Full text of "Hardwicke's science-gossip : an illustrated medium of interchange and gossip for students and lovers of nature"

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SCIENCE
GOSSIP.

H ARDWICKE'S

Science-Gossip

1891.

HARDWICKE'S

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AN ILLUSTRATED MEDIUM OF INTERCHANGE AND GOSSIP

FOR STUDENTS AND

LOVERS OF NATURE.

EDITED BY

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

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

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

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

AUSTRALASIA, OF THE VICTORIAN FIELD NATURALISTS* CLUB,

ETC. ETC.

VOLUME XXYII.

ILontion:
CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY.

1 89 1.

LONDON :
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

1^67

PREFACE.

ANOTHER swing of the Pendulum of Life ! Only three-score
years and ten — not that, according to the statistics of the
Registrar-General, if we take the average life of the humanity
introduced upon our planet. One feels inclined to modify the well-
known lines of the Latin Poet, popularly set forth by Longfellow,
about Art being long, and Life being fleeting. Instead of Art, read
Science. Art was evolved to please people — Science to instruct them.
Art has played to the most foolish, most extravagant, most lascivious
peoples of the world. Art is glorious : it is the Revelation of genius.
But Science is Democratic — it is the possession of all. Men like
Robert Dick of Thurso, and Thomas Edwards, are the apostles of
this new democratic possession of a scientific intellectual power
which is neither aristocratic nor oligarchic, but which belongs to the
" Commonweal."

This is the present Editor's "coming of age." For twenty-one
years he has enjoyed the delightful responsibility of addressing and
interesting thousands (perhaps scores of thousands) of readers of
Science-Gossip every month. The responsibility is great — greater
than few are aware of. The correspondence entailed is enormous ;
so the Editor has to appeal to the Christian patience of his readers.
He is always open to receive any suggestions from readers that
will influence the commercial success of his journal — a success the
Editor would derive no advantage from, but which he would be
delighted to see the Publishers thereof should, if only as an expression
of their generous and trusting confidence in himself.

PREFACE.

The Editor would point out that this annual volume is distinguished
even above its predecessors by original papers. Those on the British
Diptera and Rhizopods alone will hereafter make the Volume for
1 89 1 sought after. In addition, he desires to draw attention to the
articles on the new aspects of Darwinism, &c,, to show how much
Science-Gossip endeavours to keep pace with the Philosophy as
well as with the facts of Modern Natural Science.

The Editor is fortunate in being surrounded by a zealous clientele
of earnest contributors, to each of whom he owes much. The low
price of the Old Monthly does not bring a fortune, but it helps
Science-Gossip to brighten the home of many a working-man
naturalist ; and there is no better tribute to the eagerness to receive
its monthly issue, than the grumbling letters sent when the magazine
appears a day or two later than usual.

For twenty-seven years SCIENCE-GOSSIP has held the privilege
of being the chief and most largely-circulated popular scientific
magazine in Great Britain — which means in all the world ! There
is no better testimony to the growing love of and interest in Nature,
than that such a magazine should continue to be so much required.

No effort in the Future will be spared to keep up the well-earned
reputation of the Past. Notwithstanding the fact that so many
paths have been well trodden, there still remain fresh fields and
pastures new. Natural Science, like Astronomy, may be explored,
but cannot be exhausted.

With warmest Christmas greetings, and best Seasonal wishes, the
Editor is thankful once more to greet old friends with an invisible
hand-shake, and wish them, one and all,

A Happy New Year.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Alhints, 80
Anth7-ax, 105
Arcella vulgaris, 196
ArcJueocidaris urii, 61
Arrenurus elliptkus, 148
Arrenurus integrator, 149
AT^eituriiS perforatus, 148
Arrenurus truncacellus, 149
A situs, 104

Barnacle Goose, 253
Beania fuurahilis, 249
Bernicle Tree, 252
Biomyjca vagans, 200, 201, 202
Blow-Pipe, Foot-Working, 5
Bombylius, 105

Carnac, Standing Stones of, 197

Ceniropyxis aculeata, 176

Chrysogaster, 157

Ckrysoto.xMn, 158

Clausilia rugosa, 257

Clinocera, 157

Clisiophyllum, 62

Coccus cacti, 32

Conops, 158

Conularia quadrisulcata, 63

Culex, 172

Cyphoderia ampulla, 245

Dasydytes bisetosum, i6i
Development of Tadpole, 150
Diagrammatic Sections through Windsor,

109
Difflugia acuminata, 132
Difflugia glohulosa, 132
Difflugia pyriforvtis, 131, 132
Dioctria, 104

Diptera, 35, 53, 102, 126, 156, 171, 275
Distyla depressa, 204
Distyla musicola, 205
Dixa, 172

Dog's Mercury, Notes on, 180, 181
Dolickopus, 157

Egyptian Grape-Prbss, 225
Elm-Mite, 147
Empis, 157

Encrinite, 61
Entrochi, 61
Eriodalis, 158
Euglypha alveolata, 268
Euglypha ciliata, 268
Eiiomphalus pentangulatus, 76

Fenestella mernbranacea, 62
Foot-Working Blow-Pipes, 5

Guiana Root-Press, 224

Helix arbustorum, 124
Helix aspersa, 124
Helix hispida, 124
Helix lapicidia, 124
Helix virgata, 124
Hilara, 157
Hydrophorus, 157

Jay The, 100

Leptis, 105
Limnobia, 172
Lobosa, 84
Lonchoptera, 157

Map of Dumfries District, 76

Map showing Carboniferous Limestone, 60

Medal, Two Sides of the, 27, 28

Medeter7is, 157

Monostyla arcicata, 205

Monostyla cornnta, 205

Moss, New British, 52

Nebela collaris, 1^2,^
Nebela Jiabellum, 228
New British Moss, 52
Nuthatch, loi

CEstrus, 158

Opuntia cochinillifera, 32
Orchis tnaculata, 154
Orchis resupinata, 62

Pacrocera, 105
Pamphagus, 245
Pelamyxa villosa, 85

Pipunculns, 157
Platypexa, 157
Platyorinuslavis, 61
Plocamiutn coccineum, 249
Pluinularia Catherina, 248
Poteriocriniis crassus, 6i
Productus giganteus, 63
Productus p7inctatus, 62
Pseudodifflugia gracilis, 245
Ptychoptera, 172

Radiosa, 85
Rhamphomyia, 155
Rhizodus Hibberti, 64
Rhy>icho7iella pleurodon, 76
Rhyphus, 172

Rossendale Rhizopods, 58, 84, 131, 175,
196, 227, 244, 267

Scenopinus, 104

Section of Glaciated Clays at Easthamp-

stead, 136, 137
Spirifera striata, 63
Spirifera trigonatis, 62
Square-Tailed Worm, 80
Stone-Mite, 148
Stratioinyia, 104
Syrphus, 158

Tabanus, 105

Tachydroinia, 157

Tanypus, 172

Telegraphic Communications between

Great Britain, Europe, and the East,

12, 13
Thereva, 104
Trinema acinus, 269
Two Sides of the Medal, 28, 29

Ver?~ucosa, 85
Vertical Camera, 2t
Villosa, 84, 8s
Volucella, 158

Willow-Mite, 147

Xylata, z$%\
Xylophagus, 105

GREGARIOUS SPIDERS.

By G. CADOGAN-MASTERMAN, M.D.

HE story of the bird-
slaying spider is so
nearly apocryphal
that it has all the
fascination of the
untrue for the popu-
lar taste ; so, it is
almost a pity to
spoil the gruesome
legend of Madame
Merian by the ad-
mission that, al-
though the gigantic
Mygale does secure
sleeping or wounded
birds occasionally,
they are usually
humming birds not
half its own size,
and they are none
of its own trapping, since it does not form a web.
This may not be true of every variety, but the spin-
nerets of all I examined were of quite rudimentary
development. And I have seen it come down with
so obviously an unintentional and most disconcerted
flop on the floor of my quarters that even the almost
universal suspensory line was evidently beyond its
textile capabilities, or, at least, out of its line of
business.

I have sometimes thought that this horrible creature
was the avenging Fate of other spiders : that when
they became too horribly bloated, too sated with
lustful slaughter, it crept upon them in the darksome
but never silent night, a living incubus, a hairy, form-
less horror, and with one stab of its poison fangs
recalled the dying agony of an insect hecatomb.

But the still stranger and yet most true story of the

gregarious spider of Paraguay is almost unknown. I

am far away now from books of reference which might

confound me, but I am under the impression that I

No. 313.— January 1891,

told it myself for the first time in England in i860.
The strangeness of it is this : Spiders are the most
solitary of assassins, and, were it not for the anatomist,
we might believe that they were created without
hearts or bowels, for, even the tender passion softens
but for a few fleeting moments the cold-blooded
ferocity of their lives ; many an ardent but too
tempting lover amongst them has been at one
minute the bridegroom and at the next himself the
marriage feast !

I have watched such a swain crouching motionless
at the edge of a web for an hour, yet ever ready for
a backward spring, stilling — we may imagine — the
beating of his vesicular heart lest it should vibrate the
threads too aggravatingly, and casting from six to
eight sheep's eyes at the velvet-robed damsel within.
She, meanwhile, as watchful, almost as motionless,
only meditatively twiddling her palpi as she wonders
if she love him enough to eat him. And, alas, the
next morning I have found his shrivelled remains still
in the old spot, but wrapped in the newest of silk and
his inamorata the most buxom of Artemisias.

Reaumur hoped to cultivate spider silk : he fed his
spinners and spinsters right royally ; he sang to them
chansons d'amour, but nothing could subdue their
longing for arachnidian " long pig " ; the big spiders
ate the little ones, and then, with unabated appetite,
tried to eat each other. A pair of stockings, it is
said, was woven from the silk, but I believe are as
mythical as the web of Penelope.

Imagine, then, the astonishment with which I saw
with my own eyes thousands of large spiders living,
working, peacefully feasting together in webs as big
as a large table-cloth !

It was on the broad sandy road from the capital to
La Trinidad that I met with the first example, and,
although it had been much torn by the wind, it was
large enough to puzzle me as to its nature. The road
is about forty feet wide — road-making in that part
of the world means simply clearing si certain space of

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

the few trees likely to be in the way and leaving the
ground as Nature made it — the palm trunk to which
the web was attached at one end stood just within
the rough boundarj' railings, an old mahogany tree
stretched its gnarled branches over half the other side
for the further moorings, so, about twenty-five feet
was its length, its depth six, and it was so far over-
head that I could just touch its lower edge with my
whip as I rode beneath. Being near mid-day it was
untenanted, but the threads were littered with moth-
wings and other remains of insects, but I noticed that
small birds flew through it without hesitation.

From time to time I saw other examples, some
larger than the first, but there was ever one point not
a little mysterious about them ; I had noted in the
evening, perhaps, a perfect web crowded with the
busy workers ; the next day not a trace of it was to
be seen ! There may have been wind, but in any
case one would have expected that some part of its
delicate tracery would have been found clinging to
the trees ; but no — web, spiders, and all had dis-
appeared into the unknown, and it was long before
I could trace what had become of them.

During the lilockade of Asuncion, however, by the
Brazilians, I had a better opportunity than I could have
hoped for to study the economy of these strange
colonies. I was then living with the United States
minister in a very large house, having, as is the
fashion in that part of the world, an enclosed garden,
the patio, in its centre ; and there I found to my
delight six of these wonderful webs one morning.
And with that sublime reasoning we call instinct they
were all close to the ground, were moored to it, in
fact, by a hundred hawsers. Over the roads they
were never less than twelve feet from the ground and,
so, must have missed numbers of moths which fly
lower, but, then, they permitted horsemen and the
high bullock-carts to pass freely beneath.

But this rather forlorn garden was rarely entered
except by myself and a stooping crone, the mother
of one of the native servants, the usual path was
under the shade of the n^assive piazzas which enclosed
it ; so the spiders and I examined each other at our
mutual leisure and convenience. But they seemed to
take very little notice of me, and a double stream
would be passing up and down the main cables within
three inches of my hand-glass with untroubled in-
difference.

The spiders seem to belong to the Epeira, but are
twice as large as our largest specimens ; black, with
the exception of a double row of scarlet spots on the
sides of the oval abdomen, four eyes (says the im-
perfect note amongst my rifled papers), but I think it
should be, four at the top of the head (cephalo-thorax) ;
two lateral, very strong mandibles, and eight stout,
smooth legs nearly an inch in length.

In the centre of the patio was a clump of orange
and peach trees — which there reach quite forest size —
and others at a distance of some forty feet : between

these the welis were extended, the majority in the
usual horizontal position, but one obliquely, a rhom-
boid, with one angle touching the ground. The main
rigging was of stout grey silk, as strong as that with
which purses used to.be netted, these were crossed at
right angles by threads more slender, dividing the
surface into squares of about nine inches each, which
were filled by a geometrical weblet resembling that
spun by our own garden spiders. These did not seem
to be regarded as personal property, for the occupants ■
often changed their location, and a double stream was
ever passing, as I have said, along the main lines,
crawling over or under each other, and never pausing
as ants do when they meet for gossip or petty larceny ;.
but I noticed that the occupant of the centre of the
lesser webs would give it a quick, impatient shake
whenever a companion ventured to leave the public
gangways : yet I have seen three or four feeding
amicably together on the bqdy of a large moth.

As soon as the sun became hot the webs were
quite deserted, and the spiders collected in globular
masses under the shade of the leaves of the orange
trees until evening. But at sunset these crumbled to-
pieces and the spiders in the most leisurely way dis-
persed to their aerial fishing grounds. Great numbers,
of mosquitoes and other minute insects were caught,,
but these were brushed away ; moths, beetles, and
migrating ants — which are temporarily provided with
wings — being the chief and most valued prey. I
satisfied myself, too, that they did not merely suck
their juices as our spiders do, but ate the whole of the
soft parts, which their strong maxilla; made easy
enough. I many times let them strike their fangs
into my finger, but felt no pain beyond the slight
prick of the keen points.

But the oddest trait was that they ate any ]3art of
the web which had been torn loose ; the nearest
spider rolled it up into a ball, moistened it with saliva,
and immediately swallowed it. And that explains
what becomes of part, if not all, of the old ones.

I was long puzzled by the difficulty, how was the
first thread thrown from tree to tree? The spiders
were far too solid to float through the air, and as for
fastening the line to a branch, descending the trunk,
ascending another and dragging the line after them, as
the natives assured me they did, that was clearly im-
possible. But one evening I was fortunate enough to
see it done. There was an iron arch over the mouth
of the algibe — the Moorish tank — in the patio and at
its summit I saw a spider busily weaving a light
tangled ball of silk as large as itself, a current of air
caught it and it floated away nearly to the top of a
tree ten yards away and caught, the spider gave it
two or three tugs to be sure of it, and then with the
utmost nonchalance crawled away to a height which
would be to us as that of St. Paul's, soon came back,
was joined by some companions and in less than
an hour the bridge was made, and a new web
commenced.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

THE DAISY'S PEDIGREE.

By A. II. SwiNTON.

'""I ""WO or three years ago," says Mr. Grant
J- Allen, in the August number of the
"Cornhill," for the year iSSi, "lying in the
sunshine on this self-same tangled undercliff, I
dissected a daisy for the benefit of those readers who
were good enough to favour me with their kind
attention. But that was a purely aesthetic dissection,
for the sake of discovering what elements of beauty
the daisy had got, and why they pleasurably affected
our own senses or appealed with power to our higher
emotions. To-day, however, I propose to dissect
one of these daisies a little more physically and
unravel, if I can, the tangled skein of causes which
has given it its present shape and size, and colour
and arrangement." A very simple and logical
explanation of the natural order of things our
acquaintance now proffers in respect to this well-
favoured flower on the enchanted precincts of the
quiet undercliff, and if lineaments mean aught, then
he has most infallibly unfolded its shadowy pedigree.
"" For," he urges in conclusion, "if we follow down
■the daisies' descent in the inverse order we shall see
that, inasmuch as they have coloured rays, they are
-superior to all rayless composites ; and inasmuch as
composites generally have clustered heads, they are
superior to all other flowers with separate tubular
corollas ; while these, again, are superior to those
•with separate petals ; and all petalled flowers are
superior to all petalless kinds."

"But," it will be slyly asked by our academic
■acquaintance, whom we are accustomed to greet of a
shiny morning on this self-same landslip, "you are
never going to convince me that a fir-tree gave birth
to a rose-bush, a rose-bush gave birth to a heather
clump, a heather clump gave birth to a waste of
eupatory, a waste of eupatory gave birth to a
sunflower, and a sunflower gave birth to a daisy."
Well, no, not precisely ; but to teach the infantile
mind we present ideal jiictures, confessedly inexact,
and it is often possible thus to substantiate that
which we cannot demonstrate ; and to connive at
this same let us leave-our sentimental nook for the
dutiful arena of golf. We have had a cold unpro-
ductive season devoid of 'novelty, say the insect-
hunters, and strolling along the craggy shore, when
the fires are on in July, as numb as any crab, say,
what if we should come upon a pallid, decrepit
daisy, with the florets of the disk few, and some of
them white and arrested in the very process of
turning into those of the ray, just as a sea-anemone
would appear were it petrified when in the act of
extending its feelers ; so that this blossom would
thus actually exhibit to our gaze the last two stages
of development thought out by the anatomist. Well,
everything, it is said, varies on the confines of its
possible existence in its present shape, and one is |

here tempted to enquire what changing forces have
acted on since the golden morning of the daisy-
flower, and whose are the viewless fingers that have
drawn and pinched out a smart frill around its crov/n
of honeycomb? Nay and what cuts a flag into
streamers and spins out a plant into branches and
leaves, if it be not the force of the tossing winds and
rocking tides ? The Jubilee florin falls impressed
from the mint, but only think how any daisy crown
must have been scourged by the north wind, fluttered
by the east wind, breathed upon by the south wind,
and kissed by the west wind ; and how its fibres
variously struck must have vibrated to all the
harmony of heaven and composed atomic music until
the sun's image was fairly expressed ; but let this
pass for a more certain fact, since a glance will
show the unfinished flower as we plucked it upon
the cliff in question, in the very act of unbinding its
golden tresses.

Allowing, next, the daisy head to be an eSample of
fasciation, coming true from seed ; the latter circum-
stance being alone curious, since fasciation is far too
frequent and identical in the vegetable kingdom to
be termed a monstrosity, for only think of the
cauliflowers and cockscombs, and all the wilding
growths of this description never destined to become
species, already chronicled in SciEXCE-GossiP ; we
hear it likewise asserted that all flowers with separate
tubular corollas are superior to those with separate
petals. Well, as I recall, on the 17th of September,
1883, as I chanced to be walking along a dark Surrey
lane in the neighbourhood of the Green Man tavern,
at Worplesdon, I noticed in the bramble-overrun
hedgerow the curiously fingered blossom of the
Large White Convolvulus (C scpiuiii, Linn.) now
represented by a specimen, which shows how such a
bell-shaped flower may revert to a petalate one by
dividing down between the veins. Whether the
ancestral blooms wore this eccentric passion-flower
likeness on this creeper I cannot think, albeit the
convolvulus structure assigns to it these five petals ;
or how these same petals became a white poke, as
children call it, I will not say, though this be by
some reckoned to have been a freak of nature for
which the insects are responsible ; and without a
doubt insects always enjoy to dive to the bottom of
it. Thus much will, however, serve to indicate that
not alone have we " still several fish in the very act
of changing into amphibians left in a few muddy
tropical streams ; and several oviparous creatures in
the very act of changing into mammals left us in the
isolated continent of Australia ; " but that we also
possess in our own lanes and fields, flowers crystallized
in the very act of their metamorphosis ; so that not
tacitly has evolution "almost always left its foot-
marks behind it, visibly imprinted upon the earth
through all its ages ; " but the continuous operation
of this law likewise leaves behind it its tags and ends
as it weaves the woof and warp of fate. Now it is

1} 2

HA RD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OSSIF.

just the recognition of these tags and ends that is
wanting to establish the really clever problematical
reasoning of Mr. Grant Allen in regard to the daisy's
pedigree, as I have little doubt ; and if the reader is
of my mind, he will acknowledge that the Editor of
Science-Gossip in advocating the recognition here
of law in place of the byword of monstrosity, applied
invariably to that which we do not understand, has
thereby cast a flood of light on the past history of the
flowers.

There remains a little finishing touch of purple on
the flowerets of the daisy resembling the mark of a
copying ink pencil, that is apt to attract notice.
Were a Grinling Gibbons set to carve a flower-head, it
is probable that he would turn it on the wheel, and
had he afterwards to colour it he would ask but for
few pigments, for robbed of compound hues, pattern
and half-.tones, the floral colours can be readily
suggested, and in point of fact fully-coloured flowers
such as dahlias and roses undeniably match well.
Perhaps one of the most surprising things to meet
with anywhere on this score is a field of roses, where
velvety full-coloured blossoms, red, purple, and
yellow, spring side by side from the wreck of the
things that were ; and curiously enough there may
be sublimed from the said black mould peacock hues
that will surpass the roses themselves in lustre. I
allude to the prismatic hues of aniline, first discovered
in 1826 by Unverdorben in the products of the dry
distillation of indigo, and in 1834, proved by Range
to be a constituent of coal tar ; and which like
aluminium, must be reputed one of the commonest
things in the world. Though I have not hitherto
obtained great results from staining flower bulbs
with prepared aniline dyes, I might yet hint that
some of the shale hills that diversify the black
country, containing as they do so much of the
innocuous raw material, might if ground to powder
and mixed with sewage or otherwise, work marvels
on the parterres ; for after walking some weary miles
over them, I can only aver that grass grows on them
luxuriantly and ragweed flowers prodigiously, nor
will I ever say that it was not a trifle more golden in
the sun. Indeed at the present the history of our
surprise garden blooms is proverbially far too much
of a mystery and too little of a science ; for all I
could elicit from a professor regarding his educated
favourites was, that they were obtained by crossing,
but when and where escaped him.

Few people in England have the slightest idea of
the high value attached to scientific education in all
the Australian colonies. We have just received a
" Prospectus of the Stawell School of Mines, Art,
Industry, and Science," This is a well-known
Victorian mining town — whose population is not yet
commensurate with its pubhc spirit. Whilst we are
talking about adopting a Technical Education Act,
they are adopting one of their own.

NOTE ON A FOOT-WORKING BLOWPIPE.

By H. DURRANT.

AMONG the portion of our working mineralo-
gists there are those who have often felt the
want of some method to produce the necessary stream
of air for the fusing of the diff"erent substances, so as
to do away with the blowing through the mouth.

I propose in this short paper to give instructions
for making one, which, though rough and simple,
is very efficient, which after all is the great deside-
ratum. First of all then, an old square table is
wanted, mine is an old machine-stand, which serves
the purpose admirably, being very firm ; if you have
not got a spare table, you can easily make one,
providing you do not wish "a thing of beauty,"
instead of a working machine ; if so, get a carpenter
to make the table for you, and so combine the two
qualities ; though after all it will not be an orna-
ment for the drawing-room. Supposing you have your
stand ready, the next thing you will want is a good
strong pair of workshop bellows. About four or five
inches from the floor, fasten a shelf under the table.
Six inches higher fasten a similar shelf. Now take
your bellows, lay them lengthwise along the lowest
shelf, so that the handles will project beyond the side
of the table.

Fasten them in their place ; first by a screw through
the lower handle into the shelf, and next by a piece
of sheet-iron over the nozzle, fasten each side by a
screw. Next take a piece of wood, the same width
as the handle of the bellows, let it project about three
inches over the top bellows-handle ; fasten in place
by a couple of screws. Underneath it drive a staple ;
ditto on top. You will want now about a yard and
a half of rubber tubing.

If the tubing was now fastened to the nozzle of
the bellows, and the other end to the blowpipe, you
would not, by working the bellows, be able to obtain
a continuous stream of air, which is what we want j
so we must make an air-chamber, to contain a supply
of air while the bellows are being refilled.

For this purpose make a rectangular box about
six inches by two and a half. Before nailing the
sides up, a piece of thin cloth should be inserted
between the joints, to make it air-tight.

The bottom of the box (one of the smaller ends),
will have to have a round hole cut in, and a little
clack fastened over it, to prevent air from rushing
back into bellows when pressure is released.

A hole must also be cut in the top and another in
one of the sides. Now get a piece of copper or brass
tubing to fit tightly into rubber tubing ; fix one end
of your rubber tubing tightly round nozzle of bellows,
bend the piping round, so that it will come under
second shelf, in which a corresponding hole with the
one in bottom of box should be cut. Nail your box
on over this hole, tightly to the shelf. Now to make
the tube fit air-tight, you must get a cork, cut a

HARD WICKE' S S CIENCE- G SSIP,

hole through with a sharp knife, making it just a
shade smaller than copper tube, fix the cork in the
hole of the box underneath, and push in the copper
tube, which should be attached to the rubber-tubing.
Do the same by the hole in the top of box, inserting
cork and copper tube as before, to which must be
fastened another piece of rubber tubing, carrying it
up under the table, and bringing it through a hole in
the front of the table, a little way.

Fix your blowpipe in this tube, inserting a cork if
not fitting tightly enough.

The blowpipe can now be made firm by fastening
an upright of wood on the top of the table, and
fastening the blowpipe to it by bending wire nails
round. We have now a hole left in the side of the
box.

Now what we want is a bag to contain the supply
of air necessary to keep the blow-pipe in full swing.

When you can obtain a nice continuous stream of
air, proceed as follows :

Obtain a spiral spring and fit between handles of
bellows. Or to the staple tie a piece of cord, bring
it to the top of the table, pass it over a small pulley,
and attach a heavy weight. Now for the pedal ; to
the staple on under side of handle of bellows attach
another piece of cord and fasten it to the end of a
strip of wood, broad enough to place the foot on.
You will now find that after you have pressed this
with your right foot, on the pressure being relaxed,
the bellows will be expanded by the weight attached
to the cord.

Of course they are thus filled with air. It will be
rather awkward at first to continue the pedalling,
but you will soon get used to it, and once you get
the bladder filled, a steady continuous motion keeps
a nice flame. You can, if you like, weight the

Fig. 2. — A, Cork ; B, Cop-
per tube ; c, India-
rubber tube.

Fig. I. — Foot- working Blow-pipe, a, bottom shelf; b, top shelf; c, bellows ; d, strip of wood nailed
on handle of bellows ; ee, pulley wheels ; F, weight ; G, pedal for foot ; H, air chamber ; k', foot-
ball bladder ; l, blow-pipe ; m, upright of wood ; n, hole in table ; oo, copper tubing ; p, cord.

The bag to produce this must of course collapse by
cts own elasticity or by weights judiciously placed.

The best and most easily obtainable is a common
football bladder. Fix the nozzle over a copper tube
and cork it in as you did the other tubes, allowing
■room for the bladder to expand without coming in
contact with sides of box.

You will now find, if you have followed instruc-
tions, that if you blow the bellows with your hand,
the bladder will fill ; once filled, a steady motion with
the bellows, never jerky, will keep a constant stream
of air issuing from the blowpipe ; when the blowing
is stopped, a stream of air will continue to flow from
pipe till the bladder is exhausted.

If the bladder soon collapses after the blowing is
stopped, the wind is escaping somewhere other than
through the nozzle of blowpipe. Light a candle
and go all round joints, &c., and you will soon find
out where. Remedy : stop up with putty or pitch,
and do not use the machine again till thoroughly set.

bladder, by tying weights at each end of a cloth, and
arranging it nicely over the bladder. This will give
you a stronger blast of air, but the pedalling wiU be
much harder, because the bladder empties much mere
quickly, and also takes more pressure to keep it
filled.

I think there is nothing more to say now. Its use
being too well known by mineralogists, &c., except
that with care, a flame eight or nine inches long is easily
obtainable with a wax candle. All kinds of glass-
ware for naturalists can be made with a very small
amount of trouble, such as dipping-tubes, test-tubes,
capillary-tubes, tubes for collecting small insects,
&c., funnels, and a host of other similar articles, of
which I hope to say further in another paper if the
Editor can spare me space.

As it is I am afraid I have taken up too much room
already, but if any one not quite seeing principle, will
write to me (address with Editor), enclosing stamped
envelope for reply, I will give further information.

HARD WICKK S SCIENCE- G OS SIP.

PECULIARITIES IN SITE AND STRUC-
TURE OF BIRDS' NESTS.
A GOOD many years ago I contributed a short
paper to Science-Gossip,* bearing the above
title, the few instances therein cited being culled
from my natural history diaries ; and now, since
peculiarities in the form, size, and coloration of
birds' eggs are being freely adduced and discussed,
perhaps a few additional instances of those of site
and structure of their nests may not be out of place.

Great titmouse, or oxeye [Pa}-ies major). — On
June loth, 1884, I discovered in St. John's
Cemetery, Elswick, a nest of this handsome bird,
containing callow young, which had been built
within one of the numerous fire-clay pipes used for
marking out sections of the burial ground. This
pipe is pentagonal in form, is open at the bottom,
and has a sloping top or roof upon which is impressed
a capital letter ; it has a depth of 16 inches at the
back, and 12 inches at the front, the roof sloping
from back to front ; and in the centre line of each
side, that joins the front at right angles, is a circular
hole 175 inch in diameter whose centre is 5 inches
distant from the open bottom, and in the front or
face is a similar hole whose centre is 8 inches from
the bottom : the front is 5 inches wide, and these
two sides are each 3 inches wide, whilst the
remaining two sides, which meet in an acute angle
at the back of the pipe, are 3-5 inches wide ; the
width, or diameter, from front to back being 6
inches. The pipe had been sunk into the grass-and-
herbage-covered ground until the lower edge of the
front and higher hole was level with the surface,
whilst the two lower lateral holes were of course
buried beneath it. The bulky nest, which consisted
of moss, cow and horse hair, sheep's wool and
rabbit down, was beneath the level of the lateral
holes, and was reached by the front hole which was
the sole point of ingress and egress. On several
occasions I sat near by and watched the parent birds
bringing abundant food for their young. They
frequently, though not invariably, first alighted in a
young elm-tree which overhung the home of their
progeny, flew thence to the top of the sunk pipe, and
thence to the hole of entrance, though not in-
frequently the female flew direct to the hole without
alighting elsewhere ; the moment the parent bird
had alighted on the roof of their home, the young
ones gave utterance to their expectant cries. The
food, wliich was assiduously catered for by both
the male and the female, consisted chiefly, if not
entirely, of caterpillars ; and on one occasion on
which I timed their visits, within ten minutes each
bird had brought food three times, notwithstanding
that they were aware of and startled by my
proximity, and thereby prevented from their normal
procedure.

Vol. ix., p. 203.

Common, or "Kitty" wren {Troglodytes pai-vu-
lus). — Who of us, as nest-hunting schoolboys even,
have not become acquainted with the more or less
unfinished, so-called "cock-nests" of this familiar
and favourite little bird, more than one of which
might sometimes be found built in the same hedge-
bank not far distant from the true, or breeding nest,
and at that time devoutly believed to have been
built by the cock bird for the purpose of roosting in
at night. The "cock-sit" (cock's-seat), too, which
we generally managed to make out in the bankside,
near by the nest of the "yowley," or yellow-hammer
{Emhcriza citrinella), was also considered to be the
roosting place of the male or cock bird, it being
taken for granted, I assume, that the hen bird alone
occupied the nest, and that the cock would not be
or ought not to be very far distant from his mate.
Possibly, however, it may be news to many readers of
Science-Gossip to learn that these cock-nests,
as well as the true nests, of the wren may occasion-
ally be obtained at the expense of another familiar
and favourite bird — the swallow ; three instances of
which have fallen under my observation, all in one
season, and at no great distance apart. The first
instance was on June 9th, 18S5, when I had my
attention drawn to the circumstance of a wren
carrying up materials to a swallow's nest built in the
roof of a high wooden hayshed or stack-cover ; and,
on watching a while, I observed the wren carry up a
billful of dry grass, enter the nest, deposit its cargo,
and then depart, softly singing part of the time :
hence, I concluded that it was the male bird who
was thus spending a part of his superfluous energy on.
the construction of a cock-nest, whilst his partner
was engaged in the arduous task of incubation
somewhere near ; for the wren had here been for
some time past in full and vigorous song, occasion-
ally, too, singing on the wing as he passed from one
elevated perch to another. On a cursory examina-
tion of the nest of the sv/allow, it was found to be
quite new — of the present season — to be complete in
the shell and apparently ready for its lining of soft
materials ; and that the birds had not yet forsaken it,
but flew into and around the shed, notwithstanding
that the wren was engaged in building a top or dome
of dry grass and moss to it. Not until July i8th,
however, when the hay was being stacked under this
shed, and the usurped nest could be reached from
the top of the stack, was it disturbed ; though for
some time past it had obviously been forsaken by the
rightful owners, the swallows, and was as obviously
not being used as a breeding-nest by the usurping
wren. On being taken down from its site, it was
found to be a large fine and evidently completed
shell, ready for its lining of dry grass or hay and
feathers, etc. ; and that the superimposed nest of
the wren was of the usual domed character, and
composed of fine dry grass outwardly, and moss with
a little sheep's wool and a few feathers inwardly,

HA RD WICKE' S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

whilst ihat portion of the nest below its side entrance
descended into the mud nest of the swallow.

The second nest of a swallow usurped by the
wren I found built against one of the beams
. supporting the ceiling of one of a group of deserted
thatched cottages which were being allowed to fall
into decay, the sashes having been removed from
the windows and thus allowing a free ingress to the
birds, which privilege the swallows had freely
availed themselves of, as many of their nests were to
be found within. This, too, was a nest of the season,
complete in the shell, the top of which was within a
couple of inches of the ceiling ; and it had evidently
been having its lining of hay and feathers put in by
its rightful owners when it had been unsurped by the
wren, whose domed nest (consisting of moss chiefly)
had been, as in the former case, built within the
open nest of the swallow, the dome being carried up
to the ceiling. As the date on which this compound
nest was found was so late as July 7th, it is not im-
probable that this, too, was a cock-nest of the wren,
and had been completed for some time before its
discovery. In the third instance, the wrens reared
a brood in the nest of the swallow which they had
usurped, or at least utilised, in the roof of an out-
building not a quarter of a mile distant from the
second nest recorded, and certainly not more than a
half mile from the site of the first, the site of the
second being intermediate : this third nest, however,
of which I had intimation, I failed to get to see ; but
I have no doubt whatever of the accuracy of the
account given me of it, though it is not impossible
that it may have been an old and deserted nest of
the swallow which the wrens had simply utilised as
a foundation upon which to erect their own edifice.

With respect to the spare or cock nests of the
wren, the question arises. For what purpose are
they built ? Are they really built by the male bird
alone, as a shelter for himself during the nesting
season and possibly later on in the year? Or, are
they built by him simply because he is so full of life
and vigour that he must be busy, at a season when
there is a superabundance of food and the numerous
young have not yet been hatched to give both him-
self and partner labour sufficient in catering for their
appetites ? Or, is it possible that they are buik by
him prospectively for the accommodation of a
second brood after the first have been got oft", and
subject to the approval of mater? This, perhaps,
would account for their being discarded as unsuitable
in site or structure, and another nest more in
accordance with her tastes or requirements con-
structed. That this extra nest is, sometimes at least,
used by the wren as a place of shelter at night
towards the close of the year, I have had proof of;
since I have visited one such nest with a lantern
almost every night in the latter half of October
between the hours of nine and ten, and almost
invariably found a wren snugly ensconced within, and

obviously much taken aback at having a bright light
shone full in upon it from the small rounded entrance
in the front of its very comfortable chamber.

Pied wagtail {Motacilla lugiibris). — I have seen a
nest of this bird which had been built in an old nest
of the swallow, up in the roof of a " hemmel " (as
the open-fronted outbuildings for the retreat of the
grazing sheep and cattle are termed in the pastoral
districts of Northumberland) ; and it was composed
of an abundance of sheep's wool and hair, with a
little dry grass and a few fibrous roots, the whole
forming a dense lining to the utilised swallow's nest.

In this nest the wagtails had successfully reared a
brood of young ; and in the last week in July, when
I examined the nest, it still contained some portions
of the egg-shells. Again, built in the straw laid up
in the skeleton loft of this same hemmel — a loft
formed by a few poles laid across the beams — I found,
on August I2th, another nest of the pied wagtail,
which contained well-grown young, and which were
probably a second nest and brood of the same pair of
birds as had already built and bred in the nest of the
swallow situate in the roof near by.

Though speaking of the above nest of the swallow
as an old one, and probably simply utilised by the wag-
tail, it may still be considered as possibly usurped ;
for the swallow frequently uses its nest for more than
one season, raising the mud walls when necessary and
thus deepening it ; and the resident wagtail, which
breeds early, had probably taken possession before
the return of the swallows from their winter retreat in
the far south, and thus might have prevented these
birds from reoccupying their nest of a former season.

The swallow {^Hirundo rusticd). — The nest of the
swallow, as I have noted it in our rural districts, is
usually built at a considerable elevation within farm
outhouses, sheds, and hemmels ; being built against
and adherent to the beams, couples and rafters, as
also other portions of the woodwork and stonework
of the roof ; though, of course, when a building is
low, the altitude at which hangs the nest is lessened ;
and in one instance which has come under my
observation, the distance was not more than three
feet from the ground. This lowly-hung nest was
attached to the side of a beam in the roof of an
occupied pigstye, and contained four eggs much in-
cubated ; the upper storey of this tiny outbuilding
was a hen-house ; hence the short beam or two in
the roof of the gloomy stye. A second swallow's
nest, built in the roof of an unused privy, was barely
six feet distant from the ground. A third nest,
taken on June i8th, 1881, was peculiar in the fact of
its having a lauter of four unincubated eggs lying on
their bed of hay and abundant soft fowl feathers ;
whilst beneath this thick warm lining was a second
consisting also of fine hay and a few feathers, upon
which lay two other eggs obviously of the present
season's laying, and which, on being blown, proved
to be quite fresh, the yolk of one of them only being a

BA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIF.

little stiffened, as might reasonably enough be expected
from the heat imparted to them from the bodies of
the birds during the process of the second lining of
the nest and the egg-laying, combined with the
dryness of their situation. This double lauter of
eggs was probably due to the death, by accident or
natural causes, of the first female owner of the nest,
and her partner's taking a second mate who had
commenced housekeeping on her own account by
having a second lining added to the nest upon which
to deposit her own incipient offspring.

Sand martin (Cotile rijiaria).— On }\mQ ^ih, 1885,
I took from its deep burrow in the bank of the
stream Blythe, a nest of the sand martin which
contained four eggs unincubated, and which was
composed of dry grass and grass-stems, and lined
with soft fowl feathers and a little dry grass. This
nest, like that of the swallow described above, was a
double one ; for beneath this upper lining upon
which rested the four eggs, was a second (a former)
lining of fowl feathers, upon which lay two other
eggs quite fresh though very dirty. Here, too, in all
probability, some fatality had overtaken the original
female owner of the nest after she had deposited two
of her eggs ; and her partner had then found a second
mate, whose nearly completed lauter the upper four
eggs would be. The sand martin lays from five to
six purely white eggs, which, however, are generally
more or less soiled and abundantly speckled with the
dark-green excreta of the large fleas (Pulex) with
which their nests almost invariably swarm.

Charles Robson.

NOTES CONCERNING THE DISTRIBU-
TION OF MOLLUSCA IN THE THAMES
ESTUARY.
By A. J. Jenkins and L. O. Grocock.

SINCE the publication of the article upon "The
Distribution and Habits of the British Hydro-
bias," Science-Gossip, 1890, page 103, it has been
our endeavour to try our best to work up the distri-
bution of the various other species of mollusca in-
habiting the marshes of the Thames Estuary, with a
view to studying the habits and localisation of the
brackish-water species in particular, as well as the
discovery of the distribution and true limits of the
HydrobitC and allied forms to be found in close
proximity to the river.

All the British I lydrobioe have been taken from the
Thames marshes, and the two species, Hydrobia
similis, Drap., and H. Jenldnsi, Smith, have not up
to the present been found elsewhere in Britain.

The district which we decided to investigate is
included between the commencement of the Plum-
stead Marshes, near Woolwich Arsenal, and North
Woolwich, upon the Essex bank of the Thames, down
to a point three miles below the forts at Tilbury and
Gravesend.

Nearly twelve months have elapsed since we com-

menced working this district in a systematic manner,,
and during this period the course of the Thames has
been followed from Woolwich to below Gravesend,
and many excursions have been made to the other
side at North Woolwich, Beckton, Coldharbour
Point to Purfleet, and over the marshes at Grays,
Thurrock, and Tilbury. During these excursions we
have indulged our prying propensities to the best of
our ability, using our dredges freely over many miles
of ditches of fresh and brackish water, at the same
time keeping a sharp look-out for terrestrial forms
either possessed of shells or destitute of them ; care-
fully recording each day's experience gained, and
taking notes of fresh captures.

We have also received much valuable assistance^
and have occasionally been accompanied in our expe-
ditions by the Rev. J. W. Horsley, the indefatigable
President and Founder of the now flourishing Wool-
wich District Natural History Society, which under
the guidance of Mr. Horsley has organised a series of
Saturday half-holiday field-excursions for the study of
the fauna and flora of the district.

The marshes bordering the Thames are very ex-
tensive, and a considerable portion is devoted to
market-gardening and grazing purposes, a large area
still remaining almost in its original pristine condition.
The great national workshop, Woolwich Arsenal, is
built upon the Plumstead Marshes, and a range,
fifteen hundred yards in length, is devoted to gun-
practice near the Arsenal. Many chemical and
manure works are also built upon them. At Purfleet
there is a rather extensive salt-marsh.

Lying, as they do, considerably below high-water
mark, the marshes were many years ago protected
by a river-wall or earthwork. The origin of this
gigantic earthwork, which confines the Thames to its
present channel, is lost in obscurity, but probably
various portions have been constructed at different
periods. Intersecting the marshes in various direc-
tions are numerous dykes or ditches, which abound
in the various forms of life which delight the eye and
mind of the biologist, conchologist, and microscopist.

In places near the river the ditches are connected with
the Thames by drains and sluices, and such ditches
being liable to the overflow of the river occasionally,
at high tides, causes the water contained therein to
be more or less brackish. These ditches form the
habitat of our Hydrobice and their alhes. A long
walk across the marshes in fine weather is very
exhilarating and enjoyable ; after fogs and heavy
rain it is not so pleasant, the roads and paths are
then almost impassable owing to mud ; the tall coarse
grass when wet is very tiring to walk through, and
the mist or vapour covering the marshes all around
renders the journey very monotonous, which is
occasionally varied by the necessity of jumping a
tolerably wide and deep dyke, or clambering over
very high fences to avoid making a detour of several
miles. Sometimes, too, mishap befalls the unwary

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

naturalist, the plank which serves him for a bridge
refuses to support him when half across, or he fails to
leap properly and gracefully an extra-wide ditch,
which ends in his immersion in clear fluid or mud.

The marshes between East Greenwich and Plum-
stead were frequently investigated between the years
1883-9, rendering it unnecessary to go over the same
ground again.

Probably many years have elapsed since the
Thames Estuary was thoroughly worked by concho-
logists, and this is confirmed by the recent publication
of localities in which species have long ceased to exist,
and by the discovery of the new species of Hydrobia.

A few details respecting the limits of various
species may be of interest to the readers of Science-
Gossip. The marsh brackish-water sliells consist of
six species, if we include Mr. Smith's new Hydro-
bia, which is now generally considered by eminent
conchologists, both at home and abroad, to be
worthy of specific rank. They are as follows :
Hydrobia uIvce, Penn, H. similis, Drap., II. ventrosa,
Mont., H. yeiikinsi, Smith, Assimiiiia Gi-ayana,
Leach, and Mchinpis tnyosotis, Mont. A pecuhar
dwarfed variety of Littoniia rudis also occurs with
H. vejitrosa in brackish water at Tilbury.

Of these species, A. Grayana, M. myosotis and
H. ulva: are most marine in habit ; H. vaitrosa
inhabits ditches which are decidedly more brackish
than those which ^. similis and/I. Jenkinsi frequent.

H. ulvcc may be taken alive upon mud, and in
partially dry ditches at Grays, Tilbury, and Gravesend,
by the riverside, and sparingly in brackish-water
ditches near Greenhithe village, in company with
H. vcnti-osa and A. Grayana. It has not yet been
taken higher up the river.

Many years ago H. j/w/Z/j' inhabited ditches between
Greenwich and Woolwich, which were occasionally
flooded by the tide, and this locality has been given
by Mr. J. W. Williams in a recent work published in
1S89. This locality was no doubt correct in Jeffreys'
time, but they have (in company with other species)
long since been forced to migrate lower and lower
down the river, owing to the pollution of the ditches
by various factories, chemical and gas-works, and
Thames sewage. As far back as 1883 not even a
dead shell could be obtained from this locality.

Industrious searching for this pretty little mollusc
has led us to the conclusion that this species is
doomed to speedy extinction in this district. It
seems always to have been peculiar in Britain to the
Thames marshes, and, like H. Jenkinsi, in all pro-
bability was originally introduced from abroad. It
appears to be limited to a single narrow ditch a few
hundred yards in length, and with two exceptions we
have not succeeded in finding them elsewhere. Once
a dead shell was taken with H. jfenkinsi from a ditch
at Beckton, and once a single live specimen with the
same species between Erith and Darenth Creek. In
the same ditch with H. similis may be found a

number of H. ventrosa, a few Limncea tru7tcatula,
and dead shells only, of A. Grayana.

Occasionally a few shells of H. similis have been
collected, which are of a clear, pellucid texture. Mr.
Marshall has proposed to call this variety V. Candida,
see "Journal of Conchology," vol vi. p. 141. It
has been deemed necessary to strictly preserve the
habitat of this rare species, so as not to be instru-
mental in its extermination as a British species.

H. ventrosa inhabits in great abundance brackish-
water ditches between Erith and Gravesend, and
may be collected on the north bank of the Thames
at Purfleet, Grays, and Tilbury. The shells from
the different localities vary somewhat, but hardly
sufficient to be considered as distinct varieties. A
short and rather tumid form occurs in a ditch near
the river and training-ships at Grays.

H. Jenkinsi is now, and for some years is likely to
be, the most abundant Hydrobia of the Thames
marshes. When collected in 1883 in ditches at East
Greenwich, it was fairly plentiful there ; two years
later, a few shells were taken at Plumstead, but they
were by no means common at that time. They are
now extinct between Greenwich and Woolwich,
owing to the same cause which forced H. similis
and A. Grayana to retreat lower down the river. At
certain periods the new species fairly swarm in the
ditches at Plumstead marshes, upon duck-weed,
chara, and the bright green ribbon-like weed Entero-
morpha intestinalis, Linn., which is so common in
brackish water. As mentioned in the above article,
they are a very active and hardy species, capable of
existing for prolonged periods in quite fresh, and
even in hard tap-water.

They have been taken in winter from beneath the
ice, and hibernating in the banks of their habitat.
Like the other species, the shells from different
localities are extremely variable, and several forms
differ sufficiently from the type to be considered as
distinct varieties. One form in particular which
occurs with the type at Beckton is peculiar in having
a much shorter spire, and very tumid body whorl.
They are strongly carinated and tufted, and the
suture is somewhat deeper than the type. Upon th
dorsal side there is a considerable bulging out of the
penultimate whorl upon the left side, giving the
shell a distorted appearance. In this condition they
somewhat resemble enlarged H. similis. It has
been suggested that these examples are shells that
have been stopped in growth by the drying up of the
ditch, or some other cause. Provisionally it is
proposed to call this variety or monstrosity H.
Jenkinsi, V. tumida, Jenkins. This species now
exists in considerable abundance in ditches at Beckton,
and extends from the Arsenal wall at Plumstead to
a point midway between Darenth Creek and
Greenhithe. In all probability a few years will find
them extending down the river as far as Gravesend.
H. Jenkinsi was at one time mistaken for IT. similis,

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP.

owing to the latter species not being generally known
to conchologists, and it was largely distributed to
collectors as that species. Linnic^aperegra, Planorhis
spirorbis, and P. complaiiatiis exist in the same habitat
as this Hydrobia.

Assiminia Grayana and Llelainpiis viyosotis are
more or less abundant between Coldharbour Point
and Purfleet, and from Grays to three miles below
Tilbury Fort, and we have traced them from
Greenhithe to below Gravesend. A. Grayana exists
in abundance in the canal at Gravesend, as well as in
ditches between Northfleet and Greenhithe.

Both species are wanderers, and they may frequently
be picked up many yards from the water's edge.

About twenty species of common fresh-water
moUusca have been collected upon the marshes, the
forms which generally prevail upon either side of the
river are Bythinia tentaculata, B. Leackii, Planorbis
spirorhiSf P. vortex, P. complanatics, LimncEa peregra,
L. pahistris, Physa fontinalis. The most local are
Planorbis nautileus, P. contortus, Liinnaa stagiialis,
L. truncatula, and Physa hypnorum.

For terrestrial shells we can only testify to species
upon our side of the river, and no doubt with more
leisure many more species will be discovered. Helix
nemoralis and its varieties bimarginata, UbeUula, and
rubella are the prevailing marsh forms, together with
Arion ater, Snccinea putris, S. elegafts, Helix cantiana,
H. ritfescens, H. virgata, H. kispida, H. caperata and
H. concinna. Helix hortensis and Cyclostonia elegans
are found in the neighbourhood of the chalk.

So far our list comprises upwards of sixty species
and varieties of land and freshwater shells inhabiting
the marshes of the Thames Estuary. Another twelve
months' work may add largely to this list of District
Mollusca, as many forms, like the slugs and Zonites,
have not been yet properly worked up.

THE ROMAUNT OF BEDEGAR.

An Autobiography.

By the Rev. H. Friend, F.L.S.

I WAS born at Rosebower, on Solway Moss, in
the summer of 1880. Having inherited a pre-
cocious tendency to look about me, and made inquiry
respecting things in general, and my own history in
particular, it dawned upon me while I was yet very
youthful that I might find profit in looking up my
family pedigree. I had not the faintest idea when I
set to work how arduous a task I had undertaken,
nor could I have conceived that our history would
show so many changes and vicissitudes, or lead me
back to so hoary an age, as I eventually found to be
the case ; and as I feel sure there are very few, even
among the students of genealogies and family history
who are fully acquainted with these details, I have
ventured to write my autobiography. In so doing,
I have the impression that I am the first who has

attempted to give anything like a connected or
exhaustive account of the subject from the stand-
point of the genealogist or historian. I even flatter
myself that those persons who have paid special
attention to the place which my ancestors have filled
in the economy of medicine are unable to present so
clear an account of me as I am now about to lay
before you.

Our family name was Deker, or Degar, which by
a curious coincidence means in the languages of the
East very much what "dagger" means in English.
It is, indeed, curious to observe how frequently this
name, slightly modified in various ways, is used in a
great number of languages to convey the idea of
something sharp or piercing. At the risk of being
regarded as boastful, I will at once inform my
readers that I have traced our family name back to
very ancient times, for I find in the oldest historical
work now in existence that one of my remote an-
cestors, Ben-deker by name, was appointed by
Solomon, the King of Israel, to be one of the twelve
officers whose duty it was to provide victuals for the
king and his household. This mention of Ben-deker
in Jewish history is sufficient to show that already in
Solomon's day Deker had become an established
name. Learned writers are agreed that this name is
derived from a word which means to pierce, or stab ;
this word we find in the Hebrew language under the
form of Dakar. Hence Deker means the slabber, or
he who pierces ; and as Ben is the word for son,
Ben-deker means the son of the stabber, then the
little stabber. I have reason to believe that the
name was given to the earliest representative of our
family on account of his skill in the use of the spear
or sword in times of war ; for I find that when Jehu
went forth to war he was accompanied by a member
of our family who bore the name of Bidekar, and had
been promoted to the post of captain on account of
his chivalry. The reader may consult I Kings iv. 9,
and 2 Kings ix. 25.

Now every one is aware that, by the association
of ideas, names are continually being transferred
from one thing to another which bears some resem-
blance, in one way or another, to the original. Thus
the word needle is applied to a little pointed instru-
ment used by industrious girls and housewives, as
well as to an ancient monument of a similar shape
which once stood on Egyptian soil, but now adorns
the Thames Embankment. The musical pipe of the
Hebrew and the tobacco pipe of the smoker bear the
same name, though their uses are so widely different,
because they are each hollow ; and hence we have
many other things called pipes for the same reason.
In exactly the same way the people who first used
the word Dakar in the sense of stabbing, called not
only a clever soldier Deker, a stabber, but applied
the same term to such plants or other things as
pricked or pierced the skin of the unwary, just as the
Scotch thistle is reputed to have stabbed or pierced

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

the foot of a Dane. In course of time, therefore,
the name Bidekar, or Bedegar, as some people pro-
nounced it, i.e., the little stabber, came to be the
recognised term for a thistle, as being the most
common of the prickle-bearing plants. We therefore
have now to turn away from the historical personages
who, a thousand years before the birth of Christ, had
made themselves famous by the use of the spear, and
look at the thistle, which had for a similar reason
inherited the same name ; and in order to carry on
my story it will be necessary to say that the Arab
physicians must next be consulted, seeing that they
for some centuries bestowed upon my relatives the
most scrupulous attention. Perhaps I ought to
remark that for a long period these learned men took
an important part in the spread of medical informa-
tion among the other races 'of mankind, and having
discovered certain remedies for the ills of the flesh,
they introduced these to the strangers beyond the
seas, along with the names by which they were
known in Arabia. It was in this way that the
Greeks, Romans, and other peoples of early as well
as more modern times came into the possession of
various medicinal herbs which they often knew only
by their Arabic names. When they wished to enter
these names in their list of medicines, however, it
was necessary that they should add an equivalent
term from their own vocabulary which should make
it possible for others to identify the article when
necessary ; and it is thus that I have found myself (in
the person of my ancestors) transferred from Arabia
Felix to classical Greece, where the people were
wont to speak of me under two names, viz., Bedegar
and Akantha-leuke. I confess that, while I felt
flattered at seeing my forefathers thus introduced to
the famous Grecians, I could not at first understand
what they meant by this new name by which they
translated the old family name of Bedegar. Upon
inquiry, however, I found that leuke was a Greek
term meaning white, and akantha soon suggested to
my mind a spinous or thorny plant usually known as
the acanthus. Thus I found that the Greek regarded
the white acanthus as being similar to if not the
same as bedegar. This idea was soon abundantly
confirmed, for I read that when a Roman dealer in
herbs saw the physician display his bedegar, he
exclaimed, " Wiiy, that is Spina alba!" I happened
to know enough Latin to be able to translate these
words, and I found that while the word alba, like
the Greek leuke, meant white, spina corresponded
with acanthus. All this is matter of history, and, if
it were necessary, I could easily mention the names
of ancient sages who have favoured my predecessors
with their kindly notice.

While I cannot help feeling a little proud of the
distinguished position which the name of our family
was securing during the early ages of the Christian
era, there is one matter which has given me con-
siderable anxiety. I am sorry to find that when the

early physicians, who lived in lands remote from
that which constituted my early home, found that
they could not always obtain the genuine Bedegar
for their patients, they applied the famous name to
other articles found nearer home ; and thus the honour
which had for so many years centred about the Arab
name began to be dimmed. Of this I shall have to
say a little more shortly, but it is needful at this
point to refer to a few of the other names by which
we came to be known, either occasionally or regularly,
in various parts of Europe. I must also show how
many ups and downs our family history experienced,
owing to the translation of those names from one
language into another, and what curious results fol-
lowed this process. One thing is a source of comfort
to me, however, and it is this. No matter where we
might be carried by the merchant, or what vicissitudes
we might experience in going from country to country,
the people almost invariably associated our old family
name with the new names which they gave us, and
thus I can boast the possession of the original title
to-day : though, as will be seen, that name has been
shifted from the spine-bearing thistle to a totally
different plant or growth.

( To be continued.')

THE TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
BETWEEN GREAT. BRITAIN, EUROPE,
AMERICA, AND THE EAST.

By George Walter Niven.

THERE are at present twenty-six Submarine
Cable Companies, the combined capital of
which is about forty million pounds sterling. Their
revenue, including subsidies, amounts to 3,204,060/. ;
their reserves and sinking funds to 3,610,000/. ; and
their dividends are from one to 145 per cent. The
receipts from the Atlantic cables alone amount to
about 800,000/. annually.

The number of cables laid down throughout the
world is 1045, of which 798 belong to governments,
and 247 lo private companies. The total length of
those cables is 120,070 nautical miles, of which
107,546 are owned by private telegraph companies,
nearly all British; the remainder, or 12,524 miles
are owned by governments.

The largest telegraphic organisation in the world
is that of the Eastern Telegraphic Company with
seventy cables of a total length of 21,859 nautical
miles. The second largest, is the Eastern Extension,
Australasia and China Telegraph Company, with
twenty-two cables of a total length of 12,958 nautical
miles. The Eastern Company work all the cables on
the way to Bombay, and the Eastern Extension
Company from Madras eastwards. The cables
landing in Japan, however, are owned by a Danish
Company, the Great Northern. The English station

HA RD WICKE ' S S CIENCE- G O SSIP.

of the Eastern Company is at Porthcurno, Cornwall,
and througli it passes most of the messages for
Spain, Portugal, Egypt, India, China, Japan, and
Australia.

three cables around our shores of a total length of
1489 miles. If we include India and the Colonies,
the British Empire owns altogether two hundred and
sixteen cables of a total length of 381 1 miles.

Fig. 3. — Map showing Cables from Great Britain to America and ihe Continent. 1-18, private companies; 19-31, Government

Cables ; 32, proposed Cable.

The third largest cable company is the Anglo-
American Telegraph Company, with thirteen cables
of a total length of 10,196 miles.

The British Government has one hundred and

The longest Government cable in British waters, is
that from Sinclair Bay, Wick, to Sandwick Bay,
Shetland, of the length of 122 miles, and laid in
1885. The shortest being four cables across the

HARDWJCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, at the latter place,
and each less than 300 feet in length.

Of Government cables the greatest number is
owned by Norway with two hundred and thirty-
six, averaging however less than a mile each in
length.

eighty-nine cables; and Germany third with 1579
miles, and forty-three cables.

Britain being fourth with ninety miles less.

The oldest cable still in use is the one that was
first laid, that namely from Dover to Calais. It
dates from 185 1.

SCALE

Fig. 4. — Map showing the Main Cables from Europe, and their connections with Canada and the United States. References to
places— A, Heart's Content ; B, Placentia ; C, St. Pierre Miquelon ; D, North Sydney, Cape Breton Island ; E, Louisbourg :
F, Canso, Nova Scotia; G, Halifax; H. Bird Rock; I, Madeline Isles; J, Anticosti ; K, Charlotte Town, Prince Edwards
Isle ; LLL, Banks of Newfoundland.

The greatest mileage is owned by the Government
of France with 3269 miles of the total length of fifty-
one cables.

The next being British India with 1714 miles, and

The two next oldest cables in use being those
respectively from Ramsgate to Ostend ; and St.
Petersburg to Cronstadt, and both laid down in

1853.

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Several unsuccessful attempts were made to connect
England and Ireland by means of a cable between
Holyhead and Howth ; but communication between
the two countries was finally effected in 1853, when
a cable was successfully laid between Portpatrick
and Donaghadee (31).

As showing one of the dangers to which cables
laid in comparatively shallow waters are exposed, we
may relate the curious accident that befell the
Portpatrick cable in 1873. During a severe storm in
that year the Port Glasgow ship "Marseilles"
capsized in the vicinity of Portpatrick, the anchor
fell out and caught on to the telegraph cable, which,
however, gave way. The ship was afterwards
captured and towed into Rothesay Bay, in an
inverted position, by a Greenock tug, when part of
the cable was found entangled about the anchor.

The smallest private companies are the Indo-
European Telegraph Company, with two cables in
the Crimea of a total length of fourteen and a half
miles ; and the River Plate Telegraph Company with
one cable from Monte Video to Buenos Ayres, thirty-
two miles long.

The smallest Government telegraph organisation is
that of New Caledonia with its one solitary cable one
mile long.

We will now proceed to give a few particulars
regarding the companies having cables from Europe
to America.

The most important company is the Anglo-
American Telegraph Company, whose history is
inseparably connected with that of the trials and
struggles of the pioneers of cable laying.

Its history begins in 1S51 when Tebets, an
American, and Gisborne, an English engineer, formed
the Electric Telegraph Company of Newfoundland,
and laid down twelve miles of cable between Cape
Breton and Nova Scotia. This company was
shortly afterwards dissolved, and its property trans-
ferred to the Telegraphic Company of New York,
Newfoundland and London, founded by Cyrus W.
Field, and who in 1854 obtained an extension of the
monopoly from the Government to lay cables.

A cable, eighty-five miles long, was laid between
Cape Breton and Newfoundland (22).

Field then came to England and floated an English
company which amalgamated with the American
one under the title of the Atlantic Telegraph Com-
pany.

The story of the laying of the Atlantic Cables of
1857 and 1865, their successes and failures has often
been told, so we need not go into any details. It
may be noted, however, that communication was first
established between Valentia and Newfoundland on
',th August 1858, but the cable ceased to transmit
signals on ist September following. During that
period, ninety-seven messages had been sent from
Valentia, and two hundred and sixty-nine from
Newfoundland. At the present time, the ten

Atlantic Cables now convey about ten thousand'
messages daily between the two continents. The
losses attending the laying of the 1865 Cable resulted
in the financial ruin of the Atlantic Company, and
its amalgamation with a new company. The Anglo-
American. In 1866 the Great Eastern successfully
laid the first cable for the new company, and with
the assistance of other vessels succeeded in picking,
up the broken end of the 1865 cable and completing
its connection with Newfoundland.

The three cables of this company presently in use
and connecting Valentia in Ireland with Heart's
Content in Newfoundland, were laid in 1873, 1874,
and 1880; and (i) are respectively 1886, 1846, and
1890 nautical miles in 'length. This company also
owns the longest cable in the wor]d, that, namely
from Brest in France to St. Pierre Miquelon, one of
a small group of islands off the south coast of
Newfoundland, and which, strange to say, still'
belongs to France (6).

The length of this cable is 2685 nautical miles, or
3092 statute miles. It was laid in 1869. There are
seven cables of a total length of 1773 miles,,
connecting Heart's Content, Placentia Bay and St.
Pierre, with North Sydney, Nova Scotia, and
Duxbury near Boston, belonging to the American
Company. Communication is maintained with
Germany and the rest of the continent by means of a
cable from Valentia to Emden 846 miles long (7),
and a cable from Brest to Salcombe, Devon, connects
the St. Pierre and Brest cable with the London oflice
of the company (10).*

The station of the Direct United States Cable
Company is situated at Ballinskelligs Bay, Ireland
(2). Its cable was laid in 1874-5, and is 2565 miles
in length. The terminal point on the other side of
the Atlantic is at Halifax, Nova Scotia, from whence
the cable is continued to Rye Beach, New Hamp-
shire a distance of 536 miles and thence by a land
line of 500 miles to New York (17).

The Commercial Cable Company's station in
Ireland is at Waterville, a short distance from
Ballinskelligs (3). It owns two cables laid in 1885 ;
the northern cable being 2350, and the southern 2388
miles long. They terminate in America at Canso,
Nova Scotia. From Canso a cable is laid to
Rockfort, about thirty miles south of Boston, Mass. ;
a distance of 518 miles (16), and another is laid to
New York 840 miles in length (15). This company
has direct communication with the Continent by
means of a cable from Waterville to Havre of 510
miles (9), and with England by a cable to Weston-
super-Mare, near Bristol, of 328 miles (8).

* Cables not fully described in the text, Map E. Eight
cables at the Anglo-American Company ; 7, Heart's Content to
Placentia, two cablei ; 8, Placentia to St. Pierre ; 9, St. Pierre
to North Sydney ; 10, Placentia to North Sydney, two cables ;
II, St. Pierre to Duxbury; 18, Charlotte's Town to Nova
Scotia ; ig. Government Cable, North Sydney to Bird Rock,
Madeline Isles, and Anticosti ; 21, Halifax and Bermuda
Cable Company's proposed cable to Bermuda.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

The Western Union Telegraph Company (the
lessees of the lines of the American Telegraph and
Cable Comijany) has two cables from Sennen Cove,
Land's End, to Canso, Nova Scotia (4). The cable
of 1S81 is 2531, and that of 1882 is 2576 miles in
Jength. Two cables were laid in November 1S89
between Canso and New York (14).

The Compagnie Fi-ancaise du Telegraphe de Paris
a New York, has a cable from Brest to St. Pierre
^Miquelon, of 2242 miles in length (5), from thence a
cable is laid to Louisbourg, Cape Breton (12), and
another to Cape Cod (13). It has also a cable from
Brest to Porcella Cove, Cornwall (11).

Those ten cables owned by the six companies
named, of the total mileage of 22,959, i^ot counting
connections, represent the entire direct communica-
tion between the continents of Europe and North
America.

A new company, not included in the preceding
statistics, proposes to lay a cable from Westport,
Ireland, to some point in the Straits of Belle Isle on
the Labrador coast (Map A 32, Map B 20).

The station of the Eastern Telegraph Company is
at Porthcurno Cove, Penzance, from whence it has
two cables to Lisbon, one laid in iSSo, 850 miles
dong, the other laid in 1887, 892 miles long (12), and
one cable to Vigo, Spain, laid in 1873, 622 miles
long (13). From Lisbon the cable is continued to
^Gibraltar and the East, whither we need not follow
it, our intention being to confine ourselves entirely to
a brief account of those cables communicating
'directly with Europe and America. As already
stated, this company has altogether seventy cables of
a total length of nearly twenty-two thousand miles.

The Direct Spanish Telegraph Company has a
cable, laid in 1884. from Kennach Cove, Cornwall,
to Bilbao, Spain, 486 miles in length (14).

Coming now to shorter cables connecting Britain
with the Continent, we have those of the Great
Northern Telegraph Company, namely, Peterhead to
Ekersund, Norway, 267 miles (15), Newbiggin,
near Newcastle, to Arendal, Norway, 424 miles, and
thence to Marstrand, Sweden, 98 miles.

Two cables from the same place in England to
Denmark (Hirstals and Sondervig) of 420 and 337
miles respectively (17 and 18).

The Great Northern Company has altogether
twenty-two cables, of a total length of 6110 miles.
The line from Newcastle is worked direct to Nylstud,
in Russia — a distance of S90 miles — by means of a
*' Relay" or "Repeater," at Gothenburg. The
Relay is the apparatus at which the Newcastle
•current terminates, but in ending there it itself starts
a fresh current on to Russia.

The other Continental connections belong to the
Governmment, and are as follows : two cables to
Germany, Lowestoft to Norderney, 232 miles, and to
Emden, 226 miles (19 and 20).

Two cables to Holland : Lowestoft to Zandvoort,

laid in 1858 (21), and from Benacre, Kessingland, to
Zandvoort (22).

Two cables to Belgium : Ramsgate to Ostend (23),
and Dover to Furness (24).

Four cables to France : Dover to Calais, laid in
1S51 (25), and to Boulogne (26), laid in 1859;
Beachy Head to Dieppe (27), and to Havre (28).

Thei^e is a cable from the Dorset coast to Alderney
and Guernsey, and from the Devon coast to
Guernsey, Jersey, and Coutances, France (29 and

30)-

A word now as to the instruments used for the
transmission of messages. Those for cables are of
two kinds, the Mirror Galvanometer, and the Syphon
Recorder, both the product of Sir Wm. Thompson's
great inventive genius.

When the Calais-Dover and other short cables
were first worked, it was found that the ordinary
needle instrument in use on land-lines was not
sufticiently sensitive to be affected trustworthily by
the ordinary current it was possible to send tlirough
a cable. Either the current must be increased in
strength, or the instrument used must be more
sensitive. The latter alternative was chosen, and the
Mirror-Galvanometer was the result. The principle
on which this instrument works may be briefly
described thus : the transmitted current of electricity
causes the deflection of a small magnet, to which is
attached a mirror about the three-eighths of an inch
in diameter, a beam of light is reflected from a
properly-arranged lamp, by the mirror, on to a paper
scale. The dots and dashes of the Morse code are
indicated by the motions of the spot of light to
the right and left respectively , of the centre of the
scale.

Tlie Mirror-Galvanometer is now almost entirely
superseded by the Syphon-Recorder. This is a some-
what complicated apparatus, with the details of which
we need not trouble our readers. Suffice it for us to
explain that a suspended coil is made to communicate
its motions, by means of fine silk fibres, to a very fine
glass syphon, one end of which dips into an insulated
metallic vessel containing ink, while the other extremity
rests, when no current is passing, just over the centre
of a paper ribbon. When the instrument is in use
the ink is driven out of the syphon in small drops l)y
means of an electrical arrangement, and the ribbon
underneath is at the same time caused to pass under-
neath its point by means of clockwork. If a current
be now sent through the line, the syplion will move
above or below the central line thus giving a
permanent record of the message, which the mirror-
instrument does not. The waves written by the
syphon above the central line corresponding to the
dots of the Morse Code, and the waves underneath
corresponding to the dashes.

The cost of the transmission of a cablegram varies
from one shilling per word, the rate to New York and
east of the Mississippi, to ten shillings and sevenpence

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP.

per word, the rate to New Zealand. In order to
minimise that cost as much as possible, the use of
codes, whereby one word is made to do duty for a
lengthy phrase, is much resorted to. Of course, those
code messages form a series of words having no
apparent relation to each other, but occasionally
queer sentences result from the chance grouping of
code words. Thus a certain tea firm was once
astonished to receive from its agent abroad the
startling code message — "Unboiled babies de-
tested" !

Suppose we now follow the adventures of a few
cablegrams in their travels over the world.

A message to India from London by the cable
route requires to be transmitted eight times at the
following places : — Porthcurno (Cornwall), Lisbon,
Gibraltar, Malta, Alexandria, Suez, Aden, Bombay.

A message to Australia has thirteen stoppages ;
the route taken beyond Bombay being via Madras,
Penang, Singapore, Banjoewangie and Port Darwin
(North Australia) ; or from Banjoewangie to Roebuck
Bay (Western Australia).

To India by the Indo-European land lines,
messages go through Emden, Warsaw, Odessa,
Kertch, Tiflis, Teheran, Bushire (Persian Gulf), Jask
and Kurrachee, but only stop twice between London
and Teheran — namely, at Emden and Odessa.

Messages from London to New York are trans-
mitted only twice — at the Irish or Cornwall stations,
and at the stations in Canada. Owing to the great
competition for the American traffic the service
between London, Liverpool, and Glasgow and New
York is said to be much superior to that between any
two towns in Britain. The cables are extensively
used by stockbrokers, and it is a common occurrence
for one to send a message and receive a reply within
five minutes.

During breakages in cables messages have some-
times to take very circuitous routes. For instance,
during the two days, three years ago, that a
tremendous storm committed such havoc amongst
the telegraph wires around London, cutting ofif all
communication with the lines connected with the
Channel cables at Dover, Lowestoft, &c., it was
of common occurrence for London merchants to
communicate with Paris through New York. The
cablegram leaving London going north to Holyhead
and Ireland, across the Atlantic to New York
and back via St. Pierre to Brest and thence on
to Paris, a total distance of about seven thousand
miles.

Two years ago, when the great blizzard cut off all
communication between New York and Boston,
messages were accepted in New York, sent to this
country, and thence back to Boston.'

Some time ago the cables between Madeira and
St. Vincent were out of order, cutting off communi-
cation by the direct route to Brazil, and a message to
reach Rio Janeiro had to pass through Ireland,

Canada, United States, to Galveston, thence to
Vera Cruz, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Ecuador,
Peru, Chili, ; from Valparaiso across the Andes,
through the Argentine Republic to Buenos Ayres,
and thence by East Coast cables to Rio Janeiro, the
message having traversed a distance of about twelve
thousand miles and having passed through twenty-
four cables and some very long land lines, instead of
passing, had it been possible to have sent it by|the
direct route, over one short land line and six cables,
in all under six thousand miles.

Perhaps some of our readers may remember having
read in the newspapers of the result of last year's
Derby having been sent from Epsom to New York
in fifteen seconds, and may be interested to know
how it was done. A wire was laid from near the
winning-post on the racecourse to the cable
company's office in London, and an operator was at
the instrument ready to signal the two or three
letters previously arranged upon for each horse
immediately the winner had passed the post. When
the race begun, the cable company suspended work
on all the lines from London to New York and kept
operators at the Irish and Nova Scotian Stations
ready to transmit the letters representing the winning
horse immediately, and without having the message
written out in the usual way. When the race was
finished, the operator at Epsom at once sent the
letters representing the winner, and before he had
finished the third letter, the operator in London had
started the first one to Ireland. The clerk in
Ireland immediately on hearing the first signal from
London passed it on to Nova Scotia, from whence it
was again passed on to New York. The result
being that the name of the winner was actually
known in New York before the horses had pulled up
after passing the judge. It seems almost incredible
that such information could be transmitted such a
great distance in fifteen seconds, but when we get
behind the scenes and see exactly how it is
accomplished, and see how the labour and time of
signalling can be economised, we can easily realise
the fact.

The humours of telegraphic mistakes have often
been described ; we will conclude by giving only
one example. A St. Louis merchant had gone to
New York on business, and while there received a
telegram from the family doctor, which ran — " Your
wife has had a child, if we can keep her from having
another to-night, all will be well." As the little
stranger had not been expected, further enquiry was
made and elicited the fact that his wife had simply
had a "chill"! This important difference having
been caused simply by the omission of a single dot.

h i
h i

1 = chill
d = child

HARD WICK:e ' S S CIENCE - G SSI P.

DUCKING : A LINCOLNSHIRE SKETCH.
By Gregory O. Benoni.

THE season for wild-fowling has come round
again with the fall of the leaf, and the chilly
nights and frosty mornings of early winter ; and, if
the weather should continue favourable, thousands of
birds will be killed or taken by the decoy-men and
long-shore gunners ; to say nothing of those shot by
sportsmen on the brooks and ponds of the midlands.
So a word about " ducking," or the taking of water-
fowl by strategy, may not be out of place ; especially
as it is one of the oldest English sports.

Why should we not say " ducking " when speaking
or writing of the pastime we are about to describe,
as the men engaged in the business do ? We use
"shooting" and "hunting" with confidence, and
ducking is as well-born an English word as either,
and quite as old apparently. In the Manor-Rolls of
Scotter, a village in Lincolnshire — formerly the
centre of a district productive of many wild-fowl —
we find the following entry : " No man of the
inhabitantes of Scoter or Scawthorpe shall fishe nor
goe a ducking within the Lordes severall watters —
1578." Scotter was evidently innocent, very
innocent, of a school board in the palmy days of the
Manor Courts, whatever it may be now. But
leaving the interesting relics of a bygone England
to entrust the defence of their quaint spelling to
antiquarian pens, we will take a stroll some miles to
the north-east of the " severall watters " of Scaw-
thorpe, and "goe a ducking" with any lover of
country life who cares to accompany us.

It was a mild bright January morning, with a
gentle north-west wind and rising barometer, when a
party of us set out to visit the decoy — where the best-
flavoured teal in England are lured to their doom — ■
rejoicing on our way over the cessation of the black
north-easter, which had alternately pelted us with
rain and blinded us with snow for a fortnight past.
All cold we numbered only four, "the squire," two
naturalists, and a Londoner, who had deserted
civilised existence in Babylon for a time, for the
purpose of studying the untamed agriculturist in his
native wilds. The state of the weather of late had
been most detrimental to all our attempts at field or
cover sport, but had signally favoured the decoy-man
by driving flocks of hungry fowl to take refuge in his
pond. A severe and prolonged frost would not have
brought him so lucky a windfall ; the birds would
have been more hungry and eager if possible, but
there would have been fewer of them inland, and
the work of capturing them would have been in-
finitely more tedious. So long as the cold keeps
away the decoy man can " sleep like a Christian " ;
but let " Frosty Jack " only nip his sheltered low-
lying waters, and night becomes turned into day at
once, with more than the day's toil. For at any
cost of money and labour large open spaces must be

preserved in the pond, and "the pipes" kept free
from ice. The birds need open water to rest and
sport on, and if they cannot find it in the decoy
would soon fly away to the still unfrozen brooks and
rivers, or to the seashore. So, when the "decoy
rises " on a frosty evening, and the last bird has
departed to the feeding grounds, the master ducker
and an assistant begin the work of clearing the ice
away by moon or lamplight, as the case may be,
and toil on till the grey of dawn warns them to be
gone ere the return of the feathered multitude.

Fortified with a substantial breakfast we set off on
foot for the decoy-farm, whiling away the time as we
went by combating the squire's assertion that the
barometer was the true divinity of his family, and
that the adoration of the rain-god was as common in
England as in Africa, with the single difference that
he is regarded as a beneficent being in the sunny
south, and as a mischievous marplot in our more
northern regions. Our way led us along a dirty
footpath, by the side of a muddy road, where ash
and chestnut-leaves still lay in sheltered spots,
bright and fresh as if they had only been shorn by
the frost of the night before. The moss-grown
trunks of the hedgerow trees glistened with
moisture, and looked uninviting enough, yet their
dank branches formed the happy hunting-ground of
numbers of blue-tits, and their long-tailed cousins,
who called merrily to one another as they searched
the branches for insects. Presently we reached a
little hamlet standing on the brow of the slope which
forms the eastern boundary of the Trent valley, and
turning off to the right, we tramped across turnip and
stubble fields abounding in birds, which had collected
on the drier sand and loam during the stormy
weather, in preference to the heavy clay of the
higher lands. Skirting the side of a plantation ot
Scotch fir and spruce, where the sunshine had brought
out the squirrels to busy themselves with the fir-
cones, we walked down a straight road, bounded on
each side by a wide ditch, or " dyke," as the natives
call it, till we reached our destination on the wide-
spreading river flat.

The decoy-house was formerly the dwelling of the
family who owned the surrounding farms ; but the
place came under the hammer when the race died
out in the male line, and fell into the hands of a
land-jobber, who cut down the miniature forest
planted to protect the decoy from disturbance,
leaving only a fringe of trees of old growth to shield
the pond until a fresh cover of fast-growing young
ones should spring up to surround it. Finally the
home-farm passed into the hands of the head game-
keeper and master ducker of the late proprietor, now
I am sorry to say — for the sake of the duck-lore he
possessed— gathered to his fathers at a very ripe old
age indeed. On knocking at the door and inquiring
whether the master was in, we learned that he was
away from the house ; but, before disappointment

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIF.

could prey on our hearts, ihe old man's once buxom
dame put her head out of an upper window to survey
■lis, in that peculiar matter-of-fact, what-do-you-vvant-
liere kind of way which defies description ; and,
•catching a sight of our host, set our minds at rest
with a " Morning to you, squire. He's in th' 'coy,
I'll shout for th' lad, an' he'll ta' ye to him. Mind
you're quiet now agoin' ! "

A guide having appeared in answer to a full-
lunged cry from the mistress of the place — no wonder
the ducks needed a copse to dull the clamour of the
ciuter world — we passed through the neglected
pleasure-grounds where signs of former care lay on
every side, till we were brought to a standstill in an
open alley ; while the boy who conducted us went in
search of his grandfather.

Our halting-place was a pretty nook from which
you could catch a glimpse of the house at one end
of the path, and of two or three stately Scotch firs
overhanging the decoy at the other. A stone vase,
half grown over with ivy, stood in the centre of the
Slade, and formed a trysting place for the rabbits all
ihe afternoon and evening, for the bunnies knew by
-.some process of inductive reasoning that they were
in sanctuary here, as no gun can be fired near the
decoy. The lower step of the vase, which rose
about an inch above the surrounding turf, bore
witness to the frequent visits of the thrushes, for it
was covered with broken snail-shells. In the early
morning the birds come from near and far with the
land-snails they have found, and beat them ruthles%
to death on the stone. It is not everywhere that
they can find such a convenient anvil, in this stretch
of low-lying country ; where the surface-soil is
usually warp, peat, or sand free from pebbles ; so
the quiet glade is the theatre of many a molluscan
tragedy.

{To be continued.)

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS.

yj MERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR
■jTI SPINXING-WORK, by Dr. Henry C.
JMcCook (Philadelphia : published by the Author),
vol. ii. This perfectly delightful, beautifully illus-
trated, well-written monograph on the natural
liistory of the orb-weaving spiders of the United
States, more especially with regard to their industry
and habits, is now complete. It is a work of
marvellous and patient single-handed industry, the
result of many years' observation. We have already
.spoken, of the first vol. ; it only remains to say the
second is as good, if not better, were the latter
possible. Indeed, the author declares it is just
possible the second vol. will be more interesting both
to the scientific and the general public than the first.
It takes up the life-history of spiders, and follows
them literally from birth to death. Moreover it
deals with fossil spiders and ancestral araneads. Dr.

McCook in this highly readable volume also treats
upon the courting and mating of spiders; their
maternal skill and devotion ; their means of com-
munion with their environment ; their gossamer
voyaging through the air and traps in the ground ;
their friends and foes ; their mimicries and strange
disguises. The volume runs to nearly 500 pages, and
is illustrated by about four hundred cuts, in addition
to five large and artistically coloured plates.

Eighth Annual Report of the United States Geological
Survey, 2 vols, by J. W. Powell, Director (Washing-
ton : Government Printing 'Office). These ever-
welcome vols, to English and other geologists are
got up and distributed with an artistic taste and
liberality our English Survey (thanks to the niggardly
Philistinism of our British Government) knows
nothing of. The volumes include not only the clear
and lengthy, well-digested " Report of the Director,"
reviewing all the stratigraphical, mineralogical, and
palceontological work done by the able and earnest
l)and of geologists who are proud to serve under such
a chief, but also the administrative reports of the heads
of the divisions of survey. Then follow the individual
reports of the geologists and mineralogists entrusted
with special work. These are illustrated with almost
artistic prodigality, but the latter is intensely utili-
tarian, for the coloured maps, diagrams, and scenic
woodcut illustrations bring vividly before the mind
the points which the field workers wi^;h attention to
be drawn to.

Monographs of the U. S. Geological Survey, vols.
XV. (2 parts) and xvi. (Washington : Government
Printing Ofiice). These vols, contain records ol
special work by special scientific workers. Thus, w'e
have one on " The Potomac or Younger Mesozoic
Flora," by W. M. Fontaine, with detailed descrip-
tions of the fossil plants found therein (abundantly
illustrated). Indeed, no fewer than 180 plates occupy
a volume alone, in order to illustrate the first part of
vol. XV. Volume the sixteenth is an exhaustive
monograph, or special report, by J. G. Newberry, on
"The Palaeozoic Fishes of North America," and is
illustrated by fifty-three splendidly lithographed
plates.

Natural History of the Animal Kingdom, by W. F.
Kirby (London : S. P. C. K.), This is a gorgeously
got-up volume Ijoth internally and externally,
crowded with too highly coloured natural history
objects, of which there are about 850 displayed. The
work (a (|uarto vol.) is divided into three parts —
mammalia, birds, and one (the third part) capaciously
including, like Noali's ark, reptiles, amphibia, fishes,
insects, worms, molluscs, zoophytes, &c. Mr. Kirby
has very ably and accurately written up to these too-
Germanly coloured plates, which have evidently been
used from Professor Von Schubert's book. It is,
however, a capital natural history picture book.

Of the next set of prettily got-up, well-printed, and
well-written little volumes, it is hardly possible to

HARD WICKE ' S S CIENCE- G O SSI P.

speak too hit^hly. Each is written by the man best
capable of knowing what he is talking about on the
subject ; and yet the price of these excellent manuals
is remarkably low. The S. P. C. K. is to be con-
gratulated on taking up departments of knowledge
which are useful and therefore Christian. We allude
to Soap- Bubbles, by Prof. C. V. Boys ; Spinning-
Tops, by Prof. J. Perry ; and The Birth and Growth
of Worlds, by Prof. A. H. Green.

The Aictobiography of the Earth, by the Rev. H.
W. Hutchinson (London: Edward Stanford), is a
delightfully written and thoroughly accurate popular
work on geology, well-calculated to engage the
interest of readers in the fascinating study of the Stony
Science.

Frcsh-Watcr Aqxiaria, by the Rev. Gregory C.
Bateman (London: L. Upcott Gill). A well-written
description of these domestic water-gardens and
vivaria. Also well-illustrated, although most of the
illustrations are very familiar to the editor. The
author has made the fullest use of all who have
written before on this interesting subject, and has
therefore produced a very useful little manual.

Poems, by Nina Layard (London : Longmans).
The authoress of this daintily got-up volume is well
known to the readers of the Science-Gossip by her
able papers, and replies to the comments thereon,
concerning such evolutionary subjects as "Vestiges,"
&c. Poems, as a rule, lie outside our line of book
notices ; but it is a genuine pleasure to recommend
this little book for its graceful and thoughtful verses.
Many of them have already appeared in the chief
magazines of the day. But we think Miss Layard
has done right in collecting them together in this
pretty form. They are too good to pass away with
the monthly ephemeral literature. They are full of
thoughtful and philosophical feeling expressed with
that delicate nna?tce which only an educated woman
possesses. Every reader of Science-Gossip should
procure or read these poems.

The Philosophy of Clothing, by W. Mattieu "Williams
(London : Thos. Laurie). There are few writers on
economic or general science better known than Mr.
Mattieu Williams. His monthly contributions to our
own columns convinced us of this. Consequently,
whatever he has to write or speak upon is bound to
be read and heard. In this well got-up little book
iSIr. Williams discourses like the practical philosopher
he has proved himself to be, and even illustrates his
remarks by the peculiar type in which his remarks
are set up. He treats upon " Our Natural Clothing "'
(an admirable chapter to read), "The Natural Re-
lations of Animal Heat," "The Protecting Power of
Different Clothing Materials," "The Transmission
of Heat through Clothing," "Adhesion of Air to
Clothing Materials," "Clothing as a Sanitary Puri-
fier," " Woollen Clothing " (Ulustrated by specimens
of the same), "The Sebaceous Follicles— Feather
Clothing," "Boots and Shoes," "Head Gear,"

"Women's Dress and Fashion," &c. From the
mere titles of these chapters our readers may guess
the large scope and amazing amount of practical
information conveyed in this little book.

Are the Effects of Use and Disuse Inherited? By
W. Piatt Ball (London : Macmillan & Co.). This
well got-up little volume is one of the celebrated
"Nature Series." It deals clearly and forcibly with
Herbert Spencer's examples and arguments, as well
as those of Charles Darwin. The ground travelled
over by the author is far-reaching, and the subjects
treated upon numerous and varied.

An Illustrated Handbook of British Dragon-flies,
by the editor of the " Naturalist's Gazette " (London :
E. W. Allen ; Birmingham : The Naturalist Pub-
lishing Co.). This capital little handbook is just the
work which has long been wanted by students. The
author has devoted special attention for years to this
class of insects, and he now gives, in a cheap form,
the benefits of his knowledge and experience. We
cordially recommend the book.

Inorganic Chemistry, by J. Oakley Buttler (Lon-
don : Relfe Bros.). This is a handy and useful little
book on the chemistry of the non-metals. It covers
the ground required by the London Matriculation
Examination, as well as the Cambridge Local Exa-
mining Board, and the Science and Art Department.

Practical Inorganic Chemistry (elementary stage),
by E. J. Cox (London : Percival & Co.). Another
competitor for the much patronised " student " going
in for the Science and Art Department, &c., written
by a man who knows his work. It is, however,
a cheap, handy, and capital note-book, just small
enough to be useful (51 pages), and the limp cloth
cover makes it handy for the pocket.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Royal Institution. — The following are the
Lecture Arrangements before Easter : Professor
Dewar, Six Christmas Lectures to Juveniles, on Frost
and Fire ; Professor Victor Horsley, Nine Lectures
on the Structure and Functions of the Nervous
System (Part I. the Spinal Cord, and Ganglia) ; Mr.
Hall Caine, Three Lectures on The Little Manx
Nation ; Professor C. Hubert H. Parry, Three
Lectures on the Position of LuUi, Purcell, and
Scarlatti in the History of the Opera ; Professor C.
Meymott Tidy, Three Lectures on Modern Chemistry
in relation to Sanitation ; Mr. W. Martin Conway,
Three Lectures on Pre-Greek Schools of Art ; the
Right Hon. Lord Rayleigh, Six Lectures on the
Forces of Cohesion. The Friday evening meetings
will begin on January 23rd, when a discourse will be
given by the Right Hon. Lord Rayleigh on Some
Applications of Photography ; succeeding Discourses
will probably be given by the Right Hon. Lord
Justice Sir Edward Fry, Professor J. W. Judd,

HARDWJCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Professor A. Schuster, Dr. E. E, Klein, Mr. Percy
Fitzgerald, Dr. J. A. Fleming, Dr. Felix Semon,
Professor W. E. Ayrton, and other gentlemen.

We have received a reprint (Part 3) of a paper by
Dr. A. B. Griffiths, on his " Researches on Micro-
organisms." It is a bit of excellent and original work.

The first part of a most thoughtful and suggestive
paper appeared in the " American Naturalist " for
October on " The Evolution of Mind," by Professor
Cope.

The Third Part of M. Tempere's " Le Diatomiste "
fully keeps up its high character. The photographic
enlargements are a high work of art.

We recommend our geological and entomological
readers to study the paper in the December issue of
the "Annals and Magazine of Natural History" on
" The Fauna of Amber," by Herr Richard Klebs, of
Konigsberg.

We are pleased to see that a new edition (the
ihird) of Dr. E. Crookshank's " Manual of Bacteri-
ology," revised throughout, has just been issued.

At length the great Darwinian, Dr. A. R. Wallace,
has received recognition at the hands of our Royal
Society. He has obtained the first Darwinian gold
medal. But why is he not an F.R.S. ?

Dr. Henry Woodward figures and describes in
the December number of " The Geological Magazine "
a new Fossil British Isopod, discovered by Mr.
Thomas Jesson in the great Oolite of Northampton-
shire.

The number of known small planets has now
reached three hundred. Of these, thirteen were
discovered last year. The first was discovered at the
beginning of the century.

We have received from Mr. John Dennant, F.G.S.,
an enthusiastic Victorian Geologist, a reprint of his
valuable paper entitled " Observations on the
Tertiary and post-Tertiary Geology of South- Western
Victoria."

Mr. Montagu Brown has published, in the
"Transactions of the Leicester Literary and Philo-
sophical Society," an important paper on a " Revision
of a Genus of Fossil Fishes, Dapedius."

We beg to acknowledge the reprint of an important
paper by Dr. C. A. Oliver, Ophthalmic-surgeon to
St. Agnes's Hospital, Philadelphia, on " An Analysis
of the Motor Symptoms and Conditions of the Ocular
Apparatus as observed in Imbecility, Epilepsy, and
the second stage of General Paralysis of the Insane."

Mr. C. J. Gilbert's pamphlet on "The Geology
of Sutton-Coldfield" is an important addition to the
geology of the Midland Counties. Mr. Gilbert has
studied the locality, and done the work well.

"Electricity in Daily Life," by F. B. Lea, is
a very cheap (twopence) pamphlet published by
E. W. Allen, to which we are pleased to draw
attention.

The sixth and seventh parts of Mr. R. L. Wallace's
work on "British Cage Birds" are well up to the
high standard gained by the preceding numbers.

Book-Buyers will find Mr. Edward Stanford's
recently issued "Catalogue of Maps, Atlases, and
Books " exceedingly useful.

"The Naturalist's Annual and Directory
for 1891 " is a happy thought. The present first
beginning, however, is capable of considerable
extension.

We have received a reprint of Mr. G. W. Bulman's
important paper on "A Coal-Seam in the Bernician
Series of Northumberland, and its Bearing on the
Theory of the Formation of Coal." Mr. Bulman,
as our readers know, is a thoughtful and original
writer.

We gather that a series of pamphlets on "Every-
day Science " is being issued from Curtis and
Beamish, of Coventry. The first to hand is one on
" The Philosophy of Cycling," by W. R. FuUeyrove.

The Rev J. E, Kelsall's carefully-annotated list of
the birds of Hampshire and Isle of Wight has been
reprinted, price one shilling (Southampton : the
" Independent " office).

Dr. G. J. Hinde has kindly forwarded a reprint of
his paper from the " Annals and Magazines of
Natural History," on " Radiolaria from the Lower
Palaeozoic Rocks of the South of Scotland." We
have few more ardent palseontological workers than
Dr. Hinde.

One of our well-known correspondents, the Rev.
H. W. Lett, sends us a reprint of his painstaking and
lengthy report (about 60 pp.) on "The Mosses,
Hepatics, and Lichens of the Mourne Mountain
District." It originally appeared in the ' ' Proceedings
of the Royal Irish Academy."

Messrs. George Philip & Son, 32 Fleet Street,
are exhibiting a very large and complete Tellurium,
constructed for lecture-purposes, which illustrates the
complex motions of the earth and moon. It shows
the actual position of the earth in space for any given
time of the year.

The "Transactions of the Wagner Free Institute
of Science of Philadelphia " contains a splendidly-
illustrated monograph, by W. H. Dall (Palaeontologist
to the U.S. Geological Survey) entitled " Contri-
butions to the Tertiary Fauna of Florida, with
Especial Reference to the Silex-Beds of Tampa, and
tlie Pliocene-Beds of the Caloosahahatcie River."

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

MICROSCOPY.

The Vertical Camera. — I have very recently
received a vertical camera from one of the leading
London firms, and am working myself towards a
solution of the difficulties it presents to me. I find
that when the image is projected on paper laid on
the table in front of the microscope there is consider-
able distortion. The circular valve of a diatom
(under a one-sixth objective) is projected as an ellipse
(Fig. 5a). To remedy this, I have made a small
sloping drawing-desk of deal wood, the upper surface
of which is 10 inches square, and is fixed at an angle
of 45°. The image of the same diatom projected on

Fig s-

Fig. 6.

the inclined surface of the slope is, as it should be, a
circle. Fig. 63. It is quite possible that this is the usual
way in which the distortion I refer to is rectified ;
but as none of the illustrated descriptive catalogues
and journals to which I have referred suggest the use
of a slope, this little note may be useful to those who,
like myself, have to think matters out for themselves.
Will any of your readers who work with vertical
cameras give a few "tips" in your columns on the
best way of using this appliance ?— W. J. Simmons^
Calaitta.

ZOOLOGY.

The Great Grey Shrike.— I find there are no
authentic instances of this bird breeding in this
countr)'. The last week in May, 1 889, a great grey
shrike was given to me that was shot at Brackley.
The bird had all the appearance of being a brooding-
bird, and the fact of it being found so late in the
season almost proves that it does occasionally breed
in this countrj'. — H. Blaby.

Shells in Banffshire.— I append a short list
of shells found during two rambles last October, at
Aberlour, Banffshire. This granite country yields
few shells, many only being found near walls and
rubbish heaps, where more mortar has been used or

deposited. I was unable to make a thorough search
for fresh-water specimens. Unio 7nargantifcr, Ano-
donta cynaa, from the river Spey ; Limnaa peregra,
frequent ; Vitrhia pellucida, very common ; Zonitcs
paiinis, var. margaritacea, scarce ; Z. fulvus, mode-
rately common ; Z. nitidiis, common ; Helix lamellata,
one only ; H. horUnsis, scarce ; H. nemoralis, mode-
rately common; Clausilia riigosa, scarce. These
seem to approach the var. titmidula, being smaller
and more ventricose. Vertigo edentata, more common
than any of the above.— y. Chas. Smith, Penrith.

Disease in Rook.— On Sunday Nov. i6th I
found a rook in a ditch near the Vicarage. When-
ever it tried to walk it rolled over and over. I
brought it home and put it in a room till after morning-
service was over ; then I took it some juicy beef cut
in small pieces. Whenever it attempted to swallow
it could only throw its head forward, and of course
threw the meat out of its bill. I noticed that it could
walk backward quite well, but whenever it tried to
walk any other way it rolled over. I gave it over to
a bird-stuffer next day, Nov. 17th, and he found that
although dead less than twenty-four hours— for I
wrung its neck — the liver was completely rotten.
There were no marks of any wound or injury. The
feathers were smooth and glossy, but the bird was
very light in weight.— .ff. Ashington Bullen.

"Proceedings," etc., of Colonial and Pro-
vincial Societies : —

The best token we could adduce of the scientific
research and love thereof in our Australian colonies-
will be best demonstrated by the following "Con-
tents" of the last issued "Journal of the Royal
Society of New South Wales ":—" List of the
Marine and Fresh-water Invertebrate Fauna of Port
Jackson and the Neighbourhood," by Thos. White-
legge; "The Analysis of the Prickly Pear," by
W. H. Hamlet; "Notes on New South Wales
Minerals," by C. H. Mingaye ; " Notes on Goulbourn
Lime," by E. C. Manfred; " The Australian Abo-
rigines," by the Rev. John Mathew ; " Aids to
Sanitation in Unsewered Districts," by J. A. Thomp-
son ; " Well and River Waters of New South Wales,"
by W. A. Dixon; "The Aborigines of Australia,"
by Ed. Stephens ; "New South Wales as a Health
Resort in Phthisis Pulmonalis," by Dr. B. J. New-
march ; besides Reports of lectures, &c.

The "Proceedings" of the Bristol Naturalists"
Society are always full of good matter. The last
part contains the following important papers among
others : — " The Geology of Tytherington and Groves-
end," by Prof. C. L. Morgan ; "Flora of the Bristol
Coal-Field," by J. W. White; "The Fungi of the
Bristol District," by C. Bucknell, Mus. Bac. ; " Talpa ;
or. Remarks on the Habits of the Mole," by C. J,
Trusted; "Mimicry among the Lepidoptera," by
G. C. Griffiths ; " Putrefactive Organisms," by Dr.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Dallinger ; "Remarks on Sewerage Systems," by
A. P. J. Cotterell; "The Perceptions of Animals,"
by Prof, C. L. Morgan ; " Suggestions as to the
Causes of the Difference in Colour between the
Flowers and Foliage of • Tropical and Temperate
Regions," by Charles Jeeks, &c.

BOTANY.

Chlorophyll in Plants. — I have just seen in
Science-Gossip an article by J. Ballantyne on the
formation of chlorophyll in plants. As I had a
similar instance some time ago, I may mention it as
appearing to contradict the accepted theory on the
subject. I was cutting away some superfluous
branches in my melon pit, and found I had cut off
one on which was a partly grown fruit. I left it as
it was in the frame. It grew (no root) to about twice
its then size and ripened. No crack or hole in it to
admit the light. Flesh of usual flavour. All the
seeds in this fruit had germinated and showed full
green cotyledons of such colour as they would have
shown if growing in the ordinary way, and of about
the size that usually show from the seed case. Is not
the law laid down a little too absolutely by some of
our (more or less) scientific men in some of these
matters? Evidently here are instances in which
light has not been instrumental in producing the green
colour of vegetation, — Geo. C. Nerval!.

The Flora of Kent. — Can any reader of
Science-Gossip give me information respecting a
Flora for Kent, as all my inquiries hitherto have
failed in discovering the existence of any such work ?
It seems very singular that a county so botanically
rich as Kent should be so neglected. Does the London
Flora take in this district ? Also what is the price
and when was the last edition published? — JV. B.,
Pluvistead.

The Evolution of Poisons. — With reference
to the note in Science-Gossip for December on the
Evolution of Poisons, is it possible that they act in
the economy of the plant by being reserves of food
matter ? Since substances in the seed are absorbed
into the young plant, and as numbers of the poisons,
etc., are found in the seeds, then why should not
similar substance in the plant be reserves for it to use
during its growth? Again, the plant might absorb
from the soil more than it can use in its economy,
and these substances might be a means of getting rid
of the surplus. Either of these views would also
account for substances 'which are not poisons, and
therefore in that way cannot act as a defence to the
plant. The number of these compounds in the
vegetable kingdom must be enormous, and this fact
might be accounted for by different plants requiring
different amounts of elementary constituents, and
that each substance is suited to the economy of the
plant where it is found, Tlie fact that some of these

act as poisons to the higher animals would thus seem
to be incidental. — M. Farrant.

Euphorbia Cyparissias in Kent. — It was with
great pleasure I saw recorded the finding of this
plant by a visitor (?) to the neighbourhood. I fear,
however, that from the description of the locality,
one might search the " hillsides close to Dover" for
a long time, and then not find it. However, the
description is quite correct. The locality is known
to most, if not all, of those interested in botanical
matters hving in Dover. There are five or six good-
sized patches of it, if I remember right. They are
so conspicuous when in flower, that they may be seen
from the hills on the opposite side of the valley. I
had noticed that the botanical books give "woods"
as the habitat of this plant. I had also noticed that
in Switzerland I have found it anywhere but in
woods! Gremli, in his "Flora of Switzerland,"
gives as habitats, "gravelly places, road-sides, river
banks " — and in such places I have found it. I
wonder whether K. E. Styan knew, when he was
gathering the beautiful little Cyprus spurge, that he
was within a few yards of a host of rarities and much-
sought-after plants ? Sixteen or seventeen of our
orchids may be found in their season close by — O.
purpurea, O. ustulata, O. apifera, O. muscifera, H.
bifoUa and chlorantha, wei-e all in bloom when K, E.
Styan gathered the spurge ! It is gratifying to know
that a visitor may go into a strange place and find
something that the inhabitants know nothing of ; and
this should encourage all to keep their eyes open. I
know of three instances of strangers finding plants
unknown to the botanists of the neighbourhood. In
1883 a visitor found near Dover Habeiiaria viridis.
In 1888 another visitor found near Folkestone Orni-
thopus ebracteatus ; and in 1890 a friend staying for
his holidays in the neighbourhood of Dover found
two patches of Phyteuma m-biculare, and those X.\\o
patches half a mile apart 1 One thing to be learnt
from this I think is— the desirability of placing upon
record all "finds" that strike the finder as good or
exceptional, as K. E. Styan has done. One Saturday
in June of 1S90 I was walking from Sugar-loaf Hill
across the fields towards Park Farm, Folkestone,
when I was suddenly " brought to " by seeing on the
footpath two specimens of \\\^ Cyprus spurge l How
came they there has ever been a mystery to me ; they
were quite fresh. Does this note of K. E. Sty.in
explain it ?— ;K T. Hay don, Wouldham.

GEOLOGY, &C.

The Geologists' Association.— The last issue
of this ever welcome "Proceedings" contains the
following papers : — " On the Pleistocene (non-marine)
MoUusca of the London District," by B. B. Wood-
ward ; " An Account of the Excursion to the South
Italian Volcanoes," by Dr. Johnston Lavis; "Con-

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G SSIP,

cretion in a Yorcdale Sand Quarry," by Dr. Hind ;
" Manufacture of Serpentine in Nature's Laboratory,"
by Gen McMahon ; "A New Species of Capulus,"
by Professor Boulger ; " An Erosion near Stirling,"
by H, W. Monckton ; "The Auriferous Series of
Nova Scotia," by Geoffry F. Monckton ; " The
Pebley Beds on and near the Addington Hills,
Surrey," by H. M. Klaasseu ; and " Pleistocene Sec-
tions in and near London," by W. F. Leevis Abbott.

A Huge Gold Nugget. — At a recent meeting of
the Geological Society, a model of the largest gold
nugget yet found in Western Australia, known as the
"Little Hero," weighing 330 oz. S dwts., found at
Shaw's Fall, 200 miles from Roebourne, and So from
Nullagine, at a depth of 8 inches, was exhibited by
Mr. Harry Page Woodward, F.G.S.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

The Colouring of Birds' Eggs.— Seeing Mr.
Hewett's note on colouring of birds' eggs, though he
especially wishes to hear from collectors about guille-
mots' and razorbills' eggs, I hope my note will not be
out of place. In the April issue I sent a letter on a
few varieties I had in my collection, and seeing this
interesting subject has started again I hope to see
other collectors give notes of their varieties, which
will be very interesting. In looking over my collec-
tion I find three interesting varieties of the lapwing's
egg ; one a cream colour closely marked at the thick
end with jet-black streaks which are very small,
another one of a grey or stone colour with faint
blotches of light-brown all over. Both specimens are
of usual size, but nearer white than the typical colour,
and both taken from different nests with full clutch of
four. The other specimen is in size and colour similar
to the black tern, if any difference a little darker, but
really if it had been found in a nest by itself near a
locality where the black tern breeds it would, I fear,
have been put amongst the rest under the above name.
It also was found in a nest with other three, making
the usual number found in the lapwing's nest. —
W. D. Rae.

Small-end Colouring of Sea-eirds' Eggs. —
Referring to the notes and observations on this subject
which have recently appeared in Science-Gossip, I
have looked through my collection of over a hundred
beautiful and interesting varieties of guillemot's eggs,
and find that I have three specimens which are
thickly marked at the points or small ends and very
sparingly on the other portions. The first is of an
almost white ground colour, with a blotch of black on
the small end, which extends about an inch from the
point all round the egg. There are also a few spots
of black scattered over the other part of the egg.
The ground colour of another is of a bluish tinge, with
a dark zone of different shades of brown and black
round the small end and speckled with the same
colours on the other part. A third, the ground
colour of which is not uniform ; part of it is of a
decidedly blue hue and the remainder of a bluish
green ; this egg has a zone of black round the small
end. I may mention that I have obtained these
varieties in a casual way, never having made a point
of procuring " small end " marked specimens. If I
have the opportunity next season I will note how
many I see at the cliffs and in the climbers'
possession of eggs so marked. — E. G. Potter, York.

The following flowers have been found in bloom'
here in December : corn buttercup, hawkweed picris,
red campion, comnKjn daisy, common mallow, red
clover, procumbent speedwell, dark blue speedwell,
common feverfew, furze, common nipplewort, creep- •
ing cinquefoil, common yarrow, lesser periwinkle,
hedge woundwort, creeping crowfoot, upright meadow
crowfoot, garlic, black horehound, common chick-
weed, yellow bedstraw, red dead-nettle, and ground-
sel. — H. G. Ward, Nortkmarston.

Natural History in January.— January is by
no means a dull month in the calendar of nature, for
many birds commence singing this month. The
song-thrush sings sweetly from the top of some tall
tree, while the skylarks are singing joyously over-
head. The hedge-sparrow, robin, and great-tit all
charm us with their music, and sometimes, too, if the
weather is mild, we may hear the long-drawn but
pleasant notes of the chaffinch. In the gardens,
snowdrops, primroses, garden daisies (red and white),
hepaticas (red and blue), gillies, the yellow globe
flower, and red and brown oxlips may be found in
flower this month. In the corn-fields and meadows
we may find red dead-nettle, procumbent speedwell,
groundsel, pansy, shepherd's purse, dandelion, white
dead-nettle, chickweed, and a few daisies. The bat
comes stealing out in the dusk of evening as the days
get longer. The fieldfares, redwings and starlings
frequent the meadows in large flocks, and in mild
weather, when the ground is moist, they find an
abundance of food. — //. G. ]Vard.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

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

To Anonymous Querists. — We must adhere to our rule q1'
not noticing queries which do not bear the writers' names.

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

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

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

To OUR Recent Exchangers. — We are willing and helpful
to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow dis-
guised Exchanges like those which now come to us from
Devonshire to appear unle=s as advertisements.

J. Capell. — The shells you sent are all rightly named
except No. 2, which is Planorbis carinatus, not P. vivipara —
the latter is very much larger. The fungus on leaf of sweet
William is Puccinia lychiiidearu-in.

T. S. A. — Get Dr. Cooke's recently published work on
" British Freshwater Algse," price ^s. — one of the International
Scientific Series.

A. T. — Richard Jefferies's books can be obtained of Messrs.
Chatto and Windiis.

R. S. — There is a capital little hand-book to the geology oi
Derbyshire, by the Rev. J. Mello, with geological map. Apply
to some Derbj' bookseller.

P. F.— Yes, the " Yoimg Collector" series is both cheap,
well got-up, and trustworthy. You cannot do better.

EXCHANGES.

Wanted, an injecting syringe and a Valentin's knife. —
H. P., 103 Camden Street, London, N.W.

Offered, i golden-crested wren, 2 bullfinches, 2 chaffinches,
2 moorhens, 2 magpies, 1 long-tailed tit, all side-blown, one
hole, in exchange for i coot, i common heron, i wild duck,
I partridge. Will exchange singly. — C. D. Heginbothom,
Patwell House, Bruton, Somerset.

BARDWICKKS SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Oldhamia antiqiia and O. radatia, Cambrian rocks, Bray
Head. What offers in minerals or fossils for the above? —
William Doyle, Seapoint Road, Bray, Ireland.

Shells. — Pecten uta.xiiiius, P. iigrinus, P. opercularis,
LaSiEU rubra, Lucina spinifera, Cyprina islandicn, Astarte
iriaitgularis, Venus exoleta, V. lincta. Tapes virgineus,
Tectura testudinalis, Trocltus inontacuti, T. tuinidus, T.
inilligraiLus, T. Ziziphiiins, Rissoa metiibranacea, R.fulgida,
R. cingillus, R. violacea, Hydrobia ulvie, H. -jentrosa,
Natica niontacuti, N. alderi, Trickotropsis borealis, Cerith-
opsis iubercularts, Murex erinacens, Defrancia linearis, and
Pleurotoma turricula. Also land and freshwater shells in
exchange for micro-slides, insects, shells not in collection, or
books on any of the above subjects, or what offers ? — W. D.
Rae, 9 Claremont Terrace, Alpha Road, Millwall, London, E.

Offered, Science-Gossip for 1SS5, and January to April,
1886; "Entomological Magazine," June, 1885, to April, 1886;
"The Entomologist," 188s (bound). Wanted, birds' eggs.—
O. Weiss, 87 Hasborne Road, Birmingham.

i\ WATER immersion of R. and J. Beck, cost 8/., nearly new
(180° N.A. i-os) ; a splendid lens. What offers?— E. Wagstaft,
3 Waterworks Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham.

American lepidoptera, and cocoons and chrysalids of same.
American birds' eggs and Indian relics offered for exotic
lepidoptera other than European. S. American, African, and
Australian especially desired. — Levi W. Mengel, Reading,
Penna.

Wanted, any books relating to microscopy, also good un-
mounted material, in exchange for choice microscopic slides of
every description. — R. Suter, 5 Highweek Road, Tottenham.

Duplicate copy of Christy's "Birds of Essex" (just pub-
lished, demy 8vo., price 15.?.), offered in exchange for any other
similar county ornithology. — W. W. Porteous, Saffron Walden.

Text-books for Intermediate Science (London), offered in
exchange for magic-lantern, slides, or text-books on geology,
mathematics, or mental and moral science. For list apply to —
"Magister," 8 Venetia Road, Finsbury Park, N.

Planorbis cornejcs, var. albida. Vertigo pyg7nixa, Balia per-
versa, &c., and first-class microscopic slides. Wanted, Vertigo
alpestris, and other British and foreign land and freshwater
shells. — William Moss, 13 Milton Place, .Ashton-under-Lyne.

I HAVE numerous duplicates in carboniferous fossils, in-
cluding lepidodendron, sigillaria, neuropteris, sphenopteris,
ulodenron, calamitcs, annularia, posidonia, aviculopecten, and
orthoceras. I shall be pleased to make exchanges for chalk or
eocene fossils.— W. A. Parker, 634 Market Street, Facit,
Rochdale.

Fifty foreign stamps (no German or English), " Playtime
Naturalist" (5J. book, quite new), "Works of Mrs. Hemans"
\5.r. book, quite new). What offers in exchange for any of the
above? — Richd. B. Corbishley, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lanes.

For exchange, good fossils from millstone grit of following
genus, all named and localized: productus, bakevellia, ger-
villia, orthis, natica, bellerophon, schizodus. Also from Yore-
dale shales, Gonatites reticulatus. Wanted, fossils from
Silurian, Ordovician, Cambrian. Send lists to — W. F. Holroyd,
Greenfield, near Oldham.

Will any collector of fossils, who has named duplicates to
spare, kindly send them to a small local museum now being
formed? Address — A. L. D., The Vicarage, Southboro, Tun-
bridge Wells.

Science-Gossip for 1889, "Naturalists' Gazette," 1889-90,
" Field Club," 1890, unbound, good condition. What offers in
natural history? — W. Tumbull, i Home Terrace, Edinburgh.

Heads of mummy cats, in very good preservation. Desiderata,
foreign sponges, echinidse, Crustacea, or insects. — C. Walker,
Mossy Bank, Egremont, Cheshire.

Seven hundred species of shells for exchange. Exotic land
shells particularly desired. Lists exchanged. — W. Bendall,
28 Gloucester Place, Portman Square, W.

Australian plants. New Zealand ferns, mosses, lichens,
shells, and packets of micro material, with references to pub-
lished papers in which the deposits are described, offered in
exchange for foreign land and freshwater shells not in collec-
tion, or works on conchology. — W. A. Gain, Tuxford, Newark.

Wanted, side-blown eggs of sparrow-hawk, kestrel, landrail,
and many others, in exchange for rare eggs. — Jas. Ellison,
Stecton, Keighley.

W.\ntkd, fossils from various localities ; a large number of
good duplicates offered in exchange. — Thomas W. Reader,
171 Hemingfoad Road, London, N.

Offered, "Science for All," 5 vols, (unbound), Fullom's
"Marvels of Science," "Text-Book of Mineralogy," and
Professor Geikie's "Text-Book of Geology," &c., in exchange
for British land and freshwater mollusca not in collection.
Send list to — E. H. J. Baldock, 67 Brewer Street, Woolwich.

Shells from Red Crag. — Asiart^omaiii, C ardita planicosta,
cardiums, Cyrena cunuforinis, Natica clausa, pectens, Tro-
phon clathratuM, Pusus contrarius and antiquus, Nassa
reticosa. Purpura reticosa. Wanted, fossils from chalk, gault.
Weald clay, and Tunbridge Wells sands. — Curator, Oakfield,
Southborough, Tunbridge Wells.

Duplicates. — Sophina calias, Streptaxis Blanfordi, S.
Jiwobaldi, S. BuT^itanica, S. bombax, S. exacutus; Clausilia
Waageni, C. Theobaldi, C. insignis, C. Couldiana, C. cylin-

drica ; Helicarion Flemingii, Cataulus albescens, Raphatdus
chrysalis, Hybocystis gravida. Cyclop/torus Siamensis, C.
spcciosus. List of many others. Desiderata, Indian and South
American land shells. — Miss Linter, Arragon Close, Twicken-
ham.

Wanted, a good copy of Davidson's " Silurian Brachio-
poda," "Annals and Magazine of Natural History," series 5,
vol. iii., and any papers on the graptolites. — J. Bickeston
Morgan, Welshpool.

Wanted, about a tablespoonful of sand rich in microscopic
shells, forams, &c., also dried leaves of Onosjna taurica, and
frond of Davallia canariensis showing fructification. — H.
Ebbage, Framlingham, Suffolk.

Offers wanted for 13 vols, of Science-Gossip, 1875-1887,
bound in publisher's blue cloth, in good condition. Address —
H. Muller, Mottinghani, Eltham, Kent.

Side-blown eggs of whinchat, sedge, garden and willow
vvarblers, tree and meadow pipits, skylark, reed bunting, great
titmouse, bullfinch, rook, jackdaw, swallow, sandmartin, ring-
dove and lapwing for exchange. Offers to — R. Larder, 33
Mercer Row, Louth, Lines.

Science-Gossip (1885-89) in exchange for perfect micro-
slides or recent text-books — list first. — W. E. Watkins, 32 Hun-
tingdon Street, Barnsbury, N.

Wanted, a petrological microscope, with or without acces-
sories, by Swift or Crouch. Particulars to— Micro, 8 Tothill
Street, S.W.

Wanted, M. pellucida, incurva, H. ventrosa, P. fon-
tinale, PL dilatus, A. Iac7istris, &c. Offered, P. contecta,
P. corneus, and many other British land, freshwater and marine
shells. — W. T. Pearce, loi Mayfield Road, Seafield, Gosport.

" Magazine of Natural History," conducted by Loudon and
Charlesworth, 1 829-1840, 13 vols., half-calf, Hooker's "Stu-
dent's British Flora," "Naturalist," vol. v., 1879-1880, ento-
mological collecting box, japanned tin, iij inches by 8 inches,
hardly used, in exchange for works on natural history, Her-
bert's " Amaryllidacese," or offers. — Rev. W. W. flemyng,
Clonegam Rectory, Portlaw, co. Waterford.

Wanted, foreign worms, living or in spirits, in exchange for
British earthworms correctly named (including Allurus tetra;-
drus, Allolobophora chlorotica, Lumbricus rubellus, the
Brandling and others) ; sent alive or preserved. — Rev. Hilderic
Friend, F.L.S., Idle, Bradford.

BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED.

"The Autobiography of the Earth," by the Rev. H. N.
Hutchinson (London : Edward Stanford). — " Fresh-Water
Aquaria," by the Rev. Gregory C. Bateman. — " Poems," by
Nina F. Layard. — "Applied Geography," by J. Scott Kettie
(London: Geo. Philip & Son).— "Soap Bubbles," by C. V.
Boys ; and " Spinning-Tops," by J. Perry (London : S.P.C.K.).
—"Pasteur and Rabies," by T. M. Doulon (London: G. Bell
& Sons). — " Sound, Light, and Heat," by J. Spencer (London :
Percival & Co.).— "Electro-Motors," by S. R. Battone (Lon-
don: Whittaker & Co.).— "Metal Turning," by a Foreman
Pattern Maker (London: Whittaker & Co.).— "The Natural
Food of Man," by Emmet Densmore (London : Pewtress &
Co.). — "The Electric Light Popularly Explained," by A.
Bromley Holmes (London : Bemrose & Sons). — " Fathers of
Biology," by Chas. McRae (London: Percival & Co.).— "The
Canary Book," Part 8.—" British Cage Birds," Part 8.—
" Researches on Micro-Organisms," by Dr. A. M. Griffiths
(London : Bailliere, Tindal & Cox). — " The Darwinian Theory
of the Origin of Species," by F. P. Pascoe (London: Gumey &
Jackson). — "The Geology of Barbadoes," by J. B. Harrison
and A. J. Jukes-Brown. — " Ocular Symptons found in Paralysis
of the Insane," by Dr. C. A. Otwer. — " The Essex Naturalist,"
July to September. — Wesley's "Nat. Hist, and Scientific
Book Circular," No. 105. — "American Microscopical Journal."
— "American Naturalist." — " Canadian Entomologist." — " The
Naturalist." — "The Botanical Gazette." — "The Gentleman's
Magazine." — "The Midland Naturalist."— "Feuille des
Jeiines Naturalistes." — " The Microscope." — " Nature Notes."
— "Proceedings of the Geologists' Association." — "The Philo-
sophy of Cycling." — " Proceedings of the Bristol Naturalists'
Society." — "Transactions of the Penzance Nat. Hist, and
Antiquarian Society." — "The Naturalist's Annual and Direc-
tory for 1891." — "Journal and Proceedings of the Royal
Society of New South Wales."—" British Cage Birds," Part 7.
— " Electricity in Every-Day Life." — " Insect Life," Nos. 2
and 3. — " Revision of a Genus of Fossil Fishes, Dapedius."—
" The Geology of Sutton Coldfield," &c., &c.

Communications received up to the 14TH ult. from :
C. D. H.— F. A. L.— H. B.— J. E. L.— H. P.— E. W.—

V. T.— Miss L.— E. H. J.
;.— W. J. S.— J. E.— E. 6.

—J. W. R.— J. B. M.— W. A. G.— W. J. S.— J. E.— E. G. P.
— W. B.— E. B.— Dr. G. T. C. M.— C. W.— F. C. M —
L. W. M.— r. C. S.— R. S.— H. D.— W. W. P.— W. M.—
W. A. P.— W. B.— R. A. B.— J. B. C— A. B. G.— W. E. W.
W. T. P.-G. H.— H. M.— H. G. W.— W. W. F.— W. T. H.
— H. W.— Dr. A. O.— A. B. G.— A. E. S.— R. B. C— V. A. L.
— C. W. P.-&C., &c.

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SI P.

TWO SIDES OF THE MEDAL.

By ALICE BODINGTON.

N employing a meta-
phor drawn from
common life to
illustrate the curi-
ous tendency of
the human mind
to look only at
one side of a
question, I take
refuge behind the
great name of Mr.
Herbert Spencer,
who drives heme
some of his
weightiest argu-
ments by the help
of familiar meta-
phors.

We will suppose
a medal struck in
memory of some
great event in the history of a nation. On the
one side is represented a figure of the country ; on
the other a fleet in full sail. What should we say
if two opposing schools arose, one of whom vehe-
mently maintained that the medal represented a
female figure, whilst the other as stoutly contended
that it^represented a fleet ? Should we not feel in-
clined to exclaim, " A plague o' both your houses !"
and request the disputants to look at both sides of
the [medal ? Yet, notwithstanding the incredible
progress attained by physical science through steady
adherence to the principles of inductive reasoning,
there seems some weakness of the human mind
whichlleads it constantly into the old vicious methods
of a priori argument. People do not now sit down
and proceed to construct a scheme of the universe
out^of their own inner consciousness, and make all
facts fit into a bed of Procrustes, as was the cheerful
custom with philosophers of old. But, whilst ap-
pearing to follow the inductive method with sedulous
No. 314, — February 1891.

care, there is too often a fatal bias in the thinker't
mind, which places everything which makes for his
theory in a bright light, and obscures, or wholh
blots out, all evidence that goes against it. In many
cases, perhaps in most, the thinker is not aware of
his bias, but, as Darwin says in one of his letters,
"Nearly all men past a moderate age, whether in
years or in mind, are, I am firmly convinced, in-
capable of looking at facts from a new point of
view.' And for this reason he " thinks 'it of im-
portance " that intelligent men who are not natu-
ralists should read his book, because he " thinks
such men will drag after them those naturalists
whose ideas are fixed." In reading Mr. Wallace's
"Darwinism," I have been forcibly reminded again
and again of the words just quoted. Mr. Wallace,
one of the few still left to us of a generation of great
men, has had the happy fortune to inspire, in those
who only know him through his works, not only
high esteem but affection. High esteem for the
quiet magnanimity with which he accorded to Dar-
win the victor's wreath he might have aspired to
wear himself; affection, for the kindness of heart his
works constantly betray — a kindness of heart which
shrinks from seeing that "Nature, red in tooth and
claw," of whose existence most of us are painfully
aware. But, notwithstanding the sentiments of
affection and esteem which are inspired by the name
of Mr. Wallace, it is impossible to avoid the con-
clusion that his mind is hardly, if at all, influenced
by the discoveries of the last quarter of a century.
It is true that he alludes to some of these, but in a
very cursory way, as though hardly worthy of atten-
tion or of argument. He believes in natural selection
pure and simple, with its odd theory of constant
variations occurring for no reason, and owing their
origin to nothing in particular. Moreover, these
erratic variations must occur of their own accord in
successive generations, because he can find no satis-
factory evidence of use or disuse of parts being
inherited ! Nor, though he admits that changes in

HARDWICKKS SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

individuals take place through the action of the
environment, he will not admit that these changes
are inherited ! Yet he believes in changes in breeds
of domestic animals through "selection." How can
selection act, if there is no inherent force to initiate
the change? If individual peculiarities are inherited,
then it is quite natural that a pointer puppy should
point ; but if they are not, why should he not
accidentally vary in some other direction ? There
must be some internal force rendering variation
possible, or the breeder might select for ever without
producing any effect. Practically, in every-day life
every one acts upon the assumption that individual
peculiarities are transmitted, with or without selec-
tion. Defects of body and mind, and liability to
succumb to certain diseases, are also only too well
known to be transmissible from one generation to
another. Deaf-mutes have children who are deaf-
mutes, though atavism hinders all the children from
inheriting this defect ; and the same remark applies
to persons with supernumerary toes and fingers.
Where one parent has been the victim of phthisis or
of insanity, the children are in danger of succumbing
to the same disease ; where both parents have fallen
victims, the chances are increased to a frightful
degree. It is almost impossible to imagine how the
strongest prepossessions against heredity can hold
out in the face, not only of countless arguments from
science, but x)f the practical experience of mankind
in all ages.

Mr. Wallace devotes one chapter only to the
geological evidence of evolution ; but even in the
very brief sketch he gives, there appears such over-
whelming evidence of the influence of heredity and its
effects in perfecting or aborting every organ of
animals, and the slight, fine modifications in certain
directions by which the changes from fossil to
existing species have been effected, that one thinks he
cannot remain unconvinced, and that he must beheve
these modifications to be hereditary. We almost
doubt the evidence of our eyes when we read this
passage, " There is now much reason to believe that
the supposed inheritance of acquired modifications —
that is of the effects of use and disuse, or of the
direct action of the environment — is not a fact."
That is, we are to believe that all the modifications
leading steadily upwards or downwards, the limbs
perfected for speed of the horse and deer, the utter
absence of limbs in certain lizards, the specialisation
of the dentition of animals varying cusp by cusp and
tooth by tooth, the improvement in brain capacity
from Eocene times to our own, the persistence of
rudimentary organs not only useless but dangerous to
their present possessors ; we are gravely asked to
believe that all these modifications are the result
of a series of accidents occurring generation after
generation with results more and more marked, yet
all uninherited and accidental ! Can any one who
has been impressed with the grand simplicity and

uniformity of the great Laws of Nature, believe that
evolution is due to an infinite number of happy
accidents? We know of a law which answers al!
those requirements of simplicity and uniformity of a
great Law of Nature, which is in harmony with all
the apparently complicated phenomena of life, which
solves problems otherwise insoluble, the Law of the
Action of the Environment upon Irritable Proto-
plasm. And we are asked to set it aside as non-
existent, and believe in innumerable accidental
variations, as an efficient substitute !

Mr. Wallace refers, with high approval, to Professor
Weismann's now celebrated lectures. If the theory
which Professor Weismann considers he has proved in
his laboratory is contradicted by the evidence of
zoologists and paleontologists, as well as by the
universal practical experience of mankind, then it is
clear that laboratory work will not explain every-
thing, and that the methods employed have been
erroneous. But what shall we say when we are
asked to accept a theory of which there is not one
iota of tangible proof, which is, if anything, entirely^
contradicted by facts, and to accept this hypothesis
as the only side of the medal ? Professor Weismann's
theory in brief is that the "substance which forms
the foundation of all the phenomena of heredity, in my
opinion, can only be the substance of the germ-cells,
and this substance transfers its hereditary tendencies
from generation to generation, and is always unin-
fluenced in any corresponding manner by that which
happens in the lifetime of the individual. If
these views be correct, all our ideas upon the trans-
formation of species require thorough modification,
for the whole principle of evolution by means of
exercise (use and disuse) as proposed by Lamarck,
and accepted in some eases by Darwin, entirely
collapses."*

When we read that views held not only by
Lamarck, but by a host of illustrious men of science
who have evidence at their command, which
Lamarck and Darwin would have given worlds to
possess, are to collapse before a certain theory, we
expect this theory to have been founded on some-
thing that has at least been seen and observed. But it
turns out that everything has to be "assumed." The
assumption is that only a part of the germ-cell is
used in the formation of the future animal ; the
remainder of the cell as " germ-plasm " is reserved to
be handed on to future generations. I have
endeavoured to reproduce this idea by a rough
diagram.

" The germ cells f are not derived at all, so far as
their essential substance is concerned, from the body
of the individual, but they are derived directly from
the parent germ-cell. " The body (somatic) cells have.
Prof. Weismann repeatedly declares, nothing what-
ever to do with the production of the germ -plasm.

* " Biological Memoirs," p. 69.

t Ibid. p. 168.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Yet he goes on to say that in all cases but that of
Ihe Dipteia,* " generative cells arise from some of the
later embryonic cells, and as these belong to a more
advanced ontogenetic stage in the development of
•the idioplasm,! we can only conclude that continuity
is maintained by assuming, as I do, that a small part
of the germ-plasm remains unchanged during the
division of the first segmentation nucleus, and remains
mixed with the idioplasm of a certain series of cells,
and that the formation of true germ-cells is brought
about at a certain point in the series by the appear-
ance of cells in which the germ-plasm becomes
predominant. But if we accept this hypothesis, it
does not matter theoretically " [the italics are mine]
*' whether the germ-plasm becomes predominant in
the third, tenth, hundredth or millionth generation
of cells." In the same way, when we are dealing
Avith imaginary fortunes, it does not matter whether
we endow our hero with a thousand pounds a year or
a million. We seem landed in the happy old days
when one philosopher derived everything from fire,
and another derived everything from water, and one
hypothesis did just as well as another theoretically.
The germ-plasm, which governs heredity, may exist
or it may not ; nobody has seen it, nor is likely to
see it unless the laws of optics change. Something
con^veys hereditary tendencies in a mannor as extra-
ordinary as it is mysterious. The hermaphrodite
worm, which, if ontogeny does not deceive us, was
the ancestor of the vertebrata, has impressed his nature
upon all of us in the form of innumerable embryonic
and rudimentary structures. J

Prof. Weismann may be perfectly correct so far as
he maintains that heredity is the work of his germ-
plasm, and the manner in which he works out this
part of his theory is delightful. It is when he claims
that variability is also the characteristic of his
imaginary substance, to the exclusion of any influence
exerted by the somatic cells, that one refuses to
accept theory in place of facts. He will look only at
his own side of the medal, though he appears sincerely
to wish to look at the other as well. Eyes do not
atrophy through disuse ; short sight is not inherited ;
a pointer doesn't point because his ancestors have
been trained to point, but through a predisposition
on the part of the germ.§ A predisposition to
point on the part of a germ ! He denies even the
heredity of instinct, and says there is no transmission
of acquired skill even in insects ! Where facts are so
overwhelmingly strong that it is impossible to meet
them, he always says "our knowledge on the subject
is still very defective." Let us only know more, and
the germ will be proved all-potent. In the meantime
he complacently says : " The inheritance of acquired

* " Biological Memoirs," p. 197.

+ Called \isiially germ-plasm.

I " Introduction to Lectures on Pathology," by J. Bland
Sutton.

5 "Myopia may be attributed to the transmission of an
accidental disposition on the part of the germ." Pp. 86, 89,
•93. 95-

characters has never been proved either by means of
direct observation or by experiment " ! Such an
assertion takes one's breath away, and makes one
wonder how far a very eminent man can be blinded
bj^ a theory.

This fatal tendency to adapt all facts to a foregone
conclusion or a pet theory, and to minimise or ignore
those that militate against it, the inability or the
unwillingness to look at both sides of the medal, is
seen in every department of science. The greatest
minds have been keenly alive to this danger, and nc
more illustrious example can be found of devotion to
truth at all costs than that of Newton.* His early
theories on the law of gravitation were given up by
him as untenable, because of difficulties in reconcihng
this law with the motions of the moon in her orbit.
Ilis study of the subject was only resumed after a
lapse of eleven years. Yet Newton's original calcu-
lations and his theory were perfectly correct, only the
original calculations were founded on an erroneous
estimate of the length of a degree of latitude on the
earth's surface, which had to be corrected before
theory and facts could agree. INIany of the theories
of this illustrious Englishman "were left in an im-
perfect state, for it is not in matters of science that it
is given to the same individual to invent and to bring
to perfection. Their complete development required
that several subsidiary sciences should be farther
advanced." Fortunately no zealous friend was found
to treat the conclusions of Newton as final, and dub
them ' Newtonism ' ! The words of Mr. Proctor,
just quoted, may most fitly be employed in speaking
of the theories of one not less illustrious than Newton ;
of one not less scrupulously anxious that his theories
should be confirmed at all points by facts ; yet of one
who could not see his grand hypothesis of evolution
attain to its full development, because this required
that " several subsidiary sciences should be farther
advanced." We do not hear of a ' School of Newton,'
priding itself on firmly making a stand at the point to
which the great philosopher, with the imperfect data
at his command, had attained; why in the name of
science, or rather of simple common sense, should we
hear of anything so absurd as a " Darwinian school."
How earnestly would the great master himself have
deprecated such an absurdity. His own mind was
constantly open to the reception of new ideas.
What mattered it to him that some of these ideas
threatened to conflict with the brilliant hypothesis, on
which much of his fame rested, ie., the development
of species through natural selection. All that he
cared for — all that he had ever cared for in science,
was to ascertain the truth ; and again and again in
his works he deplores the imperfect data he had to
work from. Especially does he deplore the extreme
imperfection of the geological record, and it is on

* "Encyclopaedia Britannica," articles 'Newton,' p. 441,
and ' Astronomy,' p. 75G.

C 2

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIF.

this very point that the most gigantic strides have
been made in our knowledge of late years.

I will quote a few jmssages showing the feelings of
Darwin on this subject, and how far he was from
making a fixed creed of his own conclusions.

" In many cases it is most difficult even to
conjecture by what transitions organs have arrived at
their present state." *

*' In searching for the gradations through which an
organ in any species has been perfected, we ought to
look exclusively to its lineal progenitors ; but this is
scarcely ever possible." t

It is hardly necessary to say what brilliant work
has elucidated these difficulties of late years.
Embryologists have traced the stages through which
every part of the future animal passes on its way to
its own form of diffeientiation ; as for instance the
modifications of the bones in the leg and wing of the
chick, in which, at an early period the indications of
a former five-toed condition can be seen ; the germs
of teeth destined never to cut the gum, and the
consolidation of the bones in ruminants and equid^s ;
and the three sets of kidneys in vertebrates.

Palaeontologists have had successes as brilliant ;
they can show the phylogeny of an immense number
of our present mammals, whilst the embryologists have
demonstrated their ontogeny: the "lineal pro-
genitors" have been found. Darwin says % , " Two
forms can seldom be connected by intermediate
varieties, and thus proved to be the same species,
until many specimens are collected from many places ;
and with fossil species this can rarely be done. We
shall perhaps best perceive the improbability of our
being able to connect species by numerous fine
intermediate fossillinks, by asking ourselves whether,
for instance, geologists at some future period will be
able to prove that our different breeds of cattle, sheep,
horses, and dogs are descended from a single stock or
from several aboriginal stocks. . . . This could be
effected only by his discovering in a fossil state
numerous intermediate gradations ; and such success
is improbable in the highest degree." This success,
which the great master thought " improbable in the
highest degree " has been attained ; and the
"numerous, fine, intermediate gradations in the
fossil state," have been traced.

Again, in arguing with writers who assert the im-
mutability of species by asserting that geology yields
no linking forms, he say5,§ " If we take a genus
having a score of species, recent and extinct, and
destroy four-fifths of them, no one doubts that the
remainder will Stand much more distinct from each
other. . . . What geological research has not re-
vealed is the former existence of infinitely numerous
gradations, as fine as existing varieties, connecting
together nearly all existing and extinct species. But
this ought not to be expected." So far is the great

master from hoping, that before one generation hacf
grown up since his death, these " infinitely numerous
variations, as fine as existing varieties," "connecting
existing with extinct species"; "these numerous,
fine, intermediate fossil links " would be found in
countless numbers, and that the ancestral forms no^.

" Origin of Species," p. 156.
Ibid. p. 279.

t Ibid. p. 144.
j Ibid. p. 280.

pjg_ y.—a, reproductive cell ; b, nucleus, which after extrusion
of the polar globules will form the future animal or plant ;
c, " germ-plasm " left over to carry on the qualities of
ancestors, and transferred from generation to generation.
Whatever changes occur in an animal are due entirely to
modifications of the " germ-plasm."

only of our " different breeds of cattle, sheep, horses
and dogs," but those of the bear, the cat, the weasel,
the rhinoceros, the camel and of countless other
animals would be accurately known. *

And, with regard to his own special hypothesis of
evolution through natural selection, he speaks again
and again of our ignorance of the causes which have
given rise to those variations upon which natural
selection has to work. The battle which Darwin
had to fight was to prove the evolution and conse-
quent changeability of species, in opposition to
opponents who believed in the special creation and
unchangeability of species. Having had that great
battle won for them, scientific men have had leisure
to turn their attention to the cause of the variations
controlling evolution. Later in his life, after having
borne the burden and heat of the day, Darwin had
more leisure to turn his own attention to this most
important question. The following extracts will
exemplify the earlier and later phases of his opinions
on this subject : — " Variations appear to arise from
the same unknown causes acting on the cerebraf
organization, which induce slight variations or indi-
vidual differences in other parts of the body ; and
these variations, ozving to our ignorance, are often said
to arise spontaneously." f (The italics are mine.)
After speaking of the number of facts collected with
respect to the transmission of the most trifling, as
well as of the most important characters in man, and
also in domestic animals, he says : " With regard to
the causes of variability, we are in all cases very
ignorant." And again, he speaks of the "complex
and little-known laws governing the production of
varieties," being " the same, so far as we can judge,
as the laws which have governed the production of
distinct species." J

* " Origin of the Fittest " (Professor Cope) ; " Les Ancetres
de nos Animaux" (Gaudry) ; "The Mammalia" (Oscar
Schmidt.

t "Descent of Man," pp. 38, no, in.

X "Origin ol Species," p. 415.

HARD WICKE ' 5 5 CIENCE- G SSIP.

The last passages I shall quote are pathetic, in
view of the persistent attempts to connect Darwin

J'-igs. Siand g.— Dissection of the Leg of a Chick at the fifth
and eighth day of incubation (after Johnson). Fe, femur;
T, tibia ; F, fibula ; A, astragalus (tibiale) ; Ta, tarsalia.

The numerals refer to the digits. (From "Introduction to
Lectures on Pathology," by Bland Sutton.)

with the narrow, unprogressive school which strives
to identify itself with his name. He says:* "It

* "Origin of Species," p. 421 (1872).

appears that I formerly underrated the frequency and
value of these later forms of variation " (viz. adaptive
structures which have arisen by the direct action of
external conditions). "But as my conclusions have
lately been much misrepresented, and it has been
stated that I attribute the modification of species
exclusively to natural selection, I may be permitted
to remark that .... I placed in a most conspicuous
position the following words : • I am convinced that
natural selection has been the main, but not the
exclusive means of modification.' This has been of
no avail. Great is the power of steady misrepresenta-
tion, but the history of science shows that fortunately
this power does not long endure." But his views
were gradually changing as to the importance of the
action of the environment in evolution ; and in one
of his later letters he says : " In my opinion the
greatest error which I have committed has been not
allowing sufficient weight to the direct action of the
environment, independently of natural selection." *

We have an equally fine instance of the willingness
to accept new ideas, however much they might
apparently be in opposition to his own views, in the
attitude of Mr. Herbert Spencer towards this very
theory of natural selection. As early as 1864, in his
"Principles of Biology," f with that prophetic
instinct which characterises genius, he had laid down
those principles of evolution now often spoken of as
Neo-Lamarckian. For Lamarck, animated by the
same prophetic genius, had foreseen the prepotent
power of the action of environment, though his data
were so imperfect, so apparently empirical, that his
theory was laughed to scorn. Mr. Herbert Spencer
had pointed out the influence of the environment on
the very simplest unicellular organisms, had traced it
up to more and more complex organisms, had
shown its influence upon every part of the body and
its struggle with atavism, or the principle of heredity
so strongly possessed by all animal and vegetable
cells. Of the many hundreds of brilliant discoveries
in chemistry, pathology, biology, and palaeontology,
which from every side now confirni his theories, he
could not then avail himself; yet his conclusions are
confirmed in almost every instance by what these
sciences have revealed to us. Yet in his "Factors
of Organic Evolution," published twenty-two years
later, he is ready to resign his victor's wreath to
Darwin, he acknowledges him as a teacher, and
bears witness to the priceless services rendered to the
cause of the evolutionary theory by the publication of
the " Origin of Species." He sees both sides of the
medal, but he does not at that date appear to have
grasped the fact that each side belongs to the same
medal, and that natural selection is only one mani-
festation of that great Law of the Action of the
Environment on all organic beings, of which he was

* "Life and Letters of Charles Darwin," vol. ii., p. 338.
t "Principles of Biology," pp. 7, 12, T, 74i 7Sj 80, 83, 226,
235> 294. 296, 311. 322. &c.

3°

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP.

the brillant exponent. In its simplest manifestation
it influences the protoplasm of unicellular organisms ;
in its more complicated manifestations it decrees the
extermination of the South Sea Islanders, by the
alien civilisation, the diseases, and the rum of the
white man. It dwarfs the pines on the tundras of
Siberia till they finally dwindle into trailing weeds
four to five inches high ; it increases the size, or the
speed, or the marketable value, whatever it may be,
of iOur domestic animals ; it has changed tlie fierce
wolf and the cowardly jackal into the only animal
which has won, by its high mental and moral
qualities, the title of the friend of man.* It has been
proved that the action of the environment, and no
mysterious " vital force " preserves the liquid con-
dition of the blood in living veins, or causes its
coagulation. No function is too high or too low for
its all-pervading influence; just as the law of gravitation
acts upon the minutest speck of matter, as inflexibly
as it acts upon the solar system.

I trust that in this necessarily imperfect sketch I
have at least shown how unjustifiable is the attempt
to associate the great name of Darwin with the un-
progressive school which arrogates to itself the right
of claiming to be his special disciples. To demon-
strate fully how baseless in ascertained fact is
Professor Weismann's theory of "germ-plasm " would
require a special article ; but I have endeavoured to
indicate a few of its weak points, and to show its
constant need of assumptions as bases of reasoning.

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS.

•[RESEARCHES ON MICRO-ORGANISMS,
jTV by Dr. A. B. Griffiths (London : Bailliere,
Tindal, & Cox). Dr. Griffiths is well known as one
of the most painstaking and industrious of our
younger school. of scientists, and he has here pro-
duced a very useful manual of reference, which
includes an account of all the recent experiments on
the destruction of Microbes in various infectious
diseases, and is illustrated by fifty-two woodcuts,
Just at present Bacteriology is dominant, ten years
ago hardly a few scores of people knew what the
term meant. A general knowledge of the subject is
now incumbent on all medical men, apothecaries, and
journalists. Dr. Grifiiths, however, does not claim
his book to be a manual of Bacteriology, after the
manner of Dr. Crookshank. It is rather an expose
of the researches which throw light on the pathology
and therapeutics of certain infectious diseases.
Nevertheless, it throws a very large cast-net over the
whole field of the subject, including an outline of the
natural history of Microbes in general ; their
microscopical examination, classification, cultivation,
distribution in earth, air, and water ; the various

* For the ancestry of the dog, see "The Mammalia," by
Oscar Schmidt. International Scientific Series.

methods of micro-biological research, the nature of
various ferments ; production of Ptomaines ; speciaS
ferments ; the various substances secreted by
Microbes ; the action of heat on microbes and their
spores ; an account of the researches of Koch, Klein,.
Pasteur, Bert, Parsons, Duclaux, Forster, and others,
to which we are pleased to see the author has added
his own, which are not the least interesting. There
are also lengthy and varied chapters on Germicides
and antiparasitic therapeutics ; the General Biology
of the Microbes of Rabies, Yellow Fever, Pleuro-
pneumonia, Foot-and-mouth Disease, Cattle Plague,
Pyaimia, Septiccemia, Puerperal Fever, Syphilis-
tuberculosis, Anthrax, Swine Fever, &c. The last
chapter is an excellent summary of the recent
experiments on the destruction of microbes in infec-
tious diseases, in which, of course, those of Professor
Koch occupy a prominent position. Dr. Griffiths has
produced a useful as well as a thoroughly good
book.

Astronomical Lessons, by J. E. Gore (London :
Sutton, Drowley, & Co.). We cordially recom-
mend this well got up little book, the work of a well-
known astronomer and astronomical writer, as one of
the best introductions to the study of the "noble
science " we have yet come across. It contains
twenty-two short chapters dealing with a large and
general range of astronomical knowledge, all of
course brought up to the most recent date. The
book is well illustrated.

Applied Geography, by J. Scott Keltie (London :
George Philip & Son). This is altogether a novel
and acceptable departure from the too traditional
method of teaching geography. Much of its con-
tents have appeared as articles in leading magazines,,
lectures given before the Society of Arts, the College
of Preceptors, the Bankers' Institute, etc., and the-
book is illustrated by excellent illustrative maps^
It contains five chapters headed as follows : —
"Preliminary Considerations," "Geography applied
to Commerce," "The Geography of Africa in its
Bearings on the Development of the Continent."
(two chapters on this all-important subject), "The
British Empire," and " Some Common Com-
modities."

London of the Past, by J. Ashton Ainscoughi
(London : Elliot Stock). This is a small, delightfully
written and accurate history of the most wonderful'
and interesting city in the world. It is a straight-
forward narrative, neither encumbered with comment
nor laden with petty details.

Elementary Treatise on Hydrodynamics and Sound,
by A. B. Bassett, F.R.S. (Cambridge : Deighton,
Bell cS: Co. ). The author's fame as a mathematician
is well known, and his previous works on these
special subjects have deservedly acquired for him the-
rank of an authority. It is a most useful work oa
mathematical physics, and includes much which will
prove valuable to mathematical electricians par-

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

ticularly. We do not known any other manual which
so clearly and succinctly deals with the Theory
of Sound, in its various departments.

The Electric Light Popularly Explained, by A.
JBromley Holmes (London : Bembrose & Sons).
This cheap, little, well-written, and easily-understood
brochure ought to be in every house in England, and
read by every intelligent resident. (Fifth edition.)

Our Fancy Pigeons, by George Ure (London :
Elliot Stock). This is an interestingly-written record
of fifty years' experiences in pigeon breeding, and the
^author is a genial and observant naturalist besides.
Mr. Ure's name as an authority upon the subject of
this book is sufficient to command for it a large
circulation.

Metal Turning (London: Whittaker & Co.).
One of a valuable series of cheap and practical
manuals, well and abundantly illustrated, which will
considerably help on the all-important subject of
Technical education. It is written by " A Foreman
Pattern-Maker," and tells and explains and illustrates
to the reader all the particulars of the Lathe, and its
various tools.

Electro j\Iotors, by S. R. Bottone (London :
Whittaker & Co.). Another of the same series.
Mr. Bottone has been in the front of popular and
practical teachers and writers on electro-dynamos for
ten years past. The brightly got up little manual
before us has been prepared by him specially for
amateurs as well as practical men.

l\Iagnetistn and Electricity, by J. Spencer (London :
Percival & Co.). Another addition to the numerous
"manuals " written for the over-manualised students
of South Kensington, who exist and are tortured for
the benefit of "The Department." Mr. Spencer's
book is a good one, nevertheless ; although we always
feel sorry for the over-written "students of South
Kensington," wherever they may be.

Sound, Light, and Heat, by J. Spencer (London :
Percival & Co.). Another "iclass-book " for
-students of South Kensington in the elementary
stage. It is of course a good little book, and is
written by a man who knows how to teach, and
something of the people who have to be taught.

The Dai-winian Theory of the Origin of Species, by
Francis P. Pascoe (London : Gurney & Jackson).
Mr. Pascoe is one of the best literary naturalists of
ithe day, and anything he has to say on subjects like
.those discussed in this pleasant little book is bound to
ibe listened to. Mr. Pascoe dwells particularly on the
fact (which we have been for years maintaining) that
Darwinism and evolution are not identical. The
former is a minor, the latter is a major term. Darwin
discovered and propounded the Doctrine of Natural
selection, and many of his too-ardent followers
imagined that was sufficient to settle all biological
•difficulties. But Darwin himself knew better, for he
grafted the theory of Sexual Selection upon it. The
fact is. Evolution includes not only natural selection.

and sexual selection, but perhaps a hundred, a
thousand, other active and operative agencies
besides. We cordially recommend Mr. Pascoe's
book as a valuable contribution to the literature _of
evoiutidn.

A FEW NOTES CONCERNING COCHINEAL.
{COCCUS CACTI.)

By H. DURRANT.

THIS insect which we use as a dye was supposed,
previous to about 1714, to be some kind of a
seed, although it was said by Acosta, as early as 1530,
to be an insect. However, its real nature is now
placed beyond doubt. Mexico is the real home of
the cochineal, but it is also cultivated in Teneriffe and
several other places. The cochineal we get is about
as large as a peppercorn, shrivelled, and of a dark,
purplish colour, ovate, convex and transversely
furrowed above, smooth beneath. Externally it
appears covered with a fine white powder, but when
the insect is examined under the microscope, this is
resolved into fine hair.

The males do not enjoy a very long spell of life,
generally dying when about a month old. Their
wings are perfectly white. The females are the only
ones of any value, from a commercial point of view.
When they have selected the leaf which is to serve
them as a habitation, they fix themselves to a leaf by
their proboscis and never leave it. There are two
varieties of cochineal : the wild kind, called by the
Spaniards Grana sylvestra, and the cultivated variety,
or Grana fina, which] is greatly superior to the former
in regard to the furnishing of colouring matter.

The wild kind is much more downy, though uot so
large as the cultivated insect, but by cultivation it
becomes larger, and loses much of its woolly
appearance.

The cochineal feeds on several species of cactus,
principally Cactus cochinellifer and Opuntia cochiw
illifera (Nopal cactus). It does ^not, as formerly
supposed, derive its colour from the juice of the plant
on which it feeds, whose flowers are red, because the
insect can be reared upon different species of Opuntia
whose flowers are not red.

One of them {Opuntia cochiitillifera) is cultivated
for the purpose in Honduras and Mexico. When the
time arrives for the insects to be collected, they are
brushed off the trees with the tail of an animal, into
bags, and killed by immersing in boiling water.
They are then taken out and dried thoroughly in the
sun, and put up in serons, or skin bags, for
exportation.

The qualities of a good insect, when dried, should
be that they are plump and dry. If they are small
and have a pink tinge they are least esteemed. The
colouring matter of cochineal is carminium, and was
first extracted by Pelletier and Caventon by digesting

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

cochineal in ether, treating the residue with boiling
alcohol, allowing it to cool, and treating the deposit
with pure alcohol ; by then adding its own volume of
sulphuric ether a deposit of carminium is formed.
Carminium is iincrystallisable and of a beautiful red
colour ; it fuses at 104°. It is soluble in water, but

Fig. 10. — Opvntia cochmillifera.

not in sulphuric ether or in essential or fixed oils.
Nitric or hydrochloric acid, chlorine and iodine
when in a concentrated solution destroy carminium,
but when dilute only enhance the brightness of its
colour. If alkaline solutions are added to carminium
its colour changes to purple. It is precipitated by
lime water.

When heated it is decomposed, but yields no
ammonia. Cochineal is principally used for dyeing,

Fig. II. — Coccus cacti {m7>\c). Fig. 12.— C(7a?« £ra<:i'/ (female).

and is employed chiefly in woollen goods ; the colour
is fixed by a mordant of alumina and oxide of tin, and
the colour is intensified by super-tartrate of potash.
Mixed with white it forms rouge ; and the colours,
carmine and lake are made from it.

To make a single pound of cochineal it is
estimated th.at no fewer than seventy thousand
insects are required. It was once considered an
extremely precious article, fetching sometimes as
much as 36.?. and 39^, per lb., but the price is now4J.
Previous to 1845 there existed a duty on cochineal,
but it is now abolished. It does not lose its properties
as a dye by prolonged keeping, if in a dry place.
Hellot made some experiments on dried Cochineal
which had been kept more than one hundred years,

and found their colour as rich as that from those jusi
obtained.

Adulteration is effected by mixing the dried up
skins of old, used insects with the genuine article,
also by artificially representing them in paste, but
they can generally be easily detected.

Another form of adulteration is sometimes
practised, and consists in mixing what is known ki
commerce as "East India Cochineal," and which is
a very inferior article with the real.

THE ROMAUNT OF BEDEGAR.

An Autobiography.

By the Rev. H. Friend, F.L.S.

\Continued from p. 11.]

THAT you may see first of all how much atten-
tion was formerly paid to my ancestors, I
will tell you what one of the old writers on medi-
cine has to say about me. It is true that his
language is somewhat dry and uninteresting to many,
but, as we all feel a special pride in hearing what
people say about us, I may be forgiven if I am
somewhat vain of the learned names by which my
family has been ; distinguished. This writer, then,
in a brief chapter on Spina alba, says it is also
known as '■'' Akantha laike. Wood Cyanara (a name
which has since been applied to a relative of
the thistle family, and is specially associated with
the artichoke), Donacitis, Venus' Sceptre (so I
understand the name Eyysi sceptrum, which the
names Frawcn Distel and Mary's Thistle confirm).
White Thistle, Royal Thistle, Robber Thistle. In
Hebrew it may be called Atad laban, that is. Spina
alba. The German name is White Way-Thistle.
This is what the Arabs call Bedeguar; it is also
known as the Herb of the House or House-wort," —
I suppose because of the remarkable qualities attri-
buted to certain parts of the plant when employed as
a medicine. It should be observed that in the fore-
going account of my ancestors the maternal side is
especially referred to, since spina and acanthus are
both feminine. However, in later times, when people
began to think more of the father than of the mother,
one Galen adopted the masculine gender for this
name, and, when using it as one word, converted it
into Leucacanthon. Hence it is that we find this
term in very frequent use (not without a good deal
of confusion) among more recent authorities on
plants. I wish to impress upon my readers at this
point the important fact that, so far as we have
pursued my family history, every name which my an-
cestors received — whether Bedegar in Arabic, Acan-
thus in Greek, Spina in Latin, or Atad in Hebrew,
or Distel in German — had reference to the thorny or
prickly nature of the original plant. To make this
matter quite certain I have fortunately been able to

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

come upon the portrait of one of my grandparents,
which was published about three hundred and fifty
years ago, or in the early half of the sixteenth
century (a.d. 1543) in a valuable old work in Latin.
This is a picture of a thistle, with a full and detailed
description of its peculiarities. Among other things
there stated, I find that my ancestors were fond of
hilly and well-wooded regions, bore white leaves,
which were narrower and paler than those of the
chamreleon, with not a few hairs and prickles. The
stem grew to a height of two cubits and more, and
the flowers were purple. It is further added that
the seeds of this plant (which, it must be remem-
bered, grew amidst a head of cottony hairs or pappus
like the seeds of other thistles), were chiefly employed
in medicine. Here lies the secret of future mischief
and difficulty. It was entirely due to this fact that,
after the period we have now reached, a great deal
of uncertainty began to be realised when the original
Bedegar was asked for. Meanwhile, the name had
been spreading, along with the article, far and wide,
until alike, in France and England, as well as in
Germany, Spain, and other lands, the famous
medicine was to be found. I find in a list of herbs
which was written six hundred )"ears ago (before books
began to be printed) that our name occupies an
honourable position. It may interest the reader if
I reproduce this early reference. Let it be remem-
bered that medicines were spoken of formerly, as
they still are in the East, as hot and cold. Some
herbs are mild, or between hot and cold ; and in
this list of mild plant medicines, three only are
named — Mirtiis, or Sweet Gale, Ai-noglosa, or the
Plantain, and Bedegar. The way in which the name
is spelt, however, has baffled some investigators,
although it may be easily explained. The entry is
as follows : —

" Bedegrage.— ■S'//;;)! alba, Wit-thorn."
Wit-thorn of course is the same as White Thorn,
and simply translates Spina alba ; which in its turn
is a correct equivalent of Bedegar. When this
Arabic name became familiar to the Latin writers,
they treated it as a Latin word, and declined it as
the teacher says, so that sometimes it appeared as
Bedegaris ; and so it came in time to be written
Bedegrage by persons who wrote words according
to their sound, without knowing their meaning or
history. This curious mode of spelling opened the
way for still greater confusion, which was increased
by the custom of retaining the Arabic word "Al"
(as in algebra, alchemy, alkanet) before names
borrowed from that language. Thus I find our
family name written in the fifteenth century Albe-
deragi ! Who would have thought that Bedegar
could be so changed? Yet if we drop the "Al"
we shall find the remaining portion (Bederagi) is
exactly the same as Bedegrage, with just one letter
omitted. This slight change, however, has thrown
many a student off his guard, and even in the work

which contains the name Albederagi I find a little
later on another description of the same thing under
the accurately-written name of Bedegar. This con-
fusion of names is, by the way, only a small portion
of the confusion which has been introduced in
connection with the article itself, as we shall pire-
sently see. Let us, however, for a moment follow
the names which we used in English and French to
set forth the meaning of Spina alba or Bedegar to their
final resting-place. In France the early translation
of the name was Espine blanche, the latter word
meaning simply "white"; but when Acantha leuca
and Leucacanthon, Spina alba and Alba spina came
to be confused, the French adopted the term
Aubespine, as well as Espine blanche, and the English
spoke of the Albespyne, or White thorn, meaning no
longer the original White-thistle, but the Hawthorn
or Maybush ! All this is exceedingly curious, and
shows what difficulties the genealogist has to en-
counter and overcome in tracing out the real history
of a plant from modem, back to the earliest times.

Having in the foregoing study of my family history
shown to what changes the name Bedegar has been
liable, and to what different ideas its translation into
other tongues eventually gave rise, it is now
necessary that I should tell you of the other change
that was proceeding at the same time. It has been
shown that the seeds with their woolly appendage
or cottony pappus (the pappus is simply the calyx,
adapted to form a balloon for conveying the seed to
a distance), were the most valuable part of the plant
for medicinal purposes, and it is easy to suppose that
when these seeds could not be procured a substitute
with a similar nature and appearance would be intro-
duced, and called by the name which the genuine
article bore. I would not say that the herbalists of
the middle ages wilfully deceived people in this way,
though, from what I have read and heard about the
mandrake and other curious plants, I am sure they
were often capable of doing very mean things ; but
of this I am certain, that, somewhere about the
fifteenth century, the genuine article began to give
way to a spurious one, and Bedegar became the
name of something totally different from the white
thistle of early times. You may judge of the
surprise with which, after seeing the portrait of my
early ancestor already referred to, I one day came
across another portrait of Bedegar which had no
family resemblance to the former whatever. It
happened in this way. Many ages ago, there lived
(not at the same time however), two very famous
men named Theophrastus and Dioscorides, who
wrote some learned books on natural history. Some
centuries after, when printing was first employed for
the multiplication of books, the writings of these men
were presented to the public in both the Greek and
the Latin languages. Other students of nature,
inspired by these valuable but antiquated works,
undertook to follow up the investigations already

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

commenced, and when they found out any new fact
which either threw light upon the writings of the
early naturalists, or added something to that meagre
stock of information, they used their facts as com-
ments on, or explanations of, the writings of Theo-
phrastus and Dioscorides. In one edition of their
works we duly find the portrait of Bedegar as a
white thistle ; but in another this name stands also
over a sprig of oak, bearing a woolly gall ! The
commentator, it is true, tells us, when speaking of
Spina alba that it is called Bedeguard (this is the way
in which he spells it), but he is apparently quite
unable to see how the name has been transferred
from one medicinal article to another. Here, then,
we have, in a book published in 1644, the name
Bedegar applied to a gall on the oak, and at the same
time to a plant called Spina alba. The gall is
usurping the place of the seeds of thistle, and
appropriating its name. An old writer speaks of
the gall as a spongy growth or excrescence on the
oak. Since this growth is somewhat rare, however,
in many places on the oak, but very common on the
rose, it soon became the custom to speak of the rose-
gall as Bedegar ; and so thoroughly did the name
attach itself to this article in a short time that all the
books from the sixteenth century forward which
treat of medicines and herbs apply the term Bedegar
to the gall on the rose. I have only met with one
exception to this rule. The famous old herbalist,
Gerarde, earnestly protested, but in vain, against
this unjustifiable innovation. In his curious old
work, originally published towards the end of the
sixteenth century (1595), and brought out a little
later in a revised and emended form, he thus speaks
on this subject: "The spongie balls which are
found upon the branches (of the wild rose or
Eglantine), are most aptly and properly called
SpongioliC sylvestris Rosce^ or the little sponges of
the wild rose. The shops mistake it by the name of
Bedeguai- ; for Bedegiiar among the Arabians is a
kind of thistle, which is called in Greeke Akantha
lenke, that is to say Spina alba, or the white thistle,
not the white-thorn, though the word does import
so much." I certainly feel deeply indebted to this
faithful champion of our cause for so clearly pre-
senting our family claims and relationships ; but as
T have said, his protest was in vain ; for, from that
day to this, the " spongie balls " have still borne the
name of l^edegar. As Gerarde gives a figure of the
Eglantine bearing a gall (though he will not call it
Bedegar), I have now been able to examine three
portraits of my ancestors, and I cannot but feel
amazed at the change which has taken place. From
a thistle to a rose ; from Arabia to Great Britain ;
from a cottony seed to a " spongie ball " ! Fact is
indeed still stranger than fiction.

It will perhaps be expected that I should explain
what these spongy balls are, which, in modern
medicine, bear my ancient name. I turn to the

various works on medical botany which it has been
necessary for me to procure in order to write this
family history, and I find that all the most reliable
authorities tell the same story — the galls are pro-
duced by insects. True, one old writer says that
Bedegar is the name given to certain excrescences
which grow spontaneously on roses ; as though there
were no external cause, or they were quite indepen-
dently produced. Recent researches, however, shew
that these growths do not come by chance, but are
the regular outcome of certain well-known causes.
Thus we read in one recent work that "On various
species of the rose, perhaps most frequently on the
sweet-briar {R. riibigiitosa, L.) or eglantine, is found a
remarkable gall, called the sweet-briar sponge
(Bedeguar, or Fungus rosariim). Pliny terms it in
one place a little ball in another a sponge. It is
produced by the puncture of several insect species ;
viz., Cynips roscr, &c. The bedeguar is usually
rounded, but of variable size, sometimes being an
inch, or an inch and a half or more in diameter.
Externally it looks shaggy, or like a ball of moss,
being covered with moss-like, branching fibres,
which are at first green, but afterwards become
purple. The nucleus is composed principally of
cellular tissue with woody fibre ; and where the
fibres are attached bundles of spiral vessels are
observed. Internally, there are numerous cells, in
each of which is the larva of an insect (usually called
a maggot) ; and if opened about August or Sep-
tember maggots (or larva:) are generally found
within. It is inodorous, or nearly so ; its taste is
slightly astringent, and it colours the saliva
brownish. Dried and powdered it was formerly
given in doses of from ten to forty grains. More
recently itj has been recommended as a remedy
against toothache. Pliny says the ashes mixed with
honey were jUsed as a liniment for baldness. In
another place he speaks of the gall being mixed with
bear's grease for the same purpose." I have purposely
omitted from the foregoing, certain medical and
scientific terms, in order that the extract might be
more intelligible to my readers ; and must request
them to be content with this paragraph, as a sample
of the whole matter to be found in other medical
works.

I have thus briefly, but as clearly as I was able,
traced my family history from the earliest to the
most modern times ; and now in a few words, in
order that the whole matter may be perfectly under-
stood by the reader, I will give a summary of the
result. The name Bedegar is of Semitic origin, and
comes from a word Dakar meaning "to stab."
From the verb we get the noun Deker "the
stabber " (i Kings iv. 9), then by adding Ben we
obtain Ben-deker, Bed-deker or Bidekar (2 Kings ix.
25), meaning " the son of the stabber," or " the
little stabber." This name was in the course of time
applied to a spinous plant, and hence a thistle was

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE-G OSSIF.

known by the Arabs as Bedegar. This thistle, or
certain portions of it, entered the ancient pharmaco-
pseia or medicine list, then was carried to Greece,
Italy, Germany and England where the name was
still retained, along with its equivalent in the
languages of those lands, as Akantha, Spina, Distel or
Thistle. In course of time, however, the term was
appropriated (about the fifteenth or sixteenth century)
to another article, viz, an insect gall, and thus in the
end the spongy balls on the wild rose came to be
regularly known under the Arabic name of Bedegar,
or the little stabber.
Idle, Bradford.

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF
BRITISH DIPTERA.

By E. Brunetti.

I. INTRODUCTION.

T T will be my endeavour in the following papers to
-*■ give an outline of the British Diptera.

Twenty years ago, but little was known respecting
this order, but the labours of Messrs. Verrall, Meade,
Dale (and, in a lesser degree, other entomologists),
have resulted in rich collections of these insects,
and with the material at present available, we may
venture to speak with some approach to accuracy of
the species of Diptera indigenous to the British
Islands.

Mr. Verrall's recently-published list {1888) forms a
splendid foundation for our researches, and the
student, I trust, will find the following remarks of
assistance to him during his preliminary investiga-
tions and first collecting excursions.

On the Continent the Diptera are tolerably well
known and the fact of our knowledge of the British
species being so unsatisfactory should be a greater
incentive to the true entomologist, as the order offers
far more opportunities of rendering real service to
science than do either the Lepidoptera or Coleoptera.
It is true that students have few incentives to take
up the study of the Diptera, as the disadvantages are
so numerous ; collections being few and far between,
and usually the property of private individuals. The
national collection of these insects is in a highly
unsatisfactory state, for the very simple reason that
no one has been employed to bring it anywhere near
up to date ; to correct the numerous and most
palpable blunders in nomenclature ; to fill up any of
the large gaps made by the absence of whole genera,
as well as numbers of the most common species ; or
to replace by fresh specimens the old damaged and
dirty ones that do duty as the National British
Collection.

Although collections available for reference, and
books are so scarce, there are now fortunately
several workers at this group who are fairly well
acquainted with the order, and who, as a rule, are

very ready, leisure permitting, to assist beginners by
naming their captures ; I myself being most happy to
help collectors in this manner, provided the speci-
mens sent for identification be in good condition.

1. COLLECTING.
Diptera, to put it shortly, may be captured in
every part of the country in tolerable abundance, in
almost every conceivable nature of habitat, dis-
appearing only during the very coldest weeks, and
even in mid-winter certain species (generally
Nematocera) may be obtained by those who know
where to look for them.

The ordinary gauze butterfly net is most useful for
capturing them, and the sweeping net for those
inhabiting the borders of streams, dry ditches, long
grass, banks and other similar habitats.

As most flies rise, when alarmed, with great
rapidity, a short quick stroke is necessary to capture
them, a second opportunity rarely being afforded.
It has been computed that certain species rise with a
velocity of twelve feet a second.

As many groups and certain genera have a special
manner of their own of taking flight, and of behaving
when on the wing, it is of invaluable assistance when
the collector is able to recognise at sight the family
to which the intended capture belongs.

In sweeping, much discretion and experience is
necessary, as the net rapidly fills with twigs, leaves,
larvae, beetles and spiders, these latter being the
bugbear of the collector whilst sweeping, as they
spin up the contents of the net (which I transfer
bodily into large chip boxes, to be sorted out at
home) into a tangled, unrecognisable mass, besides
devouring a large proportion of the Diptera captured.
Larger species have to be captured singly and
transferred to glass-top boxes, into each of which the
collector with a little manipulation and experience
should be able to place a dozen ; care being taken
to keep the carnivorous species separate (as Empis,
Leptis, &c.) or one finds on reaching home, perhaps,
every specimen more or less eaten.

Species in which the legs are exceptionally brittle
and break off easily, should be given separate boxes,
if possible i^AnthoJuyidic, lipuUdic, Dolichopidce, <S:c.),
or at most only two or three specimens placed in
each box.

Whenever the opportunity occurs, take a long
series of a species, as by this means varieties may be
obtained and the limits of specific variation fixed.

If a note-book of captures is kept, it will be found
of invaluable assistance during subsequent seasons,
and this plan should be adopted by all who desire
doing anything of value towards completing our
knowledge of the order.

3. PRESERVING.

Diptera should invariably be brought home alive,
and killed by the fumes of burning sulphur. I am

MARDWJCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSJF.

opposed to any method that wets them, as it mats the
pubescence and frequently prevents indentification.

For mounting, I recommend the long Carlsbad
pins, of which Nos. o to 4 are the most useful ; the
very minute species being pinned with the " minutien
Nadeln," German pins, which are then stuck at one
end of a small oblong piece of white pith, a Carlsbad
No. 4 pin being put through the other end, and the
pith pushed half way up the long pin. (See
diagrams.)

The larger specimens should be placed above the
middle of the pin, which should pierce the centre of
the thorax.

I adopt the long pins for the following reasons :

I. The specimens are exchangeable with conti-

Fig. 13.— Methods of mounting Diptera.

nental correspondents, all of whom adopt this method
of pinning.

2. They are easier to handle and therefore less
liable to accident.

3. They allow a higher magnifying power to be
brought to bear on them when in the cabinet by
being nearer the glass.

A second important point to be observed in
mounting is not to set the flies. They are as useful
for scientific purposes unset as set, they are easier to
handle, less liable to accidents, exchangeable abroad,
and by not setting them a vast amount of time is
saved.

I am aware that, on this point my opinion is
directly opposite to that of our leading dipterologist,
but still see no reason to change it, as it is only in
exceptional instances that unset specimens cannot be
identified, provided the directions given below are
followed.

So long as the wings are extended vertically (and
not allowed to cling together) and the. legs kept from
folding up close under the thorax, there is no difficulty
in naming them, which is the chief objection raised
by those who insist on the necessity of setting.

Their second plea — lack of uniformity in unset
specimens — appears unsupportable, as a collection of
Diptera pinned in the continental style seems to me
as' uniform and elegant as one in which the legs
and wings are extended after the fashion of setting
Lepidoptera. Moreover much cabinet space is saved
by not setting them.

Every specimen should be dated and localised
with a ticket attached to the pin below the insect.

Specimens may be relaxed by placing them in

laurel, and for preservation against mites when in
the cabinet, naphthaline is' most frequently used by
continental authorities, it being almost unnecessary to
add that the cabinet should be kept in a warm dry
room.

4. CLASSIFICATION.

Hardly any author's classification can be con-
sidered a standard one, the order having undergone
such important revision during the last twenty years.

Several of the older authors, owing to their in-
complete knowledge of the order, added altogether
to our lists some hundreds of species that have no
right to a place there.

Moses Harris was the first to write on the British
diptera, and relied chiefly on the neuration as a basis
of classification.

Curtis' work (1823-40) gives 112 really excellent
coloured plates, and notices many species that he
does not illustrate ; his generic descriptions also
being complete, and, in the main, trustworthy ; but
no attempt is made at analytical tables of genera or
species, and many of the introduced species are now
repudiated.

In Walker's work (1851-56), about 2CXX) species
are described, though scores (I might almost say
hundreds) of these descriptions are worthless. His
work, however, is a most useful one to have, as a
good general knowledge of the order can undoubtedly
be obtained from it.

His analytical tables are not always g«od. He
divides the order into three great groups, as fol-
lows : —

Antennae lying flat in cavities in the head : Suctoridea

{PulicidcE).
Antennae seated on the front of the head.

Legs at juncture with thorax close together : Pra-

boscidea.
Legs at juncture with thorax wide apart : Eproboscidea.

His table of families is unsatisfactory, inasmuch as
two families (Empidtt and Muscidce) are split up and
fall in both his subdivisions q{ Brachycera.

He divides the Proboscidea as follows : —

Antennae with distinct joints, at least six, usually more

than 10 : Neinocera.
Antennae, three to ten jointed, after the third closely
jointed.

Posterior veins branched or interlacing : Brachycera.
Posterior veins simple, detached, faint : Hyfocera
[Phorida:).

He gives nine families of Nemocera, seventeen of
Brachycera y and two oi Eproboscidea.

Books on this order are few and costly, the follow-
ing being the principal ones relating to British
Diptera :— Moses Harris, "Exposition of British
Insects," 1776-1782. Curtis, " British Entomology,"'
1823-1840. F. Walker, " Insecta Britannica : Dip-
tera," 1S51-1856. Rev. F. O. Morris, "Catalogue
of British Diptera," 1865. G. H. Verrall, "List of
British Diptera," 1SS8.

No student should be without Mr. Verrall's list.

HA RD WJCKE' S SCIENCE- GOSSIP.

The most reliable recent papers are as follows : —
" Bnthh Sanophaga," Meade, " Ent. Month. Mag."
1876. "Annotated List of British Anthomyidu,''''

Tabanid<£" (with tables and notes), Brunetti,
Science-Gossip, 1887. " List of British ZJ/^^^ra,"
Verrall, Pratt & Co., 1888. "List of British

Fig 14.

Fig- IS-

Fig. 16.

Fig. 17.

Fig. iS.

Fig. 19.

'Ig. iO.

Fig. 21.

Fig. 22.

K-H

Fig. 23.

Fig. 24.

Fig. 25.

Fig. 26.

Diagram showing classificatory structure of Wings of Diptera : — Fig. 14, Cecidamyia; Fig. 15, Hortnomyia • Fig. 16, Sciaria ;
Fig. 17, Mycetophila ; Fig. 18, Scatopse ; Fig. 19, Bibio ; Fig. 20, Diplosis ; Fig. 21, Simulium; Fig. 22, Glaphyroptera ;
Fig. 23, Chinotiomus ; Fig. 24, Psychoda; Fig. 25, Pericoma ; Fig. 26, Rhyphus. Note.— All these wings are, of course,
magnified, as shown by comparative measurements thus i-hH .

Meade, "Ent. Month. Mag." 1881. "List of
British TipuUda: " (with tables and notes), Verrall,
"Ent. Month Mag." 1886. "List of British

Stratiomyidtt" (with tables and notes), Brunetti,
" Entomologist," 1889,
The best works on European Diptera are the

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSS IF.

following: — Mergen's " Systematische Beschrei-
^""g»" 5 vols. 1818-1838, Germany. Macquart,
"Diptcres," 2 vols. 1S34-1835, France. Zetterstedt,
"Diptera Scandinavia," 14 vols. 1842-1860, Scan-
dinavia. Rondani, " Diptera Italicce," 7 vols. 1856-
1871, Italy. Schiner, "Fauna Austriaca," 2 vols.
1862-1864, Austria. Desvoidy, "Dipteres des
Environs de Paris," 2 vols. 1863, France.

The only catalogue of European Diptera is that by
Schiner, published in 1864, giving about 670 genera,
and 8600 species as European.

Schiner and Loew are, perhaps, the best recent
Continental writers, and as no linear arrangement of
families (entirely consistent with the structural
characteristics of the various families) is possible, I
shall adopt the sequence of Mr. Verrall in his lately
published list as being the best and most recent
authority on British Diptera.

Schiner (1862) gave a large quantity of introductory
matter relating to the structure of the Diptera, but
in his table of Brachycera families he, as Walker did,
makes some families {Etnpidcc, Dolichopida:^ and
Conopida:) fall in both his primary divisions — which
appears to me very undesirable ; though I must add
that I cannot myself suggest any table of families
which shall be flawless in this respect.

In 1864 Schiner proposed dividing the Diptera
into two great divisions — OrtJiorkap/ia, in which the
pupa is sometimes coarctate, but in all cases the
larva skin is slit longitudinally in the dorsal portion
to give exit to the pupa or perfect insect ; and
Cyclorhapha, in which the pupa is always coarctate,
the perfect insect escaping by throwing off a sort of
lid at one end of the dried larva skin which forms the
cocoon.

In the same year Lioy submitted another classifi-
cation.

Schiner, in 1864, estimated the described species
of Diptera at about 19,449, distributed as follows : —
Europe, 8670 ; Asia, 2046 ; Africa, 1644 ;
America, 5517; Australia, 1056; of unknown
locality, 516.

In 1868, the " Zoological Record" considered over
20,800 species had been described.

Brauer's classification, in 1869, was on larval cha-
racters : —

Orlhorhapha:—

Nematocera, three groups (twelve families).
Brachycera, three groups (fourteen families).

Cyclorhapha: —
T Proboscidea :

Group I, SyrphidcE.

Group 2, MiiscidtE (including ConopiiUc, Plp7inciiUdce,
and Platypezidce as divisions of Miiscida).

Eproboscidea :

Hippoboscidce and Nycteribiidw.

In 1878, Osten Sacken produced another new
arrangement of groups and families : —

I. Oithorhapha. — He does not subdivide these
further than into families (most of these are the

families of Brachycera and Nematocera, given in this
paper).

2. Cyclorhapha. — Syrphidcc, Conopida:, PlatypczidtVy
Piptmcidida:, Oestridic, JlliiscidiC (he raises all mj' six
sub-families of Miiscida:, and all the groups of
Acalypterata, to the rank of families), Phoridcc.

3. Pupipara. — ITippoboscidic, Aycterilnidic.

I have not adopted either Schiner's or Brauer's
latest systems ; as, in a paper intended specially for
beginners (as this is), it appears to me the tables
should be based on characters of the perfect insect,
not on those of the larva or pupa, with which the
student probably would not be familiar. At the
same time, I fully recognise that the structure of the
pupa case is of the highest importance in classifying
the Diptera.

5. DESCRIPTIONS AND TABLES.

In the Diptera the mouth is suctorial, the proboscis
usually being rather long ; there are two maxillary
palpi ; the thorax is compact, the pro-thorax and
meta-thorax being very short, and the meso-thorax

Fig. 27. — AA, costal vein, i, first longitudinal vein (often
double) ; 2, second ditto ; 3, third ditto ; 4, fourth ditto ;
5, fifth ditto ; 6, sixth ditto, or anal vein ; 7, axillary vein ;
w, internal transverse vein ; I,, external ditto ; aa, costal
cells ; b, marginal cell ; c, submarginal cell : d, first posterior
cell ; (', second ditto ; /, third ditto ; g, discoidal cell ;
hhh, basal cells ; x, costal spine (often absent).

much enlarged ; forming the greater part of the
thorax ; the scutellum is rather large ; the abdomen
is usually formed of from five to seven segments ; the
wings are two in number, the posterior pair being
replaced by alulje, and a pair of filimentary appen-
dages, clubbed at the tip, known as halteres ; the
legs vary greatly in size and length, the tarsi being
pentamerous.

The Pidicidit: (fleas) do not appear to me to be true
Diptera ; so, although Mr. Verrall includes them in
his list, I have eUminated them, as does Schiner irv
his "Fauna Austriaca." I may observe, however,
that three genera and thirteen species are British.

The wing of one of the Anthomyidcc is given, with
the terminology adopted by Dr. Meade and other
British authorities (after Loew). It is exceedingly
unfortunate that there exists such a diversity of
opinion in the matter of terminology.

It is manifestly quite impossible, in the limited
space at my disposal, to give more than a bare outline
of the characteristics of each family, and a brief de-

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

scription of a few of the commonest species. Analy-
tical tables of all the genera are out of the question :
but I shall insert as many as possible, and these,
with the plates of wings, will be found quite sufficient
to enable the student, after a little study, to recognise
all the families, and the greater number of the prin-
cipal genera. In the small crosses, representing the
natural size of wings given in the plates, allowance
must be made for slight variation in the size in the
■tlifferent species.

The tables are intended to apply to the British
genera only, and are compiled with a view to render
the determination of sub-families and genera as easy
as possible ; and they may not always be the best
from a strictly scientific point of view. The descrip-
tions are purposely abbreviated as much as possible
to save space.

(To ie continued. )

DUCKING: A LINCOLNSHIRE SKETCH.
By Gregory O. Benoni.

\_Contin-uedfrotii p. i8.]

AX amusing sight it is to the naturalist to see the
bright-eyed speckled breast at his work, his
legs straddling wide apart with exertion, and his
whole being bent on the business in hand. He runs
his beak into the soft body of the snail, and begins to
hammer, rap-a-tap-tap, till it escapes from his hold.
Then he hops round a while in reflection, wags his
tail, and takes his rest with his head cocked to one
side, and his gaze fixed on the dainty morsel enclosed
in the protecting shell. When he has quite recovered
his breath be "goes for it " again, this time with his
"nib" thrust through a crack in the shell, which
soon flies to fragments under repeated blows, and
discloses the coveted treasure.

But this is not ducking, though we are almost
within sight of the decoy, and the master-ducker is
hastening down the path to meet us, with a " God
bless you, squire, I'm right glad to see you and your
friends ; " an assertion fully in harmony with the
beaming expression of his weather-beaten counte-
nance, and the eagerness of his movements. To our
inquiries whether we might see the ducks taken, and
what kind of day might be expected, he answered
with a wink of extreme satisfaction, as he swung his
left arm towards the pond ; " First rate, squire, first
rate ducking-day, five thousan' i' th' 'coy if there's a
score, I'll awarran'."

After a few more words relative to the splendid
weather we were having for what he maintained to
be the finest of sports — certainly it does require
great caution and intentness — our entertainer con-
ducted us through a young plantation of birch and
ash, bidding us speak in undertones lest the ducks
should hear us, and finally commanded us to observe
perfect silence. He then vanished into a shed, and
returned with a basket of hemp-seed, and some

morsels of bread for the decoy-dog who now appeared
following its master. It was a dog of the ordinary
north of England shepherd type, half coUey and half
bob-tail, but worth a "fo'tin" to its owner notwith-
standing its unassuming exterior.

Accompanied by this new addition to our party,
we soon found ourselves close to the decoy, a circular
sheet of water, four acres in extent, which had been
made by deeping the natural hollow between two
"hoes" or sand-hills, heaping up the soil thus
gained round the edge of the pool, and supplying it
with water from a drain connected with the Trent,
A pipe, or gradually narrowing canal a hundred
yards long runs out from the pond towards each of
the cardinal points, curving to the right as it recedes,
so that the birds on the main-water, or at the
entrance of the pipe itself, cannot see more than
half-way along its channel. Over the entire length
of each pipe is a semi-circular iron frame supporting
a net with a mesh of two inches, high in proportion
where the ditch is wide, and contracting by degrees
till it ends in a tunnel-net kept open by iron rings,
and removable at pleasure. On the left side of each
pipe runs a high fence, formed of a series of reed
screens, so placed that the head of one is somewhat
behind the end of the next, and only connected with
it by a low stile or dog-leap, over which the observer
can look straight up the pipe.

Wild fowl are so continually on the alert, and have
such exquisite senses of sight and smell, that they
can only be approached under cover from the lee-
ward ; woe betide the sportsman in the open fens,
who believes himself to be getting within range of his
game after hours of wary stalking, if the wind veer
but a few points and blow from him to his would-be
quarry — in the twinkling of an eye the birds take
wing, and he is left to console himself with the
thoughts of what might have been, if his fortune had
proved equal to his endeavours.

The pipes of the decoymen are purposely so
arranged that two can always be used at a time when
the wind will blow steadily from one quarter. But
the breeze must be constantly watched for fear that a
sudden change should inform the ducks of their
danger, and cause a sudden " rising," when mallard,
teal, shoveller and pintail will disappear, leaving the
common enemy to duckless and luckless lamentation.

While we were still some two hundred yards away
our ears had become aware of unusual sounds, but
no\y we were within a few feet of the water, the cry,
quack, whistle, and cough of strange and unknown
birds became most exciting. Initiated by the sign
language of the decoymen, we placed ourselves at
squints, or peeping-holes, formed by thrusting short
sticks through the reed fence, but not before our
long-limbed cockney friend, whose curiosity got the
better of his discretion necessary on such an occasion,
made our worthy instructor forget himself and his
betters, by an attempt to look over the screen into

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

the pond. When we were fairly settled in our places
we beheld a sight never to be forgotten. There on
the water close before us were thousands of lovely
birds in their most perfect winter plumage, splashing,
diving, musing, sleeping, or unconcernedly pruning
their feathers, as if they were on some island of the
Arctic Sea untrodden by the foot of man. Teal,
pochard, widgeon, shoveller, gadwell, mallard, and
I know not what — for time failed to observe the
minute details of the wonderful scene — were sporting
before us, the very embodiment of grace, or sunning
themselves on the water's edge. One pair of
mallards were performing the ingenious and pretty
feat of swimming round one another, and making a
circuit of the pond at the same time, — as astronomers
tell us that some twin stars move through space.
The air reverberated with constant cries, which
apparently had their source in the jealousy of an
unusual number of drakes ; and the sound of many
wings broke ceaselessly on the ear.

We had gazed for some time in wonder and admira-
tion, when the old " ducker " joined us, delighted to
observe what pleasure his unusual show was giving.
For although we had often watched the fowl before,
it had never been our lot to see such numbers of
common wild-duck, or so many rare birds on the
pool together.

" Now did ye ever see sich a sight o' ducks ony-
wheare in your life ? Why, I tell ye, ye wouldn't
see it in England, nor in the world, I'm thinkin'," he
whispered, as he mopped the perspiration from his
forehead with heavy dabs from a heavy silk pocket-
handkerchief.

" Well, it is a splendid sight, and such a one as we
have never seen before," we replied, in the same
scarcely audible speech he himself used.

" A splendid sight," drawing back, and holding
out his hand, as if our qualifying adjective had not
been strong enough ; then, nearing again, so as to
allow his ghost -like voice to reach us, " I've had
gentlemen in days gone by who would have come
three hunded miles to see such a vast o' em in at once.
My governor" — his old employer — ** would ha' had
all his fine friends here, if he'd been alive, he would."

The work of capture now began. The boy donned
a bright red flannel vest, and stationed himself
behind the first "shooting" or screen, lying flat on
the ground, and hidden from any ducks which might
enter the pipe by the low connecting stile. His
grandfather then threw a piece of bread over it on to
the strip of land between the " shooting " and the
water's edge, and the dog immediately bounded after
it and returned by the second stile, though not before
the ever-observant ducks, on the near side of the
pond, had noticed his presence.

The whole decoy was on the alert for danger at
once. The birds on the shore took refuge in the
water, those which were swimming stopped for a time,
and all eyes watched for the unknown apparition

to present itself again. The dog leaped several times
over the first stile, returning by the second, then
over the second and back by the third, and so on,
retreating gradually, every fowl regarding the perform-
ance with fear, wonder, and curiosity combined. Yet
as he made no attempt to injure them, but moved slowly
away up the pipe, they presently fell back on their
ordinary sense of security, and began to sleep, dive,
and coquet again. The fatal desire to increase their
stock of available knowledge — the bane of other than
feathered victims — evidently over-mastered the
prudence of a score or two of birds. They began to
follow the mysterious object in its retreat, hesitating
some time at the mouth of the pipe, swimming this
way and that, straining their necks, and turning their
bright eyes hither and thither, in a vain effort to
learn the meaning of the overhanging net, or tO'
watch the dog passing out of view round the bend in
the pipe. The bolder ones entered when the dog
disappeared, followed by their more cautious com-
panions, though some few retired discreetly at the
last moment. Under the net they sailed, unconscious
of the meaning of the treacherous meshes above them,
till, at a given signal from the decoy-man, the red-
vested lad leapt to his feet and showed himself over
the stile in their rear.

The effect was magical. The shy explorers took
wing together without a cry or warning to those left
behind, and not daring to face the foe, fly forwards,
catching sight of each of us in turn as they pass the
stile of the screen through which we are watching.
Dashing through the water in mad fear, or beating
their wings against the imprisoning net, only to be
thrown back to their native element again, they
reached the end of the pipe and entered the circular
net prepared for them, which the decoy-man re-
moved as soon as the last of the " take " had passed
into its jaws.

Now came the poor sport of the show — the killing-
This was performed by the expert placing his fingers
over the beak, the thumb over the first joint of the
neck, and then giving the head a backward jerk to
the right side of the neck, which caused the immediate
dislocation. Painless enough as deaths go, but an in-
glorious ending for the freedom-loving mallard and teal.

The whole affair was a dumb-show of a few
minutes' duration. Not a single word was uttered
aloud till the decoy -man had killed and counted
twenty-eight birds. Then, wiping his brow with the
sleeve of his coat, he said, with a grin of satisfaction,
' ' Fust-rate sport. Squire ; your friends never saw owt
like this before, nor never will again."

This mode of taking wild-fowl is called "working
them " by professional duckers ; but it is more
commonly known on paper as the "dog-decoy." It
is often productive of a fair take, especially of birds
fresh from the north, but it is far surpassed by the
" duck-decoy " now to be described.
{To be continued.)

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

FLIES IX AMBER.

OUR lady friends and readers perhaps know more
about the aesthetic merits of amber than we
do. They (and those of their gentlemen friends who
like their amber clouded in the mouthpieces of their
expensive meerschaums) may not, however, be so
familiar with its geological and mineralogical origin
as other people. Seaside visitors to the eastern
coasts frequently find it worth their while to come
from great distances and pay very expensive prices
for lodgings in the summer time in order to stroll
upon the beach, if haply they may pick up three half-
penny worth of amber between dinner and tea.
Amber has very nearly the specific gravity of sea-
water, and, if it does not float, is easily drifted along
from the Baltic to our eastern coast, but many
splendid specimens are picked up along the seaward
margin of the Eastern counties. A magnificent
collection of specimens of amber, which floated
hitherwards from its parent bed, is now in the
possession of Mr. W, D. Sims, of Ipswich.

Many people may neither know nor care to know
that amber is a fossil gum which exuded from pines
and other trees two millions of years ago. They
may not be acquainted with the fact that the great
storehouse of genuine amber, not the artificial muck
the youngest smoker admires and proudly displays,
comes from the bed of the Baltic Sea, and frequently
contains the remains of various kinds of insects,
which lived here during the middle period, as well as
leaves, petals of flowers, and other floral organs, just as
another Tertiary formation shows. This is neverthe-
less correct ; and a bit of genuine amber in the lump
is a most interesting geological specimen — fVequently
a perfect nest of fossilised flies which were attracted
to the amber when it was a sweet and liquidly-
flowing gum, and then and there got entangled in it
as summer-flies in treacle, so as to suggest the poet's
conundrum that —

The thing itself is neither rich nor rare.
The wonder's how the devil they got there.

In the last number but one of the "Annals and
Magazines of Natural History " there is a paper by
Herr Richard Klebs, of Konigsberg, on "The Fauna
of Amber." The metropolis of the genuine Baltic
trade is at Konigsberg, so there is ample opportunity
for the professor to study an abundance of specimens.
He has been engaged twelve years on this special
subject, during which, he tells us, several hundred
thousand species of amber passed through his hands,
and of these he has arranged and catalogued about
25,000 selected specimens. In addition to the
Konigsberg collection, Mr. Klebs selected, arranged,
and catalogued another belonging to the Prussian
Government, containing 12,000 specimens of amber.
Only those familiar with the slow and tedious
(although delightful) process of classificatory

arrangement know what trouble and pains all this
involved.

Mr. Klebs (to sum up a long and necessarily
technically abtruse paper — all the more scientifically
valuable on that account) is able largely to contribute
to our entomological knowledge the evolution of
many modern groups of insects. In amber, for
instance, are found kinds which are intermediate
between gnats and the brachypterous, or short-winged-
flies. Perhaps we know more of the early history of
those highly-celebrated insects, the ants, from their
fossilised appearance in amber than from any other
contributing geological source. Among the fossil'
insects imprisoned in amber, we learn that the two-
winged flies, of which our too-attentive house-fly is a
familiar example (Diptera), is most numerous!)-
represented. It always has been, even before the
days of "fly-papers." Mr. Klebs has made the
acquaintance of 20,000 of them in amber alone.
What a geological immortality ! It is pleasant to-
find that fossil-lice are not numerous in amber —
they reser\-ed their numerical abundance to a later
stage of the Tertiary period. Gnats and mosquitoes
also " lay low " during the Miocene epoch. Those
filmy-winged, flower-evolving insects (Hymenoptera)"
are very frequently found in amber. What a life-
history is theirs ! If only some accurate and true
scientific entomologist arise — a prophet who had
knowledge enough to gaze from the top of Pisgah,
not only from the presentment of the Promised Land,
but on the " backward track " (Phylogeny) of the forty
years' wanderings in the wilderness ! Professor Klebs'
paper is practically all this and more. Among his studies
of fossilised amber are 4000 enclosed beetles, 5000
members of the Neuroptera (or white ant and dragon-
fly family), 2500 specimens of Orthoptera (cock-
roaches, crickets, locusts, earwigs), and lastly
Mantido (or leaf-insects). The reader would hardly
imagine that the amber specimens include more than
one thousand sorts of butterflies and moths. Then
come fossil amber bugs, plant-lice, or aphides (wh:>
would imagine the latter were living millions of years
before men and women ?). Centipedes, "saw-flies,"
spiders (2500 specimens) are found in amber ; they
came after the flies, just as the flies were after the
sweet gum, and shared the same glorious fate ana
immortality. A few land-snails are also found,
thanks to their sluggish habits. There is sometime-
the feather of a bird, the scales of a lizard, and other
odds and ends. But what a recording angel a lump
of amber may be, and what a host of important
suggestions hang to and cluster by the above matter-
of-fact discoveries !

J. E. Taylor.

Mr. C. H. H. Walker, 12 Church Street, Liver-
pool, has constructed a new slide cabinet, made
more especially for biological and medical students,
and issued, post free, at 4^. 6(/.

HA RD WJCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Recently a baby seal was bom in the Blackpool
Aquarium. It is said to be the first seal born in this
■country in captivity. Unfortunately it was still-
born ; had it lived, the value of the event would have
been still greater to the company. But, as it is, the
•occurrence is one well worthy of note on account of
its " uniqueness."

It is with much sadness we have to record the
death of an eminent scientist and occasional con-
tributor, Dr. James Croll, author of " Climate and
Time," "Stellar Evolution," &c. Dr. Croll rose
.from being janitor at Glasgow University to being an
Jlon. LL.D. of the same.

Anybody desiring to know the history and
■botanical associations of that popular flower the
carnation, should read Mr. F. N. William's paper in
•'•The Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society"
.(Part 3, vol. xii.), entitled "The Carnation from a
Botanical Point of View."

A USEFUL contribution to the wants of book-
seekers and collectors is the last published catalogue
of Messrs. Doulan & Co., relating to " Zoological
• and Palaeontogical Works " offered for sale by this
well-known firm. A new periodical has recently been
issued, entitled "The Entomologist's Record and
Journal of Variation."

" The International Journal " is now the proud
name given to the alliance of the ancient journals en-
titled " Wesley Naturalists' Societies," and "Postal
Microsopical Society." Both did good and honour-
able work ; but the Philistines are usually opposed
to Samson ! Now we cordially recommend to our
.readers the first part of a New Series : " The Inter-
national Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science ;
The Postal Microscopical and Wesley Naturalists'
Societies' Journals," price 6(/., edited by Alfred Allen,
and the Rev. W. Spiers (London : Bailliere, Tindall
& Co.).

We are glad to draw the attention of our readers
ito the recently published Catalogue of Messrs. Dulau
.& Co., 37, Soho Square, London, devoted to general
Zoology and Palaeontology.

The Literary and Philosophical Club, 28 Berkeley
Square, Bristol, was formally opened on January ist.
Nearly five hundred members have already joined,
and it is to be hoped that the club will become a
literary and scientific centre for Bristol and its neigh-
bourhood. Public lectures will be given at intervals
under the auspices of the club. The first President
is Mr. Lewis Fry, M.P., and Mr. Henry A. Francis
holds the office of Honorary Secretary.

Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein & Co. have just
ipublished a cheap and excellent and highly useful

pamphlet, written by Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell, en-
titled, "The British Naturalist Catalogue of the
Land and Freshwater Mollusca of the British Isles,
with all the Named Varieties."

Messrs. Wesley & Son's last Natural History
Circular is devoted chiefly to works and papers on
Mollusca and Molluscoidea.

Mr. R. G. Mason has just brought out a cheap
and useful, as well as highly ingenious combination
of a lantern with a microscope. The combination
enables the lecturer to exhibit microscopic objects to
an audience. The combination can be easily dis-
severed, and the microscope used as such in the
ordinary fashion.

At the beginning of February perhaps the most
important sale of high-class natural history books
which has occurred for many years, is announced to
take place at Messrs. Hodgson's Literary Sale Rooms,
which many of our readers would like to be informed
about. Catalogues can be obtained of Mr. W. P.
Collins, 157 Great Portland Street, London. The
collection is stated to be rich in sets of scientific
journals, such as Journals and Transactions of the
Linnsean and Microscopical Societies, " Annals and
Magazine of Natural History," "Archiv. fur Mikro-
skopische Anatomic," "American Naturalist," and
many other valuable English and foreign serials.
The collection of separate monographs is particularly
rich in microscopy, entomology, invertebrate zoology
generally, and botany. There is also a large collec-
tion of pamphlets covering every branch of natural
science, classified and arranged according to subjects.
The Polyzoa, Protozoa, Arachnida, &c., are said to
be very complete.

MICROSCOPY.

The Vertical Ca^mera. — I infer from Mr.
Simmons' description of his instrument (SciENCE-
GossiP, Jan. 1891), that it; is the Zeiss camera lucida
which he refers to, and as I have used this apparatus
successfully for some time, perhaps I can give him
some little assistance. In the ordinary camera
lucidas the object to be drawn is projected upon the
paper which lies behind the microscope, the instru-
ment being placed in a horizontal position. In the
Zeiss camera, however, the image of the paper is
thrown upon the_ stage of the microscope, and the
object appears to be lying upon the paper, so that
tlie drawing can be made with ease as the pencil
appears to be upon the actual object instead of
following a projected image of it. The neutral tint
reflectors, Wollaston and other forms of cameras, re-
quire the microscope in a horizontal position, and the
eye looks straight downwards upon the drawing-paper;
the worst position for head and eye, and the most
uncomfortable that can be assumed. But with the

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP,

Zeiss instrument the microscope may be at any chosen
angle, and this is where its greatest advantage hes.
In working, I use a small drawing-board, made so
that it can be arranged at any angle. Setting the
microscope with the tube at about 45°, I place the
drawing-board on the right hand side, level with and
on the same plane as the microscope stage, and the
paper placed directly under the centre line of the
mirror attached to the camera. The following points
should be attended to : (i) The angle of the drawing-
board should be exactly the same as that of the
microscope stage, and the centre of the drawing
should be under the centre line of the camera mirror,
otherwise there will be distortions in the drawings, as
Mr. Simmons found, and the picture will be out of
proportion. (2) The drawing should be on a level
with the microscope stage, that is, the distance
between the camera mirror and- the drawing paper
should be the same as between- the eye-piece of the
stage, if the magnification is required to be the same
in drawing as under the microscope. (3) The light on
the object and that on the drawing-paper should, in
neither case, be so bright or so dull that one obcures
the other, or either the paper will be too dark and
the pencil point lost, or in the other case, the paper
will be so illuminated that the object will disappear
altogether. A little practice will, however, soon
enable the respective lights to be arrived at easily ;
that upon the stage being modified in the usual way
from the lamp, and that upon the paper by means of
the neutral tint glasses supplied with the camera
lucida. I have found that blackening the pencil
point enables its being more easily seen against the
white paper. — M. L. Syhes, Patricroft.

Pocket-Lens. — Would some reader kindly tell
me how I can ascertain the magnifying power of a
single (pocket) lens ? When I place it upon an
object, I want to know how many times that object
is magnified ? — W. F. Kehey, Maldon.

Mounting Cochineal Insects.— There is one
thing I should like to draw attention to, and that is
the mounting of sections (cochineal) so as to show
the little purple granules, ' containing the colouring
matter. I have tried nearly every kind of liquid, but
find that in every case the colour is extracted and
mingled with the fluid, thus ruining the specimens
at once. The' only thing I find I can use is turpentine,
which preserves them splendidly, but the puzzle is
what cement can be used to contain the turpentine ?
Perhaps some correspondents could give hints con-
cerning this, which I think would prove useful to
others as well as myself. — If. Durrani.

Land and Freshwater Shells. — Will any
Conchological readers of Science-Gossip kindly
oblige with particulars of the distribution of the
MoUusca in the home counties? Is there any pub-
lished list obtainable?— C/5a;7t'j/'a««a//, Junr., East
Street, Haslemerc.

ZOOLOGY.

The "Proceedings" of the Liverpool Geological
Society contain the following addresses and papers : —
By the President, "On the Life of the English
Trias"; "Notes on the Geological Excursion to
Anglesey," by T. M. Reade ; "Glacial iVIoraines,"
by L. Gumming ; "Note on a Liverpool Boulder,"
by T. M. Reade ; " The Contorted Schists of Anglc-
sea," by Dr. C. Ricketts ; "Microscopical Examina-
tions of Two Glacial Boulders," by J. E. George ;.
" On a Recent Discovery of a new Bone Cave at
Deep Dale, near Buxton," by J. J. Fitzpatrick ; "An
Examination of a Few Anglesea Rocks," by P.
Holland and E. Dickson, &c.

The ' ' Transactions of the Penzance Natural
History Society " include the following papers, besides
reports of excursions, &c. :— " The Presidential
Address" of the Right Hon. L. H. Courtenay ;.
' ' The Flora of Guernsey compared with that of West
Cornwall," by E. D. Marquand ; "Foreign Plants-
in West Cornwall," by W. A. Glasson ; "Plants-
growing in Tresco Abbey Gardens," by A. H.
Teague (this collection of living plants on a small
island is one of the most w-onderful facts in horti-
culture) ; Mr. Teague also contributes a paper on
" Starch as a Vegetable Production."

The first Part of the " South Eastern Naturalist "'
is published as the Journal of the Associated Natural
History Societies of the south-east of England.
Among the chief papers in this first and well-edited
number are the following : — " Life History of the
Giant Hogweed," by J. Reid ; "Beds between
Chalk and London Clay," by George Dowker ;
"Notes on the Great Pipe Fish," by G. Dowker;.
"Leaf Fungi of 1889 in the Neighbourhood of Dover,"
by W. T. Haydon ; "The Otolithes of Fishes," by
Sydney Webb; "A Neolithic Find near Dover,"
by W. T. Haydon, &c,

Black-Necked Grebe. — A fine specimen of the
eared or black-necked grebe {P. Nigricollis) was shot
on the Ouse, near York, October 23rd, and brought
to me in the flesh. It has since been stuffed and set
up by Helstrip, bird and animal preserver of this city.
Messrs Clarke & Roebuck, in their 1881 edition of
the "Yorkshire Naturalists' Handbook," record this
species as having occurred in Yorkshire on eight,
occasions. The bird is now in my possession. —
William Hewett.

A New British Worm.— The Rev. Hilderic
Friend, F.L.S., has recently discovered a new and
curious British worm, first described in 185 1 by Dr.
Grube from a single Siberian specimen under the name
of Lumbriais vudtispiniis. On account of its difference

HARDWI CKE 'S S CIENCE- G O SSIF.

in structure it was removed by Vaillant from the
genus Lumbricus, and made the representative of a
new genus called Echinodrilus. The worm is only
an inch in length when full grown, and has from
three to six setae in each group, four of which groups
or combs are placed on each segment save the first.
It is abundant in the one locality where it is at
present known to occur. The worm is being figured
or described elsewhere.

The Colours of Shells.— In reply to Mr.
.Barnes, the only publications on this subject, besides
ihose published by myself (Science-Gossip, August,
J890, and "Naturalists' Gazette," July and August,
1890, with a note in the " Zoologist " the year before
last), Mr. Pace's note (Science- Gossip, September,
1890), and Mr. Frj-er's article (Science-Gossip,
.■November, 1890), known to me are as follows : —
Mr. T. D. a. Cockerell, Science-Gossip, January,
]888 (referred to by Mr. Fryer) ; Mr. J. W. Taylor,
"Valedictory Address," "Journ. Conch.," April,
1888 (referred to by Mr. Fryer as the supposition of
Mr. Taylor on p. 242, ante, but really being the
:5upposition of Mr. Ashford) ; E. Schumann, " Schr.
Ges. Danz." (2), vi. p. 2 ; Bandelot, " Bull. Soc,
Strasb." i. (1868), pp. 132-134; Dietz, "J. B. Ver.
Augsb." XXV. (1879), p. 92; Hartmann, " CJastro-
poden d. Schweiz," 1840-44, p. 17 ; Colbeau, " Bull.
Soc. Mai. Belg." vii. p. 89; Gredler, " Nachr.
Mai. Ges." 1878, pp. 33-37; Tryon, "Structural
and Systematic Conchology " ; Williams, " Land and
Freshwater Shells," p. 19; H. E. Poulton, "The
Colours of Animals " ; Eimer, " Organic Evolution " ;
Cockerell, " Zoologist " (3), x. p. 341 ; Simroth,
" Nachr. Mai. Ges." xviii. pp. 65-80 ; Dodd,
"Journ. Conch." iv. p. 304; Eimer, "Tag.
Deut. Nat. Vers." Iviii. p. 408. In addition to
.these there exists a note of which I have not the
reference by me, but think it was published in the
"Journal of Conchology." This is by Miss Hele,
and records the darkening of H. aspersa by feeding
on lettuce. Possibly there are other papers of which
I have not summaries in my note-book. An inter-
esting paper by the Rev. Mr. Pearce, on the varia-
ftions in Helix caperata, has been lately published in
ihe "Journal of Conchology." In addition, the
following papers may also interest Mr. Barnes :—
Krukenberg, "Verg. Physiol. Vortrage," iii. 1884;
Macmunn, " Q. J. M. S." 1877 and 1885; " Proc.
Birm. Philosoph. Soc." iii, 1881-83, and vol. v. ;
•"Journal of Physiology," vols. vi. and viii. ; "Phil.
Trans." 1885 and 1886; "Proc. Physiol. Soc."
1887 ; " Brit. Ass. Reports," 1883 ; Lankester,
"Q. J. M. S." vol. xxii. ; Poulton, "Proc. Roy.
•Soc." 1885; Pockhngton, " Phar. Journ, Trans."
vol. iii. ; Moseley, " Q. J. M." xvii. ; and the papers
of Mr. Gulich, " Nature," July i8th, 1872; "Journ.
Linn. Soc"; "Zoology," vols. xi. and xx.— y. IV.
IVilliams,

BOTANY.

The Value of Attractive Characters to
Fungi.— Mr. C. R. Straton writes to "Nature" as
follows : — The importance of attractive colours and
odours, and of modifications of form to flowering
plants is now perfectly understood ; but the value of
attractive characters to Fungi has received compara-
tively little recognition. At first sight it would seem
unnecessary that a plant, unsusceptible of fertilisation,
should possess characters apparently designed to
enlist living creatures in its service : there is no pollen
for them to carry, and no ripe seed for them to
distribute, and attractive characters, such as colour,
taste, and odour, are extremely well marked. The
colours which fungi exhibit include almost every hue
from white to black. We have the brilliant red of
peziza cups : the orange-scarlet of the Amanita
mitscarius, with its cap gaily speckled with white ;
the crimson of the Russula emetica ; the rich yellow
of the Cantharellus cibarius ; the blue of the bruised
Boletus luridus ; the amethyst of the Agariacs
laccatus ; and the dark green of the bruised Ladariiis
deliciosus, with every possible shade to the deepest
jet. But not only have fungi colours that are
attractive by day ; some, like the Agaricus okamts, are
phosphorescent by night. Many tropical species
light up the jungle in the hours of darkness ; and in
this country the coal-mines are often found illuminated
by one of the polypores which propagates itself on the
timbers of the workings. The tastes and odours of
fungi are equally varied and attractive. Many
Agarics have an odour of fresh meal ; the Hydnuin
repandum rejoices in the flavour of oysters ; the
Armillaria mucidus in that of nuts ; the yellou'
chanterelle in that of apricots ; others have the scent
of various flowers, such as the violet and woodruff ; or
of aromatics like anise ; while a large number have
an indescribable damp-cellar or fungus smell, such as
slugs delight in. Many, like the shameless stinkhorn
{Phallus iinpudicus) emit an intolerable stench, which
so strongly resembles " the carrion of some woodland
thing " that blow-flies and ravens quickly find it out.
There can be little doubt that these are attractive
characters. What, then, can be the service which
these characters induce animals to perform for
fungi ? To answer this let us review briefly the
life-history of any fungus possessing characters of
an attractive kind. The common mushroom
[Fsalliota campcstris) is particularly agreeable to sheep
and oxen, and is abundant in autumn in rich pastures,
although there is still much in our knowledge of its
life-history that is incomplete, yet it is evidently
composed of two main periods : first, a parasitic
period passed in the body of an animal host ; and
secondly, a sapropliytic period passed on some suitable
organic soil. Let us sow the spores of a ripe mush-
room as carefully as we may, none of them will

HARDVVICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

grow : the first stage of the mushroom's existence
must be passed in the body of an animal host ; and
as horses, sheep and oxen are all readily attracted by
its taste and mealy smell, it has never any difficulty
in finding a host to take it in. When once the spores
have passed from the body of the host, they produce
a mycelium, from which the future mushroom is
formed. The connection between fungi and animal
droppings is a matter of verj- early obser\-ation, and
our forefathers were wont to believe that certain evil
species came from the body of the Wicked One,
and familiarly called them tode's stools, or devil's
droppings. In this division of the life-histoiy of
fungi, I believe, we have the key to the value of
attractive characters. Horses, oxen, sheep, foxes,
squirrels, moles, birds, snails, and insects are all
attracted by appropriate scents, tastes, and colours ;
and the forms and habitats of fungi are those which
have least succeeded in attracting their particular
hosts. There is no living being either great or small
enough to escape the attentions of these plants in
their ceaseless endeavours to attract ; and among
fungi, just as among flowering plants, every variation
of form, scent and colour has been perpetuated and
developed, because it has been successful in attracting
and in thus securing the multiplication of the species.
The subject is one, I think, that rcffuires the gathering
together of much individual observation in all parts
of the world ; and it would be -ivell if those who have
the opportunity would note at the time the name of
the fungus and its observed host, and if students of
biology, who possess facilities for laboratory work
would follow the matter still further by artificial
cultures, and so determine the^ changes that take
place in the body of the host, and the course of the
alternating sexual and agamous generations.

Chlorophyll in Plants.— Mr. J. Ballantyne's
article in November's issue of SciENCE-GossiP is
most interesting. A few years since I dug up in my
garden a hyacinth bulb which had been buried so
deep that it could never have come to the surface.
Its leaves were green, and the- purple flower gave
evidence that colour can be produced without light
and air. I think I mentioned this at the time, and
no notice was taken of it. — Rir.\ S, Arthur Breiian,
Cuskendu7t.

Hydrocotyle Asiatica. — In a recent number
of Science-Gossip I see amongst the Notes and
Queries a reference to the plant Hydrocotyle Asiatica,
I have never heard of its use as a cure for leprosy ;
but that it possesses medicinal and tonic properties
is evident from the fact that it is used by the Tamil
and Singhalese natives in Ceylon as a fish-poison.
During a residence of some years in Ceylon, I
frequently witnessed the operation. The leaves and
stems of the plants are pounded into a pulp and
stirred into the pool containing the fish, the stream
having been first diverted into a side channel. The

fish soon show signs of uneasiness, and rise to the
surface of the water, they are then easily captured by
hand. Both //. Asiatica and H. Javanica are used
for this purpose.—^. Ernest Green.

Hydrocotyle Asiatica.— En reponse a la
question posee par Me. Edith R. Allan dans le
dernier No. de votre journal, p. 282, j'ai I'honneur de
vous adresser la note suivante, qui, j'espere, repondra
aux desirs de votre correspondante. Hydrocotyle
Asiatica (L.) est une petite plante employee depuis-
long-temps dans la therapeutique indienne contre la,
fievre et surtout pour ses proprietes therapeutiques.
En 1872 le Dr. Boileau, qui etait atteint de %re,.
crut s'etre gueri par I'emploi de cette plante, et des
details a ce sujet ont ete publics par Bouton:
("Medical Plants of Mauritius"). Le Dr. Boileau
est mort de la lepre. Des experiences ont ete faites a.
I'Hopital des Lepreux par le Dr. Alex. Hunter qui
ne parut pas lui avoir reconnu une grande efficacite.
Le Dr. J. Shortt considere I'hydrocotyle comme
pouvant donner de bons effets dans les affections
lepreuses en raison de ses proprietes alterantes et
toniques. La plante a ete analysee par un pharmacien
de la Maison de Pondichery Lepine, qui y a trouve
un principe particulier. La dose est poudre 3 grains
par jour, teinture alcoolique \ grain.— Z?r. J. Leon
Soubeiranz, Professetir cl r Ecole de Pharmacieny
Montpellier.

Crepis Taraxifolia as a Sussex Plant. —
In your issue of November last your correspondent
R. B. P. records the finding of the above at
Willingdon. I may state that it also grows in
profusion at the Buxted end of the railway cutting-
between Uckfield and Buxted, where I gathered spe-
cimens last June. It is quite possible that it may
occur in other localities as it might easily be over-
looked or mistaken for some allied species. — F., Uck-
field.

Euphorbia Cyparissias in Kent. — If Messrs..
Styan and Haydon will refer to the report of the
Botanical Localities Record Club for 1876, they will
there find the occurrence of this spurge in Kent duly
notified. Specimens were distributed by me to the ■
members of the Botanical Exchange Club in that
and the following year. In one of the numbers of?
Science-Gossip for 1890, mention was made of
the plant having been gathered near Eastbourne. It
is frequent on the chalk slopes of Normandy, where
I have seen it growing in open places among box
and juniper ; also in Switzerland, in bushy places on
calcareous soil, and by roadsides, but not in woods.
I did not see any of it beyond Leuk. — E. de Cris-
pigny. — P.S. — See also February number of this
periodical for 1877.

Autumn Colours and Tints. — The remarks on
autumn colours by Professor Pellsbury, which
appeared in a recent number of SciENCE-GossiP, are

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIF.

an the main correct, but do not seem to be entirely
so. For instance, erythrophyll, the red colouring-
matter of the cells of plants, is certainly not
■** derived from chlorophyll by the chemical forces of
the plant." On the other hand, xanthophyll (phyl-
loxanthin) undoubtedly is so derived, and it is the
only colouring pigment of leaves at all events that
is so related to chlorophyll or directly connected
therewith.. The statement, therefore, that "the
chlorophyll of the green flower or fruit is changed
into a special colouring-matter such as anthoxanthin,
etc.," can hardly be borne out. So far as the caves
are concerned, the state of affairs seems to be this.
During the whole life of the leaf, or at least as soon
as the normal amount of chlorophyll has been
formed therein, a small quantity is perpetually being
■changed (oxidised) to xanthophyll. This quantity is
■so small, or rather I think its colouring power is so
comparatively feeble, that it is, as stated in the
extract, "more or less comparatively covered up by
the presence of chlorophyll," i.e., by the blue-green
■constituent thereof. When the life of the leaf is
destroyed by frost or drought, the chlorophyll
is rapidly changed to xanthophyll, and this latter
•constitutes the first of the series of autumnal
tints. It very quickly, however, gives way to the
ochre, russet, and orange-brown, which are the
distinctive features of the autumnal woods, until
idtimately the dark, muddy, unpleasant shades of
final dissolution close the scene. The chlorophyll
and its derivative xanthophyll seem to be completely
destroyed or bleached, and thereupon the russet or
brown colours depending on totally different
principles came up into a supremacy which is more
or less vigorous and durable, according to the
variations of the season. As Sachs has it, "the
distinctive yellow autumn coloration of leaves
-depends on the yellow coloration of the disorganised
chlorophyll bodies : the autumnal brown coloration
of the cell-walls, chiefly, however, of the cell-
contents." I need hardly add that my personal
researches amply corroborate these observations of
the great German botanist. What then, it may be
asked, is the cause of erythrophyll, the exquisite red
colouring matter of the American maple leaf in the
fall ? The chemical cause is the oxidation or
hydration of the gallotannic or gallic acid, which is
abundant in the autumn ; and the special vividness
of the colour in this particular case is due to the
comparative delicacy and flaccidity of the tissues
whereby the oxidizing agencies of the air, etc., can
operate freely and potently. Some American
correspondent will doubtless correct me if I be
wrong ; but judging from some dried maple leaves
that I possess I consider that, as compared with our
own sycamore, their texture and consistency are con-
siderably more herbaceous, i.e., more thin and
flaccid. The following facts seem also to support
the main conclusion. A small thin bright red

sycamore leaf growing on a young shoot in mid-
summer was analysed, and found to contain much
gallic acid and a little chlorophyll (about as much as
an early red copper beech leaf contains), and sugar.
The other leaves of the same shoot were completely
green, but were much larger and stouter. I once
found an autumn sycamore leaf whose vivid tints
seemed to vie with those of the Transatlantic forest.
I picked it up : it was thin, delicate, and breaking to
shreds. On boiling the redder portions in dilute
alcohol the pigment dissolved leaving them almost
quite colourless ; and the solution gave the reactions
of erythrophyll, acetic acid, and a little gum, and
unchanged gallic acid. — P. Q. Keegaii.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Nest of Bombus Lapidaris. — In September
last, I found, in a small enclosure adjoining my
garden, a nest of Boinbiis lapidaris, and as my
little girl played on this ground, I removed it. The
nest was situated at teast twelve feet from the wall
in a corner formed by the two walls meeting. The
turf was smooth all round for more than six feet.
In one direction, in the corner, was a small heap of
stones covered with moss and nettles. A careful
inspection — no hole nor appearance of one, except at
the nest, which was of proper size. The nest was
found about seven inches deep, and one foot from
entrance. After carefully clearing the earth and
stones all round, I put my fingers under the nest so
as not to disturb the contents. Judge my surprise,
when the nest was safely placed on a board, to see
the skull of a stoat sticking out on one side. I found
the nest was built on a dead stoat, the body being
curled around with head raised in a comfortable
manner. The fur was worked into the covering of
the nest. Do these bees take advantage of dead
animals for the sake of the fur? Or is there any
other such case on record? — C. IF. P

Seaweeds. — In reply to F. II. B.'squery(p. 262),
I am sorry to say that I have not yet sufficient
experience to answer his questions ; but a lady-
collector, who spends a great deal of time at Swanage,
told me that she found four species of Delesseria
there, and several other imcommon seaweeds, of
which I have now forgotten the names. — A. H. B.

Vegetable Teratology.— In Science-Gossip
for November, Dr. J. E. Taylor gives an account of
strange monstrosities in plants. The. case of the
" Arum" Lily of the Nile has come under my own
notice also, and the case in which the sepals of
fuchsia have reverted to the leaf condition. I once
found on cutting open an orange what appeared to
be a fungus growing in the centre, which I dried and
kept. — Rev. S. A. Brcnari,

Curiosities in Eggs. — In accordance with a
wish expressed by Mr. J. P. Nunn, in the April
number of Science-Gossip, that collectors would
chronicle any curiosities in eggs with which they
may meet, I have here written an account of such as
have come under my notice. One of the most
curious freaks in eggs which I have ever observed is a
ca^e which came under my notice in the spring of the
year 1 890. On May the I2th, I was shown two eggs,
with somewhat the appearance of robin's, though

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

much larger, and with only one or two large red
spots on them. The person who showed them to me
said that he had taken them from a nest in a wall,
and that he had substituted two robin's eggs from
another nest. On the night following, I went with
the above-mentioned person to the nest. It was
nearly dark when we reached, the place, and upon
putting his hand into the hole he drew forth the
mother bird, which proved to be a robin. This was
not very surprising, but, upon our examining the
nest, we found it to contain, besides the two substi-
tuted robin's eggs, three purely white ones. From the
facts of this case, I should conjecture that the hen bird
had exhausted the stock of colouring matter in the
first two eggs, and that consequently the subsequent
three were white. In the eggs of the common
thrush also I have found eccentricities. On April 5,
1890, 1 saw a throstle's nest containing four eggs, all
of which were very large, and were marked with large
red-brown blotches, with the exception of one, which
was marked like ordinary specimens. On May 27, I
observed a throstle's nest containing two specimens of
the rounded spotless eggs of the thrush, mentioned by
Mr. Nunn and others. I have seen several eggs of this
class taken from this district, and also those of the
blackbird of the same type, i.e. devoid of markings.
On May 3, 1889, I took a blackbird's egg entirely
covered with deep red markings, and much resembling
a ring-ouzel's, from a nest containing four others of
the ordinary greenish colour. A friend of mine in
this town has in his collection several notable
curiosities, all taken by himself, e.g., a white sparrow-
hawk's egg taken from a nest containing three others
of the ordinary type. Two house -sparrow's eggs
with the markings gathered in a cap at the large end,
and a dwarf magpie's egg about the size of a marble.
In two instances have I met with greatly elongated
eggs, a missel thrush's taken on April 8, 1890, and a
blackbird's. On May loth, 1890, a throstle came
under my notice which was sitting on four of her
own eggs and a blackbird's, all of which were nearly
hatched. — Rcnulatui H. Hill, Halifax

Var. of p. Napi, etc. — In looking over my
collection of Lepidoptera, I note the following which
may be of some interest. A female specimen of the
green-veined white {P. Xapi), in which all the ner-
vures on the upper side are very deeply marked,
showing a perfect outline of the veins, and, .with a
broad band of dusky shading at the lower margin of
the front wings. Possibly this is one of the varieties
formerly ranked as distinct species ; it was taken at
Richmond Walk, May 26th, 1887, from a cluster of
jiettles. Also a specimen of the pearl bordered
Fritillary {A. E7tphrosy7ie), which was netted at
liickleigh Vale, May 21st, 1888. It was at the time
a perfectly fresh insect, but with its leit front wing
crumpled, with the markings in miniature. Thus
showing that some mishap had befallen it whilst
emerging from its aurelial covering. — Frederick G,
Smart.

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES.

Nov. 3rd. — Rooks busy building in their rookery —
one old bird sitting in the nest and its mate was
breaking ofif twigs- and carrying it to the one in nest
— the other birds were busy in the same waj'.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

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

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

To Dealers and Others. — We are always glad to trea'
dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general
ground as amateurs, in so far as the "exchanges" offered are
fair exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are
simply Disguised Advertisements, for the purpose of evading
the cost of advertising, an advantage is taken oi oux graiiiitoui
insertion of "exchanges," which cannot be tolerated.

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

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

To OUR Recent Exchangers. — We are willing and helpful
to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow dis-
guised Exchanges like those which frequently come to. us
to appear unless as advertisements.

Dec. I. — Skylark singing.

A heron is called a goose ghost in this locality,
and is stated to be able to pass an eel through its
body and then eat it. At the fell moon it is considered
in good plump condition. — Rrj. S. A . Brenaii, ,

F. — A special number of Science-Gossip devoted to the
Hepaticse was published in 1865 or 1866, abundantly illustrated.
We fear it is now out of print, but apply to Messrs. W. H.
Allen & Co., Waterloo Place, London. We are always pleased
to welcome new contributors.

J. Fordvcb. — Apply to Mr. W. F. Collins, 157 Portland
Street, W., for information concerning Leighton's " Fasciculi
of British Lichens." He njay have a Fascirulus.

H. Browne. — Your guess is probably right, but take the
egg to the Norwich Museum and compare it.

R. D. — Get Burbidge's book on " Cool Orchids and How to
Grow Them" (published by W. H. Allen & Co., Waterloo
Place, we believe).

R. Addington. — Get Dr. M. C. Cooke's admirable little
book (published by the Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge) on "Pond-Hunting" (price is. 6d.); or, stijl
better, the same indefatigable Dr. M. C. Cooke's boofc on
" Freshwater Algae," just publiihed at 5 J. by Messrs. Kegai:
Paul & Co.

H. A. M. — The editor cannot undertake to send copies of
his magazine to writers of books sent for notice who inform
him they do not take in Science-Gossip. That is both their
fault and their loss.

R. Draper. — Get Professor Asa Gray's book on " How
Plants Grow, Climb," &c. (fairly cheap, if you get it second-
hand of Messrs. Wesley & Son, Essex Street, Strand ; or Mr.
W. P. Collins, 157 Great Portland Street). In that capital
manual you will find all that you want, and more to stimulate
you for years to come, than any three. line? of commonrplace
explanation could give you. The sun has not got so much to
do with the climbing as the plants have.

EXCHANGES,

Wanted, a good Murex adustus. Offered, "Naturalists'
Gazette," 1890, complete.— W. Jones, jun., 27 Mayton Street,
HoUoway, London.

Offered, i-inch objective, 16°, by Tentmayer. What offers
in exchange in micro-slides or books ? Apply — T. W. Derring-
ton, 46 Worcester Street, Wolverhampton.

Wanted, Science-Gossip for 1874. Address— W. F. Kelsey,

Maldon. . , , .

Wanted, a few' fern fronds showing capsules, dried leaves,
Onosma iaurica, &c., and sand containing micro-shells. State
exchange requirements. — H. Ebbage, Framlingham, Suffolk.

Over one hundred species of beautifully mounted ferns, in
handsome half-bound book, fitting into strong case. What
ofiers? — Joseph .Anderson, jun.. Aire Villa, Chichester.

Fine and well-set species of British lepidoptera, in exchange
for postage stamps (unused copies of obsolete English, and
used or unused foreign desired).— Joseph Anderson, jun., Aire
Villa, Chichester.

V. inoulinsiana offered for L. involuta, S. oblonga,ar acme ;
also fossils, &c., in exchange for rock specimens, especially
slides.— Rev. John Hawell, Ingleby Greenhow Vicarage,
Northallerton. . .

FoRAM. sand from Barmouth, Montereau, Mauritius ; chalk,
coal measures, sponge, W. India, Channel Isles and Etag^

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Langhien. Sections of corals and spongy forms, minute recent
corals, coral vars., &c., also about half-a-dozen crystals, &c.
Wanted, material (no diatoms or forams), ground-edge slips,
cells, thin glass covers, living pupae, or anything pertaining to
natural history. — H. Durrant, 4 Boulton Road, West Bromwich.

Small collection of British and foreign shells, unnamed,
iSo specimens, sixty or more varieties. Also small geological
/:ollection. What offers? or will exchange for good book on
British beetles. — H. Browne, 53 St. Philip's Road, Heigham,
Norwich.

Wanted, the following British land and freshwater shells : —
7". haliotidea, scututuju ; A. marginata, gagates ; L. Icevis,
Hnereo-niger , arboriim ; S. oblonga, H. obvoluta ; V. aiitiver-
iigo, lilljeborgi, moulinsiana, substriata, tutitida, angnstior ;
A. lineata, P. acuta, H. jfcnkinsit, and vars. of all water
shells, also Continental and other foreign land and freshwater
shells. Will give American land and freshwater shells, birds'
skins, nests and eggs, living land tortoises (box), and beetles,
butterflies, and fungi mosses. Foreign correspondence solicited.
— W. J. Farrer, box 16, Orange, Va., U.S.A.

For exchange, a small collection of land, freshwater, and
marine shells, fossils, &c., about 80 species, 200 specimens.
Wanted, good microscope objective, i or i. — S. O. Grocock,
M.C.S., 13 Lower Maryon Road, Charlton, Kent.

"Atlas of Fossil Conchology" (Brown's), 114 large
.plates, 3500 figures, published 1889 at three guineas, offered
lor collection of fossils or mineralogical specimens. Wanted,
"The Micrographic Dictionary." — Mr. Stewart, 17 Upper
Gilmore Place, Edinburgh.

What offers for Darwin's " Phytologia," first edition, quarto,
-boards ; Darwin's " Zoonomia," second edition, 2 vols, quarto,
calf; Karl Russ's " Speaking Parrots;" Greene's "Amateur's
Aviary of Foreign Birds;" Marshall's "The Frog;" also
SciENCK-Gossii' for 1884 and 1889. — H. Roberts, 60 Princess
Road, Kilburn, London.

Small collection of minerals, in case, offered in exchange
for fossils or shells. — T. W. Reader, 171 Hemingford Road,
London, N.

New Zealand shells, principally marine, offered for shells
(not in collection, foreign land and freshwater species preferred.
— W. A. Gain, Tuxford, Newark.

Wanted, Harvey's "Phycologia Britannica." Offered,
Crouch microscope with i-inch and i-inch objectives, or Zeiss
i-inch immersion objective. — T. H. Buffham, Comely Bank
iioad, Walthamstow.

Wanted, Science-Gossip, Nos. 253-308, in exchange for
first-class micro-slides. — W. Tutcher, 57 Berkeley Road,
Bristol.

Duplicates. — Sophina calias, Streptaxis Blanfordi, S.
Tlieobaldi, S. Burmaitica, S. botnbax, S. cxaC7iius, Clausiiia
iVaageni, C. Theobaldi, C. iusignis, C. Gouldiana, C. cylin-
drica, Helkarioti Flemingit, Cataulus albescens, RapJiarlus
chrysalis, Hybocystis gravida, Cyclophorus Siame?isis, C.
speciosus ; list of many others. Desiderata, Indian and South
American land shells. — Miss Linter, Arragon Close, Twicken-
ham.

Wanted, any books relating to microscopy, also choice
anraounted material, in exchange for choice microscopic slides
>jf every description. — R. Suter, 5 Highweek Road, Totten-
ham, London.

Wanted, an injecting syringe and a Valentin's knife. —
H. P., 103, Camden Street, London, N.W.

Oldlmmia antiqua andC. radatia, Cambrian rocks. Bray
Head. What offers in minerals or fossils for the above 7—
William Doyle, Seapoint Road, Bray, Ireland.

Collection of dried plants, fifty species, made in Italy and
France, 1844, most mounted. List on application. 'What
offers? To be disposed of complete ; mosses desired. — Miss E.
Armitage, Dadnor, Ross.

C.^ssell's " Science for All," 5 vols, (clean, unbound),
" Knowledge," 2 vols., 1887, 1S88 (clean, unbound), and several
cithers, offered in exchange for British land and freshwater
mollusca not in collection. Send list to — C. H. J. Baldock,
f 7 Brewer Street, Woolwich.

Duplicates. — Varieties of guillemot eggs, including some
choice forms. Desiderata, British birds' eggs not in collection,
or varieties of same. — W. Hewett, 6 Howard Street, Fulford
Road, York.

Valuable Grecian clausilias, and other shells, offered for
shells not in collection. — Address — Miss F. M. Hele, 11 Elm-
grove Road, Cotham, Bristol.

A fine collection of Scotch graphites offered in exchange for
rare tropical shells. — Address — Miss F. M. Hele, 11 Elmgrove
Road, Cotham, Bristol.

Advertiser wishes to correspond with some person who
will undertake to send names of South African spiders and
f;corpions in exchange for specimens. — F. West, Poplar Villa,
Lansdowne Place, Port EliEabeth.

"Royal Microscopical Journal," 1 869-1 S87, inclusive, in
parts, all clean and perfect. What offers? — B., 3 Brownhill
Road, Catford, Kent.

Wanted British and foreign shells not in collection. Offered,
many other shells. — E. R. Sykes, 9 Belvidere, Weymouth.

Offered, more than 550 species of plants from the North of
iFrance, in exchange, at once, for as many species, provided

they be not French ones. Write to M. Abel Briquet, 49 Rue
Jean de Bologne, Douai (Nord), France.

Wanted, January, 1890, number of Science-Gossip, ts .
offered. Address — Rev. W. Langley, Narborough Rectory,
Leicester.

Offered, about 400 species of fossils of the tertiary Parisian
grounds, well named, in good state of preservation, and in good
number ; also living shells. Wanted in exchange, fossils of
other tertiary grounds, living shells, prehistoric matters, and
postage stamps. — M. Louis Giraux, 22 Rue Saint Blaise, Paris.

Offered, good case of ichthyosaurus, from lias of Lyme
Regis, 22 X 12. Wanted, any good fossils from any formation.
— M., 56 Clarendon Villas, West Brighton.

K. Bonnet, 9 Rue Mazagrau, Paris, offers good fossils
from the Paris tertiaries in exchange for fossils from all forma-
tions, and recent shells.

Wanted, brilliant foreign coleoptera ; need not be set, but
must be correctly named. Good exchange given in first-class
botanical sections, either mounted or unmounted, or objects of
general interest. State quantity of specimens with sample. —
R. G. Mason, 69 Clapham Park Road, Clapham, S.W.

Bryum Marrattii, B. calophyllum, B. IVarneum, Hypnum
cristi-castrensis, Catoscopiuin nigritum, Buxbaumia aphylla,
and a few others, in exchange for microscopic slides. — Geo.
Forbes, 7 Graham Place, Dundee.

Freshwater fishes. Wanted, to correspond with anglers
or others who could supply good fresh specimens of trout,
roach, perch, pike, &c., suitable for purposes of taxidermy.
Would give in exchange preserved specimens in any branch of
marine zoology, micro-slides of highest class, scientific books.
—J. Sinel, 6 Peel Villas, St. Helier, Jersey.

Wanted, odonata (dragonfiies) from all parts of the world.
Slate desiderata in return. North American odonata for ex-
change. — Philip P. Calvert, Academy of Natural Sciences,
Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.A.

Wanted, entomological store boxes and apparatus in good
condition. Exchange secondary or tertiary fossils, or eggs and
nests of our common birds. — W. D. Carr, Lincoln.

Collection of British shells, entomological setting cabinet,
collecting box, and store box. Will exchange for books or
anything useful. — J. Morton, New Brompton, Kent.

Offered, Science-Gossip for 1890, and January, 1891.
Wanted, carboniferous fossils. Send lists to — B. T. Bonser,
Colebrooke House, 29 Highbury New Park, London.

VVanted, to correspond with collectors in Britain and abroad
with the view of exchanging birds' eggs in the coming season.
Send list of wants and duplicates. Can offer many species o
American eggs on British list. — Robert William.s, Croase
House, Kingsland, R.S.O.

BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE.

"Acids in Practical Geology," by G. A. J. Cole (London:
C. H. Griffin & Co.). — " F.-ithers of Biology," by Ch. McRae
(London: Percival & Co.). — "The Honey Bee," by T. W.
Coward (London: Houlston & Sons). — Wesley's "Nat. Hist,
and Scientific Book Circular," No. 105. — " Knowledge." —
" American Microscopical Journal." — "American Naturalist."
— "Canadian Entomologist." — " The Naturalist." —" The
Botanical Gazette." — "The Gentleman's Magazine."— " The
Midland Naturalist."—" Feuille des Jeunes Naturalistes." —
" The Microscope." — "Nature Notes." — "Proceedings of the
Geologists' Association." — " Victorian Naturalist." — Dr. C. V.
Riley's Report to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (always
welcome). — Same author on " Insecticides and means of
Applying them to Shade and Forest Trees " (published by
ditto). — Dulau's "Catalogue of Zool. and Palseontolog. Lit." —
" Brtish Naturalist Catalogue of Land and Freshwater Shells
Great Britain," by T. D. A. Cockerell.— " Jourral of Quekett
Microscopical Club." — "British Cage Birds," Part 9. — " British
Canary Book," Part 9, &c., &c.

Communications received up to the i2Th ult. from:

E. B.— A. E.— Dr. A. C— Dr. A. E. G.-E. C— C. W. P.—
A. H. B.— E. G. E.— A. E.— L. G.— A. J. J. B— W. L.—
S. A. B.— W. H.— Dr. G. C. M.— R. H. H.— A. C— Prof.
J. L. S.— E. E.— G. W. N.— R. M.— F. B. C— G. R. S.—

F. M. H.— V. A. L.— E. E. G.— F. W.— E. N. L.— F. G. S.—
W. B.— W. F.— C. P.— R. S.— W. C— W. J. F.— F. N. W.
— L. O. C— W. D. S.— H. R.— T. W. R.— W. A. G.—
T. H. B.— J. H.— H. D.— J. F.— H. E.— J. T.— Miss E.—
C. H. J. B.— E. B.— E. H. F.-J. A., jun.— Dr. E. De C—
H. E.— W. F. K.— M. B. M.— W. D.— M. L. S.— W. J. J.—
T. W. C— C. W.— J. B. H.— J. E. L.— G. F.— 1. T.—
F. C. M.— H. A. F.— V. C— H. F.— R. G. M.— J. S. W.—
A. B— W. T.— Miss L.— E. H. J. E.— J. W. R.— J. B.—
W. A. G.— W. J. S.— J. E.— E. G. P.— W. B.— E. B.—
Dr. G. T. C M.— C. W.— F. C. M.— L. W. M.— J. C. S.—
R. S.— H. D.— W. W. P.— W. M.— W. A. P.— W. B.—
R. A. B.— J. B. C— A. B. G.— W. E. W.-W. T. P.— G. H.
— H. M.— H. G. W.— W. W. F.— W. T. H.— H. W.—
C. H. H. W.— P. P. C— P. Q. K.— W. W.— R. W.— B. T. B.
— W. D. C— I. M.— R. A.— &c., &c.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

JOTTINGS CONCERNING CERTAIN FRUIT-TREES.

By MARY B. MORRIS.

The Apricot.

i^^^^^ HE origin of this tree
has been much and
long disputed, and
travellers are still
of divers opinions
on the subject. By
some it is referred
to Armenia as its
native country, and
this would seem to
arise from its having
anciently borne the
name of Mailon
Armeniacon, by
which the learned
Dioscorides calls it,
whilst, as he tells us,
the Latins called it
Raikokion; our
modern botanical
name still seems to refer it to the same origin — we
designate it Armeiiiaca vulgaris. Neither Greeks nor
Romans seem to have known or cultivated it prior to
about loo years B.C. There is abundant evidence, on
the other hand, that the Chinese, who were so well
versed in both gardening and horticulture in the very
remote ages of antiquity, cultivated the apricot at
least 2200 years B.C. A writer who flourished in
China from 2205-2198 B.C. describes the tree and
the fruit under its name, "Sing," as very abundant
on the hills. The wild fruit would appear to have
been small, the skin yellow and red, with a reddish-
yellow flesh, of an acid flavour, but quite eatable ;
both frait and leaves were equally similar to our
cultivated species, but considerably smaller. Pliny
writes of it as " Praecocium," from the precocity of
the species, and probably our English name is but a
corruption of this word, since our earlier cultivators
of it were wont to speak of it as a precox ; the un-
learned united the two words, and wrote aprecocks,
abrecocks, &c.

No. 315. — March 1891.

Various authors have described it as growing-,
apparently wild, in great abundance in the Caucasus
and around the Caspian and Black Seas, whilst on
the other hand, Koch (and some others),, who travelled
through the region of the Caucasus and Armenia,
with a view to making observations upon the
natural productions of the countries visited, reports
that during a prolonged stay in Armenia he nowhere
found a wild apricot, and but rarely a cultivated one,
French travellers do not agree as to its being found
wild in Persia, but that it grows in great abundance
there, far from the haunts of men, we read in Dr.
Wills' interesting work, " The Land of the Lion and
the Sun," in which he speaks of vast numbers of
trees, the fruit of which was falling to the ground in
enormous quantities, so that he wished some enter-
prising person could be found who would set up a
" canning " business there and then, and by utilis-
ing the tempting fruit, redeem them from waste and
destruction, and make his own fortune in the venture.

A kind of wild apricot has been found growing
amongst the ruins of Baalbec, but from the descrip-
tion given, both leaves and fruit differ considerably
from our ordinary apricot. A French writer, ]Mons.
Regmer, represents that the apricot is probably a
native of the oases of the desert of Egypt — an
opinion which he founds upon these circumstances :
first, that the modern Greek name Perikokka closely
resembles the Arabic Berkhach ; secondly, that vast
quantities of the fruit are actually dried in the oases
and brought to Egypt, where they are called Mish-
mish ; and thirdly, that the early period of the year,
when its blossoms unfold, indicates that the tree
belongs rather to a southern than to a northern
climate. This last reason can scarcely be held good,
since v/e know that many plants, such as some kinds
of blackthorn, which are without doubt natives of the
coldest regions of Europe and Asia, bloom and un-
fold their leaves equally early.

That the tree was not known in Egypt at an early
period we may conclude, from the fact that the-

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIF.

Hebrews did not know it, and have no name for it
in their language ; they would have known it, and
the Romans have had it much earlier than they
had if the fruit had come from Egypt. Though
found abundantly now in Algeria, it is evidently of
recent introduction, having naturalised itself in
districts where the stones have been thrown away
from|[cultivated specimens.

The apricot [is frequently found wild in the hills
between the Jumna and the Ganges, and from a
writer on the botany of the Himalayas and Cashmere
we learn that the apricot is so generally planted
around the villages that there are few without them,
the fruit being eaten fresh, and also dried, whilst a
very fine oil is expressed from the stones. The use
to which this oil is still put is mentioned in a recent
book of travel. Mrs. Bridges, in "A Lady's Tramp
Round the World," gives an account of a Thibetan
ball at which she was present in the Himalayas, the
room in which the festivity was held being lighted
with oil made from apricot stones. In some parts of
Cashmere apricots and other fruit trees form a
perfect jungle. The dried fruit has been brought
from Cashmere to India in considerable quantities ; it
is called Klioot-banee.

The apricots on the Himalayas, at 12,000 ft.
elevation, are so hard, that a native when carrying
his load of them to market, thinks nothing of sitting
upon his burden — a strong contrast this to the custom
of a well-known character in an eastern county at
the early part of the century. This gentleman,
being the owner of a large estate some seventy miles
from London, and having gardens so prolific that
the produce was the source of considerable revenue
to him, after the supply of his own table had been
provided, was accustomed to send the surplus pro-
duce to Covent Garden ; and the wall fruit when ripe
being very perishable, and easily injured, he directed
that it should be placed in shallow baskets to be
carried on women's heads, the tread of a man being
considered by him too heavy for the conveyance of
the luscious load.

The apricot tree was late in coming to England,
being introduced here from Italy, as far as we can
ascertain, in the year 1524, by Woolf, gardener to
Henry VIII., who, it appears, introduced several
valuable fruits at about the same period. It is
strange that a fruit so well known in the east should
not sooner have reached our western regions, but we
know that in Britain there were, up to the sixteenth
century, but few establishments save the monasteries
which had orchards or gardens attached to them.
Happily, during the reigns of Henry VIII. and
Elizabeth the spirit of discovery pervaded the land,
and one of the results of an acquaintance with new
lands, and that no mean result either, was the
introduction of many fruits and flowers which had
hitherto been unknown to us. By the middle of the
seventeenth century most common fruit trees were

cultivated in sufficient abundance to render their
importation unnecessary.

The progress of this improvement, however, was
but slow, owing to the want of nurseries for such
trees ; and persons who lived in remote places, and
wished to introduce into their gardens new varieties
of fruit, were obliged, Hartlib writes, "often to send
100 miles for them ; " no trifling obstacle, let us
remember, these " 100 miles," when roads were bad
and there were no facilities for their conveyance such
as we now possess.

It is no part of my intention in these "jottings,"
to teach my readers the best method of cultivating
fruit trees. I will not pretend to recommend one
sort above another, one system of pruning before
another, though, if any of my readers should be so
generous as to set before me ever so large a variety, I
will undertake to give my opinion as to kinds, when
I have been made free to place them under the
crucial test of a somewhat sensitive palate. Still, I
may be allowed to give them the advice of a wiser
gardener than myself, as to the time for planting
trees and for gathering their fruits.

Old Thomas Tusser, under " January's Husban-
dry," writes as follows : — .

" Set chestnut and walnut.
Set filbert and smallnut.

" Peach, plum-tree and cherry.
Young bay and his berry,
Or set their stone,
Unset leave none. n

" Sow kernel to bear
Of apple and pear ;
All trees that bear gum
Now set as they come.

" Now set or remove
Such stocks as ye love."

For gathering, under September's Husbandry: —

" The moon in the wane, gather fruit for to last.
But winter fruit gather when Michel is past ;
Though michers* that love not to buy or to crave,
Make some gather sooner, the few for to have.
Fruit gathered too timely will taste of the wood,
Will shrink and be bitter, and seldom prove good ;
So fruit that is shaken and beat off a tree.
With bruising and falling soon faulty will be."

DUCKING : A LINCOLNSHIRE SKETCH.
By Gregory Benoni.

[Continued from /. 40.]

AFTER a short rest to allow the old master to
recover from the exertion and excitement inci-
dental to the capture, we proceeded to the eastern pipe
by a hidden pipe running through the sheltering copse
at the foot of the sand-hills. Here, instead of employ-
ing the dog, which must not appear too often, for fear
it should cease to excite curiosity, the decoy-ducks were
called to our aid. There are a number of cross-bred
birds originating from the wild and domesticated
varieties. They live in the decoy, and are fed in the

* Michers = pilferers.

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

pipes throughout the year, so that they are always
ready to obey the call-note of their master, however
distant they may be from his station. On this
occasion the "decoys" were lying by the wind-
bound western pipe, where they had supped the night
before. But as soon as we had taken our new places
the decoy-man blew a shrill blast on his whistle,
which startled the whole pond, and made the drakes
give tongue in clamorous chorus, whilst the decoys
awoke to the sense that breakfast is an admirable
institution.

Again the whistle sounded, and yet again, till the
birds comprehended whither they ought to steer ; and
meanwhile the lad scattered hemp seed upon the
water along the whole length of the pipe.

Soon we saw the trained birds making their way
across the centre of the pond, accompanied by
some three hundred wild fowl. On they came, a
sight most enchanting, as they flashed in the January
sun, and reflected its lustre from their iridescent
plumage, till at last the leaders and their mingled
following reached the head of the pipe.

The tame birds began to devour the seed with great
eagerness, for they cannot escape from the pond and
its immediate surroundings except by flight, which
they rarely attempt, and little food is to be found in
such an over-tenanted place. The wild birds, too,
began to feed, and gradually advanced up the canal
under the net, without any apparent fear of danger,
while we slowly retired before them for fear of dis-
covering our retreat.

The scene was strangely picturesque, as the ciew
of mallard and teal, with here and there a stray
shoveller or pintail, pressed onwards with grace in
every turn and movement, a grace which seemed to
give the lie to their connection with the heavy farm-
yard louts who claim cousinship with them. But
while we were yet admiring their beauty, and trying
to fix some of their natural positions in our mind for
future drawings, the scene changed. Jack showed
himself abruptly in their rear, and the greater
number fluttered wildly up the pipe ; though a few
saved themselves by flying or diving back into the
pond. We followed the doomed flock at a gentle
pace, gesticulating violently but silently to drive on
the laggards when they showed any disposition to
return. At the end we found the tunnel net taxed to
its utmost strength, so jammed had the poor birds
become in their fearful rush.

" Six shillings a couple for ducks, and four for teal,
as they're up now," murmured our old entertainer, in
an ecstacy of delight at his extraordinary good luck.
" Niver, niver, saw I owt like it i' all my born days,
an' shouldn't if I liv'd to be twice as old again as I
am, rheumatiz an' all."

As he spoke he knelt down, and proceeded to take
out and dispatch the birds with great caution, his
grandson helping in the work, but with less skill ;
when, " whir, whir, whir," sounded above us from

the rhythmical cadence of many wings, and glancing
up, we descried some sixty ducks on the look out for
any possible danger, flying round and round the tops
of the trees, as their custom is before alighting. The
Londoner, entirely forgetful of the strict injunttions
to taciturnity, exclaimed in excitement, " What the
devil's up with us! Where's a gun?" But a
threatening shake of the fist from the old man,
accompanied by a look which ought to have
annihilated him, brought him back to a sense of
decoy convefiances.

"Doon for yer lives; lig oot at length; lig on
your bellies an' hide your heads." Then to the
stupified townsman, "Get into yon rummuck" — a
tangled mass of brambles and dead nettles — ^"ony-
where, onywhere oot o' the birds' sight."

Such were the commands issued by the irate
ducker in an agonised whisper, and down he
dropped on his net, from which not a quarter of the
ducks had been extricated, with his head and
shoulders thrust into a bed of withered herbage,
despite the " rheumatiz and all."

We skulked and crouched as best we might, trying
to look as unlike human beings as nature would
allow ; while round and round, up and down, here
and there, went the birds, ^often dipping till they
almost touched the water, yet always sheering off
when our desire that they should settle seemed on
the point of gratification.

" They're going, they're going," ejaculated the old
man below his breath, with many strange inarticulate
gutturals expressive of impatience and expectancy.
"Noo, noo, they're in, I do believe. Ay, they're in
at last. Jack, just get up an' hev a peep, lad."

Up got Jack forthwith to spy through the reeds on
"the shooting," but only to fall flat again as if
shot. For up and down and round about went the
watchful flight for some minutes longer, till at last,
when our patience was almost exhausted, they
dropped into the pond breast foremost, cleaving the
rtpples in the most delicate and pretty manner in the
world.

The moment the last bird touched the water we
rose from our constrained attitudes, to indulge in a
quiet joke over the thorny retreat in which our
southern friend had ensconced himself, and to
congratulate ourselves on the sport we had seen.

" These here will be fresh from the sea," observed
the ducker, beginning to draw the quarry from the
net again, and holding up a teal for our inspection.
" Them as th' dog got was^carcely touched wi' red,
but these have breasts as ru^-coloured as can be —
they know nowt of fresh water. I bet they cum'd in
this morning."

Birds newly arrived from the ocean are far less
wary than the land-feeding fowl, which are generally
home-bred, or old stagers, acquainted with every
device of the fowler. Some birds visit the decoy for
years in succession, and are never taken ; as was the

D 2

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

case with a mallard duck, which had a ring of white
feathers round the neck, and was much sought after
for the proprietor's collection of stufted birds.

Before we quitted the decoy the master showed us
an anomaly among the trained birds, no less than a
duck more than thirty years of age. It had been in
the pond all its life, and had grown curly tail
feathers like a drake for some seasons, having ceased
to lay, or take any interest in nesting matters,
though surrounded by descendants to the twenty-
eighth generation.

But enough for the present. We had seen a noble
day's sport, land made a notable bag, for seventy-
nine teal, sixty-three mallards, seven widgeon, four
shovellers, a pintail, and a " tame-flier," or barn-yard
duck, which had joined its wild relations, were
counted into the game-room. A better take had not
been known for some years.

After mutual congratulations, we shook hands with
the jubilant decoy-man, promising to come again for
another look at his birds, and turned our steps
homeward, talking of gunnery and fowling as we
went.

(To be continued.)

A NEW BRITISH MOSS.

Cinclidotus riparius (Walker Arnott).

*' OEARCH has been repeatedly made without
vj success," says Wilson, for the moss whose
discovery in Great Britain it is now a pleasure to be
able to announce in these columns.

The little river Teme, which winds its picturesque
way along part of the southern boundary of Shrop-
shire, and for some distance divides that county from
Herefordshire, here forming deep and silent pools,
there rippling lightly over the stony shallows, and
bedecked with water-weeds all so much alike to the
casual observer, but of such variety and interest to
the lover of nature, has at last delivered up to us the
little weed for which " search has been repeatedly
made without success." The fortunate finder is Mr.
Arther W. Weyman, of Ludlow, who collected it in
April last, and sent it to me recently, with other
specimens, for consultation. It was evident at once
that it differed from any British moss which one
could regard as allied to it ; and having a slight ac-
quaintance with Cinclidotus riparius, I concluded that
it must be that species. Dr. Braithwaite, Mr. J. E.
Bagnall, and Mr. H. Boswell have kindly looked at
it, and settled the question in the affirmative. Dr.
Braithwaite states that it was found two years ago
in Ireland, so that the present is not absolutely the
first record of the species for the United Kingdom.
A description of it with figures will duly appear in
the "Br. Moss Flora."

The name Cinclidotus riparius is already some-
what familiar to us, as it occurs in Wilson, Berkeley,
Hobkirk's Synopsis, ed. 1873, &c., but only in con-

nection with its assumed variety terrestris, now known
as Tortula mucronata, Barbula mucroitato, or B.
Brebissojii (Brid.). The true C. riparius is different
in habit, usually darker in colour, and larger. The
leaves are straight when dry, smooth (not papillose),
margins slightly thickened and plane (Fig. 28 a) ;
whereas in B. mucronata the leaves when dry, though
incumbent and only slightly twisted or bent inwards
on the lower parts of the stem, are much twisted at
the tips of the branches. They are strongly papillose,
the margins more thickened, and recurved. Some-
times the effect under the glass is that of a plane

Fig. 28.

Fig. 29.

Fig. 30.

margin with the whole of the thickening occurring
on the under side of the leaf, so as to give the appear-
ance of a recurved margin (Figs. 29 and 30 B). The
nerve is generally excurrent (Fig. 31 c), and the
areolce smaller.

In some states the two mosses much resemble
each other. Wilson says: "Bruch and Schimper
positively affirm that they have witnessed the
existence of every intermediate form," and the writer
possesses specimens of each which are so much alike
that, failing the very minute investigation demanded
in the present day, they may easily be taken for the
same. But let the necessarily careful examination
be made, and the distinctions pointed out above are

HARDWJCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

there unmistakably, leading to the conclusion that
the two are as closely allied as are \^QgC7tera in which
they are respectively placed by modern authors, but
not more so.

The present moss may have been overlooked in
mistake for C. fontinaloidcs, but if a number of
specimens of the latter from different localities be
compared together, the leaves, while varying a good
deal in width, termination of the nerve, and also
slightly in the size of the cells, will be found to be
always more or less acute in general outline (Figs. 32
and 33 d), only the actual point sometimes obtuse, and
strongly twisted when dry. In C. riparuis the leaves
are obtuse, and either rounded, the nerve disappear-
ing at or below the apex (Fig. 34 e) ; or there is a
small slightly recurved apiculus (Fig. 35 f). The basal
cells are more elongated and slightly narrower.

Pending the appearance of an authoritative de-
scription of the species, the foregoing remarks may be
of some slight assistance to the increasing circle of
students in this fascinating branch of botany who may
now make search, and not without hopes of success.

W. P. Hamilton.

Shreivsbury.

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF
BRITISH DIPTERA.

By E. Brunetti.

[Continued /roin p. 39.]

HE Diptera are divided into four primary
groups : —

Legs at juncture with thorax contiguous : Proboscidea.
Antennae of many joints (at least six) : Nematocera.
Antennae of only three distinct joints.

Posterior veins of wing, branched : Brachycera.
Posterior veins of wing, simple : Hypocera.
Legs at juncture with thorax wide apart: Eproboscidea.

NEMATOCERA.

The characters of the Nematocera may be sum-
marised as follows. Body, delicately elongated, legs
usually long and slender, antenna of many joints,
flexible ; veins in wing numerous, alulae small, ocelli
usually present, anal cell in wing usually open.

The venation in many genera varies in the
relative lengths of some of the veins and their
respective positions.

llesonotum with a distinct vertical furrow : TipuUdce.
Mesonotum without such furrow.
Ocelli present (two or three).

Discoidal cell complete : Rhyphida.
Discoidal cell absent.

Antennae half length of thorax. Pronotum brought

forward, conspicuous : Bibionidce.
Antennae at least as long as thorax. Pronotum
normal, conspicuous : Mycetophilida.
Ocelli absent.

Costal vein barely reaching top of wing.

Antennae shorter than thorax. Wings, broad ;
tibiae and metatarsus broad, compressed. Siviu-
lidce.
Antennae as long as or longer than thorax. Wings
narrow, librae and metatarsus slender, cylindrical :
Chironomidce.

Costal vein attenuated round posterior margin of wing :
At most six posterior wing cells : Cecidotnyidce.
At least more than six cells.

Wings ovate ; tip pointed : Psydiodida.

Wings oblong ; tip rounded : Ctilicida.

1. Cecidomyidcs.

Winnertz has elaborately monographed some of
the European genera of thi:; group, having devoted
twenty-five years to the study of this family. The
larvoe are oval, fleshy grubs, feeding on various parts
of plants ; many form galls, and some live in rotten
wood. The pupse resemble the imago, but are of
course wingless.

Degeer and others have observed the trans-
formations of some of the species. The imagos are
elegant and delicate small flies, about seventy or
eighty species at least being British, though Walker
introduces double this number.

Schiner recognises two sub-families.

Fourth longitudinal vein absent : Cecidomyinae.
Fourth longitudinal vein present : Lestreminae.

Cecidoviyia destructor. Say., is the " Hessian fly,"
which in its larval stage does such extensive damage
to the wheat. It is not rare on the continent,
devastating at times whole districts, but has seldom
been met with in England. It is of a brownish grey
colour, with clear wings, elongated abdomen, and
long, thin, black legs.

Diplosis tritici, Kirby, is known as the " wheat
midge."

The neuration of Diplosis resembles that of
Cecidomyia, except that the vein nmning towards the
top of the wing is usually straight.

Some other enemies of the agriculturist are,
C. brassiciS, Winn., feeding on rape pods. C.pyri,
Bouche, feeding on pear trees. D. centralis, Winn.,
feeding on beech.

Westwood figures the larva of D. pint, Deg., in his
"Class. Ins.," vol. ii. Fig. 125-6, and the pupa in
Fig. 125-7. D. veriia. Curt., Curt. 178. D. tritici,
Kirby, Curt. "Farm. Ins.," PI. i. 8.

2. Mycetophilida:.

The Mycetophilidie are small, delicate flies, re-
sembling the CecidomyidiE. Many of the genera are
easily recognised by the difference in venation and
the presence of spines on the legs, both of which are
good generic characteristics. The larvce live as a
rule in fungi or rotten wood.

Antenna; as long or longer than body : lilacrocera, Pz.
Antennae much shorter than body.

Terminal joint of palpi elongated : Plafyura, Mg.
Terminal joint of palpi short.

Discoidal cell present : Sciophila, Mg.
No discoidal cell : Mycetophila, Mg.

The four principal genera may be separated as
follows : —

Sciara Thonm, L., is black, with long thin legs and
dark brown wings ; long \\ mm.* The larvae of this

* Twenty-five millimetres make one inch.

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSS IF.

genus do not spin cocoons as do those of Mycetophila,
and other genera.

Sciophila, Mg., frequents the leaves of trees,
herbage and woods.

Mycetophila, Mg., is generally distributed. West-
ward notices the transformations of one or two
species of Platyura, Mg.

Bolitophila^ 3Mg., occurs occasionally in mid-winter
if the weather is mild.

About 150 species of Mycetophilidc; are British,
some being tolerably common, but tlie majority are
less frequently met with.

Sciara Thomce, L., Wlk. vol iii. PI. xxx, 3.
Platyjira flavipes, Mg., Curt. 134. Macroccra
stigma. Curt., Curt. 637. Mycetophila cingulum,
Mg., Wlk. vol. iii. PI. xxi. 2.

3. Bibionidir.

Most of the Bibionida: are vernal, often appearing
in great numbers, the males hovering in the air,
their legs vertical. The larvoe are worm-like, living
in the earth, on grass roots ; the pupa is naked.

Antennae four-jointed : Bibio, Geoff.
Antennae eleven-jointed.

Palpi long : Dilopluis, Mg.

Palpi short : Scatopse, Geoff.

Bibio Marci, L. , a rather large black fly, appearing
in IMarch ; abdomen elongated, legs rough and
hairy; Avings clear in <?, brown in $ : transforma-
tions known ; long 8 mm.

Dilophus febrilis, L., is a smaller species, not un-
like the above, and is sometimes taken in winter.
In its larval state it infests the potato ; a correspond-
ent of mine bred it from Calceolaria.

Scatopse notata, L., is a small black fly, often
common in houses in the summer and autumn ; the
wings are large and quite clear, the legs rather short,
long 2-3 mm.

Bibio venos2ts, Mg., Curt. 138. B. Marci, L.,
Wlk. iii. PI. xxx. 5. Scatopse bifilata, Hal., Wlk.
iii. PI. xxiv. 6.

4. Siinitlidci:.

These are often known as "sand flies" [Simuliutn,
Lat.), and sometimes are as numerous and as great a
source of annoyance as mosquitoes. The larvas of
some species are aquatic, the wings of the imagos
emerging from the pupa case beneath the water.

Only two species are British ; both uncommon.
Walker gives five species (three being repudiated by
Verrall), whilst Curtis mentions no less than thirteen
as indigenous.

5. Chironomidce.

A large number of species are British, but they
have not yet been satisfactorily worked out. The
species in most instances are fairly distinct, but
owing to the lack of published matter, exceedingly
difficult to identify.

Walker describes the larvas of two common
species.

They are known as " mosquitoes," and are small
delicate flies, with clear wings and indistinct vena-
tion, the males having large feathery (plumose)
antenna. No ocelli. They are common of an
evening, usually hovering in small swarms under trees
and over bushes.

Chironotnus pliimosus, L., is the common "mos-
quito," the larva being aquatic, blood-red, living in
stagnant water.

Winnertz has elaborately monographed the genus
Ccraiopogon, Mg. (known as midges).

The two principal genera may be separated
thus : —

Metathorax produced over base of abdomen : Chironoinus,

IMg.
Metathorax short, descending to the posterior coxae :

Ceratopogon, Mg.

The bodies of some species of Taiiypus are almost
transparent, and most of the species have spotted
wings. They are distinguished from Chirojwmus by
the apex of the discoidal cell giving forth four veins
instead of three.

Clunio marinus, Hal., a rare species, has coria-
ceous wings, and is found on the sea-coast .

Chironoiims pliunosus, L., Wlk. iii. PL xxx. 4.
Tanypiis nebiilosiis, Mg., Curt. 501.

6. Orphncphilida:.
Orphnephila icstacca, Ruth., has occurred in
Britain. It is a rare species.

7. PsycJiodidce.

These are small, blackish-grey, pubescent, moth-
like flies, with very large scaly wings fringed at the
edge, and pointed at the tip. The larva; are aquatic.
(Two common species live in cowdung. ) One species,
P. phalcenoidesy L., being very common, occurring
in London all through the summer months ; easily
recognised by its zigzag movements on the windows.
P. sexpiuictata, Curt., is not uncommon, being easily
recognised by the six small but distinct black spots
along the front border of each wing. One or two
species appear in mid-winter.

P, sexpunctata. Curt. 745.

8. CuUcidic.

The too well-known "gnat," Culex pipiens, L., is
the type of this family.

The larva: (figured by Westwood) are aquatic, and
active, the eggs being glued together in the form of a
boat. Degeer and others have well worked out the
life-histories of several species. The pupa is active,
but takes no nourishment.

The Culicida: may easily be recognised and
separated from the Chironotiiidcc, to which they bear
some resemblance, by their wings being fringed, and
the venation being more distinct and more compli-
cated.

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSS IP.

The proboscis is long and powerful, composed of
seven pieces. No ocelli.

Stephens, some years ago, monographed the
British species, which are nearly twenty in number.

Aedes cijicrciis, Mg. Tlic only known species.
Found in marshy spots. I.arva aquatic.

Ciildx, L. The 2 lays about 300 eggs, the imago
requiring a month to acquire full development.

A/ioJihiks, Mg. Rare ; the 9 does not suck
blood.

Corethra, Mg. The larvre of C. plumicoriiis, F.,
and C. adicifortnis, Deg., are well described by
Walker.

Mochlojiyx, Liv., has been recorded as British.

9. Dixida:.

These flies are closely allied to the TipuUdic, with
which a recent authority (Van der Wulp) classes
them. They occur in woods, and on the banks of
streams, usually appearing in the evening.

The larvre live in fungi and decaying wood.
Only two or three species are British, and Dixa with
Orphncphila testacea, Ruthe, forms the group Hetero-
clitac of Walker — both being placed by Schiner with
one or two other allied genera as a group of "uncertain
position." Curt, illustrates D. nebulosa, Mg. (409.)

10. TipiiUdcB.

Over 150 species of this family are British, most
of them being known generally as "daddy long-
legs."

They are very delicate in structure, though many
attain considerable size— the legs of the largest
species when outstretched spanning a greater surface
than those of any other species of Diptera. They
should be pinned immediately after death, especially
if it is desired to set them.

The legs and bodies are much attenuated. The
larvae of some species are aquatic, whilst others feed
on plants or rotten wood. The larva of Tipula
oleracea, L., does immense damage to grass lands.

Most of the genera may be easily distinguished by
the venation. There are three sub-families.

Anal vein absent : Ptychopterince.
Anal vein present.

Mediastinal vein ending in the costal, connected witk sub-
costal by a cross vein ; last joint of palpi shorter or
barely longer than two preceding joints together :
Liiiinobinee.
Mediastinal vein ending in subcostal, no cross vein ; last
joint of palpi longer than three preceding joints together :
Tiptilince.

1. PlycJiopterina. ^Flychopteryx, Mg., frequents
aquatic plants. They are pretty flies, with the wings
generally marked with brown ; the species are rather
more stoutly built than the Tipulina and Limnobince.
P. coiitamiiuita, L., and F. albimana, F., are not
uncommon.

2. Limnobina:. Limiiobia Jlavipes, F., is brown,
with pale grey posterior borders to abdominal
segments. The wings are grey, with lighter patches,
brown veins and a row of brown spots on anterior

border ; legs grey, with black rings on femora and
tibiae. Long 6 mm.

Limnobia occurs chiefly in woods and fields,

Dicranomyia chorea, Mg., is very common, occur-
ring in London all through the summer. It is yellowish
brown, legs pale brown, wings clear, with a brownish
spot on the stigma. Long 6-7 mm.

T?-ickocera regelationis, L., is common everywhere,
occurring in London houses all through the warm
weather. It is a slender, blackish -grey fly, with pale
grey wings, and long, thin, blackish-grey legs. Long
about 4 to 6 mm.

3. Tipulmcc. Tipula oleracea, L., is very common,
the species of this genus being very widely distri-
buted. T. oleracea. Tawny grey, tinged with grey —
sometimes wholly grey, with long tawny legs and
grey wings, and is common everywhere ; known
familiarly as the "daddy long-legs." Long, about
14-15 mm. Variable in size.

Ctenophora, Mg., is a limited genus of large,
handsomely coloured flies, all more or less rare, and
more stoutly built than the rest of the Tipulida:.

They seem to me to be partly allied to Ptychoptera,
Mg. The antennre are deeply pectinated in a
different manner in each species.

Ptychoptera coiifainiiiafa, L., Wlk. iii. PI. xxviii. 7.
Dicranoviyia stigmatica, Mg., Wlk. iii. PI xxvii. 2.
Tipula longicornis, Schum. Curt. 493. Ctenophora
ornata, Mg., Curt. 5.

II. Rhyphidic.

The RhyphidcE pair in the air. They live on over-
ripe fruit, the larva inhabiting cowdung, or, according
to Latreille, in the case of R. feiiestralis. Scop., moist
linen. This species is not uncommon in London (on
windows), and is recognised by its wings being
prettily marked with brown.

They are allied to the Tipulidcc, with which they
have by some authors been incorporated, and as a
rule are only found singly or in pairs.

R. fenestralis. Scop., greyish-brown, with ashy grey
thorax marked with 3 longitudinal dark lines ; face
grey ; eyes and antennae black ; legs tawny brown ;
knees and tarsi more or less black ; wings grey ;
stigma and one or two clouded spots oh fore border,
brown — long 7 mm.

MY PET MARMOSET.

IN May, 1889, I bought a young marmoset {Hapale
penicillatus) in Bahia (Brazil), which since that
time has been my constant companion, and, conse-
quently, under my observation the entire time.

In spite of its comparatively low intelligence, it
has become a most interesting pet ; and to watch its
ways and habits is a constant source of pleasure and
instruction. In Brazil these animals are much valued
as pets by the African women settled there ; and

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

many a one may be seen adorned with a little
necklace, and pair of tiny earrings of gold and coral.
The marmoset is naturally afifectionate, and it soon
becomes attached to its owner.

In the marmoset the emotions of rage, pleasure,
and fear are strongly developed. It exhibits three
distinct states of rage, the changes from one to the
other being abrupt. They are as follows : (i) when
slightly agitated (when shown to a stranger, or if any
attempt be made to forcibly handle her), expressed
by a slight chattering ; (2) a more pronounced stage
(when taken up suddenly by the hand), when she
chatters vigorously, and attempts to bite ; (3) an
extreme stage, when the chattering becomes most
vigorous, alternated frequently with shrill barks, and
determined attempts at biting, the whole body
trembles and is convulsed with fury. I can tell
immediately — if I am not in the same room — the
state she is in from her cries ; but lately she has
entirely given up the third stage, for which I am
thankful, as it could end fatally through the intense
excitement.

Pleasure is expressed by whistling, and a peculiar
little gentle chatter ; when placed in the sun she will
assume all sorts of positions, and extend the limbs,
in order to literally bathe in the sunlight, and will
every now and then give vent to a loud and pro-
longed whistle from a widely distended mouth. I
have been able to produce this state latterly, by
imitating her whistle, when she will answer back.
She will whistle when she is gently caressed and
played with, and she will then be very playful, jump-
ing over your hand in the most eccentric manner,
and pretending to bite, every now and then dashing
off with tail erect, to return again immediately. At
such times she will play hide and seek round a book
or some other object with the greatest zest, and when
caught face to face will stop short and draw the skin
back from the face in a curious manner, as if to make
herself smaller, and so invisible.

Fear is expressed by a sharp high whistle, which
resembles the screeching made by a pencil on a
slate. The sight of a dog will at once cause it to be
uttered. She appears much more timid of a dog
than of a cat ; but when brought face to face with
either will at once assume an attitude of defence, by
raising the body on the hind quarters, and preparing
to use her fore limbs and teeth. The sight of
" Sallie " (the chimpanzee in the Zoo) produced in
her the most abject fear, while she seemed anxious to
attack all the other monkeys.

A looking-glass always amuses her. When looking
at her own reflection she will turn her head round
in a most curious manner, as if to examine the
reflection from all directions ; this movement of the
head will also take place when examining any very
strange object. She is very fond of having the scalp
raised by the fingers, and of having the long black
ear coverts twisted up, and will sit fur hours on my

shoulder, whatever I may be doing. If left alone lor
long, she wears a most dejected air, and will, if
possible, go to bed. At night time she sleeps in a
little flannel bag lined with cotton wool, and it is
amusing, as evening approaches, to see how restless
she becomes. When released from her perch she
will make for the sofa on which is placed the bag,
and coil herself into it, only coming out at dinner
time for some sweets, and then sleeping until it is
daylight again. Should a bell be rung, a faint
whistle may be heard from the bed, although she is
asleep.

In her habits she is extremely clean and regular.
Her staple food is bread and milk, but she is very
fond of insects and fruit, and the sight of apricot jam
causes great excitement, as she likes it better than
anything else. Her weight is nine ounces.

I have never attempted to teach her many tricks,
but my aim has been to try to understand her ways ;
a better way I think of studying animal nature than
by devoting time to teaching tricks — which, after all,
are only learnt in a mechanical and vague manner.
If we try to understand them, we undoubtedly gain
their trust and affection. This timid little marmoset
will follow me about like a dog, though I never
encourage it.

David Wilson-Barker.

A VISIT TO THE BRIGHTON AQUARIUM.
By Edward A. Martin.

IN spite of the care and attention which, in the
interest of the shareholders, is devoted towards
providing dramatic and musical entertainment for
the mental digestion of frequenters of the Brighton
Aquarium, the establishment still retains a high
position as a scientific collection of one of the most
useful divisions of the great vertebrate sub-kingdom.
One can scarcely lay blame on the shoulders of the
directors that the force of circumstances has compelled
them to neglect to a partial extent the true objects for
which the collection was founded. All shareholders
cannot afford to imitate the example of one of their
body, who returned dividends to the amount of a good
many pounds in order that the sum might be devoted
to the needs of pisciculture. The result of the present
policy has been that perhaps not one-eighth of those
who visit the Aquarium are in the slightest degree
interested in the scientific aspect of the institution,
whilst those who are so interested, are content to
remain thankful that through the tolls paid by the
remaining seven-eighths, they are allowed to retain
the place at all as a scientific collection of fish.

It is remarkable that amongst the creatures exhibited
there are found representatives lof each of the five
classes of vertebrates, although the collection* is
nominally one of the "pisces" only. Yet an
Aquarium should be available for the reception of all

HARDWICKE'S SCJENCE-G OSS/P.

those creatures which exist in water ; and indeed,
taken in this its widest sense, it is scarcely to be seen
why the authorities have made no efilbrt to introduce
other classes among the invertebrates, one of which is
notably absent, namely, the molluscs. There would
scarcely be anything more interesting than a series of
fanks in which were to be seen crawling about on the
rocky bed, or over the sandy floor, the inhabited shells
of those creatures which we are accustomed to see
lying in cabinets and on mantel-shelves, artificially
polished, and in many cases in sharp contrast to their
dull natural appearance.

Peihaps one of the most interesting tanks is that
devoted to the beautiful Guillemots, or swimming birds,
although few visitors have the opportunity of seeing
ihem at their best. This is at their feeding time,
when they exhibit their wonderful powers of diving.
When the surface of the water, as seen from below,
is perturbed by the almost phosphorescent wavelets,
caused by the birds splashing about and cleaving the
water at full speed in pursuit of their prey, the
sudden transformation of a bird into a fish — for such
it almost appears in the water — is a most striking
sight, and as it cuts through the surface with its beak,
and folds its powerful wings by its side when gliding
through the water with the impetus it has gained, it
sliines with a silver-like glow, as it reflects the rays
which illumine it from above. It seems principally
to use its legs in its under-water propulsion, its tail
doubtless acting the same part as that it plays in true
fishes. The bird has been said to remain beneath the
surface for several minutes.

The strange lazy mud-fish in its table aquarium
scarcely perhaps attracts the attention it deserves,
and yet its life-history is a most important one to the
evolutionist, since it is one of those animals which
supply a found — and not a missing — link between
the Reptilia and the Pisces. In reptiles, the process
fjf breathing is carried on by means of well-developed
iungs, whilst in the fishes proper, the process of
oxygenisation of the blood is brought about by gills,
situated on both sides of the head behind the mouth.
It is scarcely necessary to repeat the fact that fishes
require air just at much as human beings, and that
if placed in water which has been boiled (and of
course cooled), they cannot live, or that if placed in
insufficiently aerated water they can often be seen
breathing the air at the surface of the aquarium. In
our friend the mud-fish, Lepidosiren or Protopterus,
however, there is not only the usual complement of
gills as in fishes, but also lungs, as in reptiles, the
ordinary swimming-bladder of fishes being in this
instance organised as a lung. The happy possession,
therefore, of both ,of these forms of breathing
apparatus, enables it to inhale air both directly
from the atmosphere, and by abstracting it from the
w-ater. In its native haunts it is found inhabiting
the rivers en the west coast of Africa. These at
certain seasons run quite dry. At such times, when

it feels the stream gradually subsiding in which it has
dwelt, and the danger threatens of being stranded
I and exposed to the attacks of its enemies, it has the
habit of burrowing into the soft clay forming the bed
of the stream, and of there hiding itself in the nest it
has formed. As soon as the water has ceased to flow
over its place of refuge it commences to breathe by
means of its lungs, and remains ensconced in its
clayey home, until, with the return of the wet season,
the stream again fills up its deserted bed. By taking
advantage of this nidifying propensity, the fish was
brought to England in the clay in which it had
buried itself, and the nest is now to be seen by the
side of the aquarium in which the creature lives. It
would seem, too, as if it has resumed its fish-like
habits permanently, as no provision appears to have
been made for it in its confined home, by which it
can at all make use of that important organ, its
lungs. This is rather to be regretted, as to the
general public the novel sight of a comparatively
unknown fish living out of water, on a dry soil,
would have proved no doubt interesting and enter-
taining.

Fishes, fossil and recent, are sometimes roughly
classified into two divisions according to the shape
of their tails. Agassiz, the great naturalist, whose
authority on the subject is everywhere recognised,
found that some tails were equal-lobed, as in the
case of the herring, whilst others, as those of the
shark, the skate, and the sturgeon, were unequal-
lobed, and consisted of an elongated upper lobe, into
which the backbone was continued, the lower lobe
being considerably shortened. It is an interesting
fact that, although now but very few living fishes
have tails of the unequal-lobed form, almost all of
the forms of primitive fish-life bore them. During a
period preceding that when the chalk was formed,
fish with equal-lobed tails commenced to live, whilst
the ancient form began to die out. The proportion
of one form to the other now, therefore, is reversed,
whereas homocercal (equal) tails were formerly the
exception, and heterocercal (unequal) tails the rule,
now, with the exception of the sturgeon, shark,
skate, bony-pike, and perhaps a few others, the far
larger proportion are equal-lobed.

The little gar-pike, or bony-pike of the American
rivers, which are now in the Aquarium, are the first of
their species which have been introduced alive into
England, To the energy of Mr. Crane, F.G.S., and
his American friends, the authorities are greatly
indebted in this matter. The gar-pike exhibit well
the ancient form of unequal lobed tail. They attain
a length of several feet, and their vertebral column is
more completely ossified than any living fish. Their
jaws form a long narrow snout, which is armed by a
double series of teeth.

Every schoolboy who has lived in a district where
the chalk-hills form an important feature in the land-
scape, has found at some period or other numerous

BARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

" sharks'-teeth " imbedded in the chalk-i^its. They
form such a well-known fossil that we can judge, to a
certain extent, of the numbers in which sharks lived
in those parts when the chalk was being formed
beneath the sea. These relics of the monsters of the
deep, which then roamed through the sea in our
latitudes, remind us forcibly of the great change which
has come over the inhabitants of these shores. \Ye
have no voracious shark now skirting our British
coasts, lying in wait for a meal of man or beast, as he
would have done in ages gone by. Our waters are
not warm enough for him, and the man-eating
sharks, whose ancestors left their bones and teeth on
the chalky floor of the northern ocean, have now bid
good-bye to these regions, and betaken themselves to
a climate more suited to their taste. The only allied
fish which now remain with us are the various
species of dog-fish. These represent well in structure
the most important points in the dreaded white shark,
although of course very much in miniature.

The order which embraces the sharks and dog-
fishes, also includes the rays and the skates. As I
was watching the tank which contained the latter, a
large individual came floundering from the recesses of
the cavern, and settled itself down on the base of the
tank immediately in front of the glass. As it settled
it seemed to press its two side fins downwards, and
arch its body from side to side, as though to prevent
the under surface of its body coming into contact with
the ground, I noticed that this occurred each time it
settled, so to speak ; and I therefore determined to
watch its under-surface, as it rose, for an explanation
of the position it assumed. An opportunity soon
presented itself, and as the creature rose, it showed on
the under-surface of its body two series of five
branchial openings radiating away from each other
and from its mouth. These openings communicated
with a corresponding number of branchial pouches,
and really constituted its means of breathing. This
was the more apparent, since the openings were
regularly opened and closed by a covering membrane
at intervals of about a couple of seconds' duration.
This at once explained the reason of its peculiar
attitude when on the floor of the tank.

As we pass along the corridors, the interesting
little stickleback claims our attention, and recalls to
mind the ingenious manner in which the male builds
its nest for the reception of his chosen brides. The
gorgeous plumage of the dahlia (Crassicornis) and
carnation (Dianthus) anemones appeal to our aesthetic
and artistic tastes, and we notice how the latter
species have taken to themselves the most prominent
projections of the rocks, to the exclusion of all others
of its fellows. Wc notice the tank of silvery little
whitebait, shining in the artificial light overhead, and
take note of the fact that they have been kept in
captivity until they have grown into true herrings.
The ugly octopi, with their internal skeleton, familiar
to us as the cuttle-bone; the turtles, the affectionate-

looking seals, are amongst the many creatures which-
arrest our attention. We hope fervently that the
aquarium will be able to steer clear of pecuniary
slioals, as it has done in the past, and that there
will be sufficient local spirit to prevent such a
national institution from falling a prey to insolvency..
If unable to pay its way, perhaps Government might
be induced to engraft it on to the Natural History
Department of the British Museum, which should
carry it on as a seaside branch of itself. Perhaps the
Council of the Imperial Institute might be prevailed
upon to become interested in it, and save it from
any possibility of having to close its doors. Were
practical experiments in pisciculture to become the
recognised reason of its existence, even Englishmen
would not begrudge an occasional Government grant
towards its support.

ROSSENDALE RHIZOPODS.
No. I.

THE wonders of structure and organisation revealedi
by the Microscope in every department of the
vegetable and animal world, form a chapter of
intensest interest to the thoughtful mind. On the-
one hand we see the whole organised creation built
up of practically identical elements ; on the other,,
the most varied and wonderful adaptations, in every
minute particular, to fit them for their surroundings-
and mode of life. Wonderful and interesting as-
these revelations have undoubtedly been, yet the
discovery of the Rhizopoda, the Infusoria, and Roti-
fera — bringing within our ken, as it were, the
denizens of a new world — far surpasses, to some
orders of mind, all other discoveries. During the
past few years, I have devoted special attention to-
these classes of animals, (particularly the Rotifera),
have systematically "fished" a limited number of
ponds, taking notes in the field, of my captures, and
of the conditions under which they were made, ancJj
I propose in this and subsequent papers to embody-
some, at least, of these notes, in the hope that they
may prove of service to those entering upon the
study of what is colloquially termed, " Pond Life."
As I have now pretty well worked up the Rotifera,
of Rossendale, so that I rarely come across any form
I have not previously drawn and studied, I resolved
to do something in the way of compiling a local list,,
and studying the habits and peculiarities of the
humble Rhizopods of our district. From its known
richness in microscopic life generally, I fully expected,
being able to reap a rich harvest of species, and was
not altogether without hope of adding some new
form, not (previously known to science. Another,
consideration which will naturally recommend this
class to microscopists of curtailed leisure, is the fact,
that it consists only of about seventy species ; a.
number not requiring a great amount of labour iii.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

order to get a fair idea of the class. Although I only
commenced the special study of the Rhizopoda about
three months ago, I have already collected over one-
third of the known fresh-water species, so far at least
as these are recorded in Professor Leidy's great work ;
and in addition three or four species apparently
unknown to that authority ; all in four or five
l^laces, within a mile of my own house. In future
papers I propose to describe these forms, and to give
drawings of the principal varieties, in order to
revive an interest in a somewhat neglected class of
animals.

The Rhizopoda are microscopic beings, the
majority of which are invisible to the naked eye ;
they are essentially aquatic, being found in ponds,
<litches, lakes, marshes, bogs, and in the sea. They
appear to have been the first representatives of
animal life on earth ; and if the theory of evolution
be correct, they represent our own remotest ancestors.
They constitute a class of micro-organisms of the
most simple character ; there is no distinction of
tissues or organs, but their animal substance is homo-
geneous, contractile and translucent, resembling a
tenaceous mucus or soft tremulous jelly. This jelly
•substance, in the living state, is constantly changing
its form by expanding at one or several points into
processes of ever-varying dimensions, arrangement,
and number. These are used as organs of locomotion
and prehension, and frequently branch. From the
appearance of these temporary organs resembling
roots, this class of animal has received its name of
J\.hizopoda, literally, root-footed. Generally speak-
ing, especially in the naked forms, this colourless
jelly includes coloured food-particles, principally
microscopic algae in various stages of digestion, and
tnumercus globules, granules, and various foreign
particles, such as sand-grains, all of which tend to
diminish the transparency of the animal, and often
impart considerable colour. The internal portion of
the animal appears somewhat more fluid than the
•exterior, although in no case is there a true mem-
branous covering. The terms endosarc and ectosarc
are used to express this difference, which is more
marked in the Order Lobosa than in any other.
JNIany of the animals are capable of enclosing them-
selves in a shell or test of various figure, consistence,
and complexity, and such variations serve to separate
the Rhizopods into families and genera. The
testaceous forms include the charming Foraminifera
and Polycystina, the exquisitely beautiful shells of
which are formed in the one case of carbonate of
lime, and in the other of silica of most glassy
transparency ; but as these are (with one exception)
exclusively marine in their habitats, we omit all
further reference to them in these papers. The
fresh- water Rhizopods form their tests or shells of a
variety of materials ; some of a horn-like substance
■ called Chitine, similar to that which gives strength
to the integument of insects ; others form neat, box-

like cases, made up of minute sand-grains or of
diatoms, separately or mixed ; while another section,
having made a further advance in architecture,
build up their tests of rounded, oval, or rectangular
plates, of chitinous or silicious material, which, over-
lapping in various ways, form definite patterns. Our
district is fairly rich in these charming forms ;
although the greater number of them are inhabitants
of sphagnous swamps. In most of the genera there
is a more or less granular spot called the nucleus,
which is considered as the centre of vital activity.
Many authorities attach great importance to the
presence or absence of this organ, but it is, I believe,
a fact, that in the lowly organisms we are now
considering, it cannot always be demonstrated, and
in some cases is undoubtedly absent. There is,
however, another organ which is rarely absent —
sometimes indeed there are considerably more than one
(in Arcella, for instance) viz., a contracting vesicle ;
this presents itself as a "clear, colourless, or pale
roseate sphere, which is observed very slowly to
enlarge, then rapidly to collapse, and for a moment
to disappear, again to reappear, commonly in the
same position." This occurs with a certain degree
of regularity. The phenomenon is remarkable, and
probably serves a respiratory, and possibly an
excretory function.

A few words on classification, which is simple, and
easily mastered, will suitably conclude this introduc-
tory paper. The class is divided into five orders :
Protoplasta ; Heliozoa ; Radiolaria ; Foraminifera ;
and Monera. The first order is divided into two sub-
orders, Lobosa and Filosa j the former with thick,
finger-like, or lobose processes or pseudopods ; the
latter with filamentous or thread-like pseudopods.
The fresh-water Rhizopods are, with one or two
exceptions, contained in the first two orders. Proto-
plasta lobosa has eleven genera and about forty-three
species, and contains such well-known forms as
Amoiba, Difflugia and Arcella ; P. filosa has six
genera, and about seventeen species, many of them
most charming animals, having most beautifully built-
up tests ; Heliozoa contains eleven genera and about
fifteen species. While the order Foraminifera has but
two fresh-water species, Gromia turricola and Biomyxa
vagans. Monera, constituted by Haeckel to contain
those Rhizopods destitute of nuclei, may be discarded,
as many of the forms for which it was created
(Foraminifera, &c.) have been proved to be nucle-
ated. This gives us thirty genera, and about seventy-
seven species. I have little doubt, however, from
my own limited experience, that this number might
be materially increased if Microscopists would only
pay some attention to this interesting but neglected
class of animals. In ray next contribution, I propose
to describe the Rossendale forms of the naked, lobose
Protoplasts.

J. E. Lord.

Rowtenstall .

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

THE CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE OF
SCOTLAND.

By Chas. Wardingley.

THIS group of rocks has been variously termed
" Encrinital," " Productus " and "Mountain "
imestone, and in every case the synonyms have been
characteristically applied. The broader term " Car-
boniferous" is, however, to be preferred, as it will more
appropriately include all the varieties of limestone
tleposited between the close of the Old Red Sandstone
period and the commencement of the Permian. The
group is decidedly one of the most interesting of the
iossiliferous deposits of Scotland, and besides, affords
an excellent field of study to the practical geologist.
Outcrops occur in the large area extending from the
north-east of Fife to the south-west of Dumfries. In
these counties, and in Roxburgh, Haddington,

desire to investigate the rocks for themselves, we
may divide the field occupied by the Carboniferous
Limestone into two sections, the Forth district, and
the Dumfriesshire district. The former affords the
greater number of accessible exposures, and besides
its geological features presents many other attractions
equally interesting to the tourist of scientific tastes
who desires to indulge in a variety of out-door
studies.

The above rough sketch introduces us to the
limestone exposures adjacent to or within the Fortli
district, where the beds lie either immediately above
the Lower Coal Measures, or alternatively above the
Calciferous Sandstone Series. The total thickness of.
the beds does not exceed 90 feet, even including the
freshwater deposit familiarly known as the Burdie-
house Limestone. This is a great contrast to the-
enormous thickness of the limestone of Englandj,

Q SCALE OF MILES 10

TORPHICHIN Jt

HILLS ^r^"^

$1^ oBATKGATE

CILMERTON o

OBURDIEHOUSE

^DUNBAR

OXHALLo If).
MAINS "XJCATS CRAGS

Fig. 36. — Map showing Carboniferous Lirr.estone exposures in the Firth of Forth district.

Edinburgh, and Linlithgow, it appears chiefly — as in
England, capping the various hills and ridges, having
to a considerable extent escaped by its hardness the
denuding and wasting influences which have worn
down the more friable sandstones. Compact and
durable, it has ofi'ered the sternest opposition to the
destructive powers of air, frost, and rain, with this
result, that while representatives of other formations
have been levelled to its base — the Carboniferous
Limestone still stands boldly and sharply out, its
peaks and ridges appearing to bid defiance to the
con<|uering power which has worked such havoc
among less resisting strata.

To the student of geology the group is probably the
most unmistakable of the stratified rocks, and yielding
as it does a large variety of economic products, its
industrial importance can scarcely be over-rated.
For the convenience of tliose who may at any time

where in several places, notably Ashbourne, in
Derbyshire, the total depth is over 1,500 feet. The
main mass of the Scotch limestone usually occurs in
thick beds, with but little shale [.between, and with
few exceptions is of the grey colour so familiar to
geologists who have worked the limestone deposits on
the south-western slopes of the Pennine range at
Chatburn, Clitheroe, and Whalley. Possibly the
best and most typical exposures will be found in Fife,
at Invertiel, i^ mile west of Kirkcaldy, and again at
Charleston, 5 miles west of the northern terminus of
the Forth bridge. At Invertiel it is seen lying upon
the Calciferous Sandstone, cropping out some 70 or
75 feet above the level of the sea, with the strike
running from N.W. to S.E. and with an E.N.E. dip
angle of 15°. The thickness of the exposed limestone
is about 30 feet, and for the greater part consists of
massive compact layers interspersed with thin seams

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

of darker-coloured calcareous shales. Mineralogically
considered the rock is sub-crystalline, with an irregular
or amorphous cleavage, and not unfrequently exhibits
a splintery fracture, while its general hardness may
be taken at 2"8 and its specific gravity at 2' 5. It
tlVervesces rapidly in acid, is almost infusible before
the blowpipe at an ordinary heat, though it parts with
its carbonic acid very readily, shines with a vivid
brightness, and ultimately becomes quicklime. The
following may be accepted as a rough analysis of the
limestone proper.

Carbonic acid 42*0

Lime 48 'o

Magnesia 2'o

Alumina 2"o

SiHca 3*5

Various (sulphur, oxide of iron, &c.) 2'5

lOO'O

The rock generally has the appearance of being
built up or composed of Entrochi (wheelstones) or

Fig. 37.— Stem of
Entrochi.

Fig. 38.— Stem of Platyori-
nns la-vis (nat. size).

Fig. 3<3.— Plate of Archieoci-
dan's nrii (nat. size).

Fig. 40. — Joint of Encrinite
("St. Cuthbert's Bead")
(nat. size).

remains of Encrinites, a variety of Crinoid wonder-
fully numerous in this formation. These marine
animals closely resembled plants, hence the name
" stone lilies," and, like plants, were fixed to one spot.
They consisted of innumerable articulating joints
placed one above another upon a base or root attached
to the sea-bottom. This stem, often several feet in
length, was surmounted by a cup-shaped arrangement
(pelvis) containing the body of the animal, from which
issued long jointed tentacula or fingers, capable of
being extended horizontally for the purpose of allow-
ing it to catch its prey. Not unfrequently the stems
consisted, as in the species Moniliformis, of several
thousand Entrochi or joints, and through the whole
series ran an alimentary canal connecting the base
with the stomach. The holes in the.joints caused by
the existence of this canal suggested to the former

inhabitants of some limestone districts the idea of
their having at one time been beads, and indeed they
have often been used as such. It is to these that Sir
Walter Scott alludes in " Marmion."

"On a rock by Lindisfarn,
St. Cuthbert sits and toils to frame
The sea-born beads that bear his name."

Myriads of these Encrinite stems and joints, the
latter varying in diameter from a Hne to an inch, are
crowded into the limestone of Invertiel and other
places, though the most perfect examples are those
found in the looser calcareous shale. The Encrinite is
never found entire at this and adjoining quarries, but
bases and parts of the pelvis and tentacula are by
no means rare. Other characteristic fossils found
here include, Cyathocriims planus, C. tiibercnlatus^

Fig. 41. — Stem of Potcriocrinus crassns. (From Taylor's
("Common British Fossils.")

C. riigosus, Platycrimis Iczvis, Foieriocrtjms iennisy
Cyathophyllum turbinatuiii. Plates of Af'chiBocidaris
tirii, Faiestella mcmbranacea, Prodiutits longispinus^
P. semiretictdaUis, Spirifera lincata, S. glabra, S,
trigonalis, Orthis Mitchiliiii.

The plates of the Archteocidaris are usually found
singly in the looser shale, and are highly interesting
as being the remains of one of the very earliest forms
of the family Cidaris {Echinodermata). These will
probably be far better understood by breaking in
pieces and comparing the separate sections or plates

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

•of one of our estuarine echinoderms, say the Echina
-sphcera.

It may be mentioned that on the shore within a
mile from this quarry is an excellent illustration of
the change which a sedimentary rock undergoes by
contact with an igneous one. In a narrow stretch of
coast-line not more than a furlong in length we have
a sandstone gradually developing into a quartz rock,
yet so imperceptibly does the change take place as to
■completely defeat any attempt to locate the spot at
■which the sandstone ends and the quartz rock begins.

Directly north of Invertiel, about 15 miles distant,
is the East Lomond Hill, rising 1,471 feet above the
level of the sea. The lower and middle portion of
this hill, which was in 1881 one of the chief stations
■of the Ordnance Survey, is composed of Calcareous
.Sandstone, representing probably some of the lower
beds of the English carboniferous rocks, but at the
Jieight of 1, 200 feet the limestone crops out and forms

Tig. 42. — Fencstella
iiionbranacea.

Fig. 43. — Or this rcsupinata.

5^ig. 44. — Spirifera tr {go-
nates, showing internal
coil.

Fig. 45. — Product Its punctatus.
(From Taylor's " Common British Fossils.")

a belt over 12 feet thick, the rock inclining gently to
the south-east.

It is worthy of note that this is one of the highest

situated exposures in Scotland from which fossils have

:as yet been obtained. In many places the limestone

is quite bare, with no soil or covering above it, and

yet from a thin bed of stone or " blae," quite a large

Tiumber of shells may be seen, of forms varied and

perfect, and but little injured or weathered by their

long exposure to the atmosphere. They, however,

usually break whenever an attempt is made to

■extract them from the matrix, and it is only by

exercising the greatest perseverance and patience that

fairly good specimens of any of the numerous forms

■of Productus, Spirifera, RhynconcUa, etc., can be

carried away. Over a century ago this hill was

worked for lead, which in the form of galena also

yielded silver. The ore, now unprofitable for work-

angj was massive and in hexahedral crystals.

In the west of Fife are the limestone quarries of
Limekilns and Charleston, about a mile apart. At
the former place the rock was worked so long ago as
the 17th century, and must have been an important
article of industry and commerce even fifty years
ago. Its value to this once thriving village may be
better understood by mentioning that from 1840 to
1S50 the average annual output of limestone exceeded

Fig. 46.— Clisiophyllum. (From Taylor':
FosbiU.')

' Common British

Pig. 47.— Transverse section of Clisiophyllum.

15,000 tons, while the value of the raw material
previous to burning and shipment amounted to
nearly ;iC4000. The rock has been wrought from the
face of the outcrop, north-east to south-west, and veiy
close to the shore. Step by step the workings have
been carried westwards towards Charleston, the site
of the present very restricted operations. The result
is that the appearance of the coast-line for upwards of

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

a mile has been altogether changed. Instead of a
gradually rising shore or "talus," we have a thin
stretch of undulating ground, backed by a steep
precipitous ridge or clift' in several places upwards of
1 20 feet high. This is one of many such examples
which help to show us how very greatly the aspect
of a locality may be permanently changed by mining
or quarrying operations conducted from the surface.
The exposure consists generally of several beds of
limestone dipping to the north-west at an angle of
12°, the visible depth being about 60 feet. These
beds in their turn are covered by 35 feet of shale
more argillaceous than carboniferous in its composi-
tion. The limestone in appearance is very similar to
that already described, the colour perhaps being a

On the south side of the Forth we have the rock
again exposed in the quarries north-east of the
important mining district of Bathgate. The ridge or
series of hills locally known as the Torphichens form-
part of the south rim of the Forth basin, and rise to
a height of 600 feet above the sea-level. The lime^
stone in this neighbourhood consists of a series of
beds 60 feet thick, is ot the usual grey colour, but
somewhat softer in texture, yielding more readily to
weathering influences, and becomes of a black -yellow
tint on decomposition. Possibly to the student just
commencing his researches among the Carboniferous
limestone no better locality than that of Bathgate
could be desired, as the exposures are both numerous
and easy of access, while the profusion of organic

Fig. 48. — Comtlaria qjiadris7dcaia.

Fig. 49. — Spirifera striata, b and c showing internal coils.

Fig. 50. — Prodiictus gigantens.
(From Taylor's "Common British Fossils.")

shade darker owing to the presence in the rock of a
small percentage of naphtha. Organic remains are
^omewhat rare in the lower beds, but of those
occasionally found most are in a fairly satisfactory
state of preservation. The upper massive beds yield
good and large Produdjis loiigispiiiiis, P. simiatiis,
P. martini, and P. Jimbriatiis ; the thin beds of
calcareous shale contain species of Tubipora,
Cyathophylhim, Clisiophylhitii, Turbinolia, Fungitcs,
(sheep's-horn), and various parts of dispersed en-
crinites ; while from the nodules of red-coloured
argillaceous ironstone found in the upper " blaes "
the writer has obtained very perfect and well-defined
specimens of Conularia qiiadrisiilcata, Ort/iis resiipi-
nata, Spirifera Uneata, and Strophomena sp.

remains is such as to lend every encouragement to
those who desire to wield hammer and chisel to
advantage. At present, operations in the once
extensively worked ([uarries are all but stopped in
consequence of the small demand for lime and the
keen competition of more favourably situated lime-
works. But it is impossible to wander among the
various workings without noticing on every hand
signs of the great amount of material which has been
extracted. Lead was at one time obtained here in.
small though not very continuous veins, and this in
turn yielded a small percentage of silver. The
argentiferous ore was long worked in one of the
quarries still bearing the name of " Silver Mine,"
situated a few hundred yards north-west of the

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

reservoir immediately above the town, and near to the
Bathgate and Linlithgow road. After yielding a
comparatively large quantity of silver it ultimately
ceased to give a supply great enough to be remunera-
tive, and operations at length were suspended. In
1 87 1 further explorations were made, and several
deeper pits with numerous ramifications opened, but
beyond obtaining a small and unsatisfactory amount
of lead, silver, and platinum ore, the venture was
unsuccessful, and i the place was finally abandoned.
Evidence was, however, adduced during the search,
which proved conclusively that the same vicinity had
been worked for silver so far back as the 15 th and
i6th centuries. The specimens now to be obtained
comprise barytes (heavy-spar) calc-spar, pearl-spar,
and dolomite, while a closer examination among the
seams of friable limestone will be rewarded by the
discovery here and there of small pieces of lead ore,
zinc ore, and pyrites. The fossils, as we have already
mentioned, are very numerous, and almost every stone
wall in the immediate neighbourhood bears witness
to this statement. But while the specimens are so

Fig. 51. — Tooth of Rhizodus Hibberti.

very general it cannot be said that the species are
proportionably varied. Productus giganteiis, Cyatho-
crinus planus, and Platycrimis lavis are unusually
common, the first mentioned being present in such
quantities as to cause the rock to be well qualified for
the name " Productus " limestone. In fact, it seems
more abundant here than in any other series of
quarries under our notice, but it is unfortunately
very difficult to extract. Other fossils obtainable
include Spirifera striata, (comparatively rare in
Scotland), Productus sctnireticulatus, and the Polyzoa
Fenestella vtemhraiiacca.

Before taking leave of the carboniferous limestone
of the Forth district, it is necessary for us to consider
briefly a sub-deposit exposed at Burdiehouse, New-
bigging, and other places, to which the terms

" Encrinital," " Productus," and " Mountain " would
be altogether inappropriate, but which must certainly
be included under the term " Carboniferous." This
deposit, commonly known as the Burdiehouse Lime-
stone, was first brought prominently before geologists
by the late Dr. Hibbert in 1835. It has a dull,
earthy, light blue appearance, is exceedingly hard and
brittle, breaks with a conchoidal fracture, and the beds
vary in thickness from 20 to 30 feet. Where found,
it usually occurs alternating with oil-producing shales,
directly above the calciferous sandstones, and to a
limited extent contains fossils common to both rocks,
notably Sphenopteris affuiis and S. bifida. From the
nature of the embedded remains it has been con-
sidered to be of fresh-water or estuarine origin.
Remains of microscopic Crustacea closely resembling
in general structure those at present existing in fresh-
water lakes abounding in decaying vegetable matter,
occur in myriads.- Teeth of ganoid fish, Rhizodus
Hibberti, and of Callopristodon pcctiiiatis, and
Nematoptychius sp. are occasionally found, the first-
named being usually very perfect.

Though this formation is particularly enticing to
the palEeontologist, it may not be altogether out of
place to warn the student against building up a too
exaggerated idea of what he may be able to obtain
from the rock during a chance visit of two or three
hours' duration. It is quite possible that he may
succeed in becoming the possessor of a good-sized
specimen of tooth of Rhizodus or other fish, but it is
equally probable that he may have to remain satisfied
with less enticing relics, made up, perhaps, of some of
the more common fern remains. If, however, the place
visited be Burdiehouse itself, he will be able to find
something to reflect upon during his journey back to
Edinburgh (five miles) by knowing that the quarry and
its contents have been studied by the eminent geolo-
gists, Sir Roderick Murchison, Hugh Miller, Agassiz,
and Drs. Fleming and Buckland.

{To be continued.)

FAMINE IN THE LAND.

WE may gather from the accounts and papers
and " Imperial Gazetteer " that the following
were years of famine in India :— 1396 to 1407, 1460,
1520, 1629-31, 1650, 1686, 1746, 175s, 1759, and 60,
1770, 1773. 1783, 1790-92, 1803, 1807 and 13,
1824,1833, 1838, 1845, 1847,1854, i86oand6i, 1866,
1869, 1873 and 74, 1876-1878. In the Delhi market
the price of wheat, according to Mr. Stanley Jevons,
was highest in 1763, 1773, 1783, 1792, 1803, 1809 and
12, 1820 and 26, 1834 ; between which dates and
the sun-spot series there is a more or less exact coinci-
dence, some local displacement being marked by the
years 1792 and 1872. Famines in India, then, may
be expected at the epochs of most and fewest sun-
spots, and corn in particular, where grown, may be

A LEAF FROM THE BOOK OF FATE.
Written in the Sun-Spots.

"Decidimus quo pius .^^.neas quo dives Tullus et Ancus, PiiKis et umbra sunnis,"— HoR.

M
m
M
M

324 Alexander the Great dies, 323.
335 Alexander the Great, 336.

365 I Perdiccas the Third.
387 Ptolemy, 388.
412 Archelaus, 413.

423 , Darius the Second.

445 . Tribunicia Potestus, 446.

453 Date of Daniel.

464 Artaxerxes.

486 Leges agrarian ; Darius dies.

508 Tarquinius Superbus deposed, 509.

522 Madness and death of Cambyses.

530 Cambyses, 529.

574 Tyre taken.

577 ' Tarquinius Priscus dies, 579.

588 I Destruction of Jerusalem.

596 Aurora Borealis ; Ezekiel ; Eclipse, 597

599 Jehoiakim dies.

607 I Nineveh destroyed, 606.

618 Ancus Martius dies.

632 Cyrene founded by Delphian Oracle.

640 j Tullus Hostilius dies ; 641, Josiah.

643 1 Manasseh dies, 644 ; Amon, 642.

662 I Gyges dies, 663.

Insurrection in Assyria.

Hezekiah dies ; Assaranadina, 699.

Tarentum founded, 707.

687
698
706
709

717

Deioces ; Merodach-baladin deposed,
710.

Romulus dies.

720 Fall of Samaria, 721.

728
739

Ahaz dies.
Pekah murdered.

742

753
761
772
784
786
805
808
819
S38
841
882

Ahaz ; Tiglath-pileser.

Romulus, 754.

Uzziah and Menahem die, 759.

Zechariah assassinated, 773.

Jeroboam the Second dies.

Famine of Amos, 787.

Plague in Assyria.

Circa, depositions, plague in Assyria.

Shalmaneser V. dies, 8x8.

Joash slain.

Jehoahaz died, 840.

Jehoram murdered, 8S3.

885 Jehoram dies, 884.

893
896

904

Famine in Samaria.

The prophets urge Ahab to battle.

Shalmaneser, 905.
007 j Elijah's famine ; visits Horeb.
915 I Jehosaphat, 914.

918

926

929

937

959

1014

1017

1047

1058

1068

1094

1256

1489

1709

Ahab.

Omri.

Elah murdered ; Baasha died, 930.

Binlikhish IL dies, 936.

Rehoboam dies, 958.

Solomon, 1015.

"The angel at the threshing-place."

" A sound in the mulberry tops."

Saul dies, 1056.

Codrus ; Inarchus, 1856.

Saul, 1095.

" The angel at the threshing-place."

Sinai, Burning Bush, and Plagues,
1491.

Joseph's famine, 1707.

is founded on the conception of the periodical recurrence of Famines, and may be extended,
mployed is the Mean Sun-Spot one of Astronomy, which here represents the Jubilee Years,

This Table
The notation emj

Prophetical Numbers, and other dark Figures in general. The passage from most to fewest sun-spots is
calculated as transpiring every eleven years, the epoch of Fewest (m) being indicated eight years after each
maximum (M).

HARDWICKKS SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

expected to rise in price. Locusts multiplied in 1812
and 13, 1822, 1834, 1843 and 44, 1865, 1868 and 69,
1S77-79, that is at the period of fewest sun-spots,
a rule that appears to hold good for the entire
Northern Hemisphere. I once endeavoured to ascer-
tain the destructive species, but could meet with no
corresponding enthusiasm in the matter. According
to Toaldo, the price of wheat in Lombardy was
highest in 1685, 1690, 1693, 1696 and 1700, 1709 and
1715, 1722, 1729, 1735, 1739, 1743 and 47, 1756,
1 759 and 63, 1766, 1773, 1778; dates which will serve
to show how a general law locally varies.

Horace hears the winter breakers pounding the sea
cliffs, and scolds Leuconoe for trying the Babylonian
numbers, and chaunteclere has been known to twit
Madame Pertelote as being at the root of the matter.
But when the air grows soft on the springing corn we
need no longer sigh over the hidden fate of Romulus,
Tullus, or Ancus, for these dire numbers stand in the
margin of everybody's Bible, could anyone suggest
how to consult them to any profit. Certainly if we
commence B.C. 588 and add eight and three alter-
nately we may calculate out a very perfect table of
destiny for the kings of Judah and Israel, so that like
some warning prophet we might have loomed on each
in turn and propounded the alternative of a seven
years' war, a famine, a distemper or an abdication ;
or we may if desirable begin B.C. 1014 and compute
by adding the sevens, but in this case the dates will
be less nearly approximated. Proceeding by either
method, we infallibly arrive at one or the other of the
cardinal dates' of the Prophet Daniel employed in
astrological predictions, and continuing down to our
own times, it will become self evident that the'Jubilee
dates of the Bible, taken as they stand, represent the
mean series of most and fewest sun-spots. Possessing
such a table, we shall awake to the same dark shadows
playing everywhere over the open page of history,
notably embodied in the rush of the barbarians over
the rustling corn-lands of the west at the decline of the
Roman Empire, a battle-cry of famine, nowhere so
photophoned as in the burden of the valley of
Jehosaphat, when the earthquake roars and the sun
dons its noontide sackcloth ; ' Hamonim, harmonim,
bemek hacharutz,' whose refrain as the moon arises
red we catch in ' canes ululare per umbram.'

' We are seven,' said Wordsworth's smart school-
girl : they are seven, was then the dark song of fate ;
the child sneezed its seven times. But there must have
been room for a range of opinion, for on one of the
Assyrian signets the king stands before his burning
tree crowned with the seven-rayed sun, which has the
adjunct of eight pomegranate-like side cressets, and
so very confident is he in his arrangement, that he
holds what looks like a bell-rope communicating
with the Deity, in apparent disregard of a priest
opposite, who tugs just such another ; the reverse is
seen in the resourceless monarch who weeps over the
face of the prophet exclaiming, ' O thou chariot of

Israel and horseman thereof.' Two arrows fly tO'
glitter in the sun, five or six blows are struck on the
land of milk and honey, though the medieval al-
chemist would have transmuted all to gold from
spirits four and bodies seven, and Josephus thinks
that the arrows were necessarily three. Is this thy
place, sad city, this thy throne, where the wild desert
rears its craggy stone, while suns unblest their angry
lustre fling? we feel ever ready to exclaim, inured to
the smooth, uneven, star and planetarj' stops of a
brilliant millennium, that warms in the sun, refreshes
in the breeze, glows in the stars, and blossoms in the
trees ; though even in our green native lanes, far
remote from throne or senate, we do all unawares
encounter the white-winged angel as our destiny, in
the shape of a barking cough, bronchitis, rack of
nerve or muscle, prelusive of the end. On the 29th.'
of April, 1882, it was truly painful to behold the seared,
and blooming cheeks of nature, the greenwood
scorched and withered on its southern aspect, as
though scathed with flames, or languishing in the
breath of autumn that benumbs the bumbles on the
thistle tufts. The aristocratic elms stood like ragged-
foresters rayed half green, half umber ; the horse
chestnuts and hawthorns showed piteously their white-
china flowers from among sienna leaves ; the oaks ia
flower and leaf looked as though hung on the sunnier
side with charred paper, leprous with an orange
fungus ; the limes and sycamores had their leaves
shrivelled. In the neighbourhood of the tropics these
stormy winds whirl the dust-storms over hot sands, in
their furnace breath the top of Carmel withers, there:
is a galloping in the trees, the locusts teem, and the-
five-and-twenty prophets come forth to gaze at the
sun arising on Olivet, and exclaim, 'This is the
cauldron and we are the flesh.' The Indian statistics-
show that behind a drought does not necessarily stalk
a famine, but Mallet's tables render it perfectly clear
that eruptions and earthquakes occur in spells at the
epochs of most and fewest sun spots. In vain was-
Catherine mangled and borne through mid-air to saint
a Sinai that does not glow, for the gentler sex remain
of opinion that a blazing mountain admonishes the
earth ; Proserpina has left us a nosegay, and Agatha
her veil, such were ever the resort of the prophet and
the seer in evil times. According to an author
quoted, Julianus states that in the reign of king
Theodoric, when his wife's grandfather was returning
by sea from Sicily to Italy, the ship stopped at one ot
the Lipari islands, where a hermit told him that
Theodoric was dead. The hermit knew the fact from
having seen the king, on the previous day, dragged
between John the Pope and Symmachus the patrician^
ungirt, unshod, and in chains, and thrown into the
crater of the volcano. The kinsman of Julianus made
a note of the day, and found, on his arrival in Italy,
that Theodoric had died at the time of the appearance
described by the hermit. It may be remarked that
John and Symmachus had been put to death by

HARDWl CKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSJF.

Theodoric ; albeit the date 526 a.d. is fatal, and the
coincidence certainly striking. It is a little singular
"that Professor Sayce, in translating the allegory of
.Bel and the Dragon, should not have recognised in it
a. base version of the Jewish lawgiving, the Assyrian
tables being of moral import and not of moral weight,
the shadow and fruit of that golden tree whose gay
Ausions of the earth's childhood are still the bane and
perdition of our modern culture. The meteorology
and geology patched together infallibly outlines in
barbarous hauruspid style the ruddy clouds, the
lightnings, the belching, the red lava, and the terrific
reflexion of the volcano. ' None among the gods
surpasses thy power ; as an adornment he has founded
the shrine of the Gods, which is become thy home,
O thou that avengest us. May thy destiny, O Lord,
go before the gods, and may they confirm the destruc-
tion and the creation of all that is said. Set thy
aiiouth, may it destroy the plan ; turn, speak to him,
4ind let him produce again his plan. Go, they said,
;and cut off the life of Tiamet ; let the winds carry her
blood to secret places. They showed his path and
they bade him listen and take the road. He made
the club to swing, the bow and the quiver he hung at
Jiis side ; he set the lightning before him, with a
glance of swiftness he filled his body. She recites an
incantation, she casts a spell. Bel made an evil wind
to enter, so that she could not close her lips. The
violence of the winds tortured her stomach, and her
heart was prostrated and her mouth twisted. He
swung his club, he shattered her stomach, he cut out
her entrails ; he mastered her heart. The elevenfold
offspring are troubled through fear. And he took
from him the tables of destiny. He lit up the sky,
the sanctuary rejoiced. Bel measured the offspring
of the deep, he established the upper firmament as
his image.' In Syria during a famine when a change
•of dynasty was contemplated, a prophet, we are told,
resorted to a cave in Mount Horeb. A strong wind
lent the mountains and brake in pieces the rocks
before Jehovah ; after the wind came an earthquake
and after the earthquake a fire ; when Moses ascended
Sinai at the delivery of the law, ' the smoke thereof
ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole
mountain quaked greatly.' It is the precedent to
cast dates from an Astronomical canon : that of the
Alexandrine astronomers gives the follor/ing dates for
the kings of Assyria, commencing at Cyrus, B.C. 53S,
555. 559. 561. 604, 625, 647, 667, 680, 688, 692,
■693. 699, 722, 724, and 729 ; the one enclosed will
cast with but small deviation and error those of
Israel and Judah. If winds and earthquakes are
•regarded, then, as an expression of the Divine will,
.and these are found to be in turn caused by the sun ;
it is difficult to see how the sun and stars can be ex-
cluded, save there exist some incomprehensible dis-
tinction between judicial cosmology and judicial
astronomy.

A. H. SWINTON.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

We would draw the special attention of our readers
to an article in the last number of the " Annals and
Magazine of Natural History," by Professor Ruken-
thal, " On the Adaptation of Mammalia to Aquatic
Life." He believes the toothed whales and the whale-
bone whales have each had a separate origin and
development.

The last number of the Fcnille des Jcunes Natura-
listes has a capital and comprehensive article by M.
Billet on " Notions Elementaires de Bacteriologie."

We are pleased to announce that the valuable notes
and memoranda of the veteran Norfolk geologist, the
late Mr. John.Gunn, will shortly be published, under
the title of "Memorials of John Gunn." It cannot
fail to be a deeply interesting book.

Part 10 of "The Canary Book," by R. L.
Wallace, and part 10 of " British Cage Birds," by the
same author, are to hand (London : L. Upcott Gill).
Both parts are well up to their high mark.

We have received number 106 of Wesley's
" Natural History and Scientific Book Circular,"
containing 48 pp., all of which are devoted to works
on Botany.

A WORK of much labour as well as of love is the
Rev. E. N. Blomfield's .'brochure on " The Lepidop-
tera of Suffolk," published by W. Wesley & Son.
It runs to 60 pp., and is a model of careful exactness,
due to vast painstaking.

At a meeting of the Institut de France (Academic
des Sciences), Paris, held on December 29th, Dr. A.
B. Griffiths, F.R.S.E., F.C.S. (an old contributor
to Science-Gossip), was awarded an _," honourable
mention" in connection with the Prix Montyon
which is given annually for researches in experimental
physiology and physiological chemistry.

An interesting addition has just been made to our
British Pleistocene fauna by Doctor Leeson's dis-
covery of a portion of the skull of the Saiga antelope
{Saiga tartarka) in the Thames graves at Twicken-
ham. Its remains had previously been found in the
caverns of France and Belgium.

A new fossil wading bird has been found in the
cretaceous rocks of Sweden, and named Scanioriiis
Liidgreni.

The next International Congress of Geologists
will assemble at Washington, U.S.A., on the 26th
of August, after the meeting of the American Asso-
ciation for the Advancement of Science, which will
be held the week before. It is expected that the
committee will be able to obtain from the ocean
steamship lines very favourable terms for foreign

HA RD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OSSIF.

members. The secretaries are Messrs. II. S. Wil-
liams and S. F. Emmons, Washington.

Mr. E. H. Hankin, of St. John's College,
Cambridge, is said to have discovered a cure for
anthrax, to the study of which disease he has devoted
himself many years. He based his investigations
upon the principle of lymph inoculation, which Dr.
Koch has so successfully applied in the case of
tuberculosis. The glycerine extract in Mr. Hankin's
process is precipitated with alcohol and re-dissolved
in water. The experiment has been repeated on a
number of subjects with gratifying success. This
discovery derives additional interest from the fact
that anthrax is not the only disease from which rats
(the spleen of which animal produces the protective
proteid) enjoy immunity.

A French chemist, according to the "Daily
News" of February nth, claims to have discovered
the true process of photographing in correct colours.

We are glad to see that the " Oological Expedi-
tion " to the Shetland Isles, projected in Birmingham,
will not be allowed to take place. The question
came up in Parliament on February 17th. Vandalism
of this kind ought to have no mercy shown it.

We are sorry to record the death of an old contri-
butor to our columns in Dr. 11. B. Brady, F.R.S.,
&c., of Newcastle. Dr. Brady was distinguished for
his large and specialistic knowledge of the Forami-
nifera, and Fossil and recent, on which he wrote
several monographs, including the two superb quarto
vols, on the Foraminifera of the "Challenger"
expedition. He died at the comparatively early age
of55-

MICROSCOPY.

The Vertical Camera. —Referring to a note I
sent you about the use of the Vertical camera, I
have received a letter from Messrs. Beck giving me
full instructions. It only came to hand by last mail,
and I see from it that the use of a slope is what they
recommend. This I did not know when I wrote to
you, and a notice in an old number of the " American
Monthly Microscopical Journal " (on the distortion,
apparently irremediable, incidental to one of the
American forms of camera) rather served to mislead
me. There is nothing new in the slope, and if you
have not already consigned my note to the waste
paper basket, pray do so. — JV. y. Simmons, Calcutta.

The Quekett Microscopical Club. — The
January number of the Journal of this well-known
club contains the following papers : — " On the Vibra-
tile Tags of Asplanchna," by C. Rousselet ; " On the
Stridulating Organs of Cystoaelia Floridic,'^ by R. T.
Lewis ; " On the Reproductive Organs of some of

the Floridse," by T. H. Buffham ; "On Lacinularia^
and a New Rotifer from Guildford," by G. Weitern ;
" On a New Diatom from the Estuary of the Thames,"
by W. H. Shrubsole ; "Note on Dhiops longipes"
by C. Rousselet ; " On the Human Spermatozoa,"
by E. M. Nelson, &c. The plates are numerous and
good.

ZOOLOGY.

The Mimicry of Mantis. — An insect which is-
not uncommon in India is a medium-sized mantis,,
between three and four inches in total length. It :s
one of those mantises which have a long slender
thorax, and which, owing to the second and third,
pairs of legs being very long, carry their thorax and
head very high. In this insect the thorax is about
half its entire length, and is of a bright grass-
green colour without any markings, and it obviously
mimics a grass stem. The abdomen is also some-
what slender, "the wing-covers are of a grass-green
colour, without markings, and it obviously mimics
a grass blade. But in both these cases the mimicry
is obvious, as also the reason for it, and it is not
what I wish to call attention to. The first joint of
the fore-legs is widened and flattened ; it is also
green, and the posterior surface is marked with a
large ocellus. When the insect is undisturbed it
remains generally in one place, but is not perfectly
motionless ; it sways perpetually and uniformly from
side to side. In this position it looks very harmless,
but if it is startled or alarmed its aspect instantly
changes ; it partly opens the wings, turns its head
and thorax so as to face the terrifying object, makes
a noise like a sudden, sharp puff of wind, very like
the noise made by a startled snake, and raises its
fore-legs so that the first joint lies along the thorax,
and the inside margin of the expansion being nearly
straight, it looks as if the fore-legs and thorax were
connected. In this position the ocelli are very con-
spicuous, and with the small, triangular head, and
the slender thorax, the effect is to produce a ludicrous
resemblance to a diminutive cobra. Now, what
puzzles me is this exact resemblance. The insect
could not possibly be taken for a cobra on account of
its small size and green colour ; while if the object is
only to appear formidable it could have been obtained
without imitating a cobra so exactly. It may be
suggested that there is no direct imitation, but that
the same causes which have led to the development
of the eye-spots in the cobra have also led to the
development of ocelli in this insect, viz., that the
apparent possession of a large head gives the animal
more formidable appearance ; but this explanation is
apparently negatived by the pecular noise made by
the insect, which certainly seems to indicate that a
snake is imitated. I'ossibly the object of the noise is
to suggest that it is some kind of snake, and then the

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

■ocelli may suggest that it is one of the cobra kind.
jVIay be, some of your readers may be able to suggest
a better explanation. Anyhow, the thing is curious,
and I think worthy of note.— y. R. Holt.

Hertfordshire Natural History Society. —
We have received the May, July, September, and
December parts of the Transactions of this well-known
society, containing the Anniversary Address by the
President Lord Clarendon, on " Field Sports and
their bearing on National Character," and the follow-
ing original papers — " Seeds and Fruits, their Structure
and Migrations," by A. E. Gibbs, "Meteorological
Observations," by John Hopkinson ; " Record of
Water Level in a Deep Chalk Well at the Grange, St.
Albans," by H, G. Ford ham ; "Local Scientific
Investigation in Connection with Committee of the
British Association," by John Hopkinson ;
" Geological Photography in Hertfordshire," by John
Hopkinson ; " Some Hertfordshire Well Sections," by
Wm. Whitaker ; " Report on the Rainfall in Hert-
fordshire in lSS9,"byJohn Hopkinson; " Climato-
logical Observations in Hertfordshire in 1S89 ; "
*' Half-a-century Rainfall in Hertfordshire ; " " Notes
on Birds observed in Hertfordshire in 1889," by
George Rooper, «S:c.

Influence of the Late Severe Winter on
Small Birds. — The feathered tribes, especially the
insectivorous species, suffered terribly during the in-
clement weather of December and January. Hedge
accentors, tits, thrushes and blackbirds tried to keep
life in their poor little famished bodies by coming
round houses and disputing for stray crumbs with the
sparrows. The want of food and water seemed to
•affect birds more even than the cold. In my out-
door aviary where the birds had abundance of food
and water to drink, but little special protection against
the cold, greenfinches seemed quite indifferent to the
weather, but I had a few casualties among the other
birds, especially the linnets. On the whole, however,
they bore the severe cold very well indeed ; a tame
moor-hen I have in an out-door aviary seemed
absolutely indifferent to it. — Albert H. Waters, B.A.,
Cambridge.

Lovers of Natural History are invited to join the
Practical Naturalist's Society. Beginners may join as
Associates, Prospectus for stamp from the Secretary,
IVilloughby House, Mill Road, Cambridge.

BOTANY.

Ornithopus ebracteatus.— Mr. Haydon, in his
note about the Cyprus Spurge, which was published
in your January number, mentioned that the Ornith-
■cpus ebracteatus was found at Folkestone by a visitor
in 1888. As I was fortunate enough to discover it
ihere in the same year, perhaps he would kindly let

me know to whom he refers ; amongst my own books
I could find no reference to it, except as growing in
the Scilly islands, I therefore sent it to the Secretary
of the Natural History Society at Folkestone, but for
this and other specimens I have sent him I have had
no acknowledgment. I presumed it was not considererl
of sufficient value to be mentioned. In future I will
record all my findslin your columns as Mr. Haydon
suggests. — G. Abbott, Tunbridge Wells.

Plants Found in the Neighbourhood ok
OxsHOTT, Surrey, September 27TH, 1890, —
The following is a short general description of the
district of Oxshott Heath, Surrey, and a list of plants
observed there on the afternoon of September 27th,
1890, when the writer formed one of the members of
a natural history excursion-party. The plants have
all been recorded for the county, and so, scientifically,
their present mention is of little value ; but to those
among whom this magazine circulates, who are little
accustomed to moorland scenery, they may give some
idea of flowers likely to occur in such districts.
Oxshott Heath is about seventeen miles from the
centre of London — I say centre because the
metropolis is only too rapidly pushing out one of its
arms in that direction, and the speculative builder is
busy at work not many miles off. For so near
London some of the plants are by no means of
frequent occurrence, and the writer would urge upon
collectors to gather their specimens with a sparintj
band. Nearly all this district is in the Bagshot sand
formation ; and close to Oxshott railway station there
is a curious sandy knoll or hill of considerable height ;
these sand-hills, many of them clad with Scotch fir,
are quite a characteristic of this district. The St.
George's Hills, near Weybridge, not many miles
from Oxshott, are another good example. Although
much of the Heath is elevated, covered with ling,
furze, and clumps of fir-trees, there are peat-bogs
abounding in sphagnum-moss, and in these most of the
rarer plants are to be found. The plants noted were
as follows : — Ulex nanus, Forst., very abundant on
the sandy open parts ; Scabiosa succisa, L., abundant ;
Sonchus arvetisis, L., abundant; Calluna vulgaris,
Salisb., in large masses, and still in fiill bloom ; Erica
Tetralix, L., fairly abundant in the moister parts ;
the flowers of some plants were very pale, almost
white, in fact. E. cinerea, L., very frequent ;
Drosera rotundifolia, L., in fair quantity, growing
amongst sphagnum-moss, D. intermedia is known
also to occur, but none was noted on this occasion,
and it is fortunate for its own sake that it is not easy
to find in this locality. Teucrium Scorodonia, L.,
very common ; Mentha Fulegium, this plant, which
is rare elsewhere, was found in considerable quantity
in the bog. Scutellaria minor, L., found very
sparingly ; Verbena officinalis, L., one patch found by
roadside. Nartheciuni ossifragum, Huds. (Lancashire
bog-asphodell), in large quantity in the bog, but only

7°

HARDWICKE'S SCI ENCE-GOSSJP.

in seed. These plants were growing in a sheltered
position ; but on Sept. 3, 1890, I found plants ot N.
ossifragum on Ashdown Forest, Sussex, in an equally
advanced condition, but these were growing in a bog
in an open wind-swept gulley. Can any reader
inform me whetlier an exposed situation causes such
plants to flower and mature earlier than those
growing more or less under the shade of trees ?
Lastrca Jilatata ; Loinaria spicant (immature), on
banks ; Litcobriiiin glaiicum, in clumps, abundantly
under the fir-trees. Sphagnum sqtiarosum, S. cyniibi-
folium, and S. nciitiim, in bogs. Marckanlia poly-
Diorpha, abundant on the banks of ditches. In the
case of identification of some of the plants my best
thanks are due for help kimlly given by some
members of the excursion-party. — Archibald Clarke.

GEOLOGY, &c.

Coal Sections. — What is the best and simplest
method to make sections of coal, fossils, rocks, other
than by the grinding process ? Such as those made
by Professor Williamson or Boyd Dawkins, of
^Manchester, and in the Museum (? The transparent).
I do not know the acid or bleaching agent. — V. A-
Latham, F.R.M.S., F.G.S.

Boulders in the Midlands. — One of the best
and cleanest finished bits of original work we have
seen for some time is Mr. F. W. Martin's paper on
"The Boulders of the Midland District " (a second
report), reprinted from the " Proceedings of the
Birmingham Philosophical .Society." It is illustrated
by a vigorously drawn map, showing the distribution
of Midland boulders and the parent rocks from
which they have travelled. Mr. Martin's paper is
the most valuable contribution to local geology we
have seen for some time.

The Geology of Barbadoes.— Very few nooks
and corners of the globe are more geologically in-
teresting than the West Indian Islands. Mr. J. B.
Harrison, and Mr. A. J. Jukes-Browne have just
issued a pamphlet on the subject published by the
Barbadoes Legislature. The chapters relating to
the Physical Geology of the Island are extremely
interesting. The sections are instructive. Barbadoes
is a typical " Oceanic Island," and is therefore worth
double study. Messrs. Harrison and Jukes-Browne
have here turned out good and well concentrated
work.

The Coral Rocks of Barbadoes. — Messrs.
Jukes-Brown and Professor Harrison recently read an
interesting paper on this subject before the Geological
Society. They first discussed the coral reef growing
round Barbadoes, and described a submarine reef,
the origin of which was considered. It was pointed
out that there is no sign of any .sul)sidence having

taken place, but every sign of very recent elevation..
They then described the raised reefs of the island^
extending to a height of nearly n 00 feet above sea
level in a series of terraces. The thickness of the-
coral rock in these is seldom above 200 feet, and the
rock does not always consist of coal debris. At
the base of the reefs there is generally a certaim
thickness of detrital rock in which perfect reef-corals
never occur. The collections of fossils made by the
authors have been examined by Messrs. E. A. Smith'
and J. W. Gregory. Of the corals, five out of ten
species identified still live in the Caribbean Sea, and
one is closely allied to a known species, whilst the-
other four are only known from Professor Duncan's
descriptions of foSsil Antiguan corals. The authors
are of opinion that the whole of the terraces of
Barbadoes, the so-called "marl" of Antigua, and'
the fossiliferous rocks of Barbuda are of Pleistocene-
age. The authors proceeded to notice the formations
in other West Indian islands which appear to be
raised reefs comparable with those of Barbadoes, and
showed that these reefs occur through the whole
length of the Antillean Chain, and indicate a recent
elevation of at least 1300 feet, and in all probability
of nearly 2000 feet. It appears improbable that
each island was a region of separate uplift, and as av
plateau of recent marine limestone also occurs in<
Yucatan, this carries the region of elevation into
Central America, and it is reported that there are
raised reefs in Colombia. The authors concluded
that there has been contemporaneous elevation of the
whole Andean Chain from Cape Horn to Tehuante-
pec and of the Antillean Chain from Cuba to Bar-
badoes. Before this there must have been free
communication between the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans, which is confirmed by the large number of
Pacific forms in the Caribbean Sea. Under such
geographical conditions the great equatorial current
would pass into the Pacific, and there would be no
Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic,

The Glacial Period.— We havereceived a copy
of Mr. Dugald Bell's paper, republished from the
Transactions of the Glasgow Geological Society, on
the " Phenomena of the Glacial Period," dealin"-
especially with "the great submergence." It is one
of the most exhaustive papers on the subject we have
come across, and is well illustrated by maps, etc.
This is Part ii. and we should be pleased if the
author would send us Part i.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Rabiut Dying of Old Age. — In December a
male rabbit, which has been in my possession from
the age of three months, died, to all appearance of
old age ; he would have been ten years old in March
next, the claws were considerably over an inch in
length. A female of the same litter was so vicious,
though always kindly treated, that it was necessary

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

to take a thick stick when feeding her. — /F. A.
'Gain.

Two Sides of the Medal. — Surely Mrs. Alice
Jiodington is labouring under some misapprehension
as to what Mr. Wallace and other naturalists mean
when they say that the effects of use and disuse are
not inherited. I judge this to be so because as
examples of the contrary she gives the cases of the
inheritance of deafness, supernumerary toes, insanity
and other characters which are born with people, not
^acquired by them either through use or disuse, and
because her breath is taken away on reading Weis-
mann's statement that "the inheritance of acquired
■characters has never been proved." Let us take the
case of two men, A. and B. A. is born with large
muscular limbs, while B. is not, but by dint of careful
training and exercise he contrives to make his limbs
as big as A.'s. Mr. Wallace, and those who think
->vith him, say that A.'s children would be more
likely to have muscular limbs than B.'s, since the big
muscles of the latter are the result of use, while A's
are natural. Again, suppose C. to be born without
thumbs, and D. to lose his by accident. Does Mrs.
.Bodington suppose that D.'s children would be as
■likely to be born thumbless as C.'s ?• Wallace and
Weismann think that D.'s children would be as likely
ito have thumbs as those of any one else. My friend
Mr. W. P. Ball, in a little book recently published
by Messrs. Macmillan, in " Nature Series," has
analysed very destructively the cases which have
been adduced in favour of the hypothesis of what he
■calls "use-inheritance," and I think that those who
■wish to look at both sides of the medal should read
this work carefully. — Charles Bird, Rochester.

Two Sides of the Medal. — I think many of
your readers would be glad if Mrs. Bodington would
explain what third set of renals exist in vertebrates,
besides the true kidneys and the Wolffian organs. —
F.R.

Beche-de-Mer. — Will some reader of Science

Gossip kindly inform me where ;i"Trepang," or

" Beche-de-mer " can be procured in London —

either by purchase or e-xchange ? — E. H. R., Pains-

.wick, Gloucestershire.

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES.

On the iith of August, 1887, a snow-white
■specimen of the yellow wagtail was observed on
Quaiaton Hills (not far from this village) by a friend
-oYmine. On the morning of the next day he saw it
again, and got within a few yards of it, and saw it
well before it flew away. Its flight and chirrup were
quite normal. An albino wagtail I consider to be a
rare and somewhat unusual occurrence amongst birds.
Several white starlings have been observed in this
neigbourhood at various times by different persons,
and one was seen on the i6th of July, 1890, and
again on the i8th with other starlings by my cousin,
Mr. P. H. Ward, who also saw it settle on the back
of a sheep, after it had flown from the place where he
first saw it. Several white house-sparrows (more or
less deficient in colour) have also been seen and shot
in this district.

In the winter of 1885 a sparrow was caught in a
trap with the crown of its head pure white, and one
was seen on the 6th of last November, 1889, and
again on the iSth, in company with a flock of its
companions, with its back and tail quite white. So
recently as September 24th, 1890, one with a white
%ving was observed amongst a large flock of sparrows,

which frequented a stubble-field for the littered grains
and loose ears of wheat when the rest had been
carted away to the barn or stack. Another albino
bird, of the finch family, was seen by my cousin on
June 6th 1890, who thought it was either a chaffinch
or a linnet, but he could not be certain of its species.
I have been told by a person of good authority that
he saw a white blackbird in his father's orchard a few
years ago. Another parishioner said that when he
was at harvest-work near Wendover, a few years ago,
he killed a white pheasant. — H. G. IVard, North
Alarston, Bucks.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

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

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

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

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

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

To our Recent Exchangers. — We are willing and helpful
to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow dis-
guised Exchanges like those which frequently come to .us
to appear unless as advertisements.

E. Pratt. — You may procure any of the following works
relating to the botany, &c., of Surrey, of W. Wesley & Son,
Essex Street, Strand: Brewer's "Flora of Surrey," with maps,
price TS. td. ; " Flora of Reigate," by G. Luxford ; Brewer's
"List of Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Fishes, Birds, &c.," price
2^^. dd.

A. Mavfield. — The average length of the slow worm
{Anguis fragilis) is from 9 to 10 inches. Your specimen,
17! inches long, is very unusual.

E. Parker. — Re " Lobster and whelk." It is not a lobster
at all, but the hermit crab {Pagiirus Bernhardus), which
always lives in empty whelk shells, its own body being per-
manently soft. It is a type of a distinct order of Crustacea.

B. C. Robinson. — You will doubtless obtain a good second-
hand copy of Kirby and Spence's " Introduction to Ento-
mology" of Messrs. W. Wesley & Son, Essex Street, Strand,
or Mr. W. P. Collins, 157 Great Portland Street, London, W.

C. Oldham. — To preserve frogs, &c., try a mixture of half-
and-half spirits and glycerine.

M. J. Teesdalh. — You can prepare your new magic lantern
slides by getting the usual sizes of ground glass, similar to
those used for cl ildre'^'s transparent drawing slates, and by
placing them over an', oook illustration or otherwise, sketching
on them with a pencil. The sketches can then be filled in
with transparent oil colours.

R. de G. B. — You are probably correct in surmising that the
cases are the cocoons of a coccus. It will be best to wait till
they come out. The best Handbook on British Birds is written
by Mr. Howard Saunders, and published by Messrs. Gurney
and Jackson in twenty shilling parts, illustrated.

Miss Chichester. — The Editor is much obliged for the
drawings and photographs of the holly bough, which is ex-
ceedingly interesting. iThe flattening is due to "fasciation,"
but it is uncommon in the holly.

EXCHANGES.

Wanted, choice unmounted material, polycistina, &c., in
exchange for choice microscopic shdes of every description. —
R. Suter, 5 Highweek Road, Tottenham, London.

Wanted, fossils from various localities. Good duplicates
offered in exchange.— Thos. W. Reader, 171 Hemingford Road,
London, N.

Science-Gossip from vol. i. (1865) to vol. xvi. (i83o), un-
bound, but wrapped and tied up in vols., with the exception of

HARDWICKKS SCIENCE-GOSSIP,

nineteen numbers, viz., June to December, 1876, and the
whole of 1877. What oflcrs for the lot?— T. Black, 190 Bell-
hagg Road, Sheffield.

W.\NTED, dried leaves of eleagnus, deutzia, onosmo, &c.,
also lepidoptera, Ulysses, niorpho, rypheiis, &c. Good
exchange in micro-slides. — George Read, 87 Lordship Road,
London, N.

Twenty-two copper coins, and Science-Gossip from May
to December, 1890, to exchange. What offers in fossils? —
Walter C. Shield, 36 Garlurk Street, Crossbill, Glasgow.

Student's microscope by Maw, Son, & Thompson ; rack
and fine adjustments, double nose-piece, two eye-pieces, + and
A objectives. Want high-power objective, or lirst-class bino-
cular. — Taylor, 26 Marchmont Street, London, W.C.

Wanted, eighth and following parts of Braithwaite's " Moss
Flora," or " Sphagnacese." Dried plants and mosses, or other
books in exchange, including Greene's "Coelenterata " and
"Protozoa;" Eyton's "Rarer British Birds" (woodcuts);
Carpenter's " Microscope," and others. List sent. — J. A.
Wheldon, 32 Langham Street, Ashton-under-Lyne.

Offered, "Our Earth and Its Story," 3 vols., and "Dic-
tionary of English History," both in parts, but in excellent
condition. Wanted a detective camera. — R. H. Lawton,
6 Mosley Street, Manchester.

Wanted, the " Library," vols. i. and ii. (unbound pre-
ferred), also "Great Thoughts," vols, i., ii. and iii., first edition.
Both must be clean, complete, and in good condition. — Chas.
Leigh, Library, Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.), Cromwell Road,
London, S.W.

Numerous duplicates in carboniferous fossils, especially
ferns and corals, in exchange for trilobites. — P. Wright, Brunt-
wood, Galston, Ayrshire, N.B.
Duplicates. — Machaon, cardamines, agon, Adippe lo,
, polychloros, P. chrysilis, Z. Jilijiendulte, E. lancstris, L .
Rotatoria, CttcuUia vtrbasci, in exchange for others. — E.
Wilson, 115 St. Martins at Oak, Norwich.

British reptiles and batrachians wanted, perfect adult
living or spirit specimens, in exchange for correctly named
foreign species or other objects. — G. E. ]\L, s Warwick Place
West, Belgravia, London.

Good specimens of dentaria bulbifera, and Gentiana pneu-
jHOnantke, in exchange for fossils from the Wealden London
clay, and Bournemouth beds.— Curator, The Vicarage, South-
borough.

Offered, good cast of ichthyosaurus from lias of Lyme
Regis, 22 X 12. Wanted, any good fossils from any formation.
— M., 56 Clarendon Villas, West Brighton.

Wanted, brilliant foreign coleoptera ; need not be set, but
must be correctly named. Good exchange given in first-class
botanical sections, either mounted or unmounted, or objects of
general interest. State quantity ot specimens with sample. —
R. G. Mason, 69 Clapham Park Road, Clapham, S.W.

M.\NY species of marine and land shells from S. Australia,
Madeira, Porto Santo, and Gibraltar, for exchange. Any offer
of shells — in good condition, and not already in collection —
accepted. Send list of duplicates to — F. W., Lordship House,
Tottenham.

Wanted, ether freezing microtome, Williams's preferred.
Will give powerful Quackenbush air-gun, with slugs and darts,
almost new, cost 48^-. — H. Ebbage, Framlingham, Suffolk.

Wanted, good objective for microscope, I or J7 inch, with
Societies' screw; also " Micrographic Dictionary." Otfered,
three volumes of "Knowledge," and micro-slides. — P. Briggs,
Clayton, near Bradford, Yorks.

Duplicates. — Harpa ventricosa, Ovulntn ovum, Cypraa
arabica. Bulla a-ntptilla, Olivancillaria gibbosa. Wanted,
other foreign shells. — J. E. Cooler, 93 Southwood Lane,
Highgate, N. _

Wanted, a copy of the "London Catalogue of British
Mosses and Hepatics," published in 1881. — Ernest S. Salmon,
Clevelands, Reigate.

I SHALL be very glad if persons interested in conchology,
residing in Exeter and neighbourhood, and willing to co-
operate in establishing a local society, will communicate with
me. Address— L. J. S., Monmouth House, Monmouth Street,
Topsham, S. Devon.

Wanted, any good poultry in exchange .'"or minerals and
geological specimens. — William Hetherington, Nenthead,
Alston Moore, Cumberland.

Collins' \, new, in fine condition, cost 3/. -^s. What oflfers
in exchange?— E. Wagstaft, 3 Waterworks Road, Edgbaston,
Birmingham.

Wanted, vols. 4-9 of the "Young Naturalist," bound or
unbound ; must be in good condition. State desiderata to —
F. W. Paple, 62 Waterloo Street, Bolton.

Saville Kent's " Infusoria," no further use for it, bound in
half-green morocco cloth, excellent condition. What offers ?
— E. Wagstaff, Waterworks Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham.

For slide of starch grains from bulb of spider orchis, for the
polariscope, send other slide. — John Boggust, Alton, Hants.

Wanted, fossils from all formations, in exchange for coal-
measure fossils, Spirorbis, Anthracoda robusta, A. acuta, A.
elongata, scales and teeth of megalichthys, rhizodus, &c.
Address— John Laycock, 20 Botany Lane, Ashton-under-
Lyne, Lancashire. .

Good foreign shells wanted ; need not be named. Offered,
nat. hist, and other literature, or suitable exchange. Foreign,
correspondence solicited. — W. Jones, jun., 27 Mayton Street,
Holloway, London, N.

Wanted, vars. of llclix aspersa, H. nemoralis, H. arbtis-
toruni. If. hortensis, H. cantiana, H. pisana, H, virgata,.
//. caperata, //. ericetornm, H . rotundata, Buliinus acutus^
&c., H. revelata, type ; Clausilia Rolphii and bifilicata,.
Achatina acicula. Will give darts of helices in return. —
A. Hartley, 8 Cavendish Road, Idle, near Bradford, Yorkshire.

Offered, hardy fern roots, primrose roots, &c. Wanted \n
exchange, store boxes to hold insects, eggs, shells, fossils,
coins, &c. — W. Z. Balmbra, The Cottages, Warkworth Station,
via Lesbiiry, Northumberland.

AcHARlus's " Lichenographia Universalis," a fine, well-
bound copy, offered in exchange for double nose-piece, bent,.
Society screv, or for good copy of Leighton's " Angiocarpous
Lichens." — Wm. Smith, 28 Addison Place, Arbroath, N.B.

Wanted, Sach's " Text-Book of Botany," and parts of
Braithwaite's " Moss Flora," also slides from mosses, tern^,
and hepaticae. Will give other mounts in exchange. — T. B.,
124 Castle Street, Hinckley.

Wanted, to exchange " Knowledge," vols. i. to v.. Car-
penter's "Mental Physiology" "Nature," various volumes,
and other books (list sent), for micro-slides, microscope appa-
ratus, &c., or books on botany and microscopy. — G. Freeman,
B.Sc, sr Danby Street, Denmark Park, S.E.

Scotch lichens offered in exchange for southern species,
especially from the English limestone districts. — Wm. Smith,.
28 Addison Place, Arbroath, N.B.

Offered, Helix pisana, rufescens, ericetorum ; Planorbis
coinplanatus and corneus, Bulimus ncutits, LitnticEa stagnalis,
Clausilia rugosa. "WanlcA, Pisidiuiit/o/ttiiiale, Vertigo anii-
vertigo, Zonites cellarius and iiitiduhts, Testacella haliotidea.
Pupa secale, Dreisse/ia polymorpha. — H. W. D., South-
borough Vicarage, Tunbridge Wells.

Will give Flower's "Osteology of the Mammalia," for
living pupa of lepidoptera, sphingidse preferred. — Ernest Piatt,
West Street, Chipping Norton, Oxon.

Offered, H. alborabris, H. throides, H. fallax and Z.
excavatus (North America), Pecten tigriiius. Lacuna divari-
cata, L. i>allidula, T. testudinalis, Myra truncata, Unio-
margarittfer, CI. laminata, PL nitidits, and many others.
Wanted, land, freshwater and marine shells not in collection..
—P. R. Shaw, 48 Bidston Road, Birkenhead. _

Wanted, a good microscope, with accessoiies, in exchange
for a safety bicycle fitted with trangent spokes, balls to al!
parts, patent tyres, and all latest improvements. — I. Russon,.
15 Str. Collegio, St. Julian's, Malta.

Offered, foraminiferous material, mounted diatoms, or
mounted pathological objects, in exchange for geological lite-
rature. — I. H. Cooke, Highland House, St. Julian's, Malta.

BOOKS. ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE.
"An Explanation of the Phonopore," by C. Langdon-Davie=;
(London: Kegan Paul). — "The Lepidoptera of Suffolk," by
E. N. Bloomfield (London: W. Wesley).— " British Cage
Birds," Part 10, and " The Canary Book," Part 10. by Robt.
L. Wallace (London: L. Upcott Gill).— "Transactions Hert-
fordshire Nat. Hist. Society," Part 9, vol. v., and Parts i, 2
and 3 of vol. vi. — "Phenomena of the Glacial Period," by
Dugald Bell.— "The Honey Bee: Its Natural History, Ana-
tomy, and Physiology," by T. W. Cowan (London : Houlston
& Sons). — "Electricity; a Sketch for General Readers," by
E. M. Caillard (London: John Murray).— " Are the Effects nf
Use and Disuse Inherited?" by W. Piatt Ball (London:
Macmillan).— "The Book of Aquaria," by Messrs. Bateman
and Bennett (London: L. Upcott Gill).— " Geology of the
Country around Liverpool," by Geo. H. Mortom (London :
G. Phillip & Son). — "The Naturalist of Cumbrae," by the
Rev. Thos. R. R. Stebbing (London: Kegan Paul).— "A
Class-Book on Light," by R. E. Steel (London : Methuen &
Co.).— Wesley's " Natural History and Book Circular.'^'—
"American Microscopical Journal."- "The Microscope."—
"American Naturalist."— " Canadian Entomologist."— " The
Naturalist."— "The Botanical Gazette."— "The Gentleman's
Magazine."— "The Midland Naturalist."— " The Garner."—
"Quekett Journal," January.— " Feuille des Jeunes Natu-
ralistes."— " Quarterly Journal," Royal Microscopical Society,.
&c., &c.

Communications received up to the 12TH ult. from:-
M. J. T.— J. A. W.-E. H.— W. C. S.— C. O.— G. R.—

D. W. B.— R. S.-T. W. R.-T. B.-A. H.-J. W. B.— T.—

E. H. R.— S. B.— E. A. M.— F. H. W.-L. C. H.— W. M. W.
—A. H. W.— W. P.— J. E. L.— R. H. L.— J. A.— E. H. W.
_W. J.— F. W. P.— W. L. B.— E. P.— J. B.— J. L.— E. W.—
W. H.— F. R.— B. C. R.— L. J. S— J. E. C— R. G. M.—
E. S. S.— H. E.-P. B.-F. W.-F. C. M.— F. W. F.— C. B.
—Miss C— E. P.— W. J. S.— E. B.— T. B.— W. S.-E. W.—
P. R. S.-G. F.-H. W. D.— G. A.— H. D.— W. G. K.— S. J..
— T. G. B.— I. H. C— J. S. N.— R. de G. B.— &c., &c.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

THE COLOUR AND BANDING IN LAND AND FRESH-
WATER SHELLS: A REPLY TO MR. FRYER.

By J. W. WILLIAMS.

IXCE forwarding for
publication my
reply to Mr. Pace's
strictures on my
article which was
printed in the
August number,
?vlr. Fryer has, on
pp. 241 and 242
ante, published a
very interesting
and courteous cri-
ticism to which I
may be allowed to
reply. His open-
ing remarks to a
large extent I ap-
preciate, but as
shown by my con-
cluding remarks of
the article in ques-
tion I gave the theory as a tentative one only,
and certainly it will be conceded that no matter
what our present knowledge may be, yet the pro-
mulgation of a theory on such grounds, and as a
working one merely, is perfectly legitimate. There
would be no harm done even if with further re-
search it led to no good and stable result ; for it
certainly would not allow us to vegetate, AVith the
qualification to Von Baer's law (italicised by Mr.
Fryer), I do not agree, simply because it is a well-
known fact and law that no matter whether retro-
gression has occurred or not in our present day forms,
evolution has progressed primarily along a line
leading from the simple to the complex. My critic
says that if this is what I intend to ' ' convey, it
certainly does not accord with the views of evolution
as laid down by Darwin, Wallace, and Spencer ; "
but this statement is plainly negatived by the fact
that Mr. Wallace [in lift. September 7, 1 890), agrees
No. 316. — April 1891.

with my conclusions. Throughout Mr. Fryer does
not seem to attack the main points in my theory, and
our greatest difference seems to me to be this : — that
he does not recognise the fundamental law of Hxckel,
while I do.

This appears to me a pity, because while recog-
nising to some degree Yon Baer's law, he appears
to totally set at naught the very law, on the principle
of which the grandest contributions of embryologj'
and palaeontology have been furnished to the hypo-
thesis of evolution, viz., that " Ontogeny is a brief
epitome of phylogeny." And even more does it
appear a pity since the majority of our biological
teachers in this countiy give it as forming the ground-
work, with that of Von Baer, on which the whole
superstructure of the evolution hypothesis has been
raised. In my reply to his several headings, I shall
then count on the validity of these two laws, and I
imagine legitimately in the present day teaching of
science.

(i.) This sentence seems to me somewhat
ambiguous, for to me Mr. Fryer appears to directly
contradict himself in one breath. He uses the words
" chitinous plug," and afterwards speaks of it as
composed of " conchiolin, not chitin." I have
replied to this criticism in my former note on Mr.
Pace's strictures, and made reference to Balfour. I
cannot see how it invalidates my theory if I believe
in Hceckel's law.

(2 and 5.) The nuclei of my specimens of H.
virgata are brownish horn-coloured, and not black.
Possibly, there is a fallacy here ; if a little of the
digestive gland be left behind in cleaning, the nuclei
may appear black. But even were it so, it would
not negative the general conclusion to which I arrived,
simply because it may but prove an after-extension or
development of colour. That there is a law of
extension of colour appears to me proved by the
following sentence quoted from Eimer : — " WUrtem-
berger finds that in Ammonites all structural changes

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSS IF.

show themselves first on the last (the outer) whorl
of the shell — as in living animals, e.g. in my lizards
at the tail — and that then such a change in the
following generations is pushed farther and farther
towards the beginning of the spiral — as e.g. in my
lizards towards the head — until it prevails in the
greater number of the whorls" ("Organic Evolu-
tion," p. 31). This may explain the coloured nuclei
of If. maritima and H. syriaca, but I cannot say
anything of these as I have not any specimens of
these species by me. And if there be sucli a law of
after-colour extension, as suggested by Eimer, the
reader will see that it has other bearings on my theory
than the one here indicated.

(3.) Mr. Fryer, while recognising the fact that the
Limnaeas are horn-coloured, mentions the banded
and spotted Chilinire, and the members of the families
Paludinidas, Neritidce, Cerithiadre, &c. With these
exceptions other conditions I imagine come into play,
but it is a patent fact that in all of them the young
secondary shell is horn-coloured and unhanded.
What these other conditions are is not known, but
it is a pity that those exceptions which Mr. Fryer
adduces are in the main foreign and cannot be
observed by us in their natural and living state under
their own peculiar environment or surrounding.
Considering the fact italicised by me and remem-
bering Hffickel's law, I cannot see how this criticism
can invalidate my theory.

(4.) The fact that white " may be due to the
molecular structure of the surface " rather, it appears
to me, upholds and substantiates my theory. Mr.
Fryer would not then allow a unicoloured white
specimen any pigment secreting cells at all, that is on
the grounds of theoretical reasoning ; more of this
deduction shortly. But if the primitive shell was
horn-coloured, as he appears to admit, but that an
advance to white was not next made, how does he
explain the fact that the primary shells in the shell-
gland are sometimes white, though more generally
horn-coloured, and that the persistent primary shell
in Arion, Amalia and Limax is always white ?
Remember in this connection the law of Hceckel,
and do not forget it in re-reading the query which
Mr. Fryer gives directly afterwards. But what does
Mr. Fryer mean by atrophy of the pigment glands in
this relation ? Does he really mean that nature
finds it easier to differentiate cells than to let them
remain hi statu quo ? It appears to me, that con-
sidering the ontogeny of the shell was from horn-
colour to white, pigment-secreting cells were only
differentiated when pigment was needed, that during
the horn and the white periods pigment cells were
not in existence, and had never been developed.

(6.) I cannot see how the criticism affects my
theory. If its " light appearance seems to be due to
the absence of band-colour," etc., as most assuredly
it does, or it would not be var. cxalbiday then why
may it not be a " reversion " ?

(7.) Answered in my reply to Mr. Pace.

In his concluding remarks, ISlx. Fryer leans
towards the suggestion of Mr. Cockerell that the
colour of our Hyalinse is probably due to the
suffusion of darker band colours. But if so, banded
reversions would occur not only in one but in all the
species, and this is known not to be the case. The
question of tf. cantiana, H. caiiicsiana, &c., as
equally and more legitimately (I think) supports the
opposite conclusion to that at which Mr. Fryer
seems to arrive. I look upon banded specimens as
more advanced in colour development than those
which are unhanded. Banding means a specialisation
of pigment-secreting cells in the mantle edge. And
were Mr. Fryer's remark true, the bands in this case
of Hyalina should be lighter than the ground-colour ;
but in the varieties he adduces, they are darker !

(i.) Answered by ontological facts, von Baer's
law, and the law of Hseckel.

(ii.) This is more an extension of my theory than
a contradiction. It shows that, in some cases, un-
colourous specimens may be produced by an inter-
mingling of bands, though ontology negatives this
for horn-coloured and white specimens. Evidently
castanea is an advance on the clearly banded forms of
II. ucmoralis.

(iii.) I cannot see how these observations, inter-
esting in their way, affect my general theory. Again
I stand behind the fortress of Von Baer and Ha;ckel,
and to those who understand the full bent of the laws
which were formulated by them it will appear that I
shall not use much powder and shot.

(iv.) This also becomes intelligible in the light of
the development of the shell. And I think more
legitimately. What, again, I ask about the horn-
coloured and whitish primary shells of the embryo,
and the persistent ones in Arion, Amalia, and
Limax ?

(v.) Replied to in my answer to Mr. Pace. But
Helix aadeata and H. pygmca are horn-coloured
also ! But besides what I have before said, what
Mr. Fryer adduces as regards shrews and ants rests
on probability and not actual observation. See the
references which he gives.

" BIRDS OF THE WEST."

A FEW notes on birds observed by me, in the
west of Co. Mayo, during the months of August
and September, may be of interest to some of your
readers. I saw no particularly uncommon ones : in
fact, my observations merely comprise the results of
a few desultory walks from time to time, most of
my attention being occupied with fishing.

At the beginning of August, on the sandy sea
coast, golden plovers were in some numbers and
very tame : grey plovers did not seem to have
arrived yet ; dunlins also were. exceedingly plentiful ;
they breed in the neighbourhood. Curlews and

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

whimbrels were to be seen both by the sea, and
especially inland, flying over the l^ogs, and arresting
one's attention by their mournful cries : associated
with them on the coast, were oyster-catchers, whose
black and white plumage rendered them very
conspicuous. All three birds are exceedingly wary
and difficult to approach : in the open it is almost
impossible to get within shot of them ; the only
chance of success is to hide behind banks and stalk
them, often on hands and knees.

Whimbrels are called here " May-birds," as in
many other parts of the kingdom, from the fact of
them arriving in May : most of the natives consider
them young curlews.

Knots and sanderlings were in large flocks : there
were a good many redshanks, but I saw no godwits.
At high water, large flocks of ringed plovers were
to be found on the sand, just above high-water mark :
most of them appeared to be asleep in the sun ; at
any rate, they allowed me to approach within half-a-
dozen yards before taking to flight ; a few, however,
in each flock were more restless, running about
among their comrades in an aimless fashion.

On the marshes near the isea, one could always
find herons {hibernice cranes), on the look-out for
crabs, I suppose ; for crabs were the only animals I
could find there. Later on, in the same place, I saw
a good many snipe, and some small ducks. I could
not get near enough to the latter to determine their
species, but I think they were golden-eyes. I am told
that the west coast of Mayo is a great resort of ducks
and geese in winter : the people say that the geese
are principally barnacles, but I think this is a mistake,
as the name is very generally misapplied in Ireland
to brent geese.

Hooded crows and rooks were very common :
magpies, although very numerous and tame in most
parts of Ireland, were conspicuous by their absence
here : probably the want of trees in the district
accounts for this.

I was surprised to see so few hawks : one or two
kestrels, a single peregrine, and another that I
took to be a sparrow-hawk — it was some distance off"
— were all I noticed. Report says, however, that
there are a pair or two of golden eagles on the cliffs
of Achill Island : I regret that I could not find time
to go to look for them.

Inland, I saw a few common buntings ; yellow
hammers, linnets and meadow-pipits swarmed, but of
goldfinches, tolerably plentiful in other seemingly
similar parts of Ireland, I saw none.

On my pointing out a kingfisher to my gillie, he
told me that he had never seen the bird before.

Water ousels were common on the mountain
streams, and as I fished, flitted from rock to rock,
and on settling bowed gravely to me in their comical
way.

Wheatears were fairly numerous in September,
there were very few swifts and swallows ; terns were

plentiful about some of the inland lakes, amongst
them being a great many immature birds.

I saw a skylark with almost pure white body.

A good many rare birds have been recorded from
time to time in Co. Mayo, but, of course, to get any,
one must be constantly on the look-out, and collect
systematically.

A barred warbler is recorded in a recent number of
"The Zoologist" to have been procured near
Belmullet in 1884, and to be now in the possession
of Dr. Birkett of that town.

The natives have some curious beliefs : on asking
one of the men who work the salmon nets whether
he was not very liable to rheumatism from constant
wading in the water, he informed me that at the
beginning of the season, he ate salmon every day for
a fortnight, and that in consequence, the water ran
off his skin as from a duck's back. Another legend
was, that all the rats which entered the precincts of a
ruined abbey, used as a burial-ground, immediately
dropped down dead. I took the trouble to visit the
place, but saw no rats, dead or alive. On one of
the graves were dozens of long "church-warden"
pipes, it being the custom at a funeral for each of
the mourners to deposit one on the tomb : do any of
your readers know of a similar custom in any other
part of the country, or the origin of the practice ?

H. J. W.

THE CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE OF
SCOTLAND.

By Chas. Wardingley.

\Contimied from p. 64.]

TURNING now for a short time to the considera-
tion of the carboniferous limestone as it occurs
in the Dumfries district, it may be remarked at the
outset that good exposures such as may be obtained
in quarries and railway cuttings are rather limited in
number. Of these, the best and most accessible are
shown in the accompanying sketch-map.

The village of Closeburn is situated about twelve
milesnorthof Dumfries, and the quarries are a mile to
the south-east of the railway station. These have been
worked almost continuously since 1770 and the vast
amount of rock laid bare affords an excellent
opportunity for its study. Here the limestone has
blue-grey Silurian strata for its base or foundation,
and the total depth or thickness, excluding the top
rubble, is a little over 60 feet and is divided as under.

Permian shales and sandstone
Red magnesian limestone .
Red sandstone and shales .
Massive red limestones .

Total

Feet.

Over the red magnesian limestone are thin

£ 2

HARDWICKE' S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

deposits or layers of shale of decidedly Permian age
and yielding a few characteristic remains generally
very much distorted. The upper seam of limestone
is a magnesian rock, yielding on analysis about 40 per
cent, of carbonate of magnesia and 55 per cent, of
lime. The lower limestone on the contrary is of
carboniferous origin and consists of thick blocks con-
taining at least 90 per cent, of carbonate of lime,
separated by thin layers of red shale. The general
dip of the strata -is to the N.E. at an angle of 10°.
The interest attached to this exposure arises in a great
measure from the mineralogkal nature of the rocks
which vary so much in colour and general appearance
from those previously described. Indeed, but for the
organic remains entombed we might almost imagine
that by some means or other we had wandered into
and were examining a Permian exposure in Durham,
though the subordinate mammillary or botryoidal
concretions so commonly and typically exhibited

Fig. S2. — Map of Dumfries District, showing Limestone
exposures.

there are entirely absent in the rocks under our
notice. The fossils, however, soon show the true
nature of the deposit and all doubt is quickly dissi-
pated by the presence of Productus giganteus and P.
semiretictilatus. These characteristic fossils are very
common and fairly perfect, but other species,
Zaphrentis, Euomphalus. Bellerophon, and Spirijcra
are rare, badly preserved, and their identification is
often a matter of considerable difficulty.

Better exposures are found further north at New
Cumnock, near IMuirkirk, in which locality the car-
boniferous limestone is very extensively quarried.
The total depth of rock obtained here is 70 feet, while
the colour is again of the red tint imparted to it by
its proximity to magnesian strata. The fossil list is
a fairly long one and the diligent student should have
no difficulty in obtaining from the various quarries of
the immediate neighbourhood satisfactory specimens
of Orthis resupinata, Productus scmireticulatus,
Rhynchonella pugnus, Spirifera bisulcata, S. glabra,
BeUe7-opJiofi urii, Poteriocriniis crassus (parts),
Lithostrotio7i irregulare, Cyatliophylluin turhinatum,
Athyris roysii, A. ambigua.

An excellent exposure occurs at Kellhead, a little to
the north-east of Annan where there is an outcrop
about 50 feet thick on the top of a hill or ridge over-
looking the Solway Firth. This place is certainly
worthy of a visit, not for the sake of its geological
interest alone, but also for the commanding view of
the surrounding district which can be obtained from
it. Nor is it possible to find a better or more typical
example of the true " Mountain Limestone " in respect
of its physical aspect, and a day spent in and about
this quarry and hill will do more to impress upon
the mind the distinctive features of the formation than
weeks of reading or class-room work. The red colour
still prevails, but the rock in many "parts is very friable,
owing to the fact that it is chiefly made up of Encri-
nites, held together by a binding of clayey-looking
lime. Want of space prevents us from describing at
length the various remains found at Kellhead, and
for the present we must only name those which occur
most abundantly and perfect in this very interesting

Fig. 54. — Rhynchonella
pleurodon.

F'g- 53- — Euomfhahts
pcntangulatus.

quarry. Productus giganteus are again numerous, and
owing to the soft nature of the rock are not difficult
to extract. Euomphalus pentangulatiis appear very
perfect and in diameters varying from i| inches to 3
inches, while Bellerophon urii, and Nautilus dorsalis
are also frequently found indeed ; the writer remem-
bers seeing, nine years ago, a garden walk adjoining
one of the workmen's houses almost paved with
them. The siphuncled and chambered Cephalopod,
orthoceras is present in two or three species ranging
from ih inches to almost 5 feet in length.

Compared with the Carboniferous Umestone of
England, we cannot help being struck with the many
points of contrast rather than of agreement which
present themselves to our notice. In the Carbonifer-
ous limestone of Scotland the beds and quarries are
by comparison poor in respect of depth or thickness,
and this is the chief reason why so many of them haye
been and are being abandoned. Wherever the beds
dip at an inconvenient angle, it is unremunerative to
follow them into the earth. And with regard to
organisms too, there is a remarkable paucity of species,
while even such as are to be found are generally far
behind their southern contemporaries in regard to
symmetry of form and state of preservation.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

CONCERNING MARIGOLDS.

IT is curious to notice the tendency of late years
towards the planting of yellow or orange flowers
in English gardens. A railway journey round any
London suburb will illustrate this : the little back
gardens in the dingier streets are often ablaze with
sunflowers, and cottage gardens in purer air follow
suit. The marigold, under one or other of its varie-
ties, seems to be an especial favourite, and that not
in our own country alone. Cross to France and you
will find the common orange one figuring as a pot-
herb, and its petals introduced under the name of
"soucis" into your soup. In the Channel Isles the
same use is made of it, and it is so nearly wild as to
be seen growing in waste places or by roadsides,
while children make wreaths of the flowers to adorn
the " cheap tripper " as he rides in the "cars " round
the island. It's a pity that such a flower should be
so vulgarised.

But truth to tell, it has a certain tendency towards
gaudiness, a sort of rollicking behaviour, arising from
its rapid growth and sprawling habit (I speak of the
common, juicy kinds), which causes one to banish it
from one's choicest flower-beds, and to relegate it to
the shrubbery or to the kitchen-garden. It has
some tendency to become a weed, and is treated as
such. But for getting rapidly a blaze of colour with
plenty of luscious green to back it up, for covering
square yards of unsightly soil or rubbish-heap, com-
mend me to our friend marigold. It is sensitive to
light, like m.any of its comrades in the great compo-
site family, and ere the dew falls shuts its yellow
eyes, as if it were a magnified, glorified daisy.

One variety which is now before me, seems to
illustrate Mr. Grant Allen's theory of the develop-
ment of colour, for its ray-florets — the outer circle —
besides doubling or semi-sterilising themselves, have
attained a broad stripe of yellowish white up each
strap-shaped corolla, the original orange being rele-
gated to a tiny margin up each side, producing in the
whole flower-head the prettiest effect. An even
more refined member of the genus is the little
French marigold with its stiff, slender branching
stem and delicate, strongly-scented, pinnate leaves.
This kind seems to be aiming at a further stage in
colouring, for it is striped with dark brown, which, I
take it, is only red overlaid with orange. Some-
times the disc-florets of the common kinds take on
this brown velvety tint, as if they were aping their
big kinsfolk, the sunflowers.

Side by side with these tiny flowers gardeners
have produced those huge, unwieldy, double mari-
golds, which send up a juicy stem — admirable pasture
for slugs and snails — crowned with a solid mass of
glaring orange or sickly yellow flowers ; no shape,
no beauty, that I can see, though I have known the
flower-heads used effectively in harvest decorations.
Still, they always remind me of the rosettes seen

sometimes on horses' heads, or of the favours worn
at elections.

The scent of the marigold is not at all unpleasant ;
it resides chiefly in the leaves and stalksi; but the
stickiness (doubtless a protection against undesirable
insect visitors) of the common kinds makes the
gathering of a posy a disagreeable operation. The
juice has its virtues, for have we not in our pharma-
copoeia "Calendula," of healing virtue to wounds of
the skin ? Lastly, the name is a sweet reminder of
the Blessed Woman to whom so many of our English
flowers are dedicated, and in whose honour this
sojourner bears its English name.

M. E. Pope.

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS.

yjIDS IN PRACTICAL GEOLOGY, by
_^l Grenville A. J. Cole (London : Charles
Griffin & Co.). This is a most valuable and very
welcome book to geological students. The subject is
treated on lines wholly different from those in any
other manual, and the book is, therefore, very
original. Indeed, it should really be considered
rather in the light of a companion vol. to the higher
class of geological text-books. A large space is
devoted to the best and readiest methods of
examining minerals, both with the wet and dry
processes ; how to examine rocks and rock-structures
physically and chemically ; whilst the concluding
part is devoted to the examination and determi-
nation of fossils. There are twenty-eight chapters
altogether, and one hundred and thirty-six illustra-
tions, mostly of fossils. We cordially commend
Professor Cole's book to all zealous students of
geology.

The Geology of the Country around Liverpool,
including the North of Flintshire, by G. H. Morton
(London : Geo. Philip & Son). Twenty-eight years
ago Mr. Morton wrote a small book on this subject,
which was much welcomed by field-geologists,
inasmuch as it was the result of personal observation
and exploration. Moreover, the author was well
known as an accurate, able, and painstaking
geologist. Since that period other equally able
geologists have explored the same area, and Mr.
Morton has himself, of course, added considerably to
the subject. The result is the publication of the
present well-printed and neatly got up volume ; it is
modestly entitled a Second Edition, but it is in
reality a larger and altogether differently got up
book, illustrated by twenty plates and fifteen wood-
cuts of sections, &c. We congratulate Mr. Morton
on the excellent work he has turned out.

The magnificently got up vols, of the United
States Geological Survey are always welcome to
English geologists, to whom they are presented with
a generosity which is in striking contrast to the

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

niggardliness with which the equally valuable
memoirs of our own Geological Survey are sent out
(or rather not sent out) for press notices. These
American volumes are aided by the best of illustra-
tions and maps. The paper is good and hotpressed ;
the type large, clear, and bold ; so that it is a
pleasure to turn over the pages.

T/ie Mtitk Annual Report of the U.S. Geol. Survey
for 1887-88 is a large volume of over 700 pp., and
contains lengthy papers, abundantly illustrated, on
" The,Earthquake at Charleston," by Carl McKinley ;
" The Geology of Cape Ann, Massachusetts," by
N. S. Shaler ; and on the " Formation of Travertine
and Siliceous Sinter by the Vegetation of Hot
Springs," by Walter H. Weed. We have also
received a splendidly got up monograph of over 400
pp., crowded with maps and woodcuts, on " Lake
Bonneville," by Jerome K. Gilbert. The annual
vol., dealing with the " Mineral Products of the
United States," is, for the year 188S, by David T.
Day. It deals with the working of numerous natural
productions, including, besides all the metals, coal,
petroleum, natural gas, asphalte, ozokerite, ferti-
lisers, salt, mineral paint, and almost every kind of
material put to use, which the rocks of the earth's
crust naturally contain. These vols, are highly use-
ful. In addition to the vols, we have received
"Bulletins," Nos. 58-66, each devoted to a special
geological or paleontological subject.

An Explanation of the Phonopore, by G. Langdon-
Davis (London : Kegan, Paul& Co.). This work is
printed in double columns, French and English, and
deals in a very clear manner with the details and
structure of the phonopore. There are numerous
illustrations.

Electricity ; the Science of the Nineteenth ■ Century,
by E. M. Caillard (London : John Murray). We
have previously noticed favourably a book by Miss
Caillard on "The Invisible Power of Nature." In
the present work she gives a clear, readable, and
easily-understood outline of modern electricity,
chiefly for the benefit of general readers. With such
a book as this at their service, no intelligent person
need be ignorant of the most important and pregnant
of the physical sciences. It comprises four parts,
each having a series of chapters, devoted respectively
to " Static Electricity " (or Electricity at Rest),
*' Magnetism," " Current Electricity," and the
"Practical [Appliances of Electricity." There are
numerous illustrations.

A Class Book on Light, by R. E. Steel (London :
Methuen & Co.), with 123 illustrations. This is not
only one of the best little treatises we have lately
seen on "Light," but on the elementary principles
of optics and optical instruments as well. The
contents contain eleven chapters as follows : — " The
Nature, Source, Intensity, and Velocity of Light,"
" Reflexion from Plane Surfaces," " Ditto from
Curved Surfaces," " Single Refraction at Plane

Surfaces," " Refraction at Curved Surface-Lenses,"
"Dispersion," "Optical Instruments," "The Eye,"
" Interference-Diffraction," "Double Refraction and
Polarisation," and on " Interference of Polarized
Light."

The Foundations of Geometjy, by Edward T. Dixon
(Cambridge : Deighton, Bell & Co.) This is practi-
cally a new system of geometry based more or less
on psychological data. It| is a work calculated to
stimulate criticism, and the author boldly invites it.

The Naturalist of Cumhrae. Being the Life of
David Robertson, by his friend, the Rev. Thomas R.
R. Stebbing (London: Kegan Paul «S: Co.) It is
not every man who has such a " Life " of himself as
this written whilst he is still living. Dr. Smiles set
the example of raising literary statues to living
heroes. Nevertheless, this book is altogether a de-
lightsome one, relating the early and brave struggles
of a worthy man, who stuck to business with such
perseverance that for years past he has been able to
devote himself wholly to natural history pursuits.
David Robertson is one of the most amiable and
modest of men ; a quiet, unassuming, but indefatig-
able worker, who will, we sincerely hope, live for
many years to come. Our readers should not fail to
procure this entertaining and instructive book.

The Book of Aquaria, by the Rev. Gregory C.
Bateman, and Reginald A. R. Bennett (London: L.
Upcott Gill). We have already noticed Mr. Bate-
man's book on Fresh-water Aquaria. It is here
reproduced^ with Mr. Bennett's treatise on Marine
Aquaria added, so that the two make up a handy
book of reference for all aquarium keepers.

Pasteur and Rabies, hy T. M. Dolan (London:
G. Bell & Sons). Dr. Dolan herein goes a " crusher "
against Pasteur's experiments connected with hy-
drophobia, which he not only disbelieves but
absolutely condemns. He heartily declaims against
what he calls " Vaccinomania." Readers of Pasteur
and other similar experimenters will here find all
that can be strongly stated on the other side.

The Honey Bee : Its Natural History, Anatomy,
and Physiology, by T. W. Cowan (London : Houl-
ston & Son). The lauthor is a well-known writer
and authority on the subject which this prettily got
up book deals with. The part devoted to the
anatomy of the bee will interest all naturalists.
There is an abundance of original illustrations ; and
although Mr. Cowan has found himself obliged to
deal with the subject in a very concise manner, it is
not the less clear and highly readable on that account.
We are pleased to draw the special attention of all
bee-keepers to this excellent little manual.

The Natural Food of Man, by Dr. Emmet Dens-
more (London : Pewtress & Co.), is a brief but clever
statement of opinion against the use of bread, cereals,
pulses, and all kinds of starch foods. We cordially
recommend the book to all our vegetarian readers,
many of whom will find new arguments therein.

HARDWJCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

THE SPARROW.

DOUBTLESS, many ^vill say wlien they see the
heading of this paper, surely enough has been
said about this bird. What more can be wanted ?
Nevertheless, the fact is, that not half its true
history has been written. It is not my intention to
write anything like a history, but I wish to state the
peculiarities in the bird I have met with during the
past breeding season. Last season, and the four
previous seasons, I was inquisitive enough to look into
the domestic arrangements of these birds, and found
that each season gave a different result.

The clutches of eggs of last season, 1890, were
larger or longer than those of 1889. In that season
I did not obtain a clutch of six eggs, but in the
season just passed I obtained four clutches containing
six eggs each, and five eggs very commonly formed
the clutch. Taking the season all through, the
clutches gave an average of four and a half eggs
each, and the average of the broods was not quite
three and a half young birds ; this is the highest
average I have met with. The discrepancy between
the eggs and brood was not caused by the infertility
of the eggs, for the eggs, as a whole, showed a very
high percentage of fertility, but in many cases by
incubation ceasing after the embryo was well formed,
and also by some of the young birds dying in the
nest. The former I found when examining a
number of clutches in a very advanced state of
incubation. The dead or dying young birds are as a
rule carried out and dropped at a short distance from
the nest. I saw an unusual number of these little
outcasts last season, owing, I believe, to the great
fertility of the eggs.

A curious feature exhibited itself in the eggs. In
many of the clutches there was a small egg, not
pygmean, but perfect ; in previous seasons I have met
with one or two like instances, but last season it was
of frequent occurrence. In the sixty clutches I have
jDreserved it is quite conspicuous. I also met with
what I consider to be a very great curiosity, that
being a genuine pygmean egg ; it is about the size of a
blue tit's egg, it weighed sixteen grains and contained
a small quantity of albumen. It is the only specimen
I have ever seen or heard of. It was in a nest with
three others of the ordinary size, two being of a light
colour, the third of a slaty-grey like the pygmy. In
the July number of this Journal I see recorded, by
Mr. Tracy, of Ipswich, that another sparrow's egg
had been found marked at the smaller end. I have
not been fortunate enough to obtain a specimen,
neither did I see any trace of smaller end colouring
amongst the four hundred sparrow's eggs I examined
during the season. Nevertheless, the peculiarity
showed itself in the eggs of several other birds. The
eggs of 1890 and 1889 showed a greater percentage
of fertility than those of the previous seasons, and
comparing the clutches of the two seasons they are

very much alike in colouring, but if the eggs of the
past season had been of a lighter colour I should have
considered my theory of fertility and colour running
together to have fallen through ; however, I have the
eggs to corroborate my statement.

I fail to understand why these birds are so erratic
in their nidification ; they appear to have no fixed
type of nest, like nearly all other birds, but the nest
is made to suit the site selected for it. The nearest
approach to a fixed type is when the nest is built in
a tree or bush, then it is of a domed bulky structure
with an entrance at the top. Then, again, they have
no fixed type of egg : the eggs vary very much in
size, shape and colour. I know of no bird belonging
to its family which lays such a large egg in propor-
tion to its size, some of them measuring nearly one
inch in length. Many will measure '98, but I have
never found a perfect egg fully an inch long. They
prefer the society of man more than any other bird,
and although greatly persecuted and maligned they
can hold their own against all comers.

I read with much regret the sentence passed upon
them in this Journal by Mr. C. Parkinson. However,
it is to be hoped that it will not be carried out.

The following figures give the average of the
broods for the past five seasons.

1886 Young birds .
18S7 „ „ .

1 888
1889
1890

31
3

Every one must know that it is almost impossible
to get at exact figures, but the foregoing give the
full average ; however, I have not the slightest doubt
if more exact figures could be obtained that the
average of the broods for the past five years would
not exceed three young birds.

Popular opinion — which is always wrong — is that
the sparrows have large broods, but as my investiga-
tion has been going on several of my sceptical friends
find that they have been labouring under a very false
impression as to the number of young birds in each
brood.

Having seen my little friends breaking up various
kinds of beetles, I thought I would see what they had
to say to some fine fat cockroaches, so I turned some
on the lawn ; they were very soon amongst them.
Some of the birds appeared at first afraid to attack
the largest of these black-looking insects, but only
one escaped by reaching cover, and he would have
shared the fate of his companions had not the birds
been frightened away.

Joseph P. Nunn.

We are sorry to notice the death of Mr. Wm.
Davies, F.G.S., lately of the British Museum, to
whom many old students of geology were indebted
for assistance.

BARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

THE SQUARE-TAILED WORM.
Bv THE Rev. Hilderic Friend, F.L.S.

President of the Wesley Scientific Society, Author
of ' Flowers and Flower Lore.'

TO anyone except an enthusiastic lover of nature
the idea of grubbing among the grass, stones,
mud and rubbish in search of such unattractive
creatures as worms must be perfectly monstrous, and
we quite sympathize with those matter-of-fact folk
who take the worm-hunter to be a candidate for the
lunatic asylum. We do not exactly see, however,
why it is worse to dig for worms for scientific than
for piscatorial uses, and in all fairness the angler and
the naturalist should be made to sail in the same boat
in this respect ; if indeed the knight of the rod, who
merely sacrifices the poor worms for his own delecta-
tion is worthy a place beside the knight of the scalpel
whose aim is to further the interests of scientific
research and extend our knowledge of God and His
works.

Among our native worms there is one with a square
tail {Allurus tdraedrns, Eisen) whose story has never
yet been fully told by any English author so far as I
am aware. It has been somewhat fully studied on
the Continent, and at least one English writer has
given us details of its anatomy, but so far all has been
of a technical, unpopular character. When I speak
of Allurus as the square-tailed worm I wish it to be
understood that the term must be used in a modified
sense, as we have one or two other worms which
sometimes present this peculiarity, but not in so
marked a degree. It was on account of the peculiar

tailed worm. Duges the same year gave an account
of it in the Annales des sciences naturelles under the
title of Enterion Aniphisbana. His reason for

Fig. 56.— Anterior portion seen from above (dorsal) : pr, pros

^..^^■Bi

• Fig. 55. — Allurus.

shape of the hinder half or posterior end that the
worm, when separated from the old genus Lumbricus,
because of the male pore being on the thirteenth
segment, and made the type of a new genus, was
named AUurus from the Greek words alios, another
or different, and oura, tail. I shall endeavour to
present what I have to say to the reader under three
heads, in which the History, Description, and Distri-
bution of the worm will be set forth.

I. THE HISTORY OF ALLURUS.

Allurus was apparently unknown to Linnaeus, the
father of modern science, who was very poorly in-
formed in worm-lore. Savigny, who discarded the
Linnean term Lumbricus, and adopted the Grrecised
word Enterion (from the Enteron of Aristotle), is the
first author to give us any information respecting it.
In Cuvier's Histoire des progres des sciences nalurelles,
he calls the worm Enterion Ictraedritin, or the square-

Fig. S7- — Allurus: segments 1-18. a, parasitic vorticella ;
d, dorsal pores ; cr, crop ; c^, calciferous gland ; />•, pros-
tomium ; £^z, gizzard ; inj>, male pore.

adopting the latter name is to be found in the fact
that the worm can go as readily backwards as for-
wards, after the fashion of the serpent of which

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Lucanus sang. Nine years later Duges wrote again
on worms in the same periodical, but put his worm
by the side of Savigny's, and spoke of them as distinct
species. He now calls them Lumbricus, and says of
Ihe first (Z. tctracdrus) that the clitellum is composed
of seven segments ending with the 28th, and the
worm is small and fragile, frequenting the neighbour-
hood of stagnant waters, and crawling out at night in
their vicinity. Of his own species (Z. ainphishicna)
Zic says that there are six segments to the clitellum,
which again ends on the 28th, and the habitat is the
same. It differs, however, from the other not only
in the number of segments which go to form the
girdle or clitellum, but also in its smaller size, the
prismatic and crenelated form of the tail, and the
semi-lunar shape of the lip or prostomium, which in
one case (Z. tetraedrus) is only slightly angled on the
side of the following segment, whereas the lip of the
■other species cuts the segment completely. The
colour of the one (Z. tctracdrus) is a dull brown,
whereas it is violet in the other, and has a tendency
to iridescence. These distinctions appear to have
iieen overlooked to a large extent by later writers.

Fig. 58.— Seta (with five muscular attachment?, a) and
spinets.

In 1843 lloffmeister gave the worm a new name
(Z. agilis), calling it the agile worm, which is very
accurate, but not so characteristic as the names already
given by Savigny and Duges, as there are others
quite as active. Though it still continued to attract
attention, no alteration was made in the terminology
till 1870, when Eisen first recognised it as a distinct
genus, and called it Allurus, not merely on account
of its shape, but because the male pore, or vulva as it
was formerly called, is found on the thirteenth instead
of on the fifteenth segment as in Lumbricus. Eisen
has also recognised the existence of certain well-
marked differences among the various specimens
which he has examined, and he has named two or
three varieties. I believe that in some instances
specific rank will be ultimately accorded to some of
1 he varieties, a point to be discussed in our next section.
Since Eisen's day Allurus has been still further
studied by Rosa, Beddard, and others, and I have
been able from my own researches to confirm and
amplify their accounts of this curious worm. The
following table will present the historical data in a

compact form, and enable the student readily to turn
to the earlier monographs and works where the
subject is discussed.

1S28. Entcrion tctraedruvi, Savigny (Cuvier,
" Histoire des Progres des Sciences natur-
elles." Ser. ii., vol. iv., p. 17, or vol. ii.
No. 20, p. III).

182S. Entcrioji Amphisbaeiia, Duges ("Annales
des Sciences naturelles." Ser. i., vol. xv.,
p. 293, Plate 9, fig. 19, 20, 24).

1S37. L^imbriciis tetraedrus, and Liunbricus anip/iis-
baena, Duges ("Ann. des Sc. nat.," Ser.
ii., vol. viii., pp. 17, 23).

1S43. Lumbricus agilis, lloffmeister (Wiegmann,
"Archiv fiir Naturgeschichte," p. 191,
tab. ix. fig. 6; " Familie der Regen-
wiirmer," 1845, p. 36).

1870. Allurus tctracdrus, Eisen ("Ofv. af Kongl.
Vetensk. Akad. Forh.," p. 966 ; ibid.
1873, No. 8, p. 54).

Other references will be given under the next
section.

II. DESCRIPTION OF ALLURUS.

It will be well, before I enter upon a detailed
description of the square-tailed worm, to explain one
or two of the technical terms in common use in this
branch of science. The extreme anterior or fore-part
of the worm's body is called the prostomium, because
it is before and above the mouth (stoma). It is
sometimes spoken of, less technically, as the lip. On
either side of the body, usually about midway between
the lip and the swollen portion, one finds either a
protuberance or a depression. Here the male pore is
situated, sometimes on papillae, at other times sunk
below the surface of the epidermis, and detected with
difficulty. Its position and appearance, like the shape
of the prostomium, is of great help in the identification
of species. The swollen portion in an adult worm is
called the clitellum, it is also popularly known as the
girdle, while cingulum is the term in favour with
some authors. Along the back there exist a number
of minute apertures connected with the co;lom which
are known as the dorsal pores, while there exist
under or near the clitellum in certain species other
pores called ' tubercula pubertatis.' Internally we
find numerous glands and organs whose functions can
only be understood by those who have read some
account of the anatomy and physiology of the worm.
If we take the external characters first, we shall
find that Allurus ranges from one to two inches in
length, but is capable of stretching to nearly three
inches when hastening away from its pursuer. It
varies greatly in colour, as we have already seen,
from a beautiful rich yellow to dull brown, and from
a light brown to violet with iridescence. It has a
square-tail, containing usually about forty segments,
making the total number of sediments for the whole

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIF.

body from seventy to eighty. I took an example the
other day with sixty segments behind the chteUum.
The ditelhim often varies in colour from the rest of
the body, which it sometimes appears to encircle
entirely. It commences on the 22 nd segment usually,
and extends to the 27th, but the glandular :cells of
the clitellum extend to other segments as well. The
male pore is on the 13th segment, and may be easily
recognised, as it runs parallel with the segment-
divisions, and is placed on either side of the body,
somewhat on the under-surface, or ventrally. Beddard
thinks the spermathecns are on segment 8, which bears
also rod-shaped setre.* The dorsal pores commence
between the 3rd and 4th or the 4th and 5th segments.
The ordinary setae are similar to those of our other
native worms, but I have found minute processes on
the extremity which projects outwards, similar to those
described on some foreign species. The internal
extremity is attached to its sac by fine muscular
threads. They have a itendency to split up into 8
rows rather than appear in 4 pairs, and are about 2
centimetres long, or nearly half the width of the
body. The tiibercida ptihertatis are said to occur on
the 22nd, 23rd and 24th segments, I have so far
failed to see them. For external characters, the
following works may be consulted in addition to
those already given. Grube, " Familien der Annel-
iden," 1851, p. 145; Oerley, "A Magyarors zagi
Oligochastak Fatmaja," 18S0, p. 598-601 ; Rosa, " I
Lumbricidi del Piemonte," Torino, 1884, p. 51 ; Ude,
"Zeitschrift fiir Wissen. Zool.," 1885, p. 139;
Johnston, " Catalogue of British Worms," p. 61.

Owing to the small size attained by Allurus, it is
somewhat difficult to dissect the worm in the ordinary
way, so as to obtain perfectly reliable results, and it
therefore becomes necessary to prepare sections by
the microtome. My results differ slightly in some
respects from those of Beddard.* He gives the gizzard
one segment only (viz. the 17th), whereas in the worms
I have examined the crop occupied 15 and 16, the
gizzard 17 and 18, Thenephridia seem to commence
in segment 7. I have found 5 pairs of '^seminal
reservoirs in segments 8-12 inclusive, being one pair
more than Beddard reports. I find 2 pairs of sperm-
athecse, one in segment 8, and one in segment 9, and
the calciferous glands, of which I find one pair, are in
segment 10, just in front of the middle pair of seminal
reservoirs. Here again I diffen from Beddard ; and
the most reasonable explanation of this fact, I think,
lies in the suggestion that we have been working on
distinct species which have not yet been differentiated.
In addition to what have been usually regarded as
typical specimens, I have met with a totally distinct
variety, which I formerly called flavus, but which I
find has been named luteus by Eisen. It is of a
beautiful, rich yellow colour, with orange clitellum,

* My further researches, since this paper was written, clearly
point to the existence of at least two, if not more, distinct
species.

and a good deal smaller than the type. I found it
plentifully by the Fclen, near Carlisle, in 1890, and
have taken one solitary specimen this year at Calverley,.
near Leeds. The following is a list of the species
and varieties hitherto named by authors, which will
probably shortly be amended and enlarged : I..
AHurus tetracdnis (Eisen) ; 2. Alhirus amphishana
(Duges) ; 3. Alliims, var. obscuriis (Eisen) ; 4.
Allunis, var. hitciis (Eisen).

For the anatomy one may consult Beddard ia
" Quart. Journ, Micr. Soc." 1888, Vol. vi., pt. ii., pp.
365-71, pi. XXV.; Rosa, "I Lumbricidi del Pie-
monte," p, 51 scq.; Ude, " Zeitschrift fiir Wiss.
Zool." 18S5, p. 139, &c.

III. DISTRIBUTION OF ALLURUS.

Eisen has described it from specimens found in
Sweden and Beddard from a single worm sent from
Teneriffe. Rosa has recorded it from North Italy ;
Oerley from Hungarj-, where also the varieties already
named exist. Hoffmeister found it in North
Germany, Duges in France (probably about Mont-
pellier), in which country more recent observers have
also collected it, but Kulagin does not mention it in
his recent enumeration of Russian species of earth-
worms. Oerley classes it as " Palaearktic."

It was first mentioned as British by Johnston in
1865, a single specimen being at that time in the
British Museum. It was found in Devon, and I have
found it in Yorkshire and Cumberland, together with
the yellow variety. See Johnston's "Catalogue of
British Worms," p. 61 ; Beddard, op cit. p. 365 ; and
Oerley, "A Magyar. Oligochaetak Faunaja," 1880,
p. 599 et scq.

LORD TENNYSON'S FLOWERS.

NOW that the thrushes have begun their morning
and evening song, and the girls are offering
the bunches of wild snowdrops for sale in the streets,,
our hearts begin to long for the spring flowers (never
more prized than after this long and trying winter),,
and we begin to anticipate our coming pleasures by
turning to the favourite passages that tell of our
darlings. And who will bring the flowers of spring
and summer before us as well as Lord Tennyson?
Who else has distinguished, with suitable epithet,
one wayside flower from another, and given to his
exquisite landscapes the true finishing flower-touch?'
Other poets have sung in honour of flowers: Alfred
Austin has celebrated the primrose in charming
verse ; Wordsworth has immortalised the lesser
celandine ; Burns has glorified the "bonnie gem " —
the daisy — and thus re-echoed the praises of old
Chaucer ; but none has been at once so catholic in
taste, so accurate in localisation, so exquisite in
selection of epithet as the Laureate. This love of

HARD IVICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

flowers is from the beginning ; it is as evident in the
•earhest poems as in the latest ; it is charming every-
where. In the early poems — published sixty years
iigo— we have the flowers in the uld-fashioned
Lincolnshire garden drooping under the action of the
autumn frosts.

Heavily hangs the broad sunflower.
Over its grave i' the earth so chilly ;

Heavily hangs the hollyhock.
Heavily hangs the tiger lily.

Perhaps the very garden in which, after his
•departure,

Unwatched the garden bough shall sway,
The tender blossom flutter down,
Unloved that beech will gather brown,

This maple burn itself away :

Unloved the sunflower, shining fair,
Ray round with flame her disk of seed.
And many a rose-carnation feed

With summer spice the humming air.

And around, or below, where the great Fenland
■swept away to the great sea :

Far through the marish, green and still.
The tangled watercourses slept,
Shot over with purple, and green, and yellow,

and with

The silvery marish flowers that throng
The desolate pools and creeks among.

And with these we must quote, as characteristic
of the scenery among which his earlier years were
jjassed, "two of the most beautiful and melancholy
lines in our language, " as Henry Kingsley truly calls
them :

When from the dry, dark wold the summer airs blow cool.
On the oat-grass, and the sword-grass, and the bulrush in
the pool.

The meadow- and marsh-flowers are chiefly
spoken of in the "May Queen " :

And by the meadow trenches blow the faint sweet cuckoo-
flowers.

And the wild marsh marigold shines like fire in swamps and
hollows grey.

What a gleam of first May time those two lines
'bring with them ! One can see the water-meadows of
our Dorsetshire Stour, or of the Salisbury Avon,
winding to and fro from Ringwood to Christchurch,
where the wide moist meadows are on fire with marsh
marigold.

In that lovely " Dirge," how he delights to bring
together over the quiet grave, "the bramble-roses,
faint and pale," "the gold-eyed king-cups fine,"
"the frail blue bells," "the rare broidry of the
purple clover," till, as Shelley said, "making one in
love with death to think one should be buried in so
■sweet a place."

Almost always the wild flowers are spoken of. In
-the spring " by ashen roots the violets blow," a line
which once guided us to a lovely clump of white
•T^-iolets after a fruitless search elsewhere. Following
Shakspere, he thinks how, when Arthur Hallam
lies at rest in quiet Clevedon, " Of his ashes may be

made the violet of his native land." So Shakspere,

of Ophelia, " From her fair and unpolluted flesh may

violets spring." But both our poets had l)een

anticipated —

Non e manibus illis,
Non e tumulo, fortuiiataque favUla
Nascuntur violae 1

The orchis, " the foxglove spire with its dappled
bells," "the little speedwell's darling blue," "deep
tulips dashed with fiery dew," " laburnums,
dropping wells of fire," each in turn recalling some
pleasant spot, it may be in damp spring copse, or
meadow, or by sunny bank, or in sloping garden.
The glorious reaches of blue when the hyacinths
carpet the ground are specially noted, for we read
how Lancelot and Guinevere

Rode under groves that looked a paradise

Of blossom, over sheets of hyacinth

That seemed the heavens upbreaking thro' the earth.

That is a bit of forest. We saw the verj' place last
spring, quite close to Queen's Bower, near Brocken-
hurst, where, beneath stately beeches, the ground
was covered with blue-bells, as we call them.

The mention of the delicate wind-flowers softens
the rugged speech of the wild "Northern Farmer"
as he tells how the keeper was shot dead, and lay on
his face " down i' the woild enemies," a wonderfully
pathetic touch, as it shows you the dead man with
the delicate petals of the flowers whispering round
the motionless head.

Do you want a broad summer landscape, with the
scent of summer and the promise of autumn ? Here
it is : —

When summer's hourly mellowing change
May breathe with many roses sweet
Upon the thousand waves of wheat

That ripple round the lonely grange.

Can you not see the " waves of shadow pass over
the wheat," and smell the fragrance of the wind that
has travelled over the many roses? Surely some one
has painted that "grey old grange" amid its far
waving corn !

The simple happy cottage-flowers, "traveller's
joy," "'honeysuckle," rosy sea of gillyflowers,
"close-set robe of jasmine," "lily-avenue," and so
on, are noted, one by one, in a pretty passage in
"Aylmer's Field," describing the houses of Sir
Aylmer's tenantry.

But the most splendid use of the common flowers
is in the finest of all his pieces on public events, the
" Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington."

Not once, or twice, in our rough island story.

The path of duty was the way to glory ;

He that walks it, only thirsting

For the right, and learns to deaden

Love of self, before his journey closes.

He sJiall find the stuhborii thistle bursting

Into glossy purples, -which outredde>i

All voluptuous garden roses.

The thistle referred to is the lovely purple-headed
one that grows on the down-sides, with a more

jy.4 R D W] CKE • S S CIENCE- G OSS IP.

silvery leaf and a for more '" glossy purple" than the
common roadside sort. The use of this as an
emblem of the unexpected reward of dutj- honestly
performed, is one of the most telling selections in
English poetTT.

The way in which the commonest flower depends
for its existence on laws the mcst profound and far-
reaching is brought before us by the last quotation we
most make.

Flower in the crannied wall,

I pluck you Oct of the crannies :

Hold TOLi her«, root and all, in my hand.

Little flower ; but if I could understand

What yo-- are, root and all, and all in all,

I should know what God and man is.

^\*. K. Gill.
£versley. Pooh.

R05SEXDALE RKIZOPODS.

No. 2.

\S premised in mv last communication, which
was introductory to the series, I now have to
describe several forms of the naked lobose Protoplasts
which have come under my own observation. Fiist
and foremost of these is the well-known and often-
described Anuzba protius. This animal is familiar
enough to the merest microscopical tyro, as it is
found in the sediment of almost every pond and ditch.
It presents itself under the ' magic tube,' as a shape-
less mass of jelly ; round the outer edge is a clear
portion, the ectosarc, free from granules ; while the
interior endosarc is apparently more fluid, and con-
tains a variable quantity of granules and food particles
in different stages of digestion. If carefully watched,
it will be seen to push out, at one or more points,
rounded lobes of the clear ectosarc, as if, to use a
simile of Professor Leidy, it had exnded or sweated
numerous drops of liquid. These " lobes quickly
elongate and assume theforms of digitate pseudopods,"
and as they lengthen the more fluid endosarc flows
in. While these new processes are being pushed out,
others are being retracted, and these Protean-like
changes of form go on in such a way as to result in
a slow, onward movement of the animal. The
smaller forms have generally little colour, and these
are of most frequent occurrence in this district.
Others, however, found in waters having much or-
ganic matter in a state of decay, or where Algous
food is plentiful, have considerable colour. This is
found to be due to a varietj" of materials, which if
carefully examined, resolve themselves into the
foUowing elements. Fine and coarse granules ;
rounded bodies of the nature of starch granules ;
yellow and brown oil-like drops ; coloured water-
drops ; sand-grains ; minute crystals ; yellow, brown
or green food-b^lls, often surrounded by a clear space
fiUed with liquid ; and more recently ingested food,
such as Desmids, Diatoms, Zoospores, fragments ot
Oscillatoria and ether Algae. In addition there are

generally a discoid somewhat granular Nucleus, and
near it, the contracting vesicle, or pulsating organ,
often of a delicate pink hue. Amoeba can take food
at any part of its surface, and the discharge of effete
matter is likewise ejected from any part, but accord-
ing to several authorities, more frequently from that
which at the moment happens to be posterior. On
coming in contact with suitable food material,
Amceba puts forth a portion of the clear ectosarc, and
surrotmds the object, which subsequently appears to
sink into the endosarc, becoming enclosed in a
vacuole, in which by a process of digestion it becomes
indistinguishable from other food-balls, previously
ingested. They vary greatly in size, from Jj or larger
to gjij of an inch. There are many points in the
economy of Amceba which I must pass over, owing to
limitations of space ; sufficient has been written,
however, to enable us to judge of the correctness of
some remarks of Professor Carpenter, in his " Intro-
duction to the Study of the Foraminifero." He says,
" A little particle, of apparently homogeneous jelly.

Fig. 53- — P. lalcsa.

Fig. CO. — P. '.:lcsa.

Fig. 6i. — P. lobosa.

Fig. 62. — A. z-illcsa.

changing itself into a greater variety of form than the
fabled Proteus, laying hold of its food without
members, swallowing it without a mouth, digesting
it without a stomach, appropriating its nutritious
material without muscles, feehng (if it has any power
to do so) without nerves, propagating itself without
genital apparatus, and not only this, but in many
instances forming shelly coverings of a symmetry and
complexity not surpassed by those of any testaceous
animals."' Fig. 59 shows a very common form
here, from clear ponds ;' it is small, with the pseudo-
podia somewhat radiately arranged, and shows the
Cont vesicle. Fig. 60 a larger form, also com-
mon, with Diatoms, .kc, recently ingested, no

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

8:;

Nucleus, or Cont. vesicle visible. Fig. 6i, a form
with rather conical pseudopods, sarcode stretched
over a long Diatom. The Rhizopods of this germs.
possessing no definate or constant figure, species
mongers have taken foil advantage of their oppor-
txmities, and have given specific names to a number
of slightly different forms. There are, however, a
few, which exhibit permanent differences, which in
the present state of our knowledge, it may be as well
to distinguish in this way.

Amxla villosa, which is locally tm common, differs

63, larger form with three anterior lobes, Nncleos,
and two or three Cont. vesicles.

Amaha radwsa is another small and inactiTe
spedes, very rare here. Indeed, so rare is it, that I
have never found it in any of the numerous places
where I habimally collect. My first and only
specimens were taken from a plate which had been
under a Fem-case. There were literally thousands
of them, among the floccose sediment, along with
other obscure Rhizopods (Vampyrella, dec.) and
Rotifera vulgaris and PhUodjna erytlwthaJma. They

Fig. c:. — .-:. radijsa.

Fig. 6-. — A. z-err:i::rs.

Tig- ^5 — A. radidia.

Fig. 6S. — A. Z'rrntcesa.

Tig. 6^ — PeJjmryjca •riUoia
begrnning to pet forth its
pseudopodia.

r^M2^^,

Fig. 66. — A. tHZosa.

>>^<

Fig. -^.—FcS-

.: ;z Tulasa in motian.

ffom the preceding in several particulars ; it has a
distinct anterior and posterior region ; the villous
part, which is knob-like, is always posterior, and is
covered with persistent, prickle-like pseudopodia ;
the anterior pan is broadish ; ectosarc, a well-defined
zone, and its general form is irregularly cl::vate,
occasionally with two or three broau, anterior lobes.
There is a single, generally large Cont- vesicle
posteriorly situated, and a little in front of this the
Xncleas. Size from ^ to -jlj, of an inch. Found
among mosses, Algs, and frequently in Sphagnum.
Fig. 62, small form with Cont. vesicle. Fig.

have from two or three to a dozen tapering pseudo-
pods, and these may be short or two or three times
the diameter of the body. This form has little
colour, and I never found any with food-balls or
ccdouTed drops of any kind. There is generally a
distinct Nucleus, and one or several Cont. vesicles.
It is when freely floating that they exhibit their
characteristic radiate form ; when crawling this is
somewhat lost, as the pseudopcKiia are either retracted,
or a few only are put forth in the direction of motion.
WTien calmly floating the pseudopodia may be seai
shortening or lengthening, or slowly bending back-

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

■wards and forwards. Size about ojjj of an inch.
Fig. 64, an ordinary form showing Nucleus
and Cont. vesicle. Fig. 63, small form, which with-
drew all the jJseudopodia except one ; this although
constantly moving, lengthening or shortening, re-
anained persistent for over an hour during which it
was under observation (Fig. 66). Another specimen
with longer pseudopodia.

The next form, Ainivba verrucosa, is the last of the
L-.iaked lobose Rhizopods I have found in this district.
The illustrations (Figs. 67, 68) give a fair idea
of young specimens ; older ones are a little larger and
generally contain more Algous food, though not in
■such quantity as to destroy their translucency. It is
■said to be very common, but I have very rarely found
it, and unfortunately I have omitted to note the exact
locality. It is, I think, a good species. Ordinarily
it presents a quadrately rounded form, with broad
•expansions of the ectosarc, which in this species is
unusually distinct. Old specimens are very sluggish,
but younger ones are active, and when moving across
the held of the microscope, the broad end is always
in front, so that there is a distinct anterior and pos-
terior part. The Cont. vesicle is large and posterior ;
Nucleus generally obvious, a little in front of the
Cont. vesicle. The creatun^ does not put forth distinct
pseudopods, but the ectosarc rolls forwards as a short,
broad lobe and the endosarc gradually follows so as
to maintain the same relative position. The creasing
of the ectosarc, appearing as fine, more or less
permanent lines, reaching from the back forward as
far as the endosarc, is very characteristic, and will
greatly assist the student in identifying the species.
IFig. 67. Specimen with large Cont. vesicle
and single Nucleus. Fig. 68, another with
Cont. vesicle partially contracted, food-particles
present ; these generally consist of Oscillatorian frag-
ments. In the naked lobose Rhizopods there are four
Genera and about eight Species. Amoeba, as de-
scribed. Pelomyxa, slug-like, with wave-like expan-
sions of the ectosarc ; Dinamceba, whose pseudopods
are long, conical, sometimes furcate ; with surface of
body and pseudopods covered with spicules of motion-
less cilia ; and Ouramreba, with fixed filamentous
appendages. These all belong to the sub-Order
Lobosa, and are of great interest, but as I have not
yet found them, winter having effectually put a stop to
collecting, I omit all further reference to them here.
In my next paper I shall commence the description of
the testaceous forms, illustrating the chief varieties of
the various species found in Rossendale.

P.S. — Pelomyxa villosa is another of the naked
Rhizopods, which, while absent from many ponds, is
yet numerous in others. It is closely allied to Aniccba
villosa, if indeed it is not a state or condition of that
Rhizopod. It differs from it chiefly in having
iiumerous Nuclei and Cent, vesicles scattered
through the body mass. It is one of the very largest
forms, and its endosarc is crowded with dark granules,

a considerable quantity of quartz sand ; and, being a
voracious feeder, Desmids, Diatoms, and other Algre.
When at rest it is of sub-globular form, but frequently
buds forth small lobes of its clearer ectosarc, as a pre-
liminary to activity (see Fig. 69). The somewhat
globular villous patch, which is always posterior, has
a prehensile function. Nuclei small and numerous.
The same description is said to apply to the contract-
ing vesicles, but in the specimen from which the
drawing was made there was most certainly one very
conspicuous Cont. vesicle. Colour, very variable,
but by transmitted light, usually a dark grey or brown,
in some cases approaching to black.

J. E. Lord.
Rai^itcnstall,

OUR LANE.

A LANE, an English country lane ! To the
dweller in a city's murky streets what more
suggestive of peace and beauty ? In the very word
there is a ring of rusticity ; it tells us that it is not a
high- but a bye-way, one off the beaten track — one
more secluded, peaceful, fragrant. The thought of it
calls up visions of mossy banks and o'erarching trees,
sweet-smelling hawthorn hedges with eglantine and
bryony festooned, and gay with roses white, with
crimson tipped. Nor does the pleasant vision exist
only in the imagination of the poetic dreamer. Nay,
thank heaven ! in this our lovely native land [there
still are left to us a thousand country lanes, as rich in
beauty as they were in ages long since passed.

'Tis not, however, of lanes in general that I would
now discourse, but of one particular lane — that
special, secluded, restful spot of earth on which it is
our hap to dwell, and which we love to designate
par excellence " Onx Lane."

In this our sin and sorrow stricken world 'twere
hard to find a spot so sacred to peace that no dis-
turbing element will e'er be found within its precincts,
and, mayhap, the occasional inroad of merry school-
children, full of boisterous mirth, or lumbering wain,
somewhat harshly jingles upon the ear of the recluse,
but such infrequent breaks but serve to enhance the
restful atmosphere which here prevails ; nor do I
begrudge the young ones their season of innocent
enjoyment ; to many of them it may be only far too
brief.

Our lane is situated in a lovely, richly-wooded,
old-world western county, whose benighted inhabit-
ants slowly yield to changes of so-called moderir
progress, and as slowly help to swell the calendar of
crime. Beautiful for situation is it — in every season
charming. But 'tis in early summer — say in leafy
June— when from the thicket the mellow-throated
blackbird mingles his fluty notes with the bright
outpourings of the sweet-voiced thrush — when 'tis
brimful of birdsong, rustle of leafy shade, and hum

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

of happy insect life, that its beauty most commends
itself; for then, methinks, 'tis at its very best.

Its sinuous course extends through rich pastures
and mossy orchards, from the brook at the bottom of
our lovely valley, right away up and up, until it
widens out upon the breezy height some 900 feet or
more above the sea level. No unsheltered half-mile
course is this, for its steep banks are high, sur-
mounted with luxuriant liedges, and with lofty trees
o'er-arched, and even when "November chill blaws
loud wi' angry blast," the wanderer here may bid
defiance to the tempest. His upward glances may
discover the bowing and swaying of the tree-tops
before the forceful blast, which onward sweeps the
ruddy shower, and carpets the ground beneath with
glossy beech leaves ; but, through it all, as un-
disturbed his steps as separate his lot from the tumult
and harass of the outside world. Now and again,
sweet glimpses of the lofty hills and overhanging
woods afford him a foretaste of the treat in store
when he reaches I he topmost height, for his footsteps
lead him ever upward, until he emerges from the
shade into the breezy open, when what a glorious
prospect meets his eye ! Hills beyond hills, all
richly clothed with beech, and larch, and pine.
Here from this lofty ridge his eye embraces two
lovely valleys — thiSf " the Switzerland of England,"
the most sequestered and richly-wooded of the two ;
the most steep and narrow ; and from wood to wood
and hill to hill the eye may rove, until hill, and wood,
and cloud, all harmoniously blend in a mellow hazy
.distance. That^ more open and wide-spreading, its
bounding hills more sweeping in their contour, but
yielding as fair a scene, and behind that swelling
down descends the westering sun ; and whilst the
steep valley slopes are sleeping in deep shado%\-, the
fleecy cloudlets glow in his rays, and give fair pro-
mise of a bright to-morrow. Across the valley there
is Painswick Hill — nearly the highest point in the
county — and from it we see on the one hand the
Vale of Glo'ster, the Severn, and far beyond — on the
other, the hills and woods — the towns of Gloucester
and Cheltenham ; and out there, in the purple dis-
tance, the lofty Malvern Hills. Such scenes as these
mark epochs in one's life.

Here then, far removed from earth's hurly-burly,
rest awhile, inhale the breeze, fragrant with floral
odours innumerable, and rich with refreshment alike
to the jaded spirit and the weary body. No situation
more conducive to restful feelings than jthe summit of
some lofty eminence, some mountain peak, some
mighty swelling hill like this. Here on some turfy
couch reclining, at this high altitude one feels so
far removed from life's sore turmoil, the city's roar,
the strife of contending factions ; and soaring heaven-
ward, one strives to rise superior to the grovelling
things of earth. And yet, withal, how oft the
humbling thought obtrudes — How very, very small
am I ; yea, but an atom in an Universe.

Cast the eye whithersoever one will it lights upon
woods. There lies the largest of them all, said to be
one of the most extensive in the kingdom ; and there,
where those advancing wooded slopes, which, from
opposite sides of the ravine upward climb towards
the sky, consecrated to peace and beauty, is my
favourite resort.

Adown the steep hillside the pathway leads, until
we reach "the bottom." Here, sheltered in the
bosom of this lovely valley the outer world and I are
quit, and " every sense is joy." No storms — no chill-
ing blasts invade these bosky depths profound ;.
nor sight nor sound of higher animal life disturb the
stillness, save when the agile squirrel leaps from
branch to branch, or timid rabbit scampers across the
path, or jay's or magpie's discordant notes are heard.

Yet let it not be thought that these solitudes are
untenanted, for a myriad host of insect atoms hum,
and flit, and flutter out their happy day in the genial
sun-rays of this insect paradise. Butterflies innumer-
able disport themselves, and a long chain of wood
ants' nests skirt the sunny edge of the gloomy larch
wood. This exuberance of insect life betokens an
equally redundant flora ; indeed, in all my wanderings
never before was it my hap to light upon such a
wealth of floral beauty, nor from the appearance of
the first flower until the last withering leaf has beer-
swept from the bare woods fails there a display of
Nature's most beautiful productions. I have some-
times thought that not a flower that blooms but here
finds its representative — methinks a harmless fancy,
and one that I delight in.

Deep fringed with moisture-loving plants there,
too, meanders through this deep ravine a brooklet,,
and oft do I cast myself upon its mossy bank to con-
template the marvellous perfection of Nature's handi-
work. Call me not a visionary if I evoke bright
fantasies out of the sweet music of whispering winds —
the odours of thousand flowerets, and flutterings of
scaly wings in golden sunbeams. Not idly do I spend
my hour, for sadness I beguile, and homeward turn
my steps, mentally and physically refreshed.

The picture has another side. Not always is the
silence thus unbroken — nor ever is the solitude replete
with gentle sounds, for when summer's bright-hued
floral pageant has vanished, the song of wild bird is
hushed, and the year, no longer young, has yielded
to the decrepitude of age, then the howling tempest
rages and threatens, and the lofty tree-tops, respond-
ing to the sweep of the wind, pour out such wild
music as thrills the listener beneath, and transports
him in imagination to the lonely sea-shore where
roaring billows toss and heave. Delightful transi-
tion ! 'tis Nature in her varying mood, and her wild
harmonies how sweet.

Presage of blissful repose, comes the blessed even-
ing's fragrant breath, fitting termination this quiet
spot to a delightsome stroll. Here, then, wanderer,
rest, and whilst you gather " the harvest of a quiet

HARDWICKKS SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

eye," let me discourse awhile anent the denizens of
" Our Lane."

And first to merit mention assuredly are those
ministers to our happiness, our little feathered friends.
They abound in our lane, and notably within the pre-
cincts of our garden and orchard, for here in my
berried shrubs, and ivy and other climber clothed
walls, they find food, shelter and protective care ;
here, unmolested, they build their curious nests, and
raise their young broods — 'tis to them a veritable
bird paradise.

My list mayhap embraces no great rarity, but in-
cludes — not excepting the nightingale — nearly all
most noted for their sweet song. Foremost let me
mention my sweet-voiced friend the common thrush
\Turdtis vuisiais) who much affects my garden.
Could I ever tire of his melodious outpourings ? I
trow not ; nor do I tremble for my fruit when I see
his lovely speckled breast beneath my shrubs, for
well I know that soon his tap-tap-tap upon his
favourite stone is the death-knell of the marauding
snail. Fearlessly, last summer, a pair built their
nest beneath the thatch of my summer-house, and
but five and a half feet from the ground, and although
I made a daily visit to the spot, and at but a foot
distant would stand and watch the sitting mother —
not once she fled her home, but, fixing her trustful
eyes on mine, calmly sat on.

Their near relation, too, the missel thrush {T. visci-
■vorus) is a frequent visitor, and until the last berry of
the mountain ash has been gathered frequents our
lane. Somewhat less welcome to me is the jetty
plumaged blackbird (T. vierida), for much as I delight
in the flute-like notes of this mellow-throated songster,
he lays my fruit under such heavy contribution that,
sometimes, methinks, I dearly pay for his sweet
music. Abundant though he is in all the bends and
twists of our lane, he most aff'ects our garden — as
does that shyest of birds, and sweetest singer of the
feathered choir, the blackcap (^Curnica atricapilla).
From the time of his arrival, about the first week in
April, until he takes his departure, about the end of
September, he much affects my shrubs, and pours
out his most tuneful notes from morn till eve. Sweet,
affectionate bird ; a thousand times welcome to the
fruit you claim as the guerdon of your delightsome
song.

{To be continued.)

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

The Second Loan Exliibition of the Woolwich
District Natural History Society (President, the Rev.
J. W. Horsley), held at the Freemasons' Hall,
Mount Pleasant, was very successful. The exhibits
were of a high order, and represented most branches
of natural history. The collections of fossils, shells,
star-fish, Crustacea, coleoptera, lepidoptera, and

botanical specimens were very good, and contained
many rare species. There was also a large assort-
ment of African weapons, implements, spoils of the
chase, and many other curiosities too numerous to
mention. Throughout the evening various electrical
appliances and a number of microscopes were ex-
hibited.

The Easter Excursion of the Geologists' Associa-
tion will be to the Isle of Wight, under the direction
of Professor J. F. Blake and Mr. Thomas Leighton.

A NEW quarterly magazine has been started at
Leeds, under the title of " The Conchologist." It is
edited by Mr. W. E. Collinge.

The Annual Exhibition of the South London
Entomological and Natural History Society will be
held at the Bridge House Hotel, London Bridge,
S.E., on Wednesday and Thursday, the 15th and
1 6th of April next. On Wednesday it will be open
from 7 until 10.30 r.M. ; Thursday from i to6 and 7
till 10 P.M. Particulars and tickets can be obtained
of the Hon. Sec, Mr. H. W. Barker, %i Brayard's
Road, Peckham, S.E.

We are glad to inform our readers that the pro-
posed oological expedition to the Shetland Islands
has very properly been abandoned.

We have received a copy of the interesting
"Monthly Circular and Journal of Proceedings" of
the Huddersfield Naturalists' Society.

We have also received a copy of the useful *' List
of Microscopical Preparations " from ]\Ir. J. Sinel,
Jersey.

At the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society,
the Wollaston Medal was presented to Professor
Judd ; the Murchison Medal to Professor Brogger, of
Christiania ; the Lyell Medal to Professor
McKenny Hughes ; and the Bigsby Medal to Dr.
G. M. Dawson, of Ottawa. The balance of the
Wollaston Fund was presented to Mr. R. Lydekker;
that of the Murchison Fund to the Rev. R. Baron,
Antananarivo ; half of the balance of the Lyell Fund
to Dr. C. J. Forsyth-Major, of Florence ; and the
other half to Mr. G. W. Lamplugh.

Professor Victor Horsley, F.R.S., gave a
discourse on Hydrophobia at the Royal Institution,
on Friday, March 20th, in place of Professor W. E.
Ayston, F.R.S., who was unable to give his promised
lecture on Electric Meters, Motors, and Money
Matters.

The last part of the " Diatomiste," edited by
J. Tempere (London : W. P. Collins, 157 Great
Portland Street), contains four plates. This promises
to be the most important work on the Diatomacea ever
issued. It is being issued every three months.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSS/F.

M. Fremy has been able to manufacture rubies
■artificially, and has produced numerous rhombo-
hedric crystals identical with those found in nature.
The rubies are produced by calcining a mixture of
aluminium, red lead and potassium bichromate for
several hours in an earthenware crucible.

The celebration of the Jubilee of the Chemical
Society was held on Tuesday, February 24th.
There was a conversazione in the evening held at the
Goldsmiths' Hall, at which eight hundred were
present.

A PUBLIC meeting was held at the Shire Hall,
Chelmsford, on Wednesday evening, the i8th March,
to further the scheme of the Essex Field Club and
Chelmsford Museum for the establishment of a local
museum, laboratory, and library in the county town.
The occasion was one of great interest. Professor
Plower and other well-known scientists took part in
the proceedings.

Colonel Swinhoe, F.L.S.,gavea capitallantern
lecture before the members of the Croydon Micro-
scopical and Natural History Club, on March iSth,
on the interesting subject of " Mimicry in Nature."

Dr. J. E. Taylor, Editor of Science-Gossip,
concluded, on March 19th, a course of twelve lectures
(each of which was extensively reported) in connec-
tion with the Ipswich Museum, on " The Ingenuity,
Sagacity, and Morality of Plants."

MICROSCOPY.

The Royal Microscopical Society. —The
February number of the journal of the above society
contains, in addition to the well digested and use-
fully arranged "Summary of Current Researches,"
abstracts of the proceedings of the meetings, and the
following papers : — " Some Observations on the
Various Forms of Human Spermatozoa," by Dr.
R. L. Maddox ; and the address of the president
(Dr. C. T. Hudson), "On Some Doubtful Points in
the Natural History of the Rotifera."

"Journal of Microscopy and Nat. Science."
— The March number contains the following papers,
in addition to notes and excerpts : — "British Earth-
worms," by the Rev. H. Friend ; " Prehistoric Man
in Europe," by Mrs. Bodington ; "The Evolution
of Sex," by Dr. J. A. Smith, &c.

The Microscopical Society of Calcutta.—
The Third Annual Report of this flourishing society
for 1890 has been published. During the year the
following papers were read :— By J. Wood-Mason
(President), "On a Secondary Sexual Organ in
the Males of certain Prawns of the genus Peneus,"
and "On the Changes of Skin, and on the so-called
Pupa-Stage, of the Praying-Mantis {Tenodera aridi-

folia, var.) ;" by Dr. W.J. Simpson, "A Note on
the Bacillus of Leprosy, with specimens ;" by Dr. J.
Stevenson, "The Microscope Stand, with some
remarks on the Choice of a Microscope ;" by Mr. A.
Thomson, " On the Optical Principles of the Micro-
scope ;" by Mr. W. J. Lynch, "On a few Hints on
the Home Construction of Appliances for the Micro-
scope, with Exhibits ;" by Mr. W. J. Simmons,
three Resumes ; by Baboo Bhupendrasri Ghosha,
one Resume ; and by Mr. W. M. Osmond, " Bromide
Enlargements of Photo-micrographs," and a Silver
Print from an Enlarged Negative.

Mounting Corallines. — I have been trying to
mount corallines for the microscope with the animals
expanded out of their cells, I read in "Carpenter"
that osmic acid would cause the animals to expand
their tentacles so that they could be mounted. I
have tried that acid, but with no result. Can any of
the readers give me any help how to get the animals
to expand their tentacles and to kill them at the
same time, so as to be fit for mounting? — W. A.
Toiunei:

Mounting Cochineal Insects. — To ring, try
Hollis' glue. I have found this good in almost every
case, and always use it to ring, for I do not like white
zinc, &c., except as a finish ; though I never even care
for that, for the plain Hollis is all ready, and can be
used for immersion objectives. — V, A. Latham.

Micro-Marine Zoology at Home. — Those
who desire a delightful evening at home with the
microscope should procure one of the jars of living
marine objects sent out every fortnight by Mr. J.
Sinel, of Jersey. The latest to hand contained the
following specimens : — Lucernaria aia-iciila (in repro-
duction) ; o\z.oi IiiocJms striatus\\\'0[\.exa!oryo%; Alcyo-
iiidmtn papillosum, Mcmbraiiipora pilosa ; on the red
weed, one or two kinds of Campanularia and some
small Polyzoa ; Ci'isia dcnticidata, Spirorbis naiitiloidcs,
Syllis artnirallis ; one or two other micro-annelids ;
some young Rissoas ; Cystophium Dari^'inii, and one
or two other micro-amphipods ; Cytkere reniformis and
one or two other kinds of Entomostraca ; some small
Planarire ; various parasitic Infusorians, Diatoms, &c.,
&c., on the weed.

ZOOLOGY.

Physa Acuta in Scotland. — About July, 1887,
I found this shell in abundance in Banner Mill
Ponds, Aberdeen, but never thought of recording
the same in my journal. But, since I came to
London, Mr. Jenkins, M.C.S., Deptford, on one
occasion when visiting me saw them, and asked me
if I had ever mentioned them, as this was a new
locality. I said I never had. He took a few notes
and sent to "Conch. Journ." (see vol. vi., No. 8,

9°

HA RB WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIF.

p. 270). A few additional notes might be of interest.
I sent to my brother, who is employed at the above
factory, a note asking him to get a few alive for me,
and made arrangements with him to get them here,
which he did on November 21st, 1890, when he sent
sixty-two live P. acuta, which I kept alive in tap-
water for a period ranging from six to twenty-one
days. Strange to say, all the largest specimens died
first. The ponds they are found in are filled with
hot water summer and winter, so I think the sudden
change from hot to cold was the cause of death.
Linimza pcregra is very plentiful in the same ponds,
but succumbed the same as P. acuta. There is a
distinct variety in the P. acuta that is white, and
much larger, and the outer lip seems to approach the
variety of L. pcregra, var. labiosa, but pure white — a
very pretty form, but not so common as type. The
above specimens when put in the tap-water were
quite lively, and night after night I sat and watched
their movements, which were very interesting. Mr.
Smith gave me the following information. He is
foreman at the Banner Mill, and since he came there,
that is, thirteen to fourteen years ago, they have
always had a place in the ponds, for the first time
he cleaned out one of the ponds he found them there,
but how they got there he could not tell me, but for
fourteen years they have lived and died in these
ponds, and never been heard of till now. This is
the first time P. acuta has been found in Scotland ;
that is to say, five hundred miles farther north than
any other locality, the other locality being London,
and, though not a British species, it is interesting to
hear of a Continental species getting so far north.
Large or small specimens of P. acuta are very
difficult to get during the months of September,
October, November, and December. Plenty of
small ones can be got, but I think the larger speci-
mens burrow in the mud at the bottom of ponds. —
W. D. Rac.

Dwarf var. of Helix Sylvatica. — At a place
about one thousand feet above Montreux, and some
little distance above a bridge known as the Pont de
Pierre, I have found a rather remarkable dwarf var. of
Helix Sylvatica, Drap. The species is pretty widely
distributed in the Alps, but is usually of a larger size
than in the above-named locality. It belongs to the
same section, Tacliea, Leach, of genus Helix as //.
iietnoralis, Linn., and hortensis, Miill. — C. P. Gloync.

The Flight of Birds.— In reference to the soar-
ing flight of birds, under notice in some papers lately,
I beg to offer my explanation of flotation in the air by
the ability of the bird to reduce or increase its specific
gravity by voluntary action. It may be surmised, it
is possible that the double larynx may be the means
whereby this is effected, where the trachea and two
larynges may correspond to the cylinder and two
valves of an air pump in pneumatic experiments, and
the glass globe or dome .would correspond to the

lungs and air cavities in the body of the bird. The
modus operandi may take effect by contraction of the-
length of the intervening trachea down towards the
lower larynx, then closure of the upper larynx,
followed by elongation of tube upwards towards the
head. The intervening column of air inside it would;
then be lengthened and attenuated, and the lower
larynx would then be closed, so as to preserve the
attenuation in the lungs and cavities from the external
air. The upper larynx would then be opened and the
air let in, and the contraction of the trachea would
again take place, and the action of attenuation of air
as before repeated up and down. If these efforts-
were renewed so many times in a second, with
intervals for ordinary respiration, then an ascent to
one thousand feet would take place as rapidly as in
any balloon. In order to establish this procedure on
a scientific basis it would be requisite to take the
weight of a certain bird at the level of the earth, and
at a height of one thousand feet ; or instead to ex-
haust the air out of the lungs to the extent of one
inch of the barometer, and weigh it again, and also
to ascertain the weight of the air in the body of the
bird and its volume, at the level of the earth, and at
a height of one thousand feet, or a reduction of one
inch of mercury. The rapid descent of the bird would
be effected by reversing the above process of air pump
exhaustion, and converting the trachea and its double
larynges into a force pump, so as to fill the lungs and
cavities with air of a greater density. The buoyancy
of the bird might then be made out for flotation in its
medium, in a like manner as is done for torpedoes,
diving-bells, balloons, &c., and the modus operandi
of towering rendered more clear of comprehension. —
" O/'server."

BOTANY.

The Flora of Kent. — Seeing your questions on
the Flora of Kent in this month's Science-Gossip,
I thought I would write and tell you that, having,
read and come across any amount of books in science,
natural history, &c., I do not remember ever having
seen a Flora of Kent. The nearest I know of is the
"Flora of Middlesex, with Map of Botanical Dis-
trict," by II. Trimen, 12s. 6d., published by \V. H.
Allen, 13, Waterloo Place, Pall Mall, London, S.W.
If you have a copy of G. P. Bevan's "Kent," 2s.
(Stanford's "Tourist Guide Series," published by
Stanford & Co., 55, Charing Cross, London, S.W.),
you will most , probably find, either at the very
beginning or very end of the book, the topography,
history, biography, archeology, geology, mineralogy,
fauna and flora, botany, mining, manufactures, and
agriculture of the county. At the end of the intro-
duction the author gives a list of the best books on
the county, including botany, geologj', &c. You
may hear of a Kentish Flora in this way. N.B. —

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIF.

This is what R. N. Worth docs in his "Guide to
.'S. Devon," same series as "Kent," published by
Stanford & Co. ; they are very good practical guides.
I do not know whether the London Flora would
include Kent ; I should think it would embrace the
borderland. You may find the following useful : —
Eentham's "Flora," revised by J. D. Hooker, last
edition, 18S7, \Os. 6d. ; Crespigny (C. de E.), "A
New London Flora," 1S77, 5^-. I do not know of a
later edition of this, nor do I knoM' publishers'
names. Any bookseller would order them, or you
could get them cheaper by writing to Mr. W.
Collins, Scientific Bookseller, 157, Great Portland
Street, London, W., or to Mr. W. Wesley, Scientific
Bookseller, 28, Essex Street, Strand, London, W.C.,
both of whom I can recommend; Hooker (J. D.),
■" Student's Flora of British Isles," Macmillan & Co.,
London, 105. 6d, A revised edition of the above
was, I believe, published about 1887. — F. Leigh.

The Variations of Colours in Plants. — It
inay be interesting to readers of Science-Gossip to
give a few instances of variation in colour of the
same species of plants which have come under my
notice. Some flowers are more various in colour
than others. For instance, the common wild gera-
nium may be found of a dark red, and light red of
^'arious shades, and is sometimes so pale as to appear
almost white. The purple orchis of our meadows
are of a very dark purple, others of a lighter hue,
and some of a very pale red colour, while others may
be found of a pure white colour. The flowers
amongst which we find most examples are those of a
blue, red, and purple colour. Among blue flowers
I have noticed the following variations in colour.
The selfheal is generally of a dark blue colour, but
many flowers are lilac, though some may very often
be found of a pure white ; and the sweet violet and
milkwort may often be seen of a blue, red, and
white colour, and now and again a white specimen
of the pretty little harebell may be gathered, but the
•colour is not a common one among them. We have
more instances of variation in red and purple flowers
than in any other colour, and I think I shall not be
.far wrong in stating that there are more examples in
the two mentioned colours than in all others put
together. The red campion, which is dark red,
may be found of a very pale red colour, or almost
•white. The common knapweed changes in colour,
and may sometimes be found white, while red clover
may be seen of similar colours. Rest harrow is as
•various in the red colour as those just named, and is
frequently white. The scarlet poppy and scarlet
pimpernel, two flowers of our cornfields, though of
so dark a colour, are often light red or even pink.
The little field madder and field knautia may be
found of various red colours, while white specimens
■of the purple foxglove and heather are of common
occurrence. The lesser convolvulus is white and

rose colour, the wood anemone is sometimes rose-
coloured, and the common yarrow is occasionally
red, while the common daisy of our meadows is often
fringed with red. The pretty yellow flowers of the
bird's-foot trefoil have often a mixture of red, and
some are entirely red, while the wild pansy of our
cornfields may be found of various colours. — H. G.
Ward.

CuLORorHYLL AXD LiGHT.— At least a brace of
topics have been recently discussed in Science-Gossip
that challenge a more than passing comment. One
is the formation of chlorophyll in plants. It seems to
be allowed by all the big botanical authorities that
there are exceptions to the law that light is an indis-
pensable condition for its formation. The germina-
ting seeds of many coniferas, and the fronds of ferns,
for example, become green even in absolute darkness
when the temperature is sufficiently high, and a bright
green moss has been fished up out of the Lake of
Geneva from a depth of two hundred feet. But let
us take care that there be no mistake here. Are we
quite sure that in every instance where a suit of green
is worn by a plant fabric that the colour is due to
chlorophyll ? If we have got any decent sort of eye
for colour at all, and endeavour to match the tint of
a green gooseberry, for instance, with that of a beech
leaf, shall we be satisfied ? I fancy not ; and where-
fore ? Simply because the colouring matter in the
one case is not the same as that in the other. By
personal experiment, I have become convinced that
green elderberries and even the seed cases of the
sycamore contain no chlorophyll ; and I suspect that
the green cotyledons found inside the melons and
likewise that of the lemon, recorded in this journal,
contain none either. But how can you tell that ?
what do you know about it ? Well, I must appeal to
the evidence of that most scientific of all instruments,
viz., the spectroscope. An alcoholic solution of the
substance in question, a small spectro, the use of an
eye and a little brains, and the trick is done, the
matter is decided. By reference to a back number of
SciENCE-GossiP we learn that a very thin layer of
chlorophyll is sufficient to absorb all the orange, blue,
and violet rays contained in the incident light ; hence
the spectrum ought to show very decided dark absorp-
tion bands in the portions thereof occupied by these
rays respectively when white light is transmitted
through a prism. When, therefore, an alcoholic
tincture of, say, grass leaves is presented to the slit
of the spectroscope, a very dark, broad, clearly out-
lined band is seen in the orange next the red, and the
whole of the blue-violet portion is blotted out ;
sometimes two or three other fainter bands are also
seen in the yellow and the green, but these are not
characteristic as the former are. So far as I am
aware, there is no distinctive chemical test for
chlorophyll ; as it is highly probable that it is not
invariably of the same chemical composition, nor is

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

it in every case evolved from precisely the same
organic constituents in the plant. The physical test
now indicated is the only reliable means of detecting
its presence ; and therefore any solution not yielding
the absorption spectrum aforesaid cannot be said to
contain chlorophyll. This comment raises a further
suggestion as follows. On reading the illustrations
of vegetable teratology, so tastefully exhibited by the
editor in last year's volume, many examples may be
noted where sepals, petals, and other floral parts have
been converted into green leaves or green foliar
organs, or vice versa. The quandary here is to de-
finitely settle the highly interesting and important
problem whether these verdant appearances are really
due to chlorophyll or not. It is obvious that a
decisive solution either one way or the other would
tend to eminently fortify or to seriously undermine
the famous " Gothic " conception that floral organs
(sepals, petals, stamens, &c.) are developed, or are
modifications of foliar organs. Any vegetable out-
growth whatever, though it be as green as the emerald,
and present a foliar aspect and structure, cannot, if
destitute of chlorophyll, be regarded as a leaf in any
functional sense of the term. — P. Q. Keegcin.

Note on Scolopendrium vulgare, var.
LoBATUM, AND ITS ALLIES. — During a recent walk
{5th March) from Aust, Gloucester to Bristol, I
found the roadsides, owing to the absence of other
vegetation, very favourable to the observation of ferns.
In sheltered places, notwithstanding the severity of
the past winter, I noticed some fine specimens, chiefly
of the common hart's-tongue, as green as at mid-
summer. The majority showed, by their semi-withered
state, the advanced time of year ; but, as a whole, I
should be inclined to think that the excessive and
long- continued cold has not unfavourably affected
them. I was fortunate in finding two or three good,
and, I hope, constant varieties, which I have yet to
name or get named, and a very large number of
specimens of the variety above mentioned. In look-
ing at Swayne's old work on the Botany of the neigh-
bourhood, I find but a single variety recorded, and
that from the neighbourhood of Ashton ; but, of course,
vei7 much more must be known since the date of the
publication of that book ; but I regret that I am
unable to refer your readers to these sources of infor-
mation. The Botanical Secretary of the Bristol
Naturalists' Society is editing in its Proceedings a very
valuable record of the local flora ; but I expect that
the cryptograms have not as yet been dealt with.
The variety Lobatum may be looked upon as occupy-
ing a middle place between the simply bifurcated
fronds and those which are much dissected and
tasselled ; all of them are undoubtedly related, and
very inconstant, especially when transplanted, revert-
ing almost invariably to the specific form. This fact
has always been known to collectors and growers of
British ferns. Ferns gathered with dormant fronds

in spring burst during the same season. In the
natural state the amount of variation on the same
plant is very great, extending from a simple tendency
to bifurcate at the growing point of the midrib, and
hardly visible on the margin, to a distinct separation
of the fronds on a common stipe, a simple form of
pinnation. This is the most notable case that has
come under my own observation ; but I have not as
yet observed a sufficient number of plants to be able
to say much as to the amount of variation in fronds
growing from a single crown. Varieties, when they
occur in nature, I find often occur together, and some-
times it requires a careful examination, by digging up
the roots, before the fronds can be relegated to the
crowns that support them. Although this variety,
Lobatum, and its bifurcated and tasselled allies is
generally distributed over the neighbourhood of
Bristol, it can hardly be said to be common, except in
a few favoured localities. Indeed, I have travelled
long distances along our Somersetshire and Gloucester-
shire lanes without observing a single specimen.
.Speaking generally, I fancy they are rather more
frequent in sheltered situations near the coast ; but
in returning from Aust to Bristol on the date
mentioned, I observed so many that I thought the
fact deserving of mention. In a lane running east
and west on Keuper soil, near Aust, 90 yards long^
with high banks, well shaded by hedges and elms, I
counted no fewer than 117 separate plants, varying
from simple bifurcation to strong cresting at the
opposite extreme, the majority belonging to the inter-
mediate variety Lobatum. These were nearly all
strong, growing, handsome plant clusters, which, if
divided, would double or treble the above mentioned
number. Of the total number of Scolopendrium
plants, normal and abnormal, I should think, at a rough
estimate, that the bifurcate and crested kinds must
number probably a third. Both sides of the lane are
sheltered and shaded by trees, but naturally the south
side more than the other. Of the 117, 40 grew on
the side facing the sun, and 77 on the other, a
difference of nearly a half, and this difference would be
true for the normal forms also. In the close vicinity,
but on the sides of the main road, I observed several
plants of the same variety. Proportionally, however,
they were much scarcer. Both localities have a
southern exposure. — T. Stock.

GEOLOGY, &c.

Anniversary Address of the President of
THE Geological Society.— Dr. A Geikie delivered
the above address on February 20th. He dealt with
the history of volcanic action in Britain during the
earlier ages of geological time. He proposed to confine
the term "Archaean" to the most ancient gneisses
and their accompaniments, and showed that these
rocks, so far as we know them in this country, are

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

essentially of eruptive origin, though no trace has
yet been found of the original discharge of any
portion of them at the surface. Passing to the
younger crystalline schists, which he classes under
the term " Dalradian," he pointed to the evidence of
included volcanic products in them throughout the
Central Highlands of Scotland and the North of
Ireland. The Uriconian series of Dr. Callaway he
regarded as a volcanic group, probably much older
than the recognised fossiliferous Cambrian rocks of
this country. The Cambrian system he showed to
be eminently marked by contemporaneous volcanic
materials ; and he discussed, at some length, the so-
called pre-Cambrian rocks of North Wales. He
reviewed the successive phases of eruptivity during
the Arenig and Bala periods, and described the
extraordinary group of volcanoes in northern
Anglesey during the latter time. The volcanoes of
the Lake District were next treated of, and reference
was made to the recent discovery by the Geological
Survey that an important volcanic group underlies
most of the visible Lower Silurian rocks in the South
of Scotland. The last portion of the address was
devoted to an account of the volcanoes of Silurian
time in Ireland, and it was shown that during the
Bala period a chain of submarine volcanic vents
existed along the east of Ireland from county Down
to beyond the shores of Waterford ; while in Upper-
Silurian time there were at least tv.-o active centres of
eruption in the extreme west of Kerry and in Mayo.

Fossil Fish in Lower Silurian Rocks. — A
remarkable discovery is announced from America.
The enormous number of fishes which so suddenly
make their appearance in the Old Red Sandstone or
Devonian, have always staggered evolutionists. The
only reply was " the imperfection of the geological
record" — the failure to come upon the rocks con-
taining those experiments of nature which would
supply the missing links. These, however, have now
teen discovered in western America. In the Lower
Silurian sandstones near Canon City, Colorado, there
bave been found hosts of tishes of a lower type than
those in the Upper Silurian or Devonian. They are
also the oldest backboned animals as yet known, and
indicate that when the still more ancient Cambrian is
fully investigated transition between the vertebrate
and the invertebrate groups may be unearthed.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Fungus Growth on Eggs. — Can any reader of
Science-Gossip suggest a remedy for a fungus that
has got into my collection of eggs. It can be rubbed
easily off coloured eggs, but leaves a dark mark on
white eggs. The collection is kept in a thoroughly
dry room, in drawers, covered with glass. All the
specimens of my own collecting were well washed out.
What can have caused the fungus ? I intend putting
■ carbolic acid in each drawer to keep off moths.

Will that have any effect in checking the fungus ?
I am told that carbolic acid is preferable to camphor,
as the latter tends to produce dampness. Will
the common brown acid do, or must it be the refined
kind that is used ? — T. Brown.

Local Conchological Society. — Being anxious
to discover if there are any Conchologists in Exeter
and neighbourhood who would join myself and friends
here in establishing a local society, I should feel
grateful if you would kindly allow me a few lines in
your much read and widely circulated magazine for
that purpose. Collectors in this part of England
labour under disadvantages unknown to those living
in the more favoured north. Every little piece of
knowledge has to be painfully acquired. There are
no well-known specialists to apply to ; no museums
with good local collections to which we can refer
when difficulties arise. A walk through the Exeter
Museum quickly shows how little general interest is
taken in Conchology and Entomology in this county.
There is certainly an attempt at a local collection of
land and fresh-water shells, but to my knowledge
it has not been added to, or re-arranged for years,
and several of even the commoner local forms are
misrepresented. A few persons interested in the
science, who would co-operate and meet together
from time to time for mutual encouragement and
instruction, would undoubtedly very soon succeed in
rendering this a less "dark" district, and if
thoroughly worked I am very sure it would soon
prove itself a very rich one, as with but i&v! oppor-
tunities for collecting I have already found several
species not in the county list. — L. y, S., Topshavi,
S. Devon.

The Great Yarmouth Natural History
Society held their annual meeting at the Free Library
on Tuesday evening, January 27th. The Secretary
read the annual report which showed the Society
was financially better than last year. Notes were
read on the black-headed gull, and long-eared bat,
a living specimen of which was exhibited. Letters
from the President, Sir James Paget, Rev. M. C. H.
Bird, and Rev. E. N. Bloomfield, with which the
latter gentleman enclosed a copy of his " Lepidop-
tera of Suftblk," and " Moss Flora, and Hepaticae," of
the same county. The papers read at the ordinary
meetings were as follows : " Bird Mortality," " The
Little Gull," "The Sole," "The Great Sirex,"
"Skulls of Birds," "Microscopic Fungi," "The
Black Rat," "Bees and Bee-keeping," "Five-
bearded Rockling," " Fifteen-spined Stickleback,"
" The great Water Beetle," &c.

Cuckoo's Egg in a Greenfinch's Nest. — It
is not, I think, a very frequent occurrence to find a
cuckoo's egg in the nest of a hard-billed bird, being
mostly found in the nest of the hedge-sparrow, and in
the nest of other warblers. It may be interesting to
some to know that a cuckoo's egg was discovered
here in the spring of 1887 in a greenfinch's nest, which
contained four. eggs of the greenfinch. — //. G. Ward,
North Mars ton.

The following interesting occurrence, which was
told to my cousin, who -related it to me, may perhaps
be interesting to readers of Science-Gossip. In a
hedgerow around this village a blackbird built its
nest last winter and laid five eggs, which were
eventually hatched, and the young ones fiew away.
The young man who knew the nest, used, it seems, to
visit it occasionally to see how the young ones were
getting on. In one of his" visits he found that the
young ones had flown, and was greatly surprised to

HARDWJCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

find three more eggs laid in the old nest. I should
be pleased if readers woukl record any similar
instance which might have come under their notice.
— H. G. Ward, North Mars/oit.

The Two Sides of the Medal. — Mrs.
Bodington, in a not altogether novel parable, urges
us to look on both sides of the medal, but gives little
evidence of viewing more than one side of it herself.
She is apparently more a follower of Spencer than of
Darwin, but while she twits Wallace for not being
abreast of the march of science, she herself clings to
some of the most doubtful of Darwin's assumptions.
Of Wallace, she writes : " He believes in natural
selection pure and simple, with its odd theory of
constant variations occurring without any reason, and
owing their origin to nothing in particular." Well,
to what do these variations owe their origin in Mrs.
Bodington's opinion? They are due to the " law of
the action of the environment upon irritable proto-
plasms " — an explana'tion highly abstract and more
metaphysical than biological. True, probably, as far
as it goes, but not going very closely to the point.
Now, Wallace, without thinking it worth while to
give this account of the origin of variations, has
placed the theory of natural selection on a much
stronger basis than that on which Darwin built it.
Wallace has shown that variations are, as a matter of
fact, numerous in all directions. While every
organism has a normal or average form and size for
all its parts, both internal and external, yet no
individual exactly hits this average, but all vary, in
all their parts more or less, from the average form
and size. For instance, suppose a bird has a wing
of a certain length, and it would be to its advantage
to have a somewhat longer wing. , Now about half
the individuals of the species must always have a
little more than the average length of wing, while
the other half have a little less than the average.
The former will tend to prosper and propagate their
kind, while the latter will decrease. The process
begins at once. There is no waiting for fortuitous
variation, as Darwin thought. Now, as for the
transmission of acquired characters, when we find
two men so widely apart in their general views as
Wallace and Weissman unite in repudiating that
doctrine, we must at least believe that a great deal
can be said against it,. and that the question cannot
be settled so simply as Mrs. Bodington imagines.
From the off-hand way in which she settles the
matter, it is evident indeed that she does not clearly
understand the question at all. She confounds the
doctrine of inheritance of acquired characters with
heredity in general. She strangely quotes the trans-
mission of the peculiarity of supernumerary fingers as
the transmission of an acquired character. She also
refers to the transmission to offspring of phthisis and
insanity ; but the whole question hinges upon
whether these disorders were acquired or congenital.
As a great authority stated recently, the actual
evidence in favour of the transmission of characters
really acquired in the individual's lifetime amounts
only to a few scattered anecdotes. I will only say in
conclusion that Professor Weissman's theory of the
continuity of the germ plasma is far from being as
baseless in fact as Mrs. Bodington supposes. In
numerous cases it is demonstrable that the repro-
ductive cells or tlie rudiments of sexual organs are
set apart at an early stage, in the development of the
embryo. " They thus include some of the original
capital of the fertilised parent ovum intact, they
continue the protoplasmic tradition unaltered,
and when liberated in * turn they naturally enough
develop as the parent ovum did." Preconceived

theories may sometimes blind men to facts ; but a
scientist of the calibre of Professor Weissman does
not adopt his theories without some foundation in
fact. The transmission of acquired characters is Ijy
no means essential to Darwinism. The essence of
Darwinism is the principle of natural selection, and
this must stand as a vera causa, and as one prime
factor in the process of evolution, whatever the other
factors may ultimately be proved to be. — J. IF.
Baylis, 56, Vine Street, Liverpool.

CoLoaRS OF Eggs. — It is a curious fact that, while
we have more or less plausible reasons by which we
account for the varied colours of birds, beasts,
insects, and flowers, we seem to have no clue what-
ever to the reason for the equally beautiful and
wonderfully-varied tints of birds' eggs. It is true,
certain generalisations have been attempted. The
basis of many of these is that the colours bear some
relation to the environment, a protective function
being assigned to them. M. Gloger, a German
naturalist, many years ago followed this fancy to a
considerable extent, and it is frequently still pro^
pounded in popular articles in various journals.
According to these theorists, eggs are divisible intO'
two classes : self-coloured, and spotted. Simple
whites, blues, greens, and yellows, are considered to
be most conspicuous, and therefore most dangerous,
and these are said to be therefore hidden in hollows
or covered nests ; the colours of speckled eggs are
supposed to blend with the shades of surrounding
objects, or with the lining material of the nest. Of
course these theories have no foundation in fact, and
in every case the exceptions are as numerous as the
examples adduced. Any schoolboy who has gone
bird-nesting could produce abundant evidence
to refute these notions of cabinet theorists. Dr..
Darwin ascribed the colours of eggs to the objects
amongst which the mother-bird lives, acting upon
the shell through the medium of the eye. Others
have surmised that there may be some relation
between the colour of the plumage and that of the
eggs. Perhaps the plumage of our domestic fowls
varies more than that of any other birds, yet they lay
simple white or yellowish eggs, singularly unliable to
vary. Chemists have recently brought their science
to bear on the subject, and their investigations have
led, I believe, to the discovery of two new com-
pounds in the pigment of the egg of the emu, these
were detected by means of the spectroscope.
Abnormal varieties of eggs are worth recording ; and
I notice, with pleasure, that several of your readers
are acting in accord with Mr. Nunn's suggestion,
and forwarding to you reports of such variations as
they have met with. As in botany, so in this depart-
ment, what were once called monstrosities may act
as guides to the past history of the species, and some
clue may be found which will enable us to unravel
what is at present an inscrutable mystery in zoology.
In my own experience I have met with some
interesting varieties. White forms of normally
deeper-tinted or spotted eggs are by no means rare.
The robin often lays a pure white egg in a clutch of
normal ones, and in two instances I have met with
the entire clutch pure white ; the guillemot very
frequently lays eggs almost devoid of spots, but
absolutely spotless specimens, although they do
occur, are rare. Other white varieties I have met
are those of the sparrow-hawk, greenfinch, canary,
jackdaw, linnet, house-sparrow, and wren. But the
most interesting case in this direction was a clutch of
eggs of the red grouse, these were all pure white
except one, which was slightly clouded with the
faintest approach to coloration. Normally-spotted

HARDWJCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP,

■eggs frequently occur without markings, as in the
song-thrush and many others (including in one case
the rook). On the other hand, self-coloured eggs
but rarely become accidentally maculated. I have
seen eggs of the domestic fowl slightly spotted, and
one particular hen during the whole of her laying
career, produced somewhat heavily-dappled eggs,
approaching in colour to those of the turkey. Eggs
of the stonechat and whinchat seem to have dotted
and undotted eggs with almost equal frequency, so
that neither can be called decidedly the normal state.
A pair of dark chestnut-mottled eggs of the green
woodpecker were taken near Kipling, in Yorkshire,
in i8Si. These were exceedingly richly-coloured.
Variations in the ground colours of eggs are less
frequent than those of the markings. White jack-
daw eggs with black markings are frequent in
Cleveland, and are very handsome when heavily-
spotted. The partridge-egg, with the small end
green, described by Mr. Hewitt, and which I have
seen, is a very remarkable freak. The markings
themselves of eggs perhaps afford the most examples
of aberration from the normal, but of these I cannot
now treat, but will try to describe a few I- have met
with in a future note. — J. A. IVkeldon, 32, Langham
Street, Askton -under- Lyite,

Batrachomyomachia. — So far as I know,
before the days of Homer, no battle between frogs
and mice and rats has been recorded. The blind
bard gives us the origin of the famous contest he
describes ; but those which I am about to relate
appear to have been brought about in a difterent
manner. Some little time ago a friend living at
Comptom, Sussex, witnessed a singular spectacle ;
in this case toads instead of frogs had fallen victims
in an engagement. A legion of rats had assailed a
small army of toads and rent them limb from limb,
as their mutilated carcases testified. They did not
appear to have devoured many of the toads.
Perhaps, having tasted them, they did not like them.
Last week a strange combat took place at Chichester,
of which I extract the following account from the
"West Sussex Gazette": A rat and a frog were
found near the stables of Dr. Buckell, East Pallant,
having met their death in mortal duel. The rat had
seized the frog's head, and its teeth protruded
through the eye ; the frog had also taken a firm grip
of its opponent. Both declining to release their hold,
or perhaps being unable to do so : they had probably
died of starvation. This strange couple are to be
[ireserved for the Chichester Museum. What could
have caused this quarrel ? The rat was of Hanoverian
or German extraction, and the frog possibly of
French origin, which would at once account for it ;
but, as there is no evidence as to the latter, perhaps a
different reason may be assigned. Does any
correspondent know of similar battles recently ? —
J^. H. Arnold.

Mounting Shells. — I have collected shells for
some years, and have used gelatine (that sold at the
confectioners in pellets) to fasten them on card
tablets, melting it like glue in a vapour bath, but on
floating isome of the shells off I find a mark where
the gelatine has been, and am afraid it injures the
shells. Can any reader advise me on the matter ? —
Mary Priest.

Heredity. — In the great discussion now going on
as to whether any modifications acquired during the
life of the parent are transmitted to the offspring, can
any one give any information as to the size of feet
of Chinese babies, after fashion for centuries has
crushed in the feet of the mothers ? Darwin, I think.

mentions the peculiar canter of Shetland ponies as
being due to the boggy nature of the ground across
which they run wild so long. At a loan exhibition
held here, I was amazed at the small size of a pair of
Chinese women's shoes exhibited. They were more
like shoes for a six-months'-old baby in this country,
or for a doll, than for any adult. — J. Shaw.

Rat Stories. — The following stories of rats were
communicated to me by a person living at Cushen-
dall, CO. Antrim. A farmer living near the village
had a cask full of pickle for curing meat. This cask
was placed near a shelf on which was a dish where
three large crabs had been placed ; one of them was
boiled, the other two were alive. A rat prowling
for food smelt the cooked fish, and had just com-
menced his meal when one of the crabs seized him
by one of the forelegs and held such a grip that both
tumbled over into the pickle. The farmer coming
next day to get the crabs, wondered extremely what
had become of one of them, and thought it was
stolen, and after searching about discovered it and
the rat at the bottom of the cask, the crab still
holding on firmly. Both were drowned. Another
rat was observed by a farmer in the month of April,
when rats leave the rick-yards for the fields, to
be assisted on his journey by two rats, one on each
side, supporting him by a stick which the maimed
rat held in his mouth. This rat had evidently been
caught in a trap, as both his forelegs were broken.
This, I think, shows reasoning. — S. A. Brenan.

Classificatory Position of the Mollusca. —
Can anybody state, as succinctly as possible, the
precise reasons why the iNIollusca have been placed
in a higher position in the scheme of animal classi-
fication than the Annulosa ? — P. Q. K,

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

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

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

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

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

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

To OUR Recent Exchangers. — We are willing and helpful
to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow dis-
guised Exchanges like those which frequently come to us
to appear unless as advertisements.

Uva Ursi. — Write to the secretaries of the Chemical Society,
and also to the secretary of the Institute of Chemistry, for
rules of admission.

W. F. — You will find "The Journal of Microscopy and
Natural Science," published at (>d. monthly (London : Baillicre,
Tyndall & Co.), very useful. "The Microscope" (an American
Journal), may be had of Mr. W. P. Collins, 157 Great Portland
Street, London, W.

S. J. Bedac— Write to Mr. W. J. Cain, Hon. Sec. Isle of
Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society, Woodburn
Square, Douglas, for information respecting the lepidoptera of
the island.

W. D. R. — We hope to print your list of Aberdeen shells
shortly.

BARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSJP.

T. R. J.— The green variety of /^/»<or-j/rtr is seldom if ever
found in Derbyshire. It is met with in fine, large cubic
crybtnls (truncated) in and about Alston INIoor, Cumberland.
The miners there generally have a collection of it.

K. D. — Climbing plants do not nece:,sarily all turn the same
way — so as " to face the sun." Lapageria is not an exceptional
instance of plants " turning the same way as the sun," although
most climbing plants are right-handed, such as fcarlet runners
and convolvuluses ; others, like the hop, are left-handed.

O. C. — It is not uncommon to find wild snowdrops in the
state of those you sent.

E. W. S., AND OTHERS. — You can procure Veri ill's "List of
British Diptera," by addressing the author at Newmarket.

We have received No. 107 of Messrs. Wesley & Son's
"Natural History and Scientific Book Circular," Part 2,
devoted to botany. We shall esteem it a favour if our corre-
spondents will write with ink instead of lead -pencil.

J. K. NowERS.— Send the paper you mention, and we will
do our best with it.

I\I. B. Davies. — If you will forward the specimen of amber
to the publishers of Science-Gossii', we will endeavour to find
the kind of insect imbedded in it.

J. H. Ellis. — Get the "Saturday Afternoon Holiday Guide
near London," price 6d. It will give jou localities for
fossils, &c.

EXCHANGES.
Wanted, correctly-named hymenoptera and diptera. Good
return in land and freshwater shells. — J. W. Williams, 57
Corinne Road, Tufnell Park, N.

I'alvata cristata and Ancylus lacnstris wanted. Also ex-
changes v/ith those who ha\e good collections of the band
variations of H. 7iemoralis and H. hortensis. — Rev. J. W.
Horsley, Woolwich.

Offered, Xylophaga dorsalis, and pholas with siphons.
Wanted, Pecten tigrunts, Striatits testa: and septetnradiatus,
Lima cUiptica, stthauriculata and loscoinbii, Mcuiiolnrta
7iigra and jiiay-moraia, Crenella decussata, Lepton jiitidmn,
Liicina spirt/era, Isocardia cor., Axiniis /crriiginosa, Astarie
triangularis, Psamohia telliiieUa and costulata, Lyonsia
Norvegica, Panopea plicata, Bttccinum Hiimphreysiamuii,
&c. — J. Smith, Monkredding, Kilwinning.

Wanted, L. C, 8th ed. : 11, 114, 848, 855-858, 861, 862,
867, 870, 9S3, 1253 and var., 1350, 1596/', 1598^, 1604, i8o3, &c.,
in good specimens (British only). Will give in exchange 76c,
116, I47£-, i92/>, 4211^, 423, 915 fol., 539^1, 541/', 541C. 54^ 549.
572, 924, 1310, i666, 1675, &c. — A. E. Lomax, 56 Vauxhall
Road, Liverpool.

Nos. 49-63 (January, 1869, to March, 1&70), and Nos. 180-
253 (December, iSSo, to January, 1886) of Science-Gossip in
exchange for micro apparatus. Side reflector wanted. — A.
Johnston, 184 Slatefield Street, Glasgow.

Australian eocene fossils. A fine collection offered for
other fossils. — J. T. Mulder, Moorabool Hotel, Geelong,
Victoria, Australia.

Will any geologist having a knowledge of any accessible
fossiliferous geological sections near London, kindly communi-
cate with J. H. Ellis, I Pomona Place, Fulham, S.W. ?

Named and unnamed fossils (good assortment) given in
exchange for foreign stamps. Old issues required. — A. Tarver,
34 Croydon Grove, Croydon.

Wanted, Smith's " Diatoms," and Lindsay's " British
Lichens." State requirements to — J. Larder, fiercer Row,
Louth, Lines.

Wanted, British land and freshwater shells, or any fossils
from any formation not in collection, with names and wheie
found, in exchange for Pholas Candida, or pressed British
flowers. Address — R. D. Laurie, 19 Willow Bank Road,
Birkenhead.

Fifty foreign postage stamps, all different, in exchange for
eight different foreign coins. — Stampus, 24 Sidney Grove, New-
castle-on-Tyne.

Wanted, someone who would be kind enough to name a
collection of shells (gratis) if sent few at a time. Would be
welcome to duplicates. — Edward Buckell, Romsey.

Science-Gossip for 1887-89, unbound. Wanted, old collec-
tion of postage stamps for whole or portion. — D. Thomson,
81 Kyverdale Road, Stoke Newington, London.

New Zealand shells wanted to exchange for shells of other
countries, Correspondence invited. Address — G. W. Wright,
Karanaghope Road, Auckland, New Zealand.

Wanted, foreign shells and good unmounted micro material.
Exchange British shells and choice micro slides of every
description. Foreign correspondence invited. — R. Suter,
5 Highweek Road, Tottenham, London.

British reptiles and batrachians. Wanted, perfect adult
living or spirit specimens, in exchange for correctly-named
foreign species, or other objects. — G. E. M., 5 Warwick Place
West, London, S.W.

"Royal Microscopical Journal" for 1887 and 1888, 2 vols.,
bound, and four parts, February to August, 1889 ; also " The
Microscope." by H. Baker (069). What oflers?— F. C,
53 Brooke Road, Stoke Newington, N.

Davis's " Biology," Gibson's ditto, Marshall and Hurst's

" Zoology," Lloyd Morgan's ditto. Bower's " Botany," Parts r
and 2, Huxley's "Biology," &c., in exchange for good
standard works on geology, or a good labelled collection of
nn'nerals, rocks, &c., to illustrate lectures on physiography.

I ift'ers to— A. E. Salter, Royal Masonic Schools, Wood
Green, N.

Science-Gossip (unbound), 1S89 and 1890, complete, 8 num-
bers for 1880, and lo odd numbers, for exchange. Wanted,
tran'-parent moUuscan micro-slides, or ofl'ers. — J. B. Beckett,

II Lancaster Road, Great Yarmouth.

Offered, PJiolas Candida (perfect living shells). Wanted,,
the rarer species of British land and freshwater shells, also
good marine species. — P. R. Shaw, 48 Bidston Road, Oxton,.
Birkenhead.

" Ibis," bound half-calf, for 1881, "Supernatural in Nature"
(Reynolds), perfectly clean and good as new, in exchange for
eggs, or natural history works especially relating to Derby-
shire. — Miskin, Steam Brewery, Bedford.

Spirilla Peronii, Waldheimia jJai'escens, Trigonia La-
ina7-ckii, lanthina ejcigiia, and other good shells. Wanted,
good foreign or British land and freshwater shells. — Robert
Cairns, 159 Queen Street, Hurst, Ashton-under-Lyne.

"Vegetable Substances," 3 vols. "Lib. Ent. Knowledge,"
in exchange for text-book on Practical Botany. Also wanted
modern work on marine algae. J. F. Neeve, 68 High Street,.
Deal.

Offered, Cypma helvola, C. anmdns, C. lynx, Oliva
isfridiila, O. freniulina, O. reticularis. Wanted, Nassa
iniDiersa, N. gemniidata, N. papulosa. — W. Jones, jun.,
27 Mayton Street, Holloway, London, N.

" Popular Science Review," 1887 and i883,in i vol., "Geo-
logical Survey, Canada, Report for 1853-1856," i vol. Offers
wanted. — J. A. Floyd, 5 Hospital Road, Bury St. Edmunds.

Foreign stamps wanted. Will give British shells in return.
— T. E. Sclater, Bank Street, Teit;nniouth.

Offered, birds' and animals' skins, birds' eggs, shells,
photographic camera and apparatus, &c., in exchange for
foreign stamps. — H. Knights, Beaconsfield Road, Great Yar-
mouth.

Lima hians, L. Loscombii, L. Sarsii, L. clliptica, Modio-
laria costulata, Crenella 7-hombca, Area obliqna, Axinus
crouliticnsis, Ainpidesiiia casta7ieuj7i, Tellina balaustina,
Panopea plicata. Teredo Norvegica, T. pedicillata, Trochus
amabilis, T. Dumingii, T. occidentalis, Rissoa Jeff>-eysii,
Jeffreysia diaphana, Cerithiofisis tncta.xa, Kidinia steno-
stoma, Odostomia decnssata, O. conspicua, and Styli/erttirtom
wanted. Other rare British shells given in exchange. —
A. J. R. Sclater, 23 Bank Street, Teignmouth, South Devon.

Photographic sets. One i-plate set, one slide, lens and
tripod complete ; a i-plate set by Lancaster, two double slides,
&c. , all complete, in real good order. I will exchange for
appliances or books on microscopy, biology, brewing, &c. —
Apply — Horton, Brayford, Lincoln.

BOOKS. ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE.

"An Introduction to the Study of Botany," by Dr. E.
Avellng (London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co.). — "Mineral'
Resources of the United States," vol. for 1888. — "Monograph
of the U. S. Geol. Survey — Lake Bonneville," by G. K.
Gilbert. — " Ninth Annual Report of the U. S. Survey for 1887-
88."—" Bulleiins of the U. S. Geol. Survey," Nos. 5S-60 (all
published at Government Printing Office, Washington). — "A
Class Book on Light," by R. E. Steel (London : Methuen &
Co.). — "The Foundations of Chemistry," by E. T. Dixon
(London: Geo. Bell & Sons). — "Insect Life," vol. iii. No. 5,
by C. V. Riley and L. O. Howard (Washington: Government
Printing Office). — "Report of Wellington College Nat. Science
Societv, 1890." — "Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society,"
February. — "Nature Notes." — "British Cage Birds," Part 11.
— "Le Diatomiste," No. 4. — "Journal and Proceedings Royal
Society of New South Wales."— "The Medical Annual, 1891."
— "American Microscopical Journal."— " The Microscope." —
"American Naturalist." — " Canadian Entomologist." — " The
Naturalist." — "The Botanical Gazette." — "The Gentleman's
Magazine."— "The Midland Naturalist."— " The Garner."—
"Feuille des Jeunes Naturalistes," &c., &c.

Communications received up to the 13TH ult. from:
J. w. S.— W. J. S.— H. A. M.— T. A. L.— M. P.— H. E. G.
-S. A. B.-W. E. C.-J. E. W.-C. O.— W. J. B.— A. J. J.—
H. H. M.— C. B. M.— F. L.— E. B.-J. S.— C. P. G.—
J. W. W.— H. W. B.— W. D. R.— O. H.— M. W.— W. H.—
A. J.— E. B.— J. S.— F. W. F.— W. F.— J. B. B.— P. R. S.—
R. C— J. T. N.— W. J.— J. A. F.— H. K.— S. T. B.— T. S.—
G. E. S.— J. W. B.— A. G. T.— V. A. L.-G. A. H.—
A. J. R. S.— J. A.— W. A. G.— F. C— G. E. M.— R. S.—

D. T.— J. W. W.— G. W. W.— A. E. S.— O. C— G. W. N.—

E. A. M.— R. D. L.— R. H. J.— R. T.— A. E. L.— J. S —
J. T. M.— W. A. G.-J. L.— J. W. S.— A. T.— A. J.-J. A. E.
— W. A. T.-Dr. P. Q. K.— J. E. L.— W. E. C— T. S.—
J. W. H.— J. E. N.— M. B. D.— A. A.— H. P. G.— &c., &c.

(

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

A MARSH GARDEN.

OW that the happy
time for all bo-
tanists is coming
on, I think it may-
interest those who
have like myself a
special love for
bog-plants, to hear
of a successful ex-
periment made by
me for two suc-
cessive seasons.

I set up a minia-
ture marsh thus :
I took off with a
trowel, so as not
to disturb the
roots, some
patches of the bog
surface, containing
plants of the pin-
guicula, others with clusters of different sorts of
drosera, patches with masses of the tiny bog cam-
panula, also some young plants of the bog asphodel.
I packed my patches of bog tightly in a shallow seed-
pan and added to them Parnassia palicst7-is sent to me
from Scotland and filling up all the interstices with
growing bits of moss. I then placed my pan in one
sufficiently large to allow of two Inches between the
inner and outer pans on all sides. The holes of the
outer pan were carefully -plugged and filled with water
which oozed naturally up through the holes in the
bottom of the inside pan, and placed the whole upon
a sunny window-sill. The water drawn up by the
sun kept the contents not only soft and wet, but kept
a warm soft atmosphere about the plants, such as
they had in their native habitat. If any of your
readers ever put their face down close to a bog to
look closely at its exquisite vegetation on a warm
sunny day, they will understand the soft warm breath
the plants rejoice in.

The little marsh garden succeeded beyond my most

sanguine expectation, the plants never felt they had

been taken from their native land, but grew apace

and blossomed well, the pinguiculas threw up

No. 317.— May 1891.

their lovely purple-headed stems, the sundews sent
up numberless bunches of their little white flowers,
the campanulas were plentiful, and the Scotch par-
nassus flourished and blossomed as well as if it was
on its own mountains.

To my great delight I had several unexpected
ornaments to my marsh garden. A crop of pink
pimpernel made its appearance, and grew with such
speed and luxuriance that they had to be removed to
a flower-pot saucer, where they hung over the edge
after a very short time in beautiful pink wreaths.
Next, a small marsh hypericum came to light and
embellished my marsh with its small trails of yellow
flowers and red buds. Then a small green flower
surprised me one morning by making its appearance
in the centre of a patch of spear-shaped leaves that I
had supposed to be some sort of grass, a small deep
cup-shaped blossom, its corolla five-cleft with a
stamen in the curved centre of each division, and a
shinmg moist spot in the heart of the cup instead of
a pistil. The number of small mosses was most
interesting, some of them of exquisite beauty ; they
came and went in a constant succession during the
early spring^March and April — but there was always
some curious plant or other quite unknown to me
during the whole summer.

After a few months the water between the pans
became the home of numerous small water insects,,
and two sorts of water snails made their appearance.
For their benefit and shelter I put a plant of water-
cress in one corner of the water, which speedily threw
out roots and flourished, making a shelter for the
insects.

I kept the outer pan filled to about an inch under
the rim of the inner one, in hot weather it evaporated
very quickly, and I was careful to keep the water
even with the mark.

If any of your readers think of setting up a marsh
for themselves I am sure they will find it a source of
endless interest and pleasure.

Note. — The campanula mentioned above I was
unable to identify ; it was like C, hederacca, but
smaller, and the blossoms upright instead of
drooping.

I. G.

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

THE STRUCTURE OF INSECTS IN RE-
LATION TO THE ORIGIN OF VERTE-
BRATES.

PROFESSOR B. T. LOWNE, F.R.C.S.,
recently delivered at the Royal College of
Surgeons three lectures on thel Structure and
Development of the Skeleton of the Head, the
Nervous System, and Sensory Organs of Insects in
relation to Recent Views on the Origin of Vertebrates,
giving the results of work in which he has been
engaged for at least fifteen or twenty years. 'His
views are that the vertebrate and the arthropod
stand in a genetic connection with each other. He
said : "If we seek for links uniting these two great
sub-kingdoms, we must look for them amongst the
most generalised groups in each : in the vertebrata
amongst the amphibia, and especially the perenni-
branchiate forms ; in the arthropods, and in the king-
crab "Limulus," which hold a zoological position
between the arachnids and the Crustacea." The
lecturer compared the embryos of the axolotl, as
figured by Professor Parker with arthropod embryos,
and showed many points of similarity. He then
/adverted to the fact that both Drs. Gaskell and
Patten had independently arrived at the conclu-
sion that the king crab stands in a genetic relation
to the vertebrata.

The existence of a notocliord in the chordata has
been looked upon as of jDrimary import in the
question of the descent of vertebrates from an in-
vertebrate type. Adopting, however, Gaskell's
views, and holding that the central canal of the
.spinal cord represents the arthropod alimentary canal,
the lecturer showed at some length that the procto-
deum of the insect embryo corresponds with the
mesenteron of the vertebrata ; and he held that a
notochord should rather be regarded as a secondary
character, resulting from an invagination of the
epiblast, than as a structure of a high morphological
significance ; and he showed that a rod of cartilage,
similar to a notochord, is actually developed on the
dorsal surface of the invaginated head capsule of the
b.lowfly larva, whilst those structures in invertebrates
which have been supposed to represent a notochord
■ have a similar origin. He pointed out that the
structure which supported the nerve centres in
Limulus, is composed of cartilage very like the
cartilage of the vertebrata, and it could only, with
great difficulty, be distinguished from it. Professor
Ray iLankester was the first who made out this
peculiar form of cartilage, which he said was developed
from the mesoblast ; while the lecturer, judging from
the relation the structure bears to the same parts in
insects, believed it to be an epiblastic structure.
This led him to accept the view put forward by Dr.
Patten in America and by Dr. Gaskell in this country,
that the ventral surface of the anterior somites of the
arthropods represents the basis cranii of the verte-

brata. The relationship between the nervous
system in the vertebrates and the arthropods led him
to adopt Dr. Gaskell's hypothesis, inasmuch as it
harmonised many things which had formerly
puzzled biologists. For many years it had never
occurred to him to compare any parts of the arthro-
pods with the functional corresponding parts in the
vertebrata. As soon as Dr. Gaskell showed that
there 'were strong reasons for believing that the
central canal of the spinal cord corresponds with the
primary intestinal canal, the difficulty considerably
diminished, and many parts of the insect were found
to correspond so closely to parts of the vertebrate,
that it was no longer possible to ignore the corres-
pondences between the structures, both in develop-
ment and in relation to their anatomical parts.
Having given a description of the insect brain,
Professor Lowne referred to the idea that the
antennae of insects were homologues of the ventral
appendages. The evidence against that idea was
becoming stronger and stronger every day. They
were not lateral appendages, in the usual sense — a
fact long since recognised by Professor Balfour, — but
olfactory organs, corresponding point by point, more
especially in relation to the nerve ganglia, to the
olfactory organs of the vertebrata. Neither did the
eyes of the insect represent ventral appendages ; they
bore no relation whatever to them.

The lecturer entered at great length into the
details of the structure and development of the
arthropod brain, and showed that it possesses many
points of similarity with the cephalic nerve centres of
vertebrates ; that it is developed from three vesicles ;
and that median pineal eyes are developed in the
wall of the middle vesicle. That there is actually a
third ventricle from which the nerve of the median
eyes, ocelli, arises.

The lecturer finally dealt with the development of
the eye. The sensory organs of arthropods were
usually developed by the process of invagination of
the epiblast, just in the same way as the sense
capsules of vertebrates were developed. The eyes
first appeared as a single layer of cells in a kind of
cup-shaped cavity, divided into at least two layers ;
from the surface layer a series of lenses was developed
about 4000 to 6000 in number, instead of one great
lens. In some insects there were as many as 24,000
to 30,000 separate lenses. These form the compound
cornea. The lenses were very remarkable in their
structure, and appeared to consist of a stroma very
much like the stroma of the red blood-corpuscle of a
vertebrate, and a substance which has a very highly
refractive power, and which is fluid and soluble in
ether. This substance gradually passes out through
the stroma after the insect dies, and impregnates the
other tissues, but in a living insect the cornea has the
same kind of brilliancy as in the Vertebrate ; but as
soon as the insect dies the brilliancy rapidly fades,
and in a quarter of an hour it has become quite dull.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

The stroma consists of proteid substances, but as
development progresses the albuminous material
gives place to this highly refractive, probably oily
material, and then the lenticular portion of the
cornea becomes reticular after having been treated
with such'reagents as will dissolve out this interfibrillar
substance. About twelve years ago, when examining
the lateral portions of the compound eye of the
lobster, he continually found thickenings beneath the
rod-like bodies which united the corneal portion of
the eye with the nerve centres beneath, and he became
convinced that no nerve structure passed through this
membrane, and then it struck him that, in trying to
make out that this structure was retinal, he was doing
very much the same thing as examining the minute
structure of the crystalline lens of the vertebrata, and
coming to the conclusion that the rod-like fibres of
that lens were in themselves not merely a portion
of the refractive structure, but were actually the
terminals of the optic nerve. He regards the whole
of the structure developed from the superficial epi-
blast as a refracting organ, and with that view he had
termed it the dioptron, or the refractive portion of the
compound eye. In some insects which do not
undergo metamorphosis the great compound eye is at
first small, and consists only of a few facets, but a
new portion of the eye is developed at each shedding
of the integument. The nerve also gradually passes
to the surface, encircles the old nerve, and forms a
new retina. This goes on until at the last the optic
nerve is found very much spread out. During the
last shedding of the skin the whole of the retina
undergoes degeneration, and a new one] [takes its
place ; so that new sets of facets are developed at
each skin shedding, and a new retina is developed
from the nerve centres beneath the dioptron.

In expounding the various theories of insect vision,
the lecturer explained that Midler's theory of
" mosaic vision " was not in itself tenable, because,
in the first place, the images produced would be
blurred, and surfaces of eight or ten inches square,
would only be visible as points at very moderate
distances — say, ten or twenty feet. The theory
which the lecturer propounded was that an inverted
sub-corneal image was formed beneath each corneal
facet, and the great rods of the dioptron produced a
magnified erect image of that portion of the sub-
corneal image which lies in the axis of each. The
integration of these images produces the retinal image
upon what he had described as the "neuron." This
image had actually been demonstrated by Sigismund
Exner of Vienna, who first showed it at the Cologne
Congress of Naturalists. The "mosaic view," or
MiiUer's theory announced about 1826, assumed that
the tubes of the dioptron only permitted axial light to
pass through them ; so that each tube of the dioptron
produces one distinct stimulation of the nerve, and
there could only be as many separate sensations of
light as there are tubes to the dioptron, a supposition

which is quite incapable of explaining vision in an
insect which has perhaps only fifteen or twenty
lenticles of the eye, some only having five or six,
although others have as many as 24,000 to 30,000.
Even in those which have the largest number, the
acuity of vision is not sufficiently explained by
Midler's theory.

OUR LANE.

[Continued /rotn J>. 88.]

THE upper reaches of our lane are much fre-
quented by that lovely and docile bird the
goldfinch {Cardiielis elcgans), for here the thistle-
heads afford him many a dainty meal ; his head-
quarters are, however, in my garden hedge, where,
secure from harm, he builds, and delights us with
his soft and cheerful strain. As sweet, though
less varied, is the song of the beautiful plumaged
chaffinch [Fringilla ccekbs), he, too, is a frequenter
of our lane, and throughout the early spring and
summer months pours out the gladness of his little
heart from daybreak till night casts her dark mantle
on all around. Nor must I forget my sober-coated
protege — most innocent of all the feathered tribe —
the hedge-warbler [Accentor 7nodularis). Use him
very gently, dear reader, he is a most lovable
bird ; soft and low, his plaintive song correctly in-
dicates his innocent nature. Drop for him the tiny
crumb. I love his presence, and glad am I to think
he is influenced by no migratory impulse. Need
it be said that that harmless bird whose trustful
nature leads him to seek man's companionship — his
little, bright- eyed friend, sweet robin red-breast
{Erythaca rubecida) attends us in our garden-strolls,
and claims his daily share of crumbs ; carolling his
bright song by way of thanks. To him, as it is to
others, our garden is a sanctuary, and well he seems
to love it. The yellow-ammer [Emberiza citrinelld)^
too, he loves the hedges and pastures of our lane ;
but he, too, in our garden hedges and ivy builds, nor
do his oft-repeated notes pall on my ear. His
favourite perch is the vane of a weather-cock upon
the top of my summer-house, from whence, hour
after hour, he trills his little varied song ; this, too,
when the songs of other birds have long been hushed.
I always welcome the advent of that tiny bird the
chiff-chaff {Sylvia hippolais), together with that of the
whitethroat {Ctirnica cifterea). Not much have they
to boast of in the way of song, but their sweet
accompaniment to the richer melodies of other
feathered choristers make up the sum of a glorious
concert ; whilst high above the much-besoiled earth,
the skylark {Alauda arvensis) and the woodlark (A.
arborea) pour out at "Heaven's gate" their joyous
hymns of praise.

Adjoining my garden is an arable field, and beyond,
and yet beyond are others, and here the former loves

F 2

lOO

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP,

to nest, and through the live-long day eings in the
cloudless, or sparselj'- clouded sky. Well hath a writer
designated song the joy of birds — a happy definition,
for surely 'tis the expression of their happiness.

But linger I must not o'er a subject so fraught with
pleasant associations, and scarcely dare I venture to
enumerate birds so common in our lane, and skirting
fields and orchards as the linnet {Linota caitnabina),
wren ( Troglodytes Eiiropmcs), willow-wren {Sylvia tro-
chilus), pied wag-tail {Motacilla YarrelUi), greenfinch
{Coccotkraustes chloris), bullfinch [Fyrrhulavulgaris)^
spotted fly-catcher {Muscicapa grisola), redstart
(Phanicura ruticilld), grasshopper warbler (Salicaria
locustella), and such well-known birds as the siskin,
wood-pigeon, ringdove, starling, meadow pipit,

very numerous — a pair of the former nest in the ivy-
clothed branches of a sycamore in my orchard-hedge,
hard by the house.

A host of rarer visitants must needs be unmentioned.
Enough has been told to inform the naturalist that
the avifauna of our lane is not a limited one. Nor
is animal life restricted to two-footed things. The
nimble rabbit, scared by my footstep may oft be seen
scampering up the lane — the agile squirrel ventures to
leave his woods in search of hazel-nuts— and the
freshly-raised hillocks of loam in the pastures, plainly
indicate the presence of a silent worker — the sleek-
coated mole {Talpce Europcsus'). Those much
persecuted creatures, the hedgehogs, abound in the
meadows ; and into our orchard, the past summer, I

Fig. 71. — The Jay [Gamilus glandarius).

cuckoo, the ubiquitous sparrow, swallow, martin, and
swift. Those restless and beautiful-plumaged birds
the greater and the blue titmice swarm in my garden,
and put my friendship to a severe test when my peas
and pears are in season ; whilst the cole titmouse
{Parus ater) ever finds a welcome. Not seldom the
screech-owl pours out his doleful plaint from trees
hard by,* and the jay (Garrulus glaiidarius) visits
my windows to gather the berries of the cotoneaster.
The nuthatch {Sitta Eiiropica), too, is one of our most
familiar birds, and his frequent tap, tap, tap, assures
us of his presence even when his cry of " chu-whit"
cannot be heard. Magpies, rooks and hawks are

* Her nest is in a yew tree some few yards from the bottom
of my garden.

have good reason to believe, ventured a badger, or
badgers, courageous enough to face an armed host of
wasps ; excavating large cavities, and tearing to
fragments the nests — presumably to devour the grubs.
No smaller animal could have excavated so large a
quantity of earth in a single night. I have not,
however, seen one, but learn that a sporting friend
has several skins of these animals, all of which he has
shot in this neighbourhood. The long-tailed field-
mouse {Mus Sylvaticns), the short-tailed field-mouse
[Arvicola ai-vensis), and shrews are wonderfully
numerous — and that tiniest of four-footed creatures
the elegant harvest mouse {Aficromys tniniitus), is
common in the fields adjoining my garden. A mere
atom of four-footed animality is it, and a stranger to
fear, for on the several occasions that I have come

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

lOI

across them they have made no effort to escape from
my open hand — even when placed upon the earth
have made no haste to seek cover. The pretty
dormouse {Muscardinus avellanarhis) finds many a
snug retreat in the woods hereabout, and of course

Fig. 72. — Nuthatch [Sitta Europi^a),

the domestic mouse (j1/«j- muscules) abounds. Our
lane, too, can boast of more than its complement of
toads, frogs, and slow-worms, and not long since we
found a large adder that had been recently killed on
the sunny open at the top of the lane * — whilst the
grass-snake is common.

(To be continued.)

THE VOICES OF ANIMALS.

IITR. J. G. HODGSON, President of the Man-
-^"-L Chester Elocutionists' Society, recently gave
an address on the above interesting subject. In the
mammalia the general structure of the larynx was
like that of man ; the power and character of the
sound depending on the different degrees of develop-
ment of the vocal cords, and the peculiarity of
structure of the vocal organs. All animals had
their characteristic voices and calls, in more or less
distinct intervals and varied degrees of compass.
The timbre or quality of voice was remarkably
distinct in the different classes of animals, so that a
mistake could not well be made. It also varied in

• These snakes are particularly abundant in certain un-
frequented spots.

those of the same class ; the lamb could disting-uish
the call of its dam by the timbre of her bleat from
that of the rest of the flock. Here the president
showed the larynx of a sheep which he had dissected
the day before. He explained the cartilage?, epi-
glottis, and vocal cords, and noted
that in this instance these cords did
not meet the whole of their length,
for there was an elliptical orifice in
the centre. Lions and tigers with
their magnitude of chest made a
roar that filled the human ear with
a sense of horror, as no doubt it did
the ear of their prey. The depth of
voice gave to the mind the idea of
an enormous being which made
children try to frighten each other
with imitating the sound. The
horse neighed in a descent on the
chromatic scale without even omit-
ting a semitone. It was one of the
most musically-voiced of mammals ;

and the imitation was very difficult.

The ass brayed in a perfect octave,
beginning with a modest whistle,
and, as the poet said, "sings in
sonorous octaves loud and clear."
Haydn had copied one of its ejacu-
lations in his seventy-sixth quartette
i._~*^==- with great success. The bark of a

dog was an instance of an acquired
voice by domestication, much in the
same way as the trotting of the horse
was an acquired movement. In a state of nature the
dog whined, howled, or growled. Columbus found
that the dogs he had previously carried to America
had lost their bark. As with many animals, the dog
was capable of showing difference of feeling — the
shepherd's dog gave the sound of command to the
flock, while a horse knew from the bark whether the
dog would bite his heels or not. Humboldt said the
howling or preacher monkey of South America coidd
be heard two miles, which was due to certain pouches
connected with the larynx and to a drum-like develop-
ment of thehyoid bone. An ape, one of the Gibbons,
produced an exact octave of musical sounds, ascend-
ing and descending the scale by half-tones, so that
perhaps it alone of brute animals might be said to
sing. In the elephant house at Belle Vue Gardens
there were several small monkeys with pleasing sing-
ing voices. It seemed a pity that the meek-looking
and beautifully marked giraffe, that reached in one
case that he had seen a height of 17J feet, should
be voiceless, yet it and the armadillo had no vocal
cords. The chirp of the long-eared bat was said
to be the most acute sound produced by any animal.
Only fiive out of six people could hear it. In reptiles
the larynx was in a rudimentary condition, and the
vocal organs showed considerable divergence. The

132

MARDWICKKS SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

crocodiles and caymen made a feeble roaring sound.
One kind of frog had a sound bag at each side of its
mouth that acted as a resonance chamber. This
must have been the case with an African frog he had
heard at the distance of about loo yards. It
made a noise like a loud barking. The tortoise
gave a mere snuffling sound. Snakes had no vocal
cords ; they only produced a hissing sound by driving
air through the narrow opening of the glottis. Most
fishes were mute, yet it was said the mackerel was
an exception, for when taken out of the water it
made a moaning sound, caused by the friction of the
bones of the larynx. Insects, such as crickets, grass-
hoppers, and bees, were considered by the French
naturalist, Goureau, to be more musicians than
singers. Most of their sounds were caused by the
friction of their wings together, or their legs against
their bodies, or by the rapid vibrations of their wings
in flying ; and in bees and wasps the sound might be
increased by the air passing rapidly through the
thoracic air holes. Dr. Carpenter said that "in
Brazil there was a grasshopper that could be heard at
the distance of half a mile, which was as if a man
with a big voice could be heard all over the world."

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS.

yiN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
./^ OF BOTANY, by E. Aveling (London :
Swan Sonneschein & Co.). Although students of
plants need not fear for lack of good manuals, there
was some room for such a work as Dr. Aveling has
produced. It is laid on new and original lines of
treatment, and is a capital introduction to the
study both of plants and plant-life. Dr. Aveling
here proves himself a thorough teacher — a role which
requires something more than mere technical
knowledge, however full and thorough. His style
and manner of treatment of his subject are as simple
as it is possible to be. The illustrations are
numerous, and mostly original. We cordially
recommend Dr. Aveling's manual to all those who
are anxious to familiarise themselves with the
fascinating science of Botany.

Botany, A concise Manual for Students of Medicine
and Science, by Alex. Johnstone (Edinburgh and
London : Young I. Pentland). This is another new
work on the same subject, treated, however, in a
somewhat different manner — that is, in the shape of
concise notes and summaries of the chief subjects of
botanical science. Mr. Johnstone's book is a kind
of "illustrated digest," and is therefore very useful
for reference or memoriter suggestions. It contains
one hundred and sixty-four illustrations, besides a
numerous series of floral designs. Students will find
Mr. Johnstone's little work of great use to them.

The Medical Annual, 1891 (Bristol : John Wright).
The present is the ninth issue of this increasingly
useful book. It includes among its contributors the

best medical writers of the day. The articles deal
with the latest discoveries and subjects relating to
every department of surgery and medical science.
This year's Annual contains thirty-six original papers,
on as many subjects, by various authors. There is
also a medical, hospital, and asylum directory, and a
large miscellany of information useful to medical men.
The Fishes of North America (New York : Wester-
mann & Co.). We have received the first part of
this work, dealing only with fishes " caught on hook
and line." The two full-sized coloured plates are
fine examples of oleographic art. The wood
engravings, letterpress, and paper are superior, and
altogether this work (which is to consist of forty
parts) will be about the finest yet published on the
subject. The two coloured plates represent the red-
spotted Mascalonge {Lucius masquinongy), and the
Rocky Mountain Trout (Salmo my kiss). We will
duly apprise our readers of the further issues of the
parts of this magnificent work.

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF
BRITISH DIPTERA.

By E. Brunetti.

[Continued Jrom p. 55.]
BRACHYCERA.

THE Brachycera are more stoutly built than the
Nemocera ; the legs are shorter and thicker ;
the antennse apparently of only three joints, never
flexible (except in Xylophagidce) ; the veins in the
wing are less numerous and more reducible than
those in the Nematocera to a type form ; the alula are
large ; the palpi one or two jointed ; the anal cell in
wing closed.

The larvae are aquatic or terrestrial, some feeding
on animal matter, some on vegetable, principally
when either is in a decaying state ; a few species are
parasitic. The flies inhabit almost every nature of
habitat, and live on the juices of animals or plants.

Mr. Pasco (1880) recognises the Tabanidce as the
most highly developed family, in having nearly all the
parts of a mandibulate mouth, placing the (Estrida:,
in which that organ is more or less obsolete, as the
lowest.

Macquart's Brachycera (agreeing with mine) is
divided into three divisions (on the number of
pieces composing the haustellum), named respectively
HexachixtcE ( Tabanidce only — the haustellum composed
of six pieces) ; TetrachcEtce (the majority of the
remaining families — haustellum of four pieces) ; and
Dichceta: {Louchopteridic to Fhoridce, and the
.Sj'r//^/^/^^— haustellum of two pieces).

In the short analytical tables of genera under each
family, it is of course understood that only the
principal ones are given.

I. Third antennal joint ringed, style or bristle, when
present, always terminal ; third longitudinal vein
always forked.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

103

9.9.

10.

10.10.

8.8.

II.

II. II

7-7

12.12

14.14

13-13

IS-

2. Costal vein diminishing and not attaining tip of wing ;

scutellum generally spined : Stratioinyidie.

2.2. Costal vein extended round tip of wing in nearly

uniform width ; scutellum rarely spined.

3. Alula; large and distinct : Tabanidie.

3.3. Alulae very small : XylophagidiE.

I.I. Third antennal joint unringed ; style or bristle, when
present, dorsal or terminal ; third longitudinal vein
forked or simple.

4. Antennal style or bristle absent, or, when present,

always terminal.

5. Alulae very large: Cyrtidis.

5.5. Alidae moderately large or small.

6. Front and crown deeply indented ; eyes very prominent :

Asilidce.

6.6. Front and crown smooth, often elevated; eyes not

prominent.

7. Third longitudinal vein forked.

8. From the discoidal cell, or from this and the posterior

basal cell together, at most three veins emerge and
reach the border ; therefore, never more than four
posterior cells present.

9. Third antennal joint without style or bristle: Scenopi-

nida.
Third antennal joint with a style or bristle.
Anal cell always attaining the border, and there, either

open or closed : BoinbyliJiF.
Anal cell never attaining the border, generally short

and closed : Kmpidix (part).
From the discoidal cell, or from this and the posterior

basal cell together, at least four veins emerge and

reach the border ; therefore, at least five posterior

cells present.
Three onychia to tarsus : third antennal joint with

terminal bristle : Leptidte.
Two onychia only ; third antennal joint with terminal

style : Tkerevidce.
Third longitudinal vein simple.
Wings lanceolate : Lonchoptcridie.
Wings always rounded at the tip.
Anal lobe of wing distinct.
Antennae with terminal bristle : Plaiypezida.
Antennae with terminal style {Conopina) : Conopida

(part).
Anal lobe of wing rudimentary or absent.
Anterior basal cell short ; posterior united with discoidal

cell : Dolichopidie (part).

15.15. Anicrior basal cell long, reaching middle of wing;

posterior separated from discoidal by a transverse
vein : EmpidiX (part).

4.4. Antennal style or bristle always present and always

terminal.

16. Anal cell long.

17. Proboscis horny, long, simple, or geniculated [My opines) :

Conopidiz (part).

17.17. Proboscis soft.

18. A spurious vein generally present, running along the

third longitudinal vein ; eyes moderately large :
Syrphidce.

18.18. Spurious vein absent ; eyes very large : Pipuncrtlida,

16.16. Anal cell short.

19. Posterior basal cell united to the discoidal : Dolichopidiz

(part). ,

19.19. Posterior basal cell separated from discoidal by a trans-

verse vein.

20. Proboscis and palpi always distinctly present : MuscidcE.

20.20. Proboscis rudimentary; palpi rudimentary or absent:

CEstridcs.

12. StratiomyidiE.

In the "Ent. Month. Mag." for April, 1889, I
gave a list of the British species of this family, with
analytical tables of genera and species.

The venation of all the twelve genera is very
similar, and easily recognised.

The flies chiefly inhabit damp grass, marshes,
aquatic plants, and more or less humid localities, the
larvse feeding on rotten fungi and decaying vegetable
matter.

The life-histories of some of the commoner species
have been fully vrorked out.

There are five sub-famihes, divided as follows : —

Abdomen of five or six segments ; scutellum two-spined or bare.
Discoidal cell emitting three veins : P achy gastrins.

Discoidal cell (or together with posterior basal cell) emit-
ting four veins.

Species never metallic in colour ; always black or

green, with yellow spots or bands.
Scutellum spined (except Netnotelus],

Antennal style thin, long : Clitellarince.
Antennal style short, blunted: Stratioinyincc.
Species always metallic ; Scutellum unspined : i>argi>uF.
Abdomen of seven segments or more ; scutellum two, four, or
six-spined : Berina\

The Clitellarince are represented by Ephippiiiin,
Latr., and Oxyccra, Mg. ; the Stratromyina by
Slratio?nyia, Geoff., Odotttomyia, Mg., and Nemoteliis,
Geoff.

PachygastrincB. — Pachygaster, Mg., three species;
none very common, P. ater, Pz., is easily identified
by the blackish basal half of the wing, whilst in P.
Leackii, Curt., it is nearly all whitish ; long 3 mm.

ClitellarincT. — Ephippitim thoraciciim, Latr., is a
large black fly, with long brownish-black wings,
thick red pubescence on the dorsum, and a strong
large spine on each side of the thorax ; very rare ;
Coombe Wood. It is supposed to take two years to
reach maturity ; long 12 mm.

Oxycera, Mg., is a genus of rather small black flies,
with bright yellow spots and bands at the sides and
tip of the abdomen, the first segment of which is
much contracted.

They occur in the height of summer in long grass,
and are most frequently met with in Dorsetshire ;
long 3-5 mm,

Slratiomyina:. — Large flat-bodied flies, bred in
stagnant water, and usually found in its proximity.
Abdomen black, marked with large yellow side spots
{Stratiomyia, Geoff.), or yellowish, with an angular
dorsal stripe {Odontomyia, Mg.) ; S. furcata, F. (long
11-13 mm.), and O. viridula, F. (long 6-8 mm.),
being the most common species.

Sarginic. — Brilliant metallic-coloured flies, tolerably
common. S. cupraritis, L., is blackish, thorax and
abdomen metallic blue or green, or exhibiting both
colours ; wings with a brown suffusion below the
stigma ; legs thin, black ; long 7-9 mm.

Microchrysa polita, L., is a small bright metallic-
green fly, with clear wings and black legs ; common ;
often occurring in London ; long 4 mm.

Berime. — Per is, Mg. They are smaller than
Odoniotnyia ; in two species the abdomen is reddish
yellow, in the other three, blue-black ; occurs chiefly
in woods.

13. XylophagidcB.

Two genera are British (five species), all very rare.
Their flight is sluggish ; the larva are wood feeders,
and if more frequently searched for, the species
might possibly be bred. Zetterstedt bred more than
one species, I believe, in Scandinavia.

The antennas are attenuated, and somewhat
approach those of the Nemocera in appearance,
Walker thinking the group a link between the two
great divisions Nemocera and Brachycera.

Antennae ten-jointed : Xylophagus, INIg.
Antennae twelve-jointed : Xylemyia, Rond.

104

HARDWl CKE ' S S CIENCE- G OSS IP.

Xylophagus afer, F., is illustrated in Walker's
"Diptera,"i. PI. i., Fig. lo.

14. TabanidiV.

These flies are the largest British diptera, about
twenty species being indigenous ; popularly known as
gad-flies. The old Roman and Greek writers allude
to flies which were evidently species of this group.

The 9 attack cattle, and alighting on the back
of the animal, draw blood by means of the long,
powerful proboscis. The male is comparatively
harmless, and feeds on the juices of flowers. They
pair in the air, and frequent woods and pastures,
their abundance often making certain roads im-
passable, as some species readily attack man. The
Rev. J. G. Wood recommends smearing the face,

Fig- Ti-—Siratiomyia, Geoff.

Fig. T^.—Dioctria, Mg.

Fig. •js.—Thereva, Latr.

neck, and hands with parafiin as a preventive against
their attacks.

Their flight is very rapid, with a loud hum, and
they occur most abundantly in the New Forest.

Two sub-families are recognised, the venation
being the same in both.

No ocelli ; posterior tibiae unarmed ( Taianinar).
Antennae seven-jointed.

Eyes bare : Tabanuj, L.
Eyes pubescent.

Ocellar tubercle on vertex : TheriopUctes, Zell.
No ocellar tubercle : Atylotus, Os. Sac.
Antennae six-jointed : Hccmatopota, Mg.
Ocelli present, three [Pangonince) .
Posterior tibiae with small spine at the tip : Chrysops, Mg.

Tabatiince. — Hamatopota pluvialis, L., is a greyish-
black fly marked with lighter bands ; the wings are
mottled grey, with light curved lines and circles ;
long 8 mm. ; often very troublesome to pedestrians.

Tabanns suddicus, Zell. This species, the largest
British fly, is usually mistaken for T. bovinus, L. (a
much less common species in Britain). It is of a
tawny brown colour, the abdomen being marked

with darker bands ; the wings are pale grey with
tawny veins ; legs tawny with black tarsi tips ; long
20 mm.

T. bromius, L., a smaller species of a grey colour,
with pale grey wings and blackish-grey legs, is also
common ; long 13 mm.

PangonincE. — Chrysops, Mg., is a black and yellow
fly, with light wings, marked deeply with brown in
the cf, those of the q being almost entirely brown;
the sexes also diff'ering in the form of the abdominal
markings ; long 9 mm. ; chiefly from the south coast.
Brauer in 1880 published a splendid monograph of
the European species of Tabanus, his chief specific
characteristics being the number, size, and direction
of the bands on the eyes (coloured during life), the
shape of the antennse, and general form of the frontal
stripe.

1 5- Lep tides.

Six genera and about twenty species are British,
though several others have been wrongly introduced
as such. Long-bodied, large-winged, long-legged

Fig. •;(>.— Asiltts, L.

Fig. 77. — Scenopinus, Latr.

flies of delicate structure, found in woods and shady
localities, the larva living in decaying wood or in the
earth.

Some species inhabit marshes and ditches. The
metamorphoses of several species are known,
Degeer saying they take three years to reach
maturity. De Romand states that the larva has
been known to fast for six months.

The venation of all the genera is similar, but the
structure of the antennae varies.

The three principal genera are thus separated : —

Anal cell open : Leptis, F.
Anal cell closed.

Wings uniformly clear: Chryiopila, Meq.

Wings spotted with brown: Atherix, Mg.

L'ptis tringaria, L., is a large, tawny, long-bodied
fly, with long, tawny legs, and wings tinged with
tawny brown ; abdomen tawny, with a dorsal row of
black spots ; long 9-10 mm.

L. scolopacea, L., an allied species, differs in having
wings marked extensively with brown ; both common.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

105

Chrysopila aitratus, F., and aureus, Mg., are black
flies, smaller than Leptis, with clear wings and dark
brown stigma ; common ; long 7 mm.

Atherix Ibis, F., is a rare species, occasionally
found- in swarms, the 9 2 clinging to one another
at the end of a branch, depositing their eggs, and
dying immediately afterwards ; the mass gradually
enlarging as fresh flies settle on it, and assuming a
pear shape.

L. scolopacea, L., Wlk, i. PI. ii. 6. Z. notata,
Mg., Curt. 705, {Heyschami). C. aureus, Mg.,
Curt. 713. A. Ibis, F., Curt. 26.

16. Asilidcs.

These flies are large, powerful, carnivorous insects,
especially the gi forming an extensive, natural

Fig. ■jZ.—Tabanus, L.

Fig. •]().— BombyHttj, L.

Fig. So.— Pacrocera, Mik.

group, being very abundant in warm countries, the
species there attaining very large size.

R. Desvoidy saw a species of Dasypogon with an
Apis in its mouth.

- Flight powerful, accompanied by a loud hum.
They frequent woods, pastures, and dry, sandy
situations, the larvae living on plant roots.

The metamorphoses of most species are unknown.
The venation is distinct.

Westwood figures larva and pupa of Asilus
crabroniformis, L., in his Class. " Ins.," Vol. ii..
Fig. 129.

Four sub-families, and 14 genera, representing
about 20 species, are British.

Marginal cell open.

No onychia to tarsi: Leptogastrina.

Onychia present : Dasypo^oninie.
Marginal cell closed.

Third antennal joint non stylate : Laphrince.

Third antennal joint stylate : Asilincz.

LeptogastrituB. — Leptogaster cylindrica, Deg. Easily
recognised by its extremely attenuated abdomen,
the short wings, and absence of onychia ; long 9-10
mm.

Dasypogonina:. — Dioctria rujipes, Deg., is a more
stoutly-built black fly, and with pale grey wings, the
two anterior pairs of legs being reddish ; long 1 1 mm.
The six British species of Dioctria are easily recog-
nised, and appear to be most common in Sussex.

Laphrina:, — Two species British ; both uncommon,
(I have taken L. marginata on nut in Kent.)

Asilittcz. — Asilus crabroniformis,^ L., is a large,
pubescent, tawny-brown fly, with the apical half of

Fig. %i.— Leptis, F.

Fig. S2.— Anthrax, Scop.

Fig. 83. — Xylophasus, Mg.

the abdomen yellow ; tawny-brown legs, spiny and
hairy ; yellow wings with brown border. Its flight
is peculiar, settling on the ground every few yards.
Linne says it attacks cattle ; long 18-20 mm.
Dysmachus trigonus, Mg., a smaller, greyish species,
pubescent and spiny, and Machimus atricapillus, Fin.,
an allied species, with the legs prettily marked v/ith
tawny rings, are both tolerably common.

A. crabrotiiformis, L., Wlk. i. PI. ii. 2. L.
cylindrica, Deg., Mg., Sys. Bes. iii. PI. xii. 16
(tipuloides). Laphria margitiata, L., Curt. 94.
Isopogon brevirostris, Mg., Curt. 153. Pamponerus
germanicus, L., Curt. 46.

( To be continued. )

PROFESSOR WEISMANN'S THEORY OF
HEREDITY.

ABOUT a year ago I began the first of a series of
papers on this subject, but was obliged to leave
off owing to the pressure of other work. I had been
struck by the fact that there had been only one or
two casual references in the pages of Science-
Gossip to a subject which was more than any other

[o6

HA RD WICKK S SCIENCE- G OS SIP,

agitating the minds of the present generation of
biologists, and it seemed to me that a sketch of the
theory in question, and its bearings upon the problem
of the factors of organic evohition might be of con-
siderable interest to those of your readers who have
not the time or inclination for a thorough study of
the question. I hope now to be able to carry out
my original scheme and contribute the papers alluded
to.

My immediate object, however, in the present
instance, is to enter a strong protest against the very
unfair and misleading way in which the question has
been now attacked in your pages (Science-Gossip
for February, pp. 25-30).

Mrs. Alice Bodington sets out by deploring that
Mr. Wallace has been " hardly, if at all, influenced by
the discoveries of the last quarter of a century," and
concludes by stigmatising the Neo-Darwinians as an
" unprogressive school which arrogates to itself the
right of claiming to be his (Darwin's) special
disciples." Between these two startling statements
we have a great deal of talk about "inherent" and
"internal" forces, "initiating variation" or "ren-
dering it possible," and about many other equally
curious notions of the phenomena of heredity and
variation. There is hardly a line of argument in the
article, only a series of vague denunciations of the
supDosed one-sided views of the Neo-Darwinians,
founded on a series of the most astounding miscon-
ceptions of what those views are, and of the real
questions at issue.

It hardly appears worth while to go through the
paper pointing out these misconceptions in detail,
but it may be as well to notice a few. Mrs. Boding-
ton says "we are gravely asked to believe that all
these modifications are the result of a series of
accidents occurring generation after generation with
results more and more marked, yet all uninherited
and accidental ! " What does this mean ? Nobody
in his senses ever asked anyone to believe such an
astounding travesty of the theory of natural selection.
Surely, it is at this period of time unnecessary to
point out that the word "accidental" applied to
congenital variations, merely means that the original
occurrence of any particular variation has no reference
to the purpose which it serves, and which enables it
to be fixed by natural selection. Again the in-
heritance of such variations is an experimentally
established fact — a fact, moreover, on which the
whole theory of natural selection rests. What
we do deny is the inheritance of a character ac-
quired during the lifetime of the individual. Mrs.
Bodington has entirely lost sight of the distinction
between these two kinds of characters, which is the
whole point of our position, with the absurd result
that she talks about being asked to believe that
"accidental" (congenital) variations are "unin-
herited," and about " prepossessions against he-
redity ! "

Again, no one in his senses stated the " Law of
the action of the environment upon irritable
Protoplasm" to be "non-existent." All that is
contended is that the effects of such action are not,
among the metazoa, transmitted, as such, to the
offspring.

Professor Weismann does not consider that he has
proved his theory of heredity and variation at all, in
his laboratory or elsewhere, nor did the wildest
enthusiast ever contend that laboratory work will
"explain everything." That his theory is "con-
tradicted by the evidence of paleontologists " is
impossible, since it is impossible that palseontological
evidence can touch such a theory.

Mrs. Bodington apparently refuses to believe in
"a predisposition to point on the part of a germ,"
yet it is sufficiently obvious that such a predisposition
must exist in the germ, however it has got there, or
else how is this character transmitted from parent to
offspring ?

Mrs. Bodington says of Professor Weismann's
statement that " the inheritance of acquired characters
has never been proved either by means of direct
observation, or by experiment," that "such an
assertion takes one's breath away ; " but she carefully
refrains from stating a single instance in which such
inheritance has been proved. It is no answer to
inform us that Darwin believed in such inheritance,
that his belief increased somewhat in later years,
that Mr. Herbert Spencer believes this form of
inheritance to have been still more important. We
know these things, but we are still waiting for proof
of such inheritance — proof such as we have in
abundance as to the inheritance of congenital
variations.

As to the right of those who deny that we caii

accept the inheritance of acquired characters as a

factor in evolution to claim that they are advocating

pure Darwinism, we can only say that they are laying

still more stress on the factor which Darwin first

pointed out, which he always believed to be far the

most important one, and which is for ever connected

with his name.

A. G. Tansley.

Trinity College, Catnbridge.

THE BIRDS OF FORT AUGUSTUS.
By Mervyn Wolseley.

THE neighbourhood of Fort Augustus is well
adapted for birds of every kind, from the great
golden eagle to the tiny jenny wren.

The silent, rocky glens and steep mountain sides
form perfect fortresses for the golden eagle and
lordly peregrine. The woods and plantations afford
a safe resting-place for the smaller birds ; while the
heather-covered moors abound in grouse and black-
cock. Flocks of pigeons dwell among the wooded
glens, and the swamps and marshes are filled with

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

107

every variety of wader. The lakes and rivers,
teeming as they are with fish, invite to their rippling
surface crowds of hungry water-birds. It would be
safe to assert that we have quite a hundred and thirty
different kinds of birds, which stay with or visit us
during the course of the year.

The golden eagle can sometimes be seen, either
hovering over some doomed hare, or circling round
and round on the look out for a victim, to satisfy its
appetite. A pair of these birds build every year on a
tree near Invermoriston ; but they are strictly
preserved, or their eggs would soon fall into the
hands of some naturalist. But these birds can only be
seen among the hills, as they seldom venture near the
more cultivated ground in the valleys. The bold
peregrine is the largest of our falcons. I once saw a
very interesting battle between a couple of these
warriors and a golden eagle. It lasted for upwards
of an hour, but, unfortunately, I was not able to see
the end of the battle, as the combatants went over
the neighbouring mountains. There are three nesting
places of this bird known — one of them not more
than a mile from the village of Fort Augustus. A
pair of merlins used to live here, but they have
recently been shot by some keeper. Sparrow-hawks
and kestrels are also seen — the latter in great
abundance, for there are no less than ten nests in the
neighbourhood of the village. The pretty osprey, or
fishing hawk, is among our many visitors in the spring.
It formerly laid its eggs along the side of Loch
Ness, on a tree jutting over a precipice, but even in
this secure position its eggs were taken, so it was
obliged to shift its quarters, and it is not known for
certain where it builds at present.

Finches, buntings and other species of little birds
are fairly numerous, chaffinches and yellow-hammers
being about the commonest. The pretty little siskin
has been shot here more than once, but it is
considered a very rare bird. A great grey shrike was
shot by one of the boys of our college in the act of
eating a redpole. The nest and eggs of a red -backed
shrike were found some years ago. We have very
few birds belonging to the swallow family. The
sand martin, certainly, cannot be called rare, but
both the swallow and the house martin are very
scarce. Swifts are also decidedly rare. House
martins and swallows used frequently to be met with,
building in great numbers under the eaves of the
college tower, but of late they have quite deserted us.
I have only seen one nightjar, and have not heard
of the nest or eggs having been discovered. Cross-
bills come over in large flocks, during the month of
July, and a few pairs are often seen about April or
May, but they are usually shot down and not given a
chance to breed. Thrushes, ring-ousels, dippers, wheat-
ears, and others of this family are in great numbers
during the spring and summer. The plantations are
inhabited by flocks of tits and golden-crested wrens.

The Corvidae family are exceedingly numerous,

especially the little jackdaw, which builds in the
rabbit holes on a precipitous cliff", surmounted by an
ancient vitrified fort. Hooded crows are by no
means rare : they live along the birch-covered hills,
and a keeper once told me that he destroyed about
forty nests belonging to this bird, during one season,
in his own district. Rooks and crows are not so
numerous as in other places. The bold raven, how-
ever, is a resident in the district. There are three
nesting places, but they are all among the hills, as
this bird is very shy and likes to make its home as
far as possible from the haunts of men.

There are three different kinds of grouse here,
namely the red and black grouse and the ptarmigan.
The two first live on the extensive moors on the
mountain sides, while the last can only be found on
the tops of the highest hills. Corriearrick, on the
road to Kingussie, about ten miles off, is the best
place to see them, and their eggs have been dis-
covered there. They can only be visited in the
summer, as the place is inaccessible in winter, on
account of the snow, so the birds are not seen in the
best of their plumage.

The only kind of pigeon we possess is the wood
pigeon, or ring-dove. These are found in countless
numbers among the wooded glens, and thence they
come in flocks to the cornfields, from which each
carries away its cropful of corn.

The waders are most numerous in the seasons of
spring and summer. During the month of March,
our sw^amps are filled with plovers, snipe, and curlews,
splashing about in the shallow waters and pushing
their long beaks into the soft mud in search of food.
Thence they make their way to their respective
nesting places. The plovers select the marshy spots
among the hills ; the snipe fly to the rushes, which
fringe the edges of the neighbouring lakes ; while
the curlews live on the open moors, whence their
shrill whistle may constantly be heard. A very fair
heronry exists on one of the islands in Loch Knockie,
about eight miles from Fort Augustus. The large
nests can be seen nearly half a mile off. While you
are on the island, the herons fly distractedly over-
head, supported on their mighty wings and looking
rather awkward with their long necks and legs.
The golden plover, and the red and greenshanks can
be seen only on the high lakes, among the mountains,
where they breed. Sandpipers are most plentiful
along the banks of the lakes and rivers. The hand-
some sea-pie, or oyster-catcher, arrives here, with its
other companions, in the spring. There is only one
place where it is known to breed, and that is about a
mile and a half up the canal, near CuUochy Locks.
The pretty moor-hen, with its red and yellow beak
and long green legs, stays with us the whole year
round, sometimes having the swamps all to itself.

The water-birds are fairly numerous, owing to the
quantity of rivers and lakes in the district. The
black-throated diver is one of the largest of these.

io8

HARDWICKK S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

It is known to lay on the islands in Loch Lundi and
Loch Nan Criche. The pair at Loch Lundi, however,
have been conjectured to be great northern divers,
but as they are very shy birds, it is almost impossible
to obtain a good look at them. The eggs found
there were certainly much larger than those of a
black-throated diver. Red-throated divers are much
more plentiful ; their nearest nesting-places are Loch
Tarff and Loch Knockie. One was shot not long
ago by one of our boys, a short distance from the
entrance of the Caledonian Canal. Cormorants are
in fair quantities ; nearly every day one or two can be
seen flying overhead to their feeding-grounds. A pair
is supposed to build on the shores of Loch Ness, but
no one has yet found the nest. Six kinds of ducks
either breed or visit us during the summer, namely,
the mallard, widgeon, golden-eye, tufted duck, shield-
rake, and teal. Mallards are very plentiful ; I have
seen upwards of three hundred rise together in some
of the bays down the lake. The tufted duck, widgeon,
and shieldrake are rare, and only seen occasionally.
A few pairs of golden-eyes inhabit the lakes, and the
teal is nearly as common as the mallard. The grey-
lag goose is occasionally encountered, and is supposed
to build at Loch Nan Ean, near Invermoriston.
Gulls of all kinds build on any of the lakes possessing
islands. The common gull is the most plentiful, and
lays on Lochs Tarff, Lundi and Nan Criche. Black-
headed gulls, on the other hand, are restricted to
Loch Lundi, where they keep a little corner to them-
selves. A pair of lesser black-backed gulls breed on
Loch Nan Criche. Kitiwakes, greater black-backed
gulls, and herring gulls are often seen, [but they,
however, prefer the west coast to lay their eggs.

The above enumeration, which is by no means
exhaustive, will give some idea of the number and
variety of birds which frequent our neighbourhood.
The cause of this is, doubtless, to be found in the
diversified nature of the country, which is thus
admirably adapted to afford sustenance to our
feathered friends, and enable them to supply their
widely different needs.

The Abbey School, Fort Augustus, N.B.

THE GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE
THAMES VALLEY.

Abstract (by the author) of a Lecture delivered before
the Windsor and Eton Scientific Society, on
February 19th, 1891, by the Rev. A. Irving,
D.Sc, Senior Science Master in Wellington
College, Berks.

Introductory Remarks.

THE geological history of ' Father Thames ' has
a special and local interest for the millions of
dwellers upon his banks. But to the geological student
this interest is greatly magnified by the fact that of
the larger modern river-valleys of Britain that of the

Thames (in its wider sense) is certainly one of the
most ancient. Its history from the geologic stand-
point is almost co-extensive with Tertiary time and
all that has followed since. We shall see, as we
proceed, that the Upper or Oxford Basin is a com-
paratively recent addition to the line of the Thames
drainage ; the true geological history of the Thames
is identified with the line of drainage marked
approximately by the valley of the Kennet, and that
of the Lower Thames (below Reading).* This must
be regarded as the lower course (Unterlauf) of
a great river whose middle course (Mittellauf) and
head-waters (Sammelgebiet) were found in the great
mountain-system which made the mountains of
Scandinavia continuous with the once higher
mountains of Brittany, the worn-down stumps of
those appearing in the palaeozoic and archrean rocks,
of the more mountainous portions of the north and
west of Britain. [Reasons were given for considering
this a more likely gathering-ground of the head-
waters of the great Eocene river, than a hypothetical
vast stretch of continental land to the west.]

The duplicate basin of the modern Thames consists
of the Oxford Basin, draining chiefly Jurassic rocks ;
and the Lower or London Basin, in which we have
only to do with the rocks of Cretaceous and Tertiary
age, and with Quaternary and recent deposits. This,
latter basin, briefly sketched, lies in a synclinal valley
of the Chalk, the chalk hills rising to 975 feet at
Inkpen, the culminating point of the Kingsclere axis,,
and to 850 feet in the Downs of the White Horse range,,
no important transverse incision being made by rivers.
The Kennet rises near the Chalk escarpment to the
west at not more than 500 feet ; the valley of this-
river being probably the truncated valley of the chief
arterial line of drainage of Southern Eocene England.
As the Chalk escarpment is cut through on the north-
west, at the Pangbourne and Goring gorge, so the
Chalk escarpment of the North Downs is cut through,
by tributary streams, which rise on or near the axis
of the Weald. We pass by the question of the
relative claims of the * Seven Wells' or the ' Head of
Isis ' to represent the true source of the Thames,t not
only because the Windrush or the Cherwell may, for
length and volume of water, establish a better claim
than any of the streams which rise near the escarp-
ment of the Cotswolds above Cricklade, but much
more because, from the point of view of geological
histor}', no part of the present drainage of the Oxford
Basin has any claim whatever. The Kennet-Thames
line of drainage served as the channel of a much
greater volume of- water than in recent times, while
the present area of the Oxford Basin was drained in
other directions, mainly perhaps in the direction of
the Ouse, towards the old North Sea.

The succession of the British rocks, the classifica-

* See "Journal of the Geol. See," vol. xliv., pp. 178, 179.
i" See Professor Phillips, " Geology of Oxford and the Valley
of the Thames," chap. iii.

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

109

tion of the Tertiaries established by Lyell, and the
grounds of that classification were then briefly touched
upon ; and some reference was made to Prestwich's
Geological Map of Europe, and to Professor Zittel's
sketch-maps of the distribution of land and water in
middle and western Europe in Cretaceous and Eocene
times,*

It was thus briefly pointed out how the great
Cretaceous sea was broken up into a number of
detached areas of deposition, one such area being
the Eocene Anglo-Gallic Basin, which included the
south-east of England, the north of France, and
Belgium ; and the data, on which our knowledge of
this is based, were briefly touched upon. In this
basin were deposited the Lower London Tertiaries ;
the Thanet Beds (marine) to the east ; and the
Woolwich and Reading Beds, with marine shells in

First Delimitation of the Tamisian Area.

The initiation of the movements which have taken
place along the line of the Kingsclere-Hindhead axis
was the first step towards the delimitation of the
Eocene Tamisian area of drainage. This may have
occurred in early Eocene time, since there seems to
be no clear evidence to show that the London Clay
and the Bagshot Beds of the London area were ever
continuous with those of the Hampshire Basin, while
the diminished thickness of the London Clay, where
it lies against the flank of the great anticlinal, and
underlies the Bagshot Beds * (as at Highclere),
points to the end of the London Clay period as the
forward limit (in time) for the movement referred to.
On the other hand the maintenance of a pretty
constant thickness by the Woolwich and Reading

Aylesbury. The Chilterns
N i

Windsor.

Bagshot.

Hog's Back.

Hindhead.

Fig, 84,— Digrammatic Sections through Windsor; showing probable position of Strata at end of Eocene.

Fig. 85.— Showing probable position of Strata during Pliocene. — p g, Platean-gravcls ; b s, Bagshot Sands ; Lc, London clay ;
W R, Woolwich and Reading Beds ; CH, chalk ; x, formations older than the chalk.

east Kent, with estuarine shells in West Kent and East
Surrey, becoming unfossiliferous, except for an
occasional flora (as at Reading), in Berks. The
evidence which these facts furnish of the drainage in
early Eocene time, having come from the west, was
dwelt upon. The numerous outliers of the Woolwich
and Reading Beds, and the wide distribution of the
sarsens and conglomerates, which we can identify
with them, upon the present dip-slopes of the two
Chalk ranges, which bifurcate towards Norfolk and
Dover respectively, and even beyond the present
principal escarpment of the Chalk (as at Avebury),
tell of the enormous extent of this ancient Eocene
estuary, which Sir Andrew Ramsay has compared, in
extent and importance, with the modern estuaries of
the Ganges and of the Amazons, t

" Aus der Urzeit " (Oldenbourg, Munich), Tafn. iii. and iv.
t " Phys. Geol, of Great Britain '" (5th ed.), p. 247.

Beds and their lithological similarity in Berks and
Hants, seem to tell us that no important movement
along the axial line occurred during the period of
their deposition. The small areal range of outliers of
London Clay on the Chalk Hills of Oxfordshire,
Bucks and Herts to the north, and of Hants, Berks,
Surrey and Kent to the south, affords another
indication of the diminution of the area of deposition
of the London Clay as compared with that of the
formations which preceded it.

As is often seen to be the case, these initial move-
ments on the southern line of elevation, and probably
movements on a Mercian line of elevation also, had
their counterpart in a corresponding depression of
the intermediate synclinal, which was gradually
filled with the sedimentary deposits, whose accumu-
lations have given us the London Clay.

• "Journal of the Geol. Soc," loc. supra cU.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

The causes of such differential movements of parts
of the earth's lithosphere were briefly discussed, and
referred to contraction of the crust as the prime
factor. The Kingsclere-Hindhead axis of elevation,
like the Wealden axis of elevation which was
connected with it later on, was thus regarded as a
slight wrinkle in the crust, or one of a series of slight
wrinkles, determined by the slight circumferential
approximation of the two great stable archsean and
palceozoic masses of Central Europe and France on
the one side, and of the north and west of Britain on
the other ; the weaker and newer strata of the inter-
mediate area getting pinched up and slightly folded.
This was shown to be strictly comparable with the
effect of the later Tertiary movements of the Alpine
chain upon the intervening Secondary and Tertiary
strata, as indicated in the section across the Upper
Po-Basin, which the author has recently received
from Professor Sacco, of Turin.*

The estuarine character of the London Clay, and
its gradual passage upwards from deposits having the
character of those of a marine estuary to those of a
more constricted river-mouth, were pointed out ; and
the evidence adduced from Foraminifera by Professor
Rupert Jones, and from the fauna and flora in general
by Professor Prestwich, as to the depths of the
waters, in which the deposits were laid down, were
briefly discussed. The significance of the distribution
of septaria and a molluscan fauna chiefly in the lower
200 to 300 feet of the formation, as discussed by the
lecturer several years ago,t was also pointed out, as
well as the indications which the organic remains
give of the prevalence of a tropical or sub-tropical
climate in Eocene times. Ascertained thicknesses of
the London Clay, beneath the overlying Bagshots (i)
at Hampstead 300 feet, at Wokingham 270 feet, at
Bearwood 250 feet, (ii) at Wellington College 330
feet, at Brookwood 370 feet (or more), at Chobham
Place 400 feet, at Claremont 450 feet, and at
Wimbledon 430 feet, were cited as indications that
the line of greatest depression during the London
Clay period was some miles further south than the
present line of the Lower Thames. The areal
extension of the London Clay, and its gradation of
thicknesses from east to west, tell us that the area of
depression was a synclinal with its axis inclined to
the east ; in other words, it took the form of a
segment of a cone rather than of a cylinder, forming
what Sacco has called a " cone of depression " (" cona
di dejezione."). The elevation of the Kingsclere-
Hindhead axis subjected the Chalk strata first to the
action of sea-waves, which manufactured from its
flints the numerous pebbles found in the Reading
beds, as well as the few which are scattered through
the London Clay ; and we should probably not be far

* "La Geo-tectonique de la Haute Italie Occidentale,"
" Bull, de la Soc. Beige de Geologie, S-c," tome iv., 1890.

t See "Geol. Mag.," 1886, No. 9, on " The Unconformity
between the Bagshot Beds and the London Clay."

wrong if we considered the denudation of the Weald
as having in places cut through the Upper Chalk by
the close of the London Clay period ; but we have no
evidence to show that the Wealden elevation at this
early stage was anything more than a part of a
plateau-like region similar to that on the Mercian
side of the Tamisian area. For all we know it may
have been such, and have continued to rise, without
much change in its contour-details through the whole
of the Eocene, Oligocene, and Miocene periods, until
the Wealden anticline proper began to take its
shape in the Pliocene period. We shall return to
this later on.

Condition of things in later Eocene time.

The established attenuation of the sands which are
known as Lower Bagshot, which in many of the
more central parts of the area seem to form an
upward extension of the London Clay formation, and
which Professor Prestwich* has recently correlated
on such grounds with the London Clay under the
name of the " London Sands," tells us of the further
accentuation in later Eocene time of the structural
features already initiated, as we have seen, for the
south of England ; while the fact, that either these
sands, or the overlapping Bagshot beds of higher
horizons, rest upon the lower portions of the London
Clay with molluscan remains and septaria along the
northern flank of the area, afibrds indication of the
progressive accentuation of the synclinalf during the
portion of geologic time indicated by those deposits.
Silting up proceeded ; things seem to have become
stationary for a period ; deltaic clays and lagoon-
deposits were laid down, certainly from as far west
as Newbury, to a long distance towards the east, as
far, at least, as Essex, as indicated by the section
through Brentwood Common, recently published by
Professor Prestwich. J

Wokingham, Bracknell, Warfield,§ and possibly
Windsor Park itself, were mentioned, as localities
where this transgressive relation of the Bagshot
strata to the London Clay seems to be indicated ;
while further east, at Hampstead jl and Brentwood^
a similar relation of things can be traced. On the
south side of the Eocene formations of the Tamisian
area the high dip of the strata has led to more
extensive denudation, and so we cannot adduce such
good evidence ; nevertheless there are reasons for
regarding certain outlying masses of Tertiary sands

* "Journal of the Geol. Soc," February, 1888.

f Such a progressive accentuation of a synclinal flexure has
been well worked out in the case of the basin of the Po by Dr.
Sacco of Turin. See his valuable paper, " Classification des
Terrains Tertiaires," "Bull, de la Soc. Beige de Geologie,"
&c., tome i., 18S7. In that region the accentuation seems to
have gone on intermittently all down through Tertiary time,
while in the Thames area it appears to have been intercepted
by elevation at the end of the Eocene.

% "Journal of the Geol. Soc," vol. xlvi., PI. vii., Fig. 5.

§ See the author's papers, ibid., vols, xliii., xliv.

y "Mem. Geol. Survey," vol. iv., p. 309.

^ Prestwich, "Journal Geol. Soc," loc. cit.

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G SSI P.

Ill

on the North Downs at altitudes of 500 feet to 600
feet as belonging to the Bagshot or later Eocene ;
and these lie either on the Chalk or on the Reading
Beds. This has been discussed by the author
elsewhere.* If, as the hypothesis requires, some
accentuation of the synclinal during the latter part of
the London Clay period and during the Bagshot
period, took place (against which no h priori reason
can be alleged), the facts just enumerated would
receive a rational explanation. The Upper Bagshot
Sands, however, retain remains of a fauna, which
indicates the conditions obtaining in a marine
estuary ; and as these have now been identified as
far west as Highclere it would seem that towards the
close of the Eocene period a narrow arm of the sea
extended from the open sea towards the east,
westwards as far as the place just mentioned, and
' perhaps somewhat further. This will be better
understood by reference to the section (Fig. i),
which is, of course, like the next, only a diagram-
matic representation, drawn through the longtitude
of Windsor, of what was probably the relation of
things in the Tamisian area towards the close of the
Eocene period.

The Pliocene Period. (See Fig. 85.)

In the shallowing of the waters of the Hants and
Seine Basin during the Oligocene period, we seem to
have the initiation of a more general upward
movement, which perhaps continued through the
Miocene ; the failure to identify any deposits of the
latter period in the London and Paris Basins going to
show that the south-east of England (as w-ell as the
north of France) were for all that length of time dry
land, the superficial strata therefore undergoing
destruction by atmospheric agencies. The chalk
especially must have suffered enormous waste
through the removal of its carbonate of lime by
carbonated atmospheric waters, leaving its flints (in
some places largely mixed with the clay residue of
the chalk) to accumulate upon the uplands, both on
the north and south sides of the Tamisian valley,
just as we see them at the present time accumulated
upon the chalk downs above Ventnor.f

With the Pliocene movements the Weald probably
attained its maximum elevation ; though there are
reasons for supposing that this elevation was not
commensurate throughout the whole distance, but
somewhat in excess towards the western part, which
was lifted above the sea, while further east marine
waters still encroached upon it to a much greater
extent, depositing strata of which the well-known
Lenham deposits are the remnants.^ This is further
borne out by the fact that on the north side of the

* " Geol. Mag." for September, 1890, pp. 403 et seq.

t See the author in " Proc. Geol. Assoc," vol. viii., "On
the Bagshot Beds of the London Basin, and their Associated
Gravels;" also the "Journal of the Geol. Soc," vol. xlvi.,
P- 558.

: See " Geol. Mag.," loc. cit.

Tamisian area there must have been towards the east
some depression, with the consequent encroachment
of the waters of the Anglo-Germanic Sea, laying
down the Crag of the Eastern Counties, and filling
up the valleys and hollows which had been cut into
the London Clay during the preceding Miocene
elevation of the area. The great Pliocene elevation
of the Weald, which, working independently, both
Professor Prestwich and the author have come to
regard as the most important factor in determining
the present surface-geology of the south-east of
England, which also probably had its counterpart
in a more regional elevation on the Mercian side,
would seem to have two most important results : (i)
it gave a general tilt to the north of the Eocene
strata of the Tafnisian area, and so threw the main
line of drainage further north, initiating the present
actual Thames Valley, while erosion was facilitated
along that line by the weakness of the strata
themselves ; (2) a higher gathering-ground for tri-
butary waters from the Wealden hill-range, and a
general declivity to the north of the Eocene area,
furnished the requisite conditions for the transport of
the flints of the Chalk region, the flint pebbles
washed out of the Eocene beds as their destruction
on the north flank of the Weald advanced, and the
Neocomian chert fragments, which, together with the
flints and a few quartz pebbles, constitute the
materials of the Plateau -gravels.* The erosion of
the uplands of the Weald had evidently by this time,
made such deep incisions into the strata, as to lay
bare to the action of denuding agencies considerable
portions of the Neocomian or Lower Greensand ;
though this proceeded slowly enough for the trans-
verse drainage to cut down its valleys through the
Chalk escarpment, which even then must have begun
to take shape.

The one incision of this kind across the strike of
the chalk on the Mercian side of the Tamisian area,
that of the Pangbourne and Goring gorge, was in all
probability initiated too in Pliocene time, but the
area of drainage concentrated upon this line was
much smaller than at present. It would appear that
the head-waters of the present Ouse are cut off from
those of the Cherwell and the Thame by a watershed
largely composed of glacial drift ; at least the
author's own observations of that district have led
him to regard this as probable. If this were so, we
should have to date the outlining of the present
Upper or Oxford Basin of the Thames rather late in
Quaternary time, the Pangbourne gorge having
been no doubt deepened considerably during the
Glacial period.

The tilting to the north of the Eocene strata, as a
result of the great Pliocene elevation of the western
portion of the Weald, perhaps affected the more

* "Journal of the Geol. Soc," loc. cit.; also Prestwich,
ibid., vol. xlvi., on the Southern Drift.

112

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

easterly portion of the area but slightly. If the
great east-and-west fault, which has been traced
ilong the Thames Valley below London,* can be
dated back to Pliocene time, it probably had much
to do with the definition of the main line of drainage
towards the east. With this great Pliocene move-
ment was also connected probably the minor
differential movement, which hfted up the Chalk
and Eocene strata along the Windsor-Marlow axis,
turning the course of the ancient valley still further
to the north between Reading and Windsor, and
accounting for the elevation of the chalk which
forms the site of Windsor Castle. The present
angle which the river makes, as it turns northwards
to Henley, has perhaps been the result of special
and local erosion of the Eocene strata at a somewhat
later period, owing to the great increase of the
erosive power of the river, after the deepening of the
Pangbourne gorge, and the inflow of the waters
collected from the present Oxford Basin.

The case here supposed of the determination of a
main line of drainage by a general tilting of the
strata is not a solitary instance of the kind. It can
be paralleled, on a much grander scale, by the
general tilting (also to the north), of the great
Tertiary series of strata deposited in the narrow
Helvetico-Germanic sea, which skirted the Alpine
chain before the period of its last and greatest
elevatory movement. Across the gentle declivity
thus formed of Tertiary strata the drainage of a great
part of the Alpine chain, including the whole of the
Eastern Alps, now finds its way to join the Upper
Danube, which, as von Dechen's Map of Germany
shows, skirts the old Mesozoic coimtry of Bavaria
and Wiirtemberg, and the still older Archaean region j
of Lpper Austria, all the way from its emergence i
from the Black Forest country down to Krems. '
This we must certainly connect with the last Alpine
elevation.

( To be continued.)

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Dr. W. Somerville has been appointed by the
Techinal Education Committee of the Northumber-
land County Council to the Professorship of Agri-
culture and Forestry recently founded in the Durham
College of Science, Newcastle.

We are sorry to announce the death of an old and
frequent correspondent of Science-Gossip, Mr.
Andrew Brotherston, of Kelso, at the age of fifty-
seven.

Between December 9th lastyear and February 5th,
seven great bustards (,Otis tarda) were shot (of

• Whitaker, " Mem. GeoL Survey," vol. iv., p. 353.

course !) in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Sussex, Hants,
Wilts, and Carmarthenshire.

Mr. S. W. Burnham, with the great Lick
refractor (California), has observed the nearest
companion of Aldebaran, while passing through its
periastion at a distance of only o' 13" from the large
star. And from old measures of position, angle, and
distance, he has obtained a satisfactory orbit.

Mr. Edward Bartlett (son of Mr. Bartlett of
the "Zoo") has been appointed Curator of the
Government Museum at Sarawak.

The following are the Lecture Arrangements of the
Royal Institute after Easter : — Mr. J. Scott Keltic,
Three Lectures on the Geography of Africa, with
special ; reference to the Exploration, Commercial
Development, and Political Partition of the
Continent ; Dr. E. E. Klein, Three Lectures on
Bacteria : their Nature and Functions (the Tyndal
Lectures) ; Mr. W^illiam Archer, Four Lectures on
Four Stages of Stage History (the Betterton, the
Gibber, the Garrick, and the Kemble Periods) ;
Professor Dewar, Six Lectures on Recent Spectro-
scopic Investigations ; Dr. A. C. Mackenzie, Four
Lectures on the Orchestra considered in connection
with the Development of the Overture ; Professor
Slyvanus P. Thompson, Four Lectures on the
Dynamo ; Mr. H. Graham Harris, Three- Lectures
on the Artificial Production of Cold ; Professor A.
H. Church, Three Lectures on the Scientific Study
of Decorative Colour. The Friday Evening
Meetings were resumed on April loth, when a
Discourse was given by Sir William Thomson, on
Electric and Magnetic Screening.

Good news fox potato growers ! Sulphate of
copper has been found not only an antidote to
potato disease, but also highly conducive to an im-
proved and heavier crop, in some instances to the
extra value of 5/. an acre.

Mr. C. Vernon Boys has been making measure-
ments of the heat of the moon by means of his very
delicate radiomicrometer. His method was to focus
the rays of the moon on the face of the radiomi-
crometer by a reflecting telescope of 16 inches
aperture. In the case of a new moon, he found that
the heat coming from its disc diminished as you
passed from the convex to the concave edge, and
that from the dark surface was so slight as not to
affect the apparatus. The maximum radiation of
heat came from points of the disc itself, not from its
limbs. At full moon the maximum point was at the
centre of the disc. The side of the moon which had
been exposed to the sun for fourteen days was not
warmer than that which had been exposed for seven
days. No sensible heat was observed to come from
the stars.

BARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIF.

The Eleventh Annual Exhibition of the S. London
Entomological Society, was held at the Bridge House
Hotel, London Bridge, S.E., on Wednesday, the
15th ult., and was continued on the Thursday
following from I P.M.

MICROSCOPY.

Preservation of Melicerta Ringens. — Last
May you inserted a paragraph bearing the above
heading, in which I narrated how I had preserved
in captivity this organism for twelve months without
any interregnum. I have to-day to recount a further
success in this matter. During the last year I have
never been without numbers of this rotifer ; at the
present time I have very many. Only once have I
feared that I might lose this attractive creature
altogether, and this was on my return home last
October, after my autumn holiday. I found during
my absence that certain juvenile members of my
family, out of the overflowing kindness of their
hearts, had fed the sticklebat with pieces of biscuit
as large as hazel nuts, and the plants, too, had been
permitted to grow unpruned ; consequently, on my
return, I found the whole aquarium exceedingly
offensive, necessitating a thorough cleansing. This
was given, together with a reduction in the amount
of plant-life, and the first change of water for over
two years. The pruning of the weeds proved to be
a somewhat dangerous experiment, plant growth at
this season of the year naturally almost ceasing ; this,
together with the exceedingly severe winter, for a
short time imperilled the maintenance of the whole.
Fortunately all, however, has gone well, and meli-
certa has continued abundant ; so numerous, indeed,
as to become so crowded upon the somewhat scanty
plants as to cause them to attach their tubes to one
another in the manner we are informed more common
in the American waters than our own. I have to
add that I still consider the plants named in my
previous communication to be very good plants for a
small aquarium. The sticklebat still survives. Can
any reader inform me as to the natural duration of
life of this fish 1—J. W. Measures, M.R.C.S.

ZOOLOGY.

Mounting Shells. — From a paragraph in the
April number of SciENCE-Gossir, I see that a
correspondent has got into difftculties on the above
subject. To my mind mounting good shells on tablets
is downright sinful, as, no matter what mounting
media are used, the specimens are certain to be more
or less injured. Though I do not " mount " my own
collection, I can speak with considerable experience
as to its pernicious effect, as only too many of the
specimens I receive in exchange are spoilt by one or

more unsightly patches showing where they have
formerly been fixed to tablets. Judging from the
instances I have seen, the various gelatine cements,
especially those which are applied in a heated con-
dition, are the worst offenders. At the Natural
History Museum I believe they are very thick gum
arable, which is open to less objection, but perhaps
the best cement, though possibly not a very secure
one, would be wax (preferably such as is used for
modelhng) as it can be readily softened by moulding
in the fingers. But why mount shells at all ? a
collection is far more useful when it is possible to
take up each specimen separately and examine it on
all sides without the necessity of first detaching it
from a mount. Undoubtedly the best, though un-
fortunately rather expensive, method of storing shells
is to keep them in glass-top boxes, rectangular being
superior to circular ones. The most convenient
dimensions aie : depth three inches ; width two and
four inches ; .length, varying in half inch steps, from
one inch upwards. The British Mollusca and part of
the general collection at the Natur^i History Museum
are arranged in this way. Card-board trays come
next in order of merit, and as they can be easily and
quickly made by an amateur after very little practice,
are very cheap. The superficial dimensions given
above for boxes will be found convenient for these
also, but a depth of half an inch is sutticient. In
order to save work, the corners need not be bound.
In my own collection through want of funds, boxes
and trays are used together in the same drawer, the
boxes being reser\'ed for delicate specimens which
might be broken if loose in a tray. As the boxes and
trays are made on the same system they fit in exactly.
While on this subject, I might refer to another method
of spoiling shells, namely writing on the specimens
themselves. Names and other information should
always be written on a slip of paper placed in the box
or tray, but I hope soon to speak about labels more
at length.— .5". Pace, 252 Fulham Road, S.W.

A NEW VARIETY OF Helix Cantiana.— The
specimen to which the following description applies
was taken from near Sittingbourne, in Kent, by Miss
Muriel Norton, and forwarded to me for the purpose
of naming by "six. W. E. Swanton, who has it now in
his collection. As far as I am aware, the variety is
new — indeed, very few varieties of H. cantiana have
been described — but, as its deviations from the type
are distinctly marked, I have considered it worthy of
a variety-name, and have called it var. caiialiciilata.
The specimen resembles in some features what I have
previously described as var. elevaia in the first
number of the " Conchologist " (readers of this note of
mine on this variety will kindly oblige the writer by
erasing the semicolon between the words "spire"
and " compressed," and in reading "canaliculate"
instead or " canaliculata,") but, in this instance, the
spire is depressed and does not rise about half a

114

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIF.

millimetre above the body-whorl. Var. canaliculata,
Willms. Shell white, rather solid ; suture between
body-whorl and preceding whorl deeply and triangu-
larly canaliculate ; spire depressed and very slightly
elevated above the upper level of the body-whorl ;
umbilicus somewhat wider than in type and exposing
more of the whorls within. Width fifteen mill. ;
height nine mill. The most distinctive characteristics
are the sub-depression of the spire, and the deep
triangular canaliculation of the suture between the
body-whorl and the spire. — J. W. Williams.

Twice-Used Nests.— In the April number of
Science-Gossip, p. 93, Mr. H. G. Ward records
an instance of a blackbird using the same nest for a
second brood immediately after the first had flown.
I had two similar instances lately in my garden.
Both the blackbird and the thrush used the same
nest in the same season for successive broods. The
thrush was successful in rearing both brqods, but the
blackbird was unfortunately interfered with by a cat.
I mentioned the circumstance at the time to Mr.
Seebohm, who said it was very unusual. — J. Joiner
Weir, Beckc7iham.

Rossendale Rhizopods. — In the last paper on
this subject, Fig. 59, 60, 61, should be Anncba
proteus. The names of Figs. 63 and 66 should be
transposed.

Deep Sea Exploration in the Eastern
Mediterranean.— The investigations which the
expedition sent out by the Vienna Academy of
Sciences has been carrying out in the eastern portion
of the Mediterranean have been very successful.
The investigations concerning the depth and general
characteristics of the sea, and the presence of life in
it, were carried out at seventy-two distinct points.
The greatest depth (3700 metres, or over 2J miles),
was found near the great depression which runs
between Molla and Cerigo — a deep valley running
in a direction from north to south, and with a
depth varying from 3500 to 4000 metres, the descent
being much more abrupt on the Greek side than on
the Italian and Sicilian side. Experiments as to
light showed that the waters are more transparent
near the African coast than in the northern portions.
There white metal plates were discernible at a depth
of nearly 144 feet. Sensitive plates were still found
capable of being acted upon by a light at a depth of
nearly 550 yards {2\ furlongs), at a point 200
marine miles north of Ben-Ghazi ; on being drawn
up they were found to have been blackened. The
acid constituents of the sea-water seem to be the
same at the greatest depth as near the surface, nor is
any difference in the quantity of ammoniacal con-
stituents perceptible between the upper and tlie
lowest levels, with the exception that everywhere
close to the bottom the quantity of ammoniacal
ingredients is notable. The deep-sea region of the

Eastern Mediterranean is very poor in animal life.
A dredge at a depth of 3000 metres brought up no
animal specimens at all, but at a depth of 2000
metres leaf-formed algse were discovered similar to
those found at the same depth in the Atlantic by the
Panton expedition.

Ornitholological Notes from Chichester. —
The excessive severity of the past winter, prolonged
almost without intermission, save for a brief respite
of beautiful weather in February, from the close of
November to the beginning of April, caused a
terrible destruction of bird life. Perhaps none have
suffered worse than those sweet songsters the
thrushes {Turdus nmsieus), numbers of which, with
their relatives the redwings {Tardus iliacus), and
fieldfares {Tnrdiis pilaris), died either from cold or
starvation. Swarms of wildfowl visited our shores,
and received, alas ! poor things, in many cases
anything but a hospitable reception ; for, rightly or
wrongly, according to our particular standpoint, I
suppose — though as a member of the Selborne
Society I must enter my protest — the sportsman
embraced what to him was, as all cold winters are,
a golden opportunity for sport. Amongst other
common birds the following were seen, and some
of them shot in the neighbourhood of Chichester
in the months of December and January : Wild
Swans : Hooper [Cygnus musicus'). Of these a
flock of thirty-one was seen off Selsey. Geese :
The common Brent-goose {Bernicla Brenta) has
abounded. Specimens of the bean goose (Ansir
segetum), and of the white-fronted goose [Anser
albifrons), have also occurred. Ducks : Twenty-
eight Sheldrakes {Tadonna cornuta) were observed
together in Chichester Harbour, as well as a number
of tufted ducks {Fuligula cristata), and scaup
ducks [Fuligula marila). Smews : Two smews
{Mergiis albellus) were taken at Fishbourne, and two
or three goosanders [Afergus merganser). Bitterns :
Two bitterns. — One at Fishbourne, and one at
Earnley. The above communication from a capital
sportsman-naturalist will prove interesting to many of
your readers. — Joseph Atiderson,jun., Hon. Curator,
Chichester Museum.

BOTANY.

Variations of Colours in Plants. — In the
Black Mountains on the borders of Monmouth,
Brecon, and Herefordshire, the harebell, and many
other species of bell flowers, grow very profusely.
Some years ago I found a few white harebells in the
Grwyne Fechan Valley. As botanical friends rather
doubted this, during the season of 1890, I paid some
attention to the variations in colour of these flowers.
All through the Black Mountain country the harebell
varies from a reddish purple to a very pale shade of
blue, and white specimens are not infrequently met

HARDWICKKS SCIENCE-GOSSIF.

115

with. Generally, the white harebells look like
washed-out blue ones, with a very faint tinge of blue
and a somewhat sickly appearance. I have, however,
very rarely found a strong growing plant with opaque,
creamy white flower, notably last August one plant
on the N.E. slope of Mynydd Pen y fal, near Aber-
gavenny. These really white harebells almost seem
like a distinct variety. Is not the white harebell
commoner in France than in England ? Anne Pratt
mentions it, giving the popular name, I think, as
"la religieuse des champs;" but I unfortunately
have not her " British Flowering Plants" by me
now. In addition to the plants named by your
correspondent, Mr. H. G. Ward, we found last year
in a lane between Abergavenny and Crickhowell the
common scabious {Knaiitia arvensis) with perfectly
white flowers. In the parish of Henllis, near New-
port, columbines occur in purple, blue, rose pink and
white. The bugle is occasionally found white, and
the common wood sorrel is occasionally red. Around
Newport the common purple orchis (0. Mono),
where it grows in abundance, is always found in four
colours, viz. : purple, coral pink, light coffee colour, or
ecru and white, the lighter colours being the least
frequent and the green lines in the hood being a
striking feature in them. In the,Quantock country, in
Somersetshire, the bee orchis is found with three
white petals. — Thomas Jones, Newport, Mon.

The Post Office and" Botanists. — Would any
brother botanists, who have exchanges with foreign
countries, join me in trying to obtain the same
privileges from the Post Office, as our foreign con-
freres have ? They are able to send their plants here
as " business papers " by the printed matter post,
costing them about 40'. per lb., whereas we have to
pay Parcel Post rate even for a few ounces, or else
letter post rate at 2\d. per \ oz. The lowest rate for
foreign Parcel Post is about \s. 2d., and to the
United States, Letter Post is the' only one we can send
plants by, there being no Parcel Post. From the
States parcels of plants can be sent here at 41/. per lb.,
and the packets may weigh up to 41b. To make a
return exchange, for these we have to pay through the
Parcel Express Companies at about \s. and upwards
per lb. Could not a petition to the Postmaster-
General be got up about this ? I believe that among
the United States postal regulations, there is a special
one regarding the postage of dried plants. — A. E.
Lomax, 56 Vauxhall Road, Liverpool.

Flora of Kent. — With reference to paragraph
on this subject lin April number, p. 90, there is no
complete Flora of the county ; but Cowell's " Floral
Guide to E Kent," "Wild Flowers of Dover and
Neighbourhood," and Jenner's "Flora of Tun-
bridge Wells," may be consulted with advantage.
Also G. Smith's collection of rare plants from S.
Kent, D. Cooper's "Flora Metropolitana," Irvine's
"London Flora," and E. de Crespigny's "New

London Flora for W. Kent," besides the Report of
the Greenwich Natural History Society of the
District between the Rivers Cray, Ravensbourne,
and Thames. Milne and Gordon, N.E., and S.
Kent, 1792 ; and T. Johnston's " Iter," N. Kent. N.
and S. Kent, 1629 and 1632, would be too antiquated
to .be at all useful ; as also would be Petiver's
" Journey from London to Dover," and Blackstone's
" Species ; " but there are many records of later date
to be found in the pages of the " Phytologist," from
1855 to 1862 ; in those of Science-Gossip ;
Exchange and Locality Record Clubs' Reports and
other periodicals; not to mention Watson's "New
Botanist's Guide." Dr. de Crespigny's Handbook
may be procured at Messrs. Allen & Co.'s, Limited,
Waterloo Place. A new edition is ready for the
press, revised, rearranged, and with much additional
matter, itinerary and chart 35 to 40 miles round. —
Ede.

Cuticles of Leaves. — What is the best way of
getting the cuticles of geranium and leaves such as
abutilon, and Cheirattthus incatia so as to mount
them as transparent objects ? Jabez Hogg, in his
work on the Microscope, recommends, p. 440, "im-
mersing the leaf in sulphuric ether," but as his book
was written in 1856 I thought some fresh way might
have been found out since that time. — G. A. Hankey.

A variety of the male fern {Lastrea pseudo-mas)
has been found by Mr. Wilson, of Alford, N.B.,
which is new to botanists. Fronds have been also
examined by Mr. Wollaston, of Chislehurst, who
calls it Lastrea pseudo-mas, var. multiformis, Wilson
(Wol.). The nearest previously-known form to this
was found by the late Mr. Barnes, of Levens, in
Lancashire.

GEOLOGY, &C.

On Phosphatic Chalk at Taplow.— The
following highly important paper was read at the
last meeting of the Geological Society, by Mr.
Strahan. Two beds of brown chalk in an old pit
near Taplow Court owe their colour to a multitude of
brown grains. These grains are almost entirely of
organic origin, foraminifera and shell-prisms forming
the bulk of them. Mr. Player has analysed
specimens of the brown chalk, and finds that it con-
tains from 16 to 35 per cent, of phosphate of lime.
The tests as well as the contents of the foraminifera
seem to have been phosphatized, the phosphate
appearing as a translucent film in the former case,
and as an opaque mass in the latter. In the case of
the prisms of molluscan shells, the whole of the
phosphate appears to be in the opaque form.
Minute coprolites also occur, together with many
small chips of fish-bone, in which Dr. Hinde has
recognized lacunae, while some have been identified

ii6

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SI P.

by Mr. E. T. Newton as portions of fish-teeth. Mr.
Player observes that the phosphate occurs in such a
condition that it would not improbably serve as a
valuable fertilizer, without conversion into super-
phosphate. This condition is probably due to the
partial replacement of carbonate of lime by phosphate
in the organisms. The removal of the remaining
carbonate leaves the phosphate in a honeycombed
state, peculiarly favourable for attack by the acids in
the soil. Mr. Strahan commented upon the resem-
blance of the deposit to the phosphatic chalk with
Bekmnitella qiiadrata which is largely worked in
Northern France, and upon a less striking resem-
blance with that of Ciply, which is at a higher
horizon. In the discussion which followed, Dr. G.
J. Hinde said that he had examined microscopically
the phosphatic chalks of Taplow, and compared it
with the similar material from Douillens and Ciply,
and he fully agreed with Mr. Strahan's description
thereof. The fine, white, powdery portion of the
Taplow rock consisted nearly entirely of Coccoliths,
Discoliths, and Rhabdoliths, unaltered and of car-
bonate of lime similar to those in the normal white
chalk. The minute, translucent, angular fragments
in the granular portion were shown to be pieces of
fish-bone by the occurrence in them of true bone
lacunce and canaliculi, and many were likewise
thickly penetrated by borings of algre or fungi.
Similar fragments were present in the Douillens and
Ciply material, but their osseous nature had not
previously been recognised. The minute phosphatic
pellets were probably coprolites of small fishes. The
evidence pointed to the exuviae of fishes as the source
of the phosphatic materials in these deposits. Mr.
Whitaker said that, from the regularly bedded
character of the phosphatic chalk, one would have
expected it to occur for some distance from the pit ;
but no trace could be seen either of the phosphatic
beds or of the flintless chalk in which they occur.
It seems as if the topmost chalk here occurs only
over a small area, having been eroded elsewhere.
That this was the case to the west and north-west had
been surmised by Mr. Jukes-Browne ("Geology of
London," vol. i. pp. 76-78, 1889), from an examina-
tion of fossils collected from the various pits ; but the
thinning-out of the top chalk seems to be more
sudden than was expected, and not only in the above
directions but all round from Taplow. Mr. Strahan's
discovery showed how much there might remain to be
done, even with regard to so well-known a formation
as the chalk. Professor Judd remarked upon the
interesting nature of the microscopic borings des-
cribed by Dr. Hinde. His attention had been of lata
directed to the subject in connexion with the curious
organisms found in Oolitic grains, both recent and
fossil. Both Mr. G. Murray and Dr. Scott were of
opinion that these borings were produced by the
plants that had been so well described by the dis-
tinguished French algologist, Bornet. A very acute

observer, Mr. F. Chapman, had noticed that shell-
fragments in the gault frequently exhibit these bor-
ings, and Dr. Scott had been able to identify several
of Bornet's genera, founded on recent specimens, as
being represented in these Cretaceous shells. Bornet
believed that these boring algai perform a very im-
portant part in the economy of nature, by bringing
about the destruction and solution of shell-fragments.
The president, alluding to the geological and econo-
mic interest of the discovery described in the paper,
remarked that though the area occupied by the
phosphatic layers seemed to be small, there was good
reason to hope that somewhere else in the Upper-
Chalk districts the same or similar bands might yet
be found. The search for such deposits would now
be stimulated by the information so fully supplied by
the Author, who himself would no doubt follow up
his observations at Taplow by a thorough examina-
tion of the higher members of the chalk in the east
of England.

Note on the Occurrence of Cockroach
Wings in the Coal Measures of the Forest
of Dean. — I am indebted to Mr. Lawe, of Pillston
Penna, for the information that two entire wings and
a fraction of a third were received by him amongst a
collection of fossil plants from the above locality and
horizon, sent by myself. I noticed the specimens
when packing them, but thought them (perhaps new)
fern pinnules. I am in ignorance as to whether these
insects have been recognised before in that locality or
not ; but they are certainly scarce. Of the two
specimens one was possibly the counterpart of the
other. — T. Stock.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Snails as a Cure for Consumption.— In an
old MS. book full of receipts, which were put
together by Robert Sexton, an old excise officer,
about the year 1794, I find the following recipes as
cures for consumption, which show that the snail-
cure was recommended to a later date than we
generally acknowledge by the medical faculty to
the phthisical patients. The first, on the authority of
one. Dr. Simmons, runs' as follows :—" Oysters will
sometimes be beneficial, and so will snails either
swallowed whole or boiled in milk — cow's milk, if
warm from the cow, diluted with one-third of water ;
in general, buttermilk or whey, either from cows or
goats, is far preferable to new milk, but to be bene-
ficial it should be the principal food." The second
recipe, given on no authority, is in the following
words:— "Boil half-a-dozen of red garden snails
every evening in a quart of sweet milk or whey,
then strain the liquor through a coarse cloth and
drink it with sugar every morning gradually upon an
empty stomach, and repeat these draughts for a
month or two if required." This extract goes on to
say that Helix pomatia has been used also for ' ' open
hemorrhoids," by applying "fresh snails" to the
affected part every two or three hours.— y, IV.
Williams,

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP,

iiy

Habits of the Crossbill. — I saw a flock of ten
crossbills feeding in a larch tree at Ballyhyland, co.
Wexford, on the 15th of January. They are rare
visitors here, and these birds allowed me to walk
freely all round and under the tree they were in, for
half-an-hour or so, but the light was so bad that I
failed to get a satisfactory view of their plumage, a
point of such interest in the crossbill. As one of
these crossbills was feeding near the extremity of a
bough, I saw another come hopping to him along
the branch from the end next the trunk. The feeding
bird, seeing the other approach, stopped eating, and
gravely opening his beak took that of his visitor into
his mouth. The two bills were then slowly drawn
apart again, the one crossbill unconcernedly resumed
his eating, and the other hopped away. Some
minutes afterwards I saw the very same process gone
through again. The bird visited was, I am pretty
sure, the same on each occasion ; about the identity
of the visitor I am less clear. The grave demeanour
of the birds was very entertaining to witness. I am
quite at a loss to know the nature of the transaction.
Was it (i) an old bird feeding her young ; (2) a cock
bird feeding his mate (either would be a remarkable
fact, seeing it was the 15th of January, and very
harsh weather); or (3) may we suppose that the
crossbills occasionally suffer inconvenience in feeding
from getting bits of scales impaled on their curiously-
formed mandibles, and that in these emergencies
they come to each other to be relieved. The act, as
I saw it, seemed to me more consistent with this last
explanation. There was not the smallest symptom
of an emotional greeting, a flutter of wings, or a note
of welcome or expectancy, such as usually happens
when a hen bird or a fledgeling of one of our
common species is fed by its mate or parent. It was
clearly a visit of business, regarded by both in the
light of a passing interruption to the routine work of
devouring the larch-cones. — C. B. Aloffat,

Galvanised Wire and Orchids. — I find that
galvanised wire kills orchids. I tied galvanised wire
round some orchids to keep the moss on the roots,
and most of them died, one plant especially I wish to
draw attention. It was a plant of Cattleya crispa in
full growth. To hang the plant up I had a band of
galvanised wire placed round the pot and wire from
this band formed a loop. I must relate that the
plant in question had vigorous roots clinging to the
sides of the pot. All these roots died, and then the
plant. Since then I have taken the galvanised wire
from the pots, etc., and replaced with copper. Since
then the orchids are in better health. — R. Draper.

Bats flying in Sunlight.— On the i6th
February, about ten o'clock on a brilliantly fine and
warm morning, I watched two flitter mice-bats ( Ves-
perugo pipistrellus, Schreb.), for some time. They were
hawking to and fro for the numerous flies that were
abroad. I have never seen bats following their avo-
cations in the bright sunlight before. — J. E. Taylor.

Trees in Trees. — A friend who has had experience
in tree growing tells me that a young tree, as for
instance an elm, grows much more rapidly when
planted inside a hollow tree, say an elm, than under
any other conditions. Looking to the quantity of
decaying vegetable matter from which the roots of the
young tree derive part of its nutriment, this does not
seem at all improbable. — T. S.

Dead Thrushes in Rabbit-Holes.— Seven dead
thrushes were taken from a rabbit-hole at Aust,
Glos., into which they had retired to die during the
iate severe weather. Several birds that were picked

up dead from starvation, were difticult to skin, just
skin and bone, light as a feather.— 7". S.

Cuticle of Leaves.— Could any of your
readers inform me the best method of taking off the
cuticle of leaves of Scolopendrium, petals of the
Geranium, &c., so as to make them as transparent
objects for the microscope? I am told that
"nitric acid, diluted with half water, is the old-
fashioned way. Could any one inform me of the new-
fashioned, or any better way ? "—George A. Hankey,
Town Court Farm, Tutibridge Wells.

Strange Conduct of a Squirrel.— One day in
October last, as I was walking through the Phoenix
Park, Dublin, I came suddenly on a remarkable sight.
A reddish animal was careering in rapid circles
around a wood pigeon which was stationed on the
ground, and which, in a dazed fashion, kept turning
slowly round and round to watch the whirligig
performance : in fact, the procedure was almost
exactly that which I have seen when a stoat, before
killing a rabbit, proceeds to mesmerise it by cutting
circles round it, except that the stoat accompanies his
circles by wonderful somersaults, which were lacking
on the present occasion. The wood-pigeon's beha-
viour was almost an exact repetition of the rabbit's.
Arriving so suddenly on the scene, I unluckily
startled the principal performer, who stopped ; and,
to my surprise, I then saw that it was a squirrel ! The
bird was at first so utterly bewildered that it was
several seconds before she sufficiently recovered to fly
away. When at last the wood -pigeon had flown off,
and not till then, the squirrel also left the scene, and
betook himself up a tree. It would be interesting to
know whether such conduct on a squirrel's part has
been noticed before, and what would have been the
upshot to the affair had it not been interrupted? Is
it to be supposed that the squirrel intended to kill
the ring-dove ? — Hugh H. Moffat.

"Two Sides of the Medal"— With reference
to the note (p. 71) by Mr. Bird, it is only fair to what
seems the only scientific school of evolutionists to
state (without hazarding any personal opinion), that
it is only those acquired characters which affect the
whole organism, and more especially the reproductive
elements, that are deemed transmissile to the off-
spring. The case cited, therefore, of the two men
A. and B., one born with big muscular limbs and the
other not, is hardly to the point, at least without
some further exposition. The other case C. and D.
is completely outside the mark as it were. The
destruction of thumbs is not necessarily attended
with any disturbance of the genital organs ; and,
therefore, the most fervent Lamarkian would freely
admit that D.'s children would be just as likely to
have thumbs as those of^any one else. It may be
useful to append that the well-known researches of
Brown-Sequard on the effects of lesions of guinea-
pigs, etc., have not been, as far as I am aware, been
very destructively analysed or explosively bombarded
by any subsequent critic or experimentalist. —
P. Q. R.

Natural History Vandalism. — Whilst regret-
ting the deplorable sacrifice of bird-life, and the
approaching extirpation of the most interesting
species, it is painful to find this mischief ascribed by
certain journals to naturalists. The destroyers of
birds are bird-nesters, bird-dealers and their emis-
saries, suburban louts who go out on Sundays and
holidays, and blaze away at everything clad in
feathers. Nor must we forget ignorant farmers, who
have latterly taken to destroying that purely insectiv-

ii8

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

orous bird the cuckoo, and infatuated game-keepers
who shoot down the owls, our best mouse-catchers.
—y. W. Slater.

Spiders' Webs. — Some time ago I heard a state-
ment to the effect that " spiders are unable to make
more than four webs during their life-time ; and that
should the fourth be destroyed the spider is hence-
forth dependent on outward circumstances entirely
for a home and its food." I have not been able to
find any corroboration of the above statement, and
should esteem it a favour if some reader will be able
to prove or disprove the above. — B. Truscott.

The Marking of Wild Birds' Eggs at the
Smaller End. — Why are so very few of the eggs
of our wild birds which have variegated markings
found to be prominently coloured at the smaller end ?
The answer to this question is by no means a simple
one, and comprises almost endless complications and,
indeed, can at best be but indefinite, for this reason,
none of our zoologists seemed to have worked out
the glands containing the colouring matter of the
eggs. So, of course, it is only possible to theorise.
In the first place, it would be a sheer physical im-
possibility, as some people have supposed, for the
egg to be turned completely round in the oviduct, it
is far too tightly wedged for any gyration of the bird
to accomplish such a thing. And, again, this latter
theory would imply that the egg usually came down
the oviduct with the larger end pointing first, so that
it received the bulk of the colouring matter ; but
this is quite a misleading idea, for it is, with rare
exceptions, the smaller end of the egg which points
to the exterior, and not the larger. " Why, then,
does not the smaller end of the egg, in the majority
of cases, receive the bulk of the colour, instead of
the larger? " The answer is not very difficult to find.
The larger end of the egg, although coming down after
the smaller, naturally irritates and distends the colour-
secreting glands more than the latter, and therefore
receives the bulk of the markings. But why the eggs
of the falconidse and of the corvidae should be more
prone to have small end markings than the majority
of other birds is a much more difficult question to
answer. It seems to me, and probably many others
have also noticed it, that those eggs which most
usually exhibit distinct and prominent small end-
markings, are those which either have the colour
distributed in large blotches over the surface, or are
those which vary a great deal in both ground colour
and markings, as the eggs of the corvidos most
certainly do. In many cases of eggs marked with
large blotches of colour, it is almost impossible to
say they are not marked on the smaller end, they are
so diffusely and profusely marked all over. Of
course there are exceptions to every rule, and it
would be impossible to lay down a law confining the
small end-colouring of eggs to any particular group
of eggs. I have, for instance, in my own collection,
specimens of the rook, crow, sparrow-hawk, red-
backed shrike, yellow bunting and chaffinch, all very
distinctly marked on the smaller end, and all perfectly
normal in shape, except that of the chaffinch. I feel
that much more might and ought to be written on
this subject, and I hope that someone will offer more
satisfactory explanation of this freak of nature, than
I am able to do. — K. H. Jones.

Power of the Limnid.-k to resist Cold. —
On the breaking up of the late frost I was examining
the thick ice on a large stone trough used by me as
an outdoor aquarium, when I observed a large
number of shells embedded in it. I removed some
large blocks and allowed them to melt slowly, after-

wards straining the water and placing the shells in
a glass. There were a few examples of Pisidiiim
pitsillum, all dead ; Limna: pcrcgra and Z. stagnalis
were in large numbers, all young examples, ready to
crawl as soon as they dropped from the block of ice ;
Plajiorbis corneiis and PI. complajiatiis were also
found in quantity, mostly young examples and all
living. As the water had been frozen over for six
weeks, it is probable that the greater number of these
animals has been at least a month in a solid block of
ice. — W. A. Gain, Tux/ord, Newark.

Birds and the Cold Weather. — Owing to
the cold weather, no doubt our native English birds
have suffered greatly. But perhaps readers would be
interested in hearing that I have seen not only a
great variety of birds in the garden, but all of which are
enumerated here since the frost. They are : — wood-
pecker, nuthatch, great, little, and blackcap tit, bull-
finch, goldfinch, greenfinch, chafiinch, wagtail, siskin,
yellow and reed bunting, owl, tree, house, and
hedge sparrows, tree creeper, gold-crested, common,
and willow wrens, the mischievous jay, wood-pigeon,
and the common blackbird and starling ; but not a
single thrush, which seems about the only kind of bird
affected by the cold. — Frederick W. Freeman, IVkiiweU,
Norwich.

Extraordinary Entomological Discovery.
— Mr. A. S. Canham, of Crowland, has discovered a
peacock butterfly beneath a layer of gravel at
Crowland, some 20 feet in thickness, in a peat bed.
Mr, Canham was desirous of seeing the vegetable
formation in this bed, and for this purpose cut out a
brick of the peat. He then broke it open, and
immediately a butterfly flew out ! He captured the
butterfly, and it lived for about a fortnight after-
wards. Mr Canham supposed that the butterfly was
in the peat at the time the gravel was brought down
and thus sealed the bed. When the gravel was
removed the air penetrated the peat, and the process
of incubation was set up ; the breaking of the cake
of peat admitting more air, promoted the final
development of the butterfly, and it flew out. An
indentation in the peat coincides with the existence
of a chrysalis there, but the shell is lost. The peat
and butterfly were exhibited by Mr. Canham before
the Peterborough Natural History Society. — Grimsby
News.

Curious Beliefs. — With reference to a " curious
belief" among the natives of county Mayo (Science-
Gossip for April, p. 75), I noted a few weeks since a
fact which seems to me to bear on the case of the
man who ate salmon for a fortnight, and became
apparently waterproof. A favourite cat of mine
became suddenly very ill, almost unconscious for
some days. A veterinary surgeon who saw it, advised
us to feed it partly on cod-liver oil ; it took about a
teaspoonful a day for about two days. By that time
its fur, which it never licked or cleaned in any way,
became remarkably glossy, and smelt strongly of the
oil. May not the oil in the salmon-flesh have a
similar result in the case of the fisherman ?

Rise of Sap. — I asked a farmer of considerable
experience yesterday if he agreed with Mr. Reeves's
theories on the ascent or descent of sap. He did
not ; and adduced the following case, which not long
since occurred on his farm. Elms, he said, are gross
feeders. If they are in a hedgerow near hops they
send up suckers into the hop-gardens, choosing
especially the "hills "or hop-plants, which are the
most manured. A large mixen had been placed
beside a farm-road, about ten feet from a row of

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

119

elms. It was left untouched for six months, and when
cleared away was found to be pierced through and
through with elm-roots. Does this make for or against
Mr. Reeves's theory ?

Query as to Egg. — Will any of the oological
readers of Science-Gossip kindly tell me the name
of the following egg, taken in this district two years
ago? In size and appearance it exactly resembles
that of the moorhen, but the nest was built on the
ground, like that of the plover, and contained only
two eggs. The bird, which I saw several times, was
like an ordinary blue pigeon. A friend of mine took
several eggs of the same kind, and he informs me
that they are quite new to him. — G. Dixon.

Fungus on Eggs. — If T. Brown, who complains
of fungus in his eggs, will rinse each egg out with a
solution of one teaspoonful of corrosive sublimate in
a quart of alcohol or methylated spirits, inserted by
means of a glass bulb suction-pipe, or a small glass
syringe, and expelled with an ordinary blow-pipe,
his eggs will never in future be troubled by fungus
or anything else of a similar nature. The eggs will
be right for ever in any climate or conditions, except
in the matter of breakage and such like casualties.
The solution mentioned must be used with care, it
being a very strong poison.

Second Growth of Raspberries. — The fol-
lowing extract from my diary of last year may
possibly interest some of your readers : — "November
19th, observed in the garden of Mr. Young, at Monge-
ham, near Deal, a second growth of raspberries, ripe
and luscious as summer-grown ones." I may add
that the garden lies high and exposed and was a few
days after covered with snow, the first token of the
hard winter which followed. — J. Wallis, Deal.

Young Birds and their Nests. — Some friends
of mine have had an argument about young birds
leaving their nest. The point is this : Do young
birds, alter taking their first flight, finally leave the
nest, or do they return to it as a temporary shelter
until they are strong enough to forage for them-
selves? — y. E. Gore.

Local Plant and Bird-Names from North-
MARSTON, Bucks. — Cuckoo, early purple orchis ;
smellsmock, icuckoo flower or ladysmock ; crazies,
marsh marigold, lesser celandine ; blind-eyes, scarlet
poppy. [The scarlet poppy received the name of
blind-eyes no doubt, from the superstition, that if
you got it near to your eyes, or touched your eyes
with your hands after gathering it, it would blind
you, a belief still prevalent in this village, and else-
where. Children are cautioned by their parents
"not to gather it, for it will blind your eyes," they
say. This common saying makes them rather afraid
to gather this flower, and thus the pretty scarlet
petals of the poppy are left alone to fall, or to be
scattered by the wind.] Cows and calfs, cuckoo
pint or arum ; moons, moon daisy, white ox-eye ;
halfsmart, yellow bedstraw ; kingfingers, bird's-foot
trefoil ; bird's-eye, germander speedwell. [The name
bird's-eye was no doubt given to the germander
speedweed by our ancestors, who thought that the
flower resembled the eye of a bird.] Celery (or
salery), common sorrel. [The leaves of the common
sorrel, and the fruits of the mallow are eaten by the
children here. The local name of the former flower
is perhaps a corruption of the word salad, and the
latter name of " cheeses " is from the form of the
fruit or seed, which is round and resembles the form
of a complete cheese.] Cheeses, mallow (fruit of

the) ; gill-run-the-ground, ground ivy. [The local
name of the ground ivy was given to it, from its
spreading or running habits over the ground.] Bull-
rush, great reedmace ; bindweed, large convolvulus ;
combine, small convolvulus ; woodbine, honeysuckle.
[The local names of the convolvulus (major and
minor) and the honeysuckle, needs no explanation, as
the derivation of their names is quite clear.] Horse-
mint, common mint ; burweed, common goosegrass
or cleavers ; mayweed, corn feverfew ; pussy cat,
catkin of willow ; willow-weed, periscaria ; pigeon
felt, fieldfare ; redwing felt, redwing ; gor-crow,
carrion crow ; thresher or thrusher, song-thrush ;
then (or fen) thresher, missel-thrush ; water wash-
disher, water wagtail ; yellow wash-disher, yellow
wagtail ; chink and chinkchawdy, chaffinch ; dicky,
common wren ; heakle or heekle, green woodpecker ;
redtail, redstart ; peewit, lapwing ; haybirds, white-
throat (major and minor ) ; mollyherne and moUern,
heron ; woodpigeon, ring-dove ; screech owl, tawny
owl ; bumbarrel, longtailed-tit ; green linnet, green-
finch ; cuckoo's mate, wryneck. — H. G. Ward.

Parrots and their Eggs. — A pair of East-
Indian tinged parrokeets laid six eggs on alternate
days on the bare bottom of a large cage (having
refused to use various offered conveniences to nest
in) ; sat twenty-eight days ; hatched three, perfectly
free from any sort of down. When twenty-one days
old, down began to appear, and eyes became partially
opened. Owing to their habit of crawling about the
cage, two have been killed, but the third (now four
weeks old) is well and strong. The parent birds are
evidently preparing to lay again. — B. L. Hooper,

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

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

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

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

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

J. Hunt. — The bound vol. of Science-Gossip for 1872 is out
of print, but the publishers can supply you with all the parts
for that year, except January.

H. W. D.— Apply to Mr. Geo. Dowker, F.G.S., Stour-
mouth House, near Wingham, Kent, for information respecting
the " South-Eastern Naturalist."

A. Mayfield. — The fossil tooth imbedded in flint is that of
a species of Lamna.

EXCHANGES.

Exchange for minerals, &c., good transparent crystals of
selenitc (various forms), some remarkable in having taken up
sand during crystallisation. — W. Gamble, 2 West Street, New
Brompton, Kent.

SciENCE-Gossip, 1885 to 1890, complete, with 23 coloured

120

HARD WICKE' S S CIENCE- G OSS I P.

plates: 1880, March and April missing; 18S1, September
missing; 1884, January, February, March, and April missing.
Also "The Naturalist," 1889 and 1890, all unbound, but clean.
Wanted, large flat glass-topped boxes for shells in cabinets. —
Lionel E. Adams, Penistone, Yorks.

Eighty species of British shells, entomological setting-
cabinet, collecting-box and store case, to exchange for any-
thing useful. — "Lindens," New Brompton, Kent.

A QUANTITY of duplicate mounts of very choice and rare
foraminifera, correctly named, in exchange for cabinet speci-
mens of Alston Moor minerals, or works on freshwater and
marine algae, or offers. — W. H. Harris, 42 St. Brannock's
Road, Ilfracombe.

British birds' eggs. A long series, all with data, such as
osprey, hooded merganser, eagle, sooty tern, long-billed
curlew, bufT-backed heron, capercailie, &c., will exchange for
insect cabinet. Several dozen N. American bird skins (dated),
fine condition, for exchange. Offers to — H. T. Booth, Upcerne
Road, Chelsea.

Wanted, vol. of Science-Gossip for 1872, bo\md in blue
cloth, if possible. Please name price, &c. — John Hunt, Lilly-
burn Print Works, Milton of Campsie, near Glasgow.

Wanted, unmounted parasites, polycistines, and other good
material, in exchange for choice micro-slides of every descrip-
tion. Foreign correspondence solicited. — K. Suter, 5 High-
week Road, Tottenham, Middlesex, England.

What offers for cork setting-boards, zinc collecting-boxes
for larva, and light insect collecting-boxes, also Nos. 240-280
of SciENCE-Gossii'? Micro-slides or material preferred, or
books. — W. E. Watkins, 30 Dalmeny Road, Tufnell Park, N.
». Exchange chemical apparatus — retort stands, tripods, glass
tubing, corks, crucibles, &c., for fossils, minerals, or rocks. —
J. A. Ellis, I Pomona Place, Fulham, S.W.

Over one hundred species of beautifully-mounted ferns,
comprising most of the rare British sorts (some very rare), in
handsome half-bound book, fitting into strong case. What
offers? — Joseph Anderson, jun., Aire Villa, Chichester.

Offered, fifty Scottish mosses, a few very rare ones, all
named ; will send list. Will take a copy of Hobkirk's " British
Mosses," second edition. — Thomas Wilson, 39 North Church
Street, Dundee.

Offered, British marine shells in exchange for micro-slides,
insects, other shells not in collection, or any books on natural
history. Send lists of wants and duplicates to — W. D. Rae,
9 Claremont Terrace, Alpha Road, Milwall, London, E.

Wanted, Goebel's "Outlines of Classification and Special
Morphology of Plants." Exchange Benson's " New Testa-
ment," or classical and scientific works, &c. — J. Wallis, Deal.

For exchange, twenty back numbers of Sciench-Gossip,
also "Naturalist's Gazette," complete, for 1889 and 1890.
Wanted, minerals or fossils, or books on minerals or fossils, or
what offers? — William Hetherington, Nenthead, Alston Moore,
Carlisle.

Offered, a platinum crucible with capsule cover, Beale's
" How to Work with the Microscope," and Cruickshank's
"Practical Bacteriology." Wanted, i-inch objective, or 2-inch
B, C, or D eye-piece, double nose-piece, or offers in petno-
logical slides. — R. M. H. St. Stephen, 25 Fordwych Road,
West Hampstead, London, N.W.

Several hundred British coleoptera for exchange, all carded,
correctly named and in fine. condition, including many rare and
local species. Wanted, offers of any natural history specimens,
apparatus, and books on entomology, conchology, or geologj'. —
A. Ford, Claremont House, Upper Tower Road, St. Leonard's-
on-Sea, Sussex.

Wanted, British diptera, named or unnamed, foreign cole-
optera, or cabinet cork, in exchange for S. African insects of
any order. — R. M. Lightfoot, 134 Bree Street, Cape Town,
S. Africa.

Would any botanist join me in a three v;eeks' botanical
expedition to the Sierra Nevada, Granada, in July next?
Address — A. Edward Lomax, 56 Vauxhall Road, Liverpool.

Offered, H. erictorum, vz.x. /aservata, H. va7-iegata, H.
caperatay H. ni/escens, H. rotundaia, Z. alleoura, C. nigosa,
L.peregra, var. acuminata, and others. Wanted, H. poiitatia,
Paludina vivipara, P. liiteri, Acme fusca, or others not in
collection. — James Ingleby, Eavestone, Ripon.

British cryptogams — mosses, seaweeds, lichens, and fungi,
correctly named, in exchange for foreign land shells.— T. Rogers,
27 Oldham Road, Manchester.

Pupa ringens, P. >narginata, and var. edentula, V. pygmcra,
V.pusilla, K. antivertigo, B. perversa, C. tridens, Z./nhms,
Z. cryslallinus, H. pulchella, //. lapicida, S. rivicola, /'.
glaber, P. dilatatus, and many others, offered for foreign land
shells, or Testacella haliotidea, S. virescens, S. oblonga, H.
revelata, P. seca'u, C. biplicata, A. acic-ula, or good vars. of
H. nsmoralis and hortensis. — E. Collier, i Heather Bank,
Moss Lane East, Manchester.

Will exchange fifty flint implements for minerals or fossils.
— W. Nunney, 29 St. Philip's Road, Dalston, N.E.

Wanted, latest edition of the "Student's Flora" (Hooker).
Apply to — John Connor, Elderslie, near Johnstone, N.B.

Wanted, a small collection of British mosses and lichens ;
fossils given in exchange. — A. Tarver, 34 Croydon Grove,
West Croydon.

Will exchange micro-slides for works on microscope, 01
exchange slides lor others. — Piatt, Eastrop, Basingstoke.

Wanied, good specimens of Littorina obtusata, var. ornata.
Will give Bulimtis acutus, var. bizona.— V^eM. H. Milnes,
Winster, Derby.

Offered, Scalaria clathraUtla, Venerupis iris, Mytilus
edulis, var. pallida, Cyclostrema cutlerianum, C. serpuloidcs,
Spirialis retroversus, Eulima bilineata, E. distorta, E.polita,
Odostotnia interstincta, O. spiralis, O. nivosa, Adeorbis sub-
carinaius, Rissoa Zetlandica, R. calathus, R fulgida, Skenea
planorbis, Pleurobranchus membranacea, and other rare shells.
Wanted in exchange, any of the following: — Trophon barvu-
censis, Natica helicoides, Leda caudata, Pholadida- papyracea,
Clio pyramidata, Aplysia depilans, Fusus /enestratus, Triton
cutaceus, Pleurotoma striolata, P. nivalis, Jeffreysia globu-
laris. Area pectenculoides, Odostomia /enestratus, O. dia-
phana, O. minima, Aclis Walleri, A. gvlsonig, Velutina
plicatilis,^ Janthina exigtta, Buccinum Humphrey sianum,
Nassa nitida, Cylichna nitidula. Vertigo Moulinsiana, V.
pusilla, and Pecten niveus. Lists exchanged ; correspondence
invited.— A. J. R. Sclater, M.C.S., 23 Bank Street, Teign-
mouth, S. Devon.

Wanted, second-hand machine for preparing slides of rocks
for microscope. Exchange in fossils, rocks, shells, books, &c. —
Rev. John Hawell, Ingleby Grcenhow Vicarage, Northallerton.

Wanted, rock and diatom slides, trilobites, coal ferns from
coal-measures, also British and foreign stamps, in exchange for
rare marine, land and freshwater shells, and microscopic
objects, &c. — T. E. Sclater, Bank Street, Teignmouth.

Wanted, unbound, the "Zoologist" for 1880, and for
January and February, 1881. State condition and price.—
Chas. Oldham, Ashton-on-Mersey.

I have Meyer's " Modern Theories of Chemistry," Foster
and Balfour's "Embryology," Howe's "Biological Atlas," and
MacAIpine's "Zoological Atlas." Will any one give me geo-
logical literature, fossils, minerals, rock-slides, or botanical
slides in exchange? — Wilmore, Trawden, Lancashire.

Offered, Zonites e.xcavatus, Ancylus lacustris, Helix
pygmiFa, and many others. Wanted, Helix 7temoralis, vars.
castanea, olivacea, roseolabiata, albolabiata, hyaloyonata,
also vars. (named) of many other land shells. — A. Hartley,
8 Cavendish Road,' Idle, near Bradford, Yorkshire.

Larv.*:, pupa, and imagos of Tussur silk moth (Mylitta),
and American moth (Promethea), for exchange. Wanted,
exotic pupse of imagos of moths, butterflies, or beetles. — Mark
L. Sykes, Eldon Place, Patricroft, near Manchester.

Wanted, a cheap second-hand microscope, with one eye-
piece ; no objectives needed; rack motion and fine screw
adjustment, with case. Send particulars to — Rev. A. C. Smith,
Crowboro C^ross, Sussex, or state requirements.

Collection of British .coleoptera, in four cases, on cards,
first-class setting, about 200 species, four in a series. Exchange
photographic apparatus, or offers. — F. Emsley, 98 West Street,
Leeds.

To osteologists. Offered, jaws or beak of parrot fish (can
supply part of spiny skin), also beak of albatross. Will ex-
change for a few exotic shells. — W. Jones, jun., 27 Mayton
Street, Holloway, London, N.

BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE.

" Botany, a Concise Manual for Students," by Alex. John-
stone (London and Edinburgh: Young J. Pentland). — "The
Medical Annual, 1891." — "The Fishes of North America,"
Part I.— "British Cage Birds," |Part 12.— "The Spectrum,"
No. 2, Vol. I. — "Annual Report of Museum of American
Archaeology." — " Memoir and Letters of Sydnev Gilchrist
Thomas," by R. W. Burnie (London : John Murr.iy). —
" Plochionus and Scymnus," by I. iC. Duffy. — "The Essex
Naturalist," July to September. — Wesley's "Nat. Hist, and
Scientific Book Circular." — " American Microscopical Journal."
—" American Naturalist." — " Canadian Entomologist." — "The
Naturalist." — "The Botanical Gazette." — "The Gentleman's
Magazine." — "The Midland Naturalist." — " Feuille des
Jeunes Naturalistes.' — "The Microscope." — " Nature Notes."
— "The Naturalist's Annual and Directory for 1891."—
"Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South
Wales," &c., &c.

Communications received up to the ioth ult. from :
H. W. D.— E. B.— W. G.— L. E. A.— J. S.— W. H. H.—
F. W. F.— W. S.— L. E. A.-W. G.— H. G. D.— I. G.—
J. E. L.— G. W. R.— H. T. B.— W. I. S.-Dr. A. C— Dr. A. I.
—J. J. W.— B. W.— F. C. B.— G. A. H.— W. E. W.— R. S.—
J. H.— H. W. D.— M. E. P.— J. A. E.— R. C— E. E.—
W. W. R.— T. W.— J. E. L.— J. A., jun.— H. M— W. H —
A. T.— W. E.— T. E. S.— A. J. R. S.— T. R.— W. H. N—
J. C— W. J.— I. W. M.— I. W.-G. D.— R. de H. S. S.—
M. E. T.— W. J. A— J. I.— R. M. L.— T. J.— A. F.— H. P.
—A. E. L.— E. C— J. W.— W. A.— J. H.— H. G. W.— A. H.
— H. E. G.— S. P.— J. E. G.— M. L. S.— A. W.— A. C. S.—

E. de C— F. E.— C. 0.— G. A. H.-B. L. H.— J. W. W.—

F. J. B.— H. W. B.— A, M.-&C., &c

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

121

THE SHELL-COLOURING OF NON-MARINE MOLLUSCA.

By WILFRED MARK WEBB, F.L.S.

HE theory brought
forward by Mr.
J. W. Williams*
with regard to the
primitive colouring
of non-marine shells
has already been
discussed at length
by Mr. S. Facet
and Mr. C. Clare
Fryer, % but the
latter writer has
brought forward
some very interest-
ing points, and Mr.
Williams's § reply
to the former critic
calls for further re-
marks.

Mr. Pace gives
an example of the want of clearness which he finds
in Mr. Williams's writing ; it can, however, be
said, in favour of the latter, that authors even less
lucid were quoted from, by the present writer in
"The Universal Review." || The meaning of the
passage in question is, that "evolution of all kinds"
has been from the simple to the complex. It is
only necessary to bring forward the case of parasites
in order to show the fallacy of such a statement, for,
in many instances, although they had arrived at a
stage of considerable differentiation before contracting
their peculiar habits, they have since evolved in a
downward direction. Mr. Williams gives it to be
understood, in the concluding paragraph of his article,
that he has studied Darwin's works, but in "The

• "The Colouring and Banding in Land and Freshwater
Shells," Science-Gossip, August, 1890, p. 178.

t "The Colouring and Banding of Freshwater Shells,"
Science-Gossip, October, 1890, p. 233.

X "The Colouring and Banding in Land and Freshwater
Shells," Science-Gossip, November, 1890, p. 241.

C Ibid. Science-Gossip, December, 1890, p. 274.

11 "The Zoology of the Magazines," "Universal Review,"
October, 1890, p. 2^0.

No. 318.— June 1891.

Origin of Species "* considerable space is given to dis-
cussing evolution "from the complex to the simple,"
and the following words occur : — " for natural selec-
tion, or the survival of the fittest, does not necessarily
include progressive development."

To turn now to the various paragraphs in which
the facts supposed by Mr. Williams, to support his
theory, are set forth :

(i.) With regard to the constitution of the primary
shell : — either Mr. Pace has some authority, with
which the writer is unacquainted, for saying that it
consists of conchyclin, or he has taken for granted
that the tissue which forms this substance in the
second instance, did so in the first. Has anybody
analysed the primary shell ? By-the-bye, the passage
quoted from Balfour's ' Embryology ' in Mr. Williams's
reply occurs on page 189 (not on page 229 as stated).
But in quibbling over chitin and conchyclin Mr.
Williams misses the crucial point of the criticism, to
wit, that as the substance of the primary shell is
" naturally horn-coloured" it can have no bearing,
in the matter of colouring, on the calcareous pigmen-
ted secondary shell, to the animal part of which it
alone can possibly be compared.

(2). Even, allowing for a moment, that no pigment
occurs in the very young secondary shell, one would
not expect to find significant bands developed before
the animal is free-living or while it is so small that
shell-markings would apparently make no difference
to it,

(3.) In his first article on the subject under con-
sideration, Mr. Wilhams evidently meant to say that
the majority of fresh-water Pulmonates were " horn-
coloured and bandless." With regard to his reply, it
must be said that it is not the part of a sane man to
require from a questioner the "proofs of his state-
ment." It would appear, that all Mr. Pace meant by
asking how "environmental conditions" could be
"less in water than on land" was to point out that
the application of the adjective "less" to such a

* "The Ori^n of Species," by Charles Darwin, F.R.S.,
6th edition, p. 98.

122

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

noun as " conditions " is not good English, and that
the phrase as it stands means nothing. Mr. Williams
no doubt intended to convey the principle contained
in the following passage from Darwin : —

"All fresh-water basins taken together make a
small area, compared with that of the sea or land.
Consequently the competition between fresh-water
productions will have been less severe than else-
where, new forms will have been then more slowly
produced and old forms more slowly exterminated."*
(4.) Mr. Fryer's argument that white cannot be an
advance in colour, is very good, and there are
instances in which colour must have preceded
albinism. Mr. Poulton thus speaks of the case of the
albino peacock : —

"The regions in which 'structural' colours
usually appear are readily recognisable, the white
being of a different quality, the ' eyes ' on the train
coming out like a white damask table-cloth.

' ' Doctor Gadow informs me that the same fact is
true of white ducks and drakes, the wing coverts,
which are blue in normally pigmented individuals, ex-
hibiting a peculiar sheen or gloss differing from the
rest of the plumage. Doctor Gadow states that the
structural colours are absent because the existence of
a pigment beneath is necessary in order to show them
off; and he points out that the ancestors of birds
with such structural colours cannot well have been
white because the effect depends in part upon pig-
ment."!

(5.) There are in the writer's collection specimens
of Helix rufescens in which the nucleus is of a darker
brown than the rest of the shell.

Most specimens which he possesses of Helix arbus-
torum, H. nemoralis, //. hortcnsis, H. aspcrsa and
H. Pomatia have a nucleus agreeing in colour with
the " ground-tint " of the shell, thus in yellow, buff
or brown examples of Helix nemoralis the apical
whorl is correspondingly yellow, buffer brown.

Specimens of Helix Fisana from Tenby, Jersey,
Guernsey and South Portugal have nuclei of a very
dark brown colour, approaching black.

Of Helix virgata, H. ericetorinn, H. caperata and
H. acuta the nucleus is brown, corresponding in
colour with the bands. "White specimens of H.
Pisana, H virgata and H ericetorum are also in the
writer's possession which have no bands developed?
but which nevertheless, retain the dark brown
nucleus.

(6.) This paragraph depends on No. 4. The case
of albino individuals of banded Helices is analogous
to that of the white peacock which shows the " eyes "
on its train, for in normal specimens of these snails
the colours of the bands are accompanied by
structural peculiarities in the shell, and in albino

* "The Origin of Species," by Charles Darwin, F.R.S.,
6th edition, p. 83.

t "The Colours of Animals," by E. B. Poulton, F.R.S.,
note on p. 329.

forms the areas normally pigmented are marked by
transparent zones. Therefore the whiteness is not
a primary but a secondary feature.

(7.) Although Mr. Williams seems to have the
best of the argument with regard to the immediate
derivation of Cyclostoma elegatis, it must be pointed
out that the occurrence of this shell in Pleistocene
fresh-water deposits is no argument in favour of his
view, for truly, terrestrial forms abound in such
deposits,"" that its colours no more support the theory
than do those of the Helices. The SuccinecB can
hardly be called fresh-water species !

(8.) What Mr. Fryer says with regard to the
colours of the Hyalinia: and Helices can in eveiy way
be endorsed by the present writer, who has given
his attention to the subject for some years, and hopes
to soon publish his conclusions with the evidence on
which they are founded.

(9.) It is very probable that bands represent
coalesced spots, the stripes of mammals in several
cases undoubtedly originate in this way, but some of
the species which Mr. Williams mentions, such as
H. aspersa and H. virgata (other snails. Helix Pisana,
H. acuta and H vcrinicidata may be added) which
have bandssome times represented by dots,t have only
gained this style of marking secondarily, after the
bands had already been evolved, for the apparent
breaking up of the bands on these shells is due to the
presence of striag which really only obscure the band
underlying them. The writer has tested this by
cutting sections of the shell of Helix aspersa, also by
scraping off the prominences from the same species
and from H. vermiadata, and has since found that,
Mr. Charles Ashford calls attention to this point. J
Mr. Ashford is perhaps one of " the few who have
published their thoughts on this matter," but whose
names are not given by Mr. Williams.

(10.) On taking into consideration the passage
from Darwin quoted in No, 3, Mr. Williams's
meaning will become clearer.

(11.) Mr. Fryer's references go to show that
field-naturalists are not all of Mr. Williams's opinion
with regard to the enemies of the genus Hyalinia.
Paul Fischer, it may be noted, puts this genus with
the Limacidse not with the Helicidffi as does Mr.

Pace.

The criticisms as yet offered on Mr. Williams's
paper have necessarily dealt not so much with his
theory as with the facts supposed to support it. That
these facts have little or no bearing on the matter, is
the conclusion that has been arrived at, and it is not
difficult to point out the weakness of the theory
itself. The manner in which the shell of the marine
ancestors of the land and fresh-water molluscs was

* " The Pleistocene (Non-Marine) IMoUusca of the London
District," by B. B. Woodward, F.G.S., F.R.M.S., &c.,
" Proc. Geol. Assoc." vol. xi., No. 8 (iSgo).

+ "Darwinism," by A. R. Wallace, LL.D., F.S.S., p. 289.

% " The Journal of Conchology," vol. iii., pp. 84-98.

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

123

developed must be taken into consideration. The
three assertions are (a) that the shell was originally
"horn-coloured;" (/3) that, secondly, it was white;
(7) that bands arose as spots. The last head has
been sufficiently discussed.

(o) If it be assumed that the shell was at first
represented only by animal substance such as is
produced in the shell-i;land, it would certainly be
horn-coloured — but this is arguing in a circle.

[&) If this primitive shell became calcareous it is
likely that its appearance, owing to its containing
little carbonate of lime, would be whitish or semi-
transparent — but it would not be homologous with
the secondary shell, or assuming that the secondary
shell arose in this way, the white flecks which occur
in the shells of Limna-a are at any rate more likely
to be a reversion to the more completely calcified
shell of their marine ancestors, than a survival of a
primitive whiteness, the tenuity of the shells :of the
Basommatophora having been acquired apparently
in their present environment.

BOTANICAL NOTES FROM KEMSING AND
ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

BEING anxious to call the attention of those
interested in the local flora of England, I have
collected a few notes this last summer on the flowering
plants around Kemsing, and its neighbourhood, which
may prove useful to some botanist. Kemsing, a tiny
rural village, nestles on the slope of a long range of
chalk hills, which stretch for many miles above the
villages of Otford, Kemsing, Wrotham, and others,
through that part of Kent known as " the Garden of
Kent." It is the district along these hills of which I
particularly wish to speak. Without exception, it is
the most prolific spot for wild plants with which I
have ever met.

ITie common plants — lovers of chalky soil — such
as %vild marjoram, field scabious {Kiiautia arvettsis),
£upkrasia officinalis, Scabiosa cohimbaria, Erythrtza
centaiirium, CJilora perfoliata, Thymus serpylhtm.
Reseda lutea, Helianthemtim vulgare (rock rose),
which emblazons the mossy banks, with its associate,
Poly gala viilgaris, etc., grow most profuselynip the
grassy slopes, while in the woods higher up the hill-
side the sight of the great masses of Dipsacus sylves-
tris, in full bloom, and, mixed with that in the tangled
underwood, thick beds of Senccio Jacobaa, is one really
worth while going far to see.

Hypericum perforation, Clematis vitalba, Ramincnhis
repens, Reseda luteola, Mclilotus officinalis. Geranium
Robertiannm, Galeopsis tetrahit, and vast numbers of
other common species in the Ranunculacea, Caryo-
phyllaccK, Umbelliferoe, Compositoe, Labiatse, and
Leguminosae orders are found everywhere about
there, in the lanes and on the hillsides.

Of the orchids I found but few, owing to the late-
ness of the season, but from various sources I learned

that it is a rich locality for them. All I came across
were Ophtys apifera. Orchis pyramidalis, Gymnadetiia
conopsea, and in the woods just above Kemsing, some
splendid spikes of Epipactis latifolia, in full bloom.
Ophrys mitscifera abounds in June, besides most of
the commoner species ; Orchis hii-cina (lizard orchis),
is to be met with, but is very rare.

Thanks to the kind directions of a local botanist,
of Ightham, I was lucky to find some fine plants of
Ativpa belladonna in an old chalk-pit near Wrotham.
The plant grows nearer Kemsing, but I failed to find
the spot. The lane (Pilgrim's Road), below Beechy
Lees, near Kemsing, affords fine specimens of Tri-
foliu?ii fragifenim, Lcpidiiim cainfestre, and Linaria
vulgaris, and farther down a lane, which crosses the
railway line between Kemsing and Seal, I discovered
a corner where dwelt some Thlaspi arvense (honesty),
and Lathy rus macrorrhizits.

At Beechy Lees, in the lane there, are two good-
sized plants of Lithospermutn officinale; this plant
grows but sparingly. A slight declivity in the hill-
side near Kemsing is ablaze with masses of Papaver
somiiiferum — I never saw a more luxuriant growth of
them. Amongst the other lovers of the downs are
Gentiana amarella, Fragai'ia vesca, and in the corn-
fields on the range, Anagallis arvensis, Valcrianella
dentata, Li?taria spiiria, Anthirrinum orontium, and
a small quantity of Atiagallis arveftsis, var. caridea.
Farther along we find Nepeta catana (cat-mint),
Mentha arvensis, Spergula arvensis, Echium vulgare,
Filago germaftica, and others. I saw a specimen of
Lathyrus aphaca, just gathered on the hills, but
found none myself. Space forbids of my mentioning
other plants more particularly, but I would strongly
urge any one, who cares for botanising, to run down
and pay a visit to the Kentish hills and lanes around
Kemsing on the earliest opportunity.

K. E. Styan.

OUR LANE.

{Ccmtinued frcmt p. 101.]

LIMITED space precludes me from dwelling at
length upon the curious forms of insect and mol-
luscan life that are to be found in our lane. I cannot,
however, refrain from describing a creature probably
unfamiliar to many naturalists. One gloriously bright
day, during the past summer, I was reclining upon
the close-cropped turf on the summit of the Down,
when, hard by, my eye happed upon a tiny hole —
about large enough to admit a small pea. Presently,
some half inch adown it, I see an object slowly
rising — it stops — and for some few minutes I keep
my eye riveted upon it. Slowly, very slowly, again
it upward moves — reaches the margin of the hole,
then once again stops. So nicely adjusted in size
to the orifice is the object, and so exactly does it
assimilate to the earth in color, that, it is hard to

124

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

believe that any hole exists. Still patiently I watch
until a tiny, red velvety-jacketed spider, unsus-
pecting of danger, runs in a line directly across the
treacherous path. In less than the twink of an eye a
sharp click — spider and trap-door together disappear
— and lo ! in place thereof a hole is once more open
to my inquisitive eye. 'Tis the burrowr of the larva
of that most beautiful of all English insects the tiger
beetle (Cicindcia campestris), and that nicely fitting
trap-door was its flattened head, armed with a terrible
pair of jaws, on which, if once impaled, no victim
will ever find escape.

The larva of the tiger beetle is a remarkable
instance of the adaptation of an animal to the
conditions of its existence. 'Tis a curiously un-
attractive specimen of insectivity when exhumed,
and it will at once be seen that it has been furnished
with special organs fitted for the performance of
special work. These consist of a pair of tubercles,
situated on the upper side of the isoft abdomen, to
these are attached two hooks, each surrounded by a
series of stiff bristles. These curious appendages
enable the creature to climb up, and retain its position

Fig. %T.— Helix
hispiJa.

Fig. 86. — Helix aspersa.

inj any part of its smooth burrow, which, without
some such arrangement, it would be impossible for it
to do. Its flattened head, which is furnished with
six eyes, not simply serves the purpose of an efficient
shield, but is, also, a powerful implement, which
enables its possessor to cast out with facility the
excavated earth. Small pellets of sand, or loam,
and particles of rock introduced into the burrow are
ejected with wonderful precision and considerable
force, as are, also, the exuviae of its victims. A
sharp unmistakable click is heard, and the particle
is shot forth as a bomb from a mortar. When
visible, gently touch the shield-like head with a
slender blade of grass, the click which accompanies
the lightning-like backward movement of the head
indicates that the object has unerringly been struck,
and the slight start of the operator almost invariably
jerks the uncanny looking creature from its burrow.
When the larva is about to change into the pupal
condition, it securely barricades its burrow with a
diaphragm of earth, and in due time emerges a beetle,
resplendent in a panoply of emerald and ruby,
garnished with burnished gold, but endowed with
instincts little in accord with its beauteous aspect.

The burrows are numerous in the sun-scorched
banks and indurated footpaths at the top of our lane.

Space will not allow of my describing many other
curious forms of insect life, but winged creatures both
dipterous and hymenopterous, and of " forms and
hues divine," abound. Well represented are the
butterflies and moths : amongst the former the least
common are the beautiful brimstone (Gonepteryx
Rhanuii) and the dark-green fritillary {Argynnis
Aglaia), but some of the most richly coloured kinds
are abundant, the painted lady {Cynthia Cardni)
and the peacock ( Vanessa Id) particularly so ; the
red admiral ( Vanessa Atalanta), I seldom light upon,
whilst the commonest form in my orchard and
neighbourhood is the small tortoiseshell {V. Urticcc).
Of course the pretty orange-tip {Anthocaris Card-
amines) is, at times, plentiful ; nor must I forget that
charming though by no means rare blue — the chalk -
hill blue {Folyommatus Corydon). The speckled
wood (Lasiom7nata^geria), the wall (Z. Megara), and
the green hair-streak {Thecla Rubi), besides a host of
commoner species, sport in the summer sunshine, and
proclaim the richness of the locality in these " things
of beauty."

Of all the many species of moths to be met with I
have found the burnet to be wonderfully plentiful at

Fig. 88. — Helix arbusiorum,

the lane-top, and the exquisite little twenty-plume
[Alucita hexadactyla) equally abundant in my garden.
All through the year — except during the coldest
months — three or four to a dozen, and upwards, may
always be found under the shelter of my stone,
honeysuckle covered porch, very many specimens
hybernating in our bedroom and dark closets.

As might be expected, the Ichneumonidae are in
full force ; their name is Legion, and many and
curious^ are their nests to be found in the neighbour-
hood of our lane. The mud-wasps, too, build their
mud-cells in nearly every sunny crevice in the
woodwork of our summer-house, in which are stored
the living caterpillars which serve as food for the
young grubs when hatched. Then, too, the solitary
wasp ( Vespa Norvegica) last summer hung its pretty
pensile nest in a sheltered spot, o'erhung with ivj-,
and within but six inches of a spotted flycatcher's
nest. Although in such close proximity, both
creatures must have been peaceably engaged in their
building operations at the same time. Several
species of spiders that I have never before met with
are to be found in the hedges, some I believe to be
rare.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

125

Briefly let me refer to the land shells so abundant
in our lane, and woods, and fields hard by. Not far
has one to seek to find a plenitude of helices.
Helix aspersa. If. iiemoralis, H. hortensis, H. arbus-
torum, H. virgata, H. ericctormn, H. hispida, H.
riipestris, and H. lapicida go far towards forming the
nucleus of a good collection. In moist weather the
smooth-barked beeches bristle with Clausilia lami-
nata, and, if less abundant, C. riigosa (C. nigricans)
is yet plentiful on the mossy banks and stones.
Bulitniis obsairus, too, occurs in company with C.
laminata, and pupae abound under fallen logs and
stones. Pupa secale, P. timbilicata, P. pygma:a and
P. siibstriata may be collected at all times, whilst a
search of damp moss and stones will soon reveal
Zonites nitididus, Z. radiatiilns, Z. excavahis, Z.
nitidus, Z. crystallimis, and Z. cellarius. Nor will
the searcher go unrewarded if he seeks for Balea
fragilis, Ziia hibrica, and Azeca tridetis. Slug collec-
tors would doubtless discover many varieties. I
have once turned up in our garden Testacella
haliotoidea.

It would be a profitless labour to enumerate a
tithe of the plants which flourish in and about our
lane. So diversified with hill and dale are these rich

Fig. 8g. — Helix virgata.

woodlands, that, 'twere remarkable indeed if a
wonderful variety could not be found. Not botanist
enough am I to say if many great rarities may be
discovered, but may yet venture to predict that the
diligent collector cannot fail to add many an un-
familiar one to his store. The meadow saff"ron
flourishes in our orchard, the lesser periwinkle
( Vinca minor) carpets the ground over large areas
beneath the trees in the beech wood at the top of
our lane, where, also, I have found in abundance the
bee orchis {Orphrys apifera), the butterfly orchis
{Habenaria bifolia), and a host of others. The
moneywort {Lysimachia nnmmidaria), is fairly plen-
tiful in some places, and if, bearing away from our
lane, we descend to the lowest parts of the beech and
larch woods, we shall quickly find the spurge laurel
{Daphne laureola). A wealth of smaller plants
clothe our banks with beauty.

The mistletoe {Viscum a/bum) is very abundant,
and is to be found growing upon apple-trees in many
an old orchard hereabout. Nor is our floral display
confined to the plants beneath our feet, for from
the time the hazel hangs out its tasselled catkins, and
the yew expands its flowers, until the late lime {Tilia
Europiza) perfumes the air with its delicious odour,
we have a succession of bloom. Haw- and black-

thorns, sycamore, mountain ash, horse chestnut, ash,
elm, holly, box, birch, beech and crab. Do not the
orchards, too, spread out their treasures to catch the
genial sun-rays ? I know no greater delight than,
when the pink-tipped apple-blossoms are fully ex-
panded, to wander 'neath their flowery shade, and,
meanwhile, drink in with ecstasy the sweet concert
of woodland music poured from a hundred tiny
throats ; at such moments one feels that every sense is
steeped in innocent delight, and sadly out of
harmony with nature must be his soul who cannot
find refreshment in communion with her in these her
happiest moods.

The transition from the overshadowing beech to
the humble moss, that garnishes its gnarled roots with
beauty, may seem a somewhat sudden one ; far less,
however, than might at first appear, for are they not
friends, from earliest life associate and interdepen-
dent? 'Twere needless to tell how lavishly these
humble members of the vegetable kingdom have been
spread o'er earth, and twig, and stone, and the mus-
cologist will in our lane and woods find an Eldorado.

Nor will the fungologist fare less pleasantly, for a
profusion of curious forms spring up on every side.
Very brilliantly coloured specimens, too, are some.

Fig. 90. — Helix laficidia.

One has a bright scarlet pileus, studded with small
golden knobs ; this I take to be the Amanita f?tuscaria
of the fungologist. Many another bright-coloured
"toadstool" of graceful form have I come across in
my autumnal rambles through the woods ; though
evanescent their beauty, they yet afford the naturalist
much more than a moment's joy, nor run in vain is
their short-lived course.

Not yet exhausted are the attractions of our lane —
nevertheless, no longer are things animate my
pleasant theme. Things inert — the veriest shadows
of things that were, but are no longer — these must be
the subject of my closing remarks — the remains of
creatures that once enjoyed their short day of life —
then perished to make room for others, and leave
behind a record of times remote, when man — earth's
youngest born — was a creature in the far, far distant
future.

Could some marvellously facile pen unfold the story
of their life, 'twould be a wondrous one indeed, but
we must be content to read it in the vestiges which
crowd the rocks beneath our feet. Our lane and all
the surrounding district is situated upon the formation
known as the Upper Oolite, one rich in fossil remains,
which may generally be readily extracted from the
matrix. Sea urchins and pentacrinites, and univalve

126

HARDWICKKS SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

and bivalve shells innumerable, may be collected by
the geologist, both in the quarries and road mender's
stone heaps, trigonias and grypheas being exceedingly
common ; rhynchonellas and terebratulas occur
abundantly in our garden ; and when, after a heavy
summer downpour, the converging water-courses
pour their united streams adown our lane, it is con-
verted into a very mountain-torrent, which sweeps all
before it, leaving the rock clean swept. From this
we may pick many small specimens. The collector
will, however, doubtless prefer to gather his finds in
the numerous quarries existing in the neighbourhood,
nor need he diverge many steps from our lane to ob-
tain the objects of his quest.

Very imperfectly hath my pleasant task been per-
formed. I would that some more facile pen than mine
had writ the story. But briefly though it hath been
told, 'tis yet enough to show that within the circum-
scribed limits of our lane is stored materials of abid-
ing interest, and that to record the life-history of its
denizens would fully engage each busy moment of a
life, e'en though its span should far exceed the
allotted threescore years and ten.

Alas ! the besom of so-called improvement hath
ruthlessly swept away many a sweet refuge from the
toils and tumult of the restless world ; the joy of
many a humble worshipper at Nature's shrine hath
long since been translated into a pleasant memory.

Though threatened, many yet survive — long may
they be preserved — and last to disappear, and leave
the world less beautiful, I trust may be " Our Lane."

; AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF
BRITISH DIPTERA.

By E. Brunetti.

\Continuedfrotn p. 105.]
X^.. BombylidcE.

THE typical Bombylida: are large bee-like flies,
with large, globular, very pubescent abdomens,
long proboscis, and long, very slender legs ; their
flight being very swift, feeding on nectar, and in-
habiting dry warm spots in the height of summer.

The larvae live on plant roots, or are parasitic on
Lepidoptera. All the half-score or thereabouts of
British species are more or less uncommon. The
transformation of several species have been chronicled
by Reaumur and Schaffer.

Proboscis long ; antenna; contiguous at base.

First antennal joint long : Boiiihylius, L.

First antennal joint short : Phthiria, Mg.
Proboscis short; antenna; at base remote; Anthrax, Scop.

Anthrax paniscus, Rossi, has a somewhat
oblongated black abdomen, covered with dense
yellow pubescence, as is also the thorax ; the wings
being pale grey, the legs black, the proboscis rather
short (for this family). The species basks in the
sunshine; long 12 mm. A. fenestrata, Fin., comes

from the New Forest. A. morio, L., a common
continental species, has been reared from larvae in
the nest of a bee {Aiiihophora). I have one or two
specimens of Anthrax in which spurious veins are
present, this apparently being no uncommon thing in
this genus.

Bombylius major, L., has a globular black
abdomen, densely covered (and the thorax also) with
pale yellow pubescence ; proboscis very long ; legs
long, slender, black ; wings clear, with the fore
border marked with brown ; long 9 mm.

An allied and less common species (B, discolor,
Mik.), often mistaken for B. meditis, L., which is a
non-British species, is rather larger, and has the
wings marked with numerous small circular brown
spots, and appears in spring, especially on primrose.

European and exotic species of this family are
very numerous, and assume large proportions and
brilliant colouring.

No less than twenty-seven species, additional to the
eight he admits as British, have been introduced as
indigenous, according to Mr. Verrall.

B. major, L., Wlk. i. PI. ii. 14. A, paniscus,
Rossi, Mg., Sys. Bes. iii. PI. xvii. 19 (cingulata).

18. Therevidcc,

Carnivorous Diptera, frequenting sandy spots ; the
sexes differing in the colour of the pubescence.
Flight swift ; larva living in the earth. Abdomen
elongated; venation well marked; legs rather delicate
and easily broken off. Allied to the Asilidce and
Bombylida:, with which latter family Walker
erroneously included them.

The six authenticated British species are more or
less rare, T. fulva, Mg., being perhaps the most
common. It is a black fly, with yellow bands across
the abdomen, which is clothed with thin yellow
pubescence, the dorsum of the thorax being bluish -
grey, with two central longitudinal yellow stripes ;
wings greyish, tinged with yellow ; legs smooth and
tawny ; long 9 mm.

7*. nobilitata, F., is also not rare.

T. annulata, ¥., is easily known by its white
pubescence — present in both sexes. Meigen records
the larva of this species as living in rotten wood.

The genus Thereva is now usually split up into
three, distinguished as follows : —

Under-side of face naked : Psilocephala, Zett.
Under-side of face hairy.

Fourth posterior cell open : Dialineura, Rond.

Fourth posterior cell closed : Thereva, Latr.

19. Scetiopittida,

Three species of this small, natural group (only
one genus being European), are British : the venation
is peculiar, somewhat resembling that of the
acalypterate Muscida: ; sluggish flies.

Scenopinus fenestralis, L., is not rare, occurring in
houses, hotbeds, greenhouses, and on willows, the

HA RD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

127

larva living in rotten fungi. S. Niger, Deg. Curt.
609 {nigosiis).

20. Cyrtidcc.

This unique group, till quite recently known as the
AcroccridiZ, is also a limited and natural one, being
allied to some genera of Botnhylida:. Small, soft,
globular flies, the abdomen being apparently filled
with air, splitting open Avith the least touch ; head
nearly all eye ; thorax very convex ; venation very
indistinct, and confined principally to the upper
portion of the wing ; legs very short ; sluggish in
nature ; found on tree trunks and flowers, or floating
about in the breeze on calm, sunny days ; long
4-5 mm,

Oncodes gibbos^is, L., is selected by a species of
Crabro, which burrows in wood, as the food for its
young.

Only two genera are British, each represented by
a single species.

Third longitudinal vein forked : Paracrocera, Mik.
Third longitudinal vein simple : Oncodes, Latr.

Paracrocera globulus, Pz., Wlk. PL i, 16.

21, Empidie.

About 160 species of this extensive family are
British. Their habits are very various, they
frequenting woods, ditches, fields, and the banks of
streams, some having the power of running over the
surface of the water. Head small ; body attenuated ;
legs long and slender ; posterior femora in <f in some
genera much enlarged.

Some inhabit the coast, a few frequent flowers,
running with great swiftness over the leaves and
herbage. Many species are common, some abundant,
often for a few days only, and while swarming, fly
backwards and forwards in streams, moving as by a
common impulse.

The venation varies in the several genera ; mostly
carnivorous (especially the ? , the ^ often feeding on
the juices of plants), small Diptera, and Ephemerida
appearing to be their chief prey.

Westwood illustrates the larva of one or two
species. Five sub-families are recognised, all being
represented in Britain,

Anal cell present.

Anterior coxae shorter than femora.

Proboscis long: third longitudinal vein forked: Em-

pincE.
Proboscis short ; third longitudinal vein simple.

Anal cell longer than lower basal cell : HybotincE.
Anal cell shorter than lower basal cell : Ocy-
dromirue.
Anterior coxae very prominent ; as long as, or longer than,
femora : H emerodroniiiue .
Anal cell absent : Tackydromina:.

Hybotincs. — Hybos grossipes, L., is a small shining
black fly with black legs, the posterior femora being
enlarged in the d". Flight slow; it usually hovers
in swarms on summer evenings. Long 4J mm,
Cyrtoma, Mg,, inhabits trees and woods in summer.

Empincc. — Empis, L. The larva and pupa live in

the earth, the latter in some species being spined.
About thirty species are British, appearing chiefly iu
the spring ; the 9 are very voracious.

E. livida, L., is a long brown fly, with three
longitudinal 'black stripes on the thorax ; long pale
tawny legs, with black tips to tarsi and tibice, and
very pale brown or quite clear wings ; common ;
long 8-9 mm,

E. iessellata, F,, is allied to the above ; rather
stouter and larger, legs darker brown ; thorax with
three black stripes ; abdomen marked with a light
spot in the centre of, and joined to a light posterior
border to, each segment ; wings brown ; long 9 mm.
Macquart observed one species {O. opaca, F.) emerge
from the pupa,

Rhamphomyia, Mg., allied to Empis ; apical trans-
verse nervure wanting ; twenty species British, their
habits being similar to those of Empis.

Pachymeria femorata, F,, is a small black fly with
pale brown wings and black stigma ; black legs with
the two posterior pairs with dense black fringe on
femora and tibice ; long 4-5 mm.

Hilara, Mg. Many species of this extensive genus
are met with on summer evenings, swarming over
streams.

H. maiira, F., is a small shining black fly with
black legs and pale grey wings ; black along the fore
border and with black stigma, I could have taken
ten or twelve thousand specimens of this species one
day at Staines, where it swarmed over a shallow
stream. It is very common ; long 4 mm. The
species (twenty are British) are closely allied. The
anterior tarsi in many species are dilated in the ^ .

Ocydromince. — About six or eight species are
British.

Heiiierodromijicc. — Heinerodromia, Mg., inhabits
grass, shrubs, and moist situations ; their flight is
slow; their fore-legs enlarged ; long 3-5 mm.

Clinocera, Mg., a genus of slenderly-built flies, of
which we have nine species ; inhabits moist localities,

Tachydro7nini2. — Tachydromia, Mg., an extensive
genus, is represented in Britain by about thirty
species, occurring in marshy situations ; their move-
ments are very agile, running swiftly over the leaves.
This species are widely distributed,

H. grossipes, L., Curt. 661 (pilipes). E. livida^
L., Curt. Farm insects, PI, J, 5, E. borealis, L.,
Curt, 18, Ragas unica, Wlk,, Wlk. iii. 3. Clinocera
stag7talis, Hal., Wlk, iii. 6,

22, Dolichopidce.

About one hundred and sixty species of this family
are indigenous. Two very excellent monographs on
the genus Dolichopiis, Latr., have been published by
Stannius (1831), and Staeger (1S42).

The Dolichopidcs are rather small flies, usually of
a metallic green or bronze colour, with long, spiny
legs, very brittle in character. The wings are
o-enerally clear, the abdomen usually conical, shining^

128

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

and shortly pubescent. Many species are common ;
they occur chiefly on hedges and in grass, on the
stems oi reeds, and plants of low growth. The
abdomen at the tip curls inwards in the majority of
the species.

Psilopiis, a genus of delicate, long-legged flies ;
congregates in small groups in shady spots.

Dolichopus, Latr., found in marshy ground and
long grass, in rank herbage and about overgrown
pools ; a few species occur on the sea-coast. Degeer
has observed the transformations of D. tingulatus.

Dolichopus trivialis, Hal. , metallic green ; face
above antenna; green, below whitish ; antenna; black ;
wings pale grey ; legs livid or pale yellow ; tarsi
black ; tibise spiny ; common ; variable ; long 4-5 mm.
Poecilobothrus ttobilitatus, L., brilliant metallic
green ; under-side of thorax with silvery-grey reflec-
tions ; face silvery below, green above ; antennae,
which are black ; legs pale yellow ; tips of posterior
tibiis, and all tarsi black ; wings clear ; a large
brown streak near the tip extending from fore to
hind border ; not uncommon ; long 5 mm.

Diaphoris, Mg., and Chry solus, Mg., very small
and uncommon flies, metallic in colour, occurring
on trees in the hot sunshine.

Argyra, Mcq., conspicuous by the whitish pu-
bescence on the abdomen in some of the species ;
generally distributed.

Argyra diaphaiia, F., thorax blackish ; dorsum me-
tallic green ; abdomen greenish-black ; sides of first
two or three segments pale yellow, and from the
second segment to the tip, with whitish tomentum ;
face and antennae black ; wings pale grey ; legs
blackish-brown, tibia; lighter ; not uncommon ;
variable. The ground colour and markings of the
abdomen resemble those of Homalomyia caniculala ;
long 6 mm.

Porphyrops, Mg., about twelve species — some not
uncommon.

Hydrophonisy Whig. This, with Medeterus of
Fisch, are carnivorous genera (Doubleday and
Macquart both record having watched them devour
small insects.) The former inhabits the surface of
pools ; the latter frequents dry, warm localities, and
is conspicuous by its bulky proboscis.

Thinophilus, Whlbg., three species ; rare ; sea-
coast.

Sccllus notatus, F., metallic bronze ; sides of thorax
with whitish reflections ; face brown or black ;
whitish below antenna; ; antennje black ; wings with
brown streaks along the veins, and a distinct brown
spot on fourth longitudinal vein near the tip ; legs
blackish ; a few scattered spines ; not rare ; long
5J-6 mm.

Campsicnemus, Wlk., found in damp grass, occur-
ing during the greater part of the year. C. scambiis
is not rare.

The following plates aregood -.--Argyra leucocephala,
Wlk. i. PI. vii. 4. Mcdelerus diadema, Wlk. i. PI. vii.

8. Psilopus Weidemanii, Wlk., i. PI. vi. I. Cam-
psiciicnms scambus, Wlk., i. PL vi. 6. Porphyrops
clcganUdus, Curt., 541. Scelhis notatus {Hydrophorus),
Curt., 162.

23. Lonchopleridce,

A limited group of small active flies, inhabiting
grassy marshes and such like habitats, being found
during the greater part of the warm weather. About
half a dozen species are British, two being tolerably
common, L. hitea, Pz., the commonest, being
yellowish-brown with black antennae and eyes, a
black spot on the vertex of the head and the centre
of the front of the pronotum ; a brownish-black
vertical stripe on the abdomen (variable) ; a thin
central brown line on the thorax, and dark tarsi.

Lonchoptera hitea, Pz., Wlk., vol. i. PI. viii. I.

24. Platypczidce.

All the four European genera of this family are
British, representing about a dozen species, all more
or less uncommon, inhabiting woods, the larvae
living in fungi.

Van Roser has published his observations on
P. boletina. Fall., the larva of which lives in rotten
mushrooms, and resembles a seed. Westwood
figures it in his " Class. Ins.," vol. ii. Fig. 130-17.
Walker illustrates /'.//Wfl', Mg., " Br. Dip." i. PI. viii.
I, and Callomyia elegans, Mg., PI. viii. 3.

Curtis gives a good plate of Opetia lonchopteroides.
Curt., in his "Br. Ent." 489 ; mostly shining black
flies, about 4-5 mm. long.

The genera may be recognised as follows : —

Discal cell present.

Fourth longitudinal vein simple : Callomyia, Mg.

Fourth longitudinal vein forked : Platypeza, Mg.
No discal cell.

Fourth longitudinal vein simple : Platyctiema, Lett.

Fourth longitudinal vein forked : Opetia, Mg.

Platypeza picta, Wlk. i. PI. viii. I. Opetia
lonchopteroides, Curt. 4S9.

25. PipunculidiJ:.

Allied to both the Plalypczida: and SyrphidiC (to
the latter, through the sub-family Bacchincc), Three
genera are European, two being British. They
inhabit fields and woods, and are in the habit of
hovering in the air ; they are not difficult of deter-
mination, but none can be said to be common. They
are larger than the Platypezidu:, and more stoutly
built.

Discoidal cell present : Pipunculus, Latr.
Discoidal cell absent : Clialarus, Wlk.

Pipunculus pratoriim. Fall., Curt. 757. Chalarus
spuriits. Fall., " Br. Dip." i. PI. viii. 7.

26. Syrphida:.

This extensive and well-known group is divided
into several sub-families, and represented in Britain by
over 200 species (about iioo species are European).

As a rule the species of this family are flat-bodied.

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSS IP.

129

brightly coloured insects (usually more or less yellow
-and black), many resembling wasps ; and they are
popularly known as drone flies or sun-flies, from their
Tiabit of hovering in the sun over flowers, emitting
meanwhile a shrill hum ; their movements on the
wing are very rapid, and, so to speak, spasmodic.

The larvDs feed on a variety of substances, some on
decaying vegetable matter, these being thus of con-
siderable assistance to agriculturists, the flies being
so abundant.

Schiner divides the SyrphidiS into eight sub-
families : Syrphimv, VolucelHtm, Sericomyimv, Eris-
talinir, Milcsiua, Chiysotoxifur, Microdonitur, Ceriucr ;
but Verrall neither recognises sub-families in his list,
nor adheres to the German author's sequence of
families.

The Pifiza group of genera seem to me appro-
priately placed next the Pipimculidic, and the Ceriiia:
undoubtedly approach the Conopidcv, which latter
family form a useful intemiediate group to connect
the divisions of Macquart's Tctrachivta: and Dickcvtc^.

The principal genera may be tabulated thus : —

Marginal cell closed.

Antennae plumose : Volucella, Geoft".
Antenna; with a bristle : Erisialis, Latr.
^Marginal cell open.

Posterior femora thickened.

Third longitudinal vein straight.

Fourth longitudinal, before its junction with third, bent
into two loops.

Fourth longitudinal at second loop bent back to

the third : Eiimerus, Mg.
Fourth longitudinal at second loop carried for-
wards to the third : Syritta, St. Farg.
Fourth longitudinal vein, from the portion bent up to
its junction with third, nearly straight, and more or
less in a straight line with the bent- up portion of the
tifth.
• Eyes bare.

Abdomen conical or rounded.

Arista bare : Criorhina, Mcq.
Arista plumose : Sericoiiiyia, Mg.
Abdomen elongated: Xylota, Mg.
Eyes hairy : Pipiza, Fall.
Third longitudinal vein strongly looped downwards
into first posterior cell: Helophilus, Mg.
Posterior femora normal.

Antennae elongated — longer than head — horizontal :

Chrysotoxum, Mg.
Antennae normal— shorter than head— deflexed.

Abdomen much retracted at basal segments :

BaccJia, F.
Abdomen barely or not retracted at base.
Eyes pubescent ; wings spotted.

Abdomen golden yellow : Chrysochlamys,

Rond.
Abdomen blackish blue : Leucozoua, Sch.
Eyes bare ; wings never marked.
Species yellow and black.

.A.bdomen elongated — longer than wings :

SpJuErophoria, St. Farg.
Abdomen oblong or oval — shorter than
wings.
Anterior tibiae in cT dilated ; abdomen

oblong : Platyckirus, St. Farg.
Anterior tibiae never dilated ; abdomen
oval : Syrplius,, F.
Species black or greenish-black.

Front rough or furrowed : Chrysogaster,

Mg.
Front smooth : Chilosia, Mg.

SyrpJms, F. This, the commonest genus, is repre-
■sented by about thirty-five rather closely allied
species, all more or less resembling wasps. Abdo-
men bright yellow, with transverse black stripes ;
thorax yellowish, greyish, or livid ; legs thin, yellow
with black rings ; wings usually clear ; long about

7-9 mm. The commonest species are S. rihesii, L.,
corolla, F., pyrastri, L. ; larva figured by Westwood,
Class, Ins. ii. Fig. 130-21. Baltcatus, Deg.,
Bouche has observed the metamorphoses of this
species, and liiniger, Mg. The larvae of this genus
feed on Apkidcc.

Flatychirus, St. Farg., an allied genus of about
twelve British species, has a narrower abdomen,
several species being common ; about the length of,
and closely resembling Syrphiis. The venation in
SyrpJucs, Platyckirus, Chilosia, and Melanostoma is
very similar. Mr. Verrall, in the " Ent. Mon. Mag.,"
gives some excellent notes on the British species
of Platychinis,

Chilosia, Mg., a rather large genus of black flies,
more or less pubescent, rather stoutly built; wings
never marked, and generally grey or brown. Chiefly
found in woods and meadows, and most of the species
are more or less local ; long about 8-10 mm. A
continental authority (Professor F. Kowarz) has
recently revised the majority of the European species.
Rhingia rostrata, L., a characteristic species ; tawny
brown, with a black head and thorax ; tawny face
produced in the form of a strong, long, pointed
snout ; wings pale grey ; legs tawny ; proboscis long
and horny ; common ; long 7-8 mm. Reaumur found
the larva in cow-dung.

Eristalis, Latr.— These are the typical "drone
flies," several species being very common, the larvre
living in stagnant water.

E. ictiax, L., is a brown fly, with grey or pale
tawny marks on the abdomen ; face clothed with
short, pale yellow pubescence, with a strong, broad,
central black line ; legs brown, paler at the knees and
tips ; wings clear, or slightly brown at the base, fore-
border, and towards the tip ; thorax clothed with
short thick tawny brown pubescence ; abdomen very
variable in colour, sometimes entirely black ; very
common everywhere ; long 10-12 mm.

I once placed a live cf in a glass-top box with a
dead 9 and it remained in cop. for about half an
hour.

E. intricarius, L., abdomen thickly clothed with
black hair, tip with whitish hair ; base of the tibise
pale yellow ; wings clear ; scutellum surrounded by
thick yellow hair ; thorax clothed with black hair ;
rather smaller, less common, and more local than
tenax. The colour of the pubescence varies greatly,
being sometimes nearly all yellow, or with a reddish
tinge ; long 8-9 mm.

E. arbusiorum, L., a very common species, smaller
than intricarius ; abdomen bare, tawny with, roughly
speaking, two black triangular spots on it, their
apices nearly touching ; legs black and yellow ;
wings clear ; thorax with greyish yellow pubesence ;
face with yellowish white hair ; frontal stripe in 2
black ; long 8 mm. ; very common everywhere ;
variable.
-.Volucella bombyla7is, L., a large bee-like fly covered

13°

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

with thick pubescence, which is yellow on the thorax,
black at base of the abdomen, and whitish or reddish
at the tip, and two yellow tufts of pubescence at the
sides of the base of the abdomen ; under side of
thorax with thick black hair ; face with yellow hair,
and in 9 with a central stripe of thick yellow hair ;
legs black ; wings pale grey, brownish tinged along
the fore borden; very variable. There are two
distinct varieties, both of which Miss E. Ormerod
has bred from one- batch of eggs; and Mr. Verrall
possesses a series, showing every form of intermediate
colouring ; common ; long 9-1 1 mm.

V. pclhicens, L., a large black fly ; bare ; basal half
of abdomen livid ; legs black ; wings nearly clear,
with a large irregular blackish spot in the centre of
the fore border, extending downwards half way across
the wing ; face yellow ; slightly smaller than bomhy-
lans ; common.

Helophilus pendulus, L., a yellow fly; bare; top
of thorax black, with four yellow stripes ; abdomen
with transverse black markings ; face yellow, with
a central black line ; legs black and yellow ; posterior
femora enlarged ; wings clear ; rather common ;
long 9-10.

Several other species of Hclophiliis are more or
less common in Britain ; mostly yellowish in colour,
and allied \.o penduliis ; known as "sun-flies," their
habits being similar to those of Eristalis.

Xylota segnis, L. — Black, basal half of abdomen
dull red ; face with short whitish pubescence ; legs
black, with base of tibite yellow ; wings grey or pale
brown ; posterior femora enlarged ; long 8-9 mm.
About six species of Xylota are British. The larva
of Xylota lives in decayed wood,

Syritta pipiais, L., is a small and very common
insect found everywhere, London included. Black,
with the under side grey ; face with thick greyish
white pubescence , a small yellowish spot at each
edge of posterior borders of the abdominal segments ;
legs black, marked with tawny or yellow ; posterior
femora much enlarged ; wings quite clear ; variable
in size and markings. Larva lives in horse-dung ;
long 5-7 mm.

Criorhma oxyacantha:, Mg., resembles a bee;
covered with yellow pubescence, deepest in colour on
the thorax ; face much produced ; black, covered on
upper side with thick yellow hair ; legs all black or
dark brown ; wings pale grey, yellowish at the base,
and with a black stripe extending half way across the
wing from the centre of the fore border. The larva
lives in river bank mud ; long 12-13 mm.

Eumenis, Mg., a genus allied to Syritta, is repre-
sented by three species.

Chtysogastcr, Mg., is a genus of metallic, dark,
greenish-black flies, with rather dark wings ; black
legs, short pubescence ; several species, all closely
allied, are British ; one of their characteristics is the
grooved face ; they appear chiefly in spring and
summer on Ranunculi ; long 6-7 mm.

Chrysotoxtnn, Mg. — Seven species are British. A.
genus of large, handsome, wasp-like flies, except that
the base of the abdomen is not contracted ; thorax.
black, with yellow side markings ; face black,
generally with a wide central black line ; abdomen
oval, convex, yellow with transverse black markings ;.
legs thin, principally yellow ; wings unmarked, grey-
ish ; base tawny yellow; long 10-12 mm. Larva
feeds on plant roots.

The Syrphidcc occasionally swarm in countless,
numbers, when several species are sometimes found
forming part of the host. At Margate, in August,
1869, the following appeared in vast profusion during
one day : — E, icnax, S. balteatus, and Sphicroplioria-
ticniatiis.

Swammerdam and Reaumur have studied and'
illustrated their writings on the life-histories of
several common species.

Over a thousand species are European. Sphegina-
clunipes. Fin., Wlk. i. PI. x. 16. Syrphiis pyrastri^,
L., Wlk. i. PI. x. 12. Leucozoiia lucornim, L., Curt.
753. Rhingia campestris, L., Curt. 182. Vohtcellct
ivflata, F., Curt. 452. Scricomyia borealis, Fin.,.
Walk. PI. ix. 14. Syritta pipic?ts, L,, Wlk. PI. ix. 9.
Criorhina oxyacatithcc, Mg., Wlk. PI. ix. 12..
Chrysotoxiun bimaciilattitn. Curt. 853.

27. Cotiopida:.

This group is a small one, allied to both the
Syrphidie and higher forms of MuscidiE. The species
in the first division closely resemble wasps (Odynerzis,.
&c.) ; the larvDe are parasitic on bees, .Latreille
having reared P. rufipes from living Bombidic, whilst
Westwood noted the abundance of 0. atra on sand-
banks in which several species of bees burrowed.

One or two authors have greatly multiplied both,
genera and species, nearly ail their names being now-
sunk as synonyms. The eyes are wide apart in both,
sexes, the 9 being distinguished by a ventral horny-
process towards the end of the abdomen.

None of the species can be said to be common.

Antennae stylate ; ocelli absent (C['«(7/z«a').

First abdominal joint of normal width : Conops, L.
First and second abdominal joint much retracted : Phy-
socepJiala, Sch.
Antennse with a bristle ; ocelli present [Myopina:).

Proboscis bent only at the base : Zodion, Latr.
Proboscis bent at the base .Tnd at the middle.

Face much produced downwards below the eyes ;

proboscis short : Myopa, F.
Face not much produced downwards below the.
eyes ; proboscis long : Oncomyia.

Conopina.— Conops flavipes, L., is black and
yellow ; face yellow, with a central black stripe ;. °
antennce black ; thorax black, with yellow spots on.
shoulders ; abdomen black, with two ( $ ) or three
((j) yellow bands; legs yellow and black; wings-
greyish ; fore border brownish ; long 10 mm. This,
is the most common species of the genus.

Phyrocephala riifipes, Y .—Phyrocephala is dis-
tinnjished from Conops by the first and second
abdominal segment being much contracted ; the legs

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE-G OSSIF.

131

are thinner, and have frequently a twisted appearance.
The colour of F. rufipcs is brownish red ; face
yellowish, with a black central stripe ; antennae
black ; legs tawny brown, marked with black ; wings
pale grey, anterior portion pale brown almost to the
tip ; tip of abdomen covered with thin silvery-grey
tomentum, and it varies in colour ; long 10 mm.

Myopinic. — Sicusfentigitiais, Scop.; rather common
and widely distributed. Uniformly tawny ; face
broad — reddish-yellow ; wings pale grey, tinged
with tawny ; long 6-8 mm.

Nyopa iestacca, L. , is tawny ; dorsum of thorax
black, with greyish reflections ; wings pale tawny
grey ; internal transverse vein clouded ; under side
of face white ; pubescent ; rather common, and
generally distributed ; long 5-7 mm.

M. biiccata, L., an allied and rather common
species, has pale brownish marks on the wings, giving
them a mottled appearance, and the transverse veins
are not distinctly clouded. Stomoxysy a genus of
Muscidir, has erroneously been included in this
family.

Conops fiavipes, L., Panz. Ixx. 21. Physocephala
rufipes, F., Wlk. i. PI. x. 18.

28. CEstridco.

The (Estridit form a small but very interesting
group, represented by eight British species. In the
imago the mouth is obsolete, the venation more or
less obscurely defined, and the alulae large ; eyes
widely separated in both sexes. In the larval state
they are parasitic, each species living on or in a
different animal, the larva dropping to the earth
when fully developed, and pupating in the ground.

In Gastrophilus equi, F., the 9 lays her eggs in
the mine of the horse, and on the animal licking it,
the eggs pass into the stomach, where the lai-vae
emerge and develop, afterwards passing out with the
dung, and pupating in the earth. The imago is a
brown fly, with yellow and brown pubescence ; the
face is covered with yellow pubescence ; the legs are
thin, yellow, somewhat short ; the wings grey, with
a dull brown stripe in the centre ; the abdomen has
yellowish pubescence. Long 11-12 mm.

Oestris ovis, L. The g lays her eggs on the nose of
the sheep, the larvae crawling thence into the head,
where they attain their full size, afterwards descend-
ing the nostril, and assuming the pupa state in the
ground.

It is a brownish-grey fly, with clear wings, large
white alulce, and yellowish-brown legs; long 9-10
mm. "When attacked, the sheep cluster in a circle,
liolding their noses together close to the ground.

Hypoderma bovis, Deg., is parasitic on cattle,
laying its eggs in the back, a tumour arising, from
which when full grown the larvae emerge. Black,
pubescent ; tip of abdomen with red pubescence ;
face and under side with grey pubescence ; legs
black ; wings brown ; long 12-14 mm.

One or two other species are British, but are very
rare. Clark's essay on "Bots" is a splendid mono-
graph, splendidly illustrated. It is impossible to breed
the flies, as the larvos die on removal from its host.
They are very swift on the wing ; the larva; are
popularly known as "warbles," and the perfect
insects as "bot-flies."

ROSSENDALE RHIZOPODS.
No. 3.

I NOW come to a genus of testaceous Rhizopods,
viz., Difflugia, so common, and so widely
distributed, that every microscopist is more or less
familiar with their arenaceous, box-like shells.
Every pond, ditch, and bog is sure to furnish one or
more species of this ubiquitous genus, if the sediment
be carefully examined ; and it is somewhat comical
to see the box-like shells, especially the taller species,
bobbing about among the Algse and broken-down
organic detritus. The genus contains about twelve
species— differences in form of shell or test, and in
the character of the mouth, separating them. These
species, however, are often connected by inter-
mediate forms, and it is sometimes very difficult, and
more rarely impossible, at the time, to say definitely
to which species a given specimen may belong, as it
may possess the characters of at least two species, in
fairly-balanced proportions. They present themselves

Fig. gi. — Difflugia pyriformis. Fig. 92. — D. pyriformis.

as round, oval, pyriform, or in|other ways elongated,
box-like shells, made up of large and small sand-
grains and diatom frustules (chiefly of the linear
kind), separately or mixed in various proportions ; in
more than one species it is of chitinoid membrane,
and especially is this the case Jin the forms from
Sphagnum. Indeed, I believe that in all the species
there is a chitinoid basis, even in those species in
which nothing but sand-grains can be seen. They
vary greatly in form and size, not only among them-
selves, but in the same species. I have seen a D.
acuminata as large as the j'j of an inch in height ;
other and rounder species are as small as the ^^^ of an
inch in diameter ; but from ^ to 5^ of an inch may
be considered as ordinary dimensions. The sarcode
is occasionally coloured, more commonly green, and

132

HARD Wl CKE' S S CIENCE- G OSS I P.

often deeply so, but is more generally, in my ex-
perience, colourless, except as may be modified by
the presence of food, and it usually entirely fills the
shell. The pseudopodia are not, as a rule, numerous,
rarely more than five or six, and are long, and
finger-like. It is not every specimen, however, in
which the pseudopodia can be seen projected, but
when this is the case they will be found to lengthen

pear-shaped, hence the name ; other varieties are
ovoid and flask-shaped ; occasionally this is com-
pressed, and in one well-marked variety the top or
fundus of the shell has one or two pointed, conical
processes. In some the sand-grains are large,
rough and angular, in others most minute ; while
other forms have the large and small mixed in
varying proportions. One common form here has

Fig. ^-i.—Dlfftu^ia
fyrifor-ntis.

WMii

Fig. loo. — D. acu-
minata.

Fig. 94. — Difflngia fiyi-iforinis.

Fig. (js-—Diflngia
gtobulosa.

Fig. gj.—D. glob7t/osa.

Fig. 99. — D. globulosa.

Fig. 102. — D. acuDiinata.
Baloon-shaped individual,
with rounded prolongation.

Fig. 96.— -D. glohu'osa^

Fig. 98. — D. globulosa.

Fig. 103. — D. acuminata. Sand-
grains with considerable space
between, which is filled uj>
with dark brown chitine.

Fig. loi.— Z>. acuminata.

Fig. 104. — D. Jirceoiata.

Fig. lo^.—Difiugia. pyriformis.
Specimen with straw-coloured
chitinoid basis, sand-grains,
rough. In form, it seems to
connect this species with Z>.
globulosa. This variety has,
been discovered since the fore-
going was written.

or shorten, or slowly to move from side to side,
almost continuously, while under observation. The
mouth of the test is in most cases infeiior and
terminal. During the past three months I have
found numerous individuals of the genus, belonging
to three species.

Difflugia pyriformis is perhaps the commonest
species of the genus, and varies greatly in size and
shape. The typical form is narrowly or broadly

its test of colourless chitinoid membrsne, with a few
widely-scattered sand-grains and diatoms. Tha
pseudopodia are, in this species, finely granular, and
and in all my specimens free from colour.

Fig. 91, the prevailing form here, of chitinoid
membrane, with widely-scattered sand-grains and
diatoms. Empty. Fig. 92, another similar one,
with sarcode encysted in a brownish ball. Fig.l93
large form, [test'- composed entirely of sand-grains.

HA RD WICKE ' 5 ^ CIENCE- G OS SIP.

^00

Pseudopodia extended. Fig. 94, very fine speci-
men from Sphagnum ; test of extra large and rough
sand-grains. Size 35 of an inch. Diffliigia glohidosa
is another common form, one of the smallest of the
genus. It was one of the first to be described and
figured, and is probably the D. protdformis of the
illustrious Ehrenberg. Its general form is that of a
round or oval box, more or less truncated at the
mouth. One common variety has exactly the form
of the * box ' of the sea urchin (Echinus). In the
character of the materials used in the formation of
the test, and in other particulars, it differs little from
the preceding. I occasionally come across a form in
several of our shaded wells and clear pools, which
has a large, eccentric mouth, like D. constricta, or
the spineless form of Contropyxa aacleata. As it
is too low for the former, and is wanting in the
appendages to the incurved mouth of the latter, it
more properly, I think, may be placed here. Size
from jJjj to :iJj^ of an inch.

Fig. 95. Empty test, made up of minute sand-
grains ; ventral view.

Fig. 96 of chitinoid membrane, with scattered large
sand-grains. Side view, pseudopodia extended.

Fig. 97. This form might, with almost equal
propriety, be classed with D. constricta, or even
with Centropyxis ecornix, as the mouth is eccentric,
and the highest part of the shell behind the mouth ;
but it appears to me, for reasons given above, to
have a greater affinity to the present species.

Fig. 98. Side view of specimen with closely-
packed sand-grains.

Fig. 99. The same, rolled over to show the
mouth of the shell.

Difflicgia aciiviitiata is also an equally common
form here, and I procure it in considerable numbers
from among Sphagnum in boggy places, and in most
of our shady wells and clear pools. The prevailing
form is shown in Fig. 100. The species mayjbe
described as pyriformis, drawn out to a point at the
top (fundus).

The test is oblong oval, in the typical form,
narrowing towards the mouth, and more or less
suddenly tapering towards the summit, in varying
degrees of acuteness. Although this species is as
variable as any in the genus, I have only as yet
found two well-marked varieties, during the three
months I have been specially studying the Rhizopods.
Like the preceding species, the test is made up of
sand-grains, occasionally intermixed with the frustules
of diatoms, or it is obviously of chitinous membrane,
either colourless or yellow, more or less incrusted
with the above elements, sometimes very irregularly
so. Size from >^-^ to ^Ij of an inch. Barcode rarely
coloured.

Fig. 100. The prevailing form in this district, of
colourless chitinoid membrane, with scattered sand-
grains and diatoms. Pseudopodia extended.

Fig. loi. Large specimen, from shaded well, test

of yellow, wrinkled chitine, with large sand-grains
and a few linear diatoms. The sand and diatoms do
not project much, but are apparently sunk in the
membrane, and so partake of its yellow colour. In
my next I shall treat of the box-like Gentropyxis, and
the genus Arcella. The latter is one of the
commonest forms of the Rhizopods, and is the one
most frequently noticed by microscopists who do-
not make a special study of the class.

Diffliigia iirceolata is a large variable form closely
related to D. acuminata. The shell is somewhat
ovate, amphora-like ; fundus either evenly rounded
or more or less acute, frequently furnished with
blunt spines. Neck short ; mouth large and round,
occasionally with a reflected rim.

This handsome species is of rare occurrence iri'
this district, and when I do find a specimen it has
generally been an isolated one. My specimen has an
acute fundus, and the neck is only slightly reflected.
Size about ,lg inch. The test is of sand grains — a few
large ones, regularly distributed, the intervals filled,
up with smaller ones of nearly equal size (Fig. 104).

J. E. Lord.

Rawtenstall.

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. '

TX/TEMOIR OF SIDNEY GILCHRIST
IVl THOMAS, by R. W. Burnie (London :
John Murray). This is altogether a noble, bright,,
and cheerful book — the pleasant record of a brilliant
young life. The " Thoman-Gilchrist " process, by
which formerly half- worthless iron ore is converted into
good stuff, by having its phosphorus extracted, whilst
the latter in its turn is utilised as artificial manure— -
is already well-known to most of our readers. Only
thirteen years ago there was not in existence any
public record of the successful dephosphorisation of
pig-iron — last year there were 2,603,083 tons pro--
duced. In addition, last year there were placed on
the market, to be used as artificial manure — stones-
that science has converted into bread — no fewer than
623,000 tons of basic slag. This wonderful success
in metallurgy was due almost solely to the patience
and unwearying industry of Sidney Gilchrist Thomas,.
and yet he died (of overwork, it is to be feared) at
the early age of thirty-four. By that time he had
come to be acknowledged as the most brilliant
metallurgist of the century. Honours from all.
countries were showered thickly upon him. And yet
this scientist left school at seventeen to be a school-
teacher. At eighteen he was clerk in a London>
Police Court, an ofifice he held for twelve years. He
studied chemistry, mineralogy, geology, &c., on^
what leisure evenings he had, and conducted his
experiments and investigations then and during his.
holidays. He made his valuable discovery whilst
still a clerk at the Thames Police Court. Within
the brief period of a twelvemonth we find him a

134

BARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

clerk, and then the acknowledged leading metallur-
gist of his day. It is a wonderful story of what a
young man can do, and Mr. Burnie has told it well
in this handsome volume.

Coal, and what tue get from it, by Professor R.
Meldola (London : S.P.C.K.). This is perhaps the
most interesting of the volumes yet issued under
the title of " The Romance of Science." It is
a much-expanded issue of a Lecture delivered by
Professor Meldola at the London Institution, and
both to the student and the general reader it is a
highly-valuable, clear, and concise account of the
now-important coal-tar industry. All the valuable
materials here explained not many years ago were
worse than wasted. Science has reduced them, and
turned them to use. About three hundred coal-tar
colouring-matters are now made, and thirty of these
•are in economic use, all of them fast dyes. There
are thirty more fast enough for all practical require-
ments. The value of the coal-tar colouring-matters
.annually produced in Great Britain and on the
•Continent is five millions sterling. From the same
original source are also derived such explosives as
picric acid, medicines such as antypyrin, sweets
such as saccharin, and perfumes resembling vanilla,
bitter almonds, &c., to say nothing of the hydro-
quinin and eikeneogen used by photographers and
others. Professor Meldola's book is a genuine
"Romance," far transcending in interest and plot
three-fourths of the so-called "novels" of the day.
It is a book that will be largely read and highly-
prized.

Colour Measurement and Afixture, by Captain
Abney (London : S.P.C.K.). This is another of the
same half-crown series — all of which are written
by the chief recognised authorities on each subject.
Whatever Captain Abney has to say on the matters
.here discussed is sure to be listened to. There are
few appeals from his conclusions, especially when they
concern the physics and chemistry of photography.
Students will here find worked-out the heating,
luminous, and chemical effects of the spectrum.
The work contains sixteen chapters, devoted largely
to colours, their origin, effects, combinations, &c.,
and is abundantly illustrated where necessary to a
fuller understanding of the text.

The Missouri Botanic Garden. This institution
was founded by the late Mr. Henry Shaw, of whom
a lengthy biographical sketch is given. Professor
Trelease's " Inaugural Address," and a " Flower
Sermon," together with the First Annual Report, are
included in this nicely got-up volume. It is well
illustrated. Mr. Shaw must have been a very
sociable fellow, for he left money for an annual
banquet. Accordingly we have the report of that
•also, at which banquet one hundred guests were
.present.

Fifth Report of the United States Entomological
■Commission on Insects injurious to Forest a7id Shade

Trees, by A. S. Packard (Washington : Government
Office). This is a neatly got-up volume of a thousand
pages, illustrated by forty plates, and upwards of
three hundred woodcuts. The papers are strictly
scientific and thoroughly practical. Hence their
high economic value. They deal with the various
insects injurious to the oak, elm, hickory, butter-nut,
locust-tree, maple, cotton-wood, poplar, lime, birch,
beech, wild cherry, wild plum, thorn, crab-apple,
mountain ash, willow, hackberry, sycamore, pine,
spruce, fir, hemlock, larch, juniper, cedar, cypress,
&c., with full descriptions of the habits of their
insect enemies, and advice how to cope with them.

Annual Report of the Fruit- Growing Association
and Entomological Society of Ontario, 1S90 (Toronto).
This volume is the twenty-second annual report of
a most useful society. It is full of capital practical
papers on many matters concerning peaches, pears,
prunes, cherries, apples, grapes, &c., their growth,
decay, enemies (animal and vegetable). Horticul-
turists all over the world will be interested in this
useful volume, which it is a great pity to have
spoiled by the wretched photograph of the President
as frontispiece.

Zoological Articles contributed to the '■'■ Encyclo-
pLcdia Britannica," by Professor E. Ray Lankester,
&c. (London : A. & C. Black). All earnest students
of advanced zoology are already aware that the last
edition of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" contains
some of the most exhaustive articles on special
subjects connected with their science which have yet
been published. They are not likely to be excelled
for some time to come, and that ponderous but useful
work would therefore have had to be consulted, the
papers picked out of its many volumes, and much
time have been lost, if Professor Lankester and the
publishers had not hit upon the happy thought of
issuing the present volume at such a price that it
comes within pocketable reach of most students,
and lies in such a handy and compact form,
both for careful study and reference, that iew
naturalists or general libraries can do without it.
The illustrations are numerous, and one or two
important additions have been made to them over
and above those in the original work. The text,
also, has been corrected and slightly added to where
necessary and convenient. On the various papers
themselves it is not necessary to make any remarks.
Their high-class character practically places them
beyond the reach of criticism. All Professor
Lankester's articles are here reprinted — on " Proto-
zoa, Hydrozoa, MoUusca, Polyzoa, and Vertebrata."
In addition we have the following papers, by
permission of the authors—" Sponges," by Professor
Sollas ; "Planarians," by Professor von Graff:
" Nemertines," by Professor Hubrecht ; " Rotifera,"
by Professor Bourne ; and on " Tunicata," by
Professor Herdmann.

Telescopic IVork for Starlight Evenings^ by

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIF.

135

W. F. Denning (London : Taylor and Francis).
Astronomical students and amateurs of the science
are numerous, and they are not unprovided with
manuals and other guides. But we doubt if we
possess any which so fully meets their wants as the
book before us. Its author is an enthusiastic
amateur astronomer, who has contributed for many
years past much valuable original work to the science
to which he is devoted. A completer working manual
of astronomy than this, his last-issued work, it is
difficult to conceive. It is full, clear, accurate, and
yet popular. Many of the chapters have appeared
as special papers contributed to scientific magazines,
where some of our readers must have met with
them. The chapters are as follows :— " The Tele-
scope, its Invention, and the Development of its
Powers," " Relative Merits of Small and Large
Telescopes," "Notes on Telescopes and their
Accessories," "Notes on Telescopic Work," "The
Sun," "The Moon," "Mercury," "Venus," "Mars,"
"The Planetoids," "Jupiter," "Saturn," "Uranus
and Neptune," "Comets and Comet-Seeking,"
" Meteors and Meteoric Observations," " The Stars,"
" Nebulre and Clusters of Stars," &c. The illustra-
tions are sixty-four in number, and all are of a
high-class character. Paper, type, and binding alto-
gether make up a handsome and pleasant-looking
volume.

Geologists' Atsociation — A Record of Excursions
made betweefi i860 and 1890, edited by T. V. Holmes
and C. D. Sherborn (London : Ed. Stanford). We
have frequently thought, when we have received the
pithily explained and well-illustrated pamphlets sent
out to members describing the places to be visited
at each excursion, what a pity it was they were not
collected in a more permanent form. Each account
is written by a local specialist, and each diagram and
illustration is the most interesting in the district.
All: England and Wales have thus been visited by
members of the Geologists' Association during the
last thirty years. Therefore we are unexpectedly
pleased to welcome the present volume, which is just
the very thing we have so long thought ought to be
done. By its very nature, it must be the very best
field-manual of British geology yet issued. Between
two and three thousand places are referred to in the
index, and there are 214 maps and sections. Every
student of field-geology should forthwith procure this
useful work, which has been excellently edited by
Messrs. T. V. Holmes and C. D. Sherborn.

A SCIENTIFIC PLAINT.

ALAS, those happy days which we have seen
When thou, whose fickleness I now deplore
Wert like to concentrated saccharine ;

Those happy days can come to us no more.
When ardent love is strong as H, SO4.

Thou, like blue litmus in the acid test,

Whene'er we met, wouldst turn to rosy red,

And when my love undying I confessed.
Thy words were sweet as acetate of lead ;
Now truly are they changed to vitriol instead.

For, turning to analysis improper,

A quantitative test was made for gold,
And when but little else there seemed than copper
And scanty silver in the cash I hold,
Thy love grew straightway like a freezing-mixture
cold.

Entirely siliceous was thy heart ;

Thy love was gone. The sequel need I tell ?
Betrothed unto another now thou art,
Like to the atom H we know so well,
Which leaves its own Oj to join the base CI !

A. C. Deane.

THE GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE
THAMES VALLEY.

By Dr. A. Irving, F.G.S., &c., Wellington Coll.

{Continued Jrom p. 112.]

The Glacial Period and Since.

THE probability that England was united with the
continent of Europe during Miocene, Pliocene,
and Quaternary times, has long been recognised by
some of our leading geologists. The sea not having
cut its way as yet through the Quaternary isthmus tO'
form the present Strait of Dover, the great glaciers
of Scandinavia on the one hand, and of Northern
Britain on the other, seem to have formed by their
confluence a mighty dam, which ponded back the
waters of a vast drainage-area of Central Europe and
Southern Britain. This, at least, from a considera-
tion of all the evidence on the one side and on the
other, would appear to have been a most important
factor in the glaciation of Central and Southern
England. The facts inductively arrived at have
been well represented by the late Professor Carvill
Lewis of Philadelphia, on a map, which was printed
for Section C of the British Association, when it met
at Manchester in 1887. The moraines have been
taken as indications of the boundary of the great
northern ice-sheet ; and the extra-morainic lake,
which then covered most of the Midland and
Eastern Counties, overflowed by the Upper Avon,
line of drainage into the Severn Valley, and by the
Oxford Basin and the Pangbourne Gap into the
Thames Valley. Much work was done, no doubt,,
by the ice which floated down this narrow channel to-
widen and deepen it. Professor Prestwich* assigns
a deepening of the gorge to the extent of some 220
feet to glacial action. This is probably an excessive

"Journal Geol. Soc," \ol. xlvi., p. 149.

130

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

-estimate, for two reasons, (i) The plateau-gravels,
which cap the adjacent hills, and which he assigns
(as equivalents in time of his Mundesley and Westleton
Beds) to the beginning of the Quaternary period,
may be merely terrestrial deposits of the Pliocene
Mercian river-system, and more nearly equivalent in
time to the plateau-gravels of Berks and West
Surrey, being certainly older than the present Chalk
escarpment ; (2) the extent to which the gorge has
since been cut down to its present level, appears,

/rem still more recently-published observations to be
greater than he has estimated.* We may, perhaps,

•deduct 100 feet at least from his estimated 220

is maintained in a most remarkable manner through
the contortions of the strata. Examples may be seen
in the railway-cuttings at Wokingham and Sunning-
hill, on the South-Western Railway ; but the finest
by far have been lately brought to light in the
excavations in the brick-yard of Messrs. T. Lawrence
& Sons, close to the Nine-mile Ride in Old Windsor
Forest.* Some of the best of these are gone for
ever, as the pits have been extended ; but, fortu-
nately for science, photographs were secured by
members of the photographic section which has been
recently started by the Natural History Society of
Wellington College. One of them, it is hoped,

Fig. 106. — Section of Glaciated Clays and Gravel at Easthampstead, Berks, in Old Windsor Forest (March, 1891).

■feet, as the vertical measurement of the work of

• erosion during the Glacial Period.

Professor Carvill Lewis estimated that the waters
of the above-named extra-morainic lake stood some

1250 feet above the present sea-level in the old Thames
Straits of the Glacial Period. Now it is a remark-
able fact that at very near this elevation — that is to

■ say, at levels varying from 220 to 240 feet — the author
has, within the last year or two, made a considerable
number of observations of glacial action in East Berks.
The laminated clays are highly contorted, and great
masses of sand and gravel, weighing in some cases

jnany tons apiece, have been driven bodily, in a solid
(frozen) state, f into the clays, the lamination of which

* See reference below to Mr. Shrubsole's paper.

+ See "Journal of the Geol. Soc," vol. xlvi., p. 561.

will be reproduced for publication by the Geo-
logists' Association of London. Subjoined is a
later photograph of a section, now also obliterated,
and only exposed to open daylight for a few days
in March, 1891. (See Fig. 106.) It was taken
by one of the author's pupils, Mr. McClintock, of
Wellington College. Copies of the earlier photo-
graphs were exhibited at the lecture, and some of
them have found their way to the Woodwardian
Museum at Cambridge, and to the British Association.
A little reflection will show that these marks of
ancient glaciation, probably the work of pack-ice, as
it was drifted and stranded by high winds on the
margin of the old Thames Straits, may be taken as a

* A suggestion of Dr. J. W. Spencer, the State Geologist
of Georgia, when on a visit to the author last year.

HA RD WICKE'S S CIENCE-G OSSIP.

137

*neasure, until we obtain evidence of undoubted
•glacial action at higher altitudes, of the extent to
which the higher and secondary valley-system of the
Thames Basin proper had been carved out in pre-
glacial times, the work done representing, in fact,
in Berks and Surrey nearly 200 feet of vertical erosion,
■due to ordinary rain and river action. This will
be better understood from the generalised section
'{Fig. 107). All this time the erosion of the minor up-
land valleys was encroaching upon the more ancient
plateau-gravels, as well as cutting away the soft
'Bagshot strata, disinterring the flint pebbles of the
Bagshot pebble-beds with the recession of their out-
■crop, and mingling these with the sub-angular flints

during chronicle, and often enable us to detect the
progress of physical changes. Thus it is not difficult
to prove that the present aspect of the lower valley
of the Thames is very different from what it must
have been 1000 years ago. Instead of being confined
within regular banks, the river must have spread its
waters over a broad lagoon, which was dotted with
marshy islands. This is indicated by the fact that
the A.S. word ea or ey (an island) enters into the
composition of the names of many places by the
river-side, which are now joined to the mainland
by rich pastures. Such are Bermondso', Putn^j',
Battersi'^, Cherts^', Moulscj', Iffl^'. Osn^', Whit-
n^', and Ea\.on or Eton. The Abbey Church of

Woking- Tangley
ham. Cutting.

Pinewood Csesar's Broad- Chobham

Brick-yard. Camp.' moor. Ridges.

Bagshot
Heath.

Royal
0. Asylum.

N.W.

S.E.

O.D.+400'

LONDON CLAY

5^ig. 107. — Relative Levels (O. L.) of the Plateau-gravels and the Glaciated Clays by Ninemile Ride, &c. P.O. plateau-gravels ;
T.G. terrace or secondary gravels; * i mile north-east of the line of section; v, glaciation strongly marked at these two places.

derived from the plateau-gravels themselves. Thus
tier after tier of secondary or terrace-gravels has
fbeen formed, down to the present valley-floor, the
same agencies having co-operated with those of
glacial times, and continued their operations since
ithe retreat of the ice. The lower (post-glacial)
gravels of the modern valley contain, however, an
admixture of Mercian pebbles with the wreckage of
the more ancient plateau-gravels and the Eocene
pebble-beds.

The recently published researches of Mr. Allen
Brown, F.G.S.,* near Ealing, and of Mr. Shrubsole
F.G.S.jt near Reading, were briefly discussed; and
'the special interest of the position of the human
remains discovered by those two gentlemen was
pointed out. The observations which they have
T)ublished tell us (i) of the advent of man into the
Thames Valley in company with the Mammoth, the
Rhinoceros, and extinct species of Bcs, Equtis, and
Cervus, closely upon the retreat of the ice ; (ii) of
the great antiquity of his appearance here, as
indicated by the fact that the present Valley of the
Thames has been deepened since that time to the
extent of more than 100 feet at Reading, and to
the extent of 50 feet at Ealing.

Even within the limits of the Historical Period
important further changes can be traced in the
Thames Valley, if we may trust the evidence fur-
nished by those valuable linguistic " fossils " which
occur in local names.

Dr. Isaac Taylor ("Words and Places," pp.
"^iSi 236) writes :—" Local names form an en-

* "Journal Geol. Soc," vol. xlli., pp. 192 et seg.
f Ibid. vol. xlv:., pp. 582 et seg.

Westminster was built for security on Thorn<?j'
Island, and the eastern portion of the water in St.
James's Park is a ipart of that arm of the Thames,
which encircled the Sanctuary of the monks, and the
palace of the A.S. kings. The name Chels^^j: (a
contraction of chesel-ea) or shingle-island [tells that
the place was encircled by the river]. The Isle of
Thanet was as much an island as Sheppry is at the
present time."

[Erratum. — At the latest moment of printing the
May number, a mistake occurred by which the
woodcuts 84 and 85 were transposed. All our
geological readers will have detected the error, and
doubtless have already altered the Figs.]

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Dr. E. E. Klein, F.R.S. (Lecturer on physiology
at St. Bartholomew's Hospital), on April 28, began
a course of three lectures on Bacteria, their Nature
and Functions (the Tyndall Lectures) ; and Mr. PI.
Graham Harris, M. Inst. C.E,, on May 9, a course
of three lectures on the Artificial Production of
Cold.

A VBRY able and suggestive paper by Mr. A. S.
Seward appears in the last number of " The
Naturalist," entitled " Fossil Climates."

In the last number of the " Geological Magazine,"
Mr. Smith Woodward describes a new species of
Microsaurian from the Lancashire coal-measures
under the name of Hylonomus Wildi.

138

HARD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OSSIF.

Mr. J, F. Jenner-Weir, the well known entomo-
logist, has a capital paper in the last number of the
" Entomologist," entitled " The significance of
occasional and apparently unimportant markings in
Lepidoptera." He . thinks that some of them are
vestiges of spots and other markings which were
much more vivid in their ancestors, and therefore
that such markings may contribute towards the
phylogeny of genera.

We call the attention of our readers to Professor
Marshall's address delivered before the Birmingham
Natural History and Microscopical Society on
"Animal Pedigrees," which appears in the May
number of the " Midland Naturalist."

Among the many valuable papers on natural
history we get from the United States are the
periodical issues of Dr. Riley's, '* Insect Life," devoted
to the economy and life-habits of insects, especially
in their relations to Agriculture.

Parts Twelve and Thirteen of Wallace'si" British
Cage-birds " (London : L. Upcott Gill) maintain the
high artistic character of the preceding parts.

" The Conchologist " is the title of a new
quarterly journal, price ninepence, devoted ex-
clusively to conchology and molluscology. As our
readers are aware, this subject has grown considerably
beyond the bounds formerly assigned to it, and is now
an important contributor to the facts of practical
evolution. This new journal is edited by Mr. W. E.
Collinge. The first number looks well and promises
well.

The Liverpool scientists are plucky people. They
did not like their hightly readable and excellently
edited "Research" being given up, so they have
started another journal on pretty much the same
lines, entitled "Discovery." It is published at
threepence monthly. No. 5 is to hand, containing
papers relating chiefly to economic science.

We heartily comment, to all those whom it may
concern, the last Report of the Manchester Museum
(Owen College), issued by order of the Council.

A MOST useful and highly important pamphlet has
been issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
' ' The Pediculi and Maleophaga affecting Man and
the Lower Animals," by Professor H. Osborn. It
is illustrated by forty-two of the parasites whose life-
histories are described.

The Whit-week excursion of the members of the
Geologists' Association this year was to the
neighbourhood of Northampton, under the able
leadership of Mr. Beeby Thompson, F.G.S., and
Mr. W. D. Crick. Among the places visited were
Wooton (Great Oolite, Inferior Oolite, and Upper
Lias), Hopping Hill (basement-beds of Great Oolite

limestone and Upper Estuarine beds). New Duston
(Inferior Oolite), Kislingbury, Bugbrook (Middle
Lias, &c.), Stowe-Nine-Churches (Great and Inferior
Oolites), Heyford, Upton, Old Duston, Vigo,.
Shittlewell, Kingthorpe (Lower Estuarine sands and
plant-bed) Pitsford, Spratten, Baughten, Moulten,.
&c.

MICROSCOPY.

A Microscopical Puzzle. — I was examining a
glass slide under my microscope, containing some
sections of the green berry of Tatnus communis, which
I preserved in 1889, by placing the specimens in
gum-arabic between two glass slips. I now perceive-
many small ovoid transparent bodies, several were
larger than the rest and could move slowly from place
to place. What is the name and the cause of their
appearance ? Could they have come with gum-
arabic ? They do not seem to damage the specimen
in the least, although they must certainly eat some-
thing. They are about one-sixth of an inch long^
when magnified forty diameters. This specimen is-
quite dry. — Henry E. Griset.

Mounting Corallines for the Microscope. —
In answer to this query in No. 316 of SciENCE-GossiP..
I beg to inform your correspondent jvnd others
interested in the study of fresh and salt-water
Microfauna of a very reliable method of mounting
Hydrozoa with all parts fully and naturally expanded.
I have applied it particularly to Rotifers, Infusoria,,
and Hydrae, and can recommend it "where all other
means have failed." It is best to place a few twigs of
the fresh corallines containing living specimens into a
very deep watchglass placed upon black paper, with,
very little of the water they have developed in.
Allow all the animals to expand, and examine with a
pocket-lens, if necessary, to ascertain when this has
taken place. Then with a pipette add to the water
in the watchglass a few drops of chloroform water.
As soon as this is felt by the hydrozoa they draw in
their tentacles, etc. However, if not too much of
the anaesthetic has been given, and a little time
allowed for it to evaporate, they will re-expand all
their parts, at first only partly, but ultimately to
their original extent. If rotifers are treated thus, the
reviving of the individuals can be noticed by the
drowsy motion of a few isolated cilia which begin
their play again, at first very slowly, but gradually
more and more vigorously. This stage is not the
least interesting part of the experiment ; it wili
enable the attentive observer to watch with greater
ease every motion of the minute animals, take
sketches of, and even photograph them. The treat-
ment with chloroform water must necessarily be
repeated by every one who makes the experiment for
the first time, to let him know how often the hydrozoa
will stand the effects of chloroform, and to give hina

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP,

139

"for future experiments an approximate idea of the
.proper moment when the death-blow is to be given.
The latter consists in pouring over the weakened,
but still expanded animals, a hot or cold saturated
solution of corrosive sublimate. To make its action
still more effective it is advisable to withdraw
beforehand as much of the water in the watchglass as
possible, leaving just enough to keep the hydrozoa
fully expanded. This method of fixing all sorts of
^mall fish or saltwater inhabitants needs a little
practice, but it teaches a great deal in an experi-
mental way, and secures more truly satisfactory
Jesuits than many of the other methods recom-
mended, some of which I shall mention at some
future time. After the material has been fixed by
'the described chloroform-sublimate method, it should
'be mounted in a cell {not a metal cell) with corrosive
sublimate. Glycerine is not suitable at all, and
balsam only if stains, such as Dr. Beale's carmine
and iodine green (used successively to produce a
•double stain) have been used. For balsam-mounts
the animals must be gradually dessicated in alcohol,
placed or dropped with a pipette upon oil of cloves,
<never use turpentine for such objects) and when they
have completely sunk mount them in balsam. I
shall not return to the study and cultivation of
rotifers, hydrozoa, etc., as it would lead too far, and
I shall refer to this subject at a future opportunity. —
C. O. Sonntagt Glasgow.

New Slides.— Mr. Fred. Knock's slides are
always welcome. They are not only well mounted,
and the objects interesting, but they deal with some
new phase of entomological discovery or research,
so that both specialists and amateur naturalists can
hardly do without them in their cabinets. The latest
things Mr. Enock has sent out are connected with a
subject to which he has devoted much special
research — the natural history of insect-egg parasites.
One preparation contains three eggs of Fsocus, each
containing a tiny parasitic fly {Alaptus mini7iius)
ready to emerge. The parent parasite had laid the
egg in each of the affected eggs, and the young larva
had there found sufficient nutriment to allow its
^oing through all its transformations there. Another
preparation contains a specimen of Alaptus minimus
which Mr. Enock bred from the egg. The exquisite
beauty of these specimens must be seen to be
appreciated. From Mr. E. Hinton we have also
received two highly interesting and beautifully
mounted .marine objects for microscopical examina-
tion and study. One is a fine specimen of the sea-pen
or "cock's comb" {Pmnatula phosphorcus), with all
the tentacles fully extended and surrounded and
strengthened by bundles of acicular spiculae. When
seen on a dark ground this is a most exquisite
specimen. Mr. Hinton's other preparation is a
beautifully mounted palate of a South Australian
mollusc {Fkasianella Ausira/is).

ZOOLOGY.

NOTHOLCA AcuMlN.'i.TA.— On March 27th, I
found a specimen of this rare Rotiferon in water
taken from a clear ditch on Hayton Common, near
Retford. The concave shape, as it turned on its
side, was very marked. I was only able to find one
specimen, although I took numerous dips. The
only habitat given in Dr. Hudson's book is "Orna-
mental Waters near London." — J?. Clark.

SoLWAY Fishery. — Mr. J. J. Armistead in his
circular (season 1S90-91), mentions the following
interesting "items" : — "A black-headed gull {Larits
ridibundus, settled on one of the ponds, when a large
trout 'went for him,' probably taking him for a fly,
and broke his leg. The bird was afterwards found
dead." " The trout in the ponds have often been
seen to rise at swallows as the birds skimmed over
the surface, but the fish is a bad flying shot and has
never been seen to hit ane." " A large dog jumped
into one of the ponds and had a hot time of it
amongst the fish." Mr. Armistead has forwarded a
consignment of ova to Natal, during the past season,
which is reported as arriving there in splendid con-
dition. He is now cultivating aquatic plants, shell-
fish (mollusca), and crustaceans ; especially fresh-
water shrimp, for stocking fish-ponds." His circular
says : "It is now a well-ascertained fact that the
famous Gillaroo, and some other very fine breeds or
varieties of trout, owe their reputation to the food on
which they live ; and that food has been ascertained
to be shell-fish. I have met with instances in which
trout supplied from this fishery have grown with
great rapidity, and in three years, or less, have
attained a weight of about four pounds, and these,
on dissection, have been found to be gorged with
shell fish." I have myself taken trout of which the
crop has been found to be full of the common black
water snail, many of the shells being crushed into
fragments ; but I do not know if this crushing has
been done with the mouth of the fish or after the
arrival of the shells in the crop.— Z^w. Winder,
A.M.I.C.E.

A Partly Scalarid Specimen of Helix
AsPERSA FROM WEST KENT. — In a batch of shells
sent to me for naming by Mr. J. R. Longhurst, from
Dodington in Kent, I find an interesting Subscala-
riform monstrosity of Helix aspersa. The word sub-
scalariform fully explains the character of the shell
and any further description seems hardly necessar)\
Of course it is not so completely scalarid as the well-
known specimen in the: Natural-History Museum, but
it is interesting as showing a " half-way house,"
between the contour of that shell and the contour of
the type. The shell is bodily small ; its height is
25 mill. ; and its breadth 15 mill.— y. IV. Williams.

I40

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Classificatory Position of the Mollusca. —
In answer to Dr. P. Q. Kegan's query on p. 95, ante,
as to why the Molluscan phylum is placed higher up
on the zoological scale than that of the Annulosa, I
think the chief reason is that of the nervous system,
which shows greater concentration and, in the
majority of the higher forms at least, is chiefly localised
in the head as an oesophageal ring. In the lipocephala
the head region has atrophied in adaptation to a
"sessile inactive life" (Article "Mollusca" in
Professor Lankester's " Zoological Articles," p. 102,)
and taken all together, the Mollusca, in structure and
embryological history, show a decided advance on
the Arthropoda and Echinodermata, considering that
the ancestor of both these three phyla is common to
all, and to be sought in one of the simple worms. If
Dr. Kegan will read the articles on the Annulosa
and Mollusca in the last edition ;of the " Encyclo-
predia Britannica," I think he will very quickly come
the conclusion that the present systematic position
of the Mollusca is the only true one. — J. W.
Williams.

Erratum. — In my note on "A new variety of
Helix Cantiana " (p. i ijanle), about half a millimetre
"should read" adove half a millimetre.— y. IF.
Williams.

Mounting Shells.— I cannot "advise" Miss
Priest on this subject, not knowing what other
substances are used in mounting, but a very good
material is formed by equal weights of gum arable
and gum tragacanth dissolved in water to the
consistency of very thick paste. Hundreds of shells
were mounted in this way in the British Museum.
Shells even of considerable size can be easily set in
any position in a bed of the gum. Dissolve the gum
arable in water, making it very thin. Pour this on
the gum tragacanth, which swells considerably, and
as it swells stir and add water, if necessary. Add a
few drops of essential oil to prevent mould. The
paste is most useful for general purposes. Caution
is desirable in giving it away, every friend to whom
I have ever given a pot has required that the supply
should be kept up for the term of his natural life. —
G. T. Staveley.

Local Conchological Society. —May I suggest
to LJ.S. that it would add largely to the value of the
work of his Conchological Society if a rule were made to
preserve (if possible, mounted as microscopic objects)
the tongues of all the mollusca whose shells are
taken. The study of shells alone has now very much
given place to that of the animals themselves with
their shells, and the tongues are valuable in distin-
guishing genera. They will keep for years simply
dried. Any members of the Society unable to
mount them, might present them, with the shell laid
out dry. by its side, for the use of students of the
mollusca. — G. T. Slavdey.

BOTANY.

Notes on Vegetable Teratology. — Since
much has been written of late concerning floral
monstrosities, the following notes from my log-book
on some which came under my notice a few years ago-
may be found interesting to such who have turned
their attention to the science of teratology. In the
summer of 18S6 I found an isolated plant of Campanula
rotu7idifolia growing in a shaded nook near Hampstead
Heath, with a flower having the corolla divided into
five distinct petaloid segments ; the flower was-
found to be homogamous. The gamopetalous flowers
of Campanula are decidely dichogamous, and further
the vascular system of the corolla does not exhibit
that of separate segments cohering by their respective
edges, for the veins are found to ramify and anastomose
all over the space between each contiguous dorsal
rib in such a manner as to render any line of cohesion--
extinct. This dialysis must be regarded as retro-
gressive, a reversion to some primordial and less
specialized condition, owing perhaps to the scarcity
or entire absence of bees, correlated with the
combined influences of temperature and the im-
poverished condition of the soil in which the plant
grew. On November 7th, 1S86, I saw a plant of
Angreecum sesquipedale bearing two flowers with
exceedingly large nectariferous spurs. The spurs of the-
flowers measured respectively 16 and lyj inches in
length. The other parts of the flowers were found to
be in a normal condition and of the usual size. The
cause of the monstrous condition'of these spurs was pro-
bably due to the unusually high temperature to which,
the plant had been subjected, and it is not an unfeasible
presumption to suppose that as the nectariferous spurs
are regarded as having originated through irritation
set up by insect visitors, that an unusually high
temperature would induce an additional flow of
nutrition to those parts that are already hypertrophied-
through heredity. During the year of 18S8 several:
teratological specimens came under my notice. I
found two flowers of Sempervivum arachnoideum in
which the margins of the anther cells bore from four
to six ovuliferous processes. I also found three
flowers of three different species of Begonia with-
stigmatiferous and ovuliferous stamens, and one flower
in which the stigma was antheriferous. I also took
note of several cases in which anthers occupied the
place of the stigma, (i) A flower of Campanula
medium in which four anthers occupied the position of
the stigma. (2) A flower of GalaniJms 7iivalis having
two anthers in place of the stigma. (3) A term inal'
flower of Digitalis purpjtrea having six fertile stamens
and no pistil ; the two short stamens reaching
maturity first, the two intermediate following, and
finally the two largest. I saw on a plant of Aquilegia
(var. ?) growing in my garden a flower with two spurs,
bearing rudimentary ovules, and three of the stamens.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

141

■yfcre stigmatiferous and ovuliferous. The probable
■cause of the above-mentioned abnormalities I believe
to have been largely due to environments, and the
•following notes on Fritillaria melcagris and a variety
oi Mintuhis tend somewhat to support this conclusion.
In Apiil of the same year I obtained a bulb of
fritillaria from its native haunt, the bulb was re-
planted and rested, and it bloomed again in the
following year at the end of March, The perianth of
the flower was campanulated, but considerably smaller
•than that of the previous year, the stamens were meta-
morphosed into petals, and one crumpled petal very
broad at the base occupied the position of the pistil.
The plant before flowering had been kept in a dry
atmosphere, and a somewhat dry and poor soil. I
•purchased last year a pot of Mimulus (var. ?) from a
•street stall, and on bringing it home it was allowed to
remain in the dry warm atmosphere of a room ; when
the new flowers opened they were found to be much
smaller, and had lost the delicate salmon tint for
which I had been induced to purchase it. A few
days after the plant was removed to the greenhouse,
and after a lapse of five weeks new flowers developed
and were characterized by the colour, size and shape
of those expanded when I purchased the plant. —
J. H. A. Hicks, F.R.H.S.

HuTCHiNSiA PETR^A. Hooker (3rd. Ed. 1884)
states that this pretty little Cruciferous plant is to be
found in Eltham Churchyard, where it has been
naturalised, having been planted, it is supposed, by
Dillenius. Has any reader of Science-Gossip found
it there within recent years ? I have made a careful
search for it this spring but have failed to find it,
and therefore imagine it to be extinct. — W. B.,
Flumsiead.

Variation of Colour in Plants. — Having
read Mr. Jones' interesting notes on the " Variation
of Colours in Plants," I think the following observa-
tions made last autumn when staying at Carr Bridge,
Tnverness-shire, may perhaps be of some interest.
The season was an extraordinarily good one from a
Botanical point of view, the heather far above the
average, every tree and shrub being covered with
blossom or fruit, the currant and gooseberry trees
had their lower branches dragged down to the ground
by the unusual weight of fruit, and the raspberries
lasted from about the 15th of August to the same
date in September. Wild flowers too, were very
fine and numerous, especially "the blue bells of
Scotland" (^Campanula rotundijlord) occurring for
the most part on grassy slopes and the outskirts of
corn-fields, where they exhibited great variety both
in size and colouring, varying from a deep purple to
a very pale blue ; the contrast, however, was greatest
in size, some plants preferring quality to quantity,
bearing three or four bells per stalk nearly an inch in
depth, while others bore double the number but only
a quarter of the size. With regard to the white

variety I found but two examples, one on the edge of
an oat-field, the other at a burn side. Both were fine
plants, bearing eight and five bells respectively of a
beautiful creamy-white colour. I have met with
this variety in several counties, and though of rare
occurrence it appears to be generally distributed over
Scotland. The common scabious {Knautia arvensis)
was very plentiful and of every shade between purple
and snow white, the same plants frequently bearing
flowers of different tints, one specimen had two
flowers on the same stalk, one normal, the other
dwarf and about three quarters of the way up the
main stem, to which it was attached at right angles
by a small pedicle. This species rarely occurs above
an altitude of 1,000 feet, thriving best in moist grassy
situations. The most abundant plant and the most
striking in its colour eiTects was the common heather
or ling {Erica vulgaris), which, clothing as it does,
miles of hill-side and moorland with its lovely purple
bloom, constitutes one of the greatest charms of
Highland scenery. This species is by no means
constant in its colouring, there being at least three
distinct varieties : (i) purple inclined to mauve ;
(2) purple inclined to carmine ; (3) pure white,
which last is very rare and when young hard to
distinguish from variety (l), the buds of the latter
being almost colourless, save a faint pinkish tinge at
their base. I have found it on every moor visited,
only, however, in small sprigs amongst miles of the
ordinary type. After flowering, the heather siill
serves a number of purposes, being used for brooms,
thatching, making beds for the poor, and heating
ovens. It is considered lucky to find the white
variety. The cross-leaved heath {E, tetralix) is, I
think, the prettier flower of the two, though its beauties
are not so obvious until we raise its modestly hanging
head, which at once reveals the wealth of colour
displayed in the shading of its delicate bells. These
being carmine-coloured at the base, make the flower
apparently darker than it is, the bells being in reality
quite wliite at their mouths and increasing in colour
towards the base. This species grows plentifully in
peat-bogs and other moist situations on the moors,
being generally found in clumps, getting rather
straggling above an altitude of 3,000 feet. It is not
apparently subject to much variation, though last
August I had the good fortune to light on a clump,
bearing white flowers ; not a pale transparent, but
an opaque creamy-white ; there were over thirty
blooms, the roots soaking in water. Never having
heard of this variety before, I should very much like
to know whether any reader of " Science Gossip"
has met with it ? The common purple heath
{E. cinerca) is the least abundant of the three men-
tioned, being only found on bare rocky ground and
the faces of cliffs, where comparatively little moisture
accumulates, and is not subject to variation in colour.
It occurs at an altitude of 4,000 feet very stunted,
about 2,5co suits it best, where I have taken speci-

142

HARD WICKKS SCIENCE- G OS SIP.

mens nearly a foot long, having at least six inches
surrounded with bloom. I have not heard of a
white variety. The mosses were well represented ;
on the moors, by the common club moss {Lycopodiitm
clavatnm), called there, "stag's horn moss," and the
Alpine club moss (Z. alpiniim) ; and on rocks,
boulders, &c. by Dicrannm scoparinm and D.
Botijeanni. The peat-bogs and water-holes were
full of innumerable water-plants and mosses, most of
them unknown to me, forming a carpet of wonderful
beauty in pattern and colouring, such a one as only
Nature's pencil could design or her brush enliven
with its lovely shades of yellow, green, pink, and
purple ; truly an enticing seat, but to say the least of
it, " just a wee saft." I recognised here the following
species of Sphagnum, S. cy7?ibifolinm, S. rigidiim,
S. Austmi, and several other specimens I was unable
to identify. Parnassus grass {Parnassia palustris),
the two cotton grasses {Eriophorum vaginatum and
E. polystachu7)i) and the fragrant sweet gale {Myrica
gale) wert abundant, greatly adding to the beauty and
attractiveness of the spot. In dryer situations, cran-
berries [Oxycoccics palustris) and crowberries or crake-
berries i^Empetriim nigrum) grew abundantly amidst
the heather, the latter in black shining clusters of five
or six, or singly along the small-leaved stems, and were
quite as conspicuous as their larger-leaved neighbours,
indeed, growing as most of these do right down
under, the leaves, it is no wonder they so rarely ripen,
the average colour being scarlet above and white
below, even when ripe they are dry and tasteless, a
contrast to the very juicy and not unpleasantly
flavoured crowberries ; both, however, are very
inferior to the purple bilberry or blayberry ( Vacci-
?iiitm myrtillus) also called blowberry, so plentiful in
woods. From a distance perhaps, a Scotch moor
does not appear a very promising field for the
botanist, but on coming to close quarters, the great
wealth and variety of vegetable life is truly astonish-
ing, and I feel sure anyone spending even a few
hours in studying these moorland wonders, will be
amply repaid for so doing. — D. II. S. Stewart.

GEOLOGY, &C.

The North-West of England Boulder Com-
mittee. — A society under this title has been formed
for the study of the glacial phenomena of the North-
West of England, North Wales, and the Isle of Man.
It has been in existence only two months, but already
numbers fifty-two members, amongst whom may be
reckoned some of the best-known glacial geologists
of the North of England. The society is about to
publish shortly a handbook for the guidance of its
members in the methods of observing glacial pheno-
mena. Meetings are held once a month, and the
society is peripatetic, like the British Association.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

A White Toad. — We are accustomed to keep'
one or two toads in the greenhouse, for the purpose
of keeping off injurious insects. One of these animals
was put in about four months ago, and has turned a
light yellowish white. The temperature of the house
ranges from about 50° to 70° Fahr. Is it the heat
that has brought about this curious change ? — IV. H.
Styfafig.

Bats flying in Sunlight. — On April 15th,,
1 89 1, I was very much surprised to see a small bat
flying about in full daylight. I watched it for some
time, and on April iSth I and a friend of mine went
to the same field and saw two bats. The sun was
shining brightly on both mornings, and both times it
was after li a.m. The two were busy when we left,
at nearly i p.m. — D. M. Higgins, '93 Wellington-
Street, Luton.

Bats in Daylight. — In answer to Mr. J. E.
Taylor's note about bats flying in broadidaylight, I find
the following note in my journal, " I witnessed a
curious sight on Sunday, February 15th (1891), the day-
being bright but cold, on coming out of church just
before one, a pair of bats (? species) flying about as if
it had been twilight, although as a matter of fact the-
sun was shining brightly." This was at Harlington,
Middlesex.—//. J. Toipey.

Society for the S.E. District. — Would any.
gentlemen residing in the S.E. district, who are
willing to join a small society,' for mutual and practical'
study, and field-work send their names and addresses
to Mr. L. O. Grocock, 13 Lower Maryon Road,.
Charlton, S.E. The subscription would be small,
and workers in all branches of Natural History would
be welcomed.

Variations of Colour in Plants. — Among the
plants liable to variations of colour I have seen no-
mention of Bartzia odontites, white specimens of
which are frequent by the roadside at South Weald
and Navestock in Essex. The soil is a stiff clay. —
Norris F. Davey, Abergavenny.

Swallows destroying their Young. — The
philosopher Kant one day was passing a certain
building in his daily walk, and on looking up, he
discovered as he fancied that the old birds were
actually throwing their young ones out of the nests..
It was a season remarkable for the scarcity of insects,
and the birds were apparently sacrificing some of
their progeny to save the rest. — III. A.

Bats in Daylight. — On the 27th April I saw a
large bat flying over the river Medvvay between 12.
o'clock and i p.m., a warm, but not very bright day,
A few days before a little bat was seen by several
people flying near the edge of a wood down in the
Weald, at midday. Can it be scarcity of insects that
brings the bats out at unusual hours ? — -31. E, Pope.

Early appearance of the Cuckoo. — The
cuckoo was heard on the Barmouth Hills on the
2Sth of March. Some people say they heard him in
the same direction a week before that date. — 3f. E. T.,.
Barmouth, N. Wales.

The Two Sides of the Medal.— It seems to me
that a great deal of what Mrs. Bodington remarked
on this subject is difficult to controvert. Everybody
knows that certain diseases acquired during the life-

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

143

lime of the parent are hereditary in the offspring, and
lience the jealous care exercised by families and the
state to prevent the diseases in question, being com-
municated to the healthy. J. W. Baylis, says the
whole question hinges on whether these diseases be
acquired or congenital. There are many diseases
peculiar to man that must, at all events, have been
acquired during the lifetime of the race. Not to talk
of diseases the result of immorality, there must have
been a time when neither drunkenness nor suicide were
manifest. I believe the earlist tendency to a
hereditary love of alcoholic spirits arose from our first
ancestors who began to indulge too freely, and not
from the temperate and moderate. In saying this I
know the avidity with which savages take to our
intoxicants. Most of these savages have, however,
some stimulant or narcotic of their own, less potent
than ours, which is therefore preferred. Indeed the
"building up of that degree of temperance and wisdom,
with regard to the use of stimulants, must have been
a process that has risen since distillation and fermen-
tation were invented. No doubt it would be acquired
somewhat in the lifetime of a parent, and heredity
would strengthen it. There are families whose
genealogies show us a procession of sober individuals,
just as there are others who present us with a
long succession of topers. In the same way we
might ask concerning every contagious or infectious
disease peculiar to man, or to circumstances inter-
woven with civilisation, Who took it first ? Was it
not acquired first of all in the lifetime of some in-
■dividual ? If so, then, being hereditary, it seems a
fair case for those who believe in use-inheritance. —
y. Shaw, Tynrofi, Dumfriesshire.

Trout. — The following extract is from this season's
price list of the Howietoun'Fishery, Sterling : — "The
Rainbow trout in the second generation, have proved
much more satisfactory than was anticipated (from
noting the imported ova). Where a depth of water
of eight feet or over can be obtained, and where the
fish can be confined, we now recommend them as
the quickest growers and the most beautiful salmonoid
we have yet met with. But they must have deep
water." I recently had the pleasure of turning
about 2200 Loch Leven (6". Levenensis) yearling
trout into reservoirs near here, which had been
hatched and reared by the managers of this fishery :
and I noted that although some of them were in
unchanged water for over seventeen hours, there were
only two dead fish in the tanks ; the rest were so
strong that they " cut to cover," almost before we
could get a sight of them in their new abode. — Thos.
Winder, A.M.I.C.E., Sheffield.

Cure for Bite of Mad Dog. — In searching a
number of ancient documents, I recently found the
following curious receipt, which may perhaps be of
sufficient interest to deserve a place in the pages of
Science-Gossip. I preserve the original spelling
and punctuation. "An infalliable cure for the Bite
of a mad dog brought from Tonquin by Sir George
Cobb Bart. Take 24 grains of native Cinnabor
24 grains of factitious Cinnabor and 16 grains of
INIusk ; grind all these together into an exceeding
fine powder ; and put into a small tea-cup of Arrack
rum or brandy ; let it be well mixed and give it y*
person as soon as possible after y'^ bite ; a second
dose of y° same must be repeated thirty days after ;
and a third may be taken in thirty days more, but
if the symptoms of madness appear on y*^ persons
they must take one of y' above doses immediately
and a second in an hour after, and if wanted a
third must be given a few hours afterwards. The

above receipt is calculated for a full grown person,
but must be given to children in smaller quan-
tities in proportion to their ages. This medicine
has been given to hundreds with success and Sir
George Cobb himself has cured two persons who
had y° symptoms of madness upon them. If in the
madness they cannot take in liquid, make it up into
a bolus with honey : after the two first doses, let it be
repeated every three or four hours till y° patient be
recovered. This repetition to be omitted unless
necessary. Take all imaginary care that the musk be
genuine." This mem. bears date 1760. — Thos.
Winder, A.M.I.C.E., Sheffield.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

To CORRHSPONDENTS AND EXCHANGERS. — As WC nOW

publish SciKNCE-GossiP earlier than formerly, we cannot un-
dertake to insert in the following number any communications
which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month.

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

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

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

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

W. M. Osmond. — The micro-photo of the articular process
foimd on the body of an Indian caterpillar is very remarkable.
We should advise you to send a photo to Mr. Beddard, Pro-
sector, Zoological Society.

Miss R. — You will find a good description of how to bleach
and prepare skeleton leaves, seed-vessels, &c., in the volume of
SciENCE-Gossip for 1873.

C. S. — Get " Notes on Collecting and Preparing Natural
History Objects," edited by J. E. Taylor, published by W. H.
Allen & Co., y. dd. Also all the vols. (2^'. 6d. each, 8 in
number) of "The Fauna and Flora of the British Islands,"
published by the S.P.C.K., except those you name. "The
Playtime Naturalist" (London; Chatto, 55.) will help you
considerably. " Elementary Microscopic Manipulation," by
T. C. White.—" Half-hours with the Microscope," by Dr.
Lankester (W. H. Allen, ^s. 6d.).

S. A. Chambers. — The specimen you sent us was 'a some-
what dwarfed var. of the purple dead nettle [Lamiuat pur-
pur euni).

P. T.— Apply to Messrs. W. Wesley & Son, Essex Street.
Strand, who keep all sorts of secondhand scientific .books on
all sorts of subjects.

R. W. — Get Mr. F. Enock's list of entomological prepara-
tions, with the descriptions accompanying them, published
two or three years ago by him.

We are informed that a Rambler's Field Club for the South-
west of London is now in course of formation. Apply for
information to Mr. W. Andrews, Landseer Street, Batter-
sea, S.W.

R. M. S. — The " Diatomiste " may be obtained of J. Tempere,
168 Rue St. Antoine, Paris ; price of each number, 4^.

T. Brown (Bolton). — The matrix of the fragment of mill-
stone grit is chiefly a partly decomposed felspar. There is also
a secondary deposit of silica.

EXCHANGES.

Wanted, living British spiders. Micro preparations given
in exchange. — John Rhodes, Blackburn Road, Accrington.

Wanted, to exchange foreign postage stamps with moderate
collectors of from looo to 2000. Also, what offers in stamps
for collection of British butterflies and moths, about 650 speci-
mens, in good condition? — Stanley Morris, School Hill, Lewes,
Sussex.

Wanted, foreign shells and unmounted diatoms, polycistines,

144

BA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSS IF.

forams, &c., in exchange for choice micro-sUdes of every
description, and British marine shells. Foreign correspondence
solicited.— R. Suter, 5 Highweek Road, Tottenham, London.

Offered, books. "Elementary Chemistry," "Elementary
Physics," "Practical Chemistry," "Inorganic Chemistry,"
" Elements of Acoustics," " Our World, its Rocks and Fossils,"
" Livre des Versions," "German Grammar," " School Hist, of
England," and a number of similar books of instruction. Offers
wanted in other books, shells, stamps, or garden requisites. —
Mrs. Heitland, The Priory, Shrewsbury.

"Gardening Illustrated," in seven volumes, 1884-90, un-
bound. What offers in scientific or other books?— A. B.,
Advertiser Office, Chepstow, Mon.

Trinidad Icpidoptera offered for a good classified list of
lepidoptera — Kirby preferred. — \V. E. Broadway, Royal
Botanic Gardens, Trinidad, B.W.I.

Offered, good botanical microscopic slides, for books on
botany or microscopy.— J. Collins, i^j Muntz Street, Bir-
mingham.

Eggs of British ducks and other birds, wanted in exchange
for nests and eggs.— W. Gyngell, 28 Wesiborough, Scar-
borough.

Wanted, cleaned diatoms, foraminifera and polycistina,
volvox and other freshwater algs in vials, insects' eggs, podura,
lepisma, fleas, sawflies, cockchafers, large water-beetles, and
other insects. State requirements in exchange. — Henry
Ebbage, Framlingham, Suffolk.

Duplicates. — Trochiis striatus, Pupa riiigens, hlelatiia
sp., liUirex acictdatus. Purpura hcentastotna, Nclicina beryl-
Una (?), Littorina scutulata, Acinaa spectruvi, and others.
Desiderata, exotic mollusca, especially land shells. — Brockton
Tomlin, The Green, Llandaft".

Clausilia Rolfikti [ver'Aed. by Mr. Th. Cockerell) from a new
Kentish locality, in exchange for other not common British
land and freshwater shells.— Rev. J. W. Horsley, Woolwich.

Science-Gossip, numbers 157 to 205, unbound. Exchange
for geological lantern-slides, or offers. — J. T. Cook, Edina,
Stoneygate, Leicester.

Helix effulgens, H. calcadeiisis, H. inpeina, H. achatina,
H. plectostojjia, H. attaranensis, H. textrina, H. scalpturita,
Bulimus doinina, B. Nevilliana, B. Beddomiana, offered in
exchange for other land or for marine shells. Pecteii bifrons,
P. plica, P. le»iniscatus, in exchange for other species of pecten.
— Miss Luter, Arragon Close, Twickenham.

Offered, eggs of lapwing, moorhen, razorbill, curlew,
missel-thrush, ring dove, rook, black-headed and lesser black-
backed gull, coot, sedge warbler, lesser redpoll, &c., also
Science-Gossip, unbound, for 1890. Wanted, eggs of raven,
switt, ruff, nightjar, hawfinch, kite, goshawk, &c. — G. Nichol-
son, 3 Crown Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne.

Offered, Beale's " Micro, in Medicine ;" Berkeley's
" Introd. to Cryptogamic Botany," in first-class binding;
Baker's "Employment for the Microscope," with all the
original plates; "Alternation of Generations" (Stenstrup),
Ray Soc. ; pure gathering of batrachiosperma for mounting.
Wanted, "Journal of Microscopy and Nat. Science" for last
three years (vols. 6, 7, and 8), bound, works on freshwater
algae, rhizopods, &c. — J. E. Lord, Rawtenstall.

Lantern slides (photos, statuary, &c.), wanted in exchange
for first-class micro objects. — F. E. Hillman, i Harcourt Road,
Wallington, Surrey.

Wanted, British land or freshwater shells, or any books
relating to same. Will give micro material or slides, or foreign
stamps in exchange. — A. AUetsee, i South Villas, Kensington
Road, Redland, Bristol.

Finely preserved sea-urchins (E. sphxra) with spines — M.
incurva, pellucida, T. /abula, J\I. snbtruncata, S. ensis, T.
papyracea, H. pcllucidum, T. testudinalis, H. vlvic, A . cygnea
(Scotch), ^. corneum, var. pisidiodes, P./ontiuah; P. pusillum,
S. clegaiis, H. netnoralis, var. rubella, &c., offered for British
or foreign shells, or lepidoptera. — T. Paterson, 59 Hazelbank
Terrace, Edinburgh.

Wanted, Leda caudata, Natica helicoides, Pleuroioma
striolata. Vertigo moulinsia>ta, var. pusilla. Will anyone
oblize me with any in return for any of the following rare
shells : Cyclostrema serpuloides, Scalaria clathrat:ila, Eulima
bilincata, Odostoinia nivosa, and others. — T. E. Sclater, Bank
Street, Teignmouth.

Wanted, land and freshwater shells of fossils from any
formation not im collection, in exchange for Aiicylus lacustris,
Planorbis vortex, P. carinatus, Limnica glaber, L. stagnalis,
L. peregra, Spkarum corneutn, Physa Jontinalis, Helix
Jiortensis, H. pomatia, H. hispida, Clausilia rugosa, Pholas
Candida, and others. — R. D. Laurie, 19 Willow Bank Road,
Birkenhead.

Offered, Phillips' "Metallurgy," Phillips' "Geology,"
Catlow's " Conchology," Lardner's "Natural Philosophy,"
&c. (list sent), in exchange for secondary fossils. Address —
M., 56 Clarendon Villas, Brighton.

Wanted, foreign shells not in collection, more especially
helices and bulimi. Offered, other shells. Foreign corre-
spondence invited. — G. R. Sykes, 13 Doughty Street, London,

W.C.

Hairs and spines of sea-mouse, in exchange for micro-fungi,
unmounted material. — A. Montague, Penton, Crediton.

Ularginella glabella (from Mazagan), Haliotts iuberculata
(Mazagan), Helix potnatia (Switzerland). Exchange foreign
shells not in collection. — L. Montague, Penton, Crediton.

Proctor's "Star Atlas," and " Half-Hours with the Stars,"
offered in exchange for books on microscopy. Also Hydra
vulgaris and Melicerta ringens for Hydra viridis, — W. F.
Kelsey, Maldon.

Dredgings and good drift wanted, containing shells, &c.,
from the fo'lowing places: coast of Scilly, Guernsey, Scotch
Isles, North Sea, Irish coast, near Cork, and from the entrance
to the Bristol Channel. Good exchange given. — A. J. R.
Sclater, M.C.S-, 23 Bank Street, Teignmouth, South Devon.

Offered, Scienck-Gossip, unbound, clean, complete, 14
vols., 1S76 to 1889. Wanted, algological or botanical books,,
or other exchange. — T. H. Buffham, A.L.S., Comely Bank
Road, Walthamstow.

Several hundred British lepidoptera, in exchange for out-
door plants, roses, and ferns. — W. H. T., in Queen's Road,
Portsmouth.

Huxley's " Physiogr.aphy," Nos. 245 to 291 of Science-
Gossip, and entomological collecting and preserving apparatus,
in exchange for science books or micro-slides. — W. E. Watkins,
30 Dalmeny Road, Tufnell Park, London, N.

Offered, Cassell's "Natural History," Parts i to 8, new
edition now appearmg. — Chas. Leigh, 47 Sydney Street,
London, S.W.

Wanted, nests of goldfinch, long-tai'ed tit, golden-crested
wren, and redpole, during the season. Eggs, shells, or
lepidoptera offered in exchange. — William Hewen, 12 Howard
Street, Fulford Road, York.

" Nature," in weekly numbers, unbound, for the year 18S2,
three numbers missing ; 1883, five numbers missing ; 1S84, com-
plete, in exchange for British land and freshwater shells. —
T. Place, 50 Townend Street, York.

Science-Gossip, in parts, from January, 1887, to December,
1890. Offers requested in foraminiferous material, papers on
the foraminifera, or good micro-slides. — A. Earland, 3 Eton
Grove, Dacre Park, Lee, S.E.

Wanted, British land and freshwater shells. Can offer in
exchange Pupa secale, Carychiutn minimum, &c. Address —
H. T. Smith, 11 Oakfield Place, Clifton, Bristol.

Wanted, a few British mosses ; will give slides, &c., in
exchange. Address — T. B., Conservative Club, Hinckley.

Wanted, a good li-inch objective, or a section cutter, in
exchange for bound vols, of "Journal of Royal Microscopical
Society," for 18S7 and 18S8.— F. Coles, 53 Brook's Road, Stoke
Newington, London.

Offered, Xylophaga dorsalis, Pholas crispata, and ]\Iya
arenaria, last two with siphons extended. Wanted, shells not
in collection. — J. Smith, Monkredding, Kilwinning.

Wanted, Bowman's "Cotton Fibre " and Porter's "Treatise
on Silk." State desiderata to R. S. Dawson, Belmont, Shipley.

Science-Gossip, from commencement to present date of
issue, what offers? — Linder, New Brompton, Kent.

BOOKS. ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE.

" Coal, and What we Get from It," by R. Meldola (London :
S.P.C.K.).— "The Missouri Botanic Garden."— Fifth Report
U.S. Entomological Commission — Forest Insects," by A. S.
Packard (Washington). — "Annual Report Fruit-Grower's
Association of Ontario, 1S90." — "Colour Measurement and
Mixture," by Capt. Abney (London: S.P.C.K.).— " Tele-
scopic Work for Starlight Evenings," by W. F. Denning
(London: Taylor and Francis). — "Zoological Articles," by
Prof Lankester and Others (Edinburgh: A. and C. Black). —
"Geologists' Association — A Record of Excursions made
between i860 and 1810," edited by T. V. Holmes and C. D.
Sherborn (London: Edward Stanford). — "Discovery," No. 5.
—"The Conchologist," No. i.— "The Pedicula and Mallo-
phaga," by Prof. H. Osborn (Washington: Govt. Office). —
"Bulletin of Microscopical Society of Calcutta." — "Nature
Notes." — "American Microscopical Journal." — *'The Micro-
scope."—" American Naturalist." — " Canadian Entomologist."
—"The Naturalist."— The Botanical Gazette."— " The Gen-
tleman's Magazine."— "The Midland Naturalist."— " The
Garner." — " Feuille des Jeunes Naturalistes," &c., &c.

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

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

GUMS, RESINS, AND BALSAMS.

By H. DURRANT.

N the following few
notes on several of
the better-known
gums and resins,
I have adopted
no systematic ar-
rangement.
Neither have I
said all I should
have liked to have
said concerning
them. But as it
was not consistent
with the room at
my disposal to
mention all their
various uses, I
have suppressed
the minor proper-
ties and given in
as few words as
possible the more interesting features.

I have endeavoured to give the name of the plant
producing each variety, together with its uses, native
country and other interesting items.

The distinctions between gums, resins and balsams
may be briefly tabulated as follows :

Resins are the inspissated or thickened juices of
plants. They are generally mixed with an essential
oil, are insoluble in water, but are soluble enough in
either alcohol or the essential oils. Their general
characters are inflammability and fusibility. Their
ultimate components are carbon, oxygen, and
hydrogen. v

Gtims are soluble in water, but are insoluble in
alcohol.

Balsams or Gum resins contain a quantity of gum,
are partly soluble in water, partly so in alcohol, or in
other words, they take bo:h alcohol and water to
perfectly dissolve them.

Gum arabic is produced by several species of
No. 319.— July 1891.

acacia. It is quite soluble in water, but in alcohol,
ether and oils it is insoluble. It forms an acid
solution, as permalate of lime is present. Several of
the metallic oxides combine with it. It is very
nutritious, so much so that the Arabs who gather it
nearly live upon it during harvest-time. We import
it from the Levant, Barbary, Senegal, Cape of Good
Hope, India, Cairo, &c.

Gum Senegal the product of Acacia Senegal. This
is the best kind of Arabian gum. It is much more
clear than gum arabic, sometimes entirely white, in
drops as large as a pigeon's egg. Its principal use is
in the manufacture of silks, muslins, crapes, &c., to
give them the requisite amount of stiffness and glaze.
It is also mixed with the colours in caUco printing to
give them solidity.

Gu7n tragacanth or gum dragon. This is obtained
from Astralagus ti-agacantha. In appearance it
resembles twisted ribbons, of a brownish whitt
colour, opaque and rather ductile. When pulverized
in a mortar it is of a white colour. The operation of
pulverizing is a difficult one, and should be performed
in a hot mortar, the gum having been previously heated
to 212° Fahr. This gum has a remarkable power of
consistence, a small piece swelling up to many times
its own size. It has not, however, such a strong
power of adhesiveness as gum arabic, but if equal
parts of the two be mixed together it forms a nice
white gum, very suitable for fastening plants to paper,
and other natural history work. The tree is itself a
native of Crete.

Gum sandarach. The product of Callitris quadri-
valvis is a native of Barbary. This gum is chiefly
used in the manufacture of varnishes, for which it
is peculiarly adapted. The Turks employ the wood
in the construction of their mosques, it being very
tough and possessing great lasting qualities. Im-
portation about fifteen tons per annum.

Barbary gum, a very dark-looking kind produced
by the Acacia gufnmifera. In the manufacture of
lozenges and confectionery it has valuable qualities.

140

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIF.

It calls for no special comment. We import it from
the Morocco coast.

Gum gedda, an inferior quality of the foregoing.
Reddish colour.

Canada balsam. This is supplied by the Abies
balsamifera. It is contained in blisters in the bark.
The blisters are punctured, and the balsam is
collected as it exudes. This is a most useful sub-
stance, being in great demand in a number of manu-
factures, &c. It is used in cementing lenses together.
In microscopy comment is needless, but besides
being an excellent preservative, it gives great trans-
parency to the object. We import nearly all of it
from America.

Gitaiaaim. This resin exudes from the Giiaiacum
officifiale, a native of Jamaica and the surrounding
islands. A piece of paper treated with tincture of
guaiacum takes on a green tint under the violet rays,
when exposed to the prismatic spectrum, through
oxidization. Red rays destroy the colour. Solu-
bility, 90 per cent, in absolute alcohol. Lignum vitse,
the hardest and heaviest wood known, and which
sinks on being placed in water, is the timber of this
tree.

Copal. This is the product of several leguminous
plants in Africa, East Indies, South America, and
Australia. It is generally seen in large angular
lumps, often as large as a hen's egg, of a bright
yellow colour, and very transparent. The African
variety is of a darker colour, and not so transparent ;
its surface appears dusty. The Australian is the
largest. That from the East Indies is the product
of Hymencza coiirbaril. In lumps sometimes nearly
sqiiare and generally covered all over with slight
indentations. It is known as gum anime. Chiefly
used for fine varnishes.

Guj7t mastic^ the product of Pistacia lentiscus. In
small ovoid and round tears about the size of a pea
and rather flattened. The tree is a native of Chio
and Northern Africa. To obtain the resin the bark
is cut transversely, after which the mastic exudes in
small drops and either hardens on the bark or falls
to the ground. That which falls to the ground is
the inferior quality. It has a fragrant smell, and is
much used by the Turkish ladies in their toilet. A fine
varnish is made from it. Dentists also use it for
stopping hollow teeth. About ten or twelve tons are
imported annually, mostly from the Levant.

Gtim dammar: this is a light-coloured substance
which is obtained from the Piniis dainmara, native
in India, from whence it is exported. It is very useful
in making varnishes, especially photographic. It is
soluble in benzole, only partly so in alcohol, and is
used sometimes as a substitute for Canada balsam.

Gutn gamboge: a product of Hedyadendro7i gam-
bogioides, native on the Malabar coast and in Ceylon.
It is a gum resin, and is obtained by puncturing the
bark of the tree when the flowers begin to appear.
We know it best by its appearance in amorphous

masses, but it also takes the form of hollow rolls and
solid cylinders. The best hollow rolls come from
Siam. From this gum the beautiful yellow colour of
gamboge is manufactured.

Gtdta-percha : the inspissated juice of Isonandra
gutta. When freshly gathered it is rough, dry,
slightly soluble and very inflammable. To render it
fit for use it is immersed in boiling water ; this
softens it and makes it capable of being moulded into
any shape, which it retains when cold.

The juice is found between the bark and the
wood. Its uses are too numerous to specify, many
being too well known.

Caoutchouc, india-rubber, is the product of many
euphorbiaceous plants. We get most of it from the
Brazils and Central America. In Brazil it is
obtained from the Siphonia elastica, which grows to a
height of between fifty to sixty feet ; and in Central
America it is obtained from Castilloa elastica. Most
of that we now use comes from Central America,
where the juice is simply collected into cups, from
incisions made in the bark. To coagulate the milky
juice and convert it into rubber fit for exportation,
the juice of a vine called "achuca" is mixed with it
and so powerful is its action that five or six minutes
is sufficient to produce coagulation. The Brazilian
method slightly differs. The juice is first collected
in clay bowls, it is then smeared over various shaped
moulds, made also in clay and taking the form of
bottles, balls, spindles, &c. Successive coats are
laid on, each one having previously been allowed to
thoroughly dry; either in the sun or in the smoke of
a fire, which blackens it. When a sufficient thickness
is obtained, the clay is washed out leaving the india-
rubber ready for exportation. The trees yield
twenty or thirty gallons of juice, and when we con-
sider that each gallon will produce two pounds of
market india-rubber, the harvest is not so bad.
Other trees producing caoutchouc are Siphonia
brasiliensis, S. hitea, and S. brevifolia.

Dextrine, British gum, torrified starch. To pro-
duce this gum, starch is heated until vapour rises ; by
this procedure the starch becomes soluble both in
cold^and hot water, and all its gelatinous character
disappears. It can also be made by moistening 1000
parts of dry starch with very dilute nitric acid. It is
formed in small blocks and dried in the open air,
afterwards being placed in an oven heated to 152°.
After this they are pulverized and again dried by
heat. In colour dextrine is pale yellow ; insoluble
in alcohol, more flexible and not so brittle when dry
as gum. Dextrine and starch have the same
chemical composition CgHjoOs. The gum on the
back of postage stamps is dextrine.

Turpentine. This valuable fluid is the product of
several trees, principally Pinus pahistris and P. tceda.
Most of it comes from the United States, generally
in large barrels, of the consistence of treacle or honey.
The oil is obtained by distillation and the remainder

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

147

is the common resin sometimes called rosin, which is
applied to a variety of uses. There are several
kinds of turpentine, viz., Venice turpentine, procured
from the Abies larix ; Strasburg, from Abies pecti-
7iata ; Bordeaux turpentine, from the Pimis pinaster ;
and Chio turps, from the Pistacia terebinthis.

Gum thus or frankincense, an odoriferous product
of the Boswellia scrrata. It is of slight use except
for its odour, which the Roman Catholics turn to
account in their churches. Employed also by the
ancient priests of Egypt, its odour destroying the
foul emanations from the sacrifices. It is imported
from India and sometimes the Levant.

Asafcetida {Narthex asafcetida). This flows from
incisions made in the root of the tree. In colour it
is milky white, but after it has been dried it takes on
a pinkish tint and is curiously mottled. It has a
most unpleasant odour. Afghanistan and Persia is
the home of the tree. It is used medicinally as an
anti-spasmodic in cases of asthma.

NOTE ON SIREX JUVENCUS.

I SHOULD like to record the capture in Alton,
Hants, of two fine specimens of the saw fly,
(Sirex jiivencHs), male and female. The female was
taken September 18SS in Mr. Monk's chemist's shop,
and the male on the ground in the High Street last
summer. Both specimens were kindly given to me
by the captors, and were alive at the time. This
species of saw fly does not appear to be very abun-
dant, and certainly is not so numerous as Sirex
gigas. This is the first, and only two specimens of
S. juvencHS I have had the pleasure of seeing,
although I have been on the look-out for them some
time.

At the same time, my opinion is that S. juveiiciis is
British, and probably in some localities is more
plentiful than in others. Sirex gigas, the largest of
these saw flies, is frequently taken in this neighbour-
hood, and many specimens (all females) I have had
brought and sent to me by friends, for the hornet. I
found one pinned on my front door ; and on another
occasion one was sent me securely fastened up with
string in a paper box labled " Mind the sting."
" Well," thought I, " what now ?— hornet ? "

I carefully opened the box, peeped in, and — oh,
my ! — not a hornet, but a fine female .5". gigas, with her
long needle-like ovipositor, which had been taken for
the sting of a hornet. The male of this species I have
never seen alive. At the same time 6". juvencus was
taken in the chemist's shop, Rhyssa persuasoria, one
of the Ichneumonidae, was captured in the grocer's
shop of Mr. Butler, in this town ; and this came into
my possession.

It is very fine specimen measuring from head to
extreme point of ovipositor 2| inches. The ovi-
positor alone is i| inches long, a fine instrument to

probe timber for wood-boring larv:e, in which to lay
its eggs. Can any of our correspondents say to what
extent these saw flies are injurious to fir timber ?
Will they attack healthy standing trees, or only the
sickly ones, fallen timber, and fir-fencing ? Some
years ago I had an old fir post brought me com-
pletely honey-combed by larvce of S. gigas ; and
towards the outside of post were specimens of the
saw fly ready to emerge. To all appearance the saw
fly had laid its eggs in the post. I am quite aware
that it is the opinion of some, that the fly does not
attack the healthy trees, but only the dead ones. If
those of our correspondents who live close to fir
plantations would make a few observations, and
make them known through the medium of Science-
Gossip, we should get a good bit of valuable
information.

J. BOGGUST.

LEFT BEHIND.

By the Rev. Hilderic Friend, F.L.S., Author of
" Flowers and Flower Lore."

THE joints and sweets had been removed, and a
fine piece of cheese— whether Gruyere, Gon-
gales, or other, I am not connoisseur enough ito
determine — but at any rate, a handsome, speckled
green and white piece of cheese was brought on,
whereupon our garrulous friend at the head of the
table broke forth. " I saw such a thing the other
day as I never saw before in my life. What funny
stuff cheese is under the microscope ! "

Now I pride myself upon being rather clever at the

Fig. 108. — Willow-mite
{Tetranychus salicis). The
dot within the ring represents^Fig. 109.— Elm-mite [TctranycJius
the natural size. ulmi),

microscope, and I felt convinced that my friend the
cheese-parer had not been looking at cheese under
the microscope. Its pasty form presents no attrac-
tions like those of the bonnie wee mites which the
cheese-fancier likes to hear crack, crack between his
teeth, as he takes a morsel of the most hvely portion
and devours it after dinner as an antidote to indiges-
tion. I therefore ventured to suggest to my friend
that perhaps he had been inspecting- som.e cheese-
mites. Exactly so !

H 2

148

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

I am naturally a modest man, but I saw that this was
a golden opportunity for descanting on the wonders of
visible and invisible things ; and as my host and his
circle of acquaintances assured me after the conversa-
tion was over that it had been immensely interesting,

the way in which certain things get left behind in the
race of life, is that which these innocent mites afford
us."

" Indeed, I never care to see a piece of live cheese
now," said my friend. " This is a case in which ' a

[Fig. no. — Stone-mite [Tetranychus lapidus). From
Taylor's " Playtime Naturalist."

Fig. III.— Under side oi Arremtnts ^erforafus. Male [highly mag.).

Fig. 112. — Arrenurus ellipticus. Male (mag.)

I have ventured to make that piece of table-talk take
its place by the side of Landor's, Coleridge's, and
Luther's, in the hope that I, like them, may hereby
gain immortality.

" A. wonderful instance," Tbegan to explain, " of

little knowledge is a dangerous thing,' and I grant
the truth of the adage ' where ignorance is bliss 'tis
folly to be wise.' I wish I had never seen a piece of
mitey cheese under a magnifying-glass."
I thereupon undertook to prove to him that even a

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

149

cheese-mite would make a capital text for a parson (I
speak sympathetically), by preaching him a most
convincing sermon. By way of variation and illus-
tration I begged that he would obtain without delay
a most entertaining volume entitled " The Playtime
Naturalist," and turn to the chapter which deals with
mites, then come to my laboratory to see the identical

motion. We may call the six-legged stage the larval
condition, but if you wish to be deemed scientific,
pray use the word Hypopus stage. That magic word
will admit you at once into the front ranks of
scientific literates. This larval condition, be it
understood, was once regarded in a very different
light. Many a battle has been fought over a six-

Fig. 113.— Female of Arrenurus (mag.).

Fig. zi^.— Arrenurus truncatelltts (mag.).

Fig. 116. — Single eggs of Newt, wrapped in leaves, showing
development. From " Playtime Naturalist."

Fig. 115. — Arrenurus integrator (mag.).

creatures under the microscope. Here I promised to
show him the different stages from the egg to the
perfect creature, and then he would better under-
stand my meaning.

" There is one thing," I continued, " which I wish
to emphasize, and it is this ; that when the mite is
half-way between egg and imago it has only six legs,
whereas the perfect creature has eight organs of loco-

legged Hypopus — the history of which has been duly
chronicled by Michael in the ' Journal of the
Linnean Society,' by Murray in ' Economic Ento-
mology,' not to mention other authorities."

My profound learning quite took the breath from
my friend and his other guests, so that they never
attempted to interrupt me. As I seldom get a
chance to speak, I took the opportunity to point out

I50

HARD WJCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIF.

that when the mite has only six legs it corresponds
with insects, whereas in its perfect state it belongs to
the spider family. Thus the mites "in this respect
connect the two great classes of Insecta and
Arachnida : " " Playtime Naturalist," pp 70, 170.

"Wonderful! Wonderful!" exclaimed the com-
pany, though I believe they were all the time think-
ing more about the quality of the cheese than the
quality of my sermon, which must have been uncon-
scionably diy. However, I flattered myself that they
were interested, and proceeded.

"This is not the only parcel that has been left

Fig. 117. — Development of Tadpole seventeen days after
laying the egg.

Fig. 118.— Eggs of Stone-mite.

Fig. iig.— Segmentation of Tadpole's esg. A, fourteenth day.
B, ditto, enlarged.

behind," I continued ; and at a bound I passed from
the mite to the frog. Whether my hearers knew the
difference between a frog and a toad, I very much
question, but it is well to flatter your hearers some-
times by assuming that they know as much as your-
self, for no one likes to be considered a noodle,
though he may be the essence of stupidity.

" Now," said I, "you know that when a frog's a
tadpole it's a fish 1 "

"Never! Wonderful!"

"It is wonderful, indeed," I continued; and
shameful as it must appear to the cool and philoso-

phical outsider, I forthwith proceeded to preach a
second sermon on things left behind. How far I
succeeded I know not, but I endeavoured to show
that when a frog lays its spawn there comes forth
from each lump of jelly a tiny fish — scarce, if at all
different from the young begotten by a salmon or a
cod so far as the structure or anatomy is concerned —
with gills instead of lungs and a tail for swimming
instead of legs. I then showed how in due course
the fish was left behind, and the creature, while still
retaining its tail, improvised first one pair of legs and
then a second until it stood on a par with the newts.
Finally, I referred to the perfect animal, and showed
how it gradually absorbed its tail, until it stood before
us a beautiful and rational frog.

My friends naturally wanted to know where all
this was leading, and I explained that such facts had
led the naturalist to theorize as follows : — Many
animals — and plants as well in a less degree — under-
go a series of changes in their progress from the germ
to the adult. At various stages they correspond to
animals whose development is complete — the larval
six-legged mite with the insect, and the larval tad-
pole with the fish — but eventually they pass beyond
these forms and assume others which are different and
higher. May not these stages indicate the lines along
which the creatures have moved in their race-
development ? Or to put the question in the
language of science, Does not the ontogeny of the
creature recapitulate its phylogeny ? {" Evolution,"
by Le Conte, p. 9 seq.).

I need scarcely say that mine host began to feel
that he was out of his depth, and I had to tow him to
land. This I did by explaining that so far as our
present knowledge goes the doctrine of evolution is
better adapted than any other which is at this
moment before the public to meet all the difficulties
associated with the questions of manifest life, while
its inabihty to deal with the origin of life, makes it
necessary for us still to revert to the Biblical doctrine
of a wise and beneficent Creator.

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS.

r) OPULAR LECTURES AND ADDRESSES
JL by Sir W. Thomson, F.R.S., &c., vols, i and
iii. (London : Macmillan). The all-embracing
science of modern physics owes more to Sir William
Thomson, perhaps, than any living man. Sir
William is not only an ingenious inventor
and a patient and accurate discoverer, but a born
teacher as well. As a lecturer he is too much in
earnest to stoop to popularity, and he is careless
about addressing any other than earnest students and
workers. He expects them to take a little trouble to
understand him, and they all know he is worth it.
Readers of these addresses must be prepared to
master a score or so of terms and phrases before they

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

151

are admitted to the "Third Degree." Then Sir
William's style, although terse and brief, is clear and
understandable. That he can command a large
circle of readers is evidenced by the fact that the fifst
edition of the work under notice was soon out of
print, and a second had immediately to be issued.
Vol. ii of the set has not yet been published. Some
of these Essays and Addresses have became classic,
notably those in vol. i. on "The Size of Atoms," and
" The Sun's Heat." Another lecture in three parts
is devoted to " The Secular Cooling of the Sun,"
"The Sun's Present Temperature," and "The
Origin and Total Amount of the Sun's Heat."
Among other addresses are " The Six Gateways of
Knowledge," "The Wave Theory of Light,"
" Electrical Measurements," •' Capillary Attraction,"
&c, JMany of these are supplemented by original
notes and appendixes. The whole of these
valuable discourses are included in one volume,
entitled "The Constitution of Matter." Volume iii.
is called " Navigation," and is devoted to navi-
gational affairs. Among them we find the following
comprehensive range of subjects discoursed upon in
various chief places: "The Tides," "Terrestrial
Magnetism and the Mariner's Compass," " On Deep
Sea Sounding by Pianoforte- Wire," "Lighthouse
Characteristics," " The Forces concerned in the
Laying- and Lifting of Deep-Sea Cables,"
"Navigation," &c. Many of these important
summaries of valuable knowledge are also added to
by original notes. Enough has been said, however,
to show that the publication of Sir William
Thomson's "Popular Lectures and Addresses" is a
welcome addition to modern scientific literature.

The Birds of Essex — A Cont7-ibiitioti to the Natural
History of the County, by Miller Christy, F.L.S.
(Chelmsford : Edmund Durrant). This is the
second special memoir published by the Essex Field-
Club — the most enterprising, active, zealous, and
intelligent of our out-door societies. The author is
a well-known, all-round naturalist, with a speciality
for ornithology. He has long been a welcome
contributor to the scientific press, some readers will
well remember his name, although we miss the
initial letter R in this his latest work. Ornithology
is a branch of natural history which demands unusual
patience and care ; and, as a rule, none but
enthusiastic ornithologists study ornithology. We
are gradually acquiring a series of splendid and trust-
worthy monographs of British birds. In the eastern
countries, particularly, we have Stevenson,
Southwell, Babington, and now Miller Christy.
The present work is got up with much taste. Most
of the illustrations (162 in number) are first-rate
specimens of natural history wood-cutting. Mr.
Christy is known as a graceful and accom-
plished writer, and he also brings to his work all
the requisites of a good ornithologist. His book
is prefaced with a highly reliable and most

interesting chapter devoted to short biographies of
the principal Essex ornithologists. Next we have
an account of the Chief Essex Bird Collections,
Migration Tables (by Mr. H. Doubleday and the
Rev. R. Sheppard), a chapter of Hawks and
Hawking in the Olden Time (by Mr. J. E. Harting),
and another on Wild Fowl Decoys and Wild
Fowling in Essex. Lastly comes the chief part of
the work: "A Catalogue on the Birds of Essex,"
which occupies over two hundred pages, and is
abundantly illustrated. Every species of bird has
some interesting note or item. This part is as
attractive and instructing as many pages of Gilbert
White. The Essex Field Club, through ^^Ir.
Christy's help, have conferred genuine assistance in
the important work of constructing a national
ornithology which will endure for many years to
come.

Lessons in Elementary Biology, by T. Jeffery
Parker, F.R.S. (London : Macmillan). We have
by no means too many good manuals of biology.
Zoology is indeed rather poor therein, and
elementary botany is too abundantly represented. A
general biology, based on the science of physical life,
is open to good literary work. Professor Parker's
handsome new text-book is of this character. It is
meant for real students, not idlers or dilettanti
skimmers of every fresh pot of scientific milk,
although such people imagine they run away with the
cream. For students in B.Sc. exams, this book is a
genuine friend. The illustrations are numerous, well
selected, and special. There is neither a needless
nor a useless one in the volume. The table of
contents includes thirty so-called " Lessons " ; and it
would be difiacult to formulate a wider area of
biological research and discussion. Professor
Parker's method of instruction is clear, solid, and so
strong that the student who has thoroughly mastered
his " Lesson " will not be likely soon to forget it.

The Making of Flowers^ by the Rev. Professor
George Henslovv (London: S.P.C.K.). Here we
have another welcome addition to the "Romance of
Science " series. Professor Henslow is the worthy
son of a worthy sire. He is a devoted botanist, and
was one of the earliest botanists to recognise the law
of evolution in his beloved study. But he never
seems to have taken kindly to the definite conclusions
of Darwin, Hooker, Lubbock, and others, that insects
are absolutely essential for crossing flowers. He
rather holds a brief for the opposition, and thinks the
plant travelled to the insect, rather than the insect
to the plant — through its migrations. Mr. Henslow
makes much of stimulation as an agent for effecting
floral change, especially the stimulation of insects.
We will not even endeavour, by sketching an outline
of this charming little book, to rob our readers of the
pleasure of perusing it.

The British Noctua and their Varieties, vol. i., by
J. W. Tutt (London : Swan Sonnenschein & Co.).

T52

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

The author has herein done good and laborious
work in a field of research little known, but which
offers much of importance and interest. The student
has here collected ready for use the records of
varieties hitherto scattered through numberless
magazines. Nevertheless, much of the work recorded
is new. Mr. Tutt is well known as a diligent
lepidopterist, and this handy little manual will be
liighly acceptable to all working entomologists.

The Species of Epilobium ocairring North of
Mexico, by W. Trelease. Professor Trelease is in
charge of the Missouri Botanic Garden, and this
well got-up work forms the Second Annual Report
of that Institution. It will be of much service to
American botanists. It is illustrated by forty-seven
artistically got-up plates of the different species of
Epilobium.

Afonographie du Genre Pleurosigma et des Genres
allies, by H. Perogallo (Paris : M. J. Tempere). This
handsome monograph of the most important of all the
genera of diatoms, owes its publication to the
existence of " Le Diatomiste," the French botanical
quarterly journal, edited by M. Tempere, devoted to
the study of diatoms, to which we have already drawn
the attention of our readers. It is illustrated by
ten plates, quarto size, crowded with accurately
drawn figures. M. Perogallo's work has involved
much labour and research.

TWO VIEWS OF THE WEALD.

View the First.

THE long ridge of Kentish rag which bounds the
Weald Valley on the north slopes steeply down to
the bed of the Beult— a little tributary of the Med way,
which meanders slowly through the rich corn-land,
scattered copses and marshy meadows, which make
the Weald dear to farmers and to sportsmen. The
alluvial soil of its banks rests upon a bed of flinty
gravel, laid bare in the river-bed and the ditches
bordering the fields, and contributing more stones
to the surface soil than is usual in a land where
"stone-pickers" are unknown. These scattered
flints will furnish us with the materials for reconstruct-
ing in our imagination the Weald as it once was —
the home of beast and wild fowl, of hunters without
gun or cartridge, trained setter or beagle, but whose
weapons, of their own manufacture, doubtless did
good execution in their day.

Step with me over the plank bridge that spans the
Beult. There in the river-bank, not long ago, was
found sticking out of the soil, a beautiful polished celt,
an axe-head, whose owner little dreamed that the
tool he fashioned and polished with such infinite toil
and care should now alone represent to us the worker's
life and ways.

When we have crossed the meadows, where the

overflowing river deepens its 'deposit of silt every
winter, we arrive at the edge of some ploughed fields,
bare as yet of seedlings ; the soil in this curious
"spring" weather is dry and crumbling after the
ploughing and harrowing. At every step or so we
may pick up a fragment of flint — satiny black, trans-
lucent grey or brown, glowing red, almost as jasper,
weathered to a blue like that of the Kentish hills in
the distance, cracked and calcined like a bit of old
pottery — and of real pottery, too, we may pick up
specimens, of which more anon.

The variety of colour in the flints is by no means
their sole attraction or interest. Scarcely one of them
but has been split or splintered, and that in no
accidental manner. A practised eye soon recognises
"flakes " and "cores," perhaps a fashioned arrow-
head, borer, or other tool. Here was undoubtedly
one of the earliest manufactories of which we have
record— and these flints are the raw material, the
refuse, or the finished articles.

Long ago the ever-working rain and frost and
rivers and sea wore away the escarpment of those
chalky downs which bound the Weald to north and
south ; long ago the flints were drifted over the land,
sole traces of the earlier deposits. The great Weald
forest grew up, man appeared on the scene, and here,
where fish and bird and beast must have found food in
plenty, their newly arrived master found weapons also
to his hand. Generations of the old stone-workers
must have lived and died — hundreds of flints must have
been chipped and shaped, and presently polished, and
then " the old order " changed, newer races came on
the scene, for as we trudge over the ground we can
pick up from time to time pieces of well-burnt clay
that are not bits of drain-pipes, nor specimens of
modern art, but genuine Roman tiles, and Roman
pots. And on the far side of the Beult, along the
hill, stretches a long line of Roman earthworks, and in
a copse half-way down is a still untouched tumulus,
into which as yet only the rabbits have been
privileged to burrow.

And so, as we homeward wend our weary but
happy way, we may see in thought the savage
hunters stalking their game, setting their snares or
their nets, sitting over their fires after nightfall — ashes
have been dug up in these very fields — shaping and
polishing their tools, scraping their skins, fitting their
bows, doubtless enjoying life as much as did those
modern sportsmen whose many empty cartridge-cases
now betoken a "warm corner." Doubtless the
rabbits scurried and burrowed, as now in the soft
loam, and the plover screamed over-head, and the
larks rose into the cloudy sky wherever the wood was
cleared — perhaps also the wolf and the bear and the
wild boar ranged over the land. Much is changed,
yet enough is the same — enough to make us sure that
these our rude forefathers of the stone ages, had in
many ways such a view of the Weald, as we may
have to-day, if we will but look for it.

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G SSIF.

153

View the Second.

The Weald of to-day is rapidly getting prosaic :
the iron horse and the jerry builder are penetrating
into its depths, the primroses and ferns are fast
vanishing from its hedgerows, the traction engine is
replacing the labouring team, hedgerows themselves
are giving way to iron fences, barbed as often as not,
copses are being "grubbed," wayside trees cut down,
strips of turf quietly absorbed into the nearest field,
thrashing and ploughing, and miUing done by steam,
instead of by homely and slower methods, the smock-
frock and the village curtsey are things of the past
along the main roads — or at least wherever the rail has
crossed them. It is worth while, therefore, to leave
the land of transition, and see what remains of the
old ways and the old places.

Anyone who visits the county town on a market-
day will see drawn up in lines in the broad High
Street carriers' vans and omnibuses of all sizes and
degrees of gentility. In the course of the afternoon
these will be labouring out of the town, laden with
marketing folk and their baggage, and with many a
parcel to be dropped at wayside inn or cottage.

Suppose we take an outside seat on one of these
bound some fifteen miles or more into the heart of
the Weald, where Tenterden, Biddenden, Hawkhurst,
and all the other dens and hursts remind one of its
former forests and bosky dells.

Slowly, slowly the pair of horses — hardly a pair —
toil up the long ascent to the top of the limestone
ridge. We travel south by east, and the keen north-
east wind cuts across the fields, now faintly green
with springing wheat, and raises clouds of dust, till
the hedges are whitened as in July, though they are
barely green enough for March.

The broad, flat-topped hill is crossed, the road
winds down the steeper side, and we are soon on the
ievel. We have passed one village well placed on
the slope and grouped round its pretty church, whose
stone spire is a land-mark for many miles. Our
conveyance has stopped to refresh " man and beast "
at a low-browed, timber-fronted inn ; many a greeting
has been exchanged with passers-by, and now we set
off with quicker pace to cross the flat valley, through
which the railway runs straight as an arrow from
Tonbridge to Ashford, Sycamores and horse-
chestnuts are just budding, meadows are getting "a
bite " on them for the numerous lambkins, and here
and there starry anemones or celandines grace shaw or
bank. In cottage-gardens the " lent lilies"— all out
of date — are nodding in the breeze ; the characteristic
cottages, steep in front and sloping low behind, like
the hills, show budding pear and plum-trees ; over a
wayside-pond are the first swallows skimming ; and
our onward movement is impeded here and there by
those of sheep and cattle from a country-market.
One frightened little calf slips between our horses.

*' Three abreast," jocularly remarks the driver ; but
he pulls up in time to save it a blow or scratch. All
this is commonplace enough ; but the level fields, the
winding road, the luxuriant hedgerows, the leisurely
movements of everybody give a sense of peace and
rest not always easy to find nowadays.

We have crossed the railway, exchanged inside
passengers and parcels, and off we go again, due
south now, leaving the valley behind, and mounting
one after another the sandstone slopes which lead
gently up to the South Downs.

Corn-fields, hop-gardens, and •' oast-houses," grow
fewer, meadows and woods and heather-covered
banks more numerous, till at last a tall windmill, a
solid, square church-tower, and many brown- tiled
roofs betoken our destination — a little old-fashioned
town, innocent of railway, and living its life of
gentle measured bustle with a grace that is quite
charming.

Next morning, as we sally forth from our comfort-
able quarters at a real old-fashioned inn there is a
choice of many roads. We take one which leads
southward, and find with delight that though
Primrose Day has come and gone, the primroses in
hot, damp, wayside copses and hedgerows are still
waiting to be picked, that wood-sorrel and
moschatel peep from the shady nooks, and milk-
maids, violets, and celandines deck the sunny
stretches.

We stop towards noon at a trim farmhouse, all red
brick and tile, with ample store of hay still in its
rick-yard. The ponderous knocker brings out the
farmer himself, in working clothes. He is pleased to
tell the way ; but a request for milk brings the good-
humoured explanation that it is all in the creaming-
pans. " If you'd 'a come in the morning or evening
milking-time now — " But the laws of the dairy
are those of the Medes and Persians, and we turn
thirsty away. We have noted, however, the bees
humming in and out of chinks in the weather-tiles.
"Yes," he says; " we took out more 'n a hundred-
weight o' comb last year." We wonder to ourselves
what it must be like to live in such close quarters
with the busy little folk.

Up hill, down dale, over field and stile and five-
barred gate we make our way. A labourer taking
his nooning under a haystack shows us a cross-cut,
and we feel that we have lighted upon a land where
nature still has a good deal of her own way.

For our evening stroll there are the wide woods,
where thrush and cuckoo and pheasant greet us with
their songs and calls, and where the moor-hen
splashes in a lonely pond.

When the last red sunset-gleams have glorified the
fir-trees a clear moon shines over the gabled houses,
fewer and fewer footsteps echo on the rough pave-
ments, soon they cease ; and at old-fashioned hours
the old-fashioned folk seek their (doubtless) well-
earned slumbers.

154

HARD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OSSIP.

Call it dull if you will : to those whose eyes and
ears are open, such a life in such surroundings has
much of the keenest interest — it is that of our England
unadulterated. Let us enjoy it while we may.

M. E. Pope.

NOTES ON THE MODIFICATIONS OF
ROOTS.

THE axile roots, such as the conical tap-roots,
which occur in Aconiium iiapcllus^ Pcucedamim
sativujn, and Daucus carota, are a direct prolongation
of the stem ; as also the fusiform i-x'^-xooi oi Raphamts
raphanistruin, and the napiform tajD-root ol Brassica
rapa. The contorted root of Polygonum listorta,
and the premorse root of Scahiosa sicccisa, seem to
be only modifications of the rhizome, but are some-
times mistaken for true roots.

The tuberculated roots, as the palmate tubercules
of Orchis maculata, are only formed by the enlarging

Fig. 120.— Abnormal Tubercules of Orchis macidata.

of several adventitious fibrous roots which have
cohered at their bases, and left their extremities free,
which forms the divisions of this kind of tubercule ;
those adventitious roots which ascend from the junc-
tion of the tubercules with the stem have slightly
enlarged, but otherwise preserved their primary form ;
this may be ascertained by a specimen I found in
Sussex in 1890, which had no perfect tubercules, but
had in their place several adventitious fibrous roots
which should have cohered and formed the two
tubercules ; all these fibres were a little swollen at
their upper ends.

The ovoid tubercules of Herminium, Ophrys, and
Aceras, etc., are formed by complete cohesion of
several fibres, or by the enlarging of a single one.
In the fasciculated roots of Jianuncidiis ficaria, this
same enlarging of some of the adventitious roots is
obvious ; on a single plant may be found all the
modifications from a fibrous adventitious root to a
fasciculated, or even ovoid tubercule. The dahlia
exhibits another form of adventitious fasciculated

roots, where several of the fibrous roots have cohered
and formed an elongate ovoid tubercule, the ends only
are left free at the extremities of the tubercules. In
CEyianthe pimpindloidcs and Spircca filipendula we
have the nodose adventitious roots ; in the former
species we have the swelling about the middle of the
fibre, while in the latter it is near its extremity ; in
(Enanthelachenalii, the fibres are but slightly swollen.

Fig. 321. — Palmate Tubercules of Orchis maculaia.

Fig. 122. — Palmate Tubercules of Orchis viaculata.

which must have been the primary of those of CE.

pimpinelloides.

It seems that the stem was the primary form of

roots, since all roots have more or less the structure

of stems ; those roots so different from the stem

modifications, may only have lost their structure with

time.

Henry E. Griset.

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

155

BOTANICAL RAMBLES NEAR ROUND-
STONE, COUNTY GALWAY.

THE district I am about to describe is situated
near Roundstone, a small town on the south-
west coast of Connemara, about fifty miles by road
from Galway. Immediately to the west of the town
is Urrisbeg, a hill of nine hundred and eighty-seven
feet in height, the slopes of which, and the lakes and
bogs about its base, are all very rich in rare
plants.

The hill is composed of granite, and is rather
remarkable for the number of metallic ores it contains,
viz. — gold, silver, copper, lead, and molybdenite. But
I think some of them are in too small quantities and
too much diffused to pay for extensive mining
operations.

I visited this locality last June in company with
my friend, Mr. J. G. Wells. We arrived there on
the 29th, from the Aran Islands.

The next morning we started botanising, and were
much struck with the profusion of Osnmnda rcgalis
growing on the banks of all the streams and ditches.
It was of all sizes from a few inches to three or four
feet in height ; very fine indeed it looks, with the light
green fronds topped with a large brown spike of
of sporangia. This seems to be one of the commonest
ferns in Connemara; I noticed it in most of the
ditches along the roadsides.

Soon after we started to ascend the hill, we found
the lovely Dahceocia poUfolia in flower. This plant is
confined to the west of Ireland, and is orie of the
most gorgeous of our Ericaces, its crimson flowers
are in some cases nearly three-quarters of an inch
long. There is also a white variety to be found
about here, but we were not fortunate enough to
see it.

Pinguicula Itcsilanica was found growing on boggy
ground a short distance up. It is a most delicate little
plant, the leaves are very pale with darker veins ; the
flower is lilac, also with darker veins. The whole
plant is very fragile, and much smaller than P.
vulgaris, which we found growing with it. The
plants of this genus are very interesting from the fact
that they are insectivorous.

Other plants worth mention are Schxjms nigricans,
which is very conspicuous, with angular-looking
heads of black glumes ; Eriophortim angtistifoliiim
(the cotton-grass) ; Scirpus pauciflorus, and Carcx
limosa.

We also found a thistle which, I think, is a hybrid
between Cardmcs palustris and pratcnsis ; but
we did not see either of these species anywhere in
the locality.

All the above were growing on the boggy slopes of
the hill.

On reaching the top of Urrisbeg a very striking
view meets the eye. Looking north we could see
nearly three hundred lakes, both large and small, all

clustered together in the space of a few square miles ;
houses and cultivation are conspicuous by their
absence. To the westward stretches Slyne Head
with the two lighthouses on the island at its
extremity. To the southward we could see Deer
Island and numerous others, further out to sea
the three islands of Aran ; along the coast of these
latter could be seen the smoke arising from the
numerous fires of the kelp-burners.

The next day (July ist) we took a route around the
base of Urrisbeg.

In some small pools on a peat bog we found
Utricidaria minor and U. intermedia growing in
abundance. The former was in flower ; they are
supported on a very fine stalk, and stand a few
inches out of the water ; the bladders and leaves are
on the same stem. In the latter species the bladders
are very large and on separate stems from the leaves ;
it is very distinct from all the other species of the
genus.

Both these plants are insectivorous, and in the
bladders of intermedia I found numerous minute
fresh-water crustaceans, etc.

Growing with the above was Chara fragilis in full
fruit.

On the peat of these bogs were found all three
species of Drosera, viz., rotitndifoliay a^igUca, and
intermedia. This is also a most interesting genus,
from the fact that all the species are insectivorous,
and I found some plants with two or three of the
leaves each making a meal off an insect. Some of
the plants of anglica were very fine, the leaves of this
species are more erect than those of rotu?idifolia, and
are therefore very conspicuous among the bog-moss.
After leaving this boggy ground we went over a spur
of the hill and down into a little valley, on the slopes
of which was growing Erica mediterranea. This
spot and one in County Mayo are its only British
habitats ; we were unfortunately too late for the
the flower. I only found one small sprig with two or
three flowers on it ; but when in full bloom it must be
a beautiful sight, judging from the large quantity of
withered flowers we saw. Growing about this place
was Saxifraga tcmbrosa (London pride) ; this is only
found truly wild in Ireland.

From here we went on to Lake Bollard, one of
the larger ones seen from the top of Urrisbeg. There
is a spot near here where the true British maiden-hair
fern {Adiantiim Capillus- Veneris) grows, and I should
think out in this wild part, nearly fifty miles from a
railway station, it will be out of the reach of the
Vandal tourist for many years to come. It does not
grow very large here ; the specimens we saw were
only a few inches high.

At the place we first struck the lake is a little cove
with a sandy strand ; here we started dragging for
aquatic plants, and were very well rewarded for our
trouble, almost the first haul brought to land a speci-
men of the rare Ej'iocaulon septangulare, a most curious

156

HARDWJCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

little plantwith awl-shaped leaves, of apeculiar cellular
structure ; these arise from a crown on a creeping root-
stock ; the roots also exhibit an annular structure
very distinctly. We were not fortunate enough to
find it in flower. Growing with the above was
Lobelia dortmanna ; this is a rather curious plant, all
the leaves are under water ; the flower-stalks stand up
several inches above the surface, bearing a few lilac
flowers. At a distance they have the appearance of
dead straws standing in the water.

Another plant the drag brought up was Scirpiis
fliiitans. This varies very much with the depth of the
water ; in some specimens I found the branches were
as thin as horsehair, and others, in shallower water,
considerably thicker.

Ardostaphylos iira-ursi, was found trailing along
the ground close to the edge of the lake. On our way
back to Roundstone across the bogs, we came to a
small stream of deep water, which was covered with
NymphcEa alba ; between twenty and thirty of its
beautiful white flowers were floating in the space
of a few square yards. It abounds on most of the
lakes, &c., in this part of Connemara.

Samolus valerandi, Habenaria chloroleuca, and
Carex stricta, were also observed.

July 2nd. We went along the heaths and bogs by
the side of the road that runs from Roundstone to
Clifden. On a slightly elevated heath about five miles
along, we found the rare Erica Mackayi, growing in
fair quantity. It is easily distinguished from E.
Tetralix, by the reddish tips of the branches and the
more ovate leaves. I found some forms of Tetralix
that come very near to this species. While speaking
of heaths I may say that we found white varieties of
Tetralix and cinerea.

Cladium germanicum was found growing by the
side of a small lake near this spot,

July 3rd. This day we drove from Roundstone to
the picturesque group of mountains known as the
Twelve Pins, a distance of about eight miles. On
arriving there we at once started to ascend the
nearest, which is rather steep all the way up. The
only plants worth notice we found on the lower part
were Thalictrum minus and Carex pitlicaris. The flora
of these mountains is most scanty ; we went to the
top of three of them, and the only plant we thought
worth taking was Saxifraga timbrosa ; this was very
various in form and size, some plants only about \\
inches in height, and others as much as i foot. Our
labours were rewarded in another way this time, for on
reaching the top (over 2,000 ft.) there was a most
splendid view of the whole coast-line from Achil
Head on the north to Loop Head on the south.

As the day was perfectly clear and bright we could
make out, with the aid of our map the islands of
Clare, Inishturk, Inishhofm, Inishark and Aran
besides numerous smaller ones.

On the descent we followed the course of a small
stream flowing in a deep bed with very steep banks.

Along this we found Dabxocia polifolia very large, and
in some spots 'vci great quantity ; also some of the
hybrid thistles. So after a hard day, we had done
very little botanical work, and were glad to get back
to our car, which had been " put up" by the road-
side, and drive back to Roundstone,

Next day we drove to Galway by the mail car, in
time to catch the night train for Dublin, en route for
Burton.

Jno, E, Nowers,

Burton- on- Trent.

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF
BRITISH DIPTERA.

By E. Brunetti,
\C0ntin1tedjr07n p. 131.]

IN my introductory remarks on existing collections
in the first portion of this paper, I mentioned
the unsatisfactory state of the British Museum Col-
lection, but I can now, with much pleasure, retract
that statement, as a new and able assistant (Mr,
Austen) has been added to the staff, and under his
indefatigable efforts the Collection is being rapidly
overhauled and properly arranged,

29. MuscidcB,

Over 800 species of this immense family are known
to be British, and ere long the list will probably
exceed a thousand, as over 4000 European species
(nearly half the total number inhabiting Europe)
belong to it, and there are probably 30,000 species
distributed over the world. The venation is very
similar throughout the whole group, the genera in
which it varies most belonging to the group Acalyp-
terata.

Six sub-families are universally recognised.

AlulcC large [Calypteratd].

Fourth longitudinal vein (from just beyond external trans-
verse vein) bent up towards tip of third.

Arista bare (in some genera pubescent) : TachinincB.
Arista pubescent.

Arista bare from the middle to the tip : Sar~

coj>liagi>ice.
Arista pubescent to the tip.

Abdomen conical, covered with long spines —

legs rather long : DexiiiiF.
Abdomen rounded, no spines, legs rather
short : JShtscina;.
Fourth longitudinal vein not bent up towards the third,
and diverging from it towards the tip : Anthomyina.
Alulae small or absent [Acalypterata).

The arista is the antennal style — usually long, and
seated on the upper side at the base of the third
joint.

The antennae in the calypterate MiiscidiC are
usually pendent, lying close together in the centre
of the face — the arista being generally horizontal.

A very slight acquaintance with the Ahiscidce is
sufficient for the student to recognise at a glance the
sub-family to which any specimen belongs.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

157

(l.) Tachinincs.

This is an exceedingly difficult group to study, the
species being so closely allied, variation being com-
mon and the published matter so scanty and ex-
ceedingly unreliable.

R. Desvoidy, Walker, and some other authors have

Fig. rz'i.—Rhavtpkofttyia, Mg.

Fig. i2^.—Etnpis, L.

Fig. 125. — Hilara, Mg.

^^-»

Fig. 126. — Tachydromia, Mg.

Fig. i^T.^DolicJiopus, Latr.

Fig. 128. — Hydrophorus, Uhlbg.

created hosts of new species on minute differences,
and their names are being sunk wholesale as
synonyms as the group becomes better known.

Walker's Tachinidm in his British Diptera are
hopelessly indeterminable, his descriptions of this
group being of no scientific value whatever.

Most of the Tachinida: are parasitic on larvae
(especially Lepidoptera, the genus Cucullia being
a particular favourite). Sevville reared eighty
specimens from one Acherontia airopos larva.
Dufour, Winthemi, Curtis, St. Fargeau, Bouche
and others record observations of their parasitic
habits.

Fig. i2<j.—Medeierus, Fisch.

Fig. tyi.—Clinocera, Mg.

Fig. ■tyi.—Lonchopteray Mg.]

i-i-H

Fig. -i^i.—Plaiypeza, Mg.

Fig. zyi-— Pipunctihis, Latr.

Fig. 134. — CJtyrsosaster, Mg.

The flies are usually found in dry, warm habitats
and on Umbellijcra:, and are easily recognised by the
long, conspicuous spines and bristles that cover the
body and legs in nearly all the species. The legs
are very brittle and easily broken.

Five subdivisions are generally recognised.

158

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Abdomen quite bare.

Abdomen tive or six-segmented, flat, wings broad and

large — triangular : Phasimr.
Abdomen four-segmented, globular, wings of normal shape,
rather small : Gynittosomina;.
Abdomen pubescent, large spines nearly always present.

Abdomen five-segmented, long— genitalia very prominent.
Fourth longitudinal vein meeting third some distance
from edge of wing, fifth meeting fourth much beyond
middle of first post, cell : Ocyfrteriniv.
Fourth longitudinal vein meeting third nearly at edge
of wing, fifth meeting fourth before centre of first
post, cell : Phanina-.
Abdomen four-seeraented, conical, genitalia not pro-
minent: Tachininte.

The principal genera are Echinomyia, Dumer,
Ncmorcea, Desv., Exorista, Mg., Tachiiia, Mg., and

Fig. z-i%.—Syyph7is, F.

Fig. 136. — Volucella, Geoff.

Fig. 137. — Eristalis, Latr.

Fig. 138. — Criorrhina, Mcq.

Phorocera, Desv., but the state of our knowledge of
the group is at present highly unsatisfactory.

Echinomyia grossa, L,, is one of the largest
British flies, and is a large black bee-like fly covered
with soft black hair ; face, front and back of the
head yellow, with short bright golden pubescence ;
antennas tawny, tips black ; legs black ; wings pale
grey, tawny at base and on the fore-border ; long
12-15 mm.

Olivicria lateralis, V., abdomen tawny, with a
central dorsal black stripe enlarged towards the tip,
and covering the whole of the last segment ; thorax
black with indistinct grey stripes ; face and front
silvery grey ; antennce and legs black ; wings pale
grey, brownish on fore-border ; long 7-8. Common
in long grass.

Exorista vulgaris. Fin., is a tessellated black and
grey fly, subject to much variation ; wings clear ;
face silvery-grey, with a central broad brown band ;
antenna large, long, black ; legs black ; alulae large,
white ; long 7-8 mm. Most of the genera are
represented by two or three species only.

Nemorcza occurs chiefly in woods.

Gy77inosoma, Mg., and Clytia, Desv., frequent the
carrot plant.

In Myobia, Desv., and Metopia, Mg., the $ lays
her eggs on the dead insects brought into Hymeno-
pterous nests as food.

Fig. 139. — Xylota, Mg.

Fig. 140. — Ckrysotoxum, Mg.

Fig. 141. — Conops, L.

Fig. 142. — CEstrus, L.

Tachina, Masicera, Exorista, NemorcEa, Echi-
nomyia, and others are known to be parasitic on
Lepidoptera, Serville thinking that Nemoraa is also
parasitic on Lepidopterous pupce.

Gonia, Mg., is represented by five species, none
common ; the face is very broad.

Trixa, Mg., somewhat resembles Sarcophaga ;
three species, larva unknown.

Alopliora hemiptera, F, Pauz. Ixxiv. Echinomyia
ferox, Pz., Pauz. civ, Trixa variegata, Mg., Wlk. ii.
PI. xii. 3. Gymnosoma rotiuidatiim, L,, Wlk. ii. PI.
xi. 6, Ocyptera brassicaria, F., Curt. 629.

(2.) Dcxince.

This small group is closely allied to the Tachinince,
and calls for no special mention ; about twenty

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

159

species are British, nearly all representing a different
genus each ; of Dexia we have five species. The
larva of the Dcximc are chiefly parasitic on Lepido-
ptera ; the flies frequent flowers and dry, warm spots,
and are often found in woods.

In Desvoidy's splendid work on the " Myodaires,"
he gives a lengthy list of the species of Tachiniuu:
and Dexincc that are known to be parasitic, with the
species of insect infested.

As a rule the abdomen is longer and more pointed
in this group than in the Tachini/uc, and as in that
group the legs are brittle and easily become detached
from the body,

Frosena siberita^ F., Curt. 665. Tlielaira letuozona,
Pz., Pauz. civ.

(3.) Sarcpphagincc,

Dr. Meade, a few years ago monographed the
British species of this group, which number about
twenty, all (with one or two exceptions) being
closely allied and exceedingly difficult to identify.

They breed in decaying animal matter, occasionally
in dung. The imagos usually have tesselated black
and grey abdomens — with strong spines towards the
tip. The thorax is usually longer than it is broad.

Cynomyia viortiwriim, L., is a large, bright blue
fly which breeds in the putrid corpses of animals,
generally dogs ; appearing in April and May. The
face is bright golden yellow ; the legs black ; wings
nearly clear. It is not common here, but is frequently
met with on the Continent ; long 8-12 mm.

Sarcophaga, Mg., is a genus of flies, in which the
thorax and abdomen are divided into tessellated
squares, the wings are pale grey, the legs black ; and
the thorax, abdomen, and legs covered more or less
with spines, the number, length and position of these
spines being important specific characteristics.

.5". caniaria, L., the commonest species, is known
as the "flesh-fly."

In some species the extreme tip of the abdomen is
bright red. The 9 in this genus is viviparous,
20,000 larvag having been found in a single specimen.

(4.) Muscina:.

The flies of this group are the greatest scavengers
of the order, the larvje living in decomposing animal
matter and devouring nearly all the fleshy part of the
carcase. Sometimes they breed in dung.

About thirty species are British, many very
common.

The principal genera may be separated thus : —

Proboscis horny, projecting horizontally, prominent : Stomoxys,

Geoff.
Proboscis soft, vertical, not prominent.

Fourth longitudinal vein at its bend upwards not forming
a sharp angle.

Middle tibia spined along its length : Mesembrina,

Mg.
Middle tibia spined only at tip: Cyrioneura, Mcq.
Fourth longitudinal vein at its bend upwards forming a
sharp angle.

Species non-metallic.

Middle tibia spined along its length : CalUphora,
Des.

Middle tibia spined only at tip : Musca, L.
Species metallic green : Lucilia, Des.

Lticilia, Desv., is a genus of bright metallic green
flies, the face being usually black or green, the wings
nearly clear.

At least six species are British, all more or less
pubescent, and all very closely allied ; long <y-\o
mm.

L, Ccesar, L., and L. cornicifta, F., are the two
most common species, appearing everywhere ; the
latter being easily known by its bright green face.
These flies are sometimes known as "green-bottles."

CalUphora eiythrocephala, Mg., is the common
meat-fly or "blue-bottle;" a closely allied species,
C. vomitoria, L., has a red beard. The progeny of
this fly is said to amount to 500,000,000 in twelve
months ; and Mr. B. Lowne, who has made this
species a study for many years, asserts that in the
imago " not one structure exists as it exists in the
maggot."

Musca do??testtca, L., is the common house-fly.
Black and grey, with rather tawny sides to the
abdomen ; antennae, legs, and eyes black ; wings
clear ; thorax black, with grey stripes ; face silvery ;
long 5-7 mm.

Mesembrina meridiana, L., is a rather large black
haiiy fly,; with black snout and golden yellow cheeks ;
black mouth and eyes, black legs, grey wings, tawny
at the base and along the fore-border; not un-
common ; local ; long lo-i I mm.

Stomoxys calcitrans, L., is easily recognised by its
strong, prominent proboscis. About the size of
M. domestica, the abdomen being greyish with black
markings ; usually found on sunny days on leaves
and wooden posts ; it follows horses in numbers, and
causes much irritation by its bite ; long 6 mm.

Cyrtoiieura stabidans. Fin., greyish, with pale
brown reflections, larger tham M. dojnestica, common
everywhere, especially in houses.

It has been bred from shallot, but the species in
all probability breeds in a variety of substances.

(5.) Anthomyincs.

Of this extensive group of closely allied species,
we have over 200 species. In many species it is
impossible to identify the 5 , the specific characters
being confined to the ^.

The larvse of many species are leaf-miners, others
live in the stalks of plants, in fungi, decomposing
vegetable matter, &c., and damage the crops to no
inconsiderable extent.

Dr. Meade published in the " Ent. Month. Mag.,"
vol. xviii. (188 1 ), a series of articles on this group,
and in the number for Oct. 1SS3, gives an analytical
table of the higher genera of Antkotnyinis. This
group is eminently a very difficult one to classify

i6o

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

satisfactorily as many of the generic characteristics
are sexual, and such weak characters as the colour of
the legs has been fallen back upon as distinguishing
points.

One or two well-marked groups may be dis-
tinguished, (as Hydrotcca, Homaloniyia, &c.,) and
the principal genera may be recognised as follows : —

Alulae of moderate size, scales of unequal size.

Front femora in cf toothed, third and fourth longitudinal

veins convergent : Hydrotcea, Des.
Front femora normal, third and fourth longitudinal veins
parallel or diverging.
Eyes pubescent : Hyetodesia, Rond.
Eyes bare.

Abdomen spotted.

Arista feathered : Spilogaster, Mcq.
Arista pubescent or bare : Limnophora, Des.
Abdomen unspotted.

Anal vein nearly reaching border of wing.
Arista leathered : Hydrophoria, Des.
Arista pubescent or bare: Anthomyia,
Mg.
Anal vein very short, curved towards the
axillary vein ; Homalomyia, Bouch^.
Alula small ; scales of equal size.

Arista feathered : Hylemyia, Des.

Arista pubescent or bare : Chortophila, Mcq.

Limnophora, Des., comes chiefly from Scotland.

Hydrotaa dentipes, F., is a dark grey fly, with
greyish reflections ; pale brown wings ; black legs
and silvery cheeks, and is common in most parts ;
variable ; long 9 mm.

D)yincia hamata. Fall., may be easily recognised
by its strong hooked proboscis.

Hylemyia strigosa, Y., is a bristly grey fly, the
dorsum of the thorax being pale brown, distinctly
marked off from the lower part of the thorax ;
abdomen grey, with a dorsal and three transverse
black stripes ; face silvery seen from above, black
viewed from below ; mouth and antennae black ;
eyes reddish-brown ; wings pale grey ; legs blackish,
tibix more or less dark tawny ; common, especially
in woods ; variable ; long 6 mm. One species {^H.
coarctata. Fall.) damages the wheat crop whilst in
the larval state, attacking the stalk.

Anthomyia radicutn, L., jf, is a small black fly,
breeding in cabbage and other like plants ; abdomen
dark grey, with a dorsal and four transverse black
stripes ; face and legs black ; wings pale grey ; eyes
often with a silvery border ; very common on low
herbage and in London gardens ; long 4 mm.

A, szdciventris, Zett., is also common everywhere,
the (f is a nearly black fly, with unmarked abdomen.
The 5 is greyish-black, with unmarked abdomen.

Caricea tigrina, F., common in long grass ; bristly,
grey with rows of black spots on the thorax, each
giving forth a bristle, and with four brown spots on
the abdomen ; legs black with tawny tibire ; face
grey with a broad central stripe ; eyes and antennte
black ; wings pale grey ; variable ; long 5-6 mm.

Chortophila, Mcq., an extensive genus of small
flies allied to Anthomyia, many being tolerably
common ; some of the species being parasitic on
wild bees. Dr. Meade having taken them in the nests
of the latter.

Homalomyia caniciilaris, L., is very common in
houses ; ^ blackish-grey ; abdomen tawny, divided
by a dorsal and two transverse lines into six squares,
tip blackish ; face silvery white, with a central black
stripe ; wings pale grey ; legs blackish ; variable ;
long 4-5 mm. The males of this genus hover
together in the air in a group, sometimes for hours
together, and are often seen in rooms in early morning
hovering below the centre of the ceiling or near the
windows.

This species and another of this genus have been
bred from the human body.

Hylemyia coarctata. Fin., in the larval state does
considerable damage to the wheat crop.

The larva of Ca:nosia, Mg. (allied to Caricea),
lives in cow-dung.

Over a dozen genera are represented by only one
or two species each. In several of the less developed
genera the eyes are widely separated in both sexes,
thus approaching the acalypterate Muscidce, from
which they are scarcely structurally distinct.

Plates are not of much value in this group, except
to illustrate genera or very characteristic species.

Hydrotcza ciliata, F., Curt. 768. Lispe tetitaculata,
Deg., Walk. ii. PI. xii. i. Anthomyia pliivialis, L.,
Walk. ii. PI. xii. 2. Policies lardaria, F., Walk. ii.
PI. xii. 9. Dryvieia hamata. Fin., Walk. ii. PI. xii.
12.

(To he continued.)

A NEW SPECIES OF DASYDYTES— ORDER
GASTROTRICHA.

THIS Order of the mighty worm-alliance seems
to have attracted very little, if any, careful
observation in this country of late years, although
both on the Continent and in the United States a
great amount of attention has been devoted thereto.
Quite recently, in 1887-8, Mr. A. C. Stokes added
greatly to our knowledge of the American forms,
describing in his papers in the "Journal de Micro-
graphie," numerous new species of Chietonotus and
other genera ; while in 1889, Dr. Carl Zelinka pub-
lished an exhaustive monograph of the group ( " Die
Gastrotrichen," in " Zeitschr. f. wiss. Zool.," xlix.,
Part 2), in which all Stokes' recent species are
included, and to which admirable work I can con-
fidently refer British microscopists desirous of ex-
tending their acquaintance with these creatures.

In our own country, Mr. T. Spencer described, in
" Journ. Quekett Micro. Club," January 1890, under
the name of Polyarthra fusiformis, an animal
which, however, is not a rotiferon, but (as pointed
out by me in the same Journal, January 1891) clearly
referable to the genus Dasydytes of the Gastrotricha.
This must evidently be known in future as Dasydytes
fusiformis, Spencer ; it is a pretty and curious little
creature, very distinct from any previously described.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

i6i

In all probability, many or most of the species
recorded from the above countries, are also common
to Britain, if observers would but search systemati-
cally for them, and place on record [such forms as
they may chance to meet with. It is for this purpose
of awakening interest, and so helping to increase our
knowledge of our indigenous Gastrotricha, that this
communication is written.

In November, 1S90, whilst searching for Rotifera,
I came across, in water from a pond near Leyton-
stone, Essex, some specimens of a Dasydytes which

'Vl".-^'

Fig. 142.— Dasjfdyies hisetosunt.

does not appear to be identical with any member of
this genus included in Dr. Zelinka's recent mono-
graph, above referred to. Some half-dozen indivi-
duals were seen in all, and afforded me opportunity of
making the following observations, and of securing a
fairly accurate sketch of the animal. I propose to
call this Dasydytes hisetosum.

The body is plump and of oval outline when seen
dorsally, rounded posteriorly, and of course without
any caudal fork ; anteriorly, the trunk narrows to
the neck, which latter is very distinctly marked off
from the head. A couple of transverse wrinkles in

the skin are more or less visible, crossing the neck.
The head is large and wide, three-lobed in dorsal
aspect, the lateral lobes prominent like puffed cheeks ;
the width of the head is nearly twice that of the neck,
and about three-fourths that of the body at its widest
part. Both head and neck are usually considerably
flattened, excepting the lateral head-lobes, which are
somewhat globose and thicker than the central region
of the head. The trunk is not at all flattened,
appearing circular in optical cross-section.

The head is covered on all its surfaces, dorsal,
lateral, and ventral, with numerous long vibratile
cilia, directed backwards.

The body is furnished, on its lateral surfaces, with
a few rather short, very thin and delicate, somewhat
appressed bristles, apparently arranged in about three
longitudinal rows on each side, though this is a point
difficult to determine. I do not think any bristles
occur on the dorsal surface proper. These setae occur
also on the sides of the neck, and, in side view of

the animal, are seen to be directed dorsally and
posteriorly ; none are nearly so long as the terminal
caudal bristles to be described. The animal's
ventral surface is longitudinally furred with active
cilia, like all the members of the Order. The body
is rounded behind, and has a terminal projection,
convexly truncate, from which are given off two long,
thin and delicate setse, quite one-third the total
length of the animal's body and head, set wide apart
at their base, and carried parallel or with their tips in
contact. It is on account of these two conspicuous
tail-bristles, which serve by their great length to
distinguish this new form from its allies, that I have
selected the specific title " bisetosum " for the
creature.

The mouth is a permanently projecting tube,
surrounded by a ring, at the extreme front of the
head. It is continued into a long oesophagus, about
one-third the total length of the animal, having a
narrow but distinct, straight lumen, and very thick
walls, on which I could detect no cross-striation.

l62

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

The gullet terminates, at the point where the neck
passes into the trunk, in a long straight stomach,
running along the ventral side of the body-cavity,
and crowded with colourless food in pellets ; this is
continued, without any visible constriction, into the
intestine, and ends in the anus just in front of the
rounded posterior extremity of the trunk. I could
not determine the presence of the water-vascular
canals and contractile vesicle ; almost; certainly these
exist, but are exceedingly difficult to observe.

Dorsally to the stomach is situated a fairly large,
colourless body, exhibiting a central nuclear vesicle ;
this body was formerly thought to be the ovary, but
Dr. Zelinka has shown that the true ovaries in the
Gastrotricha are paired organs placed near the venter,
one on each side of the intestine, (thus corresponding
in position with the paired ovaries of the family
Philodinadje of the Rotifera). The large dorsal body
is a developing ovum ; whether this is contained
within an oviduct having extremely delicate mem-
branous walls, or simply lies freely in the perivisceral
cavity, is doubtful ; as also is its mode of exit from
the body.

The creature swims actively with an even gliding
motion through the water ; in no case did I observe
any jerking or springing, the weak body-spines being
probably useless for such a mode of progression.

The head is often freely moved up and down upon
the neck, but has not the constant drooping appear-
ance (in side aspect) noticeable in D. fusiformis.
The lateral lobes seem capable, to some extent at
least, of being protruded or retracted at the creature's
will ; at certain times, the outline of the head ap-
peared quite conical, or very faintly five-lobed (cf. the
figures), while at others, the savic animal presented
the distinctly three-lobed outline of the head already
described.

The present species, approaches in its general
outline D. longisetosum (Metschn.), but is at once
separated from the latter by the relative lengths of
the body and caudal bristles. The latter are, in
longisetosum, shown much less than half the
length of the lateral body-setre (which are described
as "very long and stout,") and altogether lack the
conspicuousness they attain in bisetosum. The pre-
sent form is also neaily twice the size of Metschni-
koffs species, and other differences exist which I
think fully justify me in regarding bisetosum as
specifically distinct.

The entire animal is quite colourless ; length,
excluding caudal seta?, about 1^5 inch.

In conclusion, the same pond has furnished me, on
other occasions, with specimens of Dasydytcs fusi-
formis, Spencer, and Lcpidcde^-ma rhomboides, Stokes,
(the latter only recorded, hitherto, from Trenton,
New Jersey), while at Chingford I have met with
Dasydytes goniathrix, Gosse, and D. ftsiformis,
Spencer. Within the last few weeks, at Oakley, in
Bedfordshire, I have taken Chcctonotiis Schultzei,

Metschn. These records, insignificant by themselves,
serve to indicate the probability of much more exten-
sive results, if microscopic workers direct more sys-
tematic attention to the study of this small and obscure
group of animals.

Percy G. Thompson.
Bow, E. 5

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

We are pleased to observe that an old and valued
correspondent of Science-Gossip, and an ardent
naturalist and botanist, Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell,
has been appointed Curator to the Museum, Institute
of Jamaica, Kingston (which will henceforth be his
address). The institute is to be congratulated on
having selected such an efficient curator.

The great engineer, Sir John Hawkshaw, died in
his eighty-first year on June 2nd.

Professor Roberts-Austen has discovered the
most brilliant-coloured alloy yet known. It is of a
rich purple colour, and has bright ruby tints when
light is reflected from one surface to another. It
consists of 78 per cent, of gold, and the rest alu-
minium.

The science of geology has received royal recog-
nition. The Director of the Geological Survey of
the United Kingdom has been made a Birthday
Knight, and is now Sir A. Geikie.

Professor Leidy, the well-known American
naturahst, author of the " Rhizopods of North
America," is dead.

At a recent meeting of the Linnaean Society, Mr,
Robert Deane exhibited specimens of the rayless
daisy, said to grow abundantly near Cardiff. Will
some reader there send us a specimen ?

We have received the " Report of the Felsted
School Nat. Hist. Society for 1890." It displays a
healthy, active, and intelligent love of natural science,
and indicates a state of things the author endeavoured
to realise in "The Playtime Naturalist."

The latest Bulletins issued by the U.S. Dept. of
Agriculture are Nos. 7 and 8 of " Insect Life," and
No. 24 "The Ball-Worm of Cotton," by F. W.

Neaily.

Bishop Mitchinson's papers in " Nature Notes,"
on "The Distiibution of Rare Plants in Britain,"
are very suggestive.

We are pleased to call attention to a highly
important brochure by the Rev. H. A. Soames,
F.L.S. (London: L. Upcott Gill), on "The Scien-
tific Measurement of Children." The author rightly

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

163

holds that the measurement of children, as they
grow, has not yet received the attention it deserves,
and he points to the opportunities afforded by schools
for settling this physiological matter. Mr. Soames
shows how the measurement should be made.

The Geologists' Association went for an excursion
on June 13th to Selborne, under the directorship of
Dr. Sclater and Mr. Wm. Whitaker, and on June
20th to Greys Thurrocks, with Mr. F. C. J. Spurrell
as guide.

" Pantobiblion, or a Review of the World's
Scientific Literature," published monthly, is among
the latest of periodical announcements.

We would strongly call the attention of our ento-
mological readers to the papers now appearing in
the "Entomologist," by Mr. F. H. Perry Coste,
entitled "Contributions to the Chemistry of Insect
Colours." They approach tliis very important sub-
ject from a new direction.

The Rev. Hilderic Friend has an important paper
in the last number of the " International Journal of
Microscopy and Natural Science," on the "Earth-
worms of Scotland."

A PIECE of genuine good work has been the result
of the "Microscopical Society of Calcutta" — Mr.
H. H. Andrew's "Notes on Indian Rotifers." It is
accompanied by three exquisitely-drawn plates and
twenty figures.

All who have the opportunity should pay a visit
to IMr. Wm. Bull's Orchid Show in King's Road,
Chelsea.

Dr. a. Milnes Marshall's lecture on "Animal
Pedigrees" is being continued in "The Midland
Naturalist."

The next Annual General Meeting of the British
Association will be held at Cardiff, commencing
August loth, under the Presidency of Dr. Wm.
Huggins, F.R.S., <S:c.

The Anniversary Meeting of the Linna;an Society
this year was noteworthy for the address of the
president. Professor Stewart, on "The Secondary
Sexual Characters of Animals and Plants." The
society's gold medal was awarded to Dr. Bornet, of
Paris, for researches in botany.

The Council of the Geologists' Association have
decided to publish the long and valuable paper by
Messrs. Harris and Burrowes on the Eocene and
Oligocene Beds of the Paris Basin as a separate
publication, illustrated by maps, sections, etc., at is.
to members, and 3^. to non-members.

H.R.H. the Prince of Wales fixed Wednesday, the
17th of June, for the dehvery by Lord Rayleigh of

the first of the two lectures at the Royal Institution,
in connection with the centenary of the birth of
Michael Faraday, and Friday evening, the 26th of
June, for the second lecture, which was given by
Professor Dewar.

It is with unfeigned regret we have to record the
death of an old friend and contributor to Science-
Gossip, Professor M. Duncan, F.R.S., &c., in his
sixty-seventh year.

ZOOLOGY.

"Our Lane." — We are sorry that through in-
advertence the name of E. H. Robertson, the writer
of the charming articles in our columns bearing the
above title, was omitted.

The Chitinous Plug in Mollusca. — In the
December number of Science-Gossip I made re-
ference to the first volume of Balfour's " Comparative
Embryology," and gave the reference as on p. 229.
I find that Mr. Webb says in the June issue that this
page is not the right one. I can only add that it is
the page in my copy (2nd ed. 1885), and also in
seven other copies which I have taken the trouble
(perhaps very needlessly) to examine. This is the
only remark I think I have need to make on Mr.
Webb's criticisms. ^ — J. IV. Williams.

Hydrobia Jenkinsi in Essex. — I have received
a letter from Mr. W. H. Smith, of Canning Town,
enclosing copy of a communication addressed by him
to the editor of the " Essex Naturalist," dated 27th
March, 1 891, which he informs me he has sent to
you for publication. Should you insert his letter, I
beg you will also publish my reply, dealing with the
facts connected with the discovery of Hydrobia,
Jenkinsi in Essex. When Mr. Allen, of Canning
Town, sent me, on the 29th of January, 1889, a few
hydrobia shells from Beckton for identification, I
noticed at once a few with carinated whorls, a form
which had never been described as British, and
concluded they were either a new species or had
been introduced. I took the three specimens up to
Mr. Edgar A. Smith (Nat. Hist. Museum) on the
2nd of February, and we then decided to send them
to Dr. Boettger, of Frankfort, who replied that they
were not known on the Continent, and that the
nearest ally was H. Legrandiana, of Tasmania. I
then wrote to Mr. Allen (i6th April, 1889), suggest-
ing that they had been introduced in some raw
material, such as flax, hemp, &c., which might have
been used in some of the manufactories in the dis-
trict, and proposed to visit the locality. In his reply
(17th April) he offered to accompany me, and wrote :
"The discovery is yours, and I am glad of it ; I
leave the determination in your hands." On the
19th of April Mr. Allen and I went down to the

164

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

Beckton Marshes, close by the Barking Jute Factory,
and gathered some specimens from the brackish
water-ditches. I subsequently made many inquiries
with regard to the manufactures in the district, but
was unsuccessful in obtaining any helpful information.
Later in the year I again visited the locality, and
collected a goodly number of specimens, some ot
which I forwarded to Mr. E. A. Smith. There the
matter rested, so far as I was concerned, till I read
Mr. E. A. Smith's description of the form as a new
species in the "Journal of Conchology " for October,
1S89 (published 17th January, 1890). In the same
journal further notes appeared, showing that the
form had already been taken at Greenwich about
two years before (1887), and of which Mr. Allen was
aware, having informed me in April 1S89, that he
had received the information from a correspondent of
his in Glasgow. Later on, Mr. Jenkins' Notes on
Hydrobia appeared in Science-Gossip for May,
1890, and on the 8th of May Mr. Allen wrote me :
* ' I am sorry to see you are not mentioned as the one
who first noticed the shell as non-British." I ex-
hibited a series of the shells, with drawings of the
animal, at a meeting of the Essex Field Club (17th
May, 1890), which was duly recorded in our "Essex
Naturahst," 1890, p. 128, and then associated Mr.
Allen's name with the first discovery in Essex. I
had certainly hoped to have had the first record in
the journal of our club, of which Mr. Allen is a
member, but the publication being already a fait
accompli, I asked Mr. E. A. Smith to write a short
notice as a record for the "Essex Naturalist," to
which I added some remarks, and gave a drawing of
the shell and animal (vide "Essex Naturalist," 1890,
p. 212), I certainly did not again mention Mr.
Allen's name therein, which was scarcely necessary,
but would now express my regret for the omission.
I am still of opinion, as expressed in the note referred
to, that the species may have been introduced. In
conclusion, I may say that the species is not, as Mr.
W. H. Smith says, a freshwater mollusc ; and as to
the vague statement that he examined the mollusc
months before my visit to Beckton, that may be true,
but is certainly misleading, whether intentional or
otherwise, inasmuch as that was not till after I had
seen it, and called Mr. Allen's attention to the
differences. — Walter Crouch, Wanstead, Essex.

Hydrobia Jenkinsi. — Mr. W. H. Smith writes
as follows to the "Essex Naturalist": — "Referring
to the 'Note on Hydrobia Jenkinsi'' (in the Oct.-
Dec. 1890, issue of the Journal), by Mr. Edgar A.
Smith, F.Z.S. It has given me pleasure to note
that Mr. Smith has acknowledged receiving his first
acquaintance with this new species of hydrobia at the
hands of Mr. Walter Crouch, and that the latter
gentleman obtained some specimens at Beckton in
the early part of 1889. It affords me pleasure to say
that the species referred to was discovered at an

earlier period than 1889 by a member of your club,
who invited Mr. Walter Crouch to visit Beckton.
The journey to Beckton resulted in obtaining
specimens. It is due to the energy of Mr. W. Allen,
of Barking Road, Canning Town, that this species
became known to Mr. Crouch and other eminent
conchologists. I send you this communication in the
•hope that you will make its contents generally known
to your members, and I ask this favour because I had
the pleasure of examining this remarkable fresh-water
mollusc months before Mr. Crouch's visit to Beckton,
and I can personally vouch for Mr. Allen's anxiety to
make his discovery known. I think Hydrobia Alleni
would be a more commendable name than Hydrobia
yetikinsi. — IV. H. Smith.

NoTHOLCA ACUMINATA. — Referring to Mr. Clarke's
note on this rotifer in your issue for June, though
given in "Hudson and Gosse" as very rare, it is
common in several ponds in the vicinity of Chester,
In water from one of these ponds it is not unusual to
see six or seven of these rotifers at once in the field
of the 2-inch objective. — A, H. Hignett.

Preserving Fish. — Every naturalist knows the
difficulty of preserving fish so as to show their natural
form and colours. We are only too well acquainted
with the stiff, colourless caricatures of the most
graceful and often beautifully tinted of living crea-
tures, seen in museums and elsewhere. Consequently
we are pleased to call attention, after having carefully
examined various specimens, to the really beautiful
examples of prepared fish now being set up by Mr.
J. Sinel, of Jersey. In one specimen of the blue-
striped wrasse {Labriis mixtiis), all the striking
colours are replaced true to nature ; in another
(Platessa), part of the colours have been replaced ;
in the bass {Labrax lupus), which usually turns white
in drying, all the colours have been retained. Gene-
rally speaking, however, Mr. Sinel's system enables
all the natural colours to be kept unchangeably. The
specimens are also secured against shrinkage, and
cannot possibly be injured by damp. Naturalists and
anglers can now obtain beautiful specimens of fish
for wall and other ornamentation ; whilst to museums,
Mr. Sinel's examples commend themselves for their
beauty, naturalness, and neatness.

BOTANY.

RuBUS laCINIATUS. — Years ago I found a curious
cut-leaved bramble growing at Chislehurst ; one
bush at Prickend, and one on Chislehurst Common,
apparently quite wild. I sent specimens to one or
two botanists, and was informed that it was merely a
form of R. discolor {rusticanus) by a good authority.
In Science-Gossip, 1889, p. 188, I referred to the
plant as R. rnsticantts, form incisits. A few days ago
I sent a specimen to Kew, and it is now identifi

BARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIF.

165

with R. laciniatus, Willd., a cultivated species. I
have seen R. laciniatus growing in ISIr. Jenner \Yeir's
garden at Beckenham, where young seedlings were
very freely produced ; and I presume that the cut-
leaved brambles of Chislehurst were simply garden
escapes. — T. D. A. Cocker ell.

Lateral Tubercules. — I find that tubercules
may be produced in the axils of leaves by artificial
means. This may be done by cutting off" a plant of
Ranunculus ficaria, L., near the root, and placing it
in a well-corked bottle ; after remaining there for a
week or two you will see tubercules of various sizes.
They are produced by the reversion of a bud into a
root, as is often seen in the potato. This proves
that fasciculated roots are but modifications of the
stem. — Henry E. Griset.

White Heather. — In the June No. of Science
Gossip (p. 141), Mr. D. H. S. Stewart, enquirer of
the white-flowering variety of Erica tetralix has
been met with elsewhere than in the Scottish High-
lands. I am happy to be able to inform him that I
have occasionally met with it in the heathy tracts of
this part of the country, possibly half-a-dozen times
in fifteen years. Last summer my little boy with
me found a whole patch of it, and carried home a
handful of the white-flowered stalks. I may say that
I have never met with the white-flowering heather,
though the ordinary purple-flowered variety covers
miles of country about us. By the way, would not
Mr. Stewart be more correct, if, following Sir J. D.
Hooker (* Student's Flora '), he assigned the Ung to
the genus Calluna rather than to Erica, — A. Irving,
Wellington.

GEOLOGY, &C.

The Geology of the Neighbourhood of
Winchester. — We have received a new edition of
the neat, small, and handy description of the strata
and fossils of this district, written for the geological
section of the school, by a good geologist, who is
evidently too modest to put his name to it. It is a
model of compendious, useful, and accurate local
information, giving all the thicknesses of the cre-
taceous zones in the neighbourhood of Winchester,
the anticlinals of the Hampshire chalk, a list of pits
and sections, with the names of the fossils found in
each, and also a tabular list of fossils (Winchester :
J. Wells).

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Are Fossils ever found Alive 1 — At the close
of a gossipy geological address some little time ago,
I was somewhat startled by an old gentleman who
rose to ask, " Are fossils ever found alive, sir ? "
*' Well, no," I replied, " they are not," And I then
explained for the second time the nature of a fossil.

The old gentleman, however, was irrepressible.
" As a boy," he said, "he was present when a live
toad was found in a rock 150 feet below the surface,"
and his story was so circumstantial that I asked him
to put it in writing, which he afterwards did, as
follows: — "I am a living witness to what I here
state, J. Gittus, In hearing a lecture on the subject
of fossils, there were several kinds of animals on the
screen, and led me to ask the question whether any
of them were ever found alive. Because, when I was
a boy, I lived with a man who worked in a stone
quarry, and I was very often v/ith him, and in getting
the stone we had to blow it up with gunpowder, and
one time after blowing it up, one of the men picked
up a stone that was noticeable, like two stones joined
together, and broke it in two, and in it was a live
toad which they afterwards destroyed. The question
how did that animal get there, and how did he live
pent up in that stone ? — for the place where we found
him was very deep, about 150 feet or more from the
top of the rock, and he must have been there a length
of time shut up in that stone, now this is a mystery,
and cannot be fully comprehended by mortal man.
But as I lay in my bed one Sunday night, I was
thinking about it ; the thought struck me that as there
is a great deal of water running through all rocks, that
one of the eggs of these animals must have been
washed there from some spring or pool, and lodged
in some hole of the rock, and come to life, and by
the water that flowed through the rock kept alive,
but in what way I cannot tell ; but he who placed it
there could keep it alive as well as he kept Jonah
alive in the fish's belly." 'J. Gittus, Bridport
Street, No. 5." So runs the old gentleman's story.
A well authenticated account of a similar discovery
has recently been sent to me by Miss Lydia M,
Hawker, of Bredon, near Worcester, Miss Hawker
writes: " On the evening of September 27th, 1886,
I was sitting alone in the sitting-room at my home in
Bredon, Worcestershire, the other members of my
family having retired. On the fire was one large
piece of coal the size of a man's head ; this had been
put on four hours previously. I attempted to break
it to pieces, but, owing to its hardness, I could only
chip off fragments. I then drew aside the ash-pan
to make room on the hearth for the rest of the lump,
set it down, still intact, and kneehng on the hearth-
rug, watched for a couple of minutes to assure myself
that all was safe. Suddenly my ear caught a sound
of crackling and sputtering in the lump. I turned
sharply round to reach my little sponge-lamp, and
behold ! a small, long-legged, dusky creature, resem-
bling a frog, had leapt into the ash-pan, and was
hopping about between its bars. I grasped the
situation — and the bars — on the instant, but the bars
burnt my fingers, so I jumped up for a kettle-holder.
When I returned to the rescue, poor froggy had taken
shelter (?) under a projecting shoulder of his former
home. I gently touched him ; he was dead ; stiff",
and sadly shrivelled up. He is still in my possession,
he keeps well, and is in good spirits — of wine." —
F. T. Spackman, 7, Richmond Road, Worcester.

Pin in Hen's Egg. — As a reader of Science-
Gossip, I wish to bring the following case before
your notice, as I consider it most remarkable, and
if you think it worihy of your attention, to describe
the facts in your interesting paper for the purpose of
consideration and enquiry, A friend of mine keeps a
quantity of fowls. They are the common kind,
usually called, I think 'Barn-door fowls.' On Thurs-
day, April 9th, a number of eggs were collected. A
few were given to the gardener. His wife boiled one
for his breakfast on April loth, and when he cracked

i66

HARDWICKKS SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

it a pin was found in the yolk. The yolk and
white were in places of a blue-black colour. I should
feel obliged if any reader would inform me whether
they have ever heard of anything being found before
inside an egg, and how it got there. — F. J. B,

Snails as a Cure for Consumption.— Your
correspondent, Mr. J. W. Williams, may. be interested
in learning that the snail cure for consumption has been
continued in this locality (Truro) in one instance,
at least, almost up to the present day. I well
remember, some twelve years since, an individual
living in an adjoining parish being pointed out to
me as a " snail or slug eater," I forget which. He
was a delicate-looking man, and said to be suffering
from consumption. Last summer I saw this man,
and asked him whether the statement that he was a
"snail-eater" was true: he answered, "Yes, that
he was ordered small white slugs — not snails — when
he was young, for ' decline,' and that up till recently
he had daily consumed a dozen or more every
morning, and he believed they had done him good.
There is also another use to which the country
people here put snails, and that is as an eye applica-
tion. I met with an instance a few weeks since, and
much good seemed to have followed the use. —
Edmuttd Rundle, F.H.C.S.I.^ Royal Cornwall
Infirmary, Trtiro.

How I saved my Hive of Bees. — Bee-keepers
will long remember the disastrous year of i8S8. I
have kept bees for thirty years, but have never met
with its parallel. Colonies were numerous, and
strong enough, but so little honey was gathered, that
by May 28th in the following year nearly all were
dead, whole apiaries having succumbed, and even
where feeding had been aitempted few survived.
Out of my stock of bees, numbering about twenty-
five, three only remained alive, and one was con-
sidered to be very weak ; under such circumstances
one naturally thought more of again increasing one's
stock, than of obtaining honey. My neighbours were
equally or even more unfortunate than myself, in
more than one instance not saving a single hive. I
hoped that all three of my hives would swarm
naturally, but as is usually the case, the bees would
not do as you desired them ; two out of the three did
not swarm, and I was not disposed to make them do
so artificially. The one that did swarm had survived
some unusual troubles, having been blown over by
the heavy gales on two occasions ; the first time on
February 4th, when all the hives in the kitchen
garden shared the same fate ; the second time on
March 21st, when it was found topsy-turvey. It was
a frame-hive, and swarmed naturally on June 2 1st.
After the swarm had been shaken into the hive, the
queen left the bees, and attempted to return home,
but on her way I observed her, and caught her, and
put her into the hive wherein the swarm had been
taken, and all became quiet. This swarm, though
rather late, did remarkably well, became very
numerous in bees, and gave me a nice lot of super
honey, still leaving it very heavy, the bees having
had the advantage of ready-made combs. Now I
looked on this hive as my best, and great things
were expected from it the following season. On
April I2th, 1890, I noticed that no loaded bee
entered this swarm, although pollen was carried in
pretty freely by the bees of the other hives. The hive
was heavy and contained plenty of sealed honey :
this excited my suspicions about the state of the
queen, and made me fear that what I looked on as
my best hive would come to grief. On the 2rst,

having satisfied myself that the hive was queenless,
and that it contained a fair quantity of bees and
abundance of sealed honey, I gave it a comb
containing eggs and brood from another hive, taking
away from it a comb of honey, which I gave to the
hive from which I had taken the brood. On the
25th I observed the bees carry into the hive a little
pollen. On the 2Sth, I examined the hive, and
found two queen-cells, nearly perfect, but not yet
sealed over. On the 3rd of May I again examined
the hive, and found both queen-cells sealed over.
On May loth, about 3 p.m., as I was standing
near the hive, I saw a queen come out of it, and
take flight ; I waited until she returned, and saw
her re-enter the hive ; she did not appear to have
met with a drone during her outing ; I was, however,
satisfied that the hive had succeeded in obtaining a
queen, and so might recover. On the 12th of May,
I again saw a queen return to this hive ; and on the
i6th I saw the same thing happen, making it appear
that there was some difficulty in finding a mate. On
the 2 1 St I examined the hive, but could find neither
queen nor eggs ; still a few bees continued to carry in
pollen. On the 26th I left home for three days ; and
on June 4th I made an examination, and although
I did not see the queen, I found brood, some of
which was sealed over ; so that the presence of a
queen was assured. On the 19th of June, I again
examined, and saw her majesty. The hive went on
very well, and though it gave me no super, it gathered
sufficient honey to carry it through the winter
without feeding. I think this little bit of experience
is sufficient to show how greatly superior frame hives
are to the old straw ones : and what a great deal of
pleasure and instruction may be had by keeping a
hive or two of bees. The hive has weathered safely
the past unusually severe and prolonged winter, and
is now hard at work. June ist, 1891. — C. F. George,
Kirt07i in Lindsey.

White Varieties. — I don't know whether you
you care for further notice of the white varieties of
harebell and heather. Near Settle in Yorkshire I
have several times found the harebell perfectly white,
but never more than two or three stalks in one place.
The flowers were very much smaller than the common
blue one. In a wood, three miles from the same
place, I found a patch of white heather about two
yards square, some three or four years ago ; but to
my great disgust two years ago, I found some game-
keeper had rooted all up, save about as much as
would cover a soup-plate, I suppose because it was
interfering with several young trees. I have, how-
ever, marked down about twelve other roots in a
thirty-acre moorland field. — W. S. Sykes.

A Suescalarid Monstrosity of Helix
rufescens. — On looking through my note-book I
find mention of a subscalariform monstrosity of Hdix
rufescens, which Mr. A. Mayfield sent me from Eaton,
Norwich. As I do not believe that I have yet
published a description of this shell, I now do so here.
Transcribed from my notes, it runs thus : — Large,
brownish with white band at periphery ; spire elevated
with the whorls subcarinated and flattened ; body-
whorl smaller than in type, depressed, subcarinated ;
sutures, deep, canaliculate ; umbilicus wide, revealing
the whorls of the spire ; inner lip distinct, and
reflected on to the body-whorl so as to form a well-
marked "parietal wall" ; the whole shell subscalariform.
Diam. 11 -5 mill. ; alt. 8 mill. I£ this monstrosity
has not been named before, it might be called monst
subscalare. — J. IV. IVillia/ns.

HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP.

167

The conversazione of the Royal Society took
place on the 17th ult. Astronomy presented its
usual fascinating aspect. Professor Norman Lockyer
exhibited first a group of sun-spots, photographed in
India as they were passing over the solar surface,
and showing a succession of remarkable changes,
suggestive of terrestrial cyclones, as they traversed
the visible face of the sun. The greatest curiosity was
awakened by the professor's photographs of the
temples at Karnak and Edfou, in Upper Egypt.
There is now a theory that these famous structures
were oriented in such fashion that the rays of the sun
at 6 A.M. and p.m. on June 21 traversed the whole
central aisle of these edifices — in other words, that at
least six thousand years ago there was in Egypt a
people sufticiently advanced to know astronomically
the true length of the year and to determine with
precision such data as they needed for their daily
sacrifices. The same kind of astronomical motive is
supposed to have prevailed with the builders of the
huge monoliths of Stonehenge. At the instance of
Mr. Norman Lockyer, the Egyptian Government
sent out on June 21 observers to Karnak and Edfou
to make observations of the shadows which the lines
of the temple will make with its principal axis, and
as the motion of the sun in the heavens is known, it
may be possible to argue backwards from these data
to the probable age of the temples. Similar obser-
vations were made on Salisbury Plain, with the
• curious result, perhaps, of learning from the sun's
motion in the ecliptic how long ago it is since the
stones of that huge place of sacrifice were placed in
position by a relatively advanced race of people
inhabiting these islands thousands of years ago.
Mr. Francis Galton explained in the Council Room
his method of personal identification by means of
finger prints. It is a curious fact that the small
papillary ridges on the bulbs of the fingers, and on
the inner surfaces of the hands and feet, persist from
youth to age, and are the most unchanging, and
apparently the surest means of pronouncing on any
human being's identity. With exact anthropometric
measurements and descriptions, science is circum-
venting the criminal classes, and the time will
probably come when to the evil-doer Mr. Galton's
pictures of the finger tips will be a means of deciding
who's who that law-breakers will positively detest
and dread. Among the instruments Mr. Wimshurst's
improved influence machines deservedly attracted a
large amount of attention ; but, perhaps, the most
interesting of recent electrical achievements is Mr.
Crookes's volatilisation of metals. The distinguished
chemist and physicist has discovered that he can
evaporate gold, silver, and other metals by the
electric current. This is accomplished without accu-
mulation of heat, and what looks like the vapour of
gold settles as a thin transparent film on a surface of
glass. In transmitted light the hue is first ruddy,
then, as it becomes denser, greenish and faint yellow,
and only finally golden when the film is thick enough
to prevent light passing through. A curious and
instructive magnetic phenomenon was exhibited by
Mr. Shelford Bidwell, in a nickel pendulum which
was shown to be magnetic when cold and non-magnetic
when heated to about 300° C. Mr. Francis Darwin
displayed an instrument called a cup-micrometer for
measuring the rate of growth of a plant, while
Mr. Walter Gardiner has devised instrumental means
to determine the forces concerned in the absorption
and flow of water in plants. Mr. Arthur Clay-
den, M.A., showed by means of the electric lantern
some fine meteorological pictures of clouds, taken by
the camera in such style as enormously to simplify
the study of cloud formation, a department in which

a good deal remains to be done. Some fine negatives
of hoar-frost were thrown on the screen, the pictures
bringing into strong relief the manner in which the
ice crystals form on the margins of leaves, the loose
fibres of a string, and the thorns of a briar, and the
tendency of these crystals to arrange themselves in
line with the direction in which the wind is blowing.

Atmospheric Nitrogen and Root-Tubercles.
— Two American chemists, Messrs. W. O. Atwater
and C. D. W^oods, have published in the American
Chemical Jotirnal the results of a large number of
experiments they have been making on the important
subject of the acquisition of atmospheric nitrogen by
plants. They experimented with peas, oats, and
corn, and they conclude that nitrogen is readily
absorbed from the atmosphere by these plants, where
treated with "soil-infusion," and that the gain of
nitrogen is dependent on the number of root-tubercles
which the application of " soil-infusion " induces. It
should be remembered, however, that these root-
tubercles have been found to be literally nests of
bacteria, so that the latter may probably produce the
nitrogen by assisting in the nitrification of the soil.

Atmospheric Nitrogen and Leguminos/e. —
Experiments have been conducted by two French
chemists, Messrs. Schloesling and Laurent. It has
long been suspected that the natural order of plants
Leguminosse had the power somehow of absorbing
atmospheric nitrogen. The leguminose plants ex-
perimented upon were grown in closed vessels, which
were so arranged that the gases introduced and with-
drawn could be accurately measured and analysed.
They found that when the leguminose plants were
watered with an infusion of nodosities from other
plants of the same order, there was an absorption of
nitrogen much greater than could be put down to
errors of experiment. On the other hand, when the
leguminose plants had not been inoculated in this
way, and were therefore free from nodosities, no such
absorption of nitrogen was observable. It is believed,
therefore, these experiments demonstrate that under
the influence of microbes leguminose plants can fix
and utilise the gaseous nitrogen of the atmosphere.

Eriophorum latifolium. — It is stated in
Syme's " English Botany " (vol. x., p. 76), that the
downy-stalked cotton-grass {Eriophorum latifolium)
is "rare in the south of England." Being in the
neighbourhood of Fair Mile, near Esher, Surrey, on
the iSth inst., I noticed what I believe to be a very
large bed of it, the mass of cotton-like heads at-
tracting attention and admiration even at a distance.
The plants were growing in a morass surrounding a
pond, locally called Black Pond. Though familiar
with the locality many years ago, I had not visited it
for some years and was struck with the appearance.
It may be mentioned that the nearest railway station
is Oxshott (the name really means Oakwood, but the
L. & S. W. R. has now fixed upon it one of the
local spellings, suggesting the idea of bovine slaughter
at the place), on the new line from Surbiton to
Guildford. Although the spot gives the idea of
complete sequestration, it is in fact only a few
minutes' walk from the high road between Esher and
Cobham, near what is called Fair Mile. If I am
wrong with regard to the species, I should be glad
to be corrected. — W. T. Lynn.

Coccus cataphractus. — Will any of your
readers be kind enough to inform me where this
scale insect is to be found? — H.A.

1 68

EARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

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

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

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

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

To OUR Recent Exchangers. — We are willing and helpful
to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow dis.
guised Exchanges like those which frequently come to us
to appear unless as advertisements.

T. H. C— The eighth edition of "The London Catalogue of
British Plants " is published by George Bell & Sons, price iid. ;
the " York Catalogue of British Mosses," price dd., by Ben
Johnson & Co., Micklegate, York.

R. C.— Your specimen is the blue flea-bane [Erigeron
acris).

M. B. Davies. — The insect imbedded in amber is a well-
preserved dipterous fly, probably a species of Tachina.

S. Lowe. — You will find a long chapter on fossil sponges
(illustrated) in Taylor's "Common British Fossils" (London:
Chatto).

R. A. Cooper. — Write to Messrs. W. Wesley & Son, Essex
Street, Strand, for their " Scientific Book Circular."

G. A. Hankey. — I. The cuticle of leaves is the delicate
transparent skin which covers the epidermis. It rarely shows
any signs of structure, only markings produced by contact.
It can be detached by slow maceration, and then comes off the
surface both of the epidermis and hairs. 2. The mould on
palm leaves to which you refer is probably Graphiola pheenicis
(see Science-Gossip vol. for 1877, page 124).

M. E. Pope. — Your specimen is a variety of the meadow
orchis [O. morio).

R. C. C— The specimen enclosed is evidently a very remark-
able variety of Cardaniine pratensis. Send a specimen to the
Secretary of the Botanical Record Club.

H. Roberts. — Many thanks for your kind offer. Will you
send us a short specimen of the sort of thing you mean ?

EXCHANGES.

Offered, six different specimens of Scotch granite, one
German, and one Sweden, polished on one side and rough on
other ; also marine shells. Wanted, Newman's " British
B^itterflies and Moths," or what offers?— W. D. Rae, 9 Clare-
mont Terrace, Alpha Road, Miilwall, London, E.

Wanted, Maltwood's finder. Offered, magic-lantern, small
telescope, micro-slides or objects, dried plants, &c. — G. H.
Bryan, Thornlea, Trumpington Road, Cambridge.

Wanted, Morgan's" Animal Biology," Marshal and Hurst's
"Practical Zoology," Prantl's "Botany," Bower's "Practical
Botany," Foster's " Embryology," Howe's "Atlas of Biology."
Must be cheap, in good condition, and recent editions. What
offers to — Shoosmith, Stopsley, Luton, Beds.

Wanted, Helix arbustorum, var. viarinorata. Will give
H. arbustorum, var. pallescens, in exchange. — H. Milnes,
Winster, near Derby.

Wanted, Berkeley's "Outlines of Fungology." Will give
in exchange Beale's " Microscope." Also wanted, mosses,
lichens, and other cryptogams. — C. F. Rea, S.S.M., Black-
heath, S.E.

Science-Gossip, six vols., unbound, including 1884 and 1885,
with plates; Milner's "Gallery of Geography," twenty-fbur
i^. parts; last two vols, of "American Monthly Microscopical
Journal; also "Manual of British Coleoptera," by Stephens,
good as new. Wanted, tricycle, or botanical books, Cooke's
" Freshwater Algse," good micro mounts, &c. — J. C. Black-
shaw, 179 Penn Road, Wolverhampton.

Offered, Science-Gossip for 1890, Karl Russ's " Speaking
Parrots," Greene's "Amateur's Aviary." Wanted, back vols.
of Science-Gossip, " Selbome Magazine," scientific works,
gjc.— H. Roberts, 60 Princess Road, Kilburn, London.

Wanted, "Insects at Home" (Wood), or other work on

British insects. Offered, "Insects Abroad" (1883).— Rev. X.,
12 The Park, Ealing, W.

Will give is. dd. for a clean copy of "The Zoologist" for
January, 1881. — Chas. Oldham, Ashton-on-Mersey.

Any entomological specimens (of whatever order) would be
gratefully received from anyone having duplicates, and having
no use for same. Box sent (prepaid) and return postage. —
T. R. Hamilton, 11 Crozier Road, Mutley, Plymouth.

Offered, "The Entomologist," vols. 16 to 21 bound, and
vols. 22 and 23 unbound ; " Builder," vols. 56 and 57 bound,
vols. 55, 59, and greater part of 58 unbound. Exchange for
foreign land shells, conchological or other scientific books. —
G. S. Parry, 18 Hyde Gardens, Eastbourne.

Offered, 325 stamps, all different, many of them rare.
Wanted, British land and freshwater shells, foreign marine
shells, or offers to— P. R. Shaw, 48 Bidston Road, Oxton,
Birkenhead.

Wanted, any land or sea shells from the West Indies.
Have a number of natural history and other books to offer in
exchange. List sent. — W. Jones, jun., 27 Mayton Street,
Holloway, London.

Wanted, a few good fossils from Devonian or old red sand-
stone. A good equivalent given in exchange in minerals, such
as fluor spar, galena, malachite, travertine, radiated calcite,
chalcedony, blende, crystals of quartz, selenite, pyrites, calcite
and others, or good carboniferous fossils. — P. J. Roberts,
II Back Ash Street, Bacup.

Wanted, fossils from various localities. A large number of
good duplicates offered in exchange. — Thomas W. Reader,
171 Hemingford Road, London, N.

Wanted, specimens of British and foreign echini (sea
urchins), or crabs, in exchange for British land, freshwater, or
marine shells or fossils. — F. Stanley, M.C.S., Clifton Gardens,
Margate.

West African bird-skins in exchange for books (must be
latest editions) on natural history.— J. H., 19 Connaught
Street, W.

Eleven vols, of Science-Gossip, 1880-90, including the ^
coloured plates, for rare British shells or eggs, foreign shells,
or offers. — Thos. H. Hedworth, Dunston, Gateshead.

Helix lainellata. Papa ringens, and numerous other species
offered for varieties of British land and freshwater shells.
Also wanted, Continental and foreign land and freshwater
shells. — Rev. John Hawell, Ingleby Greenhow Vicarage,
Northallerton.

For a slide of diatoms, or botanical mount showing placenta,
tion, &c., I will send a tube of Chara showing cyclosis. — J. C.
Blackshaw, 179 Penn Road, Wolverhampton.

West Indian, South .4.merican, and Australian land shells
wanted in exchange for European, South African, or North
American land, freshwater, and marine. Any foreign corre-
spondence esteemed. — S., 40 Braybrooke Road, Hastings.

Ur.io pictorum, from a Cheshire locality, offered in exchange
for good land and freshwater shells, British or foreign. — R.
Cairns, Queen Street, Hurst, Ashton-under-Lyne.

Wanted, land and freshwater shells, in exchange for living
Pupa secale, and others. Several vols, of Science-Gossip and
other books offered for shells. — H. T. Smith, 11 Oakfield
Place, Clifton, Bristol.

BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE.
" Popul.-ir Lectures and Addresses," by Sir William Thomson,
LL.D., F.R.S., &c., vols. i. and iii. (London: Macmillan &
Co.). — "Lessons in Elementary Biology," by Professor T.
Jeffery Parker (London: Macmillan & Co.). — "The Making
of Flowers," by Professor G. Henslow (London: S.P.C.K.).—
"The Species of Epilobium occurring North of Mexico," by
Professor Trelease. — "Notes on Indian Rotifers," by H. H.
Anderson. — " The British Noctuse and their Varieties," by
J. W. Tutt (London : Swan Sonnenschein & Co.). — " British
Cage Birds," Parts 13 and 14. — "Glimpses of Nature," by Dr.
Andrew Wilson (London : Chatto & Windus). — "The Mediter-
ranean Naturalist," No. i. — "American Microscopical Jour-
nal." — "The Microscope." — "The American Monthly Micro.
Journal." — " American Naturalist." — " Canadian Entomolo-
gist."— " The Naturalist."— The Botanical Gazette."— " The
Gentleman's Magazine."— "The Midland Naturalist."— "The
Essex Naturalist." — "The Garner." — " Feuille des Jeunes
Naturalistes."—" Journal of Microscopy," &c., &c.

Communications received up to the ioth ult. from :
J. E. L.— A. J. H. C— J. H.— F. B.— C. G.— A. B.— G. H. B.
— W. H. S.— A. E. B.— E. B.— W. D. R.— J. H. C— W. W.—
Dr. A. I.— M. D. D.— C. F. G.— J. W. W.— W. J. S.—
H. H. A.— J. W. B — D. E. C— T. D. A. C— E. R— H. E. G
—J. H. S.— E. D. H.— F. J. B.— W. C— H. M.— C. F. R.—
J. C B.— H. R.— H. T. M.— C. O.— T. R. H.— E. H. R.—
W. E. S.— G. S. P.— P. R. S.— Dr. R. L. R.— J. W. R. S.—

F. S.-S. P.— T. W. R.— J. H.— W. J., jun.— P. J. R.—

G. A. H.— J. C. B.— E. L. S.— J. C. S.— R. C— H. T. S.—
J. H.— T. H. H.-J. S.— F. B.-A. H. H.— F. B.— H. M.—
&c., &c.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

169

WORDS OF BIRDS.

By J. H. GORDON, B.A. OxoN.

SUPPOSE many
people will dis-
believe me and
think me foolish
for tr}ing to fool
them, but it is not
so. I am as sane
and as honest as
most men are ;
and so, when I
say I can under-
stand and appre-
ciate the songs
and languages of
birds, you can
take it or leave it
just as you will.

Now there must
be no mistake, and
so I had better
say at once that I
cannot understand all birds ; any more than Professor
Max Miiller can understand all the languages of
men, in this best of possible worlds ; no, that would
be rather a big job, to say the least of it, though the
language of birds when you once understand the
method of it, is not nearly so hard as one would
expect.

If I had my choice, in fact, I would much rather
take up the grammar of a rook, or even a common
and vulgar sparrow — and the sparrow is vulgar, too,
sometimes when he likes — than wade through the
horrible inflexions, conjugations, declensions, and
other monstrosities, that hide their sweetness under
the names of Latin and Greek, and what not.

Ves, there is much to be said in favour of the
speech of the playful warbler. He is in general
simple and honest in his likes and dislikes, and in ex-
pressing these likes and dislikes. Here and there I
do not deny, I have come across a very Gladstone
amongst the rooks, who would gather in a crowd and
No. 320. — August 1891.

talk to them literally for hours ; but he was an ex-
ception, and it usually ended in his starting a new —
being compelled to start — a new realm of wisdom
by his own account.

With the sparrow, too, I have some fault to find ;
his language is not always so decorous as it should
be ; indeed, to hear what the sparrow — the London
one, especially — says, when he is disturbed at a feast,
or the grain spilt from a passing horse's nose-bag, is
simply horrible, and would often make me, had I
been some what thinner and lighter in bulk, pick up
a stone and teach them a lesson.

After all, the sparrow must be forgiven much, for
he is a very talented bird ; he has a greater proportion
of brains to his body than pretty well any other bird,
and a great deal more ideas. A very gifted bird is
the sparrow, though he does swear terribly and gamble
all the sunny days on the house-tops, and jeer
wickedly at the homely cat. But great men have
great vices as well as great virtues ; and so is it in
bird-land.

Let us look at another warbler who is very much
more greatly admired, and yet whose brains are the
minimum possible to the realm of air. The nightin-
gale is the one I refer to ; and every one knows how
even delicate girls will go out at night-time to hear
this songster ; and yet with all this glory, he has the
smallest vocabulary than any bird I know of. I
fancy if the charming maidens who listen shivering
and wondering to him as he sings in the neighbouring
bush, knew what he meant, they would have him
away in disgust.

For this sweet songster, the nightingale, is an awful
gourmand ; and thinks of nothing but filling himself
with worms, grain, anything in fact that comes to hand.
When he sets them so simply, and we all believe him
to be singing to his mate, he's doing no such thing ;
it's the early worm he's singing to, it's the early worm
he is glorifying with that divine music ; and it is
because the early worm is later than usual, that he
sings at all.

IJO

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Just give him an early worm and see what he
does.

Sing his thanks, you think ? No, indeed, if he does
iiing, it is simply to ask for more, but usually he
remains silent.

" O early worm, O early worm !
Sweet and toothsome art thou
With the dew upon thee,
In the glory of the morn !
There is nothing sweeter than

The early worm
With the dew upon him in the

Glorj' of the morn 1 "

That is his song ; and he will go on singing that for
hours, until the early worm turns up. He knows no
more, poor bird, and what is worse, wants to know
nothing more.

He is ignorant : very, very ignorant ; and he is
liappy : very, ver}' happy in his ignorance.

His total vocabulary does not exceed some sixty
words ; whilst the sparrow, often runs over into
thousands, especially when he is in a rage, and at a
loss, then he invents a dozen new adjectives on the
.--pur of the moment. Besides the first bird sticks
superstitiously to his fifty words, whilst the sparrow
is simply avaricious of new ideas and new words.

Let a sparrow invent some taking phrase, and it is
immediately taken into the bosom of the language,
and in a few weeks in common use by all alike.

I remember a sparrow nicknamed a pea-shooter,
but what would be translated "quick-joy," because of
' the delight of eating the peas, after the rapid flight.
Now every sparrow — even the rather stupid hedge-
sparrow — speaks of many other things under that
name — as "rain-drops."

One of the pleasantest afternoons I ever spent was
passed in listening to a trial by rooks.

One of the rooks was accused of playing the decoy-
duck with some of his fellows, and of being in league
M'ith certain farmers ; and of thus causing many of
Jiis comrades to adorn the inside of a horrible
^chamber, called a pigeon-pie.

The defence was, that he could not understand the
farmers, nor the farmers him ; secondly that he gained
nothing by doing this great wickedness, as was evident,
if he did do it. But to this was replied that he was
allowed a free entrance into a granary stocked with
fresh grain ; and that was evidence conclusive.

The poor fellow, whom I pitied greatly, tried to
show that he had found a hole in and offered to show
it the[ company generally ; and this gained him many
friends ; indeed I thought he was safe. No, his
■enemies were too fiercely determined ; they reminded
tlie folk present of a new-sown field, and demanded
an instant verdict.

That decided it, and he was instantly found guilty
and pecked to death.

But there are other much more kindly views of
bird-life to be gained than the one I have described.

I remember one very affecting incident : a small

bird of the wren tribe had been severely hurt and was
still very ill when the day for the annual migration
came ; indeed, amongst all the denizens of the thicket,
a general belief was expressed that the poor little
wren must be left behind to winter in the land of
snow and frost.

His mate nearly lost her head in the agony of the
separation, for there were young ones, and one at
least had to go to look after them. There he stood
divided between love and duty ; should he leave his
dear companion of the summer, or should he leave
his young ones to go forth and die perhaps in a
foreign land ?

And so he flew from tree to tree in wild terror and
despair.

At length there came slowly two great cranes
across the wide expanse, and with a mad hope in his
heart he advanced and humbly besought their help.

They were kind-hearted creatures ; and on his
promising to keep a good look-out for frogs, they
took the wee wren under their wing, and carried her
along with her family into the-far away country.

Happy wren and happier cranes !

LAC {COCCUS LA CCA).

By H. DURRANT.

THIS insect, like its congener the cochineal insect,
belongs to the order Hemiptera. Its habits and
economy are nearly identical with it. When a colonj'
of several males and females select a branch of a tree
for their home, they puncture it, and a milky exuda-
tion follows, in which they are soon entombed, and
which furnishes them with both food and shelter. It
forms irregular dark-coloured, resinous masses on the
twigs of the trees which it surrounds, and which is
gradually added to until they are sometimes nearly
an inch in diameter. The trees most usually affected
are the Fkiis Indica and F. religiosa which both
abound in a milky juice. When the season arrives,
the natives collect the encrusted twigs, which in this
state are known commercially as "stick-lac." It
contains about seven per cent, of resin and one-
twentieth part of colouring matter. To separate the
sticks, colouring and other foreign matter, the stick-
lac is placed in large vats of hot water which melts
the resin and thus liberates all impurities. It is then
taken out and put into oblong bags of cotton, and a
man standing at each end of the bag holds it over a
charcoal fire. By this plan the resin is liquefied and
drops through and falls on to the smooth stems of the
Banyan tree, placed purposely to catch it. This
flattens it out into thin plates, and it is then known to
us as shell-lac. If the colouring matter has not been
well washed out the resin is left of a very dark colour,
thus we find in the lac-market, orange, garnet, and
liver varieties. That which most nearly approaches
to a light brown colour being the best.

HARJDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

171

When separated from impurities, pulverized, and
the major portion of colouring matter removed, it is
known as " seed-lac."

Sometimes it is melted up and made into small
cakes ; in this state it is known as " lump-lac." The
water which remains behind after the lac has been
softened is rich in a colouring matter akin to that of
cochineal, so that when strained and evaporated, a
beautiful purple residue is left. Cut into cakes this
forms another important article of commerce, viz : —
" lac-dye."

Shell-lac is soluble, in anhydrous alcohol, ether, fat,
and volatile oils. In the alcoholic solution it forms a
fine varnish.

Hydrochloric and acetic acids also dissolve it. It
is necessary sometimes to bleach it, for the manufac-
ture of colourless varnishes, sealing-wax, &c. This is
effected by dissolving in caustic potash, and passing
chlorine gas through the solution. It can then be
pulled and twisted into sticks. Seed-lac is much
more soluble in alcohol than shell-lac. Lac-dye is
soluble in sulphuric and hydrochloric acids. The
mordant for use in dyeing is generally bi-tartrate of
potass and protochloride of tin.

The chief use of lac is for the manufacture of
varnishes and sealing-wax. The differently tinted
sealing-waxes are produced by adding vermilion for
red, ivory black for black, and verditer for blue (some-
times smalt is used). For a white wax, the lac is
simply bleached as before mentioned.

To obtain the fine golden colour sometimes seen,
powdered yellow mica is incorporated with it. Shell-
lac is imported from Assam, Siam, and an inferior
quality from Bengal.

Pegu stick-lac is exceedingly dark, and therefore
not fitted for the finer uses of lac ; but the finest lac
of a very light sherry colour comes from Circar.

We receive something like 1,000,000 lbs. annually,
but a large portion of this is again exported to
Germany, Italy, and other foreign countries. To
each male insect it has been computed there are not
less than 5000 females, the males being twice as
large as the females.

After the first melting of the lac it is usually more
tenacious than after subsequent meltings, which tend
to make it hard and brittle. The ancient Chinese
were well aware of this property, as is evinced in some
of their works of art which remain perfect to this day.
They are usually small boxes either in wood or metal,
which have had a thin coating of lac, and while soft
and plastic, had been moulded into various beautiful
forms. Some of these works of art fetch considerable
prices.

At the meeting of the Geologists' Association on
July 3rd, Professor Blake read a paper on "The
Geology of the country between Bridlington and
Whitby, the district to be visited during the Long
Excursion."

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF

BRITISH DIPTERA.

By E. Brunetti.

{Continued frojii p. 160.]
(6.) Acalypterata.

OVER five hundred species of Acalypterata are
British.

An analytical table even of the groups is impossible
here, as Verrall admits twenty-two divisions, which
by his terminations would appear to be ranked by
him as distinct families.

Some Continental Dipterologists make a still
larger number of groups. Walker divided them into
ten.

Most of the Acalypterata are small flies, generally
obscure in colour, though some are brilliantly-
coloured and easily recognised, the majority, how-
ever, being closely allied and difficult to identify.

A great many species have been introduced as
British that do not appear to be so.

Mr. Verrall's arrangement of the genera differs from
that of Schiner (still probably the best Continental
authority), and I shall follow the former in these
notes.

Coj-ciylnra, Fin., inhabits damp fields and the
cooler spots in woods ; long-bodied and rather short -
winged flies ; long 4-6 mm.

Scatophaga, Mg., is a carnivorous genus, the
larv^e living in dung, two or three species being very
common everywhere, especially S. Stercoraria, L.,
which in the <5 is clothed in bright yellow hair, the
legs also similarly clothed, the antennce and eyes are
black, the wings yellowish grey ; long 8-10 mm.
In the S (smaller) the colour is entirely grey. The
face is reddish in both sexes.

Orygma, Mg., delopa, Mg., and Actora, Mg.,
are found on seaweeds. Flies of rather an abnormal
appearance ; flattened ; with small heads and short
thick legs, often pubescent.

In Helotnyza, Fin., the larva feeds on fungi, woods,
fields and pastures ; several species are British ;
allied.

Dryo7Jiyza, Fin., occurs in woods ; larva lives in
mushrooms. Large flies ; D, analis, Fall., has
marked wings.

Sciomyza, Fin., frequents short herbage and shady
woods. Several species are British, more or less
closely allied, rather small in size.

Tetanocera, Fin., is found on aquatic plants, larva
aquatic ; the flies not being rare ; of good size ;.
stoutly-built ; usually more or less tawny in colour,
and from 5 to 9 mm. long.

Limnia marginata, F., is a brownish-black fly,
with yellowish white face ; reddish front with two
black spots on inner side of eyes ; brown wings
covered pretty uniformly with small round grey
spots, the fore-border and tip being brown ;"^Iegs
brown ; common

long S mm.

I 2

172

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIF.

Elgiva, Mg., resembles Tclanocera ; two or three
of the five British species are fairly common.

In Sepedon, Latr., the imago has the faculty of
running over the surface of water ; allied to El^^iva
and Tetanocera ; two species British.

Fsila rosa, F., feeds on the carrot in the larval
state. Ten species of Psila are British, resembling
Tetanocera.

Loxocera, Mg. (2 spp.), inhabits damp woods,
running over the foliage.

Micropeza corrigiolata, L., a fly with much attenu-
ated thorax and abdomen, and long and thin legs ;
found chiefly on broom ; long 6 mm. ; common.

Dorycera grainiinun, F., occurs in grass and

Fig. 145.— O/iV.r, L. (mag.;

Fig. 146. — Dl.ia, Mg. (mag.)

Fig. 147. — Limnobia, Mg. (mag.)

lowers, sometimes swarming ; larva aquatic ; pupa
two-horned.

Ceroxys, Mcq., on tree trunks.

Plafystoina seminationis, F., on flowers and hedges
— in spring ; somewhat resembling Lwinia marginata
in general appearance, but smaller and more stoutly-
built.

The Trypctidic are a well-marked group, in which
the wings are beautifully ornamented with brown
and black markings, thus affording an easy means of
determining the species. The principal genera are
Trypeta, Mg., and Tephritis, Latr., all the genera
occurring on plants, the larvae being leaf-miners.

Lonchcea, Fin., and Falloptera, Fin., inhabit fields
and grassy banks.

In Saprouiyza, Fin., the larvffi live on decaying

animal matter. Macquart, a French writer, has
found them in fungi ; about twenty species are
British ; many common ; mostly closely allied, and
nearly all yellowish, with yellowish wings.

S. rorida, Fin., is tawny; face broad, wfth a
small black spot on the vertex ; eyes black ; wings
yellow ; legs pale yellow with black tips ; common ;
long 4 mm. S. liipuliria, F., is distinguished from
the latter by a blui.sh-grey. thorax.

Oponiyza germinationis, Fin., very common every-

Fig. 148. — Ptychoptera, Mg. (mag.)

Fig. 149. — Rhyphus, Latr. (mag.)

Fig. 150. — Tanypus, Mg. (mag.)

Fig. 151. — Method of pinning down Diptera, &c.

where. Yellowish, with a dorsal row of blackish-
brown spots on the abdomen ; face, antennce,
and legs yellow ; wings pale grey, the two transverse
veins and border towards the tip blackish ; long
4 mm.

Sepsis is common on umbelliferous flowers.

S. cynipsea, L., smooth ; shining black ; wings
clear, with a small black round spot at tip ; long
4 mm. ; larva lives in decaying animal matter ; very
common everywhere.

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

173

Piophila casei, L., is the common " cheese-
hopper," living in old cheese. The imago is shining
black, with the lower part of the face yellow ; clear
wings ; hyaline black legs with the base of the
femora and tarsi yellowish ; long 3-35 mm.

The other British species, P. lutcata, Hal., is
closely allied, the larvre living in old bacon. Kirby
and Spence have described its life history.

The Ephydrince are a group of closely-allied,
sombre-coloured small flies, of which the British
species have been worked out by Haliday. They
are tolerably abundant in Ireland, but also occur all
over England in grass, fungi, and ditches ; some on
aquatic plants, and a fen on the sea coast, and in
salt-marshes.

Hydrellia griseola, Fin., probably the commonest
species, is blackish grey, with clear wings, reddish
eyes and black face, which, when seen from below,
shows a wide whitish stripe in the centre ; long
3 mm.

Drosophila, Fin., is found on Crucifcnc, the larvre
feeding an oak-apples. Their movements are slow ;
at least one species (D.funebris, F.) occurs in houses,
collecting round beer and wine casks. Reaumur
described the larva of one species.

Meromyza, Mg., is a genus of limited extent, of
small black and yellow flies, inhabiting herbage.
Two species are common ; the peculiar venation
affords an easy means of recognition.

Chlorops, Mg., is an extensive genus, of which
Verrall gives eight species as indigenous, though
probably several more will be found in Britain,
most of them common, living in the larval state on
wheat and barley, one species thus destroying the
sexual organs of the barley.

Sometimes they occur in swarms. The species
are closely allied ; generally yellow in colour, marked
with black ; but some of them are tolerably easy to
recognise. They inhabit sunny fields and banks,
chiefly occurring during July and August.

Oscinis, Latr., infests wheat, their habits being
similar to those of Chlorops.

Agrornyza, Fin., supplies us with eleven species,
found in fields and woods ; small darkly-coloured
flies ; closely allied.

Fhytomyza, Fin., has a venation of its own, and is
allied to Agrornyza. The European species of this
genus, as in Agrornyza, are very numerous. They
occur on plants from April till the end of summer.
\Valker speaks of a species infesting the corn-
feverfew.

Borborus, Mg., is a genus of well-built, sombre-
coloured flies, several species being common,
especially B. equinus. Fin., which is a small brown
fly, the abdominal segments being sharply marked
off; the face yellowish ; the legs brown, with lighter
tibiae ; the wings nearly clear ; very variable,
especially in colouration of legs ; long 3-4 mm.
Haliday has monographed the British species of

Borborus. The larva; live in decaying animal and
vegetable matter.

In Limosiiia, Mcq., the venation is again peculiar
to itself, about twenty species being British. Haliday
has monographed them.

Asteia, Mg., is found on haystacks.

Cordyhira piibera, L., Wlk. ii. PI. xiii. 2.
Scatophaga scybalaria, L., Curt. 405. Orygma
hutiwsuin, IMg., Wlk. ii. PI. xiii, 5. Dryomyza
Jlaveola, F., Wlk. ii. PI. xiv. i. Sciomyza albocostata.
Fin., Wlk. ii, PI. xiii 7. Tetanocera ferruginea.
Fin., Wlk. ii., PI. xiv. 2. Psila fimctaria, L., Pauz.
XX. 22. Ortalis guttata, Mg. Curt. 649. Ulidia
deniandata, F. Wlk. ii, PI. xv. 4. Tephritis corni-
culata, Wlk. ii, PI. xv. 6. Sepsis anmilipes, Mg.
Curt. 245. Chlorops taiiiopus, Mg., Curt, Farm. Ins.
PI. H. Fig, 2. Agrornyza denticoniis, Pauz., Wlk.
ii. PI. xviii. 3. IJmosina sylvatica, Mg. Wlk. iL
PI. xiv. 9,

30. Phorida,

Over twenty species of this family are British, the
larvae feeding on animal and vegetable substances.
Bouche thinks some species are parasitic on larvae.

Phora nifipes, Mg., lives on nearly everything, a
correspondent of mine once bred it from a beetle
(Rhizostrogiis solstitiaHs, Latr.), one of the scarabKid?e.
It is a blackish-brown fly, with pale yellowish-
brown legs and clear wings ; long 2 mm.

The venation of this family is easily recognised,
being unlike that of any other group.

Phora rufipes, Mg., Wlk. ii. PI. xix, 6. P.
abdominalis. Curt. 437.

III. Eproboscidea.

In this group the larvae and pupre are developed in
the abdomen of the female. In the imago the head
is retracted, and the antenna placed in a cavity
in the head. Wings rudimentary or abnormal ;
parasitic,

31. Hippoboscidii.

All the species of this family are more or less
uncommon ; the antenna; are stylate, the prothorax
distinct.

Hippobosca eqiiina, L., known as the forest-fly, is
parasitic on horses and cattle, and occurs in the New
Forest and other parts of Britain, It is brown, the
dorsum of thorax darker, with a pale yellow triangular
spot in the centre ; scutellum yellow ; wings, abdomen,
and legs pale brown ; long 7 mm.

Melophagus ovimis, L., is the sheep-tick. The
head is distinct from the thorax, the antennae are in
the form of tubercles ; no ocelli.

Stenopteryx hirimdinis, L., lives on the swallow,
arid is not unfrequently found in their nests ; head
placed in a cavity of the thorax ; antennae ciliated ;
ocelli present.

174

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP,

Ornithomya avictilaria is parasitic on birds,
usually the plover, partridge, and lark.

Curtis gives good plates of three species : —
//. V(]iciiia, L., Curt. 421. S. hiriiiuUnis, L., Cuitf
122. J\L oviniis, L., Curt. 142.

32. BrauUdic.

The one British] species of this family, Braula
cicca, Nitzsch, is a small, horny, shining red-brown
apterous fly with black spines and hair ; proboscis
prominent, horny, yellow ; antenna three-jointed ;
scutellum and hreteres absent ; legs short, ail of
equal length ; tarsi five-jointed ; last joint with
large broad claws. Parasitic on bees ; very rare.

33. NydcribidiL.

In this family the body is crustaceous, the head
small, the legs thick, long and bristly, the abdomen
being composed of five or six segments in the cT, and
only two in the 9 . The coxae are remarkably large.

Two species of iV^'^r/mi^/a are British, N. Hermanni,
Leach, and N. Latreillii, Leach, the latter being
rather smaller than the former ; both species are
rare, and infest the common bat.

Ayctcrihia Latreillii, Curt. 277.

In conclusion I should like to reiterate that this
paper is only intended as a groundwork on wliich
beginners can build up a more extensive knowledge
of this order, and is written more for the purpose of
gaining this neglected group additional students
than to represent even an approach to a handbook of
' British Diptera.

The descriptions, though short, are, I trust,
concise, and may enable beginners to obtain a fair
acquaintance with the general appearance and
structural characteristics of the majority of families
and sub-families ; and I am in hopes that the
diagrams of wings, though only roughly delineated,
may supply the student with the means of identifying
many a genus.

I may add that, whenever my limited hours of
leisure permit, it always affords me the greatest
pleasure to render any assistance I can — in the way
either of naming specimens or supplying furtlier
information on any particular group.

E. Brunetti.
129, Grosvenor Park, Cafnberwell, S.E.

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS.

r^LIMPSES OF NATURE, by Dr. Andrew
\JT Wilson (London : Chatto and Windus). Dr.
\Vilson has long earned his spurs as a trusted and
talented populariser of science. A few priggish
specialists, wlro imagine that a knowledge of a few of
the muscles of a flea's foot, entitles them to speak
authoritatively about the Creator and the creation,
sometimes sneer at "popular science." They might
as well sneer at popular politics, popular art, or

popular theology. The greatest populariser of the
latter was Christ himselt. Knowledge, to be useful,
must be democratic. Hence we have no sympathy
with the few prigs who would keep what little they
know to their own select circle ; and, whenever they
have anything to say, say it in the least understand-
able and most technical phraseology their limited
knowledge of language permits. All knowledge
belongs to humanity, and the man who undertakes
the responsible position of interpreter of science to
the people, occupies a most important place. It is
given to but few men to be real teachers and genuine
popular writers. There have been thousands of
schoolmasters, but only one Dr. Arnold ; hosts ol
naturalists, but only one Gilbert White and one
Richard Jeffreys. The genuine populariser of science
possesses a distinct and rare gift. You can train
thousands of specialists to any department of work,
if they only possess industry enough ; but all the
training in the world would not make popular
instructors of them, like Charles Kingsley, Richard
Proctor, and Andrew Wilson. Therefore we welcome
this charmingly got-up book, with whose contents
many of our readers have doubtless already made
themselves partly acquainted in the pages of the
"Illustrated London News," where there may have
been suggested to them the desire to see these clever
papers collected in an available and consultable
form. The numerous illustrations, which accom-
pany the text now for the first time, render the
descriptions all the more intelligible.

Our CouHtrfs Flowers, by W. J. Gordon (London :
Day & Son). A beginner in English botany could
not do better than procure this book. It is illus-
trated by upwards of 500 chromo-lithographs, which,
if a trifle over-coloured, can easily be allowed for,
and will doubtless tone down. Besides these, the
chapter headed " Index to the Genera " has a clear
and easily understood woodcut of the generic
characters of each kind. The chapter "Index to
Species " gives a clear account of each species of
wild-flower. There are also chapters on "Local
Names," "Classification," "Tabular Scheme,"
" Natural Orders," " Examples of Identification" (a
very useful chapter to a beginner), "Derivation of
Generic Names," &c., as well as a copious glossary.
As it is bound in limp cloth, it can easily be
carried in the pocket. For the purpose of merely
identifying common British plants, it is one of the
best and cheapest works we have.

Handbook of the London Geological Field Class
(London : George Philip & Son). A neat, handy,
and much required manual for the happily increasing
tribe of amateur London geologists. Five years ago
Professor Seeley, F.R.S., started a London field
class for geology, and took the members to all the
best sections and fossil collecting-grounds round the
metropolis. Professor Seeley is a born teacher, and
delights in his work. You have only to interrogate

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

175

any of the students of his field-class to find with
what affectionate enthusiasm they regard him. The
present volume is in reality the notes made by the
students themselves, and is a sample of their note-
books and records of observations. It is a capital
digest of Professor Seeley's lectures on these occasions.
The book is illustrated by capital sections drawn by
Mr. Nicol Brown. It is a record of honest work
earnestly done, and is therefore both a vade-iitecum
and a stimulant to all those who desire to explore
the interesting geology of the London district for
themselves.

Outlines of Field Geology, by Professor A. Geikie
(London : Macmillan). This is the fourth edition
of Professor (now Sir Alexander) Geikie's well-
known and popular little book. "We have no
hesitation in saying it is the best of its kind ever
issued. No other authority is so capable of teaching
field-work, considering his position as the Chief of
the Geological Survey, and none other is more ready
to teach. The present fourth edition has been
thoroughly revised and considerably enlarged, and
there is much in it which is new, especially that part
giving an account of the schistose rocks. New
illustrations have also been added where necessary.

Among the Butterflies, by B. G. Johns (London :
Isbister & Co.). We are pleased to see Mr. Johns
so capably following his father's footsteps as a good
naturalist. The present little volume is handsomely
got up, and the twelve plates, which contain sixty-
seven figures of our English butterflies, are excellent
specimens of natural history wood-cutting. Mr.
Johns is possessed of much literary ability, and tells
his story pleasantly and gracefully. This ought to
be a very popular little book.

The Human Epic. Cantos I.-V., by J. F. Row-
botham (London : Kegan Paul & Co.). The author
of this suggestive poem is an old contributor to
Science-Gossip. He has already won his spurs as
an acknowledged poet ; and this, his latest book,
affords fresh evidence of the natural insight which
all genuine poetry possesses. Tyndall somewhere
says that the rhythmical movements of the molecules
of a drop of water, and their relations to the
mysterious and unknown forces governing them, if
even baldly told, transcend in dramatic interest a
book in " Paradise Lost." Mr. Rowbotham is one
of the first of the younger school of poets to see the
vast advantages which science holds out of subjects
for poetic treatment. Tennyson made the discovery
half a century ago. Mr. Rowbotham heads the five
cantos of his "Human Epic" as follows: "The
Earth's Beginning," "The Origin of Life," "The
Silurian Sea," "The Old Red Sandstone," "The
Age of Trees." Geology is full of natural poetry,
and the author is a good geologist, as well as
" Scholar of Balliol College, Oxford." We cordially
commend Mr. Rowbolham's charming cantos to all
nature-lovers.

ROSSENDALE RHIZOPODS.

No. 4.

THE genus Centropyxis is also a very common
form here, and from the writings of others,
appears to be widely distributed. I find it in almost
all my collecting-places, the various wells, ponds, and
ditches furnishing well-marked varieties. It is closely
related to Diffiugia ; and indeed it is frequently
impossible to determine to which of the two a
particular specimen may belong. The shell is of
various shades of brown, and is composed of
chitinoid membrane, incorporated or covered with
a variable proportion of quartz-sand or diatoms ; the
latter, however, I do not find so frequent a con-
stituent of these shells as in the genus Difflugia. The
greater number of those having a diatomaceous cover-
ing, I procure from several shaded wells where those
algse are plentiful. From Sphagnum, most of the
forms of this genus have had' the chitinoid membrane,
either straw-coloured or a pale, smoky brown, some-
times with a few scattered sand-grains, more
frequently entirely without. In my experience the
shells of this variety are very shallow. The brown
membranous base connects this genus with Arcilla.
In the ordinary form, the test appears on the dorsal,
on ventral aspects, sub-circular or ovoid ; but on a
side view, which is not quite so frequently jjresented,
it will be seen to be deepest behind the mouth ; in
other words, the mouth and top of the shell are
eccentric in opposite directions. In this particular it
resembles Diffhtgia constructa, so much so indeed, as
to be with difficulty distinguished from it. The
chief points of differences between the two are that
Centropyxis is more decidedly brown, is not so high
from the mouth to the fundus, and the margin of the
inverted mouth is prolonged into two or more append-
ages. The drawings will help to make clear the
form and general appearance. It will be seen that
on a side aspect it is somewhat cap-shaped, being
highest behind the oval opening. The most common
form has a variable number of spines, more or less
divergent, from two to nine^ placed laterally and
dorsally. These are of the brown basal membrane
only. The mouth is large, sub-circular, deeply
inverted, and according to Professor Leidy, the
margin is produced in one or more appendages.
This is generally, from the opaqueness of the shell,
impossible to make out, and I have myself never
been able to demonstrate the peculiarity, though I
have had hundreds under observation at various
times. In no case can it be seen, except in the
lateral aspect of the shell, and only then in specimens
of clear chitine, free from sand-grain. Size from

m to --m of 'in inch.

Fig. 152. A very common form here, of linear
and navicular diatoms ; with spines.

176

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

^'S- 153- Side view of large specimen, whose test
is composed of large and small sand-grains.

Fig. 154. Same test, ventral aspect.

Figs. 15s and 156. Front and side aspects of a
dark brown variety, test, sand and dirt.

F'g- 157' Test of smoky yellow chitine, incrusted,
posteriorly with flocculent dirt, but no sand-grains or
diatoms. From Sphagnum.

The genus Arcella disputes with the previous form
the honour of being the commonest of the testaceous
Rhizopods. They are generally found in association,
and there are few microscopists who are not familiar

Fig. 152. — Centropy.xis acnlcata.

Fig- i5i-—Ct)tlrofiyxis aculeata.
(Side \ie\v.)

Fig. \n.—Ccntropyxis aculcata.
(Ventral aspect.)

with their brown tests. Arcella is sometimes very
numerous, not only in the light sediments of our
ponds, but also among the Algae clothing the sides.
It was discovered by the illustrious Danish natural-
ist Ehrenberg about sixty years ago. There are
many varieties, some very striking ones, but the
forms gradually merge into each other, so that many
authorities consider them as one species. Leidy
gives five specific names to the more widely separated
forms, two of which, A. communis and A. discoides,
are found in all the waters of this district. The
shell is composed of chitine, light or dark brown in

colour, though occasionally I have found colourless
specimens. This membranous test has a minutely
hexagonal, cancellated structure, something like the
marine diatom Coccinodiscus, though this is not
always demonstrable. Many of the varieties have
really elegant shells, the dome of some having
angular facets, or pits, which being thinner and
lighter in colour than the connecting parts, have a
charming effect. In A. dentata there are a variable
number of recurved spines, arranged round the
circumference of the shell, and I figure a form in the
ventral aspect, somewhat approaching this, though
not sufficiently so to justify its being placed in that
species.

In A. viilgaris or communis, as it is indiscrimately

Fig. iss.— Ce';/>v/y.t2s aciilt'ntiX

Fig. z5C:)- — CeHiroJiy.xis acuieata.

Fig. 157. — From Sphagnum, above Billaden.
Test of smoky yellow Chitine incrusted with
dirt, but no sand-grains or diatoms.

called, the test as generally seen is a brown circular
disc, with a central round opening for the emission
of the pseudopods. On a side view, the outline is a
low campanulate, with the basal border rounded, and
the mouth inverted. The height is about half the
breadth.

The sarcode is colourless and the mass rests on the
base and around the inverted funnel of the mouth,
and is connected with the fundus, or top of the shell,
by threads of the ectosarc. There are two nuclei,
one on each side, and several cont. vesicles. These
details can only be made out in transparent speci-

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

1 1

mens. Size variable ; average about ^^ or jjj-i of an
inch in diameter. A. discoides, whicli is, I think, the
prevailing form here, is in my opinion a mere
variety, and not worthy of a specific designation.
The only difference between it and the preceding
is that the fundus is lower, the height of the
■shell being only about one quarter of its breadth.
Irregular, or deformed forms are not of uncommon
■occurrence.

J. E. Lord.
Ra'i'teitstall.

A DAY AMONG THE WILDFOWL.

W' E started early this morning from the old and
well-known village of Bosham on our
weekly outing among the birds, and anticipation ran
liigh, for our two old boatmen, Kit and Bill, told us
that never since the " Rooshen War" had so many
wildfowl been seen inside and out the harbour. A
fresh wind blows from the north-west, and as the tide
is just at low ebb, we can scud down the channel
between the mudlands, and so in a great measure
escape the ice, which is now here in all but Icelandic
severity. A hasty look round to see if all is ready
for action and nothing forgotten, and then up sail
and off. Day has just commenced, and the birds are
astir and by this time fully aware that all men here
have guns, and all boats under weigh have men.
Close to hand sits solemn and still the heron,
apparently fast asleep ; for once he is allowed to
stay, but had he been old, and in good plumage, his
time would have been short. As the light varies
other forms come into view. Carrion crows, gulls of
all kinds and sizes, and all eager for the smallest of
things in the way of an early breakfast. Curlews by
dozens, starting up with their weird whistling ;
whaups, or trant?, as they are called, very like the
curlew, only smaller ; turnstones, dotterel, dunlin,
in thousands— so many in fact that one gunner shot
twenty-seven dozen and five at one shot — and last, but
mot least, the homely ever-present rook, driven from
<he fields and pastures to the muds and flats to pick
up a strange living by the tide. On scuds the boat,
her crew all alert for sport, and as strange birds do
not visit here every winter, each is anxious to find at
least one prize as a memento of this severe time.
^'Burds ahead," quickly says Kit, and with that from
^he bows he produces a long and well-worn old
fowling-piece, which he said had done great work in
his father's time. Not a movement on board, and as
the boat comes up to them away they go, all over
the place, giving us just the slightest chance to score,
and out falls a mallard with a dull thud— dead. This
is the commencement of a glorious day, and now
that the guns have started the game, strings of birds
are seen passing right and left, some going up and

some down, all in a hurr}', and all out of shot. Our
mallard retrieved, on we go, for our destination is
some five miles lower down, to the mouth of
Chichester Harbour, and as long before daylight we
have heard guns there, we know good sport is going
on, and want to be in the thick of it. Not very far
down we fall in with three divers, which prove to be
golden-eye ducks, and as we run down on them
they rise against the wind all together, and the long
gun brings them down in a pretty little heap,
fortunately too lifeless to try to get away. Still on
we go, and the farther we go the more the excite-
ment grows, for there are birds everywhere in sight,
and if this is so inside the harbour, what must it be
outside? Soon we get near the old coastguard ship,
and a short council of war is held to decide where to
go. Eirst we all land, and cross the shingle bank
that divides the harbour waters from the outside sea,
and what a sight meets our view ! As far as the eye
can reach are wildfowl, large and small, on the
water ; surely the whole Arctic supply is before us,
so vast is the number. There are acres of brent
geese — thousands and thousands of them. Here and
there grey-hags, bean and white-fronted geese show
up, and amongst them two fine specimens of the.
snow-goose. Ducks and widgeons in hundreds, a
few teal, scamp and pochard, tufted duck, here
and there a Black Sea duck (Scoter). Diving birds
there are of many kinds popping up here and there,
grebes of one or two sorts in sight at once, with
razor-bills and guillemots, and coming along from
Selsey Bill is a long string of wild swans. We wait
to see no more, but rush to the boat and quickly get
one gun on Hayling Beach, another on the Point of
Wittering Beach, and the boat itself right in the
fairway of the harbour's mouth, to intercept this
party, should they come inside. But 'tis no good,
they just sail majestically along over Hayling Island,
then turn up the left wing, and round into the
Emsworth Channel, and are safe for a time. Our
time is fully occupied in shooting with more or less
success at the different parties coming or going, and
fine sport it proves. Now a duck, now a widgeon,
and now a goose comes tumbling down, first from
one gun and then another, and still the hungry ones
come on, for the food in the harbour flats. While
we have been at our sport, other people have been
busy, at one time no less than thirteen punt-gunners
are in sight at once, and every now and again the
roar of a great gun adds to the general commotion.

The day now wears on apace, and as the shooting
is for a time slack a stroll round to see what the
other gunners have got is the order of the day.
Erom one we get a pair of shieldrakes, another has
some broad-billed scaup-ducks, another a red-breasted
merganser, another a splendid goosander, a fine old
male bird, and can tell of a puntsman who has shot
the hen, which we were afterwards fortunate enough
to procure, together with a very beautiful male

178

HA RD WICKK S SCIENCE- G OS SIP.

smew. Collecting all our purchases, we reach the
boat, and carefully packing up our specimens, we
decide, as the afternoon is far advanced, and the
journey a long beat home, to up and away, especially
as the swans are still in the harbour somewhere, and
we may perhaps fall in with them.

We start then and skirt the Pilsea Sands, in the
hope of picking up a crippled bird or two, and are
not disappointed, for we bag two more single geese
ere we reach Thorney Island, and at last get a sight
of some seven or eight swans feeding right in under a
bank. Oh for five minutes just the other side of that
bank ; but as this cannot be we sail steadily on, as
far away from them as we can, to pass them and
then cross over and sail down on them, as fast as we
can go. We manage all this, but they jump at
200 yards and sail away, and partly round us, and
to our joy go up and on our way to home. Another
mile or two, and we sight them again, and thinking
of nothing better, we do as we did at first, and this
time, amid a lot of quiet excitement, get within 100
yards before they again take wing. Once more they
go up stream ; but this time not so far, and soon
we are drawing on them. Will they wait ? No.
Something puts them up, some one way, some
another, and now the unexpected happens ; they try
to join, and to do this five of them come within
sixty yards of the boat. Bang ! bang ! from the
S-bore, and down falls the largest of the lot, a fine
old male hooper ; another sails away lower and lower
in the direction of Dell Quay, and finally disappears,
hard hit and never to rise again. This was verified
by the bird being caught next morning in a meadow.
One swan proved to be just under 20 lbs., and
crowned the happiness of all, for the right birds
came at last, and made a good finish to as pleasant a
day as any gunner ever had.

On reaching home we found a beautiful bittern had
been shot close by, and a fine pair of oyster-catchers.
These last we got from the owner, and they now form
part of that happy Saturday's spoils.

" Sea Fowler."

THE AVIFAUNA OF UPPER NITHSDALE.

A FTER a long residence in one of the beautiful
■L\. glens which converge at Thornhill on the
Nith, Dumfriesshire, I have taken the following notes
of the birds of the district.

During the last thirty years there has been a
serious diminution of the birds of prey. The pere-
grine falcon and merlin are rare, the kite is almost
extinct, while the sparrow-hawk and buzzard are
becoming very scarce. The kestrel, however, is
common, and may frequently be observed gliding
over the cliffs near the sources of our upland streams,
or pouncing on barn-door sparrows. Owls are very
plentiful. The woods around the ducal residence of

Drumlanrig, and the large quantity of natural wood
which adorns the hillsides along the banks of the
tributary streams offers them protection. The
tawny owl is the most common. It delights to utter
its screech perched on a coniferous tree, and it is
the boldest of its kind. The barn-owl is common.
The long-eared owl is both rarer and shyer. On one
occasion the nest of a barn-owl was found in a rabbit-
burrow.

The missel-thrush and blackbird are very common,
although, one summer about nine years ago, we
missed their delightful songs entirely. They seemed
to have succumbed to the previous severe winter.
The song-thrush is rare. The fieldfare comes to us-
in immense flocks in October, and in a few days,
strips every mountain-ash of its glittering red berries
which make these trees so conspicuous after their
leaves are shed. The dipper is found in all our
streams. The ring-ousel is not uncommon. Every-
where in early spring the simple song of the hedge-
sparrow greets us. The redbreast and chaffinch are
plentiful. The redstart and night-jar are rare. The
whin-chat is heard as it hops along our fences built
of uncemented whin-stones. The grasshopper-
warbler, and the sedge-warbler are rarely heard,
but the wheat-ear is common. Its nest is far from
being easy to find, on account of these same stone-
dykes.

The wood-warbler and the willow-warbler have
increased of late years. The golden-crested wren is-
plentiful in our fir-woods. Its nest, Ifhed with
feathers, is sometimes blown down from the pendent
bough. The wren and the willow-wren aie common..
The lesser white-throat and chitf-chaff are rare. The
tree-creeper is more common than appears, for its-
nest is most difficult to find.

The great-tit is rare, the blue-tit and the cole-tit
common. The long-tailed tit, to which Mr. Wallace-
has given a new significance by pointing out that it is-
a form specialised in the British Isles since their
division from the Continent, is rather scarce. It
makes its wonderfully artistic nest in almost inaccess-
ible black-thorn scrub. The pied wagtail is much
more common than the grey wagtail. The golden
plover and spotted fly-catcher are rare, but the nest
of the former is difficult to find. The garden-warbler
is not uncommon. The tree and meadow pipit are
abundant, so are the skylark and yellow-hammer.
We are far from being rich in finches, putting aside
the chaffinch. The common linnet is seldom seeu
except in flocks in winter. The same may be
remarked of the lesser redpoll.

The house-sparrow, rook, and starling, are ubiqui-
tous. The cuckoo is plentiful and arrives about the
last days of April. Although it delights to lay in a
smaller bird's nest, such as the meadow-pipit, I have
got its egg in the nest of a kestrel. The carrion
crow and jackdaw are not uncommon. The king-
fisher is exceedingly rare. As it commands a price, it

HARD WICKE ' S S CIE NCE - G OS SIP.

179

was entirely exterminated by a band of bird-catchers,
more than a dozen years ago, all along that finest
■tributary of the Upper Nith, the romantic and wood-
fringed Skarr.

The swallow, house-martin, and sand-martin are
■common — but the swift does not come. The ring-
■dove is abundant, 'but I have never observed the
xeed-bunting.

The following birds are very common : pheasant,
which has a stupid fashion of nesting on the road-
sides, exposed to school- children ; black-grouse,
partridge, lapwing, curlew, which arrive in March;
snipe, land-rail, which comes in the first days of May ;
moor-hen. The following are not uncommon ; red
grouse, heron, woodcock, wild duck. The black-
headed gull is very plentiful, but the common gull
less so. The teal land the little grebe or dabchick, I
have not observed.

On the upper courses of our mountain streams the
sandpiper may be seen wading. Snow-buntings are
among our winter visitors. About farmyards an
•occasional pair of bramblings may be noticed. In
fields where Pninella vulgaris grows, 'may be seen in
■certain seasons, flocks of twites. Our famous
naturalist. Dr. Grierson, lately deceased, put into his
museum about twenty years ago a golden oriole shot
mear Thornhill.

Enough has been written to show, that although
Thornhill and the three adjacent glens which
■converge near it are about twenty miles inland, there
is an interesting and well-stocked ornithological
•district to deal with — the chief paucity being in the
Slumbers of wading and swimming birds and those
more numerous where cereals are more abundant.

J. Shaw.

NOTES ON DOG'S MERCURY {MERCU-
RIALIS PERENNIS).

LOOKING at the small green flowers of Mercu-
rialis and its general want of attractiveness, it
s natural at once to class it with wind-fertilized
plants, but on closer examination it would seem rather
to be on the debatable land between anemophilous
and entomophilous plants, nor is it clear that we are
right in assigning it strictly to either. This has been
such a late spring, especially in the north, that
vegetation is unusually behind-hand, and it was only
■on the last day of March that the first specimens of
the pistillate flowers of Mercurialis put in an appear-
ance. The long spikes of staminate flowers were
fairly plentiful previous to that date, but the buds had
not opened. The leaves of this modest little plant
are not unlike those of the elder, some unbotanical
folks indeed call it "ground elder." We welcome
its coming less for its own sake, perhaps, than as
being the forerunner of the primrose and oxalis and
all the earlier spring flowers. It comes up, too, in a

business-like manner that is somewhat amusing, for
though one of the earliest flowers of the year, the
dog's mercury pushes its way out of the ground all
ready equipped for the battle of life, as if there were
no time to lose, and eager either to scatter its pollen
upon the spring breezes, or to display its humble
attractions before the insects should be drawn away
hither and thither by the bright colours and sweet
scents of more favoured competitors for their services.
Underneath the loose soil of the dry banks where it
flourishes, the little dog's mercury developes both
flowers and leaves in a wonderful state of forwardness,
so much so that it cannot bring them up in the
ordinary way, or the delicate blossoms would be
injured, so the plant as it emerges from the ground is
bent almost double, leaves and flowers looking down-
wards, while the strong arch of the stem lifts its
nurslings out of their dark prison-house and then
gradually straightens, until at last it stands erect,
bearing upon its upper portion both leaves and
flower-spikes that only need a little sunshine and a
little warm rain to bring them to perfection. By the
way, is light always necessary for the production of
chlorophyll ? Mercurialis is very green when it first
pushes out of the soil, and there are certainly embryos,
like the sycamore, in which the cotyledons are green
before they have burst the husk. But to proceed
more methodically with our plant. The first question
to arise is that of family or tribe, and without the aid
of books one might not at once give the dog's
mercury its true place with the Euphorbiaceje, nor
guess from outward appearances that it was so nearly
allied to the brilliant Poinsettia on the one hand, or
the evergreen box-tree on the other, though its
affinities with the stinging-nettle may be more
apparent. Mercurialis then belongs to the Spurge
family, though it contains none of their acrid milky
juices, and is even sometimes eaten as a vegetable.
The rootstock is slender and creeping, and therefore
it enables the plant to spread widely ; indeed these
creeping roots give our mercury an opportunity for
climbing where one would scarcely expect to find it-
The lower part of a \Yestmorland hedge is often pro-
tected by an outside fence made of large square slabs
of the slaty rock of the country placed close together
with their bases buried in the soil. The chinks are
sometimes filled up with the loose earth of the bank,
and the dog's mercury loves to take possession of
them by means of its creeping rootstock, mounting
continually higher and higher, and bordering the
slates with greenness. The stem is solitary and erect,
about six to eighteen inches high, frequently bent at
the bottom, and the leaves are crowded towards the
summit ; the whole plant is more or less hairy. The
leaves are opposite, very shortly stalked, ovate-lan-
ceolate with crenate edges. In the bud each half of
the leaf is rolled up towards the midrib and it is long
before the lower part fully uncurls ; the stipules are
very small. The stem is sometimes described as

i8o

HARDWICKKS SCI ENCE-GOSSJP.

four-angled, but this is scarcely correct ; there arc,
however, two distinct ridges on opposite sides of the
stem that change places between each pair of leaves,
just like the rows of hairs in Veronica chamadrys.
These ridges do not appear to be the vascular bundles
for the leaves above, because it may be seen on
reference to the drawing that they do not enter the
leafstalks but stop just between the stipules on the
opposite side of the stem, the next pair starting out of

at their edges, and form a sort of three-cornered box
that holds some ten or a dozen stamens springing
from a central disk. The filaments are long, slender,
and erect, the anthers are pendulous from a sub-
globose connective, and the dehiscence is extrorse.
In a unisexual flower such as this the pollen should
be examined in order to decide whether it be of the
light smooth kind adapted specially for wind-carriage,
or whether it have any of those roughnesses that

Fig. 159. — Early Leaf ot

ditto.

Fig. 15S.— Very young Male Plant
of Mercury.

Fig. 163. — Stamen and
Pollen (greatly mag.).

Fig. 161.— Staminate plant
(Nat. size).

Fig. 164. — Sta;ntn.

Fig. ifio. — Stem of
Mercuri.-»lis.

Fig. 162.— Flower greatly enlarged.

Fig. 165.— Early State
of Stigmas.

v^>-i(f5^^-^'

Fig. 167.— Ovary.

Fig. 16S.— Section of Ovary.

Fig. 166.— Pistillate Flower
(Nat. size).

the axils of the leaves above to stop between the next
stipules, and so on. The flowers of Mercurialis are
di(Xcious and small. The tall axillary spikes of the
staminate flowers arc certainly conspicuous, but the
pistillate are far less numerous and hide themselves
amongst the leaves so that they are not very easily
seen. The staminate flower is a very simple little
thing, being content with one floral envelope com-
posed of three sepals, that in the bud just fit together

characterize the pollen of entomophilous flowers and
that facilitate its removal by insects from one flower
to another. The pollen of Mercurialis is perfectly
smooth and most easily scattered, but then the pollen
of the Liliacese is also smooth and oval. The lily-
tribe is now greatly visited by insects, but Hermann
Miiller considers that the colour of the perianth must
have been originally greenish and unattractive, as the
dog's mercury is now. The long filaments are of

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

i8i

course characteristic of wind-fertilized flowers and so
far everything seems to favour the anemophilous
theory ; but how is it with the pistillate flower ? The
fertile plants are easily distinguished from the male
by the absence of the long green spikes, and might
easily be passed over as flowerless, especially in the
earlier stages, when the flowers are almost concealed
amongst the upper leaves, except perhaps one or two
that contrive to push out their heads, as if waiting for
any chance pollen that the wind might bring to them.
If one of the tiny inflorescences be picked it will be
found to be growing in the axil of a leaf whose lower
portion is very closely rolled inwards, the tip only
being fully expanded. Might not these be favourable

Fig. 169. — 3. Drop of Honey, i. Pistillate Flower (Mag.)

to the access of wind-borne pollen to the flowers ?
There are as a rule two flowers to each raceme, and it
s curious that the 'only bract belongs to the lower
flower, it being invariably absent from the upper one
in plants that have come under the writer's observa-
tion. The upper flower is the first to open ; it has
three sepals, one of which is removed in the drawing
that the essential organs may be more clearly seen ;
but when the perianth first opens, the flower is in
the condition shown in the above figure (2), very
quickly the large stigmas expand and spread out their
sticky crinkled surfaces to receive the pollen, and it
will be seen that the fertile flower of Mercurialis con-
sists principally of th; pistil with its enormously

developed stigmas. The ovary is two-celled and
even in a very young state it is not difficult to remove
the outer portion and find that one solitary ovale
fills each cell, that it is suspended from the placenta,
and if cut through lengthwise the pear-shaped embr/o
may also be discerned lying with its broad cotyledons
in the albumen, the radicle pointing obliquely up-
wards. To return again to our flower. The two
stamens have not yet been examined ; they may be
seen on each side of the ovary seated on two elon-
gated glands that alternate with the carpels and form,
the disk. The filaments have no anthers, for the
little knob at the top of the nearest must not be mis-
taken for one. It is intended to represent the drop ot
honey that is frequently if not always to be seen
exuding from the tip. That it is really honey one
may easily prove by tasting it, though at first sight it
might be taken for a simple drop of moisture. That
honey should be secreted by these two otherwise
useless stamens is interesting both as an example of
the way in which organs may be made to subserve
other purposes than those for which they were
originally intended, and also because honey is always
secreted for the special purpose of attracting insects.
See how this improvised nectary lifts its tempting
sweets above the recurved pistil, as though well
aware that such an insignificant little green flower
would never be suspected of containing any thing so
delicious and must needs hold out its cup of nectar to
passers-by and demand their attention ! The stami-
nate flowers of course secrete no honey, but their
abundant pollen is sufficient to ensure insect visitors.
What must we say then of Mercurialis ? The long
pendulous stamens, the light abundant pollen, and
the large stigmas, all point to the conclusion that
the plant is adapted exclusively for wind fertilization,
while the drops of honey on the two abortive
stamens seem to bid us not be too sure that this is
correct. The fertile flowers of Mercurialis open in
succession, and as the staminate flowers do likewise
there is always some pollen to be carried to them by
one agency or the other ; indeed it is remarkable how
few staminate flowers are open at one time, as if the
plants must needs husband their resources and not
expend them all at once with too lavish prodigality.
Mercurialis is said to have been named by the
Romans in honour of their god Mercury, following
the example of the Greeks, who called it the "plant
of Hermes," but whether because he was the dis-
coverer of the plant or of its supposed poisonous
properties is not clear. Our popular name of dog's
mercury is supposed to announce its inferior worth,
as in the case of the dog violet and dog rose. The
plant assumes in drying a curious blue tinge, which is
said to indicate the presence of indigo, and a German
botanist has detected two colouring substances in thfi
root, one blue, the other carmine.

M. D. D.

Hawks head, Ambleside.

l82

HARD WICKE 'S S CIENCE- G O SSIP.

THE KERMES [COCCUS ILICIS).

FROM the earliest ages this insect has been
employed to impart a scarlet colour to cloth.
It was known to the Phoenicians under the name of
Tola, and to the Arabians and Persians as Kermes or
Alkermes (Al signifying the, as in the Arabian words
Alchemy, Alkali).

Dioscorides calls it kohkos, and Pliny coccum and
gratium. In the Middle Ages it received the epithet
Vermiculatum, or "little worm," from its having
been supposed that the insect was produced from a
worm. From these denominations have come the
Latin cocci7icns, the French cramcisi and vermeil,
and our own words crimson and vermilion. The
Coccus ilicis, or kermes, is found in great numbers in
India and Persia, attaching itself to the leaves of a
small oak, the kermes oak (Querais cocci/era), alow
bushy shrub with evergreen spinous leaves, resem-
bling holly. The kermes is also found in the southern
countries of Europe, and in the south of France,
In parts of Spain, the kermes oak grows in great
profusion, as on the sides of the Sierra Morena.
Many of the inhabitants of Murcia gain a livelihood
by collecting kermes. This work is for the most
part done by women, who [scrape the insects from
the tree with their nails, which they allow to grow
long on purpose.

The insect attaches itself to the young shoots of
the shrub ; the female affixing itself and remaining
immovable, till after having reached its full size,
about that of a pea, which it much resembles, it
deposits its eggs and, dies. It is gathered before
the eggs are hatched, thrown into vinegar, and then
dried in the sun or in an oven. It has been, from
time immemorial, used to dye cloth, and is supposed
to have been the substance employed in dyeing the
curtains of the Jewish tabernacle. As the colour
which it yielded was more beatiful than the celebrated
Phoenician dye, it may have contributed to have put
an end to the monopoly of the Phoenician dyers.

The kermes yields a brownish red colour, which
alum turns a blood-red tint. Dr. Bancroft showed
that when a solution of tin is used with kermes dye,
as with cochineal, the kermes is capable of giving a
scarlet colour, quite as brilliant as that which cochineal
produces, and to all appearance more permanent. But
on the other hand one pound of cochineal will produce
as much colouring-matter as ten or twelve pounds of
kermes. Cochineal has supplanted kermes, and the
latter is now only cultivated by the poorer inhabi-
tants of the countries in which it abounds, especially
in India and Persia, and the peasantry of Southern
Europe.

Another species of Kermes {Coccus poloniciis) is
very plentiful in Poland and Russia, and is some-
times called the Scarlet Grain of Poland. Before
the advent of cochineal, this insect formed a con-
siderable branch of commerce. In the neighbourhood

of Paris, and in many parts of England, the C.
poloniciis is found upon the roots of the perennial
knawel {Scelo-aiithus pcreniiis), a plant not un-
common in Norfolk and Suffolk. The colour which
it furnishes is nearly as fine as that of cochineal, and
capable of giving the same variety of tints. The
insect was formerly collected in the Ukraine,
Lithuania, &c., and though still employed by the
Turks and Armenians for dyeing wool, silk, and hair,
but especially for staining the nails of Turkish
women, it is rarely msed in Europe except by the
Polish peasantry.

The same may be said of other species which the
cochineal has eclipsed, such as the Coccus, found
upon the roots of Fotciium sanguiso7-bis, an insect
formerly used by tlje Moors for dyeing silk and wool
a rose colour ; and the C. uva-nrsi, which, together
with alum, dyes crimson.

All these species owe their colouring property to a
principle called Carmine.

G. E. Cope.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

The first volume of Messrs. Whittaker's new
" Library of Popular Science " will be an elementary
introduction to astronomy by Mr. G. F. Chambers,
whose larger works on the subject are well known.
It is meant especially for readers who have no
previous acquaintance with practical astronomy, and
in this, as in other volumes of the series, considerable
attention will be paid to efficient illustration and
explanatory diagrams. The volume will be ready in
the course of a few weeks, and will shortly be
followed by others.

At the general monthly meeting of the Royal
Institution on Monday, July 6, the special thanks
of the members were returned to Miss Jane Barnard,
Dr. J. H. Gladstone, the Rev. A. R. Abbott, Mr. T.
F. Deacon, Mr. A. Blaikley, and others, for the loan
ol the valuable and interesting collection of Faraday
memorials shown in the library on the occasion of
the two lectures on June 17th and 26th given in
commemoration of the Faraday Centenary ; also to
Sir Frederick Abel, K.C.B. for his valuable present
of an Qirtling Balance ; and to Mr. Ludwig Mond,
for his donation of £100 towards expenses connected
with the Faraday Centenary commemoration.

Dr. Robert Wiesendanger, of Hamburg, has
just patented a method of employing carbonic acid
to produce intense cold, for the purpose of causing
insensibility, which will prove particularly useful in
dental operations. It is used in the form of a pencil,
and any part of the body on being rubbed with this
pencil loses sensibility, without the freezing of the
skin ; and slight surgical operations can then be

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

i8-

perfomied without causing any pain. Dr. Kriimmel
experimented in the Hamburg Hospital on a boy of
thirteen, who, without the slightest sign of flinching
allowed him to make a long and very deep cut in his
leg, the doctor having rubbed the place with one of
these pencils. The process has the advantage of
great cheapness, for hlty or sixty operations can be
perfomied with it at a cost of from four to eight
shillings.

Mr. a. Stanley Williams, of Sussex, has
discovered three delicate but distinct markings in the
equatorial region of Saturn. The first and third of
these are round, bright spots, somewhat brighter
than the white equatorial zone.in which they occur.
The second is a smaller dark marking on the equa-
torial edge of the shaded belt which forms the
southern boundary of the white zone. Mr. Williams
has obtained abundant proofs of the reality of these
markings, but points out that it requires patience and
practice to see them readily. It is very desirable to
obtain repeated observations of their times of transit
across the planet's central meridian. To facilitate
these observations, jNIr. Williams prepared a table
for June and July, showing the approximate mean
time at which the spots might be expected on Saturn's
central meridian.

Mr. W. Matthews sends us an illustrated paper
of his on " The Determination of Personal Identity,"
by his methods of geometric identification and com-
posite photograpic portraiture, which we recommend
to all of our photographic readers.

We commend a new monthly publication to all
book-lovers, " Bulletin Bibliographique de la Libraire

Francaise."

Mr. Francis P. Pascoe has just privately pub-
lished a neat little brochure entitled " A summary of
the Darwinian Theory of the Origin of Species."

We have received Parts 13, 14, and 15 of Mr. R.
L. Wallace's " British Cage Birds," the best book on
the subject out (London : Upcott Gill).

On June 28th, about eighty members of the Essex
Field Club had a delightful botanical walking ex-
cursion from Chelmsford to Maldon. At Danbury,
in the midst of the old camp. Dr. J. E. Taylor,
F.L.S., &.C., gave an open air lecture on "Where
our British Wild Flowers came from."

Dr. Hardwicke, surgeon to the Sheffield Public
Hospital for Skin Diseases, who has studied cancer
for a quarter of a century, believes that he has dis-
covered a cure for this fell disease without the use of
the knife. Professor Moritz recently described a
treatment of cancer before the Society of Physicians
Vienna, and from communications which have

passed between him and Dr. Hardwicke, there seems
to be much in common between the two systems.

Fishing with cormorants was recently carried out
in the neighbourhood of Wethersfield, in Essex,
within forty miles of London. The cormorants
belong to Captain Salvin, a gentleman who has kept
and trained these birds for many years. The two
birds he brought down, by name "Sub-Inspector"
and "The Artful Dodger," have been in his posses-
sion for the last nine or ten years. The fishing in
English streams differs from the Chinese method,'
inasmuch as no boats are used, and the birds are
turned into pools, while the shallows at either end
are guarded by " whippers-in," clad in waders, who
keep the birds under control, and catch them for the
"master" when wanted. In the three days' fishing
the cormorants caught over sixty fish.

Mr. Carus-Wilson writes to the "Chemical
News" to say that he has now succeeded in
producing musical notes from sand that was never
before musical, and is also able to produce similar
results from those mute, or "killed" musical sands
which have been temporarily deprived of their
musical properties. Full details will shortly be
made public. The experiments have been con-
ducted on the principles involved in the theory he
propounded in 18SS to account for the emission of
musical sounds from such sands, and that the results
obtained appear to demonstrate indisputably the
applicability of this theory. Professor Crookes adds
a note, stating he had witnessed Mr. Carus- Wilson's
experiments with musical sands — sands originally
musical, musical sands which had been killed and
then revived, and sands originally mute which had
had the gift of music conferred on them.

We are pleased to draw the attention of students
to Messrs. Dulau's scientific catalogues of second-
hand books. The last is devoted to " Works on
Geology," and runs to 138 pages. It is perhaps the
most exhaustive geological catalogue of pamphlets,
papers, etc., ever issued. Address 37 Soho Sq., W.

M. Elisee Reclus, the well-known French
writer on scientific subjects, has been awarded a
prize of ;^8od by a committee of the French
Academy for his services in popularising science.

The medical officers at the Newcastle Infirmary
have issued the result arrived at after seven months'
treatment of the Koch "remedy" for tuberculosis.
The cases of lupus, it is stated, have been improved ;
but in no instance has the condition been eradicated.
In the cases of incipient tubercular phthisis, the
disease was influenced beneficially for a time, but
subsequently progressed. The joint and glandular
cases were not favourably influenced.

1 84

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIF.

MICROSCOPY.

To Advertisers. — The following is a quotation
from a long letter just receivetl from a new corre-
spondent of SciENCE-Gossir in India : — " It is
useless my saying anything in praise of your paper
beyond that it was the cause of my purchasing two
microscopes, &c., for myself." Verb. sap.

The Journal of the Royal Microscopical
Society for June contains, besides the usual sum-
mary of current researches relating to zoology and
botany (principally invertebrate and cryptogamic),
the following papers: — "New and Foreign Roti-
fera," by Surgeon V. Gunsen (illustrated) ; " A New
Method of Infiltrating Osseous and Dental Tissues,"
by T. Charters White ; and " On Bulls' Eyes for the
Microscope," by C. M. Nelson (illustrated).

Mason's Improved Oxyhydrogen Lantern
AND Table Microscope.— We have much pleasure,
after carefully examining this elaborately got-up,
well finished, and yet marvellously compact instru-
ment, in stating that it is the best and cheapest yet
issued. It affords new scope for lecturing purposes,
— botanical, zoological, or geological — the polari-
scope bringing out the colours of the lithological
slides very clearly and effectively. This in.strument
has been designed to meet a long-felt want, i.e., a
microscope that can be used to demonstrate to a
large audience, or, when not in use that way, easily
converted into an ordinary form of table stand.
This is done by merely slipping it off its lantern
fitting and putting it on to another stand furnished
with joint for placing instrument at any angle, having
flat and concave mirrors, substage fitting tube of the
universal size. One special feature is an improved
form of object-holder ; the springs are easily moved,
and will hold M'ith equal ease a thick zoophyte
trough or the thinnest 3 by i slip ; the objects can
be moved about without the fear of scratching the
labels, &c., an objection so common in the ordinary
spring stages. The object and objective are clearly
in View while focussing ; this is of the utmost im-
portance in photo-micrography, especially with the
higher powers, also when using the camera lucida,
the object is held gently but firmly in position, and
can be readily manipulated. The optical parts have
been specially worked out and give results equalling
instruments costing several times its price. The
various insect parts are beautifully pictured, sharp
and clear to the edges. Living organisms such as
hydra, daphnia, or other forms of pond life, are
beautifully depicted, and can be shown either to a
class or general audience. The instrument can be
fitted to any ordinary lantern with 4-inch condensers.
There are no screws or loose parts, so that the fear
ef losing screws is entirely avoided. All working
parts are compensated for wear.

ZOOLOGY.

The Colouring and Banding in Land and
Fresh-water Shells. — We have received another
paper on this subject from Mr. S. Pace, who was
away from England when Mr. J. J. Williams answered
his criticism. ]Mr. Pace protests against "the free
way " in which his article was altered ; but the editor
can in no instance allow any other than strictly
scientific remarks. Especially will all personal ones
be excised.

New Species of Kangaroo. — The latest dis-
covered marsupial is the curious little burrowing
kangaroo {Notoryctes typJilops), found in the heart of
Australia, on the telegraph line between Adelaide
and Port Darwin. The eyes are mere spots beneath
the skin, so that it probably lives almost entirely in
darkness, and it certainly digs a hole in the sand
with amazing rapidity. It is the most mole-like of
its order.

Hydrobia Jenkinsi, E. A. Smith.— Mr. W.
Crouch has so completely answered Mr. W. H.
Smith's note in the July number of Science-Gossip,
that there is very little left to comment upon. It is,
however, I think, necessary to point out to Mr.
Smith, that supposing his friend was the first dis-
coverer of the species, it would not affect its nomen-
clature, after Mr. E. A. Smith had so thoroughly
established its claim to specific rank, after patient
comparison and research. Mr. Smith's note certainly
conveys the impression that he has but little acquain-
tance with the subject, and he certainly cannot have
read the various articles which have appeared in
Science-Gossip, and other journals, describing the
new species, its first discovery, and habits and
distribution, or he could not surely have overlooked
the statement that I had collected the species some
six years previous to Mr. E. A. Smith's announce-
ment that it was a new species. My first specimens
were obtained from ditches at East Greenwich
marshes, June 19th, 1883 ; a few weeks later they
were fairly abundant in that locality. Two or three
years after I found a few shells only at Plumstead
marshes upon several occasions, but they did not
abound at that time according to my own experience.
Immediately after obtaining specimens in 1883, I
forwarded a number of them to various concholo-
gists, asking them to name them for me. They were
unanimous in pronouncing them to be Hydrobia
similis of Draparnaud. It has of course been con-
clusively proved by Mr. E. A. Smith of the British
Museum, that they differ nearly as much from this
species as from the variety ovata of //. ventrosa.
(See Journal of Conchology, vol. vi. p. 142). It is
to be regretted that the mistake should have occurred,
but no doubt it originated from the scarcity of

HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSS IP.

i8s

authentic specimens of H. similis, which even at that
period was fast becoming extinct as a British species,
and it was the result of having to depend only upon
general description, and obscure figures of species
only. I believe Mr. Crouch must be mistaken in his
impression "that further notes appeared in the
Journal of Conchology for 1889, showing that the
form had already been taken at Greenwich two years
before (1887)." To the best of my belief the species
had long since disappeared from the locality. In
looking over my diary I find my last record of their
being taken alive at East Greenwich marshes is
July 4th, 1SS5, and subsequent search has failed to
discover a single specimen in that district. I am of
Mr. Crouch's opinion that the creatures have been
introduced from abroad, and judging from the fact
that they only appear to inhabit a few ditches at
Beckton, and do not occur elsewhere in the Essex
marshes, while they abound upon the south side of
the river, and have been taken in abundance from
ditches, commencing at the arsenal, and extending
away down the river to a point midway between
Darenth Creek and Greenhithe ; I am inclined to
think they were first introduced upon this side of the
river, probably at or near East Greenwich marshes.
I am confirmed in my opinion by the fact that the
species does not appear to have been taken at Beckton
previous to 18S9, whereas it has been proved that
they abounded all over the Plumstead marshes at
that time, and were collected by me nearly six years
before at Greenwich. How, or when, or where they
were first introduced may always remain a mystery,
but surely sooner or later the species will be discovered
abroad. Professor E. von Marten, of Berlin, to
whom in 1890, I sent specimens for the Berlin
Museum, wrote me as follows :— " I thank you very
much for the Hydrobire, which are very interesting
for me ; I know none which may be identical with
it, in any part of the world. Pototnopyrgus antipo-
dium, Gray, from New Zealand, has a similar ridge
below the suture, but this is often spinous, and it
differs in other regards. I shall place most of your
specimens in the Berlin Museum." One variety of
this antipodean species in my collection strongly
resembles H. Jenkiiisi, but is scarcely identical with
it, and the typical shells differ very much indeed.
— H. y. Jenkins, M.C.S., New Cross.

BOTANY.

Albino Flowers.— In reply to Mr, Stewart's
queiy, I am able to state that I have found albino
flowers of Erica tetralix on one or two spots on the
extensive heaths surrounding Aldershot. As it may
be of interest to some of your readers, I here append
a list of the Albino flowers I have at present in my

collection. Trifoliuvi pratense, Epilobiuin hirsiitiim,
Epilobiiim tno7itanui)i, Calhnia vulgaris. Erica
tetralix, Ccntranthus ruber, Centaiirea scabiosa (this
sometimes occurs with white ray florets and purple
disk florets), Scilla nutans, Erythrcea centauriiim.
Salvia vcrbenaca (foreign). Origanum znilgarc. Thymus
se)-pyllitm, Prunella vulgaris, Lamium purpuretim,
Ajuga reptans, Cnicus palitstris. Orchis morio. Orchis
maculata, Campanula rotu7idifoHa, Dianthiis plu-
marius, Geranium pusillum, Fritillaria nieleagris,
Veronica agrestis, Vicia satira, Zi/iaria cymbalaria.
Primula vulgaris. — E. Armitage.

Lemna trisulca, &c. — In June, on a Botanical
ramble I dipped into a small pond, to inspect the
plants growing there. On examining the Lemnse, as
I always do, to my great surprise I found Lemna
trisulca unmistakably in flower. The flowers in
ever}' case existed on fresh young growths, never on
any of older, fully formed leaves. In no other place,
nor in this before, have I ever found these young
growths, and never a single flower ; but now I find
myriads, and have observed them every way, by eye
and under microscope. L. gibba seems to bloom here
every year. — ]V. 0. Wait, Rugby,

Erica Mediterranea in Cornwall. — Referring
to the statement in Mr. Nower's interesting descrip-
tion of a " Ramble near Roundstone," that a spot in
Galway, and one in Mayo, are the only British habitats
of Erica mediterranea, I would take the opportunity
of saying we have a specimen of this plant growing
here in the Kennall Valley. It is a particularly fine
plant, about five feet in diameter, and grows on the
highway from Truro to Falmouth amid a brake of
wood spurge, heather, and periwinkles. Its locale
is closely adjacent to one of the branches of the Fal,
but whether it owes its existence in this valley to the
" rolUng restless waves," or whether it was originally
an inhabitant of one of the neighbouring estates, I
leave an open question. One thing, however, is
certain, that is, the plant has flourished here for
upwards of thirty years. Not far from it its con-
gener. Erica ciliaris, grows in all its glory. — Fred. H.
Davey, Poiisanooth, Perran-ar-zuorthal, Cornivall.

An Abnormal Strawberry. — Perhaps you may
care to insert the following note, if for the sake of the
curious shape, in Science-Gossip. I saw it to-day
amongst some strawberries I purchased. I have
seen double and treble strawberries before, but
never one that seems to be made up of six or seven,
— I think seven, for one division is already decaying,
but looks as if it had been in a way separate, while
the leaves of the calyx at the back are very numerous.
Perhaps, however, some of your correspondents may
be able to tell us of oddities as strange among
strawberries. This one comes from the suburbs of
Bath, I imagine. — F. S. HolUngs.

i86

HA RD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OSSIF.

GEOLOGY, &C.

Wells in West Suffolk Boulder-Clay. —
The following important communication was recently
read before the Geological Society by the Rev,
Edwin Hill, M.A., F.G.S. It might be supposed
that in a boulder-clay district water could only be
obtained from above or from below the clay. But
in the writer's neighbourhood the depths of the wells
are extremely different, even within very short
distances ; and since the clay itself is impervious to
water, he concludes that it must include within its
mass pervious beds or seams of some different
material which communicate with the surface. It
would follow that this boulder-clay is not a uniform
or a homogeneous mass. The visible sections are
only those given, at hand by ditches, and at a con-
siderable distance north and south by pits at Bury
St. Edmunds and Sudbury. The appearances in
these harmonize with that conclusion. Conclusion
and appearances differ from what we should expect
on the theory that this boulder-clay was the product
of the attrition between an ice-sheet and its bed.
In the discussion which followed, Professor Prestwich
remarked that intercalated beds of gravel and sand
were common at different levels in the more northern
boulder-clay, and that in parts of the Eastern Counties
a bed of gravel, from one to twenty feet thick,
generally occurred in the centre of the boulder-clay.
These formed small water-bearing beds, but the
' main sources were usually at the base of the clay — a
base which was extremely irregular. He asked the
author how, as the wells stopped at the water-
bearing stratum, he could be sure that this was, in
all instances, intercalated and not an underlying bed.
It was essential to know the level of the ground at
the different wells, and this would no doubt be given
in the paper. The component beds of the boulder-
clay would vary according to the surface passed over
by the ice, and may, therefore, include long trails of
sands and gravels, and are necessarily local and
irregular. He hoped that the author would continue
his observations. Dr. Evans agreed with the author
in regarding the mixed character of the boulder-clay
of Suffolk and some of the features that it presents as
being hardly consistent with its being merely the
result of a coating of land-ice. In illustration of the
permeability of the beds at certain spots, he cited
the deep circular pits or meres in the neighbourhood
of East Wretham, Thetford, which were due to the
dissolution of the underlying chalk by water charged
with carbonic acid having forced its way through the
clay. The level of the water in these meres depends
upon the saturation of the chalk, and the bottom of
what in one year was a deep pool might in another
year be cropped with turnips. Mr. Clement Reid
observed that intercalations of seams of sand were
almost universally characteristic of the boulder-clay,

and helped to render it somewhat pervious to water.
He was unable to follow the author's argument, that
irregularities in the deposits proved that the boulder-
clay could not have been formed under ice. Mr.
Topley called attention to the researches upon the
glacial geology of the Eden Valley carried on by
Mr. Goodchild, who believed (as does Mr. Reid for
Norfolk) that the irregular beds of gravel and sand
occurring in the clay were formed within or under
the ice-sheet, the gravel, &c., having been washed
out of the clay into hollows of the ice during partial
or local melting of the ice-sheet. Mr. Goodchild
said that similar intercalations of sands and gravels
in the boulder-clay were common in the north. He
reminded the society that he had proposed an ex-
planation of the origin of such deposits many years
ago in the society's journal and elsewhere ("Quart.
Journ. Geol. Soc," vol. xxxi., and " Geol. Mag."
for 1874). The president referred to his own early
work in the boulder-clay, and the abundant evidence
which he had everywhere found of intercalated nests
and layers of sand and gravel in that deposit. He
had always been accustomed to regard these inter-
calations and their singular contortions as affording
some of the strongest proofs of glacier action, and
though he admitted that the boulder-clay still pre-
sented many unsolved difficulties, he had never seen
what he could regard as a valid argument against
the view that the true typical boulder-clay is essen-
tially a product of land-ice. The author, in answer
to Professor Prestwich, said that he had taken into
account the variations in surface-level of spots where
wells existed. Dr. Evans's instances of permeability
in boulder-clay were a valuable corroboration. The
appearances of sections did not to himself suggest
an origin such as erosion by subglacial streams. He
would be very glad to study the sections at Saffron
Walden and those in the Eden Valley described by
Mr. Goodchild. He was not aware of any case in
which a "ground-moraine" had been seen in actual
process of formation, but he imagined that any
structures possessed by a mass so formed would be
horizontal in their general direction. The appear-
ances described in the paper were not of that
character.

The Geology of the Tonga Islands.— Mr.
J. J. Lister read a paper on this subject. The islands
of the Tonga group are situated on a long ridge
which rises from deep water on either side to within
a thousand fathoms of the surface of the sea. The
general direction of the ridge is N.N.E. and S.S.W.
(i) A line of volcanoes, some active, some extinct,
traverses the group. Continued southward, the
direction of the line passes through the volcanoes of
the Kermadec group, and those of the Taupo zone of
New Zealand ; while to the north it cuts the line of
tiie Samoan volcanoes at right angles. (2) Besides
the purely volcanic islands there are some formed by

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

187

submarine eruptions, whose la)-ers have been laid
out under water and since elevated, with or without
a covering of limestone. (3) The remaining islands
are formed entirely of limestone. Eua is an example
of the second group. The volcanic basis consists for
the most part of beds laid out beneath the sea, and
some of the upper ones contain pelagic shells. Dykes
of augite and hyperthene-andesite project on the
shore, and a representative of the plutonic series
occurs. There is evidence that the island has been
elevated and again submerged prior to the elevation
which has raised it to the present height. The
volcanic basis is largely invested with limestone, and
this rock forms the summit 1078 feet above sea-level.
Sections show that it is a shallow-water deposit. Of
the purely limestone structures, Tongatabu, Nomuka,
and the long reef on which the larger islands of the
Hapaii group are situated form more or less complete
atolls, all of which have been elevated to a greater or
less extent. The Vavau group is remarkable for its
very indented contour, suggesting the idea that it
rests on a much denuded basis. Both here and at
Eua there are raised limestone formations with atoll
or barrier-like contours ; and there is some direct
evidence to show that these have been formed
without the aid of subsidence. The presence of
islands formed of volcanic materials laid out in layers
beneath the sea, and the manner in which the
recently formed Falcon Island is now being reduced
to the condition of a submarine bank, suggest that
the atolls of the group may rest on similarly formed
foundations. In the discussion which followed, Mr.
Hickson said that Mr. Lister's researches on the
coral reefs of the Friendly Islands were of great
interest and importance, as they supported the view
that atolls and barriers may be formed in regions of
elevation, and that the "subsidence theory" is not
sufficient to account for all the phenomena that occur
in volcanic regions. The Tonga and Kermadec
groups of islands are very similar to the chain of
islands that stretches from the Northern Peninsula of
Celebes to the southern promontory of Mindanao.
Here we find a chain of volcanoes, many of them
active at the present day, represented by the Ruang,
the Siauw, and the Awu, with broad barrier-reefs
and ring-shaped atolls in their immediate vicinity.
The researches of Sluiter in the Java seas prove that
coral islands and reefs are frequently formed on a
substratum of soft clay and mud. Mr. J. W. Gregory
remarked on the great value of Mr. Lister's paper,
and the interest attaching to the discovery of a
plutonic rock on the islands. Taken in conjunction
with the discovery of similar rocks in the Marquesas,
and the presence there of genera otherwise restricted
to South America and Malaysia, it helped to afford
an explanation of some difficult problems of distri-
bution. Manganese nodules seem characteristic of
deep-sea conditions, not only at present, but in
earlier periods; thus in the Maltese Miocenes they

are associated with a fauna of about looo fathoms.
Their occurrence, therefore, proves considerable ele-
vation, and it is not surprising that the coral-lime-
stone occurs as thin crusts ; the Tongas thus afford
only another case of coral formation in shallow or
rising areas, for which, as Darwin has so emphatically
insisted, his theory was not proposed.

The Inverness Earthquakes of November
15TH TO December 14TU, 1890. By Mr. C.
DaviSon, — In this paper the author gives reasons for
supposing that the Inverness earthquakes of last year
were due to the subsidence of a great wedge of rock
included between a main fault and a branch one ;
and he considers that there is little doubt that these
recent earthquakes were the transitory records of
changes that, by almost indefinite repetition in long
past times, have resulted in the great Highland
faults.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Bats Flying in Sunlight. — In the early summer
of the year before last, upon coming out of the
church here at the end of the morning service, I
observed two bats flying about in bright sunshine in
the churchyard, resting now and then on the tiled
roof of the south porch. It was the brightest,
hottest day there had been that year up to that date,
and I conjectured that their behaviour was due to the
circumstance that their roosting-place under the tiles
had become too hot for them. — Johfi Hawell, ALA.,
Iiigleby Grcenhow Vicarage, Northallerton, Yorks.

Snakes and Parasites. — Are snakes troubled
with parasites ? I have never seen any mention of
such being the case. For a considerable time I have
kept several of the common Tropidonotus natrix, and
until this week none of them have cast their skins
this year. I took a skin out of the cage two days
ago, which had just been cast, and was still fresh and
moist. On looking at it, I found several lice of some
sort crawling over the skin, but I brushed them off
at once without thinking, as I wanted to preserve the
skin. Last evening I found, in the space of about an
hour, another f»esh skin, which was also covered
with the lice. I send this skin by Parcel Post just as
I found it, that you may see the apparent parasites.
I should be glad to know what you think they are.
Is there any evidence as to snakes' hearing power?
It always seems to me that they feel the vibration of
a movement, more than actually hearing the noise of
it. I might say that in other years I have never
found any sort of insect on a snake's slough. — H. D.
Tilly.

Marine Phosphorescence, etc. — During the
first week of June was seen, off the south coast of
Devon, one of the most beautiful natural phenomena
it has ever been my privilege to witness. Across
Torbay, beyond Hope's Nose to Babbicombe Bay,
on to Oddicombe and Petit Tor, far as the eye could
reach, the sea was dyed with brilliant crimson, which
in the bright summer sunshine looked as if the water
was turned into arterial blood, reflecting the light
with a weird and wonderful effect. But it was at
night the strange phenomenon revealed its full splen-

i88

HARDWICKKS SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

dour. Then, right and left, far and near, the sea
looked like molten silver, tinged with amber, and
rich with gold. The far-off horizon was one long bar
of glorious light, and as the waves broke upon the
rocks, and the surge dashed upon the white pebbles
of beautiful Babbicombe Bay, showers of phosphores-
cent spray were hurled high into the air, producing a
spectacle grand in the extreme. The phosphorus
which produced this magnificent sight was caused by
the surface of the sea being covered with the spawn
of the common mussel. When the tide was out,
rocks, pebbles and sand were coated with a thin film
of transparent gelatine, which speedily vanished with
the light and heat of the noontide sun. What renders
the phenomena peculiar is that I could find no trace
of mussel-beds in the neighbourhood. The phos-
phorescent effects were greatest on the third night
after the spawn was seen upon the water. In another
forty-eight hours it had completely disappeared. —
Thos. S. King, F.G.S., F.R.M.S.

Tardigrades. — Would any of your readers kindly
inform me of the size of the tardigrade in comparison
with the rotifers, cyclops, and such-like ordinary
microscopical objects, and if they are visible to the
naked eye ? Also in what seasons and locality may
they be looked ioxl—H. J. T.

Optical Effect.— Can you give me the true
explanation of the following optical effect, which I
was shown the other day ? Hold a lighttd candle, in
an otherwise darkened room, three inches below the
eye, and two inches from the face, waving the light
gently backwards and forwards while fixing the eye
steaddy upon the darkest portion of the room. Soon
will be seen a black branched object which has been
popularly likened to the ramifications of the brain. —
//. J. T.

Snail- Water. — Take garden snails cleansed and
bruised six gallons, earth-worms washed and bruised
three gallons, of common wormwood, ground ivy,
and carduus each one pound and a half, penniroyal,
juniper berries, fennel seeds, aniseed, each half a
pound, cloves and cubebs bruised each three ounces,
spirit of wine and spring water of each eight gallons ;
digest them together for the space of twenty-four
hours, and then draw it off in a common alembick.
This is admirably well contrived both for cheapness
and efficiency, and for persons whose circumstances
and manner of living have not habituated them to
any delicacy. It is as good a snail-water as can be
made, used for consumption. — From an old Dispen-
satory of St. Thomas's Hospital, 1746.

White Heather. — In the July number Mr.
Irving informs a correspondent that he had seen this
variety at Wellington. In some of my rambles I
have met with it in England and the Highlands of
Scotland. While staying with a friend at Ilkley
(Yorks.), a few years ago, we walked over Rumbolds
Moor, which lies immediately to the south of Ilkley,
and we came upon two large specimens in full bloom.
I brought a sprig home, thinking it might be un-
common ; but the landlady, with whom my friends
were staying, assured us that there was plenty of it on
the north side of Wharfedale also. Two years ago I
came upon a very large bush in perfect bloom near
.Vberfoyle (Perthshire) — one solitary bush among a
dense mass of the purple variety. The flowers were
so profuse that, looking up the hill face, it looked
like a big white boulder at half-a-mde's distance.
Some years ago, in climbing a two-thousand-feet hill
at Moy, between Inverness and Fort William, I
found several plants of it in rather isolated positions

— not growing beside the purple variety as I have
since found it. In the many " weed-gathering
wanderings " I have had in the south of Scotland, I
have never come upon one bush of white flowers. —
Geo. Murray, Edinburgh.

Tree- Frogs in Winter. — M. A. Y. wishes to
know if any of the readers of SciENCE-GossiP could
tell her the best way of keeping green tree-frogs
during the winter, when they are asleep and do not
require food. Could any one also tell her how
croaking sound is produced ?

Squirrels in Winter. — Some interesting re-
marks on squirrels are made by various writers in
" The Zoologist." It is often said that squirrels are
torpid during winter, but there is no really sound
evidence for this view. Mr. Masefield, writing
from Cheadle, Staffordshire, says ("Nature," March
I2th) : "I have seen squirrels abroad on fine days
in, I think I may say, every one of the winter
months ; and while pheasant shooting near here on
a sunny day (January 6th last), which was about the
middle of the most severe frost we have had for
many years, with several inches of snow on the
ground, I saw a squirrel jumping from tree to tree,
before the beaters, in the most lively condition."
Mr. Blagg, also writing from Cheadle, has "fre-
quently seen squirrels abroad in the middle of the
winter, when there has been deep snow on the
ground and a keen frost in the air. I remember,"
he adds, "once seeing a squirrel abroad during a
severe storm of sleet and rain in winter time, and he
appeared to be not at all inconvenienced by the
rough weather." Mr. Blagg's idea is that the
squirrel probably does sleep a good deal more in
winter time than in summer, as do many other wild
animals, but that he has to be continually waking up
and taking nourishment. The period of reproduction
is unfavourable to the notion of an almost complete
state of torpidity. The editor of "The Zoologist"
records that he has notes of "finding newly-born
squirrels on March 21st (three young), April 9th
(three young), April 26th (four young), and April
29th (two young). Those found at the end of March
and beginning of April were naked and blind ; those
taken at the end of April were about three-parts
grown." According to the editor " the old squirrels,
in case of danger, remove the young from the nest,
or ' drey,' to some hole in a tree, whither they carry
them one by one in the mouth, just as a cat carries
her kitten. One of the prettiest sights in the world
is to see an old squirrel teaching a young one tO'
jump,"

Mr. H. Bettanv, of New Zealand, desires me to
inform those correspondents who sent him parcels of
shells in reply to his notice in these columns, that he
will send return parcels as soon as possible. — /■". IV.
Wotton, Cardiff.

Arion ater. — For the last four years I have been
engaged in working out the life-history oi Arion ater,
with the view of learning whether or not it is self-
fertilizing. I have now proved conclusively that it
is. I purposely refrained from reading any works on
this species during my observations, therefore do not
know whether this fact has been placed on record
before. I shortly intend publishing the whole results
of my experiments and observations. — F. IF. Il'otton,
Cardiff.

Snails as a Cure for Consumption. — I can
fully corroborate Mr. Rundle's testimony to snails
being used by consumptives. Not long since there

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

189

died at this place a young man who in early life fell
a victim to this disease, but who, by careful attention
to personal habits, managed to drag along to his
twenty-second year. During the first two or three
years of his illness the skill of all the loca', and at
least two or three metropolitan practitioners was
called into requisition, but without avail, and even-
tually, on the advice of friends, who boasted of being
competent to give a corporeal as well as an ocular
demonstration of the virtues of the treatment, he
entered heartily on a course of snail eating. The
animals were eaten in moderate quantities twice per
diem — morning and evening — and were collected for
him while the dew yet bathed the herbage. The
creatures consisted chiefly of Helix nemoralis and
horteiisis, and a small, slimy, shelless animal desig-
nated in this neighbourhood "the dew snail."
Gruesome as the treatment may appear to our refined
tastes, for three years it proved in this young man's
case the only antidote to the ravages of consumption.
I have a yet more remarkable case before my eye,
this time that of a middle-aged man who has so far
freed himself from the grip of consumption as to be
able to carry on his business engagements. Several
years since he was totally prostrated by this disease ;
in fact, his case was such as to excite the most
alarming apprehension in his family. A course of
vegetable diet and the snail treatment was prescribed,
and adopted, and to-day, although not the strongest
of men, as a merchant and general business-man he
has no rival in his immediate neighbourhood. I may
say that nearly twenty years have elapsed since he
became free of his enemy. As in taking cod-liver
oil, so in eating snails ; what was at first a repulsive
experiment becomes in time a toothsome pastime.
Those who have undergone the snail-eating treat-
ment, though the disease may have been successfully
removed, and their case necessitates no further use of
the animal, will eat them in quantities and with
apparent relish. Like tomatoes, they seem to im-
prove on acquaintance. I have never before heard
of snails being used as "eye applications," but, as a
remarkable fact, I have long known them to be used,
and with unequivocal success, as poultices for gather-
ings. The snails are pounded into a jelly with a
pestle of some kind, spread on a piece of clean linen,
and applied like any other poultice. — Fred. H. Da-\y,
Po7isanooth.

Froc;s ax Antidote for Bronchitis. — While
the question of rustic recipes for virulent diseases is
on the tapis, I would mention that in this neighbour-
hood the virtues of a young frog in alarming cases of
bronchitis, like Cesar's wife, has long been "above
suspicion." The animal chosen for the occasion is
generally about one inch and a half in length. The
operator seizes the frog by its fore-legs, opens his
own mouth to an alarming gauge, places the slimy
creature in position, and heigh, presto ! it disappears
down his oesophagus ! The philosophy of the treat-
ment was an obscure point to me until a ^^w weeks
since a rustic lifted the veil by explaining that the
frog in its endeavours to free itself from its uncom-
fortable position, "clawed away the phlegm from
the windpipe, and thereby made breathing much
easier." I have friends of unquestionable integrity
who declare they have seen frogs thus eaten alive,
with marvellous results to the health of the operator.
— Fred. H. Davey, Ponsanooth.

Pha'sical Human Measurements.— The com-
mon belief that woman has a proportionally longer
trunk than man is not confirmed by the researches
of the Professors of Hygiene at Amherst College,

United States. Two thousand students of this great
institution have been subjected to scientific measure-
ments, with the result that although the average
male is found to be only just over seven per cent,
taller than the average female, in length of trunk he
exceeds her by eleven per cent. In the length of the
lower limbs there is a difference of nine per cent, in
favour of the male. Where the female really out-
tops the male is in the head and neck.

White Heather. — Last year I procured two
little white pieces of the true heather {E. tetralix) on
a small expanse of moorland in N, Staffordshire. It
may be of interest to readers to know it can be found
in this county." — B. C. Robinson.

Coccus cataphractus. — H. A. asks (Scienxe-
GossiP for July, 1891) where this scale insect is to
be found. Search among bog mosses in June.
Ireland, Scotland, and Cumberland are good locali-
ties. — C. Brooksbank, 5 Longridge Road, Kensington.

The Cost of Fidelity. — "Sweep" is a collie
some three years of age, very affectionate, and a
great favourite. His attachment and fidelity to his
mistress are verj' great. During a prolonged illness
last year he scarcely ever left her room. Neither
food nor water would tempt him, and neither nurse
nor ser\'ant could drive him from a position under-
neath the sick-bed which he had appropriated to
himself. A short time ago the poor brute's fidelity
cost him dear. His mistress was suddenly called
away by train. In the bustle of starting he escaped
from home and found his way to the railway station.
He attempted to enter the railway carriage, but was
prevented and driven some distance off, where he
remained until the train had started. He then came
bounding down the platform, eluded the porters who
tried to stop him, caught the train afier it had left
the platform, and looked up for his mistress. Failing
to find her, he darted under the train, where he was
seen to roll over several times, but eventually escaped
on the opposite side with a smashed tail. The
decision of the veterinary surgeon was that the tail
must be amputated or the dog destroyed. Poor
Sweep had been very proud of his tail, and used to
curl it up over his back. He now has a stump about
two inches long, and he may often be seen looking
round as if anxious to discover what has become of
the missing caudal appendage. — F. T. S., IVorcester.

Abnormal Flowers. — I enclose flowers of the
common Canterbury bell, having all the sepals
coloured like the corolla. The whole of the blooms
on one large plant resemble those enclosed, and I
may note that last year I saw in a friend's garden
several plants of the same campanula, on which the
sepals, also coloured, were joined at the edges, so as
to form second and outer bells. — Francis Brent,
Plymouth.

Dogs of War. — In France, Italy, Germany, and
Austria, as well as in Bosnia and the Herzegovina,
so-called war-dogs have been kept, in order to test
their watchfulness for the benefit of the military
service. According to general report, the plan has
answered excellently with the outposts as well as
with the patrol. But to the German army belongs
the merit of having made use of the dog's sagacity
for humane purposes in time of war, and it is
probable that before long a number of fresh canine
recruits will be permanently attached to the regi-
ments, their office being to search for the wounded.
The Prussian Jiiger battalions have already a number
of such dogs on trial, all of them being thoroughly

IQO

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

trained to seek out wounded soldiers in the field.
The experiments so far have had excellent results.
A number of men hide in a wood or behind hedges,
lying on the ground face downwards and with orders
not to move. As soon as the dogs are let loose they
begin the search. When they find one of these men
they place their fore-paws upon the prostrate body
and begin to bark, an exercise which is continued
till the bearers appear and carry the man off, where-
upon the dog starts afresh. Each company of the
Liibben Jiiger has about twelve of these dogs.
Hunting-dogs cannot be relied upon on account of
their love of the chase, and therefore sheep-dogs or
Pomeranian Spitzhunde are chosen for the work.

Flogging Machines in Russia. — Flogging is so
indispensable in Russia that some inventor has per-
fected a machine which saves the human arm the
infamous labour of blows. Under the flagellation of
the machine taxes and arrears are to become speedily
collectable. " These latest fruits of Russian civiliza-
tion catch the arm and feet, allowing the head to
repose on a kind of Japanese pillow, while that
portion of the body which is to be operated on is
raised to a convenient position for the executioner."

Fataliti