HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



91 



A Medium for Hard Sections.— Can you tell 

 me a good medium in which to mount hard sections, 

 such as bone, teeth, and horn, one in which they will 

 not change, and in which all, or nearly all, of their 

 minute structure will not be lost ; that is lacunal 

 canaliculi and dentinal tubules, &c ? Balsam, as a 

 rule, obliterates all such detail. I have been trying 

 glycerine jelly, but the glycerine seems to have a 

 solvent action on the lime salts of the section, more 

 especially of teeth ; as in a short time after the mount 

 is made there is a very fine deposit, all round the 

 section, of what I supposed was a lime salt extracted 

 from it by the glycerine, and again deposited. — 



y. y. A. 



ZOOLOGY. 



South Essex. — Has it ever occurred to concholo- 

 gists to collect in the southern division of the county 

 of Essex ? For there do not seem to be any records 

 whatever of its molluscan fauna, except a single 

 casual allusion to I/clix virgata and H. capcrata ; 

 and it seems rather curious that one of the metro- 

 politan counties should be so much of a terra incog- 

 nita that its recorded molluscan fauna should amount 

 to actually no more than two species. — W. J. D. 

 W. R. T. 



CONCHOLOGICAL' Notes. —Referring to Mr. Geo. 

 Roberts' notes, H. rufcsccns is not mentioned in my 

 list of local shells (Science-Gossip, July, 1883) as 

 I have not myself taken it, but it is included in 

 Mr. Ashford's "List of Shells of the Lower Tees" 

 ("Journal of Conchology," vol. ii. p. 240), on the 

 faith of my friend, Mr. J. W. Watson, as being found 

 near Ginsbro, Stokeslsy, Ayton, &c. Mr. Roberts' 

 remarks respecting ants and Helices made me turn 

 up my note-book, and I find that last spring I 

 noticed a circumstance which struck me as peculiar. 

 It was early in the season, and I was searching for 

 zonites under some stones at Redcar. Under several 

 of these stones were colonies of the common sand 

 ant, and also several specimens of Z. cellariiis, 

 nitididus, and allai-ius, and less often Fttpa mar- 

 ginata. In all cases the shells ol cellarius, nitidnhis, 

 and Pupa inarginata were tenantless and beautifully 

 cleaned, I presumed by the ants who had eaten their 

 guests, but out of twenty-three S. allarius, only one 

 dead shell came to hand, and it occurred to me that 

 possibly the somewhat unpleasant odour of the garlic 

 snail had saved its life. — B. Hudson. 



Bivalves out of their Element.— During 

 the second week of December 1S83, I took half a 

 dozen specimens of Spharhcm cortteitm from a pond 

 near Middlesbrough, and, having to attend to some 

 particular business, on my return home, I forgot to 

 clean my shells. They remained thus forgotten 



until January the 7th this year, when I stumbled 

 upon them. They were in a tin box which also 

 contained a handful of grass which was perfectly dry ; 

 in fact the box contained no apparent moisture. 

 Happening to fracture one of the shells, I noticed 

 that the animal appeared to be alive. I therefore 

 took three of the shells and placed them in water 

 having a temperature of 55° F., and was much 

 gratified as well as surprised to find that two out of 

 the three were alive and well, as, in about an hour's 

 time, the valves were opened, and the syphons 

 protruded. Another half-hour saw them perambu- 

 lating the dish probably in search of food. This 

 capability of sustaining life under somewhat trying 

 circumstances for so long a period as seven weeks, 

 must certainly serve these animals to good purpose 

 in the struggle for existence. — Baker Hudson. 



Land and Freshv^tater Shells in the 

 Middlesbrough District.— I am glad to be able 

 to supplement my list of shells (SciENCE-GossiP, 

 July, 1883) taken within a jadius of twelve miles 

 from Middlesbrough by the following. Helix 

 nenwralis v. bi-margi7iata, H. znrgata v. albicans 

 and minor, H. caperata v. oriiata, H. pulchella 

 V. costata, H. ericctomm v. alba, H. sericea, 

 Bitliinus obscurus, Pupa iimbilicata v. cdentula. 

 Vertigo edentula, Zonites nitidulns v. Helmii, Z. 

 fulviis, Stcccinea pitfris, valvata, cristata, Physa 

 hypnorum, P. fontinalis and v. oblonga, Planorbis 

 naniihcs,\ and Cochlicopa tridens. — Baker Hudson, 

 Middlesbrough . 



CONCHOLOGICAL NOTES — BaND-MARKING. — I 

 have noticed that many species, normally without 

 band-markings, occasionally have traces of the bands 

 which are present in other shells, these bands always 

 occupying the same position on the shell as those of 

 allied species whose bands are usually present. It 

 also appears that one band, corresponding to No. 3 

 on Helix nemoralis, is the most often developed ; 

 it being often present in H. nemoralis when the other 

 bands are absent, although I have a specimen having 

 the band-formula 12045, but this is not a common 

 form. This third band seems to be less constant in 

 H. Jiortensis ; a specimen having the band-formula 

 00300 being very uncommon, while I have a specimen 

 whose formula is 00045 \ and 00000 is very common. 

 With regard to the abnormal development of bands, 

 I find I have specimens of Zonites fiitidulus, Bulimus 

 montanus. Helix kispida, and among the freshwater 

 species, Limncca peregra, L. truncatula, and Physa 

 hyp7io?-um, in which one or more bands are de- 

 veloped. In Physa hypnorum I have only noticed 

 the band-marking on American specimens. Variety 

 of Helix aspersa. — I have a very curious variety of 

 H. aspersa, found at St. Mary Cray, Kent, in which 

 the whole of the upper part of each whorl, above the 

 lower edge of the third band, is suffused with a dark 

 chocolate-brown colour, without any markings what- 



