HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



i8' 



a sort of tiny hair-comb whose teeth are of a bright 

 lustrous gold colour. This animal is the golden- 

 haired Amphitrite {A. auricoma). Its branchia; have 

 a leaf-like structure, and sprout from tlie sides of the 

 third and fourth segments ; the alimentary canal is 

 convoluted ; the tentacles are capable of being 

 shortened or extended, and they are the instruments 

 whereby the tul)e is constructed ; and in addition to 

 the thirty golden bristles tiiat garnish the head, there 

 are tufts of bristles ranged along the flanks of the 

 body. Under the microscope the anterior bristles 

 are seen to be grooved longitudinally on the 

 surface, and taper to a fine smooth point ; the lateral 

 bristles are more serpentine in outline, and some of 

 them are very finely serrated at the extremity. Below 

 the feet there is a long winding file of minute hooks 

 marshalled closely together, each hook (as seen 

 X 400) closely resembles a pigmy human hand, 

 with a big thumb, and eight fingers of an equal 

 height. The honey-comb sea-worm {A. alvcolata) 

 is one of the most extraordinary animals of the sea- 

 shore. It exhibits eminent social proclivities, so 

 that a small colony is generally found in one spot, 

 such as the surface of a soft rock between tide-levels, 

 or a root of laminaria, or an old shell or stone from 

 deep water. The tube is fragile, and built up of a 

 dirty dark sand and mud ; the branchia; are of the 

 typical form and arrangement, being long and narrow, 

 and distributed in pairs on all the segments of the 

 body ; the head is decorated with three rows of very 

 singular striated bristles — those of the outer row are 

 shaped like a hand of six or seven fingers or prongs, 

 those of the middle circle have a large triangular or 

 spear-shaped head supported on a narrow stalk, while 

 those of the inner rank are like holdfasts, being bent 

 at the end analogously to a foot in relation to the leg ; 

 the sides of the thorax are armed with three pairs of 

 bristles, while the abdominal segments carry tufts 

 and very slender capillary bristles ; the ridges 

 of hooks are composed of minute narrow structures 

 cut into six teeth, and attached to very slender 

 threads. A. ostrcaria is the tenant of a small, neatly 

 drilled hole, which it bores in the thickest part of an 

 old oyster shell, &c. ; it bears three or four pairs of 

 branchios, and a pair of tentacles in front ; there are 

 bristles and hooks along each side. 



( To he contiiiued.') 



At the last meeting of the Geologists' Association, 

 a paper was read by Professor Blake on " The 

 North-West Highlands and their Teachings," and 

 another was read by Mr. W. A. E. Ussher, on 

 "The Geology of South Devon, with special reference 

 to the Long Excursion." The latter commenced on 

 July 2lst, and occupied the entire week, the directors 

 being Messrs. Champernoune, Pengelley, and R. N. 

 Worth, 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



The Lambeth Field Club has started a new line of 

 departure. Mr. A. Ramsay, F.G.S., has been nomi- 

 nated recorder in Physical Geography, and Mr. W. E. 

 Bowers in Meteorology. Everything that by any 

 possibility can be grouped under these two elastic 

 terms, in the county of Surrey, will henceforth be 

 recorded. 



A PROPOSAL is popular in Spain to cut a canal 

 from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean. The 

 plan suggested is to deepen the Gironde for some 

 distance, and reach the open sea at Narbonne. The 

 proposed work would be about 250 miles, and if 

 carried out, it would save a distance of about 2000 

 miles between London and Suez. 



Count von Stein has found a new place to obtain 

 cilioflagellate protozoa. He has examined the 

 stomachs of alcoholic ascidians, echinoderms, and 

 worms, and found multitudes of specimens. 



The plan of using the enormous water power of 

 the Alps for working electric railways in Switzerland 

 is about to take a definite shape, the idea being 

 to connect the towns of St. Moritz and Pontresina by 

 an electric railway 4! miles long, the motive power 

 to be supplied by the mountain streams ; the line, in 

 case the plan proves a success, to be extended a 

 considerable distance. 



M. DE FoNViELLE has suggested the following 

 method of detecting infernal machines. All luggage 

 to be placed on wooden tables supported by iron feet 

 but not nailed to them. A microphone to be placed 

 on each of the tables, when any ticking or other noise 

 proceeding from the luggage would at once become 

 audible. 



The city of Brussels is going to try the experiment 

 of using electricity to drive its street cars. One line 

 —that of the Rue de la Loi— is to be equipped with 

 motors, and separate accounts are to be kept, in 

 order to ascertain definitely the cost of running, as 

 compared with the use of horses. The test is to last 

 for one entire year, and then, should the result 

 warrant it, electricity will be employed exclusively 

 on the street railways of Brussels. 



The Naturalists' World is about to present,, 

 in an early number, a series of facsimile autographs 

 of eminent naturalists and scientific men of the day. 

 Among them are the following : Sir John Lubbock, 

 M.P., F.R.S., Professor T. H. Huxley, F.R.S., 

 Richard Jefferies, the Rev. J, G. Wood, M.A., Dr. 

 J. E. Taylor, F.L.S., and many others. 



Many readers will be sorry to hear of the death of 

 Mr. Henry Watts, F.R.S., editor of the well-known 

 "Dictionary of Chemistry," and for many yeara 

 editor of the "Journal of the Chemical Society." 



