in Provence, while the Miocene freshwater formations
of Auvergne are composed in great part of what is
known as " Indusial limestone," so called from the
rock being formed entirely of the "indusise" or
larval cases of the caddis worms cemented together
by calcareous or siliceous matter ; and it is most
interesting to note, that the larva of the caddis fly
seems to have possessed the same habit then as now
of sticking small shells to its case, for the caddis cases
found in the dried-up lakes of Auvergne are very
often covered with the shells of a small species of
Paludina, thus resembling in a great measure the
common English species of caddis worm, which is so
fond of attaching to its case the small shells of
Planorbis nautileus, and other species. Fossil caddis
cases have also been found at Oeningen, Locle, and
elsewhere.

4. Hymenoptera. — A small fragment of a wing
found in the Lower Lias marls of Schambelen,
Switzerland, has been assigned by Professor Heer,
with much hesitation and doubt, to the order Hymen-
optera ; but the occurrence of this solitary and
doubtful specimen, unconfirmed by any other Hymen-
opterous remains from formations of the same age, is
scarcely sufficient to establish so high an antiquity for
the order. However, in the Solenhofen slate, an
Upper Oolitic formation already several times re-
ferred to, veritable Hymenoptera occur, which have
been assigned to the family Apidoe. In the Tertiary

D

5°

HARJDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

formations fossil remains of Hymenoptera have been
procured from the Middle Eocene leaf beds of
Bournemouth, and the Upper Eocene limestone of
the Isle of Wight, those from the latter formation
consisting chiefly of ants belonging to the genera
Myrmica and Formica. On the Continent the Upper
Eocene formations of Aix have yielded fossil saw-
flies, the parasitic Ichneumons, and Chalcidiidae,
together with various species of wasps and ants.
Remains of Hymenoptera have also been found,
although only sparsely, in the Lower Miocene forma-
tions of Switzerland and Germany : but in the Middle
and Upper Miocene divisions represented respectively
by the marls of Radoboj in Croatia, and the lacustrine
deposit of Oeningen, already noticed so often, they
occur in great plenty, comprising chiefly ants, ich-
neumons, bees, wasps, and Sphegidre.

5. Lepidopteva. — This order, the most well-known
of our insect relations, is also the most recent of the
important orders to appear in geological time. It is
true indeed that a fossil wing found in the Stonesfield
slate of England some years ago has been described
by Mr. Butler as that of a butterfly, which he has
named Paleeontina oolitica ; but this classification is
not recognised by Mr. Scudder and other entomo-
logists, who do not consider the wing to be lepi-
dopterous at all, and as there is no sufficient evidence
of the existence of flowers — upon which butterflies
depend — contemporaneous with this species, it is very
probable that the insect has been incorrectly named.
Some very fragmentary remains from the Upper
Purbeck beds of England have also been assigned to
the Lepidoptera ; but these, owing to their very
imperfect condition, cannot with certainty be referred
to any one order specially. Thus, if the foregoing
doubtful specimens be excepted, Professor Heer's
dictum, " Lepidoptera make their first appearance at
Solenhofen," remains a true statement of what is at
present known concerning the antiquity of the order.
From that well-known slate formation two interesting
lepidopterous insects have been discovered, Sphinx
Snelleni, a large hawk-moth somewhat similar to the
existing S. convolvuli, and Bombyx antiqua, a noc-
turnal or night-flying moth. Another species from
the same formation, Pseudosirex Darwini, would
appear by its name to have some affinity with the
genus Sirex of the Hymenoptera ; but not having
seen a description or figure of this species, I cannot
speak as to its relationship. It is, however, in the
Tertiary strata that remains of Lepidoptera first
become anything like general. The Upper Eocene
Bembridge beds of the' Isle of Wight have yielded
two specimens belonging to the genus Lithosia ;
while those of Aix in Provence have supplied us with
seven species : — five butterflies belonging to the
families Papilionidce, Nymphalidae, and Hesperida:,
and two moths, A T octuites deperditus and Pyralitcs
obscurits, together with the fossil larva of a butterfly
belonging to the Satyridae. An interesting fact

connected with these fossil lepidoptera from Aix is
that in almost every case remains of the plants which
in all probability served the larvae for food have been
found in the same beds from which the insects were
obtained. A beautiful and well-preserved fossil
butterfly {Pcrdryas persephone) figured and described
by Dr. Dawson, comes to us from the extensive
Tertiary deposits of Colorado, U.S., and forms one
of the most remarkable examples of fossil insects yet
discovered, both on account of the excellent state of
its preservation and the divergence it exhibits from
living types. It is a valuable contribution of the
New World to the geological history of the Lepi-
doptera. Returning to Europe, the Lower Miocene
lignites or Brown Coal formations of Germany have
yielded a fossil butterfly, Vanessa vetula, and a small
moth belonging to the Tineina, Nepticula fossilis ; the
Middle Miocene marls of Radoboj give us three
butterflies and five moths, the latter comprising two
Noctuidre, two Geometridae, and one Pyralis ; while
the Upper Miocene deposit of Oeningen supplies us
with fragments of wings and bodies of a moth of the
family Bombycidae, a well-preserved larva of the
same family, and a larva sac of Psyche pinula curiously
made of pine leaves. These remains complete the
list of our fossil Lepidoptera.

6. Thysanoptera. — This small order, consisting of
the Linnaean genus Thrips, is composed of minute
insects well known to gardeners from their habit of
visiting flowers. A very beautiful fossil specimen,
discovered in the Tertiary formations of America, is
so exquisitely preserved that the minute fringes of its
wings are clearly visible under the microscope.
When we consider how rare it must be that all the
conditions necessary for the preservation of such
minute and fragile insects are present together, we
must feel how wonderful it is that any remains of
them have been preserved at all, much more so,
when a specimen has been preserved in such a perfect
manner as this delicate little Thrips.

Summarising the results already gathered from the
discoveries we have so briefly passed in review, we
find the oldest orders to be the Neuroptera and
Orthoptera, whose larvre in so many cases live under
the water ; then follow the hardy Coleoptera and
aquatic Ilemiptera, all of which date back to Palaeozoic
times. In the Secondary rocks earwigs, two-winged
flies, and caddis flies begin to occur, and high up in
the Oolitic formations the more highly and specially
developed Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera make their
first appearance, the latter order, composed wholly
of species purely suctorial in their mode of life, only
becoming of general occurrence in Tertiary times,
when the flowers they visit and fertilise begin to
appear also.

Before concluding I must acknowledge my in-
debtedness for the information contained in this and
the preceding paper to the admirable works of
Professor Heer, Dr. Dawson, and Mr. Scudder ; also

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

5 1

to some excellent papers from the pen of Mr. Herbert
Goss, F.L.S., which appeared in the " Entomologists'
Monthly Magazine " some few years ago. Finally, the
study of fossil entomology is one which is worthy of
attention not merely on account of the direct evidence
it affords of the age of the several insect orders and
their representatives, but also on account of the light
it incidentally throws on the existence of other forms
of life. For wherever an insect is found we know
that its food must have existed too, and so certain
beetles indicate the presence of fungi, mosses, and
animals ; certain aquatic insects and larvce the
presence of other water insects ; and certain flies,
moths, bees, etc., the existence of the flowers upon
which they depend for subsistence ; while these
flowers in their turn indicate the existence of the
insects by which they are fertilised. So we notice
the several members of the great family of Life each
dependent on one another, and therein we may see
an image of the narrower human family — everyone
dependent in some measure for life and support
upon his fellow men.

VARIATIONS IN FLANTS.

IT would be a good work for some disciple of
Darwin to write a monograph of the genus
Brassica, as illustrating the inherent tendency of
plants to vary, and the possibility of fixing their
varieties by selection so as to form races which may
be taken for true species. It is believed by many
persons that cabbages may be crossed with swede
turnips, if they are allowed to flower in the neighbour-
hood of such plants happening to blossom at the
same time ; in which case, we may reasonably ask
whether the swedes commonly referred to, Brassica
campcstris, are specifically distinct from Brassica
okracea ? It would be difficult indeed to classify and
describe the varieties of cabbage, borecole, cauli-
flower, broccoli, coleworts, and savoy, with anything
like scientific precision, especially as much of the
information required for such a work would have to
be derived from catalogues in which cauliflowers are
put between carrots and cucumbers ; an arrangement
not very intelligible to botanists. The usefulness of
such a work would, however, be so great as to make
it worth while to face and overcome its difficulty.
Notwithstanding all that has been said by botanical
philosophers, and clone by practical gardeners to
prove the capacity of plants for spontaneous varia-
tion, whenever we speak of an actual difference
between a seedling plant and the plant from which
the seed was taken, we are immediately met by the
suggestion that bees, or some winged insects, are
responsible for the change, or that the unhappy
parent of the wayward plant had been, by some means,
crossed in love. ' [This is often quite erroneous. It is

by no means likely that savoys were the offspring of a
cross between the common cabbage and Scotch
kale, and it is inconceivable that the plant from
which those three varieties were derived, could have
become the progenitor of broccoli and cauliflowers
in any other way than by variation, originating
spontaneously in the only sense in which that word
has any meaning ; that is, independently of any
known external influence. When a tendency to
vary manifests itself in any plant, it often has an
aptitude to run in different directions, and the effect
of selection, whether natural or artificial, is to
determine the direction such a movement shall take.
Twelve years ago a gentleman gave me seeds of
Portugal cabbage, from which I raised plants, the
heads] and hearts of which having been cut and
eaten, I allowed some of the branches to flower and
bear seed. I laid no obligation on them to be true
to the traditions of their family or race, but rather
encouraged any vagaries which it might suit them to
take, except that I set my face against yellow flowers,
destroying any plant where such a colour appeared.
This was to preclude suspicion of crossing, as I do
not know of any other sort of cabbage with white
flowers. My plants ran in the direction of borecole,
which is perhaps no great wonder, for in Sweet's
" Hortus Britannicus," I find the variety Costata
described as having white flowers in a list of
varieties under the word Borecole, printed in large
letters. In Sutton's " Spring Catalogue" for 1874,
Portugal cabbage is called Brassica costata oblonga,
so that I have no need for doubt as to the propel
name and affinities of my plants. From the seed of
one plant saved last year, I have now plants of kale,
purplish-green cabbages, with smooth leaves tending
to form a head, or it may be a heart as pure and
tender as my own, and one at least showing some
resemblance to the red cabbages commonly used for
pickling. If I had a garden as large as that of the
Royal Horticultural Society, I would put these
plants in several places, with a view to obtain froin
them as many races. As it is, I can only choose
that which I like best to perpetuate. This is a sort
of variegated kale, which, as it will have white
flowers, will, I suppose, be sufficiently distinct for
me to boast of having raised it in a few years by
selection from the seeds of Portugal cabbage without
hybridisation or crossing.

John Gibbs.

We are pleased to welcome a new friend and
neighbour in the " Essex Naturalist," which hence-
forth will appear as the "Journal" and "Trans-
actions " of the Essex Field Club, under the
editorship of Mr. William Cole, the Hon. Sec.
We know of no other field club which has so rapidly
come to the front as the "Essex." This first number
of the " Essex Naturalist " is eminently readable.

D 2

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

THE TWO MIRRORS.
By W. J. N.
No. V.

IN the preceding articles, the incident pencil has
been supposed to consist of parallel rays. Such
are the rays of a beam of daylight, naturally and in
perfection, since they emanate from a source which is
infinitely distant. , Such too, in good degree, are the
rays of the artificial pencil which we have learned to
derive from the diverging rays of a minute lamp-
flame, by placing the bull's-eye before the lamp at
the distance of its principal focus. We have not had
occasion to study the relations of conjugate foci, for
in connection with a parallel pencil no conjugate
focus has existed. No reason has, therefore, appeared
for keeping the lamp at some exact point of
distance, in order to preserve integrity of focus in the
reflected rays. Nor has the brightness of the
illumination depended on the nearness of the lamp.
It is one of the advantages of a parallel pencil, that

Fig. 21.

it retains its illuminating power for long distances ;
and reasons have been given why the artificial pencil
should become more pure— without being materially
less brilliant — as the distance between the lamp and
the mirror is reasonably increased. The two points
which have principally claimed our attention hitherto,
have been — how to render the incident rays of lamp-
light truly parallel, and how afterwards to compel
them to form certain desired angles with the
principal axis of the concave mirror.

Passing from that part of our subject, we enter
upon another, which is somewhat more difficult,
the nature and management of a divergent pencil.

By angles of incidence must now be understood
the angles formed with the principal axis of the
concave mirror by a single ray of the pencil —
namely, its central ray or axis. Their importance,
and the method by which their magnitudes are to be
determined, will be the same as in the case of the
parallel pencil. (See vol. for 1886, pp. 251 and 267.)

The properties of conjugate foci will come before
us in connection with a new relationship found to
exist between the lamp, the concave mirror and the

object ; and the brightness of the illumination,
instead of being independent of the distance of the
lamp, will be found to depend mainly upon it.

There are two forms of divergent pencil. Let us
call them, the simple and the compound. A simple
pencil consists of rays which pass in straight lines
from the flame to the mirror. The compound pencil
consists of rays whose first lines of direction have
been altered by passing them through the bull's-eye

condenser. The amount of divergence is thus
reduced. The bull's-eye, when used for this purpose,
is placed at a distance from the lamp slightly less
than that which would parallelise the rays ; less,
that is, than the distance of its principal focus. The
divergence of a pencil may thus be reduced to any
desired extent, the object being to crowd upon the
mirror a larger number of the constituent rays.

Fig. 21 represents the section of a simple divergent
pencil, lcd, made lengthways through the central

HA RD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OS SIP.

53

ray L E. Such a pencil has the form of a cone, of
which the luminous point L is the vertex, and LE
the axis. The peculiarity about it which we have
first to notice is, that the intensity of the illumina-
tion on a give?i surface, varies inversely as the square
of the slant distance from the source of light.

If a cross-section of the cone-shaped pencil were
made at any point B, in a plane at right angles to
the axis, that section would evidently be a circle
having A B for its diameter. Take L d equal to three
times L B, and at D suppose another cross-section to
be made. It will again be a circle, with the
diameter c D ; and because L D has been taken equal
to three times lb, c d (as may be geometrically
proved) will be equal to thrice A B. Also, because
the areas of circles are to one another as the squares

If the point L be supposed to move along N D
towards N, f will move in the opposite direction
towards F ; and when L has become infinitely
distant, f will coincide with F, the incident rays
having become parallel (compare Fig. 158, Nov.
1886, p. 249). Again, if L be supposed to move
along nd towards c, f will advance towards L, and
at C they will meet. If L continue to move towards
F, f will leave C and move away in the opposite
direction towards N. The points L and f will, in
fact, have changed places, f occupying the first
position of L, when L reaches the first position of
f. When L comes to the principal focus F, there
will be no point f, the reflected rays having become
parallel. If L passes F towards D, the reflected rays
will be divergent.

Fig. 23.

of their diameters, the area of the section at B is to
that of the section at D as I 1 is to 3 2 , or as 1 to 9.
That is to say, the rays have so spread themselves
by divergence, as to cover at c D nine times the space
which they covered at A B ; and the intensity of the
illumination on any given portion of the section at
D is therefore, only 1th of that on the same extent of
surface at B.

In Fig. 22 we have a section of the small concave
mirror previously represented, whose centre of
curvature is c, and principal focus F. Let L be a
luminous point, beyond c, in ND the principal axis
of the mirror; and L A B be a simple divergent pencil
emanating from L and falling upon the mirror A B.
The rays will be reflected with a fair amount of
exactness \.of a point in the principal axis between
F and c.

Any change therefore in the position of L, involves
a corresponding change in the position of f, and this
relation between the two points is expressed by
calling them conjugate foci of the mirror. The
number of conjugate foci is infinite.

On page 250 of the vol. for 1886, it was explained
why the principal focus F cannot be employed by the
microscopist. The focus_/j in any of its positions on
nd, the principal axis of the mirror, is equally
unavailable, and for the same reasons. He cannot
place his lamp in line with the principal axis of the
mirror, so as to represent the point L in the figure.
The incidence of the pencil must necessarily be
oblique.

It would be convenient now to show by several
figures, as was done for parallel rays (vol. for 1886,
p. 250), the alterations made in the distance of the

54

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SI P.

mean focus from D, by different degrees of obliquity
given to the incident pencil. But in order to save
space, I will take a single case, and explain in what
respects it differs from others which might have been
presented.

In Fig. 23 the axis ld of a simple divergent
pencil forms an angle of 90 with M D, the axis of the
microscope, and of 45 with N D the principal axis of
the concave mirror. The distance of L from D is the
same as in the last figure. The distance of the mean
focus from D is not the same, but is reduced from
2*25 inches to 1*4 inch only; it is at the point f 2
instead of at/ . The accuracy of the focus has also
suffered by the obliquity of the incident pencil. It
will be well to compare this figure with the corre-
sponding one for parallel rays (Fig. 160, vol. (or
1886, p. 250). The important point to be noticed
is, that while the parallel rays in Fig. 160 may come
either from a lamp at the distance of 2 feet, or from
a white cloud at the distance of a mile, without
altering the position of the mean focus F 2 , the
divergent rays in Fig. 23, on the contrary, cannot be
focused fairly at the point / 2 unless they emanate
from the point L. The position of the mean focus
f 2 depends, therefore, partly upon the angle of
incidence and partly upon the distance of L from D,
the centre of the mirror ; whereas in the case of the
parallel pencil, it depended upon the angle of
incidence alone.

If the angle of incidence were 30 instead of 45 '
and the distance of L from D remained the same, the
mean focus would be at the point /', the focal
distance being 1 ' 82 inches ; and were the angle of
incidence 6o°, the mean focus would be at the point
f 3 , the focal distance being 'g inch. In the former
case the focus would be much more satisfactory than
in the latter.

For each of these angles of incidence the distance
between L and D could be largely varied, and every
variation would alter the distance of the conjugate
focus. For instance, if l in the figure were moved
towards D, f 2 would retreat towards M and would
reach/ by the time that L had reached L 1 . When
L arrived at L 2 , there would be no conjugate focus at
all, the reflected rays having become parallel. If L
were moved away from D,/ 2 would approach D until
it coincided with the position of F 2 in Fig. 160 (vol.
for 1886, p. 250), L having by that time become so
distant as to render the incident rays parallel.

{To be continued.)

Cage Birds surviving the Winter. — There
seems no reason why they should not if the season is
mild, and plenty of suitable food. I possessed a
canary that escaped and lived. It was seen a year
after, and being a hen, it may have mated with a
wild species. Tropical birds certainly would not
survive.

HOOKER'S STUDENT'S FLORA AND THE
LONDON CATALOGUE.

I WAS much pleased with the genial tone and
kindly spirit of Mr. Wheatcroft's letter in the
November issue of Science-Gossip ; but I must ask
the privilege of making a few comments upon it.

If I erred in placing too much reliance upon the
accuracy of knowledge and soundness of judgment of
Sir J. D. Hooker, I think Mr. Wheatcroft equally
and similarly errs in regard to Dr. Asa Gray. The
principle of nomenclature laid down by Dr. Gray is
undoubtedly good ; and if its application could rest
with a man possessed of an infallible and omniscient
mind, I would at once chant " Amen" to it. But it
is obvious that such condition can never be obtained,
the most eminent is fallible, and hence a rigid appli-
cation of Dr. Gray's principle is inadmissible. It
excludes all hope of revision, no matter how grave
may have been the error in the first instance, and, as
I conceive it, this exclusion of revision defeats at
least one of the fundamental principles of science,
viz. the correction and elimination of error, and
the substitution for it of a nearer approximation to
truth.

It is unfortunate that Mr. Wheatcroft did not
consult Sir J. D. Hooker's " Student's Flora,"
before fixing upon its author, even by implication,
the presumptive blame for the change of name cited
as an example. As a matter of fact, Sir J. D.
Hooker has not changed the name Chlora perfoliala
to Blackstonia perforata, unless he has done so since
the publication of the third edition of his "Student's
Flora," for in that book the old name is retained.
Why it has been changed in the " London Catalogue "
I do not pretend to know, perhaps the editor will let
us into the secret, not of this only, but also of others ;
one thing is certain, that however slight a change be
made,- it is sure to clash with custom at some point,
and thus affect the convenience of a greater or smaller
number of individuals ; and the " London Catalogue "
seems to have been altered and made unintelligible to
those accustomed to the old edition, as much, if not
more, by the re-numbering of the species and intro-
duction into the body of the work of many of those
excluded species and aliens which in former editions
were put at the end, as it has been by changes of
names.

Mr. Wheatcroft disclaims any but the purest motive
for his writing on this subject ; I have no wish to
question his sincerity nor to impute to him other
than the motive he has suggested.

In the hope of helping such of my botanical
brethren as do not possess the new edition of the
" Student's Flora," I append a list of the changes
of names, and some alterations of classification which
appear in it as compared with the first edition. It
will be observed that in nearly every case where a
change has been made, the old name is retained as

HA RD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OSS IP.

55

a synonym. I have endeavoured to make the list
perfect, but it is possible there may be omitted from

it one or two of the minor varietal changes, but these
omissions are few and not of great importance.

Name in First Edition.

Ranunculus aquatilis .

R. aquatilis, var. Symei (Hook

and Arn. ).
R.pantothrix (sub-sp.) .
R. circinatus (sub-sp,)
Papaver Lamothcii (sub-sp,
Fumaria pallidiflora (sub-sp. )
Brassica sinapistrum
Erophila vcrna
Polygala uliginosa
Silene infiata .
Stellaria glauca .
Armaria rubella .
Spergularia marina .
'I ilia grandiflora .
T. intermedia
Radiola millegrana .
Geranium Pyrenaicum
Melilotus officinalis .
M. arvensis (Wallroth)
Prifolium minus .
Lotus major .
Prunus spinosa .
Rubus Guntheri (sub-sp
Potentilla procumbens
Rosa pomif era (sub-sp.)
R. mollissima (sub-sp.)
R. septum (sub-sp.) .
Pyrus py raster
P. accrba ....
P. rupicola (sub-sp.) .
P. intermedia (sub-sp.)
P.fcnnica (var.) .
Ribes sylvestre
Sedum clegans
Callitrichc vernalis .
Pimpinella magna
Qinanthe silaifolia
Caucalis infesta .
Galium montanum
G. scabrum
G. Parisiensc .
Foedia eriocarpa .
Linosyris vulgaris
Ma ti ica ria Part hen in m
Helminthia cchioides .
Hieracium melanoeephalum
H. pulmonarium (Sm.)
//. lawsoni .
II. vulgatum .
II. inuloides (sub-sp.)
Paraxacum Dens-leonis
Oxy coccus palustris .
Staticc Bahuensis
S. occidentals .
6". reticulata .
A nagallis phcenicea .
Limnantkemum nymplneoides
Myosotis lingulata
Rhinanthus minor (sub-sp.)
Mentha hirsuta (sub-sp.)
Calamintha mciithifolia (sub-sp
Galeopsis versicolor (sub-sp.)
Ballota ruderalis (var.) .
Chenopodium deltoideum .
Polygonum nodosum (var.) .
P. vulgatum (var.) .

Name in Third Edition

Synonym, if any.

A', helerophyllus

R. aquatilis.

R. aquatilis, var. Symei.

R. pantothrix.

R. circinatus (sp.)

R. divaricatus.

P. Lamotteii.

F. pallidiflora.

B. sinapistrum.

E. vulgaris.

P. amara.

S. in flat a.

S. glauca.

A. rubella.

S. Salina.

T. grandiflora.

P. intermedia.

R. millegrana.

G. Pyrenaicum.

M. offici)ialis (Desv.) ....

M. arvensis (Wallroth).

P. dubium

P. minus.

L. uliginosus

L. major.

P. communis

P. spinosa.

R. saltuum

R. Guntheri.

P. Sibbaldii

P. procumbens.

R. vil/osa, proper.

R. mollis.

R. agrestis.

P. comimmis, proper.

,

P. mains, proper.

P. latifolia.

P. scandica (Syme).

P. hybrida

P. pinnatiflda.

R. rubrum, proper .

R. sylvestre.

*S". rupestre, proper.

C. vcrna ....

C. vernalis.

/'. major ....

P. magna.

<2J. peucedanifolia

GE. silaifolia.

C. arvensis

C. infesta.

G. sylvestre, proper .

C. montanum.

G. mollugo, proper .

G. scabrum.

G. Anglicum.

1 'alerianella eriocarpa.

Aster linosyris

L. vulgaris.

Chrysanthemum Parthenium

M. Parthenium.

Pier is cchioides ....

H. cchioides.

H. alpinum, proper .

II. melanoeephalum.

//. nigrcscctis, proper

II. pulmonarium.

//. anglicum .

II. Lawsoni.

H. sylvaticum, proper

II. vulgatum.

//. crocalu/u, proper .

II. inuloides.

P. officinalis, proper .

P. Dens-leonis.

Vaccinium oxycoccus .

0. palustris.

S. rarijlora ....

S. Bahuensis.

S. auricuhejolia .

S. occidentalis.

S. bellidifolia .

S. reticulata.

A. arvensis, proper .

A. phtvnicca.

L. peltatum

L. nymplueoides.

M. ceespitosa .

M. lingulata.

R. Crista-Galli, proper

R. minor.

M. aquatica, proper .

M. hirsuta.

C. officinalis, proper .

C. menthifolia.

G. speciosa ....

G. versicolor.

B. nigra, proper .

B. ruderalis.

C. urbicum, proper .

C. deltoideum.

P. maculatum (sub-sp.)

P. nodosum.

P. aviculare, proper .

P. vulgatum.

56

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Name in First Edition.

Oxyria reniformis
Bctula verrucosa .
Salix ambigua (var.) .
Anacharis (genus)
A. Canadensis
Epipactis rubiginosa .
Cephalanthera grand/flora
Trichonema (genus) .
Sisyriuchium Bermudiana
Smilacina (genus)

S. bifolia

yiiiicus communis
Luzula sylvatica .

L. pilosa

Sparganum affine (var.) .
Actinocarpns (genus) .
A. Damasonium .
Potamcgeton compressus .
P. mucrona/us
Scirpns Roth ii
Eriophorum angustifohum
Carex stellulata .
C. vulgaris ....
Phlcnm Bochmeri .
Cliamagrostis (genus)
C. minima ....
Agrostis australis .
Calamagrostis stricta .
Psamma (genus) .
P. arcnaria ....
Aira cancscens
A.flcxnosa ....
A. c a: spit os a ....
Avena Jiavcscens .

A. clatior

Glyceria rigida
G. loliacea .
Triticum (genus) .
Lycopodium alpinuiu .

Name in Third Edition.

0. digyna

B. alba, proper .

.S'. incubacea ....
Elodea (genus).
Elodca Canadensis
E. atro-rubens

C. pa/lens

Romulea (genus) .

S. angustifolia
Maianthemum (genus).
Maianthemum Convallaria

J. ejffusus

L. maxima ....
L. verualis ....
S. natans, proper
Damasonium (genus).

D. stellatum ....
P. Zosterifolius

P. Friesii.

S. pungens ....

E. polystachyon, proper .
C. cchinata ....

C. Goodenovii
P. phalaroides
Mibora (genus).

M. verna

Gastridinm lendigerum .

Deyenxia ncglecta

Ammophila.

A. arundinacca .

Corynephorus cancscens .

Desch ampsia flexuosa

D. caspitosa ....
Trisetum flavescens .

A rrhenatherum avenaccum
Festuca rigida.

F. loliacea

Agropyrutn (genus).

L. complanatum, with alp.
sub-species.

innm as

Synonym, if any.

O. reniformis.
B. verrucosa.
S. ambigua.

A. alsinastrum.
E. rubiginosa.

C. grandi/lora.
Trichonema.
S. Bermudiana.

S. bifolia.
y. communis.
L. sylvatica.
L. pilosa.
S. a (fine.

A. Damasonium.
P. compressus.

S. Rothii.
E. angustifolium.
C. stellulata.
C. vulgaris.
P. Ba'limeri.

G. minima.
A. australis.
G. stricta.

P. arenaria.
A. cancscens.
A. flexuosa.
A. caspitosa.
A . jiavcscens.
A. clatior.
G. rigida.
G. loliacea.

(To be continued.)

ON COLLECTING DIPTERA.
By E. Brunetti. — No. III.

{Continued from £. 31.]

IN the Coleoptera, the order in which, perhaps, card-
ing attains its climax, instances have come under
my own immediate observation, of such large genera
as Tenebrio, Timarcha, and Broscus, being carded, and
Gastrophysa and Coccinella pinned, it being needless
to add how irregular an appearance a collection
presents when the size of the insect is utterly
disregarded, and each collector follows his own sweet
will about setting.

So far as beetles are concerned, I think it would be
a good plan to endeavour to pin all the species of
one genus, and to card all those of another : excep-
tions, of course, will occur, but the rule could be
observed in the large majority of cases.

As regards the actual setting, it is quite unneces-

sary to give the exact positions the legs and wings
should take, but jit may be remarked that good
setting is by no means indispensable.

Lepidoptera may be collected for their beauty,
and perfect setting be considered a sine qua uou, but,
as Diptera, if collected at all, will not be chosen for
their personal attractions (if the expression be per-
missible), but for purposes of study only, good
setting may often be dispensed with ; though it
cannot be denied that a well-set specimen appears to
better advantage in a cabinet and can be examined
with less difficulty than an unset one.

For the benefit of those who care to set well, let
me remark that the wings should be quite horizontal,
inclining slightly forward, and two pairs of legs
placed behind the wings, not before them ; care
should be taken to keep the middle pair from being
under the wings.

Use thin pins, but ones of moderate length ; let
there be a good half-inch between the point of the

HARD WICKE ' S S CIE NCE- G SSIP.

57

pin and the lowest part of the insect, so that the
forceps may be placed beneath the insect, which is
often necessary when the pins are very thin and
consequently liable to bend.

By placing the specimen well up the pin, a much
higher magnifying power may be employed in its
observation when in the cabinet, and the more space
there is for the forceps both above and below the
insect, the less will be the chances of an accident. In
removing specimens from one box to another always
use a pair of forceps, the fingers are liable to crush
the fly, unless extreme caution is employed.

If specimens are to be carded, care must be taken
not to let the wings touch the gum until the rest of
the insect is set, as it is difficult to move them when
once in the gum and, if elevated, they curl up in-
stantly, giving considerable trouble to reopen them.

Use thin gum tragacanth for carding specimens,
and take care that the pubescence is not matted with
it during setting.

Let me repeat here, however, that carding had
better be avoided entirely.

After returning from an expedition, set all the
small flies first ; and here, perhaps, I should recom-
mend a method of killing them, for they should
always be brought home alive in chip-boxes. The
lids of the boxes should be slightly raised, so as to
admit the fumes of sulphur and the boxes ranged
round a small tin containing powdered sulphur.
Light the sulphur, and immediately cover the boxes
with a basin, allowing all to remain untouched for
half-an-hour.

The insects will then be found dead and perfectly
relaxed.

Never kill Diptera by dropping them into hot
water, or by means of chloroform, ammonia, or any
method that wets them, as the delicate pubescence if
once matted can never regain its original appearance.

The larger Muscidce, all the Syrphidae and Asitidse
will easily remain relaxed, if placed in a tin half
filled with fine sand slightly moistened.

The larger specimens may thus be retained un-
stiffened for a week or more after capture, but the
smaller species and all the Neurocera should be set
as soon as possible after their capture, the same day,
if convenient.

In conclusion, I should like to make a suggestion
of a plan by which young collectors may add to their
own collections, and at the same time furnish me
with specimens of British Diptera.

If they will collect and pin the specimens, giving
the locality and date of each, if possible, forwarding
them to me from time to time, and at the end of the
season will give me either a list of the species they
possess (of any order) or of their desiderata, I will
obtain and send in return species new to their
collection and of whatever order they may prefer.

A few young entomologists of my acquaintance
have agreed to do this, and I am glad to state that

I have already received several small consignments
of my favourite insects.

Foreign Diptera, if obtainable, are equally accept-
able as British.

Should unset and unpinned flies be sent, care
should be taken that the box is quite full, to prevent
the insects being shaken about during transit ; if this
rule be disregarded, much damage will be the result,
for the legs become so very brittle soon after death
that the least touch is often sufficient to break them
off.

I have already extended my paper beyond the
limit originally fixed, and could with pleasure dilate
still further on the advantages of collecting Diptera,
giving directions for their capture and preservation,
so long as readers were to be found to peruse them.

Sufficient hints, however, I believe will be found
in these notes to enable a beginner to collect Diptera,
and this being so the object of my efforts is attained.

My last paragraph shall be — collect Diptera as
much as possible, as a favour to myself, if for no
other reason, and I will do my very best in return for
any one thus assisting me.

GOSSIP ON CURRENT TOPICS.
By W. Mattieu Williams, F.R.A.S., F.C.S.

EXPLOSION OF EGGS.— The description on
page 47 of last number of this magazine
reminds me of an experience of my own some years
ago. I had invented a method of preserving eggs,
which answered fairly well. This invention was
carried out by immersing the eggs for about half a
minute in a bath of melted wax or stearine, or better,
a mixture of these. This filled up the pores of the shell,
and the heat lined its inside with a varnish of coagulated
albumen ; the two combining to prevent the admis-
sion of air and consequent decomposition. I kept
some eggs thus prepared about six months, and sent
three of them to the kitchen to be cooked for break-
fast as usual. They all exploded in the water, the
direct effect of the explosions being much improved
by the quantity of water thrown into the fire. The
domestic was so much alarmed that she refused to
cook any more of " the master's eggs." I therefore
cooked the remainder myself, and demonstrated the
cause of the explosions by pricking pin-holes in the
shells of some, and leaving the others imperforated.
All the latter exploded, while those that were per-
forated passed through the ordeal of cookery as
usual, proving that it was the expansion of air or
vapour imprisoned within the egg by the air-tight
shell that caused the explosion. In the cases des-
cribed by Dr. Blair and Mr. Cross there was probably
an abnormal density and impermeability of shell.
That the ostrich egg should explode dangerously is

5S

HA RD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OSS I P.

explained by the thickness and tenacity of its shell,
which would resist until the elastic tension of the
gases within become formidable.

Expansion and Contraction of Buildings. —
The use of iron and other metals in building con-
struction demands scientific consideration and skilful
arrangements, to meet the effects of varying tempera-
lure and consequent variations of expansion. Thus
tbe central arch of Southwark Bridge rises about
one inch in the summer, lifting with it the footpath,
roadway and all upon them, and is constructed to
allow this to occur without undue strain. The ends
of the tube of the Britannia Bridge across the Menai
Straits rest on rollers, to permit the advance and
recession due to heat and cooling, the length of the
bridge varying as much as three inches in the course
of twenty-four hours. When the sun shines on one
side of the tube, that side becomes longer than the
side in shade, and the whole structure curves ac-
cordingly. The great variation of temperature
between the extremes of summer and winter in
America causes the Brooklyn Bridge to vary in
length to the extent of several feet. Its total length
is 3,540 feet, and the temperature ranges from — 15
to +115 Fahr., a difference of 130 degrees. As
iron expands g ^ s of its length between the freezing
and boiling points of water (180 Fahr.) the amount
is easily calculated. The Washington Monument
leans to the east in the morning, and to the west in
the afternoon. A plummet line suspended in the
interior of the dome of the capitol of Washington
swings 4! inches from the perpendicular on each side,
or 8£ inches altogether.

The Setting of Cement. — Among the abstracts
of foreign scientific papers published by the Chemical
Society, I find two on this subject, one by E. Michel
and one by L. C. Levoir, but neither of them contain
anything remarkably new. Any bricklayer's labourer
could tell us that " the setting of cement is dependent,
firstly, on the addition of water, which should be as
limited and uniform as possible ; and secondly, on
the density and intimate mixture of the materials."
In telling it Paddy's English might be somewhat
different, probably better, as it would not leave us
in doubt whether the mixture or the water should be
"as uniform as possible." The "thirdly," viz. the
conversion of the lime into carbonate, may not be
understood by him unless an ex-pupil of a Board
School. The most important chemical action which
occurs in the setting of cements is the union of the
lime with silica, whereby a stony compound, the
silicate of lime, is formed. The simplest of cements
is common mortar, i.e. lime mixed with silica in the
form of sand, the finer the sand and the more caustic
the lime (i.e. the more free from carbonate) the better.
The jerry mortar now used so villainously in London
suburban building is worthless, because dust-hole

siftings or ballast (burnt clay) is used instead of sand
by swindlers who still remain unhanged. M. Levoir
fully recognises the importance of the formation of the
silicate in reference to Portland cement. The obscure
part of the subject is the difference between hydraulic
and ordinary cements ; why some cements may be
immersed in water immediately after they are mixed
and harden nevertheless, while others would go to
slop under the like conditions. I refer, of course, to
cements having lime as their basis, not to the glue-
like compounds sometimes described as cements.

Meteorite in Coal. — If the fall of meteoric
stones is an old-established proceeding, there must
be specimens imbedded in the stratified rocks of all
ages. This may be the case although none have
yet been found, for the simple reason, that the total
area of any given formation which human beings
have explored bears so small a proportion to the
total area of the globe. The non-finding of them in
rocks of any particular date no more proves their
non-falling at that period than the non-finding of
specimens on the present surface of the county of
Middlesex proves their non-falling in the present
geological epoch. As the best-explored regions of the
geological past are those containing coal, it is there
that we may expect the first find, and in accordance
with this natural probability a fossil meteorite has been
found in a block of Tertiary coal. It was described
by Dr. Gurlt, at Bonn. The block of coal from which
it was taken was about to be used in a manufactory
in Lower Austria. It weighs 785 grammes (about
1 fibs.) its specific gravity is 775 ; it is as hard as
steel ; is a mass of iron alloyed, as meteoric iron
usually is, with nickel, and combined with some
carbon.

The Solar Parallax. — Ordinary students of
nature who are not experts in astronomy, must have
been sorely confused by the recent investigations of
this subject. Beginning their intellectual life with
the school-book statement of ninety-five millions of
miles as our mean distance from the sun, which was
Captain Cook's measurement and venerated accord-
ingly, they were next informed that the results of
the modern, and of course much better, observations
of the transit of Venus in 1882 reduced this distance
to 91,500,000 miles, and that all the greater celestial
distances, as well as the velocity of light, must be
reduced in like proportion. This lasted for only a
short time when other variations were supplied by
Mr. Gill's heliometer observations of the opposition
of Mars in 1877. This brought up the distance to
somewhat more than ninety-two millions of miles.
Since that we have the measurements of the velocity
of light, which bring it up to ninety-three millions.
It remains to be seen whether we shall go on in this
direction until we return to the old-fashioned ninety-
five millions of our schooldays.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

59

Fluorine. — The old alchemists devoted their lives
to searching for the three arcana, the philosopher's
stone, the aurum potabile (drinkable gold), that would
endue the body with the imperishable properties of
the noble metal, and thus give immortality to the
drinker, and the universal solvent which was to do
much towards rendering the gold thus drinkable. A
logical sceptic suggested a difficulty incident to the
third of these, viz. that if it dissolved everything
nothing could contain it, as any vessel of whatever
material would yield to its solvent powers. Modern
chemistry has actually supplied us with such an
untenable material in the element fluorine. It has
been produced for a moment, but combines imme-
diately with whatever it touches, and thus instead of
free fluorine, a fluoride of something is obtained. M.
Debray, however, has recently reported to the French
Academy of Sciences that M. Moissan has at last
succeeded in isolating this refractory element. He
obtains it in the form of a gas which decomposes cold
water with disengagement of ozone ; phosphorus
burns in it, silicon does the same. It may possibly
be a compound with hydrogen, but M. Moissan
discusses this hypothesis and concludes that it is
really free fluorine. We may hear something more
about collecting and retaining it hereafter.

London Fogs in Paris. — The bucks of Paris
imitate Englishmen quite as much as English ladies
of fashion imitate French women. Lately the atmo-
sphere of Paris has adopted London fashions, has
infringed our patent right in the monopoly of pea
soup fogs. The fact is instructive, as it evidently
proceeds from the continually increasing use of coal
fuel in Paris. The two cities are similarly situated,
each in the trough of a long river valley where mists
are liable to rest — such mists, if no city were there,
would be the ordinary white mists of the country,
■consisting of minute spheres of water (vesicles have
been disproved) surrounding still more minute parti-
cles of solid matter. But coal, when burnt in an
ordinary fireplace where the combustion is imperfect,
gives off tarry vapours and these are condensed upon
the water particles as a tarry varnish, which not only
colours them but gives them their acrid, irritating
character. The coal further increases the liability
to fog by sending into the atmosphere particles of
sulphur sublimed from the pyrites in the coal. As
Aitken has shown, these are most potent fog pro-
ducers. By subliming an unweighably small quantity
•of sulphur into the midst of our atmosphere, saturated
with water vapour but still clear, he produced an
artificial fog so dense that it was impossible to see
through a thickness of six or seven yards. Let us hope
that Paris and London will co-operate to abate their
fogs and abolish the smoke nuisance altogether.

Oyster Culture.— I have received the follow-
ing : — "My attention has been called to a note of

yours in last Science-Gossip on Successful Oyster
Culture. The portion alluding to the fact of Mr.
Kent succeeding with oysters at the Antipodes, and
his qualification for the task, cannot be taken ex-
ception to, but as one who has spent much money,
care, and attention on the matter in question, and
who is still experimenting on a practical scale, I
must demur to the latter portion. The temperature
in Tasmania is no doubt higher and probably more
equable than ours, but for many years neither our
native oysters here, imported Americans, small or
large, nor imported French, have shown increase. I
am thoroughly acquainted with all known systems of
oyster culture, and have given the subject my personal
and unremitting attention for seven or eight years
without success, entirely, so far as I can discover,
through rapid and extensive variations of tempera-
ture. This would not take effect at greater depths,
but at these depths the system advocated is impos-
sible. You say ignorance stands in the way — then
why cannot some one enlighten us ; we have in
vain offered prizes (and won them). Oysters keep
decreasing ! We want a cycle of years with less
rainfall and more summer heat ere we can hope for
anything here, for although our oysters occasionally
reach the condition of black spat, only a very small
proportion of these manage to exist. As the pioneer
of ' Oyster Culture ' in Scotland, I should be glad to
hear of any one who could ensure success in this
country.

" W. Anderson Smith."

The subject is of such practical importance and
scientific interest that it cannot be too vigorously
agitated, and therefore Mr. Anderson Smith's letter
is very welcome, as it presents the opposite side to
that which I have seen and described in my Gossip
of last month.

In spite of great respect for Mr. Smith's experience,
I am still of opinion that ignorance does stand in the
way. I am not using the word ignorance in an
offensive sense, by any means, but as I should use it
in saying that we are in ignorance concerning the
laws of variation of British weather.

As regards extensive variations of temperature it
should be noted that John Chinaman had succeeded
in his climate, which is one of the riiost exaggerated
in the world as regards such variations, whether we
consider the difference between summer and winter
or night or day. The climate of Scotland is remark-
ably agreeable compared with this, or even with those
parts of the American coasts which supply us with
"blue-points." (I may add, by the way, that on
Saturday last I saw large quantities of excellent blue-
point oysters offered for sale on costermongers' barrows
at sixpence per dozen, pepper and vinegar and the
labour of opening included.)

In the "Gentleman's Magazine "of last April, I
described the Chinese method of collecting the spat

6o

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

in the shallow water of mud flats and the subsequent
transplantings. My authority was Miss Gordon
Cummings' " Wanderings in China." Oyster culture
appears to be one of their ancient arts, even more
ancient than the mussel culture of La Rochelle
described in the note preceding. These bivalves, so
delicious and wholesome when thus cultivated, have
yielded rich harvests during the last 800 years. All
this time we have only supplied our markets with the
ill-conditioned and often poisonous varieties that
happen to settle anywhere, and most abundantly
where sea-water is contaminated with town sewage.
The climate of Stangate Creek on the Medway has
not sensibly altered since I spent five days there on
the Bacchante -quarantine hulk in the autumn of
1843. I bought delicious oysters by the bushel from
the dredgers there, at the rate of about one penny per
dozen. It may be sewage, but cannot be climate,
that has exterminated them there. If sewage, there
are thousands of other available creeks far away from
London.

Why have we no oysters in these? Mr. Smith's
statement concerning the failure of the prize-taking,
etc., is a confession of inability to answer this question,
— i.e. of our general ignorance. It is most unfair
and foolish to await the results of private investi-
gations of such a subject. It is a national business
which the nation should energetically undertake at
the national cost. This might easily be repaid by
a royalty on all the subsequent oyster fishing, or
rental of the oyster beds. It is not probable that
amateurs will devote the large outlay of time and
money which is demanded, without prospect of
remuneration.

THE STINGS OF BEES AND WASPS.

T "WHILST thanking Mr. W. E. Harper for point-
V V ing out " in the interest of the many young
readers of your interesting paper," the mistake into
which I have fallen with regard to the sting of the
bee, I trust he will allow me to correct some grave
errors in his "correction."

My mistake arose from the use of too low a power
in examining the mounted sting of a bee, which
had fallen upon the slide in such a position that the
apices of the barbs being towards the eye, do not
break the beautifully smooth lines of the shaft, and
are therefore invisible except by the use of a higher
power.

Dr. B. Martin Duncan, F.R.S., in his "Trans-
formations of Insects," says, " The sting of the bee is
made up of two very sharp stylets, which are mounted
upon scales attached to the last segment of the
abdomen, there being two valve-like sheaths which
encase and protect them. The poison glands are
formed by two twisted tubes, which lead into a large
reservoir, the small opening of which is in a tube

which emerges between the piercing stylets. When
the bee is about to sting, it contracts the muscles of
its abdomen and forces out the stylets, and the
pressure exercised in doing this gives out a drop of
venom, which runs along the perforating instruments
into the wound inflicted by them."

Mr. Harper is evidently under the impression that
the sting is torn from the bee, and left in the wound,

Fig. 24.— Sting, poison-bag, and poison-gland of Humble Dee„
X 20.

in every instance where it is used. I think this loss
of the sting is the exception, as is shown by Hogg to
be the case with the wasp ; thus, Sir John Lubbock,
F.R.S., &c, says, " Bees which have stung and lost
their stings always perish ; " again, Sir Wm. Jardine,
F.R.S.E., &c, in vol. xxxiv. of the "Naturalist's-
Library," page 41, says, "The darts are each fur-
nished with five teeth or barbs set obliquely on their
outer side, which give the instrument the appearance
of an arrow, and by which it is retained in the wound it

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

61

has made, till the poison has been injected ; and
though it is said the insect has the power of raising
and depressing them at pleasure, it often happens
that when suddenly driven away, it is unable to
extricate itself without leaving; behind it the whole

other intruders into their hives ; thus, Rennie, in his
"Insect Architecture," page 95, says, " When an ill-
fated snail creeps into the hive it is immediately
attacked on all sides and stung to death."

Mr. Harper says : " The sting of the wasp being

Fig. 25.— Lancet of sting of Humble Dee. X 25.
a. Projection of lancet.

Fig. 26. — Lancet of Wasp sting. X 120.

apparatus, and even part of its intestines ; death is the
inevitable consequence." Yet bees are constantly
using their stings, in the execution of drones and
superannuated workers, in repelling the attacks of
marauding bees and wasps, and in putting to death

Fig. 27. — Sting, lancets, and poison-bag of Wasp. X 25.

like the needle is withdrawn at once." Fig. 26 shows
the extremity of the sting of a wasp, drawn from the
slide used by me whilst writing my note in your issue
of December last. It does not, I think, bear much'
resemblance to a needle.

62

HARD WICK& S S CIENCE- G OS SIP.

Let us now compare the above extract from Mr.
Harper's "correction," with the following extract from
J. G. Wood's "Common Objects of the Microscope."
Mr. Wood says of wasps' stings (page 99) "minute
prototypes of the many barbed spears of the South

Fig. 28. — Sxle view of two teeth of lancet of wasp. X 500.
A, the teeth ; b, tube and branches.

Fig. 29. — Front view of two teeth of lancet of wasp.

Fig. 30. — Transverse section through one of teeth.

Fig. 31. — Lancet, with duct running through tube. X 50.

r ig.32. — End of poison-bag of wasp (polariscope object). X 40.

Sea Islanders;" and again, "It is by reason of
these barbs that the sting is always left adhering to
the wound, and is generally drawn wholly out of the
insect, causing its death in a short while. The sting
is only found in female insects, and is supposed to be

analogous to the ovipositors of other insects." Again

Hogg, on the "Microscope" (page 618, 1867 edition),

says : " The sting of the wasp consists of two barbed

darts which will penetrate the flesh deeply and, from a

peculiar arrangement of their serrated edges, their

immediate withdrawal is prevented ; by the

great muscular effort required for this purpose,

a small sac or bag near the root is pressed upon.

. . . After the fluid is injected, the wasp has the

power of contracting the barbed points and then

it withdraws the sting from its victim." The

accompanying figures are from a paper by Dp

Mills (see SciENCE-Gossir, 1S68, page 148).

Thomas Winder.
Sheffield, 6th Jan.

i GEOLOGISING AT FAXE IN
DENMARK.

By J. Ratcliffe Cousins, B.A., LL.B.

FINDING myself in Copenhagen with several
days to spare, I determined on paying a
visit to that subject of curiosity, to geologists,
the Faxe or Faxoe limestone, a singular isolated
formation which occurs in Seeland, at Faxe and
Stevens Klint. This is apparently the only
limestone of Seeland, the rest of the island being
formed of boulder clays, gravels, &c, containing
huge blocks of gneiss greenstones, and many
igneous trap rocks, some of which are very
beautiful, and have evidently been brought
from the Scandinavian mountains in the same
manner as the huge boulders scattered over Russia
and North Germany. Amongst all this glacial
medley of the Danish Islands and South Sweden,
occur several patches, so to say, of limestone closely
allied' to the cretaceous formation of England and the
Continent ; namely, S. of Malmd in Sweden, in
Skaane, in the island of Saltsholm, and at Faxe and
Stevens Klint in Seeland ; whilst also in Moen we
have almost our identical English chalk beds at the
Great Klint in that Island, containing Belemnites,
Ammonites, Gryphcea, Ostraea, Terebratula, etc.,
reminding one very forcibly of our chalk pits at
home.

Leaving Copenhagen very early in the morning,
and passing the picturesque Dom Kirk of Roeskilde,
with its many Roman remains, our steam horse soon
brings us via Kjoge, to Faxe, and we commence our
operations.

At first sight we see that the limestone is very
yellow and full of corals, and on trying our hammers,
we find that it is in many places a very tough fellow
to deal with, and we spoil several fine specimens
in getting the fossils out, notably a beautiful
Brachyiirus rugostts. It is in fact a tough yellow
limestone intimately connected with the chalk, and

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

is in great part composed of a coral reef surrounded
by fragments of reef and chalk, very full of fossils
closely allied to those found in the common chalk.

The limestone has been quarried extensively at
Faxe, and has been used for building in Copenhagen.
It also takes a good polish, and many handsome
marble ornaments have been turned out of it, of
which I purchased several small specimens, made
from parts of the coral beds which are quite white.

The corals are very perfect, and present an
appearance similar to the corals building at the
present day. Amongst the zoophytes are Oculina,
Caryophyllia, Cladocora, Monomycis, and Molthea
Isis.

The quarries make an exquisite hunting ground,
and the limestone varies from tough coral reef, etc.,
at the east end, to soft earthy chalk towards the
north and west ; this again being followed by tough
limestone in a small quarry on the west of the
workings.

I could not form any idea of the thickness, but in
some places the quarry was sixty feet deep.

On the coast at Stevens Klint, a fine section is
obtained, and the Faxe limestone there lies between
two beds of chalk, and lying on a bed of chalk with
flints, from which it differs very much in appear-
ance, but with which it is closely allied in its fossils,
and which fossils such as Fusus, Trochus, Ceri-
thium, Nautilus, Terebratula, Ostrea, and Echino-
dermata, Corals, etc., are closely allied to the chalk
of England.

I was not surprised then in the quarries to find
that the yellow reef limestone rested on an earthy
chalk bed full of fossils, Belemnites, Terebratula,
etc., and were also capped by a bed of white chalk
in places containing corals, Pecten, Ostrea, &c.

Well I made a grand collection of fossils. I had
hardly entered the quarries from the south-east when I
found two good specimens of Brachyurus rugosus,
and several fine specimens of zoophytes. In pro-
ceeding, I was rewarded on the west side of the
quarry by finding a Nautilus Daniats, Belemnites
mueronatus, an Ammonite, Terebratula, a shark's
tooth, and en finishing my round, I had a heavy
bag containing Brachyurus, Pollicipes, and Serpulse,
A r autilus belleroplum, Nautilus Danicus, Nautilus
fricator (a friend found), Pleurotomaria, Valuta,
Cardium, Isocardium, Area, Pecten, Terebratula,
Cidaris Myeri, Goniaster, numerous zoophytes and
a tooth.

Satisfied with my day's work and having been
hospitably received by Pasteur Muller, of Faxe, we
sailed next day in a small pilot boat twenty-five
miles to Stege, to spend two days at the Moen Klint.

We are sorry to have to record the death, at the
ripe age of 83, of Sir Joseph Whitworth, Bart., the
distinguished engineer.

ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY.
By John Browning, F.R. A.S.

AT the meeting of the Royal Astronomical
Society, held on the 14th of January, a paper
by Dr. R. Copeland was read on the Variability of
the Spectrum of 7 Cassiopeia?. The C line is variable
in brightness, but the F line has never been absent.
Mr. Maunder agreed with Dr. Copeland that both
the C and F line in this spectrum have been variable
in brightness.

A paper by Prof. Pritchard was read on the Applica-
tion of Photography to the Determination of Stellar
Parallax. Since last May two hundred negatives
have been taken at Oxford of 61 Cygni and the
neighbouring stars with which the place of the
components of 61 Cygni were compared by Bessel, in
1S40, when its parallax was first determined. From
measurements of the photographs, Professor Pritchard
deduces a parallax of 0*438 for the centre of the
binary system. The parallax obtained by Bessel was
o - 348. The research will be continued.

A letter was read from Mr. Penrose containing an
account of an occupation he had obtained at Athens,
on the iSth of December, of the double star 7 Yirginis.
The reappearance took place from the dark limb of the
moon. The power used in the telescope was not suffi-
cient to show the components separately, a sudden
flash showed the reappearance of 7 1, and ten
seconds later another flash, which seemed to double
the brightness of the star, showed that the second
component had appeared.

Mr. S. C. Chandler, jun., of Cambridge, U.S., has
discovered two stars are variable. They are of sixth
and seventh magnitude, and their period of change is
one about fourteen days, and the other about thirty-six
hours. In the first the increase of light occupies
about four days and the decrease ten days. A large
comet has made its appearance in the southern hemi-
sphere. It was seen at Melbourne, on the 29th of
January, the tail only being visible. Observers describe
it as appearing like a long strong-lit ribbon of light
narrowing towards the sun, without any distinct
nucleus. It will very probably be visible shortly in
Europe, in the southern part of the constellation
Eridanus, but as it is diminishing in brightness it may
not be visible to the naked eye.

The lenses of the great refracting telescope have
arrived safely at the Lick Observatory. It is re-
ported that the Observatory and apparatus will be in
a tolerably complete condition in September.

During March, Mercury will be an evening star in
Pisces. Venus will be an evening star also in Pisces.
Mars will be an evening star in the first half of the
month.

There will be an occultation of Aldebaran ; first
magnitude on March the 2nd, the disappearance
takes place at 5 hrs. 47 min. afternoon, and the

6 4

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

reappearance at 6 hrs. 4 min. afternoon. On March
nth there will be an occupation yi Virginis, mag. 2^ ;
the disappearance takes place at 3 hrs. 7 min. in the
rning.

Rising, Southing, and Setting of the Principal
Planets at intervals of Seven Days.

D.

Rises,
h. m.

Souths,
h. m.

Sets,
h. m.

•

Mercury 5 .

5
12

19

6 5SM
6 28M
5 53M

i i6a

59A
20A

7 34A
7 3°a

6 47A

1

26

5 22M

11 32M

5 42A

1

5

7 24M

1 34A

7 44A

Venus $ . .]
(

12
19

7 7«
6 53M

1 38A
1 42A

8 9A
8 31A

26

6 40M

1 47A

8 54A

1

5

7 4M

55A

6 46A

Mars d . J

12

19
26

6 44M
6 24M
6 SM

47A
39A
31A

6 50A
6 54A

6 57A

5

10 19A

3 25M

8 27M

Jupiter U.

12
19

9 49A
9 I9A

2 56M

2 26 M

7 59>i
7 29.M

1

26

8 47A

i 57M

7 2M

1

5

5A

8 15A

4 29.M

.Saturn I?. J

12

19
26

11 37M
11 9M

10 42M

7 47A
7 19A
6 52A

4 IM

3 33 m
3 6m

Meteorology.— At the Royal Observatory, Green-
wich, the mean reading of the barometer for the week
ending 8th of January was 29.11 in. The mean
•temperature of the air was 31.9 deg., and 5.8 deg.
below the average in the corresponding weeks of the
20 years ending 1868. The general direction of the
wind was southerly, and the horizontal movement of
the air averaged 11.7 miles per hour, which was 1.5
below the average in the corresponding weeks of 16
years. Rain fell on each day of the week, to the
aggregate amount of 0.71 of an inch.

For the week ending 15th of January, the mean
reading of the barometer was 29.87 in. The mean
temperature of the air was 33.1 and 5.0 below the
-average in the corresponding weeks of the 20 years
ending 1 868. The direction of the wind was variable,
-and the horizontal movement of the air averaged 9.6
miles per hour. Rain or melted snow was measured
on three days of the week, to the aggregate amount
of 0.19 of an inch.

For the week ending 22nd of January, the mean
reading of the barometer was 30.07 in. The mean
temperature of the air was 37.1 deg. and 1.9 below
the average in the corresponding weeks of the 20
years ending 1S68. The general direction of the wind
was south-west, and the horizontal movement of the
air averaged 11.2 miles per hour, which was 2.6
below the average in the corresponding weeks of 16
years. Rain or melted snow was measured on three

days of the week to the aggregate amount of 0.23 of
an inch.

For the week ending 29th January, the mean
reading of the barometer was 30.179 in.; the mean
temperature of the air was 40.4 deg. and 0.5 above
the average in the corresponding weeks of the 20
years ending 1868. The general direction of the
wind was south-west, and the horizontal movement
of the air averaged 7.7 miles per hour, which was 6.3
below the average in the corresponding week of 16
years. No rain was measured during the week.

For the week ending 5 th February, the mean
reading of the barometer was 29.96 in. ; the mean
temperature of the air was 44.2 deg., and 3.7 above
the average in the corresponding weeks of the 20
years ending 1868. The general direction of the
wind was south-west, and the horizontal movement
of the air averaged 16.1 miles per hour, which was
1.9 above the average in the corresponding weeks
of 16 years. Rain fell on three days of the week to
the aggregate amount of 0.29 of an inch.

The mean temperature for March, is for Plymouth,
45°, Dorchester 44 , London 43 , Norwich, Sheffield,
Bradford and Lancaster, 42 .

The average rainfall for March, which is generally
a very dry month, is from London to Berwick on the
East coast 1 inch, while from the Land's End to
Solway Firth along the West coast, it varies from
2 to 3 inches.

RECENT ARTICLES AND PAMPHLETS
WORTH READING.

PHOTO-MICROGRAPHY," by F. H. Evans
(" Photographic Journal," December 31). —
" Zoic Maxima, or Periods of Numerical Variations,"
by L. P. Gratacap ("American Naturalist," Dec.)
■ — "On Some Probable Causes of a Tendency to
Melanic Variation in Lepidoptera of High Latitudes,"
by Lord Walsingham (" Transactions Yorkshire
Naturalists' Union," Part 8).— " The Sun's Heat,"
Lecture by Sir William Thomson, reported in
"Nature," January 27. — "On the Morphology of
Birds," by Professor W. R. Parkeu" Nature,"Feb. 3).
—"The Rothamsted Experiments" ("Field," Feb.
1 2th). — "On some Carboniferous Cockroaches," by
Dr. Henry Woodward ("Geological Mag." Feb.)
— "Geological Visit to Brittany," by the Rev. E.
Hill ("Geological Mag." Feb.)— " Notes on the
Saffron Plant {Crocus saliva) and its connection
with the name of the town of Saffron Walden," by
Jcseph Clarke ("Essex Naturalist," Jan. 7).— "On
the Causes of Glacier Motion," by W. P. Marshall
("Midland Naturalist," Feb.)— " Twenty-four New
Species of Rotifera," by P. H. Gosse ("Journal of
Royal Microscop. Soc." Feb.)—" On the Improve-
ments of the Microscope with the aid of new kinds
of Optical Glass," by Prof. E. Abbe ("Journal Royal

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

65

Microscop. Soc." Feb.) — "The Extinct Animals of
the Lake District," by John Watson ("The Natu-
ralist," Feb.) — " On the Pelagic Fauna of our Shores
in its Relation to the Nourishment of the Young
Food-fishes," by Prof. Mcintosh ("Annals and Mag.
Nat. Hist." Feb.)— "Photographic Lenses," by
J. Traill Taylor ("English Mechanic," Feb. 4 and
nth).

OUR SCIENTIFIC DIRECTORY.

South London Entomological and Natural History
Society. — This society having removed into more com-
modious rooms in the Bridge House, London Bridge,
S.E., all communications are to be addressed to
Mr. H. \V. Barker, honorary secretary, as above.

Vale of Aylesbury Naturalists' Club. — President,
Rev. Charles L. Jeayes, B.A. ; Secretary, George
Fell, jun.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

The new edition of the catalogue published by The
Woodhouse & Rawson Electric Supply Company is
devoted to a description of their well-known electrical
supplies, such as incandescent lamps, switches, cut
outs instruments, Jensen electric bells, &c. &c. (the
particulars of their Upward Battery for domestic
lighting, electric gas lighting supplies, and the Wels-
bach gas burner, are published in separate lists). A
price-list is given of all the leading articles used in
electrical industries. The company are taking up
the useful field of keeping in stock and supplying
every article used in connection with electricity.

We regret to have to record the death of Mr.
E. L. Youmans, author of the "Class Book of
Chemistry," and the originator of the now well-
known "International Scientific Library," at the
comparatively early age of sixty-six.

The Selborne Society, formed for the protection
of pretty birds from extermination because they
happen to be pretty, will issue letters from time to
time on the progress of its work.

The latest of the Pasteur Reports (which covers
the time from October, 1885, to December, 1886)
shows that 2,682 subjects were under treatment for
hydrophobia, of which only thirty-one, or 1*15 per
cent., succumbed.

During February, Dr. J. E. Taylor, editor of
Science-Gossip, delivered two lectures in connection
with the Ipswich Museum, on "The Physical History
of the Atmosphere," and two on the " Circulation of
Fresh Water on the Globe " ; two at Hadleigh and
Bury St. Edmunds, on "Australia, its Animals and

Plants " ; one at Lincoln, on " The Origin of Land-
scape Scenery " ; one before the Dover Natural
History Society, on "Flowers and Fruits"; and
one at Beccles, on " Earthquakes and Volcanoes."

The town of Baku is threatened with destruction
by the sudden outburst of a natural naphtha fountain,
which broke out on January 15th, so that a column
of fire shot up to the height of three hundred and fifty
feet.

MICROSCOPY.

Diatoms from Bangor, Wales. — From a small
quantity of mud taken from the shore at Garth Point,
Bangor, last June, at low tide, I procured several
beautiful selected slides, although there was too much
foreign matter to allow of my gathering being
mounted "spread." The most abundant diatom
was Coscinodiscus radiatus, the valves of which, of a
beautiful violet colour when dry, could be picked out
in plenty. The prettily marked Actinoptychus
undulatus was also common, as well as the nearly
hemispherical shells of Podosira maculata which,
under well-managed oblique illumination, are gor-
geously iridescent. Besides there were Auliscus
sculptus, with its curious pattern of geometrical curves ;
Actinocyclus Ralfsii which possesses exactly the
opposite property to Coscinodiscus, being colourless
when dry and blue or green in balsam ; the well-
known Triceratium favus occurring sparingly ;
Biddulphia Rhombus, a frustule or so of an Actino-
sphasrid, one or two Pleurosigmas (?) &c. The " circu-
lar" forms by far the most prominent. Probably,
had I taken my microscope with me, I might have
got a far purer gathering from the surface of the mud.
Certainly these "common objects of the sea shore"
well repay the trouble of mounting.— G. H. By ran.

A Phenomenon in Aniline Staining.— I pre-
sume E. H. Wagstaff made his cells with the " French
polish." He surely did not mount the algae in it ;
for, if he had, whence his fears as to its "running
in"? It would be of interest to know what the
actual mounting medium was, so that its solvent
effect upon shellac may be ascertained. — A. IV. L.

Sections of Sponge. — Ordinary sponge may be
immersed in mucilage, and then cut. It may be
found of use for fresh water. The best way to
examine the structure of the statoblasts is in the dry
state — fresh specimens being very difficult — but is as
follows : Place four or five on a glass slip with a
drop of strong nitric acid. Boil this to dryness over
a very low spirit lamp ; do this three times. Then
place the slip on the incline, and pass water over it
with a camel's hair pencil until all the remains of the
acid are washed out. Next with a sharp, thin knife,
like a lancet, divide, in half or in quarters, one or

66

HA RD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OS SI P.

two more statoblasts, and adjust them round the
foregoing (or on a separate slip, if preferred). Add
a drop or two of benzole or turpentine to keep them
in place, and when dry, which will be in a few
minutes, add Ch 3, cover with thin glass, previously-
just warming the cover ; put the slide in a warm
place for some hours to harden, and it will then
be ready for examination. See J. Q. M. Club,
Series II. vol. i. p. 173 ; vol. ii. p. 252. Carpenter
recommends gelatine, which will set on cooling, gum-
arabic, spermaceti, or paraffine ; a mixture of trans-
parent soap is good, or celloidin. — V. A. L.

Preparing Sections of Sponges— Mr. Sollas'
method. — A good representative piece of the sponge
is well soaked in distilled water, to remove its con-
tained alcohol. After this, it is placed for an hour
in a strong solution of gum, and then transferred to
the well of a freezing microtome. Sections of any
required thinness can now be cut in the usual way,
the razor passing with apparently equal facility
through the soft tissues and the hard spicules. Some
of these slides — stained and unstained- -Mr. Sollas
mounted in glycerine, others in C. Balsam, after
successive treatment with absolute alcohol and car-
bolic acid and turpentine. Before preserving sponges
in spirit, he recommends a preliminary soaking in a
•02 or -03 per cent, solution of osmic acid (Os 4 ),
as the histological characters of the specimens are
thus less injured. — V. A. L.

Sections of Sponge. — I should fancy Mr. Clark
would find celloidin a suitable imbedding medium,
as it does not need to be dissolved out, being quite
transparent. Celloidin is manufactured by Schering,
of Berlin, and is to be obtained in cakes (2s. 6d., I
think), from A. & M. Zimmermann, 21 Mincing
Lane, London, E.C. The general method of using
it is as follows : — A portion of the cake is broken
into small pieces, and dissolved in equal quantities
of absolute alcohol and ether. The solution should
have the consistence of "golden syrup." In order
to prepare the substance to be imbedded, it should
be placed for some time (a day or so) in absolute
alcohol, and then transferred to ether for from half-
an-hour to one hour, or even two hours, according
to its (the object's) density. The object may now
be placed in the celloidin solution, where it is left
for a period varying from three hours, or less, to
twelve hours, or more, according to the density of
the tissue. When the substance is quite permeated
by the celloidin, it should be placed on a piece of
cork, adapted for fixing to the microtome, and on
which is a layer of the celloidin solution. In a few
minutes the celloidin will set to some extent, and
then the whole thing, cork and specimen, is placed
in ordinary spirit (60 per cent.), which hardens the
celloidin, and in which it may be kept until a con-
venient time for cutting. The sections may be
stained and mounted in glycerine, or cleaned with

oil of bergamotte and mounted in dammar. I should
say, for Mr. Clark's special purpose, it would be
better to graduate the changes of density of the fluids
more carefully, since rapid osmosis often destroys the
natural appearance of delicate organisms. Thus, he
might immerse the sponge in 50 per cent., and then
in absolute alcohol. Again, the celloidin solution
might be made much thinner, and allowed to evaporate
slowly to the required consistency, dust being care-
fully excluded. Of course care must be taken to
have a sufficient quantity of the diluted solution to
cover the specimen when it has evaporated to the
requisite extent. — A. IV. L.

Extract of Logwood.— In answer to Mr. Hafen.
I send the following : — I. Aqueous Logwood Stain.
Take 60 grms. of dried extract of luematoxylin, 180-
grms. of powdered alum, and rub them thoroughly
together in a mortar, adding slowly 300 cc. of distilled
water ; mix carefully, and afterwards filter. To the
filtrate add 20 cc. of absolute alcohol, and preserve
in a stopped bottle. This solution should be kept in
a cool place for at least a fortnight before using. The
older it is, the more excellent it becomes. II. Gibbe's
Logwood. Extract of hasmatoxylin, 6 grms., alumen,
18 grms. Mix thoroughly ; while mixing add 28 cc.
of distilled water ; filter ; add to the filtrate 5j of
rectified spirits of wine ; let it be kept in a stoppered
bottle for a week before using. What remains on
the filter can be mixed with 14 cc. of distilled water r
and left soaking in it for an hour or so ; then filter,
and add to the filtrate 5ss of rectified spirit. The
second solution is as strong as the first. The alum
used must be potash without ammonia, and the
extract of hsematoxylin must be English. Besides
these there are Klein's logwood stain and Mitchell's,
which one I consider the best. They will be found
in J. of Postal Society, vol. iv. pp. 239, 240, and
from which the above recipes have been taken. —
V. A. Latliam, F.JM.S., Manchester.

The Royal Microscopical Society.— The
February number of the Journal of the above Society,
besides the elaborate " Summary of Current Re-
searches," contains the following papers : " Twenty-
four New Species of Rotifera," by P. H. Gosse ;
"Freshwater Algae of North Cornwall," by A. W.
Benett ; "Improvements of the Microscope with
the aid of new kinds of Optical Glass," by Professor
Abbe ; and " Notices of New American Freshwater
Infusoria," by Dr. A. C. Stokes.

Corn Bunting with Crossed Bill. — In Decern
ber of last year a keeper who lives near here shot a
corn bunting with crossed mandibles. It was feeding
with sparrows in a farmyard. The bill is exactly the
shape of that of the crossbill. The upper mandible
is much hooked. I have seen a rook with a crossed
bill, and heard of a canary. — Geo. Roberts, Loft house,
Wakefield.

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SI P.

67

ZOOLOGY.

A New Variety of Rotifer. — A new and well-
marked variety of Philodina citrina has recently
occurred in a stream near Cheadle, Staffordshire. Its
form is strikingly different from that under which the
species has been known, as it is very slender, with
no clear distinction between the body and the foot.
The colour is generally brown rather than yellow,
and is not confined to the central parts. Mr. Gosse,
who has seen many specimens from the stream
already mentioned, thought at first that this form
was a distinct and undescribed species, but afterwards
concluded that it was a variety of Philodina citriua,
a species which he had always hitherto considered
rare. This variety has the social habits described
by Mr. Gosse in "The Rotifera," by Hudson and
Gosse, vol. i. p. 101. It is generally rough, with
extraneous matter adhering to the surface. The eyes
are very minute. — J. IV. Blagg, GrcoiliiU, Clicadlc,
Staffordshire.

Breconshire Mollusca.— The following list of
species, sent to me by Mr. F. W. Watton, from
Langorse Lake, Brecon, may be of interest as a
contribution to the molluscan fauna of the country : —
Valvata cristata, V. piscinalis, Bythiuia tcntaculata,
Planorbis umbilicatns (— complanatus of Jeffreys),
P. nautikus, type, Physa hypnorum, limiKca peregra,
L. pa/ustris, L. truncatula, Pisidium pusilluin, type
and var. circularis (3 mill. diam. greyish, rather
shiny, almost circular in outline, subtruncate an-
teriorly, beaks almost central), and Anodonta anatina.
Ancylus fluviatilis was sent from the river Usk, and
Planorbis carinatns from the Brecon canal. — T.D. A.
Cockcrcll.

Variation in Helices. — A remarkable case has
recently come under my notice which may tend to
throw some light on the cause and nature of colour-
variation in the shells of mollusca. Specimens of
Helix aspcrsa, II. nemoralis, and //. hortensis, col-
lected on the same bank at Torquay by Mr. F. W.
Wotton, and forwarded to me for examination,
belonged to undescribed varieties of their respective
species, all three exactly analogous, and caused no
doubt by the same conditions. The peculiarity con-
sisted in the straw-yellow tinge of the ground colour,
and the red-brown colour of the banding or markings,
as follows : H. aspcrsa v. lutescens, ground colour
yellow, more or less vivid, bands pale red-brown,
lip white ; H. nemoralis v. rufozonata, with red-
brown bands, and having the pale-lipped character
of var. hybrida > II. hortensis v. rufqzonata, with red-
brown bands. With the // aspcrsa from Torquay
one specimen also of var. unicolor was sent, together
with //. rnpcstris, H. concinna, II. caperata, and
szx.fuha, and other species. A somewhat similar
instance occurred in specimens of II. nemoralis v.
lutcolabiata and II. hortensis v. Intcolabiata, which

were found by Mr. T. H. James at Truro ; in both
of these varieties the lip has a decided yellow tinge,
in some specimens as vivid as the pink in roseolabiata,
the variety of nemoralis being of course pale-lipped.
Altogether there seems to be no longer any doubt
that certain variations occur in all allied species
under certain conditions, and I think that it is in the
careful investigation of these conditions that our hope
lies of discovering the true nature of many forms of
variation which are at present quite unexplained.
Nor is it only in colour-varieties that this holds true.
Mr. G. Roberts has found trochiform II. ?iemo?-alis
and II. arbustoritm living together near Wressle, in
Yorkshire; Miss Hele has taken sinistral //. hortensis
and H. aspcrsa in the same neighbourhood, near
Bristol, and the Rev. W. C. Hey found reversed
H. virgata at Coatham, within a few yards of the
spot where he had previously taken reversed //.
aspcrsa* Such instances as these are frequently
brought to light, and seem to me to signify much to
those interested in the solution of these problems. —
T. D. A. Cockerel!, Bedford Park.

Turbellaria Swallowino Air. — Last summer
I was examining some pond water on a slide, when I
came across one of the Turbellaria of the group
Rhabdoccela. Beneath the cover-glass were some
bubbles of air ; I saw the worm deliberately swallow
one of these, two or three minutes after the glass was
put on. The bubble remained below the mouth at
the top of the straight alimentary canal ; it was very
large compared with the size of the animal, and
extended nearly from side to side. The bubble
gradually decreased in size, and in five minutes had
disappeared altogether. The air was not ejected
from the mouth, but simply absorbed into the body
of the worm. As I have not seen this recorded any-
where, it seems to be worth mentioning. Where did
the air go, and what became of it ultimately ? — J. C.
Grccnfell, Clifton.

The Parietal Eye of the Lizard. — On the
bottom of p. 161 in your Gossip of last year you
make mention of Mr. Baldwin Spenser's communi-
cation to the pages of " Nature " on the parietal eye of
Ilatteria punctata. There are to me interesting
features connected with this which you omit. It is
known that this parietal eye leads back by an optic
nerve, which is connected with the pituitary body.
Descartes thought this last-named structure in us was
the seat of the soul. Hitherto physiologists have
given the function of this organ up as almost
unknowable. I believe Morse, of America, has
described tertiary lizards in which the parietal
foramen is a complete orbit, with well-defined pro-
cesses and roughnesses of the surrounding bone for the
attachment of the orbital muscles. Here, then, is a
necessary solution of our pituitary body : it is a

* " Naturalist," 1887, p. 20.

68

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

remnant of the origin of our optic nerve as it once
was, because of the above elicited fact, and also
because of the long authenticated fact of the nearness
of our optic nerve roots at present time to that struc-
ture.— J. W. Williams.

The Young Platypus. — The great interest
excited by the discovery of the eggs of the platypus
by Mr. Caldwell, in Queensland, some time ago, will
be remembered. But the question whether the
platypus was oviparous having been settled, another
arose. How did the young platypus manage, as it
had long been discovered that the female was so
constructed as to suckle its young, and this seemed
most singular in the case of an animal provided with
the bill or beak of a fowl. The matter has been just
set at rest by a discovery made by the Rev. F. A.
Hagenauer, at Ramahynch. Mr. Hagenauer was
anxious to secure a pair of platypuses for the Royal
Park Gardens, and set a couple of his black fellows
to work to look for them. In their search they came
upon a nest containing a male and female, and, more
valuable than all else, a very young member of the
family, which seemed as if it had been just hatched.
None of the aboriginals had seen such a specimen
before, nor is there an account of a white man having
made a similar discovery. On examination it was
seen that there was no difficulty in the way of the
youngster. It was an inch to an inch and a-half in
length, and while bearing the shape of its tribe, it
had precisely the appearance of a "joey," being of
the same colour, and the bill-shaped beak perfectly
so as to allow it to attach itself closely to the
maternal teat. Mr. Hagenauer had it preserved, and
placed it in Professor M 'Coy's hands. This discovery
will supply all the knowledge that has been hitherto
wanting in reference to the platypus.

Planorbis complanatus. — -The species described
by Jeffreys, and now universally known to concho-
logists under this name in Britain, is not, as admitted
by Gwyii Jeffreys himself in vol. v. of " British
Conchology," Linne's species of that name. It is,
however, the P. umbilicatus, Midler, and P. margina-
tus, Draparnauld,and the former name, having priority,
will have to stand, and has now been adopted by
most continental authorities, others still describing
the species as P. marginatus. Planorbis umbilicatus,
Taylor, from Manitoba, will need a new name. —
T. D. A. Cockcrell, Bedford Park, Chiswick.

The Development of the Tadpole. — Speaking
of Mr. Rousselet's observation on the ciliated epiderm
in the tadpole, I made mention some months back
that, in my opinion, it needed confirmation by higher
powers, that was of course by means of sections. I
find Mr. P. E. Wallis, on p. 44, says, " I fear Mr.
Rousselet will meet with no success in his attempt
to preserve stained sections," and he gives for his
reason " the capillarity between the cilia and the
cell " obtaining as soon as the protoplasm becomes

protoplasm no longer — as soon, indeed, as it passes
into the "dead protoplasm," so called wrongly, I
fear, by some authors. Well, Mr. Wallis, I doubt
this. I have some sections of the epididymus, both
of a man and of a cat made some years ago, and
when I look at them now I can see the cilia beauti-
fully. The same, too, of several mounts of trachea
from various animals. I do not see how " this
capillarity comes into play." Harden the tadpole
in J per cent, of chromic acid, cut your sections with
a freezing microtome, stain with logwood, mount in
Farrant or glycerine, and withal carefulness, and if
ever there were any cilia there, take an honest word
that you will spot them. — J. IV. Williams.

ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGY.

Obstinacy in a Dog. — I happen to live under
the same roof as a tan-terrier of abnormal propor-
tions — the result of feeding " too long and too well."
This dog, in contra-distinction to many virtues, is
gifted with an enormous appetite, and it is through
such vulgar weakness on his part that I have been
able to teach him a variety of tricks. Now, taking
into account his ingenuity for devising means of
working upon my feelings in order to gain his coarse
ends, I am surprised that he should show such sullen,
perverse, and, I may say, irritating obstinacy as the
following. Supposing that I, when sitting with
another person in the same room, should happen to
call the animal to me, he immediately puts back his
ears, and proceeds to go and insinuate his nose in
the hand of that other person, thereby displaying a
sovereign contempt for my request. In turn, if the
other person should happen to call him, the dog.
immediately puts on the same victimised appearance
and comes to me. Again, supposing while stroking,
the animal I pull him towards me, he will promptly
struggle to get away ; and, on the other hand, if I try
to shove him away, he will immediately endeavour to
inconvenience me by leaning the full weight of his
inflated "corpus" against my leg, and then and
there hang his ears forward with a decidedly pensive
expression. Now as this habit is universal, I should
like to know the cause of this perversity. Why on
earth doesn't he come to the person who calls him ?
There can be no reason in his method as far as I can
see ; for he certainly, as far as dogs go, is not
wanting in intellect. The only solution of the pro-
blem I can come to is that the habit is inherent in
the dog. There are some children (I actually know
one), who, when they are asked to do anything,
flatly refuse, not from incapability or natural dulness,.
but simply from an inherent and undefined feeling of
opposition that arises within them on every such
occasion. It has occurred to me that some such
feeling pervades this dog ; I cannot say passes
through his mind, because it is a moot point whether

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

69

an animal of any sort has such a useful adjunct. If
this solution is, as is most probable, unsatisfactory in
the knowledge or opinion of any of your readers (for
I don't mind owning that it is only set forth for the
want of a better, and that I myself am not satisfied) ;
why here, of course, is an opportunity for the said
individuals to let the ignorant have the benefit of an
opinion founded upon the knowledge of a well-stored
mind.— F. C. D. B.

Reason in a Dog. — In Dr. Romane's "Animal
Intelligence," reason is defined as " the faculty which
is concerned in the intentional adaptation of means to
ends." The following incident, which I observed,
seems to exhibit reason, as above defined, in a dog.
A lady and gentleman were strolling by the Dee,
accompanied by a black retriever. The gentleman
now and then picked up a bit of stick, which he
threw into the river ; the dog on every occasion
fetching it out and carrying it to his master. At
length the latter thing into the stream an old,
circular wicker basket or hamper, which had lain
on the bank. The dog immediately plunged into
the water, and dragged the hamper to land, while his
master walked on unconcernedly. After shaking
himself, the retriever grasped the hamper by its free
edge, and lifting it from the ground endeavoured to
carry along this rather heavy load ; but the diameter
and weight of the hamper were such that on attempt-
ing to move forward, the lowest part of the rim
pressed against the dog's legs, thus preventing his
■walking or running. He repeatedly endeavoured,
by holding the hamper as far up and forward as
possible, to get along, but without success. His
master, by this time, was far in front, and the dog,
becoming excited, laid down the hamper and began
to run round and round about it, barking furiously
seemingly in a fit of impotent rage, which appeared
to reach a climax when he made a savage attack on
the hamper and began to tear it to pieces. I stood
laughing at the desperate work of destruction, think-
ing the dog might ultimately select a fragment from the
ruins as a trophy ; but my merriment was changed to
interest and surprise when the animal, ceasing from
his furious labour, again seized the basket by the rim
and trotted off triumphantly ; having torn out a part
from the side and rim of the basket, amply sufficient
"to permit the motion of the legs in running. Was
not this intentional adaptation of a means to an end ?
— T. IV. Ogilvie.

Scarcity of Wasps and Plague of Flies. —
This was also remarked in 1866 in Science-Gossip.
A correspondent believes it was from a disease that
attacked the grub or larva ! Last year I collected
several queen-wasps in the spring from their markings.
I believe I have more than six species. I should be
glad to know some one who can give me information
on the subject. — Rro. S. A. Brcnaii.

BOTANY.

Salvia pratensis. — In connection with a local
plant, that is, a plant which grows only in a certain
spot of an isolated neighbourhood, the thought often
arises, Why is this ? The seeds appear to be abun-
dant, and to ripen. Winds prevail which should
scatter the seeds of the local plant in common with
those of other plants ; the neighbouring soil and
situation appear to offer similar conditions for the
growth as the spot in which they live, and yet the
plants do not enlarge their boundaries. We are
acquainted with many circumstances which may lessen
the chances of a plant extending its kind. The
beauty of a plant leads to its being frequently
gathered ; and I think that outlying ones — pioneers
that would have been to a further extension — are
perhaps more likely plucked than others which are
nearer their fellows, because they stand conspicuous.
When the main body is attacked, and frequent
demand? are made upon the main stock, the chances
of diffusion are lessened, and the remainder become
like the cucumber, " so coveted when rare, else base
and disesteemed food for the vulgar merely." I was
led to these thoughts by the result of many searches
for the above plant. About three years since, I came
by chance upon some of the plants in full bloom.
Next year I went as I thought to the same spot, but
though I searched the locality literally for several
miles, I failed to find, as I suspect, the exact spot.
Though puzzled, I was loth to feel assured I had
missed it, and yet could not think the plant had been
exterminated. Prosecuting my search another year, I
came upon the corner of a field in which were grow-
ing a few scattered plants, very small, some having
flowering stems a few inches in height. This season,
in the same spot, were several full-grown and well-
flowered plants. This spot, from the appearance of
the soil, and the presence of other flowers, did not
look as if it were used for pasture for grazing, or for
raising other crops ; yet Salvia had not extended to
other localities. One plant had gone as a pioneer
towards the outlet of the field, but none further.
Previous full-grown plants may have been taken away
bodily, or have been destroyed by frequent plucking.
If so, the spoilers left these to perfect their seeds.
Or the other large plants may have been crowded out
by plants of their own or other kinds ; for I found in
some spots full-grown plants which showed no flower-
ing-stem, nor was there any sign of any having been
plucked. These plants were closely pressed by other
fertile plants. About three weeks later I found the
plants undisturbed, and their seeds ripening. Some
of the ripe and ripening seeds were gathered with the
stalks ; but many fell out of the calyces whilst being
carried home, showing that not much disturbance
was needed to scatter them. In the early part of
November, I again visited the spot. The plants were

7o

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP.

withered, a few decaying leaves here and there only
remaining. I much regret I did not go earlier to
ascertain, as far as possible, whether the fall of the
seeds preceded the breaking down of the flowering-
stem. — II. J. Brtnvn.

Fertilisation of Flowers. — I have been very
much interested in reading several notes which have
appeared in your paper in reference to the fertilisa-
tion of flowers, especially in regard to Papilionaceous
flowers. I have myself watched the proceedings of
bees in a bean field, and have noticed that, although
they occasionally enter the flower at the mouth of
the tube in the legitimate manner, they in most cases
drill a hole through the outside of the base of the
tube and suck the nectar through. The nectar is
constantly being secreted until the flower fades, and I
have noticed bees trying the already drilled holes
over and over again, although as your correspondent
"Mark Antony" says, they sometimes perforate
different parts o/ the tube in search of a fresh supply.
It has seemed to me rather remarkable that in a
family so highly developed, and offering so many
inducements for cross-fertilisation by insects, some
special modification has not been made to prevent
this wholesale robbery of nectar without any return
(dispersion of pollen), such for instance as an
inflation of the calyx as in Silena, or a mass of rough
hairs as in many genera. Bean flowers are visited
by a number of smaller insects, and I suppose cross-
fertilisation is due to them, as the reproductive
organs are accessible to all forms of flying insects,
being placed at the top of the entrance to the flower.
I may add that bees treat the garden fuchsia in the
same manner. — John Collins.

GEOLOGY, &C.

The Meteorite at Little Lever. — We in-
quired in our last issue for more information on this
subject, and are indebted to Mr. Sykes for the
following extract from a Manchester paper at the last
meeting of the Manchester Geological Society. Mr.
Stirrup submitted some specimens of a supposed
boulder which fell in the Stokes colliery, Little
Lever, causing the death of a collier. The proprietors
stated that the stone was seven feet long, four feet
wide, two feet four inches in the thickest part, and
two tons in weight. There were several in the roofs
of the colliery. Mr. Wild thought they were not
boulders but sandstone. Another member said he
believed they were pretty plentiful in the forest of
Dean, and that they were looked upon there as sand-
stones. It was suggested by Mr. Watts that on the
discovery of such stones the "tappings" of the
collier should not be confined to one spot, but should
extend some distance. The stones might be loose,
although they might in one place sound solid.

The "Meteorite" at Little Lever. — We
have received a sample of the so-called meteorite.
It is a fragment of mottled sandstone shale, of the
ordinary kind met with in the coal measures. The
block must have been detached and fallen down. It
is very certain the stone is of terrestrial, not celestial
origin. — [Ed.]

The Geological Society Awards. — The awards
this year are as follows : Wollaston Gold Medal, to
J. W. Hulke ; Murchison Medal, to Rev. P. B.
Brodie ; Lyell Medal, to Mr. S. Allport ; Bigsby
Gold Medal, to Professor Lapworth. The Wollaston
Fund was awarded to Mr. B. N. Peach ; Murchison
Fund, to Mr. R. Kidston ; and Lyell Fund to the
Rev. O. Fisher.

Spenser and Geology. — In reading the " Faerie
Queene " of this grand old poet, I have come across one
or two very distinct references to the former geological
connection between Great Britain and the Continent
which may perhaps be interesting. The one occurs
in Book ii. canto x. st. 5, and is as follows :

The land which warlike Britons now possesse,
And herein have their mighty empire raysed,
In antique times was salvage wildernesse,
Unpeopled, unmanured, unproved, unprayed ;
Ne was it island then, ne ivas it pay sad;
Amii the ocean waves, ne was it sought
Of merchants farre for profits therein praysd ;
But was all desolate, and of some thought
By sea to have been from the Celticke mayn-land
brought.

The other occurs in Book iv. canto xi. st. 16 :

For Albion the Sonne of Neptune was ;
Who, for the proofe of his great puissance,
Out of his Albion did on dry-foot pas
Into old Gall, that now is cleeped France, etc.

-7. S.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Fertilisation of Antirrhinum Majus. — Your
correspondent, Mark Antony, in referring to my note
respecting the large buds of Antirrhinum maj/tsbeing
pierced by bees, expresses a doubt regarding the
secretion of honey before the buds expand. I was
surprised that one interested in the subject of fertili-
sation should have overlooked the fact. If he will
make a section of a large bud on the next opportunity,
all doubt will at once be removed. In support of my
statement, I quote from Miiller, page 205, pp. 118,
where, treating of Vicia septum, he says, "In many
cases it is hard to find a flower which has not been
robbed in this manner, and often, even unopened
buds are robbed." Again, p. 186, " Bombus terrestris
bites through .'the tube of Tn 'folium \pratense,'a.n& reaches
the honey with some delay ; it has, however, the
advantage of obtaining honey even from unexpanded
flowers. Mark Antony need not scruple to use the
term honey, as applied to the sweet juice secreted by
flowers, as it is used throughout the English edition
of Miiller, and also by Sir John Lubbock on the first
page of his new book on flowers, fruits, and leaves.
I cannot agree with G. S. S., who regards the act of
boring through the corolla as an act of foolishness.
He says, " Opening the flower at the base would
seem to be a foolish action on the part of the bee,

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

7i

rather than a sign of increasing intelligence, as it
enables other insects to obtain access to the honey
which otherwise they would not be able to reach."
The bee that usually makes the puncture is B.
terrestris. In its action we have an illustration of an
old proverb. The tongue of this bee is short, con-
sequently, it often finds that the honey is out of reach
if it enters the flower in the usual way ; it must
therefore invent other means, or be deprived of
enjoying the coveted sip. The bee adapts itself to
■circumstances, and does not appear to take into
account the effect upon the community. — Robert
Paulson.

Vitality of Dor-Beetle. — Yesterday I found a
fine specimen of Geotrupes stercorarius (the dor-
beetle), which I put in my cyanide bottle, a tolerably
strong one, and left there for an hour. I then took it
out, dissected it, and gummed each part of the body
separately, on a sheet of card, except the first pair of
leg^, which I left on the thorax. I did not notice
anything peculiar at the time, but about five hours
later I looked at it and saw that one of the tarsi, that
on the left fore-leg, was moving. It continued to
wave from side to side for some minutes. I also saw
the whole leg move very slightly once or twice. This
seemed more wonderful as the thorax had been
emptied of its contents, and was nearly dry. — F. J.
Waller.

Mark Antony, in discoursing on bees, p. 239,
Vol. 1886, supplies, to my mind, an argument in
favour of instinct as opposed to any reasoning power
in these insects. He concludes that ' ' after all it would
appear that bees only fly in a direct line on their
return to the hive." Further on, quoting Sir John
Lubbock, " ' I have betn a good deal surprised at the
difficulty which bees experience in finding their way,'"
instancing the fact that a bee taken two hundred
yards to a room, and given honey, failed to return ;
with the statement, also Sir John's, that he rarely
found bees return to honey if brought any consider-
able distance at once. Now, if bees, as a rule, fly in
a direct line when returning to the hive, after an
erratic course of many hundred yards from it, often
to pastures new, how is it that these found a difficulty
in returning, if they ever desired to return, to a spot
only two hundred yards from the hive ? Surely not
from an inability to find their way, when they are
able to return home direct from long distances by a
route perhaps never before traversed. Was it not
rather instinct which carried Sir John's bees off to
the flower of the field in the very face of his allure-
ment? Would it not rather savour of reason, had
they, instead of resuming their wonted method,
quitted the instinctive track and forthwith returned to
the room, whither they had previously been conveyed,
for the honey they remembered to have found there ?
-Sir John found, however, his bees capable of being
trained. Does not training itself appeal to this very
instinct for its success ? Would not strange habits,
by training, become assimilated, as it were, into the
instinctive economy? — G, A. Newman, Jersey.

A Strange Butterfly. — I have a butterfly,
taken at Shanklin, I.W., which I believe is unknown
to British collectors. Not mentioned in Newman's,
or Colman's, or Morris's, or Wood's works on ento-
mology. The insect measures at least 4! inches across,
is of a bright Vandyke brown, with black markings
similar to black veined white {Aporia Cratesgi), and
has a white and spotted black edge to each wing,
with deep black line on inner margin ; body is black,
with white spots on thorax ; is in splendid condition,
seemingly fresh from chrysalis. — J. A. Billings.

A Query. — The other day, whilst looking at my
aquarium, I saw hanging to a leaf what appeared to be
a small leaf suspended by a spider's thread, but on
examining it closely, found, to my surprise, to be a
small grey slug of about three-eighths of an inch long ;
it was twisting itself about and gradually letting itself
down, till at length it reached the water, when it
suddenly dropped. From the time when I first began
to watch it, I suppose it must have come down four or
five inches. Can any of your readers tell me whether
the slug actually spun the web on which it was, or
whether it simply clung to a spider's thread, if so,
how did it maintain its foothold ? — -IV. J.

Phenomenal Bugs. — I venture to send a short
account of an incident which has happened in my
experience, and which bears in some respects re-
semblance to the narrative in your November
number with the above heading. About twenty
years ago I lived in a house (in Bury St. Edmunds),
the back door of which opened on to a path some
five or six feet wide, paved with ordinary paving or
flagstone. This path ran past first the kitchen, and
next that came a washhouse or brewhouse, the
further end of which was divided off as a receptacle
for coals, faggots, ecc. One hot morning in the
middle of summer, on going out I found the whole
front wall of the washhouse and the adjoining pave-
ment literally brown with fleas. There were myriads
upon myriads. Where they came from I have not
the slightest idea, nor did it occur to me to ascertain
of what variety they were. Where they went to I
am equally at a loss to say, but their numbers de-
creased as the day went on and the next morning
not one was to be seen. — C. I.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

To Correspondents and Exchangers.— As we now
publish Science-Gossip earlier than formerly, we cannot un-
dertake to insert in the following number any communications
which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month.

To Anonymous Querists. — We must adhere to our rule of
not noticing queries which do not bear the writers' names.

To Dealers and others.— We are always glad to treat
dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general
ground as amateurs, in so far as the "exchanges" offered are fair
exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are simply
disguised advertisements, for the purpose of evading the cost of
advertising, an advantage is taken of our gratuitous insertion of
" exchanges " which cannot be tolerated.

We request that all exchanges may be signed with name (or
initials) and full address at the end.

E. A.— The best books on the British Graminese and
Cyperacea; are Sowerby's, price il. is.

J. P. Cousin. — Accept our best thanks for specimens of
Faxoe chalk and fossils.

W. H. L.— We do not know of any books like that you
require, in a popular way, except Beeton's " Dictionary of
Natural History," and the "Treasury of Botany." Both are
alphabetically arranged.

H. Jackson.— You will get silkworms' eggs by applying to
Messrs Watkins & Doncaster, 36 Strand, London.

W. Duncan. — We received your specimens of Sertularta
abietina, but have not found any algse to which the red colour
can be assigned. Where were they gathered ? It looks more
as if they had been gathered along some shore where red rocks
prevailed, so as to allow the iron to colour them.

F. B. W. — Your specimen is certainly not a sponge, *t
looks like the dried mycelia of some fungus. The best book
on British sponges is in three vols, by Dr. Bowerbank, published
by the Ray Soc. There is no elementarv book on the subject.
See "Half Hours at the Seaside" (Messrs. Allen & Co.,
price is. 6d.). Chapter on " Half an Hour with Sponges.

J. S. Galizac— Apply to Mr. W. P. Collins, 157 Great
Portland btreet, London, for all or any of the monthly
scientific journals you require.

J. S. Walker.— See " Notes on Collecting and Preserving
Natural History Specimens" (Messrs. Allen & Co., price y. 6d.),
I Chapter on " Collecting Bones," &c.

72

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

G. Hevs.— The lecture on " Earthquakes and Volcanoes,"
delivered before the Dover Field Club, was reported pretty
fully in the Dover Standard of Nov. 27th, 1886, which you can
obtain from the office.

J. Cambridge. — Apply for information to the secretary of
the Royal Microscopical Society.

E. P. Powell.— Your diatom (judging from the rough
sketch) appears to be a species of Aulacodiscus.

J. S. T. — The specimens are (.1) Atrypa reticulata, (2) Ji/iy/i-
ckonella Wilsoni, (3I Halysites catenulatns (a foss. coral),
(4) part of Orthoceras, and (5) a fragment of Astrxa (foss.
coral). See Taylor's •' Common British Fossils," for descrip-
tions and illustrations.

Mr. Got;! on. — The following are excel'ent books on the
subjects, price 7s. 6d. each (Routledge & Co) : " British
Lichens," by Dr. Lauder Lindsav ; " British Seaweeds," by
Dr. Landsborough ; and "British Mosses," by J. Slack.

EXCHANGES.

Wanted, Geikie's "Class-book of Geology." — Charles C.
Crick. 43 Parliament Street, London, S.W.

What offers for " Studies in Microscopical Srience," by
A. C. Cole? vol. i., Nos. 27-52, with Preface and Index ; with
26 chromo-lithograph plates, quite new. Wanted, good work
on fungi, with coloured plates, Berkley's or others'. — Mrs.
Bishop, The Platts, Watford, Herts.

Wanted, a copy of "The Tourist's Handbook to the Flora
of Germany, Switzerland, etc.," published by Lovell Reeve
& Co. — R. Postans, Springfield Road, St. Leonard's-on-Sea.

What offers in books for my private collection of shells ;
classified after Woodward, 150 species (upwards of 300 shells) ;
also some recent corals, some minerals, and a human skull. —
A. Hickmott, College Walk, Maidstone.

Exchange, "British Marine Testaceous Mollusca," by Wil-
liam Clark, published by Van Voorst, 15J., equal to new, for
Gray's " British Seaweeds."— Charles Woods, King Street,
Jersey.

Three doren micro objects by Tapping ; exchange for "The
Microscope," by Carpenter, or offers. — G. A. Barker, 1 North-
wold Road, Clapton.

Zanites glaber, Plattorbis dilaiatns, Helix caperata, var.
crnata, for almost any of the smaller species of Helicidae. —
T. Rogers, 27 Oldham Road, Manchester.

Six hundred fronds and pinnae of goldfern, silverfern, maiden-
hair, and many other kinds of exotic ferns. Wanted, works on
botany, or good collection of British seaweed (named). Also
living roots of (L. C-, 7th ed.) 243, icoi, 1006, 1021, for equal
number ot 7, 131, 172, 173, 176, 260, 261, 292, 293, 53:, 812, 813,
864, 1000, 1002, 1314, 1315, 1327, 1328, 1330, 1615, 1643.— J. W.
Brook, 4 Cliffe, Warley, Halifax.

150 named lichens offered in exchange for others, or for books,
apparatus, slides, shells, etc. — R. V. Tellan, Bore Street,
Bodmin.

Wanted, fossil and recent shells, genera Melania, Melanopsis,
Cyrena, Potamides, Paludina, Corbicula ; exchange. — C. Mus-
son, 23 Mapperley Hill, Nottingham.

For exchange, "The Naturalist's World," vol. i. Deside-
rata, British land and freshwater mollusca. — C. H. Pierson,
16 Brunswick Place, Leeds.

"Nature," wanted weekly, a few days after publication;
state exchange required. — Win. Hardie, 49 Morningside Road,
Edinburgh.

Wanted, Hyalina Draparnaitldi, Testacella Maugci and
vertigoes, in exchange for Clausilia biplicata (only one or two
left), Helix pisana, H. ru/escens, H. sericea, Hyalina nitida,
Plattorbis cari?iatus, Neritina Jhiviatilis, etc. Also wanted
particularly some good living specimens of Helix pomatia,
H. nenioralis, and H. hortensis. — Wilfred Mark Webb, 31
Anhoe Road, Brook Green, W.

Wanted, Science-Gossip, any years before 1883, bound or
in parts, in exchange for really first-class pretty photos of Irish
scenery, antiquities, yachts racing, steamers in motion, etc.,
size 8 X 5^ inches. Also offered, Belfast riot photos, snow
scenes, photomicrographs of diatomacea, foiaminifera, and
transparencies from same. — R. Welch, publisher of Irish views,
49 Lonsdale Street, Belfast.

"Knowledge," Nos. 1-113 inclusive (No. 2 missing), good
as new. What offers'? — Joseph Anderson, jun., Aire Villa,
Chichester.

Shetland lepidoptera (Macros and Micros) in splendid con-
dition. Shall be glad to receive offers. — Joseph Anderson, jun.,
Aire Villa, Chichester.

FjRST-CLASS slides (diatoms, fungi, parasites, anatomical,
p ithological, botan ; caI)in exchange for micro books, appliances,
and objectives, or volumes of Science-Gossip. — Fred. Lee
Carter, 25 Lansdowne Terrace, Gosforth, Ne»vcastle-on- I'yne.

Wanted, to exchange British mosses and Hepaticae. Send
list to — F. J. Warner, 20 Hyde Street, Winchester.

Wanted, Gray's " Turton's Manual of Land and Freshwater
Shells." Offered, Harting's " Rambles in Search of Shells,"
with coloured pla'es of the species and list of local catalogues ;
or Latham's " Ethnology of the British Isles," 8vo., 1852, or
other books on natural history.— George Roberts, Lofthouse,
near Wakefield.

What offers for a Beck's Ranviers microtome ? — W. Annitage,
Asteria, South Park Road, Harrogate.

Duplicates of common shells will be sent (named) to any
beginner in conchology who will send box and stamps for return
postage. — George Roberts, Lofthouse, near Wakefield.

Packets containing twelve unmounted micro objects of
interest, including Kie-elguhr fossil earth from Naterleuss, rare
animal hairs, micro fungi, and seeds of Pyrola rotundi/olia and
Parnassia palnstris, in exchange for a like number of other
good objects, rare zoophytes particularly wanted. — Dr. Webb,
46 West Derby Road, Liverpool.

A collection of English seaweeds, named and arranged, in
album ; offers solicited. — Antiquary, Lyme Regis.

Eggs of woodpeckers, kingfishers, cuckoos, grosbeaks, and
waxwings, offered for nests with eggs of British or foreign birds.
— J. T. T. Reel, Ryhope, Sunderland.

Wanted, Gray's "British Seaweeds," Huxley's "Physi-
ology," also a good work on marine hydrozoa and polyzoa and
an elementary work on botany. — J. W. E., 4 Hyde Road,
Eastbourne.

Wanted, histological slides; will give in exchange un-
mounted marine objects, such as algae in fruit, zoophytes, also
shells, Echinus spines, aphrodite or sea-mouse, etc. — J. W. E.,
4 Hyde Road, Eastbourne.

Wanted, numbers of " Quarterly Journal of the Geological
Society" in exchange for well-mounted micro slides. — Rev.
George Bai'ey, Finchingfield, Essex.

Mr. Gaetano Platania Platania, Via S. Giuseppe, 14
Acireale, Sicily, desires to begin again the exchanges of shells
and fossils.

For exchange, a well-made cabinet of forty drawers and col-
lection of lepidoptera. — Robert Barker, n Towend Street,
Groves, York.

Wanted, vols, of "Northern Microscopist," unbound pre-
ferred, to complete set, lowest offers, etc. — N. A. Latham,
F.M.S., 10 Portsmouth Street, Oxford Road, Manchester.

Duplicates: S. Ligustri, viegacephala, Phragmitidis,
htcipera, triplasia, typica, sambucata, tiliaria, rhomboidaria,
rubiginata, crocealis. lariciana, occultana, Goedartella. De-
siderata numerous. Accepted offers answered within three days.
— George Balding, Ruby Street, Wisbech.

Wanted, numbers or volumes of Science-Gossip prior to
August 1885, excepting several numbers in 1879, 1880 ; exchange
botanical, natural history, and other works. — P. F. G-, 80 Leath-
waite Road, Clapham Common, London, S.W.

For exchange, about 300 species of land, freshwater, and
marine shells. Offers solicited ; Chinese, Japanese, and Bra
zilian land shells preferred. — Miss Linter, Arragon Close,
Twickenham.

" The Dawn of Life," Dawson, "Zoological Photographs,"
Hassel, "Guide to the Isle of Wight," Venables, for freshwater
or submarine fossil shells. — W. A. Loydell, 20 Stanley Gardens,
Ai-ton Vale.

A valuable collection of British marine, land, and freshwater
shells, about 300 specimens, each species in a separate numbered
box with detailed catalogue of localities, etc., many rare ; ex-
change magic lantern, good flageolet, portrait lens, any photo
apparatus, or offers in books on photography or art. — Corkett,
Photographic Artist, Soham, Cambs.

BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED.
" Report, U.S. Fish Commissioners," vol. for 18S4. —
" Hours with a Three-inch Telescope," by Capt. Noble
(London: Longman). — "The Garner," vol. for 1886 (London:
W. E. Bowes)r — "The Coleoptera of the British Islands," by
Rev. W. W. Fowler (London : Reeve & Co.). — " Sonnets on
Nature and Science," by S. Jeffreson (London: T. Fisher
Unwin). — "Handbook of Practical Botany," (London: Swan,
Sonnenschein & Co.). — "The Amateur Photographer." — "The
Camera." — "The Garner." — "The Scientific Enquirer." —
"The Naturalist." — "The Botanical Gazette." — " Journal of
the New York Microscopical Society."— " Belgravia." — "The
Gentleman's Magazine." — " American Monthly Microscopical
Journal."— " The Essex Naturalist." — " Journal Royal Micro-
scopical Society." — " Economical Naturalist." — "The Midland
Naturalist." — " Feuille des Jeunes Naturalistes." — "The
American Naturalist." — "Journal of Microscopy." — "Studies
in Life and Sense," by Dr. Andrew Wilson (London : Chatto).

Communications received up to the 13TH ult. from :
B.-R. B. C— R. P.— T. W.— A. H.— T. W.— R. C— A W. H.
— B. D. J.— W. J. H.— H. M.— G F.. Jun.— H. A. C— C. W.—
G. H. W.— G. S. P.-C. H. P.— J. R. C.-C. C. C— W. E. G.
-G. E. G.— W. D.— G. H. B.— E. A. S.— A. O.— B. B. W.—
W. E. Q.— W. M.— W. H— C. T. M.— G. P.— W. K.— A. P. W.
— G. A. B.— R. V. T.— A. B.-J. W. W.— J. W. B.-J. S.—
W. W.— T. R.— T. W.— W. L. S— W. I. W.— G. R.— W. C. F.
— T. W. W.— B. T.— J. T. F.— R. D. P.— J. A.— F. W. E.—
F. L. C— R. W.— W. M. W.— I. W. D. K.— G. I. G.—
Rev. S. A. B— A. W. L.— H. W. K.-J. T.— H. H.-C.'P.—
B.T.— I. W. O.— W. E. W.— G. P.— Rev. G. B.— G. W. E.—
H. J.— G. B.— T. T. R.— F. E.— W. H.— T. D. A. C— R. B..
-N. A. L.-P. F. G.-F. T. C— W. H. L.-C. F.-C. W—
J. E. L.— A. P.— W. A. S.— H. W. B.— W. L. M.— &c, &c.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

NOTES ON "GONOPTERYX RHAMNI.'

By R. D. POSTANS.

JHEN at Heidel-
berg last summer
I found a con-
siderable number
of the larva: of
G. Rhamni, and
had an oppor-
tunity — which I
had never before
had — of watching
the growth of the
caterpillar almost
from the egg up
to the time of its
passing into the
pupa stage. Per-
haps a few notes
on these cater-
pillars may be
acceptable.

Observing the food plant (Rhamnus frangula) one
day during a ramble on the hills above Neunheim, I
noticed that one or two leaves had been eaten, and
after a very short search I found a caterpillar ; in colour
of a dull lightish green with a whitish mark down each
side. It had placed itself on the upper surface of a
leaf, at about the centre ; the after part of its body
was parallel to the surface of the leaf, but the anterior
portion was elevated at an angle of about 20°.

I found this was invariably the position of the
caterpillar when not eating, and that when so at
rest the hinder feet were attached to a sort of web
spun on the surface of the leaf, to afford, I suppose, a
more secure footing.

The first day I searched I found about fifty speci-
mens. I picked a small twig with each caterpillar
(not attempting to remove any from the leaves they
were on) and carried home the twigs in a bunch, not
being especially careful about shaking them, and I
did not lose one.

I put the twigs, just as they were, in a jug of water,
and placed this just outside the window without
covering them in any way.
No. 268.— ArRiL 1887.

The caterpillars never attempted to crawl away,
and only moved to eat, which was for the most part
done at night.

Every few days I had, of course, to give them fresh
food, when I moved them with a feather from the old
leaf to a new one. It was in doing this that I satisfied
myself as to the web spinning above referred to.

Just before going into the pupa state each larva
became almost translucent, so that I could always
tell when that stage was imminent.

The caterpillar would then suspend itself either on
the under surface of a leaf or — and this was a very
favourite place — under the top of the handle of the

J u g-

They passed into the chrysalis state in a very few-
hours after suspension, and for a day or two looked
like chrysalis cases filled with a light greenish fluid,
They however gradually became more opaque, and'
in about a fortnight the wings (of the male, bright
yellow) were distinctly discernible, a sign that the
imago would very shortly emerge.

Apparently at Heidelberg G. Rhamni is not
troubled by the ichneumon, as though I bred some
dozens I had not any so affected, but somehow or
other there must be a great slaughter of the larvae, for.
when I made a careful search for the pupre, which I.
did when my own began to hatch out, I could not
— though I devoted a whole day to the search — find a
single specimen. I should add that the caterpillar is
solitary, though three or four specimens may some-
times be found on the same plant ; and that, as a
rule, it is a night-feeder.

Rhamnus frangula is very abundant as a small
diffuse-growing bush on some parts of the hills above
Neunheim.

St. Lconards-on-Sca.

"Professor Haeckel is gone to the East" — (a
rather indefinite geographical place for an accurate
scientific Journal to localise). But we copy from a
weekly contemporary that has never ye.t proved itself
wrong !

74

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE-G OSS IP.

ANIMALS AND PLANTS IN AUSTRALIA.

IN the number for August of Science-Gossip, in
your article entitled "A Month with the
Squatters of Western Victoria," occurs the following
passage: "In Australia it is remarkable how they
(sheep and cattle) also have learned to adapt them-
selves to the new fodder and other plants. They
know the naturally poisonous Euphorbia, now, as
well as their ancestors knew the poisonous plants at
home. At first they ate all the plants they came
across, and many died, but they soon learned to
discriminate. Now, if any sheep or cattle die from
eating poisonous plants, it is sure to be the young or
newly imported ones." Apropos of which a few
extracts from a paper read by Mr. Gordon, on the
" Suspected Poison Plants in Queensland," before the
Australian Stock Conference, last October, may not
prove uninteresting to your readers.

" The number of poison or suspected poison plants

sent to me or to the Colonial botanist, from all

istricts of the colony, is forty-two. Thirty-lour of

these are common to Queensland and New South

Wales, many of them also to Victoria.

" The Gastrolobium grandiflorum, the wallflower,
Australian or Desert-poison bush, is first deserving of
notice. There are belts of this plant through which
it is impossible to travel bullocks and sheep without
constantly watching them and yarding them at night.
Before [the line of railway was constructed through
the belt on the Great Northern line, parties travelling
in charge of valuable stud sheep had to muzzle
them during the day, and carry hay for the purpose
of feeding them in bush yards during the night.

" The next in order is the Swainsonia galigifolia, the
dark red flowered indigo bush, with its variations
Coronillefolia (the rosy flower), and the Albiflora (the
white flower). This plant is generally recognised
under the name of Indigo or Darling pea. It is not
an irritant poison, but when sheep once eat it, it is
difficult to break them of the habit. They become
what the shepherds term "cranky," and separate
themselves from the flock. Mr. Staiger, late Govern-
ment analyst for Queensland, experimented with an
extract from the plant, and found it to be a powerful
diaphoretic ; when applied to frogs, rats, and mice
under confinement, the animals literally sweat to
death.

" Of the Euphorbias, the E. drummondii and the
E. cremophila are the only two that have been
brought under my notice as poisonous. The effects
of the former (called by the stockowners the caustic
creeper) on sheep are curious. The head swells to
such an enormous extent that the sheep has frequently
to drag it along the ground, and there is frequently
suppuration of the ears. Like the gastrolobium
analysts would seem to have a difficulty in detecting
poison, except in green specimens, and drovers state

that it is only poisonous when eaten before being
dried by the sun.

' ' The Datura stramonium and the D. leiehhardtii
(native thorn apple) are both poisonous to cattle, but
are rarely eaten except by quiet milkers, or during
seasons of drought, when food is scarce.

"The Nicotiana suaveolcns (native tobacco) and the
Biilbine bulbosa (the native leek or onion) both cause
numerous deaths amongst travelling sheep.

" The Xanthhim strumarium (Noogoora burr), a
plant introduced into Queensland with cotton seed
from the Southern States of America, when young
and succulent is readily eaten by cattle, and many
deaths have been the result.

" The Xanthhnn spinontm (the Eathurst burr) is
also of a poisonous nature.

"With both of the above-named plants, losses in
stock are as a rule confined to travelling sheep and
cattle. Rarely do sheep bred on the runs, on which
they are prevalent, eat them, or if they do fatal
results rarely occur."

Among other plants condemned by various mem-
bers of the Conference were the prickly pear, and the
Californian thistle, not as poisonous, but on account
of the damage they do to the land. In the valley of
the Hunter it would cost £\o an acre to clear the
land of the prickly pear.

"The roots of the Californian thistle run down
eight to ten feet, and then throw out laterals. If the
plough went over them and carried away ever so
small a portion, a fresh plant grew ; its presence was
considered to depreciate the land 75 per cent.

"In South Australia the plant known as the
variegated thistle grew to a height of ten feet in rich
gullies.

" In Tasmania the common thistle has been seen
so thick that a man could not ride through them.

' '.The pine scrub has increased to such an extent in
the Murray district that the number of sheep main-
tained has fallen from 25,000 to 2,000.

" The Bathurst burr causes a most serious loss to
wool growers ; in some instances the price of wool
has been decreased ^d. per pound, and in some cases
more ; the fleece is sometimes double its proper
weight, owing to the presence of burrs. A single
plant would produce 2000 to 3000 seeds."

Perhaps it is only right to add, all the plants
mentioned in Mr. Gordon's paper were identified and
named by the Colonial botanist, Mr. F. M. Baily,
F.L.S.

Harry Moore.

It is a pleasure to call attention to the Supple-
mentary Catalogue of the books added to the
Lending Department of the Newcastle-on-Tyne Public
Libraries. It is compiled by Mr. W. J. Haggerstone,
chief librarian, and is a model of neat and succinct
arrangement.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

75

THE TWO MIRRORS.

By W. J. N.

No. VI.

FROM the results obtained in the last art. we
deduced the following important rule with
respect to a simple divergent pencil : —

In order to bring the reflected rays to a focus on the
object, the lamp-flame and object must occupy the
positions of conjugate foci of the mirror.

How then are we to determine the positions of
these foci ? In other words : when a position has
been assigned either to the mirror or to the lamp,
how are we, from this assigned and therefore known
distance, to determine what is the conjugate position
for the lamp, or for the mirror respectively ?

Let A be the distance of L from D ; that is, of the
lamp-flame from the centre of the mirror. Let 8 be
the distance from D to the point of mean focus ; that
is, of the object from the mirror. Let R be the
radius of the mirror, and cos a be the cosine of the
angle of incidence.

Then, if the mirror be set at a known distance
from the object, 8 is known and we need to find A.
But if, instead, we assign a fixed distance to the
lamp, A will be known and we shall need to find 8.

5 R cos a

In the first case A

and in the
2 S— R cos a

Example.-^-\n the last

, . A R cos a

second, 8 = -

2 A — R cos a

figure, L is 4I inches from D, and A, therefore, is 4*5.

The mirror has a radius of 3 inches (= R) ; and the

angle of incidence is 45 , of which angle the natural

cosine is "707. Substituting these values in the

formula for 8, we have —

s _ 4-5X3X-7Q7 _ 4'5X'7Q7 = 3 '1815
2(4'5)-(3X'7°7) " 2(1-5)- -707 " 2-293
= 1*4 inch nearly. In such a case, therefore, the
little mirror represented would be correctly set at about
1 § inch from the object. This is the distance, in the
figure, of the point f- from the centre of the mirror,
as found by projection of the rays.

From one of the above formulae the student
should construct a table of [foci for his own mirror.
The following table is for a mirror of 8 inches radius.

The table is instructive. If the mirror be 4J
inches from the object, and the selected angle of
incidence be 30 , the lamp should be placed 15
inches from the mirror. This will give a satisfactory
result, provided the other conditions are observed,
the mirror being in the axis of the instrument, the
lamp-wick turned down low, and having one of its
corners (not the flat side) turned towards the mirror.
It must ever be remembered that only a minute
flame, turned with its narrow edge towards the
mirror, can, at short distances especially, fitly re-
present the point L in the figures. If the mirror be
brought half an inch nearer the object, the lamp

Table of Conjugate Foci for a simple Divergent Pencil
obliquely incident on a Concave Mirror of eight inches

radius.

Angle of

E

ISTANCE FOR THE ~La

MP.

incidence,

formed by

axis of pencil

Mirror

Mirror

Mirror

Mirror

with principal

4i inches

4 inches

2i inches

3 inches

axis of mir-

from

from

from

from

ror.

object.

object.

object.

object.

deg.

ft. in.

ft. in.

ft. in.

SO

1 3

2 l|

25 2|

{ Imposs-
/ ible case.

35 |

1 1

I 6

4 4

do.

40

91

I I

2 c4

do.
ft. in.

45

71

95

I 2|

4 2

50

6

1\

9$

i 6

55

4f

51

6f

9r*

60

3?

4

4s

6

65

2f

3

-,1

J4

3^

must be raised a little and removed 10J inches
further from the mirror. A great loss of light will
result, the intensity of the light upon the surface of
the mirror varying, as we have seen (Fig. 21), in-
versely as the square of the distance. The difference
in this case will be represented nearly by the ratio
15 2 : 25 2 or 9 : 25, so that nearly two-thirds of the
light will be lost. If the mirror be brought half an
inch still nearer to the object, the theoretically true
position of the lamp would be more than 25 feet
distant ; which tells us that for that position of the
mirror we should have to give up our simple diver-
gent pencil, and use a parallel one instead. Were
the mirror again moved half an inch, its distance
from the object being reduced to 3 inches, neither
a divergent nor a parallel pencil could be focused
on the object. The incident rays would, in that
case, need to be convergent. Taking the table as a
whole, it will be noticed that when the lamp is
within a reasonable distance of the mirror, the
mirror will need to be much further from the object
than when a parallel pencil is employed. For
instance, if the angle of incidence be 45 , the mirror
of 8-inch radius should for a parallel pencil be 2|
inches from the object (see vol. for 1886, p. 266) ;
whereas 4J, 4, or 3 J inches would be suitable
distances for use with our simple divergent pencil, as
will appear from an inspection of the table.

When a compound divergent pencil is employed,
the positions assigned to the lamp, in the table for
simple pencils, will not apply. A deduction must
be made, which involves some further calculation.

Fig. 33 represents such a pencil emanating from the
point /, and intercepted by the bull's-eye at a
distance slightly less than that of its principal focus.
In passing through the bull's-eye the rays are
refracted, and their new lines of direction become
the same as those of a simple pencil emanating from
the point L. Having L D given in our table for

t 2

7 6

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SI P.

simple pencils, as the distance for the lamp corre-
sponding to the focus f 2 , if we can calculate the
distance L /and deduct it from ld, we shall obtain
the required distance / D. The distance / G must be
less than fg, or the refracted rays will not be
divergent. Let us suppose that a pencil of con-
venient size for the mirror is formed when the
point / is \ inch nearer to G than F is. F G and / G
will then both be known. If / G be called u, and
L G be v, v - u will represent the required distance
l /. Let F g be called p.

may greatly affect the character of the ultimate
pencil.

Divergent pencils enable us to set the mirror at
extreme distances from the object, and so to obtain
an ultimate pencil whose rays are very little oblique
to the axis of the microscope. The compound form
has in certain cases the advantage of giving a more
brilliant illumination, by admitting of a nearer
position for the lamp.

(To be continued.)

*~ L

Fig. 33-

Then V =

P U

Therefore V — U = .

V-

which

p-ir " ' " ~p-u'

gives us this rule : Square the exact distance
betweeen the flame and bull's-eye. Divide the
product by the difference between that distance and
the focal length of the bull's-eye. Deduct the
quotient from anyone of the lamp distances for simple
pencils, and the remainder will be the distance for
the lamp suitable to that form of compound pencil.

Example. — Suppose the bull's-eye to be a small
one, having a focal length on its convex side of
2 inches, and that it stands at a distance of if inches

. ('■•-75)' = 3'o6g5

•as -25

= 12 '25 inches. If from any of the longer distances
in the table, \2\ inches be deducted, the remainder
will be the distances for the lamp when the bull's-
eye is in the position supposed. Were the bull's-eye
\ in. further from the flame, the necessary deduction

from the flame. V— U will then be

would be

' i ' 87O 2

- = 28J inches, a difference of result

125

so startling, that it may be specially commended to
the notice of any tyro who supposes that success can
be obtained without attention to minute details. An
■error of ]-inch in the position of a small bull's-eye

THE CHICKWEED WINTER GREEN
(TRIENTALIS EUROP&A).

By R. S. Wishart, M.A.

SOUTH of the Tweed this plant is very rarely
found, and when it does cross the Border it
appears to be confined to the hills about Cumberland
and York, where it exists but sparingly. In Scotland
it is not abundant till you cross the Forth, at least,
and get into Perthshire, and if you wish to find a
plentiful supply you should stray in some of the parts
of this or its neighbouring counties eastward, and visit
certain localities where botanists and ramblers from
large towns go less frequently. Any little that we
have seen concerning this pretty plant in Britain
appears to have been written from an English point
of view, and leads one to suppose that the species is
much rarer than it really is, and that the habit of the
plant is more constant than as a matter of fact it is
found to be. Both of these conclusions are likely to
be arrived at from examining a few casual specimens,
but if you want to see the plant in all its glory and to
know its habit aright you must set yourself in some
such place as where our specimens were gathered,
where all the hilly woods for miles around are literally

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

77

covered with the Trientalis and where every day
during the season you may find countless specimens
gracing woodland and moor with lovely white
flowers.

The stem of the plant as it is usually found, is
simple and bears a few small scale leaves on its lower

Fig. 34-— Chickweed winter green {Trientalis Europ&a).

portion, while the upper part of the axis which bears
the ordinary foliage leaves is shortened so as to present
them as if in one whorl. Here the axis ends with a
bud which most commonly does not develop, and the
leaves are therefore displayed in a terminal whorl-like
arrangement. The number of the leaves varies from
about four to nine ; but from five to seven will be

found on by far the greater number of plants. In
shape the leaves vary from obovate to lanceolate, and
they always taper more or less to a stalk and have their
broadest part towards the apex. This, of course, is a
mechanical necessity for leaves that are arranged in a
rosette-like fashion ; they must be narrowed at the
common axis, where there is no room for expansion,
while their blades may assume a sufficient area for
nutritive purposes towards the circumference of the
system. On luxuriantly growing plants the largest
leaves exceed three inches in length, but the usual
size is less than this.

The flowers arise in the axils of the leaves, and
are borne on long stalks which raise them up and
show them to good advantage over the green foliage.
Among British plants the flower is unique in having
most commonly seven petals and seven stamens, and
for this reason it stood alone in Britain among the
Heptandria of Linnaeus. But it must not be supposed
that it goes nearly always by sevens, for you may find
any number from five to nine, seven always pre-
dominating. Of a hundred specimens once counted
at random at a particular spot we found nine with
five petals, twenty-two with six, forty-three with
seven, twenty with eight, and six with nine. This,
however, cannot be taken as decisive of more than
the fact, that there may be many flowers found which
are not heptamerous. At other spots you might get
the numbers to vary considerably from the above ; we
have at some places failed to get any with nine petals
and observed that few had eight. In all cases the
development of the flower decides that there must be
the same number of stamens as petals, and we may
consequently find any number of stamens from five to
nine.

The Trientalis belongs to the Primulaceoe, and
resembles the pimpernel with its rotate corolla and
the arrangement of its stamens, but it necessarily
differs from the whole order whose flowers are usually
pentamerous, while those of the Trientalis are but
rarely so. Our plant is the only species recorded in
Europe, and there is but one, the T. Americana, on
the other side of the Atlantic. Some botanists take
the two to be the same, so that the only difference may
be a geographical one. Dr. Hooker gives the dis-
tribution of our species as "north of the Alps and
Italy, Siberia to Kamtschalka," and this goes to show
that it is a lover of northern latitudes.

Besides the usual plant there is another form of
which no notice seems to have been taken in books,
but which ought not to be overlooked, as occurring
frequently in certain localities in Scotland. This is
the case where the axis is prolonged beyond the usual
whorl of leaves, and a second whorl-like system of
smaller leaves developed at a higher level. From
the axis of one or more leaves, in either or both
whorls, flowers may arise, but as the development is
acropetal, the lower flowers are usually fading before
the higher ones have opened. The fact that large

78

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

numbers of the less common form often grow together,
forming considerable patches in localities where the
ordinary form is abundant, would lead to the pro-
bability of that being a distinct variety of T. Europcea.
If this is so it would further indicate, that through
such a variety the species is in a transition state, and
that it is striving, by adding a story to its height, to
compete the better with its grassy neighbours in the
common struggle for existence.

Other forms also occur with one or two axillary
branches, but, as such, are not so common or constant,
they do not give so much promise of forming a per-
manent variety. The fact, however, that they are some-
times met with ought to be recognised as existing,
although only occasional forms of the species.

In winter, the Trientalis seems to disappear entirely
from view. A party of us had a diligent search for
plants about the end of March last year in a wood
where we knew there was plenty, but we could not
find a leaf or a stem showing itself among the mis-
cellaneous mass of withered foliage with which any
wood is covered at that season. The Trientalis is
essentially a visitor of the summer, and while it is at
its best about the end of June, or the beginning of
July, by the first of August the flowers are getting
very scarce. It is, therefore, only during a short part
of the year that this plant flourishes, but it is a
favourite with all lovers of flowers who make its
acquaintance, and its graceful appearance amply
rewards a search for it where it is a stranger. Speak-
ing from a Glasgow point of view it is probably not
found in Clydesdale, except at one secluded spot in
Renfrewshire, where, from its being confined to a
little space, it may have been introduced by some
admirer. When it once gets a footing in favourable
soil it spreads very rapidly. We have seen instances
of this in the case of woods, which about half-a-dozen
years ago had not a plant, and are now all covered
with luxuriant] specimens.

To cultivate this little gem you require an open,
peaty soil, for this is the kind of ground in which it
delights to dwell. Decaying leaves and bits of wood
in the act of rotting are the leading constituents in
the favourite soil of the Trientalis. The roots do not
go deep in the earth, but they run considerable

distances near the surface ; and when you dig them
up carefully you find that they like to lie in close
contact with some decaying branch, or to pierce their
way through the softer ones, so as to bring the young
rootlets and the root hairs into immediate connection
with what evidently supplies the plant with suitable
soil food. As a garden plant, when successfully cul-
tivated, it can rival many of the "prouder beauties,"
and not less there than in the unfrequented hilly
wood, can its lovely flowers claim the attention which
delicate beauty commands.

RECENT ARTICLES AND PAMPHLETS
WORTH READING.

O

N a Diagram for a Model of the Solar System
to Scale," by Arthur Cottam ("Trans.
Hertfordshire Nat. Hist. Soc," January).—" On the
Schwendener Theory of the Constitution of Lichens,"
by Fred. Leroy Sargent (" American Monthly Micro-
scopical Journal," February). — -"On the Causes of
Glacier Motion," by W. P. Marshall ("Midland
Naturalist," February).— " The Birth of Matter"
("Eng. Mechanic," Feb. 25). — " The Relations
between Geology and the Mineralogical Sciences "
(the Annual Address to the Geological Society, by
Professor Judd), (" Nature," Feb. 24 and March 3).
—"The Earthquake" (" Nature," March 3 and 10)
—"Cerebral Localisation" ("Nature," March 10
and 17)—" Recent Discoveries of Carboniferous Vege-
tation in Yorkshire " (" Trans. Leeds Geol. Associa-
tion," Part ii.). — " The Relations between Evergreen
and Deciduous Trees and Shrubs," by F. T. Mott
("Midland Naturalist," March).— " On Melanism,"
by T. D. A. Cockerell (" Entomologist," March).—
"Agricultural Experiments with Iron Sulphate as a
Manure," by Dr. A. B. Griffiths ("Journal of
Chemical Society," March 10). — "The Literary
Value of Science," by Neville Lynn (" Garner,"
March 1).— " A Key to the Rotifera," by Dr. T. S.
Stevens (" Journal of the Trenton Nat. Hist. Soc."
Jan.). — "Tobacco-Growing in England" ("English
Mechanic," March 11). — " Wonderful Plants"
("Gardeners' Chronicle," March 5).

HOOKER'S STUDENT'S FLORA AND THE LONDON CATALOGUE.

{Continued from p. 56.]

I CANNOT help thinking that a Plant List, arranged alphabetically with the synonyms of different
authors, would be of great value just now. It would not be difficult of preparation by any one
having acccess to the various British Floras, and would form a useful companion to the " London
Catalogue," or indeed to any one of the "Floras" now published.

The following are mainly changes of rank and posit

Sub-species

»»

Variety

Ranunculus fluitans
R. tripartitus

LepidiKDi Smithii
Viola sylvatica
/'. arenaria .
Cerastium latifplium

on, with but few alterations of name : —
Elevated to rank of species.

HARD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OS SIP.

79

Species
Variety
Sub-species

Species .

Variety

Sub-species

55

Species

Sub-species .

55

Sub-genus

Variety

Excluded species.
Sub-genus

Species
New species
Genus.
Sub-genus

55

Genus.

Genus.
Species

Genus .
Variety

Genus and species
Order. . . .

Excluded species
Variety
Sub-species .
Variety

51

55

Species
Order.

35

55

Sub-genus
Genus

Species
Genus

55 *

Sub-species

35
35
33

Species

A. Norvegica
Herniaria hirsuta
Hypericum tetruptcrum .
H. undulatum
Ononis arvcnsis .
Lotus hispidus
Primus avium
Rosa pimpinellifolia .
R. involutu ....
R. Hibemica ....
Saxifraga umbrosu, proper

S. Geum

S. hirsuta

S. Andreivsii ....
S, caspitosa ....

S. decipiens
S. hirta
Pulicaria .

Gnaphaliitm rectum

G. Norvegica .
Centaurca paniculata
Cnicus ....
Silybum . . . .
Hieracium collinum .
IP. Dcwari.
Mulgedium .
Wahlenbergia
Specularia
Monotropa

Cicendia

Myosotis repens .

M. alpestris ....

Lathrea

Nepeta Glechoma, proper
N. parviflora ....
N. hirsuta ....

Prunella

Paronychias ....

Herniaria hirsuta
Scleranthus unnuus, proper,
Chenopodium ficifolium .
Atriplcx lit tor alts, proper
Polygonum aquaticutn

P. terrestre

Rutnex sanguineus, proper .

R. viridis

Euphorbia coralloides

Ulmacese

Cannabinse .
Betulaceas .

Neottia .
Gymnadenia

Neotinea .
Alls ma nutans

Triglochin

Scheuchzeria

Potamogeton nutans, proper .
P. polygonifolius . . . .

P. lonchites

P. acutifolius

P.filiformis

Eleocharis cccspitosa .

E. puucifloru . . . . .

Reduced to sub-species.
Elevated to rank of species.

Expunged.

Elevated to rank of species.

55 5J 55

Suppressed, included in R. spiuosissimu.
Elevated to rank of species.

55 35 55

Suppressed, included in ^". umbrosa.
Elevated to rank of species.
Suppressed.

55

Suppressed as being inseparable from S. hypnoides,

except as a form.
Reduced to variety.

55 5)

Elevated to rank of genus, and takes in Inula
dysenterica, which becomes P. dysentericu, and
Inula Pulicaria, which becomes P. vulgaris
with former names as syn.

Elevated to rank of sub-species as G.lsylvatuum
proper, with former name as syn.

Elevated to rank of sub-species.
,, ,, species.

Relegated to excluded species.

Suppressed, included in Lactuca.
Elevated to rank of genus.

55 5) 55

,, ,, order, and M. hypopytis be-

comes H. multi flora, with former name as syn.

Is divided ; C.filiformis becoming (genus) Micro-
callajiliforr?iis, whilst C. pusilla is retained.

Reduced to sub-species of M. palustris.

Reduced to sub-species.

Transferred from Orobanche to Scrophularineae.

Expunged.

Become Brunella, with former as syn.
Becomes Illecebraceae, and includes genera 'Cor-
rigiola, Herniaria, Illecebrum, and Scleranthus.
Elevated to rank of species.
Expunged.

Elevated to rank of species.
Suppressed.

Relegated to excluded species.

Expunged, and the species included in Urticaccte.

3) 55 53 55

Expunged, and its two genera Betula and Alnus

are transferred to Cupuliferse.
Elevated to rank of genus.
Expunged, and is now included in Habenaria

with former name as syn.

33 33 33 33

Elevated to rank of genus as Elisma, its species

becoming E. nutans.
Transferred from Alismacse to Naiadacese.

Expunged.

Elevated to rank as species.

Transferred to Scirpus.

33

So

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Species
Genera

Excluded species
Sub-species .
Genus
Sub-species .

Genus

Chorley, Lancashire.

E. parvula

Isolepis and Blysmus

Carcx Davalliana

C. paradox a ....

Triticum

T. pungens (Agropyrum)
T. acutum ,,

Selaginella ....

Transferred to Scirpus.

Are suppressed, and their species included in

Scirpus ; Blysmus compressus becoming 3".

cartas with former name as syn.
Elevated to rank of species.
Transferred from C. tercthiscida to C. paniculate
Becomes Agropyrum.
Transferred from junceum to repens.

Elevated to rank of order, including in it genus
Isoetes.

F. J. George.

PATHOLOGY AND ITS RELATION TO
EVOLUTION.

THE lectures of Mr. J. Bland Sutton on Pathology
and its Relation to Evolution, at the Royal
College of Surgeons, this session, beside possess-
ing interest to the members of that college in
general, have a still more interesting and profounder
interest to naturalists. Hence I do not consider it
impertinent nor inapposite in the pages of this
journal, commanding as it does an exceeding great
circulation among workers in science both at home
and abroad, to summarise the chief features of the
substance-matter of these lectures, and moreover to
look at them from a generalised and open point of
view. In a bold, and almost in a novel sense, has
Mr. Sutton brought the laws of evolution to bear on
many facts which belong more especially to our own
domain of work.

The purport of Mr. Sutton's lectures is to illustrate
the second law of evolution as laid down by Huxley *
that "certain parts have undergone complete or
partial suppression " — and I shall follow in this short
review the lines of the syllabus as closely as is con-
sistent with explanatory details.

I. The oscentrale. — In the diagram (Fig. 35) of the
hand of a baboon, will be noticed a little bone marked
r in the drawing, — the os centrale — wedged in between
two tiers of bones (carpus), the one rank in intimate
relation with the bones in the forearm, the other in
immediate nearness to the metacarpus. This bone you
meet with as you search the branches and branchlets of
the zoological tree, beginning at the tailed amphibians
and working upwards to the primates. Some time
back there were three observers — Henke, Rayher, and
Rosenberg — who "spotted" a nodule of cartilage in
the same position in the human foetus, but which, as
development proceeded, disappeared — an observation
that has been confirmed many times over and over
again since then. Euber, Turner, and others, found
it afterwards in adult hands, and now we have a
computation that in four cases out of a hundred it
is persistent. When not so it fuses with the radiale.
Here then, as Mr. Sutton rightly concludes, is distinct
evidence of the suppression of an element in man's

* "On the Arrangement of the Mammalia," Proc. Zool. Soc.
1880, p. 649

carpus, but how many might have been suppressed he
leaves an open question, for Weidersheim says the
axolotl might have had two or even three of these
bones.

2. The second point is concerned with the pineal
body, which I have heretofore spoken about in a
note in these pages.

[I must premise that, with regard to suppressed
parts, Mr. Sutton would hurry us into the not un-
likely belief, that owing to and from the very nature
of their suppression they are liable to disease and
aberrant growths.]

Fig. 35. — The Manus of a Baboon, c, os centrale. r, 11, in,
mi, v, first, second, third, fourth, and fifth metacarpals.

That the pineal body is one of these suppressed
organs is pretty evident from the recent work of
Graaf and Spencer (Mr. Spencer's paper in " Nature "
of last year will be remembered, and also an elaborate
and beautifully illustrated article in the recent
" Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science "), who
have shown that it is still represented as a little median
eye in the parietal foramen of lizards. In amphibians
of the pre-tertiary epoch it seems to have been func-
tional and in good account. But Nature, like a good
mother, but withal a fair amount of spleen and ill-
will, sometimes developes a teratoma, or else as is the
generality of her caprice, a cyst in the selfsame body.

3. The lost incisor tooth of man. — And now with
regard to a matter that had almost become common-
talk at the ingle-nook — the lost incisor tooth of man.
This is one of the clearest evidences of suppression
that we can possibly think of. Professor Albrecht
was the first to notice the reappearance sometimes of
a third incisor, and since then we have had hosts of

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

81

confirmatory observations by many. We have but
two incisors normally on each side in the premaxilla,
but man in reality inherits three, one of which in the
process of development, becomes suppressed. Which
one, is of very little moment, some say it is the third,
but the majority of observers tend to the belief that
it is the second or the middle one. Mr. Mattieu
Williams spoke of Professor Schmidt's paper in the
"Popular Science Monthly," on page 107 of last
year in his "Gossip on Current Topics," and as
therein is contained a succinct but full account I
need not descant further than this. But for a brief
space compare the arrangement of the tooth-territory
of any mammal with the same of a shark. They are
exactly correspondent each with each in that they
are both developed from the involution of epidermis,
which, in the foetus, bends in to form the buccal

4. A very interesting and instructive case is this
one. A section through the prostate gland of a man,
would exhibit such an anatomy as may be seen in the
diagram underneath. (Fig. 36.)

It is observed to be a structure surrounding the
neck of the bladder, with a pouch somewhat pear-
shaped running backwards and upwards in its
substance, yclept sinus pocularis and with a duct, the
common ejaculatory duct passing along through its
upper surface-portion. This prostate and sinus
pocularis is developed from that very same part of
the Miillerian duct which becomes the vagina and
cervix uteri in the female ; and moreover these parts
of the female reproductive organs, exactly correspond
to that portion of the oviduct which in the oviparous
vertebrates has the especial function of secreting the
shell. But in the recesses of the prostate gland in

Fig. 36.— Section through the prostate gland to show the
sinus pocularis.

Fig. 37. — A half-vertebra from the spine of a man.
After Reid.

cavity, and called in the language of the embryologist
thestomodceum. In the mouth of the mammal, they
are localised to definite and circumscribed areas ; in
that of the shark, on the other hand, there seems to
be no law of place, and they are scattered in profusion
of number, hither and thither — anyhow. From
this Mr. Sutton concludes that man,|in his process of
development, has had many teeth quashed in the
evolution of his species, the particular lost incisor
being the last in order of suppression. So much so,
indeed, with what we would expect of atavism — teeth,
supernumerary teeth, sometimes assert their ancestry
by appearing in us, varying from a properly-covered
enamel organ to a conical mass of dentine. Working
on his lines of pathology, Mr. Sutton also entices us
into the opinion that some forms of odontomata, and
multilocular cystic growths of the jaws, are to be
explained as originating in the obsolete rudimentary
germs of such teeth as these often recurring ones.

the adult are found small granulations of carbonate
of lime. And Mr. Sutton says thus, as the prostate
with its glandular loculi was developed from the
same segment of Mullet's duct as the shell-forming
section of the oviduct of birds and reptiles, and, as
in them, it was engaged in depositing carbonate of
lime in animal matter, so man has in his prostate a
witness testifying to common ancestry with the
feathered tribes, low down among oviparous ver-
tebrates.

Supernumerary vertebra. — In Psittacus undulatus,
an Australian parrot, there are more vertebrae found
in the fcetal than in the adult condition. In the
Ornithoscelida, a fossil Reptilian genus, the number
of sacral vertebrae amounts to four or five, while in
the existing species the normal number is two.
Professor Kitchen Parker finds that the earlier stages
of development in the green turtle there are fifty-one
somatomes, but only forty-one are existent in the

82

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

adult, the number of the difference having become
suppressed, seven in the neck and three in the caudal
region, suggestive of a Plesiosaurian-like ancestor
with a much longer tail and neck. In a human
embryo of the fifth week — when it is from 9-10 mm.
long — -there are 38 vertebrae ; at the 6 th week the
36th, 37th, and 38th, coalesce together to form one,
and when the embryo attains the size of 19 mm. it is
minus in number 4 vertebra?, having 34, the normal
number in the adult. Dr. Goodhart (J. Anat. and
Phys. ix. p. 9) describes a vertebral column of a foetus
in which 4§ instead of 7 cervical vertebra? were
present. Professor Humphrey, on p. 123 of his work on
the Human Skeleton, describes a case by Otto, in
which § of the. nth dorsal vertebra was absent ; and
another by Sandifort, in which § of 7th cervical, and
also of the 9th and loth dorsal vertebrae were deficient.
And there is in the Museum of Middlesex Hospital a
skeleton of a full-grown female, in which associated
with, and the cause of, lateral curvature of the spine
h of the 3rd dorsal vertebra is absent.

And not only is there sometimes absence of a half-
vertebra, but there also occurs now and then an addi-
tional one. In Python sebcc, Professor Albrecht has
described in the eleventh volume of the "Bulletin du
Musee Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de Belgique " for
1885, a case of this kind, in which the skeleton, consist-
ing of 333 vertebrse,;there was a half- vertebra interca-
lated between the 195th and 196th segment on the left
side. Rokitanski, in his " Pathological Anatomy," vol.
iii. p. 230, records a case in the human subject in which
there were four \ vertebrae with corresponding half
arches and processes in addition to the normal number,
and these were so placed as to counterbalance one
another, and form four curves in the spine, two in the
dorsal, one in the dorso-lumbar and one in the sacral
region. This last case is only satisfactorily explicable
on the ground of the suppression of mesoblastic somites
during development, and that man at one period — or
at any rate his ancestors in the evolution of things —
had more than our own number of thirty-four and
were functional. There is in our own anatomy
evidence of this, in the arrangement of the cervical
nerves to show that one element at least has, in
comparatively recent times, undergone abortion in
that portion of our vertebral column. Again it is
beyond confutation, that as the movements of the
hand increase in delicacy so do the number and size
of the cervical vertebra? diminish. In birds, where
the movements of the beak rival in precision those of
the hand, we have a greater number of neck vertebrae,
and their mobility is made more easily adaptable by
means of the saddle-shaped articulations;

"When we bring into our remembrance the fact, that
sharks and serpents may possess 300 vertebra?— in
Alopecias vulpcs there are 365 — and compare this to
man's number, this alone ought to make us suspect
suppression. And this is still more marked when we
put alongside the frog with his 9 vertebrae only, and

beside these again the whole race of mammals. We
should at any rate expect the frog sometimes to have
occurring in his spine an additional vertebra, and
there is no disappointment, for Bourne, in the
"Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science," vol.
xxiv. 1884, in a paper " On Certain Abnormalities of
the Common Frog " reports a case in which there were
ten vertebrae, the additional one being in the sacral
region, and a similar specimen has been described
by Howes, in " Anatomischer Anzeiger " for 1886.

{To be continued.)

EOZOON CANADENSE, THE PSEUDO-
DAWN OF LIFE.

By J. Walter Gregory.

BY the recent visit of Sir Wm. Dawson, attention
has again been directed to the controversy
which raged so fiercely some twenty years ago, as to
whether Eozoon were fossil or not. Inspired by this
visit, and armed with the mass of new material
placed at their disposal by the death of Dr.
Carpenter, Professor T. Rupert Jones, and his able
collaborator, Mr. Sherborne, are preparing a book in
which to defend Eozoon from the attacks made upon
it in the Memoir of Professor- Moebius, and the still
more recent volume of Professors King and Rowney.
As Moebius's Memoir has never been translated, and
the work of the Galway Professors is too technical
for those who do not enter the subject with the
proper mineralogical training, a sketch of its history
and a brief statement of the case against Eozoon may
not be amiss. The whole subject is certainly one of
absorbing interest, as the origin of life on the earth is
probably the most important of the unsolved problems
that still perplex the record of its early history. The
answer to the enigma remains shrouded in a fog and
as yet we possess no guide through its gloom and no
scientific light strong enough to dispel its mists and
remove this fascinating field of enquiry from the
hazy lands of speculation to the ever-widening
regions of determined fact. All classes of thinkers
have engaged in the search, but hitherto their
efforts have been in vain. Physicists have
advanced their guesses to the existence of some life-
bearing meteorite ; chemists have striven to crown
their long course of successful achievement in the
manufacture of organic products by the creation of
life itself, geologists have hoped by the study of its
earliest forms to discover the lines along which
biological research ': must proceed, and materialists
have published their theories to answer their great
Sphinx riddle. But the problem has resisted alike
the dreams and theories of philosophers, and the
retorts and microscopes of scientists, and the banner
of the theologian still waves triumphant on the last

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

83

rampart of the doctrine of Special Creation and
external interference with the uniformity of nature.

The assistance geology could render in the quest
was but trivial, as the palreontological record —
imperfect at the best — after affording a constantly
lowering grade of organization with the increasing
age of the deposits examined, snapped at the base of
the Cambrian system, leaving as the oldest known
fossils, those so comparatively complex as brachiopods
and crustaceans. Below lay huge masses of meta-
morphosed and igneous rocks, some five or six miles
in thickness, and in these apparently the story of the
dawn of life on the planet had been obliterated
beyond hope of recovery. But scientists do not
readily despair, and as by more diligent hammering,
the list of fossiliferous schistose and metamorphic
rocks in other parts of the globe gradually increased,
American geologists plucked up courage and ex-
pressed the confident hope that some traces of life
might be exhumed. Hence it was that the announce-
ment of the discovery of a fossil ip the Lower
Laurentian rocks of Canada, vouched for by such
menl as Carpenter, Logan, Dawson, and Hunt,
roused no ordinary excitement in the geological
world, and was received as an earnest of much still to
be unearthed ; and when it was further stated that
it ^was a foraminifer, it agreed so perfectly with
current theories as to what the oldest fossil ought to
have been, that it is little wonder that geologists
accepted it with practical unanimity.

It was in 1864 that Professor Dawson made the
momentous announcement, that he had discovered
strong arguments for the organic origin of a remark-
able Lower Laurentian rock, composed of irregular
layers of serpentine and calcite, which had long
before attracted attention as affording the first
specimen of a new mineral named " loganite," and
which Logan had then suggested might have had an
organic origin. These suggestions were repeatedly
renewed, and in 1S63 a specimen was actually figured
in one of the Reports of the Canadian Geological
Survey as probably a Laurentian fossil ; about the
same time another band of the structure was
discovered at Grenville, and of this Dawson had a
series of slides prepared for the microscope, in order
to settle a point at issue between himself and Sterry
Hunt ; on examining them he found, to his intense
delight, what he regarded as conclusive evidence of
the organic nature of the rock in the so-called
"proper wall." He forwarded specimens to Dr.
Carpenter, who, in one of calcite and serpentine,
discovered a system of canals not present in those of
dolomite and loganite which Dawson had examined.
This was considered to be absolutely conclusive of
their foraminiferal nature, and in 1865 a joint paper
by Sir Wm. Logan, Professor Dawson, and Doctors
Carpenter and Sterry Hunt appeared in the Journal
of the Geological Society, in which the microscopic
structure, stratigraphical relations and zoological

affinities of the supposed fossil were described.
These views were not long allowed to pass un-
challenged, for they were opposed by Mr. W. H.
Bailey, the well-known palaeontologist, in the Geo-
logical Magazine, and Professor Harkness at the
Birmingham Meeting of the British Association. In
the same year Professors King and Rowney, who have
been the most persistent opponents of the theory,
began in a letter to, the " Reader " their long uphill
fight against it, and which they continued next year
by a Memoir in the "Journal of the Geological
Society." Meanwhile, the announcement had stimu-
lated the energies of geologists in other fields where
Pre-cambrian rocks are exposed, and soon a goodly-
list of other localities of Eozoon was known ; Gumbel
obtained it in Bavaria, at Steinhag, near Obernzell,
and near Passau on the Danube, and in higher beds
a species which he named Eozoon £avarku??i. M.
Favre found it in a serpentine limestone in the Alps ;
Hochstetter and Fritsch, in Bohemia, Pusyrewski in
Finland, and Sandford from the Lower Silurian rocks
of Connemara, a;discovery which was " verified," to
use the term applied to the process, by Professor
Rupert Jones. Supported by this additional informa-
tion, and reinforced by men such as Lyell, Murchison,
Gumbel — in fact by all the leading geologists of the
day — Eozoonists carried all before them, and, though
with several honourable exceptions, answered their
few opponents in the dogmatic hi-cockalorum style of
men absolutely certain of their own correctness. " I
should now no more think," wrote Carpenter, in his
so-called " Final Note on°Eozoon," " of attempting to
convert the Galway infallibles (i.e. King and Rowney)
than of trying to convert the Pope." * Similarly,
when, in 1 87 1, Mr. Mellard Reade ventured to obtrude
his objections before the public, and to point out
that the various replies were mere reiterations of the
statements in dispute, he was firmly told by the same
authoritv to "shut up," L and readers of "Nature " were
invited not so much to weigh the respective argu-
ments, as to choose between the combatants, whether
they would follow Dr. Carpenter or Mr. Reade. Dr.
Carpenter closed the controversy by remarking,!
" since I do not feel called upon to expend valuable
time in giving to Mr. T. Mellard Reade the
instruction he requires to qualify him for discussing
this question, I now leave him to the enjoyment oi
his own opinion, whenever he shall have shown by
work of his own, his competence to criticise the
observations of others." He however kindly promised
to do so.

Since that date " the sceptical tendency of our
age," as Dawson in his " Dawn of Life " mournfully
calls it, has been veering farther and farther from this
belief, and after death had removed one of its most
zealous supporters, in the peison of Sir Charles Lyell,

' Annals Mag. Nat. Hist.," ser. 4, vol. xiv. p. 371.
f " Nature," vol. iii. p. 386.

34

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

the cause began a rapid decline, and, mainly owing
to the papers of King and Rowney, it was soon
narrowed to a struggle between the mineralogists on
the one hand and the biologists on the other. During
the next few years defections grew apace, and in 1879
the most serious blow was at hand. Professor Karl
A. Moebius, the eminent German authority on the
Rhizopoda, had been much struck by the resemblance
of Eozoon to a new genus of foraminifera which he
had found in 1874 on the coral reefs of Mauritius, and
had named Carpentaria rhaphidodendron : impressed
with the value of his discovery, as elucidating and
confirming the organic nature of Eozoon, he resolved
to fling himself into the discussion, re-examine the
whole of the evidence, and then, by the aid of his

amined the vast series of the most typical forms
placed at his disposal, he gradually lost faith and
finally lapsed into the ranks of their opponents. It
was the story of Balaam over again ; he had set out
on his journey to curse, but he had blessed — and
blessed with a weight of authority and power which
no other man possessed. From that hour Eozoonism
was doomed, and if it still lingers in the minds of a
few geologists it is different from the creed militant
of fifteen years ago.

But it is time to turn from the controversy to
Eozoon itself; but, before doing so, however, it is
necessary to make two digressions, first to examine
the stratigraphical relations of the rock in which it
occurs, and secondly to examine the shell structure of

Fig. 38. — Section at Cote St. Pierre (Dawson), a, gneiss band
b, limestone with eozoon band, e ; c, diorite and gneiss.

Fig. 39- — Diagram of vitreous foraminifera, showing double
septa (b, b), stolon passages {a, a,) and intermediate skeleton (<r).

sZ

u>n

s

6

Fig. 40. — Section of part of 'Calcarina, showing tubulated
proper walls (10, w) and canal system through intermediate
skeleton (jr.)

Fig. 41.— Section of Nummulina lavigata, showing canal
system of septa [s).

new genus, to demolish all opposition and establish
for ever the " animalitat " of Eozoon. He an-
nounced his intention, and invited geologists to send
him specimens. Eozoonists promptly complied with
his request, and materials from all parts were poured
upon him. Credner, of Leipzig ; Hochstetter, of
Vienna ; Du Bois Raymond, of Berlin, and Dawson, of
Montreal, all forwarded him their specimens. Eozoon
Bavaricum he received from Fritsch, and Gumbel's
collection from Sadebeck ; Leydig, of Bonn, sent those
from the cabinet of Max Schultze, while Carpenter
entrusted him with a large number of his choicest
specimens, some of which he had never before allowed
to leave his possession. From these, Eozoonists
expected that Moebius would adduce an array of
facts and arguments that would place their theory
beyond dispute, and correspondingly bitter was their
disappointment when they learned that as he ex-

the foraminifera in order to recognise the morpho-
logical relationship supposed to exist between them.

The Laurentian rocks, largely developed in North
America, typically in Canada, are a vast series of
metamorphic rocks, divided into two groups. The
lower, some 20,000 feet in thickness, is composed
entirely of metamorphic rocks, mainly gneiss and
mica schist, interstratified with which are great beds
of quartz and crystalline limestone, one of which is as
much as 1500 feet thick. Distributed through it are
conglomerates and beds of magnetic and specular iron
ore, and veins and beds of graphite which Dawson
estimates would equal in quantity the coal seams of
an equal area of the carboniferous rocks. The upper
series, of some 10,000 feet of stratified crystalline
rocks, mainly gneisses and felspathic rocks, character-
ised by the abundance of labradorite, lies uncon-
formably upon it. It is in the lower series that

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

«5

Eozoon occurs ; the first locality from which it was
recorded was Burgess, in Ontario, but as many of
the best specimens have come from the Grenville
band of limestone at Cote St. Pierre, it will be better
to describe that. Eozoon occurs there, as a ser-
pentinized band of limestone, in a massive limestone,
interstratified between a layer of gneiss above and
a thick bed of diorite and gneiss below. (Fig. 38.)

Many structures in these rocks Canadian geologists
considered had long given presumptive evidence in
favour of the existence of Laurentian life ; they pointed
to the vast beds of graphite (probably introduced as
liquid hydrocarbons) as representing the last stage

n s

m

fmtMjjLiA

Fig. 42. — Dawson's Restoration of Eozoon.

— that beyond anthracite— in the metamorphism of
vegetable remains; they contended that the calcite
had been deposited by some organic agency like the
limestone beds of later date, and that the iron ores
were due to the reducing action of plants similar to
that of the Gaillonella ferruginca of the Swedish
lakes.

The shell structure of the foraminifera need not
detain us long, as a mere recapitulation of its termin-
ology will suffice. The foraminifera, as everybody
knows, consist of simple masses of protoplasm, in
which is immersed a shell or "test," usually pene-
trated by a series of perforations, through which are
protruded extensions of the protoplasm termed
" pseudopodia." The shells are either chitinous,

arenaceous (i.e. composed of grains of sand or such
like, bound together by a chitinous secretion), hyaline
or vitreous, or calcareous. Their structure is gene-
rally very simple, as in the lowest it has but a single
perforated cell wall, termed the "proper wall" ; in
compound shells the septum, or proper wall, is usually
single, so that that which forms the anterior wall of
one chamber serves as the posterior wall of the next ;
in more complex forms each chamber has its own
proper wall, so that in these each septum or " septal
plane," consists of two lamellae, as in Fig. 39. In still
more complex forms (Figs. 40, 41) these two proper
walls are separated, and between them is developed
"the intermediate" or "supplemental" skeleton,
through which, if largely developed, ramifies a series
of canals containing prolongations of the sarcode,
serving to preserve the vitality of the skeleton.
Between these " body chambers " a further connection
is established by " stolon passages," or bands of pro-
toplasm. Thus, in one of the highest members of
this .order, we should notice the "tubulated body or
proper wall," the "intermediate skeleton," and the

Fig. 43. — Side and front view of proper wall. From Moebius''
" Memoirs." Plate 33, Fig. 41.

"body chambers" connected by "canal systems"
and "stolon passages."

Remembering these points, let us turn to Eozoon,
and we shall see how remarkably all the typical
structures of highly organised foraminifera are so
closely simulated, that nigh a generation of geologists
were led to accept it as such. Fig. 43 represents
Eozoon as usually given in our text-books ; to the
naked eye the rock appears as a series of green and
white laminae, which on microscopical examination
present a structure strikingly like those of the body
chambers of such foraminifera as Nummulites"; the
so-called " casts of the body cavities " are surrounded
by a wall perforated by many minute tubuli or pores,
apparently analogous in structure and function to the
proper wall of foraminifera. Above this proper wall
is a thicker layer of typical calcite, corresponding
to the intermediate skeleton, and containing series of
"canals" and "stolon passages," or structures
apparently similar to them. Thus, we here find
simulations of all the typical structures of one of
the highest of the foraminifera; proper wall, body
chambers, intermediate skeleton, canals, stolon
passages — all are represented ; hence, urged Dawson
and Carpenter, though we can easily understand that

86

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

purely crystalline substances may imitate the forms of
organic structures, as in the dendrites which build up
such exquisite imitations of vegetable foliage, to
assume that a mineral structure should agree in so
many points, alike in internal structure and external
form, would require a series of coincidences in the
highest degree improbable. They further pointed
out that we have strong reasons for the belief that life
did then exist, besides the evidence already referred
to, based on the graphite, calcite and iron ores. Sterry
Hunt maintains that he has discovered in the beds of
iron ore, traces of subaerial decay that point to the
reducing and solvent action of substances produced in
the decay of plants. Dawson believes he has found
some plants in the graphite of the Clarendon lime-
stone, also worm burrows at Medoc, and some bodies
that he has named Archeospherinre.

The objection that, even if Eozoon or any other
organism had lived in Laurentian times, its relics
could never have survived the metamorphism which
the rocks have since undergone, Gumbel answers by
denying that the rocks have been metamorphosed,
declaring they are now in their original condition ;
while Dawson says,* "I call this a prejudice," and
proceeds to demolish it by referring to what he
considers the analogous case of the casts of corals by
calcite and silicates, and of the body chambers of
foraminifera by glauconite, the latter of which are so
well known as fossils from the greensands, and in
recent seas as in the Gulf Stream and the Egean.
Dawson maintains that such would be obliterated by
nothing short of the actual fusion of the rock, and he
adduces Sterry Hunt's opinion, that the association
of serpentine with Eozoon is exactly on a par with
these cases, and that as glauconite is a hydrous
silicate of iron and potash, and serpentine a hydrous
silicate of magnesia, if we assume that in the
Laurentian ocean magnesia played the role of iron
and potash in recent seas, we can understand how
the Laurentian serpentine was deposited under con-
ditions similar to those of modern greensand.

Briefly summarized, such are the arguments on
which Eozoonists rest their case, and from their
plausibility and their acceptance by such geologists
as Lyell, Dawson and Gumbel, such authorities on
the foraminifera as Carpenter and Rupert Jones, such
biologists as Schultze, or such mineralogists as Dana
and Hunt, the theory held a position which could be
stormed only by years of steady work and con-
troversy. Hence it was, with every confidence in its
accuracy, that Dawson conjured up his "Restoration
of Eozoon." As shown in the figure (Fig. 42) it
consisted at its base of simple layers which higher
up became " acervuline owing to the deficiency of
nourishment of the central and the lower layers
making greater and greater demands on those above,
and so the skeleton became thinner " ; f above it

' Dawn of Life," p. 93.

■j" Ibid. p. 46.

gave rise to a series of long pseudopodia extended
into the ocean to catch the Archeospherinae and
other contemporary organisms as its prey, which, as
the temperature of the water is estimated by Dana at
200° F., it would find ready cooked and stewed.

[To be continued!)

GOSSIP ON CURRENT TOPICS.

By W. Mattieu Williams, F.R.A.S., F.C.S.

A Venerable University. — In the midst of
Jubilees and jubilations, it is noteworthy that Italy
had decided to celebrate in the spring of 1888 the eight
hundredth anniversary of the University of Bologna.
It is well for the education of young Italy that it should
publicly honour the great intellectual achievements
and early intellectual superiority of old Italy, rather
than direct its pride towards the gross though energetic
brutality of ancient Rome. When we reflect on the
general condition of Europe in the eleventh century,
this awakening from the dark period when its intel-
lectual culture was mainly dependent upon wandering
missionaries from Ireland, the foundation of an uni-
versity was a great event, and it is doubtful whether
any other continental university can boast so ancient
a record as that of Bologna.

Petroleum and Health. — Dr. Bielczyk pub
lishes in a Polish medical journal the results of his
observations among workmen employed in petroleum
wells. He found that when the gas existing in the
shafts of the wells was freely breathed, violent delirium
of a maniacal character was produced. This, how-
ever, quickly ceased when the workman was brought
to the surface. Speaking generally, he says that the
mortality among those workmen is not particularly
high, and that they seem to be remarkably free from
diseases of the respiratory organs, both of an inflam-
matory and tubercular character, and also from
infectious diseases. They are, however, subject to
an eruption like acne, affecting the extremities. Dr.
Bielczyk found that raw petroleum is an excellent
application for fresh as well as for old and foul or
torpid wounds.

Having been engaged during a few years in the
distillation of cannel coal and shale, which thus
produces a compound almost identical with petroleum,
I am able to add my testimony to that of Dr.
Bielczyk. My men were not so severely exposed to
the gaseous exhalations as those who descend petro-
leum wells, and therefore I saw nothing of the
delirium. The retorts were worked in the open air.
The worst casualty to which the men were exposed
was that of having their faces burned when they
opened the retort doors. The inflammable vapour
filling the retorts, which were much larger than gas
retorts, flashed forth somewhat explosively when

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

87

supplied with air, and a careless or unskilful work-
man occasionally received the flame fully in his face ;
beard, whiskers, eyebrows, and eyelashes were singed,
and the skin would have been sorely blistered, but
for the simple remedy they had somehow learned to
apply. This was to rush to a tank of crude oil and
wash their faces with it as freely as though washing
with water. I saw two cases in which this was
neglected, and the men suffered much pain, and some
disfigurement, but in all cases where the remedy was
promptly applied but little inconvenience followed,
and no scars were left. Dr. R. Piatt, the medical
practitioner of the district (Leeswood and Pont Blyddu,
Flintshire), observed that during a severe epidemic of
typhus fever, the men engaged in the oil works
escaped, their families also. The crude paraffin oil
they carried home on their clothing disinfected their
Cottages completely. The colliers and agricultural
labourers of the district, whose homes and modes of
life were similar to those of the oil-workers, suffered
severely.

Our surgeons are now using vaseline very largely
for dressing burns, &c. In doing so they are merely
extending the application of the workmen's discovery ;
vaseline being the hydrocarbon which is chiefly
concerned in giving to the crude petroleum, or the
crude distillate of the cannel or shale its characteristic
viscosity.

•

Micro-Organisms in Air. — Dr. Percy Frankland
and Mr. T. G. Hart made during last year an
instructive series of experiments on the micro-
organisms in the air, using Hesse's apparatus, and
a standard quantity of 10 litres of air. The results,
obtained on the roof of the Science Schools of South
Kensington, were as follows —

In January an average of 4 micro-organisms for 10 litres of air.

„ March „ „ 26

.. May „ „ 31

„ June „ „ 54

„ July „ „ 63

„ August „ „ 105 ,,

„ September „ 43 „ „

„ October „ „ 35 „ t)

The increased numbers found in crowded rooms
is very remarkable, and suggestive of the advantages
of fresh air. In the Library of the Royal Society,
during the evening conversazione of June last, there
were found in 10 litres of air at 9.20 P.M. 326 micro-
organisms ; at 10.5 p.m. 432, and at 10.15 A - M - of
the following day, 130.

Norwegian and Japanese Cod Fisheries. —
"Nature" tells us that an official of the Japanese
Ministry of Commerce has been despatched to
Norway to study the cod-fish industry as there
practised. This may appear rather puzzling to
many readers, to whom such an industry is regarded
as simply a matter of catching the fish and salting
them. A great deal more than this is done with
codfish in Norway, where some 40 or 50 millions of

fish are caught annually for exportation, besides those
consumed at home. Drying is a primary preservative
process, and there are two methods adopted ; one
consisting of tying the split fish together by their
tails, then hanging them across poles, young pine or
fir-trees arranged horizontally at the height of about
five feet from the ground. These drying grounds,
when extensive and fully covered, are curious features
of the landscape. The fish thus prepared are the
"stok-fisk" i.e. stick-fish. Others are dried by
spreading them out on the rocks. These are the
" klip-fisk." Then there are two branches of the
liver industry. First the extraction of the common
" fish-oil " so largely used by leather dressers. This
is obtained by boiling down cod livers whether fresh
or otherwise — mostly otherwise — in huge cauldrons,
the odour from which constitutes one of the sensa-
tions of a midsummer tour in the Lofoddens. The
second industry is the preparation of " medicine oil,"
known to us as cod-liver oil. This is prepared by
expressing selected fresh livers, either cold or with
little heat, and treating the product more carefully.
Besides these there is a more modem jis/cguafio manu-
facture. Cods' heads, and in some places the stomach
and intestines also, are dried, ground to powder,
and sold under the above name. As there are large
supplies of cod in the water of Northern Japan, the
Japanese Government has wisely resolved to obtain
the full benefit of the matured experience of the
enterprising Norsemen.

A Simple Machine. — Babbage cites as the
simplest example of a machine or labour-saving
appliance, the invention of a girl who was employed
in sorting needles, i.e. placing the heads all in the
same direction, preparatory to putting them up into
packets for sale. They had previously been picked
out one by one and pushed to the right or left
according to the position of heads and points. The
machine was simply a glove finger with a thick piece
of leather attached to the part corresponding to the
bulb of the forefinger of the right hand. A row of
needles was laid on a flat board and pressed down
with the left hand, and when this leather thimble
was pressed against their ends, all those having
their points to the right penetrated the leather
sufficiently to be drawn away to the right, leaving all
those with their points to the left in their original
place, and thus the labour of sorting was greatly
abridged by this simple invention.

A similar invention is now in use for counting lead
pencils. Strips of wood with 144 grooves are laid on
the work-bench. The workman takes up a handful
of pencils and rubs them along the board once and
back, filling all the grooves, and thus counting one
gross. This is almost as simple as the needle-girl's
invention. I have not yet learned how much of the
money value of the labour saved has been awarded
respectively to the two inventors.

8S

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

Cutting Glass Vessels. — The problem of
making a clean cut round a glass tube of considerable
diameter, or round a bottle or flask, is one that
■continually vexes the practical worker in a chemical
laboratory. A number of books supply a prescrip-
tion which the bookmaker has copied very faithfully
from his bookmaking predecessors, viz. that a piece
of string is to be passed round the bottle or flask,
and then soaked in spirits of wine or turpentine and
kindled. According to the books, a clean cut will
be made corresponding to the string, if the bottle or
flask is now suddenly cooled by plunging it in water.
According to the experience of all who have tried
it, the glass is either cracked in wild random, or it
remains unaffected. Perhaps once in fifty times
success may be achieved by accident.

Another and far better method has been recently
described by E. Beckmann. First a scratch is made
with a file, and this is done carefully in the required
-direction. At both sides of this, pads of wetted
filtering (i.e. blotting) paper are wrapped round the
•object, leaving a space of about |th of an inch
between them. The flame of a Bunsen burner or
gas blowpipe is applied to the space, starting from
the scratch and running round. The crack will
follow the flame midway between the two pads. I
may add that tubes up to about an inch in diameter
are cut very easily by simply notching with a "three
square " file, and then breaking as one would break a
stick, but with a pulling force combined with the
bending. This is familiar to all who work in labo-
iories, but not so to outsiders, though a very useful
" wrinkle " for many outside purposes.

Economical Production of the Alkaline
Metals. — Sir Humphry Davy discovered the
metals of the alkalis, sodium and potassium, by
separating the oxygen from soda and potash with the
aid of a very costly and powerful voltaic battery.
Purely chemical methods have since been adopted,
the reducing power of heated carbon being the chief
agent. In my boyish days of chemical experimenting,
or rather chemical trickery, I paid at Dymond's in
Holborn one penny per grain for potassium, or at the
rate of £2 per oz. troy. It was then reduced
chemically. Its present price is 5-r. to 6s. per ounce.
Sodium about 10s. per lb.

Mr. H. Y. Castner has recently devised a method
•of producing these alkaline metals which promises to
cheapen them considerably. If it is commercially
successful, the results will be important, as the metal
sodium is used in the reduction of other metals, such
as magnesium, aluminium, &c. This method con-
sists in mixing iron that has been reduced in a finely
divided state by hydrogen or carbonic oxide, with tar
and coking the mixture ; then grinding the coke and
mixing it with caustic soda or potash. This is placed
in a cast-iron crucible and heated in a specially
constructed furnace. The alkali is reduced to the

metallic state, and the metal, which is volatile at a
high temperature, is distilled over. In this process
the alkali is submitted to the reducing action of
iron and carbon, both of which have been previously
used separately. Gay-Lussac and Thenard used iron
turnings heated to whiteness as early as 1808. I can
only speak theoretically, having made no experiments
on Mr. Castner's method nor seen it in operation,
but from such theoretical point of view, it appears
most promising.

ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY.
By John Browning, F.R.A.S.

DR. WARREN DE LA RUE, who was the first
to photograph astronomical objects successfully,
informs me that some excellent photographs have
been obtained of Jupiter. When I have had an
opportunity of inspecting them, I will give some
further particulars.

The Liverpool Astronomical Society has published
a Memoir on " Photometric Photometry," which con-
tains a catalogue of 500 stars taken with a stellar
camera 4J inches diameter, mounted equatorially.

The Rev. J. S. Perry, of Stonyhurst Observatory,
Lancashire, in a communication on the Chromo-
sphere in 1 886, says: "During the past twelve
months the Chromosphere has been measured more
frequently than in any year since 1S80, and the
results should be in consequence more trustworthy.
The mean height of this gaseous envelope does not
vary much from year to year ; but the prominences
that spring out of it have scarcely attained in 1886
the height of preceding years, and their number and
extent is much diminished."

In April Mercury will be a morning star, situated
in Pisces. Venus will be an evening star throughout
the month ; in Aries until the 10th, when it will
enter Taurus. There will be no occultations of
interest.

Meteorology.- -Though fogs and mists have been
plentiful, yet outside the region of the Metropolis
the amount of sunshine in February was much
above the average. In the north-east of England
and over the Midland districts, the number of hours'
sunshine for the month was 41 in excess of the
average number for the past seven years, and in the
east of England, the excess amounted to as many as
51 hours.

February was drier than" usual, though, contrary
to the generally received opinion, it is on the average
almost the driest month in the year. In London
there was not one-third of the average quantity of
rain ; and in Mid-Devon the rainfall was less than
one-tenth of the average. In the neighbourhood of
the Metropolis there has not been so dry a February
for twenty-five years.

HA RD WICKE S SCIENCE- G OS SIP.

39

Rising, Southing, and Setting of the Principal
Planets at intervals of Seven Days.

Rises.

Souths.

Sets.

-

D.

h. m.

h. m.

h. m.

1

2

5 OM

IO 54M

4 48A

9

4 45M

IO 32M

4 I9A

Mercury 5 A

16

4 3 2M

10 23M

4 I4A

|

23

4 1 8m

IO 22M

4 26A

'

30

4 6m

10 28M

4 5°A

/

2

6 27M

I S2A

•9 I7A

Q

6 1 6m

I 5 Sa

9 40A

Venus ? . A

16

6 7M

2 4A

IO IA

'

23

6 IM

2 I2A

10 23A

3°

5 58m

2 20A

10 42A

/

2

5 47M

O 23A

6 59A

1

9

5 28.M

O I5A

7 2A

Mars 6 . A

16

5 "M

8a

7 5A

23

4 52M

O OA

7 8a

^

30

4 34M

II 52A

7 IOA

/

2

8 i6a

I 26 M

6 32M

9

7 43A

O 56M

6 4M

Jupiter %, A

16

7 IIA

O 25M

5 34M

23

6 40A

II 50A

5 4M

^

30

6 7A

II I9A

4 3SM

|

10 15M

6 25A

2 39M

9

9 49 M

5 S9A

2 13M

Saturn I? . . {

16

9 23M

5 33A

1 47M

23

8 58M

5 7A

1 20M

l

30

* 33M

4 42A

54M

At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
reading of the barometer for the week ending 12th of
February was 30.39 in. The mean temperature of
the air was 34.5 deg., and 5.1 below the average
in the corresponding weeks of the 20 years ending
1S6S. The general direction of the wind was north-
east, and the horizontal movement of the air averaged
13.3 miles per hour, which was 0.4 below the
average in the corresponding weeks of 16 years. No
rain was measured during the week.

For the week ending 19th of February, the mean
reading of the barometer was 30.10 in. The mean
temperature of the air was 34.8 deg., and 4. 1 below
the average in the corresponding weeks of the 20
years ending 1868. The general direction of the
wind was north-east, and the horizontal movement
of the air averaged II. I miles per hour, which was
1 .4 below the average in the corresponding weeks of
16 years. Rain fell on Friday to the amount of
0.20 of an inch.

For the week ending 26th of February, the mean
reading of the barometer was 30.00 in. The mean
temperature of the air was 42.9 deg., and 3.2 above
the average in the corresponding weeks of the 20
years ending 1868. The general direction of the
wind was south-west, and the horizontal movement
of the air averaged 13.6 miles per hour, which was
0.8 above the average in the corresponding weeks of
16 years. Rain fell on Monday to the amount of
0.05 of an inch.

For the week ending 5th of March, the mean
reading of the barometer was 30 . 34 in. The mean
temperature of the air was 35.9 deg., and 4.5 below
the average in the corresponding weeks of the 20
years ending 1868. The direction of the wind was
variable, and the horizontal movement of the air
averaged 6.5 miles per hour, which was 7.3 below
the average in the corresponding weeks of 16 years.
Rain fell on Saturday to the amount of 0.01 of an
inch.

For the week ending March 12, the mean read-
ing of the barometer was 29.91^ in. The mean
temperature of the air was 37.5 deg., and 3.1 below
the average in the corresponding weeks of the 20
years ending 1868. The direction of the wind was
variable, and the horizontal movement of the air
averaged 10.7 miles per hour, which was 3.1 below
the average in the corresponding week of 16 years.
Rain or melted snow was measured to the amount
of 0.28 of an inch on Saturday.

The mean temperature for April is at Plymouth,
45 , at Bournemouth, 44 , at London, 43 , at
Norwich, 42 .

The average rainfall for April is along the South
coast 2 inches, and about London 1 inch ; in the
Midlands and on the East coast, from 1 to 2 inches,
only near the Land's End does it reach to 3 inches.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

That historic Coniferous tree, the Wellingtonia
was re-named Sequoia, after an Indian chief, who
invented an alphabet of somewhere about fifty-six
letters. That seems to be his claim to historic
renown, and the reason why he is immortalised by a
" Tree of Life " (for the Wellingtonia is said to be
able to live 4000 years, and nobody can contradict
the statement) altered to Sequoia. But what about
the modern hydro-carbon chemists, and those whose
whole life is devoted to the chemistry of products of
combustion ? The newspaper readers, who send
shillings for word-competitions, have never read the
" Chemical Society's Journal."

The volcano of Mauna Loa, in the Sandwich
Islands, is stated to have "erupted" once more.
That is what active volcanoes are intended for !

It seems that the activity of the Phylloxera is not
interrupted during the period of suspended vegeta-
tion of the vine ; why should it ? It lives on the
sap or vintage !

Mr. H. B. Woodward's important work (second
and revised edition) on " The Geology of England
and Wales," is announced as " ready." The readers
ought to be the same.

9°

HARDIVICRE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

We are very pleased to notice that the Dover
Field Club recognise, in an admirable way, the
services of the late Hon. Sec. the Rev. T. Robin-
son (who has left the town for the metropolis), by
presenting him with a splendid Binocular Micro-
scope. Mr. Robinson well deserves it, for he is one
of the few men who can " enthusiast " other people.

Mr. Robert Etheridge jun. F.G.S., is going to
Sydney, to occupy the important post of Palaeonto-
logist to the School of Mines there.

A Colonial College and Training Farm (1300
acres) has been started at Hollesley Bay, Woodbridge,
Suffolk, where young fellows intending Colonial life
are being educated for the special purpose. The
idea is a capital one, and is being admirably carried
out.

The Centennial International Exhibition will be
opened at Melbourne, on August 1st, 1888, to celebrate
the founding of the first Australian Colony (New
South Wales) in 1788.

The devastating earthquakes along the mouth of
the Rhine valley, and the French and Italian coasts
of the Mediterranean, have kept up the public interest
in these phenomena. They appear to be connected
with Alpine Mountain-building, for Mont Cenis and
theLepontine Alps were affected in an intense degree.
The French Academy are collecting accurate infor-
mation all over the affected area. If they do it as
well as Professor Meldola did the " Essex Earth-
quake " of 1884, their labour will be of great scientific
value.

We are pleased to receive Mr. W. Collins' No. 16
Catalogue of books (mostly second-hand) in Micro-
scopy, Natural History, and the [allied sciences.
Students will find it a very useful book of reference.

In the first number of the "Wesley Naturalist"
(price 6d. monthly) we are glad to welcome another
coadjutor in the field of " Popular Science." The fact
that it is edited by the Rev. Dr. Dallinger, the Rev.
H. Friend, and others, is a sufficient recommenda-
tion that the magazine will have a successful career.

It is a pardonable vanity for any man to feel he
has done good ; and the editor of Science-Gossip
never felt this more than after a lecture at Lincoln,
in the newly-erected schools of science and art.
Dr. Lowe reminded the audience of the course given
by the lecturer in Lincoln eight or nine years before,
and stated that the scientific interest aroused by
those lectures had eventually led to the erection of
the building they were then in. The edifice is one
of which even Lincoln, with its historically and
architecturally famed cathedral, may well be proud.
All the newest and best modern appliances for
teaching science and art have been adopted. The
class-rooms, geological, botanical and physical, as
well as the splendid chemical laboratory, are among

the best we have ever seen ; and it would be a good
and a wise thing for committees who are thinking of
starting similar schools if they visited those at Lincoln
first. It is marvellous how much (and how well done
that " much ") has been achieved for the money. To
complete the success (as regards the Scientific De-
partment) Dr. A. B. Griffiths, F.R.S. (Edin.), an
old and valued contributor to Science-Gossip, has
been engaged as principal ; and he is throwing all
the energy of an enthusiast into his work. No fewer
than twenty-six subjects in Theoretical and Practical
Science are down in the syllabus to be cheaply
taught — in the evening as well as during the day.
It made one feel how delightful it would be to be
fifteen again, with all the glorious field of study to
attack. To nobody in Lincoln is the success of these
schools more due than to Mr. R. J. Ward.

During March Dr. J. E. Taylor, Editor of
Science-Gossip, lectured to the Literary and Scien-
tific Society at Loughborough, on/' The Lower Forms
of Animal Life ; " at the Ipswich Museum, on
" Caverns and Underground Rivers," " The Origin
of the Sea," and the "Deep Sea Bed and its Inhabi-
tants;" at Manningtree, on "The Underground
Circulation of Water ; " at Braintree, on " The Origin
of Landscape Scenery," " Volcanoes and Earth-
quakes," and "The Atmosphere: Its Origin and
contents." At the Norwich Church of England
Young Men's Society, on "A Naturalist's Holiday in
Australia." Most of the lectures were illustrated by
the lantern, and by specially prepared slides.

We are pleased to receive the "Medical Annual"
for 1887, (London : Hamilton, Adams, & Co.) edited
by Dr. Percy Wilde, to which contributory essays and
papers on "Diseases of the Heart," "Syphilis,"
"Diet," " Rheumatism and Gout," " Spinal Disease,"
"Ovariotomy," "Diseases of the Eye," "Dental
Surgery," &c, are contributed by some of the chief
medical writers of the day, forming a " Dictionary of
New Treatment in Medicine and Surgery," &c.

MICROSCOPY.

Microscopic Queries. — I want to construct an
accurate table of the magnifications of my objectives,
from 2 in. up to j'g with the various oculars from No. 1
to No. 6. The instructions in the Manuals are not
precise, and in some particulars are not in harmony.
As I have no doubt the information I am requiring
will be useful to many besides myself, I will, with
the Editor's permission, name the points in the
necessary process which 1 should thank some prac-
tical brother microscopist to make clear. First, from
what point, to what point, along the body, should I
measure to arrive at the proper distance from the
eye-lens to the drawing-paper? Should I measure

HA RD WICKE ' S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

9i

from the front lens of the objective to the eye-lens
of the ocular, or from the micrometer on the stage ?
And if not to the eye lens, then to where ? If from
the micrometer (or other object) on the stage, does
that mean that the difference in distance when a
2 in. o.g. is in use as against a J in. must be allowed
for in the distance from the eye-lens to the drawing-
paper ? Second, when deep eye-pieces — No. 4 to
No. 6 — are used how am I to proceed ? — there being
no cap sliding off to allow the camera (mine is a
Beale's) to be put on in its place, but the eye-lens
being a fixture in the disc which screws on to the
tube containing the field lens, and thus forms a
necessary part of the ocular ? I hope I am explicit
without being diffuse, and that the information asked
for will be kindly furnished in Science-Gossip. —
F . R. Brokenskire, Exeter.

Extract of Logwood . — Perhaps M. Hafen
would like to follow the formula recommended by
H. Gibbes which is as follows : — Extract of hsema-
toxylin, 6 grms., alum (potash), 18 grms. Mix
thoroughly in a mortar, add gradually, while stirring :
Distilled water, 28 c.c. Filter, and to filtrate add —
alcohol (not methylated), 1 drachm. Keep the solu-
tion in a stopped bottle for a few days before using.
For staining, five to ten drops are to be added to half
a watch glass of distilled water ; this solution should
be filtered before use. Sections which have been
removed from common alcohol, are to be placed in
the dilute solution for from ten to twenty minutes,
and then to be washed in distilled water. — A. W. L.

Magnifying Powers. — I am using Howe's
" Atlas of Biology." The microscope used in
preparing the drawings is one by Zeiss, of Jena.
In some instances the magnifying power is indicated
thus X 20 ; but in the majority the eye-piece and
object glas sused are stated, e.g. D. 3, F. 4. I shall
be glad if any reader of Science-Gossip using such
a microscope will kindly favour me with a table
of the linear magnifying powers obtained by the
various combinations of eye - pieces and objectives.
— F. Worgau.

Casting in Plaster from Photographic
Cliches. — Mr. Thomas Stock has made the follow-
ing communication to the Edinburgh Geological
Society : — It is sometimes desirable to convert a
photograph (say of certain of the microzoa) into a
plaque, which can be mounted on a tablet and
exhibited in a case. This can be done by taking
plaster casts from reliefs in gelatine. They are
productive in two ways. I. On the commercial
dry plate ; 2. On cliches of bichromated gelatine.
1. On the commercial dry plate. I have experimented
with a few makes, but find the gelatine too soft in
most cases. One make (possibly containing bichro-
mate) gives tolerably good results, but different
batches differ in their power of resisting the rather

severe treatment to which they are subjected. The
treatment is quite simple, and consists of dipping the
plate (it must not be alumed) for a few moments into
water kept at a uniform heat of 90 Fahr. by an
automatic gas regulator. I should think that a
plate could be put on the market suited to this
particular purpose, and its utility in the photo-
mechanical printing processes would ensure a steady
demand for it. Whilst the relief is still moist and
at its best, pour on No. 1 plaster as in ordinary
plaster casting, mixed with a little alum to harden
it. When dry, the plaster leaves the gelatine without
much trouble, no lubricator being needed. The
resulting cast may of course be coloured if desired.
2. On bichromated gelatine. This method is well-
known. It has the great advantage of being capable
of giving a higher relief if required according to the
thickness of the gelatine. On a moderately hard
gelatine, hot water may be used, a fact known almost
as long as photography. A little caution must be
exercised in the choice of a subject. Their micro-
scoped sections are for obvious reasons unsuitable
where strict accuracy is required ; but when the
lights and darks of the cliches (upon which intaglio
and relief depend) nearly correspond to the real
intaglio and relief of the object photographed, the
resulting cast will of course be accurate as well as
beautiful.

Mr. Fred Enock's Entomological Slides. —
No. 9 of these interesting and instructive series has
been issued. The slide contains an exquisitely-
mounted oak-apple fly {Andricus terminate), and
it is accompanied by the usual sketch of structural
and other details which gives to these slides their
value.

Coles's "Studies in Microscopical Science."
— Sections 1, 2, 3, and 4, of No. 7 issue of these
entertaining and artistically got up "Studies" are to
hand, dealing with "Vegetable Histology" (Hau-
storia), " The Ovary and Ova in Birds," "Patholo-
gical Histology " (fatty degeneration of kidney), and
"Microbes " (with very useful plate). The illustrations
are well up to their high mark ; and the slide accom-
panying each " study " is in Mr. Coles's character-
istically neatly-mounted manner.

ZOOLOGY.

Explosion of Eggs. — In the last number there
is an article on "Explosion of Eggs," page 57. I
venture to send my late husband's plan for preserving
them, which I adopted successfully years before he
brought out Science-Gossip :— Dip a soft brush
in oil, cover the eggs with it, put them in a jar
or pan, be careful to oil over that part of the shell
you have touched with your thumb and finger whilst
holding it ; put plenty of bran between each layer of

HARD WICKE ' S S C/E NCE- G SSI P.

eggs. When the jar is full tie it over with thick
brown paper. The eggs, I venture to assert, will not
explode when boiled, indeed " Master's eggs " were
favourites with our cook ; } when eaten at three
months old you could not tell them from new laid
eggs. — H M. Hardwickc.

Corrigenda.— Will readers of the note on "The
Parietal Eye of Lizards " cross out the lapsus calami
of " pituitary body,"and insert pineal body in its stead.
Also of my other note, in the same number, called
" The_Development of the Tadpole" will they read
epididym/'j for epididymus.— J. IV. Williams.

Arion Bourguignati.— On February 27th, in
company with Mr. F. G. Fenn, I found A. botlrgui-
gnati abundant at Isleworth, living with A. hortensis,
from which it may readily be distinguished by its
keel in the young state, and in the adult by the
narrower and differently-placed bands,' curious pep-
pery-gray appearance, and perfectly white foot-sole.
This species, which we have also found at Bedford
Park, is new to the fauna of Middlesex. While
writing, I may mention that the white variety of
Helix Cantiana, described by Taylor in 1SS3 as var.
albida, was originally named var. alba by Colbeau in
1866, which latter name must of course be used. —
T. D. A. Cockerell, Bedford Park, Chiswick.

Cambridge Entomological Society.— At the
anniversary meeting ,of the Society, Mr. Brown
exhibited a specimen of C. Celerio captured in Cam-
bridge. The exhibits also included A. prunaria,
N. heurica, and other moths chiefly captured in
Monk's Wood. After the election of officers, the
programme for the year was drawn up, and includes
excursions to Chippenham, Wicken, Monk's Wood,
and other good localities. It was decided that
students in other branches of Natural History and
other non-members will be welcome at the excur-
sions, and Mr. Alfred Jones (Librarian), 59 Trumping-
ton Street, has kindly offered to receive the names
of those wishing to do so, and to supply information
to them, which may also be obtained of the Secre-
tary, Mr. C. B. Holman Hunt (St. John's).

Shells at Lucerne. I spent a couple of hours
in the " Gletscher-Garten," when passing through
Lucerne last September, and collected the following
Mollusca : Pisidiitm — (a single specimen) ; Succinea
clegans, Risso (ditto) ; Helix arbustorum, L. (all
of a very dark colour) ; // pomatia, L. (common) ;
H. rotnndata, Mull, (not very plentiful) ; H incarna-
ta, Mull, (common and beautifully coloured) ; H. his-
pida, L. (very few specimens occurred) ; H. ne-
moralis, L. (libellula 1 2345, and rubella 00000);
//. lapicida, L., H. obvoluta, Mull, (occasional speci-
mens) ; Hyalina nitidula, Drap. (in extreme plenty) ;
H. Draparnaldi, Beck, (rare) ; Clausilia laminata,
Mont, (scarce) ; C.plicaia, Drap., C. cntciata, Stud.,

C. parvula, Stud, (very plentiful on the face of the
rock, in all stages of growth : many specimens decol-
late) ; Cochlicopa luhrica, Mull, (common just by the
" Lion."). Outside the town, I found Pomatias scplem-
spirale, Raz., Pupa frumentum, Drap., Helix villosa,
Stud., Bulimus montanus, Drap. — Brockton Tomlin,
Pemb. Coll. Camb.

The Reproduction of the Lost Tails of
Lizards. — In page 38 cf the current year of Science-
Goss t p, F. G. S. appears to doubt whether full-grown
lizards can reproduce lost tails. — Last year, in the
month of June, I caught a large specimen of Lacerta.
vivipara with but a stump tail, clearly full-grown.
Before the end of the summer, a new tail one inch
and a half long was produced. I have a young one of
the same species which has repaired its tail, and a
large specimen of Lacerta viridis which has twice
lost its tail, that reproduced having been partially
again lost and reproduced, the two cicatrices very
plainly show the extent of each reproduction. I
have also a Lacerta agilis which has lost its tail and
reproduced it before it came into my possession ;
there is, or was recently living, in the gardens of the
Zoological Society, a Lacerta agilis, which has had
its tail broken, and at the fracture has produced a
second tail without losing the original, so that it now
presents the singular appearance of a lizard with
two tails. I have noticed that the females are more
subject to the loss of tails than the males ; they are
not quite so agile, and their tails are nipped off by
birds after the bodies have entered a hiding-place. —
J. Jenner Weir.

ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGY.

Cats. — Cats are not commonly credited with so
much intelligence as dogs ; but I once knew a cat
whose mental powers would compare favourably
with those of the dogs mentioned in your last
number. This animal belonged to a woman who
kept a little school in a back room upstairs on the
same floor with another room, occupied by a working
man and his wife, who also kept a cat. It may be
readily believed that the neighbourhood was more
remarkable for the density of its population than for
their education, or piety, as was then the case with
many parts of London before the School Board had
yet asserted its supremacy. Cats' meat was sold on
Sunday as on other days of the week. The woman
who kept the school however, did not buy it on that
day, but procured enough on Saturday to last her
cat till Monday. Her neighbour did not imitate her
in this, but bought a halfpennyworth of cat's meat
on Sunday as on any other day. The conduct of the
cats became as different as that of their respective

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

93

owners. One Sunday morning while the governess
was out, having gone to chapel, the woman who
stayed at home with her husband and her cat, called
the attention of her good man to the conduct of the
two animals. "There is that Tibbie, she is a good
cat, a Methodist like her mistress : she does not go
down on Sunday to get her meat ; but that worldly-
minded little wretch of mine, Tottie, down he will
rush just as if it were a weekday." Her husband
answered : " Do not talk so silly ; I am not going to
believe that a cat knows the difference between
Sunday and weekday." She promptly answered :
" Come along and see Tibbie sitting at the top of the
stairs waiting for her mistress to come home."
Just as they came to that interesting point, Tibbie's
mistress appeared, and the matter was referred to her
for explanation. This was given in a statement that
the meat for Tibbie's dinner had been already placed
in a drawer where the cat could smell it, and knew
by happy experience, that it would be hers on the
return of her mistress, for whom she waited. The
devout admirer of her neighbour's cat would not yet
be talked out of her belief in its religiousness,
affirming that it was the custom of Tibbie to sing
over her meat while Tottie swore. Tibbie was
afterwards taken by her mistress to live in the
country, where she acquired so much knowledge of
botany as to be able to distinguish accurately be-
tween Phascolus vulgaris and Phaseolus mitltlflorus,
liking well to eat the former, but constantly refusing
the latter. This capacity for distinguishing between
the pods of one species and another by taste, she
retained after having become blind, when she was
led about the fields by a daughter, whom she had
brought up to keep the fifth commandment as well
as she had herself kept the fourth. — John Gibbs.

Affection of Monkeys. — The following instance

of the affection of monkeys for their young may interest

some of your readers. Yesterday I was passing a

bridge which carries the Bhopal railway over the

Betwa river, and saw a large number of black-faced

"langur" monkeys" upon it. This morning, passing

again the same place, I found that one of a gang of

workmen had found a young monkey near the line,

and had caught it. He also discovered the body of

its mother which had been run over by a train during

the night and been killed. A large male monkey,

however, followed the man when he took up the

young one, and when I saw the latter, it was

shrieking and struggling to get to the old monkey

(evidently its father), who was seated on the rails

about thirty yards from us, eagerly looking for the

release of the youngster. I told the man to release

the young one, when it ran off at once to the old

one, who embraced and fondled it, and eventually

ran off with it, holding it with one arm against its

breast. I was much struck with the sight, especially

as the old monkey was a male. — G. D. Marston.

BOTANY.

" The Dictionary of Plant Names."— We are
genuinely sorry to find that in our notice of Messrs.
Britten and Holland's splendid work "The Dictionary
of Plant Names," we (through a slip of memory) gave
the credit of the publication to the "Early English
Text Society." The latter society does not require
any extraneous aid of this kind. We ought to have
assigned the publication to the " English Dialect
Society," whose headquarters are in Manchester,
and whose indefatigable Hon. Sec. is Mr. J. H.
Nodal, The Grange, Heaton Moor, near Stockport.
The high character, the extensive labour and learning,
and the immense usefulness of " The Dictionary of
Plant Names," makes it important that the right
introducers should be known.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Rearing Bombyx rubi. — In his article on
" Lepidopterists' Work last August" Mr. Finch
states that the larvae of the fox-moth may be
carried through the winter by means of a refrigerator.
May I inform your readers of a plan, advocated by
Mr. Robson, of Hartlepool, a few years ago, for
obtaining the perfect insects of this species without
any such troublesome process as refrigeration, a
plan which I have found very successful ? Select the
largest and most full-grown larvae to be found, and
placing each in a separate two-ounce chip-box, put
the boxes containing them inside the kitchen or
parlour fender, leaving them there day and night.
In the course of a week or two the continuous heat
of the fire will have persuaded the larvae that spring
has come ; they will spin their cocoons, and, if left in
this situation, the perfect insect will emerge during
the winter, at times as early as Christmas, or if
desired to obtain the females at the right time for
"calling," the boxes with the undisturbed cocoons
may be placed in an out-house or cellar through the
winter, and exposed to the hot sun during the later
spring months. I have frequently found the cocoons
on our Wallasey sand-hills, spun up among a tangle
of grass and Rosa splnoslsslma, and very tiresome
work it is for the hands collecting them, though the
rooks appear to find them quite readily, and tearing
open the cocoon they devour the pupa, which they
evidently consider a bonne bouche. Should the larva
not have completed the change to the pupal con-
dition, this is also pulled out of the cocoon, but not
otherwise interfered with. — John W. Ellis, F.E.S.,
Liverpool.

Goldsmith, etc. — It would seem after all that
Goldsmith did actually say the gudgeon had no air-
bladder ; this mistake is on a par with several others
he made. It was precisely the same with the arts ;
he had a visionary project that some time or other,
he would go to Aleppo, in order to acquire a
knowledge, as far as might be, of any arts peculiar
to the East and introduce them into Britain. Dr.
Johnson said, "of all men, Goldsmith is the most
unfit to go out upon such an inquiry ; for he is
utterly ignorant of such arts as we already possess ;
he would bring home a grinding-barrow, which you

94

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

see in every street in London, and think he had
furnished a wonderful improvement." Boswell says
of him, in his " Life of Dr. Johnson," chap, xviii. :
" His desire of imaginary consequence predominated
over his attention to truth." Johnson had but a
poor opinion of Goldsmith as a naturalist, for on one
occasion when Goldsmith had taken lodgings at a
farmer's house in the Edgware-road (so that he
might have full leisure to study natural history), a
Mr. Mickle and Boswell went to visit him, but not
being at home they went in and found in his
apartment, curious scraps of descriptions of animals,
scrawled upon the wall with a black-lead pencil.
And yet this is the man your correspondent seems
surprised should make a mistake. Why he did not
make more mistakes can be easily accounted for. —
Mark Antony.

Birds near Dublin. — The interesting note from
a Hampshire rectory about a grey wagtail that came
day after day to a window, reminds me of a green
wagtail that I used to see coming to a window in
the same manner. This was in Ireland, between
Dublin and Swords. There were many trees in the
neighbourhood of the house, and birds were numerous.
From the windows could be seen herons sitting on
their nests in high beech-trees, the nests consisting of
a few bits of stick, on which the birds appeared to sit
astride, with their legs hanging down. In another
part of the place was a wood of tall trees inhabited by
myriads of rooks ; from which three immense flights
used to go out for food each morning, in three
different directions. Their return at dusk was a
sight to behold, the numbers being so unusually
large ; and the noise of cawing they made in settling
for the night, reverberating from the front of the
house, sounded like the roaring of the sea. Hooded
crows and jackdaws were frequent ; also green-
finches, chaffinches, great tits, cole tits, torn tits,
and others ; the white owl, brown ivy owl, dab-
chick, and moor-hen. Wood-pigeons were common ;
when shot, their crops were found stuffed with
cabbage from the fields. Gulls often flew over ; in
one, the crop was found full of worms from the
ploughed fields. Partridges and quails were in the
neighbourhood. One winter hundreds of peewits
came, and remained three days, feeding or resting on
the grass. On the outskirts of the flock were observed
twenty or thirty golden plovers, and about as many
grey plovers. — W. E. C. Nonrse.

Toads in Rocks. — Mr. Sykes asks, at p. 22,
" How is it that the stone or coal which is invariably
reported to retain ' the exact impression of the little
creature ' can never be produced ? " In the Great
Exhibition of 1862, one of the exhibits was a large
block of coal which had contained a living toad.
After the lapse of so many years it would be unwise^to
speak positively, but my impression is that the block
was split into two parts, and that the small cavity had
been divided by the line of fracture. So far as could be
decided by an inspection of the parts, no possible
means of communication had existed between the
cavity and the outside of the block. Nor was there
any reason to doubt that the toad had really been
found in the cavity. The toad was shown, beside the
block, but was dead when I saw it. It was alive, I
fancy, when first placed there. In periodicals of the
time interesting references might probably be found.
Such cases are very singular, but, I am, nevertheless,
like Mr. Sykes, an unbeliever. — IV. y. JV.

The Australian Fringed Lizard. — Under
this heading, Mr. F. Challis, in your issue of January
last, asks for a description of a lizard of this name.

Does he not mean the frilled lizard {Chlamydosaurus
kingii) of Australia one of the Iguanas of the Old
World (Agamidae) ? Its usual length is about two
feet, witli a large frill-like fold of skin round the
neck, which the animal can erect or depress at
pleasure. It is said to jump by means of its
powerful hind legs and tail like a kangaroo. There
is an excellent drawing of this lizard in the Natural
History Museum Guide Book to the Reptilia.
Should this not be the animal that is meant, I must
apologise for the above description. — H. A. Crossfield,
South Hackney.

Wrf.SPS. — The scarcity of wasps noticed by Mr.
Waddell, at p. 21, was observed all over the British
Isles last autumn, and commented on in the " British
Bee Journal," where several correspondents attri-
buted it to the queen wasps not having been
fertilised before retiring to their winter quarters.
They were thus, as numerous as ever in spring, but
in the majority of cases failed to rear brood. Perhaps
the cold and wet autumn of 1885 was an assisting
cause. Another reason is given in Science-Gossip,
Vol. I. p. 257, a disease having attacked the larvae
and destroyed them in large numbers, perhaps what
beekeepers call "foul-brood." — H. IV. Lett, M.A.

Wasp. — At 3 p.m., on the 29th of January, I took a
live wasp (which is now in the Sheffield Museum)
from a garden wall here ; the day was remarkably
warm and sunny.— Thos. Winder, Sheffield.

Male Wasps. — In answer to a query of Mr.
Reginald W. Christy in the February number : the
males of the common wasp can be found by digging
up the nests in September, or in some cases at the
latter end of August. They are rather lazy in their
movements. Occasionally they may be captured at
the same time of year, as they fly about leisurely in
the sun. There are thirteen joints in the antenna of
the male against twelve shorter joints in those of the
queen and worker. In Vespa vulgaris the male's
antenna is half as long again as the queen's. While
all the males of the British vespse have the first
joint of the antenna yellow in front, the queens of
the three commonest species are without this dis-
tinctive feature. The queen is a stouter insect, its
abdomen being shorter and more tapering posteriorly,
with six segments against seven in the male. Of
course Mr. Christy knows that the male has no sting.
— F. W. Elliot.

Wasp Stings. — I think W. E. H. is incorrect in
stating that wasps' stings are not barbed. They are
barbed, but not so much as those of the honey bee.
— Gresham F. Gillet.

Scarcity of Wasps and Plague of Flies. — I
have frequently dug up wasp nests and found them
infested by dipterous and other larvae which prey
upon the grubs and pupae of the wasps. The maggots
force their way through the paper cell - walls and
devour the helpless inmates, sometimes completely
destroying the colony. But with the perfect insects
the tale is reversed, for, as every one knows, wasps
are rather partial to their fully-developed enemies. I
do not know whether they eat diptera in the earlier
stages. Thus we can trace a double connection
between a scarcity of wasps and a plague of flies. If
in the early summer there is an extra number of fly
maggots many wasps will be cut off in their infancy,
fewer of them remaining to keep down the flies.
There are only seven British species of Vespa, so
that if the Rev. S. A. Brenan has more than six he
has them all. In this neighbourhood (Buckhurst

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP.

95

Hill, Essex) V. vulgaris and V. Germanica abound,
V. sylvestris and V. rufa are uncommon, while V.
JSforvegica and the hornet are decidedly rare. The
seventh species, V. arborea, is of course absent. Your
correspondent is extremely fortunate to have collected
in one year queens of all the species. What is his
district ? I should be very glad to see his specimens,
and, if he desires, to name them for him. — F. W.
Elliott.

Gas beneath Ice. — In answer to the inquiry of
your correspondent W. C. P., I think there is no
doubt that the gas let out from beneath the ice on
the pond at Fairburn was what is commonly known
as marsh gas, a compound of carbon and hydrogen
(CH 4 ), and a result of the^decay of the under layers
of the peat bog which are excluded from the air. —
Alice Bradlaugh.

Curious Phenomenon on Ice. — The inflam-
mable gas which, according to your correspondent
W. C. P., was observed beneath the ice on his
friend's curling pond, was probably light carburetted
hydrogen (CH 4 ), or "marsh gas," as it is also called.
This gas is generated by decomposing vegetable
matter, and thus occurs in most stagnant ponds and
marshy places. — W. C. Flood.

Curious Phenomenon on Ice. — I have no doubt
from the data furnished by W. C. P. that the gas
which escaped from holes made in the ice of his peat
pond was marsh gas, the first of a series of bodies
known as paraffins. Marsh gas, methane, carbu-
retted-hydrogen, and fire-damp, as it is variously
named, according to its occurrence in nature, fre-
quently appears in stagnant pools, being produced by
the decomposition of vegetable matter — hence its
designation " marsh gas." In coal mines it oozes
out from pores in the coal, where it has been occluded
since its formation, and forms the much-dreaded
" fire-damp," which on ignition burns, like W. C. P.'s
escaping gas, with a scarcely luminous bluish flame.
If mixed with the oxygen of air before lighting it
causes a terrific explosion, with the production of
carbon-dioxide, the " choke-damp " of miners. Al-
though extremely explosive, this gas is not thought
to ignite spontaneously. " It is also found in volcanic
gases. The gas of the mud volcano at Bulganak in
the Crimea is nearly pure methane." — W. E.
Watkins, Barnsbury, N.

Note of the Cuckoo. — W. C. P. will find that
there is nothing new in the cuckoo crying cuck-cuck-
coo. It is as Mr. H. Lamb says, a common occur-
rence. Probably it is not a gift of any cuckoo or
cuckoos in particular, but any cuckoo is apt to do
so when excited. The bird sings cuckoo in a slow
and measured tone, but the cuck-cuck-coo is jerked
out in a much more hurried fashion ; and it some-
times even cries cuck- cuck-cuck-coo when the notes
follow each other in still more rapid succession, as
though the bird was under some strong excitement at
the time. — IV. Holland, Southampton Street, Reading.

The Note of the Cuckoo. — I think Mr. Lamb's
suggestion in your January number is incorrect, as I
have myself watched a cuckoo from a short distance
(twenty yards). It was seated on the top rail of a
gate, and afterwards removed to the bough of an oak
tree. At intervals it repeated the three notes " cuck-
coo-coo." I can see no reason for thinking that it
does not voluntarily utter the note by the action of
its throat ; and should consider it hardly possible
to obtain so loud a sound by the means H. L.
suggests. — Gresham F. Gillett.

Poterium Sanguisorba. — I do not see mention
of this plant in Dr. P. Q. Keegan's catalogue of wdd
flowers around Ullswater. I picked it in the meadows
at Grassmere last year, where it presents a remarkable
appearance, being upright, sepia green in colour,
with acuminated leaflets and purplish flowers ;
whereas, on the Surrey Downs, it is prostrate, yellow-
ish, with ovate leaflets and greenish flowers.— A. II.
Swinton.

Mimulus luteus. — What does P. Kilgour imply
by " annular plant stems"? I presume annual is
a more common rendering of his meaning, for I
cannot find any reference to a ringed condition of
the stem of Mimidus luteus, L., in Sir J.'D. Hooker's
" Flora of the British Isles," 3rd edition. If my
former suggestion be correct, I think P. Kilgour will
discover (?) several annual plants in which the fibro-
vascular ring is completed by the development of
Phloem and Xylem from the interfascicular cambium ;
that is, if he will give it time to grow. — A. W. L.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now
publish Science-Gossip earlier than formerly, we cannot un-
dertake to insert in the following number any communications
which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month.

To Anonymous Querists. — We must adhere to our rule of
not noticing queries which do not bear the writers' names.

To Dealers and others. — We are always glad to treat
dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general
ground as amateurs, in sp far as the "exchanges" offered are fair
exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are simply
disguised advertisements, for the purpose of evading the cost of
advertising, an advantage is taken of ovct gratuitous insertion of
" exchanges " which cannot be tolerated.

We request that all exchanges may be signed with name (or
initials) and full address at the end.

I. Ingham. — Many thanks for offering to send us a specimen
of the " Daily Telegraph's Meteorite." You will see in our
last number that a fragment had been sent us, and that was a
fragment of ordinary mottled carboniferous sandstone.

J. T. F. — The " Popular Science Review " ceased to be
published in 1878. Apply to Mr. W. P. Collins, 157 Great
Portland Street, for back numbers or volumes.

A. E. Forsham. — The best books on the subject you mention
areiBell's " British Reptiles " (Lovell Reeve & Co.), and Cooke's
"British Reptiles" (Allen & Co.)

J. A. — We have not heard of Mr. Ady's " Studies" since the
last issue was noticed in Science-Gossip, and therefore we
conclude they are discontinued. We do not know his address.

W. H. L. — You will find in the Microscopical column, and
also in aiticles of back numbers of Science-Gossip, many
recipes for preserving animal matter for mounting.

J. B. — Sach's "Botany" is of the first order; so is the new
edition of " Vine and Prantli."

E. B. — You will see our remarks as to the supposed Barnsley
" meteorite " above.

X. Y. Z. — You had best offer your services to some of the
chief microscope makers and dealers in microscopical materials.

W. J. Tabley. — You will find the fullest particulars as to the
"plate cultivation" of bacteria, etc., in Dr. Crookshank's
" Introduction to Practical Bacteriology," published by H. K.
Lewis.

E. Brunetti. — Will you kindly send us your full address.

EXCHANGES.

Offered, Science-Gossip, 1878, unbound ; "Midland Natu-
ralist," unbound ; Tripp's " British Mosses," 2 vols. ; Watson's
"Topographical Botany;" "Lessons in Elementary Botany,"
by Daniel Oliver; "Countries of the World," 6 vols. (Cassell) ;
" Cities of the World," unbound (Cassell) ; " Knowledge," un-
bound, No. 1 to present. Wanted, "The Power of Movement
in Plants," by Darwin ; " The Expression and Emotions in
Man," by Darwin; "The Variation of Animals and Plants
under Domestication," by Darwin ; "The Naturalist's Jour-
nal ;" " Records of a Naturalist on the River Amazon," by
H. W. Bates. — Thomas Hebden, Hainworth, near Keighley.

96

HA R D WICKE ' S S CIENCE- G OS SIP.

What offers in exchange for " Illustrations of the Linnean
Order of Insects," by W. Wood, F.R.S., published in 1S10 in
2 vols., with coloured plates? Offers wanted also for "The
Amateur Photographer" for 1885 and 18S6. — C. Gregory, c/o
Mrs. Sharp, 4 Bateman Terrace, West Kensington, W.

" Notes on Collecting and Preserving Natural History Spe-
cimens," by J. G. Taylor, offered in exchange for tropical
marine shells. — W. Jones, jun., 27 Mayton Street, Holloway, N.
I should like to correspond with some one collecting skulls
of animals or birds. — Edmund Tye, 21 Gold Street, Northamp-
ton.

What offers in curiosities for a good breeding-cage ? Good
as new. — Edmund Tye, 21 Gold Street, Northampton.

Curtis's " Botanical Magazine," first 20 vols., 825 coloured
plates, in perfect condition. Will exchange for later vols, of
same work or good microscope ; or what offers? — J. Fingland,
Thornhill, Dumfriesshire.

Foraminifera. — Good mounts of pure Globigerina bulloides
for exchange. — W. Stott, Lostock, Bolton.

"Zoologist," vols, i.-xii., 1843-1854, complete, bound;
what offer for the set? Wanted, the vol. for 1886, for York
School Natural History Society. — B. B. Le Tall, 20 Bootham,
York.

Wanted, Bell's "British Quadrupeds" and "Reptiles,"
latest editions in preference. Unaccepted offers not answered.
— F. H. Parrott, 35 Doughty Street, London, W.C.

Scotch graptolites offered in exchange for good foreign
shells. Specially wanted, Philippine land shells and volutes. —
Miss F. M. Kele, Fairlight, Elmgrove Road, Cotham, Bristol.

Fossils, minerals and rock specimens, offered in exchange
for books on natural history, or any other subject. — M., Culver
Lodge, Acton Vale, London, W.

Exchange, side-blown eggs : eider duck, gannet, R. skua,
sandwich-tern, ptarmigan, common tern, guillemot and kitti-
wake. Wanted : buzzards', sparrow-hawks', kites', owls',
harriers', shrikes' and cuckoo's. — William Fetch, Heley, Shef-
field.

The Droseras, Andromeda, Melicerta, Floscules, Vaginicola,
Peridinium, Volvox, Pondorina, Draparnaldia, Aphanothece,
diatomaceous material. Wanted, micro slides and apparatus,
small slide cabinet, natural history books. — C. L. Lord, 34
Burlington Crescent, Goole.

Wanted, mineral specimens. Exchange Cassell's " Popular
Educator," 50s. edition, good condition. Send names. — H.
Ebbage, 165 Hagley Road, Birmingham.

Will exchange for fossils, a book on the collecting, preparing
and mounting of diatoms. — T. Sanderson, Wells Road, Malvern
Wells.

Alpine mosses in exchange for those from chalk, particularly
Systegium, Selizeriae and rarer Phasci and Gottia. — W. B.
Waterfall, Redland Green, Bristol.

A number of slides of diatoms for exchange. E.g. Toxonidea,
Nitzscliia Petitiana, Barbadoes, Newcastle Estate, Oran,
Eseld, " Challenger " dredgings, and many others. Good
diatoms preferred. Exchange lists with Rev. A. C. Smith,
3 Park Crescent, Brighton.

A student who is working the flora of the River Lea valley,
would like to correspond with botanists residing in the Herts or
Beds portions of the above river. — H. S. C, 71 Aden Grove,
Stoke Newington, N.

Micro lamp. New, in good working order. What offers? —
L. Cooper, 6 Park Drive, Heaton, Bradford, Yorkshire.

Ganot's "Physics"; Wurtz's "Atomic Theory" (Inter-
national Scientific Series) ; " Popular Scientific Amusements "
(Ward, Lock & Co., profusely illustrated) ; Tyndall's "Forms
of Water." All quite new, and latest editions. What offers?
Micro apparatus required. — A. Earland, 3 Eton Grove, Dacre
Park, Lee, S.E.

Wanted, foraminiferous material in small quantities, recent
and fossil, from all countries. Must be localised. Will ex-
change same, or mourned slides. — A. Earland, 3 Eton Grove,
Dacre Park, Lee, S.E.

Wanted, a moderately large shell cabinet. Micro material
in exchange. — T. M. Harvard, Layland, Lancashire.

Wanted, unmounted parasites, will give good exchange in
slides. Also foreign correspondents to exchange micro material
and slides. — Fred Lee Carter, 25 Lansdowne Terrace, Gosforth,
Newcastle-on-Tyne.

Wanted, unmounted specimens of parasites of mammalia,
also fleas ; good exchange offered. — W. A. Hyslop, 22 Palmer-
ston Place, Edinburgh.

Wanted, reagents and accessories for histology. Have two
years of "Knowledge". — Thomas D. Sellers, 1 The Avenue,
Preston.

Land and freshwater shells in exchange for others or marine
shells. — W. Gyngell, Wellington, Somerset.

Wanted Wilson's " Hygiene and Sanitary Science." Also
a good chemical balance and apparatus for quantitative analysis.
T. W. Lockwood, Lobley Street, Heckmondwike, Yorkshire.

Good value in exchange offered for Terebratula australis,
Terebratula rubicutida, Atrypa psittacea, Spiri/er restrains,
Mya arenaria. — C. F. Cross, Wtrneth Hall Road, Oldham.

I prepare rocks and other hard substances for the microscope,
and will give ample exchange for good material. — C. F. Cross,
Werneth Hall Road, Oldham.

Wanted, a double or treble nose piece for microscope, in
exchange for Collins's Bockett Lamp for microscope in maho
gany case. — H. W. Parritt, 103 Camden Street, London, N.W.
Splendid specimens of American helices offered for foreign
marine shells.— J. T. T. Reed, Ryhope Road, Sunderland.

Wanted, Thome's "Structural and Physiological Botany "
(Longman's). — Grierson, 74 Market Place, Sheffield.

Wanted, Huxley & Martin's "Practical Elementary Bio-
logy," latest edition. Will give "Practical Chemistry by
Clowes," also four numbers of Science-Gossip for Sept.-
Dec. 1885. — E. Bromley, Victoria Terrace, Lightclifle, Halifax.
For exchange, slides of upper and lower jaw of long-eared
bat, with teeth in situ, for polariscope ; ox parasite, &c. —
J. Stroud Williams, Livingstone Villa, Iffley Road, Oxford.

The two first numbers of Saville Kent's " Infusoria," for
exchange. Offers.— J. Stroud Williams, Livingstone Villa,
Iffley Road, Oxford.

Purchase or exchange, a small brass mounted microscope
with French triplet, equal nearly to a |-inch English objective,
bull's-eye condenser attached, revolving diaphragm, one: deep
and shallow eye-piece, on solid bronze stand, with ball and
socket adjustment, the whole in case complete, almost new,
together with a quantity of thin glass circles various sizes, and
two dozen glass slides. Unaccepted offers not answered. —
H. J. T., The Rectory, Musbury, Axminster, Devon.

Morris's " British Birds " ; six vols, with 365 coloured plates.
Morris's "British Birds' Nests and Eggs"; three vols, with
223 coloured plates. "Gallery of British Artists," six vols.
Letts's "Atlas," four vols. All as new. What offers in micro-
scope, micro apparatus, &c. ? Wanted, Science-Gossip com-
plete, from 1S65-86. — W. Tunstall, Wood Vale Mills, Brighouse.
Wanted, British birds' eggs blown with single hole. Will
give in' exchange North American birds' skins and squirrels.
Also British birds' skins. — T. Mottershaw, n Manchester
Street, Nottingham.

Six sections of each of the following, well cut and stained,
for good histological slides or land and freshwater shells, &c. :
Phoenix dactyhfera, Arecha catechu, Cyperus alterni/olius,
Aspidistra lurida. — James C. Blackshaw, 4 Ranelagh Road,
Wolverhampton.

First class c