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 a