HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



37 



books available to me, and which I think is un- 

 recorded, at least in England — in the hope that 

 some one better acquainted with this family may be 

 able to name it. 



It will be observed that it has five filaments to each 

 of the branches of the inferior or swimming antenna, 

 and belongs therefore probably to a genus other than 

 Daphnia. The superior antennae are long and ap- 

 parently three-jointed ; the large single eye is 

 accompanied by a black spot in front of it. Its 

 mode of swimming is in long jerks, resembling more 

 Tida crystalina in this respect than the common 

 Daphnia. The internal organs appear to be normal. 

 I have seen a number of individuals, but they were 

 by no means plentiful. Size of body, T ' B inch. 



C. ROUSSELET. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



A COMPLETE history of the Vertebrates of Leices- 

 tershire and Rutlandshire will shortly appear, 

 compiled from notes by Dr. Macaulay and others, 

 and edited by Mr. Montague Browne, of the 

 Leicester Museum. The Rutlandshire part will be 

 edited by Lord Gainsborough. 



The Rev. A. C. Waghorne is publishing a series 

 of excellent papers in "The Colonist" on "The 

 Berries and Fruits of Newfoundland." 



Mr. Francis Galton has delivered three im- 

 portant lectures at South Kensington on " Heredity 



and Nurture." 



A lecture was recently delivered by Mr. W. 

 August Carter, of the National Fish Culture Associ- 

 ation, at Foresters' Hall, Forest Hill, upon the 

 "Denizens of the Aqueous Kingdom." After com- 

 paring the habits and instincts of fish with terrestrial 

 animals, the lecturer commented upon the question 

 of migration, and considered that we ought not to 

 attribute the cause of fishing grounds being depleted 

 to the temporary absence of migratory fish. The 

 barren condition of many fishing grounds was due to 

 over-fishing and the devastation wrought in reaping 

 the products of the ocean. The question of migration 

 was a mysterious one, but probably it would be found 

 that fish merely alternated their movements between 

 their spawning and feeding grounds. He considered 

 it was high time that the Government supported a 

 system of fish culture, not only in regard to fluviatile 

 but also marine forms ; also a system for providing 

 technical education to fishermen. 



Dr. F. P. Venables has given in the " Chemical 

 News," the results of a series of experiments on the 

 degree of dilution at which different substances can 

 be tasted. Known weights of the substances were 

 dissolved in water, diluted to known extents with 



water, and one cubic centimetre of the solution was 

 tasted by each of two persons. The results were : — 

 sugar, three ten-thousandths of a gramme barely 

 tasted ; salt, one-thousandth barely tasted ; tannin, 

 two ten-thousandths tasted, one ten-thousandth failed 

 to taste ; hydrochloric acid, one ten-thousandth 

 barely tasted ; strychnine, one two-millionth barely 

 tasted. Thus the sensitiveness of taste is inferior to 

 that of smell. 



The monks of St. Bernard have established the 

 highest-lying telephone connection in Europe, in 

 order to facilitate their famous work of charity. 

 Their well-known hospice is now in telephonic 

 communication with the towns of Proz and St. 

 Pierre in Switzerland and those of Fontine and St. 

 Remy, on the Italian side of the mountain. 



The borings now being carried on in the Nile 

 Delta by the Royal Society have been temporarily 

 stopped by the breaking of the pipe. The depth 

 reached is over 324 ft., but no solid rock has been 

 arrived at. 



Experiments have been recently made in St. 

 Petersburg with the idea of slaughtering cattle by 

 electricity, the results of which have been highly 

 satisfactory — death being in all cases instantaneous. 



The Selborne Society has issued the first monthly 

 part of the " Selborne Magazine," as the accredited 

 organ of their society. 



We are sorry to record the death of Professor 

 Balfour Stewart, of Victoria University, Manchester, 

 at the comparatively early age of 59. 



The name of the "Youth Library and Scientific 

 Society " his been changed to that of the " Universal 

 Society of Science, Literature, and Art," and its 

 official organ henceforth will be the "Junior 

 Review," a copy of which we have received, and 

 which promises well. The fifth annual meeting was 

 held on the 10th ult. at Exeter Hall. We wish the 

 Society every deserved success. 



A General Meeting of the " Practical Naturalists' 

 Society " was lately held in London, where the 

 Society was judiciously strengthened by the recon- 

 struction of some departments. Full details of the 

 meeting appear in the pages of the " Garner " for 

 January. 



Peculiar Sunflowers. — No. 1 had its outer 

 row of florets, tubular instead of ligulate ; each floret 

 was about one inch long, with five teeth and a slit 

 about half-way down one side. The ilower head of 

 No. 2 had its centre occupied by a number of 

 involucral bracts, with a ring of ligulate florets 

 surrounding them, giving the flower a most curious 

 appearance. — J. E. C. 



