HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



163 



all the species indigenous to the British Isles, in 

 addition to a quantity of other information. Its price 

 will be 2s. 6J., and it will be published by the 

 Naturalist's Publishing Company, Birmingham, from 

 whom full particulars may be obtained. 



"By Sea and Shore" is a promising little 

 magazine of natural history brought out in| the 

 interests of the Scientific Society at Rossall School. 



The next British Association Meeting takes place 

 at Leeds, commencing Wednesday, September 3rd, 

 under the presidency of Professor Abel. 



We have before us a full and carefully got up list 

 of "The Land and Freshwater Mollusca of Ingleton, 

 Clapham and District," by W. E. Collinge. Local 

 conchologists will doubtless appreciate this useful 

 little catalogue. 



It is with much regret we have to chronicle the 

 death of Mr. W. G. Dallas, F.L.S., the active secretary 

 of the Geological Society, at the age of sixty-six. 

 Mr. Dallas was a well-known writer on geological 

 and natural history subjects, and for some years was 

 •editor of the "Popular Science Review," and up to 

 the day of his death was one of the editors of the 

 " Annals and Magazine of Natural History." 



MICROSCOPY. 



A New Clearing Agent. — Many who have em- 

 ployed carbolic acid in mounting will have found that 

 when Canada balsam is applied to the object, a 

 inilkiness sometimes appears which spoils the mount. 

 This may be obviated by adopting the following 

 procedure. After treating the object with pure 

 carbolic in the way described in several journals (see 

 especially Science-Gossip, 1S75, p. 229, and 1880, 

 p. 137; the "American Monthly Microscopical 

 Journal," 1883, p. S; also "Lee's Microtomist's 

 Vade-Mecum," p. 216), drain off the superfluous 

 fluid, and transfer the object at once to a clearing 

 agent, consisting of equal volumes of pure carbolic 

 acid and spirits of turpentine. The two must be 

 intimately mixed by shaking in a phial, after which 

 pass the fluid through a filter, and cork and keep the 

 solution for use. The object may be placed in the 

 clearing agent in a watch-glass, or a sunk cell ; but if 

 it is small, it is better to keep it on the slide under a 

 •cover glass, and to run the carbolised turpentine 

 through in the usual way, drawing it off with pieces 

 of blotting- or filter-paper. If any milkiness appear, 

 wash it away with repeated applications of the solu- 

 tion. When clear, drain off the superfluous fluid, 

 taking care not to let bubbles form, and then mount 

 in balsam. Gruebler's balsam in xylol, put up in 

 collapsible tubes, is, I find, the best for the purpose. 

 If any of your readers will but try carbolised turpen- 

 tine as an adjunct to the carbolic process of mounting, 



they will probably adopt that process in preference to 

 all others for balsam mounts. I have used carbolised 

 turpentine in the way described for some three years, 

 and therefore have a fair experience of it. — IV. y. 

 Simmons, Calcutta. 



New Slides.— We have received from Mr. Ernest 

 Hinton, 12 Vorley Road, Upper Holloway, a couple 

 of unusually interesting and very neatly mounted 

 slides. One is a superb specimen of the common 

 freshwater alga Spirogyra communis, in the act of 

 conjugating. Nothing could more clearly bring home 

 to the mind of the botanical student the nature and 

 process of this important act. The second is a slide 

 of Nilclla flexilis, showing even more plainly than 

 any emphasised wood-cut could the Antheridia. The 

 latter are naturally orange coloured, and they contrast 

 strikingly with the green vegetative filament. The 

 latter is best seen with the paraboid. 



Preservation of Melicerta Ringens. — My 

 attention having been called to the note of F. N. 

 Measures, on the preservation of Melicerta ringens, 

 I beg to say that I have had melicerta for over 

 twelve months in glass jars which I use as miniature 

 aquariums. It was introduced on the Anacharis 

 alsinastrum. But having neglected the jars they got 

 over-stocked with anacharis, nitella, and minute 

 alga; ; and as far as I can ascertain they have com- 

 pletely disappeared. The following note from |my 

 note book may be of some interest to your readers. 

 A friend of mine kept an aquarium for some years, the 

 sides of which were covered with algce. We scraped 

 some of it off, and an examination revealed the following 

 interesting objects : — Floscularia (probably) omata, 

 Tardigrada, Stylonichia, Epistylis, Chtvtonatns larus, 

 Salpina redunca, Monocerca rattus, Cothurnia imberbis, 

 Euplotes patella, besides a large number of objects 

 which we were unable to identify. — H. French, 

 Sunderland. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Annelids of Cumberland and Westmore- 

 land. — The following list seems necessary as a 

 sequel to my remarks on another page ("A Chat about 

 Worms"). I have collected the whole during the 

 present year, and have had the opinion of experts in 

 reference to critical species : — Sabellaria crassissima, 

 Lk., Terebella littoralis, Dal., Serpula triquetra, L., 

 Serpula contortuplicata, L., Spirorbis nautiloides, Lk., 

 Spirorbis lucidus, Mont., Arenicola piscatorum, L., 

 Nephthys longisctosa, CErsted. The foregoing are all 

 from Silloth, the latter being known by the fisher- 

 men as the " White worm," and thrown aside as 

 useless when they dig for bait. Perichata indica, 

 Horst., found in a greenhouse at Kendal ; Allurus 

 tetraedrus, Duges, from River Eden and Monkhill 

 Loch ; Brandling {Allolobopkora f cetida, Benham 



