■ •.».».»:»^* » » » i $ * $ f immmmmm.. •r^r^- iiiiiP^* ■ :■:•:■:■;•:•.•':•.••:•;•;•,••;•:•:■;■;■;■;:;.•:; iipi»il.# >»»•« «.*'»' ii«i«ii& ':■?: :»:»f.'»'»;»^»,' !^i!: H ARDWICK E'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP: 1884. GRAPHIC MICROSCOPY. ETD. del. ad nat VmcF'Tit Broo]hora ferruginea, 56, 57 House-Fly, Teeth of, 176, 225 Hybodiis grossiconiis, 270 Hybodus, dorsal fin-spine, 270 Hybodus Dclahcchci, 270 Hybodus meditis, 270 Hybodus reticulatus, 270 Lainna (Odoniaspis), 228 Lainna clcgans, 229 Laihrcea squaiitaria, 4, 5 Leaf with Antheridia, 84 Lily of the Valley, Root Action of, 100 Lincolnshire, Illustrations of the Geology of, 105 Lithodendron hasalti/orine, 157 LitJiostroiion junccum, longitudinal sec- tion, 157 Lithostrotion junccum, transverse section, 157 Lonsdalia rugosa, 137 Lophodus inaininillaris, 271 Mites, British Fresh-Wa iek, 80 Moss, Section of, 84 Xotidanus 7nicrodon, 229 Notida u us print igenius, 229 Xotidamts serraiissimiis, 229 Xoiidanns, Upper Tooth of, 229 Ophioglossum vulgaUcin, var. ambigiiuin 148 Orchid Flowers, 20 Orodus raitiosus, 270 Otodns appendiculatus, 22S Otodiis inacrotus, 228 Oxyrhina macrorJiiza, 229 Oxyrliina Majitellii, ■2'2& Pachytlieca spliierica, 28, 29 Periplaneia Americana, 5i Petrodus patelliformis, 271 Pliyllodoce laininosa, 197 Plenrodus affinis, 271 Pleiirogojnpiuts auriculatus, 271 Poiitobdella murica/a, 197 Borland Spurge, 36 Pristicladodus dentatus, 270 Productus gigan teus, 158 Productus punctatus, 158 Productus scabriculus, 157 Psephodus magmts, 2;i Rav, Dorsal Aspect of, 173 Rctepora plebeia, 158 Rotifers, Free-Swimming, 124 Rhynclionella pleurodon, 15S Sabella unispira, iSi Sagitta bipunctata, 197 Sea-jNIouse [Aplu-odite aculcata\, 180 Serpida contortuplicata, 180 Sigaliaji boa, 180 Siplwnostona vestitnm, 197 Spinax, Jaws of, 172 Spinax, Outline of, 172 Squills, 38 Stenopora fibrosa, 1 36 Terebella, iSi Terebratula hastata, 15S Yeast-Fungi, 12, 13 LIST OF COLOURED PLATES. Breeze-fly, spiracle of . - . To face page 169 Cluster cups • 145 Epeira couica, eyes of. . . , ;> 25 Fern, sori of • - . 241 Fimaria hygrometrica. peristome of . )> 97 House-fly, eggs of • • • 217 Lepralia nitida, polypidom of . Limpet, palate of . . . Locust, pupa of . INIallow, anther, pollen and sligma of Mottled Umber Moth, eggs of . Tingis Crassioc/iari . . To face page 193 49 121 73 265 GRAPHIC MICROSCOPY. By E. T. D. Introduction. T is proposed, to publish monthly, under the above title, a lithograph, in colour, of a microscopic object, with short de- scription. The main purpose of the series is to place before our subscribers a counterpart or fac- simile, as far as the art of the lithographer can render and eluci- date it, of a finished painting from nature, exe- cuted with scrupu- lous exactitude and veracity ; both in line and colour, under the most suitable magnifying power, and as a special feature and of equal importance — the best and highest conditions of illumination. The selection of subjects will be made exclusively from objects essentially popular ; — easily obtained and prepared, or purchaseable as a " slide." Each article will embody a note of the conditions necessary to arrange the subject most favourable for good observation, and particularly for drawing. No. I. — TiNGis Crassiochari. The family Tingidae is classed in the Heteropterous Section of the Rychota ; a subdivision of the Order Hemiptera of Latreille. There is considerable diversity in the structure of the few groups of which this family Js composed, No. 229. — January 1884. strikingly apparent in the variation of the reticula- tions of the filmy membranous dilations on each sids of the thorax, on the scutellum, as well as on the large elytra, which entirely cover the dorsal surface of the abdomen. In foreign, and in many English specimens these reticulations render them objects of singular and especial beauty. The number of species is very great. The majority are found in tropical countries, but European speci- mens disclose markings and colour, under magnifica- tion, which vie in splendour with the most gorgeous of the beetle tribes ; as in the Orthoptera, the meta- morphosis is "imperfect," the young Tingis escapes from the egg, in a form more or less closely approach- ing that which it is ultimately destined to assume, and in many cases the principal distinction between the larva and perfect insect consists only in the possession of wings (rarely used) by the latter. The larvae or semi-pup?e, usually of an orange colour, are more convex than when perfectly developed. They are found in the same situations, and often in company with perfect insects. All the species are slow in their motions, and seldom fly ; their size, when mature, rarely exceeds an eighth of an inch in length. Insects belonging to this group (commonly known as bugs) do not present any great diversity of habit, or are, to ordinary vision, sufficiently attractive to court or encourage observation ; and Tingis, in particular, slowly crawling over, and sucking the juices of plants and fruits, to which it imparts a most offensive odour, might still have lived in comparative obscurity, had not the microscope revealed the matchless beauty of its structure, at once elevating it to the distinc- tion of one of the popular microscopic objects of the day. Attention was first directed to its peculiar elegance and quaintness by Mr. Richter, in an article published in Science-Gossip, in April 1869, vol. v. page 84. The specimen there described, figured, and provision- ally named Tingis hystricelljt^, was one of a few found in Ceylon, by Mr. Staniforth Green, and B HARD WICKE 'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. forwarded by him to Mr. Curties, F.R.M.S. Mr. Richter, in his paper, well described it as "a little insect porcupine." For secure preservation it should be mounted in balsam, without pressure ; but to obtain fine results for the purpose of drawing, it is better prepared dry, in such a method, as to be capable of being seen under any circumstances — from beneath with the paraboloid, and from above (after removing the covering glass) with reflected light from the side speculum. Under these conditions of double or simultaneous illumination, the finest points of character and especially of colour are revealed. The preliminary sketch was made with the aid of the camera lucida ; but as the objective used {to bring out the full details) rendered it impossible to get the whole of the subject into one circular field of view, the difficulty was overcome, by shifting the stage adjustments and fitting the parts, for the ultimate drawing from direct observation. Crouch End. BLOOD-RED SUNSETS AND THEIR AFTER-GLOW. ATMOSPHERICAL phenomena appear lately to have been in a very unsettled state. " Nature " has been occupied with letters relating to a "green sun " in India, and the first explanation was that somehow it was due to the Javan earthquake. The last week in November and far into December will long be memorable for the "blood-red sunsets." They reached their maximum of beauty in the Metro- polis, where the fog and smoke, unbearable usually, are excellent auxiliaries to sunset effects. All over the country for nearly a month, the most gorgeous sunsets and sunrises were noted, followed by after- glows equal to the most striking displays of the aurora borealis. Both the scientific journals and public newspapers have contained an unusual amount of correspon- dence respecting the exceptional brilliance and persistence of the evening after-glow, and the cor- responding phenomenon at day dawn.. It is well known that the conditions necessary for the produc- tion of this display are most favourable in northerly climates, owing, it is believed, to the suspension of particles of frozen vapour in the air, or other strata of varying density against which the rays of the sun can strike, and from which they can be reflected. The "Lancet" asks whether we may not expect a winter of unusual severity as a possible sequel to such splendid atmospheric displays. Mr. G. J. Symons, the distinguished meteorologist, in a letter to the "Times," suggested that these brilliant after- glows, together with the blue suns and green suns which have been described in various parts of the world, are due to the rise of vapours and volcanic dust from the Java eruptions into the higher regions of the atmosphere, thus affording the necessary condi- tions. He points out that as early as September i6th Mr. J. P. O'Reilly, of Dublin, called attention to the quantity of gases and vapour emitted during eruptions, to their probable relation to the total quantity of matter emitted, and to their exerting some effect upon the atmosphere. From that time to the present, all kinds of strange and exceptionally brilliant and chromatic effects have occurred in India, Ceylon, the Cape, Venezuela, Barbadoes, New Zealand, Australia, and other places, as well as throughout Great Britain, and Mr. Symons thinks that the enormous discharge of vapours and volcanic matter into the atmosphere from the eruptions in Java may be reasonably held to off"er some explanation. Mrs. Somerville, in her " Physical Geography," shows that the fog and lurid light of 1783 were due to the great eruption of Skaptar, in Iceland. For months after the outbreak the island was obscured by the enormous quantity of fine dust borne aloft in clouds of vapour. This volcanic dust was carried by winds over England and Northern Europe, and caused the atmospheric effects described by Cowper ("Task," book ii.) and by Gilbert White. Mr. F. A. Rollo-Russell points out that the vesi- cular nature of pumice, each particle consisting of a small bubble of glass, would allow it, after being shot up by the eruption to an enormous height, to be carried without precipitation to all quarters of the glol)e, and at the altitude attained it would be far removed from the action of vapour and weather. Nothing like this diffused atmospheric glow after dark, and one or two hours before sunrise, has been observed before, and a singular effect must have its origin in a singular cause. On December ist and 2nd, the glow, which was of an amber cblour, did not become bright until about an hour after sunset, and was partially obscured by clouds. The phenomenon was mistaken for aurora borealis in France and elsewhere, but it yet requires a name of its own. During the south-westerly gale which raged over England and Wales on December nth, the blood- red sunset was again splendidly visible in several places, and the after-glow lasted for two hours. The phenomenon appears to have been universal, and was witnessed in both hemispheres, the same general effects being noticeable. Consequently Mr. Symons' explanation, so far, appears the most probable. Mr. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., has contributed a veiy interesting and important "paper to the " Times," in which he expresses his belief, that the enormous volumes of fine volcanic dust emitted by the Java earthqukes and eruptions have been carried into the upper air, and that in the course of their progress across and above the earth, the reflection upon them of the sun's setting rays has produced the briUiant phenomena of which so many accounts have been HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. received. There can be no doubt as to the adequacy of the cause thus suggested, when we consider the vast quantities of volcanic dust resulting from the eruptions of August last. The abnormal sunsets Mr. Lockyer traces directly from the Seychelles to Brazil, not omitting Vene- zuela and Trinidad, at both which places the sun was observed of a bluish-green between | noon and 3 P.M. The line thus recorded is from east to west, but an almost equally definite path of the pheno- mena is indicated by observations made in places north and south of the scene of the eruptions. Mr. Lockyer's argument is that the phenomena have not only travelled at a definite rate and in definite directions, but have also varied precisely as they might have been expected to vary. At Java the immediate result is darkness, or at any rate a long obscuration of the sun ; then as the cloud moves, the pall becomes thinner, the grosser particles have fallen, but the blue and red molecules remain suspended in the upper air, and produce the singular reflected lights that have been lately the wonder of the world. The spectroscope, in fact, has furnished such conclusive evidence on this point that it practically supersedes, while it confirms, the results obtained by the mere record of the phenomena. There can be little doubt, we think, that the volcanic theory, whether true or false, will give a new interest to meteorological studies. CONCHOLOGICAL NOTES. J TELIX LAMELLATA (Science-Gossip, J. J. p. 147). This shell occurs near Huddersfield, which is much, farther south than Scarborough. See " Quarterly Journal of Conchology " for May, 1874, where it is described as having been found in 1870. Helix riifescais. — This species seems to " run out " in the county of Durham. It is found sparingly near Sunderland, and this may be near its northern limit. It does not occur in the list of Middlesbrough-on- Tees shells given by Mr. Hobson in Science-Gossip for July. In the " Zoologist " for June, 1881, Mr. R. M. Christy states that it is very scarce in the immediate neighbourhood of York. The question might be asked : Whether is this species extending northward, retreating southward, or at a standstill ? I should like to ascertain if there are any records of its occurrence farther north than Durham. Helix Cantiana. — This species is exceedingly com- mon in Yorkshire, on the chalk on the east coast, on the red sandstone south of York, and on the mag- nesian limestoi;e, but seems to thin out rapidly on the carboniferous sandstone westward ; very few being found west of a line drawn from Leeds to Sheffield. On August 6th, after a shower, there were thousands of Cantiana in all stages of growth in a lane leading from Pontefract to Ferrybridge, the hedges and ditches, on both sides of the road, being completely lined with them. In this lane there were consider- able numbers of Helix aspersa and H. nemoralis, but no hortensis. In one place about ten species of shells were congregated on a large bed of mown and half dead nettles, so thickly that several cracked under the feet at every step. Some conchologists think that the Kentish snail is slowly progressing westward. Helix aspersa. — Many of the helices climb nearly to the top of the hedges. I noticed Helix aspersa perched on the top of a giant cow-parsnip which grew in a garden close to a hedge. The plant was ten feet high. Helix iienioj-alis. — On the red sandstone near Milford Junction I found two specimens of white- lipped Nemoralis ; the same variety I suppose that was mentioned by Mr. Crowther in January SciENCE- GossiP as occurring near Leeds. Enemies. — On August 9th I found several speci- mens of Sphcerium 'laciistre which had been taken out of a ditch and on to a high bank and cleared of the animals by water-shrews. I also found several empty Zonites on a dry bank, the shells having been one-fourth eaten away, probably by land-shrews, to get at the animals. I have taken Zua liibrica and Helix hispida from the crops of young sparrows, and Helix caperata from the crop of the ring-dove. Many beetles kill snails. A friend informs me that he has seen black ants feeding on Helix Cantiana. Query : Could ants be made useful in clearing small shells of the animal ? Collecting and packing shells. — Mollusks when confined together rasp the epidermis off each other. This fact is well known to "old hands," but I should like to warn beginners in the study, when sending living shells from one to another through the post, not to pack them all together in a tin canister, but to keep them separate by partitions or in small boxes. Helix aspersa should never be associated either with themselves or with other shells. George Roberts. Hedgehogs. — Can any of the readers of Science- GossiP suggest an explanation of the alleged fact that hedgehogs are proof against the effects of the most virulent poisons ? How can the phenomenon be physiologically accounted for ? — Albert Waters. Grubs in H. caperata. — "Whilst cleaning H. eaperata obtained to-day, I found in several large white grubs, and wherever these grubs occurred the snail was partially eaten. I should say about fifty per cent, of the shells contained these unwelcome intruders. Will some reader tell me what they are ? I presume the larvae of some fly. — Baker Hudson. B 2 HARDWTCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. NOTES ON THE TOOTH-\YORT {LATHR.-EA SQUAMARIA). EARLY in the present year I procured a copy of J. E. Smith's " Plants of South Kent," pub- lished in 1829, to assist me in working out the botany .1' '/■/ ^'^. 'x- *^ Fig. I. — Lathma squajiiaria, as figured in Smith's "Plants of South Kent." of this district. It has proved of great service, and I am sure 'that botanists will be glad to learn that most of the rarer plants mentioned by him still occupy the same localities, and in several instances have very considerably extended their borders ; for instance, Orobatichc caryophyllacea, which was confined to one or two localities along the coast, is now found several miles inland, and is comparatively abundant. It is very pleasing to visit a locality, seeking a plant described as growing there fifty-four years ago, and finding it in luxuriance ; on the other hand, it is very disappointing to seek some rarity and find that, through the publication of its locality it has long since been exterminated, as in all probability has been the man orchis from the immediate neighbourhood of Slowling- The first plant I sought this year was Lathma squamaria, which I found growing in abundance in the locality named by Smith. I gathered some fourteen specimens, and examined many others, seek- ing anything of different or unusual appearance ; but all the plants I saw were of one type. On examina- tion at home, and comparing them with Smith's description and drawing, I found that there was con- siderable difference ; so much so that I had three plants photographed, and made careful drawings of Fig. 2. — a, Bud just burst ; b, flower with corolla about half de- veloped : c, flower fully expanded ; d, bractea and calyx with style projecting, the partially withered corolla being removed. the flowers in their various stages, together with many analytical and microscopic dissections. Fig. i is a copy of L. sqitatnaria as figured by Smith. I may here remark that the five plates in his book have been drawn with more than ordinary care, as they are for the express purpose of illustrating some note- worthy character. The description given agrees with the drawing ; it is as follows : — " The plant which I have considered L. squamaria, collected upon the first-mentioned locality, presents no slight variation from the characters of L. squamaria of ' English Botany,' vol. i., t. 50. With as great variety of habit, for this I presume from the very dis- similar figures to be found in works of accuracy, and a frequently club-shaped and proliferous stem, the Lathrsea of Lyminge, and, I suspect, of Hudson in ' Flora Anglica,' and Rudbech, ' Elys.,' vol. ii. p. 234, fig. 17, presents more erect and purplish pink flowers, whose upper lip is entire, or very slightly cloven, the lower lip involute, the style scarcely bent, and protruded from the fold of the upper lip. The bractese are smooth and lanceolate, the calyx hairy. HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. The flower purplish-pink, edged with white ; occa- sionally the whole plant is white. The clubbed stems exhibit the true nature of the plant, throwing out from their base squamosa offsets, into which also the imperfect flowers above are seen to pass. The herbage is buried about four inches in the loose earth, and bears opposite branches. "I have seen no figure or dried specimen which satisfactorily explains the difficulty. The figure in ' English Botany ' represents the upper lip deeply and acutely cloven, the style bent downwards near the stigma, and hidden. It is sufficient to point out differences, without at once attempting the constitution Fig. 3. — Specimen ol Lathrcva sqiiamaria gathered April 1883. [From a photograph.] of a second species. The plant of Lyminge may stand as L. squamaria, $ — Lathrsea radice squamata, bracteis lanceolatis, stylo recto, e labio superiore sub- integro, exserto." From this description and drawing it is evident that fifty-four years ago L. squamaria, as found by Smith, was different to its progeny of the present day, which answers the description given in " English Botany," 3rd edition, with these exceptions : the style is de- scribed as simple, and curved at the apex ; this, however, is not so, what s/i^/U curve there is in the style is along its entire length. It also describes the style as generally exserted ; this is, however, only partially correct, for dividing the life of the flower into four stages, viz. first, the bursting of the bud ; second, a stage midway between the bursting of the bud and the fully-expanded flower ; third, the fully- expanded flower ; and fourth, the flower withering, it will be seen that in the two first stages the style is seen projecting beyond the corolla, while in the fully- expanded flower neither of the organs of generation can be seen ; and it is not until the corolla begins to shrivel with decay, that the four stamens with their anthers can be seen. These various stages are shown in the accompanying sketches. How the difference in the squamaria of fifty-four years ago and those of the present day have been brought about, I will not pretend to say ; that such marked difference from the normal type existed as to call Smith's attention to it cannot be doubted, he being almost tempted to make a second species of it, but concluded to call it only a variety j3. The accompanying photo proves that the plant has now its normal characters, with broadly ovate braeteas and proliferous stem. Whether these changes mark a period of evolution, or whether the abnormal con- dition of the plant in Smith's time was only a freak of nature, I must leave for others better able to decide. Very important . lessons may, however, be learnt from the preceding facts, viz. the importance of placing on record careful descriptions, together with drawings of all plants that vary from the normal type, and the exercise of great care and judgment in giving to any plant, even with great differences of character, a new specific name, or even constituting it a new variety. I do not know if the photo is distinct enough to engrave from ; if not, I shall be glad to lend a specimen to any one interested. W. T. IIaydon. Dover. MICROSCOPICAL TECHNOLOGY. By John Ernest Ady. ON THE EXHIBITION OF CANADA BALSAM. '"THHE following remarks are merely offered to the J- readers of Science-Gossip as part of the out- come of extended practical research on the subject, and I have essayed to contribute them to these columns, with the hope that they may prove useful to those to whom certain phases in the exhibition of Canada balsam are always looked upon as " bug- bears." I shall confine myself to a consideration of the manner in which sections of tissues, however unmanageable by ordinary methods, on account of their inherent physical properties, may be coerced, as it were, to yield to the desires of the manipulator. But before I proceed further, I would like to satisfy my readers as to the raison d'etre of this communi- cation. HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. There are several text-books on the microscope, and on microscopical technology ; most of these works are bulky and expensive, and even if they are within the easy reach of many, they are too formidable to be "read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested." Space will not i^ermit me to criticise these stupendous volumes, more than to state, that they do not contain what I am about to explain. But there are other smaller works, inex- pensive, and full of practical hints ; they are greedily read by every tyro microscopist, and to them do we owe the main impetus which has of late been given to popular microscopical research, by bringing the subject within the easy grasp of those who study in their leisure to derive pleasure. In these little books the harassing details of their bulkier brethren are avoided, and only practical items are noted. As I must not prolong this paper by criticising the directions given in Mr. Marsh's little volume, or in Dr. Heneage Gibbes' practical work, I shall merely refer the reader to one or two things in those treatises, concerning the difficulties of mounting objects for the microscope in Canada balsam, and then describe a method which, if followed in its integrity, will dispense with all those difficulties and a great deal of unnecessary trouble as well. Thus, Dr. Gibbes, in speaking of mounting large sections,* finds that the cover glass on to which he has succeeded in transferring the section is smeared all over the top with clove oil, and has thus to remain for some time ere it can be cleansed for examination. Mr. Marsh devotes some pagesf to the description of apparatus for drying slides after they have been mounted, and in a footnote % gives a "wrinkle,"' which he ascribes to Mr. Kay, for the prevention of air bubbles in slides mounted in viscous balsam, with a few remarks to advise the use of viscous balsam for thick tissues, because the prepared mobile balsam is apt to evaporate and leave vacuoles behind. I have referred to these two handy volumes because they are so well known, and I am aware that the plans inculcated in them are those in general use, and in almost every text-book, whilst very few persons know how to mount objects in Canada balsam and avoid the defects which have been alluded to above. That all such defects can most readily be obviated, even by the most inex- perienced worker, it sliall be my present endeavour to show. As success in mounting olijects depends upon a certain amount, the larger the better, of methodicity and cleanliness, I shall preface these remarks with a few maxims, and describe the mounting process progressively by means of an example. * " Practical Histology and Pathology," by Heneage Gibbes, M.D., and ed., H. K. Lewis, Gower Street, London, 1883, PP- 54- t " Microscopical Section Cutting," by Sylvester Marsh, L.R.C.P.E., 2nd ed., J. & A. Churchill, New Burlington Street, London, iSS.!, pp. 115-iig.* + Op. cit., p. 109. I. Before commencing your work always see that your table, windows, and in fact everything in the room, are quite clean and free from dust. II. See that your microscope, spirit lamp or Bunsen burner, bottle of balsam, dipping-rod, forceps, knife, lifter, etc., are all in good condition, and arranged on the table in the most convenient positions. III. Have ready by your side a box containing a sufficiency of cleaned cover glasses and glass slips, so as to avoid having to clean anything whilst at work. I shall now describe the way in which any thin section, however large and prone to curl up, may be successfully mounted. 1st. Remove the section to a dish* containing some clean filtered methylated spirit, f and allow it to remain in this for about an hour, so as to thoroughly dehydrate it. The fastidious worker may re-transfer it to absolute alcohol for another hour, but this is quite unnecessary. 2nd. Pour a little oil of cloves into another palette. Drain as much spirit as possible off the section, and allow it to float on to the surface of the oil. In the course of a short time, which varies from the fraction of a minute to a few minutes with the nature of the section, the specimen will sink to the bottom of the oil, and thus show that it has been thoroughly per- meated ; it may now be removed, but not necessarily, as prolonged soaking in the clove oil will not damage it much. Care must be taken, however, to keep the palette covered, to prevent the admission of foreign particles, of dust, hairs, &c. 3rd. Procure a clean glass slip, breathe on it gently, and to the surface of condensed vapour apply a clean cover glass ; the latter will be found to adhere to the glass slip sufficiently to prevent its falling off during the subsequent processes. On to the centre of the cover glass place a drop of benzoled balsam ; lay the section in this drop, and examine it under a low power of the microscope (two-inch objective with A eye-piece). If any foreign particles have crept in they must be removed with a needle. ij: Air-bubbles may be disregarded. Should a very large section be floated on to the cover glass from the oil of cloves, drain off the super- fluous oil and place the cover on a clean glass slip with the section uppermost and exposed, and cover the section with benzoled balsam. Care must be * A useful kind of dish may be procured from any artists' colourman in the form of a circular china palette about four inches in diameter. The palettes are usually sold in nests of six, and may be used as staining and clearing troughs, and for a variety of other purposes. f Methylated spirit should be perfectly clear and colourless. It should register 63 (or at least 59) above proof on the alco- holometer. X It is of the utmost importance in the production of neatly- mounted sides, that the worker should be able to use a needle to remove dust particles from the preparation under a compound microscope. Perseverance for a couple of hours at a slide full of such particles will enable any ordinarily neat-handed person to succeed in this. A simple microscope may be used by those who are not endowed with a small stock of patience ; but I recommend the mastery of this feat with the compound micro- scope, as experience has proved it to be the most satisfactory method. hARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIF, taken in this, as in the previous case, not to permit the balsam to overflow the edges of the cover glass ; otherwise, the cover will become firmly cemented to the slip on which it is temporarily placed, and the future processes rendered impossible or difficult, as the cover glass bearing the section will have to be detached by heat or otherwise from the supporting slip. I may add that none but a careless and slovenly worker need fear the overflow of balsam spoken of. The section itself ought to be completely covered with balsam. 4th. Lay the glass slip with the cover-glass upon which the balsamed preparation lies exposed, either in a special dust-proof box (an ordinary object cabinet with trays will do), or under a glass shade, for a.bout twelve hours. If left thus exposed for much less than twelve hours, e.g. for two or three hours only, the balsam will not be reduced to the right degree of consistency through the evaporation of the solvent (benzol in this case). If exposed for much over twelve hours, e.g. for twenty hours, the evaporation will have progressed too far, but this may be rectified by the addition of another small drop, and the ex- posure continued for an hour or two more. If examined after about the twelfth hour under the microscope, it will be observed that all air bubbles have disappeared. 5th. Gently warm a clean glass slip, place it upon the mounting tile* so as to show its centre, upon which a drop of benzoled balsam should be placed ; now remove the cover glass with its supported preparation from the slip upon which it lay exposed (a pair of blunt-edged smooth-tipped forceps will be found useful here), pass it quickly over, not into, the flame of a spirit lamp or Bunsen burner, and apply it slantingly, section downwards this time, to the warmed slip with its central drop of balsam. Squeeze out the superfluous balsam, and lay the now com- pleted slide aside for a couple of hours. The squeezed out balsam, if there is much of it, may now be scraped off with a small knife and the rest of the balsam cleared off with a rag dipped in methylated spirit. If it so happens that the cover-glass has not sufficiently set after being laid aside for a couple of hours, if left for double that time, it may be handled with impunity, and thoroughly cleansed. Of course, the section may be placed upon a clean glass slip, balsamed, exposed, and then covered with a cover-glass, to the under side of which a drop of balsam has been applied ; but the above plan will be found the most convenient in the mounting of a large number of sections — cxferientia docei.\ If air-bubbles arise through the application of too * A mounting tile of white pottery-ware about 6X8 inches in surface, with lines painted upon it, to indicate the centres of slides, 3X1, and 3X1*, is a useful adjunct to the microscopist. A piece of white cardboard similarly marked may be substituted for such a tile. t I choose to curtail^ the proverb, " Experientia docet stultos." much new balsam after exposure, they will invariably disappear in the course of a few hours. If, however as sometimes though rarely happens, air-bubbles get entangled in very reticular tissues and wear an obstinately persistent aspect, the cover-glass should be removed at once, a fresh drop of balsam applied, exposure for two or three hours repeated, or for such time as it may take to dispel the atmospheric demons, another small drop of fresh balsam applied, and the preparation covered and cleaned in the manner directed above. In the case of all thick tissues, such as sections of decalcified bone, teeth, cartilage, the rhizomes and leaf-stalks of ferns, &c., it will be found, that what I shall term the exposure method, is sufficient to harden the balsam to such an extent, that their curling tendencies are subdued or altogether checked by that process. But to make success doubly sure, such refractory sections may be flattened during the clearing process. As soon as they sink to the bottom of the oil of cloves, they are to be removed to a clean glass slip with their adhering pools of the oil, covered with another similar slip and the two held together with an elastic band or piece of string, and laid aside for a few hours (four or five). On removal, and during the exposure method which follows, they may recurl, but their limit of elasticity has been greatly diminished by the continued pressure, and they will be found to be quite manageable. Whilst mounting very thick sections, in cells, or otherwise, the benzoled balsam will evaporate during the exposure process, and should be replenished at the end of the twelfth hour, exposed for another three hours, re-added to with a small drop of fresh balsam, and covered. Vacuolar spaces cannot possibly appear after these precautions. One of the most important things in balsam mounting is the preparation of balsam of suitable consistency. To secure a good result, some viscid balsam should be placed to harden in a sand or water bath. An old glue pot provided with a cover will do. The hardening of the balsam must be conducted gradually, to avoid burning the material. It should be tested from time to time, by the removal of a small quantity upon a rod. As soon a:s the material removed hardens into an almost brittle mass upon cooling, the still liquid hot balsam in its pot should be taken off the flame, and an equivalent bulk of pure benzol added to it. A little stirring with a glass rod will accelerate the solution of the hot balsam, and it should now be filtered through a cone of fine filter- paper. The filtrate should be of the consistency of thick syrup. If too thick, a little more benzol should be added and the process continued in a warm place, in an oven or in front of a fire, preferably the former. If too mobile, exposure to the air under a bell glass will reduce it to the right degree of viscosity in a few hours ; refiitration in a warm place will effect the same end in a few minutes. 8 HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-G OSSIF. Canada balsam, thus prepared, may be very various- ly applied ; but other methods are modifications rather than essentially distinct from the processes described above. I hope in future papers to treat explicitly of some of these. In every case I shall make it a rule to explain only zvhat I have verified by repeated experiment, so that these notes may be of essentially practical utility to my readers. A NEW AQUARIUM. ONE of the chief drawbacks to private marine aquaria, or hatching tanks, is the elaborate and costly machinery necessary to aerate the water : and even when such aeration is, or may be, carried on by Fig. 4. — A, Series of hatching tanVs ; B, two' dark reservoirs working by a rope over c ; c, a wheel ; D, hooks to hold up the full reservoirs : E, over- flow pipe from bottom tank to the empty reservoir ; f, flexible joints to E ; G, hole in reservoir in which overflow pipe slides easily. a gentle circulation, promoted by a fall of water from a higher level, the labour of getting the water to such higher level constantly, is a source of trouble, and therefore soon left undone, to the destruction of the living contents of the tank. In the annexed sketch I have given an idea for producing a flow of water through a series of shallow tanks, which may be adapted to a small or large undertaking as desired. The principle is, that whilst one reservoir is discharging its contents into the top tank, the bottom tank is overflowing into the other, which, when full, can by a contrivance so simple that I have not thought it necessary to show it in the sketch, be pulled up to discharge its con- tents, in turn, into the top tank. Now we will suppose that the reservoirs have a capacity of five gals., and that the full one has been hauled up to its position and secured there. By turning on the tap, which must of course be on flexible joints to prevent fouling the edge of the tank in its descent, a small stream of water will fall into the top tank, and overflow into the next and so on, till it reaches the empty reservoir. When the upper reservoir is empty the lower one is full, the circula- tion ceases, and therefore no waste of water takes place. When the time occupied by the discharge of the full reservoir is known, it is a very simple matter for anyone near the tank room to go at stated intervals and reverse the gear, an operation occupying about half a minute. Of course if the tanks be wide ones, two wheels, at a corresponding width apart, will be necessary. The advantages of this plan are as follows : — Its comparative cheapness of material. The ease and rapidity with which the level of the reserve tank can be altered. That a certain quantity of water is always in the dark, and therefore the "dark reservoir" is thus obtained. That when the reservoirs are large, and the stream small, thus occupying some time to discharge, an almost constant stream can be maintained if some one near at hand can be relied upon to devote 30 seconds, say four times a day, to reversing the gear. That it is not likely to get out of order, if well made in the first place. I shall be very pleased to give anyone desiring it, any further information, and I feel sure that this simple and labour-saving method will commend itself to those who wish to keep a marine tank or study the minute organisms of the sea in their metamorphoses. I may mention that the tanks should be covered with sheets of glass to keep off dust, but having a round hole for the overflow water to drop through. A series of tanks like this, rigged up in a cool room, say an out-house for instance, will, with care, do wonders. Edward Lovett. Croydon. A GROWING-CELL FOR MINUTE ORGANISMS. THE number and variety of " growing-cells " from which microscopical workers may choose is large, but it now seems necessary to increase it by one more. Desiring a slide of the kind for the study of minute animal organisms, capaljle of use with im- mersion objectives, I have hit upon the] following arrangements, which I hope the microscopical readers of Science-Gossip will find as useful as I have. The materials needed to build this little device are an ordinary slip, a thin cover I inch or less in diameter, two glass rings, a thin square, and a drop or two of Canada balsam. Every microscopist has HARD WICKE'S S CIENCE- G OS SI P. 9 all these at his command, except, perhaps, the glass rings, which, on this side the Atlantic, are sold for more than their weight in gold ; consequently, those familiar with a "small dodge" buy not, but make. And these " home-brewed " affairs are quite as useful, if not so ornamental, as those cut with a diamond. "With whom originated the idea of making rings by punching out the centre of a thin cover I do not know. Beale refers to it in his " How to Work with the Microscope," and my impression is that its mention may be found in microscopical literature of a date earlier than that of his book. However, for cells of moderate depth they are superior to tin, zinc, or vulcanite. In a brass plate \ inch or less in thickness, drill Fig. 5. — Growing-cell. lioles to correspond with the openings in the rings of the various sizes desired, and with Canada balsam cement thin covers over these holes ; place the plate •on the kitchen stove for a few minutes, or until the balsam will cool hard ; when entirely cold boldly thrust an iron nail through the glass. If the cementing has been properly done the fractures will not extend beyond the edge of the hole in the plate. The two secrets of success are to have the balsam reach quite to the edge of the aperture in the brass, and to be ■cold. If the balsam flows over toward the centre of the cover the fractures made by the nail will extend irregularly to the edge of the cement, and the ring can then be completed by grinding the glass away to the brass, giving the nail a rotation in addition to its downward movement. Do not draw the nail upward. A gentle heat will loosen the cover, and a slight rubbing with gasoline will clean it. Gasoline I have found to be a kind of universal solvent for cements microscopical, and wonderfully impressive. In the " American Monthly Microscopical Journal," June 1882, Mr. C. H. Kain describes a similar plan, using in his method sheet wax instead of Canada balsam. With wax I have always failed, smashing covers till on the verge of thin-glass bankruptcy. Having punched the covers, to make the growing cell cement the small disc in the centre of a slip, take a ring with a quarter inch aperture, break a little piece from one side, and fasten this broken circular band about the central circle, as in fig. 5. From another ring with a | or larger aperture break a piece as before, and cement about the inner ring, so that its broken part shall be opposite the unbroken curve of the former, and the cell is made. To use, place on the central disc a small drop of the water containing the organisms to be kept alive, and over it arrange a large square cover, taking pains to prevent the water from overflowing into the inner annular space. With a camel's hair pencil carefully, and in small quantities, add fresh water at the top or side of the square, until the space covered by the latter and bounded by the outer ring is filled. It will be found that this water will flow between the square and upper surface of the exterior ring, will enter through the break in the latter, partially filling the outer annular space, and by capillary attraction will occupy a part of the vacancy between the cover and the interior ring, as shown by the diagonal lines in the diagram, fig. 5, but unless too much water is used, or is supplied in too great quantities at a time, it will not pass the opening in the inner ring, thus leaving an abundance of air to supply the animal life under observation. The imprisoned air at once becomes saturated with moisture, as evidenced by the fogginess of the cover ; the central drop cannot evaporate, and the external water will not come in contact with it if care is taken in filling and in adding that lost by evaporation. When not in use, the slide is placed across a small vessel of water, a double and twisted thread arranged in contact with the edge of the square cover, and the whole left for another examination at some future time. Dr. Alfred C. Stokes. Trenton, N'eiu Jersey, U.S.A. Cormorant in Worcestershire. — In October, 1882, a fine specimen of the above was shot on the large reservoir between Cofton Hackett and Alve- church. What I think to be a still more unusual visitor to the Midlands is the Manx Shearwater, a specimen of which was, in September, 1873, caught in a hedge by some terriers when I was out walking at Trygull, near Wolverhampton. Though much exhausted, the bird seemed otherwise uninjured. — K. D., Cofton Hackett. lO HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. DARWIN'S OPINIONS ON INSTINCT. A POSTHUMOUS essay on " Instinct," by the late Charles Darwin, was read on December 6th, at the Linnean Society, before a very large and distinguished audience of Fellows. The paper, which treated of the instincts of animals, and the bearing of the subject on the theory of natural selection, was originally written for the "Origin of Species," but never published. It discussed the migration of birds and mammals, and after narrating a great series of curious facts, concluded with the inference that though there were many aspects of the question which admitted of no immediate explanation, the migratory instinct was inherited from ancestors who had to compass (for the sake of food or other causes) long distances, when the conditions of land and water were different from what they are at present. He then considered liow the more remarkable migrations could possibly have originated. Take the case of a bird being driven each year, by cold or want of food, slowly to travel nortliward, as is the case with some birds ; and in time we may well believe that this com- pulsory travelling would become instinctive, as with the sheep in Spain. Now, during the long course of ages, let valleys become converted into estuaries, and then into wider and wider arms of the sea ; and still he could well believe that the impulse which leads the pinioned goose to scramble northward would lead our bird over the trackless waters ; and that, by the aid of the unknown power by which many animals (and savage men) can retain a true course, it would safely cross the sea now covering the submerged path of its ancient land journey. Animals on oceanic islands, and other localities where they have never met with man or beasts of prey, are devoid of fear. This instinctive dread they subsequently acquire, for their own preservation, and transmit it to their descendants. At the Galapagos Islands Mr. Darwin pushed a hawk off a tree with the muzzle of his gun, and the little bird drank water out of a vessel which he held in his hand. But this tameness is not general, but special towards man ; for at the Falklands the geese build on the outlying islands on account of the foxes. These wolf-like foxes were here as fearless of man as were the birds, and the sailors in Byron's voyage, mistaking their curiosity for fierceness, ran into the water to avoid them. In all old civilised countries the wari- ness and fear of even young foxes and wolves are well known. At the Galapagos Islands the great land lizards (Amblyrhynchus) were extremely tame, so that Mr. Darwin could pull them by the tail ; whereas in other parts of the world large lizards are wary enough. The aquatic lizard of the same genus lives on the coast, is adapted to swim and dive perfectly, and , feeds on submerged algae; no doubt it must be ex- posed to danger from the sharks, and consequently, though quite tame on the land, he could not drive them into the water ; and when he threw them in they always swam directly back to the shore. Animals' feigning death seemed to Mr. Darwin a remarkable instinct, but he considered that there was much exaggeration on the subject. It struck him as a strange coincidence that the insects should have come to exactly simulate the state which they took when dead. Hence he carefully noted the simulated posi- tions of seventeen kinds of insects (including an lulus, spider, and Oniscus) belonging to the most distinct genera, both poor and first-rate shammers ; afterwards he procured naturally dead specimens of some of these insects, others he killed with camphor by an easy slow death. The result was that in no one instance was the attitude exactly the same, and in several instances the attitude of the feigners and of the really dead were as unlike as they possibly could be. Bird-nesting and the habitations of other animals were next discussed, the general conclusion being that though there are various adaptations of inherited instincts to suit varying cir- cumstances, yet that these variations all tend to pre- serve the species in the struggle for existence, by conducing to the " survival of the fittest." Although he did not doubt that intelligence and experience often come into play in the nidification of birds, yet both often fail ; a jackdaw has been seen trying in vain to get a stick through a turret window, and had not sense to draw it in lengthways ; Gilbert "White describes some martins which year after year built their nests on an exposed wall, and year after year they were washed down. The Fiirnariiis cu)iicidarius in S. America makes a deep burrow in mud-banks for its nest ; and he saw these little birds vainly burrow- ing numerous holes through mud-walls, over which they were constantly ilitting, without thus perceiving that the walls were not nearly thick enough for their nests. After an exhaustive account of various traits of instinct, and difficulties in the way of his theory, explaining all of them, the paper closed with the following general conclusion:- — "We have chiefly considered the instinct of animals under the point of view whether it is possible that they could have been acquired through the means indicated on our theory, or whetlier, even if the simpler ones could have been thus acquired, others are so complex and wonderful that they must have been specially endowed, and thus overthrow the theory. Bearing in mind the facts given on the acquirement, through the selection of self-originating tricks or modification of instinct, or through training and habit, aided in some slight degree by imitation, of hereditary actions and dis- positions in our domesticated animals, and their parallelism (subject to having less time) to the instincts of animals in a state of nature ; bearing in mind that in a state of nature instincts do certainly vary in some slight degree ; bearing in mind how very generally we find in allied but distinct animals a gradation in the more complex instincts, which show that it is at least possible that a complex instinct might have been acquired by successive steps ; and HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP, II which, moreover, generally indicate, according to our theory, the actual steps by which the instinct has been acquired, inasmuch as we suppose allied instincts to have branched off at different stages of descent from a common ancestor, and therefore to have retained, more or less unaltered, the instincts of the several lineal ancestral forms of any one species ; bearing all this in mind, together with the certainty that instincts are as important to an animal as their generally correlated structures, and that in the struggle for life under changing conditions, slight modilications of instinct could hardly fail occasionally to be profitable to individuals, I can see no overwhelming difficulty on our theory. Even in the most marvellous instinct known— that of the cells of the hive-bee — we have seen how a simple instinctive action may lead to results which fill the mind with astonishment. More- over, it seems to me that the vei-y general fact of the gradation of complexity of instincts within the limits of the same group of animals, and likewise the fact of two allied species, placed in two distant parts of the world, and surrounded by wholly different con- ditions of life, still having very much in common in their instincts, supports our theory of descent, for they are explained by it ; whereas if we look at each instinct as specially endowed, we can only say that it is so. The imperfections and mistakes of instinct, on our theory, cease to be surprising ; indeed, it would be wonderful that far more numerous and flagrant cases could not be detected, if it were not that a species, which has failed to become modified and so far perfected in its instincts that it could continue struggling with the co-inhabitants of the same region would simply add one more to the myriads which have become extinct. It may not be logical, but to my imagination it is far more satisfactory to look at the young cuckoo ejecting its foster-brothers, ants making slaves, the larva of the ichneumida; feeding within the live bodies of their prey, cats playing with mice, otters and cormorants with living fish, not as instincts specially given by the Creator, but as very small parts of one general law leading to the ad- vancement of all organic bodies — Multiply, vary ; let the strongest live and the weakest die." The Stoat in Jersey.— Having just read in Science-Gossip for July, 1883, that, " Some authors seem to speak as though the stoat were never white in England, but only farther north," I thought it might interest some of your readers to know that about seven or eight years ago my father shot one in Jersey. It was seen running along a clay bank just behind our house, and was shot from the staircase- window ; the distance being so short the skin was unfortunately much spoilt, and therefore was not kept. The animal was perfectly white, with the exception of a black tip to its tail. We sometimes get strange visitants to the island, even a hoopoe having been shot here about twenty-five years ago. — J. J. B. NOTES ON YEAST-FUNGI.* THE Saccharomycetes, or Yeast-Fungi, are uni- cellular plants, which multiply themselves by budding, and reproduce themselves by endogenous spores. They live singly or united in bud-colonies, chiefly in saccharine solutions, where they excite alcoholic fermentation. In most of the Saccharomycetes the cells are round, oval, or elliptic ; seldom are they elongated into cylindrical tubes, which are divided by transverse partitions, and may be regarded as the first indication of the formation of hyphse, i.e. of a mycelium. For the purpose of multiplication the cell forms an out- growth, which is filled with a portion of the contents of the mother-cell, gradually assumes the form and size of the latter, and separates itself from it by a wall. Both cells can in like manner produce fresh daughter-cells, which often remain for a considerable time united with one another, and on separation continue to grow independently. The formation of spores succeeds most easily on a moist solid substratum. Typically the whole cell contents divide themselves into 2-4 roundish portions, or contract into a single spherical body. The portions of the contents surround themselves each with a membrane, and so produce the spores, which can bud like the vegetative cells. To the Yeast-Fungi (in the narrower sense) belongs the capacity of decomposing the sugar of a fluid into alcohol and carbonic acid, i.e. of exciting alcoholic fermentation. The carbonic acid comes off in rapid streams of bubbles, while the alcohol, as well as certain subordinate constituents of sugar, remains behind. The fermentation proceeds most energetically with restricted access of air ; but, if the air is excluded for a long time, the yeast -cells perish. bACCHAROMYCETES. The same is true of the Saccharomycetes, especially in a botanical aspect, as of the Schizomycetes. Just as in the latter case, so also in this, is it necessary to impose a limit upon the accepted species, and only those founded by trustworthy investigators can be considered. Of course there remain even then many doubtful points ; for the majority of the now accepted species of Saccharomycetes maybe only various forms of one and the same species, which have become differentiated by changed conditions of growth. XVI. Saccharomyces, Meyen. Unicellular fungi, with vegetative increase by budding, and rejjroduc- tion by spores, which, for the most part, arise by subdivision of the contents of the mother-cell. * QTranslated from Dr. Winter's edition of the " Kryptoga- men- Flora," with additions.] 12 IIARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. A. — Species not producing a mycelium, 70. ^S". cercvisia:, Meyen. Torula cerevisuz, Turpin. Cryptococcus fertiientum, Kiitzing. Cryptococais cerevisicz, Kiitzing. HorDiisciiim cerevisitc, Bail. [Saccharoinyccs ininoi-, Engel ?] Cells mostly round or oval, 8-9 /u long, isolated or united in small colonies. Spore-forming cells isolated, tions, so that there is an absence of the globular clusters which are so striking a feature in the develop- ment of " high " yeast, when examined at an early stage of growth. " Low " yeast never rises to the surface of the fermenting fluid, which is thus left clear, but it produces, in the opinion of Englishmen at least, an inferior beer. With high yeast, the newly-formed cells rise to the surface as the fermentation proceeds^ and there form large foam-like masses. It is doubtful whether the names "high" and "low" arose from Fig. 6. — .?. pastorLinus ; a, the same more highly magnified. (After Pasteur.) Fig. 7 — S. ccrevisiiF ; a, a bud-colony ; i, two spore- forming cells. (Aft^r Winter.) © Fig. 8 — " High yeast," 5". cercziisup ; a, the same, budding actively. (After Pasteur.) 0^ o 'CO Fig. g.— "Low yeast," .S". cerevisice; a, the same, budding actively. (After Pasteur ) #' //, ■J-ilA s. /^/ / Ih^ u / Fig. lo. — Bacillus leprcr ; «, cells from tubercles, fresh; b, a "brown element" coloured with methyl-violet, from a tubercle treated with osniic acid ; c, bacilli, with spores, [a and b, after Hansen ; c, after Neisser.) Fig. II. — .S". iitycoderina, budding: a is the Hortniscutn vini of Bonorden. 11-14 /" long; spores mostly three or four together in each mother-cell, 4-5 yu in diameter. In beer, in both high and low fermentation. The true beer-ferment is found in the various sorts of beer, in both modes of fermentation ; it is cultivated on a large scale, and then yields the German yeast, a mass which consists of yeast cells and water. [There are two races of this species, "high" yeast and "low" yeast. The cells of " low " yeast are slightly smaller, and more oval in shape, than those of " high " yeast, and in budding produce less ramifica- these different positions of the yeast, or from the difference in the temperatures at which they work. High yeast ferments at a temperature between 16° C. and 20° C, while low yeast is usually employed at a temperature of from 6° C. to 8° C, antl rarely more than 10° C. In Pasteur's (from a morphological point of view) confused " Etudes sur la Biere,'' these are considered as distinct species, but this position is untenable. The wildest possible theories have been started to explain the origin of this ferment. These are of two HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 13 kinds ; the first attempted to derive it by a sort of spontaneous generation, the second held that it was merely a state of other fungi, such as Pcnicilliiiiii, Bacteria, etc. These mistaken ideas were all due to a forgetfulness of the minuteness and omnipresence of the spores of these fungi, and also perhaps to the fact that as it appears, other fungi, such as Mucor, can act the part of a ferment under certain conditions. It may be regarded as certain that most of the so-called " trans- Producing spontaneous fermentation in must ; [this is the ordinary ferment of wine.] 72. 6". couglomcratiis, Reess. Cells almost round, 5-6 y. in diameter, united ia clusters, which consist of the numerous cells produced by budding from one or a few mother-cells. Spore- forming cells often united in twos, or with a vegeta- tive cell ; spores 2-4 in each mother-cell. e& ^ ■4). ^ o ^ X 420 y^eoi7 Fig. 12.— .S". cUipsoidcus ; h, the same more highly magnified. YIOOO Fig. 13.— 6". spharkiis. (After Saccardo.) 6K\ 'J Fig. '15. — a, S. exiguuii b, S. congloineratus ; X 600. Fig. 16. — i". coprogenus. (After Saccardo.) X 500. Fig. 17. — 5. apiculatus. X about 500. X 700 Fig. 14.— 5. albicans; a, beginning of growth ; b, farther advanced ; c, formation of mycelium. (After Grawitz.) formations " to which we are alluding had their origin merely in the carelessness of the experimenter, or in the inadequacy of the means adopted for securing a pure cultivation. The Saccharomycetes are as truly autonomous as any other fungi. — Tr.] 71. S. ellipsoideus, Reess. Cells elliptic, mostly 6 /x long, isolated or united in Httle branched colonies. Spore-forming cells mostly isolated ; spores 2-4 together in each mother- cell, 3-3J \Ji- in diameter. In wine at the beginning of the fermentation, and on decaying grapes. 73. S. exiguHs, Reess. Cells conical or top-shaped, about 5 /i long, reach- ing 2-5 /i in thickness, united in sparingly branched colonies. Spore-forming cells_isolated, each with 2-3 spores, which lie in a row. In the after fermentation of beer. 74. S. Pastoriamis, Reess. Cells roundish-oval or elongated-clavate, of varied 14 HARBWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIF. size. Colonies branched, consisting of primary clavate cells, 18-22 ju long, which produce secondary roundish or oval daughter-cells, 5-6 ju long. Spore-forming cells roundish or oval ; spores from 2 to 4 together, 2 /A in diameter. In the after fermentation of wine, and fruit-wine, or spontaneously fermenting beer. [The "caseous ferment" of Pasteur ; may be obtained sometimes in English yeast.] 75- S. afi!culaf!is,'B.ee^s. Carpozyma apiculatnm, Engel. Cells lemon-shaped, shortly apiculate at each end, 6-8 jj. long, 2-3 yu broad, sometimes slightly elongated ; daughter-cells arising^only from the ends of the mother- cells ; for the most part soon isolated, rarely united in small, scarcely branched colonies. Spores unknown. In the principal fermentation of wine, and in other spontaneous fermentations. [On all kinds of fruit, stone-fruits, etc., in must, and in certain kinds of beer.] 76. .5". sphccricus, Saccardo, " Fungi Italici," fig. 76. Cells of various forms ; the basal ones (of a colony) oblong or cylindrical, 10-15 /"■ ^o'^g) 5 i" thick ; the others round, 5-6 yu in diameter, united in bent, branched, often clustered families. Spore formation unknown. On the fermenting juice of Z_;'r('/t'rj'/c7//« esciilciifiivi, the tomato. [Saccardo, who regards this as a Hyphomycete of low organisation, says (Michelia, i. p. 90) : — "Occurring in minute, flatly-convex, gregarious and confluent, dirty-white heaps ; conidia perfectly spherical, 5-6 y. in diameter, collected in variously curved, branched and often clustered chains, sepa- rating with difllculty, hyaline, usually supported on oblong or subcylindrical bases, 10-15 M X 5 yu." There is a strong likeness between this and Horinisciiim album, Bonorden, except in habitat.] 77. S. gliitinis (Fresenius), Colin. Cryptococcus glutinis, Fresenius. Cells round, oval, oblong, elliptic to shortly cylindrical, 5-1 1 yu long, about 4^ broad, isolated or united in twos, seldom more together. Cell- membrane and contents colourless, when fresh ; but, ■when moistened again after drying, [with a faintly reddish central nucleus. Spore formation unknown. On starch-paste, slices of potato, etc., forming rose-coloured, slimy spots, which have at first a diameter of \-\ millimeter, but by degrees spread and. become confluent in patches of as much as one centimeter broad. The colouring matter is unchanged by acids ami alkalies. B. — Species producing a mycelium. 78. S. Mycoderina, Reess. Mycodenna cercvisiic, and il/. vini, Des- mazieres. Hormisciiiiii villi, and IP. ccrevisia:, Bo- norden. Cells oval, elliptic or cylindrical, about 6-7 yu long, 2-3 ytt thick, united in richly branched colonies. The cells are often elongated, so as to resemble a mycelium. Spore-forming cells as much as 20 ,u long ; spores 1-4 in each mother-cell. On fermented fluids, sauer-kraut, juices of fruit, etc., forming on beer and wine the so-called " mould." This and the following species reach in their development the highest rank among the Saccharo- mycetes. The cells often form, especially in watery fluids, long tubes, which are divided by transverse partitions, and fall into single pieces at those points. These bud, in their turn, in the same manner. While the true yeast-fungi grow submerged in the higher layers of the fluid, and there excite active alcoholic fermentation, the "mould" grows on the surface, without exciting fermentation. When arti- ficially forced to grow submerged, of course a little alcohol is produced, but the fungus soon perishes. Although the growth of the layer of " mould " goes hand in hand with the souring of the wine or beer, yet the Saccharomyces is not the cause of the latter. The formation of vinegar from alcohol is produced rather by other fungi, whose systematic position is still undetermined. According to some, it is a species of Vibrio (Spirillum), which causes this decom- position. 79. S. albicans (Robin), Reess. Oidiitm albicans, Robin. Cells partly round, partly oval, oblong or cylin- drical, 3*5-5 fJ. thick ; the round ones 4 yu in diameter, the cylindrical ones 10 to 20 times as long as thick. Bud-colonies mostly consisting of rows of cylindrical cells, from the ends of which spring rows of oval or round. cells. Spores formed singly in roundish cells. On the mucous membrane of the mouth, especially of infants, forming the disease known as aphtha or thrush. Also in animals. This fungus appears in the form of larger or smaller greyish-white heajDS, which nevertheless do not consist exclusively of the Saccharomyces, but also contain Schizomycetes, and the mycelia of moulds. When cultivated, the fungus forms long-jointed, richly- branched threads ; at the upper end of each articula- tion there is usually a crown or bundle of shorter cells, wdiich are oval or round in form, and bud in their turn. In other cases, all the cells of a bud- colony remain short, and assume a rounded form. This fungus excites alcoholic fermentation only in a small degree. According to Grawitz (Virchow's " Annalen fiir Path. Anat. und Phys.," vol. Ixx. p. 557), S. albicans is identical with S. JMycodcrina. C. — Doubtful species. 80. S. guttulatus (Robin). Cryptococcus guttulatus, Robin. HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 15 Cells elliptic or elongated-ovate, 15-24 /u long, 5-8 IX. thick, brown, opaque, with 2-4 colourless drops, isolated or from two to live together. Spore formation unknown. In the oesophagus and intestines of mammals, birds, and reptiles. [81. S. coprogenus, Saccardo et Speggazini, " Fungi Italici," fig. 911. Effused, superficial, rather compact, dirty rose colour ; conidia ovoid and then globose, 12-14 fj. long, lo-ii in broad, forming very short chains or solitary, often provided with a tail-like appendage (? from germination), clouded within, when in clusters pale rose-coloured, hyaline (" Michelia,"' ii. p. 287). On fermenting human ordure, where it forms a somewhat waxy layer, almost like a Corticinm. This also is considered by Saccardo to be a Hyphomycete. -Tr.] W. B. Grove, B.A. SCIENCE-GOSSIP, The venerable Swedish palaeontologist and anti- quary, Professor Nilsson, has just died, aged ninety- six years. He is best known in this country, perhaps, by the translation of his work on " The Primitive Inhabitants of Scandinavia," published in 1868, and edited by Sir John Lubbock, Dr. Andrew Wilson has been dehvering four popular lectures on anatomy and physiology in Princes' Hall, Piccadilly. A VERY interesting example (illustrated) of the mutual spiral growth of two carrots is given in the Gardener's Chronicle for December 8th. Prof. Arch. Geikie is contributing a series of papers to Nature on " The Origin of Coral Reefs." An International Exhibition of Health and Educa- tion is intended to be held in 18S4, in the buildings recently occupied by the Fisheries Exhibition. The works in connection with the new Bridge across the Forth are lighted at night by electricity, numerous arc as well as incandescent lights being employed, so that the operations can go on by night as well as by day. M. de Lesseps recently made a communication before the Paris Academy of Sciences on the propaga- tion across the Indian and Atlantic Oceans of the great earthquake wave caused by the recent disturb- ances in Java. The engineers engaged on the Panama Inter-oceanic Canal at Colon made some observations upon it, from which it appears that the wave made its way in about thirty hours from Java, round the Cape of Good Hope to the east coast of Central America. A REMARKABLE whirlwind occurred on the 17th of November, in Somersetshire, about mid-day. In the village of Brympton, three miles from Yeovil ; trees were uprooted by it, and in a neighbouring village it unroofed several houses. It necessarily occurred over only a limited area, but its track was plainly marked by uprooted trees, unroofed houses and devastated hay-ricks. The Geological Magazine for December last contains a capitally written memoir of the eminent geologist, Joachim Barrande, recently deceased, and is accompanied by an excellent portrait. The Practical Naturalist is now incorporated with "The Naturalists' World," under which title this excellent monthly will henceforth appear. We have received the second number of our new contemporary ["The Science Monthly" (David Bogue). It is well turned out, and contains some excellent 'articles on a variety of scientific subjects. The portrait of Sir John Lubbock is even better than that of Sir George Biddell Airy which appeared in the first number. The Liverpool Geological Association have just issued their annual Report for 18S3. It contains the Rules, list of members, &c., and outline of papers read and excursions made during the past year. The latest official report of the Imperial German Post-office states that at the end of October the telephone was fully in operation in thirty-six cities and towns. A meeting was held in the Royal Society rooms on the 7th December, Professor Huxley in the chair, when it was resolved that a memorial to the late William Spottiswoode, President of the Royal Society, &c., should be formed, and that it should take the form of an endowment for a pension in perpetuity to be called the ' ' William Spottiswoode Memorial Pension, " the proceeds to be devoted to an incapaci- tated printer or widow. Mr. William Wesley's "Natural History and Scientific Book Circular," is now in the thirteenth year of publication, and No. 58 has just appeared. We commend it to all scientific book buyers. The Scientific Expedition sanctioned by the Geo- graphical Society, for the purpose of exploring New Guinea, under the command of Mr. Wilfred Powell, will shortly leave England. At a recent meeting of the British Archaeological Association, Mr. Worthington Smith, F.L.S., pro- duced a fine Palaeolithic Flint implement which had been found in Clerkenwell. i6 HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. The Victoria Government have asked the dis- tinguished botanist, Baron von Mueller, to report on a new kind of prairie grass which is spreading in the Colac district, and which is said to bind the sand together, and to furnish good food for cattle, although the rabbits won't eat it. Whittington's days are not quite over. An advertisement has just appeared in the Adelaide newspapers inviting a supply of one thousand cats at ninepence each, for the purpose of putting down the rabbits on a certain estate. A CAPITAL chemical laboratory, with convenience for fifteen working students, has just been fitted up with all accessories, stoves, It has lain in my cabinet for some years, in the hope that I might make further discoveries from the same source, but after many long searches and subsequent labour in preparing the material I have never done more than verify the typical slide I am about to describe. That it is the type of the prevailing vegetation of the period I have no doubt, as I have frequently found traces of the same structure, but always in such a bad state of preservation that without the knowledge obtained from this identical slide it would have been difficult to make out its detail at all. have been absent. I have found the same occur in sections of Sigillaria from our coal measures, and this induces me to think this fragment received its greatest pressure at this point, and thus comparatively relieved the immediately surrounding parts from the pressure necessary to destroy structure. It appears to consist entirely of a vast number of simple tubular cells, having a very thick wall which by its slightly darker colour clearly defines the boundary of each. They are mostly exhibited as cut obliquely transverse, but the few that are dis- covered having a longitudinal section measure about •^ of an inch in length, by ^ in breadth, they terminate abruptly, and appear to be separated from the succeeding cell by an exceedingly thin division, similar to some of the freshwater Algae. As an example I would mention Phyllactidium pulchdlum. Each tube or cell appears to have been connected with the succeeding one at the end only, as no indi- ',4^:=- •^ Description. — The piece of fossil vegetable, as mounted, measures two tenths of an inch long by just one-tenth in its widest part ; it is somewhat angular in shape, and, for the reasons presently to be stated, appears to be an almost transverse section of the original plant. In colour it resembles a piece of seasoned oak. It was exceedingly friable and is traversed by many fine fractures. The preservative material has doubtless been protoxide of iron, but I cannot help thinking the perfect preservation of the structure has been in a great measure due to acci- dental protection from the great pressure these plants must have suffered, as in one part a perfectly structure- less portion appears, although from the size of the cells and the general surroundings, the structure should not cation of branching is discernible either in the longi- tudinal or transverse tubes. Occasionally some of the cells or tubes contain some dark coloured spherical bodies, uniform in size, and apparently arranged in a double row. I have counted twenty in a cell ^gj,, by ^^-^-y Sections of these botlies are seen in other cells, but their minuteness defies the limit of my instrument to detect structure in any. I look upon these as being the germs of future plants, had not mineralisation interfered with their develop- ment. In Pachythcca spha/'ica we have a much more complicated structure, but still bearing a strong resemblance to that of the plant above described. The tubular structure is exhibited here, with the same absence of constriction at the ends of the cells, Init instead of being connected simply with each other by their ends they branch off at right angles in all directions, leaving small interstices between. Towards the boundary of the sphere these tubes become compacted closer together, and probably gave a tolerable degree of solidity to the organism. Rami- 30 HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. fications of the same arrangement form the centre of the object, but much more loose in texture. In some cases cavities of an irregular shape appear filled only with the fine particles forming the rock, and which polarise feebly. Interspersed throughout the this would agree with the fact that they are more specially organised. The remains having been deposited in shallow water, and the general simplicity of structure, inclines me to think they are both of algal nature, but that in ■*^ii~-_j ^^^r^ l>i^^^^ ^t-i-'J^,^ >i«.* \ Fig. 23.— Fossil plant from the Silurian at Rumney, near Cardiff. X 140 diam. object are a large number of spherical bodies, varying in size from 'ooi downwards. In some cases they are quite transparent, in others, opaque, being filled with iron oxide, while in others a mineral which under polarised light behaves like glauconite fills the cavity. Remarks. — It would be difficult from the evidence afforded by these sections to assign the correct habitat of this plant, whether terrestrial or aquatic ; in itself it is a mere fragment, and if of terrestrial origin may give us an insight into only a small part of the plant, from which it was derived ; but if tliis were the case, I am disposed to think other portions would have been met with ere this, as the rocks have not been neglected from which this specimen was procured. If, on the other hand, it was of aquatic origin, we are more likely to have the entire detail of its structure present, seeing that most Algal forms are simple in their structure. In Pachytlura spharica we find the same general character, the elaboration of branching cells or tubes being doubtless to give consistency to the covering of the contained spores. If P. spharica is the fruit of a plant, as doubtless it is, and the bodies described in the first section are really germs or spores, I should hesitate to believe they were different parts of one plant. Pachytheca extends higher in the series of beds than the one from which my first described section was taken, and this unknown and as yet unnamed specimen we have one of the pioneers of the vegetation that now so abundantly flourishes on land and in the seas. Cai-diff, A Water-Spout. — On the 17th November, my wife, and son (who has been round the world four times) saw near the Flat Holmes, Burnham, a water- spout, or rather, I should say, a huge column of black cloud revolving rapidly. It tore up the water in a most astounding way. Its course was from north- west to north-east, then to south-east and south-south- east. They saw it a little before twelve. Its course was so rapid that my son said it went faster than the Flying Dutchman on the Great Western Railway. It reached Yeovil, Dorset, a little after twelve, and the damage done there and elsewhere was enormous. The roar was deafening, as a man said, like a lot of express trains running through a tunnel. Soon after a terrific squall came up from the west and north, with tremendous rain and hail. On November 19th a heavy thunderstorm with vivid lightning passed over the Meudips and beyond them, travelling from north to east, and from east to south-south-east at night.— ^. //, B. HARD WICKE'S S CIENCE- G OSSIF. 31 RECOLLECTIONS OF AUSTRALIAN ENTOMOLOGY. By W. T. Greene, M.D., F.Z.S., Author of "Parrots in Captivity," &c. &c. IF Australia has occasionally been spoken of in a more or less disparaging manner, because of the paucity in actual numbers as well as in species, of its Mammalia, and in a less degree of its birds, the same cannot be said of its insects ; whose tribes, flying, crawling, and swimming, absolutely defy com- putation ; as anyone who has ever resided in, or travelled for a couple of days through, the '* bush," is but too well aware. I say " too well," because they are unpleasant, some of these insects — exceedingly so, in fact, to every sense. Some are positively terrifying, so strange and weird, not to say unnatural, are their forms, while others are dangerous in the highest degree, bearing, as they do, almost certain destruction to their adversaries in their heads or tails. Others, again, are interesting from their habits, 'others from the periodicity that marks their appearance and disappearance ; others from their peculiar forms, which^simulate twigs, grass, or leaves ; others from the gorgeous livery they wear, and others again from all the above peculiarities combined. I propose, in this article, to consider briefly a few of the more remarkable species of insects with which I became acquainted during a sojourn of some years in the great southern land, beginning with that widely diffused persecutor of " new chums," the mosquito. I remember some years ago, reading a story that went the round of the papers at the time, to the effect that a colonist sent one of these pests home in a letter to a friend in England, and that the friend while reading the missive, which informed him of the nature of its enclosure, felt a sudden sharp prick on the back of his hand, and glancing at the injured part, per- ceived a small golden fly that immediately flew away and escaped. It is unnecessary for me to dilate upon the impro- bability of the story. Of course, it was utterly impossible for the insect — a particularly fragile creature — to have survived the pressure to which it must necessarily have been subjected in the mail-bag, and unfortunately for the narrative, the mosquito, far from being a "golden fly," is very plainly dressed, being, in point of fact, neither more nor less than a first cousin to the well-known gnat, so familiar of an even- ing to the rambler through the green lanes of old England, where it may be seen disporting itself in myriads, beneath the shade of the overhanging trees and hedges ; the only difference being that our native mosquito seldom bites, while its Australian congener is one of the most bloodthirsty little abominations in existence. During the great heat of the day, at our antipodes, the mosquito wisely keeps himself under cover ; but once the sun has disappeared beneath the horizon, out he comes from his retirement with keenest appetite, and pounces with unerring aim upon his prey. You may shut up your tent as closely as you please, you cannot keep him out ; you may hang mosquito curtains round your bed and fancy yourself free from his attacks ; pooh ! he laughs at your vain precautions, and no sooner have you extinguished your candle and settled yourself down — as you, think — for a comfortable sleep, than " bizz ! " the awe- inspiring sound is heard in painful proximity to your ear, and presently a sharp prick, possibly on the end of your nose, announces that war has actually begun. You have nothing for it but to relight your candle, and hunt your foe to death ; unless you prefer allowing him to sate himself uninterrupted with your blood ; which done he will retire to rest, and be found next morning clinging to your curtain, a bloated little vampire, too heavy to fly, when he will fall an easy prey to your avenging fingers. There is one draw- back, however, to this course of proceeding ; the longer the mosquito sucks, the larger and more painful will be the tumour that arises round the puncture he has made ; so, as I remarked before, you must declare war, and war to the knife at once, with your tiny but implacable foe. The mosquito neither bites during the middle of the day, nor the middle of the night, but just before and after sunrise and sunset he is on the alert, and posi- tively ubiquitous. The deepest shaft at Ballarat or the closest room in Melbourne are alike familiar with his presence ; the margins of rivers and creeks, and clumps of bush, fifty or more miles distant from water, he frequents them all alike ; town and country are the same to him ; mountain or valley, wooded plain, or table-land, he has no more predilection for the one than the other ; nay, he has even been met with ten miles out at sea ! If he cannot get at you by any other means, he will be down upon you through the chimney ; and if that is stuffed up, which can scarcely be done without placing you in some danger of suffo- cation, it will go hard with him if he cannot find an entrance somewhere, for a pin-hole will afford him ample scope for ingress where there is English blood to be sucked, or French either, for that matter, for he is not hard to please. The "old hands" declare that he only bites "new chums," as they term the recent arrivals in the colonies. All I can say is that he feasted upon me as eagerly at the close as he did at the beginning of a six years' residence ; but I suppose that lapse of time did not entitle me to consider myself an old hand ; the mosquitoes at least, did not seem to think it did. Another almost insupportable pest are the flies, which are so numerous and troublesome that one could imagine the fourth plague of the old Egyptians HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. to be endemic in Australia. Be that as it may, these abominable insects, which vary in size from the tiniest little blue midge imaginable, celebrated for the jDertinacity with which it insists upon getting into the corners of your eyes, down to the enormous red, bloated meat-flies, which oblige you to keep the closest watch over your provisions, are almost as bad as, if not worse than, the mosquitoes. It is next to impossible to keep anything out of their reach ; I have seen mutton spoiled by them in less than a quarter an hour after the sheep had been killed, and even hard salt junk does not escape their assaults, for they are viviparous, and the maggots begin to feed immediately after being laid, and grow with amazing I'apidity. The intermediate kinds, or sizes, of flies are not particularly different from those we are accustomed to here at home ; they are just as inquisitive, familiar, and just as annoying as their European relatives, with whom I really think, they not infre- quently intermarry ; for in the ship that carried me to England from Melbourne, we had their delightful company all the way, though where they came from no one could make out. They were cunning too, and not to be lured by any bribe of peppered sugar to their destruction, but stuck to us to the last, though they retired from observation during the cold weather at the Horn, to re-appear some weeks before we cast anchor in the Mersey. It is a curious fact that the farther you go into the bush, the more numerous do the meat-flies become, while they are comparatively scarce in Melbourne ; but it is just the reverse with the house-flies, whose name, in the town, is legion, whilst "up the country " they are found in moderate numbers only, and in some places not at all. Australia does not possess many butterflies. A few grey, and brown, insignificant looking little beings, were the only representatives of that class of insects which I chanced to become acquainted with in the bush ; but it has many varieties of moths. Wonderful creatures are some of these, which, at rest, so exactly resemble a withered leaf, that you would never suppose them to be anything else, unless you chanced to see them move, which they are careful not to do while you are looking on. The only thing that betrays them is the i)hosphorescent glare of their eyes, which shine even in .the daytime, like little carriage lamps, and are positively, tiny meteors in the dark. Another s]:)ecies, a tremendous brown fellow, is very nearly as large as a sparrow, and comes against the window at night with a thump that is almost alarming. I recollect once meeting with the pupa of one of these giant moths, as it was working its way out of the ground, preparatory to casting off its chrysalis shell, and completing its metamorphosis. I mistook it at first sight, fur tlie cone of some species of pine, and under that impression stooped to pick it up, wondering where such a thing could have come from, in that land of gum-trees and acacias ; it was fully five inches in length, and thick in proportion. The moment it felt my hand touching it, it wriggled back into its hole, greatly to my astonishment ; how- ever, I proceeded to dig it out with my knife, and must have injured it in doing so, for it bled a great deal after I got it out, a colourless, ichory kind of blood, and never came to anything. I fell in with plenty of the creatures afterwards, and was told by a Cornish acquaintance that they were " Buskum Sneevers," or some such name, which I had never heard of before, and of which I doubt whether I caught the true pronunciation. Australia possesses several kinds of native bees ; and it is a curious fact that these laborious and useful insects — I am now speaking of the European variety — seldom succeed well in that country. They either fly away into some unknown region, or if they remain with their owners, refuse to work. The reason of this strange conduct appears to be that the climate is so fine, flowers so plentiful all the year round, and so large a quantity of "manna" is secreted by several kinds of eucalyptus trees, that they grow lazy. " Why should we tcil when we can live comfortably without fatiguing ourselves?" seems to be their mode of reasoning ; whether or not, they act as if it were, and lay up no provision for the winter that never comes. Perhaps they are led astray by the bad example of the native bees, which are thorough vagabonds, destitute of sting, leading an erratic, merry life, flitting from flower to flower, and from sweet to sweet, all the day long, taking no thought for the morrow, like the human aborigines of their native land ; though unlike them, they have a fixed dwelling-place to which they resort at night. From bees to wasps, the transition is natural and easy ; some of the latter are tremendous fellows— one, especially, a handsome blue insect, with great gauzy wings, is quite two inches in lengih, and carries a sting a quarter of an inch long, with which it is said to attack small birds. I was once the spectator of a strange combat between one of these monsters and a large tarantula, which terminated tragically for the latter. The tarantula was quietly walking down the smooth bole of a large gum-tree, probably on the look out for prey. I had had my eye on him for some time, and was meditating an attack, for I had no desire to see him about my premises, when I suddenly beheld him drop, as if he had been shot, or galvanized ; I ex- pected he would have fallen to the ground, but he did not : he had thrown out a thread, and swung on it, at about a foot below the spot where I had seen him throw himself down. At the same instant some- thing whizzed past me, and flew straight at the tarantula, which received it in a close embrace that lasted for a second or two ; then, releasing its hold, HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. Z2, the great spider permitted a blue wasp to escape ; it returned to the charge again, however, almost directly, and was again embraced by the tarantula, and again released as before. This was repeated several times, and at last the spider fell to the ground dead, slain by the more potent venom of its adversary, which seemed to have received no injury during the en- counter, in spite of the tarantula's powerful arms and formidable jaws. {To be continued.) A STRANGE VISITOR. ONE evening, only a few weeks ago, I was resting on the sofa in my drawing-room, thinking of nothing in particular, when suddenly a dim winged shadow seemed to emerge from the wall, and flit in front of my eyes. I am not super- stitious ; but I confess that I was startled. A London drawing-room in October, at nine o'clock in the evening, with lamp and fire lighted, was the last place in which one would expect to see a ghost ; and yet the winged-shape was decidedly ghostly. Had my eyes deceived me ? I thought so at first, and rubbed them vigorously. But no — there it was again, the strange winged shadow. And now I looked more attentively, and, as I watched, the dim moving shadow rose higher in the room, and began flitting round the ceiling. Its flight was wonder- fully graceful, and almost perfectly noiseless, which added to its uncanny and ghost-like character. And now I began to suspect that my visitor was only a visitor from the other world, in the sense that October was late in the year, and a London drawing- room a strange place for its appearance. I began to suspect that I had seen similar ghosts before in the other world of June lanes, and August meadows, flitting along cheerily in company with ghost-moths, and watchman-beetles. In other words, I surmised that my visitor was a bat. While I had been pondering on his nature, my ghost had continued flitting round the room, oc- casionally pausing to rest on the cornice. Birds not uncommonly enter rooms, and I was not sure at first whether my visitor might not be a belated bird. But, when I listened carefully, a peculiar faint shiver or rustle that accompanied the creature's flight showed me that it could not be a bird. A bird's wings have not this weird, crape-like sound. More- over, a bird entrapped in a room is always wild with fright, and dashes itself against the walls and windows. My little visitant was not frightened at all ; and his flight was more like a large moth's than a bird's, and the skilful way in which he avoided the furniture in the room showed that he could see well in a dim light. So he was undoubtedly a bat. The next point was how to catch him. After some thought, I rummaged out an old butterfly net, and watching my opportunity, when he was perched quietly on the cornice, and calling to my aid old butterfly-catching experience, I succeeded in en- closing the curious little ghost-creature in the net. He did not struggle much ; he took the thing very philosophically. And now I had an opportunity of examining him more closely. Yes : he was a bat. And what a marvellous animal a bat is : one of the most marvellous animals that exist, I should think. His nose and countenance were like those of a little pig (his nose was pink), or, perhaps still more, like those of a pug dog ; his wings were stretched from leg to leg, and were weird and leathern, and as I said above, rustled half metallically when he moved ; his ears* were nearly as long as his little dun mouse-like body, and were very like those of a rabbit ; he had small black eyes, and his fussy gait when walking was the funniest thing in the world. Some of these particulars, of course, I noted later on ; for, as far as my story goes, I have left him still in the butterfly net. To take up the thread of the narrative — it now became a question what was to be done with the captured ghost. After mature consideration, and, bearing in mind the accommodation which I had found most suitable for some short-tailed field-mice many years ago,i I sent for a tray and a common fire-guard, placed the fire-guard over the tray, filled up the ends with two halves of a broken ship-board, tied carefully to the wires of the fire-guard ; and there was a cage complete. And thoroughly secure it looked. The bat soon evinced his appreciation of the measures that were being taken for his comfort and safety. He hooked himself up by his curious little claws to the wires of the fire-guard and scrambled all along the top and sides, head downwards, with the most reckless indifference to possible congestion of the brain. And the most charming point about this very charming and beautiful little creature (for the vulgar ideas of the ugliness and spitefulness of the bat are the very reverse of the truth) was his complete fearlessness. This is what makes the bat such a delightful pet. For most wild creatures — birds for instance — require an elaborate process of training before they become tame or happy in cap- tivity, and some remain more or less untamed to the very last. But this bat was tame from the first. He took food from my hand immediately after I caught him, and had evidently had no personal experienae (nor any inherited experiences, which raises a number of curious and interesting scientific questions) of the ways of men with bats. Having provided lodging for him, the next question was that of his board and maintenance. It became necessary to provide supper for the bat. • He turned out to be a long-eared bat {Plecotus comtnunis), much the prettiest species. 34 HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. Raw meat, chopped up small, seemed the most suitable thing for an experiment. And this I tried. As just stated, he took it without the slightest hesitation or timidity. And after he had amply supped, first taking care to provide him with a saucer of water, and looking once more to the security of the fastenings of his prison, I left him for the night. But in the morning he was gone. Not one bolt or bar of his prison had been disturbed. Everything was left as I had left it overnight — with the exception of the meat, that is to say, for the rascal had taken care to finish his supper before he departed. And then, ghost or bat — he had vanished without paying his bill, and without leaving the slightest trace of the manner of his disappearance ! The ghost-theory began to look up again, and I felt uncomfortable. His cage had been left in the drawing-room all night, and unless he had flown up the chimney he must still — barring the ghost-theory — be somewhere in the room. The most careful and patient search, however, failed to reveal him. The bat had fled, and though not actually moved to tears, I confess that it was with some tribulation, and the faint semblance of a heart- ache, that I felt that in all probability I should never set eyes on my little pet again, or only perhaps discover him after the lapse of years (as I once discovered a newt that had escaped from my aquarium) dead, stiff, and cold, a wretched and hapless little corpse, jammed tight behind the drawing- room piano. However, though search throughout the day proved fruitless, when evening came on a sort of splash of brown mud was discernible on the white cornice of the drawing-room ceiling. This was the bat who had emerged from whatever hole or crevice he had been concealing himself in during the day, and was now waiting — doubtless expectant of another supper. The proceedings of the preceding evening were then again repeated — except that, after being again captured in the butterfly net, he was this time con- signed to a safer prison in the shape of a wire meat guard (one of those used in the summer to keep off flies) placed over the tray. There he has remained safely incarcerated till the present date. In fact, Victor Hugo's fine line with reference to the escape of Marshal Bazaine is strictly applicable to him :^ ' Et gut done inaintena7ti dit gu'il s'est evade ? " He seems perfectly happy in captivity, and eats bread and milk out of my hand. Raw meat he will not touch, nor underdone meat. He has decided tastes of his own, preferring mutton to beef, and highly relishing chicken. Contrary to expectation, he does not seem to care for flies. He darts at them, seizes them and shakes Ihem as a dog does a bone — but then abandons them, and goes back to his bread and milk. As a rule he sleeps during the day, generally waking up in a very lively and hungry condition about eight o'clock in the evening. His sleeping position is always head downwards, hanging suspended from the wire roof of his cage. Bats, I believe, generally die in this head- downward position. Altogether, I can recommend 'all persons — espe- cially those of aesthetic tastes — in search of a new pet, to capture a long-eared bat, and tame him. It is because mice are so common, and bats so un- common, as pets — and because a bat, if the fact were only more usually known, is an infinitely prettier and quainter and more interesting creature than a mouse — that I have written this little account of my "strange visitor," — in the hope of making more widely known the name by which we have elected to designate the curious little living lump of fur and claws and skia and leather — the name of " Tommy the Bat." George Barlow, ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS WITH REGARD TO THE ROCKS BENEATH, WHEN some years ago, I first commenced to make observations on this subject, in my own neighbourhood, Godalming, I was under the impression that mineral, or, perhaps, I should say chemical, composition of the rocks, would entirely influence the distribution of our flora. On the whole this seems to be the general rule ; there are however some facts which seem to prove that there are other causes which influence distribution. In this paper, I must of course entirely make use of local examples, but I wish it to be understood that I send these remarks to your columns, not so much as a record of local facts, as to give a stimulus to inquiry in other districts. First, I may mention the beech {Fagus sylvatica). This is abundant on the chalk, especially along the escarpment, whilst upon the lower green- sand it is well-nigh unknown, until you come to the sandstone beds, which are nearly, I think, devoid of calcareous matter ; these beds form the escarpment of the lower greensand, where the beech is particularly abundant,* take Hascombe Beech for example. The absence of this tree from the intervening area, is, tO' my thinking, somewhat remarkable, seeing that a good part of that area is covered by beds of a local lime- stone called bargate, forming the top of the Hythe group. This bargate stone area has not a few chalk- loving plants, take for example the spindel, the cornel, and more sparingly clematis vitalba, and Vihimum laiitana, and many other chalk or limestone plants, which I have never seen along the escarpment of the lower greensand. The whitebeam also fre- quents the escarpment of the chalk and lower green- * I believe it will be found that the same distribution of the beech, appertains on the south side of the Weald, as on the north, where all the aspects are of course reversed, but 1 shall be glad to have this corroborated. HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 35 sand, while it .avoids the intermediate bargate. I am inclined to think that these trees, the vvhitebeam and beech therefore, are more influenced by drainage than Ijy soil. The beds forming both the escarpments having a sharp dip, a perfect drainage is secured. This however is a mere surmise, as one would think that the bargate stone with all its open joints would furnish a tract equally well drained. Turning now to the juniper (Junipcrus communis), I find that this tree (excepting a few stunted specimens on the chalk) appears to be confined to the ironsands of the Folke- stone beds, and more than this I believe they only grow where these beds lie rather thinly on the bar- -gate, as at Munstead, and Shackleford. These beds, I should observe, are very frequently false bedded, the bed lines running at high angles, and are supposed by ■some geologists to be of eolian origin. When there- fore they rest on bargate beds, with its open joints, a most perfect drainage is secured. Professor Wyville Thompson mentions a species of juniper as growing on eolian beds of modern date in the Bermudas. In the Farnham area, where a large tract of the Folke- stone beds occur, very few, if any junipers are to be seen. Here, however, I believe the beds to have some ■clayey sand belonging to the Sandgate beds inter- vening between them and the bargate below, thus rendering the drainage less perfect, and the same facts I believe hold good with the Woolmer Forest district. In conclusion it seems probable that some plants are more influenced by the drainage of the soil in the ;seIection of their habitat, than by its chemical composition. I trust you may deem these suggestions worthy of insertion in Science-Gossip. H. W. KiDD. P.S. — Since penning the foregoing, it has struck me as worthy of remark, that the common elm which abounds on the calcareous bargate series, and also on the chalk without the weald, is absent alike from the escarpment of the lower greensand and the escarp- ment of the chalk. — H. W. Kidd. Dried Flowers with Colours.— I shall feel A^ery thankful for a list of such ordinary garden or greenhouse flowers as will retain their colour in a itn!\papkia, Cardamines, Cardui, Atalanta. Desiderata- Sinapis, Seinele, Rubi, Betulse, Iris, Argiol.is, C. album, Villica, Nupta, Promissa, Sponsa, Praecox, Prodro- maria, larva; of Villica, Monacha, &c. — J. Bates, 10 Orchard Terrace, Wellingborough. Duplicates: Limutra glabra, L. patustris, L. percgra, Platwrbis spirorbis (carinatus), P. complanatns, Physa kyfi- Jioriim, Limniea stagttalis, vnx.fragilis, and Plaiwrbis oorncns, fine ; locality, Strensall Common, near York. Desiderata : British marine and land and freshwater shells. — ^W. Hewett, 26 Clarence Street, York. Limncea glabra at the head of my duplicates. The other duplicates were Liiniuea stagrtnlis and Planorbis conieus, very fine,Li»i7ii^a paliistris and peregra, Planorbis, Spirorbis, P. compliDiatus and Carinatus {Physa hypnorum). Deside- rata Very numerous. — VV. Hewett, 26 Clarence Street, York. Starfishes. — Fine specimens of Solaster endeca, Luidia fragilissima, Goniasti-r eqiicstris, Ophiocoma granulata, i*tc., for other British starfishes, fishes, or Crustacea. — George Sim, 20 King Street, Aberdeen. Duplicates: Bulimus iniltocheibts, several species of F. cyclostomid