HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Ill 



shore, whereas at sea it must often fall a prey to the 

 numerous sharks. Hence, a settled instinct drives 

 it to take refuge on shore in any emergency. It may 

 be that long experience has estabhshed in the male 

 cockroach a habit no longer reasonable, of invariably 

 seeking its hole when menaced. 



In the abdomen of the female cockroach eight terga 

 (1-7 ; 10) are externally visible. Two more (8, 9) 

 are readily displayed by extending the abdomen ;* 

 they are ordinarily concealed beneath the seventh 

 tergum. The tenth tergum is notched in the middle 

 of its posterior margin. A pair of sixteen-jointed 

 setose ccixi project laterally from beneath it. Seven 

 abdominal sterna (1-7) are externally visible. The 

 first is quite rudimentary, and consists of a transversely 

 oval plate ; the second is irregular and imperfectly 

 chitinised in front ; the seventh* is large, and its 

 hinder part, which is boat-shaped, is divided into 

 lateral halves, for facilitating the discharge of the 

 large egg- capsule. The eighth and ninth sterna have 

 become accessory to the female organs of reproduc- 

 tion. A pair of triangular " podical plates," which 

 lie on either side of the anus, and towards the dorsal 

 surface, may represent, as Professor Huxley con- 

 jectures, the tergum of an eleventh segment, or 

 perhaps with equal probabihty, the tenth sternum. 



In the male cockroach ten abdominal terga are 

 visible without dissection^ (fig. 36, p. 60), though the 

 eighth and ninth are greatly overlapped by the seventh. 

 The tenth tergum is hardly notched. Nine abdominal 

 sterna are readily made out, the first being rudi- 

 mentary, as in the female. The eighth is narrower 

 than the seventh, the ninth still narrower, and largely 

 concealed by the eighth ; its covered anterior part is 

 thin and transparent, the exposed part denser. This 

 forms the extreme end of the body, except that the 

 small subanal styles project beyond it. The podical 

 plates resemble those of the female. 



The differences between the male and female 

 abdomen may be tabulated thus : — 



Female. 



Abdomen broader. 

 Terga 8, 9 not extern- 

 ally visible. 

 The loth tergum notched. 



The 7th sternum divided 

 behind. 



The external outlet of 

 the rectum and vulva 

 between the loth ter- 

 gum and the 7th 

 sternum. 



No subanal styles. 



Male. 



Abdomen narrower. 



Terga 8, 9 externally 

 visible. 



The loth tergum hardly 

 notched. 



The 7th sternum undi- 

 vided. 



The outlet between the 

 loth tergum and the 

 9 th sternum. 



Subanal styles. 



[Erratum. — Fig. 40, p. 61, has been inaccurately 

 copied, and should be cancelled.] 



* These are partly visible in fig. 37, p. 60. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



At the annual general meeting of the Hackney- 

 Microscopical and Natural History Society, held on 

 the 19th of March, at the Morley Hall, Hackney, a 

 valuable microscope was presented to the hon, 

 secretary by the members. The president, Dr. M. C^ 

 Cooke, in presenting the testimonial, made some 

 highly eulogistic remarks upon the energy and 

 unremitting attention given by the hon. secretary 

 during the seven years of the existence of the society, 

 to which he ascribed its present flourishing condition. 

 A silver plate beating the following inscription was. 

 attached to the instrument: "Presented to CoUis 

 Willmott, Esq., by members of the Hackney 

 Microscopical and Natural History Society, ia 

 appreciation of his services as hon. secretary. 19th 

 March, 1S84." 



The readers of Science-Gossip will sympathise 

 in the loss of our old contributor, Mr. H. \V. Kidd, of 

 Godalming, carried off by scarlet fever on the 23rd 

 of March. Born a paralytic, he mastered his infirmity 

 so as to become a good scholar and most indefati- 

 gable collector of the plants, rocks, and shells, that 

 lend their beauty to the seclusion of his native town. 

 When I became acquainted with him in 1876 he had 

 found fame as a student of gall makers, and we have- 

 worked together at local entomology, geology, and 

 botany. Latterly we were corresponding on antiquarian 

 subjects, and the last of his letters on the pilgrim 

 marks in the rural churches, lies before me un- 

 answered. The peat balls cast up on the coast also 

 engaged his attention, and induced him last autumn to- 

 take a journey to Littlehampton. — A. H. Swintojt. 



Mr. W. J. Knowles exhibited a chipped flint 

 implement at the last meeting of the Anthropological 

 Institute, which he had found in undisturbed boulder 

 clay in Ireland. He thought this carried the age of 

 man into the glacial period. 



We are glad to see that our old friend and con- 

 tributor, Mr. W. Saville-Kent, F.L.S., author of 

 " A Manual of the Infusoria," &c., has been ap- 

 pointed Inspector of Fisheries to the Governmeat of 

 Tasmania. No better man for the post could have 

 been found in the British Islands. 



A VERY interesting communication was lately 

 made before the Paris Academy of Sciences, on. 

 Observations made at the Observatory of Nice, 

 by M. Perrotin, of Saturn and Uranus. The outer 

 ring of Saturn appears to consist of three distinct^ 

 rings, slightly diminishing in breadth outwardly, 

 and each apparently made up of numerous sub- 

 divisions. Uranus, as seen on the i8th of March, 

 presented in some respects the general aspect oF 

 Mars, with dark spots towards the centre, and a. 

 white speck like the pole of that planet at the angle: 

 of position 380° on the edge of the disk. 



