SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR VOL. V.
ARE NOW DUE.

nett

pe Da
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New SERIEs. VoL. V. No. 52. SEPT., 1898.

A
SCIENCE-GOSSIP cat
Pos

An Illustrated Monthly Record of

NATURE, COUNTRY-LORE

AND

APPLIED SCIENCE

EDITED BY

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SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

97

CURIOUS GROWTH OF TREES:

JN FEW days since, my young friend, J. C. Trigg,

with whom I was wandering through Ashley
Park, near Walton, in Surrey, pointed out to mea
curious freak of nature in connection with the two

a

Re Ee hme.

should not have been so much surprised had it
looked as if the bark of the oak had grown round
the branch of the other tree through contact ; but
there is no sign of any seam. Anyone looking at

Ree pF na

Curious GROWTH OF TREES.

trees of which I send a pencil sketch taken by
myself on the spot. The tree to the left, marked bd
in one or two places, is an oak, while the other (a)
is a hornbeam. A large bough of the latter has
grown through the oak and come out on the other
side in two places, as shown in the drawing. I

SEPTEMBER, 1898.—No. 52, Vol. V. E

it from the left would suppose that some of its
branches bear oak-leaves and others hornbeam.
I understand that there is a second very similar
instance in another part of the park.

W. J. Lucas, B.A.

Kingston-on-Thames.

98

THE SHEVES JOE LEE Ish. O
By LIONEL E.

fetes fauna and flora of any island always have a

particular interest; and the Isle of Man, so
easy of access, has a special claim for attention
in being a link in the now broken chain of land
between Britain and Ireland. Whether it was
formerly a link, or always an island in the great
lake now forming the Irish Sea, is an unsettled
question. It is not, however, the object of this
paper to deal with the many problems which the
island affords, but to treat briefly of the molluscan
fauna. No mention of the natural history of Man
can be complete without the mention of Edward
Forbes, the distinguished naturalist, who worked
theisland so thoroughly. His ‘‘ Fauna Monensis,”’
published in 1838, contains the first catalogue we
have of the shells of the island. Of course,
numerous additions have been made to this, which
will be alluded to; but it is noteworthy that several
of his localities hold true at the present day.

It is only within recent years that systematic
conchology has taken its place as a recognized
popular science. I say systematic, for the custom
of picking up shells on the sea-shore dates back
to antiquity. Most people have had the experience
of an unsystematic collection, consisting of all
the shells to be found on the sea-beach—poor
weather-beaten specimens, too disreputable for
their native element to have any further connec-
tion with. Then, after trying to separate them into
specific heaps, the would-be collector comes to the
conclusion that there are only some half-dozen
sorts to be found, and gives up collecting as a
failure. Yet a very slight acquaintance with the
habits of the fascinating sub-kingdom, the Mollusca,
would enable the most casual observer to find the
objects of his desire where otherwise he would not
have thought of seeking. The mere collecting of
shells and admiring them when labelled and
placed under glass in a cabinet is, of course, worth
living for; but to watch the living animals moving
about more than doubles the previous interest in
the shells themselves. Granted this slight know-
ledge of the habits of the Mollusca, it is rare that
shell-collecting, whether by sea, river, ponds or
land, does not become a passion.

MaRINE SHELLS.

First, to speak of the stores of the ocean. As
might be expected, we find differently constituted
beings under different conditions, and therefore,
according to the depth of water, or the occasional
exposure to the air, we find different sorts of
inhabitants. The naturalist Risso has marked off
four conventional zones of depth as follows:

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

MAN.

ADAMS, B.A,

(1) The LitroraL Zone, which includes that
portion of the coast between high- and low-water
mark.

(2) The LamiInaRIAN ZONE, which extends from
low-water mark to the depth of ten fathoms.

(3) The CoraLLinE Zone, from ten to twenty
fathoms.

(4) The Drep-SEA Zone, including all depths
greater than fifty fathoms.

The first of these, the littoral zone, furnishes
all those shells found on sand and among the rock
pools at low water—the limpet tribe, the winklet
and the larger bivalves. To the ordinary collector
this is the most important zone, since it is the
most accessible. For deep water the best possible
means of search is, of course, the dredge. It is
always easy to go out in a trawler or an oyster-
dredger, and specimens obtained in this manner
direct from the sea far surpass in perfection those.
washed up on the beach. There is also a method
which will not at first recommend itself to many,
but which is productive of excellent results. This
is to examine the stomachs of cod fish, etc., which are
thrown away as refuse when the fish are brought
ashore and cleaned. At the bottoms of the boats,
too, a number of small shells may be found which
have fallen out of the dredges or crab-pots.

Though the dredge is indispensable for obtaining
the deep-water species, the Isle of Man possesses

more really good spots for low-tide collecting than

one usually meets with along the same length of
coast-line. Port Erin is especially suitable for this
work. At low spring-tides, from the Little Harbour
to the further side of the breakwater, the rock-pools
are prolific in Rissoa, Trochus, Skenea and Acmaeca
testudinalis. ‘The shore opposite the Calf of Man is
another good spot. Lutravia and Solen vagina are par-
ticularly fine along the middle of the bay. Savicava
and Mya are plentiful and fine. Near the Stack
Rock, by Port St. Mary, there is a flat ledge of rock
covered with the most splendid Patella vulgata var.
athietica I have ever seen. These are often very
large, deeply coloured inside, and of very irregular
growth. They are frequently deeply encrusted with
nullipore. The holes which they make for them-
selves in this rock are remarkable, the apex of the
shell being often considerably below the level of
the rock.

The low, flat expanse of sand at Ramsey beach
should be visited after a gale. Great quantities of
seaweeds are then washed up, and among their roots
I have often reaped an abundant harvest of the
smaller shells that are only found, as a rule, dead
and weathered on the shore. Pecten pusio may be

SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 99

taken in many strange shapes, and the large
Cyprina islandica comes up in all stages of growth.
Among these roots, as well as in the rock-pools on
other parts of the coast, strange crustaceans with
fascinating shapes are met with; indeed, a very
fairly representative British collection of crabs can
be made round the island.

Thus the collector of land-shells should not omit,
on dry, parched days, to pay a visit to the coast,
and perhaps get bitten with the insidious mania
for marine shells, which is as enslaving as that for
the non-marine.

LAND-SHELLS.

It is more especially to the collector of land and
freshwater shells that I propose to give a few brief
hints as to how he may economize his time at
the Isle of Man. It is a good plan in the island
to radiate round a headquarters, and then fix on
another, so that one’s radiations may be within
a reasonable walk, for cycles are useless over the
hills and field-paths. The best headquarters are
Douglas, Port Erin, Peel and Ramsey.

EXCURSIONS FROM DOUGLAS.

A profitable day might be well spent here in inves-
tigating the streams Dhoo and Glass and the other
small tributaries which finally join above the town.
In this river, not far above the town, Unio margaritifer
was reported to be found, but I never succeeded in
finding it, nor have I come across anyone else who
has been more fortunate. Salea perversa still exists
in Forbes’ old locality on walls round Douglas.
Helix nemovalis and H. hortensis are both common
in the neighbourhood, as indeed they are in most
parts of the island.

EXCURSIONS FROM PORT ERIN.

Between Port Erin and Colby there are, or used to
be, some small plantations in which several of the
Hyaliniae and the smaller Helices may be found. On
the south side of the bay, a small mountain stream
contained some very clean perfect specimens of
the albino form of Ancylus fluviatilis. Helix aspersa,
and H. nemovalis are particularly fine all round
the town. Limax arborum swarms on wet days
all over the stone walls, and on Bradda Head
Avion atey var. albolateralis has been found. As
a rule the heather-covered hills yield nothing
to the conchologist, though butterflies are plentiful.
A pleasant walk over the hill, past the Druids’
circle and the quaint little village of Craignish,
takes one to the Sound, where at low spring tides
many good species of shells may be found in the
rock-pools by the Kitterland. At Craignish, I
remember coming across an old man who could
not speak English, and who, I was informed, had
_ Hever seen a train, though the railway at Port
Erin had been some time in existence. This, how-

ever, waS Many years ago, before the railway ran
to Ramsey, and before the cry of ‘‘ Hi! Kelley!”
was heard in the land. Castletown is within
a walk, though it may be more easily reached by
train, and along the lower slopes of the cliffs down
to the shore Helix acuta and most of its varieties
extend for a mile or two. There is a tiny stream
running into Fleshwick Bay which used to contain
Limnaea peregva within twenty or thirty yards of the
sea. Pupa cylindvacea and Helix rupestris swarm
over the sea walls on the road near Castletown.

EXCURSIONS FROM PEEL.

At Peel, a large Hyalinia, seemingly a form
intermediate between H. cellavia and H. drapar-
naldi, has been found. This should be further
searched for and a larger series examined than has
been hitherto possible. Peel Castle should be
visited on a wet day for slugs and for Helix pulchella.
A sinistral and also a subscalariform specimen of
FH. aspersa were taken near here by Mr. R. Cairns,
of Stalybridge. Mr. Cairns informs me that at
Whitesand, near Peel, Helix itala is common, the
type sparingly, but varieties Jeucozona, lentiginosa,
and the bandless form are common. Here, too,
H. acuta is found plentifully. I do not think the
coast to the north of Whitesand has been properly
explored, but it ought to be fruitful.

EXCURSIONS FROM RAMSEY.

I have never found much in the way of land-
shells on this part of the coast, or indeed on
the eastern side of the island at all; but the
long stretch of sand-dunes extending to Point
of Ayre ought to yield Helix nemoralis and H.
ttala, Many years ago I spent a whole day in
January among the pools on the Curragh, and
took several freshwater species, among which was
Planorbis nautileus var. crista with the most pro-
nounced spines that I have ever seen. It would be
interesting to work this locality again, as when
last I was there a prolonged drought had entirely
dried up every drop of water for some miles.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

Perhaps enough has been said to indicate the
various places which should be searched first.
Afterwards the interior of the island might be
worked; but I think comparatively few species of
Mollusca are to be found there. It is not well
to spoil a collector’s pleasure by indicating too
minutely what may be expected, but a list of the
Manx land and freshwater shells has been published
in the ‘‘Yn Lioar Manninagh,” the organ of the
Natural History and Antiquarian Society. Com-
plete lists of the marine fauna are published in
the Reports of the Liverpool Bay Marine Biological
Committee. The climate is usually perfect, and
some of our party used to bathe in the sea in

E 2

I0O

January, professing to enjoy it, though even at
Easter I have found dredging very cold work,
and on one occasion the frost in January was so
severe that the sea froze in the rock-pools, and
the hills were covered with deep snow, a most
unusual occurrence.

In connection with the wonders of the sea around
the Isle of Man, there is an institution of inestim-
able value to the student, which is not known as
widely as it deserves. I refer to the Biological
Station at Port Erin. It is under the management
of the Liverpool Marine Biological Committee.
The laboratory is fitted with appliances for
dredging, and with all requisites connected with
observing and preserving the various treasures
which the sea gives up. There isalso an aquarium
exhibiting many of thesein a living state. Visitors
are admitted on payment of a small charge. The
great boon, however, is the opportunity the station
gives to the naturalist for observation and practical
work under competent guidance—an opportunity
to be appreciated in proportion to its extreme
rarity. Those who are entitled to work in the
station, when there is room, and after formal

SEED MOUNTING

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

application to the Director, are: (1) Annual
subscribers of one guinea or upwards to the
funds, each guinea subscribed entitling to the
use of a work-place for four weeks; and (2)
others who are not annual subscribers, but
who pay the treasurer ten shillings per week
for the accommodation and privileges. Appli-
cation for permission to work at the station, or
for specimens, or any communications in regard
to the scientific work, should be made to Pro-
fessor Herdman, F.R.S., University College,
Liverpool.

Annual reports are published by the Committee,
containing, intey alia, the names of fresh species
added to the recorded lists, so that a collector may
learn if any of his captures are new to the locality,
in which case he should not fail to communicate
the fact, and if possible send the specimen for
confirmation. Surely no greater privilege could
be imagined for a student of marine shells than
the use of dredges for collecting and the opportunity
of observing his living captures under competent
guides.

68, Wolverhampton Road, Stafford.

POR -laE MICROSCOPE:

By J. BAaLLantyne.

AS the time has again come round when nature
has clothed the vegetable kingdom in all her
array of beautiful flowers, each producing fruit

after its kind, a few hints on seeds and how to

mount them may not be uninteresting to many
readers of SCIENCE-GOsSIP.

It is now ten years since I first mounted seeds as
described below, and to-day they are all as perfect
as when first finished ; nor have I noticed any dust
or obstruction gathering on the cover-glasses, as I
understand from others who have mounted seeds
loose in the cells. There need be no difficulty in
obtaining seeds for microscopical purposes, as
many of our wild plants have suitable ones.
Small seeds are better suited for this purpose than
large ones. The latter do not make very neat
slides, and only one or two seeds would be seen at
a time, even with a three- or four-inch objective,
whereas with smaller seeds a number may be seen
in the field of view at the same time, and in this
way the effect and variety are greater from a
popular point of view. These considerations are
of little importance when the observer may wish
to examine them for scientific purposes.

When collecting, a dry day should be chosen, if
possible, as the seeds are then in better condition,
and can be gathered cleaner than if the plants be
wet. It is necessary for the preservation of seeds
that they be quite matured and ripe, and in the

best condition possible, otherwise failure may
ensue. When going a-seedhunting, a plentiful
supply of chip and paper pill-boxes should be
provided, the latter to be used only for the most
minute seeds, because in drying they do not allow
the moisture to get away so freely as the chip
boxes. The boxes should be all either lettered or
numbered, and a note-book carried, in which
particulars of each kind of seed may be entered
opposite the respective letter or number, with
date and locality where found. Wherever practic-
able the seed-vessels.should be opened when
gathered, and their contents emptied into a box,
marking its particulars into the note-book at the
same time. This prevents confusion and keeps
the seeds free from bits of broken capsules, etc.
When the seed-vessels are small or open, first
shake the plant carefully over a sheet of paper or
a handkerchief and then empty the seeds into a
box. The cleaner the seeds are kept, the less
trouble will be afterwards experienced in cleaning
them for mounting.

For seeds which may be gathered before they
are fully ripe, a vasculum will be required. In
cases of this kind the heads of the plants, with part
of the stem attached, should be taken off and put
in the vasculum to allow them to be taken home
and dried. Put the various pieces of each plant in
a paper cone and set it apart to dry, care being

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

taken to keep each species separate and have the
paper cones fastened in such a way that the seed
cannot escape. The paper cone should be made
large enough to allow the point to be turned down
over the heads of the flowers, which will be found
sufficient to prevent any seed getting out as it is
being expelled from the capsules. In a week or
ten days it will be found all the capsules have
parted with their seeds, which may now be put in
boxes and left to dry still further.

The reason why boxes are preferred for drying
purposes instead of paper is to provide against
unlooked-for accidents. I remember once having
gathered some capsules of the grass-of-Parnassus
(Parnassia palustris) and put them by in paper to dry
in my office. A few days afterwards I went to
examine them, but the seeds had all disappeared,
nothing being left except the gnawed ends of paper.
Either mice or cockroaches had been making a
repast off them; but, strange to say, they were the
only seeds of several kinds which were touched.
All seeds must be thoroughly dried before they are
mounted, otherwise they will be attacked by fungi
and either damaged or destroyed. A dry, open,
airy situation anywhere near a fireplace or stove
will be found most suitable. The length of time
required for drying will greatly depend on the
situation in which they are placed, but under the
best of circumstances they should get at least a
month. I generally gather in summer and autumn
and mount during the winter.

At first I considered various methods of mounting,
but finally came to the conclusion that opal glass
slips with vulcanite or brass rings would be the
simplest, cheapest, and most effective. The opal
slips may be obtained from any glazier, who will
be glad to cut them from scraps for a very nominal
sum. Their edges may be ground, either on the
flat side of a grindstone, using water to prevent
chipping, or on a sheet of emery cloth fixed on a
piece of wood with tacks, and using oil for grinding.
The grinding is a very easy process, all that is
required being simply to take off the sharp corners.
The opal glass saves all trouble as to forming a
background, and the fine enamel or polish of its
surface reflects the light and gives an excellent all-
round view of the seeds. I do not know whether
anyone else has used opal glass for this purpose or
not, but its advantages seem to me to be sufficient
to recommend to anyone who may wish to make
a collection of seeds for the microscope.

For forming cells, the ordinary vulcanite or brass
rings sold by opticians suit admirably; those half
an inch in diameter make the neatest cell, and are
quite large enough for ordinary purposes. Smaller
rings would not do so well, especially if the cells
have to be deep, as it is more difficult with an
ordinary bull’s-eye condenser to get the light
thrown into them.

IOI

For fixing the rings to the slips, and also putting
on the cover-glasses, readers will find that one
part of gum damar, one part of Canada-balsam,
and one part of the ordinary white zinc cement
sold for microscopical purposes, will make a most
efficient cement for the purpose, using either
benzol or benzine as the solvent. For placing the
ring on the centre of the slip, a wooden slip may
be used, with a hole cut in the centre just large
enough to allow the ring to pass through. This
will be found very handy and expeditious, and
save much time. Put a layer of the cement on
one side of the ring and drop it through the hole in
the wooden slip with a pair of forceps, on to the
glass slip underneath, at the same time pressing
the ring hard down. Carefully remove the
wooden slip and set the prepared one aside to dry.
As soon as the cement is hard enough remove all
superfluous cement from inside the cell with the
point of a knife and again set it aside for a few
days more, so as to make certain the cement will
be thoroughly hard before the seed is placed in the
cell. A number of slips may thus be prepared at
a time.

Everything being now ready to commence -
mounting, take one of the boxes containing dried
seeds and, if they be large enough, pick them out
singly with a pair of forceps and drop them into
the cell. When as many seeds as may be required
have been. put in the cell, they should all be
gathered to the centre, leaving a little margin all
round between them and the ring. Do not heap
them up. As many as can lie flat in the centre of
the cell will be quite enough. Next put on a layer
of cement on the top of the ring, taking care not to
touch the seeds with it, and then the cover-glass
may be dropped on in the usual way, slightly
pressing it down in the cement, but not too much
so as to cause the cement to run inside the cell. I
generally wait for a few minutes after the cement
is put on before placing the cover-glass. The
cement scon becomes ‘‘tacky” and is not so apt
to get inside; but when this is done the operator
should provide against dust getting into the cell.
In many cases it will be found the seeds can only
be cleaned from foreign matter by using a lens.
In such cases the seeds should be laid on a sheet
of white paper, and as many as required separated
out with a needle or other suitable instrument.

After the cover-glass has been cemented on, the
slide should be put carefully aside for a week or
ten days so as to allow the cement to set thoroughly, —
care being taken, when moving the slide, not to
disturb the seeds and cause them to leave the
centre of the cell, which they are apt to do, and
become attached to the soft cement. When sure
that there is no fear of the seeds adhering to the
cement, the slide may be put on the turntable, and
a layer of ordinary white zinc cement added, and in

I02

the course of twenty-four hours a second layer,
keeping the cement far enough over the cover-glass
so as to hide the ring underneath. When the
zinc cement has set quite hard, the slide should
be finished in Brunswick black, to which ten to
twenty per cent. of japanner’s gold-size has been
added. It is better, when finishing the cells with
the zinc cement and Brunswick black, to first
place the turntable at an angle, and do the side
and base, then place the table level and do
the top.

In putting on the Brunswick black a ring of the
white cement should be left exposed on the top of
the cell next the centre, all the rest being covered
with the black. This, if neatly done, will give a
very pretty appearance to the slide, the black
cement contrasting well with the white of the
opal glass on one side, and the white cement on
the other. I also invariably add about twenty
per cent. of Canada-balsam additional to the zinc
white bought from opticians, as I find if used as
bought it is too brittle.

The forms of so many of our flower-seeds, both
wild and cultivated, as well as the peculiar markings
to be found on them, when examined by the
microscope, are indeed wonderful, and most
interesting. To look at the tiny black or brown
dust, as it may appear to the unassisted eye,
one could hardly credit the beauty and form which
lie there concealed. It is only when we apply the
microscope and plenty of light that we can see the
gorgeous array in which nature has clothed so
many of our seeds. Poppies, ragged robin, chick-
weeds, stitchworts, catchflies, soapworts, foxglove,
sundews and orchids are all notable for the
beauty and variety of their seeds. Few prettier
objects can be examined than the seeds of these
plants—and many others besides—when properly
mounted. :

There is also much yet to be learned from a
study of flower-seeds. One of the first things
which impresses itself on an observer is that there
seems, with few exceptions, to be no particular
design or plan, or what might be called a connecting
link between the various forms of seeds in regard
to their markings. Nature seems to have taken
her honours in her hand and scattered them
broadcast, here, there and everywhere, among seeds
from the lowest to the highest, without any regard
to order or class. In one genus we find a species
with beautifully marked seeds, and alongside of
it another species with seeds quite smooth and
plain. How should this beso? There must be a
reason for it; so here is an opportunity for some
young botanist to excelin finding out the cause. We
cannot doubt but that these markings and peculiar
shapes are of some benefit to the plants possessing
them. In the order Compositae we see clearly the
benefits which its species derive from the special

-marked ones.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

forms of many of its seeds. In this order we find
seeds which, in addition to the calyx hairs adher-
ing to them, are also provided with barbs and hairs
which must be of great assistance in helping them
to find their way into the soil after they have been
dispersed far and wide by the winds. As a conse-
quence of this special adaptation of the seed we
find the order to contain no fewer than 10,000
known species, as compared with 5,o00 of the
Orchidaceae, which comes nearest to it in numbers.
Of course, other advantages as well as the forms
of the seeds have enabled the plants of this order
to be so numerous, but probably its seeds have
more than anything else to do with it. It is,
however, when we come to consider the markings
and forms of seeds in other orders that the difficulty
of ascertaining their uses appears. For instance, in
Leguminosae we have an order with most of its
seeds smooth or nearly so, and yet its species num-
ber about 4,700. In Caryophyllae, which we may
safely say has the prettiest marked seeds, we have
an order with only 800 species. It is when we are
confronted by facts such as these that we wonder
what are the real uses or benefits of the pittings,
wrinkles and reticulations of seeds as compared
with those which are smooth.

Again, smooth or marked seeds are not confined
to particular sections of orders or genera, or to
plants growing in particular habitats or flowering
at any particular time. Take for example the
genus Geranium, where’ we find six out of the
twelve British species described in MHooker’s
‘*Student’s Flora of the British Islands’’ (third
edition) have smooth seeds and the other six have
Neither are the smooth or marked
seeds confined to any particular section or to
plants growing in particular habitats. In the
perennial section we have G. sylvaticum, G. pratense
and G. perenne, all of which grow in meadows; yet
we find that the first two of these species have
reticulated seeds and the latter smooth. Or take
G. molle and G. pusillum, both of which have smooth
seeds, whereas G. votundifolium, G. columbinum and
G. dissectum all have pitted seeds, and these five
species are to be found growing principally about
waste places. Neither does their distribution help us
any more, asG. columbinum, withits pitted seeds, has
the smallest range in Britain of these five species ;
while G. molle and G. dissectum, two common ones,
one with marked seeds and the other plain, are
about equally distributed. I could go on multiply-
ing instances such as these, for there are many
such, but the above is sufficient to show the
difficulties to be encountered in arriving at any
reasonable conclusion as to the benefits plants
derive from the markings and forms of their seeds ;
but that they are of some use to the plants possess-
ing them we may rest assured.

Rothesay.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

103

MALTESE, (CAVES SAND” THEIR (PAUNA.

By Joun H. Cooxe, F.L.S., F.G.S., Etc.
(Continued from page 69.)

OST of the bone caves occur in and around

the gorges and valleys of the Maltese
Islands. Of these gorges the largest and most in-
teresting is that which debouches on the Greater
Marsa and
which is
known as
Uied il Kbir,

OM eel hie
Rocky Val-
ley.’ It lies

to the east of
the village of
Casal Curmi,
and it ex-
tends from
the foot of
the Binjemma
plateaux to
the head of
the Grand
Harbour.

The district
around its
mouth is co-
vered to a
consider-
able depth
with compact
masses of
boulders, clay
and loam, in-
termingled
with which
are the bones
and teeth of
the river-
horses, Hippo-
potamus pent-
jandi, that
once browsed
along the banks of the valley when Malta formed
a part of the continental mainland. The gorge
abounds with romantic scenery and interesting
Caves and fissures. One of these caves, which is
situated about half a mile up the gorge on the
right hand side, and opposite Casal Farrug, is a
great favourite with the local cicerones as affording
an opportunity for the levy of baksheesh from the
unsuspecting tourist.

Another, known among the peasants as Ghar
Ansir (the pig’s cave), lies to the right. It owes its
name to the traditional adventures of a pig from

Guar IL Keir.

Citta Vecchia. It is the common belief of the
Maltese peasantry that all the caverns of the
islands are connected by subterranean passages
with the catacombs at Citta Vecchia. Ghar Ansir
comes within
this category,
and should
the _sceptic
doubt he is at
once regaled
with the ad-
ventures of
the pig which
was immured
in the cata-
combs of
Citta Vecchia,
four miles
away, and
which, after
three days’
rambling in
the bowels of
the island,
made its way
out of this
fissure.

The struc-
tureand mode
of weathering
of the lime-
stone of the
Uied Kbir
district lend
themselves to
the formation
of a type
of scenery
which is at
once bold,
rugged and
picturesque. Miniature cafions, precipitous cliffs,
rugged bluffs, and striking combinations of these,
occur at every turn, and mingle their iron-stained
and lichen-patched surfaces with the brilliant tints
of the foliage of the plants and trees that have
obtained a foothold in their cracks and crevices.
The gorge is a favourite resort for the naturalists
of the island, as within its recesses thrive most
of the plants that represent the island’s flora.

The predominant rock of the region is an ex-
ceedingly compact limestone, so hard that though
crowded with fossil organisms it is very rarely

104

that good cabinet specimens are obtained from it.
Some charming bits of mingled rock and verdure
lie around the bridge which crosses the valley
between the villages of Zebbug and Siggieui, that
furnish an abundance of material both for the
geologist and the botanist. The softer and more
friable beds of the Globigerina limestone here
take the place of the hard semi-crystalline rock
out of which the lower portions of the gorge have
been carved ; and from the faces of the low terraced
cliffs the fossil remains of scallops, mussels, sea-
urchins, sharks’ teeth and vertebrae occur in
profusion. In the rifts of the terraced slopes
luxuriate a wealth of the rarer plants of the islands.
Asphodels, squills, irises, rosemary, hyacinths and
the ubiquitous oxalis all mingle their colours and
their perfumes, and in the winter and spring
months convert these rocky wastes into veritable
flower-gardens.

In the upper reaches of this ravine is the classic
site of the late Admiral Spratt’s discoveries.
Within the recesses of a large cave which had
been hollowed out of the escarpment that borders
Buttigieg’s garden, Spratt found masses of cave
earth from which he exhumed the remains of
the carcases of twenty-two individual elephants,
several of which belonged to the dwarf species,
Elephas falconeri. This dwarfing of animal life
seems to have been a characteristic of the mamma-
lian fauna of the Maltese area in Pleistocene times,
for the remains of dwarf elephants, dwarf hippo-
potami, dwarf bears, dwarf horses that then existed
have been found intermingled in the same cave
deposits.
the bones and molars of these remarkable animals
are still occasionally to be found among the débris
in the bed of the ravine.

The south and south-eastern parts of Malta
have also yielded an abundance of these remains.
The Benhisa Creek was the scene of the late
Professor Leith Adams’ successful labours in the
early sixties. In the agglomerates that fill up
the head of the creek he found entire skeletons
of monster swans (Cygnus falconevi and C. ala), as
well as remains of the giant dormouse (Myoxus
melitensis) and Hippopotamus pentlandi.

Beyond Torre Hamra the low-lying coastline
gives place to a succession of fault terraces,
bounded by lofty, cavern-pierced cliffs. In the
face of one of these fault terraces Adams found
a series of caverns, the principal of which he
called the Malak Cave, the Mnaidra Gap and
the Middle Cave, and from them he obtained a
most unique collection of the remains of Malta's
prehistoric mammalia. A quarry was commenced
in 1891 in the vicinity, and now every vestige of
the Malak Cave has disappeared. The Mnaidra
Gap is still in existence, but there is little left in
it now to indicate the classic discoveries that were

Spratt’s cave has now disappeared, but .

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

once made within its depths. It was found by
Adams to be filled with alternating layers of loam,
breccia and stalagmites, and embedded in each of
these was found a curious assemblage of remains.
Molars, tusks and limb-bones of three species of
elephants (Elephas mnaidva, E. falconeri, E. meli-
tensis) were found mingled in the greatest confusion
with the remains of gigantic dormice (Myoxus
melitensis) and swans (Cygaus olor and C. falconeri):
In one part of the excavation, barely measuring
six feet in area, there were exhumed twelve molars
and six tusks of elephants, all of which belonged
to a new species, Elephas mnaidra.

The Malak Cave was scarcely less prolific. The
characteristic fossils of the Mnaidra Gap were
elephants, without a trace of hippopotami. But
though the Malak Cave was within a hundred
yards of the Gap, its characteristic fossils offered a
marked contrast, consisting of hippopotami, with
but a few elephant remains, and a considerable
quantity of the small, fragile bones of weasels,
bats and owls. In the talus which lines the
slopes along the fault face, blocks of ossiferous
stalagmite containing perfect molars and limb-
bones of hippopotami are still to be had in
abundance.

Between Mnaidra and the quarry the declivitous
slopes of the fault descend in a series of platform
terraces to the sea. On the second of these, and at
a distance of about eighty yards to the east of the
quarry, are situated the remnants of the Middle
Cave. The view of the island from this point is
very picturesque. Stretching away to the north-
west are the cliff-crags that overlook the Malak
downthrow, their summits seared, fissured and
caverned, and their bases broken up into creeks
and headlands; while to the south-east they extend
to the Hamra Tower and thence gradually die
away in the waters of the Mediterranean. In
the compact breccia that this cave contained
were found the remains of the Maltese dormouse,
the hippopotamus, and-the limb-bones and skull
of a crane (Grus melitensis) and of a vulture
(Gyps melitensis). Portions of the breccia have
been left on the roofs and sides of the cave, and
in them the finding of these fossil remains is
still a not infrequent occurrence. The caves and
fissures of Benhisa, Shantin, Gandia and San
Leonardo were each in turn explored by Adams,
and each added their quota ;to the evidences
already obtained.

In 1869 Professor Leith Adams left Malta, and
for nearly twenty years after his departure little
or nothing was done on the island's geology. In
1889 I commenced where Adams and Spratt left
off, and with the assistance of three grants from
the Royal Society of London (!), I undertook the

(}) Cooke, J. H.: “On the Har Dalam Cavern,” Proc.
Royal Soc., Feb., 1893.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

systematic investigation of the superficial breccias
of the islands (2) and of several caves which had
escaped the notice of my predecessors. One of
these, the Har Dalam Cavern, supplied those very
links in Malta’s Pleistocene fauna which Adams
suspected existed, but which he never had the
good luck to find. From the gnawed condition of
many of the bones that he unearthed, he inferred
the existence of carnivora contemporary with the
pigmy elephant and hippopotamus, but none of
the caves that he explored gave other than indirect
evidences of their presence. The discovery of the
remains of a wolf, a fox and a species of Ursus
(avctos ?) in the Har Dalam Cavern in 1892 (°)
effectually decided this question.

This Cavern, which I explored in 1892-93, is
situated in a gorge of the same name, in the
vicinity of Marsa Scirocco, at the south-eastern

105

alternating layers of loam, clay and stalagmite.
From the lower layers were obtained many
hundreds of limb-bones, jaws, teeth, and tusks of
Hippopotamus pentlandi, a tooth of Elephas mnaidva,
and a jaw of an extinct species of bear. In the
upper layers were found thousands of limb-bones,
jaws and horns of Cervus barbarus, a stone imple-
ment, traces of a fire, and some specimens of an
exceedingly rude, coarse kind of pottery.

About two hundred yards further up the gorge
is situated the Victoria Cavern, the excavation
of which did not afford very much worthy of
note.

The conclusions which the Har Dalam Cavern
and Gorge lead to are that the cavern and its
deposits owe their origin to the action of powerful
streams of water that formerly swept the gorge,
and that the cavern was eroded to its present form

Jaws AND TEETH OF URSUS (ARCTOS ?).

extremity of Malta. Its mouth abuts on the cliff-
face at a height of about forty feet. above the
bed of the gorge, the bottom of which is strewn
throughout its length with rounded boulders and
pebbles, all of which have been derived from the
rocks in the vicinity. Both sides of the gorge
exhibit evidences of the former action of torrential
volumes of water. The cavern is situated 500
yards from the shore, and it consists of a main
gallery 400 feet in length, and of several smaller
tunnels and chambers, the total length being 700
feet.

The deposits found in the cave consisted of

(2) Cooke, J. H.: ‘‘ The Pleistocene Beds of Gozo,” Geol.
Mag., vol. viii. No. 326, p. 348; ‘‘The Pleistocene Beds of
Malta,” Quar. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. li. 1895 ; ‘‘ On the Occur-
rence of a Black Limestone in Maltese Strata,” Geol. Mag.,
vol. ix. No. 338, p. 361; ‘‘The Pleistocene Beds of the
Maltese Islands,” Geol. Mag., vol. iii. p. 383, 1896.

(8) Cooke, J. H.: ‘‘ Ursus in the Pleistocene of Malta,”
Geol. Mag., vol. x. No. 344, p. 67.

before any of the deposits now found in it were
laid down. It was repeatedly flooded by the muddy
waters of the torrents that then flowed nearly forty
feet higher than the little streamlet does that now
meanders through the bottom of the gorge during
the winter season. As the gorge deepened, the
force of the waters that invaded the cavern
lessened, and the remains of the animals that had
been washed in were deposited quietly with the
sediments now constituting the floor deposits.
Occasionally, however, the torrents swept the
cavern with irresistible violence, and mixed the
remains that had been carried into it at an earlier
period with the later sediments, transported large
boulders into its depths, and broke off the stalactites
that had formed on its roof and sides. The lower
beds exhibit every evidence of these disturbing
forces, but the upper beds of the series testify to
conditions of comparative tranquility.

BS

106

All of the gorges of Malta and Gozo possess
similar scenic characters, and all apparently owe
their origin to the same or to analogous causes.
They form the main lines of drainage of the
islands; and all cut deep down into the Lower
Coralline limestone, the basement bed of the
Maltese series. Their general configuration, their
accumulations of rounded boulders, undercuttings,
long curvilinear groovings, and the conglomerates,
with their contained hippopotami and elephantine
remains, that are invariably found in the vicinity
of the gorge mouths, appear to indicate the former
action of considerable bodies of running water.
Still, the absence of fluviatile remains and the

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

levels in their cliff-like sides, and to break off and
transport blocks of limestone of considerable size.

The cliff-bound coastline of L’Ahmar, on the
north-western shore abounds with caverns in
which myriads of gulls and other sea-birds find a
home. At Niescfa there is a spacious marine cave
which has been eroded out of the Coralline lime-
stone by wave action. It is one of many that
occur in the neighbourhood. The entrance, which
is situated at the sea-level, is but a small one, and,
when the Levante blows, the swell of the waves
surges through it and thunders onwards into its
depths. The air, which is thus imprisoned and
compressed, produces a concussion resembling the

La FENESTRA AZZuURRA, GOZO.

(Lower Coralline Limestone.)

limited hydrographical areas of the gorges render
it difficult to conceive that any of them ever
formed the bed of a permanent stream. Their
physical features and the position and arrangement
of the organic remains found in them point to the
agency of powerful torrents of water that swept
them periodically at a time when the Maltese area
formed a portion of the great land barrier between
Europe and Africa, and when the climate and
rainfall were different to those that now endure.
The power and volume of these rapid torrents were
such as to cut deep cajion-like gorges, with vertical
escarps of from fifty to a hundred feet in height,
from out the massive and compact Lower Coralline
limestone ; to form long undercuttings at various

muffled roar of a volley of artillery, and the sounds
are projected to a considerable distance in the
neighbourhood. Within, the cavern attains to
spacious proportions, but as it has been eroded
out of a perpendicular cliff face, the entrance is
only accessible in fine weather by means of a
boat. When the waters are calm it is possible
to penetrate to all the branches; but the under-
taking is always both difficult and dangerous,
owing to the sunken rock masses which impede
the navigation of the passages. Looking from the
interior seawards the vista revealed through the
irregularly-shaped contracting walls of the main
gallery is very imposing and picturesque. Through-
out its length the roof and walls are fissured and

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

broken, and huge rock masses hang from them in
positions of the most precarious stability. At the
cave’s mouth the waters of the Mediterranean
seethe and hiss around the sunken boulders, and
even on the calmest day as these sounds rever-
berate through the darkest passages they never
fail to excite in one’s mind feelings of the most
awesome insecurity.

Within the cavern’s depths a very representative
collection of Tortonian fossils may be obtained
from the water-sodden limestones with the aid of
a stout pocket-knife. The differential erosion to
which the various strata have been subjected has
caused the entombed sea-urchins, corals, shells
and other fossil organisms to stand out in bold

TLREES OF , DAMP.
By DR

ie seems to be even more firmly established and

generally admitted with respect to plants than
animals, that the existing form of a species is
determined by two factors, viz., the inheritance of
the properties of its ancestors, and the changes
which these properties undergo through the
influence of the environment. The existing form
of a forest tree, for example, is the result of the
conjoint operation of these two causes; but it is
here contended that, while the external influences
can modify the form or the dimensions of the
structural elements (vessels, fibres, parenchyma)
of its wood, on the other hand the relative arrange-
ment of the various elements and the fundamental
economy of the woody plan are strictly and solely
the more or less immutable property of the species
as inherited from its ancestors. For instance, the
majority of our forest trees possess in their wood
only a single kind of medullary rays, but the oak
has two different kinds of these. The beech,
again, possesses more than three thicknesses of
cells in many of its medullary rays, while most of
our other trees produce only from one to three
thicknesses of cells in these organs. So also with
respect to the vessels: those of the alder and birch
are numerous and ample; while, on the contrary,
these elements are rare and isolated in the Spanish
chestnut. All these distinct and decided differences
in respect to the greater or less development of the
parenchyma of the wood (the medullary rays)
called, very significantly, the ‘‘ fundamental tissue,”
and in respect tothe general number and distribution
of the vessels called, very truly, the ‘essential
elements’ of the woody bundles, must be regarded
as indissolubly bound up, as it were, with the inner
life of each particular species of tree. They remain
fixed and unalterable wherever it may happen to
grow: whether the soil be dry and sandy or moist

107

relief from their comparatively soft limestone
matrices. Between L’Ahmar and the northern
shore line the country has a very rugged and
barren aspect. Neither tree nor shrub is to be
seen anywhere. The greater portion of this part
of Malta is a barren, sandy, rocky waste, with an
integument of soil so thin and arid that little save
the Mediterranean heath, Erica peduncularis, and
the marine plant, Crucianella maritima, have been
able to establish a footing in it.

It is a dreary, desolate region, that is seldom
visited by anyone, except in the sporting season,
when the wild duck, snipe, plover and quail frequent
the islands en route for the neighbouring continents.

(To be continued.)

AND DRY PIECES:

. Q. KEEGAN.

and clayey, whether by the river side or in the cleft
of a hard rock, or whether the predominant state
of the air be moist, dry, chilly or sunny—it is all
the same. The physical forces of nature which
encompass the plastic arboreal organism replete
with life and energy cannot mould it beyond a
certain point, cannot interfere with or prevail over
the fixed immutable rules which guide its growth
and inevitably ordain the direction thereof. The
hereditary characters which its parents have
handed down to it in the sequence of existence
are strictly conservative. Heredity is preservative,
accumulative, and not destructive in any sense.
Yet, while all this is so, another most potent
influence is actively at work within the veil of
mystery that hangs over the inner life of the
woodlands. This is the struggle of the organism
to adapt itself to its environment. To see any
particular species of tree, such as an elm or hazel,
growing sometimes in a damp swamp, or sometimes
in a high and dry locality, is a common experience.
Then again, it is well known that certain trees
thrive best, seem to do well indeed, only in humid
places where both air and soil are moist: as, for
instance, alder, willow, ash, maple, sycamore—and
this on account of the great transpiration from
their leaves. The structure of their wood, how-
ever, in so far as regards the forms and dimensions
of its elements, is adapted to the circumstances.
Where moisture of the soil stands in greatest
need, there the wood is poor in the number of its
fibres, the vessels are very numerous, the medullary
rays are small and narrow, while there is no
sensible difference in density between the wood
formed in autumn and that formed in spring-time.
On the other hand, the wood of elms, hazels, etc.,
which affect a dry station, is characterised by an
increase in the number of its fibres, whose walls,

E 4

108

moreover, get sometimes very thick, and by a
corresponding diminution in the number of the
vessels; while some of the medullary rays are much
larger, showing straighter and more elongated
cells; the density of the autumn and that of the
spring wood is considerably different.

Let us now endeavour to interpret the real
meaning of these important structural or histo-
logical changes and variations. The question as
to whether the tree has sought and found the
habitat, or the habitat has modified the tree,
cannot be discussed here. We must, in the first
place, signalize the precise physiological function
of each of the woody elements which we have
specified above. These elements are (1) the vessels
which serve as conducting pipes for the water and
the matters which it holds in solution from the
roots of the tree up to the leaves. In fact, from
the ultimate ramifications of the roots even up to
the finest ramifications of the vascular bundles in
the leaves, the vessels of the living outer wood
form a continuous system, whose proper function is
to conduct water. In them the water filters from
one to another, not in the direction of their length,
but through tiny pits with a thin layer of cellulose
at the bottom which they each bear on their side-
walls, leaving small globular spaces between the
adjacent elements for intercommunication. In
this way, through minute funnels and filters, the
water moves in the cavities (not in the walls) of
the vessels and across the shut enclosures which
separate them. It is impelled to do so ever
upwards, and scarcely, if at all, sideways, by virtue
of forces partly vital and partly physical.
tracheides perform the same function, and prac-
tically in the same way, by means of bordered pits;
but, of course, these elements being smaller and
narrower, their efficacy is not so conspicuous.
(3) The libriform fibres sustain a supporting réle,
for which purpose their walls are very thickened
and lignified; sometimes, indeed, they are almost
quite solid, and have only extremely small simple
pits, frequently none at all, so that as a rule
they cannot serve as water conduits. (4) The
wood parenchyma (including the cells of the
medullary rays) only serve as reservoirs for food
material, such as protoplasm, starch, sugar, oil,
etc., which is used up in the course of time for the
nourishment of the tree. The cells, especially of
the outer rings of the wood, are generally full of
this commissariat provender ; so that, although they
dispense some of this to the water current ascend-
ing in the vessels near which they always lie, yet
they do not themselves take an active part in the
actual transmission of the aqueous element. In
fact, their greater or lesser development is in no
positive or direct way dependent on the mode of
life of the tree.

Now, bearing in mind the several functions of

(2) The,

SCIEN CE-GOSSIP.

these respective elements of the woody tissue,
and considering their variations as regards form
or size corresponding with their surroundings,
perhaps we can understand the mutual relation-
ship of the former feature to the latter. Thus,
for instance, where a tree grows in a place where
damp air and moist soil prevail there on account
of the liberal supply of water which is bestowed on
it, it requires in its stem and branches large,
numerous and roomy water-conducting apparatus.
This need is most efficiently supplied by the in-
crease of the number and size of the vessels and
tracheides, as in willows, poplars, alders, etc.
Moreover, the volume and permanency of the water
supply, by enabling the plant to always have a
sufficient supply of food, render unnecessary
the existence of any _ special storehouse of
reserve therefor, such as the wood parenchyma
provides. Hence this element of its tissue is
comparatively feebly developed, it being small and
narrow in all its dimensions. For similar reasons
the wood fibres are few, partly because of the great
predominance of the other elements, or partly
because extensive thickening and lignification of
the cell-walls are not possible or requisite in a
denizen of a damp habitat. On the other hand,
when we examine the tissues of a tree that prospers
in a dry station, we detect in the relatively small
number of its vessels and tracheides a much lesser
need for the transmission of water. The fibres are
more numerous and robust because there is more
room for them, and the reserve elements are more
extensive, possibly to meet the greater precarious-
ness of the food supply. Nay, these modifications
may be even carried further still: an elm, for
instance, growing in a dry, arid, calcareous soil,
will exhibit very thick fibres and ample medullary
rays. In this case the difference between the first
and the last formed wood in the annual ring will be
very decided. Trees which are introduced to well-
cultivated land will betray likewise the characteristic
histological features which attend a transference
from damp and swampy localities to those where
the water supply is relatively scanty.

Thus then we have come to understand how,
in harmony with the intensity, so to speak, of the
forces operating from without ‘(the conditions
of the environment), the plastic cells of the embry-
onic tissues are correspondingly moulded, though
apparently in the same direction, yet subject,
nevertheless, all the time to the specific needs and
exigencies of the organism. Indeed, it has been
held that: ‘‘in the same plant the same young
cell may be modified in its normal development
by external conditions so as to yield by self-
differentiation either a lignified fibre (a supporting
element), or a soft cell with nutritive contents
(a reserve element).

Patterdale, Westmorland.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

BERG let S Tt

109

TENGERUES OF IEA:

By E. H. J. ScHusteEr, F.Z.5.
(Continued from page 84.)

Part III.—CiLiata Ho.LorTricHa.

AMILY Trachelocercidae.—'‘ Animalcules free-
swimming; flask-shaped or elongate; soft and
flexible; ciliate throughout, the oral cilia slightly
exceeding in size those of the general surface; the
anterior extremity often prolonged in a neck-like
manner, an annular groove or furrow often present
near the anterior extremity.”

Trachelocerca oloy Miiller.—When expanded it is
shaped like a soda-water bottle with a very long
neck. It is very contractile and moves its neck
about in every possible way, and in some positions
presents a swan-like appearance. The body is
strongly marked with spiral striations. There is
one contractile vacuole at the posterior end and
one or two near the anterior. The nucleus is
central in position and round or oval in shape;
a small paranucleus is present, but is not easily
made out. The mouth is situated at the base of
a conical depression at the anterior end of the
neck and is surrounded by a circlet of cilia some-
what more prominent than those which cover the

Fig. 24.—Trachelocerca olor ( x 200).

general surface of the body. Biitschli compares it
to the cork in the mouth of a bottle. The length
of the body may be from 120 to 200 microns. The
species is common in pond water.

Family Euchelyidae.—‘‘ Animalcules free-swim-
ming ; ciliate throughout, oral cilia slightly larger
than those of the general cuticular surface ; cuticle
soft and flexible; oral aperture terminal or lateral ;
the anterior extremity of the body never prolonged
in a neck-like manner.”’

Colpoda cucullus Ehrenberg.—This is kidney-
shaped; the mouth, to which an oesophagus of
moderate size leads, is on the concave side of the
body. In the oesophagus there is a lip-like struc-
ture which stretches out beyond its opening to the
exterior; this may be either an undulating mem-
brane or a tuft of more strongly developed cilia:
which, it is exceedingly hard to determine. In
the middle of the body an egg-shaped nucleus and
a small paranucleus may be seen, the former easily,
the latter with difficulty ; and at the posterior end
a simple contractile vacuole is situated. The
striation of the cuticle is oblique and very distinct.

The process of transverse fission is more or less as
follows: the middle of the animal about to divide
becomes constricted and the oesophagus and mouth
disappear, the constriction deepens and a fresh

Fig. 25.—Colpoda cucullus ( x 265).

contractile vacuole is developed in the anterior
half; the two halves gradually become completely
separated and a fresh mouth and oesophagus is
developed in each. Encystment in a spherical
cyst, with or without multiple fission, is a common
occurrence. The length of the body is from 50 to
100 microns.

The species is exceedingly common, and often
occurs in vast numbers in pond water and vegetable
infusions which have been kept for some time.

Family Pleuronemidae.—‘‘Animalcules freeswim-
ming, more or less ovate; ciliate throughout, oral
cilia diverse in character to those of the cuticular
surface ; oral aperture terminal or ventral, supple-
mented by an extensile and retractile hood-shaped
membrane or velum.”’

Pleuvonema chrysalis Ehrenberg.—This animalcule
is oval or lentil-shaped, with the ventral surface

Fig. 26.—Pleuronema chrysalis ( x 335)
Animal at rest; v, undulating membrane.

flat, the dorsal surface convex, and with both ends
equally rounded ; down one side a narrow channel,
the ‘‘ peristome groove,” runs, and into this the

oesophagus leading to the mouth opens. From

one side of the channel along its whole, except the

IIO

most anterior part, a transparent flap, ‘“ the undu-
lating membrane,” grows. When the animal is
stationary this is folded over in such a manner as
to form a pocket leading to the oesophagus. In
this position it forms a net to catch the Infusoria,
etc., which serve as food. When the animal
swims the undulating membrane is retracted and

Fig. 27,—Cyclidium glaucoma ( x 335).

v, Undulating membrane.

cannot be seen. That part of the peristomial
groove which does not bear this membrane is
provided with a strongly developed row of cilia,
which serve to sweep the prey into the net. A
contractile vacuole is situated on the dorsal side
near the posterior end, which is perhaps connected
with the surrounding water by a fine canal. In

ORIGIN - OF SPECIES <LN

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

the anterior half of the animal a round nucleus is
present, and, lying by it,a paranucleus. The anus
is ventral and subterminal in position. The body
cilia are long in proportion to the body. The
length of the animal is about 80 to Ioo microns.

This species occurs in pond and ditch water,
swims rapidly, rotating the while, and sometimes,
when one imagines that it will remain stationary
for some while, springs rapidly away. It was
described by Ehrenberg under the name Paramae-
cium chrysalis, and transferred by Dujardin to the
genus in which it now stands.

Cyclidium glaucoma Miller, resembles Plewronema
chrysalis very closely in structure. The following
points of difference may be observed. It is much
smaller, being only 20 to 30 microns in length, the
body cilia are much larger in proportion to the
body, and supplemented by a long hair which
grows from the posterior end. The undulating
membrane is not so large, and does not arrange
itself so clearly into the form of a pocket.

Its habits and habitat are similar to those of the
preceding species.

(To be continued.)

INSECIS:

By J. W. Tort, FE 3s;

(Continued from page 78.)

SPECIALIZATION TO FOOD-PLANT.

DIFFERENCE of habit which results in the

isolation of allied species by causing the:

appearance of the imagines at separate times of the
year is, however, only one of a number of habits
which result in isolating closely allied species.
There is, first of all, the specialization of two allied
species to two different food-plants of restricted
range, or restricted to different geological forma-
tions. This not only tends to keep species very
local, by confining them to the ground on which
the food-plant grows, but it also isolates them
from each other. owing to the necessity of the
insects, confined to a local plant for pabulum,
giving up any wandering tendency they may have
originally possessed. Species that have been or
are isolated in this way are numerous in our fauna.
Thecla w-album is confined to elm (Ulmus), T. pruni
to blackthorn (Prunus), Cupido minima is confined
to Anthyllis, Lycaena avion to thyme (Thymus),
Nemeobius lucina to Primula, and Nisoniades tages to
Lotus; Sphinx pinastri is confined to Pinus, Macro-
lossa fuciformis to honeysuckle; and M. bombyiiformis
to scabious; Adscita globulaviae is confined to
Centaurea, A. statices to Rumex, and A. geryon to
Helianthemum, Sarvothvipa undulana and Halias
chlovana are confined to Salix, Hylophila bicolorana
to oak, Letocampa dictaea is confined to Salix and

Populus, L. dictaeoides practically to Betula. Lophop-
teryx cuculla is confined to Acer, L.cavmelita to Betula,
Notodonta trepida is confined to Quercus, so also is
Drymonia chaonia; Ceruva bifida affects Populus,
C. furcula prefers Salix, and C. bicuspis feeds on
Betula and Alnus. It is possible to show that about
a third of the British lepidopterous fauna is more
or less distinctly specialized with regard to some
particular food-plant, and is therefore more or less
isolated from its allies equally specialized with
regard to some other food-plant or food-plants.

ISOLATION BY DIFFERENCE OF HABITAT.

Other habits may result in the isolation of
closely allied species. The habit which, in
Britain, confines the polyphagous Clisiocampa
castrvensis to our coast marshes, whilst the almost
equally polyphagous and closely allied C. neustria
is generally distributed in gardens and hedgerows,
results in their almost complete isolation. The
habit that confines Nudavia senex to marshy
meadows and N. mundana to the neighbourhood
of old walls; the habit that confines Spilosoma
urticae to marshes and allows S. menthastvi to
abound in gardens and hedgerows everywhere ;
the habit that makes Dasychiva fasceiina a coast
and D. pudibunda a woodland species, are sufficient
to illustrate another means by which isolation

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

between species occupying practically the same
tract of country may be brought about.

HIBERNATING Habit TENDING TO ISOLATION.

Other habits that result in the isolation of
closely allied species occurring in the same districts,
and having the same food-plants, are well-illus-
trated in our fauna. Toxocampa pastinum hibernates
as a larva; its close ally, T. craccae, hibernates as
an egg; yet both feed on Vicia. Boarmia consortaria
hibernates as-a pupa; B. vobovarvia hibernates as a
larva; yet both species are still restricted to oak.
It is quite evident that, even should hybridization
take place between such species as these, the pro-
geny must die, so different are the conditions
under which the vital processes connected with the
early stages of the two species are respectively
carried on, and every entomologist knows how
fixed is the hibernating habit in nature for almost
every species.

DousBTFUL ISOLATION.

Where closely allied species, such as Leucania
impuva and L. stvaminea, occur at the same time
and on the same ground, and are only partially,
perhaps, specialized as to food-plant, it is possible
that, in their early stages of separation, they were
much more specialized as to habitat than they are
now ; for it is usually the case, as is evident in the
example here given, that one of the two species
(L. stvaminea) is strictly localized as to habitat,
whilst the other (L. impura) is of more general
distribution; for whilst the former is strictly
confined to marshes, the latter occurs in meadows,
woodlands, in fact almost everywhere. It is

possible, too, that even these two species are —

strictly specialized as to food-plant, L. stvaminea to
reed (Phragmites), and L. impuva to Cavex. I am
not sure whether these two species cannot easily
discriminate each other by what may be a true
recognition mark; for, in the meadows bordering
reed beds, where both sometimes occur in profu-
sion, I can separate them at night as they are
flying, with the greatest ease, the white colour of
L. stvaminea making that species very conspicuous.

ISOLATION BY DIVERSE HABITS.

In some cases, then, allied species may have
been differentiated from a common stock by the
development of diverse habits, as well as by a
difference of form or colour; and the development
of different habit—necessitating, as it may do,
specialization with regard to a particular food-
plant, hibernating in a different stage, appearing
at a different time of the year, becoming single,
instead of double-brooded, or vice versd, etc.—is
almost sure to be correlated with a difference of
colour, form or structure, for it wndergoes its
metamorphoses under different conditions, and we
know now that a difference in the nutritive value

III

of the food given, and the formation of the wing
pigments under varying conditions, etc., are
accompanied by distinct changes of size or colour
in the imago. In this way species might readily
be formed on the ground where they actually
occur, and the same general rule would hold as to
both insular and continental areas; and, in this
way, one can readily understand why in some
districts large numbers of closely allied species
maintain their distinctness. Even such a fixed
habit as flying between 8 p.m. and g p.m. is
sufficient to isolate a species from an ally flying
say between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., and we know that
the flight and pairing of certain species takes place
regularly at a fixed time. In many species the
regularity of emergence from the pupa and of the
hour at which pairing takes place are so constant
as to cause experienced naturalists some surprise.

CONDITIONS FOR SPECIFIC DISTINCTNESS.

I have been insisting on these particulars,
because it appears to me that the various
conditions laid down by our most eminent
naturalists for the formation of new species under
the influence of natural selection, are too narrowly
kept between certain limits. However important
(rt) modification of structure of function, (2) the
development of recognition marks, and (3) the
necessity of some amount of infertility when
crossed with allied species may be, there are
other factors to be considered. The first of these
axioms is a necessity; for if the newly developed
form did not differ in structure or function from
the parent form, we could not recognize it as a
distinct species. There must be some modification
of structure or function, and this modification can
usually be correlated with a difference of habit, of
which indeed it may be the result. The study of
habits, then, is a useful addition to the work of the
biologist. It appears to me that ‘recognition
marks, and some amount of sterility when crossed
with allied forms,” are useful adjuncts to, but not
necessities of, specific distinctness.

PHYLOGENETIC AGE OF SPECIES.

We often speak of phylogenetically new and
phylogenetically old species, meaning thereby
species that have been more recently or more
distantly, in point of time, evolved from a parent
stock. If, however, we think for a moment, it
must be evident that each species traces back its
ancestry to the primeval ancestor of its class, and -
the ancestry of all species of the same class is, in
point of time and from this point of view, equal.
Some species have, however, been evolved through
lines that have undergone more changes than
others, and hence some bear in their facies the
traces of a much more complex series of modifica-
tions than others. It is these remnants of bygone

Ii2

conditions that are evident in some stage or other
of the species that determine the super-family,
family, sub-family, tribe or genus, into which we
group the various species. It is these that make
us assert that the Hepialids and Micropterygids
are among the oldest Lepidoptera now in existence,
meaning thereby that they are those that have
undergone least change from the primitive form
of lepidopterous insect, although how much
modification they have undergone we have really
no conception. It is these that make us say that
the Sphingids and Geometrids are among the most
specialized of Lepidoptera.

USELESS SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.

This long line of ancestry, accompanied as it has
been by endless modifications that have taken
place during the aeons of time through which the
species and their ancestors have existed, has left
a very complicated facies. Among the various
structures and markings of the Lepidoptera (and
the same general facts hold good also for other
branches of zoology) are many that have persisted,
and for which now there seems to be no actual
use. The fact that every species has, in its long
ancestral past, carried at each stage of its evolu-
tion various peculiar structures and markings
that distinguished it from its then allies and were
useful to it at the time, and so back through all
time during which insects have existed as such, or
even further back to the first dawn of life, does not
seem to be appreciated by many naturalists. That
these markings and structures should in some

instances persist in a modified form when they.

have ceased to be directly useful, although not
hurtful, to the species in its present form, has
raised in the minds of some naturalists a suspicion
that some apparent specific characters are not
useful to their possessors. From this, some have
gone on to assert that certain of these characters
never have been useful to the species. If one will
carefully consider the development of species in
time, if one will consider our absolute ignorance of

these early forms, except such as we can gather

from analogy by the closest study and comparison
of various species, it is surely somewhat unsafe, if
not illogical, to make such an assertion.

SPONTANEOUS VARIATIONS AND NATURAL
SELECTION.

It is quite true, as Romanes has pointed out,
that Darwin himself believed that every ‘slight
individual difference, as well as more strongly
marked variations which occasionally arise,’’ had
‘‘an efficient cause,”’ and that ‘‘ if the cause were to
act persistently, it is almost certain that all the
individuals of the species would be similarly
modified.” Romanes took his stand on the
principle here enunciated, and attempted to

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

maintain the position of Darwin with regard to
this and similar statements. Wallace, however,
has shown that this reasoning can only be true
when the same cause acts persistently on identical
materials under identical conditions. He has also
further pointed out that the very theory of natural
selection is based on the fact that the materials,
i.e. the individuals or species, are not identical,
but that they vary indefinitely, and in many
directions even under closely similar conditions.
He asks: ‘‘How, then, can any external or
internal cause produce an identical result—a
definite new variation—in al] the individuals of a
species, born as they are of varying parents, of
different ages, and subject to ever fluctuating
conditions?’’ The endless variation of almost
every species of insect, in a more or less marked
manner, re-echoes Wallace’s question; and I can
see no other conclusion than that natural selection
has chosen and intensified variations that have
occurred independently in the species, and modified
such into paths that have proved useful to the
species when any striking change in the environ-
ment has taken place.

CHARACTERS UTILITARIAN.

I quite agree with Wallace that the selection of
all variations, whether now exhibited as class,
family, tribal, or generic characters, has been
brought about by utility to the species, and
perfected’ by natural selection. We differentiate
our classes, families, tribes and genera, on the
remnants of previous elements of utilitarianism.
The active utilities are more conspicuous to us,
are more prominently brought to our notice,
by the differences existing between the species
and its local race, between species and species,
and so on throughout the whole scale; for, if we
may so term it, the differences between two
families, or classes, are only the accumulated
differences which have existed, and in a mea-
sure persisted, between the endless specific
forms which have been developed and have died
out since the representatives of the now dis-
tinct classes formed but a single species. The
problem of the utility of family, tribal and
generic characters is all included, then, in the
consideration of the utility of specific characters ;
for, in the species, the useful differentiations
have been completed, and are not in a state of
doubt, as they are between a species and its
local races. At the same time, the consideration
of the utility of specific characters leaves the
problem shorn of the secondary and tertiary (and
so on, ad infin.) considerations as to disuse and
subsequent modifications that at once accumulate
when one commences to study the same problem
when applied to genera, tribes, families, etc.

(To be continued.)

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

EDWIN RAY

WV are very pleased to hear that Professor
Edwin Ray Lankester has been nominated
to follow Sir William Flower as the new Director
of the British Museum of Natural History, South
Kensington. Professor Lankester is the eldest son of
Dr. Edwin Lankester, F.R.S., a former well-known
coroner for the County of Middlesex. He was born
May 15th, 1847, at Old Burlington Street, London,
and educated at St. Paul’s School and at Christ
Church College, Oxford. Professor Lankester early
developed a taste for zoological investigations. This
taste he inherited from his father and his mother,
both of whom were notable for their association
with the study of natural science. Dr. Lankester,
the coroner, who was born in Suffolk in 1814 and
died in 1874, held among other posts the secretary-
ship of the Ray Society. During that period the
subject of this notice was born,
hence the second name. The father
wrote numerous papers and several
works on natural history and
socialscience. Dr. Lankester was
also secretary of Section D of
the British Association for the
Advancement of Science, and an
original ‘‘Red Lion” or member
of the celebrated extra-gathering
for convivial purposes connected
with the Association’s meetings.
Mrs. Lankester, his wife, was a
popular writer, especially on wild
flowers and their folk-lore. Around
the parents was gathered from
time to time most of those worth
knowing in scientific circles, and
it was among these and their
influence that Edwin Ray Lankester was reared.
On leaving Christ Church, Ray Lankester was
appointed Fellow and Lecturer of Exeter College,
Oxford, in 1872, and the Professorship of Zoology
and Comparative Anatomy in University College,
London, followed in 1874. There he has long and
successfully presided over the fine laboratories and
museum founded by aid of the Jodrell bequest.
Among other honours, Professor Lankester is an
honorary LL.D. of the University of St. Andrews,
and was made a F.R.S. in 1875. He is a M.A.,
and an Examiner in the Universities of Cambridge,
London, and New Zealand. Hehas written more
than a hundred monographs and memoirs, gener-
ally on comparative subjects in natural science.
Some of the more important are: ‘‘ A Monograph
of the Fossil Fishes of the Old Red Sandstone
of Britain”; ‘‘Comparative Longevity’; ‘‘ The
Developmental History of Mollusca” ; ‘‘ Degenera-

LANKESTER,

Pror. E. Ray LANKESTER, F.R.S.

I13

NAG, de De se aReS:

»

tion: a Chapter in Darwinism”; ‘“ Limulus an
Arachnid ;” and many articles in the last edition of
the ‘‘ Encyclopaedia Britannica’’; the latter have
been published in book form. He has been con-
nected with the ‘‘ Quarterly Journal of Microsco-
pical Science,’”’ as editor, since 1869, when he
joined his father in that work,

Dr. Ray Lankester has also been a departmental
secretary of the British Association, and was
President of the Biological Section at the South-
port Meeting in 1883. For a short time, about a
fortnight only, in 1882, he was Regius Professor at
Edinburgh; but finding that unexpected and un-
satisfactory changes were made, which hampered
his opportunities to develop the museum and
laboratories, he, with his characteristic indepen-
dence of spirit, immediately resigned, and was at
once re-elected to his post of
Jodrell Professor in London.

In 1888 Professor Ray Lankester
founded the Marine Biological
Association of Great Britain,
which, among other functions,
built and conducts the celebrated
biological laboratory and aquarium
at Plymouth. In 1882 Dr. Ray
Lankester was elected to the
Council of the Royal Society,
and became a medallist in 1885,
in recognition of his discoveries
in zoology and palaeontology. In
1891 he was appointed Linacre
Professor of Human and Com-
parative Anatomy at Oxford.

We have already spoken of Dr.
Edwin Ray lLankester’s inde-
pendence of character; to that may be added an
absence of conventionalism and detestation of
humbug. This was manifested by his prosecution
and obtaining the conviction, at Bow Street Police
Station in 1876, of the spiritualistic ‘‘medium,’”
Slade, as a ‘“‘common rogue and vagabond.”
We have little doubt that this independence
of thought, coupled with his long and popular
association with the numerous science students
who have passed under his instruction, will
eminently fit him for the new post to which he
has been elected. At least, few men know better
the requirements necessary to make the Natural
History department of the British Museum of
value to those for whom it is really intended—the
students of natural science. We congratulate Dr.
Lankester on his appointment as Director, and
trust he will long have the opportunity of develop-
ing the magnificent collections. J-c.

114

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

ARMATURE OF HELICOID LANDSHELLS
AND NEW FORMS OF PLECTOPYLIS.

BYIG. 1K GuDE EZ. 9:

(Continued from page 76.)

LECTOPYLIS achatina (figs. 80a-f, 81a-d and
82a-c), from Moulmain, Burma, was des-
cribed by Dr. Pfeiffer, in the ‘‘ Zeitschrift fir
Malakozoologie,’’ 1845, p. 86, and Mr. Benson gave
notes on the animal, in the ‘‘ Annals and Magazine

Fig. 80.—Plectopylis achatina.

of Natural History’’ (3), iv. (1859), p. 95. The
shell was figured in Hanley and Theobald’s ‘‘ Con-
chologia Indica,” t. 13, f. 1 and 4 (the latter figure
purporting to represent P. vepercussa.) Mr. Stoliczka
described and figured the anatomy of the animal
in the ‘‘ Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,”
xl. (1871), p. 221, t. 15, f. 1-3, and Lieut.-Colonel
Godwin-Austen, the parietal armature of the shell
in the ‘‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society,”
1874, t. 74, f. 6. The shell is sinistrorse, disk-
shaped, very widely umbilicated, of various shades
of chestnut, usually paler and sometimes flammu-
lated below. irregularly and finely striated. Theapex
is usually, but not invariably, raised slightly above
the plane of the whorls. There are six or six and
a-half whorls, which increase gradually, and are
more or less flattened above and tumid below; the
first three and a-half are smooth or nearly so,
while the next two are somewhat coarsely striated
and strongly decussated by spiral lines, less dis-
tinct on the upper side of the last whorl, obsolete
at its side, but reappearing in the umbilical region.
The last whorl is bluntly keeled above and sub-
angulated at the periphery; this whorl suddenly
widens at the aperture where it is deeply
deflected. The aperture is almost horizontal,

distinguish it from the latter species.

elliptic cordate, while the peristome is thick-
ened and strongly reflected, livid or purplish-
brown in colour, never white; the margins are
united by a raised sinuous ridge, slightly
notched at the junctions above and below. The
parietal armature is of the same type as that
of P. vepercussa (ante p. 74, f. 78e), but the lower arm
of the bifurcation is the longer of the two (see fig. 80c,
which shows part of the parietal wall with the
posterior portion of its armature), and the lower
free horizontal fold close to the lower suture does
not veach as far as the apertural vidge, and does not extend
beyond the lower arm of the bifurcation and its posterior
support. Fig. 80a gives the anterior and fig. 80)
the posterior aspect of both armatures. The
palatal armature is also similar to that of P.
vepercussa, but the first horizontal fold is shorter
in the present species correspondingly with the
reduction in the upper arm of the bifurcation of
the parietal armature, while the vertical plate is
less strong and its edge less thickened. Plectopylis
vepercussa is, generally speaking, a more solid and
larger shell, always lighter in colour than P.
achatina, while its white peristome will at once
The lower
horizontal parietal fold in P. vepercussa is always
distinctly united to the apertural ridge, whereas in
P. achatina this fold is not visible from the aperture.
That these characters are constant, I have reason
to believe from having opened sixteen or eighteen
specimens without finding any variation in these
respects. The specimen shown in figs. 80a and 0
measures: major diameter, 22 millimetres; minor

Wai

MN

Fig. 81.—Plectopylis achatina juv.

diameter, 17 millimetres; altitude, 7 millimetres ;
while the one shown in figs. 8od-f measures
27: 21 : 8 millimetres; both are from Moul-
main, and are in my _ collection. Another
specimen in my collection shows no trace of

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

the ridge at the aperture, but is in all other
respects like the mature shells. In figs. 81a-d I
have shown an immature shell, received from Mr.
J. E. Cooper, of Highgate; it has only four
whorls completed, and is only furnished with
the posterior portion of the parietal armature
(see fig. 81a), but the palatal armature is quite
complete, though correspondingly reduced in size;
an earlier set of barriers is found three-quarters of
a whorl further back; the parietal folds of this
set have been entirely absorbed, but of the palatal
folds there are only three, the second and third
horizontal, and the vertical fold; this is shown in
fig. 81) in situ, while its anterior aspect is given in
fig. 81c; the two arrows in fig. 81d indicate the

Fig. 82.—Plectopylis achatind juv.

respective positions of the two sets of barriers. In
the McAndrew Collection, University Museum of
Zoology, Cambridge, is a tablet with three shells,
labelled ‘‘ Nanina lacythis, type, Benson Coll.” ; but
subsequently altered in pencil to ‘‘P. leiophis (?)”
I refer these specimens without hesitation to
immature forms of Plectopylis achatina ; one of them
is shown in figs. 82a-c. This specimen has four
and a-half whorls completed, and possesses the
immature barriers half a whorl from the aperture.
The parietal armature is composed of only a
crescent-shaped vertical plate, corresponding to
the upper and lower bifurcation of the main
horizontal fold (see fig. 820), while the palatal
armature, as it is seen from the outside through
the shell-wall, is shown in fig. 82¢ (enlarged) ;
there are only three folds, z.e. the second and
third horizontal ones, which are very short and
deflected posteriorly, and the vertical fold, with a
posterior ridge or support below; the arrow in
fig. 82a indicates the position of this set of barriers.
The specimen measures 11 : 10 : 6 millimetres
respectively ; the first three and a-half whorls are
ribbed, the last whorl only showing spiral sculpture.
The cuticle is plaited transversely, and the whorl
is angulated above, at the periphery, and below it ;
the periphery showing traces of a fringe of laciniae.
Below the aperture are found some traces of
another set of barriers. The other two specimens
referred to measure 9°5 : 85: 5 millimetres; the
armature is one-half of a whorl from the aperture,
and there are traces of an older set one-quarter
of a whorl further back; the upper and the peri-
pherial keels are provided with a fringe of laciniae.
These immature specimens are very interesting
and instructive, as they tend to indicate the

115

various stages through which the armatures pass ©
in their evolution from simple to complicated
barriers.

Mr. Stoliczka remarks (Journ. Asiat. Soc.
Bengal, xl. (1871), p. 221) that Plectopylis achatina
is ‘‘extremely common on all the limestone hills
about Moulmain. Among thousands of specimens
not one dextrorse variety was met with. The larger
specimens I have seen measured in the longer
diameter 35 millimetres, but specimens of half
that size, and even smaller than that, often have
all the appearance of being full-grown.’”’ As it
is so abundant a species, it is not surprising
that it is so frequently seen in collections. It is
the most variable of all the species of Plectopylis.
As none of the many forms has been separated,
I venture to name a few of the more prominent
varieties.

Plectopylis achatina var. obesa (1) (figs. 83a-c) is
darker in colour than the type, being of a fuscous
chestnut. It is more compressed and distinctly
ribbed; the shell is higher in proportion to the
diameter, and the umbilicus is deeper; the last
whorl does not widen suddenly, and the right
margin of the peristome is depressed, the aperture
being consequently somewhat ear-shaped; the
lower side slopes from the peripherial region to
the umbilical angulation. The armature does not

f G c Ml) yj

Fig. 83.—Plectopylis achatina var. obesa.

differ materially from that of the type, except
that the median horizontal parietal fold does not
quite reach the apertural ridge. Six specimens
were received by me from Miss Linter, five
of these being more or less decorticated.

(To be continued.)

[Further forms of this species will be described
and figured next month.—ED. S.-G.]

(1) Plectopylis achatina var. obesa, n. var. (figs. 834-c),
differs from the type in being more compressed and higher
in proportion to the diameter; in the last whorl not widening
suddenly at the aperture, and in the lower side sloping from
the periphery to the umbilical angulation; the right margin
of the peristome is depressed ; the umbilicus is deeper, and
the horizontal median parietal fold does not quite reach the
apertural ridge. The shell is darker in colour and more
strongly ribbed.— Major diameter, 19 millimetres; minor
diameter, 15 millimetres; altitude, 7 millimetres.—Habitat,
Moulmain, Burma.—Type in my collection.

116

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

STUDYING THE DIPTERA.

By E. BRUNETTI.

Ny est the Lepidoptera and Coleoptera are

collected by hundreds of enthusiasts, the
Diptera, or two-winged flies, seem to be almost
entirely ignored by the entomologists of these
islands. So far as 1am aware there are very few
private collections here to compare with the many
extensive ones on the Continent, in spite of Britain
being as proportionately rich in species as other
European countries ; though, certainly, she cannot
boast of such magnificent forms as occur plentifully
abroad.

As our knowledge of this order of insects is still
very incomplete, it offers brilliant opportunities to
the earnest student. The life-histories of the vast
majority of even the British species are quite
unknown, and though Lepidoptera and Coleoptera
are being continually forwarded from many
countries abroad, there is a remarkable lack of
Diptera received from many extensive regions.

Since Schiner published his ‘Catalogue of
European Diptera,” in 1864, containing 677 genera
and just over 8,600 species, a sufficient number of
new species have been added to swell the total to
about 11,500, whilst the number of species existing
in the whole world must be absolutely enormous.
To give an idea of the unsatisfactory state of our
knowledge of this group of insects, I take the
liberty of quoting a few figures. Schiner, one of
our best authorities, estimated in 1864 the 19,449
then known species of Diptera to be distributed as
follows: Europe, 8,670; Asia, 2,046; Africa, 1,644;
America, 5,517; Australia, 1,056; the remainder
being from unknown localities. From 1864 to
1868 1,341 new species were described, and in the
latter year Schiner, in his ‘‘ Reise der Novara,”
computed the probable number of species distri-
buted over the whole world to be about 200,000,
which to me, at least, does not appear at all
an exaggerated estimate.. In 1868 Schiner, in
the above-mentioned work, accounted for the
known species as follows: Cecidomyidae, 348
species known (of which 318 were European) ;
Mycetophilidae, 694 (571 European, only 3
exotic genera); Simuliidae, 47 species (27 being

European); Bibionidae, 218 (77 European, 108
American); Chironomidae, 669 (551 European, 93
American); Psychodidae 30 (19 European); Culi-
cidae, 132 (30 European); Tipulidae, 913 (380

European, 358 American); Stratiomyidae, 636
(136 European, 298 American); Xylophagidae, 71

(Schiner divided this into three families) ; Taba-
nidae, 1,122 (117 European, 516 American) ; Neme-
Strinidae, 80 (4 European); Bombylidae, 1,036

(198 European); Cyrtidae, 103 (22 European);

Therevidae, 159 (56 European);
(261 European, 687 American) ;
(3 European); Leptidae, 146 (57 European, 68
American); Empidae, 822 (497 European, 271
American) ; Dolichopidae, 822 (399 European, 296
American); Phoridae, 103 (88 European); Muscidae
(exclusive of an immense number of species created
by Robineau Desvoidy, the large majority of which
have since been sunk as synonyms), 7,348, divided
as follows: Calypterata—Europe, 2,305; Asia,
380; Africa, 272; America, 757; Australia, 269;
unknown, 97; total, 4,080; Acalypterata—Europe,
1,736; Asia, 438; Africa, 211; America 720;
Australia, 116; unknown 47; total, 3,268; Syr-
phidae, 1,539 (586 European, 520 American) ;
Hippoboscidae, etc., I02 (30 European, 26
American). EH may be noted, by the way, that
he does not mention the Conopidae and Oestridae,
two families comprising between them from 150
to 200 species. In all he computes 20,800 species
described up to 1868, of which, say, 9,000 or there-
abouts were European.

Before commenting on these figures, mention
must be made of Osten Sachen’s valuable and
exhaustive ‘‘ Catalogue of the Diptera of North
America,’ which brings the history of the Diptera
of that continent up to the date of its asl IO
and is a reliable basis for future work.

We will now glance at the above table of figures,
which shows us one or two points of interest.
Several great groups of flies up to 1864 had hardly
been collected at all out of Europe. These were the
Cecidomyidae, of which nine-tenths of the known
species were European; the Mycetophilidae, of
which four-fifths were European; the Chirono-
midae, of which five-sixths were European; the
Psychodidae, of which two-thirds were European ;
the Phoridae, of which four-fifths were European ;
and the enormous group of the acalypterate
Muscidae, of which more than half the known
species were European. In several families the
bulk of the remaining species, after deducting
the European ones, were described from America.

The second thing we learn from the above table
of figures is that many families are much better
represented abroad than at home; for example,
the Tipulidae, of which, speaking roughly, only
one-third of the species were European, one-third
being American, and the remainder scattered over
other parts of the world; the Stratiomyidae, of
which only one species in six was European; the
Tabanidae, of which no less than nine-tenths of
the species were exotic; the Bombylidae, of which
quite four-fifths were exotic; the Asilidae, of which

Asilidae, 1,880
Midasidae, 88

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

only one-seventh were European; and the com-
paratively limited but characteristic group of the
Midasidae, of which only three out of eighty-eight
species were indigenous to this continent.

Now let us see what progress has been made in
directions where a competent dipterologist has
made a special study of some particular group and
brought it up to date, in every case with valuable
additions to the lists of species. In Schiner’s pre-
viously mentioned Catalogue of European Diptera
(1864) the genus Sciava comprised 81 species, but
Winnertz, in an admirable monograph of all the
European species, brought the total up (in 1868)
to 147, to which must be added about 70 more
described since that date. In his paper, published
in 1893, Eaton added to the 12 European species
of Psychodidae already known no less than 24
new ones, being from England alone. Chilosia, an
extensive genus of Syrphidae, was represented in
1864 by 93 European species, a total which Becker,
in his excellent monograph on the genus (in 1894),
augmented by no less than 63, the genus now
being considered to be represented by about 170
European species. On the other hand, hosts of
species created by Robineau Desvoidy on minute
and unstable characters, and scores of others
‘described’ by Walker, have been sunk or placed
aside as unrecognizable. The instances just quoted
are certainly rather exceptional, but they go to
prove that in many directions our knowledge of the
order is very far from complete.

Reverting to the subject of the possible number
of existing species, it may be taken that there are
at least as many specific forms in a given area
abroad as there are ina European area of corre-
sponding size; so that, as Europe (with 11,500
species) forms only the one-seventeenth part of the
temperate and tropical land surface of the globe,
we can reasonably expect the Diptera of the whole
world to be represented, on the same proportionate
scale of species to area, by 195,500 species, to
which must be added some thousands extra on
account of the phenomenal abundance of insect
life in the tropics. This estimate brings us pecu-
liarly close to that of Schiner, made thirty years
ago. The interior of Brazil, almost the whole of
India, China, Japan, Central Africa, Madagascar,
Borneo, Celebes, Papua, Ceylon, and certain other
countries and large islands must be simply teeming
with thousands of species new to science.

It will thus be apparent that even beginners
have very reasonable chances to discover species
new to Britain or even new to science, especially if
collecting in Scotland, Ireland or Wales; whilst
on the Continent the best part of Russia is still
quite virgin ground, and Spain, Portugal, Turkey,
Roumania, Servia, and other parts have as yet by
no means furnished their proportionate quota of
peculiar forms.

II7

The initial drawbacks to the British student is
the lack of available literary assistance. Walker’s
“ British Diptera,” though written in English, is
obsolete, difficult to obtain, and expensive. Con-
tinental works are written in French, German,
Latin and Italian, whilst of late years some useful
papers have been published in Dutch and Russian,
notably Van der Wulp’s excellent work in Dutch,
with splendid plates, the ‘‘ Diptera Neerlandica”’
(unfinished). All this tends to discourage British
enthusiasts, who as a rule are not linguists to the
extent necessary to study these books. Moreover,
they are generally more or less youthful. Though
the. pursuit of entomology, if commenced early in
life, is frequently kept up indefinitely, it is seldom
taken up to any real advantage by middle-aged
persons, and it is with this conviction that I
address my remarks principally to the younger
collectors. A further source of embarrassment is
the non-existence of reference collections. True,
there is the British Museum collection, but for
collectors out of London, who are in the great
majority, it can be of but little assistance.
Naturally the first thing one wants to do after
collecting is to name one’s captures, otherwise the
incentive to continue is lost.

Such assistance as I can render to any one
taking up the study of the Diptera, by advice or
naming their captures, I shall be very pleased to
give, provided the specimens are in good condition,
and under no circumstances carded. I recommend
long Carlsbad pins, the flies to be placed about
one-third down the pin from the head, and unset,
so that they may be exchangeable with Continental
and foreign correspondents. In every case a label
should be attached, giving date and locality. At
any season of the year a commencement may be
made; for, excepting during winter frosts, some
Diptera are to be found, if properly looked for.

Diptera are abundant in individuals and numerous
in species, and occur in every kind of locality.
They can be caught with the ordinary butterfly-
net, and in hundreds by sweeping the grass and
herbage. The two-winged flies will, by their
infinite variety, develop an interest for them in
any one who cares to make the experiment of
taking up their study.

352, Strand, London, W.C.

New List or AUSTRALIAN BirDs.—The Trustees
of the Australian Museum at Sydney have recently
issued, in one volume, the first and second parts of
a new edition of the ‘‘ Catalogue of Australian”
Birds.” It comprises the orders Accipites (diurnal)
and Striges (nocturnal birds of prey). A useful
and complete list of references and synonyms is
given under each species, with full descriptions of
both sexes of adult birds, and frequently also of
the immature stages. It refers more especially to
those species in the Sydney Museum, but will be
useful as far as it goes.

118

NEW

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

BORINGS -ROUND LONDON,

By Epwarp A, Martin, F.G.S.

AM indebted to Messrs. Isler and Co., Artesian
Well Engineers, Southwark, for the following
interesting geological data, acquired by them in
the course of boring the wells mentioned below.
The site of each boring is given at the head of the
respective sections.

SoHO SQUARE WELL.

This boring is between Soho Square and

Charing Cross Road, at Messrs. Crosse and
Blackwell’s works.
Ft. Ft.

IEE 5 Ae Ste aa. 19 —
Blue Clay .. aie aie 20 48
Ditto and Stones ) 6 London

; r oe 54

? Septaria ) Clay

Blue Clay .. ee 2» 40 100
Mottled Clay “re +» 42 142) Woolwich
Greensand ot ee oe b2 4 Say) Series
Sand and Pebbles «» Ir 165 Thanet Beds
Chalk and Flints .. se OM Aer
Chalk a a0 70). 500

Water level was 190 feet from surface.

ALBERT Hatt Mansions WELL.
Ft. in. Ft. in

Loamy Sand Nee LO
Blue Clay .. ae 20 oe
Stone Ke pang 40 London
Clay (Blue) and | Clay.
Stones .. eel 4: 214
Mottled Clay eS L 265 |
Dark Sand = and
Pebbles .. 5 270 Woolwich
Greensand stn O 276 Beds.
Dead ditto 2 278 )
Rock (very hard).. 6 284
Live Sand .. I0 I0 6.294 10 ? Oldhaven
Grey Sandstone 22 2.0/7 Thanet Beds
Chalk and Flints.. 129 6 426 6

Water level was 116 feet from surface, and the
supply 5,000 gallons per hour.

AVONMORE RoapD WELL.

This well was bored for Mr. William SMiteley:

at Avonmore Road, West Kensington.

Ft. Ft.
(mMiadeiGround® 3%. 15 —

\Gravel anes. 56S 13
Blue Clay .. Jo eet (95.5 LOS

Pit

Clay Stones <e Od) WA 500)

Hard Blue Clay .. ELON L3 Ol, leondon
Light Sandy Clay oo” ee Clay.
Blue Clay .. fe ele aeeS 2

Light Sandy Clay es OLSS

Mottled Clay .. .. 25 213
Yellow ditto with Pebbles 13 226

Dead Sandy Clay andditto 6 232) Woolwich

Mottled Sandy Clay Be 2237, Beds

Hard ditto and Pebbles... 3 240

Very hard Rock .. 6 i ae

Sandy Clay and Pebbles... 7 248) Oldhaven

Dead Greensand Soe Al Beds and

Hard ditto Clay with | Thanet
Pebbles ... os ws 28) 278) sSeries

Chalk and Flints .. eel OMNEZO 7)
Hard Chalk Rock = 303) 1600

Water level was 88 feet below surface, and the
supply about 1,500 gallons per hour.

EaLtiInGc WELL.

This well was bored for the Ealing Local Board

for the new baths.
HE.) jin. ity ine

Dry well Be gn G —

London Clay .. - 248 6 2536) London

Clay and Greensand 10 6 264 | Clay.

Mottled Clay.. << “40 304

Loam * Bea 306

Mottled Clay, with Woolwich
Stone aC ao. 38 8) -syoly7 & Series.

Hard Sand .. do} 310 3

Red Clay o% 240) BEE eye)

Green and Black enn Maa 32 ONO)

Chalk and Flints .. 89 8 4185

Hard Chalk .. iG iii YP) Aleyo)

Chalk and Flints .. 171 8 6o1 8

The water level was 36 feet from surface.

CHERTSEY BREWERY WELL.

This well was constructed for Messrs. Healy
and Co., at the Brewery, Chertsey.
Jado edals, Sibel,
Made Ground Bie 5 _
Ballast aie aON as! 33
Sand. 50 ay) (6) 50 6
Sand ana Blue Clay 23 6 TA
Blue Clay .. dav) Ge 155
Claystone .. go I 156
Blue Clay .. fetes 23 179
Claystone .. ste I 180
Blue Clay 15 195
Claystone snd Pyriies 2 197 Heneee
Blue Clay .. ee AS 240 us
Claystone and Pyrites 2 242
Blue Clay .. te TAZ 384
Claystone .. oe I 385

Blue Clay .. 66). By 412
Greensand sree EES 427

—

SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 119

Ft. Ft.
Mottled Clay oo Sie) 457

Brown Loamy Sand 18 475 | Woolwich

Sand.. a ao 1 a0} A000 iSeries
Brown Clay Soreness 505
Greensand .. Se 19T 516

Chalk and Flints .. 484 1000

In boring into the Chalk for water, a very
noticeable phenomenon still awaits a satisfactory
explanation, viz., that whereas one boring will
yield a good supply, another boring but a short
distance away will give but very little water.
Greater or less proximity to the River Thames will
not explain this, nor will a possible induration
resulting from pressure of a great thickness of
overlying tertiaries ; for these could have but little
effect in consolidating the Chalk over and above its
natural consolidation. It seems to me rather to
be caused by the partial character of different beds
in the Chalk, caused by the percolation of water
charged with indurating salts. These hardened
layers have not necessarily any connection with
such recognized beds as the Chalk Rock, Melbourne
Rock, etc. A hard local layer of a basin-shape
arrangement would have the effect of keeping down
the water locally, whilst perhaps not a quarter of
a mile away the supply would be plentiful.

At the following borings the supply was meagre in
the extreme : Chertsey, Brentford (Royal Brewery),
Ealing (Local Board), Fulham (Batey and Co.),
West Kensington (Whiteley’s), St. James’s (Mason
Yard), Soho Square (Crosse and Blackwell's).

On the other hand a plentiful supply from the
Chalk-was found at Albert Hall Mansions, South
Kensington, and Fulham (Kops’).

CHELSEA BOTANICAL GARDEN. — The
botanical garden at Chelsea, full
associations, is, we hope, sate at last. Many
have been the threats of the builder fiend,
who has more than once nearly succeeded in
acquiring the eligible site occupied by the pretty
garden of the Apothecaries’ Guild of London. Its
three acres were originally leased, in 1673, by
Lord Cheyne to the Apothecaries’ Company for
a barge house, when each of the City Guilds
possessed their State barges and the River Thames
was the great highway, east or west, to or from the
City. When Sir Hans Sloane purchased Cheyne’s
Chelsea estate he presented the site, in trust, to the
Company, with certain conditions, the chief being
that the holding should be maintained as a ‘‘ physic
garden” for the Apothecaries’ apprentices. There
they were to learn the medical uses of plants
and to distinguish the good from the poisonous.
Another condition was that the Company should
send annually from the garden fifty specimens of
dried plants to the Royal Society, until 2,000 had
been delivered. This custom ceased in 1793, and
in 1853 the herbarium was added to the British
Museum Botanical Department. It has now been
decided that the London Parochial Charities’
Trustees shall take over the trust from the
Apothecaries and in future maintain the garden as
intended by Sir Hans Sloane.

little
of quaint

4 {Saxe apron ABROAD SCIFNCE ABROAD]

Sy
So

CONTRIBUTED BY FLORA WINSTONE.

FIELD CoLumBiaAN MuvusEuM PUBLICATIONS
(Chicago, U.S.A, Nos. 26 and 27, March, 1898).
These numbers belong to the Zoological Series,
the first being devoted to a list of a collection of
shells from the Gulf of Aden, obtained by the
museum’s East African expedition. It represents
only the casual sea-shells found, for no time was
available for proper search. It is compiled by
Dr. W. H. Dall, of the National Museum at
Washington, and does not contain any new species.
No. 27 includes lists of the mammals obtained in
the States of Iowa, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho,
Nevada and California, with description of new
species by Mr. D. G. Elliot, F.R.S.E. The
animals are from various small collections, and
principally rodents

THE VicToRIAN NatTurRALisT (Melbourne, June,
July, 1898). At a meeting, in May last, of the
Field Naturalists’ Club of Victoria, Mr. D. M’Alpine
drew attention to and exhibited some edible fungi
of that part of Australia, including Coprinus covonatus,
and a puff-ball fungus that forms ‘‘ fairy-rings””’ in
grass fields and lawns in the vicinity of Melbourne.
In the June number also, a new Labiate plant,
Hemigenia macphersoni Luehmann, is described by
Mr. J. G. Luehmann, F.L.S. Itisashrub growing
to five feet in height, with purplish flowers, three-
quarters of an inch long. The July number
contains the annual report of the above society.
Mr. M’Alpine contributed to the June meeting,
‘* Notes on Fungi of Kerguelen Island,” founded on
plants collected by Mr. Robert Hall during a
recent visit. Of ten species obtained, two were
new to science and attached to the genera Panaeolus
and Fusarium. An interesting discussion took
place at the same meeting on the suggested intro-
duction of certain insectivorous birds from Europe
to cope with various insect pests already estab-
lished in the colony, and of European origin.
The general feeling of those present appeared to
be against any more introductions of aliens, some
of which might change their habits of life with
the novelty of their surroundings. A new moss,
Dawsonia victoriae Mueller, is referred to by Mr.
F. M. Reader, who translates Mueller’s original
Latin description.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL
SciencES (Philadelphia, Part i. 1898, January,
February, BUEIela This part contains 200 pp.
and 8 plates, 94 inches by 6 inches. There are
twenty-two articles of considerable interest, includ-
ing ‘‘ Anatomical Notes on certain West American
Helices,’ by H. A. Pilsbry and E. G. Vanetta ;
‘“‘ Volcanic Rocks of Mesozoic Agein Pennsylvania,”
by E. Goldsmith; ‘‘ Observations on Errant
Frustules of Eunotia major” (a diatom), by T.
Chalkley Palmer; and ‘‘ Description of a New
Tethys (Aplysea),”’ by E. J. Letson, all of which
are illustrated by plates. Mr. Goldsmith's paper
is admirably illustrated and forms a valuable con-
tribution to the petrology of the part of Pennsyl-
vania described.

NOTICES BY JOHN T. CARRINGTON.

NotTe.—In consequence of the great variety in sizes of books
now published, the old descriptions, founded on the folding
of the paper on which they are printed, will not in future
be followed in these pages. In its stead their size, including
binding, will be given in inches, the greater being the length
and the lesser the breadth, unless otherwise specified.—Ed,
SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Lighting by Acetylene. By WiLLiAM E. Gizbss,
M.E. 141 pp., 74 in. x 42in., with 66 illustrations.
(New York: D. Van Nostard, Company. London:
Crosby Lockwood and Son, 1898.) 7s. 6d.

The new industry of the commercial manufacture
of calcium carbide and its product of acetylene-
gas is evidently to have early a literature of its
own. The author has taken pains to produce a
work well up to the date of its completion; but as
he himself says, revision may be expected in such
a work in the initial stage of the industry. A
couple of pages suffice for the history of acetylene
gas, and seven pages for its ‘‘dangers,’’ most of
which have been the result of inexperience in the
treatment of acetylene during the preparatory
stages of its commercial development. This the
author clearly shows in these pages. Now that
its management is better understood, the ‘‘dangers”’
have practically disappeared, or at most are less
than those from coal-gas, and more easily guarded
against. Indeed, acetylene is less poisonous than
coal-gas as generally supplied by the companies,
and recovery is more rapid than from the toxic
influence of coal-gas. Therefore those living in
an atmosphere where there is a slight escape of
acetylene suffer less than if affected by a similar
amount of coal-gas. The odour of the former is
sO apparent that the inclination is to stop a leak
which would be tolerated in coal-gas. The emana-
tions from perfect combustion of acetylene are far
less deleterious than those of coal-gas, especially
on account of the amount of acetylene being
less than one-fifth necessary to produce the same
amount of coal-gaslight. The author has carefully
followed the industry from its commencement, and
illustrates most of the earlier as well as the later
furnaces and generators. For the lighting specialist
and those who require information on the subject
of acetylene; we can recommend the book before
us. We must remember, however, it is written by
an American who had chiefly for his material the
condition of what is called the ‘‘ art” on that con-
tinent. He has evidently given some attention to
what has been done in France, but his next edition
will doubtless include several marked stages of
development which have occurred in this country.

Acetylene Gas and Calcium Carbide. By G. F.
THOMPSON. 88 pp., 74 in x 4% in. (Liverpool:
G. Thompson, Lombard Chambers, 1808.)
2s. 6d. net.

Mr. Thompson has printed, with additions, a
lecture he gave before the Liverpool Polytechnic
Society, and has well told the history of the new
illuminant. Perhaps in his historical chapter
there are one or two statements as to the dis-
covery of the commercial calcium carbide which

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

will receive revision when the book goes to
a second edition. The contents of this useful little
work consists of an introduction and ten chapters
dealing with the subject from many points of view.
The author's information is singularly correct as a
whole, viewed from the date on which he went to
publication. It is curious, however, that neither
this nor Mr. Gibbs’ work just noticed, should
make any reference to an interesting discussion
which occupied three days before a Committee of
the House of Lords, in March, 1896. ‘The last
chapter of this book is interesting as showing the
immense future of the synthetic value of acetylene,
as applied to arts and industries. This portion of
the study of acetylene has already received some
attention, and it is found that gaseous hydro-
carbons synthetically produced can be applied to
making many commercial products which have
hitherto had their origin in entirely different
sources. Not the least of these are alcohol, and
dye stuffs at present represented by the aniline
dyes. This chapter is worth the cost of the
book, if intelligently read by its purchaser. Mr.
Thompson has produced an excellent account of
the new industry of acetylene, and one we can
recommend.

A Dictionary of Bird Notes of British Birds. By
CHARLES Louis Hetr. 38 pp., 64 in. x 4 in.
(Brigg: Jackson, 1898.) 2s. 6d.

An original little work from several points of
view is the result of the author’s venture. It is
an attempt, and so a basis for future improvement,
to put into more or less articulate human sounds,
as expressed in letterpress print, the bird notes of
the various members of the British avi-fauna. It
would be a bold thing to say that the author has
succeeded in every case. The amount of dis-
cussion that will arise out of his pages will be
something for our ornithologists to anticipate.
The notes are not given in every instance, such as
the rarer birds like the little crake. We give one

.or two instances of the author’s views. Taking the

chaffinch. ‘Call: ‘ flinck - flinck,’ ‘ pink- pink’ or
‘spink-spink, ‘ yack-yack’ and ‘treef-treef.’ Note:
(male, spring), ‘tu-wheet, tu-wheet’ (very
sweet). Song: ‘tol-de-rol, lol, chickwedo,’ or
‘tol, lol, lol, kiss me, dear,’ with an occasional
‘wee, we,’ or snore of a drunken man. Chiefly
on the wing: ‘tiike,’ or ‘tyitik.’"” That sound after
the ‘‘ wee, wee,’’ must surely emanate from some
captive birds, chaffinches, like many others, being
notably imitative, as has been so well shown in Mr.
Witchell’s book on ‘‘ The Evolution of Bird Song”
(SCIENCE-GossIP, iii. 74). Of the song of a thrush
he says we must read or write ‘‘go-it, go-it, stick-
to-it, stick-to-it, you’ll-do-it, you’ll do it,’ but he
omits the run that follows, which would defy most
people to clearly express in writing. The book is
printed on one side only, so that notes may be
made opposite the author’s pages. At the latter
part of the book is an extensive glossary of popular,
local, and old-fashioned names of British birds,
with reference numbers toa list of scientific names as
accepted by a Committee of the British Ornitholo-
gists’ Union in 1883. Last of all is a list of sport-
ing and other terms applied to wild-fowl. Some
of the less-known ones are curious, such as a
‘desert of lapwings”’ for many; ‘‘an exaltation of
larks,’’ also for many; ‘‘a watch of nightingales”
for several; a ‘‘nide of pheasants’’=a hatching ;
or a ‘‘sedge of herons’’=several. The book is full
of lore and interest for both ornithologists and
bird-lovers generally, and worth the price.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

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741 SCIENCE GOSSIP
Gea,

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DAMES UM) MRR ee SS Cem

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NATURALISTS having correspondents in Greater
Britain will be pleased with the early prospect of
Imperial penny postage, and better still to hear
that the parcels rate is to be greatly reduced. The
proposed rates are: under 3 lbs. rs., under 7 lbs. 2s.,
with a maximum of 3s. for 11 lbs.

Tue Annual Foray of the British Mycological
Society is to be held this year at Dublin, where
the headquarters will be at the Botanical Rooms
in the Science and Art Museum, Kildare Street,
from Saturday, September i1gth to the 24th,
inclusive. Mr. Carleton Rea, 34, Foregate Street,
Worcester, will furnish particulars.

THE excursions and meetings arranged for
appear to be of an entertaining character. They
will include visits to the Herbarium at the Science
and Art Museum (under the direction of Dr. T.
Johnson), the Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin
(under the direction of Mr. F. W. Moore, A.L.S.,
M.R.I.A.), the Powerscourt demesne, Malahide
district, Rathdrum district, Woodlands demesne
near Lucan, and Glenealy.

OTHER business and social meetings have been
arranged during the same foray at Dublin. There
will be the reading of a presidential address by the
acting President, Dr. C. B. Plowright, on the
‘‘Agaricineae of Britain’’; a reception at the
Botanical Laboratory at the Royal College of
Science ; several papers of interest are to be read,
and a fungus exhibition will be held. Rooms in
the Kildare Street Museum and at the Royal
College of Science have been placed at the disposal
of the local committee.

THE latest determination, that by Dr. Braun
formerly Director of the Observatory at Kalocsa,
in Hungary, who has given eleven years to this
problem, makes the mean density of the earth
equal 5752765. A Torsion balance has been
employed, enclosed in a glass globe, the interior
of which was a vacuum, which after four years
was still perfect.

Tue Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union is appealing,
through Mr. W. Dennison Roebuck, its honorary
treasurer, for subscriptions towards a special fund
of £150, two-thirds of which has already been

subscribed, and an increased membership. The:

former object is to pay off some outstanding
liabilities incurred in prosecuting the really good
work which the union has accomplished. The
committee deserve all the support which can be
given by our readers.

‘‘A PLEA FOR OWLS AND KESTRELS ” is the title
of a paper, by Mr. Lionel E. Adams, B.A., that
appeared in the ‘‘ Journal of the Northamptonshire
Natural History Society.”” We have been favoured
with a reprint, and find it of exceptional interest.

The author makes out an excellent case in favour -

of the preservation of several birds of these groups.
His information is based upon examination of the
pellets ejected by the owls and of the evidence of
modes of feeding by the buzzards and kestrels.

121

THE annual conference of the Irish Field Club
Union in the Kenmare district was well attended
and successful.

A SHORT time ago the Zoological Society of
London secured for its Gardens in Regent’s Park
a fine young giraffe from Senegal, at a cost of no
less than £900 for the specimen. It is now dead.

In the ‘Irish Naturalist’? for August, Dr. Scharff
has an interesting article on ‘‘ The Irish Freshwater
Leeches.’’ He brings down the eleven reputed
species to eight, and gives diagrams for the dif-
ferentiation of the species.

WE are glad to note that the Rastrick and
Brighouse Naturalists’ Society has secured the
use of a room in the Rydings, at Brighouse.
This ought to go far towards strengthening the
position of the Society and adding largely to its
membership.

ProFEssor Ramsay and Mr. Travers have suc-
ceeded, through their investigations into atmos-
pheric air, in finding two new inert gases. They
have named them respectively ‘‘neon’’ and
‘“‘metargon.’’? The former has an atomic weight
of 22, and 4o represents that of the latter.

WE understand a meeting of some of the local
scientific societies of the eastern counties was
recently held at Witham, in Essex, with a view of
forming a union for mutual benefit. As we have
not received any particulars from its organizers or
secretary, we are not able to give any information.

THE ‘Journal of Marine Zoology and Micro-
scopy”’ for June, 1898, is to hand. It is the organ
of the Jersey Biological Station, and will in future
be issued half-yearly at one shilling per number.
This part is illustrated with three plates. It may
be obtained from Mr. James Hornell, the Biological
Station, Jersey.

We may hope to find before long that the
original usefulness of the Apothecaries’ or ‘‘ Physic
Garden,” at Chelsea, may be freely available for
all students of botany, whether medical or other-
wise, now it is to be in the hands of new trustees.
The site is most conveniently situated on the
Thames Embankment, and near several places of
interest.

AN almost unique opportunity is afforded by the
acquisition of the Apothecaries’ Garden, at Chelsea,
of establishing a National School of Botany by a
disinterested public body. The size of the garden
is not such as requires expensive maintenance, and
the small capital necessary for physiological re-
search laboratory and class-rooms ought easily to
be provided by public subscription. The buildings
need not be on the site of the garden itself.

Tue neighbourhood of Chelsea is well situated, so
as to be within the means of students of a National
School of Botany. It is within easy reach of the
Botanical Department of the Natural History
Museum of South Kensington. Such a proposal is
well worth consideration, as the initial capital fund
need not be large, and there should be a certain
revenue from class fees.

THE annual report of the British Museum draws
attention to the reduction in the number of visits
of students to the reading room at Bloomsbury by
2,735. Those knowing the reading room and its
readers are well pleased with this reduction and
with the greater strictness in issuing the tickets of
admission. During the period under review no
less than 188,628 visits were made to consult the
national library.

I22

CONDUCTED BY FRANK C. DENNETT.

Position at Noon,

1808. Rises. Sets. R.A.

Sept. him, han, hit. Dec.
Sun eect Ques) 5-27 Ave ere0-2GipsMlapeesTI-TE occ a5a a Ne

19. 5-43 «« 6.5 II.47 An aed!
29... 6.0 wen 5342 wel2223) 2. 720 50! 5:
Rises. Souths. Sets. Ageat Noon.

Sept. hm. ham. him. do hast.

MO0tts (© coe TILT P.M =) 0010.52) a1. 5 4-20) DsIs 9-23) i25

DO fers PLO; LO AON) esc 290 Pel erg Or 53 3 II 50

20) se 1513s |. -49 5.2i acm. 13 Ir 50
Posttion at Noon.

Souths. Semt eA

Sept. him, Diameter, hm. Dec.
Mercurys.. 0) 226 11.27/a.M: 2... 50 0 10.41 5° 26’N,

IQ ... 10.49 eee te) 10.43 Sees2t

29 ... 10.58 5 219 11.32 early
Venus .:. 9.» 2.45 P.M. ...10" 9 13:59 wes) LAe 20) De

TOs ieee 5 ayaa: 14:98) ¢.3- 187 35)

20... *2.43 41376 T5106 22,229: (8%
Mays) = (22:10) <2. /6:49%a-1. 262 3 4 6:43) \c-.230, 27) Ne
arpiler..c-10, 454, I-59 P.Ms,...1d2 2 12.58 BOM ZS:
SQturn %... 10)... 4.27PM cs 7. 4 10.22 2. 19° 56//S.
Uranus ...19 ... 3-58 p.m. 1" 8 15:52) 08200, 5) 9s
Neptune... 19 ... 5-45 a.m. 16) ey) er Ce INE

Moon's PHASES.
him. hm.

3rd Qr.... Sept. 7...10.51 p.m. New ... Sept. 16... 0.10 a.m.
TSE OPera aay? 23120 2.30/01, Full 2 4) ,/29...DL.11 p.m.

In apogee September oth, at 9 p.m., distant 251,400
miles; and in perigee on 25th, at 6 a.m, distant
229,300 miles.

CoNJUNCTIONS OF PLANETS WITH THE Moon.

Sept. 9 Ss Mars* Ip.m. planet 0° 54’ S.
14 ons Mercury+ Ouse eee i Se eOunN
17, bod Jupitert Oupsm-/ i)... 17) LOS 30cLN
19 oo Venus Seen TaD Lets es SE IGIZO LIN,
2I Saturn* m 4° 39' N

as AG. aah ates ”
* Daylight. + Below English horizon.

THE Sun had been showing less and less signs
of activity, but during the last day or two of July
and early in August there were some large spots
visible.

Mercury is in inferior conjunction with the sun
at 5 p.m. on September 5th, and after that date is
a morning star throughout the month, reaching
greatest elongation west (17° 51’) at 3 p.m. on 2ist,
near which date it rises about 1h. 4om. before
the sun.

VENUS is an evening star, reaching its greatest
eastern elongation (46° 27’) at 5 p.m. on 21st. It
sets at this time about an hour after the sun, and
is not well placed for the observer. The best time
to observe it is near the time of southing, if care-
fully ‘‘swept”’ up or found by aid of an equatoreal
and circles.

Mars rises a few minutes before 11 at the
beginning and about 10.15 at the end of the
month. Its tiny disc is not a very satisfactory
object at present, with a telescope of common
dimensions. At the time of its occultation by the
moon, on September oth, it will not only be broad
daylight, but the planet will be getting low in
north-western heavens. Disappearance occurs at
1.31 p.m., 95° from the vertex, and the reappearance
at 2.19 p.m., 215° from the vertex.

JUPITER is too near the sun for observation.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

SATURN must be looked for as soon as it is-dark.
At the beginning of the month it sets about three
hours after the sun.

URANUS cannot be well observed.

NEPTUNE follows the ‘‘crab’’ nebula in Taurus,
and comes to the meridian about 7 minutes after
that object.

MeETeEoRS may be looked for on September rst,
2nd, 6th, 7th, r1th to 13th and 25th.

Comets.—It now appears that Mr. John Grigg,
of Thames, New Zealand, was the first to recover
Encke’s comet, on June 7th; it should therefore be
called c 1898. Coddington’s new comet is properly
d 1898, and is remarkable as being the second dis-
covered by photography. The first being that
found by Barnard, in 1892, the fifth of that year.
More extended observation has led to a re-
determination of the orbits of Perrine’s comet, ¢
1898, and Giacobini’s comet, g 1898. Herr Ber-
berich finds that the former did not reach its
perihelion until August 16th, at a distance 0°64
from the sun—the earth’s distance =1-0. M. St.
Javelle, of the Nice Observatory, gives in the
‘* Astronomische Nachrichten,’ No. 3,505, a new
determination of the orbit of the latter, finding that
the perihelion passage was not made until July
25th, at a distance from thesun equal to one and a-
half times as great as the earth’s mean distance,
having been nearest to the earth at the end of
June.

A BRILLIANT METEOR, green in colour, and
having a red trail about 4° in length, passed about
Io° east of the zenith, as seen from Dalston, with
a motion from south to north, nearly parallel to the
meridian, at about 9.1r p.m. on July 26th. The
colours were not perhaps so intense as those of the
meteor on January 21st. Mr. W. F. Denning, of
Bristol, writes: ‘‘I have two other observations, ...
and Iam only able to derive a very approximate
path. The fireball seems to have fallen from 73

‘ miles to 27 miles, and to have had a length of

flight = 191 miles. It first appeared over a place
in latitude 49° 49’ N., longitude 0° 32’ E. (25
miles west of Dieppe, France), and disappeared
over Chatteris, Cambridgeshire. Radiant point in
about 269°,—23° at the bow of Sagittarius. I
cannot give any value for the velocity, as I have
no estimates of the duration of flight.”

WILt1AM R. Brooxs.—Prof. Brooks, Director of
the Smith Observatory, -Geneva, New York, who
has discovered so many comets and was one of the
earliest workers in astronomical photography, has
had the degree of Doctor of Science conferred
upon him by Hamilton College, Clinton, New York,
attending personally, by request, to receive the
distinction.

A New Minor PLAnet, the first this year, was
photographically discovered by M. Charlois, at
Nice, on July 16th. Prof. Millosevich observed
it at Rome, visually, on July 2oth.

BEN NEvis METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORIES.
—It was feared that after seven years’ good work
these observatories would have to be closed in
October next for lack of funds, but we understand
that the difficulty has been warded off for at least
another year.

JuriTER.—'‘ Nature” for August 4th, contained
a most interesting article on Jupiter's red spot, by
Mr. W. F. Denning, who for twenty years past has
been studying this remarkable object.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 123

AIRS ES et

CONDUCTED BY J. H. COOKE, F.L.S., F.G.S.

To whom Notes, Articles and material relating to Microscopy,
and intended for Sc1ENCE-GossIP, are, in the first instance,
to be sent, addressed ‘‘J. H. Cooke, Edlestone, Battenhall
Road, Worcester.”

RECENT MuicroscopicaL RESEARCH.—At a
recent meeting of the Royal Society of London,
Dr. Galt, of Glasgow University, communicated a
paper on ‘‘ The Microscopical Appearances of the
Grains in the more commonly occurring Starches.”
The paper was very detailed, and was illustrated
by many original photographs. At the Academy
of Science, France, MM. Bordas, Joulin and De
Racrkowski presented the results of their work on
‘* Micro-organisms of Turned Wines.” The authors
have isolated and studied an organism which they
propose to call Bacillus roseus-vini. It takes its
name from the various colourings it assumes in
different cultivating media.

How THE Hypra Stincs.—One of the most
common of the freshwater hydras found in England
is the interesting little Cordylophora. Its sting-
cells are contained in its skin, and though most
microscopists have heard of and seen them, there
are but few that know how they act. The common
idea is that the animal uncoils the stings when it
likes, and pierces its prey with them, the stings
remaining attached to its arms. That is a mistake.
There is a kind of trigger projecting a little way
from the skin. When this is pressed by the arm
of the animal squeezing its prey it releases the
spring, which uncoils like a flash and becomes
perfectly straight andrigid. Thesting, which hasa
little round head to it, comes right out of the hydra,
and sticks into its prey like a tiny pin with the
head outermost. Hundreds of these atomic pins
are shot out by the hydra against, say, a water-
flea, and by the time it is dead, the poor little
Daphnia looks like a round pin-cushion full of pins.

THE Foop oF Uropopa.—At a recent meeting
of the Linnean Society, Surgeon-Captain Cummins,
F.L.S., read a paper on the above subject. The
nature of the food of these mites, which belong to
a highly specialized genus of the Gamasinae, had
long been a puzzle even to those who have paid
particular attention to their organization. From
careful experiments and observation, the author of
the paper had come to the conclusion that amongst
the organisms on which the Uropoda live were
many species of bacilli, including the potato
bacillus and the earth bacillus. Wild yeast-cells
were rapidly devoured, as also were Micrococci.
He had little doubt that they consumed the gonidia
of fungi, for species of Penicillium and Mucor never
appeared in the boxes which contained mites in
large numbers, otherwise they were commonly
present. Mr. A. D. Michael, in criticising the
paper, pointed out the distinguishing characters of
the Uropoda as compared with others of the
Gamasinae, and especially the peculiar form of the
mandibles, which suggested a different mode of
feeding to that adopted by other mites.

MicroscoricaL DirEcTory.—Readers of SCIENCE-
Gossip who may desire to have their names
included in the new Microscopical Directory for
1898 are requested to forward their names and
addresses to ‘‘ The Journal of Applied Microscopy,”
Rochester, N.Y. It is also advisable to state the
special line of microscopical work engaged in,
whether in possession of a collection, and if
exchanges are desired. The insertion is made free
of charge.

WHAT IS A SPONGE?—Sponges are very in-
teresting and puzzling to the zoologist who makes
classification his hobby. Is asponge ‘‘an animal ”’?
One of the Metazoa? Or does it belong to the
Protozoa ?—in which case it is not an animal, but
is only a huge ‘colony ” of unicellular “ animals.”
There is a good deal to be said on both sides. In
its canals may be seen organisms identical with
the collared monads, which are apparently indi-
visible from the animals. This goes to show that
it is merely an overgrown colony of monads. It
has a skeleton of spicules not unlike the spicules of
gorgonia, and, in the autumn, it produces a kind of
‘“‘winter egg,’’ which has a hard shell. This
makes one think it ‘‘an animal,’”’ and belonging to
the Metazoa. In favour of this view, Mr. H.M. J.
Underhill has suggested that the collared monads
in the canals, without which no sponge is ever
found, may really be individual monads living in
partnership with the higher animal: in other
words, that we have here an excellent example of
symbiosis.

MANCHESTER MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.—We are
in receipt of the ‘‘ Transactions and Annual Report”’
of this Society for the year 1898, and are pleased to
see that the membership roll is so large and that
the society maintains its reputation for solid and
valuable work. All the articles in this its latest
volume are of a biological character, a fact that is
probably due in a measure to the benign influence
exerted by the late president, Prof. A. Milnes
Marshall. Microscopical manipulation and tech-
nique are essentials to good work, but to make
them the one object of a society’s existence serves
no useful purpose. On the contrary, it absorbs
much energy and enthusiasm that might be better
employed. The Manchester society sets an exam-
ple that its metropolitan confréres might follow
with advantage. The contributions to the present
number include articles on ‘Adaptations in
Plants,” by Prof. F. E. Weiss; ‘‘The Functions
and Structure of Leaves,” by C. Turner; ‘‘ Natural
Selection in the Lepidoptera,” by M. L. Sykes;
‘‘The Influence of Light and Temperature on
Vegetation,” by J. Axon.

Stupy oF LicHEN STRUCTURES.—For the study
of lichen structures, Professor G. J. Pierce has been
most successful with a concentrated (or saturated)
solution of corrosive sublimate in thirty - five
per cent. alcohol. This he uses hot, and so secures
very rapid penetration, killing and fixing, during
and after which no contraction takes place. If the
lichen material is air-dry, but still alive, it should
be thoroughly wetted and kept moist for two or three -.
days, and then small pieces only should be put into
the hot fixing agent, in which they will promptly
sink to the bottom, where they may be left for a
suitable length of time, from five minutes to a
half-an-hour. Slow dehydration in the alcohols
using five or six grades and comparatively large
volumes in proportion to the size of the objects
will secure the removal of the last traces of corro-
sive sublimate.

124

SoUND ORGANS IN CicapAs.—Perhaps the most
interesting feature of the anatomy of the Cicada
and grasshoppers to the popular mind is the
musical apparatus by means of which they make
their peculiar note. This apparatus and the
sounds produced by it have been studied and de-
scribed by many naturalists. This gift of song is
found in the male insect only, and the true sound
apparatus consists of two small ear-like or shell-
like inflated drums situated on the sides of the
basal segment of the abdomen. These drums are
caused to vibrate by the action of powerful
muscles, and the sound is variously modified by
adjacent smaller discs, the so-called ‘‘ mirrors,’’ or
sounding-boards, and issues as’ the peculiar note
of the species, which if once heard is never likely
to be forgotten, or, if heard again, mistaken for
that of some other insect. The sounding-drum is
a tense, dry, crisp membrane, numerously ribbed
or plated, with the convex surface turned outward.
The ribs are chitinous thickenings or folds in the
surface of the parchment-like drum. The sound is
produced by the
rapid vibration of
these, set in motion
by two powerful mus-
cles situated within
the base of the abdo-
men. Fig. a gives a
view oftheapparatus
from beneath, show-
ing the plates (light-
coloured) covering
the sounding discs ;
fig. b is a dorsal
Wiew;, tig. ¢ “is “a
section at the base
of the abdomen,
showing attachment
of large muscles to
sounding-drum; fig.
d is the sounding-
drum greatly en-
larged and in normal
position; fig. ¢, the
same drawn forcibly da
in by the action of
one of the muscles,
as in singing.

DIFFICULTIES OF AMPLIFICATION.—The beginner
in microscopy invariably wants to use his highest
objectives and shortest eyepieces first. It makes
no difference what the object is he wishes to
examine. He will put on a one-sixteenth or a one-
twentieth objective, and a half-inch solid eyepiece
to examine a beetle, if he has them, and if not, will
use the highest combination. He is very much
astonished and disgusted at the fact that he can see
nothing, and not infrequently imagines that he has
been cheated by the optician, and that his lenses
are worthless. He does not realize the fact that
the higher the amplification the smaller must be
the actual field of view, nor that the manipulation
of objectives and combinations increases in difficulty
with the increase of the amplification of which the
combinations are capable. Very few microscopists,
beginners and advanced students alike, understand
how to get the best work out of their lenses. The
manipulation of high powers is an art that requires
study and long practice; the character of the light,
its direction, the position of the mirror and of the
condenser, the size of the aperture of the diaphragm,
all entering into the problem.

SOUND ORGANS OF CICAD

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

ANTS AND DiIsEASE.—An epidemic in an ant
colony has been noticed by a Bombay bacteri-
ologist, who suspects the disease may be the
bubonic plague, and is experimenting to settle the
question.

CRYSTALS OF GOLD.—A very beautiful object
for the microscope may be obtained by the following
method. Make a ten per cent. aqueous solution of
neutral auric chloride (Au Cl;), and of this put a
drop on a glass slip, spreading it with a glass rod.
Touch the drop with a piece of zinc plate cut toa
point, pushing the point well towards the centre.
The crystals will form in feathery masses.

THE Stupy oF Funci.— There are three
principal directions in which the study of fungi
may be pursued. Firstly, the larger fleshy fungi
only may occupy the attention, and these with the
object of ascertaining their merits or demerits as
articles of food. This is the purely gastronomic
interest, and its end is the production of pretty
pictures and the elaboration of savoury dishes.
Secondly, the inves-
tigation may be an
absolutely scientific
one, upon purely
scientific lines, and
merely for systematic
purposes. Its great
objects are the
minute distinctions
between one species
and another, their
affinities and their
differences, the ela-
boration of schemes
of classification, and
the indefinite multi-
plication of names
and sections. This
is chiefly a mechan-
ical interest, and
its aim, the produc-
tion upon paper of
the most formidable
e array of Latin names

in some novel se-

quence or combina-

tion. Thirdly, there

is the biological
method, in which the external form and develop-
ment is but one aspect, whilst names and affinities
are but helpers and not the objects of investigation.
In this process the whole of the life-history of the
parasite has to be ascertained as far as possible, all
its means of reproduction and whatever promotes
or hinders its career or affects its existence. This
last is evidently the only successful mode to be
adopted if the parasite is to be brought under
control, and if the investigator is to have a
thorough knowledge of its life and habits in
relation to its host-plant.

CLEANING CovER-GLAssES.—Braum recommends
the following process for cleaning cover-glasses.
Collect the cover-glasses to which cedar oil
adheres in a glass containing methylated alcohol.
Pour off the alcohol, wash with benzine, boil for
about half-an-hour with soda solution, stirring with
a platinum needle. When rinsing rub the glasses
with the hands to remove any adhering matter.
Then place them for twenty-four hours into acetic
acid and finally into ninety-six per cent. spirit.
Rub dry with a piece of soft leather and pass
through a flame.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP:

ELECTRICITY IN PLANtTS.—Lindley states that a
phenomenon similar to that described by Captain

Cobbett (ante p. 60) occurs in the tuberose
(Polianthes tuberosa). It is seen on sultry evenings
when the flowers are beginning to fade.—(Rev.) C.
Casey, ‘‘ Grianau,”’ Bournemouth West.

ERYTHRAEA CAPITATA IN SuUSSEX.—I gathered
yesterday, near Telscombe, the form capitata Willd.
b sphaerocephala Towns. of Evythyvaea, and am send-
ing you a specimen. The plants are not uncommon
this year at one spot in the locality —H. Hilton,
16, Kensington Place, Brighton; July 13th, 1808.

FLORA OF SHROPSHIRE.--~The members of the
Caradoc and Severn Valley Field Club are engaged
upon a new Shropshire Flora, upon the basis of
‘* Leighton’s County Flora.’’ Mr. W. P. Hamilton,
of Shrewsbury, is Hon. Secretary of the Committee,
and will be glad to receive records or other
information.

ALBINISM IN FLOWERS.—To the list given on
page 93 Ican add Viola odovata, Lychnis flos-cuculi,
Evodium circutavium, Cnicus lanceolatus and Echium
vulgave. Besides these I have a cream-coloured
Trifolium incarnatum, Calamintha officinalis, which
has a white corolla with yellow markings on the
lip, and a variety of Cnicus lanceolatus in which the
florets are white just tipped with purple.—/. E.
Cooper, 68, North Hill, Highgate, N.

BEES AT WHORTLEBERRY FLOWERS.—I had
occasion to be on a moor some successive days at
the time when Vaccinium vitis-idae was in bloom. I
was astonished to see so many honey-bees in the
flowers, as there were no hives within about a mile
from where I saw them, and there only some three
hives in a garden full of flowers. The next
nearest hives are two miles and over away; so
that in any case the bees must have been placing
much value on honey to be got from these flowers.
—W. Wiison, Alford, Aberdeen; August, 1808.

NaTuRAL HIsTorY OF THE RIVIERA.—In answer
to Miss Helen C. Birne’s inquiry (ante p. 60) I beg
to state that Commendatore Hanbury, F.L.S., the
respected and esteemed owner of the wonderful
botanic garden at La Mortola, near Ventimiglia,
has lately published privately a volume on the
‘Natural History of the Riviera and the Maritime
Alps.” I believe this book to be the only one
existing which deals with the subject ; but if any
of your readers know of another I shall be glad to
be informed of it through the columns of ScIENCE-
Gossip. These “ Riviera Nature Notes” are in-
tended to be recreative rather than systematic.
They deal mainly with the botany of the region,
but there is a list of butterflies, and there are short
articles on other branches of natural history.—
(Rev.) C. Casey, ‘‘Grianau,” Bournemouth West.

UNSEASONABLE FLOWERING.—We have received
from Mr. J. Finden Brown a bunch of particularly
fine flowers of Pyrus japonica, which are the more
peculiar on account of the attached leaves bearing
autumn tints. These flowers are from a shrub in
his garden at Anerley, near London, which has

125

borne an uninterrupted series of flowers since the
end of January last, and has now nearly a dozen
groups of inflorescence. We hear of a mulberry
tree now well in bloom in South London, and have
this week observed a small laburnum tree with
numerous little flowers in the garden on the south
side of St. Paul’s Cathedral, in the centreof the City
of London.—John T. Carrington; August 17th, 1808.

NEwsPaPER NaturaL History.— The “ half-
penny journalist’’ appears to think anything is
good .enough for his readers. Here is a sample
taken from the London “Star” of 19th August,
1898, p. 2, headed ‘‘ Birds are Coming and Going.”
The article opens thus: ‘‘ The little summer birds
who usually leave us in autumn have dropped into
the prevailing fashion, and now go away in August
and September. At the City bridges early yester-
day morning, flocks of fieldfares and redwings were
seen hovering round, making up _personally-
conducted parties for the sunny south.” Further,
he writes: ‘‘having brought up their spring
families respectably, and having nothing more to
stay in England for, they are taking flight.”
Either the writer of this twaddleis grossly ignorant,
or, as we have said, thinks anything is good enough
for the halfpenny readers. Where, however, was
the editor, or even a sub-editor, of the ‘‘Star’’?
Perchance in Norway, with the fieldfares and
redwings, and may return with them in October
next, when they come to winter in these islands,
after rearing their families there and elsewhere
in sub-arctic Europe.

PHENOLOGY IN IRELAND.— The few notes
which follow are the results of observations over
a limited area of some miles in County Down.
December 23rd, 1897: in a garden, dark-red
roses, gladioluses, wall-flowers and pinks were
seen in flower. January 8th, 1898: primroses
in flower here; also in Moy (co. Tyrone) last
week. In another garden, rose in full bioom.
Primroses about this district were flowering
the whole year round. Garden daisies in flower.
January 9th: chamomile and Hievaciwm in flower.
January 13th: starlings began to build about
Craigavad. That day I also saw two rose-trees
simply one mass of tea-roses in full bloom. January
15th: garden anemones in flower at Carrawdore;
they here generally do not bloom until April.
January 19th: pansies, Veronica chamaedrys in
flower, fruit-trees beginning to bud about Holy-
wood. January 25th: potentilla and violets in
flower. February 13th: fuchsias in leaf-bud in
our own garden; I may add that we are most
exposed to wind and storms, being directly on the
shore and quite unsheltered. This day I noticed
our stocks, which were planted last April, and
which did not flower last season, were flowering
fairly well, and on May 28th, the stocks were still
flowering; in fact, I never saw so much bloom.
February 17th: hawthorn hedges seen well in
leaf-bud at Holywood; some of them had leaves
fully expanded and about oneinch long. Daffodils
were gathered in a garden in Bangor to-day, and I
believe they have been obtained still earlier. .
February 29th: flowering currant in leaf and
flowering ; elder well in leaf-bud, snowberry in full
leaf, gooseberries in leaf-bud, groundsel in flower,
Robin-run-the-hedge well up, hawksbit in flower.
March 19th: gooseberries in flower. April 24th:
swallows and corncrakes appeared in this district
during last week. May 3rd: cuckoo first heard.
May 22nd: last week I saw hawthorn in flower in
district.—John H. Barbour, Bangor, Co. Down, Ireland.

\ \\tY/7
WwOZS \

GEOLOGY _ Nv

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CONDUCTED BY EDWARD A. MARTIN, F.G.S.

To whom all Notes, Articles and material relating to Geology,
and twntended for SCIENCE-GOSSIP, are, in the first instance,
to be addvessed, at 69, Bensham Manor Road, Thornton Heati,

FLAMES IN VOLCANIC VENTS.—Some of the
larger flames which were seen to be emitted from
Vesuvius in April this year, lasted as long as
fifteen days. The phenomenon of volcanic flames
had not been noticed in connection with this
volcano for eighty-four years. ‘‘ Nature” has
recorded the results of the investigations into their
origin, which have been conducted by Professor
V. Matteucci and Professor E. Semmola. The
orifice probably became blocked by the various
ejecta falling back into it, with the result that the
pent-up mass became heated to such an extent
that the volatilised rock escaped in flames.

GEOLOGY AT THE CrRysSTAL ParLace. — The
rising generation of young geologists would do well
to note, when next they visit the Crystal Palace,
the restorations of extinct animals that are placed
at various spots around the boating lake, which
were made by Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins, with the
assistance of the late Professor Owen. Standing
on the rustic bridge we face a cliff of Carboniferous
strata, containing two seams of coal, in which some
twenty-five tons of coal were used up, and strata
of ironstone and sandstone. These dip to the
right, giving place to newer strata, whilst in the
south, by means of an imitation fault, appear the
Millstone Grit and the Carboniferous Limestone,
with the Old Red Sandstone cropping out from
beneath it. Overlying these palaeozoic rocks is
an unconformable capping of the New Red Sand-
stone. This formation is also seen in what has
been called Secondary Island, where the earliest of
the restorations are met with—Labyrinthodon and
Dicynodon. Next is seen the Lias, with Ichthyosaurus,
Teleosauvus and Plesiosauvus, in various striking
attitudes, the last-mentioned having ‘‘ the head of
a lizard, the teeth of a crocodile, a neck like the
body of a serpent, the trunk and tail of an ordinary
quadruped, the ribs of a chameleon, and the
paddles of a whale.’’ Reposing on Oolitic strata is
a representation of the Megalosaurus, whilst farther
to the left is the Wealden formation containing the
gigantic Igwanodon and the spiny-backed Hylaeo-
sauvus, Monuments of the labours of Dr. Mantell.
At the far end of the island are Mosasaurus and,
perched above, some giant Ptevodactyli. On the

island beyond are seen representatives of the

mammals whose remains were exhumed from the
gypsum quarries of Montmartre, such as Palaeo-
thevium and Anopiotherium; whilst in the act of
pulling down a tree to feed on the leaves is the
gigantic sloth, the Megatherium. There is also a
restoration of the Irish elk. These groups may be
made of great service to students of geology. At
the back of the liff of Carboniferous limestone is a
cave, in which can be seen the result of nature’s
working during the last forty-five years, in the
form of numerous stalactites. This cave is well
worth a visit.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

GEOLOGY OF FRANZ-JosEF LAnp.—A paper by
Dr. Reginald Koettlitz on the ‘Geology of Franz-
Josef Land” was read at the concluding meeting
of the Geological Society of London on June 22nd.
The opinion expressed last year by Messrs. Newton
and Teall as to the Tertiary age of the rocks of the
archipelago is not agreed in by the author of the
paper, who believes their age to be Jurassic, as
identified by means of the fossil plants, belemmnites,
and ammonites. He considered some of the lavas
to be intrusive, also dating back to Jurassic times.
The basaltic rocks occur in tiers from ten to seventy
feet high, and range to a height of 1,300 feet above
sea-level. The associated and interbedded rocks
consist of shale, sandstone, and basaltic tuff. The
stratified rocks are not appreciably altered by the
heat of the basalt. Ammonites lamberti was fourd
imbedded in ‘‘ basaltic tuff,” but this, as pointed
out by Prof. E. T. Newton, may have been picked
up by flowing lava of any subsequent age, or may
even have been ejected from a volcano by the ejecta
having passed through Jurassic rocks in its upward
passage. The raised beaches are very numerous,
and occur at various heights, from just above sea-
level to 287 feet, 310 feet, 340 feet, and even 410
feet, drift-wood and bones of seals, walrus, and
whales having been found on them. On Cape
Mary Harmsworth twelve beaches are seen in a
series one above another. The entire skeleton ofa
seal was found on the summit-plateau of Cape
Neale, together with waterworn stones, at a height
of 700 feet above sea-level. The highest waterworn
pebbles noted were found at 1,111 feet on Cape Flora

Fossit IcE AND CoNTORTED DriFT.—An import-
ant observation was made by Dr. Koettlitz on the
fossil-ice which he found at Cape Flora and else-
where in Franz-Josef Land. ‘In some cases
floe-ice at sea-level becomes covered over and
preserved by gravel heaped upon it by the sea;
and some of the raised beaches seemed to have
consisted of a similar mixture of ice and gravel, as
is proved by the formation of pitfalls in them where
the ice melts. Ice-masses are also sometimes pre-
served under taluses, avalanches and slips.” It
seems to me that the discovery of these pitfalls,
resulting from the burial of masses of ice beneath
sand and gravel, will go a long way to explain
those puzzling deposits of contorted drift which
are found on the Norfolk coast and at other places.
Supposing the covering of such a mass of ice to be
boulder-clay, as well as gravel and sand, on the
periodical melting of the ice the covering would
gradually fall and assume the contorted appear-
ance so well known where seen in section. The
succeeding deposit would conform less and less to
the pitfall, until the layers on the surface again
became horizontal.

Lost OPPORTUNITIES FOR GEOLOGICAL WoORK.—
Prof. Hudlestone expressed the opinions of a good
many geologists when he remarked upon the
scantiness of geological work which characterised
the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition to Franz-
Josef Land, although in the neighbourhood for
nearly three years, 1894-97. Subsequently, Prof.
E. T. Newton pointed out that Dr. Koettlitz, to
whose efforts they were indebted for such geological
data as had been obtained, was not a geologist at
all until a short time before his departure, being in
fact the medical officer of the expedition: hence
any geological work done was accomplished in
such leisure as his own duties afforded him, and
really great credit was due to him for those observa-
tions which he had been able to make, and for the
quantity of specimens which he had sent home.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

a> TRINVICTION

ys

SoutTH LONDON ENTOMOLOGICAL AND NATURAL
History SocieTy.—June 23rd, 1898, Mr. J. W.

Tutt, F.E.S., President, in the chair. Mr. Broome,
Christchurch,. Oxford, was elected a member.
Mr. Filer exhibited living larvae of Thecla rubi,
feeding on rock-rose (Cistws), and called attention
to their remarkable protective coloration. Mr.
Adkin, larvae of Acidalia marginipunctata (promutata),
and read notes on their habits; some were nearly
full fed, while others were small; the ova had
hatched early last autumn. Mr. Moore, two
fine varieties of Avctia caja, bred from ova by Mr.
Cooke: (1) forewings uniformly dark chocolate
without the usual cream markings ; (2) forewings
with a very considerable decrease in the area
covered by the dark markings. The larvae, some
sixty in number, fed all the winter on cabbage.
Mr. West, the coleoptera he had taken at the
Reigate Field Meeting. Mr. Barnett, a specimen
of Venilia maculata, having the dark blotches
irregularly joined and blurred on one side only.—
July 14th, Mr. R. Adkin, F.E.S., Vice-President,
in the chair. Mr. H. Shortridge Clarke, F.E.S.,
Sulby Vicarage, Isle of Man, was elected a
member. Mr. South exhibited a series of Lycaena
covydon to illustrate the variation in the number
and arrangement of the spots on the under-surface;
also a series of forty-two Spilosoma lubricepeda,
comprising thirty-five var. zatima = vadiata and
seven typical males, all reared from ova laid by a
dark female zatima. Mr. Moore, a dwarf specimen
of Polyommatus icavus from Folkestone. Mr. Lucas,
specimens of Libellula quadvimaculata showing
considerable variation in the size of the dark spot,
and also in the amount of the saffron coloration.
Mr. West (Greenwich) a short series of the local
hemipteron, Lopfus flavomarginatus from Abbey
Wood. Mr. Little, a full-sized drawing of a
curiously-curled and fasciated stem of the holly
from the New Forest. Mr. Perks, specimens of
the orchids Hevminium monorchis and Neottia nidus-
avis from Box Hill. Mr. Dennis, an egg of
Polyommatus icarus under the microscope; it was
comparable to a beautiful white double dahlia.
Mr. Adkin read a report of the field meeting held
on June 11th, at Reigate—Hy. J. Turner, Hon.
Report Sec.

City oF LONDON ENTOMOLOGICAL AND NATURAL
History Socizty.—July 19th, 1898. Exhibits:
Mr. W. Hawker Smith, Hymenoptera and Coleop-
tera, the latter including Hylobius abietis, Lagria hirta,
Liopus nebuiosus, Corymbites tessellatus and Chrysomela
staphylea from New Forest. Mr. Charles Oldham,
Cymatophora ocularvis, one, from Epping Forest; one
Adela degeevella and series of Dipterygia scabriuscula
(pinastvi) from same district. He reported sugar
was not attracting moths, the result of four nights’
work being one insect captured, but that happened
to be the oculavis exhibited. Members now at the
New Forest had written to friends saying sugaring
was meeting with little success there, and they
attributed the failure to the abundance of honey-
dew. Members in Norfolk lamented the same
lack of night-sport. Mr. Jennings gave a report of

ag

an excursion to Deal, in which he had taken part.
The party was under the leadership of Mr. Sidney
Webb, and walked from Deal through Worth to
Sandwich. Mr. Jennings had been successful in
taking eight Hyperva fasciculata and specimens of
Donacia menyanthidis and D. nigra. Eventually the
party took train to Dover, where they were most
hospitably entertained by their leader. Mr. Sauzé
gave notes of a holiday spent at Boscombe, alluding
to a few of the captures made there and at the
New Forest. He took Helix lapicida at Corfe
Castle, and specimens of Vertigo sp., but had the
misfortune to leave the box containing the latter
on the grass.—August 2nd, 1898. Exhibits: Mr.
H. Ainslie Hill, a puzzling variety of Hydrozcia
nictitans, large, and without trace of white in the
reniform stigma, a fresh-conditioned insect taken
in the New Forest in 1894; also a specimen of
Sivex gigas, captured at same period. Mr. E.
Heasler, six specimens of Acontia luctuosa, caught
on the occasion of the club’s excursion to Wester-
ham, the spots of one being of a light-brown
colour. Mr. F. B. Jennings, series including a
blue variety of Donacia crvassipes, from the Lea
Valley, found on the yellow and white water lilies ;
also afemalespecimen (alive) of Donacia dentata, from
Wicken, found in some numbers on the arrowhead,
and several Lina populi, principally on the sallows,
and.Chrysomela graminis, male and female, from
same locality. Mr. C. Oldham, a very variable
series of bred Odonestis potatoria, and one Lasiocampa
guercifolia, also bred. He showed a spike of
Verbascum blattavia, thirty-one inches long, the root
of which originally came from Norfolk, and has
since been cultivated. Mr. Sauzé, a bee (Eucera
longicornis, male), and a female hornet (Vespa crabro)
from the New Forest, taken last June. Mr.
Jennings reported he had observed Chrysis cyanea
in the’ Lea Valley. Mr. Hill noticed Hesperia lineola
round muddy puddles at Leigh, on the previous
day, and allusion was made to Pieris brassicae
following water-carts and alighting for a drink.
Mr. Bate spoke of the swiftness on the wing of

Tryphoena tanthina, which was appearing at
Dulwich, and said Hepialus sylvanus was out
already, which he considered early. Mr. C.

Nicholson gave an account of an excursion, on the
previous day, to Wicken, during which about forty
larvae of the swallow-tail butterfly (Papilio machaon)
were taken, their sizes varying from one-eighth to
one and a-half inches in length; a few larvae of
Saturnia pavonia were taken on meadow sweet ;
Tryphoena intervjecta and Cidaria testata were on the
wing.—Harold A. Sauzé, Hon. Sec.

NOTICES OF SOCIETIES.

Ordinary meetings ave marked +, excursions * ; names of
persons following excursions are of Conductors.

GEOLOGISTS’ ASSOCIATION OF LONDON.
Sept. 10.—*Gravesend, Kent. G.E. Dibley, F.G.S.
Further particulars from Horace W. Monckton,
Hon. Sec. (Excursions), 10, King's Bench Walk, Temple, E.C.

LAMBETH FIELD CLUB AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY.
Sept. 18.—*Caterham.
» 20.—t Dew.” (With experiments.) J.J. Denton.
Hon. Sec., H. Wilson, 134, Abbeville Road. Clapham, S.W.

NortH Lonpon NATuRAL History SOCIETY.

Sept. 1.—i‘‘The Microscopic Inhabitants of a Stagnant
Ditch.” C. Nicholson, F.E.S.

3.—*Epping Forest. The President.

15.—tDebate: ‘‘Are the Man and the Monkey de-
scended from a common Ancestor?” Opened
in the affirmative by A. Bacot; opened in the
negative by B. S. James.

Oct. 6.—+Pocket Box Exhibition.

20.—i‘‘ Buttercups and their Allies; or, the Teachings
of Systematic Botany as to Evolution.” Prof.
G. S. Boulger. :

I28

Oct. 22.—*Visit to the Epping Forest Museum. Wm. Cole
(Curator of the Museum).
Nov. 3.—+‘‘ Henry Walter Bates: his Life and Work.” L.
B. Prout, F.E.S.
» 17.—+Discussion: ‘ The Origin of Migration in Ani-
mals.’ Opened by J. A. Simes.
Dec. 1.— Solitary Bees and Wasps.” W.H. Smith.
», 15.—+General Business.
Visitors will be cordially welcomed at all meetirgs and
excursions. Lawrence J. Tremayne, Hon. Sec.

BritisH MycoLoGicaL SOcIeEtTY.
Sept. 19 to 24.—*Annual Foray. Dublin.

Particulars from Carleton Rea, Hon. Sec., 34, Fovregate
Street, Worcester.

LINCOLNSHIRE SCIENCE SOCIETY.
Sept. 3.—*Barkstone, for Syston and Belton Parks.
Nelson, M.A.
5, 21.—*Woodhall Spa: botany ofthe Moors; glacial beds.
Oct. 8—*Torksey: Old Trent gravels. W.E. Asquith.
Hon. Sec., G. A. Grierson, F.L.S., 312, High Street, Lincoln.

NotTiINGHAM NATURAL SCIENCE RAMBLING CLUB.
Conductors of Rambles:
Geology, J. Shipman, F.G.S.; Botany, W. Stafford.
Sept.10o.—*Botany. Meet at Lodge, Waverley Street
entrance, to examine Arboretum and Fater Her-
barium at University Museum.
Oct. 29.—tAnnual Meetingand Exhibition, 4.15 p.m., Natural
Science Laboratory, University College.
Hon. Sec., W. Bickerton, 187, Noel Street.

PRESTON SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY.
Sept. 8.—*Ingleton.
W. Hy. Heathcote, F.L.S., Sec., 47, Frenchwood Street,

Rev. E.

METROPOLITAN SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

The following is a list of societies in the London district
devoted to natural science, with hours and places of meeting.
They may be visited with introduction from a Fellow,
Member, or Secretary. Will secretaries send additions or
corrections.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF GREAT BRITAIN, 3,
Hanover Square. Second and fourth Tuesdays at
8.30 p.m., November to June.

BATTERSEA FIELD CLUB AND LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC
Society. Public Library, Lavender Hill, S.W. Thurs-
days, 8 p.m.

City oF LonDON COLLEGE SCIENCE SOCIETY, White Street,
Moorfields, E.C. Last Wednesday in each month,
October to May, 7.30 p.m.

City oF LoNDON ENTOMOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY
Society, London Institution, Finsbury Circus. First
and third Tuesdays, 7.30 p.m.

ConcHoLoGicaL SociETy, LONDON Brancu, St. Peter’s
Rectory, Walworth. Irregular meetings. Rev. J. W.
Horsley, President, will answer enquiries.

Croypon MicroscopicaL AND Natura History Crus,
Public Hall. Third Tuesdays, October to May, 8 pm.
DuLwicH SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY ASSOCIATION. Fort-
nightly lectures Lordship Lane Hall, second and fourth

Mondays, 8.15 p.m., from October, for winter season.

EALING NATURAL SCIENCE AND MicroscopicaL Society.
Victoria Hall, Ealing. Second and last Saturdays.
October to May, 8 p.m.

ENTOMOLOGICAL Society, 11, Chandos Street, Cavendish
Square. First Wednesday, October to June (except
January). Third Wednesday, January, February, March
and November, 8 p.m.

GEOLOGISTS’ AssociaTION, University College,
Street. First Friday, 8 p.m., November to July.

GEOLOGICAL Socizty oF Lonpon, Burlington House,
Piccadilly. First and third Wednesdays, 8 p.m.,
November to June.

GREENHITHE NATURALISTS’ AND ARCHAOLOGICAL SOCIETY,
7, The Terrace. First Fridays, 7 p.m.

LAMBETH FiELpD CLusB AND ScienTIFIc Society, St. Mary
Newington Schools, Newington Butts, S.E. First Mon-
days all the year and third Mondays in winter, 8 p.m.

LINNEAN Society OF Lonpon, Burlington House, Piccadilly,
First and third Thursdays at 8 p.m., November to June.

LonDON AMATEUR SCIENTIFIC Society, Memorial Hall,
Farringdon Street, E.C. Fourth Friday in each month,
October to May, 7.30 p.m.

Lupsock FigLtp CrLus. Werking Men’s College, Great
Ormond Street, Bloomsbury, W.C. Excursions second
Sundays, Meetings following Mondays, 8 pm.

Mavaco.tocicaL Society oF LoNpoN, meets in Linnean
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MINERALOGICAL SociETy. Meets in rooms of Geological
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London Institution, Hackney Downs Station. First
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SELBORNE SOcIETY, 20, Hanover Square.
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Stpcup LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC Society, Public Hall
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SoutH Lonpon ENTOMOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY
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SuTTON SCIENTIFIC AND LitERARY Society, Public Hall
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West Kent Naturav History, MIcrRoscopicaAL AND
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February, March, April, May, 8 p.m.

ZOOLOGICAL Society OF LONDON, 3, Hanover Square. First
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OFFERED, Helix fusca, H. aculeata, Pupa anglica var.
pallida, Vertigo antivertigo, V. alpestris, V. substriata,
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WANTED, micro rock sections, micro crystals and geologi-
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Now ready—The Exchange List and Label List, Compiled by Ed. Meyrick, B.A., F.L.S8., F.E.8., according

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4s. per 100. Label Lists, 1s. 6d. each.

Plain Ring Nets, Wire or Cana, including stick, 1/3, a/-, 2/6
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44-in., 1/8; 5-in., 1/10. Complete set of 14 boards, 10/6
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All Articles enumerated are kept én stock, and

The “DIXON” LAMP-NET ({nvaluable for taking Moths

CABINETS.

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Taxidermist’s Companion, §.e.,a pocket leather case, containing
most useful instruments for skinning, 10/6
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Our New Label List of British Marco-Lepidoptera, with Latin and
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4 Drawers .... 13/6 ...20. I2/- ss. 10/6
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8 Drawers.. 33/- e@ecose 30/- @eocece 25]-
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Specially constructed for the use of Agri-
culturists, examination of Raw Materials,
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Price with inclining limb, the choice of 1} inch, x inch
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ment, Substage Plate and Glass Dish a a 0
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3.—The process of re-ink-
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* SCIENCE-GOSSIP”’ says:
(May, ’98, No.)
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cleaner. One inking suffices
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PHYSIOGRAPHY and GEOLOGY.

COLLECTIONS & MICROSCOPIC SLIDES

As advised by Science and Art Directory, arranged by

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NOVELTIES and RARE GEMS and PRECIOUS STONES.
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The following Animals can always be supplied,
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Patella, Buccinum, Eledone, Pecten; Bugula, Crisia, Pedicellina ;
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For Prices and more detailed Lists apply to
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