HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



227 



Loudou resort to the aid of lime, -wliich, although 

 it makes them white, is terribly detrimental to 

 the bones themselves. In a smoky city like London, 

 the principle of sun-bleaching would be hard to 

 follow ; but so great is its value that more than 

 once I have had valuable specimens sent down to 

 me in the country by a comparative anatomist in 

 London to undergo a course of sun-bleaching ; and 

 a specimen which I have received stained and 

 blotched, I have returned of a beautiful uniform 

 white, a change entirely due to that sun which we 

 arc told to beware of. 



The question, how are skeletons to be prepared? 

 is one which is repeatedly asked in Science- 

 Gossip. People desire a method by which with 

 little trouble the flesh may be removed from a 

 specimen, and a beautiful skeleton of ivory white- 

 ness left standing in its natural position. I can 

 assure all such inquirers that this cannot be accom- 

 plished by any method at all. The art of preparing 

 bones is a long, elaborate, and difiicult one, and he 

 who wishes to become a proficient in it must be 

 alike regardless to the most unpleasant odours, and 

 to handling the most repulsive objects. Mr. 

 Chivers's receipt for the maceration of specimens is 

 about the best which one could have, only I should 

 not advise so frequent a change of the water. 

 What is needed is as rapid a decomposition of the 

 flesh as is possible, and then tlie cleaning of the 

 skeleton just before the harder ligaments iiave also 

 dissolved. But this requires very careful watching, 

 and with the utmost pains it is almost impossible 

 to get a skeleton entirely connected by its own 

 ligaments. 



Another point which must be taken into con- 

 sideration is this. What use is to be made of the 

 specimens after they are prepared ? Are they for 

 purposes of real study, or simply as curious objects 

 to look at? If the latter is the inirposc, I must 

 confess I do not think they are worth the trouble 

 of preparing. If the former is the object for which 

 they are intended, then I think no care or pains is 

 thrown away. But for the real student of osteology 

 the separated bones, as a rule, are far more valuable 

 "than those w'hich are connected. He needs one or 

 two set up for purposes of reference, but the great 

 bulk of his specimens should be separate bones. 

 Osteology is one of the most delightful branches 

 of comparative anatomy, and one not very liard to 

 master. Let any one try the experiment by getting 

 together a few bones, — and those from tire rabbit 

 or the partridge we have had for dinner are by no 

 means to be despised,— and then, by purchasing 

 Plower's " Osteology of the Mammalia," which is 

 a cheap and first-rate book, he will learn what 

 the study of the skeleton really is. And then let 

 him be on the look-out for specimens of all kinds on 

 all occasions, bringing home all suitable objects he 

 meets with in his walks, however unsavoury they 



may be, and he will be astonisliea to find how many 

 specimens he will get together in the course of a 

 year. I have now myself upwards of seventy 

 skulls of various kinds, with often the rest of the 

 skeleton as well, the greater part of which were 

 gradually collected by keeping constantly on the 

 watch for them, within a year and a half. 



Osteology is so pleasant a pursuit that, if it was 

 better known, it would have many devotees amongst 

 those who wish to occupy their leisure time with 

 natural science. If at any time I can be of any 

 help to any one commencing the study, I shall 

 always be glad to answer any inquiries addressed 

 to me. Edwakd Pentone Elwin. 



Caius College, Cambridge. 



THE HISTORY OF THE LOBSTER. 



WITHIN the last few weeks, Mr. S. L Smith, 

 of New Havcu, U.S., has carefully described 

 the various changes undergone by the native lobster. 

 His paper further gives valuable information on the 

 season of breeding, and other facts of practical 

 interest. An abstract of this paper has appeared in 

 the " Transactions of the Connecticut Academy," 

 as well as an appendix to the report of the United 

 States Fish Commissioner, lately issued. Mr. Smith 

 shows that the lobster is dying out, from over-fish- 

 ing, and in this opinion he is supported by other 

 observers. 



The season at which the female lobsters carry 

 eggs varies much on different parts of the North 

 American coast. Mr. Smitli says that lobsters from 

 New London and Stonington, Conn., carry eggs in 

 April and May, whilst at Halifax he found them 

 with eggs, in which the embryos were just begin- 

 ning to develop, early in September. Dr. A. S. 

 Packard, in the American Naturalist for July, states 

 that he has seen them in Salem with the embryos 

 ready to hatch in the middle of May, and he had 

 been informed that the lobster also breeds there in 

 November. He thinks it not impossible that they 

 breed at intervals throughout the year. This is an 

 important point, and the doctor further thinks that, at 

 any rate, a close time ought to be kept on the coast 

 of New England during April and May, and also 

 during October and November, and that then 

 persons should be fined for selling lobsters bearing 



After figuring and describing the appearance of 

 the lobster embryo in the eggs, Mr. Smith divides 

 the larval condition of the lobster into three stages. 

 Ttie first (represented by figs. 158 and 160, one of 

 the cephalo-thoracic legs of the second pair, enlarged 

 twenty diameters ; a, exopodus ; b, epipodus ; c, 

 branchial appendages), is a little under the third of 

 an inch in length, and was found early in July. In 

 the second stage, the animal has increased in sizci 



