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“SCIENCE 


GOSSIP. 


OUR Wigs, IE OMNES 
FOR EDVCATION 


FOR SCIENCE 


LIBRARY 


OF 


THE AMERICAN MUSEUM 
OF 


NATURAL HISTORY 


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1892. 


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| Scienee- Gassip: 


AN ILLUSTRATED MEDIUM OF INTERCHANGE AND GOSSIP 


FOR STUDENTS AND 


ILONTEIKS (Ole INAOMU IRIE. 


EDITED BY 


Ree) p ie dew ele Oe ele Orn G:S aby ReG:Suly, | 


HON. MEMBER OF THE MANCHESTER LITERARY CLUB, OF THE SUFFOLK INSTITUTE OF ARCHAOLOGY 
AND NAT. HISTORY, OF THE NORWICH GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, OF -THE MARYPORT SCIENTIFIC 
SOCIETY, 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 XXVIII. 


London: 


CH MEO eAND WV INDUS, PICGADIMEIY: | 
1892. | 


[AM rights reserved. | 


LONDON : a 
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, 


| STAMFORD STREET. AND CHARING CROSS, © 


: 215 -PQ45- WA 


IP IRIE Ie AVE Te 


| writing a few lines by way of Preface to the Annual volume of 

SCIENCE-GossIP, the Editor calls to mind that this is the twenty- 
eighth yearly presentation to the world of a Magazine founded and 
edited in the interests of popular Science. The period in question is 
a long one, even in the life of a man; it is comparatively longer in that 
of a Magazine. Within its lifetime what hosts of new discoveries 
have been made; what myriads of original observations have been 
chronicled! The entire history of Science has no more eventful period. 
The twenty-eight volumes of cur Magazine constitute the best popular 
encyclopedia of this eventful time. No wonder, therefore, they are 
constantly in demand among our newer subscribers ; and inquired for 
in publishers’ and booksellers’ Catalogues, in the “Original blue 
cloth.” SCIENCE-GOssIP stands alone in the fact that its earlier 
numbers fetch more than their original price. Even its own publishers 
offer double for certain numbers, to make up sets; and those from 
the first to the two hundred and twenty-eighth issues are stated at 
eightpence instead of fourpence. 


Within its literary lifetime, SCIENCE-GossIP has had to compete 
with numerous rivals; but it has succeeded in keeping its place in 
spite of able and keen competition. We would point out that each 
annual volume has been marked by distinct scientific features. In the 
present volume, for example, we would call attention to the able and 
original papers of Messrs. Lord, B. Thomas, Bryce, Nunning, Harcourt- 
Bath, P. Thompson, H. Friend, A. Bennett, T. V. Holmes, Tansley, 


PREFACE. 


Griset, T. D. Cockerell, and others, in illustration. All the chief events 
in Natural Science have been discussed with an open mind. Nothing 
of importance in this department of modern research and observation 
has been left out. 


Men’s lives wear out, and old and zealous contributors die off. New 
ones take their places, and one of the chief pleasures of the Editor's 
experience is the geniality displayed by his numerous correspondents. 
The price of SCIENCE-GOsSIP is not likely to bring its publishers a mine 
of wealth, but the Editor can testify to their zealous co-operation and 
sympathy with its aims and work. On this account alone, therefore, 
he asks the individual aid of every one of its present subscribers to 
introduce the Magazine they evidently like so well to their friends, so 
as to ensure a still larger circulation. The hands of both Editor 
and Publishers would be much strengthened thereby, and the fame of 
the now familiar old “Gossip” would be spread wider than ever. 


Christmas is the season for greetings, and although the apparently 
official task of writing a few lines of Preface for twenty-two years 
successively at length approaches the nature of a task, it is not 
because of the lack of sympathy manifested by readers and con- 
tributors. Their name is Legion. Christmas comes but once a year, 
but it enables the Editor to shake cordial hands, metaphorically, 
with all his unseen friends, and wish them all a warm 


CHRISTMAS GREETING. 


DiS Or THE USTRATIONS. 


Actinospheriume Euhhoriit, page 29 

Actinophrys sol, 28 

Eschna cyanea, 205 

Agrion puella, 204 

Allotophora longa, 161 

Ameeba, showing contractile space, etc., 
52 

Amphulepius fasciola, 135 

Ancient Cromlech, 249 

Antsonenta sulcata, 10t 

Anthophysa Miilleri, tor 

Astasia limpida, 81 


Bure-Tie Mors, Ecc or, 229 
Butterwort, ro4 
Butterwort, Calyx of, 104 


CaspBace Motu, Ecc or, 229 

Calopteryx virgo, 204 

Calyx of Butterwort, 104 

Capnia nigra, 37 

Cercomonas acuminata, 10t 

Chetonotus larus, 148 

Chaetoglena volvocinea, 100 

Chalk Cliffs in Sussex, 248 

Chilodon cucullus, 136 

Chloroperia grammatica, 37 

Chlorophyll Bodies of the “‘Scum” Glo- 
bules, go 

Clathrulina elegans, 125, 126 

Coleps hirtus, 148 

Common Encrinite, 152 

Contum maculatum, Fruit of, 84 

Cothurnia maritima, 232 

Cyclops quadricornis, 221 

Cypris tristriata, 268 


Datsy, HEN-AND-CHICKENS, 163 

Daphnia pulex, 245 

Daphnia Schefferi, 245 

Diagram Section from Barking to Plum- | 
stead, 181 } 

Dutyopteryx inicrocephala, 37 

Distyla agilis, 272, 273 

Distyla clara, 273 

Doxococcus ruber, 100 


EFFECTS OF Sirocco ABRASION ON 
Rus, 9 
Elephant’s Tooth, Fossil, 248 


Enchelys nodulosa, 137 
Encrinite, Common, 152 
Ephippiger selligere, 5 
Euglena longicauda, 100 
Euglena pyrum, 100 
Euglena viridis, 100 


Farry Fry, 176 


Fenestella plebeia, 152 
Fenestella nodulosa, 152 


| Filaria, Head and Tail of, 12 


Fossil Bird, Jaw of, 248 

Fossil Elephant’s Tooth, 248 
Fowl, Head of, 113 

Fruit of Conzume maculatum, 34 


Grass TuBEs, 93 
Gozo Hills, from the Sea, 8 


Green Worm, 108 


Halteria grandinella, 137 
Head of Fowl, 116 
Hedriocystis pellucida, 124, 125 
Hen-and-Chickens Daisy, 163 


| Hilara pilosa, 86 


Hydra viridis, 156 


Tsogenus nubecula, 27 
Tsopteryx tripunctata, 37 


Jaw or Fossit Brrp, 248 


_ Fungermannia biscuspidata, 142 


LEUCOCYTES, 12 


Leuctra fusciventris, 37 


| Macrotrachela multispinosa, 33 


Macrotrachela papillosa, 58 
Magpie-Moth, Egg of, 229 
Mason’s Lanter, 236 
Meadow-Brown, Eye of, 229 
Monkshood, Section of Flower of, 
Monostyla bifurca, 272 
Monostyla galeata, 273 
Monsters, 61, 62, 63, 64 


Napirorm Roots, 84 
Nemoura variegata, 37 


| New Microscopical Lamp, 113, 114 


| OBSERVATIONS ON PRIMULACE®, 225 
Odynerus murareus, 196, 197 

| On the Underground Geology of London , 

251 


Paramecium aurelia, 10 
Paramecium Bursaria, 136 
Paramectune linetunt, 10 
Parasitic Rotifer, 220 

Perla maxima, 36, 37 

Phacus pleuronotes, 100 

Phallus impudicus, 16, 17 

Pierts brassice, Eggs of, 229 
Pinguicula lusitanica, 105 
Polyommatus corydon, Egg of, 229 
Primulacez, Observations on, 225 


Rep ApMIRAL, EGG oF, 229 


Sanp-ToTs ALONG THE SOMERSETSHIRE 
Coast, 76 

Sarcophaga carnaria, 86 

Sarcoptes, 12 

| “Scum” Globules, 90 

Scyphodia, 233 

Section of Flower of Monkshood, 84 

| Section through Ancient Earth-works, 
Hastings, 33 © 

Small Copper, Egg of, 229 

Spirostomum ambiguium, 137 

Stentor Miilleri, 174 

Stentor viridts, 173 

Structure of Yeliuaw Archangel, 183 

Stylonychia mytellius, 149 


Taniopteryx nebulosa, 37 

Trichoda lynceus, 172 

Trichodina pediculus, 233 

Trilobite, 153 

Tway-blade, Remarkable Specimen ot, 
188 


Vaginicola crystallina, 232 
Vorticella nebulifera, 175 


YELLOW ARCHANGEL, STRUCTURE OF, 182 


Zoothamnium spirale, 232 


THE EXTINCTION OF THE GREAT SEA-SERPENT. 


By RICHARD BEYNON, F.R.G.S. 


yy HE nineteenth cen- 

AQ. tury is an age of 
transition. There 
is little that has es- 
caped signing with 
the mark of change. 
Scientific develop- 
ment has invested 
most things with a 
modern air of im- 
provement and 
utility that contrasts 
violently with the 
staidness and slow- 
pacedness so cha- 
racteristic of the 
age of our grand- 
fathers. Then 
people had leisure 
to be sentimental, 
now the stern demands of the business of life de- 
nominate sentiment unprofitable, and we sigh in 
vain for the more credulous and less curious days 
of yore, when the earth yet possessed hidden 
corners and the ocean unfathomed depths, in which 
the imagination might roam at will, peopling land 
and sea with grotesque fancies of curious birds and 
flowers, strange animals, and still stranger fishes. 
But all this is changed. Geographical exploration 
and research have very materially circumscribed the 
confines of the district where the possibilities of nature 
were existent, and instead of revelling among the 
luxuriant idealisms of the might-be, we must perforce 
content ourselves with the more prosaic knowledge 
of that which absolutely is. Long after the teachings 
of travel had dispelled the old illusions 

“Of the cannibals that each other eat, 

The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads 

Do grow beneath their shoulders,” 
popular belief still loved to inhabit the recesses of 
the ocean with monsters, traditions of which had 

No. 325.—JANUARY 1892. 


been handed down from the very earliest ages. It is 
a melancholy fact that such creations do not survive 
the irresistible adyance of modern science. The 
blast of the steam-whistle seems fatal to romance, 
and the endless procession of steamships that join in 
the bonds of commerce the nations whom the seas 
divide, will soon tend to reduce ocean voyaging to 
the practical level of a railway journey. But there is 
one belief deep-rooted in the nautical mind, and 
equally accepted by landsmen, that probably wiil 
never be effectively eradicated. The great sea- 
serpent always has and always will be a denizen of 
the ocean. Why should not the mighty sea produce 
a creation worthy of itself? ‘*The wisest palzeon- 
tologists deny its existence,”’ say the sceptics. They 
are able to find no definite data upon which to assign 
the monster a place in the ranks of animated nature. 
““Never mind positive proof,” argue the believing 
ones, ‘prove conclusively that the creature does zo¢ 
exist, and then, and not till then, will we give up 
our faith in its being.”. And so it has come to pass 
that the sea-serpent lives on, and will continue to do 
so until its existence is disproved—a task admittedly 
impossible. 

The widespread belief in the existence of some 
great ocean monster has been common among all 
maritime nations ‘from the very first ages, and the 
prevalent faith in the great sea-serpent is no doubt 
traceable to the myths of our Aryan ancestors. It is 
worthy of note that the popular notion of the sea- 
serpent is decidedly Miltonic. In ‘‘ Paradise Lost” 
the description of the arch-fiend is the exact 
prototype of the sea-serpent as seen by captains of 
merchantmen and others. 

“‘ With head uplift above the wave, and eyes 
That sparkling blazed; his other parts besides 
Prone on the flood, extended long and large, 
Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge 
As whom the fables name of monstrous size.” 

The Kraken, so minutely described by Pontop- 
pidan, the good Bishop of Bergen, goes on all 
fours with the account of the serpent alluded to 

B 


2 HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 


above. The sea-serpent of his day was seen to rise 
from the sea in undulations, the visible portions 
looking like islands covered with seaweed, while it 
waved in the air mast-like arms, capable of dragging 
ships beneath the waves ; its sudden sinking caused 
a whirlpool credited with the power of engulfing 
the stoutest vessels. It is unjust to the memory of 
the good and pious Pontoppidan to: think that such 
a keen observer of nature is exaggerating, but in all 
probability the Kraken was one of the gigantic 
cephalopods which occasionally make their appear- 
ance off the Norwegian shore. The Atlantic Ocean 
is, however, fav excellence the home of the sea- 
serpent. This is not as might be expected, for it is 
a well-known fact that certain parts of the Indian 
Ocean, especially those adjacent to India and the 
East Indian Archipelago, swarm with veritable sea- 
serpents, members of the genus Hydrophis or 
Hydrus. These creatures, which resemble eels, 
being keeled on their under sides, are but from two 
to five feet in length; and it is no doubt owing to 
their smallness of size, and the fact that they occur 
near land and in considerable numbers, that they 
have never been magnified into real ‘‘ great sea- 
serpents.” 

In mentioning a few of the best authenticated 
instances of the sea-serpent placing itself in evidence, 
it must be remembered that the monster appeared 
most frequently when the ocean was much less 
traversed than it is at present, when wind-power 
reigned supreme, and the size of merchant-vessels 
was far below their present dimensions. Many a 
ship-master then had the tedium of a long sea voyage 
agreeably enlivened by a cursory view of the great 
leviathan whose existence his sympathies and training 
forbade him to doubt. 

In 1818 we have the solemnly-atiested evidence of 
the master and one of the crew of the American 
schooner Adamant that they saw a gigantic sea- 
serpent not far from the Atlantic littoral of the 
States. At first it was guessed to be a half-submerged 
wreck, but this illusion was dispelled by the creature 
uncoiling itself and rearing its head above the waves. 
The description of this monster is graphic and 
very detailed. Its colour was black, and its length 
130 feet, while its neck was upwards of six feet in 
diameter. Bullets rebounded from its scaly encase- 
ment ; and for upwards of five hours it was on view 
to the schooner’s crew. 

The Atlantic sea-board of the United States would 
seem to be the favourite haunt of the sea-serpent, for 
in June, 1815, and in August, 1817, he is said to 
have been frequently seen disporting himself off 
Gloucester, some thirty miles from Boston. This 
specimen appears to have been of the Pontoppidan 
type, for he looked like a number of buoys placed in 
a line. His length was variously estimated from 
90 feet to 250 yards, a rather marked difference 
between the two limits. Once again, in 1819, he 


was seen off Nahant, also in close proximity to 
Boston, this time making curves perpendicular to the 
plane of the water. He paid yet another visit to 
this locality, being seen in almost the same spot in 
the summer of 1833. The latitude of Boston is 
424° N., yet this does not mark the northern limit of 
the sea-serpent’s peregrinations. In June, 1834, he 
was encountered by the ship Rodertson, of Greenock, 
in 47° N., 59° W. On this occasion he moved 
through the waters at a speed of nine miles an hour, 
keeping up with the vessel and exposing his head 
and shoulders, which were covered with a thick 
fluted skin of a green colour. In 1835 the great 
serpent was encountered twice, each time by vessels 
voyaging between Boston and New Orleans. He is 
next seen by Captain Blyl, of the barque Hendrix, 
this time south of the line, in 27°S., 15° E. They 
sailed in company for nine days, when it dropped 
astern and finally disappeared below the horizon. 
There is something very peculiar in the behaviour of 
this specimen, for he allowed upwards of one hundred 
bullets to penetrate his skin and tinge the sea with 
blood, without it occurring to him that he could 
escape from his foes either by submerging himself in 
the water, or putting a greater distance between 
himself and his tormentors. For nine days he 
withstood their annoyance, and then was left behind 
by the vessel increasing its pace. 

Perhaps the most important case on record of the 
appearance of a sea-serpent is that reported by the 
officers and crew of H.M. Frigate Daedalus in 1848. 
The vessel was 24° 44’ S. and 9° 20’ E., in the South 
Atlantic Ocean not far from the coast of Africa, when, 
according to the account forwarded by the captain 
to the Admiralty, a huge monster was encountered 
swimming rapidly ; ‘‘ an enormous serpent with head 
and shoulders kept about four feet constantly above 
the surface of ithe sea. The diameter of the serpent 
was about fifteen or sixteen inches behind the head, 
which was without any doubt that of a snake, and it 
was never during the twenty minutes that it con- 
tinued under the view of our glasses once below the 
surface of the water. Its colour was a dark brown 
with yellowish white about the throat. Ithad no fins 
but something like the mane of a horse, or rather a 
bunch of sea-weed washed about its back.” It is a 
matter of great pity that the exact position of this 
particular specimen in the scale of nature was not 
ascertained. It approached as near as 100 yards to 
the vessel, and the gunnery staff of the Dedalus 
must have made very indifferent practice could they 
not have struck so large a target as the monster pre- 
sented to them. Drawings of this sea-serpent appeared 
in the ‘‘ Illustrated London News,” and a controversy 
was provoked relative to the existence or non-existence 
of great sea-serpents, which caused much ill-feeling 
and which took long to subside. One theory sug- 
gested that to account for the animal seen by the 
Dedalus it was only necessary to suppose it was some 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSTIP. B 


member of the seal or walrus family. It is a well- 
known fact that such creatures are often found afloat 
on fragments of ice which are detached from the 
parentice-field. These detached portions travel from 
the pole, equatorwards, and melting away as they pass 
into warmer latitudes, deposit their living freight in 
the ocean, where they must swim for dear life to the 
nearest land to procure rest and food. If the sea 
monster under discussion were of this class, he was 
apparently fated to meet witha watery grave, for 
in the words of the report: “‘It did not either in 
approaching the ship or after it had passed our wake 
deviate in the slightest degree from its course to the 
south-west, which it held on at the pace of from twelve 
to fifteen miles an hour, apparently on some determined 
purpose.” 

It is rather a coincidence that some six weeks later 
the Dapéne, an American brigantine, reported passing 
in 4°S., 10° E. a gigantic creature of the snake family. 
It appeared about too feet in length and had the 
stereotyped appearance of the serpent or snake with a 
dragon’s head. From the locality where the Dedalus 
monster was observed to where the crew of the 
Daphne descried theirs is, roughly speaking, some 
1,500 miles ; and assuming, as has been suggested, 
that the animal was one and the same creature, then 
itmust lave followed pretty closely the trend of the 
African littoral. Assuming this supposition to be 
feasible, it is rather peculiar to note the nomenclature 
of the more salient features of the coast along which 
the creature would pass. 

Great Fish Bay, Little Fish Bay, Walvisch (Whale- 
fish) Bay, Nourse River and Whale :Head, all show 
that great fish and seal-like animals abound off the 
coast, so that it is quite within the bounds of possibility 
that the “‘sea-serpent” was some huge fish whose 
visible parts presented the appearance ascribed to the 
** creat sea-serpent.” 

Some nine years subsequent to this, the crew and 
officers of the ship Castz/ian were entertained with the 
sight of some ocean monster when navigating close 
to the island of St. Helena. Some ten or twelve 
feet of the creature’s head were visible above the 
waves, and the total length of the ‘‘serpent” was 
variously estimated at from 200 to 450 feet. Itseems 
strange that there should be such disparity in the 
estimates of the creature’s length, for the monster lay 
extended on the ocean and the distance of the vessel 
was but thirty yards. 

Navigators of the present day think twice before 
reporting the seeing of a ‘‘sea-serpent.” Superstition 
and with it the belief in the ‘‘ great sea-serpent ” are 
fast being banished from the British Mercantile 
Marine, and a master who reports seeing anything of 
the kind is certain to bring down upon his head a 
torrent of ridicule. But the monster is not yet 
defunct. America, which in the opinion of a section 
of its inhabitants enjoys a monopoly of all that is 
great and marvellous in nature, has still some three 


or four of these gigantic snakes cruising in their 
waters, and each season they considerately raise their 
heads above the surface of the sea in the neighbour- 
hood of.some fashionable watering-place, and the 
imagination of the visitors and the press fill in the 
detaiis with a graphic minuteness of detail that leaves 
nothing to be desired. To the remainder of the 
world the ‘‘sea-serpent” is almost extinct. It has 
died out like the dodo, and even its prior existence 
is now regarded as extremely mythical. But in 
1890 at such a well-crossed spot as 42° N., 29° 
W., a sea-serpent presented itself to the astounded 
gaze of the master and crew of the Zhomas Hilyard. 
It is matter for regret that this monster of the deep 
did not choose to reveal itself to some Atlantic liner, 
for then, among the many eyes that would have gazed 
upon it, some might be relied upon to observe the 
creature with a quiet and scientific scrutiny and to 
convey to the rest of mankind a true picture of the 
creature, founded upon what really is and not upon 
preconceived notions of the appearance an orthodox 
sea-serpent should present. From a few words of 
alternative description in the account of the monster 
encountered by the Zhomas Hilyard we may draw 
our own conclusions as to the decadence of popular 
belief in the existence of the great sea-serpent. The 
creature is not represented as being a sea-serpent and 
“nothing more,” it is a sea-serpent ov a gigantic fish 
of the conger-eel species. There is much virtue in 
the ‘‘or,”’ and the hardy skipper of the 7omas Hilyard 
has placed on record a pretty accurate estimate of 
the state of nautical opinion regarding the sea- 
serpent. 

Yet one more manifestation, this time off the coast 
of North Island, N.Z. The account given of the 
monster, as seen by the chief officer of the Rotomahana, 
is singularly lucid and circumstantial. It runs as 
follows :— 

‘¢On the morning of the Ist of August (1891), 
about 6.30 o’clock, we were’ off Portland Light, 
between Gisborne and Napier. I was on deck, look- 
ing over the weather-side for land, when I saw the 
object, whatever it was, rise out of the water to the 
height of thirty feet. Its shape was like a huge 
conger-eel, with the exception of two fins about ten 
feet long. The creature was not more than I0o 
yards away, and I estimated its girth at between ten 
and twelve feet. It was broad daylight at the time, 
and the sun was shining brightly !” ; 

This statement is substantially corroborated by the 
quarter-master of the same vessel, who saw the 
creature first and drew the chief officer’s attention to 
it. If further evidence were wanting that a sea 
monster of some kind or other has placed itself on 
evidence in New Zealand waters, it is to be found in 
the parallel testimony of a surveyor resident at 
Gisborne, who wrote to the New Zealand papers that 
while on another of the Union Company’s steamers, 
the Manapouri, on July 24th, he and several others 

B2 


4 ; HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


saw a sea-serpent resembling the one seen from the 
Rotomahana off Portland Island. The monster was 
also seen by the officer in charge of the vessel. It is 
difficult, indeed, to properly assess the value of this, 
the latest contribution to sea-serpent lore. 


Now the question very naturally occurs to all: What | 


is the exact value attachable to the minute accounts 
of the sea-serpents reported by actual eye-witnesses ? 
To say that they were sheer fabrications, nautical 
twisters, invented to feed a popular prejudice, would 
be to throw a doubt on the character of the seaman 
for veracity that is most unjust and unreasonable, 
Yet to admit zw foto the infallibility of any one 
of the accounts of the ‘‘great sea-serpent” is to 
accept as a tangible fact the existence of a creature 
which the major portion of humanity are agreed to 
regard as purely mythical. Probably those who have 
helped most largely to feed the at one time wide- 
spread belief in the ubiquitous monster of the deep 
but reported accurately what they thought they saw. 
Granted that a seaman has a traditional notion of 
what a sea-serpent should be like, he will mould 
anything which resembles that appearance to his own 
ideal and hence no doubt the marked agreement 
between the leviathan of poetry and art and Jack’s 
sea-serpent. At sea the most keen-sighted may 
easily be deceived, and a floating log, festooned with 
sea-weeds and enveloped ever and anon with the 
spray that flashes from the ocean swell, would present 
an appearance quite analogous to a bemaned sea 
monster : 


“A great serpent of the deep, 
Lifting his horrible head above the waves.” 


It is but sufficient to premise a belief in the 
existence of the great sea-serpent and the ever- 
changing sea-scape of an ocean voyage will present 
abundance of visible phenomena that may well be 
read as “sea-serpent.” The eye often deceives itself 
and may often see objectively that which the ima- 
gination conjures up and which the mind is quite 
prepared to encounter. No doubt this tendency has 
much to do with recorded appearances of the sea- 
serpent, for it is remarkable that in the majority of 
cases one observance is generally followed by corro- 
borative appearances. 

Despite all this, however, despite the teachings of 
science, the sea-serpent belief dies hard. The great 
leviathan that takes his sport in the great waters is 
one of the sights that they who go down to the sea in 
ships will continue to see for some time to come yet. 
But as far as popular belief in the existence of the 
great sea beast is concerned its knell is already rung 
and one of the most poetical and grandest conceptions 
of ocean’s inhabitants is fast passing away before the 
unsympathising realism of the nineteenth century. 
But even its bitterest opponents must admit that 
little is gained by the expurgation of the belief from 
the popular mind. The loss may be an abstract one, 


but it isa great one notwithstanding, for in the words 
of ** Nature’s poet :” 


“But yet I know where’er I go, 
That there hath passed away 
A glory from the earth.” 


TO THE VINEYARDS AND THE PLAY. 
By A. H. SwInTon. 


CTOBER, that has embroidered the vineyards 
of La Vendée with a cloth of gold, has 
commenced to paint the greenwood with fiery yellow 
and vermilion ; and as it were by magic the rows of 
aspens which have so long pattered fretfully in the 
sighs of the west wind, are dropping their amber 
leaves around our hamlet, where the round copper- 
coloured gourds are reddening to orange. Besides 
its glory of situation among tumbling crags and 
knolls, our loveliest of villages does not appear to 
satisfy the longing, except the fancy should suggest a 
broth of garden snails with a dandelion salad, and an 
exhilarating scamper up to the round tower among 
the vines in the wheelbarrow drawn by the two 
trusty house-dogs ; for as for the feudal horse-pond 
mantled with its frog’s-bit, and the yoke of beautiful 
cows that are pawing on the threshold, they have 
well-nigh broken our hearts and caused us to com- 
miserate the patriarch in his ark. But the maiden is 
straying over the meadows and singing at her 
distaff, the children have just run out shouting, with 
their pieces of bread and bunches of grapes; there 
dwells a gladness in the blue sky,’and we, like them, 
will betake us to the solitude and sweet converse of 
the lanes and woodlands, and gaze with them on the 
magnificent decorations of the expiring year. 

How strange it appears that the delightful summer 
should so suddenly vanish! While September lasted 
it was pleasant to sit in the urban gardens and listen 
to the tinkle of the bells, as the carriage drawn by its 
four goats in blue tags with two dogs in leash, swept 
past on the grand tour, and disappeared among bright 
lights, deep shadows and startling contrasts of colour, 
due to a diversity of trees there massed together and 
interspersed with ponds and rockeries. The Ginko 
biloba was then covered with its maiden-hair foliage, 
the Desmodium pendulifolium still drooped in 
fasciculated bunches of purple, the more lowly 
Mattiola incana was dotted over with its red plant- 
bugs, the shady magnolia walks from time to time 
disclosed their fleshy nectarious blossoms, and the 
widely spreading cedar was only just commencing to 
put forth its mealy flowers: whereas the fitful rustle 
of the bamboos, papyrus, and sturdy fan-palms, 
seemed to bespeak the monotony of an eternal 
summer. It seems but quite lately too that long, 
narrow barges came floating down with their hay- 
ticks into that modern Babel, situated on the rivers ; 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 5 


when man, woman and child were out on the sloping 
bank disporting with pitchforks and sticks, as though 
it were a hayfield: and it seems but as yesterday 
that a heavy smoke rolled up at evening from the 
spontaneous ignition of the damp store. It appears 
but quite lately that the little livid cockroaches, 
forewarned by thé chill of an impending change, 
attempted to establish their colony in the hinge of the 
hospitable door, and when ousted by the housemaid’s 
broom, that its minute progeny hid away in the hair 
brush. It lastly seems but quite recently that the 
house-ants, made aware by scent and by touch of the 
onslaught on the cockroaches, appeared like ghouls 
from some unknown regions, to banquet upon the 
dying and the dead. 

Let us go down by the way of the vineyards and 
behold the gnarly vines rejuvernescent with fragrant 
and tender grapes. Many ofthe autumnal butterflies 


flutter past us in fresh array, and some of them may 
be accounted a prize, but until the verdant green 
species described in some unprocurable Russian work 
becomes the rage, or those which are phenominal 
and semi-extinct be sought for, it will be difficult, 
methinks, to estimate the value of a butterflyion these 
yasty acres. What superlative charm for the curioso 
is to be found in the waste of cherry blossom flaming 
with scarce swallow-tails, in the lucern-field ghostly 
with Bath whites, in a patch of dwarf furze fluttering 
with Arion-blues, in a heathery tract where the 
Meliteas are glaring like the Guernsey lilies, in the 
bed of pansies silvery with Queens of Spain, or in a 
wildemess of agrimony golden with large coppers. 
Is this, you nice Londoners will be prone to exclaim, 
that thing so new, so beautiful and so rare, that was 
embroidered in needlework and described so 
vaguely ; that was heard of out at Hampstead and 
believed in at Epping, that used to visit the Camber- 


well willows and frequented the Westminster haw- 
thorns, that was dodged over the mere and run down 
on the wolds? No longer smitten with withering 
beauty disclosed by the haze of the morning, our 
thoughts ofttimes in their plenitude become a 
weariness and a burden: let us then 'seek a solace in 
the discovery of new horizons. Over the brambles 
along which the big dragon-fly is hawking trail 
beaded clusters of fruit as large as raspberries, whose 
fragrant juice hornets and plant-bugs are tippling, 
and just within reach among the prickles there 
depends a sparkling object resembling a choice pear 
carved out of malachite. A sly sidelong glance 
suffices to show that this dainty morsel is a tree-frog 
who is breathing softly, and no artist could have 
conceived a happier idea of comfort than that 
presented by his contemplative profile as he squats 
huddled together with half-shut eyes. 


SSNS 

SRR 

Fig. 1.—LZphippiger selligere (the songster of La Vendée). 
The bald-headed man in the horizon is supposed to be the moon. 


C, its musical comb; £,‘its ears. 


Now you who love the violin and the serenade, 
come hither, for the hedge-bank has become an opera- 
house that is rattling and roaring to the orchestra. 
The drama is entitled the “ Martinmas Summer, or 
all for love,” and the performers are the grass- 
hoppers, Stenobothrus, and the leaf-crickets, Dec- 
ticus, Locusta and Ephippiger. The choregraphy of 
the one, as you will quickly perceive, is a warning 
trill of suppressed emotion and defiance, interspersed 
with tender passages composed of low and grating 
notes that fall somewhat harshly on the enamoured 
ear: that of the other is a whistling shrill of hasty 
passion interspersed with staccato notes that trip it 
lightly on the understanding. In both cases the 
lovers are fiery and boisterous, and their lady loves 
are from habit or from nature, silent, coy and 
distrustful ; just like Madam Locusta now, who leans 
so caressingly on one side to catch the sunbeams 
with a leg akimbo. But the Signor garbed in green, 


6 HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


whose voice is as the rush of a cataract, has already 
stepped out into the vacant field of glory. See, after 
haying flung out a defiance to his rivals, how meekly 
he sits upon the twig over the head of Madam, to 
whom he plays, and who from time to time feels 
hesitatingly for him with her thread-like feelers. 
Come, that was a gentle touch now, and none of the 
smart boxing which the little wood white butter- 
flies indulge in when they buffet with their nose-pads, 
but Madam she won’t endure it, and so she has 
prudently hopped aside, just as the Signor comes 
down with his impromptu leap and occupies her 
vacant place. Of course at the outset it is a little 
novel to be the witness of a performance where the 
grasshoppers who play the bass are industriously 
utilizing their legs as fiddle-bows, which, instead of 
being:rubbed with rosin, have from sheer hard usage 
acquired a row of ivory knobs; and where the leaf- 
crickets who undertake the treble, are employing an 
ebon black comb concealed beneath the wing. And 
do you not remark a superb and echoing ring in the 
notes of Signor Locusta, who seems to chatter in 
absolute despair? And then as to ears, does it not 
strike you that such frantic love-making must needs 
set the whole body a trembling like the lustres of a 
chandelier? and it is for this very reason that the 
grasshoppers have theirs hidden away behind their 
legs ; and as for the Signor and Madam, why they 
carry a brace sticking into the first pair like a couple 
of mushrooms. Our play, as you will recall, is All 
for love. 

During the interlude the grasshoppers rattle on, 
and the little Dectici whirr dizzily in the hedge-roots 
with the tremulous sound of a watch that is being 
wound up. Such music becomes a trifle monotonous, 
predisposing you to slumber, but it finds a harmony in 
the dull murmur of the meadows, and what seems 
most strange, all the performers consider the roll of 
the passing cart-wheel to be a cry of encore, even 
saluting with a salvo the fitful chiming of the clock 
on the grey church tower. Perchance the wish occurs 
at the outset to seize and imprison one of our troop: 
should you think pfoper to do so, he would then no 
longer shrill his noon-tide reveries, but his ardours 
would kindle and flash at the evening star, increasing 
-at the witching hour to a fusee of half a thousand 
notes or so. Darkness, prithee, would then acquire 
a new and melancholy sweetness. Meanwhile the 
scene has changed, for the two rival Ephippigers of 
the vine come stalking over the tops of the brambles, 
pausing as they advance to snip-snap defiance at each 
other, like two clicks of a steam engine, or two 
jingles of the horse-bells. Very elegant are these 
portly, hunched-backs with their white-ringed green 
or brown bodies, that recall the cricketing flannels 
and suggest a man-tiger corded with stays. Those 
who have chanced to catch a glimpse of the cinerous- 
coloured Thamnotrizon that chirps hidden in the ivy 
of an English hedge-bank, and which during the 


prevalence of the opal mist that dims the morning 
sun, is often out sunning in companies, will at once 
recognize the kettledrum wings set awry, which have 
conferred on these clowns the nickname of the 
cymbal players. But come, now, one is silent and 
the other is posed like an oil-beetle and executing 
a solo. The notes they clash and they tinkle as it 
were the bound of a tambourine, and their refrain is 
ever sweep-sweep or sweet-sweet, just as the air 
pulsates, and the sentiment prompts; one would 
think that the grape-gatherer who is reposing 
beneath the vine-leaves must have fairly mistaken 
this charming overture for the drawing of wine-corks 
and a.rain of coin gilt with the yellow leaves. By 
referring to the racy scores that Yersin noted down 
on the solitude of his Alpine crags, it will be noticed 
that he assigns to these musical orthoptera an idea 
of number and pitch, but although this brilliant 
music fairly moves at the rate of a beat every two 
seconds, it becomes quite an open question whether 
the performers distinguish between asix and an eight. . 
Apart from their marionettes they seem decidediy to 
be what our servant-girls would call sillies, for they 
are always ready to walk with a mincing and dainty 
pace on to the extremity of your walking-stick or 
umbrella. In regard to our programme, we find it 
further stated that Madam Ephippiger will perform 
a duet with the object of her choice among the 
gently waving vine-leaves, but for all that she is 
sitting on there in saucy silence, like a crocodile, and 
now one of her admirers—would you believe it ?—has 
actually jumped down and bestowed on hey a kiss or 
a bite; but Madam, after producing a squeal in 
imitation of that of a vindicative weasel, she has 
waddled off as if insulted. One would say that she 
was one of those who can sing and wont sing. 

But do you not see, are youblind? Hist! now hist ! 
this saddle-backed creature who is disguised in marine 
green, is evidently the great gun of our performance. 
See how dignified he holds himself aloof, embowered 
among the interlacing thorns, and only notice that 
strange rosy glow that overshadows his flattened 
winglets of bronze and ebon black. Hark as he 
spreads them: like a cherub, and draws with his 
fiddle-bow that long, powerful and steamy note, that 
appears to strain in the execution like a cord that is 
about tosnap. Hist! oh hist! Surely he must have 
been the apt pupil of Apollo’s darling, the cicada, if a 
comb can be said to twang like crinoline hoops. It 
would seem, as he leisurely climbs to the topmost 
twig, that you might hear him sound his old and 
mellow violin fifty yards away in a fog. The 
Ephippigers welcome their champion, and their 
tambourines they dash around, and then far remote, 
from the tops of the pollard oaks there echoes back 
that Hist ! oh hist! Indeed the notes of Locusta 
were quite overpowering at the outset, as it were the 
whistling gush of a waterfall after the downpour, but 
those of this new hunchback resemble most the 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. ‘ 7 


measured purl of the bubbles on the deep and 
strong current. Do they not inspire an absolute terror 
now, that would alarm the guilty conscience on a 
lonely heath more than the churr of the fern owl and 
the rattling and puffing of a thousand snakes? Fill 
up the cup with red wine and white wine, for he is a 
merry prophet of a clearing shower, and old Hesiod 
believed that such majestic notes, when presided 
over by the dog-star, betokened a heavy crop of figs 
and a cheerful vintage. Let us drink success to the 
year, and no longer carp and cavil concerning the 
phylloxera, the hail, and the driving cyclones. 
Does the new wine inspire: a moody sadness, the 
flowers are sparse upon the meadows, the chestnuts 
are scattering their husks, and this requiem of the 
summer must indeed conclude with the literal death 
of the performers. ‘‘ Czesar,” they seem to shout, ‘‘ we 
die.” It would be quite useless under such absolutely 
trying circumstances to cry Bravo, but if you seize a 
hair-comb and sweep along it your finger-nail, the 
chief musician will be sure to understand, for this 
strange being is so quick of hearing. 

But why this dull and leaden silence? The sports, 
you see, aredone, for the sun is sinking low, and a 
sudden storm of dust and rain drives hitherward, 
deadly, damp and cold. It will shake the pears from 
off the bough, and quench, oh horrors, the last 
sparkles of summer merriment. But what the deuce 
can the matter be with Madam Locusta, the star of 
our troop, who now dances out of the foliage for an 
ovation, so sleek and so plump? You would be 
inclined to say that she had eaten her Signor from 
sheer vexation or because he was by nature so very 
green. : 

Madam, who is more unassuming than a sheep, 
and yet more cruel by far than a tiger, will now 
improvise our epilogue, which runs as follows. In 
happy ignorance, you mortals have too long con- 
cluded that your vices were your own and that 
innocence was to be learnt of us, the humbler works 
of the creation, for man, conscious of his manifold 
imperfection, has been ever ready to assume that 
perfection, exists in everything around him. It is not 
then surprising that we leaf-crickets, who can claw 
and can bite, have by your popular writers been 
confused with the harmless cicadz, for this mistake 
might have originated in the occasional similarity of 
our croaking, which is yet readily distinguishahle in 
its staccato notes; but when, as sometimes happens, 
you behold a portrait of myself, who indeed possess 
no violin, but have all the feminine weakness 
exemplified in a long ovipositor, presented to the 
public gaze as that of the beloved one whose food is 
ambrosia ; we players can but ridicule the artist who 
has never witnessed our rural play of All for love, 
which is enacted every year during the prevalence of 
the Martinmas summer. 

It may interest the naturalist to observe that 
Walckenzer—who, in his ‘* Faune Parisienne,” alludes 


to the coupling of gnats, dragon-flies, ephemere and 
scolopendras, as likewise to that of spiders, cyclops, 
crustaceze and hydrachnee, and who‘has so graphically 
described the female flea reposing on the breast of her 
partner, her mouth applied to his mouth, and her 
feet intertwined with his—makes indeed no mention 
of the equally fantastic coupling of the subjects of 
this article. “It is droll, to say the least, since, owing 
to the presence of the afore-mentioned long oviposi- 
tor, Nature has ordained that the female should have 
the uppermost ; and as a consequence the happy 
possessor of her who has inspired his lays, is either 
hoisted into the air like a leg of mutton or ignomini- 
ously dragged along on his back. It may be 
likewise added that those few species of leaf-cricket 
which inhabit Europe are easily kept in cages or 
boxes covered with green gauze, since whatever may 
be their habits when rambling at will over the 
hedgerows, they, or at least their ladies, appear quite 
content to dine, when in confinement, on a leaf of 
lettuce or blade of grass, as the case may be. 

A word in recapitulation, That two things should 
be alike and yet not alike is not mathematical, but it 
is the case in point with Zphippiger vitium and 
selligere. We notice a saddle-shaped thorax. The 
notes of the male are heard every two seconds, and 
the female, when in the proximity of her male, squeals 
like a mouse or weasel; but although the notes of 
either move with like rapidity, those of se//gere are 
a sound of winding up, lasting for about two seconds, 
whereas those of w¢ia7 are momentary and dashing. 
Although formed alike, wztzm is cast in the more 
delicate mould, and perhaps, we might add, the 
most specialized. Their sense of hearing is most 
strange ; I once heard one of these creatures respond 
to the laugh of a saucy girl who was passing. 


THE SIROCCO AS A DISINTEGRATING 
AGENT, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE 
TO ITS EFFECT ON THE STRATA OF 
THE MALTESE ISLANDS. 


By Joun H. Cooke, B.Sc., F.G.S. 


IND as an agent of denudation now takes its 

place among the most potent of those forces 

of Nature that are at present operating on the earth’s 

crust, and assisting to modify the contour of its 
outline. 

The extent of the work which it is capable of 
effecting, however, is not to be measured by the 
amount of violence or power that it exerts; for the 
most stupendous changes are often brought about by 
the instrumentality of the most insignificant causes, 
and what the hurricane with all of its might is 
powerless to effect, the zephyr, if it be but allowed a 
sufficiency of time, can do without appreciable effort. 

Of the most unobtrusive, and at the same time the 
most effective of the numerous agents that are engagea 


8 HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


in planing down and moulding the hills and valleys 
_of the islands and shores of the Mediterranean, the 
sirocco, a south-easterly wind that blows from the 
dry, arid regions of Africa is, perhaps the most 
remarkable. All of the districts situated within the 
Mediterranean are affected, more or less, by it. Its 
blighting influence on plant-life, and the depressing 
and debilitating effect that it has upon the human 
constitution, are but too well known to all ‘those 
whose misfortune it may have been to have had to 
spend the sultry days of a Mediterranean summer 
within the sphere of its influence. Organic and 
inorganic matter are equally affected by it, but while 
the effect of its attacks on the former make them- 
selves rapidly apparent, on the latter the processes 
that it employs in its work are slow though effective, 
and therefore the results to which they give rise are 
proportionately retarded. This is even more apparent 
in countries in the Mediterranean area which, like the 
Maltese Islands, have a comparatively small rainfall ; 
and where the catchment basins are restricted in size. 
In such districts a large proportion of the denuda- 
tion to which the surface contour of the district owes 


CTH 
ey tan : = 
a We Seer 


AE 


rounded masses are the dun-coloured marls, the 
taluses of which often descend the slopes to distances 
that are double, and even treble the real thickness of 
the bed. These marl outcrops are a characteristic of 
Maltese hill scenery. They owe their origin to the 
percolation of water through the upper beds, whereby 
the marl is rendered sodden, and then, being more 
susceptible to the weight of the superincumbent rock 
than when dry, it is pressed from out the strata, and 
is precipitated down the hill-sides. 

The bases of the hills, therefore, have a cloak of 
marl which effectually protects them from aerial waste, 
while the upper portions, being without this protec- 
tive influence, rapidly waste away before the humid 
winds, and thus the slopes of the valleys are seldom 
precipitous, and the isolated hills assume a distinctly 
conical form. 

The hills and plateaux are thus shielded below by 
their own ruins, while the wasting away of the upper 
portions causes them to gradually assume the tapering 
shape with which the student of Maltese scenery is so 
familiar. 

Unlike the Globigerina Limestone, the Upper 


are TT te AES me 


e— ———_- 
——— 


Fig. 2.—Gozo Hills, from the Sea. 


its diversified character, is to be attributed to the 
slow and intermittent, though powerful, agency of 
this wind. 

It is along the escarpments of the hills and valleys, 
and in the cliff exposures that have a south-easterly 
aspect, that its powers of erosion are to be studied to 
the best advantage. 

The flat-topped conical hills that form such a 
distinguishing feature in Malta and Gozitan scenery, 
owe their origin, in a great measure, to its influence. 
The Globigerina Limestone, the fourth bed from the 
top, formation forms the base of all of these hills, and 
on account of its homogeneity and softness of texture, 
it readily disintegrates before the rapid alternations of 
dryness and humidity that are the usual concomitants 
of the Sirocco. 

This bed may be traced from the bottoms of all of 
the valleys inthe Binjemma and the Gozitan plateaux, 
falling back in long-drawn swellings and gentle 
undulations ; and covered with a rich and productive 
soil, in which the crimson sulla (clover), and the 
golden rye for which the islands are noted, grow 
luxuriantly. 

Capping this bed, and still falling back in sofily 


(N. side.) 


Coralline rock is not equally susceptible to the in- 
fluences of this wind. But certain portions of the 
strata, situated in the middle of the formation, 
weather much faster than do the layers either above 
it or below it. 

In the majority of cases this formation is found 
capping the hills of both islands, and forming table- 
lands, the sides of which are bounded by precipitous 
cliffs that attain a height which is dependent upon 
the local thickness of the formation. It also forms 
the surface deposits of several undulating plains, and 
it frequently occurs as shapelesss hummock-like 
These diversities of form are due in a 
measure to the unequal waste that the rock undergoes, 
as its mineralogical compositicn varies considerably, 
some parts of the strata being so hard as to be 
capable of withstanding the combined action of the 
atmosphere for centuries, while other portious readily 
disintegrate on exposure. 

It is to this unequal action that the formation owes 
the craggy contour of its cliff outlines ; and it is this 
that causes it to offer such marked contrasts to the 
gentler undulations of the softer beds beneath. It 
is from this formation, too, that the rock boulders 


masses. 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 9 


that strew the slopes and beds of the valleys of the 
islands, are derived. 

The action of the siroceo and the rain upon the 
sand-bed that serves as the foundations of the forma- 
tion, by gradually wearing it away, thus deprives the 
upper bed of its support, and causes the cliffs to 
break away in cyclopean masses, and to strew the 
slopes of the hills and valleys with their débris ; while 
other masses are detached and are tilted so perilously 
out of the perpendicular that they appear— 


«© As if an infant’s touch could urge 
Its headlong passage down the verge.” 


Such are a few of the effects that this powerful 
eroding agent is, in part, accountable for ; but it has 
been assisted in its work by other and equally 
powerful auxiliaries, without whose co-operation its 
efforts could not have been so effective. The main 
features of the country, the hills, valleys, and gorges 
haye had their direction and extent largely influenced 


by the lay of the strata; while the minor ones, such 
as the honey-combed and fretted appearances presented 
by the cliff-faces and rock-surfaces, have been in- 
fluenced by the lithological characters of the rock. 
These are some of the assistants that have co-operated, 
add to which the heat and drought of summer, and 
the wet and cold of winter. 

But effective as they are as helpers in the work of 
waste, no single one of them can be pointed to as 
being more potent, more active, more irresistible than 
the sirocco. 

Both in Malta and in Gozo the principal valleys 
lay in a north-west and a south-east direction ; that is 
to say, they lie in a line with the direction of this 
wind. 

Marsa Sirocco, an extensive bay on the east coast 
of Malta, so called because this wind blows directly 
into it, owes its origin and extent toits agency. It is 
the largest bay in the islands, and has four valleys 
abutting on its coast-line, each of which lies in the 
same direction. But it is not only in the general 
moulding of the country that the sirocco is concerned. 
its effects may be traced in every crag and cavern, 


and on every rock, boulder, or other rock-surface. 
The irregular blocks of which the walls that serve 
as boundary-partitions between the fields, and the 
tooled stones of which the edifices in the towns and 
casals are built afford equally striking evidences of its 
powers of erosion ; and by their means both the rate 
and the amount of the denudation may be estimated. 
It is a noteworthy feature in the exteriors of Maltese 
walls and houses that the side that is exposed to the 
sirocco always presents a very eroded, time-worn and 
dilapidated appearance, whereas the other sides, in 
comparison, are fresh and unworn. 

Tt is no uncommon occurrence to find the softer 
stones in the sides of the houses that have a south-east 
aspect, almost completely worn through, and sur- 
rounded by other blocks, the harder portions of which 
such as the fossil contents, echinoides, pectens, etc., 
stand out in bold relief from their worn and wasted 
matrices. In the old fortifications that were erected 
by the Knights of St. John, such phenomena as these 


are of frequent !occurrence, and are very typical of 
sirocco denudation. 

From a series of calculations that I have made of 
the rate of the erosion of the Globigerina limestone 
blocks in a number of buildings and fortifications of 
known ages, I estimate that the rate of sirocco 
denudation averages # of an inch per square foot per 
year ; that is about 16 cubic yards per acre per year ; 
or about 22 tons of material are annually wasted from 
every acre of surface. 

In calculating this, numerous examples were taken, 
some being in proximity to the coast, while others 
were obtained from the centres of both islands. By 
so doing I believe I have obtained a fair average 
rate, for there can be no doubt, but that the rate of 
erosion is more rapid near the coast than it is inland. 
The moisture-ladened winds that sweep over the 
islands impregnate all that they come in contact 
with; and the Globigerina rock being very porous, 
is therefore highly susceptible to its influence, : 

The duration of time during which the sirocco 
lasts is seldom long enough to enable it to do more 
than affect the surface, and then the period of 


ue) HARDWICKE S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 


moisture is usually followed by conditions that are 
diametrically opposed to those that prevailed while 
the sirocco was blowing. 

The frequent and rapid changes that the stone thus 
undergoes, causes an abnormal expansion and con- 
traction of the superficial molecules, and so tends to 
make the surfaces readily disintegrate and peel off in 
large flakes. 

The work of erosion is greatly assisted also by the 
crystallization of the salt contained in the moisture 
that this wind takes up in its passage across the 
Mediterranean. 

This moisture renders the stone surfaces highly 
saliferous. Under the influence of the heat of a 
semitropical sun, the moisture passes off, and the 
salt crystallizes and pushes out the superficial particles 
of the limestone, thus facilitating the paring down 
process which so rapidly wastes the rocks, and causes 
them to break up. 


NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS ON 
CHELONIA CAFA. 


By H. Durrant. 


HE following paper consists merely of extracts 
from my diary and notes made at the time of 
observation and experiment. I do not claim any 
great originality for them, as most of the experiments 
were made to prove statements made by more dis- 
tinguished workers than I, but still, perhaps they 
will be found interesting and probably new to some 
readers. The larva which I kept for observation was 
one of the commonest I could procure, both as 
regards itself and its food. The cages were made 
of fine gauze with glass fronts, which are easily and 
cheaply constructed, filled to the depth of about two 
inches with fine mould, in the middle of which was 
fixed a small glass, about four inches high, half-filled 
with water. Into this the branches of food-plants were 
put. For isolation I obtained some ordinary card- 
board starch-boxes, cut out an oblong hole from the 
lid and fixed on the under surface with ‘ Kay’s 
coaguline,” a quarter-plate negative glass (cleaned of 
course) ; a number of holes were then pricked in all 
over the box, for the free admittance of the vital 
principle, air. 

On April 24th, I went out in quest of the cater- 
pillars of the tiger-moth (Avctia caja), and * after 
traversing several miles and getting splendidly 
nettled, I brought home about thirty, principally 
taken from the nettle (Zamzum album) and the dock. 
T also took several from a small patch of moschatel 
(Adoxa moschatellina), which was in flower at the 
time. I have never met with any lepidopterous 
larve on this plant before, nor do I remember 
having heard of anyone else finding larvz on it, but 
on this point I should like to hear other correspon- 
dents’ experiences. At first I thought I had several 


different species, as in some the) hair was extremely 
short and in small tufts, but to make up for this short- 
coming, as it were, the spiracles were very visible. 
In others the hair was very long and of a silky ap- 
pearance, I placed them all together in a cage and 
left them with!some food, Next morning when I 
came to examine them, I found scarcely any with the 
short tussocks of hair and large spiracles, but the 
cast-off skins were plentifully strewed about the sides 
of the cage. Later in the day I saw several more 
change their skin. Just before changing it they 
invariably attached themselves to the side of the cage 
by a silken thread, and the empty skin would remain 
there after the larva had escaped and assumed its 
new coat. After they have done so they look wet 
and miserable, and their hair seems matted together 
as it would be if they had been dipped in water. But 
they soon dry |themselves, when |they appear very 
handsome in their silky coat. In about a week they 
had all been through the operation—painful it would 
seem—of changing their skin. During the earlier 
stages of their voracious life, and just before changing, 
they would scarcely eat anything, but when they 
reached what I {may term the long-hair stage, they 
ate ravenously, comfrew, nettle, dock, horse-raddish, 
Mentha rotundifolium, and in fact nearly anything 1 
could supply them with. I fed them sometimes twice 
and three times a day, such was their insatiable 
appetite. Burmeister mentions the fact that beetles 
and their larvee never consume the leaf from the 
margin, like the caterpillars of Lepidoptera, but bite 
a hole in the centre, round which they feed, thus dis- 
tinguishing the destroyer merely by the appearance 
of the leaf. This certainly must be a fallacy. 
Lepidopterous larve not only feed from the edge of 
the leaf, but as often as not will commence in the 
middle, though generally irom beneath. This must 
be a common occurrence to those who have kept larvae 
in confinement. As to the beetles they certainly do 
feed from the middle of the leaf, but they are fre- 
quently to be seen feeding from the edge. Go out 
some summer evening with a lantern and examine 
the leaves of any common plant, and you will be able 
to verify this statement. So that the appearance of 
the leaves is in no way calculated to apprise the stu- 
dent of their respective invaders. Another item of im- 
portance is the following. Most entomologists agree 
that there are few lepidopterous larve, if any, which 
prey upon each other. But while I kept Chelonia I 
found that when a larva had just pupated, and while 
the external skin was soft and moist, the larvee would 
gather round it, bite pieces out of it, and apparently 
eat them, leaving afterwards a dry, deformed, 
shrivelled up shell. This occurred while the cage 
contained plenty of food, so that hunger cannot be 
thrust in as an excuse. Not only this larva, but a 
number of others which I have kept at various times, 
particularly the common turmip-moth, have exhibited 
the same propensities. If, however, the skin of the 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSS/P. Ir 


pupa has hardened before it has been noticed, it 
remains perfectly safe. Here, I know some of my 
readers will say, ‘‘ How could they get at them when 
they are enclosed ina strong web?” But numbers 
of mine changed amongst their food on the floor, con- 
trary to their usual habit ; but ifa weak place appeared 
in those that did spin a web, it was quickly attacked 
by several of the larvze, and an inroad soon made. 
The following trait is also interesting, as bearing on 
their sense of smell. I found when I gathered fresh 
food for the larvee in the early part of the morn- 
ing, and placed it ian their compartment, that they 
flocked eagerly towards it, leaving their stale food, on 
which most of them were feeding before. But if I 
fed them later in the day, the majority of them stayed 
on the stale food, although the fresh food was re- 
peatedly placed in close proximity to them. It may 
be that the dew has something to do with this by 
drawing out the scent of the plants, especially as I 
fed them mostly on Mentha (principally rotundi- 
folium), horse-raddish, and comfrey. 

Fuly 1st. The imagos appeared and I found that 
i had a number of very fine specimens. By mishap 
I allowed several to remain in the cage, which was 
put away in an old cupboard. Going to the cup- 
board, nearly five weeks after, I found that one was 
still alive, but the other four had succumbed—and 
remember, there had been no food in the cage during 
this period, nothing but the layer of soil on the 
bottom. How the one lived I cannot imagine. On 
the gauze at the top, I found ova had been deposited 
in a considerable quantity, and further—that they 
emerged in a few days after. The small larve were 
not undersized or weakly either, as one would expect 
from the treatment the imagos received, but were 
rather over the ordinary size at this period. I send 
Specimens to the Editor of the larve at one day old. 
The influence of light on their development I tested 
in the following way. I enclosed the young larvee 
with the food-plant in a dark box, with holes for the 
free admission of air, and storeditina ‘‘ dark room ” 
used for photography. They were kept well supplied 
with food. The development of each stage was con- 
siderably retarded, so that specimens in the;last stage 
(I cannot call them imagos) were not obtainable till 
the September following. Not one, however had its 
wings fully developed, some barely the eighth of an 
inch inlength. The longest was half an inch, and I 
believe, if growth had continued, the wings would 
have been entirely dark brown. Yor this experiment 
I selected strong, healthy-looking caterpillars, so that 
it is all the more conclusive as to the bad effects of 
darkness on their perfect development. The influ- 
ence of heat on the wing at the time of expansion is 
also, it would appear, decidedly bad, drying up the 
juices as fast as they can be formed, till the wing is 
made dry and brittle, and incapable of attaining its 
full size. I reared some over a hot mantel-shelf; 
few of these but whose wings did not present the 


appearance of shrivelled deformity. The great 
strength in a few cases had endowed several for this 
struggle for existence, it is true, but they were cer- 
tainly not perfect specimens. Most Lepidoptera you 
will thus find emerge from their chrysalis in the cool 
of the evening, so as to escape the hot sun and dry 
air. Those I kept emerged about eight or nine in the 
evening or during the earliest hours of the morning. 
A red liquid, acid substance is found plentifully 
sprinkled about the cage after such emergences, and 
is used in softening the hard, dry case, so that it can 
easily be parted bythe moth, and a passage made 
when it wishes to appear. In one case only did the 
pupa case remain attached to the imago’s body ; it 
did not, however, survive, but died shortly after 
emergence. 


THE HUMAN BLOOD-WORM (FYZLARIA 
SANGOINIS HOMINIS). 


T has been suggested to me that I might bring 
together in a note the materials I have collected 
regarding the Filarize found in human blood ; and 
the more so as circumstances have admitted of my 
obtaining several living specimens of the parasite, 
from some of which my sketches have been made. 
So far as I have been able to ascertain, the subject ° 
has not been illustrated in SCIENCE-GOSSIP; my 
note may, therefore, serve to fill a vacant place. 

In 1870 Dr. T. R. Lewis, formerly of Calcutta, 
and since deceased, found nematoid worms in 
chylous urine. In the beginning of 1872, whilst 
examining the blood of a native of India—a patient 
in the Calcutta Medical College Hospital—who was 
suffering from diarrhoea, Dr. Lewis observed no less 
than nine minute active worms on a single slide, and 
identified them with the Nematoids previously ob- 
tained by him in cases of chyluria. From this time 
onwards he paid considerable attention to the 
subject ; and he sent a slide containing some speci- 
mens of the worm to Professor Parkes, at Netley, 
who showed them to Mr. Busk. The name Ai/arze 
sanguinis hominis appears to have been then con- 
ferred on this organism. During the course of the 
two following years Dr. Lewis continued his investi- 
gations, with the result that he traced Filarize directly 
to the blood in ten, and detected them in various 
tissues and secretions in at least thirty cases; the 
parasites were always associated with chyluria, 
elephantiasis, or some closely allied pathological 
condition. In one case (of chyluria) the patient had 
been fa leper for fourteen years : several slides con- 
taining active Filarize were obtained from his fingers 
and toes. 

Dr. Cooke in his instructive and popular little 
book on ‘‘ Ponds and Ditchesi” appears to suggest 
that Filarize are pathogenetically associated with 
leprosy, a view which scarcely derives support from 


12 HARDWICKE’S SCLIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Lewis’s investigations, who doubtless found them in a 
case of leprosy, but the patient was also suffering from 
chyluria. The Nematoids are admittedly closely 
telated to the latter disease; and seemingly only 
accidentally so to the former. Here we may note 


that leprosy was known to the Greeks as elephan- 
tiasis, and to the Arabians as lepra; but that it 
differs from the lepra of the Greeks, and from the 
£. Arabum, or 


elephantiasis of the Arabians. 


lymph-scrotum, and chylous dropsy of, the peri- 
toneum and tunica vaginalis testis, than with leprosy. 
The presence of the Filarize, whether in the blood, 
the tissues, or the secretions, points to abnormalities 
in the?lymphatic system, the result of long-continued 
residence]! in*{tropical climates. They utilize the 
mosquito as an intermediate bast; and ‘in one of 
his papers on the subject, Lewis described the 
changes undergone byjthe Nematoid in the alimentary 


Fig. 5.—c. Filaria, head and tai) 


G Tey, 
1600 


of 6 more highly magnified. 


Fig. 4.—a. Leucocytes (stained with roseine); one with three nuclei. 


6, Filaria, with tail retracted in sheath. 


o, 


“at 


Fig. 6.—d. Filaria, head and tail of another 
specimen ; both ends retracted. 


Fig. 7.—e. Crenated red 
corpuscles associated 
with the Filarie de- 

1600 lineated above. 


Fig. 8.—/. Sarcoptes, moult obtained from 
same bloo: 


N.B.—a and 4 were drawn under an } in. objective, and to one scale ; c, @and ¢ under a 7, in. and to another; /, was drawn 
under a 2 in. at 10 in,, and magnified 320 diameters. 


Barbadoes leg, is a tropical disease prevalent in 
Arabia, Africa, and India, and causes the legs to 
swell to an enormous size, hence its name ; but its 
symptoms differ from those of leprosy. While, then, 
the evidence indicates that elephantiasis is closely 
associated with Filariz, leprosy seems to be related 
pathogenetically to the bacillus discovered by Hansen, 
LB. lepre. It may, therefore, be safer to associate 
the Filaria with chyluria, elephantiasis, soft tumi- 
faction of the inguinal glands, hematochyluria, 


. 


canal of that insect. Is it possible that the mosquite 
is instrumental in introducing the worm into the 
capillary system of men and other animals, whence 
it passes into the lymphatics, where it finds a lodg- 
ment? That it is not injured by the poison 
peculiar to the mosquito is proved by its passing 
alive and continuing its developmental changes in the 
body of the mosquito. It must also be remembered 
that Filariz have been found in diseased conditions 
of the human body alike in the East and West Indies, 


HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 13 


in China, Africa, the Mauritius, Bermuda, Brazil, 
etc., all mosquito countries.* 

The organism described in this note is a filiform, 
parasitic Nematoid, about 4 in. in length, and 54; in. 
in transverse diameter; it resembles the familiar 
Anguillulz found in stagnant water, damp moss, 
etc. It, however, differs from these in being en- 
closed in a hyaline sheath, in which the worm can be 
seen to elongate and contract itself. It is difficult to 
make out the internal organization of the Filariz, the 
alimentary canal is not distinctly traceable, and the 
contents are mainly granular with a marked conden- 
sation in parts. Dr. Lewis considered the Nematoid 
as he found it in man, to be an embryo, and his later 
investigations brought the adult form to light. The 
mouth-parts have puzzled me ; my sketches from two 
worms, both obtained alive, indicate differences of 
structure, or of- position; but the examination of 
other specimens has not cleared this up. The 
hyaline external sheath is often markedly apparent ; 
and in dead and stained specimens, the body is 
generally contracted in it at one or both ends: my 
drawings illustrate this feature. The person from 
whom I obtained my specimens suffers from general 
debility and hzmorrhoids, and occasionally from a 
mild form of eczema ; but in all other respects he 
can be said to be in fair general health. The mode 
of obtaining the worm from the blood is simple 
enough. The end of the finger is tied round with 
twine or pack-thread, and when slightly congested is 
lightly pricked with a sharp sterilized dissecting 
needle. The droplet of capillary blood thus secured 
is taken up on one or more clean coyer-glasses, and 
pressed out as thin as possible on a cleaned slide. 
A half-inch objective suffices as a finder; but a 
Zeiss D, or an Economic } in. is necessary for the 
detailed examination of the worms. These were the 
powers used by me; though my drawings were made 
under a student’s } in., and a Seibert’s ,{ in. w.i. In 
all cases the ‘illustrations have been drawn with the 
paper at a greater distance from the eye-glass than 
the normal teninches. This has been done merely 
to get larger figures and details. The Filariz con- 
tinue in active motion for many hours, As a stain 
roseine will be found to answer the double purpose 
of killing the worm, and also of staining it. In 
blood from the same person I have twice, on separate 
occasions, found what I took to be the moult of one 
of the Sarcoptes. There was no itch present, and it 
was denied that there was any previous history of the 
complaint. Are these Sarcoptes to be regarded as 


* The Filariz come to the surface of the skin between five 
and six o’clock in the evening, and seyen or eight o’clock in 
the morning, so that they are handy for mosquitoes during the 
hours when those inSects are most numerous. The worms 
retreat into the tissues during the day. Though eyeless, they 
seem to possess a /ight-sense, and to avoid light. What effect 
would the long Polar day have on these parasites, in which 
periodicity is such a marked characteristic? Would it puzzle 
them out of existence ?—W. J. S. 


pathogenic to the form of eczema which does occa- 
sionally trouble the patient ? 

The prevalence of the latter disease at times in 
Bengal, leads one to enquire if some skin complaints 
distinguishable from itch, and termed eczema, may 
not be contagious, and caused by a parasite ? 

Numerous red blood corpuscles in the case I have 
in view are crenated, a few curious abnormal forms 
being delineated in my drawings ; but for this feature 
the Filarize may not be responsible. 

Dr. Lewis’s investigations led to his examining 
other animals, with the result that he obtained allied 
Nematoids from the Indian pariah (or native street-) 
dog, and the Indian crow. More than one-third of 
the dogs he examined were thus affected, the 
Nematode in them being smaller than in the case of 
the human parasite; while the blood of one half the 
crows he examined also swarmed with Filariz, which 
were about one-third the length and one-half the 
width of the human parasite. In the Nematoids from 
both the crow and the dog there were no indications 
of an enveloping hyaline sheath; and in the canine © 
worm the internal structure was in his opinion 
slightly more advanced in respect to differentiation 
etc., than in the human worm. Lewis also examined 
mosquitoes, and was able to obtain a constant supply 
of these insects in a filarious condition from a room 
occupied by five servants, one of whom harboured 
Filariz in his blood. This man had been in the 
place for several years, and was not known to have 
suffered from any special disease. I have myself 
succeeded in finding filarious mosquitoes, but under 
circumstances which, as in the case of Dr. Lewis’s 
servant, readily explained their presence. He 
repeated the experiments of Dr. Manson of Amoy 
(China), and discovered that fourteen per cent. of the 
mosquitoes he caught at random had Filariz, which 
he considered a proof that in Bengal filarious blood 
cannot be very uncommon. As he points out, it is 
necessary in examining mosquitoes for these Nematoids 
to observe whether the blood in them is mammalian 
or avian. The following details are based on Lewis’s 
papers, and may be useful. 


. 


| | Length.| Habitat. Form. 
In. i 
eta. 5 ¢ (Sicadh|| 4. || Beads ¢ (ea ee 
Faicrsoe)| sone | a ({SEMETY) Di 
Tricbina . .| None | i | Muscle . |{Tead pointed, 


A few sentences in conclusion with regard to the’ 
milder forms of Filariosis (the term applied by 
Lancereaux to the deceased condition caused by the 
Filariz), may be interesting and appropriate. 
Lancereaux, who has given a complete véswmé of the 
whole subject, considers the parasite enters the 


system by the alimentary canal, and he recommends 
e 


14 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


the use, as a prophylactic measure, of boiled and 
filtered water. Others hold that the parasite finds its 
way into the body through the skin of bathers. To 
what, if any, extent is the mosquito to be regarded as 
an infecting agent? In this connection, too, does 
food count as a factor? Both the pariah dog and 
crow are foul feeders; though it should be added 
that in our hot tropical climate, they are both 
bathers, and both drinkers of stagnant and other 
possibly contaminated water. Moreover nematoid 
helminths, as Lewis showed, have been found by 
other observers in the blood of the carp, hawk, jack- 
daw, jay, frog, seal, and whale. The dog seems, 
however, to take the first place, and has been 
observed to be thus affected in nearly all parts of the 
world, but notably so in China, India, and Southern 
Europe. Is the dog an infecting agent in this case; 
as he is believed to be in the case of tape-worm ? 

It is satisfactory to be able to add that in man the 
prognosis is favourable, even though the disease be 
of some standing. Removal from the source of 
infection is said to result in a spontaneous cure. As 
remedies, inunctions of mercurial ointment, in con- 
nection with hydrotherapy, and the injection of 
certain parasiticides into the lymphatic ganglia, have 
been recommended. A writer in Ceylon considers 
that the administration of bisulphide of carbon gives 
satisfactory results, owing, in his opinion, to the 
sulphur ingredient, and its power to prevent the 
multiplication of the worm in the body. 

On the other hand, Dr. Manson’s views with 
regard to the pathological significance of the Filariz, 
which receive support from the observations of Dr. 
Lewis and others, are opposed by Dr. Rake of 
Trinidad, who failed to find Nematoids in cases of 
elephantiasis and chyluria; and by Dr. Sibthorpe, 
who examined the blood of patients affected with 
hard elephantiasis, and did not meet with Filarie. 
The doctors evidently differ as to the pathogenetic 
value of the worm ; but its existence as a parasite in 
the blood of man has been proved, and it remains to 
be ascertained definitely, how it gains a footing in 
the body. Those who wish to prosecute the subject 
further will derive valuable aid from Dr. Lewis’s 
papers republished in Part IIL. of his ‘* Physiological 
and Pathological Researches” (1888), and also in 
Dr. Sajow’s ‘‘ Annual of the Universal Medical 
Sciences,” Issue of 1889, vol. i., F, page 13, and 
vol. v., A, page 145; and the various papers therein 
referred to. One cannot read up the subject without 
being impressed with the value for diagnostic 
purposes of a microscopical examination of the 


blood. 
W. J. SIMMONS, 
Calcutta. 


WE commend to the notice of our natural history 
book collectors, Messrs. Dulau’s Catalogue of Zoo- 
logical and Paleontological books, just issused. 


SILLOTH IN AUGUST. 
By W. H. Youpate, F.R.M.S. 


AVING read with great interest the two 
articles by the Rev. Hilderic Friend, F.L.S., 
on Silloth in April and June, 1889, (SCIENCE-GossIP, 
vol. xxv. pages 125 and 156), I was led to imagine 
that some of your readers might be interested in 
knowing what can be found in that apparently for- 
saken-by-naturalists district in the month of August ; 
perhaps, also, these articles may be the means of 
inducing some other botanists and naturalists to take 
some interest in working up the flora and fauna of 
this seemingly neglected and barren neighbourhood. 

It is needless to repeat the descriptions given by 
the Rev. H. Friend of the sand-dunes, general 
appearance, and situation of this charming little 
sea-port and watering-place combined ; therefore I 
will proceed to describe and enumerate the chief 
objects. of interest to be found there, or likely to be 
found there, during the month. 

My visit commenced on the 11th and ended on 
the 24th; one or two days were very stormy, and 
rain fell on most days—only two, I believe, were 
exempt—so that, on the whole, the weather was 
most unpropitious for insect-life, and I cannot in 
consequence add anything worth recording to what 
has already been given in the articles above referred 
to. 

The plant-life, however, was a pleasant surprise, as 
many as I16 varieties being found by my wife and 
myself—sixty-one of which are not to be found in the 
neighbourhood of my residence on the border of the 
Lakes District. Some of the chief finds were, Aster 
tripolium, (found near Skinburness), Convolvzlus 
sepium, C. arvensis, Brassica monensis, Silene mart- 
tima, Gnaphalium minimum, G. uliginosum, Rumex 
crispus, Eryngium marilimum, Galium mollugo, 
Chenopodium ficifolium, Medicago lupulina, Arte- 
misea vulgaris, Atriplex angustifolia, Viola curtisiz, 
V. canina. Behind the sheds built near the docks I 
found a solitary specimen of wild chicory (Cichorium 
intybus), two or three specimens of Lchium planta- 
gineum, and large numbers of Eckium vulgare. A fine 
Ranunculus hirsutus was considered a ‘‘ good find,” 
on account of its rarity in the district. The round- 
leaved mallow (Alalva rotundifolia) is here in great 
plenty, as is also Yasione montana and the beautiful 
hare’s-foot trefoil, (Z7ifolium arvense). 

A walk to Skinburness proved most interesting, 
and resulted in finding Geranium sanguineum in full 
bloom and great profusion, the Burnet rose (osa 
spinosissima) and its curious irregular red galls, caused 
by Rhodites spinosissima, were most entertaining, a 
single specimen of corn marigold:(C. segetum), and 
the following in plenty: Sedum anglicum, Spergula 
arvensis, Armeria maritima, Cakile maritima, Are- 
naria peploides (on the sands), Sagina maritima, 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSTIP. 15 


fersicaria lapathifolium, Erodium cicutarium, and 
Geranium dissectum. 

A walk in the direction of Allonby, past the “‘ Con- 
valescent,” added these to the list: Calamintha 
officinalis, Lamium album, Polygonium rayii, Stachys 
palustris, Plantago coronopus, P. maritima, Senecio 
aquaticus, Ononis procurrens, O. spinosa, Crithmum 
maritimum, Salsola kali, Tanacetum vulgare, and 
Anthyllis vulneraria. 

Taking a journey from Silloth to Bowness-on- 
Solway proved most delightful and added some grand 
finds, amongst which was 7y/ha /atifolia, growing in 
water near a brickfield by the railway side at Kirk- 
bride. On reaching Solway Moss, Hirsutum vagi- 
natum, Hieraceum paludosum, Nasturtium terrestre, 
and Efocharis palustris were observed. Both sides 
of the railway were lined with Z7/obium angustifolium, 
which grows to the height of six feet and upwards, 
looking very lovely when passing it in the train. I 
was told by a “‘native” that it rejoiced in the local 
name of ‘* Blooming Sally,” and at Silloth is known 
as ‘French Willy” (an evident corruption of 
“* Willow”). The thyme-leaved speedwell, Veronica 
serpyllijolia is perhaps the greatest gem to be found 
at Bowness. I also found by the railway-side Vicia 
hirsutum, Dianthus plumarius, and Sedum telephium ; 
the last two have probably been planted and allowed 
to become wild, or perhaps seeds may have been 
blown by the wind from some garden not far away. 

To return to the Silloth flora, the plants met with 
in greatest number are Bartsia odontitis (very large 
specimens), Matricaria inodora, Euphrasia officinalis, 
Lamium purpureun, Senecio vulgaris, S. Facobea, 
Flantago major, P. media, Thymus serpyllum, Trifolium 
pratense, T. repens, Campanula rotundifolia, Capsella 
bursa-pastoris, Hypericum perforatum, Mysotis palus- 
tris, Bellis perennis, Veronica beccabunga, Vicia 
sativa, Papaver dubium, Ranunculus acris, Galium 
verum, Potentilla anserina, P. reptans, Arctium 
lappa, Cytisus scoparius, Ulex europeus, Calluna 
vulgaris, Erica cinerea, LE. tetralix, Taraxacum 
dans-leonis, Lotus corniculatus, Cerastium vulgatum, 
Tussilago farfara, Achillea millefolium, and the in- 
evitable Sisymbrium officinale (hedge-mustard). 

The two most observable peculiarities of the Silloth 
flora are, first, the very large preponderance of blue 
flowers, such as hare-bells, viper’s bugloss, sheep’s 
scabious, vetches, speedwells, and violets, growing in 
such large numbers as to make quite a blue carpet ; 
second, the way in which each variety of flower seems 
to appropriate a little piece of ground to itself, to the 
exclusion of all others, so that a plant may be in great 
profusion at one place and yet not be met with again 
within a distance of two miles. 

The seaweeds are of the very commonest descrip- 
tion. All I found were Fucus canaliculatus, F. 
vesiculosus, F. nodosus, and its usual parasitic Poly- 
siphonia fastigiata, Melobesia polymorpha, Griffithsia 
corallina, Ulva latissima, and Enteromorpha com- 


pressa. I also found the zoophyte Plustra chartacea, 
but not in abundance. ¥ 

The best finds among the Diatoms were LVeuro- 
Navicula crassinervis, Surirella 
gemma, Nitzschia sigma, and JV. valida, all on or near 
the pier. 

A word in conclusion about the grasses; the three 
principal ones are Carex arenaria, Triticum junceum, 
and tmmophila arundinacea, protected by Act of 
Parliament, first in Scotland, and then in England 
also. Heavy fines and penalties were imposed on 
anyone gathering the spikes or leaves of the plant, or 
having any part of it in their possession. These laws 
have not been repealed, but they have long fallen into 
disuse, for now various articles for domestic purposes 
are made from the stems of this plant, every stem 
thus used is a direct infringement of the law. 


sigma @stuarit, 


NOTES ON THE GENUS DISTYLA, 
CLASS ROTIFERA. 


OME time ago (September 1890), I contributed 

an article to SCIENCE-GossIP with the above 

title. In that paper I described two new species of 
Cathypne, which, when fully extended, had so many 
of the characters of the genus Distyla, as drawn by 
Mr. Gosse, that it gave rise to a suspicion which I stated 
in the following words: ‘‘It is of course possible 
that Distyla may be a good genus, but I think it is at 
least probable, that sovze, if not all, the species of that 
genus have been described from extended Rotifera 
of the genus Cathypna.” At that time, although I 
was familiar with several species of the latter genus, 
I had never seen any of the recorded species of 
Distyla, and my notes were written in the hope 
‘‘that those microscopists who have the opportunity 
will take up the investigation of the subject ; and, 
whether the result be to confirm the genus, or my 
suspicions as to its non-existence, my purpose in 
writing these notes will haye been accomplished.” 
In your September number, 1891, Mr. D. Bryce has 
a courteous criticism of my article, to which I should 
have replied earlier but for a press of other work. 
There are so many points upon which Mr. Bryce and 
myself are agreed that I only propose touching lightly 
upon one or two, in which there is a difference of 
opinion, Iam glad that Mr. Bryce ‘‘is inclined to 
deny credence to the remarkable position” of the 
supposed ‘‘ inability of the species of Distyla to 
withdraw its head between the plates of the lorica,” 
because I expressed equal incredulity. At the same 
time, I think I was justified in concluding that Mr. 
Gosse by the phrase ‘‘habitual protusion of the 
head,” intended to convey the idea that in Distyla 
the corona was never retracted. I was confirmed in 
this interpretation, unaccountable as it appeared, by 
Mr. Gosse’s known precision in the use of language ; 
by referring to his figures, where a@// the six species 


16 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


are drawn with the ‘‘head” protruded ; and by the 
significant remark of Ehrenberg, that his D. Horne- 
manit was ‘‘capable of retraction,” showing to my 
roind that he also understood that the other species 
of the genus were zwcapad/e of retracting the head. I 
quite think that under such confirmatory coinci- 
dences I was justified in my assumption. I am now 
quite convinced, both from Mr. Bryce’s experience 
of the genus, and my own subsequent acquaintance 
with it, that Mr. Gosse could only use the phrase in 
the sense indicated by Mr. Bryce. With reference 
to my omission of the word ‘‘ lengthened” in my 
quotation, it was, as he suggests, quite unintentional, 
and I cannot understand how it occurred, as I find it 
in my original paper. ‘There is one point in which I 
am sorry to have to differ from Mr. Bryce, but I am 
still of opinion that my two new species are Cathy- 
pnze ; the lorica being “‘sub-circular,” or as he puts 
it, ‘‘ ovate,” and not of the form of a ‘‘ long ellipse.” 
Another critic of my paper has to some extent mis- 
understood my point, and most certainly misjudged 
the spirit in which my notes were written, and as he 
is quoted by Mr. Bryce, I reply to his chief criticism 
here. In the first place, he makes the statement 
that, ‘The distinction (between the two genera) is 
plain enough.” Now while I readily admit that 
typical species of any of the genera, may easily be 
distinguished from typical species of even closely 
allied genera, yet with those species near the border- 
line it is frequently ‘‘ not plain” on which side they 
ought to be placed. In this very genus, the only 
new species Mr. Gosse admitted into the body of the 
work was D. /lexilis, and of this.he says in one 
place, ‘*I add doubtfully” and in another, ‘‘I am 
not by any means sure that this is entitled to specific 
rank ; nor, if so, whether it ought to be placed in 
the genus Distyla.” My critic then points out the 
distinctions between the two genera in the words 
quoted in SCIENCE-Gossip by Mr. Bryce. ‘‘In 
Cathypna the whole trunk is loricated, but in Distyla 
only the hinder-portion of the trunk is loricated, the 
fore part having a membranous covering.” It is a 
very strange circumstance that in no place does Mr. 
Gosse mention such a distinction, never even hints at 
it; and if my critic means anything more than that 
Distyla can exert rather more of its frontal part than 
most loricated Rotifera, then his distinction is not a 
fact. Mr. Gosse does say that the lorica is ‘‘mem- 
branous before,” but he figures it as having a well- 
defined anterior margin, and it will be noted, he 
designates the whole of this ‘‘the lorica.” However, 
through the kindness of Mr. Bryce and another 
valued London correspondent, I have had the 
pleasure of studying two undoubted species of 
Distyla, both, however, new forms, and I am per- 
fectly satisfied that the genus is a good one. These 
two species were very characteristic, and no mi- 
croscopist who had any experience in this class of 
animals could fora moment have mistaken them for 


Cathypna. They had the “‘ lengthened and flattened 
form,” and the activity so unusual with other Rotifera 
of the family Cathypnadz. The chief and most 
obvious distinction, however, is the form of the 
lorica, which in Distyla is a long oval. In con- 
clusion, while candidly admitting that I was wrong 
in my supposition, I think that my previous notes are 
of value, as showing that there are some species of 
Cathypna which, when fully extended, so strongly 
resemble Distyla, when fully extended, that great 
caution is necessary in assigning them their place, 
and before doing so they ought to be studied in 
both conditions. 
J. E. Lorp. 
Rawtenstall, 


OBSERVATIONS ON PHAZLUS 
IMPUDICUS. 


HIS fungus, Phallus impudicus, the stinking 
morell, or stink-horn (Fig. 9), may usually 
be found amongst the roots of chopped-down trees 


Fig. 9.—Phallus impudicus. 


and shrubs, especially the beech and hornbeam, in 
damp, shady woods and copses ; less frequently I have 


HARDWICKE' S SCITENCE-GOSSTP. 


17 


found them on shady and grassy banks, on heaths in 
thei vicinity : they are very abundant in some woods, 
for instance in Bury Woods, Epping Forest, they may 


Fig. 10.—Phallus impudicus before the bursting of the 
peridium. 


Fig. 11.—Phallus impudicus (Section). 


be found growing in clusters under the hornbeams ; 
and also in several other woods near London. 
They first appear asan oblong, whitish, transparent | 


ball (Fig. 10), which will soon burst; from out of 
this gelatinous covering (volva) rises the tubular 
column, which has a spongy texture of a milk-white 
colour; on the apex of this column or stipe is the 
common receptacle or pileus, at the summit of which 
is a small white bordered pore, marking the conju- 
gation with, and opening into the column. At first 
the sporiferous head is green, without any traces of 
the laminz, but when ripe the spores escape in a 
yellowish-brown mucus, leaving the common re- 
ceptacle and laminz quite clean. It has a very 
strong fetid smell, especially when the peridium 
bursts and the column expands, by this smell it may 
often be found. 

They are most abundant about July and August, 
growing in clusters of threes and fours, which are 
generally from six to eight inches high, and smelling 
very intense ; however, later in the season (October), 
the individual specimens are fewer and much larger, 
often nine and ten inches high, with a very slight 
smell. I think this must be due to the weather being 
more favourable to the growth of fungi. 

The following is an account of a very large speci- 
men which I found in October this year, growing on 
the borders of a wood at Highgate :—height thirteen 
inches, pileus three and a half inches long, column 
two inches in diameter, and volva four inches long 
and half an inch thick. 

Henry E. GRiseEt. 


SOME FAMOUS COLLECTING-GROUNDS 
FOR DRAGON-FLIES. 


By the Author of ‘An Illustrated Handbook of 
British Dragon-flies,” “A Label List of British 
Dragon-flies,” etc., etc. 


I. THE NEW FOREST AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 


HE New Forest, in Hampshire, is probably the 
“happy hunting-ground ” most-frequently pa- 
tronised by entomologists in the British Islands. From 
the earliest dawn of entomological history this district 
has been regarded as the principal store-house of 
insect-life in this country, whose boundless expanse it 
is the desire of every enthusiastic entomologist to 
explore. It constitutes the headquarters of all the 
‘* brethren of the net,” and, as in times of yore, it still 
continues to yield its multitudinous winged treasures 
to the patient and persevering student. 

Nowhere else in the United Kingdom is such a 
veritable paradise for dragon-flies to be found as in 
the New Forest, and everywhere through its vast 
length and breadth we may hope to meet with these 
gorgeous gems, provided only that we pay it a visit 
in the proper season. 

The neighbourhood of Brockenhurst, which is in 
the very centre of the Forest, and exceedingly 
convenient to reach from either Southampton or 


18 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Bournemouth, is a very good collecting-ground for 
these majestic creatures; it abounds in ponds and 
clay-pits, some of which are situated on the common, 
others in the surrounding woods, while there are 
several first-class streams and brooks in the immediate 
district, all of which teem with dragon-flies. 

The neighbourhood of Lymington, Ringwood, and 
Lyndhurst also, are famous habitats for many kinds, 
while several species swarm on the reedy river at 
Beaulieu, between which village and Lymington 
there is a very large pool called Sowley Pond, which 
may also be visited with very successful results. 

The following species of dragon-flies have been 
known to occur within the boundaries of the New 
Forest, namely, Platetrum depressum (very common), 
Lepletrum quadrimaculata, (very abundant), also its 
beautiful austral variety Arenubila (which is very 
common as well), Lzbellula fulva (very rare and 
local), Orthetrum caerulescens (plentiful), Sympetrum 
vulgatum (exceedingly abundant, occurring in thou- 
sands in certain seasons), S. sanguineum, Cordulia 
@nea, (not uncommon, principally found in the 
neighbourhood of Brockenhurst and Beaulieu), 
Oxygastra Curtisii (occurs at Brockenhurst, but is 
rare) Gomphus vuleatissimus (not uncommon in the 
vicinity of Brockenhurst), Cordulegaster annulatus 
(very plentiful on most of the rivers and brooks), 
Anaso formosus (rare), Brachytron pratense (local), 
“Eschna cyanea (abundant everywhere), 2. grandis 
(not uncommon), 2. vufescens (very rare), Calopteryx 
virgo (exceedingly abundant on all the rivers and 
streams), C. splendens (ditto), Lestes viridis (a single 
specimen only of this pretty insect has been taken in 
the New Forest, which, however, was many years 
ago, and formerly adorned the famous private 
collection of Mr. Evans, the well-known entomo- 
logist ; this species has been captured nowhere 
else in this country), Z. xympha (rare), L. sponsa 
(common, but local), Z. wivens (only two specimens 
of this species have hitherto been taken in this 
country, both in the New Forest ; they were formerly 
included in the rich cabinet of Mr. J. F. Stephens, 
the celebrated author), Platycnemis pennipes (local), 
Enallagma cyastrigerium (common), Agrion mer- 
curiale (common, but very local; it is only known 
to occur in one other locality in this country, namely, 
at Epping Forest, in Essex). A. pu/chellum (common), 
A. puella (exceedingly abundant everywhere), /schnw7a 
pumiiio (very rare and local), 7, elegans (very common 
everywhere), Py7rhosoma minium (exceedingly abun- 
dant everywhere), and P. ¢eve//um (local and rare). 

The neighbourhood of Christchurch is a very good 
one for dragon-flies, particularly on the river Avon 
and the river Soar, both of which abound with reeds 
and rushes. Heron Court, not far from hence, is the 
headquarters of that very rare and local species 
Oxygastra Curtisit, which is only found in two or 
three other localities in this country, namely, in the 
adjacent counties of Dorset and Devon (in addition 


to the New Forest, as previously mentioned). It has 
been captured near Heron Court on several occasions, 
but is always rare. 

Parley Heath and Heron Common, about five 
miles from Christchurch, situated between the rivers 
Avon and Stour constitute two of the best collecting- 
grounds for dragon-flies in the country. They both 
contain a great number of ponds and clay-pits, and 
abound in damp spots filled with reeds and other 
marsh-loying plants. Here one may meet with 
almost as many kinds of dragon-flies as in the New 
Forest itself, while certain species occur in even 
greater numbers than in the wooded area. The very 
local Libellula fulva, which is rare in the New Forest, 
occurs not uncommonly on Parley Heath, but it is a 
very difficult species to procure, as it has the habit of 
keeping nearly the whole of its time out of reach, in 
the centre of the ponds it is pleased to frequent, and 
only 'by means of a very long net may we hope to 
secure it. For this purpose a bamboo fishing-rod 
with telescopic joints, having the topmost joint 
removed (as described in my ‘Illustrated Hand- 
book of British Dragon-flies”) would constitute the 
most convenient kind of handle. The beautiful variety 
of Libellula fulva, namely fasciata, which possesses the 
apices of the wings brown, also occurs in this de- 
lightful district, from whence I have two very fine 
female specimens in my collection. 

The very rare and local Jschnura pumilis has been 
taken on Parley Heath as well as, by myself, at Bourne- 
mouth, five miles distant on the sea coast. The 
latter locality also is a very good one for dragon- 
flies, particularly round the ponds on Canford Heath, 
at the back of the town. This pretty common, how- 
ever, is unfortunately being rapidly encroached upon 
for building purposes, and the habitat of many good 
species will consequently be destroyed in a few years 
hence. The local Zes¢es sponsa occurs very plentifully 
at Bournemouth, which town, by the bye, is a very 
convenient place to stop at, as all the localities men- 
tioned above may easily be reached from it by either 
rail or road. 


SCIENCE=GOSSIP: 


A most valuable paper for marine zoologists 
appeared in the December number of the “ Annals 
and Magazine of Natural History,” entitled “ Natural 
History Notes, from H.M. Indian Marine Survey 
steamer Jnvestigator, Commander R. F. Hoskyn. 
Series II., No. 1, ‘On the Results of Deep Sea 
Dredging during the Season 1890-91,’ by J. Wood- 
Mason, Superintendent of the Indian Museum, etc., 
and A, Alcock, Surgeon I.M.S., Surgeon-Naturalist 
to the Survey.” 


WE are glad to welcome another of Mr. Dugald 
Bell’s capital and original papers on glacial geology. 


HARDWICKE S SCLENCE-GOSSTP. 19 


The latest issued is entitled “The Great Winter: a 
Chapter in Geology,” and was read before the 
Philosophical Society of Glasgow. 


WE gladly welcome the first part of the ‘‘ Journal 
of the Institute of Jamaica,” doubtless edited by 
the newly-appointed 'secretary (an old correspondent 
of ScreENcE-Gossip). Mr. T. D. Cockerell. He has 
not been long in’getting into harness, for this number 
contains two original papers by him. 


THE rights for the patent of Larranga’s Photo- 
Phonograph have been abandoned by the inventor, 
who “‘gives them to the world.” A pamphlet on 
this subject has been issued by Dr. J. Maier (London : 
Whitehead, Morris & Co., Fenchurch Street). 


THE Norwich ‘‘ Science Gossip ” Club was founded 
by the present editor of the magazine two years 
before he became editor. It has endured ever since, 
and is now oneZof-the strongest and healthiest of 
popular science clubs in England. Their present 
** Report” will} give -people a good idea of this 
typical social and scientific club, inasmuch as it 
contains capital abstracts of the papers read during 
the past year. 


WE would draw the attention of our microscopical 
readers to Mr. Hesketh Walker's interesting catalogue 
of “ Microscopic Sundries,”/and Specialities Labora- 
tory, 12 Church St., Liverpool. 


THE -sixth number of the “ Mediterranean 
Naturalist” (edited by Mr. J. H. Cooke) has 
reached us. This periodical isa real gain to natural 
science, as it correctly collects for us the geology, 
zoology, and botany of the coasts of the most 
interesting and{most historic sea in the world. 


THE Institute of Marine Engineers held a very 
successful conversazione in the Town Hall, on 
December 11th. A capital programme was issued, 
and one sent to us; but we would suggest that 
another time a better?\correlation of gold lettering 
with a different colour tone is required from a 
scientific society, so that people may be better able 
to read the programme. 


WE have received from Mr. F. L. Dames, natural 
history and scientific bookseller, 47 Tauben Strasse, 
Berlin, a series of his catalogues, comprising 
pamphlets, books, etc., on every department of 
natural history, botany, zoology, geology, palxon- 
tology, mineralogy, chemistry, physics, etc. The 
latest issued includes 350 works on diatoms and 
desmids, and 250 on algology and microscopy alone. 


WE cordially welcome M. Tempére’s 7th, or 
December part of ‘‘Le Diatomiste.” This will 
prove the best work of its kind yet issued. The 
illustrations are of an unusually high-class character 
(London : Bailliére & Co.). 


We are glad to draw attention to Mr. F. V. 
Theobald’s Part II., ‘‘ Account of British Flies” 
(London: Elliot Stock). This will prove a most 
useful book for intending students of British Diptera. 


A FUND is very properly being raised under the 
auspices of the Royal Microscopical Society, for the 
benefit of the widow and nine children left by the late 
Mr. John Mayall jun., the active, well-known, and 
highly esteemed secretary of the Society. Scientific 
men work frequently for anything but money, and 
this is an instance where our wealthier scientific 
brethren have the opportunity of being helpful. 


Dr. A. IRvING read an interesting and very sug- 
gestive paper at the early December Meeting of the 
Geologists’ Association, on ‘‘ Organic matter as a 
Geological Agent.” 


THE ‘‘Geological Photographs” Committee ap- 
pointed by the British Association in 1889, have 
issued another Report, in which they state that as yet 
not one half of the British counties are represented in 
the collection. Here is a good and useful opening for 
our increasing army of amateur photographers. 


Our Geological readers should procure Dr. Charles 
Ricketts’ paper (Presidential Address to the Liverpool 
Geological Society) on ‘‘Some Phenomena which 
occurred during the Glacial Epoch.” No English 
geologist is better posted in our British glacial geology 
than Dr. Ricketts. 


WE commend to all those interested in the subject 
of Technical Education (and suggest they should 
procure it), the Syllabus of the Nicholson Institute, 
Leek, Staffordshire. It is the best programme of 
good work we have seen published. 


Mr. EpwarD WILSON, the well-known and able 
curator of the Bristol Museum, recently published in 
the ‘‘ Geological Magazine,” a paper ‘‘ Ona Specimen 
of Waldheimia perforata, showing Original Colour- 
marking.” This interesting specimen was discovered 
by Mr. J. W. Marshall, of Bristol, an enthusiastic 
collector of Jurassic Brachiopoda. We have fre- 
quently found near Castleton, Derbyshire, specimens 
of Zerebratula hastata, retaining their original colour- 
bands. 


A CAPITAL and most useful dvochure has just been 
written by Mr. Edward Whimper, and published by 
John Murray, on ‘‘ How to use the Aneroid Baro- 
meter.” 


THE last issue of the Guernsey Society of Natural 
Science and Local Research is a capital number. It 
contains papers on ‘‘ The Correlation and Relative 
Ages of the Rocks of the Channel Islands,” by Mr. 
C. G. De la Mare; an account of ‘‘A Dredging 
Excursion off Guernsey” (we should like above all 


20 HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 


things to have been in it), by Mr. R. L. Spencer ; 
‘Notable Oral Equipments in Vertebrata,” by Mr. 
Fred Rose; ‘‘ The Sea Urchin,” by Mr. W. Sharp ; 
“Instinct, Reason, and Reflex Action,” by the same ; 
“*The Flora of Jethon,” by Mr. G. T. Derrick ; 
“Submarine Breathing Animals,” by Mr. J. Sinel; 
etc. 


AN adaptation of the telephone to existing telegraph 
lines has recently been successfully completed between 
Grangemouth and Glasgow by Mr. A. Erskine Muir- 
head. The telephones used are the French type, 
with microphones. The line has two intermediate 
stations, one at Port Dundas and the other at Kirkin- 
tilloch, but this in no way impaired the speaking. It 
is proposed to add two other intermediate stations, 
making six telephones served by a single line. 
Though the telegraph instruments were employed 
simultaneously, there was no interruption, and it is 
intended that the telegraph instruments shall be 
discarded. Another feature of the adaptation is 
that as the wire runs along the canal, the barger 
can fix a portable telephone on it at any place, and 
speak to the termini. 


WE are pleased to see that a Fourth Edition of 
Mr. Worsley-Benison’s ‘‘ Nature’s Fairy-Land” is 
required, and was issued last week by Messrs. Elliot 
Stock. 


THE following are the lecture arrangements made 
by the Royal Institution before Easter :—Professor 
John G. McKendrick, six Christmas lectures to 
juveniles, on ‘‘Life in Motion; or, the Animal 
Machine ;” Professor Victor Horsley, ‘‘ Twelve 
Lectures on the Structure and Functions of the 
Nervous System (the Brain) ;” Mr. A. S. Murray, 
““Three Lectures on Some Aspects of Greek Sculp- 
ture in Relief ;” Professor E. Ray Lankester, ‘* Three 
Lectures on Some Recent Biological Discoveries ;” 
Professor W. P. Ker, three lectures on ‘‘ The Pro- 
gress of Romance in the Middle Ages;” Dr. B. 
Arthur Whitelegge, three lectures on ‘‘ Epidemic 
Waves ;” Professor J. A. Fleming, three lectures on 
“*The Induction Coil and Transformer ;” the Right 
Hon. Lord Rayleigh, six lectures on ‘‘ Matter: at 
Rest and in Motion ;” Professor J. F. Bridge, three 
lectures on ‘‘ Dramatic Music, from Shakspeare to 
Dryden (the Play, the Masque, and the Opera),” 
with illustrations. The Friday evening meetings 
will begin on January 22nd, when a discourse will be 
given by the Right Hon. Lord Rayleigh on ‘‘ The 
Composition of Water.” Succeeding discourses will 
probably be given by Sir George Douglas, Bart., 
Professor Roberts-Austen, C.B., Mr. G. J. Symons, 
Professor Percy F. Frankland, Sir David Salomons, 
Bart., Professor L. C. Miall, Professor Oliver Lodge, 
Mr. George Du Maurier, Mr. John Evans, Mr. F. T. 
Piggott, Professor W. E. Ayrton, and other gentle- 
men. 


MICROSCOPY. 


CLEANING SLIpEs.—Canada balsam may be 
cleaned from slides by moistening a rag with spirits 
of turpentine ; if the balsam is very hard, it may be 
just warmed over the spirit-lamp. I find this the 
best way, being very quick.—H. £. Griset. 


MOouNTING BUTTERFLIES’ PROBOSCES.—Will any 
of your readers kindly tell me the best way to mount 
a butterfly’s probocis? I have tried a good many in 
Canada balsam, but the two halves always become 
separated. Is it usual to mount only the one half, or 
is there some way of mounting it whole, without the. 
two halves separating ?>—R. HZ, Vapp. 


MALES OF CLADOCERA.—During the months of 
September, October, and November last, the com- 
paratively rare males of the Entomostracan order 
Cladocera seemed to be fairly abundant in the soutk 
Epping Forest district. Males of fourteen species in 
all were seen by me during the period mentioned, 
belonging to the different genera as follows : Cerio- 
daphnia (4), Scapholeberis (1), Simocephalus (1), 
Daphnia (4), Bosmina (1), Acroperus (1), Campto- 
cereus (1), Pleuroxus (1). I do not know whether 
to consider this as an exceptionally good list for one 
season or not, but it is certainly far better than my 
records for the two preceding years, and it would be 
interesting if collectors of pond-life in other localities 
would give their experience in this matter.—D. 7. 
Scourfield, 


NEw SLIpEs.—We have received from Mr. A. 
Flatters, of Oldham, three most interesting and 
botanically useful slides. One is the transverse sec- 
tion of old pine-wood (Linus sylvestris), cut the 
ais in.; another is a tangential transverse section 
of the same, cut the same thinness ; and the third is 
the radial transverse section cut down to yyy in. Mr. 
Flatters’ slides are accompanied by a very ingenious 
explanatory diagram. 


ZOOLOGY. 


THE BUTTERFLIES OF JAMAICA,—In the article 
on this subject in the October number, I desire to 
correct one or two misprints in the list of names. 
For Synchloe jopparead Synchtoe F. For ‘‘ (Boridv.)” 
read ‘*(Boisdv.)” For Avicogonia terina read K. 
terissa, and for Callydryas senue read C. senne. All 
these belong to Jamaica; and they and their larvee 
(apparently a second brood) swarmed there from May 
to July, as so graphically described by Dr. Plaxton. 
Indeed the great number of larvze, chiefly of Noctuze 
(erebide). and Geometre (e.g, the beautiful black 
Melanochroia (?) with white-tipped wings) swarming 
sometimes in masses a foot and more wide, on the 


HARDWICKE' S SCTENCE-GOSSTIP: 21 


trunks of Pithecolobiun: saman, and other of their 
food-supplying trees, was a more remarkable feature 
of the earlier months of this year in Jamaica—and is 
the more remarkable when considered in connection 
with the alleged rarity of insect-life in more temperate 
regions during the same period.— Henry Strachan. 


SUPPOSED BREEDING OF THE SCOTER NEAR 
CHICHESTER.—Mr. Anderson’s communication at 
Pp. 256 under the above heading is hardly so cir- 
cumstantial and full as to place the breeding of the 
scoter at Earnley beyond doubt, and I hope in a 
matter of so much interest he will publish all the 
particulars in his possession. Will Mr. Anderson 
kindly say whether any of the seven Scoters seen were 
procured, their presumed age, and what reason there 
was to suppose they had been hatched in that neigh- 
bourhood? Mr. Anderson is of course aware that 
scoters may be found on the coast in every month of 
the year, and that they not unfrequently in summer, 
visit inland sheets of fresh water. I think I have 
evidence even stronger than that given by Mr. Ander- 


son in favour of the probability of the scoter having” 


nested in Norfolk in 1875, for a brood of young birds 
was seen on Hickling Broad throughout the summer 
of that year, and the late Mr. Booth saw fourteen or 
fifteen of these birds flying over the same Broad in- 
wards at the end of July. I should hesitate to claim 
the scoter as having bred in Norfolk on this unsup- 
ported evidence, but if Mr. Anderson can show 
strong probability of its having done so at Earnley, 
I think the two cases would lend mutual support to 
each other.— Thomas Southwell, Norwich. 


BLACK-VEINED WHITE BUTTERFLY.—I am glad 
to be able to give Mr. Waters the following informa- 
tion respecting the capture of this insect by a friend. 
In the neighbourhood of Sewerby, Hull, in May 1885, 
two larvze of this butterfly were found feeding on a 
species of thorn. It was not known what they were 
until the perfect insect appeared, when a further 
search was immediately made and six pupz were 
found in the same place, all of which emerged in the 
course of a day ortwo. Three of these are now in 
my possession. As many of the young trees and 
thorns about there were newly planted varieties from 
the Continent, might it not be possible that the ova 
or young larve might have been brought over into 
this country with them ?—C, £. Rockett. 


SHELLS WITH DoupLz MoutTus.—Mr. Ashford, 
in his interesting account of the various records of 
double-mouthed monstrosities of Clausilize, remarks 
that, ‘‘ Judging by the absence of records, shells with 
large and simple mouths are not liable to such an 
accident.” Allow me to state that in Mr. William 
WNelson’s magnificent collection of Limnzide, there 
are a number of specimens of Limnea peregra with 
two and three apertures ; and if I remember rightly, I 
have also seen examples of double-mouthed Z. Zeregra 


in the beautiful collection of Mr. J. Maddison of Bir- 
mingham.—/V. £. Collinge, St. Andrews, N.B. 


CLAUSILIA WITH TWO APERTURES.—The corre- 
spondence on this subject in recent numbers of 
SCIENCE-GossIP, induces me to put on record the 
occurrence of a similar monstrosity in Bedfordshire. 
The species is Clawslia rugosa, and was found at the, 
foot of an old willow-tree, in the hamlet of Limbury, 
by my son Edgar. .The two apertures were well 
formed, and similarly situated to those shown on p. 
257 for 1891. The specimen was presented to Mr. 
Taylor of Leeds, and probably is still in the posses- 
sion of that gentleman.— James Saunders, Luton. 


BOTANY. 


Morus AND SALLOws.—Every entomologist 
knows that the male catkins of the sallow are very 
attractive to moths, and that the liquid which they 
imbibe partially stupifies them. Now, I often wondered 
how, the sailow being anemophilous, the plant could 
be in any way advantaged by the visits of insects ; 
and why, if it is not advantaged, an attractive 
secretion was developed at all. It occurred to me 
that the insects shook the catkins and so facilitated 
the dispersion of pollen. But if this were the ex- 
planation, the stupifying nature of the liquid would 
seem a positive disadvantage, as it makes the insects 
remain quiet. The only explanation I can offer is, 
that when heavy moths become intoxicated and fall 
off, the elastic rebound of the stem of the catkin may 
shake off the pollen; but this seems very unsatis- 
factory, and possibly one of your readers may be able 
to give a better explanation.—7. R. Holt, Dublin. 


ABNORMAL ORCHID FLOWERS.—The following 
abnormal orchid flowers have come under my observa- 
tion during the present year. One flower of Cattleya 
mossi@ with three sepals and two petals ; the superior 
petal was adherent to the column.* One flower of 
Cattleya mendelit with two sepals and only one petal, 
the lower sepal bearing rudiments of the labellum in 
the form of a narrow ridge running from the base of 
the column down the centre of the sepal and terminating 
in a deep purple-coloured contorted appendage. One 
flower of Cypripedium Lawrencianum in which the 
shield-like staminode was contorted. The labellum 
was larger and longer than usual, measuring exactly 
one inch longer than the inferior sepal. The two 
lateral petals were curved. The inner side of the 
right lateral petal was slightly lobed and inflected, 
bearing the markings and colours on frontal and 
dorsal sides exactly like the labellum, while on the 
outer side all the characteristics of the opposite petal 
were present. Two abnormal flowers of Cypripedium 


* T am indebted to Mr. H. Sams for kindly sending me the 
first five specimens. 


22 HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSIP. 


sedeni: (1.) Having a median fertile stamen occupy- 
ing the normal position of the staminode. There 
was no median sepal. The two lateral sepals were 
distinct. No lateral petals were present, but a petal 
occupying the position of the median sepal. (2.) 
The corolla of this flower was composed of four 
petals, the lateral petals were half-curved, and the 
lower petals assumed the saccate form of the labellum. 
The two lower sepals were concrescent ; the andrce- 
cium and gynzecium were normal. The first flower 
affords an example of a Cypripedium in a dimerous 
condition, and the second an example of pleiomery 
or plurality of parts. Seven malformed flowers of 
Phagus grandiflora, three of which had two of 
their petals adhering to and forming a hood over the 
column. Four flowers in which the dorsal sepal was 
united to the column. ‘The flowers of Ophrys afifera 
are very variable. This year I have seen several 
flowers in which the two pouches of the rostellum 
were more or less distant from each other, and I 
have frequently observed flowers with their pollinia 
differing in shape.—7. 7. A. Hicks, F.R.L.S. 


Curious GROWTH OF FuNGI.—During one of 
my rambles in November, through a wood near 
Croydon, I collected a large number of specimens 
of fungi; many of them exceedingly beautiful, and 
all full of interest to the student of natural history. 
In one instance a common variety which abounded 
among the fallen leaves of the oaks and beeches, 
presented a growth so curious that perhaps an 
account of it will interest some of your numerous 
readers. ‘Three plants, belonging to a light brick- 
red-coloured variety of Agaric, with gills of a paler 
and more delicate shade, had sprung up close to one 
another and were connected together by their epi- 
dermis, the stems and gills of each individual being 
distinct and separate. There were no marks of suture 
at the juncture of the three caps, and the largest of 
the group was pulled over sideways by its smaller 
neighbours. These facts seem to show that the three 
plants came into existence in this condition, thus form- 
ing a sort of botanical Siamese triplet which I believe 
js very uncommon in this class of fungus. I naturally 
wished to preserve such a curiosity, but on examina- 
tion at home I found the plants to be infested by 
small white, footless, black-headed maggots, the 
larvze, I suppose, of a species of fly. Closer scrutiny 
revealed a minute puncture in each cap, by means of 
which the ova had been deposited by the parent-fly, 
in the plant that was to supply focd to the larve 
when hatched, and thus an organism that is, in a 
sense, parasitical upon decaying vegetation, was in its 
turn preyed upon by another. A few days later, when 
walking over the downs, I disturbed a flock of rooks, 
which proved to have been feeding on maggots 
similar to those just described, for the ground was 
strewn with fragments of fungi pecked to pieces by 


them in prosecuting their search. I noticed here 


another curious fact with regard to fungi. Wherever 
the turf had been taken up and removed, the place 
was marked by a ring of toadstools that had sprung 
up along the circumference of the part bared. I was 
unable to discern any cause for this, but the occur- 
rence was too marked and frequent to have been 
accidental.— 7. G. Bing. 


‘¢ SPORTING’? CLOVER AND RARE PLANTS.— 
Apropos of Mr. G. H. Bryan’s note in your issue of 
this month, it may perhaps not be without interest to 
record that I also found the proliferous state of 
Trifolium repens on the bank of the Midland Railway, 
near Mill Hill, N.W., this summer, and not far from 
it a similarly monstrous form of Plantago major. Close 
to these, and evidently introduced in ballast, I found 
what an eminent botanical authority stigmatised, 
when I showed them to him, as ‘a bad lot” viz: 
Bartsia incana, Camelina sativa, Anthemis tinctoria, 
a Potentilla (I think, hirta), and a Dracocephalum. 
These five were all growing within the space of one 
square yard. Bartsia incana I subsequently found 


‘again in abundance on the Great Northern Railway 


near Finchley, in company with a blue labiate, which 
I have not been able to identify. On the Midland 
line near Hendon, I found a solitary plant of Zxysz- 
mum orientale, whilst Nasturtium sylvestre was grow- 
ing in abundance beside the Great Northern near High- 
gate. Ranunculus lingua still grows in the Totteridge 
ponds, and though Zeucriwm botrys has for the last 
few years been extinct at its former station near Mill 
Hill, Polygonum officinale (or multiflorus ?) still exists 
in the neighbourhood, but is so persistently eaten 
down by cattle before it has time to flower that its 
identification is difficult. I may add that I found a 
very fine albino bloom of Centaurea scabiosa in Sep- 
tember, at Cromer, while taking a fine haul of the 
larva of the privet hawk-moth, which always seems 
most abundant by the sea. If you think these notes 
of any interest, pray make what use you like of them. 
—A. EL. Hudson. 


NOTES AND QUERIES. 


CoLOoURING OF FLOWERS.—While the white- 
flower question is being noticed by the many botani- 
cal and other readers of SCIENCE-Gossip, I will 
mention a few which I think will be useful to its long 
list of notices. Plants of Campanula rotundifolia 1 
have several times found quite colourless, or, on the 
other hand, coloured to excess ‘‘blue purple.” 
Orchis pyramidalis is often very variable in colouring ; 
on a hedge-bank in Kent I saw a large cluster of 
these plants, perhaps fifty, amongst them was a pair 
with light cream-coloured flowers ; others of the same 
group were of a deep rose-purple or madder colour. 
Of Gentiana amarella, an albino specimen sent to me 
by Mr. A. Pickard, of Wolsingham ; this is the first 
‘* albino” of this plant I have seen, although I saw 
a great many of them normally coloured in Kent and 
Surrey this year. Of Gentiana campestris I found 
five colourless specimens growing in a group on Box 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSS/P. 23 


Hill. Specimens of Scadzosa succisa may be found 
of shades from white to purple; and Scadzosa 
columbaria from white to dark blue, but the latter 
very rare. It may be noticed, at least in many cases, 
that the want of colour is usually due to the ex- 
clusion of light and poorness of soil, while the excess 
of colouring (as the purple Pyramidal Orchis just men- 
tioned) is caused by excess oflight and nourishment ; 
but this does not account for the cream-coloured 
form in the same situation: plants having been 
placed in an air-tight bottle, and kept in the dark for 
a few days, will, as a rule, lose more or less their 
colouring. While speaking of abnormalities, I may 
mention some plants of Geranium molle; they were 
all above a yard long, and bore double flowers 
(November 14) of half to an inch in diameter, with 
from fifteen to thirty parts of all the whorls.—enry 
£. Grisét. 


Toap-SpawN.—On August Ist, while visiting 
some small ponds, which had been dried up for some 
weeks, I found some spawn similar to that of the 
toad, but as I never knew toads to spawn there, and 
the ponds were a great resort of natterjacks, I 
suppose it was their spawn. Can you account for 
their late spawning ? 


EDWARDs’ *‘ REPTILES.”’—Can any reader tell me 
if I could procure a copy of the paper which Thomas 
Edwards wrote upon the “ Reptiles of Banffshire,” 
and also what preparation is used to prevent the 
skins of such reptiles as frogs, newts, etc., from 
shrinking when bottled.—JZ. A. Smith. 


THE Sotar YEAR.—The Solar Year consisting of 
365 days 6 hrs. 9 min. 96 sec., and the 6 hrs. being 
accounted for by leap-year, I shall feel much 
obliged if any one could inform me how the remain- 
ing 9 min. 9°6 secs. are allowed for; whether in 
1g00 A.D. an extra day will be inserted in the 
calendar.—7. R. Fones. 


Late SwtrtTs.—On the 13th last November, I 
saw a swift. Had it been a swallow or martin I 
should scarcely have deemed it of sufficient- interest 
to send to your paper, but that it was a swift Iam 
quite sure, as it crossed the road I was on three or four 
times, flying low down; once being chased by one 
of our small native birds. This year I saw several in 
the early part of September.—Chas. Law. 


ANIMATED OAtTs.—My cousin having sent me 
some Of these oats, I followed out her instructions by 
dipping one in some cold water and then lightly 
throwing it on a piece of paper. In a few seconds 
the awns began to move, and after some struggling 
the oat lifted itself up and turned over. After it had 
performed many gyrations the oat again became 
inanimate. I should be greatly obliged if some 
reader of SCIENCE-GossIP, could explain the cause 
of these movements.—Clara Kingsford, Canterbury. 


THE PLAGUE OF FLIEs.—Whilst botanizing in 
woods during last summer and autumn, I was on 
several occasions almost driven mad by the constant 
attack of flies and other insects, and although I en- 
deavoured to ward off the same and keep them at a 
respectful distance by smoking and sprinkling my hat 
and clothes with camphor or carbolic, I found that 
my rude remedies were quite unsuccessful. Thinking 
that some of your esteemed contributors could suggest 
an efficient remedy for this plague, I have ventured to 
ask your kind assistance, not only for myself, but many 
others who have suffered in the same way.—C, fea. 


NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 


To CORRESPONDENTS AND EXCHANGERS.—As we now 
publish ScreNcE-Gossrp 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 DisGuis—ED ADVERTISEMENTS, for the purpose of evading 
the cost of advertising, an advantage is taken of our gratuztous 
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. 


Spectat Note.—There is a tendency on the part of some 
exchangers to send more than one per month. We only allow 
this in the case of writers of papers. 


To our Recent ExcHANGERS.—Weare willing to be helpful 
to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow dzs- 
guised Exchanges like those which frequently come to us 
to appear unless as advertisements. 


A. E. Boycott.—We shall be very pleased to have your 
paper for Scl1ENCE-GossIP. 

J. A. W.—See Dr. Taylor’s book on ‘‘ Our Common British 
Fossils,”’ for descriptions and illustrations of the crag shells 
found in the Walton-on-Naze cliffs. 

J. H. B. Green.—Many thanks for the unusually large and 
fine specimen of abnormal growth of cabbage-leaf. It well 
illustrates the origin of Pitcher plants. See the papers on 
“‘Vegetable Teratology,” in SciencE-GossiP vol. for 1890. 

F. G. Binc.—Many thanks for your pretty sketch of the 
three funguses growing together by their caps. 

J. E. K.—Apply to Messrs. Wesley & Son, or Messrs. 
Dulau, for works on Natural History, &c., of Brazil. 

H. W. BisHop.—You can procure a simple section-cutting 
machine from any dealer in microscopic materials. 

A. W. RicHarpson.—Coloured plates were only issued with 
ScrencE-Gossip during 1884 and 1885. 

ALFRED TARNER.—Get Mr. English’s (of Epping) little book 
on how to preserve fungi. Mr. Maynard, of Saffron Walden, 
prepares them beautifully. 

E. Craven.—The only mineral resembling iron-ore 
(specular iron) in the very small specimen sent, is the dark 
transversely striated mineral ‘‘ Black Jack,” or zincic sulphide. 

“‘Hussar.”—Get the ‘‘Collector’s Handbook,” published 
by W. H. Allen & Co. There is no little book on marine life 
correspnding to Cook’s Ponds and Ditches.” Pennington’s 
“‘Zoophytes,’’ and Dr. Landsborough’s ditto are good. 

JoszPH Smitru.—See chapters on ‘‘Sponges,” by Professor 
Sollas, in 1884 vol. of ScrencE-Gossie; also on ‘‘Shore 
Collecting,” in Scrence-Gossip vol. for 1888. All the works 
on the subject are expensive. 


EXCHANGES. 


GEOLOGICAL works by Geikie, Woodward, Dawson, Green, 
&c., wanted, in exchange for foraminifera named and mounted, 
or for foraminiferal material.—J. H. C., Highland House, St. 
Julian’s, Malta. 

TerTIARY fossils. Wanted, tertiary fossils, named and 
located, in exchange for Mediterranean shells, lepiduptera, &c. 
State desiderata.k—J. H. C., Highland House, St. Julian’s, 
Malta. b 

Humeotp7’s ‘‘ Kosmos,”’ 2 vols., 1845-48, cloth gilt, scarcely 
soiled. Offers.—Joseph Wallis, Deal. 

WanrTED, fertile eggs of vapourer moth (Orgyza antigua), in 
exchange for eggs of gipsy moth. Address—A. Witt, Hale 
Parsonage, Salisbury. 

I sHALL be glad of any named British shells to start a 
collection. Can offer a few species of British lepidoptera.— 
Miss E. M. Pepperell, 5 Park Street, Bristol. 

Scrence-Gossip wanted, cheap (Nos. 241-288, both in- 
clusive), to complete set. State lowest price.—H. J. Barber, 
Brighouse, Yorkshire. 

WaAnrTED, good micro. slides up to the value of 4/., in ex- 
change for an aquarium 24 X 12 % 12 inches, glass slides.— 
W. Davis, 48 Richmond Road, Cardiff. 

A fine gathering of Batracheosperma moniliforma, suitable 
for mounting, in exchange for good slides, preferably of marine 
hydrozoas and polyzoas.—J. E. Lord, Rawtenstall. 

Ecos to exchange for others not in collection: sheldrake, 
spoonbill, red grouse, quail, woodchat, shrike, common shrike, 


24 HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSTP. 


ring-ousel, red-lezged partridge, Arctic tern, black-headed 
bunting, black guillemot, kittiewake, herring gull, and coote.— 
K. H. Jones, St. Bride’s Rectory, Manchester. 

ExectrricaL.—Frictional and galvanic apparatus, good as 
‘new. Will exchange for good magic-lantern and part cash, or 
offers.—G., 35 Caversham Road, N.W. 

A coop collection of British and foreign land, freshwater, 
and marine shells, consisting of over three hundred species, 
and many varieties, including fifty lots of shells, neatly 
mounted, in glass tubes. For full particulars apply to—P. R. 
Shaw, 48 Bidston Road, Birkenhead. 

Tate’s ‘‘Land and Freshwater Molluscs,” coloured plates, 
clean copy, good as new. What offers—geological? Also 
Sci#nce-Gossip for 1886, unbound.—G. H. Corbett, 13 Church 
Road, Nechells, Birmingham. 

DeEsIvDERATA. — Testacella haliotidea, mauget; Zonites 
glaber, radiatuius, excavatus, purus, fuluus; Helix aspersa 
var. exalbida, arbustorum var. flavescens, sericea, fusca, 
virgata, var. nigrescens, tessellata, ericetorum var. instabilis, 
prgm@a; Clausilia laminata, Acme lineata. Oblata.—H. 
rufescens var. alba, rubens, and minor, hispida, concinna, 
vevelata, pisana, virgata, and vars. major, minor, albicans, 
vufula, lutescens, submaritima, alba, caperata, and vars. 
obliterata, alba, fulva, ornata, ericetorum, and vars. lutescens, 
leucozona, major, minor, rotundata, rupestris, lapicida; 
Bulimus obscurus, Pupa secale, umbilicata, marginata; Balea 
perversa, Clausilia rugosa, and var. tumidula, dubia, Cyclo- 
stoma elegans.—S., 40 Braybrooke Road. Hastings. 

WANTED, back numbers of ScieNcE-Gossip for 1866, 1868— 
1871, 1873, 1879, 1882-1884, in exchange for micro. slides or 
cash. Also, would like to exchange a few slides for others.— 
F. S. Morton, 158 Cumberland Street, Portland, Maine, 
U.S.A. 

WanTED, freshwater, sea shells, and corals, in exchange for 
chalk polyzoa, flustra, lituola, rotalia, serpula, spicules, geodes 
(flint), crystals of selenite from London clay.—W. Gamble, 
2 West Street, New Brompton, Kent. 

Hlelix vittata(?) large, and far flatter than type; H. traz- 
guebarica, Velosita cyprinoides, Neritina orialanensis, Nassa 
Yacksoniana and Tympanotomus fluviatilis, from Travan- 
core; also various marine shells from Cape Comorin (un- 
named), for foreign helices.—Rev. J. W. Horsley, Woolwich. 

Herparium. — Offered, British, Norwegian, and North 
American plants, for those of other countries. Printed list of 
duplicates.—H. Fisher, 26 Stodman Street, Newark, Notts. 

Scrence-Gossip (unbound), for 1867, 1887-89. What offers 
in foreign postage-stamps for same?—W. Harris, 136 Drayton 
Park, Highbury, London, N. i 

WanTED, back numbers of Scrence-Gossip, “‘ Zoologist,” 
“Naturalist,” ‘‘Naturalist’s Gazette,” and ‘Field Club”; 
bound vols. preferred. Will exchange books, eggs, &c. Also 
wanted, works by Hewitson and Morris.—W. R. Riley, 
Savile Lea, Halifax, Yorks. 

ForEIGN land and marine shells, offered in exchange for 
orchids or foreign birds. —Miss Linter, Arragon Close, 
Twickenham, 

ExcHANGE.—Fine Lingula scotica, lower carboniferous, in 
ironstone nodule; photo free. Photographic books or offers 
to value of s50s.—W. J. Heslop, West View, Lemington, 
Newcastle, 1 

ExCHANGE.—Side-blown eggs of capercaillie, sociable plover, 
Canada goose, ring-ousel, eider duck, ptarmigan, twite, gold- 
crest, teal, Manx sherewater, &c. Desiderata, other eggs or 
insects.—J. Ellison, Steeton, Keighley. 

EXCHANGE fine series of crag fossils \for eggs, insects, or 
offers.—J. Ellison, Steeton, Keighley. 

WANTED, micro. slides showing organs of generation in 
thallophytes, and sections of seeds. Will give good botanical 
slides. Address—T. B., Conservative Club, Hinckley. 

WANTED, to correspond with collectors who may have rare 
British shells to offer in return for other very rare British 
shells. Mutual exchanges.x—Thomas E. Sclater, Strand, 
Teignmouth. 

WANTED, a few specimens of the following: labradorite, 
crocodolite (from the Congo), and any other good bright 
crystal minerals, about two or three inches in size and up- 
wards, in exchange for British shells, micro. objects, fossils, 
polished madrepores.—A. J. R. Sclater, M.C.S., Natural 
History Stores, 43 Northumberland Place, The Strand, 
Teignmouth. 

WanTED, British mammals, alive or in the flesh (fresh 
killed), particularly bats, mice, shrews, voles, wild cat, pine 
and beech marten, badger, otter; also varieties of mole, hedge- 
hog, &c.; must be in good condition for stuffing. Apply to— 
W. Harcourt Bath, Ladywood, Birmingham. 

ScrencE-GossiP, Nos. 241-264, having four numbers missing, 
and a deal cabinet containing about one hundred British wild 
bird and gull eggs, in exchange’for curios.—G. Waters, 
21 Westbourne Park Road, Bayswater, W. 

Wuar offer for a splendid collection of Helzx nemoralis, 
including eight named vars., and forty variously banded, 
nearly all named: also ten various 1. avdustorum, including 
var. alba.—H. Blaby, Brackley, Northants. 

TerTIARY and cretaceous fossils wanted. Sends lists to— 
J. A. Ellis, r Pomona Place, Fulham, London, S.W. 


OFFERED, Ramsbotham’s ‘‘ Obstetric Surgery ” (published at 
22s.), Nicholson’s ‘‘ Zoology” (7s. 6d.), Orme’s ‘‘ Heat” 
(3s. 6@.), Cleland’s ‘‘ Animal Physiology” (2s. 6d.), Saarner’s 
“*The Microscope.” Wanted, good minerals and fossils.— 
W. H. Olver, 2 Adelaide Terrace, Truro. 

To naturalists in India. Wanted, pupz or ove of wild silk 
moths: A. atlas, A. selene, A. cynthia, A. mylitta, C. tri- 
JSenestrata, &c. Will give cash or full exchange, as desired. 
Correspondence invited.—Mark L, Sykes, F.R.M.S., 31 Derby 
Street, Moss Side, Manchester. 

OFFERED, British land, freshwater, and marine shells for 
others, or offers. — A. H. Shepherd, 8r Corinne Road, 
London, N. 

Eocene fossils for exchange, named and localised, also 
Cornish rock and mineral specimens. Wanted, named speci- 
mens of minerals, micro. rock sections, or perfect terebratulze 
from any formations, or offers,—E, H. V. Davies, 46 Upper 
Belgrave Road, Clifton, Bristol. 

WanTED, fossils from various localities, especially British 
and foreign tertiaries.—Thomas W. Reader, 171 Hemingford 
Road, London, N. 

I wisu to dispose of thirty 8 X 6 photographs of locomotive 
engines (cost 2s. each), for which I will take offers in exchange. 
Wanted, a microscope, clarionet, violin, safety, or other useful 
thing.—Reginald E. M. Bleasdall, Dale End, Birmingham. 

Vou. 41 of ‘‘ Nature,” clean, unbound, in exchange for 
anything entomological—W. S. Rolfe, Hazeldene, Tooting 
Junction, S.W. 

Due.icatgs.—Fine stuffed specimen of cormorant in first- 
class preservation, from the Isle of Wight, also P. ovale, L. 
stagnalis, L. glabra, S. elegans, H, arbustorum, H.cantiana, 
Hi. rufescens, H. pisana, and var. alba, H. virgata, and var. 
albicans, H. caperata, H. ertcetorum, H. vrotundata, B. 
acutus, B. obscurus, P. umbillicata, C. rugosa, C. lubrica, 
C. elegans, &c. Desiderata, many varieties of common species 
and offers, birds’ eggs, or British butterflies and moths.— 
W. Hewett, 12 Howard Street, York. 

OFFERED, Pis. amnicum, Pal. vivipara, Byth. tentaculata, 
Plan. carinatus, H. nemoralis, H. hortensis, H. arbustorum, 
Bul. obscurus, Vert. pygma@a, Coch. tridens, in exchange for 
British land and freshwater shells not in collection; also for 
foreign shells. Foreign correspondence invited.—H. E. Craven, 
Matlock Bridge. 

For exchange, P. contecta, V. piscinalis, V. cristata, Lim. 
glabra, L. truncatula, L. palustris, P. spirorbis, P. glaber, 
P. dilatatus, S. putris, H. sericea, C. tridens, C. minimunt, 
Wanted, Fis. nitidum, Z. excavatus, H. cartusiana, Cl. 
biplicata, &c.—F. C. Long, 32 Woodbine Road, Burnley, 
Lancs. 

WAnTED, B. montanus, P. nitidum, P. roseum, A. lineata, 
Offered, P. secale, Gonisbasis plicifera, Neritina pupa, H. 
strigella, H. umbrosa, H. obvia, Cl. papillifera, Cl. itala, 
Pupa avenacea, Cl. parvula.—G, H. Gude, 5 Giesbach Road, 
Upper Holloway. 

A SPLENDID series of nearly fifty animal hairs, in return for 
six well-mounted micro. slides.—Arthur H. Williams, Hythe. 

WanTED, Turton’s ‘‘ Manual of the Land and Freshwater 
Shells of the British Islands,” Gray’s Ed. of 1857; Reeve’s 
“(Land and Freshwater Molluscs,” 1863; and Tate’s ‘‘ Land 
and Freshwater Molluscs,” 1866.—H. W. Kew, 5 Giesbach 
Road, Upper Holloway, N. 


BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE. 


“‘Delagoa Bay: Its Natives and Natural History,” by Rose 
Monteiro (London: Philip & Son).—‘‘ Annals of British 
Geology,” 1890,” by J. F. Blake (London: Dulau & Co.).— 
“Larranga’s Photo-Phonograph,” by Julius Maier.—‘‘ Report 
of Norwich Science-Gossip Club, 1890.”—‘‘ Journal of the 
Institute of Jamaica.”—‘‘ Proceedings of the Geologists’ Asso- 
ciation.”—“The Essex Naturalist.”—Wesley’s ‘‘ Nat. Hist. 
and Scientific Book Circular.”—‘‘American Microscopical 
Journal.”—‘‘ American Naturalist.”—‘‘Canadian Entomolo- 
gist.”’—‘ The Naturalist.”—‘‘ The Botanical Gazette.” —‘‘ The 
Gentleman’s Magazine.” — ‘‘The Midland Naturalist.” — 
“Feuilles des Jeunes Naturalistes.”—‘‘The Microscope.”— 
“Nature Notes,” &c., &c. 


CoMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED UP TO THE 12TH ULT. FROM: 
A. H. S.—j. W. S.-H. G. W. A.—J. R. H.—E. W.—H. 5. 
—T. L.—J. H. C—O. W. J.—A. E. B.—W. J. P.—R. H. Y. 
J. H. A. H.—G. H. W.—J. A. E.—J. E. L.—H. E. G.— 
S. M.—F. V. T.—W. D.—C. K.—A. G. F.—H. I. B.— 


i935 Sb 

[SEMA Gib, SC. Caen 
P) R. SRS TFs, FLD ae ee 
R. B—E. H.V. D.—C. E. R.—W. H.—T. W. RA. Be 
Swi SURE TSA = EC eae eae 
W. HH. FW. We E.G AaES eens 
K. G.—F. C. L—J. H. B. G—M. L. S—W. B..0.—H B.— 
G. W.—G.'L. R—W. He B= DS yes =A RS 
S.—F. G:B—_W. R. RAN Hes — Clip CR Wares 
TS. B.—J.E.—T. $.—f. E. H—P. FD —C) Ds Se 
R—T. S. M.—J..H. CJ) ANS =A: BMP: Wi Aas 
J. W. F,—H. W. K.—Dr. A. M. C.—&c., &c. 


HARDWICKE'S SCLENCE-GOSST/P. 25; 


THE POSSIBLE COAL-FIELDS OF EAST ANGLIA. 


RECENT lecture 
by Dr. Taylor, 
the editor of 
SCIENCE-GOsSIP, 
is reported as 
follows, in the 
‘*East Anglian 
Daily Times.” 
The lecture was 
delivered at the 
Atheneum, Bury 
St. Edmunds. 
The Right Hon. 
Earl Cadogan, 
K.G., occupied 
the chair, and 
there was a large 
attendance. 
The noble 
Chairman in in- 
troducing Dr. 


Taylor, said the subject which that gentleman had © 


chosen for his lecture was of the greatest possible 
interest to all who dwell in the Eastern Counties. 

Dr. Taylor opened his lecture by referring to the 
numerous mistakes made by people who knew 
nothing of the matter, concerning the probable 
occurrence of coal in Hast Anglia. He had seen in 
the newspapers letters stating that coal had been 
discovered in yarious well-borings throughout the 
county, but this simply meant that an occasional pebble 
of coal had been found in the drift beds among 
thousands of other pebbles which had been brought 
down and strown about by glacial agencies. It was 
easy to understand that from places in the Midland 
and Northern counties, where the coal cropped out, 
fragments were brought down to this district by the 
moving sheet of ice which at one time covered the 
Eastern counties. But these incidental findings of 
coal had nothing to do with the great argument he 
had to lay before them that evening, and he asked 

No. 326.—FEBRUARY 1892, 


them, in the first place, to disabuse their minds of 
any such idea.* 

What he wanted to ask them was, to imagine— 
and science had to appeal largely to the imagination 
—what the appearance of the Eastern counties would 
be if they could strip off, like the clothes from a bed, 
all the overlying strata, including the chalk, He did 
not hesitate to say that, if they did so, they would 
find a continuation of the same primary rocks 
extending underneath London and into the South- 
Eastern counties as those which occupied the surface 
in North Wales, Lancashire, Cheshire, and York- 
shire, only perhaps in a more or less parallel series of 
folds, running nearly west and east. On the ridges 
of these the lower Primary rocks would be found, and 
in the hollows of the folds, perhaps, coal-basins. It 
was with this fact that his lecture would have to deal. 
It could not be a so-called popular lecture, therefore, 
but must of necessity be more or less scientific, and 
the issues involved in it were so important to the 
Eastern counties that he did not hesitate to place 
these scientific arguments before them in as clear and 
lucid a manner as he was capable of. [It may be said 
here that the lecturer was largely assisted by specially-- 
made diagrams, covering the walls, as well as black- 
board sketches, which enabled his hearers the more: 
clearly to follow his closely-reasoned line of 
argument. ] 

The first point to be established was that between- 
the Somersetshire coal-field and possibly the South 
Welsh coal-fields in the west, and the coal-fields of 
Northern France and Belgium to the east, there was 
an underground continuation. The rocks were tied 
on, so to speak, from one end to the other, only they 
were like a chain which had been bellied down in 
the middle during the secondary period of geology, 
covered by the sea to a great depth, and strown over 


* [Since the above lecture was delivered I had recently- 
found specimens of ‘‘coal’’ sent me from well-borings passed) 
through the boulder clay. They were not coal at all, but 
fragments of black Kimmeridge shale.—Ep. S.-G.]. 


Cc 


26 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


== 


with the deposits of that particular age. On the 
south there were thick strata of Oolitic formations, 
which in the famous Sussex Wealden boring were 
found to be nearly 2,000 feet in thickness. At Dover 
they were 600 feet thick, but there they had bored 
through the chalk, through this underlying 600 
feet thick of oolite, and had struck the Carboni- 
ferous rocks. Five different seams of coal had been 
pierced, he believed, so that a shaft was following 
the boring at the present time, and before long there 
would be a Dover Coal-Field added to those already 
existing in England. 

By means of a sketch on the blackboard, Dr. Taylor 
showed that this easterly and westerly extension— 
that is to say, between the west in England and the 
east in Belgium and Northern France—was an anti- 
clinal axis or series of axes, along whose flanks 
different rocks of the primary period rested upon 
each other in such a way that if they could be moved 
to their relative positions, those furthest away from 
the main ridge would be uppermost and latest 
formed, while those close to the centre of the run 
of the axis would be the oldest. Therefore, he 
contended, it was along the outer flanks of this 
main axis that the coal-beds would be found, 
if anywhere. These flanks had themselves been 
much contorted, so that the coal would be in the 
form of narrow basins of no great width, although 
of considerable length, running along the trend of 
the underground primary ridge. For instance in 
Somersetshire, the basins from which coal was at 
present worked were very narrow in comparison with 
their length. The Lié¢ge Coal-Field in Belgium was 
not more than eight miles wide although it was 45 
miles long. At Charleroi the coal-field was ‘eight 
miles broad and 35 miles long. Narrow as they 
were, however, these coal-fields were rich in seams. 
At Liége 35 different seams had been discovered ; in 
Westphalia 117; and in all of the basins he had 
mentioned coal was worked abundantly and profitably, 
although at a great depth. It had been thought by 
geologists in former years that it would be impracti- 
cable to work for coal underneath the chalk. The 
first intimation that this was not necessarily the case 
was given by a deep artesian well-boring near Calais, 
some years ago, in which the primary rocks were 
struck just beneath the chalk, all the other secondary 
strata being more or less absent. The Valenciennes 
Coal-Field, which was only 30 miles away from 
Calais, was now being very largely worked beneath 
the chalk, and this gave encouragement to him (Dr. 
Taylor) many years ago to believe that similar conditions 
might prevail immediately under the chalk and tertiary 
strata in the Eastern counties. ‘ 

The lecturer then directed attention to an artesian 
well-boring made at Harwich in 1859, by Mr. Peter 
Bruff, of Ipswich. That well had a depth of less 
than 1,200 feet, but the Lower Carboniferous Rocks 
were struck and penetrated to a depth of 70 feet. 


He pointed out, however, that these were not the 
real coal-bearing rocks, and that every foot deeper 
they went down at Harwich might take them further 
away from the proper position where the coal-bearing 
strata would be found, unless the strata were inverted, 
as was the case in some parts of the Belgium coal- 
field. The latter had doubtless been peeled off 
by denudation during the period when the rocks 
were exposed to atmospherical wear and tear, 
and were depressed to become the bottom of the 
cretaceous sea. The one important fact to geo- 
logists in connection with the Harwich well-boring 
was that none other of the secondary formations 
were present beneath the chalk, but that the chalk 
went bang down upon the old floor of primary rocks. 
Reasoning on this point, and believing that to the 
north the upper coal-measures—the higher coal- 
measures, that was to say-—would be found in 
successive order resting upon the flanks of the - 
Harwich carboniferous foundation, he-had thought 
that trial borings to the south of Suffolk, and 
possibly to the north in Essex, might penetrate some 
of the upper measure containing the crumbled, 
narrow, and elongated coal-fields he had referred to. 
A few years ago at Combs, near Stowmarket, the 
chalk was pierced in a deep well at a considerably 
less depth than had been anticipated—a little under 
goo feet; but unfortunately the boring-tool did not 
proceed Any further, so geologists were left in dark- 
ness as to what remained underneath. The primary 
rocks in Suffolk had never really been bottomed until 
a few months ago, when at Culford, five miles from 
Bury St. Edmunds, in an artesian well-boring upon 
Lord Cadogan’s estate, the chalk and the few beds 
of underlying cretaceous strata were passed through, 
and what were now believed to be the primary rocks 
were reached. These ,had only been pierced, how- 
ever, for a distance of a few feet, and none of the 
characteristic fossils of the carboniferous formation 
had been brought up. Instead of that, the process 
of boring had somehow or another carried down, 
from the lower cretaceous beds, into the soft shales 
of the primary rocks beneath, some of the lower 
greensand microscopic fossils. The gault was repre- 
sented by a comparatively hard bed, and a fragment 
of an ammonite had been brought up which resembled 
a liassic species. It was thought by geologists, 
however, to be very unlikely that the lias strata 
should occur at such a high level without any trace 
of the oolitic rocks above, and the conclusion had 
been arrived at, therefore, that the occurrence of this 
fossil there in a fragmentary state must have been as 
a derivative one. The bottom rocks at Culford, near 
Bury St. Edmunds, the seat of Earl Cadogan, were 
believed by Mr. A. Jukes-Brown, Mr. Whitaker, Mr. 
Holmes, and others, to be primary ; and Dr. Taylor 
expressed his conviction from the microscopical exa- 
mination he had made of a few fragments, that they 
were from the lower coal-measures of the carbonifer- 


AARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 27 


ous formation. However, he hoped Earl Cadogan 
would come to the aid of scientific men, and allow 
the boring to proceed another hundred feet into 
these interesting Primary rocks. They must re- 
member that this was the first time the underlying 
Primary floor had been bottomed in Suffolk, and 
that a boring through these soft carboniferous shales 
might be of practical benefit even if coal were not 
found. He had submitted specimens of these soft 
shales to analysis by Mr. J. Napier, of the Museum 
Laboratory, and, as he (the lecturer) anticipated, 
they were found to contain strong traces of petroleum. 
It would not be a bad thing if a deep boring 
through these soft shales yielded petroleum instead 
of coal. 

What he should like to see was trial-borings a little 
further to the north of Culford. Taking a line from 
Southwold through Eye to Mildenhall, he thought 
that would be the best district along which to make 
such efforts to reach the upper coal-measures which 
probably lay synclinally along the northern flanks of 
these underground primary rocks, He had much 
faith in the districts of Brandon, Lakenheath, and 
Mildenhall, because the Memoir of the Geological 
Survey, so carefully mapped and measured by Mr. 
Woodward, showed that the oolitic rocks thinned out 
in that direction, and that very deep borings would not 
be required, therefore, in order to reach the primary 
rocks beneath. The most remarkable thing to geo- 
logists was, that at Culford these oolitic beds were 
absent. The thinnest set of the overlying beds had 
been previously bored through at Ware, in Hertford- 
shire, at a depth of 800 feet, but at Culford the depth 
was only 650 feet. What they wanted, therefore, in 
the future, with regard to experiments in search of 
coal, was to institute a set of borings somewhere in 
the region he had just mentioned. He should prefer 
the waste lands about Mildenhall, which now grew 
nothing but peasants and pheasants, as the site, for if 
coal could be found there, it would save the sylvan 
lanes of Suffolk from a destruction, which, however 
much he valued the importance of coal, he should be 
sorry to see brought about. 

In conclusion, Dr. Taylor said they must remember 
that at present this inquiry was in the scientific 
stage. In any undertakings that might be made for 
the discovery of coal, he wished it to be distinctly 
understood that they were scientific experiments. He 
thought that some might prove successful, but he 
should be very sorry to have it go forth that the 
enterprise was as yet, ina purely commercial stage. 
He had been writing on this subject for nearly twenty 
years past! Hitherto, he had piped and nobody had 
danced: now, there was a tendency to dance too 
much. Nevertheless, without public support and 
public spirit, this important inquiry could never be 
carried on, and he appealed to all patriotic residents 
in East Anglia for assistance towards a solution of 
the problem. He was delighted that that night he 


had been honoured with the presence of a wealthy 
and enterprising English nobleman, known and hon- 
oured by the English people, and he would venture 
to ask his powerful aid and influence towards the 
decision of a question, upon which science was bring- 
ing to bear the weight of logical facts. In the opinion 
of the people of East Anglia no current subject was 
of greater importance than the one he had been 
privileged to lecture upon that night, and remem- 
bering how coal had been discovered under similar 
conditions in France and Belgium, as well as at 
Dover, he thought that residents in this part of the 
country could not sit contented with their hands in 
their laps, without allowing some trial-borings to be 
made in the manner he had suggested. 

The lecture occupied an hour. 

At the close, Earl Cadogan, in proposing a vote of 
thanks to the lecturer, spoke of the eloquent and very 
interesting manner in which Dr. Taylor had dealt 
with a subject, which might otherwise had been con- 
sidered dry, and as President he felt that he might 
become the interpreter of the audience in thanking 
Dr. Taylor. He (Earl Cadogan) had never heard 
the theories and facts of so abstruse and scientific a 
subject treated in a more interesting manner. Dr. 
Taylor had made certain points as to strata perfectly 
clear to his audience. * Earl Cadogan said he had 
specimens of the various strata, through which there 
had been boring at Culford, sent to eminent geolo- 
gists. He gathered from Dr. Taylor’s lecture that 
the chances of finding coal in the neighbourhood 
of Culford were somewhat remote, but understood that 
petroleum might possibly be found beneath his estate. 
Such a subterranean arrangement was a contingency 
which hitherto had not presented itself to his mind. 
He understood from Dr. Taylor’s remarks that it 
was desirable to prosecute boring researches further. 
Mineral wealth was of the utmost importance in a 
district like that of East Anglia. If coal was dis- 
covered in the Eastern counties, undoubtedly the™ 
wealth of the residents would be much increased, and 
the prosperity of the kingdom enhanced. He should 
be glad if such a prospect could be foreshadowed, 
and might add that although he could not undertake 
to incur very great expense, yet possibly the boring 
would be continued some distance further. It was 
highly desirable a subject so full of interest and in- 
struction should be continued some extent further. 
If Dr. Taylor’s well-considered lecture proved instru- 
mental in enlightening the inhabitants of the Eastern 
counties in the direction indicated, he thought all 
present would agree that a very agreeable and 
profitable evening would have been spent. 

A hearty vote of thanks having been accorded to 
Dr. Taylor by acclamation, in acknowledging the 
compliment, he expressed his pleasure in hearing that 
Earl Cadogan would permit the boring at Culford to 
be extended 50 to 60 feet further for the benefit of 


science. 
C2 


28 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


ROSSENDALE RHIZOPODS. 
No 8. 


2 our previous papers we have treated upon the 

Rhizopods belonging to the order Protoplasta, 
which is divided into two sub-orders, Lobosa and 
Filosa ; in the present article we arrive at the order 
Heliozoa. This contains nine genera, and sixteen or 
more species. The Rhizopods of this order differ 
widely, in many important particulars, from those of 
the previous one. Some of them are very beautiful, 
from the presence of chlorophyll as a permanent 
constituent of their bodies; others are, perhaps, 
more curious than beautiful; while a considerable 
number are very obscure, and in some cases offer 
considerable difficulty to a successful identification. 
The animals of this order are essentially swimmers, 
and are most commonly found among Algze and duck- 
weed. They consist generally of a more or less 
spherical mass of naked, foamy protoplasm. 

In one genus, Clathrulina, there is a beautiful 


Fig. 12.—Actinophrys sol. 


latticed, globular, stalked, silicious test. In Vampy- 
rella, the spherical body can assume ameboid forms, 
and in addition to the ordinary pseudopodial rays, 
there are others which are Acineta-like, and the 
periphery of the body can be thrown into conical and 
lobose extensions. The species of Diplophrys are 
mostly minute, and generally associated together in 
numbers, each having fine pseudopodia radiating 
from its opposite poles, and an interior coloured 
(amber or red) spot. 

Acanthocystis has many both curious and beautiful 
species, which are characterised by the body being 
invested by a layer of protoplasm densely crowded 
with minute linear particles, and by the presence of 
simple, pin-like, or furcate silicious radiating spines. 
In Raphidiophrys there is also an exterior layer of 
protoplasm extending in tapering processes on to the 
pseudopodial rays, and densely pervaded with minute 


spicules tangentially arranged; the Rhizopods of 
this genus are generally compound, being found jn 
groups of variable numbers joined by isthmus-like 
bars. The genus Heterophrys is Actinophrys-like, 
but the body is invested with a layer of granular 
protoplasm, having a villous surface. In Hyalolampe, 
the protoplasmic body is covered with a layer of 
minute, colourless, silicious globules. Although I 
have seen several species belonging to at least three 
of the above genera, it is quite evident that they are 
somewhat rare forms in this district, and as in the 
instances mentioned I was unable to devote time to 
their study, I do not propose in these articles to 
describe any of the above genera, confining my notes 
to the two genera, Actinophrys and Actinospherium. 
I think it probable that the Rhizopods of the order 
under consideration are southern forms, delighting in 
the genial warmth of a less rigorous climate than that 
of Rossendale. I know that, with the exceptions to 
be stated presently, none of my microscopical friends 
have been more fortunate: than myself in the 
collection of the Heliozoa ; while, on the other hand, I 
have frequently come across them in tubes of the 
Rotifera sent me by kind correspondents from various 
parts of the Midland counties and the south of 
England. Actinophrys sol,* or, as the older micro- 
scopists termed it, ‘*The Sun Animalcule,” appears 
to be as common here as elsewhere, being found 
in all our waters, particularly those well supplied 
with duckweed and other aquatic plants. Few 
possessors of microscopes, I should imagine, have 
not frequently had this Heliozoan Rhizopod under 
observation. It presents itself generally as a colour- 
less, globular, more or Jess cellular-looking body, 
covered with long, delicate, hair-like rays. As it 
placidly floats in the water, it seems entirely unfitted 
to cope with its more active neighbours ; but obser- 
vation proves it to be able to look well after its 
commissariat. Although it is to some extent at the 
mercy of the slightest current, it is able to anchor 
itself to some stationary or floating object. It is a 
somewhat sluggish, and apparently a stationary 
animal, but if carefully watched it will be noticed to 
slowly glide along by some obscure movements of its 
pseudopodial rays. The body, as stated above, is 
generally colourless, but coloured food-balls, red, 
green, or brown, may sometimes be observed 
embedded in some part of its substance ; these, after 
digestion has continued some time, appear as coloured, 
cloudy patches. The body is granular, and seems in 
some individuals so vesicular as to present the appear- 
ance of cellular tissue, though not often as definitely 
so as in Actinospherium. The pseudopodia are very 
numerous, but variable in different specimens ; they are 
as long, or even twice as long, as the diameter of the 
body, and are very delicate, and c2pable of retraction. 


* The vesicles in the figure of A. soZ ought to have been 
shaded. 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 29 


The animal multiplies by division, and may occasion- 
ally be observed in various stages of the process. Its 
food consists of Rotifera, Infusoria, and Microscopic 
Algz. When one of the Rotifera, or 
other active animal, swims against the 
pseudopodial rays, they lay hold of the 
object, and if successful in retaining it, 
contract to the surface of the body, 
drawing down the prey with them, 
which is then surrounded by a portion 
of the body protoplasm, after which 
the mass is drawn in. There is a large 
central nucleus, generally indistinct, and 
a large bubble-like contracting vesicle, 
situated at the periphery of the body. 
Size variable, my specimen from ,}, to 
sw of an inch in diameter of body: 
Actinophrys picta, the only other species, 
closely resembles 4. so/, differing only 
in the colourless granular protoplasm 
having numerous green chlorophyll 
granules scattered through its sub- 
stance. Ihave found only one or two 
specimens of this species, and it re- 
quires no further description for its 
identification. I now come to the last 
of the Heliozoas for which I can fairly 
claim a Rossendale habitat. 
Actinospherium Eichhornit was for- 
merly placed in the previous genus, but 
was eventually separated on account of important 
differences. It is large, and not nearly so common 
here as Actinophrys sol ; indeed, I only know one pond, 
a mill-lodge, from which I occasionally get specimens ; 
in this the water is somewhat warm from the waste 
steam which, on condensation, runs into it. It differs 
from Actinophrys, as I have said, in being larger, but 
_ its most obvious distinction is the fact of its being 
separable into two layers—an outer, composed of a 
single or double row of well-marked vesicles, some- 
what regularly placed—the interior not so well- 
defined. The outer vesicles are in the form of 
short, six-sided columns, and the broader end out- 
ward, in order to form the sphere. The animal is 
spherical or oval, colourless and hyaline as regards 
the marginal vesicles; interior frequently clouded. 
The pseudopodial rays may be numerous or few, 
granular, tapering, and radiate as in Actinophrys, 
though not so long proportionately,* and in this genus 
there is an axial thread -of more solid protoplasm in 
each of the rays, which, though spine-like, and not 
rigid, yet give strength and support tothem. These 
threads arise from the surface of the interior mass, 
and reach nearly to the tip of each pseudopodial ray. 
Food, habits and habitat same as Actinophrys; 
nuclei numerous, brought out by reagents; con- 
tracting vesicles two, on opposite sides, bubble-like. 


* Rays rarely as long as in the figure. 


Size of body from 3, to yj; of an inch. Rays about, 
or not quite equal in length, to diameter of body. 
In my next I propose to figure and describe the new 


Fig. 13.—Actinospherium Eichhornii. 


forms which have come under my observation, 
though many particulars are wanting before they can: 


be correctly placed. 
J. E. Lorp. 
Rawtenstall, 


P.S. I regret, that owing to_the excessive wetness 


of 1891, and other causes, I shall have to defer a 


description of my new forms until a future occasion. 
—j.E.L. 


EUROPEAN BUTTERFLIES. 
[Continued from No. 324, p. 277-] 


N my way from Neuchatel to Zermatt I stopped: 

the night at Sierre, where three years ago I 

got a fine series of Daplidice in the grounds of that 
most comfortable hotel, the Belle Vue. Podalirius 
abounds here ‘at the proper season, and Didyma is 
quite as abundant. Here, too, is to be found in the 
roads that run through the vineyards to the north of 
the town, in greater numbers than I have ever seen it 
elsewhere, three, four, even five specimens on one 
plant of Lupatorium cannabinum being by no means 
unusual, and this in the full sunshine. I once caught 
it there at its\best, and got some magnificent examples 
of this strikingly beautiful insect. In the morning, 
before starting for Zermatt, I took a saunter round 
the rather extensive grounds of the hotel (once a 


30 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


chateau belonging to the nuble family De Courten, 
and containing some beautiful oak-panelled rooms). 

Just at the south of a wood which consists chiefly 
of pine-trees, and which covers a small hill in the 
grounds (by the bye, these pines are infested by 
mistletoe, some trees having a score or more of plants 
on them), I saw a large bright blue butterfly start 
from a plant of Colutea arborescens, and fly up into 
the wood. That it was something that I had never 
seen before was certain, and I ran back to the hotel 
for my net. On my return I was very gratified to 
find that the butterfly had returned too, and in a 
trice I had him in my net. It turned out to be a 
perfect male of Iolas, so rare as a Swiss insect— 
though abundant enough in southern France—that 
only three previous captures in Switzerland are on 
record. 

These were all taken near Sierre, so that if the 
neighbourhood were carefully worked at the begin- 
ning of July (mine was taken on the 2nd), I have no 
doubt other specimens might be got there. 

We reached Zermatt on the 2nd of July. The first 
two or three days were very wet indeed, and my 
excursions during this time were confined to con- 
stitutionals down and up the high road, which was a 
couple of inches deep in mud. However, the weather 
cleared at last, and for the remaining ten days of our 
stay it was beautiful. 

My first search for butterflies was made down the 
valley towards Randa. I got on this occasion, 
besides commoner kinds, the following species : 
Sinapis, Hippothoé (var. Eurybia), Simplonia, 
Bryoniz, Eumedon, Arion, Mera, and last, but not 
least, a nice specimen of that fine insect Gordius, the 
first I had ever seen alive. 

I was surprised to find Cardamines still in good 
condition. A few days later on I got in the same 
direction some Dictynna and Athalia, and two more 
Gordius, together with a very fine series of Delius. 
These last occurred close to where some strong 
springs issue from the mountain side, on the right 
bank of the river, about a mile below Zermatt. These 
springs saturate the ground just below the place 
whence they issue, and here grow a good many 
plants of Saxi/raga aizoides on which the larvz feed. 
Delius is a very easy insect to capture, as in fact are 
all the Swiss species of the genus. 

Eumedon was one of the most plentiful of all 
butterflies in jthe valley, and was sure to be seen 
wherever Geranium sanguineum occurred. The 
imago is as partial to the flower of this plant as 
“the caterpillar is to the seed. 

My most successful day was that on which I made 
an excursion to the Riffel Alp. The path thither 
leaves the village at the south end. Just beyond the 
village the path runs alongside the river, and I there 
saw several Apollos floating about, up and down the 
steep bank on the left, but having rarer species in 
view I did not attempt to make any captures. 


Soon after the path enters the wood there is a 
small piece of grass on the left, where I saw several 
Crategi, and apparently in fine condition. A little 
beyond this, in a moist pasture to the right and close 
to some chalets, I took Dictynna and one or two 
Pales ; the latter, however, is much more abundant at 
higher elevations. 

Between the first and second refreshment-chalets 
there is a considerable extent of broken rocky ground 
more or less covered with rhododendron scrub, and 
having fir-trees thinly scattered over it. Here I saw 
two or three Palenos careering about in the rapid 
style peculiar to the genus Colias. After a time one 
alighted, and I succeeded in netting it; it turned out 
to be a very fine male. 

Keeping on and up, I took a short cut across a 
meadow or alp lying behind the second refreshment- 
chalet. Here Phicomine was to be seen in dozens, 
and in one corner of the meadow I found quite a 
colony of Orbitulus, a pretty little greyish-blue butter- 
fly which is rather local than rare. Leaving the 
refreshment-chalet, I did not keep to the mule-path, 
which here turns sharply to the left, but kept to the 
gully through which the old path to the Riffel Alp 
used to run, as I thought I might there meet with 
Delius ; not seeing any, however, I crossed the stream 
—which was:on my right—and passed up the opposite 
bank to the Alp above. Here Phicomine literally 
swarmed, and as it flew low and steadily over the 
short herbage, I could easily have taken scores if I 
had been so inclined, I did not, however, see any- 
thing else at all noticeable, so I re-crossed the stream 
and made the best of my way up some very steep 
slopes to the Hotel Riffel-Alp, capturing on my 
way a few examples of Cassiope. 

After taking some refreshment I made for the ridge 
of the Riffel-Alp, which lies behind the hotel, and 
on my way up I quite unexpectedly found three 
examples of that rare plant Anemone Halleri, and a 
few late blooms of A. alpina. 

When I reached the ridge I could see flying about 
over a higher part of it to the left, and very rapidly, 
some light-coloured butterflies which I could not 
identify, but I deferred making a closer acquaint- 
ance with them until I had visited a somewhat boggy 
corner of the Alp, which I could see some distance 
away in the direction of the Riffel-Berg. 

Passing down ,to this corner, I saw on my way 
Phicomine in greater profusion than ever ; but though 
one would expect to see one or two good varieties 
where a species is so abundant, I failed to detect any 
here, Orbitulus, too, was plentiful, and I secured one 
Arcas, the only example that I saw of a very local, if 
not rare, butterfly. 

Some little time before I reached the swampy 
ground, I saw an occasional Merope, but close to 
and flying over it the insect was in plenty, and a few 
minutes sufficed for capturing all that I wanted. 
Why Merope is not allowed specific rank I cannot 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 31 


Imagine ; it is hardly more like Aurinia than the latter 
is like the female of Cynthia, the distinctness of 
which no one doubts for 2 moment; and the same 
remark applies quite as (or even more) strongly to 
Proyincialis and Desfontanii, two other very beautiful 
varieties of Aurinia, though they are very unlike the 
type, and still more unlike Merope. Moreover, the 
food-plant of Merope is said to be Primula viscosa, 
(though, by the way, I have great doubt as to this 
being so), whereas Aurinia usually feeds on Scabious 
and Plantain, and never, I believe, on any kind of 
Primula. Having done with Merope, I turned my 
steps towards the place where I had seen the white 
butterflies. On my way thither I passed over a large 
space of ground where &. /uzaria was growing in 
such profusion as I never saw elsewhere: the plants 
stood so thickly that it was almost impossible to put 
one’s foot down without treading on one ; they were, 
too, unusually large and robust, and oh! how different 
from the few puny examples I have seen growing in 
England of this curious little fern. 

About half-way between the swamp and the ridge, 
my eye suddenly fell on a beautiful male Cynthia 
settled on the ground a yard or two away, its white 
checkered wings outspread after the manner of the 
genus. I had never seen this insect before, but there 
could be no mistake about its identity, for no other 
Swiss Melitea has any white on the wings. 

Approaching carefully, I struck too hurriedly, the 
net hit the ground, and the prize was gone! I wasted 
more than an hour about the spot, but I did not get 
a glimpse of another specimen there. The white 
butterflies turned out to be Callidice, a very restless 
insect and a very rapid flyer, but by quietly waiting 
at one spot and making a rapid dash as one passed 
near me, I managed to net four or five, and I got 
two or three more by stalking them, when they 
settled on the ground as they occasionally did. 

All the specimens were males, and in good con- 
dition. (A day or two later, I got half-a-dozen more 
above the Riffel-Berg Hotel, one of which was a 
female.) Whilst I was catching Callidice, I saw 
another Cynthia, and secured it, and subsequently I 
found a spot where a brood had evidently just 
hatched out. I got a number of fine fresh specimens, 
but unfortunately only one of them was a female. 
The white checkers are wanting in this'sex. 

On another occasion, I made an excursion to the 
Schwartz-See for the purpose of getting Gorge, but I 
only saw two specimens, and one of these escaped me. 
I took some fine Tyndanis and Lappoda, however, 
and saw a few Palzno and Callidice, but on the 
whole this was not a successful day. My attention 
was turned chiefly to butterflies, but I observed a 
number of plants of Lioydia serotina, and of Ranun- 
culus rutefolia on the alps round the Schwartz-See 
Hotel. 

We left Zermatt on the 14th July for Berisal, where 
I found Gordius quite plentiful. I may say here, 


that this insect is far finer in colour and larger on the 
Italian side of the pass. A German gentleman stay- 
ing at Berisal made an expedition to Crevola, and 
returned with a fine series caught there ; it was very 
interesting to notice the marked difference between 
these, and those he had taken at Berisal. All the 
Swiss species of Parnassus are to be obtained here. 
Mnemosyne is fairly common quite close to the hotel, 
and is extremely abundant on the alp high above the 
second refuge, where I also saw Eurybia, Lathonia, 
Carthemi, etc. 

The male of Goante is by no means uncommon on 
the roadside just beyond the bridge (which is about 
ten minutes below the hotel), but the female is rare. 
Hylas, Eros, Pheretes, Donzelii, Damon, Alcon, 
Escheri, the rare Lycidas, Parthanie, Didyma, Her- 
mione, and numerous commoner species may be taken 
on or near the roadside, between the bridge and the 
second refuge, but every fine day in the season 
witnesses several nets going all along this road, so 
that it would seem almost a wonder that anything 
should escape ; nevertheless, the species do not appear 
to diminish in numbers from the annual raids made 
on them, ’ 

Both Hippothoé and Virgaurex are plentiful all 
about Berisal, the latter being especially abundant in 
the rough valley which runs up from the bridge to 
the Bortel-Alp. 

Here, too, Apollo and Dolius are common, and a 
few Arcas occur. High up above Berisal, on very 
rough stony slopes near the snow-line, I caught about 
a dozen Gorge, but it is a very wary insect and by no 
means easy to take on its favourite ground. I only 
saw one Cynthia, but I believe it is sufficiently abun- 
dant on some of the high alps above the hotel. 

Besides the butterflies I have mentioned above, 
and the commoner kinds, I got specimens (more or 
less) of each of the following species: Euphemus, 
Asteria, Melampus, Stygne, Medusa, Celo, Euryale, 
Layaterz, and the pretty little Sao, which is rather 
common almost everywhere. 

One day I explored the ground round the Hospice, 
but with small results ; I saw a marmot, one or two 
Palzno, and a few Lappona, but nothing else. 

When returning to Berisal I took the low, and in 
some places extremely narrow, valley which runs nearly 
straight down from the fourth to the second refuge: 

The old mule-road over the pass went through this 
valley; this road after eighty-five years’ disuse is still 
plainly marked in many places, but portions of it are 
nowadays extremely rough, avalanches having indeed 
carried it away altogether in places, and in others 
covered it with a chaos of withered fir-trees and 
enormous boulders, so that it is anything but an easy 
matter to get down the valley at all. 

The venture was not repaying, nevertheless I got 
a good series of Arcania, var. Darwiniana, and a few 
commoner kinds. 

I devoted one day to a visit to the Bel-Alp for 


, 


32 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Palzeno, which I had seen there in 1890. It occurs 
abundantly on the slopes just below the Bel-Alp 
Hotel. The east side of these slopes incline steeply 
towards the Aletsch Glacier, which is in full view of 
them, and require cautious walking, They are 
covered with the Rhododendron scrub which Palzeus 
so affects. The day was not altogether auspicious, 
but I caught a fine series, including two lovely 
females. On my way down I did not keep to the 
path, but at first bore a good deal to the left, passing 
over some very broken and undulating ground where 
were scattered here and there a few large fir-trees. 
Just as I reached a little rough hillock which lay in 
my way, a great black wood-pecker got up from the 
other side, and flew leisurely to one of the fir-trees, up 
the trunk of which it climbed, keeping the trunk, 
however, between itself and me, and peeping curiously 
round at the stranger who had ventured to trespass 
on its lonely fastnesses. I think it was an old bird, 
for the brilliant crimson crest was very conspicuous. 

Another excursion was to the Pfyn-Wald, a wood 
of pine-trees—interspersed with grassy spaces—which 
lies between Leuk and Sierre. Meleager and Sebrus 
are both taken there, but I was not fortunate enough 
to find either the one or the other. Four years ago 
I got a pair of Meleager there, the female being the 
brown variety named Steveni. The true home of 
this butterfly is Digne and its neighbourhood. I got 
one good Camilla (greatly to my surprise, as I never 
saw any honeysuckle in the Pfyn-Wald), a few fine 
Arion, some Dia and Dryas, and two or three Stella- 
tarum. This last insect is very abundant in the 
Rhone valley. 

As to plants at Berisal, I saw there the rare and 
curious Campanula excisa ; it was abundant within a 
short distance of the hotel. I have never seen the 
plant elsewhere. All four of the Swiss’ species of 
Pyrola, too, occur close to the hotel, and Secunda is 
very plentiful and fine on the Alp; to the left—a 
short distance beyond the Simplon Hospice—it grows 
amongst the low bilberry bushes. 

When we left Berisal at the end of July, we went 
to Aigle. Here I obtained a few Camilla, Sibylla, 
Quercus, W. album, Mlicis, AZthiops, ?one Althzece, 
(this insect in the proper season is abundant at Aigle, 
but I was too late for it), and about a dozen Actza 
var. Cordula. I saw two Iris, a butterfly which is 
generally abundant here, but I was not lucky enough 
to take any. From what I saw and heard, I think 
Aigle—or perhaps better still Sepey, higher up the 
valley towards the Diablerets—would be a capital 
centre for Lepidopterists; but at Aigle itself mus- 
quitos are very troublesome to new-comers in July 
and August. 

There is an exceedingly rare-fern to be found near 
that place; I refer to Asplenium fontanum, which 
grows abundantly on the rocks that bound the road 
on the left, on the way up to Sepey. To see such a 
scarce plant as this in situ would repay any botanist 


for the trouble of a visit to this—in spite of mus- 
quitos—very charming place; moreover, the hotel 
(Beau Site) is one that can be honestly recommended, 
for its comfortable arrangements and very moderate 
charges. 

RBs R: 


Eastbourne. 


NOTES ON THE SITE OF HASTINGS. 
By T. V. HotmeEs, F.G.S. 


N the present day the additions yearly made to our 
larger towns consist of habitations and work- 
shops, built on sites of very various degrees of merit or 
demerit. Here a healthy plateau becomes covered 
by ‘‘desirable villa residences ;” there, on marshes 
below high-water mark, appear factories and streets 
of small dwellings, adjoining newly-excavated docks. 
But an ancient town owed its existence to its natural 
advantages of soil and situation over all other spots 
in the district. The site of ancient London, for 
example, consists of a gravel-capped plateau close to 
a navigable river; water for domestic use being 


- easily obtained from shallow wells, and the elevation 


of the ground obviating any fear of floods, and being 
comparatively advantageous for purposes of defence. 
And the more ancient the town the more heed did its 
founders pay to defensive strength, either in the 
shape of a strong site for the town itself, or in the 
proximity of a naturally strong position, which. might 
become a refuge for women and children, and a place 
for the storage of valuables, during the inroad of some 
hostile tribe or nation. 

Though the site of Hastings is very different in 
character from that of London, it is yet, as evidently 
as the great city on the Thames, a place which must 
have been occupied as a town from the earliest times. 
But the record of Hastings is not one of gradual 
development as that of London has been. Starting 
as a mere fishing-town or village, Hastings became, 
eight hundred years ago, the Premier Cinque Port. 
Centuries of decline, the result of physical changes, 
followed, yet during the last half-century it has so 
greatly extended and developed itself, that it is now 
much more decidedly the Premier Cinque Port than 
it was in the days of the Norman kings. Yet it 
cannot be said that the importance of Hastings 
Castle tended to counterbalance the destruction of 
its harbour, and preserve a continuity of existence to 
the town, For while the castle of another of the 
Cinque Ports, Dover, is now the centre of extensive 
modern fortifications, Hastings Castle was allowed to 
fall into decay as early as the fourteenth century. 

In order to get some knowledge of the geological 
structure of the district immediately surrounding the 
town, we cannot do better than take our stand on the 
massive stone groyne which juts into the sea under 
the East Cliff of Hastings. The East Cliff is seen t o 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 33 


be composed of massive sandstone, and to rise to a 
height of about 200 ft. Rock of a similar kind is 
visible in the Castle Hill; west of the valley in which 
the old town lies. As we look eastward, however, 
we notice that the sandstone beds, which form almost 
the whole of the East Cliff, rise gently in the direction 
of Fairlight Gien and Lover’s Seat, while below 
them a walk along the shore will reveal a greater and 
greater thickness of strata of a mainly clayey nature. 
Below Lover’s Seat there is much undercliff, and the 
only rocks visible are' massive sandstone capping the 
hill and mottled clay on the foreshore. 

In this mottled clay, which belongs to the series of 
beds known as the Fairlight Clay, we have the lowest 
Strata belonging to the Hastings Sands, and the 
lowest visible in this south-eastern district except the 
Purbeck Beds near Battle. The overlying sand- 
stone beds of the East Cliff and Castle Hill belong to 
the Ashdown Sands. But a little eastward of 
Hastings Pier a fault, having a downthrow to the west, 
throws down sandstone belonging to the higher 


EDCE OF 
OLD 
EARTHWORK 


N.N.E. 


| knoll is the castle. 


which comes out to sea at Folkestone. Westward, 
beyond Pevensey Level, we see the South Downs 
jutting into the sea at Beachy Head ; for we are now 
on the highest point of the coast between the North 
and South Downs. In addition to the enjoyment of 
a magnificent panoramic view, we also attain to a true 
perception of the proportions of the great anti- 
clinal of the Weald, in the centre of which we are 
standing. It is seldom indeed that so good an 
opportunity occurs of noting the true nature of an 
important anticlinal as compared with the figures 
given in geological manuals.* 

The second spot is Hastings Castle Hill. But the 
best place for a view is not within the walls of the 
castle, but at a point sixty or seventy yards northward. 
The Castle Hill, at the southern or seaward end of 
which the castle stands, broadens and also increases 
gently in height northwards. But on the southern 
end there is a little knoll, the sides of which become 
steeper and steeper towards the sea, and on this 
Examination of the ground 


S.S.W. 


Fig. 14.—Section through ancient Earth-works and Castle, Hastings. 


Tunbridge Wells series against the Ashdown Beds. 
This fault is known as the White Rock Fault, Thus, 
while Hastings stands upon Ashdown Sands, its 
modern suburb, St. Leonards, is built chiefly on 
Tunbridge Wells Sand. 

Two spots in this district are worthy of special 
mention as affording views of unusual extent and 
interest. The first is the coast-guard station at 
Fairlight. The view from this point is not so well 
known as might be expected, because most of the 
visitors to the bold and picturesque cliffs east of 
Hastings, whether driving or on foot, seldom go 
beyond Lover’s Seat. Nevertheless, the most 
extensive views are those obtainable after cross- 
ing the glen beyond zLoyer’s Seat, and ascending 
to the coast-guard station beyond. From St. 
Leonards to this point the cliffs gradually rise, 
while they sink with much greater rapidity hence 
towards Dungeness. Close to the coast-guard 
station the new ordnance map shows a height of 
478 f. Gazing eastward, we look down on Rye and 
Winchelsea, and across the broad flat of Romney 
Marsh to the long chalk ridge of the North Downs, 


shows that while the medizeval castle occupies only 
the southern half of the knoll, the whole of it 
was fortified in prehistoric times. A bank of earth 
of considerable height still surrounds its northern 
end, where the natural strength of the position is 
least, and dies away as the slopes steepen on the 
eastern and western flanks. The builders of the 
medizeyval castle, not wishing to occupy so much 
ground as the owners of the prehistoric entrench- 
ment, cut a deep and broad ditch across the rock 
from east to west, so as to separate the portion they 
required from the rest of the ancient stronghold, in 
the manner shown in the diagram section above. 
From the northern edge of the ancient fortress the 
spectator can survey, looking eastward, the ‘‘ old 
town” of Hastings in the valley and the East Cliff 
beyond. Gazing westward we may see the rest of 
Hastings and St, Leonards, and in the distance the 
long chalk ridge ending at Beachy Head. Northward 
the ground gradually rises, but for three or four miles 


* For a full account of the geology both of Hastings and of 
the Weald district generally, see the “ Geological Survey 
Memoir.” by Mr. W. Topley. 


34 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSS/P, 


appear the rolling, well-wooded hills of Hastings 
Sand around Ore and Hollington. 

As we stand on the edge of the prehistoric fortress, 
and, surveying the sheltered valleys on each side, 
remember that in addition to dry sandy soil and a 
little stream in both, there was also an excellent 
natural harbour in one of them, from some very an- 
cient prehistoric period down to the twelfth century, 
it becomes evident that Hastings must have been the 
site of a town from a very ancient date—a date 
compared with which the landing of Julius Cesar is 
but a modern event. That we find no mention of 
Hastings as a’place of importance during the Roman 
Occupation is only what might be expected. For 
we must not forget that Anderida (or Pevensey), 
which certainly was a Roman port, must have once 
possessed a very much more extensive harbour than 
that of Hastings, and as the two places are only 
eleven or twelve miles apart, if Anderida was a kind 
of Roman Portsmouth, Hastings is very unlikely to 
have held any equivalent rank. 

But it also appears that, at a later date, the east- 
ward drift of the shingle in the English Channel had 
injured the more westerly harbour of Pevensey before 
it had begun to damage that of Hastings. This is 
evident from the fact that, shortly after the Norman 
Conquest, Hastings became the Premier Cinque 
Port, while Pevensey’s importance had been so much 
reduced that it figures simply as a ‘‘ Corporate 
Member” of Hastings, its head port. William the 
Conqueror is said, by some historians, to have landed 
at Pevensey ; by others, at Bulverhithe.* It appears 
to me that all probability is in favour of the latter 
spot. For to have disembarked at Pevensey would 
have meant the landing of the Norman army at a 
spot separated from the higher and drier ground 
around Battle and Hastings, by a breadth of three 
miles or more of marsh and water. The exact pro- 
portions of marsh and water at that time cannot be 
ascertained, but neither could have been desirable. 
Then, as just noted, the harbour at Pevensey had 
much degenerated in the eleventh century, a fact 
which must have been known to the wary and saga- 
cious William. But the haven at Bulverhithe, only 
two or three miles west of Hastings, began to de- 
teriorate about the same time as that of Hastings, 
and was probably in a better condition than Pevensey 
Harbour in the year 1066; and Bulverhithe was 
not separated by swamps from the higher ground on 
which the subsequent movements took place. 

The decline of Hastings seems to have begun very 
soon after the Norman Conquest, for in the time of 
Henry II., Rye and Winchelsea were practically 
added to the Cinque Ports, to “‘ complete the num- 
ber of the twenty Hastings ships.”+ I have already 
mentioned that the harbour which gave Hastings its 


* The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle leaves this point uncertain. 
+ “The Cinque Ports” (Historic Towns Series), p. 70, by 
Professor Montagu Burrows. 


position as a port during the reign of the] Norman 
kings was in the valley west of the Castle, commonly 
called the Priory Valley. Its former position may 
easily be detected in the present day. At White 
Rock Place on the west, and at the Castle Hill east- 
ward, the cliffs come close to the beach. Between 
the spots, just named, there is a broad, flat shingle- 
covered area, occupied by Carlisle Parade, Robertson 
Street, Trinity Church, the Memorial Clock-tower, 
etc. The streets which diverge from the Clock- 
tower in a north-easterly or north-westerly direction 
begin to rise at a very short distance from that monu- 
ment, the rise in the ground marking the limits of 
the shingle flat. But if we go due north of the Clock- 
tower to the cricket-ground, we enter an open space 
of six acres,*a few feet below the level of the shingle 
flat, and see at once that we are standing on the site 
of the silted-up ancient harbour of the Premier Cinque 
Port. The broad shingle flat southward must have 
covered a considerable breadth of ground soon after 
the Conquest ; for on it a Priory of Austin Canons 
was founded in the reign of Richard I., and dedicated 
to the Holy Trinity, from which it would seem that 
at that time the shingle was considered to be a per- 
manent addition to the land. But we learn, that in 
consequence of the gradual encroachments of the sea, 
the Priory buildings were inundated and their inmates 
compelled to abandonthem. Sir John Pelham, how- 
ever, gave them lands at Warbleton, near Heathfield, 
to which they retired in the reign of Henry IV. No 
doubt, a long period in which the deposition of shingle 
had been slow and gradual was succeeded by others 
of alternating gain and loss of land, the former, on 
the whole, predominating. The effect of the action 
of the sea on the coast is, speaking generally, to 
reduce the prominence of promontories, and to fill up 
bays with silt and shingle. But a result of storms is 
occasionally the sweeping away of large quantities 
of shingle from a spot where it has been gradually 
accumulating, and its deposition elsewhere. The 
material thus removed is, “however, usually soon 
replaced by fresh deposits from the same quarter. 
The history of any considerable breadth of coast 
is sure to offer some striking examples of the changes: 
which may be suddenly produced after a long period 
of comparative quiescence. For example, the old — 
ordnance map of the coast of West Hampshire and 
East Dorset, on which the work of the Geological 
Survey has been done, shows the mouth of Christ- 
church Harbour as nearly the same distance from 
Hengistbury Head, on the south, as from the land 
on the northern flank of the harbour. But in 1880, 
owing, I believe, to the (then) recent removal of 
masses of ironstone from Hengistbury Head, I saw 
that shingle had come round the promontory in such 
abundance as to deflect the mouth ‘of the harbour 
about a mile and a half eastward. In 1888, the 
mouth was almost in the position it had occupied © 
when the map was made, storms having combined 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSI/P. 35 


with the natural tendency of the channel of the Stour 
and Ayon, to breach the shingle bank near the former 
place of outfall. 

In the case of Hastings, it is evident that during 
the ages when it possessed an excellent harbour in 
the Priory Valley, scarcely any shingle could have 
been deposited about the harbour’s mouth. This 
was probably due chiefly to two influences. Firstly, 
the deposition of immense quantities of eastward- 
travelling shingle in Pevensey Bay. Secondly, the 
retention of a large proportion of the rest by the 
island (about one-and-half miles long, and half a 
mile broad), shown on Norden’s map of Sussex (1616) 
and on Morden’s map half a century later, as existing 
off the coast of St. Leonards. This island has since 
gradually disappeared. But if, as is highly probable, 
it was, previous to the Norman Conquest, both larger 
and closer to the mainland than in Norden’s time, 
vast quantities of shingle must then have been re- 
tained on its western side. At a later date, the 
shingle, instead of being retained by the island or 
progressing round its southern coast to places east- 
ward of Hastings, would pass between the island and 
the shore, and be deposited largely in the Priory 
Valley. The effect on the harbour of Hastings of 
the reduction in size and ultimate destruction of this 
island, must have been similar to that which would 
occur at Portland Harbour as the result of a breach 
in the Chesil Bank. 

At the time of the Domesday Survey, the town in 
the Priory Valley had dwindled almost to nothing, 
while the New Burgh of-Hastings, in the Eastern or 
Bourne valley, had begun to flourish. But the 
Bourne Valley evidently never possessed a natural 
basin comparable to that which once existed west of 
the Castle Hill. So generally does the importance 
of the earliest of the harbours of Hastings seem to 
have been forgotten, that in Horsfield’s ‘‘ History of 
Sussex,” (1835), the Priory Harbour is not men- 
tioned, but we read that in ancient days Hastings is 
said to have had a good harbour formed by a large 
wooden pier, which projected from the centre of the 
Marine Parade in a south-east direction. (The 
Marine Parade is a little east of the Castle Hill.) 
But in Queen Elizabeth’s reign this pier was ‘de- 
stroyed by astorm. As late as the year 1834, it was 
proposed that a harbour should be formed westward 
of the Priory Bridge, which, judging from a map 
showing Hastings about the year 1820, must have 
stood close to the site of the Clock-tower. But 
nothing was done. 

The visitor to Hastings, who now looks down from 
the old entrenchment on Castle Hill, must then re- 
member that the western valley, in which all the 
buildings are more or less new, is the site of oldest 
Hastings, while the much more ancient-looking town 
in the eastern valley is, nevertheless, the ‘‘ New 
Burgh.” But though the former existence of the 
oldest town is almost forgotten, and though Horsfield, 


speaking of the parish of Holy Trinity, says that the 
Priory Farm forms the greater part of this district, 
and that up to the year 1800 the remaining part was 
waste and unoccupied, yet in the revived site of old 
Hastings, and not in the New Burgh, are now to be 
seen the most attractive shops, and the densest 
throngs of visitors. Nor is any place of amusement 
more popular in the summer months than the 
cricket-ground on the site of the once-famous harbour 
of the Premier Cinque Port. 


THE BRITISH PERLIDA OR STONE- 
FLIES. 


By W. H. NuNNEY. 


HE insects forming the subject of this short 
essay are a transition group of the Perenni- 
branchiate division of the Pseudo-Neuroptera, con- 
necting the cockroaches and crickets of the Orthoptera 
with the neuropterous Ephemeridz or May-flies. 
Christened Perlidze by systematic naturalists, they 
are popularly known in this country by the collective 
names of stone-flies, pearl-flies, and water-crickets, 
this last name, however, being of American origin. 
Popular names have also been given to the better- 
known species by anglers, who frequently utilise 
these insects as an attractive bait for trout and other 
fishes. 

In Britain, at least, the Perlide have attracted 
little attention, the Neuroptera generally having but 
few students. . This neglect is doubtless, in a measure, 
accounted for by the habits of the creatures them- 
selves, their mostly small size and sombre colour. 
No really trustworthy guide to the native species has 
been published in English; indeed, the literature 
relating to the group is comparatively meagre, and, 
with the exception of Professor Pictet’s fine but 
costly work on the subject in French, is widely 
scattered in various general entomologies and 
periodicals. Such being the case, it is hardly neces- 
sary for me to offer any apology for the present paper, 
written as it is with the idea of providing a ready 
index to the indigenous species of this family, and 
thus inducing British entomologists to elucidate much 
that in the history of the group is still obscure. 

The difficulties which stand in the way of a student 
of the group are, unfortunately, not few. The non- 
existence of good typical collections open to general 
view, and the want in our public libraries of several 
of the most important works of reference, as well as 
minor difficulties, combine to render research much 
harder than should be the case. The present author 
has, so far as possible, worked out the synonomy of 
species (this is, however, not given here for fairly 
obyious reasons) ; but, in some instances, not having 
been able to refer to the original types, errors must 
almost unavoidably have creptin. As Mr. McLachlan 
(the British authority on all matters neuropterological) 


36 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


remarked to me some while since, nothing of any 
permanent value in this direction can be done, unless 
Professor Pictet’s types at Geneva, and the types of 
other nomenclators of the Perlidz elsewhere, undergo 
a most searching examination. I had hoped that 
Mr. McLachlan himself would render the scientific 
world still more deeply indebted to him, by mono- 
graphing the British species of the family, but as he 
has published no such work, he probably thinks that 
the time is not yet ripe for such a performance. 

The Perlidz have been found in Britain in a fossil 
condition, specimens having occurred, though some- 
what rarely, in the strata of the Upper Eocene forma- 
tion. In all probability they will at some future 
period be proved to be of far earlier origin than is at 
present supposed, as their anatomical structure points 
to a primitive organization. 4 

The earlier naturalists confounded the Perlidz with 


many respects bear a great resemblance to the 
perfect insects, are usually found in running water ; 
some species prefer that which is almost or quite 
Stagnant, and others find rapidly-moving streams 
more suited to their mode of life. Their elongated 
bodies terminate usually in two many-jointed fila- 
ments, which, however, become atrophied in certain 
species, as they attain their adult state. The large 
head is scaly, and is but poorly provided with masti- 
catory organs, these serving but little for purposes. 
either of attack or defence. Their forms vary slightly 
in the different sections. 

These larvee breathe usually by means of sacs 
attached to the underside of the thorax, these sacs 
having some resemblance to the organs performing a 
similar function in Sialid, Phryganid, and Ephemerid 
larvee. 

The Perlina larve do not, as was once thought, 


Fig. 15.—Perla maxima, X 4: ¢, costa; s.c., suk-costa ; 


the caddis-flies, with which, hcwever, they have but 
little in common. © The larve were supposed to 
possess a like economy to that of Phryganid larve, 
long after one Muraldt gave in 1683 a detailed 
account, accompanied with figures, of the transforma- 
tions of Perla marginata, in a now rare Latin book 
entitled, ‘‘The Ephemeris of Natural Curiosities.” 
Even the illustrious Linné classed the Perlidz with 
Phryganide. The perfect insects of the Perlidze may 
at once be distinguished from the caddis-flies by the 
non-possession of any decided hairy covering to the 
wings, and by the very distinct segmentation of the 
thorax, which islof greater comparative width than is 
usual with the Phryganide. Other distinctive 
characters are—the possesssion of mandibles and 
three-jointed tarsi in the Perlidz, whereas the caddis- 
flies are without mandibles and have tarsi composed 
of five joints. 

The larve, which, together with the pupz, in 


(Originai.) 


wi, medius; s.7#., sub-medius; a, anal vein. 


construct cases wherein to perform their transforma- 
tions, and from which they may seize the unwary 
larvee of May-flies and other aquatic insects which 
form their food-supply. Their habit is to lie in wait 
behind stones and water-reeds, ‘‘on murderous. 
thought intent,” to surprise and secure their prey. 
The more brightly-coloured of them effectually con- 
ceal their whereabouts from most of their enemies 
by covering their bodies with a layer of mud. 

The pupa resembles the larva, except that it is. 
possessed of rudimentary wing-scales of a leathery 
texture. When the time arrives forthe final change to 
take place, it leaves the water, and seeks a suitable spot 
in which to undergo its transformation. With its sharp 
claws it takes firm hold of the stone or other resting- 
place fro zem., and, the skin splitting along the back,. 
the insect emerges, having, with the possession of four 
reticulated wings, obtained its highest development. 

The perfect insects of both sexes are very inert, 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSTP. 


37 


flying seldom, and then but heavily, and only for 
short distances, the wings, especially those of the 
males (which are usually very short, and in some 
species reduced to mere rudiments), being of little use 
for purposes of aérial locomotion. The female, after 
coupling, deposits her eggs, which remain for a time 
attached to the end of her abdomen, in stagnant or 
running water, this being according to the predeter- 
mined habits of the species. She then, together with 
the male, does not survive the commencement of the 
new developmental cycle entered upon by the 
extmded ova. 

Now, as to collecting. Search should be made for 
the laryz and pupz with a water-net—at weir-heads 


fe 


Fig. 16.—Perla maxima. 


Fig. _:7.—Chloroperia grammatica. 


Fig. 18.—Dictyopteryx microcephala. 


and slight falls ‘of water where the flow is rapid, on 
stones by the water-side, and in any place that may 
suggest itself to the collector as a likely haunt for 
these insects. The imagines may be readily captured 
both whilst in flight, and when at rest on the ground 
or on palings, or trunks of trees in the immediate 
vicinity of the water in which the previous portion 
of their existence was passed. Beating, as for Coleop- 
tera, may also be employed, with every chance of 
making captures. 

A few words on rearing and preservation. The 
majority of the Perlina are difficult to rear in captivity, 
as many of the insects in their earlier states require a 
constant supply of running water. Some species of 
Nemourine may, however, be bred through in an 


ordinary aquarium, or failing that, in a jar, provided 
there be a plentiful store of suitable food. 

Larvee and pupz may be preserved for the cabinet in 
phials or test-tubes filled either with pure or carbo- 
lized glycerine, or the microscopist’s mounting 
medium known as ‘‘ Goadby’s Fluid,” as this mode 
of treatment prevents the alteration of form and 
colour so prevalent when these laryee are allowed 
to dry. Kerosene and benzoline-are also useful pre- 
servatives. Ido not advocate the use of spirits of 
wine, as by it the delicate colours of the insects are 
modified or entirely ‘destroyed, though the form 
remains unaltered. As regards the perfect insects, 
the ordinary modes of preservation may be adhered 


a 


Fig. 19.—Jsogenus nubecula. 
— Be 
Fig. 20.—Isopteryx tripunctata- 


GE, 


Fig. 21.—Capuia nigra. 


Fig. 22.—Teniopteryx nebulosa. 


Fig. 23.—WNemoura variegata. 


Fig. 24.—Leuctra fusciventris. 


to. Some specimens of each species should, however, 
be put up in phials filled with glycerine or other pre- 
servative fluid, to prevent as much as possible the 
fading of the colours. A supply of test-tubes should 
be taken to the collecting-ground, so that individuals 
of each species may be placed in fluid as soon as they 
are captured. P 

In labelling these tubes, it is advisable to prepare 
two labels, bearing parallel information relating to 
name, date, and place of capture, etc. One of these 
labels should be attached to the outside of the tube, 
and the other enclosed with the specimens. 

All pinned specimens intended for the cabinet 
should be set as soon as possible after capture. The 
wings of some species, if allowed to become dry, cling 


38 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


so around the body, on the insects being relaxed, that it 
is almost impossible to separate them without doing 
considerable damage to their delicate membranes. 

Having now given the above general information, 
and as it will be necessary to explain the application 
of the technical names given to the various portions 
of the wings of the Perlina, I cannot do better than 
reproduce, at this place, the note on the subject given 
in Mr, F, Walker’s ‘‘ Catalogue of Neuroptera in the 
British Museum.” This will enable the intending 
student to understand the synopsis and descriptions of 
genera that follow. 

“*The five principal veins of each wing are :—1, the 
costa, which forms the fore-border ; 2, the sub-costa, 
which is parallel to the costaand not far from it ; (3), 
the medius, which springs directly from the side of 
the sub-costa, is in juxtaposition with it for a small 
space, then diverging, divides the wing into: two 
almost equal parts, and is bifurcate at two-thirds of 
its length ; (4), the sub-medius, which springs near the 
internal angle of the wing, and terminates in the 
middle of the hind-border, and is bifurcated very 
near its beginning, its fore-branch forming the anterior 
sub-medius, and its hind-branch the posterior sub- 
medius ; (5), the anal vein, which is near the base, 
has a short course, and of which it is often difficult 
to distinguish between the principal and secondary 
branches. These veins divide the wing into four 
principal regions, which are thus named: (1), the 
marginal region, comprised between the costal and 
sub-costal veins; (2), the sub-marginal region, 
between the medius and the anterior sub-medius ; 
(3), the median region, between the medius and the 
anterior sub-medius; (4), the anal region, which 
contains all the internal part of the wing between 
the lower sub-median vein and the anal angle, and in 
which the vein of the same name ramifies. There is, 
besides, the sub-median areolet, between the branches 
of the sub-median vein. The principal line of trans- 
verse veins, or Parastigma, divides the first, second, 
and third regions into two parts, the basal and ter- 
minal part. The basal part of the marginal region is 
divided longitudinally into parts by the vein accessory 
to the costal, and thus contains three principal 
areolets, the external basal areolet, the internal basal 
ar€olet, and the terminal areolet. In the hind-wings 
the sub-marginal region is divided longitudinally by 
a vein accessory to the median-vein, not by one 
accessory to the sub-costal.” This description is 
a general one, including all the members -of the 
group. ‘The several generic variations are shown in 
the accompanying illustrations, a reference to which 
will greatly assist a right understanding of the text. 
The venation is perhaps the most useful character 
upon which to base a classification of the Perlidz, 
notwithstanding individual variations, but a closer 
comparison than has yet been made of the anal and 
other appendages might possibly afford sure points 
for the identification of species. Mr. McLachlan 


considers Pictet’s terminology defective, and holds 
that ‘‘the nervure accessory to \the costal” is the 
true sub-costal. As, however, Pictet’s nomenclature 
amply serves my purpose in the present’ paper, I 
merely note the disparity and pass on. 

The following synopsis of sub-families, genera, and 
species, although of course not absolutely perfect, is, 
I venture to think, sufficiently reliable for the purpose 
of enabling the student to identify with certainty, 
and with but little trouble, any of our native stone- 
flies of which descriptions have been published. 
Although I am confident of there being several 
undescribed British species in collections to which 
I have access, and elsewhere, I prefer not to publish 
descriptions of them until my knowledge of the group 
is augmented. 

In the following table capitals refer to sub-families 
and genera; italics indicate species, which follow 
under their respective generic heads. 


GENERAL CHARACTERS.—Eody depressed, elongated ; sides 
parallel, or nearly so; prothorax large; antennz long, seta- 
ceous; wings unequal, posterior ones broader than the 
anterior; tarsi three-jointed; two abdominal sete usually 
present: PERLIDA. 


CHARACTERS OF FAMILIES, GENERA, AND SPECIES. 


. Tail bristles present. 
bap pore GOMES 
. Palpi setaceous: Sub-Fam. 1, PERLINA. 
. Anal region of hind-wings large. 
. Terminal part of submarginal region divided by cross 
veins: DicTyorpTERYX. 
Veins of submarginal region very regular, forming 
square cells: Rectangula. 
Veins of submarginal region irregular; cells seldom 
square: Microcephaia. 
. Terminal part of submarginal region not divided by 
cross veins. 
F. Marginal terminal areolet with at least two cross 
veins. 
. Accessory veintof sub costa much branched and very 
irregular: IsoGENus. 
Front wholly black; a brown costal cloud above 
middle of wings: Nudecula. 
Accessory vein of subcosta without branches or with 
one or two regular bifurcations: PERLA. 
Prothorax spotted with black: Maxima. 
a unicolorous brown. 
5s large, wider than the head: Marginata. 
a small, narrower than the head: Cephadotes 
Marginal terminal areolet with but one cross=vein, 
beyond which the accessory vein terminates at the 
costal vein: CHLOROPERLA. 
V-mark on head with a transverse band behind: 
Rwulorum. 
V-mark on head isolated, without band: Grammatica. 
Anal region of hind-wings almost wanting : IsoprERYx 
No spots between the ocelli: Torrentium. 
Small black spots between the ocelli: Burmezsterz. 
Prothorax small, wholly yellow: Afzcadis. 
oe medium-sized, caudal setz entirely yellow: 
Tripunctata. 
. Palpi filiform. 
. Tail bristles long: Sub-Fam. CAPNIINE. 
Tips of wings without cross veins: CAPNIA. 
Dark shining brown, with middle of abdomen yellow: 
Nigra. 
. Tail bristles rudimentary or wanting: Sub-Fam. 
NEMOURIN. 
I. Veins of parastigma not forming an X. 
Tail bristles rudimentary: Ta2NIOPTERYX. 
Wing fasciz indistinct, or less in number than three, 
Femora brown; wings opaque: WVedzdosa. 
Wing fasciz never less than three; distinct in female, 
faint in male: 77</asczata. 
Labial palpi very short, placed far apart: LEUCTRa. 
Prothorax long, constricted in front and behind; 
abdomen pale, yellow above: Geniculata. 
Prothorax with three elevated longitudinal lines; an- 
tennz wholly blackish, feet and wings brown: 
Fusciventris. 
BBBB. Tail bristles wanting. 


Boop 


GG. 


FF. 


DD. 


HARDWICKE S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 39 


II. Veins of parastigma forming an X. 
HH. Labial palpi short, near together: NEMOURA. 

Prothorax a little longer than wide; meso and meta- 
thorax with central notch ; antennz yellow at base; 
wings brownish grey, veins darker: Vaviegaza. 

Antenne wholly black; wings white, clouded with 
grey: Meyerz. 

Prothorax as wide as long, shining; wing veins edged 
with dark grey: Nztida. 

Prothorax longer than wide; head and antennz light 
brown ; feet pale: Cizerea. 

Posterior femora wholly dark brown; wings opaque 
with the base yellow: Huseralis. 

Shining black; prothorax rugose, with a dorsal fur- 
row; legs and feet dark; wings brownish with 
darker veins: Szdcicollis. 

Dark shining brown; antennz with a slight pile; feet 
pale; wings semi-transparent, veins pale: Jzcoz- 
Spicua. 


(Zo be continued.) 


NEO-DARWINISM. 
By A. G. TANSLEY. 


IV.—THE HypoTHEsIs OF CONTINUITY APPLIED 
TO THE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM OF HERE- 
DITARY TRANSMISSION. 


E must now consider more fully Mr. Galton’s 
and Professor Weismann’s theories of 
heredity—the two theories which explain the problem 
of transmission by supposing that the substance which 
is the specific bearer of hereditary tendencies is 
continuous from generation to generation. And it 
must be again insisted that Mr. Galton’s theory is 
not practically identical with Professor Weismann’s, 
as has been stated * ; nor is it a mere modification of 
Mr. Darwin’s, as has also been stated. + 

To put it briefly, it differs from the former by its 
“* preformational” character, and from the latter by 
its substitution of continuity for redevelopment. 
Hence, though it stands intermediate between these 
two theories, it differs from both in important 
respects. 

It occupies an extremely important place in the 
development of thought on the question of the 
mecHanism of heredity, through having first stated in 
2 precise manner this idea of continuity. 

Mr. Galton’s profound anthropological studies 
convinced him that the phenomena of the trans- 
mission of inherent or congenital characters were che 
important phenomena of heredity which required 
explanation, and this caused him to formulate the 
hypothesis of the continuity of residual gemmules as 
the main idea of his theory. Mr. Darwin, it is true, 
was compelled to suppose that certain of his 
gemmules remained latent for many generations, in 
order to explain the facts of atavism, but the 
phenomena which Pangenesis was especially devised 
to explain were, as we have seen, the supposed 
transmission of acquired characters. Mr. Galton, on 
the other hand, while accepting the Pangenetic 


* Wallace’s ‘‘ Darwinism,” p. 443. 

F Poulton. Note in Weismann’s ‘‘Essays on Heredity,” 
P- 173; and Lloyd Morgan’s “‘ Animal Life and Intelligence,” 
P- 135- 


explanation of the few cases in which he thinks such 
transmission probable, relies on the theory of con- 
tinuity to explain the main facts of heredity. It is 
obvious indeed that the assumption of the continuity 
of a certain amount of germ-substance is necessary 
to explain the latency of characters for one or more 
generations. Darwin, as we have seen, recognised 
this in his atavistic gemmules. But the question 
which we have to face now is, whether this assump- 
tion cannot and ought not to be carried farther, so as 
to make it the central idea of our theory of hereditary 
transmission. 

Mr. Galton goes so far as to say that it is 
‘indeed hard to find evidence of the power of the 
personal structure to react upon the sexual elements 
that is not open to serious objection ;” and ‘“‘we 
might almost reserve our belief that the structural cells 
can react on the sexual elements at all.” Nothing 
can be clearer than his recognition of the ability of 
the theory of continuity to explain the main facts_of 
heredity. 

Professor Weismann was led to exactly the same 
conclusion from general biological evidence, but his 
theory took a different form, partly from its having 
been promulgated nine years later than Mr. Galton’s 
—during which time the ceaseless activity of research 
had brought to light many new facts—and partly 
from his attention not having been chiefly concen- 
trated on anthropological phenomena. 

Mr. Galton conceives of the body as consisting of 
‘organic units,” each of which he thinks must have 
had a separate origin. Hence he conceives of the 
germ substance (stirp), of every fertilised ovum as 
consisting of an enormous number of gemmules, and 
each *‘ organic unit ” of the body as being represented 
by one or more of these gemmules. In this way 
only does he conceive it possible to understand how 
a child can inherit minute features, some from one 
parent and some from the other (particulate inherit- 
ance). But it is not clear that Mr. Galton is correct 
in arguing from such phenomena to the existence of 
separate organic ‘‘gemmules.” It is doubtless true 
that the separate ‘‘ potentialities”’ (using this term 
in its widest sense) of the various minute features 
must exist, but since the features themselves are only 
the final outcome of a long course of ontogenetic 
development, it is quite possible that they may all 
exist in the germ simply as differences of mutual 
arrangement and as differences of motion of the 
parts of a specific substance (the germ-plasm of 
Weismann). Still, there is no doubt that Mr. 
Galton’s gemmules are very much easier to deal with, 
and much clearer conceptions can be formed of the 
manner in which they are supposed to behave. 
Nevertheless, as we shall see presently, it seems on 
the whole more probable that they do not really 
exist, but that we must conceive of the ‘‘ germ- 
plasm” as containing the potentialities of the 
organism. Admitting, however, for the present, the 


40 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


existence of Mr. Galton’s gemmules, let us see how 
he explains the processes of heredity. 

Of the whole collection of gemmules in the stirp of 
any organism, derived from various ancestors in 
various proportions, comparatively few achieve de- 
velopment. Of the few which do, each develops 
into an organic unit of the adult. The conditions 
which determine the development of the individual 
gemmules are many and complex, and a great 
number of struggles between and rearrangements of 
the different varieties of gemmules representing the 
same unit take place before a position of equilibrium 
is attained. Obviously, on the whole, the process 
will result in a natural selection of the strongest and 
most suitable gemmules. The residue of gemmules, 
after this segregation has been effected, remains 
latent during the life of the individual, and from this 
residue the sexual elements are derived. 

Professor Weismann’s idea of heredity is that it is 
‘“brought about by the transference, from one gene- 
ration to another, of a substance with a definite 
chemical, and above all molecular, constitution.” * 
This fundamental substance, the germ-plasm, has a 
very complex structure. At the beginning of the 
process of segmentation in the development of each 
individual a certain portion is segregated and remains 
unchanged, to be handed on to the next generation 
(Galton’s residual gemmules); the rest undergoes 
such changes during the process of growth of the 
developing organism that it directs and determines 
the construction of the body of the latter. Thus 
each generation has an identical starting-point, and 
would be expected under the same conditions to give 
rise to an identical result. 

Here we recognise the same idea of continuity that 
we find in Mr. Galton’s theory. But we must next 
inquire what Professor Weismann means by germ- 
plasm, and we soon discover that his conception of 
this substance differs essentially from Mr. Galton’s. 
The idea of particulate inheritance did not compel 
Professor Weismann (as it had done Darwin and 
Galton) to suppose that separate gemmules, each 
giving rise to an organic unit of the body, existed in 
the germ-cells. ‘‘ The germ-plasm is that part of a 
germ-cell of which the chemical and physical 
properties—including the molecular structure— 
enable the cell to become, under appropriate con- 
ditions, a new individual of the same species.” As 
it appears that the essential feature in fertilisation is 
the fusion of the male and female pronuclei, we must 
localise this germ-plasm in the nucleus of the germ- 
cell. Indeed, in the case of flowering-plants the male 
nucleus only enters the egg-cell. Professor Weismann 
further takes over Nageli’s conception of idioplasm 
which we have already explained. He does not, 
however, follow Nageli in regarding the idioplasm as 


* «Essays on Heredity ” (first edition), p. 168. 
t ‘“‘Ibid., p. 174: 


a solid network extending throughout the organism, 
but considers that it, like the germ-plasm, is confined 
to the nucleus. There is a great deal of evidence 
accumulated during the last ten or fifteen years to 
show the supreme importance of the cell-nucleus in 
the nutrition and general economy of the cell. This 
would hardly be the place to enter into a considera- 
tion of this evidence, but it certainly seems sufficient 
to justify the hypothesis that the substance which 
determines the specific character and functions of the 
cell resides in the nucleus, and this conception is 
likewise supported by the fact that the nuclear 
substance of all the cells of the body is directly 
derived from the nuclear substance of the fertilised 
ovum, and as we have already seen, it is almost 
certainly this nucleus which contains the hereditary 
tendencies. The term idioplasm then, in Weismann’s 
sense, is applied to the whole of the controlling 
substance of the organism. This is situated in the 
nuclei, and gradually changes during the course of 
ontogeny from the small amount of very complex germ- 
plasm to the very much larger amount of relatively 
simple idioplasm of various kinds situated in the cells 
of the fully differentiated parts of the adult organism. 
At each cell-division during the course of develop- 
ment a simplification and differentiation of its 
structure takes place, till from possessing, as germ- 
plasm, all the complex potentialities of the entire 
organism, the idioplasm of the adult comes to consist 
of as many different varieties as there are different 
kinds of cells in the body. The idioplasm of each 
ontogenetic stage is of such a molecular structure 
that it not only contains the potentialities of all those 
tissues to which it will ultimately give rise, but that 
it also must undergo the differentiation and simplifica- 
tion at the next cell-division necessary to transform it 
into idioplasm of the next stage. Thus, for instance, 
the germ-plasm of the first segmentation-nucleus 
(nucleus of the fertilised ovum) not only contains the 
potentialities of the whole organism, but is also of 
such a structure and in such a condition that it must 
undergo a certain differentiation at the first nuclear 
division, a differentiation which gives to the first two 
daughter-nuclei the potentialities of the ectoderm and 
endoderm, or of the front and hinder part of the 
body, respectively.* This process goes on in 
precisely the same manner throughout ontogeny, 
until finally we arrive at the characteristic cells of the 
various tissues with their relatively simple but widely 
differentiated idioplasms. 

The divisions of the nuclei corresponding to those 
cell-divisions which only result in the production of 
two daughter-cells similar to the mother-cell, may be 
distinguished as eguivalent. nuclear divisions, as 


* Tt should be mentioned that it has been found that by 
destroying one of the first two segmentation spheres of the 
frog, only the front or hind part of the body, as the case may 
be, has been able to continue development (which has, of 
course, soon been arrested), thus proving the separation at the 
first cell-division of the potentialities of these regions. 


HARDWICKE’ S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 4 


Opposed to those we have been considering, which 
may be called differentiating divisions. In the former 
case we have no differentiation or simplification of the 
idioplasm, but only simple division. 

This luminous conception of Professor Weismann’s 
enables us to understand, much more clearly than has 
hitherto been possible, the nature of ontogenetic 
development and its control by the cell nuclei. It 
is certainly a2 much more satisfactory conception 
than that of the successive giving off during the pro- 
cess of development of the preformed gemmules of 
structure corresponding to different parts of the body. 
For, if we admit that we must look to the nucleus for 
the actual germ-substance (taken in its widest sense), 
the conception of separate gemmules becomes 
meaningless as well as unnecessary. 

There can be no doubt that the hypothesis of the 
controlling idioplasm gradually being differentiated 
as the tissue development proceeds, is much more in 
accordance with what is known of the facts of nuclear 
and cell division. 

On the other hand, it must be admitted that the 
gemmules of Mr. Darwin and Mr. Galton are easier 
to manipulate and enable us to explain certain 
special problems of heredity more easily. But I must 
reserve 2 consideration of this point, and an attempt 
to explain some of these problems on Professor 
Weismann’s lines, for my next article. 


(Zo be continued.) 


NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. 


ae book by Dr. M. C. Cooke, on any group of 
fungi, is sure to be welcomed by botanists. 
His last new work, B7itish Edible Fungi, How to dis- 
tinguisk Them and How to Cook Them (London: 
Kegan Paul & Co.), appeals to a wider class of 
readers. Our fields and meadows are full of good 
things, but nobody.dare eat them. We are in the 
position of the man who resolved never to go into 
the water until he had learned toswim. It is a real 
pity that our ignorance should have built up such a 
strong wall of prejudice against all but two or three 
kinds of fungus, which latter we have apotheosised 
ander the name of ‘‘Mushrooms.” All the rest, 
scores in numbers, are damned under the term of 
** Toadstools.” Dr. Cooke is a bold man, and a 
good gastronome. He has cooked most of our 
British funguses, and likes most of them. In this 
beautifully and artistically got-up work, he tells us 
how to recognise the “‘good kinds” unmistakably 
from the ‘*bad”’ ones. Moreover, he tells us—in lan- 
guage that is appetising—how to cook them! Many 
people willing to try the experiment of cooking them 
are in the position the Irishman said the dog was 
that stole his pennyworth of liver—‘‘ the beggar 
after all had not got the resate.” Dr. Cooke is a 
delightful, not to say a rollickingly delightful, author, 


and he is at his best in this useful book. It contains 
thirty-five chapters, on everything connected with 
British fungi and their culination, and is illustrated 
by about thirty exquisitely coloured figures of the com- 
monest and best-eating of our British species. The 
man who would make a mistake in mis-identifying a 
fungus with this book in his hand puts himself out- 
side the pale of argument. Even if the reader do 
not enjoy the new kinds of fungus herein described, 
he cannot fail to enjoy reading the book which 
describes them. : 

Delagoa Bay, its Natives and Natural History, by 
Rose Monteiro (London: G. Philip & Son). Mrs, 
Monteiro remained in the country her husband had 
been such a successful collector in, after his. death, 
and she appears to have carried on his work. She is 
a brave, self-possessed little woman, with a keen eye 
for humorous situations, and well capable of taking 
care of herself even among the roughest and rudest of 
Kaffirs and settlers. Her book is adorned with 
charming chapter-headings, of flowers and insects, 
artistically if sketchily combined. It is further 
adorned by well got-up plates. But the interest of 
the book is its natural, graceful, and unpretending 
narrative of an entomologist’s life in Portuguese 
South Africa. Everybody who gets the chance 
should not fail to read this very pleasing little book. 

The Story of the Hills, by the Rev. H. N. Hutchin- 
son (London: Seeley & Co.). ‘The success which 
attended the publication of Mr. Hutchinson’s first 
book on geology has very properly led to the appear- 
ance of the present vol., for which we predict an 
equal if not a greater success. The author is a man 
of wide geological and physiographical reading, pos- 
sessed of the gift of clearly interpreting the writers he 
reads, and of reproducing their facts and conclusions 
in easily understood and even attractive language. 
The illustrations, sixteen in number, are highly 
artistic, and much embellish the book, which contains 
ten chapters, and runs to 350 pages. The last chapter 
on ‘*‘The Ages of Mountains,” is one of the best. 
That on ‘‘ Mountain Plants and Animals” is hardly 
less interesting. We cordially commend this book. 

The Field Club: A Magazine of General Natural 
Lhistory, edited by the Rev. Theodore Wood (Lon- 
don: Elliot Stock), Vol. ii. Many of our readers 
will be acquainted with Mr. Wood’s highly interest- 
ing little magazine, devoted almost entirely to natural 
history. We can only say that in its annual volume 
form it makes an attractive work of reference, as far 
as it goes. Most of its contributors are not unknown 
in the pages of SCIENCE-GossIP. 

British Fungi. FPhycomycetes and Ustilaginee, by 
George Massee (London: L. Reeve & Co.). “Mr. 
Massee is an old contributor to SCIENCE-GossiIP, and 
most of our readers are acquainted with the careful 
and accurate, not to mention the artistic, finish of his 
illustrations, as well’as his conscientious statement of 
facts. The present well got-up volume fully sustains 


42 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


his reputation in this respect. It brings up to date a 
revision of the two orders of fungi above mentioned, 
and forms a capital handbook and guide for students 
desirous of pursuing further researches in this, as yet, 
only partly-worked department of botanical study. 

The Plant World, by George Massee (London : 
Whittaker & Co.). This is a popular work on 
botany, very properly considered from the stand- 
point the editor of this journal has always advocated, 
viz., that of plants as Living Organisms, subject to 
similar vicissitudes to those which affect animals. It 
is a highly readable and instructive little book. 

Annals of British Geology, 1890, by J. F. Blake 
(London: Dulau & Co.). Professor Blake is to be 
congratulated on the patience and industry which 
have made this highly useful volume a success. If any 
evidence were required to indicate the intellectual 
activity of British geologists, this summary of one 
year’s work would be sufficient. It is a most useful 
handbook to geological literature, inasmuch as it is not 
only a catalogue of all the books published, papers 
read and printed, etc., but a critical digest of the same 
by perhaps the best geological critic in England. 

The Physical Geology and Geography of Ireland, by 
Edward Hull, F.R.S., etc. (London: Edward Stan- 
ford). We had much pleasure in drawing attention 
to this highly valuable work when it first appeared, 
and we congratulate the author that a second edition 
has been so soon called for, Professor Hull has 
taken the opportunity to revise and improve this use- 
ful handbook, which we thoroughly commend to all 
students of Irish Geology. 

Handbook to the Geology of Derbyshire, by J. 
Magens Mello (London: Bemrose & Sons). This 
is a second and vastly improved edition in every 
respect of Mr. Mello’s ‘‘ Geology of Derbyshire.” 
The latter is the most interesting county in England 
for geology, and no other man is so capable of 
writing a guide to it as Mr. Mello. Our readers, 
therefore, will take this straightforward hint. 

Geodesy, by J. Howard Gore (London: Heine- 
mann). This small but attractively got-up manual 
is the best we could recommend to all geodetic 
students. It is full and clear, thoroughly accurate, 
and up to date in all matters relating to earth-mea- 
surements. The author possesses the gift which 
Burns desired, of seeing as others see us—or rather, 
he enables his readers to see geodetic science as he 
sees it himself. 

Colour-Blindness and Colour-Perception, by F. W. 
Edridge-Green, M.D. (London : Kegan Paul & Co.). 
This vol. is one of the well-known and highly-prized 
“International Scientific Library ” series. It cannot 
be‘doubted that the subject is one of supreme interest. 
The present vol. is illustrated by three coloured 
plates. Dr. Green tells us he wrote his book for the 
benefit of those who may have to test for colour-blind- 
ness. He also advances an ingenious theory of his 
own, worth considering, of colour-perception. Never- 


theless, Dr. Green does not seem to have grasped the 
theories of Helmholtz and Young. Dr. Green’s book 
is a very practical one, although there are strange 
omissions in it of works and workers in this depart- 
ment of physics. 

A Cyclopedia of Nature Teachings (London : Elliot 
Stock). A very tastefully got-up volume, but one 
cannot help wondering why a book like this is got up. 
Nobody wants it; it teaches nothing. It is simply 
a very pleasant hash from ‘‘ goody” scientific 
books, many of which we never heard of before, and 
which are preserved in these pages from obscurity. 
The few really good books quoted makes this remark 
all the more annoying. 

Moral Teachings of Science, by Arabella B. Buckley 
(London: Edward Stanford). This pretty little 
volume is quite of a different class. Whatever Miss 
Buckley has to say on natural history subjects is sure 
to be said well, and will be listened to. So now that 
she occupies the pulpit, we are prepared for a good 
sermon ; and a better we have not read for some time 
than that now before us. 


SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


In view of the failure, by experiments, of an old- 
world notion (our readers will find it in Dr. Dick’s- 
“¢ Christian Philosopher ”’) that atmospheric explosions 
would cause rain, it is necessary to point out that no 
rain could possibly fall unless there was sufficient 
watery vapour present in the atmosphere. Also, as an 
American Professor (Blake) has recently shown, there 
must also be sufficient dust present in the air. This 
agrees with the current idea of the origin of fogs. 


THE doyen of British Science, Sir George B. Airy, 
late Astronomer-Royal, has died at the ripe age of 
91 years, intellectually, robustly, and humourously 
alive till a short time before his death. 


WE are glad to welcome and recommend Mr. F. 
Y. Theobald’s Part 3 of ‘An Account of British Flies,” 
well printed and illustrated. Parts, one shilling each 
(London : Elliot Stock). ” 


THE small snow-ball and the painted dome of the 
Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton, California, con- 
tains the largest telescope in the world. It is no less 
than sixty feet long, with a thirty-six inch lens. The 
huge instrument is so skilfully adjusted that it can be 
moved at will with one hand. It is supported on a 
lofty stand, which is ascended by a splendid spiral 
staircase. From the upper platform the astronomers, 


‘at the end of every two hours during observations, 


wind the huge weight—6oo pounds—of the driving 
clock with 320 turns of the handle, so that the lens of 
the telescope may cover the star with mathematical 
accuracy as it moyes through space, and enable the j 
worker to make observations with rigid exactitude. 


HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. : 43 


A necessary adjunct to these observations is the 
movable floor, which rises and falls by means of 
hydraulic pressure. A simple but ingenious con- 
trivance, invented by Professor Helden, closes and 
opens the great shutters as easily as though they were 
a pair of curtains. The whole of the astronomical 
establishment and observatory is an isolated com- 
munity, miles from any sign of life. Frequently in 
winter the mail stage is delayed from a few days to a 
week, and no communication or food can be carried 
to the inmates of the observatory, the snow being 
many feet deep and the roads impassable. ,The 
colony of astronomers and workpeople number be- 
tween thirty and forty persons, and eight or nine 
families. Food supplies have to be transported by 
stage from San José, twenty-eight miles distant. 
Water is supplied by four reservoirs situated within 
walking distance of the observatory. 


THE oddest expedition that ever set out for the 
interior of Africa is probably the one Professor Garner 
is undertaking with a view to studying monkey talk 
scientifically. His outfit includes phonographs, tele- 
phones, photographic apparatus, an electric telegraph, 
and a set of taxidermist’s tools; but the queerest 
thing of all is an aluminium cage, in which the Pro- 
fessor intends to ensconce himself in the midst of a 
gorilla forest, in order to hold court among the 
monkeys. Knowing their fondness for admiring their 
reflections in mirrors, he is taking some along with 
him. 

THE United States Consul-General at Frankfort, 
in a recent report, describes what he calls the most 
momentous experiment in technical electricity ever 
made since electricity has been rendered serviceable 
to mankind. The object was to create a current of 
200 or 300 horse-power by a dynamo driven by 
water-power at Lauffen,'on the Neckar, 108 miles 
south of Frankfort, ‘‘ convert it into a current of in- 
tense pressure by specially-devised transformers, trans- 
mit it to the Frankfort Exhibition, there re-transform 
it to a current of ordinary pressure, and in that form 
apply it to motive and lighting purposes.” It is said 
that fully seventy-five per cent. of the energy created 
in Lauffen is available in Frankfort; part of the 
current thus secured is used to illuminate 1,200 arc 
lights, while the remainder drives a rotary pump 
which draws water from the Main and forces it to the 


top of an artificial hill, whence it tumbles asa waterfall 


on the Exhibition grounds. 


THE ‘medals and funds given at the anniversary 
meeting of the Geological Society, on February 19th, 
were awarded as follows: The Wollaston Medal to 

. Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen; the Murchison Medal 
to Prof. A. H. Green, F.R.S.; and the Lyell Medal to 
Mr. George H. Morton; the balance of the proceeds 
of the Wollaston Fund to Mr. O. A. Derby ; that of 
the Murchison Fund to Mr. Beeby Thompson ; that 


of the Lyell Fund to Mr. E. A. Walford and Mr. J. 
W. Gregory ; and a portion of the Barlow-Jameson 
Fund to Prof. C. Mayer-Eymar. 


WE confess to a ‘weakness for second-hand book 
catalogues, and none comes more welcomely than 
Messrs. Pickering and Chatto’s ‘* Book-Lovers’ Leaf- 
let.” No. 50 (December) is delightful. 


Sir Robert Ball, in an article on the new astronomy 
in the Fortnightly Review, is justifiably enthusiastic on 
the triumphs of spectroscopic photography in extend- 
ing our knowledge of the heavens, The movements 
of the stars in a direct line to or from us, which were 
not noticeable on merely telescopic examination, are 
now measured with wonderful exactness. Stars at 
such a distance that if they were brought ten times 
nearer us they would still be too far away for 
measurement jby ithe ordinary processes of the ob- 
servatory, have now their diameter guaged. It is a 
noteworthy epoch in the history of astronomy when, 
for the first time, we are able to apply the celestial 
calipers to guage the diameter of a star. Who would 
have predicted, some few years ago, that the spectro- 
scope was to be the instrument to which we should be 
indebted for the means of putting a measuring-tape 
round the girth of a star? Of the dark satellite of 
the variable star Algol so much has been deduced. by 
the aid of the new spectroscopic methods that Sir 
Robert Ball is able to say: ‘‘ Here is an object which 
we have never seen, and apparently never can expect 
to see, but yet we have been able not only to weigh 
it and to measure it, but also to determine its 
movements.” 


THE experiments with sulphate copper as a remedy 
for potato disease are described in full in the last 
Quarterly Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society. 
So, likewise, are the experiments of Sir John Lawes 
and Dr. Gilbert relating to the origin and preparation 
of nitrogen, etc., in the soil. 


Dr. Pfeiffer, son-in-law of Prof. Koch, is stated to 
have discovered the microbe of Influenza. Let us 
hope he will be more successful in dealing with it than 
his marital relative was with that of Tuberculosis, of 
which we now hear very little. 


Dr. MarEy, the eminent French physiologist, has 
been studying the flight of insects by photochrono- 
graphy, an arrangement which allows the exposures 
of the photographic plates to be made so short as 
1°25,000 of a second. His observations indicate that 
the wings of insects in flight, by meeting obliquely the 
resistance of the air in to-and-fro movements, act in a 
very similar manner to the sculls used to propel 
boats. 


ScIENCE is looking up. In Sir William Thom- 
son’s worthy elevation to the Peerage, the nation has 
at length recognised the fact that science is worth as 


44 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


much as even politics—although any fool can play at 
the latter ! 


READ the report by Mr. Haly, curator of the 
Colombo Museum, in ‘‘ Nature,” December 31st, on 
his discovery of a medium for preserving the colours 
of fish and other animals. 


WE are very pleased to keep our readers to good 
things. There is nothing better for them than good 
catalogues of books, papers, magazines, etc., they 
may be requiring. Messrs. Dulau & Co. have lately 
“gone in” for scientific literature. There is now on 
our table a couple of handy catalogues of ‘* Works 
on Geology,” including Crystallography, Mineralogy, 
Mining, Petrography, Boulders, Vulcanology, etc., 
“* What d’ye lack ?” 


WE strongly advise all of our readers who are 
interested in the subject to read the report of Dr. 
Marshal Ward’s paper on “‘ The Ginger-Beer Plant,” 
in ‘* Nature,” December 24th. Dr. Ward shows it is 
mainly a symbiotic association of a specific Saccharo- 
mycetes and a Schizomycetes. 


THE last number of ‘‘ The Entomologists’ Record 
and Journal of Variation”’ (edited by J. W. Tutt) is 
a double one, and is crowded with detajls interesting 
to entomologists, particularly to those who are pre- 
pared to understand the biological value of ‘ varia- 
tions,” 


PROFESSOR VICTOR HorsLEY, F.R.S., on January 
19th gave the first of a course of twelve lectures on 
““The Brain” at the Royal Institution. Mr. A. S. 
Murray, LL.D., on January 21st gave the first of a 
course of three lectures on ‘Some Aspects of Greek 
Sculpture in Relief”; and Prof. J. A. Fleming on 
January 23rd gave the first of a course of three 
lectures on ‘*.The Induction Coil and Alternate Cur- 
rent Transformer.’’ The Friday evening meetings 
began on January 22nd, when the Right Hon. Lord 
Rayleigh, F.R.S., gave a discourse on ‘‘ The Com- 
position of Water.” 


WE have received from the ‘* Youths’ Companion ” 
Boston, U.S.A.—a capital weekly paper, in which 
popular science finds a prominent place—a lovely 
chromolitho strip of various kinds of roses, about two 
feet by six inches, sent out with the New Year’s 
number, which latter promises even a more lively 
volume than ever. 


THE ‘‘Child Life” Almanack and Calendar for 
the current year (G. Phillip and Son) is one of the 
best got-up we have seen for the use of young 
naturalists. 


WE have received a reprint of Mr. Arthur Bennett’s 
valuable paper entitled ‘‘ Contributions towards a 
Flora of the Outer Hebrides,” published in the Annals 
of Scottish Natural History” for January. Babington 


and Balfour’s estimate of the flora was 349 species 
and varieties. The present list adds 143 species and 
varieties, and Mr. Bennett thinks it probable that 
at least fifty or sixty species will be added, and 
eventually found to occur. 


WE are sorry to announce the death of the veteran 
French Naturalist, Professor Quatrefages, at the ripe 
age of eighty-two. 


Mr. MuRRAY announces a new and cheaper edition 
of the late Professor Moseley’s ‘‘ Notes by a Naturalist 
on Board the Challenger,” one of the most delightful 
books in the world to read. 


AT the last meeting of the Institute of Marine 
Engineers, a paper (part 2) on Stability, or the 
‘*motion of a vessel among waves” by Mr. J. A. 
Rowe, was read. In the course of a very interesting 
paper, the author dwelt upon Static and Dynamic 
Stability, and the oscillations of a vessel among the 
waves. The action of the waves upon vessels at 
different angles of rolling was illustrated by diagrams, 
showing the direction in which the force of buoyancy 
tended to make a vessel roll. The.question of con- 
trolling and regulating the heavy rolling of vessels 
was only touched upon, Mr. Rowe pointing out that 
from the experience of several nautical men to whom 
he had spoken, bilge and side keels for this purpose 
had been found of great value. In the course of his 
remarks the author suggested that shipbuilders would 
be greatly aided in designing stable craft if, when a 
vessel was ordered, they were informed in which trade 
the vessel would be employed and the nature of the 
cargo to be carried, inasmuch as a vessel designed to. 
carry. one [special cargo might not be adapted for 
carrying grain for example. 


MICROSCOPY. 


JouRNAL OF THE RoyAL MICROSCOPICAL 
Socirty.—The December part of this welcome 
and well-edited journal contains, in addition to the 
useful summary of current researches relating to zoo- 
logy and botany, the following papers :—‘‘ Notes on 
New Infusoria from the Fresh Waters of the United 
States,” by Dr. Alfred C. Stokes (illustrated) ; and 
one on ‘‘An Improved Method of making Micro- 
scopical Measurements with the Camera lucida,” by 
Sir Walter Sendall (also illustrated). 


How To Mount TONGUE OF MOTH OR BUTTER- 
FLY.—First take a fine-pointed pair of scissors and 
carefully cut out the tongue as close up to the mouth 
of the insect as possible, and see that the tongue is in 
a nice flat spiral form. Put it into spirits of wine for 
a few days; take out and put into good clear turpentine, 
in which it will have to stay for some time, to take 
out a little of the dark colour, or you will not be 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSS/P. 45 


able to see the tracheal tubes nicely. After you have 
taken out sufficient colour, place the tongue in benzol 
for a couple of days ; then into oil of cloves, to make 
transparent. Now take a 3 x I glass slip, on which 
you have fastened a tin cell of sufficient depth to take 
the tongue. Fill up the cell with balsam and benzol 
until it isnicely rounding on the top,‘put in the tongue, 
place on the cover glass, but do not press the glass 
circle close on to the tin first off; give the benzol 
time to evaporate, after which you may press the 
circle down, and when the edge of balsam is hard, 
ring with shellac cement, finishing off with any fancy 
colour you like.—F Boggust. 


ZOOLOGY. 


YELLOW-CRESTED WHITE COCKATOO.—An in- 
genious device of one of these birds is, perhaps, worthy 
of record. To take advantage of a heavy, straight- 
down, warm shower of rain, the bird holdsJon to the 
cross-bar of his stand with his beak, lowers himself 
on the opposite side to his chain (so that the chain 
hangs over the bar as if over a pulley), grasps both 
pieces of chain to prevent its running, and then, 
letting go with his beak, throws himself back down- 
wards, horizontally, wings open, and enjoys himself 
to the full. His strong beak breaks the links of 
ordinary parrot-chain, forces open thick rings, and 
unscrews swivels. This occurs sometimes several 
times a day; at first he used to bite, and that 
severely, when he was re-fastened ; but after having 
been well beaten he now contents himself with peck- 
ing with sharp blows the perch upon which he is 
standing. The natural parrot says ‘‘ Bite I must”; 
the chastened parrot says ‘‘but not my dear (?) 
master.” If two or three persons are talking near 
him, he will break out into a ‘‘ jabber without words,” 
accompanied by appropriate gestures, imitating the 
general resultant of the conversation in a very ludi- 
crous manner. Such things as having mock-fights 
with the dog, sneezing, dancing, etc., are, I suppose, 
common accomplishments of these amusing birds.— 
T. D. S., Blakiston, S.A. 


BOTANY. 


THE COLORATION OF FLOWERS.—Mr. Griset 
(on page 23) states that plants. kept in air-tight and 
dark bottles will, as a rule, lose their colouring 
more or less. J also have noticed that on a plant of 
Geum coccineum, which in the open air was producing 
flowers with scarlet petals, which, however, in the 
bud were yellow, when moyed into a semi-dark 
cellar the flowers when fully expanded got no further 
than the yellow or, at best, orange stage. In face 
of these facts, I hope that the statement that lack of 
light, whilst altering the colour of leaves, has no effect 
on that of flowers, will henceforth be omitted from 


botanical works. I should also like to call attention 
to a fact, which, as far as I know, has not hitherto 
been put on record, namely, that whilst the green 
parts of plants are coloured by granules of chlorophyll, 
and many yellow flowers by chromoplasts, z.e. 
granules of colouring-matter, blue flowers are more 
often coloured with blue cell-sap, and red by coloured 
cell-sap, sometimes mixed with granules. These facts 
seem to confirm the evolutionary theory that blue 
flowers have been developed from green through 
various gradations of yellow and red. This rule 
holds good, I believe, in roots as well as in flowers, 
since beetroot is certainly coloured by sap, and 
carrots, I think, by, chromoplasts.—enzzy St. A. 
Alder, Gt. Malvern. ; 


GEOLOGY. 


Tue GEOLOGY or BARBADOs.—At a recent meet- 
ing of the Geological Society, the second part of 
an important paper by A, J. Jukes-Browne, B.A., 
F.G.S., and Professor J. B. Harrison, M.A., F.G.S., 
was read. They stated that the Oceanic deposits rest 
unconformably on the Scotland Series, with which 
they contrast strongly in every respect. They are 
divisible into five portions :—(1.) Grey and buff 
calcareous marls (Foraminiferal). (2.) Fine-grained 
red and yellow argillaceous earths. (3.) Pulverulent 
chalky earths (Foraminiferal). (4.) Siliceous earths 
(Radiolarian). (5.) Calcareo-siliceous and chalky 
earths (Foraminiferal). The whole series is more 
calcareous in the northern than in the southern part 
of the island, and layers of volcanic dust occur in it 
at various horizons. There is everywhere a passage 
from the more siliceous to the more calcareous earths. 
From the palzontological and lithological, evidence 
the Authors conclude that the depth of water in which 
the Oceanic beds were deposited varied between 1000 
and 2500 fathoms. The microscopical and chemical 
evidence shows that the Radiolarian earths are 
similar to modern Radiolarian ooze; that the cal- 
careo-siliceous earths are similar to what is called by 
Professor Haeckel ‘‘ mixed Radiolarian ooze”; that 
some of the Foraminiferal earths are comparable to 
Globigerina-ooze from 1000 fathoms, and that others 
greatly resemble European Chalk ; and, finally, that 
the coloured clays bear a strong resemblance to the 
so-called ‘‘ red-clays” of modern oceanic areas. 
Hence the raised oceanic deposits of Barbados seem 
to. present us with an epitome of the various kinds 
of deposits which are found on the floors of warm 
seas at the present day. Equivalent deposits are 
known in Trinidad and Jamaica; and it is inferred 
by the Authors that the whole Central American and 
Caribbean region was deeply submerged during the 
Pliocene period, leaving free communication at that 
time between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. An 
Appendix by Mr. W. Hill treats of the minute 


46 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 


structure of the Oceanic earths and limestones, and of 
the Foraminiferal muds and detrital earths ; and this 
is supplemented by a Report from Miss Raisin on 
the inorganic material of certain Barbados rocks. 
In the discussion which followed, the Chairman said 
that since the late Mr. Brady wrote on the “‘so-called 
Soapstone of Fiji,” there had been no communication 
on the subject of oceanic deposits of such importance 
as Mr. Jukes-Browne and Professor Harrison’s paper, 
which dealt with them |from a physical, chemical, 
and biological point of view. In both cases the 
deposits were held to be of late Tertiary age, and 
this conclusion made the excessive depths at which 
the Barbados earths were supposed to have been 
deposited all the more startling. Possibly the species 
of Archaopneustes described by Mr. Gregory might 
point to shallower waters. Dr. Blanford asked for 
further evidence as to the red clay being a deep-sea 
deposit. The mammalian fauna of South America, 
as he had pointed out on a previous occasion, could 
not be explained unless North and South America 
had been united at times during the Tertiary era. If 
it was urged that Barbados was on the edge of the 
oceanic era, the same remark would assuredly not 
apply to Jamaica. The discovery in Barbados of 
both Globigerina- and Radiolarian ooze, intercalated 
between shallow-water deposits, was clear evidence 
that portions of the continental area might be depressed 
to oceanic depths and re-elevated. Professor Sollas 
said it could no longer be put forward as an assured 
fact that deep-sea deposits never enter into the con- 
stitution of land-masses. Still, the evidence of the 
excessive depths claimed by the Authors did not 
amount to demonstration ; it was of the nature of 
analogy, which was sometimes misleading. It was 
to be hoped that additional fossils of the Metazoa 
would be discovered in the chalky beds. A vastly 
larger number of observations are required to define 
the bathymetrical limits of a species or group 
than in many cases we at present possess. Striking 
examples to general rules are numerous enough to 
give us pause; even so characteristically a deep- 
water group as the Hexactinellida has afforded one 
instance of a comparatively shallow-water species, 
Cystispongia superstes, having been dredged from 
eighteen fathoms off Yucatan. Professor Harrison 
pointed out that the evidence upon which the red 
and mottled argillaceous earths of the oceanic series 
were considered by Mr. Jukes-Browne and himself 
to be deep-sea deposits were the close resemblance 
in physical properties and chemical composition 
which they present to certain of the modern deep- 
sea oozes which have been termed ‘‘red clays,” and 
that the only organisms found in them were purely 
siliceous, being principally the remains of radiolaria 
with a few sponge-spicules. The ‘‘ clay” occurring 
in the pure radiolarian marls was also separated, 
and upon comparison was found to be similar to the 
argillaceous earths. The term “‘red clay” appears 


to have been used in the ‘‘ Challenger Expedition 
Reports” in a very comprehensive manner, as under 
it are included not only argillaceous deposits con- 
taining but few organisms, but also deposits consisting 
in some cases of radiolarian and in others of ffora- 
miniferal organisms. Mr. J. W. Gregory remarked 
that as the new echinoid occurred in a limestone at 
the extreme top of the oceanic series, it in no way 
disproved the deep-sea origin of the radiolarian 
marls. He fully agreed with Dr. Blanford in. 
doubting any considerable submergence of the Isth- 
mus of Panama in Upper Cainozoic times; Dr. 
Maack’s collection proved only,an eocene or miocene 
submergence, and the surveys of Lieutenant Wyse 
and the French engineers of the canal had not 
revealed any considerable elevation of the recent 
marine deposits. He exhibited specimens of radio- 
larian marls from Cuba, which were identical in 
characters, variation, and mode of occurrence with 
those of Barbados, and he maintained that this 
completed the authors’ case, and disproved the 
objection that had been advanced that these deep~ 
sea deposits only occurred on the margin of a volcanic 
area. 


NOTES AND QUERIES. 


THE SOLAR YEAR.—Your correspondent T. R. 
Jones should consult ‘*‘ Weights and Measures” in 
Weale’s Series, where he will find the Calendar fully 
explained. He has, however, created his own diffi- 
culty by confusing between the Sidereal and the Solar 
Year. The Solar Year contains 365°24222 days, or 
365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 47°808 seconds. Accord- 
ing to the present method the mean length of the 
year is 365°2425 days, which is slightly in excess of 
the Solar day. As this excess amounts to one day 
in about 3600 years, it may clearly be disregarded for 
the present.—Cliford EZ. F. Nash. 


GoLp FisH.—A few weeks since, I had two gold 
fish in a small glass globe. Late one night I noticed 
one of them vainly trying to lift up a shell ; I thought 
nothing more about it at the time. A few days 
afterwards I noticed it again trying to lift the shell 
up ; putting my hand into the water, and lifting the 
shell up, one of them came slowly to the top—dead. 
A few days after, the remaining one died ; whether 
from grief or not, I cannot say.—W. R. Riley. 


THE SoLar YEAR.—Your correspondent T. R. 
Jones has perhaps been misled by some inaccurate 
astronomical treatise, or perhaps by his own too- 
hasty reading. The year of 365 days 6 hours 9 min. 
9°6 sec. is called the Sidereal Year, and denotes the 
period in which the sun completes his apparent 
course through the Zodiac, measuring his position 
with respect to the stars. It does not correspond to 
the Solar Year, or period elapsing between two 
vernal equinoxes, because owing to the sun’s own 
motion through space, the position of the vernal 
equinoctial point is continually changing. The 
length of the true Solar Year is, I believe, 365 days 
5 hrs. 48 min. 49°7 sec. Leap-year, therefore, is so 
far from failing to cover the whole deficiency in the 
length of the calendar year that it covers too much ; 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 


47 


and a day will be omitted, not inserted, in the year 
tg00. The omission of the 29th of February in a 
leap-year is made three times in every four centuries. 
The recognition of this necessity was the celebrated 
Gregorian Reform of the Calendar, accepted by 
England in 1752—the non-adoption of which by the 
Greek Church accounts for the fact that Russia and 
Greece are now twelve days behind the rest of 
Europe.—C. B. Moffat. 


SoNG OF THE WAGTAIL.—Both the pied and the 
grey wagtail are among the songsters whose vocal 
powers often pass unnoticed : the same remark, I think, 
applies to the rich bell-!ike melody of the stonechat, 
and the inward warble of the spotted fly-catcher. In 
my experience all these birds sing for a very short 
season in spring, resuming their notes (with perhaps 
the exception of the stonechat) for a few days in 
autumn. The pied wagtail’s song is not always 
“subdued ” ; at times it is so loud and shrill as to 
recall rather the canary than the robin-redbreast. 
—C. BB. M- 


MIGRANTS AND HIBERNANTS, 1891.—The swift 
seen by Mr. Law on November 13th (as noted in 
ScIENCE-Gossip for January), was, I think, unpre- 
cedented ; but there seems to be ground for believ- 
ing that the swift as a species has lengthened the 
period of its sojourn with us since the time of 
Gilbert White, who in 1767 remarked that these 
birds ‘‘leaye us before the middle of August 
invariably.”” At Oxton, in Cheshire, swifts last year 
continued numerous and ubiquitous until September 
5th, on which date I altogether missed them; 
stragglers may have stayed behind, but I saw none 
during the few days longer that I remained in the 
neighbourhood. It will be remembered that White 
drew 2 comparison between the swift and the great 
bat (Noctula alttvolans), which last, he said, ‘* retires 
or migrates very early in the summer,” adding that 
he saw them most commonly in June, but never after 
July. At Lyndhurst, in the New Forest, however, I 
saw a group of these large bats hawking on the 
evening of the 23rd of August last, a sight that would 
probably have somewhat surprised the old naturalist. 
I doubt not that similar appearances are frequent 
enough, and many correspondents of SCIENCE-GOSSIP 
haye perhaps seen the bat later; but never having 
been in the haunts of that animal myself except for 
one delightful fortnight last summer, I think it is as 
well to note the fact of its appearance on August 23rd. 
Of creatures supposed to be more or less dormant at 
the present season, I may mention having seen a 
wasp on the wing on the 16th of December, a frog 
(only half awake) attempting to struggle across a 
grass-field on the 29th, and a spotted slug (Lzmax 
antiguorum, \ think) in full activity on the last day 
of the year. Of the partial nature of squirrels’ 
hibernations, the following observations during the 
week following Christmas Day may afford some 
evidence. I saw here—in woods at Ballyhyland, Co. 
Wexford—one squirrel on the 26th of December, 
three on the 28th, two on the 31st, and two more on 
the 1st of January. Of these eight, two were 
probably appearances of the same animal on different 
days ; but I am pretty sure that I saw seven different 
squirrels during the week. These were all feasting 
on the growmg cones of larch and pine, so that 
evidently they have no need as yet to resort to their 
winter hoard, if they really possess anything of the 
kind. The season, though not severe, has not been 
exceptionally mild ; and the food-supply on the trees, 
far from being particularly abundant, is less than 
the average.—C. B. Moffat. 


BRITISH ORTHOPTERA.—As I contemplate writing 
a popular handbook on the above as a companion 
volume to my ‘‘Illusirated Handbook of British 
Dragon-flies,” I shall be very glad to communicate 
with all who are interested in these insects. Local 
lists and specimens for figuring would be very ac- 
ela W. Harcourt Bath, Ladywood, Birming- 
LAN. 


BriTisH DRAGON-FLIES.—Will readers who are 
interested in the above kindly supply me with local 
lists of same, as I am desirous of elucidating their 
distribution in this country?—W. Harcourt Bath, 
Ladywood, Birminghan. 


PAPERS ON FLINTS.—Being much interested in 
the subject of flints, the cause of their peculiar 
deposit in the chalk, and their formation in this and 
other strata, I should be glad if any of your readers 
could direct me to any recent papers or books 
referring to this form of silex, or to any specimens of 
siliceous sinter, concretional flints, or anything else 
likely to help. I find it difficult to obtain such from 
the dealers, or would not trouble you.u—G. Advott. 


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 QuERIstTs.—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 DisGuis—ED 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 
jnitials) and full address at the end. 


SpeciaL Note.—There is a tendency on the part of some 
exchangers to send more than one per month. We only allow 
this in the case of writers of papers. 


To our Recent ExcHancers.—Weare willing to be helpful 
to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow ds- 


guised Exchanges like those which frequently come to us 
to appear unless as advertisements. 


F. G. Binc.—If not too large or heavy, send us your 
specimen for identification, with stamps to cover expenses of 
return. 

I want to procure the reed meadow grass (Glycevia 
aquatica). Will any reader of Sctence-Gossip kindly let me’ 
know where it is grown?—S. C. Hincks. 

J. Boccust.—Accept our best thanks for the beautiful 
mount of tongue of privet hawk moth. We are pleased to call 
fie attention of our readers to your method in our microscopical 
column. 

W. Macxie.—Messrs. Allen & Co., Waterloo Place, London, 
purchased Mr. Bogue’s stock, including, we believe, the 
“Catalogue of British Mosses.”” We are of opinion it is now 
out of print. Wheldon’s ‘‘ Catalogue of York Mosses” would 
serve your purpose. Why not get Hobkirk’s ‘‘ Synopsis of 
British Mosses,” latest edition? It is more expensive, but will 
serve for life as a handbook, giving structural characters, 
localities, &c. We are surprised that publishers of these and 
similar works do not advertise more in our columns, as we are 
constantly being asked about them. 


EXCHANGES. 


Witt send collections of two hundred named specimens 
(sixty species) Victoria shells, in return for same number 
named recent shells of any other country.—F. L. Billinghurst, 
National Bank of Australasia, Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia. 

WANTED, correctly named British land and freshwater 
shells, to start collection. British birds’ eggs or dried British 
plants, many rare—Carezx irregna, Utricularia minor, &c.— 
in exchange.—J. Corrie, Moniaive, N.B. 

Machaon betule, Paphia polychloros, Sylvanus hyper- 


48 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


anthus, Corydon galathea, Ligustri caja, Dispar chy., Betu- 
laria vinula, Silago lanestris, Facobe pudtbunda, and others, 
for side-blown birds’ eggs, one hole.—F. J. Rasell, 61 St. 
James Road, Northampton. 

Witt anyone help me to obtain some male crickets (Acheta 
domestica), say, three or four dozen or more? I will’arrange 
with correspondents about exchange.—A. Witt, Hale Rec- 
tory, Salisbury. 

A FeEw novels (Kingsley’s, Scott’s, &c.) to exchange for 
geological specimens correctly named, and with locality, &c. 
List on application. —Walter C. Shields, 36 Garturk Street, 
Crosshill, Glasgow. 

WanTED, any fossils not in my collection, also violin, 
clarionet, microscope, &c. Exchange photos of locomotive 
engines (including Stephenson’s ‘‘ Puffing Billy,” Hedley’s, 
and Treverick’s engines).—Reginald E. M. Bleasdale, 104 Dale 
End, Birmingham. 

OFFERED, minerals, fossils, shells, micro. objects and mate- 
rial, Devonian polished and rough corals and sponges, and 
rock specimens, as quartzites, quartz royalites, Murchisonites 
and granites, and other porphyretic specimens, in exchange 
for any of the following: good microscope with accessories, 
telescope, opera glass, secondhand watch that will keep time, 
or a collection of stamps in album, or any of the following 
shells :—Vertigo] Moulinsiana, V. pusilla, Isocardia cor, and 
Limnea involuta. Good exchange guaranteed.—T. E. Sclater, 
Northumberland House, Teignmouth. 

A LARGE number of school and text books offered in ex- 
change for fossils, shells, rocks, minerals, or slides. The 
subjects embrace Greek, Latin, French, German, science, 
divinity, history, geography, mathematics, and English. List 
of any subject from—Mr. A. E. Salter, 8 Venetia Road, 
Finsbury Park, N. 

OFFERED, a complete set of entomological apparatus, in- 
cluding setting house with perforated zinc door, ten setting 
boards and drawer for pins; also collecting tin store boxes,f&c. 
Will sell cheap, or exchange for good trout rod.—W. C. 
Wright, Lauriston, Derrievolgie, Belfast. 

OFFERED, variety of specially mounted first-class micro, 
slides for oxyhydrogen microscope. Desiderata, foraminifera, 
polycistina, diatoms, sponges, &c.—H. W. Case, F.R.M.S., 
Cotham, Bristol. 

WanTED for a museum, a few cut and polished ammonites 
in halves or pairs, not less than six inches in diameter—larger 
ones preferred—for which I shall be pleased to send in return 
thirty nice named specimens of minerals (not rocks) from 
Devon and Cornwall. Also wanted, large fossil ammonites, 
unpolished, from the district in Yorkshire where they are 
plentiful, and other large fossils and large minerals of crystal- 
lisation, or any of the following books:—Tate’s ‘‘Land and 
Freshwater Molluscs,” Turton’s ‘‘ Manual of the Land and 
Freshwater Shells of the British Islands,” Reeves’ ‘‘ Land and 
Freshwater Molluscs,” in exchange for fossils, British and 
foreign shells, rock specimens, micro. objects, and Devon 
corals.—A. J. R. Sclater, M.C.S., Natural History Stores, 
43 Northumberland Place, Teignmouth. 

OFFERED, Bythinia tentaculata, B. Leachiit, Hydrobia 
ventrosa, H. Fenkinsi, Valvata piscinalis, V. cristata, 
Planorbis corneus, Physa hypnorum, Limnea giutinosa, 
Succinea putris, Hyalina cellaria, Helix arbustorum, H. 
cantiana, H. rufescens, H. pisana, H. virgata, H. virgata 
var. submaritana, H. ericetorum, Pupa umbilicata, Clausilia 
vugosa, &c, Wanted, other land and freshwater shells not in 
collection.— C. Baldock, 21 Chapel Street, Woolwich. 

WanTED, European dragonflies, British locusts, field cock- 
roaches, male crickets, field crickets, British hawk moths and 
British mammals (stuffed or in the flesh), particularly bats, wild 
cat, marten, polecat, otter, badger; also varieties of common 
species. Offered, natural history books and pamphlets, British 
butterflies, dragonflies, land and freshwater shells, marine 
shells, and geological specimens; also small cabinet suitable 
dee eggs, shells, &c.—W. Harcourt Bath, Ladywood, Birming- 

am. 

WanTED, good illustrated works relating to European 
odontata, orthoptera, and rhopalocera, also first-class aneroid 
barometer, and combined opera and field-glass. A good return 
will be made in natural history books or specimens, &c.— 
W. Harcourt Bath, Ladywood, Birmingham. 

Dur.icaTe clutches of sooty tern, golden-winged wood- 
pecker, little grebe, mute swan, moorhen, bullfinch, pied wag- 
tail, Manx sherewater, tits, and others, side-blown and with 
data. Wanted, turnstone, divers, ducks, and offers.—F. W. 
Paple, 62 Waterloo Street, Bolton. 

WanTED, British or foreign shells or fossils, in exchange 
for others. Foreign correspondence specially desired.—Rey. 
John Hawell, Ingleby Greenhow Vicarage, Middlesbrough. 

DupricatEs.—A large number of correctly named and 
perfect specimens of British coleoptera, also a few hemiptera, 
and a few land and marine shells. Desiderata, lepidoptera, 
coleoptera, and other orders, and named types of British and 
foreign shells, or offers.—A. Ford, Claremont House, Upper 
Tower Road, St. Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex. 

WanTED, L. C., 8th ed. :—2x1, 22, 27, 45, 143, 155, 193, 2595 
354, 368, 402, 405, 459, 472 492, 533, 559, 611, 626, 634, 676, 
700, 726, 729, 739; 780, 805, 875, 879, 885, 898, 101z, 1925, 1040, 


1043, 1045; I115, 1351, 1380, 1606, 1771, 1800, &c. Send 
complete desiderata to—H. Fisher, Stodman Street, Newark, 
otts. 

WANTED, bound volumes of ‘‘Great Thoughts,” novels by 
J. M. Barrie, Thomas Hardy, or “‘Q.” Good exchange given 
in fossils and minerals from all formations.—James Marsden, 
3 Schleswig Street, Preston. 

WAnTED, minerals or fossils in exchange for carboniferous 
fossils or emu’s eggs. Address—John Millie, Echobank, 
Inverkeithing, Fifeshire, N.B 

Birps’ eggs. Duplicates of red grouse, puffin, lesser red- 
pole, sandpiper, black-headed bunting, whinchat, yellow 
wagtail, &c. Desiderata, swift, hobby, merlin, barn owl, 
buzzard, and many others.—W. G. Clutten, 19 Berkeley 
Street, Burnley. 

OFFERED, Pis. amnicum, Pal, vivipara, Byth. tentaculata, 
Plan. carinatus, H. nemoralis, H. hortensis, H. arbustorum, 
Bul. obscurus, Vert. pygmaa, Coch. tridens, in exchange for 
British land and freshwater shells not in collection; also for 
foreign shells. Foreign correspondence invited.—H. E. Craven, 
Matlock Bridge. 

WanTED, fossils from the London clay, Woolwich and 
Reading, and Thanet sands. Good exchange given from 
other strata.—T. W. Reader, 171 Hemingford Road, Barns- 
bury, London, N. 

WANTED, minerals and terebratula in exchange for eocene 
fossils, Cornish metallic minerals, and rock specimens.— 
E. H. V. Davies, 46 Upper Belgrave Road, Clifton, Bristol. 

Tue following numbers of ScreNncE-Gossip, clean and 
perfect—Nos. 73, 119, 151, 173-178 inclusive, 220, and 253. 
The lot for ss. 6d., post free, or any single number sent by 
post for 7¢. each.—H. Allingham, The Mall, Ballyshannon, 
Ireland. 

,OFFERED, microscopic objects—entomological, polar, &c.— 
three dozen professionally mounted. Wanted, fly-rod, tackle, 
ae books.—G. Barker, 24 Avenue Villas, Cricklewood, 

OFFERED, “‘The Microscope,” by Hogg (sixth edition), 
Davies’ ‘‘ Practical Microscopy” (second edition), and Balfour's 
“‘Manual of Botany,” all in good condition. Wanted, volumes 
of Scrence-Gossip, bound or unbound, for 1867, 1870-1872, 
1875, 1876, 1878-1881, or works on cryptogamic botany.— 
W. P. Quelch, 8 Eccleston Road, Ealing Dean, London, W. 

Wuat offers for ScrencE-Gossir for about twenty years, 
also last edition of ‘‘ Micrographic Dictionary” ?—A. Draper, 
179 Cemetery Road, Sheffield. 

For exchange, Plan. complanatus, Zonites cellarius, var. 
albinos, Z. glaber, Z. nitidulus, Helix nemoralis, H. hor- 
tensis and var. lutea, H. arbustorum, H. rufescens, H- 
hispida, H. virgata, H. ericetorum, H. rotundata. Wanted, 
Limnea, vars. limax, succinea, vertigo, &c., or offers.— 
A. H. Shepherd, 8: Corinne Road, London, N. 

WanTED, a few good specimens of malachite and rock 
crystal; must be in crystals. Will give Alston Moor minerals. 
in exchange.—William Hetherington, Nenthead, by Carlisle. 

OFFERED, Xylophaga dorsalis. Wanted, Terebratula cra- 
nium, Argiope (all), Anomia striata, Pinna nudis, Lima 
Loscombi, L. Sarstt, Modiolaria nigra, Nucula suicata, 
Limopsis aurita, Arca obliqua, A. pectunculoides, Lepton 
(all), Axinus crouliensis, Diplodonta rotundata, Cardiunz 
aculeatum, C. nodosum, C. nod. var. papillosum, Astarte 
var. elliptica, Tapes, var. sarniensis, Tellina balaustiana, T. 
pusilla, Psammobia costulata, Donax politus, D. trunculus, 
Donax var. magna, Lutraria oblonga, Trochus amabilis, T. 
Dunningt, T. montacuta, T. occidentalis, T. striatus, Lit- 
torina neritoides, Scalaria Trevelyana, lanthina, Natica 
Tslandica, Velutina plicatilis, Trophon muricatus, Fusus 
Norvegicus, F. Islandicus, F. propinguus, F. buccinatus, F. 
Berniciensis, F. fenestratus.—J. Smith, Monkredding, Kil- 
winning. 


BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE. 


“The Realm of Nature: an Outline of Physiography,” by 
Dr. H. R. Mill (London: John Murray).—‘‘ Power and Force, 
Spiritual and Natural,” by J. B. Keene (London: T. Fisher 
Unwin).—‘‘ An Account of British Flies,’’ Part 3, Vol. x, by 
F. V. Theobald (London: Elliot Stock).—‘‘ The Microcosm,” 
Nov. (New York).—‘‘ The Entomologist’s Record,” No. 12,. 
Vol. 2.—‘‘ Manipulation of the Microscope,” by E. Bausch | 
(London: W. P. Collins).—‘‘ The Collector’s Monthly.”— 
““Gentleman’s Mag.’’—‘‘ Midland Naturalist.’’—** American 
Naturalist.”,-—‘‘ American Microscopist,”’ &c., &c. 


COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED UP TO THE 12TH ULT. FROM: 


J. M.—H. E. C.—W. G. G.—R. A. P.—T. W. R.—J.G. E.— 
E, H. V. D.—M. A. A.—A. D.—A. H. S.—H. S. A. A.— 
G. B.—W. P. Q.—H. A.—A. J. H.—J. M.—W. H.—W. A. 
—H. G. W.—D. R.—W. M.—J. B.—A. J. T.—T. D. S.— 
A. F.—H. F.—J. M.—J. E. T.—G. A.—J. H.—J. W. P.— 
Cc. B. M.—J. E.—J. C.—T. L. B.—C. H. J. B.—W. B. H.— 
R. E. M. B.—H. W. C.—A. E. S.—T. E. S.—A R. S.— 
W. C. S.—W. C. W.—F. J. R.—S. C. H.—J. C.—F. G. B.— 
H. G. W. A.—A. G. T.—E. E. G.—C. E. T. N.—A. B.— 
T. B.—A. E. B.—R. F.—T. S, B.—S. C. S.—&c., &c. 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 49 


THE BRITISH PERLIDA OR STONE-FLIES. 


By We He NUNNEN. 


" [Continued from p~. 39:] 


the table (p. 38) 
that the British 
Perlidze may pri- 
marily be divided 
into three sub- 
families :—PErR- 
LINZ, including 
those genera in 
which the species 
have ~ setaceous 
palpi and long 
tail-bristles—Cap- 
NIIN&, the species 
of which possess 
filiform palpi and 
long tail-bristles— 
—and lastly NE- 
MOURINA;, includ- 
ing all species with 
filiform palpi and 
tail-bristles which are merely rudimentary or are 
entirely wanting. Some systematists may possibly 
raise objections to such a division of the family, but I 
am convinced that the distinctions between the groups 
I have named are something more than mere generic 
ones. Not, however, having space at my disposal in 
which to enter at length into my reasons for such 
belief, I will now proceed to give notes relating to 
the various species mentioned in the synopsis. 
Dictyopteryx microcephala, Pictet. This insect 
appears to be widely distributed. It is common in 
the south of England, and in Ireland, and is found 
somewhat sparsely in Scotland. It frequents the 
borders of streams from early spring until autumn. 
The wing venation is not constant, the cross-veins 
beneath the costa especially varying in number in 
individuals. In a specimen in my own collection, 
No, 327.—MaArcH 1892. 


the left upper wing has only five cross-veins, whilst 
the right upper wing has eight. In Pictet’s drawing 
of this species, in Vol. 26 of the ‘‘ Annales des 
Sciences Naturelles,’ he shows seven sub-costal 
cross-veins. The size also varies slightly, the average 
length of the body with the wings closed being nine 
lines, and with the wings expanded, one inch five 
lines. The wings are considerably shorter in the 
male than in the female. 

Dictyopteryx rectangula, Pictet. This species has 
the wings somewhat broader and of a darker tint, 
with very dark nervures. It is rather common, and 
widely distributed in the south, along the banks of 
streams in June. Its length is nine lines, wing 
expanse one inch four lines. It differs from micro- 
cephala in its smaller size, the greater width of the 
hinder margin of the prothorax, and the slightly 
different reticulation of the sub-marginal region ;'in 
microcephala the cellules are small, irregular, hexa- 
gonal or pentagonal, whereas in the present species 
they are rectangular. 

Tsogenus nubecula, Newman, This insect, the 
only European species of the genus, is a connecting 
link between Dictyopteryx and Perla, and Perla and 
Chloroperla. It is found in the neighbourhood of 
running water, and is apparently widely distributed, 
except towards the north, where it is somewhat 
scarce. This species is easily distinguished from 
allied species of other genera by its wings having 
a small oval dark-brown spot on the costal margin, 
about two-thirds of the distance from the base to the 
tip. Length nine lines; wing expanse fifteen 
lines. The male is less in size than the female. It 
appears in April. 

Laboulbéne states that specimens of this species, 
when laid upon their backs, remain perfectly motion- 
less, excreting at the same time a yellowish liquid at 
the joints of the legs. 

D 


50 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


Perla maxima, Scopoli (‘‘the stone-fly ” far ex- 
cellence). In point of size this species and the one 
following run very close, but maxima is generally 
considered to be somewhat the larger, some speci- 
mens measuring nearly three inches across the 
expanded wings. The usual length is about twelve 
lines, the wing expanse in the female being about 
two inches eight lines, and in the male about 
one inch nine lines. 
dark. 

As regards the present species, Dr. Brandt has 
raised a point of great interest to biologists. After 
having noticed rudimentary ovaries, etc., in a male 
larva, he was greatly astonished to observe the same 
structures in a male imago, from a different locality. 
He asks, can he have observed only a monstrous 
individual in each case, or is rudimentary hermaphro- 
ditism a rule with the species ? 

Perla marginata, Muraldt. Individuals of this 
species are found of large size. One specimen in 
the British Museum measures two inches eleven 
lines across the expanded wings. The length is 
usually about eight lines, and the wing expanse (¢) 
about two inches. The measurements of the male 
are much less, the wings being often atrophied. The 
male is generally lighter in colour than the female, 
but the markings vary but little. Both sexes are 
fairly common along the banks of streams at the end 
of spring. The Rev. J. G. Wood says: ‘‘ The egg 
cluster of this species is as large as a swan-shot, and 
nearly as black.” According to Curtis, the cast 
pupa-skin is beautifully spotted. 

Perla cephalotes, Curtis. This insect is remarkable 
for the extreme disproportion that exists between the 
male and female ; moreover, the wings in the male 
are reduced to mere rudiments, ‘This species is 
somewhat like the last, both in size and colour, 
though ¢ specimens of marginata usually have the 
wings long. The colour of the prothorax will 
separate them. It appears in summer. 

Chloroperia rivulorum, Pictet. ‘This species is to 
be distinguished from the next by the generally 
distributed brown tint, by the head being brown 
in the middle, with a well-marked blotch in the 
form of a horse-shoe, Appears in summer by 
the sides of mountain streams. Transformations un- 
known. e 


The wing nervures are very 


Chloroperla grammatica, Poda. Mr. Parfitt says 
of this insect, ‘‘ Very abundant along our rivers and 
streams (in Devonshire) from May to October. It 
varies greatly in size and colouring, so as to lead one 
to think that there are two or three species collected 
under one head.” Of these varieties, the reddish 
tufescens is the most aberrant. This species also 
bears a horseshoe-shaped blotch on the head, but 
it is isolated. The palpi are prominent. The 
imagines emerge in April, and are widely dis- 
tributed. 


Lsopteryx torrentium, Pictet. Somewhat rare ; 


frequents wood-stacks ; emerges about May. Larva 
and pupa unknown. 

Lsopteryx Burmeisteri, Pictet. Abundant in the 
north ‘‘ by the side of every water” (Mr. J. F. X. 
King) ; common in Ireland; probably mixed in 
cabinets with J. ¢ripunctata. 

Lsopteryx tripunctata, Scopoli. Smaller than the 
preceding. The palpi are very prominent. This 
is the ‘‘ yellow Sally ” of anglers. Larva unknown. 

Lsopteryx apicalis, Newman. The smallest species 
of the genus. The palpi are very prominent. Larva 
unknown. 

Capnia nigra, Pictet. There is a record in the 
‘Canadian Naturalist,” of enormous numbers of 
this species appearing on the snow on the Riviére 
du Loup, Canada, in the month of March a year or 
two ago. Bethune, also, in the ‘‘ Canadian Ento- 
mologist,” speaks of the occurrence every spring, of 
swarms of this small perlid on the River Crédit, in 
Canada, and of its frequently being found on the 
surface of snow. I believe the same thing occurs to 
some extent in Scotland. 

This species, the only British one of the genus, 
rolls its wings into a half-cylinder around its body, 
thus mimicking certain Nemourz. Itis difficult to 
capture without damaging it in some way. It flies 
but seldom, and then swiftly for short distances 
among the stones at the water’s edge. It is ap- 
parently confined to northern limits, and does not 
seem to occur in Britain in any great numbers. 

Teniopteryx nebulosa, Linné. This is the largest 
of the known species of the genus. Anglers have 
named it the ‘‘red upright.” Parfitt, speaking of 
this species in Devon, says, ‘‘ very scarce.” He also 
writes, ‘* The larve of this species live among the 
stones, of which the weirs on the Exe are built, and 
where the water rushes over with great force. When 
about to undergo the last change, or rather the 
emergence of the imago, the subimago creeps up 
the wood-work of the weir or the sluice-gates, and 
grasps the wood very firmly, with its legs out- 
stretched, and the sharp claws of the tarsi firmly 
pressed into the wood, The head is first ruptured ; 
the skin then parts along the back from the pressure 
within, as far as the base of the wing-cases; the 
insect gradually emerges, leaving its old skin to dry 
on the wood-work. ‘The difference in the colouring 
in the subimago and the perfect insect is very striking. 
In the former, it is shining black-brown. The face 
is ornamented with a white mark in the form of a 
Greek or an Egyptian vase, having two curved 
cornutz for the handles, mouth white, with ferruginous 
jaws, antennz yellow. The thoracic region is macu- 
lated with white, the tips of the wing-cases are 
whitish ; the abdomen has two rows of angular white 
spots on each segment, sete pale yellow, legs whitish, 
femora dusky beneath. All the tibiae, and especially 
the posterior, are provided with a row of long ciliz 
on the outside, to assist them in swimming.” The 


HARDWICKE’ S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 51 


femora in this species are wholly blackish. The 
bands on the wings partially disappear after the 
death of the insect. The females of this species, 
which appears during the spring, are usually found 
with a glutinous egg-cluster at the extremity of the 
abdomen. 

Teniopteryx trifasciata, Pictet. Palpi very promi- 
nent. Femora blackish only at the extremities. Of 
this insect, Parfitt remarks, ‘‘ This very distinct 
and apparently rare species I captured by Exwick 
Weir (Devon). The fasciz on the wings are very 
distinct when the insect is fresh, The posterior 
wings have a beautiful delicate purple tint, except 
along the anterior edge, where it is, as Mr. Stephens 
remarks, ‘ fuscescent.’ The body and legs vary a 
good deal in colour, from reddish yellow to pitchy 
black.” 

The females of this species appear more often met 
with than are the males. The pupa undergoes a 
slight change when it nears the time for becoming an 
imago. The thorax becomes rounded instead of 
square ; the body tapers more, and the wing rudi- 
ments, previously yellowish, become deeper in colour, 
as does the entire body. 

Leuctra geniculata, Stephens. This appears to be 
widely distributed ; it is taken somewhat sparsely in 
the south, but it is very common at many places in 
the north. It may be looked for in June. The 
wings are generally rolled round the body in a half- 
cylinder. Mr. McLachlan has recorded in the ‘‘ Ento- 
mologist’s Monthly Magazine,” his having observed a 
female of this species carrying her eggs upon the back 
of her abdomen. : 

Leuctra fusciventris, Stephens. This species also 
rolls its wings in a semi-cylinder. It is, at times, 
found on flowers in fields. It may be taken in June 
and July, and, although somewhat uncommon in the 
south of England, is abundant in the north. The 
larva of this species has no respiratory sacs. 

Nemoura variegata, Olivier. This is, perhaps, the 
most common of our stone-flies, appearing from April 
to August. Anglers call it the ‘‘ willow-fly.” True 
to its specific name, it varies greatly in colour, speci- 
mens occurring even of a reddish hue; these latter 
form the variety Fuliginosa. The laryee, in which 
respiratory sacs are not visible, are found both in 
stagnant and running water. 

Nemoura Meyeri, Pictet. 
unknown. Rare. 

Nemoura nitida, Pictet. This, the largest of the 
genus, is a very pretty species, the wing nervures 
being edged with yellowish-grey. It seems confined 
to the north, the larve frequenting mountain rills. 
These larve have respiratory sacs, Rare. March 
to October. 

Wemoure cinerea, Olivier. As regards colour this 
is the most variable species of the genus, and much 
confusion has arisen on that account. It is common 
in the north in May. 


The male and laryz are 


Nemoura humeralis, Pictet. This species is dis- 
tinguished from all others by the contrast of the 
almost opaque colour of the wings and the light 
colour of the feet. It is, however, sometimes con- 
founded with JV. cizerea, which has the prothorax 
wider than long. Common in the north in May. 
Larva unknown. 

Nemoura sulcicollis, Stephens. Generally dis- 
tributed. June to October. Larva unknown. 

Nemoura inconspicua, Pictet. This is the most 
minute species of the group. Its pale colour persists 
throughout its life. The larva bears thoracic respira- 
tory sacs. Rare. 

The foregoing species being enumerated, I have 
nought to do but to draw speedily to a finish. 

In this short paper, no attempt could be made to 
treat the subject exhaustively, or even to give a full 
description of each species, and indeed the present 
contribution is but a series of notes on the known 
British species of the family. However, as I fully 
recognise its defects, I hope to remedy them at some 
future period, by the publication of a series of articles 
in some other periodical entirely devoted to the con- 
sideration of entomological subjects. . 

A few words as to the best books and papers treat- 
ing of the Perlina. These are :—By Pictet: ‘‘ His- 
toire Naturelle dela Famille des Perlides ” ; Paper in 
the ‘f Annales des Sciences Naturelles,” 1833, (Zoo- 
logical section); Paper in the ‘‘Mémoires de la 
Société de Physique et d’Histoire Naturelle de 
Genéve,” vol. vii. By Stephens: ‘‘ Illustrations of 
British Entomology,” vol. vi., Mandibulata. By 
Newman : ‘‘ Magazine of Natural History,” 1839 ; 
*¢ Entomological Magazine,” vol. iv., 1837. By 
Burmeister : ‘‘ Handbuch der Entomologie,” ii. By 
Curtis : ‘‘ British Entomology.” By Brauer : ‘* Neu- 
roptera Austriaca,” 1857. By Rambur: “Histoire 
Naturelle des Insectes Névroptéres,” 1842. By 
Walker: ‘‘ Catalogue of Neuropterous Insects in 
the British Museum,” Part I., 1852. (Descriptions 
in Latin.) For other references the student should 
obtain the “‘ Catalogue of British Neuroptera,” pub- 
lished by the Entomological Society of London, in 
1870. 

In conclusion, I may say that I shall be pleased to 
help anyone, by naming specimens or giving other 
information relating to the Perlina.* TI shall also be 
yery glad to receive contributions of insects of this 
group for my own cabinet, with the usual data relating 
to place of capture, etc., from which to gain a better 
knowledge of the distribution of the Perlina in the 
British Isles. Communications may be addressed to 
me, at 29, St. Phili~’s Road, Dalston, London, 


NE. 


* All specimens should be sent securely packed, and the 
address written on a label fastened to the string with which 
the package is tied. In the case of an answer, or insects being 
required to be returned, stamps sufficient to cover postage 
should be sent to me, 


D2 


52 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


NOTES ON AMG@BA AND INFUSORIA. 
By BERNARD THOMAS. 
I.—THE AMGBA. 


HE Amceeba is often chosen as a type of the 
animal cell. It is a single cell without 
modifications. For this reason and also because its 
study is, perhaps, the best introduction to the 
Infusoria, it is here introduced. 

The Protozoa forms the lowest group of the animal 
series, and correspondingly the Protophyta that of the 
plant series. These two groups, although differing 
in some ways, resemble each other in several other 
particulars, so that it may be doubtful in which 
kingdom to refer a particular organism. Thus we 
may draw a letter U, one limb of which represents 
the vegetable and the other the animal kingdom, 
while the connecting piece, in like manner, represents 
the unicellular organisms common to both. Professor 
Hickel’s Protista* was intended to include that class 
of organisms intermediate between the two large 
biological kingdoms, but it unfortunately included 
multicellular as well as unicellular forms. 

The Amceba (Fig. 25), the Protean animalcule, is 
to be found in almost all collections of ditch or pond- 
water, and when a familiar object the microscopist has 
usually not long to search for it. To those who 
have never seen it, it may be mentioned that it can 
usually be found in the water where dead flowers have 
been left to stand. With a fair instrument, and a 
magnifying power of two or three hundred diameters, 
its form and movements may be readily examined. 

In size it varies, some specimens may be so large as 
to be visible to the unaided eye, but this is by no 
means common, and others, again, require a power of 
three hundred diameters before they can be observed 
with any satisfaction. Its very irregular outline is 
constantly changing (Fig. 25 4). The general sub- 
stance (described as protoplasm) is transparent, 
colourless and in places more or less granular. 
Sometimes it contains spaces filled with a more fluid 
material or with food, consisting of organisms, etc., 
it has ‘* swallowed.” Usually one of these spaces is 
contractile and known as the contractile vesicle, and 
somewhere in the protoplasmic mass a roundish body, 
the zacleus or endoplast, is to be distinguished. 

The protoplasm may be divided into two areas ; 
an internal, more granular exdosarc, and an external, 
more hyaline ecfosarc. The appearance may be 
compared to that of ground glass, fine in the former 
and coarse in the latter region. Some Amceba are 
more hyaline throughout, others more granular. 

The semi-fluid nature of the protoplasm is best 
understood by observing the formation of the pseudo- 
podia or processes which the Amceba ever and anon 


* Hackel’s Protista: i. Monera; ii. Flagellata; iii. Labrin- 
thula; iv. Diatomez; y. Phycochromacez; vi. Fungi; vii. 
Myxomycetes; viii. Protoplasta; ix. Noctiluca; x. Rhizo- 
poda. 


thrusts forth. This phenomenon takes place in the 
following order :— 

(1.) A bulging of the ectosarc. 

(2.) The granules of the endosarc run rapidly into 
the process so formed. 

Sometimes, however, only the first part of this 
process is performed. The more fluid part of the 
protoplasm is the internal endosarc, and its fluidity is 
demonstrated by the quicker performance of the 
second stage than of the first. 

Apart from the formation of pseudopodia, however, 
there are movements constantly visible in the en- 
dosarc, which may be described as a kind of 


Fig. 25.—a, Amoeba, showing contractile space (c. s.j, nucleus 
(.), food-vacuoles (7 v.), and pseudopodia. Theendosarc is 
clearly marked from the ectosarc; in the latter granules are 
seen. 4, Amoeba, showing change of form after a few seconds. 
c, nucleus and contractile space very highly magnified. 


rotation similar to, but not so regular as, that seen in 
certain vegetable cells. 

With respect to the granules, these seem to be of 
two kinds, either coarse with well-defined outline, or 
small and faint. The presence of the latter is 
explained by the theory that the protoplasm is a 
delicate network with a fluid substance filling its 
insterstices. The strands of the network are neither 
rigid nor constant, and it must not be supposed that 
they are arranged with any regularity. In places 
their absence is denoted by a vacuole, and the 
junction of the meshes by a granule (node). The 
contractile vesicle, if observed for any length of time, 
is seen to expand andcontract. It has been supposed 
by some to represent a heart driving the fluid in all 
directions through the organism, It may be, perhaps, 
arudimentary respiratory organ, by which the aeration 
of the protoplasm is brought about. But at present 
its function is uncertain, and it may simply bea mani- 


AARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. : 53 


festation of the changes in the protoplasm or of the 
movements that are seen to take place within the 
organism. In some Ameeba this organ appears to be 
absent. 

The nucleus is not always easily seen in the Amceba, 
in some specimens none is discoverable, but when 
present it is seen to differ but slightly if at all in the 
refractive power of the general protoplasmic sub- 
stance. It is provided with a delicate membrane 
and internally is composed of a network, called 
intranuclear and somewhat similar to that of the 
general protoplasm. The nucleus (with few exceptions) 
is present in every cell, and plays an important part 
in the process of reproduction. It divides previously 
to the cell in simple asexual reproduction, and in the 
sexual method fusion of the two nuclei takes place. 

This short account of the morphology of the 
Ameeba leads us to consider, briefly, what is known 
of the physiology of this interesting organism. 

The problem of how to introduce into its interior 
the food on which it subsists is answered by the 
Amceba readily and simply. At any part of its 
surface the food may enter; the protoplasm flows 
round it, slowly engulfs it, and thus produces a food 
vacuole directly in contact with the protoplasmic 
substance. The digestion apparently without the aid 
of gastric juice, without, as far as we know, any 
special ferment for converting insoluble into soluble 
substances, is hard to understand. And we reach a 
very difficult problem in physiology when we try to 
solve how the matter is absorbed and converted into 
living material. In our own bodies the gastric juice 
and other ferment-containing substances are required 
to bring food directly in contact with the protoplasm 
of the cells of which we are built up ; but here we 
have food directly in contact with endosarc, dead 
protoplasm in contact with living ; and yet, though we 
have reached the most primitive form of assimilation 
in the animal kingdom, we are at a loss.to explain how 
it takes place. I have previously mentioned the con- 
tractile space and its supposed function, and the 
movements of protoplasm visible in the endosare as 
well as the formation of pseudopodia ~by which 
locomotion is effected. 

We must consider the whole substance of the 
Amceba capable of performing the various functions 
of life ; and this teaches us an important lesson, that 
in spite of the absence of differentiation, nevertheless 
the cell is enabled to perform its various functions, 
and this we shall see later is not the case among the 
Infusoria. 

The eminently contractile nature of the protoplasm 
and its response to electrical, thermal and mechanical 
stimuli give us, perhaps, the first indication of a 
nervous and muscular system. The apparently pur- 
poseful movements of the Amceba, and still more of 
the higher Infusoria, their behaviour when they meet 
an obstacle or food, makes us almost fancy that they 
have at least the sense of touch and the will to act 


on that sensation. This may only be, however, the re- 
action of the protoplasm to a stimulus, non-intelligent, 
the result of a law due to the complex nature of the 
substance. Protoplasm is so complex, indeed, that 
in spite of the great advance of chemistry within 
recent years, we are unable to form an estimate 
of its composition. We know that the chief elements 
that compose it are carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, 
oxygen, and a little sulphur and phosphorus, besides 
traces of other substances, and we have to remain 
satisfied with that. How these are built up, it is 
impossible to ascertain accurately, perhaps because 
of their complex arrangement into several groups and 
sub-groups loosely connected, and certainly because of 
the great practical difficulty of examining chemically 
a living material. 

This protoplasm is constantly being broken down 
and as constantly renewed. It resembles the cloud 
which clings to the mountain-top, remaining the same 
in form, but the individual particles that compose it 
ever changing. 

The study of the protean animalcule is the study of 
protoplasm ; and now with this introduction we will 
turn our attention to some members of the large class 


Infusoria. 
(Zo be continued.) 


HUMOURS OF FOSSIL-HUNTING. 


ANY of my readers, geological and otherwise, 

have doubtless in the course of their ex- 
perience been frequently diverted by ideas, both 
curious and amusing, prevalent in regard to their 
particular fields of research, among those with whom 
they have come into contact as they sought for fossils, 
plants, or other objects of natural history ; but this is 
more particularly the case, I believe, with those who 
like myself have ‘‘ woo’d the gentle fossil from his 
native rock.” May I offer a selection of such as have 
come under my own notice, in the hope that the 
perusal may call up a smile to faces that are so 
generally weighted by nature’s many-sided problems. 

It seems hardly possible that in these enlightened 
days the existence of the fossils in the rocks should 
remain a mystery, yet in many benighted districts, 
where I am compelled to suppose the foot of the 
geologist has seldom trod, people may still be found 
to whom the riddle is quite insoluble, and who 
remain provokingly sceptical in spite of explanations, 
which very often they themselves have called for. 
Such an one it was who enquired of me if my 
specimens were not more likely the result of the 
Deluge, some of the ‘‘ wicked fishes” in fact, that 
perished by that catastrophe. 

A complete list of the names applied to fossils by 
the workmen in pits and quarries would form of itself 
an article of very considerable length: those given 
below are a few culled from the many. The heart- 
shaped Micraster is a ‘‘toad,” a ‘‘snake’s-heart,” 


54 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


occasionally a ‘‘ five-finger,” and once I have heard it 
referred to as a ‘‘thunderbolt.” The Galerites are 
‘* sugar-loaves,”’ or ‘* shepherd-crowns,”’ and I have 
it on the authority of an old workman in a gravel-pit, 
that if done over with black-lead they are capital 
ornaments for the mantelpiece. The spines of Echi- 
noderms are generally ‘‘rolling-pins,” but sometimes 
““sraters” : Belemnites are ‘‘ bolts,” with ‘‘ thunder” 
as an affix occasionally thrown in free gratis. Every 
variety of bivalve rejoices in one of two names, 
“ cockle” or “ oyster,” although sometimes in the case 
of the former a distinction is drawn between the 
smooth and the ribbed. Palatal teeth are generally 
known as ‘‘ slugs,” on account of their resemblance 
to a brown wrinkled individual who may be seen 
wending his slimy way across the meadows after a 
heavy shower. ‘Turritellze and other spiral shells are 
known as ‘‘ screws.” 

Ata small seaport, the name of which is usually 
associated with oysters, the cliffs are formed of the 
London clay, and large masses of this deposit are 
annually brought down by the waves and carried out 
to sea. _Many of the fossils from this formation may 
be found upon the beach, or upon the mud-flats left 
exposed at low tide, and conspicuous among them 
are numbers of reptilian teeth, the fangs of which are 
usually covered by a rounded nodule of hardened clay. 
With the natives these pass as ‘‘ cramp-stones,” and 
are said to be certain preventives of cramp, if worn 
about the person. Unfortunately there appears to be 
some difficulty experieneed in keeping them upon the 
person when bathing. 

On one occasion, when hunting in a chalk-pit, I 
was accosted by a workman who had found several 
broken nodules of iron pyrites, and who also offered 
the original suggestion that they would look very nice 
under a glass case with some stuffed birds. The 
idea of stuffed birds as a background to a mass ofiron 
pyrites struck me as being particularly happy, and not 
having been copyrighted, it is herewith offered to 
taxidermists and others, who may make any use of it 
that they think fit. At another time I had succeeded 
in disinterring from a gravel-pit lying within the 
outworks of an old Roman fort, a tile and several 
fragments of pottery, undoubtedly Roman, which I 
found associated with a quantity of wood-ashes, the 
remains apparently of an ancient camp-fire. Sceptical 
friends, however, suggested ‘‘a Roman dust-heap,”’ 
(sarcasm vulgaris.) The family washer-lady having 
once seen me cleaning and mounting a number of 
chalk-fossils, informed a crony that I was ‘‘making 
little ornaments with pipe-clay.” Hearing me refer 
to several specimens as Ammonites, caused a school- 
boy to enquire if they ‘‘were the things that fought 
against the children of Israel in the desert.” And so 
on, ad libitum. I should only exhaust your patience 
by multiplying examples, so with the following 
anecdote I will close. A geologist had been absent 
from home for several days on a fossil-hunting ex- 


pedition, and on his return exhibited his specimens 
and narrated his adventures to a circle of friends, 
which included a native of Bedfordshire. None of his 
audience being acquainted with his favourite science, 
our geologist made a point of using the simplest 
language, and gave his account in the most lucid 
manner possible; but inadvertently falling into a 
style that was to him quite as familiar, he spoke of 
the formations he had been studying as ‘* arenaceous 
deposits,”’ immediately afterwards adding that he had 
meant ‘‘ sandy beds.” ‘‘ Ah,” exclaimed the Bedford- 
shireman, ‘‘ Sandy, Beds ; I know the place very well, 
I was born there.” The point is obvious, but the 
moral requires searching out, and will probably be 
found in the paradox, that if you are not compre- 
hended you are little likely to be misunderstood. 

But I have said enough to show that the study of 
science may often be rendered less tedious by 
occasional meteoric flashes of humour, and the path 
to knowledge made pleasant and cheerful by a due 
appreciation of their value. 

F. G. Binc. 


NATURAL HISTORY RAMBLES ON THE 
S.E. COAST OF ENGLAND. 


By A. H. SHEPHERD. 


HE following notes are-compiled with a view to 
assist young naturalists who may not as yet 
have visited the above locality. They are intended 
not so much to form a list of species actually taken 
at one time; but more as hints concerning such 
species as may be met with on the S.E. coast during 
the month of August. The district worked over 
extends from Ramsgate, by way of Sandwich, Deal, 
Walmer, and Dover, to Folkestone, and includes 
a considerable extent of the coast-line, with some 
variety of soil, producing its natural effect upon the 
botany of the district, and consequently upon the 
entomology also, All the places mentioned can be 
reached by rail, that is, within a reasonable walking- 
distance ; therefore the young naturalist, whatever 
may be his hobby, has only to proceed to that part of 
the route which he thinks may be most remunerative 
in his own particular branch of study, and begin 
collecting on the spot. 


Part J.—RAMSGATE TO DEAL. 


From Ramsgate to Pegwell Bay is a pleasant walk, 
but there is little, if any collecting to be done until 
the naturalist reaches the latter place, where, how- 
ever, he may begin in earnest. If a conchologist, he 
may obtain, by searching the banks, roadsides, and 
broken ground, plenty of specimens of such species as 
Lfelix nemoralis, H. virgata, H. ericetorum, F. 
caperata, Hl. cantiana, and H. aspersa; this latter 
species I have met with in great numbers on the road- 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 55 


sides after a shower of rain, but there did not appear 
to be a variety amongst them. A lepidopterist can 
do but little here, as only a few of the common 
species of butterflies and moths have been noticed ; it 
is possible, however, that something might be done in 
Coleoptera. 

Following the path along the top of the chalk 
cliffs, which gradually descend, we arrive at a place 
called Cliffs End, which is correctly named, seeing 
that at this place the cliffs do end, and we stand 
nearly on a level with the bay itself. If we retrace 
our footsteps a short distance, only this time walking 
along the beach, instead of upon the cliffs, we shall 
observe that the strata are here composed of a kind 
of sandstone, of the formation known as Thanet 
Sands, in which may be noticed a very interesting 
layer of fossil shells. They appear to consist chiefly 
of only two or three species, of which one, a species 
of Cyprinidz, is by far the most common. From 
the loose and friable nature of the strata, it is almost 
impossible to obtain these fossils in a perfect condi- 
tion. It is also to be observed that where masses of 
the strata in question have fallen upon the beach and 
become subjected to the action of the sea-water, they 
have been converted into a very hard stone, without 
any trace of the fossils, which are apparently 
dissolved by the same action which hardens the 
strata. 

Turning our attention to the beach itself, the 
young collector may obtain many specimens of the 
more common species of marine shells, but these are 
unfortunately in most cases empty or dead shells. I 
am informed that the spring months are the best 
times in which to collect marine species round this 
part of the coast. However, there is plenty to 
occupy a young collector on this beach. 

Returning to Cliffs End, we proceed to make our 
way round the bay. There is but little collecting to 
be done until we reach a point where the river Stour 
passes under the road to Sandwich; here we turn 
aside from the road, and crossing the river by a ferry 
boat, follow a path through the fields, which after a 
long and somewhat uninteresting walk, brings us to a 
part of the beach called Shellness, where the young 
conchologist may obtain a great variety of species of 
marine shells, some of them rather rare ; the more 
common species are very plentiful. For a full list of 
the species to be taken here, I refer the reader to 
Mr. S. C. Cockerell’s interesting paper in SCIENCE- 
Gossip for September 1883. Several species of 
Coleoptera may be obtained on the sands, in particular 
that rather local species Cicindela maritima, which 
sometimes occurs in considerable numbers, flying 
over and settling upon the hillocks of blown sand, 
through which the scanty grass and herbage makes 
its way. After proceeding a mile or more along the 
beach, the lepidopterist may enjoy some sport. By 
turning to the right he will find himself upon a wide 
expanse of nearly level ground, known as the ‘‘sand- 


hills,” covered with coarse grass and various low- 
growing plants, where he may obtain several local 
species of moths, such as Asfilates citraria, Eubolia 
Zineolata, and others, as well as the more common 
species of butterflies, such as Zycena agrestis, L. alexis, 
Hesperia linea and others. After proceeding some 
distance to the right, the collector will reach a road 
or cart-track leading to Deal, on reaching which 
collecting ceases for the present. By following the 
track to Sandwich some good collecting in Lepidoptera 
may be done, in particular near the brackish drains 
or ditches where the herbage is most rank. Some 
local species of Coleoptera may be obtained here. 
The district near Deal has been, I believe, care- 
fully worked of late years by several experienced 
lepidopterists, particularly of a night, with good 
results. The writer’s ill-health has, however, 
prevented him obtaining practical knowledge as to 
the results of night-work; if, therefore, the young 
naturalist desires further information on this point, he 
is referred to several papers on this subject which 
have appeared from time to time in the pages of the 
entomological and other magazines. As regards 
botany there are many very interesting species to be 
obtained in this district ; for lists of plants and other 
information, see SCIENCE-GossIP for 1880. 


Part II.—DEAL TO DOVER AND FOLKESTONE. 


After leaving Deal, the next good hunting-ground 
for the naturalist is Walmer, where much collecting 
maybe done. The sloping chalk-banks on the right, 
which extend to the village of Kingsdown, are 
covered with various flowering plants, and on a fine 
day seem alive with various kinds of insects, com- 
prising Lepidoptera and Coleoptera in fair proportion. 
Of the former, I have met with representatives of 
nearly every family, some of the species being local, 
such as Lifaris chrysorrhea, which flies freely at dusk, 
the larvee web of the same being also found on the 
stunted hawthorn and blackthorn bushes. Acidalia 
ornata, Aspilates gilvaria, Emmelesia unifasciata, 
and many more. On the bedstraw (Galium mollugo), 
growing on the shingle, may be found the pretty 
Jarvee of Macroglossa stellatarum, the ‘‘humming- 
bird hawk-moth.” In conchology most of the same 
species of Helix as before mentioned occur here, with 
the addition of Helix hispida vax. nana under low- 
growing plants, and H. hispida var. albida, once found 
in the web of a moth, Lzparis chrysorrhea. 

On reaching Kingsdown the young naturalist will 
no doubt require rest and refreshment, and for this 
purpose he cannot do better than enter the ‘‘ Rising 
Sun,” which stands close to the road, and is there- 
fore convenient for those whose excited feelings 
prompt them to run out every time they think they 
see a rarity fly by. 

After leaving Kingsdown the cliffs begin to increase 
in height till we reach the coastguard station, near 


56 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


which is a gap or opening in the cliffs. The collecting 
here does not differ much from that on the other side 
of Kingsdown, but Grophos obscurata and Melanippe 
galiata are not uncommon, although rather local. 

From the coastguard station the cliffs again rise, 
becoming as we advance more and more abrupt, and 
in some places ‘rising to a considerable height. 
Great masses of chalk occasionally fall,s blocking up 
the path and making the walking somewhat rough, 
but much good collecting may be done here—as before, 
mostly among the Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. The 
young botanist will, however, here find many small, 
but very interesting flowering plants; the yellow- 
horned poppy (Glazcium luteum) also occurs on the 
beach. The young lepidopterist, too, will find plenty 
of Arge Galathea, Lycena Corydon, Callimorpha 
dominula, and Asfilates gilvaria, besides numerous 
other species more or less common. 

The collecting along this portion of the route 
derives additional interest from the beauty of the 
surrounding scenery, having as we walk a fine view 
of the Channel and vessels of all sizes continually 
passing on the one hand, and the lofty chalk cliffs on 
the other. 

As we approach St. Margaret’s Bay, a fine view 
opens out of the cliffs and downs which extend from 
the other side of the bay towards Dover, the white 
tower of the lighthouse being just visible above the 
hills. If the young naturalist has had tolerable sport, 
he will be glad to rest and refresh himself when he 
reaches the ‘Green Man Inn,” St. Margaret’s Bay. 
Leaving St. Margaret’s Bay and working directly 
over the Downs towards the lighthouse, the collecting 
does not differ much from that on the other side of 
the bay, except that in Lepidoptera several species 
are wanting here that occur there, while on the other 
hand a few, such as Satyrus Semele and Eremobia 
ochroleuca occur here more commonly. 

The wind over the Downs is somewhat of a draw- 
back to the lepidopterist, taking the insects, as they 
rise, often quite out of the reach of the collector. I 
do not think there is very much collecting to be done 
near Dover, although such rare species as Argynnis 
lathonia and Deiopeia pulchella are sometimes taken, 
yet they cannot be counted upon. 


MOSS-HAUNTING ROTIFERS; WITH 
DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO NEW SPECIES. 


By Percy G, THompson. 


ITHIN the last few years the attention of 
rotifer-workers has been directed somewhat 
specially to the numerous forms of Rotifera frequently 
met with amidst damp moss. These are often quite 
characteristic of such habitat, many of them are 
seldom or never met with from the more open 
conditions of ponds, ditches, etc., and it is scarcely 
an exaggeration to say that a veritable series of forms 


exists—a sort of rotiferous moss-fauna—eminently 
typical of this chosen place of abode. 

Nor is it alone among aquatic moss, the Sphagnums 
and Fontinalis, that these moss-loving rotifers are to 
be found ; quite a goodly number of species frequent 
the terrestrial Hypnums and other of the more 
delicate and feathery genera growing upon old tree- 
stumps, or upon damp ground, and manage to find 
sufficient water for their active existence in the slight 
film retained between the thickly-clustered leaves. 
A fragment of such growing moss, taken almost at 
random from a promising tuft, and placed in a trough 
with added water, will usually within a few minutes 
be found to be the home of several, perhaps many, 
distinct species of Rotifera. 

Of the latter, it may be at once stated that a 
very considerable proportion belong to the Order 
BDELLOIDA, comprising those rotifers which (like 
Rotifer vulgaris) have a leech-like mode of locomotion 
by alternate elongation and contraction of the body, 
taking hold by turns with the head and foot at each 
stride. This predominance in numbers is, of course, 
related to the well-known power of resisting drought 
which the Bdelloids possess in such eminent perfection, 
and which must very often be called into requisition 
during dry weather, in the peculiar habit at which 
the moss frequenters have chosen. But not only 
Bdelloids, but also many of the true ‘‘ free-swimmers ” 
(PLorMa), are of frequent occurrence under like condi- 
tions, and subject to the same variations in, or even 
temporary failure of, the supply of the important 
fluid. 

Probably as a direct consequence of such vacilla- 
tion in their water-supply, nearly all the forms of 
moss-haunting rotifera are of noticeably small size, 
and of comparatively insignificant, unattractive 
appearance, and in many cases require very consider- 
able study, with high microscopic powers, to 
satisfactorily elucidate their specific characters. We 
do not get among them the fine handsome forms, the 
Brachions, or the Asplanchnas, or the Euchlanis, 
which love to rove at large in the infinitely greater 
waters of ponds; and perhaps for this very reason, 
and the difficulty experienced in making out their 
distinctive points, most workers at this class of 
animals have hitherto more or less avoided the study 
of the moss-dwellers. But it is just among these 
insignificant forms, that often will ot fit in with the 
published descriptions so exactly as the observer 
could wish, that most work remains to be done in the 
determination of new species, and I need only refer 
to the recent articles in this paper by my friend 
Mr. Bryce, to show what is possible in this direction. 

The following short list of Rotifera will serve to 
indicate those forms which, in my own experience, 
are most typical of the above habitats. Among 
damp terrestrial mosses and Jungermannia may be 
found Afacrotrackela constricta, M. elegans, M. muscu- 
losa, M. quadricornifera, Adineta vaga, Diglena 


HARDWICKE S SCITENCE-GOSSIP. 57 


mustela, Stephanops stylatus, Monostyla arcuata, and 
Mr. Bryce has even seen several impoverished- 
Jooking Floscules living under these, for a Rhizotan, 
remarkable conditions of environment. Amongst 
the water-loving Sphagnum are to be met with, in 
addition to the forms already mentioned, Philodina 
macrostyla, Rotifer vulgaris, Macrotrachela Roeperi, 
AV. reciusa (these last two parasitic within the cortical 
cells of the Sphagnum-stems), NVotogs hyptopus, 
Diaschiza peta, Distyla flexilis, D. depressa, Mono- 
styla lunaris, M. cornuta, Colurus caudatus, and 
Anureéa serrulata. 

With these introductory remarks, I proceed to the 
description of two new forms which have occurred 
to me from among terrestrial mosses during the past 
few months. 


Macrotrachela multispinosa. 


The genus Macrotrachela was instituted by Mr. 
Milne,* to include those three-toed Callidine in 
which, besides the general absence of eye-spots, the 
whole of the post-intestinal portion of the body (z.e. 
from the cloacal orifice to the extremity of the foot) 
is constantly of less length, often very markedly so, 
than the pre-intestinal region (z.c. from the mastax to 
the extreme front of the body) ; the foot is therefore 
necessarily very short, and its spurs are of notably 
minute size. Allare oviparous species. Dr. Hudson 
does not (or did not up to 1889) recognize this genus, 
and refuses to separate it from the older Callidina, 
under which latter generic name several of Milne’s 
species of Macrotrachela are included in the ‘‘ Sup- 
plement.”} It is true that no better generic distinc- 
tion between the two has yet been diagnosed than the 
seemingly arbitrary one of relative lengths above 
given, but it is no less true that all the species of 
Macrotrachela agree closely with each other in 
cegard to general appearance and structure, and in 
habits, and appear to constitute a very satisfactory 
and distinct genus by themselves. The mere non- 
presence of eyes is no longer a sufficient character on 
which to base a rotiferous genus, as was done with 
Callidina, One of the Macrotrachelas (JZ. Roeperi) 
has itself a pair of distinct frontal red ocular spots, 
and the neighbouring genus, Adineta, originally 
instituted from the knowledge of a single species 
with the generic character “‘eyes absent,” now 
presents the anomaly of a second species, since 
discovered, possessing very conspicuous 
organs. 

While it is thus apparent that the present genera 
of BDELLOIDA will need revision in the future, when 
further discriminating characters may have been 
Getected, the general, and I think the increasing, 
feeling among rotifer-workers is that the genus 


visual 


* “*Proc, Phil. Soc. Glasgow,” 1885-6. 


# “The Rotifera: Supplement, 1889.” Longmans, 


Macrotrachela is a good one, and for these reasons I 
adopt it here. 

The present species occurred to me amongst some 
Jungermannia gathered from damp ground in a 
swampy, wooded hollow at Wanstead Park, Essex, 
in October last. It is, for its genus, a large bulky 
species, and is rendered very distinct from any of its 
fellows by the curious long chitinous spines or bristles 
with which its integument is furnished, and which, 
when the creature is retracted, (Fig. 26), give it a 
very unapproachable aspect. These bristles are not 
scattered haphazard over the surface of the body, but 
are arranged in definite order at particular spots. A 
half-whorl of eight spines occurs upon the ventral 
surface of the thicker basal portion of the neck ; of 
these eight (Fig. 30), the outer or most marginal pair 
are very long and directed downwards, the next pair 
are shorter, and the central four mere tiny points ; 
together they. form a spinous half-collar round the 
neck, and possibly aid in locomotion by catching on 
to the surface over which the animal is crawling. No 
trace of spines is seen upon the dorsal surface of the 
neck, 

Upon the trunk the spines are all confined to the 
dorsal and lateral surfaces, the venter being quite free 
from these appendages—unlike the neck, where, as 
just stated, the reverse is the case. Numerous 
bristles, those nearest the front of great length, occur 
towards the lateral aspects of the trunk, arranged 
along two longitudinal submarginal ridges on each 
side ; a third, more ventral, and less distinct ridge, 
runs parallel with these, on each side, and bears 
several very minute blunt projections. Across the 
middle of the back runs transversely an elevated 
ridge, which bears four short conical blunt spines at 
the points where the longitudinal ridges of the trunk 
meet the cross-ridge—in addition to those longér 
lateral spines where it joins the lateral longitudinal 
ridges. The transverse ridge, and its spines, are 
best observed in a retracted individual (Fig. 26), 
when the points are seen to project stiffly upwards as 
a defence to the back; when the creature is fully 
extended, as when crawling, the ridge itself is almost, 
though not fully, obliterated, and its spines likewise 
become less distinct. A couple of small spines, close 
together, occur upon the median line of the back, ia 
front of the ridge. Further back, the trunk presents 
an always conspicuous transverse fold of the integu- 
ment at a point where, in retraction, a sudden 
diminution in its width sets‘in. This fold bears 
dorsally some five minute, pointed projections, 
sometimes placed at unequal intervals, as well as a 
pair of larger spines on each side terminating the 
lateral longitudinal ridges. 

Yet more to the rear, upon the narrower portion of 
the trunk, occur, also dorsally, two cross-rows of 
short, sharp, conical spines, five spines to each row, 
the outer or most lateral one on each side being 
slightly larger than the median three, in each case, 


58 | HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP, ~ 


Fig. 26.—Vacrotrachela muitispinosa, n. sp., retracted, 
dorsal view. 


Fig. 28.—Ditto, optical section Fig. 29.—Ditto, foot-spurs, 
through neck, showing spin- dorsal and lateral views. 
ous half-collar. 


ee 
Pad 
Fig. 33.—Wacrotrachela papillosa, foot-spurs, 
dorsal view. 


Fig. 30.—Macrotrachela papillosa, n. sp., dorsad 
view, corona expanded. 


Wy {I 


Fig. 31.—Ditto, dorsal view, retracted. Fi Fig. 32.—Ditto, ventral view, retracted. 
All (except Figs. 29 and 33) are drawn to uniform scale, viz. X 300 diam. : 


HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 59 


Between the two rows are a pair of sharp spines 
occurring close together, side by side, upon the 
mid-dorsal line. The anus ‘opens just behind the 
more posterior of the two rows, whose spines are 
always conspicuous from apparently terminating the 
body as the animal lies back upon its retracted foot. 
All the dorsal spines upon the trunk project upwards 
im a formidable -manner as the creature crawls, but 
incline backwards when the animal is retracted. 

Upon the foot itself at least two rows of small 
spinous points exist, crossing the dorsal surface 
transversely, as well as probably a few scattered 
spines ; but as this appendage is usually quite hidden 
within the trunk, except when the animal is crawling, 
the exact number and position of the foot-spines is 
not easily arrived at, nor is this at all important. 

The longest bristles upon the body equal in length 
the dorsal antenna ; they are swollen at their bases so 
as to remind one of a nettle-hair seated upon its 
basal bulb. I have met with specimens in which the 
spinous appendages were not provided with the long 
terminal setze usual in other individuals, but this is 
evidently a mere unimportant variation, the result 
of accident, for I have seen, on another specimen, a 
spine evidently (from its unsymmetrical condition to 
its fellow) broken off above the swollen basal portion, 
and another bent sharply at right angles at the same 
point. 

The only Macrotrachela hitherto known as possess- 
ing spinous processes is JZ. aculeata (Milne), but in it 
these are all wide scale-like processes resembling 
those of Phzlodina aculeata, and very different from 
the long bristles of the present species; curiously 
enough, Mr. Bryce has found a third spine-bearing 
form, distinct from either of the preceding, which 
he has described at a recent meeting of the Quekett 
Club, under the name of JZ. spinosa. 

The general shape of the body when the coronal 
lobes are expanded, bears a resemblance to that of 
WW. quadricornifera, but with, of course, the addition 
of the spines ; the coronal wheels also resemble that 
species, except that they are narrower. In JZ mut- 
Zispinosa, the moderately wide corona expands 
scarcely wider than the neck, and consists of two 
distinct lobes, separated by a noticeably deep square 
sinus, in width equal to half that of each ‘‘ wheel.” 

The neck is but little more than one-third the 
greatest width of the trunk, and the fully-expanded 
coronal wheels less than one-half the latter. 

The frontal column is thick, cylindrical, moderately 
long (about same length as the dorsal antenna), and 
terminated by strongly developed cilia beneath a 
minute hood. 

The dorsal antenna is rather more than three- 
quarters neck-width in length, stout, two-jointed, and 
with three terminal tufts of parallel-projecting sete : 
it can be slightly nodded, in a similar manner to 
what is seen, very tnuch more evidently, in Rotifer 
MUTOLETOS. 


Eye-spots are entirely wanting. The mastax 
exhibits two prominent thick teeth crossing each 
ramus, and numerous fine strize, 

The food within the stomach is not moulded into 
pellets, as is constantly done in some allied species ; a 
host of small spherical globules do occur within the 
body, and are liable to be mistaken for food-pellets, 
especially as they are frequently seen moving about 
en masse. These globules represent, I think, the 
highly sacculated, thick, glandular wall of the 
stomach, beneath which the minutely granular food 
may be seen turning over and over locally within the 
central lumen, by the action of the lining cilia. The 
intestine wall is thin and non-glandular. 

A large opaque brown ovum within one individual 
bore witness to the oviparous mode of reproduction. 
The foot-spurs, seen dorsally, appear as very small, 
blunt cones, as figured, with an interspace between : 
in side view, they are seen to be very slightly 
decurved. The toes, apparently three in number, 
are thick, fleshy, and truncate, with distinct ducts 
running through them. 

All the specimens of this form that I have seen have 
been extremely sluggish creatures, lyingin the retracted 
condition, with both the fore-parts and the foot with- 
drawn within the trunk, in the manner customary 
with Bdelloids, often for many hours ata time. For 
this reason, it is considerably difficult to hit upon an 
individual nicely expanded and feeding, with rotating 
wheels, so as to secure a sketch of the animal in that 
state; especially as specimens are few and far 
between. The body is much flattened from dorsum 
to venter and broad in its central part, both in 
retraction and when expanded. The animal varies 
in colour from a scarcely perceptible yellow tinge, 
almost colourless, to a decided brownish yellow, in 
different specimens, probably according to age. 

When fully outstretched, the trunk is seen to pass 
backwards gradually into the foot, which is very 
short. 

The individuals of this species have a characteristic 
mode, when feeding, of sitting up upon their retracted 
foot, supported by the five small spines upon the rear 
of the trunk, and with their bodies held upwards in 
the water at an angle, and wheels rotating. 

The length of the animal, as retracted, varies from 
st; inch to ;4; inch in different specimens ; when 
sitting back upon the foot, rotating, about 7}, inch. 

Sp. Chars :—Body broad and flattened, yellowish 
or brownish, furnished with numerous long bristles 
and shorter spines arranged along definite lines, the 
longest bristles with slightly bulbous bases. Corona 
moderately wide, scarcely wider than the neck, of 
two distinct lobes, with a deep square dorsal gap 
between. Dorsal antenna rather more than three- 
quarters neck-width, with three terminal tufts of 
parallel sete. Rami with two prominent teeth. 
Food in stomach not in pellets. Foot-spurs minute, 


| blunt cones. 


60 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Macrotrachela papillosa. 


As long ago as July 1889, amongst the beautiful 
feather moss, 7huidium tamariscinum, growing in a 
thicket at Hindover, in Sussex, I met witha Callidina 
which presented the peculiarity of being covered, 
about its foot, with conspicuous blunt papille. Buta 
solitary individual was seen, and a rough sketch and 
a few notes were all that could be secured of the 
unfamiliar form. I never came across a second 
specimen until in September last, when examples of 
what is evidently the same creature occurred to-me 
from similar moss taken from old tree-stumps in 
Epping Forest, near Chingford ; and I have since 
seen numerous other specimens from near Epping, 
again amongst Zhuidium, and also from Wanstead 
Park. These more recent examples I now proceed 
to describe. 

The most obvious characteristic of this form, next 
to the possession of the tubercles already referred to, 
is that the greater portion of the integument is very 
beautifully marked with fine raised dots, giving a 
shagreened appearance to the skin. This dotting is 
most evident upon the dorsal surface, but occurs also 
upon the ventral face both of the trunk and the neck- 
base, only those portions of the foreparts and foot 
being destitute of the shagreening which are not 
exposed during complete retraction of the creature. 
Even the tubercles themselves are covered with dots. 

The general disposition of the papillze follows that 
of the spinous processes of the last described species. 
Indeed, so similar in this respect, as well as in the 
broad, flattened outline of the body, and the pro- 
portions of the corona, are the two species, that I 
have hesitated between regarding them as distinct 
forms, or as merely extreme varieties of one species. 
But, in addition to the fact that I have not found the 
two intermingled in one gathering, the covstant 
differences in the form of the foot-spurs, and the 
number of teeth upon the rami, and the presence of 
the peculiar skin-marking in the present form (which 
is never seen in mz/tispinosa), make it clear that we 
have to deal with distinctly separate species. 

The integument is, in JZ. fapillosa, evidently of 
considerable firmness of texture, since it resists 
decomposition long after the removal of the soft 
internal tissues. I have seen empty skins, with their 
tubercles and dotting complete; the stiffened in- 
tegument thus approaching in character the fully 
chitinized lorica of Dinocharis. 

Upon the neck, at the level of the dorsal antenna, 
and close behind the position of the infolded coronal 
lobes, occurs a blunt angular projection upon each side, 
with a half-circlet of small rounded papille ventrally, 
The succeeding, basal neck-segment bears two con- 
spicuous, down-curved, blunt or acute, conical 
lateral protuberances, having very wide bases. These 
processes upon the neck project from and serve to 
guard the anterior opening of the body in complete 


retraction of the animal. The thick basal neck-joint, 
though itself fully of as stout consistence as the trunk 
and similarly shagreened, has its anterior border of 
membranous texture, and this frilled edge covers in 
and protects the more frontal parts during retraction. 

The bold lateral skin-corrugations of the trunk 
bear several usually prominent blunt projections 
corresponding to the bristle-like appendages of 4/7. 
multispinosa. The dorsal longitudinal folds of the 
integument are indistinct in retraction, but usually 
very conspicuous when the creature crawls. The 
rearmost segment of the trunk, just above the cloacal 
orifice, bears a dorsal row of five conspicuous. 
tubercles arranged transversely ; these vary in differ- 
ent individuals from mere hemispherical knobs to 
quite elongated digitiform processes, but are always. 
prominent objects, since they form the apparent 
termination of the body as the creature lies with foot 
retracted within the trunk. In some specimens, if 
not in all, an extra papilla, smaller and Jess notice- 
able, occurs upon each side of the obvious five. 
Immediately in front of this cross row, the same 
hindmost trunk-segment bears a pair of tubercles, 
closely approximated side by side upon the median 
dorsal line, and further forward, a single median 
pimple ; all these are plainly shagreened, like the 
general surface of the body. No ventral papilla 
exist upon either trunk or foot. 

The very short foot, of four joints, carries two 
cross-rows of small tubercles dorsally, six papillz to- 
each row, those of the hinder row very irregular and 
truncated projections. The third foot-joint bears the 
usual spurs, which are very small, blunt, obliquely 
apiculated processes, with no interspace; in shape 
they somewhat resemble those of JZ. guadricornifera.. 
The foot ends in three very short, thick, truncate, 
fleshy toes. 

The expanded corona is identical with that of 
multispinosa, of two distinct lobes, with a deep. 
median sulcus equal in width to half each wheel ; the 
whole being a little wider than the neck, and just 
half the greatest width of the trunk. 

The frontal column is fairly long and stout, ter- 
minated by the usual decurved membranous hood, 
appearing hook-like in side aspect, beneath which are 
strong active cilia, forming the anterior disk for 
attachment of the animal when crawling. 

The dorsal antenna is long, equalling in length the 
column, and yery nearly or quite equal to the neck- 
width; it is two-jointed, constricted below is 
summit, and bears thereon three diverging tufts of but 
slightly radiating long sete. 

The mastax is rond-ovate, and each ramus is 
crossed by three prominent teeth, with a fainter 
fourth. The salivary gland apparently unilobed, 
and very granular in one specimen. 

Food in stomach not moulded into pellets. Paired 
gonads and moderate contractile vesicle normal. 
Lateral canals not detected. 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 6r 


The trunk and basal neck-joint have a brownish 
hue, while the retractile foot and fore-parts are quite 
colourless. 

Several individuals were noticed surrounded by, 
and dragging about, small masses of adherent 
floccose, but the majority are quite clean. One 
specimen remained healthy and active for days, 
while infested with some schizomycetous fungus 
growing from its integument. Length, when re- 
tracted, s}; inch to y4; inch. 

Sp. Chars. Body broad and flattened, brownish, 
with prominent tubercles upon the trunk and foot. 
Neck with angular lateral projections. Integument 
shagreened. Corona moderately wide, a little wider 
than neck, of two well-separated lobes. Dorsal 
antenna equal to neck-width. Rami with 3 promi- 
nent teeth, anda fainter fourth. Food not in pellets. 
Foot-spurs small, apiculate, without interspace, 
resembling those of guadricornifera. 


MONSTERS. 
By F. Epwarp Hug, F.L.S., F.S.A. 


HE love of the marvellous is deeply engrained in 
human nature. We may see abundant proof 

of this in such classic myths as the Sirens, in the 
monstrous ferms carved or depicted in the temp'es 
of Egypt or Mexico, in the popularity of such books 


as the Arabian Nights’ Tales, or the adventures of 
Gulliver, down to the fearful joy of the youngsters in 
the nursery in the sanguinary giant whose food was 
the blood of Englishmen. 


“Far away in the twilight time 
OF every people, in every clime, 
Dragons and griffins and monsters dire, 
Born of’ water or air or fire, 
Crawl and wriggle and foam with rage 
Through dark tradition and ballad age.” 


The fell harpies, the monstrous roc, the~ death- 
dealing basilisk, the phcenix, the chimera, the mon- 
strous kraken, the deadly cockatrice, the fire-drake, 
Dagon (half-man, half-fish), the vulture-headed Nis- 
roch,. the treacherous Lorelei, sweet Queen Mab of 
Jfairyland, fiery dragons, ghastly wehr-wolves, mer- 


Ge 


NN tt es 


dt 
oy 


Fig. 36. 


maids, centaurs, together with the great sea-serpent, 
the toad embedded for countless centuries in the rock, 
and other wonders that still turn up from time to 
time during the dull season in the newspapers, are 
but a few examples that at once occur to one’s 
thoughts, Ovid and Pliny in their day went to very 


62 


HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


considerable lengths to satisfy this love of the mar- 

vellous ; in the middle ages writers not a few dis- 

coursed of dog-headed men, of pigmies, of ‘‘the 

anthropophagi, and men whose heads do grow beneath 

their shoulders,” while no country fair in this present 

year of grace would be considered by its patrons at. 
all up to date unless it included a giant and a dwarf, 

together with a two-headed calf or some such 

monstrosity. 

To deal at all comprehensively in the limits of an 
article with a subject so far-reaching is a manifest 
impossibility. We propose, therefore, to touch upon 
but a few medizval examples, being more especially 


struck by the impossibility of producing anything 
really original in the way of monsters. The Chinese, 
perhaps, have come as near to it as any people, 
in their strange grotesques, but all the various 
modifications, no matter how weird and bizarre they 
may be, have no absclute originality; they are 
merely the combination, addition, suppression, or 
exaggeration of various natural forms, or possibly 
owe their wonder to a mere alteration of scale. 
Thus the chimera slain by Bellerophon had the 
head and body of a lion and a tail like a serpent, 
while from its back rose the head of a goat; while 
another well-known combination is the human head 


Lr RANTS 
a, m AN ANE \\} i 
yy, AN a YN 
ih Wy cr et UN, a) i 
PANO aN 
Z ANN yt yh 


) 


Fig. 


inspired to do so by a book open before us, the 
‘* Historia Monstrorum” of Aldrovandus. With one 
exception (Fig. 37), we have derived our illustrations 
from this work. The book in question is of folio 
size and full of engravings of the quaintest description ; 
it was published at Bologna in 1642 and is one of a 
series of books on natural (or in this special case 
unnatural) history, written by this old author and 
published sometimes at Bologna, sometimes at Venice, 
sometimes at Frankfort. As all alike were written in 
Latin and appealed to the cultured of aJl Europe, the 
actual place of their production was a matter of but 
little moment. 

In looking into the whole matter one is at once 


38. 


and body and the piscine extremities that go to build up 
a mermaid, As examples of addition, the unicorn is 
but a horse plus a horn ; while the cyclops, with his 
one eye, or the headless men, are instances of mon- 
strosity springing from suppression. The Fanesii, a 
tribe said to live in the far north, were credited with 
ears so long and pendulous that they could wrap 
themselves up in them, a charming arrangement of 
Nature to supply the overall or great coat that the 
climatic conditions rendered so necessary ; while the 
author of ‘‘Guerino Meschino” writes of Indians 
with feet so large that they raised them over their 
heads to avoid sunstroke, another interesting illus- 
tration of the adaptability of Nature to the needs of 


HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 63 


her children. Each of these latter examples clearly 
falls into our section of monsters developed by the 
exaggeration of forms in themselves natural. The 
mere alteration in scale gives us dwarfs, pigmies, 
fairies and giants, or such an imagining as the kraken, 
or the creature mentioned in the Arabian Nights, a 
fish so immense that mariners take it for an island, 
and land thereon, only finding out the error of their 
view as the increasing heat of the fire they have 
kindled produces the sudden submergence of what 
they had deemed terra-firma. 

The wondrous creatures of Aldrovandus are divisible 
into three classes :—creatures that are absolute im- 
possibilities, such as (Fig. 35), ‘“homo ore et collo 
gruis,” a man having the head and neck ofa crane ; 
secondly, various species of malformation and abnor- 


mal growth, which do undoubtedly occur from time | 


knees, a man with the head of a wolf, the lady 
(Fig. 34), who is distinctly of harpy type, a ram- 
headed individual, and a boy with the head of an 
elephant. 

This notion of the substitution of heads has a great 
charm for Aldrovandus. He gives us elsewhere a 
bird-headed dog, and horses, goats, pigs and lions, 
all with human heads; while the ‘* Monstrum 
triceps capite vulpis, draconis et aquile ” is, we 
venture to think, a creature that neither Aldrovandus, 
nor anyone else, ever did see or ever will see. 
According to the picture it had a human body and 
legs, differing, however, from those of ordinary 
humanity in being clothed with largescales. One arm 
was like that of a man, the other was the wing of an 
eagle, and a horse’s tail in rear was another distinctly 
abnormal growth, while surmounting all were three 


Fig. 39- 


to time; and thirdly, other forms suggested by this 
second class, but altogether carried to impossible 
EXCESS. 

It is of course easy, having realised that a lizard 
with a forked tail is somewhat of a curiosity, to make 
a much greater wonder by representing a ten-tailed 
lizard ; and while a boy born without armsisa painful 
possibility, the wonder is undoubtedly greatly increased 
by also cutting off bis legs and replacing them with 
the tail of a fish. 

The creature he calls hippopos, having the head, 
arms, and body of a man, but terminating below in 
the legs and hoofs of a horse, was, though here only 
two-legged, probably suggested by the centaur myth. 
Amongst the other impossibilities, which, it must be 
borne in mind, the old writer brings forward in the 
most perfect good faith, is a man of normal growth, 
except that he has elephantine ears that reach to his 


heads, those of a wolf, a dragon, andan eagle. There 
are many other such atrocities ; while they are curious 
as showing the depth of credulity our forefathers 
could reach, it will readily be seen that they are the 
dullest things possible. Anyone with a slight know- 
ledge of zoology could create them by the score, 
placing, for instance, on the neck of a giraffe the 
head of an elephant, giving it the body of an alli 
gator, and finishing off all neatly with the tail of a 
peacock. 

The multiplication or suppression, or distortion of 
various parts is a very strong point with Aldrovandus. 
He illustrates for our benefit four-legged ducks and 
pigeons, and two-headed pigs, sheep, cows, and 
fishes ; calves, dogs, hares, each walking erect on 
their hind-legs and having no front ones, and pigs, 
cats, dogs, chickens, double-bodied but single-headed. 
He also tells us of headless men, and gives us a draw- 


64 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


ing of one, neckless, having the ears rising from the 
shoulders, mouthless, the nose a proboscis, a foot or 
so long; this and the eyes are on the back of the 
figure. Fig. 36 we may fairly include as an example 
of distortion, while Fig. 40 is a monstrosity produced 
by suppression. In another place he gives a drawing 
of a man having two eyes in their natural position, 
and beyond each of these another. 

One quaint picture shows us two men wearing 
Jarge ruffs and habited in quite the costume of ‘‘ the 
upper ten” of the seventeenth century, but their faces 
are covered with thick hair, their eyes peeping out 
like those of a Skye terrier. This idea ,was too 
grotesque not to utilise to the utmost, so the next 
picture is that of a young lady in the same plight. 

It was a favourite medizval theory that all creatures 
of the Jand had their marine counterparts. ‘* There 
is nothing,” says the comparatively modern writer 
Camden, ‘‘bred in any part of Nature, but the 
same is in the sea”; while Claus Magnus affirms 
that ‘‘there be fishes like to dogs, cows, calves, 


SL 


horses, eagles, dragons, and what not.” These 
mysterious denizens of the deep were an unfailing 
resource in the romances and poems of the middle 
ages, and an article of faith with the writers on 
natural history. On the Assyrian slabs we see the 
‘*monster, upward man, and downward fish,” while 
the mermaid we all recognise 'as a most familiar 
instance of this belief in the presence of creatures at 
least semi-human in the broad and mysterious expanse 
of ocean. Bcewolf, the Saxon poet, writes of ‘‘ the 
sea-wolf of the abyss, the mighty sea-woman.” The 
quotation is not altogether complimentary in its 
sentiment : no lady of one’s acquaintance would feel 
flattered on being addressed as a sea-wolf. But 
while a certain halo of romance has in these later 
days gathered round the idea of the mermaiden, 
those who really believed in her gave her credit for 
deeds considerably more heinous than combing her 
flowing hair in the sunlight, since her beauty was a 
snare and destruction to those who came within its 
fatal influence. 


This belief in sea-monsters of all kinds was 
naturally not a chance that a man Jike Aldrovandus 
would miss. He gives his imagination full scope, or 
perhaps we should rather say his credulity, as he 
introduces these creatures to us as things as real as 
a rabbit ; his sea-monk, for instance, with tonsured 
human head, arms replaced by fins, and legs by fishy 
tail, being as matter-of-fact as one’s vicar. Fig. 41 
is given in all good faith as the true presentment of 
a sea-bishop, though not at all our notion of a bishop 
in his see. The right hand, it will be seen, is giving 


the benediction. ‘The dragon of the deep (Fig. 37) 
aims at being terrible, but merely succeeds in being 
feeble. We cannot but feel that the draughtsman 
here failed to reach our ideal. One has certainly 
seen many representations of land-dragons far more 
fear-inspiring than this bloated monster with ears 
like a king Charles spaniel, and tail like a rat. 
This illustration is from another source, the work of 
Ambrosinus on the same subject, published “‘ per- 
missu superiorum” in the year 1642, While the 
book is as quaint and grotesque as any of its rivals, 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 65 


the skill of the engraver has in divers cases not 
paralleled the gifts of description of the author, 

The monstrosus sus marinus, or terrible sow of 
the sea, or more especially perhaps of Aldrovandus 
(Fig. 38), will surely come up fully to everyone’s 
expectation of what a marine pig should be like. 
Catching a weasel asleep should be a comparatively 
easy task to circumventing sus marinus: it seems such 
a peculiarly wide-awake animal. Possibly in the 
struggle for existence in the watery depths its tooth- 
some flesh may place it in jeopardy, and Nature may 
have bestowed on it these numerous eyes to enable it 
to evade dragons and other foes having a penchant for 
pork ; a rather unexpected addition to the. various 
better-known examples of that comfortable doctrine 
for the well-to-do, the survival of the fittest. 

Another of the strange creatures of ocean is shown 
in Fig. 39. It is somewhat startling to reflect that 
our ancestors had at least the expectation that such a 
monster might at any moment rise alongside their 
vessel and address them in the imperious tones that 
the figure suggests ; and it must be borne in mind 
that these illustrations are not a tithe of the strange 
imaginings that even this one old book sets forth, though 
it is needless to further multiply examples. We have 
carefully drawn our figures in facsimile from the 
originals, and have nought extenuated, nor set down 
aught in malice. They are fairly typical examples of 
the sort of thing that is encountered on page after 
page. 

Apart from these various monsters and the hundreds 
of others that keep them company, Aldrovandus seems 
to have been always accessible to anyone who could 
bring him one wonder the more ; hence he also figures 
a bunch of grapes terminating in a long beard ; 
representations of cloud-warriors in conflict in the 
sky ; comets like flaming swords, and many other 
wonderful things that set our ancestors wondering in 
fear and amazement as to what such portents should 
signify. 

While we may wonder at the credulity of those 
who wrote and read such books, the love for the 
marvellous—witness spiritualism—has by no means 
died out amongst us. Barnum’s stuffed mermaid was 
a wonder not by any means to be missed by thousands 
of people who were born centuries after Aldrovandus, 
while a book on natural history in our possession, 
that was published in London in 1786, gravely 
describes the unicorn, the several kinds of dragons, 
the lamia, the manticora, and other fabulous creatures 
in the same matter-of-fact way that it deals with the 
horse or the cow. 

The whole world has now been so ransacked that 
there is little room in these times for the imagination to 
play ; but in medizeval days travellers brought back 
such wonderful stories—some of them true, and 
others, perhaps, a little wanting in that respect—of 
the things that they had seen, that almost anything 
then seemed a possibility. 


SOME FAMOUS COLLECTING-GROUNDS 
FOR DRAGON-FLIES. 


By the Author of ‘‘ An Illustrated Handbook of 
British Dragon-flies,” “‘ A Label List of British 
Dragon-flies,” etc., etc. 


II. EPPING FOREST AND THE METROPOLITAN 
DISTRICT, 


ITUATED in the South-East of England and 

adjacent to the Continent, this district, as may 

be expected, constitutes one of the richest for insect 

life in this country. More species of Dragon-flies 

have probably been recorded within its area than in 
any other in the British Isles. 

That delightful domain Epping Forest certainly 
ranks second to none in England, for the richness of 
its dragon-fly fauna, combined with sylvan scenery 
which is of the most delightful description imagin- 
able. Every enthusiastic London entomologist ought 
certainly to be thankful that he has at his doors such 
a treasure-house of insect life as this vast forest con- 
stitutes itself to be. 

The following are the names of some of the dragon- 
flies which have been recorded as having occurred in 
Epping Forest :—Leftetrum quadrimaculata and 
variety prenubila (plentiful), Sympetrum vulgatum 
(very abundant), Gomphus vulgatissimus, Anax 
JSormosus, Brachytron pratense, Aischna mixta, 2. 
cyanea, Calopteryx virgo, C. splendens, Lestes nympha, 
L. sponsa and Agrion mercuriale, (the latter very local 
species has been taken here, I believe, by Mr. W. H. 
Nunney. It is only known to occur in one other 
locality in the British Isles, namely in the New 
Forest). 

The following is a complete list of the species of 
dragon-flies which have been known to occur in the 
metropolitan district, with tne localities where they are 
found (excluding Epping Forest) :—Platetram 
depressum (very common), Leptetrum quadrimaculata 
(common, the variety predi/a occurs at Godalming, 
in Surrey), Zzbellula fulva (marshes in the vicinity 
of Bermondsey), Orthetrum caerulescens (found not 
uncommonly in the metropolitan district, particularly 
in the vicinity of Godalming, and used to occur plenti- 
fully in some marshy ground at Hampstead, where, 
however, it is probably now extinct), O. cancellatum 
(Croydon canal and neighbourhood abundant, marshes 
in the vicinity of Crayford and Dartford, also Peck- 
ham and Honour Oak Wood), Leucorrhinia pectoralis 
(this species is included in the British list on the 
strength of one specimen only, which was captured on 
a boat at Sheerness in January 1860, and subsequently 
exhibited at a meeting of the Entomological Society 
of London. It ,jhad most probably been conveyed, 
over here from the opposite shores of Belgium, and 1 
may remark that‘it was described by Dr. H. A. Hagen 
in 1857, inthe ‘* Entomologist’s Annual” of that date, 
as a species which was likely to occur in this country, 


66 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


although it had not previously been turned up on this 
side of the English Channel. The specimen under 
consideration was most probably a_hibernated 
example), Sympetrum vulgatum (very common, I have 
seen this in great abundance at Herne Bay and else- 
where), S. meridionale (only two specimens of this 
insect have ever been taken in this country, both in 
the metropolitan district ; they were formerly included 
in the celebrated collections of Messrs. Evans and 
Wailes), S. Fooscolombii (this species has only been 
captured in this country on three occasions, one of 
which happened in the metropolitan district, a second 
one occurring at Deal), S. flaveolum (this has been 
taken in several places in the vicinity of London. In 
the year 1871 several examples were seen in the 
Strand by Mr. McLachlan ; in the year mentioned 
it was exceedingly common in the metropolitan 
district), .S. sanguineum (Birch Wood, Colney Hatch, 
Coombe Wood, Deptford and Dover), Cordulia enea 
(occurs at Godalming in Surrey, and Woodford in 
Essex ; several specimens have also been taken in the 
neighbourhood of Hampstead), Gomphus vulgatissimus 
(has been taken at Highgate, Coombe Wood, Dartford 
and Dinmore Hill), G. /flaviges (this magnificent 
insect has never been known to occur in the metro- 
politan district proper ; the only specimen which has 
occurred in the British Isles was captured by Mr. 
Stephens near Hastings, on the 5th of August 1818), 
Cordulegaster anniulatus (this large species is rare in 
the neighbourhood of London), Anxax formosus (has 
occurred near Hertford, also at Southgate, Wands- 
worth and Wimbledon Commons) Brachytron pratense 
(not uncommon but local, Hertford, Hastings, etc.), 
<Zschna mixta (this very rare insect has been taken 
at Godalming and Norwood in Surrey), . cyanea 
(common everywhere), 4. grandis (not uncommon 
but local), 2. rzfescens (the occurrence of this grand 
insect in the metropolitan district is exceedingly 
doubtful), Calopteryx virgo and C. splendens (abun- 
dant everywhere), Lestes 2ympha (Wanstead in Essex, 
etc.,), Z. sponsa (Plaistow in Essex, etc.,), Platycnemis 
Pennipes (local), Lnallagma cyathigerum (common), 
Agrion pulchellum (very abundant), A. guella (very 
plentiful everywhere), Jschnura (very 
common), Pyrrhosoma minium (very plentiful every- 
where) and P. ¢enel/um (local). It will be seen from 
the above that the dragon-flies of the metropolitan 
district present a very fine array of species, although 
a vast deal has yet to be ascertained respecting their 
distribution in this rich collecting-ground, as well as 
in the rest of this country. 


elegans 


THE GEOLOGY OF BARBADOS. 


HE importance attached to the report of Messrs. 

Jukes-Browne and Professor Harrison on the 

above subject, induces me to send you the following 
notes bearing upon the same. 


For some years prior to the lamented death of 
Mr. H. B. Brady, it was my good fortune to be in 
constant contact with that gentleman by both inter- 
views and correspondence, and it was no unusual 
occurrence to receive consignments of material from 
time to time for the purpose of examination, thus 
assisting him in the mechanical part of the work, and 
at the same time considerably benefitting my collec- 
tion of Foraminifera. It was in this way the material 
collected by the above-named gentleman came into 
my possession. 

I do not think I shall be committing any breach of 
etiquette if I give an extract from a letter received 
with these deposits, as it throws a side-light on 
the matter which probably would not otherwise be 
known, it bears date August 16th, 1889, and is as 
follows : 

“*My friend Mr. Jukes-Browne, late of the Geo- 
logical Survey, has been visiting Barbados and 
brought home a large collection of rock specimens, 
deposits, etc., of which it is of some importance to 
trace the history. 

“*He asked me to furnish him notes on the Fora- 
minifera, and I, not quite knowing how far I was 
committing myself, pretty much promised to do so. 
Thereupon he sent me a dozen specimens, and I set 
to work washing them, etc. etc; They were disin- 
tegratable under treatment, but !—but this is all that 
can be said; for the most part'they were the most 
refractory material I ever took in hand. I worked 
at them more or less, I think, every day for a fort- 
night—reducing ten of them to moderately satis- 
factory conditions. But some of these, though 
reduced in bulk from three or four ounces to less 
than a drachm, still would be the better for further 
washing. They are much more interesting, I sus- 
pect, for their siliceous organisms than for their 
calcareous remains, but with the former I have 
nothing to do; Mr. Hill, of the Geological Survey, 
I believe, has worked at these. It is quite possible 
some of these deposits contain no Foraminifera 
at all.” 

I received altogether nine packets of these deposits, 
and on referring to my notes I find three samples 
yielded fairly good results, three a very few specimens, 
and the remainder were without any trace of Forami- 
nifera. 

Since reading the report of the late meeting, as 
published in ScrENcE-Gossip for January, I have 
re-examined the type-slide I have of these mounts, 
They are grouped as a whole without reference to the 
particular beds from which they were taken, and the 
subjoined list includes all the species which can be 
clearly distinguished. The relative frequency of the 
species is indicated by the letters C., common ; R.; 
rare; V. R., very rare. Ihave also given the maxi- 
mum and minimum depths at which similar species 
were taken during the Chad/enger’s survey, as given 
in Mr. Brady’s report. If we exclude the three 


HARDWICKE’ S SCTENCE-GOSSIP. 67 


pelagic forms (Globigerinide) and take the mean 
average of these figures, the result shows that the 
entire group of forty-two species may be stated to 
give in round figures Soo fathoms. The fact this 
list teaches is, I think, that a very fair percentage of 
the species present are of undoubtedly deep-water 
habits, in our present seas, and that about twenty-four 
per cent. only fail to attain a maximum depth of 1000 
fathoms. 

On the other hand it is only fair to acknowledge 
that a considerable mixture of deep and shallow- 
water forms frequent some localities. Thus Challenger 
station 209 affords an example. Dredgings from Cebu, 
120 fathoms, present a very strange assortment of 
species, but it is as a whole we must be guided in 
forming an opinion on what must, to a very large 
extent, be after all only conjectural. 


BARBADOS FORAMINIFERA. 
eo 


EE eee 
2 quency: Depths. 
Fathoms. 
Nubecularia lucifuga . . 2. R. | 18 
Bigenerina pennatula. . . . . R. 350 to 675 
Gaudryina pupoides . . . = R. 50 to 1450 
I OSates noone - | V.R. | rr to 670 
Buliminainfata.. . . 1 - | V-R- | 95to 2435 
Pleurostomellarapa . . . . Ve R. | 129 
alternams. . . . c. 1375 to 2350 
Bolivina punctata . c . | V.R. | 2t0 2750 
Gassidulinaicrassa’s, <2" 2 8 Cc 40 to 2760 
“6 subglobosa . . . c. 12 to 2950 
Ehrenbergina serrata. . . . c. 150 to 2350 
Bagmiastriatay eps s) Heveoe R. 2 to 600 
x» formosa. - - . . . «| V.R. | littoral to 1850 
a gracilis se or cme re) et fe Rox 2g tole 776 
x» trigonamarginata . . .| V.R. | 99 to 2300 
Nodosaria (Glandulina) levigata .| V-R. | 50to 1360 
= (2) abyssorum . awe Cc. 1825 
oe filiformis . . c R. 50 to 450 
a hispida va7. subi: Jeata . c 95 to 435 
= mucronata - 5 os . . R. 620 to 2600 
5 obliqua. . . ab ge R. 1500 to 2000 
inflexa (fragments) ee R. g5 to 1400 
Frondicularia ae eae - -| V.R. | 129 
Cristellaria rotulata . - - .| ¥-R. | littoral to 2200 
5 cillfratateran eee se oye R. | 38 to 2435 
Penintat eat ae nn R. 95 to 210 
Polymorphina rotundata. . . . R. 50 to 1850 
=s longicollis. . . Vv. R. | 1100 to 2425 
re lactea. - . . .| V.R. -| shallow to 2350 
Uvigerina angulosa . c. 50 to 1375 
Es asperula var. auberiana : Huencs 580 to 610 
Sagrinastriata. .....-. R. 3 to 350 
Sy mSADUAISets Fon 2) a +2 oye Cc. 2 to 260 
xy» columellaris . . . fete 6 to 1125 
x _ Virgula (monomorphous var. ) ¢. 12 to 2075 
Globigixina bulloides . 1. . . c. 
5 exeticedys oe R. pelagic 
bulloides var. triloba . Coast 
Pullenia quingueloba. . . . . c. | 20to 2750 
Troncatulina wuellerstori . . . R. 350 to 2435 
Pulvinulina auricula . . . . «| v.R. | littoral to 500 
ee CXKASS Sy em meson c. 420 to 2740 
of, repanda CCE ar R. littoral to 1000 
oF pauperata. . .«. . - R. 675 to 2350 
Rotaliasoldanii. . . ... =. c | 300 to 2000 


There were also present fragments of a very thin 
outspread Calcarina, but not a single perfect form 
could be obtained from the material at my disposal. 


W. H. Harris. 
Lifracombé. 


SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


PROFESSOR DUNER, a Swedish astronomer, has 
just made known an important work which has led 
to important results concerning the rapidity of the 
sun’s rotation. By observing the displacement of the 
lines of the solar spectrum, Professor Duner has 
obtained a hitherto unknown exactitude in the 
measurement of the movements of the sun, and found 
that that body moves on its axis at a rate of a mile 
and two hundred and forty-two feet in a second of 
time. The sun’s day lasts therefore at its equator 
twenty-five days and twelve hours of our reckoning. 
Duner’s measurements result in a different length of 
rotation in different parts of the body of the sun, 
regularly increasing in length from the equator to the 
poles, so that those parts of the sun’s surface lying 
near the two poles have a day as long as forty-six of 
our days. This is only possible with a movable and 
gaseous surface like that of the sun. 


M. Locarp has completed a census of the shell- 
fish of France, and finds that there are I,500 marine 
and 1,250 odd non-marine (that is to say, fresh-water 
and land) species of molluscs within the bounds of 
the mother country. This, of course, is vastly more 
than England can boast. But that is only to be 
expected, as our shores are chillier than hers, and our 
area much more limited. Thus the Mediterranean 
alone yields nearly 1,200 species—all our British 
molluscan fauna is about 550 marine and 150 non- 
marine forms. 


PROFESSOR E. RAy LANKESTER, F.R.S., on 
Thursday, February 11th, began a course of three 
lectures on ‘‘ Recent Biological Discoveries” ; and 
the Right Hon. Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., on Saturday, 
February 13th, a course of six lectures on ‘‘ Matter: 
at rest and in motion.” 


THE Editor has to appeal to the patience and good 
feeling of his correspondents if he has not answered 
all of them up to date, as he has been a severe 
sufferer from what is now known as the ‘‘ prevailing 
epidemic.” 


AT a recent meeting of the Field Naturalists’ Club of 
Victoria (Australia) the distinguished botanist, Baron 
Von Mueller, advocated the protection of insectivorous 
and native birds, by putting a comparatively heavy 
tax on guns. He thought naturalists should form a 
union for the purpose of suppressing bird-slaughter, 
and that each member should wear a badge. 


ZOOLOGY. 


NATURAL History PosTaGEs.—Though natu- 
ralists make much use of the post in the matter of 
exchanging specimens, I find that both local postal 
authorities and naturalists themselves are often 


68 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


ignorant of a valuable concession lately made to them 
by the General Post Office. In course of exchanging 
helices with a correspondent in France, I found that 
it cost me a shilling to return boxes that he had sent 
fora penny. Our local officials assured me this was 
all right, but I wrote to the General Post Office, and 
have received the following letter, which will be 
useful to those who, like myself, want to get foreign 
helices by exchange. It runs thus :— 


General Post Office, 
8th February, 1892. 

Sir,—In reply to your letter of the 27th ultimo, I 
beg to state that the packets in question containing 
conchological specimens are, in strictness, only 
transmissible to the colonies and foreign countries at 
the letter or parcel rate of postage ; but in compliance 
with the earnest desire expressed in a memorial 
recently addressed to the Postmaster General by a 
number of persons engaged in scientific pursuits, 
instructions have been given for such specimens to be 
allowed to pass at the sample rate, viz., Id. for a 
packet weighing under 4 oz. The Department 
cannot, however, guarantee the due delivery abroad 
of packets so prepaid, inasmuch as they do not come 
within the definition of sample packets as prescribed 
by the Postal Union. 
servant, 


I am, sir, your obedient 


J. E. Sirron. 
fe Rev. J. W. Horsley. 


I presume I am right in“deducing from the above 
that a box of specimens weighing, say, six ounces 
would cost a comparatively large amount, but if the 
contents were divided into two boxes or parcels 
weighing three ounces each, they could be sent to 
any country in the Postal Union for two pennies. I 
do not think the last paragraph of the letter need 
frighten us; for if, as I find, France has no objection 
to send usa box for 10 centimes, I do not suppose 
she would refuse to receive it back for a penny.— 
3. W. Horsley. 


NEo-DARWINISM, ETC.—Although I think that 
discussions on the highly-contentious and quibble- 
evoking problems of evolution are rather to be 
deprecated in the present state of science, yet it is 
hard to resist offering a few remarks on the various 
matters so clearly put forward in the series of con- 
tributions entitled ‘‘ Neo-Darwinism” published in 
last year’s volume. Let me distinctly observe that I 
am not an evolutionist, so that all that concerns me 
here is to endeavour to discover which theory of 
evolution is a scientific one and which is not. With 
this proviso, and commencing with Lamarck’s views, 
it may be broadly asserted that of the three means of 
transmutation viewed subjectively, so to speak, the 
first is not so unscientific, nor the second quite so 
preposterous as is stated ; while again, after a very 
fair translation of his second law, an objection is 


raised that it offers no explanation of the phenomena 
of adaptation, the first law, which does do so in the 
only possible scientific way, is not even mentioned. 
Further on, after recalling that Lamarck’s laws are 
‘Sa mere ad priori speculation not supported by a 
single fact of observation or experiment ”—a statement 
which, to say the least of it, is not a bit too mild— 
the luminous principle, theory, vera causa, process, 
factor, etc., of natural selection is held to rest secure 
on the threefold ‘‘ factors” of variation, of heredity, 
and of the struggle for existence. Of these three the 
first two are not, properly speaking, factors at all, 
while the last, viz., the struggle for existence, is the 
primary factor in the Darwinian hypothesis, and, as 
originally conceived, a more utterly , baseless, 
imaginary, and loosely indefinite conjecture anent 
the phenomena of life was never foisted on the world 
in the name of science. It would be absurd to deny 
that Sir C. Lyell was very nearly right when he 
declared Darwin’s doctrines viewed fundamentally to 
be a ‘‘ modification of Lamarck’s doctrine of develop- 
ment and progression.” The ‘‘ modification” simply 
consisted in adopting mechanical forces in lieu of 
physiological ones, and in introducing the element of 
fighting and contention where Lamarck merely 
indicated the needs and habits of the organism, the 
latter being again more subjective, as it were, and 
getting nearer the life of the process. It seems pretty 
certain that if the late C. Darwin had been a true 
scientist, the phantom of analogy between artificial 
selection and natural selection would never have been 
raised. Moreover, the not very astounding preva- 
lence of Darwinism in this country can be most 
adequately explained by considering that it was found 
to accord well and fitly with the character, not the 
ideas, of those individuals who rushed so eagerly to 
embrace it. Finally, as to whether the Lamarckian 
or Darwinian views is more in accordance with the 
highest, best, most scientific and sympathetic idea of 
animate life, I leave to the judgment of the intelligent 
reader. The question of heredity is a very difficult 
one, and the science of embryology, which bears upon 
it, is only in its infancy. The various views and 
theories anent this subject are, so far as my know- 
ledge goes, very fairly and clearly explained, and 
described in the papers under review. The very 
useful table annexed will show that out of the six 
theories four and a half are in favour of, and only one 
and a half are against the doctrine of the transmission 
of acquired characters, a proportion that does not 
much magnify the importance of the statement that 


- ‘no one doubted, until quite recently, that characters 


acquired during the life of the individual were 
hereditary.” The point of paramount interest here 
for an outstander is not so much as to which theory 
of heredity is right or wrong, but as to which theory 
if carried out would effect the transmutation of 
species, etc., most readily and thoroughly. Certain 
learned professors have held that upon Weismann’s 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 69 


principle we can explain inheritance, but not evolu- 
tion, an extremely important consideration which is 
notjeven hinted at in these papers. It seems to me, 
however, that if our theory of evolution so far as it 
goes rests On a scientific basis, our theory of heredity 
also so far as it goes can be safely left to take care of 
itself. For instance, ifit can be shown that through 
useSor disuse a muscle has or can be transformed into 
a ligament or vice-versa, we ‘may rest assured that 
the offspring of that organism will share the same 
change, z.e. the mechanical or organic causes which 
induced the modification in the parents will be bound 
under similar conditions of life, etc., to work to the 
same effect in the immature offspring, so that 
practically it will come to the same thing in the end 
whether this acquired character was hereditarily 
transmitted or not. This is apparently all that the 
Neo-Lamarckians claim when they hold that acquired 
characters tend to reappear in some degree in the 
offspring ; and as all logical evolutionists are bound 
to believe in pantheism, spontaneous generation, and 
Haeckel’s law, who knows but that in the course of 
time such changes actually take place in the uterus 
itself, without the primary action of external con- 
ditions of existence, etc., being any longer necessary ? 
Finally, it may be insisted that if acquired characters 
are not inheritable, there is no possible logical stand- 
point between the doctrine of special creation, ze. of 
many different independent types, and the doctrine 
that each germ-unit of the lowest organisms contains 
within itself all the potentialities that are actually 
developed in the highest vertebrates.—Dr. P. Q. 


Keegan. 


BOTANY. 


ORNITHOPUS ROSEUS.—On July 15th last year I 
found the above plant growing on the bank of the 
Severn, close to Dowles Church, about one mile 
above Bewdley. It is well established there, growing 
in quite a wild state in great profusion. This is a 
continental species. I am not aware of its having 
been cultivated in this country; it has, I believe, 
been tried in France, but without much success. I 
am at a loss to find a reason for its occurrence there, 
unless the seeds have been brought over among 
foreign grain, and somehow got deposited there.— 
jno. E. Nowers. 


GEOLOGY. 


More Azout Hastines.—It is generally con- 
sidered probable that the greater ,portion of the 
invading Norman army landed at Bulverhythe— 
I am referring to Mr. Holmes’ interesting article, 
“* Notes on the Site of Old Hastings.” The sluggish 
stream which winds through the marsh-land, com- 
monly termed ‘‘ The Salts,” still bears the name of 


the Haven. The site of Bulverhythe, as it existed at 
the date of the invasion, is now submerged, about 
three miles from the present high-water mark. Bul- 
verhythe is now only represented by a few modern 
cottages, the dilapidated walls of an ancient chapel 
or oratory, and a roadside inn denominated the 
«¢ Bull,” which there is some reason to believe stands 
on the site of an old hospitium. It is, however, of a 
discovery made a few years ago in the immediate 
vicinity of the ruins of Hastings Castle that I would 
now make particular mention. It may interest some 
of the readers of SCIENCE-GOssIP to know that a 
little door, close to the entrance-gate of the castle, on 
the left side as it is approached, leads to some 
torture-chambers in a wonderful state of preservation, 
apparently of Roman origin. An order is required 
to view them, a wise precaution to prevent the 
defacing of the walls, which are hewn in the solid 
sandstone rock. On passing the door there is a 
small chamber a few feet square. This had previously 
been used by the caretaker of the ruins as a coal- 
cellar. One day, when moving some rubbish, he 
came upon a steep flight of steps leading to a narrow 
arched passage—but I will endeavour to describe the 
place as I saw it. Having obtained a candle, for the 
darkness of the vault is intense, I passed down the 
steps, which are curiously grooved in the centre, to 
the passage. This passage is not cut in a direct line 
but winds in certain places, and consequently the 
arches of the roof—about eleven feet high—are 
formed on the skew. Proceeding a few yards, I 
came to a recess in the wall raised by a step about 
seven inches high. In the wall were holes where 
staples had evidently been fixed to fasten the necks 
and extended arms of the victims, who were crucified 
there and left to die, in the darkness, of starvation. 
There were several of these recesses, and all bore the 
same marks in the wall. One was evidently arranged 
so that merely the toes of the victim could touch the 
ground, and I ‘could not only see where they had 
worn smooth the sandstone steps, but on the candle 
being held to throw a light sideways against the wall 
the distinct impression of the human form, where no 
doubt victim after victim had worn and darkened the 
sandstone in the agony of his dying struggles. On 
proceeding further, the passage turned abruptly to 
the left and widened into a chamber about twelve feet 
square. This, from marks in the wall, had evidently 
been partitioned off from the passage. In it was a 
small hollow in the wall, near the ground, about 
eighteen inches square. It was blackened by the 
action of fire, and as there was no flue connected 
with it, it was probably used for asphyxiating those 
who had been enclosed in the chamber. I may add 
that the rough groove in the steps at the entrance of 
the dungeon, may probably have been made by the 
heavy fetters or chains of the victims who were 
dragged down into the dreadful darkness never to 
return alive into the light of day.—_W. Z. W. 


70 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


PAPERS ON FLINT.—Mr. G. Abbot will not find 
anywhere a complete bibliography of papers on 
«Flint ” : he will have to seek them out by searching 
in all likely periodicals and serials, amongst which 
let him not forget the ‘‘ Proceedings of the Geologist’s 
Association.” Several papers on the subject appear 
therein, but two will be specially helpful—Professor 
T. Rupert Jones ‘‘On Quartz, Flint, etc.,’’ in vol. 
iv., p. 439 e¢ seg., and Professor Judd ‘‘ On the Un- 
making of Flints,” in vol. x., p. 217 ef seg. In both 
these papers abundant reference to the writings of 
others is made. Articles published between 1874 
and 1884 will, of course be found in the ‘‘ Geological 
Record.” The list annually published by the Geo- 
logical Society in their ‘‘ Quarterly Journal” should 
also be gone through.—Z. B. Woodward, British 
Museum, (Natural History.) 


NOTES AND QUERIES. 


SomE Famous COLLECTING-GROUNDS FOR 
DRAGON-FLIES.—Errata: page 18, first column, for 
Lepletum quadrimaculata read Leptetrum quadrimacu- 
lata ; for s1naso formosus read Anax formosus ; for 
Enallagma cyastrigerium read Lnallagma cyathi- 
gerum ; for river Soar read river Stour. Second 
column: for Jschnura pumilis read Ischnura pumilio, 


A SNAKE-STONE.—Can any reader of SCIENCE- 
Gossip inform me of the monetary value of a scorpion 
or snake-stone one inch long, half an inch wide, and 
about as thick asa bean, which it very much resembles ; 
brought from India ; there used to absorb the poison 
from snake-bites.—Ezguirer. 


A Doc as SrTatTionN-MAsTER—The death is 
announced of a popular member of the staff of the 
Great Eastern Railway, namely, the black-and-tan 
collie dog long familiar to passengers at the Lowes- 
toft station. This well-known animal appears to 
have originally appointed himself to fulfil the duty 
of starting the trains, but time and habit seem to have 
fully ratified the appointment. By a marvellous 
instinct the collie, it is said, seemed to know the 
exact time at which a train should begin its journey. 
and a restless excitement characterised him as the 
appointed moment drew near. As the bell uttered 
its first sound, he would scamper down the platform, 
and, planting himself close to the engine, bark 
furiously until the wheels began to move. Satisfied 
apparently in this respect, he would next make a 
move for the guard’s yan, and hurry the guard to his 
post. As the train passed out of the station he 
retired, and no more was seen of him till a similar 
operation had to be repeated on the departure of 
another train. No other bell than that used for 
starting purposes would bring the animal to view. 


DEATH OF THE AMERICAN ALOE,—A Parsonstown 
correspondent writes:—The close of the year has 
seen the death of the celebrated specimen of the 
American aloe, that completed its century of ex- 
istence in the conservatoiy of Birr Castle last August. 
On that occasion the beautiful plant threw out great 
clusters of yellow flowers about the size of the large 
double chrysanthemums that took the prize at the 
recent Dublin show. On blooming—an eyent that 
only occurs when the specimen reaches one hundred 


years of age—the plant gave a loud report like the 
sound of a rifle-shot, and an hour later the flowers so 
tare were found on its stem. The pecularity of this 
rarity was its abnormal height: it rose to an altitude 
of 23 feet, a point never reached out of tropical 
climes. The Earl of Rosse and his astronomer (Dr. 
Boeddicker), both distinguished botanists, watched 
the progress of the plant with great diligence and 
made frequent observations ‘of its development that 
will be an inyaluable record to botanists. There are 
numerous specimens of the aloe in Ireland, but mostly 
of dwarfed or stunted growth and no authentic in- 
formation has been obtained as to their exact age. 
In the case of this one, its history has been traced 
back to the time it was planted in the Castle, and in 
its three leading characteristics—blooming only once 
in its life, living to its hundredth year and then dying 
—all the traditions of its species have been verified, 
and can now be accepted as ascertained facts. Con- 
current with its death was the growth of a group of 
seedlings at its base, and these have been carefully 
transplanted to perpetuate the memory of the interest- 
ing centenarian plant from which they sprang. 


INTELLIGENCE OF THE CatT.—There are many 
wonderful stories told of the doings of the cat, chiefly 
regarding their progeny and other unusual associates. 
The late Dr. Maxwell of Glasgow, when taking a 
walk one morning in Glasgow Green, near Nelson’s 
Monument, saw a cat going towards the river Clyde. 
When it came to the river it went up some distance, 
then took to the water; but before reaching the 
opposite side the current had carried it a considerable 
way down, and it landed at the only place near where 
a landing could be made. The Doctor fully believed 
that the cat had calculated on the distance that the 
stream would carry it down, so that it could gain the 
proper landing.—D. &. _ 


A Swan’s Freat.—Mr. T. Midgley, the well- 
known curator of the Bolton Museum, writes to the 
‘Manchester City News” as follows :—Among the 
many interesting accounts which one finds recorded in 
your Natural History Notes, perhaps a feat of one of 
the swans belonging to the Bolton Corporation will 
bear recording. On Monday morning, as I passed 
along the side of the snow-covered greensward which 
skirts the large lake, I noticed a group of three swans 
standing about ten yards from the water. One of 
them deliberately laid its body on the surface of the 
snow, used its legs, after the fashion of boys when 
tobogganing, to give its body a start, and away it slid 
down the bank, gaining speed as it went; and, the 
water’s edge being a little below the ground, 
performed a half-somersault on to its back into the 
water. Whether all three were enjoying themselves 
in this playful manner or not my duties did not 
permit me to stay to watch, but it struck me as one 
more instance of the peculiar habits of these birds. 


APPROACHING EXTINCTION OF THE LAPWING.— 
Plovers’ eggs are sought for more diligently every 
season, the finders being well paid for them by 
dealers, who sell them at a good profit. The bird 
is becoming scarce in consequence, and farmers 
complain that insect-life is becoming intolerable It 
is believed that nothing but stringent legislation will 
prevent the wholesale destruction of the eggs and the 
eventual annihilation of the bird. The eggs are yery 
difficult to procure, the nests being scattered up and 
down a wide extent of ground, the site being selected 
where the colour of surrounding objects approaches 
as closely as possible to that of the eggs. When 
human intruders approach the nest, which is of the 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSTP. 71 


simplest construction, the parent birds dash and 
whirl about in the air with noisy, plaintive cries, 
often descending and reeling along the ground in 
front of the egg-seeker, as though both wings were 
broken. Dogs often become expert in finding the 
eggs. 
coot, and the black-headed gull are often sold as 
plovers’ eggs. 


BARBARIC SLAUGHTER OF LARKS.—The ‘‘ Vege- 
tarian” says:—During the late heavy fall of snow in 
Sussex, many hundreds of men employed themselves 
in catching larks. The way in which they catch 
them is the following: On the ground is spread a 
net something like a tennis-net, only not so heavy. 
It is fixed at the ends by stakes in the ground, and a 
rope, fastened at one end, is’held by the operator. 
As the larks in cold weather fly very low (about two 
feet from the ground), they pass across the net and 
immediately as they do so the cord is pulled, and the 
net falls over and catches them. In this manner 
hundreds and thousands of larks are killed every day. 
As soon as the lark is under the meshes of the net, 
the man (or more generally, the boy with him), runs 
forward and crushes the lark’s head between his 
thumb and forefinger. Between Newhaven and 
Brighton, it is estimated that on Friday and Saturday 
there were between 200 and 250 men entrapping 
these birds, each, on an average, catching as many as 
five dozen, making in all about 1,250 dozen, or about 
15,000 beautiful songsters thus slaughtered to be sent 
up to the London Markets. 


THE SOLAR YEAR.—I see that in my note under 
this heading I carelessly wrote of the precession of 
the equinoxes as if it were caused by the sun’s actual 
progress through space—which, of course, would 
give quite a fabulous idea of the rate at which our 
system travels. I should rather have said ‘‘an 
apparent progress,” really due to certain checks on 
the earth’s motion, described in every astronomical 
manual.—C. 2. Moffat. 


A Bees’ NEsT IN A BLOCK OF STONE.—Two 
men in the employ of Mr. Shepherd, builder, of 
Cardiff, recently made an extraordinary discovery in 
the Royal Hotel building-yard. They were engaged 
sawing a huge block of stone, from the quarries near 
Bath, when the saw cut through a bees’ nest almost 
in the centre of the stone. Some of the bees were 
crushed to death, but the living ones came swarming 
out, frightening the stone-cutters, who beat a retreat. 
The stone is about 6ft. square, and how the bees got 
there and lived in such quarters seems rather a 
mystery. There is, however, a hole about 6 in. 
across running through the stone. This hole seems 
to have been once occupied by the root of a tree. 


“‘ EUROPEAN BUTTERFLIES.”—There are a few 
printer's errors in my notes on ‘‘ European Butter- 
flies” in your February number, but the only one 
that need be noticed is that which occurs at p. 29. 
The third paragraph begins ‘‘ Here” but this word 
should be Hera, the scientific name of the Jersey 
tiger-moth, an insect not noticed in Newman but 
undoubtedly British, it having been first taken some 
years ago in Devonshire (by Mr. Jager), where it has 
since been found annually.—R, ZB. P. 


Cuckoo IN CONFINEMENT.—While having holi- 
days last summer (1891) I made the acquaintance of 
a gentleman who possessed a small collection of live 
birds, caught in the neighbourhood. Among the rest 
he had a cuckoo, taken from the nest in the season 
1390. In winter it lived in the kitchen, and in 


Those of the sparrowhawk, the moorhen, the - 


summer hung outside, being taken into an outhouse 
during the night. They feed the bird on raw beef, 
sometimes roasted, eggs, potatoes, etc. The bird can 
be very savage at times, especially when strangers go 
near the cage. Since last Christmas one of the sons 
has kept it in a saddle-room. During the whole of 
its confinement it has not been known to utter a 
single cuckoo.—W. 2. Riley, Halifax. 


A PROVIDENT FIELD-MousE.—lIt is, I suppose, 
well-known to most field-students that rats and mice 
cart out their rubbish at the back-door of their 
burrow. At the entrance to a field-mouse’s hole 
this winter there is accumulated a great quantity of 
the husks of beech-mast, evidently cast out recently 
by the mouse. But it is a curious circumstance that 
no beech-mast was produced in my neighbourhood 
this year. Therefore the stores which have apparently 
lasted this animal till January 1892 must have been 
collected in the autumn of 1890. Some rats which I 
have lately been watching carry ivy-leaves into their 
holes at one side of a wall, and soon afterwards. toss 
them out at the other.—C. B. Moffat. 


NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 


To CORRESPONDENTS AND EXCHANGERS.—As we now 
publish ScrencE-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. 


Speciat Nore.—There is a tendency on the part of some 
exchangers to send more than one per month. We only allow 
this in the case of writers of papers. 


To our Recent ExCHANGERS.—Weare willing to be helpful 
to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow dzs- 
guised Exchanges like those which frequently come to us 
to appear unless as advertisements. 


R. B. Postans.—Will you kindly send us your address, so 
that proofs of your articles may be sent you? 


EXCHANGES. 


Witt send collections of two hundred named specimens 
(sixty species) Victoria shells, in return for same number 
named recent shells of any other country.—F. L. Billinghurst, 
National Bank of Australasia, Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia. 

APRILINA, rufina, protea, ferruginea, oxyacanthe, cerago, 
silago, pyrimadea, meticulosa, gothica, spadicea. What offers? 
Northern insects wanted.—A. E. Gibbs, ‘‘ Herts Advertiser” 
Office, St. Albans. 

WANTED, some secondhand entomological store-boxes, ss. 
size preferred.—A. E. Gibbs, ‘‘ Herts Advertiser” Office, St. 
Albans. 

Me icertTA, floscularia, and other living rotifers; infusoria, 
rhizopoda, entomostraca, alge, and insectivorous plants, offered 
in exchange for micro. slides, books, pamphlets, or magazines 
containing articles on pond life.—C. Lord, 34 Burlington 
Crescent, Goole. 

OFFERED, Helix pygmaea, Pupa ringens, Planorbis nau- 
tilus var. crtsta, and many other local species. Wanted, 
Clausilia Rolphit, C. biplicata, Helix revelata, H. lamellata, 
Zonttes Draparnalat, Pistdium nitidum, and varieties of land 
shells.—A. Hartley, 14 Croft Street, Idle, near Bradford, 
Yorkshire. 

WanTED, Cole’s ‘‘Methods of Microscopical Research,” 
Marsh on “‘Section Cutting,” and good interesting micro. 
slides, in exchange for slides of brittle star (Ophiocoma neg- 


72 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 


Zecta), palate of limpet, &c.—H. McCleery, 82 Clifton Park 
Avenue, Belfast. 

WANTED, mounted or unmounted parasites, parts of insects, 
&c., unmounted preferred. Will give slides or unmounted 
objects in exchange.—George T. Reed, 87 Lordship Road, 
Stoke Newington, London, N. 

WanTED, Braithwaite’s ‘‘ British Moss Flora,” Parts 9 and 
12. Exchange mosses and books.— J. A. Wheldon, 9 Chelsea 
Road, Walton Vale, Liverpool. 

DupticatEs, L. C., 8th ed.: 73,:189, 356, 620; 923, 11724, 
1315, 1397¢, 1441, 1669, 1838. Desiderata, 74, 106, 117, 160, 
354) 374, 551, 560, 619, 716, 731, 745, 760, 824, 932, 980, 1136, 
1403, 1431, 1574, 1591, 1593, 1603, 1625, and many others.— 
E. D. Bostock, Stone, Staffordshire. 

“*Field Club,” 1890, ‘* Nat. Gazette,” 1891, SclENCE-GossIP, 
1889, 1891, unbound, clean; exchange or offers.—W. Turnbull, 
1 Horne Terrace, Edinburgh. 

WANTED, rook and rabbit rifle, rare birds’ eggs and micro. 
slides. Will give in exchange treadle fretwork machine, 
almost new, by Trump Bros., two model yachts, cutter about 
3 feet 4 inches, and yawl about 4 feet long, with sails, masts, 
and spars complete, clinker built and sail well, duplicate birds’ 
eggs (blown, two holes), book of crests about 200, including a 
few of the peerage, military and naval, thirty-five different 
war-ships, and eleven different offices, hospitals, &c., Oxford 
and Cambridge colleges; also several unbound vols. of ‘‘ Boys’ 
Own Paper.”—A. J. B., Frogmore Cottage, Tregony, Gram- 
pound Road, Cornwall. 

WanrTED, a treadle fret-saw, in exchange for good specimens 
of British land and freshwater shells, correctly named and 
localised, or for young plants of some of the best varieties of 
Be cactus tribe.—M. A. O., 82 Abbey Street, Faversham, 

ent. 

ExcuancEs desired in British mosses—about eighty dupli- 
cates. Lists exchanged.—Miss E. Armitage, Dadnor, Ross. 

“Natural History of Insects” (Murray, London, 1830), in 
two vols., published at 5s. each, second edition, numerous 
woodcuts, Will exchange for a few good foreign shells.— 
W. J. Jones, jun., 27 Mayton Street, Holloway, London. 

Wuart offers in fossils or minerals for yellow copper, grey 
copper ore, biotite, atocamite, etannine, cassiterite, wolfram, 
calcite, gabbro, steatite, &c.; Hamblin Smith’s ‘* Algebra,” 
Angel’s ‘Animal Physiology,” Ahn’s ‘‘German Method,” 
Wrightson’s “‘ Agriculture,” and Burton’s ‘‘ Anatomy of Melan- 
choly””?—W. H. Olver, 2 Adelaide Terrace, Truro. 

WanTED, micro, slides; will exchange good microscope.— 
Palmer, Tettenhall, Wolverhampton. 

Wuat offers for Science-Gossip vols. for 1885-91, complete, 
1880, 1881, 1884, incomplete; all coloured plates complete ; 
also ‘‘The Naturalist,” vols. for 1889-91, complete, and the 
“British Naturalist for 1891, complete.—Lionel E. Adams, 
Penistone, Yorks. 

WantTED, British coleoptera and lepidoptera, or books on 
entomology, in exchange for periodicals.x—'Vhos..-W. Wilshaw, 
455 Shoreham Street, Sheffield. 

WANTED, any of the following varieties of Helix asfersa— 
nigrescens, conoidea, globosa, grisea, Helix arbustorum var. 
albinos, Pisidium nitidum, Helix nemoralis vars. albescens 
and studeria. Offered, Planorbis elaber, Helix sericea, H. 
rupestris, Pupa secale, Zonites glaber.—Rev. W. Eyre, 
Swarraton Rectory, Alresford, Hants. 

ARCTIC tern eggs, perfect, for which I should be glad to 
exchange lesser and common terns’ eggs, jackdaws’, sparrow- 
hawks’ (number for value), &c.—T. R. Clephan, Middleton 
St. George, near Darlington. 

OFFERED, SCIENCE-GossIP for 1890 and 1891, also last two 
vols. of ‘‘Science and Art” (iv. and v.), unbound, in perfect 
condition. Wanted, birds’ eggs, one hole.—Geo. Nicholson, 
3 Crown Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

Jarpine’s “ British Birds,”” Waterton’s “‘ Essays on Natural 
History,” Galton’s ‘‘South Africa,” Rennie’s ‘‘Insect Mis- 
cellanies.” Exchange lepidoptera, or offers.—F. Emsley, 98 
West Street, Leeds. 

OFFERED, South African coleoptera and lepidoptera (unset) 
in exchange for other coleoptera and lepidoptera (unset, and 
foreign to Europe).—O. West, Poplar Villa, Lansdowne Place, 
Port Elizabeth, South Africa. 

WANTED, cabinet to hold 200 or 300 micro. slides. State 
requirements to—R. de H. St. Stephens, 25 Fordwych Road, 
West Hampstead, London, N.W. 

WANTED, Shells not in collection. Offered, other shells. 
Foreign correspondence invited, especially in India or China.— 
E. R. Sykes, 13 Doughty Street, London, W.C. 

Wuart offers for ‘ British Fungi,” by M. C. Cooke, 2 vols., 
newly bound, half-calf, nicely tooled; set of plates of Cooke's 
“« Freshwater Alge,” and “‘ British Lichens,” by W. C. Lindsey, 
half-calf.—X., 28 Hampton Road, Bristol. 

WanTED, Johnston’s “‘ Non-Parasitical Worms,” and Dal- 
zell’s ‘“‘Powers of Creation.” Exchange store-boxes and 
British insects.—R. Clark, 21 Grove Street, Retford, Notts. 

OFFERED, Micro. slides, animal hairs, stomach and gizzard 
of beetles, &c. Wanted, slides, materials, or offers.—John 
Moore, 223 Great Russell Street, Birmingham. 

SMALL lathe for lens and object grinding, several lens tools, 
laps, slitting discs, emery wheels, &c.; also “‘Carpenter on 


Microscope,” 1881, air-pump, and materials for mounting. 
Binocular or other exchange wanted.—Dr. Taylor, patent 
expert, 57 Chancery Lane, London. 

CEYLON butterflies. Will exchange a collection of 150 for 
good microscope or camera.—E. J. Woodward, Selwyn Road, 
Eastbourne. 

Helix Bourcieri, Orthalicus Bensoni, Bulimulus arbustus 
B. Mastersi, Succinea Australis, Hyria corrugatus, &c., 
offered in exchange for land-shells from Java or New Guinea, 
or offers.—Miss Linter, Arragon Close, Twickenham. 

Back numbers of ScrencE-Gossip for exchange: 271-276, 
282-287, 292-301, also “‘ Naturalists’ Gazette,” complete, for 
1889 and 18g0, all in good condition ; also quantity of minerals. 
Wanted, Taylor’s book on ‘‘ British Fossils,” or secondhand 
cabinet for minerals, or what offers?—William Hetherington, 
Nenthead, by Carlisle. 

WANTED, trilobites or fossil fishes in exchange for car- 
boniferous fossils or igneous rocks of this district.—John 
Millie, Echobank, Inverkeithing, Fifeshire, N.B. 

WANTED, foreign stamps in exchange for fossils.—Fred- 
Cartwright, 20 Eldon Street, C.-on-M., Manchester. 

BriTisH land and freshwater shells to exchange for exotic 
species not in collection. Foreign correspondence invited.— 
R. Wigglesworth, 13 Arthur Street, Clayton-le-Moors, Ac- 
crington, Lanc. 

WanTED, numbers of Scrence-Gossip previously to 1874, 
parts of ‘‘Thesaurus Conchyliorum,” and Tate’s “ British 
Molluscs,” with coloured plates. Exchange in fossils, shells, 
ete John Hawell, Ingleby Greenhow Vicarage, Middles- 

rough. 

Hooker's ‘‘Student’s Flora,” ‘‘ Naturalist”’ for 1878, &c., 
in exchange for Gremli’s “‘ Flora of Switzerland.”—Rev. W. W. 
Flemyng, Clonegam Rectory, Portlaw, co. Waterford. 

Unio margaritifer in exchange for lepidoptera, or offers.— 
Rev. W. W. Flemyng, Clonegam Rectory, Portlaw, co. 
Waterford. 

Have a few dozen minerals which I want to give to school 
museum. Would any geologist kindly name them for me ?— 
Jas. Ellison, Steeton, Keighley. 

WANTED, good books on marine alge and zoophytes, and 
other seaside studies, in exchange for Dolland telescope, 
icra slides, or other books.—J. T. Neeve, 68 High Street, 

eal. 

WanTED, British and foreign star-fishes, sea eggs and crabs, 
sea-horse, and a good specimen of arragonite mineral, in returm 
for fossils, British and foreign shells, microscopic objects and 
material, polished geological specimens of corals and spongy- 
forms, or state wants.—T. E. Sclater, Northumberland House, 
Teignmouth. ; 

WanteED, Lutraria oblonga, Terebratula caput-serpentis, 
Crania anomala, Pholadidea papyracea, Sphenia Binghami, 
Diplodonta rotundata, Cardium papillosum, pinna, Lima 
hians, Pecten Danicus, Pecten niveus, Trochus millegranus, 
Trochus granulatus, Stylifer Turtoni, Eulima stenostoma, 
Natica helicoides, Lamellaria perspicua, Aplysia depilans, 
Ovula patula, Akera bullata, Bulla hydatis, Acme lineata, 
in exchange for other rare British shells, &c.—A. J. R. Sclater, 
M.C.S., Natural History Stores, 43 Northumberland Place, 
Teignmouth, South Devon, 


BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE. 


“United States Geological Survey,” Tenth Annual Report, 
1888-89, part i., Geology (Washington: Government Printing 
Office). —‘‘ The Optics of Photography, and Photographic 
Lenses,” by J. Trail Taylor (London: Whittaker & Co.).— 
“‘Dumaresq’s Daughter,” by Grant Allen (London: Chatto 
& Windus).—‘‘ The Idler’’ (Chatto & Windus).—‘‘ The Ento- 
mologist’s Review,” No. 1, vol. iii. (London: Elliot Stock & 
Co.).—‘* The Essex Naturalist” (Chelmsford: Durrant & Co.). 
—‘‘W. P. Collins’s Monthly Catalogue of Books’ (London: 
W. P. Collins).—‘‘ The Journal of the Queckett Microscopical 
Club” (London: Williams & Norgate).—‘‘The Essex Re- 
view ” (Chelmsford: E. Durrant & Co..)—‘‘ Health at Home 
Tracts,” by Alfred Schofield, M.D., M.R.C.S. (The Religious 
Tract Society).—‘‘ The Victorian Naturalist”’ (London: Dulau 
& Son).—‘‘Contributions towards a Flora of the Outer 
Hebrides,” by Arthur Bennett, F.L.S.—‘‘The Collector's 
Monthly,” &c., &c 


CoMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED UP TO THE 12TH ULT. FROM: 
H. E. G.—O. M. M.—H. M.—A. S. O. S.—H. B.—K. H. J. 
—J. BR. B. P.—H. J. R—M. D.—C. B.—G. E. H.— 
G. T. R.—B. W. W.—T. R. C.—H.—S. W. W.—G. N.— 
A. B.—W. L. W. E.—L. E. A.—J. J. C.—W. J. J.—A. 
W. St. C—A. B.—M. A. A.—J. A. W.—W. T.—Dr. P. Q. K. 
—A. C.—S. M.—J. H.—A. B.—E. D. B.—E. G.—A. E. G.— 
w. E. W.—C. L.—R. B. P.—W. E. S.—A. C. S.—R. H. J.— 
R. J.—P. G. R.—A. J. C.—S. M.—F. C.—R. W.—J. M.— 
Ww. H—F. E.—C. B. M.—J. H.—O. W.— J.T. N.—A. J. R.S. 
—T. E. S.—R. C.—R. D. H. S.—R. C. R.—M. D. D.—C. R. 
—E. R. S.—W. J. (good).—Dr. T.—J. W. H.—F. C. K.— 
J. M—J. C. N.—J. E, L—W. R. R.—Miss L.—J. E.— 
W. W. F.—&c., &e. 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSS/P. 73 


A FEW REMARKS ON OUR COMMONEST SPIDERS. 


IBYaKS 


BELIEVE _ that 
there is no group 
of animals, which 
has been so much 
neglected by col- 
lectors and field- 
naturalists, as that 
of the spiders. 
The reason, I be- 
lieve, is not so 
much their repul- 
siveness or com- 
monness and ap- 
parent lack of 
interest, though 
for my own part I 
consider them far 
from repulsive or 
uninteresting, but 
the difficulty there 
is in preserving 
and storing them when collected. It is my intention 
here only to set down such things as have come 
under my own personal notice, therefore I shall be 
obliged to omit any attempt at a description of the 
very complicated structure of the spider, external 
or internal. 

I am certain that very few of my readers are not 
aware, that the spider is not an insect. However, 
for the benefit of those who may never have given 
the point consideration, it may be remarked that a 
spider is at once distinguished from an insect by the 
facts that it has eight legs, and that its head and 
thorax are fused together. There are about five 
hundred and twenty-five species of spiders at present 
known in the British Isles, from which it is my 
intention to pick out some of the commonest, for the 
purpose of describing their mode of life and habits. 

The first on the list is Agalena Jlabyrinthica. 
This spider is exceedingly common on heaths and 

No, 328.—APRIL 1892, 


HURLSTONE JONES, 


commons in the southern counties, out of which I 
have not yet observed it. The animal is of a greyish 
brown colour, approaching toa chestnut hue in the fore- 
part of the body, while the hinder portion or abdomen 
is crossed transversely by dark bands. It spins a 
web which in the greater part of its area is flat, and 
very closely woven, being suspended from point to 
point of the heather or ling. But above this, crossing 
and recrossing in endless confusion are numerous 
single strands of the spider’s silk, not unlike the 
rigging of a ship, while from one corner of the flat 
portion of the web, an exceedingly closely woven 
funnel of silk runs into the heather and down to the 
ground, in which the spider sits to await its prey, and 
down which it takes flight when attacked. At first 
sight it looks as if this funnel were merely a more 
closely woven portion of the web generally, but 
my humble opinion is that it is more than this. I 
observed that on dropping a grasshopper or other 
fair-sized insect into the web, in any part, no matter 
how far from the hole, the spider immediately dashed 
out, and, guided obviously by the vibrations of the . 
threads, caused by the struggles of his captive, made 
at once, not to the insect, but close to it; here he 
stopped a moment, and feeling with his two front 
legs, came at once to his prey. I think this pretty 
effectually proves two facts, first, that these seemingly 
untidy, aimless webs, are arranged radially ; just as 
carefully as those of the garden-spiders, which people 
think so beautiful, and that all the radiating threads, 
or at any rate the main ones of the web, are concen- 
trated in the lower half of the network tunnel, to 
which all vibrations are, so to speak, telegraphed at 
once from the -most distant part of the web, whither 
the spider immediately proceeds. The second thing 
I thiak proved by this is that a spider has but very 
limited powers of vision, otherwise it would rely less 
on its power of appreciating vibrations and more 
on its power of sight, in the capture of its prey. I 
made several experiments on the mode in which 
E 


74 HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSTP. 


this spider kills the prey which becomes entangled in 
its snare, and as I consider it curious, will describe it 
as well as I can. The spider on coming up to its 
victim, instead of going to, and fixing itself on it, 
and remaining there to suck its juices, as most of its 
species seem to do, makes a series of short dashes at 
its intended meal, pausing a few seconds between each, 
and at each rush inserts its poison-fangs. These 
dashes become slower and slower, or to speak more 
correctly, the pauses between them longer and longer, 
as the attack goes on, until the object of them at 
length lies motionless ; when, if it be not too large, it 
is seized and dragged into the hole or tunnel men- 
tioned above, and devoured at leisure. If, however, 
it is too large to be removed bodily, the spider 
detaches a limb at a time, and carries it away piece- 
meal. From this method of procedure I cannot help 
thinking that the poison causes moto-paralysis,— 
perhaps (it is to be hoped so) sensory as well, for I 
cannot say whether the animal which has been 
subjected to it is dead when removed. If two or 
three insects, or small spiders, are placed in the same 
web together, the owner dashes at them alternately, 
so as to make sure of losing none of them, and if 
any of them are small enough, they are carried off, 
struggling, down the tunnel, whilst their brothers in 
misfortune are dealt with. 

I once put a specimen of Dolomedes mirabilis, the 
next spider I shall have to deal with, into a web of 
the species we are now considering, and was rather 
surprised to find that it was as much disabled and 
incapacitated by the net as any insect; it, however, 
defended itself bravely and after a couple of rushes, 
the tenant of the snare gave up its usual tactics and 
pursued another method of attack, which I had not 
seen the species use before, though it is common in 
some other genera. It ran round and round the 
unfortunate and unwilling intruder, carrying a thread 
of silk with it as it did so, until the poor wretch was 
simply swathed in a silken shroud, the maker of 
which was just going to produce the final scene of the 
tragedy, when I released the condemned martyr to 
science, and set him free. If two of the species are 
placed in the same net, they fight and chase one 
another, until one of them is either killed or takes 
refuge in flight. 

Dolomedes mirabilis, the spider I have just men- 
tioned as having been placed in the web of Agalena 
labyrinthica, does not appear quite so interesting as 
that species, perhaps because I have not observed 
it quite so closely ; it is, however, far from lacking 
in interesting and peculiar habits, to a few of which 
I should like to call attention. This spider does 
not spin a snare. It is in fact a hunting-spider, 
obtaining its living by means of its powers of speed 
and leaping, which are very great, and its wonder- 
ful skill in stalking, in which no animal, I feel 
sure, can surpass it. Neither this, nor any other 
spider, however, is unprovided with silk and when 


the breeding-season comes round, which is in August 
and September, it spins a kind of thin net-work 
basket, connecting the tops of half-a-dozen grasses or 
blooms of heather, in which is placed a thick silken 
cocoon of a yellow colour, containing the eggs, But 
here comes the most interesting point about this 
creature: no one, I think, would imagine that any- 
thing approaching parental affection would be found 
in an animal so low down in the scale of creatior. 
as a spider, yet what I am going to relate looks 
uncommonly like it. The mother remains with the 
cocoon until the eggs are hatched, and if the nest is 
ruptured she immediately bolts off with it, (the 
cocoon), and sooner than part with it, allows herself 
to be caught and bottled, only loosing her hold when 
intoxicated by the spirit. Even when the young 
spiders are hatched, although generally not in the 
net, she is always close at hand, and the least disturb- 
ance of the nest brings her at once on the spot, which 
seems to prove that she must have communication 
with it bya thread. Waving put in an appearance, 
she exposes herself so carelessly and with so little 
regard for personal safety that she can be captured 
with the greatest ease. The male on the other hand, 
so far as my personal observation goes, does not 
assist in these efforts for the safety of the family. 

This reference, to sex brings before us another 
interesting question ; why is it that the males are so 
much scarcer than the females among this group 
of animals? I think the answer is two-fold. In 
the first place the spider is, I believe, a very amorous 
creature, and I am pretty sure that a youthful male 
at an age when he wonld be caressing an incipient 
moustache, were he homo sapiens, having put on his 
very best appearance, that is, having just cast his skin, 
goes off to start a courtship, probably with the first 
representative of the opposite sex and of his own 
species that he may meet. Now the lady spiders, not 
unlike some other animals a great deal higher up in 
the animal kingdom, object to the advances of 
‘*puppies,” to use a figurative expression, but in 
place of treating the aspirant with cold contempt, they 
pounce upon him, and first murder and then eat him. 
In the second place, there is no doubt that most of 
the male spiders are considerably smaller and weaker 
than females of the same species, and this renders the 
above idea only the more probable. It will also be 
noticed by any observant person in the autumn 
months, how careful the male is in approaching the 
female, and at what a respectful distance he always 
keeps from her. 

The spider which next comes before us is Sal¢icus 
cupreus, Salticus cuprews is a true hunting-spider, 
the commonest British representative of the genus, 
and a pretty, clever, comical little rascal he is. He 
is nearly always found on walls in the hot sunshine, 
plying his ,vocation with untiring zeal and energy ; 
he canrun and jump like an acrobat, sideways as well 
as forwards, and his colours, which are black and 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP: 75 


grey in stripes, are too conspicuous to permit his 
being easily forgotten when once seen. He stalks his 
prey, which consists of small flies, very small ones, 
for he is not much over a quarter of an inch in length 
himself. I have called him clever; and so he is, as 
far as the stalking goes. Yet I once saw one of these 
little creatures most awfully taken in, in the exercise 
of this power which they possess of stalking their prey. 
It was on a rather rough stone wall in Warwickshire, 
last year; the Saltici were hunting about in all direc- 
tions for game, which was plentiful enough. On the 
wall some one had squashed a fly, so that the wings 
and the empty chitinous membranes which enclose 
and protect the legs’and thorax, remained sticking to 
the wall by means of the dried contents of the body. 
Presently the wing, or some other portion of these 
melancholy remains, caught one or more of the eight 
eyes of our friend the Salticus, and he immediately 
made up his mind to dine off it. So he began with 
extreme caution to stalk the supposed fly, creeping, 
with his legs bent to their utmost extent, from point 
to point of the stone. Taking advantage of every 
little roughness and prominence, he at last arrived 
quite close and then sprang like a tiger (at least as I 
suppose a tiger would spring, and I am glad to say 
I have not seen it done), upon his prey. He took 
his disappointment very philosophically and went off 
in search of better luck at once. This I take to be 
another proof of the short-sightedness of spiders. 

The last example of this highly interesting group of 
invertebrates is our large and common garden-spider 
(Z¢eira diadema), the white cross on whose yellow 
back isfamiliar to nearly everyone. LZfeiva diadema 
is one of our largest spiders, and also one of the 
handsomest inhabiting this island ; it belongs, more- 
over, to a large genus and one which has been 
remarkable for ages for the beauty and ingenuity of 
their webs. Diadema is found commonly enough on 
furze-covered commons and in gardens and Janes, in 
fact nearly everywhere, during the autumn months. 
This spider spins the well-known polygonal web, 
with its transverse spinal thread, which everyone 
knows, and which can be told from that of smaller 
members of the same genus from the size of the 
meshes. It has a curious habit of shaking its web 
violently ; and so rapid are its oscillations in this 
act, that the spider cannot be seen at all ; whether 
this is to clean the web from adhering particles or 
whether it is for concealment, I do not know. But I 
scarcely think the former, because the same move- 
ment which shook off the adhering particles would 
surely scatter the little glutinous globules, with which 
the threads are studded, and which hold the prey ; 
neither do I think the latter is the probable cause, for 
on alarm being taken, the spider immediately drops 
to the ground by a thread. This spider has a habit 
with all its larger victims, of surrounding them with a 
shroud of silk, by spinning them round and round, 
before beginning to feed on them. In fact I have 


seen wasps so completeiy shrouded in this way that 
they were perfectly helpless. This spider either lies 
in wait head downwards in the centre of its web, or 
else lies concealed close at hand with its front pair of 
legs on one of the main supporting threads of the 
web, so that the least movement in it is communicated 
to its guardian. 

I could write much more on this interesting and 
almost inexhaustible topic, but I am afraid of taking 
up too much. space, and moreover of tiring your 
patience. 


SOMERSETSHIRE SAND-TOTS :—THEIR 
GEOLOGICAL HISTORY. 


HE geological history of blown sand is one of 
much interest. It plays an important part in 
the present phase of earth history, and opens up a 
variety of interesting avenues of fact and speculation 
in connection with the past history of the crust of our 
globe. Sand differs a good deal in quality and com- 
position, being locally more or less abraded, and 
more or less mixed with organically derived and 
other matter, but in the main consists of quartz. It 
is coarse or fine generally according as it has travelled 
a short or long distance ; for sand is a considerable 
traveller, and its origin has to be looked for often at 
great distances from where we find it. Wherever we 
find it, it has travelled ; whether in the quiet bays of 
mountain brooks or on stretches of sea-shore, it has 
generally proceeded a greater or less distance from 
the rocks which produced it. How, then, is it pro- 
duced? By water eroding the rocks in which it was 
originally more or less massive, and by the subsequent 
wear and tear of friction in water-channels. How it 
accumulates is at first sight not quite so obvious ; but 
the process is nearly the same whether the accumula- 
tion be small or great. It is in the main a process 
of sifting ; and the sifting is done by water-currents. 
Wherever rills trickle into streams, streams into 
rivers, and rivers into the ocean, the currents are 
constantly carrying off the finer and softer particles 
first, and redepositing these as muds or clays in quiet 
waters ; leaving behind at first the larger fragments, 
whether soft or hard, until trituration has reduced 
the softer of these to fine particles. These again are 
removed and the harder parts are left behind in the 
form of sand, gravels and pebbles, to be again 
abraded and again carried down. This process has 
been ever going on, and we find sand in one form or 
other, in tremendous accumulations as rock, or sand- 
stone in every known formation, and in some forma- 
tions to the comparative exclusion of mud-rocks or 
shales. The estuary of the Severn illustrates the 
formation of sand in a very good way. The strong 
tidal currents sift the eroded and triturating material 
continually. New sand-banks form, the channels 
alter and immense quantities are carried down and 
deposited in the sea, 
E2 


76 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSITP. 


Quartz is one of the hardest minerals. Steel 
cannot scratch it. So that it follows as easy 
corollaries that quartz sand has resisted trituration 
longer than softer rock substances, and therefore as a 
rule has not travelled so far from its original site as 
softer and less dense rock material. Geologists, 
recognising this fact, are accustomed to say, whenever 
they meet sandstone in the earth’s crust, that it 
indicates proximity to ancient shores; when they 
meet with grit and gravel-beds, that they are nearer 
still ; with pebble beds (conglomerates), nearer still ; 
and when the fragments are (generally) larger and 


posure to the prevailing westerly or south-westerly 
winds, In Sand Bay the distance occupied by sand- 
tots is a mile and a half, from Woodspring to Kew- 
stone. The soil inland is alluvium, lying upon 
liassic limestones and shales. In Weston Bay the 
distance occupied by sand-tots is a mile, from ‘‘ the 
Beach” to Uphill. Here also, the soil inland is 
alluvium resting upon the lias. In the next bay, . 
Bridgwater Bay, the distance is five miles from 
Brean Down to Bromham, and from Start Point to 
Stolford, four miles. Here also there is a fringe of 
sand-tots ; and here also the land is alluvium, resting 


AWW) 
Crevepon Sn AZ 
LIMESTONE RIDCE Ts 
“ NaitseA Moor ! 
A \ 
& Kenn Moor aa 
> ae 
x cae 
2 3 ip 
r ; = 
> Kewstox H 
& AU gs7oNe I 
Ws di Lay die 0G L 
Lockinc Moor rf 
sUPHILL »; 
AW) \ 
~N Gy, MN Mijpy Lng Me ne \ 
Ps AW yyy) Uf) Wh NE = 
< SBreAn My, i i! Muy? ( 
= MN My MLM 
Q = “ TAN NNN AWN Z fi 
~ = 
& Tots$ 
rm = CLastonsuay Moor 
: i 
Burnuam ic 
START J 
POINT 
Tots GEE WEEE 
Sto.rorp 7 aN 
TH HE, ‘ a x 


S\ Potpen Hitts 
| MMe te 
AMIN MWS 


Fig. 42.—Sand-tots along the Somersetshire coast. 


angular, that they have the débris of sea-cliffs them- 
selves (breccias). 

Following the coast of the Channel until we reach 
the harder cliffs of more ancient rocks on the north 
and south, we have local deposits of sand derived 
in part from the cliffs themselves, especially from 
those older volcanic rocks which are largely com- 
posed of quartz; but we may pretty safely conclude 
that in most sedimentary rocks there is an admixture 
of quartz, although it may be so finely abraded as to 
escape naked eye observation. 

In the formation of sand-tots, we have to consider 
a few fresh facts. We find them in the Severn 
Estuary in certain favourable places; where the 
tidal range is great, in deep bays, and with an ex- 


upon the lias. Beyond this point the shore rises into 
low liassic cliffs, and the sand-tots cease. 

Inland of the tots at Weston the soil is very sandy 
and poor for a distance of some fields; but inland 
of this again, the soil improves as the underlying 
alluvium gets freer from sand. 

The gradual growth of bent, seawards, furnishes the 
barrier against which the sand is blown, and it is to 
this grass that we are indebted for safety against 
inundation of the low-level alluvium that occupies * 
large areas in the county between parallel mountain 
limestone ridges. 

In the formation of the tots shorewards we have a 
double sifting process, a sifting of the waves in the 
formation of the sandy beach, and a sifting of the 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. . 77 


winds in driving the lighter particles of sand shore- 
wards. : 

In Weston Bay at low water the tide recedes for 
three miles, leaving an immense area of mud exposed. 
This is seen to be furrowed by the receding tides, 
channels of drainage in which much of the finer 
sediment is carried off. At times the mud appears to 
gain upon the sand, at others the sand upon the mud. 
In rough weather more sediment of all kinds is 
deposited, in fine weather the finer sediments are 
carried away, and in all weathers powerful tidal 
currents disturb the muds, and alter and sift the 
sediments. 

The sandy beach is, I think, in the main formed by 
Waves acting upon already deposited sediments. 
Every wave as it breaks pounds the beach, and the 
undertow carries away the finer and lighter material, 
leaving the coarser and heavier behind. The former 
is redeposited as muds of varying degrees of fineness, 
the fineness being greatest at the greatest distance 
from the shore, the latter is left to form the beach 
of sand, the finer particles of which are driven by the 
winds inward to form the tots. Dig below the sand 
and you will find clay, over mud, and therefore more 
remote from a former shore. Dig when you will in 
the alluvium, and if you dig deep enough for a few 
miles inland, you will find clay, a tolerably easy and 
convincing proof that the flat area between Cundon 
and Worle, and again between Worle and Banwell, 
was formed by the slow deposit of estuarine and 
marine sediments, that the land now cultivated was 
a muddy shore with probably an enormous tidal 
range, and that the process now seen to be going on 
in the formation of the tots has been going on for an 
incalculable period of time, and it may be assumed 
that they have not yet reached their maximum. 

If a glance be taken at any ordinary map exhibiting 
the coast-line of Somersetshire (see sketch-map 
appended) between Clevedon and Stolford, the extent 
of alluvium (or soil deposited as the estuary has been 
gradually silted up) may be approximately measured 
by the extent of the moors and their number. Be- 
ginning at the north we have Nailsea Moor, and 
Kenn Moor, in which is the hamlet of Seymour (a 
common place and surname in Somersetshire, mean- 
ing most probably sea-moor) ; between the next two 
mountain limestone ridges, Locking and Weston 
moors; and between the Mendips and the Polden 
Hills, an extensive moor, bearing locally different 
names, as Glastonbury Moor, Godney Moor, Mark 
Moor, etc. Altogether the area of alluvium, or land 
gained from the sea, as silt has been deposited and 
the tidal waters have receded, may be stated at about 
fifty square miles. In many places in this district 
peat overlies the clay to a thickness of several feet ; 
but what evidence of blown sand there may be in 
that area I am at present unable to state. Its com- 
parative scarcity or absence inland must of course be 
attributed to the configuration of the land and the 


nature of its formation. As the bays gradually 
silted up, :it is tolerably certain that the process 
began along the flanks of the bounding E. and W. 
limestone ridges; and as the sediment accumulated, 
the sides would expand and present a greater area to 
the prevailing winds, and thus favour the gradual 
accumulation of the ridges of sand which now form 
such a striking feature in the shore scenery of the 
Severn Estuary on the Somersetshire or eastern side. 
No doubt cultivation has obliterated some traces of 
inland sand ; but as the tides recede and the bays get 
silted up, the sand-tots will grow seawards, as they 
have already done and are doing at the present time 
where the conditions are favourable. 
T. Srock. 


CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS A LIST OF 
THE MOLLUSCA OF HEREFORDSHIRE. 


EREFORDSHIRE is but a little known 

county, and so it is little to be wondered at 
that there is no list of its mollusca, even moderately 
complete. Not that the following list is meant to be 
complete by any means, but I trust that it will serve 
as a basis for further records, and also interest some 
of your readers who pay attention to the distribution 
of British mollusca. 

Messrs. Taylor and Roebuck’s list (as given in Mr. 
Williams’ smaller work) comprises only thirty-six 
species, most of them, curiously enough, being the 
rarer ones, ¢.g9., /Zelix. fusca, Clausilia laminata, 
while one, z.¢., Helix Cantiana, I have not yet found 
at all: it also excludes many of our commonest and 
most widely distributed species, ¢.g., Succinea putris, 
Spherium corneum: so far, that is in the last two 
years, I have, with the invaluable aid of Mr. E. W. 
Bowell increased the list to eighty-seven species. The 
slugs I have not yet studied particularly, but I hope 
to do so in future, and many species are recorded in 
the list above referred to. Of course, I have not yet 
worked nearly the whole of the county, and no doubt 
many new species will be added by further search. 

[Those marked (*) are recorded by Messrs. Taylor 
and Roebuck. ] 

Spherium corneum. Very common. * 

Sph. rivicola. Not common and small. The Lugg 
at Mordiford, the Wye at Symond’s Yat. 

Sph. lacustye. Formerly very common in the 
Hereford and Gloucester Canal, which is now, un- 
fortunately, drained, for the most part at any rate. 

Pisidium fontinale. Abundant where it occurs: 
Tupsley : near Leominster. 

* Pisidium pusillum. Common. 

Pisidium roseumt, Rare: but abundant near Stoke 
Edith. 

Onio tumidus. 
mens are small. 
the Canal. 

Unio pictorum. A few specimens in the Wye. 


Fairly common. The Wye speci- 
Abundant, very fine and large in 


78 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Unio margaritifer. Extremely abundant in the 
Wye, especially near Hereford. 

Anodonta cygnea. Common, The largest I have 
measures 63 X 3} in. The immature specimens seem 
somewhat to resemble A. avatina. 

Anodonta anatina. Local: the Wye at Symond’s 
Yat, abundant : also, but very rarely at Hereford. I 
have one very curious specimen, which has two teeth, 
one on each valve, about the centre of the shell. 

Dreissena polymorpha. Formerly very abundant 
in the canal at Hereford. 

Neritina fluviatilis, 
Wye at Symond’s Yat. 
Paludina contecta. 

Paludina vivipara. 
Canal. 

Bythinia tentaculata. Very common. 

Valvata piscinalis, Common: Canal : Staunton-on- 
Wye, etc. Frequently on Caddis-cases. 

Valvata cristata. Rare: Tupsley. On Caddis-cases. 

Planorbis nitidus. By no means abundant: 
Devereaux Park: Bartestre. 

Planorbis nautileus. Ina shallow pond at Bulling- 
ham, on oak leaves (in a similar situation near 
Oxford). 

Planorbis albus. Common. Often on Caddis-cases. 

Planorbis parvus. Locally abundant: Burton 
Court, near Leominster. 

Planorbis spirorbis, Abundant ina brookat Moccas, 
with many sub-scalariform specimens. 

Planorbis vortex. Not uncommon : 
Tupsley, etc. 

Planorbis carinatus. 
Canal: Tupsley. 

Planorbis complanatus. Common : I have observed 
it eject red-coloured fluid on being put in boiling 
water. 

Planorbis corneus. ‘* Hereford,” De Boinville: 
“near Leominster” (?): Hereford canal, but only 
fragments. 

Planorbis contortus. Very common. 

Physa hypnorum. Formerly very abundant in one 
pord near Hereford, but the late drought seems to 
have destroyed it. 

Physa fontinalis. 
Bullingham. 

* Limnea peregra. Abundant: avery ‘‘ palustroid” 
variety near Hereford : var. /abiosa not uncommon. 

Limnea auricularia. Two distinct forms ; one, 
smaller and squarer, very abundant at Burton Court, 
near Leominster: the other larger, flatter, in many 
cases labiate, many others, again, tending towards 
L. peregra, with which it formerly abounded in 
Hereford Canal. 

Limnea stagnalis. Two distinct forms; one, very 
abundant in Hereford Canal, slender, thin, and small, 
whereof I have found the mons. scalariforme; the 
other, at Tupsley, much larger, stouter and finer. 

* Limnea truncatula. Common. Very ‘abundant 


Very local: Abundant in 


‘* Hereford,” De Boinville. 
Formerly abundant in the 


the canal: 


Not very common: the 


Common: var. inflata at 


in the Wye at Hereford: var. elegans (but usual 
colour) in the Frome. I have found it on the 
Ffwddog on the Black Mountains in very tiny rills : 
doubtless these are the hosts of the sheep-fluke. 

Limnea glabra, Rarenear Tupsley : (very common 
near Hay, just over the Herefordshire border). 

* Ancylus fluviatilis. In nearly every stream. 

Ancylus lacustris. Widely distributed, but nowhere 
very abundant. 

[Zestacella haliotidea. 
T. A. Chapman. 

* Arion ater, Very common. 

* Arion hortensis. Very common. 

* Arion bourguignati. 

* Amalia gagates. 

* Amalia marginata. 

* Limax agrestis. Common. 

* Limax maximus. Not very common: Doward 


Very rare: ‘‘ Burghill,” 


Hill. 

* Limax arborum. Not very common: Doward 
Hill). 

Succinea putris. One of our commonest and most 


widely distributed species. Sometimes near to 5S. 
virescens on horse-radish at Ross, vide Helix rufescens 
and 4. hortensis. 

Succinea elegans. 
this species floating. 

* Vitrina pellucida. Common, Seems more abun- 
dant in spring. Does it ibury itself to grow during 
the summer and autumn? Very little, if at all, 
affected by the cold. 

* Zonites cellarius. Very common. 

* Zonites alliarius. Weather rare: Ross : Llanwarne. 

Zonites glaber. Not very common. 

* Zonites nitidulus. The commonest species ; also 
var. 2itens. 

* Zonites purus. Common. Also var. margaritacea. 

Zonites radiatulus. Under bark on willow-trees. 
Doward Hill. Dormington. 

* Zonites crystallinus. Not uncommon among dead 
leaves. Rotherwas, Backbury Hill. 

Zonites fulvus. Not uncommon among dead leaves. 
Rotherwas ; Backbury Hill. 

Helix aculeata. Not uncommon. Among dead 
leaves, especially on stones among dead leaves. 
Backbury Hill; Rotherwas: Dormington: Breinton. 

* Helix aspersa. Very common. 

* Helix nemoralis. Very common; also vars: 
castanea (especially on the limestone), carnea, Libellula, 
bimarginata (rare). ; 

* Helix hortensis. Very common, but apparently 
not on the limestone; with vars. a/ézma (on horse- 
radish, vide 4. rufescens), pallida incarnata, lutee 
(very common), avenzcola. 

* Helix arbustorum. 
Hill: near Hereford. 

* Helix Cantiana. 

Helix rufescens. Very common. Apparently not 
on the limestone ; with vars. a/da (very common ; the 


Very common. I have seen 


Not uncommon: Doward 


HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


79 


only form at Ross on horse-radish, vide H. hortensis, 
Succinea putris), rubens (Hereford, not very common), 
minor (common). 


* Helix hispida. Common. Many forms lead to 
the var. concinna. 
* Helix fusca. Very local. Doward Hill. 


* Helix caperata. ery common; with vars. 
obliterata, fulua, Gigaxit. 

felix ericetorum. Local, but abundant at Burghill. 

fielix rotundata. Very abundant. 

Helix rupestris. Very local, but abundant at 
Doward Hill in cracks in the cliff, among grass, 
dead leaves, etc. 

Helix pygmea. 
at Rotherwas. 

* Helix pulchella, Not uncommon. Dinedor, Back- 
bury Hill, etc. Mostly among dead leaves, 


One specimen among dead leaves 


* Helix lagicida. Local and uncommom. Doward 
Hill : Dormington. 
* Bulimus obscurus. Fairly common. Doward 


Hill: Breinton: Dormington. 

Pupa secale. Local, but very abundant on the 
Doward Hill : also at Dormington. 

* Pupa ringens. Not very common : Doward Hill. 

Pupa umbilicata. Not uncommon. Doward Hill: 
Dormington. 

Pupa marginata. 
Dormington. 

(Note-—The Doward Hill and Dormington are 
both on the limestone.) 

Vertigo. This genus seems conspicuous by its 
absence. Doubtless there are more than two species. 
Can any reader give me any hints to find them? 

Vertigo edentula. Dinedor : Dormington. 

Vertigo antivertigo, Dormington. 

* Clausilia rugosa. Very common; 
gracilior, tumidula. 

* Clausilia laminata. 
mington; ‘‘ Leominster ; 

* Cochlicopa lubrica. 


Notuncommon. Doward Hill: 


also vars, 


Very rare. Doward; Dor- 
* only single specimens. 
Very common.} 


Cochlicopa tridens. Rare, Backbury Hill, among 
Mercuriale perennis. 
* Achatina acicula, Very rare. Among dead 


leaves on Backbury Hill (only two specimens). 

* Carychium minimum. Common among dead 
leaves. I have found this and many other species 
in abundance by shaking dead leaves over a sheet of 
paper or a cloth, or by bringing home bagfuls of 
rubbish for more leisurely examination. 

* Cyclostoma elegans. Common. 

In conclusion I may mention that the localities 
quoted are either parishes, or well-known woods, hills, 
or houses ; also, if any reader would care to know the 
more exact locality of any species, I shall be most 
happy to render all the assistance in my power ; and 
should be glad if anyone would inform me of any sins 
of commission and omission he may know of. 

{A. E. Boycott. 

The Grange, Hereford. 


NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. 


HE HORSE, a Study in Natural History, 

by William Henry Flower, C.B. (London : 
Kegan Paul & Co.). This is one of the now 
famous modern-science series of books, edited by 
Sir John Lubbock, and issued by the above firm. 
They are all well got-up, printed with clear good 
type on good paper. The horse is a favourite animal 
all over the world, but nowhere more so than in 
England, and there is nobody more capable of writing 
about its anatomy and zoological history than Pro- 
fessor Flower. Its genealogical descent is better 
known than that of any other mammal, so that the 
horse is the animal most referred to in support of the 
theory of Evolution. The bones of its legs are a 
museum of ancestral organs, many of them now 
disused, others having been extraordinarily developed 
at their expense. Into all these matters Professor 
Flower enters in detail in the book before us, which 
is practically a little monograph upon the horse. The 
student of natural history could not study a more 
delightful book. It is written in plain and practically 
untechnical language. It contains only four lengthy 
chapters, which are as follows: ‘‘ The Horse’s Place 
in Nature—its Ancestors and Relations”; ‘‘ The 
Horse and its nearest existing Relations”; ‘‘ The 
Structure of the Horse, chiefly as bearing upon its 
Mode of Life, its Evolution. and its Relation to other 
Animal Forms—the Head and Neck”; ‘‘ The Struc- 
ture of the Horse—the Limbs.” The work is em- 
bellished by twenty-six telling illustrations, 

The Realm of Nature, an Outline of Physiography, 
by Dr. H. R. Mill (London: John Murray). This 
is by far the best handbook to physical geography in 
our language. It contains nineteen coloured maps, 
and sixty-eight illustrations, and appendices which 
give an account of the most important instruments 
used in determining physiographical questions. The 
last appendix is very usefully devoted to explanations 
of the derivations of scientific terms. There are 
seventeen chapters, at the end of each of which is a 
list of books of reference. The wide range of Dr. 
Mill’s book may be gathered from the titles of the 
chapters, which are as follows: ‘‘The Study of 
Nature” ; ‘*The Substance of Nature”; ‘‘ Energy, 
the Power of Nature”; ‘‘ The Earth a Spinning 
Ball” ; ‘‘ The Earth a Planet” ; “‘ The Solar System 
and Universe” ; ‘* The Atmosphere” ; ‘‘ Atmospheric 
Phenomena”; ‘‘Climates of the World”; ‘‘ The 
Hydrosphere” ; ‘‘ The Bed of the Oceans”; ‘‘ The 
Crust of the Earth”; ‘* Action of Water on the 
Land”; ‘‘ The Record of the Rocks”; ‘* The Con- 
tinental Area”; ‘‘Life and Living Creatures” ; 
‘*Man in Nature.” Dr. Mill’s manual ought to be 
in every library. It is a work not only to be read, 
but to be referred to at all times. 

Manipulation of the Microscope; by E. Bausch 
(London: W. P. Collins). We are glad to see this 


80 HARDWICKE’'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP, 


little manual circulating in this country. It is just 
the book we are often asked to recommend : full and 
clear in its detailed explanations. The headings of 
the chapters are as follows: “ Simple Microscopes” ; 
““The Compound Microscope”; ‘‘ Objectives and 
Eye-pieces” ; ‘* Requisites for Work”; ‘‘ How to 
Work” ; “‘ Advanced Manipulation” ; ‘‘ To select a 
Microscope” ; ‘‘ Sub-stage Illumination” ; ‘* Care of 
a Microscope,” and Appendix. 

The Optics of Photography and Photographic Lenses, 
by J. Traill Taylor (London: Whittaker & Co.). 
The author has for many years been editor of the 
“* British Journal of Photography,” so that no other 
man is better capable of writing such a useful manual 
as that before us. It is eminently practical, and all 
users of photographic lenses, both professionals and 
amateurs, will be thankful to possess it. Indeed 
there is scarcely a single detail which photographers 
of all classes have to be acquainted with in the 
prosecution of their art, which is not here clearly and 
fully set forth. The following enumeration of the 
chapters will give our readers some idea of Mr. 
Taylor’s praiseworthy little book: ‘‘ What consti- 
tutes Photographic Optics—Nature and Properties of 
Light”; ‘‘ Photographic Definition, Real and Ideal— 
Forms of Single and Achromatic Lenses”; ‘‘ The 
Cause of an Inverted Image” ; ‘‘ Spherical Aberra- 
tion” ; ‘‘ The Nature and Function of the Diaphragm 
or Stop”; ‘* Properties of Deep Meniscus Lenses— 
Compensating Single Lenses ;” ‘‘ The Optical Centre 
of Single Lenses” ; ‘* The Optical or Focal Centre of 
a Combination”; ‘* Single Achromatic Lenses” ; 
“Distortion, its Nature and Cure”; ‘‘Non- 
distorting Lenses”; ‘‘ Wide-angle Non-distorting 
Lenses”; ‘‘ Portrait Lenses ;” ‘‘ Rapid Landscape, 
Group, and Copying Lenses” ; ‘‘ Universal Landscape 
Lenses” ; ‘‘ Flare and the Flare Spot.” The book 
contains sixty-eight illustrations, and is usefully sup- 
plied with a copious index. We cordially commend 
it to all those of our readers who are interested in 
the science and art of photography. 

Air and Water, by Prof. Vivian B. Lewes (London : 
Methuen & Co.). This is a well-written, interesting 
little book, one of the yniversity extension series. 
The author very successfully brings before his readers 
the wonderful changes going on in our atmosphere, 
and the still more marvellous work which water 
performs in our nature. Prof. Lewes writes very 
largely from a hygienic point of view. Readers will 
find this little work useful at any time as a handy 
book of reference on subjects connected with air and 
water. The contents are as follows: ‘‘ The History 
of the Atmosphere” ; ‘‘ The chief Constituents of the 
Atmosphere”; ‘‘The minor Constituents of the 
Atmosphere” ; ‘‘ The local Impurities of the Atmo- 
sphere”; ‘‘The Causes which tend to keep the 
Composition of the Atmosphere constant” ; ‘‘ The 
Air of enclosed Spaces and Ventilation” ; ‘‘ Water 
and its Composition” ; ‘‘ The Determination of the 


Composition of Water”; ‘The Properties of 
Water”; ‘‘The Circulation of Water in Nature” ; 
“«The Impurities of Water”; ‘* The Purification of 
Water.” 

Tenth Annual Report of the United States’ Geological 
Survey, 1888-89 (Washington : Government Printing 
Office). We have to acknowledge two more large 
and handsomely got-up volumes, sent us by the 
American Government, in striking contrast with the 
beggarly niggardliness with which our own hides 
the lights of its geological surveyors under a bushel. 
Besides the Report of the Director, these volumes 
contain the following memoirs :—‘‘ General Account 
of the Fresh-water Morasses of the United States, 
with a Description of the Dismal Swamp District of 
Virginia and South Carolina,” by Professor N. Shaler 
(this paper is profusely and excellently illustrated) ; 
‘*The Penokee Iron-bearing Series of Michigan and 
Wisconsin,” by R. D. Irving and C. R. Van-Hise 
(numerous coloured maps and rock-sections) ; ‘‘ The 
Fauna of the Lower Cambrian or Olenellus Zone,” 
by C. D. Walcott (illustrated by fifty excellent plates, 
besides woodcuts). This is one of the handsomest 
volumes the Survey has hitherto published. One 
volume of the Zenth Annual Refort is entirely de- 
voted to the subject of ‘‘ Irrigation.” 

fifth Report of the United States’ Entomological 
Commission, on ‘‘Insects injurious to Forest and 
Shade Trees,” by Dr. A. S. Packard (Washington : 
Government Printing Office). This is another of the 
valuable volumes issued by the American Government, 
the work of one of the most distinguished entomolo- 
gists of the day. It is illustrated by 360 woodcuts 
and 40 full-page plates, many of them coloured. All 
the insects, chiefly Lepidoptera, which injuriously 
affect forest-trees are here figured and described in 
every stage of their development. The trees whose 
insect enemies are described are the oak, elm, 
hickory, black walnut, butternut, chestnut, locust- 
tree, maple, cotton-wood, lime, birch, beach, wild 
cherry, plum, thorn, crab-apple, mountain ash, ash, 
willow, hackberry, alder, sycamore, pine, spruce, fir- 
tree, larch, juniper, cedar, and cyprus. It is one of 
the most admirable volumes in every respect the 
U.S.A. Commission has ever turned out. 

wlnunual Reports of the Smithsonian Institution, 
vols. 1887-89 (Washington: Government Printing 
Office). These bulky volumes, which run to over 
seven hundred pages each, are exceedingly useful to 
a scientist, on account of their admirable progress in 
scientific work for each year, as well as their full and 
useful bibliography. In addition, each volume con- 
tains a well-written review of some particular subject, 
or translations of papers and addresses from the most 
important foreign papers of each year. No more 
entertaining and useful scientific annual appears. 

Systematic List of British Oligocene and Eocene 
Mollusca in the British Museum of Natural History, 
by B. B. Newton ; Catalogue of British Hymenoptera 


HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP, 81 


ex the Britisk Museum, second edition, part i. 
Andrenidze and Apidze (London: printed by order 
of the trustees). We are proud of these two volumes. 
The trustees of the British Museum are the only 
authorities who recognise what the Americans have 
Jong found out, that science is democratic and not 
oligarchic.- They distribute their valuable volumes 
with a free hand to every free library and scientific 
journal. Mr. Bullen’s volume will be found of 
especial value to geologists. It deals practically with 
the late Mr. Edwards’ collection of mollusca. Mr. 
Edwards was one of the members of the ‘‘ London 
Clay Club,” founded in 1838 for the purpose of 
collecting and describing and illustrating the eocene 
mollusca. His collection is now in the British 
Museum, and Mr. Bullen’s work is an account of it. 
The volume on British Hymenoptera is accompanied 
by a ‘‘ Catalogue of the British Bees in the British 
Museum,” by Frederick Smith, a new issue. Very 
few people are aware that the total number of species 
of British bees known at present is 211. It is 
hardly necessary to say that Mr. Smith’s catalogue 
is accurately and well done. 

The Medical Annual and Practitioner's Index, 1892 
{Bristol: John Wright & Co.). This volume has 
gained immensely both in bulk and value since its 
first appearance ten years ago. It now runs to 
close upon 700 pages, is abundantly illustrated both 
by woodcuts and coloured plates, and is contributed 
to by most of the chief medical writers of the day. 
Dr. Ruffer’s paper on ‘‘ Recent Advances in Bac- 
teriology” will be read by many other than medical 
men. We have looked in vain in it for a paper on 
the ‘‘ Natural History of Influenza.” The volume 
contains a list of the principal medical books of last 
year. 


NOTES ON THE INFUSORIA. 
By BERNARD THOMAS. 
II.—FLAGELLATE INFUSORIA. 


HE Infusoria proper consists of a single group 

of unicellular animals. The Diatoms, Desmids, 

Rotifers and others, either plant-forms or multicellular 

animals, have been rejected by the zoologist, and 

referred to their respective classes in the animal or 
vegetable kingdoms. 

Unicellularity is the leading character of the 
Protozoa, and while the Amceba represents the lowest 
class, the Infusoria is the highest class of that sub- 
kingdom. The latter are therefore described as a 
class of the Protozoa furnished either with one or two 
long motile filaments (flagella), with several delicate 
vibratile filaments (cilia), or with non-vibratile fila- 
ments furnished with suckers (tentacles). 

The following is adopted as a good working 
classification :— 


(1.) Flagellata.* 

(2.) Cilio-flagellata. 
(3-) Ciliata. 

(4.) Suctoria (Acinetz). 

(1.) The Flagellata have one or two long delicate 
filaments called /Zage//a; when two exist, they usually 
arise from the same end, and the region from which 
these organs spring is usually called the oral or 
anterior end. There is often no mouth, but only 
an oral region, usually placed near the base of the 
flagellum, at which the food is introduced. Very 
generally there is a nucleus, a contractile space, and 
sometimes a little red pigment body (the so-called 
eye-spot or red ocellus). 

We may roughly divide the Flagellata into two 
groups; firstly, the free-swimming isolated forms, 
and secondly, those that live in colonies. 

1. Astasia limpida (Fig. 43). The length of the 
species is given in the ‘* Micrographic Dictionary ” 
as the five-hundred-and-fiftieth of an inch. While 
swimming, fully extended, it glides along with its 
long flagellum stretched out in front of it, and this 
organ may be seen to move about as it swims. It 
may now be described roughly as shaped like a pear, 
of which the flagellum forms a somewhat long stalk. 
The anterior or oral region, from which the fligellum 


\ 


Fig. 43 asin limpida. A, extended, showing flagellum (7), 
vacuole (v), and eye-spot (R 0); B, contracted. 


springs in a slight notch, is pointed, the posterior 
part blunt. ‘The protoplasm in the former region is 
clear and contains a vacuole, while the remaining 
substance is granular, sometimes with large well- 
defined particles crowded close together. In some 
specimens there is a little reddish body at the 
posterior end, similar to the eye-spot found in certain 
of the Algz. The flagellum is very long, and seems 
to be used as a tactile organ, feeling everything that 
comes in its way. 

From the observations of Biitschli ¢ it appears that 


* Claparéde and Lachmann. 


+ “Carpenter on the Microscope,” p. 506. 188r 


82 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSI/P. 


this organism has a true mouth for the reception of 
food. Sometimes it stops swimming and rapidly 
changes its form and becomes irregular in outline 
(Fig. 43 4) while the long flagellum is seen to wave 
about in the water. The ectosarc seems eminently 
contractile, like that of the Amceba or Euglena. We 
shall see that the contractility of the ectosarc varies 
greatly in the different species of Infusoria, in 
Parameecium it is not contractile, though not very 
resistant to objects that may be pressed against it, 
while in Coleps the ectosarc is cuticular. 

The resemblance of Astasia to Euglena, presently 
to be described, is very striking indeed. Ehrenberg 
and Dujardin classed both forms together into the 
same family. 

2. Euglena viridis is by many considered a plant, 
by others an animal. Like a plant, it contains green 
chlorophyll, and it may be noted that it bears a 
general resemblance to the free-swimming Zoospores 
of certain Algze. 

Its length varies from the thousandth to the two- 
hundred-and-fiftieth of an inch. It is exceedingly 
common ‘in pond-water and may often be found in 
great multitudes in the green water found at the 
bottom of manure heaps, When fully extended, it is 
seen to be somewhat spindle-shaped; one end is clear, 
and contains a minute red angular body, the red 
ocellus or eye-spot. It is difficult to say what is the 
function of this bright particle, but it is found in the 
Zoospores, as well as in many of the free-swimming 
green Flagellata which may be grouped collectively 
as Flagellate Algee. The rest of the protoplasmic 
cell contains chlorophyll corpuscles. This green 
colouring-matter is not diffused throughout the 
general substance, but collected in little green masses 
of protoplasm (chlorophyll corpuscles) as in the 
higher plants. In the centre of the cell there is 
sometimes a large round body, resembling in appear- 
ance the pyrenoids seen in Desmids, Zygnemacez, 
and also probably in the Zoospores. Although it 
occupies the centre of the cell it seems too well- 
defined for a nucleus, and if it be so, is green 
chlorophyll-containing. 

The anterior end is slightly notched, the posterior 
end is prolonged into a tail and is clear and colourless, 
Sometimes the protoplasm is stuffed with granules 
which look like starch grains but do not stain blue, 
but a deep brown, with iodine. The motile filament, 
‘springing from the notch before mentioned, is longer 
than the body, and furnished with a small knob at 
the free extremity. 

Euglena is seen to frequently change its form in a 
manner somewhat similar to Astasia, only there may 
be noted this difference: in Astasia the anterior 
extremity participates less than the remaining proto- 
plasm in this change, while in Euglena the anterior 
and posterior ends both seem the less motile. Unlike 
many other Flagellate Alge, Euglena viridis has no 
cell-wall as have its allies Phacus and Euglena pyrum 


There are other allies of Zuglena viridis which will 
only be briefly mentioned ; among these are Lug/ena 
acus, EL. pyrum, and £. longicauda. 

3. Euglena longicauda, sometimes called Phacus 
longicauda, is of somewhat larger size than the pre- 
ceding. In the ‘‘ Micrographic Dictionary” it is 
said to be from the one-hundred-and-eightieth to the 
one-hundred-and-twentieth of an inch. Its move- 
ments are slow, and it has a peculiar habit of twisting 
its body. The ectosarc is marked obliquely with 
lines resembling the myophan strize of the Ciliata. 

4. Euglena pyrum, unlike the two other Euglena, 
is furnished with a firm cell-wall formed from the 
ectosarc. This case is sometimes found empty, and 
then delicate spiral markings can be seen. In size it 
may vary from the thousandth to the eight-hundred- 
and fiftieth ofan inch, so that it is much smaller than 
£, viridis. 

5. Phacus plewronotes is about the six-hundredth of 
an inch in length. In one aspect it is broad, roughly 
oval, but broader near the base, in another view it is 
thin and narrow, so that it may be described as plate- 
like. It rolls lazily round onits long axis as it swims, 
presenting alternately the broad and narrow aspect to 
the observer. The anterior part is cleft, and from 
this a delicate flagellum arises. The posterior end 
is prolonged into an obliquely directed tail. The 
cell-wall is marked with striz, the strongest of which 
radiate from the cleft to the tail. 

In the interior there is an eye-spot, situated near 
the origin of the flagellum. There are usually two 
vacuoles, which do not appear to be contractile, the 
smaller of which is near the red ocellus. Chlorophyll 
corpuscles more or less fill the rest of the interior. 
Sometimes there are one or two oval, colourless, 
highly-refractive bodies with concentric markings, 
and which do not stain with iodine. 

The two little organisms Doxococeus and Chezeto- 
glena are often found together in pond-water. 

6. Doxococeus ruber, something bigger than the 
two-thousandth of an inch in diameter, is round and 
rolls over and over as it swims. The thick cell- 
wall is of a reddish-brown hue and hides the proto- 
plasm with its green corpuscles. Through a hole in 
the case surrounded by a ring the flagellum protudes. 
By the pressure of the cover-glass we may easily 
crush the brittle cell-wall, and in this way expose the 
protoplasm with its corpuscles and red eye-spot. 

[The other figures will appear in next paper.— 
Ep.] 


BRITISH POISONOUS PLANTS. 


ONSIDERING the extent of our native flora, 

we are happily exempt from many poisonous 
species, and those plants that are known as injurious 
are either not very common, or are easily recognised. 
In our immediate neighbourhood, with the exception 
of some scattered plants of Solanum dulcamara, 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSTIP. 83 


whose]scarlet berries have certainly a very tempting 
appearance, there is no poisonous plant to whose 
questionable attractions children Would readily fall 
victims, for even their inveterate curiosity would 
scarcely lead them to experiment upon hemlock or 
foxglove, at any rate in their own persons. Yet, 
although the species usually regarded as British 
poisonous plants, are neither numerous nor very 
common, if we except those of the Umbellate family, 
many tribes contain species that are more or less 
poisonous, it being rather a question of the intensity 
of certain noxious properties than their entire absence, 
and families that are known to be distinctly poisonous 
in other parts of the world may well be looked upon 
here with suspicion, and treated accordingly. 


The Euphorbiacez, a very poisonous tribe in. 


warmer countries, is represented in our flora by 
species too insignificant to be injurious in any marked 
degrees. 

The Leguminosez, again, areas a whole (according 
to Lindley) to be reckoned poisonous, and strange 
though it may seem, those species that form such 
important articles of food for man and animals as 
the pulse and fodder plants are just so many excep- 
tions to the rule, yet amongst our native species 
there are none that are injurious. It would appear 
that the active principles of plants gain or lose in 
intensity according to the climate in which they 
naturally grow, and for this reason plants whose 
home is in warm and tropical’climates where light as 
well as heat is so much stronger than with us, are 
characterised by more powerful secretions, whether 
for good or evil; their flowers are more strongly- 
sceated, and their fruits are more full of flavour and 
sweetness than ours. It is said that when such 
plants are grown in our hothouses, their peculiar 
properties suffer considerable diminution, the reason 
being chiefly that the light, that all-important factor 
in the production of secretions, is so much less intense 
than in their native habitats. Many powerful poisons 
are to be found in the Figwort order (Scrophularinez), 
but with the exception of Digitalis and Scrophularia 
our native plants are probably harmless. 

Our truly poisonous plants are met with principally 
in the Orders Ranunculacez, Umbelliferze, Solanacez. 
‘Lo begin with the Ranunculacez ;—all the plants of 
this family are full of an acrid principle, but Ranun- 
culus acris is specially distinguished by name for the 
virulence of its blistering sap. Though it abounds in 
rich pastures, and is popularly supposed to impart its 
own. deep yellow to the butter produced by the cows 
grazing there, it is really left entirely alone by them, 
and with reason, for it is the most acrid plant of the 
genus; yet its injurious properties are dissipated 
when it is dried with the hay. 

Anemone nemorosa is also refused by both horses 
and cows because of its acrid juice; but goats, who 
seem able to find ‘‘ good in everything,” eat it, as do 
sheep, though it sometimes disagrees with them. 


But how much wider is the discretion exercised by 
animals than that of human beings in respect of what 
is good and wholesome for food. Cows, as we have 
seen, eschew the tempting golden buttercups; and 
animals, especially in a wild state, are able, in virtue 
of their wonderful gift of instinct, to feed unharmed 
amongst vegetation that would cause injury, or even 
death to them if they partook of it. Their instinct 
seems to lead them unquestioningly to refuse the evil 
and choose the good; while man, with his higher 
endowment of reason and intelligence, must perforce 
prove all things by experience before he can be 
satisfied as to their character. The instinct of 
domesticated animals, however, does not always 
serve them as an unerring guide, or we should not 
hear now and then of cattle and horses being 
poisoned by eating the foliage of the yew, or the 
leaves of the more deadly cowbane. 

But to return. The two Hellebores have no very 
good repute, though once accounted specifics for 
madness. Their generic name comes to us from the 
Greek, and though the species that was accounted 
poisonous by the’ancients is not included in our flora, 
the two that are must be looked upon with suspicion. 
But the poisonous plant far excellence of the Ranun- 
culus family is Aconitum napellus. It was considered 
by the ancients as the most prompt of all poisons, 
one indeed that 


“* Swift as quicksilver, courses through 
The natural gates and alleys of the body.” 
Its generic name is thought to have been derived 
from aconitos, without a struggle, while wafellus 
alludes to the form of the roots. Its popular appella- 
tion of wolfsbane indicates its virulent nature, as it 
was formerly used to poison wolves, by scattering or 
sprinkling the acrid juice over pieces of raw flesh. 
The whole plant, but especially the root, is poisonous, 
and deaths have frequently occurred through the 
latter being mistaken for horse-radish, though the 
two bear little resemblance to each other. The 
singular flower of A. xapellus, not inappropriately 
named monkshood or friar’s-cap, is known to all who 
possess a garden. We have probably been familiar 
from childhood with the appearance of the overarching 
sepals that form the ‘‘hood,” and with the long- 
stalked nectaries into which the hindmost petals are 
transformed, for what child does not love to discover 
the pair of doves yoked to the pretty chariot within ? 
The rootstock of A. zapellus is black, and shaped 
something like that of a carrot. By the way, does 
Keats’s epithet, ‘‘tight-rooted,” refer to the hard 
texture of the root, or to the tenacity with which it 
holds to the ground? 
“Go not to Lethe, neither twist 
Wolfsbane, zzgit rooted, for its poisonous wine.” 

One may well inquire what it is that makes this 
plant such a deadly, acrid poison, and how and why 
some plants form out of the elements that are the 


84 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


common food of all, the starch, sugar, gum, etc., 
that are good and wholesome, and others the alkaloids 
and bitter, acrid principles, the ‘‘ poisonous wine” of 
the poet? Alkaloids, of course, partake somewhat 
of the nature of the alkalis soda and potash that are 
found in all vegetables, and mostly occur in com- 
bination with the acids of the plant; they are said to 
be the most remarkable substances discovered by 
modern chemistry, and are the active principles of 
those plants in which they are found. But although 
they are, so to speak, the very essence of the plant, 
they are not necessary to its life and well-being, but 
are waste products, substances that the plant wants 
to get rid of, for they take no part in the formation 
of its tissues. They are, therefore, usually removed 
from the younger and most active parts, and are 
stored up as secretions in bark, fruit, seeds, etc., in 
the case of Aconitum chiefly in the root. Vegetable 
alkaloids are composed essentially of carbon, hydrogen, 
and nitrogen, the greater number also contain oxygen, 
but nitrogen is invariably present. ‘These poisonous 
principles are most energetic in their action on the 


Fig. 44.—1, fruit of Coniunz maculatum (enlarged). 2, longi- 
tudinal section of one carpel and seed ; 3, transverse section 
of same, showing the deeply-furrowed albumen. 


human system, and many are used as medicines 
which in large doses would be poisonous. They are 
named after the plants in which they are found: 
Belladonine, Atropine, Morphine, Nicotine, Theine, 
etc., and the very powerful alkaloid that is obtained 
from Aconitum napellus is called aconitia or aconitine. 
Aconite is, it scarcely need be said, one of the most 
valuable of medicines, and has been called the 
“‘homceopathic lancet” on account of its wonderful 
power of reducing fever, indeed it is to the introduc- 
tion of this drug into the modern practice of medicine, 
that we are largely indebted for the more rational 
treatment of fevers that now prevails. It is to be 
noted that alkaloids in their most concentrated form 
are crystalline and colourless—can the Raphides that 
abound in some plants of the Lily tribe be of this 
nature, for the Scillas and Colchicums' have an 
undoubtedly poisonous character? Aconitine belongs 
to the class of narcotic irntant poisons. 

Next in order, and not less pernicious in their 
effects upon man and animals are the three or four 
members of the Umbellate family that possess 


noxious qualities : these are Conzum maculatum, hem~ 
lock ; Cicuta virosa, water-hemlock or cowbane, and 
Ginanthe crocata, hemlock dropwort, or dead-~ 
tongue. C@thusa cynapium is also poisonous, and 
from having been mistaken and eaten for a most 
useful and wholesome member of the same family 
has been named ‘‘fool’s-parsley.” Conium mracu- 
Jatum is indigenous, and has long been used in 
medicine ; its nauseous smell when bruised ought to 
be enough to warn any one from it. Unlike Aconi- 
tum napellus, it is in the fruit that the poisonous. 
properties of hemlock are concentrated, and, con- 
sidering that it is an annual plant, it is only to be 
expected that they would be stored up in the albumen 
of the seed. The fruit, though resembling that of 


Ni\\ 
NN 
\\ \\ 


Fig. 46.—Napiform roots. 


cowbane and celery-apium, differs from them in its 
deeply-furrowed albumen. The active principle is 
Conia, an oily alkali with a peculiar mouse-like 
odour. Hemlock being the state poison of Athens, 
was that used to compass the death of ‘that best, 
wisest, and most just of men,” Socrates. The 
action of this narcutic irritant poison is to paralyze 
the muscles of respiration so that death is compara- 
tively painless. Plato relates in the Phedo how the 
servant who brought the poisoned cup to Socrates: 
told him to walk about until his legs felt heavy, and 
then lie down,—‘‘ the drink,” said he, ** will do the 
rest ;” and how gradually he grew cold and stiff from 
the feet upwards, and said to those around him that 
when thecold reached his heart, he should depart ; 
then, uncovering his face, he gave that famous last 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSS/P. 85 


command to Crito, ‘* We owe a cock to Aisculapius, 
discharge it and do not neglect it ;’ and in a little 
time had ceased to breathe. 

The Solanum or Potato order is made by Bentham 
to include Datura stramonium, the thorn-apple, 
Hiyoscyamus niger, henbane, Solanum dulcamara, 
bittersweet or nightshade, S. xigrum and Atropa 
Gelladonna, dwale or deadly nightshade. All the 
plants of the order possess narcotic properties, and 
some are very poisonous; one of their marked 
characteristics is that of causing dilatation of the pupil 
of the eye, hence the specific name of A¢ropa bella- 
donna, “fair lady,” as it was, and possibly still is 
used to enhance the beauty of the eye. As Datura is 
scarcely to be considered as naturalized in England, 
though sometimes met with in the southern counties, 
we will pass on to henbane, Hyoscyamus niger, with 
the purple veinings on its pale yellow corolla and 
its pretty box-like fruits set within the persistent 
calyx, and its large hairy irregularly pinnatifid leaves. 
Perhaps it is just as well that this plant confines 
itself for the most part to the neighbourhood of 
ruins, and frequents stony and waste places. Listen 
to the estimation in which it was held by the ghost in 
“* Hamlet !” 


“‘Thy uncle stole 
With juice of cursed hedenon in a vial, 
And in the porches of mine ears did pour 
The leperous distilment.” 


The properties of Hyoscyamus, like the rest of its 
family, are decidedly narcotic, and it is a valuable 
soother of pain and aid to sleep when judiciously 
administered. Solanum dulcamara is a more common 
plant. Its tufts of purple blossom with their cone of 
yellow anthers are like miniature potato flowers, and 
the bright red berries the “‘ruby grapes of Proser- 
pine” that succeed them are very attractive ; accord- 
ing to Bentley they are in rare cases poisonous, and 
Balfour declares that the berries of S. nigrum are 
edible. They are eaten in the Ukraine, and in 
Ascension Island are used in the making of plum- 
puddings for the soldiers of the garrison! It is 
certain, however, that an alkaloid called Solanine is 
present in both plants, as indeed it is, in a less 
degree, in the potato plant. Some-derive the name 
of Solanum from so/or, to assuage or comfort (the 
tobacco plant belongs to the order), but it is perhaps 
wiser not to seek too much consolation from members 
of this family. The ominous name of Atropos, that 
one of the three fatal sisters whose office it was to cut 
the thread of life has been bestowed upon its most 
dangerous member, Afrofa belladonna, dwale or 
deadly nightshade. Dwale may signify mourning 
and woe (Fr. deuil), or perhaps the sleep that: it 
induces, while nightshade suggests the temporary 
blindness caused by its juice. Each designation 
sounds a warning note, and indeed the alkaloid 
Atropine is a most powerful poison, that forms itself 
into innocent-looking, white, silky crystals, devoid of 


smell, but with a bitter taste. The cherry-like 
berries of the deadly nightshade have too often proved 
a fatal temptation to children, so that one cannot be 
sorry that it is not a common plant in the north. 
The flower is of a lurid purple, and the berry, like 
that of henbane is surrounded by the persistent 
calyx. 

The foxglove healeth all wounds, ‘‘ Aralda tutte le 
piaghe salda,” says the Italian proverb ; nevertheless 
it must be classed amongst our poisonous plants, 
though it is a valuable medicine, and was much used 
in the middle ages for staunching wounds. ‘The fox- 
glove, Digitalis purpurea, belongs to the Scrophularia 
family, and is certainly too well-known to need 
description. Its poisonous, bitter principle is called 
Digitaline, and on account of its narcotic properties 
is much used as a sedative in diseases of the heart ; 
indeed the great value of the poisonous principles 
of plants in medicine seems to afford an answer to 
the question one is at times ready to put as to why 
there should be poisonous plants at all. Their real 
danger is, of course, only to the ignorant, and 
children ought always to be warned against eating 
tempting-looking berries that they may happen to 
find. 

Lactuca virosa and L. scariola may be named as 
highly-poisonous members of the Composite family, 
whose milky juice acts like opium. 

Daphne mezereum, spurge laurel, of the order 
Thymelaceze, is yet another highly-poisonous plant to 
be added to the list. Daphnin is found in all 
parts of the plant, but especially in the root, bark, 
and bright red berries. In a paper on poisonous 
plants the Fungi must not be overlooked, as the 


_ number of poisonous species are many, and their 


dangerous properties extremely virulent. They con- 
tain much nitrogen, and-are rich in phosphates. 
Bright-coloured fungi should, as a rule, be avoided, 
also those whose juice is milky, or.that have a power- 
ful odour, or an acrid, astringent, salt or bitter taste. 
With regard to fungi, it might be well to follow the 
example of the young French lady who, when invited 
to partake of some strange dish, declined, remarking 
that she only ‘‘ate her acquaintance,” for even the 
common mushroom may be sometimes poisonous, 


and is avoided both in France and Italy. 
M*D. D. 
Hawkshead, Ambleside. 


SECRETING GLANDS IN THE FEET 
OF FLIES. 


N warm summer weather myriads of small flies, 
of the genus Hilara, may be seen in constant 
motion over streams of water; their movements are 
various and very difficult to follow. The males of 
these insects have the first, and in some species the 
second joints of the anterior tarsi much dilated. The 
first joint is the largest, and varies both in size and 


86 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


shape, the most common shape being somewhat of an 
oval. Usually in flies the first tarsal joint is well 
supplied with muscles, nerves, tracheal vessels, and 
an apodéme, this latter extending to the terminal 
joint of the tarsus, but in the same joint, in Ai/ara 
pilosa, muscles are absent, the space which they 
should occupy being filled with large glands, from 


hairs with which its under surface is covered.” 
Having tried to confirm this statement, I have failed 
to convince myself of its correctness, though the 
attempt has resulted in bringing out other facts which 
may be of some interest. The minuteness of the 
parts prevents satisfactory results being obtained by 
dissection, I have therefore made sections in various 


1000ww ut 


1 1 


Fig. 47.—Hilara filosa, longitudinal section through first joint of anterior tarsus of male; a, outer wall; 4, inner wall; 
£g, glands; d, ducts. 


which well-defined jducts extend to the integument, 
on the inner side of the foot (Fig. 47). Some of the 
ducts in their course turn upon themselves, forming 
loops before penetrating the integument, which they 
do immediately above each large hair. The orifice 
of the duct is circular, and placed so close to the 
base of the hair that the minutest drop of fluid 
exuded would necessarily come in contact with it. 
I have not had an opportunity of examining the 
secretion, but it is most probably of a viscid nature, 
and like that given off from the pulvilli of flies. 
Similar glands I have found in the anterior tarsi of 
the water-beetle, Ast/us sulcatus, which are in 
intimate connection with both the large and small 
so-called sucking discs. The use of this fluid has 
not been absolutely determined, but it is thought to 
be of service to the insect during the act of co- 
pulation. 

The idea that the pulvilli or pads on the feet of 
flies act as suckers to enable the insect to walk in an 
inverted position on ceilings, etc., has not yet been 
eradicated from the minds ef some people, though a 
sufficient proof has long been established showing 
that an adhesive fluid, exuded by the pulvilli, enables 
them to perform this feat. But where, and by what 
means, is this fluid elaborated? In Mr. Lowne’s 
Monograph on the Blow-fly, it is stated that ‘‘a close 
sac fills the whole of the last four tarsal joints, and 
is lined with pavement epithelium; it secretes a 
perfectly clear, viscid fluid, which exudes from it 
into the pad and fills its cavity, as well as the hollow 


directions through both the tarsal joints and pulvilli 
of numerous flies, and have invariably found in the 
posterior portion of the pulvilli a number of secreting 
glands, but in no instance have I met with glands in 
any of the four last tarsal joints. The number of 
glands varies much in different species of flies, the 
most numerous I have met with are in the pulvilli of 


(00TH | 1 “Je 


Fig. 48.—Longitudino-vertical section of pulvillus of 
Sarcophaga carnaria. 


Sarcophaga carnaria, a troublesome fly of medium 
size with abnormally large flat pulvilli. Fig. 48 
represents a portion of a longitudino-vertical section 
of S. carnaria. The upper wall (a) is arched, and 
formed of semi or half-tubes of pigmented chitin laid 
lengthwise close together, with the round side upper- 
most. The lower wall (2) is not parallel with the 
upper, but forms continuous curves in both longi- 
tudinal and transverse directions, causing the fine 
transparent hairs with which it is closely beset, to 


assume various angles. This irregular contour of the 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 87 


under surface of the pads adapts them to any uneven 
surface on which the fly may alight, thus, only a 
portion of the sticky hairs would be brought into 
contact with the support at one and the same time. 
The structure of the upper wall is well suited to give 
both strength and elasticity to the pads. Internally, 
the posterior half of the pulvillus is nearly filled with 
a homogenous substance that stains with carmine and 
is partially separated into distinct portions by clear 
spaces (¢ c). In the midst of these partially isolated 
masses appear one or more glands, the nuclei of 
which take a deep stain (g). The ducts are very 
transparent, and not easily defined, except where 
they happen to cross a clear space. The anterior 
half of the pulvillus is broader and shallower than 
the posterior half, and contains no visible substance ; 
if it has contained fluid, the alcohol used in pre- 
paration has possibly withdrawn it, or otherwise it 
does not take carmine stain. In similar sections 
from the pulvillus of the blow-fly, the fluid has 
become consolidated, fills about two-thirds of the 
depth of the pad, and takes a faint stain with 
carmine. 

The hairs appended to the lower wall of the pul- 
villus are devoid of pigment, and so transparent that I 
have been unable to detect any Jumen, though I have 
tried to coax air into them, neither have transverse 
sections revealed any opening. 

From the examination of the feet of many flies 
with similar results, I am led to the conclusion that 
the viscid fluid used by the fly for its support, either 
in an inverted or vertical position, is elaborated in 
the pulvyilli, and in them alone. 

y WM. JENKINSON. 


SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


WE deeply regret to announce the death of Mr. 
Henry Walter Bates, F.R.S., who died recently 
from influenza and its complications, at the age of 
sixty-six. He was distinguished as a traveller and 
naturalist, and very well known for his twenty-seven 
years’ secretaryship of the Royal Geographical Society. 
As a youth he was an enthusiastic botanist and ento- 
mologist, and the country around Leicester—his 
birthplace—was well known to him through his 
frequent expeditions. At the age of twenty-three he 
went off to the Amazon, and during eleven years 
continued his study and collections among the natural 
history riches of that region. In 1863 he published 
“* The Naturalist in the River Amazon,” and for the 
Linnzan Society’s: ** Transactions” he wrote ‘‘Con- 
tributions to an Insect Fauna of the Amazon’s 
Valley.” 


ANOTHER leading scientist has joined the majority 
in Professor Thomas Sterry Hunt, who died in New 
York on February 12th, after an attack of influenza, 


He was born in 1826, and began his scientific career, 
at the age of twenty, in the laboratory at Yale. As 
chemist and mineralogist to the Geological Survey of 
Canada he rendered valuable service. In 1872 he 
was appointed to a chair in the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology; in 1859 he was elected F.R.S., and 
in 1881 received the LL.D. of Cambridge. His best 
known writings are ‘‘Chemical and Geological 
Essays,” ‘‘ Mineral Physiology and Physiography,” 
and ‘* Systematic Mineralogy.” 


AT a meeting of the Edinburgh Royal Society, 
held recently, Dr. Ralph Copeland, Astronomer 
Royal for Scotland, read a communication on the 
new star in the constellation ‘‘ Auriga.” Dr. Cope- 
land said a feature of the new star was its rapid rise 
to its maximum of brightness and its equally sudden 
decline. Of two temporary stars discovered in recent 
years one had broken out in ‘‘ Nebulz,” and was 
comparatively little observed, but the second, which 
appeared in 1885 in Andromeda, was thoroughly 
examined. There was very little of any distinctive 
features in it, and they might argue that these new 
stars were spectra not unlike those represented in 
‘* Nebula Andromeda.” No full data had yet been 
got as to the suddenness of the appearance of the 
present new star. It was generally considered that 
the telegram which had been received from America 
on the subject did not mean that the star had 
actually passed through a maximum of brightness 
on 20th December last, but that on that date it was 
brighter than on the roth or Ist of the month. |The 
writer of the anonymous post-card on the subject 
was Dr. Thomas D. Anderson, Edinburgh, who was 
almost certain he had seen the star at 2 oclock a.m. 
on 24th January last. At that date it did not occur 
to him that it was a new star, but on February Ist it 
flashed on him, and the discovery was made, and he 
hoped Dr. Anderson’s success would be the means of 
making amateurs persevere in their endeavours. On 
the Ist inst. a spectroscope had revealed bright lines 
on the star. The tackle of the Observatory here had 
been taken to Dunecht, and observations made there, 
and he had also made observations. On the 9th inst. 
he obtained the positions of the lines. They were 
656°2; 595°03; 562°03 533°6; 518°0; 502°3; and 
500°5. 500°5 was the place where the great Nebulee 
lay. 502°3 was one of the best measurements he 
made. Other positions were 494°0, 486°1, 449°6, 
and 447°6. ‘Three of these lines pointed to nebulous 
matter burning in the star, but as a matter of fact 
that was not the case. He had that morning received 
satisfactory results’ from Dunecht. Observations had 
been made there, and 308 measures of 71 lines in the 
spectrum had been secured, and there was.no doubt 
of the positions of the lines. They saw at once from 
his measurements that hydrogen was represented by 
three lines, and they knew that nebulz lines were 
wanting. The lines at 494 and 502 were not due to 


88 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 


nebulae. 518 was perhaps due to magnesium oxide. 
It was thought the new star was closely allied to 
others, and was probably colder and older than them, 
From February Ist a set of estimates of its brightness 
on various dates up to the 11th had been made. 
There was a very marked increase in its -brightness, 
and it fell down to the fifth magnitude on the 
Tuesday. He was fairly confident of its maximum of 
brightness on the Sunday. The observations of bright- 
ness tended to show a relationship more to a variable 
star than to a ‘* Nova” burning itself out within a 
few weeks of its appearance. The most remarkable 
feature about it was the 502 line being so near the 
great nebula line. 
of variable stars. 


That had not been seen in spectra 


AT the last meeting of the Society of Marine 
Engineers, a paper was read on ‘‘ Initial Condensa- 
tion,” after which the following propositions were put 
before the meeting: 1. That range of temperature 
does not cause, but permits condensation ; 2. That 
the increased initial condensation found with higher 
rates of expansion is due to increased work, and not 
to increased range of temperature ; 3. That initial 
condensation may occur not only when steam is used 
at full pressure throughout the stroke, but even when 
no useful work is performed; 4, That the lessened 
initial condensation generally found with stage 
expansion engines is largely due to reduced range 
of temperature, but notwithstanding reduced range of 
temperature a stage expansion engine may condense 
as much steam as a single stage engine; 5. That 
conducting-cylinders do not of themselves cause 
initial condensation, the actual cause being the dis- 
appearance of heat and consequent liquefaction of 
steam in the performance of work ; 6. That discord- 
ant results are almost certain to arise when the 
condensive surfaces are active up to their full capacity ; 
7. That instead of it being necessary to consider why 
initial condensation exists, it is often necessary to 
enquire why it is not greater. 


WE have received from Professor Prestwich his 
admirable and’suggestive paper illustrated with maps 
and specimens ‘‘ On the Primitive Characters of the 
Flint Implements of the Chalk Plateau of Kent, with 
Reference to the Question of their Glacial or Pre- 
Glacial Age,” with notes by Messrs. B. Harrison and 
De Barri Crawshay. 


WE are pleased to receive the fourth report of the 
“Microscopical Society of Calcutta,” which, owing 
to the possession of an active president, and an 
equally active secretary, J. Wood Mason Esq., and 
W. J. Simmons, now commands attention. 


THE increasing interest in natural history is best 
shown by the new periodicals required to deal with 
its manifold questions. We have to announce and 
welcome the advent of another competitor for popular 


favour in ‘‘ Natural Science,” price 1s. Anadmirably 
printed and well got-up magazine, in which we are 
glad to see the names of several esteemed contributors 
of SciENCE-GossIP appearing. 


WE have received a pamphlet, beautifully printed 
and tastefully got up, entitled, ‘‘A Review of the 
work of the Leeuwenhoek Microscopical Club, Man- 
chester, 1867-91.” The title-page is illustrated with 
a beautiful photograph of Leeuwenhoek, from the 
engraved portrait by Anker Smith, in the 1800 
edition of Leeuwenhoek’s works, of Hoole, London. 


THE ‘International Journal of Microscopy and 
Natural History ” for January is unusually interesting. 
It is crowded with good matter, and has some ex- 
cellent illustrations. 


OnE of the most important natural history associa- 
tions in this country is the ‘‘ Transactions of the 
Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union.” Nothing more tho- 
rough has ever been turned out by any society. The 
parts deal with the botany, geology, climate, physical 
geography, entomology, &c., of the premier county, 
in addition to which there is a separate part by Mr. 
Robert Kidston on the Yorkshire carboniferous flora. 
These parts are published by Taylor Brothers, Leeds. 


WE beg to call attention to the following second- 
hand scientific book catalogues, as very likely to 
prove useful to our readers:—Messrs. Wesley’s 
No. 115 Catalogue of Works relating to Meteorology, 
Physical Geography, and Aeronautics; Messrs. Du- 
lau’s Catalogue of Works on Geology, 108 pages ; 
and Mr. W. P. Collin’s Monthly Catalogue of Books 
on Science and Natural History. 


THE last number of the ‘‘ Journal of the New 
Jersey Natural History Society” contains a useful 
paper on the ‘‘ Molluses of the Atlantic Coast of the 
United States South to Cape Hatteras,” by Austin 
C. Aggar. 


Baron FELDER, formerly Burgomaster of Vienna, 
has sold his great collection of butterflies to Lord 
Rothschild for 50007. The collection is said to be 
destined for the British Museum. Baron Felder, 
who is seventy-eight years old, has parted with it for 
fear that otherwise after his death it would be broken 
up. The price is considered very low. 


Mr. Lupwic Monp, the brilliant Swiss Chemist, 
has not only discovered how to dispose of ordinary 
coal smoke, but how to turn it into a highly profitable 
commodity. The statement is that by burning 125 
tons of coal, at a cost of 31/., and making full use of 
it for steam raising purposes, he can at the same time 
secure, by a simple process he has invented, four tons 
of sulphate of ammonia from the smoke produced by 
the coal. The money value of this will be 487. 


An American astronomer, Professor Chandler, of 
Harvard, has started the theory that the variable star 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSI/P. 89 


Algol—alpha Persei—owes its variableness to the 
fact that, together with a dark satellite, it revolves 
round a third and central body, which is also dark, 
in one hundred and thirty years. The orbit of the 
shining star Mr. Chandler calculates to be two 
thousand five hundred times as large as that of the 
satellite. 


AT the suggestion of Dr. Cesare Lombroso, the 
present distinguished occupant of the chair of Forensic 
Medicine and Psychiatry in the University of Turin, 
a ** Psychiatrico-Criminological Museum” is about 
to be formed in that seat of Jearning. It is proposed, 
says the ‘‘ British Medical Journal,” to form a col- 
lection illustrating as far as possible the mental and 
physical characteristics of lunatics and criminals, and 
supplying the necessary materials for the scientific 
study of the various types of mental or moral abnor- 
mality. Among the objects collected will be skuils, 
skeletons, and brains of criminals, preparations of 
diseased and malformed organs, instruments for the 
study of insanity and remedies used in its treatment, 
plans of prisons and lunatic asylums, autographs of 
lunatics and criminals, materials for the geographical 
distribution and statistics of crime, &c. 


WE are pleased to welcome the ‘‘ First Report of 
the Southport Society of Natural Science.” The 
president’s address is an excellent one, and the report 
contains papers on the “‘ Geology of the neighbour- 
hood,” by E. Dickson ; ‘‘ A List of the Mollusca of 
the District, by G. W. Chaster; ‘‘A Paper on the 
Botany,” by Henry Ball; and ‘‘A Report on the 
Local Foraminifera” (illustrated), by G. W. Chaster. 


AT the anniversary of the Royal Microscopical 
Society, the president’s address was postponed until 
the next meeting. The president, Dr. Braithwaite, 
is one of the most distinguished of living muscolo- 
gists, and he very appropriately selected as the 
subject of his address the impregnation and modes of 
reproduction in ferns and mosses. Diagrams in 
illustration were exhibited and explained, and speci- 
mens were also shown under microscopes in the 
room. 


ZOOLOGY. 


THE APPROACHING EXTINCTION OF THE Lap- 
winG.—The remarks under the above heading in the 
March number of Sctence-Gossip recalled to me 
Mr. J. Cordeaux’s statement before the Select 
Committee on Wild Birds’ Protection, and which I 
have since looked up, and it runs as follows :— 
“© (juestioned by Sir D. Wedderburn—You mentioned 
the Japwing just now among the birds which have 
increased in your part of the world (Lincolnshire) ?— 
Ves ; it has increased greatly. Lattribute the increase 
of the lapwing to the more general cultivation of 


turnips and green crops; they feed on the Aygvotis 
segetum and other grubs that are found in turnip- 
fields. Is it not the case with the lapwing that while 
the bird itself is unmolested, its eggs are taken in very 
large numbers ?—Yes; the lapwing’s eggs are taken 
very largely ; but much larger numbers are destroyed 
by the various operations of agriculture, harrowing, 
rolling and so on ; yet in spite of all this the lapwing 
has very greatly increased. Does not that bear out 
the theory that improved conditions of existence are 
far more important than any protection for increasing 
the numbers of birds—Yes, I think so to a consider- 
able extent.”’ Lord Lilford, on the other hand, in his 
evidence before the same committee says his own 
experience is that the peewit is less common in 
Northamptonshire than it used to be. He further 
states that he thinks there is a large importation 
of plovers’ eggs into this country from Holland. 
Probably quite as many are imported as are taken in 
this country. In those parts of England where this 
bird is on the increase, it is no doubt due, as Mr. 
Cordeaux states, to the more general cultivation o 
suitable crops ; and where it is on the decrease, it is 
owing to the absence of these conditions and the 
improved drainage of the land. As regards the eggs 
of the sparrow-hawk, moor-hen and coot being often 
sold for plovers’ eggs, why should not those of the 
common fowl be also included? They are more 
easily obtained and have quite as much claim to 
resemblance as those above named! Only last year 
I saw the eggs of the black-headed gull, which had 
been picked out of a consignment of plovers’ eggs 
and laid aside in a poulterer’s shop in London. 
These, however, though more closely resembling the 
eggs of the plover, are easily detected from their 
greater size, shape and colouring—A. P. LZ. 


THE BLACK SCOTER (Oidemia nigra) BREEDING 
IN BriTain.—In reply to Mr. Southwell’s request 
(SciENCE-Gosstp No. 325, p. 21) for further 
particulars respecting this interesting ornithological 
fact, at my request Mr. Fowler has been good 
enough to furnish me with the following additional 
details. ‘‘ At last (Feb. 24th) I find time to answer 
your enquiries ve Black Scoter nesting on the 
Earnley Marshes. The brood this year was seven, 
and I purposely shot the old drake for specimen for 
my cases. I am sorry now that I did not get any of 
the young. I could easily haye done so. When I 
saw the young birds first they could just fly, but only 
a short way. I saw the two old birds off and on all 
the summer, without thinking of the probability of 
their nesting, or caring much about it. In August 
I flushed the family, and killed the old male. If 
they had been mallards I could have killed most of 
them with two barrels of my 12-bore. I have made 
enquiries since first writing to you, and find that the 
Black Scoter nests here every year ; and if this be so, 
I will try and find the nest this coming season, when 


‘ 


go HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


you will hear from -me again.” Mr. Southwell’s 
communication with regard to the broods of young 
birds seen on the Hickling Broads is of much 
interest, and, as he says, this evidence lends support 
to Mr. Fowler’s discovery.—Foseph Anderson, Fun., 
Chichester. 


MICROSCOPY. 


SCUM AT THE PiLor STATION, SAUGOR.—On the 
8th January last, a bucket of sea-water was sent to 
me, in order that I might examine ‘‘some curious 
things contained in it.” Saugor is at the mouth of 
the Hooghly, the river on which this city stands ; 
and it is about eighty miles from here. The ‘‘ curious 
things” were hollow, spherical organisms, of a 


greenish and greenish-yellow colour, eminently 
ee 
% GC @ Se 
) 


aoe Fig. 50 
_——— n ~) 
0 Say 
1900 
Fig. 49. 


Chlorophyll bodies from the membrane of the ‘‘scum” globules. 
A, Seibert’s ,'; in. w. i. ; B, Student’s 3. 


suggestive of grapes in general appearance. They 
were filled with sea-water. Lifted out of the water, 
they collapsed like bubbles, leaving only a thin, 
greenish film on the hand, or glass. I placed one in 
a beaker with sea-water, and gently let fresh water 
into the vessel from a tap, until the whole of the salt 
water was displaced. This caused the sphere to 
grow flaccid ; but in the course of about thirty-six 
hours it resumed its normal form, though it was now 
paler in colour, and eventually became a dirty white. 
The globules varied from about three-quarters of an 
inch to half that size in diameter. From information 
obtained by me from persons who observed the scum, 
I gather that the stuff floated from six to nine inches 
below the surface, that it extended over several miles 
of surface, and was of some depth ; it was so dense 
in parts that the water seemed nearly black ; when 
first gathered it had a fine bright, but rather light- 
brownish or yellowish colour ; the shades of colour 
in the scum as it floated in the water varied; the 
darker-coloured specimens were at the surface, sinking 
when they got lighter-coloured ; that the natives and 
fishermen in the creeks of the adjacent (Soonderbun) 
country, say the scum breeds in the grass and jungle 
which grow in the water on the banks of the creeks, 
and thence floats away with the tide, though the 
person who told me this added that he doubted if it 


was so, because the gelatinous-looking scum was far 
more abundant in the open water of the sea and river 
between the Sandheads (Saugor) and Diamond Har- 
bour than it was anywhere in or near the creeks ; 
and that it has been noticed in small patches in 
previous seasons, but never in such enormous quanti- 
ties as it was this year. The scum has always been 
regarded as a fish-spawn ; it was supposed to be that 
of the cat-fish. The batch sent to me, including the 
specimen removed as aboye-described to fresh water, 
remained intact for about three weeks; on the 
morning of the 28th January all the glassy spheres 
had collapsed, and only a thin, dirty-green scum lay 
at the bottom of the vessels in which I had placed 
the stuff. Examined under the microscope, I found 
numerous chlorophyll bodies embedded in a delicate, 
hyaline, gelatinous membrane (matrix), which forms 
the sphere, and which is all that remains when the 
globules are removed from the water, and collapse. 
An idea of the general appearance of these chlorophyll 
bodies may be obtained by reference to Pl. 5, fig. 5 
(Apiocystis Brauniana) in the ‘‘Micrographic Dic- 
tionary.” These bodies readily take a deep stain if 
roseine is used, while the membrane is but slightly 
tinted; I cannot say that anything is gained by 
staining them. They are about jg5 of an inch in 
length, and y;},5 in breadth. It seems to me that the 
organism is allied to the Nostocs, and that it is 
probably only an intermediate life-stage in the de- 
velopment of some other form. The question remains 
—what is it? Several to whom the matter has been 
referred here have been unable to throw any light on 
the subject, though they are agreed as to the vegeta- 
ble character of the gelatinous-looking spheres. Will 
any of your numerous and widely-scattered readers 
tell us something about the scum over which we have 
been puzzling our heads?—W. F Simmons, Calcutta. 


THE RoyaL MicroscopicaL SocreTy.—The last 
Journal of the above society contains the following 
papers, in addition to the summary of current re- 
searches relating to zoology and botany :—‘‘ Further 
Notes on the Monochromatic Illuminating Appa- 
ratus,” by E. M. Nelson; and ‘‘ Freshwater Algz 
and Schizophyceze of South-West Surrey,” by A. W. 
Bennett. 


THE QUEKETT CLUB.—The last number of the 
‘*Quekett Journal” contains the following papers :— 
“On Notops Minor,” by C. Rousselet ; ‘On a New 
Cysticercus and a New Tape-Worm,” by F. B. 
Rossiter ; ‘On Two New Rotifers,” and ‘‘On the 
Sense of Vision in Rotifers,” by C. Rousselet; ‘‘On 
Two Undescribed Male Rotifers,” by G. Western ; 
‘‘Further Note on the Sense of Vision in Rotifers,” 
by C. Rousselet; ‘‘On Two Rotifers from Epping 
Forest,” by F. A. Parsons; ‘On the Diffraction 
Theory of Microscopic Vision,” by E, M. Nelson ; 
“©On Mounting Media of High Refractive Indices,” 
by J. E. Ingpen. 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 


gi 


BOTANY. 


BOTANICAL MONSTROSITIES, 1891. —Primula vil- 
garis—coloured variety, five blossoms, which consisted 
of one whorl of green leaves, with aborted organs in 
the interior after the fashion of an ovary; they 
evidently came from more than one peduncle, as they 
occurred on both sides of the plant. One of the 
coloured flowers on the same plant had but four 
corolla divisions. Another specimen of the yellow 
type had a leaf-like calyx enclosing a very diminutive 
corolla ; while some gigantic blossoms were also seen, 
whose calyx and corolla had six and eight divisions, 
one possessing two pistils. Azemone nemorosa—with 
pink flowers. Flantago lanceolata—a lot of spikes 
having many heads, some with small leaves inter- 
mixed between the sessile heads; one also had a 
double fasciated stem. Scil/a nutans—white speci- 
mens. Ajuga reptans—white specimens. Chrysan- 
themum leucanthemum—several having yellow disc 
flowers only, with no rays. Garden geranium—in 
which the peduncle was suppressed, leaving a cluster 
of flowers in the axil of a leaf. T7ifolium pratense— 
two-headed. Scadiosa arvensis—several flowers with 
leaf-like involucre. otentilla reptans—with four 
instead of five petals. Sisymbrium officinale—stem 
aborted, so that instead of the inflorescence being 
elongated with blossoms extending all the way up, 
they were all produced in a bunch. Plantago major— 
a number of spikes having several leaves at base of 
each. artsia odontites—fasciated stems after the 
fashion of acockscomb. Centaurea nigra—fasciated 
two-headed stem. Achillea ptarmica—being a mass 
of flocky material somewhat like a miniature cauli- 
flower, possibly caused by insects; about a dozen 
specimens. The above list comprises the abnormal 
forms found in the above season, which were new to 
me; others were also seen for the third or fourth 
time, which have been recorded in earlier years.— 
Edwin E. Turner, Cogeleshall, Essex. 


DISEASES OF THE PRIMROSE FAMILY.—Two years 
ago I examined the flowers of the primrose (Primu/a 
vulgaris) and cowslip (Primula veris), and found in 
my investigations that the former is more subject to 
disease than the latter. Last year I was not able to, 
but hope to resume my examinations this year; and 
I should like the readers of ScrtENCE-GossiP to aid 
me in doing so, and to help me to answer the 
questions at the end of this letter. The following 
are some of my notes on the subject that I took :— 
(i.) that out of thirty-two (taking this as an average) 
specimens of Primula vulgaris, two-thirds of them were 
diseased. (ii.) As regards same number of Primula 
veris, only one-third of them were diseased. (iii.) That 
the thrum-eyed Primula vulgaris was more liable to 
disease than the pin-eyed. (iv,) That in both cases, if 
one flower on a plant was diseased, all were. (v.) The 


| 


disease was in the tube of the corolla and seemed 
to be of a fungous nature, but I did not take particular 
note of it at the time. My specimens were all, with 
one exception, found in hedges, copses, and woods of 
Shropshire and Cheshire ; the exception was got in a 
garden, but in all cases I found the same result. All 
specimens seemed from external appearances more or 
less perfect and healthy, in size varying from } to 1} 
inches in diameter. I shall be glad and beg your 
readers to furnish me with any notes on this during 
the spring and summer, and I give my address 
below. The questions are:—I. Are Primula 
wulgaris flowers more liable to disease than those of 
Primula veris, and in what ratio? II. Is the Thrum- 
eyed Primula vulgaris more so than the Pin-eyed ?— 
5 H. Barbour, 1 Hamilton Villas, Ballyholme, 
Bangor, Co. Down, Ireland. 


GEOLOGY. 


NoTes ON TREES.—We are very glad to steal 
the following notes from a short paper, communicated 
by W. Whitaker, B.A., F.R.S., to the Hampshire 
Literary and Philosophical Society :—The labour of 
a field-geologist leads him much into out-of-the-way 
places that are rarely seen by others than those who 
are employed in them ; so that he has chances of seeing 
notable things outside his own special line of work. 
Moreover, in the detailed mapping of the various 
formations, he has often to depend on indirect 
evidence, the direct evidence of sections being absent. 
Besides the character of the soil, the form of the 
ground and the outbreak of springs, he may note 
the general character of the vegetation, though 
perhaps having but the smallest amount of botanical 
knowledge. These notes, therefore, must be taken 
as those of a geologist, not of a botanist, and con- 
sequently as in great part from a geologic point of 
view, referring somewhat to the connection between 
soil and growth. They are written in the hope that 
they may be of interest to that large class, lovers 
of trees, and that they may lead to other records of a 
like kind. (1). Beeches on London Clay.—On the 
higher parts of the escarpment of the London clay 
northward of Southampton and in some other places, 
there are very fine beeches, often in groups, as may 
be well seen in the eastern and western parts of 
Ampfield Wood, where one spot indeed is named 
The Beeches. These sites are at or near the 
junction of the London clay with the overlying 
Bagshot sand, or rather one should say about the 
passage of those beds into one another, and in other 
cases the beeches are also on the uppermost loamy 
part of the former formation. Now beeches, it is 
well known, grow best on a calcareous soil, oaks 
and elms being more proper to clays and loams ; and 
so, seeing so many fine beeches at this particular 
geologic horizon, one is led to think that the beds on 


92 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


which they grow must be more calcareous than 
the rest of the London clay: the beeches having, 
as it were, made a rough analysis of the soil and 
found therein a proper amount of calcic carbonate, 
have elected to settle. We know that there is always 
a certain amount of calcic carbonate in the London 
clay, though not enough to tempt beeches to grow, 
but it is usually collected together for the most part 
into nodular masses of earthy limestone, known as 
septaria. Perhaps in the beds in question this 
segregation of calcic carbonate has not taken place, 
the material being more diffused through the loam, 
and so being more available for beech-use. A little 
south of Ampfield Wood, by the high road through 
South Holmes Copse, some two miles as the crow 
flies (but rather more as the Field Club goes) from 
Romsey Station, is another group of fine beeches, 
in this case near the base of the clayey Bracklesham 
Beds. (2.) Varying Fall of Leaf in Oaks.—Down 
the south-easterly slope on the road just eastward 
of Woodley (E. of Romsey) are some rather fine 
oaks. Having occasion to pass by these a few times 
in the autumn of 1889, I was struck by the difference 
in the relative state of some of them. Three of the 
finest trees were selected for observation, all being of 
much the same size. One of these is close to the top 
of the slope and on the northern side of the road ; the 
second is just eastward and slightly lower; whilst 
the third is to the S.E., on the other side of the road, 
and still lower. On October 31st, the first had 
its foliage green, in general effect at all events; the 
leaves of the second had turned yellow; the third 
was bare of leaves. On November 11th, the leaves 
of the first were turning yellow. This difference 
in the state of the foliage was very striking, and 
there seemed to be nothing in the trees themselves 
to account for it ; all were strong and healthy. All 
too are on the same geologic formation, clayey 
Bracklesham Beds ; but it occurred to me that the 
first being a little below the edge of the gravel that 
caps the hill, may perhaps be more plentifully 
watered, and so may have the power of holding 
its leaves longer. This, however, does not seem to 
account for the difference between the second and 
third, and one is led to think that the difference of 
level, though not great, is the cause (or the chief 
cause) of the difference in the state of the trees; 
those in the lower, more sheltered sites being more 
affected by the frost or chill of night, which acts 
more strongly where the leaves are more covered 
with moisture than when they are cleared by evapora- 
tion in a more open spot. It is to be hoped that 
some local observer will watch these trees and see 
if; the above-noted appearance is recurrent. (3.) 
Double Trees.—Something having been said of beech 
and of oak separately, attention is now drawn to a 


strange combination of the two, of which beech-oaks, - 


however, I have seen only two examples. The first 
seen is on the high ground in the eastern part of 


Cranbury Park, at the edge of the wood that clothes 
the escarpment of the London clay above Otter- 
bourne, and near the junction of that formation with 
the Bagshot Pebble Beds, The other is but a little 
way in Ampfield Wood, by the side of the road to 
Hursley Park, a little northward of Knap Hill; it is 
on Bagshot sand, near the outcrop of the London 
clay, and is a remarkably fine tree, which ought to 
be seen by the Hampshire Field Club and photo- 
graphed. The peculiarity of these trees is that they 
consist of a beech and of an oak, the stems of which 
grow up together closely, so as practically to form 
one tree. In both cases beech and oak are equally fine, 
and in the second each would separately form a notable 
tree. The effect in each case is strange (when the 
trees are in leaf), and at first perhaps unexpected. 
One might think that the branches of oak and of 
beech would intermix, but they do not in the least ; 
or that beech would grow on one side and oak 
on the other, but neither is this the case. Then 
perhaps the national weakness of an Englishman for 
the oak would lead him to expect that tree to conquer 
and to suppress the beech. Not so has it happened, 
however: the oak is nowhere in the contest, the 
beech takes the whole space at first, so that an 
observer underneath the tree and standing on the 
side of the beech-stem, would have no ‘suspicion of 
the existence of the oak, not a leaf, not a branch of 
which is to be seen; but let him walk away from 
the tree and he will see that, when the beech has 
grown upward and outward to its full content, 
then the oak branches out above and has the top 
part to itself, so that no one seeing the top alone 
would expect to find a _beech-tree underneath. 
Probably the fact is that the beech is the strongest 
of trees, as surely it is the most beautiful. 


THE CORRECT IDENTIFICATION OF DEEP SEA 
SouNDINGs.—In the ordinary way it would appear 


“that a rough description of the nature of a bottom 


from the specimen brought up in the sounding- 
tube or snapper, would be an easy matter. But 
this I have found to be extremely erroneous in the 
hands of the majority of observers. To take for 
instance such simple cases as one constantly sees 
marked on the charts where the bottom is recorded 
as cri. (coral); the uninitiated would at once 
associate this sounding with the ccelenterate, and 
would, in the majority of cases, be wrong ; for the 
cri. noted is more frequently either fragments of 
calcareous seaweeds or of polyzoa, which in places 


cover the bottom of the sea over large areas and to 


great depths. Another case is that caused by con- 
stantly mistaking the larger foraminiferze for sand- 
grains, the rubbing of a small piece of the sounding 
between the fingers making it appear sandy, though 
an ordinary pocket lens would at once show the 
difference. Cases such as the above might be 
multiplied considerably. It is almost unnecessary 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 93 


to point out what a loss it is to oceanography that 
such descriptions should be erroneously made, and in 
the majority of cases there would be no difficulty in 
giving amore correct description. It may be said 
that the soundings can always be overhauled after- 
wards and the results given to the world ; but this is 
only done in isolated cases, and the results are not 
very accessible. Again the descriptions recorded in 
the charts are generally taken from those noted when 


the sounding is taken, when observations as to colour, 
scent, and stratification should also be noted. I 
would like to suggest that soundings taken with the 
* ordinary tube sounders, should be preserved in glass 
The soundings 


tubes closed at both ends by corks. 


from the ossiferous deposits of the true caves) are held 
to be representatives of the ‘‘ rubble-drift,” which 
is of a variable character. The author discusses the 
views of previous writers on the origin of the accumu- 
lations, which he classes together as ‘‘ rubble-drift,” 
and points out objections to the various views. He 
considers that they were formed on upheaval after a 
period of submergence which took place. slowly and 
tolerably uniformly ; and that the absence of marine 
remains and sedimentation shows the submergence to 
have been short. This submergence cannot have 
been less than rooo feet below present sea-level, 
and was shortly brought to’a termination by a series 
of intermittent uplifts, of which the ‘‘head”’ affords a 


Fig. 51.—A, B, C, D, glass tube (can easily be cut to any length with a file); K K, corks closing ends; s, s/, s’’, s’’, sounding 
rom tube. 3 


being forced directly from the sounding-tubes into 
the glass tubes ; their preservation is then much more 
perfect than in the ordinary way. A label affixed to 
the tube. gives locality of sounding, notes as to 
colour, scent, stratification, and surface of sounding, 
etc. The figure illustrates this.—D. Wilson Barker, 
66 Gloucester Crescent, N.W. 


Tue following papers were read at a recent 
meeting of the Geological Society. ‘* The Raised 
Beaches, and ‘ Head,’ or Rubble-Drift, of the South 
of England: their Relation to the Valley-Drifts and 
to the Glacial Period; and on a late Post-Glacial 
Submergence.—Part II.” by Joseph Prestwich, 
D.C.L., F.R.S., F.G.S. The ossiferous deposits 
of the Caves of Gower are shown to be contem- 
poraneous with the raised sand-dunes between the 
beaches and the ‘‘head,” and reasons are given for 
supposing that the elevation of land which preceded 
their formation need not necessarily have been greater 
than 120 feet. The mammalian fauna of these caves 
is the last fauna of the glacial or post-glacial period, 
and the head, or “‘rubble-drift,” marks the closing 
chapter of glacial times. Evidence is given for con- 
sidering that the ‘‘ rubble-drift’”” has a wide inland 
range, and that to it are to be referred the “‘head”’ 
of Dela Beche, the subaerial detritus of Godwin-Austen, 
the angular flint drift of Murchison, and in part the 
trail” of Fisher and the “‘warp” of Trimmer, 
as well as other deposits described by the author. 
The accumulation is widespread over the South of 
England, and occurs in the Thames Valley, on the 
Cotteswold Hills, and on the flanks of the Malverns. 
The stream-tin detritus of Cornwall, and the ossiferous 
breccia filling fissures (which must be distinguished 


measure, sufficiently rapid to produce currents radiat- 
ing from the higher parts of the country, causing the 
spread of the surface-detritus from various : local 
centres of higher ground. The remains of the land 
animals killed during the submergence were swept 
with this débris into the hollows and fissures on the 
surface, and finally over the old cliffs to the sea and 
valley levels. Simultaneously with this elevation 
occurred a marked change of climate, and the tem- 
perature approached that of the present day. The 
formation of the ‘head’ was followed in immediate 
succession by the accumulation of recent alluvial 
deposits ; so that the glacial times came, geologically 
speaking, to within a measurable distance of our own 
times, the transition being short and almost abrupt 
In this paper only the area in which the evidence is 
most complete is described. The author has, how- 
ever, corroborative evidence of submergence on the 
other side of the Channel. ‘‘The Pleistocene De- 
posits of the Sussex Coast, and their Equivalents in 
other Districts.” By Clement Reid, Esq., F.L.S., 
F.G.S. The gales of last autumn and early winter 
exposed sections such as had not before been visible 
in the Selsey Peninsula. Numerous large erratic 
blocks were discovered, sunk in pits in the Brackle- 
sham Beds. These erratics included characteristic 
rocks from the Isle of Wight. The gravel with erratics 
is older, not newer, as is commonly stated, than 
the Selsey “‘mud-deposit” with southern mollusca. 
Numerous re-deposited erratics are found in the mud- 
deposit, which is divisible into two stages, a lower, 
purely marine, and an upper, or Scrobicularia mud, 
with acorns and estuarine shells. At West Wittering 
a fluviatile deposit, with erratics at its base and stony 
loam above, is apparently closely allied to the mud- 


94 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


deposit of Selsey; it yields numerous plants, Jand 
and freshwater mollusca, and mammalian bones, of 
which lists are given. ‘The strata between the brick- 
earth (=Coombe Rock) and the gravel with large 
erratics yield southern plants and animals, and seem 
to have been laid down during a mild or interglacial 
episode. A similar succession is found in the Thames 
Valley, and in various parts of our eastern counties. 


THE GEOLOGISTS’ AsSOCIATION.—We have to 
acknowledge the February issue of the ‘‘ Proceedings 
of the Geologists’ Association,” containing reports of 
ordinary meetings, and the following papers:— 
“© Organic Matter as a Geological Agent,” by the Rey. 
A. Irving; ‘*Supplementary Observations on some 
Fossil Fishes of the English Lower Oolites,” by 
A. Smith Woodward ; ‘‘ The Geology of the Country 
round Stirling,” by H. W. Monckton, with Appendix 
by J. G. Goodchild; *‘The Geology of Devizes, 
with Remarks on the Grouping of Cretaceous De- 
posits,” by A. J. Jukes-Browne (to be continued). 


NOTES AND QUERIES. 


THE WHITE FLOWER QUESTION.—The questions 
raised at page 263, November number, by Mr. John 
Corrie may be tentatively and provisionally answered 
as follows :—(1I.) Is it the case that when flowers 
change from one colour to anotherit is in an unchang- 
ing order from yellow to white, from white to red, 
and finally to blue?—reversions, of course, in inverse 
order. The view that all flowers were originally 
yellow, etc., is a merely gratuitous hypothesis 
specially designed to bolster up the utterly false 
assumption that flowers have been rendered con- 
spicuous and beautiful in order to attract insects, 
a doctrine which has proved to be one of the most 
mischievous of the Darwinian chimeras. Yellow 
flowers are the least liable, even less liable than 
orange flowers, to change into white; and the purest 
blue flowers are those which are most frequently 
found colourless or nearly so. (2.) If this is so, why 
is it that blue flowers revert directly to white instead 
of to red, the colour from which they haye more 
recently been evolved? ‘The researches of scientists 
have shown that in most cases, the blue and the red 
colouring-matter is due to one and the same sub- 
stance. The normal colour is, 1 believe, red, and the 
blue colour (only about sixty species in our flora are 
of this colour) may at any time ‘‘ sport” into red, as 
it entirely depends upon the coexistence in the petals 
of other substances which precipitate or neutralise 
the aids or oxidising agencies which help to produce 
or deepen the red tint. Some gardeners can arti- 
ficially change the red to blue by using artificial 
solutions for watering, etc. ; but this can only be done 
in the case of flowers whose tints are slight, and 
where the pigment is normally produced in compara- 
tively small amounts, otherwise the artificial strain 
would almost certainly be green, or yellow, ze. in 
this case avery light tint of red brown. Hence, also, 
it would follow that the purer the colour, the more 
liable it is to vanish and fade into pure white, (3.) Is 
it the case that lessened vegetative vigour tends to 
check the development of colour, and if so, to what 


extent does the check operate? Unquestionably this 
is so; but we must endeavour to get at the life of the 
process a little nearer than what is implied when it is 
said that ‘‘colours are a result of nutrition.” Per- 
sonally I am fully satisfied that the colours of petals 
are the result of certain changes which the tannins 
and glucosides originally evolved in the leaves, buds, 
roots, seeds, etc., undergo, and the structure of the 
petals is just the very thing most eminently calculated, 
if not to help in evolving the tints, at least, to show 
them off to the best advantage. Hence it follows 
inevitably, that whatever tends to check the produc- 
tion of tannin and glucoside will also indirectly lessen 
the formation of pigment. These bodies are the 
result of the processes of metabolism which are con- 
stantly carried on more quickly or more slowly 
according to the general vegetative vigour of the 
particular plant. It would be needless to enter into 
detail ; but there is one agent that can be fastened on 
with great confidence, and perhaps, therefore, may be 
mentioned here. ‘The size and brilliant colouration 
of the Arctic and Alpine flora have been frequently 
admired, and the latter feature has been attributed to 
two causes, viz., an increase of chlorophyllous tissue, 
or their comparative leaf-surface, and the vast quantity 
of light which is shed on these plants during their 
short period of growth. Now these two factors are 
precisely the same as what other independent investi- 
gators have found to be principally concerned in the 
increased production of the special cell-contents 
(tannin and glucoside) which, as it were, metabolise 
into the bright pigments.—P. Q. Keegan. 


BrrDs AND FRuIT.—A very heavy crop of dam- 
sons was grown in this district last summer, with the 
result that a large proportion of the fruit was left on the 
trees, as it was found that it only paid to pick the best 
of them. In the autumn the plantations were visited 
by immense flocks of fieldfares and redwings, which 
appear to have migrated to Kent for the sole purpose 
of feeding on the damsons. Besides these two species 
there was a considerable number of blackbirds and 
thrushes. Only once before have I heard any noise to 
compare with the ‘‘ chatter” emitted by these birds 
—this was at the roosting-place of one of those 
immense flocks of starlings that are seen in the 
autumn. On being disturbed, the fieldfares would 
rise, uttering their peculiar ‘* chuck-chuck-chuck,” and 
fly some distance, only to return again in a few 
minutes, while the redwings, blackbirds, and thrushes, 
being less shy, would merely fly to a short distance 
from the intruder. Day after day thousands of these 
birds were to be seen, until they had eaten up all the 
pulp of the fruit, leaving the ground strewn with the 
bare stones. And now (January) an altogether 
different noise may be heard. Large flocks of haw- 
finches have arrived to complete the work commenced 
by the soft-billed thrushes. If one walks quietly 
through the plantations, he will hear a distinct crack- 
ing noise, caused by the hawfinches splitting the 
damson stones with their powerful beaks, in order to 
get at the kernel : already a considerable proportion of 
the stones have been thus cracked. I believe this bird 
is a good deal commoner than is generally supposed. 
On account of its shyness, it is not often seen, but its 
‘‘robin-like” note may frequently be heard as it 
flies over at a great height. Bullfinches, too, come 
to the plantations in large numbers at this time of the 
year, to feed on the blossom-buds of various fruit- 
trees. I have frequently induced these birds to come 
quite near, and occasionally have had the pleasure of 
hearing their beautiful natural song, which is so low, 
that it can only be heard at a very short distance.— 
Edward Goodwin, Wateringbury, Kent. 


BARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 95 


A Marsh GARDEN.—In your May 1891 Number 
(No 317) you have an article entitled ‘‘ A Marsh 
Garden.” As I am desirous of trying this, could any 
reader kindly tell me where I could get a piece of 
marsh as therein described, either to purchase or 
exchange 2—C. Pemberton. 


FLINTS IN CHALK, &c.—As county Antrim is 
probably the best county in Great Britain to study 
such objects, many articles have been written on 
them. ‘The county is full of flints; they are very 
plentiful in our ‘‘ Cretaceous Limestone,” which is 
exposed on fine cliffs along a coast-line of about 
seventy or eighty miles, and in sections everywhere 
through thecounty. During the British Association’s 
visit to Belfast in 1874, a Society to which I belong 
(the Belfast Naturalists’ Fieid Club), and which has 
always taken the greatest possible interest in the 
Cretaceous Limestones of Antrim, and the banded 
flints, sponge spicules and Foraminifera which are so 
common in hollow flints in some districts, published 
a complete Nat. Hist. Guide of some hundred pages. 
for the use of members of the B.A. This is still the 
standard guide, although only a very few copies are 
now to be had from the Secs. of the club (Museum} 
Belfast), and contains all information about the chalk 
flints of Antrim. It was on the*Cave Hill Lime- 
stone Quarries at Belfast that the late Dean Buckland 
saw those long-shaped peculiar flints, with hollow 
tube running through them, that he called ‘‘ Para- 
moudras”’ and got so much laughed at for so calling, 
on the word of a quarryman. I have many geo- 
logical photos of county Antrim Basaltic rocks and 
Cretaceous. The views I have of the Cave Hill 
Quarries show the flints in regular stratified layers or 
bands. If, however, any reader would like to have 
a list of the best papers written on the subject, 
address Mr. S. A. Stewart, F.L.S., Museum, Belfast ; 
he will doubtless give alist. The B.N.F.C. Guide, 
I may say, is now reduced to 2s. each. It was the 
first thing of its kind so elaborately done for a B.A. 
yisit to any city, and has formed the standard for 
every guide published since 1874 for the B.A. visits 
to other towns. Wm. Gray, Esq., C.E., M.R.LA., 
oneof its principal compilers (along with Mr. Stewart), 
could give any special information on Antrim flints 
that may be wanted. He contributed a very scholarly 
paper on ‘* Rudely-worked Flints of County Antrim,” 
giving the cliff sections from which the flint material 
came, to the Journal of the Royal Hist. and Archzolog. 
Society of Ireland (now the Royal Soc. of Antiquaries, 
Ireland). I have just hunted through the back vols. 
in my Antiq. bookcase, and I find that it is con- 
tained in vol. 5, 4th Series, in 1879-82. Mr. Gray’s 
address is Mount Charles, Belfast, and he probably 
could send a “reprint,” as the society furnishes all 
readers of papers with, I think, fifty reprints. Mr. 
Thos. Plunkett, F.G.S., M.R.I.A., of Enniskillen, 
could give you any information about the bands of 
cherty flints that occur in the great inland limestone 
cliffs (Carboniferous) of Knockmore, county Fer- 
managh, if he has none of the reprints from his 
papers contributed to the Royal Irish Academy, of 
which he is a member.—. Welch. 


“WHAT OFFERS ?”—Will you allow me to suggest 
that those correspondents who make use of the ‘* Ex- 
change” column, in ScIENCE-Gossip, should give 
some indication of tbe kind of exchange they desire. 
“* What offers?” is very indefinite, hut ‘* What offers 
in”—say—‘‘ birds’ eggs ?” ‘“ shells?” or ‘‘ insects ?” 
or ‘*cash?” would afford information which would 
very often save other people’s time and trouble. I 


have found recently that these indefinite gentlemen 
want to sell—usually at good prices—and it seems to 
me that such offers ought not to be classed under the 
heading of ‘‘ Exchanges,” as they are misleading. I 
would suggest that you should start a separate column 
for the benefit of those who wish to effect exchanges 
for coin of the realm. Whether you should make a 
charge, or not, to those who use it, is your affair and 
no concern of mine, but the present system of lumping 
the two classes together is inconvenient and mis- 
leading. Ido not wish my name to appear in con- 
nection with this suggestion, as I have no doubt the 
people to whom I refer would resent it. 


EXTINCTION OF THE LAPWING.—I note in the 
February number a paragraph speaking of the pro- 
bable extinction of the lapwing, owing to the rapacity 
of egg collectors and dealers, and in the same number 
I noticed no fewer than five advertisements (including 
exchanges) of these gentry. These are the pests who 
are rapidly bringing about the extermination of all 
our rare birds, and preventing the breeding here of 
any occasional visitors from other regions. It is 
absurd to dignify such an occupation by the name of 
science ; it is mere sordid greed, which all good 
naturalists should discourage to the utmost, and it 
would be a good deed if ScrENCE-GossiP and all 
other respectable publications were to refuse such 
advertisements.— WV. Ward. 


NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 


To CORRESPONDENTS AND EXxcHANGERS.—As we now 
publish Scrence-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. 


Specrat Notre.—There is a tendency on the part of some 
exchangers to send more than one per month. We only allow 
this in the case of writers of papers. 


To our RECENT EXCHANGERS.—Weare willing to be helpful 
to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow dzs- 
guised Exchanges like those which frequently come to us 
to appear unless as advertisements. 


R. B. Posrans.—Will you kindly send us your address, so 
that proofs of your articles may be sent you? 

A. Launper.—“ Flowers: their Origin, Perfume, Shape, 
Colours,” can be obtained of Messrs. W. H. Allen & Co. 
Masters’ work on ‘Leratology is now getting scarce; it was 
published by the Rav Society. You had best apply to Messrs. 
Wesley & Son, Essex Street, Strand, for a secondhand copy, 
or to Messrs. Dulau, 37 Soho Square. 

W. Patmer.—Get Bennett’s work (fully illustrated), pub- 
lished by Longmans at, we believe, 4s. 6d. Other good books 
are Prantl and Vine’s ‘‘ Botany” (Macmillan), and Hooker’s 
“ Botany” (same publisher). 

A CORRESPONDENT from the Isle of Wight, whose note we 
have mislaid, sends us a box containing teeth and bony scales, 
under the impression that both are fossils. This is not the 
case. The teeth are recent, but the bony scales are plates of 
siluroid fishes from the INocene strata. 

F. J. Binc.—The snake-like fossil in flint is undoubtedly a 
Serpula. They are not unfrequent. We have seen them coiled 
like a basket of snakes on the surface of flints, and penetrating 
their interior. The Norwich chalk and chalk flints are famous 
for them. 


96 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


A. J. Apams.—Obtain Dulau’s Catalogue of Works, &c., 
on Geology, just published, 37 Soho Square, London, W. 

H. E, Griset.—Get Bausch’s ‘‘ Manipulation of the Micro- 
scope” from W. P. Collins, 157 Great Portland Street, 
London, W. 

J. K.—The lichens are correctly named. 

C. L, R.—You had best advertise in Sc1ENCE-GossiP. 

A. J. SHAw.—We were at a loss for some time to identify 
the ‘green bags,” found on the sea-shore. We have tracked 
them down. They are the outer skins of green melons which 
have been in sea-water some time, so that all the interior pulp 
has been dissolved out, and only the external hardy pericarp 
left as an empty ‘‘green bag.” The microscope shows the 
characteristic hairs. 

W. Witson.—The ‘‘ Science Made Easy” was published by 
D. Bogue. You can get copies, we believe, of Messrs. W. H. 
Allen & Co., Waterloo Place. 


EXCHANGES. 


Witt send collections of two hundred named specimens 
(sixty species) Victoria shells, in return for same number 
named recent shells of any other country.—F. L. Billinghurst, 
National Bank of Australasia, Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia, 

WILL give two beautiful micro. slides for each of the following 
eggs: kestrel, sparrow-hawk, kite, marsh harrier, redwing, 
fieldfair, ring-ousel, cirl-bunting, brambling, hawfinch, g. wood- 
pecker, nuthatch, golden plover, heron, curlew, ruff, corn- 
snipe, dunlin, Wwater-ratl, puffin, g. crested grebe. —Batty, 
Corby, Grantham. 

WANTED, Less. Faossi and bisuffarcinata, Wald. humeralis, 
and Rhyx. Sutherlandi, also any Brachiopoda from the North- 
ampton, Lincolnshire, or Yorkshire oolites. Offered in ex- 
change, good specimens of Fur. brachiofoda from the W. and 
S.W. of England.—J. W. D. Marshall, 16 Peter Street, 
Bristol. 

OFFERED, eggs of cuckoo, nuthatch, nightingale, marsh-tit, 
cole-tit, great tit, stonechat, whinchat, red-backed shrike, 
bullfinch, yellow wagtail, nightjar, &c., allinclutches. Wanted, 
clutches of many other species. Please send lists to—W. Wells 
Bladen, Stone, Staffs. 

OFFERED, 270 species and varieties of British mosses, named 
and localised. Wanted, natural history books, especially on 
freshwater alge, or apparatus.—R. V. Tellam, Bodmin. 

WANTED, to correspond with entomologists in the United 
States, Australia, &c., with a view to exchanging aculeate 
Hymenoptera.—G.: E. Frisby, 27 Hedley Street, Maidstone, 
Kent. 

WANTED, back parts of ‘‘ Journal of Postal Microscopical 
Society,” also back vols. of ScisncE-Gossip, and any works 
treating on the microscope.—L. Francis, 58 Aldred Road, 
Kennington Park, London, S.E. 

WANTED, micro. turntable and dissecting case, and other 
micro. sundries.—L. Francis, 33 Aldred Road, Kennington 
Park, London, S.E. 

WantTeED, cuckoos’ eggs, with clutches of the following 
species: garden warbler, redstart, reed warbler, common wren, 
red-backed shrike, nightingale, chitfchaff, woodlark, common 
bunting, house sparrow. Good eggs offered in exchange.— 
W. Wells Bladen, Stone, Staffs. 

Sipe of flea of mole, in exchange for other slide of interest ; 
coal sections preferred.—J. Boggus, Alton, Hants. 

OFFERED, Zafes decussatus. Wanted, Pecten striatus, 
Mytilus ungulata, Nucula sulcata, Arca obligua, A. pectun- 
cnuloides, Cardium aculeatum, C. papillosum, Asturte sulcata, 
"Venus casina, V. striatula, Tellina balaustrina, Psammobia 
costulata, P. vespertina, Donax politus, Lutraria oblonga, 
Mya Binghami, Panopea plicata, Saxicana arebica, Trochus 
amabilis, Duminyzt occidentalis, Littorina sinistrorsa, Sca- 
daria Trevelyana, Jantina communis, Natica Islandica, 
Nassa nitida, Tapes aureus, Triton nodifer, cutaceus, Ovula 
patula, Accra bullata, Bulla hydatis, utriculus, Aplysia 
punctata, Spiralis retroversus, Clio pyramidala, Melampus 
myosotis, Assiminia littorina.— J. Smith, Monkredding, Ki.- 
winning. 

A LARGE assortment of dredgings from known localities, 
containing rare forms, to exchange for similar material from 
stations not already possessed. Correspondence invited prior 
to exchanges being forwarded.—W. H. Harris, 42 St. Bran- 
nock’s Road, I)fracombe. 

WANTED, minerals, fossils, or rocks in exchange for novels 
(Scott, Kingsley, &c.) and a large reptile cage with glass 
sides, hot-water draw, and wood top with glass windows.— 
A. C. Binns, 114 Bramhall Lane, Stockport. 

An album containing over 409 arms, crests, and monograms, 
with space for 360 more, in good condition. Will exchange 
for any description of entomological apparatus. 

WanTED, foraminiferous material and insects from all parts 
of the world. ~ Will give good exchange in micro. slides or un- 
mounted objects.—George T. Reed, 87 Lordship Road, Stuke 
Newington, London, N. 

Science-Gossip for 1883 bound, 1884-85 unbound, plates 
complete, clean; ‘Science for All,” 5 vols. bound, first edition. 
Wanted, 4-inch condensers, and offers. Address—B. H., 
113 Grange Road, E. Middlesbrough. 


OrreRED, Mackay’s ‘‘Flora Hibernica” (contains full de- 
scriptions of cryptogams by Taylor), also some loose plates 
with illustrations of mosses. Wanted, Backhouse’s ‘‘ Hieracia,” 
and back numbers of ‘Journal of Butany.”—Rey. C. H. 
Waddell, Saintfield, Co. Down. 

WANTED, diatom earth from Atlantic City, N.J. Will give 
other deposits.—W. Ward, 31 Hill Lane, Southampton. 

WANTED, Cornish or other minerals in exchange for Wear- 
dale spars and minerals.—1. V. Devey, Wol:ingham, Dar- 
lington. 

WANTED, to exchange carboniferous fossils for fossils from 
other formations. —D. Firth, Dukinfield. 

Eocene fossils, named and localised, also minerals and 
Cornish rocks. Will exchange for other minerals and rock 
specimens, terebratule from chalk (perfect), or offers.—E. H. V. 
Davies, 46 Upper Belgrave Road, Clifton, Bristol. 

WANTED, a microscope and good botanical slides, in return 
for British and foreign shells, and rare polished geological 
corals and sponges, or state wants. Good.exchange sent.— 
A. J. R. Sclater, M.C.S., Natural History Stores, 43 North- 
umberland Place, Teignmouth. 

I can offer rare microscopic objects and material, fossils, 
minerals, shells (of which I have a large number), in exchange 
for a quantity of foreign stamps, watch that will keep time, 
telescope, field-glass, or anything scientific.—1T. E. Sclater, 
Northumberland House, The Strand, Teignmouth. 

ScotcH examples of the following shells in exchange for 
others not in collection, eggs or insects: Hex arbustorum, 
erectorum var. lutescens, H. nemoralis var. libellula, rubella, 
bimarginata, H. hortensis, S. corneum var. pisidoides, Hydr. 
ulue, V. piscinalis, S. elegans, V. pellucida, Zon. nitidulus, 
M. incurva, pellucida, T. fabula, T. phasiolina, testudinalis, 
F. antiquus, V. gallina, D. politis, M. solida, stultorwmn, &c. 
—W. Turnbull, 1 Horne Terrace, Edinburgh. 

BritisH and exotie lepidoptera in exchange for pupe and 
good microscopic slides.—Joseph Anderson, jun., Alre Villa, 
Chichester, Sussex. 

Wantep, ‘‘ Photo-Micrography,” by A. Pringle, F.R.M.S. 
Will give in exchange ‘‘ Botanical Micro. Chemistry,” by 
Poulsen and Trelease, ‘‘ Postal Micro. Society’s Journal,” 
vol. iii., “‘Science Monthly,” vol. i., and good microscopic 
slides. —P. Kilgour, 164 Lochee Road, Dundee, N.B. 

OrFereD, Cassell’s ‘‘Electricity in the Service of Man,” 
half roan, new; also lady’s silver watch. Wanted, works on 
literature, especially Craik's ‘‘Manual of Engl. Lit.” (1883) ; 
Morley’s “ First Sketch of Engl. Lit.” (x8—?), and “Engl. 
Lit. of Victoria” (1882); Richardson’s “Primer of Amer. 
Lit.” (1878); Saintsbury’s ‘‘ Primer of French Lit.” (1880) ; 
Hallam’s ‘‘ Lit. of Europe ” (1882), &c-—Chas. Leigh, 47 Sydney 
Street, London, S. W. 

WantTeED, Pis. nitidum, Pis. roseum, L. involuta, Test. 
haliotidea, Succ. oblonga, H. obvoluta, several species of 
vertigo, dcme lineata. Offered, many species and varieties 
of British land and freshwater shells. —H. E. Craven, Matlock 
Bridge. 

WANTED, Cooke’s ‘‘ British Hepatice,” or ‘‘ Science Gossip 
Guide to Hepatice.”— J. H. Salter, University College, 
Aberystwyth. 

STuDENT’s microscope for sale—Newton, Fleet Street— 
lenses, object slides, new.—C., 15 Aliwal Road, Clapham 
Junction, S.W.- 


BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE. 


“Bulletin of the United States’ Geological Survey, Nos. 62, 
65, 67-81 (Washington: Government Printing Office).—‘‘ The 
Medical Annual,”’ 1892 (Bristol: Wright).—‘* Modern Science,” 
edited by Sir John Lubbock, Bart.—‘* I'he Horse,” by William 
Henry Flower,” C.B. (Loncon: Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner 
& Co., Ltd.).—‘* Transactions of the Yorkshire Naturalists* 
Union,” parts 1o-16.—‘‘ Fifth Report of the United States” 
Entomological Commission on Insects injurious to Forest and 
Shade Trees,” by A. S. Packard, M.D. (Washington: Govern- 
ment Printing Office).—‘‘ Annual Report of the Smithsonian 
Institution,” vols. 1887-89 (Washington: Government Printing 
Office).—‘‘ Gentleman’s Magazine.””—‘tThe Idler.”—‘‘The 
Mediterranean Naturalist.”—‘‘The Midland Naturalist.”— 
“The Garner.”—*“ The Naturalist.”—“ Journal of the Royal 
Microscopical Society.’ — ‘‘ Natural Science.”—“ Collectors’ 
Monthly. ’—‘‘ Catalogue of the Land and Freshwater Shelis 
hitherto recorded as found in the County of Suffolk,” by 
Carleton Greene, M.A.—‘‘ American Microscopist,” &c., &c. 


COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED UP TO THE 12TH ULT. FROM: 
W. W. B.—J. W. D. M.—G. C.—A. E. H.—R. V. T.— 
S. B. C.—J, A—W. T. S.—J. C. W.—W. W.—G. R. T.— 


G. 

D. 

A. J. 

bee TS 

W. W.B 

A. C. B.—J. S.—J. B.—W. D. R.—G. E. F.—E. E. G.— 
F. A. F.—W. S. P.—M. D.—M. L.—W. H. H.—J. E. T.— 
A. A. C.—W. W.—T. G. B.—&c., &c. 


HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 97 


SOME FAMOUS COLLECTING-GROUNDS FOR DRAGON- 
FLIES. | 


By the Author of ‘‘An Illustrated Handbook of British Dragon-flies,” ‘‘ A Label List of British 
Dragon-flies,” etc., etc. 


IlII.—THE FEN DISTRICT. 


prises the marshy 
districts of Norfolk, 
Suffolk, Cambridge, 
Huntingdon, and 
Lincolnshire, is, 
next to the New 
Forest, probably the 
best hunting-ground 
for dragon-flies in 
the British Isles. 

Although of late 
years large tracts of 
marshland in each 
of the above coun- 
ties have been 
drained, there still 
remain , thousands 
and thousands of 
acres which will 
probably take centuries to reclaim. This is par- 
ticularly the case in Norfolk, where, owing to tidal 
influences, inany of the fens are incapable of being 
converted into cornfields, as they have been done so 
extensively in the adjoining county of Cambridge. 

Dragon-fly hunting in the fens possesses many 
charms for those who delight to revel in the midst of 
nature. The most enjoyable way of spending a 
holiday in this manner, would be to hire a yacht— 
one built on the ‘‘wherry” plan, which is a very 
comfortable craft and easily managed, would be found 
the most suitable. A few days and nights spent on 
the water in this way by a small party, would not 
fail to prove a very pleasant occupation in the summer 
time. . 

The rivers and broads of Norfolk and Suffolk 

No, 329.—May 1892. 


afford an inexhaustible field for operations by the 
dragon-fly collector, as do also the extensive un- 
drained fens of Cambridge, particularly Whittlesea 
Mere, Burwash Fen and Wicken Fen. 

In the county of Norfolk- the vicinity of Great 
Yarmouth will be found a very good one for these 
grand insects, as also will the neighbourhood of 
Norwich, which is a very good centre of operations 
for Wroxham Broad, Horning, and Fritton Decoy, all 
of which are well-known happy hunting-grounds for 
these ‘‘ winged gems.” 

The following is a list of the species of dragon-flies 
which have been known to occur in the Fen District 
of the East of England: Vatetrum depressum 
(common).  Lzbellula fulva (Burwash Fen and 
Whittlesea Mere in Cambridgeshire, and Sprowston, 
in the neighbourhood of Norwich; in the latter 
locality it is abundant in certain seasons). The 
variety fugax (also has been taken in Whittlesea 
Mere), Leptetrum quadrimaculata (common). The 
variety prenubila (has been taken in Burwash Fen). 
Orthetrum carulescens (not uncommon). O. can- 
cellatum (Whittlesea Mere, also Horning and Faken- 
ham in Norfolk, but very local). Leucorrhinia dubia 
(Glandford Brigg in Lincolnshire, very local). Syz- 
petrum vulgatum (abundant everywhere). S. flaveolum 
(Whittlesea Mere, where it may always be met with 
during favourable seasons). S. sanguineum (local). 
S. scoticum (doubtful). Cordulia enea (Wisbeach, 
also Starston and Costessy Woods in Norfolk, but 
very local). Gomphus vulgatissimus (rare). Cor- 
dulegaster annulatus (scarce). Anax formosus (doubt- 
ful). Brachytron pratense (very local). d£schnajuncea 
(very local; I have had a specimen sent me from the 
Devil’s Dyke, in Cambridgeshire). 2. cyanea (very 
common). 2. grandis (common), <2. vufescens (the 

F 


98 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 


idea is prevalent that this species is becoming extinct ; 
it used to be taken at Yarmouth, Halvergate, and 
Whittlesea Mere). Calopteryx virgo (abundant every- 
where). C. sflendens (ditto). Lestes nympha (has 
been taken in Suffolk, and elsewhere in the Fen 
District, but verylocal). Z. sfansa (not uncommon). 
Platycnemis pennipes (not uncommon, but local). 
Lnallagma cyathigerum (common). Agrion pulchellum 
(ditto). 4. puwella (exceedingly abundant). Jschnura 
pumilio (rare and local). JZ. elegans (very plentiful). 
Pyrrhosoma minium (exceedingly plentiful). P. 
tenellum (doubtful). rythromma najas (has been 
taken in Lincolnshire, but very rare and local ; it 
used also to be found formerly in Cambridgeshire). 

The foregoing localities are taken from my ‘‘ IIus- 
trated Handbook of British Dragon-flies,” * to which 
little work I beg to refer the reader in quest of 
information concerning the time of appearance and 
habits, etc., of the species enumerated in the above 
list. 


THE CONSTANCY OF THE BEE. 
By G. W. BuLMAN, M.A., B.Sc. 


HE theory that bees confine themselves to one 
particular species of flower, during at least a 
single journey, seems to be one of those which 
manage to survive to old age on a minimum of 
observed facts. Copied from one book to another, it 
has become an integral part of the received ideas 
about bees: it forms part of the stock in trade of 
everyone who aspires to write about them. » Not to 
go back too far, the following statement is found in a 
work on insects, published in 1829, (‘The Natural 
History of Insects,” London, Murray) : 

** Now, it has been remarked by a great number of 
naturalists, that the bee, when it collects pollen from 
one plant, does not go to a different sort of plant for 
more, but labouring to collect the same kind of 
fertilizing dust, it seeks only the same kinds of flowers. 
.... *I have frequently,’ says Dobs, ‘followed a 
bee loading the farina-beebread or crude wax on its 
legs, through part of a great field in flower, and on 
whatever flower it first alighted and gathered the 
farina, it continued gathering from that kind of flower, 
and passed over many other species, though very 
numerous in the field, without alighting on or loading 
from them, though the flower it chose was much 
scarcer than the others: so that if it began to load 
from a daisy, it continued loading from the same, 
neglecting clover, honey-suckle, and the violet.’ ” 

The same idea is expressed in one of the most 
recent and authoritative works on bees : 

“©The curious habit of the Apidee of visiting one 
kind of flower only during any single excursion.” 
(‘* Bees and Bee-Keeping,” Frank Cheshire.) 


* It is published by Mr. E. W. Allen, 4 Ave Maria Lane, 
London, E.C., price 2s. 6d. 


Grant Allen, too, makes use of the same theoretical 
constancy of the bee in the development of his 
various honey-bearing plants. Thus, speaking of ants, 
he says, ‘‘ They do not go, like flying insects, straight 
from one plant to another of the same species, but 
being guided by scent alone, climb up different stems 
indiscriminately, wherever the smell of honey lures 
them on.” 

And this, he continues, is the reason why ants ‘‘ do 
not aid cross-fertilisation, but rather prevent it.” 

Sir John Lubbock’s statement is more guarded and 
nearer the truth: 

“They fly readily from one plant to another, and 
generally confine themselves for a certain time to the 
same species.”’ (‘* Ants, Bees, and Wasps,” p. 50.) 

It is certainly a fact that bees very often make a 
large number of visits to a single species of flowers ; 
it is probable that they often confine themselves to 
one for a whole journey. Presumably, then, a limited 
and casual observation of the habits of bees, such 
as one who considers the question authoritatively 
settled naturally gives, simply confirms the received 
opinion ; any divergence is looked upon as a chance 
exception. More extended and careful observation, 
however, shows that these exceptions are too 
numerous to permit the existence ofa rigid rule. Such, 
at least, is my experience. When I first observed a 
few instances of bees changing from one species to 
another, I looked upon them rather as chance excep- 
tions to a general rule, than as facts of any impor- 
tance. 

More careful watching, however, has revealed the 
fact that the exceptions are really very numerous. 
During the year 1888, I scarcely ever watched the 
bees for more than a few minutes without seeing some 
examples of changeableness. The fact that the 
watching not infrequently ended in the disappearance 
of the bee when a few visits had been noted, suggests 
that these examples may really be more numerous 
than the recorded cases imply. 

Thus during an afternoon walk a bee is noted 
busy on a flower of water-avens (Geum vivale). It 
visits other two of the same, and then two or three 
blossoms of herb Robert (Geranium Robertianum). 
Further on three bees are busy on some vetch in the 
corner of a field. One of them, a very large humble- 
bee, after paying a good number of visits to the vetch 
flowers, flies off and alights on a head of scabious. 
After working this, it passes on to yellow charlock 
among the corn. And this is no exceptional occur- 
rence, but one which may frequently -be observed. 
I will now give a few examples, premising that they 
are not the results of prolonged periods of watching, 
but of short intervals of from ten to thirty minutes. 
On one occasion I observed the following changes : 
Bee No. I was busy on the blue flowers of Veronica 
Buxbaumii, from which it passed to chickweed. Bee 
No. 2 passed from little celandine to scilla, and 
thence to celandine again. Bee No. 3 passed from 


HARDWICKE S SCLTENCE-GOSSIP. 99 


Veronica Buxbaumii to chickweed, and then back to 
Veronica. Bee No. 4 passed from celandine to 
scilla. On another occasion: Bee No. 1 visits 
flowers in the following order: hyacinth, Veronica 
Buxbaumii, sweet violet, hyacinth, Veronica Bux- 
baumii. Bee No. 2 goes from red dead-nettle to 
hyacinth. The bee which has obtained the; highest 
place on my record behaved as follows : 


Geranium Robertianum . . 2 visits 
an mnemorumm . - - 3 35; 
oo Robert... 8 op 
3 lucidum . I visit 
oF INGE SG 6 a a By 
= Hucidumpeeee es) cy ass 
a5 Robert... . . . 6 visits 
oe sanguineum. I visit 
3 Robert . 4 visits 
Se Heme 4g Aa BG 


oe INDIES ¢ oo gp 


That is to say, 10 changes for 27 visits. 

On one occasion I watched some bees visiting 
campanulas growing near a bush of syringa. During 
a few minutes’ observation, six bees passed from the 
blue flowers of the former to the white flowers of the 
latter. Presumably many of them also returned to 
the blue, but I only watched their movements in the 
one direction. 

These facts are not brought forward simply to 
correct an error which in itself seems of little 
importance: they have an important bearing on the 
bee-selection theory. It may be said, indeed, that 
the erroneous conception of the bee’s strict constancy 
forms one of the pillars upon which the superstructure 
of that theory rests. Now it seems quite evident 
that the facts here brought forward are sufficient to 
deal a death-blow to the above theory of the bee’s 
selective action. If the bee of to-day passes freely, 


in many cases, from one species to another, then, ; 


surely, @ fortiori, would the bee of bygone ages pass 
freely from variety to variety : the result of its visits 
would be to obliterate the incipient species by crossing 
it with the parent stock and with other varieties. 

The necessity of this assumed constancy of the bee, 
as a factor in the evolution of the flower by its 
selection, is admitted by Mr. Grant Allen in the words 
already quoted. If bees fly from flower to flower of 
different species, they too will ‘‘ not aid cross-fertilisa- 
tion, but rather prevent it.” When, however, the 
species are incipient, that is to say mere varieties, the 
result of the bees’ action will be to blend them 
together. 


WE are sorry to see that Professor Williamson, 
F.R.S., has retired from the Chair of Botany, at Owens 
College, Manchester, after more;than half.a century’s 
long, faithful, and enthusiastic services. Professor 
Williamson was a born teacher, capable of enlisting 
hosts of recruits in botany, both recent and fossil. 


NOTES ON THE INFUSORIA. 
By BERNARD THOMAS. 
Ill. 


vie HETOGLENA VOLVOCINEA (Fig.53 

J; g) is somewhat larger than the preceding, 
as it is a little less than the thousandth of an inch 
in its longest diameter. It is about twice as long as 
broad. From the anterior part of the cell-wall there 
is a projecting rim surrounding the hole through 
which, as in ,Doxococcus, the flagellum protrudes. 
The cell-wall is dark olive-green in colour and the 
contained protoplasm resembles the previously de- 
scribed species. There seem to be two varieties, both 
similar in shape, but in one the cell-wall is rough 
externally, in the other smooth. 

The forms Euglena, Phacus, Doxococcus, and 
Cheetoglena belong most probably to the Algz, and 
are hence plants. Several of their near allies, 
furnished with flagella, live in colonies, among which 
we might mention Valvox, Gonium, Pandorina, and 
several others. It is not here intended to enter into 
a description of these forms, as they, even more 
evidently, belong to the plant circle. Indeed the 
preceding are only here introduced to contrast them 
with the Flagellate Infusoria. We may briefly group 
these relations as follows :— 


A. Principal resemblances to the Infusoria (Flagel- 
Jata).—Presence of flagellum im all species. 
Unicellularity. Contractile nature of ectosare 
in some species (e.g. Luglena viridis). Eye- 
spot present in some Infusorians (Dinobryon). 

B. Principal differences from the Flagellata.— 
Presence of green chlorophyll. Presence of 
eye-spot. Absence of food-vacuoles, and 
perhaps of contractile vesicles. Nature and 
manner of life. 


8. Cercomonas acuminata (Fig. 54 a) is usually 
found in large numbers in putrifying pond-water. It 
is exceedingly small, so small, indeed, that it requires 
a high power with good definition to make out 
anything of its structure. (In its interior a few 
granules can generally be distinguished. From two 
opposite ends there arises a delicate process, one of 
these is a flagellum but the other is described as a 
delicate protoplasmic thread or tail, incapable of 
vibration. 

This little organism is a representative of the 
Monads, whose life-history has been so well worked 
out by Drs. Dallinger and Drysdale; and it was 
then shown that these Monads reproduced not only 
by fission but also sexually, by conjugation. 

The term Monad was at one time applied to all the 
Flagellata. 

9. Anisonema (Fig. 54 5), which seems to be 
identical with Bodo grandis, is an infusorian of con- 
siderable size, larger even than Astasia. Besides the 

F 2 


100 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


flagellum it has a long trailing filament which can be 
retracted into its interior. By this organ, and by its 
slow gliding movement, it can be readily recognised. 
Granules can be seen in its clear protoplasm as well 
as a contractile space, placed posteriorly, and the 
Diatoms it has swallowed as food. 


Codosiga and Dinobryon ; in the former, Uvella and 
Anthophysa, 

to, Uvella (Fig. 54 c, d, e) is free swimming. I 
have found quantities of it in water where flowers 
had been left standing a long time, In all probabitity 
the spores were on the flower-stalks and had developed 


Fig. 52.—a, Euglena viridis extended, showing flagellum, red spot, chlorophyll, central body; B, Euglena viridis contracted ; 
Cc, Euglena viridis filled with granules; v, Zxglena longicauda; 2, Euglena pyrum; ¥, Euglena-like organism. 


Fig. 53-—Phacus pleuronotes, front view; B, Phacus pleuronotes, empty case; C, Phacus pleuronotes, side view; D, Doxococcus 


Doxococcus, crushed 


ruber; E, 
(See last Number.) 


is the flagellum represented. 


We now pass to those members of this family which 
are found in groups or colonies, and although these 
are clustered together they have no organic connection. 

Among these there may be mentioned those whose 
protoplasm is naked, and those which are furnished 
with a case or cell-wall. In the latter we have 


; F, Chetoglena volvocinea with spines; G, Chetoglena without spines. In neither of these 


in the water. Little transparent masses, resembling 
bunches of grapes, were seen actively moving among 
Bacteria and Amcebz, with which the water was 
crowded. Each mass is composed of little oval in- 
fusorians or zodids, sometimes of only a few, often of 
very many. 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. IOI 


Fig. 54.—a, Cercomonas acuminata; b, Antsonema sulcata; c, Uvella group; d, ditto, stained with iodine; ¢, ditto, higher 
power; 7, Anthophysa Miilleri; g, ditto, higher power; /, ditto, single zodid ; 7, Peridintum cinctum, low power. 


Fig. 55.—Paramecium aurelia. 1, front view; 2, side view ; 3, contractile space; a@, diastole; 2, systole, showing two canals; 
4; posterior end, showing posterior cilia; ect, ectosarc; cz, external layer; cz, ciliary layer; ¢, deepest layer; cZ and ¢ make 
up the cortical layer. In all the figures: ¢, cilia; c’, cilia of gullet; ect, ectosarc; end, endosarc; c.v, contractile spaces ; 
J.2, food vacuole; m, mouth; g, esophagus or gullet; gz’, dilation of gullet; a, anterior, and p, posterior end. The arrows 
in z represent the direction of the current. 


102 


HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Each zodid is pear-shaped, with a slightly pointed 
tail. The anterior part, the broader, is slightly 
indented, and from this the flagella spring. Usually 
there is one large granule in the interior. Stained 
with iodine, these organisms are seen to have |two 
flagella, often of unequal length. The vibrations of 
these organs produce in the colony a rotatory move- 
ment. The zodids may be often found free. 

ul. Anthophysa Miilleri (Fig. 54 f, g, 2). The 
zoids of Anthophysa resemble those of Uvella, but 
have only one flagellum. They are formed on a 
branching stalk of a brownish hue, and occasionally 
they get free from this and are then seen swimming 
freely about. ‘The stalks are sometimes so numerous 
that they give a brown colour to pond-water. 

12. Bodo socialis is also another small sociable 
infusorian found in pond-water. 

With regard to the two forms Codosiga and Dino- 
bryon, I have never properly examined them, and so 
will omit them here. 

13. LVoctiluca miliaris is the largest of the Flagel- 
lata. It is the common cause of the beautiful phos- 
phorescence of our seain summer-time. The organism 
is easily visible to the naked eye. It is somewhat 
kidney-shaped, one end is cleft, and from the top of 
this there issues a large thick flagellum, striated 
transversely. At the base of this is a tooth, and 
below the tooth a delicate tiny flagellum, The net- 
work of protoplasm is very distinct, and the nucleus 
may be seen, together with large food-vacuoles or 
‘*stomachs,” which often contain large diatoms. 


CILIO FLAGELLATA. 


Of this division of the Infusoria, which may be 
supposed to be a transition-stage between the Flagel- 
lata and the Ciliata, only one representative is here 
briefly introduced. 

14. Peridinium cinctum (Fig. 547) is a member of 
this family. It is divided by a constriction into two 
halves, each furnished with a case or Jorica, which, 
like the silicious covering of the diatom, is beautifully 
sculptured. From the constriction appear the cilia, 
and from the apex the flagellum. This organism is 
green in colour, and resembles to a certain degree the 
larval form of some of the worm family. 

Glenodinium and Ceratium also belong to the Cilio- 
flagellata. The former is brown in colour and inhabits 
fresh water, and the latter is phosporescent and marine 

The higher members of the Infusoria now occupy 
our attention. This forms the third family, and is 
known as the Ciliata. 


CILIATA. 


The large size of these organisms and their common 
occurrence render them admirably suited for micro- 
scopic study. They exist in great diversity of form, 
and they may be classified, as will he shown later, 
according to the arrangement of the cilia. 

Instead of noting their general characters, however, 


it will suffice to first describe a typical species. 
Accordingly we will begin with Paramecium aurelia, 
merely mentioning that it is one of the holotrichous 
Ciliata. 

15. Paramecium aurelia (Fig. 55)—the slipper-ani- 
malcule—is a large free-swimming species ; its length 
is about the hundredth of an inch. It is found in 
pond-water, and though by no means uncommon, the 
other Ciliata must not be mistaken for it. It is oval 
in shape, slightly narrower in profile than front view. 
At the anterior end it is folded near the mouth, and 
this gives it its slipper-like shape. 

The cilia are strong and arise from depressions in 
the ectosarc, which is fairly thick and tough. The 
roots of these cilia can be seen \for some distance 
piercing its outer layer, and this gives it a striated 
appearance. When in motion they move so rapidly 
that they cannot be seen, their rate is slackened or 
accelerated, and often some are moving while others 
are at rest. : 

At this point it may not be out of place to define 
briefly what a cilium is. It is a lash-like organ, a 
fine filament, difficult often to see both from its 
motility, and also from the slight density of its 
substance, which seems little greater than that of 
water. If we watch a row of cilia in action we see a 
wave produced. This is because the cilia do not 
move quite at the same time, but follow each other 
after an imperceptible interval. The action of a 
cilium is like that of a lash which moves sharply 
downwards and then returns’ more slowly back 
to an upright position. Hence, by their united 
action, a current is produced which may be used 
either for locomotion—as in the cilia which cover 
the surface—or to produce a current for food—as in 
those which line the cesophagus. 

The most superficial layer of the ectosarc is the 
firmest and in some Ciliata becomes a hardened 
cuticle or exudation layer (Fig. 55). Beneath this 
the remainder of the ectosarc is called the cortex and 
divided into three layers. First the layer which gives 
rise to the cilia known as the ciliary layer, next the 
muscular or myophan layer, lastly, the deepest layer, 
which in some Infusoria contains thread-cells similar 
to, but much smaller than the thread-cells (trichocysts) 
of the Hydra. The ectosarc, then, is by no means so 
simple as in Amoeba, but it must be understood that 
these layers are not clearly defined one from another. 
The inner protoplasm or endosare is more fluid and 
exhibits a rotation or streaming of the particles which 
it contains. This is best studied in Paramecium 
bursaria. 

There are two contractile spaces situated one near 
each end, probably in the deepest layers of the 
ectosarc. At first one is inclined to confuse these 
with the numerous food-vacuoles present in various 
parts of the endosarc, but by carefully watching, the 
spaces are seen to disappear and then slowly reappear. 
The disappearance of the vesicle is called its systole, 


HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


103 


and its reappearance its diastole. The contraction 
and expansion are rhythmical, occurring at regular 
intervals, like the systole and diastole of the heart. I 
have noted the phenomenon, and seen that, when 
the space disappears, two small triangular canals are 
seen (Fig. 55), then gradually the vesicle reappears, 
growing larger and larger, and the canals vanish. 
When the space has reached its full size, it remains 
for a short time and then suddenly vanishes. The 
sequence of events, as well as the rhythm, remind 
one forcibly of the cardiac cycle. Ina Vorticella the 
time occupied from systole to systole was about half 
@ minute.* 

There are usually numerous food-vacuoles in the 
endorsarc, sometimes filled with fluid, sometimes 
with solid particles. Somewhere near the centre of 
the cell is a round endoplast with a smaller endo- 
plastule attached to it. 

The mouth commences in a fold or involution 
which passes into a short ciliated gullet or cesophagus 
(Fig. 55g). This last ends blindly in a round sac 
which, in some views, may easily be mistaken for a 
large food-cavity. The food enters this sac, drawn 
in by the action of the cilia, which seem to be con- 
stantly working. Carmine particles introduced into 
the water will be drawn into the body in the same 
way, so that Paramecium does not select its food, but 
takes whatever may come within the current. How- 
ever, it makes longer delays where there is most food. 
The food or particles of matter having entered the 
dilatation of the gullet become drawn with surround- 
ing water into the semi-fluid protoplasm, where a 
food-vacuole is formed. At one time the Infuscria 
were called Polygastria, because it was supposed 
that the vacuoles were connected by a delicate canal, 
and each space formed a stomach. The vacuoles 
have no such connection with each other, although 
they may lie very closely together. When the film 
of endosare separating them becomes too thin, it 
gives way, and they fuse intoone large vacuole. The 
nutritive material having been extracted from the 
food, it is expelled at a definite region near the mouth 
(anal area), but there seems to be no permanent orifice. 

We thus see that Paramecium is a very complicated 
cell and very different from the Amoeba or the cells 
that form our own tissues. Indeed, in the Ciliata the 
cell attains morphologically its highest place, and cell 
differentiation (a process in which the various parts 
are differently developed for different purposes) is 
nowhere seen to greater perfection. 

Tt is not intended to occupy much space in con- 
sidering the reproduction of Paramecium, but it is 
interesting to know that it either reproduces itself 
asexually by simple division of its substance into two, 
or sexually by the more uncommon process of con- 
jugation observed and described by Balbiani. 


(Zo be continued.) 


* Thirty-two seconds. 


TWO BOG FLOWERS. 


JN the boggy ground that is so frequent upon our 

mountain sides, there is one little plant that 
cannot fail to attract the notice of those who wander 
thither. Its rosette of shining yellowish leaves is 
closely pressed down upon the mosses amongst which 
it chooses its home, in company with the sundew, 
bog pimpernel, asphodel, and such-like moisture- 
loving plants. If it be the early summer-time, one. 
or more flowers somewhat resembling the violet in 


form and colour will be seen, each rising on a long 


elegant scape from the centre of the rosette o leaves. 
This is the butterwort (Pingaicula vulgaris), and it is 
to the peculiar greasy appearance of the leaves that it 
owes its generic name (pinguis = fat); of the com- 
mon English name, something will be said further on. 
The plants that compose the order to which it belongs 
(Lentibularineze) are, for the most part, dwellers in 
marshes or water, but the only other genus of this 
order in our country is the bladderwort ( U¢ricularia), 
so named from the little bladder-like pitchers that 
buoy it up in the water, and possibly serve other 
purposes not yet satisfactorily defined. The Lentibu- 
larineze have strong affinities with the Scrophularinez, 
and these are specially shown in the personate or two- 
lipped corolla, and the spur of the lower lip as well 
as in the axile placentation of the ovary, but it has 
also peculiarities of structure that will appear as we 
proceed. 

We will first examine the leaves, which are oblong 
and obtuse, with a broad, short, sheathing petiole. 
The margins are strongly curved inwards, especially 
towards the tip, and make the leaf into a sort of little 
spoon, a form which is said to have its use in detaining 
small insects, for the consumption of this so-called 
carnivorous plant! Ifa lens be used to inspect the 
texture of the leaf more closely, we find that it is 
thickly dotted over with minute oil-glands, which 
impart the greasiness that is as perceptible to the touch 
as to the sight. The flower-scape rises erect from the 
centre of the plant to the height of several inches, 
and like the leaves is thickly studded with glandular 
hairs. The calyx is small ; and the five sepals, three in 
front and two rather longer behind, give it somewhat 
the appearance of a claw holding the corolla in place. 
The flower is not unlike a violet at first sight, but the 
two-lipped corolla is gamopetalous, and a little careful 
manipulation will bring it off in one piece, when the 
short tube by which it is attached below the ovary 
(hypogynous) is to be seen, like a hole cut in the 
upper lip at the back of the lobes. The lower lip is 
broad and three-lobed, and the throat is densely 
covered with a perfect forest of jointed white hairs 
turning inwards. Looking full into the face of this 
pretty flower, one can at first see neither stamens nor 
pistil, so cunningly are they concealed; but just 
underneath the upper lip there is something that 
looks like a fold or scale, and by tearing down the 


2 


104 


HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSIP. 


lower lip the funniest little apparatus comes into 
view, and we find that this fold is the leaf-like expan- 
sion of the stigma. The two stamens are placed in 
front of the ovary, as shown in the drawing, the anthers 
being tucked under the curling leaf of the stigma, the 
upper part of which has a sort of upright tail, which 
is its second lobe. If a somewhat older flower be 
examined, the stamens will be found in exactly the 
same position, but the anthers having burst trans- 
versely, the pollen will be seen exuding from beneath 
the enfolding lobe of the stigma, ready to be trans- 
ferred to the sticky portion of the same stigma, or a 
different one should some insect visitor arrive betimes. 
On removing the stamens with a needle, the ovary is 
seen, dotted over, like the rest of the plant, with 


Fig. 56.—Butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris). 


shining glands on its pale green surface, and a very 
pretty object it is with the delicate purple stigma 
curling over its summit and the little tail cocked up 
pertly behind. So much for the structure of the 
flower; and now a few words as to the measures 
adopted by the plant for ensuring the efficacy of those 
possible or probable insect visits just alluded to. 
There is a tribe of hard dry-leaved plants called 
Bromeliacez, natives of the continent and islands of 
America, and capable of enduring great drought 
without inconvenience, of which the pine-apple is a 
familiar example. Professor Kerner says that the 
structure of the butterworts reminds him of this tribe, 
in which a rosette of leaves forms a basin, and out of 
its middle rises a slender flower-stem. The basin 
gets filled with rain or dew, and the flower-stalk 


being thus isolated, creeping insects are prevented 
from climbing up the stem and getting at the honey 
which the plant reserves for those only that are useful 
to it. In the butterwort, this rosette-like basin (or 
what answers the same purpose) is covered with a 
tenacious, viscid slime, which is secreted by the thickly 
crowded glandular hairs. ‘This secretion is so tena- 
cious that no small insect can get free from it, and 
the writer ‘has often counted ten or a dozen lying 
dead upon a single leaf, some of their bodies being 
transparent, as if the juices had been sucked out. 
The larger insects can, of course, free themselves, but 
they always make for the outer edge of the leaf, and 
avoid climbing up the flower-stalk. It is generally 
allowed that the butterworts are able to subsist with- 
out absorbing the juices of insects after the manner of 
the sundews, but we may well believe that the sticky 
rosette of leaves and the glandular scape effectually 
prevent small insects from creeping up after the honey, 
while the broad lower lip of the corolla affords a 


UUs Z 


Fig. 57.—1, Calyx, with stamens seen in front of ovary, leaf- 
like stigma overarching them; 2, pistil; 3, longitudinal sec- 
tion of same; 4, 4, stamens in different states; 5, glandular 
hairs of leaves; 6, club-shaped jointed hairs of corolla. All 
much magnified. 


convenient landing-place for those welcome guests 
who come to it on the wing, and do not try to enter 
by the back door! 

In early June the writer had the pleasure of finding 
the pale butterwort (Pinguicula lusitanica) in the New 
Forest. It is a plant that is confined to our extreme 
southern and south-western counties, having a range 
from Hants to Cornwall, where it seems to occupy 
the position of its sister-plant in the more northerly 
parts of the kingdom, P. vulgaris being rare in the 
south. The pale butterwort is an altogether smaller 
and more dainty little plant than the latter ; its rosette 
of leaves is yellower, and its pale lilac flowers are 
variously streaked and stained with deep purple and 
orange markings. The corolla has not the peculiar 
flattened appearance of the common butterwort, nor 
is the spur so pointed. The roots, as is commonly 
the case among bog-plants, are small, and are chiefly 
useful for anchorage, as the leaves, being so closely 


FARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


105 


pressed down on to the damp moss, must absorb at 
least as much moisture through their delicate surfaces 
as the roots take up; they are remarkably thin in 
texture, with rolled-in edges and a net-work of rami- 
fying purple veins, but they are not as greasy-looking 
asin P. vulgaris. It may also be remarked that no 
dead flies were found upon them. On the freshly 


PROJECTION 


Fig. 58.—Section of flower of Pinguzcula lusitanica (enlarged 
projection). 


\ \ 


Fig. 60. 


Fig. 61. 


Fig. 62. 


Fig. 60.—Jointed white hairs on lobes of corolla. 
Fig. 51.—Projection of mouth of Pizguicula lusitanica. 
Fig. 62.—Projection and hollows (highly magnified), 


gathered specimens there were numbers of tiny beetles 
that seemed to walk about with great ease ; perhaps 
their hard covering and little wiry legs enabled them 
to set at defiance the cloggy stickiness that might 
have been fatal to more delicately-formed insects ; 
sometimes, however, the horny beetle-cases were 
transparent and empty, but since the plants have 
been living in captivity the old leaves have died and 


with them their little denizens have departed, so that 
special observations have not been made on this point. 
The flower of P. Zusitanica has not the personate 
appearance of /. wzlearis, the corolla is rather 
inflated than compressed, and the spur instead of 
being acute, is obtuse and almost inclined to be lobed 5 
at its saccate base. The enlarged section of the 
flower shows a projection that rises near the entrance, 
covered with a short velvety pile of fine clubbed hairs. 
It is tucked up from the outside, like the lip of a snap- 
dragon, and a ridge beyond it continues still further 
into the throat, crested with orange-tipped hairs. 
There is a hollow on each side of the ridge perfectly 
free from hairs, and their opposite sides are bounded 
by two more ridges, with hairs reaching still further 
into the throat. The position of the stamens and 
pistil is similar to that which obtains in P. vulgaris ; 
and the arrangement of hairs within the corolla sug- 
gests that they are intended to act as guides to those 
insects who may visit the flower in search of the 
honey contained in the spur, for no insect of the 
proper size could possibly reach it without at the 
same time #ouching both stamens and pistil in suc- 
cession. In default of this agency, the flower can 
doubtless fertilize itself; for the pollen oozes out 
plentifully from under the pistil-lobe, and might 
easily overflow on to its upper stigmatic surface’; 
indeed this must be the case, for the plants that for 
the last six weeks have been living in a make-believe 
bog in a soup-plate, have blossomed and set their 
seed, and are now scattering it from their ripe cap- 
sules, as if they were quite at home, and are only a 
trifle paler than they were in the bog at Lyndhurst. 
The flowers lasted a long time without withering, and 
as this is usually a question of fertilization, the little 
butterworts probably waited as long as possible for 
the insects who never visited them in their captivity, 
and at last were obliged to dispense with their ser- 
vices. It is pleasant to see-the capsules split and 
scatter the pretty seeds upon the moss. The leaves 
of P, vulgaris have the remarkable property of giving 
consistence to milk, and preventing it turning into 
whey or cream. The product is a sort of solid sour 
milk, not at all unpleasant to the taste, especially in 
hot weather. It is much used in Norway and 
Sweden. 
M. D. D. 
Hawkshead, Ambleside. 


A REMINISCENCE OF MALTA. 


T was about six o’clock in the morning when 
the S.S. Ovontes dropped anchor in the ,Grand 
Harbour at Malta; and shortly afterwards we re- 
ceived the welcome intelligence that pratique had 
been given, and that we were at liberty to go on 
shore to amuse ourselves, as best we could, in the 
Fior del Mondo for the space of twenty-four hours. 


106 


_-HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Here was an opportunity that was not to be missed. 
Thad long ago done the usual round of the ‘‘ lions” 
of Valetta, and therefore neither Strada Reale, the 
Palace, nor the Armoury had any further charms for 


me, My desire now was to visit Citta Vecchia, the~ 


old capital of the islands, the crumbling walls and 
deserted palaces of which are situated on the summit 
of one of the spurs of the Binjemma Hills, at a dis- 
tance of about seven miles from the present capital. 

After the usual amount of bargaining with several 
Maltese cabmen, whose custom, by the bye, is always 
to ask the tourist three times what is legally due to 
them, and double what they expect to receive, I 
hired a carrozza, and was soon rolling along at a brisk 
pace through the noisy, dusty streets of Floriana and 
Hamrun. j 

None of the resources of modern science or of 
modern architecture appear to have been called into 
requisition in the planning of these ill-built and 
badly-drained suburbs, and it was, therefore, with 
a feeling of relief that I left them behind, and turned 
to welcome the sight of the picturesque little villages 
of Lia and Attard, that shortly afterwardg loomed in 
sight. Had time permitted, I should have paid a 
visit to the palace, with its lovely gardens and 
spacious orange-groves, which is situated on the out- 
skirts of Lia, and to which the Governor and his 
family usually go in the summer months, to escape 
the suffocating heat of the town. But my anxiety to 
reach my destination, and to spend as long a time as 
possible among the ruins of the old city on the hill, 
induced me to putioff my visit to St. Antonio’s Palace 
until some more fitting occasion, 

After leaving the village, a bend in the road 
brought us within full view of the old capital. It 
crowns the summit of a small tableland, the top of 
which is about 600 feet above the sea-level. The 
original portion of the city seems to have been 
built on the north and north-western edge of ‘the 
plateau ; but of late years considerable additions 
have been made, and the town and its suburbs now 
cover a much larger area. The cathedral, a lofty 
and imposing structure, is built on the edge of the 
cliffs ; and from the bottom of the hill it forms the 
most striking feature of the place. The hospital, 
too, that stands by the side of it, and which 
formerly served as an auberge for the Knights 
of Malta, is scarcely less remarkable; while the 
number of elegant buildings that are ranged around 
are so grouped as, in the distance, to form a scene, 
the general effect of which is very impressive. 

The position and physical surroundings of a place 
play a part in the enhancement of its beauty such as 
no number of superb buildings can supply. In Citta 
Vecchia this is particularly exemplified. Owing to 
its unique position, the old town is capable of making 
a picture from any point of view whatever. It cer- 
tainly looked very beautiful in the grey morning light, 
when I saw it from the foot of the hill near St. 


Salvatore ; but it is from the Musta Road that it 
must be viewed to catch it in its most charming 
aspect. There the contrasts in art and nature are 
alike more detailed, more striking ; there the scene 
that is presented is more comprehensive, more pic- 
turesque. 

Nor is the charm dispelled on a closer acquaint- 
ance. As the old walls are approached, the city, as 
a whole, fades from the mind; and the particular 
then takes the place of the general. The ramparts, 
the bastions, the fosse, each in turn engage the 
attention; and thus what is lost in picturesque 
effect is fully compensated for by the suggestions that 
each stone, as it passes in review, gives rise to. 
There are two principal gateways whereby entrance 
to the city may be obtained, both of which are 
situated on the southern side of the city. That at 
the south-western end, is a fine specimen of the 
engineering and architectural skill of the Knights. 
It is approached by means of a drawbridge that spans. 
a wide, deep moat, the bottom of which has been 
converted into a flower-garden. The facade of the 
gate is still in a good state of preservation ; but the 
walls on either side of it are sorely weather-beaten 
and time-worn. Within the entrance, and situated 
on the left hand of it, there is a niche containing a 
statue in a sadly dilapidated condition. But muti- 
lated as it is, the graceful lines of the human form» 
that the skill of the artist had impressed on the stone 
are yet discernible. Of its origin little is known, but 
it is supposed to be a specimen of Roman sculpture ; 
and it is said to represent the Queen of the: Roman 
Pantheon. Almost immediately opposite, and situated 
on the right-hand side, is the old auberge, which is 
now used as a sanitorium. Within the quadrangle 
which faces the building, there is a bust of one of 
Malta’s heroes, of one of that order of brave spirits who 
devoted their lives to the protection of their more help- 
less co-religionists ; one of that order who, while de- 
fending the faith of their fathers, succeeding ininflicting 
upon the infidel Turks, a series of blows, from the 
effects of which, even to this day, they have never 
recovered. The Grandmaster Manoel was not the 
least of the galaxy whose genius shed such a lustre 
on the ‘‘ Order of St. John.” 

The hand of Time has been laid but lightly upon 
the old building. It walls are somewhat greyer, and 
here and there the sirocco has wasted its facade, but 
besides this there is but little else to testify to the two 
centuries that have passed over them. But what are 
two centuries? In comparison with some relics that 
the city contains, this auberge is but as of yesterday. 
The foundations:of the old city are a very embodiment of 
antiquity. Phoenician hands have reared their. dwellings 
on its site; and Romans, Greeks, and Carthaginians. 
have alike left evidences of their departed glory 
in its precincts. The voice of one of Rome’s greatest 
orators was raised in its defence against those of his. 
own countrymen who should have protected rather 


HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


107 


than have despoiled. Cicero, in a torrent of fierce 
invective, denounced the confiscations of Verres, and 
called for justice for the Maltese people. The Sara- 
cens, too, have left their mark upon its walls ; while 
in the more modern name of ‘‘ Notabile,” which has 
been given to the suburbs that have sprung up around 
the old town, we have an evidence of the estimation 
in which it was held by Alphonse the Castilian. 

Of the times of the Knights what need is there to 
speak? Do not the grim old battlements tell their 
own tale? Do they not conjure up scenes of its 
history, scenes of bloodshed, of suffering, cf death? 
No one, methinks, could enter that old gateway, 
and ramble among those ruined ramparts, without 
calling to mind some of the bloody incidents that have 
been enacted within them. 

At the northern extremity of the bastions stands 
the cathedral church, a noble edifice, built in the 
Corinthian style of architecture, and embellished 
within and without with ali that art and money can 
supply. Its interior is impressively grand. The 
reliquaries of ancient Christendom that are contained 
within its walls, are numerous and of the greatest 
interest. A picture of the Madonna, said to have been 
painted by St. Luke, and several relics of the Apostle 
of the Gentiles, are among some of the most precious 
ofthem. Within the tabernacle of the highaltar are 
the paten and chalice with which St. Paul and his 
asserted successor St. Publius administered the sacra- 
ment to the converted Maltese. 

The paintings, carvings, and other works of art 
thave all been made subservient to one end, namely to 
divert the attention of man from the vanities of this 
world, and to divert his attention to the glories and 
happiness of the next. The very stones with which 
the floors are paved, with their inscriptions and 
symbols of death, preach monitory sermons to their 
readers, and serve to remind them how fleeting is 
man’s existence here. 

From the belfry of the cathedral a splendid view of 
the island is to be obtained. If the day is clear and 
fine, even Etna may be seen in the distance. 
To the west and south-west a curtain of hills shuts 
in a scene that is made up of an undulating and freely 
diversified country, studded with the cultivated patches 
of the husbandman, and bespéckled with the churches 
and dwellings of the peasantry. Looking eastwards 
the undulating freestone surface of the south-eastern 
portion of Malta is bounded by the blue waters of the 
Mediterranean ; while to the south several spurs of 
the Binjemmas jut forth on the plain, and encompass 
a series of rich and fruitful valleys. 

Turning to the north, we see the bay of St. Paul, 
the scene of the Apostle’s shipwreck ; while beyond 
lies the tutelary genius of the island—the sea— 
dancing and glittering in the sunbeams that move 
merrily over it, and almost hiding in their silvery 
Sheen the islet of St. Paul, which lies in the back- 
ground, Villages, churches, farmsteads, and isolated 


cattle-sheds lie scattered in all directions over the 
landscape beneath. 

Near Maddalena the variegated rock surfaces of 
the ‘Grand Fault” of the island lie exposed, and 
serve as an effective foreground to the water behind. 
These rocks afford us an excellent example of the 
influence that the internal structure of a formation has 
upon the scenery of the country. Wherever the soft 
freestone, that is the formation upon which the town 
of Valetta is built, crops out, there low undulating 
plains and long smooth slopes are formed ; and the 
result is scenery of a tame and monotonous character. 
But wherever rocks of a harder consistency appear, 
such as those that occur at Maddalena, on the northern 
shores of the island, there the scenery is characterised 
by rugged hills, and scarped and precipitous valleys. 

The differences between the district around Mad- 
dalena and the plain beneath are more striking in 
summer than in winter. In winter-time the monotony 
of the plain is relieved by the vegetation that then 
covers it. The stone walls partly hidden in a profuse 
covering of verdure; the blending of rich-coloured 
soils with the richer colourings of the produce that 
they bear, the crimson sulla and the golden rye, the 
brilliant green of the ivy-encircled walls; it is the 
presence of these that tends to soften down those 
harsher features that make themselves so painfully 
apparent in the summer-time. In winter the scene is 
as pleasing, as in summer it is intolerable. 

But though all around is constantly changing, yet 
the city itself appears to be but little affected. It is 
true that Time’s hands have been laid somewhat 
heavily upon the bastions and towers; but yet there 
they still stand, as sturdy and as strong as ever. Its 
buttresses know not decrepitude ; and were the con- 
ditions of war but the same now, as when the fortifi- 
cations were designed, there is little doubt but that 
they would still be able to prove themselves to be 
capable of doing yeoman service. 

But the times and the manners have changed ; and 
Citta Vecchia has been relegated to the limbo of the 
past. Its streets are now deserted; its glory has 
departed. But the place will ever remain green in 
the memories of those who cherish tradition and its 
heroes. The city is rich in historical associations, 
and every stone, had it a tongue, could recount a 
history as thrilling as any romance of medizval times. 
It is rich also in its traditions of by-gone ages ; but it 
is the richest of alljin the melancholy memories of 
the brave hearts that reared its walls, and who os 
heroically fought and died in its defence. 

Joun H. CooKe. 


THEactively peripatetic Geologists’ Association made 
their annual Easter Excursion this year to Devizes, 
Swindon, and Farringdon, under the directorate of 
Professor Blake, Dr. Hinde, Messrs. H. B. Wood- 
ward, Bell, and Bennett. 


108 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 


CURIOSITIES OF WORM-LIFE. 


By the Rev. HiLDERIC FRIEND, F.L.S., Author 
of ‘‘Flowers and Flower Lore,” etc. 


VERY naturalist is aware of the fact that there 

is scarcely a plant or animal in existence which 

is not liable to some peculiarity or other. Among 
the highest animals we have dwarfs and Siamese 
twins, not to mention other deformities ; while 
chicks and calves seem especially fond of appearing 
with two heads or a pair of caudal appendages, 
Worms are no exception to the rule ; but so far as I 
am aware no popular account has ever yet been given 
of these freaks of worm-life as a whole, such as we 


brought from the Cotswold Hills, in Gloucestershire, 
which leads me to infer that there is yet a good deak 
to be learned about the influence of habitat, soil, 
climate, height above sea-level, and other factors, 
upon the development of worms, ‘This tendency of 
the girdle to occupy the centre of the worm’s body is 
quite unlike that which we find in the green worm 
(Allolobophora chlorotica),-Fig, 63.1, where the number 
of segments behind the girdle is usually double that 
in front. Owing, however, to the hinder segments 
having a much narrower diameter longitudinally than 
those in front of the girdle, the girdle here falls nearly 
in the centre of the body. 

A very striking peculiarity has often presented itself 
in the study of the brandling (AWolobophora fetida). 


<< iM 
a sl a 


Sy 


Fig. 63.—1, Green Worm (AUolobophora chlorotiwa) with girdle (cZ) normally near centre of body; 2, abnormal worm with tail 
shortened ; 3, Brandling (4J/lolobophora fatida) with male pores (wf) on alternate segments, instead of being normally on 
segment 15; 4, Brandling, showing bands splitting (a) in two; 5, typical Lumbricus head, #7 prostomium, fe7z peristomium ; 
6, typical Allolobophora head; 7, abnormal form of long worm (Ad/olobophora longa) with double tail. Nos. 3-6 magnified two 


diameters, the rest natural size. 


have been favoured with in relation to other animals, 
as well as plants. During my researches into the 
habits of earth-worms I have had ample means of 
studying a number of these peculiarities, some of 
which are now submitted for the benefit of our 
readers. 

There are several ways in which earth-worms 
depart from the type. In some instances there is no 
deformity, but the full-grown worm shows a curious 
tendency to limit the number of segments. In this 
way a species which should normally have sixty rings 
behind the girdle, will have only thirty (Fig. 63.2), so 
that the girdle comes just in the middle of the body. 
I have found this tendency in’more than one species 


This worm, like the great majority of our native 
species, has the male pore on the fifteenth segment. 
If a worm is examined carefully, it will be found that 
a pair of papillz, or white swellings, occupy the 
under surface of the fifteenth ring, counting from the 
head backwards. These swellings carry a pore, and 
serve as an important character in the diagnosis of 
genera. We have one small genus in Britain 
(Allurus) which carries the male pore on segment 13. 
Now the brandling is the most variable of all our 
species, and seems to be in a transition state, for it 
may be found sometimes with pores normally dis- 
posed, at other times with both pores on segment 
14, and not infrequently with one pore on the 14th 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


109 


and the other on the 15th segment (Fig. 63.3). Ihave 
found this latter peculiarity also in the gilt-tail (4//. 
subrubicunda). 

Another remarkable tendency of worms is better 
observed in this species than in any other, owing to 
its bright, well-defined colour-band. The brandling, 
as its name implies, is brindled or streaked with 
brown and gold, and it is no uncommon thing to see 
the brown bands bifurcating (Fig. 63.4), and splitting 
up, thus giving a very characteristic zebra-like 
appearance. 

The girdle, or clitellum, of earth-worms is very 
liable to abnormal development. I found a brandling 
in Sussex some time ago which was quite a study, on 
account of its bilateral asymmetry. On the left side 
the male pore occupied segment 15, and the tubercula 
segments 28, 29, 30; while on the right side the 
pore was on segment 16, and the tubercula on 29, 
30, 31. Another worm found at Bolton Woods, in 
Yorkshire, displayed the girdle bulging out at one 
side of the body, instead of forming a saddle on its 
dorsal surface. 

These, and many ‘other little freaks of nature, 
however, which might be mentioned in connection 
with the colour, shape, and development of worms, 
sink into insignificance in presence of the forms now 
to be described, although the facts are not new. I 
received early in March a curious specimen of the 
long worm (A/olobophora longa), 2 worm which has 
all along been confused with the common earth-worm 
(Lumbricus terrestris, L.). The two may be easily 
distinguished by the shape of the head or prostomium, 
the colour of the body, and the position of the girdle. 


In the earth-worm, which is a true Lumbricus, the- 


prostomium cuts (Fig. 63.5) the first segment entirely 
in two, the colour is purplish-red with lighter-coloured 
tail, and the girdle begins on segment 32. The long 
worm has a prostomium only partially inserted in the 
first segment (Fig. 63.6); it is usually a very dark 
sienna-brown, and has a girdle extending from 
segments 28 to 35. 

My specimen of the long worm was found at 
Hungerford, in Berkshire, and was sent to me by 
Mr. Winkworth of London. It is a sample of the 
““double monster,” very similar in every respect to 
several which have been described in various scientific 
journals within the last few years. I will first of all 
describe the specimen, then give some details as to 
earlier specimens. 

The worm is about five inches in length, and would 
be described by the angler as a maiden dew-worm. 
It has no girdle, the anterior portion of the body 
when living was the usual deep sienna, the posterior 
nearly flesh-coloured. Three-fourths of the body, from 
the head backwards, are perfectly normal, and consist 
of 110 segments. From this point the tail becomes 
twice the usual size, assumes a somewhat quadrangular 
shape, and gives off a branch which, like the thickened 
portion, is a quarter the length of the worm’s body. 


The drawing (Fig. 63.7) will make the matter clearer 
than any mere verbal description. The thickened 
tail and the branch alike consist of 60 segments. 
The total number of segments therefore in one axis is 
170, and this is the average number for the long 
worm, An exactly similar specimen was described 
by Mr. Broome in 1888 (‘* Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. 
of Glasgow,” p. 203), but it is erroneously named the 
common earth-worm. The worm was about four 
inches long, and at a distance of three and a quarter 
inches from the mouth the body divided into two 
unequal parts, each furnished with an anus. The 
longer of these two parts lay in the same axis as the 
rest of the body, while the shorter branch projected 
from the main trunk. Other specimens are on 
record as follows :—In the catalogue of the Teratologi- 
cal specimens in the Museum of the Royal College of 
Surgeons, published in 1872, is a description of an 
earth-worm with the posterior third of the body 
symmetrically double. This specimen was presented 
to the College in 1810, by W. Clift, Esq. In the 
‘*Quart. Journal Mic. Soc.,” 1867, vol. vii. p. 157, 
we find a note on a double earth-worm by Mr. 
Robertson. He calls it Lumbricus terrestris, but in 
those days every worm bore this title, and it would 
be interesting to know what species is really intended. 
It is now in the University Museum, Oxford. In 
1871, Mr. Breese, as President of the ‘‘ West Kent 
Nat. Hist. Soc.,” made use of this paper and its 
accompanying illustration, but threw no further light 
on the subject, so far as one can gather from the 
abstract of his presidential address. Professor Jeffrey 
Bell has a notice of two Lumbrici with bifid hinder 
ends in ‘‘ Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.,” 1885, vol. xvi. p. 
475. In February, 1891, Mr. Foster exhibited to 
the “‘ Hull Scientific Club” a specimen of the common 
earth-worm (query species) ‘‘ which possessed an 
appendage appearing like a double tail.” 

When I was at the Zoo the other day, Mr. 
Beddard, our leading authority on worms, showed 
me a specimen of the long worm in every way like 
the specimen from Hungerford now in my possession. 

The foregoing exhausts all the references I have at 
present to this form of monstrosity in British earth- 
worms. To attempt an explanation of these peculi- 
arities here would involve both space and technicalities 
and I must be content to refer the reader to the 
articles already named for a discussion of this branch 
of the subject. 


NOTES ON MANX PLANTS. 


HE flora of the Isle of Man is not numerous in 
species, nor are there many rare plants to 
encourage the specimen-hunter. Its isolated position 
even shuts out some quite plentiful on the other side, 
of its boundary waters. Yet there is no lack of 
flowers in Man, and some beautiful and interesting 


IIo 


HARDWICKE' S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


yplants do their utmost to make up, by their abun- 
dance for the lack of others. Some notes on the 
characteristics of the island’s botany may not be 
unwelcome, especially in view of the number of your 
readers who annually visit our shores. 

Perhaps the most striking features of our plant-life 
sare to be seen on the sea-coast. This consists of 
tugged cliffs for the greater part of its circuit, and 
these, especially on the bold and picturesque western 
side of the isle, often present a luxuriant vegetation. 
On their dry tops, or on the earthen fences which 
shut off the cliff-edge from the cultivated land, 
Sedum anglicum, our only common stone-crop, opens 
its myriads of starry spotted flowers. From the 
broken ground spring the kidney-vetch (Azthyllis 
wulneraria) and hare’s-foot trefoil (Zvefolium arvense). 
Where the rock splits into ledges, and water drips 
through its crevices, Cochlearia officinalis covers it 
with a snowfallof blossom. The common companion 
of the scurvy-grass is the sea-feverfew (Matricaria 
inodora, var. maritima), with its flowers so like dog- 
daisies. On both rock and earth is the straggling 
bushy growth of Sfergularia marina. Great cushions 
-of sea-pink (Armeria maritima), crowned with their 
many rosy clusters, sprout from the cracks, mingled 
with the pale-green foliage and reticulated calyces of 
‘the sea-campion (.S7/exe maritima). Beds of samphire, 
recognised far off by its strange glaucous hue, cover 
here and there long ledges, usually out of reach. 
But the loveliest sea-plant of all is the vernal squill 
(Scilla verna) abundant on all our rocky coasts, and 
sometimes, as at Cronk Moar in Rushen, straying a 
little inland. Often ithe grassy sea-margins are ‘so 
profusely sprinkled with these faintly-scented dwarf 
‘hyacinths, that they give the prevailing colouring to 
the brows. On the west, steep and stony ground 
is sometimes covered by a huge and rank growth of 
the common nettle. Below, where boulders and 
fragments fallen from above form a rough kind of 
beach, overhung by the great rock-masses, vegetation is 
sscarcer. Bits of sea-spurrey still grow wherever they 
can find a rooting-place. The stones are thinly sown 
with the straggling mealy stems of a slender and not 
ungraceful form of atriplex (? de/foidea). Sometimes 
there is a little yellow stonecrop (Sedum acre). 
‘Sometimes the pretty foliage of the sea-milkwort 
(Glaux maritima) turning a beautiful yellow in 
autumn, carpets the ground between the boulders, 
and in some stony spots, which it has nearly 
completely to itself, the common silverweed (Poentilla 
canserina) has a singularly delicate appearance. A 
plant very common, on these strands, or, as they are 
called in the Isle of Man, ‘‘ Traics,”? where a stream 
trickles from the rock, is the tall, rough hemp- 
agrimony (Zujpatorium cannabinum), its dull flower- 
heads and abundant foliage not unpicturesque amid 
its surroundings. Trace up the water a littie further, 
if the ascent be not too steep, and you will find 
brookweed (Samolus valerandi), and perhaps, for it is 


not very frequent in Man, a few of hart’s-tongue fern 
(Scolopendrum vulgare), or the high stem and golden 
lamp-like flowers of the tutsan (Ayfericum andro- 
s@mum). But where the cliff is hollowed out into 
a cavern, ora long recess slopes away into blackness, 
you will see in profusion the rich glossy fronds of the 
sea-spleenwort (Asplenium marinum). Sometimes 2 
mossy projection jutting from the darkness of a great 
cave is completely draped with this fine fern. Great 
tufts of it, somewhat ragged and stunted from 
exposure, and mixed with immense growths of sea- 
spurrey, spring from the ruinous walls of Peil, “a 
castle like a rock upon a rock.” By careful search a 
rarer fern may be found. The maiden-hair, though 
sadly thinned, still lingers in some dripping cavernous 
places, on the west coast. <Asplenium adiantum- 
nigrum is frequent on the coast also, more out of 
reach of the tide than 4. marvinum. ‘Vhe sea-kale 
grows in a few localities ; and among the débris of the 
low rocks, on the south, the flaunting flowers of the 
horned-poppy may be gathered, and even the hen- 
bane, though that is uncommon in Man. Zuphorbia 
fortlandica is found on stony rubbish at a wild strand 
on the east coast. The extreme north of the island 
is a sandy and comparatively level district, with a 
coast sometimes flat, but usually rising into cliffs of 
sand and clay. This has its peculiar flora, but most 
of the plants are those to be found on every similar 
shore in Britain. The gay carpet of the sandy 
pastures is [largely composed of bird’s-foot lotus (Z. 
corniculatus), and rest-harrow (Oxonis arvensis), the 
form seeming to be always vefens, sometimes with 
the addition of Ornithopus perpusillus, and dotted with 
the common pink stork’s-bill (Zvodium cicutarium). 
On the sands sea-rocket (Cakile maritima) and salt- 
wort (Sadsofa kali) are abundant, and on the shingle 
above high-water mark, sea-purslane (Honchenya 
peploides). Eryngium maritimum adds to the prevail- 
ing blue-green of the great masses of sea-reed. The 
field-borders are brightiwith the common vetch (Vicia 
angustifolia. The rare Brassica monensis, which 
seems to have been named by John Ray from 
specimens gathered on the ‘‘ Mooragh,” at Ramsey, 
is still found there and at other spots; and in the 
neighbouring salt-flats tidally overflowed, the glass- 
wort (Salicornia herbacea) flourishes in the bare, 
muddy spaces between tufts of sea-pink. 

The deep glens which seam the mountain-land so 
protusely have a rich vegetation, often in strong con- 
trast with the bareness of the hill-masses among 
which they are hidden ; but here, too, few prizes will 
be found. On very damp stony places, under the 
deep shade of rock and wood, are great clusters of 
yellow-green Chrysosplenium (oppositifolium), and 
wood-anemones thickly star the stream-sides along 
the branches of the Glass and Groudle brooks, and in 
some of the northern glens, and complete the spring 
charm of hyacinth, primrose, and dog-violet. Wood- 
sorrel is wonderfully abundant, and golden-rod 


AARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 


IIt 


(Solidago virgaurea) and tutsan frequently spring 
from the rocky sides. Ferns of course there are in 
profusion, and from them theravines derive their great- 
est beauty. On the ledges the common polypody 
often attains a great size. The mountain-buckler fern 
(Lastrea oreopteris) is very noticeable by its frequency 
and luxuriance. The royal fern (Osmunda regalis) 
is found in glens, on bog-land, and even on wet sea- 
side rocks (as at Fleshwick), and cart-loads of these 
fine plants are taken from the northern “ Curraghs ” 
to Douglas, for sale on market-days in summer. 

The stony rubbish of the South Barrule granite 
quarries is green with parsley. fern (A//osorus 
crisps), which inhabits some other spots also, but 
is not common. Gorse is specially abundant and 
luxuriant in Man, the large kind (Wlex Europeus) 
brightening the high sod fences which form the field- 
boundaries, ‘‘ never out of blossom,” the Manx saying 
tells us, “* while kissing is in fashion,” and the smaller 
(Ulex nanus) combining with the heather to cover 
great tracts of land. The three common kinds of 
heath are all, of course, plentiful, but perhaps the 
most striking is the profuse and brilliant Zvica cinerea, 
which, however, is becoming rusty by the time the 
less showy ling is at its best. Common accompani- 
ments of heather and gorse are the milkwort, its 
varied-coloured flowers thick in the springy hill-side 
turf, eyebright, and, along fences and dry-stone walls, 
foxglove. Where wet spots occur amid the heathy 
ground, the seeker will be rewarded by a more exten- 
Sive range of plants. One such place recurs to my 
memory while I write, and 1 will describe it as an 
example of many similar. A strip of waste land fills 
the bottom of a sequestered valley, not a quarter of a 
mile broad. On the left-hand side, looking up the 
valley, and close to the bounding hill, here shaded 
by 2 plantation, rises a rocky natural eminence, rough 
with bramble and bracken, its top surrounded by the 
grassy mounds of a prehistoric fort, from among 
which springs a clump of Scotch firs. On the right 
is a long and broken dry-stone wall, below which the 
ground falls rapidly to the rushy borders of an old 
watercourse, now almost choked by weed. On this 
ground the mountain sweet fern grows, its nearest 
station to Douglas. Further off in the same direc- 
tion is the river, a swift hill-stream whirling down 
over its gravelly bed, a pair of sand-pipers flitting 
along its margin, the heavy flight of a heron moving 
lazily up the valley overhead. Between the river and 
the watercourse the ground is covered with gorse and 
rank grass, and the low bushes in early summer are 
rich with the creamy blossoms of the burnet-rose 
(2. sfinosissima), a most abundant species here. All 
over the waste, and on every rough hedge-bank for 
miles, are the golden flowers of the St. John’s wort, 
well-named ‘‘ pulchrum,” one of the commonest and 
loveliest of Manx wild plants. It is the ‘‘Luss-y- 
chialg” of country people, who still use it as a tonic. 

But just before us a little stream, oozing from the 


hill, finds its way into the watercourse, and before 
reaching the dry-stone wall soaks a bit of the heath- 
land. Looking closer at this spot, we are aware 
of its gorgeous colouring : rose, crimson, orange, and 
cream-colour. There are the waxen bells of the rose- 
heather (Z77ca tetralix), there the spikes of the bog- 
asphodel (Warthecium ossifragum), and the curious 
strong-scented heads of Aypericum elodes. The 
spotted palmate orchis (Ovchis macilata), is abun- 
dant ; it is the only orchis at all common in Man, and 
strives, by its appearance in every marshy spot, to 
make up for the absence of its relatives. The marsh 
red-rattle (Ledicularis palustris) rises near the 
stream-side, less common than the smaller species, 
which is very abundant in the island. The common 
butterwort (Pinguccula vulgaris) rears its graceful 
flowers like long-stalked violets, from the unctuous 
leaves, and the pale butterwort (P. Zusitanica), a by 
no means unfrequent plant with us, shows its thinner 
foliage and lighter-tinted flowers near the trickling 
water, scattered here and there. There is a plentiful 
undergrowth of sundew (Drosera rotundifolia), and of 
the marsh-pennywort (Hydrocotyle vulgaris), the sup- 
posed effects of which have suggested the curious 
Manx saying, ‘‘ Cha nee tra ta’n sheyrrey gee yn ouw 
te cheet rée.” ‘It’s not when the sheep eats the 
‘ouw’ that it (that is, the harm) comes to her.” What 
is intended to be illustrated is the certainty of the 
evil effects of wrong-doing, though their working may 
be slow. Bog-pimpernel also, not less delicate in its: 
foliage than in its blossoms, mixes with the red of the 
sundew leaves. 

In the northern ‘‘ curragh” or fen, where the wet 
land is extensive, other and some rarer species might 
be noted. In anything like a pond or piece of still 
water the bog-bean is sure to be found. Wet places 
usually yield Viola palustris, often Epilobium palustre 
and Scztellaria minor, sometimes Veronica scutellata 
and Campanula hederacea, and it is said, Radiola: 
millegrana, and Centunculus minimus ; but the plants. 
just described are the most ubiquitous and conspicuous. 

Amidst our roadside vegetation the English botanist 
will miss Zamium album and Sisymbrium alliaria,, 
but he will be struck by the abundance of tormentil 
(Potentilla tormentilla), wild sage (Teucrium scoro- 
donia), Pepperwort (Lepidinm campestre), and wall- 
pennywort (Cotyledon umbilicus). Were and there the 
rose-bay willow-herb (Zfi/obium angustifolium) decks. 
the hedges. The ivy-leaved toad-flax, another stray 
of cultivation, grows frequently on walls and cottage- 
roofs. Quite a feature of Manx roadside waste 
places, especially in the south, is Svzyrnium olusa- 
trum ; its vivid and glossy foliage is luxuriant in the 
neighbourhood of the old abbey of Rushen, and 
along the straggling high-road streets of the Southside 
villages. In this part of the island, where limestone 
takes the place of the prevailing schist rock, the 
vegetation somewhat changes.  otentilla reptans, 
scarcely seen about Douglas, becomes plentiful by 


112 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 


the foot-paths ; the hemlock, found also in the sandy 
north, reappears on the waste ground ; and the fields 
are rich with scarlet poppies. The great hairy willow- 
herb (Z£filobinum hirsutum) appears by the stream, 
the water-plantain (Azsma plantago) in still water, 
the burdock (Arctium lappa) is more frequent, and 
Scandix pecten-veneris springs on cultivated ground. 

It is noticeable that the cowslip is not found in 
Man except where planted. Lamb’s-lettuce (Va/e- 
vianella olitoria) and yellow-toad-flax (Linaria vul- 
garis) are local, and seemingly recent. Veronica 
Buxbaumit, however, which must be a late introduc- 
tion, is abundant, and has spread to remote corners 
of the isle. The white meadow-saxifrage (Saxifraga 
granulata) I have seen only on one spot, a grassy 
brow on the western coast. 

Something might be said, did space permit, on 
Manx plant-lore; as the use of the mountain-ash 
(Manx, ‘‘ Cuirn”’) in connection with May-eve super- 
stition, of the elder (Manx, ‘‘Tramman”’) as a 
protection against charming, and of many wild plants 
as rustic medicines. Some curious information on 
these subjects will be found in the recently published 
**Folk-lore of the Isle of Man,” by Mr. A. W. 
Moore. : 

P. G. RALFE. 


SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


ONE of the greatest modern scientific satires is that 
**Water finding,” by means of a hazel wand, is 
revived! It is so much easier than studying geology, 
and receives, as a rule, more of ecclesiastical support. 


THE Council of the Wesley Scientific Society met 
in London on March 31st, under the presidency of the 
Rey. Hilderic Friend, F.L.S., and resolved to canvass 
the members and subscribers with a view to the re- 
organization of the Society, and the monthly issue of 
a superior Journal, to contain illustrated articles, 
original memoirs, summaries of work done by other 
Societies and individuals, and other matter of interest 
to students of science and natural history. Great 
regret was expressed at the injury sustained by the 
Society, owing to the unwarranted amalgamation of 
the ‘‘ Wesley Naturalist ”—the former official organ of 
the Society—with another periodical, and the mind 
of the members is now being ascertained respecting 
the reconstruction and more efficient working of what 
has proved itself to be a very useful, and necessary 
organization. 


THE following are among the Lecture Arrange- 
ments at the Royal Institution, after Easter: Pro- 
fessor T. G. Bonney, Two Lectures on ‘‘ The Sculp- 
turing of Britain—its later stages,” (the Tyndall 
Lectures); Mr. Frederic E. Ives, Two Lectures on 
‘Photography in the Colours of Nature; Professor 
Dewar, Four Lectures on ‘‘ The Chemistry of Gases ; 
Professor H. Marshall Ward, Three Lectures on 


‘Some Modern Discoveries in Agricultural and 
Forest Botany” (Illustrated by Lantern). The 
Friday Evening Meetings were resumed on April 
29th, when a Discourse was given by Dr. William 
Huggins, on the ‘‘ New Star in Auriga ;” succeeding 
Discourses will be given by Captain Abney, Dr. 
B. W. Richardson, Mr. J. Wilson Swan, Professor 
Dewar, and other gentlemen. 


Messrs. TEMPERE AND DUTETRE announce the 
publication of a series of slides, to be accompanied 
by Explanatory Text, on ‘The Micro-Fungi of 
France.” 


THE latest news from the newly discovered Dover 
coal-field, is that 762 feet of coal-ineasures have 
been penetrated beneath the cretaceous and oolitic 
rocks. At the depth of 1,140 feet, a coal-seam 2 ft. 
6 in. thick, was passed through. The depth now 
reached, is 1,875 feet, and nine seams of coal have 
been pierced. 


WE are pleased to draw attention to M. Tempére’s 
““Memento du Catalogue de Préparations Micro- 
scopiques” (168 Rue St. Antoine, Paris). Micro- 
scopists will find it very useful. 


A DESCRIPTIVE pamphlet has been issued relating 
to the programme of the Edinburgh Summer 
Meeting of Art and Science in August next. It 
is a delightful programme—botanical rambles, 
zoological .dredgings, microscopical investigations, 
demonstrations, conversaziones, and lectures galore! 


Mr. G. VINEY says :—‘* A splendid specimen of a 
female great northern diver has been captured at St. 
Anne’s-on-Sea, Lancashire, lately, and is now in the 
possession of Mr. Oldfield, Church Road. There has 
not been one seen here for a dozen years till now.” 


WE heartily welcome another magazine, ‘‘ The 
Irish Naturalist,” edited!by Messrs. G. H. Cazpenter 
and R. Lloyd Praeger, the first number of which has 
just been published (London : Simpkin & Marshall), 
price 6d. It will be devoted mainly to Irish geology, 
botany, and natural history generally. 


WE have received a copy of Mr. Arthur Bennett’s 
valuable paper entitled ‘‘ Records of Scottish Plants 
for 1891,”’ an addition to ‘‘ Topographical Botany,” 
reprinted from the “Annals of Scottish Natural 
History.” 

Mr. J. A. ELLis, 1 Pomona Place, Fulham, writes 
as follows :—‘‘ Last year, through the kindness of 
several subscribers of SCIENCE-GossIP, I was enabled 
to form several natural history collections for the 
schools in our vicinity. I desire to do the same this 
year, and should be greatly obliged to readers having 
duplicate Botanical, Entomological or Geological 
specimens, if they would forward them to me. 
Specimens of foreign and colonial seeds, fibres, etc., 
used commercially and medicinally, are especially 
desired.” 


HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSIP. 113 


flame (which is at the outer circumference of the oil 
MICROSCOPY. container) being brought close to the stage of the 
microscope. (2) The screw motion sliding gear 
fixed on top of the base, admits of a lateral move- 
ment of half an inch on each side of the centre of the 
base, thus facilitating exact centering of the light. 
(3) The oil container, having the pillar passing 
through its centre, causes the lamp to be more evenly 
balanced all round; if necessary, the oil container 
could be slightly weighted on the side opposite to the 
burner. (4) The container being shallow, and the 


A New Microscopicat Lamp.—The micro- 
Scopical Lamp which I have designed, and of which 
T send a rough sketch, has, I venture to think, some 
distinctive advantages. (1) The form of base gives a 
good support, and by allowing a foot of the micro- 
Scope to rest_between two of its feet, admits of the 


Se 
es HL ; 


Fig. 66.—Vertical section at middle of sliding gear for fitting 
over the base; showing the pillar. Not drawn to scale. 


iZ 


hh 


Fig. 67.—Sliding gear showing screw stem, which can be made 
long enough to project just outside the feet of the base to 
facilitate turning the screw. Not drawn to scale. 


foot also being shallow, the light can be brought 
close to the table, or it can be raised above the stage 
for use, with a condenser above the stage. (5.) The 


Fig. eae) base, ee is ae have ore or caoutchouc | pinching collar provides a very efficient and facile 
tuds t 7 ; 
Sie PReveilicoaiies “Tie eh oomew! Fenare oe clamletet control over the vertical movements of the lamp. 


sliding gear, as Figs. 66 and 67, giving the lamp a lateral on the sketch with the accompanyin 
movement of inch on each side of the centre of the base, The letters u panying 


cues ae Eee centering of light without moving the | description give a full explanation of the lamp.— 
ase. 8, pillar. © prevent rotation of lamp the pillar 
could be made square, or have a narrow and shallow slot F. A. Ross, M.D., Folkestone. 

cut in it, and a pin could be passed through the collar into 

the slot. c, ring at top of pillar for carrying lamp. D, oil TyLAr’s MICRO-PHOTOGRAPHIC CAMERA.— Mr. 
container; diameter 6 inches, with filling hole (E). G, ro- o 5) p30 

oe bare ype aac ice half a revolution, by means | W. Tylar, 57 High Street, Aston, Birmingham, has 
of a revolving collar with stops, can be given to burner, to 7 i i 

admit of the use of the flat flame or of its edge. H, metal dcndlysforwarde dito megan oxttiensy spesinen GH tne 


SEES a) black inside. x, Ee Cae partofchimney | above apparatus. It is neatly packed into a well 
surrounding flame. L, projection from box for holding glass . . = 
slips. ™, glass slip in place. N, pinching collar withrscrens arranged case, and is accompanied with all the 


at side. p, arm for carrying condenser; it rotates. Not i fi i hi h aT 
z cs accessorles necessa: or micro-photogra . he 
drawn to scale, but drawn too long. rR, condenser (not y P Se Ss 


drawn to scale). s, screw arrangement for fixing condenser. | price, even in these days, is marvellously cheap, and 


T, horizontal section of pinching collar. y, another form of | : 
collar which could be substituted for the pinching collar, It it can only be due to the number demanded of Mr. 


has a screw acting on a brake, which, being asegment of a | Tylar that the instrument can be turned out at the 
circle, does not damage the pillar. w, horizontal section of ‘ ae : . 
same, showing brake worked by screw. Scalexr=2 (about). | Price. With it, anybody who is even only slightly 


I14 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 


acquainted with the ordinary use of the microscope can 
successfully turn out micro-photos after a very little 
practice. The apparatus sent out with Mr. Tylar’s 
Micro-photographic Camera is accompanied with a 
prettily got up brochure containing full instructions 
how to use every appliance included. This has been 
written purposely for beginners. Naturalists, as a 
rule, are not people of enormous incomes or 
bloated fortunes, and to them this twenty-seven and 
sixpenny fully equipped instrument, which will enable 


them to photograph microscopic objects, is a decided © 


help-meet, and cannot fail to intensify their quiet 
delights in natural history pursuits and studies. The 
camera itself is an elegantly and artistically turned out 
bit of work, made of polished mahogany. Mr. Tylar 
has decidedly made a hit in bringing out at so 
moderate a price, an instrument which hundreds of 
ardent but impecunious microscopists have long 
required. 


Watson’s ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE.—To a 
microscopist and naturalist, the perusal of such a well 


Fig. 68.—This microscope lamp is fitted with a metal chimney, 
having extra large body allowing of free combustion, and 
fitting to receive ordinary 3 in. by 1 in. slips. The trouble 
of broken glass chimneys is thereby avoided, and as the 
inside is blacked, double reflections are prevented. The 
container being very flat, the light can be brought down 
very near to the table; the stopper is built up from the 
reservoir, thereby obviating the unpleasant leaking usually 
found in flat lamps. The supporting bar being square, the 
lamp is very rigid and has no tendency to swing round as on 
a circular tube. It burns for ten hours. Best paraffin oil 
should be used, 


got up catalogue as the present is as enjoyable as a 
first-class catalogue of rare and valuable books is to a 


bibliophilist. If he cannot afford to purchase them, 
nevertheless he is happy that there are such things in: 
existence, ready for him, if he only had the money. 


Fig. 69.—Achromatic Condenser. This is specially designed 
for use in photo-micrography, but it is also efficient for- 
visual work. It does the work of the Abbe Illuminator, and. 
transmits a rather larger aplanatic cone of light. It is 
strongly recommended where critical photographic work is 
to be done. It may be used with the highest power objec- 
tives, and by removing the top lens can be used with the- 
lowest powers. The new Schott glass is employed in its- 
construction. 


Fig. 70.—New Aplanatic Bull’s Eye or Stand Condenser (as- 
suggested by Mr. E. M. Nelson). This form is designed to~ 
minimise the large amount of spherical aberration given by 
ordinary stand condensers; with it a considerably increased* 
prilliance of illumination is obtainable. It is composed of 
two lenses. Its use is specially indicated in photographic = 
work, and it will be found to not only shorten the exposure, 
but materially improve the image. 


Messrs. Watson & Sons, 313, High Holborn, have just 
sent out their ‘‘ Illustrated Catalogue of Microscopes, 
Objectives, and Accessory Apparatus.” The latter 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


II5 


‘is a very comprehensive term, and the microscopic 
student cannot fail to be both interested and instructed 
by the full and clear accounts and pictures of hosts of 
“© Accessories,” of many of which he was probably 
ignorant before. The letter-press runs to 68 pp., and 
sthere are about one hundred illustrations, all well got 
up, as will be seen by the accompanying figs. from 
blocks used in the catalogue, and kindly lent us by 
Messrs. Watson. The first thing for students and 
intending purchasers, is to obtain one of Messrs. 
Watson’s Catalogues, and, after going over it, to use 
their own judgment. 


Microscopic PoND-LIFE IN WINTER.—In Sep- 
tember 1891, while out in search of micro-organisms, 
I dipped my collecting-bottle in a ditch at Hook, 
near Goole, and was rewarded by at once perceiving 
numerous tubes of Melicerta on the under side of the 
leaves of duckweed. The ditch was broad and deep, 
protected on one side by a high, but straggling 
and open hedge, and on the other by a raised portion 
of the field. It had been partially cleaned out by the 
farmer; possibly harvest operations had prevented 
the completion of the work—very fortunately for me, 
for it proved rich in interesting forms of life. For 
one half of its length the ditch contained clear water 

-only ; the other half was covered with a dense sheet 
of the ivy-leafed duckweed (Lemma trisulca). Some 
of the leaves of duckweed had as many as six 
specimens of MJélicerta ringens on their lower surface, 
and examination under the microscope also revealed 
the presence of Floscularia ornata and F. cornuta in 
greatabundance. Arcella aculeata, A. vulgaris, and A. 
dentata were also present, the latter species being the 
most numerous. From time to time throughout the 
winter, in all kinds of weather, I made occasional 
visits to the ditch. As the autumnal rains increased, 
it gradually filled up, and finally overflowed ; but the 
Lemna kept together in considerable masses, and 
only on one occasion was my search for organisms 
unsuccessful. Late in October, after a fortnight or 
more of very heavy rain which had flooded many 
parts of the country, in addition to IZ. ringens and 
the Floscularie, I obtained Mastigocerca carinata, 
FPterodina patina, Colurus deflexus, Kerona mytilus, 
Actinospherium Exchornit, Actinophrys sol, Stentor 
Mulleri, Euglena viridis, and the Arcelle previously 
mentioned. Hydra viridis, Entomostraca, and minute 
Infusoria (Peridinium and others) were very plentiful. 
Throughout November the same species continued to 
flourish in undiminished numbers. On the 20th Decem- 
ber, after three days’ keen frost, the ditch was covered 
with a coating of clear ice about three quarters of an 
inch thick, The duckweed, still in dense patches, could 
be seen beneath the ice ; not frozen into it. On break- 
ing the ice, and transferring a quantity of duckweed to 
the collecting-bottle, the pocket lens showed that the 
water was simply teeming with microscopic life. On 
-exatnination with the inch objective, the field was 


seen to be crowded with Zosphora aurita ; next in 
abundance was MWastigocerca carinata ; and then, also 
in considerable quantity, JZ vizgens, the Flosculariz, 
Tardigrada, and a species of Synchzta, possibly 
the form described in ‘‘ Pritchard’s Infusoria” as 
S. tremula. I may mention that a friend to whom 
I sent a portion of this ‘‘dip” observed an adult 
specimen of JZ, vixgens swimming freely without a 
sheath ; a most unusual thing. During a sharp frost 
in January, or early in February, the duckweed was 
frozen into the ice, and when a slow thaw ensued, 
was left lying on the top of the partially melted ice- 
sheet, in a semi-moist condition. Under these 
circumstances tube rotifers were hardly to be expected, 
nor did I find them. The tubes of Melicerta were 
there, but they were evidently old ones, and of 
Floscularia there was no trace. A few Rhizopods 
and common Infusoria were present. Fragments of 
ice containing Lemna only yielded the common 
Vorticella nebulifera and numerous lively Nematoids. 
Towards the end of February Entomostraca became 
more numerous, and Dzoptomus castor made its 
appearance. As the mild weather approached, the 
ditch again teemed with Infusoria, sometimes one 
type predominating, sometimes another. JZ. ringens 
is now present but very sparingly, and Floscularia 
has not reappeared. In the above record only the 
more noticeable and interesting organisms are men- 
tioned. Other Infusorians were collected in almost 
every ‘‘dip,” and on two occasions species were 
observed by a correspondent to whom portions of the 
gatherings were sent, which were not described in 
either Pritchard or the Micrographic. Had collec- 
tions been made throughout the whole district, 
instead of from one single locality, no doubt the list 
would have been very much extended; but enough 
has been said to show that ‘‘ pond naturalists” 
should not relax their researches during the inclement 
months of the year.—C. L. Lord. 


ZOOLOGY. 


EXTINCTION OF THE LAPWING.—Your corre- 
spondent, Mr. Ward, appears to have quite mis- 
apprehended the paragraph he refers to, which related 
to the great numbers of lapwings’ eggs which are 
taken for consumption at the breakfast-table, but 
which did not state that naturalist dealers and col- 
lectors sell or take any considerable number of 
lapwings’ eggs. Surely it is quite absurd to suppose 
that the comparatively small number of lapwings’ 
eggs taken by egg collectors and naturalist dealers 
affects the numbers of the bird to any appreciable 
extent, as it is so generally distributed throughout the 
country. Such absurd attacks are only likely to 
bring ridicule upon those who make them, and to do 
harm to the cause of bird protection in the end. In 
my opinion it is the desire of collectors to possess 


116 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


British killed specimens of rare birds, and eggs taken 
in Great Britain, that has to answer for the rarity and 
extinction of some of our birds, and as long as men 
can be found willing to give long prices for such 
specimens, so long will the birds be slaughtered 
directly they reach these shores, or their eggs taken 
directly they attempt to nest. If men must collect 
birds and eggs, let them be content to obtain their 
specimens of British rarities from foreign places 
where the particular species is abundant, then there 
may be some chance for such beautiful visitors as the 
golden oriole and hoopoe to live and nest after they 
have reached England.—Z. W. H. Blagg, Cheadle, 
Staffs. 


and that they differ in some important particulars. 
from the members of the genus Lumbricus on the 
one hand, and Allolobophora on the other. These 
researches are being laid before the Linnean Society 
of London, and will probably form the subject of a 
paper to be read at the forthcoming meeting of the 
British Association in Edinburgh. 


MALFORMATION OF PERIWINKLE.—I send you 
herewith sketches of; a curious malformation in the 
shell of a periwinkle. Having noticed more than one 


record of similar monstrosities in land-snails, in your 
journal recently, I thought that this might possibly 
prove of interest. 


The second mouth appears to be 


Fig. 71.—Head of Fowl with curved upper beak. 


SINGULAR BEAK OF FowL.—I take the liberty to 
send you a rough sketch of the head of a fowl, 
showing the curved and hawk-like shape of the 
upper mandible of the beak, giving the head the 
appearance of a bird of prey.—F. Boggust, Alton. 


IvVORYINE TABLETS.—We beg to call the attention 
of working naturalists and curators generally to the 
Ivoryine Tablets recently brought out by Mr. W. 
Tylar, 57 High Street, Aston, Birmingham. They 
are specially prepared for labelling cabinets, boxes, 
drawers, and natural history specimens. Pencil- 
marks are easily removed from the Ivoryine label by 
a damp cloth. The tablets are very useful and very 
cheap—Is. 6d. per. dozen. 


A New BritTisH Worm.—A new British worm, 
known as Zetragonurus pupa, Eisen, has recently 
been discovered by the Rev. Hilderic Friend, F.L.S., 
who has also been able to settle a moot point in 
relation tO a group of tree-worms (Dendrobzna), 
whose exact position among the Lumbricidi has 
hitherto been but imperfectly defined. It is now 
found that some half-dozen species of worms live 
largely among decaying timber and vegetable refuse, 


somewhat clumsily attached to the shell, and the 
original one is somewhat damaged. Is it possible 
that the periwinkle preferred making a new orifice 
to repairing the old one?—F Holloway. 


BOTANY. 


FALL OF THE LEAF IN TREES.—I have been very 
much interested in Mr. Whitaker’s notes on trees. 
In respect to the ‘‘ Varying Fall of Leaf in Oaks,” I 
may remark that I noticed parallel cases in this 
neighbourhood last year, but the trees were ashes. 
In more than one place I observed trees within a few 
hundred yards of each other, one retaining its full 
foliage, having a slight yellow tint as the only sign of 
approaching winter, some quite bare of leaves, with 
others in intermediate conditions. I have never seen 
the contrast so marked in any previous year.— W. A. 
Gain, Newark. 


PRICKLY HoLty.—Being but a young beginner of 
the study of Botany, I should be pleased if the follow- 
ing matter could be explained. It is said in most books 
treating on the subject, that the prickles on the edge of 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSI/P. 


117 


the holly leaf are caused by the parenchyma not being 
so fully developed between the extremities of the veins, 
thereby causing the leathery and tough edge to project 
further at the venation, and thereby developing 
spines; and that when grown in rich luxuriant soil 
this prickly character of the leaf is suppressed by the 
extra flow of sap, causing the parenchyma to fill out 
the leaf to its entirety. I herewith send you a 
specimen of a holly leaf, that I gathered this morning, 
svith the blade of the leaf covered almost entirely with 
prickles, as is usually developed at the edge; in my 
humble opinion, sir, placing the above theory among 
the ‘‘non-positives.”—W. 3. Pollard. 


PECULIAR Crocus.—I have noticed single snow- 
drops with four petals ; but never before to day have 
I noticed a crocus with eight. We have one in 
bloom this morning, (a white one) with eight distinct 
petals, four perfect stamens, and the style divided 
into four stigmas. I thought possibly this might 
interest your readers. —oshua 7. Ashley. 


THE BUuTCHER’s Broom (Ruscus aculeatus).— 
Mr. Clement Reid, F.G.S., has a very suggestive note 
relating to this most interesting plant in the last num- 
ber of ‘‘ Natural Science.” THe states that it usually 
‘© flowers in March, but in the years 1884-7, 1890, 
1891, it was flowering freely in November, in Sussex 
and Hampshire. In November, 1888 and 1889, I 
was in London and could not observe it. Is this an 
instance of the premature opening of flower-buds that 
should be dormant till next spring, or has the plant 
two flowering seasons in the year? Only a small 
number of the plants, perhaps one in fifty, produce 
any fruit, and it is difficult to find a bush bearing as 
many as a dozen berries. The November flowers 
seldom if ever produce fruit, the November ripening 
berries being formed by the March flowers. Is the 
scarcity of fruit in this country connected with the 
premature opening of most of the flowers? What- 
ever may be the reason of this double flowering 
season, it seems to be a marked instance of the non- 
adaptation of a plant to present climatic conditions.” 


GEOLOGY. 


GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF GLASGOW.—At a recent 
meeting of this ‘Society Mr. Dugald Bell, F.G.S., 
read a paper on ‘*The Alleged Submergence in 
Scotland during the Glacial Epoch,” with special 
reference to the so-called ‘‘ high-level shell-bed” at 
‘Chapelhall, near Airdrie, 512 feet above the sea. 
This ‘‘ bed” had been first brought into notice by 
Mr. Smith of Jordanhill, about forty years ago, and 
had since been generally accepted as proving a 
submergence of the land to at least that extent. Its 
existence, however, rested on very imperfect evidence. 
It was said to have been found in digging a well near 


the summit of one of the high ridges of boulder-clay 
in the district ; and was described as a bed of fine 
reddish clay, about two feet thick, and thinning away 
rapidly on all sides, lying in a hollow of the boulder- 
clay, which was fourteen feet or more in thickness, 
both above and below it. The well seems to have 
been built up before Mr. Smith had an opportunity of 
examining the section or the clay, though he got some 
of the shells that had been found in it, and which 
were all of one species, Z¢d/ina calcarea. From that 
day to this no geologist had seen the clay, though it 
had been sought for all around, and though another 
well had been sunk within a few yards of the old one 
for the purpose of finding it. At the very utmost it 
seems to have been a limited strip or patch of shelly- 
clay, intercalated in the boulder-clay, such as had 
been found in many other localities, and could not 
fairly be taken as a sufficient proof of submergence. 
Mr. Bell commented on the many improbabilities 
which the theory of a submergence and re-emergence 
to this extent at the period referred to involved, 
alluding to the highly Arctic character of the shelis 
found, the absence of marine remains from the upper 
boulder-clay, &c. He pointed out that the locality 
was quite in the path of the old ice-sheet, and 
immediately in front of a tract of high ground to the 
east, which would form a considerable obstacle to its 
progress. It was in such localities that anything 
being carried forward by the ice was most likely to be 
left. This seemed to be in every way the more 
probable account of this’ Chapelhall clay, and it 
ought no longer to be cited asa proof of submergence. 
An animated discussion followed. 


A VERY important paper has just been read before 
the Geological Society, by Mr. Edw. Wethered, 
F.G.S., on “ The Microscopic Structure, and Residues 
insoluble in Hydrochloric Acid, in the Devonian 
Limestone of South Devon.’ Microscopic examina- 
tion of the Devonian Limestones of South Devon 
shows that they have been built up by calcareous 
organisms, but that the outlines of the structure have 
for the most part become obliterated by molecular 
changes, and the limestones are often rendered crystal- 
line. In connection with this the author alludes to 
the disturbances which have affected the limestones. 
He finds occasional rhombohedra of dolomite, and 
discusses the probability of their derivation from 
magnesian silicates contained in the rocks. A de- 
scription of the insoluble residues follows. The micas, 
the author considers, may be of detrital origin, but 
this is by no means certain ; he is disposed to consider 
that the zircons, tourmaline, and ordinary rutile were 
liberated by the decomposition of crystals in which 
they were originally included. Minute crystals, referred 
to as ‘* microlithic needles,” resemble ‘‘ clay-slate 
needles,” but are not always straight : they occur in 
every fine residue, and as inclusions in siliceous and 
micaceous flakes. The siliceous fragments which en- 


118 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


close them frequently contain many liquid inclusions, 
which does not necessarily imply any connection 
between the two, though there may possibly be some 
connection. Micro-crystals of quartz occur, and have 
been derived from decomposing silicates. In the 
discussion which followed, Dr. Sorby said that he 
was probably the first to study the microscopical 
structure of the Devonian Limestones of Devonshire, 
but did so chiefly on account of the valuable evidence 
they afford in connection with the cause of slaty 
cleavage. Probably on the whole no group of lime- 
stones presents a greater range of characters. Not 
only must their original nature have varied much, but 
the amount of the changes due to chemical reactions 
and mechanical squeezing has been very variable and 
great. He congratulated the author on having done 
so much to elucidate the structure of such interesting 
tocks Prof. Bonney expressed his sense of the great 
interest of the author’s observations. Through the 
generosity of the latter he had had the opportunity of 
examining some of these residues, and could fully 
confirm several of the author’s conclusions. He 
thought that the quartz crystals, which had often a 
nucleus of silicate, must have been developed rather 
slowly in the rock. He considered that these 
investigations were of great value as illustrating the 
history of mineral growth and development. 


NOTES AND QUERIES. 


BUTTERFLIES IN N. FRANCE,—I spent a few days 
Jast summer at Compiegne (Dept. Oise). In the 
forest from June 3rd to June roth I observed 4. Selene 
in great abundance; /. Dortlis also abundant, but 
I only took males; C. alemon, a few worn 
specimens; JAZ, Cinxia a few fresh specimens ; 
Athalia very abundant and three Aurinza. These 
Melitaeze were very local. In a small reed-covered 
opening of the forest I took &. Medusa, five 
specimens, just emerged. On the 6th June A7rcania 
was first seen, and three days after was very abundant. 
On the 8th I took three S. Carthami in a dry sandy 
clearing. The weather was very unfavourable; on 
the 15th I went to Fontainbleau and remained there 
four days, and took the following : AZ. Cinxia and M. 
farthenia, in abundance and good condition, Crategi, 
Sinapis, P. Maera, Palemon, S. sao and serratule 
(or alveus?), a few of each; two females of P. 
Dorilis and afew Luphrosyne, Alsus and Bellargus. 
The weather was cloudy most of the time.—D. 
Wright, 


EUROPEAN BUTTERFLIES.—I want to spend about 
a fortnight on the Continent this summer, to collect 
the above, but I do not wish to go very far ; would 
one of your readers kindly tell me a good place to 
stop at, where the forests and mountains are acces- 
sible, say in the Ardennes or Lower Rhine district.— 
D. Wright. 


LEPIDOPTERA IN 1891.—It was a curious fact that 
although we had so much wet weather last year and 
the general temperature was so much below the 
average, lepidoptera did not seem to be in much if 
any diminished numbers; they were later in their 


usual time of appearing, that was all. Moths seemed) 
to have been adapting themselves to a sort of aquatic 
existence, for I saw them, on one occasionat least, 
flying about apparently unheeding amidst the rain- 
drops just as a heavy thunderstorm was on the point 
of leaving off.—Albert H. Waters, B.A., Cambridge. 


Nero-DARWINISM.—Apparently evolution is not 
a science at all, it is a belief and a matter of common 
observation. ‘There are no types, but objects have a 
character. No two trees of the same species are one 
bit alike. Entomology is evolution depicted, and 
when Darwin was the popular idol, I had a chance- 
interview with the late Mr. G. R. Waterhouse, a very 
eminent entomologist. He was quite aware of what 
was wanting in Darwin’s propaganda, for he said 
suggestively, it is a question of adaptation, that is, 
of the organism to its environment, a view now 
claimed for Herbert Spencer. Entomology is like- 
wise evolution in operation. Last October I found a 
full-fed caterpillar of the red admiral butterfly at 
Nantes, in France. Just before the final change the 
colours of the wings showed through the chrysalis, 
and revealed that the wings were folded like those of 
a moth, or, in plain English, that the evolution of 
the butterfly was in progress.—A. 7. Swinton. 


THE AMERICAN ALOE. — Perhaps some one 
who has had practical experience of the manners 
and customs of this plant will favour us with some 
comment upon the note thereupon on page 7o. 
“‘Chambers’ Encyclopedia” tells us of the agave: 
““In Mexico these plants usually flower in the seventh 
and eighth, sometimes even fifth or sixth year, and 
even in poor soils or exposed situations seldom later 
than the twelfth year, but in our hothouses not until 
they have reached a very advanced age (forty to sixty 
years); whence arises the gardeners’ fable of their 
flowering only once in one hundred years. After 
flowering, the plant always dies dcwn to the ground, 
but new plants arise from lateral buds.” Doubtless. 
some of your readers, like myself, look to SCIENCE- 
GosstP for reliable information, and for the explosion. 
and not the perpetuation of popular errors. The 
report like a rifle-shot, and the apparently rapid 
development of blossoms thereupon, seem to require 
scientific explanation.— V. F. Horn. 


IcICLES FORMED FROM EXUDING TREE-SAP.— 
During the recent frosts a number of trees over- 
hanging a public foot-path were cut back, and on the 
6th of March I noticed that the sap which had 
flowed in consequence had formed icicles of con- 
siderable size. The largest were from six to nine 
inches long, but the average length was not more 
than three or four inches.—/. G. Bing, Croydon. 


NATURAL HIsToORY SPECIMENS BY SAMPLE Post, 
—May I be allowed to correct a wrong impression 
formed by the Rev. Mr. Horsley, from the ambigu- 
ously-worded document received by him from the 
Post Office, on the above subject? A letter referring 
to the. same matter, which I have just received from 
the secretary of that department, informs me that 
“the ordinary limits of weight and size for sample 
packets are applicable” in this case. These limits 
are not the same for all places ; for countries in the 
Postal Union they are as follows: length, eight 
inches ; width, four inches ; depth, two inches; and 
weight, eight ounces ; except in the case of Belgium, 
Canada, France, Greece, ltaly, Japan, Luxemburg, 
Portugal, Switzerland, the Argentine Republic, and 
the United States, when all limits are raised by 
one-half. For non-union countries the limits are the 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 


119 


-same as for book packets. It should be remembered 
that sample packets must not be sealed in such a way 
-as to prevent examination if necessary, and that no 
writing of any description may be enclosed, although 
printed papers are allowed. The postage, to any 
part of the world, is now at the rate of one halfpenny 
per two ounces, except that the lowest charge is one 
penny. Sample packets are accepted for registration, 
and by this means safe delivery may be ensured.— 
£. G. Bing, Croydon. 


A NATURAL PHENOMENON, FIREBALLS AT THE 
Capre.—E. S., Cape Town, writes:—‘‘T am glad 
to be able to say that I saw the phenomenon men- 
tioned by your correspondent H. in Monday’s 
issue of your paper. The first sight I had of the 
aerolite would be at an angle of about 50 degrees, 
and bearing roughly east, and vanished at about Io 
degrees above horizon in a south-easterly direction. 
The sight of this falling aerolite was most brilliant— 
a full sapphire flame of light accompanied by a 
hissing noise. I saw this phenomenon from the 
back verandah of a house at Muizenberg, and my 
time corresponds with H.” W. G. writes from 
112, Sir Lowry Road :—‘‘ With reference to a letter 
written by H., which appears in your issue of the 
Ist instant, I may remark that on the day in question 
I distinctly saw this natural phenomenon. A flash 
-as from a great mirror struck my eyes, and looking 
towards from whence it came, I saw a ball of fire 
shoot through the sky and disappear behind the 
mountains to the east.” Mr. S. Riach, Triangle 
Station, writes :—‘‘ As to the paragraph signed H. 
in your issue or yesterday, I and another here saw 
the phenomenon on Sunday, 24th ultimo ; in appear- 
ance it was like a ball of fire slightly elongated. 
There was no noise when it was first seen, but it 
seemed to pass through a damp atmosphere when a 
hissing noise was heard, and a streak of vapour was 
left in its track. A little further on it appeared to 
enter 2 much damper atmosphere, as the sound 
resembled the noise made when plunging a hot 
Piece of iron into water, and left a large cloud of 
vapour. The noise then made could have easily been 
mistaken fora distant peal of thunder. It continued 
its course afterwards without further trace or noise 
until it disappeared on the horizon. The time the 
noise was heard at Worcester was exactly the time 
the object was seen here, direction was also same.” 
(Cage Argus.)\—W. W. Black, Edinburgh. 


Dr. LEEFMAN has just contributed a valuable paper 
on the important subject of the purification of water. 
The system has only been tried on a large scale in 
the city of Antwerp, where the water-supply could 
only be obtained from the turgid and impure fluid of 
the river. The water there is now purified by cast 
iron and steel borings, placed in cylinders so arranged 
that by aslow rotation the iron may be continuously 
showered through the water, whilst the latter is being 
passed through the same cylinder at a moderate speed. 
The cylinder is provided with pipes, by which, if 
necessary, the air may be introduced into direct con- 
tact with the iron. The iron sometimes, with the 
carboniferous acid in the water, forms a ferrous car- 
bonate. On exposure to the air it is converted into 
ferric hydroxide, which settles down rapidly, and 
carries down with it and oxidises the organic matter. 
Dordrecht and Paris are now having parts of their 
water-supply purified in a similar manner. Iron is 
Nature’s chemical filterer, just as chalk and sandstones 
are her mechanical filterers. Itis equally destructive 
to microbes and germs generally, and the finest water 


in England is that obtained from the new red sand- 
stone of Cheshire and elsewhere. 


Is it not a pity the newly-appointed Professor of - 
Astronomy at Cambridge should be attached to 
sensational astronomy? His latest prophecy is that 
the light and heat of the sun will not be available for 
more than ten millions of years at the most, and 
possibly not for more than four. This sounds very 
much like ascientific parody of the Rev. Dr. Cummins 
and the Rev. Mr. Baxter’s Apocalyptic annunciations 
of the ‘Speedy coming,” etc. The fact is, no con- 
clusions like those of Sir R. Ball can be accepted as 
having scientific value unless astronomers first know, 
and are certain, about the actual temperature of the 
sun. Numerous attempts have been made to deter- 
mine the latter, and the results have varied from 
1,500 to 5,000,000 degrees! Even Sir Robert. Ball 
allows a range of from four to ten million years for 
the sun’s future duration. That gives a very fair 
margin. M. Chatelier recently demonstrated before 
the Paris Academy, that the enormous differences in 
the estimates of the sun’s temperature, result from the 
fact that different laws have been assumed to repre- 
sent the rate of radiation. He thinks from his own 
experiments, that the temperature of the sun’s actual 
body (the photosphere) is higher than 7,600 degrees 
centigrade, but that the effective solar temperature 
may be put down at 7,600 degrees, owing to the 
cooling effects of the outer solar atmosphere. Geo- 
logists calculate that life has been existing on the 
earth in past ages for about one hundred million 
years. 


THE following is a patent recently taken out which 
all railway companies interested in the comfort of 
their passengers will at once adopt, especially as a 
whole carriage can be fitted up withit at a cost of only 
44. It is a railway indicator, which puts up the 
name of every station in successive order as each is 
passed, in all and each of the compartments at the 
same time. This simple plan would be a great con- 
venience to travellers, who would be no longer obliged 
to strain \their eyes to catch the name’ of a flying 
station, or to stretch their ears to understand the 
jargon howled out by indolent porters, or run the risk 
of being carried past the station they have booked 
for. It will also abolish those fidgety passengers who 
seldom travel, and who are continually bothering you, 
without being satisfied, as to which is the next 
station. ‘ 


ONCE more, says the ‘‘ Daily News,” we are 
promised photography in colours, but not, we under- 
stand, coloured photographs, for it is said that the 
colours which are taken by the plates need to be 
projected on to a screen by artificial light. Mr. 
Frederic E. Ives, of Philadelphia, the inventor of the 
new process, who has been invited to give two lectures 
on it before the Royal Society, is on his way from 
America for this purpose. 


NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 


To CORRESPONDENTS AND ExcHANGERS.—As we now 
publish Scrence-Gosstp 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. 


120 


HARDWICKE’S SCILENCE-GOSSIP. 


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 DisGuiszD 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. 7 


SpecraL Note.—There is a tendency on the part of some 
exchangers to send more than one per month. We only allow 
this in the case of writers of papers. 


To our Recent ExcHANGERS.—Weare willing to be helpful 
to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow dis- 
guised Exchanges like those which frequently come to us 
to appear unless as advertisements. 


Dr. S. (Grimsby).—Enquire about the Lists of Diptera, of 
Mr. G. H. Verrall, Clerk of the Course, Newmarket. 

C. J. P.—You cannot do better than procure Newman's 
“British Butterflies and Moths.” It contains excellent wood- 
ents of each species, Messrs. W. H. Allen & Co., Waterloo 

ace. 


EXCHANGES. 


OFFERED, micro. slides, collection of 200 to 250, chiefly 
insect mounts. Wanted, polariscope and other objects, or 
offers. 

EcHINODERMS.—Wanted, northern forms, as astronyx, goni- 
aster, astropecten, luidia, amphidotus, &c.; also the stone- 
crab (Lithodes) and Norway lobster (Nef/rops). Will ex- 
change any specimens or micro. slides named in my lists.— 
Sinel, Biological Laboratory, Jersey. 

QuapRANT tandem bicycle, No. 15, balls, dress-guards, and 
all accessories; also lady’s bicycle, new, balls and all acces- 
sories. Wanted, microscope, camera, fret-saw, or offers.— 
W. Kirk, 20 Lombard Street, West Bromwich. 

To Lepidopterists. Companion’ wanted for a visit to Digne 
(S. France), for alexanor, scipio, &c., in July next.—R. B. 
Postans, 14 Enys Road, Eastbourne. 

WANTED, a small collection of mosses and micro. fungi, 
accurately named; two or three of each species if possible. 
Good slides given in exchange, or state requirements.—Philip 
Vancesmith, Illawarra, Bath. 

Witt exchange about thirty-six birds’ eggs (three red grouse, 
nightingale, partridge, &c.) for insects; elateride, Czcada 
Angilica, especially desired. Please write—C. J. Powell, 137 
King’s Road, Canton, Cardiff. 

I cAN offer a few duplicates (Lond. Cat., 8th ed.) as follows : 
189, 356, 620, 923, 11720, 1315, 1441, 1669. Desiderata, 20, 86, 
106, 243, 371, 492, 560, 604, 623, 900, 1431, 1574, 1597, 17043 
1763, 1841, and many others.—E. D. Bostock, Stone, Stafford- 
shire. 

WanTED, to exchange ‘‘The Naturalist,” from August 
1884 to December 1891, for ‘‘The Midland Naturalist,” 
conchological books, or shells.—W. A. Gain, Tuxford, Newark. 

Exotic butterflies. Brilliant wings}of Mozpho Menelaus, 
Papilio Paris, Urania fulgens, &c.; also fine cabinet speci- 
mens in great variety. —J. C. Hudson, Railway Terrace, Cross 
Lane, near Manchester. 

WanTeD, Beulley’s ‘Manual of Botany,” Foster’s ‘‘ Phy- 
siology Primer,” Oliver’s ‘Lessons on Elementary Botany,” 
and Balfour’s ‘‘ Botany,” in exchange for good specimens of 
British land and freshwater sheils, correctly named and 
localized, or for young plants of some of the best varieties of 
the cactus tribe, and exotic greenhouse ferns.—M. A. O., 
82 Abbey Street, Faversham, Kent. i 

WAnTED, small British coleoptera; must be named. Will 
give micro. slides or material in exchange.—George T. Read, 
87 Lordship Road, Stoke Newington, London, N. 

Vauatine’s knife in good condition. What offers in exchange 
in micro. slides?—George T. Read, 87 Lordship Road, Stoke 
Newington, London, N. J 

Witt N. Lincoln botanists kindly favour me with records of 
cryptogamia (lichens, musci, and hepatic) for publication ?— 
T. Larder, Mercer Row, Louth. 

OFFERED, J. G. Wood’s ‘‘Field Naturalist’s Handbook” 
and ‘‘Common Moths,” with coloured plates, &c. Wanted, 
any of Richard Jeffery’s works, or what offers?7—E. Hodder, 
40 Wimborne Road, Nottingham. 

For exchange, larve preserving-tubes, with instructions 
how to use; eggs of puffin, guillemot, black-headed gull, and 
others (send for list, free). Wanted, lepidoptera, entomological 
apparatus, or offers.—S. B. Chandley, Latchford, Warrington. 

WANTED, Cornish or other minerals in exchange for Wear- 
dale spars and minerals.—T. V. Devey, Wolsingham, Dar- 
lington. 

WantTED, Science-Gossip for 1872, bound or unbound; 
good exchange given in shells, fossils, &c.—John Hawell, 
M.A., Ingleby Greenhow Vicarage, Middlesbrough. : 

OFFERED, Partula lignaria, P. Otaheitana, P. gibba, 


Goniobasis livensis, G. virginica, Paludastrina antipodum, 
Gibbulina palanga, G. sulcata, G. Newtoni, and many others. 
Wanted, foreign helices. Exchange lists.—G. K. Gude, 
5 Giesbach Road, Upper Holloway. 

Wuat offers for ‘‘Val d’Arno,” by Ruskin; *Kohler’s 
“Medicinal Pflanzen,” folio, eighty-four coloured plates ; 
“Journal of Botany” for 1890, x89, bound half-calf, new, and 
various pamphlets and excerpts from scientific periodicals, 
containing papers on conchology? Wanted, books on con- 
chology, and papers on foreign helices.—G. K. Gude, 5 Gies- 
bach Road, Upper Holloway. 

Scrence-Gossir from January 1883 to March 1885, in- 
clusive, and February to September, 1891, inclusive. Will 
exchange anything useful or curious to a naturalist.—W. 
Balmbra, Warkworth, Northumberland. 

Cuckoos’ eggs wanted, with those of their foster-parents. 
Many other varieties of eggs wanted. Rare eggs offered in 
cachange: Correspondence invited.—W. Wells Bladen, Stone, 

taffs. 

Witt exchange Bulimus oblonga, B. zebra, B. exilis, 
Stenogyra octona, Achatina panthera, for helices, bulimi, or 
marine shells not in collection.—J. Burman Rosevear, Roselea, 
51 Crouch Hill, N. 

WANTED, slides of selenite, and good polariscope objects. 
Offered, micro. slides, parts of insects, &c.—W. E. Green, 
24 Triangle, Bristol. 

OFFERED, 7. Zomatia (sinistral), H. Bourcierz, H. morleti, 
H. lignaria, H. Iloronensis, H. Gaberti, H. Hombroni, H. 
Mackenzit, H, coma, H. inequalis, H. Fosephine, H. Lowit 
(semi-fossil), H. turvicula, H. Michandi, H. laciniosa, Buli- 
mus Ouveanus, B. scarabeus, B. fibratus, B. Dantzenber- 
giana, B,. Masterstt, Chondropoma Poezt, C. crenulata, 
Czilomorpha flava, &c. Offers solicited in other land shells. 
—Miss Linter, Arragon Close, Twickenham. 

OFFERED, 100 mosses, named and localised; Buxbaumia 
aphylla, Amblysdon dealbatus, Bryum Warnum, lacustre, 
Maerattii calophyllum, uliginosum, intermedium, and Cato- 
sepium migritum, for micro. slides of animal matter.—G. 
Forbes, 7 Grahame Place, Dundee. , 

WanTED, works by Hewitson, Yarrel, Morris, or Seebohm. 
Offered, rare lepidoptera, Newman’s ‘‘ British Butterflies and 
Moths,” vols. 14, 16,17, and 24 of ‘‘ he Entomologist,” unbound 
and vols. x and 2 of the ‘‘ Entomologist’s Weekly Intelligencer.” 
—C. C. Wood, 8 Barlow Terrace, Richmond Grove, Manchester. 

SciencE-Gossie from commencement, 1865 to 1889, inclusive, 
bound and in excellent condition, for offers.—Edward Wright, 
89 Shepherdess Walk. 

Eocene fossils, named and localized, also minerals and 
Cornish rocks. Will exchange for other minerals and rock 
specimens, terebratulz from chalk (perfect), or offers. —E. H. C. 
Davies, 46 Upper Belgrave Road, Clifton, Bristol. 


BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE. 


“Laboratory Practice,”’ by Josiah Parsons Cooke (London: 
Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co.).—‘‘The Oak,” by H. 
Marshall Ward, M.A. (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner 
& Co.)—“‘ Foods for the Fat,” the scientific cure of corpulency, 
by Dr. Yorke Davies (London: Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly). 
—On the Modification of Organisms,” by David Syme 
(London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co.).—‘‘ Catalogue of Zoo- 
logical and Palzontological Books” (London: Dulau & Co.). 
—‘‘Island Life,’ second and cheaper edition, by Dr. Alfred 
Russel Wallace (London: Macmillan & Co.).— A Summer 
School of Art and Science,” summer meeting, Edinburgh 
(vacation studies), sixth session, August 1-31, 1892 (University 
Hall, Edinburgh).—‘‘ The Conchologist,”’ a quarterly journal 
for conchologists, edited by Walter E. Collinge (London: 
Swan Sonnenschein & Co.).—‘“‘ Catalogue of Works on Natural 
History,” part i. Zoology (offered by Bernard Quaritch).— 
“‘ The Naturalist,” a monthly journal of natural history for the 
North of England, edited by W. Denison Roebuck and Edgar 
R. Waite (London: Lovell Reeve & Co.).— The Botanical 
Gazette,” edited by J. M. Coulter, C. R. Barnes, and J. C.~ 
Arthur (Wisconsin: Tracy, Gibbs & Co.).—‘‘ Nature Notes,” 
the Selbourne Society’s Magazine (London: H. Sotheran & 
Co.).—‘‘ The Journal of Conchology,” conducted by J. W. 
Taylor, F.L.S. (Leeds: Taylor Bros.).—‘‘The American 
Monthly Microscopical Journal” (Washington: Chas. W. 
Smiley).—‘‘The Victorian Naturalist,” edited by A. H. S. 
Lucas (London: Dulau & Co.).—‘‘ Natural Science,” a 
monthly review of scientific progress (London: Macmillan & 
Co.).—** The Irish Naturalist,” No. 1, &c., &c. 


ComMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED UP TO THE 12TH ULT. FROM: 
Ww. E. G.—B. T.—J. A. R.—W. G. B.—W. H. N.—C. J. P.— 
D. B.—E. W.—F. A. F.—G. R. R.—W. B.—F. E. H.— 
W. W.—R. B. B.—J. S.—W. A. T.—P. V.—E. D. B.— 
c. L. L.—B. P.—J. H.—E. W. H. B.—W. B.—T. S.— 
E. W. W. B.—E. A. M.—W. W. B.—T. B. R.—W. E. G.— 
J. E. L.—G. P.—C. C.W.—S. B. C.—E. H.—J. L.—G. T. R. 
—M. A. A.—W. A. G.—H. E. S.—J. E. H.—H. E, G.—G. V. 
—W. J. N.—&c., &e. 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


I2I 


IS OUR BRITISH CLIMATE CHANGING ? 


By J. E. TAYLOR. 


4° HERE is no more 
certain fact revealed 
by geological sci- 
ence than that Great 
Britain has experi- 
enced all kinds of 
climate since life 
first appeared on 
the globe. This 
took place long be- 
fore the appearance 


of Man. Climates 
have swung, per- 
haps alternately, 


from one extreme 
to another — from 
tropical heat to 
glacial cold, with 
all the variations 
between, known as 
temperate. The rocks of the British islands contain 
unquestioned evidences of this fact. 

But these climatal changes have been exceedingly 
slow—not violent or cataclysmic. They have been 
largely due to external cosmical causes, as any 
reader will see who turns to the works of Dr. James 
Croll, ‘‘Climate and Time”; Dr. James Geikie’s 
“Great Ice Age,” or Sir Robert Ball’s recent book 
on ‘* The Cause of the Glacial Period.” Such 
physical changes as were brought about by these 
almost imperceptibly slow astronomical aberrations 
and influences required periods of time, which 
neither traditional nor written history knows anything 
about. And to cause a distinct swing of the climate 
pendulum from the Eocene Period, when the London 
Clay was formed, to the Glacial Epoch, when the 
Boulder Clay accumulated, may have required a 
couple of millions of years at least, judging by the 
great physical geological changes which took place 
all over the world in the meantime. 

No. 330.—JUNE 1892, 


Therefore, when we think of discussing the subject 
as to whether our English climate is altering or has 
altered within comparatively modern times, we must 
dismiss the direct geological or astronomical influ- 
ences afore-mentioned. The question becomes 
narrowed almost to the ‘‘memory of the oldest 
inhabitant.” Apart from the well-known and easily 
comprehended fact that even highly intelligent old 
people regard the period of their youth as distinctly 
superior in every respect to that they are privileged 
to spend their latter days in (every generation of 
elderly people has always done the same), the 
question remains as to whether, by any other causes 
than those directly geological or astronomical, the 
climate of this country has recently altered. Of 
course, when we compare the charms of the ordinary 
modern First of May (we had nothing to complain of 
this year) with the descriptions of the weather of that 
time in the older poets, we must remember that the 
Calendar has been altered since then, and that our 
First of May is twelve days earlier than it was in the 
days of Charles II., when Pepys wrote his Diary. 

In a notable book published by the Hon. Mr. 
Marsh, then American Ambassador at Florence, 
twenty-five years ago, entitled ‘‘ Physical Geography 
as influenced by Human Action,’’ we have the only 
true key to the explanation of the rapid local changes 
of climate brought about within living but extended 
memories. Mr. Marsh showed how the cutting 
down of ancient forests to make clearings for 
emigrants and settlers ‘‘out West” affected the 
periodicity of the rainfall, the floods of the rivers, 
droughts, rainy seasons, etc. Woods and forests 
are the divinely-appointed ‘‘ governors” of the 
climate of any country. Juse the word ‘‘ governors” 
not in any political sense, but in that employed by 
engineers, who understand thereby the ‘‘ throttle 
valve,” which regulates the force of steam admitted 
to work the machinery. All over the world, Mr. 
Marsh’s views are now not only accepted but acted 

G 


122 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


upon. Many countries are re-planting or replacing 
wickedly-destroyed forests and woods. A tree is a 
sacred thing. No wonder it entered so largely into 
the mythology of our Norse ancestors. Time can 
make a tree, man cannot. Hence the cutting down 
of any tree ought not to be a matter of sport or 
pastime (face Mr. Gladstone), but of thought and 
deliberation, for the absence of a living tree has by 
so much affected the atmosphere, even if it has been 
for only a few hundred feet ra¢ius. A landowner 
possessed of ancient trees is as uch a responsible 
steward of them as if he owned rare ancient manu- 
scripts. There is a higher authority than even 
ownership, and that is public opinion. 

Modern scientific research is always springing new 
surprises upon us. One is now being much discussed 
within inner circles which may have an important 
bearing on the question as to whether our English 
climate is changing. Thus, Mr. Angus Rankin has 
pointed out 'that a new factor has been introduced 
into the study of modern meteorology—that which 
treats of the dust particles in the atmosphere, as well 
as the number present at any given time, and their 
effects on climate and weather changes. It would 
seem as if the study of dust and its behaviour would 
henceforth be the stepping-stone to the study of most 
of the meteorological problems which deal with 
clouds and precipitation, and solar and terrestrial 
radiation, as well 2s the diurnal and annual variation, 
in the temperature and pressure of the atmosphere. 
In the famous Ben Nevis Meteorological Observatory 
(founded and worked twelve years ago by my zealous 
friend Mr. Clement L. Wragge and his wife) now the 
most noted place of its kind in the whole world, Mr. 
John Aitkin’s ingenious dust-counting apparatus is 
used for the purpose of constantly estimating and 
recording the number of dust-particles present in the 
atmosphere. One of the conclusions pointed out by 
Mr. Rankin as being arrived at thereby, is that when 
there is much wind there is little dust in the atmos- 
phere, and when there is much dust there is little 
wind. 

It will surely be evident to all intelligent people 
now that the presence of dust in the atmosphere 
affects its condition. Professor Lodge, nine years 
ago, at the British Association meeting held in 
Montreal, in his lecture on ‘‘ Dust,” showed that 
without the presence of dust in the air we should 
have no clouds. Perhaps we should have neither 
rain nor snow. Clouds are only microscopical drops 
of distilled moisture, condensed around millions of 
dust particles, Consequently, we see that the more 
dust particles there are thrown into the atmosphere 
(all other things being equal) the more clouds are 
likely to be formed. An increasing tendency to form 
clouds means drawing a screen across the sky to shut 
out both the sun’s light and heat. Such a result 
must produce a colder series of seasons—a less 
vigorous and less meteorologically influential growth 


of vegetation. Clear skies exist where there is little 
dust, except that produced by nature’s own effects, 
such as dust-storms, etc. It is where man congregates 
in his millions, erects his manufactories, unconsumes 
his smoke, pours uncountable millions of myriads of 
coal-dust and other partlcles into the atmosphere, 
that the blue sky and the bright warm sunshine get 
shut out and the weather locally a/ters, becomes 
chillier and more cheerless, unti!, among the toiling, 
underfed classes, gz takes the place of the sw. 

Yes, physical geography is undoubtedly affected by 
human action even more injuriously than by the 
vastly slower changes ascribed to geology and 
astronomy. Perhaps (who knows?) even in this 
newly disturbed region of fog, rain, and cloud, due to 
increasing industries and ill-arranged furnaces, and 
the fearfully increased volumes of minute particles of 
unconsumed fuel thrown into the atmosphere, the 
very fact that coals have become dearer may have a 
redeeming effect. Manufacturers will not allow coals 
at 30s. per ton to be consumed as lavishly as they 
were at ten. The atmosphere will be the gainer. 
The sun will get a chance of breaking through 
artificially formed clouds, and every now and then of 
reminding us of the Old Testament saying that “‘it is 
a good thing for a man to look upon the sun!” 
Perhaps Professor Lodge’s original scheme to disperse 
the atmospheric dust by discharges of electricity, 
given freely and generously to the world some years 
ago, but only recently practically and successfully tried 
in Boston Harbour, may come to our help, and assist - 
us not only to forecast the weather, but help to make 
it! All things are possible to those who not only 
believe, but work and wait ! 


WORM-HUNTING IN SUSSEX. 


By the Rev. HinpEric FRIEND, F.L.S., Author 
of ‘‘ Flowers and Flower Lore,” etc. 


WAS called away from home on business towards 
the end of March, and found myself afterwards 

in need of a little ruralizing. Being in town, I 
determined to run down to the south of England for 
a few days, and explore the country for worms. My 
tour proved a great success. ‘Travelling from 
London to Hastings by the South-Eastern Railway 
I availed myself of the opportunity of alighting at 
Tunbridge Wells, for the purpose of examining the 
outskirts of the town. I found here more than one 
species of earth-worm which had not been recorded 
for Kent before, and had an opportunity of noting 
some peculiarities respecting the gregarious instincts 
of this class of animals. Reaching Sussex, I devoted 
my limited leisure to working the corner of the 
county which is enclosed by the Channel on the 
south, the railway from Robertsbridge to Hastings 
on the north, and a line drawn by the main road 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


123 


from Robertsbridge to Hurstmonceux and Pevensey 
on the west. 

Geologically speaking the conditions did not seem 
hopeful. Clayey soil abounds, and the little 
streamlets are red with iron held in solution, but no 
longer worked as of yore at Ashburnham Forge. I 
had examined portions of the same district on a 
former occasion with only moderate success, but a 
wider experience in the art of collecting had borne 
fruit, and suggested pastures new even for this branch 
of science. 
alighting from the train at Robertsbridge ; and though 
I did not leave the high-road, I bagged several 
fine specimens belonging to the most interesting 
species indigenous to this country. The little 
square-tail (4//urus tetredrus) was soon discovered 
in a ditch, well developed under its covering of 
damp, decaying leaves. This curious species is semi- 
aquatic, and must always be sought in damp places, 
such as the banks of streams, the edges of gutters or 
the margins of ponds. It frequently lies buried in 
the soft mud at a considerable depth, and uses its 
utmost endeavour to elude the collector’s grasp by 
hurrying away tail first to a safe retreat. It is so 
earthy in its colour that it needs a practised eye to 
detect it in many cases. I found the same species in 
every part of the county visited, for it is quite a 
ubiquitous little creature. It is widely distributed on 
the Continent and elsewhere, as well as in Britain. 

Other species found on the way to Dallington 
included the red worm (Zwmbricus rubellus), the 
purple (Z. purpureus), and the green (AZ/o. chlorotica). 
My next explorations were carried on in the pastures 
and woodlands at Dallington, a quiet little village 
half-a-dozen miles from Battle, and three miles north 
of the Earl of Ashburnham’s picturesque domain. 
Here my labours were abundantly rewarded. I 
found the common earth-worm (ZL. terrestris), which, 
by the way, is not nearly as common as we generally 
suppose. What we have usually taken for this 
species is an aggregate group including two or three 
species, which have only recently been put through 
their facings and made to tell their story. One of 
these is the long worm (A/o. longa), with a dark 
sienna-brown body, sometimes approaching black, on 
which account the anglers have named it the black- 
head. This is far more frequently found in the 
different counties of England than the true earth- 
worm, and Sussex proved no exception to the rule. 
A good deal still remains to be done, however, in 
working out the species found in rich soil, especially 
such as is under high cultivation, and I solicit the 
fayour of consignments of worms from my readers 
in order that I may determine the species and 
distribution of worms as yet unidentified as British. 

Under the shelter of a pine forest I was able, 
though a keen wind prevailed, to startle some worms 
from their resting-place by shaking the soil with my 
fork, and to my surprise and joy among the rest I 


I commenced operations immediately on - 


found specimens of the new worm (Z. rudescens) 
which I have recently added to our lists. This 
worm being new to science, proved of special interest, 
both because I was able to form a better idea of its 
distribution, and also because it bore upon its ventral 
surface a number of spermatophores, which I had not 
formerly found on any true Lumbricus. March and 
April are months of special value for the worm 
collector because of the condition of the essential and 
accessory organs of the animals’; and I was able on 
this account to make several notes of importance on 
various species in relation to this branch of natural 
history. I have now taken the ruddy-worm 
(Z. vubescens) in Yorkshire (Idle, near Bradford) 
Middlesex (Hornsey), Kent (Tunbridge Wells), and 
Sussex (Dallington). It is about the size of the red 
worm (Z. vzbellus), but has the girdle on segments 
34-39, whereas in the latter that organ covers 27-32. 
Turning from the pasture-land to tle adjoining 
wood, I hunted carefully for a dead tree lying on the 
ground. At last I found just what I wanted. In 
such’ habitats several very beautiful little worms 
abound which have hitherto been entirely unknown 
in England, though all the species at present found 
in this country are already on record for sundry 
continental districts. I have found that they really 
form a subgenus midway between Lumbricus and 
Allolobophora, and propose to revive the very 
accurate term Dendrobzena, introduced by Eisen 
twenty years ago, but allowed to fall into disuse, 
owing to the subject being insufficiently understood. 
To enter fully into a discussion of all the points of 
interest involved would here be impossible, and is 
the less necessary seeing that I have placed the whole 
subject before the Linnean Society. One new fact, 
however, has just come to light. In 1873 Eisen 
named a tree-haunting species AW/olobophora arborea, 
failing to recognise that the worm truly belonged to 
his new genus Dendrobzena. This species is plentiful 
in the north of England, where I have taken it in 
very typical form. Hitherto it has, however, passed 
unobserved in Italy and other countries, so far as I 
can find ; but another closely related species (Adéo. 
constyicta, Rosa), takes its place. Now in the South 
of England these two species meet and overlap. To 
what extent this occurs can only be proved by re- 
peated investigation, but I am glad to be able now to 
place Rosa’s worm on record jor the first time as a 
British species. The distribution of some of these 
species is very instructive. The so-called Lumdbricus 
Ljseni, Levinsen, is a case in point. It is one of the 
dendrobeenic species with certain lumbricoid affinities, 
and has been found in Copenhagen, Carlisle, Gloster- 
shire, Sussex, and Italy. The true Dendrobena 
Boechii, Hisen has been repeatedly confused with the 
gilt-tail (Alo. subrubicunda, Eisen), and so a wide 
distribution has been assigned it. But while the 
gilt-tail is ubiquitous in Europe apparently, the other 
species is rare. I have found it only once, and , 
G2 


124 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


believe it to be a northern species, which dies out, 
or gives place in the south to other species. Another 
species (4. ce/tica, Rosa) was first found in Brittany. 
A couple of years ago I found it in Scotland, then in 
Glostershire and Lancashire, and now find it in my 
decaying tree-stump in Sussex. 

A journey from Battle wid Sedlescombe to St. 
Leonards yielded the red, purple, green, and turgid 
worms, and the little square-tail, Others might 
have been found, but the wind was so intensely cold 
that it was with difficulty I could carry out my 
pursuits. My explorations ended with a tramp from 
Pevensey to Hurstmonceux on the 3oth. The 
square-tail was plentiful in ditches down to sea-level, 
the \brandling was found in old manure-heaps, and 
inside the castle-grounds I found the green and 
purple worms. To these during the day I added 
the mucous worm (4//o. mucosa, Eisen), the typical 
common earthworm (Z. éerrestris, L.), and the long 
worm, while a rich harvest was gleaned among the 
fresh-water and allied species. I regret to say that 
most of the latter were devoured by leeches before I 
reached my home in Yorkshire ‘so that I shall have 
to replace them before I can give a complete list of 
captures on the strength of living materials. The 
following list will perhaps be serviceable to future 
workers. There are almost certain to be two or 
three other continental species in Sussex yet unre- 
corded, and I shall be grateful to any collector either 
in the south or elsewhere who will send me living 
specimens from different parts of the kingdom. Much» 
yet remains to be done in Scotland, Ireland, and 
Wales; as well as the Shetland, Orkney, and Channel 
Islands. Worms should be placed in tin boxes with 
soft moss, and addressed 4, The Grove, Tdle, Brad- 
ford. 


List oF KNown SussEX EARTH-WORMS. 


terrestris (Linn.) 

rubellus (Hoffm.) 
rubescens (Friend) 
purpureus (Eisen) 
longa (Ude).. . 
turgida (Eisen) . 
chlorotica (Sav.) 

lmeucosa (Eisen) . 
\fetida (Sav.). . . 
subrubicunda (Eisen) 10 
Ejseni (Levinsen) . It 
celtica (Rosa). . 12 
arborea (Eisen) . . 13 
constrictaj(Rosa). . 14 
tetredrus(Sav.). . 15 


1. Lumbricus . 


iS} 


. Allolobophora 


OHI ANHRW NH 


3. Dendrobena. 


4. Allurus . 


SOME STALKED ACTINOPHRYANS. 


T has been my good fortune during the past three 
months to discover two rare Actinophryan Rhi- 
zopods in the waters of one of our Calcutta tanks. 
In November last I found Clathrulina elegans, and 
in January last Hedriocystis pellucida. In a paper on 
. Clathrulina, which was read before the Microscopical 


Society here on the 14th December last by its. Presi- 
dent, Mr. Wood Mason, he said: ‘‘ This remarkable 
genus of the order Heliozoa, in the lower grade 
(Gymnomyxa) of the Protozoa, was first introduced 
to the notice of zoologists in 1867 by the Russian 
naturalist Professor L. Cienkowski, of Odessa, who, 


Fig. 72.—Hedriocystis pellucida. (A), as seen under a 
in. Economic. 


Fig. 74.—H. pellucida. (C), the organism with numerous 
protoplasmic threadlets. 


in a paper remarkable for the numerous valuable 
observations that it contains, fully described it, with 
two of its three methods of multiplication, under the 
name of Clathrulina elegans. Cienkowski found it 
first at St. Petersburg, and afterwards at Dresden 
and Franzensbad in Germany, in fresh-water ponds, 
attached singly or in bunches to various aquatic 


HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


125 


plants. In the same year, apparently at a somewhat 
earlier date, it was discovered in Ireland, and de- 
scribed under the name of Podosphera Hackeliana, 
by the British naturalist W. Archer, who subse- 
quently recognised it as the C. elegans of Cienkowski. 
Later on it was met with, and carefully studied, by 


SG 


Fig. 77.—C. elegans. (B), a dark and probably old specimen. 


Professor Haeckel at Jena, Professor R. Greef, and 
Professors Hertwig and Lesser at Bonn, all of whom 
have published valuable observations upon it, and 
upon its relations to other Protozoa, especially the 
three last named, whose papers are most valuable 
contributions to our knowledge of the group to which 


Clathrulina belongs. Finally it was found in New 
Jersey and in Pennsylvania, in North America, and 
figured with diagrammatic clearness by the American 
naturalist, Dr. Joseph Leidy. In 1879, a second 
species of Clathrulina was described by C. von Me- 
reschkowski, and named C. Cienkowski, after the 


A 


Fig 76.—Clathrulina elegans. (A), as viewed with a 
one-sixth objective. 


L i J 


APs « tooo 


Fig. 78.—C. elegans. (C), an active organism with a 
protoplasmic veil and numerous threadlets. 


original discoverer and describer of the genus. This 
truly beautiful and elegant species, which was found 
in the Lake of Onega, near Powenetz, is readily dis- 
tinguishable from its congener by its spiny shell, 
which gives off from the small triangular area be- 
tween every three of its holes a’short, blunt, and 


126 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


erect cylindrical spine, every hole being consequently 
surrounded by a circlet of six spines; by the perfect 
regularity of the lattice-work of its shell ; and by its 
comparatively thick and unbranched pseudopodia, 
The little-known Hedriocystis pellucida of Hertwig 
forms in all probability a third species of the same 
genus. The class Heliozoa has been divided into 
four orders: Aphrothoraca, Chlamydophora, Chala- 
rothoraca, and Desmothoraca, to the last of which 
Clathrulina belongs... . C. elegans is here for the 
first time recorded from the continent of Asia.” 

My sketches which illustrate this paper will suffi- 
ciently show the main features of Clathrulina. It is 
a delicate unicellular organism allied to the sun ani- 
malcule, but is enclosed in a siliceous sphere; in 
my experience the carapace is not always absolutely 
spherical. The organism bears a close resemblance to 
the marine Radiolaria. In young specimens the sphere 
is hyaline ; in the older specimens it is a yellowish 
Unlike Actinophrys sol, the sarcode body 
of Clathrulina is irregular in form. It has a nucleus, 


brown. 


CW 


Fig. 79.—C. elegans. (D), Protoplasmic contents undergoing 
encystment at y; all threadlets withdrawn. 


contractile vesicles, and food vacuoles. The pseudo- 
podia, which are of great tenuity, radiate as in Figs. 
76, 77, 78, A, B, and C, through the latticed openings 
of the shell in all directions. In an active specimen, 
like c, the protoplasmic body appears to invest the 
sphere with a delicate veil, beyond which the ordi- 
nary pseudopodia extend. Assimilation of food par- 
ticles has been observed to be occasionally performed 
outside the siliceous capsule, by an afflux of proto- 
plasm to the pseudopodia on the side where the par- 
ticle may be arrested ; but as a rule the observations 
show that this function is carried on within the sphere. 
Specimens are frequently met with in which, as in E 
(Fig. 80), the sarcode body is retracted on all sides 
into the capsule. Reproduction is carried on in three 
ways : (1) By fission into two parts, which on quit- 
ting the shell, put forth pseudopodia, develop a stem, 
and finally silicify the protoplasmic foundations of 
the capsule and stem, siliceous salts being apparently 
taken up by the organism, and deposited on the 
exoplasm ; (2) By fission into several parts, which 
instead of quitting the shell as amcebulz, become 
encysted ; after the winter’s rest, each} cyst de- 
velops a free-swimming zoospore, furnished with two 


flagella, which is ultimately transformed, as men- 
tioned under the succeeding head, into the perfect 
organism; (3) By fission into three parts, one of 
which again subdivides into two; these latter force 
their way through the lattice-work of the capsule, 
swim about as free flagellule for a short time, 
and thereafter fix themselves, take on a globular 
form, develop pseudopodia, and later on a siliceous 
capsule and stem, the sarcode being ultimately with- 
drawn into the body-substance of the core. The 
second and third methods are obviously best suited 
to secure dispersal of the species. Iam indebted for 
these particulars to Mr. Wood Mason’s paper already 
referred to, and which has been mainly drawn up from 
the memoirs of Cienkowski, Greef, and Hertwig and 
Lesser, and from Biitschli’s account of the Heliozoa. 
In Fig. 79, D I have represented what I believe to 


Fig. 80.—C. elegans. (E), protoplasm retracted. In this and 
the preceding figure the objective is focussed on the proto- 
plasmic core of the organism, and the carapace is seen in 
outline, the lattice-work not being in focus. 


have been a reproductive process in course of pro- 
gress, in one of the specimens secured by me. The 
pseudopodia were withdrawn on all sides, while a 
portion of the protoplasmic contents were protruded 
in a dense stream, the further extremity of which 
seemed to be encysting itself outside the capsule at 7. 
A large vacuole had formed near the point of origin 
of the stream, and the contractile vesicle was in vigo- 
rous action. I could not detect the nucleus, though — 
there were four or five small patches of condensed 
granular matter in the body of the specimen, 

The water in which I found my specimens had 
been drawn from the General’s Tank quite a month 
previous to my discovery. The Clathrulinas were 
attached to decaying portions of Anacharis and 
Vallisneria, and were also mixed up with the débris at 
the bottom of the glass bowl containing the weeds. 
In all my sketches I have shortened the stems, which 
in length are from six to seven times the diameter of 
the capsule. The scale appended to the sketches 


HARDWICKE’ S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 


127 


which illustrate the species found by me, applies only 
to figs. 78 and So, c and E. 

Later on, in the course of our cold season I obtained 
in the same glass bowls and water, numerous speci- 
mens of ‘‘the little-known Aedriocystis pellucida of 
Hertwig.” Four sketches of this rare organism 
accompany: A (Fig. 72) was drawn under a }-inch 
Economic objective ; B, C, and D (Figs. 73, 74, 75) 
under a j-inch w. i. of Seibert ; D being projected 
at about double the normal distance in order to get 
clear details of a well developed, favourably placed 
specimen. In B (Fig. 73) we have an average He- 
driocystis, while in c (Fig. 74) there is an abnormally 
irregular and abundant development of pseudopodial 
threadlets. The scale which accompanies these 
sketches applies only to B and c (Figs, 73, 74). Mr. 
Wood-Mason has kindly let me have the following 
note descriptive of this organism: ‘‘ Stalked shell, 
round to oval, perforated by numerous holes drawn 
out into pointed bases ; small (0°02 to 0°03 mm.) : 
protoplasmic body only partially fills the shell, witha 
central nucleus, and several contractile vacuoles in 
its peripheral parts. Pseudopodia not branched, and 
not anastomozed. Multiplies by simple fission ; 
encystment observed. Stalk 0°05 to 0'075 mm. 
long; lower end broadened for attachment ; upper 
passes without sharp boundary into contours of shell.” 
It will be noticed that this description does not quite 
correspond to my sketches; e.g. the stalk in my 
illustrations seems to be cut off by the sharp contour 
of the lower part of the ‘“‘shell.” This may be 
explained by my haying sketched organisms in which 
the stalk merged into the “‘shell” behind the plane 
under observation. In two specimens killed with 
osmic acid solution the stalk was distinctly seen to 
pass without a sharp boundary into the “shell.” 
Then, again, as regards the ‘‘ shell,” I will not say it 
is, but it looks very like a delicate membrane ; and 
this leads me to enquire whether or not Hedriocystis 
may be a stage in the development of Clathrulina? I 
am bound to add that I have not been able to detect 
any silicifying process, or any approach to the forma- 
tion of the lattice-work, which is so conspicuous a 
feature in Clathrulina ; but while I frequently meet 
with the empty carapaces of Clathrulina in the debris 
at the bottom of my bowls I have not yet found the 
empty ‘‘ shells ” of Hedriocystis, though I have looked 
forthem. One noteworthy circumstance in connection 
with the two stalked Actinophryans described above 
is that they were both obtained after the water had 
been drawn from the General’s Tank for some weeks ; 
the loss by evaporation having been meanwhile kept 
up by occasional additions of pure water, while the 
supply of oxygen was maintained by the weeds in the 
bowl: when first drawn neither Clathrulina nor 
Hedriocystis was detected. So far as I am aware, 
this is also the first record of the discovery in this 
country of Hertwig’s Hedriocystis. 

Calcutta. W. J. SIMMONS. 


ON THE SCHEMATISM OF SHELLS IN 
MOLLUSCA GLOSSOPHORA. 


HE shells of Glossophora exhibit a wide variety 
of forms, but are as a rule merely variations 
on the simple spiral. Now, since in. these days 
we are not accustomed to consider variations at 
mere ‘‘freaks of nature,” but try to elicit their 
meaning and bearing on past history (on the hypo- 
thesis that ‘‘nature”’ isnot given to making meaning- 
less freaks for the fun of it), it seems rather strange 
that we so seldom hear of any attempt to elicit 
evolutionary facts from the shapes of the shells which 
we study. I should like therefore to suggest the 
following series of hypotheses to the attention of con- 
chologists. (I.) That the earliest form of shell-was 
probably a bilaterally symmetrical cone. Of this there 
seems little doubt: but subsequently, as it seems to 
me, the shell became tapering and cylindrical, and 
next (II.) became incurved, probably from reasons of 
mechanical convenience, which it is easy to imagine. 
Something of this sort is to be observed in certain 
existing shells (by ‘‘reminiscence” probably) and 
the geologists will be able to ‘give us instances from 
the Cephalopoda. (III.) Next comes the flat-coiled 
spiral, of which, instances from the Cephalopoda of 
past ages are numerous, and we see the same kind of 
thing to-day in a typical Planorbis, e.g. P. spivorbis. 
(IV.) After this stage we find the peristome placed a 
little sideways (cf. Planorbis corneus), which arrange- 
ment, as well as the other steps toa certain extent, 
I think I could demonstrate to be due to reasons of 
anatomical convenience. Here usually we find the 
principle of carination most evident, z.e. in the 
majority of forms : it seems to be due to compression, 
and to be the same thing in principle as babylonism. 
(V.) Next we come to the forms in which the spire 
begins to be more prominent, either, as in our three 
common Helices, by the enlargement of the last 
whorl (possibly a sort of reversion), or by depression 
of the peristome below the preceding whorl, as in 
Bythinia Leachit or Limnea truncatula ; the begin- 
nings of which process in these cases are suggested by 
Valvata piscinalis and Planorbis dilatatus* respec- 
tively. Eventually either the last whorl predominates, 
as in extreme ZL. aurvicularia, or the spire, as in 
Turritella and many others. i 
Of course this is not intended in any sense as a 
classification ; indeed, a certain amount of experience 
has taught me to regard as artificial any too 
regularly formulated scheme of arrangement. But 
the above suggestions may be of service to those who 
are investigating the phylogeny of any group of 
mollusca. For instance, the valvatiform young of 
Paludina vivipara would be perfectly intelligible to 
one who regarded as probable the precedence given to 
flat uncompressed spirals in the above “fistular 


* But better by some other foreign Planorbes. 


128 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


theory,” if I may call itso. Ihave collected a large 
number of facts relative to Glossophora—more espe- 
cially Palzarctic land and freshwater species and 
varieties—which seem to me to be well explained 
thereby, but it will be better to produce these after 
I have heard the criticisms of other conchologists. 

As I have mentioned varieties, I may as well add 
that the occurrence or non-occurrence of certain 
forms as varieties, has a most important, and I think 
confirmatory, bearing on the above hypotheses. The 
colours of shells also help us considerably ; and by 
comparing a series arranged primarily according to 
shape (with deductions, of course, for obvious rever- 
sions) and consisting of various British and foreign 
Valvatidz and Paludinidz,* I arrive at a sequence of 
colours, which agrees in 2 wonderful way with one of 
the colour sequences noticed in insects, for which see 
Mr. Tutt’s ‘British Noctuz and their Varieties,” 
vol. ii. Introduction, especially p. vi; also the papers 
on ‘‘Melanism and Melanochroism,” (by the same 
author), afford some interesting parallels (to the 
genus Melania especially). On the whole, I should 
think that there are more variations of colour-sequence 
than he mentions, but the agreement in this particular 
case is satisfactory. 

E. W. W. BOWELL. 


SOME FAMOUS COLLECTING-GROUNDS 
FOR DRAGON-FLIES. 


By the Author of ‘‘An Illustrated Handbook of 
British Dragon-flies,” ‘‘ A Label List of British 
Dragon-flies,” etc., etc. 


IV.—THE LAKES OF KILLARNEY. 


HE Lakes of Killarney are without doubt the 
most beautiful and attractive district in the 
Emerald Isle. Every natural beauty that can please 
the eye exists here in rich profusion. Nature is 
everywhere in various garbs of beauty, awfully im- 
pressive and awe-inspiring ; as, for instance, in the 
gloomy Black Valley stretching away among the 
fastnesses of the majestic MacGillicuddy’s Reeks, 
the noisy streams from their rugged sides but inten- 
sifying the solitude—‘‘ A valley secluded as the heart 
of the sternest recluse could desire, where ever- 
brooding melancholy reigns ;”” or the Gap of Dunloe 
—that wild, lonely, magnificent defile, lying between 
the Reeks and the Toomies, four miles long, in 
which the lofty mountains, apparently rent asunder 
by some strange convulsions of nature, overhang the 
pathway, fearfully casting their gloomy shadows on 
the murmuring stream below; or the picturesque 
romantic loneliness of Glena Bay—‘“ the Bay of Good 
Fortune ;” the shores and the lofty Glena Mountain, 


* Is there any sufficient reason for dividing these two 
families? I can find nothing very cogent in the anatomy, and 
think on the whole they should be ranged together. 


which are covered with a luxuriant growth of trees— 
the oak, ash, pine, hazel, etc.; with that never- 
failing accompaniment of Killarney scenery—the 
arbutus. 

The celebrated lakes are of course the chief centre 
of attraction to the enthusiastic dragon-fly hunter in 
this delightful domain, and well indeed will a careful 
search after these winged treasures repay him for 
the trouble. Nearly all the kinds of dragon-flies” 
which occur in Ireland may be found here, a 
complete list of the different species indigenous to 
the Emerald Isle being as follows :—/Platetrum 
depressum (not uncommon), Lepletrum quadrimaculata 
(common), Sywpetrum vulgatum (ditto), S. Scoticum 
(very plentiful), Cordulia enea (this elegant insect 
has not for certain been captured in Ireland, but is 
believed to occur there), Gomphus vulgatissimus 
(there is some doubt also respecting the occurrence of 
this pretty species in the Emerald Isle), Condulegaster 
annulatus (common, particularly among the mountain 
streams, for which it seems to possess a special 
predilection), Brachytron pratense (very local, but 
generally common whenever it occurs), Zschna 
juncea (common, particularly in the north of Ireland) 
Zscyanea (chiefly occurs in the south of the island), 
.. srandis (not rare, but local), Calopteryx virgo and 
C. splendens (very plentiful everywhere), estes 
nympha (rare and very local), Z. sfomsa (common, 
but local), Z. darbara (no example of this species 
has ever been known to have been captured in 
Treland, but it is included in the British list on the 
strength of a single specimen in the Dublin Univer- 
sity Museum. If it occurs in the Emerald Isle at all, 
the district of Killarney would probably be the most 
likely place for it). Lxallagma cyathigerum (plentiful) 
Agvrion pulchellum (local), A. puella (exceedingly 
abundant everywhere), Jschnura elegans (very com- 
mon), Pyrrhosoma minium (very plentiful every- 
where), and Zyrythromma najas (very local and 
rare). 

In addition to the district of Killarney there are 
many other good hunting-grounds for dragon-flies in 
the Emerald Isle which would well repay a visit ; 
this country, however, has hitherto been so sadly 
neglected by entomologists, that it is uncertain what 
“* good species” may be made to turn up after a little 
diligent research and investigation. The district in 
the extreme south-east of the island ought to be 
productive of many good species of dragon-flies, 
from whence indeed, I have received Brachytron 
pratense, Sympetrum vulgatum, Scoticum, and Lefe- 
trum quadrimaculata, in addition to many other sorts 
from correspondents at various times. 


THE ‘‘ Book-Lovers’ Leaflet” is always the firs 
thing we select for perusal each month. The 
‘¢ Easter Number” is as good as a holiday, and much 
cheaper. (London: Pickering and Chatto: 66 
Haymarket). 


HARDWICKE' S SCIENCE-GOSS/P. 


129 


ROSSENDALE RHIZOPODS. 
No. 9. 


Y previous papers on the above subject, have 
chiefly been written with a view to assist the 
young student in the identification of his finds; but 
they have the additional value of furnishing a record 
of the species found in a locality, which, so far as I 
am aware, has been previously unworked. In order 
to make this record as valuable as possible, I append 
2 complete list of my captures, many of which have 
been discovered either during the time my former 
articles were going through the press, or since. 


PROTOPLASTA LOBOSA. 


Ameeba proteus Hyalosphenia tincta (rare) 


Pelomyxa villosa 


Difflugia pyriformis 
D. urceolata (rare) 
D. acuminata 


H. papilio (rare) 
Nebela collaris 
N. flabellulum 


Arcella vulgaris 
A. discoides 
A. mitrata (rare) 


D. globulosa Centropyxis aculeata 
D. constricta C. ecornis 
D. spiralis 

ARNEN GG ON Oo OM a) ee) 


PROTOPLASTA FILOSA. 


Pamphagus hyalinus | 


Euglypha alveolata 
Pseudodifiiugia gracilis 


E. ciliata 
. Trinema acinus 
Cyphoderia ampulla 


Atel Gg God oa pee 


PROTOPLASTA HELIOZOA. 


Diplophrys Archeri 
Vampyrella laterita 


Actinophrys sol 
Actinospherium Eichhornii 


Acanthocystis sp. (with Hyalolampe fenestrella 
simple spines) Heterophrys myriopoda 
Clathrulina elegans 
Mee pb ote nto 6 6 B 
Newispecies isi raise tone Roan Tare 87, 
Protoplastalobosa . . . . 20 
TEMG oe Gao 6 6 
Lepainnz 2 A nie & 6 4 fe 
Total 4r 


In the above list it will be noticed that there are 
twenty species of Protop/asta lobosa, six species of 
Protoplasta filosa, and eight species of the Heliczoa. 
The Protoplasta lobosa are very common in our ponds, 
ditches, small reservoirs and wells, with the exception 
ef the two species of Hyalosphenia, which are ex- 
clusively of sphagnous habitat, and are, as far as my 
experience goes, exceedingly rare. As will have been 
noticed from my papers, all, or nearly all, the testaceous 
forms of the lobose Rhizopods, even of the same 
species, are very variable, not only in size, and to a 
less extent in form, but also in the character and dis- 
tribution of the various elements which go to make 
up their tests. All the filose Rhizopods I have 
enumerated are fairly plentiful, but have been found 
only in the clearest pools and wells. The Heliozoans, 
with the one exception of Actimophrys sol, are ex- 
ceedingly rare, one or two specimens only, of each 
species recorded, having as yet rewarded my search. 


—: 


This may perhaps be accounted for by the sparseness 
of our floating vegetation. We have three of the 
four species of Lemna (minor, major, and trisulca), 
but these are only found in a very few of our waters, 
and as far as I am aware are the only floating pond- 
weeds found in Rossendale. Possibly, as the 
Rhizopods of this order are more or less surface-forms, 
or at least swimmers, the excessive rain-fall of the 
past year may have had the effect of thinning their 
numbers. From the frequency of their appearance 
in tubes of the Rotifera, sent me by numerous corre- 
spondents, I should imagine that the Heliozoa are more 
plentiful in the south of England, than in our cold, 
bleak northern district. In addition to the above, I 
have discovered seven new species, all testaceous, 
making forty-one species altogether, but as these 
were unfortunately represented only by empty tests, 
I regret that I shall have to defer a detailed descrip- 
tion of them until a further study has supplied this 
important deficiency. Several correspondents in the 
vicinity of London have sent me drawings of other 
forms, not described in ‘‘ Leidy,”’ and I feel con- 
vinced that if microscopists in various parts of the 
country were to take up the systematic study of the 
Rhizopods, science would soon be enriched by the 
acquisition of numerous new species, ina class which, 
so far as the fresh-water forms are concerned, appears 
to me only meagrely represented, by about seventy 
species. The classification of the order Heliozoa, is, 
perhaps, as good a one as could possibly be contrived 
under present circumstances, but it soon becomes 
evident to any one who has studied this order, and 
who has had a fair number of forms under observa- 
tion, that many of his specimens cannot be made to fit 
into any of the genera of Professor Leidy ; and there 
have not been wanting indications that some of the 
obscurer forms of the order present themselves at 
different times, under widely different aspects. Even 
the authority named himself has been content in 
many cases to indicate only the genus to which some 
of these puzzling forms apparently belonged. This 
change of aspect has especially characterised some 
specimens (presumably of Heterophrys) kindly sent 
me by Mr. Scourfield, from the Victoria regia tank, 
Regent’s Park. I hope subsequently to be in a 
position to refer to this matter again when further 
study has made me acquainted with additional facts 
in the life-history of this interesting order. I have 
hitherto said nothing as to the reproduction of the 
class ; indeed, in this early stage of my enquiry, all 
my energies have been directed to the discovery and 
determination of the various species occurring in the 
district ; and although some phases of the reproduc- 
tive process have been witnessed, yet these have been 
of a too fragmentary character to prove of much value 
until supplemented by further research. In addition to 
the discovery of new forms, and the elucidation of the 
modes of development, there is, it appears to me, a 
wide and interesting field of enquiry in relation to the 


130 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


formation of the tests of the Rhizopods. What 
a variety of elements are utilised in their formation ! 
Mud, minute, rounded sand-grains; comparatively 
large, angular blocks of sand; linear, fusiform, and 
oval Diatom frustules; round, oval, and rod-like 
plates of silica; chitine, either as a simple and 
homogeneous, variously-formed box ; plain, hexagon- 
ally pitted, spinous or hairy ; or in the form of square, 
oval, hexagonal or vermiform plates. These elements 
are used singly or variously combined, frequently 
exhibiting a charming arrangement, which much 
increases the interest with which we view these 
humble Protozoa. What a number of problems 
crowd upon the mind and demand solution, as we 
contemplate the intricate structure of the Rhizopodian 
test! How are the extraneous matters collected and. 
built up? How are the intrinsic elements secreted 
and placed in position? Do these ‘‘ shells,” increase 
in size? Are they formed only during the hours of 
darkness? I cannot answer these questions, nor many 
others which will readily suggest themselves to the 
thoughtful mind ; nor am I aware that any answer 
has been given, but they are surely not unanswer- 
able. If this is the case, then here is work await- 
ing those who burn to distinguish themselves, to 
help on the march of Science, and to have their 
names inscribed in its annals. I hope some of our 
younger men may be induced to take up the study 
of this lowly, but interesting class of the animal 
kingdom. My next article, which will be the last of 
the series, will deal with “The collection and 
examination of the Rhizopods.” 


J. BH. Lor; 
Rawtenstall. 


A BOTANIST’S HOLIDAY IN THE 
PYRENEES. 


AVING made up my mind to take my holidays 
among the Pyrenees, in July 1888 I took passage 

by the good steamship Cofofax7, bound from Liverpool 
to Bordeaux on her way to South America. Leaving 
Liverpool on a cold, drizzling afternoon, we steamed 
away for the sunny south. Next morning we passed 
Land’s End, and bid farewell to the shores of Old 
England, which probably many of those on board 
would look upon no more. The same evening we 
passed by the rocky coast of Brittany, and entered 
the celebrated Bay of Biscay. The Fates being on 
this occasion propitious, we were not troubled with 
the horrors of sea-sickness, in fact this proved the 
smoothest part of the passage, and at 3 p.m. on 
the afternoon of the third day we were steaming 
slowly up the noble river Garonne, past vineyards, 
(strange sight to English eyes) and quaint villages 
among tall poplars, till at last we came to a halt at 
the small village of Pauillac, where the passengers for 
Bordeaux are transferred to the tender, which takes 
them up to the great French seaport. About 9 p.m. 


we came in sight of the lights of the city extending 
far along the river-bank, and shortly afterwards 
landed amidst a host of land-sharks, and after being 
half torn to pieces, we gathered our remains, and 
made for our several quarters. 

Next morning I set out to view the city, a very 
interesting one, with its old cathedral (built by the 
English during their possession of the place, and 
where our Richard II. was christened), with its fine 
old churches, and Roman amphitheatre called the 
Palais Gallien. 

In the evening I strolled away across the magni- 
ficent stone bridge over the Garonne, to the suburb 
of La Bastide, and continuing along the Avenue 
Thiers, till a bit of country was reached, I had a 
foretaste of good things to come. Sambucus ebulisy 
and Lyryngium campestre were common along the 
road-sides, and in a ditch I found Azolla Caroliniania 
in abundance ; farther on was Centaurea calcitrapa 
with its pink spiny heads, and ALyagrum perfoliatum 
with its curious top-shaped pods. As the evening 
closed in it became too dark to see more, and so I 
returned to Bordeaux, and took the midnight train 
from the St. Jean station for the happy hunting- 
grounds of the Pyrenees. It is 169 miles from 
Bordeaux to Laruns, a terminus in the department of 
the Basses-Pyrénées, and to accomplish this distance 
we took ten hours by direct train to Pau, and thence, 
after an hour’s waiting, the remaining twenty-four 
miles to Laruns. ; 

After breakfast at the comfortable and good hotel 
near the station (Hétel de l’Europe, I think), I set 
out for a day’s hunting in a valley running up from 
the main valley, and leading to the Col d’Aubisque 
(5610 feet). The first finds were Sedums (or Seda per- 
haps more correctly), Sedum micranthum (Bast.), S. 
dasyphyllum (L.), and S. rvubens (L.), Campanula 
patula was common by the road-sides and in fact all 
through the Pyrenees ; {Campanula rapunculoides, and 
C. glomerata also were.not uncommon. Lamium macu- 
latum, var. hirsutum, a hispid variety with green 
leayes was observed in the hedge bottoms. The rusty- 
back fern ( Ceterach officinarum) occurred here and there 
on walls. Farther up the valley, the lower parts of. 
which are densely clothed with oak and beech, I came 
on Stachys recta (L.), a yellow-flowered species 5 
Carduus medius (Gouan), like a small C. xutans > 
Lfypericum Burseri (Sp.), a very glandular, large- 
flowered species, in habit like our A. montanum > 
Prunella grandiflora (Monch),:a fine large-flowered 
species; and Dianthus monspessulanus (L.), var. 
Walsteinii (Sternb.). The underwood consists almost 
entirely of box (Luxus sempervirens), and the heath 
of this part is Z7ica vagans(L.). Crossing the valley, 
I came across 7yifolium ochroleucum (L.) ; Teucrium 
pyrenaicum (L.), a beautifulilittle creeping plant, with 
yellow and purple flowers in dense heads, and 
roundish leaves, very common in this valley, though 
I never happened to meet with it again; and 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTJP. 


131 


Anithyllis vulneraria, var, rubriflora (DC.) ; Dillenii 
(Schultz), also very common here. A peculiar form 
or variety of Jalva moschata, with crenate and 
reniform leaves [var. Ramondiana (G. G.)], was 
noticed here. Lchium vulgare, var. pyrenaicum, 
grows in great profusion all about. Returning in the 
cool of the evening through one of the quaint old 
stone-built villages, I encountered the female portion 
of the community, all busily engaged at Blind Man’s 
Buff, and having to pass through the midst was made 
prisoner by the Blind Man (or Woman) amidst shouts 
of laughter from the other players. The look of 
dismay on the woman’s countenance, on discovering 
whom she had captured, was worthy of being photo- 
graphed. However, I was not obliged to serve, and 
was allowed to pass on my way without further 
molestation. 

Next morning, the weather continuing all that could 
be wished, I set out for the Pic du Midi d’Ossau, 
about ten miles farther up the Val d’Ossau. The way 
from Laruns to Eaux Chaudes commences ina splendid 
cutting between overhanging mountains, with a torrent 
foaming along some hundreds of feet beneath, the 
old road, now disused for wheel traffic, being on the 
opposite side of the valley about 300 feet or so higher 
up, but looking almost directly down on the new 
road. In one place the old road passes through a 
tunnel in the rock. Three miles up the valley lies 
the watering-place or Spa of Eaux Chaudes, a small 
but fashionable resort. On the way I found 
Bupleurumfalcatum ; Hypericum nummularium (L.), 
a very pretty trailing species; Letonica alopecuros 
{L.)a large yellow-flowered plant ; 4diantum capillus- 
Veneris, on damp rocks ; and Oxonis natrix, a species 
with large yellow flowers, beautifully marked with 
reddish veins. Eight miles past Eaux Chaudes is the 
poor hamlet of Gabas, the last village in France on 
this route ; here the carriage-road ends, but a good 
horse and mule track goes on over into Spain. The 
village contains a curious old church, dated (if I 
remember rightly) 1120 ; it has four slits for windows 
about 4 feet by 1 foot. Past Gabas, in a small wood 
by the stream (whither I adjourned for the mid-day 
repast), I found Veronica pone (Gou.), something 
like our V. montana, only the flowers are larger 
and in a loose terminal raceme; Crepis lamp- 
sanoules (Froel.), a tall leafy species, like a large 
hirsute C. paludosa ; Thalictrum aquilegifolium ; 
Meconopsis cambrica ; Lilium Martagon ; Evucastrum 
obtusangulum (Reich), Adenostyles albifrons (DC.), 
like a cordate-leaved Eupatorium ; Aypericum Burseri 
(Spach) ; -Polygonatum verticillatum (All.), in fruit 
Galium rotundifolium and Ranunculus nemorosus. 
Higher up the valley, at about 4000 ft., the Saxifrages 
began to be common. S. Geum, S. hirsuta, S. aizoon 
{Jacq.), all on rocks by the road-side. On a stony 
bank I found Carlina acaulis (L.), and var. subacaulis 
(DC.), large-headed Carlinas with white, silvery 


inner bracts; and Carlina cynara (Pourr.), with 


yellow inner bracts, and very large acaulescent 
heads. Lznaria alpina, with its beautiful purple and 
orange flowers, and glaucous foliage, now began to 
appear, showing the higher altitude, also Z7inus 
alpinus, with its bright rose-purple flowers. vyngium 
Bourgati (Gou.), a blue-flowered Pyrenean species, 
with an almost simple stem, about a foot high, was 
common on the grassy slopes, together with AZerendera 
bulbocodiune (Ram.), a lovely rose-flowered colchi- 
cum-like plant, this latter in places so thick that it 
coloured the slopes that it grew on. I had good 
reason to remember this plant, for, in digging up 
some of its corms, I broke my good root-knife, and 
was unable to replace it for nearly a week, when I 
got a formidable-looking vine-dresser’s knife instead. 
Suddenly, on turning a corner in the road,{there burst 
upon the astonished sight the view of one of, if not 
the most picturesque peaks in the Pyrenees, the Pic 
du Midi d’Ossau ; round the base and some way up 
the rocky sides were dark pines, then towering away 
above for about 3000 feet is a precipitous, pinnacled 
mass of bare rock. The sight viewed from this point 
is simply magnificent, and in my experience is only 
equalled by the Matterhorn. The weather up to this 
point had been beautifully clear, but lower down the 
valley I had noticed a few light fleecy clouds blowing 
up ; presently some arrived in the part where I was, 
and in ten minutes the crags of the giant mountain 
had disappeared, and the whole valley was filled 
with a cold mist. As it was getting late and the fog 
prevented farther progress, I set out to return, and 
on the way, on some inaccessible rocks above the 
road, I saw some splendid specimens of Valeriana 
pyrenaica, about 6 ft. high, and some Ranunculus 
platanifolius (L.), a large, white-flowered species. 
Having carefully looked over the rocks, and finding 
no way of ascending, not to be done I fastened a 
sharp penknife on a Jong tree-branch, and soon 
fetched them tumbling down. A little way on again 
Arabis alpina appeared, and last but not least, 
Aquilegia pyrenaica (DC.), a lovely plant, more 
slender than A. vulgaris, with flowers as large or 
larger, of a pure light blue, stems simple, 8 in. to 
1 ft. in height. This wag the last find for the day, 
and a few hours’ walk brought me back to the hotel 
at Laruns. Next morning was cloudy, but fine, and 
bidding farewell to Laruns, I set out to walk by the 
Route Thermale, a splendid road made by Napoleon 
III. to connect the watering-places in the Val 
d’Ossau with those in the Argelés valley, and save 
the long détour by Pau and Lourdes. After passing 
the watering-place of Eaux Bonnes, the road passes 
up the valley to the end, and then mounts up by 
long zigzags through a pine wood to a grassy region 
beyond. In the pine wood I found Pinguicula 
grandiflora (Lam.), and beyond it Horminum pyrenai- 
cum (.), a beautiful, low-growing labiate plant, 
with a single erect many-flowered spike of largish 
purple flowers, and radical leaves only. Higher up 


132 HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


I got into the mist and the view vanished ; in a few 
miles the Col d’Aubisque was reached, 5610 ft. ; and 
now began a series of finds enough to make any 
botanist’s mouth water. First, in grassy spots, 
Trifolium alpinum (L.), Hieracium auricula (L.) 5 
Carex Davalliana(Sm.) ; Tofieldia calyculata (Wahl.), 
a larger species than our Tofieldia; then, on rocks 
above the road, Reseda glauca (L.), a common species 
in the Pyrenees, but peculiar to them, it has finely 
divided glaucous leaves ; Sideritis hyssopifolia (L. f.), 
a yellow-flowered labiate ; eracium saxatile (Vill.) ; 
Carex frigida ( All.) ; Saxifraga aizoon ; S. muscoides ; 
S. cotyledon (1.), the last a splendid plant, with 
curious calcareous seratures round the thick fleshy 
leaves, which form a dense rosette at the crown of 
the root; Helianthemum vulgare, var. tomentosum 
(Dun.); Asferula hirta (Ram,), another Pyrenean 
plant, like a small Galium, with flesh-coloured 
flowers and ciliate leaves; Zvinus alpinus (L.), 
plentiful ; Rosa pyrenaica (Gou.) ; Cardamine resedi- 
Jolia (L.), a very small species, about 2 in. high ; 
Antennaria leontopodium (Giart.), very plentiful 
here, but not observed again; this is the famous 
Swiss ‘* Edelweiss” ; Wieritella angustifolia (Rich.), 
(= Orchis nigra), a little orchid with dark crimson 
flowers ; Arenaria ciliata (L.); Valeriana montana 
(L.); Sempervivum Boutignianum (G. and G.), a 
very pretty, rose-flowered Sempervivum ; Salix pyre- 
naica (Gou.), a low, silky species; Zyifolium badium 
(L.), with Jargish brown-yellow heads; Kernera 
saxatilis, a crucifer with white flowers, and roundish 
pods, placed by Bentham and Hooker under Coch- 
learia ; Cryptogramma crispa, Polypodium calcareum ; 
Betonica alopecuros (L.) ; Hypericum Burseri (Sp.) 5 
Gypsophila repens (L.), a caryophyllaceous plant, like 
a small Silene; and Rumex arifolius (L.), very like 
KR. scutatus. Past the Col d’Aubisque the road 
turns to the right, past the head of another valley on 
to the rocky side of the Pic de Gabizos, and here it 
enters the department of Hautes-Pyrénées. The 
road here is a magnificent piece of work, having been 
blasted out of the steep smooth rocky slope of the 
mountain for more than a mile, and in one place 
passing through a tunnel in the solid rock ; at some 
distance off it looks like a shelf cut in the side of the 
mountain. The rocks here abound in rare plants, 
but as it was now five o’clock, and I had some six 
miles to walk to Arrens, the nearest village, before I 
could get anything to eat, I had not much time to go 
over them; however, I got a few rare ones, e.g. 
Potentilla alchemilloides (Lap.), the loveliest Poten- 
tilla I ever saw; it has leaves like Alchemilla 
conjuncta, only rather smaller, beautifully silvery- 
white and silky beneath, with a silver edge showing 
above, the flowers are white, and achenes silky ; 
Lychnis pyrenaica (Berg.), with glaucous ovate 
leaves, and smallish white flowers ; Ge-vista hispanica 
(L.), very like a small Ulex ; Ovovis striata (Gou.), 
a minute yellow-flowered species ; Zivaria origanifolia 


(Ait.), var. grandiflora, a purple almost bell-shaped 
flower with a patch of yellow on the one side; 
Onobrychis montana (Gaud.); Antirrhinum semper- 
virens, a small white-flowered species with grey 
fleshy leaves; Szlene Saxifraga (L.), with’ greenish 
flowers ; Dethawia (= Wallrothia) tenuifolia (Endl.), 
a fine-leaved Umbellifer ; Potentilla fruticosa (L.) 5. 
Aquilegia pyrenaica (DC.), very fine, with flowers 
much larger than in 4. vu/garis, and lastly, in fruit 
only, a most curious-looking Ranunculus (Ranunculus 
thora, L.), with a simple, very wiry stem, and a 
single large reniform leaf in the middle; it has, as I 
afterwards ascertained, a yellow flower. The shades 
of night drew rapidly on, as I descended the long zig- 
zags|which carry the road down the 1840 feet from the 
Col de Courel to Arrens, in the Val d’Azun. Before 
reaching the bottom, dark clouds gathered, and in 
the pitchy darkness, the very road beneath my feet 
was invisible, except when lit up by occasional flashes 
of lightning: at last at 9 p.m. I reached the village, 
and had to ask a woman to show me the inn, for L 
should never have found it in the darkness. A few 
minutes after getting in, the rain began to come 
down in torrents, so I was only just in time. After 
a good supper of chicken, chops, and coffee, (about a 
teacupful of strong black coffee, and a pint jug of 
boiling milk, and a basin to drink it out of), I was 
glad to get between the sheets, after the best day I 
ever had except one, and that was on the St. 
Gotthard and Furka passes, in the Alps of Switzer- 
land. Of course the plants, I have mentioned do not 
include all I saw, but only the rarer, and non- 
British plants. Next day rose bright, sunny and 
clear, after the storm of the preceding day, and I set. 
off to walk to Pierrefitte, at the junction of the two 
valleys leading to Luz and Cauterets, a walk of only 
twelve miles ; eight down the Val d’Azun, and four 
up the Argeles valley. Before leaving Arrens, I hada 
look at the curious old church with its battlemented 
wall around the churchyard, and the chapel of the 
Virgin on the little isolated hill of Poey-le-Houn, 
or Hill of the Fountain. The walk down the Val 
d’Azun was through a broad fertile valley, with chest- 
nut, walnut, and cherry-trees bordering the road, and 
in the adjoining fields. In the south of France, and 
in the warmer valleys of the Pyrenees, the maize is 
extensively cultivated, to a much greater extent than 
the ordinary corn, and looks very handsome, with its 
broad, deep green leaves and branched spikes of male 
flowers. Along the road from Arrens to Argelés, on 
the banks and walls by the roadside, Sedum rubens 
(L.), S. cefea (L.), a brittle, much-branched, broad- 
leaved, and white-flowered species, S. micranthune. 
(Bast.), S. dasyphyllum (L.), and S, albescens (Haw.), 
are plentiful. Also, in less quantity, Limaria pyre- 
naica (DC.), a sub-species of Z. swpina, from which 
it is distinguished by the rather larger flowers with. 
greenish veins on the corolla. After dining in Ar- 
gelés, a fairish-sized town at the junction of the. 


BARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


133 


valleys of Argeles and Azun, I strolled on to Pierre- 
fitte, called at the station for my luggage, which had 
been sent by rail from Laruns, and turned in to the 
Hotel de la Poste, a very comfortable and reasonable 
one, and a good centre for expeditions. Between 
Argelés and Pierrefitte, I had not come across much : 
Cynosurus echinatus, Dianthus armeria, Cynodon 
dactylon, and Cucubalus bacciferus. Next day I set 
off to visit one of the grandest sights of the Pyrenees, 
the Cirque de Gavarnie, a walk of twenty-five miles. 
After leaving Pierrefitte, and taking the valley on 
the left hand, the road enters a magnificent, beauti- 
fully-wooded gorge, with the mountains towering 
above on both sides, and the Gave de Pau, foaming 
along sometimes 200 or 300 feet below. In many 
places the road has been blasted out of the rocky 
side of the valley, and is all the way to Gavarnie in 
splendid condition ; in many plaees there is a stream 
of water running along the side, from which men 
water the road with long-handled ladles. Eight 
miles from Pierrefitte is the watering-place of Luz, 
and across the river a mile farther on, the more 
fashionable one of St. Sauveur, one long street of 
white hotels and lodging-houses. At Luz the road 
to Bareges branches off to the left, and there is one 
of the most interesting churches of the Pyrenees to 
be seen here. It is fortified by a high battlemented 
wall, has a covered porch containing curious old 
frescoes of dragons, two open belfries—one contain- 
ing two, the other three bells—and a doorway, now 
walled up, where the Cagots entered and left the 
church, so that the faithful should not be contami- 
nated by contact with the outcast race. This church 
was originally built by the Knights Templars at the 
time when they had the task of guarding the French 
valleys against the incursions of the Spaniards and 
Saracens. A little distance past St. Sauveur is the 
Pont Napoleon, a splendid bridge of a single arch, 
216 feet above the stream; the first stone was laid 
by Napoleon III., and the cost of building 300,000 
francs. Past St. Sauveur the road continues up the 
valley, in some places carried along the precipitous 
side 300 or 400 feet above the stream, and in others 
almost on a level with it, till eight miles farther it 
teaches the pretty little village of Gédre, where the 
valley of Héas branches off from that of Gavarnie. 
A little before reaching Gédre, a splendid view of the 
great rock-wall separating France and Spain becomes 
visible, and conspicuous in the outline is a square 
gap called the Bréche de Roland, immediately above 
the Cirque de Gavarnie, but invisible from it, which 
the legend says was carved out by the Paladin Roland 
with his sword Durandal, to make a passage while 
in pursuit of the Moors. At the village of Gédre 
lives Mons. Bordere, the botanist of the Pyrenees. 
I paid him a visit, and found him surrounded by piles 
of plants in various stages of drying. He and his 
son collect, while his wife and another person do the 
drying. He makes expeditions along the whole 


length of the chain, and across into Spain; and I can. 
strongly recommend anyone, who wishes for a set of 
good Pyrenean specimens, to apply to him. Up to 
Gédre I had found very little of interest, except 
Lathyrus pyrenaicus (Jord.), a variety of L. szlvestris 
(L.) 5 Cystists supinus ; Asplenium septentrionale ; and 
Cirsium monspessulano-palustre ; but on an old tower 
at Gédre I saw a fine patch of Antirrhinum sempervi- 
vens (Lap.). At Gédre I had dinner, and one of the 
courses consisted of izard, the name for the chamois 
in these regions. The remaining four miles to Ga- 
varnie proved better than all the rest of the way for 
good plants, Ligusticum pyreneum (Gou.); Crepis 
albida (Vill.), with white-bordered phyllaries ; Aco- © 
nitum napellus (L.), var. vulgaris (DC.) ; Campa- 
nula rapunculoides ; Paronychias erpyllifolia (DC.) ; 
and P. polygonifolia (DC.), the former silvery-white, 
with its scarious bracts; Oxonis matrix (L.); Scro- 
Phularia Hoppii (Koch), with small dark purple 
flowers on almost naked branches; Zyifolium mon- 
tanum (L.)3 Siderttis hyssopifolia (L. f.) ; Hieracium 
saxatile (Vill.), var. sericeum (Loret.) ; and last, but 
not least, one of the most lovely plants of the Pyre- 
nees, the Ramondia pyrenaica (Rich); here it was 
gone to fruit, but higher up it was in flower. In 
habit it resembles a primrose, but the flowers are 
purple, and in shape and anthers resemble potato 
flowers somewhat ; the leaves (radical only) are deep 
bright green, densely covered with long shaggy rusty- 
brown hairs, especially beneath; its habitat is in 
shady crevices of the rocks, particularly of the huge 
boulders, fallen from mountains around. Leaving 
the village of Gavarnie on the right, I took the bridle- 
path leading straight on to the Cirque, here fully 
visible, and apparently close to, but really two miles 
farther on. A little past the village were a number 
of plants of Carduus carlinefolius (Lam.), and on a 
large flat space before mounting to enter the Cirque, 
Alsine tenuifolia, var. Barrebieri (DC.); Alchemilla 
pyrenaica(Duf.) ; Potentilla splendens (Ram.), a small 
plant, something like P. fragariastrum, but with 
larger flowers ; Aguzlegia pyrenaica (DC.), var. sub- 
alpina (Bor.) ; and Avenaria grandiflora (All.) And 
now I came to the entrance of the far-famed Cirque 
de Gavarnie, the most wonderful piece of scenery in 
the range (though this is not the only Cirque, it is 
much the finest one). Fancy a vast perpendicular 
wall of black rock forming three parts of a circle, the 
remainder of the circle being formed of a low mound, 
as it were, where the stream breaks through; and 
these walls of rock tower up above for 1500 feet, 
nothing being visible above but the sky, and, on one 
side, the edge of a glacier. On the left, and almost 
opposite the entrance, are two waterfalls, the higher 
falling almost unbroken for 1300 feet, the highest fall 
in Europe, except one in Norway. From the entrance 
across the Cirque is a good mile or mile-and-a-half, 
the floor being covered with snow and débris from 
the rocks, the snow forming a bridge across the 


134 


HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


stream. At the entrance is a small cabane or inn, 
and as it was now 7 p.m., I decided to pass the night 
there. Next morning I rose early, while the mist 
was still thick, and crossed to the foot of the water- 
fall; on the way I found Sinapis montana (DC.) ; 
Crepis pygmea (L.), a small one-headed plant, with 
stems running down among the loose stones ; Gera- 
nium cinereum (Cav.), with light rose-lilac coloured 
flowers, very large for the size of the plant, which is 
only a few inches high; Vicia pyrenaica (Pourr.) 
(= V. fagonii (Lap.)), a small erect species, a few 
inches high, with a large purple flower 5 Scvophularia 
alpestris (Gay), very like .S. agwatica, but pubescent 
and fewer-flowered ; Doronicum grandiflorum (Lam.), 
a plant with fine large flowers; So/danella alpina 
(L.), a very pretty little primulaceous plant, with 
light blue bell-shaped and fringed flowers, and reni- 
form leaves; Avabis alpestris (Schleich); Anemone 
Lfepatica (L.) ; Gentiana verna(L.) ; Pedicularis pyre- 
naica (Gay), very like P. rostrata of the Alps ; Pin- 
guicula longifolia (DC.), a long-leaved var. of P. 
grandifiora; Geum pyrenaicum, with large yellow 
flowers and lyrate leaves; Salix pyrenaica (Gou.), 
and S. retusa (L.); Lvigeron alpinus (L.) ; Myosotis 
alpestris (Schmidt); Avenaria ciliata (L.) and A. 
grandiflora (All.); Lotus corniculatus (L.), var. alpinus 
(Jord.), a very small variety ; Potentilla frigida (Vill.), 
a hirsute, acaulescent species, with yellow flowers ; 
Saxifraga ajugefolia (L.), something like small- 
flowered hypnoides ; Sedum atratum (L.), Ranun- 
culus Gouant (Willd.) ; Globularia nudicaulis, (1..), 
and G. zana(Lam.). Now suddenly the mists cleared 
away, and the warm sun shone out, tingeing the rocky 
peaks down the valley a lovely orange-pink, and 
showing out the dazzling white snowy ledges up 
above. Crossing over the Cirque, and over the 
stream by a snow-bridge, on the hill near the 
entrance I came across Andyvosace villosa, a beautiful 
little plant of the primrose order, with flowers like 
tiny white primroses, and hairy leaves, stems, and 
calyx ; Androsace carnea, with flesh-coloured flowers 
and glabrous pointed leaves ; Migritella angustifolia 
(Rich.) ; Asperula hirta (Ram.); Paronychia serpylli- 
Solia (DC.) ; Gentiana acaulis (L.), Thesium alpinum 
(Vill.) ; Bartsia alpind (L.) ; Rhododendron ferrugi- 
neum (L.), the “ Alpine rose”; and Plantago alpina 
(L.), like a small form of P. maritima. By this 
time I was ready for breakfast, and returned to the 
small inn, demolished an omelette, some bread and 
butter and coffee, aud then set out to walk back to 
Pierrefitte by the way that Icame. Just leaving the 
Cirque, I found Hevianthemum filoselloides (Lap.), a 
variety of 7. canum, and a little farther on Potentilla 
alchemilloides (Lap.), and Ramondia pyrenaica (Rich.), 
on the huge boulders which were strewed around 
among the pines, and last, but not least, the magni- 
ficent iris of the Pyrenees (L775 xiphioides (Ehth.) JZ. 
gyrenaica (Bub.), with splendid blue-purple flowers 
streaked with light orange down the claws of the 


petals. The leaves are rather peculiar, being fistular. 
The walk back to Pierrefitte was uneventful, not 
much of interest turning up; the chief being Jderis 
amara (L.) var., Horestiert (Jord.); Nasturtium 
pyrenaicum (Br.) ; Lasiagrostis calamagrostis (Link.) ; 
Melica magnolii (G. G.), a very beautiful grass ; 
Linarvia pyrenaica (DC. ); and Libanotis montana 
(Cr.), var. pubescens (Mat.). After a good night’s rest, 
I set out to walk to the Lac de Gaube, a small lake 
among the mountains past Cauterets. The way from 
Pierrefitte to Cauterets lies through a grand gorge, 
and begins to rise immediately behind Pierrefitte by 
zigzags, before entering the gorge itself. The six 
miles between Pierrefitte and Cauterets afford one of 
the finest drives in the Pyrenees, the carriage-road 
running all the way along the bottom of a deep 
narrow valley with wild savage mountains 8000 and 
gooo feet high towering up on either side, clothed 
almost to their rocky summits with dark pines, 
while the torrent foams and rushes madly along just 
below. A little before arriving at Cauterets this 
valley widens, and the small town appears in a basin 
as it were among the mountains. Cauterets itself is 
quite a fashionable place to find in the heart of the 
Pyrenees at over 3000 feet elevation, having above 
1700 inhabitants, besides numbers of visitors in the 
season. ‘There are numerous mineral springs in the 
neighbourhood, and when J arrived there, the visitors 
were just returning in troops from taking their 
morning glass, (not of alcoholic liquors, but of a 
strictly teetotal drink). Each person takes his own 
glass, which is carried in a little case, like a puff-box, 
fastened to a coloured cord, and slung over the 
shoulder. Outside the baths’or drinking-halls are 
wooden booths for the sale of bon-bons, etc., and I 
have no doubt but what they are much in request to 
take after the waters, to judge by the face I saw a 
corpulent old curé pull over his glass, as he drank off 
his dose in the porch of the bath-house. About 
a mile past Cauterets is the spring of La Raillicre ; 
here the carriage-road ends, farther on there is only 
a horse-track, which passes up the Val de Jerez, 
through a pine wood, close to the stream. There are 
several good waterfalls in this valley, the finest being 
one just above the Pont d’Espagne ; here the whole 
volume of water from the Lac de Gaube dashes down 
into a rocky chasm, and rushes down a narrow 
passage between the rocks, beneath the new stone 
bridge. The old bridge, the original Pont d’Espagne, 
is a structure of tree-trunks thrown across the 
stream a little lower down. 

The Pont is about six miles from Cauterets by a 
very steep stony path, with grand scenery of rocky 
peaks, pine-clad cliffs, and here and there patches of 
snow showing on the higher mountains. Hitherto 
there has not been much to record in the botanical 
line for this day, excepting Zychnis coronaria (L.), 
and Hypericum nummularium (L,) ,but on leaving the 
Pont d’Espagne, and strikirg up the valley to the 


HARDWICKE’?S SCLENCE-GOSSTP. 


135 


left by a steep path among pines, at an elevation of 
over 5000 feet the rarer plants began to appear ; 
Poteniiila splendens (Ram.), Lrigeron glabratus 
(Hoppe), Veronica saxatilis (1..), V. fruticulosa (L.), 
Vicia pyrenaica (Pourr.), Cerastium arvense (L.), var. 
Pallasit (Vest.), Carex pallescens and C. ornithopoda, 
were the first finds. A little way from the path in 
some wet grassy ground, I caught sight of a con- 
spicuous lemon-yellow flower, and going up to it 
found it was the rare Gentiana Bursert (Lap.), a 
beautiful plant with large light-yellow flowers 
in whorls in the axils of leafy bracts, and 
growing about 2 feet high ; higher up, not far 
from the lake, grew Angelica pyrenea (Spr.), 

a little umbellifer with dissected leaves, very 
unlike our Angelica (Nyman places it under 
Selinum) ; Cardamine resedifolia, Scleranthus 
uncinatus (Schur.), and S. perennis (L.). 
The Lac de Gaube is only a small one, being 
but 23 m. in circumference, but the scenery 
round is very wild and grand; close to it 
is the Vignemale, the highest mountain on 
the French side of the range, 10,820 feet, 
on which there is a fine glacier. Unfor- ° 
tunately on this occasion it was invisible on 
account of the clouds which covered it. By 
the lake is a white marble monument in . 
memory of an English couple, Mr. Pattison 
and his wife, who were drowned while 
boating on the lake during their honeymoon. 
By the lake I found, Senecio adonidifolius 
(Lois), Sizapis montana (DC.), Rhododen- 
dron ferrugineum (L.), Saxifraga muscoides 
(Wulf), and Carduus carlinoides (Gou.). 
Climbing up a narrow cleft in the rocky 
bank, I came on Geum pyrenaicum (Willd.), 
Adenostyles albifrons, Scilla bifolia (L.); 
Trollius europeus (L.), and last, but not least, a 
splendid Saxifrage, S. agwatica (Lap.), a plant about 
2 feet-high, and a mass of white flowers, something 
like .S. granulata in shape, but in a dense spike. As 
the time was now getting on, and I had a good walk 
before me to get back, I left the lake and its wild 
and rugged grandeur behind, and made the best of 
my way back to Pierrefitte. 


(Zo be continued.) 


NOTES ON THE INFUSORIA. 
By BERNARD THOMAS, 
IV. 


HE Ciliata have been classified by Stein into— 
folotrichous, wherethe cilia are distributed 
evenly over the surface, and are of one kind ; 
Heterotricha, unevenly, and of different kinds ; 
LHypotricha, 11 which they are confined to the under 
or oral region of the body ; 


Peritricha, in which they form a zone round the 
body. 

The remaining forms belong to the holotrichous 
Ciliata. : 
16. Paramecium bursaria (Fig. 82 a) is about the 
same sizeas P. awrelia. As the preceding species was 
called the slipper animalcule, so this, from its rough 
resemblance, is called the purse animalcule. Its 
protoplasm contains chlorophyll corpuscles, which 
are situated in the deepest layer of the ectosarc. 


Fig. 81.—1, Amphileptus fasciola ; h, hyaline protoplasm, neck; ¢, granu- 
lar protoplasm, body; z, nucleus; 7, contractile space; 2, Amphileptus 
stained with methyl violet, showing double nucleus ; 3, Dzdeptus folium, 
letters the same; 3’, neck wisted. 


They are round, and resemble in chemical reaction 
the green corpuscles of plants. But do they subserve 
the same function? If so, we have an organism 
which is in one sense physiologically plant as well as 
animal. We will study the composition of these 
bodies when we come to Euplotes. 

It was in Paramecium bursaria that Balbiana 
worked out the sexual reproduction by conjugation. 
In this process the nucleus played the part of sexual 
organs, and it is interesting to note that the young 
are described as acinctiform and quite different from 
the parent. When we come to Aspidiocus we shall 
see that it is supposed to be the larva of quite a 
different form known as Oxytricha. 

17. Bursaria vernalis is represented in Fig. 82 0. 
It is a form similar somewhat to P. burvsaria, and like 
it furnished with chlorophyll corpuscles, which in the 
figure are clearly seen to be placed in the deepest 
layer of the ectosarc. It differs in its round form, 
whereas the latter is flat, and in the mouth, which is 
funnel-shaped and large in P. dursaria, but small, 
slit-like in B. vernalis, Both these forms are well 


136 HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSIP. 


suited for the observation of cyclosis (circulation of ; in shape, the anterior part hooked over or beaked, 
the protoplasm), in which the;nucleus, granules, and | and here the protoplasm is thinner. The myophan 
corpuscles are seen to participate. layer of the ectosarc is well developed and seen by 


nt 
wna Pie 


/ 
yy 
yy ZY Z 


Fig. 82.—a Paramecium bursaria; my, myophan striation ; 4, Bursaria vernalis; m, mouth ; 7, ood (diatom); , nucleus: 
c, chlorophyll corpuscles ; v, contractile space. 


: enters =< 
Ci 


ey le he 
WE ap gs 
y | aye 
i SEO 2 


. 4g, 
oe! b @} VNiemns|~ 


° 
2 
"oe 


Fig. 83.—a, Chilodon cucullus front view; #, nucleus; 7s. red spot; @, diatom; #%, pharynx; my, myophan striation ; 
U, contractile space ;—, ditto, side view ; c, ditto, with long vacuole containing diatoms; d, nucleus, high power}; é, myophan 
striation ; 4, granules of endosarc, showing Brownian movements. 


18. Chilodon cucullus (Fig. 83) is a very common | slightly altering the focus. The appearance then 
species. It is of fair size though not so large as the | presented (Fig. 83 ¢) is called myophan striation. 
preceding, and varies from about the thousandth to | We have here the essentially contractile or function- 
thejone hundred and fiftieth of an inch. It is oval | ally muscular layer of the ectosarc. By careful 


“HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


137 


focussing still deeper, the granules of the endosarc 
are seen. In the specimen drawn they exhibited 
what fis known as the Brownian movement. This 
molecular motion is seen when minute particles are 
suspended in water, and here we may take it as a 
further proof of the fluidity of the endosarc. There 


thin at the anterior end. The protoplasm may be 
divided into two parts, that in the anterior region is 
hyaline, narrow and flat, and constitutes the neck ; 
the posterior body is more ‘granular, broader and 
fatter, it tapers to a blunt tail, which is again less 
granular. 


The neck is turned up at the end, forming 


Fig. 84.—Spirostomum ambiguunt ; 1, mt, mouth; 7, striated tail; a, anterior; P, posterior end; 2, riddle portion 
my, myophan striation ; 3, with spirally marked tail, rT. 


are two contractile spaces which here again exhibit 
systole and diastole. 

The nucleus is round and seen to consist of a 
delicate membrane (Fig. 83, d@ memb.) and the 
faintly granular (nucleim, gr. in Fig. 83d) and 
hyaline material enclosed therein. 

There is a red spot frequently seen near the 
posterior end (Fig. 83 1r.s.). There is here, there- 
fore, a common resemblance between this member 
of the Infusoria and the Algze before mentioned. 

The cesophagus instead of being ciliated, as in 
many of the Infusoria, is raised into folds which have 
been described as chitinous rods forming an apparatus 
known as the pharynx, which is supposed to seize 
hold of diatoms and force them into its interior. 
The food of chilodon seems to be diatoms, which 
may usually be seen in the endosarc. I have seen 
several occupying one large cavity (Fig. 83 c), pro- 
ducing a distortion of outline. 

19. Amphileptus fasiola (Fig. 81, 1, 2), length given 
in the Micrographic Dictionary is from the seven 
hundred and twentieth to the one hundred and forty- 
fourth ofan inch. This infusorian appears in front 
view somewhat pear-shaped ; side view, it is especially 


a kind of snout. The cilia can be seen, with care, to 
cover the surface, and at the snout and tail to present 
the appearance of a tuft. In the posterior region 
there is a triangular contractile space. The position 
of the nucleus is marked out by granules which 


Fig. 85.—a, Enchelys nodulosa (v.); b, Halteria grandinella, 


surround it, and staining shows a double endoplast 
situated in this position. The mouth is placed at the 
junction of the neck with the body. 

20. Dileptus folium (Fig. 81, 3), the swan animal- 
cule, is somewhat similar to, but much larger than 


138 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


the preceding. It has a very long and narrow neck, 
which it moves now in one direction, now in another. 
In the species figured the neck is leaf-like, and often 
becomes folded on itself. This organism is clothed 
with cilia. The length is from the one hundred and 
sixtieth to the one hundred and twentieth of an inch. 

21. Spirostomum ambiguum (Fig. 84) suggests a 
very strange animalcule. It is of large size, about 
one twelfth of an inch in length, but very narrow, 
more so than inthe figure. It is obtuse or somewhat 
rounded in front, and truncate behind. It is clothed 
with cilia, The endosarc is granular, the ectosarc 
shows a myophan striation. Posteriorly these striz 
are strongly marked, and run parallel to the length. 
The ‘‘tail,”” however, may be so twisted up that the 
marking appears spiral (Fig. 84, 3). The mouth is 
situated near the anterior end, it is lateral, and 
surrounded with cilia. The cesophagus is said to be 
spiral and the arm$ (or anal area) terminal. 

22. Enchelys nodulosa (Fig. 85 a) is a very small 
infusorian. It is of oval shape, truncated in front and 
rounded behind. ‘The interior contains a nucleus 
and a contractile space, and there are also food- 
cavities and granules. The cilia are different from 
those of other infusoria ; they are long and seta-like. 
Locomotion is !effected by jerks, now forwards and 
now backwards, due to the sudden action of the 
cilia. It is a very common species. 

23, Halteria grandinella (Fig. 85 6) should perhaps 
be classed with the Heterotricha, but the similarity of 
its movements to the preceding is the excuse for here 
introducing it. When it moves, it does so by sudden 
leaps and bounds, at one jump vanishing out of the 
microscopic field, and covering very much more 
ground than Enchelys. This renders it difficult to 
make a careful drawing of this species. 


SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


WE are much pleased to quote the following 
paragraph from the ‘‘Stalybridge Reporter.”—A 
very pleasant afternoon may always be spent at the 
exhibition of the Ashton field-naturalists. Here is 
the substance of a little talk with one of them. On 
a previous occasion he had exhibited a live nightin- 
gale, and we asked if the sweet songster was still in 
the flesh. The reply came in a resigned voice, that 
the favourite bird had been taken out to a concert on 
a foggy night and had died as the result. What is 
the cost of one of these birds? we asked. The reply 
was that when they were properly acclimatised they 
cost as much as £5, but one might be had for less if 
the purchaser would take all risks with a bird which 
had not been kept long enough by the dealers to be 
guaranteed against all reasonable casualties. Then 
our informant observed that at the present time there 
were people in London keenly scanning the morning 
papers every day for one particular kind of announce- 


ment. If a gentleman in the country happens to 
hear the nightingale on his grounds, he is irresistibly 
tempted to write to the Z%mes in order to make the 
world aware of his own existence and the nightin- 
gale’s. Immediately such an intimation appears, a 
lot of bird-catchers take train for the spot, and the 
voice of melody is no more heard in that region. 
The bird is easily captured, it|is carried to the bird- 
dealers in London, and readily fetches 25s. So 
much for nightingales. Our friend had only an old 
robin to show, a patriarch of seven or eight years, 
which he was keeping just to see how long a robin 
would live. 


THE geology and mineralogy of ‘‘other worlds 
than ours” is becoming familiar to scientific research. 
Real diamonds, black and white, have already been 
found in meteorites—that is, those shooting stars 
which have fallen to the earth. Now the news 
comes that gold has been found in a meteorite picked 
up at Cave City, Calaveras County, California. 
This stony celestial visitor was about the size of a 
man’s fist, and, it is stated, was found more or less 
coated or gilt with real gold. One space a square 
inch in area was continuously gilded. 


A NEW photographic process has recently been 
brought out, called papyrotint. It is specially 
adapted for all sorts of drawings in single color, or 
monochrome, and is said to be inexpensive. A 
transfer can be taken in greasy ink for transfer to 
stone or zinc, direct from any negative, however 
large, without the aid of a medium, the grain being 
obtained simply by a chemical change. The prints 
are sharper than by the ordinary processes, while the 
same negative answers either for a silyer print, 
platinotype, or stone or zinc transfer. 


An electrical organ-blower is in operation at Holy 
Trinity Church, Upper Chelsea. It is worked from 
the electrical mains of the Chelsea Electricity Supply 
Company, and the current can be turned on at will 
by the organist. 


THE second edition of Dr. J. E. Taylor’s 
“Tourist’s Guide to Suffolk” (London: Edward 
Stanford, 2s.) has just been issued, brought up to 
date: it contains a short but reliable sketch of the 
geology, botany, entomology, archeology, etc., of 
that very interesting county. 


Mr. Ancus RANKIN points out that a new factor 
has been introduced into the study of meteorology— 
that which treats of the dust-particles in the atmos- 
phere, as well as the number of them present at any 
time, and the effects of such dust-particles on climate 
and weather changes. . Indeed, it would seem as if 
the study of dust and its behaviour forms the stepping- 
stone to the study of nearly all the meteorological 
problems which deal with clouds and precipitation, 
solar and terrestrial radiation, as well as the diurnal 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


139 


and annual variations in the temperature and pressure 
of the atmosphere. Mr. John Aitkin’s ‘‘dust- 
counting” apparatus is used at the meteorological 
observatory on the top of Ben Nevis, for the purpose 
of constantly estimating and recording the number of 
dust particles present in the atmosphere at any given 
time. One of the conclusions arrived at is that when 
there is much wind there is little dust, and when 
there is much dust present there is little wind. 


THE astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope, Dr. 
David Gill, ina communication to the Paris Academy 
of Sciences a few days ago, presented a photograph 
he had recently taken in the southern hemisphere. 
It embraced an area of only two degrees by two 
degrees, and yet on this very limited sky-space from 
30,000 to 40,000 stars had left their impression, 
besides two nebule. An exposure of three hours 
and twelve minutes had been given to the plate. If 
this exposure were possible for the whole photographic 
map of the heayens, about 300,000,000 of stars 
would be recorded. 


Most people are acquainted with those curious 
leaf-insects which are common in many parts of the 
tropics. Their wings mimic leaves both as respects 
the veins and the green color, and on the ground 
they resemble leaves so closely that even the ants are 
deceived thereby. It was pointed out at a meeting 
of the Linnean Society the other day by Dr. Sharp 
that this leaf-resemblance of the wings is accompanied 
by a similarity, amounting almost to identity, of 
minute structure. The colouring-matter is undis- 
tinguishable from the plant-green of actual leaves. 
Even their eggs partake of this striking resemblance 
to vegetable products. 


A LApy correspondent of the ‘‘ Spectator ” writes 
as follows :—‘‘ Some attention has been aroused by 
the recent attempt to reproduce monkey-talk by 
means of the phonograph. It is perhaps not 
generally known that in a little book, publisled 
nearly a hundred years ago, at the sign (strangely 
enough) of the Tour de Babel, on the Quai Voltaire, 
Paris, 2 French writer made an endeavour to reduce 
the chatter of the tiny marmoset to articulate 
translatable language. The whistle, or owzstitz, from 
which this little creature has its French name, he 
describes truly as a long, sharp, piercing sound, 
repeated two or three times, signifying the want of 
something or some one. I would add to this, that it 
is evidently the call used ‘by one to the other. A 
very young one that I had always cried ‘ Ouistititi, 
onistitititi,’ to the older one for help, if it thought 
itself in danger. ‘Ghriii,’ a long-drawn high tone, 
he translates ‘into ‘come.’ All those that I have 
possessed have thus called me to come to them. 
*Guenakiki’ expresses, he says, terrible fear; 
‘ Trouakki,’ violent, despairing grief; ‘ Trouagno,’ 
intense pain, ‘save me.’ One that had broken its 


leg thus warned me of it. ‘ Krrrreoeoeo,’ often 
repeated, means very happy indeed; ‘ Keh,’ a little 
better; ‘Korrie,? annoyed, disturbed; ‘ Ococo,’ 
deep terror ; ‘ Anic,’ feebly and melodiously uttered, 
means help! protect! ‘Quih,’ ‘I want something 
very much ;’ ‘ Quouééé,’ despair of escaping some 
danger,—this sound I have often heard all my 
marmosets make at the sight of anything strange to 
them, or which reminded them of some known 
danger.” 


Tue April number of the Journal of the Royal 
Microscopical Society, in addition to Dr. Braith- 
waite’s excellent Presidential address on ‘‘ Reproduc- 
tion in Ferns and Bryophyta,” has a short paper by 
Mr. J. W. Gifford on ‘The Resolution of Amphi- 
pleura pellucida” (illustrated). 


THE Ipswich Scientific Society (President: Mr. 
E. P. Ridley) held its triennial Conversazione at the 
Town Hall on May 4th when lecturettes were de- 
livered by the president, and by Dr. J. E. Taylor, 
(illustrated by one of Mason’s splendid lantern micro- 
scopes). 


THE Annual Exhibition of the South London 
Entomological and Natural History Society was 
held on May 6th, at the Bridge House Hotel 
Mr. H. W. Barber. Hon. Secretary, and Mr. C. G, 
Durrett, the distinguished entomologist, President. 


PROFESSOR TRELEASE, the Principal of the 
Missouri Botanical, Garden, is almost offensively 
energetic. Here is another capital brochure from 
his pen—‘‘ The species of Amex occurring north of 
Mexico.” 


“Insect LIFE” (appearing in serial numbers, and 
published at the Government Printing Office, Wash- 
ington, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture), is 
always welcomed. Numbers 7 and 8 are devoted to 
the study and description of the economy and life- 
habits of insects in their relations to agriculture. 
The illustrations are all and always excellent. 


AT the last meeting of the Geologists’ Association, 
Professor J. L. Lobley read a paper entitled ‘‘ The 
Gold of Quartz WVeins—an aqueous hypothesis.” 
We should liked to have heard it. 


No science like geology can be named for inform- 
ing us of the wonderful changes which have taken 
place on our globe. We know that within the period 
called Tertiary, gum-trees, banksias, Moreton Bay 
pines, and other now distinctly native Australian 
trees grew in England. During the Secondary 
period the only warm-blooded mammals in Europe 
were marsupials, resembling those peculiar to Aus- 
tralia. Australia, indeed, is a sort of outlier—a 
remnant of the Secondary and Tertiary periods. 
Every now and then some new fossil mammal turns 
up in the old rocks, but it is almost certain to be of 


140 


HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSIJP. 


the Australian type. For instance, a large number 
of fossil mammalian bones have just been discovered 
in the Tertiary strata in Patagonia, and they have 
been proved to be nearly related to the pouched or 
marsupial wolf (Zhy/acinus) of Tasmania. 


It seems as if the dream of photographers will soon 
be realised, and photographing in colours will shortly 
be realised. M. Lippmann has never despaired of it, 
in spite of disappointments, and he has succeeded in 
obtaining a more sensitive film than ever. He shows 
that the complex colours which adorn natural objects 
should be photographed just the same as the simple 
colours of a spectrum. M. Lippmann has just sub- 
mitted four naturally-coloured photographs to the 
Paris Academy of Sciences, which faithfully represent 
a stained-glass window of four colours, a group ot 
draperies, a plate of oranges surmounted by a red 
poppy, and a many-coloured parrot. These showed 
that the shape is represented simultaneously with the 
colours. The draperies and the parrot required from 
five to ten minutes’ exposure to the electric light or 
the sun; the other objects were only obtained after 
many hours of exposure to a diffused light. On one 
of M. Lippmann’s photos the blue of the sky comes 
out rather as indigo, but the green of the foliage is 
accurately rendered. There is no lovelier thing in 
the world than the solar spectrum, and M. Lippmann 
has succeeded in photographing this in all its beauty 
after an exposure of halfa minute! At the Royal 
Society’s recent conversazione some of these natu- 
rally-coloured photos were exhibited. 


HITHERTO the savages of Central Africa have been 
the only real and original ‘ rain-makers.’”’ Now the 
scientific white men are copying a leaf from their 
books. We remember reading of the possibility of 
rain being artificially produced when bitten by 
love of science by Dr. Dick’s ‘‘ Christian Philo- 
sopher”’ many years ago. Dr. Dick’s scheme for 
artificial rain-making has recently been revived. In 
the United States and India, dynamite explosions in 
the upper atmosphere have been tried by balloons. 
Some have been partially successful ; but it is evident 
that all the explosions in the world would not pro- 
duce rain unless the air contained sufficient watery 
vapour. M. Faye, a French scientist of fame, is 
rather sanguine about the matter. We should not like 
to throw cold water on artificial rain-making (although 
that literally might help it), for if it could be effected 
it would be a grand thing for many parts of Australia 
and Africa. M. Faye thinks that all the experiments 
hitherto made have been based on a false theory. 


THE Neuroptera form a well-known and familiar 
order of insects all the world over, including dragon- 
flies, white ants, etc. Dr. Henry Woodward, F.R.S., 
etc., in the last number of the ‘ Geological 
Magazine” figures and describes a British white ant 
under the name of Palzotermes, which lived in 


Leicestershire many millions of years ago, when the 
lower lias limestone of Barrow-on-Soar was being 
deposited along the then existing bed of the sea, It 
seems to have been an unusually large specimen of its 
class. ‘ 


IN a recent number of the ‘‘ American Naturalist,” 
there is an account of the work of earth-worms in 
Yoruba county, West Africa. It appears that here 
the worms do the work of digging (or turning the 
soil over), and not the lazy niggers. It would not be 
a bad idea to introduce these earth-worms to other 
places—they constitute the cheapest form of labour. 
The above article, in speaking of their work, says 
that if we estimate one square yard of dug earth by 
2 feet deep as weighing one ton, we have an animal 
movement of earth per square yard to the depth of 
2 feet amounting to 45 pounds. From this it appears 
that every particle of earth in each ton of soil to 
the depth of 2 feet is brought to the surface once in 
every twenty-seven years. This kind of earth-worm 
also exists in rich alluvium soils of the Nile Valley. 
How much does Egypt owe to its earth-worms ? 


ZOOLOGY. 


InpIAN Toaps.—I was stationed in Gorakhpur, 
N.W. Provinces, India, in 1882 or 1883. The then 
forest officer had just built a new bungalow, with a 
plinth nine feet high, at Ramgarh, in a clearing in 
the forest, and I lived with him in it during the hot 
weather and rains, During the rains the bungalow 
was invaded every evening after dark by swarms of 
small toads. This puzzled me, as I naturally thought 
they gained admission by hopping up the steps; and 
as these toads cannot hop well, I was surprised at so 
many getting inside. One night I had occasion to 
go round the outside of the bungalow with a lantern, 
and I found that the toads were making their way in, 
and that they did not hop up the steps ; they climbed 
up by the aid of the right angle formed between the 
plinth and the steps, placing their backs in this 
angle and shoving with their hind-legs until they 
reached the top, when they fell in on the plinth on 
their backs. They were in such numbers that they 
formed a complete column reaching from the ground 
to the surface of the plinth, and I found a similar ~ 
column in the angle at the other side of the steps, I 
suppose they were attracted by the lights, either 
directly, or in the hope of finding insects; but from 
where they commenced their ascent, at the base of 
the plinth, the lighted doors were invisible, and, on 
looking up, merely a diffused glow could be seen. 
Were the toads attracted by this glow, or do they 
climb every obstacle they meet?—F% FR. Holt. 


THE Lecs or Motus.—When using my micro- 
scope and examining parts of moths, etc., I often 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


141 


wondered what was the use of the spikes projecting 
rom underneath the different legs, but could not find 
anything about it in any book or paper I came 
across. A few days ago, while sitting near a window 
and watching (with a pocket-glass) a gnat as it 
crawled up and down the glass, I saw it place its 
antennz between the spikes in question and its leg, 
and draw it along and thus plume it.—Aerbert 4. 
Clarke. 


‘© APHIDES AND THEIR MOoNUMENTS.”’—In the 
October number of ‘‘ SCIENCE-GossIP,” page 236, is 
a note of mine with the above heading. At its con- 
clusion I asked for information from some of your 
entomological correspondents, concerning the beauti- 
ful and interesting objects described, but, alas! got 
none. One good old friend, however, to whom I had 
written privately, and who is an excellent naturalist 
and microscopist, knew nothing of the matter, but 
set to work and soon referred me to Buckton’s mag- 
nificent monograph published by the Ray Society 
(four large volumes, beautifully illustrated, and all 
about a plant-louse, please !!!*) and as, I take it, 
there are many of your readers who know the happi- 
ness of having a great deal to learn, or at least of not 
knowing everything, I refer them to Vol. 2, page 85, 
Plate 64; but as that book is not within everyone’s 
easy reach, I will tell, in short, what it says:—A 
certain minute parasitic fly of the family Ichneu- 
monidz pierces the body of the living Aphis and 
deposits its eggs therein. The egg is hatched, the 
grub thrives, and when full fed ‘‘ perforates the hard 
aphis-shell at the belly and commences to spin a 
double-walled tent between the space comprised by 
the six legs of the insect. The floor of the tent is. 
attached to the leaf on which the aphis originally fed, 
the web being carried up to its skin, which then 
partially forms its roof. Subsequently the edge of 
the web is reflected downwards so as to form a 
chamber with double walls... . In this cocoon 
the change into Pupa takes place; and after an 
interval of about nine days the winged parasite eats 
its way out of the silken envelope. ... Not un- 
frequently the empty skin of the winged Aphis may 
be seen mounted on the summit of one of these 
parasitic cocoons.” Instead of ‘‘ not unfrequently,” I 
would say very frequently, judging from my experi- 
ence of last year, and now is the time for searching 
the sycamore leaves. In the same volume, page 236, 
will be found an interesting description of the fan- 
insect (the abnormal Aphis larva), which I alluded 
to in your October number. The bundles of stalked 
eggs are those of the lace-winged fly, more usually 
found singly.—Zhomas E. Amyot, Diss, Norfolk. 


* The notes of admiration were suggested by the good- 
natured if rather contemptuous smile of a horticultural friend 
who has no sympathy with plant-lice, but who saw the book 
oa my table. 


BOTANY. 


THE MEXICAN AGAVE.—As to the Mexican agave, 
concerning which a paragraph appears in the May 
number of SCIENCE-GossIP, I have made inquiries 
at Kew Gardens, and am told that in England this 
plant does not flower till it is thirty, forty, or sixty 
years old, that is, not till it has completed its growth. 
When it is full grown it flowers. After flowering 
the plant always dies, but new plants grow from the 
base. The ‘‘ report like a rifle-shot ” is an exaggera- 
tion, but each flower-bud as it opens makes a slight 
noise of the kind, like ripe fuchsia-buds do when 
pressed. This, in the agave, is caused, I am told, 
by the fact that the bud before opening contains no 
air, and it is the inrush of the air which causes the 
noise.—Svrank Sich, jun. , 


NoTEs ON THE ADDITIONS TO THE BRITISH 
FLORA SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF THE LAST 
EDITIONS OF BABINGTON’Ss MANUAL AND HOOKER’S 
STUDENT’s FLoRA.—I have been repeatedly asked, 
and urged to give a list of the above additions, with 
short characters to separate them from our other well- 
known species. But they have become so numerous, 
if we take in the hybrids and varieties, that it has 
become no light task to compress such an account 
into anything like a reasonable length. What I here 
propose to do is to go through the principal additions 
only, leaving out hybrids, and perhaps some varieties. 
I would refer all those who seek for further informa- 
tion to the forthcoming supplement to the 3rd edition 
of English Botany, edited by Mr. N. E. Brown of 
the Kew Herbarium. Here the additions will be 
figured and described fully, at the same time the 
matter of the original work will be brought up to 
date as far as possible. Good progress has been made 
in the study of the distribution of our Flora since the 
publication of the 2nd edition of Watson’s Topo- 
graphical Botany, and if some means could be found 
to cheapen that work so as to make it accessible to a 
larger number of our botanists, it would bea great 
advantage. A large mass of additional matter has 
been accumulated, especially as to Scottish botany, 
and I should like to say that I should be glad to see 
specimens of any species unrecorded for any county 
in Topographical Botany. There is still much work 
to do in this department of British Botany, as to 
verification of doubtful localities, etc. ; while the 
subject of the life-histories of our plants is hardly 
yet touched. I have adopted the nomenclature and 
sequence of the 8th edition of the London Catalogue 
of British Plants as being available to all, giving 
however, a second name where it seemed needful, 
and to give more help. It will be seen that I 
attempt no technical characters, but merely such as 
are usable in the field, and what may be termed off- 


I42 


HARDWICKE’'S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. : 


hand differences, etc. In Rubus and other genera, I 
do not attempt any descriptions (merely a list), as 
even with full descriptions it is very difficult to make 
them out, which can only be done by the aid of 
actual specimens named by specialists in the genus. 
Sets of British Rubi are now being published by 
Messrs. Linton, Murray, and M. Rogers. For the 
Characez, reference must be made to the papers of 
Messrs. Groves in the ** Journal of Botany,” and to the 
sets of dried specimens they are now issuing.—Arthur 
Bennett. 


PRESERVING HEPATIC.—A very good way of 
preserving the more minute species of the Hepaticze, 
especially the Jungermanniacez, as dry specimens is 
as follows:—First select your specimens, the most 
normal possible, and wash their roots well in water 
with a small brush ; now remove them on to a clean 


Fig. 86.—Fungermannia bicuspidata. X10. Froma dried | 


specimen. 


glass slide with a drop of some preservative fluid 
(dilute corrosive sublimate in spirits of wine), take a 
clean folded piece of thin shiny paper, and write the 
date, etc., on one side, now reverse your slide and 
float as it were the plants on to the paper ; this may 
now be placed between sheets of absorbent paper in 
the ordinary way. When they are thoroughly dry 
they may be gummed on pieces of fine white paper, 
and the paper pinned in the drawers of a cabinet, or 


gummed as herbaria. I thought it might be useful to 
those who study this beautiful class of cryptogamous 
plants, it being the most advantageous, the fluid not 
only preserving them, but allowing them to assume a 
very natural and therefore graceful position.— Henry 
£. Griset. 


GEOLOGY. 


THE PROBABLE COAL-FIELDS OF EAST ANGLIA.— 
One of the most important meetings ever held in 
Ipswich, took place on May 6th at the Town Hall. 
For some time past, in his public lectures and in 
articles contributed to the newspapers, Dr. J. E. 
Taylor, of the Ipswich Museum, has stated his 
opinions as to the probability of coal-fields occurring 
in the Eastern Counties, and the intense interest 
which has been aroused in the question was evidenced 
by the attendance at this gathering. Mr. Whitaker, 
F.R.S., etc., had travelled all the way from South- 
ampton to attend the meeting. This gentleman was 
in charge of the Government Geological Survey for 
Suffolk and Norfolk for eleven years, and his 
memoirs on the subject are published by the Govern- 
ment, as are also those of Mr. T. V. Holmes, F.G.S., 
etc., who had also come up from Eastbourne to attend 
this meeting. Reports were read from Messrs. 
Whitaker, Holmes, and Taylor, on the possibility of 
coal-measures occurring in Essex and Suffolk, and 
Mr. Whitaker prefaced the reading of his own, which 
was the longest and most-elaborately prepared paper, 
by stating that none of the experts present had con- 
sulted together, so that their reports were purely 
personal. The one fact that struck the meeting was 
the wonderful unanimity of opinion of the scientific 
experts as to the probability of finding coal in East 
Anglia. The various questions arising were severely 
criticised and discussed froma practical point of view, 
the chief difficulty evidently forefronting those who 
regarded the subject from a business aspect being 
the position of the landowners. Unfortunately, no 
representative of the landowning class was present to 
speak on this question, although it was felt by the 
commercial gentlemen present that the landowners 
might eventually be those most profitably interested. 
The meeting afterwards resolved itself into a General 
Committee to take action in the matter, and to call 
in the aid, if necessary, of the scientific experts— 
Messrs. Whitaker and Holmes, and Dr. Taylor—for 
advice in their future deliberations. In the end a 
sub-committee was formed for the purpose of con- 
sidering the advisibility of selecting the best probable 
sites for coal-search borings in Essex and Suffolk. 
The subject was thoroughly discussed, aad ,there can 
be very little doubt, now that the enterprise has been 
publicly started, that some means will be devised of 
bringing this problem to a practical solution, 


HARDWICKE'S SCLIENCE-GOSSIP. 143 


NOTES AND QUERIES. 


Herr F. S. ARCHENHOLD has published in the 
**Astronomische Nachrichten” his discovery, by 
means of photography, of a large nebula in the 
constellation Perseus, which showed about the same 
intensity in the photograph as the nebula in Andro- 
meda. In the centre of the nebula there is an empty 
space, the nebulous matter seeming there entirely 
missing. Its length from the south- east to the north- 
west is about three degrees. What is remarkable in 
this discovery is that no nebula in that place is 
marked in old astronomical maps, and in the latest 
a very weak nebula is marked, while the one photo- 
graphed by Herr Archenhold is one of the very 
brightest, though, when looked at through the 
strongest telescopes, it is barely visible. 


THE DIPTERIST. 


Who has horny beetles found, 
Scratching, crawling on the ground, 
That with Diptera can compare, 
Diptera dancing in the air? 


Floating on transparent wing 
Where the rippling waters spring, 
Dipping here and dipping there, 
Pretty dancing Diptera. 


Flitting with melodious hum 

O’er the sugar mixed with rum; 
Humming here and humming there, 
Dreamy, dreamy Diptera. 


Swarming o’er the stagnant lake 
For the water-lilies’ sake. | 
Whirling, rising in the air, 
Countless, countless Diptera. 


Flying in the pitch-dark night, 
Basking in the broadzsunlight, 
Here and there and everywhere, 
Omnipresent Diptera. 


SEA-SPINACH.—During a recent short visit to 
Littlehampton, I was offered at dinner some sea- 
spinach, as my friends called it, which the children 
had gathered on the shore at some little distance 
from the town, and which differed but little in taste 
from ordinary spinach. I had no opportunity of 
examining the plant, which I presume was Atriplex 
portulacoides, or (as it is sometimes called) sea purs- 
lane. Do any of your readers know whether this is 
ever called sea-spinach?—_W. 7. Lynn, Blackheath. 


Focs.—Eight years ago, in the lecture he delivered 
before the British Association meeting at Montreal, 
Professor Lodge showed the possibility of dispersing 
fogs by means of electricity, and even went so far as 
to suggest the manner in which it could be done. 
The suggestion at length appears to be on the 
eve of practical trial in the city of New York. 
Indeed, secret experiments are stated to have been 
already carried out at Sandy Hook and in Boston 
Harbour with such success as to warrant the rest 
being undertaken on a more extensive scale. The 
largest area of fog stated to have been cleared at one 
discharge was a Yadius of 150 ft., or 70,500 square 
feet. The atmosphére of the ‘cleared area had 
washed is fog down. It is suggested that this fog- 
clearing ele ectrical apparatus shall at once be applied 
to the “great transatlantic liners. Why not experi- 
ment with it in tunnels and underground railways, 


and in purlieus of large stations and complex 
junctions where dense fogs produce so much danger 
and anxiety ? 


THE SUN’s REFLECTION IN STILL WATER.— 
Have you ever noticed the sun’s reflection in still 
water? This afternoon I saw through a small tele- 
scope what seemed to me a discovery, water mag- 
nified, and with the telescope I saw the flame around 
it, and, as it appeared to me, its motion; also the 
corona appeared to be of a deep purple. Ido not 
know whether you or anyone else has observed the 
sun in this manner; it is my opinion you would be 
able to see something wonderful with a powerful 
telescope. I may or may not have made a discovery. 
I am not a scientist, so I cannot be expected to 
know, or expect you to notice this from me; but, if 
you don’t mind, I should be pleased for you to notify 
it if you would not deem it presumptuous.—D. / 
Webster. 


THE AMERICAN ALOE.—In response to W. J. 
Horn (page 118 of this volume), I can say that for 
many years I have had the American aloe growing 
under my observation in South China. Writing from 
memory only, I should say that the plant, under the 
climatic conditions there prevailing, flowers about 
the eighth or tenth year of its growth, and then dies. 
In the meantime, indeed during the greater part of 
the eight or ten years, numerous suckers (I know 
nothing of ‘‘lateral buds”) have sprung from the 
ground within a radius of three to four feet from the 
parent plant, and these, if transplanted, rapidly 
develop into full-grown plants. At Canton the 
Chinese name of the plant is Manila hemp, because, 
it is said, in the Philippine islands the fibres of the 
leaves are used to make coarse textile fabrics,x—TZheo. 
Sampson. 


VERTIGO PUSILLA IN LANCASHIRE.—While col- 
lecting at Silverdale, Lancashire, in July last, I took 
several specimens of the rare Vertigo pusilla. This is 
the first record of it for Lancashire. I got them from 
among moss at the bottom of a wall, in company 
with A. rupestris, H. pulchella, V. pellucida, and 
other commoner species.—/. C. Long, Burnley, 
Lanes. 


PIOPHILA CASEI.—Will some reader kindly answer 
the following questions about the fly (Prophila casei). 
(1) How many eggs is this fly able to lay? (2) How 
long does it take for the eggs to develop into the 
grub? (3) Does the winter kill the grubs if not fully 
developed? (4) How long does it take from the egg 
to produce the fly? I find in several books I have 
looked up about this fly, the description of it is very 
poor.—F7. C. Wright. 


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 Discuis—ED ADVERTISEMENTS, for the purpose of evading 
the cost of advertising, an advantage is taken of our gvatuctous 
insertion of “‘exchanges,” which cannot be tolerated. 


144 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


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


SpeciaL Nore.—There is a tendency on the part of some 
exchangers to send more than one per month. We only allow 
this in the case of writers of papers. 


To our Recent ExcHANGERS.—Weare willing to be helpful 
to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow dzs- 
guised Exchanges like those which frequently come to us 
to appear unless as advertisements. 


C. PEMBERTON.—We do not think he could either ‘‘ buy or 
get a piece of marsh in exchange.” He will have to collect 
the marsh plants, taking each up carefully with a good portion 
of the wet soil attached to it (just as he would transplant in his 
garden), placing them side by side ina shallow pan, filling up 
the interstices, as described in the ‘‘ Marsh Garden,” with 
marsh moss (sphagnum). I shall be happy to give any further 
information asked for, but think C. Pemberton will find no 
difficulty in making a ‘‘marsh” such as described in ScIENCE- 
Gossip. I never heard of or saw one till I made that experi- 
ment. If C. Pemberton sends his address to I. Grierson, 
17 Bentinck Street, Manchester Square, London, W., I will, if 
possible, procure some marsh plants for him. 

Dr. B. anp OTHER Enquirers.—Mr. F. V. Theobald’s 
“British Flies (Diptera)” is published by Elliott Stock, €2, 
Paternoster Row. 

M. B. UnpERHILL.—‘‘ The Cockroach,” by Professor Miall 
(illustrated), was published in Scrence-GossiP, vols. for 1884 
and 1885, and afterwards republished in the volume form by 
Macmillan. 

W. K. writes as follows: Herts, May 2, 1892, ‘‘I should be 
much obliged if any of your readers could tell me if there is 
such a thing as a botanist of approved capacity who undertakes 
to name (and return) British plants sent to him (especially 
during August and September). I have often felt the want of 
such a resource, when bicycling, and unable to preserve doubt- 
ful specimens till again reaching the sphere of books and 
authorities.” 

ArRAmis.—Johns’ ‘Flowers of the Field,” ss., published by 
S.P.C.K. ‘Illustrations of the British Flora,” by Fitch and 
W. G. Smith, ros., published by L. Reeve & Co. 

A. Launper.—Taylor's ‘‘Flowers, their Origin, Shapes, 
Perfumes, and Colours,” is now published by W. H. Allen & 
Co.; Dr. Master’s ‘‘ Vegetable Teratology,” by the Ray 
Society. 


EXCHANGES. 


Ross microscope, latest pattern, swing arm sub-stage, ro- 
tating stage, 1 inch and ¢ inch objectives, double nose-piece, 
paraboloid, spot lens, live cage; also a Beck’s Star and 
accessories, offered in exchange for high-class works on 
mechanics’ or ships’ chronometer.—Dr. Purcell Taylor, 57 
Chancery Lane, London. 

WantTeEp, British and foreign marine curiosities, as star- 
fishes, crustacea, sea-urchins, and any of the following shells, 
as Isocardia cor, Cochlodesma pretenne, Clio pyramidata, 
Mactra helvacea, Limnaea involuta, Vertigo moulinsiana, 
V. pusilla, Acme lineata, Tapes aurea, Cardium papillosum, 
Diplodonta rotundata, Lima hians, Terebratula caput- 
serpentis, Ovula patula, Akera bullata, Aplysia depilans, 
Helix aculeata, H. pulchella, or any rare varieties of helix, in 
return for minerals, fossils, microscopic material and objects, 
or rare British shells, viz., odostomias, rissoas, Scalavia 
clathratula, cecums, Mangelia turricula, Defrancia Line- 
aris, Lachesis minima, tapes, psammobia, cerithiopsis, Bar- 
leeia rubra, etc.—A. J. R. Sclater, M.C.S., Natural History 
Stores, The Strand, Teignmouth. 

WANTED, to correspond with collectors who may have 
foreign stamps to offer in exchange for shells.—T. E. Sclater, 
Northumberland House, Teignmouth, Devon. 

OFFERED, British marine shells in exchange for shells not in 
collection, or insects and micro. slides; will also give exchange 
for the ‘‘ Life of Thomas Edwards, Banff Naturalist.” 

—W. D. Rae, 17 Strafford Street, Millwall, London, E. 

OrFgeRED, Newman’s “ British Moths,” Kirk’s ‘‘Physi- 
ology,” Ganot’s ‘‘ Physics.” Wanted, ‘‘ Carpenter on Micro- 
scope,” works by Gosse, or offers.—G. A. Barker, 24 Avenue 
Villas, Cricklewood, N.W. 

WANTED, scientific apparatus in exchange for Cornish rocks, 
minerals, and fossils.—W. H. Olver, 2 Adelaide Terrace, 
Truro. 

WANTED, a clean, unmarked copy of ‘The London Cata- 
logue of British Mosses and Hepatics,” 2nd ed., 1881. Will 
give good exchange in plants or slides. —W. Mackie, 77 Napier 
Street West, Oldham. ; 

Witt exchange first-class anatomical and botanical micro. 
slides for good foraminiferous material, dredgings, etc.—W. 
White, 17 York Street, Nottingham. F 

A FEw duplicates of rare British flowering plants (dried), 
British and foreign marine shells, British fossil shells, British 


land and freshwater shells, and British mosses, all correctly 
named, offered in exchange for foreign land shells.—T. R., 
27 Oldham Road, Manchester. F 

WANTED, any of the vars. of unios or anodontas, for Vertigo 
ig ak Radcliffe, 11x Oxford Street, Ashton-under- 

yne. 

BritisH marine shells.—Pecten ¢igrinus (small), Cyaniune 
minutum, Tectura testudinalis, Lacuna pallidula, Lacuna 
divaricata, Rissoa cancellata, R. parva, R. striata, Otina 
otzs. Wanted, British marine shells not in collection.—James 
Simpson, 6 North St. Andrew Street, Aberdeen, N.B. 

OFFERED, Acme lineata, Vertigo substriata, V. edentula, 
Zonites excavatus, and var. vitrina, Z. glaber, Helix lamel- 
lata, H. aculeata, and several other shells, for nests and eggs 
of goldfinch, hawfinch, nightingale, and fire-crested regulus, or 
other rare nests.—Joseph Whitenham, 82 Cross Lane, Marsh, 
Huddersfield. * 

Science-Gossip for 1888 and 1889, also ‘“‘ Naturalists” 
World” for 1886 and 1887, unbound, perfect. Should be glad 
to exchange for a few micro. slides, botanical or entomological 
preferred.—F. C. Long, 32 Woodbine Road, Burnley, Lancs. 

New student’s microscope, with rackwork sub-stage, by 
Baker, also lamp, Cathcart microtome, Cole’s section cutter, 
and other micro. apparatus; Such’s ‘‘ Physiology of Plants,” 
De Barry’s ‘‘ Anatomy,” Bower’s ‘‘ Practical Botany,” and 
other scientific works.—J. H., 19 Lambert Villas, Brixton 
Hill, S.W. 

Dup.icaTEs.—Cecum trachea, Homalogyra atomus, circe, 
Scrobicularia tenuis, Odostomia spiralis, O. pallida, etc. 
Wanted, mollusca not in collection.—B. Tomlin, The Green, 
Llandaff. 

Tue last twelve volumes of SciENcE-GossiP, in numbers, 
clean and complete; exchange offers.—Jas. Hedworth, Dun- 
ston, Gateshead. 

OFFgRED, “ Natural History of Insects” (London: Murray), 
second edition, 1839, in two vols., published at 5s. each, un- 
soiled and perfect; Screncr-Gossip for 1887, ‘‘ Naturalists’ 
Gazette’? for 1888. Wanted, any good foreign shells not 
already in collection.—W. Jones, 27 Mayton Street, Hollo- 
way, London. 

Fiint implements and flakes wanted from localities near 
London.—G, E. M., 5 Warwick Place West, London, S.W. 

WANTED, diatoms and other good slides. Offered, micro. 
mounts of larvz of ant-lion, stained forams, etc., also set of 
eipters and other micro. material.—W. E. Green, 24 Triangle, 

ristol. 

DupiicaTEs: 40 species of British butterflies, about 500 
specimens in all. Desiderata, British dragonflies, fresh and 
unset preferred; also British orthoptera, particularly mole- 
crickets, field-crickets, and locusts.—W. Harcourt Bath, Lady- 
wood, Birmingham. 

Wuat offers for a small six-drawer cabinet suitable for birds? 
eggs and shells.—z12 Rann Street, Birmingham. , 

WANTED, cuckoos’ eggs with clutches of the following species : 
garden warbler, redstart, reed warbler, common wren, red- 
backed shrike, nightingale, chiff-chaff, woodlark, common 
bunting, house-sparrow; good eggs offered in exchange.—W. 
Wells Bladen, Stone, Staff. 

Lor of novels and other books for exchange. Wanted, fossils 
from any formation except carboniferous ; lists exchanged.— 
Walter C. Shields, 36, Gartusk Street, Crosshill, Glasgow. 

Voluta musica, Neritina viridis, Tellina radiata, T. 
(strigilla) Rombergtt, Planaxis lineatis, Bulimus exilis, Helix 
aspersa, and H. lactea (from Gibraltar), Echinus sphera, and 
others, for land or marine shells, fossils or minerals not in 
collection. J. Burman Rosevear, Roselea, 51, Crouch Hill, 
London, N. 


BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE. 


“The Idler,” (London: Chatto & Windus).— English 
Botany, or Coloured Figures of British Plants,” (London: 
George Bell & Sons).—‘* Journal of the Royal Microscopical 
Society,” (Williams & Norgate).—‘‘\The Apodide,” by H. M. 
Barnard (London: Macmiilan).—‘‘iTransactions of the York- 
shire Naturalists’ Union,” parts 10-16.—‘‘ Gentleman’s Maga- 
zine.’—“ The Mediterranean Naturalist.”—‘‘ The Midland 
Naturalist.” —‘‘The Naturalist.” —“ Natural Science.” — 
«« American Microscopist.’’—‘‘ American Naturalist.”—‘* Nature 
Notes.”—‘‘ Essex Naturalist.”—‘‘ Journal and Proceedings of 
the Essex Field Club,” etc., etc. 


COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVP 
Seah RSA Ip | Se 
Gee Ds IRE 


. M.—D. W.—T. S.—H. k.—W. H. O.—H. W. B.—C. C.— 
.S.—E. M. B. U.—I. R.—G, A. B.—I. G.—R. D. P.—A. B.— 

E. A.—F. C. L.—R. D. P.—W. E. G.—W. J. J.—J. H.— 
. P.—Q. B.—G. E. M.—Dr. P.—J. H.—W. H. L.—W. H. 
—B. T.—F.—R. B. P.—E. H. J. B.—J. B. R—W. K.— 
. A—W.C. S.—B. P.—W. W.—Lord H.—A. W. L.— 
—H. B. W.—etc., etc. 


UP T° THE 12TH ULT. FROM: 
T.—J. E. S—S. G.— 


ner 
BP 
mn 


dan 


mew 
Aes 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 


145 


SEAFORD—RECREATIVE AND SCIENTIFIC. 


By EDWARD A. MARTIN, Author of ‘‘Glimpses into Nature’s Secrets,” ‘‘ Amidst Nature’s 


Realms,” etc. 


WY HE town of Seaford 


is by no means an 
unknown _ seaside 
place of resort. 
Many a one, tired 
and bored by the 
constant calls which 
are made on one’s 
energy at fashion- 
able sea-side places, 
has found in this 
town, nestling, as it 
does, in a hollow in 
the chalk downs, 
the place which had 
long been sought 
for as likely to con- 
tain those re-ener- 
gising requirements 
of the busy city- 
man, which are in vain looked for in the mighty 
and busy rivals of Hastings, Eastbourne, Brighton, 
and the like. Even now, quietly and with little of 
that public light which is thrown upon the doings 
of the greater sea-side towns, Seaford is preparing 
to welcome, nay, is already welcoming the early 
season comers, who, tired and out of sorts by reason 
of the severe winter—or by the influenza, are hurrying 
off to catch the first summer channel-breezes, irre- 
spective of whether it be now the “‘season” or no, 
What have people in pursuit of health to do with the 
**season ” ? Season, indeed ! Cannot they live without 
a **season”? can’t they enjoy the benefits of the sea 
without having a sight of the same bores who were 
so terrible during the last London ‘‘ season”? But 
we don’t go to Seafs pio, e ‘* season”; we go, if 
you like, to wear out ‘ent-Ti clothes, for no one will 
be any the wiser in this early summer which we are 
choosing, and after all, there is a comfort about 
familiar things which is not exactly possessed by the 
No. 331.—JULY 1892. 


first-class tourist suit just turned out by the tailor. 
Seaford is reached by means of a delightful journey 
on the Brighton line, during which it is guaranteed 
that one needn’t change more than three times. As 
Seaford is the teminus of the branch line, the amount 
of traffic is not very great, and consequently the 
visitor experiences but little disturbance from this 
cause. 

SitW&ted like so many of its sister-towns on the 
south coast, in a ‘*gap” in the cliffs, there is little 
doubt that at a former time, probably before the 
town commenced to exist, the hollow of the valley 
was the estuary of one of those many rivers which 
flowed through the chalk area, draining the uplands 
and in many cases the Weald beyond them. Geolo- 
gists tell us that the final denudation of the chalk 
hills could only have taken place by means of innu- 
merable streams and rivers intersecting one another 
and flowing in the hollows which now intersect the 
Downs in every direction. The site of Seaford was 
probably the outlet of some of these streams, besides 
being supplied, at least until recently, by the river 
Ouse, although this now makes its entry into the sea 
at Newhaven. 

In front of the town lies a stretch of land known 
locally as the ‘‘ Bemblands.” The original entry of 
the river was evidently made here, for we read of a 
deed executed in Elizabeth’s reign granting all the 
land known as the ‘‘ Beamelands,” extending on both 
sides of the mouth of the river, to two gentlemen 
mentioned by name. Since the time of this grant, 
the river has shifted its mouth more and more to the 
west, probably in part owing to the silting up of its 
ancient bed, until finally it was left no more to its 
own sweet will, but was secured to make its entrance 
into the sea at what was thenceforward known as 
** New Haven.” 

Seaford was one of the ancient Cinque Ports. 
Although not one of the original, it was certainly not 
the least important of those subsequently added. 

H 


146 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


Looking at the town as we now see it, we can | 


scarcely imagine it ever to have been a port at all. 
But when we find that the river Ouse originally 
entered the sea in front of the town, and that 
Seaford Cliff formerly was the eastern boundary of 
the river, the fact that it was at one time a port is 
easily understood. Instead of debouching at New- 
haven, as it does now, the main body of water passed 
to the east and extended along the front of the town, 
where it mingled with the sea probably by numerous 
shallow mouths. Its former course is now marked 
by the stretch of stagnant water which lies just 
within the shore between Newhaven and Seaford, 
and which, presumably influenced by the tides, gave 
the water-power by which the mills at Bishopstone 
were worked. 

Seaford, we read, sent a large complement of ships 
and men to join the British fleet opposed to the Great 
Armada, so that it was far from being an insignificant 
port so recently as Queen Elizabeth’s reign. Geolo- 
gical changes as a rule extend over a long lapse of 
time, but here we have an important instance of a 
river changing its mouth within a comparatively 
short period. 

Those who have visited the town have doubtless 
noticed the high cliff on the east of the town, and 
perhaps have experienced the bracing air which is to 
be found at the head of the cliff. Should the town 
extend thus far at some future time, what a magnifi- 
cent site it would afford for an hotel or a hydropathic 
establishment. There would, however, be one draw- 
back, and that would be the soil. The chalk here is 
covered by the relics of a formation similar to, and 
probably identical with, those found on the Castle 
Cliff at Newhaven : (I have no idea why it is called 
Castle Cliff; the fort there is no more like a castle 
than a cathedral). Here are found a series of strata 
of tertiary age belonging to the eocene formation, 
similar to those strata on which London is situated. 
At Brighton, again, a patch of eocene clay is 
existent at Furze Hill, and it would appear that these 
are all remains of one wide sheet of tertiary ac- 
cumulations which once covered the whole of the 
chalk of the south of England, and were continuous 
one with another. 

Immediately above the chalk of the Seaford cliff 
there appears a thick layer of flints, rolled by the 
action of the sea in times long past into the various 
shapes we find on the beach at the present day. The 
sand which was then deposited above the layer of 
rolled flints very naturally filled up all the crevices 
left between the flints. Very possibly the sand, 
which is of a ruddy colour, was derived from some 
source where it was mingled with iron ore, for we 
find both sand and flints have now been cemented 
together by the action of peroxide of iron, and form 
a reddish-brown conglomerate, or pudding-stone, so- 
called from the fanciful appearance which the flints 
present to the plums in a pudding. This con- 


ness. 


glomerate is very hard and lasting, and would, I 
imagine, if capable of being dressed, make a durable 
building-stone. Large boulders of it were seen piled 
in a heap, and were evidently to be used for some pur- 
pose, possibly for road-making. Immediately above 
this conglomerate of the Seaford cliff is a thick bed of 
sand, which probably corresponds with that formation 
known in the London basin as the Thanet sands. 

Above this occurs in some parts a bed of stiff clay, 
which it would be necessary for the speculative builder 
to remove before he established his sanatorium on the 
hill. The clay-bed is found also in the Newhaven 
cliff, where it is full of casts of shells, and sometimes 
the shells themselves, of the genus cevithium. So full 
is it that a piece of the shell-clay which I have in my 
collection, has, after becoming thoroughly dried, 
assumed the aspect of an unpolished piece of Sussex 
marble, except that of course the shapes of the shells 
contained are different. 

The change in the course of the river which once 
entered the sea at Seaford, has left the town with a 
task before it. What will the town authorities do to 
make the Bemblands a little more presentable, and 
more a credit to the town? Might not this waste 
land be laid out as ornamental gardens, with perhaps 
a band-stand therein? Seaford is far from being an 
unknown place to seaside visitors. What is being 
done to attract them to the town? Such gardens 
would prove a great attraction, and would serve as a 
promenade which would be close to the bracing air 
of the sea, and at the same time would be sheltered 
by the sea-wall from the powerful south-west winds. 
It may be said there is an objection to the 
utilization of the land for these purposes. ‘There is in 
some places a quantity of stagnant water which it is 
difficult to keep out, rising and falling as it does with 
the tide. If a thing is to be done at all it should be 
done properly, and means no doubt would be found by 
which the water could effectually be kept out. The 
surface of the ground could be raised upon piles, or, 
better still, upon rent-paying arches, or a thick layer 
of impervious concrete could be laid down. A natural 
concrete is ready tohand. The conglomerate of which 
I have before spoken is sufficiently indurated to be 
used at least as a foundation for sucha purpose. The 
difficulty of preventing the water from rising is surely 
one which could be easily surmounted, and the town 
would possess a most potent addition to its attractive- 
The sea-wall is not in very good condition. 
All it serves to do at present is to show the inferior 
quality of the materials with which it was made, for it is 
breaking out on all sides. And the Martello Tower, 
which many sea-side towns would be glad to possess, 
appears to be falling to pieces. What a pity it is not 
in the hands of the town authorities! 

There are many advantages which the town possesses 
which should be made the most of, but if Seaford is 
ambitious to shine as a watering-place, it must quicken 
itself, and pursue a more active policy in the future. 


* 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


147 


NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. 


SZLAND LIFE, by Dr. A. R. Wallace 
(Macmillan & Co.). We are delighted to 
welcome a cheap edition of this noble and most 
suggestive book. We know of nothing in natural 
history literature to equal it, except Darwin’s 
classical Voyage of the Beagle. In its two volume 
form, Mr. Wallace’s splendid book was practically 
unobtainable to naturalists, the most distinguished 
of whom, are as a rule the poorest. Hence we 
regard it asa real boon that Messrs. Macmillan, the 
publishers, have now issued a cheap edition of this 
work which Dr. Wallace has taken considerable and 
careful pains to bring up to date, so as to say the 
latest words on the subject. 

On the Modification of Organisms, by David Syme, 
(Melbourne: George Robertson & Co. 
Kegan Paul, Trench & Co.). This is a difficult 
book to notice. The author makes some clever 
points, although his style is neither classical nor 
attractive. He evidently thinks that Darwin knew 
nothing about Darwinism, as will be seen by the 
following quotation, which is on the fifteenth page of 
the book. ‘“‘ Swmmary.—We have seen that Darwin’s 
language is wanting in precision, and his definitions 
and theories are variable and contradictory. In one 
place natural selection is the ‘struggle for existence,’ 
in another, the ‘struggle for existence’ is said to 
‘bear on’ natural selection; in a third place he 
speaks of the ‘struggle for existence, and natural 
existence,’ as if they were independent principles ; 
in one place, again, he defines natural selection as 
“the survival of the fittest,’ thus confounding cause 
with effect, and in another place he says that natural 
selection ‘depends on’ the survival of the fittest ; 
while to add to the confusion he tells us in another 
place that ‘the conditions of life include natural 
selection,’ inasmuch as they determine whether this 
or that variety shall survive. In numerous places he 
explains that the function of natural selection is 
merely selective, as the term implies, that it operates 
on variations which are provided for it, and is 
absolutely powerless to effect anything without them ; 
in other places he insists that variations are created 
by natural selection, and that, in fact, every change 
in structure and function is within the power of 
natural selection.” 

Laboratory Practice; a series of Experiments on the 
Fundamental Principles of Chemistry, by Josiah 
Parsons Cooke, LL.D., (London: Kegan Paul, 
Trench, Triibner & Co., Ltd.). Itis a mighty jump 
from 1874, when Dr. Cooke, the distinguished 
American chemist wrote one of the most suggestive 
yolumes of the International Scientific Library series, 
entitled ‘‘ The New Chemistry.” No other book has 
done more since then to suggest new lines of thought 
to thoughtful chemistry students. It is therefore with 
sincerest pleasure we draw our readers’ attention to 


London : 


this practically valuable book. Its aim and scope 
will be best gathered from the following quotation 
from the introduction. ‘‘ The educational value of 
such a course as is here outlined, depends entirely on 
the manner in which the work is directed and super- 
vised. The student should be instructed, by con- 
tinued reiteration, if necessary, 1. To observe the 
minutest particular in regard to every experiment. 
2. To distinguish essential from non-essential 
phenomena. 3. To draw correct inferences from the 
results. 4. To express concisely but clearly in writ- 
ing the facts observed and conclusions reached.” 

Mineralogy, by Frederick H. Hatch, Ph.D., 
F.G.S., (London: Whittaker & Co.). We cordiaily 
recommend this cheap little book of Dr. Hatch’s as 
one of the best that students could purchase. It is 
abundantly illustrated, and Dr. Hatch is one of the 
few scientific teachers who possess the gift of 
lucidity. 

Theoretical Mechanics, Elementary Stage, by J. 
Spencer, B.Sc., etc. (London: Percival & Co.). Mr. 
Spencer is one of our most active workers in educa- 
tional science, but we are sorry to find it necessary, 
and that the science and art department of South 
Kensington is constantly requiring such hosts of 
victims, under the title of preparatory books. How- 
ever, if students require a cheap and good manual on 
Theoretical Mechanics, they cannot do better than 
get the one above referred to. 

Farmyard Manure, its nature, composition, and” 
treatment, by C. M. Aikman, M.A., ete. (London :_ 
William Blackwood & Sons). We think Prof. 
Aikman has done perfectly right in publishing this 
little brochure, which is in substance a chapter from 
the larger work he is preparing on soils and manures. 


NOTES ON THE INFUSORIA. 
By BERNARD THOMAS. 
V.—HETEROTRICHOUS CILIATA. 


N this group some of the cilia are modified into 
hooks, styles or bristles, and are unevenly dis- 
tributed over the body. 

24. Coleps hirtus (Fig. 87), is about the five hun- 
dredth of an inchlong. It is often found feeding on 
dead Entomostraca. Unlike the preceding ciliata, it 
is symmetrical ; that is, the body might be divided 
by a longitudinal line into two halves. Another 
peculiarity of Coleps is the possession of a chitinous 
cell-wall, which can be seen separated from the 
protoplasm during division (Fig. 87,3). In shape 
Coleps is oval, rounded behind, more truncate in 
front; sometimes it is somewhat pear-shaped, 
(Fig. 87, 2) at others separated into two halves by a 
more or less deep transverse constriction (Fig. 87). 

The cell-wall is marked by strong longitudinal 


| and transverse grooves, which go from end to end and 


Hi 2 


148 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


right round the body, like the lines of latitude and 
longitude on a globe. From these depressions the 
cilia appear to arise and there is also a small tuft of 
cilia at the anterior end, and one or two cilia spring 


It is interesting to note that this mode of asexual 
reproduction is similar to that observed in some 
Desmids (e.g. Cosmarium). 

25. Chetonotus larus (Fig. 88) was placed by 


Fig. 87.—Coleps hirtus—x and 2 highly magnified ; 3, dividing. 


from the posterior end, where there are three tiny 
hooks easily overlooked from their minuteness ; they 
probably are modified cilia. 

In the endosarc there are usually one or two round 
green or brown bodies, perhaps the food swallowed 
by this organism. There is also, often, a large, 


Fig. 88.—Chetonotus larus—1, front view 2, side view; 2, 
mouth; @, gullet ; end, endosarc; ect, ectosarc; 4%. tail 
process. (Highly magnified ) 


highly refractive, colourless body near the centre. 
When fission takes place, the organism divides into 
two equal halves by a transverse constriction, each 
half thus separated developing a protoplasmic portion 
devoid at first of cell-wall, but furnished with cilia. 


Ehrenberg among the Rotifera. Indeed its general 
appearance is suggestive of a higher place than among 
the Infusoria. Its size varies from about the seven 
hundredth to the two hundredth of an inch. Like 
Coleps, it is symmetrical, and the body is three or four 
times longer than broad ; on the dorsal surface there 
are long bristles pointed backwards, and on the ventral 
or oral surface very minute cilia. It is an exceed- 
ingly rapid swimmer, and darts along, head foremost, 
so quickly that it is difficult to make out its structure. 
The anterior region or head is marked with one or 
two elevations, or tubercles, it is ciliated, and on the 
under-surface a round mouth may be seen furnished 
with movable lips. As the head moves about it is 
“‘ telescoped ” into the neck in much the same manner 
as is the head and tail of the Rotifer. The neck is 
thick and long, furnished with cilia, it passes, almost 
imperceptibly into a slightly broader body. At the 
posterior extremity there are two short, pointed pro- 
cesses, separated from each other by a short interval 
covered with cilia. 

The outer layer of protoplasm is hyaline, and the 
granular inner substance is very clearly marked off from 
it. The mouth leads to a long cesophagus, traversing 
the neck, with transversely striated walls, and this 
ends in the inner substance. I have never discovered 
the nucleus. The terms endosarc and ectosare are 
avoided, because it seems difficult to refer this very 
interesting organism to its true place in the animal 
kingdom ; if it be one of the ciliata, it is probably 
the highest member of that series. 

26. Stylonichia mytellus (Fig. 89) of Ehrenberg 
(Kerona mytellus of Dujardin) is from the two hun- 
dredth to the one hundreth of an inch long. It 
is heterotrichous, the cilia being of very different 
kinds. In the oral region, fringing the mouth, the 
cilia form a comb; posteriorly they are modified 
into styles, two of these point outwards at an angle 
with the body and a few between these point 
directly backwards and arise from the under-surface. 


HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSIP. 


149 


In Fig. 8g, 7, the posterior extremity is represented, 
and two large styles are seen. 

Cilia can be modified into—1, Avagella; 2, Re- 
tracting filament; 3, Sete or bristles; 4, Styles ; 
5, Oncini or hooks. 


than the anterior part and with a small hooked 
process. From the anterior neck three or four cilia 
sprung (Fig. 89, c). In one casealso I saw a similar, 


but not identical, organism attached near the posterior 
end of a mature Stylonichia (Fig. 89, 2). 


In the 


Fig. 89.—a, Stylonichia mytellus ; b, S. mytellus with infusoria; c, larval forms, perhaps of S. syteilus? d, larval forms of Para- 
mecium? e, S. pustulata; f, nucleus of S. wzytellus, high power; g, contractile space diastole, S. myted/us; h, contractile 
space systole; 7, posterior extremity, S. zytellus; cs, contractile space; ch, chlorophyll corpuscle; 7z, mouth; s, styles; 


#, nucleus; a, anterior ; f, posterior end. 


The flagellum and retracting filament have already 
been described. Sete or bristles are strong straight 
filaments which are movable, but do not vibrate. 
Styles resemble them, but are thick with broad base. 
flooks axe curved, usually thick at the base, and 
short, It is said that the styles in Stylonichia are 
moved by the well-developed myophan layer. In 
the interior there are food vacuoles and only one 
contractile space. In the figure (Fig. 89, ¢ %) the 
vesicle is seen in systole and diastole, surrounded by 
chlorophyll corpuscles, Once when examining this 
organism I found a curious little infusorian, which I 
thought might perhaps be a larval form, It was 
composed of faintly granular protoplasm, the 
posterior part of the body was devoid of cilia, broader 


illustration I have also figured what I take to be the 
larval Paramecium figured by Balbiani in the account 
he gave of conjugation in that organism. 

In the last article the following corrections should 
be made :—7e the reproduction of Paramecium, instead 
of ‘*the young are described as acinctiform,”; read 
*¢the young are described as acinetiform ;” ve{Spiro- 
stomum ambiguum, instead of ‘‘ the arms,(or anal area) 
terminal,” read ‘‘ the anus (or anal area) terminal.” 

(Zo be continued.) 


WE strongly recommend our readers who have the 
time not to miss an opportunity of visiting Mr. 
William Bull’s Grand Annual Orchid Show at™536 
King’s Road, Chelsea. 


150 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


A BOTANIST’S HOLIDAY IN THE 
PYRENEES. 


[Continued fron ~. 135-] 


EXT day was Sunday, and was practically a 

day of rest, as I went by train round to 
Luchon in the department of Haute-Garonne, in the 
centre of the range, stopping a few hours on the 
way at the quaint old town of Monrejeau, where I 
saw in the principal street, on a good Sunday (Oh! 
shade of John Knox), a family playing cards. Luchon 
or Bagnéres de Luchon, is a largish, and very fashion- 
able resort, and seems to consist of hardly anything 
but hotels and lodging-houses. It is the best centre 
in the range for excursions, the middle portion of the 
Pyrenees being the highest. The situation is most 
picturesque, being apparently quite shut in on all 
sides by high mountains, though the part where it is 
built is quite flat. The following day after my arrival 
I set out to visit the Val du Lys, so-called, not from 
its lilies, but from an old or provincial form of the 
word ‘‘eau,” water, from the number of its streams 
and waterfalls. The end of the valley is about seven 
miles from Luchon. The road passes up the valley 
through fields of maize for a short distance, then, as 
the valley narrows, through the woods ; in about an 
hour the point where the road turns off to the right 
to enter the Val du Lys is reached, and in about 
another half-hour a fine open part of the valley, shut 
in at the end by wooded precipices, is reached. The 
upper end of the valley is very fine and looks quite 
inaccessible : above the wooded region appear the 
rocky peaks and glaciers of the Crabioules. On 
entering the valley I found Diégitalis-Jutea (L.) in the 
woods, a species with cream-coloured, smallish 
flowers, and at the head of the valley, by the Cascade 
d@Enfer, the rare Cardamine latifolia (Wahl.), with 
its round lobed-leaves and rose-lilac flowers. At 
the small inn, or cabane, near the lowest waterfall, the 
carriage-road ends, but a good horse-road zigzags up 
through the steep woods to the Rue d’Enfer, a deep 
cleft in the slaty rock, filled up at one end with snow, 
under which the stream from the glaciers higher up 
comes rushing down. On the ascent through the 
woods I found MWulgedium Plumieri (DC.) something 
like a large glaucous Sonchus arvensis, with blue 
flowers, and much branched; Geranium nodosum 
(L.), a beautiful species with largish flowers of a 
light lilac veined with purple, and five-angled and 
lobed leaves; Rubus glandulosus (Bell.); Ranun- 
culus Gouani (Willd.) ; Epilobium montanum, white- 
flowered ; and, on wet rocks, Wreracium neo-cerinthe 
(Fr.), and Saxifraga Clusti (Gou.) (= S. leucanthemi- 
Jolia (Lap.)), a species like .S. ste//avis, but larger, and 
very viscid, only three of the petals being spotted, the 
other two being smaller and unspotted. Higher up, 
above the region of the pines, near the Rue d’Enfer, 
the ground was carpeted with flowers. Aconitum 
fyrenaicum (DC.), a sub-species of A. Lycoctonum, 


covered with yellow pubescence ; Aguilegia vulgaris ; 
Stachys alpina (L.); Senecio adonidifolius (Lois.) ; 
Arnica montana (1.), a composite with large orange- 
yellow heads ; Potentilla pyrenaica (Ram.), very like 
P. alpestris ; Thalictrum aquilegifolium (L.) ; Senecio 
(L.); L£uphorbia hiberna (L.); Crepis 
lampsanoides (Froel.); Dianthus barbatus (L.) ; 
Gnaphalium norvegicum (Koch); Hieracium pyre- 
naicum (Jord.); and Luphorbia angulata (Jacq.), 
were the principal finds. The view above the Rue 
d’Enfer was magnificent: below was all the valley 
stretching away towards to Luchon, and the moun- 
tains around, while just beneath was a rocky chasm 
half filled with snow; a little higher up were the 
glaciers from which the stream flowed, and above all 
the bare and jagged mountain peaks against the blue 
sky. After climbing nearly to the foot of one of the 
glaciers, I was stopped by the descending mists, 
which suddenly came on, and I judged it wisest to 
return ; so I made the best of my way down again, 
and in the evening got back safely to Luchon. Next 
day I had fixed for going by the Port de Venasque 
across the frontier into Spain, and returning by 
another pass, the Port de la Picade, a walk of abou: 
thirty miles, including an ascent of over 7000 feet 
from the altitude of Luchon (2063 feet). Starting at 
6 a.m. from Luchon, and passing along the valley 
of the Pique in a south-eastward direction, past the 
Val du Lys, till the Hospice de France (or de 
Luchon), 63 miles, was reached, I commenced the 
real ascent. At the Hospice, a substantially built 
stone inn, the last house in France on this route, the 
carriage-road ends, and the horse-road over the pass 
commences. From here to the summit of the pass 
is a good three hours’ steady ascent among rocks, 
loose débris, and, higher up, over patches of snow. 
The surroundings are very wild and picturesque : 
jagged peaks, patches of snow, blue mountain tarns, 
and strings of Spanish mules with their ragged 
muleteers coming winding down the zigzag path, 
their bells making music in the solitude. The 
weather was all that could be desired, not a cloud 
in the blue sky, and just enough breeze to cool the 
heat -from the sun’s rays. At about an hour’s walk 
from the Hospice the rareties commenced to appear : 
Euphrasia minima (Schleich) ; ALyosotis pyrenaica 
(Pourr.), very like JZ. alpestris; Avrenaria ciliata 
(L.) ; Exysimum ochroleucum (DC.) ; Aguilegia pyre- 
naica (DC.); Gentiana nivalis (L.); Phyteuma 
hemisphericum (L.), a small species with linear leaves; 
Saxifraga ajugefolia (L.) ; (by the stream) S. aguatica 
(Lap.) ; S. cafitata (Lap.), intermediate between S. 
ajugefolia and S. aguatica, and said to be a hybrid, 
and judging from their positions in this locality, not 
an unlikely supposition ; Senecio adonidifolius (Lois.) ; 
S. Tournefortii (DC.) ; a species with lanceolate 
entire leaves ; Scleranthus wuncinatus (Schur.) ; 
Paronychia polygonifolia (DC.); Stlene rupestris 
(L.); Cardamine alpina (L.), a very small species 


doronicum 


HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 


151 


with ovate entire leaves, and small white flowers ; 
Huichinsia alpina (R. Br.) ; Armeria algina (Willd.), 
very like A. maritima, but with larger heads and 
flowers a brighter rose colour; Zzzaria alpina (L.) ; 
Sisymbrium pinnatafidum (DC.); Oreochloa disticha, 
a pretty little grass, like a Sesleria ; Luzula spadicea 
(DC.), a common alpine species; Z. fediformis 
(DC.), a rare plant, like a large Z. spicata ; Veronica 
alpina (L.) ; Carex pyrenaica, a little sedge, with a 
single spike of a brownish colour, and three stigmas 
to the fruit ; and Poa minor (Gaud.). 

After climbing for nearly three hours, the path 
appears to be about to end ina cul-de-sac of rocky 
precipice, when suddenly turning a corner to the 
left the Port de Venasque itself appears, a narrow 
opening in the rock-wall, at the summit of the 
ridge. The Port is only fourteen feet wide, and 
through this natural doorway, one passes from 
France into Spain, the boundary being marked 
by an iron cross. At this point, the first view of 
Spain bursts on the sight, a wild sea of barren rocky 
mountain tops, prominent among which, and only 
separated by the intervening valley d’Etangs, is the 
Maladetta, the monarch of the Pyrenees, (11,600 
feet), which viewed from this point (8100 feet) does 
not appear very much higher: it is a huge mass of 
mountain, with glaciers near the summit and black 
peaks of rock sticking up here and there out of the 
snow and ice. The view on the Spanish side is 
much wilder and grander than that on the French 
one, the mountains sbeing higher, more rocky, and 
barer. On the rocks in the Port, I found a densely 
glandular dark green little Saxifrage, S. mixta (Lap.) 
in very small quantity. A little way down the path 
on the Spanish side, there is a path leading to the 
right, up to the summit of the Pic de Sauvegarde, 
(9164 feet), from which may be seen what is said to 
be the finest view in the whole range. It is only an 
hour’s walk from the Port,’and having plenty of time, 
I decided to try it, and was amply repaid for the 
trouble by a truly magnificent view. I could see 
Luchon lying far below in the valley, and in the blue 
distance the plains of France stretching away as far 
as the eye could reach ; immediately beneath were 
three deep indigo-blue mountain lakelets, whose 
waters sparkled in the bright sunlight. Turning 
round to the Spanish side, instead of the verdant 
valleys and plains of France, the picture of wild 
desolation forms a striking contrast, as the eye ranges 
over the bare mountains of Catalonia and Aragon, 
extending for miles away in the distance. After 
resting awhile at the top enjoying the view, and 
replenishing the inner man, I started to go down again, 
finding on the way Leontodon pyrenaicus (Gou.), 
Asterocarpus sesamoides (Gay), which grew in dense 
patches by the path ; it is a small resedaceous plant, 
with 2 procumbent much-branched stem and densely- 
flowered spikes ; Veronica bellidioides (L.) 3 Ranun- 
culus pyrencus (L.) a2 small plant with white flowers 


and linear leaves; Azgelica pyreneca (Spr.), Armeria 
alpina (Willd.); and lastly an old Scotch friend, 
Guaphalium supinum. Leaving the Port de Venasque 
to the west, the path leading to the Port de la Picade 
passes along the Spanish side of the ridge for about 
two miles, then turns north and crosses by another 
opening into France again, then going along the 
narrow edge of the ridge, here not aboye six feet 
wide, with precipices on both sides, it descends to 
the grassy Col de Mountjoie, almost the only large 
stretch of mountain pasture that I saw in the Pyrenees, 
in this respect differing greatly from the Alps. On 
the Col de Mountjoie I found Carduas carlinoides 
(Gou.) ; Senecio adonidifolius (Lois.) ; Gentiana acaulis 
(L.); Festuca spadicea (L.); Gentiana lutea (L.), the 
medicinal gentian, a large plant, three to five feet 
high, with whorls of yellow flowers, and large 
ribbed sessile leaves; and Asphodelus albus (L.), 
(Liliaceae), with dense verbascum-like spikes of white 
flowers, and linear leaves. By the path down to the 
Hospice de Luchon (which by this route is ap- 
proached ‘from the upper end of the valley of the 
Picque, from which valley the path to the Port de 
Venasque goes off at a right angle), I found Dianthus 
deltoides (L.), var. glaucus ; Avena montana (Vill.) ; 
Biscutella levigata (L.), a crucifer with spectacle- 
shaped pods, and yellow flowers; Genzsta sagittalls 
(L.), a species with winged stems; and Viola cornuta 
(L.), with lilac-blue, long-spurred flowers, and 
cordate leaves, not unlike V. Jutea, var. amena, in 
habit and size of flowers. By the time I reached the 
Hospice it was about 7 p.m., and I was getting 
pretty tired, and so did not trouble about looking out 
on the way back to Luchon, where I arrived a little 
after 9 p.m. well satisfied with the day’s work. The 
next day was to be the last one in the Pyrenees, and 
I decided to'go to see the Lac d’Oo, a small lake up 
in the mountains, ten miles from Luchon. The day 
proved yery hot, and being tired with the previous 
day’s walk, I did not get there till about 3 p.m. 
The first six miles, as far as the village of Oo, is 
pretty, but not very striking ; the road passes through 
severa] villages, but after passing the village of Oo, 
it enters the Val d’Oo, a very fine one, with the snow 
peaks near the Port de Venasqne at the head of it. 
Three miles up this valley the road ends, and a path 
winds up a steep slope, through a pine-wood, till at the 
top of a kind of dam across the valley, one reaches 
the Lac d’Oo, a most beautiful lake surrounded by 
frowning precipices, and with a fine waterfall Sco 
fect high at the head, and scattered pines clothing 
the ledges of the rocks. On the way up to the lake 
I found ALeconopsis cambrica (Vig.); Reseda glauca 
(L.) 5 Cochlearia pyrenaica (DC.), a sub-species of 
C. officinalis ; Sisymbrium acutangalum (DC.); and 
Campanula patula (L.), this last not uncommon in 
the hedges all through the part I visited. Above the 
lake grew the Pyrenean iris in plenty; Asphodelus 
albus (L.), here on account of the lower ‘elevation, 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


about 3000 feet, gone to fruit; Crepis lampsanoites 
(Froel.). After spending a short time by the lake, I 
strotled quietly back to Luchon, and so ended my last 
day in the Pyrenees. Next morning early I took train 
for Bordeaux via Tarbes and Mont Marsan, and from 
thence returned through Paris to Liverpool, having 
had a most enjoyable holiday. Now, if anyone, 
induced by these few notes, be tempted to take a 
holiday in the Pyrenees, I am certain they will not 
regret it ; the scenery is lovely, the people and places 
interesting, charges moderate, and as far as my 
experience of the weather went, it could hardly have 
been improved on ; lastly the botanist will find a mine 
of wealth to work at, which will take him some time 
to exhaust, and will afford him, I am sure, a most 
enjoyable botanist’s holiday in the Pyrenees. 
A, E. Lomax. 


THE FLORA OF THE BANKS. 


HE locality known as the Banks is pleasantly 
situated near the river Ribble. Starting from 


Clitheroe railway station, we go along the road lead- | 


ing to Waddington until near Brungerley Bridge, 


then turn to the left along the footpath over Knunck | 


Knowles, noticing the pretty flowers of the vernal 
whitlow grass (D. vxz/garis) which are very abundant. 


Fig. 90.—Fenestella plebeia. 


Behind the hill I have seen the barren blade of the 
adder’s tongue (0. vx/gatum) but have not succeeded 
in getting the fertile spike in this locality. From 
here we are soon on the top of the quarry, and with 
another step we are in the Banks. It is a pretty 
place consisting of miniature hills and dales caused 
by quarrying operations in former years. These 
during four months are carpeted with treasures of 
the floral world. Standing on one of these hills 
the view is fine, green fields and pretty woodlands 
stretching from the bank of the river, away to a 
long line of moorland. 


Referring to page 14, ‘‘ Geology of the Burnley 
Coal-field,’”’ I find : ‘* The Carboniferous limestone of 
the Clitheroe anticlinal is concealed or very obscure 
all along the northern border, and the many folds 
into which it has been thrown, have rendered its 
boundaries difficult to map with accuracy. On the 
south of the arch, however, we have a succession 


Fig. 92.—Common Encrinite (Potertocrinus crassus). 


of very good rock exposures, which afford facilities 
for its study. It contains two very distinct members. 
The lower consists of very black and pure bituminous 
limestone, and sometimes contains beds of black 
calcareous shale. It is almost always very distinctly 
and evenly bedded, and forms in its range a very 


straight and very well-marked ridge, which com- 


HARDWICKES SCITENCE-GOSSIP. 


153 


mences at Horrocksford quarries, and continues in an 
east-north-easterly direction by Ridding Hey and 
Bold Venture Limeworks and then along the north 
side of Downham Hall demesne and Twiston lane 
to the old lead-mines at Skelhorn or Skeleron. 
Immediately above the Black Limestone is a band 
of shales containing fossils, of which Fevestel/e are 
the most abundant. The shales at Knunck Knowles 
by the road cutting going down to Brungerley Bridge 
near Clitheroe are probably the same.” 

On the top of the quarry Ranwnculus repens, 
Rearia, and bulbosus, Bellis perennis, Cerastium 
vulgatum, Tusstlago farfara, Senecio vulgaris, Stel- 
faria media, Potentilla anserina, Anagallis arvensis ; 
in 1887 I gathered a specimen of Zvystmume orientale. 
Leaving the quarry, we enter the Banks, and can 
wander at our own will among the hills and dales, 
noticing the bright yellow flowers of the mouse-ear 
hawkweed (Hieracium filosella), Primula vulgaris 
and weris, Leontodon hispidus, Taraxacune officinale, 
Ajuga replans, Polygala vulgaris, Veronica chamedrys, 
Alchemilla vulgaris, Saxifraga tridactylites, Tri- 


Fig. 93.—Trilobite (Phillipsia). (All these are very common 
tossiis near Clitheroe.) 


Jolium pratense-repens, Potentilla tormentilla, reptans, 
Lotus corniculatus, Bunium flexuosum, Chrysan- 
themum leucanthemum, Plantago lanceolata, media, 
major, Achillea millefolium, Cherophyllum temelum, 
Rosa canina, arvense, Arabis hirsuta, Prunella vul- 
aris, Medicago lupulina, Linum catharticum, Eu- 
phrasia officinalis, Viburnum opulus, Lamium macu- 
latum, Senecio jacobea, Heracleum sphondylium, 
Fimpinella saxifraga, magna, Poterium sanguisorba, 
Thymus serpyllus, Centaurea nigra, Campanula 
votundifolia, Calamintha clinopodium, Anthyllus 
wulneraria, Galium verum, Agrimonia eupatoria, 
Driganum vulgare, Matricaria inodora, Ononis ar- 
vensts, Scabiosa arvense, succisa, Gentiania amarella, 
Arenaria Serpyllifolia, Evizeron acris, Lychnis dioica, 
Stachys betonica, Fraxinmus excelsior, Cretageus 
oxyacantha, Ribes grossularia, Reseda  luteola, 
Myosotis arvense. Returning the lower way to 
Brungerley Bridge, the sloe (Prunus spinosa) is very 
abundant in the hedge ; in a swamp near the river we 
notice the bright golden balls of the globe-flower 
LTrollius Europeus), Cardamine pratensis, Ranun- 
culus flamula. Among the waste material at the foot 


of the quarry there is Vola hirta, a very rare species 

in this district, Cyécws lanceolatus, arvensis, Potentilla 
| fragariastrum, Fragaria vesca, Asperula odorata ; on 
the river bank, Cochlearia officinalis. In another 
swamp at the other end of the quarry there are a few 
plants of Aenyanthes trifoliata, G@nanthe, crocata ; 
still keeping close to the river a few plants of 
Lathyrus macrorhizus, Myrrhis odorata, Lysima- 
chia nemorum and Scilla nutans may be noticed. 
—M, Demain. 


MINUTE ARCELLA. 


SSOCIATED with the Hedriocystis described 

by me in a previous paper, I obtained the 
minute organisms figured in A and B, and in profile 
inc. Ina TI have represented the normal appearance 
under a js-inch w.i. of this Rhizopod; in B the 
details brought out by using roseine as a stain. The 
organism glides almost imperceptibly along the slide, 
or the cover-glass, and generally, though not always, 
without the emission beyond its periphery of any 
pseudopodia. Its carapace is hyaline, and only 
faintly takes up the stain I used. It has no hexa- 
gonal, punctate, or other: markings; is apparently 
structureless ; and is slightly folded in on its under- 


W 
Ch 


Fig. 94.—A, living organism ; pz, stained and killed with 
roseine ; C, side view of organism. 


surface as represented inBandc. This fold is ‘best 
brought: out in stained specimens. I have only in 
two or three instances found faint blunted pseudopodia 
projected beyond the margim of the carapace, and 
having regard to the great number of these forms 
which I have had under observation, this percentage 
would be very small. The carapace varies in diameter 
from about y,,,-inch to y45-inch, while an average 
Arcella taken at random from the same water 
measured 3j,-inch. The abundance of the organism 
coupled with its association with the stalked Actino- 
phryans recently described by me, and its minuteness 
are my reasons for recording this note. 
W. J. SIMMONS, 


Calcutta. 


154 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 


SOME FAMOUS COLLECTING GROUNDS 
FOR DRAGON-FLIES. 


By the Author of ‘An Illustrated Handbook of 
British Dragon-ries,” ‘“‘A Label List of British 
Dragon-flies,*” etc., ete. 


V.—THE ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT. 


HE best hunting-ground for dragon-flies in the 
North of England is undoubtedly the Lake 
District of Cumberland and Westmoreland. Here 
we may meet with these grand insects in all their 
glory, combined with the most charming and diversi- 
fied scenery. 

Ambleside, which is situated at the top end of the 
beautiful expanse of Windermere, will be found a 
very convenient place where to fix our headquarters, 
as it is in the centre of this delightful district. From 
hence we may make short expeditions to Lakes 
north, south, east and west with great facility. 

The following is a list of the various kinds of 
dragon-flies which may be met with in this far-famed 
district of mountain, Jake and stream: Platetrum 
depressum (not uncommon). 
fata (common). Orthetrum cerulescers (local and 
scarce). Leucorrhinia dubia (on extensive moors in 
the north of England,* but very local). Syzpetrum 
vulgatum (abundant): S. flaveolum (local). 5S. 
scoticum (plentiful). Cordulia enea (very local; has 
been taken at Windermere). Cordulegaster annulatus 
(abundant on all streams). Avachytron pratense 
(doubtful). <2schna juncea (not uncommon). Z. 
cyanea (ditto). 2. grandis (local). 
(abundant). C. sflendens (ditto).  Lestes sponsa 
(local). Platycnemis pennipes (ditto). Lnallagma 
cyathigerum (abundant ; on August Ist, 1887, I met 
with this species in immense numbers at Windermere; 
they were probably a second brood, produced by the 
abnormal heat and fine weather of the summer of that 
season). Agrion pulchellum (doubtful). A. puella 
(abundant). Jschnera elegans (common). Pyrrhosoma 
minium (plentiful). 

The preceding is a very meagre list of the Odonata 
of the English Lake District, which is accounted for 
by the fact that it has been so little explored by 
collectors of these beautiful insects. There is no 
doubt that anyone who would assiduously apply 
himself to the task could easily add several species to 
the dragon-fly fauna of the delightful domain in 
question. Among the lakes and mountains of Cum- 
berland and Westmoreland there ought to be several 
good species yet to be discovered which have hitherto 
remained unrecorded, 


Leptetrum quadrimacu- 


Calopteryx virgo 


VI.—THE SCOTCH LAKE DISTRICT. 


To those dragon-fly hunters whose intention it is 
to spend their holidays in the Highland Lake District 


this summer, the following information may not prove 
unacceptable. 

The best locality in this extensive area is at 
Rannock, in Perthshire, where two species are found, 
namely, Somatochlora metallica, and déschna boredlis, 
which occur nowhere else in the British Isles. Both 
of these beautiful insects will be found fully described 
in my little work entitled ‘‘An Illustrated Handbook 
of British Dragon-flies,” which has been previously 
alluded to. 

In addition to the above two rare and local species, 
the following may be found in the Scotch Lake 
District: LVatetrum depressum (rare). Leptetrunc 
guadrimaculata (abundant).  Orthetrum caerulescens 
(very local). Sympetrum vulgatium (plentiful). S. 
fiaveolum (very local, but usually abounds wherever 
it occurs).* .S. scoticum (abundant everywhere). 
Cordulegaster annulatus (frequents all the mountain 
brooks and streams). Svrachytron pratense (very 
local). .&schna mixta (occurs in Scotland on the- 
authority of Dr. Hagen). .2schna juncea (abundant 
everywhere). 4. cyanéa (rare and local). &. 
grandis (ditto).  Calopteryx virgo (common, but 
local). C. splendens (ditto). estes sfonsa (common). 
Platycnemis penni~es (common, but very local). 


Lnallagma cyathigerum (very plentiful). <Agrioz 
pulchellum (very local). A. puella(common). Lsch- 
nura pumilio jvery local and rare), J. elegans 


(plentiful). Pyrrhosoma minium (abundant). 

The number of species of dragon-flies, hitherto 
recorded as occurring in Scotland, is twenty-four, but 
there is no doubt that after a little exploration and 
investigation this number could be increased. Several 
species which have been known to occur in the north 
of England, have at present not been found in North 
Britain, so there is plenty of scope for those who 
wish to add to the list of the Odonata of the latter 
country. 


A FEW REMARKS BY AN 
OBSERVER 
TOLOGY. 


UNSCIENTIFIC 
UPON VEGETABLE TERA- 


HAVE been much interested in papers discuss- 

ing ‘‘ Vegetable Teratology” during the last 
three years in SCIENCE Gossip. From the vari 
discussions on the subject, I take it to be the pre- 
valent scientific idea that plants showing any vagaries 
and abnormal methods of growth are endeavouring 
to return more or less to a primitive form. 

How many of the scientific writers have examined 
carefully into the position, health and surroundings 
of those plants supposed to be discontentedly reach- 
ing back to their ancestors? I think those who do 
so will find in almost every case a more simple and 
natural reason for the curious deformities so often 
found. 


* Vide my “‘Illustrated Handbook of British Dragon-flies.” 


* Vide my “ Illustrated Handbook of British Dragon-flies.”” 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


155 


In wild flowers, I have on strict examination 
scarcely ever failed to detect the cause to be the 
work of some small insect, often the eggs of a tiny 
fly, which, in laying them, burrowed into the plant : 
not always close to the monstrosity, but rendering 
the plant unhealthy. An accidental cut with a spade 
at the base of the stem will often cause abnormal 
growth. 

a very large number of my back numbers of 
SCIENCE Gossip were burnt accidentally last sum- 
mer, so 1am unable to state the date of the number 
in which there was a beautifully-executed illustration 
of a cabbage-leaf, which had fashioned itself into 
something like the shape of an old-fashioned cham- 
pagne glass. There was, to the best of my recollec- 
tion, a slight idea put forward that the progenitors 
might have been some of the cup-bearing plants of 
South America. 

Allow me to give you the history of a bed of cauli- 
flowers in my own garden. The ground was pre- 
pared as usual and the plants set, when the gardener 
showed me some half-dozen left over, and informed 
me that they were all very “‘ poor plants,” pointing 
out a small wart about the size of a pea on the root 
of each close to where the stalk started; he pro- 
ceeded to pull off the wart, and show me a small 
insect inside, and finished by giving me the pleasing 
information that every plant he had put down had the 
same; but assuring me he had constantly ‘‘seen the 
like,” and it was ‘‘no harm.” When the time for 
cutting cauliflowers came, it would have puzzled any- 
one to pick out to what primitive type they were 
retrogressing, as not one of them presented the same 
appearance, or resembled a respectable cauliflower 
plant. Four or five of them were long-stalked plants, 
with a bunch of small leaves at the top, and soon 
withered away without any appearance of flowers; 
others were short and stout, with a cauliflower the 
size of a walnut at the base of each leaf; one outgrew 
all the others, and developed leaves more than two 
feet long, one of the outside leaves being similar to 
the illustration in SCIENCE Gossip—a large funnel- 
shaped monstrosity—but no attempt at a flower. 
The whole plot produced but a couple of cauliflowers, 
and those half-diseased and unfit for use ; had I not 
seen the insect mischief at the root, the abnormal 
growth would have been a mystery to me; as it was, 
I could attribute it to nothing else. 

I have seen a whole row of auriculas, with fascicu- 
lated stems produced by over manuring. They be- 
longed to an old gentleman who was devoted to 
them, and he fed them so assiduously that the flower- 
stems at last reached the dimensions of nearly an 
inch across, flat and striated, with very crowded 
heads of very small blossoms, curiously distorted. 

A young rose-tree in my garden, during two sea- 
sons a healthy and stalwart bloomer, began in the 
third to produce small bunches of leaves in the 
middle of the blossoms, and many other eccentrici- 


ties, and continued to do so the following year ; it 
was pruned and doctored, but to no purpose. It 
occurred to me that perhaps it wanted more air, as I 
had set other plants quite close to it. These were 
removed, and from that out there were no more 
sprouts of green leaves in the blossoms, no buds 
half leaf half corolla, etc., etc. 

In wild plants it is of course far more difficult to 
account for abnormal growth, but it can be dis- 
covered in most cases by close scrutiny, so as to war- 
rant the belief that such growth is always caused by 
some insect or other damage. 

I have found several times patches of the common 
birdseye growing in a way sufficiently different to 
the usual habit to attract attention, with softer and 
more downy leaves, and a larger and more straggling 
growth; at first I could see nothing to account for 
it, and thought it was a variety. However, after 
many attempts I found the difference was caused 
by minute soft protuberances here and there on the 
plant, generally at the base of a leaf-stalk, locking 
quite like a part of the stalk’s growth ; but on open- 
ing them there was to be seen the reason for the 
unusual form of the plant, a bunch of minute eggs, 
or the insects just ready to emerge. 


I. G. 


EXPERIMENTAL SECTION OF HYDRA. 


VYDRA VIRIDIS.—Baker’s Binocular, 1% in. 
ff A eye-piece. The Hydra was divided in 
the live-box in which it had been living for three 
days. It was apparently in good health, The section 
was performed with a sharp, curved knife, and at the 
site of junction of ‘‘head” and body. In the same 
live-box were Cypris, Cyclops, Vorticellee, Daphnia 
and Duckweed. The experiment began on March 
27th, 1892. Before division the Hydra had eight 
processes. 

1.40 £.m.—Fimnly fixed ; 
tracting and extending. 

Tentacles moving actively ; noattempt at fixation ; 

3} tentacles have disappeared. 

2.30 f.m.—Apparently one arm is fixing cephalic 
fragment to the trough; the other arms are moving 
actively. 

The body is swaying about and extending with 
great vigour. 

3.30 f.1.—No alteration in body, A cyclops 
became motionless for a while after contact; the 
cephalic fragment is now free, and moves very 
actively. One of the tentacles has been apparently 
wounded in process of section; it is swollen and 
twisted, and is not nearly so active as are the others. 

6 p.m.—During the last 2} hours but very slight 
alteration has taken place. The cephalic fragment 
is unchanged ; the tentacles (or stumps) on the body 
seem a little longer. The only noteworthy point is 
that a swelling has developed at the junction of the 


stump actively con- 


156 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSTP. 


middle and lower third of the body. This I take to 
be traumatic, as it is symmetrical, 

9 #.m.—The microscope having been in darkness 
since the last observation, the point as to whether 
any details of interest would occur on exhibition of 
artificial light was now investigated. The two frag- 
ments were known to be separated by 1} inches. 
By means of a pin-hole diaphragm a pencil of light 
was suddenly projected on to the body. It was seen 
to bein a state of moderate contraction, but absolutely 
motionless ; and although the light was continued on 
it for 1} minutes, no ‘movements occurred. By 
gently moving the mechanical stage, I now placed 
the cephalic fragment in the field. As it approached 
the centre it was seen t> be absolutely quiet, but 


| 
fi 
Yu 


Fig. 95.—Eody (x. 40 p.m.) 


/) 
( 
Fig. ror.—(March 28th.) 


instantly it arrived in the central bright spot active 
contractions occurred. The body was again brought 
under the influence of light and left there, and it was 
not till a Cyclops came hurrying by that any con- 
tractions took place. As a control experiment, a 
budding /ydra v. in the same trough was treated in 
a similar way. Active contractions occurred in the 
parent at once, but not till some time had elapsed in 
the budding Hydra. As regards the condition of the 
two fragments, practically no alteration has taken 
place; perhaps the swelling on the body is not 
quite so large. 

March 28th, 10 a.7z.—This morning the fragments 
were found to occupy the same position as on the 
previous evening. Thecephalic fragment is certainly 


Fig. 


less active, and shows no signs of fixation to glass or 
débris at the bottom of the trough. The body, or 
the other hand, is firmly fixed, and very active. The 
tentacles certainly appear longer ; the swelling, too, 
has disappeared. I think this proves that it was. 
only the effect of injury. 

5 ~.m.—Body active: arms certainly longer. A 
foreign body is to be made out in the alimentary 
canal, which was not there this morning. As the 
Hydra is on the distal side of the box I cannot get 
any power higher than } to bear on it; but from 
the outline it looks like a small Cyclops. Anyhow 
there is something in the alimentary canal, and the 
probability of its being food I should think was 
As for the cephalic fragment, it is shrunken, 


oo) 


ip 
Y. 


great. 


eZ 


/ 


Fig. 97-—(2.30 p.m.} 


Fig. zoc.—(9 p.m.) 


Fig. 103. 


102. 


up, only extending and contracting at different 
intervals. It shows no sign of active growth, but 
the wounded tentacle is longer and straighter. 

10 .m.—The experiment of stimulation with light 
was repeated to-night with practically the same 
result. The body did not respond at all to the 
stimulus, whilst the head did, certainly not so 
strongly. I fear it will not live long. 

March 29th, 11 @.7z.—On examining the contents 
of the live-box this morning no Hydra, or at any rate, 
no divided Hydra, was to be seen, Nor was the 
body found, although I made observations for the 
two succeeding days, and on the third examined 
every few drops contained in the trough in a ‘‘ pond” 
slide. Nor was it to be found adhering to any 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 


157 


duckweed. The only explanation I could offer was 
that it had been devoured by a Cypris; thus turning 
the tables on the decapitated Hydra. The cephalic 
extremity is shrunken to a mere speck, and evidently 
dead. I have never known a Cypris devour a Hydra 
before, but taking into consideration the weakened 
state of the polype, I see no season why any other 
explanation should be sought for the disappearance 
of the subject of the experiment. It had certainly 
gone from the live-box. B 

The chief point of interest in the experiment is, I 
think, the effect of light on the two fragments. Of 
course one knows that there are many more hema- 
tocysts on the tentacles than on the body, but one 
has always considered that their purpose was specially 
that of paralysing prey seized. Whether the smaller * 
capsules mentioned by some authorities are in any 
way concerned in the reception of external stimuli 
would, I take it, be mere speculation. Anyhow, it 
is evident that the tentacles are more easily stimulated 
than the body, and it is chiefly with the object of 
noting this fact I have ventured to send in the record 
of this experiment, unfortunately brought to an 
abrupt termination, to the readers of ScIENCE- 
Gossip. 

HERBERT J. FREDERICK, L.S.A. 
Sidcup. 


SWISS BOTANY. 


N old botanist wishes to draw attention to the 

country round Vevey as a most interesting 

and prolific collecting-ground, and one not much 
resorted to. 

In early spring, long before the higher pastures are 
accessible, the meadows about Blonay are carpeted 
with the poetic narcissus and tufts of the beautiful 
Fumaria densifolia; every little rock peeping up 
through these hilly meadows is decked with the red, 
white, or blue Vizca minov, sometimes all three 
growing together. 

In damp woody places near Jilamont, the lily of 
the valley is plentiful. The vineyards are full of 
various species of hyacinth: the grape hyacinth 
perfuming the whole .country where the vineyards, 
bathed in the sun, slope down to the lake. The 
feather hyacinth, and many other curious and rare 
plants, grow amongst the vines, and round the edges 
of the vineyards a great variety of linaria. 

In the woods on Mont Chardon is found the 
Cypripedium calceolus, the lady’s-slipper. 

The hill rising behind Blonay, the Pleiades, is 
nexhaustible in its variety of botanical treasures 
—Myosotis rupicola and alpina amongst others being 
plentiful—and in the little marshy spots formed at 
intervals by the rills running down the mountain side, 
there is a rich and beautiful harvest to be gathered. 


* Griffith and Henfrey. 


In the valley behind Villa Jilamont, and running 
parallel to the Freiburg Road, the steep river-banks 
on either side are full of a great variety of orchidaceous 
plants, and also a small variety of the Anthericum 
liliastrum ; and on the higher ground between Jila- 
mont and Maison Lavade may be found the spider 
and fly orchids in considerable quantity. I several 
times found the Zfifacts latifolia, the LZ. grandifolia. 
and the pink Epipactis all growing together in the 
woods. 

I have never myseif collected in the marshy places 
at the head of the lake, but they are known to be 
homes of many botanical treasures. 

The ‘‘ Dent ce Jaman” is another delightful place 
for a day’s botanizing. Besides the variety of 
gentians (amongst them the medical gentian), there 
are many plants not usually found so low down 
on the mountains, and close under the mass of 
rock forming the ‘‘ Dent,” amongst the débris are to 
be found the sweet-scented cyclamen, and sparingly, 
the Rose des Alpes. On the roadsides, where it seems 
to love the dust, a sweet perfume leads one to the 
pretty Dianthus Gallicus. 

Anyone who wishes for a more distant ramble can 
cross the lake and climb one of the mountain paths 
close to the bridge that marks the Piedmontese 
frontier, and there find the Agulegia alpina and the 
curious yellow monkshood, looked on with terror by 
the peasants as the most poisonous plant in existence. 
They used to tell awful stories of tourists being 
poisoned by carrying bunches of it in their hands. 

I have given but a very faint sketch of the advan- 
tages of Vevey for collecting purposes, and I hope 
some botanist will try it this year, and give us his 
experiences. I have never seen noticed the distinct 
difference between the Swiss and Italian Ofhrys 
apifera and ours. Independently of the much larger 
size of the foreign plant, there is a very marked differ- 
ence in the form of the blossom, The middle segment 
of the calyx, which in the English apifera is always 
bent back so as to be little visible in the front, in 
the Swiss and Italian flower stands upright and often 
bends slightly over the lip when in full blossom, the 
small triangular petals are much larger in proportion, 
and the green bands on the pink sepals more pro- 
nounced; added to which, the foreign plant has a 
very disagreeable smell, not the flower alone, but the 
whole plant, which is not the case with ours; also, 
the foreign plant is generally found in marshy places, 


while ours loves dry, chalky downs. 
I. G. 


SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


A-NEW and ingenious instrument has just been 
invented for roughly indicating the amount of dust in 
the atmosphere. It is called the Koniscope. It 
consists of an air-pump anda tube provided with 
glass ends, The dusty air to be tested is drawn into 


158 


HARDWICKE’S SCLIENCE-GOSSIP. 


the tube, where it is moistened and expanded. The 
depth of colour seen on looking through the tube 
indicates the degree of impurity in the air. It takes 
an immense number of particles of dust to produce 
any visible colour. Thus, 80,000 per cubic centimetre 
only produce a very faint tint. Itrequires one million 
and a half of dust particles to give the air a fine blue 
colour, and four millions of such to produce a dark 
blue. By means of this instrument it is easy to 
trace the pollution taking place in rooms, as well as 
the pure and impure currents of air. 


ENTOMOLOGISTS have this year been much con- 
cerned with the influences of temperature on the 
development of insect life. The days have recently 
been brilliantly sunshiny and hot, but there has 
seldom been a night without a frost. In consequence 
butterflies have been very plentiful, and moths com- 
paratively scarce. Easterly winds, with frost at 
night, are injurious to moths, but do not appear to 
affect butterflies so long as there is plenty of sun- 
shine and blue sky. 


Ir can hardly be wondered at that our chief 
scientific journals feel a trifle bitter at the manner 
in which the University of Cambridge has conferred 
honorary degrees on the occasion of the installation 
of the new Duke of Devonshire as Chancellor. 
Nature remarks that ‘‘culture, and especially 
scientific culture, goes for very little among the 
classes of distinction recognised by the university. 
Eminence in the political world and in society, seems 
to be the claim chiefly recognised.” 


In the United States the naval people are now 
concerned with experiments on armour plates 103 in. 
thick. Some are all steel, some nickel steel. Is the 
world’s available supply of iron to be used up in 
this stupid manner? The nickel steel, we are told, 
proved the best defence. But why should defence 
be required, unless you have nations who want to 
attack? An attacking nation is an international 
burglar, and ought to be handled by the scruff of the 
neck, as you would your neighbour’s cat when it 
disturbs your rest. 


TRANSACTIONS of the Guernsey Society of Natural 
Science and Local Research for 1891 contain the 
following papers :—‘‘ The Flora of Guernsey,” by 
Mr. E. D, Marquand; ‘‘ On Mica Trap Dykes in the 
Channel Islands,’’ by the Rev. E. Hill, F.G.S.; 
“*A List of the Neuroptera inhabitating the Island 
of Guernsey,” by Mr. W. A. Luff, etc. 


WE have received a copy of the Transactions of the 
Burton-on-Trent Natural History and Archeological 
Society, containing the following papers :—‘‘ The 
Lepidoptera of Burton-on-Trent and neighbour- 
hood,” Part II., Micro-Lepidoptera ‘‘ compiled 
by J.T. Harris, F.E.S., and Philip B. Mason, 
M.R.C.S., etc. ; ‘‘ The Functions of a Local Natural 


History Society, with Special Reference to the Study 
of Plant Galls,” by Philip B. Mason, M.R.C.S., ete. ; 
““Some Varieties of Huskless Barley from Thibet,” 
by Horace T. Brown, F.R.S., etc.; ‘*The Irish 
Aran,”’ (with seven plates) by Philip B. Mason, 
M.R.C.S., etc.; ‘‘ Notes on a Salt-Marsh at 
Branston,” (with one plate), by J. E. Nowers and 
J. I. Wells; ‘‘ Trout and Grayling,” by G. Mor- 
land Day ; ‘‘ Notes on a Summer Tour in Norway,” 
by Horace T, Brow, F.G.S., etc. ; ‘ Some Ancient 
Burton Manuscripts,” by T. Knowles, M.A., etc. 


WE are pleased to draw attention to a cleverly 
written essay, bearing on Systemisation, published by 
Williams and Norgate, entitled, ‘‘The Organisation 
of Science.” It is cleverly written, and bristles with 
numerous points of scientific interest. 


THE report for 1892 of the ‘‘ Parents’ National 
Education Union” is well worth reading. We 
know of no other educational association that is doing 
better work for the present generation, or more 
work for the generation to come. It has been the 
dream of educationalists that some day or other 
education might grow into a possible science. Could 
there be a science of greater importance? Miss 
C. M. Mason of Ambleside has to be credited with 
splendid work done in this direction. 


THANK Heaven, bread is cheap. In a new book 
just published by Dr. Goodfellow, on ‘‘ The Dietetic 
Value of Bread,” the author gives his reasons for 
holding that the ordinary wholemeal bread is not a 
desirable food, and that it is much inferior to good 
white bread as regards the weight of actual nourish- 
ment, and the thoroughness of the diet. White 
bread, he says, is one of the cheapest foods, not only 
with regard to the actual weight of nourishment 
obtained from it, but also with regard to the variety 
of nutrient constituents it contains. A purchaser 
who spends 24d. ona two-pound loaf cannot spend 
his money to better advantage. 


THE juvenile and too accurate reporter stated of a 
shower which fell at a horticultural fete, that ‘* the 
drops varied in size from a shilling to eighteenpence.” 
Mr. E. J. Lowe, the well-known meteorologist, has 
recently shown that the sizes of raindrops do vary 
very considerably. He made 300 sketches of them. 
Sheets of slate in a book form, which could be 
instantly closed, were employed. These were ruled 
in inch squares, and after exposure the drops were 
copied on sheets of paper ruled like slates. Some 
drops produce a wet circular spot, while others, 
falling with great force, have splashes around the 
drops. The same-sized drop varies considerably in 
the amount of water it contains. The size of drop 
ranges from an almost invisible point to one of 2 in. 
diameter. Occasionally large drops fall which must 
be more or less hollow, as they fail to wet the whole 


HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSTP. 


159 


surface inclosed within the drop. Besides the 
ordinary raindrops, Mr. Lowe exhibited diagrams 
showing the drops produced by a mist floating along 
the ground; and also the manner in which snow- 
flakes, on melting, wet the slates. 


WE are pleased to note that Dr. John Evans, 
F.R.S., etc., the distinguished archeologist, etc., has 
been made K.C.B. Science is looking up. 


Tue Second Annual Exhibition of the Field 
Naturalists’ Society of New South Wales, was held 
recently. This Society was formed two years ago, 
and during that time has carried out a number of 
excursions, intended to assist’ those who were study- 
ing certain branches of science. A great number of 
exhibits were received, so that the hall had been 
conyerted into a very attractive museum. A col- 
lection of shells sent by Mrs. G. J. Waterhouse, were 
amongst the most beautiful of the displays, being 
representatives of Fiji, Mauritius, and Australia. 
The exhibition was opened by Mr. J. H. Maiden, 
F.L.S., and microscopic slides were exhibited, with 
the aid of the oxyhydrogen microscope, by Mr. W. J. 
J. Mundy, and a lecture, ‘‘ A Marine Excursion by 
Limelight,” was given by Mr. Cyril Haviland, 
illustrated by photographic transparencies. Among 
other exhibitors were Messrs. A. Sidney Olliff, 
E. P. Ramsey, LL.D., F.R.S.E., F. A. A. Skuse, 
Thos. Whitelegge, F.R.M.S., etc., etc. 


THOSE who find themselves at Eastbourne during 
July, August, and September, should visit the 
Devonshire Park, to inspect the ‘*‘ Tanganyika Exhi- 
bition,” and hear the demonstrations of Captain 
Hore, the brave missionary who for eleven years 
lived and worked on and about the shores of the 
lake. The natural history specimens are very in- 
teresting. 


WE are very pleased to draw attention to the 
“Supplement to the Third Edition of English 
Botany,” (uniform with the latest edition of Sowerby). 
This supplement has been in preparation for several 
years, and four parts are ready for immediate issue. 
Mr. N. E. Brown, of the Royal Herbarium, Kew, 
has carried it as far as ‘‘ Dipsacez.” The continua- 
tion and further revision has been undertaken by 
Mr. Arthur Bennett, whose name is sufficiently well- 
known to English botanists to guarantee the satisfactory 
completion of the work. The third and last edition 
of ‘*English Botany” was published 1863-1872. 
Since the date of its completion, many new facts of 
importance, and the general increase of knowledge 
of the science of botany have necessarily made it 
advisable to once more bring the work fully up to 
date ; hence the reason of this new volume. 


THERE is hardly a disease to which humanity is 
heir with so ominously sounding a name as cancer. 
Is it an organism growing like a fungus, or merely 


an abnormal growth of tissue? The natural history 
of cancer is as yet little understood. Investigation 
strongly suggests it is something of a fungoid growth ; 
or rather that the abnormally-formed tissues are due 
to the presence therein of some specific organism. 
An eminent Austrian physiologist has been operating 
on canceroid growths by injecting alcohol into their 
circulation. He has just published an account of his 
experiments, which appear to have been mostly 
successful, although time and patience are required 
by the process. 


Ir water-power is to be used in generating 
electricity, it is natural that cataracts should suggest 
themselves, and, of course, the Niagara first of all. 
The utilisation of the mighty energy of the latter, 
now entirely wasted, has been talked of, speculated 
about, and almost ‘‘ boomed ” for several years past. 
Mr, Tesla’s recent discovery of generating swift, alter- 
nating currents promises to throw a new and practical 
light on the subject. A Niagara Cataract Construction 
Company is in existence. Mr. Forbes, the well- 
known electrician, is at the falls, and suggests the 
employment of Tesla’s alternating currents to utilise 
the power, with the same kind of motor as that 
employed by him. ‘The power is to be transmitted 
to Buffalo, there to be split up and used for lighting 
electric tramcars, etc. This is probably the begin- 
ning of a new era in mechanics. The old-fashioned 
water-mills utilised the force of running streams with 
such rude machinery as was available—the miller’s 
water-wheel is the veritable ancestor of the Niagara 
electro-motor. 


Ts there a defect of the human countenance better 
known than the popular ‘‘squint,” which is practi- 
cally due to the fact that one or more of the muscles 
which ought to adjust and focus the eye are defective ? 
Some oculists devote special attention to this subject, 
for ‘‘squinting” most frequently occurs when people 
have otherwise beautiful eyes. Dr. Stevens has been 
studying the changes of these muscles by the aid of 
photography, and he has taken 2000 portraits of people 
so affected. In the majority of cases careful observa- 
tions have been repeated many times over, and photo- 
graphs taken at various stages of modification of the 
muscles of the eye, so that a comparative study of 
the human face under their varying conditions is now 
possible. The result of Dr. Stevens’ investigations is 
to demonstrate that certain well-defined types of facial 
expression are both associated with and dependent 
upon certain relative tensions of the muscles of the 
eyes, which latter movements are, of course, intended 
to adjust the eyes for accurate sight, as you would in 
focussing an opera-glass, 


Tus is the time of year when even botanists take 
holidays. To such who have not made up their 
minds to go, we would strongly recommend the 
brochure of our earnest and valuable contributor, 


160 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSTP. 


Mr.j E. D. Marquand, ‘‘ The Flora of Guernsey,” 
reprinted from the transactions of the Guernsey 
Society of Natural Science, for 1891. 


THE last number of the ‘‘ Essex Naturalist” for 
May includes, in addition to the account of the 
ordinary meeting, the following valuable articles : 
“ Notes, Original and Selected ;” ‘‘ Ancient Remains 
at Epping, Essex,” by C. B. Sworder; ‘‘ Epping 
Forest Rubi,” by J. T. Powell; ‘‘ Notes of Two 
Days’ Trawling and Dredging in the River Crouch,” 
October 1oth and 15th, 1891, by Walter Crouch, 
F.Z.S. 


WE are very pleased to call the attention of our 
botanical and microscopical readers to No. 9 of 
M. Tempére’s ‘‘Le Diatomiste” (London: H. P. 
Collins), perhaps the best work on Diatoms yet 
issued. 


THE amiable Professor James Thompson, brother 
of Sir William (now Lord Kelvin, a new invention, 
that is a ‘‘ scientific peer,’ created as such), has just 
died. 


WE strongly advise our readers to carefully and 
enjoyably peruse the Report of Professor Percy 
Frankland’s Lecture at the Royal Institution on 
“*Micro-Organisms in their Relation to Chemical 
Change,” published in ‘‘ Nature ” of June oth. 


THE annual Conversazione of the Royal Society 
was held on June 15th. We hardly need to say it 
was at high-water mark. 


THE total number of licensees under the Vivisection 
Act in 1891 was 152, of whom forty-three, however, 
made no experiments. There were fifty-nine licensed 
places in forty different institutions in England and 
Scotland. It is further stated in the report that 
licences and certificates are only granted and allowed 
upon the recommendation of persons of high scientific 
standing. The total number of experiments per- 
formed in 1891 was 2661, of which 875 were 
performed under licence alone, the remainder being 
performed under certificates. In 986 experiments the 
animals operated upon suffered no pain, complete 
anesthesia being maintained from the beginning until 
the end, when the animal was killed. In other cases 
ithe animals were anesthetized during the operation, but 
were allowed to recover. In these cases the animals 
were operated upon with as much care as human 
beings. In the bulk of the cases the operations were 
very simple. Among the diseases the causation of 
and protection from which occupied the attention 
of the licensees during 1891 were tubercle, cholera, 
cancer, erysipelas, diphtheria, influenza, rabies, 
glanders, distemper, blood-poisoning, lead-poisoning, 
goitre, and cretinism. 


THE collection of butterflies belonging to Mr. 
Waish, of Bristol, sold last month, fetched as follows : 
Seven examples of Zycena dispar, an extinct British 
butterfly, realised 167. Ss., or an average of 2/. 7s. 


each. A ‘‘lot” of four Polyommatus acis was 
knocked down for 185, Eight Lelia cenosa (appa- 
rently recently extinct) brought 3/. 17s. 6¢., and one 
fine example of Voctua subrosea, no longer a native 
of Britain, and the continental form of which is 
very different in appearance, fetched 2/. Ios. 


ISOPRENE, a hydro-carbon, discovered among the 
products of the destructive distillation of india-rubber, 
was in 1884 found by Dr. W. A. Tilden, F.R.S., 
among the volatile compounds obtained from the 
action of moderate heat on oil of turpentine. When 
isoprene is brought into contact with strong aqueous 
acids, for example hydrochloric acid, it is converted 
into a tough elastic solid, pronounced to be true india- 
rubber. Not long ago Dr. Tilden observed that some 
isoprene made from turpentine and kept in bottles had 
become thick and syrupy in appearance, and on exa- 
mining it found lumps of a solid substance floating 
init. These proved to be caoutchouc of a yellowish 
colour. Heaccounts for the spontaneous formation of 
the rubber by supposing that a small quantity of acetic 
or formic acid had been produced by the oxidising 
action of the air, The artificial rubber, like natural 
rubber, appears to consist of two substances, one 
more soluble in benzine or carbon bisulphide than the 
other. When dissolved in benzine the evaporation 
of the solution leaves a residue agreeing in all 
respects with a similar preparation of Para rubber. 
The artificial rubber unites with sulphur to form 
vulcanite. It is obvious that if the artificial rubber 
can be made at a sufficiently low price, there is 
a great field before it. 


In these days of scientific culture it is difficult for 
an artist to avoid marring the effect of his work by 
some error of science; and Professor Norman 
Lockyer, Professor Du Bois Reymond, and others 
have been strongly urging artists to study science— 
not merely anatomy, but physics. The day appears / 
to be coming when lectures on these sciences will 
form part of the training of an artist. Ruskin is 
opposed to science teaching for the artist, although 
Professor Du Bois Reymond considers this ridiculous. 
The artist should have a knowledge of science, but 
he should work in the spirit of art. 


MICROSCOPY. 


THE QUEKETT MICROSCOPICAL CLUB.—A con- 
versazione, attended by about 600 or 700 persons, 
given by the officers of this club, was held at Free- 
mason’s Hall, Great Queen Street, W.C. Among 
the many and various objects exhibited we may 
without invidiousness mention the following. Living 
and mounted specimens of cattle ticks (larve and 
adults) from Natal (Amblyomma hebreum) and not 
previously exhibited in this country, Mr. R. T. Lewis ; 
scale insects (Aspidotus conchiformis) on apples im- 
ported from Tasmania, Mr. J. E. Mainland; Volvox 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


161 


Stellatus, Mr. J. D. Hardy; a curious spiny spider 
(Gasterocantha cancriformis) from Trinidad, Messrs. 
Watson and Son, who also exhibited some specimens 
of fertilized seeds of the sugar cane, only recently 
discovered, the canes having been always propagated 


by cuttings; Bacilli of influenza, Mr. Beck; a | 
plumed mite (Glyciphagus plumiger), Mr. Oakden; | 


circulation in Valisneria under th objective, Mr. 
Powell. There was, as usual, a large show of pond- 
life by Messrs. Andrew, Byrne, Dadswell, Hind, 
Rousselet, White and others. 
shown by Mr. Earland, and Diatomaceze by Mr. 
Wynne E. Baxter, Mr. Rohr, Mr. Soar, and others. 
Mr. C. Lees Curties projected a large number of 
microscopic slides on the screen at intervals, with the 
lantern microscope. A good selection of music was 
given by Drs. Guthrie, Leonard, and Dundas Grant, 


Foraminifera were | 


Mrs. Grant, Messrs. Fenigstein, G. and W. Goss, and | 
other friends of the members, during thewery pleasant | 


evening which was spent. 


ZOOLOGY. 


CURIOSITIES OF WORM-LIFE—One of the most 
peculiar abnormalities which I have ever seen has 
just come to hand from Perth, in the shape of a worm 
with two heads. As I showed in my article on page 
108, doubie tails are by no means rare. I have, 
however, never yet heard of a worm such as I have 
figured here. It is, as usual, a specimen of the long 
worm (A, /ozga, Ude), and when in motion the second 
head had all the appearance of a snail’s feeler, or 


antenna. I received the specimen, with a collection 


of Scottish wornis, from Mr. Ellison, the genial | 


Wexford, on the 1st of May, and has been placed in 
the Zoological Gardens, Dublin, by its captor, Mr. 
Arthur Ruttledge. The marten is an animal now 
very little known in Ireland, and this occurrence is 
of great interest, inasmuch as it was previously an 
open question whether the species survived or not in 
Co. Wexford. A year ago I had indeed strong 
suspicions that such an animal was committing 
depredations among the lambs and poultry at Bally- 
hyland, about four miles from Coolbawn; and there 
can be little doubt that a specimen was trapped at 
Ballyhyland nine or ten years ago, and released by 
some of the labourers, who mistook it for a young 
fox. But Mr. Arthur Ruttledge’s specimen is, so 
far as I know, the first authenticated marten taken 
in this country for a long time; and from the fact 
of the capture having been, as Mr. Ruttledge tells 
me, quite accidental (the trap having been set only 
for rabbits, and the marten having committed no 
damage to lead to suspicion of its presence), it seems 
highly probable that other martens remain in the 
vicinity. I may add that Wexford is not one of the 
counties mentioned by Thompson in his enumeration 
of those in which the marten was known to exist. 
In saying this, however, it is proper to recall the fact 
that Thompson’s notes on the mammalia were very 
incomplete at the time of his death, and are only 
known through the medium of a posthumous publi- 
cation.—C. B. Moffat, Ballyhyland, Co. Wexford. 


A PLAGUE OF CATERPILLARS IN EPPING ForEsT. 
—At present the oak-trees on that side of Epping 
Forest which extends from Chingford Station towards 
Sewardstone, as well as in the neighbouring lanes 


Fig. 104.—AUlobophora longa, Ude. Nat. size. 


curator of the Perth Natural History Museum. The 
embryology of this species has never yet been studied, 
but the constant recurrence of such peculiarities 
suggests some interesting lines of thought, with 
which I hope to deal more fully when I have cleared 
some of my field-studies away. I take this oppor- 
tunity of thanking my numerous correspondents for 
their encouragement and help, and shall be glad if 
others will favour me with consignments addressed 
4, The Grove, Idle, Bradford.—Hilderic Friend. 


THE Pine MARTEN.—A specimen of this rare 
animal was taken in a rabbit-trap at Coolbawn, Co. 


Fig. 105.—Twin head of A. Zonga, enlarged.—g: gullet, 
2r. prostomium ; Zeris., peristomium. 


and hedge-rows, are being devastated by an army of 
small caterpillars (mostly Geometrze) which dangle in 
strings from the twigs of the trees. Meantime the 
sparrows, which abound in the gardens of the neigh- 
bouring farms and cottages, keep aloof from the 
scene of mischief, finding elsewhere food which they 
prefer. To-day (May 23rd), whilst traversing nearly 
two miles of the trees infested, I may safely say that 
I did not see asingle sparrow. The blue-tits are 
doing their best against the enemy, but their numbers 
are quite insufficient. This is one of the many cases 
which the advocates of the sparrow would do well to 
take into fair consideration.— 7. WV. Slater. 


162 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


RE “SECRETING GLANDS IN THE FEET OF 
FLIEs.”—We are sorry the following reached us too 
late for insertion : “I am requested by Mr. Jenkinson 
(who has been seriously ill, but is now much better) 
to inform you that the numbers, viz., 47 and 48 
affixed to illustrations in ScrENcE-GossiP should be 
transposed for each to apply to its proper illustra- 
tion.”—F F, Bell. 


NEW ZEALAND BUMBLE-BEES AND CLOVER.— 
Some years ago an interesting fact was laid before 
the public by the late Charles Darwin, namely, that 
red clover could only be fertilised and produce seed 
through the agency of bumble-bees. On the New 
Zealand plains the red clover grew with a rank 
luxuriance, such as we know nothing of in this 
country. But it could produce no seed, because there 
are no bumble-bees in New Zealand, so the colonists 
had to send every year to England for red clover 
seed, which was both annoying and expensive. A 
great many attempts were made by naturalists to 
convey bumble-bees to New Zealand from this 
country, the late Frank Buckland taking great in- 
terest in this important work. The chief difficulty 
lay in crossing the equator. There the bumble-bees 
literally died off ‘like flies.” They could not stand 
the intense heat. But when vessels were fitted up 
with freezing chambers, about ten years ago, it was 
found possible to transfer British bumble-bees in a 
hibernating state to the Antipodes. The bumble- 
bees went into what they thought was their winter 
sleep in England, and woke up in New Zealand. 
Now the red clover in the latter country is fertilised 
by them and produces seed. The bumble-bees have 
multiplied abundantly, [even within the few years 
since they were introduced. Indeed, there seems to 
be looming a danger ahead lest they should become 
as great a pest as rabbits. In a recent article in the 
““New Zealand Journal of Science,” Mr. G. M. 
Thompson gives an account of the introduced bum- 
ble-bees in New Zealand, as well as a list of the 
plants and flowers visited by these bees. He states 
that, with a few exceptions, he has never heard of 
the introduced bumble-bees visiting the flowers of 
New Zealand native plants ; that they have become 
so extraordinarily abundant that the question has 
arisen in his mind as to whether they would not be- 
come as serious a pest to the apiarist as the rabbits 
have proved to the farmer and cultivator, on account 
of their {absorbing ‘so much of the nectar of the 
flowers. He also points out the fact in connection 
with the life of the bumble-bee in New Zealand, 
that in many parts of the colony it does not 
hibernate at all, but is to be seen on flowers all 
the year round. In parts of Australia the intro- 
duced hive-bees are ceasing to store up honey, 
having already found out there is no need for the 
habit in countries where flowers blessom all the year 
round ! 


PROTECTION OF Birps.—The committee of the 
Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society are very 
desirous of bringing under the notice of landowners 
and agriculturists the great desirability of affording 
more efficient protection to useful birds, particularly 
those which, as destroyers of vermin and injurious 
insects, render immense service to the farmer and the 
community at large. Frequent comments and letters 
have recently appeared in the public journals as to 
the disastrous effects resulting from the indiscriminate 
slaughter of many useful species, not only in this 
country, but also on the continent, and it is hoped 
that the publicity given and the attention drawn to 
the subject will lead to a =more judicious ‘course of 
action. The importance of this matter, in view of 
the great devastation caused by the plague of field- 
voles (mice) in some parts of Scotland, and past 
experiences in Lincolnshire, cannot be overlooked, 
and the opinipns of the Scotch farmers in the districts 
affected, Aid, Be from the reports to the Board of 
Agriculture, point to the folly of destroying owls, 
hawks, and weasels. The barn owl, a true farmers’ 
friend, is much persecuted, but a more useful bird, as 
a destroyer of vermin, does not exist. It has been 
computed by competent observers, that when it has 
young it will bring a mouse to its nest every twelve 
or fifteen minutes, and as many as twenty good-sized 
rats, perfectly fresh, have been counted in a single 
nest. A recent communication to the daily papers 
states that a nest containing five young ones, being 
taken and placed under a hen-coop about a mile 
distant, no less than twenty-four rats, large and small, 
brought there by the parent birds, were found lying 
outside the coop the following morning. The owlets 
were at once returned to the place from whence 
they were taken. The kestrel hawk, a great 
killer of mice, is another bird which merits protection, 
and it is much to be desired that game-preservers 
would give their keepers stringent orders not to 
molest it. It is greatly to be wished that some steps 
could be taken by those who have the control of the 
rivers and waterways of Norfolk to check the cruel 
and dangerous practice of jshooting swallows and 
martins, which has of late become so frequent in this 
country, more especially in the neighbourhood of 
Norwich. To such an extent is the destruction of 
our native birds carried on, that it is not improbable 
further legislation in the matter will be called for, 
and it is to be hoped the Board of Agriculture will 
continue to prosecute their enquiries into the 
pecuniary loss accruing from such destruction. My 
committee earnestly trust that all lovers of nature 
will, by their own example and influence with others, 
not only extend their protection to these our feathered 
friends, but will also do their best (in accordance with 
one of the fundamental objects of this society) to aid in 
‘¢the circulation of information which may dispel pre- 
judices leading to their destruction.”—/V. A. WVichol- 
son, Hon. Sec. Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society, 


ee 


HARDWICKE'S SCLIENCE-GOSSIP. 


163 


BOTANY. 


HEN-AND-CHICKENS Datsy.—I have to record 
another curiosity in the shape of a ‘‘hen and 
chickens” daisy, which I found growing on the lawn 
in our garden here on the 23rd of May. The plant 
had then ten heads of flower on it, all of which, 
except three, showed a ‘‘chicken” growth. Round 
the edge of the largest head, just above the involucre, 
grew thirteen small heads, five of which had distinct 
stalks, while the rest were sessile, or nearly so. The 
florets of the central head of this flower were greenish- 
brown and imperfect; some of the bracts had de- 
veloped into small leaves, and its stem was thickened 
but not fascicled. One of the other flowers had 


Fig. 106.—Hen-and-Chickens Daisy. . 


twelve small heads growing round it, four of which 
had distinct stalks, and another head bore six small 
heads, all nearly or quite sessile. The central florets 
of the heads, both primary and secondary, were, for 
the most part, smaller, greener, and more slender 
than in ordinary daisy flowers, the stamens imperfect, 
and the lobes of the corollas deformed and concave 
at the tips. I could not find any normal “central” 
florets; and of the ‘‘ray” flowers one had ‘three, 
another two rays, and the corolla of a ‘‘central” 
floret had six lobes and two opposite scales growing 
from its base, looking like pappus. In the more 
normal heads there were four or five rows of ray 
florets, and these rays on nearly all the flowers were 
pure white.—/yank Sich, jun. 


LiverrooL NATURALISTS’ CLuz.—The second 
field meeting of this club was held at Brynypys and 
Erbistock on May 22nd. The morning was fine, and 
fifty-eight members and friends left for Wrexham, 
where on arrival wagonettes were in waiting to con- 


vey the party by Bangor, Isycoed and Brynypys to 
Overton. Here all walked two miles by the banks 
of the Dee, which brought the company to Erbistock 
Ferry, on crossing which the wagonettes were again 
in requisition, the return journey being by way of 
Marchwiel to the Wynnstay Arms Hotel, Wrexham. 
Many interesting and uncommon plants were noticed 
on the route, amongst which may be mentioned 
Chrysosplenium alternifolium, Paris quadrifolia, Carex 
pendula, and Saxifraga granulata. ‘The prize for the 
best basket of wild flowers was awarded to Miss 
E. M. Davies. 


GEE ONAONGAYE 


THE UNDERGROUND CIRCULATION OF WATER. 
—In an address to the Meteorological Society, Mr. 
Baldwin Latham (perhaps the best authority on the 
subject—he and Mr. De Rance) observed that at 
certain particular seasons of the year it was possible 
to indicate the direction and volume of the flow of 
underground streams, even when they were at a con- 
siderable depth, owing to the formation of peculiar 
lines of fog. Upon comparison with underground 
temperatures, which were taken at the same period, 
it was found that in the temperature of the ground 
there was for most months in the year an effectual 
check against the escape of the vapour arising 
from water in the ground; the temperature of the 
ground acted as a condenser, for, as a rule, except 
between September and November, there is always 
some strata of the ground within 25 ft. of the surface, 
which is colder than is due to the tension of the 
vapour given off by the ground-water ; but about the 
month of September or October there are limited 
periods when no part of the ground between the 
ground water-line and the surface is colder than 
the ground-water. Consequently, in these short 
periods vapours readily escape from the ground, and 
when accompanied by cold air and a clear sky, as 
often happens in September and October, then it is 
that those particular fog-lines appear which indicate 
the presence of ground-water. It appears that in 
nature there are constant checks supplied against 
the inordinate loss of water from the surfaces which 
receive it, and very dry surfaces are often com- 
pensated to a considerable degree by the moisture 
which is condensed in them owing to the difference 
of temperature between their surface and that of the 
atmosphere ; whilst with deeper waters, as long as 
the vapours can serve the uses of vegetation, an 
effectual check by the temperature of the ground 
is provided, so that these vapours are condensed 
within a limit from the surface sufficiently near to 
be brought up by capillarity to serve the require- 
ments of the growing plan; and possibly it is by 
reason of this provision in nature that our great 


164 


HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


chalk downs that contain the subsoil water at con- 
siderable depth below the surface do not suffer so 


much in a dry season as other lands in which there is 
no subsoil water. 


West INDIAN GEOLOGY.—At the last meeting of 
the Geological Society, an important paper on ‘‘ The 
Tertiary Microzoic Formations of Trinidad, West 
Indies,” was read by Mr. R. J. Lechmere Guppy. 
After giving an account of the general geology of the 
island, and noticing previous memoirs devoted to 
that geology, the author describes in detail the 
characters of the Naparima beds, to which he assigns 
an Eocene and Miocene age. He considers that the 
Nariva Marls are not inferior to but above the 
Naparima Eocene Marls, and are actually of Mio- 
cene date. The Pointapier section is then described, 
and its Cretaceous beds considered, reasons being 
given for inferring that there was no break between 
the Cretaceous and Eocene rocks of the Parian area. 
The author observes that the Eocene molluscan 
fauna of Trinidad shows no near alliances with other 
known faunas, thus differing from the well-known 
Miocene fauna of Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba, Trinidad, 
and other localities. Only one mollusk is common to 
the Eocene and Miocene of the West Indies. The 
shallow-water foraminifera are found in both Eocene 
and Miocene, whilst the deep-water foraminifera are 
nearly all of existing species. It would appear that 
during the Cretaceous and Eocene periods a sea of 
variable depth (up to 1000 fathoms) occupied the 
region now containing the microzoic rocks of Trini- 
dad, whilst a mountain-range (which may be termed 
the Parian range) extended continuously from the 
north of Trinidad to the littoral Cordillera of Vene- 
zuela, forming the southern boundary of the Carib- 
bean continent, and possessing no large streams to 
transport mechanical sediment into the Cretaceo- 
Eocene sea which opened eastward into the Atlantic. 
In the discussion which followed, the president said 
the Society had lately heard the paper by Messrs. 
Jukes-Browne and Harrison on the deep-sea deposits 
of Barbados, and the present paper would be useful 
for comparison with the results of those authors. 
Mr. J. W. Gregory stated that the conclusions as to 
the truly deep-sea origin of some of the Trinidad 
rocks stated in an appendix to the paper agreed with 
those just announced by Dr. Hinde. He remarked 
on the great interest of the geology of Trinidad, 
as that island occurs at the intersection of the 
two main Caribbean lines of movement, viz., that 
along the Cordillera of Venezuela, and the later 
one along the Antillean chain. It was from Trinidad 
that evidence as to the exact correlation of the 
Cainozoic deposits of this area might be expected, for 
a series of shallow-water beds containing mollusca 
there occurred below deep-sea beds almost identical 
in character with those of the Oceanic series of 
Barbados. 


NOTES AND QUERIES. 


NortH Kent Naturat History Society.— 
The biennial meeting of this society was held on 
Wednesday, May 11th, 1892, Mr. Woodward, the 
President, in the chair. It was unanimously resolved, 
that the annual subscription to the Society for 
members residing within the radius of ten miles, 
should be reduced to 5s. payable quarterly, and for 
country members (those living beyond the radius) 
should be 2s. 6d. payable in advance. Exhibits were 
shown during the evening by several members. A 
small library is connected with the Society, and 
monthly journals are taken. It is earnestly hoped 
that Naturalists residing in this neighbourhood and” 
the metropolis will join the Society, which meets 
on alternate Wednesdays. Donations and gifts of 
Books to the library will be thankfully received, 
as will also the names and addresses with the 
Entrance Fee, Is., of any person wishing to become 
a member, by Mr. C. H. J. Baldock, 1 Chapel 
Street, Woolwich, S.E., or by the Secretary, Mr. 
H. J. Webb,e3, Gunning Street, Plumstead. 


PROFESSOR FRANK CLOWES has adapted the or- 
dinary miner’s safety-lamp as a fire-damp tester. 
Ordinarily when there is fire-damp in the air a 
luminous ‘‘cap” appears over the flame, and the 
height of the cap increases as the percentage of 
inflammable gas in the air increases. But when the 
percentage is small the cap is not very apparent, 
unless the flame is feeble. To remedy this defect, 
Professor Clowes places a small tube between the 
wick and the case, and introduces hydrogen by it 
from a steel reservoir. When the air has to be tested 
the hydrogen is allowed to enter and ignite at the 
ordinary flame of the lamp, which is then turned 
down. It burns with a pale light, and the luminous 
cap over it due to fire-damp is readily measured, 
When the test is made the ordinary flame is re-lit 
and the hydrogen one extinguished. 


THE importance of keeping the surface and ex- 
tremities of the body warm during brain-work has 
long been recognised in a general way ; but Professor 
Mosso, of Turin, has demonstrated that when the 
brain is active much more blood is sent to it from the 
peripheral parts of the body. He has also found that 
the circulation of the blood in the brain is subject to 
fluctuations which are apparently not dependent on 
physical activity. Fatigue, caused by brain-work, 
acts as a poison which affects all the organs, espe- 
cially the muscular system. The blood of dogs 
fatigued by long racing also acts as a poison, and 
when injected into other dogs makes them exhibit all 
the symptoms of fatigue. Sense of fatigue seems to 
be due to the products of the nerve-cells rather than 
to deficiency of proper substance. 


“To THE CuRIOUS OBSERVERS OF NATURAL 
PHENOMENA.—T. Hall, well known to the virtuosi 
as the first artist in Europe for stuffing and preserving 
all kinds of Birds, Beasts, and Reptiles, so as to 
resemble the attitudes and perfection of life ; respect- 
fully informs the public, that by a method peculiar to 
himself, he now makes the stuffed birds to sing as 
though they were alive. Specimens of his surprising 
Art may be seen at his Museum, opposite The terrace, 
City Road, Finsbury Square, London; where a 
capital collectlon of Stuffed Birds, Beasts, and 
Insects, are to be sold, in the highest state of 
preservation, well adapted for Tea Gardens and other 
public places, by which a great profit may arise to 


EARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


165 


the purchaser’s advantage, he also buys and sells all 
sorts of curiosities. Admission to the Museum 6d. 
each.” Written by a lady on seeing Hall’s Grand 
Zoonecrophylagium. (Here follows some verses too 
long to quote.) S. Bailey, printer ; 50, Bishopsgate 
Within (added in ink, March 1800). Can any reader 
tell us something about Mr. T. Hall and his singing- 
birds, in this what must have been a wonderful 
Zoonecrophylagium ?—W, £. Harper. 


INTELLIGENCE OF A CAT.—Sixteen or seventeen 
years ago, I had a very intelligent tom-cat. When 
out at night, he used to knock by lifting up the 
splash-board of the hall-door, and letting it fall; 
after knocking a couple of times, he would wait a 
reasonable time to allow the door to be answered, 
and if it was not he would knock again. He taught 
this trick to our other cat also. I have seen him try 
to open a locked cupboard by springing at the key, 
and throwing his weight so as to turn it ; he did turn 
it to some extent, but not enough to open the lock. 
He rarely stole anything in our house, but was a 
daring robber from the neighbours, and he generally 
brought his booty to me. On one occasion he 
brought me a half-cooked chop, quite hot, which 
looked as though it had been taken from the frying- 
pan; but as he was not burned at all, I can hardly 
believe that possible. At that time I was reading 
hard, and used to take a glass of milk with some 
bread for my supper ; if I had occasion to leave the 
room I used to put my bread and milk in his charge ; 
not only would he not touch it himself, but he would 
not allow the other cat to do so; and on my return, 
if I indicated with my thumb on the outside of the 
glass, how much he might drink, he would drink 
down to my mark, and then leave off. I could 
mention many more things about him, similar to 
these, but there is nothing specially remarkable 
about them ; they evince intelligence, but that intelli- 
gence is directed to objects ordinarily coming within 
the scope of a cat’s mind; but one circumstance 
seems to me remarkable, and difficult to account for. 
I was once playing chess with a friend; we were 
using small bone men, red and white, and I had 
white. The cat was sitting on the table beside the 
chess-board, and was watching the game very 
intently ; once when it was my turn to move, I 
pondered for some time; the cat suddenly advanced 
one of my pawns a square with his paw, removed one 
of my adversary’s men from the board with his teeth, 
dropped it along with the captured men, and finally, 
seized the end of my nose with his teeth very gently, 
as though to call my attention to what he had done. 
As might be expected, the move made by the cat, 
although possible, was a very bad one; but it seems 
to me strange that a cat should show any interest at 
all in the subject, and his action seems to show that 
he had observed with sufficient attention to notice 
the alternation of moves, the fact that my men 
were white and my adversary’s red, that a move of 
a man of one colour was frequently followed by the 
removal of a man of another colour, and that the 
division of the board into squares regulated the 
moves (because he advanced the pawn exactly one 
square). The idea which occurred to me at the time 
was that the cat was puzzled by the various shapes 
and different moves of the men, and believed he had 
found a uniformity in the moves of the pawns, ac- 
cordingly when he got an opportunity he moved one 
in the way which he believed to be correct, and 
then drew my attention to see if it wasso. But on 
later consideration I saw that the facts did not 
amount to proof of this. The moye was the ordinary 
one, not the capturing move of the pawn, and the 


piece removed had no connection other than being 
near it, with the pawn moved.—% R. Holt. 


STRANGE ConDUCT oF CaTs AND HENs.—In a 
loft, a few days ago, I had two hens sitting upon 
their eggs; also a cat nursing her kitten a few days 
old in an open box (she had had four, the others 
being taken from her). One of the hens had started 
to bring out her birds with the usual chirping and 
cheeping—this was too much for her neighbour 
whose eggs had given no signs. She left her nest 
and attacked puss in all her fury and frightened her 
down the ladder, returned to the kitten, adopted it 
as her own, chucking and nestling it with all the 
fondness of a mother. By-and-by the cat was seen 
making for the loft accompanied by her old mother 
(a much larger and fiercer cat than herself). Then a 
great uproar was heard, and, on my appearance, the 
two cats had got possession of the box and kitten, 
and were defending themselves from the attacks of the 
enraged hen. Getting a hold of her, she was put 
upon her own eggs and a chick taken from her 
neighbour’s brood put under her, she quietened down. 
After this both hens with their eggs and chicks were 
removed to an outhouse, to be their abode for a time. 
Yesterday the girl whose duty it was to look after 
them, discovered one of the chicks wanting, which 
was afterwards discovered in the box in the loft ; the 
cat fondling aud nursing it beside her kitten. To 
take it there she must have leaped five feet to an 
aperture in the outhouse, descending as far, carrying 
it some distance and taking it up the ladder ; all of 
which she accomplished without injuring the chick 
in the slightest—P. WV., Ayrshire. 


THe MURDER OF A SPIDER BY ANTS.—On Whit 
Monday I witnessed a strange and curious sight : 
The murder of a spider by ants. I was scanning 
a small bed in the garden when presently here trots 
across it an uncommonly large and sluggish spider 
pursued bya fewants. He had probably trespassed on 
their domain and done some damage to their passages 
in passing over. However, they soon overcame him, 
and began to attack him ferociously. Some would 
cling tenaciouly to his limbs, and a number would 
overrun and bite him in his bulky abdomen, while a 
few, more daring than the rest, attacked him in the 
head. Now and again they tried to arrest his pro- 
gress by clinging fast to the end of his limbs by their 
jaws and planting their own, with all energy, in the 
ground, By and by the emmetic army grew stronger 
by fresh arrivals, and they completely overhauled 
their victim more than once ; while in this position 
he would, by dint of muscular strength, heave his 
legs in the air like the jib of a crane, carrying 
with them a load of ants. To berid himself of them 
in this manner proved an utter failure, they seemed 
to enjoy such aerial rides. Still adhering by their 
jaws they would at whiles ply their limbs with such 
rapidity as to become quite invisible. This, perhaps, 
was a measure of their anger. At last the poor spider 
got entangled in a piece of waste, and here he was 
held down much like Gulliver by the Lilliputians, and, 
more unfortunately, slain.—G. Rees, Aberystwyth. 


WE have received from Mr. F. L. Dawes No. 19 
of ‘* Bibliotheca Zoologica” (Berlin); also Messrs. 
Wesley and Son’s No. 112 Catalogue of his ‘‘ Natural 
History and Scientific Book Circular,” advertising 
important works on Geology. 


CLIMBING HERMIT-CRABS.—I have never heard 
of hermit-crabs climbing bushes, but a few days ago 
I was walking along one of the valleys here when my 


166 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 


attention was drawn to a white object hanging on to 
one of the bushes which—contrary to general opinion 
—can be found on these barren rocks. I thought it 
was a cocoon of some kind, but found it was a hermit- 
crab, and on looking around I found several more on 
the bush. They had climbed from 1 ft. to 3 ft. from 
the ground, and seemed to be feeding on the leaves 
or berries; and so many more were crawling about 
below, that their shells, knocking against the stones, 
made a pattering noise like hail. The sea was quite 
two hundred yards off, and the sand and stones must 
have made the journey inland a laborious one for the 
crabs. It was so curious to see these uncouth crea- 
tures “up a tree,” that I wondered if this was a well- 
known habit of theirs.—S. / Clark, M.B., Surgeon- 
Captain, Medical Staff (Aden, Aratia). 


‘THE VOLE PLAGUE.—This creature, which is at 
present devastating whole districts in Scotland, gene- 
rally described as a “‘field-mouse,” is nearly con- 
nected with the water-rat, and allied to the beaver. 
The fact that they are water-loving animals may 
perhaps suggest some method of destroying them. 
They always suffer severely during the long-con- 
tinued droughts, and they delight in ditches. The 
wet seasons are thought to have had something to do 
with their enormous increase. It appears inconceivable 
that their superabundance can be entirely due to the 
destruction of their natural enemies. It may be 
stated that the vole, or short-tailed field-mouse, is 
found in the colder extremes of three northern con- 
tinents, while the true field-mouse affects the warmer 
regions. In Greenland there are voles and no true 
mice; in the Tropics there are true mice and no 
voles ; and there are none in South America, South 
Africa, or Australia. There is no other mammal in 
Europe, Asia or America so numerous as the vole, 
and so prone to petty depredations. Its evil doings 
have been reported to several Governments besides 
our own, and in Germany, where this rodent had 
suddenly increased enormously in numbers, it was 
officially condemned 2nd executed—in one year—to 
the number of 1,000,000 or 2,000,000. 


PHOTOGRAPHING FLYING BULLETS.—The ‘* Ama- 
teur Photographer” contains some details of the ex- 
periments which Mr. G. V. Boys has been making in 
photographing flying bullets by the aid of an electric 
spark. These experiments, it will be remembered, 
were briefly touched upon by Captain Abney in his 
presidential address at the Camera Club Conference. 
The spark, it is said, is generated by the discharge of 
a Leyden jar, there being in the conductor from it 
two breaks, which together the electric fluid has not 
pressure sufficient to jump. But when the bullet or 
flying object makes contact with one, the spark 
is instantly emitted from the other. As then the 
duration of this spark may be even less than the one- 
millionth of a second, it is far and away in excess of 
the speed of the bullet, which consequently appears 
to be stationary, and a very precise view is accom- 
plished by the camera. This view records the form 
of the bullet, its direction and inclination, the balling 
up of the air in front of it, the long-drawn-out vacuum, 
and the various other vortices and contortions of the 
surrounding atmosphere through which it is passing. 
Photographs of actual experiments were then enlarged 
into gigantic pictures on the screen, and made per- 
fectly clear in all their singular details{to the audience. 
Some of the most remarkable were those which 
showed the passage of a bullet through a sheet of 
plate glass. In one the head of the bullet was seen 
protruding, carrying what seemed to be a dark cloud 
of lead vapour, caused by fusion in the impact, and 


another showed the storm of dust from the smashed 
up glass; while others gave views of the strains set 
up in the glass plate around the clean perforation the 
bullet had made. Clean perforations of this nature 
have long been known, but the reason is rendered 
additionally clear in that the speed of the bullet ex- 
ceeds the speed at which cracks in the glass can 
progress. The result, consequently, is that the round 
portion of glass in front of the bullet is locally pounded 
into powder before the exterior portions have time to 
start into motion. Some notice was also taken of 
the effects of the dust and vapour envelopes of the 
bullet in the transmission of sound, and also how, by 
a series of differently-inclined diagonal perforations 
through the bullet, and the capacity of light being 
seen through them, the effects of rotation might be 
observed, and details of the differences of spin effected 
between that given by the barrel and those produced 
in the rapid passage of the missile through the air. 


STocKPORT NATURALISTS AT THE ISLE OF MAN. 
—A number of the members of the Stockport Society 
of Naturalists during Whit week spent an enjoyable 
time at the Isle of Man. On arriving at Douglas, 
where they were met by the President, Mr. P. 
Kendal, they took train to Port Erin, where they 
took part in the opening of a Biological Institute, a 
ceremony which was performed by the Lieutenant- 
Governor of the Island, They took up residence at 
Port Erin, and Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were 
spent in proceeding with their study of geology, etc., 
in the island. Much interest was centred in the 
dredging-vessels which were stationed at Port Erin. 


KINGFISHERS AND THE MAYFLy.—A correspon- 
dent in the ‘‘ Field” asks, Do kingfishers hawk fties 
or butterflies? I picked up the other day, outside 
my dining-room window—which is a bay, and can be 
seen through from side to side—a kingfisher quite 
dead, with a white butterfly also dead close to it. 
The bird had no wound of any kind, nor was its 
plumage hurt. It seems to me it must have flown 
against the plate-glass, and killed itself by concussion. 
The butterfly had one wing damaged. I am the 
more sorry, for, beyond losing the beautiful bird, it 
was one of a pair which had a nest in the bank of a 
stream near my house, which my son has since dis- 
covered had been rifled. We had noticed these birds 
frequently passing by the house in going to and fro 
from watercourses in my meadows to the main stream. 
I cannot help also mentioning the most wonderful 
mayfly appearance I have ever known. It began 
last Friday afternoon, and continued up to yesterday. 
I approach my premises by a bridge across the stream 
called the Bourne or Burn, an affluent of the Wey, 
and on Sunday and Monday, in its immediate vicinity, 
the air was positively clouded with these flies. Every 
small spray of leaves had flies on it; they lay about 
on the ground, and over the stream itself there were 
swarms. Without exaggeration, I may describe them 
as being in thousands. I never saw such a sight, and 
I have been a fisherman off and on for fifty years. 
Alas! our stream has no trout to partake of this 
aldermanic banquet. Yesterday I saw several of the 
flies at least a mile away from the stream, but there 
was a high wind. 


STRANGE SITE FOR A Rosin’s NEst.—The en- 
closed cutting is from the ‘‘ Bradford Observer,” 
May 16th. I can vouch for its authenticity, as the 
Bowling Club is only a few hundred yards from my 
residence :—A few weeks ago a pair of robins built 
themselves anest in the letter-box of the Manningham 
Bowling Club. The box is in a door leading into the 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 


167 


bowling-green from Cunliffe Road, and having a 
circular orifice inside, the birds were able to get in 
and out without trouble. The postman, finding what 
was going on, left his letters in another place, and 
the birds were left undisturbed except by the opening 
and closing of the door, which after a time ceased to 
concern them much. Four eggs were laid, on which 
the mother had sat for a fortnight, when some ruth- 
less person stole them, much to the regret of the 
members of the club, who had felt quite proud of 
their feathered guests. The nest has now also dis- 
appeared, so that the eviction is complete.—Harry 
B. Booth. 


SPONTANEOUS CoMBUSTION.—Professor Vivian 
Lewes, of the Royal Naval College, who has given 
special attention to the matter, recently drew renewed 
attention to the subject of spontaneous combustion in 
coal cargoes in a paper read before the Society of 
Arts. The conclusion which Professor Lewes has 
come to, and the recommendations which he has 
made to obviate the loss of life and property arising 
from this cause, are engaging attention, and may 
probably be the subject of legislation. The Royal 
Commission appointed in 1875 to inquire into this 
subject came to the conclusion that the presence of 
iron pyrites among coal was the primary, and the 
absorption of oxygen by the coal a subsidiary cause 
of spontaneous combustion. Professor Lewes exactly 
reverses the position of these causes, and fixes on the 
absorption of oxygen by coal as the principal and 
almost only cause of combustion. To bring about a 
condition of possible combustion it is necessary that 
sufficient oxygen should be absorbed. Coal will 
absorb about twice its volume of oxygen. A ton of 
coals will stow in a space of about 42 cubic feet, of 
which space the coal itself occupies only about 30 
cubic feet. Hence about 300 cubic feet of air are 
required to completely saturate a ton of coal with 
oxygen; and Professor Lewes maintains that with 
the ventilation that can be applied in a large cargo 
hold, the amount of air will only, roughly speaking, 
be about sufficient to place the coal in its most 
dangerous condition, ;and have no effect in cooling 
the mass or carrying off the dangerous gases. ‘The 
contributory causes of combustion Professor Lewes 
finds tc be the increase in the weight of coals carried 
in one hold, usually accompanied by fine subdivision 
due to the method of loading ; the pressure of mois- 
ture, which increases the action of the absorbed 
oxygen; ventilation, and the presence of external 
causes of heating, such as the proximity of a boiler or 
steam pipe to a bulk-head against which the coal is 
stowed, 


WILD Duck’s Nest.—A wild duck, which recently 
built its nest in a tree near the mansion, in Wilder- 
mere Park, Sevenoaks, forty feet above the ground, 
has hatched her young and returned to the lake. The 
young ‘ducks, eight in number, followed, running 
along the branches and alighting on the ground from 
the nest without the slightest injury. This was 
witnessed by Mr. Burroughs and two or three mem- 
bers of the household, and a few days ago our repre- 
sentative saw the mother sitting on the eggs in the 
tree.—The Kent and Sussex Courier, May 27th, 1892. 


ELECTRICITY guards many of the treasures of the 
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In the 
room containing the Moses Lazarus collection of 
miniatures, painted porcelain, and other rich and 
valuable objects of art, there are wires running 
underneath the lid of each case. If anybody tried 
to lift the cover or disturb it in any way, a bell 


would ring in General Di Cesnola’s office, and also 
give warning on the ground floor by ringing a big . 
gong. There is a similar arrangement in use with 
other valuable cases. 


A WIND apparatus for generating electricity and 
charging secondary batteries has been patented in 
Canada by Mr. James M. Mitchell, of Atlanta, Ga. 
The device consists of a dynamo mounted on high 
tubular standard or staging and driven by a wind 
wheel, the current generated by this dynamo is 
stored in a secondary battery ready for use, the 
generating circuit is automatically opened when the 
secondary battery is charged to its full capacity. 
The current generated at different times and in 
different quantities, owing to the variable force of 
the wind, is safely stored and may be used for every 
purpose. 


NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 


To CORRESPONDENTS AND ExXcHANGERS.—As we now 
publish Scrence-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 gvatuitous 
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. 


SpeciaL Notr.—There is a tendency on the part of some 
exchangers to send more than one per month. We only allow 
this in the case of writers of papers. 


To our Recent ExcHaNnGERs.—Weare willing to be helpful 
to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow azs- 
guised Exchanges like those which frequently come to us 
to appear unless as advertisements. 


W. W. C. (Wolverhampton).—The specimen sent us is the 
Chimes (Allium schenoprasum). 

T. H.—It is the Silverweed (Potentilla argentea), not a 
common plant. : 

R. S. 1'.—The Saw-fly (Sivex giganteus). See a good figure 
of it in ‘‘ Playtime Naturalist.” 

W. J. S.—The New Zealand caterpillar with the clubbed 
fungoid growth at the tail was figured and described under 
the common name of the ‘‘ Vegetable Caterpillar,” in ScrencE- 
Gossip for 1865. It has long been a popular wonder, and 
thousands of them have been sent over to England by colonists 
to their natural history-loving friends. 

F. J. R. (Clifton).—Many thanks for the specimens of 
abnormal flowers of foxglove. No other order has its members 
so likely to ‘‘go wrong” than the Scrophulariacez, and no 
other order has such a wide range of. external floral structure. 
The foxglove is especially guilty in this respect. The peculiar 
form of aberration in the specimen sent is described by Dr. 
Masters in his notable and rare book, ‘‘ Vegetable Tera- 
tology,” under the name of synanthy—that is, several flowers 
growing together, the number of which can be ascertained by 
counting the stamens. ‘The synanthic flower measured 4h 
inches across—an unusual size. 

J. E. W.—The limitation you suggest as to the price of the 
book you require rather ties one’s hands. The best and 
cheapest book on minute organisms is Dr. M. C. Cooke’s 
“Pond |Life” (2s. 6d., published by the S.P.C.K.). Another 
capital and more advanced, is Professor Jeffry Parker’s “ Bell’s 
Manval of Biology” (Macmillan & Co., tos. 6d.). Claus’ 
work (translated and edited by Professor Sedgewick) runs to 
more money still. 

ILLUSTRATIONS.—We should feel obliged if contributors of 
illustrated papers would kindly send their sketches separately, 
instead of sketching or inserting them in the text of their MSS. 
There would then be no danger of misplacement. 

Miss S.—The plant is Salsify (7vagopogon porrifolium). 


168 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


E. Dixon.—The shining black flakes in granite are horn- 
Zlende—although there is occasionally black mica present. 
Hlornblende or schorl is not actually black, but of a very 
blackish green colour. 

Tue EARTH-WORMS OF NorFOLK AND SuFFOLK.—The Rev. 
H. Friend, F.L.S., Idle, near Bradford, Yorks., advises us 
that the earth-worms of Norfolk and Suffolk are absolutely 
unknown. Here are chances for young naturalists, who 
should communicate with Mr. Friend. Mr. Friend is anxious 
to get the important subject of the distribution of earth-worms 
determined. 

P. S.—You cannot do better than procure a copy of Stark’s 
“British Mosses”’ (coloured plates and capital verbal descrip- 
tions). Doubtless Messrs. Dulau, of 37 Soho square, or Messrs. 
Wesley, Essex Street, Strand, could supply you with a copy. 

T. E. T.—The rock specimen is in the mechanically meta- 
morphic condition known as foliation. The rock constituents 
are almost in the semi-mica-schist stage. You will see the 
entire rock district about Ben Lomond is in this foliated, con- 
torted, and semi-metamorphosed state. 


EXCHANGES. 


WanTED, back numbers of the “‘ Midland Naturalist,”’ first 
six volumes. Send list of the numbers, with the desired ex- 
change, to—W. B. Grove, 136 Edmund Street, Birmingham. 

Swipes of algz-washings from Mauritius, containing, among 
many other forms, some of that beautiful diatom, Actimocyclus 
confluens, Greenow. Send list of diatoms, or other objects.— 
Rev. A. C. Smith, Woodside, Crowboro’, Sussex. 

OrreRED, Newman’s ‘British Moths,” Kirke’s ‘‘ Physi- 
ology,” Ganot’s ‘‘ Physics,”’ Wanted, ‘Carpenter on Micro- 
scope,’ works by Gosse, or offers.—G. A. Barker, 24 Avenue 
Villas, Cricklewood, N.W. 

WANTED, collections of foreign stamps, and rare species of 
Pritish land and freshwater shells. Offered, lepidoptera and 
exotic shells. —Miss M. E. Pepperell, 5 Park Street, Bristol. 

WanTED, birds’ eggs of rare species; can offer shells and 
pepiaipteres= Wi K. Mann, Wellington Terrace, Clifton, 
Bristol. 

WaAnTED, any volume of Sowerby’s ‘‘English Botany,” 
3rd ed., except 7, 8, and 9. Books or herbarium specimens 
offered in return.—E. F. Linton, Crymlyn, Bournemouth. 

OFFERED, SCIENCE-Gossip for 1886 (except January), 1887 
(except December), and parts 239-242; also fossils from the 
Gault and carboniferous. Wanted, lignite, peat, anthracite, 
native alum, native nitre, and Cornish rocks and minerals. 

Eccs of sooty and noddy terns, Bartram’s sandpiper, etc., 
for exchange. Send offers to—W. Wells Bladen, Stone, 
Staffordshire. 

Moun TEp leaf of enchanter’s nightshade (Czvce@a alpina), 
showing crystals in sitfi, in exchange for other slides of interest. 
Parts of insects or parasites preferred.—George T. Reed, 
87 Lordship Road, Stoke Newington, London, N. 

Scrence-Gossip from 1885 to 189t, both inclusive; also 
“The Naturalist’s World” for 1884 to 1887, complete, but not 
bound. Wanted, micro. slides or offers.—W. E. Harper, 
Norfolk Road, Maidenhead. 

WANTED, living paludina and cyclostoma; also spirit speci- 
mens of tenia, distomum, scolopendra, and scorpio, in ex- 
change for anything in my various catalogues.—J. Sinel, 
Biological Laboratory, Jersey. 

OFFERED, A. fluviatilis, B. acutus, C. minimum, C. rugosa 
P. fontinale, P. pusillum, S. corneum var. pisidiodes, S. 
elegans, V. piscinalis, and V. pygm@a. Wanted, Achatina 
acicula, C. Rolphit, C. biplicata, S. oblonga, S. Pfeifferi, S. 
virescens, or any foreign helices. —T. W. Paterson, 59 Hazel- 
bank Terrace, Edinburgh. 


THREE ZJafes decussatus will be given for any one of the " 


following shells:—Avca tetragona, A. obliqua, Cardium pa- 
pillosum, Tellina balaustina, Lutraria oblonga, Nucula cus- 
pidata, Mya Binghami, Panopea plicata, Acera bullata, 
Pecten striatus, P. niveus, P. Danicus, Terebratula (any), 
Scalaria Trevelyana, lanthina communis, I. exigua, I. 
pallida, Trochus granulatus, Clio pyramidata, Aplysia punc- 
zata.—T. E. Sclater, Natural History Stores, 43 Northumber- 
land Place, Teignmouth. 

OFFERED, fifty foreign stamps—U.S.A., British Honduras, 
Columbian and Argentine Republics, etc., all different. What 
offers in exchange?—Richard B. Corbishley, Breck Road, 
Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire. 

L. Cat., 8th ed. Wanted, 5c, 294, 61, 68, 71, 72, 81, 133, 
166 and ¢, 232, 389, 390, 484, 584, 750, 810, 838-850, 8912, 932, 
1144, 1312, 1338, 1460, 1488, 1508, 1509, 1515, 1706, 1818. 
Offered, 19, 21, 41, 84, 101, 1078, 108, 1094, 123, 141, 161, 1610, 
170, 175, 193, 200, 212, 229, 240, 291, 335, 3354, 330, 339, 341 
353) 372s 393: 483) 536 538, 562, 576, 6x1, 692, 698, Hzerac. 
angustum and auratum, 9285, 959, 970, 973, 1187, 1194, 1255, 
1410, 1483, 15183, 1629, 1630, 1753, 1772, 1813, 1845.—J. A. 
Wheldon, 9 Chelsea Road, Walton, Liverpool. 

WANTED, entomological cabinet, store-boxes, and setting 
boards, in exchange for secondary and tertiary fossils, birds’ 
eggs, etc.—W. D. Carr, Lincoln. 


I HAVE a number of Gault fossils for exchange, principally 
ammonites and belemnites, and shall be glad to hear from 
collectors who require same.—Edward A. Martin, 2x Carew 
Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey. 

‘‘ American Geology,” with plates, by E. Emmons, 4 vols. ; 
“Memoirs of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom,” 
with plates, 9 vols., 1849-1861 ; ‘‘ Paleeontographical Society,” 
with plates, 6 vols., 1848-1874; ‘*Catalogue of Shells,’ by 
F. Paetal, 1883, offered in exchange for rare shells or offers.— 
Miss Linter, Arragon Close, Twickenham. 

Durticatrs.—About forty species British butterflies, twenty 
species British marine shells, and thirty species land and fresh. 
water shells. Desiderata, British dragonflies, fresh and unset 
preferred; also grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, especially 
mole and field-crickets.—W. Harcourt Bath, Ladywood, 
Birmingham. 

Spherium corneum, Pis. pusillum, Unio pictorum, Neritixa 
Sluviatilis, Byth. acutaculata, Hydrobia ulva, Physa fon- 
tinalis, Lim. palustris, Lim. glabra, Helix hortensis, vars. 
lutea, lilacina, arenicola, Clausiliz rugosa, Clausilia Ralphit, 
Clausilia laminata, Carychium minimum, etc., offered in 
exchange for good specimens of land and freshwater shells not 
in collection.—C. Baldock, 21 Chapel Street, Woolwich, S.E. 

WILL any cryptogamic botanist join me in a ten days’ 
exploration of the Cairngorms (from Speyside) about the 
middle of July, for mosses, hepatic, and lichens ?—William 
Smith, Addison Place, Arbroath, N.B. 

DupticatTes.—Pupa of Lifaris dispar. Desiderata, nume- 
rous ova, larva, and pupa.—Ernest Platt, West Street, Chip- 
ping Norton. 

Foreicn shells, chiefly marine, for exchange. Please send 
lists to—J. E. Cooper, 93 Southwood Lane, Highgate, N. 


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| Ap 


yw 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


A LANCASHIRE NATURALIST—THOMAS GARNETT. 


By WILLIAM E, A. 


MEMORIAL 
volume of the 
late Mr. Thomas 
Garnett, of Low 
Moor, Clitheroe, 
was printed for 
private © circula- 
tion, and some 
notice of it will 
be of interest to 
many outside the 
narrow circle for 
whom “ it 


was 
originally ~ pre- 
pared.’ *Mr. 


Thomas Garnett 
was one of three 
brothers. Mr. 
Richard Garnett 
distinguished 
himself as a phi- 
lologist, and became an assistant keeper in the 
British Museum; Mr. Jeremiah Garnett was for 
many years the editor of the ‘‘ Manchester Guardian,” 
and Mr. Thomas Garnett settled at Clitheroe, 
where he passed an active life as a manufacturer, 
but instead of allowing business to absorb all his 
attention he found pleasant and healthful recrea- 
tion in agricultural and scientific observation. The 
results are now gathered in this volume—‘‘ Essays 
in Natural History and Agriculture, by the late 
Thomas Garnett of Low Moor, Clitheroe. London: 
printed at the Chiswick Press, 1883.” Only 250 
copies were printed. The editing has been the 
work of the author’s nephew, that accomplished 
scholar and friend of all students, Dr. Richard 
Garnett of the British Museum, The first paper 
contains a number of facts and observations relating 
to the salmon, chiefly based on Mr. Garnett’s ex- 
perience in Lancashire. Written as long ago as 1834, 
it contains a plea in favour of a wise and not vexatious 
measure for the protection of the salmon fisheries, 
No, 332. AUGUST 1892, 


AXON. 


He believed that the salmon enters and ascends 
rivers for other purposes than propagation. In sup- 
port of this view he cites what in Lancashire is called 
“*streaming.” Thus in winter the fish not engaged 
in spawning, trout, grayling, chub, dace, etc., leave 
the streams and go into deep water. Another reason 
is their impatience of heat, which leads the grayling, if 
the weather is unusually hot at the end of May or 
beginning of June, to ascend the mill-streams in the 
Wharfe, by hundreds, and to go up the mill-races as 
far as they can get. The ‘‘salmon” par he holds to: 
be neither a hybrid, nor a distinct species, but a state 
of the common salmon. In 1851 he wrote some: 
papers describing his own experiments in the arti- 
ficial breeding of salmon. His interest in the fish’ is 
shown by the following quotation :— 3 

“‘T have had fish sent from two different gentle- 
men living on the banks of the reservoirs belonging 
to the Liverpool waterworks ; these were beautiful 
fish, three in number, more like the sea trout than 
the salmon, and the largest of them weighing two 
pounds. I had put them into the brooks running 
into the reservoirs three years before. I also learn 
that a beautiful specimen of the Ombre chevalier 
(French char) was taken out of Rivington reservoir. 
About a thousand had been put in by me two years 
before.” 

It should be mentioned that Mr. Garnett’s experi- 
ments on the artificial impregnation of fish ova were 
made without any knowledge of previous attempts of 
the same kind. In answer to a suggestion made by 
Mr. Garnett, the late Sir G. C. Lewis observed : 
“You might as well propose to shoot partridges only 
three days a week as to restrict the netting of salmon 
to. only three days.” + In 1859 Mr:. Garnett .wrote 
some papers on the possibility of introducing salmon 
into Australia, and addressed a communication to the 
authorities of ‘Tasmania and New Zealand on the 
subject. He had some doubts as to success, but 
thought that the experiment should be made, and 
that New Zealand was the likeliest place for the 
experiment. In 1843, 1844, 1845, and 1848, he 

I 


170 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


made experiments in the cultivation of wheat on the 
same land in successive years, and the results were 
communicated to the ‘‘ Manchester Guardian.” He 
also advocated the growing of a short-strawed wheat 
as peculiarly suitable to the conditions of farming in 
Lancashire and Yorkshire. The gravelling of his 
clay soils elicited some amusing comments from his 
neighbours, one of whom remarked that he had seen 
land tilled (manured) in various ways, but had never 
before seen a field tilled with cobble-stones! The 
cultivation of cotton in India, and in Peru, was 
another project in which he took a warm interest. 
Mr. Garnett was a keen observer of natural history. 
Some excellent authorities had asserted that the 
common wren never lined its nest with feathers, but 
he showed conclusively that this was a mistake. The 
nest in which eggs are laid, is profusely lined with 
feathers, but during the period of incubation the male 
frequently constructs several nests in the vicinity of 
the first, none of which are lined. The existence of 
these ‘* cock-nests,” as they are called by schoolboys, 
was doubted, but Mr. Garnett fully made out his 
case. The grey wagtail (M7otucilla sulphurea), some- 
times looks at its own image in a window, and 
attacks it with great vivacity. A superstitious 
neighbour was alarmed by this conduct in a ‘‘ barley- 
bird (AZotacilla flava), and thought it a portent of 
evil. Her alarm was cured by the young naturalist, 
who secured the bird of evil omen. Having caught 
a colony of the long-tailed titmouse, Mr. Garnett and 
his brother attempted to rear the half-fledged young 
ones, but of the six old birds, five died in confine- 
ment. The survivor was allowed to escape in the 
hope that it would come back to rear the young ones. 
This it did, and by the most unwearied exertions 
supplied the whole brood, sometimes feeding them 
ten times ina minute. Mr. Garnett took some pains 
to establish the identity of the green with the wood- 
sandpiper. The courage of the stoat, and the per- 
tinacious manner in which the marsh-titmouse for a 
time resisted attempts to drive her from her nest are 
amongst his curious observations. The creeper, he 
noticed, associated with the titmouse in winter. 
The language of birds has not yet been mastered, 
either by philologists or ornithologists, but it appears 
that the alarm note of one is readily understood by 
those of other species. Mr. Garnett desired to make 
some young throstles leave a nest which was in 
danger of visitation from mischievous lads. He took 
one from the nest and made it cry out. Its brethren 
quickly disappeared, the old bird set up a shriek of 
alarm, and blackbird, chaffinch, robin, oxeye, blue 
titmouse, wren and marsh-titmouse, and even the 
golden-crested wren, which usually appears to care for 
nothing ; in fact all the birds in the wood, except the 
creeper, came to see what was the matter. Mr. 
Garnett did not share the prejudice felt by some 
farmers against the rook, which he held to be service- 
able to man, He reckoned that one rookery in 


Wharfedale destroyed 209 tons of worms, insects and 
their larvee. The rook also, he notes, relieved the 
farmers from the apprehension caused by a flight of 
locusts in Craven. Contrary to Waterton’s opinion, 
Mr. Garnett describes the process by which birds dress 
their feathers with oil from a gland. The sedge- 
warbler owes its local name of ‘‘ mocking-bird” to its 
imitative powers in copying the notes of the swallow, 
the martin, the house-sparrow, spring-wagtail, whin- 
chat, starling, chaffinch, white-throat, greenfinch, 
iittle redpole, whin-linnet and other birds. Of the 
water ouzel he says: ‘‘A pair had built for forty 
years, according to tradition in a wheel-race near to 
where I was born, and had never been molested by 
anybody, until a gentleman in the neighbourhood, 
who was a great ornithologist, employed his game- 
keeper to shoot this pair. I think the natives of 
Calcutta were not more indignant when an unlucky 
Englishman got one of their sacred bulls into his 
compound, and baited him, than was our little 
community at what we considered so great an out- 
rage. The gamekeeper narrowly escaped being 
stoned by myself and some more lads, any one of 
whom would have shot fifty blackbirds or fieldfares 
without any misgiving.” Mr. Garnett once shot 
what he afterwards believed to have been a Sabine’s 
snipe. 

His interest in the river was not confined to the 
salmon, and he made some interesting observations 
on the propagation of lampreys, the spawning of 
minnows, and the breeding of eels. A short note on 
the last-named topic, by Mr. Jeremiah Garnett is also 
printed. On the formation of ice at the bottom of 
rivers, there are two papers, one by Mr. Thomas 
Garnett, and the other by his brother, the Rev. 
Richard Garnett. A shower of gossamer, the thread 
produced by the aeronautic spider, is recorded as seen 
on the hills near Blackburn. One of Mr. Garnett’s 
friends was the unfortunate Mr. Joseph Ritchie, of 
Otley, who accompanied Captain Lyon’s expedition to 
Fezzan, and died there in 1819. To this there is an 
allusion in the following passage: “In conclusion, allow 
me to say, that the leisure hours which a somewhat 
busy life has enabled me to spend in these pursuits, 
have been some of the happiest of my existence, and 
have awakened and cherished such an admiration of 
nature, and such a love of the coratry and its scenes, 
as I think can never be appreciated by the inhabitants 
of large towns, and which I cannot describe so well 
as in the words of one of my friends, ina beautiful 
apostrophe to England, when leaving it, never to 


return, 
“*To thee 
Whose fields first fed my childish fantasy ; 
Whose mountains were my boyhood’s wild delight, 
Whose rocks, and woods, and torrents were to me 
The food of my soul’s youthful appetite ; 
Were music to my ear—a blessing to my sight.” 


Why do not more of the dwellers in rural districts 
employ their often abundant leisure in natural 
history studies ? 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


i71 


THE NEWS OF THE UNIVERSE. 


HAT there is nothing new under the sun we 
know, and we may seriously inquire if there 
is anything that is new in the universe. That a 
planet at dewy morning looking in at a window 
should assume the form of a patriot in the flush of 
victory or a woman in child-birth, was the savage 
yearning of the desert child who craved for sympathy, 
and found it in the gems that shone; and still as the 
rule of our day-star is replaced by the distant twinkle 
of the night-watches, an idea possesses us that the 
seeds of passion are sown broad-cast in worlds un- 
seen, and should a sparkle brighten or grow dim, we 
experience a thrill of joy or shudder as if a powder- 
mill had cxploded. When it is our own sun that 
kindles or tarnishes, we instinctively feel and more 
fully realize that the joys and sorrows, or actual 
calamities in our companionable planets, are then in 
unison with our own, and our sympathy might even 
raise a clamour that the columns of our daily news- 
papers ought to extend to their coasts their categories 
of eruptions, cyclones, and famines ; so far as rigid 
statistics show these visitations to be coincident or 
dependent on the state of the sun’s disk: for in any 
case in so doing we should not incur the stigma of 
Chaucer’s scholar, who predicted Noah’s flood at 
quarter night from the adage of the mighty San 
Isidro: “‘ Luna si summo corniculo maculas nigras 
habuerit in primis mensibus, imbres ait fore.” One 
such deluge prophecy, however, on recent lines, it is 
true, has the repute of being realized. It is singular, 
says Raikes in his journal, that the old astrologers, 
prophets, and almanack-makers, all agree in repre- 
senting the year 1837 of the Incarnation as one of 
the most calamitous. Galeotti, who lived under 
Catherine de Medicis, says: ‘‘In that year the sun 
will show itself weak, as if in continual languor, 
which will prevent it ripening the fruits of the earth.” 
The clear-sighted James Scott also talks of copious 
inundations that will drown the west, and Vavoust, 
in his “‘ Spectaculum Mundi,” writes in a similar style. 
M. Arago, taking for his basis the last eclipse of the 
moon, is of opinion that the bad weather will con- 
tinue until October. It is needless to add that this 
being an epoch of a maximum of sun-spots, the sun 
was actually in the condition foretold ; but as regards 
rain, the previous year in England, according to 
Symons, had been proverbially wetter. The price 
of wheat rose. 

The transcendental idea in such predictions is, how- 
ever, the old venerable notion of periods of work and 
cessation, of kalpas and millenniums, and thus the 
legendary Christmas-tree, with its bowls, knops, 
lilies and pomegranates, as it stood obliquely south- 
east and north-west against the southern wall of the 
Arab tabernacle, sustained the dignity of the number 
seven; while its Druid priest, as he contemplated 
its seven branches perpetually glowing, one by one, 


like the moon and then known planets with the sun 
in their midst, mentally reckoned up six days of 
labour and a Sunday of rest, the seven years of 
apprenticeship Jacob underwent for a Rachel, and 
the seven times seven years, hard on the allotted ter- 
mination of our earthly labours. The astrologically 
incomplete notion of the harmony of the spheres, and 
of the metallic globes coursing around the ring of the 
zodiac to the seven notes of the diapason, modern 
astronomers have transferred in idea to the central 
sun-spots, which they suppose to resound with the 
roar of the typhoon, the crash of the thunder, and 
the groaning of the earth-throe; a mighty engine at 
work to prick out a telegram in Stenheil’s alphabet, 
which comes our way to decipher in the form of 
many-coloured light, heat, and magnetism; which 
spelt out by the magnet and spectroscope, may allow 
us to grasp peradventure the switch that sets in 
motion the universe of lights, that our pioneer tele- 
scopes have not yet fathomed. Since we have no 
idea but length, breadth, and depth, what can be 
beyond ? 

As regards the magnets working in observatories, 
their general movements are undeniably responsive 
to the degree of spottiness of the sun, but as for the 
magnetic storms and chronic shakes, they appear to: 
remain as intrinsically a wonder as when commented. 
on by Professor James Forbes in the Dissertation 
appended to the Encyclopzedia Britannica ; for while- 
they are known to be simultaneous with earth cur- 
rents that go forth to course over some considerable 
portion of the globe, it is by no means absolutely 
clear whether they come on directly responsive to a. 
big spot, a flash in sun, or to the slower progress of 
a cold or hot wave over the earth’s surface. Though 
apprised of this incertitude, fondly hoping to catch 
the faint melody of the spheres concerning which we 
read, I took down the book of Observations at 
Greenwich for a certain year during the spring of 
which the sun-spots, as seen through my small tele- 
scope, had dotted off a word on the face of the sun 
very suggestive of the Mahdi; and I thereupon 
imagined the magnets to prick off their summer 
caprice on a scale of music as a piano exercise for 
certain young ladies, commencing at a rest that 
coincided with the earthquake at Ischia, and termi- 


THE SONG OF THE SUN SPOTS. 
Adagio! 


a 5 =| = @——|— 
62 Hate eee ieee 
oe. = = - 

Y eC. = = Sel #te tte. 
eae: 
o= = —— 22Sia—5 2-5 


Fig. 107. 


nating in a dead stillness indicative of the Jovian 

blowing up of Krakatoa. I was, however, vexed to 

discover that the first two thermo-electrical bars, un- 

fortunately for the infinities, droned over two coinci: 
Iz 


Sy, “Sor 


172 HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


dent weeks of summer thunderstorm in England and 
Europe, and that the carnation glows that came with 
the yellow leaf were left con amore. I will not send 
the score, but rather recommend to the notice of the 
composer the enclosed passage, which presents on the 
lines of Messrs. Wolf and Ellis the sun-spots and 
responsive magnetic variation, from the year 1750 
until the well-remembered London aurora of 1870 ; 
a general jotting of a necessarily processional music, 
with sudden tremulous and devil-may-care shrieks, 
that, sweetly tinkling in the delicately pillared shades 
of Winchester at a harvest festival, might startle 
aghast the ghost of St. Swithin. 

It is at least consoling to suppose our fits of 
momentary chagrin to be portion of the burden of 
the spheres ; and once when the skaters were figuring 
on the crisp ice in the London Parks, I fairly came 
to believe that a black spot that had come round the 
sun’s edge on the sly had been the signal for the 
thaw and vapoury breathing of the violet-scented, 
south-western gale. It is an old carp of the salt sea, 
for Hakluyt quotes the log of the ship ‘ Richard’ of 
Arundell, bound in the year 1590 for Guinea, to the 
effect, ‘‘that on the seventh, at the going down of 
the sun, we saw a great blacke spot in the sunne, 
and the eighth day both at rising and setting we saw 
the like, which spot to our seeming was about the 
bigness of a shilling, being in five degrees of latitude, 
and still there came a great billow out of the souther- 
board.” , The cave of Neptune is no longer known, 
though some tell us it is in the West Indies, and 
others say,it is in the Rocky, Mountains, that these 
whirlwinds gather that rush, forth eastwards to attack 
our American Liners. Having drawn up what Mr. 
Capron. pronounced to be quite a number of coin- 
cidences, I ventured to address the managers of the 
Cunard,’ Allen, and White Star packets, and sug- 
gested that their, captains might observe the ingress 
and departure of the maculz on the sun’s disk asa 
weather omen. “In reply, I received very courteous 
and_ practical -answers, ,and.a little subsequently I 
learnt from a leading nautical publisher at Liverpool, 
that it was thought the’ gales could be anticipated by 
telegram... That a sun-spot_is calculated to, draw a 
cold line. on_our atmosphere, may be gathered from 
the circumstance that when an image of the sun was 
thrown upon a screen from a telescope in a darkened 
room by Professor Henry, a spot that happened to 
be on it, when brought upon the surface of a thermo- 
pile, proved to be perceptibly colder than the sur- 
rounding light surface. But methinks to fully realize 
what is transpiring in the sun it would be needful to 
be transported in a waking vision to the planet Mer- 
cury, where eighty-eight of our days close in a rather 
short year, to rove over its mountains among chromo- 
landscapes so .full of colour, to stray through its 
valleys of golden amyrinths banqueted on by hum- 
ming-birds ; and dance beneath its dark shadows, or 
bathe in its misty rivers. As the great dilated sun 


arose shimmering in the east, we should then per- 
adventure start at the huge black pits’ crawling over 
its surface, and commence to. prattle about its 
wrinkles of light and its willow diaper: nay, we 
might argue from the inverse squares of the distance, 
whether gravitation were not magnetism, and mag- 
netism the motive power of the universe.* Sad it is 
to think that while it is possible to learn, and it may 
be possible to see, what is passing in the planets, we 
cannot hope through a telephone to interchange a 
message of kindly greeting. Perhaps in recognition 
of our unknown brethren we should keep the jubilee 
festivals of the sun and strike star decorations. 
A. H. Swinton. 


NOTES ON THE INFUSORIA. 
By BERNARD THOMAS, 
VI. 


YPOTRICHA have the cilia springing from 
the under or oral surface of the body. 

27. Euplotes patella is in size about the two 
hundred and thirtieth of an inch. Front view it 
is oval, truncated anteriorly, side view it is narrow ; 
it thus somewhat resembles a plate. It has already 
been remarked that some of the Ciliata have the 
exudation layer of the ectosarc converted into a cell- 
wall, but in this species, as well as in Aspidiscus, the 
transformation is only partial, and we have a chitinous 
layer on one side protecting the protoplasm and 
forming a shield or carapace, which is grooved, 
the lines extending longitudinally. , Two of these 
grooves are very distinct, and are seen just above 
the cilia which guard the mouth. Around the edge 
of the carapace there is a row of elevations like 


1 


Ww 


. 


Fig. 108.—Trichoda lynceus. 1, Aspidiscus; 2, Oxytricha. 


buttons, seen best under a high power. In the 
posterior region there are four styles. All the cilia 
are on the under, ventral or oral surface, and 
can be seen through the transparent carapace. In 
the anterior region a portion of protoplasm is pro- 
truded beyond the dorsal shield, and is covered with 
cilia. ‘The, contractile _space is situated in the pos- 


* Brofessor, Huxley, i in one of his. Darwinian orations, states 
that the harmony of the stars is gravitation ; but» this i Js cause, 
not effect.. It will, perchance, explain how the ‘ ‘morning 
stars sang together,” but possibly not why “all the sons of 
God shouted for joy.”” aa 5 ae 


HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


73 


terior region of the body. By the use of stains a 
nucleus, in the form of a bent rod, can be brought 
into view. L£vlotes patella is one of the Infusorians 
that have. chlorophyll corpuscles, and as they are few 
in number they can be easily studied. Each consists 
of two parts; first, a green cup of chlorophyll con- 
taining protoplasm enclosing a colourless ball of the 
same substance. This is the structure of the green 
bodies of most, if not all, of the Infusorians. 

Tt is obvious, froma glance at the figure, that 
Euplotes is asymmetrical. Thus the nucleus is on the 
left side, and the contractile space and food vacuoles 
on the right, as viewed from the dorsal surface. 

28. Before turning to the Peritricha we will notice 


PERITRICHOUS CILIATA. 


We now come to a very interesting group of the 
Ciliata, known as the Peritricha. These fix them- 
selves by a stalk (a prolongation of their body) or by 
a sucker-like arrangement. Vorticella is one of the 
most common genera, and may be taken as a type. 
There is a disc above the mouth fringed with cilia, 
and a peristome or wall which surrounds the disc and 
mouth, and which also bears cilia. The mouth is 
situated below the disc, where this structure’ rises 
highest. The cesophagus is sometimes ciliated, and 
in certain species it is spiral. There is one large 
contractile space and a nucleus. , 


J \\ 
i AS 
\ 4 *, oe oe 


Fig. 109.—Stentor viridis. Aa, attached and expanded; 8, free swimming; c, #, tail; 2, segment of nucleus; ch, chlorophyll 
corpuscles; D, myophan striation; &, part of crushed specimen, to show protoplasmic network (#7) and vacuole (v). In 
all figures—c, cilia on expanded end; c’, on body; d, disc; ch, chlorophyll corpuscle; 7, segment of moniliform nucleus ; 


oe, esophagus; Z, peristome; 4, hyaline tail; v, vacuole. 


Aspidiscus, which we have previously mentioned. 
The life-history of Zrichoda lynceus was worked out 
by M. Jules Haime. The larval form is known as 
Oxytricha (Fig. 108, 2), and is heterotrichous. It is 
somewhat oval in outline, with stiff bristles and cilia. 
This becomes encysted, that is, it forms a cell-wall 
round itself, and rests. When the resulting organism 
escapes from’ thecyst it is hypotrichous, and was 
called by Ehrenberg Aspidiscus (Fig. 108, 1) and 
supposed by him to be a different organism.- Like 
Euplotes, Aspidiscus is furnished with a carapace, 
from the under surface of which cilia are seen to 
protrude. The figure gives a better idea of the form 
of this curious organism than can be furnished by any 
description. 


Aand B, rinch; cand £, }inch; D, 4 inch. 


It must not be supposed that the Vorticellinze 
are all permanently attached; on the contrary I 
have seen a detached vorticella, moving by the aid 
of its long stalk across the microscopic field. © Tri- 
chodina can swim ‘easily about by the aid of its 
long basal cilia, and a Vorticella, recently produced 
by fission and detached, swims about in a similar 
manner. 

29. Stentor viridis (Fig. 109), when swimming 
covered with its short cilia, resembles one of the 
holotrichous Ciliata. It is the largest of the Ciliata, 
and can be easily seen by the unaided eye. 

S. Milleri (Fig, 110) of Ehrenberg, is of about the 
same size as the chlorophyll-containing species, that 
is, about one twenty-fourth of an inch long. 


174 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


S. niger isa black species, and smaller than either 
of the preceding. 

Unattached, Stentor is ovoidal in form. The 
upper portion, which bears the peristome and closed 
disc, is broader than the opposite extremity, which 
ends in a hyaline sucker, by means of which the 
organism fixes itself to a weed. When Stentor has 
thus anchored itself it expands, the posterior end 
lengthening, the anterior broadening, and the peri- 
stome opening out, so that it assumes a form which 
has aptly been compared to a trumpet, and gained 
for it the name of the trumpet animalcule. 

The ectosarc is furnished with short cilia, which 
cover the whole surface, a small tuft springing from 
the tail. At the upper expanded portion there is a 
circle of strong cilia springing from the peristome and 
ending at the mouth in a spiral. 

The myophan striation, readily visible under a low 
power, is yet more clearly analysed under a higher 


I, free swimming ; 2, Stentor 
expanded; /, foot; cv, contractile vesicle; #z, mouth. Low 
power (1 inch). 


Fig. 110.—Stentor Miilleri. 


(Fig. 109, D). We can then study its nature, and 
see that it does not merely consist of grooves, but 
bands of less hyaline alternating with more hyaline 
protoplasm. A grouping together of the more con- 
tractile elements, we may say. 

A large contractile space is situated near the 
peristome, and as in other Infusoria there are here 
digestive vacuoles and granules, large and small, 
scattered through the endosarc. Fig. 109, E shows 
how, by squeezing one of these organisms between slide 
and cover-glass, an appearance highly suggestive of 
the network arrangement of the protoplasm, was 
brought into view. The spaces between the meshes 
seem to have been widened out. 

The chlorophyll corpuscles of S. viridis resemble 
those of Euplotes and the other Ciliata; some are 
figured. The nucleus is composed of several separate 
segments placed in a line like a row of beads, and 
each component resembles an ordinary endoplast 
(Fig. 109, Cc, 7). 


Stentor is, I believe, sometimes classed apart from 
the Vorticellinz. 

30. Vorticella nebulifera (Fig. 111) might be well 
chosen as an example of the whole group. A more 
detailed description of several interesting particulars, 
will shorten and facilitate the description of the 
remaining species. 

The bell animalcule consists of an essential portion 
or bellattached to a long stalk, whose other extremity 
is fixed to some weed, very often to the stalks of the 
duckweed. The bell is surrounded at the summit 
by a wreath of strong cilia. These cilia are’ placed 
on a ridge running completely round, and called the 
peristome (Fig. 111, 4); inside this there is a disc 
(Fig. 111, @) also fringed with cilia. At a certain 
point between the disc and peristome there is the 
mouth, and it is above this orifice that the disc rises 
highest when the bell expands, 

If we look down on to the expanded bell, we see a 
groove between the disc and peristome which leads 
to the mouth, and is known as the vestzbele. 

The ectosarc is not very thick or dense, for the 
outer surface is seen to slightly alter in form. 
Sometimes one may see a transverse barring or 
wrinkling similar to the myophan striation before 
mentioned. A filmy or exudation layer is occasion- 
ally observed secreted by the ectosarc. This 
phenomenon is, I believe, known as “‘ ecdysis.” In 
the specimens in which I observed this feature, the 
exudation layer was transversely wrinkled and brown 
in colour. A trace of the myophan striae is nearly 
always observed where the bell joins the stalk 
(Fig. 111, my). The'endosarc is faintly granular, but 
sometimes filled with large, strongly refractile bodies 
(Fig. 111. g), which have been called spores, but 
probably they have nothing to do with reproduc- 
tion. The nucleus may be easily observed by 
staining, or by the use of dilute acetic acid; it is a 
bent rod like a horse-shoe or letter S. In many 
individuals it is evident without the use of re- 
agents. The stalk consists of a delicate cuticular 
sheath, through which runs a slender filament of 
protoplasm. 

Having thus studied the general morphology of 
Vorticella, we will consider the various movements 
that take place in the different parts of its structure. 
We may conveniently divide these into— 

1. Ciliary movements. 

2. Movements that result in the opening and 
closing of the bell. 

3. Movements by which the bell is drawn down. 

4. Movements that take place in the internal 
protoplasm, 

1. The cilia produce a very powerful current, 
which draws food into the mouth and also whirls 
digested particles away that have escaped from the 
anal area. Elsewhere we had occasion to study the 
general principles of ciliary motion, and it is un- 
necessary to enter into them again. 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 175 


2. With regard to the movements which result in | becomes globular. This is effected by the disc being 
opening and closing of the bell, we have a very | drawn inwards (?.c. towards the centre of the cell) by 


co 
alll’ "Wy i 


Fig. 111.—Vorticella nebulifera. aa, expanded; B and c, contracting ; D, stained with methyl violet and more highly magni- 
fied; c, cilia of disc; ¢’, cilia of peristome; d, disc; cs, contractile space; ecf, ectosare; end, endosarc; fv, food vacuole; 
, large granules ; #, muscle of stalk; #, nucleus; oe, esophagus: /, peristome; s, sheath of stalk; st, stalk; a, B, and c, 
inch; pD, inch. 


Fig. 112.—Vortiella nebulifera. a, stages in division; 4, free-swimming species; 4, basal cilia; c, formation of basal cilia; 
a d, encysted species surrounded by bacteria, etc. 


complez mechanism. If you watch you will notice | the contraction of the protoplasm below it. At the 
that when the stalk shortens, the bell closes and '| same time the peristome closes over it and the cilia 


176 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


may now be seen vibrating somewhere near the 
centre of the organism. When the stalk. begins to 
unwind, the disc and peristome come slowly out. If 
while the bell is opening it come-into contact with 
any obstacle, it immediately closes again. © There is 
another movement which takes place when the bell 
closes, and this is the contractioh of the cone-shaped 
portion of protoplasm which unites the bell to the 
stalk, and here, as was mentioned, we usually see 
myophan strize. 

3. The stalk consists of a cuticular sheath, con- 
taining a delicate, finely granular thread of proto- 
plasm. When the thread shortens, *the sheath is 
thrown into aclose spiral. Contraction is usually 
effected very quickly, but expansion more slowly. 
The protoplasm inside the sheath has been called a 
muscle, and although, of course, it has no muscular 
structure (properly so called), it is muscular in 
function and so also are the other essentially con- 
tractile portions of the protoplasm, which move the 
disc and peristome. Perhaps we may look upon 
these ‘‘ muscular” portions of protoplasm as due to a 
collection of the more specially contractile elements 
in these regions. 

4. The internal movements are similar to those 
seen in other Ciliata. There is a single large 
contractile space. In a sessile species the interval 
from systole to systole was thirty-two seconds, and 
it may be mentioned that a strong furrow was pro- 
duced in the ectosare when this organ contracted. 
The mouth leads into a short, non-ciliated 
cesophagus, which ends blindly in the pro- 
toplasm. Particles drawn into the gullet, 
sink into the endosarc, and there form food 
vacuoles. In short, the same description 
applies to Vorticella as to Parameceum. 
Vorticella as well.as other Infusorians be- 
comes encysted (Fig. 112, d). The bell 
closes and a firm cell-wall is secreted. These 
encysted bells are free from their stalks, and 
may be found as little balls of protoplasm, 
surrounded by a firm cell-wall. A repro- 
ductive process by division of the nucleus has 
been described in connection with encysta- 
tion. 

Reproduction is, however, most commonly 
effected by fission. In this case the division 
takes place longitudinally (Fig. 112, a). 
When two bells are thus produced, one of 
them develops a ring of cilia at the base. 
The cilia are seen springing from a con- 
striction as small processes. As time advances 
the basal cilia become stronger and more distinct. 
Apparently from their first appearance they are 
vibrating. The new Vorticella furnished with these 
extra cilia now swims freely about until it finds a 
spot to fix itself (Fig. 112, 2). 

These basal cilia may be produced in a Vorticella 
that has not divided (Fig. 112, c). Another method 


of reproduction, in which a small, free-swimming 
Vorticella, (the male) attaches itself to a fixed form 
(the female), is described as sexual. As a result of 
the fusion of these and of their nuclei, other smaller 
individuals are produced. 

There are other representatives of this genus, 
among which may be mentioned : 

31. Vorticella chlorostigma, whose bell contains 
chlorophyll. 

32. Vorticella microstomum, a small and fairly 
common species. 


THE MYMARID. 


S I do not remember to have seen the family 
of ‘* Fairy-flies”’ noticed in your columns, I 
venture to trouble you with this paper, hoping that 
the subject may attract the attention of abler 
naturalists than I can claim to be, and lead those of 
your readers who can boast no higher degree than 
that of S.G., or ‘‘ Science Gossip,” to many hours 
of delightful investigation. 

The very existence of these tiny beauties, who, 
however, are our most constant companions in the 
summer months, is unknown to many who will be 
delighted to make their acquaintance ; so I will at 
once proceed to introduction by telling them how 
to discover and catch them, which will at the same 
time explain something of their nature and habits. 

Well, then, being armed with a pair of good 


NAT SIZE 


Fig. 113.—Fairy Fly. Nat. order, Hymenoptera; family, Mymaridz; 
genus, Anaphes, g@. From “‘ Nature” (not Macmillan’s). 


eyes, or a pair of good “ specs.,” as your age or youth 
may determine, a very small white wide-mouthed 
phial containing a teaspoonful of pure turpentine 
or oil of cloves in your left hand, and a light 
pen-holder or stick] terminating with half an inch 
of a coarse hair or fine bristle, proceed to examine 
the panes of a sunny window, the lower sash of 
which is partly open, and if a gentle wind be 


HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSIP. 


177 


blowing towards you so much the better. 
well, you look sharp—but you see nothing! 


Very 
Look 


sharper still—and you see a tiny entity as small | 


as any dot I could make on this paper with the 
pen I am holding ;—and ‘‘it moves,” as Galileo once 
said of something rather larger, and it may be more 
important. Now hold the wide mouth of your 
phial about half an inch below him, moisten your 
bristle with your turpentine or oil, and lightly touch 
the little creature. If he adhere to the point, at 
once immerse him: but he may possibly elude your 
touch and spring backwards into your bottle: or, 
thirdly, he may justify his claim to the name of 
“*Fairy-fly” by playing you the old fairy-like trick 
of vanishing altogether ‘‘into thin air ” or, at any 
rate, in some direction where you are little likely 
to find him again. But we will suppose you have 
secured your prize, or, by good luck, half-a-dozen 
prizes as good as he. You can examine them at 
‘once ; or better still, after a mere look at the pretty 
creatures with a platyscopic or Coddington lens (the 
former is preferable on account of its longer focus), 
leave them in the fluid for three or four days, when 
they will have become more transparent ; pour them 
out into an old-fashioned watch-glass with a flattened 
bottom placed on a sheet of white paper, and fish 
them out one by one for microscopical examination 
—using a two-inch, one-inch, and half-inch objec- 
tive, and a spot lens, if you have one. Now that 
you can see your fly, we will set about describing 
him. As to his family history, it is of the shady 
description. He is a true parasite of the Hymenop- 
terous group (flies with four wings, two on each side, | 
which are united in flight), having sprung from an 


| egg which his mother had deposited inside the egg 
| of a totally different insect—a butterfly perhaps: a 
decided liberty to take, surely! ' However, he 
emerged in the handsome figure-you see him, with- 
out any transitions through the grub and pupa 
stage. Here he is then: Order, Mymenoptera. 
Family, AZymaride. Genus, Anaphes—though what 
this word may mean, or what may be the meaning 
of many other bad words which I shall indulge in 
by-and-by, please don’t ask me. The nearest I 
can get to Mymar is a Greek word meaning ‘‘some- 
thing to eat,” but as many millions of Mymars would 
| make but a small mouthful, it can hardly be that. 
His head is slightly broader than his thorax, and 
furnished with two antenne, each of thirteen pieces 
(the females have fewer joints) ; two large \com- 
pound eyes; three simple eyes placed in a triangle 
at the back of the head, and a horizontal band 
running between the compound eyes and above 
the origin of the antenne. 

The thorax gives attachment to the six legs, the 
tarsi or ankles of which are four-jointed, and to the 
beautiful wings without veins or nervures. The 
anterior wings are larger than the posterior, and 
all are studded with minute hairs, and have much 
longer hairs on their margins, which are sometimes 
beautifully iridescent. The hooklets for uniting the 
wings in flight, and which show so prettily in some 
of the Hymenoptera (the Bee and Wasp* for ex- 


* In these insects the margin of the anterior wing is folded 
so as to form a trough in which the strong hooklets on the 
posterior wing are received, and glide in flight.. Were they 
received into holes, laceration would occur, because the two 
Wings arise from different centres, and of course ‘describe 
| different circles when in action. 


HYMENOPTERA—MYMARID-&. ; : 
. ; 


| Antenne. . 3 a. || 
Tans. | Abdomen. | Novo Jone) Mertnal Branch or Subcowal Vein | ngs, Ge, | Genet 
| in d and 9. | Wah || 
(Abdomen fd 10.99. sh ee Can ploptera. 
farsi ] | petiolated J tg 13, Q ir. Jae Seu | | Céctouus. 
Hescinteds Versueae Maren peered fextending to}| . Limacis. 
} Abdomen 11) | middleloficoltaem lie) Layee: ; 
sessile. .f (2 1% 28 - {Marginal branch xot CIAO to) | Alaptus 
| . : |\_ middle of costa oS! | ‘ 
| le Hap bio | IDG RONG Oo cit olla jonlol Seer | Gonatocerus. 
| {3 12,199, 
omer. || club two: "| Jagat ea lonz; tarsi of four |, | Bustochus. 
eek I} jointed | ind-légs skorzer than tibie | 
‘airy- | 
lies” > |, | fuareinal branch short ; tarsi of four), I Doriclytus, 
| aa | "| hind-legs éovger than tibie . .)) 2 1 Se 
| } ‘orewngs only 
Abdomen | penis Tee | On UF eridded aed My mar. 
~petiolated fi Ju! f : |) the top. (i 
I; ORE wines wid- | 
| - | $13,29- | Marginal branch punctif. rin. “i ened CnrOe ri Cosmocoma. 
| Go 2 
T: } | Be 
\ Paes) | o 1,99 Marginal branch elongited,. . . Hppereuoren with) Caraphrastus. 
| ips Pe i abate ieee ea Sticothrix. 
| f C9. arene a 5 2 f . Be ae, he Se Litus. 
| arginal branch elongated; ¢hrch ) 
| Abdomen +} fe x24 Q. v4 je enednearthetop . . . a3 oS rita Avephes. 
Sessile: J Ease’ 2) =|) |\ Marginal branch linear; xof thick | | 
St Joint Zi 2 
Ke a \ eneduearthetop ... . -| Anagrus. 


— ES i ee ee oe 
N.B.—d means Male, and 9 Femace. 


178 


ample) are nearly absent in the Mymars, or only 
represented by three convergent spines or bristles, 
which receive the thickened margin of the anterior 
wing between them. The abdomen in this Anaphes, 
is sessile ; but in many genera of the Mymaridz it is 
petiolated, i.e. attached to the thorax by a very slim 
waist, such a waist in fact as some of our doctors 
are always preaching against (and rightly too) as 
displacing the hearts and livers of our wives and 
daughters. Underneath, in the female, the power- 
ful ovipositor is placed. 

These beautiful insects should be mounted in 
balsam and are so small and slight that many of 
them require no cell; but beware of pressure when 
the mount is completed, as they have a very tiresome 
way of parting with their heads on the slightest 
provocation. 

It is related that the good Bernardin de St. Pierre 


HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


sat himself down to write a comprehensive history of 
animated nature, but that happening to look up from 
his work, he saw on his window-panes such a number 
of minute flies, about which he knew nothing, that he 
gave up the idea. I wonder if our little Mymars were 
among them to enjoy the joke ? 

I append a short synopsis of the Mymaride. It is 
no doubt very imperfect, but may, I think, prove 
useful, and in it will be found all the ‘‘bad 
words” which I promised at the beginning of my 
paper. 

The figure of Anephes is drawn from a beautiful 
mount by Mr. F. Enock, which I have before me. 

In compiling this table I have made free use of 
Foerster’s ‘‘ Synopsis ;” andam greatly indebted to 
Mr. F. Enock, and to my friend Dr. J. W. Gooch 
of Windsor, for valuable information. ft 

T. E, AMyoT. 


FAMOUS COLLECTING GROUNDS FOR DRAGON-FLIES.—VII. 


LIST OF BRITISH DRAGON-FLIES, WITH THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION, 
HABITAT, AND TIME OF APPEARANCE IN THE IMAGO STATE. 


By W. Harcourt Baru, Author of ‘An Illustrated Handbook of British Dragon-flies,” ‘* A Label 
List of British Dragon-flies,” etc., etc. 


Name. Geographical Distribution. Habitat. Time of Appearance. 
| 
1. Platetrum depres- | England, Scotland, Ireland; | Ponds, marshes, canals, | End of April to end 
SUM, common, but local in the fields, lanes, gardens, open of August. 
north, spaces in woods, etc. 
2. Leptetrum quadri- | England, Scotland, Ireland; | Ditto. . . . Middle of May to 


maculata. 


. Libellula fulva 


. Orthetrum cerules- 


cens. 


. O. cancellatum, 


Leucorrhinia pec- 
toralis. 


n) ea ARULE) ew) 
. Sympetrum vulga- 


tum, 


. S. meridionale. . 


common, but local. 
England, in the south and 
south-east ; local. 
England, Scotland, Ireland ; 
local. 
England ; local in the south 


England ; one specimen at 
Sheerness in 1860. 

England; verylocal . . 

England, Scotland, Ireland ; 
very abundant. 


England ; twice only in the 
Metropolitan district. 


10. S. Fonscolombit England ; thrice only in the 
south, 

11, S. flaveolum England, Scotland; very 
local. 

12, S. sanguineum England ; south, local. . 

13. S. Scoticum . England, Scotland, Ireland ; 
common, but local. 

14. Somatochlora me- | Scotland; very local (Ran- 

tallica. nock Wood in Perthshire) 

15. Conduliaenea. . | England, Scotland, Ireland ; 
very local, but not rare. 

16. Oxygastra Curtisii | England; very local in the 
south. 


Ponds and marshes . 


Ponds, marshes, gravel-pits, 
roads, etc. 

Ponds, gravel-pits, brick- 
holes, canals, and marshes. 


. 


Pools and pits on moors 

Ponds, canals, gravel pits, 
open spaces in woods, 
roads, &c. 


. . 


Ponds and marshes, etc. . 


Ponds, paths in woods, and 
on roads. 

Ponds and marshes, etc., 

| particularly on moors. 


| 


\ iow So Fo o 4 


Marshes, ponds, and moist 
woods. 
Rivers and streams. . .« 


August. 

Middle of May to 
end of July. 

May to September. 


End of June to 
middle of August. 


July and August. 
May to October. 


May to August. 

June and July. 

June to August. 

July. 

End of May to middle 
of July. 


Beginning of June to 
middle of July. 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 


179 


LIST OF BRITISH DRAGON-FLIES—continued. 


Name. 


Geographical Distribution. 


Habitat. 


Time of Appearance. 


17. Onycho-gomphus 
Sorcipatus. 

18. Gomphus vulgatis- 
Simus. 


19. G. flavipes. . 


Condulegaster an- 

nulatius. 

- Anax formosus 

. Brachytron  pra- 
tense. 

3. <Eschna mixta . 


Z. borealis . 


. &. juncea. 


26. &. cyanea. 

27. 2. grandis . 

28. 4. rufescens . . 

29. Calopteryx virgo . 

30. C. splendens 

31. Lestes barbara. . 

Bon EN UKEHS Tolle) ie 

33. L.nympha. . . 

34. L. sponsa . 

35. L. viridis. 

36. Platycnemis pen- 
nipes. 

37. Enallagma cyathi- 
gerum. 

38. Agrion mercuriale. 

39. A. pulchellum . 

40. A. puella . 

41. Lschnura pumilio . 


. £ elegans . 


Lyrrhosoma mini- 
UM. 
P.tenellum ., 


43. 
44. 


45. Exrythromma najas 


England ; one specimen only 
England, Ireland ; very local 


England ; one specimen at 

Hastings in 1818. 
England, Scotland, Ireland ; 
| local, but not rare. 


. | England ; local in the south 


| England, Scotland, Ireland ; 

very local. 
England, Scotland ; 

local and rare. 
Scotland; very local and 
| rare (Rannock in Perth- 
| shire). 

England, Scotland, Ireland ; 

| common, particularly in 
| the north. 


very 


. | England, Scotland, Ireland ; 


common in the south. 


- | England, Sc tland, Ireland ; 


local, not uncommon in 

| _ the south. 

England, in the south and 
south-east, local and very 

| rare. 

| England, Scotland, Ireland ; 

| | very common everywhere. 


o IDU@ 6-5 oF 6 O80 


|ikrelandi(2)ieam een is 

| England ; twice only in the 

| New Forest. 

| England, Ireland; very 
local. 


. | England, Scotland, Ireland ; 


| local, but not uncommon. 


. | England ; once only in the 


| _ New Forest. 

| England, Scotland; not un- 
common, but local. 

England, Scotland, Ireland ; 
common everywhere. 

| England ; very local in the 
south. 

England, Scotland, Ireland ; 
common. 


- | England, Scotland, Ireland ; 


_ very common everywhere. 
England, Scotland, Ireland ; 
very local and rare. 
England, Scotland, Ireland ; 
common everywhere. 
England, Scotland, Ireland ; 
very common everywhere. 


- | England; very local in the 


south. 
England, Ireland; very local 
and rare. 


Streams andrivers . . . 
Streams and rivers . . 
Streamsand ponds. . 


Ponds, gravel-pits, marshes, 
etc. 


OM 6.0 6 ‘56.90 0 
Ponds, marshes, woods, etc. 


Open spaces in woods, fields, 
lanes, ponds, heaths, gar- 
dens, etc. 

DSH) 6 6. 0 0 0 0 9 


Marshes and ponds . 


Rivers and streams . . 


INH) 9 8G oO oh DO 


Ponds and marshes . 


Dittowcuerecete nan 


Ponds, rivers, and moist 
meadows. 
Ponds, lakes, and moist 
meadows. 


Ponds, marshes, and moist 
meadows. 

IDK 56 Go 0 10 

IDHG).5° GB 05 Oo oO 

IDS) 6 oto a 6 

IDS) 5G 40) Woe ro!) 6 

IDG) 5 6G 0 oO 6 


Ditto 


IDK} 5G 6 56 0 Oo 


End of 
August. 
August 5th. 


May to 
June to August. 


June and July. 
June. 


July. 


| June and July. 


July and August. 


June to October. 


| June to August. 


July. 


June to August. 


Ditto. 


July. 

July and August. 
June and July. 
June to August. 
June and July. 
Ditto. 

May to July. 
May to August. 
May to July. 
April to July. 
May to July. 


Ditto. 


Notze.—The author of the above will be glad to correspond with anyone who is interested in dragon- 


flies. 


Birmingham, 


He will also be pleased to render assistance at any time to readers of ScIENCE-GossIP in the 


identification of specimens, provided stamps be sent for the return postage. His address is Ladywood, 


180 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP, 


ON THE POPULAR TRADITION THAT 
COAL EXISTS UNDER BLACKHEATH. 


By T. V. Hommes, F.G.S., etc. 


M OST persons interested in geology must have 

been asked the question—‘‘Is there any 
truth in the old tradition that there is coal under 
Blackheath?” and have wondered both at the ex- 
istence of this notion and its wide diffusion. To the 
geologist the antiquity of this tradition adds much 
to its strangeness, as it was more or less believed 
in not merely long before the publication of the 
views of Godwin Austen on the coal-fields probably 
lying beneath the Secondary and Tertiary strata 
of south-eastern England, but long before the very 
existence of geology as a science. 

Many may remember the appearance of subsi- 
dences on Blackheath a few years ago. The first 
disclosed itself on the morning of April 12th, 1878, 
and in November 1880 two others appeared. That 
of 1878 and the more easterly of the two later ones 
were almost identical in size and shape, being shaft- 
like holes nearly 20 feet deep and 7 to $ feet in 
diameter, except near the bottom, where they 
broadened considerably. The third pit was less 
deep, and might be briefly described as having 
a shorter shaft and broader bottom than the two 
others. An attempt to explore one of the deeper 
holes was made in 1881, by the Lewisham and 
Blackheath Scientific Association, but the great 
expense attending the work compelled its cessation 
before any decided result could be obtained. The 
Report of the Exploration Committee was published 
by the Association in July 1881, no decided con- 
clusions being put forward by the Committee as a 
whole. To it were appended some’ Observations 
by the present writer, pointing out the immense 
difficulty of any explanation of the subsidences 
through the mere agency of water alone, unaided 
by artificial excavations, and showing that the falling 
in of the shafts of dene-holes such as that discovered 
in 1878, at Eltham Park,, would naturally, tend to 
produce results precisely similar to those presented 
at Blackheath. It may be useful to add that an 
account of a visit of the Geologists’ Association to 
Blackheath during the exploration appears in the 
Record of Excursions published by that Society last 
year, and that it is illustrated by a map and sections. 

The Blackheath Subsidence Committee, during 
its deliberations, was favoured with communications 
from all parts of the country, containing such ex- 
pianations as commended themselves to’ the writers 
as the results of their observations in various districts. 
In addition to descriptions of geological or engineer- 
ing experiences, the Committee heard of vague popu- 
lar traditions of underground passages connecting 
the palaces of Greenwich and Eltkam, but no re- 
ference was made to any legendary coal-sinkings, 


Nor were the latter alluded to by the lord of the 
manor of Blackheath, with whom the Committee 
was in communication, and who was a subscriber 
to its Exploration fund. Yet of all persons the lord 
of the manor was the most likely to have some 
record of old borings or sinkings in search for coal, 
had any been made. 

However, in 1883, nearly two years after the 
publication of the Report of the Subsidences Com- 
mittee, a gentleman who (with many others) applied 
to the Secretary of the Lewisham and Blackheath 
Association, Mr. H. W. Jackson, for a copy of the 
report, mentioned the coal tradition. He wrote:-- 
“Tt is curious that when I was a boy at school there 
was some talk of a coal-mine being found on Black- 
heath which had been forbidden to be worked, as it 
was said it would interfere with the city dues on coal 
coming by sea.” He added that he first heard of 
dene-holes in 1819 or 1820, And an archzeological 
friend of my own, Mr. R. O. Heslop of Newcastle- 
on-Tyne, lately called my attention to the following 
note in Mackenzie’s ‘‘ History of Northumberland” 
(vol. i., p. 161 5 1825) :— 

“Tt is a vulgar error that coals might be dug at 
Blackheath, near Woolwich, and on other commons 
near London, if Government had not prohibited 
their being dug, for encouraging the nursery of 
seamen, etc. The search for coals in the southern 
and eastern parts of England has been uniformly 
unsuccessful. From the immense number and 
thickness of the known strata which intervene, and 
which contain no coals or other very valuable 
matters, it is of no consequence whether coal veins 
may exist or not in these parts below practicable 
mining depths. The very open and porous state 
of some of these strata, the chalks (more than 50 
fathoms thick), for instance, occasion them to be 
so powerfully supplied with water, as to render the 
prospect of sinking even one shaft through them at 
London utterly hopeless.” 

In the above note we have evidence not only that 
the tradition was known in the north of England 
early in the present century, but that Government 
interference was popularly supposed to be the real 
hindrance to successful coal-mining at Blackheath. 
The writer in Mackenzie’s History, however, pos- 
sessed sufficient general knowledge of south-eastern 
geology to prevent him from sharing’ the view, 
though his remark that the chalk is more than 
50 fathoms thick implies that his information about 
its thickness was derived simply from the deeper 
well-sections of his time; for the average thick- 
ness of the chalk in the district around London is 
considerably more than 100 fathoms. Anyhow, the 
geology of the district seems to have been sufficiently 
understood in mining circles to have prevented any 
rash attempts to engage seriously in a search for 
coal at or near Blackheath, and this, in conjunction 
with the silence on that subject of the lord of the 


HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


18t 


manor, gives a strong presumption that no such 
attempts have. ever. been made. The ‘‘other 
commons”? alluded: to by Mackenzie may well have 
been’ the -others on the Blackheath-Erith plateau, 
of which.those of Woolwich and Plumstead are the 
nearest to Blackheath. 

The supposed interference of the Government to 
check coal-mining is a tradition, doubtless, of many 
districts. I remember meeting with it in Cumber- 
Jand three or four miles S.W. of Carlisle, when 
endeayouring to trace the boundaries of the Lias 
outlier there, the district being entirely covered by 
a considerable thickness of Glacial Drift. A farmer 
of whom I made enquiries as to wells, etc., told me 
that he had heard of the discovery of coal at a spot 
close by his farm, but that it was said that mining 


But at Blackheath and the district around it there 
can never have been any mystery as to the general 
geological structure, such as may exist where the 
older rocks are uniformly covered by a considerable 
thickness of Glacial Drift, and the surface features 
throw no light upon the arrangement of the under- 
lying rocks. Few districts, indeed, have a more 
obvious general structure than that of Blackheath. 
The plateau, of which Blackheath forms the western 
end, extends along the course of the Thames from 
Greenwich to Erith, a variable breadth of alluvium 
or river gravel lying between its northern edge and 
the river. On its northern edge sections, here and 
there, show Chalk at its foot, covered by Thanet 
sand and the sands and clays of the Woolwich series, 
the surface being composed of the Blackheath pebble 


Dag rem dsectiow 
fron Barheinag(i o£ Plerslecedl$). 


Barkerig 


Pe lumstead : 
! 


R G River Gravel 
PRE. London Clu Gi 


AGE 


OG bs 


Ypanel Sand B. Fe Blackhead 
eee Beds. 
osctton is do Pe 


“tl hasa downthrow he North. 


Fig. 114. 


had been stopped there by the interference of Govern- 
ment. This patch of Lias consists mainly of dark 
shales with thin bands of limestone, and, apart from 
its fossil contents, would naturally be supposed to be 
Coal-measures coming up from beneath the red 
Triassic rocks around it rather than Lias (a formation 
not elsewhere known in the district) resting upon 
the Triassic beds ; for there are plenty of Carboni- 
ferous rocks on all sides beyond the red beds. The 
Lias outlier appears to have been bored for coal at 
various times during the last 250 years, one boring 
in 1781, having penetrated through it to the Tri- 
assic rocks beneath. And the popular view as to 
the affinities of its dark shales is attested by the 
name ‘‘ Coalfell Hill,” applied to a slight eminence 
within its borders about two miles west of Carlisle. 


beds, except where these last-named strata are them- 
selves covered by London clay, as at Shooters Hill. 
It is indeed the immense improbability that a skilled 
miner of any period could ever have been deceived 
into thinking coal attainable beneath Blackheath 
which makes the existence of the popular tradition so 
remarkable, and so worthy of an attempt to explainit. 

In the Woolwich beds which underlie the Black- 
heath pebble beds, thin bands of lignite sometimes 
occur, one being now visible at Loampit Hill, 
Lewisham (about a mile from Blackheath), from 
three inches to six inches thick, But as the forty 
feet of pebble beds at Blackheath are represented 
at Loampit Hill by a pebble band of a few inches 
only, the natural inference would be that the Black- 
heath plateau was one of the least likely places any- 


182 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


where at which a great development of lignite might 
be expected, the lignite-bearing strata being there 
represented by pebble beds. 

Indeed, it seems to me that no theory based upon 
the natural inferences of a geologist will explain the 
existence of the popular tradition. Yet we should 
certainly expect to find, as in the case of the Cum- 
berland Lias, that it is by no means without an 
apparent basis in facts, the errors in it arising from a 
misinterpretation of the facts, not from a disregard for 
them. And I have little doubt that the true explana- 
tion of the tradition is to be found in the following 
considerations. 

Long before the geology of the district was under- 
stood, the attention of large numbers of persons must 
have been drawn to the excavations made for various 
purposes in the alluvium of the Thames in and near 
London. These always reveal the existence of large 
quantities of peat and drift-wood in the mud of the 
marshes, and as the alluvium must have been dug 
into from time to time, here and there, during many 
centuries, wherever the construction of docks etc., 
etc., made it necessary, the existence of a very con- 
siderable thickness therein of more or less coal-like 
material would be manifest. And not only does the 
quantity of this material vastly exceed that visible 
anywhere in the Woolwich beds, but excavations in 
the marshes must have always been much more 
numerous and the nature of the beds exposed much 
better known than those of the other formation. 

Of course to the geologist of the present day, who 
knows that the alluvium of the Thames marshes is 
confined to the river valley, and that its thickness 
seldom exceeds thirty to forty feet, the notion that 
any persons once thought this peaty alluvium a 
deposit of much greater thickness, not confined to 
the Thames Valley, and with coal in its lower and 
more consolidated beds, does not readily occur. But 
the very difference of our stand-point, in this as in 
other questions of folklore, is the chief hindrance to 
our understanding of the way in which the matter 
would naturally present itself even to the intelligent 
in the prescientific ages. It is, indeed, generally 
recognised that the only way of obtaining insight into 
the meaning of the customs, etc., of primitive man is 
to learn in what way they are regarded by those who 
observe them. And as regards the case before us, I 
was fortunate enough to be able to look through a 
paper sent to the secretary of a scientific society on 
coal in south-eastern England, in which the writer 
dwelt largely on the evidence of the drift-wood, etc., 
of the Thames marshes, as an indication (if I 
remember rightly) that coal was, in all probability, 
to be met with lower down, in the more consolidated 
beds. Icould not get from the paper any definite 
notions as to the writer’s views with regard to the 
relations between the Thames marsh deposits and 
the Chalk, but it appeared to me that he did not look 
on the alluvium as confined to the Thames Valley, 


-miles from the Thames. 


but as having a much broader lateral extension. 
And though he said nothing about Blackheath, it at 
once occurred to me that this paper incidentally 
threw much light on the way of looking at things 
which had given Blackheath its popular reputation 
as a probable coal-bearing locality. 

For if we grant, for the sake of argument, an 
increased lateral extension to the alluvium of the 
Thames Valley, both northward and southward, it 
seems evident that under the high ground of the 
plateau extending from Blackheath to Erith we might 
fairly expect to find the southerly continuation of 
the marsh beds specially well preserved and con- 
solidated. If, on the other hand, we look at the 
Essex side of the river opposite, we see that on the 
northern edge of the marshes there is a broad, low flat 
of river gravel extending to a distance of four or five 
But residents at Plaistow, 
Barking, Ilford or Romford would know that beneath 
this river gravel there was nothing but London clay, 
as their well sections would plainly show. Residents 
on the Blackheath-Erith plateau, on the other hand, 
would get their water-supply from the lower part of 
the Blackheath pebble beds, and never penetrate 
deeply enough to ascertain whether the drift-wood 
deposits existed beneath them at the Jevel of the 
river or not. And as beneath the gravel of London 
there is London clay at a moderate depth, just as 
beneath the gravel flat east of the river Lea, it would 
be evident that if the drift-wood deposits of the 
marshes, thickened, consolidated and coal-like, were 
to be met with anywhere under the higher ground 
bordering the Thames, the most likely spot was 
decidedly the plateau between Erith and Blackheath. 


THE VELLOW ARCHANGEL (L4M/UM 
GALEOBDOLON, CRANTZ). 


HIS plant, Lamium galeobdolon or Galeobdolon 

luteum, Huds., the yellow archangel, is one of 

the most interesting and representative of the British 

Labiate. The annexed description is from my note- 

books, and may be useful and instructive to those 

who might be unfamiliar with this beautiful ‘‘ dead 
nettle.” 

Ordinal character, Labiatee. Usually hairy herbs, 
with stoloniferous root-stocks, stems quadrilateral, 
leaves opposite decussate, aromatic. Flowers ani- 
somerous, in axillary whorls or verticillasters. Calyx 
gamosepalous persistent inferior, 5-fid, often bilabiate. 
Corolla gamopetalous, deciduous, irregular, labiate. 
Stamens four, or less by imperfection or suppression, 
didynamous, epipetalous, janthers 2-celled. Ovary 
deeply 4-lobed, 4-celled, or less by abortion. Style 
slender, gymnobasic, stigma furcate, ovules solitary, 
erect, anatropous, fruit constituting indehiscent 
achzenia composed of the component lobes of the 
ovary. 


HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSTP. 


183 


Generic character, Zamium, L. Annual or peren- 
nial, more or less hairy herbs ; root-stock short ; stems 


Square, ascending or erect; leaves petioled. Flowers 


sub-sessile in axillary whorls ; bracteoles linear. Calyx 
sub-campanulate, 5-fid, sub-2-lipped, teeth spread- 
ing, triangular, with cuspidate apices. Corolla 
bilabiate, ringent, upper lip galeate, lower lip 3- 
lobed, mid-lobe broad or narrow, lateral lobes 


smaller, tube straight or ascending ; faux dilated, at | 


the base of which is usually the oblique ring of hairs. 


Stamens four, inner shortest, connivent under the |! 


longer petioled. Flowering stems erect, ten to 
eighteen inches high, often sub-terete at the base, 
and a little sulcate below the nodes: leaves narrower, 
teeth more distant, and less hairy than those of the 
prostrate stems, ovate narrowing into the leafy bracts 
which are almost lanceolate, sub-acute. Flowers in 
distant whorls, usually 1o-flowered, or less by non- 
development of the rudimentary buds; _bracteoles 
linear subulate, as long as or shorter than the calyx. 
Calyx fsub-campanulate, faintly 1o-ribbed, teeth tri- 
angular cuspidate, superior one sub-erect. Two 


Fig. 115.—Structure of the Yellow Archangel. 


upper lip, which they are/as long as, anthers 2-celled 
confluent, pollen yellow elliptic. Ovary 4-lobed, 
lobes truncate, triquetrous, style slender, bifurcate, 
lobes subulate. 

Specific character, Lamium galeobdolon, Crantz. 
A perennial hispid or sub-glabrous herb ; root-stock 
very short and nodose. Barren stems prostrate, one 
to two feet long ; leaves ovate cordate, coarsely and 
irregularly, doubly crenate serrate, accuminate, some- 
times cordate, petioles as long as or shorter than the 
laminz, lowest leaves sometimes sub-orbicular and 


lateral divergent, two inferior reflexed. Corolla 
yellow bilabiate, upper lip oblong galeate, finely 
pubescent above, and ciliate at its edges: lower lip 
spotted and streaked with yellow brown, 3-lobed, 
lateral angular and reflexed, mid-lobe narrow elongate 
ascending ; tube pink, as long as the calyx, faux 
slightly dilated, and constricted } the corolla’s entire 
length from the base by the oblique ring of hairs. 
Stamens four, anthers 2-celled, brown, glabrous ; 
filaments villous below, ‘adhesion obscure after the 
ring of hairs. Ovary 4-lobed, style slender, pink, 


184 


HARDWICKE’'S SCITENCE-GOSSIP. 


2-lobed, upper lobe short, lower twice as long, re- 
flexed ; ovules erect, funiculus distinct half way up 
the oyule, micropyle turned towards the dorsum of 
the cell. Achzenia 7, to 4 of an inch in length, 
brown, wrinkled. | Flowers May and June; seeds 
ripe about one week after flowering. Hedgebanks, 
woods, and copses, and other damp shady and chalky 
places ; local. 

Hairs simple or compcund consisting of from one 
to three cells. Stomata small, about fifteen to the 
square z45 of an inch, and from z)45 to pop Of an 
inch in length, oblong or sub-orbicular ; epidermal 
cells of the upper surface of the leaf irregular and 
destitute of stomata; epidermal cells of the lower 
surface more regularly and deeply sinuose. Pollen 
bright yellow, dehiscent by lateral slits (usually three) ; 
extine coloured, twice as thick as the hyaline intine ; 
when immersed in water they become distended 
(mostly on one side), burst, dehisce their contents, 
sometimes producing papille in the slits, and after 
the dehiscence and great distension of the membranes 
the extine is ruptured and thrown off. 

Henry E, GriseEt. 


SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Mr. W. JEROME Harrison tells us that, (thanks 
to the negatives obtained by the Bros. Henry) we 
are better acquainted with the geography of the 
visible parts of the moon, than with those of the 
polar regions, &c. Mr Harrison forgets there are no 
polling-stations at the north pole ! 


Dr. LESLIE KEELEY, gave an address at St. 
James’s Hall on the 5th of July, on “ Drunkenness : a 
curable disease.” Dr. Keeley depends upon his 
double chloride of gold remedies, both for the treat- 
ment of drunkenness and opium-eating. 


Part II. of the additions to ‘* English Botany ; or 
Coloured Figures of British Plants,” (supplement to 
the third edition), has been issued by Messrs. George 
Bell and Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. It 
deals with the orders XXIII. to XXVI., and has 
been well compiled and arranged by Mr. N. E. Brown, 
of the Royal Herbarium, Kew. 


THE Museums Association met this year at Man- 
chester from July 5th to 7th, under the Presidency 
of J. Willis Clerk, M.A, Registrary of the University 
of Cambridge, and appeared to have a good time of 
it. The President for the next year is Professor Boyd 
Dawkins, M.A., F.R.S., Professor of Geology in 
the Owens’ College. 


Ho pay seekers with natural history tastes need 
not be hard up either for companions or localities. 
For instance, that popular society the Geologists’ 
Association goes this year, under the direction of 


‘than Scientific. 


Professor Blake, for a week’s geologising to North- 
West Carnarvonshire and Anglesea. A jollier party 
could not have been gathered together. 


THE last number of the ‘* County of Middlesex 
Natural History and Science Society,” contains the 
following capital paper, entitled, ‘‘On Rabies ; its 
Natural History, and the Means of Extinguishing it,” 
by Arthur Nichols, F.G.S., F.R.G.S. We are sorry 
to see that the council of the above society were 
obliged to suspend their meetings until further notice. 


THAT active society, the Yorkshire Naturalists’ 
Union, held their ninety-eighth meeting at Penistone, 
for Dunford Bridge and the upper valley of the Don, 
on Saturday, 9th July. The geologists were under 
the leadership of Mr. James W. Davis, F.G.S., etc. 
The naturalists, under the guidance of Messrs. Alfred 
Clarke, J. S. Dransfield, and S. L. Mosley, visited 
the Dunford Bridge Reservoir. E 


Percy ByssHE SHELLEY was born at Field Place, 
near Horsham, Sussex, on August 4th, 1792. The cen- 
tenary of his birth is, therefore, close at hand. As 
Shelley was the foremost man Sussex has given to the 
world ‘of letters, the county has naturally taken the 
lead in organising a Centenary Celebration. Meetings 
have been held at Horsham, and an influential com- 
mittee, fully representative of the town and neigh- 
bourhood, has been appointed. At a meeting of this 
committee, it was decided that, both on general and 
local grounds, the most fitting memorial to the poet 
would be a ‘‘ Shelley Library and Museum,” to be 
established at Horsham. ’ 


THE July number of ‘‘ The Journal of Microscopy 
and Science,” edited by Alfred Allen, contains the 
following interesting papers :—‘‘ The British Fresh- 
water Rhizopods,” ‘‘ The Bacillus of Diphtheria,” 
** Notes on the Collection and Examination of Pond 
Life,” ‘‘ Parasites and Parasitic Diseases of the 
Domesticated Animals,” ‘‘Methods of Preparing 
Sections of teeth,” etc., etc. 


ScIENTIFIC Book Catalogues are always interest- 
ing, as well as those which deal with old books other 
We confess to the additional en- 
joyment of a pipe when we peruse ‘‘The Book- 
Lover’s Leaflet,” published by Pickering and Chatto, 
66, Haymarket, London. Scientific literature is 
now assuming an historic form, and early works are 
being sought. We strongly recommend our readers 
who are thus-wise inclined, to apply for the ‘‘ Cata- 
logue of Mathematical Works,” offered for sale by 
Messrs. Dulau & Co., 37, Soho Square, London. 
We have also received Messrs. Wesley & Sons, No. 
117, ‘‘ Natural History Circular,” always welcome. 


Is it not Grant Allen who has sketched for us a 
toothless and hairless descendant? Fancy the house 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


185 


of Commons, 1000 years hence, full of such people ! 
Anyhow, men get bald sooner than women, soldiers 
and policemen sooner than civilians, and long before 
Is this not attributable to the difference in 
their head-dresses? Nothing has produced premature 
baldness among young men more than deer-stalkers 
and chimney-pot hats. When the head is not con- 
fined within such a limited area of ventilation, as in 
the delightful aerality of women’s bonnets, it grows 
all right, or, at any rate generally keeps on. 


sailors. 


NEVERTHELESS, even on women’s heads, the hair 
is not always strong, nor does it always keep on, if 
we are to judge by, the profusely illustrated advertise- 
ments in the ‘‘ Queen ” (which inform men so literally 
and almost shame-facedly how women are made up !) 
Hair is evidently getting thinner on people’s heads— 
men’s first, but on women’s also. The purer (as we 
call it) we make our bread, which literally means the 
whiter, the less nutriment remains for teeth and hair. 
Sir James Crichton Browne has just delivered an 
address on ‘‘Tooth Culture,” in which he showed 
that dental caries was related to the change in our 
method of making bread. Teeth require fluorine (so 
does hair), and it is only the bran, or husk, of wheat 
which supplies it. Therefore our modern method of 
carefully getting rid of this must result in a hairless 
and toothless race of men and women. Whilst teeth 
are forming in children it is especially essential that 
whole meal or brown bread, or oatmeal porridge, be 
given them. It is ‘‘ Scotia’s halesome food,” and in 
what other country do you find men with such bushy 
locks, flowing beards, or sound teeth? 


THERE is a ‘‘red spot” on the surface of our big 
brother-planet Jupiter which for a dozen years past 
has much exercised the attention of astronomers. 
The fact is, Jupiter is a world which has not cooled 
down sufficiently into the ‘‘black heat” stage, but 
still glows in places, chiefly near its equator, with 
natural fires. The ‘‘ great red spot” is a demonstra- 
tion of this fact. It moves about like an iceberg, 
and has an area perhaps equal to that of the earth’s 
surface. Recently a French astronomer very in- 
geniously employed one of Jupiter’s satellites or 
moons to measure the ‘‘red spot”’ by. 


SOME sparrows have again taken advantage of the 
sheiter afforded by the recesses in the statues erected 
in the gardens fronting the National Liberal Club on 
the Thames Embankment to build their nests. Not 
only has the armpit of the Bartle Frere statue been 
utilized this year, but another family has a home 
behind the legs of the gallant Outram. 


THE Suez Canal is capable of admitting other 
things through its monotonous eighty miles than 
ships and steamers. Cholera uses that short and 
narrow watery highway as well to pass from the 
tropics and equator to Southern Europe. Last 
January a conference was held in Venice to prevent 


cholera from penetrating into Europe through the 
canal. This year we are in for a hot summer 
evidently, and much suppressed fear is entertained 
lest cholera should take advantage of it. The Venice 
Conference of January last wisely adopted a system 
chiefly advocated by the French delegates. This 
system was practically tested on the Pyrenean frontier 
during the terrible outbreak of cholera in Spain two 
or three years ago. On that occasion passengers’ 
linen was disinfected in heating-ovens by steam under 
pressure, and all the cholera patients (real and 
suspected alike) were isolated. It has been demon- 
strated that it is practically impossible for a vessel to 
pass the Suez Canal in quarantine without contact 
with the shores. Consequently, it was resolved that 
no vessel should be allowed to pass into the Medi- 
terranean unless it was either free from infection or 
had been completely disinfected. Therefore, vessels 
from the East are to have a perfectly free voyage if 
they have no cases of cholera on board. Those 
which have had choleraic cases, but none for seven 
days before arrival, will be allowed to pass the canal 
in quarantine if they have a medical officer and a 
disinfecting stove on board. If not, they will be 
retained at the entrance to the canal, where a 
sanitary station is being erected, and where disinfec- 
tion will take place. The patients will be dis- 
embarked and isolated, and the vessels will be dis- 
infected. During the last five years about 16,000 
vessels have passed through the Suez Canal. It is 
satisfactory to know that science is the watch-dog of 
civilization. 

NATURALISTS invariably find that in countries 
where the struggle for existence is less severe, they 
may expect to find early types of animals surviving, 
which elsewhere, where the battle has been most 
bitterly fought, are extinct. Thus lemurs aud civets 
are not uncommon in Madagascar—a large island 
early separated from the African continent—whereas, 
as long ago as the Eocene period (which must have 
been nearly two millions of years back), they were as 
abundant in France, and are found fossilised in that 
country. In Madagascar there still lives a peculiar 
rare bird called after a distinguished naturalist, 
Hartlaubia, which possesses a remarkably inter- 
mediate position among groups of birds . widely. 
separated. A similar fossil bird has also lately been 
discovered in France. It lived there ages ago, and 
for ages has been extinct all over the world except in 
Madagascar. 


“* PeAcE hath its victories no less renowned than 
war,” and its heroes also. Science is dogged as well 
as courageous, and it is the doggedness that does it. 
Last year a valorously brave attempt was made to 
establish an observatory on the top of Mont Blanc. 
The difficulty is inconceivable ; likewise the hardships 
which the voluntary scientific martyrs living there 
would have to endure, Longfellow’s youth in 


186 


HARDWICKE' S SCIENCE-GOSS/P. 


“Excelsior” would hardly do for such a situation. 
Last year’s efforts failed, but a second attempt is 
being made under the direction of the veteran French 
astronomer, M. Janssen, who is determined to erect 
a wooden building on the frozen snow of the 
mountain. It is to be about 26 ft. long, 17 ft. wide, 
and will consist of two rooms. This building will 
rest on six screw-jacks, so as to restore any dis- 
turbance caused by changes in the snow. Indeed, 
the building is now actually being made in Paris, and 
will shortly be transferred thence in sections to 
Switzerland, and hauled up to the place appointed 
from Chamounix. On the top of Mont Blanc the 
astronomer will be 15,000 ft. nearer the stars, and 
above the lower strata of the earth’s atmosphere, in 
which clouds and rains are manufactured. 


Mr. Sutton, the well-known grass seedsman, and 
Dr. Frankland have been investigating the relative 
amount of nourishment of the best kind contained in 
grasses. The results will be received with some 
surprise by agriculturists generally. They find that 
the best hay is made from grass that is only seven 
or eight inches high. It contains the richest store of 
nutriment at that stage. Moreover, the grass cut, 
tends to grow better and stronger. Even when grass 
is in the flowering state only, the experimenters 
found a very great difference in the nutritious proper- 
ties of the hay made from it and that from the young 
grass above mentioned. Of course when the grass 
has passed into its seeding stage, its nutritious 
properties have considerably decreased, whilst it has 
become very much more indigestible. 


PROFESSOR FRANKLAND in his lecture at the 
Royal Institution on micro-organisms connected with 
the soil, showed not only their power of nitrifying it, 
but also, quite contrary to hitherto accepted beliefs, 
that some of them can undergo enormous multiplica- 
tion even in ordinary distilled water. The process of 
nitrification in the soil is the work of two in- 
dependent organisms, one of which converts ammonia 
into nitrous acid, and the other nitrous acid into 
nitric acid. Professor Frankland appears to think 
that the immense deposits of nitrate of soda in the 
rainless districts of Peru and Chili represent the 
tesult of a gigantic nitrification progress. Close on 
half a million tons of nitrate are annually imported 
into Europe, all of which may have been rendered 
possible through the existence of these nitrifying 
microbes. What does the great Nitrate King 
(Colonel North) say to this scientific statement of 
the origin of that vast wealth which enables him to 
spend so much money in trying and failing to win 
the Derby. 


A VERY interesting and profitable paper on 
English climatology has been read at the Meteoro- 
logical Society by Mr. F. C, Bayard. He proved 
(what has long been known) that seaside places are 
warm in winter and cool in summer, whilst at inland 


stations the reverse is the case. The highest 
temperature both inland and along the coast is in 
July and August, and the coldest in December and 
January. Contrary to what many people would 
suppose, seaside places are not so humid as inland. 
The cloudiest district in England is the south-west, 
and the least cloudy (during the summer months) is 
the southern. Again, contrary to general opinion, 
April is the /east rainy month in the year, and 
November the heaviest. The amount of rainfall 
is greatest in the west and least in the east, and 
gradually decreases across England from the former 
to the latter coasts. 


OF all the artificial manures the farmer has to 
employ in the growth and development of the plants 
he takes under his charge, nitrate of soda is the one 
which ought to be most specially studied. It depends 
upon the intelligence of the farmer as to whether it 
should do service as an enemy or as a friend. At 
present these nitrates come from South America, 
where it is believed they were accumulated under 
special climatal conditions by the action of microbes, 
and subsequently leached out into beds. This 
suggests the idea that it is possible for a farmer to 
grow his own nitrates without buying any from his 
manure merchant, For many years past it has been 
an established rule of fact amongst English farmers 
that cereal crops always grow best on land which had 
previously been occupied by clover, trefoil, peas, or 
some other leguminous crop. After the latter had 
been cropped, the soil was found to be actually 
richer in nitrogen than it was before. This led the 
late Professor Ville, the distinguished scientific 
agriculturist, to believe that the lugiminosa had the 
direct power of tapping and assimilating the nitrogen 
of the atmosphere. The clever idea is now known 
to be correct. It is not the leaves of leguminous 
plants, but the roots, which do the work of nitrifica- 
tion. The latter are crowded with minute wart-like 
lumps, which are simply so many nests of bacteria. 
It is the latter which nitrificate the soil, and somehow 
or another they and the luguminous plants get on 
better than any other. It is just on the cards, there- 
fore, to be possible for a scientific farmer to grow his 
cropsinsuch a successive order that he need not buy 
any nitrate of soda, but artificially produce it on his 
own land instead. In a most thoughtful and sug- 
gestive paper by Mr. F. W. Burbidge, the distin- 
guished curator of the Dubiin Botanic Gardens, 
recently read at a meeting of the Horticultural Club, 
he says, speaking on this subject, “ especially should 
the cultivator take note of the modern observations 
as to the storage or fixation of atmospheric nitrogen 
by bacteria that inhabit the root-nodules of many 
leguminous plants, such as peas, lupins, clover, etc., 
for we may some day grow our own nitrogen far 
cheaper than we can buy it from Colonel North or 
the vendor of manures.” 


FARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


187 


MICROSCOPY. 


SECTIONISING HyDRA VIRIDIS.—I€ seems rather 
singular that Mr. H. J. Frederick has been unsuc- 
cessful in his experiment. Perhaps if he had taken 
the precaution to put the sections in a small bottle 
or test-tube, being careful to exclude any of the 
Hydra’s enemies, he might have reared his colony. 
About five years ago I tried the experiment of grow- 
ing the Hydra from sections. I cut a large and 
vigorous specimen into about ten pieces, and placed 
them in a small test-tube with water drawn from the 
household tap ; in two or three weeks, eight out of 
the ten pieces had developed in full-grown vigorous 
Hydre. Of course I was careful to exclude all such 
things as Cypris and Cyclops, and everything that 
seemed likely to prey upon the undevoloped sections, 
and also allowed plenty of water, so that there was 
no risk of the oxygen becoming exhausted, a rather 
important feature where animal life is concerned, 
either in development or prolongation, Did Mr. 
Frederick omit to take note of that consideration ?— 
F. F. George, Chorley, Lane. 


JOURNAL OF THE RoyAL MICROSCOPICAL 
SocieTy,—The June number of the above journal, in 
addition to its valuable summary of current researches 
relating to zoology and botany, contains the following 
original papers (illustrated) : ‘‘ On a series of Lantern 
slides, Photomicrographs and Photographs of Photo- 
micrographic Apparatus,” by A. Clifford Mercer, 
F.R.M.S., ‘‘The Foraminifera of the Gault of 
Folkestone,” by Frederick Chapman, F.R.M.S., and 
““The Penetrating Power of the Microscope,” by 
Edward M. Nelson. 


ZOOLOGY. 


THE NATURAL HIsTORY OF BEDFORD PARK.— 
The Bedford Park Natural History Society has had 
in hand a list of the fauna and flora of that locality, 
and as a considerable number of forms have now 
been catalogued, it may be of interest to some to see 
what may be found in a locality so near to London 
as Chiswick, considerably less than a square mile in 
area. Of plants we have at present recorded 168 
species and one variety, of which the following are 
the more interesting :—Kanunculus ficaria, Papaver 
arzemone, Erysimum cheiranthoides, Nasturtium offi- 
cinale, Diplotaxis murals, Reseda luteola, Viola tri- 
color, Galium palustre, Sagina nodosa, Silene inflata, 
Lychnis flos-cuculi, L. vesperlina, A grostemma githago, 
Linum usitatissimum, Hypericum quadrangulatum, 
Malva rotundifolia, Geranium dissectum, Trifolium 
hybridum, T. procumbens, Lotus major, Melilotus 
officinalis, Vicia cracca, V. hirsuta, Lathyrus pratensis, 
Rubus discolor, R. corylifolius, Potentilla recta, P. 
anserina, Geum urbanum, Spirea ulmaria, Circea 


lutetiana, Epilobium palustre, E. montanum, £. 
parvifiorum, E. hirsutum, Bryonia dioica, Apium 
graveolens, Helosciadum nodiflorum, Dipsacus syl- 
vestris, Chrysanthemum leucanthemum (var. minor), 
Erigeron canadensis, Achillea ptarmica, Artemisia 
vulgaris, Gnaphalium uliginosum, Sonchus oleraceus, 
S. asper, S. arvensis, Arctium lappa, Pulicaria dysen- 
terica, Calystegia sepium, Solanum dulcamara, S. 
nigrum, Scrophularia aquatica (vax. Erharti), Pru- 
nella vulgaris, Stachys sylvatica, Ballota nigra, 
Myosotis arvensis, Anagallis arvensis, Polygonum 
amphibium (var. terrestris), P. aviculare, and var. 
erecta, P. persicaria, P. convolvulus, Euphorbia peplus, 
Urtica urens, Cannabis sativa, Funcus bufonius, Poa 
annua, Phalaris canariensis, Phleum pratense, Bromus 
mollis, B. sterilis, Lolium perenne, L. ttalicum, 
Agrostis vulgaris, Dactylis glomerata, Aira cespitosa, 
Hordeum pratense, Alopecurus pratensis, Antho- 
xanthum odoratum, Equisetum arvense, Fumaria 
hygrametrica. Most of these are common enough in 
the open country, but it is interesting to find them in 
the metropolitan district. A few were represented 
by only single specimens, and a few others are 
probably not truly wild. For the names of many of 
them I have been indebted to Mr. G. Nicholson, of 
Kew. Among the Invertebrata we have thirty-four 
species of mollusca, and numerous species of insects, 
some of which have been already recorded (‘‘ Ento- 
mologist,” 1885, p. 247), as well as a few crustacea, 
Oniscus murarius, Armadillo vulgaris, Gammarus 
pulex, Candona reptans; five myriapoda, which 
appear to be Polydesmus complanatus, Fulus terrestris, 
F. londiniensis, Geophilus longicornis, and Lithobius 
forficatus ; several spiders, a leech, and the common 
worm, ZLumbricus terrestris. The mammalia are 
confined to Homo sapiens, a species of bat not yet 
captured, Mus musculus, and MM. decumanus. The 
birds are thirty-eight, and include Muscécapa grisola, 
Regulus cristatus, Parus major, P. ceruleus, Turdus 
viscivorus, Ruticilla phenicura, Phylloscopus sibilatrix, 
P. trochilus (the last three were seen by Mr. R. B. 
Sharpe), Curruca cinerea, Sylvia luscinia, Cuculus 
canorus, Cypselus apus, Hirundo rustica (apparently 
rare, though the martin (Chelidon urbica) is common 
enough), Parus ater, Emberiza citrinella, Yunx tor- 
guilla, and stray specimens of erdix rufa (one 
caught during the recent frost, and now in the pos- 
session of Mr. J. Gray), Ardea cinerea (flying over- 
head), Scolopax gallinago (Rev. J. W. Horsley), and 
S. vusticola (seen by Mr. Hargitt). The amphibia 
consist of the frog (Rana temporaria), the toad (Bufo 
vulgaris), and T7tton tristatus, which last is generally 
thought by the natives to be a sort of lizard.— 
T. D. A. Cockerell. 


New VARIETY OF HELIX ARBUSTORUM.—I have 
the pleasure of forwarding and recording the descrip- 
tion of a most unusual variety of Helix arbustorum, 
taken with many other interesting forms of this 


188 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


variable species in the neighbourhood of Clitheroe, 
Lancashire, May 14th, 1892. Shell conical, pale 
pink ; interior of aperture on the antepenultimate 
whorl, yellow ; extremely thin, transparent, delicate, 
mottlings somewhat subdued, bandless.—2. Wigeles- 
worth, 13 Arthur Street, Clayton-le-Moors, Accrington. 


BOTANY. 


REMARKABLE SPECIMEN OF THE TWAY-BLADE 
OrcHIS.—We have received trom Mr. F. J. Provis, 
Coleford, Gloucestershire, a specimen of the Tway- 
blade (Zzstera ovata) in which the three leaves belie 
the common name. It is doubtful whether we should 


slight muddle in their use of the terms ‘“ involucre,” 
“‘petal,” and ‘‘sepal” with regard to them. Ina 
letter to ‘Nature,’ December 3rd, 1891, I pointed 
out, and, as far as I know, no one has disputed it, 
that the so-called involucre of the anemone (coronaria 
or zemorosa) was really a calyx. I had not then 
noticed that the term ‘‘involucre,” was also applied 
to the leaf-like sepals of Zvanthis hiemalis, the term 
‘“sepal” being used for the yellow petals ; whilst, 
forsooth, the nectaries within were honoured with the 
name of petals! These nectaries are, unless I am 
much mistaken, homologous with the scales at the 
base of the petals of Ranunculus bulbosus, the only 
difference being that in this case the nectaries are 
united with the petals, in the Eranthis they are free. 


Fig. 116.—Remarkable specimen of Tway-blade. 


ascribe such a departure from the normal type of the 
plant to reversion or otherwise, but we should be glad 
to hear if any of our readers have come across similar 
specimens. 


PRACTICAL BOTANICAL QUERIES.—Will some 
correspondent kindly answer the following questions 
in ScrENCE-Gossip?—(1) Can Botanical Paper that 
has been used for drying plants be used a second 
time ? (2) I find it noted in your book of ‘‘ Notes on 
Collecting and Preserving,” ihat a weak solution of 
alum painted on the flowers will preserve their colour. 
About what strength should the solution of alum be, 
and should the flowers be painted before putting in 
the press?—Z. P. 


MORPHOLOGICAL NOTES ON SOME OF THE 
RANUNCULACE@.—After a careful examination of 
several of the common genera of Ranunculacex, I 
cannot help thinking that botanists have made a 


If this opinion should prove correct, the Hel/eborus 
niger would have to be considered as without a 
corolla ; for its nectaries are evidently the homologues 
of those of the Eranthis. While on this subject, I 
would suggest that the term ‘‘involucre” should be 
used simply of agglomerations of bracts, such as we 
find in the Asteraceze (Compositz); and that the 
term bract should be restricted to those leaves from 
the axils of which the floral branch theoretically 
springs. Then, if I am wrong in terming the leafy 
appendages of the scape of the Eranthis sepals, it 
would be necessary to invent some new term to 
describe them. Now that the Aquilegia is in flower, 
I should like to call attention to a remarkable feature 
init. In the centre of the flower, within the stamens 
and surrounding the carpels, exists a whorl of ten, 
representing, I suppose, two whorls of five, minute 
colourless leaves ; for leaves they must be, morpho- 
logically speaking, though they are too small and 


HARDWICKE S SCITENCE-GOSSTP. 


189 


hidden to discharge the functions of ordinary leaves. 
What their use can be, I cannot guess; and if they 
are simply modified or degenerate stamens, their 
position is notable, since it is amongst the outside 
stamens one is accustomed to find such, as in the 
peony, rose, water-lily, etc. I should be grateful if 
any reader of ScIENCE-GossipP could throw some 
light on this subject.—H. St. A. Alder, Gt. Malvern. 


GEOLOGY. 


THE RELATION OF GEOLOGY TO ARCHZOLOGY. 
—At the Annual Summer Excursion of the Suffolk 
Institute of Archzology and Natural History, Dr. 
J. E. Taylor, Ed. ‘*S.-G.” (hon. member), delivered 
an address on this interesting and original subject, 
dealing chiefly with the churches of Suffolk and 
Norfolk. He pointed out that in the Australian 
colonies we might see the evolution of church archi- 
tecture condensed into little more than a quarter of a 
century, just as a red deer annually reproduced in the 
increasing number of its tines the evolution of its race. 
Tn an Australian bush-town the first church would 
be built of wood, as was the case with nearly all 
the Saxon churches in this country. In a few years 
it would have a roof of corrugated iron, then would 
come the stone period, replacing the original structure, 
and perhaps on the identical spot, owing to its having 
been consecrated. Our early churches up to shortly 
before the Norman period were built chiefly of wood. 
England was a forest-clad country, and wood must 
have been the chief quarry, except in freestone and 
limestone districts. Although East Anglia was one 
of the early settled districts, there must have been 
considerable difficulty in conveying large quantities 
of stone inland. Hence we find that in the districts 
of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, where the sub-soils 
were boulder clay, the stones for church building 
were collected on the spot, turned up by the plough 
or picked off the ground. The external form of 
tower, into which they could be most easily worked, 


would be a round tower, and there were more round | 


tower churches in Suffolk and Norfolk than all the 
rest of England put together. A modification of 
these occurred later on, when the upper part was 
made octagonal, each angle being strengthened by 
freestone. The highly artistic stone-work of the 
later Norman period, as well as that of the Early 
English and Decorated styles, were possible, because 
the Oolitic limestone used for that purpose was 
worked almost as easily as cheese, when freshly 
quarried. - This was brought over chiefly from Caen, 
in Normandy, for use in the eastern parts of East 
Anglia. Further west we got more Barnack stone, 
from the village of that name, in Northamptonshire. 
The Abbey of Bury St. Edmund’s, which was origin- 
ally a huge wooden structure, was rebuilt chiefly of 
this stone, King William foregoing his tolls on this 


occasion. It was singular how certain kinds of 
stone had come to be used for special church-work. 
Thus the fonts, altar slabs, etc., were frequently 
formed of Purbeck marble, a fresh-water limestone, 
crowded with fossil shells, only found at Purbeck. 
During that great church-building epoch, known as 
the Perpendicular period, the outlying buttresses, 
clerestoried windows, and other elaborate work 
demanded a greater use of Oolitic freestone, and this 
was probably the reason that at the time it was most 
abundantly used. The later Perpendicular and 
Decorated churches in districts where the black flints 
could be obtained directly from the chalk allowed 
of those flints being faced and squared, and this led 
to the lovely flint and panel-work seen at its best 
perfection at Norwich, both in ecclesiastical, muni- 
cipal, and other buildings. It would have been 
impossible for the shattered flints obtained from the 
boulder clay, where they had originally been deposited 
by ice-action, to have been worked in this manner. 
Accordingly we find the latter used in all churches 
down to the Tudor period, just as they were found, so 
that our East Anglian churches were capital geological 
museums, containing stones, chiefly: flint, from all 
the geological formations between here and, Scotland. 
The early Romans availed themselves of those masses 
of argillaceous carbonate of lime, which occur in the 
London clay and are know as Septaria. The Roman 
wall at Colchester is built chiefly of them, so is the 
Keep at Orford Castle, and many of the high-towered 
churches along the Suffoik and Essex coast have this 
stone in ;their composition, especially when the 
London clay happens to crop out in the district. 
These Septarian stones are common along the south- 
ern parts of the Suffolk coast. The West Rocks off 
Harwich are formed of them. Dr. Taylor also re- 
ferred to the Carstone churches in West Norfolk, 
and to the hard Coraline limestone which only | 
occurs in the neighbourhood of Orford, which must 
have affected church architecture ; and how hard put 
to it the church builders must have been, in a district 
where no natural quarries are found, to obtain the 
materials wherewith to build the grey old churches of 
our towns and villages, of which East Anglia can 
boast to possess the most splendid and well pre- 
served. 


THE RED MOUNTAINS OF SUTHERLAND.—On 
perusing one of the scientific journals for this month, 
a very satisfactory bit of information was learnt by me 
for the first time. It seems that in No. 297 of 
SCIENCE-GOssIP (September 1889), in the course of 
an article on the geology of Sutherland, I suggested 
the idea that the so-called Cambrian rocks of that 
county were really of igneous or volcanic origin, ze. 
that they occupied a lower position than the Cambrian 
formation which is supposed (I believe wrongly) to 
be composed of metamorphosed marine sediments. 
Now it is a fact that the officers of H.M. Geological, 


190 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Survey have in the summer of 1891 actually proved 
that the Torridon sandstone—the equivalent of the 
strata which form the red mountains of Sutherland— 
is really of a pre-Cambrian age. These pre-Cambrian 
rocks are universally allowed to be of a volcanic origin ; 
so that my original contention seems now established. 
The history of the stratigraphical determination of 
these Sutherland pre-Cambrians is rather amusing. 
Nicol and the eloquent rhetorician, Hugh Miller, 
called them Devonian. Murchison soon afterwards 
referred them to the Cambrian system ; while now 
from the summer of 1891, the Survey, after much 
bungling, mathematical scratching, and a sort of 
trembling hesitancy on the part of that splendid 
thetorician, Sir A. Geikie, have at last definitely 
assigned the position to which anybody not too 
densely stupid, would have immediately relegated 
them at first sight. It seems, however, that Professor 
Judd has uniformly regarded them as pre-Cambrian, 
an opinion which I had never heard of till this 
month, and one which, for aught I know, has sub- 
jected that scientist to a fierce hurricane of inimitable 
rhetoric from the matchless pen of his inveterate 
opponent in the various interesting geological pro- 
blems anent the north-west highlands.—Dr, P. Q. 
Keegan. 


NOTES AND QUERIES. 


A POUGHKEEPSIE inventor, Mr. Mulrey, has 
devised an ice locomotive, or, rather, a steam engine 
attachment for the ice-boat, which will make it 
independent of the wind. The boat he uses is of the 
ordinary ice-boat form, is provided with a small 
boiler carrying 250 Ib. pressure of steam, and a small 
engine working on a pair of cogged drivers. Some 
experiments with this vehicle made on the Hudson 
river just before the breaking up of the ice were 
- fairly successful. 


™ AN eminent Prussian ornithologist, who has been 
making a series of curious experiments, states that 
cayenne pepper in the food of canary birds is known 
to change their colour slowly from yellow to red. In 
addition to a colouring substance, this pepper is found 
to contain an irritating principle and an oily matter, 
and as extraction of the two latter principles removes 
the effect upon the plumage of birds, and the sub- 
sequent addition of olive oil restores it, the oily part 
of the pepper is supposed to be the necessary vehicle 
of the colour. Wholly white hens were coloured by 
the pepper food. These hens lay eggs with a very 
bright red yolk, and themsclves possess the remark- 
able property of fore-shadowing a change in the 
temperature by a decided change of tint. When fed 
with alkanet root the birds become violet red in 
colour. 


A GRoUND UPHEAVAL.—I was witness lately 
of what to me was a phenomenal sight, and I 
should be interested to know whether any readers of 
ScIENCE-GossIP have had a similar experience. I 
was spending Sunday, June 19th, 1892, at a friend’s 
house in Ipswich, and at about a quarter to six p.m. 
a short and violent thunderstorm commenced. There 


was a loud clap of thunder, followed almost imme- 
diately by vivid lightning, and then a deluge of rain. 
Suddenly my friend exclaimed, ‘‘Do look at the 
lawn!” and lo and behold from the level turf a 
mound measuring 42% inches by 35 across had risen 
to a height of about 8 inches. We called the rest of 
the household to see it, and as we watched, two 
small jets of water burst from one side. Anxious to 
examine the mound closer, I waded out despite the 
rain, and found on touching it that it had all the 
elasticity of an indiarubber ball, and that by pressing 
it I could squeeze the water out of one part into 
another. The rain soon ceasing, the upheaval began 
to subside, and took rather more than a quarter-of- 
an-hour to sink to its proper level, the turf then 
wearing a wrinkled appearance, as though it had 
been much stretched. I confess to a certain dis- 
appointment when I afterwards learnt that the cause 
was not ertirely natural, as there was a pipe under- 
neath connected with the roof of the house, and 
which was intended to carry off the water, that it 
might there sink into the ground. Nevertheless, the 
phenomenon was instructive to me as illustrating the 
probable origin of many inequalities on the earth’s 
surface which are not due to volcanic action. I hope 
that the matter-of-fact termination .to the story will 
not make it entirely devoid of interest.—WVina F. 
Layard. 


A FATAL Fiy-StTinG.—The sad accident to Mr. 
Frank J. Woods, is one of rare occurrence, although 
the conditions for it are only too prevalent. Mr. 
Woods died, after about ten days’ illness, from 
erysipelas and septicaemia supervening on a sting on 
the lip inflicted by a gadfly. It was conjectured that 
the insect must have been in contact with a diseased 
animal; but the transference of putrescent material 
from any source may have been made by the gadfly 
to the wound it inflicted on a highly vascular part. 
The only thing to be done under such circumstances 
is to subject the wounded part to powerful suction ; 
and in the case of a bite on the lip this may be done 
fairly effectively by the individual himself, for only in 
this way is it at all possible to extract the poisonous 
material. 


ELECTRICITY veysws CATERPILLARS. — Edison 
originated electrocution on a practical scale when 
he waged successful war on cockroaches. We are 
greater believers in the humanity of electricity as 
a destroying agent when thus applied than when 
used punitively for man. We now hear that Edison’s 
original device has been greatly improved upon, and 
applied to prevent caterpillars from’ climbing up trees. 
Alternate wires of copper and zinc are run around 
the trunk of the tree, at a distance of about half an 
inch apart. The casual caterpillar begins to mount 
the trunk of the tree, and unlimbers himself with the 
confidence and vigour born of an impending feast. 
Presently he reaches the copper wire, pokes his nose 
over it, and lets another kink out of his backbone. 
Half an inch further up his front feet strike the zinc, 
the circuit is completed, and the unfortunate larva is 
a martyr to science. 


LANDSCAPE SCENERY.—When on the top ot 
our Breconshire Beacons a short time ago, a friend 
called my attention to the fact that the colours and 
outline of the distant landscape were far more vivid 
and distinct if looked at with the head on one side 
than in the ordinary way, I have since then observed 
the same effect elsewhere, and shall be glad if any of 
your readers can explain why this is so.—C. Henry 
James. 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSTP. 


IQI 


THE ORIGIN OF METAL VEINS.—Some very 
remarkable observations have been made by Dr. von 
Steeruwitz, chief of the western division of the Texas 
Geological Survey, on the genesis of ore deposits. 
Miniature veins of gold, silver, copper, lead, and other 
metals, with beautifully-formed agates, are the result of 
his experiments, which seem to go far to proving that 
the agency concerned in filling the fissures known as 
mineral veins was seldom fire, but hot solutions, 
from which, by the help of galvanic currents under 
enormous pressure, the contents of the veins were 
deposited. The refiltration of mineral matter into 
the neighbouring rocks was in most eases due, he 
thinks, to a process of ‘‘leaching.” In the Arizona 
School of Mines similar experiments are being made 
by Mr. Comstock, with results which may not only 
modify many of our old notions, but actually lead to 
the artificial production of the metals. 


FOUND, growing plentifully and in full flower, 
Cynoglossum officinale on June 24, on the sea-shore 
at Shoreham, near Brighton. Plants very strong and 
over two feet in height. 


SPARROWS ATTACKING GOLDFINCHES.—Colonel 
Ward, Copdock, Ipswich, writes that, ‘* until recently 
he had a nest of young goldfinches in an ilex-tree. 
One afternoon, hearing a great commotion, he looked 
up, and saw a cock and hen sparrow ‘murdering the 
innocents.’ They pulled one young goldfinch out of 
the nest, and threw it down, and probably killed the 
others, as the hen sparrow was observed pecking 
viciously at them. The parent goldfinches were 
in great distress, but did not attempt to drive the 
marauders away, and next morning neither sparrows 
nor goldfinches were there.” 


FEATHERED CREATURES.—Feathered things seem 
far more devoted to their young than furred ones. 
The wiles of many birds to lure the marauder from 
the nest are familiar to every one. What an agony 
they are in! Some of the smaller kinds will all but 
allow themselves to be caught, and the larger ones 
will face tremendous odds, and win by sheer desperate 
fury. The old hen is the best example—a wonderful 
mother though a terrible fool. She will beat off 
anything smaller than a pig or a fox. But it is not 
fair to give her ducks to rear, especially wild ducks. 
Gamekeepers have a senseless trick of taking the 
eggs from a wild duck’s nest and setting them under 
a hen, with the object of attaching the birds to the 
place. How is a hen to look after young wild ducks ? 
I remember a nest of ten being handed over in this 
way to a foster-mother. She hatched them splen- 
didly, and fussed over them as if they were her own ; 
but she could not protect them. One day six dis- 
appeared, and a few nights afterwards the rest. We 
could not make out what had become of them, until 
one day we saw a litter of stoats running down the 
lawn. The wretches swim splendidly, and nothing 
would be easier than to get the ducklings on the pond, 
while the old hen clucked helplessly on the bank.— 
Manchester City News. 


NOTES ON THE Cuck00.—The cuckoo is generally 
heard here about the 20th of April ; this year he has 
fayoured us more than usual with his two-syllable 
song; he can be heard nearly all day from early 
morn till late at night, and he so reminds me of my 
first experience with the young cuckoo. Many years 
ago, 1, in company with two other boys found a 
young cuckoo ina hedge-sparrow’s nest, Being the 
first that I had seen I had a great desire to see if I 
could bring it up in a cage; but I found the same 


feeling was shared by each of us. The cuckoo was too 
young to take then: the next question to decide was, 
who should have it when it was ready? I found I 
was the less likely to have it by fair means, so I 
began to consider how I could get it by other 
means. The next day I might have been seen by the 
cuckoo nest, planning some scheme to make sure of 
having it when it was ready. The nest with the 
cuckoo in was in a hedge about four feet from the 
ground ; I thought, if I take the bird and nest a few 
yards further along the hedge, and place it in the 
grass at the bottom of the hedge the sparrow will be 
sure to find it, and I shall make sure of my cuckoo. 
I began at once to put my plan into practice, thrust 
my hand into the hedge to take out the nest and 
bird ; but, lo! I managed to get the bird all right, but 
the nest was left in pieces, scattered in the hedge. 
What is to be done now? was the next thought ; can I 
make a cuckoo’s nest? surely they are not very 
particular as they cannot make a nest themselves. I 
took some of the coarse grass from the bottom of the 
hedge, and bound it up with a piece of string, made 
a depression in it and the cuckoo nest was made. 
Since then I have heard of a man who betted a wager 
that he could make a magpie nest ; but he lost the 
wager, it was decided against him that after all it was 
not a magpie nest. However, I put the cuckoo in 
the new nest, placed it in the grass at the bottom of 
the hedge, and it was brought up by the sparrow as 
though nothing had happened. That was my first 
experience with the cuckoo, but not the last, Since 
that time I have found three young cuckoos in a 
single day, and in all sorts of odd places. I have 
found one in a grape-vine trained to a wall, on the 
cornice over a window-head, on a porch over a door- 
way, in a hole in a bank, in heaps of stones; and I 
once found one in a stack of bricks, which left no 
doubt as to how the egg was placed there but by the 
cuckoo’s beak, neither could the young cuckoo 
escape till the bricks were moved. This year I have 
been fortunate enough to see two clutches of hedge- 
sparrow’s eggs, with a cuckoo’s egg among them. 
The only nests that I have found them in are nests of 
the hedge-sparrow, pied wagtail, and robin.—Z. 
Blaby, Brackley, North Hants. 


FLORAL MONSTROSITIES.—The flower of fuchsia 
frequently exhibits a peculiar departure from the nor- 
mal form. Two of the petals are missing, but the two 
stamens—next to the place where the petals should 
have been—have miniature coloured petals 2t their 
apices, and at the same time appear to retain their 
anthers, still covered with pollen.—fvancis Brent, 
Tothill Avenue, Plymouth. 


A NEsT oF WHITE BLACKBIRDS.—Ornithologists 
will be interested in the fact that Mr. Charles Wood, 
chemist, Harleston, Suffolk, has in his possession a 
nest of white blackbirds (two cocks and one hen 
bird), which he purchased from a labourer for five 
pounds. ‘The nest was in a lane not half a mile from 
Mr. Wood’s premises. The trio have now been out 
of the nest three weeks, and are healthy and lively ; 
ney are perfectly white, with pink eyes and yellow 
beaks. 


NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 


To CORRESPONDENTS AND ExcHANGERS.—As we now 
publish Scrence-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. 


we 


192 HARDWICKE’ S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


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 DiscuisED 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. 


Spectra, Note.—There is a tendency on the part of some 
exchangers to send more than one per month. We only allow 
this in the case of writers of papers. 


To our RECENT ExCHANGERS.—Weare willing to be helpful 
to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow dzs- 
guised Exchanges like those which frequently come to us 
to appear unless as advertisements. 


J. B. Wricut.—Your plant is the common goat’s beard 
( Tragopogon pratensis), one of our commonest wild flowers. 

F, G. Binc.—The sea-weed sent is covered not with ‘‘ minute 
egg-cases,” but with the empty cells of a common Bryozoan 
(Membranipora membranacea). See Taylor's “‘ Half-hours at 
the Sea-side,” for illustration. 

R. W. G.—You had best inquire of W. Harcourt Bath, Esq., 
The Woodlands, Ladywood Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, 
respecting his various works on Dragon-flies, because in 
England he is our chief authority on this lately sought out 
department of Entomology. 

M. A. IpLe.—Any bookseller will supply you With a half- 
crown volume on the subject you require, and will give you the 
necessary instruction. 

Equus.—You can get from the publishers of Sowerby’s 
Botany (Messrs. George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent 
Garden) any volume you like. Write to them. 

D. E. F. (Barbados). —The Scientific Circulars and 
Catalogues issued by Messrs. Dulau, 37 Soho Square, London, 
and Messrs Wesley & Sons, Essex Street, Strand, will afford 
you all the information you require. fl 

J. R. (Hong-Kong).—Address Mr. William P. Simmons, 
Hon. Sec. Microscopical Society, 6 Hastings Street, Calcutta. 

J. B. K1nc.—You could hardly do better than present a copy 
of dear old Kingsley’s ‘‘ Glaucus ” to.your son; but get a first 
edition, if possible. 

K. G.—Most sea-side railway libraries are now supplied with 
good and cheap books, relating to the popular Zoology, Botany, 
Geology, etc., of the locality. 

E, Pratt AND OTHERS.—The question of publishing a com- 
plete up-to-date General Index of “Science-Gossip” has been 
repeatediy raised. With the publishers it is, and must be, a 
commercial question; but the Editor and his friends of the 
last twenty-one years know there is no such Natural History 
Cyclopedia’ in the world as the volumes of ScrENcE-GossiP 
from the commencement. 


EXCHANGES. 


WaAnTED, marine or land shells (foreign preferred), good 
fossils, or Northumberland tokens. Can offer in exchange 
foreign stamps.—J. S. Wood, Wood's Buildings, Walker Gate, 
Northumberland. - 

WANTED, insect parasites on man or domestic animals, 
mounted or unmounted. Good exchange given in brilliant 
insects, or parts of insects.—S. L. Mosley, Beaumont Park 
Museum, Huddersfield. : : 

Unique collection of boulder clay (upper glacial drift), 
derived fossils and rock fragments—nearly seventy named 
fossils—for disposal. Exchange for first-class micro. apparatus, 
or offers. List sent.—Fisher, The College, Gildersome, Leeds. 

Wantep, Unio pictorum, Limnea auricularia, Cyclostoma 
elegans, Dreissena polymorpha, many others from different 
localities, also minerals and Silurian fossils. Good exchange 
in shells. Send lists to—H. D., 4 Boulton Road, West 
Bromwich. . 

WantTED, fertile and vegetative spikes of all the species of 
equisetum, also botanic micro. slides, in exchange for photo- 
micrographs, mounted sections, volyox, etc.—T. B., Con- 
servative Club, Hinckley. i : 

Woutp be pleased to correspond with microscopists inte- 
rested in freshwater algze, with a view to exchange and mutual 
help.—J. Collins, 147 Muntz Street, Birmingham. 

WouULD some collector kindly gather me twenty-four good 
specimens each of Lactuca virosa and Cicuta virosa for 
drying? Will give good British or foreign species in exchange. 
—A. E. Lomax, 56 Vauxhall Road, Liverpool. 

OFFERED, sets and eggs of peregrine, chough, s. hawk, 
dipper, stonechat, goldcrest, coal-tit, long-tailed tit, creeper, 
rock pipit, corn bunting, reed bunting, twite, hooded crow, 
magpie, nightjar, rock dove, pheasant, ringed plover, oyster- 
catcher, c. sandpiper, snipe, landrail, mute swan, tufted duck, 


red-breasted merganser, little grebe, gannet, cormorant, shag, 
black guillemot, ringed guillemot, razorbill (white), puffin, 
swift tern, noddy, herring gull, kittiwake, Manx shearwater, 
storm petrel, and nests with small eggs. Wanted, complete 
clutches, equally good; small exchanges declined.—R. J. 
Ussher, Cappagh, Lismore, Ireland. 

SIMPLEX typewriter, nearly new, cost ros. 6d. ; will exchange 
for a few good slides, geological or entomological preferred.— 
F. G. Bing, 16 Lower Coombe Street, Croydon. 

WanTED, good secondhand microscope. Offered, shells, 
minerals, fossils, microscopic objects and material, Haldon 
Greensand fossils, or state wants in exchange.—T. E. Sclater, 
Maciel History Stores, 43 Northumberland Place, Teign- 
mouth. 

Dupiicates of Paludina contecta, Bythinia Leachit 
Lymnea glutinosa, Planorbis nautileus, and numerous others, 
in exchange for shells not in collection, especially varieties of 
the helices, Lists to Tom Brown, 237 Beverley Road, Hull. 

DupricatEs.—Side-blown eggs (with data) of noddy and 
sooty terns, mute swan, Manx shearwater, tits, buntings, moor- 
hen, scopolis sooty tern, and others. Wanted, clutches of 
many sorts, with data.x—F. W. Paple, 62 Waterloo Street, 
Bolton. 

Exotic BuTTERFLIES: many fine and rare species in dupli- 
cate; lists exchanged. Also wings of Morphos Menelaus, 
Amathonte, Ega, Urania fulgens, Papilio Paris, etc., for 
the microscope.—J. C. Hudson, Railway terrace, Cross Lane, 
near Manchester. 

Drosera rotundifolia, offered six healthy plants in exchange 
for two well-mounted micro slides, diatoms preferred, or offers. 
—G. Barker, 24 Avenue Villas, Cricklewood, N.W. 

FORAMINIFEROUS material wanted in exchange for slides of 
named species, dredgings or miscellaneous slides; can furnish 
duplicates of over fifty named varieties, some of them rare.— 
F. S. Morton, 158 Cumberland Street, Portland, Maine, U.S.A. 

What offers for pathological and physiological animal tissue, 
including sections from human embryo, also twelve dozen 
slides, and a photomicrographic camera, amateur make, but 
efficient. Wanted, high-power objective and micro. accessories. 
—F. T., 82 High Street, Gosport, Hants. 

OFFERED, SCIENCE-GossiP for 1887 and to September 1882, 
and Power's ‘‘ Physiology” second edition in good order. 
Wanted micro. dissecting scissors, scalpel, etc., would also like 
to correspond with any beginner in microscopical work.—D. 
I. Seale, Harmoney Hall Road, Barbados. 

“MAGAZINE OF NATURAL History,” thirteen vols. half 
calf, conducted by Loudon and Charlesworth. Hooker’s 
“Student’s Flora Naturalist” vol. v. in exchange for other 
books or offers.—Rev. W. W. Flemyng, Clonegam Rectory, 
Portlaw, co. Waterford. 

Unio margaritifer in exchange for plants, lepidoptera, or 
offers.—Rev. W. W. Flemyng, Clonegam Rectory, Portlaw, 
co. Waterford. 

OFFERED, specimens of Auriferous quartz, and _ other 
minerals. Wanted foreign shells not in collection.—W. J 
Jones, junior, 27 Mayton Street, Holloway, London, N. 


BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE. 


“Marine shells of South Africa,” by G. B. Sowerby F.L.S. 
F.Z.S. (London: Sowerby)—‘‘ Proceedings of the Newport 
Natural History Society’? (Newport, printed for the Society 
by the Daily News job print)—‘‘ The Entomologist’s Record” 
(London: Elliot Stock)—‘ The Celestial Symphony,” by 
Augustus R. Schutz (Worthing: G. D. S. Kirshaw)—‘‘ The 
Portland Catalogue of Marine Plants,” (Portland Society of 
Natural History, Portland, Maine, U.S.A.)—‘* Technics.” — 
“Journal of Conchology,” No. 2, Vol. vii. (Leeds: Taylor 
Brothers, Sovereign Street.)—‘‘ The International Journal of 
Microscopy and Natural Science,” Vol. ii. (London: Bailliere, 
Tindall & Cox.)—‘‘ Journal and Proceedings of the Royal 
Society of New South Wales,” (Sydney: published by the 
Society, 5, Elizabeth Street, North; London: Kegan Paul, 
Trench, ‘Iriibner & Co. Limited.)—‘‘ Proposal for a National 
Photographic Record and Survey,” by W. Jerome Harrison, 
F.G.S. (London: Harrison and Sons.)—‘‘The Botanical 
Gazette” (Bloomington, Indiana.)—‘‘ Natural Science ” 
(London and New York: Macmillan & Co.)—‘‘The Gentle- 
man’s Magazine,” (Chatto & Windus.)—‘“‘ The Entémologist,”’ 
(London: West, Newman & Co.)—‘‘ Transactions of the 
County of Middlesex Natural History and Science Society,” 
“The Annals and Magazine of Natural History” (London: 
Taylor & Francis), etc., etc. 


CoMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED UP TO THE 12TH ULT. FROM: 
E. A. M.—Major-General J. R. O.—R. W.—A. R. S.— 
J. B. W.—W. H. B,—G. W. R.—C. H. J.—T. L.—N. E. A.— 
TY. V. H—G. B.—M. C.—H. B.—J. S. W—S. L. M.— 
A. E. L.—H. E. G.—H. St. A .A.—E. P.—J. C.—A. E. B.— 
F. H. P.C.—A. E. L.—T. B.—R. J. W.—T. E.S.—F. G. B.— 
F. J.G.—T. B.—H. D.—C, R. F.—Dr. L, E. K,—T. W. P.— 
E, W. W. B.—etc., etc. 


A BOTANICAL EXCURSION IN SWITZERLAND. 


Ye \ 
he 


Ne AVING read lately 


in a back number 
(July, 1888) of 
your paper, an 
article on a ‘‘ Bo- 
tanical Excursion 
in Switzerland,” 
extending from Bex 
to Martigny and up 
the Rhone valley, 
I thought it would 
interest some of 
your readers to 
hear about the flora 
in the Zermatt 
valley, one of the 
spur valleys of the 
Rhone. In the 
article referred to 
above, the writer 
says he “‘looked longingly up the valley leading 
right and left to Zermatt and Saas,” but was obliged 
to retrace his steps. 

Our botanical excursion was taken in August, and 
the route selected from Thun was the one over the 
Gemmi pass to Visp, then up the Zermatt valley to 
a resting-place on the Riffel Alp. j 

I think hardly any route in Switzerland better 
illustrates the marvellous variety of the flora, as it 
includes such great variations of altitudeand tempera- 
ture—the almost sub-tropical heat of the Rhone 
valley contrasting with the cold of the Gemmi and 
Riffel Alp, both 3000 feet high. Consequently we 
had such a good opportunity of noticing the various 
zones of vegetation. 

In ascending the Gemmi pass from Kandersteg these 
are strikingly illustrated. All round the little hotel 
at Kandersteg are rich meadows of luscious grass ; here 
we found quantities of Chrysanthemum montanum, 
many varieties of Campanula, Scabiosa, Clastria, and 
the beautiful mauve Colchicum alpinum, besides a 
specimen of Lilium martagon. When a little way up 

No. 333-—SEPTEMBER 1892, 


the steep zigzag, among the pines, we came upon 
Arnica montana, its brilliant yellow flowers contrast- 
ing well with the blue of the Aconitum napellus, 
Helianthemum, Dianthus sylvestris, Then, after 
toiling up a little higher, our old friends the Gentians 
began to appear, along with the alpine Rhododen- 
dron or Alpenrose, this latter looking a little bit 
faded in the hot August sunshine. In this Gentian 
zone the Violas also abounded, the delicate scented 
yellow with the more showy-looking purple; also 
Cytisus alpinus. By this time we were getting 
beyond the pine-trees, the air felt distinctly cooler 
and more bracing, we were coming to the bare and 
rocky part of the pass, and also to a complete change 
in the character of the flora. We had lost the 
luxuriant vegetation of the valley : there were abso- 
lutely no trees, and we were beginning to fear our 
walk would lack interest from a botanical point of 
view, when, looking upon the masses of rock, we 
found we had reached the region of the glacier 
flowers, for in every crevice, growing with the 
scantiest amount of earth, in among the rocks were 
the tiny little flowers that constitute the chief charm 
of Swiss botany. There were masses of the pink 
Androsace and various sorts of Sedum. Here also we 
gathered Dryas octopetala, Linaria alpina, Artemisia 
glacialis, Erinus alpinus, and Aster alpinus. Besides 
these, the lovely blue of the tiny star-gentian and the 
pale blue of the myosotis gave a wealth of colouring 
that needs to be seen in order to be understood. 

This last zone of flowers we found on the summit 
of the Gemmi (8000) growing in more or less pro- 
fusion, but we had to wait till we reached Zermatt 
before we found the special flower of the mountaineer, 
viz., the Edelweiss, or Guaphalium leontopodium- 
After crossing the Gemmi pass we hastened on to 
Zermatt, determining to make that our headquarters, 
haying heard so much in praise of the botany there. 
We stayed at the Riffel Alp hotel, on the Riffel, 
at a height of nearly 8000 feet, commanding mag- 
nificent views of the Matterhorn, Zermatt valley, and 
Bernese Oberland. This makes a capital standing- 

K 


194 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


point for all sorts of excursions. Going down into 
Zermatt, to the gorges ,of the Gorner, or up the 
Smutt valley, we found a wealth of flowers. All 
those already mentioned as having been found on the 
lower slopes of the Gemmi, and, in addition, fine 
specimens of Gaudin’s gentian found by the Gorner 
gorge, Trifolium alpinum, Sisymbrium, various kinds 
of Saxifrage, Parnassia palustris, Epilobium, /in- 
guicula alpina, etc. If one wishes more particularly 
the glacier flowers, it is possible in an easy excursion 
from the Riffel to obtain any quantities of Edelweiss 
and all kindred flowers of the high alps. The best 
place is on the farther side of the Findelen glacier. 
We found this a most delightful excursion. The 
Findelen glacier can be reached in from one to two 
hours from the Riffel hotel. It is necessary to cross 
the glacier in order to reach the desired spot, but this 
can be easily accomplished if one is only provided with 
nailed boots. Arrived on the other side, only a little 
climbing is necessary before reaching a perfect field 
of Edelweiss, covering the mountain side, with its 
white velvety flowers, making a fine contrast to the 
yellow Helianthemum and Arnica and the various 
shades of purple of the Aster alpinus and the pink of 
the Dianthus. Androsace and Sedum are covering 
all the rocks, while the blue of the Gentians and 
Myosotis complete the picture. We completed this ex- 
cursion by returning byanother route skirting the side 
of the glacier, down by rich alpine pastures full of all 
sorts of meadow flowers, then crossing a rustic bridge 
back through the pine woods to the Riffel. 

In conclusion, I would just say that to preserve 
our specimens we simply used one of the ordinary 
flower-presses to be had in every Swiss town, con- 
sisting of two flat pieces of wood with thick folds of 
blotting-paper between, and a strap to fasten the 
whole firmly together. This we always took with 
us, so were able to press the flowers as soon as 
gathered, and we found that, with very few excep- 
tions, they have retained their beauty and colour. 


THE EARTHWORMS OF MIDDLESEX. 


By the Rev. HILDERIC FRIEND, F.L.S., Author 
of ‘* Flowers and Flower-Lore,” etc. 


HE county which contains the greatest city in 

the world, and has become famous in a great 
variety of ways, has hitherto been almost totally 
ignored by the student, whose special work it is to 
enlighten the world. respecting those lowly, but 
invaluable creatures, whose ways Darwin has: made 
familiar tous. The terrestrial annelids of Middlesex 
have never yet been tabulated, though many years 
ago one Dr. J. E. Gray made record of three species 
which he had found in the neighbourhood of 
Hammersmith. My own researches during a recent 
visit to the metropolis enabled me to study several 
examples which were full of interest, and by the 


courtesy of my correspondents I have yet more 
recently been able considerably to enlarge the list. 
Though I do not think the present report by any 
means does justice to the worm-fauna of Middlesex, 
I give it as the fullest contribution which could be 
made with our present knowledge, and in the hope 
that it may stimulate collectors in various parts of the 
country to send me further series of specimens for 
examination, in order that the important question of 
distribution may be better decided. 

When I was at Hornsey recently, a friend with 
whom I was staying promised to show me an excellent 
series of worms, among which the common earth- 
worm (Lambricus terrestris, L.) was to be specially 
noticeable. ‘* What will you say (I asked), if the 
earthworm proves to be conspicuous by its absence?” 
The idea was ridiculous, yet curiously enough, 
though no fewer than seven well-marked species 
were submitted to me, not a solitary example of 
the true earthworm was to be found amongst 
them! ‘I thought the earthworm was ubiquitous,” 
exclaimed by friend. So thought everybody else, 
but then a more careful study of the science has 
shown us that it is wrong to jump at conclusions. 
“But is the common earthworm unknown in 
Middlesex?” it will be asked. Fortunately I have 
been able to obtain two specimens from that county, 
one in Regent’s Park, and one from near Pinner, 
sent me by Miss Edwards, of Haydon Hall, Eastcote. 
It is true that Dr. Gray records it for Hammersmith, 
but then we have not the slightest evidence that it was 
the genuine creature; on the contrary there are 
indications that it was another species of worm to be’ 
named by-and-by, a worm which abounds in 
Middlesex, and has constantly been mistaken by 
amateurs, not to say more pretentious individuals, 
for the common earthworm. Now the true typical 
earthworm, as understood in the light of recent 
research, has a well-marked girdle about the first 
quarter of the body, which begins on the 32nd and 
ends on the 37th ring. This girdle is an indication 
that the worm is reaching years of discretion, or 
is of a marriageable age, and must not be supposed 
to result from the joining together of two portions 
when they have been severed by the gardener’s 
spade. 

Next to the earthworm in point of size comes the 
ruddy worm (Z. rubescens, Friend), if we confine our 
attention for the nonce to this genus. It was quite 
unknown to science till last year,* when I found it in 
Yorkshire. It was next found among the Hornsey 
gathering already referred to, one solitary specimen 
being observed, A further solitary specimen I found 
at the same time on the Common at Tunbridge 
Wells, while another has reached me from Avon- 


* Since the above was sent to press, Dr. Rosa of Turin has 
called my attention to the fact that this worm corresponds 
with a worm partially described years ago as L. festivus, 
Dugés. For a full account see ‘‘ Nature,” June 16th, 1892. 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 


195 


mouth in Gloucestershire. In Sussex and Yorkshire 
it occurs plentifully, though locally, so that its dis- 
tribution is wide, though at present it appears to be 
unknown to any other helminthologist either at home 
or abroad. The girdle covers segments 34-39. In 
this respect the worm is incapable of being confused 
with any other species, as in every other British 
worm the girdle begins on some segment anterior to 
the 34th. 

Thus in the red worm (Z. rxbellus, Hoffmeister), 
which is plentiful in this county, the girdle begins 
on segment 27. In every case the British members of 
this genus have six segments or rings included in the 
girdle, on the four innermost of which we find a band 
or swelling which bears the name of ‘udercula 
pubertatis, or the puberty band, as I prefer to call it in 
plain English. I have the red worm from Homsey 
and Pinner, and Dr. Gray may perhaps have intended 
this species when he included the lesser worm (Z. 
minor) in his list of species found at Hammersmith. 

One other worm belonging to this genus is found 
in England, and it too occurs in Middlesex, which 
county therefore has the honour of being one of the 
five which alone have yielded all four indigenous 
species of Lumbricus up till the present time. This 
is the purple worm (Z. furfureus, Eisen). It is 
much smaller than either of the foregoing, usually 
measuring two inches in length. The girdle extends 
from the 28th to the 33rd segment. Thus far I have 
only obtained it at Hornsey, but it is probably 
generally distributed throughout the district. 

Before I proceed to enumerate the members of the 
next genus it may be well to define and tabulate the 
foregoing. The genus Lumbricus differs from the 
next (A//olobophora), in several essential particulars. 
The colour of the Lumbrici is always red-brown, 
with an iridescent colour-play when the light falls 
onthe skin. The lip cuts the first ring completely 
intwo. There are always six segments in the girdle, 
over four of which the puberty band is stretched. 
The bristles or setze are always in couples, and the 
individual setze in each pair are always close together. 
This prepares us for 


A TABULAR VIEW OF THE GENUS LUMBRICUS. 
$< —— EE 


Segments occupied by the 
Oo 
ene { bos | No. of 
umbricus. | a. 50] Seg- 
Girdle,| Puber- faaee Papil 25 micas 
irdle.| “la. orsal| Papillz.| <4 
Pore. | 
i: 
are lj15,26)| _- 
z. Terrestris | 32-37 | 33-36 £ lie as)tl 5 ins. |150-200 
r. rere 
2. Rubescens' 34-39 | 35-38 & 15, 28 | 4ins. |130-150 
3. Rubellus. | 27-32 28-31 Z None | 3 ins. |1z0-140 
4- Purpureus | 28-33 | 29-42 $  |ro(or 11)| 2 ins. go-120 
} | 


The next genus is larger and more vague. In 
some of the species nearly all the characters of the 


foregoing genus appear, colour, arrangement of sete, 
position of pores and papilla, and the like, while in 
others the differences are patent to the most casual 
obseryer. It is here we have to place, in the fore- 
front, the long worm (AJJolobophora longa, Ude), 
which is everywhere confused with the true earth- 
worm, and erroneously recorded as such. At Hornsey 
itis abundant. Not less so is it in Regent’s Park 
and other similar pleasure-grounds in: London and 
the suburbs, and this is undoubtedly the species 
referred to by Darwin (‘* Vegetable Mould,” p. 14), as 
occurring so frequently on the walks in Hyde Park 
after heavy rain. Mr. Beddard informs me that he 
has usually employed this species as the type in his 
biological lectures. 

I place here, somewhat doubtfully another species 
(Allo. complanata, Duges). I do this on the strength 
of a paper which was read this year by a London 
biologist, though I have not been able thus far to, 
obtain an example of the worm for identification. 
As a nearly allied species has reached me, however, 
from the Essex side of London, as well as from 
Hertfordshire and Epping Forest, I have every 
reason to believe that further research will justify the 
inclusion of this species in the list of Middlesex 
worms. 

Of the presence of the Brandling (Allo. fatida, 
Savigny) there is no opportunity for doubt. © Dr. 
Gray found it at Hammersmith, Mr. Chaloner 
dug me up specimens in his garden at Hornsey, 
where, however. they were rather cultivated than 
indigenous, while a capital series has been sent me 
from Eastcote by Miss Edwards. This worm, once 
seen, will never be mistaken for any other. Its 
bands of russet and gold, its yellow fluid and fcetid 
smell, all combine to render it the most conspicuous 
of all our native worms. 

Nearly related to it, and almost equally favoured 
by the angler, is the gilt-tail (4//o. subrubicunda, 
Eisen). It loves a rich diet, greatly preferring the 
rich ooze of the river or the vegetable mould formed 
by decaying leaves or garden refuse. It is found near 
Pinner and at Hornsey, and will reward a little 
patient search in many other parts of the country. 
It is usually a rose-red or light ruddy-brown, with 
pale flesh under-surface, and the bristles in wide 
pairs, almost amounting to eight separate rows. 
Though I have not seen the green worm (4/0, 
chlorotica, Savigny), I have evidence of its occurrence 
in Middlesex, and with it I must place the turgid 
worm (Allo. turgida, Eisen), with which the list 
closes. This makes ten species in all, whereas at 
least a score occur in this country, and careful search 
would be sure to bring the county list up to some- 
thing like eighteen species, if not higher. The six 
species of Allolobophora enumerated fall into three 
groups, or couples, the first and second, third and 
fourth, fifth and sixth, being respectively nearly 
related to each other. The subjoined table will best 

K 2 


196 


HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSTIP. 


illustrate the points of difference and similarity 
between them, and will enable the student to identify 
such as he may discover in future. 


KNOWN MIDDLESEX ALLOLOBOPHORAS. 


Segments occupied by 
. Sete 
Species. : ee Wiret ausnged 
Girdle. la, | Dorsal 
cue Pore. 
x. Longa 28-35 | 32, 33,34| 1% { ge 
2. Complanata . | 28-37 28-37 as (eae 
p3: Foetida . 26-31 | 28, 29, 30 4 { Made 
4. Subrubicunda . | 26-32 | 28, 29, 30 é { eee 
5. Chlorotica . «| 29-37 | 31, 33, 35 + { Close 
6. Turgida . . .| 28-34] 31, 33 5 { pigee 


a 


GENERAL CHARACTERS. 


1. Large, dark sienna brown. Generally mistaken for Z. 
terrestris. 

2. Needs further study as a native species. 

3. Body divided into bands of gold and brown. 
foetid. 

4. Rose-red or light brown; not so large as the last. 

5. Dirty green, sluggish; often curled up like a grub. 

6. Grey or pink, with dull orange girdle near the head. 


Smells very 


This genus is much more variable than the first. 
The lip never cuts through the first ring entirely, and 
the setze are often wide apart, while the colour ranges 
from brown to rose-red, flesh, grey, green and 
other shades. 

N.B.—In collecting worms it is important to select 
such as have a girdle or swollen knob for identifying 
the species. I shall be glad to examine and report 
on worms sent me from any locality at home or 
abroad. They must be placed in tin boxes lightly 
filled with soft moss, all injured specimens being re- 
jected, and addressed—The Grove, Idle, Bradford. 


OBSERVATIONS ON THE HABITS OF A 
MASON WASP. 


SMALL wasp (Odynerus murareus) hovered 

humming softly over a half-curled leaf of a 
rose-bush. The wings vibrated so quickly they 
seemed to involve the insect in a hazy vapour. 
Small caterpillars were feeding on the leaves of the 
bush, and some of the leaves were coiled by the 
caterpillars into a tubular dwelling with a web, 
preparatory to the caterpillars’ assuming the pupa 
state. One of the fine threads glistened in the 
sunbeam, and following the wave of light its motion 
gave, as it swayed backwards and forwards to the 
ground I noticed a small green caterpillar half 
suspended, half touching the earth. The length of 
its silken rope exhausted for a time the secretion that 
made it, and prevented it reaching the earth, where 
the caterpillar intended protecting itself in some tiny 


fissure or crevice until it could feel the danger that 
menaced it in its leafy dwelling on the rose-bush had 
gone, and then to climb back there in safety. 

But the wasp had followed the caterpillar from the 
curled leaf, apparently conscious that the thread was 
limited, then darting, clung to the caterpillar, 
swinging there. The additional weight of the wasp 
broke the thread, and the wasp and caterpillar went 
to the ground. The abdomen of the wasp curved on 
to the caterpillar writhing in its secure grasp, this 
action of the abdomen was evidently to sting the 
caterpillar, for the latter soon lost all power and 
became relaxed. The jaws of the wasp held it firm, 
and the antenne hung over it. The little wasp then 
poised itself on its wings, as if to ascertain the weight 
or balancing of its helpless load, before flying away 
with it. It then rose, humming its way to the 
drapery folds on a statue of Flora, where it had 
constructed its first cell. It is curious that this same 
statue, and almost the same part of it, has for several 
years been selected by one of these wasps to build its 
nest on. It is not reasonable to suppose it to be the 
same insect that returns year after year to the same 
spot. It implies that the place is selected so often 
because of its adaptability to the requirements of this 
species of mason wasp. May not this apply also to 


Fig. 117-—Odynerus murareus. Natural size. 


many migratory birds, as the swailow tribe, that are 
said to return to the same spot to build and rear their 
young? Not because the same spot is utilized by 
the same species year after year, is it necessarily the 
same individuals that return to it, but that it happens 
to be selected by others of the same species because 
of the special advantages existing there, inducing the 
birds to select it so repeatedly. 

The wasp, after alighting upon the edge of its cell, 
looked in, and as if its position was not convenient 
for depositing the caterpillar, the industrious creature 
moved a little further round its cell, then going in 
once more, coiled the caterpillar among the others 
round the single egg there. This caterpillar was the 
last to be deposited in that cell, and the wasp, 
apparently satisfied with the work, and knowing it 
had stored the requisite amount of food for the 
voracious grub about to turn from the egg, rested a 
little time on the edge of the cell, pluming its antennz 
with its fore-legs and feet, and moving its head from 
time to time from side to side on its pivot-like 
neck, as though viewing and considering the sur- 
roundings. When it was ready it soared away, quite 
indifferent to the bees at clover-flowers on the 
lawn, and the starlings whistling in the ash-trees. 


HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


All these were nothing to the little wasp so intent on 
its own labours in the warm bright sunshine, and so 
satisfied with the selection of the spot and the security 
provided for its immature young. To a small body 
of water at some little distance it betakes itself, and 
after imbibing some with a drawing-in and extension 
of the abdomen, as though it required effort, it seeks 
some fine dry earth on the border among the flowers, 
which it moistens with the fluid it has imbibed, and 
with its strong jaws works into a kind of cement of 


Fig. 119.—a, section of a cell from nest showing 
egg when first laid ; 4, section of a cell showing 
caterpillars arranged round the egg. 


the same quality as the cell is made of. 
incessant journeys now to the water, and then to the 
earth, and back again to its cell, which it gradually 
closes over, sealing the caterpillars and egg quite 
close. By degrees this cover is moulded into a 
hollow, forming the base of a succeeding cell, and 
the sides are slowly raised by many small particles 
until another cell is constructed, ready for an egg 
and caterpillars for the wasp’s young, in continuation 
of the one last completed. The wasp always finished 
a cell about midday, and was not to be seen again 


197 


Fig. 120.—Larva of Odynerus 
WLtUuUrv areus, 


It makes | 


until evening, when it returned and utilized the cell 
for a demesne during the night, resting with its head 
upwards, The next morning another egg is laid, 
and more caterpillars (the number varying from{six 
to nine) are brought and deposited as in the first 
cell. The caterpillars are always stung, sufficiently, 
not to kill, but to send into a state of coma, when 
they lose all power of voluntary motion, without pain 
or sense to feel injury. 

Nature in the instance of this wasp seems to exercise 


Fig. 121.—Pupa of Odynerus 
MUrareus, 


a kindlier means of utilizing one life for the food of 
another, than she does in many instances, as in the 
case of the butcher-bird impaling insects on the 
thorns in the wayside hedge, where they slowly die a 
painful death. After constructing nine to ten cells, 
the wasp leaves for ever the young it will never 
know, in the habitation that has cost it so much 
labour. The July sun, and the summer rain, pour 
on to this clay home of the wasp, and at night the 
dew, with a silent footfall, covers it with beads of 
moisture, yet the growing life within this simple 


198 


HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSIP. 


habitation receives no injury from the alternate heat 
and wet. 

In about fourteen days the egg turns into the 
Jarva, that at once commences to devour the 
comatose caterpillars. By the time these are eaten 
the grub has become matured, and it passes excre- 
ment for the first time, then spinning a close web 
round itself, inside the cell, with the excrement left 
between the web and the cell-wall, so that the former 
does not come in contact to corrupt the living larva 
of the wasp. ‘The latter now gradually changes to 
the pupa state, the body moulding into three 
divisions, the wings and the other appendages 
becoming apparent, and growth goes on until the 
matured insect works its way from darkness 
through its earthen casement, into the bright light of 
day. The mind of the insect perfected, ready for 
immediate action, at once performs the functions of 
which its development is capable, the judgment of 
distance, of form, colour, and scent. These and 
other exciting agents act on the creature’s mind 
formed for instant function, and it wings its way from 
the place of its birth through sunbeam and shadow, a 


pleased and a perfect life. 
HEnry W., KInc. 
Muswell Hill. 


SPECIES, VARIETIES, ETC., DESCRIBED 
OR OBSERVED IN GREAT BRITAIN AND 
IRELAND SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF 
BABINGTON’S MANUAL, ED. 8 (1881), AND 
MOOKER’S STUDENT’S FLORA, ED. 3(1884). 


By ArTHUR BENNETT, F.L.S. 
LONDON CATALOGUE, ED. 8. 
INOmr: 


Thalictrum majus, Crantz, var. capillare, N. E. 
Brown, Eng. Botany, ed. 3, Supp. p. 4, 1892. 

Caltha palustris, L., var. procumbens, Beck in Huth’s 
Monog. Gatt. Caltha, 1891. Surrey. Creeping ; 
leaves small as in mizov. Reported as minor. 

Caltha palustris, L., var. zetlandica, Beeby in Scot. 
Nat., 1888, p. 210, 1887, p. 21. Creeping and 
rooting ; closely allied to C. vadicans, Forst., to 
which Mr. Beeby is inclined now (1888) to refer it. 

Ranunculus flammula, L., var. petiolaris, Lange, 
ex Marshall, Journal of Botany, 1889, p. 230. 
Argyle! Isle of Skye! A marked variety, the 
leaves somewhat like /i/forel/a, stems zigzag, leaves 
linear. 

Ranunculus flammutla, Tee var. ovatus, DC. 
Druce in Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 227, and var. 
latifolius, Wall, Druce, 1.c. Oxford. States rather 
than varieties, the latter the normal form according 
to Walroth. 

Ranunculus acris, L., var. multifidus, DC. Druce, 
Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 227. Oxford. 

Ranunculus acris, L., var. pumilus, Wahlenberg, 


Fl. Lapp, pp. 159, 160, 1812. North side of Cairn- 
gorm, at 2800-3500 ft. Druce, Journal of Botany, 
p- 204, 1889. Leaves nearly smooth, glossy ; usually 
1-flowered ; habit different to type. 

Ranunculus aguatilis, var. cambricus, A. Bennett. 
Growth and habit of 2. fluitans, but leaves much 
shorter segments, peduncle shorter, flowers very 
small, rarely fertile; allied to Batraclium hirsutis- 
simum, Prahl, Kritische Flora, Sch. Holstein, 1890, 
p- 4, and 2. phellandifolius, Flora Danica, t. 2357. 
Wales. J. E. Griffith. 

Cakile maritima, Scop., var. sinuatifolia, DC. In 
the north. Leaves sinuate-dentate. 

Nasturtium amphibium, R. Br., var. variefolium, 
DC., and var. indivisum, DC. Druce, Journal of 
Botany, 1890, p. 228. Oxford. Names explain 
differences. 

Nasturtium palustre, DC., var. pinnatifidum, 
Tausch., B. White in Scot. Nat., 1885-86, p. 320. 
Perth. Leaves deeply pinnatified. 

Nasturtium officinale, R. Br., var. microphyllum, 


Reich. S. Hants. Linton Ex. Club Report, 1890, 
p. 283. Leaflets smaller, terminal large, wedge- 
shaped. 


Arabis alpina, L. Isle of Skye! H. C. Hart in 
Journal of Botany, 1887, p. 247. A. Bennett, Scot. 
Nat., 1887-88, p. 180. Eng. Botany, 3 ed. Supp. 
t. I17a. p. 24, 1892. Nearest in habit to A. hirsuta. 
Occurred very rarely on the Cuchullin Mts. 
Differs, leaves more coarsely toothed, more stem 
clasping, flowers larger, sepals bulged at base, etc. 

Cardamine amara, L., var. lilacina, F. B. White 
in Scot. Nat., 1890, p. 299. Flower lilac. Perth. 

Cardamine flexuosa, with umbrosa, G. et G. (under 
sylvatica, Link), p. 109, 1848. F. B. White, Scot. 
Nat., 1885-86, p. 230. Perth. 

Cochlearia grenlandica, L., Sp. Pl. ed. 1, p. 647, 
1753. Shetland. Beeby, Scot. Nat. 1887-88, p. 22. 
Marshall, Journal of Botany, 1889, p. 231; 1890, 
p- 180, ‘*Ben Lawers.” Dwarf, compact, pouches 
larger than in a@/fina, etc. 

Sisymbrium officinale, Scop., var. leiocarpum, DC. 
Perth! F.B. White, Scot. Nat., 1885-86, p. 321. 
Pods nearly or quite without hairs. 

Viola canina, L., var. ducorum, Reich. Beeby, 
Journal of Botany, 1889, p. 227. ‘* Cambridgeshire, 
A. Fryer.” War. crassifolia, Gronvall. Beeby, l.c. 
Cambridgeshire, A. Fryer. Stouter, leaves thick, 
etc. 

Viola riviniana, Reich., var. villosa, N. W. and M., 
var. nemorosa, N. W. and M. Surrey. Beeby, l.c. 
Large-flowered ; narrow petals, corolla spur colored. 

Viola hirta, L., var. glabrata, Beeby, Journal of 
Botany, p. 68, 1892. V. scraphita, Bab., not of 
Reich. Pod glabrous. 

Viola tricolor, L., var. confinis, Lloyd. FI. de 
VOuest, p. 43. N. Stafford. W. H. Purchas, Ex. 
Club Report, 1885, p. 124. Much like V. Ztea, but 
no underground stem. : 


HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Polygala oxypiera, Reichb. var. collina, Reich, Ic. 
Crit., t. 23, f. 46. Coast of Ross-shire. Marshall, 
Journal of Botany, 1891, p. 216. Smaller, more 
compact, etc. 

Silene acaulis, Jacq., var. elongata, Gaud. Druce 
in Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 41. Inverness. 

Cerastium semidecandium, L., var. glandulosum, 
Reich. Druce, Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 228. 
Oxford. 

Cerastium articum, Lange, 1880. A. Bennett, 
Scot. Nat., 1885-6, p. 331. This plant, separated 
from alginum and /atifolium by Lange, has been 
found in several counties. Sir J. D. Hooker refers it 
to alpinum. N. C. Brown, in Supp., 3 ed., Eng. 
Bot., p. 42, to /atifolium. 

Cerastium longirostre, Wicheru. Shetland. Beeby, 
Scot. Nat., 1887-88. Very large form of ¢riviale 
with long leaves, etc. 

Arenaria Lioydit, Jord. Marshall, Journal of 
Botany, p. $3, 1887. A form of serpyliifolia, L., 
stouter, more compact, and with thicker sepals, etc. 

Arenaria gothica, Fries, Mant., 2, pp. 33, 34, 1839. 
Whitwell, Journal of Botany, 1889, pp. 314, 354. 
A. Bennett, Trans. Bot. Soc. Edin. 1890, p. 252. 
C. Bailey, Mem. Manchest. Lit. and Phil. Soc., 18go. 
Yorkshire. A plant closely allied to A. norvegica and 
A. multicaules, habit of A. serpyllifolia, but flowers 
very large and star-like. 

Arenaria Boydit, Buch. White in Trans. Bot. 
Soc. of Edin., vol. 17, p. 33 (1887). Aberdeen! A 
doubtfu) plant, flowers sparingly produced, requires 
to be again gathered. 

Hypericum pulchrum, L.., var. procumbens, Rostrup. 
Shetland. Beeby, Scot. Nat., 1887-88. Creeping, 
small sparsely-flowered form. 

Geranium sylvaticum, L., vat. parviflorum, Blytt. 
Druce, Journal of Botany, 1880, p. 41. Small- 
flowered form, referred to many years ago by Joseph 
Woods in the N. of England. 

Geranium sanguineum, L., var. micrantha. B. 
White, Scot. Nat., p. 321, 1885-86. Smaller, more 
procumbent, leaves crowded, flowers small, pedun- 
cules (usually) 2-flowered, etc. Has not altered 
under cultivation in Scotland and Surrey. 

Oxalis acetosella, 1, var. subpurpurescens, DC. 
Eng. Bot., 3 ed. Supp., p. 56. 

Medicago lupulina, L., var. scabra, Gray. 
Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 229. Oxford. 

Trifolium arvensé, \.., var. prostratum, Lange (var. 
maritimum, Townsend, Flora, Hants). Hants, etc. 
Procumbent, heads globose, etc. 

Trifolium dubium, Sibth., var. pygmeum, Soy. Will. 
EB. White, Scot. Nat., 1885-86. 

Trifolium procumbens, \.5 vat. major, Reich. B. 
White, Scot. Nat., 1885-36. 

Anthyllis vulneria, yar. ovata, Bab. Beeby, Scot. 
Nat., 1838, p. 210. Shetland. 

Anthyllis vulneria, vat. maritima, Rich. 
Bot., 3 ed., Supp., 1892. 


Druce, 


Eng. 


E99, 


Vicia cracca, L., var. incana, Thuill, Messrs. 
Linton, Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 167. 

Lathyrus pratensis, L., var. villosus, Schl. Druce, 
Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 41. Inverness. 

Spirea ulmaria, L., var. denudata, Presl. B. 
White, Scot. Nat., 1885-86. Several counties. 

Lotentilla anserina, L., var. glabrata, Sond, 
Druce, Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 229. Oxford. 

Potentilla anserina, L., var. serica, Rich. B. 
White, Scot. Nat., 1885-86. 

Potentilla maculata, Pour., var. debilis, Rich. B. 
White, Scot. Nat., 1855-86. 

Lotentilla reptans, L., var. microphylla, Tratt. 
Cambridgeshire. Journal of Botany, 1888, p. 79. 

Potentilla reptans, Zimm. Surrey (Watson), 
Camb. (Fryer), etc. Beeby, Journal of Botany, 1888, 
p. 79. £. Tormentilla x procumbens ? 

Rosa mollis, Sm., var. glabrata, Fries. Ross, 
E. F. Linton, Scheutz, Journal of Botany, 1888, 
p- 67. 

Rosa canina, L., var. Lintont, Scheutz (seb-cori- 
folit) Scheutz, 1.c. 

Rosa tomentosa, Sm., var. wncinata, F. A. Lees, 
Llanfairfechan, Wales. Report of Botanical Record 
Club, p. 117, 1884-86. 

Rosa Ripartii Déséglise. Nicholson, Journal of 
Botany, 1886, p. 111. Surrey. 

Rosa stylosa, vax. pseudo-rusticania, Crep. Rev. 
M. Rogers, Journal Botany, 1889, p. 23. Wilts, 
Devon, Dorset. 

Rubi. Some fifty additional names have been 
published, principally in the Journal of Botany and 
Exchange Club Reports: it hardly seems necessary 
to give the names, as they can only interest a few 
botanists, and they will know where to seek them. 

Lpilobium Lamyi, ¥F. Schultz. Worcester. 
Towndrow, Journal of Botany, 1885, p. 349. Many 
counties since. Near zetragonum, but stolons, etc., 
different. 

Lpilobium collinum, Gmel. Perth. Druce, Scot. 
Nat., 1887-88, p. 330. Some thirty to forty hybrids © 
have been published in the Journal of Botany since 
1885, by the Rev. Marshall, only those specially 
interested in the genus will be likely to require their 
names. ; 

Pimpinella major, Huds., var. rubens, Fleish, and 
‘¢ Sind,” Lind meant, I suppose? Druce, Journal of 
Botany, 1890, p. 229. Oxford. 

Athusa cynapium, L., var. agrestis, Wall. 
counties—a very small, condensed form, 

Galium verum, L., var. littorale, Breb. Norfolk. 
Arth. Bennett, Journal of Botany, 1881, p. 358. 

Galium palustre, L., var. microphyllum, Lange. 
Beeby, Scot. Nat., 1887-88. Shetland. 

Scabiosa arvensis, L., var. pinnatifida, Gray, yar. 
integrifolia, Gray. Druce, Journal of Botany, 1890, 
p. 229. Oxford. 

Llieracium. Over fifty names have been published, 
some supposed to be endemic forms. Mr. F. J, 


Several 


200 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Handbury is now publishing a beautifully illustrated 
monograph of the British Hieracia, and those 
botanists who wish to see our plants studied cannot 
do better than subscribe to it. 

Carduus arvensis, var. horridus. Perth, etc. B. 
White, Scot. Nat., 1885-86. A very spiny state 
of the plant. 

Carduus  (Cnicus) 
nemoralis, Reich. Ross. 
1890, p. 42. 

Crepis virens, var. agrestis, Pryor, FI. 
Anthemis cotula, L., var. 
Townsend, Fl. Hants, p. 180. 
Leaves fleshy, stem procumbent. 
Sonchus oleraceus, L., var. 
O. Hebrides. W.S. Duncan! 
B. White, Scot. Nat., 1885-86. 

Sonchus arvensis, L., var. angustifolius. Ex. 
Club Report, 1888, p. 124. Norfolk. 


lanceolatus, Willd., var. 
Druce, Journal of Botany, 


Herts. 
maritima, Bromf. 
Isle of Wight. 


triangularis, WWallr. 
Var. /acerus, Wallr. 


Achillea millefolium, U., var. alpestris, Rich. 
Beeby, Scot. Nat., 1887-88. Shetland. 

Matricaria inodora, L., var. phacephala, Rup. 
Beeby, Scot. Nat., 1887-88. Shetland. 


Campanula rotundifolia, L., var. hirta, Rich, var. 
velutina, DC. B. White, Scot. Nat., 1885-86. 

Vaccinium myrtellus, V.., f. microphylla, Lange. 
Beeby, Scot. Nat., 1887. Shetland. 

Vaccinium intermedium, Ruthe. Science Gossip, 
1872, p. 248, fig. 174. Linnean Soc. Journal, 1888, 
p- 125. 

Gentiana amarella, f. multicaulis, Lange. Ex. 
Club Report, 1886, p. 156. Caithness. Many stems, 
flowers pale. 

Linaria repens, Mill., var. 
Druce, Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 230. Oxford. 

Veronica anagallis, anagalliformis, Bor. 
W. F. Miller, Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 23, 
Caithness. 

Luphrasia paludosa, Townsend. Journal of Botany, 
1891, p. 161. Aberdeen. 

Melampyrum pratense, L., v. hians. 
Nat., 1885-86, p. 76. Wigton, etc. 

Rhinanthus crista-galli, L., angustifolia, 
G. et G. Ireland. Druce, Journal of Botany, 1891, 
p- 306, var. fa//ax, Journal of Botany, 1891, p. 8. 

Rhinanthus crista-gallii, var. Drummond-Hayi. 
B. White, Scot. Nat., 1885-86. Small, hairy, sub- 
alpine. 


grandiflora, Godr. 


vat. 


Druce, Scot, 


var. 


Pinguicula vulgaris, L., var. alpicola, Rechb. 
Druce. West Ross. 

Pinguicula vulgaris, L., var. bicolor, Nordst. 
Corolla violet, labium white. Ben Nevis. Marshall, 


Journal of Botany, 1889, p. 233. 

Mentha hirsuta, L., var. pedunculata, Pers. Druce, 
Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 231. Oxford. 

Mentha Nickelsonia, Journal of Botany, 18809, 
P- 57: 

Thymus serpyllum, Fr., var. prostratum, Horn. 
Shetland. Beeby, Scot. Nat.,”1887-88, p. 27. 


Marrubrium vulgare, L., var. apulum, DC, Druce, 
Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 230. 

Stachys palustris, var. canescens, Lange. S. segetum, 
Hag. Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 43. 

Plantago maritinum, L., £. pumila, Kjell. Suther- 
land. Journal of Botany, 1889, pp. 108, 377. 

Plantago coronopus, var. pygme@a, Beeby, Scot. Nat., 
1887-88, p. 27. Shetland. 

flantago maritinum, L., var. prostrata, Lange. 
Druce, Journal of Botany, 1889, p. 202. 

Polygonum mite, Sch., var. angustifolia, Braun. 
Druce, Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 221. Oxford. 

Polygonum viviparum, L., var. alpina, Wahl. 
Shetland. Beeby, Scot. Nat., 1890, p. 216. Arth. 
Bennett, Annals of Scot. Nat. History, 1892. 
O. Hebrides. 

Rumex propinguus, Aresch. ‘‘R. domesticus x 
crispus.” NV. H. Beeby, Scot. Nat., 1890, p. 300. 
Shetland. 

Callitriche polymorpha, Lonnroth. W. H. Beeby, 
Journal of Botany, 1888, p. 233. Shetland. Arth. 
Bennett, Journal of Botany, 1891, p. 85. Surrey. 

Callitriche stagnalis, var. serpyllifolia, Lonn. 
Sutherlandshire. Marshall, Journal of Botany, 1890, 
p- 180. Smaller than type, leaves smaller, more 
rotund, fruit very abundantly produced, smaller than 
type. 

Lippuris vulgaris, L., var. fluviatilis, ‘‘ Roth, 
1788,” but Weber had so named it in 1780, Druce, 
Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 229. Oxford. Deep- 
water form, with flaccid leaves and stems. 

Urtica dioica, var. angustifolia, A. Blytt. Exch. 
Club Report, 1888, p. 230. Narrow-leaved form, 
leaves drawn out at the end. 

Var. atrovirens, G. et G.? Exch. Club Report, 
1888, p. 230. Leaves oval, petioles long, stipules 
large, etc. Not certainiy British. 

Var. microphylla, Hausm. Leaves small, stem 
much branched, etc. Oxford. Druce, Exch. Club 
Report, 1888, p. 231. 

Betula intermedia, Thomas. S. Aberdeen. E. S. 
Marshall, Journal of Botany, 1887, p. 167. Speci- 
mens have been referred here by good continental 
botanists, and they seem correct. Like a large 2. 
nana, or small B. glutinosa. 

Betula odorata, var. parvifolia, Wimm. Forfar, 
Inverness, Sutherland. Journal of Botany, 1890, 
pp- 43, 169. Small tree, or shrub ; leaves small. 

Salix. Close on forty names have been published. 
Dr. Buchanan White has published a ‘‘ Revision of 
the British Willows” in the Journal of the Linnean 
Society, pp. 333-457, 1891, in which he recasts our 
nomenclature, adding many hybrids, etc. Details 
must be sought there. 

Orchis latifolia-maculata. Townsend, Flora of 
Harts, p. 341. Journal of Botany, 1889, p. 244. 

Orchis incarnata, var. ochroleuca, Wistnei, Flora d. 
Umgegund von Schwerin, 1854: Clarke, T'lora 
Andover. Hants. 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


201 


Lotamogeton jfluttans, ‘‘Roth.” Cambridge, A. 
Fryer. Surrey, W. H. Beeby, Ex. Club Report, 
1884, p. 111. Like deep-water forms of Zolygont- 
colius, but spikes and fruit of zatans. 

Potamogeton crassifolius, A. Fryer. Journal of 
Botany, 1890, p. 321. ‘“‘P. Zisit x P. natans.” 
Cambridgeshire. 

Potamogeton cortaceus (Fryer), Nolte as-a var. 
A. Fryer, Journal of Botany, 1889, p. 8. Cam- 
bridgeshire. Like Zizii, but leaves mostly large at 
apex. 

(Zo be continued.) 


METEORIC DUST? 


AS old friend, Mr. Charles Blechynden, of Alipore, 
va recently gave me a small packet of the black 
dust which gathers in the leeward corners of the 
terraces of our houses here; be it remembered ‘that 
our houses are flat-roofed, and their terraces often 
extensive surfaces. Mr. Blechynden told me he 
found this dust contained ‘‘ meteoric iron,” and that 
by plunging a horse-shoe magnet into a handful of 
the crude dust, minute particles clung to the edges 
and poles of the magnet. I have since separated and 
mounted some. The method I have adopted is the 
following : with a camel’s hair brush, I brush off the 
fine dust which adheres to the magnet poles. and 
collect a small quantity on a sheet of white post 
paper. Numerous brushings result in only a very 
small quantity. The material thus obtained from 
the magnet poles still includes some admixture of 
foreign matter—spores, vegetable fibres, particles of 
feathers, broken and dried filaments of the Algz 
(probably an advanced stage of Protococcus coherens ?) 
which blacken our walls within a few months of their 
being white-washed, particles of sand and soot, etc. 
In order to get rid of at any rate a portion of these, I 
apply the magnet to the under surface of the paper 
and working it backwards and forwards, I am 
enabled to draw out the iron particles by magnetic 
attraction and to bring them together, towards the 
edge of the paper, when I brush them off into a 
drop of xylol-balsam on a slide. A cover-glass has 
now to be added, and the balsam hardened by heat 
in the usual way. Microscopic examination shows 
that the mount, in addition to some sand particles 
and extraneous matters, includes a few minute 
spherical bodies, most of them black and opaque, but 
some clear and glass-like, and containing bubbles. 
The opaque spheres have shiny surfaces. and look so 
much like miniature aerolites that perhaps Mr. 
Blechynden is correct in calling them ‘‘ meteoric 
dust.” Are the transparent, bubble-bearing spheres 
meteoric (or volcanic) glass ? 

A few measurements may be appropriate; they 
are taken from eight spheres passed at random 
through the centre of the field : 2-1000”; slightly over 
3-1000” (two); nearly 3-1000”; 1-200” (this is a 


hyaline sphere with a large bubble enclosed in it) ; 
nearly 1-400" (two); nearly 1-250”. There are 
other masses, opaque and in other respects similar in 
appearance to the spheroidal bodies, and save as to 
form, they seem to be identical in structure with the 
opaque spheres, ‘Their contours are rounded, but 
they are irregular in outline. I have taken some 
dust from a field, and there are iron particles in it, 
but their edges are angular and jagged, and they may 
only be fragments knocked off horse-shoes by flints, 
or other hard substances. Not being myself at all 
familiar with the appearance of meteoric dust, it is 
only with some hesitation that I have chosen the title 
for this note. I enclose a little of the ‘‘dust” 
simply brushed off the poles of my magnet; if it is 
put on a thin sheet of paper, and a magnet applied 
to the under surface of the paper, I venture to hope 
that some of the spheres of iron will be attracted out 
of the mass, and that on being mounted in balsam 
they will verify the facts above stated. Are the 
particles meteoric and is the method of obtaining 
them which I have adopted reliable ? 


W. J. SIMMONS. 
Calcutta. 


ON OUR FUTURE SUPPLIES OF ENERGY. 


GREAT question has, for a quarter of a century 
past, been haunting the minds of all thought- 
ful men Jike a ghost. The world is getting alarmed 
at the increasing price of coal, and the fact that the 
natural supply is more limited by every ton con- 
sumed. As civilization progresses, energy will be 
more required for its development, and the progress 
of science and civilization are so strongly bound up 
together that we cannot put them asunder. Three 
hundred and fifty years ago, in Queen Elizabeth’s 
time, coal was hardly used at all, perhaps owing to 
the abundance of timber which prevailed. At that 
time the population of England did not greatly 
exceed the present population of London and its 
suburbs. Three centuries and a half represent a 
microscopically small space in the evolution of the 
human race, But within that period we have man- 
aged to get through nearly half of the natural stock 
of coal which Nature stored up in our British coal- 
cellars many millions of years ago. What will be 
the condition of those coal-cellars three centuries 
and a half hence at our increasing multiple-propor- 
tion ratio of consumption? Will there be any left? 
If there is, will it not be too expensive to use for 
common purposes? No doubt other coal-fields may 
be discovered in the interval, and, before the end of 
the above period, will have been actively worked, 
notably the as yet unexplored coal-fields of East 
Anglia. 
Coal, however, merely represents the fossilised 
energy of a by-gone geological period. Nature isstill 
charged with full abundant energy, more than we want, 


202 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


as every cyclone, hurricane, thunderstorm, earthquake 
and volcanic eruption plainly indicates. The shores 
of the Mediterranean round about that giant volcano, 
Mount Etna, are at this very moment throbbing, 
riving and groaning, overflowing with natural energy. 
All natural energy can easily be translated by man 
into light, heat and motion, Coal could do no more, 
even if our planet were a solid mass of it. The 
history of the last fifteen years of physical scientific 
discovery, particularly in electricity, reads like a 
fairy talee Who would have thought, fifteen years 
ago, that we should now be speaking to each other 
at distances a thousand miles apart, through wires 
not exceeding the thickness of a fiddle-string ? that 
the phonograph core would be mailed to Australia 
and elsewhere, with the vocal blessings and last 
words of fathers and mothers in England—that our 
streets, houses and ocean-going ships would be 
lighted by electricity with the brilliancy of the noon- 
day sun, to say nothing of the dark places of the 
earth, such as coal and metal mines, which are 
healthier, by the same illuminative power ?—that the 
tramcars of our streets would be locomotived by 
electricity instead of steam, and it would be possible 
in the year 1892 to purchase electrical energy, 
capable of being applied in half a score different 
ways, just as easily as to get the fossilised energy 
called coal at a coal merchant’s stores ? 

The next three centuries and a half will witness a 
marvellous development of economic science. Coal, 
long before that, as a form of energy will be regarded 
as a somewhat antique, archeological and worked- 
out material. The ebbing and flowing tides, the 
shifting winds, the running waters to the ocean, will 
have taken its place. Perhaps by a period in the 
future no further distant than that which separates us 
from Queen Bess’s glorious days, even the volcanic 
and earthquake energy of our planet will be enlisted 
in the service of mankind. Indeed, there is going 
on at the present time a line of enquiry and research 
which, even in the short space of the next five years, 
will possibly affect the commercial interests of the 
whole world. In the Caspian Sea, for some time 
past, in use on steamers and locomotives, petroleum 
has been employed. The change is simply a matter 
of mechanical adaption and manipulation. The coal- 
fields of the world will certainly be worked out 
within an historically brief space of time. Will the 
natural petroleum supplies last longer? Keen-eyed 
modern science is not blind to that question. The 
distinguished Russian chemist, Dr. Mendeleef, thinks 
there is good ground for believing that abundance of 
petroleum will always be available. Rock oil, we 
are reminded, belongs to no particular strata, though 
it is found generally in regions lying parallel to 
mountain ranges. In Europe, for example, it is 
tapped in rocks of the Tertiary period, but in the 
United States it rises out of Devonian and even 
Silurian formations. Dr. Mendeleef suggests that 


this valuable heat-giving substance is constantly 
being formed by the action of water on metallic 
deposits in the heated interior of the earth. The 
extraordinary average persistence of the oil-wells 
supports (as was observed by the President of the 
English Institution of Mechanical Engineers) the 
theory that it is probably forming as fast as it is 


removed, 
J. E TaAyYLor, 


NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. 


HE Physiology of the Invertebrata, by Dy. 

A. B. Griffiths (London: L. Reeve & Co.). 
Dr. Griffiths is one of the hardest workers we have, 
both in departments of original research, and with 
his pen. He has thrown a very wide-cast net over 
his subjects, from the diseases of crops to the 
Invertebrata. The present text-book displays wide 
and extensive reading and study. It isa branch of 
biology which hitherto has been comparatively little 
studied, perhaps for want of such a manual as Dr. 
Griffiths has now provided for students. From a 
literary point of view, it is a useful review of all the 
important researches on the subject, which have 
taken place within the last twenty years—perhaps 
the most fruitful epoch in biological discovery. We 
cordially recommend Dr. Griffiths’ excellent and 
lucidly arranged manual to our readers. 

In Starry Realms, by Sir Robert Ball (London : 
Isbister & Co.). The now Cambridge Professor of 
Astronomy has practically taken the place of the late 
Richard Proctor as an eloquent lecturer and writer 
on popular astronomy. All his books are eminently 
readable, and the present handsomely got-up one 
will not linger behind its predecessors in this respect. 
Most of its contents haye already been before the 
public in various magazines. It contains twenty- 
three chapters, all the titles of which are attractive, 
and some of them sensational—as, for instance, those 
on How the Heat of the Sun is kept up ; Fire-balls 5 
a Falling Star ; the Number of the Stars; &c. The 
illustrations are all excellent. Indeed, the volume 
is most luxuriously and tastefully got up. 

Res Fudicate, by Augustine Birreli (London: 
Elliot Stock), A new book by the author of 
‘*Obiter Dicta”’ isla literary event. We have read 
the essays and papers in this tastefully got up little 
volume with intense delight, and with the strong 
desire that any strong words of ours may induce the 
readers of SCIENCE Gossip to forthwith procure the 
book for themselves, so as to profit by the editor's ex- 
perience. There are twelve essays, chiefly dealing with 
the Zersonq/ aspects of literature ; all written in delight- 
ful English, pleasant, sunny, humorous, pathetic. es 
Fudicate is a book to keep on one’s study table, to 
take up when other books tire you. 

Tanganyika; Eleven years in Central Africa, by 
Edward Coode Hore (London: Edward Stanford). 


_— 


HARDWICKE S SCLENCE-GOSSTP. 


203 


The author of this book was Master Mariner of the 
Central African Mission on the great lake. This 
book records his eleven years’ experience. It was a 
tisky one, and could only have happened to a brave 
and cool-headed man. It is a stirring account of an 
enthusiastic traveller, who loved his work, and 
thought no toil too great for the great cause to which 
he was devoted. Captain Hore is evidently.a keen 
observer, as well as an energetic traveller, and his 
book contains numerous references to the Ethnology, 
Physical Geography, and Natural History of the 
districts he seems to know so well. The literary 
style of the volume is pleasant and graceful, and the 
illustrations are good. 

Marine Shells of South Africa, by G. B. Sowerby, 
F.L.S., F.Z.S. Whatever Mr. Sowerby has to say 
concerning marine shells is bound to receive the 
attention of naturalists. The present useful volume 
is a catalogue of all the known species, with references 
to figures in various works, descriptions of new 
Species, and figures of such as are new, little known, 
or hitherto unfigured. There are five plates of shells, 
comprising about ninety species, all of them drawn in 
that neat and graceful style, for which the name of 
Sowerby is famous. 

The Study of Animal Life, by Arthur Thompson, 
M.A., F.R.S.E. This volume is one of the series 
issued with a view to aid the. University Extension 
movement throughout Great Britain. It is intended 
by the author as a working manual for elementary 
zoological students. It contains twenty chapters, 
which range over a large field of biological specula- 
tion and research, and each chapter has appended to 
it a bibliography of the various books dealing with 
the subjects discussed. The illustrations are numerous 
and all of them good. The chapters are headed as 
follows :—Part I. The Everyday Life of Animals. 
Chapter I. The Wealth of Life. Chapter II. The 
Web of Life. Chapter III. The Struggle of Life. 
Chapter IV. Shifts for a Living. Chapter V. 
Social Life of Animals. Chapter VI. The Domestic 
Life of Animals. Chapter VII. The Industries of 
Animals. Part IJ. The Powers of Life. Chapter 
VIII. Vitality. Chapter IX. The Divided Labours 
of the Body. Chapter X. Instinct. Part III. Chap- 
ter XI. The Elements of Structure. Chapter XII. 
The Life-History of Animals. Chapter XIII. The 
Past History of Animals. Chapter XIV. The 
Simplest Animals. Chapter XV. Backboneless Ani- 
mals. Chapter XVI. Backboned Animals. Part IV. 
The Evolution of Animal Life. Chapter XVII. The 
Evidences of Evolution. Chapter XVIII. The Evo- 
lution of Evolution Theories. Chapter XIX. The 
Influence of Habits and Surroundings. Chapter 
KX. Heredity. Appendix I. Animal Life, and 
Ours. Appendix II. Some of the Best Books on 
Animal Life. Mr. J. A. Thompson has done his 
work in a masterly manner, and we cordially recom- 
mend his works to students. 


The Naturalist in La Plata, by W. H. Hudson 
(London: Chapman & Hali). The author of this 
delightful volume is an old and highly welcome 
correspondent of SCIENCE-GossIP, in whose past 
volumes several articles from his pen, on South 
American Natural History, haveappeared. The fact 
that the present work has passed into asecond edition 
within a few months from the issue of the first, shows 
how it has caught on. The land of the Pampas is 
one of the most individualised portions of the earth, 
and Mr. Hudson is its naturalist. He describes what 
he has seen with a literary vividness, which reminds 
one of poor Richard Jeffries. ‘‘The Naturalist in 
La Plata” will take its place in the rank ‘of such 
books as Charles Darwin’s ‘‘ Voyage of the ‘ Beagle,’’ 
Wallace’s ‘*‘ Malayan Archipelago,” Bates’ ‘* Natural- 
ists on the Amazons,” and Thomas Belt’s ‘‘ Naturalist 
in Nicaragua.” We cordially recommend our readers 
to lose no time in procuring Mr. Hudson’s book. It 
is well and clearly printed on good paper, and 
strongly bound, asit deservesto be. The illustrations, 
nearly thirty in number, are gems of their kind. 
The following are the titles of the twenty-four chap- 
ters, some of which, however, we must say are 
scarcely good enough to describe the rich originality 
of the author’s literary style, and power of observa- 
tion :—‘* The Desert Pampas;” ‘‘The Puma, or 
Lion of America;” “A Wave of Life;” ‘Some 
Curious Animal Weapons;” ‘Fear in Birds ;” 
‘* Parental and Early Instincts ;” ‘‘The Mephitic 
Skunk ;” ‘*Mimicry and Warning Colours in Grass- 
hoppers ;” ‘‘Dragon-Fly Storms ;” ‘“‘ Mosquitoes 
and Parasite Problems ;” ‘‘ Humble Bees and other 
Matters ;” ‘‘A Noble Wasp;” ‘‘ Nature’s Night- 
lights ;” *‘ Facts and Thoughts about Spiders ;” 
“¢ The Death-Fuging Instinct ;” “‘ Humming-Birds ; ” 
“The Crested Screamer ;” ‘‘ The Woodhewer 
Family ;” ‘‘Music and Dancing in Nature ;” 
“Biography of the Vizcacha;” ‘‘The Dying 
Huanaco;” ‘‘The Strange Instincts of Cattle ;” 
‘© Horse and Man ;” ‘* Seen and Lost.” 

A Mendip Valley, by Theodore Compton (London : 
Edward Stanford). Many years ago a little volume 
was published by the present author under the title of 
“« Winscombe Sketches.’”’ It reminded one of Miss 
Mitford’s village, so keen and sympathetic were its 
sketches of country life. It is a singular fact, but 
universally true, that the best literary describers and 
word-painters of country life are naturalists. There 
is a great deal in the “‘ Winscombe Sketches,” which 
show that the author has sat at the feet of the Rev. 
Mr. White of Selbourne. The present work is 
practically an enlargement of its predecessor of 
another name. It is just one of those books, the 
reading of a chapter of which, by a jaded city man 
who has not quite lost his literary and scientific tastes, 
would act like an anodyne. There are upwards 
of fifty delightful illustrations by Edward Theodore 
Compton, of which no artist could speak too highly. 


204 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


They are simply gems in their way, we have seen 
nothing superior to them in any work for the last five 
years, and Mr. E. T. Compton ought to be in much 
request as a book illustrator. The Mendip Hills 
include some of the most interesting geology to be 
had, and we are glad to see that Professor Lloyd- 
Morgan, the now distinguished scientist, has, as a 
labour of love, contributed to this charming work, a 
chapter on the geological history of the Mendips. 


DRAGON-FLY GOSSIP. 


By W. Harcourt Batu, Author of ‘‘ An Illustrated 
Handbook of British Dragon-fies,” ‘‘ A Label List 
of British Dragon-flies,”’ etc., etc. 


INCE the appearance of my ‘‘ Illustrated Hand- 
book” in 1890, much original information has 

been obtained by myself respecting the beautiful 
insects in question, the result principally of practical 
work in the field and forest. For the benefit of those 
who are interested in our British Odonata it is my 
intention to relate my experiences in SCIENCE-GOssIP 


(Reprinted from “ An Illus- 
trated Handbook of British Dragon-flies.”) 


Fig. 122.—Calopieryx virgo. 


from time to time, in the hopes thereby of creating a 
greater liking for them among entomologists. 

The bibliography of our native dragon-flies is 
comparatively of such small dimensions that any 
additions thereto may probably not prove unaccept- 
able by students. I hope, therefore, collectors will 
occasionally send some original notes and observations 
for publication in this widely circulating and excellent 
monthly, which is undoubtedly the most popular 
magazine of its kind in existence. 


SOME MISCONCEPTIONS RESPECTING DRAGON- 
FLIES. 


Strange as it may seem, there are many collectors 
of insects who are still under the impression that 
these innocent creatures can sting! deriving their 
notions no doubt from the popular idea respecting 
them ; but first impressions die hard. 

The number of species of dragon-flies inhabiting 
this country appears also to be greatly misunderstood, 
for not so long ago a person writing to a certain 
natural history magazine put down their total at 
eight ; while another in a paper read before the 
Birmingham Natural History and. Microscopical 
Society (and published in their ‘‘ Transactions”’),, 
estimated them at two hundred ; yet out of this great 
association, which counts between three and four 
hundred members, including several learned pro- 
fessors, there was not one who knew sufficient about 
these familiar insects to contradict the statement. 

Their number. in this country, as all dragon-fty 
students are aware, is forty-five, including several 
casual and accidental visitors. 


THE PREDILECTION OF DRAGON-FLIES FOR 
PARTICULAR COLOURS. 


Several instances of dragon-flies showing a fondness. 
for certain colours are given in my well-patronised 
little handbook, 

On one occasion I was in Wyre Forest hunting 
these beautiful insects, and while standing by the 


Fig. 123.—Agvrion puelia. (From Mr. Harcourt Bath’s work.) 


side of a stream where steel-blue demoiselles (Ca/o- 
teryx virgo) were flitting about in abundance, I 
unbuttoned my jacket on account of the heat, dis- 
playing beneath a cream-coloured silk waistcoat, 
whereupon several specimens immediately settled 
upon it and appeared to be so interested with the 
article that they even permitted me to pick them up 
and replace them again without exhibiting any signs 
of fear. 

It is probable that the predilections of dragon-flies 
for particular colours will result in something being 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


205 


invented by means of which those possessing a 
powerful flight may be procured with less difficulty 
than they are at present. 


DRAGON-FLIES FLYING IN THE RAIN. 


This curious circumstance was witnessed by myself 
in August 1891, near Lyndhurst in the New Forest. 
One morning it turned out rather showery, but the 
showers were of very short duration although of 
frequent occurrence, and immediately they were over 
the sun would shine forth again in all his glory. 


their opportunities and had consequently to be thank- 
ful for small mercies, like their relatives in high 
altitudes, as well as in certain sunless parts of the 
world. How readily can some spccies adapt them- 
selves to adverse climatic conditions in comparison 
with others. 


An AFTERNOON WITH AZSCHNA GRANDIS. 


One calm morning, in the beginning of July, I 
packed up my ‘“‘traps,” and took the ten o’clock 
train from Snow Hill Station, Birmingham, to 


Fig. 124.—Zschna cyanea, together with its larva and pupa. 


Provided the rain was not too heavy certain species 
of dragon-flies, notably Calopteryx virgo and Sympe- 
trum vulgatum, disdained to seek shelter, but kept 
flying about more or less the whole time, in company 
with various kinds of butterflies (especially Z. janira 
and Z. hyperanthes). 

The fact was, it being such a wet summer, the 
poor insects were compelled to make the most of 


(From same.) 


Solihull, which I reached in about half an hour’s 
time. A sharp walk of a little over an hour’s 
duration, through pleasant lanes, brought me to 
Chalcot Wood, near Earlswood, a famous Warwick- 
shire hunting-ground for insects. 

After arriving at my destination, the first dragon- 
fly I saw was a fine specimen of schna cyanea, 
followed almost immediately by two others of the 


206 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


same species, and a magnificent male specimen of 
Platetrum depressum, all of which I was fortunate 
enough to secure, 

Butterflies of many kinds abounded hereabouts, 
including Arvgynnis adippe, A. paphia, A. selene, A. 
euphrosyne, Erpinephele hyperanthes, E. janira, E. 
zithonus, Polyommatus phleus, Cenonympha pam- 
DPhilus, Lycena icarus, Gonopteryx rhamni, Pieris 
brassicae, P, nape, and P, napi. 

Proceeding through the wood, I presently per- 
ceived several more large Zschna cyanea engaged in 
aerial evolutions round a tall oak-tree. They were 
all apparently busy catching the flies and other 
insects, which were swarming over the foliage. 
Under another oak-tree, a little further through the 
wood, I soon saw a splendid specimen of schna 
grandis, similarly engaged. After three unsuccessful 
attempts to secure it, I managed to see it safely in 
my net. 

About twenty minutes later on I encountered 
another example, but it proved far more difficult to 
capture than the preceding one, for it kept flying, 
nearly all the time, beyond reach of my net, but I 
had a nice treat for half an hour or so, in watching it 
chase its prey. The latter consisted of all sorts or 
insects, from small dipterous flies to large specimens 
of Argynnis paphia, and other butterflies which 
abounded in the wood. 

After securing a large butterfly, it would fly to a 
tree, bite off the wings of its victim and swallow the 
body, apparently with great gusto. 

Similar performances went on for some time, until 
the dragon-fly captured a fine specimen of Pieris 
érassice, which it took to a low branch of an ad- 
joining tree. Waiting my opportunity, until the 
dragon-fly was fully engaged with its ‘‘joint,” I 
crept cautiously up beneath the spot; one sudden 
well-aimed stroke with :the net, and the prize was 
mine. 

Both of the above specimens, together with a third 
example, which I obtained in the same wood, are 
exceeding handsome insects and would prove mag- 
nificent additions to my collection. 

The same afternoon I secured specimens of several 
other species, as well as a good series of butterflies of 
various kinds, so that I returned home well pleased 
with the result of my expedition, 

A\ full description and an account of the habits of 
<ischna grandis are given in my ‘‘ Illustrated Hand- 
book of British Dragon-flies,” but I may here 
remark, that it can be readily distinguished from any 
other species of Zschna inhabiting this country by 
the colour of its wings. the veins or nervures of which 
are of arich rusty red hue. Itis, without doubt, one 
of the most handsome species in the British Isles, and 
is only eclipsed by one in size, namely Anax 
JSormosus, which is the largest British and European 
species. 

In the expanse of its wings the Grand Dragon-fly 


measures about four and a half inches. Although 
fairly common, whenever it occurs it is rather local 
in its distribution. It is chiefly met with in the 
south of England being less seldom seen as one 
travels northwards. Its time of appearance in the 
imago state is from June to September. Although 
it may mostly be seen about during July and August. 
I possess a fine series of this majestic species in my 
collection, which I may here remark, is open to in- 
spection by readers of SCIENCE-GossIP at any time. 


(Zo be continued.) 


NOTES ON BRITISH DRAGON-FLY 
NAMES. 


By W. H. NuNNEY. 


a EMPORA MUTANTUR ” is an oft-quoted 
saying, and in the present case it suits to a 
nicety. The times are indeed changed. The age 
has become more exact, more scientific, and a finer 
spirit of classification is abroad, things of the present 
being subjected to searching analyses that would 
have shocked all but a select few in times gone by. 
This cult of exactitude has surrounded alike things 
both great and small, and none have escaped. The 
Dragon-flies, erstwhile banded together under the 
Linnean name of ZLzbelluda, have gradually been 
grouped into many genera with appropriate titles. 
The entire family have lately undergone thorough 
revision, and it has therefore occurred to me that a 
few words on the subject would not be out of place 
in this periodical. The major part of these changes 
having been embodied in Mr. W. F. Kirby’s recently 
published ‘‘ Catalogue of the Odonata,” I shall offer 
no apology for appealing thereto when desirable. 
Owing to the dragon-flies having received but little 
attention from entomologists, the names of the 
various genera and species, until comparatively recent 
times, were subject to a number of inconsistencies, 
which had been weeded out from other groups of 
insects. Such inconsistencies were the raming of a 
species without the publication of any description by 
which the insects might be recognised by ento- 
mologists succeeding the original observer, the not 
taking into consideration certain names which had a 
priority over others, and many other failures or 
breaches of system. Miiller’s writings were for a 
long time unknown to British entomologists, and his 
species and names were in consequence passed over, 
and their recognition somewhat upset the nomen- 
clature aud classification of species. The synonyms 
both of groups and of species have now been most 
thoroughly worked out, thus placing the study of the 
Odonata on an entirely new and surer footing. 
Some of the older names that had sunk into oblivion 
are now revived, whilst others that have little or no 
claim for consideration have been discarded. 
There has of late years been a growing tendency 


HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


207 


amongst nomenclators to erect new genera out of old 
material, regardless of the fact that the types of older 
genera were frequently included in such new genera. 
For instance, the common flat-bodied dragon-fly, 
(Libellula depressa), taken by Linné as the type of his 
genus Libel/uJa, was removed thence by Newman, 
who erected a new genus for the insect under the 
title Platetrum. Surely it is better for this species to 
be allowed to remain the pre-eminent type of the 
Odonata under its old name. 

What has taken place with regard: to the above- 
named species has been repeated in the treatment of 
some few others. Mr. W. F. Kirby writing on the 
subject, says ‘‘ Latreille fixed the types of Zibel/ula, 
~Zshna, and Agrion ; and therefore Leach’s subse- 
quent alterations in their use must be rejected. But 
to minimise the resulting confusion, the corrected 
form of the second name (4sciua) has been allowed 
to stand, as in popular use any addition to “shna, 
which is co-typical with Gomphus, Leach, would be 
productive of ill, though strictly speaking it should 
perhaps have received a new name.” The sole 
exception I have to this is that in use the names 
Zshna and 4schna, being somewhat alike in sound 
and spelling are liable to be occasionally misapplied, 
insects belonging to the genus sia being placed 
under 4schna, and vice versé. This objection is not 
however, a sufficiently weighty one to invalidate the 
use of these names side by side. 

I come now to the main portion of my subject, and 
propose to make a series of observations on the 
entire number of British genera, and of those species 
that have undergone changes of name, etc. I shall 
take the genera in the order of their classification 
to-day. 


Family LIBELLULID. 
Sub-Family LIBELLULINZ. 


LIBELLULA depressa, Linné. This insect has for 
a length of time been known as Platetrum depressum, 
but the generic name Platetrum has now been dis- 
carded for the reason given above. 

LEPTETRUM. This genus, which was established 
by Newman in 1833, includes the two species of 
Libellula, guadrimaculata, and fulva. 

ORTHETRUM, Newman. This genus stands, It 
includes the species caerulescens, and cancellatum. 

LEUCORRHINIA, Brittinger. This genus stands. 
It includes pectoraliz, and dulia. 

SYMPETRUM, Newman. Mr. Kirby writes of this 
genus, “‘Newman’s name Sympetrum, to which Dr. 
Hagen objects because it was published unaccom- 
panied by a description, in an English periodical 
unknown to Germany at the time, and was not 
subsequently used by Newman himself, has two of 
the strongest claims to be retained instead of Diplax, 
Charpentier,—firstly, that of nine years priority ; and 
secondly, of having had a specific type assigned to it 
at the time of publication, which D7f/ax had not,” 


S. striolatum is a synonym of S. vulgatum, which 
stands. The other British species, meridionale, 
Fonscolombii, flaveolum, sanguineum, and Scoticum, 
stand good. 


Sub-Family CoRDULIINA. 


SOMATOCHLORA, De Selys Lonchamps. This is a 
corrected form of Charpentier’s name Ch/orosoma, 
which was preoccupied. Cordulia metallica is now 
placed under this head. 

Corputta, Leach. This genus is now restricted 
to the typical species (#7ea) of the sub-family. 

Oxycastra, De Selys Lonchamps. Cordudlia 
Curtisit is now placed under this head. 


Family AESHNID&.. 
Sub-Family GOMPHIN. 
Division Gomphina, 


LINDENIA, De Haan. The species, known until 
recently as Gomphus (Onychogomphus) forcipatus, is 
now placed in this genus, which has a priority over 
Onychogomphus of twenty-eight years. Its new 
generic name necessitates a change of termination in 
the specific name, so that the species is now to be 
called forcipata. 

ZESHNA, Fabricius. This is the genus Gomphus, 
of Leach, who perverted its use. It includes 
Gomphus vulgatissimus (now vulgatissima) and G. 
flavipes, and has a priority of forty years over the 
name Gomphus. 


Division Cordulegastrina. 


CORDULEGASTER, Leach. This genus, with its 
species axnulatus, stands good. 


Sub-Family ASscHNINZ. 


ANAX, Leach. This genus stands, As regards 
the one British species known as formosus, Mr. 
Kirby thinks that the name should sink, and Jerator, 
Leach, take its place, as, although the latter name 
was published without a description of the species, 
“the characters of the genus, combined with the 
locality, are sufficient to identify the species intended.” 
Leach’s name has, besides, a priority of eight years 
beyond that of Van der Linden, so that the species 
must henceforth be known by its original name Anax 
imperator. 

BRACHYTRON, Evans. This genus stands. The 
sole British species pratense, of Miiller, should 
strictly be known as hafnzense. B. hafniense is the 
female, and is described on page 61 of Miiller’s 
‘‘ Fauna Fridrichsdalina,” whilst the male, pratense, 
is described on page 62. I think in such a case the 
name of the male may be allowed to stand. 

ZESCHNA, Fabricius. This genus stands good, but 
many changes have taken place in the nomenclature 
of the species. The name &. coluberculus, Harris, 
has a priority of twenty-three years over 2. mixta 


208 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


of Latreille. The species must therefore be known 
by the first-mentioned name. 

“. squamata, Miiller, has a priority of ninety-six 
years over the name .%. borealis, Zetterstedt, there- 
fore the latter name must sink. 

LE. juncea, Linné, stands, as also do &. cyanea, 
Miller, and 2. grandis, Linné. 

The name @. isoceles, Miiller, has a priority of 
fifty-eight years beyond the name -Z. vufescens of Van 
der Linden; therefore the latter name must be 
discarded, 


Family AGRIONID. 
Sub-Family AGRIONINZ. 


AGRION, Fabricius. All the species of dragon- 
flies now known under the generic name Calopteryx 
must be transferred here, as the species vi7go was 
Linné’s type of the genus Agrion. 


Sub-Family C@NAGRIONINZ, 
Division Normostigmatina. 


Lestes, Leach This genus stands good. The 
species hitherto known as xympha must in future be 
caJled dryas, Kirby, the first of the two names being 
inadmissible on several counts. The names of the 
other species, darbara, virens, sponsa, and viridis, 
stand good. 

PLATYCNEMIS, Charpentier, and its species fen- 
nipes, hold good. 

MicronympnHa, Kirby. This genus is usually 
known by the synonym Jschnwra, Charpentier, which 
was, however, preoccupied. The species pumilio 
and elegans hold good. 

C@NAGRION, Kirby. The name Agvion being 
now in use instead of the sunk name Ca/opteryx, a 
new title had fo be found for those small dragon-flies 
generally known as Agrions (cyathigerum excepted). 
The British species are fwlchellum, puella, and 
mercuriale. 

ENALLAGMA, Charpentier. This genus was erected 
for the Agrion cyathigerum of Charpentier. 

PyRRHOSOMA, Charpentier, This genus stands 
good. The species generally called mzncumz must 
drop its present name in favour of zymphula, Sulzer, 
which has a slight priority over the name given to it 
by Harris. P. ¢ene//um stands good. 

ERYTHROMMA, Charpentier. This genus, and also 
its species wajas, stands good. 

The general tendency of these changes is decidedly 
for the better, as their use in this country will bring 
our native entomologists more in touch with con- 
tinental authors (except as regards the use of the 
names Diflax and Calopteryx) a thing ever to be 
desired and hitherto little attended to. We must 
not regard even the names given in this article as 
admitting of no further changes. Other material, of 
which we know nothing, may occur at any time, and 
this would, almost necessarily, upset the obtaining 


classification and nomenclature. There is, however, 
little likehood of such a thing taking place. 

With regard to the changes in generic nomen- 
clature, Mr. Kirby writes, ‘‘ The limits of a genus 
are always variable and its characters subject to 
modification, both according to the increase of our 
knowledge and to the divergent views of different 
entomologists.” The distinguished naturalist, Swain- 
son once wrote, ‘‘ Does there exist, in any class of the 
animal kingdom, a natural group, wherein a// the 
species exhibit the whole of the typical characters? 
Every naturalist, every systematist, knows full well 
that no such group is to be found. It has been said 
by one of the most distinguished naturalists that this 
country has produced, that if a species possesses two 
out of the three characters of the genus in which it is 
placed, this is all we can expect ; and the reason of 
this is obvious : if a// the species possessed a//Z such 
characters, then there would be no gradation of 
structure—no links in the chain of affinity—no loss 
of one structure—and therefore no taking up of 
another. Now, all this is diametrically opposed to 
facts ; for the whole creation is but one connected 
chain of such graduated progressions, unequal, 
indeed, yet still graduated.” This being so, the 
student must rest content with a correct knowledge 
of what is passing around him, and must go forward, 
adopting or rejecting each new change as it occurs, 
guided by fixed, but not entirely arbitrary, principles 
of classification. 


SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Mr. BALpwIn LATHAM recently delivered an 
address to the Meteorological Society, in which he 
showed that at certain seasons of the year it was 
possible to indicate the direction and volume of the 
flow of underground waters, even at a considerable 
depth, from the peculiar way in which fogs lie on the 
surface of the ground. These flows of underground 
waters are intimately associated with underground 
temperatures. At certain seasons of the year'there is 
a check against the escape of the vapour arising from 
the waters, owing to the temperature of the ground 
acting as a condenser. In September and October 
the vapours have a chance of escaping, hence 
the peculiar lines of ground-fogs which mark those 
two months. There is no question that the heavy 
dews of September and October are largely due 
to the condensation of the uprising underground 
vapours. 


PROFEsSOR G. V. Boys’ discoveries in physics are 
all well-known to the scientific world. Our readers 
could not do better than procure the people’s lecture 
he delivered at the British Association under the title 
of ** Soap-bubbles,” published as a half-crown volume 
by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 


\ 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


209 


One of Professor Boys’ most recent experiments is 
that of photographing flying bullets by the aid of an 
electric spark. This new trick in photography will 
make the next great European battle scientifically 
interesting. The speed of a bullet, great as it is, is 
nothing comparable to the short duration of Pro- 
fessor Boys’ spark, which is less than the one- 
millionth part of a second. Consequently the flying 
bullets appear almost to be standing still. Photo- 
gtaphs of these interesting experiments thrown upon 
the screen by the lantern and expanded into large 
pictures could even show how the electric spark 
photograph had caught a leaden bullet half-way 
through a plate-glass window. The picture was 
surrounded by a halo of lead vapour caused by the 
impact against the surface of the glass. The glass 
was also shown bulging out in front of another 
picture, and hollowed behind, just before the bullet 
passed through. 


AN important paper has been read at the Royal 
Society of Edinburgh by Dr. Hunter Stewart on the 
ventilation of schools and public buildings. It gives 
an account of his investigations concerning the origin 
of organic nitrogenous matter in expired air, and his 
conclusion is confirmatory of those of two eminent 
German chemists, namely, that the organic matter 
present in the air of badly ventilated rooms does not 
come from the breath of people, but from their skin 
and clothing. 


THERE was a very sensible letter in a recent number 
of “* Nature,” in every respect except the political 
gis under which it would put the subject. Parlia- 
ment will be less entrusted in the future than it has 
been in the past, just in the proportion as the people 
manage themselves and do not require a political 
stepmother. The letter alluded to relates to a very 
common-place matter, but it is these which make up 
the incidents in human lives. It is estimated that 
100,000,000 of parafin lamps are in use in this 
country. People who are not yet fifty years of age 
well remember the thin tallow candles (twenty to the 
pound), by the light of which a poor man tried to 
read a chapter in his Bible before he went to bed. 
Parafin is the poor man’s gas. It lights up and 
cheers many a villager’s home in places remote from 
gas. But parafin takes its annual tale of victims. 
Carelessness is responsible, of course, for most of 
them, for the oil is but its agent. It is computed 
that three hundred deaths a year are caused in this 
country thereby. Ten per cent, of the fires (accord- 
ing to Mr. Shean, of the Fire Brigade Association, 
are caused by parafin lamps. Captain Shaw, the 
gallant Ex-Superintendent of the London Fire 
Brigade, reported 156 fires in London in one year 
from the upsetting of parafin lamps. An automatic 
extinguisher could and should be attached to these 
lamps, and the letter-writer aforesaid thinks this 


ought to be done before a royal princess or a bishop 
is burnt to death. 


In a lecture recently delivered at the Brooklyn 
Institute, Professor Houston stated his belief that 
people were now living who would see the steam- 
engine relegated to the iron scrap-heap, and that the 
motor engine of the future would be worked by 
thermo-electricity.. He thought that a method would 
shortly be devised for converting the latent energy of 
coal directly into potential electrical energy. Elec- 
trical illumination is as yet but in the days of its 
youth, and ere long we shall get 97 and 98 per cent. 
of the energy converted into light, and only two or 
three per cent. into heat, unless we wish otherwise. 
Professor Houston further believes that, instead of 
regarding the human body as a vehicle for electricity, 
we should regard it as a generator. 


“TI LIKE a couple of new-laid eggs for breakfast 
better than anything else, but in winter I can’t afford 
more than one.” Such was the remark made to us the 
other day by a well-known agriculturist. The reply 
naturally was, ‘‘ Why don’t you get a breed of hens 
that will lay as well, or nearly so, in winter as in 
summer?” The fact is the natural history of our 
farm-yard fowl has never been practically studied in 
England on a sufficiently comprehensive scale. We 
forget that these birds;came from India. The 
originals are there represented by the jungle fowl, 
which in England are most nearly approached by our 
game bantams, Consequently, our barn-yard fowls 
ought to be protected from as much cold, and 
afforded as much warmth in winter, as possible. 
Instead of this what do we see? The miserable 
wretches with snow-sodden and rain-sodden plumage, 
sheltering under the cold hedges, and trying to 
manufacture eggs out of horse-droppings. Under 
these circumstances is it any wonder that new-laid 
eggs are dear in winter, or that people who eat one 
for breakfast shortly afterwards wish they hadn’t ? 
We are contemplating fowls only as egg-layers, with- 
out reference to them as delicious animal food. 
Poultry-keeping ought to be, and in France and 
Italy is, in village places, a most profitable industry 
—so profitable that although fowls and eggs appear 
on the dinner-tables in those countries more fre- 
quently than in England, they have enough over to 
supply this country with. Last year the United 
Kingdom bought from foreigners 4,000,000/, of eggs 
and poultry. Even poor old Ireland sent us nearly 
2,000,000/. of the same articles. Mr. Edward 
Brown, who was last winter elected by the North- 
umberland County Council as Lecturer on poultry, 
states that poultry can be reared as successfully in 
Northumberland as in Normandy, and in Aberdeen- 
shire as in Central France. In France, poultry- 
fattening is chiefly entrusted to the women, who 
naturally like to see young things feed. In England, 


210 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Devon and Cornwall are the only counties which 
supply themselves with eggs and poultry, and have 
sufficient left over to export to the rest of England, 
Surrey and Sussex devote themselves chiefly to table- 
poultry, and last year one district alone, that of 
Heathfield, sent up 70,000/, of fatted chickens. East 
Anglia contributes splendid !geese and turkeys, no 
other part better, whilst Buckinghamshire is famous 
for its Aylesbury and other ducks. The cottagers 
who rear ducklings are there called ‘‘duckers,” and 
make 40,000/. a year out of the job. It is evident that 
the old cry that poultry don’t pay depends upon the 
keeper. Russia and Canada are much colder 
countries than Great Britain, and yet they manage 
to export eggs at half the price of our new-laid ones. 
The question of poultry-breeding and eggs ought to 
be prominently brought before the notice of our 
village population by all. Technical Education Com- 
mittees of County Councils. There is not the 
slightest reason why our agricultural labourers should 
not add at least five shillings a week to their income 
by keeping fowls and selling eggs. The secret is in 
knowing how to do it, and in taking a little trouble. 
Then we would back the hens against the pig. 


A NEW invention hails from Paris, apparently 
based upon our system of slip-carriages on fast 
railway trains. It is an apparatus by which the 
driver of a vehicle may release it from runaway 
horses. This releasing action takes place in the 
traces, so that, with a simple mechanism, the driver 
can, by pulling a strap, work a spring buckle fixed 
at the end of the traces so that they fall to the 
ground, the horses being released by other spring 
buckles. This mechanism cannot be put in action 
accidentally during ordinary driving. This invention 
sounds feasible, but evidently it could only be 
applied to four-wheeled carriages ; and one wonders 
what the effect upon the fast-driving carriage the 
release of the runaway horses would be, unless the 
driver was also provided with’a brake. Also, where 
would the released and mad horses steer to, and 
amongst whom ? 


Mount Erna is (at the time of writing) in a state 
of energetic eruption, more active than has been 
known for nearly twenty years back. The lava 
streams have descended to a lower level than 
heretofore. ; 


THE British Association Meeting at Edinburgh 
this year appears to have been, in every respect, a 
great success. The ‘‘ Reports” of the President’s 
Address and the addresses of the various presidents 
of sections have been published at Is., and we 
recommend our readers to get a copy. (Spottiswood 
& Co., New Street Square, London.) 


THE Rev. H. H. Winwoop, F.G.S., has just 
written a charming account of the late ‘‘ Charles 


Moore, F.G.S. (of Bath), and his work,” to which is 
added a list of the fossil types and described specimens 
in the Bath Museum, by Edward Wilson, F.G.S. 


Mr. L. Urcorr GI.t has issued a capital illus- 
trated little manual (price Is), entitled ‘* Butterfly 
and Moth Collecting,” by George E. Simms, 


ANYONE who has tramped through the country 
districts of France cannot fail to have been struck 
with the comparative absence of small birds. He 
may tramp for miles in some places without seeing 
anything but a couple of magpies. Nearly every 
bird is a game-bird to the French peasant, and finds 
its way into the pot. Nature, however, is not to be 
tried with. Her revenge is sure, and she can wait 
for it. Protectors of small birds are not wanting 
among the French naturalists. Bird extermination 
has been coped with by the law, but evidently the 
flavour of the pot is overwhelming. At any rate, 
a French scientific journal states that the laws 
against bird-destruction are openly violated by the 
peasant farmers, Three-fourths of these birds are 
known to feed on insects. The local extermination 
of these natural destroyers means an enormous and 
overwhelming development of insect life. In con- 
sequence, the cultivation of wheat is becoming less 
and less remunerative, and one of the causes of this is 
traceable to the destruction of larks, whose food 
largely consists of the larvee of a small beetle which 
commits extensive ravages on the roots’ of wheat 
plants. The vine-growers of France are also uttering 
protests against the destruction of small birds, and 
they state that nowadays there is scarcely any bird- 
life visible in their vineyards. 


EVERY man who reads the agricultural news- 
papers has heard of the experimental farm at 
Rothamsted, where for more than a quarter of a 
century Sir John Lawes and Mr. R. Warrington 
have been conducting experiments, at their own 
expense, which have proved of the highest value to 
scientific agriculture. The information gained from 
the experiments has been freely given to the world, 
and hundreds, if not thousands, of thoughtful farmers 
in this country are grateful for it. Mr. Warrington’s 
name is associated with the discovery of the nitrifica- 
tion of the soil, one of the most valuable discoveries 
for the world which patient science has ever given to 
it. His name is as well, if not better, known in the 
United States as in Great Britain. He has been 
lecturing by invitation before the Association of 
American Experiment Stations, and so much value 
has been set upon these discourses that the United 
States Department of Agriculture has published a 
report of them for general distribution at a remark- 
ably cheap rate. The United States possess upwards 
of 50 Agricultural Experiment Stations, each of them 
endowed with an income, equal, or surpassing, that 
possessed by Rothamsted. In England we have only 


HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


2iI1L 


one such station endowed and superintended by the 
munificence of one man, and yet our agriculturists 
are nearly all Conservatives. 


Tr has been found that, practically, the fat globules 
which float in milk are of three different sizes. The 
Continental agriculturists attach a great deal of 
importance to this fact, for it has a good deal to do 
with the manufacture of butter. The larger globules 
ascend to the surface first to form cream, pushing 
the smaller ones aside in the process. When the 
milk is skimmed, the smallet globules have a chance, 
and ascend to form a second and a thinner surface 
layer. These different-sized fat-globules have been 
found to vary in different breeds of cows. Some 
yield an excess of larger globules, and others of 
medium-size, and the third of small globules. There 
is consequently ‘some reason in the old query ad- 
dressed to country boys, as to which cow it is which 
gives the cream? Jersey and Durham cows yield 
the largest fat-globules in their milk, Swiss and 
Brittany cows a preponderance of middle-sized ones, 
and Dutch and Flemish cows the smallest. Never- 
theless, it would appear that the smallest-sized 
globules are richest in fat, and the milk containing 
them is therefore the best for butter-making. In the 
jatter process, however, it is found convenient to add 
milk containing large globules on account of their 
causing the butter to gather together all the quicker 
during the process of churning. 


THE western part of the United States is a happy 
hunting-ground for the geologist. The United States 
Government, with characteristic generosity, com- 
missioned Professor Marsh to have the fossil vertebrate 
animals collected. One of the favourite geological 
hunting-grounds is the region lying between the 
Rocky and the Wasatch mountains. Professor 
Marsh speaks of one valley where he saw no fewer 
than six entire skeletons of the fossil sea-serpent 
(Mososaurus) averaging eighteen feet in length. It is 
millions of years since these fossil reptiles swam the 
ancient seas. 


THE uses to which photography can be applied 
are multiplying every day. It is only seven years 
since it was applied to astronomy, and behold the 
number of known stars has increased thereby to 
millions. Instantaneous photography has taught us 
the real origin of animal locomotion, whereas before 
we only knew the apparent. Now it has just been 
applied to record the movements of the growing 
parts of plants. Some curious results are recorded, 
especially with such climbing plants as the hop- 
conyolyulus, ipomcea, etc. The movement of the 
young stems consists of a succession of irregular, 
circular, or elliptical curves, which vary every 
moment, even in their direction. They are caused 
by unequal growth in different parts of the stem. 
The sleep movements of plants have also been pho- 


tographed. They are not interrupted, as was sup- 
posed, but consist of alternate upward and downward 
movements, which become smaller in the space 
they move in and of greater frequency as they pro- 
gress. 


WE have entered into the ‘‘ Age of Steel,” thanks 
to Sir Henry Bessemer. In an article on ‘*The 
World’s Shipwrecks,” published in Zxgineering, 
there is a remarkable tribute to the superiority of 
steel over iron in the construction of vessels. More 
than a thousand ships are wrecked every year, total- 
ling 650,000 tons. Nevertheless this only amounts 
to between three and four per cent. of the shipping 
afloat. It is in favour of steel that of the total 
tonnage annually lost only 12 per cent. of the 
vessels were constructed of this metal, against 41 of 
iron and 47 of wood. 


WE strongly recommend our microscopical readers 
and students generally to use the Electro-lacquerine, 
brought out by Mr. C. H. Hesketh Walker, 12 
Church Street, Liverpool. It is a most valuable aid 
to a working microscopist, as the slightest varnish of 
it prevents rust and tarnish of all kinds of metal 
work. It is easily used, and the preparation is 
remarkably cheap. 


MICROSCOPY. 


WE have received the July number of the “‘ Journal 
of the Quekett Microscopical Club,” which contains 
the following papers :—E. M. Nelson ‘‘ On Striped 
Muscle of a Pig;” H. Morland, ‘‘On Mounting 
Selected Diatoms ;” E. M. Nelson, ‘‘ On Finding 
Refractive Indexes of Mounting Media;” R. T. 
Lewis, ‘‘ Notes on a Species of Ixodes ;” D. Bryce, 
“On the Macrotrachelous Callidine ;” T. H. Buff- 
ham. ‘*On Chantransia Trifila;” T. H. Buftham, 
‘©On the Conjugation of Orthoneis Binotata ;” Dr. 
W. H. Dallinger, ‘‘President’s Address, 1892 ;”’ 
E. M. Nelson, ‘‘ On Binoculars ;” E. J. Scourfield, 
*©On British Cladocera.”—/, 1. Ward, 


RESTORATION OF SLIDES ATTACKED BY FUNGUS- 
GROWTHS.—Doubtless many have noted with regret 
the spoiling of many an opaque or dry slide by 
Fungus-growths. It occurred to me to try whether [ 
could not restore these by means of carbolic acid: I 
think I have succeeded. My plan is this. I take off 
the glass cover, and put the object, whether vegetable, 
or Polyzoa, into pure carbolic acid. I leave it there 
for some three seconds; then plunge it into pure 
water, to get rid of the carbolic, for about ten 
seconds; then take it out and dry it as well as 
possible, and put it into a little book of blotting- 
paper till all moisture is gone, and it is perfectly dry 
again. I have been well satisfied with the results so 
far, and should be glad if some of your readers would 


212 


try and thus save some of their valuable slides, and 
give us the results of their work. I have had long to 
mourn over slides spoilt by fungus-growths ; I trust 
I have now remedied this.—A. C, Smith, Crowboro’. 


MAson’s PROJECTION Microscope.—I have had 
occasion, during my last lecturing season, to use one 
of Mr. R. G. Mason’s instruments as above described, 
for illustrative purposes. I have used ordinary micro- 
scopic slides, suitable for a 1-inch objective for a 
projection upon the screen, although the 13 and 
2-inch powers are better for projecting objects that 
are not too opaque. Mr. Mason provides an alum 
trough for barring out heat-rays, but I found that my 
lantern slides, particularly with a 2-inch object-glass, 
would stand two minutes well without injury. The 
alum trough necessarily means lowering of illumina- 
tive lantern power. There are few things which 
impress audiences more powerfully than the fact, 
that when they see a picture upon a lantern screen it 
is the real image of the object lectured about, and 
not a mere drawing. Having used Mr. Mason’s 
lantern microscope, I am prepared to recommend it, 
and to thank him and other opticians for their highly 
appreciated help in bringing out such perfected in- 
struments for the aid of scientific lecturers.—% Z. 
Taylor, Editor S.-G. 


ZOOLOGY. 


PRESERVING THE EPIDERMIS OF SHELLS.—‘‘ A 
solution of chloride of calcium has been employed by 
Gen. Totten, U.S. Engineers, for preserving the 
flexibility of the epidermis in various shells. The 
solution of this deliquescent salt—which any one can 
make by saturating hydrochloric acid with marble— 
keeps the object which has been steeped in it perma- 
nently moist, without injuring its colour or texture ; 
while its antiseptic properties will aid in the preserva- 
tion of matters liable to decay. (Professor J. W. 
Bailey, in ‘ Gilliman’s Journal,’ July, 1854.)” Will 
anyone kindly say whether the above—given in 
**Woodward’s Manual of the Mollusca ””—is much 
used, and would a solution made from chalk with 
nitric acid answer the same purpose.”—W. Jones, 
jun. 


THE CINNABAR MorH (LZuchelia jacobez) AND 
Ims VARIETIES.—The Cinnabar Moth (Zuxchelia 
Jacobee) is familiar to every one, and almost equally 
well-known is the larva, with its alternate rings of 
orange and black, and few scattered, bristly hairs, 
to be found feeding plentifully on groundsel (Senecio 
vulgaris) in the spring. Very beautiful is the moth. 
The rich carmine streaks and spots, and rather 
lighter under-wings of this colour, forming a charming 
contrast with the soft ground-colour of the primaries. 
The moth is interesting, too, from the fact that, 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


contrary to what is usually the case with the lepidop- 
tera, the males are larger than the females. Though 
liable to be overlooked at first sight, the colours of 
the two sexes are not identical. The females are 
decidedly brighter, the carmine of both wings being 
more intense and vivid, whilst perhaps that of the 
males, particularly that of the secondaries, might 
appropriately be designated crimson.  Luchelia 
Jacobee is not much given to variation. I once saw a 
remarkable specimen in which all the wings were 
well-nigh suffused with the dull, smoky ground- 
colour, the carmine showing only as a faint, dingy 
pink, ‘‘ looking,” as the captor expressed it, ‘fas if 
the moth had been passed up the chimney.” 
Xanthic forms, like Zygoenas, may occasionally be 
bred, and found, I have had the pleasure of adding 
one of these yellow, or more correctly orange 
varieties, to my collection during the past season. It 
was taken in the garden of our neighbour, Mr. 
Alderman Purchase, by his son, and my esteemed 
young friend Edgar—an ardent, and intelligent 
observer of nature, to whom I am much indebted 
for assistance in my collecting. The specimen is in 
fine condition ; the state of the cilia suggesting recent 
emergence. All the carmine of the wings is replaced 
by yellow, or orange. I almost regret that I did not 
try for eggs; but in all probability I should not then 
have had so lovely an insect gracing my cabinet. A 
good instance of protective resemblance was afforded 
by ZLuchelia jacobee. A specimen at rest on a dark 
red brick wall assimilated in tints so wonderfully to 
its surroundings as to be scarcely perceptible. The 
largest male in my series measures exactly 1? inch, 
my smallest female 14+ inch from tip to tip of wings 
extended.— Joseph Anderson, Fun., Chichester. 


Fusus Turtoni.—A fine live specimen of this 
rare shell, was found by me, during a trip on a steam 
trawler, the other week, seventy miles east of 
Aberdeen ; depth of water, 40 fathoms ; ground fine 
sand. There is no mention of this Fusus, either in 
McGillivary’s nor Dawson’s lists of mollusca for the 
north-east of Scotland.— James Simpson. 


THE ‘‘ VEGETABLE CATERPILLAR.’’-—We have re- 
ceived from Messrs. Kelsey & Co,, Auckland, a speci- 
men of the above, with the following note.—Cordyceps 
Robertsii, or the vegetable caterpillar, is a most 
interesting curiosity, peculiar to the North Island of 
New Zealand,'and called by the Maoris in one province 
‘* Hotete,” and by others ‘‘ Awhete.” At a certain 
season the spores of a fungus, which are so very 
infinitesimal as to be almost imperceptible to the 
human eye, float in the atmosphere, and enter 
through the breathing pores of its body and com- 
mence to germinate. The grub then buries itself and 
dies, being, in fact, killed by the growth of the 
fungus inside it, and which ultimately sprouts from 
one end of the caterpillar’s body, growing to a height 


HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 


213 


of six to nine inches or more. The greater part of 
the body of the caterpillar has now, through the 
growth of the fungus, become converted into vege- 
table tissue, hence its name ‘‘ Vegetable Caterpillar.” 
These specimens may be obtained of Messrs. Kelsey 
& Co., Auckland, New Zealand. 


BOTANY. 


THE GENUS OROBANCHE IN GREAT BRITAIN.— 
Orobanche, a genus of herbs parasitical on the roots 
of other herbs, or shrubs, is represented in our Floras 
by 7-11 species, according to the text-book we take 
as our guide. In the fresh state they are not very 
difficult to determine, but when dried are very so. 
The flowers should be dried separately, between 
pink blotting-paper, on the outside of which a thin 
sheet of wadding (cotton-wool) should be laid, and 
then put between the usual drying paper. So far as 
my Own experience leads me to judge, they are not 
so often gathered as many other genera ; and having 
just determined a species new to our Flora, I am 
very desirous of seeing as many of the genus as 
possible. I will gladly name any sent to me, asking 
that when sent it should be stated whether they are 
to be returned, or not—time, place, and county 
where found are needed to be clearly stated.— Arthur 
Bennett, Croydon. 


VEGETABLE TERATOLOGY.—I have forwarded to 
you to-day some heads of a monstrosity of white 
clover (Z. repens) which I found by the side of a 
road at Birchington, Thanet, on July 25th. You 
will see that in many cases the teeth of the calyx 
have developed each into a single leaflet. like, but 
much smaller than, the leaflets of ordinary leaves. 
The ovary in some cases is elongated, protruding 
from the standard, but in others is further developed 
into a folded or into a boat-shaped leaflet, or further 
still into a flat leaflet on a long stalk. There was a 
large patch of this clover. Most of the flower-heads 
were normal, but there were also many like those I 
have sent ro you.—Frank Sich, Fun. 


NASTURTIUM SYLVESTRE, Br. This plant is 
fairly abundant about Highgate : it may be found in 
woods, on dry roads and banks, growing in large 
tufts ; there is a large tuft of it on a bank at the foot 
of a bridge on the G.N.R., near Highgate, which I 
conclude is the same tuft as mentioned by A. E. 
Hudson, p. 22. The two inner pairs of stamens 
opposite the two lateral sepals afford a good example 
of ** collateral chlorisis ” which is almost universal in 
this natural order. They are sometimes wholly 
coherent while at other times only partially so.— 
HH. £, Gristt. 


Var. or L. OVATA.—The variety of Listera ovata 
figured in your last number is not uncommon. I 


have a Yorkshire specimen in my herbarium, which 
only differs in the fact of all the leaves being of the 
same size. A similar abnormal form of aris 
guadrifolia is even more common. I have found the 
latter with from five to seven leaves.— Ff, A. Wheldon, 
Walton, Liverpool, 


NOTES AND QUERIES. 


A NEST IN A PosTAL STORE.—The following is 
well authenticated. There is a niche used as entrance 
to a letter-box in the Bushey Park wall, Hampton 
Court road, Hampton, adjacent to the head keeper’s 
residence. There are four postal deliveries a day, 
and on nearly every occasion a collection of private 
or official letters, packets, etc., are pushed through. 
Mr. Halliday, the head keeper, some time ago noticed 
a few hairs, bits of moss, dried grass, feathers, etc., 
at the bottom of the letter-box, which is of ordinary 
size. He did not root the unusual aris out, but 
waited and watched, ultimately discovering that a 
pair of great tits (Pars major) had fixed upon the 
box for domestic purposes. ‘The birds built a com- 
modious and handsome nest—the female laid five 
eggs and ultimately brought out five beautiful weenie 
nestlings, now nearly ready to take flight. All the 
time the construction of the nest was in progress, 
during incubation, and while the young tits were 
being reared, letters, etc., were regularly dropped 
into the box, but not all on to the nest, for Mr. 
Halliday considerately placed a few convenient twigs 
above it to break the fall of the heavy packets. Most 
friendly and amicable relationship exists between the 
keeper and his pets (although he does grow peas in 
his garden), the parent birds even allowing him to 
fondle them, and they feed their young while he is 
looking on. 


TERMITES.—When [I first arrived in India, I heard 
a good deal about white ants, I was told that they 
not only devoured wood and cloth, but that they 
bored through the solid walls and concrete plinths of 
the bungalows ; and that, besides this, they seemed 
to possess some sense unknown to us, as, if a garment 
were hanging against the wall, the white ants would 
throw out a gallery from the wall immediately behind 
it ; while no such galleries were thrown out from the 
portions of the wall where nothing was hanging ;- 
similarly, when some wooden article of furniture, such 
as a table, remained for any length of time without 
having been moved, it would often be found that 
they had driven a gallery through the plinth, and up 
one of the legs, so that it would often be found that 
the whole inside of the table had been eaten away, 
leaving the exterior perfect. 

This seemed to me very extraordinary, so that I 
carefully observed the habits of the white ants. It is 
true that they bore in all directions through the walls 
of the bungalows, but as these walls, though massive 
in appearance, are usually made of sun-dried bricks, 
but little harder than mud, the fact is not so extra- 
ordinary as it at first appears ; it is also true that they 
bore through the concrete plinths, but the hardness 
of these is entirely superficial : the interior is com- 
paratively soft and friable, moreover, the hard 
exterior coat is broken up by numerous fine cracks, 
which are utilized by the termites. Now, as to the 
instinct, or sixth sense, said to be possessed by the 
white ants, the facts at first seem more wonderful, 
and more difficult to explain. I found by observation 


214 


HARDWICKE’S SCLIENCE-GOSS/P. 


however, that they are continually putting out tunnels 
from all parts of the wall; where this is an exposed 
part, their tunnel is either broken down by the 
servants in sweeping, or abandoned by the white ants 
themselves, in consequence of light, before it attains 
an appreciable length ; inmy verandah at Allahabad, 
I told my servants not to destroy the white ant tunnels ; 
in consequence, although the light must have been 
somewhat a drawback, at least twenty tunnels were 
thrown out from the wall, and continued to a length 
varying from four {to nine inches. These tunnels 
were perfectly objectless, as there were no clothes or 
furniture in the verandah for the white ants to attack. 
I found that the longer tunnels were curved upwards, 
so as to form about a quarter of a circle. With refer- 
ence to the tunnels pushed up from below, through 
the plinth, the:same explanation holds, The white 
ants drive their tunnels quite at random ; if a tunnel 
emerges in the open part of the room, it is trodden 
down before it has got long enough to attract notice ; 
if it emerges under a table or similar article, the 
servants destroy it when sweeping; and it is only 
those which escape, through being sheltered by the 
leg of a table or in some like manner, which subse- 
quently attract notice.—F R. Holt. 


Notes ON ALDEBURGH.—Aldeburgh is a small 
town on the coast of Suffolk, facing’due east. It isa 
place of some antiquity, as is evidenced by its 
possessing a mayor and corporation, as well as by the 
Moot Hall, a curious old building of timber, brick, 
and flints. The church, which is large and in good 
preservation, is also built of flints. The river Alde 
flows from the west towards the town, but instead of 
running into the sea at Aldeburgh it turns abruptly 
to the south, and flows for several miles, only divided 
from the sea by a bank of shingle. The tidal estuary 
thus formed is a fine sheet of water, and being well 
protected is much frequented by yachts and pleasure- 
boats. Many brackish-water shells are to be found 
here, particularly A/ya avenaria, Scrobicularia piperata, 
Lydrobia ulve, H. ventrosa, Melampus myosotis, M. 
bidentata, Utriculus truncatulus, U. oblusus, etc. 
Lydrobia ventrosa occurs occasionally with the last 
whorl quite separated from the next. There are but 
few shells on the sea-shore, as there is not much sand. 
North of the town /upa marginata lives on a piece 
of sandy ground together with an almost endless 
variety of Helix virgata. The geology of Aldeburgh 
is of some interest. There is a fine section of the 
Coralline crag on the Leiston Road, which yields 
numerous corals and bryozoa, with a few shells. 
Other sections of both!Coralline and Red crag are to 
be seen in the neighbourhood. Off the coast there 
appears to be an ancient forest-bed, as large masses of 
peat containing tree-roots are washed up on the shore 
to the north of the town. Some of these lumps of 
peat are full of Pholas candida. The tide also brings 
up the fruits of a coniferous tree, which probably 
came from the same bed. Wild-flowers abound at 
Aldeburgh. Carduus nutans grows in great profu- 
sion, and bears very fine flower-heads, which are 
occasionally white. Onopordon acanthium is also 
abundant. Glaucium luteum, Senecio viscosus, S. 
siluaticus, and Convolvulus soldanella grow near the 
sea on the north side of the town. Sisymbrium sophia 
and Cichorium intybus are fairly common on the road- 
sides, together with many other plants.—7% £. 
Cooper. 


Unknown InsEct.—As I am known to most 
people in this district as a sort of harmless lunatic 
who spends some of his leisure in grubbing about 


ponds and ditches, and the remainder in ‘‘staring | 


down a brass pipe,” and who is also credited with an 
almost unlimited knowledge of beetles, bugs, and 
“wick things” generally, I am sometimes consulted 
as to the identity and characteristics of various beasts 
and insects which occasionally find their way into 
human habitations. A working-man’s wife has been 
to consult me several times, with reference to some 
small insect, which I failed to make out from her 
somewhat imperfect information. However, as she 
somewhat whetted my curiosity last week by saying 
the insect was swarming in thousands, all over her 
sitting-room furniture, I resolved to humour her by 
paying a visit of investigation. After business I 
went to the place, and a hunt with a candle soon 
showed some hundreds, about a dozen of which I 
secured with a wet camel-hair pencil. A microscopic 
examination enables me to give a diagnosis of the 
insect, which is quite unknown to me. Very active, 
dirty white insect, roughly, about the size of the head- 
louse (Pediculus capitis) ; head somewhat triangular, 
widest behind ; eyes two, compound of numerous 
facets, situated at posterior angles of head ; antenna 
setaceous, as long as the whole insect; maxillary 
palpi four jointed; mandibles two large curved’ 
hooks ; thorax narrower than base of head, cylindrical, 
of about four segments ; abdomen of about seven 
segments, oval, and in young specimens pointed 
posteriorly ; legs six, as long as abdomen. slender; 
tarsi three jointed; claws two. The limbs, and 
indeed the whole insect, covered with short hairs ; 
the smaller specimens are slenderer than full-sized 
ones, I have drawings of two of these insects, but 
the above description will probably be sufficient for 
their identification. So far as I could learn, none of 
the other houses in the row were infested, and few 
were found in any part of the house other than the 
sitting-room. I was informed that they appeared 
immediately after the purchase of some hair-seated 
furniture, and was shown many places where the 
seating was in holes, which the woman was convinced 
were caused by the insect invaders. I should be glad 
if any of your numerous entomological readers could 
identify the insect for me.—¥. Z. Lord, Rawtenstal. 


BLEACHING FERNS.—Could any of your readers 
inform me how to bleach ferns? I have tried and 
cannot make a success of it.—d. WV. Z. 


Ho.tiinwoop Boranists’ GARDEN .—The ‘ Old- 
ham Microscopical Society and Field Club,” recently 
visited the Botanists’ Garden, Hollinwood, snugly 
situated a short distance off the bottom end of 
Hollins Road. The visit was paid for the purpose of 
seeing what had been accomplished ‘by the botanists 
of that district during the last half-dozen years in the 
way of cultivating British wild plants. The report 
goes on to state that a glance from the outside gave 
an impression that the garden differed little from 
other similar places to be seen in suburban lanes of 
many Lancashire towns, gardens in which white 
roses, lupines, orange lilies, willow herbs, thrift, 
sweet-williams, and a score of other good old- 
fashioned favourites vied with each other in giving 
all possible gaiety to the little piece of ground that 
nourished them. As soon as entered, the garden was 
found to possess an individuality of its own. The 
closer it was examined the more evident it became 
that there were to be recognised forms that the 
visitors had only met with occasionally in their coun- 
try rambles, or that they had scanned with half- 
hearted interest in various herbariums. The inspec- 
tion began by sauntering along one side of an open 
channel, smelling suspiciously of sewer water, that 
ran through the garden, and which the botanists had 


HARDWICKE’ S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


215 


done their best to ingeniously screen with masses of 
dwarf elder and other like plants crowded together. 
The two pools in the gardens next drew attention, 
after which ‘‘the modest-looking greenhouse” was 
visited. The walls were embellished with pictures of 
florists’ flowers torn from garden periodicals. On 
again looking over the open grounds it was observed 
that the Hollinwood botanists had begun a good 
piece of work in arranging their plants according to 
the natural system, in separate beds. Near the gates 
were pretty purple blossoms of the meadow geranium, 
the ground about them being dappled with many of 
~ their fallen petals. 


LIsTERA OVATA (MONSTROSITY).—In my herba- 
rium I havea specimen of Zésfera ovata even more 
remarkable than that figured by Mr. Provis in your 
August issue. Mine has four leaves, two lowest 
alternate, two upper sub-opposite. I also have 
another similar to your figure, but the two lower 
leaves alternate instead of sub-opposite. Once I saw 
a specimen with five leaves all alternate .but being 
so far from home, and being loaded with other plants, 
could not then take it; upon returning a few days 
later the plant had withered. I have often seen 
these plants with three leaves, but always growing in 
luxurious soils in woods, etc., never in barren, open 
places. The normal plant has its two leaves not 
exactly opposite but sub-opposite, therefore, the rich 
soil, etc., would have a tendency to develop the 
nascent internode. Morphologically, the upper 
leaves seem to be bracts, enlarged by the rich sur- 
roundings of the plant. My specimens bear these 
enlarged bracts in the position the normal ones 
occupy in anormal plant. Ifyou would like to see 
my specimens, should be pleased to forward.—G. 7. 
West. 


ALBINO FLOWERS.—On August Ist I found grow- 
ing on the limestone at Brassington Rocks, Derby- 
shire, several specimens of Geranium pratense and 
Centaurea scabiosa, with pure white flowers in both 
cases; there were plenty of the normal-coloured 
flowers growing near.—Fz0. LE. Nowers. 


ELECTRICAL WATER-POWER. — Gradually the 
world will avail itself electrically of water-power. 
There is no reason why it should not. The me- 
chanical ability of water to turn mills has been 
practically known in this country for more than a 
thousand years back. Some day the electrician will 
enlist the services of the wind to produce electrical 
light and power. Even then he will only be applying 
@ very ancient and simple method of energy, every- 
where known 2s the windmill, to a modern and 
specialised form. Walf a dozen years and more ago, 
one of our daring young electrical engineers declared 
that the wasted energy of the 4o-foot tide, which 
rushes up and down the Severn, twice every twenty- 
five hours, was equal to half the factory-power of 
Great Britain. The day will come when electricity 
will make the world independent of coal-fields. 


ELECTRICAL TRANSMISSION OF ENERGY.—At the 
celebrated falls of the Rhine at Schaffhausen, an 
electric transmission has now been constructed for 
propagation of energy by wire-rope transmission. 
The power is derived from two turbines, and is 
transmitted across the Rhine, a distance of nearly 
half a mile, at 624 volts. The current drives a 
spinning-mill, in which the largest motor is 380 
horse-power. The power is sold, I believe, at £3 
per horse-power of the motors per annum. Indeed, 


Swiss water-power is now rapidly being utilised for 
electrical purposes. The Falls of Niagara are also 
being laid under contribution. If the whole stream 
could be utilised, it would supply seven million horse- 
power, which is double the total steam and water 
power at present employed in all the manufacturing 
industries of the United States! In the words of 
Prof. Unwin, ‘president of the Mechanical Science 
Section, at the recent British Association meeting, 
Niagara is likely to become not only a seat of large 
manufacturlng operations of familiar types, but also 
the home of important new industries. 


IMPROVED ARC-LAMPs.—In electrical lighting, arc- 
lamps were the first to be used and the first to be 
improved. They are far from being perfect yet, and 
it is pleasant to see that scientific attention has 
recently been drawn to their improvement. Indeed, 
an altogether new kind of arc-lamp is announced. the 
chief peculiarity of which is that it possesses curved 
carbons: The points of contact are at the bottom 
of the lamp, so that no shadow is thrown under- 
neath it. 


REsfING myself amongst the grass in a pasture- 
field lately, I began to note the different plants of 
which it was composed, and was surprised to find I 
could make out thirty-six without shifting my position. 
I send you a list. The field was laid down in pasture 
six years ago and sown only with Lolium perenne, 
which is now very thinly mixed with the others. 
Lolium perenne, Cynosurus cristatus, Holcus lanatus, 
Poa trivialis, Poa annua, Agrostis vulgaris, Trifolium 
pratensis, Trifolium repens, Trifolium procumbens, 
Lathyrus pratensis, Vicia cracca, Lotus corniculatus, 
Lotus major, Ranunculus acris, Potentilla anserina, 
Potentilla tormentilla, Plantago major, Plantago lan- 
ceolata, Apargia autumnalis, Bartsia odontites, Pru- 
nella vulgaris, Cerastium viscosum, Bellis perennis, 
Rumex- crispus, Rumex acetosa, Cnicus lanceolatus, 
Veronica serpyllifolia, Centaurea nigra, Achillea 
plarmica, Luzula campestris, Funcus acutiflorus, Iris 
pseud-acorus, Equisetum arvensis, Carex glauca.— 
LP. Wright, Ayrshire. 


NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 


To CORRESPONDENTS AND ExcHANGERS.—As we now 
publish Sc1ence-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 DisGuiszp ADVERTISEMENTS, for the purpose of evading 
the cost of advertising, an advantage is taken of our gvatuttous 
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. 


SpeciaL Notz.—There is a tendency on the part of some 
exchangers to send more than one per month. We only allow 
this in the case of writers of papers. 


To our Recent ExcHANGERS.—Weare willing to be helpful 
to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow dzs- 
guised Exchanges like those which frequently come to us 
to appear unless as advertisements. 


216 


HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSST/P. 


F. W. Mackenzie Skures.—You had best offer the ten vols. 
of Sc1EncE-GossipP in exchange, or advertise them for sale. 

G. W. Rarer.—Thanks for your very pretty sketch of the 
monstrous foxglove. The flowers are very liable to sport 
terminally when grown in gardens. 

T. PostGaTE (Carlisle).—We do not think the fossil sent us 
was found in your district. It is very fragmentary, and most 
closely resembles one of the turrulites from the lower cre- 
taceous beds, 

I. B. Down e (Melbourne).—Address Secretary of Royal 
Microscopical Society, Burlington House, London; Hon. Sec. 
and Editor of Quekett Club, 15 Westfield Road, Hornsey, 
London, for your fullest information. The ‘‘ American Micro- 
scopist”’ is published in London by W. P. Collins, 157 Great 
Portland Street, from whom you can haye all periodicals. 

A. E. Brotuers.—There is a book on ‘‘ Pebbles” published, 
with colgured plates (by either Routledge or Warne), but the 
descriptions are very misleading. You had best address a 
query to our columns. 

Me L. Sykes.—Shall be very pleased indeed to accept the 
moths. 

I. H. Smiru (Barbadoes).—The following are excellent 
books:—Thorne’s ‘Manual of Botany,” edited by A. W. 
Bennett (London: Longmans); Nicholson’s ‘‘Manual of 
Zoology,” last edition (Blackwoods). Neither very expensive 
books, and both among the best. Write to the Secretary of 
the Quekett Microscopical Club, 15 Westfield Road, Hornsey, 
London. 

L. GREENHALGH (Middleton).—We are always pleased to 
get these floral ‘‘monstrosities’’ collected and sent by the 
collectors. They are no longer ‘‘freaks of nature;” that 
explanation is not good enough. They relate to some past 
stage in the biological history of the order—sometimes possibly 
they are a forecast of biological changes yet to come. The 
common daisy is more liable to ‘‘sport” than perhaps any 
other member of the Composite. 

Mr. Harry Burns, of the Free Library, Fulham, S.W., is 
anxious to procure a colony of living ants (7. samguineurz), 
and their slaves, /. fusca. Will some correspondent kindly 
communicate with him, and if possible, send him a colony? 

T. M. Jones.—The specimen of proliferous growth in a rose 
is one of the most remarkable instances of vegetable teratology 
we have seen. It is almost a duplicate of the well-known 
“ Hen-and-Chickens” Daisy in the Composita. Many thanks 
for the specimen. 

I. B. C. (Salford).—You are correct in your surmise. The 
plant is the beautiful flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus), 
rare in Lancashire, but abundant in the rivers and dykes of 
East Anglia, where cartloads of them could be easily procured. 


EXCHANGES. 


OFFERED, 31 vols. of Jardine’s ‘‘ Naturalists’ Library,” 
first edition, 1834 (scarce), containing 1036 exquisitely finished 
plates, accurately drawn and hand-painted, besides numerous 
woodcuts, together with steel engraved portraits and memoirs 
of thirty-one eminent naturalists. Wanted, theosophical and 
philosophical works.—D. S. Steuart, North Leigh, Prestwich, 
Lancashire. 

For exchange, duplicates from a private museum, specimens 
from Colonial and Indian Exhibition, shells, fossils, &c. 
Desiderata, fossils. Lists on application to—Miss B. Y. 
Cresswell, Sugellay House, Teignmouth, Devon. 

OFFERED, /socardia cor (dead), Acme lineata, var. alba, and 
many other rare shells. Wanted, Lizznza involuta and 
Succinea oblonga.—G. W. Chaster, 42 Talbot Street, South- 

ort. 

* OFFERED, ScIENCcE-Goss!Pp for 1886 (except January), 1887 
(except December), and parts 239-242; also fossils from the 
Gault and carboniferous. Wanted, lignite, peat, anthracite, 
native alum, native nitre, and Cornish rocks and minerals,— 
E. Dixon, 55 Brownhill Road, Catford, S.E. 
WanTED, British shells in exchange for complete set of 
. ‘Review of Reviews,”’ and other good books, foreign stamps, 
and land and freshwater shells.—A. Alletsee, 40 Milward 
Crescent, Hastings. 

WanteD, British land and freshwater shells, in exchange 
for rare and local South of Ireland plants.—R. A. Phillips, 
Ashburton, Cork. 

OFFERED, Quadrant tandem bicycle and two ladies’ bicycles, 
nearly new. Required, microscope, camera, books, or offers. 
—W. Kirk, 20 Lombard Street, West Bromwich. 

OrFERED, Kirby's “‘ European Butterflies and Moths” (6x 
coloured plates). Wanted, Newman’s “British Butterflies 
and Moths.”—T. Fletcher, 20 Park Road, W. Dulwich. 


WANTED, gatherings of living diatoms, either freshwater or 


marine. Good exchange in mounted diatoms.—I. B. Bessell, 
F.R.M.S., 8 Elmgrove Road, Cotham, Bristol. 

Pandora inequevalvis in exchange for Venus sulcata.— 
H. Milnes, Winster, Derby. 

OFFERED, a collection of fossil shells from Paris Basin, 
middle and lower tertiary formations. Best offer accepted.— 
P. R. Shaw, 48 Bidston Road, Birkenhead. 


I HAVE a number of bred (perfect) specimens of A. ricinz 
(N. American silk-moth), and shall be glad to exchange pairs 
for other foreign lepidoptera. State exchange.—Mark L. 
Sykes, 31 Derby Street, Moss Side, Manchester. 

WANTED, specimens of recent or fossil echinoderms, star- 
fish, &c., from any strata or locality. Offered in exchange, 
fossils, shells, or lepidoptera.—F. Stanley, ‘‘ Rokeby,” Edgar 
Road, Margate. 

WANTED, Aviculacygnipes, Terebratula hasata, Ammonites 
Furensis, Amm. spinatus, Amm. planorbis, Amm. ae 
cornus, Amm. Humphriesianus, Stringocephalus. Any of the 
following in exchange:—Ostrea Marshii, Calymene Blumen- 
bachii, Phacops candatus, section of ammonite, Am. bifrons, 
Holectypus depressus, Spirifera plenus, Productus semireti- 
culatus.—P. J. Roberts, rr Back Ash Street, Bacup. 

Sixty named specimens of New Zealand shells, also thirty 
different New Zealand and Australian copper tokens. What 
offers in birds’ eggs and nests, or birds’ skins. —G. W. Wright, 
Karanaghape Road, Auckland, N.Z. 

Durpwicates.—Spherium ovale, S. ovale, translucent var., 
Zonites draparnaldi, Helix arbustorum, var. canigonens?3, 
Planorbis dilatatus. Desiderata, Vertigo angustior, Vertigo 
pusilla, Succinea oblonga, Limnaa involuta, foreign shells 
not in collection.—R. Wigglesworth, 13 Arthur Street, Clayton- 
le-Moors, Accrington. 

WanTED, side-blown eggs of heron, razorbill, guillemot, 
shag, cormorant,, gannet, gulls, hawks, larks, warblers, and 
many others, in exchange for rare duplicates.—Jas. Ellison, 
Steeton, Kei ‘ley. 

For exchange, beautifully polished specimens of carboni- 
ferous limestone and other corals. Wanted, Gault ammonites 
and chalk fossils, or any good offer in fossils. —W. F. Holroyd, 
Science Master, Greenfield, near Oldham, 

OFFERED, Blackie’s ‘‘Imperial Bible Dictionary,” 6 vols., 
gs. 6d. each, 1886. Wanted, Darwin’s works to equal value, 
or One aa: J. Pollard, 22 Fairfield Terrace, Bedminster, 

ristol, 

WILL any gentleman kindly name some entomological speci- 
mens for me?—John A. Ellis, 1 Pomona Place, Fulham, 
London, S.W. ol 

For exchange, a number of long-eared owl's eggs. Wanted, 
Norfolk plover, nightjar, petrels (leach and fork-tailed), raven, 
oriole, or any of rarer hawks. Also several clutches of common 
sandpiper’s eggs. Wanted in exchange, dunlins’, redshanks’, 
jays’, bullfinches’; other offers considered. The eggs are all 
side-blown, and taken by me here this season.—R. Armstrong, 
B.A., Thornhill, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. 


BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE. 


“The Essex Naturalist”? (Chelmsford: E. Durrant & Co.)— 
“The Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club” (London: 
Williams & Norgate).—‘‘ Natural Science” (London and New 
York: Macmillan & Co.)—‘‘On the Origin of Elementary 
Substances, and on Some New Relation of their Atomic 
Weights,” by Henry Wilde, F.R.S. (London: Kegan Paul, 
Trench, Triibner & Co.)—‘*Charles Moor, F.G.S., and his 
Work,” by H. H. Windwood, M.A., F.G.S.; with a List of 
the Fossil Types and described Specimens in the Bath Museum, 
by Edward Wilson, F.G.S. (Bath: printed at the Herald 
Office).—‘‘ The Microscope” (The Microscopical Publishing 
Company, Washington).—‘“‘ Nature Notes” (London: H. 
Sotheran & Co.)—‘‘ The Entomologist” (London: West, New- 
man & Co.)—‘‘ The Annals and Magazine of Natural History” 
(London: Taylor & Francis).—‘‘The Midland Naturalist” 
(London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co.)—“ The Malden Natural 
History Gazette” (C. W. Smith, Burlington Road, New 
Malden).—‘‘ Butterfly and Moth Collecting,” by G. E. Simms 
(London: L. Upcott Gill).—‘‘ Proceedings of the Bristol 
Naturalists’ Society.”—‘ The Microscope” (The Microscopical 
Publishing Company).—‘‘The American Monthly Micro- 
scopical Journal.”—‘‘The Electric Light Popularly Ex- 
plained,” by A. Bromley Holmes (Bemrose & Sons, Limited, 
London and Derby).—‘‘ The Botanical Gazette ”’ (Bloomington, 
Indiana).—‘‘ Daughters of Syria,” Quarterly Record (Messrs. 
Seelsy & Co., Essex Street).—‘‘ The British Moss-Flora,” by 
R. Braithwaite (London: 303 Clapham Road, etc., etc. 


COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED UP TO THE ITH ULT. FROM: 
F. T.—F. S. M.—G. B.—T. G.—F. R.—Rev. W. W. F.— 


TST 68) .D— EA eG Rees: 
P. Q. K.—etc., etc. 


d 


HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSIP. 


217 


THE COLOURATION OF THE ROSE, THE VIOLET, AND 
THE BUTTERCUP. 


By Dr. P. Q. KEEGAN. 


T is proposed here 
to attempt by cer- 
tain analyses to 
discover what is 
the precise funda- 
mental _ organic 
body which deter- 
mines the colours 
of the petals of 
these three flowers. 
Every _ botanical 
student knows that 
the blue and red 
colours of flowers 
are due to dis- 
solved pigments, 
while the yellows 
and certain of the 
oranges depend on 
solid or crystalline 
bodies combined 
with a protoplasmic basis. In order to thoroughly 
understand what follows, a little knowledge of organic 
chemistry is absolutely necessary; but I will en- 
deavour to describe the process as briefly and as 
clearly as possible, so that any student who may 
happen to enjoy a lucid interval from the more severe 
collecting (fighting) phases of his beloved science 
may be able to follow suit. The process certainly 
‘‘wants a bit o’ doing,” but after all, it is very 
simple, provided of course that you know how it’s 
done ! 

Having gathered some red wild-rose petals on a 
dry day, you leave them out in the air of your study 
for forty-eight hours or more, so that they may lose 
some of their sugar, whereof they contain 33 per cent. 
Now cut them up in very small pieces with a com- 
mon pair of scissors, and place the pieces in a test- 
tube or beaker, with some strong alcohol. Boil, 

No. 334.—OcTOBER 1892, 


pour off the liquid and filter, then boil the material 
again with water, and pour off and filter. The two 
liquids are mixed and evaporated down in a silver 
or nickel basin to a small bulk, some strong solution 
of caustic potash is added, and the whole evaporated 
to dryness and fused, continuing the heat and stirring 
occasionally with a glass rod until the mass is in a 
uniform state of fusion. After cooling, the contents 
of the basin are dissolved in hot water, and acidulated 
with sulphuric or hydrochloric acid. After standing 
and cooling, the liquid is filtered, and shaken up with 
ether, which extracts and dissolves among others the 
very substances we are in quest of. Now, what are 
these? They are no less than three in number, 
and in this particular instance are rather difficult to 
detect, inasmuch as the amount of colouring-matter 
in wild roses is very trifling indeed. However, if we 
only will brush up our knowledge of organic chemis- 
try, and have sufficient experience, we can recognise 
here what is called protocatechuic acid, C,;H,O,, 
along with two phenols, viz., phloroglucol, C°H*°O%, 
and a trace of pyrogallol. But what have 
these horrid names to do with the bewitchingly 
beautiful tints of the queen of flowers? I think it 
can be shown that they have as much, and probably 
much more, to do with them, than the man in the 
moon has to do with the ebb and flow of the tides. 
Not to be too stiffly scientific, I must forbear from 
entering into details tending to prove that in the case 
of blue, red, and some other varieties of coloured 
flowers, it is the tannins, possibly aided by the gluco- 
sides, which alone of all the constituents of the petals 
can possibly be the generating cause of the bright 
pigments thereof. Now, the aforesaid bodies which 
we have obtained by virtue of the process just 
described are the result of the oxidation of the 
tannin which is proper to the rose-bush itself; and 
precisely the same bodies can be also obtained by 
treating the leaves or the stalks or branches of that 
L 


218 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


shrub in a similar manner. Now, how does it come 
to pass that under such circumstances it is the petals 
alone that are tinted, while the other parts are green 
or brown? Every student of botany is aware that 
in flowers and inflorescences the chief chemical 
process which is the expression of their life is called 
respiration, i.e., oxygen is inhaled and carbonic acid 
gas given off, the result being that the constituents 
of the flower are more or less subject to oxidation. 
In all probability the tannins which metabolise into 
the pigments, are formed in the cells of the petal 
itself, wherein they are placed under very favourable 
circumstances, both physically and chemically, as 
regards that process of oxidation, to which they are 
always specially liable. Moreover, the absence of 
any other pigment (such as chlorophyll, carotin, 
etc., present in leaves) enables the colouration due 
to any colour-forming substance whatever existing 
in the petals to appear in all its native beauty. 
Certain other constituents of the cell undoubtedly 
aid and abet in the production of the tints and hues ; 
but the details of the synthesis cannot be mentioned 
here. But how is it that one kind of flower is red 
while another is blue? In order to answer this 
question, we must pass on to the next caravan. 

Collecting a small quantity of the flowers of the 
violet or of the wild hyacinth, we analyse them as 
before. But here we see immediately that the result 
of our manipulation is different. Instead of two or 
three bodies—one acid and two phenols, we now 
obtain only one body, viz., phloroglucol, which, be 
it remembered, was also found among the products 
of our manipulation of the rose. Hence the tints 
of the latter, being as it were double-based, are much 
stronger and more vivid than is the case with most 
other flowers. This phloroglucol is a neutral body ; 
and the point advanced or suggested here is, that in 
the former case it is combined with an acid, and 
hence the colour is red, while in the latter case there 
is no acid, and hence the blue colour is unchanged 
in its primitive condition. Every petty dabbler in 
the subject knows that an aqueous decoction of a 
pure blue petal is instantly turned red by a trace of 
acid, and on precipitating the acid the blue colour 
is restored, and this again may be changed to green 
by the fumes of ammonia proceeding even from a 
long way off. 

Turn we now to the consideration of the brilliant 
yellow decoration of the buttercup or of the allied 
marsh-marigold. Here we encounter a state of 
affairs radically and utterly different. There is little 
use in this case repeating the process of oxidation 
now familiar to the reader. By doing so with the 
strong alcoholic extract of these petals, we get a 
very small quantity of phloroglucol and maybe an 
equally minute trace of protocatechuic acid, neither 
sufficient to account for the splendid vividness of the 
yellow pigments. What, then, can we do? We must 
adopt other measures. The colouring-matter is ex- 


tracted by treating with cold petroleum spirit, or by 
boiling with strong alcohol or ether, and the fat with 
which it is mixed is saponified by boiling solution of 
caustic-soda ; the whole is aciditied and cooled, then 
filtered, and the matter on the filter is dissolved in 
cold alcohol, when the yellow pigment is obtained 
unaltered by all this rough treatment. This yellow 
colouring-matter seems to defy oxidation ; it is very 
permanent, and is apparently of the nature of a 
resin totally insoluble in water. It is not directly 
related in any way to the tannins or glucosides, and is 
possibly secreted from the protoplasm itself, like 
oil-drops or crystals. Like chlorophyll, it is clearly 
a product of the decomposition of vitally active 
proteid organic matter, and is evolved only in plants 
where such largely exists. My investigations have 
led me to the conclusion that neither of these brilliant 
pigments are related to the fats or the waxes ; they 
must, therefore, be referred to the terpenes or the 
resin and camphor group of hydrocarbons. It may 
be added that their syntheses will never be effected 
till some chemist not too much engaged in the 
prosecution of a money-getting patent follows up 
the study and investigation of the vegetable proteids 
in a thoroughly systematic and scientific manner. 


THE RHIZOME AND ALLIED FORMS. 


HE Rhizome or root-stock, which is one of the 
most universal radical structures throughout 
both Phanerogamia and Cryptogamia, is in its 
simpler forms little more than a terrestrial rooting 
stem. Now if we examine its first modifications, like 
the stolons of many labiate and rosaceous plants, it 
will be found to consist simply of a prostrate or 
ascending rooting stem. But when it becomes 
enlarged and assumes a subterranean habit, its stem- 
like structure will be more or less obscured, and 
become more radical in structure, as those of 77iticum 
repens, Avena c¢latior, Anemone nemorosa, Fteris, 
Lquisetum, and many of the species of Carex, etc. 
In the rhizomes of Nuphar, Iris, Acorus, and the 
stem tubers of Helianthus tuberosus and Solanum 
tuberosum, the stem structure is still less prominent, 
although plain enough. 

When the rhizome assumes an erect or vertical posi- 
tion, as in those of Zasmzs communis, Bryonia dioica, 
Discorea, etc., its primordial type is very indistinct 5 
but in the bulbs, and the erect rhizome of Cicuéa virosa, 
the stem structure is still obvious: while in the stem 
tubers of Bunium, Conopodium, and the tubercules 
of many orchids, this relation is almost obliterated. 
The structural analogy of the stem is usually pro- 
minent in the root-stock, but less so in the corm. 
The corms of Avwm maculatum well illustrate their 
analogy to the rhizome; they are, in fact, 2 rhizome 
like that of Iris, whose extremity (the terminal bud) 
is annually elongating, while its other end is con- 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


219 


tinually decaying. These corms frequently produce 
lateral smaller corms in the axils of the leaf-scales, 
like the “‘eyes” of potatoes. A very brief and 
precise description of the development of the corm 
is that of Henfrey, which is as follows :—‘ The 
corm of 47uz7z maculatum, examined in spring, ex- 
hibits two lobes, with an intermediate constriction ; 
they lie adjoined horizontally : the corm of the past 
year is shrivelled; the other is solid and at the 
summit exhibits sheathing scales enveloping the base 
of the erect Howering-stem. Opening the sheath, 
which turns upwards, we see that the flower arises 
from a terminal bud, while in the axil 'of the leaf 
arising below it, exists a bud which is destined to 
swell up and form a new corm for the next season, 
the oldest one meantime withering away; so that 
two generations with the rudiments of the third 
always co-exist ; these generations may consist of a 
greater number of individuals when additional corms 
arise from the axils of several of the scales of the 
parent corm.” JI may add that by carefully lifting 
these corms from the earth the shrivelled remains 
of several corms of preceding years may be found, if 
this is performed with great care. 
Henry E, GRISET. 


NOTES ON THE PARASITIC TENDENCY 
OF ROTIFERS OF THE GENUS PROALES; 
WITH AN ACCOUNT OF A NEW SPECIES. 


By Percy G. THompson. 


\] O more interesting facts are known in connec- 
1 tion with any particular class of animals than 
those having reference to the structure and habits of 
the parasitic members which it includes. 

In the Rotifera, some species are permanently and 
exclusively parasitic in or upon other organisms, 
animal or vegetable, and present consequent modifi- 
cations of structure often of great significance ; while 
again, not a few forms assume a semi-parasitism for 
mere temporary purposes of transport.or alimenta- 
tion, and these, as might be expected, exhibit no 
very remarkable structural peculiarities. It is the 
object of the present paper to present a few new 
examples of this latter occasional parasitism. 

The genus Proales contains rotifers, some of which 
have been long noted for the strangeness of habitat 
and mode of life which they have chosen, in which 
to play their part in the universal struggle for exis- 
tence. Thus P. parasite has been recognised as an 
inmate of the revolving spheres of Volvox slobator 
ever since the time of Ehrenberg, taking up its 
abode permanently and depositing its eggs in security 
within the crystal plant-globes. And P. Wernechii 
has been known for an equally long period as 
characteristically inhabiting certain. gall-like out- 
growths upon the stems of various species of Vauch- 
erja, These two are well-known instances of the 


tendency to parasitism in this genus; I wish now to 
mention certain others. 

Ehrenberg has stated that a sister-species of 
Proales, P. fetromyzon, occasionally occurs with 
parasita in the Volvox spheres; this has never, to 
my knowledge, been confirmed by any subsequent 
observer, but is rendered all the more probable from 
the fact that I have myself seen a third species of 
this genus, P. decipiens, present within this alga. In 
the latter case, adults and their deposited ova were 
present together within the Volvox, and the Proales 
appeared fully at home, nor did the spheres present 
any appearance of being torn by forcible intrusion of 
the rotifer ; no specimens of P. Zarvasita were present 
in any of the globes at the time. 

This same species (P. decipiens) I have seen also, 
on one occasion, cosily ensconced within the partly- 
decayed filaments of Vaucheria, thus usurping the 
place of its ally, P. Werneckiz. The Vaucheria 
thread contained so many developing ova (more than 
a score) as to suggest that quite a series of adults had 
been in the habit of frequenting it, while some half- 
dozen individuals of decipiens, not long escaped from 
the egg, roamed along the tube, poking about for a 
way of exit. No galls were formed upon the alga 
such as are produced by P. Werneckiz, the rotifers 
and ova merely occupying an ordinary filament, 
which had probably begun to decay before the 
former entered into possession. 

The fact is that P. deci~iens is eminently of a 
grubbing disposition, making its way into any hole 
or corner where decomposing matter—whether of 
animal or vegetable origin does not seem to be of 
consequence—is present, and there taking up its 
abode for a longer or shorter while, until this rich 
store of food-material is exhausted. I have thus 
repeatedly seen it in situations where such de- 
composition has been in progress, sometimes clean- 
ing-out the shell of a dead water-flea, or again in an 
alga-cell, in each case evidently with the same object 
in view. Once I came across what I suspect to have 
been this species, curled up inside the test of a living 
thizopod (ébela collavis), in some sphagnum-water. 
How the rotifer had effected its entrance was a 
puzzle, for the Nebela’s sarcode filled up the mouth 
of the shell like a plug, leaving a large space within 
the fundus in which the Proales lay, alive but inert ; 
that the rhizopod was also living was proved by 
slight movements of the protoplasm. Of course, the 
rotifer may have been but the victim of the Nebela, 
and have been engulfed as food—perhaps after a 
desperate struggle for its life, succeeding in forcing 
its way clear of the deadly living jelly into the cavity 
of its assailant’s shell ; but it is just as likely that the 
thizopod was the aggrieved party and the victim of 
unlawful entry on the Proales’ part. Other Nebela 
shells were seen with rotifer ova within them. 

Progles petromyzon, although «sually met with 
freely swimming, I have noticed playing the part of 

L2 


220 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


an epizoic parasite upon Daphnia pulex and other 
aquatic animals. In a gathering from a pond near 
Woodford, in Epping Forest, nearly every individual 
of this cladoceran was attended by one, or several, of 
these rotifers, the latter evidently in more or less 
permanent quarters, with their deposited ova beside 
them, upon the Daphnia’s shell. The cause of the 
Proales’ presence was not difficult to determine in 
this case, for the water-fleas were all more or less 
thickly infested with clusters of small epistylids, 
upon which some of the rotifers were observed 
to feed, leisurely moving along and nibbling with 
their trophi at the infusorians one after another, each 
of the latter wholly disappearing in a few seconds. 
Not only upon Daphnia pulex did specimens of this 
rotifer occur ; upon search being made several larvae 
of the May-fly, and also a single Cyclops serrulatus, 
were found to be likewise encumbered with them, 
colonies of infusoria being present in each case ; 
curiously enough, not a single individual of .Szsmo- 
cephalus vetulus examined (and there were not a few 
in the water) bore either rotifers or infusorians. The 
rotifers’ eggs were attached to the host’s carapace by 
a drawn-out thread of hardened mucus. Upon one 
Daphnia, a Proales had taken up its quarters right in 
the very midst of a thick cluster of Epistylis ; seeing 
also that three of its ova lay beside it, developing, the 
fate of the unconscious infusorians in the near future 
appeared by no means uncertain. In such manner 
did this rotifer, for the nonce, enter into commensal 
partnership with the water-fleas and insect larve, 
gradually freeing them from their swarms of adherents 
in return for its transit and food; as, however, the 
Daphnias could have very easily cleared themselves 
of the annoying hosts at their next moult, it follows 
that the Proales’ services scarcely compensated for 
the extra fatigue in carrying these bulky rotifers 
about. 

In concluding this paper, as a further illustration 
of the quasi-parasitic habit of Proales, I have to 
bring forward a species which seems to fall within 
the limits of this genus, and which is certainly an 
undescribed form. I propose to give this the name 
of 


Proales daphnicola. 


In the latter part of October of last year, on two 
occasions, a pond at Leytonstone, Essex, was found 
to be swarming with numbers of fine red Daphnia 
pulex ; wpon many of these occurred, roaming about 
over the carapace, examples of an illoricate rotiferon 
which at once struck me as unfamiliar. Eggs were 
also present attached to the cladoceran’s shell, just 
as in the similar case of LP. jfetromyzon already 
noticed ; and, as with that species, the rotifer could 
leave the Daphnia at will, and swim freely. A few 
notes and a rough sketch of the creature were taken, 
and its internal anatomy found to present nothing 
worthy of special remark, the particulars secured 


being detailed below. Ihave not since seen further 
examples of this form either in subsequent dips from 
the same pond or elsewhere; the swarms of 
Daphnias rapidly decreased with the advent of cold 
weather, and very soon not a specimen was to be 
taken from the pond. Iam constrained therefore to 
give an account of this creature now, notwithstand- 
ing the paucity of particulars, in the hope that others, 
or I myself, may come across specimens in the 
ensuing autumn, and fill up any blanks in the present 
description. 

The form is fairly plump, thinning behind without 
abrupt distinction between the body and foot. The 
coronal face is obliquely truncate, abundantly 
ciliated. The mastax of 


I saw no frontal proboscis. 


Fig. 125.—Parasitic Rotifer (Proales daphnicola, n. sp.), 
slightly compressed. 


moderate size, the contained trophi of the usual 
notommatous type. Gastric glands rather large, - 
angular. Ovary small. Brain a clear transparent 
sac of but moderate length, no trace of an eye being 
visible. Dorsal antenna not discerned, but the 
lateral antennz were distinct when the animal was 
under compression, placed about half way down the 
body upon the dorso-lateral surfaces, and each con- 
nected with a nerve-thread running up towards the 
front of the body. Lateral canals and their tags were 
present, also a moderate contractile bladder below the 
intestine. The muscular system, so far as observed, is 


HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSIP. 


221 


quite normal ; several longitudinal ‘‘ head-retractor ” 
bands run through the body, and some five transverse 
cords encircle the trunk at equal intervals. The 
foot-glands are a pair of remarkably long, club- 
shaped, turgid organs, extending frem the toes right 
up into the trunk, to the level of the summit of the 
contractile vesicle; their ducts plainly open as pro- 
jecting tubules at the extremities of the large swollen 
toes. These latter are of peculiar and distinctive 
shape (see fig. 125) and will, I think, with their 
nipple-like ducts, sufficiently identify the species ; 
the foot, of some four joints, is short, and in width 
not more than one-third the greatest width of the 
trunk, 

This creature bears a certain resemblance, in its 
long foot-glands, and in the shape of the gastric glands 


them. What I wish to do is to give as thorough and 
comprehensive a description of each one as possible and 
to indicate some of the more important habits con- 
nected with their life-history. My notes and diaries 
will be called into account here, together with original 
drawings from life of the various ones under consider- 
ation. 

The subject of my first paper, as will be seen above, 
is the common Cyclops, a creature familiar to all! 
microscopists, and indeed it is scarcely possible to 
take a dip in any pool, clear or otherwise, without 
taking a few. But let us see its position in the 
animal world. Cyclops is a genus of the Branchio- 
poda, the latter being the first order of the division 
Entomostraca of the class Crustacea. It is distin- 


guishable as follows:—The thorax is segmented. 


Fig. 126.—Cyclops gquadricornis. 1, female C. guadricornis: a, superior antennez; B, inferior ditto; c, eye; D, internal ovaries; 


I, external ovaries. 


seta; M, palp-fllaments. 8, first pair of foot-jaws. 


and toes, to a form described by Dr. Plate as para- 
sitic on Gammarus, under the name of Furcularia 
gammari, but is evidently not identical therewith. 

Length, about 4, inch. 

Sp. Cuars:—Body plump; eye absent; gastric 
glands angular ; foot glands remarkably long, turgid ; 
foot short ; toes short, thick, swollen cones, with 
projecting duct-orifices, 


POND LIFE STUDIES. 
No, I.—CycLops QUADRICORNIS. 
By H. DuRRAnT. 


N this and the following papers I shall try to give 
some idea of a few of our commonest and 
smallest pond inhabitants. I select the commonest 
because they are easily obtainable by those who have 
little time at their disposal for collecting, so that they 
will be able to procure them without trouble, and thus 
follow me in my remarks with the living animal before 


2, male, C. guadricornis, var. rubens: F, heart; G, male organs. 
of type. 5, second pair of foot-jaws: H, external portion; k, internal portion. 6, rudimentary legs. 
9, Inferior antennz of male. ° 10, thoracic legs, ditto. 
of enlargement are not mathematically correct, but near enough to serve the purpose. 


3, young, recently hatched. 4, male 


7, mandible: 1, serrated 
N.B.—The figures 


There is only a single eye, and that central, and 
placed on the anterior and largest segment. Body 
gelatinous, rather oval, divided into an anterior and 
a posterior portion. The first contains head and 
thorax; the latter the forked tail, The anterior 
portion of the body consists of four segments, of 
which the first takes up about two thirds, and includes 
a portion of the thorax. These are covered by a 
scale common to both. On the frontal part are 
situated the solitary eye, the four antennze (two 
superior and two inferior), two mandibles furnished 
with either a simple or branched feeler, two jaws 
(external mandibles of Jarine), and four feet, each 
divided into two cylindrical stems, either fringed with 
hair or bearded. Jarine compares the anterior pair 
to a kind of hand. The three remaining segments 
each give rise to a pair of legs. The two superior 
antennze are the longest. They are articulated, 
setaceous and simple. In the males these antennz are 
frequently contracted in places with swellings between. 
The antennules (lower antennz) are filiform and 


222 HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


generally composed of four joints. Either simple or 
forked. The posterior portion or tail is generally 
counted from the segment preceding the sexual organs, 
which in the female has two small feet (/z/cra, Jarine). 
It is not, however always to be clearly distinguished 
from the thorax, but it consists of six segments. In 
the males the second segment is provided with articu- 
lated processes of variable shapes, relegated to play 
the part of organs of generation. The female organs 
are also placed on the second segment. ‘The sixth 
segment is terminated by two lengthened appendages 
forming a kind of fork, fringed with extremely fine 
hairs. 

Specific, Cyclops quadricornis, Miiller ; Cyclops vul- 
garis, Leach ; Monoculus guadricornis, Linn. Abdo- 
men (apparently the tail) composed of six, sometimes 
seven segments. Last segment separated at end into 
two lobes. Superior antennze composed of a large 
number of joints (about twenty-eight) ; sete arising 
from each one. In the male there is a distinct 
swelling near the middle, followed by a constriction, 
and a kind of hinge. Antennules largish ; segments 
four, each one with seta, the last one with six. 
About one-third length of superior antennz. Man- 
dibles consist of an oval body terminated with a 
number of teeth of a brownish colour and a single 
serrated seta. There is also present a palpus of one 
segment and two filaments. First pair of foot-jaws 
each consist of a convex externally and concave 
internally, body with several strong teeth and a single 
jointed palpus or rather palp-like process, with setz. 
Second pair of foot-jaws divided into two portions :— 
an external with four joints and an internal with three. 
Five pairs of branchial legs arise from the thoracic 
segments, but the fifth pair are only rudimentary ; in 
the male they are three jointed, in the female two 
jointed. Tail two-lobed, each lobe terminated by 
four setigerous filaments, of which the two inter- 
mediate ones are the longest. Heart nearly oval, 
situated under second and third segments of body. 
It gives off two branches: one to the head, the 
other to the tail. Below is another organ, also 
giving off two vessels. Perhaps analogous to the 
branchiocardiac canals of the decapodous Crustacea. 
Alimentary canal extending the whole length of 
body. 

Life-history.—Frequently it will be noticed that on 
each side of the female is a balloon-shaped sac filled 
with eggs. These structures are the external ovi- 
parous pouches or ovaries, and in reality are only 
continuations of the internal sac, with which they 
communicate by a minute canal. This fine canal 
joins the body at the second segment near its junction 
with the third. At an early stage the eggs are 
brownish, afterwards gaining a reddish orange colour. 
The generating power is very great, and one fecunda- 
tion is sufficient for many generations. Add to this 
the fact that the female can deposit eggs ten or twelve 
times per month, and some idea of the amount of 


descendants from a single pair of Cyclops will be 
obtained. Some writer has computed that one female 
may be the progenitress of four thousand, five hundred 
millions, allowing eight ovi-positions of forty eggs to 
each. The young are extremely unlike the adult 
animal, as a reference to the illustration will show. 
At their birth they have only four feet, and their body 
is without the vestige of a tail.* About twelve days 
afterwards they acquire another pair of feet (ft). After 
this they undergo their first moult, which transforms 
them to the adult ; but the feet, antenne, etc., are not 
even yet perfectly grown. One or two more moults 
however, and they are at last fully formed and fit for 
the reproduction of their species. As regards their 
food, they prefer animal matter but do not scruple, 
under adverse circumstances, to regale themselves on 
vegetable. 

Varietie.—Among these are the following :— 
Rubens: Reddish in colour, sometimes inclining to 
orange; eggs brownish, forming oblique masses at 
the sides of the tail; length eight-twelfths of a line. 
Viridis: Green or greenish ; egg masses suspended in 
a direction a little higher up than the former ; length, 
nine-twelfths of a line. zscus: brownish red; 
nearly oval ; egg masses partly covering tail ; length, 
six-twelfths of a line. Adidus: greyish white, 
tinged with brown. Egg masses greenish, suspended 
at nearly a right angle with tail; length, eight- 
twelfths of a line. Pyvasinus: deeper in colour than 
viridis. Eggs greenish, turning to faint rose colour 
when about to be hatched ; in two masses seemingly 
incorporated with the tail; length, six or seven- 
twelfths of a line. 

To these I must add descriptions of two more 
which came under my notice some time ago, 
viz.:—A variety in which the segments of the 
abdomen are shorter, appearing as if they had been 
“telescoped.” Ona first glance it looks as though 
the abdomen had been cut off in part. Length about 
six-twelfths of a line. Colour brownish. I would 
propose that the name ¢rzmcatu/a be applied to this 
form. The second variety is of the colour of /zscaus 
(Jarine), but more elongated, and the egg masses do 
not overlap the tail to so great an extent. The 
antennee are also finer. Length about seven-twelfths 
of a line. Neither of these two varieties has, to my 
knowledge, been described before. At the time I 
came across them I was not so interested in the 
species, and consequently my descriptions of them 
were not very minute. I am, however, looking out 
for more specimens, so as to put on record a better 
and more complete description. In the meantime 
some of my readers may perhaps come across them. 
I shall be glad to receive species for identification at 
my address as under : 4 Boulton Road, West Bromwich, 
Staffs. 


* Miiller represented them as the genus Amyone at this 
stage; and the genus Nauplius at this Tf. 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 


223 


SPECIES, VARIETIES, ETC., DESCRIBED 
OR OBSERVED IN GREAT BRITAIN AND 
IRELAND SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF 
BABINGTON’S MANUAL, ED. 8 (1881), AND 
HOOKER’S STUDENT’S FLORA; ED. 3 
(1884). 

By ARTHUR BENNETT, F.L.S. 


LonpDon CATALOGUE, Ep. 8. 
No. 2. 


OTAMOGETON VARIANS, Moung, in litt. 

et herb! A. Fryer, Journal of Botany, pp. 
33-6, 1889. Small, like thin leaved forms of hetero- 
phyllus. 

Potamogeton falcatus. Fryer, Journal of Botany, 
1889, p. 65-7. Cambridgeshire. Allied to zztens 
and 4eterophyllus ; differs from latter in clasping 
leaves, from former in fruiting freely, etc. 

Lotamogeton heterophyllus (sub-gramineus) var. 
graminifolius, Fries. Fryer, Journal of: Botany, 
1892, p. 33. Long, sub-parallel-leaved form of type. 

Potamogeton nitens, var. salicifolius, Fr. Argyle, 
etc. C. Bailey, Journal of Botany, 1887, p. 88. 

Potamogeton nitens, var. curvifolius(Hartm.). Ex. 
Club Report, 1888, p. 235. Killarney, Ireland. 
N. W. Scully. Narrow recurved-leaved form. 

Potamogeton undulatus, Wolfg. A. Fryer, Journal 
of Botany, 1891, p. 289. “‘ P. crispus x perfoliatus.” 
Stem of crisgus, leaves (mature) more like Zerfoliatus, 
etc. 

Sparganium neglectum, Beeby. Beeby, Journal of 
Botany, 1885, p. 26. Habit of vamosum, but fruit 
like simplex. Many counties of mid. and south 
England. 

Sparganium ranosum, var. microcarpum, Neuman. 
Ex. Club Report, 1888, p. 234, Beeby. Isle of 
Wight. Liable to be named xeglectim, but belongs 
to ramosum. 

Sparganium simplex, var. longissimus, Br. Beeby, 
Scot. Nat. Shetland. A floating form of simplex. 

Juncus alpinus, Vill, Sutherland, Perth. B. 
White, Scot. Nat., 1887-88, pp. 182-4. Like small 
lampocarpus, but fruit more rounded, etc. 

Lula maxima, DC., var. gracilis, Rostup. 
Beeby, Scot. Nat., 1887, p. 29. Foula, Shetland. 

Schenus nigricans, var. nana, Lange. Shetland. 
Beeby, Scot. Nat., 1887-88, p. 27. Caithness. 
Marshall. Small, condensed form of the type. 

Schenus ferrugineus, VW. Perth. 8. White, 
Journal of Botany, 1885, p. 220. Mr. Brebner. 
More slender than the last, fewer flowered. 

Scirpus (Eleocharis) acicularis, var. longicaulis, 
H. C. Watson. Clarke, Journal of Botany, 1887, 
p- 270. Yorkshire. Tall form, slender, etc. 

Scirpus sylvaticus, ver. dissitiflorus, Sond. Perth. 
B. White, Scot. Nat., 1885-86. Many of the flowers 
pedicelled, etc. 

Scirpus maritimus, vat. conglobatus, Gray. Ross. 


Bennett, 1885, p. 50. 


Druce, Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 44. The com- 
pact spiked form. j 

Carex disticha, var. Jlongibracteata, Schleich. 
Oxford. Druce, Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 231. 

Carex vulpina, var. deconposita, var. aristata, and 
var. acuta, all of Gray (1821). Oxford. Druce, 
Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 231. These are rather 
states, than varieties. 

Carex helvola, Blytt. Lochnagar, Journal of 
Botany, 1886, p. 149. Arth. Bennett. 

Carex vigida, var. infuscata, Drej. Forfar. 

Carex rigida, var. inferalpina, Laest. Forfar. 
The latter a tall long-spiked form that perhaps will be 
better referred to C. Zémudla, Fr. 

Carex Goodenovt, var. juncella, Fr. Arth. Bennett, 
Journal of Botany, 1885, p. 50, Surrey! Lincoln ! 
Warwick! Isle of Skye, etc. A narrow-leaved, 
tufted form with slender spikes. 

Carex Goodenovi, var. melena. Journal of Botany, 
1890, p. 44. 

Carex Goodwini, var. curvata. 
Botany, 1890, p. 44. Inverness. 

Carex acuta, L., var. gracilescens, Almq. Arth. 
Bennett, Journal of Botany, 1885, p. 50. Salop! 
Cambs. ! 

Carex elytroides, Fr. 
Botany, 1889, p. 117. 
glumes, fruit with small asperities. 

Carex cespitosa, L. (Fr.) Beeby, Scot. Nat., 1887— 
88, p. 184. Shetland. Compact growth, without 
creeping shoots, fruits nearly nerveless, etc. 

Carex aquatilis, WNahl., var. cuspidata, Laest. 
Caithness. F. J. Hanbury, Journal of Botany, 1886, 
p- 95. With long cuspidate glumes. 

Var. epigejos, Laest. Perth. 
coloured. 

Var. virescens, Anderss. Perth. 
Nat., 1885-86. Glumes very short. 

Carex stricta, Gont., var. turfosa, Fr. (sp.). 
Camb. ! 

Carex salina, vax. hattegatenses, Fries (sp.). Arth. 
Bennett, Journal of Botany, 1885, p. 50. Caithness! 
Druce, Journal of Botany. East Inverness. 

Carex spiralis, Ewing in Trans. Nat. Soc. of 
Glasgow, p. 110, 1887. Near the ridge between 
Forfar and Aberdeen, P, Ewing! A form of C. 
vigida, Gud. 

Carex capillaris, var. alpestris, Anderss. Perth. 
P. Ewing, Trans. N. H. Soc. of Glasgow, p. 113 
(1887). 

Carex binervis, Sm., f. nigrescens. 
of Botany, 1890, p. 44. 

Carex vaginata, Tausch., var. borealis, Anderss., 
sub-sparsifolia. Ewing, Trans. N. H. Soc. of 
Glasgow, p. 113, 1887. 

Carex pilulifera, L., var. adusta, F. A. Lees. 
Rep. Record Club, 1885, p. 52. 

Carex pilulifera, f. veptans, Lange. 
Beeby, Scot. Nat., 1887-88, p. 217. 


Druce, Journal of 


Arth. Bennett, Journal of 


Anglesea. Slender with dark 


Slender, dark- 


B. White, Scot. 


Arth. 


Druce, Journal 


Shetland. 


224 HARDWICKE'S SCLIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Carex pallescens, L., var. undulata, Kunze. 
Ewing, Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Glasgow, p. 113, 
1887. Merely a crimped bracted form. 

Carex Jlevigata, var. gracilis. Axth. Bennett, 
Journal of Botany, 1889, p. 314. Salop. Fruit 
nearly patent, spikes slender, aspect of C. punctata, 
Gaud. 

Carex intermedia, Miégville. Near Fort William, 
Inverness. Marshall, Journal of Botany, 1389, p. 235, 
Habit of fanicea, but also like vaginata, betweeu the 
two. 

Carex CEderi, var. aedocarpa, Anderss. 
Scot. Nat., 1887-88, p. 330. Inverness. 

Carex (ampullacea) rostrata, var. maxima, var. 
pendulina, Ex. Club Report, 1885, p. 139. Surrey. 

Carex vesicaria, var. diochroa, Anderss. Arth. 
Bennett, Journal of Botany, 1885, p. 51. Ben 
Lawers. 

Carex extensa, var. pumila. Ex. Club Report, 
1857, p. 193. Holyhead. J. E. Griffith. 

Carex panicea, var. conferta, Nillson. Carnarvon. 
J. E. Griffith, Ex. Club Report, 1887, p. 193. 

Anthoxanthemum odoratum, var. pubescens, Gray. 
Treland. Druce, Journal of Botany, 1891, p. 306. 

Agrostis canina, f. grandiflora, Hackel. Ross, 
Aberdeen, Inverness. Scot. Nat., 1887-1888, p. 
330: 

Agrostis canina, var. Scotica, Hackel. W. Ross. 
G. C. Druce, Scot. Nat., 1890, p. 239. An inter- 
mediate form between canina and A. rubra, L. 


Druce, 


Agrostis alba, var. coarctata, Hoffm. W. Ross. 
Druce, Scot. Nat., 1887-88, p. 330. 
Agrostis alba, var. gigantea, Roth. Lancashire, 


Holt. 

Agrostis alba, var. subjumgens, Hackel. Arth. 
Bennett, Journal of Botany, 1887, p. 84. Lancashire. 

Calamagrostis borealis, Laest. Perth. 
Journal of Botany, 1889, p. 117. 

Calamagrostis strigosa, Hartm. Arth. Bennett, 
Journal of Botany, 1885, p. 253. Caithness. Very 
like C. stricta, but glumes and hairs longer, leaves, 
etc., more flaccid, etc. 

Deschampsia cespitosa, var. argentea, Gray. Oxford. 
Druce, Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 233. 

Deschampsia cespitosa, var. pallida. 

Bumus mollis, var. interruptus. Druce, ex. Club 
Report, 1888, p. 240. 

Trisetum pratense, var. variegatum, Gaud. Ireland. 
Druce, Journal of Botany, 1891, p. 306. 

Trisetum pratense, var. lutescens, Druce, |.c. 

Glyceria distans, var. prostrata, Beeby. 
Scot. Nat., 1889, p. 38. Shetland. 
“hugs” the ground. 

Glyceria fluitans, vax. triticea, Fr. Sutherland. 
Marshall, Journal of Botany, 1891, p. 117. 

Glyceria piicata, var. depauperata, Crepin. 
Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 233. Oxford. 

Poa palustris, L. Perth. B. White, Journal of 
Botany, 1889, p. 273. 


Druce, 


Beeby, 
Small, quite 


Druce, 


Poa annua, var. supina, Gaud. 
Perth. Marshall, 1888. 

Poa alpina, vax. lapponum, Laestad. 

Poa alpina, vax. alpestris, Anderss. Ewing, Trans. 
Nat. Hist. Soc. of Glasgow, 1887, p. 114. 

Poa trivialis, var. glabra, Doell. Ex. Club Report, 
1888, p. 229. 

Molinia cerulea, var. minima, Journal of Botany, 
1887, p. 169, and 1888, p. 155. 

Catabrosa aquatica, f. grandiflora, Hackel. Caith- 
ness. Hanbury and Marshall, Journal of Botany, 
1887, p. 169. Prostrate, flowers very large. 

Dactylis glomerata, var. congesta, G. et G. Great 
Ormes Head, Wales. A small abbreviated form. 

Festuca rubra, var. pruinosa, Uachel. 

Festuca rubra, var. lanaguinosa, M. et R. Elgin. 
Druce, Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 46. 

Festuca heterophylla, Lam. Surrey. Marshall, 
Journal of Botany, 1889, pp. 94, 249. Oxford. 
Hants. Root leaves triangular, 12 inches long, 
scabrid, tall, 2 to 4 feet, etc. 

Festuca sciuroides, var. intermedia, Hackel. Surrey. 
Arth. Bennett, Journal of Botany, 1887, p. 84. Form 
connecting sciuroides with F. Myuros, L. 

Brachypodium pinnatum, var. cespitosum, R. et S., 
Oxford. Druce, Journal of 


Treland, Mid. 


var. cornutum, Reichb. 
Botany, 1890, p. 233. 

Agropyrum repens, var. Vaillantum, Reichb. 
Oxford. Druce, Journal of Botany, 1889, p. 201. 

Agropyrum repens, var. dumetorum, Reichb. 
Oxford. Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 47. 

Lycopodium selago, var. vecurvum, Desv. Ross. 
Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 47. 

Tsoetes lacustris, var. falcata, “Lange” (but the 
var. is of Tausch). Shetland. Beely, Scot. Nat., 
1889, p. 39- 

Equisetum sylvaticum, var. capillare, Hoffm. 
Elgin. Marshall, Journal of Botany, 1887, p. 169. 
Aberdeen. Inverness. Surrey, Sussex. A very 
slender form with very fine branches and bright 
green. 

Equisetum arvense, L., var. memorosum, Braun. 
Oxford. Druce, Journal of Botany, 1890, p. 234. 

Lengthy as this list is, it might be greatly extended 
if Rubus, Salix and Hieracia, with hybrids, sub-var., 
etc., had been included. I ought here to say that I 
do not hold myself responsible for any names that 
are not mentioned under my name ; I take them as 
I find them. 

Ranunculus cambricus, Ar. Benn. Since the above 
was named, I have submitted specimens of the plant 
to H. Freyn, the well-known authority on the genus, 
and he has named it ‘‘ R. carniatus, Schur?.” For 
ten years I have had it growing, and watched it at 
all seasons; and while fully believing it is a nov. 
sp., and not the plant of Schur, still, in deference 
to Herr Freyn’s authority, I leave it at present under 
the name he suggests, intending to submit to him a 
larger series next winter. 


HARDWICKE'S SCITENCE-GOSSTP. 


225 


OBSERVATIONS ON PRIMULACE#. 


N writing my notes taken on diseases and anoma- 
lies of two of our commonest spring plants» 
Primula vulgaris and P. to readers of 
SciENcE-Gossip, I must say that what I have 
written is not to be taken as an argument on any 
point connected therewith, but merely as a slight aid 
to those who know more about the subject than I do, 
and who may be able to follow up such remarks 
towards a much more certain verification than I 
could possibly do. 

I find it much more convenient for me to notice 
my several parts somewhat separately, instead of ina 
general way, as most of the papers in connection 
with this paper do, hoping I may be excused on that 
ground, that it may be more lucid than if I had 
otherwise written it. 

I will consider the diseases of P. vulgaris and 
P. veris first of all. Besides the notes taken this 
year on this subject, I add a few others taken before. 

The diseases of this family generally do not seem to 
be many, but two special kinds belong to the above 
two flowers, the fungous and the insect one. 

The first is like white masses of maiter of the 
nature of a sponge, through the lens, found in the 
tube of corollary, and affecting stamens entirely, and 
sometimes the pistil, rarely the tube of corolla itself. 
What the result is on the flowers themselves I cannot 
say, whether it has the effect of preventing fertiliza- 
tion, and of keeping all kinds of insects away, I do 
not know, but I have never seen any insects of any 
kind near such flowers, although to look at they have 
been perfectly healthy in almost every external 
particular. I believe that plants growing in damp 
woods with running streams near are much more 
widely affected by it than those growing in open 
fields or in sandy or limestone (mainly) soil. 

Of the plants P. vulgaris and P. veris, the former 
is much more liable to it than the latter, as may 
be shown from the following numbers—that out of 
one hundred flowers P. vulgaris had about sixty 
attacked, while Primu/a veris had only about thirty- 
four. However, the disease is comparatively sinall 
in proportion to the number of flowers examined by 
me. Thrum-eyed and pin-eyed flowers in each case 
were very equally subject to it. 

The notes I made before in an earlier number of 
ScIENCE-GossIP, saying that, “if one flower or 
plant was diseased, all were,” I must refute ; although 
at that time what I said was correct, on further 
investigation I find it does not hold so good; but 
if there are two sides to the question, I would still 
maintain that, as a general rule, it will be found to be 
the case, perhaps when examined more for a few 
years longer. 

Passing on to the second cause of disease, that of 
insects, there is a larger proportion of flowers injured 
by them than by the fungus. And there are three 


UeEris, 


special insects that seem to take up their home in 
these plants for certain. Not being much of an 
entomologist I do not know their names, so I must 
just describe them briefly with drawings. 

I. Length about j, inch. Brown in colour on 
abdomen and head and upper part of thorax, and 
whitish on lower part of thorax. Head and thorax 
seem to be separate(?) Abdomen is pointed at end. 
Legs three pairs. Antennce very long (Fig. 128). 

2. Large and black in colour: 4 inch long about, 
or rather more perhaps. Legs brown. Shining on 
back. This insect is larger than the above in every 
way, and has a bony skin (Fig. 129). 

3. Reddish-brown in colour, and whitish or light 


Fig. 127. Fig 128. 


Fig. 131. 


Fig. 132. 


in colour on the under side. Shiny also, and bony 
to look at, and shape as in Fig. 127. 

The above three insects predominate by far among 
these two plants, and seem peculiar to them. 

The disease must be due more especially to the 
first of these insects, as in many instances where I 
found the disease I most often found the first kind by 
a long way. 

The nature of disease was brown in colour and 
dark-reddish in some parts, and under the lens like 
masses of legless grubs. Some people may think it 
was the eggs of the insects I have been mistaking 
for the disease; but I do not think they were, 
although I found in about three-quarters of the flowers 
examined, that both the first two kinds of insects 


226 


HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSTP. 


always went in pairs, sometimes there being only one 
pair in tube of corolla, at other times five or six pairs, 
while the third kind was of a more solitary nature, 
going alone. 

Out of two hundred plants examined (this is an 
average) forty-two flowers of P. vu/garis had insects 
in them, while in P. ver?s only twenty had, and the 
flowers were found much in the same districts as in 
the other disease I spoke of. 

Only in one case in each did I find a worm, which 
was of a greyish-green colour, with a black head, out 
of all I examined during the season. 

My sketch about the above has been so poor, and 
my remarks very uninteresting, I am afraid, that 
what I have to say on anomalies will be but brief and 
just as I found them, with but few remarks on them, 
as in some cases I think explanation is needed from 
others, by others better acquainted with them than 
myself, 

The following is a list of anomalies found, or at 
Teast the main ones :— 

P. vulgaris, pin-eyed ; one stamen was developing 
itself into a petal. 

P. vulgaris, pin-eyed; in tube of corolla the 
stamens were smaller than usual, being only 4 or 3 
size of stamens of this family generally, and the 
anthers were white, and no pollen on them. The 
flower in appearance was about % inch in diameter, 
and apparently very healthy. 

P. vulgaris, pin-eyed ; a style branched into two 
from pistil (Fig. 131), also stigma was wanting, and 
what appeared like a stigma was a flattening and 
swelling of the style (Fig. 130). 

P. vulgaris, thrum-eyed ; two similar malforma- 
tions. 

P. veris, two thrum-eyed ; no stigmas, and one 
with no stamens. 

f, veris, thrum-eyed ; in two flowerets, on head 
of five or six ; the number of stamens was six. 

P. vulgaris, pin-eyed ; four petals only. 

P. veris, having five flowerets ; two were thrum- 
eyed; three pin-eyed. The pin-eyed were not 
diseased, the thrum-eyed were. 

£. veris, thrum-eyed. This flower was one of the 
most extraordinary I ever came across; it had six 
sepals, eight petals, nine stamens, and style and 
stigma very short. No other flowers on the same 
plant were deformed, and there were about six more. 
In this same flower one of the stamens was formed 
abnormally ; it had first of all a piece of the tube 
raised and curled, as it were, into a stem, and then 
from this stem it had itself grown out. I could not 
draw it on paper plain enough to be understood, or 
I would do so. 

P. vulgaris, thrum-eyed. I noticed what appeared 
to be a secondary growth out of each of its petals of 
the same colour as the petals, Fig. 132, a, a, a. 

Very often I have found no stigmas or styles or 
stamens at all in both. 


P. vulgaris, pin-eyed; five sepals, six petals, six 
stamens. 

P. vulgaris, with all its parts in sixes. 

P. vulgaris, thrum-eyed ; four stamens, ditto none, 

P. vulgaris, pin-eyed ; four stamens. 

These are the principal out of a large number noted ; 
there were several minor points which I thought not 
worth mentioning in this paper, but |I hope that 
others may be persuaded to carry on these investi- 
gations, and to tell us more next year about this 
subject. 

My haunts for investigating the above flowers were 
in the counties of Yorkshire, Cheshire, Shropshire, 
Co. Down and Antrim (Ireland), and in different 
districts in these counties, and not confined to one 
part in particular. The only remark I have to make 
is that not any P. veris were got in Ireland at all. 

J. H. Barsour. 


THE SHELLS OF STOURPORT. 
By Jos—ErpH W. WILLIAMS. 


TOURPORT is a small town, of some four 
thousand inhabitants, situate in Worcestershire, 
four miles from Kidderminster and twelve from the 
county capital. The vicinage is picturesque and 
chiefly of the true rural type, well-wooded and well- 
watered ; the geological formation is largely that of 
the New Red Sandstone, which rises into wooded 
heights in every direction ; the rivers are the Severn 
and the Stour, while of still water may be mentioned, 
among many others, Hillditch Pool, Stinton Pool, 
Rush Pool, Bishop’s Pool, Wildon Pool, and the 
Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, with its 
several basins in the town. Few, if any, conchologists 
visit the locality and it was practically unworked 
until I gave it my attention ; I hope, however, that 
the publication of this list will be the means of 
bringing its richness to the notice of any workers 
who may be within a sufficient distance to give 
Stourport and its vicinity the attention it evidently 
deserves, and thus do much towards rendering our 
knowledge of its molluscan fauna more complete than 
my limited time has permitted me to accomplish. 
My visits have been once a year, averaging about 
a month in each summer, and it is only during the 
past four years that I have given any attention to the 
conchology of the locality and that more or less 
intermittingly. The list below is taken from my 
notes extending over those years. I, however, pub- 
lished a preliminary list in the ‘* Journal of Concho- 
logy” (vol vi. pp. I11-114); the present communi- 
cation must be considered as an extension of that, 
and, in some sense, a revision. Throughout I have 
used the new nomenclature ; but, in the event of some 
of my readers not being familiar with the new nomen- 
clature, I have, where any change of name has been 
made, indicated the old within brackets. 


HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSTP. 


227 


Limax cinereus, Mill. (=maximus, Auct.). Com- 
mon in gardens ; Severn side ; Hartlebury. 

Limax cinereus var. johnstont, Moq. Garden in 
Stourport. 

Limax cinereus var. obscura, Mog. Gardens in 
Stourport. 

Limax cinereus var. miilleri, Mog. Hartlebury. 


Limax variegatus, Drap. Cellars in Stourport. 

Asriolimax agrestis var. sylvatica, Mog. Common 
everywhere. 

Agriolimax agrestis var. filans, Hoy. Garden in 
Stourport. 

Agriolimax agrestis var. punctata, Pic. 
bury ; Crossway Green ; garden in Stourport. 

griolimax agrestis var. albida, Pic. Garden in 
Stourport. 

Agriolimax agrestis var. submaculata, Wms. Wil- 
don. 

Agriolimax levis, Mill. ‘* Deep Meadow,” Stour- 
port ; Lincomb Bay. 

Amalia gagates var. 
Stourport. 

Amalia 
Stourport. 

Amalia carinata, Leach (= marginata, ‘‘ Mill.” 
Drap). Garden in Stourport. 

Hyalina cellaria, Mill. Lincomb Bay ; Hartlebury. 

Hyalina cellaria var. complanata, Jeff. Lincomb 
Bay. 

Hyalina glabra, Stud. Lincomb Bay. 

flyalina alliavia, Mill. Lincomb Bay; ‘‘ Deep 
Meadow.” 

HHyalina radiatula, Ald. ‘‘ Deep Meadow.” 

Hyalina crystallina, Mill. Lincomb Bay. 

Hyalina fulva, Mill. ‘* Deep Meadow.” 

Arion ater, Linn. Common everywhere. 

Arion ater var. marginata, Moq. Common. 

Arion ater var. brunnea, Roeb. Bishop’s Park, 
Hartlebury. 

Arion ater vax. brunneopallescens, Roeb. Lincomb 
Bay. 

Arion hortensis var. rufescens, Mog. Garden in 
Stourport. 

Arion bourguignati, Mab. 
Lincomb Bay. 

Patula rotundata, 
Lincomb Bay. 

Patula rotundata var. alba, Moq. Lincomb Bay. 

Helix aspersa, Mill. Common everywhere. 

Helix aspersa var. undulata, Moq. Dunley; Wil- 
don. 

Helix aspersa var. flammea, Pic. 
Common, 

Helix nemoralis, Linn. 

Heliz nemoralis libellula, Risso. 02345; 
Stourport. 12345, 123(45), 0000; Lincomb Bay. 
oo000. Dunley. 

Helix nemoralis var. rubellz, Moq. 00300 ; Cross- 
way Green ; Wildon. 


Hartle- 


rava, Wms. Garden in 


gagates var. plumbea, Mog. Garden in 


Mill. (=Helix rotundata). 


Near Hartlebury 


Common everywhere. 
var. 


“Deep Meadow;” | 


Helix nemoralis var. castanea, Moq. On railway 
bank between Wildon and Stourport. (Mr. Kitching 
tas shown me many specimens of this variety taken 
from his own garden at Bewdley.) 

Helix nemoralis vax. conoiiea, Jenner. Wildon. 

Helix nemoralis vax. trochoides, Cless. Dunley. 

Helix nemoralis var. carnea, R & T. Dunley. 

Flelix hortensis, Mill. Common everywhere. 

felix hortensis var. albine, Moq. Dunley. 

fTelix hortensis var. arenicola, Macg. Dunley. 

Ffelix hortensis vax. pallida, Ckll, Lincomb Bay. 

Helix hortensis var. lutea, Mog. 00000; Lincomb 
Bay ; Dunley ; Astley ; Arley ; Mrs Clewer’s Garden 


‘in Jenny Hole ; Stourport ; Crossway Green ; Wildon. 


1(2345), Mrs. Clewer’s Garden. 12345; Stour- 
port. 

felix hortensis var. albina-fasciata. Dunley ; 
Mrs. Clewer’s Garden in Jenny Hole. 

Helix hortensis var. subalbida, Loc. 12345, 
(123)45, (12345), 1(2345), 12(345), (12)3(45), 


(123)(45), (1234)5, 1(234)5; Mrs. Clewer’s Garden 
in Jenny Hole. 1(23)(45), (123)45, 12345, (1234)5 5 
Mr. Pretty’s Garden at Wildon. 12345, (123)(45), 
(12)345, (123)45 ; Dunley. 

Helix arbustorum, Linn. Lincomb Bay ; ‘‘ Red- 
stone Rock ;” near Arley Wood. 


Helix arbustorum, var. pallida, Tayl. Lincomb 
Bay. 

Helix arbustorum var. flavescens, Mog. Lincomb 
Bay. 

Helix arbustorum vax. conoidea, Wst. Near Arley 
Wood. 

Helix vufescens var. gubens, Mog. Lincomb 


Bay ; Wildon. 
LTelixa riufescens var. alba, Mog. Lincomb Bay. 
Helix hispida, Linn. Lincomb Bay ; Dunley. 
Helix hispida vax. concinna, Jeff. Lincomb Bay. 
Helix granulata, Ald. (=sericea, Auct.). Lincomb 
Bay ; plentiful. 
Helix pulchella var. costata, Mill. Lincomb Bay. 
Helix lapicida, Linn. Mr. Glover of Stourport 
has given me one specimen which he found in Arley 
Wood. I have been unable to find this species in 
that locality, but there is no reason to doubt the 
genuineness of the “‘ find.” 
Bulimus obscurus, Mill. 
Clausilia laminata, Mont. 
Clausilia laminata var. 
Hartlebury. 
Clausisia rugosa, Drap. Charlton ; Lincomb Bay. 
Clausilia rugosa var. gracilior, Jeff. Lincomb 


Lincomb Bay. 
Lincomb Bay. 


albinos, Moq. Near 


Bay. 

Cochlicopa tubrica, Mill. Lincomb Bay; ‘‘ Deep 
Meadow.” 

Cochlicepa lubrica vax. hyalina, Jeff. Lincomb 
Bay. 

Cacilianella acicula, Bourg. Plentiful in the 


“Deep Meadow.” 


Succinea putris, Linn, Lincomb Bay and on the 


228 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


herbage along the banks of the Severn, the majority 
being very large specimens; near Hillditch Pool. 
(N.B.—In my list in ‘‘ Journ. Conch.” the word 
** Fillditch” has been spelt, as locally pronounced, 
‘* Hillage.” The present is the correct rendering.) 

Succinea putris var. albida, Sopp. & Cart. Lin- 
comb Bay. 

Succinea pfeiffert, Rossm. On the banks of the 
Severn and near Hillditch Pool ; common. 

Carycnium minimum, O. F. Miller. 
Meadow.” 

Flanorbis lineatus, Walk. Stinton Pool at Cross- 
way Green ; small stream near Wildon Iron Works. 

Planorbis albus, Mill. Hillditch Pool. 

flanorbis spirorbis, Mill. ‘* Rush Pool,” on 
Hartlebury common; small pool at Wildon; and 
pools in meadows near the Severn. 

Planorbis umbilicatus, Mill (=complanatus, Auct.), 
Hillditch Pool ; Bishop’s Pool. 

Physa fontinalis, Linn. Hillditch Pool. 

Physa hypnorum, Linn. ‘* Deep Meadow.” and a 
ditch on the way to the Lickhill Manor House. 

Limnea peregra, Mill. Rivers Stour and Severn ; 
Hillditch Pool; Stinton Pool ; Rush Pool; Stafford- 
shire and Worcestershire Canal, 

Limnea peregra var. convoluta, Wms. This 
peculiar form was first described by the author in 
the ‘‘ Midland Naturalist ” from a specimen collected 
in Hillditch Pool. 

Limnea peregra var. ovata, 
Pool. 

Limnea peregra var. labiosa, Jeff. Hillditch Pool. 

Linnea auricularia, Linn. One specimen only 
was taken from the Staffordshire and Worcestershire 
Canal. 

Limnea glabra, Mill. Small Pool on Hartle- 
bury Common (scarce) ; plentiful in a ditch in same 
locality. Large specimens ina ditch in one of the 
river meadows belonging to the ‘‘ Coney Green” 
farm. 

Limnea palustris, Mull. A few specimens were 
taken from a ditch in a field belonging to the 
“ Lickhill” farm. 

Ancylus oblongus, Lightfoot (=/acustris, Linn.). 
On stones in Hillditch Pool ; not plentiful. 

Cyclostoma elegans, Mill. Mr. Kitching informs 
me that several specimens have been taken near 
Bewdley. 

Paludina vivipara, ‘*L.” Auct. 
Worcestershire Canal. 

Paludina vivipara var. efasciata, Pic. 
shire and Worcestershire Canal. 


** Deep 


Drap. _ Hillditch 


Staffordshire and 


Stafford- 


Bythinia tentaculata, Linn. Hillditch Pool; 
Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal; River 
Severn. 

Bythinia tentaculata var. fulva, Loc. Hillditch 
Pool. 

Bythinia tentaculata var. allida, Rimmer. Hill- 


ditch Pool. 


Bythinia tentaculata vax. ventricosa, Menke. Hill- 
ditch Pool ; River Severn. 
Valvata piscinalis, Mill. 
plentiful. 
Spherium corneum, Linn. 


ton Pool at Crossway Green ; 


Hillditch Pool, but not 


Hillditch Pool; Stin- 
Wildon Pool; 


Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal; River 
Severn. 
Spherium corneum vax. flavescens, Macgill. Wil- 


don Pool; River Severn. 

Spherium corneum var. compressa, Gray. Hillditch 
Pool. 

Spherium ovale, Fér. In my former list, this shell 
was recorded as being found in a *‘ pool in Shrawley 
Wood (one dead specimen only).”” This specimen 
was thrown back into the pool, and I have more 
than my doubts now whether I was not mistaken 
in the diagnosis. The pool has been searched 
thoroughly since, but no ovale were found. I am 
resolved that what I found was in reality a young 
specimen of .S, cormeumt which approximated in shape 
to S. ovale. Will those interested kindly make a 
note of this correction? they will greatly oblige the 
writer by so doing. 


_Spherium lacustre, Mill. Rush Pool (very 
plentiful). 
Lisidium amnicum, Miill. Staffordshire and 


Worcestershire Canal; the species far excellence of 
the River Severn. 

Pisidium pusillum, Gmel. Hillditch Pool. 

Unio tumidus, Phil, Hillditch Pool. 

Anodonta cygnea, Linn. Staffordshire and Wor- 
cestershire Canal, 

Dreissena polymorpha, van, Ben. Staffordshire and 
Worcestershire Canal; .Wildon Pool. In great 
plenty. 

Dreissena polymorpha vax. dilatata, Colb. Stafford- 
shire and Worcestershire Canal. 

In looking over the foregoing list two features will 
strike the reader : the total absence of such other- 
wise common species as Limna@a stagnalis and L. 
truncatula ; and also the total absence of Planorbis 
vortex, although its usual congener, P. sfirorbis, is, 
comparatively abundant. 


THE EGGS OF INSECTS. 
By P. L. Siumonps, F.L.S. 


ANY insects and their products have been 
described and figured, from time to time, in 

the long series of volumes of S€IENCE-GossiIP, but 
a separate consideration of the eggs of some insects 
is not without interest. We utilise the eggs of 
various fishes, birds, and reptiles, but those of 
insects have comparatively small commercial value ; 
only a few being taken any account of. Most insects 
are oviparous, There are some eggs which are use- 


HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


220 


ful, as those of the silkworm, the cochineal insect, 
and a few which are eaten as food. The cochineal 
insect lays several thousand eggs on the cacti. An 
insect which deposits its eggs on the most forward 
of the figs hastens their ripening. Fig-growers have 
for ages taken advantage of the habits of B/astophaga 
grossorum for cross-fertilising the cultivated fig with 
the wild Caprificus. 

Some fifteen or twenty years ago a very large trade 


Fig. 138.—Egg of Meadow-Prown. 


was carried on in importing silkworms’ eggs, on 
cards, from Japan to France and Italy, in con- 
sequence of the silkworm disease. In the eleven 
years ending with 1872, about two million pounds of 
these eggs were imported to each of these countries, 
costing over ten million pounds sterling! In 
December 1879, a consignment of silkworms’ eggs, 
filling six freight cars, arrived at New York from 
Japan, via San Francisco, The eggs were packed in 
cases measuring three feet in length by about one foot 


Fig. 134.—Egg of Magpie Moth. 


Fig. 139.—Egg of Small Copper. 


in width anddepth. Each case contained some 600,000 
eggs, attached to strips of cardboard, separated by 
layers of tissue paper. From twenty to twenty-five 
of these cards were placed in each case; the cards 
contained about twenty-eight grammes of eggs, or 
from 30,000 to 35,000 ; each card was valued at 1. 
The silk-moth in Japan lays about two kundred eggs. 
The silkworms’ egg is the size of a pin’s head, and is 
of great commercial value. When first laid the eggs 


Fig. 135.—Egg of Red Admiral. 


Fig. 140.—Egg of Cabbage Moth. 
(All magnified.) 


are of a clear jonquil yellow, and if they are pierced, 
will pass successively through a series of tints till 
they arrive at their definite hue, an ashy grey ; while 
if not pierced they will remain yellow. As the shell 
or covering is nearly transparent, these changes of 
colour, which are those of the germ which it encloses, 
may be successively watched. From experimental 
researches which have been made, it is found that the 
hatching may be retarded or advanced by regulating 
the temperature :—1. To prevent the eggs hatching 


230 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


at the ordinary period, they should be preserved from 
the commencement in a temperature between fifteen 
and twenty degrees Centigrade, exposed to the cold 
for fifteen days, about three months before the time 
required for hatching, and then treated as ordinarily. 
2. To have the eggs hatched before the ordinary 
period, twenty days after they have been dropped 
they should be exposed to the cold for two months, 
and then removed six weeks, afterwards they will be 
found in the same condition as normal seed, and can 
be treated in the same manner. The eggs in com- 
merce bear the names of grain or seed. 

The larya and nymphe of ants are good food for 
poultry, and an old woman of Paris derived a good 
income for half a century from supplying the Yardin 
@ Acclimatation with these eggs for pheasants. These 
she collected in the woods around Paris, though 
almost devoured by the ants; but of their attacks 
she took little notice. Her harvest-time, of which 
she had a monopoly, lasted from June to the end of 
September. Ants’ eggs are considered by many 
people a choice relish spread on bread-and-butter, 
and are excellent curried. They are eaten in Siam, 
forming an esteemed article of food, but being costly, 
are only obtainable by the rich. 

Ants’-brood are subject to an import duty in some 
of the northern countries of Europe, especially in 
Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. In those states 
they are steeped in boiling water, and a kind of 
vinegar, or formic acid, is obtained. The eggs 
obtained in Mexico from three species of hemipterous 
insects, belonging to the group of aquatic beetles, 
are eaten. 

These eggs are made into a sort of bread or cake, 
called ‘‘Hantle,” consumed by the people, and it 
forms an article of commerce in the markets, In the 
fresh waters of the lagoons, bundles of reeds or rushes 
are laid, on which the insects (Corixa femorale and 
C. muanaria, Geoffroy, and Noctonecta Americana) 
deposit their eggs. The bundles of rushes are then 
withdrawn, dried and beaten over cloths, to detach 
the myriads of eggs. These are cleansed, sifted, put 
into sacks, and sold like flour, to form cakes, which 
are excellent eating, but have a fishy and slightly 
acid flavour. The eggs of another species, Corixa 
esculenta, having the appearance of manna, are eaten 
in Egypt. 

The eggs of insects vary much in size and shape, 
but the round and oval are 
form. 

It is believed that there are five times as many 
kinds of insects as there are species of all other living 
things put together. The oak alone gives shelter and 
support to 450 species of insects, and 200 kinds make 
their home in pine-trees. Forty years ago Humboldt 
estimated that the number of species preserved in 
collections was between 150,000 and 170,000, but 
scientific men now say, that there must be more than 
three-quarters of a million, without taking into 


the most common 


account the parasite creatures. Of the 35,000 species 
in Europe, however, there are not more than 3500 
which are noxious or destructive. There are more 
than 100,000 beetles. 

The eggs of many depredating insects are ruth- 
lessly destroyed ; among these especially come those 
of the locust tribe. 

The grasshorpers, as they are called in North 
America, commit great devastation. According to 
one calculation, these insects lay 2816 million eggs per 
acre. This may be a greatly exaggerated estimate, 
but after every deduction is made, enough remains 
for seriousalarm. The Cicada, or so-called locusts of 
America, make their periodical appearance, according 
to some, every seven, fourteen or seventeen years. 
They lay their eggs in May, and these are hatched in 
August. They are furnished with a boring-tube or 
ovipositor, about half an inch long, having joined to 
it on each side, a tolerably fair specimen of a saw. 
There are a great variety of species of these locusts : 
among others, Acridium shoetoneand A, Americanum, 
Dipostura longipennes, and D. spurcata ; the lesser 
migratory locust (Caloptences Atlantes), the detest- 
able locust (C. fwdus) two-striped locust (C. dzvet- 
tatus), large yellow locust (C. differentials), devas- 
tating locust (C. devastator), Rocky Mountain locust 
(C. spretus), and winged locust (Cdipoda venusta, and 
@. phanecoptera). 

The egg masses contain from 30 to 150 in different 
species. In America grasshopper clubs are estab- 
lished, the members of which are pledged to destroy 
the eggs by deep ploughing, and the young grass- 
hoppers by increasing the number of poultry kept, by 
preserving wild birds, and others means. Five dollars 
a bushel are given for their eggs. Guatemala, Costa 
Rica, and other parts of Central America have been 
occasionally visited by these plagues. About 1500 of 
their eggs weigh a pound. 

On the coasts of the Mediterranean, Morocco, 
Algeria, Jaffa, etc., the locusts often appear in con- 
siderable numbers ; millions of them may be seen 
covering the ground for miles, inches thick. The 
Arabs and peasants, on view of their approaching 
mischief, go through the land in thousands, digging 
for their eggs, and destroying incredible numbers 
with fire and water. In the subdivisions of Con- 
stantine, Setif, and Batna, Algeria, there were 
collected a few years ago, 14,000 bushels of locust 
eggs. 

There are three or four very destructive and 
migratory species of locusts in Europe and Asia. 
There are also several other species which sometimes 
become very destructive, and still more rarely migrate 
from place to place, in the United States. But the 
Rocky Mountain locust is essentially the migratory 
and destructive species of North America, as none 
other compares with it in the vastness of its move- 
ments, or the injury which it inflicts. The value of 
the vegetation destroyed in 1874, in the State of Iowa, 


HARDWICKES SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


231 


was estimated at 2,000,000 dollars, and in that of 
Minnesota, at 3,000,000 dollars, a damage of over 
1,000, 000/. sterling. 

There are other insects’ eggs which are dreaded by 
the agriculturist, among which are those of the 
Hessian fly (Caidomya destructor), which attacks the 
stalk of wheat. The fly breeds twice a year. The 
first brood of eggs, which are very small reddish 
grains, are deposited in the upper channel of the 
wheat leaf, soon after the stalk begins to bud out. 
They are hatched in about fifteen days. 

The grain-weevil (Calandra granatis) attacks the 
grain at the time of ripening, and continues its 
ravages long after it is harvested. A single pair, it 
has been asserted, will multiply to five or six thousand 
duringoneyear. The wheat-midge (Cecidomys tritici) 
is another ravager, which laysits eggs on the blossoms 
and soft immature grain, and the eggs hatch in six or 
eight days. 

The eggs of moths are laid on the young shoots 
or on the bark of the plant on which the caterpillar 
has to feed, and the way in which they are ‘laid is 
often very strange. The common lacquey moth (C. 
iVeustria) makes a ring or bracelet round the twigs of 
the hawthorn, covering the eggs with a kind of 
cement, which is an effectual covering. 

The egg of a moth or butterfly is found of various 
shapes, sizes, and colours (some being ribbed or 
smooth, others hemispherical or spherical, and others 
cylindrical) and of a green, brown, or dusky white 
colour. A study of these eggs under the microscope 
is well worth the trouble of procuring them. They 
possess extraordinary vitality, neither baking nor 
freezing producing any other effect than making the 
exclusion of the caterpillar earlier or ater. 

The night-butterfly often devastates the Prussian 
and Polish forests, eating down acres of pine-trees, 
leaving the trunks perfectly bare. The eggs cover 
them as a layer. Some years ago, in the course of 
a few months, 300 Ibs. of their eggs were collected 
in one district only, equal to about 150 million 
insects. 

If we turn to flies, millions of eggs are laid by 
them, whence proceed in a day or two innumerable 
devourers of dead flesh. The common house fly 
(Musca domestica) lays from 120 to 150 eggs; MM, 
Caesar and Sarcophaga camarria are equally prolific ; 
and after a-few days, when perfect flies, these in 
their turn lay about 150 eggs, which in two weeks 
become flies again, and so on. It is no wonder, 
therefore, their numbers increase so rapidly. 

The eggs of dozens of other predatory insects 
have to be kept under by birds or the devices of 
man. 

The eggs of the walking-stick insect (Zurycantha 
horrida) 2 native of New Guinea, are said tobe as 
large as those of the small humming-bird. This 
insect was figured in Sc1ENCE-GossiIP for March, 
1875. 


NOTES ON THE INFUSORIA. 
By BERNARD THOMAS. 
VI. 


ESIDES the single varieties of the Vorticellinz, 

there are others on branching stalks that live 

in colonies. Among these may be mentioned Epi- 

stylis, Zoothamnium, and Carchesium. In the first 

the stalk is not contractile ; in the second the stalk 

is contractile, but not the main stem, while in 
Zoothamnium the whole tree is contractile. 

33. Zoothamnium spirale (Fig. 141, A, B, C) is a 
marine species sometimes found with Polyza. It is 
an exceedingly beautiful form. It may be compared 
to a branching tree with little bell-like organisms in- 
stead of leaves: Some of the bells are small ; others, 
of much larger size, are arranged in the axils of the 
branches. When the protoplasmic thread contracts, 
the whole tree bunches up and the stem is lost among 
the bells crowded closely together. Then the stem 
slowly expands again, somewhat spirally, and the 
bells gradually open and their cilia begin to play. 
The individual bells closely resemble Vorticella, but 
the nucleus is round and nota bent rod. A delicate 
protoplasmic thread may be seen traversing the stalk 
and branching with it. In Goss’s ‘* Tenby” there 
is a beautiful illustration of this species, and the 
following short description : ‘‘ Zoothamnium spirale: 
pedicle slender, spirally bent ; branches short, neither 
umbellate nor vorticellate, but set spirally on the 
trunk ; bells sessile, spirally arranged, with a terminal 
one ; large bells few, axillary. Inhabits sea-water.” 
Besides Z. spirale there are other species, as Z. 
arbuscula, which is described as racemose, umbellate, 
the branches all coming from the top of the stem. 
It inhabits fresh-water. 

34, Lpistylis nutans (Fig. 141, D). The bell 
resembles somewhat that of Vorticella. The ceso- 
phagus is ciliated. Where the bell joins the stalk the 
cuticle is jointed, and this permits a nodding move- 
ment of the bell. Carchesizm is another branched 
Vorticella. It is a very beautiful form and inhabits 
fresh-water. 

35. Lrichodina pediculus (Fig. 144, A, B) has no 
stalk and lives attached by a sucker-like base to 
some otherorganism. Ihave studied the morphology 
of this little infusorian, which I found in large numbers 
on a black Planarian. The Planarian can easily be 
procured for examination. It is a black, slug-like 
animal about one-eighth of an inch long, which crawls 
about the bed of the pond. As I have made the 
little infusorian the subject of a former paper, I will 
only briefly describe the morphology. The under- 
surface is concave with circular outline. In the centre 
there is a hole and round this a ring of protoplasm. 
Outside this ring are short radiating bars. This is 
the ‘‘ muscular ” apparatus hy means of which Tricho- 
dina attaches or detaches itself. Surrounding the base 


232 


HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSS/P. 


is a fringe of long vibratile cilia, which is used by the 
organism when it swims freely about. Trichodina, 
although usually described as parasitic, does not 
appear to be so, for the mouth is situated on the 
upper surface, between a disc and peristome, in a 
similar manner to Vorticella, and the “‘ bell” can be 
opened and closed by a similar mechanism. Indeed 
the organism resembles a free Vorticella bell newly 


which it is attached. The organism somewhat re- 
sembles Vorticella, but the cesophagus is ciliated. In 
the interior their are green particles. The length of 
this organism is about the two-hundredth of an inch. 

37. Cothurnia maritima (Fig. 142, B) and the 
other species of this genera much resemble the pre- 
ceding. The carapace or case is, however, stalked, 
and fixed by the blind extremity. The length of this 


Fig. 141.—Zoothamnium spirale. a, Low power extended. 8B, Low power contracted. 


c, High power. v, Efistylis nutans. 


Fig. 142.—a, Vaginicola crystallina. 


cast off from the stalk. The sucker-like arrangement 
must be considered as representing the stalk of 
Vorticella. 

The genera Vaginicola and Cothurnia both live in 
a case. 

36. Vaginicola crystallina (Fig. 142, A) is also 
known as Cothurnia crystallina. The case, into 
which the animal sometimes retreats, is shaped like a 
vase (urceolate), and is sessile on the filament to 


B, Cothurnia maritima. 


species is about the two-hundred-and-fiftieth of an 
inch. As the name implies, it is a marine species. 

C. inerbis inhabits fresh-water. 

38. Scyphodia (Fig. 143, A) is another genus of the 
Vorticellinze, and the specimen shown in the illustra- 
tion was found attached to a Cyclops. Another 
species of the large family of Vorticellina is shown 
in Fig. 143, B; it was furnished with chlorophyll 
corpuscles. 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


233 


IV. Sucrorta or ACINET£.—This family is the 
last of the Infusoria here considered, and it is a very 
peculiar and interesting one. The members of this 
group have a protoplasmic body, with nucleus and 
contractile space, and so far they resemble the pre- 
ceding. In the absence of food-vacuoles and presence 
of tentacles or suckers in place of cilia they differ from 


sequent date, if space is afforded me, I may trespass 
again on the reader’s time to mention them. 
Sufficient has been said to show not only how 
complex the cell of the infusorian may become, but 
also how diverse and numerous are the forms of this 
interesting group. Compared with the Amoeba, how 
much the cell of the higher Ciliata is differentiated. 


Fig. 144.—Trichodina pediculus. 


the Ciliata. They are usually sessile, attached by a 
stalk, sometimes protoplasmic, to the bodies of the 
Entomostraca, etc. Sometimes they are furnished 
with a delicate case. 

The suckers or tentacles which replace the cilia, 
and which may be considered as a modification of 
them, are delicate tubes each furnished with a disc at 
its free extremity. These tubes can be slowly with- 
drawn into the body and slowly protruded again. 
The Suctoria feed on infusoria or other minute 
organisms, and are parasitic. When food comes in 
the vicinity of one of these organisms, some of the 
suckers are attached to it, and others play the part of 
tentacles to hold the prey. The little disc at the end 
of the tube expands, and thus becomes more firmly 
fixed. ‘The food particles drawn from the soft body of 
the luckless host are said to be seen traversing the tube 
to pass into the interior of the parasite’s body. There 
are several members of this family. Perhaps at a sub- 


Tt is needless, perhaps, to remark that only a com- 
paratively few examples have been mentioned. It 
would require a very large work indeed to embrace 
all the species, and this task would be rendered the 
more difficult as every year adds new forms to the 
list. 


SCIENCE-GOSSIP: 


AT a recent meeting of the French Biological 
Society some interesting facts were brought before 
the notice of the members. The faiths and folklore 
of ancient observers are worthy of attention. For 
instance, the gipsies have long claimed the ability to 
read off the lines of the open hand, and this know- 
ledge they have elevated to the science of palmistry. 
Wandering gipsies are keen observers, as every 
country policeman is assured. But the females of 


234 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 


their tribes, apart from any low cunning connected 
with the crossing of the examined palm with silver, 
have everywhere a deep and earnest belief in the 
characteristic lines and markings of the open human 
hand. The human skin is a terrible revealer of 
secrets, whether it be the face or the hand. ‘There is 
a palmistry of the face as well as of the palm. The 
human skin, like that other thicker one we call the 
** crust of the earth,” accumulates wrinkles the older 
it gets. Every line which marks a face or a continent, 
is either one of energy, or one expressing the lack of 
it. Are the gipsies very far wrong, therefore, in their 
endeavours to construct a knowledge of individual 
human character from the lines of a, human hand? 
The French Biological Society does not appear to 
think so, although the gipsies are not referred to. At 
a recent meeting, one of its most eminent members 
produced a large and important collection of the 
impressions made of the skin of the thumb. Thumb- 
marks are a very ancient and convenient form of seal 
impression. We have seen them on Egyptian and 
Assyrian bricks, as well as on the sham wafers of 
wills. Indeed, the criss-crossing seen on a will or 
deed which has to be signed is only a rude represen- 
tation of the lines of the inner surface of the finger or 
thumb which has to be laid thereon, usually when the 
deed or will is subscribed to. Gipsies have long 
declared that these markings of the interior of the 
human palm and fingers denote character, and they 
profess to be able to read them. However that may 
be, Professor Féré has recently shown that in the case 
of epileptic patients the ‘‘thumb-marks” are quite 
different from those in sane and wholesome persons, 
In one half of the impressions he produced and 
exhibited, they are unsymmetrical from right to left. 
The impressions of the finger and thumb-marks of 
lepers have also been found markedly to differ from 
those of healthy relatives. The cause assigned is that 
of nervous degeneration. 


Our readers have heard the story of the man who 
was born blind, and who on being asked his ideas 
concerning the colour of scarlet, said it must be like 
the sound of a trumpet. He was not far wrong in 
this respect, for physiologists and psychologists have 
now discovered a distinct relationship between colour 
and sound, A distinguished scientist, Professor 
Gruber, has been experimenting in this important 
department of research for years past, and has just 
given to the world the results of his valuable experi- 
ences. To a very small number among his best 
educated patients the sound of the vowel ‘‘e” was 
accompanied by a sensation of yellow colour ; of ‘‘i,” 
by blue; of ‘‘o,” by black; and so on through the 
long list of vowels and diphthongs, and also to some 
extent with numbers. The same colour was not 
always induced by the same sound in different 
patients, but the observations have been carefully 
tested. 


WE are pleased to notice the organ of the Malden 
Natural History Society (‘‘ The Gazette”), the July 
No. of which contains ‘‘The Dragon-flies of the 
Months,” July, by Mr. Harcourt Bath; ‘‘ A Short 
Treatise on the Structure and Habits, etc., of Birds,” 
by William E. H. Pidsley. A further account of 
“The Mole” (Zalpa vulgaris), and ‘“‘ Snake Catch- 
ing,” by Dr. Arthur Stradling, C.M.Z.S., etc. 


THE “‘ Naturalist’s Journa],” first issued in July last 
by W. P. Collins, 157, Great Portland Street, W., 
will prove handy to collectors of Natural History 
objects. Mr. Harcourt Bath has inserted a few in- 
teresting notes on Reptiles. There are notes on rare 
butterflies, and other articles, bringing together facts 
and captures from various parts of the country. The 
magazine is well printed and got up. 


One of our most greatly disliked, and perhaps too 
abundant, English birds is the common sparrow. 
He is such a dreadful Bohemian. Being an English 
bird, the sparrow has naturally his likes and dislikes. 
As a natural grain-consuming bird, he makes war 
upon the insectivorous kinds. It has recently been 
discovered that sparrows have a particular dislike to 
certain colours, such as ‘‘purple” and ‘‘blue.” A 
correspondent in Watwre states that some caged spar- 
rows he had would not touch their food if he put 
strips of blue paper upon it ; that they manifested a 
discourteous dislike to ladies who came into the room 
wearing blue dresses, and that several of them were 
cured of the vice of pecking at a certain part of a 
wall they had access to by plastering a piece of blue 
paper over it. Our English sparrows are +terrible 
Radicals, especially where blue happens to be the 
Liberal colour. It is not often our good fortune to 
apply political colours to practical ends, but here is a 
good suggestion for young Conservative farmers :— 
Let every shock of wheat in the cornfield, by way of 
experiment, be bound up with a strip of blue, whose 
colour it has been demonstrated sparrows greatly 
dislike. 


Ir can hardly be wondered at, considering its 
fatal action in Hamburg and elsewhere, that cholera 
is just now a matter of considerable microscopical 
study by scientists, It is now generally accepted 
that this dreaded disease is due to the enormously 
rapid growth of a bacillus or germ, known as the 
“comma” bacillus from its shape. It has been 
found that they grow more rapidly in ordinary arti- 
ficial culture solutions when the latter contain milk- 
sugar, but their growth ceases when lactic acid is mixed 
with it. It is suggested, therefore, that the best 
drink for cholera patients would be lemonade into 
which some lactic acid has been mixed. A good 
many rotten apples will soon be lying about. Science 
has discovered that rottenness so called (fitly regarded 
asa sign of mortification) is only a birth from death 


unto life. It is a good illustration of how Nature _ 


HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 235 


works up her waste organic materials. The apple- 
rot is produced by a parasitic fungus, which, singu- 
larly enough, is the same as that which causes the 
Tipe-rot in grapes. It is an infectious fungus, and 
can be passed on from one fruit to another. The 
grapes affected by it become transparent and wither 
up, whereas in the apple it causes the surface to be 
covered with brown spots, which spread very rapidly. 


TIME flies, but scientific discovery travels faster. 
Twenty years ago the civilised world stood aghast at 
the thought that every country was exhausting its 
limited coalfields. John Stuart Mill, John Bright, 
Professor Jevons, and others took up the subject. 
Professor Hull had calculated how long our British 
coalfields would last at the then rate of consumption 
(we have nearly doubled the rate since then). It 
was a gloomy outlook. A period in the future, 
perhaps not farther distant than that which separates 
us from Queen Elizabeth’s time, would find us with- 
out a shovel of coal. England is, above all things, a 
manufacturing nation. Without coal how can we 
manufacture? To say nothing of cheerless and 
fireless homes, unlighted by gas, our very livelihood 
as a producing country, our country’s future, de- 
pended upon it. No wonder that men’s faces settled 
into sadness as they thought of the time when the 
coalfields of the world would be exhausted. 


It is with a sense of relief we now feel that we 
shall be locomotived, warmed, lighted, and furnished 
with even more motive power than we can use when 
there is not a single ton of coal left in the world. 
Nature superabounds in energy. Here is the cata- 
ract of Niagara giving up only 3% per cent. of its 
mighty force, and yet tha‘ will be sufficient to furnish 
the city of Buffalo, eighteen miles way, with all the 
illumination and motive power it requires. As long 
as the winds blow, waters flow, and tides rise and 
fall, we shall be possessed of more energy than we 
can consume. It can he transferred into electricity, 
and the latter can re-transform it into light, heat, and 
motion. With the exception of the tides, all terres- 
trial energy comes to us from the sun, and coal only 
represents the stored-up excess of solar energy of an 
ancient geological period as distinguished from that 
of to-day, which lifts the watery vapours from the 
surface of the ocean, distils them into rain, allows 
them to gather into rivers, descend as cataracts, and 
in the latter form to liberate the solar energy which 
has been expended. Coals and cataracts are very 
nearly related. 


THE importance of insects to flowers has been 
fully substantiated within the last few years. Indeedit 
is highly probable there would never have been any 
flowers at all if there had never been any insects. 
Professor Riley, a celebrated American entomologist, 
has gone a step further and shown how important are 
the services of certain insects in the formation of such 


fruits as the fig. In the production of the best 
Smyrma figs certain minute insects are necessary to 
the fruitification. The tree which produces the 
edible fig, does not yield fruit of fine flavour unless 
the latter are fertilised by the aid of these insects. 
Figs are raised in California, but the fruit is very 
insipid. Professor Riley says this is due to the fact 
of the absence of the insects which in Smyma 
produce such fine fruit. He recommends the Califor- 
nian Government to take up the subject, and intro- 
duce the insects from Smyrna into California. 


ONE of the worst things which can happen to an 
Englishman living in hot countries is an attack of 
bilious fever. A French physician has just proved 
that this is due to a special kind of bacteria, which 
he has successfully cultivated. The bacteria is 
motionless, but is accompanied with numberless 
moving spores. An unfortunate pig was inoculated 
with the cultivation, and it had the bilious fever 
directly. 


“© A HAIR of the dog that bit you” is an old 
remedy, It has been found that people afflicted with 
shaking palsy are greatly relieved by travelling long 
journeys in fast trains. The greater the oscillation 
the better they are. Dr. Charcot, noticing this, has 
had a chair made to which a rapid side to side 
movement is given by electricity. The effect is to 
give a healthy man nausea, but a palsied patient 
enjoys it, and after a quarter of an hour in it is a 
different man. He stretches his limbs, loses fatigue, 
and enjoys a good night’s rest afterwards. 


MICROSCOPY. 


Dr. A. M. Epwarps, of Newark, U.S.A., kindly 
sends us the following ‘‘ Microscopical Notes” :— 

SUBSTITUTE FOR GLASS FOR COVERS AND SLIDES 
FOR THE Microscorr.—I think the price of slides 
and coyers for microscopic use is enormously high, 
and as they can be made of a substance much cheaper, 
and at the same time possessing properties which 
glass has not, viz., being unbreakable, that it should 
be known. In using celluloid, which is wood ren- 
dered soluble in ether and alcohol with gum camphor, 
for films for microphotography, I was struck with 
some of its properties, that made me think it could be 
used in microscopy. It is transparent, almost as 
transparent as glass, unbreakable, the weight is very 
little, making it especially valuable when sending by 
post, and therefore occupying very little room, which 
can thus be dispensed with. It is strong as wood, 
and stronger, has no fibre, and can be cut readily with 
scissors. I really wonder that it has not been used 
before for slides and covers. It can be obtained with 
a ground surface as well as plain, and the cost, which 


236 


is a great item, is next to nothing. Very thin 
celluloid films are commonly used for instantaneous 
coverers, and this can be employed for both, whilst 
the thicker kind used for ordinary photography makes 
capital slides. In fact I have some an inch square, 
which I use in this way, mounting it temporarily in a 
glass slide for use on the microscope. Let all 
microscopists try it and they will not repent. 


THE USE OF A SUBSTITUTE FOR CANADA 
BALSAM.—The use of a substitute for Canada balsam 
for mounting objects for microscopic use has long 
been an object of research with me, and in fact I have 
employed a hundred of different media and rejected 
them one by one, until I got the one I am about to 
describe. I use the gum thus or frankincense, which 
is the gum or balsam of the Pinus teda, L, (loblolly 
or old field pine) which is found in Virginia and 
southward, common. In Florida it is very common, 
constituting the ‘‘ Pine Barrens” of that state. It 
was described in the ‘‘Dispensatory of the United 
States of America” sixteenth edition, 1889, by Wood 
and Bache, and by Wood, Remington and Sadtler, 
as from the Pinus Australis, Mich. (Pinus palustris, 
Mill.), and Pinus teda, Linn. It is dissolved in 
alcohol. A saturated solution is made by adding 
ordinary alcohol to a large quantity of the gum and 
set by for a day or so, until it is dissolved. The clear 
solution, which is darker than balsam, is poured off, and 
three parts acid to one of oil of cinnamon is added to 
nine. This is the solution that is used for mounting. 
The gum thus is more highly refractive than Canada 
balsam alone, and when we add to it oil of cinnamon, 
we use liquid of the highest refractive powers that we 
can use. To use it we dry the substance, diatoms or 
other substance, in the cover or slide, and add with a 
dipper (an iron wire is good) a drop or two of the 
solution. We then warm it until the alcohol is flown 
off and bubbles formed are driven off, and the cover 
is pressed on the glass slide, and the whole cooled. 
The slide is then cleaned with solution of ammonia 
(I use a weak ‘* Household Ammonia” ), or carbonate 
of soda, or borax and water. A ring of asphaltum 
or gold size can then be turned around the cover, and 
the mounting is done. It will be found that the 
mounting is easy as compared with Canada balsam, 
for no turpentine is used, and as no sticky residium is 
used, the cleaning is also easy. I think that those 
who use it will be pleased with the results, and 
Canada balsam mounts be sent to the limbo. 


RoyaL MicroscoricaL SociETy.—The August 
number of the journal of the Royal Microscopical 
Society, besides its usual summary of current re- 
searches relating to Zoology and Botany, Microscopy, 
etc., contains a capital ‘‘ Note on the process of 
oviposition as observed in a species of Cattle-tick,” 
by R. S. Lewis, F.R.M.S., illustrated by eight 
beautifully executed woodcuts. 


HARDWICKE’'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Mason’s PROJECTION Microscope.—Unfortun- 
ately, in the notice of this excellent instrument, we 
had not received the blocks for illustration, which we 


R.G.MRSON 
CLAPHAM SY, 


Fig. 146.—Ditto, used as a Microscope only. 


intended to use so as to give our readers an idea of 
its make and fittings. We have now the pleasure to 
insert the illustrations, and to repeat our appreciation 
of this Projection Microscope. 


ZOOLOGY. 


MyYMARID#.—Will you give me space for a few 
notes in connection with my short paper on “ Fairy 
Flies” in your number for August, p. 176? (1.) When 
I said that the fly emerged from the egg ‘‘in the 
handsome form you see him, without any transitions 
through the grub and pupa stage,” I meant that he 
underwent no such changes after his emergence from 
the butterfly’s egg, for within it, and after exclusion 
from his own proper egg, he certainly underwent 
them. (2.) In my table the genus Litus is misplaced ; 
the tarsi are five-jointed, and not four, as stated. 
(3.) The term ‘‘marginal band” is puzzling. A 
good entomologist says it means the subcostal vein, 
and I have so described it in my table ; but I cannct 
see that it is punctiform in Cosmocoma, and its 
peculiarities are in several cases difficult to make out. 
(4-) Since my paper appeared I have seen an admir- 


HARDWICKES SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 


237 


able one on the same subject by Mr. Fred. Enock, 
published in the ‘‘ Midland Naturalist” for June, 
1885. The description he gives of the appearance 
and habits of the different Fairy-flies is very interest- 
ing.—Thomas E. Anyot. 


THE CINNABAR Motu (Zuchelia Facobee) AND 
ITs. VARIETIES.—May I be allowed to correct an 
error in the September number, and ask Mr. Anderson 
if the larvz are not to be found in July and August 
instead (as stated) in the spring ?—C. Morley, [pswich. 


PENZANCE NATURAL HISTORY AND ANTI- 
QUARIAN SociETy.—lIn the ‘‘ Report and Transac- 
tions of this Society” for 1891-92, are very many 
exceedingly interesting and instructive papers. Among 
the monthly excursions may be mentioned those to 
Marazion, Truro, and Castle-an-Duias, as very enter- 
taining ; while the account of the annual excursion is 
very graphic and lucid. ‘‘Old Chywoon” by J. B. 
Cornish is, although not universally coincided with, 
a valuable contribution ; as is also the ‘‘ Rejoinder,” 
by Mr. -G. F. Tregelles; the Rev. S. Rundle’s 
paper ‘‘ Cornish Tavern Signs,” is short, but well put 
together. Mr. George Bown Millet’s, ‘‘On Two old 
Manuscripts,” is illustrative of the ancient form of 
correspondence. ‘‘Church Architecture in Corn- 
wall,” by Mr. Preston, B.A., is what archzeologists 
have been wanting for some time. ‘‘The Ancient 
Patron of Ludgoan,” by Rev. Courtenay, and ‘‘ Pen- 
zance Market Cross,” by George Bown Millet, will 
both be appreciated; together with ‘‘ Notes on the 
Dialect,” and ‘‘ The Tomb of Margaret Godolphin.” 
The ‘‘ Description of an old Mine Pump,” by Fred. 
Holman, is good reading. ‘‘Sea Anemones and 
Corals of Cornwall,” together with the ‘‘ Fauna and 
Flora” of the same district, will be valuable to many 
naturalists. 


THE SIBERIAN SANDPIPER.—The Last Anglian 
Daily Times of September 7th, states that in the 
latter part of August a visitor to Great Yarmouth, 
from near Birmingham, was collecting birds on 
Breydon Water, and took his “bag” to Mr. W. 
Lowne, the well-known naturalist of Fuller’s Hill. 
Mr. Lowne was struck by the appearance of a bird 
of the Sandpiper genus, and took it up to Mr. 
Thomas Southwell, F.Z.S., of Norwich. The bird 
has been identified as the Siberian Sandpiper, a 
variety of the Pectoral Sandpiper, and quite new to 
Britain, if not to Europe. As Norfolk and Suffolk 
both claim birds killed upon Breydon Water, this 
will be an interesting addition to the county fauna. 
Professor Newton has compared the bird with the 
specimens in the British Museum at South Kensing- 
ton, which places the fact beyond any doubt. 


THe EssEx NATURALIST.—The August number 
of this journal contains the finishing chapter of a long 
article on a subject, about which information and 


plant. 


instruction is much needed: ‘‘ The Preservation of 
Marine Animals for Zoological Purposes,” by J. T. 
Cunningham M.A. An account of a visit to the 
Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, and a 
Field Meeting in the Writtle and Blackmore High 
Woods, and in Writtle Park, June 29, 1892, and 
original and selected notes on Colas edusa, Dama- 
sonium stellatum, and ‘‘On some Plateau Deposits 
at Felstead and Slebbing. 


BOTANY. 


DOUBLE-FLOWERED DAHLIA.—Mr. W. H. Grat- 
tan writes as follows :—“‘ By to-day or to-morrow you 
will, I hope, receive a box, containing the bloom of 
a dahlia, from which is produced a stalk terminating 
in another flower, equally strong and brilliant as the 
primary. Is not this very unusual? However, it 
appears to me so remarkable, that I have directed 
my landlord, a very intelligent young man, to put 
up the flower and send it to you, trusting it will 
arrive in good condition, and if so, I hope you will 
be able to give some kind of notice of the vegetable 
curiosity in the September number of SCIENCE- 
Gossip. Iam here ona brief visit, but I still reside 
in Torquay, which address, with my name, will 
always find me.” 


CoRONILLA VARIA.—In the March number of this 
year, I read of the occurrence of Ornithopus roseus 
growing on the banks of the Severn, near Dowles 
Church. As I had gathered four years ago an um- 
bellate leguminiferous plant there that I was unable 
to identify by reference to Hooker, the thought 
immediately occurred to me, is my old find the same 
I accordingly went in search of it on the 
27th July last, and found it growing in great pro- 
fusion at the same spot, I then sent a specimen to 
the Kew Herbarium, and, by the kind courtesy of 
the director was informed that the plant was Coronzlla 
varia. Believing that this is the same plant as that 
recorded by Mr. J. E. Nowers in your March number, 
Tsend you this brief note, and should be happy to 
send Mr. Nowers a pressed specimen of the same.— 
Carleton Rew, 


GEOLOGY. 


SanD Markincs.—In crossing the beautiful es- 
tuary of the Dovey a few days ago, I noticed a small 
tuft of Carex growing in the slimy sand, with its leaves 
reclining, as they generally do, so as to touch the 
surface of the soil in which they grew. When these 
wiry leaves, of various lengths, were wafted to and fro 
by the wind they described certain figures on the 
moist surface, which it would be difficult, if not nigh 
impossible to account for, had not the cause and 


238 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


process been witnessed. These tracings would be 
covered by the next high tide with a coat of similar 
material and thus preserved to puzzle the future 
geologist, should he chance to find them. It is 
hardly necessary to observe that the operation would 
be repeated on the successive surfaces until the plant 
would decay or disappear, and that, possibly, many 
fossils which puzzle the present geologist may be 
referred to such agencies.—G. Rees, Aberystwyth. 


THE “ Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association ” 
for July, edited by F. A. Bather, M.A., F.G.S., 
contains the following articles: “On Geological 
Tours,” by Horace B. Woodward, F.G.S.; an 
account of an ‘‘ Excursion to the Cuttings on the 
new railway between Upminster and Romford, Essex, 
March 5th, 1892;” ‘‘ Visit to the British Museum 
(Natural History), March 19th, 1892,” and to that of 
W. H. Hudleston, Esq., F.R.S., President of the 
Geological Society ;” also to that of Practical Geo- 
logy (Jermyn Street); and accounts of excursions to 
Devizes, Swindon, Faringdon, Abingdon, Hendon, 
Finchley, Walthamstow, Wendover and St. Albans. 


NOTES AND QUERIES. 


NorTH STAFFORDSHIRE NATURALISTS’ FIELD 
CLus.—The third excursion of the season was made 
under the leadership of Mr. Wells Bladen, to Haugh- 
ton, Aqualate, and Newport. The party, which 
numbered forty-five, on arrival at Stafford drove by 
way of Castle Church and Bury Ring to Haughton, 
where they were met by the Rector, the Rev. G. T. 
Royds, who pointed out the chief objects of interest 
in his beautiful church, which is dedicated to St. 
Giles, and which was completely restored in 1887, 
Mr. J. L. Pearson, R.A., being the architect. Mr. 
Royds also directed the attention of the members to 
the Old Hall, a half-timbered building of the time of 
Henry VIII., which is in a very perfect state of 
preservation. The next halt was made at Gnosall, 
where a few minutes were spent in the church, which 
was much admired. From here the party drove 
direct to Aqualate, where, by the kindness of Sir T. 
F. Boughey, Bart., the hall, the gardens, the pleasure- 
grounds, and the mere were thrown open to the 
members. The mere was the chief attraction, anxious 
inquiries being made for the heronry. Many of the 
members were disappointed on finding they could 
only get a view of it across the water, but at least 
one visited it. The nests are built in Scotch firs ; but 
as the nesting season is over, very few birds were seen 
about. It is a very interesting fact that each year 
one or more pairs of birds nest in the reeds on the 
mere. We have not seen this habit recorded before. 
The heron is no doubt very destructive to fish, but it 
is to be sincercly hoped that notwithstanding this 
grave fault in the eyes of fish preservers, it may be 
long before this beautiful bird, like its near relative 
the bittern, is driven from its breeding-places in this 
country. It is to men like Sir Thomas Boughey, 
and to places like Aqualate, that we are indebted for 
many of our rarer British birds. Another rare, and 
in this county very local bird, the great crested 
grebe, was observed, and the sweet song of the reed- 
warbler was heard on all sides. In the pleasure- 


grounds many magnificent forest-trees were greatly 
admired, one oak-tree, said to be 900 years old, 
being especially noticed. At half-past three a start 
was made for Newport, where the Rector (the Rey. 
W. T. Burges) met the members, and read a very 
interesting paper on his church, of which St. Nicholas 
is the patron saint; its restoration, which is just 
completed after ten years’ work, has cost £10,000, 
After visiting the ancient butter-cross the members 
sat down to tea at the Royal Victoria Hotel. At 
the subsequent meeting, the general secretary, the 
Rev. T. W. Daltry, in the chair, several new mem- 
bers were elected, and five were nominated for 
election at the next meeting. Votes of thanks to 
Sir T. F. Boughey, the Rectors of Haughton and 
Newport, and the Leader having been passed, the 
party re-entered the carriages and drove by way of 
Forton, Sutton, Woodseaves, and Ranton Abbey to 
Great Bridgeford Station, where they joined the train, 
and arrived at Stoke at 7.30. 


BROWN HAIRSTREAK AND CLOUDED YELLOW.— 
I have discovered the haunts of both these butterflies 
in the neighbourhood of Llandyssil, South Wales. 
On August 25th I captured Zhecla betule (a female) 
near Llanfair. Last year also I had one near the 
village on the road to Llanybyther. The brown 
hairstreak seems to resort to brambles on the edges 
of oak-woods. Colas edusa is plentiful this year on 
the heaths belonging to Fairdrefawr Farm.—7Z. Alfred 
W. Rees, F.RMS. 


SEXUAL SELECTION.—What is meant exactly by 
the phrase ‘‘Sexual Selection”? It seems to me 
that the words may be used in two senses. According 
to one, suppose that a certain peculiarity in the males, 
say, of a species gave an advantage to its possessors 
in the struggle for existence. Then certain females 
would admire this peculiarity, and consort by pre- 
ference with males possessing it. Their male off- 
spring would, by virtue of possessing the peculiarity 
have an advantage over the male progeny of others, 
and they would transmit the tendency to admire the 
peculiarity to their female descendants. So the pecu- 
liarity would go on increasing, and, at the same time, 
the liking for it in the females would go on increasing 
too. So far, however, the sexual selection would be 
merely helping to do work which would be done by 
natural selection without its aid, although more 
slowly ; but when the peculiarity had reached such a 
degree of development that its further increase was 
no longer beneficial to the species (although not 
actually injurious), unaided natural selection would 
give no further advance, but the mental tendency in 
the females would still remain, and under its influence 
the peculiarity would go on increasing until a point 
was reached at which further increase would be 
actually detrimental. Using the phrase in this sense, 
sexual selection seems to me to be 4 priori probable 
enough. In the other sense, we have to suppose that 
for some unknown reason, all or most of the females. 
of a species simultaneously conceived an admiration 
for some peculiarity in the males which was of no 
advantage in particular in the struggle for existence, 
and that this objectless liking persisted through 
successive generations, causing the peculiarity ulti- 
mately to reach a high stage of development. This 
seems to me to be so highly improbable 4 priori that 
it would require very good evidence to make me 
believe it had taken place in any particular instance. 
Of course, in order that some special peculiarity 
should be developed by sexual selection of the first 
kind it is necessary that a slight degree of develop- 
ment should be beneficial to the species. —7. &, Holt. 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 


239) 


MALLEE HENS.—Mallee hens are more like a 
pheasant than any other bird, but larger: they are 
very good to eat, and their eggs are still better. 
They lay a very large egg, about the size of a duck’s ; 
It has a very thin shell and no inside skin, which 
makes it hard to carry them without disastrous 
results. The way they hatch their eggs is peculiar: 
first they scratch up a large heap of leaves, twigs and 
sand, and about this time of the year (June) they scoop 
the middle out like a great basin; then in the spring 
they lay in the hollow and cover the eggs up with 
sometimes two feet of leaves, etc., making the nest 
conical. Each day that an egg is laid the bird opens 
the nest, and covers it again, which is quite an under- 
taking, as with your hands it takes a considerable 
amount of work to get down to the eggs. The eggs 
are always well arranged and sometimes, when two 
or three hens use the same nest, there are a dozen or 
fifteen eggs, the fresh ones on top, so the puzzle is, 
how do the young ones get out when hatched? 
N.B.—I have no idea what “‘ mallee hens” are— 
perhaps someone elSe may know the proper name.— 
£. C. Pope, South Galgogrin Station, N.S. Wales. 


Vars. OF HART’s-TONGUE FERN.—A specimen 
of the Scolopendrium vulgare. (the hart’s-tongue fern), 
which a friend brought from Ireland two years ago, 
has undergone all the changes which I notice Newman 
mentions as the different varieties of the S. vulgare. 
In 1891 the leaves were crisped, as in S. crisfum, and 
this year the fronds are also crisped and a few of 
them bifid, as the specimen of frond enclosed. Is 
this variation due to cultivation or evolution, or how 
can it be reasonably explained ?—P. Kilgour. 


THE CLOUDED YELLOw.—After a lapse of fifteen 
years the clouded yellow butterfly (Edusa) has again 
made its appearance in numbers in this neighbour- 
hood. In 1877 Edusa was abundant in Suffolk and 
other counties, but since that year I have not seen, at 
most, more than two or three in 2 season. Early this 
year I heard from various parts of the country that 
several insects of this species, presumably hybernated 
specimens driven over from the continent, had been 
captured, and I was therefore led to hope that 1892 
would be an ‘‘ Edusa year,” which hope was verified. 
A curious fact in connection with the appearance of 
the butterfly this autumn, here, has been the large 
preponderance of males over females, As far as my 
observation goes, the former are to the latter in the 
proportion of about ten to one. I do not know if 
there is any explanation of this, nor if it is general 
over the country, but it is possible that the female 
does not fly as much as the male, and may therefore 
be overlooked ; but even supposing this to be correct, 
it would hardly account for the enormous difference 
between the numbers of the sexes, Amongst other 
specimens I was fortunate enough to secure a couple 
of the white variety, Helice, one of which seems to 
be an intermediate form between Edusa and Helice, 
being more orange in tint than any previous capture 
of mine. As well as my memory serves me, Edusa 
has not been so abundant in 1892 as in 1877, but 
still there have been large quantities on the wing. 
Hyale has also put in an appearance, but in much 
more limited numbers than its relative: I managed, 
however, to net some ten specimens, and had I gone 
further afield I should probably have obtained more, 
as these were all caught on two small pieces of clover 
near here. I have heard two theories given to 
account for the irregular appearance of these two 
species at long intervals. ‘The first is that they are 
blown over from the continent when they hatch out 
in August; the second is that a few insects coming 


over in the spring lay their eggs here, and after 
passing through the various stages, the butterfly 
emerges from the chrysalis in the late summer. 
Either of these ideas seems feasible, but bearing in 
mind the capture of several Edusze in the earlier 
months of this year, the latter seems the more 
probable. I should be glad to know what other 
entomologists think on this point, and also how the 
excess of males over females mentioned above can be 
accounted for, or whether it is only an accidental 
occurrence.—L. Creaghe-Haward, Bramford, Ipswich. 


PRESERVING DRAGON-FLIES.—Can any reader of 
ScIENCE-GossIP tell me of a method of preserving 
dragon-flies and caterpillars so that the colours will 
not fade ?—also whether there is any method of pre- 
serving toad-stools >—Z, Edwards. 


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 gratuztous 
insertion of ‘“‘exchanges,” which cannot be tolerated. 


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


SpzcraL Notre.—There is a tendency on the part of some 
exchangers to send more than one per month. We only allow 
this in the case of writers of papers. 


To our Recent ExcHANGERS.—Weare willing to be helpful 
to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow azs- 
guised Exchanges like those which frequently come to us 
to appear unless as advertisements. 


M. S. Sykes.—Many thanks for the couple of splendidly 
developed and well set-out American silk-moths. The cater- 
a arrived safely, and greedily fed on privet, and are doing 
well. 

W. G. CLemEeNTS.—The editor would be very pleased to 
receive the illustrations and photos of webs, etc., referred to 
in Mr. Clement’s note, as well as the proposed paper on their 
natural history. 

T. P. R.—No; the mountain ash berries are not poisonous. 
On the contrary, many years ago they were among our winter 
fruit preserves. The mountain ash is really a pear (Pyrus 
aucuparia). The berries make a good conserve, when pulped, 
and are said to be good for rheumatism and paralysis. 

H. D.—We shall be very pleased to have the series. Be 
kind enough to employ utmost accuracy in the pen-and-ink 
drawings, and to send them early. 

J. G.—The abnormal growth in Plantago lanceolata is of 
common occurrence—perhaps it is the commonest of all vege- 
table teratological occurrences. Many thanks for the interest- 
ing specimens. The double.flowered var. of Calluna vulgaris 
is very unusual. 

W. G. CLements.—Send us any natural history notes and 
observations you can, as well as illustrations, photos, etc. We 
shall be glad to make use of them. 

R. Beer.—You cannot do better than procure Thome’s 
“Manual of Botany” (abundantly illustrated), translated and 
edited by A. W. Bennett, published by Longmans, price 4s. 6d. 


EXCHANGES. 


WANTED to exchange, eggs of sooty tern, noddy, Bartram’s 
sandpiper, cuckoos, etc. Wanted, owls, harriers, shrikes, 
oriole, redwing, bluethroat, wagtails, woodlark, buntings, 
serin, raven, woodpeckers, hoopoe, ptarmigan, quail, ruff, 
dunlin, etc., in clutches. —W. Wells-Bladen, Stone, Staffs. 

WanTED, the two volumes of Claus and Sedgwick’s 
“Zoology ” (English). Can offer in exchange a large series 
of first-class marine microscopical slides.—S. C., Post Office, 
Lower Tottenham, London. 

WanTED, British dragon-flies, grasshoppers, locusts, cock- 


240 


roaches, earwigs, and crickets (especially mole and field- 
crickets). Offered, books, butterflies, and shells—W. Har- 
court Bath, 195 Ladywood Road, Birmingham. 

DupticateE North American land and freshwater shells, 
Desiderata, European zonites, any locality, or shells not in 
collection.—Robert Walton, M.A.A.C., Houghton Street, 
Lower Roxborough, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S. America. 

WANTED, micro. accessories or slides, in exchange for 
“‘Boy’s Own Paper,” vols. xii., xiii., 1890, 1891, and SCJENCE- 
Gossir for 1888 and 1889, both in monthly parts.—C. W. Lyne, 
18 The Avenue, Eastbourne. 

WanTED, foreign and British land and marine shells, and 
birds’ eggs; also tokens issued from the following places: 
Newcastle-on-Tyne, Sunderland, Stockton, South Shields, and 
other north of England towns. Can offer in exchange foreign 
stamps and coins.—J. S. Wood, Walker Gate, Northumberland. 

OLpDHAMIA, graptolites, trilobites, ammonites, polished 
Devonian corals, silurian and carboniferous fossils would be 
given for early volumes or parts of ‘‘ Journal of Society of 
Chemical Industry,” ‘‘ Journal of Chemical Society,’ ‘‘ Che- 
mical News,” Allen’s “Commercial Organic Analysis,” and 
original parts of Dickens’, Lever’s, or Thackeray’s works.— 
G. W. Davies, F.C.S., 8 Longshut Lane, Stockport. 

WANTED, good secondhand cabinet for birds’ eggs, con- 
taining about 150 partitions. Please send offers to—W. G. 
Clutten, 19 Berkeley Street, Burnley. 

A COMPOUND monocular microscope with B eye-piece, 1 in., 
}-in., and 4-in. dividing lens, sliding-tube and fine screw adjust- 
ment, stand, etc., all finished brass and lacquered. Wanted 
in exchange, good 4+-plate camera, or offers, photographic or 
microscopic.—Peter Kilgour, 164 Lochee Road, Dundee, N.B. 

Exoric butterflies: Urania rhypheus, Orn. Brookiana, 
Priamus, and Morpho cypris, the four most beautiful butter- 
flies known—five duplicates ; also many other rare and splendid 
species. Also wings of morphos, uranias, etc., for the micro- 
scope.—J. C., Hudson, Railway Terrace, Cross Lane, near 
Manchester. 

L.C., 8th ed. Offered, 202, 271, 814, 923, 1192, 1540, 1720, 
1726, 1745, 1760. Desiderata numerous.—T. M. Lowry, 
Kingswood School, Bath. 

WANTED, eggs of kestrel, buzzard, kingfisher, tree-pipit, 
shrike, woodpecker, sea-birds, goshawk, and many others, in 
exchange for rare duplicates.—Jas. Ellison, Steeton, Keighley. 

WANTED, well-mounted microscopical slides of pathogenic 
bacilli, comma, anthrax, etc., in exchange for West African 
insects, all orders, and land shells.—Dr. Clements, Frindsbury, 
Rochester. 

WANTED, some pupz of Smerinthus ocellatus, S. populi, 
and larve of Lastocampa quercifolia; also pupe of Telea 
cynthia, Samia cecropia, etc. (from America preferred). Will 
give good returns; store-boxes, book pattern, perfectly new, 
etc., offered. Write for particularsx—R. Laddiman, 25 Hel- 
lesdon Road, Norwich, England. 

WANTED, a few numbers of “‘ Nature,” 1892 preferred. Will 
give Alston Moor minerals in exchange.—William Hethering- 
ton, Nenthead-by-Carlisle. 

L. C., 8th ed.: 65, 115, 137, 145 315, 320, 335, 402, 493, 503, 
525) 544, 574, 587, 636, 648, 692, 705, 771, 783, 885, 942, 955, 
958, 1013, 1097, 1100, 1101, 1116, 1126, 1134, 1142, 1262, 1316, 
1324, 1427, 1437, 1465, 1476, 1477, 1479, 1496, 1497, 1510, 1529, 
1533») 1538, 1544, 1570, 1616, 1698, 1755, 1757,1759. Desiderata 
in cyperacee and graiminez particularly wanted.—W. Biddis- 
combe, 60 St. James’s Place, Plumstead, Kent. 

OFFERED, “ History and Natural Arrangement of Insects,” 
Swainson and Stuckard, Newman's “‘ Entomologist,” Nos. 1 
to 6, containing analytical notice of above work, ‘‘ Lectures on 
Entomology,” by J. B. Burton (coloured plates), Wood’s 
“‘Aquarium” (plain plates). Exchange land or freshwater 
shells, coleoptera, lepidoptera, or birds’ eggs.—C. Coles, 
6x Barrington Road, Brixton, London. 

OFFERED, Helix rhodocheila, etc., for helices not in collec- 
tion. Also flint arrow-heads, etc., cave period, from South of 
France.—W. A. Gain, Tuxford, Newark. 

OFFERED, Quadrant tandem bicycle, and two ladies’ bicycles, 
nearly new. Required, microscope, camera, books, or offers.— 
W_Kirk, 20 Lombard Street, West Bromwich. 

DupticaTE clutches of great northern diver, fulmar, Manx 
shearwater, red-breasted merganser, carrion crow, little grebe, 
ring-dove, sooty tern; couples, mute swan, Canada goose, 
capercaillie, side-blown and with data. Wanted, others.— 
F. W. Paple, 62 Waterloo Street, Bolton. 

WANTED, good botanical slides, also any of the following 
shells: Vertigo Moulinsiana, var. pusilla, Limn@a involuta, 
Acme lineata, Avicula hirundo, Isocardia cor, Terebratula 
caput-serpentis, in return for other rare shells, microscopic 
oben etc.—T. E. Sclater, Natural History Stores, Teign- 
mouth. 

Tue “Entomologist,” 7 vols., bound, 1882-88. Will ex- 
change for back numbers of Science-GossiP previous to 1884, 
1876 excepted, or botanical works.—G. E. Nowers, Blackpool 
Street, Burton-on-Trent. 

A microscorpg by Johnson, x in. and }-in. objectives, spot 

ens, line troughs, condenser by Baker, and about four dozen 
choice slides, etc. Exchange for a safety bicycle of good 
make.—Heaton, 80 Frampton Park Roid, South Hackney. 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP., 


Durpuicates.—A,. aglaia, V. Atalanta, V.cardui, S. hyper- 
anthus, C. davus, C. pamphilus, L. Alexis, Z. lonicere, C. 
Facobea, C. caja, L. monacha, and eggs, A. ulmata, etc. 
Wanted, marine or exotic shells.—J. W. Boult, 17 Finsbury 
Grove, Fountain Road, Hull. 

Good fossils offered in exchange for British dragon-flies.— 
A. Tarver, 11 Westbury Road, Croydon, Surrey. 

OFFERED, sets and eggs of peregrine, chough, s. hawk, 
dipper, stonechat, goldcrest, coal-tit, long-tailed tit, creeper, 
rock-pipit, corn-bunting, reed-bunting, twite, hooded crow, 
magpie, nightjar, rock dove, pheasant, ringed plover, oyster- 
catcher, c. sandpiper, snipe, Jandrail, mute swan, tufted duck, 
red-breasted merganser, little grebe, gannet, cormorant, shag, 
black guillemot, ringed guillemot, razor-bill (white), puffin, 
swift tern, noddy, herring gull, kittiwake, Manx shearwater, 
storm-petrel, and nests with small eggs. Wanted, complete 
clutches equally good.—R. J. Ussher, Cappagh, Lismore, 
Ireland. 

Wuart offers in foreign land, freshwater or marine shells, for 
good live shells of isocardia, pinna, Fusus antiguus, etc. ?— 
F. W. Walton, Mount Stuart, Rothesay. 

OFFERED, British and foreign land, freshwater and marine 
shells, darts of helices, etc. Wanted, foreign shells. Foreign 
correspondence desired.—A. Hartley, 14 Croft Street, Idle, 
near Bradford, Yorkshire. 

Wuat offers for ‘“‘The Student,” vol. ii. (half-bound) ; 
Scrence-Gossip for 1890 (unbound), and General Index to 
same for first 12 vols.; ‘‘The Ludgate Monthly,” vol. i. in 
7 parts (unbound); Harris and Power’s ‘‘ Manual for Physio- 
logical Laboratory,” 4th ed. ?—E. Pratt, Northendene, Streat- 
ham Common, S.W. 

Dupticates.—Ova of Lifaris salicis, Hespialus hectus 
and velleda. Desiderata, lepidoptera in any stage not in 
collection.—Thos. Sparkes, 92 Heywood Street, Moss Side, 
Manchester. 

WantTED, H. nemoralis and hortensis with band formulas : 
12305, 12340, 12005, 12300, 02045, 02305, 02340, 10305, 10340, 
12005, 12040, 92005, 02040, 02300, 10040, 12000, 10000, 02000, 
in exchange for others or fossils.x—G. K. Gude, 5 Gresbach 
Road, Upper Holloway, N. 

WanTED, foreign land shells in exchange for European and 
exotic butterflies, or moths, List sent.—Col. Parry, 18 Hyde 
Gardens, Eastbourne. 


BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE. 


“The Migration of Birds,” by Charles Dixon (London: 
Chapman & Hall).—*‘ Smithsonian Report ” for 1890 (Washing- 
ton: Government Printing Office).—‘‘ Missouri Botanical 
Garden Report,” 1892 (St. Louis, Mo., published by the Board 
of Trustees).—‘‘ The Entomologists’ Record” (London: Elliot 
Stock).—‘ Bulletin of the Microscopical Society of Calcutta.” 
—‘‘The Fauna and Flora of Gloucestershire,” by Chas. A. 
Witchell and W. Bishop Strugnell, assisted by numerous con- 
tributors (Stroud: Geo. H. James).—‘‘ A Primer on the Art of 
Massage,” for learners, by Dr. Stretch Dowse (Bristol: John 
Wright & Co. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, 
Kent & Co. Ltd.).—‘‘ Woodwork, Carpentry and Joinery,” 
by Thos. C. Simmonds. (London: Bemrose & Sons, 32, Old 
Bailey ; and Derby).—‘‘ The Truth about Alcoholic Drinks,” 
scientifically considered, by W. K. Fulleylowe. (Coventry: 
Curtis & Beamish).—‘‘ Journal of the Royal Microscopical 
Society,” (London: Williams & WNorgate). — ‘‘ Penzance 
Natural History and Antiquarian Society.” (Plymouth : 
William Brendon & Son).—‘tThe Annals and Magazine of 
Natural History.” (London: Taylor & Francis).—‘‘ Nature 
Notes,” The Selborne Society’s Magazine. (London: H. 
Sotheran & Co.).—‘* Geological Magazine.” (London: Kegan 
Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co.)—‘‘ The Entomologist.” (Lon- 
don: West, Newman & Co.)—‘‘ The Naturalist.” (London: 
Lovell Reeve & Co.)—‘‘The Botanical Gazette.” (Bloom- 
ington, Indiana).—‘‘ The Naturalist’s Journal,” July and 
August. ‘‘ Proceedings of the Geologist’s Association,” 
(London: Edward Stanford).—‘ The Art of Modelling in Clay 
and Wax,” by Thos. C. Simmonds. (London: Bemrose & 
Sons),—‘‘ Supplementary Report upon the Testaceous Mollusca 
of the L.M.B.C. District,” by the late Francis Archer, B.A. 
—‘‘ Experimental Evolution,” by Henry de Varigny, D. Sc. 
(London: Macmillan & Co.), etc, etc. 


COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED UP TO THE IITH ULT. FROM: 
W. W.—W. W. B.—J. E N.—C. H. A.—W. T. S.—J. L. Wi— 
G. T. W.—W. P. W.—W._H. G.—A. H. Di—D. S. S.—W. 
H. N.—W. L.—S. C.-C. M—H.—A. H. S.—J. S. Wi=W. 
G=CliW. LW. L.2E, Dai G iG 
W. R.—W. K. F.—I. I. V.—R. W.—W. H. B.—A. E.—L. C. 
H.—T. E. S.—T. M. L.—W. H.—W. H. B.—W. A. Gi—E, 
W.—F. T. W.-R. L.—J. R. H.—C. C.—F. W. P.—W; B.— 
Week. GaR—WaGweeT 


C. M—wW. M. R.—W. P.—F. Z. S—T. H. W.=E. B—D. 
C.—E. K.—J. W. T.—etc., etc. 


HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


24 


FERTILIZATION OF ORCHIDS WITHOUT POLLEN. 


By J. H. A. HICKS, F.R.H}S. 


gee URING the last two 
fa, years I have made 
many observations 
and experiments in 
reference to ‘‘ Par- 
thenogenesis” in 
flowers of the Or- 


ing the stigmatic 
surfaces of many 
flowers nearly al- 
ways resulted in 
the swelling of 
ovaries and the 
production of par- 
thenogenetic or 
adventive seeds. 

Treub once: dis- 
covered a larva in 
the ovary of Lzpa- 
ris latifolia, which 
apparently seemed to subsist on the juices secreted 
within the ovarian cavity; by its movements, and 
without the interference of pollen, the ovules were 
apparently stimulated into development. 

Darwin, in the first edition of his great work on the 
‘© Fertilization of Orchids,” mentioned that the ovaria 
of matured flowers of Acropera do not contain any 
ovules, but in the second edition of the same work he 
says, ‘I erred greatly in the interpretation of this 
fact, for I concluded that the sexes were separate. I 
was, however, soon convinced of my error by Mr. 
Scott, who succeeded in artificially fertilizing the 
flowers with their own pollen. A remarkable dis- 
covery by Hildebrand, namely, that in many orchids 
the ovules are not developed unless the stigma is 
penetrated by the pollen-tubes, and that their develop- 
ment occurs only after an interval of several weeks or 

No, 335.—NOVEMBER 1892, 


chidaceze, Irritat- | 


even months, explains the state of the ovarium in 
Acropera, as observed by me. According also to 
Fritz Miiller, the ovules of many endemic Epiden- 
dreze and Vande in Brazil remain in a very imperfect 
state of development for some months, and even in 
one case for half a year, after the flowers had beer 
fertilized. He suggests that a plant which produces 
hundreds of thousands of ovules would waste much 
power if these were formed and did not happen to be 
fertilized, and we know that fertilization is a doubt- 
ful and difficult operation with many orchids. It 
would therefore be an advantage to such plants, if the 
ovules were not at all developed until their fertiliza- 
tion was assured by the pollen-tubes having already 
penetrated the stigma.” 

In many orchid flowers the ovules are dormant 
and extremely rudimentary, but they can be developed 
into parthenogenetic or adventive seeds by mechanical 
irritation of the stigma without pollination. And it 
does not always follow because suitable pollen has 
been applied to the stigmatic surface of a flower that 
all the ovules will develop into good seeds. For in 
many flowers after pollination the ovary begins to 
lengthen, and although the pollen-tubes also lengthen, 
ouly a few of the ovules are fertilized by them, the 
others being developed into parthenogenetic seeds 
through irritation. 

Henslow, in his highly-interesting volume, ‘‘ The 
Structure of Flowers,” refers to some of Mr. O’Brien’s 
experiments, who says that, ‘* By placing small pieces 
of grit on the stigma, I found that the ovaries would 
swell in many cases, just as though the flower had 
been properly fertilized by pollen, This same result 
often takes place in orchid flowers under cultivation, 
and seed-vessels are obtained of full size, but, of 
course, with no vitality in the grains within.” 

Three flowers of Orchis mascula and two of Ophrys 
apifera were treated in the same manner, and resulted 

M 


242 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


in the withering of the petals and the swelling of the 
ovaries. 

One flower of Disa grandiflora was similarly treated, 
and in a few days the flower had faded, and the 
ovary was observed to be swollen. 

A terminal flower of Jonopsis utricularioides was 
also similarly treated, and the result was the same. 

So sensitive to external stimuli are some orchid 
flowers, that I found the sleeve of a lady’s dress, which 
accidentally rubbed against a terminal flower of 
Stanhopea tigrina, had caused it to wither in two days 
after its expansion. 

On another occasion I observed that a small fly, by 
walking over the stigmatic surface of a cut flower of 
Odontoglossum rossit majus, on a table in my room, 
resulted in the withering of attractive parts, and a 
marked swelling of the ovary. The fly did not 
remove the pollinia, for it was caught and carefully 
examined with a lens, but no trace of pollen-grains 
could be detected on it. The flower was also exa- 
mined, and the pollinia were found entire and 
undisturbed. 

On another occasion the stigmatic surface of 
Miltonia russelliana was irritated by a human hair 
for several seconds, and was then withdrawn : this 
operation resulted in the withering of the attractive 
parts of the flower and the swelling of the ovary. 

In some instances I found the degree of sensibility 
to be diminished or intensified in flowers of the same 
plant, as well as in flowers of the same species of 
different plants. 

In spite of the extreme sensibility of orchid flowers 
to external stimuli, and their many and varied adapta- 
tions to secure cross-fertilization, they set an 
exceedingly small amount of good seed, which is 
probably due to the degeneracy of the essential organs, 
“the structure of which,” says Professor Henslow, 
‘when microscopically examined, at once becomes 
apparent. First, with regard to the pollen. Instead 
of its being in well-formed distinct grains, each with 
its extine and intine, their development is arrested 
and, while still in contact, a common extine clothes 
the whole of each massula. Moreover, it is only after 
the pollen-mass has been placed upon the stigma, that 
the development is continued. With regard to the 
pistil, the first sign of degeneracy is seen in the 
parietal placentation which prevails, and more 
especially in the rudimentary character of the ovules, 
every part of which is degraded. Even after fertiliza- 
tion the embryo cannot grow to maturity, but remains 
in the pro-embryonic condition. Having no albumen 
or nucellus-tissue wherewith to nourish the embryo, 
the suspensor does its best by elongating and escap- 
ing from the micropyle, and then, fastening itself 
like a parasite upon the placentas, extracts nourish- 
ment therefrom, the result being that myriads of seeds 


never succeed (at least in cultivation) in developing ' 


even the pro-embryo; and one can only infer that 
such is the case in nature.” 


A NEW BRITISH WORM. 


By the Rev. HILpERIC FRIEND, F.L.S., 
Author of ‘* Flowers and Flower-Lore,” etc. 


RECENTLY received a consignment of earth- 
worms from the neighbourhood of Bangor, 
which contained, in addition to more than one species 
new to Wales, one which is new to Britain, and 
probably also to science. I have named it A//urus 
tetragonurus, the reason for which may at once be 
assigned. 

In 1874, Dr. Gustaf Eisen published in the Ofver- 
sigt af Kongl. Vetenskapp-Akad., No. 2, a paper on 
New England and Canadian worms, in which he 
described among others a tiny species from Niagara, 
which he regarded as the type of a new genus. This 
genus he named Tetragonurus, or the quadrangular- 
tailed, and supplied the following diagnosis :— 

“* Body cylindrical in front, quadrangular behind. 
Male pores on segment 11 [= the 12th segment 
according to our English mode of reckoning], setee in 
approximate pairs, lip or prostomium not dividing 
the first ring or peristomium. It comes nearest to 
the genus Allurus, from which it is distinguished, 
however, by the position of the male pore, which 
in Allurus is on segment 12 [= 13 in English], but 
in Tetragonurus on 11 [= 12], as well as by the 
lip failing to cut the buccal segment or peristomium.”’ 

Eisen next supplies details of the species Z¢tva- 
gonurus pupa, ‘*Lip or prostomium small, acumi- 
nate in front, pallid, not dividing the peristomium. 
Male pores small but conspicuous; the girdle pro- 
minent, usually composed of five segments, namely, 
17-21 [= 18-22]. TZzzdbercula pubertatis conspicuous, 
three on each side of the girdle, occupying the 18th, 
19th, and 2oth segments [= 19, 20, 21]. About 
40 segments in all, length about 25 mm. 

Some Swedish comments are added, from which, 
in addition to the foregoing facts, we learn that there 
are only six segments between the male pore and the 
first girdle segment. The tubercula are in the form 
of a wart-like prominence or keel, extending over 
three segments. The girdle is well marked and 
easily distinguished from the adjoining portions, and 
stretches over five segments, one of which is before, 
and the other behind the segments bearing the 
tubercula. The colour is sienna brown, becoming 
light red on the back part. The worm closely 
resembles Allurus, to which it approximates more 
nearly than to any other, if one has regard to the 
living forms ; while it also frequents similar habitats, 
namely such places as lie near water. 

Eisen further supplied an illustration with his 
diagnosis, but thus far I have found no one who has 
discovered the worm elsewhere. Early this year I 
took a form in the South of England which I thought 
would prove identical therewith, |but some leeches 
devoured all my specimens on the journey to the 
north. 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


I have now to describe the worm from Bangor, 
which very nearly resembles Eisen’s species in some 
respects, though it is abundantly distinct therefrom 
in others. 

Allurus tetragonurus (Friend) is about one and a 
half inches in length, somewhat cylindrical before, 
quadrangular behind, and tapering from the girdle 
towards each extremity, so that the latter portion of 
the tail is only one half the diameter of the girdle. 
This latter organ is very prominent, of a yellowish 
orange colour, and closely fused, so that the segments 
are only distinguished with difficulty. The fore part 
of the body is sienna brown, the hinder part a dull 
yellow brown, closely resembling the light variety of 
Allurus, (4. /uteus, Eisen, not A. flavus, Friend). 
The total number of segments is about eighty-five. 
The head is very small, and does not cut the first 
segment. The male pores are also very small and 
inconspicuous, but are certainly situated on segment 
thirteen as in the other species of Allurus, and not 
on the twelfth, as in Eisen’s Tetragonurus. The 
position of the male pores is a point of great im- 
portance in the identification of genera, but the 
method of attachment between the lip or head, and 
the first segment or peristomium is so variable, that 
it cannot be relied on as a key to genera, though it 
may be of particular value for specific purposes. I 
have shown this in connection with a small Dendro- 
beena or tree-worm which was formerly called Zam- 
bricus Eisent (Levinsen), but is now shown to be 
closely related to the other tree-worms. 

The question now remains, did Eisen make a 
mistake respecting the exact position of the male 
pore? I dare not insinuate such an idea, because, 
with the exception of Rosa, we have no foreign 
authority who can compare with him in accuracy of 
observation. For the present, therefore, we must 
assume that we have two worms which are practically 
identical in every important respect (length or 
number of segments being no criterion) except in the 
position of the male pore, which in our British 
species is on the thirteenth segment, and so ranks it 
with Allurus, but in Canada is on the twelfth, and 
thus constitutes a new genus named Tetragonurus. 


Segments occupied by 
No. ; Length. ae Colour. 
| Girdle. Tubercula.| Male pore. 
mm. 
I | 18-22 | 19-21 | 12 25 40 | Brown 
2 | 13-22 | 19-21 | 13 30 85 |Brown 


If this is a fact, it must have a meaning, and it will 
be interesting to observe how future research will 
enable us to decide the question. Meanwhile it is 
very pleasant to be able to add another new species 
to our indigenous list, if not to the records of science, 


243 


The tabular view of the two worms which is 
appended, will show at a glance the differences and 
similarities existing between them, No. I represents 
Tetragonurus pupa (Eisen). No. 2 stands for A/urus 
tetragonurus (Friend). 


THE CLOUDED YELLOW. 


HIS year Edusa is apparently everywhere. Down 
near Penzance my brother has marked his 
joyous, untiring flight over Cornish meadows; in 
Pembrokeshire he has flourished, and become the 
living flower of the breezy heaths and sweet-smelling 
clover-fields. Here at Llandyssul he is in almost 
every open spot. 

I say he because M/7s. Edusa is either very.rare or 
possesses such a stay-at-home disposition, that, at 
least by myself, she is the vision of a thing hoped for, 
and not yet overtaken. In fact, I have made her ac- 
quaintance only once, and that for a brief moment. 
I missed with the first stroke, for the reason that as I 
was preparing to come down she was also preparing— 
to go up, and she, alas! had the start. Away she 
went, gambolling with an admirer in the further 
realms of blue. Then down came the latter on to a 
flower. By-and-by she also descended, but, scurrying 
across the heath, was soon lost to sight. The approxi- 
mate colours of the neighbouring rag-wort, together 
with an awkward tumble into some brambles on my 
part, had much to do with her disappearance from 
my excited eyes. 

Concerning the Clouded Yellow, a contributor to 
Sc1ENCE-GossIP, writing from Ipswich, says : ‘‘ Ihave 
heard two theories given to account for the irregular 
appearance of these species at long intervals. The first 
is, that they are blown over from the continent, when 
they hatch out in August ; the second is, that a few 
insects coming over in the spring, lay their eggs here, 
and after passing through the various stages, the 
butterfly emerges from the chrysalis in the late 
summer. Either of these ideas seems feasible, but 
bearing in mind the capture of several Edusze in the 
earlier months of the year, the latter seems the more 
probable.” I beg to differ from the above opinions, 
for it appears to me that wether of the ideas is 
feasible. 

Cardiganshire is too far remote from the Continent 
for|insects to cover, in one day, the distance between. 
I may state that after about four days of continuous 
rain and north winds, when butterflics are scarcely 
ever abroad, I found, on the following morning, 
which was bright and sunny, that Edusze were roam- 
ing perfect and as fresh as daisies, over the clover- 
fields and up the sunny slopes of the hill-side. If 
these had come from France, they must have arrived 
during the sunny weather which preceded the four 
wet days. And this being the case, they would have 
been spoiled by the journey and the succeeding bad 
weather, But to contradict this first theory they all 

M 2 


244 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


were, as I have before stated, very evidently newly- 
emerged from the chrysalis. P 

It is ridiculous to suppose that butterflies could 
possibly travel long distances to particular localities, 
against the wind, through showers and comparative 
gloom. Moreover, after this trial, if completed, they 
would surely be tattered specimens. Thirdly, it is a 
sheer impossibility for a butterfly, presented to the 
world about 8 a.m., in France, to travel thence to 
Cardiganshire so as to arrive at 10 or Ir o’clock the 
same morning. 

Passing on to consider the question of a few hiber- 
nated specimens immigrating to form the nucleus of 
a large autumn brood, I must candidly admit that 
to me there does not seem an atom of probability in 
this story. Hibernated Edusas arerare. In localities 
where the autumn broods appeared in greatest num- 
bers, I had not seen a single hibernated insect in the 
previous spring. And if these were to be the parents 
of the autumn flies, they must have frequented the 
same localities as those in which their progeny were 
to emerge. 

I cannot imagine, even if such a thing did happen, 
how these hibernated Edusz should be so widely and 
evenly distributed and at the same time possess 
sufficient strength to become the parents of such a 
healthy brood as naturalists have noticed almost 
everywhere. Supposing, by some miracle, that 
swarms were taken on the breast of some strong 
south wind, and wafted over the seas from the main- 
land, what myriads there must have been to popu- 
late nearly the whole country with their offspring in 
the following autumn ! and these myriads hibernated 
specimens! I cannot believe that such swarms 
would appear in spring. Even if they did appear, 
would they be immediately taken by Zephyrus, and 
wafted and dispersed in thousands here and there, 
over an area of hundreds of miles ? 

My own idea (it is only an idea) is that the appear- 
ance of such numbers of Colias Edusa at intervals 
is an accidental occurrence, dependent upon -certain 
other accidents in environment—food-plants, weather, 
certain winds and degrees of temperature, absence of 
peculiar parasites, etc., which perchance, affecting 
only the first, second, or third stages, have resulted 
in the superabundance this year, of the male imago, 

Still the question is extremely interesting to pursue 
until a complete explanation is arrived at. 

In 1887, the insect was abundant near Cork. A 
friend of mine brought over a number of good speci- 

* mens, all but one of which were males. Ly-the-bye, 
the insects which I have in my cabinet are all rather 
large and brightly coloured—not so dark as others 
from farther south. For myself, I shall be very 
anxious to note the approach (and circumstances con- 
nected therewith) of next August, and Colias Edusa. 
Three Brown Hairstreaks (7Z%ecla betule) that I have 
captured in this neighhourhood were all females. 

T. ALFRED W, REEs, F.R.M.S. 


POND LIFE STUDIES. 
No. II.—DAPHNIA PULEX. 
By H. DuRRANT. 


HE subject of this paper is one that is familiar, 
I should say, to every nature-lover. The 
comparatively large size of Daphnia renders it ex- 
tremely liable to figure frequently in the trough of 
those whose friends like to see ‘‘ something alive” 
under the microscope. As to its haunts I need say 
nothing, I am convinced ; and its plenitude—well it 
is this genus which one often notices in such 
numbers that the water is coloured to a deep red by 
their presence. General: Here is its position in the 
animal world :—Sub-kingdom, Azmzlosa; Class, 
Crustacea ; Division, Extomostraca ; Legion, Bran- 
chiopoda ; Order, Cladocera ; Family, Daphuniade ; 
Genus, Daphnia; Species, pulex. These little 
creatures have only a single eye, as in Cyclops, and 
are enclosed between, and protected by, a shell 
(doubled over, according to Jurine) without any 
indication of a hinge. The head projects beyond 
this shell in the form of a prominent beak. There 
are four to six pairs of feet, terminated in a pectinate 
manner. With the exception of the two first, they 
are provided with branchial laminz. Antennz, two ; 
largish ; arm-like, divided into several branches, 
placed on a peduncle, the fringed filaments always pro- 
jecting and serving as oars. Eggs situated on back. 
Body terminated by a kind of claw with two filaments 
of extreme fineness at the end. Latreille gives the 
following sub-genera :—Polyphemus, Miiller ; Daph- 
nia, Miller ; Lynceus,’ Miiller : (Chzlodorus, Leach ?). 
The division in Baird’s ‘‘ Entomostraca”’ includes 
the following :— 


DAPHNIIDA, 


Daphnia. Sida. 
Moina. Macrothrix. 
Bosmina. Daphnella. 


The two other families I leave out, as having no 
bearing on our present subject. Of the Daphnia, 
Scheefferi is the largest, being about one-fifth of an 
inch in length by two lines broad. 

Specific: Daphnia pulex, Latreille; Monoculus 
pulex, Linneus; Pulex aguaticus arborescens, Swam- 
merdam; Le ferroguet Peau, Geoffroy; Daphnia 
pennata, Miller; D. ramosa, Koch; Pou aquatigue, 
Joblot; Vermes minimi rubri, Bennett; LPuceron 
branchu, Trembley; Animaletti aguatict, Redi. This 
is the common water-flea. Head rounded above and 
produced into a beak. Antennz ; superior under 
the beak; very small; inferior large. Anterior 
branch four-jointed, the first joint being very short ; 
a filament arises from end of the third ; fourth joint 
terminated in a like manner by three filaments. Fila- 
ments plumose. Valves of the carapace oval ; dorsal 
margin not serrated ; terminated by a longish serrated - 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


245 


spine. Eye spherical, bluish black ; composed of 
about twenty crystalline lenses. It is quite included 
within the shell, but it is very distinct, and its quick 
and rotatory (to some extent) motions are observable 
with ease. Labrum with a large hairy swelling at 
the end. Jaws composed. of a strong process, 
furnished at the extremity with four horny spines ; 
three of them are incurved. Mandibles, a fleshy- 
looking body ; geniculated, and furnished at the end 
with three small teeth. Legs; there are five pairs. 
Female, first pair, three-jointed; on outer edge of 
second segment are three minute processes, with four 
(often five) long, jointed sete. Last segment small, 
with a few sete. Male: they are more slender here, 


between it and the back of the animal until hatched, 
when the young make their escape. Frequently, 
however, the little things still stay on in their safe 
retreat, until more able to fend for themselves. The 
eggs are large and, as a rule, few in number, but 
surrounded by such advantages that there are few 
but what reach maturity. This is evidenced by the 
fact, that they are seen in such battalions, as to 
actually colour the water, as before mentioned. 
Baird remarks, that they will sometimes assemble so 
as to form a belt, a foot or more in breadth and ten 
or twelve yards in length, and that the whole belt 
will pass round the pool. Let a shadow fall across 
this enormous assembly, however, and it disappears 


Ny yy 


W, DME fF 6 
Wi iy ME. i 
WA 


\s 
N 


Ni 
mS) 


XK So 


Fig. 147-—1, Daphnia pulex: a, inferior antennz; B, superior antennz; Cc, heart; p, ova; 2, Daphnia Scheffer; 3, first pair of 
legs; 4, second pair of legs; s, third pair of legs; 6, fourth pair of legs; 7, fifth pair of legs; 8, mandibles; 9, labrum. 


and there is a claw at end of second joint. Seta 
arising from terminal joint long, and floats from 
underneath carapace. The second, third, and fourth 
pairs are branchial. Joints with segmented, plumose 
setz and a plumose setz branchial plate. The fifth 
pair are slightly different to the foregoing. The 
portion analogous to the branchial plate is rounded 
and afilamentous. 

Life-history.—The interesting feature connected 
with Daphnia, is the fact that it does not undergo 
metamorphosis. At their birth the young Daphniz 
are as much like their parents externally as they 
may possibly be, except in size, but after successive 
moults this isremedied. The ova, on its escape from 
the ovary, does not leave the shel], but remains 


to find males. 


directly, only to reappear at the removal of the 
disliked object. 

As in Cyclops, so in Daphnia, one fecundation 
suffices for many successive generations (some com- 
pute it at six, but I believe more); the number of 
eggs laid varies nearly each time of deposition, for as 
they advance In life, their number increases from the 
first deposition of one to, later in life, sixty in some 
species. It is general that one batch of eggs is 
restricted to one sex ; thus, in a male batch it would 
be extremely rare to find females, or ina female batch 
All moulting and oviposition ceases 
as the cold weather draws on, and many are of 
opinion that the frost destroys the creature, leaving 
the egg unharmed, they hatching out on the return 


246 


of spring. But this is not to be taken as the general 
tule. Daphnia with Cyclops I have frequently taken 
plentifully in the depth of winter, when the cold has 
been so intense that the ice of the pool has had to be 
broken to obtain a dip. The latter I have taken at 
such times with the external ovaries extended with 
eggs, 

There is another kind of ova, called Zphippial or 
winter ova. This is found in winter, embedded in a 
thick, opaque substance of a minutely cellular 
disposition. It occupies the same place as true ova, 
and its thick covering serves as a defence from the 
excessive cold. These eggs seem to correspond with 
the resting-spores of many Algez, Infusoria, etc., and 
according to Lubbock are the ¢vwe ova. 

N.B.—In my last communication an over- 
obliging compositor rendered Jurine, Favize through- 
out. Readers please correct. Tell this compositor, 
please, Mr. Editor, that I keep a shot-gun on the 
premises, and that if I have occasion to come down 
his way, I shall have sport. I use No. 9 shot. 


NOTES ON SPRING PLANTS IN THE 
GORGE DE CHAUDERON, MONTREUX. 


HIS fine cleft in the Lias and Jurassic rock 
forms a lateral valley from the lake basin of 
Geneva, through which a succession of cascades 
descend from a source high up, in the very ribs of the 
Dent de Jaman; the zone of vegetation from the 
level of the lake to the head of the ravine is 1300- 
2500 ft., in the shady part of which the rays of 
sunshine rarely penetrate. 

Early in March the vernal snow-flake appears. 
It is named Leucoium vernum (L.), and somewhat 
differs from the English summer snow-flake. The 
flowers are usually each on a separate stem, and the 
stalk is not winged. Tae graceful coral-roots quickly 
follow the snow-flakes, several species here finding 
a congenial habitat. Of these, Dentaria pinnata 
(Lam.) has leaves with five to nine segments, and 
D. digitata (Lam.) has palmate leaves. The flowers 
are handsome specimens of Cruciferze, with white, 
lilac, or pink petals. The root-scales are an inter- 
esting study, each coral-like, angular tooth being 
proliferous ; a modification, in fact, of the bulbous 
leaf-buds which appear in the axils of the leaves of 
another species (D. budbifera, L.). I believe Bentham 
gives this plant as synonymous with Cardamine 
bulbifera of Smith and other botanists, to which 
reference has been made in the pages of SCIENCE- 
Gosstp. Another fine cruciferous plant is freely 
distributed in the Chauderon, Zunaria rediviva 
(L.), Honesty, standing two to three feet high, 
with broad, nettle-shaped leaves and terminal lilac 
flowers. Ornithogalum nutans (L.), drooping Star 
of Bethlehem, is in the moist meadows at the 
entrance to the gorge in some quantity. <Actea 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


spicata (L.), herb Christopher, I here found for the 
first time, but hardly in flower before the end of 
May. This is accompanied by the Martagon lily in 
profusion. Ovodbus vernus (L.) is the first of the vetch 
tribe to appear, with cluster of flowers crimson, 
quickly fading to blue. Chrysosplenium oppositifolium 
(L.), the opposite-leaved golden saxifrage, coats the 
damp rocks with early foliage of delicate green and 
small yellow flowers. Sax. cuneifolia (L.) is readily 
distinguished through the leaves of the rosette being 
red at the back, and Sax. aizoon (Jacq.) having 
coriaceous, linear leaves, whitish green and strongly 
serrated. The round-leaved saxifrage, Sax. rotundi- 
folia (L.), is also common. The leaves are soft and 
downy, the radical ones on a long pedicel; the 
flowers are white, beautifully spotted with red. Sax. 
controversa (Steenb.), aptly called in French S. dis- 
putée, I have also noticed, almost identical with S. 
tridactylites (L.), but stronger and/more pronounced in 
all its similar characters. Where water impercept- 
ably trickles down the moss-clothed rock, Pinguicula 
vulgaris (L.), butterwort, and P. a/fina (L.), grow 
together, violet and yellow respectively. Viola hirta 
(L.), the hairy violet, is common on the more sunny 
slopes, of fine growth and colour varying from grey 
to blue. Of the scented white violets there are two 
well-marked varieties, V. alba (Besser), V. virescens 
(Jord.), with calyx, spur, and leaves uniform pale 
green, and V. scotophylla (Jord.), with those parts 
tinged with purple. There is the same difference in 
the capsules. I think the typical dog-violet also occurs, 
V. canina (L.), with large pale blue corolla and white 
spur. The study of the endless species of the genus 
Viola is well calculated to turn one’s hair grey ; their 
name is legion. olygonatium verticillatum (All.) is, 
again, a new plant to me; the verticillate leaves and 
flowers are sessile, and in narrow whorls of four. 
Paris quadrifolia (L.) is abundant. The meadows at 
the upper end of the gorge are, in May, white with 
thousands of only too strongly scented Varcissus 
poeticus(L.). From the lake below the fields have the 
appearance of being still snow-clad. Among the 
Euphorbiacee perhaps Z. du/cis(L.), is the most strik- 
ing, distinguished readily by the angular appearance 
of the bracts of the umbel and its divisions. There 
is a primrose common to the higher pastures which 
is not always clearly identified. It is something 
between the oxlip and ordinary primrose, and 
described as P. officinalis (Jacq.), the mountain 
primrose. The flowers are pale yellow, and hang 
in a one-sided, compact umbel. The oxlip flowers 
are larger, deeper in colour, and have the most 
irregular umbel straggling all ways. TZ7rollius 
Europeus (L.), the globe-flower, also grows in several 
of these highermeadows. TZhalictrium aquilegifohum 
(L.) occurs here and there in the woods of the ravine. 
Arabis turrita (L.) occupies rocky crevices, with 
creamy-white flowers, and ample foliage for its kind. 
Thiaspi perfoliatum (L.), and 7. virgatum (Gren.), 


HARDWICKE’S SCLIENCE-GOSSIP. 


247 


may also be found. Cornus mascula (L.) is here a tree, 
putting forth early and tiny clusters of yellow flowers 
branch. Coronilla emerus (L.) is 2 
leguminous shrub with yellow flowers. el/idiastrum 
Michelit (Cass.), a large daisy, fills the clefts in the 
rock, with splendid spikes of solidago, Virga aurea 
(L.), which last is in flower almost to Christmas. In 
the month of May, or in late seasons June, the flora 
of this accessible ravine is at its best. I note those 
plants which are most likely to attract attention ; but 
they by no means exhaust the list. 
C. PARKINSON. 


on every 


NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. 


HE Migration of Birds, by Charles Dixon 
(London: Chapman and Hall). We con- 
gratulate Mr. Dixon on this, his latest book. He has 
turned out several good ones, but none more original 
than the above. Indeed some of the chapters are 
daringly original. It is now more than twenty years 
since we ventured to suggest that the northerly 
and southerly migration of birds in our hemisphere 
might be connected with the great physical changes 
in the Glacial Period. Mr. Dixon fairly demonstrates 
this proposition, and works it out in an admirable 
manner. The author isa philosopher, as well as a 
scientist; and he is eminently clear, logical, and 
terse. Nevertheless his book is charmingly written, 
and excels in grace and freedom of style. Many 
years ago, Mr. Dixon made some of his earliest 
appearances as an ornithological writer in the pages 
of “*ScrENcE-GossiP,” and we therefore congratulate 
him on his well-earned success. The present volume 
runs to three hundred pages, is well bound, and 
printed in capital type on good paper. It contains 
twelve chapters, from the titles of which our readers 
may form a good idea of the extensive ground Mr. 
Dixon has worked, and of the vast amount of know- 
ledge he has here accumulated. The chapters are as 
follows :—‘*‘ Ancient and Modern Views on Migra- 
tion ;” ‘* Glacial Epochs and warm Polar Climates ;” 
‘©The Philosophy of Migration;” ‘*Routes of 
Migration;”  ‘‘Emigration and Evolution ;” 
**Internal Migrations and Local Movements;” 
** Nomadic Migration ;” ‘* The Perils of Migration ;”’ 
“*The Destinations of the Migrants ;” ‘‘ The Spring 
Migration of Birds;” ‘‘ The Autumn Migration of 
Birds ;” and ‘‘ Migration in the British Islands.” 
Experimental Evolution, by Henry De Varigny, 
D.Sc. (London: Macmillan & Co.). This is one of 
the well-known ‘‘ Nature Series” volumes. Dr. 
Varigny is a distinguished French Biologist, foremost 
in the French school of Evolutionists. He has 
evidently a skilful command of |English, insomuch 
that he was invited to give a course of lectures on 
the above subject to the summer School of Art and 
Science in University Hall, Edinburgh, in August of 


last year. The present volume is the result of those 
lectures. The literature of evolution has been accu- 
mulating for years past, and is doubtless far from 
being completed. ‘‘ All the rivers run into the sea, 
yet is the sea not full,” said Solomon. Human 
life is too short to expend itself in discussion,‘on a 
practically accepted principle. The chief value of 
Professor Varigny’s book is its practical side, namely, 
Experimental Evolution. It is crowded with {most 
interesting facts and experimental details, both in the 
animal and vegetable kingdoms. It is probable that 
before long an Experimental Institute will be founded 
in one of our Universities, on the lines that Professor 
Varigny here recomends. We cordially recommend 
this most interesting book to all our readers. 

Missouri, Third Annual Report of the Botanical 
Garden (St. Louis, Mo.: published by the Board of 
Trustees). The chief value of this handsomely got 
up annual volume, are two monographs, one by 
Professor. W. Trelease, ‘* Revision of North 
American Species of Rumex, (illustrated by thirty- 
three highly artistic full-page plates), and Professor 
Riley’s ‘‘Yucca Moth and Yucca Pollination” 
(illustrated by twenty-one plates), both admirable 
examples of scientific research. 

The Fauna and Flora of Gloucestershire, by Chas. 
A. Witchell and W. Bishop Strugnell (Stroud: 
printed and published by George H. James, Russell 
Street). This handsomely got-up work is in every 
respect—binding, paper, type, and illustrations—a 
volume deluxe. The Editors are thoroughly up to 
their work, and the list of articles contributed are 
from the pens of upwards of fifty Gloucestershire 
Naturalists, each of whom speaks upon his special 
subject. Each contributor appears to have worked 
up his subject as thoroughly as possible, and most of 
them give a short bibliography of papers and articles 
published by other authors upon them. The 
Mammalia and Birds of Gloucestershire are particu- 
larly well handled, and more fully dealt with (very 
naturally) than any other division of the Fauna of the 
county. The descriptions of the reptiles and amphi- 
bians occupy twenty-five pages ; the fishes sixteen, 
the crustaceans five, mollusca six, and the ants 
nineteen. The aculeate hymenoptera are very 
lengthily dealt with—a somewhat unusual feature— 
the paper on them running to fifty pages. The 
article on macro-lepidoptera is richly supplied with 
lists, which must be of great local value. That part 
of the book devoted to the Flora of Gloucestershire 
has two interesting articles on celebrated trees, and 
celebrated plants. A special paper is given to the 
local orchids, local ferns, and aquatic plants. There 
are others on the edible fungi of the county, as well 
as articles on the mosses, liver-worts, etc., winding 
up with a valuable catalogue of Gloucestershire 
plants. 

Amid Natures Realms, a series of zoological, 
botanical, and geological essays, by Edward Alfred 


248 HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Martin.— Glimpses into Natures Secrets, or Strolls on 
Beach and Down (same author), second edition 
(London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co.). These are two 
charmingly got up little volumes, illustrated by the 
author, who evidently possesses an observant eye, and 
is gifted with a picturesque style of description. The 
essays are unpretentious—‘‘ Sketches,” in fact—but 
this method of public literary presentation well suits 


\ 


; 
Ut 
J 

t 
ha 


Fig. 149.—Fossil Elephant’s Tooth, dredged off Lowestoft, Suffolk. 


(From Martin’s ‘t Nature’s Secrets.”’) 


Mr. Martin’s style. The author is not unknown to the 
readers of SCIENCE Gossip, and the accompanying 
illustrations of blocks from each of the above books 
noticed, may be accepted as a fair test of the author’s 
powers as an artist. As a describer of shore and 
down (what grander kind of Sussex country) we 
advise our readers to turn to Mr. Martin’s books. 


( 


r 


~ 
te 
pan 


The essays are accurate, cheery, chippy, and breezy. 
No man could have written them who had not the 
smell of the sea and the keen Downs breezes 
lingering in his nostrils. The only fault we have 
to find with these pretty books, is that the printers 
did not place the woodcut illustration the right 
side up ! 


Leport of the Smithsonian Institute, 1890. (Wash- 


My? yy, Y 
\ Dope)" 5 ea 
\ YY VLE 


( 
\ 


eg Ass) y a 
Mi py Dy Wr 


: yy LL ZZ 


Hy 

HA 

») 
)) A He 
Z tip, Uy 


Fig. 150.—Jaw of Fossil Bird, from the London clay. (From 
“ Nature’s Realms.”) 


ington, Government Printing Office.). This bulky 
and well-illustrated volume runs to upwards of eight 
hundred pages. Most of the articles are re-copied 
from various scientific journals, and the editors 
appear to have shown no favouritism in respect to 
any country. There is one important original paper 
by William C. Winlock entitled ‘‘The Progress of 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


249 


Astronomy for 1888 and 1890,” with a bibliography 
attached. Other papers are taken from the American 
and British Association reports, one of the best of 
which is the ‘‘ History of the Niagara River,” by 
the well-known Geologist, G. K. Gilbert. Pro- 
fessor Boys’ Royal Institution lecture on ‘‘ Quartz 
Fibres” is introduced; and many others from 
English, American, German, and other reviews and 
magazines. 

The Art of Modelling in Clay and Wax, by Thos. 
C. Simmonds (London: Bemrose & Sons). Mr. 
Simmonds is the head-master of the Derby School of 
Art and Technical Institute, and the present admir- 
ably written and graphically illustrated little manual 
is the first of Bemrose’s *‘ Technical Series.” If its 
successors are equal to the present example, it will 
be a very acceptable and valuable little library. We 
strongly commend Mr. Simmonds’ book to all sorts 
and conditions of our readers. 

The Primer of the Art of Massage (for Learners), 
by Dr. Stretch Dowse (Bristol: John Wright 
& Co), is a little book which ought to be 
welcomed. MVassage is now much 
practised, and is as useful, if not 
as important, as “‘ Ambulance.”’ It 
is well and clearly written, and 
sufficiently illustrated by original 


cloudland. For several years Mr. Barber has been 
curate at ‘* Wythburn’s lowly house of prayer,” as 
Wordsworth calls it—the picturesque little white- 
washed church on Dunmael Raise, at the foot of 
grand Helvellyn, in the country which Hall Caine has 
made so famous in his ‘‘ History of a Crime.” Mr. 
Barber is a man of strong natural history tastes and 
keen habits of observation ; he is alsoa man of sym- 


(Ne ae vu 
uf 


AA , 


\\\ 


sketches. Dr. Dowse’s book is an (Ney tae 
é aay o 
eminently useful one. BL 
= z z = AUG u Ai 
Wood-Carving, with Suggestions OPEB i} Neg ii f 
> - fof Ye oy AN Bay! 
on Chip-Carving, by Thomas C. Gs Cf TR ON ke 
Simmonds (London: Bemrose & i i a ay 4 
atone i ) eo 1 
Sons). Another of Mr. Simmonds Hy a ds lif ( Bo see 
Ys 


vigorously and clearly described [ 
shilling handbooks, illustrated with _ Kee i 
a vigour and force that must make ye i 
them ‘‘take” with students. It is 
the best, cheapest, and most in- 
structive work of its kind now 
before the public. 

Handbook for Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cam- 
bridgeshire, third edition, carefully revised, with 
maps and plans (London: John Murray). Murray’s 
famous Handbooks are known everywhere, but we 
question if a more altogether unique and interesting 
district could be dealt with than these four eastern 
counties. As far as possible the rich storehouse of 
historic and ecclesiastical archeology, has been effi- 
ciently dealt with and brought up to date. The 
geology, botany, zoology, etc., have also been as 
carefully revised, as the Editor of ScIENCE-GossIP 
{to whom they were entrusted) could possibly under- 
take, 

Beneath Helvellyn’s Shade, by Samuel Barber 
(London: Elliot Stock). Many of our readers will 
remember this writer's illustrated contributions on 
Clouds in past numbers of ScieNcE-Gossip. He is 
a man of acknowledged eminence in the science of 
meteorology, and especially in the department of 


LAN 

ay. 

(AGRE | t A 

YW) TRG) | 
Wy AM) Yh A 


; . | i 
Ancient Cammlech ! 
Na a 
; hy“ 
Drewsleignton. : ) 

‘ 
Fig. 151.-—(From ‘‘ Nature’s Realms.”) 


pathetic nature, and gifted with good literary tastes. 
He can hardly have gone anywhere to have better 
studied the birth, life, and death of clouds, or the 
habits of wild mountain-birds, or the strange tricks 
of glacial geology. His charming little book includes 
all these subjects, as well as notes on the folk-lore, 
habits, and customs of the natives, local archzology, 
etc ; and three valuable chapters on clouds. It is an 
eminently readable little book, which we strongly 
recommend, 


250 


HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP, 


WOODLAND WANDERERS, OR THE 
MYCETOZOA. 


N OT that our woods and shady coppices are the 
only haunts of the strange creatures designated 
above, but these are their homes par excellence. 
Wherever there are shade and moisture, associated 
with decaying vegetation, there will these curious 
and interesting organisms almost certainly exist. To 
find them is quite another matter, as unless one’s 
attention is directed to them, these singular creatures 
will probably be overlooked. The appellations, 
organisms and creatures, are used advisedly, as it is 
still a moot question amongst scientists, whether they 
belong to the animal or vegetable kingdom. For years 
a battle royal has been waged amongst specialists in 
this department of scientific investigation, as to their 
position in classification, and it may be assumed 
that a final judgment has not yet beengiven. Never- 
theless every original observer has a right to an 
opinion, which should be unbiassed, and based upon 
extended data ; and if one may judge upon the fact 
that in the mature condition these organisms produce 
capsules containing spores, it would seem that they 
should be classed with the vegetable kingdom. 

But this tendency (or shall one call it rage?) for 
exact classification, for arranging every known form 
of life in a linear series, may possibly be carried to an 
absurd length. For if there be any truth in the 
assumption that all the creatures that inhabit the 
earth, have descended from some few primordial 
forms of life, it will readily be granted that the two 
great kingdoms of animated nature may touch at 
numerous points; that here and there they coalesce 
or diverge, and that there may be existences that 
combine some of the features of both. To these we 
may surely relegate the subjects of this paper. They 
have at least three well-defined stages of existence, 
the distributive in the form of minute spores, myriads 
of which are borne as impalpable dust by the country 
breezes ; the creeping stage, when for an indefinite 
period, it may be weeks or months, numbers of these 
spores, having thrown off their cell-coverings, coalesce, 
and creep about on decayed leaves or in dead wood ; 
and the mature stage, in which, having ceased their 
wanderings, they become sessile, and produce capsules. 
From this it will be seen that they exhibit the curious 
phenomena of alternation of generations ; that is, 
that like does not produce like, but that in a 
series of phases of existence, the first and third, and 
the second and fourth are alike. Possibly this may 
not be regarded by some as an instance of true 
alternation of generations, but it at least presents close 
analogies to this phenomenon. 

It is the creeping stage, however, which has the 
greatest fascination for an observer, as it is both 
curious and singular. It was only after many months 
of patient investigation that we were rewarded by 
the discovery of a mass of this substance. The we 


is not editorial, but covers two personalities, a 
juvenile enthusiast still in his teens, and the writer, 
the latter often finding material assistance from the 
sharp vision of his more youthful coadjutor. On the 
occasion referred to, we had just reached the edge of 
an opening ina damp wood ; lying near us was a large 
trunk of an oak, which, having been felled many years 
ago, was not only saturated with moisture, but was 
thoroughly decayed. Overshadowing it were tall 
fronds of bracken, and straggling sprays of bramble. 
Running our eyes along its rugged bark, adorned here 
and there with mosses and fungi, we were gratified to 
see yellow veins of a substance unlike anything we 
had before seen. It covered a space over a foot in 
length and several inches in breadth. It was some- 
what viscid, distributed in anastomosing veins, some 
minute, and others a quarter of an inch wide, and 
sometimes spread out into fan-shaped figures towards 
the margins of the mass. So slight was its adhesion 
to the bark, that a worm was seen to crawl between 
the two; it was probably one of those worms that 
affect decayed wood, about which Mr. Hilderic Friend 
writes so’graphically. We knew almost intuitively 
that it was what we had so long sought, namely the 
the plasmodium of a Mycetozoon. The term 
plasmodium is that by which the creeping stage of 
these creatures is designated. Aften carefully exa- 
mining it, looking at it in every respect, noting its 
dimensions and general appearance, we took off a 
portion with plenty of the underlying decayed wood, 
so as to observe it at home at ourleisure. After crawl- 
ing about the wood for four or five days, the granular 
contents contracted into small protuberances in the 
veins ; the following day these changed into minute 
capsules, which eventually became greyish-white, and 
filled with dark spores. 

Having thus once found plasmodium, it was 
singular that one had little difficulty in finding it in 
other places afterwards. A small specimen of an 
allied species to the one mentioned above, was 
attached to a niece of wood that lay in contact with a 
larger one, but only by a narrow strip about a quarter 
of an inch wide. The plasmodium used this strip as 
a bridge, and by a single sinuous vein, nearly the 
whole of it passed over to the larger piece of wood. 
After having spread out on its surface and absorbed 
what food was available, it crept back again to its 
original position, and eventually formed its fruit. On 
another occasion a.small quantity of greenish-yellow 
plasmodium was found attached to the under side of 
a small rotten branch, and it is expedient to examine 
the under side of fallen branches, as these creatures 
appear to avoid light. This was placed under 
observation for several days, after which it mysteriously 
disappeared, its former position being marked by slimy 
tracks, One of us thought it was dead, but the 
juvenile observer hoped it had only crept into the’ 
wood. This was really the case, for after a few days 
it came out of its concealment, and formed a delicate 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


251 


group of fruits of a golden-yellow hue. The circum- 
stance is note-worthy, inasmuch as it proved to be 
a tare species of which the plasmodium stage was 
previously unknown to scientists. 

Yet another instance of the peculiar habits of these 
organisms. Two small masses of plasmodium had 
been under observation for several weeks, and it was 
thought they did not seem healthy, possibly wanting 
a change of diet. Accordingly a fungus, one of the 
polyporous group, was soaked in water, divided in 
halves, and a portion placed near each. Both of the 
plasmodia crept from their positions, and crawled 
over the respective portions of supposed aliment. 
Unfortunately it was the last journey for each of 
them, for either from the detrimental qualities of the 
fungus, or from acarites that may have infested them, 
both plasmodia perished, after two or three days of 
evident decadence. 


JAs. SAUNDERS. 
Luton. 


(Zo be continued.) 


ON THE UNDERGROUND GEOLOGY OF 
LONDON. 


By Epwarp A. MartTIN, 
Author of ‘‘ Glimpses into Nature’s Secrets,” etc. 


HERE are few subjects of geological interest 
which have a greater fascination for the 
theorising student, than the subject of the position 
which the various geological strata have, and the 
directions which they take, under our great metro- 
polis. 

Almost all the information which we possess as to 
the bearings of these underground strata, have been 
obtained from borings which have been made in 
search of water. Thus, when the object of the boring 
has been achieved, or when on the other hand its 
failure has become an established fact, the prosecu- 
tion of the work has been stopped, and the geologist 
has been left to wander in the field of speculation as 
to what kind of strata would next have been met 
with deeper down. 

We have then a limited number of borings, from 
whose data we are able to speculate, and from these 
we are able to form a general opinion, although not 
a very definite one, as to the contour of the under- 
ground palzozoic land-surface, which has been 
shown to exist by such geologists as De la Béche, 
Godwin-Austen, and Prestwich. 

To get a clear understanding of the depths in the 
borings at which various strata have been met, and 
of the superficial distance at which the sites of the 
borings stand in relation to one another, the accom- 
panying diagrams have been prepared which may 
perhaps help to attain this object, and in view of 
discoveries which have been made of coal in our 
south-eastern counties, and of possible results which 
may be obtained in connection with, borings now 


in course of being carried out, it is necessary that 
the knowledge already obtained should be under- 
stood. 

The positions of certain of the borings appear to 
stand in relation to one another in general northerly 
and southerly direction. Commencing beyond the 
northern limits of the metropolis, at the boring made 
at Ware, in Herts, and pursuing a southerly direction, 
we come to that made at Turnford, after which 
follow those at Kentish Town, Tottenham Court 
Road (Meux’s), Streatham, and the Caterham 
Waterworks. From these we have data from six 
borings, all more or less in a line north and south of 
one another. 

At Ware the base of the chalk was met with at 
a depth of 558 ft., at Turnford 784 ft., at Kentish 
Town 960 ft., at Meux’s 814 ft., at Streatham 864 ft. 
and at Caterham Works, at 458 ft. The upper 
greensand and gault clay were met with regularly 
throughout the whole distance, although each of 
these slightly thinned immediately under central 
London. So far no difficulty was encountered in 
deducing the underground contour of the strata from 
the facts furnished. But beneath the gault, the strata 
met with were as varied as they could well be. 

One of the most recent surprises was the discovery 
of the complete thinning out of the lower green- 
sand beds beneath London. At Ware, on the north, 
these beds had already almost disappeared, there 
remaining but a foot of strata, which have been 
doubtfully classed as belonging to this series. On 
the south, when the Southwark and Vauxhall Water 
Company made their boring at Streatham, in order 
to tap the supply of lower greensand water at that 
place, it was discovered that these strata had ceased 
to exist, and that they had already completely thinned 
out at some point between Streatham and the es- 
carpment of the North Downs. These two facts 
therefore enable us to construct our diagram so far 
with certainty. 

One leading fact stands out in connection with 
the boring at Ware, which gives us there a secure 
footing from which to start our deductions as regards 
the more ancient rocks. Strata which were unmis- 
takably recognisable as of Silurian age were there 
met with at a depth of 796 ft. Now, since at Turnford, 
only eight miles south, beds of cretaceous age con- 
tinued as deep as 9803 ft., it was evident that between 
these two places there must have been a very sudden 
dip in the strata, in order to allow of comparatively 
recent beds to be met with nearly two hundred feet 
deeper at the latter place, than the older beds at the 
former place. The dip too must be greater than this 
alone would imply, for although no Devonian beds 
were found above the Silurians at Ware, these 
actually appear at Turnford, immediately beneath 
the gault clay (cretaceous), The boring was only 
carried 29% ft. into the Devonian rocks, so that we 


are at present in the dark as to the depth at which 


N 
WarRE 8m TURNFORD 14m Kentis 
ipa 
200 
LOWER LONDON TERTIARIES 
300 
400 
500 
600 
700 
800 A 
SILURIAN ~. Pur. 
900 & ~ DEV. 
1000 
1100 
1200 
1300 
1400 
1500 
1eou}; | 
Fig. 152.—Scale: horizontal, + in. 
. 
N 
KENTISH To* 
WARE 8m TURNFORD 14m TOWN 94, 
109 lo23 
200 LOWER LONDON TERTIARIES 
200 Waete 
400 
500 aoe 
600} 635 
700) 784 CHALK 
a00) i= : al 
796 = A 
76 = A 824 
aon Sup), Te == , 2692 
tea N Sree SS 980s $83 
inog ar >= SS Up 
= S pe (2) PE, “| 
as —~ ; Lo, 5 GRee| wasagsey 
nog Sy — ay os NSAND ne fu 
= iss ~S =e B ‘ ais ae 
1200 ae Se ae Sse =~ GAULT + ae Aas 
aA lesa Tse Wise “Sas =e 9 PERMIAN 1301” / Al 
1300 y <P N, S. Sa “so ||) GSR ae iia 
Uf Sant Se ee =i acres b if / 
1400) TES es Ss is ~SONIFER OU he 
~ s i Tal 
be sic TU he as) Ameer ve oe 
‘sod S2SILURIAN * = “Sa See We 
teau! Se FSR > se 
o = ye ee - o 
a = = 
= F 
3 3 3 


WN _ToTTeNNAM C? R°27m STREATHAM CATERHAM WATERWORKS 


to mile; vertical, 2 in. to 100 ft. 


‘HAM CATERHAM 
Im STREATHAM WATERWORKS 


~._ |GREY~REDDISH GREY REDDISH 


= & PURPLE-BEDS & PURPLE BEDS 
a Op. 7 TRIASY 
_—- ee PEs rt 
Z ma Ce < | 
/ ? SILURIAN ~*. >. ia 
4 oy x 
F ud Pe z 
4 a2 > Sis, ae 
4 Boa ~o Oe “SS 
, A Tee = is 
ha s » acs eS 
— -. SI 
s 3 ge 
2 > A> 
ae 4 "3 
3 
=x 


to mile; vertical, 4 in. to 100 ft. 


Wane 8m TuRNFoRD Jem Kennsa tyym__ Tortennam CT R27 STREATHAM CATERHAM WATERWORKS 
9 
Wet) PT cratic (fo 
‘sek a 
305 LOWER LONDON Wh 
i TERTIARIES va 
S / 
300 a Via / 
400 ass| Wa 
i He 
500 sit / Wa 
GAULT / A 
CHALK aya 
/ LOWER / 
GREENSHNO 


————— 366 EZ 855, 


JURASSIC 


EEE 
ui a 
700 
200| pag(222_A SS 
SILURIA~ 9 up. 
= “DEW a 
“ON Wane 


JURASSIC 


Fig. x52.—Scale: horizontal, 4 in. 


WARE 8m Turnroro aes Kero Ter 


CATERHAM 
STREATHAM WATERWORKS 


CLT 


7m 


LOWER LONDON TERTIARIES 


GREY-REDDISH GREY REDDISH 
URPLEGEOS & PURFLE DEDS 


ds, 
“SPSILURIAW >. 


2 ant a 

3 ‘1 e ee 2 = 

m - g = 3 ae 

3 is S 2 25 

a 7 a aay Gr 
E] 

= 


Fig. 153:—Scale: horizontal, 4 in. mile; yertical, + in. to 100 ft. 


254 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


Silurians might have been encountered there. We 
are therefore right in assuming that the Devonians 
have thinned out at some point between the two 
borings, as A in the diagram. 

If we continue the angle of dip along the base of 
the gault, supposing the strata to remain regular 
at this angle of dip, we should probably not have 
to proceed many miles before arriving at carboni- 
ferous strata, outcropping, perhaps as at B. Whether 
such strata would actually contain coal could only be 
ascertained by experiment, since possibly the denuda- 
tion of the palzeozoic land-surface which took place 
prior to the deposition of cretaceous beds, may have 
swept away in this particular place all traces of coal- 
measures. 

In two of the three important borings which follow, 
the precise age of the deepest-seated rocks has not 
been satisfactorily determined. 

Beneath the gault. beds of Jurassic age have been 
met in the borings at Meux’s and at Streatham, at 
a depth of 992 ft. in the former case, and at 1081 ft. 
in the latter. Meux’s boring has also furnished 
undoubted upper Devonian rocks at 1056 ft. This 
must respresent a rise of these rocks out of the trough 
into which they were seen to be sinking between 
Ware and Turnford, and which probably continued 
beneath the Kentish Town boring. 

At the Kentish Town, and Streatham borings, beds 
which have been classifiedin Mr. Whitaker’s work on 
the geology of London as marl, red sandstones, clay, 
etc., were bored into at depths of 11133 ft., and 
1120 ft., respectively. Now the unsettled question 
about these is, are they also Devonian, or may they 
be classed as new red sandstone or an abnormal 
condition of any other series of strata? It is certain 
that they are not of more recent age than Jurassic, 
since at Streatham there is a thickness of 383 ft. of 
Jurassic beds above them, and this narrows con- 
siderably the question to be decided. They were 
doubtfully classed when first discovered, and have 
remained in doubt ever since, and we shall probably 
have to wait a further boring somewhere nearer the 
river, before a final decision is ventured upon. If we 
consider the beds in both cases to belong to the 
triassic series (new red sandstone), the strata may 
possibly have a trend as shown in Fig. 153. There 
can be no doubt that since the deposition of the 
cretaceous beds there has been a considerable 
crumpling of the earth’s crust, and in order to allow 
of the chalk reaching so near the surface as it does 
at Meux’s Whatever contortion and 
denudation the ancient paleozoic beds may have 
undergone previously, they must also have partaken 
in the post-cretaceous flexures, which may very 
possibly have brought about the position shown as the 
position of these beds in the diagram, if regarded as 
of triassic age. The position of the doubtful beds in 
the Streatham boring would be easy of explanation, 
in fact, here it would matter little if they eventually 


Brewery. 


proved to be Devonian, as we have no evidence as 
to where the Devonian dips again into a trough, and 
it is only fair to say that they as much resemble the 
one formation as the other. 

But, supposing on the other hand, the red clay and 
sandstones in the Kentish Town boring are decided 
to be Devonian also, the palzozoic beds would then 
appear to present much the same contortion as the 
more recent secondary beds. As, however, the older 
beds, when they appear at the surface in the coal- 
producing areas at home and abroad, appear to have 
been contorted and subsequently denuded so as to 
leave them in isolated basins, as they may be termed, 
separated, as Godwin-Austen has pointed out, by 
intermediate areas exhibiting the outcrops of still 
more ancient rocks, we can scarcely expect that the 
position and shape of the cretaceous beds above is 
closely imitated by the Devonians beneath, and for 
this reason alone we should hesitate to class the rocks 
in question as Devonian, unless they are decided to 
be so from petrological or paleontological reasons. 
The alternative being that they are of triassic age, 
it should be pointed out that the position they must 
then necessarily occupy would agree with precon- 
ceived opinions as to the contortion and denudation 
of the palzeozoic land-surface previous to the deposi- 
tion of the secondaries. 

In a distance such as that between Turnford 
(Cheshunt) and Kentish Town, one cannot tell what 
may happen in the configuration of these ancient 
strata. Mr. Whitaker has pointed out that even 
between Ware and Turnford, it is quite possible that 
a trough may occur such as that shown in Fig. 152, 
by means of which a patch of carboniferous strata 
may still remain, which has since been unconformably 
covered by the gault. Such a dip, however, is not 
at present shown by any knowledge which has been 
actually obtained. It illustrates, however, how car- 
boniferous beds might possibly be met with, either 
here or perhaps beyond the Streatham boring, a 
region where the ancient rocks have not at present 
been bored into. 

In referring to the accompanying diagrams it must 
not of course, be overlooked that the scale used is 
one which exaggerates tremendously the depth of the 
strata in proportion to the extent of surface shown. 
A true representation would be secured were the 
horizontal distance multiplied about fifty-three times, 
but this is obviously impossible in the case of a 
simple diagram. 


CoprpER and German silver wire ‘oo2 inch in 
diameter, of which it takes ten miles to weigh a 
pound, is used in the delicate receiving instrument 
for ocean cables, testing galvanometers, etc. 
as the wire is, it is wound with two layers of silk 
thread smaller in diameter than the wire. The wire 
is made by drawing through drilled diamonds. 


Small 


HARDWICKE S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 


255 


THE ENDEMIC FEATURES OF THE 
BRITISH SLUG-FAUNA. 


By T. D. A. COCKERELL. F.Z.S., F.E.S. 


R. A. R. WALLACE, in ‘‘ Island Life” (2nd 

ed., Part ii, chap. xvi.) gives a very interest- 

ing discussion of the British fauna and flora, in 

which he argues, contrary to the opinion of many, 

that there really are numerous species and varieties in 

our islands which are truly peculiar to them, either 

having arisen within our area, or else been formerly 

more widely distributed, but now surviving only in 
Britain. 

In discussing a question of this kind, we need very 
full information as to the foreign species and varieties, 
and this, unfortunately, is not usually in the posses- 
sion of British students ; while foreigners, as a rule, 
are not well-acquainted with our supposed endemic 
forms. It happens, however, that of late years the 
slugs and their variations have received special 
attention at the hands of several naturalists, and 
some very full and elaborate works have appeared, 
giving us much of the desired information. The 
slugs, also, being extremely prone to vary, and slow 
to migrate, are specially suitable for illustrating the 
points at issue. 

The following notes have accordingly been put to- 
gether, constituting an examination of the forty-four 
varieties and mutations which have been first de- 
scribed from British specimens. There are a few 
still unnamed forms not mentioned, as it seems best, 
for purposes of comparison, to include only those 
which haye been named and listed. It seems un- 
necessary to give full bibliographical references ; but 
it may be remarked that no names are herein pub- 
lished for the first time. 

The objection is almost ‘sure to be raised, that 
many of the forms are of no interest, being merely 
individual mutations. From the view that such are 
unimportant, I entirely dissent; and it may be 
pointed out, that such mutations are very frequently, 
perhaps more often than not, restricted to one 
portion of the range of the species. Take for 
example the var. albolateralis of Avion ater. Over 
the greater part of the range of the species it does 
mot occur at all; in parts of Britain it is a rare 
aberration or mutation, while in certain districts it 
becomes a distinct and common variety. So also 
with Agriolimax agrestis, vax. niger, and many 
others. Itis the greatest mistake to suppose that any 
species shows the same kind and amount of vari- 
ability in every part of its range, unless, indeed, that 
range is extremely limited. 


TESTACELLA (Cuy.). 

1. 7. scutulum, mut. pallida, Ckll., pale yellow 
without markings. Chiswick, with the next. <A 
similar mutation (flavescens, Moq.) of 7. haliotidea is 
known on the continent. 


2. LT. scutulum, mut. aurea, Ckll., mottled with 
brown, but the sole vivid orange. TZ. Jdisulcata, 
Risso, which differs hardly at all from scutulum, 
varies towards orange in France. TZ. mazugei has a 
variety (viridans, Morelet) with a brilliant orange 
foot, found in Portugal and, according to Mr. Roe- 
buck, in Co. Waterford, Ireland. 


Limax (L.). 


3. L. maximus, mut. lilacinus, Roeb. Like mut. 
krynickit Kal., as to markings, but the ground-colour 
clear lilac. Found at Stroud, Gloucestershire. 
Interesting, as showing a tendency towards the 
brighter colours observed in the same species further 
south. Baudon records a variety vézosa from France ; 
and the reddish var. v2fescens, Mogq., first described 
from France, has been taken in Britain. <Agviolimax 
agrestis varies in a similar way, from the grey type, to 
reddish (mut. 7zfescens, L. and P.) and violaceous 
(mut. Zacinus, Moq.) forms, both of which occur in 
England as well as on the continent ; the latter is found 
in the same district as the lilac form of Z. maximus. 

4. L. maximus, mut. cinereus, Roeb. (non Moq.). 
This is ashy, unicolorous, with the mantle blackish, 
and is reported from various localities, including four 
Scottish counties (Roebuck). It was supposed to be 
the same as var. cimereus of Moquin-Tandon (1855), 
but that is equivalent to Miiller’s czmereus, var. a, 
which is doubtless Z. cinereo-niger. Férussac 
(‘* Hist. Nat. Moll.,” Pl. iv. f. 1) figured this same 
cinereus, Va. a, aS is noticed by Moquin-Tandon ; 
and the var. ferwssackiz (sic) of Kaleniczenko (1851), 
was intended to include the form depicted by 
Férussac.* 

The British form of Z. maximus, which has been 
called cinereus, probably does not differ from 
similarly-coloured slugs which occur on the continent. 
O. F. Miiller (‘‘ Verm. Hist.” 1774. vol. ii. p. 7) 
described a variety as ashy, with a white border and 
sole ; this, in 1855, was named Zmbatus by Moquin- 
Tandon. WHeynemann (‘‘ Mal. Blatt.,” 1862, p. 55) 
gave the name zwmzcolor to an almost identical form, 
which is now known from Germany, Italy, and 
Sicily. Lessonaand Pollonera (‘‘ Mon. Limac. Ital.,” 
1882) call it a species, Z. zmnicolor, with four 
varieties. These are really all suffused or melanic 
forms, such as occur in many species of slugs. With 
the same group, but less melanic, are the mutations 
known as odscurus, Moq., and nebulosus, D. and M. ; 
these are both British and continental. 

5. L. maximus, mut. marmoratus, Ckll. Found 
at Chislehurst, Chiswick, and Bath ; closely allied to 
mut. kvynzchit, but the mantle is beautifully marbled, 


* Kaleniczenko’s razoumowskit and vrenardii, described as 
varieties of L. antiguorum, are also forms of L. cinereo-niger ; 
but his czernevii and krynichic belong to L. maximus. The 
var. czerneviz may be taken as equivalent to Moquin-Tandon’s 
vulgaris, over which it has priority, although it was intended 
to include forms now referred to cellarius as well. Fasciatus, 
Pic. (1840), a still earlier name for the same, must apparently 
fall, as there is a different mut. fasciatus, Raz. (1789). 


256 


HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSI/P. 


and the body has grey bands and scattered dark spots. 
A nearly identical mutation was found among an 
introduced colong at Newport, U.S.A., and is 
figured by Mr. W.G. Binney, ‘‘ Man. Amer. Land 
Shells ” (1885), p. 450. 

6. L. maximus, var. pallido-dorsalis, Roeb. M.S., 
Hudson. The name was published, without any 
description, in SCIENCE GosstP, 1885, p. 67. In 
** Journ. of Conch.” 1886, p. 48, the slug is described, 
though without citing the name. It was found at 
Wilton Woods, Lower Tees, in several stages of 
growth, and apparently represents a well-defined 
Jocal variety, approaching cizereo-niger somewhat in 
its coloration. 

7. L. marginatus, var. maculatus, Roeb. A 
beautiful variety, spotted with black, which occurs 
frequently in parts of Ireland; Mr. Delap sent me 
specimens from near Clonmel, and Roebuck records 
it from Co. Mayo. This must be regarded as a 
distinct Irish race, nothing that could be considered 
identical has been found either in Great Britain or on 
the continent, and it is such a striking form that it 
could not easily be overlooked. 

ty, ep mut. swbmaculatus, Ckll. 
Merely a form of maculatus, in which the spots are 
mostly grey, and partly coalesce, thus forming a 
transition towards the type. Found in Co. Water- 
ford. 

g. L. marginatus, mut. decipiens, Ckll. A form 
with pale spots, of special interest as simulating the 
mormal markings of the allied Z. flavus. It has 
been found more than once in Ireland, and there is 
a not very characteristic specimen from near Norwich 
in the British Museum. I know of no continental 
record, but it is very possible that the var. a/do- 
maculatus of Kreglinger (‘‘ Syst. Verz. Deutch]. Binn. 
Moll.,” 1870) is nearly or quite identical. 

to. LZ. flavus, mut. suffusus, Roeb. Uniformly 
dark yellowish-grey, without markings; mantle 
tinged with yellow anteriorly ; sole yellowish-white. 
The only example I have seen is the type of the 
variety, and was found by my brother at Ealing. It 
might be mistaken for one of the suffused forms of 
LI. maximus, were it not for the colour of the 
tentacles. No similar form appears to exist on the 
continent, except that in the Caucasus there is a 
unicolorous race named by Boettger (1881), Z. 
ecarinatus. According to Simroth (‘‘ Nachsch. 
Port.-Azor. Faun.,” 1891, p. 308) the Australian 
form breckworthianus, Lehm., is also similar. May 
it not be that the latter is a case of atavism, induced 
by changed conditions at the Antipodes? 

11. L. flavus, mut. griseus, Roeb. Like the type, 
except that the ground-colour is grey, and there is 
little or none of the yellow mucus which covers 
typical examples. First found at Bath, and since 
then occasionally elsewhere, as far north as Renfrew, 
Scotland. Not observed on the continent, but 
umbrosus, Phil. (1844), may be somewhat similar, 


marginatus, 


12, L, flavus, mut. antiguorum, (Sowerby, ‘‘ Gen. 
of Shells,” vol. ii. pl. 158). An ochreous form, 
with obscure markings, and the interstices of the 
dorsal rugze dark, producing a finely reticulate effect. 
There is a large specimen from Chobham (Mus. 
Leach) in the British Museum, The mut. flavescens, 
Feér., found on the continent, is very similar. 

13. L. flavus, var. dineolatus, Collinge. Found in 
Oxfordshire, and very different from any variety of 
flavus known elsewhere. It has yellowish tentacles 
and a dark brown line down each side of the body: 
I should suppose, judging from the description, that 
it was better referable to Z. marginatus, but Mr. 
Collinge assures me that this is not the case. 


AGRIOLIMAX (Morch.). 


14. A. agrestis, mut. filans (Hoy, 1791), Auctt. 
Greyish-white with the mantle yellowish. This is 
one of the ordinary mutations of agrestis, recorded 
from as far north as Forfar, in Scotland (Roebuck), 
and south to Italy (Lessona and Pollonera).* 

15. A. agrestis, mut. nigey, Butterell. This is a 
very interesting black variety, first found in Yorkshire, 
where it seems to be locally common. I have received 
it, together with the forms /77stts, obscurus, and 
sylvaticus, from Wakefield (J. Wilcock). I have 
never met with it in the south of England, but 
it is recorded (SCIENCE Gossip, 1884, p. 78) from 
Gloucestershire. It is also found in two Scotch 
counties, Wigtown and Haddington (Roebuck, 1891), 
but apparently not in Ireland. It is quite unknown 
on the continent, but Simroth found it above the 
zone of cultivation in the Azores. In Sicily and 
Crete there is a somewhat similar variety (fanor- 
mitanus, Less. and Poll.), which, however, has a 
rather differently formed keel on the body, and is 
said to differ in other minor points of structure. 

16. A. agrestis, mut. griseus, Ckll. Entirely dark 
greyish; first found in Lancashire. Dr. Scharff 
figures a specimen from Co, Dublin, Ireland. This 
is a partly melanic form, similar to Z. flavus, mut. 
suffusus, and has not been recorded from the con- 
tinent so far as I am aware. 

17. 1. agrestis, mut. albus, Ckll. Pure white; 
an albino form. Found occasionally in England, 
and Dr. Scharff (‘The Slugs of Ireland,” p. 527) 
records an example from Raheny, Ireland. Mr. F. 
R. Latchford informs me of a “‘milk-white” form 
of agrestis found at Ottawa, Canada, which is pre- 
sumably a/bus. I have no record from the continent, 
but it probably occurs there ; the var. a/bzdus, Picard, 
Mogq.-Tand., with which it is frequently confounded, 
is different. 

18. A. agrestis, mut. submaculatus, Wilms. A 


* At Parkstone, in Dorset, I have found an allied mutation, 
with pale ochreous-brown spots on the mantle, and greyish 
spots on the body; tentacles pale brown. The tendency in 
this and fans for the mantle to have a warmer coloration 
than the body, is interesting. ‘ 


HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 


257 


mutation recorded from Stourport, very similar in 
colour to the Italian var. florentinus, Less. and Poll. 
19. A. Jevis, mut. maculatus, Ckll. <A spotted 
mutation, first described from Surrey, but probably 
common in many places both in England and abroad. 
No spotted form is recorded in Dr. Scharft’s ‘‘ Slugs 
of Ireland ;” but the Italian type, as described by 
Lessona and Pollonera, is spotted. In various paris 
of the world are found slugs very closely allied to 
Jevis, and these are often spotted. A. campestris, 
Binn., of the United States, is described as without 
spots or markings, but Mr. W. G. Binney sent me 
a mottled form from Burlington, New Jersey ; and 
2 dark variety sent by Mr. R. E. C. Stearns from 
Washington, D.C., has the mantle mottled. In the 
race zontanus, Ingersoll, from the Rocky Mountains, 
the mottling is obscure or obsolete, and so also with 
the race Ayferboreus, Westerl., from the Pacific Coast ; 
but the 4. derendtz, S. and P., found further south, 
has a var. ictus, Ckll., from Lower California, in 
which the mantle is spotted and blotched with black. 
In Bermuda and Jamaica is found a variety of 4. 
campestris, in which the mantle is marbled. 


AMALIA (Mog.). 


20. A. gagates, var. ava, Wilms. A drab-coloured 
tace of the northern subsp. Alumbea, Mog. Found 
in the west of England, and also recorded from 
Middlesex (‘‘J. of Conch.,” 1891, p. 398), and 
figured from an Irish specimen by Scharff. Not 
noticed on the continent, but the mut. o/ivacea, 
Mogq., found in France and Italy is very similar, and 
no doubt intergrades with it. 

21, 22, 23, 24. A. Sowerbyt, var. nigrescens, 
Roeb., mut. rzstica, Roeb., mut. fuscocavinata, Ckll., 
and mut. dicolor, Ckll. Concerning these see ‘‘ An. 
Mag. N. Hist.,” Oct. 1890, p. 284; to the account 
there given may be added, that var. wigrescens does 
not always lack the internal shell, and that mut. 
rustica is from Gloucestershire. Of these forms, 
none of which are known from the continent, dzcolor 
has strong contrasting black and orange colours ; 
while /uscocarinata is quite the reverse, being of the 
typical brown, without even the keel differently 
coloured. Mut. rustica is grey, analogous to the mut. 
griseus of L. flavus ; and var. nigrescens is strongly 
melanic, The last, from the London district, comes 
nearest to being a distinct race. 


ARION (Feér.). 

25, 26, 27. A. ater, mut. brunneopallescens, Roeb. ; 
mut. /uteopallescens, Roeb.; and mut. fuscolutescens, 
CkiL These are best considered subvarieties of 
Mogquin-Tandon’s fallescens, which is found in 
France. This grades into the form known as 
succineus, with varying shades of colour, apparently 
of no great importance. I formerly considered 
Juscolutescens identical with a variety described by 
Baron Paiva from Madeira, but it is possible that his 


slug may really have belonged to A. usitanicus, 
Mab., which, according to Simroth, inhabits that 
island. 

Taking the pale yellowish and brownish varieties 
of A. ater altogether, their distribution presents 
features of interest. Dr. Scharff does not seem to 
have met with them at all in Ireland (‘‘ Slugs of 
Ireland,” p. 537). In Scotland they seem to be rare, 
as Roebuck (‘‘ Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc.,” 1891) records 
var. pallescens from only two counties, and var. 
succineus from only two, while the blackish form 
nigrescens is recorded from seven, and the dark 
brown érznnea from four. In England, at least in 
the south-east, they become frequent; Dr. Leach 
(‘* Moll. of G. B.,” 1820, p. 67) included them under 
his var. 5, which he said was confined to chalky 


‘districts, mentioning especially the neighbourhood 


of Dartford. 

28. A. ater, var. albolateralis, Roeb. Back black, 
sides white, the two colours sharply defined from one 
another ; foot-fringe orange. A most beautiful and 
remarkable variety, characteristic of North Wales 
and the Isle of Man, but not known, so far as I can 
learn, from the continent. Had it occurred out of 
our islands, it could hardly have escaped notice.* 
In Ireland it seems to be unknown ; although Dr. 
Scharff records a form ‘‘black with yellow sides,” 
which, however, must be considered nearer to var. 
bicolor, Moq., than to albolateralis. In Scotland it has 
been recorded by Roebuck from Sutherland. ft 

29. 30, 31. A. ater, mut. Zlumbeus, Roeb. ; mut. 
seminiger, Ckll, and mut. czzerascens, Ckll. ( = cinerea 
Roeb., not Westerl.). These are merely dark muta- 
tions, the first lead-colour with the margin dull yellow, 
the second witha dark brown mantle and black body, 
and the third very dark slate, with a dark brown 
margin. They may be regarded as forms of razou- 
mowskit (Kal.), which is well known both in Bnitain 
and on thecontinent. The form g/wmbea is on record 
for England, Scotland, and Ireland; but the other 
two only for England. 

32. A. ater, mut. drunneus, Roel. Simply a dark 
brown mutation of the widely-spread var. rufus 
(Linn.), but interesting, as showing the tendency of 
the British forms to become dark. Thereseems to be 
every gradation between the bright red form lamarckii 
(Kal.) and the dark brown d72nmeus, but while the 
bright red slug, so common in many parts of the 
continent, is apparently quite wanting in Briton,f{ 
we have the dark drwnumeus in great abundance. It 
is common in Englnad; and in Ireland is recorded 
by Messrs. Taylor and Roebuck (‘‘ Proc. Roy. Irish 
Acad.,” iv. 673) from more localities than any other 


* Simroth, however, does appear to have found a similar 
form on the shores of the German Ocean. See Dr. Scharff, 
“Slugs of Ireland,” p. 555. 

+ For further particulars concerning this variety, see “ Journal 
of Conchology,” 1883, p. 39; 1887, p. 198. 

+ See also “Slugs of Ireland,” p. 538; “Ann. Mag. Nat. 
Hist.,”” March 1887, p. 174. 


258 
form. In Scotland, Roebuck records it from four 
counties, but it appears to be less frequent than the 
blackish form vazoumowski (= nigrescens, Moq.). 

33. A. ater, mut. veticulatus, Roeb. Described 
from an Irish specimen, but Dr. Simroth has figured 
(‘‘Zeits. fiir Wiss, Zool.,” I885, pl. vii. f. 25) the 
same mutation from Germany. 

34. A. ater, var. fasciatus, Ckll.* This is a brown 
banded variety, found in Ireland, and recently well 
figured by Dr. Scharff. The interesting nature of 
this variety is seen when we note its resemblance to 
the Portuguese A. /wsitanicus. Compare, for instance, 
Dr. Scharff’s pl. lvi. figs. 11 and 12, with Dr. 
Simroth’s pl. xii. figs. 7 and 3, in his great work on 
the slugs of Portugal and the Azores. In England 
we frequently observe bands on very young individuals 
of A. ater, but they soon disappear.t 

In Ireland, the var. fasciatus retains them much 
longer, although even here they become evanescent 
in old age. Then, in Portugal, we get a distinct but 
very closely allied species, which is quite commonly 
banded, though it has banded mutations. 

Still another banded form is the var. cimereus of 
Westerlund, with which may apparently be identified 
the var. A. ater described by Mr. W. D. Sutton 
(‘* Journ. of Conch.” 1875, p. 25), from the Northum- 
berland and Durham district, as, ‘‘ blackish above, with 
a black band on each side of the body, and the sides 
yellowish-white.” The form I described as var. 
subdeletus from Ireland is also banded, but immature. 

35, 36. A. ater, var. elineolatus, Ckll., and mut. 
subreticulatus, Ckll. These are two forms from 
Truro, Cornwall, both with the back black and the 
sides yellow or yellowish, but in the first the dark 
lineoles of the orange fringe are wanting; while the 
second, having the lineoles, has also the sides 
reticulated with grey. It would appear that e/izeolatus 
is a variety peculiar to Cornwall, although a very 
similar form is said by Dr. Scharff to occur very 
frequently along the sea-shore near Dublin. It is 
interesting to find that Dr. Leach (“ Syn. Moll. of G. 
B.,” 1820, p. 67 of copy of proofs in the Brit. Mus.) 
long ago found e/izeo/atws near Bodmin, and described 
it as var. 4. 

37. A. subfuscus, mut. aurantiacus, Ckll. An 
crange form, found in Ireland, and figured by Dr. 
Scharff (l.c., pl. lvi. f. 19).{ Locard named a variety 
from France avrantiacus long ago, but as he seems 
never to haye described it, one cannot be certain 
whether it is the same as that from Ireland. Other 
very similar forms are on record from various con- 
tinental localities. 


* Seibert (“‘Mal. Blatt.,” 1873, p. 190) described a var. 
fasciatus, which should have priority. It is, however, omitted 
by Pollonera in his recent revision of the genus, and I have no 
clear idea of its peculiarities. 

+ Mr. W. A. Gain, who has reared the species, writes 
(SciencE-GossiP, 1890, p. 45) that stripes appear on light- 
coloured varieties a week or two after leaving the egg, and 
begin to disappear when the slug is less than half-grown. 

{ Dr. Scharff does not give the varietal names of the slugs 
he figures. See ‘ Conchologist,” 1891, p. 50 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


38. A. hortensis, var. fallax, Ckll. A form 
coloured like 4. subfuscus by slime, common at 
Boxhill. It may be the same as the var. swbfuscus 
(C. Pfr.) of the continent, but Dr. Scharff has shown 
that Avion subfuscus has both slime-coloured and 
truly pigmented forms, and the var. swbfuscus of 
hortensis may resemble the latter in character. The 
young of A. subfuscus are very similar to fallax, and 
I believe I formerly (SCIENCE Gossip, 1886. p. 140) 
confused them with it. 

39. A.hortensis, mut. albiges, Ckll. An individual 
mutation with colourless slime, from Middlesex. 

40. A. circumscyiptus, subsp. ambiguus, mut. 
subalbidus, Ckll. A form with white sides and dark 
back, rather afterthe manner of A. ater,v. albolateralis. 
As only one example has been found (in Dorset), it 
may be simply an individual mutation. 

41. A. circumscriptus, subsp. bourguignati,* mut. 
atripunctatus, Ckll. A form with black dots, from 
Yorkshire ; Dumont and Mortillet have described 
(‘* Malac. Savoie,” 1852, p. 7) a nearly similar form 
of A. subfuscus from the Alps. In California, 
Fesperarion hemphili (W. G. Binn) and A. niger 
(Cooper) have varieties much dotted with black.t 

2, 43, 44. Geomalacus maculosus, mut. allmani, 
Heyn.; mut. verkruzeni, Heyn.; mut. fasciatus, 
Ckll. The species itself is confined to Kerry and 
Cork, in Ireland; and north-west Spain and north 
Portugal. Simroth lately found mut. verkruzenz in 
Portugal. In Ireland a//mani would seem to be 
more common than the yellow and black type (mut. 
typicus, Heyn.). In the British Museum there is a 
bottle containing eight examples collected by Mr. W. 
Andrews ; one juvenile, three a//mani, three fasciatus 
and one ¢yficus. Another lot of five, presented by 
Mr. Laughlin, are all a//mani. A third bottle 
contains many specimens, including a//mani and 
JSasciatus, and is marked, ‘‘ An Island in Dingle Bay, 
West Coast of Ireland. Presented by W. Andrews, 
Esq.” 

The mut. fasciatus, which is specially interesting 
because there are normally banded species of geo- 
madacus in south-west Europe, may be described as 
follows :— 

Ground colour white or whitish, mantle marbled 
with black or dark brown, and {with dark lateral 
bands; body hardly marbled, pale, with four dark 
longitudinal bands, two subdorsal, and two lateral. 


* Mr. Roebuck (‘Census of Scottish Land and F.-W. 
Moll.”) records A. Jourguignati, var. subfusca, from two 
Scottish counties. I have seen no description of this; is it the 
same as var. zeustriacus (Mab.)? 3 

+ H. hemphilli, var. maculatus (Ckll. MS., W. G. Binn., 
sub. Aviolimax, 3rd Suppl. “Terr. Moll. U-S.,” pl. v., fig. B). 
Differs from type in being grey with black dots, edge of foot 
black-spotted at intervals, sole pale ochery, lateral tracts not 
mottled, liver pale yellowish. ee 

H. niger, var. maculatus (Ckll., sine descr., sub. Aviolimaz, 
“ Nature,” May 1890, p. 31). Larger and stouter than Aem- 
philli, var. maculatus, but exactly like it in colour and 
markings, except that the lateral areas of the sole are marked 
in the usual manner of 2zger, and the sole is darker altogether. 
Liver putty-colour. Received from Dr. J. G. Cooper, Hay- 
wards, Cal. 


HARDWICKE’ S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


259 


The var. azdrewsi (Mab.) appears to have been 
founded on a misunderstanding, and is accordingly 
omitted. 


SUMMARY. 
2 ie woke 
an British Varieties 
3 Se and Mutations. 
3S a5 
=) aS : : | 
2 | eS @ISes] 2S | Localities of 
os | ae Genus. ge jeee| as Endemic 
e2 los ao |S a] ag | 
o&| of Sq |fog) «2 forms. 
E=1-7) KE he no Pa) 
= i) og |S Eo] os 
BO) a5 22 |eael ae 
2 \e8 Es E25| =: | 
= SQ [sue so 
a a |4 hee 
a | | |\— 
3 3 | Testacella. | 1x 2 |: Middlesex. 
$ Treland ; Scot- 
5 35 | Limax. .| 24 5 6 land; Eng- 
foal and. 
2 16 | Agriolimax | 13 2 x | England. 
2 7 | Amalia. . 2 3 2 | England. 
( I. of Man; 
eo et - | Wales; Eng- 
5 39 | Arion «. ./ 23 Io 6 | iengla lee 
mand 
rish only; 
I 3 Geomalacus | I I I U Comers: 
28 | 103 | Alltogether| 64 23 16 | 


These statistics will doubtless need alteration in the 
light of future research ; but it seems evident that we 
have some endemic varieties of slugs, one or two of 
which, like Z. marginatus, v. maculatus, are well- 
established and very distinct. Yet the amount of 
peculiarity is nothing as compared to certain con- 
tinental areas, suchas Portugal and the Caucasus, and 
probably any district in Southern Europe of like area 
would show as many or more endemic varieties if 
thoroughly examined. 

Institute of Famaica, Kingston, Jamaica, 

Fune 2th, 1892. 


SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Mr. OLIvET, of Geneva, has brought out a system 
of electric heating for conservatories. A dynamo, 
worked by a motor, sends the current into receivers 
of special metallic composition, which become rapidly 
heated up to a certain temperature. This naturally 
sets up a heated air current sufficient to warm the 
conservatories. The advantages of its use are, of 
course, the entire absence of all gases likely to be 
injurious to the plants, absence of dust, cleanliness, 
and simplicity of construction in those parts of the 
mechanism conveying the energy, as well as perfect 
safety as regards the heat, and complete control over 
it at any time. 


MARGARINE, as everybody knows, is artificial 
butter, although it sounds very like the name of a 
heroine in a novel. It reminds one of the opinion 
publicly given by a teetotal bishop concerning a now 
forgotten teetotal drink, that “it looked like beer, 
smelt like beer, and yet wasn’t beer.” Margarine 


looks like butter, tastes like butter, but isn’t butter. 
Chemical analysis proved that it ought to be good 
food, but the following illustration will perhaps 
explain how it is people prefer good butter to good 
margarine. At an asylum of blind children in Ken- 
tucky, where butter had been used, the careful 
manager substituted margarine, believing the old 
proverb that what the eye cannot see the heart does 
not grieve for. The blind children were, of course, 
in no way conscious of the change in their dietary, 
but by-and-by it was noticed that they gradually ate 
less of it, and finally they declined it altogether. 
No effect on their health was discerned, and the only 
candid answer to their inquiries as to why they did 
not take the butter was, because they did not care 
about it. 


SOME very interesting experiments have recently 
been carried out in the central markets of Paris in 
connection with the influence of the electric light 
upon vegetable growth. The lights used were arc 
lamps distributed amongst pine, beech, oak, and 
birch trees. It was found that continuous electric 
light produced considerable modifications of structure 
in the leaves and shoots of the trees. The plants 
breathed, assimilated, and secreted in a continuous 
manner, but they appeared as if encumbered by their 
continuity and showed a simpler structure. The 
shoots were very green, the leaves more open, less 
firm, and smaller in size. 


IRISH agriculture is evidently undergoing a change. 
The Government return just published shows that the 
total area in Ireland under crops this year is an 
increase of more than 6600 acres beyond that of last 
year. The cultivation of oats alone is an increase of 
nearly 1100 acres, although wheat culture has di- 
minished. In this respect the Irish agriculturists 
display much common sense. ‘The traditional illu- 
sions concerning Pat’s potatoes and Pat’s pigs no 
longer stand good, for potato cultivation shows a 
decrease of over 13,000 acres. ‘There is also a cor- 
responding decrease in the raising of pigs, although 
live stock generally has increased. 


THE ‘‘ Journal of Conchology” advertises the pro- 
ceedings of the Conchological Society of Great Britain 
and Ireland, which society during the last few months 
has brought out a list ‘of shells, called ‘‘ The Concho- 
logical Society’s List of British Land and Fresh- 
water Mollusca.” Besides this, there are original 
and interesting notes on a new species of Spondylus, 
and a new Helix, by E. A. Smith, F.Z.S.; Shell- 
Hunting in Merionethshire, by G. W. Chaster ; on 
Land and Freshwater Shells at Karachi, by G. W. 
Adams; Pupa ringens in Cheshire, etc., etc. 


THE evolution of implements and weapons is very 
instructive—as, indeed, is everything connected with 
the history of humanity, The heroic verse which has 


260 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


been selected by all historic nations, from the earliest 
periods to the present, as the most fitting medium by 
which to record the deeds of their grandest men, or 
heroes, is physiologically associated with the pulsa- 
tions of the human lung and the beating of the human 
pulse. Our best and highest animal and intellectual 
human life is therefore purely rhythmical, songs 
without words. The simplest-shaped implements of 
our daily life, to which, perhaps, nobody has paid the 
slightest attention, or has asked how that shape came 
to be brought about, may be bound up with the 
historical evolution of the human race, after the 
manner of the Brandon pickaxe (Suffolk) An 
ethnologist has just discovered that the well-known 
saddler’s knife, used by all leather-cutters at the 
present day, is one of the oldest metallic instruments 
extant, inasmuch as it is represented on the most 
ancient Egyptian monuments; but the very shape of 
the ancient Egyptian saddler’s (or skin-cutting) knife 
had been in existence 10,000 years before, {when 
knives could be formed only of flint instead of iron— 
just as the circumcision-knives were formed of the 
same material in the days of Moses. 


SILICATE of soda united with ground glass makes 
an acid-proof cement. White and red lead united 
and made up with boiled linseed oil is suitable for 
many purposes. Asbestos powder united with liquid 
Silicate of soda to form a thick paste will stand acid 
vapours. 


Messrs. CHAPMAN AND HALt will shortly publish 
a new popular work by the Rev. H. N. Hutchinson, 
entitled ‘“ Extinct Monsters.” The book will be 
illustrated by that excellent animal artist Mr. J. Smit, 
who has made twenty-four beautiful restorations of 
some strange and wonderful antediluvian animals. 


THE recent discoveries of Professors Marsh and 
Cope in America, such as great sea-serpents and 
armoured dinosaurs, will be for the first time brought 
before the public in a series of restorations. The 
book is not intended for geologists only, but for all 
who are interested in the study of animal life. Since 
the days of Dr. Mantell little has been done to 
describe in popular language the world’s ‘‘lost 
creations.” Dr, Henry-Woodward, F.R.S., Keeper 
of Geology, Natural History Museum, contributes a 
preface. 


MICROSCOPY. 


THE DIATOMIST. —We have received No. 10. of this 
quarterly specialistic work on Diatoms, edited by 
M. Tempére and other distinguished diatomists. As 
a rule and as far as possible each number is a mono- 
graph on some special and leading genus of diatoms. 
Hitherto each issue has been admirably illustrated, 
and the care taken in bringing out their illustrations 


as artistically as possible is shown by the fact that 
the present number, devoted almost entirely to the 
Entogonia, is not}accompanied by the usual plates, 
the editors frankly stating that they did not turn out 
so well as they wished them to be, and they have 
therefore postponed their publication until the next 
number. 


‘* SUBSTITUTE FOR CANADA BALSAM.” —W. Payne 
begs to draw the attention of the Editor of SCIENCE 
Gossip to an apparent error—important—in the 
description of a szbstitute for Canada Balsam, p. 236. 
At line twenty-one the direction says, “ three parts acid 
to one {of oil of cinnamon is added to nine.” There 
is no other mention of ‘‘ acid” and “ nine” is without 
a substantive. Probably a line or two of the MS. 
are omitted. 


ZOOLOGY. 


Unknown Insecr.— Referring to the insect spoken 
of by Mr. Lord, it is in all probability a mite, perhaps 
of the genus Glyciphagus, which occurs sometimes in 
incredible numbers on furniture which has been 
packed with hay or straw. G. sfinipes is a well- 
known species, occurring almost everywhere, and by 
referring to the diagnosis of the above species or 
genus Mr. Lord will, I think, be able to identify his 
“‘Unknown Insect.” —F. Macnaught Campbell, F.Z.S.5 
Kelvingrove Museum. 


Unknown Insect.—The insect described in the 
September number of SCIENCE GossIP is, I think (I 
identify from memory), ChJotil/a pulsatoria, of Linné. 
It is a wingless neuropterous insect belonging to the 
family Psocidz, the apterous species of which are 
very louse-like. The family is fully described in the 
‘« Entomological Annual for 1861,” and the ‘‘ Entomo- 
logist’s Monthly Magazine,” vol. iii., both obtainable 
from Messrs. Gurney & Jackson, Paternoster Row, 
London, E.C.—W. H, Nunney. 


SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT UPON THE TEs- 
TACEOUS MoLLusca.—This pamphlet, reprinted from 
the Trans. of the Liverpool Biological Society, and 
kindly forwarded to us by Mr. B. Tomline, contains a 
list of some hundred and thirty or forty different 
species of Mollusca found in the L.M.B.C. district, 
thirty-seven of which have been added to the list since 
1886, The late Mr. Francis Archer took great pains 
and spent much time and consideration on this 
valuable report, and it will prove very useful to 
naturalists in that locality. 


SPHINX PINASTRI.—Lord Rendlesham writes to 
the ‘‘ Entomologist” for October :—‘‘ My sons and 
myself, during the first portion of August, captured 
eleven specimens of Sphinx pinastri during the day- 
time, sitting on Scotch firs in some woods near here. 


HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


261 


We left several more, which were damaged speci- 
mens, on the trees. From a female we got several 
eggs, and have a nice quantity of larvee, feeding well 
on Scotch fir for the last ten days.”— Woodbridge, 


Suffolk. 


GrapTa C. ALBUM IN NorTH WALES.—In the 
middle of August last, one of my sons captured a 
good specimen of Gragfa C. album at the foot of 
Penmaenmawr, North Wales. As in my copy of 
Newman’s Natural History of British Butterflies and 
Moths, no capture of this insect jis recorded in Car- 
narvonshire or any of the adjoining counties of North 
Wales, the occurrence may be of interest to your 
entomological readers.—/. F Fendale. 


** POND-LIFE STUDIES.”—Allow me to point out 
that the first of Mr. H. Durrant’s ‘* Pond-life studies” 
on Cyclops guadricornis is full of inaccuracies, and is 
most misleading as to the state of our knowledge of 
this interesting genus. For the benefit of those 
really wishing to know something about the ‘‘ com- 
mon Cyclops,” I may mention that in the first volume 
of Professor G. S. Brady’s Monograph of the British 
Copepoda (Ray Society, 1878) they will find many 
species carefully figured and described, and further 
that the same author published last year, in the 
Natural History Transactions of Northumberland, 
Durham, and Newcastle, a complete revision of the 
genus, with a description of twenty British species. 
This paper, entitled, ‘‘A Revision of the British 
Species of Fresh-water Cyclopidz and Calanidz,” is 
now issued separately by Messrs. Williams & Nor- 
gate.—D. F. Scourfield. 


THE GALLINACEOUS QUAIL.—This quail has 
hitherto been regarded as an ‘unknown quantity in 
the game preserves around Burton, but when we 
hear of a nest of the bird’s eggs being found on the 
sewage-farm, and one or two well-known guns turning 
up half-a-dozen specimens, we may begin to look for 
their inclusion in the list of bags which are published 
from time to time. Sportsmen will be interested in 
learning that quite recently the hon. member for the 
division (Mr. S. Evershed) and his sons flushed five 
and killed four at Grangewood. Eighteen years ago, 
when Mr. Evershed first took to the land, he killed a 
quail, but no such experience has fallen to his gun 
during the long lapse of years until the present 
time. 


GEOLOGY. 


NEOLITHIC IMPLEMENTS.—I came across a cir- 
cumstance the other day which is sufficiently out of 
the way to record in your pages. The quiet village 
of Eastdean, which nestles in the valley at the back 
of Beachy Head, is less than four miles from East- 
bourne. ‘There can be found a garden with terraces. 


The retaining walls are of flint, low and somewhat 
loose. To the most casual observer they seem un- 
usual. Toa keen eye it is at once apparent that 
very many of the flints are worked. Close examina- 
tion proves that all are more or less interesting and 
perfect neoliths. Then the astounding fact comes 
out that one man, by the most active industry, within 
a radius of five miles from his own house has 
collected so many stone tools, that after keeping in 
his collection thousands of beautiful specimens, he 
has used thousands more in his garden facing-banks. 
One knows not which to wonder at most, the 
wealth of such tools in this district, or the astounding 
industry of Mr. Hilton in seeking them. How many 
miles of weary plodding such a collection represents, 
only those who have tried know. Now they are 
collected they gain (and should give to all) great 
interest, and it is to be fervently hoped that the 
county of Sussex will prevent their dispersal. All 
those who are interested in prehistoric history, owe 
to Mr. Hilton a debt of gratitude for the valuable 
lessons to be found in his most important and unique 
collection.—Z. Stopes. 


NOTES AND QUERIES. 


REMARKABLE SPECIMEN OF TWAY-BLADE.—In 
June 1890, I met with a specimen of Tway-Blade 
very similar to the one figured in your issue of this 
month, except that there was no flower-stalk at all, 
the third small leaf seemed to take its place. I 
found it on Tyler’s Hill, near Chesham, an outlier of 
the London clay—an interesting place, I should think, 
for both botanist and geologist. At the same time I 
found there Zcidium primule in abundance, ‘‘not a 
common” fungus, Dr. Cooke says, in ‘* Rust, Smut, 
and Mildew.” By the way a new edition, up to 
date, is sadly wanted of this book ; the last was, I 
believe, issued in 1878.—7. W. Walker. 


THE PRESERVATION OF SEA-URCHINS.— Would 
some collector kindly insert a short article on the 
preservation of sea-urchins, showing how to preserve 
them so as to keep their spines from dropping off? 
I have tried over and over again and failed.— 
A. Bennetts. 


A RIVAL TO THE TOAD IN THE Rock.—I enclose 
a cutting from a local newspaper, giving an account of 
a most curious discovery, about which it is certainly 
necessary to have ‘‘ more light.” Are we to accept 
it as the outcome of American humour, or the 
product of the silly season. « It seems to be one of those 
very tall stories that originate only in the New 
World. ‘‘ What is, with apparent reason, claimed 
to be the most interesting combined entomological 
and mineralogical specimen in existence is now (says 
Tron) on view in the office of an E] Paso newspaper. 
Some months ago, it appears, a Mr. White was 
presented with a sample of ore taken at a considerable 
depth from the Longfellow Mine, Clifton, Arizona. 
When the mineral was fractured, a beetle of a dull 
reddish-grey colour, as perfect in form as it had been 
in life, was exposed to view, surrounded by a closely- 
fitting shell of iron ore. Naturally much impressed 
with his coleopteral prize, Mr. White hastened to 


262 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


envelop it in a piece of cloth, with the intention of 
conveying it to his cabinet. On his way thither, how- 
ever, he had occasion to examine the interesting speci- 
men, and his surprise may be better imagined than 
described when he perceived a young beetle, resem- 
bling in every way the larger insect, except that it 
was smaller, emerging from its dead parent’s body. 
Mr. White kept the live beetle under a glass for five 
months and before it died at the end of that period, 
to paraphrase the old song, so young and yet so old, 
it seemed to be thriving, and had perceptibly 
increased in size. The larger insect, in its iron cyst, 
and the younger beetle, which was indubitably 
generated in prehistoric times to be born in ‘ this 
wonderful nineteenth century,’ may be inspected by 
all who should happen to be in the vicinity of the 
district mentioned.”—/. G. Bing. 


QUERY AS TO AN ALGERIAN INSECT.—I send 
herewith some sketches of parts of an insect which 
committed suicide on my lamp a few nights since, and 
as it was a stranger to me I examined its mutilated 
remains, and found them sufficiently curious. I 
suppose it is a saw or ichneumon fly, but am not 
entomologist enough to identify it, and have no 
reference library available. I shall be glad if you 
can name it and shortly state what may be known of 
its life-history and relations. Its total length was 
barely }in., colour light sandy-brown, lower wing 
longer and narrower than upper. No hooks were 
seen on the wings, but they were much mutilated, 
especially the lower ones. The nerves of the upper 
wings presented a curious knotted appearance under 
a low power, under a higher one the “knots” appear 
to be vesicles or hair bulbs, or possibly perforations 
in the membranes. The nerves of the lower wings 
are without any trace of these knots, but are of 
irregular outline, and in both wings the nerves are of 
dark brown colour, while the membrane seems 
structureless and colourless. There was only a slight 
reticulation on the upper wing to represent the 
“* stigma.” The edges of both wings present a very 
regular imbrication or scalloped appearance, finer in the 
lower than in the upper wing, and in the former only 
each scallop terminated in a very fine point or hair, 
The upper wing showed no scalloping on the outer 
margin until reaching the stigma. The minute hairs 
were more plentiful on the lower than the upper 
wings, as shown. The posterior legs showed some 
curious spurs, especially a comb of 19 teeth projecting 
from the lower joint of the tibia. Anterior legs were 
free from these spurs, but hairy. Middle legs could 
not be found. The antennz are very curious, a short 
hairy first joint, which lies in a niche or depression 
nearly cutting the compound eye into two parts, the 
second joint short, club-like, carrying several circles 
or crowns of erected papillze, with fine long bristles 
inside and outside the circle. Attached to the 
extremity of this point by a transparent ball, ap- 
parently, is a long bristle of 13 or 14 joints, the first 
being bulbous, and the remainder much thinner, 
tapering slightly and irregularly, colour dark, joints 
marked by transparent transverse spaces. The 
ovipositor retracted lies entirely inside the abdomen. 
Its sheaths are dark, and very finely serrated near the 
tip. The internal spear carries rounded teeth well 
spaced, somewhat like those of the lancet of the gnat. 
Are they for cutting animal tissues too?—Henry JZ. 
Sayers. 


A SINGULAR freak of nature was to be seen a few 
days ago in one of the gardens between Northgate 
Street and the river. A young apple-tree (Lane’s 
Prince Albert) planted last autumn had been con- 


siderably cut up by the frosts, and only bore one 
apple. At the end of the twig upon which the fruit 
hung there was, however, a handsome bunch of 
blossom. Ripe strawberries have also been picked, 
both at Canterbury and Ashford within the past few 
days.—Kentish Gazette, Canterbury. 


Our ‘* EXCHANGE COLUMN” AND HOW IT IS 
USED.—The following appears in a leading Scotch 
paper :— 

Owls AND MicE.—The following advertisement, 
cut from SCIENCE GossIP, is pertinent to the subject of 
the recent correspondence in your columns.—‘‘ For 
exchange, a number of long-eared owls’ eggs. 
Wanted, Norfolk plover, nightjar, petrels (leach and 
fork-tailed), raven, oriole, or any of rarer hawks. 
Also several clutches of common sand-pipers’ eggs. 
Wanted in exchange, dunlins, redshanks, jays, bull- 
finches ; other offers considered. The eggs are all 
side-blown, and taken by me here this season.— 
R. Armstrong, B.A., Thornhill, Dumfriesshire, 
Scotland.” You will observe that Mr. Armstrong’s 
industry is carried on in the very heart of the yole- 
infested district Herbert Maxwell. 


THE LimpeEt’s ADHESIVE POWER.—Dr. Lawrence 
Hamilton, of Brighton, writes in ‘‘ Natural Science” 
as follows :—Having previously ascertained by a 
series of experiments, made at Folkestone in June, 
1889, the force necessary to overcome the great 
powers of adherence of the limpet (or upwards of 
1984 times its own dead weight, allowing for the 
limpet being deprived of its shell), I determined to 
make another series, in order, if possible, to find out 
the source of these remarkable natural adhesive pro- 
perties. To do this, I placed several limpets on the 
side of an empty glass tank ; I then drilled two holes 
through different rings in the top of each shell, and 
passed through them a stout copper wire. The ends 
of this wire were twisted together, and then attached 
to a spring balance. By pulling on the latter, the 
force necessary to detach the limpet could be readily 
observed. Owing to the glass plate, it was easily 
ascertained that no air-space existed beneath the foot, 
which in every part was in close contact with the 
glass. On exercising slight traction on the limpet, 
the foot and mantle became still more closely applied 
to the surface of the glass. On injecting the limpet 
with corrosive sublimate, more than sufficient to 
immediately destroy all vitality, the shell became 
quite loose, but still the foot remained adherent. 
The force necessary to detach the dead limpet was, 
however, very much less than in the case of the 
living, for whilst a force of 35 lbs. was required to 
remove the living limpet, 25 Ibs. sufficed to displace a 
limpet immediately after poisoning. Twenty-four 
hours after death a force of 9% lbs. was required to 
detach the limpet. When the limpet was dislodged, 
a thin gelatinous coat remained on the glass wall; 
this substance appeared only slightly soluble in sea- 
water, From the above experiments, we may, 
pethaps, be justified in concluding that while some 
portion of the adhesive power may or may not be due 
to atmospheric pressure, a very considerable amount, 
ifmot the major part, or perhaps all, is probably 


* dependent upon the throwing out of a very tenacious 


substance. In favour of the latter view is the 
definite evidence of the absence of a vacuum beneath 
the foot, or of any mechanism whereby such a 
vacuum might be produced, such for instance as is 
seen in the suckers of the tentacles of octopi, &c., 
and the fact that the adhesion continues after the 
death of the animal, as well as the positive proof of a 
tenacious secretion. In these experiments the shell 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIPF, 


263 


never parted company with the limpet. There exists 
between the shell and the living tissue an extremely 
intimate union brought about slowly iu tke progress 
of the growth of the animal. But perhaps owing to 
the formation of some cement substances, a rapid 
temporary union may possibly be formed between the 
rock and the living tissue of the limpet. With 
regard to the secretions of the limpet, it may be 
mentioned that many species gradually eat their way 
into the hard strata to which they may be attached— 
limestone, old red sandstone, &c. It is evident 
that the limpet is a distinguished independent 
practical manufacturing chemist, whose small self- 
contained domestic portable laboratory makes three 
home-made special and distinct natural secretions. 
One to build its shell, the other to glue itself to its 
native rocks, and the third secretion to act as a 
solvent to partially dissolve certain geological soils. 


THE VARIEGATED SLUG.—I have sent you a slug 
by parcel post, which I believe to be the variegated 
slug (Zimax variegatus). You will doubtless recog- 
nise him, I havea natural bed of mushrooms, which 
these slugs attack directly they come above the 
ground, and consume them. I enclose you some of 
the partially eaten mushrooms, with a fine specimen 
of the slug. I can send you some more of them; I 
expect some of you have a mushroom-bed to feed 
them on. Can any reader tell me how I can get rid 
of the yoracious slugs without destroying my natural 
bed, which is on a gravelly earth-made soil close to 
the salt water, but elevated, a quayin fact, so that 
the salt water does not flow over it.— W. Penney. 


INTELLIGENCE OF MONKEyS.—Some time ago, I 
saw in a magazine, a statement to the effect that no 
monkey possesses sufficient intelligence to untie a 
knot ; this of course is erroneous, as probably every- 
body who has kept a monkey knows. Mr. Belt in 
“The Naturalist in Nicaragua,” says, that his 
monkey not only untied knots, but opened the links 
of a chain. At the same time, the statement that 
they cannot, must I presume, have been founded on 
some evidence, and, as some observations which I 
made bear on this subject, they may not be entirely 
devoid of interest. In 1884 I was in camp in 
Gorakhpur ; I was one day given a young monkey 
just caught; as was my usual practice with wild 
animals I kept it tied up for a couple of days, feeding 
it well and frequently stroking it, and then gave it 
entire liberty. Unlike the other animals, however, 
the monkey did not avail himself of his liberty to go 
away temporarily ; on the contrary, he seemed afraid 
to venture to any distance from my tent, and the 
sight of wild members of his own species threw him 
into a condition of abject terror. He soon became 
very tame, and very inquisitive, but contrary to my 
expectations, not mischievous; on the contrary, he 
was almost ludicrously careful not to injure anything, 
and when he accidentally broke any article, he 
seemed much distressed. I had business at a place 
named Chaumukha, where there was a bungalow in 
which I stayed, and here the monkey became a 
nuisance, jumping into my lap, and wanting to be 
nursed, when I was writing ; accordingly I tied him 
to the leg of my bed with a piece of thinrope. For 
one day this was effectual, but the second day, soon 
after I had begun writing, the monkey made his 
appearance, trailing the rope, having evidently untied 
it from the bed-leg. The next day I tied him up as 
before, but instead of going away, I hid behind the 
door and watched. The monkey first examined the 
knot very carefully, turning it over with his hands, 
and apparently tracing the course of the rope with 


his fingers, but making no attempt to untie it; after 
he had studied it for some time, he untied it without 
any hesitation and fairly rapidly ; I noticed that he 
only used his fingers, and that they seemed to be 
somewhat clumsy. This suggested to me that if I 
used thinner cord, the monkey might be unable to 
get a grip with his fingers, and on trial I found this 
was so ; moreover, the monkey, after having vainly 
tried to untie the knots for a couple of hours, gave it 
up in despair, and then made no further attempt on 
any subsequent day. So, if I had then given the 
monkey to someone else, and he had tied it up with 
thin cord, he might have concluded, from the fact of 
the monkey making no effort to untie the knot, that 
he lacked the necessary intelligence, while it really 
resulted from his knowledge of the uselessness of the 
attempt.— 7. 2. Holt. 


Wuat length of three-quarter-inch diameter pipe 
would be required to ,hold exactly one gallon of 
water? An answer in SCIENCE-GossIP to this 
question will greatly oblige an old and regular sub- 
scriber.—f&. C. Chaytor, Scrafton Lodge, Middleham. 


NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 


To CORRESPONDENTS AND ExcHANGERS.—As we now 
publish Scrence-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 DisGuiszD ADVERTISEMENTS, for the purpose of evading 
the cost of advertising, an advantage is taken of our gratuztous 
insertion of ‘‘ exchanges,” which cannot be tolerated. 


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


SpzciaL Note.—There is a tendency on the part of some 
exchangers to send more than one per month. We only allow 
this in the case of writers of papers. 


To our Recent ExcHANGERS.—Weare willing to be helpful 
to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow dzs- 
gutsed Exchanges like those which frequently come to us 
to appear unless as advertisements. 


CorRESPONDENT, c.o. Mrs. Grimes, Coningsby House, 
Staines.—The Editor is sorry to be obliged to address you as 
above, but your note had no personal address. The specimens 
forwarded are extremely interesting. The plant is the yellow 
cornflower (Chrysosplenium segetum). The ‘monstrosity ” 
seems to be due to the hyper-development of the receptacle, 
this being a composite plant. As far as could be made out the 
“‘monstrosity” is due to the action of some species of gall 
insect. 

Liespa.—The stone you refer to is evidently a lower chalk 
flint containing the impression of the spine of a fossil Czdavis, 
or sea-urchin. See Taylor’s ‘Common British Fossils” (Lon- 
don: Chatto & Windus). 

C. W. Maw.—It was very difficult to correctly identify your 
aie but it seems to be that of the common swift (H: Zupu- 
Ln)» 

C. W. OakpEN.—We shall be very pleased to have short 
reports of the meetings of the Q.M.C. at any time, for 
publication in Sc1ENCE-GossIP. 

W. Groves.—Many thanks for the double apple. We pub- 
lished the illustration of a similar one in 1890, in the papers on 
“Vegetable Teratology.” It is also illustrated in Dr. Master’s 
famous book on the same subject. Double apples and plums 
are not uncommon, as every fruiterer on a large scale will 
inform you. 

I. W. Measures.—See Dr. Aitkin’s papers read before the 
Royal and Physical Societies of Edinburgh, on “ Dust,” 
Most of them were lengthily reported in ‘‘ Nature,” to the 
editor of which please apply. 

J. Kronowsky.—The occurrence of three-clawed lobsters 
and crabs (in front claw) is not uncommon. 


264 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


EXCHANGES. 


WanTED, foreign land and marine shells, also minerals and 
coleoptera. Exchange shells, coleoptera, and other natural 
history objects, and stamps.—Hall, 12 Derby Road, Watford. 

Rake British plants, birds’ eggs, lepidoptera, land, fresh- 
water, and marine shells, in exchange for others, or for British 
or foreign coins.—W. Jordan, Honington, Bury St. Edmunds. 

Locat lists. Some local lists of British mollusca have 
recently appeared, which I have not had the opportunity of 
seeing. I should be very grateful to the authors of any such if 
they could spare me a copy, and would send some of my own 
papers in return, if desired.—T. D, A. Cockerell, Institute of 
Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica. 

OrrereED, “‘ Hunting of the Snark” (rst ed.), Remsen’s, 
Luff’s, Armstrong’s, and Tilden’s Chemistries, Sc1eNcE-Gossie 
for 1875 and 1889. Wanted, Science-Gossip for 1871, 1875, 
and 1892, ‘‘ Nature Notes,” ‘‘ Gardeners’ Chronicle,” Jefferies’ 
works, any books on gardening, science and natural history, 
and articles or reviews of Jefferies —H. Roberts, 22 Carling- 
ford Road, Tottenham. 

OFFERED, vertigo sub-striata for other rare shells.—Fred. 
Taylor, 80 Trinity Street, Oldham. 

WANTED, a secondhand cabinet for moths, corked and 
glazed. Send particulars to—S. B, Chandley, Warrington. 

OFFERED, three dozen lantern slides, 100 British mosses 
accurately named, Quekett’s ‘Lectures on Histology,” 
Prichard’s ‘‘ Microscopic Cabinet and Illustrations,” 1832. 
Offers wanted.—Barker, 24 Avenue Villas, Cricklewood. 

Dupticates.—Egegs of gt. plover, razorbills, guillemots, 
magpies, jackdaws, sandmartins, com. terns, moorhens, puffins, 
blackcaps, lapwings, partridges, and one golden plover. De- 
siderata, Cuckoo's eggs with clutches, hawk’s, and many 
others.—E. G. Potter, 19 Price Street, York. 

WantTeEp, Hooker’s ‘‘Student’s Flora,” 3rd ed., Miiller’s 
“« Fertilisation of Plants,’ Darwin's “‘ Fertilisation of Orchids,”’ 
“*Sach’s ‘Text Book of Botany,” Babington’s ‘‘ Manual of 
British Botany,” 8th ed. Offers to—Alfred Dymes, 26 Blen- 
heim Crescent, Ladbroke Grove, W. 

WANTED, minerals, brachiopods or micro. slides, in exchange 
for other minerals, inf. Ool. brachiopods and Barton clay fossils, 
named and localised.—E. H. V. D., 46 Upper Belgrave Road, 
Clifton, Bristol. d 

WANTED, fossils, named and classified, from any formation 
but silurian; also labradorite, augite, magnetite, phonolite, 
trachyte, pitchstone and obsidian, hornblende, calamine, chal- 
copyrite, malachite, cassiterite, pyrolusite, psilomelane, man- 
ganite, graphite, cobalt, and uncut stones, jaspers, cornelians, 
etc. Will exchange photographs (8 X 6) of centenary engines, 
Stevenson’s and Trevetick’s engines, American engines, Swiss, 
German, and Egyptian engines, Taff Vale and Ilfracombe 
views, and express engines up to date.—Reginald E. M. 
Bleasdale, Church Lench, Evesham. 

WanTED, ‘‘British Lichens,” by W. L. Lindsay, in ex- 
change for various periodicals.—F. Coles, 53 Brooke Road, 
Stoke Newington, London. 

WantTED, 7. mauget, S. oblonga, Z. draparnaldi, H. reve- 
lata, H. obvoluta, B. montanus, V. alpestris, V. pusilla, 
V. edentula, A. loineata, or varieties of land and freshwater 
not in collection. Offered, British marine shells. List sent.— 
James Simpson, 6 North St. Andrew Street, Aberdeen. 

WANTED, good healthy pupz of British sphingide in ex- 
change for foreign butterflies in good condition.—K. Hurlstone 
Jones, St. Bride’s Rectory, Old ‘Trafford, Manchester. 

For exchange, Unio pugio, U. olivarium, U. marginalis, 
U. crispisulcatus, U. corrugatus, Monochondylea salwiniana, 
M. crebistriata, Corbicula Kashmirensis, Scaphula celox, 
Pecten bifrons, P. laqueata, P. lemniscatus, Trigonia pec- 
tinata, Lima bullata, L. angulata, Mactra Matthewst, also 
ooo species of land and marine from various countries. Offers 
requested in land and freshwater.—Miss Linter, Arragon Close, 
Twickenham. 

WANTED, in exchange for standard text-books in classics, 
science, and theology, standard text-books and memoirs in 
natural history-—Rev. T. Shankland, Rhyl. 

WANTED, fossils (preferably from red crag or carboniferous) 
or good mineral specimens, in exchange for 1892 numbers of 
“Boy’s Own Paper,” and the numbers of ‘‘ Outdoor Games 
and Recreations,” both unbound, all excellent copies; either 
or both. Best offer accepted.—F. Renwick, St. Ives, Queen’s 
Road, Leytonstone, Essex. 

For exchange, shells from Madeira, Gibraltar, Tangier, 
Australia, Vancouver Island, etc. Only good specimens taken 
in return.—H. L., 270 Uttoxeter New Road, Derby. 

Dupicates.—A thalia artemis, Selents W. album, Paphia, 
Galathea, Phleas, Hyperanthus, Alexis, Sylvanus, Facobe, 
Sylvata, Cardamines, Filipendule, Caja, Cardut, Atalanta 
Urticea, Grossulata, Pamphilus, Faniza, Jo. WDesiderata, 
showy species. —W. H. Scott, 89 Prospect Hill, Leicester. 

OFFERED, eggs of merlin, capercaillie, ptarmigan, ring-ousel, 
twite, shoveller, sociable plover, owls, etc., for landrails, sky- 
larks, shrikes, ring-plover, quail, jackdaw, heron, and many 
others.—Jas. Ellison, Steeton, Keighley. 

ScrenceE-Gossip for 1881-82, bound, and for 1867, 1887-89, 


and 1891 unbound. Wanted, foreign stamps or offers for 
whole or portion.—W. Enright, 59 Kyverdale Road, Stoke 
Newington, London, N 

‘Witt exchange foreign stamps for scientific books or elec- 
trical apparatus.—F. Lyddon, 14 West Park, Clifton. 

A LARGE quantity of fossils illustrating nearly all British 
strata, named and localised, and a number of good British land 
and freshwater shells. Wanted, land and freshwater shells not 
in collection, old copper coins and tokens, and old postage 
stamps.—Robert Cairns, 159 Queen Street, Hurst, Ashton- 
under-Lyne. 

WanTED, good secondhand microscope. Can offer shells, 
fossils, polished Devonian corals, microscopic objects. Also 
wanted, rare British shells.—T. E. Sclater, Natural History 
Stores, 43 Northumberland Place, Teignmouth. 

AvEoRBIs (live), Rissoa_striatula (live), R. lactea (live), 
Chiton scabridus, C. cancellatus, and other shells offered for 
shells not in collection.—E. R. Sykes, 13 Doughty Street, 
London, W.C. 

WanTsD, good specimens of L. C., 8th ed.: 53 (wild or 
cult.), 273, 627, 649 (wild or cult.), 883, ror8, r105, and 1393. 
Will give in exchange rare British or foreign plants —A. E. 
Lomax, 56 Vauxhall Road, Liverpool. 

OFFERED, Scrence-Gossip for 1881 to 189t, unbound, in 
exchange for first-class micro. slides, preferably diatoms and 
forams.—J. L. Smithett, 45 Highbury Hill, N. 

Maunp’s ‘‘Botanic Garden,” first nine volumes, library 
binding, 820 coloured figures and 1357 outlines, with descrip- 
tions, etc. Wanted, a thoroughly good object-glass, one-eighth 
preferred, for microscope.—Joseph Wallis, Deal. 

OFFERED, fossils from Pleistocene, Woolwich and Reading 
beds, chalk, gault, coal-measures, and carboniferous lime- 
stone; minerals; and good specimens of Drosera rotundifolia. 
Wanted, fossils and minerals.—E. Dixon, 55 Brownhill Road, 
Catford, S.E. 

Orrers wanted for Nos. 1 to 60 of ScrencE-Gossip, and 
Hardwicke’s ‘‘ Guide to British Hepatic,” complete, all un- 
bound. (Query address?) 

A. Bonnet, of 53 Boulevard St. Michel, Paris, offers good 
fossils from the miocene of Pont-Levoy, France, in exchange 
for recent shells and fossils of all kinds. In case of need, 
correspondence may be sent through I, T. Day, Cowslip Road, 
S. Woodford, Essex. 

WANTED, collections of stamps, coins, and science books. 
Offered, natural history specimens, etc.—Miss M. E. Pepperell, 
5 Park Street, Bristol. 

WANTED, collections of lepidoptera, rare species and good 
vars. Good exchange.—W. K. Mann, Willington Terrace, 
Clifton, Bristol. 

WILL give micro, slides in exchange for other slides, or books 
(natural history preferred).—Platt, Eastrop, Basingstoke. 


BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE. 


“Proceedings of the Liverpool Geological Society.” — The 
International Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science” 
(London: Bailliére, Tindall, & Cox).—‘‘ Natural Science” 
(London and New York: Macmillan & Co.).—‘‘ The Botanical 
Gazette” (Bloomington: Indiana).—‘‘ Glimpses into Nature’s 
Secrets,” by Edward Alfred Martin (London: Raithby, Law- 
rence & Co., Ltd.).—‘‘ Amidst Nature’s Realms,” by Edward 
Alfred Martin (London: Raithby, Lawrance & Co., Ltd.).— 
“Beneath Helvellyn’s Shade,”’ by Samuel Barber (London: 
Elliot Stock).—‘*‘ Wood Carving, with Suggestions in Chip 
Carving,” by Thos. C. Simmons (London; Bemrose & Sons). 
—‘‘ Feuille des Jeunes Naturalistes,” and ‘‘ The Naturalists’ 
Journal” (London: W. Longley).—‘‘The Annals and Maga- 
zine of Natural History” (London: Taylor & Francis).— 
“The Geological Magazine” (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 
Triibner & Co.).—“‘ The Naturalist” (London: Lovell Reeve 
& Co.).—‘‘ The Botanical Exchange Club of the British Isles” 
(Manchester: printed by James Collins & Co.).—‘‘ Nature 
Notes” (London: H. Sotheran & Co,.).—‘‘ The Entomologist” 
(London: West, Newman & Co.).—‘The Idler.”—‘* The 
Midland Naturalist.”—‘‘ Jupiter and his System.”— Jouinal 
of Conchology.”—*‘ How to Make Common Things,” by J. A. 
Bower (London, Northumberland Avenue: Society for Pro- 
moting Christian Knowledge).—‘‘ Central Experimental Farm.” 
—‘*The Cattle Horn-Fly,” etc, etc. 


COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED UP TO THE IITH ULT. FROM? 
I. G.—W. H. N.—W. H. L.—W. M. R.—P. S.—W. J.— 
T. H. H.—G. D.—T. D. A. C.—H. M. L.—J. H. A. H.— 
A. B.—Mrs, P.—F. G. B.—A. R. W.—F. T.—A. P.—H. R.— 


. D.—E. G. P.—Mr. B.—S. B. C.—J. W. M.—H. L. T.— 
. E—R. C. J. E. : rel oh eye 
. B.—M. J. T.—F. G. B—T. E. S—F. R.—W. H. S.— 
apan Society.—T. S.—Miss L.—J. S.—F. C.—H. S.— 
E. R. S.—D. J. S.—T. A. W. Rees.—R. C.—A. E. L.—E. D. 
—jJ.L.S.—J. R. H.—A. A.—J. W.—E. A. M.—W. M. R.— 
F. W. L.—G. A.—H. C. R.—etc., etc. 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSI/P. 


ANIMAL PLAGUES. 


By P. L. SIMMONDS, F.L.S. 


>. 


2 OTWITHSTAND- 


ING all the com- 
plaints of our 
changeable and 


unsettled climate, 
we are at least 
free from many of 
the scourges of 
other countries. 
We have not the 
long droughts of 
Australia, nor the 
heavy rainy sea- 
sons of the tropics ; 
we have not many 
of the animal 
plagues to which 
some districts are 
subject, whether 
they be wild beasts 
in the shape of 
wolves, tigers, and lions, among the reptiles alli- 
gators and crocodiles, or the dangerous snakes ; 
nor even in the insect tribes have we the tsetse 
fly to kill our cattle, the locusts and ants to de- 
vastate our fields, or the chigoes, fleas, and clouds 
of mosquitoes and flies to annoy our person. We 
are free from wild animals, except those we en- 
courage for hunting. In India 23,000 persons 
are killed annually by wild beasts, tigers, leopards, 
bears, wolves, hyenas, and other carnivora, or by 
snakes; and over 68,000 cattle are also killed by 
these. The venomous snakes of India are colubrine 
and viperine; about seven of the former are very 
poisonous ; over 578,400 snakes are killed yearly in 
India, the sum paid by government for killing them 
amounting to 2500/7. to 3000/. The reward given 
for each snake killed ranges from 6d. to 35. in 
different presidencies. Snakes seem to abound most 
in Bombay, more than four-fifths the number killed 
No, 336.—DECEMEER 1892, 


annually being in that presidency. There is a deep- 
rooted prejudice among most natives of India against 
killing a snake—a prejudice which the offer of the 
small reward has scarcely overcome; indeed, how 
can one expect a man to risk his life for a few pence ? 
The number of wild beasts killed in India in 1889 
the latest published return), was 29 elephants, 1312 
tigers, 4179 leopards, 1194 bears, 4630 wolves, 
and 1348 hyenas. About 17,600 seems to be the 
average number of wild beasts destroyed yearly. In 
France the State pays 3/. for each wolf killed; the 
number slaughtered dropped from 1225 in 1882 to 
700 in 1887. 

The Russian forests contained in 1880 170,000 
wolves, which, together with bears, devour annually 
200 children or travellers, 500 horses, more than 
1000 oxen, and over 4000 other domestic animals. 
The slaughter in the empire of Austria yearly is 160 
bears, 200 hyenas, and 1200 wolves. In Finland 
wolves destroy 5500 horned cattle annually. 

In India, in 1889, 25,204 persons were killed by 
wild animals and snakes, chiefly the latter, 22,480. 
About 70,000 cattle are killed yearly, chiefly by tigers 
and leopards, wolves and hyenas, and nearly 4000 
by snakes. 

In Java there are 270 persons killed yearly by 
tigers, and 180 by crocodiles. The latter reptile is 
not made a pet of as by some of the Indian fanatics, 
who will not kill them, but rather cherish them. The 
locust is another pest, the deposit of whose eggs in 
the soil breeds consternation in the land. In the 
countries bordering on the Mediterranean these 
insects often appear in incredible numbers ; millions 
of them may be seen covering the ground for miles, 
many inches thick, and although the natives some- 
times eat them, and try also to utilise them as bait 
for the sardine fisheries, they are still an intolerable 
nuisance in northern Africa, Cyprus, and other 
quarters. In Cyprus the peasants are paid 40/, for 
every ton of locust’s eggs which they destroy ; some 

N 


266 


years destroying 60 tons, which is equivalent to 4680 
million locusts, But it is not only in the countries of 
Europe, Asia, and Africa that these animal plagues 
are met with. The British settlers in Australia are 
complaining bitterly now of indigenous and intro- 
duced pests. They encountered at first one or two 
formidable ones in the ‘dingos and marsupials, but 
have found a more serious and extensive one in the 
rabbits introduced from England, whose vast multi- 
plication and ravages have become intolerable. While 
in Europe we esteem and propagate this rodent for 
its flesh as food, in Australasia, where larger lite 
stock are so abundant, they set little value on its 
flesh. In the United Kingdom some 30,000,000 of 
hares and rabbits are used up, worth over 2,000,000/, 
sterling. The rabbits bred annually in Belgium are 
valued at 480,000/., and we import annually 144,000 
ewt. of foreign rabbits, worth about 400,000/. The 
kangaroo plague has always been a great nuisance to 
the Australian squatters, for on an average these 
animals consime as much grass as a sheep. It is 
stated that on a sheep-run of 60,000 to 80,000 acres, 
10,000 kangaroos were killed annually for six con- 
secutive years, and yet their numbers remained very 
formidable in the locality. In the colony of South 
Australia hundreds of thousands of kangaroos are 
slaughtered annually for their skins, and the bonus 
offered by the authorities. The number of these 
marsupials in New South Wales in 1889 was estimated 
to be over 4,000,000, and yet about half a million 
kangaroos and 650,000 wallabies were destroyed in 
the colony in that year. A bonus of 8d. for each 
kangaroo ‘killed is offered in Australia; hence the 
colonists are gradually exterminating these native 
animals ; over half a million skins are annually 
shipped to England, and a large number to North 
America, to be converted into leather. The Macro- 
pide include several kinds of kangaroos and wallabies. 
The progress of settlement in Australia has driven 
these animals from the more densely populated parts 
of the Australian continent, but, in the country and 
unsettled districts, they are still numerous enough to 
cause very considerable damage to the natural grasses. 
So serious has been the injury thus wrought, that the 
colonial governments and run-holders pay a small sum 
per head for the destruction of the kangaroos. The 
acclimatisation of the more useful European species 
quickly follows the destruction of indigenous animals, 
and the wilds of the interior of Australia, which were 
formerly the abode solely of the dingo and kangaroo, 
are now the home of vast flocks and herds. Seeing 
how largely we are dependent for our wool-supply on 
Australasia, any check to that production is very 
serious. As there are now 100,000,000 sheep in 
Australasia, furnishing us with 430,000,000 pounds 
of wool annually, besides their skins and mutton, the 
steady progress of sheep husbandry is important. The 
number of kangaroo skins shipped from Melbourne 
in the last fourteen years exceeded 1,000,000 ; besides 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 


the large number used up in the local tanneries, where 
they realise about 3s. a skin. At the public leather 
sales in London on one day in May last year, nearly 
3000 kangaroo skins were sold. The wallabies are a 
smaller species of marsupial than the kangaroo, and 
belong to two distinct genera, Halmaturus and Petro- 
gale. Some 60,000 or 70,000 of these are annually 
shipped from Australia as furs. The skins of the 
Australian opossum are very handsome, and their 
thick soft fur affords a valuable article of commerce, 
being employed like hare skins for chest protectors, 
and lately for making gloves. About 2,000,000 
opossum skins are exported annually from Australia. 
In the ten years ending with 1888, 3,000,000 opossum. 
skins were shipped from Melbourne alone. As a 
kangaroo can clear a fence eleven feet high, wire 
fences, which are used against rabbits, are of no use. 

The dingo or native dog is another pest which is 
found in all parts of the Australian main land. It is 
allied to the wild dog of India, and may probably 
have been introduced by the Malays some centuries 
ago. Great destruction has been wrought amongst 
the flocks of the settlers by these animals, and a price 
is paid for every native dog destroyed. 

When rabbits were first introduced into Australia, 
no one seems to have thought of the nuisance they 
might eventually become, and of the large expenditure 
which would be necessary to keep down their num- 
bers. There are now few parts of the settled districts 
which are not infested with them, and it is found that 
if the exterminating efforts are relaxed, they soon 
become as numerous as ever. After placing over 
75,000 miles of telegraph wire across the length and 
breadth of Australia for the benefit of commerce, the 
different governments little contemplated having to 
furnish hundreds of miles of wire netting to keep out 
the rabbit plague, besides large sums for supervision 
and destruction. The annual government outlay on 
rabbit destruction in Victoria is. about 20,000/., in 
New South Wales 90,000/., and in South Australia 
40,000/. But this simply represents what is spent on 
Crown lands. In addition there is the large expen- 
diture incurred by private individuals in attempting 
to keep their land clear. A fence of wire netting has 
been erected by the Victorian Government extending 
a distance of 150 geographical miles, with the view of 
keeping the rabbits and wild dogs on the border from 
crossing, and the South Australian Government is 
doing the same. The sum of 150,000/, was placed 
on the estimates in Victoria last year, for the purchase 
of wire netting to be handed to settlers on easy terms 
of repayment; it costs from 18/. to 20/.a mile, In 
the last ten years the Victorian Government has 
paid out 177,000/, for rabbit extermination. Some 
persons have advocated the introduction of animals 
hostile to rabbits, such as ferrets, weasels, and 
ichneumons, but where this has been tried, it has 
been found that the introduced animals have been so 
destructive to poultry that the rabbits were the lesser 


HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 


267 


evil of the two. M. Pasteur’s scheme of infecting 
the rabbits with the itch or scab, has been tried and 
failed. 

For the information of persons who are not fully 
aware of the prolific nature of rabbits, it may be 
stated that in three years, under favourable circum- 
stances, two pairs of rabbits, if undisturbed in any 
way, and sufficient food abounded, would increase to 
the enormous number of 5,000,000; which fully 
shows the necessity that exists for continuous and 
vigorous action to destroy them. The extent of the 
evil may be imagined from the fact that 15,000,000 
rabbit skins have been exported from New South 
Wales in one year, and that in the thirteen years end- 
ing with 1889, 39,000,000 rabbit skins were exported 
from Victoria, to say nothing of the other Australian 
colonies. Twenty years ago there was not a single 
rabbit throughout the length and breadth of New 
Zealand. Since then more than 106,000,000 rabbit 
skins have been exported from those islands. The 
property destroyed by the rabbits is estimated by 
millions. On the average, 12,000,000 skins are ex- 
ported from New Zealand yearly. They increase so 
rapidly, and the destruction wrought by them is of 
such a character, that in some districts it has become 
a question whether the colonists with their flocks and 
herds should vacate the country, or whether sys- 
tematic efforts should be made to extirpate the pest. 

In some Australian colonies the bounty offered 
ranges from Id. to Is,, according to the number in 
the district. In Victoria there are a hundred official 
inspectors and some 10,000 persons employed in 
killing them. Any person haying a live rabbit in 
his possession is liable to a penalty up to 100/. on 
conviction. 

In view of these animal scourges and pests which 
prevail in other countries, we may be content to 
bear patiently with our variable climate, where we 
possess many comforts, and with good food and 
salubrious dwellings enjoy an increasing degree of 
longevity. 


POND LIFE STUDIES. 
No. IiI.—CyprRIs TRISTRIATA. 
By H. DURRANT. 


S with Cyclops and Daphnia, the little animal 
whose name heads this short paper is quite 
common, and belongs to the same order, viz., Bran- 
chiopoda, General: The shell of Cypris is composed 
of two pieces united along the dorsal margin by a 
hinge, and bears a great resemblance to a bivalve 
shell. Feet: Two pairs. First pair stronger than 
the second, directed forwards, hooked, four-jointed. 
Second pair situated on the middle of the ventral 
surface, directed backwards, curved, hooked. Their 
use is mainly in supporting the ovaries, and are very 
rarely seen beyond the valves. Superior antenne 


not so long as body, setaceous, composed of seven 
or eight joints, the last are shortest, terminated with 
from twelve to sixteen fine hairs, which serve the 
insect in locomotion. Inferior antennz leg-like, 
with a tuft of feathery filaments, five-jointed, last 
joint with several curved hooks. Mouth parts com- 
posed of a labrum, which is carinated, shaped like a 
hood, and projects between the inferior antennz. <A 
labium slightly elongated and triangular, Two 
mandibles, toothed, furnished with a three-jointed 
feeler. On the first joint of this latter organ, 2 
branchial lamina, five parted, occurs (interior lip of 
Ramdohr). First pair of jaws consist ofa basal plate, 
with four movabie finger-like silky appendages at 
their extremity ; from the exterior edge there arises a 
large branchial lamina, pectinated with nineteen 
spines. Second pair of jaws, two-jointed, flattened, 
terminal one furnished with a few rigid hairs and a 
lateral palp-like process. Abdomen consisting of 
two long portions, with a couple of terminal hooks 
and a third at the upper edge. 

Specific: Cygris ztristriata, Miiller. Carapace 
oval, slightly reniform, green, covered with short 
hairs. The ovaries form two large vessels on the 
posterior side of the body and opening at the anterior 
portion of the body. The canal formed by the 
tail establishes a communication with them. They 
are conical and simple. Eggs spherical. No dis- 
tinct joint in the body, which at its posterior termina- 
tion is formed into a sort of tail with a couple of 
setaceous filaments fringed at the end with three 
minute hairs. The lower lip is composed of a sort 
of compressed sternum (external lip of Ramdohr). 

Life-history— When the time of egg deposition 
arrives, the female lays them in a mass on the water- 
plants or very often on the bottom of the pond or 
ditch, and in doing so uses a glutinous substance, by 
means of which they are firmly fixed to their support. 
The occupation of egg-laying is one which takes 
considerable time in this little species, two or three 
hours being required for the deposition of about 
twenty eggs, and all this time she is anchored by her 


_ second pair of feet to guard against being swept away 


bodily by the force of the water. In swimming, the 
members of this genus use the filaments of the 
antennz, sometimes only using one, at other times 
the whole lot. The first pair of feet also assist the 
animal greatly, although when they come to be used 
for journeying over water-plants, etc., it seems they 
are of very little use, and progress is slow. Besides 
being used as organs of locomotion, the filaments of 
the antennz are thought by Latreille to be used as 
organs of respiration, a very probable theory. 

Here are some notes I made last year on the 
moulting of this species :— 

April 30th.—A female deposited eggs to the num- 
ber of twenty-one. The time occupied was exactly 
one hour and three quarters. Immediately after 
deposition she changed her skin. 

N 2 


268 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


May 6th.—Moulted again, and also on the follow- 
ing dates: May 12th, May 17th, May 23rd, and 
May 27th. Six changes in less than a month. Jurine 
made a similar observation, and found that between 
April 12th and May 18th five moults had been 
undergone. 

After the last moult of the one I had under 
observation, another deposition of eggs took place, a 
hatch of twenty (there may probably have been more, 
I am not certain) this time, without the intervention 
of the male. This procedure was followed by a 
period of lethargy. I then turned my attention to 


the young. When they are born they are exactly 
like their parent and by a series of moults gradually 


I made many other experiments to the same end, but 
noticed that after the first batch the rule did not hold 
good and reproduction was at a stand-still, I am 
still engaged on the same subject and have purposely 
refrained from saying much here, as it is one that 
deserves a whole article to itself. 

In summer, when the pools dry up, they bury 
themselves in the mud, where they remain until the 
welcome rain once more gives them freedom. Miiller 
and Strauss say that the greater number of non- 
parasitical Entomostraca live upon vegetable and not 
upon animal matter, and the former states that while 
keeping a number of species of Daphnia, Cypris, 
Cyclops, etc., the water in which they were kept 


Fig. 154.—1, C. ¢vistriata: a, superior antennz; p, inferior antenna; Cc, first pair of legs; 2, first pair of jaws; A, row of 
nineteen spines; B, branchial lamina; c, basal plate; 3, second pair of jaws; 4, mandibles; 5, first pair of legs; 6, second 


pair oflegs. (All greatly magnified.) 


attain adult size. Many observers, however, state 
that the young Cypris undergoes metamorphoses ; 
but I must confess I have never been able to dis- 
tinguish them as yet, and until I do, must necessarily 
have the opinion my own eyes warrant me. 

Desmaret, an excellent observer, also avows that 
they do not undergo metamorphosis, but present on 
their exclusion the identical appearance miniatured, 
they are to preserve throughout life. 

The first batch of eggs my Cypris deposited I 
solated for the purposes of studying the development 
within the egg itself, and was surprised later on to 
find that the females reproduced their kind freely. The 
ova, young and adults, had been rigorously kept apart, 
and the intervention of a male was quite impossible. 


evaporated from five inches to one inch, He sub- 
jected at various times dips from this water to a 
thorough microscopical examination, and found not 
the slightest trace of animalcu!ze, though the intestines 
of the Entomostraca were full, thus proving that they 
had not fasted. 

I haye always found the Cypris very carnivorous, 
and in fact could not keep them in the same vessel 
with other species of Entomastraca, and have been 
unable to keep them any appreciable length of time 
without a supply of animal matter. When I have 
done so, they have gradually become lighter in colour 
and almost transparent, until at last they became 
languid, and would allow a dipping-tube to,be placed 
in close proximity to them without showing the 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


269 


slightest sign of alarm. A short time after they 
would be found dead. It is my firm conviction, and 
I state it not without many observations and ex- 
periments, that the majority of the Entomostraca 
are primarily carnivorous, and only necessity, ‘he 
mother of invention, as our copy-books used to tell 
us, forces them to a-vegetable diet. 


STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 


T a recent meeting of the Manchester Elocu- 
i tionists’ Association, Mr. J. Spence Hodgson, 
the president, spoke of stammering, which, he said, 
belonged to civilisation, on the testimony of Catlin 
among the Indians of North America, and Livingstone 
and Cameron in Africa, who stated that it was un- 
known ;in uncivilised nations. In Europe peoples 
like the Spaniards and Italians who possessed an 
easy-flowing musical speech, did not stammer, while 
in Germany stammering was frequent. Indeed in 
all the Teutonic languages there were cognate words 
to the Anglo-Saxon ‘‘stamer.” The mention of 
stammering went far back in literature. It was found 
three times in the book of Isaiah. Shakespeare in 
“* As You Like It,” made Rosalind desire that Celia 
could stammer. Dryden spoke of ‘‘stammering 
tongues and staggering feet ;” Cowper of ‘‘ children 
stammering out a syllable.” The habit was more 
common in men than in women, in the proportion of 
three men to one woman. In the population of 
Great Britain the proportion of stammerers was three 
in 1000, and in the United States five in 1000, which 
latter number was nearly three times greater than 
that of the blind, deaf, and dumb as given in the 
official Census. Stammering and stuttering were 
thought by many to be one and the same thing. 
There was this difference, that the former had re- 
lation to vowel sounds and the latter to consonants 
in connection with vowels. Stammering was more 
often due to defective formation of the pharynx, 
palate, or tongue, and was unassociated with faulty 
muscular movements, while stuttering was due rather 
to spasmodic muscular contractions.and seldom to 
defects in organs of speech. A stutterer would be 
influenced for the worse if looked at or by anything 
that made him think of his defect, or even if he heard 
another stutter. The habit began about the fifth 
year and increased to the tenth. Children suffered 
considerably at school from the habit of stammering, 
which mostly arose from physical or nervous weak- 
ness, aggravated by the fear of ridicule and the dread 
of observation, and particularly by being made to 
read aloud before other children. Teachers should 
avoid letting such a child read before the class (a 
practice very seldom done), but should allow it to 
read by itself to an older scholar, or let it sing-song 
away in an empty class-room. The most inveterate 
stutterer in the class when he (the speaker) was at 


school, could read straight along when in a room by 
himself. The boy grew entirely free from it as he 
became a man. The causes of stammering and 
stuttering were mainly functional and not organic. 
Though there might in some cases be primary and 
removable causes in the defective organization of 
lips, palate, tonsils, and uvula, yet the principal 
causes were a want of control of the organs of breath- 
ing, or-an affection of the nerves and a low tone in 
the system. Thus a stammerer would speak better 
in cold weather and when in good health, and after 
easy exercise in the open air. As to the cure 
of the habit, the teacher should first see that the 
pupil breathed correctly through the natural passage, 
the nose; that the lungs be thoroughly filled with 
air by regular inhalation and emptied under proper 
control during speech, and that no air escape before 
vocalization. Articulation should be particularly 
attended to. It should be begun in a whisper, 
carried forward in a low voice, sometimes in a drawl, 
then in a sing-song intonation with every modula- 
tion—all very slowly, easily, and distinctly. Exercises 
should be given on the most difficult consonants and 
sounds, and great patience must be exercised till the 
pupil mastered them. Care should be taken that 
muscles be not twitched or used that were not 
wanted in speaking. It was a help to the pupil if 
the teacher read aloud with him, the two voices 
being in the same key, so that the rate and easy flow 
of sound might be regulated. Passages with long- 
sounding vowels, as in ‘‘ Paradise Lost,” would be 
found easier than dramatic pieces with quick con- 
versations, and reading from the Psalms better still. 


THE CLOUDED YELLOW. 


ROBABLY none of your readers will doubt the 
soundness of Mr. Creaghe-Haward’s opinion, 

that the recent burst of Clouded Yellows over England 
must have been produced by the hibernated speci- 
mens, of which he had observed a number during the 
spring months. I believe that similar bursts will 
generally prove, on investigation, to have been 
similarly heralded. For instance, in 1876, this 
butterfly occurred abundantly over a considerable 
part of Ireland, including the county Wexford. It 
had before that year been totally unknown to me, 
and I well remember the pleasure afforded me by the 
first sight of one of these golden beauties, as he 
scudded by me at a pace which made the thought of 
pursuit ridiculous. This was towards the end of 
May. Isaw several other specimens in June ; then 
they ceased to appear, until about the beginning of 
August, the butterfly suddenly came out in such 
profusion, that one might have captured almost any 
number, merely by walking through the clover-fields, 
and picking them up between the finger and thumb. 
I could not doubt that these were descendants of the 


270 HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSIP. 


hibernated insects seen earlier. It is curious that 
1876 (the only great Edusa year which I have known), 
was not distinguished by any “‘ burst’ of the species 
in England, but that the following year (1877) was 
a great Edusa year in England, while here it 
produced only a few specimens. The progeny of 
the 1876 swarm, however, continued to show itself 
in steadily diminishing numbers, during three con- 
secutive summers, since the last of which I have 
seen altogether two specimens, one in July, 1887, 
and one on Sept. 30th, 1892. I may also remark 
that my experience in 1876 quite coincided with Mr. 
Creaghe-Haward’s in 1892, as to the immensely 
superior numbers of the male sex. I think ten to 
one would not be too high—at any rate not much 
too high—an estimate. This scarcity of the females, 
if general, will serve to explain in some measure, 
how such remarkable outbursts of Edusa, as those 
under notice, have been immediately followed by 
years in which the same insect was by no means 
unusually abundant. 
C. B. Morrat. 
Ballyhyland, Co. Wexford. 


MOTHS AND SALLOWS. 


A RK. J. R. HOLT’S more recent notes remind 

me that his communication under the above 
heading, which appeared in ScrENCE-GossiP for 
January, has elicited no response. Mr. Holt thinks 
the relation of the moth to the sallow unsatisfactory, 
in the present state of our knowledge, and the two 
difficulties which he brings forward have proved 
their formidableness, by the length of time they have 
held the field. But considering the situations chiefly 
affected by willows, I cannot think them good 
subjects for unaided wind-fertilization. Moths well- 
dusted with the pollen might, I submit, materially 
aid the wind in its fertilizing mission ; since, on their 
mounting into the air, the pollen shaken from their 
plumage, would manifestly have a very much im- 
proved chance of being wafted to a distance. Here, 
however, Iam confronted by the tough part of Mr. 
Holt’s conundrum ; for at first sight it seems absurd 
to maintain, that the sweet secretion attracts moths, 
that they may carry the pollen upwards in their 
flight; and yet, in apparent defiance of its own 
purpose actually stupefies the moths, and keeps 
them stationary. To extricate ourselves from this 
entanglement, it is necessary to consider how’ a moth 
would probably act, were it attracted to the willows 
and not stupified, I apprehend that, having once 
arrived at a tree laden with flower, the moth would 
merely flit from catkin to catkin, disturbing pollen 
enough to fertilize a forest, yet doing little or no 
good—none, that is, beyond what the lightest breath 
of air would have an equal chance of effecting. 
Indeed, as the pollen of a willow is totally wasted 


unless it reaches one of the opposite sex, and as the 
Noctuz generally delight in still weather, and would 
consequently cause the greatest displacement of 
pollen on the very nights when it was least likely to 
be borne to any appreciable distance, it appears to 
follow that a host of moths would, under such 
conditions, be rather objectionable than desirable 
visitors. From this point of view I conceive the 
narcotic property in question, to have been acquired 
as a security against waste. The moths continue 
under its influence only for a few hours, and, having 
passed the night on the sallow-catkins, towards 
morning recover from their drowsiness and wheel 
away, each scattering his little cloud of dust to the 
light breeze. And bearing in mind how a willow 
in full season is sometimes crowded with these 
‘* filmy shapes that haunt the dusk,” I think we have 
little reason to doubt that their dispersion, at the 
close of a revel, constitutes a not unimportant stage in 
the somewhat complicated story of willow-fertilization. 
C. B, M. 


SEXUAL SELECTION. 


HIS I take to be but an emphasised phase of a 
propensity, the existence of which, in some 
degree, is abolutely indispensable to the origination of 
any new species. For it is admitted on every side, 
that the tendency to originate a new species must be 
defeated, if the individuals which have begun to 
develop specific differentiation, long continue to mate 
with those of the older form, from which they are an 
offshoot. Now, though a species may be spoken of 
as descended from an ancestral pair, it cannot be 
assumed that the deviation from the type which 
characterises the offspring, simultaneously occurred 
in both the parents. On the contrary, it should be 
supposed to have occurred only in one. Let us 
suppose a case in which the deviation occurred in 
the male, and it follows that the first female an- 
cestor contributed nothing to the evolution of the 
species, beyond transmitting to her daughters the 
predisposition to admire males fashioned after the 
pattern of her own spouse. Have we not here the 
force of sexual selection brought immediately into 
full play ? And supposing the deviation to occur in 
the female, would not the permanence of the species 
require the development of the same force? This, it 
appears to me, might be effected in one of two ways. 
The simpler but far less usual course would be for 
the female to reverse the rules of courtship, and take 
the initiative herself, as in the example of the grey 
phalarope; in that case, of course, the distinctive 
marks of the species would be more strongly 
developed in the female than in the male. Ac- 
cording to the more probable order of events, the 
variation in the female would, I think, remain a mere 
precarious variety in that sex, until the peculiarity 


HARDWICKE’S SCILTENCE-GOSSIP. 271 


should happen to be transmitted to some male 
descendant. This might, of course, fail to occur, as 
is shown by the existence of such well-established, 
but unisexual varieties as Helice and Valeziza in our 
own insect fauna ; but it seems unreasonable to doubt 
that its occurrence would be more or less likely. In 
the main, then, I think Mr. Holt right in his 
limitation of the true scope of sexual selection: but 
it seems to me possible that a species might be 
formed by sexual (in co-operation with natural) 
selection, where the peculiarity admired in the 
original male, though associated with qualities of 
direct advantage to him, is not in itself of such 


advantage. ¢ 
C, B. Morrar. 


ON SOME MOSS-DWELLING CATHYP- 
NAD; WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF FIVE 
NEW SPECIES. 


By DAvip BrYcE. 


N my last communication I described two species 
of Cathypnadz, which I had found in some 
number, in water obtained by squeezing handfuls 
of wet sphagnum. I now fumish descriptions of 
five more species of the same interesting family, also 
found associated with this and other wet-loving 
mosses. Of these new forms, the two species of 
Monostyla are the most important. 

The genus to which I have referred them, has 
been an extremely well-defined one, possessing, in 
the single, more or less styliform toe, an obvious 
characteristic by which its members are readily to 
be distinguished from the other Cathypnadz, and 
the variations exhibited by the various species, have 
ranged between comparatively narrow limits. Both 
the new forms step outside the old lines, and in two 
very distinct directions. In the first, the styliform 
toe, in place of being furnished with the single claw, 
which normally terminates it, is provided with a pair 
of claws set side by side, yet slightly diverging, and 
apparently incapable of motion independently of each 
other, or of the toe. The two claws seem to indicate 
a connecting link with the genera Distyla and 
Cathypna, though whether the structure marks an 
advance towards, or a retrogression from these, it 
would probably be rather unprofitable to discuss. 

The second species is still more surprising, for it 
shows a relationship to quite another family, in 
having a corona protected by the glassy hood-like 
shield, so characteristic of the Coluride, 

Among the new Distylz, the species agi/is is note- 
worthy, on account of its minute size, the extreme 
delicacy of its parts and the untiring vivacity of its 
movements, 

All these species, and many others will live for 
weeks and months in sphagnum, kept in a cool 
place in a tightly corked bottle, without any water 
save that clinging to the moss when gathered. I 


had, up to the end of May, one such bottle con- 
taining sphagnum, collected in August, 1891, at 
Sandown, Isle of Wight, from that little patch of 
boggy ground beyond the Waterworks, where the 
sundew grows in profusion. When first put into the 
bottle, the moss was wet, as it usually is, and 
remained wet to the touch, but no more. It had 
considerably decayed, and had become brown and 
sodden. Yet if a stem were piaced in water, one 
might at once see several species of Rotifera in full 
activity. In May the most numerous was Doestyle 
clara, but that species has now disappeared, although 
other species of Rotifera are (in October) still 
represented. There is here, no question of the 
creatures having been partially dried, and resuming 
activity on being moistened with water. Nor can 
we suppose that the Distyle seen in May, were the 
identical specimens in the moss when gathered. 
The point of interest is, that, with the exceeding 
scanty supply of fluid afforded by the wet moss, and 
living probably, directly or indirectly, on the 
nutriment afforded by the decaying vegetable matter, 
such delicate creatures as these minute rotifers have 
been able, not only to survive, but even to continue 
their respective species for many generations. With- 
out doubt, the extremely slow decay of the moss is 
in their favour. Ordinary water-plants, kept in a 
corked bottle with but little water, would probably 
ferment and quickly go black, and I think that no 
rotifer could endure that. 

On the other hand, I have hitherto but rarely 
induced any of these forms to live more than a day 
or two in water, in which I had ‘‘ washed” threads 
of moss. So difficult is it to hit the happy medium, 
between rendering the water foul and not providing 
it with sufficient nutrient matter, or between poison- 
ing and feeding the rotifers, 

On one occasion I was more fortunate ; a few 
individuals of Distyla inermis, survived their plunge 
into the ocean of the zoophyte trough. A colony 
was founded, and throve, until I depopulated it by 
emptying the trough and forwarding the contents to 
a correspondent. I refilled the trough with water, 
and in a few days began to find the species again, 
hatched out from eggs fastened here and there to the 
glass. Ina fortnight or so, I was able to send offa 
second parcel, and I was hoping to get a third, but 
about this time the trough began to leak, and one 
evening I found it empty and dry, 


Distyla clara, 1. sp. 

Sp. Ch.—Form a long ellipse. Lorica stiffly 
membranous, without markings, very transparent. 
Head broad and blunt. Anterior part of trunk 
usually distinct. Toes nearly one-fourth of total 
length, slenderly blade-shaped, tapering, without 
claw or shoulder, slightly decurved. Brain short ; 
eye absent. Dorsal plate moderately arched. 

The broad blunt head, the almost simple tapering 


272 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 
toes, the short brain and the apparent absence of an The lorica is so delicate that I have failed to define 
eye, are sufficient characters to show how very | the respective outlines of the dorsal and ventral 
distinct this species is. plates, or the depth of the sulcus. The internal 


Fig. 156.—Monostyla bifurca: a, dorsal view; B, lateral view; c, ventral view, retracted. % 650 diam. 


The head and the anterior part of the trunk are j organs are generally normal, but the mastax seems 
nearly parallel-sided, but behind the trunk swells to | broader and more powerful than usual. As in . 
a graceful oval, terminated by the oblong shield-plate. | Distyla depressa, there appear to be two small and 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


273 


very delicate horn-like pieces, apparently connected 
with the teeth of the mastax, which may be seen to 
open and close as though biting. It is probable, that 
their function is auxiliary to that of the jaws proper, 
but their motion is, I think, independent of these. 
That small area of the ventral surface, which I call 
the:hinge-plate, is of unusual form. Dilating above 
the usual blunt point to about the normal width, it 
thence narrows to a blunt anterior point, having thus 
the outline of a spear-head. So far as I can make 


Fig. 157-—Distyla clara: a, dorsal view; B, hinge-plate ; 
c, toe, lateral aspect. X €40 diam. 


‘out, the foot is in no way attached to the shield- 
plate. I have never seen the creature assume the 
retracted position, even in death. It will withdraw 
the corona and partially retract the head, but that 
appears to be all, and is done only for the briefest 
periods. The lorica seems to be only stiff enough to 
constantly assume the outline shown and the dorsal 
plate is distinctly and gracefully arched. Quite 
devoid of markings or folds, it is extremely trans- 
sparent and delicate. I never find empty loricx, 
and conclude that these decay as quickly as the soft 
internal parts. 

The animal, although always on the alert, is 
quieter and more sedate in its habits than some of its 


relatives, and it swims readily enough in a steady 
manner. 

The species was fairly plentiful in sphagnum, 
gathered last August at Sandown (I.W.), but I 


Fig. 158.—Jonostyla galeata, ventral view. X 575 diam. 


c 


Fig. 159.—Dzstyla agilis: a, dorsal view; 8, ditto, retracted ; 


c, hinge-plate. X 520 diam. + 


have not yet met with it elsewhere. 


sha inch. 


Length, about 


Distyla agilis, n. sp. 


Sp. Ch.—Small but of elongate form; lorica 
membranous throughout. Anterior margins gaping 


274 


HARDWICKE’'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


in retraction; head long and narrow ; anterior part 
of trunk distinct. Toes short, rarely separated, 
somewhat blade-shaped, but obscurely shouldered 
on outer edge, claw one-third of toe, slightly de- 
flexed. 

The length of mature specimens is not much less 
than that of D: zzermis. but the creature is decidedly 
narrower, and so delicate in its appearance, that 
when the alimentary canal is not gorged with food, 
it can only be distinguished from neighbouring 
objects by its movements. I have never observed it 
to swim, but it glides about with much vivacity and 
many contortions. Indeed, at first sight, I took my 
earliest specimen to be a Diglena (of the permollis 
section), and not until I got a 4-inch objective to 
bear upon it, did I recognise that it belonged to the 
Distyle. In its quickness of movement it almost 
rivals Stephanops stylatus, in company with which it 
occurred, and it was no easy matter to distinguish 
between young specimens of the two species. The 
shape of the toes and the outline, both in retraction 
and extended, sufficiently distinguish it from Désty/a 
ffornemanni, while the front, gaping in retraction (so 
that the outline of the opening is almost a rectangle, 
scarcely longer than broad) separates it from all other 
described species, apart from other peculiarities. 

The long head narrows suddenly to a blunt point, 
overhanging the oblique face. A faint constriction 
marks off the anterior part of the trunk, and this 
part is almost entirely occupied by the mastax when 
in its normal position. The greatest breadth of the 
body is just behind the centre. The lorica, while 
generally very membranous, is apparently a shade 
stiffer towards tbe edges, as I have seen short lateral 
points when in extreme retraction. There is no 
trace of markings or folds, and it is impossible to 
assign any definite outline to the dorsal or ventral 
plates. I believe that the sulcus is very shallow. 
The shield-plate over the foot, and the hinge-plate 
on the ventral surface, seem to be the only shelly 
portions of the integument. The produced anterior 
point of the hinge-plate is, I think, peculiar to this 
species. The mastax is stout and scarcely so 
elongate as usual. ‘The brain is long and apparently 
simple, and a minute red eye can just be defined. 
Between the mastax and the stomach is usually a 
clear space, crossed only by the cesophagus, which 
is rather long, and exhibits the customary rhythmical 
undulating movement. The stomach, intestine, gastric 
and foot glands seem normal. 

The toes in the living specimens watched, were 
never observed to be voluntarily separated for the 
briefest period, and I only saw them slightly apart in 
a specimen accidentally crushed. They were then 
seen to be somewhat blade-shaped, somewhat rod- 
shaped, and in lateral view slightly decurved. 

Numerous specimens occurred among sphagnum 
gathered in February, 1891, in Epping Forest. 
Length, about ;4;th inch ; toes about 745th inch. 


Distyla inermis, 0. sp. 

Sp. Ch.—Small, but of elongate form; lorica 
membranous throughout, anterior margins appressed 
in retraction. Head long and tapering; anterior 
part of trunk distinct ; toes short, somewhat blade- 
shaped, but obscurely shouldered on outer edge ; 
claw one-third of toe, tips very slightly reflexed. 

The points selected for the above technical de- 
scription of this species correspond, with but three 
exceptions, to those assigned to D. agz/is, and the 
figures given of the appearance in dorsal view of the 
two forms, may be thought to indicate that they are but 
varieties of one species. In their elongate outline, in 
the shortness of the toes, and the comparative softness. 
of that covering which scarcely merits the name lorica, 
they are certainly near to each other, and distinct from 
their congeners. It is only necessary to define more 
particularly the characters by which D. imermus 
may be unfailingly distinguished from D. agi/zs. 
It is a shade longer and decidedly more robust ; the 
face is almost prone, not oblique; and the tapering 
head is rounded in front, not pointed. The toes, 
though short for a Distyla, are proportionately 
longer, and usually, but not invariably, appressed, 
and the claw-tips have just begun to turn upwards. 
The shield-plate above the foot is less square. The 
lines marking the lateral edges of the hinge-plate, 
are slightly curved inwards anteriorly, and in one 
case, indeed, appeared to me actually to meet, yet 
there was no produced point as in D. agilis. The 
jateral infold was very shallow, and although mode~ 
rately broad, could only be defined in side view and in 
a favourable position. The tapering claws are flexible, 
bending from their bases or from points nearer to 
their tips, according ‘to pressure applied. 

Specimens kept in captivity laid eggs freely, attach- 
ing them simply to the surface of the glass. They 
appeared to be double-shelled, but hatched out in the 
course of a few days. The outer shell measured 
3h inch longest diameter, the inner about ith less. 

In retraction the anterior margins of the lorica are 
appressed, and there is a definite outline recurring 
after each muscular contraction. 

The species swims readily enough, but prefers to 
glide quietly among the floccose sediment, nibbling 
at the particles of food. While thus feeding, its 
contortions are frequent but not violent, and it is 
most unwilling at any time to completely retract its. 
anterior parts, or to remain retracted, and when it 
has assumed this position I have never seen any 
indication of lateral points. 

Plentiful in sphagnum from Sandown (I.W.), and 
in another moss from one locality in Epping Forest- 
Length, total 4, inch, toes only zp inch, or about 
one-seventh of the whole. 


Monostyla bifurca, 0. sp. 


Sp. Ch.—Elongate, free from wrinkles. Lorica 
membranous ; in retraction anterior margins slightly 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


275 


convex. Toe of moderate length, straight and 
terminated by two diverging, curved and seemingly 
immovable claws. 

When extended, this species is rather like J/. 
mollis, as figured by Mr. Gosse, but the bifurcate toe 
distinguishes it readily from that, and from every 
other species yet described. It can scarcely be said 
to possess a lorica, save that it assumes in retraction 
a definite broadly ovate outline. The internal organs 
seemed normal. The head is stout, but tapering 
and rounded in front, above the almost prone face, 
and an ample brain descends behind the mastax, 
bearing a very conspicuous eye. The trunk, both in 
dorsal and lateral view, presents a slightly waved 
outline. The foot-joints are stout, the lower rather 
broad for its length, and the toe, almost parallel- 
Sided viewed from above, is seen in lateral aspect, to 
taper gradually from the base. There seemed to be 
a slight median depression on the toe, just above the 
tip, but not a definite line, such as would indicate the 
soldering together of two toes. 

Three specimens only of this peculiar form 
occurred in moss stripped from a branch partially 
submerged in a ditch near the Waterworks, Sandown 
(I.W.), in August, 1891. Length, extended, esti- 
mated at 54, inch. 

It swims quietly and steadily, or crawls about, 
nibbling as it goes, and contorting itself violently all 
the while. 


Monostyla galeata, 0. sp. 


Sg. Ch.—Ovate in outline. lLorica distinct 
without markings; in retraction anterior margins 
nearly straight ; head furnished with protrusile shield, 
hook-like in lateral view. Toe styliform, of moderate 
length, shouldered, with single claw. 

I found numerous dead examples and empty loricze 
among washings from sphagnum, gathered in July 
and August, 1891, at Sandown (I.W.), but passed 
them by, as being probably a small variety of J. 
lunaris, distinguished by its smaller size, and its 
straight anterior margin of lorica in retraction. 
Some months later I found, in a washing from the 
same moss, a living specimen, and I then discovered 
that it possessed the striking peculiarity of a frontal 
shield-like hood, exactly like that figured by Mr. 
Gosse in Colurus. 

I was unable to get a good view of the internal 
structure, as the creature was very lively, and shortly 
after its discovery was lost at the edge of the cell. I 
found later, that a dead specimen which I had 
preserved, showed the hood half protruded. 

The dorsal plate is, as in most of the Monostyle, 
broader than the ventral. The shield-plate is broad 
and rounded behind, while the hninge-plate shows 
the usual parallel lines, and the lower foot-joint is 
rather bead-like in outline. Length, about 34, inch 
extended ; toe and claw, about =4, inch. 


CASUAL AND ALIEN PLANTS. 


TTENTION having been called in a recent 
number of SCIENCE-GossIP, to the occurrence 

of Ornithopus roseus and Coronilla varia in a sub- 
spontaneous manner, I beg to enumerate a few more 
examples of casual plants which have come mnder 
my own personal-notice. These have mostly been 
noticed in short rambles near large towns, where 
business pursuits prevented botanising in the country, 
except at long intervals. A few instances only are 
mentioned of casuals in the more rural districts. 
Lranthis hyemalis, Salisb., perpetuates itself in a 
plantation near Crosby Court, North Yorkshire, 
where it may, however, have been planted. Pafaver 
somniferum, L., is a frequent casual at Scarborough, 
Aintree (Lancashire), and about York, but is always 
sporadic in its appearance. Corydalis Jutea, grows in 
profusion on walls at Arden Hall, a bleak spot on the 
Hambleton Hills, evidently escaped from the hall 
garden. Avadis arenosa, Scop., occurred casually and 
sparingly on waste ground at York. Hesferis matro- 
nalis, L., on rubbish-heaps at Aintree. Sisymbriumne 
pannonicum, in some quantity on Foss Islands, York, 
where it may establish itself as it has done about 
Hightown and Crosby, Lancashire. In the latter dis- 
trict it has more than held its own for many years. Zxy- 
simum perfoliatum, Crantz ; grain-brought at Walton, 
Lancs. £. vepandum, on ballast near Birkenhead 
docks, Cheshire. Came/ina fetida, impermanent alien 
at Northallerton, York, and Leeds, and C. sativa, 
Crantz, on waste heaps at Aintree. Brassica 
Lyucastrum, Vill., on ballast at York. Dzplotaxis 
tenuifolia, D.C., on rail embankments at North- 
allerton and Thirsk, where it may establish itself; 
also in similar situations at Tyne Dock, near South 
Shields. Legidium sativum, L., a frequent garden 
outcast, as also Raphanus sativus, L. Dianthus 
plumarius, L., grows on the ruins of Fountains 
Abbey, where it may have been intentionally planted. 
Saponaria vaccaria, L., a few plants at York, and 
more plentifully at Hightown and Aintree. An 
increasing species with us, introduced with grain. 
Silene dichotoma, L., was found by Mr. Geo. Webster 
in cornfields near York, and I have gathered what 
appears like a form of the same thing in some plenty 
on ballast at Aintree. Claytonia perfoliata, Don., 
occurs in a plantation and surrounding Janes near 
Formby, to all appearance thoroughly established. 
Malva borealis, Wall., MZ. nicencis, All., and JZ. 
parviflora, Huds., grew together in some abundance 
where flour-mill refuse was out-thrown at York, and 
a plant or two of 17. Alcea, L., were found many 
years ago at Northallerton, by a roadside. LZzn2m 
usitatissimum is a frequent casual. It was formerly 
extensively cultivated near Northallerton, when it 
was occasionally infested with its parasite, Cuscuta 
epilinum. A variety with many stems, and carpels 
ciliate internally, occurred this year at Aintree, and 


276 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


may prove to be the var. crepztans, Schubl. I have 
found Trigonella polycerata at York, and 7. hamosa 
at Birkenhead. JJedicago sativa, a waif of cultiva- 
tion, at Northallerton, and J/. maculata, Sibth., at 
York, and by the canal at Aintree. A few plants of 
M. apiculata, Willd., grew with the latter at York. 
Melilotus alba, Desr., grows in profusion on Foss 
Islands at York, and on ballast-heaps at Hunslet and 
Fazakerley (Lancs.) ; the yellow-flowered JZ. parvi- 
flora, Lam, being equally abundant at York and 
Aintree. J. caerulea, £., occurred sparingly at 
York only. These species of Melilotus appear to 
grow very freely where introduced, so long as com- 
petition is limited, but they gradually disappear 
before stronger native weeds. Trifolium hybridum 
is a common casual, being frequently cultivated. 
Ornithopus compressus, L., a few plants only at York 
and Walton (Lancs.). Vicia sativa, L., frequent, 
Leeds, Scarborough, &c. otentilla norvegica, L., 
well established and ineradicable by the canal from 
Hunslet to Woodlesford. Cxothera biennis has 
obtained a permanent footing on the Lancashire 
sandhills about Crosby and Hightown.  Cazcalis 
latifolia, L., nearly a score of plants as weeds in 
garden-ground at Walton, accompanied by a single 
plant of C. daucoides, and a few specimens of Zori/is 
nodosa. Ammi majus, a solitary but fine plant at 
Aintree by the canal. Aster brumalis, on ballast 
at Hartlepool. Chrysanthemum coronarium and C. 
segetum, in some profusion on ballast at Hunslet. 
C. parthenium, L., is a frequent garden-escape in 
many localities. Si/ybum marianum, long known on 
the Castle Hill, Scarborough. It never grows pro- 
fusely, and often fails to appear for a year, but still 
does not altogether disappear. Centaurea melitensis, 
native of S. Europe, is a common casual at York, 
Leeds, and Huddersfield, but in our climate does not 
flower freely ; frequently the buds never open at all. 
It is often mistaken for C. solstitialis, LL, which 
bloomed well on ballast at Aintree this season. 
Anagallis cerulea, Schubl., sparingly at York ; and 
what appears to be blue-flowered 4. arvensis, on 
rubbish near Aintree. Amsinckia lycopsoides, Schm., 
a frequent wool-waste plant, has occurred about 
York, Leeds, and Liverpool. Datura stramonium 
and Hyoscyamus niger grew together at Aintree, and 
the latter has also been found at Northallerton. 
Linaria cymbalaria is thoroughly at home on walls 
overlooking the Ouse at York, where it hangs in 
luxuriant festoons. Verbascum virgatum, a few plants 
at Northallerton, without permanence.  AZimulus 
Zuteus, in the bed of the river Yore in Wensleydale. 
Mentha viridis, L., is with us always a garden-outcast, 
the least suspicious locality being Forge Valley, near 
Scarborough, a long way from any house. Leonurus 
cardiaca, I,, on the slope of the Great Orme’s 
Head, towards Llandudno. flantago arenaria, W. 
and K., very fine on ballast at York, with Amaranthus 
blitum, Chenopodium opulifolium, Schr., C. rubrum, 


C. vulvaria, and C. glaucum, the latter, I believe, a 
permanent integer of the York florula.  Spinacia 
oleracea, L., casually where manure had lain at 
Scarborough. Rumex dentatus, Camp., a native of 
south-east Europe, fairly plentiful on ballast at York. 
Rumex alpinus, L., very fine by a roadside near 
Horsforth, Leeds. Asphodelus fistulosus, L., in con- 
siderable quantity in two places about four hundred 
yards apart at York, in both situations with Sefaria 
glauca, Beauy., and S. viridis, Beauv., the latter 
also growing by the canalat Hunslet. Pavicum crus- 
galli and P, glabrum, Gaud., both grain-brought at 
York. Phalaris canariensis may be found on heaps 
of refuse everywhere where birds are kept. Glyceria 
distans, Bromus arvensis, L., and Lolium ttalicum, 
Braun, all three abundant on ballast at both York 
and Leeds. I have seen all the above in situ, and 
have specimens of nearly all preserved in my 
herbarium. It will be seen that although many of 
our rare plants are threatened with extermination, 
our flora is being reinforced by fresh varieties. Per- 
haps most of the above are evanescent, and will 
disappear without trace, beyond a few specimens in 
herbaria, but it is evident some at least will hold 
their own in the fight for existence, which they will 
have to wage with our native weeds. : 

In conclusion, I must state that I am much in- 
debted to Mr. Baker, of Kew Herbarium, for kindly 
determining many of the above plants, some of which 
are hereby first recorded for the vice-counties in 
which the localities are situated. I have also received 
welcome aid on several occasions from Mr. Arthur 
Bennett and Captain Steuart, which I beg to ac- 
knowledge here. 

J. A. WHELDON. 


SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


THE ‘‘ nitro-metals” are a new class of compounds 
recently discovered by Sabatier and Senderens. 
They have found that reduced copper absorbs, in the 
cold, the vapours of nitrogen peroxide, heat being 
disengaged during the process. The product is a 
maroon-coloured compound, the composition of 
which is represented by the formula, Cu,NO,. This 
is nitro-copper. A similar compound has been 
obtained with cobalt. Nitro-copper reacts violently 
with water, giving off nitric oxide and yielding a 
green liquid containing copper nitrate mixed with a 
little nitrite. A residue of almost pure copper is 
deposited at the same time. 


THE popular idea that water is purified by freezing 
thas been again disproved by recent careful ex- 
periments, which show that the average amount of 
impurity retained by the ice is 34°3 per cent. of 
organic matter, and 21'2 per cent. of inorganic 
matter. As organic matter is the more objection- 


HARDWICKE S SCITENCE-GOSST7P. 


277 


able of the two, the case is worse than was formerly 
supposed. 


Mr. SAVILLE-KENT’s forthcoming work on ‘‘ The 
-\ustralian Barrier Reef,” to be published by Messrs. 
W. H. Allen & Co., judging from the magnifi- 
cent photographs made by the author, ought to bea 
splendid success. 


WE are pleased to call attention to the advertise- 
ment of Miss Hele, of Cotham, Bristol, concerning 
her collection of fossils and minerals, offered for sale. 
Miss Hele and her sisters are enthusiastic and 
intelligent collectors, and their collections are full of 
good things. The fossil carboniferous corals, from 
the neighbourhood of Bristol (polished) are almost 
unique for their beauty. 


It is with the deepest regret we have to record the 
death, at a comparatively early age of life, of Mr. 
Henry Hailes, the esteemed editor of the ‘‘ Journal 
of the Quekett Club,” and the foreign secretary of 
the society. He was an old contributor to SCIENCE- 
Gossip, and an ardent microscopist, especially in 
anything appertaining to the foraminifera. His 
genial and kindly manner won him troops of friends. 


TREATED chemically, a pound of coal will yield 
enough magenta to colour soo yards of flannel, 
yermilion for 2560 yards, aurine for 120 yards, 
and alizarine sufficient for 155 yards of red cloth. 


THE November number of ‘‘ The Naturalist ’’ is 
very rich in notes on entomology and ornithology, 
embracing hymenoptera and lepidoptera, in the 
former, and the great snipe, buzzard, Pomerine 
skua, woodcock, etc., etc., in the latter. There are 
also long articles on ‘‘ The supposed inter-breeding 
of the merlin and kestrel in Northumberland in 1886,” 
by F. B. Whittock; ‘“‘The Land and Freshwater 
Mollusca, 1888 and 1889” by Mr. Denison Roebuck, 
F.L.S.; together with the conclusion of J. E. 
Tinkler’s “‘ Notes on the Avi-fauna of Arkengarth- 
dale, Swaledale, and the New Forest.” 


THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL 
Society for October, contains a very long list of 
researches relating to zoolegy, botany, and micro- 
scopy. Among the chief zoological discoveries and 
experiments may be enumerated the ‘‘ Embryos 
of Apes,” by J. Kollmann, and the ‘‘ Development 
of Blood-corpuscles,” by O. Van der Stricht. In the 
botanical notes is a very interesting one on “Iron 
in Plants,” by H. Molisch. Among the Crypto- 
gamia, A. Richter’s paragraph on the Adaptation of 
Fresh-water Algz to Salt water.” is! most curious. 
The plate and woodcuts are well got up, and artistic. 


THIs month’s “‘ Feuille des Jeunes Naturalistes,” 
comprises Adrien Dollfus’s ‘‘ Notre Bibliothéque ;” 
** The Natural History Objects at Montpellierin 1892 
(Botanical),” by Dr. L. Planchon; ‘Geological 


Excursions in Alsace and neighbouring Country,” by 
Mathieu Mieg. Then follow communications re- 
ceived, articles on ]’Aberration de Deilephia Hippo- 
phaés, Fermeture des flacons, Corzebus bifasciatus, 
questions, and finally a supplementary catalogue of 
the current works and memoirs in the library. 


TRINIDAD FIELD NATURALISTS’ CLUB.—The Oc- 
tober number of this periodical contains much in- 
structive matter, i.e., ‘‘ Report of the Club Meet- 
ings,” First Annual meeting, 8th August ; ‘‘ Club 
Papers ;” ‘‘ Babiche-shooting in the Caroni.” It 
is a well-appointed little paper, and interesting, as 
coming from one of our many flourishing colonies. 


THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD AND JOURNAL OF 
VARIATION.—Dr. T. A. Chapman continues his 
article on ‘‘ The genus Acronycta and its Allies” 
from page 195. Most of the readers’ experiences of 
the past season tend to one point and seem to be 
guided by one idea, which no entomologist has had 
out of his head since last July, and that one point 
centres around the two Colias. Other contents are : 
Variation, Scientific Notes, Current Notes, Reports 
of Societies, etc., etc. 


RECENTLY the natural history of that dread dis- 
ease, cancer, has received much attention from 
physiologists of various countries, who have studied 
its growth and development by means of the micro- 
scope. The results are not sufficiently advanced for 
any trustworthy conclusions or generalisations to be 
drawn, but there seems no doubt that cancer is an 
organic growth. Further, it is all but certain that 
cancer itself is liable to the attacks of another para- 
site. Between the cells of the cancer these sporozoa 
live. They have been found most abundantly in 
soft 'medullary cancer. Perhaps, before long a 
further knowledge of the ways and doings of these 
parasites may enable us to deal more effectually with 
the growth of cancer. 


THERE are few plants which have attracted the 
attention of botanists more than" those termed 
‘© carnivorous,’”’ about which the great Darwin wrote 
one of his most notable books. The idea of plants 
feeding on animals such as flies, and even birds, was 
ludicrous, perhaps, because we were not familiar with 
anything else than animals feeding on plants. The 
fact, however, is not fully substantiated. We have 
at least half-a-dozen not uncommon English plants 
which are carnivorous. One aquatic species even 
captures, devours, and digests young fish as soon as 
they escape from the egg. It was even found that 
these peculiar plants possessed a peptonising power 
for digestive purposes. Up to the present time the 
plant has taken the credit for this physiological act ; 
but it has recently been discovered that it is due to 
the activity of certain micro-organisms which are 
always present in the sap of the mature plant. For 


278 


HARDWICKE’S SCLIENCE-GOSSIP. 


the development of these minute organisms the 
peculiar secretion of carnivorous plants furnishes a 
favourite pabulum or food. 


THE Royal Institution of Great Britain has been 
in luck’s way lately. Mr. Thos. G. Hodgkins, of 
Long Island, New York, has bequeathed to it the 
sum of $100,000, and the Goldsmiths’ Company 
have donated £1000 for ‘‘ Original research,”’ etc. 


Ir Mr. R. C. Chaytor did not “strike ile,” by his 
query as to the calculated capacity of a pipe for 
a gallon of water, he has been the means of proving 
(by the number of correspondents replying), how 
large and keen is the reading c/tentéle of SCIENCE 
GossiP, for it is quite impossible to do other than 
publish the replies of the first answers opened. 


*¢ Saxon and Dane and Norman are we,” sang the 
Jate Poet Laureate in his Alexandra ‘‘ Welcome 
Ode.” But we are getting ‘‘drefful mixed.” All 
nations are coming to England to get corn—that is, 
a livelihood. In a comparatively short period our 
native ethnography will be effaced. Just in the nick 
of time, therefore, Dr. Francis Galton and other 
men eminent in the science of ethnography have 
issued a circular letter on behalf of the committee 
appointed by the British Association, for an ethno- 
graphical survey of Great Britain. It is proposed to 
record for certain typical villages and the surround- 
ing districts, the physical types of the inhabitants, 
their current traditions and beliefs, the peculiarities 
of their dialect, the monuments and other remains of 
ancient cultivation, and historical evidence as to 
continuation of race. 


Our big brother planet, Jupiter, is evidently going 
through the throes of important and powerful physical 
changes. We must not think of this huge world as 
being in anything like the same state as our earth, 
although the latter many millions of years ago doubt- 
less passed through the same stages that Jupiter is 
now undergoing. Ever since the recent opposition 
of Jupiter, its surface has experienced many changes. 
The position and size of the ‘‘ great red spot” 
{evidently a part of the planet which has not yet 
cooled down below the red-hot state) is the chief part 
studied. Recently this red spot has changed its 
character, and seemed as it if were about to disappear. 
A conspicuous black spot has appeared on the edge 
of the northernmost ‘‘ belt,” whose motions appear to 
be very similar to those of the ‘‘ great red spot.” 


TALKING about Jupiter, its newly-discovered 7i/th 
moon is exciting the attention of all astronomers as 
much as a new baby does a bevy of young mothers, 
It is so very close to the planet that they find it 
difficult to estimate its real magnitude, but it is 
probably not more than 100 miles in diameter, and 
may not even be that. The very fact that such a 
small world can be seen from the earth, and studied 


shows what wonderful instruments modern 
astronomers are possessed of, and how accurate must 
be their methods of observation. This new /i/th 
Jovian moon actually makes two revolutions round 
the big planet in a day. Except the recently- 
discovered inner satellite of Mars, it is the most 
rapidly revolving satellite known. 


here, 


PICKERING & CHATTO’s ‘* Book-Lover’s Leaflet ” 
is always welcome to a bibliophile, even if he cannot 
afford to buy the books whose brief learned notices 
are so instructive ; but the last number surpasses all 
others in literary interest. 


famous 
” 


LorD BEACONSFIELD’S saying that 
“Chemicals are looking up,” is as historic as Mr. 
Gladstone’s advice to farmers to grow fruit for the 
jam manufacturers. Both men were right, although 
both were laughed at. The English jam trade has 
enormously developed since Mr. Gladstone’s address 
on the subject, and it is very certain that an im- 
provement in the market condition of ‘‘ chemicals” 
is not a bad sign of an increased prosperity in other 
trades. 


CONSEQUENTLY it is with much pleasure we note 
new and vastly improved departure in the manu- 
facture of certain chemicals. Again it is the new 
science of electricity which has made it possible. 
One of the most important chemicals used all over 
the world, is caustic soda. Hitherto, the process of 
its manufacture, has been slow and roundabout. 
Now an altogether new method has been discovered, 
by which caustic soda, chlorine, and other chemical 
products can be made from the brine directly, by the 
aid of electricity. The new process is also a more 
economical one by at least 50 per cent., as compared 
with any or all of the present methods. It is much 
simpler, the caustic soda being produced from the 
brine in one operation instead of two. The valuable 
chlorine is also saved, and utilised for the production 
of bleaching powder (chloride of lime), and other by- 
products. Our most eminent chemists have pro- 
nounced this new method of manufacture a complete 
success, and the chemical industries of the north 
of England promise. well in the future in conse- 
quence. 


PossIBLY a new source of wealth will henceforth 
be found, on account of this new method of 
electrically decomposing sea-water. Hitherto, the 
mighty seas and oceans of the world have con- 
tributed little or nothing, except a little coarse table- 
salt, to the world’s wealth. Now that electricity can 
decompose and extract its saline and other salts from 
it, will it not be able, ere long, so to extract them as 
to leave the water pure enough to drink? It seems _ 
possible! In that case the time may not be far 
distant, when every ship will carry its own electric 
apparatus, for separating the chloride of soda, etc., 


HARDWICKE' S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


279 


from the sea-water, so as to leave pure potable water 
behind. Then the reader will no longer be able to 
quote from the ‘‘ Ancient Mariner ”—‘* Water, water 
everywhere, but not a dzop to drink.” 


What is the difference between an annual anda 
perennial plant? A thoughtless person will at once 
tell us that one never lives more than a single 
season and the other many. But this is not an 
explanation, it is only a statement of facts. Annuals 
are remarkable as being free-flowering plants. We 
gtow many species of them in our gardens, on 
account of the abundance and beauty of their flowers. 
Flowering is an act of vegetable expenditure, 
whereas leafing is one of vegetable accumulation. 
Annuals are, in reality, plants which expend their 
substance in riotous floral living and seeding. They 
wear themselves out in a single season thereby. 
They have spent all they had, and there is no 
vegetable surplus left over, to carry them through 
the winter, and enable them to start business again 
when spring reappears. On the other hand, 
perennial plants of all kinds bear more leaves than 
flowers. They save something out of every summer’s 
existence, and put it into their vegetable savings- 
bank—as in the increasing size of a tree’s trunk, for 
example. If we could only induce annual plants 
to be a little more thrifty, a little less lavish, in their 
floral expenditure, perhaps we could alter their 
habits of life, and convert them to the perennial 
condition. 


THIs is what Professor Meehan, a distinguished 
American botanist, claims to have done, and he has 
just read a paper on his method before the 
Philadelphia Academy of Sciences. It is a very 
simple plan, and consists in cutting down the flower 
stems as soon as they appear. Thus no expenditure 
can take place, only vegetable accumulation. An 
annual plant thereby gets transformed into a peren- 
nial, and by continuing to cut down the flower-stem 
the perennial condition can not only be secured,’ but 
possibly may be inherited. 


WE have to acknowledge an important pamphlet 
“*On the association of shipping disasters with 
colour-blind and defective far-sighted sailors,” by 
T. H. Bickerton, ophthalmic surgeon at the Royal 
Infirmary, Liverpool. This is one of those subjects 
which people in general pass over, and so long asa 
sailor is able-bodied and active they seem to think him 
perfection, forgetting that were his sight bad, anda 
hole le!t unmended, or a rope not quite as it should 
be, a puff of wind might come and heel the vessel on 
her beam-ends, to say nothing of collisions. 


WE are sorry to announce the death, at the ripe 
old age of seventy-eight, of Professor Robert Grant, 
the astronomer—a man dear to everybody who knew 
him, apart from his vast +éfertoire of scientific know- 
ledge. 


ONE of our liveliest and most successful of scientific 
societies is the Norwich Science-Gossip Club, which 
has just issued its twenty-second Annual Report, 
containing capital summaries of a great variety of 
papers, read at its fortnightly meeting during the 
winter months, in addition to the President’s 
Address. 


A REMARKABLE achievement in telephony has 
just been effected in America. This consists in the 
opening of a telephone line between New York 
and Chicago—a distance of 950 miles, or nearly twice 
the length of any previously in regular operation. 


THE Astronomical Society has received from the 
Cape of Good Hope a specimen of celestial photo- 
graphy in which there can be counted, by the aid of 
a microscope, 50,000 stars of various magnitudes. 
The plate was exposed three hours, and the apparatus 
regulated by clockwork. 


THE waste of a great city might easily feed its 
desperate poverty. We waste our coal and our 
smoke, our gas and our water, our food and our 
refuse, What we want is more forethought in times 
of comparative prosperity, so that the army of hungry 
children may be smaller, when a season of adversity 
arrives, and the drink bill may continually lessen 
and the Balances of the Post Office Savings-Bank 
continually increase. The chemists turn scrap-iron 
into ink, old bones into lucifer matches, the shavings 
of the blacksmith’s shop into Prussian blue, fusel 
oil into oil of apples and pears, the drainings of cow- 
houses into fashionable perfumery, beggars’ rags into 
new pilot coats, cesspool filth into ammonia, and tar 
waste into aniline dyes and saccharine. In Paris 
they first utilise rats to clear the flesh from the bones 
of carcases, then kill the rats, use up the fur for 
trimmings, their skins for gloves, their thigh bones 
for toothpicks, and their tendons and bones for 
gelatine wrappers. 


MICROSCOPY. 


SUBSTITUTE FOR CANADA BALSAM.—Your notice 
in the October number, of a new substitute for Canada 
balsam would prove not only interesting to your 
Numerous readers, but particularly useful, if you 
could tell us in a short paragraph in a future issue 
where we can obtain the gum therein mentioned, in 
a convenient condition for ready use. We can get 
supplies from London, if we know where to apply- 
An older subscriber than myself (I think for fifteen 
years) is tired of Canada balsam, and asks me to 
write for the above information. There are several 
here interested practically in microscopy, and I make 
it a point to lend my copy of SCIENCE-GossIP to one 
ofthem. I need not add that we much appreciate 
your paper.—Jicv0., Oporto. 


280 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


ZOOLOGY. 


ACME LINEATA.—In vol. xix. of SCIENCE-GossIP, 
p. 185, reference is made to the distribution of Acme 
lineata, var. alba (Jeffr.), which does not appear to 
have been found in this country. It may therefore 
be of some interest to your readers, to hear that 
Ihave found this shell near this city, in the same 
locality as the type, which, however, has only been 
found by me occasionally, and then only very 
sparingly. In the list of ‘‘South Devonshire 
Mollusca” of the Exeter district, given at p. 115 of 
vol. xxy., no mention is made of this shell.— 
L,W.D.K., Exeter. 


THE PRESERVATION OF SEA-URCHINS.—I have 
found that by cleaning out the internal portions, then 
thoroughly washing in fresh water and drying, the 
spines do not come off.—D. Wilson Barker. 


BOTANY. 


VEGETABLE SYMBIOSIS-—At the Annual Soirée of 
Manchester Microscopical Society, Prof. Weiss gave 
an address on this interesting subject. He pointed 
out that partnerships for mutual benefit or for 
defensive purposes are often formed in the animal 
kingdom, and are also of no uncommon occurrence 
between plants and animals. Thus the whole group 
of myrmecophilous, or ant-loying plants, harbour in 
the hollows of their stems entire armies of ants, 
which they feed with nectar secreted on their leaves. 
The benefit to the ant is apparent, and that reaped 
by the plant is the protection afforded by an army of 
these honey-eating ants against the disastrous ravages 
of the leaf-eating ants. These assail almost all trees 
of the tropics, but are always driven back by the 
garrison maintained by myrmecophilous plants. 
Another instance is the occurrence of small green 
algse within the tissues of certain animals, such as 
the freshwater sponge and the freshwater polype 
(hydra). These green-coloured bodies were long 
held to be green corpuscles belonging to the animal 
itself, but have now been shown to be vegetable cells 
which have been able to be cultivated outside the 
animal body. As these green cells can form starch 
and ultimately sugar, which transfuses out of the algze 
into the body of the animal, it is evident that they 
are of great benefit to the animal, while the algze 
themselves can absorb certain substances out of the 
animal cells. An analogous example occurs in the 
vegetable kingdom in the case of the lichens, in 
which some green alga is associated with a fungus. 
Every lichen consists of the two different organisms, 
and the green cells form, under the influence of the 
light, food-substances which are made use of by the 
fungus. In initial stages the fungus can be seen 
capturing, with its threads, the algze cells of which it 


makes use, and which are the working partners of the 
concern. In another case we have an association of 
a fungus with a beech or oak or other tree. The 
roots of these are often found infested with fungal 
threads or hyphz, termed mycortiza, which are able 
to take up the decaying vegetable matter and pass it 
on to the tree. Seedlings of the oak or beech are 
unable to grow in decaying leaf-mould, without the 
aid of such fungi. Here, then, the green plant is the 
one which derives the greatest benefit, and not the 
fungus, as was the case in the lichens. Many bog 
plants, such as the heath and the crowberry, have 
formed similar partnerships with fungi, the fungal 
threads making their way into the roots of the plants 
and living for a time in their cells. Ultimately, 
however, they are entirely absorbed by the green 
plant, and the advantage of the partnership to the 
fungus is not apparent. In the root tubercles, so 
characteristic of leguminous plants, we find small 
bacteroids, which have made their way in and which 
in’exchange for some food-matter, which they absorb 
from the pea or bean, provide it with the necessary 
nitrates which they can form from the nitrogen of the 
air. Thus leguminous plants, and those only, which 
are infected by the bacteroids, can grow in a soil 
entirely devoid of nitrogen, where no other green 
plant could possibly exist. LLeguminous crops are 
invaluable to farmers, as they leave the ground 
stocked with nitrates, when the root tubercles 
decay. Lastly, a case of symbiosis has recently been 
discovered by Professor Marshall Ward in the 
fermentation of ginger beer. Of the many organisms 
contained in the so-called ‘‘ ginger beer plant,” two 
only are necessary for normal fermentation—a yeast- 
like fungus, and a bacterium ant; these are so 
dependent one on the other that the fermentation 
they produce may well be called symbiatic fermenta- 
tion. The yeast cell produces a waste product, 
which, when accumulated, stops all further action. 
The bacterium, however, feeds on this waste product, 
and thus, by removing it, stimulates the yeast-like 
fungus to renewed activity. Thus both partners in 
the concern are benefited, and dependent one upon 
the other. 


THE MUDAH AND TooTHACHE.—I was told by 
the natives of India, that the milky juice of the 
mudar (Calotrofis gigantea), dropped into an aching 
tooth, instantly relieved the pain, but so loosened 
the tooth in its socket, that it generally dropped out 
soon after. This seemed to me so very improbable, 
that I gave the matter no further thought until 
a European friend told me he had tried it. He said 
that there was first a moment of intense agony, then 
total cessation of pain, and that the tooth actually did 
drop out a short while after. Accordingly. the next 
time I had a toothache I tried it myself, with absolutely 
no effect. The pain was neither relieved, nor 
aggravated; and the tooth was not perceptibly 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


281 


loosened ; in fact, I have the stump still. Is the 
property attributed to the mudar entirely mythical, or 
is its having no effect on me to be attributed to 
personal idiosyncrasy ?>—F. R. Holt. 


DOUBLE-FLOWERED RosE.—In last month’s num- 
ber of ScreNcE-Gosstp I notice a letter from Mr. 
W. H. Grattan, relative to a curious flower of the 
dahlia. I have never seen this remarkable freak in a 
dahlia, but I do not think it is very uncommon in 
cultivated roses. On several occasions I have had 
double-flowered roses, generally what are known as 
“*tea-roses,” sent to me, The last occasion was in 
August, 1891, when I had two very fine examples 
forwarded to me from the Isle of Man. In both 
cases the lower bloom was fully expanded, while the 
upper, which grew from the centre of the first, was 
only half open, and somewhat smaller than the 
other. — £. Creaghe-Haward, Weybridge School, 
Surrey. 


“THE British Moss-FLora.”—Dr. Braithwaite 
still manages to find time to bring out his noble 
werk. The fourteenth number is to hand, dealing 
with Family XV., Bryacea, II., doubtless the most 
interesting as well as the most beautiful family of our 
moss-flora. The present number contains six plates, 
crowded with the characteristic details of the struc- 
iure of each species, which are as artistically exe- 
cuted as they are microscopically accurate, which is 
saying a good deal. 


VARS. OF BRITISH PLANTS.—I was very pleased 
to see Mr. Bennett’s article on new varieties of 
British plants, but it would have been much more 
valuable if accompanied by short descriptions of 
some of them, which are only described in Exch. 
Club Reports, or periodicals which dwellers in 
remote country places are not likely to have access to, 
Please do not look upon this as a ‘‘ grumble ”—quite 
the reverse. I think ScrENcE-Gossip has never 
been so useful and interesting as now.—7% A. 
Wheldon. 


COLOURATION IN PLANTs.—On reading the in- 
teresting paper in the October number of ScIENCE- 
Gossip, on ‘* The colouration of the rose, the violet, and 
the buttercup,” a question occurs to me that I should 
much like to have answered. Why do some blue- 
coloured flowers lose their tints in drying, whilst 
others are steadfast in retaining them? I take two 
constant examples. It is next to impossible to 
obtain a dried specimen of the Campanula rotundi- 
Jolia with its colour, which from its stiff, wire-like 
stem and dry leaves, and its flowers which rattle 
together on shaking the bunch, you would expect to 
keep their natural tint, though they completely lose it, 
leaving the bells a transparent white. Perhaps one 
may succeed in obtaining one specimen out of a 
dozen with a blue bell on the plant. All the 


campanulas are equally disappointing, as far as my 
experience goes, while the gentians of every sort 
keep their beautiful full colour even with the most 
careless drying. Ihave specimens of the Geztiana 
pneumonanthe, the marsh gentian, dried more than 
three years ago, and other sorts twenty years ago, 
dried in Switzerland, all as blue as when they were 
gathered. Now, what is the difference of these two 
blue tints? Must there not bea radical difference ? 
A very curious—accident, I must call it—happened 
to me last summer. I hurriedly put a piece of 
Campanula rotundifolia into the book I had in my 
hand, between the cover and the fly-leaf, the inner 
lining and the fly-leaf being of a dark blue-green, and 
to my surprise, on opening the book a week or so 
later, I found my Campanula there, and to my 
greater surprise, the three blossoms and several buds 
had dried blue! I had then left the country and had 
no further opportunity of experimenting. I enclose 
a bit of the fly-leaf. Could the colour or dyeing 
of the paper have had any effect in the fastening of 
the blue in the flower ?>—/. G. 


GEOLOGY. 


THE ‘* GEOLOGY. OF LonpoN.”—Referring to the 
admirable article on the geology of London, which 
appeared in your last issue, may I quote a passage 
from Mr. Whitaker’s ‘‘Guide to the Geology of 
London,” 5th ed., p. 22, which appears to me 
practically to settle the question, whether the 
doubtful beds found in the Kentish Town, Crossness, 
or Streatham borings, belong to the old red sandstone 
series ornot. He says ‘‘ There is a reason against 
the classification of the bottom beds at Kentish 
Town and Crossness with the old red sandstone, 
which seems to have escaped notice before the 
publication of the 3rd ed. of this work. Having that 
series unmistakably present in the Devonian type at 
Cheshunt and at Meux’s, it would be strange indeed 
were it to occur in its wholly distinct old red type 
at Kentish Town, between those two places, and at 
Crossness, not many miles from the latter of them. 
I believe that such a thing is, at all events, very 
unusual, the two types of what is generally taken to be 
one great geological system being limited to separate 
districts, and not occurring together,” ef seg. This 
is certainly a very forcible argument, and if we 
accept it as practically conclusive, the point at issue 
is narrowed down to a decision between the carboni- 
ferous and triassic ages. The former of these appears 
to be out of the question, so that there is nothing 
for it but to class the doubtful beds as triassic. In 
doing so, however, in the absence of positive proof, 
we should of course, have to be prepared for a 
surprise, should a subsequent boring show that 
this is really a very exceptional case.—L/esba. 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


NOTES AND QUERIES. 


CLOUDED SAFFRON BUTTERFLY (Colias edusa). 
—This butterfly, usually so rare in this neighbour- 
hood, that I have only seen one during the last ten 
years, has been very plentiful this year, and quite a 
common object on the road sides. It is singular, 
however, that all, or nearly all, of them are males. 
I have not seen a single female during the whole 
season. Can any one. explain why this is ?—George 
Avery, Tenterden, Kent. 


DOG BAYING AT THE Moon.—I had read of this 
in poetry and folk-lore, but it was not until early in 
September, while walking in a street in Dunoon, that 
I actually witnessed it. The street was in shade, and 
a shepherd’s dog was trotting:before me. Suddenly, at 
a turn, the full-orbed moon, rather low in the horizon, 
was visible. The dog immediately stood, gazed at 
it, barked for two or three seconds, and then uttered 
a long whine.—¥. Shaw, Tynvon, N.B. 


A FLock oF GOLDFINCHES.—I have been 
bird’s-nesting in the shires, but a living specimen of 
the Fringilla carduelis has never come totwitme. Of 
a spring morning in the south of France, I opened 
my eyes, and beheld mother goldfinch sitting upon a 
tree ; and now, in chill October, when walking over a 
piece of waste ground on the outskirts of Geneva, I 
have had the delight of seeing a flock of some thirty 
youngsters. The thistle-eaters were gathered like 
chicks around a scrubby clump of Centaurea calci- 
trapa, and on being aroused, they flew over a wall, 
and returned to social feelings true.—4. H. Swinton. 


ABNORMAL CYCLAMEN.—I send you herewith a 
specimen of the Cyclamen, in which the flower-stalk 
has developed leaves, become fasciated, and having 
two flowers on it, the one underneath the small 
curled leaf at top has withered, the other will, I 
think, open out.—4. F. Steed. 


DISTURBING THE BALANCE OF NATURE.—Sable 
Island, near Nova Scotia, was overrun with rats, 
and the lonely islanders, whose chief duty is the 
relief of shipwrecked mariners, imported a cargo of 
cats from the Canadian mainland. The cats did 
their work of slaughter so well that they soon had to 
fall upon the rabbits for food, and themselves became 
so plentiful that an importationjof foxes had to be 
made to keep them in check. The foxes, like the 
cats, did their work too well. They not only de- 
stroyed the cats, but killed all the} young birds and 
destroyed thousands of eggs. Tired of the warfare, 
the islanders are now appealing to the Government to 
exterminate the foxes. Montreal has a famous hunt, 
and they are being urged to come to the relief. 


COLLECTING AND MOUNTING ‘SPIDERS.—Will 
some obliging reader of ScIENCE-GossipP help a 
young student, by giving him some hints, as to 
collecting and mounting spiders; the best time, 
most likely localities, etc.? A few hints on mounting 
the smaller species for the microscope would also be 
acceptable. I am anxious to preserve the natural 
colours.— Fas. Murray. Whitehaven. 


Cat AND PEACOCK.—Writing with reference to 
the sense of humour in animals, a correspondent tells 
an amusing story of a cat, The cat had conceived a 
great aversion for a peacock, which used to be fed on 
the lawn from the drawing-room windows, and found 
the following a pleasant method of expressing his 


feelings :—‘‘ When the peacock was anxious to dis- 
play its charms, and had spread its tail, and was 
moving slowly backwards andiforwards, the cat used to 
rush out on the lawn, and jump through the peacock’s 
tail. The effect of this was to entirely disconcert 
the peacock’s swagger, and leave the cat a moral 
victory.” 


Curtous Foop oF THE HEDGEHOG.—Correspon- 
dents of a Newcastle paper state that all kinds of 
game fall occasionally victims to the hedgehog’s 
appetite, and the partridge, the hare, and the 
pheasant seem to suffer equally from the voracity of 
this strange animal. M. Lenz announced in 1831 
that one of the most interesting facts in the natural 
history of the hedgehog is that the most violent 
poisons have no effect upon them. This has since 
been confirmed by Professor Buckland and other 
physiologists. A German physician, who made the 
hedgehog a peculiar object of study, administered 
strong doses of prussic acid, of arsenic, of opium, of 
tobacco, of corrosive sublimate, none of which had 
any effect, or did Mr. Hedgehog any harm. 


CocoA-NuT BuTTER.—This butter is now being 
made at Mannheim, and the demand for it is steadily 
increasing. The method of manufacture was dis- 
covered by Dr. Schlunk, a practical chemist. Liebig 
and Fresenius knew the value of cocoa-nut oil or fat, 
but did not succeed in producing it as a substitute for 
butter. The new butter is of a clear whitish colour, 
melts from 26° to 28° C., and contains 99"99 per 
cent. fat. 


MITEs IN THE NEsts OF ANTS.—Ants harbour a 
variety of other insects in their nests, particularly 
Gamaside mites, and Mr. A. D. Michael, from a 
study of ants in Corsica and at Innsbruck, has come 
to the conclusion that jthe. ants willingly tolerate the 
presence of the Gamasids, and even protect them. 
The mites are found to ride away on the backs of the 
ants when the nest is disturbed ; and sometimes the 
ants carry off the mites and their young just as they 
do their own. Mr. Michael thinks the mites repay 
the ants for their hospitality by removing the bodies 
of their dead, which they devour. 


COLIAS EDUSA.—I was very glad to find, on opening 
the November number of ScirNcrE-GoOssiP, that an 
entomologist had contributed some notes on the 
above butterfly. I may say that, so far as I have 
been able to judge, the male Clouded Yellow has, as 
Mr. Rees says, been much more abundant than the 
female. I was, however, able to secure more females 
than I actually wanted for my own cabinet, and so 
supplied several friends with spare female insects. I 
could have caught more, but having sufficient for 
my own and friends’ requirements, I let the rest 
alone. Near Eastbourne, a Leicester entomologist 
informs me, that of a dozen or so specimens netted, 
almost all were females, which is quite contrary to 
the notes I have had from other places. I am sorry 
to find that Mr. Rees does not agree with either 
of my theories, as to the irregular appearance of 
Edusa. I must ask him to bear in mind that I only 
gave those theories for what they were worth, and 
that I did not pin my faith to either of them. In 
support of the second, I may venture to remark that 
many specimens of the butterfly were reported in the 
entomological journals early in the season ; also that 
in 1877, I took several Edusze so early in the year, 
that they could only have been hybernated specimens. 
These were all captured at Felixstowe, in which 
neighbourhood the butterfly was very common later 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


283 


on, as indeed I believe it-was everywhere. Regard- 
ing my first theory, if Mr. Rees’ Eduse had arrived 
during the sunny days that preceded ‘‘ the four days 
of continuous rain and north winds,” I do not see 
why they should have been spoilt by that bad 
weather. JI took in one morning, when the wind 
was north-east, and squall after squall of heavy rain 
came up, three of my best Hyale, and many good 
clouded yellows. Of course they did not fly during 
the rain, but in the only two intervals of sunshine we 
had that day. For the three following days the 
weather was so bad that I did not go out, but the 
fourth day was warm and bright, and many speci- 
mens were on the wing, though only one or two that 
I saw were the worse for wear. Did all the Cardigan- 
shire specimens hatch out on the morning that 
Mr. Rees saw them, or if not, why were they not 
spoilt by the bad weather? I did not net a single 
tattered fly till quite late in the month, though a few 
were somewhat rubbed. I regret that I was not in 
Suffolk at the time when hybernated insects might 
be looked for, so I cannot say if they were observed 
there this season. With regard to the theory ad- 
vanced by Mr. Rees, it hardly seems to me more 
probable than my own. The food-plant is always 
abundant in Suffolk, and surely during the last fifteen 
years, the weather, winds, temperature, and parasites, 
cannot throughout that time, have been so adverse, 
that the fly did not appear in, at least, limited 
numbers. But during all those years, I have seen 
very few Eduse indeed, though I have always been 
in Suffolk at the time when they should emerge 
from the chrysalis. Last year I did not observe a 
single clouded yellow at all in Suffolk. On the 
whole it seems to me that this vexed question is far 
from settled at present. I do not profess to be 
anything more than a mere elementary student 
of natural history, and I hope that some of those 
naturalists who have more time to devote to it 
than I have, will soon give us a really good explana- 
tion of the scarcity and abundance in different years 
of Colas edusa. In conclusion, I should be very 
glad to exchange some Suffolk clouded yellows for 
Cardiganshire specimens, as it would be interesting to 
note if there is any difference between them. If 
Mr. Rees would care to do this, I should be glad to 
hear from him about December 18th. Till then I 
shall be in a different part of the country, and shall 
not be able to get at my collection.—Z. Creaghe- 
Haward, Bramford, near Ipswich. 


In answer to Mr. R. C. Chaytor’s query in the 
November number of Science-Gossip, I beg to 
say that 52 feet 4 inches would be the length of a 
three-quarter-inch diameter pipe to hold exactly one 
gallon of water.—W. Hf. May. 


THE SAME OLD PipE.—In answer to the query on 
page 263 of last month’s issue, as to what length of 
pipe % in. diameter it would take to hold one gallon 
of water, I beg to say, if the pipe is quite true, and 
the other conditions exact, that it would take 52 feet 
3% inches, Owen Carter. 


FRUIT AND BLossoM.—In your November number, 
on page 262, you refer to an apple-tree bearing fruit 
and blossom at the same time. A few weeks since I 
noticed a similar occurrence on an apple-tree in the 
garden of a house in Mount Ephraim Lane, 
Streatham. There was certainly fruit on the tree, 
though perhaps not much, and quite a number of 
bunches of blossom. The tree was very bare of 
leaves.—W, I. Horn. 


NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 


To CORRESPONDENTS AND ExcHANGERS.—As we now 
publish Scrence-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 gratuztous 
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. 


Specrat Nore.—There is a tendency on the part of some 
exchangers to send more than one per month. We only allow 
this in the case of writers of papers. 


To our RecenT ExcHANGERS.—Weare willing to be helpful 
to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot furthet allow dzs- 
gutsed Exchanges like those which frequently come to us 
to appear unless as advertisements. 


“‘ScepricaL.”—Consult Taylor’s ‘Sagacity and Morality 
of Plants,” chapter entitled ‘Turning the Tables,” for full 
information on the point you seek. You have got hold of a 
half-truth. 

F. Sr. J. Parker.—Your insects are a species of the 
suctorial Hemiptera (the Aphis, or green fly), and belong to 
the order of insects known as hemipterous, or half-winged. 
There are about 350 species of this order in England. 

F. H. Weexs.—The plant you enclosed last September got 
mislaid, hence the delay in replying to your query. It is the 
chervil (Cherophyllum temulunz). 

‘“ENTOMOLOGISTE.”—By applying to the Secretary of the 
Entomological Society of London, at xx Chandos Street, 
Cavendish Square, W., for all the rules and regulations 
necessary for election to the fellowship of the society. 

A. C. Warp (Southampton).—Many thanks for the curious 
growth of aviolet leaf from your garden. The stipulate, or 
flattened part of the leaf-stalk, is apparently unusually en- 
larged through the attacks of a fungus. 

C.S. Warson (Donegal).—Many thanks for your very kind 
offer of articles, but at present we have so many on hand that 
it is impossible to undertake the responsibility. 

James Murray (Whitehaven).—One of the best catalogues 
of plants on the flora of Cumberland, etc., is contained in the 
late Miss Martineau’s ‘‘ Guide to the English Lakes.” Doubt- 
less you will get the best and readiest information by applying 
to the Hon. Sec. of the Cumberland Association for the 
Advancement of Science, Keswick. 


EXCHANGES. 


MacniricenT triple lantern by Steward, together with 
microscopic attachment, two aphengescopes, etc. Will take 
part exchange in electric apparatus, telescope, or working 
models of engines. For full particulars—Lyddm, West Park, 
Clifton, Bristol. 

WantTeD, Sciencz-Gossip for 1873 and 1874.—T. A. Pear- 
son, The Willows, Milnrow, near Rochdale. 

WANTED, Succinea oblonga, Acicula lineata, Helix car- 
tusiana, Zonites excavatus, Bulimus obscurus, Helix ter- 
vestris. Good exchange in British or foreign shells.—Mrs. 
Carphin, x Lauriston Park, Edinburgh. 

An Andrew Ross + objective, in perfect order. Will ex- 
change for a + Ross, Swift, or Powell and Leland. What offers? 
Address—Vicar, St. Stephen’s, South Lambeth, S.W. , 

OrrErRED, L. C., 8th ed., over a hundred duplicates, in- 
cluding 45, 76c, 121, 144, 163, 186, 254, 280, 283, 571, 621, 646, 
691, 784, 807, 829, 1107, 1237, 11550, 1215, 1414, 1434, 15770, 
1592, 1595, 1697,1777. Lists exchanged. Wanted, rare British 
phanerogams and mosses.—Miss E. Armitage, Dadnor, Ross. 

Dupuicates.—P. voseum, P. fontinale, vars. cinerea, pul- 
chella, and henslowana, P. pusillum, P. nitidum. Deside- 
rata, S. ovale and H. asfersa, var. exalbida. None but 
specimens thoroughly cleaned and in good condition offered or 
wanted.—Charles Oldham, Ashton-on-Mersey. 3 

One dozen good, large, and perfect carboniferous fossils 
given in exchange for one good specimen of any of the follow- 
ing varieties of silica: aventurine quartz, citrine, liver-opal, 
float stone, moss agate, prase, ribbon jasper, sardonyx.—P. J. 
Roberts, 11 Back Ash Street, Bacup. 


284 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP 


Miocene plants from (Eningen, in collections of 20 to 200 
species, offered in exchange for fossil plants from other locali- 
oer? Schenk, Naturalist, Ramsen (Schaffhausen), Switzer- 
and. 

FoRAMINIFEROUS sand (miocene) from New Zealand offered 
for other foraminiferous deposits.—R. Haeusler, Aarburg, 
Switzerland. 

OFFERED, 175 birds’ eggs, sixty-four species, including many 
rare species, Wanted, microscope, field-glass, or entomological 
specimens.—W, Roseburgh, 54 Market Street, Galashiels. 

WANTED, micro. mounts of the different alcoholic ferments, 
or offers of unmounted material.—T. B., Conservative Club, 
Hinckley. 

OFFERED, Pecten similis. Wanted, British marine shells 
not in collection,—James Simpson, 6 North St. Andrew Street, 
Aberdeen. 

WANTED, a good coal section, also slides of Distoma he- 
paticum. Will give good exchange in other slides.—Geo. 
Parish, 124 Kingston Road, Oxford. 

SPECTROSCOPE or micro. spectroscope wanted. Offered, 
“Carpenter on the Microscope” (1881), and large quantity of 
scientific and engineering books, with a Beck’s Star Micro- 
scope.—Dr. Taylor, 26 Marchmont Street, London. 

Quantity of lepidoptera, shells, and fossils, duplicates from 
own collection, to exchange for others, or for war medals and 
decorations, or masonic festival jewels—Frederick Stanley, 
M.C.S., Margate. 

I HAVE several nice pieces of coral (brainstone, branching, 
mushroom, red organ-pipe) to exchange for fossils:—Thomas 
W. Reader, 171 Hemingford Road, London, N. 

Dvurricates.—Rhamni, edusa, paphia, var. valezina, adippe, 
Atalanta, Sibylla, Galathea, Semele, Adonis, Corydon, Jacobza, 
hirtaria, perla, etc.; also foreign butterflies. Desiderata, 
other lepidoptera or offers.—A. H. Shepherd, 81 Corinne Road, 
Tufnell Park, London. 

WANTED, entomological apparatus and microscopical acces- 
sories in exchange for insects, reptiles, or microscopic animals 
from here.—F. W. Urich, Trinidad, B.W.1. 

Acme lineata, var. alba, Vertigo antivertigo, V. substriata, 
V. alpestris, V. pygmaa, V, pusilla, V. angustior, Pupa 
vingens, Helix pygm@a, and other rare shells offered in ex- 
change for Limn@a involuta, Succinea oblonga, and Helix 
olvoluta,—A. Hartley, 14 Croft Street, Idle, near Bradford, 
Yorkshire. 

OFFERED, rare birds’ eggs, corals, case of sponges and 
gorgonias, and two charts of fossils. Desiderata, eggs, books, 
good modern atlas, or aneroid barometer.—Jas. Ellison, Stecton, 
Keighley. 

WantTeEp, Cambrian, gault, and Jurassic fossils, also magic- 
lantern slides. Offered, Cornish rocks and minerals.—W. 
Holver, British Schools, Truro. 

WANTED, named and localised specimens of fossils from the 
Cambrian, Devonian, and Old Red Sandstone, carboniferous, 
permian, triassic, jurassic (oolites and lias); also the rarer 
minerals, and latest edition of Lyell’s ‘‘ Principles of Geology,” 
and British Coleoptera.—Dr. J. Beecham Mayor, Heaton 
Chapel, Manchester. 

WanTED, Cox’s ‘‘ Handbook of British Coleoptera.” Ex- 
change glass-topped and store-boxes, etc—C. Coles, 6x Bar- 
rington Road, Brixton, S.W. 

Dueticatss for exchange, L. C., 8th ed. :—41, 97, 116, 120, 
155) 273» 369, 383, 394, 395, 402, 633, 652, 824, 5360, 876, 885, 
898, 965, 1034, 1061, 1075, I100, 1134, 1147, 1156, 1197,, 1201, 
1238, 1240, 1383, 1547, 1563, 1571, 1572. 1610, 1628, 1629, 1643, 
1645, 1654, 1660, 1661, 1662, 1675, 1685, 1699, 1737. Deside- 
rata many, especially local Scotch and Irish.—A. H. Wolley 
Dod, 31 Nightingale Place, Woolwich. 

LeriporprERA. — Lutosa, phragmitidis, gothica, petisitis, 
gemina, thalacina, and bacilina, and a few others, all good and 
perfect, in exchange for other moths or butterflies.—F. 
Womersley, 22 Bewsey Road, Warrington. 

Science-Gossip for 1883-84 wanted, bound or unbound.— 
Mr. S. S. Platt, C.E., King Street South, Rochdale. 

OFFERED, “‘ Insect Variety,” “ Knowledge” for 1890 (pub- 
lisher’s binding), also for 1891 and 1892, unbound. Wanted, 
Goebel’s “‘ Botany,” Newman’s *‘ Moths,’”’ Saunders’ “‘ British 
Birds,” or works on chemistry or botany of recent date.—G. A. 
Mitchell, 109 Forth Street, Glasgow. < 

WanTED, lists of desiderata and duplicate specimens in 
British mosses, for the purpose of mutual exchange.—E. J. 
Elliott, Middle Street, Stroud, Glos. 

Dup.icates.—S. populi, dispar, ¥acobea, caja (large), Chi. 
menthrasta, P. vaurium, L. manacha, P. gamma, A. 
Cynthia, adippe, Atalanta, cardui, janira, phiacas, warus, 
and a lot of others, for shells, insects, etc., not in collection.— 
W. Turnbull, 1 Horne Terrace, Edinburgh. 

WantTeED, fronds of common ferns, and common land and 
freshwater shells in quantities. Insects, etc., in exchange.— 
S. L. Mosley, Beaumont Park, Huddersfield. 

A FOUR-DRAWER egg-cabinet, containing a small collection 
of English gulls’ and wild birds’ eggs, in exchange for foreign 
coins or stamps.—Dr. Waters, 21 Westbourne Park Road, 
Bayswater, London. 

BEETLES.—Will exchange Australian queen beetles for 
Aromia moschata, Cetonia aurata, Trichius fasciatus, Lu- 


canus cervas, Cicindela campestris, Typheus vulgaris, or 
others.—John M. Whitehead, Albert Place, Galashiels, N.b. 

Wuat offers for a number of guides and text-books for the 
London Matric. Exam., also several books on photography ?— 
Parritt, 8 Whitehall Park, Hornsey Rise, N. 

Wuar offers in exchange for twenty years’ SclENcE-GossIP, 
all complete, many bound in half-calf, all clean?—A. Draper, 
Cemetery Road, Sheffield. 

OFFERED, three Looloo Islanders’ grass dresses. Would 
take history or science books in exchange.—Arthur J. Marks. 
17 Gresley Road, Hornsey Lane, N. ' 

WanTED, good botanical, geological, and other microscopic 
slides; also wanted, rare British shells and silver coins (old 
issues). Return made in shells, rare unmounted microscopic 
objects, etc.—T. E. Sclater, Natural History Stores, Teign- 
mouth. 

Tokens of the following places wanted: Newcastle-on- 
Tyne, Durham, Darlington, S. Shields, Stockton, Bewick 
Main Colly, and others issued from North of England. Also 
rare birds’ eggs, foreign land and marine shells, and corals. 
Can offer in exchange foreign stamps and coins.—J. S. Wood, 
Walker Gate, Northumberland. be 

OFFERED, Sowerby’s ‘‘Conchological Manual” (4th edition, 
29 plates), and Wood’s ‘‘Field Naturalists’ Handbook.” | 
Wanted, good works on conchology, or rare foreign shells notin 
collection —J. E. Cooper, 93 Southwood Lane, Highgate, 
London, N. , is 

WanTeED, the two volumes of Claus and Sidgwick’s 
“Zoology” (English). Can offer in exchange a large series 
of first-class marine microscopical slides.—S. C., Post Office, 
Lower Tottenham. 

CassELv’s “Cathedrals, Abbeys, and Churches of England 
and Wales,” complete in thirty 7d. parts; quite new. What 
offers in foreign shells?7—F. C. Long, 32 Woodbine Road, 
Burnley, Lancs. 4 

Mr. Louis Grraux, 22 Rue Saint Blaise, Paris, offers 
several hundreds of species of fossils, well named, of, Parisian 
tertiary beds, presented by very fine samples. He will accept 
in exchange fossils, shells, and postage stamps. Forward lists 
ofexchange. French and English correspondence. 


BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE. 


“The Victorian Naturalist.”—‘ British Fungus-Flora.”— 
“The Electric Light.”—‘‘ The Entomologists’ Record” (Lon- 
don: Elliot Stock).—‘‘Population and Social Reform,” by 
Harry Roberts (London: R. Forder, 28 Stonecutter Street).— 
“The Beauties of Nature,” by the Right Hon. Sir John 
Lubbock, Bart., M.P. (London: Macmillan & Co.).— The 
American Monthly Microscopical Journal” (Chas. W. Smiley, 
publisher, Washington).—‘‘’The Microscope” (The Micro- 
scopical Publishing Co.).—‘‘ Journal of the Royal Microscopical 
Society” (London and Edinburgh: Williams & Norgate).— 
“ Castorologia,’”’ by Horace T. Martin, F.Z.S., etc. (London: 
Edward Stanford).—‘‘ The Botanical Gazette” (Bloomington, 
Indiana).—‘The Gentleman’s Magazine” (London: Chatto 
& Windus).—‘‘The Great World’s Farm,” by Selina Gaye 
(London: Seeley & Co.).—‘‘ Natural Science.”—“‘ Feuille des 
Jeunes Naturalistes” (November number ).—‘‘ The Naturalist’ 
(London: Reeve & Co.).—‘‘ The Entomologist” (London: 
West, Newman & Co.).—‘‘ The Midland Naturalist” (London : 
Simpkin & Marshall).—‘‘Trinidad Field Naturalists’ Club” 
(October number).—‘‘ Nature Notes” (London: H. Sotheran 
& Co.).—Geological Magazine” (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 
Triibner & Co.).—Strange Survivals,” by S. Baring Gould, 
M.A. (London: Methuen & Co.)—‘‘ Catalogue of Eastern and 
Australian Lepidoptera Heterocera,” by Colonel C. Swinhoe, 
F.L.S., F.Z.S., etc. (Oxford: Clarendon Press).—“‘ Finger 
Prints,” by F. Galton, F.R.S. etc. (London: Macmillan & 
Co.).—‘‘ British New Guinea,” by J. P. Thomson—“The 
History of Creation,” from the German of Ernest Heckel, 
translated by E. Ray Lankester, M.A., LL.D., etc. (London: 
Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co.).—‘‘ Ancient History: 
from the Monuments—Sinai,” by the late Henry Spencer 
Palmer (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge), etc , etc. 


CoMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED UP TO THE 11TH ULT. FROM: 
C. A. D.—H. N. H.—J. E. N.—J. T. D.—J. S.—H. P.— 
A. H.S.—G. D.—H. D.—Mrs. C.—J. H. H.—F. S. J. P— 
C. P—L. C. K.—F. M. H.—E. AF. S. L.—C. B: M.— 
T. A. P—A.Y. M. M.—C. S. W.—T. H. B.—O. A. S.— 
J. M. W.—W. H. M.—J. T.—G. W.—F. W. N.—W. I. S— 
Pp. T.—P. S. S.—W. A. B.—R. H. M.—H. W. P.—T. E. S.— 
D. W. B.—S. L. M.—J. M.—F. W.—S. C.—T. W. R.—A. H 
—a. H.S.—F. $.—J. R. H.—Dr. T.—G. P.—J. S.—A. J. A 
—A. A—A. H. W. D.—S. G.—C. C.—W. H.—D. F. B.— 
A. D.—J. E.—J. W. D. K.—W. A. P.—S. S. P.—A. V. M.— 
G.A M.-H. E. C—W. T.—E. J. E.—J. S. W.—A. J. M.— 
J. S—M. D. H. A—P. J. R—W. R-T. B—C. O.— 
A. G. W.—F. T.—C, ©. DENA. M=L, Gh Gar 
J.E. C—H. E. G—I. E. P—R. A. C—D. T—T. W. S.— 
REST Sue 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 


285 


DBO TO) ADIL, DOWIE 


ABNORMAL ORCHID FLOWERS, 21, 22 

Actinophryans, Some stalked, r24 

Agave, The Mexican, 141 

Albino Flowers, 215 

Algerian Insect, Query as to, 262 

American Aloe, 118, 143 

Animal Plagues, 265 

Animated Oats, 23 

Annual Report of the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution, 80 

Ants, Murder of a Spider by, 165 

Aphides and their Monuments, 14r 


Approaching Extinction of the Lapwing, 


79, 89 
Archzology, Relation of Geology to, 189 


Banks, FLORA OF THE, 153 

Bee, Constancy of, 98 

Bees’ Nest in a Block of Stone, 71 

Birds, Protection of, 162 

Blackheath, On the Popular Tradition 
that Coal exists under, 180 


Bog Flowers, Two, 103 

Botanical Excursion in Switzerland, 193, 
194 

Botanist’s Holiday in the Pyrenees, 130 

Botany, 116, 188, 280 

British Flora, Notes on the Additions to 


the, 141, 163 
Brown Hairstreak and Clouded Yellow, 
238 
Bullets, Photographing Flying, 166 
Butcher’s Broom, 117 
Butterflies in North France, 113 
Butterflies, European, 118 


Canapa Batsam, Use oF A SUBSTITUTE | 
FOR, 236, 260 

Casual and Alien Plants, 275 

Caterpillars in Epping Forest, Plague of, | 


16r 


Cat, Intelligence of a, 165 

Cats and Hens, Strange Conduct of, 165 

Chelonia caja, Notes and Observations 
on; 10 

Chichester, Supposed Breeding of the 
Scoter near, 21 

Cinnabar Moth, 212, 236 

Cladocera, Males of, 20 

Clausilia with Two Apertures, zr 


Cleaning Slides, 20 


Climbing Hermit Crabs, 165 
Clouded Yellow and Brown Hairstreak, 
* 238, 243, 269 

Clover and Rare Plants, Sporting, 22 

Colouration of Flowers, 45 

Colouration of the Rose, Violet, and Butter- 
cup, 217 

Colouring of Flowers, 22 

Communications Received, 24, 48, 72, 96 
120, 144, 168, 192, 216, 240, 264, 284 

Constancy of the Bee, 98 


| Contributions towards a List of the Mol- 


lusca of Herefordshire, 77 

Copper and German Silver Wire, 254 

Coronilla varia, 237) 

Correct Identification of Deep-Sea Sound- 
ings, 92 

Correspondence, 24, 47, 71, 95, 119, 143, 
167, 191, 215, 239, 263, 283 

Crocus, Peculiar, 117 

Cuckoo in Confinement, 71 

Cuckoo, Notes on the, 19r 

Curiosities of Worm Life, 108, 161 


| Curious Growth of Fungi, 22 


Daisy, HEN-AND-CHICKENS, 163 
Death of the American Aloe, 70 


| Deep-Sea Soundings, Correct Identifica- 


tion of, 92 

Delagoa Bay, its Natives and Natural 
History, 41 

Diatomist, 2€0 

Diseases of the Primrose Family, gr 

Dog as Station-Master, go 

Double-Flowered Dahlia, 237 

Double Mouths, Shells with, 2 

Dragon-flies, Some Famous Collecting- 
Grounds for, 17, 18, 65, 70, 97, 128, 154, 
178, 204 

Dragon-flies, Preserving, 239 

Dragon-fly Names, Notes on British, 206 


EARTHWORMS OF MIDDLESEX, 194, 195, 
196 

East Anglia, probable Coal-Fields of 25, 
26, 27, 142 

Edible Fungi: How to distinguish them, 
and How to cook them, 4r 

Edwards’ ‘‘ Reptiles,” 23 

Eggs of Insects, 228, 229, 230, 231 

Electrical Transmission of Energy, 215 


Electrical Water-Power, 215 

Electricity verszs Caterpillars, 190 

Endemic Features of the British Slug 
Fauna, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259 

Essex Naturalist, 237 

European Butterflies, 29, 30, 31, 
118 

Exchanges, 23, 24, 47, 71, 90, 120, 144, 
168, 192, 216, 239, 264 

Exchange Column, 262 


32 


» 71; 


Excursion in Switzerland, 193,194 
Experimental Section of Hydra, 155 
Extinction of the Great Sea-Serpent, 1 
Extinction of the Lapwing, 95, 115 


FALL OF THE LEAF IN TREES, 116 

Fatal Fly-Sting, 190 

Feathered Creatures, 19 

Feet of Flies, The Secreting Glands in the, 
162 

Fertilization of Orchids without Pollen, 
241 

| Few Remarks upon Vegetable Teratology, 
154 

Flora of the Banks, 152 

Floral Monstrosities, 19¢ 

Fly-Sting, Fatal, 190 

Fogs, 143 

Fusus Turtont, 212 


GALLINACEOUS QUAIL, 26 

Genus Orobanche in Great Britain, 213 

Geological History, Somersetshire Sand- 
Tots, 75 

Geological Society of Glasgow, 117 

Geologists’ Association, 94 

Geology, 45, 69, 91, 117, 142, 163, 188, 237, 
261, 281 

Geology of Barbadoes, 45 

Geology of London, 25 

Glasgow, Geological Society of, 117 

Gold Fish, 46, 66 

Grapta C. album in North Wales, 26 


| Ground Upheaval, 190 


Hasits or a Mason Wasp, 196 
Hastings, Notes on the Site of, 32 
Helix arbustorum, New Variety of, 187 
Hen-and-Chickens Daisy, 163 


Hepatic, Preserving, 142 
| Hermit-Crabs, Climbing, 155 


286 


HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Hibernants and Migrants, 47 

Hollinwood, Botanist’s Garden, 214 

Holly, Prickly, 116 

How to mount Tongue of Moth or Butter- 
fly, 44 

Human Blood-Worm, 11 

Humours of Fossil-Hunting, 53 

Hydra, Experimental Section of, 155 


IcICLES FORMED FROM ExuDING TREE- 
Sap, 118 

Improved Arc-Lamps, 215 

Indian Toads, 140 

Infusoria, Notes on, 99, 135,-147, 172, 231, 
232, 233 

Insects, Eggs of, 228, 229, 230, 231 

Insects Injurious to Forest and Shade 
Trees, 80 

Intelligence of a Cat, 165 

Intelligence of Monkeys, 263 

Invertebrata, Physiology of, 202 

Is our British Climate Changing? rat 

Ivoryine Tablets, 116 


Jamaica, BUTTERFLIES OF, 20 
Journal of Royal Microscopical Society, 
44, 187 


KINGFISHERS AND THE MayF Ly, 165 


Lamp, A New Microscopical, 113 

Lancashire Naturalist, 169 

Landscape Scenery, 90 

Lapwing, Approaching Extinction of, 7o, 
89, 115 

Larks, Barbaric Slaughter of, 171 

Late Swifts, 23 

Legs of Moths, 140 

Lepidoptera in 1891, 118 

Limpets’ Adhesive Power, 262 

Listera ovata (Monstrosity), 215 

Liverpool Naturalists’ Club, 163 


MA ee Hens, 239 

Males of Cladocera, 20 

Malformation of Periwinkle, 116 

Malta, Reminiscence of, 105 

Maltese Islands, The Sirocco as a Disinte- 
grating Agent, with Special Reference 
to its Effect on the Strata of, 7, 8, 9, 10 

Manx Plants, Notes on, 109 

Marine Shells of South Africa, 203 

Marsh Garden, 95 

Mason’s Projection Microscope, 212, 236 

Mayfly, Kingfishers and the, 166 

Medical Annual and Practitioner’s Index, 
8x 

Mendip Valley, 208 

Metal Veins, Origin of, 19: 

Meteoric Dust, 2or 

Mexican Agave, 141 

Mice and Owls, 262 ) 

Micro-Photographic Camera, Tylar’s, 113 

Microscope, Mason’s Projection, 212, 236 


Substitute for 
Covers and Slides for, 236 

Microscopic Pond Life in Winter, 115 

Microscopy, 20, 44, 90, 113, 160, 187, 211, 
212, 235, 230, 260, 279 


Microscope, Glass, for 


Middlesex Earthworms, 194, 195, 196 

Migrants and Hibernants, 47 

Minute Arcellez, 153 

Mollusca Glossophora, Schematism of 
Shells in, 127 

Monsters, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65 

More about Hastings, 69 

Morphological Notes on the Ranuncu- 
lacez, 188 

Moss-Haunting Rotifers, with Description 
of Two New Species, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 
61 

Moths and Sallows, 21, 270 

Moths, Legs of, 140 

Mounting Butterflies’ Probosces, 20 

Murder of a Spider by Ants, 165 

Mymaridz, 176, 236 


Nasturtium Sylvestre, Br. 213 

Natural History, Magazine of General, 41 

Natural History of Bedford Park, 187 

Natural History Postages, 67, 68, 69 

Natural History Rambles on the S.E. 
Coast of England, 54, 55, 56 

Natural History Specimens by Sample 
Post, 118 

Natural Phenomenon—Fireballs at the 
Cape, 119 

Natural Phenomena, To the Curious 
Observers of, 164 

Naturalist in La Plata, 203 

Neo-Darwinism, 39, 40, 41, 118 

Neolithic Implements, 261 

Nest in a Postal Store, 213 

Nest of White Blackbirds, 19x 

New British Worm, 116, 242, 243 

New Microscopical Lamp, 113 

New Slides, 20 

New Variety of Helix arbustorum, 187 

New Zealand Bumble-Bees and Clover, 
162 

News of the Universe, 1712 

North Kent Natural History Society, 164 

North Staffordshire Naturalists’ Field 
Club, 238 

Notes and Observations on Chelonia caja, 
Io, 11 

Notes and Queries, 22, 46, 70, 78, 94, 95, 
118, 143, 164, 190, 213, 238, 239, 261, 282 

Notes on Aldeburgh, 214 

Notes on Amceba and Infusoria, 52, 53, 
8x, 82 

Notes on Manx Plants, 109 

Notes on Spring Plants in the Gorge-de- 
Chauderon, Montreux, 246, 247 

No:es on the Addition to the British Flora, 
I4t 

Notes on the British Dragon-fly Names, 
205, 207, 208 


Notes on the Genus Distyla, class Roti- 
fera, 15, 16 
Notes on the Infusoria, 99, 135, 147, 172> 
231, 232, 233 
Notes on the Parasitic Tendency of Roti- 
fers of the Genus Proales, with an 
Account of a New Species, 219, 220, 221 
Notes on the site of Hastings, 32, 33, 34> 
35 
Notes on Trees, 91, 92 
Notes on New Books :— 
Air and Water, 80 
Amid Nature’s Realms, 247 
Annals of British Geology (1890), 42 
Annual Report of Smithsonian Institu- 
tion, vols. (1887-89), 80 
Art of Modelling in Clay and Wax, 249 
Beneath Helvellyn’s Shade, 249 
British Edible Fungi: How to distin- 
guish them, and How to cook them, 
40 
British Fungi: Phycomycetes and 
Ustilaginz, 41 
*Colour-Blindness and Colour-Perception, 
42 
Cyclopedia of Nature Teachings, 42 
Delagoa Bay, its Natives and Natural 
History, 41 
Experimental Evolution, 247 
Farmyard Manure, its Nature, Compo- 
sition, and Treatment, 147 
Fauna and Flora of Gloucestershire, 247 
Fifth Report of the United States Ento- 
mological Commission on Insects Inju- 
rious to Forest and Shade Trees, 80 
Geodesy, 42 
Handbook for Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, 
and Cambridgeshire, 249 
Horse: a Study in Natural History, 79 
Handbook to the Geology of Derby- 
shire, 42 
Island Life, 147 
Laboratory Practice: a Series of Ex- 
periments on the Fundamental Prin- 
ciples of Chemistry, 147 
Manipulation of the Microscope, 79 
Marine Shells of South Africa, 203 
Mendip Valley, 203 
Mineralogy, 147 
Missouri, Third Annual Report of the 
Botanical Garden (St.. Louis, Mo., 
published by the Board of Trustees) 
247 
Medical Annual and Practitioner’s Index, 
8r 
Moral Teachings of Science, 42 
Naturalist in La Plata, 203 
On the Modification of Organisms, 147 
Optics of Photography and Photographic 
Lenses, 80 
Physical Geology and Geography of 
Ireland, 42 
Physiology of the Invertebrata, 202 
Plant World, 42. 


da 


HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


287 


Notes on New Books (continued) :— 
Primer of the Art of Massage, 249 
Realm of Nature, an Outline of Physio- 
graphy, 79 

Report of the Smithsonian Institute, 
1890, 248 

Starry Realms, 202 

Study of Animal Life, 203 

Systematic List of British Olizocene 
and Eocene Mollusca in the British 
Museum of Natural History, 80 

Tenth Annual Report of the United 
States’ Geological Survey, 80 

Theoretical Mechanics, 
Stage, 147 

Wood-Carving, with Suggestions on 
Chip-Carving, 249 


Elementary 


Oats, ANIMATED, 23 

OBITUARY :— 5 
Sir George B. Airy, 42 
Professor Quatrefages, 44 
Mr. Henry Walter Bates, F.R.S., 87 
Professor Thomas Sterry Hunt, 87 
Professor James Thompson, 160 

Observations on Phallus impudicus, 16,17 

Observations on the Habits of a Mason 
Wasp, 196, 197, 198 

Observations on the Primulacez, 225, 226 

On Some Moss-Dwelling Cathvpnadz, 
with Descriptions of Five New Species, 

On ou Future Supplies of Energy, 2o1, 
202 

On the Underground Geology of London, 
251, 252, 253 

Orchid Flowers, Abnormal, 21, 22 

Orchids without Pollen, Fertilization of, 
241, 242 

Origin of Metal Veins, 191 

Ornithopus roseus, 69 

Owls and Mice, 262 


PAPERS ON FLINTS, 47, 70 

Parasite Tendency of Rotifers, 219 

Peculiar Crocus, 117 

Penzance, Natural History of, 237 

Periwinkle, Malformation of, 116 

Phallus impudicus, Observations on, 16 

Photographing Flying Bullets, 166 

Photography, and Photograpic Lenses, 80 

Physiology of the Invertebrata, 202 

Pinastri sphinz, 260 

Pine Marten, 161 

Piphila casei, 143 

Plague of Caterpillars in Epping Forest, 
161 

Plague of Flies, 23 

Pond Life Studies, 221, 244, 251, 267 

Pond Life in Winter, Microscopical, 115 

Possible Coal-Fields in East Anglia, 25 

Practical Botanical Queries, 128 

Practitioner’s Index, 8x 

Preservation of Sea-Urchins, 261 


Preserving Dragon-flies, 239 

Preserving Hepatice, 142 

Preserving the Epidermis of Shells, 212 
Prickly Holly, 116 

Primrose Family, Diseases of, gr 
Probable Coal-Fields of East Anglia, 142 
Protection of Birds, 162 

Provident Field-Mouse, 71 

Pyrenees, Botanical Holiday in the, 130, 


150 


QuEKeEtT CtivB, go, 160 
Query as to an Algerian Insect, 262 


RANUNCULACE®, MORPHOLOGICAL NOTES 
ON THE, 188 

Red Mountains of Sutherland, 189 

Relation of Geclogy to Archzology, 189 

Remarkable Specimen of Tway-Blade, 165, 
261 

Reminiscence of Malta, 105 

Reptiles, Edwards’, 23 

Res Fudicate, 202 

Resting, 215 

Restoration of Slides attacked by Fungus 
Growths, 211, 212 

Rhizopods, Rossendale, 28 

Rhizome and Allied Forms, 217, 218 

Rival to the Toad in the Rock, 261, 262 

Rose, the Violet, and the Buttercup, 
Colouration of the, 217, 218 

Rossendale Rhizopods, 28, 29, 129 

Rotifera, Notes on the Genus Distyla, 
Class, 15, 16 

Royal Microscopical Society, rg90, 236 


SALLows AND MOTHS, 21, 270 

Sand Markings, 237, 238 

Sandpipers, Siberian, 237 

Saugor, Scum at the Pilot-Station, 90 

Schematism of Shells in Mollusca Glosso- 
phora, 127 

Science-Gossip, 18, 19, 20, 42, 67, 87, 88, 
89, 112, 138, 157, 184, 208, 209, 210, 2rI, 
233, 234, 235, 259, 260, 276 

Scum at the Pilot Station, Saugor, go 

Sea-Serpent, The Extinction of the Great, 
I 

Sea-Spinach, 143 

Sea-Urchins, Preservation of, 261 

Seaford, Recreative and Scientific, 145 

Secreting Glands in the Feet of Flies, 85, 
86, 87 

Sectionising Hydra viridis, 187 

Sexual Selection, 238, 271 

Shells with Double Mouths, 21 

Shells of South Africa, Marine, 203 

Shells, Preserving the Epidermis of, 212 

Shells of Stourport, 226, 227, 228 

Siberian Sandpiper , 237 

Silloth in August, 14, 15 

Singular Beak of Fowl, 116 

Sirocco as a Disintegrating Agent, with 


Special Reference to its Effect on the 
Strata of the Maltese Islands, 7, 8, 9, ro 

Slug Fauna, Endemic Features of the 
British, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259 

Slug, Variegated, 263 

Smithsonian Institution, Annual Reports, 
80 

Snake-Stone, 70 

Solar Year, 23, 46, 7r 

Some Famous Collecting-Grounds for 
Dragon-flies, 17, 18, 65, 66, 70, 97, 128, 
154, 178 

Some Stalked Actinophryans, 124 

Somersetshire Sand-Tots, their Geologi- 
cal History, 75, 76, 77 

Song of the Wagtail, 46 

Sparrows attacking:Goldfinches, r9r 

Varieties, etc., described or 
observed in Great Britain and Ireland 
since the Publication of Babington’s 
**Manual,” Ed. 8, (x88r), and Hooker’s 
“*Student’s Flora,” Ed. 3, (1854), 198, 
199, 200, 201, 223, 224 

“Sphinx Pinastri,” 260, 261 


Species, 


Spontaneous Combustion, 167 

‘* Sporting ” Clover and Rare Plants, 22 

Starry Realms, 202 

Stammering and Stuttering, 269 

Stockport Naturalists at the Isle of 
Man, 166 

Strange Conduct of Cats and Hens, 165 

Strange Site for a Robin’s Nest, 166 

Studies, Pond-life, 26 

Study of Animal Life, 203 

Sun’s Reflection in Still Water, 143 

Supplementary Report upon the Tes- 
taceous Mollusca, 260 

Supplies of Energy, On our Future, 
201-202 

Supposed Breeding of the Scoter in 
Chichester, 21 

Sussex, Worm-Hunting in, r22 

Sutherland, Red Mountains of, 189 

Swan’s Feat, 70 

Swifts, Late, 23 

Systematic List of British Oligocene and 
Eocene Mollusca in the British Museum 
of Natural History, 80 


TANGANYIKA; ELEVEN YEARS IN CEN- 
TRAL AFRICA, 202 

Tenth Annual Report of the United States’ 
Geological Survey, 1888, 1889, p. 80 

Termites, 213 

Testaceous Mollusca, Supplementary Re- 
port upon, 260 

Toad in the Rock, Rival to, 262, 262 

Toad Spawn, 23 

Toads, Indian, 140 

To the Vineyards and the Play, 4, 5, 6, 7 

Trees, Notes on, 91, 92 

Tree-sap, Icicles from Exuding, 118 

Tway-Blade, Remarkable Specimen of, 
188, 261 


288 


HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP., 


Two Bog Flowers, 103 
Two New Species, 
Rotifers, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 6x 


Moss-Haunting 


UNDERGROUND CIRCULATION OF WATER, 
163 

Unknown Insect, 214, 250 

Use of a Substitute for Canada Balsam, 
236 


Var. OF L, OVATA, 213 
Variegated Slug, 263 

Vars. of Hart’s-Tongue Fern, 239 
Vegetable Caterpillar, 212, 213 


Vegetable Teratology, 213 

Vegetable Teratology, Few Remarks on, 
154 

Vertigo pusilla in Lancashire, 143 

Vineyard and the Play, 4, 5, 6, 7 

Vole Plague, 166 


WATER AND AIR, 80 

Water, Underground Circulation of, 163 
Watson’s Illustrated Catalogue, 113 
West Indian Geology, 164 

“ What Offers,” 95 

White Blackbirds, Nest of, 191 

White Butterfly, Black Veined, 21 


White Cockatoo, Yellow Crested, 45 

White Flower Question, 94 

Wild Duck's Nest, 169 

Woodland Wanderers, or the Mycetozoa, 
251, 252 

Worm-Hunting in Sussex, 122 

Worm-Life, Curiosities of, 108, 161 


| Worm, New British, 116 


YELLOW ARCHANGEL, 182 
Yellow-Crested White Cockatoo, 45 


ZOOLOGY, 20, 45, 67, 89, 115, 140, 161, 187, 
212, 280 


LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. 


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