Feb. 1, 1SG6.] 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



47 



prefer), or dried and mounted in balsam, or dry. 

 Siliceous cuticles, such as Deufzia scabra, Eleagnus, 

 Rippophae, &c, being good under the polariscope, 

 I mount in balsam ; others, such as iris, opuntia, 

 box, oleander, yucca, aloe, pineapple, fig, Ruscus 

 aculeatus, &c, are, I think, better in glycerine. 

 Delicate cuticles, such as pelargonium, &c, are, I 

 believe, peeled oif, and, while moist, stretched across 

 the cover glass, and when dry, mounted.—/. Slack. 

 A good plan is to press the leaf tight on the hard, 

 smooth surface of a pestle, raise the cuticle with a 

 knife, and peel it off with forceps ; or, moisten the 

 leaf, press it on the pestle, as before, and with a 

 sharp knife scrape off the cuticle and matter of the 

 leaf down to the other cuticle, which will remain 

 adhering to the pestle.—/. Brown, Menstrie. 



The plan I have found to answer in removing 

 the cuticle from leaves is the following -.—Take 

 a leaf, or part of a leaf, and put it iuto a wide- 

 mouthed test-tube, with an equal bulk of chlorate 

 of potass, and as much nitric acid as will cover 

 the whole. Then boil it over a spirit-lamp for 

 a minute or two, until you see the cuticle separate 

 from the rest of the leaf. Let the tube cool for a 

 minute, then wash the acid away with distilled water. 

 I then lay the cuticle in spirit and water (1 to 5) 

 for a few hours, after which it is quite ready for 

 mounting. In this way 1 have succeeded in obtain- 

 ing the cuticles from the Deutzia, sea-buckthorn 

 (Hipnophae rhamnoides), and several other interesting 

 cuticles, suited for microscopic observation. — 

 B. G. G. 



Atmospheric Phenomenon. — I have often ob- 

 served the phenomenon mentioned by W. S. in the 

 Jauuary number. It seems very curious when the 

 sunbeams do not reach far above the horizon— 

 almost as if another sun were about to rise ; but 

 when the beams extend completely across the sky, 

 it is at once evident that, as they are parallel, and 

 are seen in perspective, they must appear to diverge 

 from the sun, and to converge towards a point 

 beneath the opposite horizon. For the phenomenon 

 to be produced it is necessary that the sky should 

 be hazy, so as to show the sun's rays; that there 

 should be a few small clouds to intercept these rays, 

 and break them up into beams ; and that the sky 

 opposite the sun should be tolerably free from 

 clouds.— F. W. M. 



To Kill Slugs. — In answer to E. C. Y., page 22, 

 slugs may be killed by corrosive sublimate or ben- 

 zoine. For details see pp. 90, 91, in Tate's " British 

 Slugs and Snails," published by Mr. Hardwicke. 

 — R. T. 



Objects in Tumuli.— J. S., page 18, makes an 

 error with regard to the name and zoological posi- 

 tion of the so-called fossil beads. The fossil is a 

 sponge, Amorphospougia globular is, Goldfuss {Coscino- 

 jpora). It is very common in the upper chalk, and 

 is rarely found naturally perforated ; such is my 

 experience, and I have collected the species in great 

 numbers. — Ralph Tate, F.R.S., 8rc. 



Jerusalem Artichoke (v. S. G., vol. i., p. IIS). — 

 The name of "artichoke" proceeds from the analogy 

 in taste. The Journal cV 'Agriculture Pratique, of 

 Professor Chas. Morren, gives (1S4S) a monograph, 

 from which I extract the following particulars : — A 

 Belgian botanist (Houdius) made the Jerusalem 

 artichoke known to Europe. He gave an accurate 

 description of it under the name of " subterranean 

 artichoke." The continuator of Dodoneus, Van 

 Baevelingen, says (Cruydoboeck, edit. 1614, page 

 1476), that in 1613 these plants were yet cultivated 

 in great quantity in France and in Belgium ; in some 

 parts of the latter country they were called " bata- 



tas of Canada," or " Canadas," because it was 

 thought they came from that couutry; in other parts, 

 " artichoke-apples of Terneuse." I remark the 

 denomination of " Jerusalem " is not used in this 

 country. — B., Melle, near Ghent. 



Impressions of Leaves. — Can _ any of your 

 readers inform me how to take clear impressions of 

 leaves with printing ink ? I have tried many times, 

 but cannot succeed ; there are always patches of 

 ink left here and there. I take mine in a wooden 

 copying-press, of my own manufacture. — S. J. B. 



Ancient Toads and Frogs. — Monthly we have 

 reports of living toads and frogs being found in 

 strata of great depths below the surface of the 

 earth, and yet the elite of the scientific world per- 

 sistently ignore the evidence adduced. Is it a fact 

 that living toads and frogs are found embedded at 

 great depths, and have any of the readers of Science 

 Gossip personal knowledge of the fact, founded on 

 careful personal observation ? I have not. — T. P. 

 Barlcas. 



The Chigoe. — We occasionally read of the ravages 

 of the chigoe {Pulex penetrans) of the West Indies. 

 Will somebody tell us what it is like ? Kirby and 

 Spence give some account of it. (Popular editiou, 

 page 53, "Wood's Natural History," article "Flea," 

 and " Micrographic Dictionary.") — S. J. M. 



Mounting Desmids. — How can I mount rare 

 Desraids ? I have received a number from Germany, 

 dried on glass, but put up too thickly to be of any 

 service.— W. W. S. 



Bees. — Would any classical bee-master kindly fa- 

 vour me with answers to these queries from Virgil's 

 ' Georgic on Bees' (lib. iv.) : — 1. Is it a fact that 

 swallows devour bees, according to the lines 15-17 — 



" Et manibus Procne pectus signata cruentis. . . . 

 Ore ferunt, dulcem nidis immitibus escam" ? 



2. Have any modern observers noticed bees carrying 

 small stones for ballast in a heavy wind (line 195), 

 as Aristotle and Pkny state ? 3. Do bees live to 

 their seventh year (Hue 207) ? 4. Do cockroaches 

 devour honey in the hives (line 243) ? 5. When 

 there is a pestilence among bees, do they hang 

 together in a mass like a bunch of grapes (line 

 257) ? 6. Is any modern instance known of a 

 swarm of bees inhabiting a dead animal, as Virgil 

 tells us in the story of Aristseus, which is corro- 

 borated by what Holv Writ relates of Samson ? — 

 M. G. W. 



Ziricote and Ronron. — Could you tell me the 

 scientific name of the Mexican woods called Ziricote, 

 or thiricote, and Ronron ? — B. 



The Giant oe Lucerne.— In 1577, a storm 

 having uprooted an oak near the cloisters ofReyden, 

 in the canton of Lucerne, some large bones were 

 exposed to view. Seven years after, a physician 

 and professor of Basle, Felix Plater, being at 

 Lucerne, examined these bones, and declared they 

 could only proceed from a giant. The Council of 

 Lucerne consented to send the bones to Basle for 

 more minute examination, and Plater thought him- 

 self justified in attributing to the giant a height of 

 nineteen feet. He designed a human skeleton on 

 this scale, and returned the bones with the drawing 

 to Lucerne. In 1706 there only remained of these 

 bones a portion of the scapula and a fragment of 

 the wrist-bone. The anatomist Blumenbach, who 

 saw them at the beginning of the century, easily 

 recognized them for the bones of an elephant. Let 

 us not omit to add, as a compliment to this bit of 

 history, that the inhabitants of Lucerne adopted 

 the image of this pretended giant as the supporters 

 of the city arms. — The World before the Deluge. 



