33 



HARD WICKE' S S CIENCE- G OSSIP. 



MICROSCOPY. 



The "Journal of Morphology." — It is singular 

 how long American morphologists have been content 

 to send many of their memoirs to England for publi- 

 cation, from the want of an authoritative journal, 

 dealing specially with Morphology, in their own 

 country. Several such magazines have been started 

 from time to time in the United States, which were 

 fondly expected to play the same part there that the 

 " Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science " does 

 in England, but all lamentably failed. Their editors 

 did not succeed in gaining the confidence and support 

 of the best American workers. A new venture has 

 just appeared, under the title of the "Journal of 

 Morphology," and the first number is now before 

 us. It is edited by Mr. L. O. Whitman, the prestige 

 of whose name will go far to ensure its success, and 

 the seven memoirs included in its first issue are 

 remarkable both for the importance of the subjects 

 and from the fact, that they are contributed by men 

 who stand in the first rank of American science. 

 The plates and style of printing are of that high class 

 familiar to readers of the English journal. The 

 English agent is Mr. W. P. Collins, 157 Great 

 Portland Street, London. 



Microscopical Society of Calcutta. — An in- 

 teresting meeting of the Microscopical Society of 

 Calcutta was held on the 5th of December last, when 

 Mr. H. H. Anderson read a paper on a new Infu- 

 sorian discovered by him. It is parasitic in the 

 alimentary canal of JEolosoma chlorosHctum, W. M. 

 mss., and has been named Anoplophrya ccolosomaiis. 

 In some cases seven or eight of the parasites have 

 been found in a single worm. The Infusorian some- 

 times disintegrates while under observation in a 

 curious way, releasing a swarm of ciliated cells. It 

 divides by fusion, and in some instances two septa 

 have formed in a single organism. At the same 

 meeting, Mr. E. J. Jones, A.R.S.M., described some 

 nodular stones which have recently been dredged up 

 off Colombo, in the island of Ceylon, from a depth 

 of 625 fathoms. They possess a specific gravity of 

 3*77, and it was supposed their great weight was due 

 to an excess of manganese, as was the case in the 

 nodules of the "Challenger" expedition. Only a 

 small trace of manganese is, however, present ; but 

 as much as 75 per cent, of sulphate of barium is 

 found. Sections made for microscopic examination 

 indicate a volcanic origin. The splierulites show 

 black crosses, with the nicols crossed ; and when the 

 prisms are rotated, the orientation of the crosses re- 

 mains fixed. The sections also show indications of 

 foraminiferce, though from the crystalline texture of 

 the nodules, it is clear they have been subjected to 

 great heat. — A. E. Simmons. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Scarcity of V. Atalanta in 1887. — My ex- 

 perience with regard to the scarcity of V. atalanta 

 during the past season coincides exactly with that of 

 your correspondent, R. B. P. In the country round 

 Malvern, where I spent August and September, and 

 where Atalanta is usually common enough, I only 

 saw one specimen at the end of August. — A. G. 

 Tan shy. 



Odostomias at Herm. — During a visit to the 

 Channel Isles in September last, I took the follow- 

 ing species of Odostomia at Herm : — O. unidentata, 

 Mont., of occasional occurrence ; O. dolioliformis, 

 Jeff., a single specimen ; O. spiralis, Mont., com- 

 mon ; O. fcnestrata, Forbes, one beautiful specimen 

 — this species is recorded for Jersey only by Dr. 

 Jeffreys ; O. scalaris, Ph., of occasional occurrence ; 

 O. lac tea, L., common ; O. acicula, Ph., rare. I 

 may also mention amongst the Rissoids that occurred 

 to me this year in Herm, the following : striatnla, 

 Mont., lactca, Mich., cancellata, da C, calathus, 

 F. and H., reticulata, Mont., Zetlandica, Mont., 

 violacea, Des M., costulata, Aid., punctura, Mont., 

 and semistriata, Mont. — B. Tomlin. 



Insects, &c, at Gibraltar. — Mr. James J. 

 Walker contributed to the " Entomologists' Magazine " 

 a paper on " A Year's Insect-Hunting at Gibraltar ; " 

 it appears that the insects that swarm about the rock 

 are of wonderful interest. There is scarcely a day 

 throughout the year on which butterflies may not be 

 found, and Mr. Walker enumerates fifty-five species 

 for the limited district, thirty of which have occurred 

 on the rock itself. He has found nine hundred species 

 of beetles, and is daily adding to the number. The 

 rock is the sole European locality in which the 

 Barbary ape is found in a wild state. These animals, 

 reduced a few years ago to less than a dozen indi- 

 viduals, have of late greatly increased in numbers, 

 and, being strictly protected, are very bold and 

 fearless. The fig-trees in the gardens suffer so much 

 from their depredations when the fruit is ripening 

 that it is found necessary to employ men to scare them 

 away. The Barbary partridge, though numerous 

 on the rock, as well as on the opposite African 

 coast, is, like the monkey, found nowhere else on the 

 European continent. 



Mr. William Burgess, proprietor of the Midland 

 Counties Fish Culture Establishment, states that a 

 pond constructed by him last March, measuring fifty 

 feet by thirty feet, which was entirely isolated from 

 other similar ponds, was shortly after its formation 

 found to be populated with trout fry in their alevin 

 stao-e. No fish of any kind had been placed in the 

 pond, and none could have entered it, the inlet and 



