HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



4i 



Rearing of Cuckoos at Cassiobury, Watford," by 

 John Powell. 



We are sorry to have to record the death of 

 Father Perry, F.R.S., of Stonyhurst, the distin- 

 guished astronomer and meteorologist, at the com- 

 paratively early age of fifty-seven. Father Perry 

 was connected with the Venus Transit Expeditions 

 ■of 1874 and 1S82, and in the Solar Eclipse Ex- 

 pedition of 1886, 1887, and 1889. He was out with 

 the recent Eclipse Expedition, and died, on duty, on 

 the 27th of December. 



MICROSCOPY. 



Diplois PROPATULA.— I should be much obliged 

 if any observer who has had an opportunity of 

 examining this rare species, would be so good as to 

 communicate with me. — David Bryce, 37 Brooke 

 Road, N. 



Diplaxcompressa.— It may interest workers among 

 the Rotifera to know that several examples of this 

 handsome species have occurred in a recent gathering 

 from a ditch on the Lea Marshes, near Spring Hill, 

 Clapton. Mr. Gosse described the characters from a 

 single specimen found at Leamington in July, 1850, 

 and, so far as I can learn, no other specimens have 

 yet been recorded. — David Bryce, 37 Brooke Road, N. 



The Microscopical Society of Calcutta. — 

 The winter session of this society opened on the 

 nth November last, when the president, Professor 

 J. Wood Mason, read a paper on a "Viviparous 

 Caddis Fly " discovered by him. At the close of 

 the meeting the members examined a splendid gas 

 microscope by Messrs. J. Swift & Son, which has 

 been presented to the society by Sir Henry Cun- 

 ningham, formerly a Judge of the High Court at 

 Calcutta. The instrument is furnished with 2-inch, 

 I -inch, £-inch, and 5-inch objectives, and has a 

 iantern fitting as well. It should help materially to 

 popularize microscopy in Calcutta, as well as to 

 illustrate papers, &c. We regret to learn that the 

 deaths of Mr. E. J. Jones, the Vice-President, and of 

 Dr. Vincent Richards, were announced. Mr. W. J. 

 Simmons was elected Vice-President, and Mr. W. L. 

 Sclater, Hon. Secretary of the society. 



The Royal Microscopical Society.— At a 

 recent meeting, Mr. C Rousselet exhibited a small 

 tank for rotifers which could be readily moved about 

 in such a way as to render an examination of the 

 contents very simple, so that any desired specimens 

 ■could be easily picked out. The lens used was a 

 Zeiss's No. 6 Steinheil, the focusing being done by 

 rackwork. — Mr. Crisp called attention to a number 

 of stereoscopic photomicrographs of embryos by Pro- 

 fessor Fol. They afforded a conclusive answer to the 

 question brought forward at the October meeting as 



to whether stereoscopic photomicrographic slides had 

 been produced before that time. Mr. Crisp also read 

 some extracts from a paper by Mr. Gill, which seemed 

 almost conclusively to prove that the " markings" on 

 certain diatoms were apertures.— Mr. A. W. Bennett 

 gave a risumioi his paper " On the Freshwater Alga: 

 and Schizophycea? of Hampshire and Devon." It 

 was the result of collections made during his summer 

 holiday in the New Forest and on Dartmoor, many 

 of the species being not only interesting, but also new 

 to science. — Mr. Crisp said, that at the last meeting 

 mention was made of a new objective with an 

 aperture of i - 6o, the price of which was said to be 

 400/. Some doubt was expressed at the time as to 

 whether the account was true, but since then several 

 communications about it had been received. A letter 

 from Professor Abbe describing the principles of its 

 construction was read. Letters were also read from 

 Dr. van Heurck describing the performance of the lens, 

 and enclosing a series of remarkable photomicrographs 

 of diatoms taken with it, with magnifying powers of 

 10,000 and 15,000 diameters. 



New Slides.— Mr. Ernest Hinton, 12 Vorley 

 Road, Upper Holloway, N., sends us two very neat 

 and beautiful slides. One slide contains Obclia 

 Jlabellata, one of the Hydroid Zoophytes, and shows 

 the tentacles fully extended, and also the gonophores. 

 The other, for the polariscope, is Bugula avicularia, 

 and is prepared to show the interesting " bird's-head 

 processes," some of them'with the beak open, others 

 with it closed. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Irish Shells. — I am able to place the following 

 species on record from Rynn, Rosenallis, Queen's 

 Co., Ireland : — Succinea putris (Linn.), Vitrina pel- 

 lucida (Mull.), Hyalina alliaria (Mill), H. crystallina 

 (Mull.), H.fulva (Mull.), Helix aspersa (Mull.), H. 

 nemoralis var. carnca 12345, IT. hortensis var. 

 lutea-unicolor, H. rufescens (Penn.), IT. hispida 

 (Linn.), IT. caperata (Mont.), H. ericetorum var. 

 alba (Charp.), H. rotimdata (Mull.), H. pulchella 

 (Drp.), Pupa umbilicata (Drp.), Vertigo antivertigo 

 (Drp.), V. edentula (Drp.), Clausilia rugosa (Drp.), 

 Cochlicopa lubrica (Miill.), Cacilianella acicula (Mull.), 

 Sph&rium cor neiim (Linn.), Pisidium Amnicum 

 (Miill.), P. fonlinale (Drp.), P. pusillum (Emel.), 

 Anodonta anatina (Linn.), Planorbis albus (Miill.), 

 P. umbilicatus (Miill), P. contortus (Linn.), Physa 

 hypnorum (Linn.), P. fontinalis (Linn.), Limnaa 

 peregra (Miill.), Z. stagnalis (Linn.), Z. palustris 

 (Miill.), Z. truncatula (Miill.), Bythinia tentaculata 

 (Linn.), and Ancylus fluviatilis (Miill.). None of the 

 above species, I believe, have been recorded for 

 Queen's County, and three of them, Ccecilianella 

 acicula, Pisidium Amnicum, and Anodonta anatina, 



