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HARDWICKE’S

SCIENCE-GOSSIP

For 1865.

Seg eh Gos

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HARDWICKE’S

Science-Gossip

AN ILLUSTRATED MEDIUM OF INTERCHANGE AND GOSSIP

| FOR STUDENTS AND

LOVERS OF NATURE.

Epitep sy M. C. COOKH,

AUTHOR OF “‘A PLAIN AND EASY ACCOUNT OF THE BRITISH FUNGI,” ‘‘ MICROSCOPIC FUNGI,” ‘©’ MANUAL OF BOTANICAL TERMS,” AND OF ‘‘ STRUCTURAL BOTANY,” THE “BRITISH REPTILES,” ETC. ETC.

LON DON: ROBERT HARDWICKEH, 192, PICCADILLY. 1866.

COX AND WYMAN, ORIENTAL, CLASSICAL, AND GENERAL PRINTERS,

GREAT QUEEN STREET, LONDON, W.C.

AVANT-PROPOS.

| URING the “eventful year” just drawing to

a close, we have studiously avoided thrust- ing ourselves and our “hobby” before our subscribers. Twelve monthly numbers of Gosste have regularly made their appearance, and now we think the time and opportunity has arrived to congratulate ourselves upon the success which we have achieved. That we do congratulate ourselves” there is not the slightest doubt, and we congratulate our subscribers also. The cause for congratulation in the latter case, as well as in the former, les in the fact that Harpwickr’s Science Gossip has proved a decided success, even beyond our most sanguine hopes, when we first planned its constitution. We have no doubt that our readers rejoice with us in this consummation, since our success proves that we have produced just that sort of companion which they desired. Whilst, however, we shake hands with ourselves, and feel good-humoured towards everybody, as all successful people do, we by no means wish to flatter ourselves into the belief that our work has been perfect. Any one desirous of being critical, may turn over these pages and point out defects which might have been remedied, or omissions which might have been avoided. Good-natured friends will make allowances for a few failures in execution, where the general intention has been in the right direction. We have had much to learn, and we hope that, from our experience of the past, we have profited for the future. It has been our good fortune to secure the kind offices of many scientific friends,

without whose valuable aid we could not have hoped to have rendered

|

vi AVANT-PROPOS.

our “Notes and Queries” and “ Answers to Correspondents” so complete. Although we have no permission to quote the names of those to whom we refer, and who possess a European reputation in their own special branches of Natural History, we cannot refrain from according to them our thanks. Should there be any of our numerous contributors who feel aggrieved that their communications have not been inserted, or their queries answered, we trust at this cenial season, when friendships are cemented, and follies and failings forgotten, that they will extend to us full and free pardon for offences which have been unintentional. So sudden and almost overwhelming did the correspondence speedily become, even before the machinery could be brought into working order, that we are more surprised at not oftener hearing the voice of complaint, than we should have been at a postman’s deluge of angry letters. Let this volume be accepted as an earnest of our anxiety to supply month by month a healthy four-penny-worth of “ Gossip ;”’ and with the assurance that it shall be our aim to progress and improve, we cordially wish onr

friends, contributors, and subscribers, all the world over—

“A Happy New Year!”

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“A LirtLe RHApSopy, 45. Abnormal Fossil Ferns, 187. Abnormal Larch Cones, 88. Abnormal Pimpernel, 18. About the Otter’s Shell, 79. Acari, lists of, 65.

Achatina acicula, 61. Adjustments, 95.

Aération of Aquaria, 211. Agardh’s View of Nature, 47. Age of Human Skeleton, 264. Air-bladders of Fish, 69. Albino Fiowers, 24.

Alexander Rust, 190.

Algze, Bibliography, 192. Almora and Sorrel, 43.

Alpine Plantain in Shetland, 283. Alpine Rose, 66.

Alps, formation of, 219. Amateur Botanists’ Society, 23, 46, 70. Amateur Microscopists, 153. American Blight, 185. American Water-weed, 141. Ameeba, the, 45.

Anacharis alsinustrum, 141. Anatomatizing leaves, 215, 239, 286. Ancient Trees, 185.

Anecdote of Stork, 14. Anecdote of Swift, 14. Anecdotes of Birds, 181. Anemone with Five Bracts, 138. Anemones, Sea, 155.

Angling for Tench, 15. Angular Aperture, 288. Animatcules, Eel-like, 213. An'malcule, Jelly, 58. Animals, preserving, 48. Anobium tesselatum, 60. Anoplotherium, 214,

Another Plesiosaurus, 164. Another Swift in Difficulty, 64. Ancther use for Nettles, 88. Anthropological Society, 22. Anthus spinoletta, 64, 76. Aunts, 262.

Ant, the Driver, 113.

Ants, black, 238.

Ants and Cineraria, 143.

Ants and Cocci, 234.

Ants, festoons of, 116.

Ants of Great Britain, 185. Ants, House, 170, 239.

Ants storing Grain, 113.

Ants, winged, 263.

Apetalous Stitchwort, 235. Aphides, Swarms of, 287. Aphis on Money-wort, 257. Aphis populi, 257.

Appendages to Water-beetles, 238, 257. Aquaria, Aération of, 211. Aquaria, Fish in, 119.

Aquaria, Fresh-water, 188, 211, 212, 213.

Aquaria and Fernery combined, 71, 117. Aquaria Plants, 92, 141.

Aquaria, Marine, 129.

Aquaria, Streams in, 188.

Aquarian Difficulties, 154, 188, 213, 239. Aquarium, Gobies in, 42.

Aquarium Query answered, 167. Aquarium Query, 143.

Aquavivarium, 288.

Arachnoidiscus ornatus, 114.

Arcadian Fir, New, 259.

Arctic Clio, 183.

Aregma bulbosum, 176.

Arran Drift-beds, 68.

Artaxerxes Butterfly, 66.

Artichoke, Jerusalem, 118, 142, 262. Artichoke in flower, 262.

INDEX.

Asclepias seeds, 143. Ash-bark Fungus, 144, Ash Coccus, 216.

| Asphalte, 259. | Asplenium viride, 44. | Association of Plants and Animals, 235.

Assyrian Botany, 110. Asterosporium Hoffmanni, 35. Atropus pulsatorius, 111.

| BADGER, the, 87.

Badger caught, 135.

| Badger, White, 118.

Badgers, capture of, 63.

Baikie, Dr., death of, 46. Balance of Power, 193.

Balsam and Chloroform, 45, 69.

| Baltic Cod-fish, 261. | Barnacies and Corals, 211.

Basse, the, 208.

Battle of the Bees, 214. Bearded Tit, 26.

Beauty in Nature, 182. Beaver, Gigantic Fossil, 44. Beech ‘‘ Gall Midge,”’ 190. Beech Trees, 167.

Bee and its Sting, 65, 142. Bees, 286.

Bees and Fuchsia, 263. Bees and their Food, 286. Bees and Wasps, 263.

| Bees attacking Fruit, 287.

Bees, Battle of, 214. Bees, Ligurian Queens, 41.

| Bees’ Remains, 143, 166, 167. | Bees, removing, 257.

Bees, suffocation of, 185. Bees, superstitions about, 34. Bees, why did they go, 93. Bees, Wild, 137.

Beetledom, a Story of, 98. Benzole for killing insects, 72. Bibliography of Zoology, 72. Bighorn at Belfast, 44. Binocular Dissecting Microscope, 201. Birds, Anecdotes of, 181. Birds and Insect Pests, 160. Birds’ Eggs, 238.

Birds’ Eggs, Colour of, 47, Birds in an Eclipse, 207. Birds, names of Sea-, 239. Birds, to preserve, 48, 63.

| Bite of Viper, 95.

Bitten by a Viper, 131.

Bittern, the, 86.

Bituminous Oil, 210.

Black Ants, 238.

Black Beetles, 167, 238.

Black Cradle, 270.

Black-headed Gull, 256.

Black Hollyhocks, 43.

Black Woodpecker, 183,

Blight, American, 185.

Blight, a Curious, 167.

Blight of Larch, 190.

Blighted Beech-leaves, 190.

Bloody-man’s Fingers, 114.

Bloomeria, Goiden, 167.

Bluebottles, 70.

Blue Fleabane 258.

Blue-fiowers, White, 24.

Blue Tits, 39.

Blue Wren, the, 199.

Bog Asphodel, 209.

Books on Fungi, 240.

Books on the Microscope, 240.

Books on Seaweeds, 192.

Books on Shells, 48.

Books on Zoophytes, 192.

in Cumberland, 220,

Books received, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, 144, 168, 192, 216, 240, 264, 288.

| Bombay Zoological Gardens, 46.

|

|

Bonaparte’s Gull, 38.

Botanical Society, Edinburgh, 70.

Botanists’ Amateur Society, 23, 46, 70.

Botanist, the Cobbler, 66.

Botany, 17, 43, 66, 88, 114, 137, 162, 186, 209, 235, 258, 283.

Botany, Assyrian, 110.

Botany at the Cape, 115.

Botany, Modern Military, 24.

| Botany, Origin of Sowerby’s, 47. | Bramble-leat Brand, 176. | Brambling, the, 64.

Brand, Meadow-sweet, 255. Breeze-Fly, the, 194. Bristle-mculd, new, 65.

| British Land and Freshwater Shells, 61,

191. British Lichens, 186. British Orchids, 124. British Plants, Variations in, 32, 228. British Roses, 88. British Salmon, 69. British Species of Burdock, 44. British Woods, 239. Brittle India-rubber, 186. Bromley, and What I found there, 246. Brood of Caterpillars, 126. B:oom-rape in a strange place, £9. Briicke’s Lens, 141. Buckinghamshire Ficra, 67. Bull’s-eye Condenser, 212.

| Burdock, British Species of, 44.

Buried alive, 135.

| Burnet, Six-spot, 151. | Butcher-bird, Great, 181.

Butcher-bird, or Shrike, 106.

Butterflies, Heroic Names, 15.

Butterfly and Nettle, 62.

Butterfly, Clouded Yellow, 281.

Butterfly Parasites. 262.

Butterfly Scales, 140, 166. 5 :

Butterfly, Small Tortoise-shell, 263, 280,

Butterfly Wings, Development of, 113.

Butterworts, Cultivation of, 205,

Button Galls, 240.

Buxton, Mr. Richard, 66.

CABBAGE BUTTERFLY PARASITES, 71.

Cabbage Butterfly and its Metamor- phoses, 30, 74.

Cabinet Labels, 192.

Cape Botany, 115.

Cape Pigeons, 118.

Cape Hen, 142, 239.

Cape Salmon, 64.

Carolina Crake in England, 6).

Cases, Ferns in, 284, 287.

| Cat-briar, 215, 239. | Cat-fleas, 278.

| | | | \ | |

| \ |

1

Cat sacred to Hecate, 41. Caterpillars, Brood of, 126.

| Caterpillars, irritating, 288. , Caterpillars on Apple-trees, 16s.

Caterpillars on Oak, 168. Caterpillars defoliating Trees, 168. Caterpillars on Hawthorn, 168. Cats, Manx, 118, 142.

Caverns near Furfooz, 164. Cedar-wood Exudation, 214, 239. Celery Fly and Tomtits, 281.

| Cement for Rock-work, 94.

Chetomium murorum, 66.

| Chameleon, 92.

Change of Climate, 99.

| Chapter from the Life of a Volvox, 244-

Chapter on Hairs, 29. Chestnut-tree of Tuileries, 138.

Vili

SCIENCEH-GOSSLP.

Child poisuned by a Toad, 11]. China-grass, 18, 277. Chirocephalus diaphanus, 45. Choice of a Microscope, 267. Chloroform and Balsam, 45, 69. Christmas leaves, 283.

Cilia of Diatomacee, 237. Cilia of Volvox, 263.

Cinders in Cultivating Ferns, 188. Cineraria and Ants, 143.

Circle of Life, 145.

Circulating Cabinet, 236. Circulation in a Fly, 259. Circwlation of Cosmarium, 04. Clausilia Mortilleti, 61.

Cleaning Diatomacee, 52. Cleaning Echinus Spines, 94. Cleaning Insects, 72.

Cleaning Objects, 142.

Cleaning Sections, 47.

Clio borealis, 183.

Clip, Improved, 189.

Clouded Yellow Butterfly, 281. Cluster-cups, 67.

Coal, our Stock of, 210.

Coal’s Account of itself, 91. Coal-plants, 210. Cobbler-Botanist, the, 66. Coccus on Ash, 216.

Coccus of Oranges, 96. Cochineal, 210.

Cockroaches and Crickets, 42, 66. Cod-fish, Baltic, 261.

Cod-fish Eggs, 210.

Collecting Diatoms, 85. Collecting Objects, 69. Collecting Roses, 43.

Colias in exchange, 286,

Colour of Birds’ Eggs, 39, 47, §7, 142, |

231. Comatula rosacea, 95, 112. Common Things, 217. Common Things Unknown, §8. Comparative Increase in Size, 2/6. ~Compound Eyes of Insects, 228, 249. Conchologicel Works, 48. Condenser, Bull’s-eye, 212. Condenser, Economic, 90. Condenser, Webster’s, 140. Cone, Fossil, 259. Conferva, Green, 119. Conservatory Guide, 239, 262. Corallines, 177. Coral Reefs, 112, 220, 285. Corals and Barnacles, 211. Corals and Madrepores, 287. Corals and Sponges, 187. Cork Bark for Fern-cases, 34. Corn Poppy, White, 167. Cosmarium botrytis, 201. Cosmarium, Circulation, 94. Cotton, Species of, 43. Cow-trees, 171, «86. Crab-claw, Curicus, 206. Crab, Hermit, 191. Cradle, a Black, 270. Crake, Carolina, 60. Crane in Shetland, 184. Cretaceous Fossils, 229, 285. Cricket on the Hearth, 84. Crickets and Cockroaches, 42, 64. Crickets, what do they eat, 113, 128, 166. Crowfoot, Pollen of, 186. Cryptogams in Himalayas, 114. Crystallized Carbon, 258. Cuckoo, the, 86. Cuckoo and its Eggs, 38. Cuckoo’s Egg in Linnet’s nest, 87. Cuckoo, Notes of, 183. Cui Bono? 25, Cultivation of Butterworts, 205. Cultivation of Ferns, 1/9. Culture of Vallisneria, 138, Curiosities, Natural, 283. Curious Blight, 167. Curious Crab-claw, 2°6. Curious Dietetie Phenomenon, O4. Curious Places for Nests, 233. Cutting Sections of Wood, 71. Cybele Hihernica, 43. Cyclops, Four-horned, 158. DABCHICKS, 152. Daisy, Proliferous, 182. Dammar-Bee, 252. Darwin’s New Work, 114.

Dead Fly in Water, 133.

Dead Fly on the Window, 10.

Dead-Sea Water, 259.

Dead Spider in Water, 133.

Death among Young Ferns, 93.

Death of Dr. Baikie, 46.

Death of Professor Silliman, 24.

Death to Flies, 15.

Death’s-head Hawk-moth, 298, 224.

Death’s-head Moth at Sea, 41.

Death-watch, the, 60.

Deer poisoned by Yew, 112.

Deformed Swallow-tail, 185.

Delesseria sanguinea, 117.

Dermestes and Pencil-tail, 259.

Development of Butterfly Wings, 113.

Devilline, 20.

Devonshire Mistletoe, 114.

Diame‘er of Lenses, 238.

Diamonds, Origin of, 88.

Diaphragm for Microscope, 189.

Diaphragm, Graduating, 153.

Diatom, rew Jrish, 114.

Diatom wanted, 95.

Diatomacee, Cilia of, 237.

Diatomacees, Cleaning, 52.

Diatomacez, Movements of, 163.

Diatomacez, Sea-side, 250.

Diatoms, 140.

Diatoms, Exotic and British, 167.

Diatoms from Guano, 148.

Diatoms, on Collecting, 83.

Diatoms, what they are, &c., 27.

Diet of Worms, 180, 214.

Dipper, Fecd of, 184.

| Dipper, Song of, 135.

| Diseased Flies, 70.

Dissecting Microscope, Binocular, 201.

Diving Sandpipers, 63.

Dog vw. Fox, 160.

Dog-whelk, netted, 259.

Dormcuse, the Common, 202.

Dorr-Beetle, Strength of, 41.

Dorse, the, 261.

Double-yolked Eggs, 39, 63.

Dragon-flies, 95.

Drift-beds of Arran, 68.

| Drift of East of England, 44.

Driver Ant, 113.

Driver Ants, Festoons cf, 116.

Drosera rotundifolin, 209.

Drying Flowers, 186.

Drying Starfish, 136.

Duckweeds, 5, 258, 286.

Duckweeds, name. 258.

Dumfries Natural Hist ry £ociety, 7?.

Dytiscus, its Parasite, 255.

EaGhLi-KILLine Extraordinary, 13.

Eagle, the Golden, 39.

Early Wasp, 137, 161.

Earwig, White, 213.

Earwigs, 185.

Echinus Spines, cleaning, 94.

Economic Concenser, 9.

| Economic Entomology, 87.

Edib'e Fungi, 214.

Edinburgh Betanical Soci ty, 70.

Education in Geology, 140.

Eel, Observations on, 93,

Eel, Reproduct:on of, 118, 141, 165.

| Eel-like Animalcul:s, 213.

| Eels and Dew-worim,e, 236.

Eels and Fish Garbage, 93.

| Eels, Migration of, 284.

| Eels, Migratory, 70, 95.

| Effects of Lightning cn Firth, 211.

| Egg of Cuckoo, 87.

| Egg of the Moa, 14, 282.

Egg of Stormy Petrel, 87.

Eggs, Colour of, 39, 47, 87.

| Eggs, Double-yolked, 29, 63.

Eggs of Cat-bird, 238,

Eggs of Great Auk, 184.

Eggs of Land Tortoise, 63.

Eggs of Thrash, 263.

Eggs, Pheasant’s, 193.

Eggs, Stalked Insect, 199.

Elephant, Fossil, 215.

| Embryonic Development, 65.

English Crag and Scotch Beds, 68.

Entomological Society, 22, 46, 113, 144.

Entomology, 15, 41, 66, 113, 127, 161, 185, 208, 234, 257.

' Eozoon Canadense, 161.

Exotic, in Eritish Iccalities, |

(1865.

Epipactis rubra in Gloucestershire, 235.

Eriogaster lunestris, 126.

Eriophorum angustifolium, 43.

Erucastrum Pollichii, 29.

Ethnological Society, 23, 46.

European Swallows, 136.

Evening Primrose, Pollen of, 212.

Examining Plants, 162.

Exotic and British Diatoms, 140, 167.

Exudation of Cedar, 214.

Eye, Facets in the, 189.

Eyes, Compound, 228, 249.

FABLE, a, 63.

Facets in the Eye, 1€9.

Fairy Shrimp, the, 45.

Fearless Tits, 160.

Features of Plants, 43.

Fern-growing, 44, 109, 188, 239, 262.

Fern, Hart’s-tongue, 190, 214.

Fern, Killarney, 92.

Fern Query, 94.

Fern, the Tunbridge, 114.

Fernery and Aquarium, 71, 117.

Ferns, 20, 34, 37, 44, 66, 67, 93, 109.

Ferns, Abnormal Fossil, 187.

Ferns, Cultivating, 44, 109, 158, 239, 262.

Ferns, Death among, 93.

Ferns in Cases, 284.

Ferns, Insects feeding on, 65.

Ferns, Preservative Power of, 37, 95, 1:5

Ferns, Reproduction of, 89.

Festocons of Driver Ants, 116.

Field Naturalists, Manchester, 23.

Fiftieth Objective, 90.

Fiji Islands Flora, 67.

Fir, new Arcadian, 250.

Fir-scales for Microscope, 45.

Fire-fly Light, 191.

Fish, Air-bladders of, 69.

Fish-culture on the Lea, 14°.

Fish, great Slaughter of, 165.

Fish in Aquaria, 119.

Fish killed by Lightning, 211.

Fish-ladders on the Thames, 16.

Fish-moulds end Fly-maulds, 13!, i189.

Fish Ova-cases, 182.

Fish-scales for Microscope, 261.

Fish Tattle, 16, 42, 93, 141, 165, 2¢7, 256, 261, 284.

Fish, the New, 42, 56.

Fish: What are they about? 95.

Fish, Weever, 165.

Fleas, Cat, 278.

Flesh-worm Disease, 4°,

Flora of Bucks, 67.

| Flora of Fiji Islands, 67.

Tiorence Flask-covers, 129.

Flower-loving Spiders, 206.

Flowers, imperfectly develore?, 193.

Flowers, Language of, 114.

Flowers, to Dry, 186.

Flies and Wasps, 262.

Flies, Death to, 15.

Fiies, Diseased, 70.

Flies, Hybernation cf, 113.

Fly-catcher, Spotted, 256.

Fly-catching Plant, 43.

Fly, Circulation in, 259.

Fly, Foot of a, 253.

Fly, Green Drake-, 231.

Fly in Pike-fishing, 280

Fly, Larve of, 83.

Fiy-moulds, 10.

Fly-moulds and Fish-moulds, !34.

Fly Nuisance, 257.

Fly Parasites, 93, 227.

Fly, Spiracles of, 199.

Fly, the Breeze-, 194.

Fly, Tongues of, 83.

Focal Length, 288.

Folk. lore of Geology, 164.

Food of Salamander, 95.

| Food of the Dipper, 1S14.

Foot of a Fly, 253.

Foraminifera, 69, 187.

Forceps, Stage, 212.

Forest of Cromer Period, 259

Formation of the Alps, 210.

Forty Years ago, 24.

| Fossil Beaver, Gigantic, 44.

{ Fossil Cone, 259.

| Fossil Elephant, 215.

| Fossil Ferns, Abnormal, 187.

Fossil Oak, 210.

Fossil Plants, 68,

Fossil Plants of ‘Coal, 210, Fossil Shell, 94.

Fossil Spider in Coal, 259.

Fossil Teeth, &c., 136.

Fossils, Cretaceous, 229, 285. Fossils from Caradoc Strata, 210. Fossils, Manufacture of, 91. Fossils, what are, 19.

Fountain, Intermittent, 260.

Four Years’ Acquaintance with a Toad,

12. Four-horned Cyclops, 158. Fox-shark, 165. Fox v. Dog, 160. Fox with young Scentless, 166. Freshwater Aquaria, 188, 211, 212, 213.

Hawthorn Cat: onyuuieiee 168.

| Hedgehog, the, 79, 1°8.

Hedgehog among Strawberries, 95.

| Hedgehog, White, 207.

Hedgehogs eating Eggs, 143. Helix obvoluta, 61.

| Hepatic, mounting, 109.

Herbaria, Prizes for, 78. Herbarium Insect, 111.

Herb Paris, 138, 143. Hermaphredite Catkins, 19. Hermit Crab, 191.

Hermit Rooks, 226.

Heroic Names of Butterflies, 15. Heron, the Squacco, 281. Herring, the, &c., 284.

| Killing Insects for Cabinet, | Kleptomania, 194. Knoppern Galls, 41. Kolpods, Reproduction of, 132. LABURNUM, 215.

Lace-wing Fly, Eggs of, 190. Lamp, Microscope, 236.

Land SheUs, British, 119. Land Tortoise—Eggs, 63. Language of Flowers, 114. Lantern Fly, 191.

| Larch Blight, 1990.

Larch Cones, abnormal, 88. Large Mushroom, 2538.

Larva of a Gnat, 162.

15, 113.

| Larvee and Imago, 208.

| Larvee, Increase of Bulk, 208,

| Larvee, Puguacity of, 161. Laudanum, a Species of Dew, 139. Leaf teachings, 52.

Freshwater Sponges, 287. Friendly Notice of Tomtit, 59. Fringed Scale-mc¢ss, 109. Frog and Thrush, 112.

Highest Power, the, 45.

High Powers, Illumination, 22. Himaleyan Cryptogams, 114. Hints for Marine Aquaria, 129.

Frog eating its Old Skin, 233. Fruit and Bees, 287.

Fuchsia and Bees, 263. Fucus serratus, &c., 204. Fungi, Books on, 210.

Fungi, Edible, 214.

Fungi, new British, 29. Fungi, to Preserve, 144. Fungus, Star-spored, 35. Furze-leaves Trifoliate, 115. GaLtl.-FLy, Male, 137. Gall-insects eaten by ‘Tits, 59. Gall-insect, new, 185.

Galls, 15, 24, 41.

Galls, Kakrasinghee, 286. Galls, Knoppern, 41. Garnets, 94.

Gathering Seaweeds, 173. Geaster, Species of, 19. Gemme of Mosses, 67. Geographical Scciety, 22. Geological Changes in Scotland, 44. Geological Queries, 119.

Geology, 19, 44, 68, 91, 116, 119, 140, 164,

187, 210, 259, 285. Geology, Education in, 140. Germon, the, 261. Gigantic Fossil Beaver, 44. Gill-fans of Sabella, 262. Glacier Phenomena, 44. Glasses, Magnifying Power of, 69. Glengariff for Ichthyology, 208. Gnat Larva, 163. Gobies in an Aquarium, Gold Shells, 120. Golden Bloomeria, 167. Golden Eagle, 39. Gomuti Palm, 77. Gonium pectorale, 95. Gordius aquaticus, 107, 197. Gorilla, 38. Gossamer Spiders, 151, 191, 213. Gossip about Mansuckers, 49. Gossypium, Species of, 43. Graduating Diaphragm, 153. Granite, 116. Gray Wagtail, 28]. Grease, to remove, from insects, 72 Great Auk’s Eggs, 184. Great Butcher-bird, 184. Great Slaughter of Fish, 165. Green Conferva, 119. Green Drake-fly, 231. Green Spleenwort, 44. Growing Ferns, 239. Guano, 212, 239. Guano, &c., in exchange, 140. Guide to Conservatory, 262. Gull, Black-headed, 256. Gulls looking out, 14. Gulls, Piratical, 272. Gurnard, Sapphirine, 236. Hapsits of the Toad, 86. Habits of Reptiles, 287. Hair-worm, the, 107, 288. Hair-worm, more Notes on the, 197. Hairs, Chapter on, 29. Hammer-headed Shark, 207. Hart’s-tongue Fern, 190, 214. Hawk and Rat, 125. Hawk-moth, Death’s-head, 208, 234 Hawk-moth, Humming- bird, 2.8. Hawk-moth, Lime, 161. Hawk-moth, Unicorn, 263. Hawthorn, 198,

43,

Hissing of Snake and Viper, 142.

| Hive-bee and Sting, 65, 142.

Hive-bees removed, 247.

Hobby, what’s your? 1. Hollyhocks, Black, 43.

Homes without Hands, 251. Hoopoe, the, 256.

Hoopoe and Roller, 184.

Horse Chestnuts, 114.

Horse Chestnut-tree, 17.

Horse Chestnuts, Uses of, 43. House Ants, 170, 239.

House Fly, the, 82.

House Sparrow in India, 125. How to begin, 97.

How to grow Ferns, 262.

How to mount Mosses, 43.

How the White Owl takes its Prey, 233. Human Remains, Petrified, 132. Humming-bird Hawk-moth, 268. Humming Birds, 218.

Hunter's Early Work, 23. Hyacinth Bulbs, preserving, 190. Hybernation of Flies, 113. Hybridism, Naudin on, 258.

| Hymenophyllum Tuntridgense, 20, 114. | ICcHNEUMONS and Vanessa, 238, 263. _ Uiford Mammoth, 29.

Illumination for High Powers, 22. Illumination, Micrcscopic, 130. Imperfectly-developed Flowers, 103. Improved Clip, 189.

Inch of Rain, 119.

Increase of Bulk in Larvee, 208. Incubating Robin, 142, 166. Independence, 241.

Index to Scientific Literature, 113. India-rubber, Brittle, 1986. Influence of Palms, 283.

Infusoria, 223.

Tnfusorial Earth, 93, 239.

Ingenuity of Thrush, 207.

Tn how Little lies the Past, 18

“In Memoriam,’’ 265.

Insect Larva, 259.

Insect-moulds, 133.

Insect-pests and Birds, 16).

Insect Vivarium, 188.

Insects feeding on Ferns, 66. Insects feeding on Wheat, 11 Insects in Armour, 161. Insects in Greenhouses, 15. Insects mounted whole, 163, Insects of Nova Scotia, 142. Insects, Scales of, 21. Insects, to kill, 113. Intelligence of Starling, 13. Intermittent Fountain, 250. Introduced Plants, 67. Introduction of Rare Plants, 139. Invisible World revealed, 20. Irish Ivy, 209.

Irish Plants, Notes on, 115. Irrationale of Speech, 65. Irritating Caterpillars, 288.

Ivy, Irish, 209.

Ivy, the, 114.

JELLY Animalcule, 58. Jelly-fishes, 248.

Jerusalem Artichoke, 118, 142. KAKRASINGHEL, 280.

191.

| Katy-did, 146.

| Keyhole Limpet and Parasite, 122. | Kestrel, the, 206.

' Killarney Fern, 92.

Leaves, anatomatizing, 215, 239, 28 | Leaves for Packing, 47, 70. Leaves, Skeleton, 286. Leaves, Veins of, 24. Leiodcn at Norwich, 29 Lemna arriiza, 264. Lemna, Species of, 5. Lenses, Diaineter of, 238. Lepidonotus Lordi, 12 | Lepidopterous Scale, ‘y27. Lesser Broom-rape, SQ. Lichens, British, 1836. | Lichens, New British, 19, 88. | Life, the Circle of, 145. | Light in the Ocean, 261. | | Light of Lantern Fly, 191. | Ligurian Queens and English Bees, 41. | | Lime Hawk-moth, 161. | Limneus pereger, 72. | Limpet, Keyhole, and Parasite, 122. | Linnzean S.ciety, 46. | areeoehten palmipes, 136. | Liver Fluke, 18. | Liverpool Naturalist Society, 70. | Llandrillo Fossils, 210. | Local Names, Notes on, 35. | London Rocket, 149. | Lord Scarabeus, 98. Lampers and Splitters pias Lutraria maxima, 79. Macuine for Aquaria, 118. Madcrepores, 239, 287. Magnifying Power, to ascertain, 69. Male Fern, Anithelmiutic, 67. Male Gall-fly, 137. Maltwood Finder, 25. Mammeth at Ilford, 20. Management of Ferns, 284. | Man in the Past, 256. | Manchester Field Societ y, 23. Maniches‘er Literary and Society, 46. Man’s Place in Nature, 46. | Mansucker, or Cctopus, 87. Mansucker and Sea-Cucumber, 118, Manufacture of Fossils, 91. Manx Cats, 118, 142. Margarodes formicarum, 120. Marine Aquaria, Hints, 129. Marine Pnosphorescence, 199. Martin in Difficulty, 49. | Meadow-sweet Brand, 255. Metamorphoses of Butterfly, 39, 74. Micro-pbotographs, 90. Microscope, Books on, 219. | Microscope, Choice of, 257 | Microscope, Collecting for, 69. | Microscope, Indoors, 20. , Microscope, its Principles, 8. | Microscopic Illumination, 139. Microscopic Lamp, 236. Microscopic Mites on Stones, ¢ Microscopic Object. 45. Microscopic Powers, 153. Microscopical Clb, 189. Microscopical Society, 23, 45, 79. Microscopists, Amateur, 153. Microscopists, Proposal to, 116. | Microscopy, 29, 45, 69, 9: i 116, 189, 212, 237, 259. Migration of Eels, 284. Migratory Eels, 70. Mildew—What is it ? 139. | Milk-tree of Para, 286. | Mimulus luteus, 235.

tw

b

Philblogical

2035

x

Minds and Memcries, 187. Mischievous Rats, 184. Mistletoe, 273.

Mistletoe in Devonshire, 114. Mistletoe on Mountain Ash, 283, Mistletoe on the Oak, 283. Mistletoe, Trees on which it Grows, 283. Mites, Microscopic, on Stones, 22, Moa’s Egg, 14, 281.

Moa of New Zealand, 282. Modern Military Botany, 24.

Mole and Mouse, £6.

Molluscs, Small, 255.

Monarch of the Forest, 61.

Money- wort Aphis, 257.

Monkey, Squirrel, 206.

Monstrosities, Vegetable, 137.

Moon, Mountains in, 249.

More Notes on Hairworm, 197.

More Uses for Nettles, 209.

Morley Naturalists Society, 23.

Morrhua callarias, 261. fosquitoes in England, 239.

Moss Culture, 92.

Moss, New British, 27s.

Mosses accumulating Soil, 67.

Mosses, Gemmee of, 67.

Mosses, Study of, 79.

Mosses, to Mount, 43.

Most perfect Plants, 17.

Moth, Death’s-head, at Sea, 41.

Moulds, Insect, 133.

Mountain Ash, Mistletoe on, 283.

Mountain Limestone of Shropshire, 187.

Mountains of the Moon, 249.

Mounting in Balsam and Chloroform, 45.)

Mounting Objects, 116.

Mounting Plants, 46.

Mounting Polyzoa, 65, 93, 94. Mounting who'e Insects, 163, 191. Mouse and Mole, 85.

163. Mud-shell, Wandering, 72. Muie-breeding, 38. Muller’s Toptnot, 261. Mushroom, Large, 258. Mushroom, Triple, 209. Myriad Zoophytes, 183. NatTTeRJAck Toad, 111, 118, 143. Natterjack at Coombe, 296, Natterjack in Ireland, 86. Watural Curiosities, 283. Natural History Society of Nerthumber- land, &c., 70. Naturalists’ Society, Morley, 23. Naudin on Hybridism, 258. Nereis biliceata, 59. Nests in curious places, 233. Nesting of Cuckoo, 38. Netted Dog-whelk, 259. Nettle and Butterfly, 62. Nettle, China-grass, 18. Nettles, another Use for, 88. Nettles, a Plea for, 275. Nettles, more Uses for, 209. Nettles, Use for, 70. New Arcadian Fir, 250. New British Fungi, 209. New British Lichens, 19, 88. New British Moss, 258. New British Sea-Anemone, Js. New Gall-insect, 185. New Holland, in Europe, 58. New Irish Diatom, 114. New Silene, 258. New Silk-producing Insect, 87. New Source of Theine, 88. Newt Eaten by a Toad, 233. Newts, 136. Newts in Confinement, 39. Noctiluce, 245. No Knowledge without Work. 46. Notes and Queries, 24, 46, 71, 93, 118, 142, 286. Notes on Local Names, 35. Notes on the Hawthorn, 198. Notes of the Cuckoo, 183. Notice of Mule-breeding, 38. Notices, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, 144. Nova Scotia Insects, 142. Nuthatches at the Window, 224. Nyssia zonaria, 120. Oak Caterpillar, 168. Oak, Fossil, 210.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

(1865.

Oak, Mistletoe on, 283.

Oak Spangles, 240.

Objects, Circulating Cabinet of, 236.

Objects in Tumuli, 262.

Objects, Mounting, 116.

Observations on Eel, 93.

Occurrence of Beds in the West of Scot- land in the position of the English Crag, 68.

Octopus, on the, 4§, 87, 135.

Old Trees, 222.

On behalf of Salamander, 71.

Ophrydium versatile, 58.

Orange, Scale of, 96.

Orchid, possible Increase, 185.

| Orchid Rust, 162. | Orchids, How to Grow, 124.

Orcynus alulonga, 261,

Origin of Diamonds, 88. Origin of English Botany, 47. Origin of Proverbs, 46.

| Ornithological Queries, 47, 71, 143. | Otters, 112.

Oiter-shell, the, 79.

| Cur Lady of Toulouse, 34.

Our stock of Coal, 210.

| Owl, White, and its Prey, 233.

PALMATE Newts, 136. Palmella eruentu, 88. Palm Tinder, 118. Palms, influence of, 283. Palm-tree, under a, 77.

| Pandorine morum, 279. | Parasite of Dytiscus, 255.

Parasites cf Butterfly, 262. Parasites of Cabbage Butterfly, 71.

| Parasites of Fly, 227. | Parasites of Parsnip, 238.

Parasites on Koot-galls, 216. Paris quadrifolia, 143, 235.

; Parlour Science, 118. Movements of Endochrome in Diatoms, |

Pear-tree in Blossom, 258. Pencil-tail and Dermestes, 230. Pendent Wasp-nest, 137.

Pens of Reed, 118.

Periwinkle, the, 186. Petherwin Fossils, 119. Petherwin Beds, 150.

Fetrified Human Remains, 132. Phallus impudicus, 199 Pheasants and Wireworms, 38. Pheasant’s Eggs in Partridge’s Nest, 190. Phosphorescence of Sea, 245. Phosphorescent Podvra, 238. Phosphor-stone, 44. Photo-micrographs, 236. Pigeons routed by Swallows, 206. Pigment-cells, 106.

Pike, a Good, 140.

Pike choked by an Eel, 233. Pike-fishing with Fly, 280. Pimpernel, Abnormal, 18. Pinguicula grandijlera, 67. Pinguicula vulgaris, 205. Pinguicula, the, 214.

Piratical Gulls, 272.

Pixy Purses, 182.

Plane-tree of Vostitza, 258. Planorbis corneus, 61. Plantain, Alpine, in Shetland, 283. Plantain, the, 232.

Plant Animals, 177.

Plant, Fly-catching, 43.

Plants and Animals, 235.

| Plants, Consumers. of Oyxgen, 198. | Plants, Examining, 162.

| Plants, Features of, 43.

| Plants for Aquaria, 141.

Plants, Fossil Coal, 219.

| Plants in Aquarium, 92.

| Plants, Introduction of Rae, 139

Plants introduced, 67.

Plants, Irish, Notes on, 115. ; Flants, most Perfect, 17.

Plants, Mounting, 46.

Plants, Poisoning of, 24.

| Plants rooting in Soil, 17, 43.

Plants, Stray Notes on, 138. Plants, Study of Fossil, 68. Plants, Training, 185.

| Plants, Varietles of Common, 162.

Plants, Variations in British, Platyphylium concavum, 146. | Plea for Nettles, 275.

‘ Plesicsaurus, another 164.

32, 228.

Poduree Phesphorescent, 238.

Poisoning Plants, 24,

Poiscnous Yew-leaves, 162.

Polarized Light, 224.

Pollen, 45, 237.

Pollen Grains of Cedar, 69.

Pollen of Crowfoot, 186.

Pollen of Evening Primrose, 2)2.

Pollen of Valerian, 238.

Polycystius, Popular History, 100.

Polyxenia Alderi, 24.

Polyzoa, Mounting, 65, 93, 94.

Poonyet, 252.

Popular History of Polycystius, 10¢.

Porpoise, a Live, 39.

Porpoise, the, 63.

Porzana Carolina, 60.

Possible Increase of Orchids, 185.

Power, Balance of, 193.

Present and Past, 187.

| Preservative Power of Ferns, 37, 95, 115.

Preserving Animals, 63.

| Preserving Birds and Animals, 48.

Preserving Dragon-flies, 05.

Preserving Hyacinth Bulbs, 190.

Prickly Pears, 24.

Primroses in a Rcom, 114,

Prizes for Herbaria, 78.

| Proliferous Daisy, 182.

Proposal to London Microscopists, 116.

| Proverbs, Origin of, 46,

| Ptilidium ciliare, 109.

| Pugnacity of Larvee, 161.

| Puzzle worth thinking about, 127.

| QueKETT Microscopical Club, 189.

| Queries, Geological, 119.

| Queries, Ornitvological, 47.

, Question for Ornithologists, 94. Quinquebracteal Anemone, 138.

|Rapsits and their Friends, 184. Rain—What’s an Inch ? 119.

| Rare Insects, 256.

Rat and Hawk, 125.

Rats, Mischievous, 184.

| Red-backed Shrike, 64.

| Red-leaved Sea-weed, 117.

' Reed Pens, 118.

Reefs, Coral, 112, 220, 285.

Reflections of Gentleman Waife, 47.

Relations between Present and Past, 187.

Reports of Societies, 22, 46, 70.

Reproduction in Ferns, ¢9.

Reproduction of Eel, 118, 141, 165.

Reproduction of Kolpods, 132.

Reptiies, Habits of, 287.

Reptiles in Confinement, 86.

Results of Explorations, 164.

Rhatany, Savanilla, 88.

Rhinoceros at Ilford, 187.

Ring-Ousel in Wales, 135.

River Water in Brazil, 102.

Robin Incubating, 142, 166.

Robin Foretelling Weather, 64.

Rock Whistler, the, 242.

Roller, the, 183.

| Roiler and Hoopoe, 184,

Rooks, Hermit, 226.

Rosa alpina, 66.

Rose Saw-fly, 257.

Roses, British, 88.

Boses, Collecting, 43.

Rosy Feather-star, 95, 112.

Royal Geographical Society, 22.

Rust, a New, 139.

Rust of Alexander, 190.

Rust of Orchids, 162.

Rustic Work for Fern-cases, 34.

SABELLA, Gill-fans of, 262.

Saffron, a Condiment? 215, 263.

St. Winefrid’s Blood, 88.

Salamander, a Dainty, 94.

Salamander, Food of, 71, §5.

Salmon-breeding in the Tay, 42.

Salmon, British, 69.

Salmon, Cape, 64.

| Salmon in Asia, 16.

Salmon in Australia, 16, 42, 141.

Salmon Maut, 119, 143.

Sandlaunce, &c., 284.

Sandpiper, Diving, 63, 95.

Sandpiper in Difficulties, 86.

Sappharine Gurnard, 236.

Saprolegnia feruz, 133.

Saturnia Bauhinia, 87.

| Savanilla Rhatany, 838.

1865.1

Saw-fly Larvee, 264.

Scale of Butterfly, Fossil, 127.

Seales of Cabbage Butterfiy, 140, 166.

Scales of Fish, Fossil, 136.

Scales of Insects, 21.

Sea-Anemone, New British, 188.

Sea-Anemones, 155, 196, 239, 260, 285.

Sea- Anemones Dividing, 167, 190, 213, 286.

Sea- Anemones, Voracity of, 40.

Sea-birds, Names of, 214, 239.

Sea-Cucumber and Mansucker, 118.

Sea-Perch, 208.

Sea, Phosphorescence, 245.

Sea, the Deep, deep, 169.

Sea-weed Fern, 190.

Sea-weed, Red-leaved, 117.

Sea-weeds, Books on, 192.

Sea-weeds, Gathering, 173.

Sea-worm (Nereis bilicewata), 59.

Sea-wrack, 204.

Sea-side Diatomacee, 250.

Sections of Wood, 71.

Sections, to Clean, 47.

Seed lying Dormant, 43.

Self-fertilization, 114,

Serpentine, 140.

Servian Flora, 88.

Sevenoaks for Geology, 119.

Sex of a Viper, 191.

Sexes of Lepidoptera, 190.

Shark, Fox, 165.

Shark, Hammer-headed, 237.

Sheep Rot, 15.

Sheep-sorrel in New Zealand, 17.

Shells, Books upon, 48.

Shells, British Land, 61, 119.

Short Commons, 49.

Shrew, the Common, 14.

Shrike, Great Grey, 184.

Shrike, or Butcher-bird, 110.

Shrike, Red-backed, 64.

Shrimp, the Fairy, 45.

Shukhur-ool-ashur, 252.

Silene, a New, 238.

Silene dichotoma, 238, 258.

Silk-insect, New, 87.

Silk, ‘‘ Tusseh,”’ 190.

Silliman, Professor, Death of, 24.

Silurus, European, 56.

Simple Objects, 35, 5S, 109, 158, 176, 201, 230, 279.

Singular Occurrence, 233.

Six-spot Burnet, 119, 151.

Skeleton Leaves, 48, 286.

Skeletons of Fish, 48.

Skylark, Song of, 39.

Skylark’s Song in January, 93.

Skylark, the, 63.

Slug or Snail? 62.

Small Birds and Insect Pests, 169.

Small Eggar-moth, 126.

Small Molluscs, 256.

Brel Tortoise-shell Butterfly, 15, 280.

Smelt, the, &c., 284.

Smooth Snake, 47.

Smooth Snake again, 71.

Snail or Slug? 62.

Snake and Viper, 160.

Snake and Viper Hissing, 142.

Snakes at Dinner, 207.

Snake in Scotland, 70.

Snake or Viper, 2.

Snake-stones, 37, 61, 94.

Snake, the Smooth, 47, 71.

Societies, Reports of, 22, 46, 70.

Society, Amateur Botanists’, 23, 46, 70.

Society, Anthropological, 22.

Society, Botanical, Edinburgh, 70.

Society, Dumfries and Galloway, 70.

Society, Entomological, 22, 46, 113, 144.

Society, Ethnological, 23, 46.

Society, Linnzean, 46.

Society, Liverpool Naturalists’, 70.

Society, Manchester Field Naturalists’, 23.

Society, Manchester Literary, 46.

society, Microscopical, 23, 46, 70.

Society, Morley Naturalists’, 23.

Society, Royal Geographical, 22.

Song of Water-dipper, 135.

Sowerby’s English Botany, 47.

Sparrow and Crocus, 166.

Sparrow in India, 135.

Sparrows on the House-top, 112.

Sparrows, White, 167, 183.

INDEX.

Speech, Irrationale of, 65, Sphagnum rubellum, 47. Spicules of Sponge, 259. Spider and its Web, 256. Spider and Wasp, 39, 239. Spider, Eat its Web, 24, 36, 86, 215. Spider, Fossil, 259.

Spider Hoax, 143.

Spiders at Home, 30. Spiders, Flower-loving, 205. Spiders, Gossamer, 151. 213. Spiders, Visitation of, 282. Spiders? Webs, 65.

Spiracles of Insects, 254. Spiracles of the Fly, 199. Spleenwort, Green, 44. Splitters and Lumpers, 73. Sponge Spicules, 259.

Sponges and Corals, 187. Sponges, Freshwater, 287. Sporendonema muscle, 10. Spotted Fly-catcher, 256. Squacco Heron, 281.

Squirrel fond of Toadstools, 40. Squirrel Monkey, 206.

Stage Forceps, 212.

Stalked Eggs of Insects, 199. ‘* Standard ’? Wasp Nest, 134. Stanner Rocks, 91, 138. Star-fish, to Dry, 136.

Starling, Intelligence of, 13. Starling who had seenthe World, 38. Starry Puff-balls, 19 Star-spored Fungus, 35. Stinging-fish, 166.

Stink-horn, the, 190. Stink-pot, 239.

Stitchwort, Apetalous, 235. Stork, Anecdote of, 14.

Stormy Petrel’s Egg, 87.

Story of Beetledom, 98. Strange Remedies, 85.

Stray Notes on Stray Plants, 138. Stream Bubble-shell, 167. Streams in Aquaria, 118, 188. Strength of Dorr-beetle, 41. Study of Past History of Plants, 68. Sturgeon, the, 261.

Stutterers in the Frontiers, 136. Suffocation of Bees, 185. Sun-dew, the, 209.

Svperstition relating to Bees, 34. Swallows and Pigeons, 206. Swallows, European, 136. Swallows, Query, 143. Swallows under the Eaves, 63. Swallow-tail, Deformed, 185. Swarms of Aphides, 287.

Swift, Anecdote of, 14.

Swift, another, in Difficulty, 64. Swift, the, 190.

Swifts, Departure of, 240. TAXIDERMY, 63.

Tench, Angling for, 16.

Tern, Whiskered, 183.

The Common House-fly, 82. The Deep, deep Sea, 169.

The 1-50th Object-glass, 45. Theine, New Source of, 88.

The New Fish, 42, 56.

The Petherwim Beds, 150.

The Study of Mosses, 79. Thrush and Frog, 112.

Thrush at Rome, 136.

Thrush, Eggs of, 263.

Thrush, Ingenuity of, 207. Tinctorial Bedstraw, 235. Tinder, Palm, 118.

Tit in Moustaches, 26.

Tit, the Blue, 39.

| Tits, Fearless, 160.

| Toad, Acquaintance with, 12. Toad, Child poisoned by, 111. Toad Eating a Newt, 233. Toad, Habits of, 87.

Toad, Local Name of, 111. Toads Feeding, 256.

Toads, further Experiences, 62. . Toads in Town, 94.

Toadstools, 225, 258.

Tomb of Van Rhede, 44.

Tom Tidler’s Ground, 126. Tomtit, Notice of, 59.

| Tomtits and Celery Fly, 281.

' Tongue of Drone-fly, 83.

}

Tongue of House-fly, 83.

Torpedo, the, 236.

Tortoise, Eggs of, 63.

Tree, a Wonderful, 138.

Trees, Ancient, 185.

Trees, Old, 223.

Trees on which Mistletoe Grows, 283.

Trehala, 251.

Trichina spiralis, 40.

Trichinosis, 40.

Triphragmium ulmari@, 255,

Triple Mushroom, 209.

Tripoli, 93.

Trout, a Fine, 239.

Trout, Extraordiuary Voracity cf, 153.

Truffles, 139.

Truffles, South Downs, 82.

| Tumuli, Objects in, 262.

| Tunbridge Fern, 114.

Tusseh Silk of India, 1990.

Tussilago hybrida, 70.

Twining Plants, 185.

Tyneside Naturalists’ Club, 70.

UNDER a Palm-tree, 77.

| Unicorn Hawk-moth, 263.

Uredo Empetri, i139.

Use for Nettles, 70.

Uses of Horse-chestnuts, 43,

VALERIANA dioica, 143.

Vallisneria spiralis, 138.

Vanesia and Ichneumons, 263.

Van Rhede’s Tomb, 44.

Variations in British Plants, 32, 228.

Varieties of Common Plants, 162.

Vegetable Milk, 171.

Vegetable Monstrosities, 137.

Vegetable Origin of Diamonds, 88.

Vegetables, Watering with Iron Soluticn, 46.

Veins of Leaves, 24.

Very like a Shrimp, 135.

Vespa sylvestris, 208.

Viper and Snake, 160.

Viper or Snake? 2.

Viper, Bite of, 95.

Viper, bitten by a, 131.

Viper, Sex of, 191.

Viper Story, 143.

Viper swallowing its Young, 108, 16°.

Visitation of Spiders, 282.

Vivarium, Insect, 188.

Volvox, Chapter froin Life of, 244.

Volvox, Cilia of, 263.

Volvozx globator, 190, 213, 238, 244, 262.

Voracity of Sea-Anemones, 40.

Voracity of Trout, 165.

WaAcTAIL, the Gray, 281.

Waife’s Reflections, 47.

Walnut, the, 89.

Wanted; a Diatom, 95.

Wanted, a Key, 262.

Wardian Cases, 239, 287.

Wasp and its Victim, 113.

Wasp and Spider, 39, 239.

Wasp, Early, 137, 161.

Wasp Fights, 215.

Wasps, 16], 208.

Wasps and Bees, 263.

Wasps and Flies, 262.

Wasps in Captivity, 42.

Wasps in Greece, 238.

Wasps in London, 71.

Wasps in plenty, 257.

Wasps’ Nest, Pendent, 137.

Wasp Nest, Standard, 134.

Wasps scarce in London, 113.

Wasps, what has become cf the? 234.

Wasps, why scarce, 257.

Watch, the Death-, 60.

Water-beetles, Appendages, 238, 257.

Water Pipit, 64, 76.

Water, River, in Brazil, 102.

Watering Vegetables with Iron, 46.

Water-weed, American, 141.

Weather foretold by Robin, 64.

Web, Spider eating its, 24, 36.

Webster’s Condenser, 140.

Weever-fish, 166.

Wellingtonia gigantea, 139.

Whale-bird, 239.

What are Fossils? 19. a

What do Crickets eat ? 113, 128, 160.

What has become of the Wasps? 234.

What is an Inch of Rain? 119.

! What is it? 118,

xu

What is Mildew? 139.

What Katy-did, 146.

What to Seek and what to Avoid in the Choice of a Microscope, 267.

What will 1-50 Objective do? 99.

What’s your Hobby? 1.

Which is Right? 43.

Whiskered Fern, 183.

Whistler, the Rock-, 242.

White Badger, 118.

White Corn Poppy, 167.

White Earwig, 213.

White Hedgehog, 207.

White Sparrows in Smcke, 167, 183.

LIST

ABNORMAL Larch Cones, 89. Animalcule, Jelly, 58. BEADLET, 157.

Bearded Tit, Head of, 26. Beech-leaf, 55.

Binocular Dissecting Microscope, 261. Black Cradle, 270.

Bladder Wrack, 2°4.

Bottle, Collecting, 85. Bramble-ieaf Brand, 176. Branched Pipe Coralline, 177. Breeze-fly, 194.

CaT-FLEA Larvee 278.

Cave Anemone, 156. Charlock, abnormal Flower, 103. Cherry-leaf, 55.

China-grass Nettle, 277. Circulating Diaphragm, 153. Collecting-bottle, 85. Condenser, Webster’s, 90. Corallines, 177.

Cosmarium botrytis, 202. Crab-claw, Singular, 296. Cyclops, Four-horned, 159. DaAuiia Wartlet, 158.

Daisy, Abnormal, 1/4.

Daisy Anemone, 150.

Daisy, Proliferous, 182. Dammar-bee, 252.

Dermestes, 230.

Diagram of Fly’s Eve, 249. Diagram of Moss Envelopes, 80. Diagram of Moss Latel, 81. Diaphragm, 90.

Diaphragm, Circulating, 153. Diaphragm, for Micruscope, 189. Duckweed, Gibbous, 6, 7. Duckweed, Greater, 6. Duckweed, Ivy-leaved, 5, 7. Duckweed, Lesser, 5, 6. East-Inp1A Wool, 29.

Egg and Larva of Fly, 82. Egg and Larva of House-fly, 82. Eeg-cases of Fish, 182. Eriogaster lanestris, 126, European Silurus, 57.

FERN Vase, 92.

Fir, New Arcadian, 250. Flowers, Abnormal, 103—105. Fly, Foot of Breeze, 253.

Fly for Pike-fishing, 28).

Fly Moulds, 133.

Fly Parasites, 227.

Fly, the Breeze, 194.

Fly, Tongues of, 83.

Foot of Breeze-fly, 253. Fossil Scale of Butterfly, 127. Fringed Scale-moss, 109. Fungus, Star-spored, 35,

Fur of Rabbit, 30.

Gaus of Oak, 59.

Gall, Kakra-singhee, 286.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

Why did the Bees go? 93.

Why objects appear larger through the Microscope, 8, 45.

Why Wasps are scarce, 257.

Wild Bees’ Nest, 137.

Willow Catkins, Hermaphrodite, 19.

Window Gardens, 92, 117, 14], 284.

Winged Ants, 263.

Wings of Butterflies, 113.

Wire Clip, 259.

Wonderful Tree, 138.

Wood, cutting Sections of, 7).

Wooden Cows, 171, 286.

Woodlark wanted, 93.

1865.)

Woodpecker, Great Black, 183. Woods, British, 239.

Worms, 239.

Worms, the Diet of, 180, 214. Wrack, Sea-, 204.

Wren, the B:ue, 199.

YeEw in the Oak, 43. Yew-leaves Poisonous, 112, 162.

Zoological Gardens in India, 45. Zoophytes, 177.

Zoophytes, Books on, 192.

| Zoophytes, Myriad, 183.

OF ILLUSTRATIONS,

Galls, Knoppern, 41. Gibbous Duckweed, 6, 7. Glasses for Aquaria, 155.

| Gomuti Palm, 77.

Greater Duckweed, 6, Harr, Human, 29. Hairs, of Dermestes, &c., 230.

| Hair of Mouse, 30. | Hairs, Tenent, 254. | Hairworm, 107.

Hairworm, Head and Tail of, 197.

| Head of Cat-flea, 278.

Head of Snake, 2. Head of Viper, 2. Hedge Woundwort, 103.

| Herbarium Insect, 111.

Human Hair, 29. Ivy-LEAVED Duckweed, 4, 7. JELLY, Animalcule, 58.

Jelly -fish, 248. KAKRA-SINGHEE Gall, 286. Keyhole Limpet Parasite, 122. Knoppern Gall, 41.

Knotted Wrack, 205. LARINUS subrugosus, 251. Larinus ursus, 252.

Larch Cones, Abnormal, 89.

| Larvee of Cat-flea, 278.

Larva of Dytiscus, 247.

| Larva of Ephemera, 247.

Larve of Fiies, 82. Leaf of Beech, 55. Leaf of Cherry, 55. Leaf of Lime, 56.

| Leaf of Poplar, 56. | Leaves of Endogens, 54.

Lepidonstus Lordi, 122. Lesser, Duckweed, 5, 6. Lily Coralline, 179. Lime-leaf, 56. MEADOW-SWEET Brand, 255. Merino, Spanish, 3¢. Mistletoe, 274.

Mohair, 30.

Mouse Hair, 30. Mushroom, Trip!e, 209. NeILGHERRY Nettle, 276. Net-veined Leaf, 54. Noctiluca, 246.

Oak Galls, 59.

Oaten Pipe Coralline, 177. Opelet, 157.

Ophrydium versatile, 58. Paum, Gomuti, 77. Pandgrina morum, 281. Parasite of Dytiscus, 255. Parasitic Anemone, 157. Pencil-tai), 230. Pigment-cells, 106. Pitcher-plant, 54.

Pixy Purses, 182. Plantain, the, 232,

| Plamose Anemone, 155.

| Poison Apparatus of Viper, 131. | Poplar Leaf, 56.

Pollen of Passion-flower, 43. Pollen of Thunbergia, 45,

| Polycystina, 100.

Press for Sea-weeds, 176.

| Primrose, abnorma', 105.

| Rabsir Fur, 30. Rhopaloeanium ornatum, 19!, Rotifer vulgaris, 244.

SaLLow, Abnormal, 104. Suprolegnia ferax, 133.

| Scale-moss, Fringed, 109. | Scarabzeus, Sculptured, 98. Scarabzeus, Winged, 98.

| Sculptured Scarabzus, 98. Sea-Anemones, 155—158. Sea Fir, 178.

Sea-hair Coralline, 179. Sea-mat, 180.

Sea-Oak Coralline, 179.

| Sea-weed Press, 176. Sea-weeds, 204, 205. Seed-leaves of Pea, 54. Serrated Wrack, 294. Seychelles Cocoa-nut, 270. Shukkur-ool-ashur, 252. Sickle Coralline, 178. Silurus, the, 57.

Small Eggar-moth, 126. Small Wrack, 205.

Snake, Head of, 2. Spanish Merino, 20. Spiracle of Dytiscus, 251. | Spiracles of Fly, 200. Spiracles of Larva, 254, Stage Forceps, 212. Star-spored Fungus, 35. Stephanastrum, 100. Strawberry Anemone, 157.

TENENT Hairs, 254. Tentacle of Anemone, 157. Tit, Bearded, 26. Toadflax, Abnormal, 104, Toadstools, 225.

Tongue of Drone-fly, 83. Tongue of House-fly, 83. Trehala and Insect, 251.

| Trigona leviceps, 252. Triple Mushroom, 29,

| Twin Peas, 103.

| Virer, Head of, 2. Viper, Poison Apparatus, 13]. Volvox glohator, 244.

Winged Scarabeeus, 98.

Wire Clips, 189. Wood-Anemone, Abnormal, 105. | Wool, East-Indian, 29.

ZooLoey, 14, 38, 63, 86, 111, 135, 281.

WesstTsr’s Economic Condenser, 99.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

see

WHATS YOUR HOBBY?

Kivery good man has his Hobby, and every hard-working man should have one.—Athencum.

| aan a vulgar question, and withal a

somewhat impertinent one; but we hope that the reader really has his “ hobby,” and, in that case, he is sure to grant us a free pardon. By a “hobby” we mean some study or pursuit which is his own free selec- tion, and to which he devotes himself in his moments of leisure ; something in which he takes delight after the toils and labours of the day are over,—when the rough struggle and mechanical routine are past, by means of which substance is earned to supply the wants, wishes, or luxuries of life; a some- thing which comes “ like sunshine after rain,” to brighten an otherwise monotonous career, to supply food for reflection, and give zest and interest to a country stroll, They deserve little respect who can lay their hands upon their hearts and affirm that they have no “hobby ;” that all besides “daily work” in their life is a blank. It may be that the “hobby ” is one the name of which may scarcely be quoted : it may supply no food for the mind,—nothing for reflection,—no last- ing pleasure,—yet it is a hobby nevertheless. Our present object is to induce all whom we have the good fortune to address, to answer for themselves the question we have pro- pounded ; and if they cannot do so with satisfaction to themselves or their friends, to set about acquiring a “hobby” at once.

To enable all who may desire a scientific hobby of their own to make such a choice, we will volunteer one or two suggestions.

I.

Let it be remembered that whilst we do so it is by no means with the desire of depre-

ciating good hobbies of another kind. A

man may be an amateur artist, mathematician, linguist, engineer, or devote himself to the study of history, poetry, philosophy, logic, or many other subjects equally as praiseworthy, as effectual in supplying food for the mind, and as certain to elevate his intellectual character, as aught we may have to suggest. Such, and such, we heartily wish “God speed.” But if you have no hobby, it is cheap and easy to acquire one. Ask of some friend, who has been in the habit of strolling away from your side whenever you have walked ten miles into the country together, and come suddenly upon a quarry or a chalk-pit, what he thinks of a little geological knowledge as an experiment, in the way of furnishing food for reflection, that shall supply material on which it can exercise itself, it may be, during the merely mechanical operations of daily life. He shall be your evidence that the toil is lighter, and the day shorter, because the intellectual as well as the physical man has received food. He will probably finish with the inquiry, “ What is your hobby ?”

It may be, that instead of seeking “ ser- mons in stones,” your friend has been led aside by the unknown whistle of some bird, by the eccentric gyrations of some unknown insect, by the desire to explore some silent, muddy puddle, or ditch half-choked with Ask of him whether there is any

B

weeds,

2 SCIENCEH-GOSSIP.

solace, any mental enjoyment, any feeling of manhood elevated in the pursuit of ornithology or entomology, and he will answer you with a smile, as if he doubted whether any one could ask such a question in earnest; and immediately, as he answers, he inquires, “What is yous hobby ?”

Should you have a friend addicted to the habit of bringing home bits of wild flowers in his hat, mosses in his pocket, or occasionally be caught with a flat, brown, japanned sand- wich box, when you know that he never carries sandwiches out in it, but will be seen to bring home many strange things in it,— ask of him, as he plucks petal from petal— as simple girls are wont to do, in the hope of unsolving thereby some hidden mystery of the future—ask of him whether the pursuit of his study of plant-life, of wild flowers, of mosses, does not give an interest to every half-hour’s stroll along a hedgerow or into a wood, which it would not otherwise possess ; whether it has not given to him a new sense ; whether it has not unfolded to him a new world ; whether, in fact, he is disposed to relapse again into inanition ; and the chances are that he will ask you, good-humour- edly enough, in return, “ What is your hobby ?”

But, above all, can you not purchase for yourself a Microscope? One that will answer all your purposes can be supplied you for a moderate sum. What you will do with it depends much upon yourself and your own What you can do with it, is Within that instrument lies the revelation of a world

inclinations. more than we have space to tell.

equally variable and populous,—nay, even more variable and populous,—than that which is revealed to the unaided eye ef man. If you only know as much of the world of nature as you can see with your naked eyes, you have never seen half what you might have seen, and really know nothing of the greatest marvels in all Nature’s handiwork. Some of the wonders of minute life, as seen through this medium, will continually be presented to the readers of these pages; but all that we can ever hope to do, will be but as a drop of

{ Jaw. 1, 1865.

water from the ocean, and can only serve to indicate the direction which those may pursue who are in search of a “ hobby.”

If already these, or any similar pursuits employ your moments, few though your moments of leisure may be, you will need no solicitation on our part to continue such a course. The pleasure derived from the pur- suit of knowledge; the power obtained by the possession of knowledge; the vigour imparted to the mind, the recognition of an object in life, besides the mere toil for “daily bread,” all exert their influences in one direction. And, unless we are much mistaken, few indeed are the instances in which, having mounted a hobby of his own, the rider is disposed to be unhorsed. This is especially the case where the “hobby” costs but little to keep, and when it partakes of a mental character.

VIPER

OR SNAKE?

VIPER. VERYBODY involuntarily shudders at

the name of a snake. Very few possess courage enough to attempt staring one out of countenance, or staying to count the number of scales on its head. Fancy oneself deeply intent, with nose unusually low, seeking the ruddy wild strawberry on a sunny hedge- bank, and even whilst smacking the lips with the relish of the tart little fruit but lately conveyed there, about to pluck another yet larger and redder, when lo! beneath our very fingers glides the sleek, attenuated form of the reptile—ay, within ten inches of our depressed nose. Under such circumstances, should we

Jan. 1, 1865.] be surprised at finding ourselves starting back; at feeling a slight and momentary sensation, as of a drop of water trickling down our back ; or at forgetting to observe whether the intruder was really a viper or a snake?

“Viper or snake, snake or viper? And is there a pin to choose between them?” inquires a voice at our ear. To this query we will attempt an answer, because it is a presenti- ment we have, that there is more romance amongst us, and less sound knowledge, with regard to reptiles, than any other of the objects of natural history. Under the term reptiles we include lizards, slow-worms, snakes, vipers, frogs, toads, and newts. The Jatter perhaps better known since aquariums and vivariums have become fashionable than ever they were before. All reptiles are cold- blooded. They possess a heart, it is true ; but, as compared with higher organisms, an im- perfect one, inasmuch as it has but one ven- tricle : the result of this is that respiration is imperfect, and as respiration gives heat to the blood, which in turn sustains the heat of the body, it follows necessarily from their organi- zation that the temperature in reptiles should be very low. Let a frog leap upon your hand, or take a newt between your fingers, and the chilly, smooth, apparently slimy appeal to the sense of touch, will carry conviction far swifter than argument.

Of reptiles possessing the snake-like form we have but three species indigenous to this country, and one of these, the little “ slow- worm,” differs sufficiently in a scientific sense, as well as in its general size and appearance, to be excluded from our present consideration. The other two species are the common snake, and the viper or adder. Although we may have heard, in youthful days, of red vipers, blue-bellied vipers, and black vipers, and adders, yet there is but one species of reptile to answer to all these synonyms.

It is well known that of the serpent race there are some that are venomous, and others that are not; each of these groups has its representative in Britain, one being perfectly gentle and harmless, the other dangerously, even if not fatally, poisonous. It is a firmly- rooted belief in some districts that the bite of the adder, however slight, is certain death to the victim; whilst amongst naturalists there remains a doubt whether the fatal ter- minations are not very exceptional. © Not- withstanding the dread of the common snake which is shared equally with the viper, it cannot be dangerous or injurious, because it possesses neither the glands for secreting, nor fangs for injecting the poison. Only school-

SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 3

boys; we should think, entertain the notion that the slender forked tongue, so swift in its movements, possesses the sting.

Without attempting to set forth, in scien- tific form and terminology, the generic and specific characters of snake and viper, we may nevertheless endeavour to point out the features by which one may be distinguished from the other. The common or ringed snake (called Vatrix torquata by scientific men) grows to the length of three or four feet ; the general colour above is of a greyish olive with rows of black spots, it is of a greenish-yellow orlead colour beneath, marbled with black. At the back of the head are two brightish yellow spots, behind which are two black spots or bands, which sometimes become confluent. The scales on the head are nine in number and large. It is found all over Britain, especially in the neighbourhood of water, and in damper situations than the viper. This reptile is easily tamed, and Mr. Bell states, in his “History of British Rep- tiles,” that he had one which knew him from all other persons; and when let out of its box would immediately go to him, and crawl under the sleeve of his coat, where it would lie perfectly still and enjoy the warmth. It was accustomed to come to his hand for a draught of milk every morning at breakfast, of its own accord, but would fly from strangers, and hiss if they meddled with it.

This snake, in common with others, changes its skin at intervals, but not, as has been stated, at regular periods, or once a year ; but sometimes four or five times during the year, and often less,according to circumstances. In this “sloughing” process the reptile bursts the cuticle about its neck, draws out its head, the old skin is thrust back, and the snake crawls out. In this process the skin is turned inside out, and left on the grass to scare unwary females into the belief that they have seen a snake, little dreaming that they have only been shuddering at its old clothes.

What does the snake eat 2—Undoubtedly it delights in frogs, young birds, birds’ eggs, and even mice. Imagine the little shudder and start in which we indulged in boyhood, on putting our hand, with felonious intent, into a bird’s nest (we couldn’t see into it), and finding our fingers come in contact with the smooth cold folds of a coiled-up snake! It was the last time we felt for eggs before seeing them. That was an experiment too satisfac- tory in its results to require repetition. The author already quoted gives an interesting account of a snake’s meal :—“If it be a frog, it generally seizes it by the hinder leg, be-

B2

4 -SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

(Jan. 1, 1865.

cause it is usually taken in pursuit. As soon as this takes place, the frog ceases to make any struggle or attempt to escape. The whole body and the legs are stretched out, as it were, convulsively, and the snake gradually draws in first the leg he has seized and after- wards the rest of the animal, portion after portion, by means of the peculiar mechanism of the jaws, so admirably adapted for this purpose. When a frog is in the process of being swallowed in this manner, as soon as the snake’s jaws have reached the body, the other hind leg becomes turned forwards ; and as the body gradually disappears, the three legs and the head are seen standing forwards out of the snake’s mouth in a very singular manner. Should the snake, however, have taken the frog by the middle of the body, it invariably turns it, until the head is directed towards the throat of the snake, and it is then swallowed, head foremost.” The frog is not only alive during the above process, but often after it has reached the stomach. Mr. Bell says, “I once saw a very small one, which had been swallowed by a large snake in my possession, leap again out of the mouth of the latter, which happened to gape, as they frequently do immediately after taking food.”

This species is truly oviparous. Its eggs, from sixteen to twenty in number, attached together by a glutinous secretion, are depo- sited in some favourable locality, as a dung- hill, and are hatched by the heat developed, or that derived from direct exposure to the sun. In this circumstance it will be seen to differ from the viper, to which we must now return,

The common viper (Pelias berus) is so variable in minor features, especially in colouring, that its varieties have been de- scribed as new species. It is more common in Scotland than the snake, and is everywhere abundant in heaths, dry woods, and banks. In many parts of England it is called the adder, for between the adder and viper there is no difference. Its general colour lies between an olive and a red-brown. ‘There is a mark between the eyes, and a zigzag black line running the whole length of the body, with a row of irregular triangular spots on each side. The scales or plates on the head are smaller, and those of the upper parts of the body longer than in the snake.

The great difference exists in the posses- sion by the viper of poison and fangs, and facility in using them. In the upper jaw, instead of a double row of teeth, as in the snake, this reptile possesses two or three long curved fangs, with a tubular passage down

them, communicating with the glands that secrete venom at their base, and open at the apex. When not in use these fangs recline backwards upon the jaw, but are instantane- ously erected, when required, by the aid of a small muscle. The poison is a tasteless, yel- lowish fluid, innocuous when swallowed, but venomous when it enters the blood through a wound. When the viper strikes its victim, the pressure on the tooth forces a small drop of the poison from the reservoir at its base, along the tube into the wound. It is well known that if venomous serpents of this kind are irritated and caused to strike at a stick, or some other object for a few times, the store of venom becomes expended, and that afterwards their bite is comparatively harm- less, until a new supply of venom has been secreted. If the snake can be regarded as our miniature representative of the boa, the viper deserves to be considered as a little apology for the rattlesnake ; the rattle, of course, being excepted.

Like many other poisonous reptiles, the young of the viper are matured in the egg whilst still in the uterus of its parent, and the thin membrane which enclosed them is ruptured at their birth, so that the viper seems to be truly viviparous, as the eggs are never excluded entire. There is a firm belief extant amongst country people, who make no aspirations to science, that the young of the viper, from twelve to twenty in number, when alarmed, rush to their mother, and glide one by one down her throat for security, whence they emerge again when the danger is past. ‘This has been so often and so seri- ously affirmed, that, however much we may feel disposed to doubt, we are not in a posi- tion to deny.

As neither vipers nor snakes are to be seen during the winter months, it is but reasonable to expect that some explanation of this cir- cumstance should be given. Reptiles do not generally like cold weather, therefore they proceed to winter quarters—

Roll’d up like a ball In their nest snug and small, : And then they come out in the Spring, poor things,

Vipers and snakes hybernate in company, coiled up and torpid, in hollows at roots of trees, without food or requiring any ; and in the spring resume life and activity. During the winter the venomous species secrete no poison, and if aroused and driven to the use of their fangs, appear to be powerless for mischief.

As the aim of our present chapter is to

Jan. 1, 1865. ]

SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 5

point out the features whereby the venomous may be distinguished from the harmless species, the wiper from the snake, it will be well, in conclusion, to repeat what we have advanced on this subject, in as concise a manner as possible.

It is the snake that is harmless, and the viper that is venomous ; the latter being in- uocuous also in winter, and most dangerous in the hottest weather. The snake is com- monly the larger of the two, and is found in the dampest situations, generally in near proximity to water, in which it delights to bask. The snake has large plates, or scales, upon its head, few in number ; in the viper they are numerous and small. The snake has no continuous line of a darker colour running along its body, but is spotted all over ; the viper has a continuous line, zigzag and blotched, running down its entire length. The head in the snake is more depressed and acutely pointed in front than in the viper, which latter has a characteristic blotch some- thing like the “ death’s head and thigh-bones” of the “ death’s-head moth,” on the top of its cranium. Whether or not its venom is fatal, we would strongly advise our readers not to permit the viper to make an experimental dart at their shins. It is better to indulge in a shudder when only a harmless snake crosses our path, than make the mistake of hugging a viper to our bosom.

DUCKWEEDS.

PWARDS of two thousand years ago,

there flourished in Greece a certain philosopher, who, like Pliny and Aristotle, devoted a portion of his time and talent to the study of Natural History. The Grecian gage to whom we refer was Theophrastus, who wrote a treatise on plants somewhere about B.C. 300. This same Greek was ac- quainted with a certain aquatic plant, to which he gave the name of Lemna ;* but what the precise plant was to which he gave that name is now uncertain ; it might have been a “duckweed,” and it might have been something else. In more recent times this name has been adopted for a group, or genus, of aquatic plants, known to every child, old

* Terma itself was probably suggested to Theo- phrastus by the little island of Lemnos, in the /#gean sea, apparently floatnmg on the water (to compare large things with small), like the leaf of a water-plant.

enough to float a mimic boat in a mud-puddle, as “duckweed.” It is to these plants—small, insignificant, and uninteresting, as they appear to be—that we propose adverting, with the view of pointing out wherein they differ from each other. Because, though many, pethaps, never looked at them with sufiicient care or interest to recognise more than one form, others have detected variations to such an extent that they are enabled to point out three or four types, with distinct features of their own. Some may learn for the first} time that four species of “duckweed” are | found in Britain, others, cognizant of this. fact, may wish to know more about them. ' In the first place, let us see in what points they all agree, or, as botanists would say, let us make out their generic character. Al! are floating plants, in no way attached to the soil, like the majority of plants, but vege- tating and sailing like little boats on the face of the water. There are no real stems, and no real leaves, but the whole plant consists of little green fronds which look like leaves, and which are either separate, one from another, or cohere two or three together. One, two, or more little threads hang down from the under side of these fronds into the water, after the manner of rootlets, but they do not attach themselves. These fronds are multiplied by young ones growing out of the edges of those that are mature. ‘The flowers, which are very simple, and equally rare, are produced from cracks or fissures in the edges of the fronds. These flowers consist of a little bract en- closing two stamens and a small ovary. In these points all the four species which inhabit this country agree.

To render our remarks on these species more comprehensible we have given figures,

Fig. 1. Ivy-leaved Duckweed (Lemna trisulea) Tig. 2. Lesser Duckweed (Lemna minor).

of which the first four represent the plants in their actual size, z.e., The Ivy-leaved Duck- weed (Lemna trisulea), the Lesser Duckweed (Lemna minor), the Greater Duckweed (Lemna polyrrhiza), and the Gibbous Duck- weed (Lemna gibba).

6 SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

[Jan. 1, 1865. -

Such students of Botany as may be willing to devote time and attention to these small plants, will find that there is much to be learnt respecting them. One species, the Greater Duckweed, has never been seen in flower in this country ; and two others, the Ivy-leaved and Gibbous Duckweeds, flower but rarely, whilst the fourth, or Lesser Duck- weed, is more often met with in flower than any other species ; but if we may judge from our own experience, this occurs only under rare and exceptional conditions, This ex- treme rarity in flowering has compelled us to go to other sources than nature. herself for details of the floral organs, to meet with more or less imperfection or dissatisfaction.

hy Fie. 3. Greater Duckweed (Lemna polyrrhiza), Fig. 4. Gibbous Duckweed (Lemna gibba). This is true to such an extent of the Greater Duckweed, that we have been compelled to adopt, probably the only drawings in exist- ence of the flowers of this particular species, made in the first instance by poor artists from very indifferent sketches, but we must take such as we can get and “be thankful.” These four species are to be found, more or less abundantly, in this country, and the resi- dent in London has the advantage of being able to find them all in plenty, without going out of sight of town. There is at least one other species, to which we have not alluded, closely resembling the Lesser Duckweed, which may yet be found in Britain, though its occurrence has not at present been recorded.

Fig. 5. Flower of Ivy-leaved Duckweed (Lemna trisulea), from Sowerby.

Fis. 6. Details O8 fruit of the same, from Nees von Esenbeck’s “ Genera Plantarum.”

“he Ivy-leaved Duckweed has fronds of a very different shape from those of the other

species, and thinner. They are nearly half aa inch in length, not quite half as broad, narrowed towards one end, and attenuated into a little stalk at the other, with a single fibre produced from the under surface. This also occurs plentifully in all the ditches in the neighbourhood of Tottenham, and elsewhere. The Greater Duckweed has fronds larger than in any other species, nearly circular, rather thick, and with a cluster of fibres pro- ceeding from the under-surface of each frond. Though said to be rare, it grows in abundance in the Hampstead Ponds, and in all the ditches and still waters bordering the Lea at Tottenham, and the surrounding district.

Figs. 7, 8. Details of flower and fruit of Lesser Duck- weed (Lemna minor), from Nees von Hsenbeck.

The Lesser (or common) Duckweed has small ovate fronds, cohering three or four together, with one fibre proceeding downwards from the under surface of each, the ovary con- tains but a single ovule ; at least such is the character given by those who have examined the fruit. Of course, this species occurs in still water every where.

Tig. 9. Flower of Greater Duckweed (Z. polyr- rhiza), trom Reichenbach’s “ Flora Germanica.” Vie. 10. Flowers of the same species, from Lamarck’s Encyclopedia. (We know of no

figure of the fruit of this species.)

The Gibbous Duckweed has fronds shaped like those of the Common Duckweed, but thicker and rather larger, flattened above, and convex beneath. Hach frond has a single rootlet. The ovary is said to contain two, or more, ovules. This species is probably not of

Jan. 1, 1865.]

SCIENCH-GOSSIP, ii

such common occurrence. It may, however, 42 more common than is generally supposed, us it is likely to be overlooked,

FIC .H & i2,

wos)

Pigs. 11, 12. Flowers of Gibbous Duckweed (Z. gibba), from Sowerby (fruit not given).

it is more especially with respect to the last two species that our remarks will hence- forth apply. After a little observation and practice in distinguishing these two plants in the water, it will be noticed that the Gibbous Duckweed has a more luxuriant appearance, a brighter green colour, and a more polished surface than its lesser neighbour. It will be seen to display a more convex face, and its habitat is quite different, for whilst the Lesser Duckweed can be found only in tolerably clear water, the Gibbous Duckweed affects those localities where one might expect to find ’ typhus fever and cholera morbus rampant. The amateur in search of the latter species must look for a pestilent and loathsome ditch, rich with the putrid remains of dead dogs and defunct cats. In such a place the Gibbous Duckweed grows and /uitens, for, be it noted, this is probably the sole cause of its gibbosity. If the said ditch is followed towards one of its extremities, where the water may be purer, it will cer- tainly be found that the Gzbbows soon becomes mixed with the Zesser, and, at last, in the pure element the Lesser Duckweed reigns supreme. The above circumstances first be- came known to us by accident. Knowing the Gibbous Duckweed to be rare, and the “rarity” having at length been found, three or four hundred fronds were collected, and placed in an aquarium, covered with a flat glass to induce flowering to take place, without the least effect. In the course of three or four days, a botanical friend was shown the plants of the Gibbous Duckweed, and lo! they were no longer gibba, but were all minor. 'The experiment was repeated time after time, and invariably with the same result, for, when- ever the Gibbous Duckweed was taken from its unclean element, and placed in purer water, it immediately put the Banting pro-

cess into operation, and got rid of its super- fluous fat, ultimately becoming a Lesser Duckweed. This would tend to show that these two species are one and the same, the particular habitats causing the species to be- coine either bloated or thin. It is necessary to see how far this idea can stand the test of investigation. The only trustworthy differ- ence between the two species is in the ovules; for whilst in the gibbous form, two or more are said to be produced in each ovary, those of the Lesser Duckweed produce but one. The difficulty, therefore, is reduced to this,— can a plant, which has normally a one-seeded ovary, occasionally bear two ovules or seeds ? In both species the ovules are probably al- ways suspended, as in the Lesser Duckweed (fig. 7), whilst in the Ivy-leaved Duckweed the ovules are erect. We think that it is in the experience of every botanist that a one- seeded ovary, under certain conditions, will bear two ovules ; and, if so, where is the line of demarcation between these two species? The only way to decide it would be to reduce the gibbous form in pure water, and force tt to Jlower, if possible, and see if, under the altered conditions of the fronds, one ovule or two would be produced.

A very economical aquarium may be ex- temporized for these little plants in a tumbler, a fish-globe, in fact any open glass vessel, and there will always be something to study, often something to learn. The mode of growth of the fronds is very interesting, and can be seen best in the Ivy-leaved Duckweed: an enlarged figure, Jrawn from nature, is given (fig. 13).

=

Fig. 13. Fronds of Ivy-leaved Duckweed (en- larged), showing mode of growth. : Fig. 14. Section of frond of the same species.

If a single frond be taken, it will be found that nearly the only part solid throughout is where the midrib would be, if the frond were a leaf. The leaf-like expansion on either side consists of two plates, one at the top, and one at the bottom, with a fissure between them (as shown in the section, fig. 14). Within this fissure, on either side, grow secondary fronds, each with similar lateral fissures, from

8 SCIENCH-GOSSIP.

a

(Jan. 1, 1865.

which again grow other fronds, and so on ad infinitum. The method of growth in the three other species is precisely similar, and can be clearly seen in all under a magnifying power.

Had it been the intention of this paper to embrace any account of other living organisms in the aquarium, a description might have been given how the tadpoles were continually biting off the rootlets of the Duckweeds ; how the great beetles seized the tadpoles, and bit their tails off, so that they could not rise to the surface ; how thé tadpoles again in their turn attached themselves, six or eight at a time, to the sides of the carp, where they hang for days together, going round and round with the fish, sucking their juices, and becoming veritable parasites; how the fish were continually gulping down fronds of duckweed, and as quickly disgorging them ; how, when the tadpoles were dead, because the aquarium and the beetles would not let them become frogs, the snails were the objects of the beetles’ fury ; and how, at length, the beetles gave themselves up to unmitigated cannibalism, and “did each other eat.” Such a description would doubtless be instructive and entertaining enough to induce us to return to it on some future occasion.

W.G.8.

WHY OBJECTS APPEAR LARGER THROUGH THE MICROSCOPE.

ITY objects under the microscope appear so much larger than when seen by the naked eye, is an inquiry that would naturally suggest itself to the mind of an intelligent lad or adult, who for the first time in his life peered through the tube of his friend’s microscope. The answer to such an inquiry will, we believe, reveal to us the principle on which the microscope itself is constructed. A mere speck, undistinguishable either in form or colour, is placed before us. Our friend transfers it to the stage of his microscope, adjusts the tube, and invites us to take a peep. We do so. Astonishment seizes upon us. Every part of that object is clearly mapped out; every member of its body duly displayed, and even a portion of its internal organization is distinctly revealed. We de- part to our homes mentally asking, By what means such an addition of power is obtained for the eye? In what, then, does magnitude consist, that at one time an object should appear large,

and at another time small? Let us endeavour to unravel this mystery.

Tt will readily be admitted that we judge of size by comparison—we compare one object with another—and thus form an idea of the extent 1t occupies in space. But had we nothing with which we could make the comparison, it would be impossible to judge of size at all.

Tt will be found that the apparent size of an object varies with the distance it may be from the eye of the spectator. Thus, a balloon at a great altitude, or a castle at a distance, both appear vastly diminished in bulk by reason of their remoteness ; and had we no other means of judging their magni- tude than those furnished by the eye, we should unhesitatingly believe the first to be no larger than a boy’s top, and the latter a fitting residence for a child’s twopenny doll. Even the sun himself, under similar cireum- stances, would be dwarfed to the size of the crown of one’s hat. Fortunately we have other means at our disposal for correcting our visual impressions.

If the aéronaut at our bidding suddenly quitted the clouds and descended at our feet, we should observe his balloon gradually ex- pand in every direction until it assumed the dimensions of a house. A small portion of the balloon contained within one of the lozenge-shaped meshes of the netting would appear at this short space even larger than the entire machine when seen from a distance. So also with the castle. If we travel towards it, we shall perceive it looming out larger and larger, as the distance decreases between it and ourselves. At last we stand beneath its walls. We now see but a very small por- tion of the building. It has so rapidly increased in size that a single stone covers with its image a larger space on the retina of the eye than the whole struc- ture when seen afar off. If, then, the mag- nitude of an object depends on the distance the eye of the spectator may be from it, it ought to follow that the nearer the eye the larger the appearance of the object ; and this we think will be found to be the case. There is, however, a limit to the eye in this direction. In an ordinary healthy eye ten inches is considered to be the distance at which small objects can be most distinctly seen, and this may be termed its natural focus. When objects are brought nearer than this they become indistinct and hazy. They are then out of focus. ‘The eye is so constructed that it cannot accommodate itself toa shorter distance than its natural focus

Jan. 1, 1865.]

SCIENCH-GOSSIP. — 9

and see’ distinctly that which is submitted to it. But we have every reason to suppose that if the eye could be brought within an inch of a small object, and see it clearly, it would appear much larger than it does to the unassisted eye at the ordinary distance.

The balloon and the castle as they came nearer to the spectator kept increasing in size, according to a well-known law, and would have continued to do so had they not been stopped by the inability of the eye to see them distinctly at a lesser distance than its proper focus. There are, however, strong- sighted persons, whose eyes, having a much shorter focus than their neighbours, are able to look more closely into some matters than their less-gifted brethren. Such may be seen reading a favourite author with their noses in contact with the page. Their vision is, in fact, microscopic. They see everything on a larger scale than ordinary folks. Try them with the minutest specimens of caligraphy or printing, and they excite your envy by read- ing with ease that which you can barely decipher by the aid of a lens. Whence this power? It will be found, if we mistake not, in the difference of the organization of such an eye. Our friend the physiologist here comes to our aid: by the light he has thrown upon the subject we perceive that the cornea of the short-sighted eye has a deeper curve than the cornea of the ordinary eye, and this may also apply to the crystalline lens. Such a departure from the normal form tends greatly to increase the refractive power of the eye, and thus to shorten its focus. But whilst an eye of this description has an advantage in being able to see objects distinctly at a short distance, and consequently much mag- nified, it labours under the great disadvantage in being unable to distinguish a friend from a lamp-post on the opposite side of the street. Without the aid of concave glasses to elongate his vision it would be impossible for a short-sighted person to realize the poet’s expresslon—

°Tis distance lends enchantment to the view.

As we who possess ordinary eyes cannot alter their natural organization, it is pretty clear, if we wish to increase their power, that we must seek for the material wherewith to do so in the region of optics.

Ordinary objects are seen by the light they reflect from all points of their surfaces. Thousands of such rays emanate from the objects that are round about us, each ray bearing the form and colour of that particular spot from whence it has proceeded, These

enter the eye through that small hole—the pupil—and, in the aggregate, form on its retina a perfect miniature picture. Such, however, is the result only when the eye is at a proper distance from an object ; when it approaches too closely it fails to perceive it. There is no distinct vision, owing to the light’s rays di- verging at too great anangle. Many of them do not enter the eye at all, but shoot by it; while those rays that do gain an entrance are still too divergent for the eye to bring them into a proper condition for forming a perfect image on the retina. Now as the mind can receive no true idea of the form and colour of external objects except through the instru- mentality of the eye, it will necessarily follow that distinct vision depends on the accuracy of the picture formed on its retina. Where the image produced is hazy and indistinct, the mental impression will be equally obscure. Knowledge is said to be power. It certainly is so when applied to optics. By our re- searches we become acquainted with the fact that when a ray of light, in an oblique or slanting direction, enters a transparent me- dium denser than that through which it has previously travelled (such as water or glass), it suffers refraction ; that is, it is bent out of its original course. Taking advantage of this fact, we procure a piece of clear glass, give to each of its surfaces a curve like that described by a bent bow, and then highly polish them. This is termed a convex lens, and when mounted on an arm, or in some kind of handle, it becomes a hand-magnifier, or simple micro- scope. The action of such a lens on rays diverging from a brilliant point (if that point be in its focus) is to render them parallel, or if the point be nearer to the lens than its true focus, the divergentrays will be rendered lessso. If parallel rays be transmitted they will come to a point at some distance beyond the lens. This is its true focus for parallel rays, and any small object placed here and properly illuminated would be more distinctly seen than in any other position. By giving to our piece of glass a deeper curve, or by selecting a denser medium than glass, such as a diamond or ruby, we obtain a lens still more powerful in its refractive properties. We have thus the means of providing ourselves with lenses of longer or shorter foci, and of different degrees of magnifying power. All lenses of high power have short foci, and must be held very close to an object in order to see it ; in some instances almost in contact with it. Now observe how cunningly that animal, man, takes advantage of his own con- trivance. He has by his skill construeted an

1h _ SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

[Jan. 1, 1865.

artificial eye with a focus considerably shorter than his own. He makes use of it by placing his own living eye behind it, and looking through it at that which is beyond it. His own eye is thus brought much closer to the object than it could be without the aid of his lens—the result being an enormous accession of enlarging power. Be it observed, how- ever, that the lens does not augment the size ; it only enables the eye to be brought nearer, for could the eye see ata similar short distance without the help of the lens, the result would be precisely the same as that attained by the use of the lens. The real service that our piece of convex glass renders tous is this— it takes the divergent rays which emanate at all points from an object situated nearer to the eye than its natural focus, and brings them into a proper condition to be received by the eye, which is then competent to deal with them in forming a perfect image on its retina. Without the lens this could not be accomplished : the image would then not fall on the retina, but at some distance beyond it.

Let us now apply this principle to the opti- cal part of the compound microscope. At each end of a brass tube some 10 inches in length and 14 inch in diameter are placed the lenses which produce such marvellous results. At one end of the tube nearest to the eye of the observer is placed the eye-piece, at the oppo- site end is the object-glass, so called from its proximity to the object. We will first deal with the latter : it may be a lens or combina- tion of lenses of high or low magnifying power. By the mechanical aid of rackwork and pinion we contrive to bring the lens into focus with a small object placed on the stage of the microscope. The light transmitted or reflected from this object enters the object-glass and at some distance in the interior of the tube produces a _ faithful copy of the object greatly increased in size. For the sake of illustration we will consider the copy, or image, thirty times loager, broader, and deeper than the original. Now, although the eye is not present at the spot where this image is formed to receive it, yet we very well know that it is actually there, and placed, too, in a most convenient pesition to be seen by looking at it through the eye-piece. If the latter had the power of doubling the size of the first image, the result would be a second image twice the size of the first, and sixty times larger in length, breadth, and depth than the object itself. And this is what really takes place in the compcund microscope. We have, asit were, two simple microscopes. The first deals with the object,

and the second with the enlarged image that object forms. It is in consequence of this compound arrangement that the modern microscope has received its present name.

It is greatly superior to its predecessor, the simple microscope, which labours under the disadvantages of being more limited in its range, the result of producing but one image, and the necessity forced on the observer to have both eye and lens almost in contact with the object he may wish to investigate. The compound microscope, while it preserves us from these drawbacks, secures for us a double advantage. Its magnifying power is much greater in consequence of its ability to pro- duce two images instead of one. And this is secured to us, while the eye remains at the ordinary distance of ten inches from an object.

We have endeavoured to show in a simple manner, without going into optical techni- calities, why objects appear so greatly enlarged when seen under the Microscope, and that magnitude, or increase of size, depends on the distance of an object from the eye—that the closer the eye can approach to it and see it, the larger it will appear, and that the lenses employed in the construction of our Micro- scopes are only helps to bring about sucha result. f Rag 6

A DEAD FLY ON THE WINDOW. § 7 HO will prescribe for an unhappy fly-?

_ We were led to ask this question in all simplicity the other day, by seeing one of these disturbers cf our usual afternoon nap apparently in the agonies of approaching death. As we regarded his rotund and in- flated body, vague notions of the veteriaary art and even of Mr. Banting flitted through our mind, but help seemed beyond the in- sectile reach. Its beautiful arrangement of feet to climb glass and walk in an inverted position over our heads, its delicate wings of prismatic hues, its minute spiracles so con- structed for breathing as to render a nose a useless appendage, and its numerous eyes which enable it with equal readiness to see a dainty morsel or a sinister enemy, all were about to cease their functions, for disease had arrested its playful gambols and_ thieving propensities ; the sugar basin would “ know it no more,” and our afternoon nap would be disturbed by one intruder the less.

Still the death of a fly under these circum- stances is not without its interest to those

Jaw. 1, 1865. ]

SCIENCE-GOSSIP. an

who are observers of nature, in its minute and more obscure forms, and who, amidst the busy cares of life, have been content to leave for a time the ceaseless anxieties of £ s. d. and contemplate the world which is around them. f

In the month of September last, the weather having been exceedingly humid and oppres- sive for several days, we observed, as the dusk of evening approached, that an unusual number of unhappy flies had come to an un- timely end in various parts of the house, not on the windows only, but, as a closer examina- tion showed, they were tightly fixed to the wainscoted wallsand other smooth and polished surfaces. Varnished and glass-like objects had been generally selected, although rarely rougher surfaces had sufficed, the smoother being evidently preferred as being probably better adapted for adhesion, We could re- member the time when we had seen dead flies sticking to the windows, surrounded by a little cloud, which in our ignorance we then thought was only dust ; but the time arrived when we learnt that the so-called dust was a vegetable growth, and we were now aware that these flies had died in consequence of the overpowering attack of a fungus, to which they had succumbed. The curiosity which at times had possessed us so strongly as to make us look with longing eyes at the victims on our neighbour’s windows, and wish we might be allowed to cut out a small piece of his glass, say ‘three inches by one,’ induced us now to investigate a little more closely than hitherto the humble subjects of our remarks.

A diligent search rewarded our endeavours, for after some time hed been spent in watch- ing our small friends, we perceived one which was not so lively as its companions, but rather in a semi-torpid condition, which had extended its proboscis and by aid of its two fore feet appeared to be clutching the glass with a spasmodic effort. Here then, at last, was an opportunity of obtaining a good specimen for further examination. One minute sufficed to fetch a slip of glass, and then, carefully placing the fly on the centre of it, we were gratified at beholding the victim again extend its proboscis, and, with the assistance of all its legs, resume the position in which we first saw it. For security we placed a large bell- glass over it and resumed our hunt. Another “incurable” quickly met our fond gaze, and in its turn was placed on another glass slide. Té proved as docile and tractable as its fellow, and readily adhered to the glass. Teeling we were now sufficiently supplied, we pro- ceeded to watch with some attention, but

were not enlightened by any movement on the part of the patients. Unlike the Daven- port Brothers, they were evidently unable to release themselves from the bonds which restrained them, so we left them quietly for an hour, and at the end of this period observed a dulness on the glass, though it was so slight as not to be easily discernible. At the end of two hours, another peep revealed the fact that what had appeared as only a dulness before had now developed to a dis- tinct white cloudiness, which extended for a short space from each side of the abdomen, and gave evidence of forthcoming work for the microscope, as soon as the slides might be safely moved, without risking the somewhat fearful calamity of disturbing the innocent subjects of our notice. We therefore left them for the night, full of hope that the returning day would reveal a further develop- ment of this interesting parasitic plant.

With the “cock’s shrill clarion” we awoke on the following morning, and no follower of the chase ever left his bed-chamber more eager for the sport than we were to ascertain the state of our prisoners; nor were we disappointed in our hopes as to the result of the last eight hours. The flies were dead ; bu& we did not grieve, on the contrary, we rather preferred it, for it promoted the object of our inquiry, by rendering the vegetation of the plants more complete, as was proved by the first glance we took at the glasses. The white dust now extended to the edges, although not at all in a regular and even film, but seemed radiated in waves more or less opaque, while the flies had maintained their original position and consequently had all the appearance of life.

Desirous to see the end cf this parasiti growth, we refrained from disturbing it until more than a week had elapsed, when we sub- mitted one of the slips to examination under the microscope. We then perceived that what appeared to be a white dust, consisted of innumerahle small disc-like spores or seeds, which were wat and circular, each having a nucleus and a few markings or rays extending from the centre to the edge, so that they might be familiarly compared to cart-wheels in appearance. The fly itself also proved an interesting subject for examination, as the hairs which covered it in all directions were beautifully decorated: with snow-white glo- bules, like bunches of grapes. The wings, legs, and proboscis were likewise dotted with similar spores, while they were abundant at the less horny parts, between the plates of the abdomen,

12 SCLENCE-GOSSIP.

[Jan. 1, 1865.

The house-fly is not the only insect which is subject to the attacks of this mould, the common dung-fly being equally hable to it. The mould which attacks the silkworm (Bo- trytis bassiana), producing the well-known disease, muscardine, has been the subject of earnest investigation by those cultivators who to their cost have suffered the visitation. The fly-mould, however, belongs to a simpler and lower organization than the Botrytis, and bears the name of Sporendonema musce. The first of these is the generic, or name of the genus, to which the fly-mould belongs, and is derived from a combination of three Greek words : sporos, “seed,” endon, “ within,” and nema, a “thread.” The structure of the moulds themselves suggested this compound name, as the genus is characterized by pellucid tubular threads, containing at first within them the sporidia arranged in rows. This particular species is called mascce, from museca, “a fly.” The threads are simple, glued toge- ther into somewhat lobed white tufts, which assume a shape that we have already de- scribed as resembling a cart-wheel. Some observers have considered this fly-mould to be the accompaniment of a disease, and only developed after death ; but more recent in- vestigations have undoubtedly established the fact that the mould is the true predisposing cause of death. Two other names have been given to this mould by more recent authors, consequent on referring it to other genera.*

Such is a brief account of the troubles of a fly, which, having partaken of our choicest dainties uninvited, sipped our divine nectar, stolen our sugar, and escaped the perils of the milk jug, at last pays the penalty of nature, by exchanging the gambols of a merry life for the tetanic embraces of a mouldy death.

W. M. B.

FOUR YEARS ACQUAINTANCE WITH A TOAD.

{OUR years last September, as I was wan- dering through the meadows at Hastings,

near the spot called “ Lover's Seat,” I captured ayoung frog and also a young toad, and brought them both, for the first time, ona visit to the Great Metropolis. These creatures I placed in a small conservatory, but poor Froggy soon died. Toady, however, survived, and soon appeared to have become acclimatized. I

* Tmpusa musce —Cohn, in Hedwigia, 1855. “ntomophthora musce—Yresenius, i Botanische Zeitung, 1856,

occasionally saw him, but found that one of his propensities was to get out of sight. About November of the same year, I lost him altogether, and for some time grieved over the absence of my pet. Imagine my astonishment, one fine morning, in the latter part of March, whilst at breakfast, to observe my old friend creeping over some moss, greatly increased in size and ugliness during his four months’ absence. He would afterwards occa- sionally absent himself for weeks, so that I ceased to be alarmed for his welfare, even though I might not have caught sight of him fora month. In this manner we went on, leaving ‘Toady -to take his holidays as he pleased, until the spring of last year. During one of his temporary vacations, I was watch- ing the movements of some small insects, and it appeared that my pet was watching them also, for on their approaching within reach of his tongue, that organ was instantaneously thrust forward, and an insect disappeared. Thus while losing sight of anew acquaintance I became aware of the presence of an old friend. I also derived fresh satisfaction in observing his choice of food, and. mode of taking it. Thenceforward I became diligent in supplying him with the same kind of food, so that he soon lost all appearance of shyness, would come out of his hiding-place regularly, day by day, until late in November, 1863, when he again disappeared as the frost set in. At this time the weather was very severe for so early a period: the aquarium was frozen, the fish were killed, the glass was broken, and all its contents became a solid mass, plants, animals, and everything, embedded, as it were, in a large transparent crystal. Again, I was agreeably surprised, one beautiful spring day in the early part of April, to observe my old friend moving about, as if to inform us that he had returned again from his unknown place of retreat. He had again grown fatter and uglier than he was in the autumn, his skin was blacker and coarser, and dark spots covered the whole body. Yet his eye seemed more brilliant and thoughtful. He came direct to the same spot on which I had fed him when last we met, more than four months previously. He was supplied with what we term “ garden-hogs,” woodlice, worms, and the lively little black ant. None of these would he touch, if dead, or did not show un- mistakable signs of active life. Then would he fix his calculating eye, until the object came within reach of his tongue; this he would dart at them, and in an instant the object was gone. When satisfied, he would return again to some quiet nook, out of sight.

Jan. 1, 1865. |

SCIENCH-GOSSIP. 13

This summer being long, and dry, I have had some difficulty in providing him with his necessary food. One day I placed him in a large hole at the bottom of the garden, where I collected the sweepings and rubbish, and he literally became a “ toad-in-a-hole.” This was some fifty yards from the. house, and T left him to shift for himself amongst the insect life of the rubbish. I afterwards sought him to convey him back to his old neighbourhood around the house, but he was nowhere to be found, and this time I gave him up for lost. Four days after, what was my surprise, whilst seated at supper, to see Toady come tumbling heels over head down the step into the room, on a visit to his old friends? The most remarkable feature in this last freak is, the circuitous route he must have taken before he arrived, and the ob- stacles he must have encountered in his way. Certainly this little creature has not been endowed by nature with the most fascinating exterior, but he has, in compensation, re- ceived a beautifully brilliant eye, thoughtful, calculating, and full of power. I think that, were he better known, he would be less despised, and instead of “ familiarity breeds contempt,’ we should have to write, “ know me, and love me ;” or, if not, we should be less prejudiced, and give him credit for his merits, HE. D.

THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE STARLING.

_ Dear Sirn,—The writer has a pet starling (Sturnus vulgaris), a short account of whose tameness, &c., may interest, perhaps, some of your readers. Our pet—whose adopted name is Brilliant—is a bird of great observation and intelligence, but, like many persons of talent and genius, has a temper peculiarly higown. We have accustomed our feathered favourite to be placed at the breakfast table, &c., at which time, in addition to his regular diet of meat, bread, and seeds, he is given a spoonful or two of milk, and other suitable food ; these he is much pleased with, and shows his approval of, by a merry song or cheerful whistle, and utters “ Meat, meat, good, good,” and often will he call out “ More, more,” “ Piggy,” “ Yes, yes,” and many words of one syllable, &. Brilliant is quite a practical entomologist ; for he delights in examiuing insects, and pays par- ticular attention to all moths, flies, and spiders brought under his notice, and they

soon disappear after being placed within his reach. Brilliant shows a great dislike to beggars and persons poorly dressed, and when they approach the house he utters a harsh repeated note, calling out “ Tramp, tramp, tramp,” and shows other signs of extreme indignation ; neither does he agree with Exeter Hall proclivity, or abolition principles, for he cannot bear the sight of a negro, and when he has seen one (which has been the case several times) he goes to the extremity of the cage, and ‘makes a sound that can only be compared to a hiss. To any member of the family this bird is very tame and affec- tionate, and delights to see us all assembled together, and to listen to a lively conversa- tion, and also always joins in the talk. The appearance of the baker, grocer, and butcher is an occasion of great pleasure, for then he expresses “Good, good,” “Come, come.” When let out of the cage (in a suitable room) Brilliant generally examines every article in the room, and takes great interest in the mirror, standing before it for some minutes, viewing his reflection in the glass, and per- haps reflecting on his aérial dignity, calling out at the same time, “ Oh,” “ Old boy,” &c. After satisfying his curiosity he will alight on the heads of all present, if not strangers, and then return satisfied to his cage and begin a cheerful tune.

Of course a bird with these acquired qualities soon becomes a “ pet” with those fond of the feathered tribe. This is but one of the many instances that give evidence that birds and other animals may, by attention and kind treatment, become very docile and most affectionate. Kindness to the mute creation is an attribute of a noble nature, while brutality towards them shows a selfish and cowardly disposition. If we really worship Almighty God, let us be humane to all His creatures.—Yours truly,

W. iE, W.

FBacire-Kinuing ExtrraorpInary.—In Norway the golden eagle is common, and, with the sea eagle, is so numerous, that from a statistical account of the sums paid each year by the Government for the destruction of beasts and birds of prey, it ap- pears that, in the five years ending December, 1850, there were paid for, altogether, no less than 10,715 eagles! ‘The Sutherlandshire expedition of natural- ists mention the number of eagles that had been paid for between March, 1831, and March, 1884, to have been 171, besides 53 nestlings or eggs. * * In the south-west of that country a clever gamekeeper trapped 15 eagles in three months of 1847, and about as many in the winter of 1850-1, almost all of them being mountain eagles—Ootheca Wolleyana,

14 SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

4

ZOOLOGY.

Tur Common Surew (Sorex tetragonurus).—I kept one of these pretty little animals for a few days in a box with moss. It would eat almost any animal substance, but seemed to prefer insects and earth- worms: the former it seized with a spring, and it would eat seven or eight house-flies at a time; if more were given it hid them in the moss. Small worms were caught by one end and munched slowly without being bitten through. On giving it a large one (about four or five inches long), it gave it a sharp bite, then sprang back, then flew at it again, until the worm was half dead, when it ate about half and hid the rest. It slept during the middle of the day, rolled up among the moss, but always waked up at once if worms or flies were put into the box. I believe that, when pressed for food, shrews will kill and. eat frogs, but when a large one was placed in the box the present specimen did not seem inclined to prey upon it, although it now and then gave it a slight bite on the hind leg; after they had been together for some hours the poor frog was taken away. The shrew seemed to be very cleanly, constantly dressing its fur and “‘ washing” its face with its fore paws, as rabbits do. It soon died by an accident.—#, R. Alston in the Zoologist.

A Moa’s Kee.—The Nelson Hraminer states :— “A moa’s ege is now being exhibited at Messrs. Bethune and Hunter’s offices. It is about ten inches long and five inches in diameter, of a dirty white colour. It was found at the Kaikoros, in the middle island, under singular circumstances. A labourer in Mr. Fyffe’s employ, who was digging the foundation for a house, came upon the egg, and, unfortunately, with his pick broke some portions of the shell. It was found in the hands of the skeleton of a Maori, who was buried in a sitting posture, with the egg resting in his hands and held opposite to his head. The egg has been placed in a box of rimu, and protected with a sheet of glass on the top. In a drawer beneath, securely covered with glass, are the fragments of the shell, which have been carefully preserved. The injury, as the egg is placed in the box, is not perceptible, and it appears to be perfect.”

Gutis Looxine our.—Gulls hover about ships in port, and often far out at sea, diligently watching for the waste of the caboose. While the four great fleets, English, French, Turkish, and Egyptian, were lying in the Bosphorus, in the summer and autumn of 1858, a young lady of my family called my atten- tion to the fact that the gulls were far more nume: rous about the ships of one of the fleets than about the others. This was verified byrepeated observation,

[Jan. 1, 1865,

and the difference was owing no doubt to the greater abundance of the refuse from the cook-rooms of the naval squadron most frequented by the birds. Per- sons acquainted with the economy of the navies of the states in question, will be able to conjecture which fleet was most favoured with these delicate attentions.—Marsh’s Man and Nature.

ANECDOTE OF A StorK.—Birds do not often yoluntarily take passage on board ships bound for foreign countries, but I can testify to one such case. A stork which had nested near one of the palaces on the Bosphorus, had, by some accident, injured a wing, and was unable to join his fellows when they commenced their winter migration to the banks of the Nile. Before he was able to fly again, he was caught, and the flag of the nation to which the palace belonged was tied to his leg, so that he was easily identified at a considerable distance. As his wing grew stronger, he made several unsatisfactory ex- periments at flight, and at last, by a vigorous effort, succeeded in reaching a passing ship bound south- ward, and perched himself on a topsail yard. I happened to witness this movement, and observed him quietly maintaining his position as long as I could discern him with a spy-glass. I suppose he finished the voyage, for he certainly did not return to the palace.—Jdid.

ANECDOTE OF THE Swirt.—Mr. Yarrell mentions an instance of a sparrow accidentally hanging itself in a noose from its own nest, and I was the other day witness to an incident of a somewhat similar nature, though fortunately less tragic in its termina- tion. A pair of swifts (Cypselus apus) had built their nest in a crevice under the eaves of a house, and the aperture was so narrow that they could with difficulty squeeze themselves through. My atten- tion was one morning attracted by a loud flapping of wings, and on hastening to the window to ascer- tain the cause I perceived that one of the birds had, by some means or other, caught one of its feet either © ina chink of the brickwork, or in some portion of the materials of its nest (the height was too great to see which), and was held a prisoner just at the entrance. Its struggles were violent, and continued without intermission for nearly three-quarters of an hour. Sometimes the poor bird would hang fora few seconds with its head downwards, as if dead, and then again it would renew its efforts to escape. At length, after a longer pause than usual, by a sudden and vigorous exertion, it succeeded in cast- ing itself free. I passed the kuilding several times in the course of the day, but never saw either of the birds near the place. The following morning, how- ever, they were going in and out as usual.—//, Weld, in Naturalist’s Scrap Book.

Jan. 1, 1865.]

ENTOMOLOGY.

To Kru InsEcts In GreenHousEs.—Mr. W. W. Saunders stated, at a recent meeting of the Entomo- logical Society, that for some years he had used spirits of wine in his greenhouses for cleansing plants and clearing them from insects; he mixed the rectified spirits and pure water in equal propor- tions, and this mixture, which was found to answer better than undiluted spirit, was applied with a brush. It was very eflicacious in the destruction of the common mealy bug (especially when young) and other common pests, and he recommended it as worthy of application in the greenhouse generally.

SMALL TORTOISESHELL BurteRrity.—“ The larve of this insect (Vanessa Urtice), and, I surmise, of the genus Vanessa in general, are remarkably exempt from the attacks of Ichneumons. Thus I collected (at random from various places), last July, about forty nearly adult larvee of this insect. Every one of these became a pupa, and emerged in due time. I observe that in rearing butterfly larve, if from insufficient or inappropriate food they have not attaimed their due size when they enter the pupa state, they make their appearance thereafter with the wings perfect, but are of diminutive size. With moths, on the contrary, under the like circumstances, the wings are shrivelled and imperfect.”—The Entomologist.

Drato To Fres!—A grocer in Cathcart-street, Glasgow, being annoyed at the superabundance of the fly tribe in his shop, and being of a speculative turn of mind, invested in a halfpenny fly-paper, which he placed in the window, on a plate anda little water. After it had lain thus for a week, on the usual turn over of the window on Wednesday afternoon, an immense number of dead flies were collected from it. Astonished at the result, curiosity led the young man to put them in the scale, when he found their combined weight to be two ounces and aquarter. He thereafter tried two drams weight, and on counting them found there were 600 init. Thus upon calculation it appeared that the two ounces and a quarter would contain 10,800 dead flies. Besides these, it is considered that nearly half as many more would be dusted out of the window during the week, making a grand total of 15,000 of the tribe slaughtered in a week by this housewife’s benefactor. — Glasgow Morning Journal,

Gatts.—At the meeting of the Entomological Society, beld November 7th, Mr. W. W. Saunders exhibited some galls which he had recently found on the roots of an oak tree, at adepth of four feet below the surface, and from which had since emerged a number of specimens of a Cynips (C. aptera 7), the

SCIENCE-GOSSIP. . 15

whole of which were females. Also three other kinds of gall, which he had found in Switzerland, two of them upon species of willow, and the third formed on the leaves of the beech. Mr. Stainton also exhibited a gall of a woolly texture, found on ai oak near. Bath.

SHEEP-ROT OR LivER-FLUKE.—The rot in sheep is but too well known as one of the most destructive pests connected with what may be termed the animal economy of agriculture. Its ravages have been in some seasons so extensive as to produce a scarcity in the kind of stock which constitutes the most general and wholesome kind of our ordinary animal food, as well as a very important medium in carrying out the necessary rotation of crops. A writer in the Edinburgh Veterinary Review, quoted by Dr. Cobbold, says, that “in the season of 1830-31, the estimated deaths of sheep from rof was between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000. Supposing,” proceeds our author, “the number to have been 1,500,000, this would represent a sum of something like £4,000,000 sterling. ... As instances of its disastrous effects upon the revenues of agricul- turists, we may cite the statements of Duvaine, and also individual cases recorded by Simonds. ‘ In the neighbourhood of Arles alone, during the year 1812, no less than 300,000 sheep perished, and at Nimes and Montpelier 90,000. In the inner departments, during the epidemic of the years 1853-54, many cattle-breeders lost a fourth, a third, or even three- fourths of their flocks.’ ... On the estate of Mr. Cramp, of the Isle of Thanet, the rot epidemic of 1834 swept away £3,000 worth of his sheep in less than three months, compelling him to give up his farm. Scores of cases are on record where our English farmers have lost three, four, five, six, seven, and even eight hundred sheep in a single season, and many agriculturists have thus become completely ruined.” It is superfluous to inform our readers that all this wholesale and ruinous mischief is the effect of the existence of the “ liver-fluke” (Fasciola hepatica) im the liver of the animal. The number of flukes inhabiting a single sheep’s liver is sometimes very considerable. ‘* Bidloo obtained 800, Leuwenhoeck about 900, and Duprey upwards of 1,000 specimens. The bile contained in the liver-ducts is loaded with flukes’ eggs. In some cases there cannot be less than tens, or even hun- dreds, of thousands.”—Athencum, on Dr. Cobbold’s Eintozoa.

Heroic Names or Burterrriies.—“ In the vast multitude of butterflies, the greatest part of which are foreign and extra-European, and to whose food and manner of life we are utter strangers, it was impossible to give significant trivial names. Lin- neeus, therefore, by way of simile, has taken the names of the Equites from the Trojan history. They

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16 SCLIENCE-GOSSIP.

(Jan. 1, 1865.

consist of two troops or bodies; of which one con- tains the sable, and, as it were, mourning nobles, having red or bloody spots at the basis of their wings. These receive names from the Trojan nobles; andthe most splendid among them bear the name of Priam. The other body, ornamented with a variety of gay colours, are distinguished by the names of the Grecian heroes; and, as in both armies there are kings as well as officers of an inferior rank, those elegant butterflies whose hinder wings resemble tails are distinguished by some royal name. ‘Thus when Paris is mentioned (know- ing that he was a Trojan, and of royal blood) we look for him among those of the first section; 7.e., those of a sable colour, spotted in the breast with red, and having their hinder wings resembling tails. When Agamemnon is named, we at once find him among those nobles which have variegated and swallow-tailed wings. But when Nereus is spoken of, we readily know him to belong to the last section, having wings but no tails.” The Hguites are the first of the six classes into which naturalists divide the genus Papilio ; the others being 2nd, Heli- cout; 8rd, Parnassii; 4th, Danai; 5th, Nymph- ales; 6th, Plebeii.— Translator’s Note to Hoff- meister’s Travels in Ceylon.

FISH TATTLE.

Fisu-Lapprers on tHe TuameEs.—Two ladders have already been erected, one at Moulsey and the other at Teddington. Mr. Buckland thus describes them :—‘ Two walls are constructed from the top to the foot of the weir (on its slope). Slabs of iron or stone (the stops) are then fixed at right angles into these walls, reaching about four-fifths of the way across the passage. The slots (or passages for the fish between the wall and the end of the stop) come alternately to the right and left, so that when the water runs down the ladder it describes a zigzag (or rather serpentine) course; the fish nosing about the foot of the weir like timid foxhunters galloping up and down a severe bullfinch in search for a gap, are attracted to the foot of the ladder by the current coming down it; they then make a rush through the lowermost opening into the first box or step, then into the next, and next, and so on till they get to the top. If they are tired, they can rest as lone as they please in the eddies between each of the stops. It is found, however, in practice, that it does not answer to make the ascent of the ladder too easy, as, if the fish find themselves too comfortable in the eddies, they will stay there, and be liable to become a prey to poachers, as a reward for their laziness.”

ANGLING ror T'rncu.—Bustling men, who can- not work and wait, may sneer if they will at the silent patience cf the angler; what know they of

the still charm which creeps over the senses, helping them to take in with half-unconscious appetite the blessed influence of evening, when the coolness of the earth meets the sinking fire of the sunbeam, and sends an equal pulse of life through every blade and leaf? Then the watcher who stands beside the pool receives into his being that calm which marks the brethren of his craft. He is angling, it is true; he speculates on the indecision of the fish, which— may be, even now deep in the cool water—are circling with suspicious hunger round his bait, loath to swallow, still more loath to leave, the luscious worm. Yet meanwhile, he gathers in, through open senses, store of Nature’s truth; he sees and marks, with tenacious observation, countless traits of life— the persevering industry of the insect, the sociable intelligence of the bird, the short history of the summer plant, ihe steady progress of the growing tree, the shifting architecture of the clouds, the ceaseless machinery of all around that dies to live and lives to die in perpetual succession. But, look! there is a bite. See, the float is uneasy—makes little rings in the water. Now it moves slowly off— and dips a quarter of an inch—now it rises up, and lies on its side: that is sure symptom of a tench. Draw in your slack line, lest you hit your rod against an overhanging branch. Now, strike! Yes, you have him. He is a fine fellow, too. Sce how he rolls the water up with his tail, like the blade of a revolving screw ; down again, head first! Give him play, but by all means keep him in the midst of that clear spot. Ah! heis yielding to the —to hin— mysterious power from above. Another last dive, and then he can barely keep his head below the sur- face. Be quick, but gentle, with the landing-net; tow him within its open mouth. There; he is safe —at least, in our view of his position. No, poor fellow, that muscular curving of your strong back is of no use to you in the new element to which you are transferred; your slimy life among the weeds is over now; you have swallowed your last mouthful, and must play an altogether passive part throughout your next appearance at a feast.—Jones’s Holiday Papers.

Satmon 1n Ausrratran Corontes.—The young salmon deposited some time since in Badger’s Creek, a tributary of the Yarra, are doing well, and are now about three inches long. We have not heard lately how the Hobart Town portion of the ereat naturalization experiment is getting on, but by last advices it was proceeding prosperously.

Satmon In Asra.—It is a remarkable fact that no trout or salmon inhabit any of the rivers that fall iito the Indian Ocean. ‘This widely distributed order of fish (Sadmontde) is, however, found in the Oxus, and in all the rivers of Central Asia that flow north and west. The central Himalayan rivers oficn

Jan. 1, 1865. |

SCIENCE-GOSSIP. ee Sy

rise in Tibet from lakes full of fish, but have none (at least during the rains) in that rapid part of their course from 10,000 to 14,000 feet elevation; below that fish’abound, but invariably of different species from those found at the sources of the same rivers. The nature of the tropical ocean into which all the Himalayan rivers débouche, is no doubt the proxi- mate cause of the absence of Sulmontde.— Hooker’ s Hinalayan Journal,

BOTANY.

Surer Sonne, in New Zeatanp.—One of the ereatest pests of this country (on the cultivated lands) is the common English Sheep-sorrel (Rumev acetosella), called by the natives the red sorrel, and said by them to be a native of Tasmania. This plant spreads with singular rapidity, its roots forming a perfect mat, and the smallest fragment throwing up a stem. Where it is present in the ground scarcely any of the ordinary crops can be obtained. All the usual processes of cultivation, such as fallows, &c., utterly fail even to mitigate the evil, and farmers were in despair, until it was found, that in the “ struggle for existence,” even this weed could not make head against the greater vigour of the white elover. I have seen hundreds of acres of broken-up land so completely over- grown withthis plant, as to appear like a uniform red patch in the landscape, but upon which, at the end of two years, after it had been “laid down” with white clover and Italian rye-grass (which by itself would have done no good), scarcely a speci- men of the sorrct could be found.—Zravers, ¢# Naturul History Review.

Most Perrect Prants. — Those plants are most perfect, in which the organs discharging different functions are most distinct both in position and structure. ‘The thalloid fronds (cf Cactacez) and the hypoblastoid embryos of En- dogens indicate a lower degree of organization. Plants which have the stamens and pistils either naked or in the axil of an unmodified leaf (WVazas, Hinpuris, Callitriche) are inferior to those whose flowers are never complicated. Diclinous flowers are lower in position than those which are hermaphro- dite; ternary verticils lower than quiniary, spirally arranged floral organs lower than those which are verticillate, polypetalous flowers lower than gamo- petalous, apocarpous ovaries lower tlian syncarpous, atropous ovules lower than those which are inverted, homogeneous embryos lower than those which are fully developed. Trees and shrubs are more com- mon among imperfect plants. In the lower order flowers are very numerous, in the higher the

number of seeds produced by each flower is very great. Yellow and green colours in the flowers of the lowest rank are changed into red or white in those of a higher order, and in the highest plants the colour of the flower is generally blue.—J. G. Agardh. Theoria Systematis Plantarum.

A Horsr-curestnut Trer.—Dr. Davy read a paper at Bath on ¢he horse-chestnut; will any one read a paper on @ horse-chestnut ? The tree stands on a flat stone. Its root grows up through the air for 7 feet, turns over a wall, and descends 7 fect into the earth. So that the root passes for 14 feet through the air before it enters the earth. The eelebrated Dutrochet, by experiment, convinced the still more celebrated De Candolle, and all European vegetable physiologists, that roots will only grow straight downwards. On this, I set to work to show that they will grow in any direction in which they can find food. If any one doubts this fucf, let him inspect my tree, which is now twenty-one years old. In imitation of Dutrochet’s beautiful experiment, I placed a great variety of seeds (single as well as double) in flower-pots, suspended them upside down on wire-work, and watered them from above. Each seed sent a tap-root down into the air, which died; but the dranch roots (as I have named them) and the plants grew, and corn ripened in this way. But cuttings placed upside down, though they grew and bore fruit for years, showed no root below. I thus blundered on the fact that every seedling has a tap- root, whose downward determination nothing can pervert, a provision and contrivance for the fixing of the plant, and a beautiful proof of the desigz of a Creator. But the downward tap-root is as peculiar to the seedling as the “seed-leaves” are, and all branch roots will grow in all directions. I preserved one horse-chestnut by placg it on a flat stone, and replacing the flower-pot with a chimney-pot full of earth, and, by degrees, raised a column of chimney- pots. I then built up a column of earth on the opposite side of the wall, turned the roots into it, and when they were established in the ground, I took away the two columns of earth. I think that Virgil’s tap-rocted Esculus is the horse-chestnut. Virgil mentions it as distinct from the guercus and castanea, and Ovidas distinct from the fagus and tea. It is, then, a feat to make its radix fexd to heaven instead of to Tartarus. With regard to the name from Esca, it is true that neither man, horses, nor pigs will eat horse-chestnuts, but sheep, cows, aud deer are ravenously eager for them.—Col. Greeu- wood, in Atheneuit.

Prants Rootine in tun Sor.— Plants them- selves send down their roots naturally to a depth which, strange to say, is so little known as scarcely In the case of beans, turnips, and red clover, we are’ familiar with the fact, that their

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18 SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

[Tans 1, 1868.

roots penetrate to double the depth of ordinary ploughing; we raise up the turnip on’ drills to help it, and we expect the pulse and grass crop to perfo- rate and deepen the soil to help us. But there is not a cultivated plant which does not naturally send down its roots beyond 9 inches. The cereals on which our agriculture mainly depends are, indeed, endowed with the power of forcing their roots deep and far into the solid earth in search of food, and as the investigation of drainage obstructions has lately shown, it is impossible by any process short of actual tracing, to fix the distance to which the roots of trees and hedge plants will penetrate ; so is it found that wheat and our other cultivated grasses extend their roots much further into the soil than is at all generallysupposed; Johnston, inhis drainage lecture, says that deep-rooted plants, such as lucerne, often fail, even in moderately deep soils, because an excess of water, or the presence of some noxious ingredient which deep drains would remove, prevents their natural descent in search of food. “ Even plants,” he adds, “which, like wheat or clover, do not usually send down their roots so far, will yet, where the subsoil is sound and dry, extend their fibres for three or more feet in depth, in quest of more abundant nourishment.” But, I repeat, it is not thoroughly understood how deeply the roots even of wheat and clover descend. The Earl of Macclesfield, in a letter to the Society of Arts, mentions that a few years ago, Mr. Badcock, a shrewd, sensible, observing, and very considerable farmer, at Pyrton, Oxon, having occasion to dig the foundation of a building on a field under wheat, was much surprised by observing the small fibres of the roots of the wheat much deeper in the carth than he had any idea of. Endea- vouring to trace how deep they really went, he had the ground opened close to some plants, dug per- pendicularly down to the depth of 6 feet, and having fixed a narrow board close against it, proceeded in the same manner on another side of the plant, and so on till he had secured the earth to that depth between four boards firmly lashed together. He then had it placed upon an inclined plane, and carefully removing the boards, with great caution and perse- verance washed away all the earth adhering to the root and its very small fibres, and was much sur- prised at their extent. He repeated the trials on several other wheat plants, and traced their depth to within 5 or 6 feet. The late Mr. Fane, M.P. for Oxfordshire, had one of these plants, now presented by Lord Macclesfield to the Society of Arts, secured in a close glass tube. My friend Dr. Atkin and myself have traced the roots of wheat in Berwick- shire, to 5 or 6 feet of perpendicular depth in garden soil— Wallace Fyfe, Lecture at Royal Agricultural College.

Cuina Grass.—The french Minister of Agricul- ture and Commerce has ordered over a quantity of

China-grass seed (Behmeria nivea) from its native country, in order to distribute it to all agriculturists who may apply for it. If unsuccessful in the efforts to acclimatise it in France, it will probably succeed in Algeria. It may not be generally known that this plant (which is a large nettle) yields a beauti- fully soft, strong, and glossy fibre, applicable for the manufacture of linen fabrics.

ABNORMAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE PIMPERNEL.— Dr. Marchand, in a recent contribution to botanical science on vegetable monstrosities, gives a curious account of abnormal forms in the common pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis), which is thus summarized by M. J. B. in the Gardener’s Chronicle:—

“We will take that instance first im which the parts of the flower departed least from the more normal condition, and then the others in their proper order. In all the parts there was a greater or less tendency to assume a green tint ; in some they were entirely green, in others the brighter colours were confined to the more recently developed parts.

“1. In the first case, then, the sepals and petals were in their normal position, though rather more dilated than usual; the anthers were fertile, the principal change existing in the ovary, the upper part of which was wanting, so that the ovules were exposed seated on the central placenta.

“9. In the next step the calyx, more developed than usual, was separated from the corolla by a long peduncle ; and the ovary, which was ovate, contained instead of a placenta a sort of plumule or young shoot.

“3. In this case the corolla and calyx were dis- tant from each other; there was no trace of stamens, but the axis was continued from the centre of the corolla, and ended in a leaf-bud. :

“4, The calyx and corolla nearly as before, but instead of stamens a whorl of little leaves ‘was developed, in the centre of which the axis was con- tinued, bearing at its tip two whorls of leaflets alter- nately three and three.

“5. In this case two out of the five stamens were normal, the other three changed into leaves, show- ing clearly the origin of the leaflets in the last case, which took the place of the stamens.

“6, The ovary varied in different flowers. In some the placenta was crowned with ovules; in others the ovules were replaced by a single whorl of leaflets; in others there was every shade of change from ordinary ovules to perfect leaflets; while in others, again, every ovule was converted into a leaf _ with a long petiole.

“7, We now come to another form in which shoots were developed in the axils of the sepals, or on the face of the petals between the point of their insertion and that of the stamens, and, what is most. curious, in the interior of the ovaries round the foot of the placenta,

Jan. 1, 1865.]

“8, Here, again, we have a very singular. con- dition: the calyx and corolla separated from each other, the stamens partly developed, the axis con- tinued beyond the corolla, branched and bearing normal leaves so as exactly to resemble an ordinary stem, while in consequence of the calyx and corolla being bent down to the ground, adventitious roots were developed from the axis on the under side above each of them. In another case, where the calyx and corolla were approximated, the ovary was open above and sent out six shoots from within, perfectly developed, clearly representing the central placenta and five axile buds, and each giving out a number of adventitious roots at its base.”

HERMAPHRODITE CATKINS IN SALIX AURITA.— I have this year gathered two species of willow, namely, Salix fusca and 8. aurita, in which a gradual transformation of stamens into pistils, that is, male into female flowers, is apparent. The normal state of the plants we know is dioicous. The bushes of S. aurita from which my specimens were collected, grow at the south end of the Gillbrook, in a very moist, boggy place, and altogether spread over some four or five square yards. All the catkins are more or less hermaphrodite, from those fully developed to those just emerging from the protective scales. There are many bushes of the female plant growing near, which present no unnatural variation. A careful examination has enabled me to select a long series (nearly thirty) of different conditions, showing the stages of metamorphosis from one ex- treme to the other. It appears from these, that the change is very various in its character and extent in individual flowers; almost all, however, range them- selves under one of the forms mentioned below. No change was perceptible in the scale or gland.

1. Filaments distinct, one bearing an ordinary anther, the other having at its summit an ovarium, sometimes with, and sometimes without, a small mass of pollen on one side, in either case con- taining ovules of less than the ordinary size. The anther-bearing filament withers away.

2. Filaments united in the lower portion, dividing about two-thirds up into two arms, each bearing a small ovarium instead of an anther; one of these when more developed is grey and silky, and in shape rescmbles the ordinary lanceolate germen or carpel. Its fellow apparently does not enlarge. Ovules contained. The stigmas dark brown.

3. Fuaments united through their whole length, short and thick, surmounted by a downy green oyarium, cleft from the apex half or two-thirds of the way down. On the inner face of one side pollen is sometimes seen. There is perhaps in this form more appearance of the union or cohesion of two ovaries in their lower portion, than of actually being oxe and cleft as stated above.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 19

4. Filaments united at the base, one stamen 1s transformed into an ovarium, the other is not enlarged, but terminates in a kind of stigma— LM. Webb in Naturalists’ Scrap Book.

New British Licuzns.—In the dAznals of Natural History the Rev. W..A. Leighton describes and figures three species of lichens new to this country. They are named respectively Thelocarpou Laurert, Lecidea Caradocensis, and L. Friesii. The first was found on a decorticated larch rail at Middleton, in Shropshire. The second has been found in Shropshire, Herefordshire and Leicestershire, on oak palings, &c., and third on old oak trees and stumps in Cleveland, Yorkshire.

StaRRy Porr Batt (Geaster hygrometricus).— The Rev. H. H. Higgins exhibited a specimen of this curious fungus at a mecting of the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society, Nov. 14. It had been recently found on a bank at Rainhill, growing upon a portion of a decayed root of a birch tree. It was remarked that all the larger species of earth stars, or starry puff balls, were uncommon. This constitutes the fourth species of Geaster found in the neighbourhood of Liverpool.—ke Reader.

GHOLOGY.

Wuat Are Fosstrs?— Fossils are the actual remains of animals and vegetables, or other cer- tain indications of their existence, found on ex- amining the rocks of which the earth’s crust is made up. The time has been in the history of science when the presence of the shells of marine animals, or the teeth or bones of quadrupeds or fishes in rocks, has been actually denied, de- spised, or explained away. When, indeed, the number of recorded examples of such fragments was few, and the places where they were found distant, this mode of escaping from a great difficulty in natural history was thought fair and reasonable; but now that almost every limestone, and a large proportion of all sandstones, clays, and gravels, are found to multiply evidence on the subject ; when the microscope is daily discovering fresh proof of the former existence of life in every direction; and when no country is without large and remarkable collec- tions of strange and unfamiliar forms of various animals, obtained, not from the species actually living now in the country, but from the soil and rock beneath man’s feet ; it would be folly to waste time in proving the interest and importance of a subject so brought home to the senses. We now regard it as an admiited fact that almost every rock contains some fossils, and it remains only to consider what are the conditions in which these occur, the kind of animals or vegetables to which they belong, the

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20

SCIENCEH-GOSSIP.

(Jan. 1, 1868.

nature of the group which the species found in cer- tain localities or certain similar rocks may afford, and the circumstances under which the organic beings in question have lived, died, and been pre- served for future investigation.—<Azsted’s Llenen- tary Course of Geology.

Lrtopon at Norwicu.—Mr. T. G. Bayfield has recently called the attention of geologists to certain fossils discovered in the chalk at Norwich. The pit which yielded them is called the Lollard’s Pit, whence a great quantity of chalk is annually re- moved. 1n1858 a few vertebre of Letodon anceps were discovered, and identified by a tooth which was in their immediate proximity. In October, 1864, a number of bones of the same skeleton were found, including six vertebre, a hundred frag- ments of other bones, and two of the large cultrate two-edged teeth, with two of the smaller kind from the inner part of the mouth.

DEVILLINE.—A new mineral found in Cornwall with lJaugite, from which it differs in its lighter colour, its lamellar structure, and its silky lustre. From its composition it appears to be a hydrated subsulphate of copper, containing about 8 per cent. of lime, and nearly 8 per cent. of protoxide of iron.

Tas Inrorp Mammotu.—A remarkably fine fossil head of Llephas primigenius has been found in the Pleistocene sands and clay at Ilford. The upper molars remain in place, and both tusks have also been preserved, one still in the socket, but seemingly having been twisted round by the weight of the head, when the fleshy tissue of its attachment had decomposed, and before the skeleton was finally embedded in the soil. The tusks are of spiral curvature, and measure along their medial line above 10 feet 6 inches in length. No such perfect skull of the true Mammoth has ever been found in England, nor anything comparable with this important ex- ample, so far as we are aware, except it may be the fine fossil elephant in the Chichester Museum, a specimen of which we have heard, but have not seen. The present specimen in scientific value can only be classed with the famous one at St. Petersburg, and we are glad to add that it has, by the promptitude of Mr. Waterhouse and the trustees, been obtained for our National Collection; while to Mr. Davis, who was despatched by the Museum authorities to extricate this gigantic fragile mass from the rough loose earth of the quarry, too much praise cannot be given for the successful manner in which he has accomplished that difficult task.—<Athen@um.

HymMrnornyitum TUNBRIDGENSE AND WILSONI.

—Great difficulty is sometimes experiencedin getting |

these tender ferns to grow in closed cases. A piece of muslin placed at the top of the case to arrest some of the hight has great influence,

MICROSCOPY.

Tue INVISIBLE WORLD REVEALED.—To an in- telligent person, who has previously obtained a general idea of the nature of the objects about to be submitted to his inspection, a group of living ani- malcules, seen under a powerful microscope for the first time, presents a scene of extraordinary interest, and never fails to call forth an expression of amaze- ment and admiration. This statement admits of an easy illustration; for example, from some water containing aquatic plants, collected from a pond on Clapham Common, I select a small twig, to which are attached a few delicate flakes, apparently of slime or jelly; some minute fibres, standing erect here and there on the twig, are also dimly visible to the naked eye. This twig with a drop or two of the water, we will put between two thin plates of glass, and place under the field of view of a microscope, having lenses that magnify the image of an object 200 times in linear dimensions. Upon looking through the instrument we find the fluid swarming with animals of various shapes and magnitudes. Some are darting through the water with great rapidity, while others are pursuing and devouring creatures more infinitesimal than themselves. Many are attached to the twig by long delicate threads (Vorticelle) ; several have their,bodies inclosed in a transparent tube, from one end of which the animal partly protrudes and then recedes ( Moscularia) ; while numbers are covered by an elegant shell or case (Brachionus). The minutest kinds (Mozads), many of which are so small that millions might be contained in a single drop of water, appear like ani- mated globules, free, single, and of various colours, sporting about in every direction. Numerous species resemble pearly or opaline cups or vases, fringed round the margin with delicate fibres that are in constant oscillation (Vorticellz). Some of these are attached by spiral tendrils; others are united by a slender stem to one common trunk, appearing like a bunch of hare-bells (Carchestum). Others are of a globular form, and grouped together in a definite pattern on a tabular or spherical inembraneous case, for a certain period of their existence, and ultimately become detached and locomotive (Gotan and Vol- vox); while many are permanently clustered togcther, and die if separated from the parent mass. No organs of progressive motion, similar to those of beasts, birds, or fishes, are observable in these beings; yet they traverse the water with rapidity without the aid of limbs or fins; and, though many species are destitute of eyes, yet all possess an accurate perception of the presence of other bodics, and pursue and capture their prey with unerring purpose.—Dr. Aantell’s Thoughts on Animateules,

Tur Microscorr Inpoors.—For amusement and instruction with the microscope, we need scarcely

Jan. 1, 1863.]

SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 21

stir out of ourrooms. The very hairs on our head may be made objects of interesting investigation ; and especially if we compare them with the hairs of other animals, and the appendages generally of the skin. The fine outer coating of the skin is composed of minute scales, which are flattened cells, and may be easily observed by scraping a portion of the skin on to a glass slide, with a drop of wateron it. The nails, the hairs, and other appendages of the skin, are composed of the same kind of scales or cells. These cells are developed in little pits, or follicles, from which the hair is projected, as it were, by their erowth from below. Under a low power the cells of the human hair cannot be observed. It presents, how- ever, a well-marked distinction between the outside, or cortical layer, and the interior, or pelp. The latter, by a high power, especially if the haix has been first submitted to the action of sulphuric acid, will be found to contain cells more or less spherical, whilst the former contains cells more or less flattened. These project a little beyond the edge of the hair, so that its sides are not quite smooth. By placing a hair between two pieces of cork, fine transverse sections of it may be made by means of a sharp razor. Jf these are put under the microscope, the pulpy portions will present a dark appear- ance in the centre. The hairs of animals offer a great variety in the disposition of the cells of which they are composed. ‘The hairs of the mouse present a series of dark partitions running across the hair between the cells. In the younger hairs, these partitions are single, whilst in the older ones they appear double. The hairs from the ear of the mouse present these dark partitions very distinctly. Such hairs stand intermediate between true hair and wool. <A piece of flannel, or blanket, will afford a good illustration of the latter. In this case it will be scen that the scales, or cells, of the cortical part, project beyond the surface, and render the wool rough. This roughness of the outside is supposed to render such haurs fitted to be used in the process of felting; the rough sides of the hairs adhering together. The chemical composition of the hair has also something to do with this process. Human, and other smooth hairs, will not felt.—Dr. Lankester’s Half-hours with the Microscope.

Tue ScaLes or Insects.—The fine dust upon the wings of moths and butterflies, which is so readily removed when handled carelessly, is what is generally called scales. 'Tothese the wing owes the magnificent colours which so often are seen upon it ; every particle being what may be termed a distinct flat feather. How these are placed (somewhat like tiles upon a roof) may he easily seen in the wing of any butterfly, a few being removed to aid the inves- tigation. The form of them is usually that of the “battledore” with which the common game is

played, but the handle or base of the scale is citen short, and the broad part varies in proportionate length and breadth in different specimens. The markings upon these also vary, some being mostly composed of lines running from the base to the apex, others reminding us of network — bead-like spots only are seen in some—indeed, almost endless changes are found amongst them. ‘These scales are not confined to butterflies and moths, nor indeed to the wings of insects. The diferent gnats supply some most beautiful specimens, not only from the wings, but also from the proboscis, &c.; whilst from still more minute insects, as the podura, scales are taken which were at one time esteemed as a most delicate test. The gorgeous colours which the diamond beetles also show when under the micro- scope are produced by light reflected from minute scales with which the insects are covered.

In mounting these objects for the microscope itis well to have the part of the insect from which the scales are usually taken as a separate slide, so that the natural arrangement of them may be seen. This is easily accomplished with the wings of but- terflies, gnats, &c., as they require no extraordinary care. In mounting the scz/es they may be placed upon slides, by passing the wings over the surface or by gently scraping the wing upon the slide, when they must be covered with the thin glass. Ofcourse, the extreme tenuity of these objects does away with the necessity of any cell excepting that formed by the gold-size or other cement used to attach the cover. The scales of the podura should be placed upon the slide in a somewhat different manner. This insect is without wings, and is no longer than the common flea. It is often found amongst the sawdust in wine-cellars, continually leaping about by the aid of its tail, which is bent underneath its body. Dr. Carpenter says :—“ Poduree may be ob- tained by sprinkling a little oatmeal on a piece of black paper near their haunts; and after leaving it there for a few hours, removing it carefully to alarge glazed basin, so that, when they leap from the paper (as they will when brought to the light), they may fall into the basin, and may thus separate themselves from the meal. The best way of obtaiming their scales is to confine several of them together beneath a wine-glass inverted upoa a piece of fine smooth paper; for the scales will become detached by their leaps against the glass, and will fall upon the paper.” These scales are removed to the slide, and mounted as those from the gnats, &e. When the podura has been caught without the aid of the meal, it may be placed upon the slide, under a test-tube, or by any other mode of confinement, and thus save the trouble of transfer from the paper before mentioned. An- other method is to scize the insect by the leg with the forceps and drag it across the slide, when a suf ficient quantity of scales will probably be left upon

22 SCIENCH-GOSSIP.

[Taw. 1, 1865.

it. These scales are usually mounted “dry;” but Hogg recommends the use of Canada Balsam as rendering their structure more definite when illu- minated with Wenham’s parabolic reflector. —Davies on Preparing and Mounting Microscopie Objects.

ILLUMINATION OF OBJECTS MAGNIFIED BY VERY HIGH PowERs.—Successful observation with very high powers is mainly dependent upon illumination. Indeed, by ordinary means it is not possible to obtain a light sufficiently intense to illustrate an object magnified 3,000 diameters. I have tried with greater or less success many different plans, and have used prisms, concave mirrors, and various kinds of condensers. I have, however, arrived at the conclusion that the most satisfactory results by far are obtained by the use of Kelner’s eye-piece as a condenser, as suggested by my friend Mr. Brooke. By this means I can obtain a light sufficient for a magnifying power of 10,000 linear. I have tried the lime light, but have not found that it possesses any advantages over the belmontine or paraffin lamp, while the glare from it is much greater.—D?, Beale’s * How to work with the Microscope.”

Microscopic Mires on Sronrs.— A gentle- man having forwarded a packet of small stones covered with very minute white objects and acari, to Mr. Westwood, received the following reply :—“ The minute white objects on the stones, are the eggs of the mite Zrombidium (Tetranychus) lapidum, first figured by Hammer in Hermann’s Mémoire Apterologique (pl. 7, fig. 7-8), with the eges which were discovered in similar situations. Hammer’s correspondent found with the eggs minute red-coloured siz-legged mites which had been hatched from the eggs, and which ran very quickly. Accompanying these mites (with six legs) were always found others, two or three times larger, of a brown colour, and with eight legs, but these latter wanted the long se¢@ at the end of the four anterior legs of the small individuals. Hammer thought these constituted two distinct species, and that they were not varieties, different in stage or sex, because no metamorphoses had been noticed in these insects, and no individuals intermediate in size had been observed. He also inclined to regard the so-called eggs in consequence of their com- paratively large size to that of the insects, as a kind of crysalid enclosing the mite in a sort of nymph state. From what has since been observed of the changes of these mites, however, there can be no doubt that the large specimens are full-grown individuals which had previously borne the appear- ance of the smaller ones. All this is the more necessary to be explained, because, in his note, Mr. Weatherhead states that the eight-legged mites were produced fromthe eggs. This, I believe, must bea mistake, Unfortunately I cannot make out

‘the number of legs, the specimens in the small

phial having been so battered by the particles of stone, that some of the legs may have been, as some certainly have been, detached in the journey from shaking about. I suppose also that this species is szz-legged in the larval state. The eggs are beautiful microscopic objects.”’—Lxtomologist’s Monthly Magazine,

REPORTS OF SOCIETIES.

EwtomonioeicaL Socrzty, Dec. 5.—Mr. J. Weir exhibited some microscopic preparations of the spiral tongues of butterflies, for the purpose of showing the variation in the striation of the tongue in dif- ferent species, and in the papille which exist at the end of the tongue.—Mr. Bond exhibited a coloured drawing of the larvee of Acronycta strigosa, and a photograph of a remarkable negro variety of ddraxras grossulariata—Mr. F. Smith exhibited a parti- coloured wasy’s-nest, constructed by two species of wasp, the Vespa Germanica and V. vulgaris —Myr. W. F. Evans sent for exhibition a box full of frag- ments of a Lamellicorn beetle, which had been picked out of some New Zealand wool: the insects proved to be Pyronota festiva, and it was conceived that, in the course of their flight, they had come in contact with the sheep and became entangled in the fleeces so as to prevent their escape.—The President ex- hibited some globular spiders’ nests from South Australia, which were remarkable for their resem- blance to the fruit of Leptospermum, the tea-plant of Australia, whilst the spiders themselves were described as looking like the excrement of a bird.— Mr. 8. Stevens exhibited several pairs of Cheirolasia Burkei, one of the rare Goliath beetles of tropical Africa; he also read a letter from M. Du Chaiilu, dated Fernand-Vaz River, Aug. 20, 1864, in which the writer announced the despatch to England of a large collection of insects.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL Society, Dec. 6.—Mr. 8. Laing exhibited. an_ interesting collection, and read a Paper on “The Pre-Historic remains of Caithness.” Mr. C. C. Blake also read a paper by Mr. Roberts on the discovery of a large ]istraem in the Muckle Hoeg, in the island of North Shetland, with notes upon the human remains discovered therein. An animated discussion on these Papers pure in which Professor Owen and others took part.

Royat Groerapnicat Society, Dec. 12.—A Paper by Mr. J. Cameron, of Singapore, containing “A Description of the Islands of IKalatoa and Puloweh, north of Flores, in the Malay Archipelago.” The former of these islands was said to be unin- habited, the latter to contain a population of 5,000, whose daily life was a repetition of the various stages of intoxication, and that every evening ended in a drunken brawl. Dr. Hector next read a paper on “An Expedition to the West Coast of Otago, New Fenland: and the Discovery of a practi- cable Route over the Mountains to the Goldfields and the East Coast.” Mr. Albert Walker also gave an account of a hazardous journey which he performed, In company with two other young men, along the West Coast of the Middle Island, New Zealand.

Jan. 1, 1865.)

SCIENCE-GOSSIDP.

28

Tur Ernnonocican Socirty, Dec. 13.—Mr. 8. Laing exhibited an interesting collection of human remains, stone implements, and other articles which had recently been obtained in some extensive exca- vations which he has been carrying on at Caithness, and which are believed to date from a very remote period in the history of man. Mr. Laing gave an account of his explorations and described the various articles which had been found, and a lively discussion followed, in which Professor Huxley, Dr. Thurnham, and others took part.

MuicroscopicaL Soctety or Lonpon, December 14, 1864. — Various presents were announced, amongst which was Mr. Bridgeman’s mahogany rotating-table, a simple and ingenious contrivance, whereby several persons may use the same micro- scope without leaving their seats. It consists of a stout board, sufliciently large to hold a microscope and lamp, a heavy pivot of iron is fixed beneath at one end, and at the two corners of the opposite end two castors at such an angle as to cause the board to rotate freely. It is very steady, and offers con- siderable advantages to those who are indisposed to incur the expense of an ordinary rotating-table.

Notice having been given of a subject for discus- sion, viz., “The most advantageous means of illu- minating objects under the microscope,” the presi- dent explained at considerable length his experience in the matter, and confined himself more particularly to—l, sources of light; 2, condensed or uncondensed light; 8, histiological subjects; and 4, minute structures, diatoms, &c. Having tried gas, naptha- lized gas, camphine, and the other volatile oils, he considered Belmontine to possess a greater amount of those properties so very desirable for microscopic work, than any of the others he had named, as it gives a white light, burns steadily, and does not readily carbonize. He likewise generally approved of oblique rays. One member strongly advocated direct rays, whilst another referred to the frequent advantage of diffused light. Mr. Shadbolt disap- proved of the Belmontine of the present day, but spoke favourably of “ Diamond Crystal oil.’ Mr. Glaisher stated he had used gas and camphine, but both had been set aside in favour of “ Carbonile,” a recent invention, which after a three months’ trial, he thought superior to anything he had hitherto used. Mr. Tomkins exhibited a small working model of the necessary arrangement for obtaining this light, by passing ordinary coal gas over the “ carbonile” contained in a vessel constructed for the purpose. ‘The effect was magical, and the light dazzling, the flame being solid and white compared to the common gas flame, which in comparison was pale, thin, and vapoury. It was stated that it gives three times the ordinary light by an equal consump- tion of gas; consequently those who are content with their present amount of light can, by means of “ carbonile,” obtain it at one-third the cost for gas. Mr. Slack was announced to read a paper on the “Vinegar Plant ” at the next meeting.

Society or AMATEUR Botanists (Lozdon).—The Second Annual Meeting of this Society was held at 92, Piccadilly, on Wednesday evening, Dec. 21st, when the President delivered an Address embodying a Report of the Society’s Proceedings during the past year. He stated that. the excursions on Satur- day afternoons had taken place during the favourable weather, with more or less success. The annual excursion, to which a special day was devoted, was this year taken to Darenth Wood, in Kent, The

interchange of specimens had hitherto been confined nearly exclusively to members, but it was hoped, at no very distant period, to extend it to other societies having similar objects. Papers had been read with tolerable regularity, and some of these had been deemed of sufficient importance and interest to be solicited for publication in the Journal of Botany, in which two or three had appeared. The Library and Herbarium were gradually increasing in extent and usefulness. The aggregate number of members was reported to be forty-seven, of whom fifteen had been elected during the year. The Treasurer pre- sented a balance-sheet, showing a balance of upwards of £5 in favour of the Society, which, considering the very low rate of annual subscription, was ad- mitted to be highly satisfactory. After the usua! complimentary resolutions of thanks to the Officers, they were unanimously re-elected for the ensuing year, and a Council of four members was constituted to conduct the business of the Society, so as to leave the entire evenings of meeting, for the future, free for the consideration of the subjects brought forward by members in their papers.

MancuesterR Fretp Naturatists’ Society.— The Report of the Committee for the year 1863 proves this Society to be in a flourishing condition. The aggregate number of members is 5387; there is cash in the bank, property which it has been con- sidered advisable to insure for £300, and evidence of good work done. The Saturday afternoon excur- sions have been well attended, and the winter soirées completely successful. These facts seem to prove the truth of the assertion at the commencement of the report, “ of a daily-extending interest in the city and its neighbourhood, with respect to pursuits and studies such as the Field Naturalists’ Society was mainly instituted to promote.’ One work which this Society has accomplished will commend itself to bstanists all over the country. It is the registra- tion and publication of a list of all the mosses found in the neighbourhood of Manchester, which list is appended to the Report. Mr. G. E. Hunt, who was the presiding genius of this work, has conferred a boon on Bryologists, and set an example which other local societies would do well to imitate..

Morey Naturauists’ Sociuty.—A society of naturalists has been formed, with every prospect of success, at the Star and Birch Inn, Morley. The meetings are held fortnightly. Mr. Daniel Slack has been elected president, and the Society numbers twelve members,

zn. Hunrer’s Harty Worr.—On his arrival in London, Mr. Thomas, in company with Mr. Nicol, called on Dr. Hunter; they found him dressing. “Well, young gentleman,” said Hunter, when the first ceremonies of introduction were over, “so you are come to town te be a surgeon; and how long do

op aes 2 «6 pinata ates : you. intend to stay ? One year,” was the reply “hen,” said he, “Vil tell you what, that won’t do T’ve been here a great many years, have worked hard, too, and yet I don’t know the principles of the art !” After some further conversation, Mr. T. was directed to call again in an hour, which he did, and accom- panied Hunter to the hospital, where he said to him, after the business was over, “Come to me to-morrow morning, young gentleman, and I will put you fur- ther in the way of things; come early in the morning, as soon after four as you can.” It was summer: Mr. Thomas kept the appointment, and found Hunter, at that. early hour, busily engaged in dis- secting beetles.—Hunter’s Memoirs,

24 SCIENCEH-GOSSIP.

(Jan. 1, 1865.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

A Youre Microscopist desires to know if he can procure any of the diatomaceous earths, such as Tripoli and other foreign deposits, and where ?

Dors tire Sprper Hat its own Wrz ?—Blom- field affirms that it does. Is this merely a fiction of the poet, or a fact vouched for by naturalists ? Satisfactory information based on personal observa- tion is desirable.

Do Flowers that are normally blue become white or pink when propagated from buds or cuttings, in all cases? And do blue flowers, such as those of Campanula rotundifolia become white in seedlings. If so, under what conditions do these changes occur ?

Tw poisoning plants for the herbarium some use a solution of corrosive sublimate, and with it wash over the entire specimen with a camel-hair pencil. On the other hand, some only mount their specimens with thin glue in which some corrosive sublimate has been mixed. ‘The latter is by far the simplest plan—has experience proved it suilicient ?

Veins oF Lraves.—Professor De Candolle has recently observed that in some genera of plants (as Fagus) the lateral veins terminate in some species in the marginal teeth, in other species they terminate in the sinuses between the teeth, and in others they terminate partly in the teeth and partly in the sinuses. Have any of our correspondents noticed similar instances, or if they should observe such will they communicate the result of their observations ?

Moprrw Miritary Botany.—A military gentle- man recommended to the Cotton Supply Reporter, in a letter recently published, “in order to produce new and beautiful species of the cotton plant, as well as to insure good annual crops, fo cross the several kinds of seeds by burying them together in a large hole about nine inches deep.’ We adds, “1 beg to observe that I firmly believe that the Graphalium, cud-weed, or dwarf cotton, is the parent stock of all cotton.”—Does not such a Solomon as this deserve a Marshal’s baton ?

Potyxenta ALDERI.—During a marine excursion in search of animals for the aquarium, Mr. Hughes gives a humorous account of a colloquy which took place between himself and the boatman who was with him when the above-named was captured :— * Looking, as I dare say he did, with considerable disgust at my sport, and wondering why I did not follow his example in the more utilitarian object of mackerel-fishing, he asked, with some degree of superciliousness, ‘And what might be the name of that jelly-fish, sir, that you’ve just took?’ ‘It would not interest you very much, my friend,’ said I; ‘but, as you seem to take an interest in the specimen, I will tell you: it is Polyxenia Alderi.’ ‘ Well, to be sure,’ replied he, ‘it do look summat like a X’ He alluded to the cruciform appearance of the peduncle seen from below !—Vhe Zoologist.

Deatu or Prorrssor Sintiman.—It is with much regret that we have learnt of the death of this veteran in scienee. The journal he edited, and which was known by his name all over Europe, as well as in America, expired just before him. Jor nearly half a century he held a high position amongst scientific men on the other side the Atlantic,

Pricxty Prars Four a Prenny!—This cry has been heard from street-vendors cf fruit in the metro- polis during the last two or three weeks. The fruit itself is not commonly imported. It is about the size and shape of a goose’s egg, witha large concave depression at the apex, in which one may thrust the end ofa thumb. Externally it is yellow, with a red- dish tint on one side; small brown warts are scat- tered over the surface at regular distances of about three-fourths of an inch; from each of these in its early stage sharp spines are developed, but they fall away as the fruit ripens. Internally the fruit con- sists of a granular pulp of a deep rose colour, in which numerous a he about the size of hemp-seed, are imbedded. The taste is rather insipid, and the profusion of hard seeds scattered everywhere through the pulp isa great disadvantage. It does not suit the English taste, we imagine, and will scarce be- come a regular article of commerce. The Prickly Pear is the produce of a species of Cactus (Opuntia vulgaris), a native of North America, and_ closely allied to the plant on which the cochineal insect feeds. This Cactus has been introduced into the South of Europe, whence, probably, our recent importations have been derived.

Forty Yrars Aco!—In the first volume of *TLoudon’s Magazine of Natural History” it is stated, “The common rosewood of cabinet-makers is the root of Convolvulus scopartus, common in the Canary Islands, in Rhodes, and Cyprus.” No ecm- ment 1s necessary.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

All communications for the Editor should be addressed to No. 192, Prccapinuy, W.

F. M.—Being a collector of galls, of every kind, for the purpose of ascertaining what are the insects which produce them, would be glad to receive fresh specimens of any except the commonest kinds, from correspondents who would forward them to our publisher for that purpose.

Mossrs.—Correspondents wishing for specimens of British mosses, especially those found in the Scottish Highlands, are advised to communicate a list of their desiderata to the editor.

H. C.—We regret that your MS. arrived too late for insertion in the current number, but it shall have a place in the next. ‘To avoid any disap-

ointment, contributions should be received on or yefore the 15th of each month.

R. H.—We have returned our correspondent’s MS., but, for the information of all our contributors, take this opportunity of intimating that it is amongst our firmest resolves not to admit either lists or tables, whether of plants or insects, into our pages; because, however useful or interesting they may be to a favoured few, their interest would be very small with the majority of readers. We therefore prefer exclusion in all cases to making invidious exceptions.

Secretaries of Field Clubs and Natural History Societics are solicited to forward accounts of their ordinary mectings, excursions, and pro- ceedings, throughout the year. <A portion of the Science Gossip being devoted to the service of such associations, it is the wish of the pro- moters that it should be rendered as truly ser- viceable as possible.

TEMP ci7 MI Cerrar ix oNG hy : y OA EE |

CW “3. N: On?

“Surely, my friends, plenty of bacon is good and indispensable: but, I doubt, you will never get even

bacon by aiming only at that.

E English people have the credit of being one of the most utilitarian nations under the sun; yet, amongst our- selves, as though we believed it not, we call the present a wtivitarian age, and flat- ter ourselves that during this nineteenth century we have become more practical. Now-a-days we are too utilitarian to erect handsome structures or do handsome things without first inquiring, What good will come of it ?

tion and subtraction, there appears a good

If, after a long sum in compound addi-

balance in favour of the project, “ Cui bono” Can

we be surprised, then, after having worshipped

kicks the beam, and the thing is done,

this idol all the day, at having it flung at our heads at night ? our counting-houses, make the Ledger our prayer-book, and Contracts our homilies, and go home without expecting to see the shadow of the idol there? “ Porter's Progress,” let’s be true and faithful

Shall we bend before it in

INo! by the manes of

worshippers, even though we cast ourselves beneath the wheels, so that the car of Jugger- nath may pass over us !

Try the experiment with our youthful Pick up a little weed from the wayside in their presence ; gaze at it earnestly, blow back the petals of the flower, take out a pocket lens, examine yet more closely, turn over the leaves, thoughtfully, but carefully, inspect it thoroughly, -minutely ; place it

population.

erect within the lining of your hat; return that undignified cylinder to its place of honour on the top of your head, and move on. Think you that this operation can be brought to a conclusion before you are assailed with the inquiry, “ What are you going to do with it, what good is it?” Vain hope, for should

You are men, not animals of prey.”’—Thomas Carlyle.

you perchance escape it there, it will be at home waiting your return, and no sooner will you take the innocent little weed from its resting-place, than you will have to give an account of all the pleasures and profits, uses and benefits that you are ever likely to derive from preserving such rubbish between clean sheets of paper. circumstances, to attempt to convey to the

How vain is if, under such

vind of the inquirer any conviction unasso- ciated with money-value or domestic economy ! Ifit can be proved that your little plant of knotgrass, or pimpernel, or harebell is a cer- tain cure for croup, or will flavour a stew like parsley or tarragon, then it would be admitted that it really 7s of use; or that a handful would realiz2 a shilling in Covent Garden Market, in that case they would even turn botanists themselves ; but, not to be worth a farthing in hard cash, or furnish food for a canary, is sufficient to prove them worthy of wholesale condemnation as rubbish, and the collector little better than a fool.

Mrs. Partington, with the encroaching sea at the end of her mop, could not have trun- dled more fruitlessly than those kind friends who by their efforts would stay the pro- gress of inquiry and investigation in the young student of nature, by throwing a Cut Lono at his head, provided he has acquired just sufli- cient knowledge to direct his investigations If man could live by bread alone ; if his sole mission were to eat, sleep, and die; if he were content to measure his happiness by twopences, and _ his ecstacies

into a right channel.

by biscuits, then it would be legitimate to in- quire of every pursuit that did not end in twopences or bisenits, “What good is it?” But inasmuch as there is a higher aim in life,

96 SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

[Fus. 1, 1865,

a better source of pleasure than the gratifica- tion of animal propensities, it indicates but a sorry intellectual capacity in those who in- quire concerning every pursuit that is un- connected with the necessities of life—Cw# Bono, “ What good is it?”

“T have never known a man,” says an old author, “become a worse husband, a worse father, or a worse friend, because he shared his love with a bird, a beetle, or a buttery ; and such an one is no less entitled to respect because he does not scorn to learn a lesson from the meanest thing that God has made.”

A TIT IN MOUSTACHES!

N these modern days of hirsute appendages, when bipeds in moustaches are by no means rare, it may be a novelty to some to learn that the infection of fashion extends to “ bipeds with feathers,” and that a little bird, a Tit, is indigenous to our own. country, which bears a most unmistakeable pair of sleek, black, pointed moustaches, but with which the males only are furnished. The Tits are a daring, impudent family from the Great Tit down to Tomtit, and carry a saucy appear- ance in theirvery physiognomy. Everyone who has an orchard knows the Blue Tit, and his lively fantastic evolutions about the branches of apple trees, sometimes on one side of a bough and then on the other ; as often head downwards as with his head uppermost ; with his rough hair-like coat of feathers blowing about like that of a Skye terrier, or the shaggy tuft which surmounts the head of a little city Arab. Our Titis a far sleeker, smarter bird, he is in fact the “exquisite” of the family of Tits, and so far has severed connection with the plebeian Tits, that he has taken to himself

a new family name, and is regarded by natu- ralists as the type and scion of a new hcuse, allied by family ties and old associations with the Tits, but no longer destined to bear their classical name (Parus). The Bearded Tit, for so it is most commonly called, has been digni- fied with a more aristocratic title (Calamo- philus*) long enough to satisfy the most emulous of birds, and it no doubt glories, if bird can glory, in its trim, sleek, aristocratic appearance, an aristocratic pair of long black moustaches, and an aristocratic name. Little boys in Norfolk make “ game” of it and call it reed pheasant, but it bears the sobriquet without complaint. Neither does it resent being called ‘ Pinnock” as in some localities, though perfectly innocent of “Catechisms.” Specimens of this bird mounted on little wooden perches, and placed on the shelves of glazed cases in public museums, are gross libels upon the bird in its state of nature. We have never seen a stuffed specimen quite to our mind, and scores that we strongly object to. Amongst his native reeds he is the liveliest little “acrobat” one ever saw, running up and down, sometimes with head uppermost, but as often with the long tail thrust out towards the zenith, and his head where ordinary and less vivacious birds seem by their conduct to consider that the tail ought to be. One of the best descriptions yet given of this bird in its native habitat, is that of an observer, in the eighth number of Loudon’s Magazine, nearly forty years ago, but the facts are true still. “I went,” he wrote, “accompanied by one person and a dog to a piece of reeds below Barking Creek, on a cold, windy, dull morning, weather by no means favourable for my purpose. Arrived on our ground, we traversed it for some time without success ; and were about to leave it, when our attention was roused by the alarm cry of this species, and looking up, we saw eight or ten of these beautiful little creatures on the wing, just topping the reeds over our heads, uttering in full chorus their sweetly musical note, which resembles (if it may be likened to a word) the monosyllable ping, ping ; pronounced at first slow and single, then two or three timés in a more hurried manner: it may be compared to the music of very small cymbals; is clear and ringing, though soft, and corresponds well with the delicacy and beauty of the form and colour of the bird. We saw several flocks during the morning,

* Perhaps the most recently adopted or revived scientific name for this bird is that given by Mr. G. R. Gray in his catalogue—Panurus biarmicus.

ae

Fes. 1, 1865.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP 27

or, what is more probable, the same flock several times, Their flights are short and low, only sufficient to clear the reeds; on the seedy tops of which they alight to feed. If disturbed, they immediately descend by run- ning, or rather by dropping. The movement is rapid along the stalk to the bottom, where they creep and flit, perfectly concealed from view by the closeness of the covert and the resembling tints of their plumage.

“ We could hear, but not see, our dog hunt- ing; and we thought he was of service in point- ing out to us whereabouts the birds were. His being near them, however, did not make them easily take wing ; they seemed to follow hin, hovering and crying about him. I question if we should have seen, or even heard, a single bird without his assistance. We were for- tunate enough to shoot one (a male) in fine plumage. I held it in my hand when scarcely dead. Nothing could exceed the beauty of the eye ; the bright orange of the iris, nearly surrounded as it is by the deep glossy black of the moustaches and streak above, receives additional brilliancy from the contrast, and struck me as a masterpiece of arrangement in colour and neatness. The bill also was of a fine clear delicate orange ; but this, too, soon became dull and opaque.”

Their food is said to consist of the seeds of the reed, as well as insects and small snails, but we are disposed to conclude from the contents of their crops that they are more insectivorous than otherwise, at least, during the summer months.

The Bearded Tit is found amongst reeds in various parts of Great Britain. We have seen it commonly in Norfolk, and know that it is found also in Cambridgeshire, and along the banks of the Thames. [It is also recorded to occur in Suffolk and Lincolnshire, and a very few other localities. In Scotland it ap- pears to be unknown, and in Ireland to have been seen but once.

During the month of April, this Tit builds its nest amongst the dry stems of grass, reeds, and sedges ; these it binds together around its nest by interlacing them with the outer layer of reed leaves, of which the structure is composed. The nest is sometimes in such a position amongst reeds, that it is scarcely pos- sible to reach it from the shore, unless by wading in three feet of water and mud, into the depths of reed-clumps. The marshmen know more of the homes, haunts, and habits of this bird than any one else, or at least might do if they not only saw but observed, and the nests are seldom taken by any except themselves. We have seen a great many

nests in our time, and not one taken from the ground, but from within a few inches toa foot - of the surface, or suspended amongst dry grass, reeds, or, rarely, ina clump of fragrant “ gale,” or “guile,” as it is locally termed (Myrica gale). The eggs are commonly but four or five, of a pinkish-white, irregularly spotted and streaked with reddish-brown, and larger than those of any other British Tit, except the Great Tit. In process of time the eggs are hatched, and a young progeny grow up, to gambol and sommersault amongst the reeds,

—-and wear moustaches, M,C. CG.

DIATOMS. WHAT THEY ARE, AND WHERE TO FIND THEM.

OME months since, availing myself of a fine afternoon and a few hours’ leisure, I made an excursion into the country in search of objects for my microscope. I had scarcely commenced operations, when [I fell in with a gentleman, who, as I soon discovered, was on the same pursuit as myself: the similarity of our object superseded the necessity of a formal introduction ; by a kind of instinct we became mutually attracted to each other, and in a few minutes were as free and familiar as old friends.

I found my friend, for so I shall now call him, was the possessor of one of the best microscopes, with objectives ranging from 2 in. to 4, and all the et ceteras, that placed within his reach every facility for microscopic re- search. On the present cccasion he was hunting for Entomostraca, Rotifera, and any other kind of Infusoria that might come to hand. In the course of conversation, | said, “Are you well up in Diatoms?” To my astonishment, he replied by asking, “ What isa Diatom?” Forthe moment I thought I had unconsciously met with some learned professor, and that his interrogatory was in- tended to probe the depth of my knowledge on this interesting question, but I soon found that he did not know what I meant by a Dia- tom, and that he was really unconscious of ever having seen one.

I do.not suppose that amongst our readers there is one so thoroughly ignorant on a sub- ject familiar to almost every microscopist ; there may, perhaps, be some to whom the fol- lowing hints on Diatomacee would not be uninteresting.

The Diatomacece are a large family of tiny plants, almost invisible to the naked eye, re-

28

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[Fes. 1, 1865.

quiring the art of the optician to reveal their beautiful diversity of forms, and their extreme delicacy of structure. They are inhabitants of the water, and so widely distributed, that there is scarcely a pool, a ditch, or a water- course where they are not to be found, at- tached to submerged weeds, or mixed with floating debris, or deposited on old piles sub- ject to tidal influences, or forming a cover- ing on the surface of the mud, arranged in patches, and varying in colour from a yellow- ish brown to a dark chocolate. Some species are indigenous to fresh, some to salt, and some te brackish water, but those common to the one are never found in a lively and healthy state in the other.

In the early history of Diatomacew, they were placed by naturalists in the animal kingdom, in consequence of their curious move- ments ; a@ more intimate acquaintance with their nature and habits, acquired by the aid of improved microscopes, and confirmed by chemical experiments, has resulted in their being transferred to the vegetable kingdom by the unanimous consent of all competent judges. It is now ascertained that the power of locomotion is not peculiar to the Dzato- mace, but that many of the simple plants, such as Oscillatoria, the Desmidiacee, Pro- fococcus, and others, possess this power in com- mon with the Diatoms, and some of them, in certain stages of their existence, are much more active in their movements than any of the Diatomacec.

The characteristic feature of the Diatom is its silicious envelope covered with a net-work of fine markings, diversified in pattern, and in some of the species so exquisitely delicate as to require the best objectives and the high- est powers to resolve them. Being composed of silica, these frustules are indestructible by the usual agents of decomposition ; when, therefore, they are cleansed by being boiled for a few minutes in hydrochloric or nitric acid, they become objects of permanent in- terest, and may be preserved by mounting, either dry or in Canada balsam.

In order to secure clean and good specimens for mounting, it is absolutely necessary to separate the Diatoms from all foreign matter, which unavoidably becomes mixed with them in collecting. The following is a plan I have tried with great success. On returning home allow your bottles to stand for an hour, by which time the Diatoms and debris will have settled at the bottom, pour off the greater portion of the water, then shaking the bottle briskly, empty its contents into a soup-plate, place the plate in a window for an hour or

two, when it will be found that the Diatoms, attracted by the light, will have arranged themselves on the surface of the mud; by gently rotating the plate they become loosened and may be poured off in a pure state, and are ready for being examined alive, or for boiling in acid,

In collecting Diatoms, half a dozen wide- mouthed bottles, a large-bowled spoon as thin as possible, and a stick with a hook at one end, are all the apparatus required. The spoon for carefully skimming the mud, the stick for pulling in any submerged plants or floating rubbish, and the bottles to hold your gatherings, taking care to place the different kinds in separate bottles, being furnished with a Coddington lens to examine your specimens on the spot.

The marine forms of Diafomaceew may fre- quently be found attached to seaweed; but some of the rarer kinds must be sought for from the stomach of lobsters, oysters, whelks, and other mollusks.

The favourite habitats of those common to brackish water are marsh-ditches exposed to tidal influences, where they may generally be obtained in great quantities and many varie- ties.

The best localities near London are the marshes at Erith on the opposite side of the road from the entrance to the Railway station, and Swanscombe Salt Marsh, lying towards the river, about half a mile from Northfleet Railway Station. At both of these places I have always been able to get many inter- esting forms, together with fine specimens of living Gromia, and a variety of beautiful animal Infusoria. Others may be procured from the marsh ditches at North Woolwich, immediately beyond the Gardens by the Railway Station.

Fresh water Diatomg, in one form or other, are almost ubiquitous. They may be found deposited in brown tufts on the sides and bottom of nearly every clean ditch and every running stream. They line the sides of the locks up the river, fringe the leaves of the larger water-“Jants, and float in every collec- tion of scu... Pinnularia cuspidata, Star- roneis, &c., may be obtained from a rill run- ning across Keston Common, near Bromley, Kent, and all these forms, together with the beautiful Swrirella biseriata and Surirelia splendida, abound in the boggy pools on Winter Down, lying to the right of the main road one and a-half or two miles through Esher, opposite to Claremont Park.

I must reserve a few remarks upon the subject of illumination, and the best mode of

Fes. 1, 1865. ]

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

29

resolving the difficult markings on some of the finer forms of Diatomacew, to a future op- portunity. J. 8,

A CHAPTER ON HAIRS.

Nga as the numerous subjects which animal products supply for the worker with the microscope, there are few which are more interesting, or which offer a greater variety of structure, than those delicate fila- mentous processes which constitute the sub- stance we knowas hair. To pluck out a hair from the head of a playmate, and look at it with asimple microscope, is one of the first experiments of schoolboy days, although the result of the investigation is not always satis- factory, for reasons which will be presently apparent. Although this epidermal substance is not confined to hair only, but under various circumstances takes the form of horn, hoof, and nail, yet, as an external appendage, hairs are found not only on the superior orders of animals, but are likewise developed on the lower orders, on various insects, and to a limited extent on crustaceous animals ; hence it naturally follows that the variety of hair is very great, its limits not being confined to the quills of the porcupine on the one land, or tue delicate hairs of the butterfly on the other ; examination having proved that the horn of the rhinoceros is but a mass of hairs firmly united together, while the revelations of the microscope render it difficult to say how small those hairs may be which the in- sect world possesses.

tt will be sufficient for our present purpose to refer more particularly to hair as commonly understood, and we may accept as a type of it, that with which we are most familiar, viz., human hair. This substance originates in a

rice tier Hane

bulbous root, contained in a depression of the skin, termed a “hair-follicle,”’? and it is by an accumulation of the pulp within the bulb, that the hair is formed and in due course pushed

upwards. When viewed through a micro- scope with reflected light, the external cover- ing only is seen, which is called the cuticle, and consists of a thin membranous substance, freely marked with irregular lines, which result from the imbricated edges of scales or compressed cells with which the shaft is en- veloped (fig. 1).

When viewed with transmitted light, a dark line is seen to run up the centre, which for a long time sustained the notion that human hair was tubular. A more careful investigation, however, has shown that the dark line is due to air, contained in cells, forming a pith or medullary substance. Sur- rounding this central column, and forming the bulk of the hair, is a fibrous substance termed the cortex, which, like the medulla, consists of cells, and to this horny portion of the hair is due its peculiar properties of strength and elasticity. There are likewise anumber of pigment granules, exceedingly small, but which give to hair its various shades of colour, according as they are more or less numerous.

The microscopist will find a never ending variety in the structure of hair, both with regard to the internal and external arvange- ments of the scales, cells, and pigment. Thus, while human hair is comparatively smooth, the hairs of many animals are rough, and the scales on their surface looser. This is a prin- cipal reason why wools are so useful for weaving and felting, processes for which human hair is not epplicatle. f

A reference

Fig. 2—East Inp1a Woot.

to figs. 1, 2, and.3 will illustrate the difference between human hair and wool, which is but a modification of hair, and will explain why Merino wool is so esteemed by the manufac- turers.

The wool of some kinds of goats, termed mohair (fig. 4), is of a similar character, but much finer in substance. The hair of the bat tribe affords most interesting objects, from the peculiar arrangement of the cortical scales, which project very much from the

30 SCIENCE-GOSSLP.

[Frs. 1, 1865.

surface, and in the case of one of the Indian

bats, the scales are arranged in curious whorls

at regular intervals, not unlike the stem of my = ”

the weil-known plant “ Equisetum.” The

Fig. 8.—Spaniso MrErino.

hairs of the mouse (fig. 5), and rabbit (fig. 6), as well as all the rodents, are admirable ob- jects, from their distinctly serrated surfaces.

Fig, 4.—Mowatr.

Without attempting to enumerate the ani- mals whence these interesting objects can be obtained, it may be briefly stated that every hair has its own peculiar characters, and is

- worth all the patience and time which can be

devoted to it. For examination under the polariscope hairs of all kinds, when properly mounted, are popular objects of admiration, exhibiting with extreme brilliancy charac- ters and definitions otherwise unattainable. For the critical examination of hairs, recourse must be had to the use of acids and alkalies, aided by pressure and gentle heat ; but for nounting hairs or sections of hairs on glass slides a different method must be adopted.

Macerate in ether to cleanse them from fatty matters, and if opaque they must be soaked in turpentine, then mount them in balsam.

Fig. 6.—Rapait For.

hairs together and then slicing them with a sharp knife or razor.

In concluding this brief notice of hairs, the young microscopist is reminded that the field is a wide one, and that it is not at all neces- sary to go beyond the boundaries of his native haunts to obtain materials for au extensive cabinet of interesting specimens.

W. M. &B.

THE CABBAGE BUTTERFLY AND ITS METAMORPHOSES.

BY PROFESSOR A. DE QUATREFAGES,

(EXTERNAL PHASES.)

Fe Ver our readers must have seen the cab- bage-butterflies (Pieris Brassicw) in their gardens, or in the country; they have black bodies, white ringed antenne, and wings which are white on the upper side, but yel- lowish below, and covered with black spots, whose number and position mark the sexes. They are frequently seen in the months of August and September flying in pairs, some- times in pursuit of each other, and occasionally rushing round and round, as though engaged in some severe contest. It seems as if a real struggle was going on, but it is absolutely nothing of the sort. The male urges his suit, and the female rejects it in true coquettish spirit. Finally, she settles down, but her wings are closely applied to each other, in this way covering the entire body. The male moves round and round her for a few moments, and then, asif he had taken his final departure, flies almost out of sight ; but this is evidently a ruse. As soon as the female unfolds her wings and exhibits her entire form, he returns quickly enough, but to no purpose ;

Fer. 1, 1865.]

SCIENCE-GOSSIP. al

for she folds her wings together on his approach, and then the flirtations, pursuits, refusals, and pretended departures commence again.

These performances sometimes last for more than half an hour, no inconsiderable portion of a butierfly’s lifetime. When they have ended, the female deposits its eggs, several hundred in number, upon some por- tion of a cabbage-leaf. The eggs are like little pyramids, three or four times as high as wide, and grooved by deep channels, which separate the rounded, undulating sides from each other. The Pieris arranges its eggs in a most artistic manner, side by side, and, having glued them firmly to the leaf, leaves them entirely to their fate. By far the greater number of them perish, but still some are hatched, and thus insure the perpetuation of the species. ,

Every one knows that there springs from each of these eggs a worm-like animal called a caterpillar, which must pass into the inter- mediate condition of chrysalis before it will become a perfect butterfly.

The egg which our Pieris lays is much smaller than a millet-seed, and the caterpillar which emerges from it is proportionally dimi- nutive. When fully formed, however, it measures one inch anda half in length, and about 1-5th of an inch in width, and 1-6thin depth. We see what a great difference there is in size between the animal when it emerges from the egg, and when it is fully formed, and how rapidly the increase takes place. Moreover, this growth is not gradual, as in most other animals. We may describe it as occurring suddenly, and by a series of forma- tive leaps taken at each of those periods ordinarily called moultings. In fact, as soon as it leaves the egg the young caterpillar eats with a voracity too familiar to our gardeners, but, nevertheless, does not increase in size.

After some days this enormous appetite is lost ; the caterpillar becomes quite languid, and its skin loses its colour and appears to wither. It then crawls away to some sheltered locality. If we follow it to its retreat, we shall see it attach itself firmly to the ground, alternately contracting and infla- ting its body and twisting it about in every way ; then resting for a while, as if com- pletely exhausted, and finally commencing anew. Sometimes whole hours are spent before we can see the object of all these tire- some operations. Eventually the skin bursts at the third or fourth ring, and splits im a straight line from one end of the body to the other. ‘The caterpillar now pushes out first

its head and afterwards its entire body, and appears in a new skin as flexible and as brilliantly-coloured as ever. It has also increased in size, so that it would be quite impossible to enclose it in the case which before enveloped it. Its organs have increased in volume, but having been pent up and compressed by the old skin, when suddenly liberated they attained their proper size, as it were, through their natural elasticity.

There are several moultings gone through before the caterpillar arrives at its adult size and acquires its final characters. At this period we can distinguish but two anatomical regions in our insect—the head and the trunk. The head is small, of a blue colour picked with black, covered with a hard skin, and provided with six simple eyes, which are quite separate from each other. The mouth, as in other caterpillars, is formed for dividing and chewing the tough leaves of cabbage and other cruciferous plants. It is provided laterally with a pair of solid horny mandibles, and a pair of less powerful jaws, which are partly concealed by an upper lip and a wide lower one. In the middle of the latter may be seen a small tubular elongated organ, pierced by a microscopic aperture ; this is the spinning apparatus, by which is made the soft wool-like material which the animal will soon require.

The body of the caterpillar is of cylindrical form, and is composed of twelve almost similar rings. It is of a greenish or yellowish grey colour, marked by three yellow bands which pass from end to end,and is covered with black spots. These spots are little tubercles, each of which carries a white hair, easily seen with a pocket lens. There are eight pairs of feet for the purpose of locomotion, and, as in all caterpillars, these are of two kinds. The three first of each side are conical, jointed, and ter- minated by hookleis or little claws ; these are the horny ov true fect. The others are termed rsembranous or false feet. The latter are like large tubercles, whose ends are truncated and furnished with a circle of hooklets. The most remarkable feature in connection with these is, that the caterpillar can move them in every direction, can push them out, or draw them into the body so completely that there is hardly a trace left of the positions they occupied. There is on each side of its body and extending over ten segments, 4 series of little orifices, each of which is sur- rounded by a brown circle; these are the stigmata, or apertures through which the air is admitted to the respiratory organs.

The caterpillar of the cabbage butterfly

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[Exs. 1, 1865.

completes its growth about the month of October or November. It now prepares for its first metamorphosis by ceasing to eat, and thus completely emptying its digestive tube ; then it seeks the hollow of some tree, or hole in some neighbouring wall, and having found a suitable spot, it begins its preparations.

Unlike the silkworm, this caterpillar spins no cocoon for its concealment and protection, but undergoes its metamorphosis in the open air. It now commences covering the spot it has chosen with filaments which cross each other in every direction; and this silken couch, delicate in texture, but withal of con- siderable strength, serves as a solid and firm support for the hinder limbs. Then bending its trunk and head posteriorly almost to the middle of the back—like an acrobat who makes a hoop of his body—it fixes a thread first on one side and then upon the other, and continues the operation till it has formed a kind of girth, composed of about fifty fila- ments. This done, it straightens its body, and undergoes its last moulting ; the animal however which emerges from the cast-off skin is no longer a caterpillar, but a chrysalis, which is sustained horizontally by the hook- lets of its tail and the girth we have de- scribed.

The Pierts in the new condition which it will maintain during the winter, bears hardly any resemblance to the caterpillar. The skin, which is dense and horny, is covered with a sort of varnish, thrown out at the moment of the metamorphosis, and rapidly dried. It has now assumed an ashy hue, picked out with black and yellow. The body has be- come thicker, but, as it were to compensate for this increase, has been shortened by about one-third. Instead of being made up of rings from end to eud, 1b now exhibits two principal segments. The hinder one alone, which is short and conical, presents the