HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



213 



appear with remarkable regularity. Part 12, of 

 the " Methods of Microscopical Research," has for its 

 subject " Microscopical Art," by E. T. D. No. il, 

 of " Topular JlNIicroscopical Studies," treats on 

 " Starch," and is accompanied by a beautiful plate, 

 showing the starch grains in situ of Sarsaparilla 

 officinalis, X 400. Nos. 22 and 23 of "Studies in 

 Microscopical Science" deal with "Fundamental 

 Tissue " (illustrated by wood-vessels and cells, and a 

 transverse section of the petiole of Limnanthemiun), 

 and " The Human Cerebrum." The slides sent 

 out with these numbers, and on which they treat, 

 are all in Mr. Cole's best and neatest style of mount- 

 ing and finish. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Local Scientific Societies. — The Fourth 

 Annual Report of the Hampstead Naturalists' Club, 

 containing the Presidential Address, list of members, 

 &c., is to hand. The president, Mr. William Boulting, 

 L.R.C.P. Lond., deals with "The Correspondence 

 of Body with Mind." A valuable address on "The 

 Natural History of the Diamond," by Professor 

 Rudler, F.G.S., is embodied in the " Proceedings." 

 The " Proceedings of the Bristol Naturalists' 

 Society " deserves more than a passing notice. 

 Part VI. of the " Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of the 

 Bristol District," by Mr. Alfred E. Hudd, M.F.S., 

 appears in this issue, and, among others, are the 

 following: "Report on Wells sunk at Lockes, 

 Somerset, to test the alleged power of the Divining 

 Rod," by Professor W. J. Sollas ; " On an Ergometer 

 for small Electromotors," by the Rev. F. J. Smith ; 

 "Recent Researches on Dynamo-Electric Gene- 

 rators," by Professor Silvanus P. Thomson; "On 

 the Primary Divisions and Geographical Distribu- 

 tion of Mankind," by James Dallas, F.G.S., F.R. 

 Hist. Soc. ; " Fungi of the British District," by 

 C. Bucknell, Mus. Bac. The "Papers and Pro- 

 ceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania " con- 

 tains, in addition to others, the" following papers : 

 " Description of New Tasmanian Animals," by E. T. 

 Higgins, M.R.C.S., and W. F. Pettard, C.M.F.S., 

 and " Notice of Recent Additions to the List of 

 Tasmanian Fishes," by R.>I. Johnston, F.L.S., &c. 

 Among the " Transactions of the Chichester and 

 West Sussex Natural History Society," are the 

 following : "A New Aphis," by J. Anderson, Jun.; 

 "Vaseline," by A. Lloyd; "The Three Oldest 

 Fossils," by Rev, H. Housman ; " Germs," by Dr. 

 Dutton. The following papers, in addition to the 

 Address of the President, Mr. G. E. Davis, F.R.M.S., 

 F.C.S., appear in the "Annual Report" of the 

 Manchester Microscopical Society : " The Oval 

 Organs of the Gad-Fly," by J. B. Pettegrew ; 

 " Gyrodactyhis clcgans" by Herbert C. Chadwick, 



F.R.RLS.; "The Hatching of Rotifers in Volvox 

 globator," by James Fleming, F.R. M.S. ; "Penetra- 

 tion in Objectives," by G. E. Davis, F.R.M.S., 

 F.C.S. ; "The Hydra, its anatomy and develop- 

 ment," by T. W. Dunkerley, F.R.M.S. ; "Sponta- 

 neous Fusion in an aquatic worm," by W. Blackburn, 

 F.R.M.S.; "The Ginger-beer Plant," by G. E. 

 Davis, F.R.M.S., F.C.S. , &c.; "The Forms, 

 Origin, and Development of the Teeth," by Parsons 

 Shaw, D.D.S.; " On a Small Collection of Hydroid 

 Zoophytes and Polyzoa from the Menai Straits," by 

 Herbert C. Chadwick, F.R.M.S.; " Selaginella : 

 Alternation of Generations," by W. Stanley, 

 F.R.M.S.; and "The Application of Quantitative 

 Methods to the Study of certain Biological Ques- 

 tions," by H. C. Sorby, LL.D., F.R.S. 



Reversed Helices. — The early part of this 

 week I had a very pretty banded Helix nemoralis, 

 var. liybrida, rar. minor, var. sinistrorstim (reversed), 

 sent me from a village near Bristol. The shell is 

 nearly an adult, and the rich pinklip adds greatly to 

 its beauty. I am keeping it in company with some 

 other Hdlix hortensis. It is healthy,, which is not 

 often the condition of the snails inhabiting reversed 

 shells. This specimen adds another to our Bristol 

 list of reversed helices. — Fanny M. Hele. 



Paludina vivipara near Manchester. — Mr. 

 Dyson, in his little work entitled " Land and Fresh- 

 water Shells of the Manchester District," does not 

 include either this species or Planorbis corneus in his 

 list. I have within the last week, however, discovered 

 both species inhabiting a pond in Baguley, near 

 Manchester, P. vivipara being especially plentiful. 

 In addition to these two species, I took specimens of 

 the following from the same pond : Liinnea pcreger, 

 L. aui-icularia, Bithinia tentaailata, Planorbis cari- 

 natus, Cyclas lacustris, and Anodon cyg?ieus, making 

 in all eight species in one small pond. — C. Oldham. 



BOTANY. 



Carex ovalis, var.' Bracteata. — In a walk 

 from Thirlmere to Keswick (Cumberland) on the 8th 

 of July, I found among a number of patches of Carex 

 ovalis growing by the roadside one in which the 

 bracts of the lower spikelets were mostly leafy and 

 longer than the spike. On examining the tuft, I 

 found four different spikes (now in my herbarium) as 

 follows :— 1st, lower bract leafy, one inch longer than 

 the spike ; 2nd, lower bract half inch longer than the 

 spike ; 3rd, lower bract still leafy, but about \ inch 

 shorter than the spike — reaching in fact to the base 

 of the terminal spikelet ; and lastly, one of the 

 ordinary form of C. ovalis, with the lower bract short 

 and membraneous like the other bracts. The 



