9 o 



HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



5,000,000 — if put together they would form a tunnel 

 no miles in length; while the plates used in the 

 construction of the tubes would extend a distance of 

 44 miles. 



Ichthyologists have been much concerned with 

 the shoals of anchovies that have lately visited the 

 south coast of England. The fish not being known 

 to the fishermen were thrown back into the sea. Mr. 

 Cunningham, naturalist to the Marine Biological 

 Station at Plymouth, states that some anchovies 

 obtained from the pilchard fishermen are undoubtedly 

 of the same species as those imported from France 

 and Italy. 



A discussion has been going on concerning the 

 acclimatisation of the Kangaroo into our already over- 

 stocked and over-preserved country. There is con- 

 siderable variety of opinion on the subject, as the 

 writers do not say which species is to be acclimatised, 

 whether Macropiis major (the "Old Man") or the 

 Tree Kangaroo. Anyhow a more useless mammal 

 could not be introduced ; nor, in case of the former, 

 a more dangerous one. 



The following are the Lecture Arrangements at 

 the Royal Institution after Easter: — the Hon. 

 George C. Brodrick, Three Lectures on The Place 

 of Oxford University in English History ; Mr. Louis 

 Pagan, Three Lectures on the Art of Engraving ; 

 Mr. Andrew Lang, Three Lectures on the Natural 

 History of Society ; Professor C. V. Boys, Three 

 Lectures on the Heat of the Moon and Stars ; 

 Professor Dewar, Six Lectures on Flame and Ex- 

 plosives ; Captain Abney, Three Lectures on Colour 

 and its Chemical Action ; Dr. Charles Waldstein, 

 Three Lectures on Excavating in Greece ; The 

 Rev. S. Baring-Gould, Three Lectures on the 

 Ballad Music of the West of England (with Musical 

 Illustrations). The Friday Evening Meetings will 

 be resumed on April 19th, when a Discourse will 

 be given by Sir Frederick Bramwell, Bart, on 

 Electric Welding ; succeeding Discourses will pro- 

 bably be given by Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P., 

 Mr. W. II. Pollock, Mr. R. Brudenell Carter, Pro- 

 fessor Raphael Meldola, Professor A. C. Haddon, 

 Mr. A. A. Common, Professor Boyd Dawkins, and 

 other gentlemen. 



MICROSCOPY. 



Microscopical Society of Calcutta. — A 

 general meeting of the members of this Society was 

 held on the 27th January last, when the annual 

 report for last year was read and adopted. The 

 following gentlemen were elected to the Council : 

 Professor J. Wood Mason (Superintendent of Indian 

 Museum, and Lecturer on Comparative Anatomy, 

 Medical College), President ; Mr. W. J. Simmons, 



Vice-president ; Mr. W. L. Sclater, Honorary Secre- 

 tary ; Mr. W. H. Ryland, Honorary Treasurer ; 

 Messrs. H. H. Anderson, W. H. Miles, J. J. Meade, 

 and W. J. Simpson, M.D. (Health Officer to the 

 Corporation of Calcutta), ordinary members of the 

 Council. The Society has recently been presented by 

 Sir Henry S. Cunningham with one of Messrs. J. 

 Swift & Son's valuable oxyhydrogen microscopes 

 with four objectives, and all the necessary fittings; 

 and we observe that it has been resolved to purchase 

 a good monocular stand to be used with the objectives 

 appertaining to the gas microscope. The President 

 in his annual report gave the Society some useful 

 advice as to how its work could be materially 

 advanced. He referred to four methods which are 

 applicable to similar societies all the world over : 

 field excursions, under the direction of a trained 

 naturalist ; the formation and study of collections ; 

 practical lessons in microscopy ; and the pursuit of 

 special subjects by individual members. In this last 

 connection he directed the attention of the Society to 

 the study of the Indian species of the Thysanura, 

 Collembola, Trichoptera, Physopoda, the smaller 

 Crustacea, the Polyzoa, and the vast vaiiety of 

 Indian spiders. We have seen the report issued for 

 the past year, and consider it excellent. 



Mounting Alg^e.— Can any one give me a hint 

 as to the best way of mounting algoe as permanent 

 preparations, so as to prevent the chlorophyll from 

 fading? The ordinary methods very often contract 

 the cells as well as destroy the colour. — A. G. 

 Tansley. 



The Royal Microscopical. — We have received 

 Nos. 73<z and 74 of the "Journal of the Royal 

 Microscopical Society." No. 73a contains the index 

 to last year's journal, and a list of the Fellows. 

 No. 74 contains the usual summary of current re- 

 searches, and also "Freshwater Algae and Schizo- 

 phyceee of Hampshire and Devonshire," by A. W. 

 Bennett, and " On an Objective with an Aperture of 

 i-6oN.A. (Monobromide of Naphthaline Immersion) 

 made according to the Formula of Professor Abbe 

 in the Optical Factory of Carl Zeiss," by Dr. S. 

 Czapski. 



Enock's New Slides.— We are pleased to get 

 from Mr. Fred. Enock a continuation of the study 

 of bees' legs (similar to those we noticed in the 

 December number of Dasypoda hirtopcs), showing 

 the admirable differentiation in their structure. With 

 a paraboloid the slides can be examined on both 

 sides. The three slides now before us are the 

 (1) first leg of honey bee (Apis mellifica), queen, 

 without pressure, showing the semicircular comb 

 used for cleaning the antennae ; second leg showing 

 spine and flat semi-transparent metatarsus, peculiar 

 to the queen ; third leg, showing absence of comb on 



