HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



i6i 



An optical telegraph has been successfully estab- 

 lished between the Islands of Mauritius and Reunion, 

 a distance of about 140 miles. 1 Observers can read 

 the signals without difficulty, and arrangements for 

 announcing cyclones are nearly completed. 



Mr. G. H. Kinahan, of the Irish Geological 

 Survey, writes as follows concerning the area affected 

 by the recent earthquake : The area of structural 

 damages was limited, but in the country surrounding 

 it the shock was felt for considerable distances. In 

 the area of structural damages there were five smaller 

 area in which the effects were greatest. Three small 

 areas are distinctly margined at two or more sides 

 by lines, while at one or two of these lines the 

 maximum damage in each occurred. The greatest 

 damage was done in the Peldon and Abberton area. 

 In the areas of greatest effect the shock travelled in 

 different directions, yet individually ; in all the shock 

 appears to have occurred at the same moment. The 

 geological formations in the area of structural damage 

 are London clay, glacial drifts, and alluvium. In 

 two places, Eastbridge, Colchester and Wivenhoe, 

 damages were observed on the latter ; while from the 

 north portion of Wivenhoe to Alresford, and in the 

 northern portion of Colchester damages occur on the 

 glacial drift, but elsewhere all damages, especially 

 the greater ones, are found on or at the margin of the 

 London clay ; while nearly invariably the destruction 

 ceased at the margin of the young accumulations. 



The members of the Geologists' Association took 

 their usual Whitsuntide holiday (their chief excursion 

 of the year) to Cambridge, where they investigated 

 the gravel pits, phosphate pits, chalk, &c., of the 

 neighbourhood, and visited the various museums in 

 Cambridge, under the directorship of Professor 

 Hughes. 



On Friday, June 6th, Mr. T. V. Holmes read a 

 paper before the above association on " Some 

 Curious Excavations in the Isle of Portland," and 

 Mr, C. E. De Ranee one on "The Underground 

 Waters of England and Wales. " 



At the last ordinary meeting of the Essex Field 

 Club the following papers were read : — ^" Report on 

 the Flowering Plants growing in the neighbourhood 

 of Colchester," by J. C. Shenstone, F.R.M.S., &c.; 

 " Progress of the Report on the Recent Earthquake 

 shock in Essex," by Raphael Meldola, F.R.A.S., 

 and W. White ; " On the Earth-subsidence at 

 Lexden, near Colchester, in 1861," byT. V. Holmes, 

 F.G.S., M.A.L; "On the Occurrence of the Rhi- 

 zopod, Clathridiiia elegans, in Essex," by C. 

 Thomas, F.G.S., F.R.M.S. On June 21st a field 

 meeting was held in Epping Forest, under the 

 leadership of Mr. J. H. Harting. 



Mr. R. Kidston has described the fructification 

 of several species of fossil ferns belonging to Sphe- 

 nopteris. 



Mr. James English announces the forthcoming 

 publication of a work called " Flora of Epping 

 Forest Mosses," to be issued in four parts or fasciculi 

 of twenty species each. 



The Report of the Entomologicoal Society of 

 Ontario, for 1883, had just been printed by order of 

 the Legislative Assembly. It deals with some of the 

 noxious, beneficial, and other insects of the province. 



The May number of the Transactions of the 

 Hertfordshire Natural History Society has been 

 published, giving the index to papers, list of members, 

 &c. 



A re-issue of Mr. W. F. Kirby's "European 

 Butterflies and Moths," ^ in sixpenny parts, with 

 coloured illustrations of the insects, their larvee, and 

 food-plants is being issued by Messrs. Cassell 

 &Co. 



Mr. W. Phillips, F.L.S., 

 publication <^f " ^ Mcmn il , 



. S., announces the speedy 

 ^LiL^iii.^iiun of "A Manual of the Discomycetes, 

 with descriptions of all species of P'ungi hitherto 

 found in Britain." 



At a recent meeting of the Geological Society, 

 Mr. H. G. Spearing stated that for the last nine 

 years the sea has encroached at Westward Ho, North 

 Devon, at the rate of about eighty feet annually. 



Mr. G. V. Smith has communicated to the 

 Geological Society an account of the discovery of 

 the footprints of vertebrate animals in the Lower 

 new red sandstone of Penrith, Cumberland. Eleven 

 footprints were found. From their different sizes and 

 shapes they are believed to have been made by 

 different species of animals. 



An anthropometrical laboratory has been opened 

 at the Health Exhibition by Mr. Francis Galton. 



Professor Goppert, the distinguished palaeon- 

 tologist and fossil botanist, has just died at Breslau 

 at the ripe age of eighty-four. 



Professor Ray Lankester is anxious to have 

 the support of all lovers of zoology for the Marine 

 Biological Association which has just been started. 

 The subscription for membership is one guinea a-year. 

 ;^ 10,000 is required. 



Helix Pisana. — On the 23rd of May last year I 

 received from Jersey twenty live specimens of this 

 snail. Four of the finest were placed in a vivarium 

 (where several other species thrive and breed) and 

 well supplied with food. All four died during the 

 last week of October. A few days ago I discovered 

 the forgotten card box in which the snails had come 

 from Jersey, and which still imprisoned sixteen. On 

 placing them in tepid water, all except two revived 

 and are now feeding heartily. Eight months is a 

 long time surely for this delicate species to remain 

 torpid. — K. McKean, Warham Road, Croydon. 



