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SCIENCE-GOSSTP.

OUR COCKROACHES,

By E. J. BurGcEss Sopp, F.R.Met.Soc., F.E.S.

BLATTIDAE.

A T a coroner’s inquest held some months ago in
the South of England it transpired that the
death of the unfortunate victim had been caused

\ in
1, Periplaneta americana Linn,
Fabr.

9, £. panzert Steph., male.

through a chance encounter with a “ blackbeetle”
on the stairs, so terrifying her that she slipped and
sustained injuries which proved fatal. Although
happily rarely resulting in so tragic an end, there

FEBRUARY 1902.—No. 93, VoL. VIII.

2. P. australasiae Faby.
4, Leucophaea surinamensis Linn,
6. P. germanica Linn., female.
Linn., male.

7. Obtheca of P. germanica Linn.
10. Z. livida Fabr.

is little doubt that our common cockroach is the
unwitting cause of frequent shocks to the fairer
sex. Well known although he now is, and faithful

to a degree, this familiar household scavenger has
never become a favourite.

He never figures as all

3. Rhyparobia maderae
5, Phyllodromia germanica Linn., male.
8. Ectobia lapponica
(Drawn by E. J. B. Sopp.)

example like others of his class in the story-books
of our youth, nor has he evoked the rapture of the
poets like his more fortunate allies, the grass-
hoppers and crickets. Even naturalists have little

Published January 25th, 1902.

258 SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

to say in his favour, and one may search entomo-
logical literature in vain, from Moufet’s ‘ Insec-
torum Theatrum ” (1634) to Dr. Sharp’s monograph
in the “Cambridge Natural History” (1895), for
any substantial testimony to the credit of the cock-
roach. One author, for instance, assures us that
this ‘‘pestiferous race of beings,” i.e. cockroaches,
‘are particularly noisome to collectors,” though we
are not told in what way; whilst again we learn
that “these nasty and voracious insects fly out in
the evenings and commit monstrous depredations

. . they are very fond of ink and of oil into
which they are apt to fall and perish. In this
case they soon turn most offensively putrid, so
that a man might as well sit over the cadaverous
body of a large animal as write with the ink in
which they have died” (?). In common too with
its near ally, the earwig, the cockroach has often
been misunderstood, and occasionally maligned.
It has been seriously suggested that certain of his
ancestors constituted themselves one of the plagues
of Egypt (7), the Hebrew word “Oreb,” usually
translated ‘ fly,” being rendered ‘“ beetle” by
Geddes and others, and the species designated by
Dr. Harris, “ Nat. Hist. of Bible,” Blatta aegyptiaca
Linn., in which he has the support of Rosenmuller
and Michaelis, “ Oriental Bible,” nov. pp. 5, 28.
It must, however, be borne in mind, as pointed out
by Hope (°), that the word Blatta had not amongst
the ancients the restricted meaning which it now
enjoys, and there is no evidence to show that
‘““Oreb ” would be more correctly rendered a swarm
of cockroaches than a plague of flies.

The ancestry of our cockroaches extends so far
back in time, that they can well afford to waive
all claim to having played a questionable part in
Egyptian history, a paltry three or four thousand
years ago; a period which, although to us dim
with antiquity, is but yesterday in the lineage of
the Blattidae. It is often asserted that the
oldest remains of a cockroach are those which
were found in the Caradoc Beds of Calvados in
France during 1884 by M. Douville, and named
after him Palacoblattina dowvillei. This is scarcely
confirmed by later authorities, who maintain that
the claim of these ancient wing-remains to be
considered orthopterous at all, rests on extremely
slender grounds, and that our oldest undoubted
cockroach remains are ultra-European. The most
archaic types at present known have been found
in the Lower Carboniferous strata of the United
States of America. This question of origin, how-
ever, does not concern us here, and we may well
leave its discussion to the geologists and palae-
ontologists, whom it more closely interests. In
either case the claim of the cockroach to extreme

(1) “ Nat. Hist. of Insects,” Lond. vol. ii. 92.

(2) “ Bridgewater Treatise,” ii, 357.

(3) F. W. Hope, “ Observations in Support of Opinion that
the Blatta or Oockroach cannot be considered the same insect as
Oreb,” 8vo, Lond. 1839,

antiquity is fully established, and in consideration
of the fact it may not prove uninteresting to
glance back for a moment to the conditions prevail-
ing in those far-off days, when its early ancestors
were known to exist.

During Devonian times the amount of dry land
appearing above the waters had probably been
ereater than in preceding ages. ‘The earlier strata
of that system were principally laid down beneath
the sea, but later formations seem to have been
largely precipitated in extensive and probably
somewhat shallow inland seas or lakes. Ireland
was joined to England, and it is not unlikely that
one of the land-locked basins of Scotland ex-
tended across to the Irish region. The period was
one of considerable volcanic activity. Evidence
of both sub-aqueous and sub-aérial eruptions is
furnished in Britain, the former by the inter-
veninge beds of lava in Devon, Cornwall, etc., the
latter by the Cheviots and Sidlaw Hills (’).
Shortly after the commencement of the Car-
boniferous period a general submergence of the
land occurred in this part of the globe, until
Britain was represented in prehistoric seas by an
archipelago, of which perhaps the largest islets con-
sisted of the higher land of Ireland, Scotland, a por-
tion of North Wales, the Midlands, and the Silurian
district of Cumberland. That long and continuous
submergence occurred, is evinced in many localities
by the thickness of the limestone deposits of the
earlier period, whilst the numerous bands of coal
and the alternation of land and marine fossils
point to subsequent frequent and often somewhat
rapid secular oscillations of the surface. During
these later periods of elevation vast forests
flourished on the boggy mud flats along the courses
of, and about the mouths of rivers, on the low
spongy margins of primeval lagoons or estuarine
waters, which were likened by the late Dr. Brown
to the mangrove swamps of the West - African
rivers and Indian coast, or the cypress swamps of
the Lower Mississippi at the present day. Amongst
the debris of this rank vegetation and in the
tangled jungles that clothed the higher slopes, it
is probable early ancestors of our cockroaches
flourished, in a climate rather more tropical in
character than that of the Northern Island of New
Zealand now (Hooker), in an atmosphere slightly
more charged with carbonic acid than is ours,
which would conduce to a uniformity of tempera-
ture over wide areas at present differing consider-
ably in climate. I am aware this latter premise
has been rupudiated by many authorities; Dubois,
for instance, goes so far as to say ‘“ the supposition
of a formerly greater amount of carbonic acid in
the atmosphere can no longer be seriously dis-
cussed” (*), but the enormous heat-retaining and
protecting power of carbonic acid was not until
recently known, all the earlier theories propounded

(4) Robert Brown, “ Our Earth,” vol. ii. ch. 5.
(5) “ The Climates of the Geological Past,’ Eug. Dubois.

’
ee

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

requiring so great an increase of this irrespirable
gas to explain the warm and uniform climate of
earlier geological epochs, as to have rendered the
atmosphere fatal to all animal life. Basing his
calculations on the result of researches by
Fourier, Tyndall, Pouillet, Langley, Paschen, Knut
Angstrom, and other workers, the eminent
Swedish meteorologist, Svante Arrhenius (°), has
been able to present the matter to us in quite a
different light. The later invaluable contribution
‘to the subject by Dr. Nils Ekholm (‘), has still
further served to acquaint us with the very slight
variation necessary in the apparently insignificant
amount of carbonic acid now present in the
atmosphere, to change our present climate to that
of the Great Ice Age, or to give to the arctic
regions the genial warmth of the temperate
zone.

Although fossils had attracted attention from
very early times they were formerly regarded more
as “freaks of nature” than as links with the past,
and it was left for the celebrated French natu-
ralists, Buffon and Cuvier, to first direct serious
attention to them, the study of insect palaeontology
being shortly afterwards taken up by Marcel de
Serrés. The first publication dealing with purely
British fossil insects was Brodie’s (*) monograph,
whilst for our knowledge of the ancestral develop-
ment and evolution of the cockroach in particular,
we are more especially indebted to the indefati-
gable labours of the eminent American phytogenist,
Samuel H. Scudder (°). Almost the whole of our
knowledge of these earlier types has been derived
from the wings, the membranes and veins of which
are sometimes preserved with astonishing per-
fection. From these we learn that although
through the long eons of time that have elapsed
the general form and appearance of the Blattidae
have altered little, existing species differ from
their earliest ancestors in detail. For whereas in
modern cockroaches the anterior pair of wings has
become modified into tough protecting covers or
tegmina, in archaic forms all four of these thoracic
appendages were alike in structure and equally
transparent.
these antique species were the same in all the
wing's, whereas in existing members of the group,
two or more have blended in the anterior pair and
thus stiffened them for shielding purposes. Having
thus briefly contrasted our earliest and latest

(6) ‘On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air upon the
Temperature of the Ground.”

(7) On the Variations of Climate of the Geological and
Historical Past and their Causes, “ Quart. Jour. R. Met. Soc.”
1901. (for recent publications bearing on earlier climate gene-
rally see also Harmer, On the Influence of Winds upon Climate
during the Pleistocene Epoch, “ Jour. Geol. Soc.,” 1901; Phip-
son, “ Researches on History of Harth’s Atmosphere,” 1901.)

(8) “ History of the Fossil Insects in the Secondary Rocks of
England,” P. B. Brodie, Lond. 1845.

(9) ‘* Palaeozoic Cockroaches,” Boston, 1879; “ Review of
Mesozoic Cockroaches,” Boston, 1886 ; “* The Cockroach of the
Past,” London, 1886.

The number of main veins, too, in

259)

insects, it will prove of interest to refer in passing
to the intermediate or Mesozoic types, which we
may, perhaps, as a whole be allowed to claim as
“connecting links,” for although some few show
little alteration from the archaic form, in a by no
means inconsiderable portion, the venation of the
tegmina exhibits a distinct advance approximating
to that of our modern cockroaches.

Nearly seventy species have been found in Eng-
land, principally from the Purbecks of Wilts and
Dorset, andthe Upper and Lower Lias of Gloucester-
shire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire (7°). ‘The
Coal-measures of Commentry in France have yielded
over six hundred specimens of cockroaches, whilst
many more have been recorded from the rich
fossiliferous Carboniferous Rocks of Switzerland
by Heet, who states that during this geological
period they were unquestionably the most widely
distributed and abundant of all our insects.
This opinion is fully endorsed by Scudder, who
says ‘they [cockroaches] so far outnumber all
other types of insects that this period, so far as its
hexapodal fauna is concerned, may fairly be called
the ‘age of cockroaches’” (1). It has been noted
that the average size of specimens from the British
Odlites is less than those from the Lias, which in
turn are slightly smaller than those from the
underlying Triassic beds. That is to say, so far
as our British fossils are concerned, the farther we
go back in time the larger do our cockroaches ap-
pear to have been. In a paper on fossil insects
generally,read before the Warwickshire Naturalists’
and Archaeologists’ Field Club at Warwick in 1889,
the president, the Rey. P. B. Brodie, said: ‘‘ There is
a great difference between the Purbeck insects in
the two chief localities in Wilts and Dorset, where
they occur most frequently. In the limestone in
the former, which contains the Middle Purbecks,
they are much better preserved, with the wings
and other parts of the body attached, though the
wines are rarely expanded. In the latter county
they are generally in masses, often covering the
slabs of stone, much broken up, wings and elytra
of beetles with other parts of insects lying thick
together, but entire insects are extremely rare.
The mode of deposit in these two cases must have
varied considerably” (}*), In treating of the fossil
insects of Bavaria, Dr. Hagan has called attention
to the perfect state of preservation of the majority
of specimens from that part of Germany, from
which he infers both a proximity to land and slow
precipitation of sediment at the time they were
embedded. Whether any such factor could have
contributed to mark the difference between our

(10) P. B. Brodie, “On the Prominence and Importance of
the Blattidae in the Old World” (1889); see also H. Woodward,
“Some new British Carboniferous Cockroaches ” (1887) and
“ On a Remarkable Fossil Orthopterous Insect from Scotland.”

(11) “ The Cockroach of the Past.”

(12) P. B. Brodie, ‘“* On the Character, Variety, and Distri-
bution of Fossil Insects in the Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, and Caino-
zoic Periods.”

K 2

260 SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Wiltshire and Dorsetshire remains, it is not my
intention to discuss in the present article.
Although these beds are mainly of fresh water, or
at the most of brackish origin, possibly pointing to
nearness of land, it must not be overlooked that
there is a break pointing to a change of conditions
at one period of their formation. Of Cainozoic
types there is a paucity ; but these, few as they are,
are of interest in still further exhibiting a con-
tinuity of development on the lines of our existing
cockroaches, more especially in the thickening of
the forewings or tegmina, which now approach to
an almost exact likeness of those borne by present
members of the family.

Our British cockroaches lack the beautiful
colouring often displayed by others in different
quarters of the globe. In Corydia petitveriana, for
instance, which I lately received from Madras, the
under-wings and sides of the abdomen are bright
orange, the deep black elytra being boldly deco-
rated with seven large cream-coloured spots.
Panesthia javanica, from Sumatra, has its upper
surface pleasingly relieved by two yellow triangular
patches. Neither can we boast of so many species
as would probably be the case were our climate
less fickle and our winters less severe, for the
Blattidae are lovers of warmth and are only
numerous in tropical regions. Although a few are
indigenous to our islands, it is with an introduced
species, Blatta (Stilopyga) orientalis (figs. 11, 12,

15, and 16), we are mostly familar. This is the
ubiquitous “blackbeetle” of our kitchens and
cupboards, which insect, although now generally
known by the latter name, it is scarcely necessary
to remark, is neither black nor a beetle at all. The
colour of this household pest is of a warm dark
ruddy brown, save where its chitinous covering is
thinnest, when it partakes of a brighter amber hue,
whilst it belongs to the Orthoptera and not to the
Coleoptera, the former family once forming the
order Dictyoptera of Leach. Our word ‘“cock-
roach” is derived from the Spanish cucardcha,
which signifies both cockroach and wood-louse ('%),
the former portion of the word being in turn
traceable to the Latin coccum, a berry, the diminu-
tive termination -dcha denoting mean or con-
temptible (Jas. M. Miall), so that the whole term
is capable of a somewhat free rendering as a “ con-
temptible little berry.” ‘The habit of the wood-lice
of rolling themselves into balls is well known, and
the term may have been first applied in the case of
the cockroaches in connection with the odthecae
or egg-purses (figs. 7 and 14), which in many species,
as in our common “blackbeetle” for instance,
certainly bear a superficial resemblance to seeds
or berries, more especially after exposure to the
air has imparted to them their dark brown hue.

(13) “ Standard Dict. of English Language,’ 1900, vol. i.
p. 362.

(To be continued.)

STUDY OF A LOWER ORGANISM.

By HAROLD A. HAIG.

1 frequently happens that whilst seeking for

some object under the microscope the searcher
comes across various animalcula whose sizes rarge
from the minute dot that is seen darting about in
all directions, apparently without any fixed pur-
pose, to those of more considerable dimensions that
move less rapidly and appear, from their constant
presence near filaments of algae, to be looking for
food.

Now, many of these organisms are to be found
in preparations of pond-water where Spirogyra or
Vaucheria abound; one of them, Paramoecium, is
particularly interesting, both on account of the
ease with which observations may be made upon
it, and also the fact that it is unicellular, bringing
us down to some of the fundamental problems of
cell-life. With a microscope giving a magnifica-
tion of some 600-700 diameters we may make out
all that we require. It is best to study the living
organism; but we may also “fix” it, if necessary,
by slightly warming the slide over a gas-flame.
The latter method is often employed where
structural details are under observation.

If we focus the body of this animalcule (*) into
different planes we may determine that it is made
up of (i.) a firm outer layer that has been called
the ‘‘ ectosarc””; and from the motions of certain
particles inside this outer layer we argue the exist-
ence of (ii.) a more fluid inner portion or ‘“ endo-
sare.” Both of these are protoplasmic in nature,
and the whole organism is thus comparable in
eross structure with an amoeba in which we see
the same two subdivisions into “ectosarc” and
* endosarc.”

The greater part of the surface of the body is
covered with a number of whip-like processes, or
cilia, which are in continual movement. It is by
means of these that the organism is propelled
along in the medium in which it lives. We shall
return later to the peculiar motion that each cilium
presents if closely watched. If we view the lateral
or broader surface of the body, we shall notice

(1) It may be here mentioned that in form Paramoecitum is.
oval and bilaterally compressed, so that if viewed edgewise it
is spindle-shaped. (See fig. 1.) The surface of the body pre-
sents longitudinal striations.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

along one of the borders a curious vesicle, quite
clear in appearance. This is probably only a
space in the endosarc, but, if watched, it will be
seen to vanish suddenly at intervals of about half
a minute; then to slowly reappear and grow to its
full size. This vesicle is termed the ‘ contractile
vacuole.” It is important in being functional as
an excretory organ; and if we watch carefully we
shall see close to the vesicle, near the border of the
body, one or more narrow slits through which the
fluid contents of the vesicle are suddenly expelled.
The waste products that are constantly being formed
by the oxidation of the protoplasm are being con-
tinually poured into the vesicle, which grows
during the process, and when full is forcibly con-
tracted. Moreover, at a certain spot at the side, the
ectosarc dips down into a sort of cavity, one side
of which is fringed with a number of processes
or cilia, comparable to those on the general

a

Fic. 1, PARAMOECIUM IN OPTICAL SECTION,

a, Anteriorend. jp. Posterior end. m. Mouth. 7. Desmids
undergoing digestion, one having just been taken in at mouth:
k. The contractile vacuole. 2, Radial slits for passage outwards
of excretory products. h. Food-particles. c. Cilia.

surface of the body. This cavity forms the mouth,
or stomodaeum, of the organism. On viewing the
lateral surface we can discern that from this mouth
there proceeds a funnel-shaped depression that leads
into the endosarc. It is this depression that
forms the so-called pharynx, through which
particles of food or small organisms are introduced
into the interior. (See fig. 1.)

The possession of a fringe of cilia along the
margins of the pharynx enables Paramoecium to
feed—i.e. capture small objects such as Desmids
or Diatoms. The manner in which this is brought
about is of especial interest. ‘The cilia of the
fringe produce by their rapid to-and-fro move-
ments currents that sweep small particles and
large, lying near, right into the pharyngeal tube,
thence on into the endosare. At the same time
the power is possessed of being able to reject such
matters as are not suitable for food, and these are
swept past the mouth with great rapidity. Once
in the pharynx the particle is forced down into the
internal protoplasm, where a process of digestion
goes on, aided, in all probability, by a certain
ferment manufactured by the protoplasm. The
hard external layers (cellulose) of such objects as

261

Desmids are here partly dissolved, or partly thrown
out again, through the stomatal orifice. In the
accompanying figure two algal cells (probably

Fic, 2. A SINGLE PARAMOECIUM FIXED BY HEAT AND STAINED
WITH EOSIN AND METHYLENE-BLUE TO DIFFERENTIATE
THE NUCLEI FROM THE CELL-BODY.

n. Macronucleus, 7’. Micronucleus. mm. Mouth.
Desmideae) have just been taken in, and one is in
the act of entering the pharynx.

The contractile vacuole (7) will on closer observa-
tion be seen to present certain stages during
growth to its full size, the first of these being one
in which,the vacuole possesses an elongated form,
then more spherical, until finally it becomes quite .
circular in outline and suddenly bursts, the contents
being forced out through the slit that we have
already noticed. These contents are always quite
clear and fluid. From this it may be argued that
the nitrogenous, and perhaps some of the car-
bonaceous waste leaves the organism in solution
as ammonia and carbon dioxide, or at least in some
highly oxidised form.

Paramoecium is one of those protozoans in which
occurs the method of reproduction known as
‘““rejuvenescence.” Up to this point we have
made no mention of the “nuclei” that are

Fic. 3. DIAGRAMS ILLUSTRATING THE ACTION AND STRUCTURE
or A CILIUM.

(1) 6. Base of cilium; w. Thin-walled side. (2) Cilium haltf-
bent by influx of endoplasm, indicated by arrow. (3) Cilium
nearly wholly bent. The dotted line indicates the extent to

which it will spring back.

present in this organism, of which there are two—
a “macronucleus” and a “micronucleus.” It is
the latter of these that is potential in reproduction ;
the former during rejuvenescence merely dis-
integrates and is absorbed, being probably of some
nutritive value.

In rejuvenescence two individuals, of identical

(2) There may be more than one vacuole present, but there is,
usually one large one.

262

form and dimensions, for there is no absolute
sexual difference, join by means of their stomata,
and the micronuclei divide several times, the
result being the presence of four nuclei at both
ends of each organism. An interchange of certain
of these then takes place, and fusion of them
results in the so-called rejuvenescence. The
advantage of this process is, that the species is
practically immortal, as is the case in many of
these lower organisms. (See fig.2.) Paramoecium
may also reproduce by fission, or dividing into two,
and so on; but the former method is the more
frequent.

We will now study more in detail the “cilia”
and their movements. Each cilium is seen by
careful focussing to consist of two parts—(1) a
basal part, and (2) an apical whip-like prolonga-
tion. The greatest range of movement takes place
in this latter portion. There occurs a_ sudden
bending in one direction, and then one just as
rapid in the opposite direction, so that the cilium
is brought back to its initial position. The ex-
planation of this movement is based upon certain
assumptions. First of all, that side of the cilium
towards which the first movement takes place is
held to be thinner than the opposite side, and gets
gradually attenuated towards the apex. Let us
now suppose that some fluid is forced suddenly into
this cilium, which is necessarily hollow. It will
bend towards that side where there is least resist-
ance—i.é. towards the thinner side. If we now
replace our fluid by the endosare of Paramoecium
we have practically the same result. Moreover, if
the fluid be suddenly withdrawn we have the
cilium rapidly straightened, and perhaps springing
back in the opposite direction. (See fig. 3.)

We have seen that Paramoccium feeds, but we
have also a process of respiration going on, or
rather an internal respiration, oxygen entering
in solution through the ectosare or through the
mouth, being used up in oxidising the substance
of both ectosarc and endosarc. The result of this
is the breaking down of the protoplasm into bodies
such as ammonia and carbon dioxide, as final pro-
ducts of katabolism, these béing got rid of by the
agency of the contractile vacuole.

We have, therefore, in this organism a striking
exponent, on a small scale, of some of the funda-
mental life-factors, namely, absorption, respira-
tion, excretion, and, last of all, but not least,
reproduction. In other words, it presents us with
an illustration of what must, to a certain extent, go
on in every living cell, whether solitary or forming
a portion of some living tissue. Moreover, this
organism possesses a certain power of selection, a
fact which is of especial importance to the bio-
logist, as it explains many difficulties that have
arisen with respect to nutrition ; but this selection
is of a more or less instinctive variety, as is
evidenced by the fact that unsuitable materials are
rejected, suitable ones taken in, and this choice

SCIENCE-GOSSTIP.

exhibited in a very marked manner. We see in
the vegetable kingdom a power of selection pos-
sessed by the root-hairs of plants, but this,
although perhaps of the same ultimate origin, is
only evidenced in a passive manner. In fact we
find in such organisms as Amoeba and Paramoe-
cium, indeed most Protozoa, the first signs of that
rather vague term “instinct,” which we use so
frequently in speaking of animals on a higher scale
of evolution.

The differentiation of the body of Paramoecium
into ectosare and endosarc opens up another ques-
tion of great biological interest, for here we get
the first indication of that great division into two
main layers, ‘“‘epiblast” and ‘“ hypoblast,”’ that we
find in higher animals. The former of these layers
is that which gives rise to the protective and
nervous systems, the latter remaining for the most
part absorptive in function. In the earlier stages
of development of all animals, and in some
Hydrozoa (//ydra) for the whole of their exist-
ence, these layers are to be distinguished, but in
these cases are more differentiated than mere
ectosarc and endosarc, for we have the layers
comprised of a large number of cells, and there is
on this account a greater division of labour.
Nevertheless, the two cases are comparable in
their gross relations. The ectosarc is certainly
protective, and the cilia may act on occasion as
tactile organs, the endosarc being chiefly concerned
in nutrition.

We thus see that Paramoecium repeats on a
small scale most of those functions which in more
highly organised animals are divided between
various aggregates of cells, going to form organs.
It is only in this sense that we can speak of these
other animals as being on a higher scale of evolu-
tion, in that they are enabled by means of these
cell-aggregates to effect a division of labour.
Further, it is this absence of division of labour
which in the case of Paramoeciwm entitles us to
speak of it as a lower organism, for in ultimate
analysis of function it is as perfect as any other.

University College, London, W.C.

ETHNOLOGY OF THE: MASAI.—Mr. Sidney Hinde,
the well-known Resident of the British East
African Protectorate, has just written a fascinating
work on ‘*The Last of the Masai.” When at the
height of their prestige, the Masai neither made
slaves nor took prisoners on their raiding expedi-
tions, nor did they marry or allow their women to
marry outside the sept. As they were in no sense
traders, they remained an isolated race. One
result of this was the survival of customs and
superstitions which elsewhere were surrendered
under the pressure of civilisation. Their rulers
are credited with the power of second sight, which
the people say they can evoke at will. They are
believed to transmit the gift to their heirs through
the agency of a cunningly kept secret. Mr. Hinde
refutes the prevailing view that the Masai are of
the same stock as the Zulus.—(Rev.) J. WM. Cobbett.
Albany Street, London, N.W.

Oa

SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 26

G2

SUSSEX PLANTS.

By THOMAS HILTON.

NOTES ON
N August 1899 I sent to SCIENCE-GOSSIP

(vol. v., N.S., p. 260) some notes on the flower-
ing plants of the county of Sussex. Since then
most of the following have come under my notice.

The year 1901 was in some respects unfavourable
to collectors of specimens. The warm weather
began very late in the season, and the summer was
very dry. Many plants, orchids especially, were
consequently not plentiful. This condition of
things was compensated by a good autumn growth.

Adonis autumnalis Linn.—This plant has been
known on cultivated land at Telscombe for many
years.

Ranunculus hiltoni H. and J. Groves.—Occurred
with FR. lenormandi and R. peltatus on Copthorne
Common, Hast Sussex.

Fumaria pallidifiora Jord., F. confusa, and F.
muralis Sonder.—All these species were found near
Uckfield on cultivated land.

Sisymbrium columnaec Jacq.—Found at Brighton.

Diplotavis tenuifolia DC.—Found near New-
haven, East Sussex.

Lepidium virginatum,—At Fishersgate, East
Sussex.
Lepidium perfoliatum.—At Aldrington Quay,

East Sussex.

Viola hirta f. lactifora Reich.—At Chancton-
bury Ring, West Sussex, at an altitude of 780 feet.
Thad not found the white form before, and this
year it was not produced, |probably through the
lateness of spring.

Viola sylvestris f. leucantha G. Beck.—Found at
Newtimber.

Viola lactea Si1.—Chailey Common, East Sussex.

Polygala oxyptera Reichb.—Downs above Beven-
dean, Hast Sussex.

Polygala dunense Dum.—Found on Downs near
Jevington, Hast Sussex.

Silene nutans var. paradora Sm.—I have found
this variety in three places on the open Downs
within a few miles of Brighton, where it is cer-
tainly native. In Babington’s “Manual” a plant
that is found at Dover is described under the above
name. I can find no difference between them, but
Mr. Marshall names this Silene italica Pers.

Silene gallica.—On cultivated land at Wooden-
dean, Hast Sussex.

Stellaria media var. boracana Jord.—On the
foreshore at Aldrington, Hast Sussex.

Montia fontana var. erecta Pers.—Chailey Com-
mon, East Sussex, in May.

Hlatine hexandra DC.—I found this on the
margin of a pond at Piltdown, Hast Sussex.

Trigonella caerulea.—Occurs at Fishersgate, Hast
Sussex.

Spiraca denudata Boenn.—By Horsted Keynes
Railway Station, East Sussex.

Rubus plicatus var. bertramit.—On Wiggenholt
Common in West Sussex.

Rubus anglosavonicus Gelert.—Occurred at
Wiston, in West Sussex, during 1900.

Drosera intermedia Hayne.—Also occurred in
Ashdown Forest, East Sussex.

Myriophylium verticillatum Linn.—Occurs in
ditches at Old Shoreham, West Sussex.

Callitriche hamulata var. pedunculata DC., with
many of the flowers long peduncled.—Mr. C. E.
Salmon appears to agree with this naming; but as
in the “Student’s Flora” it is described as having
all the leaves linear, and in this all the leaves are
obovate, I am not quite satisfied with my
identification. :

Caucalis latifolia Linn. and C. daucoides Linn.—
Both these plants grew by the Custom House,
Kingston, West Sussex, in June 1900 and 1901.

Lonicera caprifolium Uinn.—At Clayton Holt,
East Sussex.

Galium anglicum Huds.—In two places between
Seaford and Berwick in East Sussex. I think this
is a new record for Sussex, though it was first
found by the Rev. E. Ellman at Plumpton in this
county.

Valeriana mikanii Syme.—Found in June at
Newtimber Holt, Hast Sussex.

Xanthium strumarium WLinn.—Grows near the
Custom House, Kingston, West Sussex.

Xanthium spinosum.—This Australian plant grew
freely and ripened. its fruit in August 1900 on a
sandy patch by the Custom House at Kingston,
West Sussex, but has not reappeared in 1901.

Orepis foctida Linn.—Field near Seaford in 1900,
and in three places near Brighton in 1901.

Crepis setosa Hall.—In a field of saintfoin near
Brighton.

Lactuca virosa Linn.—Found at Amberley Castle
in West Sussex.

Anagallis caerulea Schret.—Grows by the Custom
House, Kingston, West Sussex.

Solanum rostratwm.—Several plants on Perching
Sands Farm, Fulking, West Sussex. It is a
Mexican plant.

Linaria vulgaris Mill.—The peloria form was
found on Warren Farm, at Rottingdean, Hast
Sussex. ‘

Euphrasia kerneri.—Found in Stanmer Park,
East Sussex.

Galeopsi tetrahit var. nigrescens.—At Houghton,
West Sussex, in August.

Lamium hybridum Vill.—Tongdean and Ditch-
ling in East Sussex.

264

Amaranthus albus.—Found on cultivated land at
Woodendean, East Sussex.

Chenopodium vulvaria Linn.—Near Shoreham
in West Sussex.

Chenopodium opulifolium Schrad.—By Shoreham
Harbour, West Sussex.

Atriplex rosea.—F¥ide Mr. J. Groves.

A group of vigorous plants occurred in 1900 and
1901 at Shoreham.

Salicornia appressa Dum.— Found in August
near Shoreham, West Sussex, and at Cuckmere
Haven in East Sussex.

Polygonum minus Huds.—Found in August at
Amberley, Wildbrooks, West Sussex.

Riumex palustris.—Near Lewes, and at Charles-
ton Pond, near Cuckmere Haven, East Sussex.

Salia pentandra Linn.—Found in osier-beds at
Edburton, West Sussex.

Epipactis latifolia All.—Woolstonbury Hill, Pie-
combe, East Sussex.

Potamogeton alpinus Balb.—In a stream at Bar-
combe Mills, East Sussex. P. obtusifolius Mert. and
Kock.—In ditches at Barcombe Mills, East Sussex.

Potamogeton trichoides Cham.—Reported before ;
has now been identified by Mr. A. Bennett as the
variety trimmeri Casp.

Ruppia rostellata Koch.—Occurs in July in a
ditch near Lewes, East Sussex.

Eleocharis acicularis R. Br.—At a pond on
Slaugham Common, and abundant at Slaugham
Pond, West Sussex.

Scirpus setaceus Linn.—Ashdown Forest, East
Sussex.

Eriophorum vaginatum Linn.—At Amberley
Wildbrooks, West Sussex, in June.

Rhynchospora alba Vahl.—Found in Ashdown
Forest, East Sussex.

Carex hirta Linn.—A form, almost glabrous,
is plentiful on the Downs, near Baldsdean, East
Sussex, where there is no water except sheep ponds
for miles around.

Alopecurus fulvus Sm.—In a swamp in Ashdown
Forest, East Sussex.

Poa bulbosa Linn.—On the race-hill at Brighton.
This grass grows chiefly in the sand on the coast.
I am not aware that it has been found elsewhere
on the Downs.

. Festuca elatior Linn., x Lolium perenne Linn.—
Occurs in swamp by the “ Pad” at Lancing, West
Sussex.

Equisctum maximum Lam.—Occurs at Poynings
in East Sussex.

Pilularia globulifera Linn.—Found at the pond
on Slaugham Common, West Sussex.

Tolypella prolifera Leonh.—Occurred at Amber-
ley in West Sussex in ditches in 1900-1901. Mr.
J, Groves writes of this plant: “It is a very in-
teresting find, not having been collected in Sussex
since Borrer originally described it.”

Nitella flewilis Agardh.—Found in July at a
pond on Chailey Common, East Sussex.

SCIE NCE-GOSSIF.

The following are alien genera :—

Eriysimum repandum.—Occurs at Fishersgate.
East Sussex.

Ambrosia artemisaefolia.—At Fishersgate in East
Sussex.

Hruca sativa.—At Fishersgate, East Sussex.

I am not able to compare the number of flowering
plants found in other counties with those of Sussex,
but the Brighton and Hove Natural History Society
have in their herbarium over 1,100 species and
varieties, all collected in the last ten years.

16 Kensington Place, Brighton,

January st, 1902.

AN INTRODUCTION TO. BREDISEH
SPIDERS.
By FRANK PERCY SMITH.
(Continued from page 236.)
GENUS ZR0 KOCH.

Legs I. and II. are furnished with a row of long
strong spines upon the undersides of the tibiae,
metatarsi, and tarsi, The abdomen is almost
spherical, ornamented with two or more protuber-
ances upon its upper surface.

Ero fureata Vill. (Z7vo thoracica in ‘‘ Spiders
of Dorset” ; Theridzon variegatum Bl.)

Length. Male 2.7 mm., female larger.

In this species the abdomen is furnished with two
small prominences near the centre of its upper side.
It is not uncommon.

Ero tuberculata De Geer.

Length. Male 3.2 mm., female larger.

Abdomen furnished with four distinct protuber-
ances. An extremely rare spider.

FAMILY ARG/OPIDAE. ©

The representatives of this family may as a rule
be distinguished from the Theridiidae by the clypeus
being narrower than the ocular area. The eyes are
usually arranged in three well-separated groups of
2,4, 2. Most of the included species are of moderate
or large size, and the majority fabricate orbicular
snares.

GENUS PACHYGNATHA SUND.

Falces greatly developed and divergent. Maxillae
very long. Legs without spines. Female without
epigynum, the genital aperture being a simple trans-
verse opening some distance behind the spiracular
plates. The spiders of this genus are found in low
herbage, flood refuse, etc. They spin a snare of a
most rudimentary type, consisting simply of a few
threads placed apparently at random.

Pachygnatha degeerii Sund.
Length. Male 3 mm., female 3 mm.

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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 265

Cephalo-thorax blackish-brown. A very common

species.
Pachygnatha clerekii Sund.
Length. Male 6 mm., female 6.5 mm.

Cephalo-thorax warm yellowish-brown, with central

and two lateral blackish markings. Not rare.

Pachygnatha listeri Sund.
Length. Male 3.5 mm., female 3.7 mm.
Cephalo-thorax bright reddish-brown, with a dis-

tinct central black band. Somewhat uncommon.

GENUS TETRAGNATAA LATR.

Falces enormcusly developed. Maxillae extremely

long and very wide at their extremities. Legs long,
slender, and furnished with numerous spines. Lateral
eyes considerably closer than the fore-centrals to the
hind-centrals, but not in contact.

orbicular snares.

These spiders spin

Tetragnatha solandrii Scop.
Length. Male 7 mm., female 9 mm.
This common species is figured.

Tetragnatha extensa Linn.
Length.
Closely resembles 7. solandrz/ in size and mark-
ings. The female, however, lacks the toothlike
protuberance upon the fang near its base, and the
extremity of the palpal organs of the male is not

Male 7 mm., female 9 mm.

suddenly bent backwards, but is somewhat sinuous

and points slightly upwards. A common species.

Tetragnatha pinicola L. Koch.

Length. Male 5 mm.

In this species the prominent denticulation upon
the external surface of the male falx is not bifid.
The denticulations of the fang groove of the female
are very regular in size and arrangement, and the
fang is of a somewhat swollen form near its centre.
A rare species.

Tetragnatha obtusa Koch.
Length. Male 6 mm.
Easily distinguished by reason of the short, thick

humped abdomen. A very rare spider.

Tetragnatha nigrita Lendl.

Length. Male 6.5 mm.

The whole spider is of a rather blackish sombre
hue. The male may be at once recognised by the great
length of the radial joint, which exceeds that of the
digital joint and the palpal organs. A rare spider,

GENUS ZUGNATHA SAV.

This genus is closely allied to Zetragnatha, but
the lateral eyes are far more widely separated.

Kugnatha striata L. Koch.
This rare spider is our sole member of the genus.

GENUS META KOCH.

Eyes in three well-separated groups of 2, 4, 2.

Legs long and armed with spines. Female genital
aperture with a distinct but not highly developed
epigynum. Maxillae considerably longer than broad.

Meta segmentata Cik.
E. mengii Bl.)
Length.

(Zpetra tnclinata +

Male 6 mm., female 7.5 mm.

The anterior metatarsi of the male are only pro-
vided with spines near the base. The digital joint
of the palpus is very complex, with three prominent
apophyses, of which the superior one is sharply
pointed. The posterior central eyes of the female
are rather more separated than the anterior centrals.

Tetraguatha

solandrit. a.

Female; 4. Falx of Female ;
c. Palpus of Male; d¢. Extremity of same more highly
magnified.

An extremely common spider spinning an obliquely
placed web in bushes and hedgerows.

Meta merianae Scop. (Zea anlriada +
£. celata Bl.)

Length. Male 8 mm., female 10 mm.

Closely allied to AZ. segmentata. The anterior
metatarsi of males, however, are furnished with median
spines, posterior central and anterior central eyes of

the female are equally separated. Rather common.

Meta menardii Latr. (Zfezra fusca Bl.)

Length. Male 10 mm., female 13 mm.

This spider may be easily distinguished from the
preceding by its large size. The superior digital
apophysis of the male, also, is thick and blunt, and
the sternum of the female is furnished with a promi-
nence near its centre. This spider frequents caves
and other dark situations, but is not common.

IK ®

206 SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

GENUS WAST7/CUS THOR.

Maxillae straight. Legs very long and slender,
without spines, but thickly clothed with hair.

WNesticus cellulanus Clk. (Lenyvphia crypti-
colens Bl.)

Length. Male 3.5 mm., female 4 mm.

This spider, which is our only representative of
the genus, is almost invariably found in dark cellars,
caves, or sewers. It is said to be rather uncommon,
but could probably be found in abundance if
systematic search were made. :

GENUS 7THERIDIOSOMA CB.

Eyes closely grouped. Posterior row rather
strongly curved. Anterior centrals placed upon a
distinct prominence. Legs short, somewhat stout,
clothed with coarse hairs and a few slender spines.
Maxillae broad at their extremities.

Theridiosoma argenteolum Cb.

Length. Female 2 mm.

The abdomen of this beautiful spider is of a silvery
hue, tinged upon its upper side with gold. It is
extremely rare.

GENUS CYCZLOSA MENGE.

Cephalo-thorax with a transverse impression near
its central part. Abdomen produced posteriorly in
one or more protuberances.

Cyclosa conica Pall. (Zfezra conica Bl.)

Length. Male 5 mm., female 6 mm.

This spider may be easily distinguished from all
other indigenous species by the posterior conical pro-

longation of the abdomen. It spins an orbicular’
snare, and is not very common.

GENUS CERCIDIA THOR.

Maxillae broad as long. Posterior row of eyes
almost straight. Fourth leg longest.

Cercidia prominens Westr. (fezra bella Bl.)

Length. Male 4 mm., female 4.5 mm.

This rare spider is the sole British representative
of the genus.

GENUS SZNGA KOCH.

First leg longest. Labium wider than the length
Anterior eyes almost equidistant.

Singa sanguinea Koch. (LZfera hei? Bl,
description only. )

Length. Male 4 mm., female 4.5 mm.

Cephalo-thorax warm yellowish- brown. Legs
yellow, marked with black. Genual joints of the
first pair have, in the male, each a strong tapering
spine. Rare.

Singa albovittata Westr. (Z#e77a calva Bl.)

Length. Male 3 mm., female 3.5 mm.

Cephalo-thorax yellowish-brown, palest in front.
A white patch is situated behind the eyes. Rare.

Singa hamata Clk. (£fezra tubulosa Bl.)

Length. Male 4 mm., female 5 mm.

Cephalo-thorax dark blackish- brown. Legs
yellowish-brown, indistinctly annulated. The pos-
terior central eyes of the male are very close together.
Rare.

Singa pygmaea Sund. (“fe7ra anthracina +
£. heri?, plate only, Bl.)

Length. Male 2.5 mm., female 3 mm.

Cephalo-thorax dark brown. Legs bright reddish
yellow. Abdomen brownish black with three distinct
longitudinal yellowish stripes.

This species is not uncommon.

Singa herii Hahn.
An extremely rare species described in ‘* Proc.
Dorset Field Club,” vol. xiv.

(Zo be continued. )

BUTTERFLIES OF THE PALAE-
ARCTIC REGION.

By Henry CHARLES LANG, M.D., M.R.C.S.,
L.R.C.P. Lonp., F.E.S.

(Continued from puge 237.)

LYCAENIDAE. ( Continued.)

Pa from the British Isles to the Con-
tinent of Europe, there will be noticed a
creat stride as regards the number of species of
Lycaenidae, which altogether amount to seventy,
The greatest increase will be seen in the genera
Chrysophanus and Lycaena. The species of these
genera are chiefly found in the more elevated or in
the Alpine regions of Central Europe, in the dis-
tricts of the Swiss, Austrian, and French moun-
tains, the Balkans, the Greek mountains, etc.
Some species, such as Lycaena melanops and
L. lysimon, occur almost exclusively in the Medi-
terranean districts of Western Europe. Several
genera are represented of which there are no
British species: these are Lacosopis, which
contains only JZ. vreboris, which has never

been taken except in South-western Europe;

so that, according to our present knowledge, it may
be looked upon as one of the most locally restricted
butterflies in the world. Two species of the genus
Thestor occur in Europe, one, 7. ballus, commonly
in the South of France and Spain in the neighbour-
hood of the Mediterranean, and the other, 7. calli-
machus, only in South-east Russia. The genus
Lampides is represented in Europe by four species.

SCIENCE GOSSIP. 267

The commonest of these is JZ. telicanus, which is
rather widely distributed in South-western and
some parts of Central Europe. JL. bocticus is a
wandering species, most commonly seen in South
Europe, and, as has been mentioned previously, is
sometimes seen in England. JZ. balcanica and
L. theophrastus are very local, belonging rather to
the Asiatic and African continents. Chiliades
trochylus, the sole Palaearctic representative of
the genus is as a European species, confined to
the Southern Balkan provinces. It is generally
accounted the smallest European butterfly.

All the British Lycaenidae, with the exception
ot the typical Chrysophanus dispar and the variety

artaxerues of Lycaena astrarche, are found on the’

Continent, and are usually much more widely
distributed and more abundant than with us.
They are also subject in most cases to greater
variation.

The distribution of the Lycaenidae in the
Palaearctic Region will be best understood by
reference to the accompanying table, in which the
number of species of each genus is given first in
the whole region, then in each of the four sub-
regions proposed in this work. In the last two
columns will be seen a numerical comparison
between the European and British species.

Bie
ay In Sub-regions. | ..
ae me |
Genera. Dad 4 Be ese
Scag a | as
SSH ala | || a By lees
4a a a
Rapala O60 2 — || ==) 2 == =
Laeosopis.. .. .. 1 — i) > 1 —
Satsuma 1 —}/— 1 1 = ae
Niphanda.. 5 ron 1 —}|—)|— 1 = a=
Theela See. 16 8 }12 | 8 6 2
Callophrys 5a 1 iy) ob 1 1 1
| Agi ayAAwS Go oon mee Wee oss Dy TL als 2 2
TUWNGSHO” "se son) on 6 4); 5) — 2 ae
| Chrysophanu:.. .. 23 Bl) Ue PAO 10 2
@iganitiss <4 55 <. 4 | 4] sos
| Hypolycaena .. .. WS SS sa =
| Lolaus Sart eae Wn 1 = — 1k a
IeWammpides'.. =... 5: 10 — 5 | = 4 ps}
| (Clambeckess Go Yoowsod 4 1 — 1 1 Thy tes
Weloycaenal jo). |) 110 ig |RSS SOR 24S SADE ss
WeCyiamiitsis) rl) or ea eal 1 1
Total Number of | 5 | ae k
ieeveuidae } 196 | 18 | 89 [144 | 60 70 | 16

Tt will be noticed that six genera not occurring
in Europe are represented in the region. These are
Rapala, Satsuma, and Niphanda, three genera
that have separated from the old genus Thecla.
These, with the exception of Satswma, which
occurs in the Altai and Central Siberia, are peculiar
to the fourth, or Manchurian Sub-region. Cigaritis
has four representatives, all of which are confined
to the third, or Eremian Sub-region, as are also
Hypolycaena and Tolaus. These six genera may be
looked upon as outliers in the general system of
the Palaearctic butterflies, and to belong largely
to those parts of the region whose fauna has a
tendency ‘to blend with those of neighbouring
regions.

&

It will be seen that the greatest number of
Lycaenidae is found in the Eremian or Desert
districts of Central Asia, etc. The smallest number
is represented in the Panarctic, or first Sub-
region—that is the most northerly part where a
cold temperature prevails, though even there five
species of Chrysophanus and seven of Lycaena are
found.

The great increase in the number of species of
Zephyrus in the fourth sub-region is remarkable. It
is owing to the fact that the real headquarters of
this genus are in the east of Asia, principally in
China and Japan, and that some of the species
extend into the Amur and Corea. All the Palae-
arctic species except Zephyrus quercus occur in the
Manchurian sub-region. The extension westward
even to Western Europe of Zephyrus, as seen in
the latter species and 4. betulae, is a curious fact.
Both species are closely allied to their Oriental
congeners.

Genus 19. RAPALA, Moore 1881, Steger. Cat.
1901. p.68. Zheela Stgr. Cat. 1871.

Small butterflies greatly resembling those of the
genus Thecla, with wings of steel-blue colour,
bordered with brown or black. Hind wings with
a slender short filiform tail. U.s. streaked as in
Zephyrus. H.w. with a cluster of four spots near
an. ang. Subcostal nervure of f.w. four-branched.
Hyes smooth. Antennae rather short and with
elongate clubs.

1. R. arata Brem. Lep. Ost. Sib. p. 25, t. 3, f. 6
Ster. Cat. 1901, p. 68, R. H. 189.

29—36 mm.

Wings dark brown. Those of ¢ shot with
greenish-biue, except along ou. marg. @ less

hk. arata. Male and Female.

bright in colour, but somewhat larger than ¢
H.w. with a short slender tail; at an. ang. is a black
spot with a faintly marked orange centre. U.s
brownish white, with rather broad brown stripes.
H.w. with four black spots at an. ang. placed on a
square orange patch.

Has. Amur, Uss, Corea, Japan.

a. var. thyriantina Batl. Ann. and Mag. (5).
VII. 1881, p. 34, t.4,f.5. Larger than type and
with a more violet blue coloration. U.s. browner
and with broader stripes. HAs. Mandschuria,
N. China.

2. R. miecans Brem. and Grey, p. 9 (1853),
R. H. 736, Stg. Cat. 1901, p. 68.

K 4

2068

32 mim.

Wings dark brown, shot with metallic blue.
H.w. tailed. U.s. ashy grey, with a yellowish tinge,
with darker bands as in the last. The dark mark-
ings on h.w. form a W-shaped mark, like that in
Thecla W-album, but more rounded. Two rounded
black spots near an. ang. on yellowish crescentic
patch.

Has. Mandschuria, N. China.

Genus 20.
[. p..33.

LAKHOSOPIS Rbr. Cat. Lep. Andal.

1857. Aurotis Dalman.

Eyes not hairy. Hind margins not scolloped
near an. ang. in h.w. U.s. not streaked beneath,
but plain with a sub-marginal row of black spots
between white and orange ones. Antennae rather
long and with elongated clubs. There is only one
species in this genus.

1. L. roboris Esp. 103, 5 (1789). Le. B. E. pl.

xvili. fig. 4. Steger. Cat. 1902, p. 68. Evippus Hb.

Voge. & Schmet. t. 56, 57 (1798).

34—37 mm.

F.w. rather pointed, more so in g than in @.
with a very slight

H.w. indication of a tail.

L. roboris. Male and Female.

g broadly dark brown along ou. marg. of all the
wings. F.w. with a triangular patch of shining
purple, extending over the greater part of the

Under-side.

L. roboris,

wing area. H.w. purple in the basal portion, three
or four violet-blue spots on the ou. marg. towards
an. ang. @ rather larger than g. Blue patch
only on f.w. and solely on basal portion ; brighter
in colour than in ¢. H.w. with sub-marginal spots
larger and more distinct, because lighter. U.s.
uniform brownish-grey. F.w. with an indistinct
sub-marginal row of black dots edged with white
and orange. H.w. with a similar row, but much
larger and brighter in colour. Marginal fringes
white, antennae black, tipped with yellow.

HAB. South France, Spain and Portugal, also
Botzen and Meran.

- coleopterists.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

The distribution of this species is very limited
in South-western Europe; it has not been taken
in any other parts but those mentioned under the
generic notes, and does not occur in any non-
European locality. VI.-VII.

LARVA.—Dull brown with a black dorsal streak
bordered by obscure yellow markings. Most
authors consider that it feeds on oak, but Fraxinus
excelsior is its real food plant.

Laeosopis roboris is very fond of settling on privet
blossoms; but in 1901 I found it abundant at
St. Martin Vesubie in the Maritime Alps, round
low bushes of various kinds, especially on walnut
saplings. It flies only in the brightest sunshine,
and instantly disappears among herbage, bushes,
or the branches of trees directly the slightest cloud
overshadows the sun. Its flight is not by any
means strong, and it has a habit of returning to a
favoured spot if driven away from it. I found the
$ abundant at the end of June, the 9 emerging
at the beginning of July.

Laeosopis roboris is illustrated herein, although a
figure of it occurs in “ The Butterflies of Europe,”
as it is the only representative of the genus ‘to
which it belongs.

a. var. lusitanica Steger. Iris TV. (1891), p. 232.
Ster. Cat. 1901, p. 68. U.s. ochreous-grey. Mar-
ginal bands reddish ochre. HAs. Portugal.

(To be continued.)

COLEOPTERA NEAR CARLISLE.

By JAMES MURRAY.

FEW notes on my captures in this district

during 1901 may be of interest to other
In the early part of the year, under
the bark of a fallen tree, I got a few specimens of
Cerylon histeroides and Botlitochara obliqua: and
from the dry skin of a dead hedgehog a long series
of Silpha thoracica. Under a stone a single speci-
men of Badister bipustulatus occurred. This beetle
is not very common here. As the spring advanced
collecting became more remunerative, and an
afternoon up the valley of the Petterill on May 11th
produced Bembidium atrocoeruleum and B, punctu-
latum in numbers and a few &. femoratum. These
occur among gravel by the river-side. On muddy
flats by the same river Hlaphrus riparius, Tachyusa

Havitarsis, and 7. constricta were commonly found,

but 7. constricta was very local. A ramble on the
banks of the river Irthing on June Ist gave me
several good species, as Bembidiwm monticola and
B. schiippelii, Tachypus flavipes, Stenus guttula,
etc, While searching for these, a dead but perfect
specimen of Acgialia sabuleti was found.

The effect of sweeping a marshy place ina
meadow was to disclose two Poophagus sisymbrii,
and any number of Donacia sericea, Chrysomela
polita, etc. In the valley of the Gelt, Coeliodes

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

geranti was swept in abundance from wild
geranium. ‘The other tenants of the sweep-net
included Limonius cylindricus, Corymbites quercus,
Apion ervi, Stenus pallitarsis, Luperus flavipes,
and Lema melanopa. Melasonma aeneum was
plentiful on alder. lmis aeneus occured in plenty
among moss (Hypnum palustre) growing on stones
submerged in the river. Anthobium sorbi was in
thousands on hemlock. An afternoon at Orton in
the middle of June produced some good things,
including Asemum striatum and Pissodes pini
from fir logs. A small pond contained Agabus
bipustulatus, A. chalconotus, and Hydroporus mem-
nonius. Many species of beetles were found by
beating. From sallow came lleschus bipunctatus,
Cryptorhynchus lapathi, Rhynchites minutus, etc.
From birch, Rhynchites betulae and Luperus
rufipes. Rhamphus flavicornis was obtained com-
monly this year by general beating. In the Orton
district later in the year I found a single specimen
each of Trechus secalis and Amara spinipes, both
under stones, and by sweeping, Mantura obtusata.

In another visit to Geltsdale at the end of July
I was fortunate in taking Pachyta octomaculata
from hemlock, and in the quarry Clivina collaris.
Bembidium paludosum was fairly common on a
sandy stretch by the river. In the Newbiggin
Woods by the river side I found Donacia linearis
in abundance on iris, many specimens having a
fine purple gloss, which, however, almost dis-
appeared after death. During the late autumn I
was unable to do much collecting, but on Novem-
ber 2nd, 1901, at Durdar, with Mr. F. H. Day, we
each took a single specimen of Huryporus picipes
from Sphagnum, these being, perhaps, the gems of
a fairly successful season’s collecting.

11 Close Street, Carliste.

MANGANESE ORES OF
THURINGIA.

By C. BOULENGER.

URING a stay in Thuringia last autumn I
had the opportunity of visiting the manga-

nese mines of Ilmenau aud its neighbourhood.
Although now practically exhausted these miaes
were extensively worked some ten years ago, and
this district was placed among the most important
manganese centres of Kurope. ‘The cessation of
activity is, however, not entirely due to exhaustion
of the yielding powers of the mines, but also to
the increased price of labour and the large im-
portation of cheaper though inferior ores from
America and elsewhere. From a commercial point
of view, the chief ores are pyrolusite and psilo-
melane, both of which occur at Oehrenstock, near
Imenan, as well as on the Rumpels and Mittel moun-
tains near Elgersbure. At the former locality two
mines only are still worked ; yet the numerous waste-
heaps, a striking feature of the plateau upon which

269

the village is situated, testify to the extensive
mining operations carried on in former years.

Pyrolusite, termed by the German mirers
“Weichbraunstein,” is the more important of the
above-mentioned ores on account of its great
purity, and of the almost total absence of silica
and oxides of iron. That extracted from the
Gottesgabe mine at Oehrenstock contains about
97 per cent. of pure manganese dioxide and 2 per
cent. of water; the remainder consists of various
impurities, such as lime, baryta, and occasionally
traces of silica. The ore occurs chiefly with
tabular heavy spar, and exceptionally with calcite
or fluorite in quartz porphyry. The breadth of the
lodes varies from a few inches, in which case the
porphyry mass is occasionally covered with a net-
work of fine veins, to ten or eleven feet. This,
however, is very exceptional. The strike of the
manganese lodes is from N.E. to 8.W., the inclina-
tion is mostly 10°-25°.

The pure ore is highly valued, the current price
during my stay being 35 marks per cwt. Large
quantities are used by glass manufacturers for the
purpose of discharging the brown and green tints
in glass, due to oxides of iron. Hence the name
‘“ pyrolusite.” For asimilar reason the manganese
compound is called by the French “le savon des
verriers.” Extensive use of this mineral is also
made for electric batteries and for evolving
chlorine in the preparation of bleaching powder.
For the above purposes the pyrolusite is used with-
out any preparation. An alloy of iron and man-
ganese called ‘‘Spiegeleisen” is employed in the
Bessemer process for the manufacture of steel.

Psilomelane occurs, likewise in quartz porphyry,
on the Lindenberg at IImenau and at Elgersbure ;
at the former locality together with violet fluorspar,
at the latter mostly without gang. This ore,
called by the miners ‘‘ Hartbraunstein,” is very
impure; hence the composition is doubtful. Dana
calls it hydrous manganese manganate, and gives
the formula H,MnO,. That from Ilmenau does not
contain much more than 70 per cent. of oxides of
manganese, the impurities consisting chiefly of
oxides of barium, calcium, magnesium, and a con-
siderable amount of silica. This greatly diminishes
the value of the ore, one hundredweight being
worth but a few marks.

Of the other ores found in Thuringia haus-
mannite and braunite formerly occurred together,
though in small quantities, in the mines of Oehren-
stock. Specimens may still be obtained, by patient
search, on the waste-heaps of the exhausted mines

Dana, in his “ System of Mineralogy,” mentions
manganite as occurring with the other ores in the
porphyry of Ilmenau and Oehrenstock. I was,
however, unable to come across any specimens
during my stay, nor did I see any in the large
collections of manganese ores at Ilmenau.

8 Courtfield Road,

South Kensington, S.W.

ee

NOTICES BY JOHN T. CARRINGTON.

History of Geology and Palaeontology. By KARL
ALFRED VON ZITTEL. Translated by Maria M.
OGILVIE-GorRDON, D.Sc., Ph.D. xv +562 pp.. 74 in.
x 5 in., with 13 portraits. (London: Walter
Scott. 1901.) 6s.

We have to congratulate Mrs.
Ogilvie-Gordon upon the admir-
able way in which she has trans-
lated Karl von Zittel’s well-known
“ History of Geology.” The trans-
lation is indeed an improvement
upon the original work, as it gives
all the information one needs
without being encumbered with
much detail, which is liable to
obscure the “pith” of the book.
The volume before us, therefore,
becomes of interest to general
readers as well as to students of
Geology. ‘To the latter, however,
it is indispensable, for every good
geologist should have a full grasp
of what has preceded in the
science. There are few sections
of Nature’s study that have had
a harder fight for emancipation
from the influence of the dark
ages than Geology. Neither has
it yet shaken itself quite free
from the ancient Babylonian and
following Mosaic theories in the
minds of many good people, not-
withstanding the hard facts sur-
rounding them on which has been
built the modern science of Geo-
logy. Professor von Zittel in a
masterly manner carries us step
by step through the history, from
the dim ages of antiquity and
from the cuneiform inscriptions
of ancient Nineveh, up to the end
of 1899. We cannot help being
struck by the fact of the recent-

‘ness of intelligent thought in
Geology. One may say that it

was born no more than a century
ago. There has been, neverthe-
less, SO much accomplished within
that hundred years that the
modcrn student has ample basis.
on which to found a life’s work.
Like the rest of the volumes
of “The Contemporary Science
Series,” of which this is one, it
is well produced, and the por-
traits are admirable. We have the pleasure of re-
producing, by permission of the publishers, one
of Sir Charles Lyell, taken from a painting by
G. Richmond, R.A., as an example. ‘The frontis-
piece is an admirable portrait of Prof. von Zittel.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

The World of Animal Life. Edited by FRED
SMITH. vii + 416 pp., 8 in. x 6 in, with 217
illustrations. (London, Glasgow, and Dublin:
Blackie & Son, Limited. 1902.) 5s.

As a ‘Natural History” book many young people
would be proud to possess this stout volume. It is
very popularly written and liberally illustrated.
Some of the drawings are effective and good, but
it is a pity to have admitted several that detract
from the whole, as they appear to represent some-
thing else than that intended. As an example we
may refer to page 208, where is shown an im-
possible long-tailed titmouse and nest, in impro-
bable surroundings. On page 358 is a picture,
inscribed ‘ ‘ peacock butterfly,” which if it repre-
sents a real specimen, one so abnormal would
realise a high price at Stevens’ auction rooms as a

Sir O. Lyenn.

(From Professor Zitte’s * History of Geologu.”)

unique aberration. We can hardly understand any
person, undertaking to edit such a book as this,
passing for press drawings like those to which we
have referred. The evil is, that youngsters who
begin with such books have so much to unlearn.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP

The Story of the Heavens. By Sir ROBERT BALL,
LL.D., D.Sc. New and Revised Edition. xii +
568 pp., 93 in. x 6 in., with 24 coloured plates and
101 other illustrations. (London, Paris, New
York, and Melbourne: Cassell & Co., Ltd. 1901.)
10s. 6d.

The new edition of this magnificent and popular
book has been revised, and astronomical informa-
tion included up to May Ist, 1900. There are also
some new illustrations, including a brilliant plate
showing in colours the aspects of the planet
Jupiter on four occasions in 1897. We need not
say anything to recommend a work so well known
as Sir Robert Ball’s ‘“‘ Story of the Heavens,” and
will only add that this edition has greatly improved
the work, which should be in the hands of every
intelligent young person and in every family
library.

A Manual of Botany. By J. REYNOLDS GREEN,
Se.D., F.R.8S., F.L.8. VolumeII. Second Edition.
xiv + 515 pp., 74 in. x 5 in., with 1,244 illustrations.
(London: J. & A. Churchill. 1902.) 10s.

This is a re-issue of Professor Green’s ‘“
of Botany,” greatly altered, and, with regard to
the flowering plants, made more readable and
better adapted to the use of students to whom the
British flora is available. There are some other
improvements which make the volume one of the
best popular manuals on Structural Botany.

Manual

The Chemistry of Pigments. By ERNEST J.
PARRY, B.Sc., F.I.C.,-F.C.8., and JoHN H. Coste,
E.1.C., F.C.8. viii + 280 pp., 82 in. x 53 in., with
5 illustrations. (London: Scott, Greenwood &
Co. 1902.) 10s. 6d. net.

The work before us deals with the chemical
relationships, composition, and properties of most
of the better-known pigments. ‘The plan has been
to treat them in groups allied chemically rather
than chromatically. The book should be useful to
artists as well as chemists, as it describes analytical
processes, which the authors have found suitable
for tracing impurities. adulteration, and other
causes of inferiority.

x 9 in.
1902.)

Knowledge for 1901.
Illustrated. (London : ‘
8s. 6d.

The bound volume for last year of our contem-
porary ‘‘ Knowledge” is to hand. As usual, the
chief feature is Astronomy, in which department
there are some good articles well illustrated.
Among other subjects that have received most
attention is Microscopy, which has been extended.
Ornithology is also interesting, as are some articles,
chiefly relating to bird-life, written by the editor
from the banks of the Soudanese Nile.

Among numerous books for
columns we have received :—
by J. A. Hodges, fourth edition. (London :
Tliffes) ; ‘‘ Photographic Cameras and Accessories,”
by Paul H. Hasluck. 1s. (Cassell & Co.); “ Dul-
verton and District,’ by F. J. Snell, M.A. 6d.
(St. Bride’s Press); “Colour Photography,” by
A. E. Smith. 1s. (Hazell, Watson & Co.); “ British
Wild Birds,” by David T. Price. 1s. 6d. (Gurney
& Jackson) ; ‘‘ Missouri Botanical Garden,” Twelfth
Annual Report; ‘‘ Maryland Geological Survey ”
(Baltimore : Johns Hopkins Press) ; ‘ Wild Animals
of the Fish River Bush, South Africa,’ by W. T.
Black (London: Young J. Pentland); ‘ Hn-
graving Metals,” by Paul H. Hasluck. 1s. (Cassell.)

Xi1+ 288 pp., 12 in.
Knowledge” Office.

notice in these
“Practical Enlarging,”

bo
x]
=

OZ UZ 2 oy Sa
NZ we }

ee ve hes

Leys

Ly u es
NG
WA

FIELD BOTANY.

Gee

CONDUCTED BY JAMES SAUNDERS, A.L.S.

TORSION OF STEMS IN CHESTNUT TREES.—Those
who live in districts where Spanish chestnuts are
cultivated might find it interesting to notice
whether this peculiarity is common to most or all!
of them. There is a grove of these trees in a park
near Luton where every individual of the group
exhibits torsion of the stem in a marked degree.
In some cases the curves are carried up toa height
of fifteen or twenty feet, which is considerably
above the insertion of the lowest branches. ‘The
curvature is usually from left to right, rarely the
reverse of this. Out of nineteen trees recently
observed eighteen were the former and only one
the latter. The only solution of the phenomenon
that presents itself to my mind is that it is due to
the unequal growth of the tissues. The cortex
apparently grows more rapidly than the internal
portion, so the former is compelled to assume a
more or less spiral direction according to the
amount of difference in the growth of the interior
and exterior of the tree trunks. A few individuals
of the horse chestnuts, which are of a widely
different natural order, exhibit the same pecu-
liarity, but in a much less conspicuous manner.—

oe: SE

PLANTS OF SUSSEX.—See
article on ‘“‘ Plants of Sussex.”

page 2638 ante for

STRUCTURAL anp PHYSIOLOGICAL BOTANY.

CONDUCTED BY HAROLD A. HAIG.

PREPARING TISSUES FOR PHOTOMICROGRAPHY.
—A good deal of care is required in staining
tissues so as to differentiate between the various
systems that occur in such a structure as a stem or

PHOVOMICROGRAPHS OF VARIOUS SLRUCTURES.

Fig. 1. Transverse section across an umbelliferous stem.

root and in the choice of stains, so as to render
the light coming through these parts sufficiently
actinic for the photographic plate. Such stains
as eosin are, of course, eminently suited for the

iio) sc areas

272

demonstration of such structures as the sieve-
plates of sieve-tubes, but it is doubtful if the red
light that comes through is very powerful actini-

cally ; and in cases such as these it would perhaps ©

be more satisfactory to rely upon drawings taken

Fic. 2.7 The embryo-sac of Caltha palustris, showing nucleus
of embryo-sac, antipodals, and faint outline of egg-cell.

from actual observation than upon the photomicro-

graph. In the photography of most transverse
sections of stems, roots. and many other botanical
specimens we may use with advantage as our
staining material either toluidin-blue, haema-

Portion of trans. section lupulus, showing ring of
cambium and young wood and phloém.

Fic. 3.

toxylin. or both, for tissues stained with them turn
a beautifully actinic blue on treatment with tap-
water (not distilled water, because it requires the
minute degree of alkalinity that tap-water possesses).
We have obtained very satisfactory results with this

Fic. 4. Longitudinal section through bud of one of Abietineae
(Pinus).

method. With regard to differential staining a com-
bination of methyl-green and toluidin-blue, or
separate staining with these two, would give good
results, as the actinic power of the former is much
less than that of the latter. Tissues stained with

‘pressure changes upon the form of cells, an

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

eosin or Carmine will, of course, give a result: but
it is difficult to obtain good definition, and the cell-
walls, etc., only come out faintly, with somewhat
blurred outlines. But a differential stain with
eosin and toluidin-blue is quite satisfactory. The
structures should be mounted so as to exclude all
air-bubbles ; a photomicrograph of delicate tissues
in which a large bubble is incorporated is, as a
rule, quite spoilt on account of the effects of
reflection and refraction at the surfaces of the
bubble. Styraxisagood mounting medium, Canada
balsam being rather yellow even in thin films. I
have to express my thanks to Mr. A. E. Powell for
the photomicrographs (see figs. 1, 2, 3, 4), which
were taken from specimens in my possession.

TRANSFUSION TissuE.—In the central cylinder
of the acicular leaf of many gymnosperms (stone
pine) we find just internal to the endodermis a
peculiar form of tissue the component cells of
which have small bordered pits in their walls;
these pits have the same structure as those met
with in the tracheides of the stem or root xylem.
In a good section one can make out that the
phloém portion of the two fibro-vascular bundles
of the leaf is in intimate connection with this
transfusion tissue, in fact the two gradually merge
into each other. ‘This is a very important point
with regard to the translocation of proteid and
carbohydrate elaborated food-material, from the
cells of the mesophyll into the phloém, and so to
the stem and other parts of the plant. The
presence of bordered pits renders the passage of
aqueous solutions easy, but whether both colloids
and salts pass, or only one, is a point difficult to
decide ; in the tracheides of the stem it is probable
that only dilute salt solutions pass.

RECENT RESEARCH.—L. Guignard, in the “ Jour.
de Bot.,” 1-9, 1901, has recently determined double
fertilisation for Thaias major. One of the syner-
oidae disintegrates soon after the entrance of the
pollen tube; the other remains intact until after
several divisions have occurred in the embryo.

_ The oospore has no quiescent stage, but divides

immediately after fusion. In all previous cases of
double impregnation the definitive nucleus divides
before it is fertilised, but here, many times, two
embryos were seen lying side by side, with the
definitive nucleus lying between them still un-

fertilised. The upper antipodal cell enlarges
during a long period after fertilisation has
occurred. B. E. Livingston, in * Bot. Gaz.,” 30.
289-317, 1901, investigates the nature of the
stimulus causing changes of form in _ poly-
morphic green algae; he believes the effect

on the change of form of varying concentrations
of Knop’s Solution, a nutrient solution containing
several salts, to be due to changes in the water
contents of the cell. The “Journal of Applied
Microscopy” lays stress upon the fact that we
have in this consideration of the effects of osmotic

entirely new field of physiological investigation.
Observations on the Embryogeny of Nelumbo, a
formerly supposed dicotyledon of somewhat hypo-
thetical series, by H. L. Lyon, have determined
the true monocotyl nature of the embryo, thus
placing it in a sub-series co-ordinate with the Pota-
mogetonaceae, Alismaceae, and Butomaceae in the
series Helobiae, ‘*‘ Minnesota Bot. Studies.” ‘This
is important both from the embryological and
classification point of view.

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SOME of our readers are aware that a small
limited company was recently formed to develop
SCIENCE-GossIP, which has well responded to the
introduction of capital. A’ portion of the money
required was arranged for by an issue of deben-
tures bearing 5 per cent. interest. Most of these
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THE Sir John Cass Technical Institute was
opened last month, when Sir W. Roberts-Austen,
chemist to the Mint, delivered the inaugural
address, which dealt with the subject of metallurgy.

WE regret to hear the unfortunate accident that
occurred to Professor Virchow in Berlin, when he
fell from a tramecar, is of a serious nature. In
addition to a broken thigh-bone, this eminent
savant is suffering from general shock.

SOME interesting experiments have been carried
out in Norway dealing with the resisting power of
snow. It was found that a wall of snow four feet
thick was proof at fifty yards distance against the
bullet of the Krag-Jorgensen rifle, which is sighted
up to 2,500 yards, and with a calibre of 6:5 milli-
metres has a velocity of 2,360 feet.

M. SIpILLoT, a Parisian aéronaut, has pro-
pounded a scheme by which he expects to solve
the problem of aérial navigation. He has just
deposited the plans of a new balloon that he main-
tains will be steerable in any weather. The pro-
posal is to carry a refrigerator and a heating
apparatus. By simply pressing a button of the
former he thus reduces the temperature of the gas,
and allows the balloon to descend ; while on heat-
ing the hydrogen the effect is reversed.

AT the annual meeting of the Royal Meteoro-
logical Society held on January 15th the President,
Mr. W. H. Dines, delivered an interesting address
on “The Element of Chance applied to Various
Meteorological Problems.” He concluded that
though for all practical purposes weather con-
ditions might be looked wpon as purely accidental,
yet in reaiity there was a cause for each kind of
weather, normal or abnormal. Weather cycles
were also discussed, the speaker being of opinion
that if there were any true cycle of a period of not
more than ten or fifteen years it must have been
discovered before now, for we had had about one
hundred years’ precise observation. During the
meeting the first award of the Symons Gold Medal
was made to Dr. Alexander Buchan for his work in
connection with meteorology.

273

Mr. G. METCALFE, of New South Wales, has
put forward an interesting theory as to the method
of reproduction of the duckbill (Ornithorhynchus
anatinus). He believes the animal to be viviparous,
and that the young are not, as generally supposed,
hatched from eggs after they have been deposited.

Av the sixty-ninth annual meeting of the
Entomological Society of London the President,
the Rev. Canon Fowler, dealt with the question
of protective resemblance and mimicry in the
Joleoptera, a branch of entomology as to which
little has been recorded, and, in view of the fact
that large quantities of beetles were devoured by
rapacious birds, urged that the indiscriminate
slaughter of our few remaining birds of prey should
be rigorously discountenanced.

WHILE our knowledge of cancer is still so in-
definite, we feel that the state of things revealed
in a recent letter to the “Standard” cannot be
deprecated too strongly. The following extract
needs no further comment :—‘‘ A farmer tenant of
mine has been suffering from cancer in the lip.
For months past he has been engaged in the daily
work of his farm, milking his cows, assisting in
the dairy, and handling his beasts, and all the time
no more precautions have been taken to safeguard
the public from the potential dangers of the case
than if the man had simply cut his finger.”

Two experiments with the new manure, basic
superphospate, have been carried out near Ipswich
during the past season. Mr. E. Packard reports
that he obtained 183 tons of swedes per acre from
a plot dressed with 5 ewt. of basic superphosphate,
as compared with 15? tons from one to which
5 ewt. of basic slag had been applied, and with
14; tons grown without manure. Mr. W. M.
Cockrill grew four acres of white turnips with the
help of 5 cwt. per acre of basic superphosphate,
and another four acres dressed with an equal
quantity of ordinary superphosphate, and his report
is that the former were far superior to the latter.

AN article in ‘‘ Nature” deals with an important
inyestigation into the physiological effect on
soldiers of route marching. We need scarcely say
that the experiments were carried out in Germany.
The aim of these experiments was to ascertain the
effect produced by marching under conditions, more
or less severe, on the various organs and functions of
the body. Several of the results attained would
be intelligible only to experts, but the more im-
portant can be readily understood. Some provec1
that the character of the food becomes a very im-
portant matter when heavy marching is under-
taken, for then, as a result of respiratory changes,
the consumption of carbohydrates is greater than
the ordinary rations can supply, which leaves the
fat of the body the only energy-producing material.
So if the men are to be kept in good condition, one
day of rest should follow three of heavy marching.
The effect of the experiments on the excretory
process was healthful, and the nervous system
appears to have been undisturbed. ‘The most im-
portant effects were those noted in connection with
the heart. Its action was noted by the sphygmo-
graph, and the curve produced was found to vary
in proportion to the amount of weight carried.
The investigators conclude that sixty-eight pounds
is the heaviest weight that can be carried without
the risk of permanent damage to the heart. It
was found also that the right side of the heart
became somewhat dilated, leading to a stagnation

274

in the venous circulation. This was noticed in only
about half the observations when the light weight
was carried, but it increased to fully eighty-seven
per cent. with the heaviest one. ‘This explains the
disordered action of the heart, which is a frequent
consequence of military training. Such investiga-
tions are of the utmost practical use, and we hope
that our own Government will undertake a similar
inquiry.

WE received last month, too late for a notice in
our January issue, the recent publications of Hull
Museum. This pamphlet gives an account of an
interesting discovery in the moors of a roughly
carved model of a war- -canoe, carrying four stand-

ing armed figures. The carvine bears a striking
resemblance to the canoes of the nears

Islanders. There is also an account of what is
known as the Ballachulish Image: a life-sized
female figure, carved in wood, and evidently belong-
ing to the same period.

THE Zoological Society has sustained a serious
loss by the cleath of “ Charley.” the young male
giraffe. All visitors to the Gardens must have
noticed a very decided * kink” in the neck of the
animal, due to the fact that at least one of the
cervical vertebrae had sustained a terrible wrench.
The wonder is that it managed to survive so long
with so serious an injury. We may still hope that
a herd of giraffes may once more be reared in the
Gardens, as a pair of the typical northern form
(Giraffa camelopardalis) are now at Khartoum,
whence they will probably be sent to England in
the spring or early summer.

THE Metropolitan Asylums Board has just pub-
lished a report dealing with the present small-pox
outbreak, and the effect of vaccination upon its
victims. It demonstrates in a striking manner the
value of vaccination, and especially shows how
vaccination lessens the danger to life. We con-
clude from the report that the conscientious
objector is much less common now than formerly.
Of the unvaccinated persons over 50 per cent. have
succumbed, as against a trifling percentage of the
vaccinated. These latter include some who have
been vaccinated during the incubation period, and
at long periods before the attack. Another en-
couraging factor is the increased demand for
lymph.

THE result of the first detailed Government
survey of the British portion of Lake Victoria
Nyanza has added very considerably to our know-
ledge of the lake regions of Equatorial Africa. It
has been found that an enclosed stretch of water,
forty miles long, exists on the east side of the
lake, and that outside its mouth a valuable tract of
high country, with a large population, juts out into
the lake, where pr eviously there were supposed to
be only a few islands. A much larger number of
islands existed in the lake than were formerly
marked on its map; some of them are over thirty
miles from tne shore. The lake is peculiarly liable
to storms, in fact, a thunderstorm is nearly always
in sight. Owing to this fact it was not thought
advisable to visit three small islets which were
visible far out in the lake, but with these excep-
tions every island has been visited and mapped by
the expedition. During the journey, the expedi-
tion came across numbers of naked savage people,
previously unvisited. All these, however, were
friendly and amiable.

SCIENCE-GOSST/P.

FoR some time past a recrudescence in the
activity of Vesuvius has been noticed. At night,
when the summit is not obscured by smoke, flames:
caused by the eruption can be distinctly seen
arising from the crater.

THE total destruction of a Russian house in six
months is an alarming example of the ravages of
the fungus Merulius lachrymans, otherwise ‘“ dry-
rot.” Even in England we have striking examples.
of the growth and destructive powers of this fungus.
A wooden platform at the Oxford House, Bethnal
Green, which was erected little more than a year
ago, is now reduced to tinder.

AT a recent meeting of the Entomological
Society Mr. J. H. Carpenter exhibited a number
of Colias hyale bred from ova laid by the parent
butterfly taken at Sheerness in August 1900. Mr.
Carpenter has cleared up a point in this insect’s:
life history which was hitherto obscure, and has
succeeded in showing that it hibernates in the
larval stage and pupates and emerges in the
spring.

THERE is in ‘‘ Nature” of January 9th an inter-
esting article on the work of Mr. W. A. Bentley, of
Jericho, Vermont, U.S.A. Mr. Bentley has devoted
twenty years to the study. of snow crystals, with
special reference to the relation between their
forms and the atmospheric condition at the time
of their fall. The article is illustrated by a number
of beautiful pictures of snow-crystals reproduced
from a summary of Mr. Bentley’s work in the
“Monthly Weather Review.”

THE ‘ Globe” the other day hada rather amusing
item of news in the “ By the Way” column. We
quote it at length. “The latest Parisian develop-
ment of public utility is said to be a State-aided
school for lion-tamers. We are not precisely in-
formed in what way the State is to aid the scholars,
nor yet in what state the majority of them are
likely to find themselves after the first course of
lessons; but as it stands the scheme seems worthy
of the Academy of Lagado, where one of the
philosophers kept a breed of hairless sheep.”

ON January 9th Professor Fleming, F.R.S..
delivered the last of his course of lectures on
“Waves and Ripples,” and dealt with wave-motion
in the aether. On the table were a radiator and
receiver with a coherer, and the point to which
the lecturer drew attention was that there were
some things through which the radiations would
pass freely and others through which they would
not pass. This would lead to a w idening of the
meaning of the terms “ transparent” and opaque,”
so as to include all forms of radiation. The
experiments showed that non-conductors were
transparent, while conductors were opaque. These
electric waves might be treated like light rays,
and be reflected as they came from the radiator.
Light travelled at the rate of 180,000 miles a
second; the velocity of the electric waves was
identical, and the difference between light and
electricity was one of wave length. One of the
most popular and instructive of the lectures was
that dealing with the vibrations from which sound
and music result, and with singing flames. An
interesting experiment showed that the production
of notes from a small organ was due to air
vibration. The vibrations in glass plates were
demonstrated by means of the well-known sand
figures.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

THE gift of £200,000 which Sir E. Cassel has
placed at the disposal of the King is to be used for
providing additional sanatoriums for the open-air
treatment of tuberculosis. His Majesty is per-
sonally interesting himself in the work, and has
also the assistance of an advisory committee.

“THE Utilisation of Exhaust Steam” was the
subject of a paper read by Mx. John Buley some
weeks ago at a meeting of the Institution of Junior
Engineers. Mr. Buley urged that for heating cir-
culations of buildings, such as hospitals, asylums,
and public baths, exhaust steam should be made
to play always an important part. In a discussion
that followed reference was made to the difficulty
of the presence of grease in exhaust steam and of
scalding.

IN a lecture given to young people under the
auspices of the Royal Geographical Society Dr.
Vaughan Cornish dealt with the question of the
length and speed of ocean waves. During storms
waves with periods from eight to eleven seconds
were observed with lengths from 328 feet to 620
feet, while a ten-second wave was 512 feet long.
- The sides of these waves had an average slope of
not less than 1 in 10. A set of such waves would
have a height of about 25 feet; but there was
generally a swell running at the same time, which
increased the total rise and fall of the water. It
made the waves irregular, and caused waves of
much larger size than 25 feet to recur not un-
frequently. When, after a storm, the shorter
waves had become no steeper than the swell, it
was that which became in its turn the conspicuous
thing at sea, and, instead of wave-crests separated
from one another as far as the two ends of Burling-
ton Gardens, we had commonly a wave of about
15-seconds period, with 1,150 feet between the
ridges—that is, roughly, the length of St. James’s
Street. The lecture was illustrated by lantern
slides and cinematographs.

DR. VAUGHAN CORNISH, whom we have men-
tioned elsewhere as lecturing to young people on
ocean waves, read a most interesting paper at a
meeting of the London Geologists’ Association
‘On the Waves of Sand and Snow.” Dr. Cornish
explained that when the wind blows over the sea
in the direction in which the waves travel it goes
into eddies on the lee side, and the difference in
pressure on the two sides increases the height of the
ridge. In the case of waves of sand and snow there
is the same. distribution of eddies, but the action
of the wind is somewhat different, the increase of
ridges being mainly due to friction at the surface.
Apart from this difference the two sets of pheno-
mena were very similar. A large number of
lantern slides from photographs were shown,
which Dr. Cornish had taken on the coasts of
Great Britain, in the Egyptian desert, and the
prairies of Canada. ‘The lecturer discovered a
singular connection between the forms of snow-
drifts and those of bodies that travel through
fluids, such as fish, cetaceans, and among human
inventions the Whitehead torpedo. The recent
alterations in the form of the Whitehead torpedo
made it more like the profile of the snow-driftsthan
was the case with earlier torpedoes. Among other
interesting phenomena Dr. Cornish has been inves-
tigating tidal bores. The best example in Britain is
afforded by the bore in the river Severn, of which
he recently obtained a cinematograph picture.

275

A CORRESPONDENT of the ‘‘ Lancet” has in his
possession a silver-plated copper figure of one of
the numerous deities worshipped in India, which
is no less than Amma, the goddess of small-pox.
The curious point about the idol is that while its
face is quite clear and clean cut, there fits on over
it a sort of mask representing another face horribly
swollen and deeply pitted with small-pox.

WE understand that Mr. A. E. Conrady has been
appointed chief optician and adviser to Messrs.
W. Watson & Sons, of London, Edinburgh, and
Melbourne. His attention is to be given to a new
series of astronomical telescopes, and to the
Holoscopic Microscope objectives and condensers,
also to the Holoscopic Photographic Lenses, for
which Messrs. Watson & Sons have become so
celebrated.

AN interesting experiment has been tried on one
of the large American railways in order to ascer-
tain how much an engine loses in weight through
the wear of a known amount of work. The engine
was taken to pieces and each separate part minutely
weighed. It was then reconstructed and put back
into active service. It was again taken to pieces
and carefully weighed. The results when published
should prove very interesting.

CAPTAIN BERNIER, the Canadian explorer, has
already secured £20,000 out of the £30,000, at
which he estimates the cost of his intended ex-
pedition to the North Pole. Wireless telegraphy
will play an important part in this expedition, and
will enable the explorers to be always in touch
with their ship, a vessel of about 300 tons net,
built specially for the purpose. Captain Bernier
expects to be absent four years, and is confident
that he will not only be able to reach the Pole,
but also to secure the various scientific objects
desired.

SCIENCE TEACHING.—The month of January
was marked by several meetings of those inter-
ested in the teaching of science, and more par-
ticularly that teaching which is the giving of a
training, and not merely the imparting of a series
of facts. This, by the bye, with all due deference
to the old-fashioned schoolmaster, is not worthy
of being considered an education, nor, must we
own, isa knowledge of scientific method without
general culture. At the first meetings of interest—
and these were the four held by the Conference
of Science Teachers, the fourth arranged by the
London County Council—such interesting subjects
as hygiene (bodily and mental), natural history—
meaning zoology—and nature study received
attention. They were also supplemented by some
detailed descriptions of what may be looked upon
as an experiment, even though it be successful—
the conduct of rural secondary schools, the one
brought into existence by Lady Warwick being
chiefly discussed. We may pass from it to the
scheme now advocated by the same educationist
for a representative nature study exhibition during
the coming summer. The provisional committee
met and co-opted a number of fresh supporters,
and appointed a sub-committee to bring forward a
scheme for consideration on the first of this
month. The third point of interest was the
Conference of Public School Science Masters, at
which, after the discussion of the disadvantages of
Army and University examinations, a new Asso-
ciation of Public School Masters was formed, with
Professor Rticker as President.

276 SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

leRearaann

CONDUCTED BY F. SHILLINGTON SCALES, F.R.M.S.

RoYAL MICROSCOPICAL SocIETY, December 18th.
— Wm. Carruthers, Esq., F.R.S., President, in the
chair. Messrs. R. & J. Beck exhibited a new micro-
meter microscope, the body of which was made to
traverse across a long stage by means of a fine
screw, the milled head of which was divided so as
to indicate a movement of ;4,th millimetre. The
body could also be placed in a horizontal position,
when it could be used as a telescope to measure
distant objects. Mr. F. W. Watson Baker exhibited
a number of microscopic specimens illustrating the
development and structure of eyes. They were
shown under twenty microscopes, and were the
most perfect sections that could be obtained from
the best preparers in this country and abroad.
Mr. E. M. Nelson sent three notes, which in his
absence were read by the Secretary. The first was
a description of Holtzapffel’s microscope. ‘The
date of it is 1830, and in it are found four original
devices: (1) It possesses a clamp foot for clamp-
ing the instrument to the edge of a table, predating
a similar device of Varley’s in 1831; (2) the back
of the mirror is flat polished brass, so that mono-
chromatic light may be reflected by it; (3) the
stage is focussed by an eccentric which differs
from and predates the somewhat analogous devices
of Pacini and Pldéssl; (4) the movement of the
lens-holder is by means of a steel tape and
pinion. The second note was a description of
the first English achromatic objective, made
by W. Tulley. It was a triplet and was made
at the suggestion of Dr. C. R. Goring, who paid
£90 for it. The focus of the combination is
0-933 inch, initial magnifying power 10-72,
N.A. -259, and the O.I. the large amount of 24-2.
Mr. Nelson then described the Chevalier-Euler
achromatic objectives of 1823-24 and 1824-25.
These were doublets, and in 1827 Mr. J. J. Lister
put one of Chevalier’s doublets as a front and
a Tulley’s triplet as a back lens. The focus of
the combination was 0°52 inch: it was the finest
microscopic objective that had up to that time
been produced, and was, strictly speaking, the first
really successful scientific microscopic objective.
Lister’s labours in perfecting objectives and the
great use they had been to the leading opticians of
the day were referred to. The third note was on
“A Useful Caliper Gauge.” It can be purchased
at any watchmaker’s tool-shop for three or four
shillings, and is convenient for measuring the
thickness of cover-glasses, and for low-power work
the scale may be placed on the stage of a micro-
scope and the constant of an eyepiece micrometer
found by comparison with the mm. divisions. The
President gave an account of some investiga-
tions which he had made in reference to a disease
that had caused great mischief in cherry orchards
in Kent. About fourteen months ago, when
his attention was first called to it, the disease
was prevalent over a considerable area, a notice-

able feature in connection with it being persistence
in the autumn of the dead leaves on the branches,
instead of their falling off, as they would have done
if the trees were healthy. The leaves of affected
trees were pervaded by the mycelium of a fungus
which destroyed them, and as the food of the tree
was prepared by the leaves the growth of the tree
would in consequence be arrested. The results of
experiments in the cultivation of the fungus showed
it to be one which belonged to the genus Gnomonia.
Many of the fungi in this class passed through
various stages in their life history; for example,
the mildew on wheat, which was first developed on
the berberry and then spread to the wheat, appear-
ing originally as rust, and afterwards as mildew,
from the same mycelium. The President referred
to the absence in this country of any author
competent to investigate cases suci as this. On
the Continent, however, the Governments had taken
up the matter, and the experts who had examined
into it had found that to check the spread of the
disease it was necessary to collect all the dead
leaves and burn them. ‘The President had conse-
quently urged upon the fruit-growers the necessity
of following this recommendation, but had only
been able to persuade two growers to do so. Both
of these, however, had found it to be thoroughly
effective. Professor A. W. Bennett in his remarks
enlarged upon the absence in this country of
investigations into such matters by State-paid esta-
blishments, and described what was being done in
the United States, where every State had its own
experimental station. The President announced
that the next meeting would be the annual meeting,
when the officers and council for the ensuing year
would have to be elected, the nominations for
which were then read.

QUEKETT MICROSCOPICAL CLUB. — Decem-
ber 20th, 1901, at 20 Hanover Square, W., the
Right Hon. Sir Ford North, F.R.S., F.R.M.S., in
the chair. Mr. Angus exhibited and described the
use of two simple apertometers. The first was an
ordinary semicircular protractor held at the middle
of its periphery vertical to the stage; at the centre
point was fixed a perforated film, mounted on
glass, parallel with the stage. Riders or pointers
slid along the arc, indicating the angle. The hole
in the film was focussed by the lens to be tested,
and the back of the lens examined with a low
power, as when the Abbe apertometer is employed.
The sine of half the angle indicated would be the
numerical aperture. This appliance was valueless
for measuring immersion objectives, as it only
measured 180° in air. The second apertometer
was merely a mm. scale placed in the turn-out
ring of the condenser. ‘The condenser and an
objective of known aperture were focussed on the
same plane, and the N.A. value of a division in the
mm. scale was found by an examination of the
back lens of the objective. When any other
objective was employed the number of divisions
visible at the back lens, multiplied by the deter-
mined value of one division, gave the aperture of
the objective. Mr. Angus showed the value of
such a quick method of measuring aperture by the
ease with which the size of diaphragms and stops
could be found; he also gave the proportions of
stops to apertures which furnished the best dark-
ground effects. Stops were shown that were made
of black paper gummed to glass discs, cut to fit
the condenser turn-out ring. The club’s best
thanks were accorded to Mr. Angus for his ex-

SCIENCE-GOSS/P.

planations, which, it was hoped, could be put into
a form suitable for publication in the journal. A
sliding microtome by Reichert was exhibited by
Mr. C. Lees Curties, and described by the Secretary.
This machine was on the “Thoma” model,
with mechanical adjustments to every part,
even to the tilting of the knife. The micrometer
screw was reversible, thus obviating tedious un
winding. The instrument was very moderate in
price. Mr. D. J. Scourfield, F.R.M.S., read a Paper
on “The Ephippia of the Lyceid Entomostraca.”
The author originally intended to wait for sufficient
material for a more comprehensive Paper, but in
view of the wideness of the subject preferred to
deal with a part which had been fairly well worked
at. He described the principal features of the
formation and casting of these particular ephippia;
the curious membrane around the egg, the thicken-
ing of the posterior margins of the valves, the
growth of the line of celis across the valve where
the separation eventually takes place, and other
apparently constant accompaniments. The author
then showed the great variations in the sizes and
shapes of the parts of the valves which were cast
by different species, and stated his belief that such
variations were of value in determining species.
The real uses of the marginal thickenings of the
valves and the membrane surrounding the egg
were suggested. A Paper, by Mr. E. M. Nelson,
F.R.M.S., ‘On the Black and White Dot,” was read
by the Secretary. The author asked indulgence
for what might appear a puerile subject, but
claimed that a proper understanding of the forma-
tion of the diatomic images must be the prelude
to the acceptance of any theory of microscopic
vision. He then proceeded to criticise the Papers
read earlier in the year by Mr. Rheinbere and Mr.
Stokes, rejecting the “special” theory of the
formation of the “black and white dots” made
out by the former, and, though agreeing with much
that the latter had stated, putting forward evidence
which he believed to be in opposition to some of
Mr. Stokes’s conclusions.

ABNORMAL SECONDARY THICKENING IN CLIMB-
ING PLANTS.—In its summary of botany at the
last meeting of the British Association, ‘‘ Nature ”
mentions a paper by Miss A. M. Clark in which
the author describes the process of formation of
the abnormal secondary thickening in Kendrickia
walkeri, a tropical epiphytic climbing shrub. The
anatomy of the young stem is typical of the family
Melastomaceae. At an early stage numerous small
patches and several large wedge-shaped areas of
thin-walled unlignified wood-parenchyma are cut
off from tbe inner side of the completely circular
cambium ring. ‘Tylosis is of frequent occurrence,
and the tylosed cells may develop into sclerotic
cells inside the vessels and tracheids. At a later
stage the unlignified wood-parenchyma cells, at the
central margin of the wedge area, take upon them-
selves new growth accompanied by cell-division.
The product of this new growth proceeds to split
the axial woody ring into a number of portions,
with subsequent destruction of the identity of the
wood elements. Later, the quiescent cambium,
lying between the original internal phloém and
the axial woody ring, takes upon itself new growth,
and proceeds to lay down xylem on the one side
and phloém on the other. Some of our readers
will remember the discussion in SC1iENCE-GOSSIP
(ante, p. 56, and vol. vii. pp. 372-4) on the abormal
growth of the stems of Brazilian Lianes.

717)

METHOD FOR REARING AMOEBAE.—A con-
tributor to the American “ Journal of Applied
Microscopy” gives the following simple method
of securing Amoebae. A nutrient medium is made
by boiling a lot of dead leaves. As soon as cool,
both liquid and leaves are placed in an ordinary
battery jar, and a lot of unboiled leaves, and
enough water added to stand about one inch above
the leaves. In two or three days a scum will form,
and in from five to ten days, depending upon the
temperature of the room, Amoebae will be found
in the scum in large numbers, but somewhat small.

THE ARRANGEMENT OF CILIA ON PARAMECIUM.
—The same journal contains a note on staining the
cilia of Paramecium, which, in common with those
of many others of the Infusoria, are so fine and so
closely set as to make it difficult to determine their
exact arrangement even by the most careful
focussing. A drop of Loeftler’s alkaline methylene-
blue is mixed with a drop of water, in which the
animalcules are swimming on the slide, and the
cover-glass placed in position. Intra vitam stain-
ing takes place in many of the individuals; but
they soon die, and the cuticle separates more or
less completely from the cytoplasm and forms a
halo round the deeply stained body. The perfora-
tions in the cuticle are thus brought very distinctly:
into view and the plan of arrangement of the cilia
revealed. The stain is prepared as follows: Add
30 c.c. of a concentrated alcoholic (95 per cent.)
solution of methylene-blue to 100 c.c. of a ‘0001
solution of caustic potash. ‘The caustic potash.
solution may be prepared by adding 1 c.c. of a
1 per cent. solution of potash to 100 c.c. of distilled:
water.

NEW OBJECTIVES BY OTto HIMMLER,—By the:
courtesy of Messrs. W. Watson & Sons, of High,
Holborn, London, we have recently had an oppor-
tunity of examining two objectives by a compara-
tively new maker, Mr. Otto Himmler, of 9 Branden-.
burgstrasse, Berlin, that deserve more than passing
notice. They were styled semi-apochromats, whiclh
implhes only, we presume, that in them the newer-
Jena glasses have been used. ‘heir corrections.
were exceptionally good, and showed once more
how near the best and newest achromatic lenses
come to the more costly apochromats. These
particular lenses were }-inch and #-inch oil im-.
mersions, with N.A. 1:3. Both were excellent, but
the }-inch was really one of the finest achromatic:
objectives we have seen, possessing brilliant
definition, whilst the price was only £3 5s., and)
£4 10s. for the j,-inch.

IMMERSION OIL IN COLLAPSIBLE TUBES.—The.
same writer alludes to the disadvantages attendant.
upon the use of the ordinary bottle for immersion
oil, which it is impossible to keep clean, and which,
allows the oil to thicken, turn yellow, and.
become turbid through exposure to light and air,
thus altering its refractive index. In consequence
the use of collapsible tubes is suggested, similar to.
the tubes which are used for holding moist water-.
colour and oil paints. It is stated that this form of
tube has been used to contain Canada balsam with
satisfactory results, and the writer referred to.
determined to try how such tubes would do for
immersion oil, although he was warned that the
metal might have some deleterious effect upon the.
optical properties of the oil. After a year’s ex-
perience he is able to state that the tubes have.
proved to be quite free from the faults which

278

characterise the bottles, and that the oil isas clear,
colourless, and thin as when first made, and there
is no indication of change in its refractive index.
Whizh of our English opticians will be the first to
put immersion oil and Canada balsam in this form
upon the English market ?

Wartson’s NEW ‘ UNIVERSAL” CONDENSER.—
The faults of the ordinary Abbe condenser are, as
is well known, the imperfection of its spherical
and chromatic corrections. The former in particular
greatly reduces the value of the condenser for
critical work. With a numerical aperture of from
1:2 to 1-4 the aplanatic aperture does not exceed
-65. There have been several achromatic con-
densers upon the market, but their aplanatic canes
have but slightly exceeded the simpler Abbe form.
whilst the mounting has been so cumbrous as to
frequently interfere with the movements of the
mechanical stage. Within the last year or two
there have been put upon the market several con-
densers of large N.A. and almost equal aplanatic
aperture, but their powers have been not less than
4 inch, with a field accordingly too small to be
advantageously used with low-power objectives.
To Mr. Chas. Baker must be given the credit for
first putting in the hands of microscopists a
condenser with a N.A. of 1:0 and an aplanatic
aperture exceeding -9, and with a power of less
than 2rd inch (see 8.-G. vol. vi. p. 374). Messrs.
Watson & Sons, of High Holborn, have just brought
out a similar condenser, which they have sub-
mitted to us for examination. Its N.A.is 1. and
its-aplanatic aperture is not less than -95, whilst
if the exact thickness of slip for which it is cor-
rected be used its total aperture is aplanatic. The
power is 4th of an inch, and the mount is very
compact. The corrections are excellent, and we
can strongly recommend this condenser for almost
all kinds of work and for photography in par-
ticular. The price of the optical part (which fits
into the ordinary Abbe mount) is £2 7s. 6d., or
with mount and iris diaphragm complete £3 7s. 6d.

CHARLES BAKER’S DEMONSTRATIONS OF MICRO-
SCOPIC MANIPULATION.—We are glad to hear that
this new departure (ante, p. 153) fully justifies
itself, and that the attendance has steadily in-
creased. Eleven demonstrations have been given
up to the time of writing, and the total attendance
has been 124, giving an average of eleven. ‘Three
persons attended the first demonstration, whilst
eighteen attended the last—an increase which
testifies to their value. We may remind such of
our readers as live in London that these demon-
strations are given at 244 High Holborn on the
first and third Fridays and second and fourth
Tuesdays in each month from 3 to 6 p.m., and that
they are free to all comers.

MEETINGS OF MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETIES.

RoyaL MIcROScOPICAL SocilETy.—20 Hanover
Equare, W., February 19th, 8 p.m.

QUEKETYT MicroscopicaL CLuB.—20 Hanover

Square, W., February 7th, 7 p.m.; annual meeting,

February 21st, 8 p.m.

MANCHESTER MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.—Grand
Hotel. Manchester, February 6th, 7 p.m. ; mounting
section, February 20th, 7 p.m.

SUNDERLAND MICROSCOPICAL
scription Library,
7.30 p.m.

Soctery.—Sub-
Sunderland, February 18th,

SCIENCE-GOSSTIP.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

F. A. H. (Epsom.)—A drop of water containing
the Infusoria must be put on the centre of a per-
fectly clean slide, and the excess of water taken
up with blotting-paper, care being taken of course
not to disturb the Infusoria themselves. Fix by
adding a drop of absolute alcohol, stain with
picro-carmine, methyl-green, Bismarck-brown, or
haematoxylin (some infusorians take one stain
better than others), wash carefully first with-dilute
and then with absolute alcohol, and clear with a
drop of turpentine or oil of cloves. Remove the
excess of clearing fluid. Mount in Canada balsam.
See also two notes on rearing Amoebae, and on
staining Infusoria with Loeffler’s alkaline methy-
lene-blue in the present number of this magazine.

G. E. H. (Hornsey.)—You will find the above
method suitable for mounting Amoebae, and
perhaps preferable to that suggested in vol. vii.
p. 372.

W. H. (Paisley.)—“ C. Verick, éléve spécial de
E. Hartnack,” means simply that the maker of
your microscope is C. Verick, who styles himself,
in addition, a pupil of E. Hartnack. I do not
know much of Verick, but Hartnack was a well-
known maker of high repute in Paris, whose
microscopes and lenses have had great influence
on microscopical progress, and whose business is
still carried on by MM. Nachet et Fils, Paris.
1695 is most certainly the number of the micro-
scope, not the date. If it were the latter the
microscope would be worthy of a place in the
collection of the Royal Microscopical Society.
The data you give me are not enough for me to
say whether your microscope is a good one or not.
Has it a sub-stage condenser and good coarse and
fine adjustments, showing few signs of wear? Is
the screw in-the bottom of the body-tube the
R.M.S. universal gauge. so as to take modern
objectives? If so your microscope is probably a
good working instrument; but microscopes and
objectives have undergone such great improve-

ment during the last decade or so that an old-

fashioned microscope is of little value in most
cases.

[For further articles in this number on Micro-
scopical subjects, see pp. 260, 264, 272, and 287. ]

EXTRACTS FROM POSTAL MICROSCOPICAL
SOCIETY’S NOTEBOOKS.

[Beyond necessary editorial revision these notes
are printed as written by the various members.—
ED. Microscopy, 8.-G. ]

THE slides contained in this box [sections of
stems] will hardly commend themselves as micro-
scopic objects to the members of the P.M.S. They
are intended as illustrations of the varieties that
vegetable tissues take under the varying conditions
of exposure to light, heat,and moisture, ete. Begin-
ning with sections that illustrate the normal forms
of the monocotyledon, the dicotyledon, etc., there
follow modifications of these, some of which it
would be difficult to assign to any of these groups
did there not exist other means of classification than
that of structural arrangement. To attempt to
give any special notes on such a trite subject as the
structure of vegetable tissues would be an insult
to the members of the Society, so I send my

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

contribution unnoted, leaving the different slides
to commend themselves to their observers, if for
nothing else than for the elegance of form which
they present.— W. Pumphrey.

It is evident that Mr. Pumphrey has lost sight
of avery important factor in the P.M.S.—namely,
the giving out of information which, however
“trite” it may be to the senior members, is a
necessity if the success of the Society is to be
maintained. We must cater for the learners as
well; and however excellent may be the dealer's
slides which are at times furnished by members,
they do not advance the best interests of the
P.M.S. as slides of less perfect finish do, whose
bona-fide touches and descriptions are instinct
with the spirit of mutual helpfulness. Even quota-
tions from books such as Carpenter’s might form
the groundwork of some interesting and practical
communications. ‘Light, heat, moisture, etc.,”
in the formation of vegetable tissues, call up some
of the most interesting problems connected with
structural botany. For instance: What causes a

Fie. 1.

SECTION OF STEM OF ARISTOLOCHIA.

double, or even a multiple, succession of rings to
occupy the place of a single one, as ascertained by
transverse sections of wood ?—/J/. Birkbeck.

The examination of these slides has given me
much pleasure, but I nevertheless concur with the
previous writer in his remarks respecting the
absence of notes and the absence of any evidence
of individual work. ‘These slides should not be
circulated merely as objects of beauty. They must
convey instruction. We are never tired of having
described to us the beautiful devices which Nature
adopts to build up the various natural objects that
surround us. There is, in truth, a very fine delight
in the acquisition of scientific information new to
ourselves, even if the information has been known
for ages to others; and, further, those to whom
these scientific facts may be well known never tire
of having them brought fresh to their notice—
especially if the old story be well told and well
illustrated. I have photographed three of the
slides and appended notes.—J/. R. L. Dixon.

Aristolochia clematitis (fig. 1) shows the con-
centric and regular disposition of the vascular
bundles in dicotyledonous stems. It will be
observed that the stem is a young one, as evidenced
by the amount of pith, which in the root may be
so much checked, as almost entirely to disappear.

279

F

Ricinus communis (fig. 2) shows a hypocotyle of
this dicotyledonous plant. The vascular bundles
consist of phloém externally and xylem internally,
separated by a layer of cambium which is con-
tinued into the fundamental tissue lying between

Fic. 2. SECTION oF SrEeM or RICINUS.

the vascular bundles as interfascicular cambium.
The xylem contains vessels with narrow pits and
vessels with broad pits with wood parenchyma
between them. The pith and primary cortex are
also shown.

Cyperus longus (fig. 3) shows irregular disposi-
tion of vascular bundles in monocotyledonous |
stem. This arrangement of bundles is due to the

SECTION OF STEM OF CYPERUS.

Fie. 3.

obliquely radial course of the leaf-trace bundles
These enter the stem from the leaves, run obliquely
downwards into the stem, then bend again out-
wards and approach the surface. A transverse
section may thus pass through different leaf-trace
bundles at different heights in their course and
show therefore bundles of different structure and
size.——J. Bk. L. Dixon.

CONDUCTED BY B. FOULKES-WINKS, M.R.P.S.

EXPOSURE ‘TABLE FOR FEBRUARY.

The figures in the following table are worked out for plates ot
about 100 Hurter & Driffield. For plates of lower speed number
give more exposure in proportion. Thus platesof 50 H. & D.
would require just double the exposure. In the same way,
plates of a higher speed number will require proportionately
less exposure.

Time, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Between 9 and 11 am. and 1 and 3 p.m. double
the required exposure. Between 8 and 9 a.m. and
3 and 4 p.m. multiply by 4.

SUBJECT F.5°6] F. 8 F.11)F.16| F.22/F, 32 F. 45) F, 64
af ae eed VE =| “4 = ~
SeaandSky.. | zis | a | se | we | 3 2 4 1 |
| | | |
Open Landscape |
ad Shipping |fso | ze & | 2 3 1 Z “
Landscape,with |
dark fore-

ground, Street} >; | 4
Scenes, and |

AM
oe aa
=
bo
i
= a a

Groups 6: || |
Portraits in | |
RaonS + 8 16 32 1 2 4 = =
Light Interiors 30 1 2 4 | 8| 16| 32) 60 |
| Dark Interiors 2 4 | 32 60 120 240
! iT

8 16

| 1

The small figures represent seconds, large figures minutes.
The exposures are calculated for sunshine. If the weather is
cloudy, increase the exposure by half as much again ; if gloomy,
double the exposure.

PHOTOGRAPHIC YEAR-BOOKS.—We have received
several photographic year-books, some of which
are beautifully illustrated. These will be noticed
at greater length in an early number.

PHOTOGRAPHIC AND OPTICAL TRADES EXHI-
BITION.—This exhibition, which promises to become
an annual event, will be held as heretofore at the
Portman Rooms, Baker Street,- London, from the
11th to 19th of April, 1902. In looking through
the prospectus and plan, we see that in addition to
the photographic trade it is proposed to incor-
porate exhibits from the optical trade. This, we
have no doubt, will make a more interesting and
complete exhibition than previously. We con-
eratulate Mr. Arthur C. Brookes, the promoter,
and wish him good fortune in this case. If this
exhibition proves the success we anticipate, it
should be well worth while for everyone interested
in photography and optics to make a point of
attending at least once, and to allow plenty of
time to examine and become acquainted with all
the latest improvements in objects vended by the
photographic and optical trades.

A NEw LeEns.—By the courtesy of the editor of
the ‘‘ Photographic News,” we have recently seen
some very remarkable photographs taken by means
of anew lens invented by Dr. Griin, of Brighton,

SCIENCE-GOSSI/P.

and under circumstances which in the usual way
would be absolutely impossible. For instance,
one of the pictures submitted to us was a ballet at
the Alhambra Theatre of Varieties, taken in the
3th part of a second, whilst the performance was
proceeding, and without the knowledge of the
authorities. The photograph is a distinctly good
one, giving an excellent impression of the per-
formance, and we confidently assure the inventor
that there isa great field before a lens that will
accomplish such a result. From what we have
been able to gather about this lens, it would appear
to be a combination of glass and liquid lenses.
Dr. Griin says it consists of the construction of
what is practically a lens of crown glass of great

thickness, accurately corrected and free from
aberration. Dr. Griin claims for his invention
that it is a quicker lens than any other of

corresponding aperture. He further mentions that
the lens can be made with a greater aperture than
that attained by any lens yet known. We believe:
the one with which he took the photograph at the
Alhambra had a 4-inch focus, with a working
aperture of 25 inches on a ¢ plate used in a hand
camera.

LicgHt In DARK Rooms.—We have often been ©
asked to recommend a safe light to use in the
dark room. ‘To this inquiry there is only one:
answer possible. Such a thing as a ‘safe light ”
is unknown. All we can do is to find the safest
light for each type of plate. For instance, a ight
that is quite safe for a wet plate is useless for an
ordinary dry plate ; again, a light that is safe for
an ordinary plate is no use for a specially rapid
one, and so forth. It therefore follows that the
photographer must have at his command a whole:
series of tinted glass panes for his lantern, each
suitable for developing different plates. For this.
purpose we have found the most convenient method
is to have a fairly large gas or oil lamp, arrangedi
so that the glass through which the light passes
can be readily changed anda series of different
coloured glasses used. If possible we much prefer:
the lamp constructed with a glass tank, containing
a saturated solution of bichromate of potassium...
The space between the glasses of the tank should
be at least one inch thick, and a gas lamp in which
this tank can be inserted will give a most brilliant
light allover the room. It will be quite safe for work-
ing bromide papers and slow ordinary plates. [f it
is proposed to develop medium speed plates. then a,
deep orange glass can be placed in front of the light ;
and if extra rapid plates are used, a piece of ruby
glass or fabric should be placed in front. Deep ruby
colour should be used when isochromatic plates
are to be developed. If it is not convenient to.
have the liquid tank lamp, then we should recom-
mend a lamp with a series of glasses. There
should be one yellow, one orange, one ruby, and
one green: these can be used separately or to-
gether, just as required. We would suggest also
that the glasses should be tested photographically
by exposing a portion of a plate to the action of
the light for two minutes, at a distance of, say, one-
foot. The plate should then be developed in
darkness, when it will be at once seen, on taking
the plate out of the fixing, whether that portion of
the plate exposed to the light of the lamp is
affected or not. Of the above series of glasses it
will be found that the orange and green combine
will give a most pleasing light, which is fairly safe
for ordinary plates and papers.

SCIENCE-GOSSTP. vil

CADETT

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AND

Make Photography a

AND Ai
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PTT do See

Price from 44 3s. 6d.
Time and Instantaneous

Shutter, from 12s. 6d.
== Standard Pattern,
from 18s. 6d.

Write for Booklet ‘‘Orthochromatic Photography” !

(simplified), by JAMES CADETT. Gratis. Post Free. | pioenestusana

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ASHTEAD, SURREY. || | whe THORNTON-PICKARD

i Manufacturing Co., Ltd.,
Photographic Dry Plate and Paper Manufacturers. | ‘ pha nemene he
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gis, ann CINEMATOGRAPHS.

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OXY-HYDROCEN

MICROSCOPES = iygues La PETITE

THE UNIVERSAL SNAP-SHOT CINEMATOGRAPH-
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: 3 Projector, Reverser, price

: ——— With 4-inch Condensers, 18s. 6d. £6 10s., reduced to £5 10s.

Grandly Illustrated Catalogue, 180 choice Engravings, 10d.; Smaller ditto, 5d. Grandly Illustrated Cinematograph List, 8d.
All Post Free.

HUGHES’ PHOTO-ROTOSCOPE CINEMATOGRAPH, £7 7s, A little gem. High-class work. Tech-

3 ; nical Flickering reduced to a minimum.
KS” FOR SALE, BARGAINS.—A fine 7? EQUATORIAL ASTRONOMICAL TELESCOPE, by Cooke, with Battery of Eyepieces, cost
over £600; 32 Wray, 3} Wray, 3-inch Equatorial Steward. An 8-inch Newtonian Reflector, 44-inch Lancaster, and others,
from £7 each; cost double, Also a fine BINOCULAR MICROSCOPE by Beck, cost £120; and several others which have been at
times allowed for as part payment. To be sold bargains. Zist Free. Can be had on the Hire-purchase system. :

X-RAY INDUCTION €OILs, 5-, 6-, and 8-inch Sparks. Bargains. Quite new. Also Batteries. List Free.

HUGHES’ BIJOU ENLARGING LANTERNS An innovation, rectangular or square condensers ; full marginal

—* : od ; " definition, perfect illumination ; portable, reliable. rapid, quick,
artistic Enlargements. Before purchasing, see this high-class technical apparatus, which Is scientifically constructed for results. Price List, 2d.

_, 200 Lecture Sets of Science Subjects and Travels, &c. 60,000 Slides ; List, Sd. Post Free. 50 beautifully coloured
Slides loaned for 38S. By Subscription for the year, 450 108. 6d. ; 1,000 21s. Hire List, 24d.

ww. CG. ELUGHES, Specialist in Optical Projection.

Established over 30 years. :

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SCIENCE-GOSSTL,

Vili
The Selborne Society’s

NATURE NOTES : Magazine.

Edited by G. S. Boutcer, F.L.S., F.G.S., Professor of Botany
and Geology, City of London College.

NATURE NOTHS is intended to be a record of progress
—progress in the love of Nature, in the knowledge of natural
objects, and in the war to be waged in defence of the beauties of
Nature against their more or less avowed exterminators. The
object of the Selborne Society is to unite lovers of Nature for
common study, and the defence of Natural Objects (Birds,
Plants, beautiful Landscapes, &c.) against the destruction by
which they are so constantly menaced. The wzznz72um Annual
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Society's Magazine) is 5s. All particulars as to Membership may
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On ‘‘ BRITISH SERPENTS” (Habits, Life-history, Incidents,
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Being the Organ of the Conchological Society of Great
Britain and ireland.
Hon. Sec.—W. E. HOYLE, M.A., Owens College, Manchester.
The number for JANUARY, 1901, begins a New Volume, and

contains a List of British Marine Mollusca, revised and
brought up to date by a Committee of the Society.

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Gose=.

DENSITY OF IcE.—A description is given in the
“Phys. Rev.” of recent determinations of the
density of ice by weighing it in ice-cold water
with suitable precautions. The authors find the
density of old and new river ice is the same, and
may be taken as 0°91661 + 0:00007.

COLOURS OF BUTTERFLIES.—It is a common
error to suppose that butterflies owe their beauty
to diffracted light. W. B. Croft has recently
examined a collection of British Lepidoptera and
found no specimens that were coloured by wave
interference. The colour effect is almost entirely
due to coloured scales containing pigment.

TRON CASES FOR MAGNETS.—In the “Ann. d:
Physik.” for August 1901 an account is given of a
series of experiments by I. Klemenci¢ upon the
protective effect of iron cases for magnets. He
observed the moments of three permanent magnets
kept in iron cases and found that no change of
moment occurred when the magnets in their cases
were subjected to shock. The experiments prove
the great advantage of keeping magnets in iron
cases.

NEW SYSTEM OF SIGNALLING AT SEA.—Captain
Brinkworth, of Gloucester, has invented a new kind
of compass-card with the object of assisting fog-
bound vessels. The card has a list of sound-
signals to correspond with various points of the
compass. It is claimed that if this system were
adopted a ship in a fog could bellow out, on its
fog-horn or whistle, a distinct intimation of the
course it is steering. A timely warning would
thus be given to any ships in the neighbourhood,
and the risk of collisions greatly minimised. All
will appreciate this invention who have had the
experience of steaming in a thick fog at slow speed
with the whistle sounding continuously, and
answering signals coming from somewhere at hand,
but in what direction it is often difficult to tell.
It should prove a boon to captains, if practicable.

HEAT-PRODUCING CAPABILITIES OF CoAL.—The
‘“‘ calorific power” of coal is determined experi-
mentally by means of a calorimeter, which consists
of a large vessel holding a definite quantity of
water. A weighed amount of the coal to be tested
is ground to powder and carefully mixed with a
composition of saltpetre and potassium chlorate,
about 1 part of coal to 10 parts of the mixture.
This is placed in a copper cylinder enclosed in a
second copper vessel, a fuse is inserted, and when
lighted the copper vessels are put in the vessel of
water. When combustion ceases a stopcock is
opened, which allows the water to fill the copper
vessels, and all the heat is absorbed. From the
rise in temperature of the water and by means
of a table supplied with the instrument the calorific
power is determined, either in units of heat or
evaporation.

281

MEASUREMENT OF ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE.—
The principle of the Cartesian diver has been put
to a new use by G. Guglielmo for the measure-
ment of atmospheric pressure and its varia-
tions. A great advantage is that it is possible to
eliminate temperature effects altogether. The
diver may be weighted so as to rise or sink at a
certain pressure. By increasing the air space and
the density of the liquid the sensitiveness may be
increased almost indefinitely.

NOVEL USE OF THE GRAMOPHONE.—At the
opening of the session of the Royal Geographical
Society Sir Harry Johnson gave an interesting
account of his recent explorations in Central Africa.
The languages of the natives, as well as their musi-
cal abilities, were demonstrated by means of the
gramophone. This instrument should prove a
valuable aid in the scientific examination of the
Dark Continent. The author is to be congratulated
on the introduction of this novelty in the way of
lecture illustrations.

THE PRESSURE OF LicHT.—In the January
number of SCIENCE-GOsSIP a short account was
given of Professor P. Lebedew’s research by means
of which he demonstrated experimentally the pres-
sure of light. A remarkable case of simultaneous
discovery is given in the ‘“ Physical Review ” for
November 1901, in which E. F. Nichols and G. F.
Hull describe a preliminary communication on the
pressure of heat and light radiation. This account
was published almost on the same day as Lebedew’s
experiments proving the pressure of light. The
American physicists used a bolometer of special
construction to measure the energy of the radiation
causing the pressure; whereas Lebedew used a
calorimeter. In both cases a torsion balance and
an arc-lamp were employed. Messrs. Nichols and
Hull found that the measured radiation pressure
is to the radiation pressure, which the theory
applied to the bolometer measurements would re-
quire; as 78: 100. They point out several sources
of error. Professor Lebedew, however, obtained
almost perfect agreement.

RADIATION AT LOW ‘TEMPERATURES.—Many
experiments have been made with the object of
determining the relation between the rate of cool-
ing of a body in a vacuum and the temperature of
the body. Dulong, Petit, and Desains used a
blackened copper ball, suspended by a thermo-
couple in the centre of a glass bulb. The most
recent experiments are those made by M. Compan,
who carried these experiments down to the
temperature of liquid air. The bulb was exhausted
by means of a mercury pump. The copper ball
was then heated without being removed, by con-
centrating upon it the light of an are lamp. The
bulb was placed successively into melting ice and
liquid air. Compan found that the formula pro-
posed by Stefan, R=E,T!, agreed best with the
experimental results, the rate of cooling being
proportional to the fourth power of the absolute
temperature of the cooling body and its envelope.
The formulae proposed by other experimenters do
not agree with the observed results at low tempera-
tures.

OIL FILMS ON WATER.—In connection with the
interesting note on this subject in the last issue
(ante, p. 256), I may mention that many years
ago attempts were made to distinguish between
different kinds of oils by the difference in what

282

was termed the cohesion figures, which were formed
when they were allowed to fall upon the surface
of water. Thus olive oil first forms a disc with
recurved edges, but spaces soon appear round
these edges, and portions detach themselves from
the main body to become united again in some
places, enclosing polygonal spaces, over which is
an almost invisible film of oil. In the case of
sesamé oil the film contracts, and eventually a
figure somewhat resembling a spider’s web, with
well-defined circular edge, is produced. Colza
oil, again, forms a circle surrounded by a large
number of minute drops, and poppy-seed oil gives
a circle with serrated edge. In the case of
mixtures the form of the cohesion figure varies
with the proportion of the different oils, but little
reliance can be placed upon the phenomenon as a
test of the purity of any particular oil.—C. A.
Mitchell, London.

[The lucid account of cohesion figures given above
by Mr. Mitchell is of more than passing interest.
The writer has repeated some of the experiments
with different oils, and obtained different shaped
films for each kind of oil that had been dropped
on the surface of water. The figures closely re-
sembled those described. Applying the principle
of the conservation of energy it will be seen that
the potential energy of the system depends upon
—(1) the action of gravity; (2) the mutual action
of the liquid particles ; (3) the action between the
particles of water and the oil in contact with it.
The condition of equilibrium is, that the potential
energy shall be a minimum. M. Plateau got rid
of gravity by forming a mixture of alcohol and
water of the same density as olive oil, and then
introducing a small quantity of oil into the
mixture. The oil then assumed the form of
a sphere under the action of surface tension
alone. On altering the form of certain parts
of the surface of the oil, the free portions of
the surface assumed new forms depending
upon the equilibrium of surface tension. In
the case, however, of an oil-film on water one
must consider three different fluids, and conse-
quently three surfaces of contact. In the instance
of three fluids which do not mix the three surfaces
of separation meet in a line, straight or curved.
Denoting the tensions of the three surfaces by
T,. Ts, and T,,, it is clear that there will be
equilibrium if the sum of the components 'T,, and
T,, equal T,,. When one force is greater than
the sum of the other two, the condition of equili-
brium no longer holds, and the wedge formed: by
the surfaces of separation of the oil with air and
water becomes very narrow, causing the film to
get thinner and thinner and spread out in the
manner oil does on the surface of water, as in fig. 2,
where T,, is greater than the sum of T,, and T,,,
so that the oil spreads rapidly over the surface of
the water, covering it with a thin film of oil, almost
invisible. The values of the surface tension vary with
time, so that it is probable a slight diffusion takes
place. I consider that a film of a third liquid is
formed from the oil and water by hydrolytic dis-
sociation. The fatty oils, such as olive and linseed
oils, are ethereal salts formed by the combination
of the fatty acids with glycerine, which acts as a
hydroxide or weak base. Hence, since weak acids
and weak bases are in question, the chemical
nature of water must be taken into consideration.
It is usual to speak of water as a perfectly neutral
substance, but this is far from being the case.

SCIENCE-GOSSTP.

Even distilled water must contain ions in moderate
quantity, as shown by its electrical conductivity.
If the conductivity is not due to dissolved im-
purity, the ions with which the electricity travels
must come from the water itself. The chemical
and electrochemical behaviour of water is accounted
for by regarding these ions as hydrogen ions and
hydroxyl ions. Hydrolysis can be completely ex-
plained by assuming that in water an equilibrium
subsists between undecomposed molecules and
ions. Since the conductivity of water is very small
the amounts of ions present are extremely minute,
but are sufficient to confer on water the properties
of a weak acid on account of the hydrogen ions,
and of a weak base on account of the hydroxyl
ions. In the case of oil films on water, a decom-
position of these ethereal salts by solution in
water is almost certain to occur, and since both

the acid and base of the salts are weak the hydro-
lysis will be independent of the dilution. The
reader will thus see that the subject of oil films
on water presents several fascinating problems on
chemical equilibrium in addition to surface tension

-and optical phenomena.—ED. Physics. |

SURFACE TENSION AND GREASE SpotTs.—The
surface of a liquid is in a state of tension similar
to that of a membrane stretched equally in all
directions. This property of surface tension is
useful in removing grease spots from cloth. If a
drop of oil is placed on a glass plate, and a drop of
alcohol be brought near it, the alcohol drives the
oil along in front and appears to chase it. If a
ring of alcohol is made all round the oil the drop
stands up in a little compact mass like a lens.
Hence to remove a grease spot from cloth, wet one
side of the cloth with alcohol or benzol in a ring
all round the spot, and then place a piece of
blotting-paper near the centre to absorb the little
mass of grease driven there. Another method is
to heat the grease spot on one side, when the rise
of temperature diminishes the surface tension, and
so drives all the grease spot to one side, where it
can be gathered up as before.

THE NATIONAL PHysicaAL LABORATORY.—The
formal opening of the new National Physical
Laboratory at Bushey House, Teddington, is
announced to take place on March 19th, when
H.R.H. the Prince of Wales will perform the
ceremony. We understand that the institution
will be one of the most perfect of its kind.

SCIENCE-GOSSI/P.

:

h ih

Ie, RY ju

CONDUCTED BY C. AINSWORTH MITCHELL,
B.A.OXON., F.I.C., F.C.8.

SUPPOSED NEW ELEMENT.—Mr. C. Baskerville
believes he has discovered a new element associated
with thorium. He considers it probable that ordi-
nary thorium is not the simple substance hitherto
supposed, but is a mixture containing an element
with an atomic weight lying between 260 and 280.
If his results be confirmed he suggests the name
Carolinium and the symbol Cn for the new element.

INCRUSTATION ON Sv. PAUL’S.—A balustrade of
Portland stone surrounds the stone gallery at the
base of the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral. In cer-
tain places, and especially on the under side of
the coping stone, there is a deposit of a grey or
black substance, which here and there is three
quarters of an inch in thickness. Itcan readily be
powdered, and under the microscope shows no
trace of organised growth. According to the
analysis of Mr. E. G. Clayton, F.I.C., it has the
following percentage composition :—Water, 24°54 ;
carbon (soot), 1:10; calcium sulphate, 59°38 ; cal-
cium phosphate, 2°22; calcium silicate, 1:63;
magnesium silicate, 0°67; iron silicate, 2°40; and
sand and uncombined silica, 8:06. The deposit,
therefore, consists mainly of calcium sulphate
hydrated, together with some siliceous matter. In
Mr. Clayton’s opinion this main constituent was
chiefly formed by the action of the sulphuric and
sulphurous acid in the smoke from surrounding
chimneys upon the stone, assisted by action of rain.

BLEEDING BREAD.—If moist bread be exposed
to the air it will speedily be covered with a growth
of various moulds and bacteria, among which may
possibly be small bright red patches. On in-
oculating a suitable culture-medium with the
latter, a brilliant red growth of the Bacillus pro-
digiosus can be obtained. To the wholesale in-
fection by this micro-organism must be attributed
the mediaeval miracles of “bleeding bread.” A
similar infection of meat occasionally takes place,
as in the instance mentioned by Dr. Klein, where
the whole of the flesh in a shopin the City became
scarlet. It is interesting to note that in this case
the larder where the meat was stored overlooked a
churchyard in which the graves had recently been
disturbed. The B. prodigiosus is a short organism
with rounded ends that occasionally forms fila-
ments. It develops best in the presence of air,
and when grown upon nutrient gelatin liquefies
that medium. The red pigment, which appears to
be an excretory product, requires oxygen for its
production. It dissolves readily in alcohol and
ether, but is insoluble in water. It appears to be
of a similar character to the aniline dyestuffs.
On the addition of acid the colour is changed to
pale red, which on the addition of alkali is recon-
verted into the original colour. The writer has
dyed white silk a beautiful pink colour by means
of an alcoholic solution of a pure cultivation.

283

Composition OF Mummy Fisu.—In a recent
number of the “Journal de Pharmacie et Chimie”
M. Hugouneng gives an interesting account of his
examination of mummy fish, obtained from the
Pyramids of Sakkarah, near Memphis, and reputed
to be at least 2,000 years old. Most of these fish
belonged to a species of carp still found in the
Nile. The animal debris of which they form part
is so abundant that it is sold in large quantity for
manure. The mummy fish were swathed, either
singly or in groups, in linen. the space between
being filled with a yellowish earthy matter. When
pulverised the fish yielded a light yellow powder,
which contained 8°47 per cent. of nitrogen, and on
treatment with water, dissolved to a slight extent,
and imparted an acid reaction to the solvent. On
ignition the powder left 34:77 per cent. of ash,
which had the following composition: Potassium
chloride, 2°03; sodium chloride, 23°62; sodium
sulphate, 8°57 ; calcium and magnesium phosphates,
5°81; iron oxide, 1°31; clay and other silicates,
57:93; and undetermined substances and_ loss,
0-73 per cent. This composition is similar to that
of the sandy and clay deposits, impregnated with
sodium chloride and sodium sulphate, which are
formed naturally by the evaporation of the sodium
salt lakes found in the desert parts of Egypt and
other parts of North Africa. In the opinion of
M. Hugounengq, the fish were probably first dipped
into the saline waters of one of these lakes and
then wrapped in a layer of the pasty deposit, the
presence of the alkali salts effecting preservation.

SCORPION VENOM.—Only about a dozen of the
numerous species of scorpions at present known
are found in Europe, and their sting is unuch less
venomous than those of the larger Indian and
African species. The amount of venom secreted is
comparatively small, at least in the European
scorpions. ‘Thus Jusset estimated that a specimen
of Scorpio occitanus, which occurs in Southern
Europe, contained about 0:03 grain, which amount,
however, was sufficient to kill a moderately large
dog. The venom itself is a clear, slightly acid
liquid with a pungent smell. It is readily soluble
in water, but does not dissolve in alcohol. Its
specific gravity is somewhat greater than that of
water. The fact of its being coagulated by alcohol
points to the presence of albuminous substances
similar to those that have been isolated from
different snake poisons. The physiological effects
of scorpion venom are local inflammation, convul-
sions, and paralysis, whilst, according to Jusset’s
experiments, it arrests circulation by causing the
red corpuscles of the blood to adhere together.
Bert, however, found that it was only a nerve
poison, and had no effect upon the blood of animals
killed by it. From certain experiments made by
Valentin upon frogs, curare injected prior to the
sting appears to be a possible antidote. When
taken internally the venom is apparently without
action, which is another point of resemblance be-
tween it and snake poison. The long-disputed
question of the scorpion committing suicide when
surrounded by a circle of glowing charcoal is
a priori unlikely, since venomous animals are, as
a rule, immune against the venom of others of the
same species. Professor Bourne, who examined
the evidence on the point, came to the conclusion
that the real explanation of the so-called suicide
is that the scorpion is extremely sensitive to heat,
and that the effects attributed by certain observers
to the venom were really due to the heat alone.

284 SCIENCE- GOSSIP.

we

CONDUCTED BY F. C. DENNETT.

Position at Noon.
1902 Rises. Sets. R.A. Dec.
Feb. hm. hm. hms. Ci
Sun .. 9... 7.29 am. os 5.1 p.m. ..21.28.58 .. 14.52.29 S$.

19... 710 am... 5.19 p.m. ..22, 8.6 .. 11.30. 6 S.

hises. Souths. Sets. Age at Noon.

Feb. hm. hm. hm. d. hm,
Moon.. 9.. 7.24 a.m,..12.54 pm... 6.35pm... 0 22.39
19 .. 2.12 pm... 9.55 pm... 4.48a.m. .. 10 22.39

Position at Noon.
Souths. Semi- BeAr Dec.

Feb. hm. diameter. h.m.s. eae!
Mercury... 9 .. 111:2 pm... 42” .,.22.26. 0 .. 7.34.485.
TOs Ones Om piltivens Ose 2.21.0 1.00m aa O.20s4200.
Venus ., 9... 0.87°77 pm. ..30°4” ..21.52.26 .. 4.42.22 8.
19 ,.<11.34°6- a.m. ..30°3/ ..21.28.32 .. 5.51.19 8.
Mars .. 19... 0.47:2 p.m. .. 2:0" ..22.41.15 .. 9.22:21 8.
Jupiter .. 19 .-10.27:2° a.m, ..15:2" ..20.21. 1 ..19.52. 9.8.
Saturn .. 19 .. 9.47°0 am... 71” ..19.40.42 5.21.19. 18.
Uranus .. 19 .. 7.264 a.m. .. 1°8” ..17.19.39 . 23.11. 38.
Neptune... 19 .. 7.594 p.m... 1:2” .. 5.54.43 ..22.16.33 N.
Moon’s PHASES.
hin. hem.
News... Keb. 8 2. 1.21 pm: listiQrsec Hebslonce: 2.01) )sIs
Bult, “55 22) oo-1sd\p.
In apogee on February Ist, at 12 p.m.; and in
perigee on 16th, at 6 p.m.
METEORS.
hem. ©
Feb. 5t016..aAurigids Radiant R.A. 4.56 Dec. 43 N.
» 15 to 20 ..aSerpentids $9 so ode, 5). LIEN.

CONJUNCTIONS OF PLANETS WITH THE Moon.

(Cy?

Heb. 3° a -. Vesta -. llpm. .. Planet 0.41 N.
saa COvnas no. teeiibionk? anc) joys | Se >» 44658.
&.-do so CwMNAP oo Hebe Moe >» 0-268,
Ue eo og NGI “50. B ASI Go Sao sOUN
By hats es» Mars*® 50. Bishis 66 > 95.0858.
Sy.) atetoo «. Mercury; .. 9 p.m. ay PETITE

* Daylight. + Below English horizon.
OCCULTATIONS AND NEAR APPROACHES.
Angle Angle
Magni- Dis- trom Re- trom

Feb. Star. tude. appears. Vertex. appears. Vertex.
3 hem. o. hem.

2... B* Scorpii 5:2 .. 7.10 a.m. .. 123... 8.29 a.m. .. 242
Y oo fen agp 30 .. 7.10 a.m. .. 124 .. 8.28 a.m. .. 242

12.. « Piscium 2S 56, UWI 5 LEY on GHEE Gq aI

14... o Arietis 55 .. 5.53 p.m... 110 .. 6.45 p.m... 188

16... ¢@ Tauri SPI ng Gee sy S51) TA. allio 35 OlY/

Wil aes GD ep 571 .. 2.21am. .. 146 .. Near approach,

21... « Cancri 50 .. 5.44a.m. .. 340 .. Near approach.

THE SUN, although now usually free from dis-
turbance, should be watched.

MERCURY is an evening star, reaching its greatest
eastern elongation, 18° 17',at noon on February 3rd,
until 9 p.m. on the 18th, when, being in inferior
conjunction with the Sun, it becomes a morning
star. Its position is not very favourable for
observation.

VENUS is an evening star until 11 p.m. on
February 14th, when it is in inferior conjunction

with the Sun, and afterwards becomes a morning
star. The best time for observing Venus is in the
daytime.

MARS, JUPITER, AND SATURN are too near the
Sun for satisfactory observation, and the low
altitude of URANUS is against successful telescopic
vision.

NEPTUNE is above the horizon all the working
hours of the night, and can still be w ell observed
with sufficiently powerful instruments.

ZODIACAL LIGHT.—On sufficiently clear, moon-
less evenings, sO soon as it becomes dark enough
for observation, this conical brightening may be
traced from the western horizon, following the
course of the ecliptic.

MINOR PLANETS.—Three new planets were dis-
coveredat Heidelberg on December 4th, 5th, and 16th
respectively. The new one mentioned ante, p. 248,
although sufficiently remarkable, is not so near a
neighbour as was supposed. It was first found on
a plate taken with the 24-inch Bruce telescope at
Arequipa on August 14th. Its great southern de-
clination, over 62°, at once attracted the attention of
Dr. Stewart. Several plates were taken and mea-
sured, and the positions sent to Professor Pickering
at Harvard College. Professor Simon Newcombe
was then visiting Boston, and, with the assistance
of Miss A. Winlock, caleulated its orbit. Its mean
distance from the Sun was found to be 2°57, that
of the Earth being equal to 1-0, and its period 4:13
years. The most remarkable feature is its eccen-
tricity, 0°377, exceeding that of any other, except
Aethra. When discovered it was travelling very
rapidly towards perihelion, which it reached early in
October, when its distance from the Sun was 1:60.
At midnight on January 30th it will be situated in

R.A. 0 h. 31°9m., Dec. 3° 26’ N. close to the ecliptic .

in the constellation Pisces, some 4° south-west of
the fifth-magnitude star delta.

GREAT METEOR.—On December 4th, at about
5.37 p.m., an exceedingly brilliant meteor was

observed ever the whole south of England. The

area from which records come extends from Mar-
gate to Devonshire, and from Birmingham to
Bournemouth. Mr. G. W. Valentine gives its
colour as steel-grey, and its direction from N.N.W.
to S.S.E., passing about 20° south-east of the
beautiful double star, 8 Cygni. He writes from
Bitterne Park, Southampton, describing the meteor
as making a loud rushing noise. Its duration is
variously reckoned as from 3 to 5 seconds, and
a trail was visible for some time longer: It un-
doubtedly radiated from Hercules, apparently from
near R.A. 17h. 32m., Dec. 35° N. All accounts
describe it as of intense brilliance.

THE LEONIDS.—Professor E. L. Larkin announces
the observation from the Lowe Observatory, Cali-
fornia, of 661 meteors, 217 of which were as bright
as or brighter than Rigel.

VENUS.—An announcement has been going the
round of the Press concerning the abnormal bril-
liance of Venus on January 13th, after the Moon
had set, as observed by M. Giacobini at the Nice
Observatory. The only effect noted, is that it
threw shadows on the wall of the observatory.
This is, however, nothing extraordinary, as Webb
long since mentioned the fact in ‘“‘ Celestial Objects
for Common Telescopes.” ‘The first time we wit-
nessed the phenomenon was so far back as 1876 or

SCIENCE-GOSSI/P. 285

1877, and as lately as in Christmas week 1901
whilst at Enfield. Perhaps the most interesting
effect of the brilliance is, that Professor W. R.
Brooks has actually succeeded in taking photo-
graphs by the light of the planet.

MontTHLY STAR Maps For 1902.—These com-
pilations by Mr. W. B. Blaikie have been sent to us
included in the useful blotting-book issued by the
Scottish Provident Institution. They are most
interesting and useful for showing the varying
positions of the constellations month by month,
and the daily place of the Moon. The situations of
Jupiter and Saturn, the only planets visible in the
10 o'clock sky, are shown on the maps. There
is also a chapter explaining the apparent motions
of Venus, besides an abundance of useful informa-
tion for the amateur observer.

JOHN J. BRETT, F.R.A.S.—We are sorry to have
to record the death of this well-known artist and
astronomer of Putney. A fine lunar sketch from
his pencil illustrated the first number of ‘‘The
Observatory.”

compared with the sky, which meant a vast amount
of patience. No further discoveries, however,
were made until December 1845, when Hencke,
of Driessen, who had been diligently searching for
fifteen years, discovered Astraea. Since 1847 no
year has passed without one at least of these pigmy
worlds being found. Goldschmidt, labouring with a
23-inch telescope from a window near Paris, dis-
covered fourteen. So far back as 1859 Mitchell,
of Cincinnati, wrote :—‘‘Could a daguerreotype
picture of any region in the heavens be made
to-night, and at the end of a year another picture
of the same region could be taken, by comparing
the number of stars in the one picture with that
in the second . . . it would be an easy matter to
ascertain” the coming or going of strangers. Not,
however, was it until the end of 1891 that Pro-
fessor Max Wolf, of Heidelberg, when photo-
graphing stars in the ecliptic, found amongst the
stars two short lines or trails. One of these was
proved to be produced by the planet Sapientia,
already known, and the other by a new planet,
No. 323, afterwards named Brucia. Since that

Minork PLANETS.—Print from Photographic plate showing Trail by which Svea, No. 329, was discovered.

(By permission of Professor Max Wolf.)

CHAPTERS FOR YOUNG ASTRONOMERS.
By FRANK O. DENNETT.

(Continued from page 215.)
MINOR PLANETS.

BETWEEN the orbits of Mars and Jupiter lie the
paths of an immense number of tiny planets, of
which nearly five hundred have been discovered.
The first, Ceres, was first seen by Piazzi at Palermo
on January Ist, 1800, and three others were found
—Pallas in 1802, Juno in 1804, and Vesta in 1807.
Juno was discovered by Harding of Lilienthal with
a very poor telescope of 2 inches aperture, and
Vesta by Olbers with an ordinary night glass.
The brightest of these, Vesta, never exceeds the
6th magnitude. At this time real hard work was
necessary to find a planet; first star maps had to
be constructed showing all stars down to about the
9th magnitude. These maps had to be continually

time photography has almost entirely replaced
visual searching for these little bodies. The photo-
graphs by Professor Max Wolf, taken with the
16-inch Bruce telescope on November 4th, 1901,
and with the 6-inch portrait lens on March 21st,
1892, the former enlarged three and a half and the
latter six times will show what these trails are
like. In each case the plates were exposed
for two hours. It was stated in the “Bulletin
Astronomique ” for October 1896 that, out of thirty-
nine plates exposed, eleven showed no planets,
whilst the rest contained the trails of no less than
fifty-two planets—forty-six old, and six new dis-
coveries. Sometimes several new ones have been
observed on one plate, as, for instance, on
October 31st, 1899, when three were so found, and
on one occasion there were no less than five.

The orbits of these tiny worlds are often so
inclined from the plane of the ecliptic that they
are sometimes known as ultra-zodiacal planets.

286

Pallas, for instance, has an inclination of 34° 7,
but, on the other hand, Massilia is only inclined
0°:7. There is also considerable difference in the
size and shape of the orbits, for whilst No. 330 is
comparatively near the orbit of Mars, No. 380,
shown, together with another newly-discovered
planet, on the photograph of November 4th, 1901.
is far out towards that of the planet Jupiter. All
planets travel in paths more or less elliptical,
Venus is most nearly circular amongst the major
planets, the amount of its eccentricity being ex-
pressed as 00068. Among the minor planets the
eccentricity of Europa amounts to only 0-004,
whilst the object photographed at Arequipa on
August 14th, 1901, is one of the most eccentric
known, that element being expressed as 0°377.
This means that when nearest the Sun its distance
is only 148,800,000 miles, but when farthest

329,220,000 miles separate the two bodies; but
this eccentricity is exceeded by Aethra. ‘The
nearest of the little planets has a year lasting,
in extent of time, to about three of ours, but
the most distant one occupies nearly nine years
in travelling its path.

Professor Barnard’s measures with the 36-inch
Lick telescope in 1894 gave the actual diameters
of Ceres, Pallas, and Vesta as 599, 273, and 237
miles respectively. The rest, excepting Juno, are
all much smaller; it is doubtful if the oreater
portion of them do not vary between 15 and 5 miles
in diameter, the figures given by Hornstein.

As telescopic objects, at least with all but the
largest telescopes, they are a failure, appearing as
tiny stars varying in size from 6°6 magnitude to
the tiniest points, some shining with a ruddy,
others with a bluish light. As objects on the
photographic plates, it will be seen, by the examples
here given, they are represented by thin lines of
varying angles. These are caused by the motion of
the planets among fixed stars during the exposure
of the plates, which occupied, as already noted,
two hours in both cases cited. The images from
the stars are kept motionless on a photographic
plate, by means of clockwork.

Quite separate from the other minor planets is
Eros, having an orbit mostly within that of
Mars. It was discovered August 13th, 1898,
by Herr Witt, of Berlin, and is without doubt
the most important of the minor planets from
an astronomer’s point of view. When _ nearest
to the Earth its distance is only about 13,000,000
miles, or little more than half that of Venus when
in transit. Its distance from the Sun varies from
11333 to 1:7828, taking the Earth’s mean distance
as 1:0. The most favourable oppositions of the
planet during the near future will be in the years
1917 and 1924, when every effort will be made to
determine with more exactness the actual distance
of the Sun from the Earth, and also the relative
masses or weights of these two bodies. When
nearest to the Harth, Eros appears as a star of, say,
sixth or seventh magnitude, but it is usually much
smaller. The discovery of its variability within a
period of about 2h. 22m. leads one to suppose from
the nature of the variation that the planet is closely
double, and that the components revolve in an
orbit whose plane at times passes through the
Earth. In the middle of February 1901 the varia-
tion was found to be from 9°3 to 11:0 magnitudes.
Its revolution round the Sun is accomplished in
643-1 days.

(To be continued.)

SCIENCE- GOSSIF.

PLEASURE.—I am
acquainted in a general way with the accepted
principles of organic evolution, but I cannot re-

EVOLUTION OF PAIN AND

member coming across any discussion of the
evolution of pleasure and pain in the works of
Darwin, Wallace, Romanes, or Haeckel. There is
a popular belief that low forms of life are not
capable of much pleasure or pain. Can this view
be justified from the Darwinian standpoint? Could
it be argued with any force that, other things being
equal, the animal that enjoys and suffers most is
the fittest animal, and that consequently pleasure
and pain are selected by nature in the same way
as fleetness, strength, cunning, or other attributes
of value to the existence of animals? Some
observations on house flies which I made during
the summer have led me to think that these crea-
tures do not suffer,inan analogous way to man. I
have found several times that a fly, immediately
after one of its legs is pulled off, will proceed to
devour sugar. I shall be very grateful if any of
your readers can give me information on this sub-
ject, or can refer me to authors who treat it in a
popular way.— William Smith, Glasgow.

ANIMALS AND TELEGRAPH-POLES.—The note in
SCIENCE-GOSSIP, ante, p. 241, on the damage done
to telegraph-poles by woodpeckers reminds me that
at the Paris Electric Exhibition of 1881 specimens
of portions of telegraph-poles were exhibited to
show the damage done to them by woodpeckers,
and also by bears. The birds seemed generally to
attack the poles near the top, and in some cases

holes had been made large enough to pass the

hand through; but the bears had gnawed away the
wood nearer the ground, thereby weakening the
poles to such an extent that they broke off and fell
under a very moderate wind pressure. It was
clear neither the birds nor the beasts wanted to
devour the wood, and it was explained that their
attention was drawn to the poles by the humming
noise produced by the vibrations of the wire, and
communicated to the poles by conduction. Whilst,
therefore, the woodpeckers endeavoured to get at
the insects which they imagined were living some-
where inside the pole, the bears, under the
impression that there must surely be a bees’ nest
inside, had made strenuous efforts to secure the
honey, of which they are so passionatiely;fond. The
immunity of a majority of the poles, in contradis-
tinction to the attacks upon others, was thought to
be due to a fine sense of discrimination on the part
of the animals, which induced them to trouble only
about the poles that resounded with notes of pre-
cisely the same pitch as those naturally produced
by the particular insects desired. No doubt paint-
ing the poles would tend to preserve the wood from
the influences of the weather, but as. this would
not stop the humming, it is extremely doubtful if
it would be to any extent a remedy for the
mischief above mentioned. The cure seems rather
to lie in the direction of insulating the wires in

SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 287

some such way as that adopted by telephone
companies to prevent the annoyance caused to
inhabitants of houses on which poles are fixed
from the Aeolian strains emitted by the overhead
wires under the influence of a moderate breeze.—
Rh. T. Lewis, 4 Lyndhurst Villas, Ealing, W.

NEST OF HUMMING-BIRD.—Enclosed I send you
a picture of a nest of a hummine-bird. It is
represented half natural size, and the chief
difficulty in taking the photograph was obtaining

NEST OF HUMMING-BIRD.

the light necessary for a successful picture, as the
subject was under the eaves of my verandah,
where the light was shaded. To get over the
difficulty I hung a sheet of cardboard to the left of
the camera, and directed a ray of sunshine on it
by means of a mirror standing on the grass some
distance away. I may mention, as showing the
tameness of the parent bird, that she fed the
young ones in the nest several times during the
operation of photographing, though the camera
was not more than two feet distant from the nest.
The parents began. building on November 238th,
1900 ; the first egg was laid on December 9th. I
did not get the date of the second egg, but they
were hatched on December 25th, and the young
birds were fledged on January 18th, 1901.—
a erage sield Jones, Castro, Estado do Parand,
rail.

THE MILp WINTER. — Since Christmas the
weather in the West of England has been remark-
ably mild. During the week ending January 25th
many evidences of an early spring were to be
found, such as pollen-shedding male catkins of
hazel (Corylus avellana, Linn.), some I found be-
ing upwards of three inches in length. The blooms
of sweet coltsfoot (Petasites fragrans, Linn.)
scented whole districts with their almond-like
perfume; primroses were in bloom, and land
mollusca active.—John T. Carrington, Lynmouth.

RUFOUS, OR MOUNTAIN PARTRIDGE.—Several
specimens of Perdix montana Brisson, a variety of
the common partridge, have recently occurred
near Stone, Staffordshire, and others have been
reported from Norfolk and different counties. I
should be much obliged to any of your readers
who will kindly supply me with particulars of
instances of, or references to, this variety of the
partridge which may have come under their notice,
my object being to obtain as complete a list as

possible of British examples. If any supposed or
probable cause for the occurrence of this erythristic
variety can be given, such as the importation of
foreign partridges or their eggs, I shall be glad to
have it stated.—John R. B. Masefield, Rosehill,
Cheadle, Staffordshire.

WHAT THE FLy SAW WHEN THE SPIDER SPIED
HeER.—Among recent jokes there has been the
riddle, ‘* Why did the fly fly?” the obvious answer
being, ‘‘ Because the spider spied her.” There is more
at the back of this than appears on the face of the
joke, for the front of the spider must be appalling
to the vision of a fly. Having thought out the
subject from the point of view of the wretched
dipteron that has been so unfortunate as to become
an object of attention of some rapacious arachnid,
I have made a drawing of what the fly sees when
one of our common species of spiders (Salticus
scenicus Clk.) presents its frontal aspect. My
sketch is taken from a photograph obtained by my-
self from a living specimen, and forms an accurate
picture of the fly’s bogey, excepting that the bright
colours of the thoracic region are backed by the
sombre tints of the body raised behind. We are
given to understand that, as a rule, the visual
powers of the diptera are comparatively well
developed. If this be so, we may extend some
sympathy towards these creatures when we con-
sider the nervous shock they must experience upon
being suddenly confronted with this ideal of

WHAT THE FLY SEES.

hideousness. Such an object would probably spoil
the riddle, for one can hardly imagine the fly flying
under such circumstances. This fascination may
account for the obesity of some of our spiders.—
Frank P Smith, 15 Cloudesley Place, London, N.

RAINFALL IN NORTH DEVON.—I have been in-
formed that the rainfall in North Devon has been
deficient for some years past. During the four
years I have kept a daily record at this place it
has annually varied to the extent of nearly nine
inches, the highest being 44°27 inches in 1900, and
the lowest 34°64 inches last year. The rainfall
here has never at any one time during the four
years been extraordinary, and on fourteen occa-
sions only has it exceeded 1 inch in twenty-four
hours. The heaviest fall was on December 12th,
1901, when the amount was 2°15 inches. My
station is only 20 feet above the sea level, and

288

Mr. Ford, of Gwynallt, whose station is also at
Lynmouth, and within a quarter of a mile away.
but 300 feet above the sea level, generally records
a heavier fall than at this lower station, though on
December 12th last, as above referred to, he only
recorded 1:94 inches. Lynmouth, however, is by
no means the wettest place in the neighbourhood,
as Ilfracombe, Martinhoe. South Molton, and
Parracombe nearly always have much _ heavier
falls. The two places, however, from which the
heaviest returns come are Arlington Court, where
the gauge is taken by Lady Chichester—the fall
there last year was 52°33 inches—and at Simons-
bath, nine miles inland from Lynmouth, where
the Rev. N. L. Pigot recorded 63°74 inches. The
heights above sea level of the last two stations are
respectively 925 feet and 1,080 feet. In every year
of which I have any note Simonsbath has always
had by far the heaviest fallin North Devon. The
past four summers have all been dry, with little or
no midsummer rains. Two summers ago, some of
the springs on the moors about five miles hence
were running very dry, and I have been told
that last year, which had the lowest fall of the
four, other springs besides those on the moors were
running very short, and in some places were abso-
lutely dry. There is no apparent cause for this
shortness of the rainfall, as surface draining is not
extensively carried on near here, and there is
not much cutting of woods or other alteration of
the surface of the surrounding country.—Thos. H.
Mead- Briggs, Rock House, Lynmouth, North Devon,
January 1902.

NOTICES OF SOCIETIES.

Ordinary meetings are marked +, excursions * 3 names of persons
following excursions are of Conductors. Lantern Illustra-
tions §.

NortH LONDON NATURAL HIStory SOCIETY.

Feb, 11.—} “ The Progress made in Botany, Entomology, Orni-
thology, and General Zoology during 1901.”
Various Members.
> 22.—Annual Exhibition.
5 25.—§ “ Mites.” Rey. C. R. N. Burrows.

ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN,

Feb. 4.—}“ The Cell.” Dr. Allan Macfadyen.
» %—f“ The New Mammal from Central Africa.”
. fessor E. Ray Lankester.

» 11.—t* The Cell.” Dr. Allan Macfadyen.

» 14.—f‘ Magic Squares and other Problems on a Chess
Board.” Major P. A. McMahon.

3 15.—f “ Some Electrical Developments.” Lord Rayleigh.

» 18.—+ The Cell.” Dr. Allan Macfadyen.

5 21.—+ “ Musical and Talking Elettric Arcs.” W. Duddell.

» 22.—} “Some Electrical Developments.” Lord Rayleigh.

» 25.—7“ The Temperature of the Atmosphere.” W. N.
Shaw.

Pro-

SELBORNE SOCIETY.

Feb. 6.—$“A Talk about the Solar System.”
Moore, B.A., B.Mus.

H. Keatley

HAMPSTEAD SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY.

Feb. 7.—} General Meeting. “The Zero of Temperature.”
Walter Bailey, M.A.
», 12.—§ Photographic Section.
» 14.—Natural History Section.
F. P. Smith.
5, 28.—Photographic Section. Beginner’s Lvening. Criticism
of Prints, Negatives, etc.

“ Pictorial. Photography.
“ Spiders and their Ways.”

NOTICE.

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EDITORIAL COMMUNICATIONS, articles, books for review, instru -
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WANTED: Termites (in spirit preferred), Would exchange
microscopic slides to value.—R. Hancock, Thornhill Road,
Handsworth, Birmingham.

OFFERED : “ The Photogram,” vol. 2; “ Amateur Photogra-
pher,” vol. 16; “ Wide World Magazine” (Newnes), Nos. 1-14 ;
all unbound.’ What offers in exchange ?—Cbarles Mosley,
Moor End, Lockwood, Huddersfield.

WANTED : Localised varieties of H. nemoralisand H. hortensis
in exchange for other British L. & 8.W. shells. Also notes upon
the variation of the above species.—Chas. Pannell, jr., East
Street, Haslemere. :

OFFERED: Monthly or weekly supply, parcel fresh-gathered

‘Seaweeds, Zoophytes, etc., post free, in exchange for Shells or

anything useful to an amateur mechanic.—W. Balmbra, Wark-
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CONTENTS.

Our CocKROACHES. By E. J. BURGESS Sopp, F.R.Met.Soc.,
F.E.S. .. a0 Ad AG at a0 06 eo. 257

Stupy oF A LOWER ORGANISM. By Haroup A. HalG.. 260
NoTEs ON SUSSEX PLANTS. By THOMAS HILTon.. -. 263

AN INTRODUCTION TO BRITISH SPIDERS. By FRANK
Percy Smite. Illustrated a0 oo 00 -. 264

BUTTERFLIES OF THE PALAEARCTIC REGION. By HENRY
OHARLES LANG, M.D., F.E.S. .. C Ja -. 266

COLEOPTERA NEAR CARLISLE. By JAMES MURRAY -. 268

MANGANESE ORES OF THURINGIA. By O. BOULENGER .. 269:

Books TO READ. Illustrated .. An 56 ae a. 270
Borany. Illustrated .. a0 00 ste ee semnevale
SCIENCE GOSSIP .. O00 30 a0 S0 O0 «. © 203-
Microscopy. Illustrated oF ee ee sis Bo 2x3

PHOTOGRAPHY .. do O65 on 56 50 e. 200:

Puysics. Illustrated .. ae 50 36 30 oo easiil
CHEMISTRY do Jo 56 ts ac ot «. 283
ASTRONOMY 50 50 ste ete 50 oo «. 284
Norres AND QUERIES. Illustrated .. do 50 «. 286
NovricES—EXcHANGES .. 00 Oy 30 te .. 288:

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A FILMLESS CINEMATOGRAPH
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No. 11252 ‘* London ”
MICROSCOPE, as
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£6 1

two object
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ULE CLAcTA TOG Ua | Om As are ArT e@ dae

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- Total Aperture 1:0 N.A.

Diameter of Back
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Magnifying Power 4,’':

This Cian is constructed on the “triple

P | back” principle, which has produced such wonder-

ful aplanatism in Watson’s Holoscopic Objectives,
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A medium-priced Instrument, yielding advantages

‘‘ERAM” MICROSCOPE, A highest class Instrument at a very moderate cost.
VAN HEURCK MICROSCOPE, Replete with every modern convenience.
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Kull particulars of all the above ave contained in Watson's Catalogue (No. 2),

wa _ ROYAL Mieheeone.
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ESTABLISHED 1837.]

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