88 



HARDWJCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Professor Hall is of opinion that the outer 

 satellite of Mars, seen during the recent opposition, 

 may always be seen by large telescopes at every 

 opposition of Mars. 



Dr. Zintgraff, in company with Dr. Chavanne, is 

 about to visit the Congo and the interior of Africa. 

 He takes with him a phonograph wherewith to fix 

 the speech and melodies of hitherto unknown tribes, 

 which, thus received by the instrument, will be for- 

 warded to scientific men in Germany. The apparatus 

 (which will be used for such a purpose for the first 

 time) exactly corresponds with one he has in that 

 city, so that the plates used in Africa can be sent to 

 Berlin to be unrolled by that machine, and caused to 

 re-emit the sounds received. 



The last number of the " Journal of Conchology " 

 has two plates of importance and interest to natura- 

 lists, one illustrating a paper on " The Darts of the 

 British Helicidae," and the other giving an elaborate 

 anatomy of Helix aspersa. 



We are extremely sorry to notice the death of Dr. 

 Todhunter, F.R.S., the eminent mathematician, whose 

 works have been before the world for so long a time 

 that we are almost surprised to find he was only sixty- 

 four when he died. 



Nothing could more plainly indicate the great 

 strides made in the popularisation and wider study of 

 natural science than that its pursuit has made it 

 necessary for specialists to supply materials for study. 

 Much time is saved the student by such beautiful 

 stained preparations as those sent by Mr. C. V. Smith, 

 of Carmarthen, showing a transverse section of the 

 ovary of Malva moschata, and another presenting a 

 vertical section of the ovary ol Digitalis purpurea. 



We have received from Messrs. Sinel tS: Co., from 

 their marine laboratory at Jersey, some mounts for 

 microscoi^ic examination and study of the eggs and 

 zoea or larva of the shore-crab {Canintis mccnas), zoea 

 of Fisa tetraodoji, two days old (bred in Messrs. 

 Sinel's tanks) ; young individuals of the common 

 spider (Epeira diadeina), and the parasite of the ca- 

 percailzie. These specimens, to naturalists who have 

 neither the time nor opportunity to collect for the 

 purposes of verification, and who have hitherto been 

 obliged to remain content with reading about them, 

 are of the highest interest and value. 



A PECULIAR Selachian has been taken in Japanese 

 waters. Its head is remarkably snake-like, the eyes 

 being placed to look sideways and downwards. It is 

 thought, from the shape of its body, that the creature 

 is in the habit of bending and striking forward to 

 seize its prey, as snakes do. The teeth resemble, in 

 some respects, those of fishes found in Devonian 

 rocks. Professor Garman thinks it is the type of a 

 new order, to which the name of Selachophichthyoidi 

 might be given. 



Mr. C. B. Moffat kindly sends us a list of fifty- 

 nine different kinds of wild flowers, all found growing 

 within a radius of about four miles in the neighbour- 

 hood of Enniscorthy, during the first three weeks of 

 January last. Also, another list of fifty garden flowers 

 found in bloom during the same period. 



Mr. H. H. Johnston has set out for Zanzibar, in 

 order to explore Kilmanjaro, the highest mountain in 

 Africa, and to collect examples of the fauna and flora 

 of the mountain. The result, if successful, will be of 

 the highest biological interest. 



Dr. Koch, the distinguished German physiologist, 

 reports from Calcutta that he has found the cholera 

 Bacillus in the water of a tank. Many people affected 

 by cholera had obtained their drinking water from 

 this very tank. 



Mr. Clarence E. Fry has described in the 

 "Entomologist" a Cape plant found near Table 

 Mountain, Physianthus albeits, which is insectivorous. 

 Butterflies and moths are caught by the glutinous 

 base of the corolla, and cannot withdraw themselves ; 

 whilst the petals close over them and form their 

 shroud. 



The increasing, if not loudly expressed, feeling of 

 dissatisfaction is manifesting itself among the science 

 teachers of Great Britain at the way they and their 

 services are treated by the South Kensington Bureau- 

 cracy. The directors of that establishment appear to 

 think that science teachers exist for their benefit, 

 whereas the establishment really exists for the benefit 

 of science and those who teach it. 



Professor Marsh has just described a new and 

 strange fossil Saurian, from the Oolitic strata of 

 North America. It is the type of a new family, and 

 has been named Diplodocus longus. Its zoological 

 position is intermediate between the gigantic Atlan- 

 tosaurs and the Mososaurs. The size of the skull 

 indicates an animal probably forty or fifty feet long. 

 Its teeth suggest that it was herbivorous, and its 

 food probably succulent aquatic vegetation. The 

 shape of its skull is singularly like that of a horse. 



Guyot, the French scientist, well known for his 

 works on physical geography, which have been 

 translated into EngUsh, has just died. 



Mr. Worthington G. Smith, Mr. J. E. Green- 

 hill, and Professor Rupert Jones, F.R.S., delivered 

 interesting addresses before the Geologists' Association 

 on March 7th, on the subject of " Implementiferous 

 valley-gravels," when a large collection of implements 

 from the gravels was exhibited. 



M. J. B. Schnetzler has described an aerial 

 alga which inhabits the bark of the vine in the 

 Canton de Vaud. It occurs as a brownish-red 

 powder, penetrating the fissures of the bark. It is 

 named Chrcolepus umbyinum. 



