HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



135 



Under the title of "Tricycles of the year 1884," 

 Mr. H. H, Griffin, of the London Athletic Club, has 

 written the Fifth chronicle of the new inventions 

 and improvements introduced last season and a record 

 of the progress in the manufacture of tricycles. 

 This handy little book is intended to assist purchasers 

 in the choice of a machine. It is published by 

 L. Upcott Gill. 



Most of our readers have doubtless heard of the 

 fact that clover does not seed in New Zealand 

 because there are no humble bees there to fertilise 

 the flowers, and that various futile attempts have 

 been made to introduce these insects. At length 

 Mr. J. C. Firth has succeeded in receiving a con- 

 signment of humble bees, which were brought over 

 in a torpid state, in a chilled room. Mr. Firth 

 thinks that if he is successful with their acclimati- 

 sation it will save him a thousand pounds a year in 

 clover-seed, which at present has all to be imported. 



We utilise cats to get rid of mice, and the settlers 

 in Dakotah, according to the Rev. Dr. McCook, 

 turn the thatching ant to similar account. These 

 ants are very insectivorous, and the settlers avail 

 themselves of this habit on their part to rid their 

 clothing of vermin. Garments so infected, if left in 

 the vicinity of the formicaries, are quickly and 

 perfectly cleaned of both parasites and eggs. 



We have received from Mr. William Vick, of 

 Ipswich, seven capital photographs of the chief 

 buildings near Mersea I sland which were wrecked by 

 the late earthquake. They are as follows : Langen- 

 hoe church (various views of the interior and 

 exterior) ; Peldon church ; the Rose Inn, Peldon ; 

 the miller's house, Peldon ; and the mill showing 

 the fractured shaft of the chimney partly twisted. 

 By this means we get a much more accurate idea of 

 the havoc caused by the earthquake than mere 

 sketching could supply us with. 



" The Butterflies of Europe," by Dr. H. C. Lang, 

 has now reached its eighteenth part, which continues 

 specific descriptions of the genus Satyrus and com- 

 mences with those of Pararge. The coloured illus- 

 trations keep up their high artistic character. 



On May 2nd, Mr. W. Topley, F.G.S., read a 

 valuable paper before the Geologists' Association on 

 "The Agricultural Geology of England and Wales, 

 with reference to the Drift Maps of the Geological 

 Survey." 



A TRANSLATION of Dr. Margo's thoughtful paper 

 on " The Classification of the Animal Kingdom, with 

 reference to the Newer Zoological Systems," appears 

 in the last number of ' ' The Annals and Magazine of 

 Natural History." 



Professor Haeckel, Dr. Kowalevsky, and Dr. 

 Schwendener, have been elected foreign members of 

 the Linnean Society. 



Under the title of " Notes from my Aquarium," 

 Mr. George Brook, F.L.S., has reprinted a series of 

 twenty-four short articles. They are all eminently 

 practical, for Mr. Brook built an aquarium for him- 

 I self, thirty feet by eighteen feet, containing four 

 tanks. This is connected with two underground 

 reservoirs of 2000 gallons each, so that his aquarium 

 is on an unusually large scale for a private individual. 

 These "notes" deal with practical observations, 

 some on fish parasites, others on rare fishes, 

 mollusca, &c. We regard the pamphlet as a valuable 

 contribution to practical zoology. 



A MUSEUM of archaeological and ethnological 

 antiquities has been established and was formally 

 opened at Cambridge, on the 6th ult. Professor 

 E. B. Tylor, Dr. John Evans, and other celebrated 

 ethnologists were present at the ceremony. 



Mr. Thomas Bolton has exhibited before the 

 Royal Microscopical Society a rhizopod {Clathridina 

 elegans) from Epping Forest, which employs a fourth 

 method of reproduction, in the formation of flagellate 

 monads. 



The white spots on the planet Venus have been the 

 special object of observation by M. Trouvelot, and he 

 recently stated before the Paris Academy of Sciences 

 that he had taken no fewer than 249 observations of 

 them. The northern spot alone was visible on April 

 5 th. These spots do not appear to be affected by the 

 diurnal rotation of the planet, and M. Trouvelot 

 thinks it must be because its axis passes through them 

 or very close to them. He expresses his opinion that 

 they are the summits of high mountains projecting 

 above the cloudy envelope which covers Venus. 



Those who have the opportunity should not lose 

 it, of visiting the establishment of Mr. William Bull, 

 F.L.S., the celebrated introducer of exotic plants, at 

 Chelsea, as his annual exhibition of new, rare, and 

 beautiful orchids is now open, and will continue so 

 until the end of July. 



Among the wonders of cheap scientific literature 

 are the penny handbooks on collecting objects, 

 published by W. Swan Sonnenschein & Co., all 

 of them written by men of high eminence in their 

 several departments of research. Thus we have one 

 on Flowering Plants, by Mr. James Britten, F.L.S. ; 

 on Butterflies, Beetles, and Insects, by Mr. W. F. 

 Kirby ; on Shells, by Mr. B. Woodward, F.G.S. ; on 

 British Birds, by R. B. Sharp, F.L.S. ; on Postage 

 Stamps, by Mr. W. T. Ogilvy ; and on Greek and 

 Roman Coins, by B. Y. Head, M.R.A.S., &c. 



We are much pleased to welcome a second edition 

 of Mr. Edward Step's " Plant-Life " (London: J. 

 Fisher Unwin). Few books on popular botany have 

 been so successful in including so wide a range of the 

 subject with such complete accuracy. It well deserves 

 its success. 



