HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



141 



visit next wiuter, should we live so long, 1 could 

 show hiui in a little copse, just over the stream at 

 the bottom of my grarden, an exhibition of this 

 beautiful flower, which may be equalled, but can 

 liardly be surpassed, at Over Compton. We have, 

 however, often remarked here, that, contrary to his 

 experience, the single-flo^vered snowdrop and the 

 double-flowered garden variety appear to observe 

 a very strict line of demarcation. I think I may 

 say that we never find the double one on the oppo- 

 site side of the little stream, o'hich a man may jump 

 across, and very rarely the single one on this side 

 ■of it ; and yet there is very little appreciable 

 difTerence between them, in their character or cul- 

 ture. — C. IF. B., Bingham's Melcombe, Dorchester. 



How TO GET Skeletons of Animals. — " D. H." 

 nsks how to obtain skeletons without seeking aid 

 from ants. 1 proceed thus : skin the animal, remove 

 all internal organs, and as much of the muscular 

 tissue as is possible by careful dissection, then 

 macerate in water until all remaining muscle is 

 sufficiently rotten to be scraped off with an ivory 

 scraper or blunt penknife. Care must be taken at 

 this stage not to remove the tendons surrounding 

 the joiuts, or they will be disarticulated and the 

 preparation spoiled. When every objectionable 

 portion has been removed, the skeleton may be set 

 up with cork and pins in a natural position, and 

 allowed to dry, when a very_ perfect specimeu will 

 result. This description applies to mice and frogs, or 

 any small vertebrate animal. Should a joint become 

 disarticulated by accident, China cement will be 

 found useful to unite it. 



]\IicRoscoPES. — "Enquirer" asks about micro- 

 scopes. To my mind the simplest contrivances are the 

 best, and a stage consisting simply of a plate of metal 

 without any additions, save the spring to hold the 

 slide when the instrument is_ inclined, answers all 

 purposes. I find the mechanical stage unnecessary 

 for the highest powers (gV)- '-l-'he most serviceable 

 instrument I believe to be Hartnack's : an excellent 

 model is made by Baker, of Holborn. With regard 

 to lenses, the maker decides the quality, and if 

 "Enquirer" is wise, he willnotbuy a lens until some 

 one has tested it for him, unless he obtains it from 

 a maker who is above suspicion : the greatest dis- 

 coveries were originally made with very inferior 

 instruments. Might I ask why H. G. Glasspoole, 

 in the excellent paper on the history of the potato, 

 persists in calling that vegetable a root "i—S. W. 

 Moore. 



Anciext Trees. — E. Edwards, in Science- 

 "GossiP No. Ill, p. 56, truly remarks that our 

 old trees are very interesting; and it is to be 

 hoped that they will all soon be recorded. Two 

 that I have seen he has not mentioned, both 

 yews ; one at Crowhurst, Surrey, three or four 

 miles from Edenbridge ; the other at a village of 

 the same name, about six miles from Hastings, 

 Sussex. These, perhaps, E. Edwards will visit 

 and measure. All that I now remember of thenr 

 is that they are of immense size, one of them 

 '(the Surrey tree) is much decayed in the centre, 

 and that the tree at Crowhurst, Sussex, is a 

 female with a treble trunk. Both of them are 

 in the churchyards. The celebrated French 

 botanist Decandolle is said to have travelled 

 an immense distance to visit the venerable 

 Sussex yew. And the same botanist examined 

 a yew (since reported defunct), and made it out 

 •to be 3,000 years of age, in the churchyard of 



Bradbourne, Kent. Admitting the truth of this 

 estimate, this tree may have been contemporary 

 with Solomon's Temnle. The "Conqueror's Oak," 

 near the palings of Windsor Forest, is a huge 

 hollow trunk of immense age, yet with flourish- 

 ing branches.— Q. F. 



The Mode of Looking at Pictures. — I was 

 very much interested in reading Sir Frederick 

 Montagu Pollock's article on "The Best Mode of 

 Looking at Pictures." He advises us to look at 

 objects with one eye. It has been my practice in 

 looking at pictures to use the limp catalogue as a 

 telescope, and the effect is wonderful ; the vision 

 excludes all the surrounding objects and puts the 

 picture in a very becoming frame, and the definition 

 is perfect. We feel as if we ourselves were stand- 

 ing in the picture. And also, in sketching, I am 

 in the habit of looking at the landscape through a 

 roll of drawing-]3aper, and in the bright sunshine the 

 deep shade of the tube is wonderfully cooling to 

 the eye. If these things are absent, we can easily 

 produce the same effect with our natural band. 

 Let the thumb and forefinger be the eye-piece, and 

 palm the tube. — *S'. A. Notcutt, jitn. 



Green Tree-frog. — A relation of mine had a 

 green tree-frog which he brought from Paris, but 

 from my observations I don't think that the barome- 

 trical powers of the animal are to be depended on. 

 It seems simply a matter of convenience or digestion 

 whether he goes up the ladder, which was in the 

 bottle with him when he was bought, or not. He 

 may do very well iu France, but the weather in Eng- 

 land being so very changeable no doubt puzzles him. 

 He uses tlie ladder chiefly when going after files, of 

 which he is very fond. As flies are not to be had 

 all the winter, we found a substitute for them iu the 

 shape of young cockroaches ; but he does not like 

 them nearly so well as flies, — not being so delicate 

 perhaps. It is amusing to see him try to swallow a 

 blue-bottle that is almost too large for him : if it will 

 not go into his mouth easily, he forces it in with his 

 fingers, or else lets it loose again and has another 

 shot at it. The underside of his body seems to be 

 covered with a number of suckers, as he has the 

 power of clinging to the sides of the glass jar in 

 which he lives without any difficulty. His colour 

 changes slightly, being'sometimes of a light yellow- 

 green, and at other times a dark dirty sort of green. 

 It is a very interesting little animal, and causes little 

 trouble to keep. — E. G. 



Eaphides and Cuticles. — Will any of your 

 correspondents kindly give a learner some informa- 

 tion as to the best way of extracting raphides, and 

 preparing them for mounting ? Also as to how the 

 cuticles of leaves — especially the tougher ones, such 

 as ivy, evergreen oak, &c. — may be best detaclied ? 

 1 have tried long maceration iu water, with very un- 

 satisfactory results. One book recommends boiling 

 in strong nitric acid ; but will not that destroy the 

 texture entirely ? What is said in_ books on these 

 two subjects is too general to be of much use to a 

 beginner. — G. H. J., IFestoii. 



SciRPUS lacustris and S. triqueter. — Can 

 any of your readers tell me how to distinguish 

 between Scirpus lacustris and Scirpus triqiteter ? 

 The latter {Scirpus triqueter) and S. carinatus are 

 said, in the " Flora of Surrey," to be plentiful on the 

 Surrey side of the Thames from Mortlake to Kew. 

 1 have frequently searched in that locality, and find 

 abundance of a large Scirpus which has not a sharply 



