HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-G OSSIF. 



'Zl 



and lustrous red-brown hair and bristles. The upper 

 branch of the foot carries long, flexible bristles ; the 

 lower branch bears three rows of stout short bristles. 

 These hairs and bristles are seen under the micro- 

 scope to be very finely grooved longitudinally. A. 

 hystnx is found in deep water ; it is only about two 

 inches long, and has about thirty pairs of feet ; the 

 lower branch of the foot has a yellow spine, and four 

 or five brown bristles, the upper branch has two 

 bundles of bristles arranged in a fan-shaped fashion, 

 and curved with minute granulations on their upper 

 half ; the bristles of the brush placed between these 

 two branches are very remarkable. They pre stout 

 and long, of a rich dark-brown colour, and are 

 straight with a lanceolate point notched on each side 

 into four alternate reverted barbs, and enclosed in a 

 sheath which opens and shuts upon them, and pro- 

 tects them from injury in a way that all teleologists 

 .must regard with exceeding wonder and delight. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Few of the many visitors to the Health Exhibition 

 find their way to the unpretentious and out-of-the- 

 way room known as the " Biological Laboratory," 

 under the care of Mr. Watson Cheyne, M.B., 

 F.R.C.S. It affords a tolerably complete exposition 

 of the method of the cultivation and examination 

 of the micro-organisms known as microbes. Shortly 

 indicated, the process is as follows. Some sterilised 

 gelatine meat infusion is exposed to the air for a short 

 time, and then enclosed in a tube whose opening is 

 plugged with cotton wool. The germs which have 

 settled from the atmosphere proceed to develop, and 

 a number of coloured or colourless spots appearing 

 on the surface of the infusion result. These are the 

 colours of the various microbes. If, now, some 

 sterilised infusion be inoculated by pricking it with 

 a needle whose point has previously touched one of 

 these spots, a fine growth of the microbe results, and 

 is allowed to develop undisturbed, and out of imme- 

 diate contact ^\itIl the atmosphere. Examples of 

 sterilisers and incubators are shown. The use of the 

 incubators is chiefly to keep the temperature of the 

 infusion in which the microbes are growing constant. 

 A number of test tubes, about one-fourth full of 

 gelatine meat infusion, from Dr. Koch's laboratory 

 at Berlin, containing pure cultivation of various 

 organisms, are shown. In addition to the above, 

 several cases of microscopes and of apparatus are 

 exhibited by the manufacturers, and a number of 

 microtomes are on view. 



The Rev. T. E. Espin has published a catalogue 

 of the magnitudes of 500 stars in Auriga, Gemini, and 

 Leo J\Iinor, which have been determined from photo- 

 graphs taken by means of the equatorial stellar camera 

 at the Liverpool Astronomical Society's Observatory. 



In Japan, where earthquakes are very common, a 

 house has been invented not to be affected by the 

 movements of the earth. The building is of wood, 

 with plaster walls and ceiling, supported upon iron 

 bales resting in hollow, saucer-like plates, which 

 method of support, it is claimed, prevents momentum 

 in a horizontal position from being communicated 

 fiom the ground to the house, and there is just suffi- 

 cient friction at the points of support to destroy the 

 slight motion that might otherwise take place. It 

 might naturally be supposed that people who are 

 always being shaken would get used to earthquakes, 

 but Professor Morse says that, far from this being 

 the case, upon the first going there, one thinks 

 lightly of such a visitation, but terror increases with 

 every recurrence, until life becomes miserable from 

 a constant state of dread. 



In order to obtain reliable information concerning 

 the upland wilds of Iceland, the Government of that 

 country commissioned Mr. Thoroddsen to undertake 

 systematic explorations, in order to establish the 

 geology of the country on a sound basis, and to 

 correct its geography when necessary. In the course 

 of last summer he explored the peninsula of Reyk- 

 janes and its upland connections, and determined 

 the existence and site of no less than thirty volcanoes, 

 and at least seven hundred craters, although, up to 

 then, it was only supposed that there were two 

 volcanoes in these parts which had been active 

 within historic times. In other localities volcanoes 

 of colossal size are found in addition to numbers of 

 hot springs, solfataras, and boiling clay-pits. Mr. 

 Thoroddsen maintains that this peninsula must be 

 one of the most thoroughly burnt spots on the face 

 of the globe, and a most instructive tract for geolo- 

 gists wishing to make a special study of volcanic 

 phenomena. 



The first volume of a work on British Fungi, by 

 the Rev. John Stevenson, illustrated by Worthington 

 G. Smith, F.L.S., is announced. It is to contain full 

 descriptions of all British Hymenomycetes, vi'ith 

 habitats, seasons of growth, &c., and all genera and 

 sub-genera will be figured. 



An interesting case of mimicry is recorded in the 

 last issue of the " Canadian Entomologist." While 

 examining the flowers of a bed of May apples 

 i^Podophyllniii pcltatuni) the writer found a specimen 

 of the Phala;nid moth {Tctracis lorata) adhering 

 to the stamens of a flower, its head towards the 

 centre and the wings easily mistaken for petals. A 

 little search discovered another in exactly the same 

 position. 



The high temperatures observed in manures are 

 due to the oxidation of organic matter by free oxygen. 

 This oxidisation is partly induced by a bacillus. The 

 disengagement of marsh-gas in manure deprived of 

 oxygen is exclusively due to a bacillus. 



