“SCIENCE GOSSIP. OUR Wigs, IE OMNES FOR EDVCATION FOR SCIENCE LIBRARY OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Eg Re RE Ds A Sit fae acd Pn oe pie east rie FV AGRs DiWal GK 7S SO) Pen © br1Gi@ Ss | P- 1892. BEAR DW TG KES 3 | | Scienee- Gassip: AN ILLUSTRATED MEDIUM OF INTERCHANGE AND GOSSIP FOR STUDENTS AND ILONTEIKS (Ole INAOMU IRIE. EDITED BY Ree) p ie dew ele Oe ele Orn G:S aby ReG:Suly, | HON. MEMBER OF THE MANCHESTER LITERARY CLUB, OF THE SUFFOLK INSTITUTE OF ARCHAOLOGY AND NAT. HISTORY, OF THE NORWICH GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, OF -THE MARYPORT SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY, OF THE ROTHERHAM LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY, OF THE NORWICH SCIENCE-GOSSIP CLUB, OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AUSTRALASIA, OF THE VICTORIAN FIELD NATURALISTS’ CLUB, ETC. ETC. VOLUME XXVIII. London: CH MEO eAND WV INDUS, PICGADIMEIY: | 1892. | [AM rights reserved. | LONDON : a PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, | STAMFORD STREET. AND CHARING CROSS, © : 215 -PQ45- WA IP IRIE Ie AVE Te | writing a few lines by way of Preface to the Annual volume of SCIENCE-GossIP, the Editor calls to mind that this is the twenty- eighth yearly presentation to the world of a Magazine founded and edited in the interests of popular Science. The period in question is a long one, even in the life of a man; it is comparatively longer in that of a Magazine. Within its lifetime what hosts of new discoveries have been made; what myriads of original observations have been chronicled! The entire history of Science has no more eventful period. The twenty-eight volumes of cur Magazine constitute the best popular encyclopedia of this eventful time. No wonder, therefore, they are constantly in demand among our newer subscribers ; and inquired for in publishers’ and booksellers’ Catalogues, in the “Original blue cloth.” SCIENCE-GOssIP stands alone in the fact that its earlier numbers fetch more than their original price. Even its own publishers offer double for certain numbers, to make up sets; and those from the first to the two hundred and twenty-eighth issues are stated at eightpence instead of fourpence. Within its literary lifetime, SCIENCE-GossIP has had to compete with numerous rivals; but it has succeeded in keeping its place in spite of able and keen competition. We would point out that each annual volume has been marked by distinct scientific features. In the present volume, for example, we would call attention to the able and original papers of Messrs. Lord, B. Thomas, Bryce, Nunning, Harcourt- Bath, P. Thompson, H. Friend, A. Bennett, T. V. Holmes, Tansley, PREFACE. Griset, T. D. Cockerell, and others, in illustration. All the chief events in Natural Science have been discussed with an open mind. Nothing of importance in this department of modern research and observation has been left out. Men’s lives wear out, and old and zealous contributors die off. New ones take their places, and one of the chief pleasures of the Editor's experience is the geniality displayed by his numerous correspondents. The price of SCIENCE-GOsSIP is not likely to bring its publishers a mine of wealth, but the Editor can testify to their zealous co-operation and sympathy with its aims and work. On this account alone, therefore, he asks the individual aid of every one of its present subscribers to introduce the Magazine they evidently like so well to their friends, so as to ensure a still larger circulation. The hands of both Editor and Publishers would be much strengthened thereby, and the fame of the now familiar old “Gossip” would be spread wider than ever. Christmas is the season for greetings, and although the apparently official task of writing a few lines of Preface for twenty-two years successively at length approaches the nature of a task, it is not because of the lack of sympathy manifested by readers and con- tributors. Their name is Legion. Christmas comes but once a year, but it enables the Editor to shake cordial hands, metaphorically, with all his unseen friends, and wish them all a warm CHRISTMAS GREETING. DiS Or THE USTRATIONS. Actinospheriume Euhhoriit, page 29 Actinophrys sol, 28 Eschna cyanea, 205 Agrion puella, 204 Allotophora longa, 161 Ameeba, showing contractile space, etc., 52 Amphulepius fasciola, 135 Ancient Cromlech, 249 Antsonenta sulcata, 10t Anthophysa Miilleri, tor Astasia limpida, 81 Bure-Tie Mors, Ecc or, 229 Butterwort, ro4 Butterwort, Calyx of, 104 CaspBace Motu, Ecc or, 229 Calopteryx virgo, 204 Calyx of Butterwort, 104 Capnia nigra, 37 Cercomonas acuminata, 10t Chetonotus larus, 148 Chaetoglena volvocinea, 100 Chalk Cliffs in Sussex, 248 Chilodon cucullus, 136 Chloroperia grammatica, 37 Chlorophyll Bodies of the “‘Scum” Glo- bules, go Clathrulina elegans, 125, 126 Coleps hirtus, 148 Common Encrinite, 152 Contum maculatum, Fruit of, 84 Cothurnia maritima, 232 Cyclops quadricornis, 221 Cypris tristriata, 268 Datsy, HEN-AND-CHICKENS, 163 Daphnia pulex, 245 Daphnia Schefferi, 245 Diagram Section from Barking to Plum- | stead, 181 } Dutyopteryx inicrocephala, 37 Distyla agilis, 272, 273 Distyla clara, 273 Doxococcus ruber, 100 EFFECTS OF Sirocco ABRASION ON Rus, 9 Elephant’s Tooth, Fossil, 248 Enchelys nodulosa, 137 Encrinite, Common, 152 Ephippiger selligere, 5 Euglena longicauda, 100 Euglena pyrum, 100 Euglena viridis, 100 Farry Fry, 176 Fenestella plebeia, 152 Fenestella nodulosa, 152 | Filaria, Head and Tail of, 12 Fossil Bird, Jaw of, 248 Fossil Elephant’s Tooth, 248 Fowl, Head of, 113 Fruit of Conzume maculatum, 34 Grass TuBEs, 93 Gozo Hills, from the Sea, 8 Green Worm, 108 Halteria grandinella, 137 Head of Fowl, 116 Hedriocystis pellucida, 124, 125 Hen-and-Chickens Daisy, 163 | Hilara pilosa, 86 Hydra viridis, 156 Tsogenus nubecula, 27 Tsopteryx tripunctata, 37 Jaw or Fossit Brrp, 248 _ Fungermannia biscuspidata, 142 LEUCOCYTES, 12 Leuctra fusciventris, 37 | Macrotrachela multispinosa, 33 Macrotrachela papillosa, 58 Magpie-Moth, Egg of, 229 Mason’s Lanter, 236 Meadow-Brown, Eye of, 229 Monkshood, Section of Flower of, Monostyla bifurca, 272 Monostyla galeata, 273 Monsters, 61, 62, 63, 64 Napirorm Roots, 84 Nemoura variegata, 37 | New Microscopical Lamp, 113, 114 | OBSERVATIONS ON PRIMULACE®, 225 Odynerus murareus, 196, 197 | On the Underground Geology of London , 251 Paramecium aurelia, 10 Paramecium Bursaria, 136 Paramectune linetunt, 10 Parasitic Rotifer, 220 Perla maxima, 36, 37 Phacus pleuronotes, 100 Phallus impudicus, 16, 17 Pierts brassice, Eggs of, 229 Pinguicula lusitanica, 105 Polyommatus corydon, Egg of, 229 Primulacez, Observations on, 225 Rep ApMIRAL, EGG oF, 229 Sanp-ToTs ALONG THE SOMERSETSHIRE Coast, 76 Sarcophaga carnaria, 86 Sarcoptes, 12 | “Scum” Globules, 90 Scyphodia, 233 Section of Flower of Monkshood, 84 | Section through Ancient Earth-works, Hastings, 33 © Small Copper, Egg of, 229 Spirostomum ambiguium, 137 Stentor Miilleri, 174 Stentor viridts, 173 Structure of Yeliuaw Archangel, 183 Stylonychia mytellius, 149 Taniopteryx nebulosa, 37 Trichoda lynceus, 172 Trichodina pediculus, 233 Trilobite, 153 Tway-blade, Remarkable Specimen ot, 188 Vaginicola crystallina, 232 Vorticella nebulifera, 175 YELLOW ARCHANGEL, STRUCTURE OF, 182 Zoothamnium spirale, 232 THE EXTINCTION OF THE GREAT SEA-SERPENT. By RICHARD BEYNON, F.R.G.S. yy HE nineteenth cen- AQ. tury is an age of transition. There is little that has es- caped signing with the mark of change. Scientific develop- ment has invested most things with a modern air of im- provement and utility that contrasts violently with the staidness and slow- pacedness so cha- racteristic of the age of our grand- fathers. Then people had leisure to be sentimental, now the stern demands of the business of life de- nominate sentiment unprofitable, and we sigh in vain for the more credulous and less curious days of yore, when the earth yet possessed hidden corners and the ocean unfathomed depths, in which the imagination might roam at will, peopling land and sea with grotesque fancies of curious birds and flowers, strange animals, and still stranger fishes. But all this is changed. Geographical exploration and research have very materially circumscribed the confines of the district where the possibilities of nature were existent, and instead of revelling among the luxuriant idealisms of the might-be, we must perforce content ourselves with the more prosaic knowledge of that which absolutely is. Long after the teachings of travel had dispelled the old illusions “Of the cannibals that each other eat, The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads Do grow beneath their shoulders,” popular belief still loved to inhabit the recesses of the ocean with monsters, traditions of which had No. 325.—JANUARY 1892. been handed down from the very earliest ages. It is a melancholy fact that such creations do not survive the irresistible adyance of modern science. The blast of the steam-whistle seems fatal to romance, and the endless procession of steamships that join in the bonds of commerce the nations whom the seas divide, will soon tend to reduce ocean voyaging to the practical level of a railway journey. But there is one belief deep-rooted in the nautical mind, and equally accepted by landsmen, that probably wiil never be effectively eradicated. The great sea- serpent always has and always will be a denizen of the ocean. Why should not the mighty sea produce a creation worthy of itself? ‘*The wisest palzeon- tologists deny its existence,”’ say the sceptics. They are able to find no definite data upon which to assign the monster a place in the ranks of animated nature. ““Never mind positive proof,” argue the believing ones, ‘prove conclusively that the creature does zo¢ exist, and then, and not till then, will we give up our faith in its being.”. And so it has come to pass that the sea-serpent lives on, and will continue to do so until its existence is disproved—a task admittedly impossible. The widespread belief in the existence of some great ocean monster has been common among all maritime nations ‘from the very first ages, and the prevalent faith in the great sea-serpent is no doubt traceable to the myths of our Aryan ancestors. It is worthy of note that the popular notion of the sea- serpent is decidedly Miltonic. In ‘‘ Paradise Lost” the description of the arch-fiend is the exact prototype of the sea-serpent as seen by captains of merchantmen and others. “‘ With head uplift above the wave, and eyes That sparkling blazed; his other parts besides Prone on the flood, extended long and large, Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge As whom the fables name of monstrous size.” The Kraken, so minutely described by Pontop- pidan, the good Bishop of Bergen, goes on all fours with the account of the serpent alluded to B 2 HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. above. The sea-serpent of his day was seen to rise from the sea in undulations, the visible portions looking like islands covered with seaweed, while it waved in the air mast-like arms, capable of dragging ships beneath the waves ; its sudden sinking caused a whirlpool credited with the power of engulfing the stoutest vessels. It is unjust to the memory of the good and pious Pontoppidan to: think that such a keen observer of nature is exaggerating, but in all probability the Kraken was one of the gigantic cephalopods which occasionally make their appear- ance off the Norwegian shore. The Atlantic Ocean is, however, fav excellence the home of the sea- serpent. This is not as might be expected, for it is a well-known fact that certain parts of the Indian Ocean, especially those adjacent to India and the East Indian Archipelago, swarm with veritable sea- serpents, members of the genus Hydrophis or Hydrus. These creatures, which resemble eels, being keeled on their under sides, are but from two to five feet in length; and it is no doubt owing to their smallness of size, and the fact that they occur near land and in considerable numbers, that they have never been magnified into real ‘‘ great sea- serpents.” In mentioning a few of the best authenticated instances of the sea-serpent placing itself in evidence, it must be remembered that the monster appeared most frequently when the ocean was much less traversed than it is at present, when wind-power reigned supreme, and the size of merchant-vessels was far below their present dimensions. Many a ship-master then had the tedium of a long sea voyage agreeably enlivened by a cursory view of the great leviathan whose existence his sympathies and training forbade him to doubt. In 1818 we have the solemnly-atiested evidence of the master and one of the crew of the American schooner Adamant that they saw a gigantic sea- serpent not far from the Atlantic littoral of the States. At first it was guessed to be a half-submerged wreck, but this illusion was dispelled by the creature uncoiling itself and rearing its head above the waves. The description of this monster is graphic and very detailed. Its colour was black, and its length 130 feet, while its neck was upwards of six feet in diameter. Bullets rebounded from its scaly encase- ment ; and for upwards of five hours it was on view to the schooner’s crew. The Atlantic sea-board of the United States would seem to be the favourite haunt of the sea-serpent, for in June, 1815, and in August, 1817, he is said to have been frequently seen disporting himself off Gloucester, some thirty miles from Boston. This specimen appears to have been of the Pontoppidan type, for he looked like a number of buoys placed in a line. His length was variously estimated from 90 feet to 250 yards, a rather marked difference between the two limits. Once again, in 1819, he was seen off Nahant, also in close proximity to Boston, this time making curves perpendicular to the plane of the water. He paid yet another visit to this locality, being seen in almost the same spot in the summer of 1833. The latitude of Boston is 424° N., yet this does not mark the northern limit of the sea-serpent’s peregrinations. In June, 1834, he was encountered by the ship Rodertson, of Greenock, in 47° N., 59° W. On this occasion he moved through the waters at a speed of nine miles an hour, keeping up with the vessel and exposing his head and shoulders, which were covered with a thick fluted skin of a green colour. In 1835 the great serpent was encountered twice, each time by vessels voyaging between Boston and New Orleans. He is next seen by Captain Blyl, of the barque Hendrix, this time south of the line, in 27°S., 15° E. They sailed in company for nine days, when it dropped astern and finally disappeared below the horizon. There is something very peculiar in the behaviour of this specimen, for he allowed upwards of one hundred bullets to penetrate his skin and tinge the sea with blood, without it occurring to him that he could escape from his foes either by submerging himself in the water, or putting a greater distance between himself and his tormentors. For nine days he withstood their annoyance, and then was left behind by the vessel increasing its pace. Perhaps the most important case on record of the appearance of a sea-serpent is that reported by the officers and crew of H.M. Frigate Daedalus in 1848. The vessel was 24° 44’ S. and 9° 20’ E., in the South Atlantic Ocean not far from the coast of Africa, when, according to the account forwarded by the captain to the Admiralty, a huge monster was encountered swimming rapidly ; ‘‘ an enormous serpent with head and shoulders kept about four feet constantly above the surface of ithe sea. The diameter of the serpent was about fifteen or sixteen inches behind the head, which was without any doubt that of a snake, and it was never during the twenty minutes that it con- tinued under the view of our glasses once below the surface of the water. Its colour was a dark brown with yellowish white about the throat. Ithad no fins but something like the mane of a horse, or rather a bunch of sea-weed washed about its back.” It is a matter of great pity that the exact position of this particular specimen in the scale of nature was not ascertained. It approached as near as 100 yards to the vessel, and the gunnery staff of the Dedalus must have made very indifferent practice could they not have struck so large a target as the monster pre- sented to them. Drawings of this sea-serpent appeared in the ‘‘ Illustrated London News,” and a controversy was provoked relative to the existence or non-existence of great sea-serpents, which caused much ill-feeling and which took long to subside. One theory sug- gested that to account for the animal seen by the Dedalus it was only necessary to suppose it was some HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSTIP. B member of the seal or walrus family. It is a well- known fact that such creatures are often found afloat on fragments of ice which are detached from the parentice-field. These detached portions travel from the pole, equatorwards, and melting away as they pass into warmer latitudes, deposit their living freight in the ocean, where they must swim for dear life to the nearest land to procure rest and food. If the sea monster under discussion were of this class, he was apparently fated to meet witha watery grave, for in the words of the report: “‘It did not either in approaching the ship or after it had passed our wake deviate in the slightest degree from its course to the south-west, which it held on at the pace of from twelve to fifteen miles an hour, apparently on some determined purpose.” It is rather a coincidence that some six weeks later the Dapéne, an American brigantine, reported passing in 4°S., 10° E. a gigantic creature of the snake family. It appeared about too feet in length and had the stereotyped appearance of the serpent or snake with a dragon’s head. From the locality where the Dedalus monster was observed to where the crew of the Daphne descried theirs is, roughly speaking, some 1,500 miles ; and assuming, as has been suggested, that the animal was one and the same creature, then itmust lave followed pretty closely the trend of the African littoral. Assuming this supposition to be feasible, it is rather peculiar to note the nomenclature of the more salient features of the coast along which the creature would pass. Great Fish Bay, Little Fish Bay, Walvisch (Whale- fish) Bay, Nourse River and Whale :Head, all show that great fish and seal-like animals abound off the coast, so that it is quite within the bounds of possibility that the “‘sea-serpent” was some huge fish whose visible parts presented the appearance ascribed to the ** creat sea-serpent.” Some nine years subsequent to this, the crew and officers of the ship Castz/ian were entertained with the sight of some ocean monster when navigating close to the island of St. Helena. Some ten or twelve feet of the creature’s head were visible above the waves, and the total length of the ‘‘serpent” was variously estimated at from 200 to 450 feet. Itseems strange that there should be such disparity in the estimates of the creature’s length, for the monster lay extended on the ocean and the distance of the vessel was but thirty yards. Navigators of the present day think twice before reporting the seeing of a ‘‘sea-serpent.” Superstition and with it the belief in the ‘‘ great sea-serpent ” are fast being banished from the British Mercantile Marine, and a master who reports seeing anything of the kind is certain to bring down upon his head a torrent of ridicule. But the monster is not yet defunct. America, which in the opinion of a section of its inhabitants enjoys a monopoly of all that is great and marvellous in nature, has still some three or four of these gigantic snakes cruising in their waters, and each season they considerately raise their heads above the surface of the sea in the neighbour- hood of.some fashionable watering-place, and the imagination of the visitors and the press fill in the detaiis with a graphic minuteness of detail that leaves nothing to be desired. To the remainder of the world the ‘‘sea-serpent” is almost extinct. It has died out like the dodo, and even its prior existence is now regarded as extremely mythical. But in 1890 at such a well-crossed spot as 42° N., 29° W., a sea-serpent presented itself to the astounded gaze of the master and crew of the Zhomas Hilyard. It is matter for regret that this monster of the deep did not choose to reveal itself to some Atlantic liner, for then, among the many eyes that would have gazed upon it, some might be relied upon to observe the creature with a quiet and scientific scrutiny and to convey to the rest of mankind a true picture of the creature, founded upon what really is and not upon preconceived notions of the appearance an orthodox sea-serpent should present. From a few words of alternative description in the account of the monster encountered by the Zhomas Hilyard we may draw our own conclusions as to the decadence of popular belief in the existence of the great sea-serpent. The creature is not represented as being a sea-serpent and “nothing more,” it is a sea-serpent ov a gigantic fish of the conger-eel species. There is much virtue in the ‘‘or,”’ and the hardy skipper of the 7omas Hilyard has placed on record a pretty accurate estimate of the state of nautical opinion regarding the sea- serpent. Yet one more manifestation, this time off the coast of North Island, N.Z. The account given of the monster, as seen by the chief officer of the Rotomahana, is singularly lucid and circumstantial. It runs as follows :— ‘¢On the morning of the Ist of August (1891), about 6.30 o’clock, we were’ off Portland Light, between Gisborne and Napier. I was on deck, look- ing over the weather-side for land, when I saw the object, whatever it was, rise out of the water to the height of thirty feet. Its shape was like a huge conger-eel, with the exception of two fins about ten feet long. The creature was not more than I0o yards away, and I estimated its girth at between ten and twelve feet. It was broad daylight at the time, and the sun was shining brightly !” ; This statement is substantially corroborated by the quarter-master of the same vessel, who saw the creature first and drew the chief officer’s attention to it. If further evidence were wanting that a sea monster of some kind or other has placed itself on evidence in New Zealand waters, it is to be found in the parallel testimony of a surveyor resident at Gisborne, who wrote to the New Zealand papers that while on another of the Union Company’s steamers, the Manapouri, on July 24th, he and several others B2 4 ; HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. saw a sea-serpent resembling the one seen from the Rotomahana off Portland Island. The monster was also seen by the officer in charge of the vessel. It is difficult, indeed, to properly assess the value of this, the latest contribution to sea-serpent lore. Now the question very naturally occurs to all: What | is the exact value attachable to the minute accounts of the sea-serpents reported by actual eye-witnesses ? To say that they were sheer fabrications, nautical twisters, invented to feed a popular prejudice, would be to throw a doubt on the character of the seaman for veracity that is most unjust and unreasonable, Yet to admit zw foto the infallibility of any one of the accounts of the ‘‘great sea-serpent” is to accept as a tangible fact the existence of a creature which the major portion of humanity are agreed to regard as purely mythical. Probably those who have helped most largely to feed the at one time wide- spread belief in the ubiquitous monster of the deep but reported accurately what they thought they saw. Granted that a seaman has a traditional notion of what a sea-serpent should be like, he will mould anything which resembles that appearance to his own ideal and hence no doubt the marked agreement between the leviathan of poetry and art and Jack’s sea-serpent. At sea the most keen-sighted may easily be deceived, and a floating log, festooned with sea-weeds and enveloped ever and anon with the spray that flashes from the ocean swell, would present an appearance quite analogous to a bemaned sea monster : “A great serpent of the deep, Lifting his horrible head above the waves.” It is but sufficient to premise a belief in the existence of the great sea-serpent and the ever- changing sea-scape of an ocean voyage will present abundance of visible phenomena that may well be read as “sea-serpent.” The eye often deceives itself and may often see objectively that which the ima- gination conjures up and which the mind is quite prepared to encounter. No doubt this tendency has much to do with recorded appearances of the sea- serpent, for it is remarkable that in the majority of cases one observance is generally followed by corro- borative appearances. Despite all this, however, despite the teachings of science, the sea-serpent belief dies hard. The great leviathan that takes his sport in the great waters is one of the sights that they who go down to the sea in ships will continue to see for some time to come yet. But as far as popular belief in the existence of the great sea beast is concerned its knell is already rung and one of the most poetical and grandest conceptions of ocean’s inhabitants is fast passing away before the unsympathising realism of the nineteenth century. But even its bitterest opponents must admit that little is gained by the expurgation of the belief from the popular mind. The loss may be an abstract one, but it isa great one notwithstanding, for in the words of ** Nature’s poet :” “But yet I know where’er I go, That there hath passed away A glory from the earth.” TO THE VINEYARDS AND THE PLAY. By A. H. SwInTon. CTOBER, that has embroidered the vineyards of La Vendée with a cloth of gold, has commenced to paint the greenwood with fiery yellow and vermilion ; and as it were by magic the rows of aspens which have so long pattered fretfully in the sighs of the west wind, are dropping their amber leaves around our hamlet, where the round copper- coloured gourds are reddening to orange. Besides its glory of situation among tumbling crags and knolls, our loveliest of villages does not appear to satisfy the longing, except the fancy should suggest a broth of garden snails with a dandelion salad, and an exhilarating scamper up to the round tower among the vines in the wheelbarrow drawn by the two trusty house-dogs ; for as for the feudal horse-pond mantled with its frog’s-bit, and the yoke of beautiful cows that are pawing on the threshold, they have well-nigh broken our hearts and caused us to com- miserate the patriarch in his ark. But the maiden is straying over the meadows and singing at her distaff, the children have just run out shouting, with their pieces of bread and bunches of grapes; there dwells a gladness in the blue sky,’and we, like them, will betake us to the solitude and sweet converse of the lanes and woodlands, and gaze with them on the magnificent decorations of the expiring year. How strange it appears that the delightful summer should so suddenly vanish! While September lasted it was pleasant to sit in the urban gardens and listen to the tinkle of the bells, as the carriage drawn by its four goats in blue tags with two dogs in leash, swept past on the grand tour, and disappeared among bright lights, deep shadows and startling contrasts of colour, due to a diversity of trees there massed together and interspersed with ponds and rockeries. The Ginko biloba was then covered with its maiden-hair foliage, the Desmodium pendulifolium still drooped in fasciculated bunches of purple, the more lowly Mattiola incana was dotted over with its red plant- bugs, the shady magnolia walks from time to time disclosed their fleshy nectarious blossoms, and the widely spreading cedar was only just commencing to put forth its mealy flowers: whereas the fitful rustle of the bamboos, papyrus, and sturdy fan-palms, seemed to bespeak the monotony of an eternal summer. It seems but quite lately too that long, narrow barges came floating down with their hay- ticks into that modern Babel, situated on the rivers ; HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 5 when man, woman and child were out on the sloping bank disporting with pitchforks and sticks, as though it were a hayfield: and it seems but as yesterday that a heavy smoke rolled up at evening from the spontaneous ignition of the damp store. It appears but quite lately that the little livid cockroaches, forewarned by thé chill of an impending change, attempted to establish their colony in the hinge of the hospitable door, and when ousted by the housemaid’s broom, that its minute progeny hid away in the hair brush. It lastly seems but quite recently that the house-ants, made aware by scent and by touch of the onslaught on the cockroaches, appeared like ghouls from some unknown regions, to banquet upon the dying and the dead. Let us go down by the way of the vineyards and behold the gnarly vines rejuvernescent with fragrant and tender grapes. Many ofthe autumnal butterflies flutter past us in fresh array, and some of them may be accounted a prize, but until the verdant green species described in some unprocurable Russian work becomes the rage, or those which are phenominal and semi-extinct be sought for, it will be difficult, methinks, to estimate the value of a butterflyion these yasty acres. What superlative charm for the curioso is to be found in the waste of cherry blossom flaming with scarce swallow-tails, in the lucern-field ghostly with Bath whites, in a patch of dwarf furze fluttering with Arion-blues, in a heathery tract where the Meliteas are glaring like the Guernsey lilies, in the bed of pansies silvery with Queens of Spain, or in a wildemess of agrimony golden with large coppers. Is this, you nice Londoners will be prone to exclaim, that thing so new, so beautiful and so rare, that was embroidered in needlework and described so vaguely ; that was heard of out at Hampstead and believed in at Epping, that used to visit the Camber- well willows and frequented the Westminster haw- thorns, that was dodged over the mere and run down on the wolds? No longer smitten with withering beauty disclosed by the haze of the morning, our thoughts ofttimes in their plenitude become a weariness and a burden: let us then 'seek a solace in the discovery of new horizons. Over the brambles along which the big dragon-fly is hawking trail beaded clusters of fruit as large as raspberries, whose fragrant juice hornets and plant-bugs are tippling, and just within reach among the prickles there depends a sparkling object resembling a choice pear carved out of malachite. A sly sidelong glance suffices to show that this dainty morsel is a tree-frog who is breathing softly, and no artist could have conceived a happier idea of comfort than that presented by his contemplative profile as he squats huddled together with half-shut eyes. SSNS SRR Fig. 1.—LZphippiger selligere (the songster of La Vendée). The bald-headed man in the horizon is supposed to be the moon. C, its musical comb; £,‘its ears. Now you who love the violin and the serenade, come hither, for the hedge-bank has become an opera- house that is rattling and roaring to the orchestra. The drama is entitled the “ Martinmas Summer, or all for love,” and the performers are the grass- hoppers, Stenobothrus, and the leaf-crickets, Dec- ticus, Locusta and Ephippiger. The choregraphy of the one, as you will quickly perceive, is a warning trill of suppressed emotion and defiance, interspersed with tender passages composed of low and grating notes that fall somewhat harshly on the enamoured ear: that of the other is a whistling shrill of hasty passion interspersed with staccato notes that trip it lightly on the understanding. In both cases the lovers are fiery and boisterous, and their lady loves are from habit or from nature, silent, coy and distrustful ; just like Madam Locusta now, who leans so caressingly on one side to catch the sunbeams with a leg akimbo. But the Signor garbed in green, 6 HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. whose voice is as the rush of a cataract, has already stepped out into the vacant field of glory. See, after haying flung out a defiance to his rivals, how meekly he sits upon the twig over the head of Madam, to whom he plays, and who from time to time feels hesitatingly for him with her thread-like feelers. Come, that was a gentle touch now, and none of the smart boxing which the little wood white butter- flies indulge in when they buffet with their nose-pads, but Madam she won’t endure it, and so she has prudently hopped aside, just as the Signor comes down with his impromptu leap and occupies her vacant place. Of course at the outset it is a little novel to be the witness of a performance where the grasshoppers who play the bass are industriously utilizing their legs as fiddle-bows, which, instead of being:rubbed with rosin, have from sheer hard usage acquired a row of ivory knobs; and where the leaf- crickets who undertake the treble, are employing an ebon black comb concealed beneath the wing. And do you not remark a superb and echoing ring in the notes of Signor Locusta, who seems to chatter in absolute despair? And then as to ears, does it not strike you that such frantic love-making must needs set the whole body a trembling like the lustres of a chandelier? and it is for this very reason that the grasshoppers have theirs hidden away behind their legs ; and as for the Signor and Madam, why they carry a brace sticking into the first pair like a couple of mushrooms. Our play, as you will recall, is All for love. During the interlude the grasshoppers rattle on, and the little Dectici whirr dizzily in the hedge-roots with the tremulous sound of a watch that is being wound up. Such music becomes a trifle monotonous, predisposing you to slumber, but it finds a harmony in the dull murmur of the meadows, and what seems most strange, all the performers consider the roll of the passing cart-wheel to be a cry of encore, even saluting with a salvo the fitful chiming of the clock on the grey church tower. Perchance the wish occurs at the outset to seize and imprison one of our troop: should you think pfoper to do so, he would then no longer shrill his noon-tide reveries, but his ardours would kindle and flash at the evening star, increasing -at the witching hour to a fusee of half a thousand notes or so. Darkness, prithee, would then acquire a new and melancholy sweetness. Meanwhile the scene has changed, for the two rival Ephippigers of the vine come stalking over the tops of the brambles, pausing as they advance to snip-snap defiance at each other, like two clicks of a steam engine, or two jingles of the horse-bells. Very elegant are these portly, hunched-backs with their white-ringed green or brown bodies, that recall the cricketing flannels and suggest a man-tiger corded with stays. Those who have chanced to catch a glimpse of the cinerous- coloured Thamnotrizon that chirps hidden in the ivy of an English hedge-bank, and which during the prevalence of the opal mist that dims the morning sun, is often out sunning in companies, will at once recognize the kettledrum wings set awry, which have conferred on these clowns the nickname of the cymbal players. But come, now, one is silent and the other is posed like an oil-beetle and executing a solo. The notes they clash and they tinkle as it were the bound of a tambourine, and their refrain is ever sweep-sweep or sweet-sweet, just as the air pulsates, and the sentiment prompts; one would think that the grape-gatherer who is reposing beneath the vine-leaves must have fairly mistaken this charming overture for the drawing of wine-corks and a.rain of coin gilt with the yellow leaves. By referring to the racy scores that Yersin noted down on the solitude of his Alpine crags, it will be noticed that he assigns to these musical orthoptera an idea of number and pitch, but although this brilliant music fairly moves at the rate of a beat every two seconds, it becomes quite an open question whether the performers distinguish between asix and an eight. . Apart from their marionettes they seem decidediy to be what our servant-girls would call sillies, for they are always ready to walk with a mincing and dainty pace on to the extremity of your walking-stick or umbrella. In regard to our programme, we find it further stated that Madam Ephippiger will perform a duet with the object of her choice among the gently waving vine-leaves, but for all that she is sitting on there in saucy silence, like a crocodile, and now one of her admirers—would you believe it ?—has actually jumped down and bestowed on hey a kiss or a bite; but Madam, after producing a squeal in imitation of that of a vindicative weasel, she has waddled off as if insulted. One would say that she was one of those who can sing and wont sing. But do you not see, are youblind? Hist! now hist ! this saddle-backed creature who is disguised in marine green, is evidently the great gun of our performance. See how dignified he holds himself aloof, embowered among the interlacing thorns, and only notice that strange rosy glow that overshadows his flattened winglets of bronze and ebon black. Hark as he spreads them: like a cherub, and draws with his fiddle-bow that long, powerful and steamy note, that appears to strain in the execution like a cord that is about tosnap. Hist! oh hist! Surely he must have been the apt pupil of Apollo’s darling, the cicada, if a comb can be said to twang like crinoline hoops. It would seem, as he leisurely climbs to the topmost twig, that you might hear him sound his old and mellow violin fifty yards away in a fog. The Ephippigers welcome their champion, and their tambourines they dash around, and then far remote, from the tops of the pollard oaks there echoes back that Hist ! oh hist! Indeed the notes of Locusta were quite overpowering at the outset, as it were the whistling gush of a waterfall after the downpour, but those of this new hunchback resemble most the HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. ‘ 7 measured purl of the bubbles on the deep and strong current. Do they not inspire an absolute terror now, that would alarm the guilty conscience on a lonely heath more than the churr of the fern owl and the rattling and puffing of a thousand snakes? Fill up the cup with red wine and white wine, for he is a merry prophet of a clearing shower, and old Hesiod believed that such majestic notes, when presided over by the dog-star, betokened a heavy crop of figs and a cheerful vintage. Let us drink success to the year, and no longer carp and cavil concerning the phylloxera, the hail, and the driving cyclones. Does the new wine inspire: a moody sadness, the flowers are sparse upon the meadows, the chestnuts are scattering their husks, and this requiem of the summer must indeed conclude with the literal death of the performers. ‘‘ Czesar,” they seem to shout, ‘‘ we die.” It would be quite useless under such absolutely trying circumstances to cry Bravo, but if you seize a hair-comb and sweep along it your finger-nail, the chief musician will be sure to understand, for this strange being is so quick of hearing. But why this dull and leaden silence? The sports, you see, aredone, for the sun is sinking low, and a sudden storm of dust and rain drives hitherward, deadly, damp and cold. It will shake the pears from off the bough, and quench, oh horrors, the last sparkles of summer merriment. But what the deuce can the matter be with Madam Locusta, the star of our troop, who now dances out of the foliage for an ovation, so sleek and so plump? You would be inclined to say that she had eaten her Signor from sheer vexation or because he was by nature so very green. : Madam, who is more unassuming than a sheep, and yet more cruel by far than a tiger, will now improvise our epilogue, which runs as follows. In happy ignorance, you mortals have too long con- cluded that your vices were your own and that innocence was to be learnt of us, the humbler works of the creation, for man, conscious of his manifold imperfection, has been ever ready to assume that perfection, exists in everything around him. It is not then surprising that we leaf-crickets, who can claw and can bite, have by your popular writers been confused with the harmless cicadz, for this mistake might have originated in the occasional similarity of our croaking, which is yet readily distinguishahle in its staccato notes; but when, as sometimes happens, you behold a portrait of myself, who indeed possess no violin, but have all the feminine weakness exemplified in a long ovipositor, presented to the public gaze as that of the beloved one whose food is ambrosia ; we players can but ridicule the artist who has never witnessed our rural play of All for love, which is enacted every year during the prevalence of the Martinmas summer. It may interest the naturalist to observe that Walckenzer—who, in his ‘* Faune Parisienne,” alludes to the coupling of gnats, dragon-flies, ephemere and scolopendras, as likewise to that of spiders, cyclops, crustaceze and hydrachnee, and who‘has so graphically described the female flea reposing on the breast of her partner, her mouth applied to his mouth, and her feet intertwined with his—makes indeed no mention of the equally fantastic coupling of the subjects of this article. “It is droll, to say the least, since, owing to the presence of the afore-mentioned long oviposi- tor, Nature has ordained that the female should have the uppermost ; and as a consequence the happy possessor of her who has inspired his lays, is either hoisted into the air like a leg of mutton or ignomini- ously dragged along on his back. It may be likewise added that those few species of leaf-cricket which inhabit Europe are easily kept in cages or boxes covered with green gauze, since whatever may be their habits when rambling at will over the hedgerows, they, or at least their ladies, appear quite content to dine, when in confinement, on a leaf of lettuce or blade of grass, as the case may be. A word in recapitulation, That two things should be alike and yet not alike is not mathematical, but it is the case in point with Zphippiger vitium and selligere. We notice a saddle-shaped thorax. The notes of the male are heard every two seconds, and the female, when in the proximity of her male, squeals like a mouse or weasel; but although the notes of either move with like rapidity, those of se//gere are a sound of winding up, lasting for about two seconds, whereas those of w¢ia7 are momentary and dashing. Although formed alike, wztzm is cast in the more delicate mould, and perhaps, we might add, the most specialized. Their sense of hearing is most strange ; I once heard one of these creatures respond to the laugh of a saucy girl who was passing. THE SIROCCO AS A DISINTEGRATING AGENT, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ITS EFFECT ON THE STRATA OF THE MALTESE ISLANDS. By Joun H. Cooke, B.Sc., F.G.S. IND as an agent of denudation now takes its place among the most potent of those forces of Nature that are at present operating on the earth’s crust, and assisting to modify the contour of its outline. The extent of the work which it is capable of effecting, however, is not to be measured by the amount of violence or power that it exerts; for the most stupendous changes are often brought about by the instrumentality of the most insignificant causes, and what the hurricane with all of its might is powerless to effect, the zephyr, if it be but allowed a sufficiency of time, can do without appreciable effort. Of the most unobtrusive, and at the same time the most effective of the numerous agents that are engagea 8 HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. in planing down and moulding the hills and valleys _of the islands and shores of the Mediterranean, the sirocco, a south-easterly wind that blows from the dry, arid regions of Africa is, perhaps the most remarkable. All of the districts situated within the Mediterranean are affected, more or less, by it. Its blighting influence on plant-life, and the depressing and debilitating effect that it has upon the human constitution, are but too well known to all ‘those whose misfortune it may have been to have had to spend the sultry days of a Mediterranean summer within the sphere of its influence. Organic and inorganic matter are equally affected by it, but while the effect of its attacks on the former make them- selves rapidly apparent, on the latter the processes that it employs in its work are slow though effective, and therefore the results to which they give rise are proportionately retarded. This is even more apparent in countries in the Mediterranean area which, like the Maltese Islands, have a comparatively small rainfall ; and where the catchment basins are restricted in size. In such districts a large proportion of the denuda- tion to which the surface contour of the district owes CTH ey tan : = a We Seer AE rounded masses are the dun-coloured marls, the taluses of which often descend the slopes to distances that are double, and even treble the real thickness of the bed. These marl outcrops are a characteristic of Maltese hill scenery. They owe their origin to the percolation of water through the upper beds, whereby the marl is rendered sodden, and then, being more susceptible to the weight of the superincumbent rock than when dry, it is pressed from out the strata, and is precipitated down the hill-sides. The bases of the hills, therefore, have a cloak of marl which effectually protects them from aerial waste, while the upper portions, being without this protec- tive influence, rapidly waste away before the humid winds, and thus the slopes of the valleys are seldom precipitous, and the isolated hills assume a distinctly conical form. The hills and plateaux are thus shielded below by their own ruins, while the wasting away of the upper portions causes them to gradually assume the tapering shape with which the student of Maltese scenery is so familiar. Unlike the Globigerina Limestone, the Upper are TT te AES me e— ———_- ——— Fig. 2.—Gozo Hills, from the Sea. its diversified character, is to be attributed to the slow and intermittent, though powerful, agency of this wind. It is along the escarpments of the hills and valleys, and in the cliff exposures that have a south-easterly aspect, that its powers of erosion are to be studied to the best advantage. The flat-topped conical hills that form such a distinguishing feature in Malta and Gozitan scenery, owe their origin, in a great measure, to its influence. The Globigerina Limestone, the fourth bed from the top, formation forms the base of all of these hills, and on account of its homogeneity and softness of texture, it readily disintegrates before the rapid alternations of dryness and humidity that are the usual concomitants of the Sirocco. This bed may be traced from the bottoms of all of the valleys inthe Binjemma and the Gozitan plateaux, falling back in long-drawn swellings and gentle undulations ; and covered with a rich and productive soil, in which the crimson sulla (clover), and the golden rye for which the islands are noted, grow luxuriantly. Capping this bed, and still falling back in sofily (N. side.) Coralline rock is not equally susceptible to the in- fluences of this wind. But certain portions of the strata, situated in the middle of the formation, weather much faster than do the layers either above it or below it. In the majority of cases this formation is found capping the hills of both islands, and forming table- lands, the sides of which are bounded by precipitous cliffs that attain a height which is dependent upon the local thickness of the formation. It also forms the surface deposits of several undulating plains, and it frequently occurs as shapelesss hummock-like These diversities of form are due in a measure to the unequal waste that the rock undergoes, as its mineralogical compositicn varies considerably, some parts of the strata being so hard as to be capable of withstanding the combined action of the atmosphere for centuries, while other portious readily disintegrate on exposure. It is to this unequal action that the formation owes the craggy contour of its cliff outlines ; and it is this that causes it to offer such marked contrasts to the gentler undulations of the softer beds beneath. It is from this formation, too, that the rock boulders masses. HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 9 that strew the slopes and beds of the valleys of the islands, are derived. The action of the siroceo and the rain upon the sand-bed that serves as the foundations of the forma- tion, by gradually wearing it away, thus deprives the upper bed of its support, and causes the cliffs to break away in cyclopean masses, and to strew the slopes of the hills and valleys with their débris ; while other masses are detached and are tilted so perilously out of the perpendicular that they appear— «© As if an infant’s touch could urge Its headlong passage down the verge.” Such are a few of the effects that this powerful eroding agent is, in part, accountable for ; but it has been assisted in its work by other and equally powerful auxiliaries, without whose co-operation its efforts could not have been so effective. The main features of the country, the hills, valleys, and gorges haye had their direction and extent largely influenced by the lay of the strata; while the minor ones, such as the honey-combed and fretted appearances presented by the cliff-faces and rock-surfaces, have been in- fluenced by the lithological characters of the rock. These are some of the assistants that have co-operated, add to which the heat and drought of summer, and the wet and cold of winter. But effective as they are as helpers in the work of waste, no single one of them can be pointed to as being more potent, more active, more irresistible than the sirocco. Both in Malta and in Gozo the principal valleys lay in a north-west and a south-east direction ; that is to say, they lie in a line with the direction of this wind. Marsa Sirocco, an extensive bay on the east coast of Malta, so called because this wind blows directly into it, owes its origin and extent toits agency. It is the largest bay in the islands, and has four valleys abutting on its coast-line, each of which lies in the same direction. But it is not only in the general moulding of the country that the sirocco is concerned. its effects may be traced in every crag and cavern, and on every rock, boulder, or other rock-surface. The irregular blocks of which the walls that serve as boundary-partitions between the fields, and the tooled stones of which the edifices in the towns and casals are built afford equally striking evidences of its powers of erosion ; and by their means both the rate and the amount of the denudation may be estimated. It is a noteworthy feature in the exteriors of Maltese walls and houses that the side that is exposed to the sirocco always presents a very eroded, time-worn and dilapidated appearance, whereas the other sides, in comparison, are fresh and unworn. Tt is no uncommon occurrence to find the softer stones in the sides of the houses that have a south-east aspect, almost completely worn through, and sur- rounded by other blocks, the harder portions of which such as the fossil contents, echinoides, pectens, etc., stand out in bold relief from their worn and wasted matrices. In the old fortifications that were erected by the Knights of St. John, such phenomena as these are of frequent !occurrence, and are very typical of sirocco denudation. From a series of calculations that I have made of the rate of the erosion of the Globigerina limestone blocks in a number of buildings and fortifications of known ages, I estimate that the rate of sirocco denudation averages # of an inch per square foot per year ; that is about 16 cubic yards per acre per year ; or about 22 tons of material are annually wasted from every acre of surface. In calculating this, numerous examples were taken, some being in proximity to the coast, while others were obtained from the centres of both islands. By so doing I believe I have obtained a fair average rate, for there can be no doubt, but that the rate of erosion is more rapid near the coast than it is inland. The moisture-ladened winds that sweep over the islands impregnate all that they come in contact with; and the Globigerina rock being very porous, is therefore highly susceptible to its influence, : The duration of time during which the sirocco lasts is seldom long enough to enable it to do more than affect the surface, and then the period of ue) HARDWICKE S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. moisture is usually followed by conditions that are diametrically opposed to those that prevailed while the sirocco was blowing. The frequent and rapid changes that the stone thus undergoes, causes an abnormal expansion and con- traction of the superficial molecules, and so tends to make the surfaces readily disintegrate and peel off in large flakes. The work of erosion is greatly assisted also by the crystallization of the salt contained in the moisture that this wind takes up in its passage across the Mediterranean. This moisture renders the stone surfaces highly saliferous. Under the influence of the heat of a semitropical sun, the moisture passes off, and the salt crystallizes and pushes out the superficial particles of the limestone, thus facilitating the paring down process which so rapidly wastes the rocks, and causes them to break up. NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS ON CHELONIA CAFA. By H. Durrant. HE following paper consists merely of extracts from my diary and notes made at the time of observation and experiment. I do not claim any great originality for them, as most of the experiments were made to prove statements made by more dis- tinguished workers than I, but still, perhaps they will be found interesting and probably new to some readers. The larva which I kept for observation was one of the commonest I could procure, both as regards itself and its food. The cages were made of fine gauze with glass fronts, which are easily and cheaply constructed, filled to the depth of about two inches with fine mould, in the middle of which was fixed a small glass, about four inches high, half-filled with water. Into this the branches of food-plants were put. For isolation I obtained some ordinary card- board starch-boxes, cut out an oblong hole from the lid and fixed on the under surface with ‘ Kay’s coaguline,” a quarter-plate negative glass (cleaned of course) ; a number of holes were then pricked in all over the box, for the free admittance of the vital principle, air. On April 24th, I went out in quest of the cater- pillars of the tiger-moth (Avctia caja), and * after traversing several miles and getting splendidly nettled, I brought home about thirty, principally taken from the nettle (Zamzum album) and the dock. T also took several from a small patch of moschatel (Adoxa moschatellina), which was in flower at the time. I have never met with any lepidopterous larve on this plant before, nor do I remember having heard of anyone else finding larvz on it, but on this point I should like to hear other correspon- dents’ experiences. At first I thought I had several different species, as in some the) hair was extremely short and in small tufts, but to make up for this short- coming, as it were, the spiracles were very visible. In others the hair was very long and of a silky ap- pearance, I placed them all together in a cage and left them with!some food, Next morning when I came to examine them, I found scarcely any with the short tussocks of hair and large spiracles, but the cast-off skins were plentifully strewed about the sides of the cage. Later in the day I saw several more change their skin. Just before changing it they invariably attached themselves to the side of the cage by a silken thread, and the empty skin would remain there after the larva had escaped and assumed its new coat. After they have done so they look wet and miserable, and their hair seems matted together as it would be if they had been dipped in water. But they soon dry |themselves, when |they appear very handsome in their silky coat. In about a week they had all been through the operation—painful it would seem—of changing their skin. During the earlier stages of their voracious life, and just before changing, they would scarcely eat anything, but when they reached what I {may term the long-hair stage, they ate ravenously, comfrew, nettle, dock, horse-raddish, Mentha rotundifolium, and in fact nearly anything 1 could supply them with. I fed them sometimes twice and three times a day, such was their insatiable appetite. Burmeister mentions the fact that beetles and their larvee never consume the leaf from the margin, like the caterpillars of Lepidoptera, but bite a hole in the centre, round which they feed, thus dis- tinguishing the destroyer merely by the appearance of the leaf. This certainly must be a fallacy. Lepidopterous larve not only feed from the edge of the leaf, but as often as not will commence in the middle, though generally irom beneath. This must be a common occurrence to those who have kept larvae in confinement. As to the beetles they certainly do feed from the middle of the leaf, but they are fre- quently to be seen feeding from the edge. Go out some summer evening with a lantern and examine the leaves of any common plant, and you will be able to verify this statement. So that the appearance of the leaves is in no way calculated to apprise the stu- dent of their respective invaders. Another item of im- portance is the following. Most entomologists agree that there are few lepidopterous larve, if any, which prey upon each other. But while I kept Chelonia I found that when a larva had just pupated, and while the external skin was soft and moist, the larvee would gather round it, bite pieces out of it, and apparently eat them, leaving afterwards a dry, deformed, shrivelled up shell. This occurred while the cage contained plenty of food, so that hunger cannot be thrust in as an excuse. Not only this larva, but a number of others which I have kept at various times, particularly the common turmip-moth, have exhibited the same propensities. If, however, the skin of the HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSS/P. Ir pupa has hardened before it has been noticed, it remains perfectly safe. Here, I know some of my readers will say, ‘‘ How could they get at them when they are enclosed ina strong web?” But numbers of mine changed amongst their food on the floor, con- trary to their usual habit ; but ifa weak place appeared in those that did spin a web, it was quickly attacked by several of the larvze, and an inroad soon made. The following trait is also interesting, as bearing on their sense of smell. I found when I gathered fresh food for the larvee in the early part of the morn- ing, and placed it ian their compartment, that they flocked eagerly towards it, leaving their stale food, on which most of them were feeding before. But if I fed them later in the day, the majority of them stayed on the stale food, although the fresh food was re- peatedly placed in close proximity to them. It may be that the dew has something to do with this by drawing out the scent of the plants, especially as I fed them mostly on Mentha (principally rotundi- folium), horse-raddish, and comfrey. Fuly 1st. The imagos appeared and I found that i had a number of very fine specimens. By mishap I allowed several to remain in the cage, which was put away in an old cupboard. Going to the cup- board, nearly five weeks after, I found that one was still alive, but the other four had succumbed—and remember, there had been no food in the cage during this period, nothing but the layer of soil on the bottom. How the one lived I cannot imagine. On the gauze at the top, I found ova had been deposited in a considerable quantity, and further—that they emerged in a few days after. The small larve were not undersized or weakly either, as one would expect from the treatment the imagos received, but were rather over the ordinary size at this period. I send Specimens to the Editor of the larve at one day old. The influence of light on their development I tested in the following way. I enclosed the young larvee with the food-plant in a dark box, with holes for the free admission of air, and storeditina ‘‘ dark room ” used for photography. They were kept well supplied with food. The development of each stage was con- siderably retarded, so that specimens in the;last stage (I cannot call them imagos) were not obtainable till the September following. Not one, however had its wings fully developed, some barely the eighth of an inch inlength. The longest was half an inch, and I believe, if growth had continued, the wings would have been entirely dark brown. Yor this experiment I selected strong, healthy-looking caterpillars, so that it is all the more conclusive as to the bad effects of darkness on their perfect development. The influ- ence of heat on the wing at the time of expansion is also, it would appear, decidedly bad, drying up the juices as fast as they can be formed, till the wing is made dry and brittle, and incapable of attaining its full size. I reared some over a hot mantel-shelf; few of these but whose wings did not present the appearance of shrivelled deformity. The great strength in a few cases had endowed several for this struggle for existence, it is true, but they were cer- tainly not perfect specimens. Most Lepidoptera you will thus find emerge from their chrysalis in the cool of the evening, so as to escape the hot sun and dry air. Those I kept emerged about eight or nine in the evening or during the earliest hours of the morning. A red liquid, acid substance is found plentifully sprinkled about the cage after such emergences, and is used in softening the hard, dry case, so that it can easily be parted bythe moth, and a passage made when it wishes to appear. In one case only did the pupa case remain attached to the imago’s body ; it did not, however, survive, but died shortly after emergence. THE HUMAN BLOOD-WORM (FYZLARIA SANGOINIS HOMINIS). T has been suggested to me that I might bring together in a note the materials I have collected regarding the Filarize found in human blood ; and the more so as circumstances have admitted of my obtaining several living specimens of the parasite, from some of which my sketches have been made. So far as I have been able to ascertain, the subject ° has not been illustrated in SCIENCE-GOSSIP; my note may, therefore, serve to fill a vacant place. In 1870 Dr. T. R. Lewis, formerly of Calcutta, and since deceased, found nematoid worms in chylous urine. In the beginning of 1872, whilst examining the blood of a native of India—a patient in the Calcutta Medical College Hospital—who was suffering from diarrhoea, Dr. Lewis observed no less than nine minute active worms on a single slide, and identified them with the Nematoids previously ob- tained by him in cases of chyluria. From this time onwards he paid considerable attention to the subject ; and he sent a slide containing some speci- mens of the worm to Professor Parkes, at Netley, who showed them to Mr. Busk. The name Ai/arze sanguinis hominis appears to have been then con- ferred on this organism. During the course of the two following years Dr. Lewis continued his investi- gations, with the result that he traced Filarize directly to the blood in ten, and detected them in various tissues and secretions in at least thirty cases; the parasites were always associated with chyluria, elephantiasis, or some closely allied pathological condition. In one case (of chyluria) the patient had been fa leper for fourteen years : several slides con- taining active Filarize were obtained from his fingers and toes. Dr. Cooke in his instructive and popular little book on ‘‘ Ponds and Ditchesi” appears to suggest that Filarize are pathogenetically associated with leprosy, a view which scarcely derives support from 12 HARDWICKE’S SCLIENCE-GOSSIP. Lewis’s investigations, who doubtless found them in a case of leprosy, but the patient was also suffering from chyluria. The Nematoids are admittedly closely telated to the latter disease; and seemingly only accidentally so to the former. Here we may note that leprosy was known to the Greeks as elephan- tiasis, and to the Arabians as lepra; but that it differs from the lepra of the Greeks, and from the £. Arabum, or elephantiasis of the Arabians. lymph-scrotum, and chylous dropsy of, the peri- toneum and tunica vaginalis testis, than with leprosy. The presence of the Filarize, whether in the blood, the tissues, or the secretions, points to abnormalities in the?lymphatic system, the result of long-continued residence]! in*{tropical climates. They utilize the mosquito as an intermediate bast; and ‘in one of his papers on the subject, Lewis described the changes undergone byjthe Nematoid in the alimentary Fig. 5.—c. Filaria, head and tai) G Tey, 1600 of 6 more highly magnified. Fig. 4.—a. Leucocytes (stained with roseine); one with three nuclei. 6, Filaria, with tail retracted in sheath. o, “at Fig. 6.—d. Filaria, head and tail of another specimen ; both ends retracted. Fig. 7.—e. Crenated red corpuscles associated with the Filarie de- 1600 lineated above. Fig. 8.—/. Sarcoptes, moult obtained from same bloo: N.B.—a and 4 were drawn under an } in. objective, and to one scale ; c, @and ¢ under a 7, in. and to another; /, was drawn under a 2 in. at 10 in,, and magnified 320 diameters. Barbadoes leg, is a tropical disease prevalent in Arabia, Africa, and India, and causes the legs to swell to an enormous size, hence its name ; but its symptoms differ from those of leprosy. While, then, the evidence indicates that elephantiasis is closely associated with Filariz, leprosy seems to be related pathogenetically to the bacillus discovered by Hansen, LB. lepre. It may, therefore, be safer to associate the Filaria with chyluria, elephantiasis, soft tumi- faction of the inguinal glands, hematochyluria, . canal of that insect. Is it possible that the mosquite is instrumental in introducing the worm into the capillary system of men and other animals, whence it passes into the lymphatics, where it finds a lodg- ment? That it is not injured by the poison peculiar to the mosquito is proved by its passing alive and continuing its developmental changes in the body of the mosquito. It must also be remembered that Filariz have been found in diseased conditions of the human body alike in the East and West Indies, HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 13 in China, Africa, the Mauritius, Bermuda, Brazil, etc., all mosquito countries.* The organism described in this note is a filiform, parasitic Nematoid, about 4 in. in length, and 54; in. in transverse diameter; it resembles the familiar Anguillulz found in stagnant water, damp moss, etc. It, however, differs from these in being en- closed in a hyaline sheath, in which the worm can be seen to elongate and contract itself. It is difficult to make out the internal organization of the Filariz, the alimentary canal is not distinctly traceable, and the contents are mainly granular with a marked conden- sation in parts. Dr. Lewis considered the Nematoid as he found it in man, to be an embryo, and his later investigations brought the adult form to light. The mouth-parts have puzzled me ; my sketches from two worms, both obtained alive, indicate differences of structure, or of- position; but the examination of other specimens has not cleared this up. The hyaline external sheath is often markedly apparent ; and in dead and stained specimens, the body is generally contracted in it at one or both ends: my drawings illustrate this feature. The person from whom I obtained my specimens suffers from general debility and hzmorrhoids, and occasionally from a mild form of eczema ; but in all other respects he can be said to be in fair general health. The mode of obtaining the worm from the blood is simple enough. The end of the finger is tied round with twine or pack-thread, and when slightly congested is lightly pricked with a sharp sterilized dissecting needle. The droplet of capillary blood thus secured is taken up on one or more clean coyer-glasses, and pressed out as thin as possible on a cleaned slide. A half-inch objective suffices as a finder; but a Zeiss D, or an Economic } in. is necessary for the detailed examination of the worms. These were the powers used by me; though my drawings were made under a student’s } in., and a Seibert’s ,{ in. w.i. In all cases the ‘illustrations have been drawn with the paper at a greater distance from the eye-glass than the normal teninches. This has been done merely to get larger figures and details. The Filariz con- tinue in active motion for many hours, As a stain roseine will be found to answer the double purpose of killing the worm, and also of staining it. In blood from the same person I have twice, on separate occasions, found what I took to be the moult of one of the Sarcoptes. There was no itch present, and it was denied that there was any previous history of the complaint. Are these Sarcoptes to be regarded as * The Filariz come to the surface of the skin between five and six o’clock in the evening, and seyen or eight o’clock in the morning, so that they are handy for mosquitoes during the hours when those inSects are most numerous. The worms retreat into the tissues during the day. Though eyeless, they seem to possess a /ight-sense, and to avoid light. What effect would the long Polar day have on these parasites, in which periodicity is such a marked characteristic? Would it puzzle them out of existence ?—W. J. S. pathogenic to the form of eczema which does occa- sionally trouble the patient ? The prevalence of the latter disease at times in Bengal, leads one to enquire if some skin complaints distinguishable from itch, and termed eczema, may not be contagious, and caused by a parasite ? Numerous red blood corpuscles in the case I have in view are crenated, a few curious abnormal forms being delineated in my drawings ; but for this feature the Filarize may not be responsible. Dr. Lewis’s investigations led to his examining other animals, with the result that he obtained allied Nematoids from the Indian pariah (or native street-) dog, and the Indian crow. More than one-third of the dogs he examined were thus affected, the Nematode in them being smaller than in the case of the human parasite; while the blood of one half the crows he examined also swarmed with Filariz, which were about one-third the length and one-half the width of the human parasite. In the Nematoids from both the crow and the dog there were no indications of an enveloping hyaline sheath; and in the canine © worm the internal structure was in his opinion slightly more advanced in respect to differentiation etc., than in the human worm. Lewis also examined mosquitoes, and was able to obtain a constant supply of these insects in a filarious condition from a room occupied by five servants, one of whom harboured Filariz in his blood. This man had been in the place for several years, and was not known to have suffered from any special disease. I have myself succeeded in finding filarious mosquitoes, but under circumstances which, as in the case of Dr. Lewis’s servant, readily explained their presence. He repeated the experiments of Dr. Manson of Amoy (China), and discovered that fourteen per cent. of the mosquitoes he caught at random had Filariz, which he considered a proof that in Bengal filarious blood cannot be very uncommon. As he points out, it is necessary in examining mosquitoes for these Nematoids to observe whether the blood in them is mammalian or avian. The following details are based on Lewis’s papers, and may be useful. . | | Length.| Habitat. Form. In. i eta. 5 ¢ (Sicadh|| 4. || Beads ¢ (ea ee Faicrsoe)| sone | a ({SEMETY) Di Tricbina . .| None | i | Muscle . |{Tead pointed, A few sentences in conclusion with regard to the’ milder forms of Filariosis (the term applied by Lancereaux to the deceased condition caused by the Filariz), may be interesting and appropriate. Lancereaux, who has given a complete véswmé of the whole subject, considers the parasite enters the system by the alimentary canal, and he recommends e 14 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. the use, as a prophylactic measure, of boiled and filtered water. Others hold that the parasite finds its way into the body through the skin of bathers. To what, if any, extent is the mosquito to be regarded as an infecting agent? In this connection, too, does food count as a factor? Both the pariah dog and crow are foul feeders; though it should be added that in our hot tropical climate, they are both bathers, and both drinkers of stagnant and other possibly contaminated water. Moreover nematoid helminths, as Lewis showed, have been found by other observers in the blood of the carp, hawk, jack- daw, jay, frog, seal, and whale. The dog seems, however, to take the first place, and has been observed to be thus affected in nearly all parts of the world, but notably so in China, India, and Southern Europe. Is the dog an infecting agent in this case; as he is believed to be in the case of tape-worm ? It is satisfactory to be able to add that in man the prognosis is favourable, even though the disease be of some standing. Removal from the source of infection is said to result in a spontaneous cure. As remedies, inunctions of mercurial ointment, in con- nection with hydrotherapy, and the injection of certain parasiticides into the lymphatic ganglia, have been recommended. A writer in Ceylon considers that the administration of bisulphide of carbon gives satisfactory results, owing, in his opinion, to the sulphur ingredient, and its power to prevent the multiplication of the worm in the body. On the other hand, Dr. Manson’s views with regard to the pathological significance of the Filariz, which receive support from the observations of Dr. Lewis and others, are opposed by Dr. Rake of Trinidad, who failed to find Nematoids in cases of elephantiasis and chyluria; and by Dr. Sibthorpe, who examined the blood of patients affected with hard elephantiasis, and did not meet with Filarie. The doctors evidently differ as to the pathogenetic value of the worm ; but its existence as a parasite in the blood of man has been proved, and it remains to be ascertained definitely, how it gains a footing in the body. Those who wish to prosecute the subject further will derive valuable aid from Dr. Lewis’s papers republished in Part IIL. of his ‘* Physiological and Pathological Researches” (1888), and also in Dr. Sajow’s ‘‘ Annual of the Universal Medical Sciences,” Issue of 1889, vol. i., F, page 13, and vol. v., A, page 145; and the various papers therein referred to. One cannot read up the subject without being impressed with the value for diagnostic purposes of a microscopical examination of the blood. W. J. SIMMONS, Calcutta. WE commend to the notice of our natural history book collectors, Messrs. Dulau’s Catalogue of Zoo- logical and Paleontological books, just issused. SILLOTH IN AUGUST. By W. H. Youpate, F.R.M.S. AVING read with great interest the two articles by the Rev. Hilderic Friend, F.L.S., on Silloth in April and June, 1889, (SCIENCE-GossIP, vol. xxv. pages 125 and 156), I was led to imagine that some of your readers might be interested in knowing what can be found in that apparently for- saken-by-naturalists district in the month of August ; perhaps, also, these articles may be the means of inducing some other botanists and naturalists to take some interest in working up the flora and fauna of this seemingly neglected and barren neighbourhood. It is needless to repeat the descriptions given by the Rev. H. Friend of the sand-dunes, general appearance, and situation of this charming little sea-port and watering-place combined ; therefore I will proceed to describe and enumerate the chief objects. of interest to be found there, or likely to be found there, during the month. My visit commenced on the 11th and ended on the 24th; one or two days were very stormy, and rain fell on most days—only two, I believe, were exempt—so that, on the whole, the weather was most unpropitious for insect-life, and I cannot in consequence add anything worth recording to what has already been given in the articles above referred to. The plant-life, however, was a pleasant surprise, as many as I16 varieties being found by my wife and myself—sixty-one of which are not to be found in the neighbourhood of my residence on the border of the Lakes District. Some of the chief finds were, Aster tripolium, (found near Skinburness), Convolvzlus sepium, C. arvensis, Brassica monensis, Silene mart- tima, Gnaphalium minimum, G. uliginosum, Rumex crispus, Eryngium marilimum, Galium mollugo, Chenopodium ficifolium, Medicago lupulina, Arte- misea vulgaris, Atriplex angustifolia, Viola curtisiz, V. canina. Behind the sheds built near the docks I found a solitary specimen of wild chicory (Cichorium intybus), two or three specimens of Lchium planta- gineum, and large numbers of Eckium vulgare. A fine Ranunculus hirsutus was considered a ‘‘ good find,” on account of its rarity in the district. The round- leaved mallow (Alalva rotundifolia) is here in great plenty, as is also Yasione montana and the beautiful hare’s-foot trefoil, (Z7ifolium arvense). A walk to Skinburness proved most interesting, and resulted in finding Geranium sanguineum in full bloom and great profusion, the Burnet rose (osa spinosissima) and its curious irregular red galls, caused by Rhodites spinosissima, were most entertaining, a single specimen of corn marigold:(C. segetum), and the following in plenty: Sedum anglicum, Spergula arvensis, Armeria maritima, Cakile maritima, Are- naria peploides (on the sands), Sagina maritima, HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSTIP. 15 fersicaria lapathifolium, Erodium cicutarium, and Geranium dissectum. A walk in the direction of Allonby, past the “‘ Con- valescent,” added these to the list: Calamintha officinalis, Lamium album, Polygonium rayii, Stachys palustris, Plantago coronopus, P. maritima, Senecio aquaticus, Ononis procurrens, O. spinosa, Crithmum maritimum, Salsola kali, Tanacetum vulgare, and Anthyllis vulneraria. Taking a journey from Silloth to Bowness-on- Solway proved most delightful and added some grand finds, amongst which was 7y/ha /atifolia, growing in water near a brickfield by the railway side at Kirk- bride. On reaching Solway Moss, Hirsutum vagi- natum, Hieraceum paludosum, Nasturtium terrestre, and Efocharis palustris were observed. Both sides of the railway were lined with Z7/obium angustifolium, which grows to the height of six feet and upwards, looking very lovely when passing it in the train. I was told by a “‘native” that it rejoiced in the local name of ‘* Blooming Sally,” and at Silloth is known as ‘French Willy” (an evident corruption of “* Willow”). The thyme-leaved speedwell, Veronica serpyllijolia is perhaps the greatest gem to be found at Bowness. I also found by the railway-side Vicia hirsutum, Dianthus plumarius, and Sedum telephium ; the last two have probably been planted and allowed to become wild, or perhaps seeds may have been blown by the wind from some garden not far away. To return to the Silloth flora, the plants met with in greatest number are Bartsia odontitis (very large specimens), Matricaria inodora, Euphrasia officinalis, Lamium purpureun, Senecio vulgaris, S. Facobea, Flantago major, P. media, Thymus serpyllum, Trifolium pratense, T. repens, Campanula rotundifolia, Capsella bursa-pastoris, Hypericum perforatum, Mysotis palus- tris, Bellis perennis, Veronica beccabunga, Vicia sativa, Papaver dubium, Ranunculus acris, Galium verum, Potentilla anserina, P. reptans, Arctium lappa, Cytisus scoparius, Ulex europeus, Calluna vulgaris, Erica cinerea, LE. tetralix, Taraxacum dans-leonis, Lotus corniculatus, Cerastium vulgatum, Tussilago farfara, Achillea millefolium, and the in- evitable Sisymbrium officinale (hedge-mustard). The two most observable peculiarities of the Silloth flora are, first, the very large preponderance of blue flowers, such as hare-bells, viper’s bugloss, sheep’s scabious, vetches, speedwells, and violets, growing in such large numbers as to make quite a blue carpet ; second, the way in which each variety of flower seems to appropriate a little piece of ground to itself, to the exclusion of all others, so that a plant may be in great profusion at one place and yet not be met with again within a distance of two miles. The seaweeds are of the very commonest descrip- tion. All I found were Fucus canaliculatus, F. vesiculosus, F. nodosus, and its usual parasitic Poly- siphonia fastigiata, Melobesia polymorpha, Griffithsia corallina, Ulva latissima, and Enteromorpha com- pressa. I also found the zoophyte Plustra chartacea, but not in abundance. ¥ The best finds among the Diatoms were LVeuro- Navicula crassinervis, Surirella gemma, Nitzschia sigma, and JV. valida, all on or near the pier. A word in conclusion about the grasses; the three principal ones are Carex arenaria, Triticum junceum, and tmmophila arundinacea, protected by Act of Parliament, first in Scotland, and then in England also. Heavy fines and penalties were imposed on anyone gathering the spikes or leaves of the plant, or having any part of it in their possession. These laws have not been repealed, but they have long fallen into disuse, for now various articles for domestic purposes are made from the stems of this plant, every stem thus used is a direct infringement of the law. sigma @stuarit, NOTES ON THE GENUS DISTYLA, CLASS ROTIFERA. OME time ago (September 1890), I contributed an article to SCIENCE-GossIP with the above title. In that paper I described two new species of Cathypne, which, when fully extended, had so many of the characters of the genus Distyla, as drawn by Mr. Gosse, that it gave rise to a suspicion which I stated in the following words: ‘‘It is of course possible that Distyla may be a good genus, but I think it is at least probable, that sovze, if not all, the species of that genus have been described from extended Rotifera of the genus Cathypna.” At that time, although I was familiar with several species of the latter genus, I had never seen any of the recorded species of Distyla, and my notes were written in the hope ‘‘that those microscopists who have the opportunity will take up the investigation of the subject ; and, whether the result be to confirm the genus, or my suspicions as to its non-existence, my purpose in writing these notes will haye been accomplished.” In your September number, 1891, Mr. D. Bryce has a courteous criticism of my article, to which I should have replied earlier but for a press of other work. There are so many points upon which Mr. Bryce and myself are agreed that I only propose touching lightly upon one or two, in which there is a difference of opinion, Iam glad that Mr. Bryce ‘‘is inclined to deny credence to the remarkable position” of the supposed ‘‘ inability of the species of Distyla to withdraw its head between the plates of the lorica,” because I expressed equal incredulity. At the same time, I think I was justified in concluding that Mr. Gosse by the phrase ‘‘habitual protusion of the head,” intended to convey the idea that in Distyla the corona was never retracted. I was confirmed in this interpretation, unaccountable as it appeared, by Mr. Gosse’s known precision in the use of language ; by referring to his figures, where a@// the six species 16 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. are drawn with the ‘‘head” protruded ; and by the significant remark of Ehrenberg, that his D. Horne- manit was ‘‘capable of retraction,” showing to my roind that he also understood that the other species of the genus were zwcapad/e of retracting the head. I quite think that under such confirmatory coinci- dences I was justified in my assumption. I am now quite convinced, both from Mr. Bryce’s experience of the genus, and my own subsequent acquaintance with it, that Mr. Gosse could only use the phrase in the sense indicated by Mr. Bryce. With reference to my omission of the word ‘‘ lengthened” in my quotation, it was, as he suggests, quite unintentional, and I cannot understand how it occurred, as I find it in my original paper. ‘There is one point in which I am sorry to have to differ from Mr. Bryce, but I am still of opinion that my two new species are Cathy- pnze ; the lorica being “‘sub-circular,” or as he puts it, ‘‘ ovate,” and not of the form of a ‘‘ long ellipse.” Another critic of my paper has to some extent mis- understood my point, and most certainly misjudged the spirit in which my notes were written, and as he is quoted by Mr. Bryce, I reply to his chief criticism here. In the first place, he makes the statement that, ‘The distinction (between the two genera) is plain enough.” Now while I readily admit that typical species of any of the genera, may easily be distinguished from typical species of even closely allied genera, yet with those species near the border- line it is frequently ‘‘ not plain” on which side they ought to be placed. In this very genus, the only new species Mr. Gosse admitted into the body of the work was D. /lexilis, and of this.he says in one place, ‘*I add doubtfully” and in another, ‘‘I am not by any means sure that this is entitled to specific rank ; nor, if so, whether it ought to be placed in the genus Distyla.” My critic then points out the distinctions between the two genera in the words quoted in SCIENCE-Gossip by Mr. Bryce. ‘‘In Cathypna the whole trunk is loricated, but in Distyla only the hinder-portion of the trunk is loricated, the fore part having a membranous covering.” It is a very strange circumstance that in no place does Mr. Gosse mention such a distinction, never even hints at it; and if my critic means anything more than that Distyla can exert rather more of its frontal part than most loricated Rotifera, then his distinction is not a fact. Mr. Gosse does say that the lorica is ‘‘mem- branous before,” but he figures it as having a well- defined anterior margin, and it will be noted, he designates the whole of this ‘‘the lorica.” However, through the kindness of Mr. Bryce and another valued London correspondent, I have had the pleasure of studying two undoubted species of Distyla, both, however, new forms, and I am per- fectly satisfied that the genus is a good one. These two species were very characteristic, and no mi- croscopist who had any experience in this class of animals could fora moment have mistaken them for Cathypna. They had the “‘ lengthened and flattened form,” and the activity so unusual with other Rotifera of the family Cathypnadz. The chief and most obvious distinction, however, is the form of the lorica, which in Distyla is a long oval. In con- clusion, while candidly admitting that I was wrong in my supposition, I think that my previous notes are of value, as showing that there are some species of Cathypna which, when fully extended, so strongly resemble Distyla, when fully extended, that great caution is necessary in assigning them their place, and before doing so they ought to be studied in both conditions. J. E. Lorp. Rawtenstall, OBSERVATIONS ON PHAZLUS IMPUDICUS. HIS fungus, Phallus impudicus, the stinking morell, or stink-horn (Fig. 9), may usually be found amongst the roots of chopped-down trees Fig. 9.—Phallus impudicus. and shrubs, especially the beech and hornbeam, in damp, shady woods and copses ; less frequently I have HARDWICKE' S SCITENCE-GOSSTP. 17 found them on shady and grassy banks, on heaths in thei vicinity : they are very abundant in some woods, for instance in Bury Woods, Epping Forest, they may Fig. 10.—Phallus impudicus before the bursting of the peridium. Fig. 11.—Phallus impudicus (Section). be found growing in clusters under the hornbeams ; and also in several other woods near London. They first appear asan oblong, whitish, transparent | ball (Fig. 10), which will soon burst; from out of this gelatinous covering (volva) rises the tubular column, which has a spongy texture of a milk-white colour; on the apex of this column or stipe is the common receptacle or pileus, at the summit of which is a small white bordered pore, marking the conju- gation with, and opening into the column. At first the sporiferous head is green, without any traces of the laminz, but when ripe the spores escape in a yellowish-brown mucus, leaving the common re- ceptacle and laminz quite clean. It has a very strong fetid smell, especially when the peridium bursts and the column expands, by this smell it may often be found. They are most abundant about July and August, growing in clusters of threes and fours, which are generally from six to eight inches high, and smelling very intense ; however, later in the season (October), the individual specimens are fewer and much larger, often nine and ten inches high, with a very slight smell. I think this must be due to the weather being more favourable to the growth of fungi. The following is an account of a very large speci- men which I found in October this year, growing on the borders of a wood at Highgate :—height thirteen inches, pileus three and a half inches long, column two inches in diameter, and volva four inches long and half an inch thick. Henry E. GRiseEt. SOME FAMOUS COLLECTING-GROUNDS FOR DRAGON-FLIES. By the Author of ‘An Illustrated Handbook of British Dragon-flies,” “A Label List of British Dragon-flies,” etc., etc. I. THE NEW FOREST AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. HE New Forest, in Hampshire, is probably the “happy hunting-ground ” most-frequently pa- tronised by entomologists in the British Islands. From the earliest dawn of entomological history this district has been regarded as the principal store-house of insect-life in this country, whose boundless expanse it is the desire of every enthusiastic entomologist to explore. It constitutes the headquarters of all the ‘* brethren of the net,” and, as in times of yore, it still continues to yield its multitudinous winged treasures to the patient and persevering student. Nowhere else in the United Kingdom is such a veritable paradise for dragon-flies to be found as in the New Forest, and everywhere through its vast length and breadth we may hope to meet with these gorgeous gems, provided only that we pay it a visit in the proper season. The neighbourhood of Brockenhurst, which is in the very centre of the Forest, and exceedingly convenient to reach from either Southampton or 18 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. Bournemouth, is a very good collecting-ground for these majestic creatures; it abounds in ponds and clay-pits, some of which are situated on the common, others in the surrounding woods, while there are several first-class streams and brooks in the immediate district, all of which teem with dragon-flies. The neighbourhood of Lymington, Ringwood, and Lyndhurst also, are famous habitats for many kinds, while several species swarm on the reedy river at Beaulieu, between which village and Lymington there is a very large pool called Sowley Pond, which may also be visited with very successful results. The following species of dragon-flies have been known to occur within the boundaries of the New Forest, namely, Platetrum depressum (very common), Lepletrum quadrimaculata, (very abundant), also its beautiful austral variety Arenubila (which is very common as well), Lzbellula fulva (very rare and local), Orthetrum caerulescens (plentiful), Sympetrum vulgatum (exceedingly abundant, occurring in thou- sands in certain seasons), S. sanguineum, Cordulia @nea, (not uncommon, principally found in the neighbourhood of Brockenhurst and Beaulieu), Oxygastra Curtisii (occurs at Brockenhurst, but is rare) Gomphus vuleatissimus (not uncommon in the vicinity of Brockenhurst), Cordulegaster annulatus (very plentiful on most of the rivers and brooks), Anaso formosus (rare), Brachytron pratense (local), “Eschna cyanea (abundant everywhere), 2. grandis (not uncommon), 2. vufescens (very rare), Calopteryx virgo (exceedingly abundant on all the rivers and streams), C. splendens (ditto), Lestes viridis (a single specimen only of this pretty insect has been taken in the New Forest, which, however, was many years ago, and formerly adorned the famous private collection of Mr. Evans, the well-known entomo- logist ; this species has been captured nowhere else in this country), Z. xympha (rare), L. sponsa (common, but local), Z. wivens (only two specimens of this species have hitherto been taken in this country, both in the New Forest ; they were formerly included in the rich cabinet of Mr. J. F. Stephens, the celebrated author), Platycnemis pennipes (local), Enallagma cyastrigerium (common), Agrion mer- curiale (common, but very local; it is only known to occur in one other locality in this country, namely, at Epping Forest, in Essex). A. pu/chellum (common), A. puella (exceedingly abundant everywhere), /schnw7a pumiiio (very rare and local), 7, elegans (very common everywhere), Py7rhosoma minium (exceedingly abun- dant everywhere), and P. ¢eve//um (local and rare). The neighbourhood of Christchurch is a very good one for dragon-flies, particularly on the river Avon and the river Soar, both of which abound with reeds and rushes. Heron Court, not far from hence, is the headquarters of that very rare and local species Oxygastra Curtisit, which is only found in two or three other localities in this country, namely, in the adjacent counties of Dorset and Devon (in addition to the New Forest, as previously mentioned). It has been captured near Heron Court on several occasions, but is always rare. Parley Heath and Heron Common, about five miles from Christchurch, situated between the rivers Avon and Stour constitute two of the best collecting- grounds for dragon-flies in the country. They both contain a great number of ponds and clay-pits, and abound in damp spots filled with reeds and other marsh-loying plants. Here one may meet with almost as many kinds of dragon-flies as in the New Forest itself, while certain species occur in even greater numbers than in the wooded area. The very local Libellula fulva, which is rare in the New Forest, occurs not uncommonly on Parley Heath, but it is a very difficult species to procure, as it has the habit of keeping nearly the whole of its time out of reach, in the centre of the ponds it is pleased to frequent, and only 'by means of a very long net may we hope to secure it. For this purpose a bamboo fishing-rod with telescopic joints, having the topmost joint removed (as described in my ‘Illustrated Hand- book of British Dragon-flies”) would constitute the most convenient kind of handle. The beautiful variety of Libellula fulva, namely fasciata, which possesses the apices of the wings brown, also occurs in this de- lightful district, from whence I have two very fine female specimens in my collection. The very rare and local Jschnura pumilis has been taken on Parley Heath as well as, by myself, at Bourne- mouth, five miles distant on the sea coast. The latter locality also is a very good one for dragon- flies, particularly round the ponds on Canford Heath, at the back of the town. This pretty common, how- ever, is unfortunately being rapidly encroached upon for building purposes, and the habitat of many good species will consequently be destroyed in a few years hence. The local Zes¢es sponsa occurs very plentifully at Bournemouth, which town, by the bye, is a very convenient place to stop at, as all the localities men- tioned above may easily be reached from it by either rail or road. SCIENCE=GOSSIP: A most valuable paper for marine zoologists appeared in the December number of the “ Annals and Magazine of Natural History,” entitled “ Natural History Notes, from H.M. Indian Marine Survey steamer Jnvestigator, Commander R. F. Hoskyn. Series II., No. 1, ‘On the Results of Deep Sea Dredging during the Season 1890-91,’ by J. Wood- Mason, Superintendent of the Indian Museum, etc., and A, Alcock, Surgeon I.M.S., Surgeon-Naturalist to the Survey.” WE are glad to welcome another of Mr. Dugald Bell’s capital and original papers on glacial geology. HARDWICKE S SCLENCE-GOSSTP. 19 The latest issued is entitled “The Great Winter: a Chapter in Geology,” and was read before the Philosophical Society of Glasgow. WE gladly welcome the first part of the ‘‘ Journal of the Institute of Jamaica,” doubtless edited by the newly-appointed 'secretary (an old correspondent of ScreENcE-Gossip). Mr. T. D. Cockerell. He has not been long in’getting into harness, for this number contains two original papers by him. THE rights for the patent of Larranga’s Photo- Phonograph have been abandoned by the inventor, who “‘gives them to the world.” A pamphlet on this subject has been issued by Dr. J. Maier (London : Whitehead, Morris & Co., Fenchurch Street). THE Norwich ‘‘ Science Gossip ” Club was founded by the present editor of the magazine two years before he became editor. It has endured ever since, and is now oneZof-the strongest and healthiest of popular science clubs in England. Their present ** Report” will} give -people a good idea of this typical social and scientific club, inasmuch as it contains capital abstracts of the papers read during the past year. WE would draw the attention of our microscopical readers to Mr. Hesketh Walker's interesting catalogue of “ Microscopic Sundries,”/and Specialities Labora- tory, 12 Church St., Liverpool. THE -sixth number of the “ Mediterranean Naturalist” (edited by Mr. J. H. Cooke) has reached us. This periodical isa real gain to natural science, as it correctly collects for us the geology, zoology, and botany of the coasts of the most interesting and{most historic sea in the world. THE Institute of Marine Engineers held a very successful conversazione in the Town Hall, on December 11th. A capital programme was issued, and one sent to us; but we would suggest that another time a better?\correlation of gold lettering with a different colour tone is required from a scientific society, so that people may be better able to read the programme. WE have received from Mr. F. L. Dames, natural history and scientific bookseller, 47 Tauben Strasse, Berlin, a series of his catalogues, comprising pamphlets, books, etc., on every department of natural history, botany, zoology, geology, palxon- tology, mineralogy, chemistry, physics, etc. The latest issued includes 350 works on diatoms and desmids, and 250 on algology and microscopy alone. WE cordially welcome M. Tempére’s 7th, or December part of ‘‘Le Diatomiste.” This will prove the best work of its kind yet issued. The illustrations are of an unusually high-class character (London : Bailliére & Co.). We are glad to draw attention to Mr. F. V. Theobald’s Part II., ‘‘ Account of British Flies” (London: Elliot Stock). This will prove a most useful book for intending students of British Diptera. A FUND is very properly being raised under the auspices of the Royal Microscopical Society, for the benefit of the widow and nine children left by the late Mr. John Mayall jun., the active, well-known, and highly esteemed secretary of the Society. Scientific men work frequently for anything but money, and this is an instance where our wealthier scientific brethren have the opportunity of being helpful. Dr. A. IRvING read an interesting and very sug- gestive paper at the early December Meeting of the Geologists’ Association, on ‘‘ Organic matter as a Geological Agent.” THE ‘‘Geological Photographs” Committee ap- pointed by the British Association in 1889, have issued another Report, in which they state that as yet not one half of the British counties are represented in the collection. Here is a good and useful opening for our increasing army of amateur photographers. Our Geological readers should procure Dr. Charles Ricketts’ paper (Presidential Address to the Liverpool Geological Society) on ‘‘Some Phenomena which occurred during the Glacial Epoch.” No English geologist is better posted in our British glacial geology than Dr. Ricketts. WE commend to all those interested in the subject of Technical Education (and suggest they should procure it), the Syllabus of the Nicholson Institute, Leek, Staffordshire. It is the best programme of good work we have seen published. Mr. EpwarD WILSON, the well-known and able curator of the Bristol Museum, recently published in the ‘‘ Geological Magazine,” a paper ‘‘ Ona Specimen of Waldheimia perforata, showing Original Colour- marking.” This interesting specimen was discovered by Mr. J. W. Marshall, of Bristol, an enthusiastic collector of Jurassic Brachiopoda. We have fre- quently found near Castleton, Derbyshire, specimens of Zerebratula hastata, retaining their original colour- bands. A CAPITAL and most useful dvochure has just been written by Mr. Edward Whimper, and published by John Murray, on ‘‘ How to use the Aneroid Baro- meter.” THE last issue of the Guernsey Society of Natural Science and Local Research is a capital number. It contains papers on ‘‘ The Correlation and Relative Ages of the Rocks of the Channel Islands,” by Mr. C. G. De la Mare; an account of ‘‘A Dredging Excursion off Guernsey” (we should like above all 20 HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. things to have been in it), by Mr. R. L. Spencer ; ‘Notable Oral Equipments in Vertebrata,” by Mr. Fred Rose; ‘‘ The Sea Urchin,” by Mr. W. Sharp ; “Instinct, Reason, and Reflex Action,” by the same ; “*The Flora of Jethon,” by Mr. G. T. Derrick ; “Submarine Breathing Animals,” by Mr. J. Sinel; etc. AN adaptation of the telephone to existing telegraph lines has recently been successfully completed between Grangemouth and Glasgow by Mr. A. Erskine Muir- head. The telephones used are the French type, with microphones. The line has two intermediate stations, one at Port Dundas and the other at Kirkin- tilloch, but this in no way impaired the speaking. It is proposed to add two other intermediate stations, making six telephones served by a single line. Though the telegraph instruments were employed simultaneously, there was no interruption, and it is intended that the telegraph instruments shall be discarded. Another feature of the adaptation is that as the wire runs along the canal, the barger can fix a portable telephone on it at any place, and speak to the termini. WE are pleased to see that a Fourth Edition of Mr. Worsley-Benison’s ‘‘ Nature’s Fairy-Land” is required, and was issued last week by Messrs. Elliot Stock. THE following are the lecture arrangements made by the Royal Institution before Easter :—Professor John G. McKendrick, six Christmas lectures to juveniles, on ‘‘Life in Motion; or, the Animal Machine ;” Professor Victor Horsley, ‘‘ Twelve Lectures on the Structure and Functions of the Nervous System (the Brain) ;” Mr. A. S. Murray, ““Three Lectures on Some Aspects of Greek Sculp- ture in Relief ;” Professor E. Ray Lankester, ‘* Three Lectures on Some Recent Biological Discoveries ;” Professor W. P. Ker, three lectures on ‘‘ The Pro- gress of Romance in the Middle Ages;” Dr. B. Arthur Whitelegge, three lectures on ‘‘ Epidemic Waves ;” Professor J. A. Fleming, three lectures on “*The Induction Coil and Transformer ;” the Right Hon. Lord Rayleigh, six lectures on ‘‘ Matter: at Rest and in Motion ;” Professor J. F. Bridge, three lectures on ‘‘ Dramatic Music, from Shakspeare to Dryden (the Play, the Masque, and the Opera),” with illustrations. The Friday evening meetings will begin on January 22nd, when a discourse will be given by the Right Hon. Lord Rayleigh on ‘‘ The Composition of Water.” Succeeding discourses will probably be given by Sir George Douglas, Bart., Professor Roberts-Austen, C.B., Mr. G. J. Symons, Professor Percy F. Frankland, Sir David Salomons, Bart., Professor L. C. Miall, Professor Oliver Lodge, Mr. George Du Maurier, Mr. John Evans, Mr. F. T. Piggott, Professor W. E. Ayrton, and other gentle- men. MICROSCOPY. CLEANING SLIpEs.—Canada balsam may be cleaned from slides by moistening a rag with spirits of turpentine ; if the balsam is very hard, it may be just warmed over the spirit-lamp. I find this the best way, being very quick.—H. £. Griset. MOouNTING BUTTERFLIES’ PROBOSCES.—Will any of your readers kindly tell me the best way to mount a butterfly’s probocis? I have tried a good many in Canada balsam, but the two halves always become separated. Is it usual to mount only the one half, or is there some way of mounting it whole, without the. two halves separating ?>—R. HZ, Vapp. MALES OF CLADOCERA.—During the months of September, October, and November last, the com- paratively rare males of the Entomostracan order Cladocera seemed to be fairly abundant in the soutk Epping Forest district. Males of fourteen species in all were seen by me during the period mentioned, belonging to the different genera as follows : Cerio- daphnia (4), Scapholeberis (1), Simocephalus (1), Daphnia (4), Bosmina (1), Acroperus (1), Campto- cereus (1), Pleuroxus (1). I do not know whether to consider this as an exceptionally good list for one season or not, but it is certainly far better than my records for the two preceding years, and it would be interesting if collectors of pond-life in other localities would give their experience in this matter.—D. 7. Scourfield, NEw SLIpEs.—We have received from Mr. A. Flatters, of Oldham, three most interesting and botanically useful slides. One is the transverse sec- tion of old pine-wood (Linus sylvestris), cut the ais in.; another is a tangential transverse section of the same, cut the same thinness ; and the third is the radial transverse section cut down to yyy in. Mr. Flatters’ slides are accompanied by a very ingenious explanatory diagram. ZOOLOGY. THE BUTTERFLIES OF JAMAICA,—In the article on this subject in the October number, I desire to correct one or two misprints in the list of names. For Synchloe jopparead Synchtoe F. For ‘‘ (Boridv.)” read ‘*(Boisdv.)” For Avicogonia terina read K. terissa, and for Callydryas senue read C. senne. All these belong to Jamaica; and they and their larvee (apparently a second brood) swarmed there from May to July, as so graphically described by Dr. Plaxton. Indeed the great number of larvze, chiefly of Noctuze (erebide). and Geometre (e.g, the beautiful black Melanochroia (?) with white-tipped wings) swarming sometimes in masses a foot and more wide, on the HARDWICKE' S SCTENCE-GOSSTIP: 21 trunks of Pithecolobiun: saman, and other of their food-supplying trees, was a more remarkable feature of the earlier months of this year in Jamaica—and is the more remarkable when considered in connection with the alleged rarity of insect-life in more temperate regions during the same period.— Henry Strachan. SUPPOSED BREEDING OF THE SCOTER NEAR CHICHESTER.—Mr. Anderson’s communication at Pp. 256 under the above heading is hardly so cir- cumstantial and full as to place the breeding of the scoter at Earnley beyond doubt, and I hope in a matter of so much interest he will publish all the particulars in his possession. Will Mr. Anderson kindly say whether any of the seven Scoters seen were procured, their presumed age, and what reason there was to suppose they had been hatched in that neigh- bourhood? Mr. Anderson is of course aware that scoters may be found on the coast in every month of the year, and that they not unfrequently in summer, visit inland sheets of fresh water. I think I have evidence even stronger than that given by Mr. Ander- son in favour of the probability of the scoter having” nested in Norfolk in 1875, for a brood of young birds was seen on Hickling Broad throughout the summer of that year, and the late Mr. Booth saw fourteen or fifteen of these birds flying over the same Broad in- wards at the end of July. I should hesitate to claim the scoter as having bred in Norfolk on this unsup- ported evidence, but if Mr. Anderson can show strong probability of its having done so at Earnley, I think the two cases would lend mutual support to each other.— Thomas Southwell, Norwich. BLACK-VEINED WHITE BUTTERFLY.—I am glad to be able to give Mr. Waters the following informa- tion respecting the capture of this insect by a friend. In the neighbourhood of Sewerby, Hull, in May 1885, two larvze of this butterfly were found feeding on a species of thorn. It was not known what they were until the perfect insect appeared, when a further search was immediately made and six pupz were found in the same place, all of which emerged in the course of a day ortwo. Three of these are now in my possession. As many of the young trees and thorns about there were newly planted varieties from the Continent, might it not be possible that the ova or young larve might have been brought over into this country with them ?—C, £. Rockett. SHELLS WITH DoupLz MoutTus.—Mr. Ashford, in his interesting account of the various records of double-mouthed monstrosities of Clausilize, remarks that, ‘‘ Judging by the absence of records, shells with large and simple mouths are not liable to such an accident.” Allow me to state that in Mr. William WNelson’s magnificent collection of Limnzide, there are a number of specimens of Limnea peregra with two and three apertures ; and if I remember rightly, I have also seen examples of double-mouthed Z. Zeregra in the beautiful collection of Mr. J. Maddison of Bir- mingham.—/V. £. Collinge, St. Andrews, N.B. CLAUSILIA WITH TWO APERTURES.—The corre- spondence on this subject in recent numbers of SCIENCE-GossIP, induces me to put on record the occurrence of a similar monstrosity in Bedfordshire. The species is Clawslia rugosa, and was found at the, foot of an old willow-tree, in the hamlet of Limbury, by my son Edgar. .The two apertures were well formed, and similarly situated to those shown on p. 257 for 1891. The specimen was presented to Mr. Taylor of Leeds, and probably is still in the posses- sion of that gentleman.— James Saunders, Luton. BOTANY. Morus AND SALLOws.—Every entomologist knows that the male catkins of the sallow are very attractive to moths, and that the liquid which they imbibe partially stupifies them. Now, I often wondered how, the sailow being anemophilous, the plant could be in any way advantaged by the visits of insects ; and why, if it is not advantaged, an attractive secretion was developed at all. It occurred to me that the insects shook the catkins and so facilitated the dispersion of pollen. But if this were the ex- planation, the stupifying nature of the liquid would seem a positive disadvantage, as it makes the insects remain quiet. The only explanation I can offer is, that when heavy moths become intoxicated and fall off, the elastic rebound of the stem of the catkin may shake off the pollen; but this seems very unsatis- factory, and possibly one of your readers may be able to give a better explanation.—7. R. Holt, Dublin. ABNORMAL ORCHID FLOWERS.—The following abnormal orchid flowers have come under my observa- tion during the present year. One flower of Cattleya mossi@ with three sepals and two petals ; the superior petal was adherent to the column.* One flower of Cattleya mendelit with two sepals and only one petal, the lower sepal bearing rudiments of the labellum in the form of a narrow ridge running from the base of the column down the centre of the sepal and terminating in a deep purple-coloured contorted appendage. One flower of Cypripedium Lawrencianum in which the shield-like staminode was contorted. The labellum was larger and longer than usual, measuring exactly one inch longer than the inferior sepal. The two lateral petals were curved. The inner side of the right lateral petal was slightly lobed and inflected, bearing the markings and colours on frontal and dorsal sides exactly like the labellum, while on the outer side all the characteristics of the opposite petal were present. Two abnormal flowers of Cypripedium * T am indebted to Mr. H. Sams for kindly sending me the first five specimens. 22 HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSIP. sedeni: (1.) Having a median fertile stamen occupy- ing the normal position of the staminode. There was no median sepal. The two lateral sepals were distinct. No lateral petals were present, but a petal occupying the position of the median sepal. (2.) The corolla of this flower was composed of four petals, the lateral petals were half-curved, and the lower petals assumed the saccate form of the labellum. The two lower sepals were concrescent ; the andrce- cium and gynzecium were normal. The first flower affords an example of a Cypripedium in a dimerous condition, and the second an example of pleiomery or plurality of parts. Seven malformed flowers of Phagus grandiflora, three of which had two of their petals adhering to and forming a hood over the column. Four flowers in which the dorsal sepal was united to the column. ‘The flowers of Ophrys afifera are very variable. This year I have seen several flowers in which the two pouches of the rostellum were more or less distant from each other, and I have frequently observed flowers with their pollinia differing in shape.—7. 7. A. Hicks, F.R.L.S. Curious GROWTH OF FuNGI.—During one of my rambles in November, through a wood near Croydon, I collected a large number of specimens of fungi; many of them exceedingly beautiful, and all full of interest to the student of natural history. In one instance a common variety which abounded among the fallen leaves of the oaks and beeches, presented a growth so curious that perhaps an account of it will interest some of your numerous readers. ‘Three plants, belonging to a light brick- red-coloured variety of Agaric, with gills of a paler and more delicate shade, had sprung up close to one another and were connected together by their epi- dermis, the stems and gills of each individual being distinct and separate. There were no marks of suture at the juncture of the three caps, and the largest of the group was pulled over sideways by its smaller neighbours. These facts seem to show that the three plants came into existence in this condition, thus form- ing a sort of botanical Siamese triplet which I believe js very uncommon in this class of fungus. I naturally wished to preserve such a curiosity, but on examina- tion at home I found the plants to be infested by small white, footless, black-headed maggots, the larvze, I suppose, of a species of fly. Closer scrutiny revealed a minute puncture in each cap, by means of which the ova had been deposited by the parent-fly, in the plant that was to supply focd to the larve when hatched, and thus an organism that is, in a sense, parasitical upon decaying vegetation, was in its turn preyed upon by another. A few days later, when walking over the downs, I disturbed a flock of rooks, which proved to have been feeding on maggots similar to those just described, for the ground was strewn with fragments of fungi pecked to pieces by them in prosecuting their search. I noticed here another curious fact with regard to fungi. Wherever the turf had been taken up and removed, the place was marked by a ring of toadstools that had sprung up along the circumference of the part bared. I was unable to discern any cause for this, but the occur- rence was too marked and frequent to have been accidental.— 7. G. Bing. ‘¢ SPORTING’? CLOVER AND RARE PLANTS.— Apropos of Mr. G. H. Bryan’s note in your issue of this month, it may perhaps not be without interest to record that I also found the proliferous state of Trifolium repens on the bank of the Midland Railway, near Mill Hill, N.W., this summer, and not far from it a similarly monstrous form of Plantago major. Close to these, and evidently introduced in ballast, I found what an eminent botanical authority stigmatised, when I showed them to him, as ‘a bad lot” viz: Bartsia incana, Camelina sativa, Anthemis tinctoria, a Potentilla (I think, hirta), and a Dracocephalum. These five were all growing within the space of one square yard. Bartsia incana I subsequently found ‘again in abundance on the Great Northern Railway near Finchley, in company with a blue labiate, which I have not been able to identify. On the Midland line near Hendon, I found a solitary plant of Zxysz- mum orientale, whilst Nasturtium sylvestre was grow- ing in abundance beside the Great Northern near High- gate. Ranunculus lingua still grows in the Totteridge ponds, and though Zeucriwm botrys has for the last few years been extinct at its former station near Mill Hill, Polygonum officinale (or multiflorus ?) still exists in the neighbourhood, but is so persistently eaten down by cattle before it has time to flower that its identification is difficult. I may add that I found a very fine albino bloom of Centaurea scabiosa in Sep- tember, at Cromer, while taking a fine haul of the larva of the privet hawk-moth, which always seems most abundant by the sea. If you think these notes of any interest, pray make what use you like of them. —A. EL. Hudson. NOTES AND QUERIES. CoLOoURING OF FLOWERS.—While the white- flower question is being noticed by the many botani- cal and other readers of SCIENCE-Gossip, I will mention a few which I think will be useful to its long list of notices. Plants of Campanula rotundifolia 1 have several times found quite colourless, or, on the other hand, coloured to excess ‘‘blue purple.” Orchis pyramidalis is often very variable in colouring ; on a hedge-bank in Kent I saw a large cluster of these plants, perhaps fifty, amongst them was a pair with light cream-coloured flowers ; others of the same group were of a deep rose-purple or madder colour. Of Gentiana amarella, an albino specimen sent to me by Mr. A. Pickard, of Wolsingham ; this is the first ‘* albino” of this plant I have seen, although I saw a great many of them normally coloured in Kent and Surrey this year. Of Gentiana campestris I found five colourless specimens growing in a group on Box HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSS/P. 23 Hill. Specimens of Scadzosa succisa may be found of shades from white to purple; and Scadzosa columbaria from white to dark blue, but the latter very rare. It may be noticed, at least in many cases, that the want of colour is usually due to the ex- clusion of light and poorness of soil, while the excess of colouring (as the purple Pyramidal Orchis just men- tioned) is caused by excess oflight and nourishment ; but this does not account for the cream-coloured form in the same situation: plants having been placed in an air-tight bottle, and kept in the dark for a few days, will, as a rule, lose more or less their colouring. While speaking of abnormalities, I may mention some plants of Geranium molle; they were all above a yard long, and bore double flowers (November 14) of half to an inch in diameter, with from fifteen to thirty parts of all the whorls.—enry £. Grisét. Toap-SpawN.—On August Ist, while visiting some small ponds, which had been dried up for some weeks, I found some spawn similar to that of the toad, but as I never knew toads to spawn there, and the ponds were a great resort of natterjacks, I suppose it was their spawn. Can you account for their late spawning ? EDWARDs’ *‘ REPTILES.”’—Can any reader tell me if I could procure a copy of the paper which Thomas Edwards wrote upon the “ Reptiles of Banffshire,” and also what preparation is used to prevent the skins of such reptiles as frogs, newts, etc., from shrinking when bottled.—JZ. A. Smith. THE Sotar YEAR.—The Solar Year consisting of 365 days 6 hrs. 9 min. 96 sec., and the 6 hrs. being accounted for by leap-year, I shall feel much obliged if any one could inform me how the remain- ing 9 min. 9°6 secs. are allowed for; whether in 1g00 A.D. an extra day will be inserted in the calendar.—7. R. Fones. Late SwtrtTs.—On the 13th last November, I saw a swift. Had it been a swallow or martin I should scarcely have deemed it of sufficient- interest to send to your paper, but that it was a swift Iam quite sure, as it crossed the road I was on three or four times, flying low down; once being chased by one of our small native birds. This year I saw several in the early part of September.—Chas. Law. ANIMATED OAtTs.—My cousin having sent me some Of these oats, I followed out her instructions by dipping one in some cold water and then lightly throwing it on a piece of paper. In a few seconds the awns began to move, and after some struggling the oat lifted itself up and turned over. After it had performed many gyrations the oat again became inanimate. I should be greatly obliged if some reader of SCIENCE-GossIP, could explain the cause of these movements.—Clara Kingsford, Canterbury. THE PLAGUE OF FLIEs.—Whilst botanizing in woods during last summer and autumn, I was on several occasions almost driven mad by the constant attack of flies and other insects, and although I en- deavoured to ward off the same and keep them at a respectful distance by smoking and sprinkling my hat and clothes with camphor or carbolic, I found that my rude remedies were quite unsuccessful. Thinking that some of your esteemed contributors could suggest an efficient remedy for this plague, I have ventured to ask your kind assistance, not only for myself, but many others who have suffered in the same way.—C, fea. NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. To CORRESPONDENTS AND EXCHANGERS.—As we now publish ScreNcE-Gossrp earlier than formerly, we cannot un- dertake to insert in the following number any communications which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month. To Anonymous Querists.—We must adhere to our rule of not noticing queries which do not bear the writers’ names. To DEALERS AND OTHERS.—We are always glad to treat dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general ground as amateurs, in so far as the ‘‘exchanges”’ offered are fair exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are simply DisGuis—ED ADVERTISEMENTS, for the purpose of evading the cost of advertising, an advantage is taken of our gratuztous insertion of ‘‘ exchanges,” which cannot be tolerated. WE request that all exchanges may be signed with name (or initials) and full address at the end. Spectat Note.—There is a tendency on the part of some exchangers to send more than one per month. We only allow this in the case of writers of papers. To our Recent ExcHANGERS.—Weare willing to be helpful to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow dzs- guised Exchanges like those which frequently come to us to appear unless as advertisements. A. E. Boycott.—We shall be very pleased to have your paper for Scl1ENCE-GossIP. J. A. W.—See Dr. Taylor’s book on ‘‘ Our Common British Fossils,”’ for descriptions and illustrations of the crag shells found in the Walton-on-Naze cliffs. J. H. B. Green.—Many thanks for the unusually large and fine specimen of abnormal growth of cabbage-leaf. It well illustrates the origin of Pitcher plants. See the papers on “‘Vegetable Teratology,” in SciencE-GossiP vol. for 1890. F. G. Binc.—Many thanks for your pretty sketch of the three funguses growing together by their caps. J. E. K.—Apply to Messrs. Wesley & Son, or Messrs. Dulau, for works on Natural History, &c., of Brazil. H. W. BisHop.—You can procure a simple section-cutting machine from any dealer in microscopic materials. A. W. RicHarpson.—Coloured plates were only issued with ScrencE-Gossip during 1884 and 1885. ALFRED TARNER.—Get Mr. English’s (of Epping) little book on how to preserve fungi. Mr. Maynard, of Saffron Walden, prepares them beautifully. E. Craven.—The only mineral resembling iron-ore (specular iron) in the very small specimen sent, is the dark transversely striated mineral ‘‘ Black Jack,” or zincic sulphide. “‘Hussar.”—Get the ‘‘Collector’s Handbook,” published by W. H. Allen & Co. There is no little book on marine life correspnding to Cook’s Ponds and Ditches.” Pennington’s “‘Zoophytes,’’ and Dr. Landsborough’s ditto are good. JoszPH Smitru.—See chapters on ‘‘Sponges,” by Professor Sollas, in 1884 vol. of ScrencE-Gossie; also on ‘‘Shore Collecting,” in Scrence-Gossip vol. for 1888. All the works on the subject are expensive. EXCHANGES. GEOLOGICAL works by Geikie, Woodward, Dawson, Green, &c., wanted, in exchange for foraminifera named and mounted, or for foraminiferal material.—J. H. C., Highland House, St. Julian’s, Malta. TerTIARY fossils. Wanted, tertiary fossils, named and located, in exchange for Mediterranean shells, lepiduptera, &c. State desiderata.k—J. H. C., Highland House, St. Julian’s, Malta. b Humeotp7’s ‘‘ Kosmos,”’ 2 vols., 1845-48, cloth gilt, scarcely soiled. Offers.—Joseph Wallis, Deal. WanrTED, fertile eggs of vapourer moth (Orgyza antigua), in exchange for eggs of gipsy moth. Address—A. Witt, Hale Parsonage, Salisbury. I sHALL be glad of any named British shells to start a collection. Can offer a few species of British lepidoptera.— Miss E. M. Pepperell, 5 Park Street, Bristol. Scrence-Gossip wanted, cheap (Nos. 241-288, both in- clusive), to complete set. State lowest price.—H. J. Barber, Brighouse, Yorkshire. WaAnrTED, good micro. slides up to the value of 4/., in ex- change for an aquarium 24 X 12 % 12 inches, glass slides.— W. Davis, 48 Richmond Road, Cardiff. A fine gathering of Batracheosperma moniliforma, suitable for mounting, in exchange for good slides, preferably of marine hydrozoas and polyzoas.—J. E. Lord, Rawtenstall. Ecos to exchange for others not in collection: sheldrake, spoonbill, red grouse, quail, woodchat, shrike, common shrike, 24 HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSTP. ring-ousel, red-lezged partridge, Arctic tern, black-headed bunting, black guillemot, kittiewake, herring gull, and coote.— K. H. Jones, St. Bride’s Rectory, Manchester. ExectrricaL.—Frictional and galvanic apparatus, good as ‘new. Will exchange for good magic-lantern and part cash, or offers.—G., 35 Caversham Road, N.W. A coop collection of British and foreign land, freshwater, and marine shells, consisting of over three hundred species, and many varieties, including fifty lots of shells, neatly mounted, in glass tubes. For full particulars apply to—P. R. Shaw, 48 Bidston Road, Birkenhead. Tate’s ‘‘Land and Freshwater Molluscs,” coloured plates, clean copy, good as new. What offers—geological? Also Sci#nce-Gossip for 1886, unbound.—G. H. Corbett, 13 Church Road, Nechells, Birmingham. DeEsIvDERATA. — Testacella haliotidea, mauget; Zonites glaber, radiatuius, excavatus, purus, fuluus; Helix aspersa var. exalbida, arbustorum var. flavescens, sericea, fusca, virgata, var. nigrescens, tessellata, ericetorum var. instabilis, prgm@a; Clausilia laminata, Acme lineata. Oblata.—H. rufescens var. alba, rubens, and minor, hispida, concinna, vevelata, pisana, virgata, and vars. major, minor, albicans, vufula, lutescens, submaritima, alba, caperata, and vars. obliterata, alba, fulva, ornata, ericetorum, and vars. lutescens, leucozona, major, minor, rotundata, rupestris, lapicida; Bulimus obscurus, Pupa secale, umbilicata, marginata; Balea perversa, Clausilia rugosa, and var. tumidula, dubia, Cyclo- stoma elegans.—S., 40 Braybrooke Road. Hastings. WANTED, back numbers of ScieNcE-Gossip for 1866, 1868— 1871, 1873, 1879, 1882-1884, in exchange for micro. slides or cash. Also, would like to exchange a few slides for others.— F. S. Morton, 158 Cumberland Street, Portland, Maine, U.S.A. WanTED, freshwater, sea shells, and corals, in exchange for chalk polyzoa, flustra, lituola, rotalia, serpula, spicules, geodes (flint), crystals of selenite from London clay.—W. Gamble, 2 West Street, New Brompton, Kent. Hlelix vittata(?) large, and far flatter than type; H. traz- guebarica, Velosita cyprinoides, Neritina orialanensis, Nassa Yacksoniana and Tympanotomus fluviatilis, from Travan- core; also various marine shells from Cape Comorin (un- named), for foreign helices.—Rev. J. W. Horsley, Woolwich. Herparium. — Offered, British, Norwegian, and North American plants, for those of other countries. Printed list of duplicates.—H. Fisher, 26 Stodman Street, Newark, Notts. Scrence-Gossip (unbound), for 1867, 1887-89. What offers in foreign postage-stamps for same?—W. Harris, 136 Drayton Park, Highbury, London, N. i WanTED, back numbers of Scrence-Gossip, “‘ Zoologist,” “Naturalist,” ‘‘Naturalist’s Gazette,” and ‘Field Club”; bound vols. preferred. Will exchange books, eggs, &c. Also wanted, works by Hewitson and Morris.—W. R. Riley, Savile Lea, Halifax, Yorks. ForEIGN land and marine shells, offered in exchange for orchids or foreign birds. —Miss Linter, Arragon Close, Twickenham, ExcHANGE.—Fine Lingula scotica, lower carboniferous, in ironstone nodule; photo free. Photographic books or offers to value of s50s.—W. J. Heslop, West View, Lemington, Newcastle, 1 ExCHANGE.—Side-blown eggs of capercaillie, sociable plover, Canada goose, ring-ousel, eider duck, ptarmigan, twite, gold- crest, teal, Manx sherewater, &c. Desiderata, other eggs or insects.—J. Ellison, Steeton, Keighley. EXCHANGE fine series of crag fossils \for eggs, insects, or offers.—J. Ellison, Steeton, Keighley. WANTED, micro. slides showing organs of generation in thallophytes, and sections of seeds. Will give good botanical slides. Address—T. B., Conservative Club, Hinckley. WANTED, to correspond with collectors who may have rare British shells to offer in return for other very rare British shells. Mutual exchanges.x—Thomas E. Sclater, Strand, Teignmouth. WANTED, a few specimens of the following: labradorite, crocodolite (from the Congo), and any other good bright crystal minerals, about two or three inches in size and up- wards, in exchange for British shells, micro. objects, fossils, polished madrepores.—A. J. R. Sclater, M.C.S., Natural History Stores, 43 Northumberland Place, The Strand, Teignmouth. WanTED, British mammals, alive or in the flesh (fresh killed), particularly bats, mice, shrews, voles, wild cat, pine and beech marten, badger, otter; also varieties of mole, hedge- hog, &c.; must be in good condition for stuffing. Apply to— W. Harcourt Bath, Ladywood, Birmingham. ScrencE-GossiP, Nos. 241-264, having four numbers missing, and a deal cabinet containing about one hundred British wild bird and gull eggs, in exchange’for curios.—G. Waters, 21 Westbourne Park Road, Bayswater, W. Wuar offer for a splendid collection of Helzx nemoralis, including eight named vars., and forty variously banded, nearly all named: also ten various 1. avdustorum, including var. alba.—H. Blaby, Brackley, Northants. TerTIARY and cretaceous fossils wanted. Sends lists to— J. A. Ellis, r Pomona Place, Fulham, London, S.W. OFFERED, Ramsbotham’s ‘‘ Obstetric Surgery ” (published at 22s.), Nicholson’s ‘‘ Zoology” (7s. 6d.), Orme’s ‘‘ Heat” (3s. 6@.), Cleland’s ‘‘ Animal Physiology” (2s. 6d.), Saarner’s “*The Microscope.” Wanted, good minerals and fossils.— W. H. Olver, 2 Adelaide Terrace, Truro. To naturalists in India. Wanted, pupz or ove of wild silk moths: A. atlas, A. selene, A. cynthia, A. mylitta, C. tri- JSenestrata, &c. Will give cash or full exchange, as desired. Correspondence invited.—Mark L, Sykes, F.R.M.S., 31 Derby Street, Moss Side, Manchester. OFFERED, British land, freshwater, and marine shells for others, or offers. — A. H. Shepherd, 8r Corinne Road, London, N. Eocene fossils for exchange, named and localised, also Cornish rock and mineral specimens. Wanted, named speci- mens of minerals, micro. rock sections, or perfect terebratulze from any formations, or offers,—E, H. V. Davies, 46 Upper Belgrave Road, Clifton, Bristol. WanTED, fossils from various localities, especially British and foreign tertiaries.—Thomas W. Reader, 171 Hemingford Road, London, N. I wisu to dispose of thirty 8 X 6 photographs of locomotive engines (cost 2s. each), for which I will take offers in exchange. Wanted, a microscope, clarionet, violin, safety, or other useful thing.—Reginald E. M. Bleasdall, Dale End, Birmingham. Vou. 41 of ‘‘ Nature,” clean, unbound, in exchange for anything entomological—W. S. Rolfe, Hazeldene, Tooting Junction, S.W. Due.icatgs.—Fine stuffed specimen of cormorant in first- class preservation, from the Isle of Wight, also P. ovale, L. stagnalis, L. glabra, S. elegans, H, arbustorum, H.cantiana, Hi. rufescens, H. pisana, and var. alba, H. virgata, and var. albicans, H. caperata, H. ertcetorum, H. vrotundata, B. acutus, B. obscurus, P. umbillicata, C. rugosa, C. lubrica, C. elegans, &c. Desiderata, many varieties of common species and offers, birds’ eggs, or British butterflies and moths.— W. Hewett, 12 Howard Street, York. OFFERED, Pis. amnicum, Pal. vivipara, Byth. tentaculata, Plan. carinatus, H. nemoralis, H. hortensis, H. arbustorum, Bul. obscurus, Vert. pygma@a, Coch. tridens, in exchange for British land and freshwater shells not in collection; also for foreign shells. Foreign correspondence invited.—H. E. Craven, Matlock Bridge. For exchange, P. contecta, V. piscinalis, V. cristata, Lim. glabra, L. truncatula, L. palustris, P. spirorbis, P. glaber, P. dilatatus, S. putris, H. sericea, C. tridens, C. minimunt, Wanted, Fis. nitidum, Z. excavatus, H. cartusiana, Cl. biplicata, &c.—F. C. Long, 32 Woodbine Road, Burnley, Lancs. WAnTED, B. montanus, P. nitidum, P. roseum, A. lineata, Offered, P. secale, Gonisbasis plicifera, Neritina pupa, H. strigella, H. umbrosa, H. obvia, Cl. papillifera, Cl. itala, Pupa avenacea, Cl. parvula.—G, H. Gude, 5 Giesbach Road, Upper Holloway. A SPLENDID series of nearly fifty animal hairs, in return for six well-mounted micro. slides.—Arthur H. Williams, Hythe. WanTED, Turton’s ‘‘ Manual of the Land and Freshwater Shells of the British Islands,” Gray’s Ed. of 1857; Reeve’s “(Land and Freshwater Molluscs,” 1863; and Tate’s ‘‘ Land and Freshwater Molluscs,” 1866.—H. W. Kew, 5 Giesbach Road, Upper Holloway, N. BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE. “‘Delagoa Bay: Its Natives and Natural History,” by Rose Monteiro (London: Philip & Son).—‘‘ Annals of British Geology,” 1890,” by J. F. Blake (London: Dulau & Co.).— “Larranga’s Photo-Phonograph,” by Julius Maier.—‘‘ Report of Norwich Science-Gossip Club, 1890.”—‘‘ Journal of the Institute of Jamaica.”—‘‘ Proceedings of the Geologists’ Asso- ciation.”—“The Essex Naturalist.”—Wesley’s ‘‘ Nat. Hist. and Scientific Book Circular.”—‘‘American Microscopical Journal.”—‘‘ American Naturalist.”—‘‘Canadian Entomolo- gist.”’—‘ The Naturalist.”—‘‘ The Botanical Gazette.” —‘‘ The Gentleman’s Magazine.” — ‘‘The Midland Naturalist.” — “Feuilles des Jeunes Naturalistes.”—‘‘The Microscope.”— “Nature Notes,” &c., &c. CoMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED UP TO THE 12TH ULT. FROM: A. H. S.—j. W. S.-H. G. W. A.—J. R. H.—E. W.—H. 5. —T. L.—J. H. C—O. W. J.—A. E. B.—W. J. P.—R. H. Y. J. H. A. H.—G. H. W.—J. A. E.—J. E. L.—H. E. G.— S. M.—F. V. T.—W. D.—C. K.—A. G. F.—H. I. B.— i935 Sb [SEMA Gib, SC. Caen P) R. SRS TFs, FLD ae ee R. B—E. H.V. D.—C. E. R.—W. H.—T. W. RA. Be Swi SURE TSA = EC eae eae W. HH. FW. We E.G AaES eens K. G.—F. C. L—J. H. B. G—M. L. S—W. B..0.—H B.— G. W.—G.'L. R—W. He B= DS yes =A RS S.—F. G:B—_W. R. RAN Hes — Clip CR Wares TS. B.—J.E.—T. $.—f. E. H—P. FD —C) Ds Se R—T. S. M.—J..H. CJ) ANS =A: BMP: Wi Aas J. W. F,—H. W. K.—Dr. A. M. C.—&c., &c. HARDWICKE'S SCLENCE-GOSST/P. 25; THE POSSIBLE COAL-FIELDS OF EAST ANGLIA. RECENT lecture by Dr. Taylor, the editor of SCIENCE-GOsSIP, is reported as follows, in the ‘*East Anglian Daily Times.” The lecture was delivered at the Atheneum, Bury St. Edmunds. The Right Hon. Earl Cadogan, K.G., occupied the chair, and there was a large attendance. The noble Chairman in in- troducing Dr. Taylor, said the subject which that gentleman had © chosen for his lecture was of the greatest possible interest to all who dwell in the Eastern Counties. Dr. Taylor opened his lecture by referring to the numerous mistakes made by people who knew nothing of the matter, concerning the probable occurrence of coal in Hast Anglia. He had seen in the newspapers letters stating that coal had been discovered in yarious well-borings throughout the county, but this simply meant that an occasional pebble of coal had been found in the drift beds among thousands of other pebbles which had been brought down and strown about by glacial agencies. It was easy to understand that from places in the Midland and Northern counties, where the coal cropped out, fragments were brought down to this district by the moving sheet of ice which at one time covered the Eastern counties. But these incidental findings of coal had nothing to do with the great argument he had to lay before them that evening, and he asked No. 326.—FEBRUARY 1892, them, in the first place, to disabuse their minds of any such idea.* What he wanted to ask them was, to imagine— and science had to appeal largely to the imagination —what the appearance of the Eastern counties would be if they could strip off, like the clothes from a bed, all the overlying strata, including the chalk, He did not hesitate to say that, if they did so, they would find a continuation of the same primary rocks extending underneath London and into the South- Eastern counties as those which occupied the surface in North Wales, Lancashire, Cheshire, and York- shire, only perhaps in a more or less parallel series of folds, running nearly west and east. On the ridges of these the lower Primary rocks would be found, and in the hollows of the folds, perhaps, coal-basins. It was with this fact that his lecture would have to deal. It could not be a so-called popular lecture, therefore, but must of necessity be more or less scientific, and the issues involved in it were so important to the Eastern counties that he did not hesitate to place these scientific arguments before them in as clear and lucid a manner as he was capable of. [It may be said here that the lecturer was largely assisted by specially-- made diagrams, covering the walls, as well as black- board sketches, which enabled his hearers the more: clearly to follow his closely-reasoned line of argument. ] The first point to be established was that between- the Somersetshire coal-field and possibly the South Welsh coal-fields in the west, and the coal-fields of Northern France and Belgium to the east, there was an underground continuation. The rocks were tied on, so to speak, from one end to the other, only they were like a chain which had been bellied down in the middle during the secondary period of geology, covered by the sea to a great depth, and strown over * [Since the above lecture was delivered I had recently- found specimens of ‘‘coal’’ sent me from well-borings passed) through the boulder clay. They were not coal at all, but fragments of black Kimmeridge shale.—Ep. S.-G.]. Cc 26 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. == with the deposits of that particular age. On the south there were thick strata of Oolitic formations, which in the famous Sussex Wealden boring were found to be nearly 2,000 feet in thickness. At Dover they were 600 feet thick, but there they had bored through the chalk, through this underlying 600 feet thick of oolite, and had struck the Carboni- ferous rocks. Five different seams of coal had been pierced, he believed, so that a shaft was following the boring at the present time, and before long there would be a Dover Coal-Field added to those already existing in England. By means of a sketch on the blackboard, Dr. Taylor showed that this easterly and westerly extension— that is to say, between the west in England and the east in Belgium and Northern France—was an anti- clinal axis or series of axes, along whose flanks different rocks of the primary period rested upon each other in such a way that if they could be moved to their relative positions, those furthest away from the main ridge would be uppermost and latest formed, while those close to the centre of the run of the axis would be the oldest. Therefore, he contended, it was along the outer flanks of this main axis that the coal-beds would be found, if anywhere. These flanks had themselves been much contorted, so that the coal would be in the form of narrow basins of no great width, although of considerable length, running along the trend of the underground primary ridge. For instance in Somersetshire, the basins from which coal was at present worked were very narrow in comparison with their length. The Lié¢ge Coal-Field in Belgium was not more than eight miles wide although it was 45 miles long. At Charleroi the coal-field was ‘eight miles broad and 35 miles long. Narrow as they were, however, these coal-fields were rich in seams. At Liége 35 different seams had been discovered ; in Westphalia 117; and in all of the basins he had mentioned coal was worked abundantly and profitably, although at a great depth. It had been thought by geologists in former years that it would be impracti- cable to work for coal underneath the chalk. The first intimation that this was not necessarily the case was given by a deep artesian well-boring near Calais, some years ago, in which the primary rocks were struck just beneath the chalk, all the other secondary strata being more or less absent. The Valenciennes Coal-Field, which was only 30 miles away from Calais, was now being very largely worked beneath the chalk, and this gave encouragement to him (Dr. Taylor) many years ago to believe that similar conditions might prevail immediately under the chalk and tertiary strata in the Eastern counties. ‘ The lecturer then directed attention to an artesian well-boring made at Harwich in 1859, by Mr. Peter Bruff, of Ipswich. That well had a depth of less than 1,200 feet, but the Lower Carboniferous Rocks were struck and penetrated to a depth of 70 feet. He pointed out, however, that these were not the real coal-bearing rocks, and that every foot deeper they went down at Harwich might take them further away from the proper position where the coal-bearing strata would be found, unless the strata were inverted, as was the case in some parts of the Belgium coal- field. The latter had doubtless been peeled off by denudation during the period when the rocks were exposed to atmospherical wear and tear, and were depressed to become the bottom of the cretaceous sea. The one important fact to geo- logists in connection with the Harwich well-boring was that none other of the secondary formations were present beneath the chalk, but that the chalk went bang down upon the old floor of primary rocks. Reasoning on this point, and believing that to the north the upper coal-measures—the higher coal- measures, that was to say-—would be found in successive order resting upon the flanks of the - Harwich carboniferous foundation, he-had thought that trial borings to the south of Suffolk, and possibly to the north in Essex, might penetrate some of the upper measure containing the crumbled, narrow, and elongated coal-fields he had referred to. A few years ago at Combs, near Stowmarket, the chalk was pierced in a deep well at a considerably less depth than had been anticipated—a little under goo feet; but unfortunately the boring-tool did not proceed Any further, so geologists were left in dark- ness as to what remained underneath. The primary rocks in Suffolk had never really been bottomed until a few months ago, when at Culford, five miles from Bury St. Edmunds, in an artesian well-boring upon Lord Cadogan’s estate, the chalk and the few beds of underlying cretaceous strata were passed through, and what were now believed to be the primary rocks were reached. These ,had only been pierced, how- ever, for a distance of a few feet, and none of the characteristic fossils of the carboniferous formation had been brought up. Instead of that, the process of boring had somehow or another carried down, from the lower cretaceous beds, into the soft shales of the primary rocks beneath, some of the lower greensand microscopic fossils. The gault was repre- sented by a comparatively hard bed, and a fragment of an ammonite had been brought up which resembled a liassic species. It was thought by geologists, however, to be very unlikely that the lias strata should occur at such a high level without any trace of the oolitic rocks above, and the conclusion had been arrived at, therefore, that the occurrence of this fossil there in a fragmentary state must have been as a derivative one. The bottom rocks at Culford, near Bury St. Edmunds, the seat of Earl Cadogan, were believed by Mr. A. Jukes-Brown, Mr. Whitaker, Mr. Holmes, and others, to be primary ; and Dr. Taylor expressed his conviction from the microscopical exa- mination he had made of a few fragments, that they were from the lower coal-measures of the carbonifer- AARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 27 ous formation. However, he hoped Earl Cadogan would come to the aid of scientific men, and allow the boring to proceed another hundred feet into these interesting Primary rocks. They must re- member that this was the first time the underlying Primary floor had been bottomed in Suffolk, and that a boring through these soft carboniferous shales might be of practical benefit even if coal were not found. He had submitted specimens of these soft shales to analysis by Mr. J. Napier, of the Museum Laboratory, and, as he (the lecturer) anticipated, they were found to contain strong traces of petroleum. It would not be a bad thing if a deep boring through these soft shales yielded petroleum instead of coal. What he should like to see was trial-borings a little further to the north of Culford. Taking a line from Southwold through Eye to Mildenhall, he thought that would be the best district along which to make such efforts to reach the upper coal-measures which probably lay synclinally along the northern flanks of these underground primary rocks, He had much faith in the districts of Brandon, Lakenheath, and Mildenhall, because the Memoir of the Geological Survey, so carefully mapped and measured by Mr. Woodward, showed that the oolitic rocks thinned out in that direction, and that very deep borings would not be required, therefore, in order to reach the primary rocks beneath. The most remarkable thing to geo- logists was, that at Culford these oolitic beds were absent. The thinnest set of the overlying beds had been previously bored through at Ware, in Hertford- shire, at a depth of 800 feet, but at Culford the depth was only 650 feet. What they wanted, therefore, in the future, with regard to experiments in search of coal, was to institute a set of borings somewhere in the region he had just mentioned. He should prefer the waste lands about Mildenhall, which now grew nothing but peasants and pheasants, as the site, for if coal could be found there, it would save the sylvan lanes of Suffolk from a destruction, which, however much he valued the importance of coal, he should be sorry to see brought about. In conclusion, Dr. Taylor said they must remember that at present this inquiry was in the scientific stage. In any undertakings that might be made for the discovery of coal, he wished it to be distinctly understood that they were scientific experiments. He thought that some might prove successful, but he should be very sorry to have it go forth that the enterprise was as yet, ina purely commercial stage. He had been writing on this subject for nearly twenty years past! Hitherto, he had piped and nobody had danced: now, there was a tendency to dance too much. Nevertheless, without public support and public spirit, this important inquiry could never be carried on, and he appealed to all patriotic residents in East Anglia for assistance towards a solution of the problem. He was delighted that that night he had been honoured with the presence of a wealthy and enterprising English nobleman, known and hon- oured by the English people, and he would venture to ask his powerful aid and influence towards the decision of a question, upon which science was bring- ing to bear the weight of logical facts. In the opinion of the people of East Anglia no current subject was of greater importance than the one he had been privileged to lecture upon that night, and remem- bering how coal had been discovered under similar conditions in France and Belgium, as well as at Dover, he thought that residents in this part of the country could not sit contented with their hands in their laps, without allowing some trial-borings to be made in the manner he had suggested. The lecture occupied an hour. At the close, Earl Cadogan, in proposing a vote of thanks to the lecturer, spoke of the eloquent and very interesting manner in which Dr. Taylor had dealt with a subject, which might otherwise had been con- sidered dry, and as President he felt that he might become the interpreter of the audience in thanking Dr. Taylor. He (Earl Cadogan) had never heard the theories and facts of so abstruse and scientific a subject treated in a more interesting manner. Dr. Taylor had made certain points as to strata perfectly clear to his audience. * Earl Cadogan said he had specimens of the various strata, through which there had been boring at Culford, sent to eminent geolo- gists. He gathered from Dr. Taylor’s lecture that the chances of finding coal in the neighbourhood of Culford were somewhat remote, but understood that petroleum might possibly be found beneath his estate. Such a subterranean arrangement was a contingency which hitherto had not presented itself to his mind. He understood from Dr. Taylor’s remarks that it was desirable to prosecute boring researches further. Mineral wealth was of the utmost importance in a district like that of East Anglia. If coal was dis- covered in the Eastern counties, undoubtedly the™ wealth of the residents would be much increased, and the prosperity of the kingdom enhanced. He should be glad if such a prospect could be foreshadowed, and might add that although he could not undertake to incur very great expense, yet possibly the boring would be continued some distance further. It was highly desirable a subject so full of interest and in- struction should be continued some extent further. If Dr. Taylor’s well-considered lecture proved instru- mental in enlightening the inhabitants of the Eastern counties in the direction indicated, he thought all present would agree that a very agreeable and profitable evening would have been spent. A hearty vote of thanks having been accorded to Dr. Taylor by acclamation, in acknowledging the compliment, he expressed his pleasure in hearing that Earl Cadogan would permit the boring at Culford to be extended 50 to 60 feet further for the benefit of science. C2 28 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. ROSSENDALE RHIZOPODS. No 8. 2 our previous papers we have treated upon the Rhizopods belonging to the order Protoplasta, which is divided into two sub-orders, Lobosa and Filosa ; in the present article we arrive at the order Heliozoa. This contains nine genera, and sixteen or more species. The Rhizopods of this order differ widely, in many important particulars, from those of the previous one. Some of them are very beautiful, from the presence of chlorophyll as a permanent constituent of their bodies; others are, perhaps, more curious than beautiful; while a considerable number are very obscure, and in some cases offer considerable difficulty to a successful identification. The animals of this order are essentially swimmers, and are most commonly found among Algze and duck- weed. They consist generally of a more or less spherical mass of naked, foamy protoplasm. In one genus, Clathrulina, there is a beautiful Fig. 12.—Actinophrys sol. latticed, globular, stalked, silicious test. In Vampy- rella, the spherical body can assume ameboid forms, and in addition to the ordinary pseudopodial rays, there are others which are Acineta-like, and the periphery of the body can be thrown into conical and lobose extensions. The species of Diplophrys are mostly minute, and generally associated together in numbers, each having fine pseudopodia radiating from its opposite poles, and an interior coloured (amber or red) spot. Acanthocystis has many both curious and beautiful species, which are characterised by the body being invested by a layer of protoplasm densely crowded with minute linear particles, and by the presence of simple, pin-like, or furcate silicious radiating spines. In Raphidiophrys there is also an exterior layer of protoplasm extending in tapering processes on to the pseudopodial rays, and densely pervaded with minute spicules tangentially arranged; the Rhizopods of this genus are generally compound, being found jn groups of variable numbers joined by isthmus-like bars. The genus Heterophrys is Actinophrys-like, but the body is invested with a layer of granular protoplasm, having a villous surface. In Hyalolampe, the protoplasmic body is covered with a layer of minute, colourless, silicious globules. Although I have seen several species belonging to at least three of the above genera, it is quite evident that they are somewhat rare forms in this district, and as in the instances mentioned I was unable to devote time to their study, I do not propose in these articles to describe any of the above genera, confining my notes to the two genera, Actinophrys and Actinospherium. I think it probable that the Rhizopods of the order under consideration are southern forms, delighting in the genial warmth of a less rigorous climate than that of Rossendale. I know that, with the exceptions to be stated presently, none of my microscopical friends have been more fortunate: than myself in the collection of the Heliozoa ; while, on the other hand, I have frequently come across them in tubes of the Rotifera sent me by kind correspondents from various parts of the Midland counties and the south of England. Actinophrys sol,* or, as the older micro- scopists termed it, ‘*The Sun Animalcule,” appears to be as common here as elsewhere, being found in all our waters, particularly those well supplied with duckweed and other aquatic plants. Few possessors of microscopes, I should imagine, have not frequently had this Heliozoan Rhizopod under observation. It presents itself generally as a colour- less, globular, more or Jess cellular-looking body, covered with long, delicate, hair-like rays. As it placidly floats in the water, it seems entirely unfitted to cope with its more active neighbours ; but obser- vation proves it to be able to look well after its commissariat. Although it is to some extent at the mercy of the slightest current, it is able to anchor itself to some stationary or floating object. It is a somewhat sluggish, and apparently a stationary animal, but if carefully watched it will be noticed to slowly glide along by some obscure movements of its pseudopodial rays. The body, as stated above, is generally colourless, but coloured food-balls, red, green, or brown, may sometimes be observed embedded in some part of its substance ; these, after digestion has continued some time, appear as coloured, cloudy patches. The body is granular, and seems in some individuals so vesicular as to present the appear- ance of cellular tissue, though not often as definitely so as in Actinospherium. The pseudopodia are very numerous, but variable in different specimens ; they are as long, or even twice as long, as the diameter of the body, and are very delicate, and c2pable of retraction. * The vesicles in the figure of A. soZ ought to have been shaded. HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 29 The animal multiplies by division, and may occasion- ally be observed in various stages of the process. Its food consists of Rotifera, Infusoria, and Microscopic Algz. When one of the Rotifera, or other active animal, swims against the pseudopodial rays, they lay hold of the object, and if successful in retaining it, contract to the surface of the body, drawing down the prey with them, which is then surrounded by a portion of the body protoplasm, after which the mass is drawn in. There is a large central nucleus, generally indistinct, and a large bubble-like contracting vesicle, situated at the periphery of the body. Size variable, my specimen from ,}, to sw of an inch in diameter of body: Actinophrys picta, the only other species, closely resembles 4. so/, differing only in the colourless granular protoplasm having numerous green chlorophyll granules scattered through its sub- stance. Ihave found only one or two specimens of this species, and it re- quires no further description for its identification. I now come to the last of the Heliozoas for which I can fairly claim a Rossendale habitat. Actinospherium Eichhornit was for- merly placed in the previous genus, but was eventually separated on account of important differences. It is large, and not nearly so common here as Actinophrys sol ; indeed, I only know one pond, a mill-lodge, from which I occasionally get specimens ; in this the water is somewhat warm from the waste steam which, on condensation, runs into it. It differs from Actinophrys, as I have said, in being larger, but _ its most obvious distinction is the fact of its being separable into two layers—an outer, composed of a single or double row of well-marked vesicles, some- what regularly placed—the interior not so well- defined. The outer vesicles are in the form of short, six-sided columns, and the broader end out- ward, in order to form the sphere. The animal is spherical or oval, colourless and hyaline as regards the marginal vesicles; interior frequently clouded. The pseudopodial rays may be numerous or few, granular, tapering, and radiate as in Actinophrys, though not so long proportionately,* and in this genus there is an axial thread -of more solid protoplasm in each of the rays, which, though spine-like, and not rigid, yet give strength and support tothem. These threads arise from the surface of the interior mass, and reach nearly to the tip of each pseudopodial ray. Food, habits and habitat same as Actinophrys; nuclei numerous, brought out by reagents; con- tracting vesicles two, on opposite sides, bubble-like. * Rays rarely as long as in the figure. Size of body from 3, to yj; of an inch. Rays about, or not quite equal in length, to diameter of body. In my next I propose to figure and describe the new Fig. 13.—Actinospherium Eichhornii. forms which have come under my observation, though many particulars are wanting before they can: be correctly placed. J. E. Lorp. Rawtenstall, P.S. I regret, that owing to_the excessive wetness of 1891, and other causes, I shall have to defer a description of my new forms until a future occasion. —j.E.L. EUROPEAN BUTTERFLIES. [Continued from No. 324, p. 277-] N my way from Neuchatel to Zermatt I stopped: the night at Sierre, where three years ago I got a fine series of Daplidice in the grounds of that most comfortable hotel, the Belle Vue. Podalirius abounds here ‘at the proper season, and Didyma is quite as abundant. Here, too, is to be found in the roads that run through the vineyards to the north of the town, in greater numbers than I have ever seen it elsewhere, three, four, even five specimens on one plant of Lupatorium cannabinum being by no means unusual, and this in the full sunshine. I once caught it there at its\best, and got some magnificent examples of this strikingly beautiful insect. In the morning, before starting for Zermatt, I took a saunter round the rather extensive grounds of the hotel (once a 30 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. chateau belonging to the nuble family De Courten, and containing some beautiful oak-panelled rooms). Just at the south of a wood which consists chiefly of pine-trees, and which covers a small hill in the grounds (by the bye, these pines are infested by mistletoe, some trees having a score or more of plants on them), I saw a large bright blue butterfly start from a plant of Colutea arborescens, and fly up into the wood. That it was something that I had never seen before was certain, and I ran back to the hotel for my net. On my return I was very gratified to find that the butterfly had returned too, and in a trice I had him in my net. It turned out to be a perfect male of Iolas, so rare as a Swiss insect— though abundant enough in southern France—that only three previous captures in Switzerland are on record. These were all taken near Sierre, so that if the neighbourhood were carefully worked at the begin- ning of July (mine was taken on the 2nd), I have no doubt other specimens might be got there. We reached Zermatt on the 2nd of July. The first two or three days were very wet indeed, and my excursions during this time were confined to con- stitutionals down and up the high road, which was a couple of inches deep in mud. However, the weather cleared at last, and for the remaining ten days of our stay it was beautiful. My first search for butterflies was made down the valley towards Randa. I got on this occasion, besides commoner kinds, the following species : Sinapis, Hippothoé (var. Eurybia), Simplonia, Bryoniz, Eumedon, Arion, Mera, and last, but not least, a nice specimen of that fine insect Gordius, the first I had ever seen alive. I was surprised to find Cardamines still in good condition. A few days later on I got in the same direction some Dictynna and Athalia, and two more Gordius, together with a very fine series of Delius. These last occurred close to where some strong springs issue from the mountain side, on the right bank of the river, about a mile below Zermatt. These springs saturate the ground just below the place whence they issue, and here grow a good many plants of Saxi/raga aizoides on which the larvz feed. Delius is a very easy insect to capture, as in fact are all the Swiss species of the genus. Eumedon was one of the most plentiful of all butterflies in jthe valley, and was sure to be seen wherever Geranium sanguineum occurred. The imago is as partial to the flower of this plant as “the caterpillar is to the seed. My most successful day was that on which I made an excursion to the Riffel Alp. The path thither leaves the village at the south end. Just beyond the village the path runs alongside the river, and I there saw several Apollos floating about, up and down the steep bank on the left, but having rarer species in view I did not attempt to make any captures. Soon after the path enters the wood there is a small piece of grass on the left, where I saw several Crategi, and apparently in fine condition. A little beyond this, in a moist pasture to the right and close to some chalets, I took Dictynna and one or two Pales ; the latter, however, is much more abundant at higher elevations. Between the first and second refreshment-chalets there is a considerable extent of broken rocky ground more or less covered with rhododendron scrub, and having fir-trees thinly scattered over it. Here I saw two or three Palenos careering about in the rapid style peculiar to the genus Colias. After a time one alighted, and I succeeded in netting it; it turned out to be a very fine male. Keeping on and up, I took a short cut across a meadow or alp lying behind the second refreshment- chalet. Here Phicomine was to be seen in dozens, and in one corner of the meadow I found quite a colony of Orbitulus, a pretty little greyish-blue butter- fly which is rather local than rare. Leaving the refreshment-chalet, I did not keep to the mule-path, which here turns sharply to the left, but kept to the gully through which the old path to the Riffel Alp used to run, as I thought I might there meet with Delius ; not seeing any, however, I crossed the stream —which was:on my right—and passed up the opposite bank to the Alp above. Here Phicomine literally swarmed, and as it flew low and steadily over the short herbage, I could easily have taken scores if I had been so inclined, I did not, however, see any- thing else at all noticeable, so I re-crossed the stream and made the best of my way up some very steep slopes to the Hotel Riffel-Alp, capturing on my way a few examples of Cassiope. After taking some refreshment I made for the ridge of the Riffel-Alp, which lies behind the hotel, and on my way up I quite unexpectedly found three examples of that rare plant Anemone Halleri, and a few late blooms of A. alpina. When I reached the ridge I could see flying about over a higher part of it to the left, and very rapidly, some light-coloured butterflies which I could not identify, but I deferred making a closer acquaint- ance with them until I had visited a somewhat boggy corner of the Alp, which I could see some distance away in the direction of the Riffel-Berg. Passing down ,to this corner, I saw on my way Phicomine in greater profusion than ever ; but though one would expect to see one or two good varieties where a species is so abundant, I failed to detect any here, Orbitulus, too, was plentiful, and I secured one Arcas, the only example that I saw of a very local, if not rare, butterfly. Some little time before I reached the swampy ground, I saw an occasional Merope, but close to and flying over it the insect was in plenty, and a few minutes sufficed for capturing all that I wanted. Why Merope is not allowed specific rank I cannot HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 31 Imagine ; it is hardly more like Aurinia than the latter is like the female of Cynthia, the distinctness of which no one doubts for 2 moment; and the same remark applies quite as (or even more) strongly to Proyincialis and Desfontanii, two other very beautiful varieties of Aurinia, though they are very unlike the type, and still more unlike Merope. Moreover, the food-plant of Merope is said to be Primula viscosa, (though, by the way, I have great doubt as to this being so), whereas Aurinia usually feeds on Scabious and Plantain, and never, I believe, on any kind of Primula. Having done with Merope, I turned my steps towards the place where I had seen the white butterflies. On my way thither I passed over a large space of ground where &. /uzaria was growing in such profusion as I never saw elsewhere: the plants stood so thickly that it was almost impossible to put one’s foot down without treading on one ; they were, too, unusually large and robust, and oh! how different from the few puny examples I have seen growing in England of this curious little fern. About half-way between the swamp and the ridge, my eye suddenly fell on a beautiful male Cynthia settled on the ground a yard or two away, its white checkered wings outspread after the manner of the genus. I had never seen this insect before, but there could be no mistake about its identity, for no other Swiss Melitea has any white on the wings. Approaching carefully, I struck too hurriedly, the net hit the ground, and the prize was gone! I wasted more than an hour about the spot, but I did not get a glimpse of another specimen there. The white butterflies turned out to be Callidice, a very restless insect and a very rapid flyer, but by quietly waiting at one spot and making a rapid dash as one passed near me, I managed to net four or five, and I got two or three more by stalking them, when they settled on the ground as they occasionally did. All the specimens were males, and in good con- dition. (A day or two later, I got half-a-dozen more above the Riffel-Berg Hotel, one of which was a female.) Whilst I was catching Callidice, I saw another Cynthia, and secured it, and subsequently I found a spot where a brood had evidently just hatched out. I got a number of fine fresh specimens, but unfortunately only one of them was a female. The white checkers are wanting in this'sex. On another occasion, I made an excursion to the Schwartz-See for the purpose of getting Gorge, but I only saw two specimens, and one of these escaped me. I took some fine Tyndanis and Lappoda, however, and saw a few Palzno and Callidice, but on the whole this was not a successful day. My attention was turned chiefly to butterflies, but I observed a number of plants of Lioydia serotina, and of Ranun- culus rutefolia on the alps round the Schwartz-See Hotel. We left Zermatt on the 14th July for Berisal, where I found Gordius quite plentiful. I may say here, that this insect is far finer in colour and larger on the Italian side of the pass. A German gentleman stay- ing at Berisal made an expedition to Crevola, and returned with a fine series caught there ; it was very interesting to notice the marked difference between these, and those he had taken at Berisal. All the Swiss species of Parnassus are to be obtained here. Mnemosyne is fairly common quite close to the hotel, and is extremely abundant on the alp high above the second refuge, where I also saw Eurybia, Lathonia, Carthemi, etc. The male of Goante is by no means uncommon on the roadside just beyond the bridge (which is about ten minutes below the hotel), but the female is rare. Hylas, Eros, Pheretes, Donzelii, Damon, Alcon, Escheri, the rare Lycidas, Parthanie, Didyma, Her- mione, and numerous commoner species may be taken on or near the roadside, between the bridge and the second refuge, but every fine day in the season witnesses several nets going all along this road, so that it would seem almost a wonder that anything should escape ; nevertheless, the species do not appear to diminish in numbers from the annual raids made on them, ’ Both Hippothoé and Virgaurex are plentiful all about Berisal, the latter being especially abundant in the rough valley which runs up from the bridge to the Bortel-Alp. Here, too, Apollo and Dolius are common, and a few Arcas occur. High up above Berisal, on very rough stony slopes near the snow-line, I caught about a dozen Gorge, but it is a very wary insect and by no means easy to take on its favourite ground. I only saw one Cynthia, but I believe it is sufficiently abun- dant on some of the high alps above the hotel. Besides the butterflies I have mentioned above, and the commoner kinds, I got specimens (more or less) of each of the following species: Euphemus, Asteria, Melampus, Stygne, Medusa, Celo, Euryale, Layaterz, and the pretty little Sao, which is rather common almost everywhere. One day I explored the ground round the Hospice, but with small results ; I saw a marmot, one or two Palzno, and a few Lappona, but nothing else. When returning to Berisal I took the low, and in some places extremely narrow, valley which runs nearly straight down from the fourth to the second refuge: The old mule-road over the pass went through this valley; this road after eighty-five years’ disuse is still plainly marked in many places, but portions of it are nowadays extremely rough, avalanches having indeed carried it away altogether in places, and in others covered it with a chaos of withered fir-trees and enormous boulders, so that it is anything but an easy matter to get down the valley at all. The venture was not repaying, nevertheless I got a good series of Arcania, var. Darwiniana, and a few commoner kinds. I devoted one day to a visit to the Bel-Alp for , 32 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. Palzeno, which I had seen there in 1890. It occurs abundantly on the slopes just below the Bel-Alp Hotel. The east side of these slopes incline steeply towards the Aletsch Glacier, which is in full view of them, and require cautious walking, They are covered with the Rhododendron scrub which Palzeus so affects. The day was not altogether auspicious, but I caught a fine series, including two lovely females. On my way down I did not keep to the path, but at first bore a good deal to the left, passing over some very broken and undulating ground where were scattered here and there a few large fir-trees. Just as I reached a little rough hillock which lay in my way, a great black wood-pecker got up from the other side, and flew leisurely to one of the fir-trees, up the trunk of which it climbed, keeping the trunk, however, between itself and me, and peeping curiously round at the stranger who had ventured to trespass on its lonely fastnesses. I think it was an old bird, for the brilliant crimson crest was very conspicuous. Another excursion was to the Pfyn-Wald, a wood of pine-trees—interspersed with grassy spaces—which lies between Leuk and Sierre. Meleager and Sebrus are both taken there, but I was not fortunate enough to find either the one or the other. Four years ago I got a pair of Meleager there, the female being the brown variety named Steveni. The true home of this butterfly is Digne and its neighbourhood. I got one good Camilla (greatly to my surprise, as I never saw any honeysuckle in the Pfyn-Wald), a few fine Arion, some Dia and Dryas, and two or three Stella- tarum. This last insect is very abundant in the Rhone valley. As to plants at Berisal, I saw there the rare and curious Campanula excisa ; it was abundant within a short distance of the hotel. I have never seen the plant elsewhere. All four of the Swiss’ species of Pyrola, too, occur close to the hotel, and Secunda is very plentiful and fine on the Alp; to the left—a short distance beyond the Simplon Hospice—it grows amongst the low bilberry bushes. When we left Berisal at the end of July, we went to Aigle. Here I obtained a few Camilla, Sibylla, Quercus, W. album, Mlicis, AZthiops, ?one Althzece, (this insect in the proper season is abundant at Aigle, but I was too late for it), and about a dozen Actza var. Cordula. I saw two Iris, a butterfly which is generally abundant here, but I was not lucky enough to take any. From what I saw and heard, I think Aigle—or perhaps better still Sepey, higher up the valley towards the Diablerets—would be a capital centre for Lepidopterists; but at Aigle itself mus- quitos are very troublesome to new-comers in July and August. There is an exceedingly rare-fern to be found near that place; I refer to Asplenium fontanum, which grows abundantly on the rocks that bound the road on the left, on the way up to Sepey. To see such a scarce plant as this in situ would repay any botanist for the trouble of a visit to this—in spite of mus- quitos—very charming place; moreover, the hotel (Beau Site) is one that can be honestly recommended, for its comfortable arrangements and very moderate charges. RBs R: Eastbourne. NOTES ON THE SITE OF HASTINGS. By T. V. HotmeEs, F.G.S. N the present day the additions yearly made to our larger towns consist of habitations and work- shops, built on sites of very various degrees of merit or demerit. Here a healthy plateau becomes covered by ‘‘desirable villa residences ;” there, on marshes below high-water mark, appear factories and streets of small dwellings, adjoining newly-excavated docks. But an ancient town owed its existence to its natural advantages of soil and situation over all other spots in the district. The site of ancient London, for example, consists of a gravel-capped plateau close to a navigable river; water for domestic use being - easily obtained from shallow wells, and the elevation of the ground obviating any fear of floods, and being comparatively advantageous for purposes of defence. And the more ancient the town the more heed did its founders pay to defensive strength, either in the shape of a strong site for the town itself, or in the proximity of a naturally strong position, which. might become a refuge for women and children, and a place for the storage of valuables, during the inroad of some hostile tribe or nation. Though the site of Hastings is very different in character from that of London, it is yet, as evidently as the great city on the Thames, a place which must have been occupied as a town from the earliest times. But the record of Hastings is not one of gradual development as that of London has been. Starting as a mere fishing-town or village, Hastings became, eight hundred years ago, the Premier Cinque Port. Centuries of decline, the result of physical changes, followed, yet during the last half-century it has so greatly extended and developed itself, that it is now much more decidedly the Premier Cinque Port than it was in the days of the Norman kings. Yet it cannot be said that the importance of Hastings Castle tended to counterbalance the destruction of its harbour, and preserve a continuity of existence to the town, For while the castle of another of the Cinque Ports, Dover, is now the centre of extensive modern fortifications, Hastings Castle was allowed to fall into decay as early as the fourteenth century. In order to get some knowledge of the geological structure of the district immediately surrounding the town, we cannot do better than take our stand on the massive stone groyne which juts into the sea under the East Cliff of Hastings. The East Cliff is seen t o HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 33 be composed of massive sandstone, and to rise to a height of about 200 ft. Rock of a similar kind is visible in the Castle Hill; west of the valley in which the old town lies. As we look eastward, however, we notice that the sandstone beds, which form almost the whole of the East Cliff, rise gently in the direction of Fairlight Gien and Lover’s Seat, while below them a walk along the shore will reveal a greater and greater thickness of strata of a mainly clayey nature. Below Lover’s Seat there is much undercliff, and the only rocks visible are' massive sandstone capping the hill and mottled clay on the foreshore. In this mottled clay, which belongs to the series of beds known as the Fairlight Clay, we have the lowest Strata belonging to the Hastings Sands, and the lowest visible in this south-eastern district except the Purbeck Beds near Battle. The overlying sand- stone beds of the East Cliff and Castle Hill belong to the Ashdown Sands. But a little eastward of Hastings Pier a fault, having a downthrow to the west, throws down sandstone belonging to the higher EDCE OF OLD EARTHWORK N.N.E. | knoll is the castle. which comes out to sea at Folkestone. Westward, beyond Pevensey Level, we see the South Downs jutting into the sea at Beachy Head ; for we are now on the highest point of the coast between the North and South Downs. In addition to the enjoyment of a magnificent panoramic view, we also attain to a true perception of the proportions of the great anti- clinal of the Weald, in the centre of which we are standing. It is seldom indeed that so good an opportunity occurs of noting the true nature of an important anticlinal as compared with the figures given in geological manuals.* The second spot is Hastings Castle Hill. But the best place for a view is not within the walls of the castle, but at a point sixty or seventy yards northward. The Castle Hill, at the southern or seaward end of which the castle stands, broadens and also increases gently in height northwards. But on the southern end there is a little knoll, the sides of which become steeper and steeper towards the sea, and on this Examination of the ground S.S.W. Fig. 14.—Section through ancient Earth-works and Castle, Hastings. Tunbridge Wells series against the Ashdown Beds. This fault is known as the White Rock Fault, Thus, while Hastings stands upon Ashdown Sands, its modern suburb, St. Leonards, is built chiefly on Tunbridge Wells Sand. Two spots in this district are worthy of special mention as affording views of unusual extent and interest. The first is the coast-guard station at Fairlight. The view from this point is not so well known as might be expected, because most of the visitors to the bold and picturesque cliffs east of Hastings, whether driving or on foot, seldom go beyond Lover’s Seat. Nevertheless, the most extensive views are those obtainable after cross- ing the glen beyond zLoyer’s Seat, and ascending to the coast-guard station beyond. From St. Leonards to this point the cliffs gradually rise, while they sink with much greater rapidity hence towards Dungeness. Close to the coast-guard station the new ordnance map shows a height of 478 f. Gazing eastward, we look down on Rye and Winchelsea, and across the broad flat of Romney Marsh to the long chalk ridge of the North Downs, shows that while the medizeval castle occupies only the southern half of the knoll, the whole of it was fortified in prehistoric times. A bank of earth of considerable height still surrounds its northern end, where the natural strength of the position is least, and dies away as the slopes steepen on the eastern and western flanks. The builders of the medizeyval castle, not wishing to occupy so much ground as the owners of the prehistoric entrench- ment, cut a deep and broad ditch across the rock from east to west, so as to separate the portion they required from the rest of the ancient stronghold, in the manner shown in the diagram section above. From the northern edge of the ancient fortress the spectator can survey, looking eastward, the ‘‘ old town” of Hastings in the valley and the East Cliff beyond. Gazing westward we may see the rest of Hastings and St, Leonards, and in the distance the long chalk ridge ending at Beachy Head. Northward the ground gradually rises, but for three or four miles * For a full account of the geology both of Hastings and of the Weald district generally, see the “ Geological Survey Memoir.” by Mr. W. Topley. 34 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSS/P, appear the rolling, well-wooded hills of Hastings Sand around Ore and Hollington. As we stand on the edge of the prehistoric fortress, and, surveying the sheltered valleys on each side, remember that in addition to dry sandy soil and a little stream in both, there was also an excellent natural harbour in one of them, from some very an- cient prehistoric period down to the twelfth century, it becomes evident that Hastings must have been the site of a town from a very ancient date—a date compared with which the landing of Julius Cesar is but a modern event. That we find no mention of Hastings as a’place of importance during the Roman Occupation is only what might be expected. For we must not forget that Anderida (or Pevensey), which certainly was a Roman port, must have once possessed a very much more extensive harbour than that of Hastings, and as the two places are only eleven or twelve miles apart, if Anderida was a kind of Roman Portsmouth, Hastings is very unlikely to have held any equivalent rank. But it also appears that, at a later date, the east- ward drift of the shingle in the English Channel had injured the more westerly harbour of Pevensey before it had begun to damage that of Hastings. This is evident from the fact that, shortly after the Norman Conquest, Hastings became the Premier Cinque Port, while Pevensey’s importance had been so much reduced that it figures simply as a ‘‘ Corporate Member” of Hastings, its head port. William the Conqueror is said, by some historians, to have landed at Pevensey ; by others, at Bulverhithe.* It appears to me that all probability is in favour of the latter spot. For to have disembarked at Pevensey would have meant the landing of the Norman army at a spot separated from the higher and drier ground around Battle and Hastings, by a breadth of three miles or more of marsh and water. The exact pro- portions of marsh and water at that time cannot be ascertained, but neither could have been desirable. Then, as just noted, the harbour at Pevensey had much degenerated in the eleventh century, a fact which must have been known to the wary and saga- cious William. But the haven at Bulverhithe, only two or three miles west of Hastings, began to de- teriorate about the same time as that of Hastings, and was probably in a better condition than Pevensey Harbour in the year 1066; and Bulverhithe was not separated by swamps from the higher ground on which the subsequent movements took place. The decline of Hastings seems to have begun very soon after the Norman Conquest, for in the time of Henry II., Rye and Winchelsea were practically added to the Cinque Ports, to “‘ complete the num- ber of the twenty Hastings ships.”+ I have already mentioned that the harbour which gave Hastings its * The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle leaves this point uncertain. + “The Cinque Ports” (Historic Towns Series), p. 70, by Professor Montagu Burrows. position as a port during the reign of the] Norman kings was in the valley west of the Castle, commonly called the Priory Valley. Its former position may easily be detected in the present day. At White Rock Place on the west, and at the Castle Hill east- ward, the cliffs come close to the beach. Between the spots, just named, there is a broad, flat shingle- covered area, occupied by Carlisle Parade, Robertson Street, Trinity Church, the Memorial Clock-tower, etc. The streets which diverge from the Clock- tower in a north-easterly or north-westerly direction begin to rise at a very short distance from that monu- ment, the rise in the ground marking the limits of the shingle flat. But if we go due north of the Clock- tower to the cricket-ground, we enter an open space of six acres,*a few feet below the level of the shingle flat, and see at once that we are standing on the site of the silted-up ancient harbour of the Premier Cinque Port. The broad shingle flat southward must have covered a considerable breadth of ground soon after the Conquest ; for on it a Priory of Austin Canons was founded in the reign of Richard I., and dedicated to the Holy Trinity, from which it would seem that at that time the shingle was considered to be a per- manent addition to the land. But we learn, that in consequence of the gradual encroachments of the sea, the Priory buildings were inundated and their inmates compelled to abandonthem. Sir John Pelham, how- ever, gave them lands at Warbleton, near Heathfield, to which they retired in the reign of Henry IV. No doubt, a long period in which the deposition of shingle had been slow and gradual was succeeded by others of alternating gain and loss of land, the former, on the whole, predominating. The effect of the action of the sea on the coast is, speaking generally, to reduce the prominence of promontories, and to fill up bays with silt and shingle. But a result of storms is occasionally the sweeping away of large quantities of shingle from a spot where it has been gradually accumulating, and its deposition elsewhere. The material thus removed is, “however, usually soon replaced by fresh deposits from the same quarter. The history of any considerable breadth of coast is sure to offer some striking examples of the changes: which may be suddenly produced after a long period of comparative quiescence. For example, the old — ordnance map of the coast of West Hampshire and East Dorset, on which the work of the Geological Survey has been done, shows the mouth of Christ- church Harbour as nearly the same distance from Hengistbury Head, on the south, as from the land on the northern flank of the harbour. But in 1880, owing, I believe, to the (then) recent removal of masses of ironstone from Hengistbury Head, I saw that shingle had come round the promontory in such abundance as to deflect the mouth ‘of the harbour about a mile and a half eastward. In 1888, the mouth was almost in the position it had occupied © when the map was made, storms having combined HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSI/P. 35 with the natural tendency of the channel of the Stour and Ayon, to breach the shingle bank near the former place of outfall. In the case of Hastings, it is evident that during the ages when it possessed an excellent harbour in the Priory Valley, scarcely any shingle could have been deposited about the harbour’s mouth. This was probably due chiefly to two influences. Firstly, the deposition of immense quantities of eastward- travelling shingle in Pevensey Bay. Secondly, the retention of a large proportion of the rest by the island (about one-and-half miles long, and half a mile broad), shown on Norden’s map of Sussex (1616) and on Morden’s map half a century later, as existing off the coast of St. Leonards. This island has since gradually disappeared. But if, as is highly probable, it was, previous to the Norman Conquest, both larger and closer to the mainland than in Norden’s time, vast quantities of shingle must then have been re- tained on its western side. At a later date, the shingle, instead of being retained by the island or progressing round its southern coast to places east- ward of Hastings, would pass between the island and the shore, and be deposited largely in the Priory Valley. The effect on the harbour of Hastings of the reduction in size and ultimate destruction of this island, must have been similar to that which would occur at Portland Harbour as the result of a breach in the Chesil Bank. At the time of the Domesday Survey, the town in the Priory Valley had dwindled almost to nothing, while the New Burgh of-Hastings, in the Eastern or Bourne valley, had begun to flourish. But the Bourne Valley evidently never possessed a natural basin comparable to that which once existed west of the Castle Hill. So generally does the importance of the earliest of the harbours of Hastings seem to have been forgotten, that in Horsfield’s ‘‘ History of Sussex,” (1835), the Priory Harbour is not men- tioned, but we read that in ancient days Hastings is said to have had a good harbour formed by a large wooden pier, which projected from the centre of the Marine Parade in a south-east direction. (The Marine Parade is a little east of the Castle Hill.) But in Queen Elizabeth’s reign this pier was ‘de- stroyed by astorm. As late as the year 1834, it was proposed that a harbour should be formed westward of the Priory Bridge, which, judging from a map showing Hastings about the year 1820, must have stood close to the site of the Clock-tower. But nothing was done. The visitor to Hastings, who now looks down from the old entrenchment on Castle Hill, must then re- member that the western valley, in which all the buildings are more or less new, is the site of oldest Hastings, while the much more ancient-looking town in the eastern valley is, nevertheless, the ‘‘ New Burgh.” But though the former existence of the oldest town is almost forgotten, and though Horsfield, speaking of the parish of Holy Trinity, says that the Priory Farm forms the greater part of this district, and that up to the year 1800 the remaining part was waste and unoccupied, yet in the revived site of old Hastings, and not in the New Burgh, are now to be seen the most attractive shops, and the densest throngs of visitors. Nor is any place of amusement more popular in the summer months than the cricket-ground on the site of the once-famous harbour of the Premier Cinque Port. THE BRITISH PERLIDA OR STONE- FLIES. By W. H. NuNNEY. HE insects forming the subject of this short essay are a transition group of the Perenni- branchiate division of the Pseudo-Neuroptera, con- necting the cockroaches and crickets of the Orthoptera with the neuropterous Ephemeridz or May-flies. Christened Perlidze by systematic naturalists, they are popularly known in this country by the collective names of stone-flies, pearl-flies, and water-crickets, this last name, however, being of American origin. Popular names have also been given to the better- known species by anglers, who frequently utilise these insects as an attractive bait for trout and other fishes. In Britain, at least, the Perlide have attracted little attention, the Neuroptera generally having but few students. . This neglect is doubtless, in a measure, accounted for by the habits of the creatures them- selves, their mostly small size and sombre colour. No really trustworthy guide to the native species has been published in English; indeed, the literature relating to the group is comparatively meagre, and, with the exception of Professor Pictet’s fine but costly work on the subject in French, is widely scattered in various general entomologies and periodicals. Such being the case, it is hardly neces- sary for me to offer any apology for the present paper, written as it is with the idea of providing a ready index to the indigenous species of this family, and thus inducing British entomologists to elucidate much that in the history of the group is still obscure. The difficulties which stand in the way of a student of the group are, unfortunately, not few. The non- existence of good typical collections open to general view, and the want in our public libraries of several of the most important works of reference, as well as minor difficulties, combine to render research much harder than should be the case. The present author has, so far as possible, worked out the synonomy of species (this is, however, not given here for fairly obyious reasons) ; but, in some instances, not having been able to refer to the original types, errors must almost unavoidably have creptin. As Mr. McLachlan (the British authority on all matters neuropterological) 36 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. remarked to me some while since, nothing of any permanent value in this direction can be done, unless Professor Pictet’s types at Geneva, and the types of other nomenclators of the Perlidz elsewhere, undergo a most searching examination. I had hoped that Mr. McLachlan himself would render the scientific world still more deeply indebted to him, by mono- graphing the British species of the family, but as he has published no such work, he probably thinks that the time is not yet ripe for such a performance. The Perlidz have been found in Britain in a fossil condition, specimens having occurred, though some- what rarely, in the strata of the Upper Eocene forma- tion. In all probability they will at some future period be proved to be of far earlier origin than is at present supposed, as their anatomical structure points to a primitive organization. 4 The earlier naturalists confounded the Perlidz with many respects bear a great resemblance to the perfect insects, are usually found in running water ; some species prefer that which is almost or quite Stagnant, and others find rapidly-moving streams more suited to their mode of life. Their elongated bodies terminate usually in two many-jointed fila- ments, which, however, become atrophied in certain species, as they attain their adult state. The large head is scaly, and is but poorly provided with masti- catory organs, these serving but little for purposes. either of attack or defence. Their forms vary slightly in the different sections. These larvee breathe usually by means of sacs attached to the underside of the thorax, these sacs having some resemblance to the organs performing a similar function in Sialid, Phryganid, and Ephemerid larvee. The Perlina larve do not, as was once thought, Fig. 15.—Perla maxima, X 4: ¢, costa; s.c., suk-costa ; the caddis-flies, with which, hcwever, they have but little in common. © The larve were supposed to possess a like economy to that of Phryganid larve, long after one Muraldt gave in 1683 a detailed account, accompanied with figures, of the transforma- tions of Perla marginata, in a now rare Latin book entitled, ‘‘The Ephemeris of Natural Curiosities.” Even the illustrious Linné classed the Perlidz with Phryganide. The perfect insects of the Perlidze may at once be distinguished from the caddis-flies by the non-possession of any decided hairy covering to the wings, and by the very distinct segmentation of the thorax, which islof greater comparative width than is usual with the Phryganide. Other distinctive characters are—the possesssion of mandibles and three-jointed tarsi in the Perlidz, whereas the caddis- flies are without mandibles and have tarsi composed of five joints. The larve, which, together with the pupz, in (Originai.) wi, medius; s.7#., sub-medius; a, anal vein. construct cases wherein to perform their transforma- tions, and from which they may seize the unwary larvee of May-flies and other aquatic insects which form their food-supply. Their habit is to lie in wait behind stones and water-reeds, ‘‘on murderous. thought intent,” to surprise and secure their prey. The more brightly-coloured of them effectually con- ceal their whereabouts from most of their enemies by covering their bodies with a layer of mud. The pupa resembles the larva, except that it is. possessed of rudimentary wing-scales of a leathery texture. When the time arrives forthe final change to take place, it leaves the water, and seeks a suitable spot in which to undergo its transformation. With its sharp claws it takes firm hold of the stone or other resting- place fro zem., and, the skin splitting along the back,. the insect emerges, having, with the possession of four reticulated wings, obtained its highest development. The perfect insects of both sexes are very inert, HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSTP. 37 flying seldom, and then but heavily, and only for short distances, the wings, especially those of the males (which are usually very short, and in some species reduced to mere rudiments), being of little use for purposes of aérial locomotion. The female, after coupling, deposits her eggs, which remain for a time attached to the end of her abdomen, in stagnant or running water, this being according to the predeter- mined habits of the species. She then, together with the male, does not survive the commencement of the new developmental cycle entered upon by the extmded ova. Now, as to collecting. Search should be made for the laryz and pupz with a water-net—at weir-heads fe Fig. 16.—Perla maxima. Fig. _:7.—Chloroperia grammatica. Fig. 18.—Dictyopteryx microcephala. and slight falls ‘of water where the flow is rapid, on stones by the water-side, and in any place that may suggest itself to the collector as a likely haunt for these insects. The imagines may be readily captured both whilst in flight, and when at rest on the ground or on palings, or trunks of trees in the immediate vicinity of the water in which the previous portion of their existence was passed. Beating, as for Coleop- tera, may also be employed, with every chance of making captures. A few words on rearing and preservation. The majority of the Perlina are difficult to rear in captivity, as many of the insects in their earlier states require a constant supply of running water. Some species of Nemourine may, however, be bred through in an ordinary aquarium, or failing that, in a jar, provided there be a plentiful store of suitable food. Larvee and pupz may be preserved for the cabinet in phials or test-tubes filled either with pure or carbo- lized glycerine, or the microscopist’s mounting medium known as ‘‘ Goadby’s Fluid,” as this mode of treatment prevents the alteration of form and colour so prevalent when these laryee are allowed to dry. Kerosene and benzoline-are also useful pre- servatives. Ido not advocate the use of spirits of wine, as by it the delicate colours of the insects are modified or entirely ‘destroyed, though the form remains unaltered. As regards the perfect insects, the ordinary modes of preservation may be adhered a Fig. 19.—Jsogenus nubecula. — Be Fig. 20.—Isopteryx tripunctata- GE, Fig. 21.—Capuia nigra. Fig. 22.—Teniopteryx nebulosa. Fig. 23.—WNemoura variegata. Fig. 24.—Leuctra fusciventris. to. Some specimens of each species should, however, be put up in phials filled with glycerine or other pre- servative fluid, to prevent as much as possible the fading of the colours. A supply of test-tubes should be taken to the collecting-ground, so that individuals of each species may be placed in fluid as soon as they are captured. P In labelling these tubes, it is advisable to prepare two labels, bearing parallel information relating to name, date, and place of capture, etc. One of these labels should be attached to the outside of the tube, and the other enclosed with the specimens. All pinned specimens intended for the cabinet should be set as soon as possible after capture. The wings of some species, if allowed to become dry, cling 38 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. so around the body, on the insects being relaxed, that it is almost impossible to separate them without doing considerable damage to their delicate membranes. Having now given the above general information, and as it will be necessary to explain the application of the technical names given to the various portions of the wings of the Perlina, I cannot do better than reproduce, at this place, the note on the subject given in Mr, F, Walker’s ‘‘ Catalogue of Neuroptera in the British Museum.” This will enable the intending student to understand the synopsis and descriptions of genera that follow. “*The five principal veins of each wing are :—1, the costa, which forms the fore-border ; 2, the sub-costa, which is parallel to the costaand not far from it ; (3), the medius, which springs directly from the side of the sub-costa, is in juxtaposition with it for a small space, then diverging, divides the wing into: two almost equal parts, and is bifurcate at two-thirds of its length ; (4), the sub-medius, which springs near the internal angle of the wing, and terminates in the middle of the hind-border, and is bifurcated very near its beginning, its fore-branch forming the anterior sub-medius, and its hind-branch the posterior sub- medius ; (5), the anal vein, which is near the base, has a short course, and of which it is often difficult to distinguish between the principal and secondary branches. These veins divide the wing into four principal regions, which are thus named: (1), the marginal region, comprised between the costal and sub-costal veins; (2), the sub-marginal region, between the medius and the anterior sub-medius ; (3), the median region, between the medius and the anterior sub-medius; (4), the anal region, which contains all the internal part of the wing between the lower sub-median vein and the anal angle, and in which the vein of the same name ramifies. There is, besides, the sub-median areolet, between the branches of the sub-median vein. The principal line of trans- verse veins, or Parastigma, divides the first, second, and third regions into two parts, the basal and ter- minal part. The basal part of the marginal region is divided longitudinally into parts by the vein accessory to the costal, and thus contains three principal areolets, the external basal areolet, the internal basal ar€olet, and the terminal areolet. In the hind-wings the sub-marginal region is divided longitudinally by a vein accessory to the median-vein, not by one accessory to the sub-costal.” This description is a general one, including all the members -of the group. ‘The several generic variations are shown in the accompanying illustrations, a reference to which will greatly assist a right understanding of the text. The venation is perhaps the most useful character upon which to base a classification of the Perlidz, notwithstanding individual variations, but a closer comparison than has yet been made of the anal and other appendages might possibly afford sure points for the identification of species. Mr. McLachlan considers Pictet’s terminology defective, and holds that ‘‘the nervure accessory to \the costal” is the true sub-costal. As, however, Pictet’s nomenclature amply serves my purpose in the present’ paper, I merely note the disparity and pass on. The following synopsis of sub-families, genera, and species, although of course not absolutely perfect, is, I venture to think, sufficiently reliable for the purpose of enabling the student to identify with certainty, and with but little trouble, any of our native stone- flies of which descriptions have been published. Although I am confident of there being several undescribed British species in collections to which I have access, and elsewhere, I prefer not to publish descriptions of them until my knowledge of the group is augmented. In the following table capitals refer to sub-families and genera; italics indicate species, which follow under their respective generic heads. GENERAL CHARACTERS.—Eody depressed, elongated ; sides parallel, or nearly so; prothorax large; antennz long, seta- ceous; wings unequal, posterior ones broader than the anterior; tarsi three-jointed; two abdominal sete usually present: PERLIDA. CHARACTERS OF FAMILIES, GENERA, AND SPECIES. . Tail bristles present. bap pore GOMES . Palpi setaceous: Sub-Fam. 1, PERLINA. . Anal region of hind-wings large. . Terminal part of submarginal region divided by cross veins: DicTyorpTERYX. Veins of submarginal region very regular, forming square cells: Rectangula. Veins of submarginal region irregular; cells seldom square: Microcephaia. . Terminal part of submarginal region not divided by cross veins. F. Marginal terminal areolet with at least two cross veins. . Accessory veintof sub costa much branched and very irregular: IsoGENus. Front wholly black; a brown costal cloud above middle of wings: Nudecula. Accessory vein of subcosta without branches or with one or two regular bifurcations: PERLA. Prothorax spotted with black: Maxima. a unicolorous brown. 5s large, wider than the head: Marginata. a small, narrower than the head: Cephadotes Marginal terminal areolet with but one cross=vein, beyond which the accessory vein terminates at the costal vein: CHLOROPERLA. V-mark on head with a transverse band behind: Rwulorum. V-mark on head isolated, without band: Grammatica. Anal region of hind-wings almost wanting : IsoprERYx No spots between the ocelli: Torrentium. Small black spots between the ocelli: Burmezsterz. Prothorax small, wholly yellow: Afzcadis. oe medium-sized, caudal setz entirely yellow: Tripunctata. . Palpi filiform. . Tail bristles long: Sub-Fam. CAPNIINE. Tips of wings without cross veins: CAPNIA. Dark shining brown, with middle of abdomen yellow: Nigra. . Tail bristles rudimentary or wanting: Sub-Fam. NEMOURIN. I. Veins of parastigma not forming an X. Tail bristles rudimentary: Ta2NIOPTERYX. Wing fasciz indistinct, or less in number than three, Femora brown; wings opaque: WVedzdosa. Wing fasciz never less than three; distinct in female, faint in male: 77 ae x cae 2 3 ip r ; = > Kewstox H & AU gs7oNe I Ws di Lay die 0G L Lockinc Moor rf sUPHILL »; AW) \ ~N Gy, MN Mijpy Lng Me ne \ Ps AW yyy) Uf) Wh NE = < SBreAn My, i i! Muy? ( = MN My MLM Q = “ TAN NNN AWN Z fi ~ = & Tots$ rm = CLastonsuay Moor : i Burnuam ic START J POINT Tots GEE WEEE Sto.rorp 7 aN TH HE, ‘ a x S\ Potpen Hitts | MMe te AMIN MWS Fig. 42.—Sand-tots along the Somersetshire coast. angular, that they have the débris of sea-cliffs them- selves (breccias). Following the coast of the Channel until we reach the harder cliffs of more ancient rocks on the north and south, we have local deposits of sand derived in part from the cliffs themselves, especially from those older volcanic rocks which are largely com- posed of quartz; but we may pretty safely conclude that in most sedimentary rocks there is an admixture of quartz, although it may be so finely abraded as to escape naked eye observation. In the formation of sand-tots, we have to consider a few fresh facts. We find them in the Severn Estuary in certain favourable places; where the tidal range is great, in deep bays, and with an ex- upon the lias. Beyond this point the shore rises into low liassic cliffs, and the sand-tots cease. Inland of the tots at Weston the soil is very sandy and poor for a distance of some fields; but inland of this again, the soil improves as the underlying alluvium gets freer from sand. The gradual growth of bent, seawards, furnishes the barrier against which the sand is blown, and it is to this grass that we are indebted for safety against inundation of the low-level alluvium that occupies * large areas in the county between parallel mountain limestone ridges. In the formation of the tots shorewards we have a double sifting process, a sifting of the waves in the formation of the sandy beach, and a sifting of the HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. . 77 winds in driving the lighter particles of sand shore- wards. : In Weston Bay at low water the tide recedes for three miles, leaving an immense area of mud exposed. This is seen to be furrowed by the receding tides, channels of drainage in which much of the finer sediment is carried off. At times the mud appears to gain upon the sand, at others the sand upon the mud. In rough weather more sediment of all kinds is deposited, in fine weather the finer sediments are carried away, and in all weathers powerful tidal currents disturb the muds, and alter and sift the sediments. The sandy beach is, I think, in the main formed by Waves acting upon already deposited sediments. Every wave as it breaks pounds the beach, and the undertow carries away the finer and lighter material, leaving the coarser and heavier behind. The former is redeposited as muds of varying degrees of fineness, the fineness being greatest at the greatest distance from the shore, the latter is left to form the beach of sand, the finer particles of which are driven by the winds inward to form the tots. Dig below the sand and you will find clay, over mud, and therefore more remote from a former shore. Dig when you will in the alluvium, and if you dig deep enough for a few miles inland, you will find clay, a tolerably easy and convincing proof that the flat area between Cundon and Worle, and again between Worle and Banwell, was formed by the slow deposit of estuarine and marine sediments, that the land now cultivated was a muddy shore with probably an enormous tidal range, and that the process now seen to be going on in the formation of the tots has been going on for an incalculable period of time, and it may be assumed that they have not yet reached their maximum. If a glance be taken at any ordinary map exhibiting the coast-line of Somersetshire (see sketch-map appended) between Clevedon and Stolford, the extent of alluvium (or soil deposited as the estuary has been gradually silted up) may be approximately measured by the extent of the moors and their number. Be- ginning at the north we have Nailsea Moor, and Kenn Moor, in which is the hamlet of Seymour (a common place and surname in Somersetshire, mean- ing most probably sea-moor) ; between the next two mountain limestone ridges, Locking and Weston moors; and between the Mendips and the Polden Hills, an extensive moor, bearing locally different names, as Glastonbury Moor, Godney Moor, Mark Moor, etc. Altogether the area of alluvium, or land gained from the sea, as silt has been deposited and the tidal waters have receded, may be stated at about fifty square miles. In many places in this district peat overlies the clay to a thickness of several feet ; but what evidence of blown sand there may be in that area I am at present unable to state. Its com- parative scarcity or absence inland must of course be attributed to the configuration of the land and the nature of its formation. As the bays gradually silted up, :it is tolerably certain that the process began along the flanks of the bounding E. and W. limestone ridges; and as the sediment accumulated, the sides would expand and present a greater area to the prevailing winds, and thus favour the gradual accumulation of the ridges of sand which now form such a striking feature in the shore scenery of the Severn Estuary on the Somersetshire or eastern side. No doubt cultivation has obliterated some traces of inland sand ; but as the tides recede and the bays get silted up, the sand-tots will grow seawards, as they have already done and are doing at the present time where the conditions are favourable. T. Srock. CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS A LIST OF THE MOLLUSCA OF HEREFORDSHIRE. EREFORDSHIRE is but a little known county, and so it is little to be wondered at that there is no list of its mollusca, even moderately complete. Not that the following list is meant to be complete by any means, but I trust that it will serve as a basis for further records, and also interest some of your readers who pay attention to the distribution of British mollusca. Messrs. Taylor and Roebuck’s list (as given in Mr. Williams’ smaller work) comprises only thirty-six species, most of them, curiously enough, being the rarer ones, ¢.g9., /Zelix. fusca, Clausilia laminata, while one, z.¢., Helix Cantiana, I have not yet found at all: it also excludes many of our commonest and most widely distributed species, ¢.g., Succinea putris, Spherium corneum: so far, that is in the last two years, I have, with the invaluable aid of Mr. E. W. Bowell increased the list to eighty-seven species. The slugs I have not yet studied particularly, but I hope to do so in future, and many species are recorded in the list above referred to. Of course, I have not yet worked nearly the whole of the county, and no doubt many new species will be added by further search. [Those marked (*) are recorded by Messrs. Taylor and Roebuck. ] Spherium corneum. Very common. * Sph. rivicola. Not common and small. The Lugg at Mordiford, the Wye at Symond’s Yat. Sph. lacustye. Formerly very common in the Hereford and Gloucester Canal, which is now, un- fortunately, drained, for the most part at any rate. Pisidium fontinale. Abundant where it occurs: Tupsley : near Leominster. * Pisidium pusillum. Common. Pisidium roseumt, Rare: but abundant near Stoke Edith. Onio tumidus. mens are small. the Canal. Unio pictorum. A few specimens in the Wye. Fairly common. The Wye speci- Abundant, very fine and large in 78 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. Unio margaritifer. Extremely abundant in the Wye, especially near Hereford. Anodonta cygnea. Common, The largest I have measures 63 X 3} in. The immature specimens seem somewhat to resemble A. avatina. Anodonta anatina. Local: the Wye at Symond’s Yat, abundant : also, but very rarely at Hereford. I have one very curious specimen, which has two teeth, one on each valve, about the centre of the shell. Dreissena polymorpha. Formerly very abundant in the canal at Hereford. Neritina fluviatilis, Wye at Symond’s Yat. Paludina contecta. Paludina vivipara. Canal. Bythinia tentaculata. Very common. Valvata piscinalis, Common: Canal : Staunton-on- Wye, etc. Frequently on Caddis-cases. Valvata cristata. Rare: Tupsley. On Caddis-cases. Planorbis nitidus. By no means abundant: Devereaux Park: Bartestre. Planorbis nautileus. Ina shallow pond at Bulling- ham, on oak leaves (in a similar situation near Oxford). Planorbis albus. Common. Often on Caddis-cases. Planorbis parvus. Locally abundant: Burton Court, near Leominster. Planorbis spirorbis, Abundant ina brookat Moccas, with many sub-scalariform specimens. Planorbis vortex. Not uncommon : Tupsley, etc. Planorbis carinatus. Canal: Tupsley. Planorbis complanatus. Common : I have observed it eject red-coloured fluid on being put in boiling water. Planorbis corneus. ‘* Hereford,” De Boinville: “near Leominster” (?): Hereford canal, but only fragments. Planorbis contortus. Very common. Physa hypnorum. Formerly very abundant in one pord near Hereford, but the late drought seems to have destroyed it. Physa fontinalis. Bullingham. * Limnea peregra. Abundant: avery ‘‘ palustroid” variety near Hereford : var. /abiosa not uncommon. Limnea auricularia. Two distinct forms ; one, smaller and squarer, very abundant at Burton Court, near Leominster: the other larger, flatter, in many cases labiate, many others, again, tending towards L. peregra, with which it formerly abounded in Hereford Canal. Limnea stagnalis. Two distinct forms; one, very abundant in Hereford Canal, slender, thin, and small, whereof I have found the mons. scalariforme; the other, at Tupsley, much larger, stouter and finer. * Limnea truncatula. Common. Very ‘abundant Very local: Abundant in ‘* Hereford,” De Boinville. Formerly abundant in the the canal: Not very common: the Common: var. inflata at in the Wye at Hereford: var. elegans (but usual colour) in the Frome. I have found it on the Ffwddog on the Black Mountains in very tiny rills : doubtless these are the hosts of the sheep-fluke. Limnea glabra, Rarenear Tupsley : (very common near Hay, just over the Herefordshire border). * Ancylus fluviatilis. In nearly every stream. Ancylus lacustris. Widely distributed, but nowhere very abundant. [Zestacella haliotidea. T. A. Chapman. * Arion ater, Very common. * Arion hortensis. Very common. * Arion bourguignati. * Amalia gagates. * Amalia marginata. * Limax agrestis. Common. * Limax maximus. Not very common: Doward Very rare: ‘‘ Burghill,” Hill. * Limax arborum. Not very common: Doward Hill). Succinea putris. One of our commonest and most widely distributed species. Sometimes near to 5S. virescens on horse-radish at Ross, vide Helix rufescens and 4. hortensis. Succinea elegans. this species floating. * Vitrina pellucida. Common, Seems more abun- dant in spring. Does it ibury itself to grow during the summer and autumn? Very little, if at all, affected by the cold. * Zonites cellarius. Very common. * Zonites alliarius. Weather rare: Ross : Llanwarne. Zonites glaber. Not very common. * Zonites nitidulus. The commonest species ; also var. 2itens. * Zonites purus. Common. Also var. margaritacea. Zonites radiatulus. Under bark on willow-trees. Doward Hill. Dormington. * Zonites crystallinus. Not uncommon among dead leaves. Rotherwas, Backbury Hill. Zonites fulvus. Not uncommon among dead leaves. Rotherwas ; Backbury Hill. Helix aculeata. Not uncommon. Among dead leaves, especially on stones among dead leaves. Backbury Hill; Rotherwas: Dormington: Breinton. * Helix aspersa. Very common. * Helix nemoralis. Very common; also vars: castanea (especially on the limestone), carnea, Libellula, bimarginata (rare). ; * Helix hortensis. Very common, but apparently not on the limestone; with vars. a/ézma (on horse- radish, vide 4. rufescens), pallida incarnata, lutee (very common), avenzcola. * Helix arbustorum. Hill: near Hereford. * Helix Cantiana. Helix rufescens. Very common. Apparently not on the limestone ; with vars. a/da (very common ; the Very common. I have seen Not uncommon: Doward HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 79 only form at Ross on horse-radish, vide H. hortensis, Succinea putris), rubens (Hereford, not very common), minor (common). * Helix hispida. Common. Many forms lead to the var. concinna. * Helix fusca. Very local. Doward Hill. * Helix caperata. ery common; with vars. obliterata, fulua, Gigaxit. felix ericetorum. Local, but abundant at Burghill. fielix rotundata. Very abundant. Helix rupestris. Very local, but abundant at Doward Hill in cracks in the cliff, among grass, dead leaves, etc. Helix pygmea. at Rotherwas. * Helix pulchella, Not uncommon. Dinedor, Back- bury Hill, etc. Mostly among dead leaves, One specimen among dead leaves * Helix lagicida. Local and uncommom. Doward Hill : Dormington. * Bulimus obscurus. Fairly common. Doward Hill: Breinton: Dormington. Pupa secale. Local, but very abundant on the Doward Hill : also at Dormington. * Pupa ringens. Not very common : Doward Hill. Pupa umbilicata. Not uncommon. Doward Hill: Dormington. Pupa marginata. Dormington. (Note-—The Doward Hill and Dormington are both on the limestone.) Vertigo. This genus seems conspicuous by its absence. Doubtless there are more than two species. Can any reader give me any hints to find them? Vertigo edentula. Dinedor : Dormington. Vertigo antivertigo, Dormington. * Clausilia rugosa. Very common; gracilior, tumidula. * Clausilia laminata. mington; ‘‘ Leominster ; * Cochlicopa lubrica. Notuncommon. Doward Hill: also vars, Very rare. Doward; Dor- * only single specimens. Very common.} Cochlicopa tridens. Rare, Backbury Hill, among Mercuriale perennis. * Achatina acicula, Very rare. Among dead leaves on Backbury Hill (only two specimens). * Carychium minimum. Common among dead leaves. I have found this and many other species in abundance by shaking dead leaves over a sheet of paper or a cloth, or by bringing home bagfuls of rubbish for more leisurely examination. * Cyclostoma elegans. Common. In conclusion I may mention that the localities quoted are either parishes, or well-known woods, hills, or houses ; also, if any reader would care to know the more exact locality of any species, I shall be most happy to render all the assistance in my power ; and should be glad if anyone would inform me of any sins of commission and omission he may know of. {A. E. Boycott. The Grange, Hereford. NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. HE HORSE, a Study in Natural History, by William Henry Flower, C.B. (London : Kegan Paul & Co.). This is one of the now famous modern-science series of books, edited by Sir John Lubbock, and issued by the above firm. They are all well got-up, printed with clear good type on good paper. The horse is a favourite animal all over the world, but nowhere more so than in England, and there is nobody more capable of writing about its anatomy and zoological history than Pro- fessor Flower. Its genealogical descent is better known than that of any other mammal, so that the horse is the animal most referred to in support of the theory of Evolution. The bones of its legs are a museum of ancestral organs, many of them now disused, others having been extraordinarily developed at their expense. Into all these matters Professor Flower enters in detail in the book before us, which is practically a little monograph upon the horse. The student of natural history could not study a more delightful book. It is written in plain and practically untechnical language. It contains only four lengthy chapters, which are as follows: ‘‘ The Horse’s Place in Nature—its Ancestors and Relations”; ‘‘ The Horse and its nearest existing Relations”; ‘‘ The Structure of the Horse, chiefly as bearing upon its Mode of Life, its Evolution. and its Relation to other Animal Forms—the Head and Neck”; ‘‘ The Struc- ture of the Horse—the Limbs.” The work is em- bellished by twenty-six telling illustrations, The Realm of Nature, an Outline of Physiography, by Dr. H. R. Mill (London: John Murray). This is by far the best handbook to physical geography in our language. It contains nineteen coloured maps, and sixty-eight illustrations, and appendices which give an account of the most important instruments used in determining physiographical questions. The last appendix is very usefully devoted to explanations of the derivations of scientific terms. There are seventeen chapters, at the end of each of which is a list of books of reference. The wide range of Dr. Mill’s book may be gathered from the titles of the chapters, which are as follows: ‘‘The Study of Nature” ; ‘*The Substance of Nature”; ‘‘ Energy, the Power of Nature”; ‘‘ The Earth a Spinning Ball” ; ‘‘ The Earth a Planet” ; “‘ The Solar System and Universe” ; ‘* The Atmosphere” ; ‘‘ Atmospheric Phenomena”; ‘‘Climates of the World”; ‘‘ The Hydrosphere” ; ‘‘ The Bed of the Oceans”; ‘‘ The Crust of the Earth”; ‘* Action of Water on the Land”; ‘‘ The Record of the Rocks”; ‘* The Con- tinental Area”; ‘‘Life and Living Creatures” ; ‘*Man in Nature.” Dr. Mill’s manual ought to be in every library. It is a work not only to be read, but to be referred to at all times. Manipulation of the Microscope; by E. Bausch (London: W. P. Collins). We are glad to see this 80 HARDWICKE’'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP, little manual circulating in this country. It is just the book we are often asked to recommend : full and clear in its detailed explanations. The headings of the chapters are as follows: “ Simple Microscopes” ; ““The Compound Microscope”; ‘‘ Objectives and Eye-pieces” ; ‘* Requisites for Work”; ‘‘ How to Work” ; “‘ Advanced Manipulation” ; ‘‘ To select a Microscope” ; ‘‘ Sub-stage Illumination” ; ‘* Care of a Microscope,” and Appendix. The Optics of Photography and Photographic Lenses, by J. Traill Taylor (London: Whittaker & Co.). The author has for many years been editor of the “* British Journal of Photography,” so that no other man is better capable of writing such a useful manual as that before us. It is eminently practical, and all users of photographic lenses, both professionals and amateurs, will be thankful to possess it. Indeed there is scarcely a single detail which photographers of all classes have to be acquainted with in the prosecution of their art, which is not here clearly and fully set forth. The following enumeration of the chapters will give our readers some idea of Mr. Taylor’s praiseworthy little book: ‘‘ What consti- tutes Photographic Optics—Nature and Properties of Light”; ‘‘ Photographic Definition, Real and Ideal— Forms of Single and Achromatic Lenses”; ‘‘ The Cause of an Inverted Image” ; ‘‘ Spherical Aberra- tion” ; ‘‘ The Nature and Function of the Diaphragm or Stop”; ‘* Properties of Deep Meniscus Lenses— Compensating Single Lenses ;” ‘‘ The Optical Centre of Single Lenses” ; ‘* The Optical or Focal Centre of a Combination”; ‘* Single Achromatic Lenses” ; “Distortion, its Nature and Cure”; ‘‘Non- distorting Lenses”; ‘‘ Wide-angle Non-distorting Lenses”; ‘‘ Portrait Lenses ;” ‘‘ Rapid Landscape, Group, and Copying Lenses” ; ‘‘ Universal Landscape Lenses” ; ‘‘ Flare and the Flare Spot.” The book contains sixty-eight illustrations, and is usefully sup- plied with a copious index. We cordially commend it to all those of our readers who are interested in the science and art of photography. Air and Water, by Prof. Vivian B. Lewes (London : Methuen & Co.). This is a well-written, interesting little book, one of the yniversity extension series. The author very successfully brings before his readers the wonderful changes going on in our atmosphere, and the still more marvellous work which water performs in our nature. Prof. Lewes writes very largely from a hygienic point of view. Readers will find this little work useful at any time as a handy book of reference on subjects connected with air and water. The contents are as follows: ‘‘ The History of the Atmosphere” ; ‘‘ The chief Constituents of the Atmosphere”; ‘‘The minor Constituents of the Atmosphere” ; ‘‘ The local Impurities of the Atmo- sphere”; ‘‘The Causes which tend to keep the Composition of the Atmosphere constant” ; ‘‘ The Air of enclosed Spaces and Ventilation” ; ‘‘ Water and its Composition” ; ‘‘ The Determination of the Composition of Water”; ‘The Properties of Water”; ‘‘The Circulation of Water in Nature” ; “«The Impurities of Water”; ‘* The Purification of Water.” Tenth Annual Report of the United States’ Geological Survey, 1888-89 (Washington : Government Printing Office). We have to acknowledge two more large and handsomely got-up volumes, sent us by the American Government, in striking contrast with the beggarly niggardliness with which our own hides the lights of its geological surveyors under a bushel. Besides the Report of the Director, these volumes contain the following memoirs :—‘‘ General Account of the Fresh-water Morasses of the United States, with a Description of the Dismal Swamp District of Virginia and South Carolina,” by Professor N. Shaler (this paper is profusely and excellently illustrated) ; ‘*The Penokee Iron-bearing Series of Michigan and Wisconsin,” by R. D. Irving and C. R. Van-Hise (numerous coloured maps and rock-sections) ; ‘‘ The Fauna of the Lower Cambrian or Olenellus Zone,” by C. D. Walcott (illustrated by fifty excellent plates, besides woodcuts). This is one of the handsomest volumes the Survey has hitherto published. One volume of the Zenth Annual Refort is entirely de- voted to the subject of ‘‘ Irrigation.” fifth Report of the United States’ Entomological Commission, on ‘‘Insects injurious to Forest and Shade Trees,” by Dr. A. S. Packard (Washington : Government Printing Office). This is another of the valuable volumes issued by the American Government, the work of one of the most distinguished entomolo- gists of the day. It is illustrated by 360 woodcuts and 40 full-page plates, many of them coloured. All the insects, chiefly Lepidoptera, which injuriously affect forest-trees are here figured and described in every stage of their development. The trees whose insect enemies are described are the oak, elm, hickory, black walnut, butternut, chestnut, locust- tree, maple, cotton-wood, lime, birch, beach, wild cherry, plum, thorn, crab-apple, mountain ash, ash, willow, hackberry, alder, sycamore, pine, spruce, fir- tree, larch, juniper, cedar, and cyprus. It is one of the most admirable volumes in every respect the U.S.A. Commission has ever turned out. wlnunual Reports of the Smithsonian Institution, vols. 1887-89 (Washington: Government Printing Office). These bulky volumes, which run to over seven hundred pages each, are exceedingly useful to a scientist, on account of their admirable progress in scientific work for each year, as well as their full and useful bibliography. In addition, each volume con- tains a well-written review of some particular subject, or translations of papers and addresses from the most important foreign papers of each year. No more entertaining and useful scientific annual appears. Systematic List of British Oligocene and Eocene Mollusca in the British Museum of Natural History, by B. B. Newton ; Catalogue of British Hymenoptera HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP, 81 ex the Britisk Museum, second edition, part i. Andrenidze and Apidze (London: printed by order of the trustees). We are proud of these two volumes. The trustees of the British Museum are the only authorities who recognise what the Americans have Jong found out, that science is democratic and not oligarchic.- They distribute their valuable volumes with a free hand to every free library and scientific journal. Mr. Bullen’s volume will be found of especial value to geologists. It deals practically with the late Mr. Edwards’ collection of mollusca. Mr. Edwards was one of the members of the ‘‘ London Clay Club,” founded in 1838 for the purpose of collecting and describing and illustrating the eocene mollusca. His collection is now in the British Museum, and Mr. Bullen’s work is an account of it. The volume on British Hymenoptera is accompanied by a ‘‘ Catalogue of the British Bees in the British Museum,” by Frederick Smith, a new issue. Very few people are aware that the total number of species of British bees known at present is 211. It is hardly necessary to say that Mr. Smith’s catalogue is accurately and well done. The Medical Annual and Practitioner's Index, 1892 {Bristol: John Wright & Co.). This volume has gained immensely both in bulk and value since its first appearance ten years ago. It now runs to close upon 700 pages, is abundantly illustrated both by woodcuts and coloured plates, and is contributed to by most of the chief medical writers of the day. Dr. Ruffer’s paper on ‘‘ Recent Advances in Bac- teriology” will be read by many other than medical men. We have looked in vain in it for a paper on the ‘‘ Natural History of Influenza.” The volume contains a list of the principal medical books of last year. NOTES ON THE INFUSORIA. By BERNARD THOMAS. II.—FLAGELLATE INFUSORIA. HE Infusoria proper consists of a single group of unicellular animals. The Diatoms, Desmids, Rotifers and others, either plant-forms or multicellular animals, have been rejected by the zoologist, and referred to their respective classes in the animal or vegetable kingdoms. Unicellularity is the leading character of the Protozoa, and while the Amceba represents the lowest class, the Infusoria is the highest class of that sub- kingdom. The latter are therefore described as a class of the Protozoa furnished either with one or two long motile filaments (flagella), with several delicate vibratile filaments (cilia), or with non-vibratile fila- ments furnished with suckers (tentacles). The following is adopted as a good working classification :— (1.) Flagellata.* (2.) Cilio-flagellata. (3-) Ciliata. (4.) Suctoria (Acinetz). (1.) The Flagellata have one or two long delicate filaments called /Zage//a; when two exist, they usually arise from the same end, and the region from which these organs spring is usually called the oral or anterior end. There is often no mouth, but only an oral region, usually placed near the base of the flagellum, at which the food is introduced. Very generally there is a nucleus, a contractile space, and sometimes a little red pigment body (the so-called eye-spot or red ocellus). We may roughly divide the Flagellata into two groups; firstly, the free-swimming isolated forms, and secondly, those that live in colonies. 1. Astasia limpida (Fig. 43). The length of the species is given in the ‘* Micrographic Dictionary ” as the five-hundred-and-fiftieth of an inch. While swimming, fully extended, it glides along with its long flagellum stretched out in front of it, and this organ may be seen to move about as it swims. It may now be described roughly as shaped like a pear, of which the flagellum forms a somewhat long stalk. The anterior or oral region, from which the fligellum \ Fig. 43 asin limpida. A, extended, showing flagellum (7), vacuole (v), and eye-spot (R 0); B, contracted. springs in a slight notch, is pointed, the posterior part blunt. ‘The protoplasm in the former region is clear and contains a vacuole, while the remaining substance is granular, sometimes with large well- defined particles crowded close together. In some specimens there is a little reddish body at the posterior end, similar to the eye-spot found in certain of the Algz. The flagellum is very long, and seems to be used as a tactile organ, feeling everything that comes in its way. From the observations of Biitschli ¢ it appears that * Claparéde and Lachmann. + “Carpenter on the Microscope,” p. 506. 188r 82 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSI/P. this organism has a true mouth for the reception of food. Sometimes it stops swimming and rapidly changes its form and becomes irregular in outline (Fig. 43 4) while the long flagellum is seen to wave about in the water. The ectosarc seems eminently contractile, like that of the Amceba or Euglena. We shall see that the contractility of the ectosarc varies greatly in the different species of Infusoria, in Parameecium it is not contractile, though not very resistant to objects that may be pressed against it, while in Coleps the ectosarc is cuticular. The resemblance of Astasia to Euglena, presently to be described, is very striking indeed. Ehrenberg and Dujardin classed both forms together into the same family. 2. Euglena viridis is by many considered a plant, by others an animal. Like a plant, it contains green chlorophyll, and it may be noted that it bears a general resemblance to the free-swimming Zoospores of certain Algze. Its length varies from the thousandth to the two- hundred-and-fiftieth of an inch. It is exceedingly common ‘in pond-water and may often be found in great multitudes in the green water found at the bottom of manure heaps, When fully extended, it is seen to be somewhat spindle-shaped; one end is clear, and contains a minute red angular body, the red ocellus or eye-spot. It is difficult to say what is the function of this bright particle, but it is found in the Zoospores, as well as in many of the free-swimming green Flagellata which may be grouped collectively as Flagellate Algee. The rest of the protoplasmic cell contains chlorophyll corpuscles. This green colouring-matter is not diffused throughout the general substance, but collected in little green masses of protoplasm (chlorophyll corpuscles) as in the higher plants. In the centre of the cell there is sometimes a large round body, resembling in appear- ance the pyrenoids seen in Desmids, Zygnemacez, and also probably in the Zoospores. Although it occupies the centre of the cell it seems too well- defined for a nucleus, and if it be so, is green chlorophyll-containing. The anterior end is slightly notched, the posterior end is prolonged into a tail and is clear and colourless, Sometimes the protoplasm is stuffed with granules which look like starch grains but do not stain blue, but a deep brown, with iodine. The motile filament, ‘springing from the notch before mentioned, is longer than the body, and furnished with a small knob at the free extremity. Euglena is seen to frequently change its form in a manner somewhat similar to Astasia, only there may be noted this difference: in Astasia the anterior extremity participates less than the remaining proto- plasm in this change, while in Euglena the anterior and posterior ends both seem the less motile. Unlike many other Flagellate Alge, Euglena viridis has no cell-wall as have its allies Phacus and Euglena pyrum There are other allies of Zuglena viridis which will only be briefly mentioned ; among these are Lug/ena acus, EL. pyrum, and £. longicauda. 3. Euglena longicauda, sometimes called Phacus longicauda, is of somewhat larger size than the pre- ceding. In the ‘‘ Micrographic Dictionary” it is said to be from the one-hundred-and-eightieth to the one-hundred-and-twentieth of an inch. Its move- ments are slow, and it has a peculiar habit of twisting its body. The ectosarc is marked obliquely with lines resembling the myophan strize of the Ciliata. 4. Euglena pyrum, unlike the two other Euglena, is furnished with a firm cell-wall formed from the ectosarc. This case is sometimes found empty, and then delicate spiral markings can be seen. In size it may vary from the thousandth to the eight-hundred- and fiftieth ofan inch, so that it is much smaller than £, viridis. 5. Phacus plewronotes is about the six-hundredth of an inch in length. In one aspect it is broad, roughly oval, but broader near the base, in another view it is thin and narrow, so that it may be described as plate- like. It rolls lazily round onits long axis as it swims, presenting alternately the broad and narrow aspect to the observer. The anterior part is cleft, and from this a delicate flagellum arises. The posterior end is prolonged into an obliquely directed tail. The cell-wall is marked with striz, the strongest of which radiate from the cleft to the tail. In the interior there is an eye-spot, situated near the origin of the flagellum. There are usually two vacuoles, which do not appear to be contractile, the smaller of which is near the red ocellus. Chlorophyll corpuscles more or less fill the rest of the interior. Sometimes there are one or two oval, colourless, highly-refractive bodies with concentric markings, and which do not stain with iodine. The two little organisms Doxococeus and Chezeto- glena are often found together in pond-water. 6. Doxococeus ruber, something bigger than the two-thousandth of an inch in diameter, is round and rolls over and over as it swims. The thick cell- wall is of a reddish-brown hue and hides the proto- plasm with its green corpuscles. Through a hole in the case surrounded by a ring the flagellum protudes. By the pressure of the cover-glass we may easily crush the brittle cell-wall, and in this way expose the protoplasm with its corpuscles and red eye-spot. [The other figures will appear in next paper.— Ep.] BRITISH POISONOUS PLANTS. ONSIDERING the extent of our native flora, we are happily exempt from many poisonous species, and those plants that are known as injurious are either not very common, or are easily recognised. In our immediate neighbourhood, with the exception of some scattered plants of Solanum dulcamara, HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSTIP. 83 whose]scarlet berries have certainly a very tempting appearance, there is no poisonous plant to whose questionable attractions children Would readily fall victims, for even their inveterate curiosity would scarcely lead them to experiment upon hemlock or foxglove, at any rate in their own persons. Yet, although the species usually regarded as British poisonous plants, are neither numerous nor very common, if we except those of the Umbellate family, many tribes contain species that are more or less poisonous, it being rather a question of the intensity of certain noxious properties than their entire absence, and families that are known to be distinctly poisonous in other parts of the world may well be looked upon here with suspicion, and treated accordingly. The Euphorbiacez, a very poisonous tribe in. warmer countries, is represented in our flora by species too insignificant to be injurious in any marked degrees. The Leguminosez, again, areas a whole (according to Lindley) to be reckoned poisonous, and strange though it may seem, those species that form such important articles of food for man and animals as the pulse and fodder plants are just so many excep- tions to the rule, yet amongst our native species there are none that are injurious. It would appear that the active principles of plants gain or lose in intensity according to the climate in which they naturally grow, and for this reason plants whose home is in warm and tropical’climates where light as well as heat is so much stronger than with us, are characterised by more powerful secretions, whether for good or evil; their flowers are more strongly- sceated, and their fruits are more full of flavour and sweetness than ours. It is said that when such plants are grown in our hothouses, their peculiar properties suffer considerable diminution, the reason being chiefly that the light, that all-important factor in the production of secretions, is so much less intense than in their native habitats. Many powerful poisons are to be found in the Figwort order (Scrophularinez), but with the exception of Digitalis and Scrophularia our native plants are probably harmless. Our truly poisonous plants are met with principally in the Orders Ranunculacez, Umbelliferze, Solanacez. ‘Lo begin with the Ranunculacez ;—all the plants of this family are full of an acrid principle, but Ranun- culus acris is specially distinguished by name for the virulence of its blistering sap. Though it abounds in rich pastures, and is popularly supposed to impart its own. deep yellow to the butter produced by the cows grazing there, it is really left entirely alone by them, and with reason, for it is the most acrid plant of the genus; yet its injurious properties are dissipated when it is dried with the hay. Anemone nemorosa is also refused by both horses and cows because of its acrid juice; but goats, who seem able to find ‘‘ good in everything,” eat it, as do sheep, though it sometimes disagrees with them. But how much wider is the discretion exercised by animals than that of human beings in respect of what is good and wholesome for food. Cows, as we have seen, eschew the tempting golden buttercups; and animals, especially in a wild state, are able, in virtue of their wonderful gift of instinct, to feed unharmed amongst vegetation that would cause injury, or even death to them if they partook of it. Their instinct seems to lead them unquestioningly to refuse the evil and choose the good; while man, with his higher endowment of reason and intelligence, must perforce prove all things by experience before he can be satisfied as to their character. The instinct of domesticated animals, however, does not always serve them as an unerring guide, or we should not hear now and then of cattle and horses being poisoned by eating the foliage of the yew, or the leaves of the more deadly cowbane. But to return. The two Hellebores have no very good repute, though once accounted specifics for madness. Their generic name comes to us from the Greek, and though the species that was accounted poisonous by the’ancients is not included in our flora, the two that are must be looked upon with suspicion. But the poisonous plant far excellence of the Ranun- culus family is Aconitum napellus. It was considered by the ancients as the most prompt of all poisons, one indeed that “* Swift as quicksilver, courses through The natural gates and alleys of the body.” Its generic name is thought to have been derived from aconitos, without a struggle, while wafellus alludes to the form of the roots. Its popular appella- tion of wolfsbane indicates its virulent nature, as it was formerly used to poison wolves, by scattering or sprinkling the acrid juice over pieces of raw flesh. The whole plant, but especially the root, is poisonous, and deaths have frequently occurred through the latter being mistaken for horse-radish, though the two bear little resemblance to each other. The singular flower of A. xapellus, not inappropriately named monkshood or friar’s-cap, is known to all who possess a garden. We have probably been familiar from childhood with the appearance of the overarching sepals that form the ‘‘hood,” and with the long- stalked nectaries into which the hindmost petals are transformed, for what child does not love to discover the pair of doves yoked to the pretty chariot within ? The rootstock of A. zapellus is black, and shaped something like that of a carrot. By the way, does Keats’s epithet, ‘‘tight-rooted,” refer to the hard texture of the root, or to the tenacity with which it holds to the ground? “Go not to Lethe, neither twist Wolfsbane, zzgit rooted, for its poisonous wine.” One may well inquire what it is that makes this plant such a deadly, acrid poison, and how and why some plants form out of the elements that are the 84 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. common food of all, the starch, sugar, gum, etc., that are good and wholesome, and others the alkaloids and bitter, acrid principles, the ‘‘ poisonous wine” of the poet? Alkaloids, of course, partake somewhat of the nature of the alkalis soda and potash that are found in all vegetables, and mostly occur in com- bination with the acids of the plant; they are said to be the most remarkable substances discovered by modern chemistry, and are the active principles of those plants in which they are found. But although they are, so to speak, the very essence of the plant, they are not necessary to its life and well-being, but are waste products, substances that the plant wants to get rid of, for they take no part in the formation of its tissues. They are, therefore, usually removed from the younger and most active parts, and are stored up as secretions in bark, fruit, seeds, etc., in the case of Aconitum chiefly in the root. Vegetable alkaloids are composed essentially of carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen, the greater number also contain oxygen, but nitrogen is invariably present. ‘These poisonous principles are most energetic in their action on the Fig. 44.—1, fruit of Coniunz maculatum (enlarged). 2, longi- tudinal section of one carpel and seed ; 3, transverse section of same, showing the deeply-furrowed albumen. human system, and many are used as medicines which in large doses would be poisonous. They are named after the plants in which they are found: Belladonine, Atropine, Morphine, Nicotine, Theine, etc., and the very powerful alkaloid that is obtained from Aconitum napellus is called aconitia or aconitine. Aconite is, it scarcely need be said, one of the most valuable of medicines, and has been called the “‘homceopathic lancet” on account of its wonderful power of reducing fever, indeed it is to the introduc- tion of this drug into the modern practice of medicine, that we are largely indebted for the more rational treatment of fevers that now prevails. It is to be noted that alkaloids in their most concentrated form are crystalline and colourless—can the Raphides that abound in some plants of the Lily tribe be of this nature, for the Scillas and Colchicums' have an undoubtedly poisonous character? Aconitine belongs to the class of narcotic irntant poisons. Next in order, and not less pernicious in their effects upon man and animals are the three or four members of the Umbellate family that possess noxious qualities : these are Conzum maculatum, hem~ lock ; Cicuta virosa, water-hemlock or cowbane, and Ginanthe crocata, hemlock dropwort, or dead-~ tongue. C@thusa cynapium is also poisonous, and from having been mistaken and eaten for a most useful and wholesome member of the same family has been named ‘‘fool’s-parsley.” Conium mracu- Jatum is indigenous, and has long been used in medicine ; its nauseous smell when bruised ought to be enough to warn any one from it. Unlike Aconi- tum napellus, it is in the fruit that the poisonous. properties of hemlock are concentrated, and, con- sidering that it is an annual plant, it is only to be expected that they would be stored up in the albumen of the seed. The fruit, though resembling that of Ni\\ NN \\ \\ Fig. 46.—Napiform roots. cowbane and celery-apium, differs from them in its deeply-furrowed albumen. The active principle is Conia, an oily alkali with a peculiar mouse-like odour. Hemlock being the state poison of Athens, was that used to compass the death of ‘that best, wisest, and most just of men,” Socrates. The action of this narcutic irritant poison is to paralyze the muscles of respiration so that death is compara- tively painless. Plato relates in the Phedo how the servant who brought the poisoned cup to Socrates: told him to walk about until his legs felt heavy, and then lie down,—‘‘ the drink,” said he, ** will do the rest ;” and how gradually he grew cold and stiff from the feet upwards, and said to those around him that when thecold reached his heart, he should depart ; then, uncovering his face, he gave that famous last HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSS/P. 85 command to Crito, ‘* We owe a cock to Aisculapius, discharge it and do not neglect it ;’ and in a little time had ceased to breathe. The Solanum or Potato order is made by Bentham to include Datura stramonium, the thorn-apple, Hiyoscyamus niger, henbane, Solanum dulcamara, bittersweet or nightshade, S. xigrum and Atropa Gelladonna, dwale or deadly nightshade. All the plants of the order possess narcotic properties, and some are very poisonous; one of their marked characteristics is that of causing dilatation of the pupil of the eye, hence the specific name of A¢ropa bella- donna, “fair lady,” as it was, and possibly still is used to enhance the beauty of the eye. As Datura is scarcely to be considered as naturalized in England, though sometimes met with in the southern counties, we will pass on to henbane, Hyoscyamus niger, with the purple veinings on its pale yellow corolla and its pretty box-like fruits set within the persistent calyx, and its large hairy irregularly pinnatifid leaves. Perhaps it is just as well that this plant confines itself for the most part to the neighbourhood of ruins, and frequents stony and waste places. Listen to the estimation in which it was held by the ghost in “* Hamlet !” “‘Thy uncle stole With juice of cursed hedenon in a vial, And in the porches of mine ears did pour The leperous distilment.” The properties of Hyoscyamus, like the rest of its family, are decidedly narcotic, and it is a valuable soother of pain and aid to sleep when judiciously administered. Solanum dulcamara is a more common plant. Its tufts of purple blossom with their cone of yellow anthers are like miniature potato flowers, and the bright red berries the “‘ruby grapes of Proser- pine” that succeed them are very attractive ; accord- ing to Bentley they are in rare cases poisonous, and Balfour declares that the berries of S. nigrum are edible. They are eaten in the Ukraine, and in Ascension Island are used in the making of plum- puddings for the soldiers of the garrison! It is certain, however, that an alkaloid called Solanine is present in both plants, as indeed it is, in a less degree, in the potato plant. Some-derive the name of Solanum from so/or, to assuage or comfort (the tobacco plant belongs to the order), but it is perhaps wiser not to seek too much consolation from members of this family. The ominous name of Atropos, that one of the three fatal sisters whose office it was to cut the thread of life has been bestowed upon its most dangerous member, Afrofa belladonna, dwale or deadly nightshade. Dwale may signify mourning and woe (Fr. deuil), or perhaps the sleep that: it induces, while nightshade suggests the temporary blindness caused by its juice. Each designation sounds a warning note, and indeed the alkaloid Atropine is a most powerful poison, that forms itself into innocent-looking, white, silky crystals, devoid of smell, but with a bitter taste. The cherry-like berries of the deadly nightshade have too often proved a fatal temptation to children, so that one cannot be sorry that it is not a common plant in the north. The flower is of a lurid purple, and the berry, like that of henbane is surrounded by the persistent calyx. The foxglove healeth all wounds, ‘‘ Aralda tutte le piaghe salda,” says the Italian proverb ; nevertheless it must be classed amongst our poisonous plants, though it is a valuable medicine, and was much used in the middle ages for staunching wounds. ‘The fox- glove, Digitalis purpurea, belongs to the Scrophularia family, and is certainly too well-known to need description. Its poisonous, bitter principle is called Digitaline, and on account of its narcotic properties is much used as a sedative in diseases of the heart ; indeed the great value of the poisonous principles of plants in medicine seems to afford an answer to the question one is at times ready to put as to why there should be poisonous plants at all. Their real danger is, of course, only to the ignorant, and children ought always to be warned against eating tempting-looking berries that they may happen to find. Lactuca virosa and L. scariola may be named as highly-poisonous members of the Composite family, whose milky juice acts like opium. Daphne mezereum, spurge laurel, of the order Thymelaceze, is yet another highly-poisonous plant to be added to the list. Daphnin is found in all parts of the plant, but especially in the root, bark, and bright red berries. In a paper on poisonous plants the Fungi must not be overlooked, as the _ number of poisonous species are many, and their dangerous properties extremely virulent. They con- tain much nitrogen, and-are rich in phosphates. Bright-coloured fungi should, as a rule, be avoided, also those whose juice is milky, or.that have a power- ful odour, or an acrid, astringent, salt or bitter taste. With regard to fungi, it might be well to follow the example of the young French lady who, when invited to partake of some strange dish, declined, remarking that she only ‘‘ate her acquaintance,” for even the common mushroom may be sometimes poisonous, and is avoided both in France and Italy. M*D. D. Hawkshead, Ambleside. SECRETING GLANDS IN THE FEET OF FLIES. N warm summer weather myriads of small flies, of the genus Hilara, may be seen in constant motion over streams of water; their movements are various and very difficult to follow. The males of these insects have the first, and in some species the second joints of the anterior tarsi much dilated. The first joint is the largest, and varies both in size and 86 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. shape, the most common shape being somewhat of an oval. Usually in flies the first tarsal joint is well supplied with muscles, nerves, tracheal vessels, and an apodéme, this latter extending to the terminal joint of the tarsus, but in the same joint, in Ai/ara pilosa, muscles are absent, the space which they should occupy being filled with large glands, from hairs with which its under surface is covered.” Having tried to confirm this statement, I have failed to convince myself of its correctness, though the attempt has resulted in bringing out other facts which may be of some interest. The minuteness of the parts prevents satisfactory results being obtained by dissection, I have therefore made sections in various 1000ww ut 1 1 Fig. 47.—Hilara filosa, longitudinal section through first joint of anterior tarsus of male; a, outer wall; 4, inner wall; £g, glands; d, ducts. which well-defined jducts extend to the integument, on the inner side of the foot (Fig. 47). Some of the ducts in their course turn upon themselves, forming loops before penetrating the integument, which they do immediately above each large hair. The orifice of the duct is circular, and placed so close to the base of the hair that the minutest drop of fluid exuded would necessarily come in contact with it. I have not had an opportunity of examining the secretion, but it is most probably of a viscid nature, and like that given off from the pulvilli of flies. Similar glands I have found in the anterior tarsi of the water-beetle, Ast/us sulcatus, which are in intimate connection with both the large and small so-called sucking discs. The use of this fluid has not been absolutely determined, but it is thought to be of service to the insect during the act of co- pulation. The idea that the pulvilli or pads on the feet of flies act as suckers to enable the insect to walk in an inverted position on ceilings, etc., has not yet been eradicated from the minds ef some people, though a sufficient proof has long been established showing that an adhesive fluid, exuded by the pulvilli, enables them to perform this feat. But where, and by what means, is this fluid elaborated? In Mr. Lowne’s Monograph on the Blow-fly, it is stated that ‘‘a close sac fills the whole of the last four tarsal joints, and is lined with pavement epithelium; it secretes a perfectly clear, viscid fluid, which exudes from it into the pad and fills its cavity, as well as the hollow directions through both the tarsal joints and pulvilli of numerous flies, and have invariably found in the posterior portion of the pulvilli a number of secreting glands, but in no instance have I met with glands in any of the four last tarsal joints. The number of glands varies much in different species of flies, the most numerous I have met with are in the pulvilli of (00TH | 1 “Je Fig. 48.—Longitudino-vertical section of pulvillus of Sarcophaga carnaria. Sarcophaga carnaria, a troublesome fly of medium size with abnormally large flat pulvilli. Fig. 48 represents a portion of a longitudino-vertical section of S. carnaria. The upper wall (a) is arched, and formed of semi or half-tubes of pigmented chitin laid lengthwise close together, with the round side upper- most. The lower wall (2) is not parallel with the upper, but forms continuous curves in both longi- tudinal and transverse directions, causing the fine transparent hairs with which it is closely beset, to assume various angles. This irregular contour of the HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 87 under surface of the pads adapts them to any uneven surface on which the fly may alight, thus, only a portion of the sticky hairs would be brought into contact with the support at one and the same time. The structure of the upper wall is well suited to give both strength and elasticity to the pads. Internally, the posterior half of the pulvillus is nearly filled with a homogenous substance that stains with carmine and is partially separated into distinct portions by clear spaces (¢ c). In the midst of these partially isolated masses appear one or more glands, the nuclei of which take a deep stain (g). The ducts are very transparent, and not easily defined, except where they happen to cross a clear space. The anterior half of the pulvillus is broader and shallower than the posterior half, and contains no visible substance ; if it has contained fluid, the alcohol used in pre- paration has possibly withdrawn it, or otherwise it does not take carmine stain. In similar sections from the pulvillus of the blow-fly, the fluid has become consolidated, fills about two-thirds of the depth of the pad, and takes a faint stain with carmine. The hairs appended to the lower wall of the pul- villus are devoid of pigment, and so transparent that I have been unable to detect any Jumen, though I have tried to coax air into them, neither have transverse sections revealed any opening. From the examination of the feet of many flies with similar results, I am led to the conclusion that the viscid fluid used by the fly for its support, either in an inverted or vertical position, is elaborated in the pulvyilli, and in them alone. y WM. JENKINSON. SCIENCE-GOSSIP. WE deeply regret to announce the death of Mr. Henry Walter Bates, F.R.S., who died recently from influenza and its complications, at the age of sixty-six. He was distinguished as a traveller and naturalist, and very well known for his twenty-seven years’ secretaryship of the Royal Geographical Society. As a youth he was an enthusiastic botanist and ento- mologist, and the country around Leicester—his birthplace—was well known to him through his frequent expeditions. At the age of twenty-three he went off to the Amazon, and during eleven years continued his study and collections among the natural history riches of that region. In 1863 he published “* The Naturalist in the River Amazon,” and for the Linnzan Society’s: ** Transactions” he wrote ‘‘Con- tributions to an Insect Fauna of the Amazon’s Valley.” ANOTHER leading scientist has joined the majority in Professor Thomas Sterry Hunt, who died in New York on February 12th, after an attack of influenza, He was born in 1826, and began his scientific career, at the age of twenty, in the laboratory at Yale. As chemist and mineralogist to the Geological Survey of Canada he rendered valuable service. In 1872 he was appointed to a chair in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; in 1859 he was elected F.R.S., and in 1881 received the LL.D. of Cambridge. His best known writings are ‘‘Chemical and Geological Essays,” ‘‘ Mineral Physiology and Physiography,” and ‘* Systematic Mineralogy.” AT a meeting of the Edinburgh Royal Society, held recently, Dr. Ralph Copeland, Astronomer Royal for Scotland, read a communication on the new star in the constellation ‘‘ Auriga.” Dr. Cope- land said a feature of the new star was its rapid rise to its maximum of brightness and its equally sudden decline. Of two temporary stars discovered in recent years one had broken out in ‘‘ Nebulz,” and was comparatively little observed, but the second, which appeared in 1885 in Andromeda, was thoroughly examined. There was very little of any distinctive features in it, and they might argue that these new stars were spectra not unlike those represented in ‘* Nebula Andromeda.” No full data had yet been got as to the suddenness of the appearance of the present new star. It was generally considered that the telegram which had been received from America on the subject did not mean that the star had actually passed through a maximum of brightness on 20th December last, but that on that date it was brighter than on the roth or Ist of the month. |The writer of the anonymous post-card on the subject was Dr. Thomas D. Anderson, Edinburgh, who was almost certain he had seen the star at 2 oclock a.m. on 24th January last. At that date it did not occur to him that it was a new star, but on February Ist it flashed on him, and the discovery was made, and he hoped Dr. Anderson’s success would be the means of making amateurs persevere in their endeavours. On the Ist inst. a spectroscope had revealed bright lines on the star. The tackle of the Observatory here had been taken to Dunecht, and observations made there, and he had also made observations. On the 9th inst. he obtained the positions of the lines. They were 656°2; 595°03; 562°03 533°6; 518°0; 502°3; and 500°5. 500°5 was the place where the great Nebulee lay. 502°3 was one of the best measurements he made. Other positions were 494°0, 486°1, 449°6, and 447°6. ‘Three of these lines pointed to nebulous matter burning in the star, but as a matter of fact that was not the case. He had that morning received satisfactory results’ from Dunecht. Observations had been made there, and 308 measures of 71 lines in the spectrum had been secured, and there was.no doubt of the positions of the lines. They saw at once from his measurements that hydrogen was represented by three lines, and they knew that nebulz lines were wanting. The lines at 494 and 502 were not due to 88 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. nebulae. 518 was perhaps due to magnesium oxide. It was thought the new star was closely allied to others, and was probably colder and older than them, From February Ist a set of estimates of its brightness on various dates up to the 11th had been made. There was a very marked increase in its -brightness, and it fell down to the fifth magnitude on the Tuesday. He was fairly confident of its maximum of brightness on the Sunday. The observations of bright- ness tended to show a relationship more to a variable star than to a ‘* Nova” burning itself out within a few weeks of its appearance. The most remarkable feature about it was the 502 line being so near the great nebula line. of variable stars. That had not been seen in spectra AT the last meeting of the Society of Marine Engineers, a paper was read on ‘‘ Initial Condensa- tion,” after which the following propositions were put before the meeting: 1. That range of temperature does not cause, but permits condensation ; 2. That the increased initial condensation found with higher rates of expansion is due to increased work, and not to increased range of temperature ; 3. That initial condensation may occur not only when steam is used at full pressure throughout the stroke, but even when no useful work is performed; 4, That the lessened initial condensation generally found with stage expansion engines is largely due to reduced range of temperature, but notwithstanding reduced range of temperature a stage expansion engine may condense as much steam as a single stage engine; 5. That conducting-cylinders do not of themselves cause initial condensation, the actual cause being the dis- appearance of heat and consequent liquefaction of steam in the performance of work ; 6. That discord- ant results are almost certain to arise when the condensive surfaces are active up to their full capacity ; 7. That instead of it being necessary to consider why initial condensation exists, it is often necessary to enquire why it is not greater. WE have received from Professor Prestwich his admirable and’suggestive paper illustrated with maps and specimens ‘‘ On the Primitive Characters of the Flint Implements of the Chalk Plateau of Kent, with Reference to the Question of their Glacial or Pre- Glacial Age,” with notes by Messrs. B. Harrison and De Barri Crawshay. WE are pleased to receive the fourth report of the “Microscopical Society of Calcutta,” which, owing to the possession of an active president, and an equally active secretary, J. Wood Mason Esq., and W. J. Simmons, now commands attention. THE increasing interest in natural history is best shown by the new periodicals required to deal with its manifold questions. We have to announce and welcome the advent of another competitor for popular favour in ‘‘ Natural Science,” price 1s. Anadmirably printed and well got-up magazine, in which we are glad to see the names of several esteemed contributors of SciENCE-GossIP appearing. WE have received a pamphlet, beautifully printed and tastefully got up, entitled, ‘‘A Review of the work of the Leeuwenhoek Microscopical Club, Man- chester, 1867-91.” The title-page is illustrated with a beautiful photograph of Leeuwenhoek, from the engraved portrait by Anker Smith, in the 1800 edition of Leeuwenhoek’s works, of Hoole, London. THE ‘International Journal of Microscopy and Natural History ” for January is unusually interesting. It is crowded with good matter, and has some ex- cellent illustrations. OnE of the most important natural history associa- tions in this country is the ‘‘ Transactions of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union.” Nothing more tho- rough has ever been turned out by any society. The parts deal with the botany, geology, climate, physical geography, entomology, &c., of the premier county, in addition to which there is a separate part by Mr. Robert Kidston on the Yorkshire carboniferous flora. These parts are published by Taylor Brothers, Leeds. WE beg to call attention to the following second- hand scientific book catalogues, as very likely to prove useful to our readers:—Messrs. Wesley’s No. 115 Catalogue of Works relating to Meteorology, Physical Geography, and Aeronautics; Messrs. Du- lau’s Catalogue of Works on Geology, 108 pages ; and Mr. W. P. Collin’s Monthly Catalogue of Books on Science and Natural History. THE last number of the ‘‘ Journal of the New Jersey Natural History Society” contains a useful paper on the ‘‘ Molluses of the Atlantic Coast of the United States South to Cape Hatteras,” by Austin C. Aggar. Baron FELDER, formerly Burgomaster of Vienna, has sold his great collection of butterflies to Lord Rothschild for 50007. The collection is said to be destined for the British Museum. Baron Felder, who is seventy-eight years old, has parted with it for fear that otherwise after his death it would be broken up. The price is considered very low. Mr. Lupwic Monp, the brilliant Swiss Chemist, has not only discovered how to dispose of ordinary coal smoke, but how to turn it into a highly profitable commodity. The statement is that by burning 125 tons of coal, at a cost of 31/., and making full use of it for steam raising purposes, he can at the same time secure, by a simple process he has invented, four tons of sulphate of ammonia from the smoke produced by the coal. The money value of this will be 487. An American astronomer, Professor Chandler, of Harvard, has started the theory that the variable star HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSI/P. 89 Algol—alpha Persei—owes its variableness to the fact that, together with a dark satellite, it revolves round a third and central body, which is also dark, in one hundred and thirty years. The orbit of the shining star Mr. Chandler calculates to be two thousand five hundred times as large as that of the satellite. AT the suggestion of Dr. Cesare Lombroso, the present distinguished occupant of the chair of Forensic Medicine and Psychiatry in the University of Turin, a ** Psychiatrico-Criminological Museum” is about to be formed in that seat of Jearning. It is proposed, says the ‘‘ British Medical Journal,” to form a col- lection illustrating as far as possible the mental and physical characteristics of lunatics and criminals, and supplying the necessary materials for the scientific study of the various types of mental or moral abnor- mality. Among the objects collected will be skuils, skeletons, and brains of criminals, preparations of diseased and malformed organs, instruments for the study of insanity and remedies used in its treatment, plans of prisons and lunatic asylums, autographs of lunatics and criminals, materials for the geographical distribution and statistics of crime, &c. WE are pleased to welcome the ‘‘ First Report of the Southport Society of Natural Science.” The president’s address is an excellent one, and the report contains papers on the “‘ Geology of the neighbour- hood,” by E. Dickson ; ‘‘ A List of the Mollusca of the District, by G. W. Chaster; ‘‘A Paper on the Botany,” by Henry Ball; and ‘‘A Report on the Local Foraminifera” (illustrated), by G. W. Chaster. AT the anniversary of the Royal Microscopical Society, the president’s address was postponed until the next meeting. The president, Dr. Braithwaite, is one of the most distinguished of living muscolo- gists, and he very appropriately selected as the subject of his address the impregnation and modes of reproduction in ferns and mosses. Diagrams in illustration were exhibited and explained, and speci- mens were also shown under microscopes in the room. ZOOLOGY. THE APPROACHING EXTINCTION OF THE Lap- winG.—The remarks under the above heading in the March number of Sctence-Gossip recalled to me Mr. J. Cordeaux’s statement before the Select Committee on Wild Birds’ Protection, and which I have since looked up, and it runs as follows :— “© (juestioned by Sir D. Wedderburn—You mentioned the Japwing just now among the birds which have increased in your part of the world (Lincolnshire) ?— Ves ; it has increased greatly. Lattribute the increase of the lapwing to the more general cultivation of turnips and green crops; they feed on the Aygvotis segetum and other grubs that are found in turnip- fields. Is it not the case with the lapwing that while the bird itself is unmolested, its eggs are taken in very large numbers ?—Yes; the lapwing’s eggs are taken very largely ; but much larger numbers are destroyed by the various operations of agriculture, harrowing, rolling and so on ; yet in spite of all this the lapwing has very greatly increased. Does not that bear out the theory that improved conditions of existence are far more important than any protection for increasing the numbers of birds—Yes, I think so to a consider- able extent.”’ Lord Lilford, on the other hand, in his evidence before the same committee says his own experience is that the peewit is less common in Northamptonshire than it used to be. He further states that he thinks there is a large importation of plovers’ eggs into this country from Holland. Probably quite as many are imported as are taken in this country. In those parts of England where this bird is on the increase, it is no doubt due, as Mr. Cordeaux states, to the more general cultivation o suitable crops ; and where it is on the decrease, it is owing to the absence of these conditions and the improved drainage of the land. As regards the eggs of the sparrow-hawk, moor-hen and coot being often sold for plovers’ eggs, why should not those of the common fowl be also included? They are more easily obtained and have quite as much claim to resemblance as those above named! Only last year I saw the eggs of the black-headed gull, which had been picked out of a consignment of plovers’ eggs and laid aside in a poulterer’s shop in London. These, however, though more closely resembling the eggs of the plover, are easily detected from their greater size, shape and colouring—A. P. LZ. THE BLACK SCOTER (Oidemia nigra) BREEDING IN BriTain.—In reply to Mr. Southwell’s request (SciENCE-Gosstp No. 325, p. 21) for further particulars respecting this interesting ornithological fact, at my request Mr. Fowler has been good enough to furnish me with the following additional details. ‘‘ At last (Feb. 24th) I find time to answer your enquiries ve Black Scoter nesting on the Earnley Marshes. The brood this year was seven, and I purposely shot the old drake for specimen for my cases. I am sorry now that I did not get any of the young. I could easily haye done so. When I saw the young birds first they could just fly, but only a short way. I saw the two old birds off and on all the summer, without thinking of the probability of their nesting, or caring much about it. In August I flushed the family, and killed the old male. If they had been mallards I could have killed most of them with two barrels of my 12-bore. I have made enquiries since first writing to you, and find that the Black Scoter nests here every year ; and if this be so, I will try and find the nest this coming season, when ‘ go HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. you will hear from -me again.” Mr. Southwell’s communication with regard to the broods of young birds seen on the Hickling Broads is of much interest, and, as he says, this evidence lends support to Mr. Fowler’s discovery.—Foseph Anderson, Fun., Chichester. MICROSCOPY. SCUM AT THE PiLor STATION, SAUGOR.—On the 8th January last, a bucket of sea-water was sent to me, in order that I might examine ‘‘some curious things contained in it.” Saugor is at the mouth of the Hooghly, the river on which this city stands ; and it is about eighty miles from here. The ‘‘ curious things” were hollow, spherical organisms, of a greenish and greenish-yellow colour, eminently ee % GC @ Se ) aoe Fig. 50 _——— n ~) 0 Say 1900 Fig. 49. Chlorophyll bodies from the membrane of the ‘‘scum” globules. A, Seibert’s ,'; in. w. i. ; B, Student’s 3. suggestive of grapes in general appearance. They were filled with sea-water. Lifted out of the water, they collapsed like bubbles, leaving only a thin, greenish film on the hand, or glass. I placed one in a beaker with sea-water, and gently let fresh water into the vessel from a tap, until the whole of the salt water was displaced. This caused the sphere to grow flaccid ; but in the course of about thirty-six hours it resumed its normal form, though it was now paler in colour, and eventually became a dirty white. The globules varied from about three-quarters of an inch to half that size in diameter. From information obtained by me from persons who observed the scum, I gather that the stuff floated from six to nine inches below the surface, that it extended over several miles of surface, and was of some depth ; it was so dense in parts that the water seemed nearly black ; when first gathered it had a fine bright, but rather light- brownish or yellowish colour ; the shades of colour in the scum as it floated in the water varied; the darker-coloured specimens were at the surface, sinking when they got lighter-coloured ; that the natives and fishermen in the creeks of the adjacent (Soonderbun) country, say the scum breeds in the grass and jungle which grow in the water on the banks of the creeks, and thence floats away with the tide, though the person who told me this added that he doubted if it was so, because the gelatinous-looking scum was far more abundant in the open water of the sea and river between the Sandheads (Saugor) and Diamond Har- bour than it was anywhere in or near the creeks ; and that it has been noticed in small patches in previous seasons, but never in such enormous quanti- ties as it was this year. The scum has always been regarded as a fish-spawn ; it was supposed to be that of the cat-fish. The batch sent to me, including the specimen removed as aboye-described to fresh water, remained intact for about three weeks; on the morning of the 28th January all the glassy spheres had collapsed, and only a thin, dirty-green scum lay at the bottom of the vessels in which I had placed the stuff. Examined under the microscope, I found numerous chlorophyll bodies embedded in a delicate, hyaline, gelatinous membrane (matrix), which forms the sphere, and which is all that remains when the globules are removed from the water, and collapse. An idea of the general appearance of these chlorophyll bodies may be obtained by reference to Pl. 5, fig. 5 (Apiocystis Brauniana) in the ‘‘Micrographic Dic- tionary.” These bodies readily take a deep stain if roseine is used, while the membrane is but slightly tinted; I cannot say that anything is gained by staining them. They are about jg5 of an inch in length, and y;},5 in breadth. It seems to me that the organism is allied to the Nostocs, and that it is probably only an intermediate life-stage in the de- velopment of some other form. The question remains —what is it? Several to whom the matter has been referred here have been unable to throw any light on the subject, though they are agreed as to the vegeta- ble character of the gelatinous-looking spheres. Will any of your numerous and widely-scattered readers tell us something about the scum over which we have been puzzling our heads?—W. F Simmons, Calcutta. THE RoyaL MicroscopicaL SocreTy.—The last Journal of the above society contains the following papers, in addition to the summary of current re- searches relating to zoology and botany :—‘‘ Further Notes on the Monochromatic Illuminating Appa- ratus,” by E. M. Nelson; and ‘‘ Freshwater Algz and Schizophyceze of South-West Surrey,” by A. W. Bennett. THE QUEKETT CLUB.—The last number of the ‘*Quekett Journal” contains the following papers :— “On Notops Minor,” by C. Rousselet ; ‘On a New Cysticercus and a New Tape-Worm,” by F. B. Rossiter ; ‘On Two New Rotifers,” and ‘‘On the Sense of Vision in Rotifers,” by C. Rousselet; ‘‘On Two Undescribed Male Rotifers,” by G. Western ; ‘‘Further Note on the Sense of Vision in Rotifers,” by C. Rousselet; ‘‘On Two Rotifers from Epping Forest,” by F. A. Parsons; ‘On the Diffraction Theory of Microscopic Vision,” by E, M. Nelson ; “©On Mounting Media of High Refractive Indices,” by J. E. Ingpen. HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. gi BOTANY. BOTANICAL MONSTROSITIES, 1891. —Primula vil- garis—coloured variety, five blossoms, which consisted of one whorl of green leaves, with aborted organs in the interior after the fashion of an ovary; they evidently came from more than one peduncle, as they occurred on both sides of the plant. One of the coloured flowers on the same plant had but four corolla divisions. Another specimen of the yellow type had a leaf-like calyx enclosing a very diminutive corolla ; while some gigantic blossoms were also seen, whose calyx and corolla had six and eight divisions, one possessing two pistils. Azemone nemorosa—with pink flowers. Flantago lanceolata—a lot of spikes having many heads, some with small leaves inter- mixed between the sessile heads; one also had a double fasciated stem. Scil/a nutans—white speci- mens. Ajuga reptans—white specimens. Chrysan- themum leucanthemum—several having yellow disc flowers only, with no rays. Garden geranium—in which the peduncle was suppressed, leaving a cluster of flowers in the axil of a leaf. T7ifolium pratense— two-headed. Scadiosa arvensis—several flowers with leaf-like involucre. otentilla reptans—with four instead of five petals. Sisymbrium officinale—stem aborted, so that instead of the inflorescence being elongated with blossoms extending all the way up, they were all produced in a bunch. Plantago major— a number of spikes having several leaves at base of each. artsia odontites—fasciated stems after the fashion of acockscomb. Centaurea nigra—fasciated two-headed stem. Achillea ptarmica—being a mass of flocky material somewhat like a miniature cauli- flower, possibly caused by insects; about a dozen specimens. The above list comprises the abnormal forms found in the above season, which were new to me; others were also seen for the third or fourth time, which have been recorded in earlier years.— Edwin E. Turner, Cogeleshall, Essex. DISEASES OF THE PRIMROSE FAMILY.—Two years ago I examined the flowers of the primrose (Primu/a vulgaris) and cowslip (Primula veris), and found in my investigations that the former is more subject to disease than the latter. Last year I was not able to, but hope to resume my examinations this year; and I should like the readers of ScrtENCE-GossiP to aid me in doing so, and to help me to answer the questions at the end of this letter. The following are some of my notes on the subject that I took :— (i.) that out of thirty-two (taking this as an average) specimens of Primula vulgaris, two-thirds of them were diseased. (ii.) As regards same number of Primula veris, only one-third of them were diseased. (iii.) That the thrum-eyed Primula vulgaris was more liable to disease than the pin-eyed. (iv,) That in both cases, if one flower on a plant was diseased, all were. (v.) The | disease was in the tube of the corolla and seemed to be of a fungous nature, but I did not take particular note of it at the time. My specimens were all, with one exception, found in hedges, copses, and woods of Shropshire and Cheshire ; the exception was got in a garden, but in all cases I found the same result. All specimens seemed from external appearances more or less perfect and healthy, in size varying from } to 1} inches in diameter. I shall be glad and beg your readers to furnish me with any notes on this during the spring and summer, and I give my address below. The questions are:—I. Are Primula wulgaris flowers more liable to disease than those of Primula veris, and in what ratio? II. Is the Thrum- eyed Primula vulgaris more so than the Pin-eyed ?— 5 H. Barbour, 1 Hamilton Villas, Ballyholme, Bangor, Co. Down, Ireland. GEOLOGY. NoTes ON TREES.—We are very glad to steal the following notes from a short paper, communicated by W. Whitaker, B.A., F.R.S., to the Hampshire Literary and Philosophical Society :—The labour of a field-geologist leads him much into out-of-the-way places that are rarely seen by others than those who are employed in them ; so that he has chances of seeing notable things outside his own special line of work. Moreover, in the detailed mapping of the various formations, he has often to depend on indirect evidence, the direct evidence of sections being absent. Besides the character of the soil, the form of the ground and the outbreak of springs, he may note the general character of the vegetation, though perhaps having but the smallest amount of botanical knowledge. These notes, therefore, must be taken as those of a geologist, not of a botanist, and con- sequently as in great part from a geologic point of view, referring somewhat to the connection between soil and growth. They are written in the hope that they may be of interest to that large class, lovers of trees, and that they may lead to other records of a like kind. (1). Beeches on London Clay.—On the higher parts of the escarpment of the London clay northward of Southampton and in some other places, there are very fine beeches, often in groups, as may be well seen in the eastern and western parts of Ampfield Wood, where one spot indeed is named The Beeches. These sites are at or near the junction of the London clay with the overlying Bagshot sand, or rather one should say about the passage of those beds into one another, and in other cases the beeches are also on the uppermost loamy part of the former formation. Now beeches, it is well known, grow best on a calcareous soil, oaks and elms being more proper to clays and loams ; and so, seeing so many fine beeches at this particular geologic horizon, one is led to think that the beds on 92 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. which they grow must be more calcareous than the rest of the London clay: the beeches having, as it were, made a rough analysis of the soil and found therein a proper amount of calcic carbonate, have elected to settle. We know that there is always a certain amount of calcic carbonate in the London clay, though not enough to tempt beeches to grow, but it is usually collected together for the most part into nodular masses of earthy limestone, known as septaria. Perhaps in the beds in question this segregation of calcic carbonate has not taken place, the material being more diffused through the loam, and so being more available for beech-use. A little south of Ampfield Wood, by the high road through South Holmes Copse, some two miles as the crow flies (but rather more as the Field Club goes) from Romsey Station, is another group of fine beeches, in this case near the base of the clayey Bracklesham Beds. (2.) Varying Fall of Leaf in Oaks.—Down the south-easterly slope on the road just eastward of Woodley (E. of Romsey) are some rather fine oaks. Having occasion to pass by these a few times in the autumn of 1889, I was struck by the difference in the relative state of some of them. Three of the finest trees were selected for observation, all being of much the same size. One of these is close to the top of the slope and on the northern side of the road ; the second is just eastward and slightly lower; whilst the third is to the S.E., on the other side of the road, and still lower. On October 31st, the first had its foliage green, in general effect at all events; the leaves of the second had turned yellow; the third was bare of leaves. On November 11th, the leaves of the first were turning yellow. This difference in the state of the foliage was very striking, and there seemed to be nothing in the trees themselves to account for it ; all were strong and healthy. All too are on the same geologic formation, clayey Bracklesham Beds ; but it occurred to me that the first being a little below the edge of the gravel that caps the hill, may perhaps be more plentifully watered, and so may have the power of holding its leaves longer. This, however, does not seem to account for the difference between the second and third, and one is led to think that the difference of level, though not great, is the cause (or the chief cause) of the difference in the state of the trees; those in the lower, more sheltered sites being more affected by the frost or chill of night, which acts more strongly where the leaves are more covered with moisture than when they are cleared by evapora- tion in a more open spot. It is to be hoped that some local observer will watch these trees and see if; the above-noted appearance is recurrent. (3.) Double Trees.—Something having been said of beech and of oak separately, attention is now drawn to a strange combination of the two, of which beech-oaks, - however, I have seen only two examples. The first seen is on the high ground in the eastern part of Cranbury Park, at the edge of the wood that clothes the escarpment of the London clay above Otter- bourne, and near the junction of that formation with the Bagshot Pebble Beds, The other is but a little way in Ampfield Wood, by the side of the road to Hursley Park, a little northward of Knap Hill; it is on Bagshot sand, near the outcrop of the London clay, and is a remarkably fine tree, which ought to be seen by the Hampshire Field Club and photo- graphed. The peculiarity of these trees is that they consist of a beech and of an oak, the stems of which grow up together closely, so as practically to form one tree. In both cases beech and oak are equally fine, and in the second each would separately form a notable tree. The effect in each case is strange (when the trees are in leaf), and at first perhaps unexpected. One might think that the branches of oak and of beech would intermix, but they do not in the least ; or that beech would grow on one side and oak on the other, but neither is this the case. Then perhaps the national weakness of an Englishman for the oak would lead him to expect that tree to conquer and to suppress the beech. Not so has it happened, however: the oak is nowhere in the contest, the beech takes the whole space at first, so that an observer underneath the tree and standing on the side of the beech-stem, would have no ‘suspicion of the existence of the oak, not a leaf, not a branch of which is to be seen; but let him walk away from the tree and he will see that, when the beech has grown upward and outward to its full content, then the oak branches out above and has the top part to itself, so that no one seeing the top alone would expect to find a _beech-tree underneath. Probably the fact is that the beech is the strongest of trees, as surely it is the most beautiful. THE CORRECT IDENTIFICATION OF DEEP SEA SouNDINGs.—In the ordinary way it would appear “that a rough description of the nature of a bottom from the specimen brought up in the sounding- tube or snapper, would be an easy matter. But this I have found to be extremely erroneous in the hands of the majority of observers. To take for instance such simple cases as one constantly sees marked on the charts where the bottom is recorded as cri. (coral); the uninitiated would at once associate this sounding with the ccelenterate, and would, in the majority of cases, be wrong ; for the cri. noted is more frequently either fragments of calcareous seaweeds or of polyzoa, which in places cover the bottom of the sea over large areas and to great depths. Another case is that caused by con- stantly mistaking the larger foraminiferze for sand- grains, the rubbing of a small piece of the sounding between the fingers making it appear sandy, though an ordinary pocket lens would at once show the difference. Cases such as the above might be multiplied considerably. It is almost unnecessary HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 93 to point out what a loss it is to oceanography that such descriptions should be erroneously made, and in the majority of cases there would be no difficulty in giving amore correct description. It may be said that the soundings can always be overhauled after- wards and the results given to the world ; but this is only done in isolated cases, and the results are not very accessible. Again the descriptions recorded in the charts are generally taken from those noted when the sounding is taken, when observations as to colour, scent, and stratification should also be noted. I would like to suggest that soundings taken with the * ordinary tube sounders, should be preserved in glass The soundings tubes closed at both ends by corks. from the ossiferous deposits of the true caves) are held to be representatives of the ‘‘ rubble-drift,” which is of a variable character. The author discusses the views of previous writers on the origin of the accumu- lations, which he classes together as ‘‘ rubble-drift,” and points out objections to the various views. He considers that they were formed on upheaval after a period of submergence which took place. slowly and tolerably uniformly ; and that the absence of marine remains and sedimentation shows the submergence to have been short. This submergence cannot have been less than rooo feet below present sea-level, and was shortly brought to’a termination by a series of intermittent uplifts, of which the ‘‘head”’ affords a Fig. 51.—A, B, C, D, glass tube (can easily be cut to any length with a file); K K, corks closing ends; s, s/, s’’, s’’, sounding rom tube. 3 being forced directly from the sounding-tubes into the glass tubes ; their preservation is then much more perfect than in the ordinary way. A label affixed to the tube. gives locality of sounding, notes as to colour, scent, stratification, and surface of sounding, etc. The figure illustrates this.—D. Wilson Barker, 66 Gloucester Crescent, N.W. Tue following papers were read at a recent meeting of the Geological Society. ‘* The Raised Beaches, and ‘ Head,’ or Rubble-Drift, of the South of England: their Relation to the Valley-Drifts and to the Glacial Period; and on a late Post-Glacial Submergence.—Part II.” by Joseph Prestwich, D.C.L., F.R.S., F.G.S. The ossiferous deposits of the Caves of Gower are shown to be contem- poraneous with the raised sand-dunes between the beaches and the ‘‘head,” and reasons are given for supposing that the elevation of land which preceded their formation need not necessarily have been greater than 120 feet. The mammalian fauna of these caves is the last fauna of the glacial or post-glacial period, and the head, or “‘rubble-drift,” marks the closing chapter of glacial times. Evidence is given for con- sidering that the ‘‘ rubble-drift’”” has a wide inland range, and that to it are to be referred the “‘head”’ of Dela Beche, the subaerial detritus of Godwin-Austen, the angular flint drift of Murchison, and in part the trail” of Fisher and the “‘warp” of Trimmer, as well as other deposits described by the author. The accumulation is widespread over the South of England, and occurs in the Thames Valley, on the Cotteswold Hills, and on the flanks of the Malverns. The stream-tin detritus of Cornwall, and the ossiferous breccia filling fissures (which must be distinguished measure, sufficiently rapid to produce currents radiat- ing from the higher parts of the country, causing the spread of the surface-detritus from various : local centres of higher ground. The remains of the land animals killed during the submergence were swept with this débris into the hollows and fissures on the surface, and finally over the old cliffs to the sea and valley levels. Simultaneously with this elevation occurred a marked change of climate, and the tem- perature approached that of the present day. The formation of the ‘head’ was followed in immediate succession by the accumulation of recent alluvial deposits ; so that the glacial times came, geologically speaking, to within a measurable distance of our own times, the transition being short and almost abrupt In this paper only the area in which the evidence is most complete is described. The author has, how- ever, corroborative evidence of submergence on the other side of the Channel. ‘‘The Pleistocene De- posits of the Sussex Coast, and their Equivalents in other Districts.” By Clement Reid, Esq., F.L.S., F.G.S. The gales of last autumn and early winter exposed sections such as had not before been visible in the Selsey Peninsula. Numerous large erratic blocks were discovered, sunk in pits in the Brackle- sham Beds. These erratics included characteristic rocks from the Isle of Wight. The gravel with erratics is older, not newer, as is commonly stated, than the Selsey “‘mud-deposit” with southern mollusca. Numerous re-deposited erratics are found in the mud- deposit, which is divisible into two stages, a lower, purely marine, and an upper, or Scrobicularia mud, with acorns and estuarine shells. At West Wittering a fluviatile deposit, with erratics at its base and stony loam above, is apparently closely allied to the mud- 94 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. deposit of Selsey; it yields numerous plants, Jand and freshwater mollusca, and mammalian bones, of which lists are given. ‘The strata between the brick- earth (=Coombe Rock) and the gravel with large erratics yield southern plants and animals, and seem to have been laid down during a mild or interglacial episode. A similar succession is found in the Thames Valley, and in various parts of our eastern counties. THE GEOLOGISTS’ AsSOCIATION.—We have to acknowledge the February issue of the ‘‘ Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association,” containing reports of ordinary meetings, and the following papers:— “© Organic Matter as a Geological Agent,” by the Rey. A. Irving; ‘*Supplementary Observations on some Fossil Fishes of the English Lower Oolites,” by A. Smith Woodward ; ‘‘ The Geology of the Country round Stirling,” by H. W. Monckton, with Appendix by J. G. Goodchild; *‘The Geology of Devizes, with Remarks on the Grouping of Cretaceous De- posits,” by A. J. Jukes-Browne (to be continued). NOTES AND QUERIES. THE WHITE FLOWER QUESTION.—The questions raised at page 263, November number, by Mr. John Corrie may be tentatively and provisionally answered as follows :—(1I.) Is it the case that when flowers change from one colour to anotherit is in an unchang- ing order from yellow to white, from white to red, and finally to blue?—reversions, of course, in inverse order. The view that all flowers were originally yellow, etc., is a merely gratuitous hypothesis specially designed to bolster up the utterly false assumption that flowers have been rendered con- spicuous and beautiful in order to attract insects, a doctrine which has proved to be one of the most mischievous of the Darwinian chimeras. Yellow flowers are the least liable, even less liable than orange flowers, to change into white; and the purest blue flowers are those which are most frequently found colourless or nearly so. (2.) If this is so, why is it that blue flowers revert directly to white instead of to red, the colour from which they haye more recently been evolved? ‘The researches of scientists have shown that in most cases, the blue and the red colouring-matter is due to one and the same sub- stance. The normal colour is, 1 believe, red, and the blue colour (only about sixty species in our flora are of this colour) may at any time ‘‘ sport” into red, as it entirely depends upon the coexistence in the petals of other substances which precipitate or neutralise the aids or oxidising agencies which help to produce or deepen the red tint. Some gardeners can arti- ficially change the red to blue by using artificial solutions for watering, etc. ; but this can only be done in the case of flowers whose tints are slight, and where the pigment is normally produced in compara- tively small amounts, otherwise the artificial strain would almost certainly be green, or yellow, ze. in this case avery light tint of red brown. Hence, also, it would follow that the purer the colour, the more liable it is to vanish and fade into pure white, (3.) Is it the case that lessened vegetative vigour tends to check the development of colour, and if so, to what extent does the check operate? Unquestionably this is so; but we must endeavour to get at the life of the process a little nearer than what is implied when it is said that ‘‘colours are a result of nutrition.” Per- sonally I am fully satisfied that the colours of petals are the result of certain changes which the tannins and glucosides originally evolved in the leaves, buds, roots, seeds, etc., undergo, and the structure of the petals is just the very thing most eminently calculated, if not to help in evolving the tints, at least, to show them off to the best advantage. Hence it follows inevitably, that whatever tends to check the produc- tion of tannin and glucoside will also indirectly lessen the formation of pigment. These bodies are the result of the processes of metabolism which are con- stantly carried on more quickly or more slowly according to the general vegetative vigour of the particular plant. It would be needless to enter into detail ; but there is one agent that can be fastened on with great confidence, and perhaps, therefore, may be mentioned here. ‘The size and brilliant colouration of the Arctic and Alpine flora have been frequently admired, and the latter feature has been attributed to two causes, viz., an increase of chlorophyllous tissue, or their comparative leaf-surface, and the vast quantity of light which is shed on these plants during their short period of growth. Now these two factors are precisely the same as what other independent investi- gators have found to be principally concerned in the increased production of the special cell-contents (tannin and glucoside) which, as it were, metabolise into the bright pigments.—P. Q. Keegan. BrrDs AND FRuIT.—A very heavy crop of dam- sons was grown in this district last summer, with the result that a large proportion of the fruit was left on the trees, as it was found that it only paid to pick the best of them. In the autumn the plantations were visited by immense flocks of fieldfares and redwings, which appear to have migrated to Kent for the sole purpose of feeding on the damsons. Besides these two species there was a considerable number of blackbirds and thrushes. Only once before have I heard any noise to compare with the ‘‘ chatter” emitted by these birds —this was at the roosting-place of one of those immense flocks of starlings that are seen in the autumn. On being disturbed, the fieldfares would rise, uttering their peculiar ‘* chuck-chuck-chuck,” and fly some distance, only to return again in a few minutes, while the redwings, blackbirds, and thrushes, being less shy, would merely fly to a short distance from the intruder. Day after day thousands of these birds were to be seen, until they had eaten up all the pulp of the fruit, leaving the ground strewn with the bare stones. And now (January) an altogether different noise may be heard. Large flocks of haw- finches have arrived to complete the work commenced by the soft-billed thrushes. If one walks quietly through the plantations, he will hear a distinct crack- ing noise, caused by the hawfinches splitting the damson stones with their powerful beaks, in order to get at the kernel : already a considerable proportion of the stones have been thus cracked. I believe this bird is a good deal commoner than is generally supposed. On account of its shyness, it is not often seen, but its ‘‘robin-like” note may frequently be heard as it flies over at a great height. Bullfinches, too, come to the plantations in large numbers at this time of the year, to feed on the blossom-buds of various fruit- trees. I have frequently induced these birds to come quite near, and occasionally have had the pleasure of hearing their beautiful natural song, which is so low, that it can only be heard at a very short distance.— Edward Goodwin, Wateringbury, Kent. BARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 95 A Marsh GARDEN.—In your May 1891 Number (No 317) you have an article entitled ‘‘ A Marsh Garden.” As I am desirous of trying this, could any reader kindly tell me where I could get a piece of marsh as therein described, either to purchase or exchange 2—C. Pemberton. FLINTS IN CHALK, &c.—As county Antrim is probably the best county in Great Britain to study such objects, many articles have been written on them. ‘The county is full of flints; they are very plentiful in our ‘‘ Cretaceous Limestone,” which is exposed on fine cliffs along a coast-line of about seventy or eighty miles, and in sections everywhere through thecounty. During the British Association’s visit to Belfast in 1874, a Society to which I belong (the Belfast Naturalists’ Fieid Club), and which has always taken the greatest possible interest in the Cretaceous Limestones of Antrim, and the banded flints, sponge spicules and Foraminifera which are so common in hollow flints in some districts, published a complete Nat. Hist. Guide of some hundred pages. for the use of members of the B.A. This is still the standard guide, although only a very few copies are now to be had from the Secs. of the club (Museum} Belfast), and contains all information about the chalk flints of Antrim. It was on the*Cave Hill Lime- stone Quarries at Belfast that the late Dean Buckland saw those long-shaped peculiar flints, with hollow tube running through them, that he called ‘‘ Para- moudras”’ and got so much laughed at for so calling, on the word of a quarryman. I have many geo- logical photos of county Antrim Basaltic rocks and Cretaceous. The views I have of the Cave Hill Quarries show the flints in regular stratified layers or bands. If, however, any reader would like to have a list of the best papers written on the subject, address Mr. S. A. Stewart, F.L.S., Museum, Belfast ; he will doubtless give alist. The B.N.F.C. Guide, I may say, is now reduced to 2s. each. It was the first thing of its kind so elaborately done for a B.A. yisit to any city, and has formed the standard for every guide published since 1874 for the B.A. visits to other towns. Wm. Gray, Esq., C.E., M.R.LA., oneof its principal compilers (along with Mr. Stewart), could give any special information on Antrim flints that may be wanted. He contributed a very scholarly paper on ‘* Rudely-worked Flints of County Antrim,” giving the cliff sections from which the flint material came, to the Journal of the Royal Hist. and Archzolog. Society of Ireland (now the Royal Soc. of Antiquaries, Ireland). I have just hunted through the back vols. in my Antiq. bookcase, and I find that it is con- tained in vol. 5, 4th Series, in 1879-82. Mr. Gray’s address is Mount Charles, Belfast, and he probably could send a “reprint,” as the society furnishes all readers of papers with, I think, fifty reprints. Mr. Thos. Plunkett, F.G.S., M.R.I.A., of Enniskillen, could give you any information about the bands of cherty flints that occur in the great inland limestone cliffs (Carboniferous) of Knockmore, county Fer- managh, if he has none of the reprints from his papers contributed to the Royal Irish Academy, of which he is a member.—. Welch. “WHAT OFFERS ?”—Will you allow me to suggest that those correspondents who make use of the ‘* Ex- change” column, in ScIENCE-Gossip, should give some indication of tbe kind of exchange they desire. “* What offers?” is very indefinite, hut ‘* What offers in”—say—‘‘ birds’ eggs ?” ‘“ shells?” or ‘‘ insects ?” or ‘*cash?” would afford information which would very often save other people’s time and trouble. I have found recently that these indefinite gentlemen want to sell—usually at good prices—and it seems to me that such offers ought not to be classed under the heading of ‘‘ Exchanges,” as they are misleading. I would suggest that you should start a separate column for the benefit of those who wish to effect exchanges for coin of the realm. Whether you should make a charge, or not, to those who use it, is your affair and no concern of mine, but the present system of lumping the two classes together is inconvenient and mis- leading. Ido not wish my name to appear in con- nection with this suggestion, as I have no doubt the people to whom I refer would resent it. EXTINCTION OF THE LAPWING.—I note in the February number a paragraph speaking of the pro- bable extinction of the lapwing, owing to the rapacity of egg collectors and dealers, and in the same number I noticed no fewer than five advertisements (including exchanges) of these gentry. These are the pests who are rapidly bringing about the extermination of all our rare birds, and preventing the breeding here of any occasional visitors from other regions. It is absurd to dignify such an occupation by the name of science ; it is mere sordid greed, which all good naturalists should discourage to the utmost, and it would be a good deed if ScrENCE-GossiP and all other respectable publications were to refuse such advertisements.— WV. Ward. NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. To CORRESPONDENTS AND EXxcHANGERS.—As we now publish Scrence-Gossip earlier than formerly, we cannot un- dertake to insert in the following number any communications which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month. To ANonyMous QuERISTs.—We must adhere to our rule of not noticing queries which do not bear the writers’ names, To DEALERS AND OTHERS.—We are always glad to treat dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general ground as amateurs, in so far as the ‘‘exchanges” offered are fair exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are © simply DisGuisED ADVERTISEMENTS, for the purpose of evading the cost of advertising, an advantage is taken of our gratuitous insertion of “exchanges,” which cannot be tolerated. WE request that all exchanges may be signed with name (or initials) and full address at the end. Specrat Notre.—There is a tendency on the part of some exchangers to send more than one per month. We only allow this in the case of writers of papers. To our RECENT EXCHANGERS.—Weare willing to be helpful to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow dzs- guised Exchanges like those which frequently come to us to appear unless as advertisements. R. B. Posrans.—Will you kindly send us your address, so that proofs of your articles may be sent you? A. Launper.—“ Flowers: their Origin, Perfume, Shape, Colours,” can be obtained of Messrs. W. H. Allen & Co. Masters’ work on ‘Leratology is now getting scarce; it was published by the Rav Society. You had best apply to Messrs. Wesley & Son, Essex Street, Strand, for a secondhand copy, or to Messrs. Dulau, 37 Soho Square. W. Patmer.—Get Bennett’s work (fully illustrated), pub- lished by Longmans at, we believe, 4s. 6d. Other good books are Prantl and Vine’s ‘‘ Botany” (Macmillan), and Hooker’s “ Botany” (same publisher). A CORRESPONDENT from the Isle of Wight, whose note we have mislaid, sends us a box containing teeth and bony scales, under the impression that both are fossils. This is not the case. The teeth are recent, but the bony scales are plates of siluroid fishes from the INocene strata. F. J. Binc.—The snake-like fossil in flint is undoubtedly a Serpula. They are not unfrequent. We have seen them coiled like a basket of snakes on the surface of flints, and penetrating their interior. The Norwich chalk and chalk flints are famous for them. 96 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. A. J. Apams.—Obtain Dulau’s Catalogue of Works, &c., on Geology, just published, 37 Soho Square, London, W. H. E, Griset.—Get Bausch’s ‘‘ Manipulation of the Micro- scope” from W. P. Collins, 157 Great Portland Street, London, W. J. K.—The lichens are correctly named. C. L, R.—You had best advertise in Sc1ENCE-GossiP. A. J. SHAw.—We were at a loss for some time to identify the ‘green bags,” found on the sea-shore. We have tracked them down. They are the outer skins of green melons which have been in sea-water some time, so that all the interior pulp has been dissolved out, and only the external hardy pericarp left as an empty ‘‘green bag.” The microscope shows the characteristic hairs. W. Witson.—The ‘‘ Science Made Easy” was published by D. Bogue. You can get copies, we believe, of Messrs. W. H. Allen & Co., Waterloo Place. EXCHANGES. Witt send collections of two hundred named specimens (sixty species) Victoria shells, in return for same number named recent shells of any other country.—F. L. Billinghurst, National Bank of Australasia, Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia, WILL give two beautiful micro. slides for each of the following eggs: kestrel, sparrow-hawk, kite, marsh harrier, redwing, fieldfair, ring-ousel, cirl-bunting, brambling, hawfinch, g. wood- pecker, nuthatch, golden plover, heron, curlew, ruff, corn- snipe, dunlin, Wwater-ratl, puffin, g. crested grebe. —Batty, Corby, Grantham. WANTED, Less. Faossi and bisuffarcinata, Wald. humeralis, and Rhyx. Sutherlandi, also any Brachiopoda from the North- ampton, Lincolnshire, or Yorkshire oolites. Offered in ex- change, good specimens of Fur. brachiofoda from the W. and S.W. of England.—J. W. D. Marshall, 16 Peter Street, Bristol. OFFERED, eggs of cuckoo, nuthatch, nightingale, marsh-tit, cole-tit, great tit, stonechat, whinchat, red-backed shrike, bullfinch, yellow wagtail, nightjar, &c., allinclutches. Wanted, clutches of many other species. Please send lists to—W. Wells Bladen, Stone, Staffs. OFFERED, 270 species and varieties of British mosses, named and localised. Wanted, natural history books, especially on freshwater alge, or apparatus.—R. V. Tellam, Bodmin. WANTED, to correspond with entomologists in the United States, Australia, &c., with a view to exchanging aculeate Hymenoptera.—G.: E. Frisby, 27 Hedley Street, Maidstone, Kent. WANTED, back parts of ‘‘ Journal of Postal Microscopical Society,” also back vols. of ScisncE-Gossip, and any works treating on the microscope.—L. Francis, 58 Aldred Road, Kennington Park, London, S.E. WANTED, micro. turntable and dissecting case, and other micro. sundries.—L. Francis, 33 Aldred Road, Kennington Park, London, S.E. WantTeED, cuckoos’ eggs, with clutches of the following species: garden warbler, redstart, reed warbler, common wren, red-backed shrike, nightingale, chitfchaff, woodlark, common bunting, house sparrow. Good eggs offered in exchange.— W. Wells Bladen, Stone, Staffs. Sipe of flea of mole, in exchange for other slide of interest ; coal sections preferred.—J. Boggus, Alton, Hants. OFFERED, Zafes decussatus. Wanted, Pecten striatus, Mytilus ungulata, Nucula sulcata, Arca obligua, A. pectun- cnuloides, Cardium aculeatum, C. papillosum, Asturte sulcata, "Venus casina, V. striatula, Tellina balaustrina, Psammobia costulata, P. vespertina, Donax politus, Lutraria oblonga, Mya Binghami, Panopea plicata, Saxicana arebica, Trochus amabilis, Duminyzt occidentalis, Littorina sinistrorsa, Sca- daria Trevelyana, Jantina communis, Natica Islandica, Nassa nitida, Tapes aureus, Triton nodifer, cutaceus, Ovula patula, Accra bullata, Bulla hydatis, utriculus, Aplysia punctata, Spiralis retroversus, Clio pyramidala, Melampus myosotis, Assiminia littorina.— J. Smith, Monkredding, Ki.- winning. A LARGE assortment of dredgings from known localities, containing rare forms, to exchange for similar material from stations not already possessed. Correspondence invited prior to exchanges being forwarded.—W. H. Harris, 42 St. Bran- nock’s Road, I)fracombe. WANTED, minerals, fossils, or rocks in exchange for novels (Scott, Kingsley, &c.) and a large reptile cage with glass sides, hot-water draw, and wood top with glass windows.— A. C. Binns, 114 Bramhall Lane, Stockport. An album containing over 409 arms, crests, and monograms, with space for 360 more, in good condition. Will exchange for any description of entomological apparatus. WanTED, foraminiferous material and insects from all parts of the world. ~ Will give good exchange in micro. slides or un- mounted objects.—George T. Reed, 87 Lordship Road, Stuke Newington, London, N. Science-Gossip for 1883 bound, 1884-85 unbound, plates complete, clean; ‘Science for All,” 5 vols. bound, first edition. Wanted, 4-inch condensers, and offers. Address—B. H., 113 Grange Road, E. Middlesbrough. OrreRED, Mackay’s ‘‘Flora Hibernica” (contains full de- scriptions of cryptogams by Taylor), also some loose plates with illustrations of mosses. Wanted, Backhouse’s ‘‘ Hieracia,” and back numbers of ‘Journal of Butany.”—Rey. C. H. Waddell, Saintfield, Co. Down. WANTED, diatom earth from Atlantic City, N.J. Will give other deposits.—W. Ward, 31 Hill Lane, Southampton. WANTED, Cornish or other minerals in exchange for Wear- dale spars and minerals.—1. V. Devey, Wol:ingham, Dar- lington. WANTED, to exchange carboniferous fossils for fossils from other formations. —D. Firth, Dukinfield. Eocene fossils, named and localised, also minerals and Cornish rocks. Will exchange for other minerals and rock specimens, terebratule from chalk (perfect), or offers.—E. H. V. Davies, 46 Upper Belgrave Road, Clifton, Bristol. WANTED, a microscope and good botanical slides, in return for British and foreign shells, and rare polished geological corals and sponges, or state wants. Good.exchange sent.— A. J. R. Sclater, M.C.S., Natural History Stores, 43 North- umberland Place, Teignmouth. I can offer rare microscopic objects and material, fossils, minerals, shells (of which I have a large number), in exchange for a quantity of foreign stamps, watch that will keep time, telescope, field-glass, or anything scientific.—1T. E. Sclater, Northumberland House, The Strand, Teignmouth. ScotcH examples of the following shells in exchange for others not in collection, eggs or insects: Hex arbustorum, erectorum var. lutescens, H. nemoralis var. libellula, rubella, bimarginata, H. hortensis, S. corneum var. pisidoides, Hydr. ulue, V. piscinalis, S. elegans, V. pellucida, Zon. nitidulus, M. incurva, pellucida, T. fabula, T. phasiolina, testudinalis, F. antiquus, V. gallina, D. politis, M. solida, stultorwmn, &c. —W. Turnbull, 1 Horne Terrace, Edinburgh. BritisH and exotie lepidoptera in exchange for pupe and good microscopic slides.—Joseph Anderson, jun., Alre Villa, Chichester, Sussex. Wantep, ‘‘ Photo-Micrography,” by A. Pringle, F.R.M.S. Will give in exchange ‘‘ Botanical Micro. Chemistry,” by Poulsen and Trelease, ‘‘ Postal Micro. Society’s Journal,” vol. iii., “‘Science Monthly,” vol. i., and good microscopic slides. —P. Kilgour, 164 Lochee Road, Dundee, N.B. OrFereD, Cassell’s ‘‘Electricity in the Service of Man,” half roan, new; also lady’s silver watch. Wanted, works on literature, especially Craik's ‘‘Manual of Engl. Lit.” (1883) ; Morley’s “ First Sketch of Engl. Lit.” (x8—?), and “Engl. Lit. of Victoria” (1882); Richardson’s “Primer of Amer. Lit.” (1878); Saintsbury’s ‘‘ Primer of French Lit.” (1880) ; Hallam’s ‘‘ Lit. of Europe ” (1882), &c-—Chas. Leigh, 47 Sydney Street, London, S. W. WantTeED, Pis. nitidum, Pis. roseum, L. involuta, Test. haliotidea, Succ. oblonga, H. obvoluta, several species of vertigo, dcme lineata. Offered, many species and varieties of British land and freshwater shells. —H. E. Craven, Matlock Bridge. WANTED, Cooke’s ‘‘ British Hepatice,” or ‘‘ Science Gossip Guide to Hepatice.”— J. H. Salter, University College, Aberystwyth. STuDENT’s microscope for sale—Newton, Fleet Street— lenses, object slides, new.—C., 15 Aliwal Road, Clapham Junction, S.W.- BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE. “Bulletin of the United States’ Geological Survey, Nos. 62, 65, 67-81 (Washington: Government Printing Office).—‘‘ The Medical Annual,”’ 1892 (Bristol: Wright).—‘* Modern Science,” edited by Sir John Lubbock, Bart.—‘* I'he Horse,” by William Henry Flower,” C.B. (Loncon: Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co., Ltd.).—‘* Transactions of the Yorkshire Naturalists* Union,” parts 1o-16.—‘‘ Fifth Report of the United States” Entomological Commission on Insects injurious to Forest and Shade Trees,” by A. S. Packard, M.D. (Washington: Govern- ment Printing Office).—‘‘ Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution,” vols. 1887-89 (Washington: Government Printing Office).—‘‘ Gentleman’s Magazine.””—‘tThe Idler.”—‘‘The Mediterranean Naturalist.”—‘‘The Midland Naturalist.”— “The Garner.”—*“ The Naturalist.”—“ Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society.’ — ‘‘ Natural Science.”—“ Collectors’ Monthly. ’—‘‘ Catalogue of the Land and Freshwater Shelis hitherto recorded as found in the County of Suffolk,” by Carleton Greene, M.A.—‘‘ American Microscopist,” &c., &c. COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED UP TO THE 12TH ULT. FROM: W. W. B.—J. W. D. M.—G. C.—A. E. H.—R. V. T.— S. B. C.—J, A—W. T. S.—J. C. W.—W. W.—G. R. T.— G. D. A. J. bee TS W. W.B A. C. B.—J. S.—J. B.—W. D. R.—G. E. F.—E. E. G.— F. A. F.—W. S. P.—M. D.—M. L.—W. H. H.—J. E. T.— A. A. C.—W. W.—T. G. B.—&c., &c. HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 97 SOME FAMOUS COLLECTING-GROUNDS FOR DRAGON- FLIES. | By the Author of ‘‘An Illustrated Handbook of British Dragon-flies,” ‘‘ A Label List of British Dragon-flies,” etc., etc. IlII.—THE FEN DISTRICT. prises the marshy districts of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Huntingdon, and Lincolnshire, is, next to the New Forest, probably the best hunting-ground for dragon-flies in the British Isles. Although of late years large tracts of marshland in each of the above coun- ties have been drained, there still remain , thousands and thousands of acres which will probably take centuries to reclaim. This is par- ticularly the case in Norfolk, where, owing to tidal influences, inany of the fens are incapable of being converted into cornfields, as they have been done so extensively in the adjoining county of Cambridge. Dragon-fly hunting in the fens possesses many charms for those who delight to revel in the midst of nature. The most enjoyable way of spending a holiday in this manner, would be to hire a yacht— one built on the ‘‘wherry” plan, which is a very comfortable craft and easily managed, would be found the most suitable. A few days and nights spent on the water in this way by a small party, would not fail to prove a very pleasant occupation in the summer time. . The rivers and broads of Norfolk and Suffolk No, 329.—May 1892. afford an inexhaustible field for operations by the dragon-fly collector, as do also the extensive un- drained fens of Cambridge, particularly Whittlesea Mere, Burwash Fen and Wicken Fen. In the county of Norfolk- the vicinity of Great Yarmouth will be found a very good one for these grand insects, as also will the neighbourhood of Norwich, which is a very good centre of operations for Wroxham Broad, Horning, and Fritton Decoy, all of which are well-known happy hunting-grounds for these ‘‘ winged gems.” The following is a list of the species of dragon-flies which have been known to occur in the Fen District of the East of England: Vatetrum depressum (common). Lzbellula fulva (Burwash Fen and Whittlesea Mere in Cambridgeshire, and Sprowston, in the neighbourhood of Norwich; in the latter locality it is abundant in certain seasons). The variety fugax (also has been taken in Whittlesea Mere), Leptetrum quadrimaculata (common). The variety prenubila (has been taken in Burwash Fen). Orthetrum carulescens (not uncommon). O. can- cellatum (Whittlesea Mere, also Horning and Faken- ham in Norfolk, but very local). Leucorrhinia dubia (Glandford Brigg in Lincolnshire, very local). Syz- petrum vulgatum (abundant everywhere). S. flaveolum (Whittlesea Mere, where it may always be met with during favourable seasons). S. sanguineum (local). S. scoticum (doubtful). Cordulia enea (Wisbeach, also Starston and Costessy Woods in Norfolk, but very local). Gomphus vulgatissimus (rare). Cor- dulegaster annulatus (scarce). Anax formosus (doubt- ful). Brachytron pratense (very local). d£schnajuncea (very local; I have had a specimen sent me from the Devil’s Dyke, in Cambridgeshire). 2. cyanea (very common). 2. grandis (common), <2. vufescens (the F 98 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. idea is prevalent that this species is becoming extinct ; it used to be taken at Yarmouth, Halvergate, and Whittlesea Mere). Calopteryx virgo (abundant every- where). C. sflendens (ditto). Lestes nympha (has been taken in Suffolk, and elsewhere in the Fen District, but verylocal). Z. sfansa (not uncommon). Platycnemis pennipes (not uncommon, but local). Lnallagma cyathigerum (common). Agrion pulchellum (ditto). 4. puwella (exceedingly abundant). Jschnura pumilio (rare and local). JZ. elegans (very plentiful). Pyrrhosoma minium (exceedingly plentiful). P. tenellum (doubtful). rythromma najas (has been taken in Lincolnshire, but very rare and local ; it used also to be found formerly in Cambridgeshire). The foregoing localities are taken from my ‘‘ IIus- trated Handbook of British Dragon-flies,” * to which little work I beg to refer the reader in quest of information concerning the time of appearance and habits, etc., of the species enumerated in the above list. THE CONSTANCY OF THE BEE. By G. W. BuLMAN, M.A., B.Sc. HE theory that bees confine themselves to one particular species of flower, during at least a single journey, seems to be one of those which manage to survive to old age on a minimum of observed facts. Copied from one book to another, it has become an integral part of the received ideas about bees: it forms part of the stock in trade of everyone who aspires to write about them. » Not to go back too far, the following statement is found in a work on insects, published in 1829, (‘The Natural History of Insects,” London, Murray) : ** Now, it has been remarked by a great number of naturalists, that the bee, when it collects pollen from one plant, does not go to a different sort of plant for more, but labouring to collect the same kind of fertilizing dust, it seeks only the same kinds of flowers. .... *I have frequently,’ says Dobs, ‘followed a bee loading the farina-beebread or crude wax on its legs, through part of a great field in flower, and on whatever flower it first alighted and gathered the farina, it continued gathering from that kind of flower, and passed over many other species, though very numerous in the field, without alighting on or loading from them, though the flower it chose was much scarcer than the others: so that if it began to load from a daisy, it continued loading from the same, neglecting clover, honey-suckle, and the violet.’ ” The same idea is expressed in one of the most recent and authoritative works on bees : “©The curious habit of the Apidee of visiting one kind of flower only during any single excursion.” (‘* Bees and Bee-Keeping,” Frank Cheshire.) * It is published by Mr. E. W. Allen, 4 Ave Maria Lane, London, E.C., price 2s. 6d. Grant Allen, too, makes use of the same theoretical constancy of the bee in the development of his various honey-bearing plants. Thus, speaking of ants, he says, ‘‘ They do not go, like flying insects, straight from one plant to another of the same species, but being guided by scent alone, climb up different stems indiscriminately, wherever the smell of honey lures them on.” And this, he continues, is the reason why ants ‘‘ do not aid cross-fertilisation, but rather prevent it.” Sir John Lubbock’s statement is more guarded and nearer the truth: “They fly readily from one plant to another, and generally confine themselves for a certain time to the same species.”’ (‘* Ants, Bees, and Wasps,” p. 50.) It is certainly a fact that bees very often make a large number of visits to a single species of flowers ; it is probable that they often confine themselves to one for a whole journey. Presumably, then, a limited and casual observation of the habits of bees, such as one who considers the question authoritatively settled naturally gives, simply confirms the received opinion ; any divergence is looked upon as a chance exception. More extended and careful observation, however, shows that these exceptions are too numerous to permit the existence ofa rigid rule. Such, at least, is my experience. When I first observed a few instances of bees changing from one species to another, I looked upon them rather as chance excep- tions to a general rule, than as facts of any impor- tance. More careful watching, however, has revealed the fact that the exceptions are really very numerous. During the year 1888, I scarcely ever watched the bees for more than a few minutes without seeing some examples of changeableness. The fact that the watching not infrequently ended in the disappearance of the bee when a few visits had been noted, suggests that these examples may really be more numerous than the recorded cases imply. Thus during an afternoon walk a bee is noted busy on a flower of water-avens (Geum vivale). It visits other two of the same, and then two or three blossoms of herb Robert (Geranium Robertianum). Further on three bees are busy on some vetch in the corner of a field. One of them, a very large humble- bee, after paying a good number of visits to the vetch flowers, flies off and alights on a head of scabious. After working this, it passes on to yellow charlock among the corn. And this is no exceptional occur- rence, but one which may frequently -be observed. I will now give a few examples, premising that they are not the results of prolonged periods of watching, but of short intervals of from ten to thirty minutes. On one occasion I observed the following changes : Bee No. I was busy on the blue flowers of Veronica Buxbaumii, from which it passed to chickweed. Bee No. 2 passed from little celandine to scilla, and thence to celandine again. Bee No. 3 passed from HARDWICKE S SCLTENCE-GOSSIP. 99 Veronica Buxbaumii to chickweed, and then back to Veronica. Bee No. 4 passed from celandine to scilla. On another occasion: Bee No. 1 visits flowers in the following order: hyacinth, Veronica Buxbaumii, sweet violet, hyacinth, Veronica Bux- baumii. Bee No. 2 goes from red dead-nettle to hyacinth. The bee which has obtained the; highest place on my record behaved as follows : Geranium Robertianum . . 2 visits an mnemorumm . - - 3 35; oo Robert... 8 op 3 lucidum . I visit oF INGE SG 6 a a By = Hucidumpeeee es) cy ass a5 Robert... . . . 6 visits oe sanguineum. I visit 3 Robert . 4 visits Se Heme 4g Aa BG oe INDIES ¢ oo gp That is to say, 10 changes for 27 visits. On one occasion I watched some bees visiting campanulas growing near a bush of syringa. During a few minutes’ observation, six bees passed from the blue flowers of the former to the white flowers of the latter. Presumably many of them also returned to the blue, but I only watched their movements in the one direction. These facts are not brought forward simply to correct an error which in itself seems of little importance: they have an important bearing on the bee-selection theory. It may be said, indeed, that the erroneous conception of the bee’s strict constancy forms one of the pillars upon which the superstructure of that theory rests. Now it seems quite evident that the facts here brought forward are sufficient to deal a death-blow to the above theory of the bee’s selective action. If the bee of to-day passes freely, in many cases, from one species to another, then, ; surely, @ fortiori, would the bee of bygone ages pass freely from variety to variety : the result of its visits would be to obliterate the incipient species by crossing it with the parent stock and with other varieties. The necessity of this assumed constancy of the bee, as a factor in the evolution of the flower by its selection, is admitted by Mr. Grant Allen in the words already quoted. If bees fly from flower to flower of different species, they too will ‘‘ not aid cross-fertilisa- tion, but rather prevent it.” When, however, the species are incipient, that is to say mere varieties, the result of the bees’ action will be to blend them together. WE are sorry to see that Professor Williamson, F.R.S., has retired from the Chair of Botany, at Owens College, Manchester, after more;than half.a century’s long, faithful, and enthusiastic services. Professor Williamson was a born teacher, capable of enlisting hosts of recruits in botany, both recent and fossil. NOTES ON THE INFUSORIA. By BERNARD THOMAS. Ill. vie HETOGLENA VOLVOCINEA (Fig.53 J; g) is somewhat larger than the preceding, as it is a little less than the thousandth of an inch in its longest diameter. It is about twice as long as broad. From the anterior part of the cell-wall there is a projecting rim surrounding the hole through which, as in ,Doxococcus, the flagellum protrudes. The cell-wall is dark olive-green in colour and the contained protoplasm resembles the previously de- scribed species. There seem to be two varieties, both similar in shape, but in one the cell-wall is rough externally, in the other smooth. The forms Euglena, Phacus, Doxococcus, and Cheetoglena belong most probably to the Algz, and are hence plants. Several of their near allies, furnished with flagella, live in colonies, among which we might mention Valvox, Gonium, Pandorina, and several others. It is not here intended to enter into a description of these forms, as they, even more evidently, belong to the plant circle. Indeed the preceding are only here introduced to contrast them with the Flagellate Infusoria. We may briefly group these relations as follows :— A. Principal resemblances to the Infusoria (Flagel- Jata).—Presence of flagellum im all species. Unicellularity. Contractile nature of ectosare in some species (e.g. Luglena viridis). Eye- spot present in some Infusorians (Dinobryon). B. Principal differences from the Flagellata.— Presence of green chlorophyll. Presence of eye-spot. Absence of food-vacuoles, and perhaps of contractile vesicles. Nature and manner of life. 8. Cercomonas acuminata (Fig. 54 a) is usually found in large numbers in putrifying pond-water. It is exceedingly small, so small, indeed, that it requires a high power with good definition to make out anything of its structure. (In its interior a few granules can generally be distinguished. From two opposite ends there arises a delicate process, one of these is a flagellum but the other is described as a delicate protoplasmic thread or tail, incapable of vibration. This little organism is a representative of the Monads, whose life-history has been so well worked out by Drs. Dallinger and Drysdale; and it was then shown that these Monads reproduced not only by fission but also sexually, by conjugation. The term Monad was at one time applied to all the Flagellata. 9. Anisonema (Fig. 54 5), which seems to be identical with Bodo grandis, is an infusorian of con- siderable size, larger even than Astasia. Besides the F 2 100 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. flagellum it has a long trailing filament which can be retracted into its interior. By this organ, and by its slow gliding movement, it can be readily recognised. Granules can be seen in its clear protoplasm as well as a contractile space, placed posteriorly, and the Diatoms it has swallowed as food. Codosiga and Dinobryon ; in the former, Uvella and Anthophysa, to, Uvella (Fig. 54 c, d, e) is free swimming. I have found quantities of it in water where flowers had been left standing a long time, In all probabitity the spores were on the flower-stalks and had developed Fig. 52.—a, Euglena viridis extended, showing flagellum, red spot, chlorophyll, central body; B, Euglena viridis contracted ; Cc, Euglena viridis filled with granules; v, Zxglena longicauda; 2, Euglena pyrum; ¥, Euglena-like organism. Fig. 53-—Phacus pleuronotes, front view; B, Phacus pleuronotes, empty case; C, Phacus pleuronotes, side view; D, Doxococcus Doxococcus, crushed ruber; E, (See last Number.) is the flagellum represented. We now pass to those members of this family which are found in groups or colonies, and although these are clustered together they have no organic connection. Among these there may be mentioned those whose protoplasm is naked, and those which are furnished with a case or cell-wall. In the latter we have ; F, Chetoglena volvocinea with spines; G, Chetoglena without spines. In neither of these in the water. Little transparent masses, resembling bunches of grapes, were seen actively moving among Bacteria and Amcebz, with which the water was crowded. Each mass is composed of little oval in- fusorians or zodids, sometimes of only a few, often of very many. HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. IOI Fig. 54.—a, Cercomonas acuminata; b, Antsonema sulcata; c, Uvella group; d, ditto, stained with iodine; ¢, ditto, higher power; 7, Anthophysa Miilleri; g, ditto, higher power; /, ditto, single zodid ; 7, Peridintum cinctum, low power. Fig. 55.—Paramecium aurelia. 1, front view; 2, side view ; 3, contractile space; a@, diastole; 2, systole, showing two canals; 4; posterior end, showing posterior cilia; ect, ectosarc; cz, external layer; cz, ciliary layer; ¢, deepest layer; cZ and ¢ make up the cortical layer. In all the figures: ¢, cilia; c’, cilia of gullet; ect, ectosarc; end, endosarc; c.v, contractile spaces ; J.2, food vacuole; m, mouth; g, esophagus or gullet; gz’, dilation of gullet; a, anterior, and p, posterior end. The arrows in z represent the direction of the current. 102 HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. Each zodid is pear-shaped, with a slightly pointed tail. The anterior part, the broader, is slightly indented, and from this the flagella spring. Usually there is one large granule in the interior. Stained with iodine, these organisms are seen to have |two flagella, often of unequal length. The vibrations of these organs produce in the colony a rotatory move- ment. The zodids may be often found free. ul. Anthophysa Miilleri (Fig. 54 f, g, 2). The zoids of Anthophysa resemble those of Uvella, but have only one flagellum. They are formed on a branching stalk of a brownish hue, and occasionally they get free from this and are then seen swimming freely about. ‘The stalks are sometimes so numerous that they give a brown colour to pond-water. 12. Bodo socialis is also another small sociable infusorian found in pond-water. With regard to the two forms Codosiga and Dino- bryon, I have never properly examined them, and so will omit them here. 13. LVoctiluca miliaris is the largest of the Flagel- lata. It is the common cause of the beautiful phos- phorescence of our seain summer-time. The organism is easily visible to the naked eye. It is somewhat kidney-shaped, one end is cleft, and from the top of this there issues a large thick flagellum, striated transversely. At the base of this is a tooth, and below the tooth a delicate tiny flagellum, The net- work of protoplasm is very distinct, and the nucleus may be seen, together with large food-vacuoles or ‘*stomachs,” which often contain large diatoms. CILIO FLAGELLATA. Of this division of the Infusoria, which may be supposed to be a transition-stage between the Flagel- lata and the Ciliata, only one representative is here briefly introduced. 14. Peridinium cinctum (Fig. 547) is a member of this family. It is divided by a constriction into two halves, each furnished with a case or Jorica, which, like the silicious covering of the diatom, is beautifully sculptured. From the constriction appear the cilia, and from the apex the flagellum. This organism is green in colour, and resembles to a certain degree the larval form of some of the worm family. Glenodinium and Ceratium also belong to the Cilio- flagellata. The former is brown in colour and inhabits fresh water, and the latter is phosporescent and marine The higher members of the Infusoria now occupy our attention. This forms the third family, and is known as the Ciliata. CILIATA. The large size of these organisms and their common occurrence render them admirably suited for micro- scopic study. They exist in great diversity of form, and they may be classified, as will he shown later, according to the arrangement of the cilia. Instead of noting their general characters, however, it will suffice to first describe a typical species. Accordingly we will begin with Paramecium aurelia, merely mentioning that it is one of the holotrichous Ciliata. 15. Paramecium aurelia (Fig. 55)—the slipper-ani- malcule—is a large free-swimming species ; its length is about the hundredth of an inch. It is found in pond-water, and though by no means uncommon, the other Ciliata must not be mistaken for it. It is oval in shape, slightly narrower in profile than front view. At the anterior end it is folded near the mouth, and this gives it its slipper-like shape. The cilia are strong and arise from depressions in the ectosarc, which is fairly thick and tough. The roots of these cilia can be seen \for some distance piercing its outer layer, and this gives it a striated appearance. When in motion they move so rapidly that they cannot be seen, their rate is slackened or accelerated, and often some are moving while others are at rest. : At this point it may not be out of place to define briefly what a cilium is. It is a lash-like organ, a fine filament, difficult often to see both from its motility, and also from the slight density of its substance, which seems little greater than that of water. If we watch a row of cilia in action we see a wave produced. This is because the cilia do not move quite at the same time, but follow each other after an imperceptible interval. The action of a cilium is like that of a lash which moves sharply downwards and then returns’ more slowly back to an upright position. Hence, by their united action, a current is produced which may be used either for locomotion—as in the cilia which cover the surface—or to produce a current for food—as in those which line the cesophagus. The most superficial layer of the ectosarc is the firmest and in some Ciliata becomes a hardened cuticle or exudation layer (Fig. 55). Beneath this the remainder of the ectosarc is called the cortex and divided into three layers. First the layer which gives rise to the cilia known as the ciliary layer, next the muscular or myophan layer, lastly, the deepest layer, which in some Infusoria contains thread-cells similar to, but much smaller than the thread-cells (trichocysts) of the Hydra. The ectosarc, then, is by no means so simple as in Amoeba, but it must be understood that these layers are not clearly defined one from another. The inner protoplasm or endosare is more fluid and exhibits a rotation or streaming of the particles which it contains. This is best studied in Paramecium bursaria. There are two contractile spaces situated one near each end, probably in the deepest layers of the ectosarc. At first one is inclined to confuse these with the numerous food-vacuoles present in various parts of the endosarc, but by carefully watching, the spaces are seen to disappear and then slowly reappear. The disappearance of the vesicle is called its systole, HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 103 and its reappearance its diastole. The contraction and expansion are rhythmical, occurring at regular intervals, like the systole and diastole of the heart. I have noted the phenomenon, and seen that, when the space disappears, two small triangular canals are seen (Fig. 55), then gradually the vesicle reappears, growing larger and larger, and the canals vanish. When the space has reached its full size, it remains for a short time and then suddenly vanishes. The sequence of events, as well as the rhythm, remind one forcibly of the cardiac cycle. Ina Vorticella the time occupied from systole to systole was about half @ minute.* There are usually numerous food-vacuoles in the endorsarc, sometimes filled with fluid, sometimes with solid particles. Somewhere near the centre of the cell is a round endoplast with a smaller endo- plastule attached to it. The mouth commences in a fold or involution which passes into a short ciliated gullet or cesophagus (Fig. 55g). This last ends blindly in a round sac which, in some views, may easily be mistaken for a large food-cavity. The food enters this sac, drawn in by the action of the cilia, which seem to be con- stantly working. Carmine particles introduced into the water will be drawn into the body in the same way, so that Paramecium does not select its food, but takes whatever may come within the current. How- ever, it makes longer delays where there is most food. The food or particles of matter having entered the dilatation of the gullet become drawn with surround- ing water into the semi-fluid protoplasm, where a food-vacuole is formed. At one time the Infuscria were called Polygastria, because it was supposed that the vacuoles were connected by a delicate canal, and each space formed a stomach. The vacuoles have no such connection with each other, although they may lie very closely together. When the film of endosare separating them becomes too thin, it gives way, and they fuse intoone large vacuole. The nutritive material having been extracted from the food, it is expelled at a definite region near the mouth (anal area), but there seems to be no permanent orifice. We thus see that Paramecium is a very complicated cell and very different from the Amoeba or the cells that form our own tissues. Indeed, in the Ciliata the cell attains morphologically its highest place, and cell differentiation (a process in which the various parts are differently developed for different purposes) is nowhere seen to greater perfection. Tt is not intended to occupy much space in con- sidering the reproduction of Paramecium, but it is interesting to know that it either reproduces itself asexually by simple division of its substance into two, or sexually by the more uncommon process of con- jugation observed and described by Balbiani. (Zo be continued.) * Thirty-two seconds. TWO BOG FLOWERS. JN the boggy ground that is so frequent upon our mountain sides, there is one little plant that cannot fail to attract the notice of those who wander thither. Its rosette of shining yellowish leaves is closely pressed down upon the mosses amongst which it chooses its home, in company with the sundew, bog pimpernel, asphodel, and such-like moisture- loving plants. If it be the early summer-time, one. or more flowers somewhat resembling the violet in form and colour will be seen, each rising on a long elegant scape from the centre of the rosette o leaves. This is the butterwort (Pingaicula vulgaris), and it is to the peculiar greasy appearance of the leaves that it owes its generic name (pinguis = fat); of the com- mon English name, something will be said further on. The plants that compose the order to which it belongs (Lentibularineze) are, for the most part, dwellers in marshes or water, but the only other genus of this order in our country is the bladderwort ( U¢ricularia), so named from the little bladder-like pitchers that buoy it up in the water, and possibly serve other purposes not yet satisfactorily defined. The Lentibu- larineze have strong affinities with the Scrophularinez, and these are specially shown in the personate or two- lipped corolla, and the spur of the lower lip as well as in the axile placentation of the ovary, but it has also peculiarities of structure that will appear as we proceed. We will first examine the leaves, which are oblong and obtuse, with a broad, short, sheathing petiole. The margins are strongly curved inwards, especially towards the tip, and make the leaf into a sort of little spoon, a form which is said to have its use in detaining small insects, for the consumption of this so-called carnivorous plant! Ifa lens be used to inspect the texture of the leaf more closely, we find that it is thickly dotted over with minute oil-glands, which impart the greasiness that is as perceptible to the touch as to the sight. The flower-scape rises erect from the centre of the plant to the height of several inches, and like the leaves is thickly studded with glandular hairs. The calyx is small ; and the five sepals, three in front and two rather longer behind, give it somewhat the appearance of a claw holding the corolla in place. The flower is not unlike a violet at first sight, but the two-lipped corolla is gamopetalous, and a little careful manipulation will bring it off in one piece, when the short tube by which it is attached below the ovary (hypogynous) is to be seen, like a hole cut in the upper lip at the back of the lobes. The lower lip is broad and three-lobed, and the throat is densely covered with a perfect forest of jointed white hairs turning inwards. Looking full into the face of this pretty flower, one can at first see neither stamens nor pistil, so cunningly are they concealed; but just underneath the upper lip there is something that looks like a fold or scale, and by tearing down the 2 104 HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSIP. lower lip the funniest little apparatus comes into view, and we find that this fold is the leaf-like expan- sion of the stigma. The two stamens are placed in front of the ovary, as shown in the drawing, the anthers being tucked under the curling leaf of the stigma, the upper part of which has a sort of upright tail, which is its second lobe. If a somewhat older flower be examined, the stamens will be found in exactly the same position, but the anthers having burst trans- versely, the pollen will be seen exuding from beneath the enfolding lobe of the stigma, ready to be trans- ferred to the sticky portion of the same stigma, or a different one should some insect visitor arrive betimes. On removing the stamens with a needle, the ovary is seen, dotted over, like the rest of the plant, with Fig. 56.—Butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris). shining glands on its pale green surface, and a very pretty object it is with the delicate purple stigma curling over its summit and the little tail cocked up pertly behind. So much for the structure of the flower; and now a few words as to the measures adopted by the plant for ensuring the efficacy of those possible or probable insect visits just alluded to. There is a tribe of hard dry-leaved plants called Bromeliacez, natives of the continent and islands of America, and capable of enduring great drought without inconvenience, of which the pine-apple is a familiar example. Professor Kerner says that the structure of the butterworts reminds him of this tribe, in which a rosette of leaves forms a basin, and out of its middle rises a slender flower-stem. The basin gets filled with rain or dew, and the flower-stalk being thus isolated, creeping insects are prevented from climbing up the stem and getting at the honey which the plant reserves for those only that are useful to it. In the butterwort, this rosette-like basin (or what answers the same purpose) is covered with a tenacious, viscid slime, which is secreted by the thickly crowded glandular hairs. ‘This secretion is so tena- cious that no small insect can get free from it, and the writer ‘has often counted ten or a dozen lying dead upon a single leaf, some of their bodies being transparent, as if the juices had been sucked out. The larger insects can, of course, free themselves, but they always make for the outer edge of the leaf, and avoid climbing up the flower-stalk. It is generally allowed that the butterworts are able to subsist with- out absorbing the juices of insects after the manner of the sundews, but we may well believe that the sticky rosette of leaves and the glandular scape effectually prevent small insects from creeping up after the honey, while the broad lower lip of the corolla affords a UUs Z Fig. 57.—1, Calyx, with stamens seen in front of ovary, leaf- like stigma overarching them; 2, pistil; 3, longitudinal sec- tion of same; 4, 4, stamens in different states; 5, glandular hairs of leaves; 6, club-shaped jointed hairs of corolla. All much magnified. convenient landing-place for those welcome guests who come to it on the wing, and do not try to enter by the back door! In early June the writer had the pleasure of finding the pale butterwort (Pinguicula lusitanica) in the New Forest. It is a plant that is confined to our extreme southern and south-western counties, having a range from Hants to Cornwall, where it seems to occupy the position of its sister-plant in the more northerly parts of the kingdom, P. vulgaris being rare in the south. The pale butterwort is an altogether smaller and more dainty little plant than the latter ; its rosette of leaves is yellower, and its pale lilac flowers are variously streaked and stained with deep purple and orange markings. The corolla has not the peculiar flattened appearance of the common butterwort, nor is the spur so pointed. The roots, as is commonly the case among bog-plants, are small, and are chiefly useful for anchorage, as the leaves, being so closely FARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 105 pressed down on to the damp moss, must absorb at least as much moisture through their delicate surfaces as the roots take up; they are remarkably thin in texture, with rolled-in edges and a net-work of rami- fying purple veins, but they are not as greasy-looking asin P. vulgaris. It may also be remarked that no dead flies were found upon them. On the freshly PROJECTION Fig. 58.—Section of flower of Pinguzcula lusitanica (enlarged projection). \ \ Fig. 60. Fig. 61. Fig. 62. Fig. 60.—Jointed white hairs on lobes of corolla. Fig. 51.—Projection of mouth of Pizguicula lusitanica. Fig. 62.—Projection and hollows (highly magnified), gathered specimens there were numbers of tiny beetles that seemed to walk about with great ease ; perhaps their hard covering and little wiry legs enabled them to set at defiance the cloggy stickiness that might have been fatal to more delicately-formed insects ; sometimes, however, the horny beetle-cases were transparent and empty, but since the plants have been living in captivity the old leaves have died and with them their little denizens have departed, so that special observations have not been made on this point. The flower of P. Zusitanica has not the personate appearance of /. wzlearis, the corolla is rather inflated than compressed, and the spur instead of being acute, is obtuse and almost inclined to be lobed 5 at its saccate base. The enlarged section of the flower shows a projection that rises near the entrance, covered with a short velvety pile of fine clubbed hairs. It is tucked up from the outside, like the lip of a snap- dragon, and a ridge beyond it continues still further into the throat, crested with orange-tipped hairs. There is a hollow on each side of the ridge perfectly free from hairs, and their opposite sides are bounded by two more ridges, with hairs reaching still further into the throat. The position of the stamens and pistil is similar to that which obtains in P. vulgaris ; and the arrangement of hairs within the corolla sug- gests that they are intended to act as guides to those insects who may visit the flower in search of the honey contained in the spur, for no insect of the proper size could possibly reach it without at the same time #ouching both stamens and pistil in suc- cession. In default of this agency, the flower can doubtless fertilize itself; for the pollen oozes out plentifully from under the pistil-lobe, and might easily overflow on to its upper stigmatic surface’; indeed this must be the case, for the plants that for the last six weeks have been living in a make-believe bog in a soup-plate, have blossomed and set their seed, and are now scattering it from their ripe cap- sules, as if they were quite at home, and are only a trifle paler than they were in the bog at Lyndhurst. The flowers lasted a long time without withering, and as this is usually a question of fertilization, the little butterworts probably waited as long as possible for the insects who never visited them in their captivity, and at last were obliged to dispense with their ser- vices. It is pleasant to see-the capsules split and scatter the pretty seeds upon the moss. The leaves of P, vulgaris have the remarkable property of giving consistence to milk, and preventing it turning into whey or cream. The product is a sort of solid sour milk, not at all unpleasant to the taste, especially in hot weather. It is much used in Norway and Sweden. M. D. D. Hawkshead, Ambleside. A REMINISCENCE OF MALTA. T was about six o’clock in the morning when the S.S. Ovontes dropped anchor in the ,Grand Harbour at Malta; and shortly afterwards we re- ceived the welcome intelligence that pratique had been given, and that we were at liberty to go on shore to amuse ourselves, as best we could, in the Fior del Mondo for the space of twenty-four hours. 106 _-HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. Here was an opportunity that was not to be missed. Thad long ago done the usual round of the ‘‘ lions” of Valetta, and therefore neither Strada Reale, the Palace, nor the Armoury had any further charms for me, My desire now was to visit Citta Vecchia, the~ old capital of the islands, the crumbling walls and deserted palaces of which are situated on the summit of one of the spurs of the Binjemma Hills, at a dis- tance of about seven miles from the present capital. After the usual amount of bargaining with several Maltese cabmen, whose custom, by the bye, is always to ask the tourist three times what is legally due to them, and double what they expect to receive, I hired a carrozza, and was soon rolling along at a brisk pace through the noisy, dusty streets of Floriana and Hamrun. j None of the resources of modern science or of modern architecture appear to have been called into requisition in the planning of these ill-built and badly-drained suburbs, and it was, therefore, with a feeling of relief that I left them behind, and turned to welcome the sight of the picturesque little villages of Lia and Attard, that shortly afterwardg loomed in sight. Had time permitted, I should have paid a visit to the palace, with its lovely gardens and spacious orange-groves, which is situated on the out- skirts of Lia, and to which the Governor and his family usually go in the summer months, to escape the suffocating heat of the town. But my anxiety to reach my destination, and to spend as long a time as possible among the ruins of the old city on the hill, induced me to putioff my visit to St. Antonio’s Palace until some more fitting occasion, After leaving the village, a bend in the road brought us within full view of the old capital. It crowns the summit of a small tableland, the top of which is about 600 feet above the sea-level. The original portion of the city seems to have been built on the north and north-western edge of ‘the plateau ; but of late years considerable additions have been made, and the town and its suburbs now cover a much larger area. The cathedral, a lofty and imposing structure, is built on the edge of the cliffs ; and from the bottom of the hill it forms the most striking feature of the place. The hospital, too, that stands by the side of it, and which formerly served as an auberge for the Knights of Malta, is scarcely less remarkable; while the number of elegant buildings that are ranged around are so grouped as, in the distance, to form a scene, the general effect of which is very impressive. The position and physical surroundings of a place play a part in the enhancement of its beauty such as no number of superb buildings can supply. In Citta Vecchia this is particularly exemplified. Owing to its unique position, the old town is capable of making a picture from any point of view whatever. It cer- tainly looked very beautiful in the grey morning light, when I saw it from the foot of the hill near St. Salvatore ; but it is from the Musta Road that it must be viewed to catch it in its most charming aspect. There the contrasts in art and nature are alike more detailed, more striking ; there the scene that is presented is more comprehensive, more pic- turesque. Nor is the charm dispelled on a closer acquaint- ance. As the old walls are approached, the city, as a whole, fades from the mind; and the particular then takes the place of the general. The ramparts, the bastions, the fosse, each in turn engage the attention; and thus what is lost in picturesque effect is fully compensated for by the suggestions that each stone, as it passes in review, gives rise to. There are two principal gateways whereby entrance to the city may be obtained, both of which are situated on the southern side of the city. That at the south-western end, is a fine specimen of the engineering and architectural skill of the Knights. It is approached by means of a drawbridge that spans. a wide, deep moat, the bottom of which has been converted into a flower-garden. The facade of the gate is still in a good state of preservation ; but the walls on either side of it are sorely weather-beaten and time-worn. Within the entrance, and situated on the left hand of it, there is a niche containing a statue in a sadly dilapidated condition. But muti- lated as it is, the graceful lines of the human form» that the skill of the artist had impressed on the stone are yet discernible. Of its origin little is known, but it is supposed to be a specimen of Roman sculpture ; and it is said to represent the Queen of the: Roman Pantheon. Almost immediately opposite, and situated on the right-hand side, is the old auberge, which is now used as a sanitorium. Within the quadrangle which faces the building, there is a bust of one of Malta’s heroes, of one of that order of brave spirits who devoted their lives to the protection of their more help- less co-religionists ; one of that order who, while de- fending the faith of their fathers, succeeding ininflicting upon the infidel Turks, a series of blows, from the effects of which, even to this day, they have never recovered. The Grandmaster Manoel was not the least of the galaxy whose genius shed such a lustre on the ‘‘ Order of St. John.” The hand of Time has been laid but lightly upon the old building. It walls are somewhat greyer, and here and there the sirocco has wasted its facade, but besides this there is but little else to testify to the two centuries that have passed over them. But what are two centuries? In comparison with some relics that the city contains, this auberge is but as of yesterday. The foundations:of the old city are a very embodiment of antiquity. Phoenician hands have reared their. dwellings on its site; and Romans, Greeks, and Carthaginians. have alike left evidences of their departed glory in its precincts. The voice of one of Rome’s greatest orators was raised in its defence against those of his. own countrymen who should have protected rather HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 107 than have despoiled. Cicero, in a torrent of fierce invective, denounced the confiscations of Verres, and called for justice for the Maltese people. The Sara- cens, too, have left their mark upon its walls ; while in the more modern name of ‘‘ Notabile,” which has been given to the suburbs that have sprung up around the old town, we have an evidence of the estimation in which it was held by Alphonse the Castilian. Of the times of the Knights what need is there to speak? Do not the grim old battlements tell their own tale? Do they not conjure up scenes of its history, scenes of bloodshed, of suffering, cf death? No one, methinks, could enter that old gateway, and ramble among those ruined ramparts, without calling to mind some of the bloody incidents that have been enacted within them. At the northern extremity of the bastions stands the cathedral church, a noble edifice, built in the Corinthian style of architecture, and embellished within and without with ali that art and money can supply. Its interior is impressively grand. The reliquaries of ancient Christendom that are contained within its walls, are numerous and of the greatest interest. A picture of the Madonna, said to have been painted by St. Luke, and several relics of the Apostle of the Gentiles, are among some of the most precious ofthem. Within the tabernacle of the highaltar are the paten and chalice with which St. Paul and his asserted successor St. Publius administered the sacra- ment to the converted Maltese. The paintings, carvings, and other works of art thave all been made subservient to one end, namely to divert the attention of man from the vanities of this world, and to divert his attention to the glories and happiness of the next. The very stones with which the floors are paved, with their inscriptions and symbols of death, preach monitory sermons to their readers, and serve to remind them how fleeting is man’s existence here. From the belfry of the cathedral a splendid view of the island is to be obtained. If the day is clear and fine, even Etna may be seen in the distance. To the west and south-west a curtain of hills shuts in a scene that is made up of an undulating and freely diversified country, studded with the cultivated patches of the husbandman, and bespéckled with the churches and dwellings of the peasantry. Looking eastwards the undulating freestone surface of the south-eastern portion of Malta is bounded by the blue waters of the Mediterranean ; while to the south several spurs of the Binjemmas jut forth on the plain, and encompass a series of rich and fruitful valleys. Turning to the north, we see the bay of St. Paul, the scene of the Apostle’s shipwreck ; while beyond lies the tutelary genius of the island—the sea— dancing and glittering in the sunbeams that move merrily over it, and almost hiding in their silvery Sheen the islet of St. Paul, which lies in the back- ground, Villages, churches, farmsteads, and isolated cattle-sheds lie scattered in all directions over the landscape beneath. Near Maddalena the variegated rock surfaces of the ‘Grand Fault” of the island lie exposed, and serve as an effective foreground to the water behind. These rocks afford us an excellent example of the influence that the internal structure of a formation has upon the scenery of the country. Wherever the soft freestone, that is the formation upon which the town of Valetta is built, crops out, there low undulating plains and long smooth slopes are formed ; and the result is scenery of a tame and monotonous character. But wherever rocks of a harder consistency appear, such as those that occur at Maddalena, on the northern shores of the island, there the scenery is characterised by rugged hills, and scarped and precipitous valleys. The differences between the district around Mad- dalena and the plain beneath are more striking in summer than in winter. In winter-time the monotony of the plain is relieved by the vegetation that then covers it. The stone walls partly hidden in a profuse covering of verdure; the blending of rich-coloured soils with the richer colourings of the produce that they bear, the crimson sulla and the golden rye, the brilliant green of the ivy-encircled walls; it is the presence of these that tends to soften down those harsher features that make themselves so painfully apparent in the summer-time. In winter the scene is as pleasing, as in summer it is intolerable. But though all around is constantly changing, yet the city itself appears to be but little affected. It is true that Time’s hands have been laid somewhat heavily upon the bastions and towers; but yet there they still stand, as sturdy and as strong as ever. Its buttresses know not decrepitude ; and were the con- ditions of war but the same now, as when the fortifi- cations were designed, there is little doubt but that they would still be able to prove themselves to be capable of doing yeoman service. But the times and the manners have changed ; and Citta Vecchia has been relegated to the limbo of the past. Its streets are now deserted; its glory has departed. But the place will ever remain green in the memories of those who cherish tradition and its heroes. The city is rich in historical associations, and every stone, had it a tongue, could recount a history as thrilling as any romance of medizval times. It is rich also in its traditions of by-gone ages ; but it is the richest of alljin the melancholy memories of the brave hearts that reared its walls, and who os heroically fought and died in its defence. Joun H. CooKe. THEactively peripatetic Geologists’ Association made their annual Easter Excursion this year to Devizes, Swindon, and Farringdon, under the directorate of Professor Blake, Dr. Hinde, Messrs. H. B. Wood- ward, Bell, and Bennett. 108 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. CURIOSITIES OF WORM-LIFE. By the Rev. HiLDERIC FRIEND, F.L.S., Author of ‘‘Flowers and Flower Lore,” etc. VERY naturalist is aware of the fact that there is scarcely a plant or animal in existence which is not liable to some peculiarity or other. Among the highest animals we have dwarfs and Siamese twins, not to mention other deformities ; while chicks and calves seem especially fond of appearing with two heads or a pair of caudal appendages, Worms are no exception to the rule ; but so far as I am aware no popular account has ever yet been given of these freaks of worm-life as a whole, such as we brought from the Cotswold Hills, in Gloucestershire, which leads me to infer that there is yet a good deak to be learned about the influence of habitat, soil, climate, height above sea-level, and other factors, upon the development of worms, ‘This tendency of the girdle to occupy the centre of the worm’s body is quite unlike that which we find in the green worm (Allolobophora chlorotica),-Fig, 63.1, where the number of segments behind the girdle is usually double that in front. Owing, however, to the hinder segments having a much narrower diameter longitudinally than those in front of the girdle, the girdle here falls nearly in the centre of the body. A very striking peculiarity has often presented itself in the study of the brandling (AWolobophora fetida). << iM a sl a Sy Fig. 63.—1, Green Worm (AUolobophora chlorotiwa) with girdle (cZ) normally near centre of body; 2, abnormal worm with tail shortened ; 3, Brandling (4J/lolobophora fatida) with male pores (wf) on alternate segments, instead of being normally on segment 15; 4, Brandling, showing bands splitting (a) in two; 5, typical Lumbricus head, #7 prostomium, fe7z peristomium ; 6, typical Allolobophora head; 7, abnormal form of long worm (Ad/olobophora longa) with double tail. Nos. 3-6 magnified two diameters, the rest natural size. have been favoured with in relation to other animals, as well as plants. During my researches into the habits of earth-worms I have had ample means of studying a number of these peculiarities, some of which are now submitted for the benefit of our readers. There are several ways in which earth-worms depart from the type. In some instances there is no deformity, but the full-grown worm shows a curious tendency to limit the number of segments. In this way a species which should normally have sixty rings behind the girdle, will have only thirty (Fig. 63.2), so that the girdle comes just in the middle of the body. I have found this tendency in’more than one species This worm, like the great majority of our native species, has the male pore on the fifteenth segment. If a worm is examined carefully, it will be found that a pair of papillz, or white swellings, occupy the under surface of the fifteenth ring, counting from the head backwards. These swellings carry a pore, and serve as an important character in the diagnosis of genera. We have one small genus in Britain (Allurus) which carries the male pore on segment 13. Now the brandling is the most variable of all our species, and seems to be in a transition state, for it may be found sometimes with pores normally dis- posed, at other times with both pores on segment 14, and not infrequently with one pore on the 14th HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 109 and the other on the 15th segment (Fig. 63.3). Ihave found this latter peculiarity also in the gilt-tail (4//. subrubicunda). Another remarkable tendency of worms is better observed in this species than in any other, owing to its bright, well-defined colour-band. The brandling, as its name implies, is brindled or streaked with brown and gold, and it is no uncommon thing to see the brown bands bifurcating (Fig. 63.4), and splitting up, thus giving a very characteristic zebra-like appearance. The girdle, or clitellum, of earth-worms is very liable to abnormal development. I found a brandling in Sussex some time ago which was quite a study, on account of its bilateral asymmetry. On the left side the male pore occupied segment 15, and the tubercula segments 28, 29, 30; while on the right side the pore was on segment 16, and the tubercula on 29, 30, 31. Another worm found at Bolton Woods, in Yorkshire, displayed the girdle bulging out at one side of the body, instead of forming a saddle on its dorsal surface. These, and many ‘other little freaks of nature, however, which might be mentioned in connection with the colour, shape, and development of worms, sink into insignificance in presence of the forms now to be described, although the facts are not new. I received early in March a curious specimen of the long worm (A/olobophora longa), 2 worm which has all along been confused with the common earth-worm (Lumbricus terrestris, L.). The two may be easily distinguished by the shape of the head or prostomium, the colour of the body, and the position of the girdle. In the earth-worm, which is a true Lumbricus, the- prostomium cuts (Fig. 63.5) the first segment entirely in two, the colour is purplish-red with lighter-coloured tail, and the girdle begins on segment 32. The long worm has a prostomium only partially inserted in the first segment (Fig. 63.6); it is usually a very dark sienna-brown, and has a girdle extending from segments 28 to 35. My specimen of the long worm was found at Hungerford, in Berkshire, and was sent to me by Mr. Winkworth of London. It is a sample of the ““double monster,” very similar in every respect to several which have been described in various scientific journals within the last few years. I will first of all describe the specimen, then give some details as to earlier specimens. The worm is about five inches in length, and would be described by the angler as a maiden dew-worm. It has no girdle, the anterior portion of the body when living was the usual deep sienna, the posterior nearly flesh-coloured. Three-fourths of the body, from the head backwards, are perfectly normal, and consist of 110 segments. From this point the tail becomes twice the usual size, assumes a somewhat quadrangular shape, and gives off a branch which, like the thickened portion, is a quarter the length of the worm’s body. The drawing (Fig. 63.7) will make the matter clearer than any mere verbal description. The thickened tail and the branch alike consist of 60 segments. The total number of segments therefore in one axis is 170, and this is the average number for the long worm, An exactly similar specimen was described by Mr. Broome in 1888 (‘* Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. of Glasgow,” p. 203), but it is erroneously named the common earth-worm. The worm was about four inches long, and at a distance of three and a quarter inches from the mouth the body divided into two unequal parts, each furnished with an anus. The longer of these two parts lay in the same axis as the rest of the body, while the shorter branch projected from the main trunk. Other specimens are on record as follows :—In the catalogue of the Teratologi- cal specimens in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, published in 1872, is a description of an earth-worm with the posterior third of the body symmetrically double. This specimen was presented to the College in 1810, by W. Clift, Esq. In the ‘*Quart. Journal Mic. Soc.,” 1867, vol. vii. p. 157, we find a note on a double earth-worm by Mr. Robertson. He calls it Lumbricus terrestris, but in those days every worm bore this title, and it would be interesting to know what species is really intended. It is now in the University Museum, Oxford. In 1871, Mr. Breese, as President of the ‘‘ West Kent Nat. Hist. Soc.,” made use of this paper and its accompanying illustration, but threw no further light on the subject, so far as one can gather from the abstract of his presidential address. Professor Jeffrey Bell has a notice of two Lumbrici with bifid hinder ends in ‘‘ Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.,” 1885, vol. xvi. p. 475. In February, 1891, Mr. Foster exhibited to the “‘ Hull Scientific Club” a specimen of the common earth-worm (query species) ‘‘ which possessed an appendage appearing like a double tail.” When I was at the Zoo the other day, Mr. Beddard, our leading authority on worms, showed me a specimen of the long worm in every way like the specimen from Hungerford now in my possession. The foregoing exhausts all the references I have at present to this form of monstrosity in British earth- worms. To attempt an explanation of these peculi- arities here would involve both space and technicalities and I must be content to refer the reader to the articles already named for a discussion of this branch of the subject. NOTES ON MANX PLANTS. HE flora of the Isle of Man is not numerous in species, nor are there many rare plants to encourage the specimen-hunter. Its isolated position even shuts out some quite plentiful on the other side, of its boundary waters. Yet there is no lack of flowers in Man, and some beautiful and interesting IIo HARDWICKE' S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. yplants do their utmost to make up, by their abun- dance for the lack of others. Some notes on the characteristics of the island’s botany may not be unwelcome, especially in view of the number of your readers who annually visit our shores. Perhaps the most striking features of our plant-life sare to be seen on the sea-coast. This consists of tugged cliffs for the greater part of its circuit, and these, especially on the bold and picturesque western side of the isle, often present a luxuriant vegetation. On their dry tops, or on the earthen fences which shut off the cliff-edge from the cultivated land, Sedum anglicum, our only common stone-crop, opens its myriads of starry spotted flowers. From the broken ground spring the kidney-vetch (Azthyllis wulneraria) and hare’s-foot trefoil (Zvefolium arvense). Where the rock splits into ledges, and water drips through its crevices, Cochlearia officinalis covers it with a snowfallof blossom. The common companion of the scurvy-grass is the sea-feverfew (Matricaria inodora, var. maritima), with its flowers so like dog- daisies. On both rock and earth is the straggling bushy growth of Sfergularia marina. Great cushions -of sea-pink (Armeria maritima), crowned with their many rosy clusters, sprout from the cracks, mingled with the pale-green foliage and reticulated calyces of ‘the sea-campion (.S7/exe maritima). Beds of samphire, recognised far off by its strange glaucous hue, cover here and there long ledges, usually out of reach. But the loveliest sea-plant of all is the vernal squill (Scilla verna) abundant on all our rocky coasts, and sometimes, as at Cronk Moar in Rushen, straying a little inland. Often ithe grassy sea-margins are ‘so profusely sprinkled with these faintly-scented dwarf ‘hyacinths, that they give the prevailing colouring to the brows. On the west, steep and stony ground is sometimes covered by a huge and rank growth of the common nettle. Below, where boulders and fragments fallen from above form a rough kind of beach, overhung by the great rock-masses, vegetation is sscarcer. Bits of sea-spurrey still grow wherever they can find a rooting-place. The stones are thinly sown with the straggling mealy stems of a slender and not ungraceful form of atriplex (? de/foidea). Sometimes there is a little yellow stonecrop (Sedum acre). ‘Sometimes the pretty foliage of the sea-milkwort (Glaux maritima) turning a beautiful yellow in autumn, carpets the ground between the boulders, and in some stony spots, which it has nearly completely to itself, the common silverweed (Poentilla canserina) has a singularly delicate appearance. A plant very common, on these strands, or, as they are called in the Isle of Man, ‘‘ Traics,”? where a stream trickles from the rock, is the tall, rough hemp- agrimony (Zujpatorium cannabinum), its dull flower- heads and abundant foliage not unpicturesque amid its surroundings. Trace up the water a littie further, if the ascent be not too steep, and you will find brookweed (Samolus valerandi), and perhaps, for it is not very frequent in Man, a few of hart’s-tongue fern (Scolopendrum vulgare), or the high stem and golden lamp-like flowers of the tutsan (Ayfericum andro- s@mum). But where the cliff is hollowed out into a cavern, ora long recess slopes away into blackness, you will see in profusion the rich glossy fronds of the sea-spleenwort (Asplenium marinum). Sometimes 2 mossy projection jutting from the darkness of a great cave is completely draped with this fine fern. Great tufts of it, somewhat ragged and stunted from exposure, and mixed with immense growths of sea- spurrey, spring from the ruinous walls of Peil, “a castle like a rock upon a rock.” By careful search a rarer fern may be found. The maiden-hair, though sadly thinned, still lingers in some dripping cavernous places, on the west coast.